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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 146 Mars Colony Base Dome 2nd March AC 198 Time: 01: 55 [approx Sanc time 23:45] Simpson "Do you need me to alert specific staff or can I leave the details of who is best suited for the work you need to them?" Broadham was once again leaning over the bed and the nurse panting softly under his ministrations and he did not look up as Simpson shifted in the vents. The Commander positioned himself carefully and lowered himself through the vent access feet first. He spared a moment to glance around the room as he hung from the vent and noted that both mothers were intent on their children and engaged in breast feeding and thankfully the babies appeared to be feeding themselves to sleep. //Good. At least I won’t have them screaming.// At this time one of the last things he needed was wailing infants complicating his life. He was and had always been a firm believer in the rule that ‘Silence is Golden’ where children of any age were concerned. Broadham straightened a little, one hand held firmly over a bandage while he rolled the other wrist to display his watch. He shifted this grip to curl his fingers around the nurses left wrist and concentrated on reading her pulse. "The male nurse we left working on your men is a trained theatre assistant. All you will need to do is tell him what situation I have here. We will be dealing with deep multiple stab wounds and I need the theatre prepped and a team readied stat. If you tell him that he’ll do the rest but you will have nursing staff running around for a few minutes while he locates everybody I will need and they prepare for the surgery. I would appreciate it if you could refrain from shooting any of them for doing their job. Good theatre staff is hard to find." //Oh, you are a presumptuous bastard, Broadham. I may not have killed you yet but that does not mean that I will not be remedying that situation in the long term. Don’t push me or you may regret it sooner rather than later.// He was aware that Broadham had stiffened as soon as the words left his mouth and he suspected that the man probably had not given any thought to what it was that had been said and realized after the fact that he was pushing the boundaries of the commander’s tolerance. No doubt Broadham would now be considering his hasty words and most likely contemplating the proximity of a knife to his neck. Simpson kept his eyes hooded and centered on the surgeon, generating menace and enjoying the growing discomfort of the man. Broadham must feel something like the victims of the French revolution must have felt when Madame Guillotine had awaited her courtiers. //Stew on it, Broadham and wonder if you’ve pushed too far. I like to feel you squirm.// He could be magnanimous and pretend he had not heard the comment but he was not inclined to be that gracious. He would permit his displeasure to show in the silence and enjoy the thought of having a discussion with definite painful overtones with the surgeon when he could spare the time. Broadham was going to go down and it would not be quick and merciful. The man had annoyed him once too often. But not now. Now he wanted out of the mothers ward and for as many of the medical staff to be out of his hair as possible. He had work to do and he had had enough distractions. "I am certain that they will be intelligent enough not to run through me, Mr. Broadham. I only kill annoying gnats when they bite." He did not care if Broadham had other instructions for his people concerning the needs his team must prepare for him. The man would have to put up with any delays his run away mouth had caused and if that meant the nurse died, well, the man had only himself to blame for his unthinking cheek. Broadham was just lucky that this need for surgery was going to play into his hands and give him the opportunity to carry on his search for Merquise and the Sleepers with less medical staff cluttering up his operation. He strode from the ward and out across the lounge only too happy to be away from the surgeon and the mothers with their infants who at any time might set up again that dreadful wailing. //There are probably bodies in these wards. I have no idea how many patients were in the center or where his staff usually spend their idle hours but I think the Sleeper would have taken them out as he found them. I’ll leave that search to the emergency response team. That will keep them out of my hair and usefully occupied while I hunt down Merquise.// He set a smart pace once he left the nursery ward, striding confidently through the medical center not from any need to hasten medical aid to the nurse but because his blood was singing with the need for action. The fight in the nursery had wetted his appetite for physical conflict and he was on edge, expecting to meet that confrontation even though he knew it was not likely to happen here and now. He nevertheless wanted action and his training demanded that he recognize that need and exercise control. If he was lucky there would be action enough to content him once he succeeded in getting the medical staff out of his hair. He arrived in time to bare witness as his men were being settled onto gurneys. One already securely strapped down was being wheeled away from the utility room where they had for so long been lying in obscurity and that thought brought to mind the most likely cause of their drugged state. //Do I thank Merquise for putting them down and keeping them in a closet of all places? Jesus. I don’t even know who did it. Was it Merquise? It had to be. I don’t think the Sleepers are sane enough to recognize the distinction between my squad and the terra formers. No, it had to be the Lightning Count. They were … are … good, very well trained and it had to be someone as good and graced with a good deal of luck or someone with superior training that took them down. I lost contact with them a little before Fannon was taken out of the picture and those women were definitely taken out be Merquise. At last check they were en route to the medical center to check on the morgue and our missing members. Still, it could have been Noin. No, I don’t think so. It had to be Merquise and I think he would have been on his own but it is feasible that he may have had assistance.// He considered the orderly who was wheeling the first of the gurneys past him, nodding absently to the man. Merquise having assistance? From the likes of this young male? The man looked as though he might know a thing or two about street brawling but it would take more than street smarts to handle blue squad. //He looks as though he might be of use in keeping a secure perimeter about those who would fall easy prey to the Sleepers. If he is not one of those chosen to assist in preparing the theatre he can be made use of in that regard. One less I will need to worry about.// That had potential but there was another concern and one that he was fast pushing up on the list of priorities he was working with. His team were split, divided by distance in some cases and by physical limitations in others. He had lost the women and now he had two helpless men who might well become victims of the killers loose in the base before they could defend themselves. He had a responsibility to them he could not ignore but he also had a man to hunt down. //Maybe I should stipulate they place my people under guard? If there should be another Sleeper in the vicinity...? It’s not impossible though I doubt they can be everywhere at once. Their numbers are limited and I’m certain that Merquise has been winnowing them down. There can’t be too many of them left. The law of averages would suggest that my men should be safe but … Can I take that chance?// He needed to either keep the Sleepers occupied or hunt them down and eliminate them. If he was wrong and there were more insane agents in the medical center then these two men whose lives were his responsibility and who had become friends over the years of their association might meet the same fate as the women lying in bloody ruin further down the hall. He sighed, considering his options and the differences in the styles of those he hunted. He was going to need to have words with the intelligence agency for this mission. Primary on his list of concern was the absolute bullshit the psyche profilers had compiled. // It’s not exactly the sort of distinction I expected to find marking the difference between Merquise and Noin. Noin’s psyche evaluation and her service record suggested that she would be the more peaceable of the two. Her record clearly indicated she had no love of war and a distinct respect for life yet I know it was Noin who took down two of my men in a cold blooded attack. She took them out hard and fast and never hesitated. Any hesitation on her part would have seen them take her … I am convinced of that. Noin was playing the game very seriously and while that is in her psyche charts the killer in her was not suggested. On the other hand it would appear that Merquise, who is without doubt the noted killer of the two, cool and cold at need … the man who threatened to decimate a planet … has been running around the base sedating everyone of my agents he comes across.// He scowled, ignoring for the moment the attention he was drawing from the small cluster of people securing his man to the gurney. They seemed nervous. // It makes no sense. It should be the other way around. Merquise was tagged as the kill or be killed aggressor and Noin as the one who would avoid direct contact. The psyche profilers have a date with my fist when I get back. // He shook his head slightly. There was no real time nor opportunity to consider these inconsistencies. Not at this point in the game. What he needed to do was to get Broadham’s people moving and secure for himself a clear field to work in. The fewer the distractions the better and the faster he would be able to secure the mission objective. // There has to be something I am missing. Something that Merquise … // He became aware of the silence and pulled himself from his revere. More thought later and more action now was required. The small cluster of nursing staff were bunched together watching him and he could almost smell the fear radiating from them. They feared him? Well, rightfully so. He swallowed his amusement quickly while acknowledging to himself that there really was nothing amusing about the way they were watching him. The fear in their eyes was unmistakable and he had no doubt that it spelled trouble to come. The people were looking at him as though they expected him to suddenly leap upon them and wipe them from the face of the planet in a spray of gory blood and guts with his bare hands. While the thought of eliminating them here and now held potential he was really not inclined to do so. Yet. It would come but not now and not here. Their eyes though … That expression they all had in common was beginning to worry him. To this point in time he and his team had done nothing in the sight or hearing of these people that would warrant these matching expressions of impending doom. These people dealt with serious injuries, with blood, guts and gore on practically a daily basis and none of them were strangers to the sight or scent of death. He, like they, could all too easily smell it surrounding them. They knew that there were killers running loose in the base but they also knew that he and Frazier were not to blame for the deaths that had eventuated here but still they watched him with matching intensity. Enlightenment was not pleasant when it came. //They know. They know or at least suspect why I am here and perhaps the extent of my instructions.// He was not a fool and had always been quite a dab hand at reading facial expressions. He had known for some time that Broadham had no illusions as to the reason for his presence on Mars at this time. The surgeon was an intelligent man and he suspected he was up on the current politics of the Earth Sphere and he had marked him as dangerous. Broadham would need to be isolated and removed as speedily as events permitted before he could arrange some type of resistance but that was for later. What was of concern now was how these people were watching him and how much they might actually know or guess as to what their fate would be. //I suppose it could just be a natural wariness of strangers during times of stress. Christ. After this balls up of a mission I’ll need some sessions with a shrink. They might suspect what my presence here means for them but there is no way that they can know with certainty. If they did know that I was here to kill the lot of them and they had half a brain between them they should be running from me not standing there waiting for me to notice them.// "Sir. Mr. Broadham?" His gaze flicked to the male nurse who it seemed had more balls than the orderlies staring at him. The nurse moved a little away from the group who were suddenly making a show of securing the last of the restraints to the gurney for his man to be wheeled away to receive treatment. He noted peripheral movement and glanced to the side to see the female nurse who had done all of the screaming earlier now standing to one side of the remaining gurney making notes on a clipboard. As he watched she looked up from her notes and glanced at the male nurse Broadham had named as a theatre nurse who nodded his permission and in a crisp and clipped tone she instructed the orderlies to move off in the direction from which Simpson had appeared. "Sir? About Mr Broadham?" "Mr. Broadham is currently in the Mothers Ward attending to the injured party and has given instruction that you are to prepare the theatre for emergency surgery and gather a surgical team to assist him. I would suggest that you send someone to help him in stabilizing the injured nurse while he waits." The nurse and her entourage of orderlies came to an abrupt halt just past him and he felt their full attention shifted back to him. He scowled, wanting his people attended to with all speed and he was about to send them on their way with a few choice curses to speed them along when the male nurse turned to the group. "Take these men to the arranged ward and get them settled in a.s.a.p." He turned back to Simpson. "I need a rundown of the type of injuries I am to prepare for, Sir." // Hmmm. You’re a polite bastard and you seem to have authority over these others. I wonder if … I think I prefer you to Broadham. Unless I badly miss my guess you would be easier to manage than the surgeon. // "I can’t tell you the exact type of injuries you will be dealing with but the nurse has suffered chest and abdominal stab wounds. The wounds appear to be quite deep and knowing that sick bastard’s work as I now do, those visible wounds are probably the lesser of the injuries she has sustained. I don’t think he had gotten all that far into his work but then he enjoyed his work far too much." The nurse blanched at the implications, nodded acknowledgement of his description and turned away. "Thank you, Commander Simpson. I will now be about my business as quickly as possible and attempt to make the disruption to your investigations as few as possible. I assure you that your men are well enough. No physical wounds have been suffered though they have been heavily sedated but I would expect them to regain consciousness somewhere within the next two to three hours. I did find evidence of pin prick wounds suggesting some type of hypodermic or perhaps a dart might have been used. Just a tiny hole, no other injuries." "Fair enough." He lingered in the hallway to watch as the last of his men were wheeled away under the care of the nurse and orderlies presumably to some cleaned and safe ward and then with a low sigh shifted his gaze to watch the male nurse stride off down the hallway toward the main entrance. //Sedation administered by a hypodermic? Merquise would have had to get damn close for that. A dart, perhaps? That would be more likely and it would be yet another indication that it was Merquise who took them out. Sedation appears to be his calling card. I could thank him for going so easy on my people except that I have lost the two women. In all fairness though their deaths were not his fault. How could he know there were psychotic killers running loose who get their jollies by butchering the helpless? Damn, this has disturbed me more than I thought. More than it should have. Maybe I’m getting too old for this shit? This entire operation has been one disaster after another. I want this ended.// Gathering himself under control he moved off but had taken only three steps after the male nurse when around the curve in the hallway ahead of him three members of the emergency response team appeared. Two of the team were manhandling a bloodied mattress between them while the third carried a bundle of soiled bedding in his arms. They were talking quietly amongst themselves until they noted him and paused. //Just who I need. Now to sort out the team and get them out of my hair.// "Where is Kurtz?" "In the second room, left side from the main entrance. He’s sorting out what is salvageable and what is not." the small man looked to be of Japanese descent. //Well that is wasting time as far as I am concerned. I need to get them occupied and get myself out of their sight and hopefully out of their minds.// "Get rid of that stuff a.s.a.p. I have more important work for you. We have recent evidence that indicates there may be multiple killers running around the base, not just the medical center. You will need to gather together as many people as possible into a secured location and place what combat trained personnel you can find into guard positions to keep them secure. There are two women with newborn babies further along this hallway. Mr. Broadham, the surgeon in charge is currently with them. They are to have priority getting into the safe zone. You will need to be quick about securing a suitable location. Get yourselves moving while I speak to Kurtz." He strode off not waiting for acknowledgement to his instructions. It was time he sorted everyone out and placed them in nice neat little packages for later collection and first on that list of placements was to allow Broadham to get his surgical staff gathered. The need for surgery would place one group in secured isolation and then he could work on isolating the two groups he would need to secure both his men, who at this time were helpless to defend themselves and the women and their children. Those infants must survive the disaster this mission had become both to make it more plausible and to offer some salve to his sense of justice. Innocents would die here but not those who could not testify against him. He had given orders to schedule a meeting with the combat experienced individuals who worked on Mars and he hoped that Kurtz had not forgotten that instruction. To offer protection to the infants and to his men at this time he was going to require all the able bodies he could find. He would have a few choice words to say to Kurtz if the man had ignored him. //First I use them to secure their survival and then I get to go around and take them all out. Fucking beautiful situation. At least it will make the final kills easier. I’ll have to separate the infants at some later date and maybe Frazier can rig up some gas traps for the isolation groups? I hate killing unnecessarily.// His eyes swept the length of the hallway as he rounded the curve and he smiled. At least Frazier was still standing before that door and he nodded to acknowledge the brief tilt of his subordinate’s head that informed him his presence had been marked. Just past Frazier the theatre nurse was speaking quietly to a cluster of orderlies and he knew only too well what that conversation was about. He doubted it would take them long to organize themselves and vanish. They moved like a well oiled team when they were immersed in their own fields of expertise and this was no exception. The male nurse finished speaking and immediately one of the group vanished back into the room and a only a few seconds later three women hurried up the hallway ignoring himself and Frazier as they went by. The expressions on their faces were serious and he could almost hear the thoughts running through their minds. The male nurse spoke again with the addition of hand gestures indicating the room beside them and then motioning down the hallway in the direction taken by the three nurses. Simpson’s attention was caught by Kurtz as he appeared from the room on the opposite side of the hall. The man stood still for a long moment, attention focused on the cluster of nursing staff and tracking the three retreating nurses. He spoke briefly to someone hidden in the room before crossing the hall to the surgical nurse who dismissed the remaining orderlies and turned to him. Simpson could lip read enough to know that the nurse was informing Kurtz of the need for surgery and with a final nod the nurse was striding down the hall. He nodded briefly to Simpson in passing but moved quickly and did not linger. //Interesting.// He watched as four orderlies emerged from the ward, nodded in passing to Kurtz and hurried after the other medical staff. // Broadham was hiding doctors in amongst the orderlies. Clever man that surgeon. It will earn him priority on the kill list. There is no way that he would need four orderlies in an operating theatre. He would, however require the assistance of at least one, maybe two doctors, one trained with anesthetics and perhaps two nurses of varying qualifications to assist the procedure. Four orderlies, three nurses and the one I know is a surgical nurse. Quite a team. Well, it will get them out of my hair while I work. I need to watch Broadham. He is no fool and he expects me to take him down. We understand each other I think but I have to ask myself why he would expect that if he has no actual idea of what has taken place during his earlier stint in surgery?// For some reason the name Merquise sprang to mind. He snorted softly. Merquise always sprang to mind but the man was not omnipotent. Not everything turned around the former Prince of Sanc and it was time he sorted out the emergency response team. "Kurtz." The man glanced up and nodded, moving to join him, his attention still on the retreating medical staff. Frazier stirred near him and he caught his tech’s eye, flicking a glance to the door behind him. Frazier nodded subtly and returned to watching the hallway. "Find what ex-military personnel you can as quickly as possible and gather them together. We have more killers running loose than has been taken down thus far. I need you to gather the surviving patients and the nursing staff caring for them into at least two secured locations and have them guarded around the clock. If the killers are all like that last one responsible for the butchery further down the hall you should not have too much trouble knowing who you can trust. They’ll be covered in blood. You will need three guards awake at all times but allow the others to get some much needed sleep. Don’t have the guard rotations too long. It’s been a long night and we can’t afford for anyone to fall asleep on the job." Kurtz looked confused. "Killers? I thought …" "Killers. The perpetrators of the mess you are involved in cleaning up." He sighed. //How did the dumb bastard get to be in command of the Emergency Response team?// "Broadham and I have disposed of one but not before he tried disemboweling a nurse and a few more patients. We have one survivor who will be headed for surgery and there are two mothers and infants to be included in the safe rooms. Your priority is to arrange a safe room and guards for them as fast as you can allowing me to concentrate on hunting more of the bastards." He dismissed the man by turning away and surveying the hall. The most notable change in the view was the two mattresses leaning against the wall near the first room from the main doors. Both mattresses were soaked in dried blood and a pile of what was probably bloodied bedding was stacked untidily to one side. Noting that stained mess he shook his head slightly. The Sleepers had been busy but if he had his way he would remove every one of the bastards from the world of the living and hand them along to their maker for judgment. No doubt he would be seeing them in hell. Kurtz took the hint and moved off to round up his men enabling him to move closer to Frazier and he took up position beside his tech, settling automatically into an ‘at ease’ stance and watching the flurry of activity centered around Kurtz. The man rounded up men from the two nearest rooms and issued instructions that Simpson was close enough to over hear. He was satisfied with Kurtz’s orders to search the medical center for two defensible rooms with water and toilet facilities and a quick inventory of easily gathered food be made. Satisfied that his instructions were being carried out he turned his attention to Frazier who had been waiting patiently for his commander to brief him. Sotto voiced Simpson once again flicked his gaze toward the door behind Frazier. "Any sound from in there?" "No hint of anything untoward. The door has remained closed and there has been no sound of movement and no voices from within." Which suggested, he admitted, that it was simply an empty room or there might have been another entrance to the room … //Or a bloody sleeper might have used the ceiling vent to get into the ventilation system.// He scowled at the door. //Damn, I should have thought of the ventilation system before I took off after my people. If it was a Sleeper in there then they could be anywhere by now. Or I could have just taken the bastard down in the nursery.// A quick glance at Kurtz who was standing in a doorway assured him that there were no problems and he returned to contemplating the closed door. What would be best to do? Ignore it … and potentially make a critical mistake by leaving a potential enemy at his back or delay still longer in his hunt for Merquise? Some decisions really did not need thinking too hard about. "We give these men a few minutes to get out of our way and then we will be tackling that room. I’ll lead, you cover. After what I have found earlier we make this fast and hard but try not to kill. I think I’ve taken down the last of the Sleepers working the medical center but with their mental state who can tell? They may have acquired a pack mentality. Besides, you never know, we might find Santa Claus and his elves working on Christmas goodies or better yet we might find Merquise lurking in a closet. The bastard has to be somewhere and I‘m getting fed up with this entire mess." "Aye, Sir. Fast, hard and no fatalities." Simpson nodded as a movement down the hallway caught his eye. Two men emerged from the first of the wards and took the mattress closest to the door. Lifting the unwieldy mattress between them they proceeded to shuffle down the hall toward Kurtz who noted them and stirred from where he had been standing and hurried forward, waving for them to stop. "How many more of them are there?" Frazier glanced back along the hallway before turning his attention to Kurtz who had now reached the two men. "That might be the last of them in that room. I never managed an accurate head count when they arrived but the numbers seem about right. If there is anymore in the room it would only be one. So, those two, Kurtz makes three, another two in the hallway … five and three already gone down the hallway with a mattress and bedding, that makes eight. At my first count I counted seven, nine on the second count and eight at the third before they all disappeared into that room. That was before Kurtz split them up into the individual wards." Simpson nodded acknowledgement of the head count. Sometimes it simply was not possible to get an accurate head count and he himself had counted eight when he had previously stood in this hallway and watched the confusion of their arrival. The figures he had in his initial briefing concerning the team was that in all there were thirty five men and seventeen women registered as emergency response team members at the time of his departure from the hub of the Earth Sphere. "What happened after I left?" Frazier snorted softly. "Kurtz entered that first ward and bellowed like a wounded bull for someone to explain what had been happening. It must be a mess in there. One of the orderlies from another ward went in to explain I guess. After a couple of minutes he split the group. First the mattress and then every now and then some bloodied bedding would be thrown through the door. I believe they have decided that they have all of the disposable items out there now if they came out to start with the mattress. They were split up into twos and threes into the next two rooms. There has been a bit of ward hopping, questions about what to do I’d guess. One of them was running around a little while ago after someone who could tell him where they were wanting the bodies." "How many bodies?" "Four have been taken through in the last few minutes. I believe someone said something about a freezer." Simpson scowled. "Sick bastards. Fannon and Cambridge are dead. Butchered in their beds by the fucking Sleepers." He was only too aware of Frazier’s growled response. "Butchered in their sleep?" He growled an acknowledgement as he watched Kurtz shepherding two men ahead of him and toward the ESUN agents. The last two men who had appeared lingered in the hallway once again picking up the unwieldy mattress and began moving at a slower pace to follow. He nodded briefly to Kurtz as his group came abreast of his position and the man paused to glance behind him at the men trailing. "Those two will clean up the hallway and then come through to join us. By that time we should have located a couple of rooms that will be suitable to secure. The soiled bedding will be stored in a room down the hall out of the way for now." "Well enough. Get the secured rooms prepped as soon as possible and I’ll catch up with you as soon as I work out a plan to quarter the base in the most efficient method possible. I’ll need some of those combat trained personnel so have a list for me." A brief nod responded and Kurtz strode off, herding his men before him. Simpson settled, watching as the mattress carriers came more slowly down the hallway, the unwieldy mattress slowing them down but they moved at an adequate pace. The lead man turned his head to face him as they shuffled past and nodded and Simpson returned the nod and stepped a little to one side to be well out of arms reach should there be any deception. The men shuffled along past them and down the hallway and then they were gone around the curve. Frazier stirred, fingering his automatic for a moment as he considered the empty hallway. For a minute they remained still and silent, concentrating on listening for any indication from the rooms down the hall that they were not now alone. When no sound disturbed the quiet of the hallway from either direction Simpson drew his own weapon and stepped around Frazier and reached for the door knob. Frazier’s fingers closed around the butt of the gun and it settled comfortably into his hand. A look was exchanged between the two men, no words required and Frazier slipped around Simpson and into position at his back. A light touch on his commanders shoulder let the man know he was ready and he felt Simpson tense. Taking a deeper breath Simpson moved, his fingers curling around the door knob. Fast, hard and silent.
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