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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 133 March 2nd AC 198 Preventer Patrol Cruiser E106 Bounty Date 2nd March AC 198 Time: 04:18 Bounty ship time [Sanc time 01:03] Duo // I need to sort out what is happening. Suddenly everything seems to be going to hell.// The hallway stretched out ahead of him seemingly endless. It was deserted, the multicoloured lines on the floor providing him with a guide back to the accommodation deck and his cabin which now took on the aspect of a haven from the madness that was fast overtaking his world. He needed some serious sit down and think time and he was only too aware of the looming spectre of another bout of high acceleration. //How long do I have before I become a beaten up pancake again? Not all that long. A bit over an hour I guess. Would that give me sufficient time to begin searching through Romefeller's computer records? Nah. Probably not. They are in no particular order, after all and that is my fault. When I took them I just ripped out the files that could be accessed intending to sort them later and I haven't had the time or opportunity as yet to see what additional files Heero managed to save. That might prove to be a nightmare on its own. Maybe I should take the time to rig up a search engine to scour the files and make it easier to find key words.// He was good with computers but he was a realist and he knew that he was far from the best. He prided himself on not telling outright lies and that meant that he was even honest to himself about his own short comings. He did have the ability and the knowledge to hack a computer without a problem but where it might take Yuy ten minutes to beat security protocols it would take him a half an hour to defeat the security protocols and access the same system. He had the know how and the training to write programs from scratch as during his time with the Sweepers and later under Dr G's training he had been given the very best education possible. A street rat from L2 with the equivalent education to make him a master mechanic and engineer capable of working on the advanced technology that had been DeathScythe. Yes, they had been thorough in his education, ensuring he was efficient with mobile suit and computer technology but he was honest. He was adequate with computers not a whiz kid and in this situation that would cost him valuable time. //Still, if this trip does not give me the opportunity to increase and eventually perfect my skills then I don't know what good it will do. There is going to be plenty of time to learn while we are crawling through space. I might just advance more than my computing skills too. I always wanted to improve my education. There are plenty of on line courses I could take from Universities that deal with long flight ships. I could learn heaps more than engineering and mechanics. I might even go for a Masters Degree in something. // He also might not have the time to do half of what he could consider. What ever it was that was going down in the Earth Sphere at this time it might well prove to offer much more than a passing distraction for him. Space was vast and the odds of him playing an active part in this meeting to take place in the future would be some outlandish figure but … For good or ill he had a crawling sensation in his gut that he recognized from his days in the war. It told him he was going to be involved in this meeting that would take place somewhere between Earth and the Asteroids. He knew that crawling in the gut, he had felt it innumerable times before and it always had heralded trouble. What ever happened out in space at this meeting he was certain it was not going to be boring. //Does Une know something about this? Did she know before she assigned me to the mission? If she did not then … why would she arrange for me to be on this ship and heading in the direction of Mars at this time?// There was a lot of open space to be crossed before he reached Mars and then even more space to be traversed before they reached the Asteroid Belt. Such distances could not be covered in an hour or two. Why would Une assign him to this duty that was so far away and take him from other more important missions far closer to home? He was not going to be of much use with the events taking place on Mars at this time. // I really should not presume that I will be involved in those talks to take place with these people. Station Alliance. I wonder who they really are and whether they are a feasible threat? The talks might take place on the other side of the solar system to the direction I am now travelling in. Within three months I will be passing near Mars orbit but it would take up to a year for this ship to reach a meeting site if the meeting set for July is to take place on the opposite side of the Martian orbit in relation to Earth. Think three dimensional, Maxwell and consider the complexities of trajectories, distance and travel time. You have no idea where this Station One is sited within the asteroid belt … or if it is on the far side of the belt. It could be that-a-way by a few million kilometres and not this-a-way.// He sighed. He was tired. Exhausted physically and emotionally and he hurt. It seemed that every bone and muscle in his body had a complaint to make. It had been a long day and he had thus far managed only two hours sleep and in an hour there was going to be another fifteen minutes of hell to live through as the ship boosted her speed. If Une did not send instructions before the next acceleration period after this then he would presume that he was not to be involved with the meeting despite that crawling in his gut and that would be a load off of his mind. By that third burn the ship would be committed to the Mars trajectory unless Preventers expended a huge amount of financing to turn her, slow her down and refuel her for a redirection to her flight path. //I'm tired. I want to collapse into a real bed and just forget the world exists before I have to face a poking and prodding session with the doc. How does anyone sleep with the acceleration pain?// It would not be a boring day coming up but it would be exhausting if he could get no adequate rest. He had an appointment with the ships medic after breakfast to be issued with the drugs required to maintain his body's health for the long term space flight. The drugs were crucial to him maintaining viable bone and muscle development without the benefits of gravity. It would be the first occasion that he would need to take them as during his stint on a Sweeper Family Ship there had been constant gravity in the general quarters of the ship. He smiled at the rush of memories associated with those days when he had left the streets of L2 behind him and discovered what it was to be a part of something as huge as the Sweepers. //They were good days. Very good days. So different from anything I had ever known before. Different to the streets and a far cry from the Mission and I guess the best thing about them was that I got the chance to get some really expert education. I learned a lot from the Sweepers.// He rubbed at his chin, feeling that almost bristle that told him he might need to perform his once a month shave in the next few days. The doctor was only his first port of call for the upcoming day on the Bounty. When he finished in the medical bay he was expected to visit once again with Captain Tracey of the Bounty to further discuss the events of the night and just what was he expected to say? He knew as much as the Captain, nothing more, and possibly even less. //What more he expects me to tell him I don't know. It's not as if I lived in Une's hip pocket. I'm not privy to her thoughts or what coloured knickers she wears. Ewe, what a thought. She'd string me up and skin me slowly if I found out what colour her knickers were. Focus, Maxwell, focus. He undoubtedly knows more than I do about the entire situation developing back on Earth and just as much about this Station Alliance as I do. I never heard of them before tonight. No, I don't know any more even though he seems to think I do. He's pretty high on the agent listings to have command of the Bounty and being a ship captain he has to keep abreast of the political doings of the Earth Sphere in far more detail than me. He'd need to know what trouble to expect at each of the ports of call in the colonies and out in the belt. It's what Preventer Captains do. // One thing he did not doubt was that there would be a mad scramble for information going on everywhere in the Earth Sphere at this time to identify each and every person who had had their face splashed all over the very public airwaves. Public and private archives would be scoured for every iota of information available about each person who held power in this Alliance. The to do about the Station Alliance was going to be huge, far bigger than the news of Raiders attacking Mars. It was a guaranteed attention grabber just by that name alone. Yes, the Name. That name was guaranteed to capture attention. Kushrenada. There could not have been a single name in the Earth Sphere that would more thoroughly capture the peoples attention except perhaps Peacecraft. The citizens of the ESUN feared the name Peacecraft but adored the name Kushrenada, which he personally found rather disturbing. He was not a student of history but perhaps he should give some serious thought to becoming one. From what he knew of the war, which he admitted was just a little biased, Kushrenada had been no angel yet he was loved as the World Sovereign who had defeated the evil White Fang plot to destroy the planet. Perhaps studying history might help him to understand and better accept all the posturing and finger pointing that was still going on even so long after the war. If he was fortunate, and if he did choose to pay more attention to the past then it was feasible that such knowledge might provide some help in reading through the Romefeller files. He had already found that reference to Hitler and the dawn of genetic manipulation within the files and who knew what other references might be of interest and provide him with insights as to events past and possibly future? // Romefeller. I don't know what to make of them. Well, it's a certainty that I'm not going to have the opportunity to even start looking for answers before the acceleration burn. Probably wouldn't do me any good to try hitting outside sources either. Not yet. There really is not even enough time for me to establish contact with Heero and see if he might know anything at this time about the Alliance or this raid on Mars. For that matter I'm not certain that I will be able to contact him at all for the next few days. With the security alert he would have taken Relena to a safe house well away from the Sanc Palace and he may not be able to answer any questions even if I could get through to him. Without a doubt he would have the laptop with him and I hope he has the copies of the Romefeller files hidden in a safe place. About the only action I think I could take to contact him would be to leave an email and hope he gets back to me. When he has the chance to read it. He might be a very busy man at the moment and for a few days to come. Until the crisis is over or at least settles down. The crisis? Oh, just a little more than one. Assassinations, Raiders on Mars and now the Alliance. What more could happen? // Which crisis should he pick to investigate first? Perhaps the appearance of an Alliance and the Name? Was it possible that this Kushrenada was in truth a Kushrenada and might he be involved with the terrorists who were targeting the major political figures within the ESUN who had chosen this particular day to announce their intentions? Certainly such a scenario was not impossible, but in his view it would be a damn stupid thing to do if he wanted the recognition and freedom to become a free trading partner and an independent nation status granted to the Alliance. //I honestly don't think there would be much chance of a connection existing between an obvious terrorist group and an Alliance of Space Stations sprouting trade agreements and independence but … Look at the war and how things turned out. Stranger things have happened. // What really concerned him was the involvement, if any, of Preventer Earth in any of the events that had so disrupted his reality this night. He knew only too well the past record of the woman during her time in Oz. She had been psychologically unstable but he also could not ignore the fact that she had been stable for years. Her primary watchdog assigned by the World Government was Sally Po. The Preventer Chief Medical Officer had been appointed by the committee in charge of the parole for certain key figures in the One Year War and in her turn Sally had her own watch dog set to curb her activities should the need arise. There were checks and balances on the activities of the Preventer Chief and he had no doubt that the former Alliance Intelligence Officer and physician would not hesitate in having Lady Une removed from her position should she show signs of instability. //They have so many checks and balances on key Preventer personnel that I have to wonder that we get anything done. I suppose it is to be expected when you have an organization as complex as Preventers staffed by representatives of every military organization that featured in the war. It's a wonder we are allowed to scratch our butts without our watchdogs coming down on us. // Preventers was chiefly staffed by the former members of the military from the Alliance and Oz factions. There was a sprinkling of White Fang members amid the group and certain select colony representatives as well and resistance fighters from many regions of Earth. Primarily however the organization was made up of Oz and Alliance members, they being the largest military factions in existence. In the early days of the organization that mix of personnel had led to bouts of friction ending in brawls and in one or two cases serious injury, but gradually the members of the select force had learned to live with each other and their one time differing political aspirations and altercations had become rare. When contention in more recent months occurred it was not generally of a political nature but was found to be of a more personal nature between the antagonists. // She is watched no less than we are, perhaps even more so than the Gundam Pilots are watched and considering her position that makes a lot of sense. She has one hell of a power base in the Preventers should she ever decide to use it. Sally alone is not set to watch her which would not make it easy for Une to work as efficiently as she would wish against the protocols set to contain her and ensure that the organization remains on track with the Presidential mandate. Still, she has proved in the past that she is a sneaky bitch and more than a match for politicians. There was a reason Kushrenada used her. // Preventers worked closely with the Presidential staff and in conjunction with the ESUN Security Agency whose primary purpose was to police the laws of the Earth Sphere. From Earth out to the individual colonies and thence out as far as the mining communities dotting the asteroid belt. Preventers portfolio extended further than the ESUN Security Agencies mandate of merely policing the laws. It was the sanctioned duty of the Preventers to ensure that no wars were birthed by a greed for Power giving rise to rebellion and revolution regardless of origin within the Earth Sphere. No one was supposed to be exempt from Preventer scrutiny. Supposedly the Security Agency and Preventers were to work in entirely different spheres and complement each other, but in truth there was a deep rivalry growing between the two organizations. //How effective can the head of Preventers really be if her every action is scrutinized by agents of the Security Agency? I think it is ridiculous. Still, Une always has been capable and there is no doubt about her ability to be cold blooded. Her capabilities were proven in her days in Oz and she has a lot of backing amid the colonies after her stint there. For anyone to go against her they would have to be subtle and every move would have to be planned to perfection. If she caught any whiff of them sniffing around anything she did not want them investigating I think there would be a rise in pollution in the bay. She is one woman who can kill without blinking. // For her to make any move that would actually endanger the stability of the government would require her to execute every action with excruciating care and devotion to detail to escape early detection by her watchdogs. He did not doubt that she would be capable of doing exactly that and he wondered if he was not caught up in just such a scheme. //There is so much happening all at once. Something could feasibly be slipped past her guardians' control sphere. She terrified me when she was in Oz and she seemed stable enough when I was talking to her but … Ah, shit. What the hell do I think I am doing? I have to go to bed. // He rubbed at his chin and scratched at the small roughness there. Scratching lightly with a short finger nail he grinned and nodded slightly with delight. He really was going to have to consider taking up shaving soon on a more regular basis. For a long time he had been waiting to take up shaving and had despaired of ever developing whiskers. He'd felt rather small and immature beside some of the other agents, even the young ones who still measured more years than he. Encouraged by this evidence of his developing maturity he briefly wished that the development would extend to his rather diminutive height. He had always been undersized for his age and overly sensitive to references made to his lack of stature. The development of a need to shave once a month gave him hope and while it did not give him much hope of reaching a stately height he did entertain the notion of maybe acquiring two or three inches. That lofty height would certainly improve his view of the world, as might the acquisition of a few kilos in weight as he gained bone and muscle. He had heard that some people actually grew a little under the prolonged use of the long term flight drugs. Even Chang had grown in the last year and Duo had been feeling left out. //Flighty, Maxwell. You could not get a bigger change in thought that skipping from Raiders, Alliance, Une's knickers and the fact you're a shrimp. Not that I think I'm a shrimp. Good things come in small packages after all and it helps hide in small places when you really don't want to be seen. Yes, being small has its uses. Agh. Listen to yourself. You are too tired to concentrate on any one thing for long and that is not good. No, I don't think I will try to gain any information on what is happening out there now. After breakfast or the interview with the captain will have to do. I feel that tired that if I am lucky I might even sleep through the acceleration burn.// He had chosen to walk back to the accommodation deck instead of using the automated rail system in favour of taking the opportunity to think. There was so much that required his attention but he felt muddle headed, exhausted and it was an effort to make his feet lift from the deck. His magnetic boots clicked against the metal decking, holding him firmly to the deck plates. Usually it required only a little effort on his part to free the magnetic soles from the metal to permit him to take each step but now it seemed an effort to lift each booted foot. Despite his exhaustion he refused to consider using the rail system. While he was on the Bounty he had already decided that he would be using the magnetic boots more than the rail system as a means to augment his exercise routine. The more he could work his muscles the less deterioration would occur in the zero gravity. Even using the drugs the medic would begin him on later in the day he would experience some atrophy if he did not maintain a strict physical regime. //I hate the very idea of using drugs as a rule but in this case I guess I just have no choice. Without them I will be hopelessly weak and unable to function adequately when we hit a gravity well again. Long distance space travel sucks.// ' … on board ship. One of Them. They took you away from me. Butchered you.' Duo froze, glancing behind him to survey the empty passage way with a scowl darkening his eyes from blue to violet. The Preventer agent glanced back quickly to check the way ahead of him but found himself to be alone in the hallway. For a long moment he remained rigid, alert for the slightest sound that would alert him to the location of a stalker. He listened, straining for all he was worth to catch the smallest of sounds. No movement. No voice. No breathing. The doors opening into the corridor were closed, each of the cabins along the walls to either side showing the lock down lights, small red glows in the dimmed lighting of the passageway. Almost like evil eyes glinting in the darkened shadows. He could very quickly allow his imagination to run away with him in this lighting. He waited, watching all doors and the length and breadth of the hallway, checking behind him every few seconds, certain that he was not alone, that someone was there. He knew that he was on a ship full of people and that many of those people had no cause to love him. He was a Gundam Pilot, a terrorist who had killed family and friends and that not all of the crew were going to get over that in a hurry. They might have seemed to have no problem with his presence initially, the Captain might well be right, but that did not necessarily mean that he was not going to be in for trouble. Some of these men and women who crewed the Bounty no doubt would have good cause to resent, even hate him for what had occurred during the war. He had killed and even to himself there were some days during the war when it seemed that if you wore a uniform you wore a badge that said kill me. How many people had he killed in his days as a terrorist? He had been recruited to defend the Colonies and he had believed that what he did was right, but that did not mean that he did not still hear them screaming as they died. He was on a ship full of people who had no reason to love him but would there be problems this early on in the flight? //I don't like this. // He stared down the hallway until his eyes hurt and then checked his back. //Deserted, but I am sure I heard … // He sighed, shaking his head and continued on his way but he was careful to watch his back as he entered the hallway where his assigned cabin could be found. He paused at the intersection and to listen hard for the tell tale click of magnetic boots or the elevated hum that would tell him someone was using the hand rail system. Around him the ship seemed eerily silent. Ghost like. The crawling along his spine that insisted he was watched still haunted him as he reached his own cabin and he watched the companion way for long minutes before calling up the computer registry on his door lock. To his careful examination of the log he found that the registry claimed no one had opened his door since he had departed but he knew a dozen ways to circumvent that record. He had bypassed such functions plenty of times before. //I'm not paranoid. The shrink I talked to for months said I was surprisingly well adjusted considering my past and my occupation during the war. I'm not paranoid … but I sure as hell don't like this feeling.// With a small huff of breath he swiped his key card and stepped to one side as the door slid open. He waited for a count of thirty, standing to the side of the open cabin door half expecting a gunshot to herald an assassin. No sound and no light spilled from the cabin and with another look about him he leaned closer to the door trying to angle himself so that he had a view into the small space and not leave himself silhouette against the door. “Lights.” he commanded. No bark of a weapon answered him, no knife flashed in the illumination now brightening the room. No voice cursed him and called him murderer. Feeling unsettled, not at all relieved that he was alone, he entered the cabin and locked the door as it swooshed shut behind him. “Fuck. Don't tell me I'm going to be this jumpy for the entire flight?” He found himself checking the secured cupboards and every nook and cranny of the cabin for listening devices or hidden cameras but found nothing. Finally, convinced at least for the moment that he was safe he considered the sleeping bag and the exhaustion that argued he settle himself within its constricting embrace and enjoy some well deserved sleep. //I wish I could use the bunk.// He scowled at the bag hanging in the nook where the fold down bunk would be if they were not in a zero g situation even as he began to shuck his clothing, stuffing shirt and trousers into the locker flanking the bunk cubicle. On those few days when the ship's Medical Officers called for gravity to be instigated on the ship he would have the luxury of releasing the standard bunk from its confinement and how he would revel in being able to sleep in what he knew was a horizontal position. For now he, like everyone else on board the Bounty, had to settle for the bag and constantly telling himself that it was okay to sleep on his feet. //Not like we have a choice, really. It's not even as though the body really has an up, down or horizontal reference in zero g. It's just the psychology of knowing I'm not lying down that gets to me.// Maybe he would discover that space flight was not for him. He had occasionally entertained the idea of joining up with a Sweeper ship but his work as a Preventer had kept him occupied and he had not given it serious contemplation. Shuttle runs between Earth and the Colonies was a far cry from what he was about to endure and he was pretty sure it would be enduring and not enjoying. It was a risky business long haul flight and this ship was a far cry from the luxury of the modern Family Ship of the Sweepers where he had had his first taste of true space flight. //They have gravity twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. Stronger gravity than the colonies in some cases. Not like these long haul ships but the Family Ships never birth at a colony. Few people know that they even exist. I wonder what Howard is doing now? It's been a while since I spoke to him. Maybe he could tell me something about this Station Alliance. He's in thick with the Sweeper Council.// The last of his clothing and boots was tucked neatly away in the appropriate locker and with a muttered grumble at the necessity of it he began wriggling himself into the suspended bag and making himself as comfortable as possible. He instructed the computer to lower the lights to a dim glow, suddenly uncomfortable with the idea of being in the dark and in the confinement of the bag. He was certain that he was going to have trouble on board the Bounty though exactly what it was that alarmed him he could not say. The hallway had been empty. There simply had been no one else with him and yes, he did have quite an imagination but … //Shit. We have not even left the hub of the Earth Sphere yet though this new burn will take us out of the area and really set us on course for Mars. Maybe that is the problem? The distance. I'm not comfortable with the idea of the distances involved in this trip. Each day will take us further away from help and we will be on our own. Help would take days and then weeks and months to reach us if we needed it. Gives new meaning to being alone. I don't know anybody on this ship. There is no one here that I can trust to guard my back. I hate being alone. I don't feel that I can trust anyone at this stage. I have no back up and I'm not used to working that alone. // Out here there was no fellow Gundam Pilots to watch his back on the assigned mission. He felt exposed, vulnerable to attack and that was a feeling he had never enjoyed. In truth it had been years since he had felt it. It was not until the pilots had begun to work together that he had realized how closely he had had to watch his own back in the past. He was uncertain just when it was that he had begun to trust the other pilots. He knew that he had not really begun to trust Heero until the Wing pilot had rescued him from the oh so tender ministrations of Oz when he had been taken prisoner in space. He had found himself trusting Quatre when they had been holed up in Arabia with the Maguanacs. He had not really known the other pilots though he had decided that he could trust Chang when they were held captive on the moon. As for Barton … well, he really had not known just how far he could trust Trowa who seemed to be working for Oz when they had met but he admitted that Trowa slipping him the plans for the new DeathScythe and Altron Gundams had gone a long way toward accepting him. //Guess I am not really a very trusting soul deep down. I tend to make people prove themselves to me, taking nothing said or done near me at face value. I think Captain Tracey might be okay. He seems decent enough but only time will tell and as for the rest of them … Well. It's a long way to Mars. We will see. Space crazies. Wonderful thought. If there is someone on board this ship who has a real bone to pick with me I might not get much warning before the shit hits the fan. I am going to have to keep my guard up and remember that my friend might be my enemy the next day. The longer we are on the ship the more chance there is that someone will lose the plot if they insist on stewing on the past. I hope the medics on board keep real close watch on their people. // 'One of Them. They took you away from me. Butchered you.' He forced the thought away. Imagination. There had been no one there, no one to whisper the words in his ear. He was likely the one to go space crazy, unaccustomed as he was to the rigors of deep space flight. He would have to guard his own sanity as well as his body.
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