|
"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 118 Mars Colony Base Dome Time: 01: 05 [approx Sanc time 22:55] Simpson //This goes to show just how much research on this mission was not carried out. How am I supposed to carry out the mission quickly, quietly and above all effectively without accurate information to work with? None of this was included on any plans of the Mars Base that came to my sight.// It had been one failure after another, this mission. One of the biggest failures in his estimation was his information on the Sleepers assigned to the Colony project. Admittedly there had been a notation that with prolonged isolation there had been known to occur the odd psychological problems with deeply imbedded personal. //Odd psychological problem indeed. McIntyre and her entire crew were nut cases. Nothing odd about them at all. Just plain raving psychopaths. They have not helped this mission and heads will roll when it is over. I'll make bloody certain of that.// Had they no plan beyond massacre everyone as quietly as possible? The amount of corpses he had found to date sickened him. The manner in which most had died clearly suggested the victims had not known what was happening until it was too late. Ambush. Stealth featured in all of the killings to date and he was never going to turn his back on anyone he remotely considered a possible Sleeper Agent. There were lessons to be learned on Mars and he was not going to forget them in a hurry. The only thing that he could see the Sleepers had been good for was cold blooded and methodical murder. He was getting tired and that was going to lead to mistakes being made and that he could not afford. Too much yet had to be accomplished before he dared to rest. He pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes closed for just a moment. While he was alone on the ground floor of the Shuttle Control Tower he was not going to permit himself to be caught off guard. For all he knew the Sleepers who might have survived were that far gone now they would kill first and say oops later. // What happened here? What happened while I was gone? I needed that bitch to lure Merquise and now … Damn. Will nothing about this assignment work as it is supposed to? // This room had once been an office of some kind, perhaps belonging to one of the shuttle control directors but now the rather nondescript room was interesting for its latest odiferous addition. The hole burned into the floor was of a somewhat substantial size, burned into the floor with the use of the oxi welder now tucked into one corner of the room. The stench of the burning plastic materials used in the construction of the flooring was vile though it had dispersed somewhat in the last few minutes making it possible to remain here without coughing and choking and possibly inhaling enough toxic chemicals to at the least give a body lung cancer in a few years. //This was not on any of the blue prints and design specs sent to me. Somebody knows this place a whole lot better than I do and that is dangerous. // He glared into the depths of the hole and into the smaller but still substantial hole burned into the ventilation piping running under the level of the tower. As a necessary part of his mission he had insisted on having every available schematic of the Base Dome for his perusal prior to their departure from the Earth Sphere's central hub. He needed to know the terrain and the design of the layout to effectively work toward his goal should Merquise have resisted their mission. He had studied the plans for the Base Dome with great attention to detail and this hidden ventilation system had not been included on those schematics sent to him. That failure had now been shown to be of considerable danger to his team. Someone at the Base Dome had better, more extensive knowledge of the base than was available to him. It was a problem and he could not immediately see a way around it. Frazier had punched a way into the room below the ventilation ducts and informed him that the room below was of a reasonable size and that the exit door was sealed. Who ever had cut their way into the ventilation system had not seemed interested in going into that room, just in the long abandoned system of pipes. Perhaps further along that vent system there was another room or sequence of rooms that were of more interest. How was he to know? Could he afford to go into the vents and try to track who ever it was who had gone into the pipes? Who was it who had known of the long abandoned system of pipes and the rooms they serviced and were they friendly with Merquise? Were they friendly enough with his target that they would tell him about this old system and might Merquise attempt to use it? Or had that already happened? Had an old hand who had been here prior to the existing structures under the dome already offered Merquise knowledge of the older constructions that might offer him an advantage in this struggle. //So much for thinking that the tower was secured and that Noin was safe. I wonder where these vents lead and just what else don't I know about this place that could affect the outcome? What else has been missed in my briefing that could wreck what chance remains for a satisfactory outcome? What would be more helpful would be to know what the hell anyone is doing using these abandoned ways? It makes no sense.// He snorted softly to himself. Of course it made sense, he just did not have all of the puzzle pieces as yet. When he did he would understand just what had happened within the tower after he and his subordinate had departed. He had more investigating to do before he understood just what had been going on here but he understood that it was a mystery that might have to wait for him to unravel its tangles. There were more important things that demanded his attention at this time. Somehow he had erred and lost Noin, but no, that did not mean that he was going to lose this round. It was merely a setback and setbacks could be overcome. It was only one of many minor problems that had delayed the inevitable this day. If he looked at the facts he had to believe that he was going to succeed in this mission, after all, he had a back up team in the Alpha Dome. While it was true that he had not been able to contact them for hours now the facts remained that he did have the back up of fresh men and Merquise was on his own. Noin would be useless to him in her condition and while he might have garnered the assistance of one or two of the workers at the dome that assistance was negligible when you compared it to his team of professionals. He had backup in the Alpha Dome and he would learn soon enough what kept them so silent. That was unimportant at this time. Following his sojourn into the sub base there was another source of backup to be considered. He had found the two women liaisoned to his team in the medical centre of the sub base and he knew that they would be capable of returning to duty in a few hours. The nursing staff who had been attending to his drugged agents assured him that they would recover soon enough and be capable of assisting him and he determined that by then he would have in his custody one irritating blonde and his equally irritating little bastards. It was no small relief to him that not all of his team were dead or missing now. While two of his men were confirmed dead, he had located their bodies in the sub base morgue, there were still two men missing. The nurses he had spoken to when he had located the women assigned to care for the twins had assured him that his team members would require as little as another three, perhaps four hours before they would be recovered from the sedatives and ready for duty again. He was not inclined to change babies of their soiled breach clouts or bottle feed them so knowing the women would be available by the time he located the children was a relief. While the fate of the two men still missing was unknown he suspected that Merquise had taken them out and disposed of their bodies which led him to believe that the man obviously had a problem with killing women else he would have killed them too. A possible weakness that he might yet use to his advantage but for now he needed to plan his next move. “Idiocy.” he muttered, glaring into the depths of the hole and then shook his head. It was past time he got over this mystery and his snit at the inadequacies of the intelligence service who served his grandfather. He would have his say in the fullness of time and the same mistakes would not be repeated. With a grunt he moved out of the room and along the hall, wishing that the tower did not stink as much as it did of burning chemicals and roasted flesh. They were on a sealed circulatory system at the moment, a computer warning having sounded seconds before the tower sealed itself and initiated the sealed survival system. He was far from pleased when that had happened as it was due to a toxic buildup within the dome caused by the fire from the elevator block. Another example of McIntyre's brilliant ability to screw up his mission. The safety seals of the tower and every other building designated an emergency shelter in the upper dome had been initiated and there would be no leaving the tower without the protection of an enviro suit. It was an inconvenience, but it was not a disaster. It actually gave him time to consider what had happened thus far with the mission and in the tower during his absence with little chance of being surprised by undesirable company and it also gave him the opportunity to make his plans and determine what would need to be done to ensure the ultimate success of the mission. That the mission would be a success he did not doubt. He had not failed thus far in his career and he did not intend to fail now. The hallway was rank with the stench of burned plastic and cooked flesh and the lesser stench of blood and explosive residue. He was not squeamish at all but he refused to pay attention to the wreckage that marked the stairwell and what was left of the person who had triggered one of McIntyre's sick little toys. There were body parts and sections of the stairs and banister railing littered over the floor and imbedded in the walls of the hallway and it was ironic to think that if the poor sod had used the elevators he would have been spared such a messy death. No doubt her victim had thought the stairs would be the safer option which meant that he was a terra former who had cause to know that something was very wrong within the dome. Simpson scowled as he paused at the elevator to consider that thought. Just how many people still were alive in the dome? The Sleepers had been cutting a swathe through the terra formers and that he could tell the only resistance to their efforts had come in the form of Merquise. He knew that the bulk of the workers here had been assigned to the exterior of the dome for maintenance duties but he knew that there were still a considerable number who had remained within the protection of the dome. //Not that that matters. They all will meet the same fate in the end.// He used the elevator, riding it to the level of the control room and stalked into the hallway. He avoided the ladder and beyond venting a growl of annoyance at the inconvenient placement of the ladder he ignored it and strode toward the control room, not giving the open vent a glance. He had already been up that ladder shortly after he had returned from the sub base and found that his secured tower had been violated. While the vent had been found to be empty on examining it he had begun to get an inkling as to what had happened in the control room and the stores and maintenance cupboard where he had left Noin. McIntyre had come looking for Noin as he had been concerned she would. He had thought he had covered all bases and that the woman's madness would make subtlety a thing beyond her. His error and he had to admit it. McIntyre might have been insane but she was not stupid with her instability. She had found the one weakness in Noin's prison and devised a way to use it to her advantage. What exactly had happened after that … He was still trying to work that one out but he had no time for speculation now. What concerned him was if Frazier had managed to rescue any of the main computers functions. The smell emanating from the control room was a nauseating, stomach wrenching mix of blood and burning circuitry combining to make a unwholesome stench. For some reason it was more foul than the odour lingering in the elevator shaft and lower hallway. When they had departed the Shuttle Control Tower in search of his people in the sub base he had assumed that he had secured the tower against intrusion and that his Ace for use against Merquise would be safe. Like so many events of this cursed day he had underestimated his opponents and because of that underestimation he had lost ground without actually coming face to face with Merquise. He paused on the threshold of the control room, eyes running over the ruined equipment and shook his head. //Merquise had to have been here, but I doubt that he was alone. He is if nothing else canny and a professional and he would not have been fool enough to permit any of his people to use the stairs untested. No, the tower has had more than one set of visitors since I left. Merquise had to have been one of them and who that poor fool was down stairs I don't know, but he would not have come alone, I think. He was three times a fool if he did.// He stalked through the control room, glancing briefly to ascertain what Frazier was doing. He had sent his tech to the control room after they had performed a search of the tower and discovered the office down stairs which sported that hole in the floor. It was Frazier, the slimmer and lighter of the two of them who had climbed into the hole and cut into the room beneath the vent system and on his return to the office Simpson had ordered him to salvage what he could of the equipment in the control room. The tech was half hidden behind a computer bank at this time and a steady rumble of cursing was audible as he poked around in the inner workings of the computer banks and Simpson decided to give him a little more time. It was obvious from the amount of shrapnel imbedded in the machines that it would take the man a little while to sort out what would and would not work and how much time and labour would be required to bring the systems back on line. He wanted out of the Control Tower and before they could get on with the business of locating and capturing Marquise they needed to know more about this toxic buildup in the dome and what effects it might have on their course of action. He knew without physical evidence that Merquise had been here. He could feel the man's presence like a beacon, something like an annoying bruise on his pride. Only the Lightning Count had ever offered this much trouble and opposition to a mission but he was not defeated yet. This duel of wits would come to a satisfactory conclusion in the end and it would not be Merquise who walked away the victor. He had to date met and won every challenge he had faced and capturing one man was not going to defeat him. It was just unfortunate that his prime playing piece had escaped him. He worked his way past the pretzel that had once been a solid steel door with care and glared around the wreckage of the room, shaking his head at the damage. The source of that metallic scent of blood in copious quantities was of course McIntyre who plainly had met something beyond her insanity to deal with and her luck had run out. Just what had happened in here to leave her strung up as she was and looking like a well used pin cushion? He had seen shrapnel wounds before but never anything remotely resembling the sheer volume of wounds she bore. It was obvious to him what she had intended by breaking into the room but something had happened. Something entirely unexpected and something he was at a loss to explain. //I admit that I am not in the least sorry to see her die, but how her death was accomplished is of more concern at the moment. With the evidence there is it had to be some form of explosive but I have not witnessed the use of or effect of any type of explosive material that could produce this type of damage. McIntyre was butchered in here, sliced and diced by shrapnel beyond any doubt and it is my guess that Noin can not have been in here at the time McIntyre broke in or her body too would lie here. She must have been removed from the room and the explosive charge set before McIntyre made her way in. Merquise? I would not have thought it his style but what other explanation is there? He or they, if he is not alone and I doubt he is on his own, must have set some type of incendiary device to effect this type and degree of damage. The thing is, he is a soldier. This has a terrorists signature to it, something I would certainly expect from McIntyre, not someone who trained as a Special of the annoyingly honour bound Oz forces. Not Merquise. It is not his style but if not him, then who and why? // As a result of the blast that had taken place any loose item in the maintenance room had become a missile and the force of the explosion had not only warped the steel door, twisting, bending it and ripping it from one hinge, but had also turned solid steel shelving into twisted pretzels. McIntyre had become entangled and trapped in that twisted shelving, suspended in a steel cage and her body appeared to be the target for the vast majority of the shrapnel formed by the loose spare parts normally stored here. The force of the explosion must have been phenomenal as he had noted the wall opposite the maintenance room door had bowed out under the force of the blast. He knew of explosive devices that certainly could cause such damage but he knew of no explosive that could cause this type of damage and not leave any indication of fire damage. The blast zone was clean of scorching and flash damage and that was impossible. He had found no indication of scorching on the walls or the corpse of the woman hanging in the room and there certainly was no sign of the signature gel of a nitrogen charge being used though the chill in the room was suggestive of a nitrogen grenade. // It's certainly cold enough to be the result of a nitrogen charge but other than the cold there is no physical evidence of such a charge being used. No, something is very wrong here. I know of no explosive that could cause this damage and leave no evidence of the nature of the device. Other than the chill that is indicative of a nitrogen charge there is no evidence of how this amount of damage could be achieved. I am left with one very dead woman, a freezer full of junk and no sign of Noin. She was incapable of taking any action for hours at her stage of recovery from the shock charge so she must have been removed before McIntyre was trapped here and just how did they manage that? Frazier knows his business and there should have been enough protection on those codes to stop anyone from getting in here for hours without the correct codes. Nothing adds up.// From the moment they had reached the Shuttle Control building they had known that something had happened during their absence. The codes on the door had not been the same and on entering the foyer the smell of burning plastic had been obvious. Entering that first hallway beyond the foyer had shown the damage done at the stairwell and the odd body part said it all. He had no idea who the poor bastard was who had dared the stairs without checking for traps but he was pretty much wallpaper now. //Ironically the elevator was clear of traps and had he used it he would not have met such a violent end. Either he had entered on his own or someone had survived the trap and gone on to … what? Some lucky individual survived who had then found Noin …? No. that still does not work. Only Merquise would have had a reason to remove Noin. Anyone else would have called a med alert and left her for properly trained medical personal to deal with. Just how many people managed to get in here?// At least two people had entered excluding McIntyre, possibly more and certainly not in the one party. Merquise was professional enough not to fall for the trap on the stairs and he certainly would have had better control of anyone in his company and permitted no one to make that fatal mistake. The cut floor in that office down stairs worried him. Why would anyone cut into the floor and into old vent shafts when they could have simply walked out the door? It made no sense. //I am missing too much here. // The lockdown of the building was not causing him much in the way of concern as he knew what the cause had to be. It was an automatic response to toxic buildup caused by the fire in the elevator block fouling the closely monitored air of the dome, but why were the vents not clearing the buildup of fumes? That was of concern to him. He knew where he and Frazier could get enviro suits to permit them to exit the building but that was for later. Just now he needed to know if the tech could do something about clearing the air. The great vent fans of the dome should have been powerful enough to clear the fumes before there had been any danger of a toxic buildup. It was McIntyre he had to thank for this delay in his plans, of course. She had set the bomb on the elevator shaft and initiated this latest development not that he could take it out on the stupid bitch, of course. She was quite dead and beyond his anger now. “Frazier, how are you doing in there?” He knew that Frazier was good but just how good he was must now be tested. The explosion had seen the main computer consul impacted by shrapnel and suffering fire damage from the electrical discharges resulting from the impact. After looking at that mess himself he was uncertain just how much of the system could still be operational. Frazier was supposed to be working on the system to ascertain if the computers were usable and if possible to check on the integrity of the ventilation system and he had been disturbingly silent for rather a long time. “Beyond a few diagnostics and basic functions it is unusable. I have managed to determined that the ventilation systems are malfunctioning but I can't get enough out of the diagnostics to be certain why. I think it is the results of that virus planted in the main system but I can not be certain with the state the equipment here is in. We locked down the vents before we went to the sub base but that would not stop the fans or close off the exhaust outlets which is what is causing the back up of toxic fumes. I need access to a computer that is in one piece to track down the problem, either that or we need to get back into the sub base until the Wellington arrives.” Frazier stood in the doorway, leaning over the twisted wreck of the door and eyeing the chaos in the room with a sickened look. Frazier was by no means squeamish but this was out of the norm and Simpson had had enough of looking at it himself. It was time to make some decisions and standing here bemoaning the fact that he had lost Noin and the golden opportunity she represented to trap Merquise was not going to complete his mission. // Okay, we are not going to be able to do anything to ensure we have breathable atmosphere up here. Next order of business? Merquise and luring him into a confrontation. Finding those damn kids would bring him running but I have no idea where he has them hidden or who he would trust enough to leave them with. The reports suggested that he would not trust anyone enough to leave them with other than Noin but since she went on the war path, who would that leave him with as a viable alternative option? My guess would have to be a friend of Noin's but … I do not know who of her acquaintances they would trust enough for that. Intelligence suggested that McIntyre was considered her best friend and she certainly did not have the brats. Point one. Merquise has been here and he has moved Noin which may just have killed her considering the condition she was in. Variable. If she died in the move he would likely not be stable. Point two. He has found someone and somewhere to hide those children, his greatest weakness. Point three. Psyche reports based on the observations of the psychiatrists monitoring his condition on Mars suggest he could be more manageable if he loses control. Variable. So far intelligence on the make up of this mission has been shit and I do not trust the reports as far as I can kick the people who devised them. I am more inclined to think losing control would only make Merquise more unpredictable and more of a handful. // Frazier stirred when his commander remained silent, obviously lost in contemplation of their next move. “The majority of this computer system is copied in the Main Control Tower. If I can get into the control room of the tower I might be able to work with that system to get the ventilation systems operational again. The sensor monitors that are still working here suggest that within thirty minutes the dome will be uninhabitable. As it is anyone exposed to the air out there at this time has about two, maybe three minutes at most before they would pass out and another minute after that before they are dead.” //Lovely. Undeniably it would make our work easier, however there is the possibility that Merquise is up here. Out there somewhere hunting Sleepers. I have to take him down alive, but he would not be inclined to ignore the computer warning and that was a general alert broadcast throughout the dome. He would have heard it, but where would he go to shelter? // “What about the sub base? Is that vent system at risk?” Frazier shook his head in the negative. “From the schematics I studied that system is totally isolated from the systems operating in the enviro dome. What happens up here will not be mirrored down there unless someone has really screwed with the main control systems.” “Is that likely?” “I doubt it. I will say one thing for the designers of this place. The dome and the sub base were designed with a herd and a half of safety features in the event that the dome was ever breached. As part of the emergency systems activating the sub base should now be sealed and self sustaining for at least a month, maybe two. The food stores down there are not limitless but the air supply is on a recycling system and there is adequate water available. The hydroponics domes and three or four of the buildings are like this tower, automatically sealed in the event of emergencies and self sustaining if only for a limited time. Sufficient time for the emergency to be dealt with and adequate repairs to be made to the main system.” // Where would you be, Merquise? Up here still in one of the buildings or hydroponics units or have you gone back down into the dome? If it was you who took Noin then perhaps you have taken her in search of medical treatment? That has potential. There is also the fact that I very much doubt you would expose your children to the dangers inherent in having a dome as their only protection in the event of an accident happening . The sub base is looking more and more like the security you would be after. Medics and equipment Noin would need are easily available to you down there. // Frazier stirred, glancing over his shoulder at a small explosion of electrical discharge and sighed. Another failure of the computer system and he glanced back at the Commander when the man finally stirred, moving toward the door. “Very well. We go back down into the sub base and search for Merquise there. If he has Noin that is where he will be and we can deal with the upper dome at our leisure. Securing Merquise and the children must be our first priority. If Merquise is still up here he would not be inclined to remain in an exposed position or one easily secured against him and everyone had to have heard that warning. He is most likely to be down in the sub base and that is to our advantage. It will be another two or three hours before our reinforcements are expected to wake up from the sedatives and another hour after that before they will be back on their feet. By that time I want those twins and that man in custody. We need to get the enviro suits and get ourselves once more into a position of strength against Merquise since we appear to have lost the advantage of possessing Miss Noin.” “Yes, Sir. Suit storage is on the floor above this, just down from the medical bay.” “Have you finished here?” Simpson inclined his head toward the smoking computer banks. “Yes. There is nothing more that I can do with the computer. I would say they do not have the parts here to effect a repair even if they were going to be given the opportunity and that may cause some problems if we can not find a system that still operates. Most of the spare parts seem to be imbedded in the walls around us or in Ms McIntyre, Sir. I don't know what type of explosive they used but it was thorough. The shrapnel has pretty much totalled the entire system and taken out the spare parts, leaving us with a possible problem with repairing the life support computers if more systems fail. We had best hope that does not happen or the Wellington might not find us in the best of health if the entire network shuts down.” //Wonderful. If the network shuts down the oxygen generation plant shuts down with it. First thing first, however. We need to get back into the sub base and it will take us more than two minutes to reach the elevators making enviro suits a necessity. Anyone who is not in one of these safety buildings will die and I suppose that will save the clean up crew from the Wellington a bit of trouble. If we are lucky Merquise will take out the last of the psychos before we round him up. I have no idea where the bastard is at this time but if it was him who took Noin, and I doubt anyone else would have bothered with her, then I would estimate that he is on his way to the medical unit. Predictable I know but he would want to do what he could to save her and she needs all the medical attention he could get. I wonder if he took her to the medical unit upstairs? Probably did and I doubt that he would have found anything there that would have been of much help to her and with communication cut off that would mean he would need to get her to the doctors in the med centre. Moving her around the base will only kill her faster. I doubt that I will need to worry about putting her out of her misery. He'll do that job for me.// “On the way to pick up the suits we take the time to check out the medical unit upstairs. It is possible Merquise may have taken Noin up there for treatment before moving her out of the tower. We might get an idea of his actions by checking over the room. He is most likely on his way to or already at the medical unit in the sub base. It is not his style to rig bombs and booby traps but in a desperate situation you never know. It is possible that that psycho McIntyre has left some little surprises upstairs that we do not know about, so watch yourself.” “Do we do a room by room check on the way to the med centre, Sir?” “Not necessary. I have done a room by room while you were busy with the computer. What concerns me is the room under the tower and the old vent system underlying the building. None of that was included on any of the plans I was given of the base. It concerns me that there may be other surprises waiting for us because of faulty intelligence.” Frazier considered for a long moment, reviewing all of the information of the computer systems he had needed to review and the floor plans of their power supply. Much of this mission had hinged on his knowledge of the systems and his ability to make those systems work for them. On none of the plans he had viewed had there been so much as a hint of disused systems but one report he had read might have baring on this current situation. Perhaps there might even be a separate computer system, long forgotten in those rooms beneath the tower that might be of use if the network failed. “I reviewed one report that talked about the construction of rooms beneath the base, this is before the enviro dome was constructed, well before the plans for the sub base facilities were drawn up. It would have been in the very early days of the settlement, when it was a very basic research station, but I'm not sure where the rooms would have been placed if they were constructed. I presume it could be what is under this tower. I doubt it would lead anywhere, it was to be designed for an emergency shelter from meteorite showers I think. The report I read suggested much of the original design for the base to be constructed on Mars was actually scrapped due to economic concerns around AC 190.” “Well enough. Nothing we can do about it now. Up stairs first and secure two enviro suits then our priority is to make our way down to the sub base. We will check on the condition of the two women and perhaps there might even be news on our missing men. If for any reason we get separated make your way to our original rendezvous point within the air vents. It might be that our missing men have found their way there.” “I checked the radio frequencies while I was checking out the computer. No traffic as yet, Sir. No word from any of our team and no contact with the Wellington.” “Well enough. We are on our own until we hear otherwise. You are certain that you can not do anything with the computers here?” “Junk would have more use.” “Then we go up after the suits.” He noted Frazier give the computer a smouldering glance, guessing that the man was unamused over the loss of the work he had performed in securing the dome and that effort now being wasted. He had taken care not to let his tech out of his sight knowing that he needed his expertise and every little advantage that expertise could grant them. While it was true that he had not expected Merquise to be a pushover he had certainly not expected to meet him with his team at less than half strength and to suffer such heavy losses as he had so quickly was downright insulting. Frazier was the only resource he had available to him until those women woke up or until he could find what had happened to the missing members of his team. It was possible that Merquise might not have killed them or even met them. Anything could have happened on this God forsaken ball of rock. He motioned Frazier to go ahead of him while he worked his way around the twisted remains of the door. // What happened in the Alpha Dome to wipe out the reserve team? No, it must only be radio difficulties, they can't be dead or imprisoned. I have had no news from the big dome since we left there and I still have two men unaccounted for in the Base Dome. Those women in the medical section will be useless for hours yet but at least I know that they are alive and that they may be of use later. The nurse said it would possibly be three hours, most likely four before I can get any use out of them and by that time I had best have Merquise in restraints and those brats secured. The sooner we get this finished the better. I would estimate that within the hour the last of the maintenance workers outside of the dome would be finished. I am not one to condone mass slaughter but in this situation there has been no other option. There should have been another way to acquire Merquise than to risk this type of operation. Surely the Sleepers could have slipped something into the man's food to make him ill enough to warrant hospitalisation. He would have been easy pickings in such a situation. // It was useless, he knew, to count the various ways that would have made it a successful operation. There were so many ways to successfully take down the man without killing a few thousand people just because they witnessed it. All of the elite training in the world would not have saved Merquise if this operation had been planned adequately. It was planning failure, he was certain of that. Had the numbers men back on Earth failed to take into account Lucrezia Noin? She had been the one to start this fiasco when she had taken out two of his people. It was not Merquise who had started this massacre but Noin. Prior to his departure for this mission he had been informed that the consensus was that Merquise would surrender himself and his children to the commander of the team to avoid any unpleasantness provided he made it plain to the man that should he resist he would be placing the lives of the terra formers at risk. He was to have met with the man in a formal situation and with all the necessary formalities for the man's blood rite being observed. He was the Prince of Sanc, after all and the powers that be wanted him in protective custody away from the public eye. He was to have explained in suitably flowery language that the man would understand and if necessary say in plain words what would happen on Mars if Merquise chose to resist his detention and transfer. According to the numbers men, that would be the end of it. Merquise would surrender quietly. //Right, and I'm a three toed Sloth. It might have been their consensus but if they really believed it why the hell was I and my team dispatched to Mars to politely invite him to move house? Don't those ideas men have any true concept of what that man used to be? I suppose 'used to be' are the operative words to be considered. Its been a few years since he was in a position to exercise any of his training but he obviously has forgotten nothing and is still fit. Noin was better than I thought she would be to take out that red haired loony in the control tower the way she did. Strung up like last years Christmas turkey for the slaughter. Well, I guess in the end she was slaughtered. I still do not understand how that was accomplished. All the signs are that a massive explosion ripped through the room. I will need to consider that in dealing with Merquise. He has some type of new explosive that I know nothing about … accept what it can do to a person and a room. Impressive I have to admit, but it has been seen and I will not forget. I need to secure the dome. The Wellington is on the way and I need to have this place secured and ready for them when they get here. Not that there is going to be all that much for them to do when they do arrive. The bulk of the workers were on that maintenance team and they are just about gone by now. Even those men and women in mobile suits would not last much longer. // He stalked to the door and paused, glancing back as another shower of sparks erupted from the computer and he growled in frustration. “Will nothing go right on this bloody mission?” t.b.c.
|
