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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 Colony Base Dome Time 20:55 [Approx 18:45 Sanc time] Barker //I was honestly afraid that we would not make it. That somehow something would go wrong and we would not get here. I was convinced that Murphy's Law, was going to play with us. Still, we are not there yet.// The cliff face dropped below the steadily rising suit, its craggy face becoming a deeper darkness in the shadow of the night fast falling over Mars. The Alpha Dome was lost in those shadows, only the brightest of its lights visible from this distance, the night having already come to the lower positioned domed city. The Base Dome was set high above Alpha on a plateau that was in turn backed by massive cliffs not so far from the dome. It was those ancient cliffs so close to the dome that housed the caves that just might see their stranded maintenance teams survive the bitter Martian night. If the teams were indeed stranded. That was supposition, not proven fact and he did not know if he wished it to be false assumption or truth. It was a lot of wasted hours and manpower if they were wrong. //If we are wrong about this, then at least some of my faith in humanity will be restored.// The sun was setting fast, even at this higher altitude and it served to emphasize in a ruddy red glow the form of the Base Dome. With the sunset bathing the dome he could not tell from his current position if the base still was under alert. It looked tranquil, resting there, the yellow brown of the cliff surface emphasizing the shape of the structure. Man made symmetry against the wild grandeur of the natural Martian feature. //The colour of dried blood.// he mused, trying to stretch his shoulders without interfering with the precise movements of the suits pilot. The cockpit of this machine had never been designed for two and neither he nor his pilot, Daniel Carter, were small men. The pilot had the most room, of course, but even so he looked uncomfortable, seeming to try to fold himself smaller in the pilots seat to make a little more room for the passenger the suit was never meant to carry. “I have a Leo on screen, Chief, at the shuttle bay extension. I think they have realized that they have a problem. We should be within range of their radios about now.” He resisted the urge to move closer to the main screen for fear of jostling the pilot or touching something vital to the stability of their flight. He was only too aware that the package suspended below them destabilized the suit and if he should jostle or distract the pilot then he might well throw them from stabilized flight. They had already survived one such incident shortly after take off from the Alpha Dome, when one of the other suits had almost crashed. The recovery of stability had brought profuse apologies from the cockpit of the Taurus as the pilot and his passenger had begged apologies for the near disaster, both sounding their panic. He admitted to himself that he had been terrified that recovery would not happen and that the rescue was doomed before they could leave the precincts of Alpha. He inched carefully forward, just enough to peer around the pilots arm, noting the screen that showed the Leo Mobile Suit that was moving around the shuttle bay hanger as his pilot ran expert hands over the control panel and he tensed as an unfamiliar voice filtered through the speakers. “ … bay is not accessible. The exterior controls are not responding to my signals and the manual release controls are non operational. Have you had any luck contacting the dome?” “Negative. There has been no response to our hails. Are you sure that you can't get the doors to the shuttle bay to open?” the voice sounded tired to the point of collapse, exhaustion making his voice deeper than was natural. “Affirmative, Peter. I can't get the damn thing to acknowledge me.” “Return to the group, Jerry. We will just have to try something else.” “I don't know if it is of any help or not, but the emergency lights are still on. I don't know what the problem is in there, but if they don't sort it out soon we are going to start dying.” “I know. Return, Jerry. We'll … sort something out.” there was a world's worth of exhaustion and worry in that voice. “Yeah. Yeah, we will. Jerry out.” “Can you raise the suit pilot?” Barker queried. “Just the pilot for now, Daniel.” A moment for flying fingers to caress the controls and his pilot nodded an affirmative. “I have his signal isolated. You're patched through.” “Leo pilot, this is Preventer Eagle, Simon Barker. We are in the air above you in a Taurus suit carrying supplies to assist you through the night. You will make your way to the caves designated K23 on the local area survey maps. Repeat, make your way to the K23 caves with all haste.” A moment of stunned silence and he clearly heard a sharply exhaled breath. “Preventers? Jesus, man, you have had us worried. Thought we were on our own out here. Do you know why we are locked out of the dome? We have people on very low air we need to get into the dome A.S.A.P.” “There is no time for explanations just now, Leo Pilot. Make your way to the caves with all speed. We have work to do if any of us are to survive the night and that includes your maintenance teams and my men in these suits. We have the supplies needed to survive the night but we have little time to spare in setting things up.” “Acknowledge that, Preventer Eagle. The others are grouped around the airlocks trying to force the controls on the doors.” “We will contact them immediately, Leo Pilot. We need to get this equipment to the caves and we need your Leo to assist in the unloading and placement of the supplies. Follow the directional beacon on this suit as an assist in locating K23.” The cluster of suits with their precious if ungainly package passed directly over the bulk of the dome and Barker could not tear his eyes from the red glow that emanated from the structure. The sun was down now and the night clearly showed the pulsing red glow of the emergency lights. He could not see within the dome beyond that eerie glow, but he had always had a vivid imagination and he could imagine what must be going on in there if the lock out of the maintenance teams had already occurred. //Well, it looks as though we will be spending a very cold and uncomfortable night in the caves. I will need to get these people settled in and onto fresh tanks as quickly as possible and then I'll try to gain entry to the dome. Damn it all to hell and back! I was hoping to get into the dome before the lockdown stranded everyone. I wanted to be wrong about what was going down up here.// “Contact the other pilots. Activate the locator beacons for the enviro suits to lock onto. We can't afford for people to get lost down there. We go directly to the cave site and land this package as carefully as possible. Keep it as smooth as you can.” Close formation flying was required to transport the package safely and the pilots were all tense and keyed for disaster to happen. That earlier episode had ensured that everyone in the suits traveled with their hearts lodged somewhere in the vicinity of their throats. Too many things could go wrong with this rescue mission and if the worst did happen, there was no one left to rescue them. That it was now officially a rescue mission did not ease his mind in the least as it served only to increased his tension. “Bring up a general broadcast over enviro suit frequencies.” “You are on the air, Sir.” “Preventer Eagle to maintenance teams. Explanations can wait until later, but for now you are required to make all haste to the caves designated as K23 on the local survey maps. Activate suit locators and follow the beacon on the Taurus suits now passing above you, to the cave we are setting up for shelter. We are engaged in transporting sufficient supplies to last the full night. Supervisors please acknowledge your understanding of this instruction.” “Preventer Eagle? Simon, is that you?” That was a voice he recognized only too well. Cherry Peters was a Solar Technician and designated Supervisor for maintenance Team Five. “Make all haste, Cherry. We have to get these people undercover before the temperature falls below safety tolerance levels for the enviro suits.” “Preventer Eagle, this is Peter Sanderson, Supervisor for Team Three. We have people down here who do not have sufficient oxygen to make the trek to the caves.” //Great. I knew that some of them would likely be running low, but I had hoped they would have enough to manage. What am I supposed to do about this? We are here, where we need to be, but if we set down this package before we reach the caves we are not likely to get it up into the air again. It is just too unwieldy for us to stop to pick up hitchhikers. They are not going to like it, but they are going to have to accept losses.// “Suggestion, sir.” the Taurus pilot stirred, cutting the connection and glancing down at him, fingers hovering over the radio controls . “At this point I am willing to try just about anything, Daniel. What is it?” The pilot nodded and depressed the radio control, opening the link to all the enviro suits again. “Have those people with insufficient oxygen to make the hike hitch a ride on the mobile suits. Their oxygen supply will last longer if they are not exerting themselves. The big suits should be able to handle a fair number of people and I am certain they can effect a means to hang on. Keep clear of the moveable joints and any one who falls behind will need to be left behind.” “You can't think to leave people …” “Cherry, in case you have not noticed it there is a problem in the base dome.” Barker broke into the protest. “A very serious problem. You and your people are not going to be getting in the Dome tonight, certainly not in time to save those of your team on low oxygen. Unpalatable as it may seem, some tough decisions have to be made and I am afraid that they have to be understood by everyone. Anyone who can not make it to the caves is as good as dead. If you have any spare oxygen then give it to your team members who are low, otherwise get them on the mobile suits. That is the very best we are going to be able to do for you. Get your people to the caves. By the time you arrive we should have enough oxygen unpacked and be ready to exchange cylinders. When you are settled and as comfortable as any of us are going to be, then we can explain what is going on in the dome. Barker out.” he motioned to the pilot with a quick cutting motion and sighed as the radio died. “Why do they always have to argue?” He could not deal with any more questions from them. They would waste oxygen on asking questions and protesting the cold reality of their situation, which for some of their number was simply hopeless. “Some of them are not going to make it.” Daniel murmured. He was ex-Alliance, a Mobile Suit pilot who had survived the war by being on assignment to an exploration team to Mars to site the Base Dome. “They may find it hard to deal with, but it is the simple truth of the matter.” “I know. I know it only too well, but there is nothing that we can do for them at this time. We have to save as many as we can and that means getting set up at the caves as quickly as possible to change tanks and heat the cave. We have estimated that we will lose somewhere between fifteen and forty over the length of the night. Most of the losses will be from the trek to the caves, but there is nothing that I can do about it. It is what we laughingly designate as 'acceptable losses' when weighed against the final figures.” The pilot nodded his understanding and sighed then swore, adjusting the trim on the suit as an alarm beeped. “Close. About ten minutes to the target area, sir. I'm glad I was never placed in a command position.” Barker stared gloomily down at the mass of bobbing lights moving in the growing dark, reflecting that he could wish that he had never been chosen for command position and in the next breath dismissing the very idea. The truth was that he trusted himself more than he trusted most other people with his life. He placed his trust in his training, in his will to survive and in his desire to have as many survive under his command as possible. He much preferred to be the commander of a small group of men and women than be placed in charge of hundreds of lives. He wished that it had not been he that had been chosen as the best suited for this assignment to Mars. There would have been others in contention for the post, so why had Preventer Earth chosen him? //I was never suited to be just a follower. A grunt. I hate this. I hate having the responsibility of making the live or die decisions for a large number of people. Look at it this way, Simon, other than Merquise who is a bordering nutcase, brilliant but unstable, who would you place in charge? Face it. You are here and here you stay.// He was a survivor. He had survived a number of hazardous missions and Preventer Earth had never been a fool, so he must place his trust in her faith in him. ----------------- Time 21:10 [Approx 19:00 Sanc time] //I hate knowing that those people who are walking here are going to be dropping like flies before they make it. All the training in the world does not soften what must be done to ensure that some of them survive. This day and the decision I have had to make will live with me until the day I die, however long that might be. Possibly not long. It took us longer to get out here than we estimated, and there is nothing that I can do about it. To fly any faster would have been to have chanced dropping the load and probably resulted in all of the suits crashing as a result, killing the six of us.// He clenched his fists, pretending that he was not shaking like a leaf in terror. The engines of the Taurus were screaming, the joystick in the pilots hand vibrating with the forces exerted by the thrusters. One twitch and disaster could result. It would only take one pilot to make that one fatal mistake and everything would end here for them all. //Do it right. Just don't so much as breathe wrong. Please, please do it right.// The silent litany was continuous and his head was swimming with lack of oxygen. Why was he holding his breath? //Breathe you idiot.// He forced himself to take a breath, shallow and not enough, but it served to get his body to start functioning despite his fear. One breath followed by a second, deeper breath. A third, until he was breathing as close to normally as he could in the circumstances. The engines of the suit rose to a new level of body shaking, ear piercing agony and then the pilot was moving in a mad flurry of activity. The package touched down on the surface of Mars and the strain on the suits systems eased off, the pilot hastily throttling back the power levels, blowing the seals that connected the support cables from the suit to the package and directing the suit away from the bundle in smoother flight. It was pitch black beyond the halo shed by the powerful lights of the suits and Barker watched the screen with a frown. “Package down and secure, Sir.” the pilot reported, running an experienced eye over the controls. “We are landing … now. Down and secure.” “Mark the cave opening.” Now that they were on solid ground and he did not need to fear jolting the pilot so much Barker struggled to get his helmet on and secured. “Locating K23.” the pilot glanced at the topographical map on a side screen, maneuvered the suit a little distance and nodded slightly. 'K23 marked. Loading flares now.” a clunk issued from somewhere in the suit and the pilot grinned. “Targeting cave opening now.” Helmet now secured, but his visor still raised Barker checked the main screen. Darkness. No indication that the cave was out here at all. “Make the shot.” “Flare fired.” the pilot leaned forward slightly, watching the trajectory of the flare on his monitors and nodded as light blossomed on the main view screen. “On target. We have approximately five minutes to secure lighting.” Barker grunted softly, snapping the visor on the helmet into place. He automatically ran a systems check on the functions of his suit, noting that the pilot was securing his own enviro suit and he lightly tapped the pilot on the shoulder and wriggled to the hatch, glancing back at his companion, waiting for the hatch to be released. “Mobile Suit is secured, Sir.” he completed his enviro suits check list and leaned forward to activate the controls. “You are free to exit.” Around the package resting on the ground the other Taurus suits were disgorging their passengers, enviro suited figures riding the lines down from the cockpits to stumble over uneven footing, making their way toward the package to begin stripping back the cloaking material. Barker joined them aware of the big Taurus suits lumbering closer, waiting to begin carrying the heavy bundles of oxygen and lighting fixtures into the now lighted cave. By the time the survivors reached them they needed to have the cave they were to use well illuminated by more than just flares and oxygen tanks set out and ready to be used. He glanced around him, judging how far the big supply suits would have to move to discharge their full sewerage tanks. They needed the tanks empty and then the suits positioned in the cave where two people at a time would enter the sealed compartment, discharge their suits sewerage load into the big tanks and then have each other renew their air supply. While they were in there, they would need to quickly drain a food tube and refresh their water tanks and then clear the chamber for the next two people to use. //It is going to take a hell of a long time, but it is the only safe way to go about the change over. At least they are well practiced in this so it should not take more than four minutes to drain the waste tanks, suck a tube dry, re-supply water and connect up the oxygen systems. Shit. Still a long time when you consider how many people we are going to have to service and how many of them will be on the final gasps of oxygen in their suits.//
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