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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 ShenLong for betaing this chapter. //... // thoughts
"Alternative Directions: Options"
Mars Colony Base Dome 2nd March AC 198 Time: 04:20 [approx Sanc time 02:11] Polnar The sound of the locks shunting into place reverberated through the airlock and the three men waited in tense silence, eyeing each other warily. It was no good, Polnar decided, they had to do something about the issue of trust, or apparent lack thereof, or they would never succeed in their mission, and for him failure was not an option. He had the lives of not only the infants on his conscience, but also the life of his partner. Giles had remained behind because of injuries and had been in no fit condition for this mission, therefore what happened in the next hour rested firmly on his shoulders. He could have done with his partner’s backup, confident in his abilities, but Giles had another and potentially far more important job to do than shadow him through the base. He had to contain Marquise. He could not forget the warnings from Marquise or Haydon Giles before he left the Medical Centre. Marquise had admonished him to watch his back and his partner had claimed Marquise was Gifted. Anyone who worked for the Stations knew you took any warning issued by a member of the Gifted to heart. Certainly from all appearances Giles had faith in the man’s talent. It still astounded him to think that Marquise was proven to be one of the Psychically Gifted that were so valued on the Stations, but he could not doubt what he had been told by his partner. Though he himself had not witnessed an incident involving the Prince’s talents, he could not doubt Haydon’s skills or the knowledge he had been taught at Station One. To his knowledge he and Giles were the only people on Mars, other than Marquise himself, who knew anything of the talents of the Psionically Gifted. He was still a little pissy with their august leader for keeping secrets. Raydon should have warned them about Marquise’s talents and he could not believe the man did not know Milliardo Peacecraft / Zechs Marquise was a psychic. Raydon was a Clairvoyant talent, gifted with the ability to see the future and he had sent them to Mars for a reason. He had to have known the prince was psychic, however, he supposed, this was neither the time nor the place for him to become distracted. Lives hung in the balance and he was not inclined to cough out his own life in the Martian dust because he erred and permitted himself to become distracted by what had to be considered petty issues in light of the importance of his current occupation. “Kurtz told us you knew how to handle yourself in a fight.” He turned to the shorter man leaning against the wall; the new body in the team. “How well? Do you have a particular style? Martial arts experience? Close quarters melee or distance ability?” The lock gave one final decisive clunk and the door opened slowly, providing them with a view of the short hallway. Mighty Joe Lee inclined his head to Polnar as he stepped out of the airlock and looked about him, pressing his back to the solid metal wall. Not that Polnar could blame him, they had been warned repeatedly to watch their backs. Unless they had been born in the same hospital and grown up together, how could you trust each other in these circumstances? Even then, unless you had spent every waking hour of every day in each others company, how could you be sure the other was not a sleeper agent? Issues of trust were going to be the death of them. “While not at the peak of my fighting skills I think I can say I can handle myself in a fight. I do have Martial Arts training and I’m not too bad a shot with a gun either. I can also throw a knife if I have to.” While the list of his skills was welcome it raised issues with Polnar. Many of the bodies he had examined in the dome above had been taken down by knives. To know he had a knife man in the group was not exactly reassuring, though he suspected Mighty Joe Lee had not been up to the surface of the base. It was the idea of him being able to take them down in silence given so many had died similar deaths already that worried him. How good he was, or not, was open to debate and they would not know unless they should run into trouble and the man needed to hold off his attacker until Carter and he had fought their own battles. He was pleased that Lee looked calm enough; a trace wary, which was good, and certainly expectant without looking as though he was likely to panic at a sneeze. He did not give the appearance of being terrified out of his mind and if he held stable through any situation they might encounter, so much the better. Kurtz might not have steered them wrong with his choice of Mighty Joe, but only time would tell. He was more than a little curious over why they had inherited Might Joe Lee. Preston Kurtz had alluded to there being a problem with integrating him into the Emergency Response Team, and since Mighty Joe was originally a member of that team his now not being welcome within its folds worried Polnar. He suspected that the man was being ostracised due to his apparent acceptance of all things Marquise. It was unfortunate that the political hot potato known as Zechs Marquise affected interaction with others even so far from the hub of the ESUN. That distance, the signs of segregation, had been in evidence before the events now tearing the terra forming team apart, though most on the base had appeared to have at least some tolerance of the man. There were a few people on Mars who might call themselves friends with the former Lightning Count, and with this blatant display of how the government considered him to be a persona non grata, fewer still would stand up and claim even that much. No doubt many of them now fervently wished Marquise had never come to Mars and spared them the terrors they now endured. //It is entirely possible that the Stations might have similar problems when he is brought to Station One. He’s anathema within the ESUN and his reputation has to cause a ripple even amidst the outcasts staffing the station. I guess Raydon would have thought about that already, and there is the matter of his being one of the Gifted. They might not want that widely known amongst the staff though.// None of this was vital to his current situation and the serious business of surviving to see another day, and Polnar dragged his thoughts back to the matter at hand. Mighty Joe looked calm enough, wary certainly, expectant too, but not terrified out of his mind. That earned the man a bonus point in Polnar’s esteem and he could only hope the man would remain stable if they ran into trouble. They had inherited him and yes, they had needed another body, but Kurtz had made it clear there was a problem; he had just not explained what that problem was. //He did not seem to get on so well with one of the techs earlier, but they are no longer in the group heading for the mess hall. They have been assigned the task of getting the computers up and running, a feat I don’t envy them having to do, but vital to our getting out of this mess alive. He definitely had problems with one of them, though the other appeared to agree with him on a number of matters pertaining to Marquise. It might have been a personality clash, I suppose, but I think it may have been a little more serious than that. I’d like to know more, but there is no time now to interview him. We are just going to have to hope he is good enough to do the job, or at least survive until we can get to him if we encounter difficulties. I have a job to do and I can’t afford to delay any longer than we have already.// He would simply have to take the man’s word for what skills he possessed and there would certainly be no time to coddle him if they did run into trouble. A nice straight run through the accommodations sector would be best, no interruptions, no encounters. Dare he hope fortune favoured the foolish? “Fair enough, just watch your back. I am hoping to get there and return without any problems, but if you see anything you consider suspicious you need to speak up. Be aware that given what has been going down here, we can’t afford to trust anyone we might come across. If we encounter people as we move through the sections we tell them to get their butts into the Medical Centre and we continue on our way. Keep an eye out behind us, not just ahead of us. We can not afford to have unwanted hangers on delaying or hampering us should we need to take action. Nor can we afford to delay while we convince them to follow our instructions and go to the Medical Centre. We are here for one thing and one thing only; retrieving those kids. I should probably warn you now that I’ll take down anyone who does not do as I expect them to do, and I will not be apologizing later.” Carter inclined his head in silent acknowledgement, fully understanding the severity of their situation and he had to settle for Mighty Joe Lee hesitating for the briefest of moments before nodding his own acceptance of the warning. Harsh as it was the simple truth was that they did not know who they could trust. Anyone they met could knife them in the back at any time and he would not ask first and shoot later. Later might be too late. “Got it,” Mighty Joe nodded and he did not look as though he wanted to run in the opposite direction. “We go in fast and focused. We find the kids and their nurses and we get them the hell out of here and to the safety of the Medical Centre. That is our one priority.” Again the pair acknowledged him, accepting his role as leader and he knew it was the best they could do at the moment. Only time would tell if they could work successfully together and, equally importantly, if they could trust each other. “Where to?” Carter queried, straightening from his casual lean against the wall. Decision time. Only he knew where the twins could be found and he needed to decide if he trusted these men enough to reveal the locations of both children. Getting Marquise to trust him with this knowledge had been like pulling teeth with his bare hands and that piercing blue glare had promised him all sorts of horrendous retribution if something happened to the children. If he revealed too much to these men and one of them should prove to be an agent with less than friendly intentions, then he and the other man in his company would be considered expendable. At a convenient moment they would be taken down into bloody ruin and the children would fall into the hands of the very people he was trying to save them from. And if he survived the attempt on his life he would not survive Marquise. He had no doubt the man would rend him limb from limb when he learned of it. However, to not inform the men of their destination would be to clearly demonstrate his distrust and would do nothing for a working team relationship if they were both exactly what and who they claimed to be. He could be damned if he did trust them and equally damned if he did not. The nearest of the children was on Level 3 of the complex, in room 43, and the second child was located on Level 4, in room 12. He needed to decide if he would go directly to the lower level, locate the nurse and infant and then head up a level for the other child. If he chose the nearer option, locating the child on Level 3, then he would be exposing the infant to potentially greater danger whilst running the hallways than existed if the child remained in the relative safety of the nurse’s quarters. If he chose to go to Level 3 then, while he was convincing the nurse of the authenticity of the note from Marquise, the shit could be hitting the fan down on level 4. Or vice versa. The one thing he dared not do was to split up his group. They needed to remain together as there was safety in numbers and he really did not know if he could trust both of these men. There was a considerable distance between room 48 on Level 3 and Level 4’s room 12. He could delay only so long in making the decision. It was not necessary he decide at this very moment, he had until they reached the third level before he could no longer prevaricate. There was not time now for a further delay while he made up his mind, so long as he decided which approach was better by the time he reached the level. There was only the one way down from their present location after all. He had the uncomfortable feeling there was something coming; a show down, he assumed. He was a paranoid bastard at the best of times, but in this situation he had cause to be wary. He wanted, needed, to get the children safely tucked away with their father before whatever was going to happen, happened. “Stairwell. We head down from here.” He could gain a few minutes at least, by just giving them a general direction at this time. He could use the time to decide which child to acquire first and maybe judge something of Mighty Joe’s skill level in the process. Hopefully he and Carter both might gain a little confidence from the way the man moved. With a direction given, Carter headed immediately for the blast door a few paces ahead, knowing time was of the essence. He took the direction at face value and moved; the picture of a man with a mission and not inclined to waste time without good reason. It was one of the reasons he would do well as a Preventer. Reaching the door he read the readout on the keypad and nodded, satisfied, before turning to Polnar. “Looks like we have atmosphere, folks. There is no indication in these readings to suggest any damage beyond the door and the blast door is still in lockdown.” Polnar joined him, Mighty Joe following close behind. Polnar spared one glance at the airlock behind them, knowing the other team would soon be assembled and a group would follow them into this section. It would not be long before the airlock would go into a cycle once again and he wanted his team long gone before then. For Mighty Joe’s part he was willing to follow in the wake of these men. He had no intention of lingering at the airlock, or of rejoining the Emergency Response Team. He was only too aware his views on Zechs Marquise were shared by only a few at the base. There were some people on the terra forming team that he could cheerfully beat the living daylights out of, but that kind of behaviour was not considered constructive by the base psychologist. All it would do, other than grant him a fleeting moment of satisfaction and a little stress relief, would be to earn him psyche sessions and a one way ticket off the planet. He was not that keen to return to the hub colonies and he sure as hell was not intending to go out to the asteroid belt and the mining stations there. The two men in his company, Polnar and Carter, were notably more intelligent than many of his co workers in his view. Besides, he was not of a mind to become the hunted again; it was far more sensible to become a hunter than remain the prey. He trusted Marquise as few on the base did and he was sure if anyone survived this mess it would be because they listened when that man spoke. Carter stepped to one side as Polnar reached him, standing back to permit the team leader to work the controls. He certainly had no codes to deactivate the station lock down, and to date Polnar’s maintenance codes had held them in good stead. He did not want to think about the crimp in their plans it would mean if the man could not open this door. Short of breaking into the air vents he doubted they would be able to enter the accommodations sector without leaving the dome to access the emergency airlock. He knew that was useless as those locked out of the dome had tried every means available to them to enter. Polnar ran an eye over the lock and said a silent prayer. He could not help holding his breath as he punched in the maintenance code he had been given when working in this section earlier in the week. His work with the maintenance crew took him to every part of the terra forming base and he was hopeful those codes would still stand them in good stead. Marquise had given him a set of codes that no one except the Base Commander was supposed to know, but if he did not have to use them he would not have to worry about anyone asking him awkward questions. His fingers ran quickly over the key pad and for a moment he thought the lock would not disengage, drawing in a deep breath, unwilling to reach into his pocket for the slip of paper he had been given. If he could just feel it he would feel more secure, but he was team leader now and he could not afford to show uncertainty. There was the chance that Carter, who had been with him from the beginning of their clandestine entry to the dome, might ask why he was suddenly reading numbers from a piece of paper when he had been using memorized codes all day. His fingers twitched involuntarily at the thought and he forced himself to glare at the keypad instead. After what seemed an inordinately long period of time the bar above the keypad turned green and the blast door rumbled slowly into the wall socket. He noted he was not the only one to breathe a sigh of relief. Carter let out a hefty sigh and they exchanged grins before he indicated to Carter to head on down the hallway and for Mighty Joe to follow him. The hallway was bathed in dusky shadows, the emergency lights casting a ruddy radiance over the walls and floor. It was gloomy and it did not offer him as much visibility as he had hoped for, certainly it was a lot less than the light levels in the main part of the base. The designers had obviously considered it of less importance to give survivors of a natural disaster good light as opposed to securing them heat, water and energy to remain alive until help could reach them. Bathed by the dark ruby glow they trotted along the hallway and past the first of the doors marking the individual living quarters of the terra forming team. As he jogged past he fought down a flash of guilt for not rousting out any of the inhabitants who might be in the rooms. The majority of these accommodations would be empty, their usual occupants now bedded down in a cold cave on the Martian surface, or lying dead in the dome above. Not the most cheerful thought to entertain. He pushed the thought out of his mind; his concern had to be for the children, nothing more. Wrong as it felt, and he did not deny it disturbed him, he would have to leave the team following them down to this sector the task of determining if the rooms were empty or inhabited. That was what they were arranging in the mess hall after all. Ahead of him, Mighty Joe Lee hesitated, staring at the door before looking back at him. It made him feel like a right bastard, but he was going to enforce the mission they were on. He was annoyed with himself and annoyed with Mighty Joe, squashing a flash of irritation; the man was only thinking the same thing he had been. “Should we…?” “No. We have our own mission to complete. The others will be along to deal with this.” Carter offered no argument, moving at a smart trot past the next door. There was no suggestion of hesitation in his step, no turning of his attention from what he was doing. He was point man for this part of the operation and would be trusting Ponar to watch Lee and ensure he did not get a knife in his back. Mighty Joe quickened his pace a little and with a nod took off after Carter, falling quickly into a steady, distance eating jog roughly a metre behind him. No further comment was made on trying any of the doors in the sector. Satisfied, Polnar lengthened his pace a little to fall into place a metre behind Mighty Joe Lee. The accommodations sector was built following a natural fault in the Martian terrain and while the walls, ceiling and floor were all metal lined, little had been done to keep the section square and compact. If the rock fissure had turned, then the early designers had followed that turn, not concerned with straightening their hallways. He supposed it made a pleasant change from the square straight lines of pre fabricated buildings, of which there were a great deal on Mars. It led to lengthy gaps between doors, each door marking a point where a natural fault had made excavation easier and so a room or multiple rooms had been constructed. This accommodations section sprawled more than any of the other sections whose designers had been more traditional and had seemed unafraid of the gratuitous use of explosives. To be a part of the working community on Mars you had to be fit. It was an unforgiving planet, cold, wind sculpted rock and dusty sand, and with an atmosphere singularly unfriendly to the human species. On coming to Mars you learned quickly that you needed to be fit and strong if you were to remain. Polnar heartily approved of the demanding pace Carter set. A distance eating, efficient jog designed to move them quickly through the hallways without the need to stop periodically to rest. None of them were breathing heavily as they came to the junction where he could not longer prevaricate about their direction. Each level of the accommodations sections were designed with two flights of stairs linking the respective levels with each other. Level 1 had two flights of stairs leading to level 2, the respective flights of stairs were set relatively close together, though the angle of descent and the depth to which they descended varied, depending on the run of the natural fault line followed. What he needed to decide was which of these two flights of stairs would be more efficient to further their task. Upon reaching Level 2 they would be required to make another run to reach the only flight of stairs that would take them down to Level 3 and continued on down to Level 4. In the accommodations sector this was the only flight of steps to directly link two levels without requiring the user leave the stairwell and move to another deeper in the complex. As he jogged along behind Mighty Joe, Polnar considered the layouts of the various levels and the optimum flight of stairs to shorten their time in the halls. Speed was of the essence, both ally and enemy. By the time they reached the landing for Level 3 he had to have decided whether to fetch the child on Level 4 before going for the child on Level 3 and the amount of risk involved to the children and to his team. He did not even have the option of leaving one of his companions on Level 3 while he descended to Level 4. It simply was not safe to leave a single man without back up. Either the one left behind could become the victim of a Sleeper, caught unawares or taken down from a distance, or he might be the Sleeper and could follow them until they reached their goal and then strike from a carefully chosen ambush. Put simply, he did not know if he could trust Mighty Joe Lee. If he did leave the man on the level to guard the child, and he proved to be a sleeper agent, then he could, while they sought the other twin, locate and kill the nurse and take the child. Or kill both of them at leisure. It was a risk he simply was not willing to take. Marquise had entrusted him with the information on where to find the twins and he was not about to make what had to be a stupid move. If he should happen to survive the mistake he would likely not survive Marquise’s retribution for the loss of his children. It certainly would not be pretty and he would probably experience less pain by letting himself out onto the Martian surface and opening his space suit to the atmosphere. How much control over the man Giles actually had, Polnar was not willing to push. Both of the men had looked like death warmed over and he could only hope Barker had seen to getting them medical attention, but short of Marquise being tranquilized and strapped down he did not doubt the man would kill him. He paid little heed to the numbers painted on the walls beside the doors as he raced the length of the main hallway. This was not one of the two levels which interested him and he had clear vision ahead and behind him. He was not thrilled to leave the rooms unchecked, by far preferring to know he had no enemies lurking in supposedly empty rooms, but they were pushed for time. There simply was no time to check each room and the only time they paused was when Carter peered around intersecting hallways to ensure they were clear to move on. He felt he had a gun to his back, that any one of the doors now behind him might open at any time and some lurking Sleeper would have a clear shot at them running. The bastard would likely be able to pick the point at which he would have the optimum opportunity to pick off all three of them. The disturbing thought made his feet want to move faster and it was hard to run when you were looking over your shoulder. “Which stairs?” Carter’s query came as they rounded a bend in the hallway and the first junction leading to the first flight of stairs down to Level 2 appeared ahead of them. In his considered opinion there was little, if any, choice between the two. The children’s safety came before any other concerns. “We take the left up ahead.” This was not the vital decision about the stairs, though. This was just the descent to level two and he knew which flights down he would take, just not which level he would stop at. It was a big area they had to cover and while they fetched one twin the other could be in serious trouble. The thought would not stop revolving around in his head. He always came back to it. //Jesus, some days I wish I had stayed in bed. Marquise will kill me if I make the wrong choice, but I have to get both kids and one has to come before the other.// It was not far to the intersection leading to the stairs and he hardly had time to gain speed before they were racing up the final hallway, past the only two rooms to be found on this hallway and then they were there, the blast doors closed ahead of them and the red bar denoting lockdown in progress glowing in the dim lighting. Carter and Mighty Joe stepped to the side, waiting for him to join them and work the controls. As his fingers flew over the keypad all he could think about were the seconds being wasted as he punched in the code and waited for the system to shunt commands around, resulting in the blast doors being released. Of course that was another worry too. He was leaving the blast doors open behind them and should the locked blast doors have deterred a Sleeper then he was giving them free admittance to the accommodations floors by not delaying to reinitiate the lock down. //It will send me around the twist worrying about the implications of what I do or don’t do. I can’t take the time to shut the doors behind us, and it would only take more time to unlock the bastards on the way back.// Impatient with the delay, and not a little afraid the code would not work, he resisted the urge to tap his foot. It seemed to take minutes where logic demanded it was seconds, before the door began to withdraw. As soon as the gap was sufficient for him to squeeze his bulk through he was through the gap, checking the stairway was clear and praying no one had taken the time to set traps. //I can’t afford to make a blunder that will kill us. Nothing for it but to take the time to check for obvious traps.” Recalled to his senses by first Carter and then Mighty Joe joining him he grinned, staring at the wall a little ahead of him. Just before the stairs a fire extinguisher hung and he hefted it off the wall, moving to the head of the stairs and setting it on the floor in front of him. He heard a quiet snicker from Carter as he let the cylinder roll forward, going so far as to give it a kick to start it on it’s way down the stairs. With a great deal of clanging and banging the cylinder descended ahead of them and neither of his companions passed a comment. He would have preferred quick and silent for their passage through the sector, but one could not have everything and time was of the essence. Carter already knew the risks they were taking and Mighty Joe would very quickly learn what to expect if he wanted to survive. //Noisy as hell but effective enough for what we need. It’s not as though anyone would not hear us running past the rooms. It is speed that is the key to the success of this mission and I can’t afford to delay any more than is necessary. Some risks have to be taken, but I am damned if I’m going to take chances when it comes to the stairs.// Carter moved up beside him to peer over the railing as the banging and clanging stopped, echoing a little but petering out quickly. Polnar frowned, he had expected the noisy descent to have lasted somewhat longer, but he did not slow his pace by much as he set foot to the stairs and Carter was quickly at his side again, peering around a turn in the stairwell. “It’s gotten hung up. We’ll need to give it another nudge.” He grunted softly and, sure enough, a little lower down the spiralling stairs the cylinder was lodged against the banister railing, the hose having detached and the nozzle acted like a grappling hook to stop the cylinder’s descent. Polnar was quick to disentangle the cylinder and give it another nudge to complete its descent down the stairs. No traps eventuated and the men came off the stairs without incident. The locking bar on the blast doors to Level 2 revealed the doors were in lockdown and he resisted the urge to sigh. It was a matter of a few seconds to enter the code and an eternal wait of a few more seconds before they could move on. He took the opportunity to take a few deep breaths and check on the condition of his companions. They looked to be in reasonable condition, breathing heavier than normal, but neither looked to be winded, nor did they suggest they take a breather. Knowing he could ask for no better, Polnar pushed off the wall as the door rolled back and peered down the hallway, noting the steady glow of the emergency lighting and the darker opening to the right, just at the edge of decent vision. It was time to decide. Just along that interconnecting hallway was the next flight of stairs leading down to Levels 3 and 4. He could not longer prevaricate, but he did not need to reveal the exact location of the children. He could still play it safe. “Take the next right turn, gentlemen, and head down to Level 4.” He had made the decision and he would have to live with whatever eventuated. He could not be in both places at once and they would go for the twin on the lowest level of the accommodations sector. All going well it would be only a few minutes after he reached the first twin to return and reach the second child. t.b.c.
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