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"Alternative Directions: Options "Written By: Karina Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or the lovely
boys and their girls in the series. Wish I did. Please don't sue me.
I haven't even got a brass razoo to give you. Rating: Deffinately PG in Australia, at the moment,
but probably safer to say R for later chapters. Not sure about international
ratings Warnings: It will be 6x2, even though it does
not start out that way. After all, Zechs and Duo never met in Gundam
Wing and only spoke briefly over a com line in Endless Waltz. I've
tried to keep them in character as I saw them in the series. A bit
of language creeping in under stressful conditions. Pairings: eventual 6x2, past 2xH, 2+H,6x9, 1+R
Summary: Directions is set post Endless Waltz
and roughly 2 years have passed. Zechs and Noin are on Mars and Duo,
after spending some time with Hilde in a relationship leaves L2 to
join Preventers. Hilde was not happy about his decision. I guess enough
said. Here t'is, and I hope you like it. This is also AU for the standard
setting, as well as the series and Endless Waltz. Spoilers: Gundam Wing Series and Endless Waltz Many thanks to Dulin for volunteering to beta this. //... // thoughts
"Alternative Directions: Options"
Chapter 109 Mars Colony Base Dome 2nd March AC 198 Time: 00: 58 [approx Sanc time 22:48] Barker // Bastards. Bloody bastards. They poison the air in the airlocks and then they disable the computer controls so we can't get the door open. I have to give them points for being thorough. They were taking no chances that someone might survive the poison long enough to get the doors open and escape. // Barker bared his teeth in an unconscious silent snarl of anger. // Wonderful, but the bastards won't win. I won't allow them to win. Thank God Merquise warned us the air in the dome might be compromised, but I never for an instant thought that he meant the air locks. // The snarl transformed into a frown as he considered the sealed door and the controls set to one side. //Maybe he never meant the airlocks. Maybe … Ah, shit. I don't know what he meant, but I'll be keeping my bloody suit on until I am certain the air is good. Come on Barker, settle down. You are a professional and there will be time enough later to have a hissy fit, just now you have to concentrate. One problem at a time. The automatic system won't work, it seems to be very effectively jammed so we have to resort to the old fashioned methods. These things still come with a hand crank in the event of mechanical failure. It will take us longer to access the dome and I don't think that there is much doubt that I am going to be late to the rendezvous, but I don't give a shit about that just now. He knows we are coming and he is professional enough to know that delays can all too easily occur. I am not going to be locked out of this dome. // He turned and gathered the two men close to him with a hand gesture, pressing his helmet to their offered face plates to initiate conversation. “Right. The automatic systems have been tampered with and we don't have the time or expertise to try to effect repairs from here so we do this the hard way. There is no telling what we will face when we get out of this lock and into the dome proper, so from here on in we need to assume that we are in hostile territory. The first order of business is to get the doors open and that means using the hand cranks. Polnar, you're the tallest so you take the high one, Carter you work the lower crank. I'll greet anyone who comes to investigate.” The airlocks manual controls involved a hand crank for the inner and outer doors of the lock set to either side of the door. The higher of the two controls on the right of the door worked the inner seal which would release them into the outer lock and the lower crank at the left of the door released the outer blast doors that was security against an airlock breach, and the space between the two doors was barely sufficient for a suited man to stand between. If the automatic systems had failed, which they obviously had, then the blast doors should have automatically activated to seal the suspected faulty airlock from the base. With the air pressure equalized within the airlock the outer doors should open easily enough but both men working on the cranks would be unable to offer any defense should there be a hostile element awaiting them on the far side of the lock. Barker was their security net. He unholstered the automatic weapon he wore, checking it from long habit and for the moment keeping the safety on. He set himself before the door, a little back from where the two men would be working and nodded to his companions who positioned themselves and opened the hatches that shielded the hand cranks from sight. The wheels of the crank were not large and would not turn easily under the necessity of wearing the suit gloves, he knew that from past experience as he watched first Polnar and then Carter lean into the task as they began to turn the wheels. While to Barker's knowledge the manual override cranks had never needed to be used on Mars the manual system at all airlocks was regularly tested and well maintained so the wheels turned more easily than he at first had assumed though the men still showed signs of strain in getting the wheels to move initially. The doors of the lock, especially the outer blast doors were weighty and even in the lighter gravity of Mars they still had a massive weight to contend with. He winced at the groan of metal that could be heard from the exterior blast doors but a small gap appeared between the inner door and wall and he breathed a sigh of relief. He could faintly hear Carter curse at the resistance of the wheel to his efforts to turn it but he personally was thankful that they were going to succeed here. He had feared that somehow the hand cranks might have been fouled and disabled by the agents within the dome and that they would have needed to come up with another solution to the dilemma of how to enter the dome, but thankfully that was not going to be the case. In just a few more minutes they would be out and in the dome and making a run for Hydroponics Dome Three. //Come on boys, come on. We need to get in there.// He was fairly dancing with impatience but held himself still, eyes glued to the growing gap in the door, well aware that the men were putting every effort they had into turning the cranks. During their necessarily brief conversation Merquise had said clearly enough that there was a means of entry between the upper dome and the sub base to be found in HD Three. Success in reaching the shuttle bay lay in them figuring out the hint he had thrown their way. For the life of him he would not have come up with anything remotely resembling Polnar's suggestion of the huge reservoirs in the sub base and the massive pipe system that fed the water around the hydroponics dome. He agreed on thinking over the proposed solution that it was plausible. From his memory of the schematics of the hydroponics domes, each dome claimed a master pipe that linked the sub base water reservoirs to the individual hydroponics domes as part of the eco systems filtration cycling systems. Between the hints Merquise had thrown and Polnar's knowledge of the domes systems he presumed that the master pipe in HD Three was at this time dry, presumably emptied for maintenance purposes. The first thing that they needed to do was to locate the correct access cover for the inspection station of HD Three that would lead them to and permit them entry to the master pipe, and if he was honest with himself he had to admit that he had no idea where in the dome that access was to be found. Perhaps Carter or Polnar would have an idea of the location. He was hoping that it was not going to be necessary for them to waste precious time in searching the entire dome for the access way. It had been Polnar who had come up with the idea, so perhaps he had used the system if not in dome three then in one of the other domes and would have a fair idea where to find their entry point in HD Three. He could only hope that they would find it quickly. He eyed the growing gap in the inner doors, moving closer between the two men and pressing his face plate to the steadily elongating gap, trying to see through the far narrower gap in the outer safety doors. The exterior blast doors were of necessity much heavier than the inner doors and Carter had to put in a lot more effort into getting them to open using the hand crank and it was no wonder that the occasional grunt could be heard in the atmosphere of the airlock. It did not help that the bulk of the suit gloves made it more difficult to get a good grip on the hand wheels, but Carter was undeniably making headway and once Polnar succeeded with opening the inner doors enough for them to fit through he could then move to assist Carter. He pressed his suited bulk to the growing gap in the doors and when the doors stood open enough for him to squeeze his helmet through he ducked his head through the gap and made certain that the small inner chamber was empty of unwelcome surprises and a few more turns of the crank enabled him to slide his bulk carefully through the gap. In seconds he was moving to press himself to the growing gap in the outer doors, helmet pressed to the sliver opening into the dome. Unable to hear anything other than the grunts of the labouring men behind him he motioned for silence signalling the two men that he wanted a pause and when quiet settled in the airlock he pressed his face plate back to the gap and peered out into the Base Dome. His first impression was that the lights reminded him uncomfortably of blood. The red colouring tainted the building across from the airlock, Warehouse B, with a bloody glow that sent a shiver of cold dread down his spine. His view across the open tarmac was unobstructed until his gaze hit the warehouse and try as he might he could not wriggle himself into a position to gain an increased view to either side of the door and he could hear nothing beyond his own breathing in the helmet's confines. Someone could be standing to one side of the outer doors, watching him and he would not know it but he had no choice other than to signal the men to continue cranking the door open and hoping that they were unobserved at this time. With Carter now being assisted by Polnar the blast doors move more easily and quickly though it was still far slower than he would have ideally liked. As soon as the gap permitted him to move he pushed himself through, half stumbling in the cumbersome bulk of the enviro suit, his weapon raised and the safety thumbed off. In a manner far more clumsy than usual owing to the bulk of the suit he swept the area for any sign of intruders, his weapon tracking, finger tense on the trigger, intent and focused. Should the computer and its automated functions have notified anyone that the emergency exit was being used then they should have had company by this time, but it appeared that their luck thus far was holding. The dome seemed silent and eerily empty. // Jesus. My nerves are shot. I expect someone to leap around the corner with gun blazing and that is plain stupid. I think they will have a little more finesse than that.// With a short, sharp gesture he motioned to the waiting men to join him and he was gratified to see that immediately on exiting the airlock Polnar eased to the right of the isolated air lock structure to scan the rear of building D behind them while Carter slipped past him and pressed himself into a position from which he could scan across building D and B and toward building C. Each man was crouched and side on to the suspected unsafe side of their position, presenting as small a target to any possible snipers as possible. At the thought of a sniper in the vicinity he swept a glance up and over the upper dome superstructure, frowning as his visual survey presented him with a view that was worrying. The absence of the brilliant overhead lights disturbed him and he leaned far back to check as much of the upper dome as possible within the confines of the helmet, almost overbalancing as he sought any sign of anything other than the garish red emergency lighting. //Impossible to tell if there is anyone lurking amid that maze of girders and pipes.// He hissed a short sharp breath of distaste at the maze overhead. There was simply an overabundance of places that a sniper would choose to lurk in and pick off his prey at leisure and he already knew that there were killers running loose in the dome. A glance to either side at Polnar and then Carter confirmed that both men had spotted no potential dangers at this stage and he motioned for Carter to head towards the far end of building D before he turned to Polnar and motioned him to return and join him. When the Leo pilot began to move towards him he followed after Carter, assured that Polnar was on his heels and crossed the small but disturbingly open distance to the shelter offered by building D. When Polnar slipped into his place beside him they traced the structures length, careful to scan the wide area they were open to observation from. The openness of the dome had never bothered him before but now he was only too conscious that they needed to devise the fastest and safest route to reach HD Three that would offer the least likely hood of running afoul of any of the hostile agents who might be hunting them. He knew the layout of the dome of course, having lived here for so long but there were the placements of vehicles and equipment to be considered that changed from day to day with the working schedules of the colony. Minor discrepancies could make or break their run for the hydroponics dome and its promised means of entering the lower base. He needed to check on the placements of the machinery that would have been abandoned willy nilly when the emergency alarms had sounded. People were trained to stop what they were doing and make their way as speedily as possible to their assigned emergency stations. That ruling of abandoning their vehicles at the sounding of the alarm should provided he and his men with additional opportunities for cover to assist their passage to the hydroponics dome. From where he now crouched he could see around the bulk of the building to where a cluster of crates stood against the side of the Main Control Tower and he nodded slightly to himself, pleased by the cover available there. Shifting his gaze he noted a cluster of abandoned light vehicles and long cargo trays containing cartons and parts for the days work parked approximately half way between the Main Tower and the Shuttle Control Tower. While he could not see the Shuttle Control Tower from his current position he knew the layout of the dome enough to estimate the distances involved in any movement and calculated the best course to the best available cover offered from the vantage points where they might be observed. It was unfortunate for them that there were so very many vantage points where this section of the dome could be observed by anyone looking casually from a upper story window. The abandoned vehicles and trays effectively obstructed his view of the hydroponics dome that was his goal but there was sufficient cover on offer to allow them to pause mid way to the dome and check out their course from further cover opportunities. The silence of the dome was perhaps even more disturbing to him that was the illusion of blood coating everything provided by the emergency lights. He could not recall a single instance since his arrival that the dome had ever been truly silent as it was now. There had always been the hum of machinery at some level to fill the dome or the murmur of voices somewhere nearby to be heard. He admitted that the helmet he wore served to mute sounds but this was a total absence of sounds that should have been present that disturbed something deep within him. He listened to the sound of his breathing and the beating of his heart and watched the deserted dome for a long moment before he realized why the silence so disturbed him. From his past experiences he had learned that this oppressive silence was usually found only when death had walked abroad. // I wish this day was over. How many are alive in the dome? How many have already died this day? I only wish that whole day was a particularly vivid and nasty nightmare from which I would wake up any minute, but I know that it is no mere nightmare. No dream this. People have died here today and they died at the hands of the representatives of the government that is supposed to protect them. God. I work for the ESUN. The Preventers is a government sanctioned organization dedicated to maintaining the peace. I work for the same people as those agents who have run rampant through here slaughtering people if Merquise is correct and I simply do not understand how they can justify their actions. How many people know and how high up in the government does the knowledge of this operation go? // Distractions. He had to pull himself together and focus on the matters at hand. There would come a time when he would have the opportunity to ask more than himself these questions and hopefully learn more of the situation. He could sit down later, when it was all over and then consider the who, the what and the why of the situation but for now he needed to attend to the safety of those who were still living and the safety of the two men under his command. A final quick glance around the open position that surrounded them to make certain he had placed all possible sources of cover and he motioned the two men back toward the airlock block, choosing to shelter between the small lock structure and the greater bulk of block D. They needed a quick conference before they moved. He pressed his helmet to theirs, noting that both seemed more inclined to want to face the open area beyond the airlock than look at him but he did not mind their seeming inattention at all. They would be listening carefully enough to what he had to say. “We skirt building D and take cover between buildings D and E. From there we will make our way to that group of abandoned vehicles between the two control towers. They should offer us sufficient cover for a quick reckie and an unobstructed view of the ground leading to HD Three. When we reach that point we will decide how best to enter the hydroponics dome. Questions?” Neither man offered a comment, merely glancing at him and offering an emphasized nod that he could not mistake to confirm that they had understood his instructions and to see him return the confirmation. After glancing quickly around at their surroundings one last time he reached to lightly tap Polnar on the shoulder and motion for him to move off, then flicked a finger at Carter signalling him to go next. With both men moving he took a deep breath to steady himself before he took off after the two men. Eyes constantly scanning for any hint of movement, any tiny indication at all that they were not alone they skirted the bulk and short side of building D and slipped into the shelter between buildings D and E. Barker sighed softly, pressing his back against the side of building D and glared thoughtfully at his hands and the weapon held in a surprisingly steady hand. Somehow, despite the incident with the air lock, successfully entering the Base Dome just seemed to have come too easy to him. //I'm a God damned paranoid bastard.// The enviro suit was annoying as hell to run in, cumbersome and too restrictive to permit free movement and the helmet restricted his vision far more than he liked, not to mention the fact that it muted noise and he probably would not hear anyone come up behind him. He fought the urge to rip the device from his head, reminding himself that that would be idiocy in the extreme. The air quality within the dome was questionable and he was unwilling to take the necessary time to sample the air beyond his suit to determine if there were sufficient toxins in the atmosphere to pose a threat to health and what sort of toxins they might be if there were. // No time to run proper tests and I don't have the advanced equipment on this suit for such tests anyway. Damn, I wish I had had access to my Preventer suit.// Sucking in a deep breath he followed a few steps behind Carter as they broke away from the dubious shelter offered by building E and raced toward the cluster of abandoned vehicles and trays situated mid way between the Shuttle Control Tower and the Main Control Tower. Midway to that tantalizing shelter his searching gaze found the smoldering ruins of what had recently been the elevator block and he whistled softly at the sight of the ruins. With an awed shake of his head he sprinted the last distance and threw himself amid the shelter of the vehicles, pressing his back against a massive tyre of one of the trucks. //Fuck! What the hell has been going on in here? Well, I suppose that would be a possible explanation for a possible source of any toxic fumes that might be in the dome. Some of the materials that went into the construction of the elevators would definitely give off enough fumes to cause a problem even in a dome of this size, but I would have thought that the filtration system and recycling of the air should have cleaned any of that shit out of the air fast enough to avoid a dangerous buildup. If Merquise is right and there is a buildup in the dome and he did not mean the airlocks, then that suggests that something is wrong with the oxygen generation systems … or with the vents. Damn. Either is not good. // He glanced over at Carter and Polnar who were crouched against the same vehicle noting that Polnar's helmet was angled and his arm raised to permit him to face his arm display and he recalled that Polnar was wearing the advanced enviro suit that enabled him to do a full analysis of the environment beyond the safety of the suit. As he watched Polnar raised his head and reached to pull at Carter's sleeve, directing the Taurus pilots attention to his arm and then turned to attract Barkers attention, waving him closer. The Preventer edged forward, careful not to give any hint of movement that would betray their cover and peered at the sensor readout a gloved finger was indicating and he resisted the urge to curse. //Well, that at least confirms the toxicity of the air. There will be no chance of removing the helmets until we are clear of the upper dome at least. Damn. From the chemical content of the sample it has to be a result of the fumes let off by that fire and that has to mean that the vent system is down. The fumes have no where to go. I only hope the survivors in the dome are in the sealed buildings with isolated oxygen systems. If the computers were running properly there should have been some sort of alarm in the last thirty minutes or so to warn of contamination and to alert people up here to get suited up and reach the atmospheric sealed buildings. There is nothing that I can do about it now if that warning did not sound except get on with this and end it as soon as possible. Those bastards have some questions to answer. // Looking around he made his way to a point amid the trays where he could see beyond their shelter and noted that between their current position and the main entrance to the dome there was no cover they could use. There were a few crates stacked against the side of the hydroponics dome but that was a good ten meters around the curve of the dome and from the entrance but other than that it was a straight run to the entrance which stood invitingly open. //Shit. That is just too easy. Trap? With the way this day has been going it most likely is a trap meant to sucker anyone running loose out here with the offer of shelter and safety. The hydro domes can be sealed and have renewable isolated oxygen systems. // He desperately wanted to run his hands over his face to ease the crawling beads of sweat that persisted in running down his forehead and into his eyes. // Okay, at this stage we go for safety before speed. We head for the crates and then we check out the entrance at closer quarters. Damn. Time is running out but I can't help it. We may be late reaching the shuttle dome but I am determined that we will get there. // He resisted the urge to tack an 'I hope' on the end of that thought, instead touching each man to attract their attention and motioning to the stack of crates near the domes open doors. Both responded by giving him a thumbs up of understanding and he took a moment longer to survey the area in search of anyone he really did not wish to see at this time. With the site looking clear he motioned to Polnar to lead them out.
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