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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"
Mars Alpha Dome Date: 1st March AC 198 Time: 17:32 MST [Mars Standard Time] Simon Barker //What the hell is happening up there and what can I do about it? There has to be something that I can do. People will be dying soon if I can't think of something to influence events.// He glared at the view on the screen, the exterior cameras of the Alpha Dome were now trained on the distant Base Dome. The red pulsing of the emergency alarms was clearly visible, even from this distance with the aid of the cameras, though no signs of movement would be able to be picked up. They had only recently managed to get the Alpha Domes security cameras operational after they had been subjected to that mass failure that wiped much of their computer system. Radio communications was still non existent, but at least they had the cameras working. He knew that on the far side of the distant dome there were maintenance teams going about their work, totally unaware that there was trouble. It would be all too easy for the infiltrators to kill every last man and woman working outside the dome's protection. // There has to be some way of giving those people a chance.// The workers nearest to the dome would note the pulsing of the emergency lights, but its operation could be explained away in a dozen non life threatening ways to the exterior workers. They should have returned to the interior of the dome at the commencement of the emergency, but from viewing the communications logs he was inclined to believe the radio interference may have ensured that the exterior teams had not heard the alert. He was inclined to believe that it was possible that Shanna McIntyre, who had the control room duty, may have explained to any radio call-ins questioning the alert, that it was a drill. There had been problems with certain systems in the last two weeks that they had not been able to explain, problems that had cleared themselves. Problems he was now inclined to believe were related to this farce now taking place. She could have quieted any unease from the exterior workers as just another glitch in the system, and not to mind the alert as it was computer errors they were trying to chase down and repair. He had known her to do that before and he had had words with her about it too, citing it was against all safety protocols to disregard the emergency alert. True emergency or false alarm you did not tell the workers to ignore the alarm because it would put you behind schedule. Unless you intended to use that alert to your advantage. All those computer glitches that had caused problems in the last two weeks. Was he being paranoid? Regardless, all the action was happening up there, in
the Base Dome. ESUN agents were running around as though they owned
the place and it rubbed him the wrong way. If they gained the upper
hand they might not slaughter everyone, he reflected, though he could
not see that as being a valid hope. No, he admitted if only to himself,
they would want no witnesses who might carry tales. They would want
no one to refute their claims of what happened at the Mars Colony.
The most vulnerable of them all at this time, in his opinion, were the maintenance teams outside the domes. They worked long and hard hours to maintain the equipment that meant life to everyone who lived here. In just a few short hours those teams would expect to return to the dome and enjoy hot showers and decent meals, before falling into warm beds for well deserved sleep. They would likely be walking back into a massacre. He had already sent out a team of his own Preventers to bring in the workers who had been stationed around the Alpha Dome. At least he knew that the workers here would not be locked out of the dome, to face the fate of running out of air and dying the horrible death of asphyxiation. If those in the Base Dome abandoned the workers operating outside the dome, then they would face a freezing death in the Martian night. None of their suits could handle the Martian extremes after sunset. None of them would have sufficient oxygen to survive the hike to the Alpha Dome, even if they could see in the dark to descend the cliff. "Do we have any shuttles we can get into the air?" he dropped his gaze to stare at the floor, at his feet and his hands hanging limply between his knees. "I would have said yes, except I have already checked. Someone did a nice job of sabotage." Mako responded, voice barely above a whisper. "It had to be one of the maintenance people in the shuttle bay. Every shuttle we have here, even that last one that came in from the Base Dome a couple of hours ago, has been tampered with." he ran a hand absently through his hair, shaking his head and shrugged. "I have the best mechanic still awake working on what looks like the least damaged of the craft, but it will take hours. Even with what ever help we can get him from the returning maintenance teams from outside, it is likely to take four or five hours." Mako and Barker sat in an observation deck overlooking the main maintenance bay, waiting for the return of the first of the workers to be recalled from their maintenance duties. Beyond the window the huge bay was deserted, though if he looked hard Barker realized he could see the red glowing bulb signaling the cycling of an operating air lock. It would not be long before the workers were in the bay. It was a death trap. Once you were in that airlock, your could so easily be killed. A gas mixed with the oxygen mix entering the system. If you were low on air you would not stop to sniff the quality of the air you were desperate to breathe and you'd have your helmet off quick smart. He'd done it himself. Or the air locks operators could simply lock down the doors, not allowing you into the interior of the base. Barker nodded slowly, acknowledging the news, looking up to glare once again at the screen. He could don an enviro suit and hike to the Base Dome, but his oxygen supply would be limited in an enviro suit and there was no way into the base dome unless he had help from inside. Then, too, there was the small fact that the Martian night would likely overtake him before he reached the dome, and he was just as vulnerable to the cold as the maintenance teams. There was no way he could get word into the base dome with the communications lines in disarray from that planted virus. Nor could he know if the person he might contact was a Sleeper agent or not. His agents in the dome had failed to respond to his calls over the emergency Preventer channels. He could try to scale the cliff in the approaching Martian night but what good would it do other than to freeze his own butt? "How many people are outside the dome?" Mako glanced at him, then at the screen, and then returned his gaze to his feet. Anything was better than looking at that distant red flashing light that marked the emergency at the other habitat dome for more than a few seconds. "Today was a heavy work day. Most of the relays, condensers and power packs had to be stripped and cleaned. I assigned everyone I could spare with enough experience to speed the job along, hoping to complete the work in one day." "How many?" Barker repeated. "Ninety five in the condenser field. Thirty five in each of the relay stations and eighty four in the power station to strip down the power packs. Another forty cleaning the solar panels." Barker winced. There were five relay stations on that side of the base dome, for a total of one hundred and seventy five people working in the relay system. In total that made three hundred and ninety four individuals who might or might not find themselves locked out to face a Martian night with no shelter and no oxygen. Three hundred and ninety four deaths possible without the bastards in the dome lifting more than a finger to initiate the lock out. No. More. The big supply enviro suits pilots and the heavy maintenance suit pilots were out there too. //What do I do? There has to be something that can be done. Some way of reaching them.// "I assigned three ten man teams to explore the canyon today." Mako continued after a time, voice flat and dull. "They at least have food and oxygen for three days and the crawler for shelter. They'll have a better chance of surviving until this is all over. If they don't turn around and come back when they realize they have lost contact with the domes." "There has to be a way we can help those people." a low, deep rumble, more thinking aloud than actually commenting. Mako shook his head, one hand rubbing his eyes. He was tired and he had been thinking too long of the lives he could do nothing to save. "How? The three shuttles we have in the hanger have had the vitals ripped out of them. Our enviro suits are not made to survive a night on this bloody world, even if they could carry enough oxygen to get us to the dome, in the dark and up that bloody cliff. Not even the supply suits could hold enough of a supply for half of the teams working up there. I only wish there was a way to get there. Even if we could make it, what would we do when we got there? It's four hundred people, Simon. We can't carry enough oxygen for more than two or three people and that would be insufficient to get them through the night. The supply suits are not capable of climbing the bloody cliff and would have sufficient oxygen for maybe ten to twenty to last the night, but not four hundred. And what about the night? The cold alone ... Without shelter, they're dead from the cold." //One trouble at a time, Mako. Still, I have an answer for that question, at least.// "The caves. There are caves behind the Base Dome, remember? Heat packs are small enough to carry quite a few per person. Enough to offer some protection from the cold at least. Enough to survive it." "How do we get it there?" a sigh. "Round and around in circles, Simon. We are going around in circles. No matter how we think it, it still amounts to the same thing. They're dead." // No! I will not accept that there is nothing I can do for them. I'll not let those bastards win.// "There is a way. There has to be. I'm a Preventer, Mako. We don't give up. There are people up there who will die if I don't find a way ..." Mako glanced up at the abrupt silence, noting Barker staring off into space. Staring in the general direction of the window overlooking the maintenance hanger. Curious he followed his look out of the window and down in to the maintenance hanger, where the first of the outside teams were now passing into the bay from the airlocks and shucking their enviro suits. "What?" Mako queried, turning to look again to Barker. "You see something wrong? What?" Barker stood slowly, walking; almost stalking, to the window and looking down to the hanger floor. At the continued silence Mako sighed and rose to join him, peering over his shoulder in time to see the large air lock doors to the side of the standard sized air lock part. With lumbering steps the three maintenance mobile suits entered the hanger, walking slowly, ponderously to their recharge units. These were converted Taurus suits, at one time used in the One Year War by Oz. The suits had been a part of a shipment of Leo and Taurus suits assigned to Mars to be converted to aid in the construction of the domes. They were used to aid in the heavy lifting and in clearing the site for the Beta Dome to be erected in the future. "Simon? Are you alright?" Barker began to smile, a slight tilt of the lips at first, and a gleam in his eyes, but the frown lifted a little and his fingers beat a sharp, thoughtful tattoo against the view window. "Taurus suits?" Mako glanced from Barker back to the where the suits were now being locked into their cradles. "What possible use could you find for Taurus suits to help at Base Dome? We only have five of them, Simon, and two are down for maintenance to their systems." "Do you know the load capacity of the Taurus suits?" a low murmur, his gaze never leaving the suits as the last was locked in place and the power couplings were brought out. "What ...? Simon ..." "Think about it, Mako. Just consider it." he began to talk faster, mind working overtime at this slender thread of hope he was seeing before him. "We rig up a sling or a number of slings full of oxygen tanks for enviro suits. We include heating units and food. The Taurus suits could fly that to the base dome. Our people could hide and shelter in those caves, at least until morning. There are enough supply suits to handle their needs, even if they have to vent the raw sewerage a distance from their shelter. A worst case scenario would be that they have to walk back to Alpha in daylight. Next best scenario is that we might have a shuttle going and be able to fly them back in relays before light. Absolute best case scenario is that the trouble in the dome is contained and my agents there can get the workers in the dome. We can't get them down here, tonight, but we can use the Taurus suits to give them a chance of surviving the night." Mako stared down at the machines painted a garish purple and green, to clearly mark them in the Martian day. Could Taurus suits, once intended to kill, then converted to mechanical slaves for heavy labor, now offer hope to the men trapped on the upper plateau, unknowing of the disaster that could befall them? If they gained entrance to the dome it would be to face a mass slaughter. If they were locked out of the dome the results were a more lingering death by cold and asphyxiation. "It will take a couple of hours to recharge the suits power systems and to refuel them." he murmured, seriously considering the idea now, seeing the potential of the idea, yet still worrying about the unavoidable time constraints. "Couldn't do it in under two hours thirty, maybe closer to three hours." //Three hours is better than the other options. It will be tight, but it just has to be possible.// Barker nodded slightly, considering what equipment they could take that would best serve the needs of the workers. "We need time to get the gear together that we will need to send anyway. It will take nearly that long to sort out the rescue. We need to find the best pilots we have in the dome. Its not easy flying one of those things in this atmosphere at the best of times, and with a load suspended underneath ... we can't afford accidents. Start making lists of what will need to be taken. Starting with basic survival gear, Mako. It's not going to be pretty. It does not need to be pretty, but it will be better than dying out there." Just about anything would be better than being stuck out, exposed, in the Martian night, they both understood that. Barker was beaming, eyes gleaming, mind running quickly over the possibilities now opening up to him. He did not have to leave those people to die out there. There was a way to save them and he would not have to sleep with their deaths on his conscious. It was a fore gone conclusion that the ESUN agents would not care that they killed and certainly would not lament those deaths. "Nets. Big nets or something of that nature would be the best option for carrying the gear in." Mako considered that a moment and a grin widened, lighting his face. "What about weather balloons? We have some big ones in the Alpha Dome. A series of experiments was slated for next week involving atmospheric conditions. The fabric is toughened to withstand the winds and corrosion in the atmosphere. Should be strong enough to take a fair weight. Some of those instrument packages weigh in at five ton and more." // Yes! It will work. We can make it work!// "Good. Yes, those will help. We need to go down and speak to those pilots. We need a list of pilots available and determine who the best for the job is." --------------- 18:20 //Very resourceful. I have to give you points for resourcefulness.// Dark eyes watched from the shelter of shadows as the
maintenance bay became a hive of activity. He scowled, careful to
remain unseen. At this time he had no legitimate excuse to be down
in the bays, as he had been assigned to other matters necessary to
expedite the rescue of the Base Dome maintenance crews. He would need
to retreat and attend to his assigned duties before he was missed,
but he had felt that he needed to take this chance. He might have
been presented with a golden opportunity to sabotage the rescue //Mmm. The Taurus suits will be difficult to sabotage. No. No, there are too many people too close to where I would need to be to sabotage them. Too many people watching for me to go where I have no cause to be at this time. No direct sabotage to the suits, but maybe ... Can I taint the fuel?// He slipped deeper into shadows, working his way carefully around the bay and finally slipping into the shelter of a computer bank that at this time was idle. It was one of the computers that assisted in the servicing of the shuttles, which he had put out of commission a while ago. // No. Sadly no, I can't. Again too many people in the vicinity of the fuel tanks for me to take the chance. It may be that I will have to let this go, allowing them to effect something of a rescue. Truth to tell, it will not make a difference, just prolong the inevitable. Those exterior maintenance crews have to die and a lock out would have been the most efficient means to do that. It would not have taken all that long for them to die. There are worse ways to go than asphyxiation. // He glared at the activity centering around the massive mobile suits, listening to the rising hubbub of voices as instructions were shouted. For now it would pay for him to step back and wait for his time to come. He would continue to be the friend and workmate of the people who surrounded him and assist in this rescue that was only a delay to the inevitable events that would take place. There would be a time to reveal himself and that time was certainly not now. It was an inconvenience that too many of the plans of his superiors had been countered, and countered curiously enough by that infuriating blonde he was sent here to watch. How had he known so much of the plans that had been prepared and so effectively countered them, with the aid of the Preventers? He suspected that Merquise knew the identities of at least five, maybe six of the Sleepers, but he was certain that his own identity was thus far a secret. That his identity was still unknown was his only advantage in this changing game plan. He could not rely on the other Sleeper agents for assistance since so many of them were known to Merquise, and he would just love to know how the man had discovered that knowledge. Time to return to the duty that had been assigned to him. His small safety margin was just about expired and he could not afford to have anyone suspect that he was not what they assumed. He would be patient. //You'll go down, Marquise. I'll have you down by the
time the Wellington arrives.//
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