Alternative Directions: Options
Chapter 29
Sanc
New Port City
Palace Hotel
Date: 1st March AC 198
Time: 15:04
Relena
To say it was annoying to be here, talking and listening to inane chatter when so much was going on that was important to her, was a gross understatement. Mars was so far away. Her family was so far away. She had thrown away her chance to know him, not really recognizing that he was her family until much later. Her childish dreams and ideals of what her big brother was like when she had learned of him, now made her blush. It was no failing of his that she was in the circumstances that now surrounded her. It was her own fault.
If she had accepted him for who he was and what he was, likely none of this would ever have happened. Yes, she admitted, she did not understand him. Or what drove him. He saw the world through very different eyes to her. His goals, while being a desire for peace, were not the goals that drove her. Yes, they both sought to bring about peace, but they sought it in such different ways. It was clear that she had not given enough thought to how he and others saw the world.
The politicians who drove this disaster happening on Mars feared her. They feared Milliardo too. Relena sighed. The truth was, surely, that they feared what would happen should she and Milliardo reconcile and work together, as they should. If she could ever get over what she saw as his betrayal. Yet he had not betrayed her. Not once had he betrayed her or their country. Everything he had done was designed to bring her to Sanc, and to free the country from the oppressive regimes that had come to suppress it. When he had accomplished his goal, he had turned to freeing the colonies and protecting them. Or trying to.
He had needed something to protect. She understood that much. Her brother seemed to have a deep need to protect a cause dear to him. Heero had told her how lost he had felt after the wars ended. Had said that he understood why Milliardo had done what he had. She would need to have longer chats with her Chief of Security. Perhaps he could help her to better understand her brother's thoughts.
//I should have tried to understand him. I should have asked questions about him when I learned who he was. I did not even think to ask who Zechs Marquise was. Milliardo Peacecraft. Zechs Marquise. Two very different men? I don't know. Same man, two personas. I don't know either one and that is shameful. All I wanted was to be rid of the blood thirsty person they claimed was my brother. He divorced himself from Milliardo Peacecraft when he began attacking the Romefeller carriers being sent to Earth. Became Zechs Merquise again, to protect Sanc. To protect me. He knew I would disclaim... disclaim... Oh, damn. I have to stop this. It's a garden party for charity and I have to start paying attention to the people. I'm just being selfish, wallowing in my misery.//
Family. Milliardo was in all sorts of trouble and far away, and she was powerless to help him. Hind sight was a marvelous thing when it allowed you to look back with cool thoughts and see the mess you made of important things. Important relationships. She had resented her father, the Vice Foreign Minister, because he was always leaving her. Now she had his position and unlike him she was a puppet. At least he had the strength and freedom to act on his good conscience. She had her mother, too, and the trust and love was there. She so needed her mother now, when the world seemed to be falling apart around her. Her mother. Alice Darlian was the only mother she had ever known. To her shame her birth mother was a name only, and she had never really asked many questions about her. She had no memory of her. She also had a grandfather living-and was far from happy with him after their last most dissatisfactory meeting. He was in agreement with the entire sordid business.
//Oh. He... he never... I did not realize. He seemed surprised to learn that Milliardo was alive, but he never said anything about... No. No, that's silly. He acted when Romefeller were using me, but he never said anything about this situation, other than he would try for custody of the children, and that Milliardo is dead to him. He never... never asked if I needed help... If I...//
Someone asked her a question and she plastered a smile onto her face, apologizing prettily that she had been lost in thought and could she have the question again. A few minutes meaningless conversation, a quick glance at Heero who gave her a quizzical look, knowing she was not concentrating on the matters at hand, and she had a moment alone, to draw breath and berate herself.
//Grow up, Relena. You can't be a spoiled little rich girl all your life. The meeting did not go as you had planned it. Deal with it. He comes from a different school of thought. Politics is all that matters to him. It was how he was reared. You lived with politics all your life. You know that your father was a politician. Both of your fathers were. But principles seemed to mean much more to them than they do to Marquis Wayridge. Your real father died for his ideals. The Perfect Peace Principle. Senator Darlian, the man who raised you as his daughter and is the only father you have a memory of, taught you those principles and died for it too. Just how many people have to die because of this Principle of Peace? Grandfather will probably give you just enough rope to really hang yourself and then move in to rescue you, and have your undying gratitude assure him control over you in the future. Hnn. I am becoming so cynical.//
Relena smiled at a socialite who was introducing her daughter to society for the first time at this function. She was a rather pretty young girl, strawberry blonde hair, a quite pretty pale blue dress and something of a vacant smile. The girl clearly wanted to be elsewhere, and Relena felt nothing but sympathy for her. She, too, wanted to be elsewhere.
Somewhere where she did not have to watch the endless parade of passing people; greetings offered, false smiles and hidden thoughts of advantage. That's what these functions always resulted in. People maneuvering to gain some form of advantage or insight into others so that it could later be used. The fact that money was raised here for a good cause was purely coincidental. Most of the participants could not care less about those street children who would benefit from this social gathering.
To think, that once she had enjoyed them. When she had been innocent. That seemed so long ago. She was, after all, only eighteen. She felt so old.
"Relena."
"Quatre." Relena smiled in relief. Someone she really knew. She would not have to pretend with Quatre. "Nice to see a friendly face."
"It is." Quatre smiled, all too aware of the people about them. All too aware that they were watched for the slightest signs that might be exploited for gain later. "Let's take a walk deeper into the garden."
Relena sighed, only too willing to get away from the people for even a short time. Too willing to run away from the people and her less than flattering thoughts on certain relations and their principles. At least the Marquis was not in attendance of the garden party. She was not certain what she would do if she had to meet with her grandfather so soon. She was very much afraid that she might have made a public spectacle of herself by saying a few very unlady like remarks in very public hearing.
She was not the only dignitary at this event, only one of many. Nor was she the hostess, merely a guest, so the onus of keeping the event running smoothly, and being on display all the time, was not on her. It would be nice to have the opportunity to act like a young lady for a change, with no cares other than to be on the arm of a really rather handsome young man. Even if she could wish he was Heero. She had learned early to see Heero in his work persona and the private Heero as two separate people. One day, if she was lucky, she could work on blurring the two personas together, but for now, Heero was working and Quatre had offered her the opportunity to forget her troubles, even for a short time, and take a walk in the garden.
She supposed it really was a decadent opulence to have this glass covered area where it seemed to be perpetually either spring or summer. Beyond the thermal dome it was snowing gently, likely one of the last snow falls of the season, but under the dome, the lawns were green, the flowers blooming and people wandered around in their finery as though it was not five degrees below zero outside. It was beautiful, and it was a recent innovation of the hotels, so that they could cater to all occasions at all times of the year, even to those odd eccentrics who lusted after a garden wedding in the middle of winter. If you had the money to pay for it, likely someone would give you just what you wanted.
It was a pity that no one could give her what she wanted. No amount of money or prestige could give her that.
Quatre smiled, took her hand and placed it on his arm in a most courtly, gallant fashion and nodded at Heero, who stood two paces behind Relena and offered his hand to him. "Nice to see you, Heero. I'll just take Relena for a walk in the rose garden. She looks like she could do with a quiet few minutes."
000000000000000000000000000000
Heero
"Hnn." Heero nodded slightly, fingers curling around the note Quatre had given him in the handshake. "I will just run a quick security check and join you."
Quatre nodded and placing one hand politely in the small of Relena's back, he whisked her off in the direction of the nearby rose garden. Heero considered their retreating backs, wondering why he had the sudden urge to punch his friend solidly on the nose, and then nodded to the Preventer agent beside him to follow at a discreet distance and motioned to another to join him. A quick glance around and he stepped behind a pillar holding up a lattice work arch and turned his attention to the note.
Quatre.
At exactly 15:08 hours the L3 representative will be assassinated. Two guests, one in a cream dress with red rose corsage and another in a butter yellow sun dress with hat, will get the Minister to walk near the fountain at the east side of the lawn garden. Get Relena away from the lawn garden. Four armed men, suicide killers from K5, will crash the party and open fire on the guests. The L3 Representative is the target of a personal vendetta . Heero should mind the cream cake.
Zechs
"Cream cake?" Heero blinked. "What the hell?"
Zechs? This was supposed to be from Relena's brother, who was at this very time possibly playing tag with ESUN security agents on Mars? Scowling he re read the missive, reflecting that it just did not make any sense at all. If it was from Zechs, then how would he have even been able to send it? He knew, through his discussions with Lady Une, that as part of the security arrangements surrounding Zechs, he had no access to out going communications equipment.
// Not that that would stop me. Zechs is capable. He'd likely be able to get around that minor inconvenience.//
Glancing up he looked around the crowded expanse of the garden for the L3 representative, blue eyes intense. The man had been wearing a conservative dark blue suit and had been standing over by the buffet tables. He noted Mrs. Darlian standing near the buffet, talking to the elderly gentleman he recognized as being the representative from L2. The man looked pleased about something, gesturing around at the people and then overhead at the dome. A flash of yellow caught his eye and he half turned, still hunting the L3 representative. Blue eyes widened when he spotted the man with a young lady on each arm walking toward the fountain in the center of the lawn.
Heero glanced at the paper... + at exactly 15:08 hours+... and then at the young women. Butter yellow dress and hat... His gaze flew to the other young woman who wore a cream dress and had red roses and... He glanced at his watch and stiffened.
15:07:51
"Shit!" He breathed. "I can't take the chance on it being some kind of stunt! Get down! Everyone get down!"
Everything seemed to move in slow motion around him as he began to run toward the crowd near the fountain, shouting at everyone, screaming for them to get down. Shouting into his throat mike to get Mrs. Darlian to safety and for all Preventer Agents to go to code red. The two Preventer agents who had been a part of his personal retinue of guards moved with him, not understanding what had moved him to this action, but knowing his reputation enough to trust he knew what he was doing. He dodged and weaved through a multitude of bodies he was certain had just appeared out of nowhere, reaching for the gun in his shoulder holster.
A young socialite spun at the shouts, startled. Around her bodies surged and swayed as people began to run, pushing and screaming. The plate she held containing a rich cream gateau slipped from her fingers as she was pushed roughly from the side by her panicked escort, who was suddenly shouting about guns. She sobbed in terror as right next to her she saw two men with guns drawn lunge through the crowd. Screams broke out and people began to run. She fell, half dragged down by her escort, pain spearing into her hip as she was bundled in close to him. A wild shout near her and something heavy landed on her with a curse that would melt gundanium, and she would have screamed except the pain was too great and she suddenly had no air left in her lungs.
Heero rolled, pain lancing into his leg. Shots fired, screams filled the air, bodies running every which way. Clutching at his ankle he stared in disbelief at the cream and cake smeared over the grass and paving stones where he lay. Beside him a young woman gaped like a fish, a young man was trying to help her get her breath back, tears of pain streaming down her face. Near him someone, a woman, screamed high and shrill, choking off abruptly at the sharp bark of gunfire. Then it was quiet.
Too quiet.
"Two gunmen down." The voice at his ear registered after a moment, the unmistakable brogue of the Scot, James Cameron. The man knelt beside him, reaching for his ankle.
"Two? There are four." He glanced at the agent. "There are four, Thunder. Four."
"Got ye. I'll spread t'ae word t'start t'ae search."
A quick volley of gunshots shattered the silence and a renewed bout of screaming and scrambling from the guests ensued. Agent Thunder was talking into his mike and Heero half rolled, pulling down a young woman who scrambled to her feet and made to run. He held her down, disgusted with himself for his current predicament and in no sweet temper. Quatre had Relena safely away from the area and would not allow her to return until things quieted down, leaving him to deal with this mess. For that he was thankful.
"Stay down and don't move." He warned the whimpering woman. "They will fire at anyone who moves. Just stay still."
A whimper answered him and he took that as assent, looking then for the shooters. As he glanced around he saw a man armed with an automatic pistol fall from the upper terrace of the hotel. A hotel security guard and one of the Preventer agents appeared on the balcony a moment later, calling the all clear. Heero glanced at his fellow agent.
"How many now?"
Thunder spoke rapidly into his throat mike, kneeling over Heero as he scanned the shambles of the buffet and listened for an answer even as he shouted for all guests to remain down until they were certain all hostiles were dealt with. Heero gathered the ear piece of his own unit where it had fallen and thrust it into his ear, hoping he had not crushed the radio pack when he had landed.
"Four. Four hostiles taken out. Two in the lawn garden, one on the overhead terrace, and one escaping through the car park."
Heero heard over his ear piece. Blowing a relieved sigh he relaxed.
"That's it, Thunder. That's all of the shooters. Get into the Rose Garden and check on Relena and Quatre." Heero motioned the man away when he began pressing on his injured ankle, hissing at the sharp pain that produced. He'd had worse. Indeed, his bruised dignity was what hurt the most. "Supervise sweeps of the area and roundup anyone without a valid reason for being here. They may have had support and we need to find them if they did. Start the questioning with the staff. I want all staff validated in case they were infiltrated."
"Lucky he took her in to t'ae rose garden when he did. Should h'ae been safe enough. I don't think ye broke yer ankle, just sprained it." Thunder stood, turning toward the rose garden.
"Go. Check Relena." Heero waved him off. "When its safe get her back to the palace and increase palace security to red, until we are sure she was not a target. I want to see Quatre when she is safely out of here. Find out if Mrs. Darlian is alright and have her escorted back in a different car to Relena."
As Agent Thunder loped off to do his bidding Heero stared gloomily at his ankle and the remnants of the cake that smeared his shoe.
// Damn.//
t.b.c
Karina Robertson 2004
