Aki stood and watched in silence as Gray spoke to a group of soldiers that were heading up to Zeus. She was feeling a little uneasy about this idea of his. Though Trenton was a small city by normal standards, it was proving to be more useful than they'd originally thought. It was home to many of the engineers and techs that had worked on the construction of Zeus, and its main function was to provide spare parts and extra equipment for it. After speaking with the council, it had turned out that Trenton had a small fleet of transport ships that were used for supply runs. Gray's plan was simply to load these ships with soldiers, go up and storm Zeus before it reached and fired upon the city. It was just about the only logical plan they had right now, and they didn't have time to think out another one, but it didn't stop Aki feeling a little worried. She was beginning to get an idea of what her visions meant; of what had been happening before the council meeting. She didn't want Gray going up into a situation he didn't expect and getting himself killed. She wanted to help; to quell that feeling of guilt that was residing in her stomach. She knew what had been going on, in a vague sort of way. She should have told someone, but she didn't. And now look at what had happened.

'Almost ready now,' Gray said, moving back over to her and noting the expression on her face. 'Hey, it's not that bad. We've all done more dangerous things than this,' Aki shook her head.

'I want to come up as well,' Almost instantly, Gray was disagreeing.

'This is dangerous, Aki,' he started, only to be cut off when she chuckled derisively.

'You think I've never been in danger before?' she muttered. Gray blew out a breath as he gazed at her.

'This is different. Who knows what's going on up there? We might not -- '

'I know what's going on,' she said quietly; almost hoping he wouldn't hear. Gray's brow furrowed.

'What?' Aki sighed, waving a hand.

'At least I think I do. It's. . . difficult to explain. And unless I can see Hein in person, I don't think I'll ever be able to explain it,' Gray stared at her for a moment, thinking this through.

'Sid needs you though,' he said, not making a very good effort of talking her out of this. 'For the spirits,' Aki glanced over to where Sid was speaking with one of the Trenton researchers. He had decided to help out with the city-wide evacuation, which hopefully wouldn't be as dangerous as heading up to Zeus.

'But I'm the only one who knows what's happening to Hein,' she replied quietly, forcing herself to look back at Gray. 'What if I'm the only one who can help him?' Gray remained silent, staring firmly at her. She could just see his eyes soften slightly, as they always did when he realised she had a point.

'It's not my call,' he said, almost regretfully. 'The council want you to stay here and -- ' Aki shook her head.

'But I don't want to stay here,' she said, trying her best to keep her tone low. The last thing she needed was everyone hearing how she was trying to take part in a near-suicidal mission. She had to get up there. She had to see Hein, and she had to figure out what was going on.

'Alright, Aki,' Gray said softly, putting both his hands on her shoulders to try and calm her. 'I'll try. I can't promise anything, but I'll try,' He smiled at her before walking off to speak with a soldier near the ship. Aki took the moment to glance around the hangar, seeing almost nothing but armour-clad soldiers, occasionally separated by an officer or technician. There were about fifty troops; four squads for four ships. The council had decided that it needed most of its military to help out with the evacuation, which was already underway. Without any soldiers to calm the panicking civilians, who knew what might happen? Besides, a lot of the soldiers that had made it out of New York alive had come straight here, and the ones who weren't infected wanted to help out. Her eyes fixed on a fairly large group of New York infantry, recognisable by the insignia on their arms, grouped around an officer who was quickly donning some borrowed armour. Aki's eyes narrowed slightly; that officer was familiar but she couldn't quite place where she'd seen him before.

'It's so good to see that some of the 307s got out alive,' she heard Gray mutter sarcastically. 'And Elliot as well. I wonder if he's planning to arrest us for anything,' Aki smiled slightly at the tone of Gray's voice; she remembered now. Major Elliot; Hein's second in command. She could only imagine how he felt right now.

'Alright. You can come,' Gray went on, holding up a hand as she smiled. 'On a couple of conditions,' Aki raised an eyebrow.

'Conditions?'

'Number one; you stay by me all the time. No wandering off and getting yourself into trouble, alright? How am I supposed to protect you if I don't even know where you are?' Aki nodded meekly, though they both knew she would probably forget this condition in two minutes anyway. Well, either forget or ignore it.

'Number two; you're going up for observation reasons only. The council realise it's important that we find out what's happened to Hein and whether it can happen to anyone else. But you watch and watch alone. Let us deal with the fighting,' Aki scrunched up her face in a mock pout.

'You mean I don't get to play with a gun?' she asked innocently. Gray eyed her – half-amused – for a moment before going on.

'Number three. If we both get out of this alive, you come with me to dinner,' Aki paused for a moment, mouth open to speak words that didn't seem to want to come. By the time she got round to making a sound, Gray had already flashed her a mischievous grin and walked off. She stared after him, open mouth reflexively curling into an amused smile. She had to hand it to him; he knew how to make the best out of a situation. She shook her head slowly, still smiling, and turned to see Sid walking towards her.

'They're letting me go up with them,' she said, trying to make the smile disappear as she saw the serious look on Sid's face. She wasn't sure if he was angry with her, worried about her or what. Even after so long, she still found it hard to see what he was thinking.

'So I heard,' he said, no trace of anything on his voice. 'And I know I can't put you off, so I won't try,' Aki tilted her head to one side and frowned slightly.

'I have to see what's happened to Hein, Sid. I. . . It could have happened to me,' Sid's eyes narrowed. Aki had told him about the dream she'd had at Tucson, but she hadn't been this worried about it. He was beginning to get the feeling she was hiding something from him. 'And I can't help but feel sorry for him,' Sid shook his head.

'Don't you dare, Aki. It may, or may not, be him in control at the moment, but he did some terrible things before all this happened,' His tone was so hard it almost surprised Aki. It wasn't often Sid got angry, but when he did. . . She couldn't help but think that she had missed something. Sid knew something she didn't. Well, you know something he doesn't. Fair trade, she thought.

'Aki, come on,' That was Gray, already taking her by the arm.

'We'll talk about this when you return,' Sid said, still a faint hint of anger to his voice. She nodded silently; that was all she felt she could do.

'Doctor. The other Deep Eyes are staying here to help you out with the evacuation,' Sid turned to see Ryan, Jane and Neil watching the shuttles loading up; wistful looks on their faces.

'They don't look too pleased,' Sid said with a faint smile.

'They'll get over it,' Gray replied, a grin on his face. 'Don't let them walk all over you; give them something difficult to do,' Sid nodded.

'I'm sure the evacuation will keep them busy,'

'Well, we have to be going now, Aki,' Aki sighed slightly, nodding to Sid.

'I'll see you in Washington,' The plan at the moment was to transport as many people to the nearest barrier cities; Washington DC, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh before Zeus got near. Washington had the best research facilities, so Sid was heading there to try and set up a lab to replace the one lost in New York. He gave her a slightly edgy smile.

'You be careful, Aki. You too, captain,'

'We will, doctor,' And before she knew it, Aki was already airborne; heading for space with that uneasy feeling growing in her gut.

Sid watched the shuttles leave with a heavy sense of dread in his heart. He now had no doubt that Aki knew what had happened to Hein; that something had happened to her between the Fall and now. He hadn't had any time to speak with her, and that he regretted. He couldn't begin to understand what was going on here, and that worried him. If he understood, then he would be able to help, but as long as he knew nothing, he was almost worthless. All he could come up with so far was. . . Well, he didn't know what he thought. And years of experience had told him that guessing at the answer before you knew all the facts was not the best way to go about anything. So now he had to endure a long, infuriating wait until he could talk with Aki again. He only hoped that she was going to come back in one piece.

'Are we good to go, doctor?' Sid blinked, turning to see Ryan. The evacuation. That had to be dealt with first; when he got to Washington, then he could worry. But for now, he had to help out. He gave a brief nod and moved to join the three soldiers.

'Indeed sergeant. We're to check the already evacuated areas for stragglers, yes?' This was deemed to be one of the less dangerous – and less interesting – jobs you could have during an evacuation. And obviously the Deep Eyes were aware of this. Ryan nodded; the expression on his face showing just how much he would have preferred going to Zeus. Jane and Neil looked equally unimpressed with their task.

'That's right, doc,' Neil started glumly. 'Checking empty streets. Hours of fun, ahoy,' Sid smiled, shaking his head.

'Well, the sooner we start. . .' The three soldiers groaned.

'You sound exactly like the captain,' Jane muttered, prompting Sid to frown.

'Is that a bad thing?'

'Oh yeah,'

The shuttle Aki was on was disturbingly silent as they made their way up through the atmosphere. They had been grouped together with a few more New Yorkers to form a squad of twelve. Gray was second in command by rank, which suited him just fine; he knew how impossible it would be to keep a close eye on Aki and direct eleven other men at the same time.

'You stay close to me, alright,' he told her for the seventh time since they'd taken off. Aki eyed him derisively.

'I get the point, Gray. Besides, I've got no real desire to go wandering off,' Gray nodded from beneath his helmet.

'I hope you remember that when we get up there,'

They sat in silence for a few moments, the smooth ride becoming more jolted in places as they climbed in altitude. It wasn't Aki's first time in space – or her first visit to Zeus – but she still couldn't shake that uneasy feeling. She did want to know what had happened, and she hoped that this would help her understand what was going on. But somewhere deep down, she was terrified. What if this did happen to her? What if it was just waiting for the perfect moment? Was she going to become what Hein had; was she going to end up killing millions of her own kind for seemingly no reason? She hated that thought, and she hated that she couldn't dispel it. But she had to find out. She couldn't hide anymore.

'Doctor Ross, Captain Edwards,' Aki recognised the voice before she looked up, even though it was masked by the helmet the soldier wore. She had heard this man argue against her and Sid countless times when Hein just couldn't be bothered doing so. She wasn't quite sure why he was daring to speak; after all the last time she'd seen him, he'd been in the process of arresting them all. She was even less sure why she answered.

'Major,' she replied coolly. Gray just sat in silence, watching the other soldier intently.

'It's good to see that you and the Deep Eyes escaped New York,' Elliot said, realising that Gray probably wouldn't respond unless ordered. And even then. . . 'You were already gone by the time I got back to the detention block,' Aki's eyes narrowed.

'You were. . . going to let us out?' she asked curiously. Elliot nodded slightly, staring at the floor.

'I couldn't just leave you there, and I wasn't sure if the failsafe system would kick in or not, so I went back. But, like I said, you were gone,' Aki's frown deepened.

'Why?' she asked, realising it was a stupid question after she'd said it.

'Because he went too far this time. I should have tried to stop him, but by the time I realised the entire city was in ruin,'

'What do you mean?' Gray asked suddenly, his tone a little softer than Aki would have expected. Elliot looked up, shrugging slightly.

'I might as well tell you. Everyone'll hear about it sooner or later anyway,' He paused, and then lowered his voice so the others wouldn't hear. Obviously the rest of the 307s hadn't heard about whatever had happened. 'The barrier didn't fail, it was lowered purposefully,' Aki couldn't speak; her mind was racing. Was this something else Hein had done while under the influence of the phantoms? But the barrier failed before I felt anything, she thought. Does that mean. . .?

'He did it on purpose?' Gray growled. Elliot nodded.

'He thought that it would force the council into using Zeus -- '

'And you knew!' Some of the other soldiers turned to stare curiously at Gray as he hissed that, but the mission must have seemed more important to them, because they didn't pay attention for long. Aki gave Gray what she hoped was a calm look, putting one hand on his. There was no point in blaming Elliot for something that had been and gone.

'Just let him explain,' she said, hoping that would be enough to placate him. Gray stared defiantly at the major for a moment longer, before shaking his head and leaning back.

'Don't think I didn't try to tell someone,' Elliot said; his own voice cracking with anger. 'I didn't want this; hell, I didn't even know about it until a few minutes before it happened. And by the time I found out the council had gone. . . Well,' The anger disappeared, replaced by a hint of sadness. 'Everything was gone by then,' Gray remained silent, though Aki could feel his fist tight beneath her hand. She could understand his anger; she was angry too. How could he have done that; been so stupid as to lower the barrier? But there was no point in directing it at someone who wasn't to blame. She didn't know Elliot very well; in fact, she knew him even less than she knew Hein. But there was something about the way he spoke that made her believe him.

'It's alright,' she started, only to be interrupted when Elliot shook his head.

'No, it isn't alright. I was supposed to be keeping an eye on him; making sure he didn't get an idea like this in his head again,' Aki's eyes narrowed.

'What do you mean?' Elliot paused, as if he hadn't realised he had been talking, before shaking his head again.

'It's nothing. I'm just. . . I guess I'm still shocked,' He took in what sounded like a deep, calming breath and looked up at Aki.

'I'll be leading the troops from this squad,' he said, trying to sound more at ease than he obviously was. 'You both know our main priority is to stop the cannon before it fires. But, we're also to make sure you don't come to any harm, doctor,'

'I can look after doctor Ross,' Gray said quietly. 'So the rest of the squad can concentrate on the mission at hand,' Elliot shook his head, and Aki could note a distinct tension in the air between them. Oh. This is going to be fun to watch, she thought.

'No offence, captain, but doctor Ross' safety is one of our main concerns. The council wasn't exactly ecstatic about letting her up here. We can't lose her,' And with that, he stood and looked down at Aki for a long moment; making her feel a little uncomfortable.

'Without Zeus, she's our only chance,' He nodded to them both, and slowly made his way back to the front of the ship.

'He should just let me watch over you,' Gray muttered mutinously. 'And concentrate on stopping his psycho of a CO,' Aki sighed, her eyes on the major as he sat silently. Suddenly, she felt sorry for him. He might have been one of the proverbial enemies before all this happened, but he was just a soldier following his orders. He'd tried to make things right, but it hadn't worked out. He wasn't like Hein, and Gray wasn't right to focus his anger on him.

'He's just following orders,' she murmured. 'Isn't that what a soldier does?' Gray shook his head.

'Sometimes you have to listen to your own common sense rather than just blindly do as you're told,' he retorted. Aki remained quiet; not wanting to get into an argument. Gray obviously felt strongly about this, and when that happened, it took a miracle to make him see another point of view. She'd used to admire the way he fought passionately for whatever he believed in; never giving in to his opponent. Now it just reminded her of how Hein was. It was worrying to see people so single-minded about things. So she didn't argue further. She just stayed silent.

'We're coming up on the station now,' a voice rasped in her ear. Before take-off, one of the techs had given her a military radio to fit to her headset, so she could be found if she got separated from the main group. It also let her see how the military were really running this mission.

'Roger,' a voice she recognised as Elliot's crackled back. 'Any response to hails?'

'Negative, sir. Total radio silence,' A brief pause.

'Alright, get ready to dock. Everyone be alert; it might be an ambush,' Some of the techs had finally managed to decipher some of the distress calls that had been received before Zeus had fired, and every one had said something about a phantom being on board. No-one knew how on earth a phantom had managed to get up into space, but they weren't taking any chances. All around her, soldiers began checking their weapons and equipment; quietly psyching themselves up for what awaited them. It seemed like an odd mix of troops really; most of them were just normal infantry, armed only with the basic bioetheric lasers. But she could see a couple of elite soldiers sat on the opposite end of the ship; probably Deep Eyes under different command. New York had several sets of Deep Eyes squads; two under each of the separate command groups that operated from the New York base. She could see another Knight; though his sword was broader and longer than Gray's. It had been pretty standard practice years before Gray had graduated to give Knights insanely heavy swords. It made sure that they maintained their strength and fitness while not necessarily taking part in missions all the time. But these days, Knights were given much lighter blades so they could escape from battle easier. It seemed the military mentality had changed from "Destroy your enemy at any cost" to "Save your skin and live to fight another day". He must have graduated a while before Gray, she thought. And to have survived so long, She smiled slightly. He deserves a medal or something, The other one was a Blackie; the lone, thick black stripe around his left arm showing this. She found herself wondering whether he was actually a Deep Eye, or part of the new Mage divisions that were being set up in bases across the country. There had been a sudden increase in Whities and Blackies in the past few months, and the military had found that they worked best when they were in groups of two or three, rather than isolated on their own. These new squads – nicknamed Ghosts for the moment – were only in their first year of service, but reports had shown that they outperformed even Deep Eyes on a regular basis.

'Are you ready?' Gray whispered, checking his sword again. Aki nodded slightly. From what she had gathered, they were the last squad to reach the station. Once inside, they were to meet up with another squad and "liberate" the control room while the other two squads sabotaged the engine room and ensured that the secondary firing mechanism was useless. Of course, it wouldn't be useless for long; Aki had little doubt that the military intended to salvage their precious cannon. After all, they hadn't spent ten years and countless millions of dollars building it, only to blow it up before it had even been used for its intended purpose. Typical, she thought, a little bitterly. Well, the army wouldn't change. Why try to force it?

There was a sharp, sudden jolt which Aki assumed was the ship docking with Zeus. She stayed where she was, watching as the rest of the soldiers stood; grouping around the docking hatch.

'Pressure's equalised,' the pilot said. 'No signs of anyone nearby,' By the door, Aki could just see Elliot nod.

'Alright. Form up and keep your eyes open. We don't want to lose anyone,' The door hissed open and one of the soldiers stepped forwards cautiously. Aki swallowed, taking her place behind Gray. Suddenly, this didn't seem like such a good idea.