|
"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 44
Sank New Port City Preventer Headquarters Time: 21:05 Sally Po "For the distance Mars is to Earth at this time, that communication has taken too long to reach us. Investigation leads me to believe while it has not been tampered with, it has been delayed. That means the ESUN is interfering with the communications satellites." Doctor Sally Po glanced up from reading the communications last received from the Mars Alpha Dome. Preventer Earth stood at the windows of her office, gazing down at the lights of New Port City, one hand resting flat against the glass. Beyond the window a gentle rain was beginning to fall and all day there had been the subtle hints of Spring beginning to be felt, but a definite improvement in the weather was still some weeks away. "From what I know of the time difference between Earth and Mars this was sent around three hours ago. Perhaps a little more." "Exactly. At most is should have taken around forty five minutes with Mars in its current position. Usual communication between Mars and Earth is thirty minutes, with the Daccar Satellite System amplifying the signal. I am having the feed checked now. It will be no surprise to learn that there has been tampering to contain communications." "The Daccar System is the emergency and military relay system. Who would dare tamper with that? Who could tamper with that?" "I know of a number of people who might consider themselves above the lives of others to warrant sabotaging communications. It is the need that worries me. What they felt was a serious enough threat to warrant tampering with a system that is supposed to be tamper proof." "Nothing is tamper proof." Sally observed, a smile twitching her lips. "Obviously." Une commented dryly. "They know that we know what they are up to on Mars, so why delay us receiving word? Its just progress reports." "Nuisance value?" Sally mused. Shrugged and sighed "It goes without saying that Noin will not sit idle." Lady Une sighed, lifting her gaze to the rain drenched sky and nodded, well knowing the temper of the ex Oz Specials officer. She had known Lucrezia Noin for many years, though it was only in the years after the One Year War that she had allowed herself to get to know the volatile Noin as more than just a subordinate. Lucrezia was one to be filled with passion and fire and had always been wholly dedicated to the pursuit of one Zechs Marquise. Whatever would be happening on Mars would have far reaching repercussions, of that she had no doubt. If they could not contain and control the situation on that distant planet then the repercussions of it would ripple through the entire Earth Sphere. Ripple? Knowing Noin and Marquize, that ripple would likely be an avalanche of destruction. The fiery Italian born woman had already, according to the intelligence they had received from Mars, killed twice. They were likely not to be the last of the deaths to be tallied from this fiasco. "No. No, she will not. As events progress she will get more and more violent. After so long she has what she wanted, Zechs Marquise as a bed warmer and she will not give that up easily. It is likely that she will not even realize that she may be playing right into the hands of the ESUN." Sally winced, both at the reference to Zechs Marquize as a `bed warmer' and at the notion that Noin may well be playing into the hands of the ESUN. "They are expecting her to lose it. To fight." "I believe so. Her psyche report certainly indicates so to me and I am not a professional psychologist, who would make much more of it that I can. Since going to Mars she has achieved what she wanted. Zechs in her bed and what she would see as a bonus; his children. Her hormones won't allow her to think beyond that. I have no doubt that the ESUN Security Office will have calculated that and will make use of it to their best advantage." "Coffee." Sally poured fresh cups for herself and the Preventer Chief, taking her time about the task, using the time to consider the implications of the events on Mars. "What is it you expect to happen?" Lady Une continued to stare into the darkness of the clouded night sky, seeing not the rain swept night, but the past years. Her time knowing both Noin and Zechs and in particular the year following the One Year War when all the world had believed the Peacecraft heir to be dead. All the world, accept for one person. Lucrezia Noin had refused to believe that he was dead, despite all evidence to the contrary. When she spoke her voice was quiet, her tone flat. "I expect Noin to become a professional, cold blooded killer for the first time in her life. Even in Oz, despite her training, she was not a killer. She trained her pilots to stay alive. She turned out very good pilots, I might add. Chang Wu Fei handed her a blow she is not soon likely to forget, when he attacked the Lake Victoria Academy and killed a large portion of her cadets. She had taken to looking on her students as her family. Her children. After that incident she joined Zechs in combat situations, but never before that, with the exception of the training exercise under Mr Treize that went wrong during her years as a cadet. There were a few special assignments, yes, but generally she avoided combat. She has blamed the loss of those students on herself for so lightly dismissing the threat when Zechs warned her a gundam was coming her way. On Mars, she now has a replacement for the cadets that she lost. Her children in truth, now are threatened by outsiders. She will not allow any harm to come to those babies. For them she will take on more than a few agents, no matter how elite they are. She will see them as a threat and act accordingly, meting out sufficient violence as she deems necessary to the situation. In defense of her children she will kill and I do not doubt that she will do so smiling. She'll face the consequences later, and no doubt there will still be a smile on her face." Sally sighed, very much afraid that, from her own personal experience with Noin that Une was right in her reading of Noin's response. "What about Zechs?" To Sally's surprise Preventer Earth shuddered. A delicate, but very noticeable ripple ran through her slender body. Earth turned from the view and moved to settle at the desk and sipped her coffee, considering the question at length before turning dark brown eyes up to meet Sally's blue gaze. "Zechs is the wild card in all of this. No one has settled on a decent psyche profile of that man. None of the psychiatrists can agree." a careful sip of coffee and some consideration before she continued. "What they do agree on, is that he is to be handled with kid gloves. One described him as a powder keg ready to blow. Another said he had no fight left in him. A third said he was too intelligent and out psyched her. Zechs has them stumped." Sally nodded slowly, considering what she had gleaned from the psyche profiles that had briefly crossed her desk in her capacity as Chief Medical Officers of the Preventers. "And you? What do you have to say about him? You knew him for years during Oz. He was subordinate to you." "That bastard was subordinate to no one. Not to me, not to his instructors at the academy, nor to Mr. Treize." Une grimaced, remembering past days when she had contested against the platinum blonde for the attention of the one person who had ever aroused passion in her. " Zechs Marquise was always different. He would obey an order because he chose to obey it, not because it was his duty to obey his instructions. He had his own agenda from the first day he walked into the Academy at Lake Victoria. He was allowed to get away with it because the bastard was good at what was needed from him." Sally considered her mug for a long moment, considering the glint in brown eyes and the subtle inflections in her speech. "You never liked him, did you?" Une shrugged, staring into her coffee. "There were a lot of people I did not like. Him no more than others." "Not true. The way you talk about him is different." Sally murmured, sipping delicately at her coffee. "Normally he would not have gotten one foot in the door at Lake Victoria." Une almost snarled. "His close association with Mr. Treize was the sole reason he made it that far. The Kushrenada family connections were used to place him there, and to smooth his way when he flaunted the rules." Sally shook her head. "Bullocks." Une blinked, eyes widening as she raised her head and stared at her Medical Officer and friend. "Bullocks?" "Bullocks. That is a load of crap and you know it. I was an Alliance Officer, Anne. I was, more over, a Medical Officer. I had access to records few people ever knew existed. Contrary to popular belief some of the high ranking officers in the Alliance actually had brains. The Alliance did actually keep tabs on the Specials. I was assigned to General Noventa's enquiry into the Specials at the beginning of 190. I was part of a program that kept watch on the elite of the Specials Forces and the bright eyed boys and girls they were initiating into their ranks. I even had access to medical records and through that access I know a little about Zechs Marquise. I know enough to know, without any doubts, that he was not handed into that Academy without earning his place. I know his IQ and I know his aptitude test scores. They were something a medical officer in my position stared at in awe, thinking all the while that someone had made a mistake. I know the results of every physical he had at the academy and for the first year beyond that, as an officer in Oz. It was around then that I was assigned to another duty and had to leave the task force. Before I left the unit I had occasion to view the psyche reports on him and they made it plain to anyone who saw them that he had issues where the Alliance was concerned. We looked into the records of a number of elite Oz cadets and officers, Anne. Treize Kushrenada. Zechs Marquise. Lucrezia Noin. Another was Anne Maree Une." Lady Une scowled, brown eyes dark with fire quickly contained. "So? You have a point with this?" //I have a point, alright, but I'm not sure what it is yet. There was something about all of you that was different. It was the same with other Oz officers, most of them from the noble families of Europe, but you four in particular were different. I don't quite know enough to comment on it with any certainty, but it will come.// "My point is that Zechs earned his right to enter the Specials, it was not handed to him as a matter of course. You didn't like him because you considered him a threat." "A threat? Marquise?" Une snorted, a very unladylike expression of her contempt for that opinion. Sally smiled, a small very knowing curve of the lips, blue eyes twinkling with mischief. It was no skin off her nose if Une had had an infatuation for the leader of Oz, or a pet hate for the one she construed to be a threat to her aspirations. There was little doubt in her mind that Zechs was accused of assignations with the Leader of Oz and his innocence had been found wanting by the jealous Lady Une. "Yes, a threat. He threatened your fascination with Treize Kushrenada. You knew the rumors. Hell, even in the Alliance ranks the rumors were rampant. They were wide spread. Kushrenada was just too damned elegant to be straight. Or so too many people thought. Homosexuality was nothing in this day and age, compared to the stigma it used to be, unless you are unfortunate enough to be from one of the rigid Religions. Of all the officers in Oz only Marquise seemed elegant enough to be his match." //Ah, I see that bites. Anne, my dear, you have to face facts. That boy is just too good looking for his own good. He stood a lot of shit because of his looks, but he ignored it as being beneath his dignity to respond.// She set her coffee carefully on the desk. "It was unfounded, you know? Both of them, Zechs and Kushrenada, knew of the rumors. They could not help but know them. They ignored the insinuations and snide remarks and continued with the plan. You knew it too. Both were too proper to consider a relationship in the military. Fraternization in the ranks was a strict no no. Both were reared to be nobles and gentlemen. Both had a high regard for the other. Few would dare comment in Kushrenada's hearing, but that did not give them pause in picking on Zechs. He stood a lot of shit from a lot of people, both of higher and lower rank, and said nothing. It was not on his agenda, so it was not of importance what others thought. Even you." "Just what has this to do with the current situation?" Une's voice was a sharp snap, showing her disfavor with the current topic. "Add it to his psyche profile and see what you come up with." Sally promptly returned. Une blinked, surprised. "The man is more than half way to insanity, even now." Sally sighed and shook her head, stretching in her chair. "I believe he is more sane than anyone I know. Oh, don't look at me like that. I know exactly what I am implying. You think no sane person would do what he did?" she shrugged, sighing and met Une's eyes. "I thought so, initially, but I've had time to reconsider a few incidents that, at the time they happened, seemed odd, but not significant. He was stressed. He was depressed. He was unstable. I will admit that is without a doubt, what we all saw and knew to be true. I guess losing everything will do that to a person. Losing it all can also push you into a desperation that seems insane to most other people, but proves, on investigation, to be not quite so psycho as it seemed initially." Une scowled, considering the other woman and the implications of her words, finally shaking her head, eyes wide in realization. "Zechs told you why he joined White Fang?" a wealth of curiosity and wonder came through in her tone. Sally sighed and shrugged slightly, neither confirming nor denying the accusation in Une's voice. This conversation was, thus far, going the way she believed it had to, and she refused to get side tracked. "Zechs joined White Fang because people made mistakes, Une. People disregarded him and that is a fatal error. The man is no fool. I believe that if he had not become separated from Trowa and Heero in Antarctica, things might have been very different today. He went into space, as Milliardo Peacecraft, and he was disregarded by those in power, accept, curiously enough, a colony of alliance holdouts. They were destroyed, of course. He joined up again with Howard who is one of the very few people who never thought Zechs was a fool, I might add. Says a lot for that man's insight. He could not believe that Zechs joined the White Fang in the end, but I digress. Back to subject. If Chang Wu Fei had not rejected his overtures of alliance after L5 was detonated, things would have certainly not resulted as they had in him joining White Fang. And if, before most of that had happened, Relena had not treated him like a lower life form and her personal servant and, then proceeded to frighten shit out of him by ordering Heero to kill him, who knows what we would have been doing now?" Une blinked in surprise at Sally's recitation of the events of the One Year War. "I... Relena... " Sally shrugged, unwilling to dance around that tender subject. Relena, in her view, had a lot of growing up yet to do. "Relena was behaving in a very un pacifist like manner, Une. The exact opposite to what Zechs needed to bring about a return to the former days of the Sanc kingdom. I've had a lot of time to think and I can see only too well how we managed to place ourselves for that final, abysmal battle. He planned it all. I have no doubt of that. Zechs planned every last move after the second fall of the Sanc kingdom. I think he directed every move we made, and I would not be surprised to find out one day, that Kushrenada helped him do it. Knowingly, or unknowingly, I don't know. I'll probably never know. My point in all of this is, don't disregard Zechs in what is happening on Mars. Don't think he will act irrationally or in a cold blooded massacre of ESUN agents. He's too methodical for that. He has an uncanny insight and he is not afraid to use it. Noin is the one who will act first and think later, not Zechs." Sally watched as Une absorbed and then began to considered her words, satisfied to have given her pause and make her think from a slightly different angle. She had been increasingly disturbed that Lady Une had been blinding herself to a few truths about the past recently, not the least of which was that Treize Kushrenada was dead. Une rarely, if ever, spoke of Treize Kushrenada, or His Excellency, as she continually termed him, in the past tense. She was doubtful that as yet anyone else had caught on, but Sally certainly had noticed and it was disturbing to her. They needed Lady Une, just as they needed Relena in the position she filled. Initially Une had blamed Zechs Marquise for the death of the man she was infatuated with, despite the fact it was Chang Wu Fei who had delivered the killing blow. Admittedly she had been scrupulously fair in her dealings with Zechs when he had reappeared, probably because of the regard she had developed for Relena, but Sally had noted it, and kept an eye on it. She did not need Une declaring war on Zechs for imagined past slights. Then, too, if she had noted it, who else might notice and to what use might they eventually put that knowledge? "It does nothing to help with the problems of communicating with Mars." Une waved aside her argument, disgruntled. She had more to do than sit out a psyche session with her Chief Medical Officer. "Of course it does not help, but I was more hoping that it would stop you from worrying for the wrong reasons. Don't just think automatically that any problems stirring up there are the fault of Zechs. Likely they're not. The ESUN is out to control Relena, because of the influence she has managed to gain with the colonies. You will agree with that assessment, won't you?" When Une nodded her agreement Sally continued. "You have near as much influence, Anne, courtesy of your days as the Representative of Oz to the colonies. If they have used this deplorable method to bring Relena to heel, don't you think it likely that at some time they may try controlling you?" Une scowled shaking her head in denial, then reconsidering. It was true that due to her change in personality as the representative of Oz to the colonies, she had gained a certain reputation with influential colony representatives. She also had acquired one weakness that could fill the possible scenario that Sally suggested. Mariemaia Kushrenada. Treize's daughter was her Achilles' heel. Brown eyes widened slightly with the realization and the plethora of possibilities it opened up. Sally nodded. "Yes. You can see it. If Relena can be brought to heel by the simple expedient of controlling Zechs and now his children, how long before the controlling factions in the ESUN Council decides to bring Preventers under their control? Don't blame Zechs for this mess. Truth to tell, he did not have to return to deal with the Barton Incursion. Nor was it his idea to remain a few days in New Port City for his sister, the great Vice Foreign Minister, to get over her snit. As I recall, it was Lucrezia Noin who proposed that he stay, and clung to him like a limpet the whole time. Admittedly, I had my hand in that. He was in no condition to take off into the unknown at that time, and I acted as a medical professional. Likely I would do exactly the same thing again in similar circumstances. I never considered the consequences of his being vulnerable if the ESUN Security Office caught wind of the identity of the pilot of the Tallgeese III. What ifs, Une." Sally stretched in her chair, working tight shoulder muscles, rotating her neck. "We can't help being human and considering the `what ifs'. Now we have this situation and we must deal with it. However, with the current situation, I believe we have a problem that you have not considered. You may not have, but I am certain the ESUN security agency has given it the critical attention it deserves. What you have not considered, Une, is the condition of the children." Une shook her head, frowning at the abrupt change of topic, just when she found the subject of interest to her. Mariemaia's safety was paramount to her. "What do you mean?" Sally sighed, leaning forward in her chair to capture Lady Une's undivided attention and to emphasize her point. "How are they going to get the children off Mars?" Lady Une waved a hand in dismissal. "The shuttle will have it's window in seven days. By then it will be serviced and refueled, ready for departure. At the earliest, it could not be prepared for that flight for at least five days, and that is pushing the safety net dangerously." "No." Sally shook her head, emphatic. "No?" puzzled. "No." Sally gave her best professional look, the penultimate doctor who must explain the simplest of medical information to a layman. "Une, the ESUN faction that has arranged all of this wants to use those children. Both now and in the future, they need them alive and well. If they sent the children off Mars in the shuttle the children might or might not survive to reach Earth. In my professional opinion, it's a death sentence. If they did survive the three month journey then they would not survive the re entry to Earth, let alone living here. They would be crushed." "What?" Une looked her confusion. "You can't indiscriminately pump drugs into an infants system." Sally explained. "The drugs that enable us to survive long distance space flight in zero g will kill a baby. The muscles and bone structure of the human body deteriorate in protracted space flight, in zero g; that is why we take the drugs when going into space for long periods. The body needs gravity. Our bodies were designed for a world; for the pressure of gravity pulling us down on to the planets surface, forcing blood, bone and tissues to work at all times. That does not happen in zero gravity. Your organs float around in your body and deterioration basically begins immediately, the longer you are in zero g, the worse the deterioration becomes. Those infants were born to a gravity one third of the Earths. It is enough, I believe, to see them develop in a relatively normal manner, but take them into a zero g environment and they will be in trouble. Their tiny bodies will begin to deteriorate within days. The use of drugs will kill them. If they survived the flight to Earth the return to a gravity three times that to which they were born to, would crush their delicate bodies circulatory system. They would have no defense, no chance to survive. What ever density existed in their bodies bone structure and tissues before would be compromised by the three month long flight from Mars to Earth. Terran gravity would finish them." Une tapped a finger repeatedly, rhythmically, against the surface of her desk while she considered this new information. She had had no experience with taking infants into space. It was not part of her training. She had not given this a thought; not considered the return flight to earth might be a death sentence to the children that meant the control of Relena Darlian's influence with the colonies. As Sally had pointed it out to her, no doubt someone in the ESUN had thought of it. The problem would have been presented to their medical experts and then consultation would take place with the agents in charge of the mission. It would have been a huge factor in initiating the mission in the first place. What would the solution be? What would they have come up with to solve the dilemma? "Would a ship big enough for a gravity generator to be installed on, be safe to bring the children to Earth without loss of physical systems?" "Yes." Sally breathed, pleased that she did not have to lead Une to that solution. There were so few solutions to this problem that would see the children survive the abduction from their native environment. "If the children were placed in a stable gravity field, they would be safe from deterioration. They could also be gradually introduced to a greater gravity field, so that they would experience little if any distress from Earths greater gravity upon arrival." Lady Une turned to her computer and typed a query on the keyboard, leaning back as the screen flashed an answer. She looked far from happy, fingers drumming on the desk with a sign of her agitation. "At this time, the ESUN has three ships large enough to have gravity generation within a one week flight of Mars. The closest of these ships is the Wellington." "How far from Mars?" Sally sucked in a breath. "Isn't that the new Cruiser built specifically as a Raider hunter?" "Yes, it is. The Wellington is fast enough to make it to Mars within two days."
|
