Alternative Directions: Options

Chapter 36

Mars Colony

Base Dome

Date: 1st March AC 198

Time: 15:22 MST [Mars Standard Time

Zechs

Both women had ear pieces, he noted as they moved and that meant throat mikes. It was both bonus and bane, as it meant he could listen in on their radio communications if he could get their equipment, and bane if they managed to sound the alarm. Where the equipment from the two dead men had been placed he had had no time to inquire. His concern had been Noin and trying to make her see reason; to stay out of the action and to stay alive for their children. He had been in too much of a hurry to speak to Noin about anything other than that and to compound his errors he had not thought to relieve the two men he had incapacitated earlier of their equipment.

Noin insisted on rushing things. He had rushed to get to her, knowing she would act and he had succeeded in giving her the perfect opportunity to literally leave him holding the babies, while she rushed off to face her death. Stupid woman. Stupid him for not having devised a way of avoiding that option, which he had not foreseen, he admitted to himself.

He was sure he could control events along certain guidelines if she would just give him the chance to. Were they under his command, these people would be under orders to maintain radio silence at this time. He would have to go on the expertise that he had gained through his training in the Academy and later in Oz, and hope their commander was not a total idiot. Open airways would cause all kinds of trouble to a covert operation. Likely they had at least six secure channels and an operator monitoring all channels used by the Terra Forming Base.

He would find a use for those stun weapons, too. If the infiltration team carried those then they were not too worried about problems caused in the long term by the lethal side effects of the shocks. That could mean greater trouble yet to come, or they were confident that their superiors could cover up the use of the weapons at the base. So, the stun weapons if he could get them, and a radio, definitely. Automatic weapons were definitely not on his shopping list at the mall of opportunity these ladies offered him. Too noisy for his liking in such a situation where stealth would serve him better than brute force.

Nor was he going to get cocky. One slip and everything was ruined. He had to take them out quickly and quietly and efficiently. If he could incapacitate these two women then that would leave only two of the infiltrators who had come into the base from the Alpha dome, and the five at the base who were the ESUN's plants. He could not forget that there were likely other plants here who might become active if the opportunity presented itself.

No more mistakes. No more oversights. Too much depended on him getting his part right.

//Be smart, Lu. Be careful.//

Careful not to brush against anything stored on the table and trolley near his position, he backed away from the door, slipping between the tables and chairs to reach the door that led from the dining room to the communal lounge area. They were heading for the door leading from the kitchen to the hallway and he could not get ahead of them at this time. That was alright, though. He knew how he could do this. He was not untrained in the ways of unarmed combat and he was not entirely unarmed either. He had spares of the blow darts. He just had to get into position.

A quick check of the lounge through a carefully measured opening of the door and he slipped out, careful to open it only enough to allow him to slip through, and not allowing it to swing heavily back. Stealth was the key. He eased behind a potted plant, crouching into the deep gloom, and settled to wait. He did not think it would be long.

In the dim light he caught the surreptitious movement of one blonde head peeking around the far corner into the lounge area. He had no fear that he could be spotted from her position. The auxiliary lighting that normally illuminated the plant he hid behind, nominally to give a relaxing atmosphere, was not a problem. All non essential systems were off line until the emergency was declared over. This included mood lighting and offered him a nice dark corner to hide in. The lack of lighting nicely covered the work discoloured shirt and trousers he wore which far more effectively camouflaged him than the ESUN agents combat fatigues offered them. His usual work uniform was not so far off in colour from the uniform tan of the base walls.

The head vanished back around the corner and he counted slowly to ten. No return peek. He glanced at the door from which he had entered the lounge in time to see a head peer out into the lounge and held his breath. He was not so well hidden from that side of the room, but he detected no sign of alarm, no stiffening of the body or reflexive reach for weapons. After a moment the agent slipped out of the door and ghosted across the room after first peering around the wall and down the adjacent hallway leading deeper into the base. He waited as she crossed only a few meters away from him, trusting in his camouflage to keep him undetected, until she crossed the lounge to join her comrade around the corner, near the kitchen door. After a moment's contemplation of the circumstances of his current position, he ducked back into the dining hall and made his way to the kitchen door.

No sound from the kitchen and he dared to nudge the door a little. Nothing. No sounds of movement from within. Again taking the tray he eased open the door and positioned the reflective metal to better view the room. Empty. Satisfied he set aside the tray and entered the kitchen, moving across its length to listen at the other door. Nothing.

Debating for a moment on the options open to him, he turned back and made his way to the preparation table. Lightly he hoisted himself up onto its surface and pried the vent cover open. A quick, short jump and pull and he was in the vent, leaning out into the kitchen to catch the vent cover and snapped it carefully back into place. A careful crawl and three turns later he let himself out into the maintenance room where only a short while before he had taken out two of the infiltrating agents.

Quickly checking on those sleeping men he nodded in satisfaction at the signs of their condition and with a feral grin relieved one of his ear piece and throat mike and both of the shock guns.

"Much better. Hope your enjoying your dreams, boys. Believe me, you're a lot safer sleeping this one out."

Tucking one of the experimental weapons into the back of his belt and the other into the front he picked up one of the blow guns and moved to the door. One of the items he had left in the room before was a small dentist's mirror. He had been rattled before, too concerned with reaching Noin to mind what he had been doing. Too many mistakes.

Maybe that was what would get Noin killed. Maybe that was the main problem he had here. Himself making a mistake. Himself getting rattled and making stupid mistakes as he tried desperately to control events. He could not be everywhere and he could not do everything himself. No more. He had to calm himself down and establish control of his own reactions. Ride the adrenaline, yes, but keep a cool head. He had been taught in the school of hard knocks that to panic was to lose. So now, he would not make any more mistakes. He would have to trust Noin to her own abilities for just a little while longer. He moved to the door and kneeling down he eased open the door and slipped the dental mirror into the hallway.

Three doors down from the maintenance room the ladies were listening at a door, preparatory to entering. He knew that room was empty at this stage, but two doors down was the room, almost across from his current location, he had left his children with a nurse who had absolutely no chance of stopping these combat trained women. Whether Sharnice had taken them elsewhere he did not know, but he doubted it. She would surely not have had enough time to do little more than prepare a formula for them to drink. Regardless of whether or not they were in there he was not going to take the chance. He eased the door closed again and found his store of stashed equipment.

"Frazier, go." A male voice whispered.

Zechs froze. The voice whispered in his ear and he tensed, glancing at the bodies on the floor. A call check in? Or orders being given? The opposition might just learn that they had lost more men and there was nothing he could do about it. He did not know these men's names to fake a call in, nor could he even attempt to copy voices he had never really had the chance to learn. One had had a husky voice, not so unlike his own, he supposed, but the other had been more a tenor.

"Simpson, go." A deeper voice, also male.

A call check in. He silently cursed his bad luck. He had no idea what these men were called.

"Cambridge, go." Female response.

"Fannon, go." Second female response.

Likely the two just down the hall from him, unless they were activated from the ranks of the Sleepers, and that he doubted. Three women had come in on the shuttle, a part of the security team, and he firmly believed that they were two of those women. He held his breath, counting slowly. Five. Ten seconds. Fifteen. Twenty.

"Delta frequency." The voice identified as Simpson broke the silence.

"Damn." Zechs sighed. Now he had no choice other than to get one of the radios from the women.

These people were not rank amateurs, he admitted. They knew what they were doing. They were even good at it. He would not find the new frequency hidden on the bodies of the two unconscious men on the floor behind him. Nor did he have time to skim frequencies waiting for his opponents to speak just so he knew he had the right frequency. Tossing the radio mike and ear piece aside he snapped the additional belt pouch from his stash to his belt and moved again to the door.

A scream drew a snarl from him, but he resisted the urge to bolt from the room and assist his children and their nurse. Forcing calm, again using the dentist's mirror, he checked the hallway was clear and checked which door was open. As he had both thought and feared; the door to the room he had not so long ago left was open, the sound of babies wailing now echoing the scream of a thoroughly frightened woman.

"Put the baby down! Get on the floor!" A strident shout issued from the room.

"You, hands in the air! I said hands in the air!"

"Put the baby down and get on the floor! Both of you! On the floor! On the floor!"

Under cover of the shouting, sobbing and wailing Zechs slipped out of the maintenance room and made his way to the door. Two women? Two women screaming in the room? Sharnice had been alone when he had left. He noted absently that the door had been opened violently enough to break a hinge and so stood open, unable to close. All to his benefit. Even as he slipped into the doorway he took in the scene.

Shanice and another nurse, Maria Latham, were sobbing, just now hesitating as they were screamed at to put down the children they were carrying. Wailing babies and bottles were being placed on the bed beside the women while the agents were screaming at them to get down on the floor, terrifying them into submission. An old tactic and one that worked only too well.

Give them no time to think and incite terrified automatic obedience.

"On the floor, bitch! Now! Now! Ow! What...?"

No time to insert the second dart in the blow gun. Dart in hand Zechs rolled through the door, coming up behind the second woman and slapping the dart against her upper thigh, feeling it penetrate clothing and skin and sink into muscle.

"Merquise!" The first of the agents threw herself into a roll, away from Zechs, and between the sobbing women, hand reaching to activate her throat mike. "Merquise is here. Med... med...ic... med..."

He had chosen the anesthetic because it was a fast acting chemical and by the time she came out of her roll, she was already too far gone to finish her alert to her Commander. Collapsing instead of rolling onto her feet she huffed a breath and lay still. The second woman spun, kicking out, snarling. Zechs, already rolling away, took the hit as a glancing blow on his left shoulder, hissing against the sudden pain.

Not broken, he hoped, nor dislocated, but deeply bruised at least. Even with Mars light gravity that blow hurt. His own steel toed boots were just as heavy and solid as hers and he spun, lashing out with a foot to connect solidly against the leg supporting her weight. Out of position to defend herself she was helpless to avoid it. A sharp crack split the air and with a wail of agony she fell. The pained cry became a whimper as blissfully the anesthetic took effect.

He regretted the broken leg, but he had no sympathy for her. Not after today. Not after fighting for his children against these invaders. He knew that the old adage of 'Only doing their job' was their defense. He knew the phrase only too well. Soldiers doing their duty. He had been one once and had been just the same, and for their shared history he felt sorry for the blow, but for now, they were the enemy. At least she was alive and would live to talk about it. She was fortunate not to have come across Noin.

"Zechs!" Sharnice was at his side supporting him, helping him settle to kneel at her feet. "How... how did you know?"

"They have no luck on the day." He grunted, cryptic and not caring. The pain from his shoulder was a burning brand he could not afford to distract him. "Get me some anesthetic spray. I need a clear head and I need to use this arm."

"I don't understand what they want with us." Maria had her arms full with the babies, trying to quiet them, looking over her shoulder at him, green eyes wide with fear and confusion.

"They are under orders to take the twins to Earth." He slipped the shirt from his shoulder, gritting his teeth at the knife sharp pain the action caused. When he had the time, he would feel this, but for now it was just an inconvenience. He could not afford to feel it as more than a discomfort, and that was too dangerous. "Hurry, Shanice. I have to catch Noin."

"But... but why? What do they want with the babies? Should we keep the children here?" Maria queried.

He ripped the ear piece from the ear of the woman with the broken leg and pushed it into his ear, motioning Maria to wait, desperate to know if the agent had gotten the message out to her Commander.

"...bridge? Report, Cambridge!" Frazier's voice, he identified.

"Fannon, report." The one he identified as Simpson fairly shouted over the ear piece. He sounded royally pissed, Zechs mused. "Fannon!"

After a moment the ear piece went dead and Zechs sighed. Useless. Useless to take the radio sets now, they would have changed the radio frequency again. From the information he had been given from the Alpha dome, and from his visions, only two of the assault force who had infiltrated Base Dome now remained at large, and the five Sleepers he had identified, plus the as yet unknown number of unidentified agents. No doubt Simpson, who seemed to well and truly know his business, would now be forced to activate them to complete his mission.

He slumped against the unconscious woman, thoughts racing to deal with this new turn in the situation. He had hoped that he could deal with the Commander early on in the situation, but that simply was not to be. He needed to get the brains out of commission and then take down the remainder. It was not a favorable situation for him to be in with the Commander running around loose in the dome.

He glanced at the women, finding only Maria in the room and in looking at her he shuddered. Just for a fleeting instant the swirling tide of options surrounded him and he glimpsed her lying in a growing pool of blood, green eyes staring up at a ceiling raining arcing electrical sparks above her. From the mess of her chest he knew she had been shot in the back.

"Take the children to your quarters or to Sharnice's rooms. Doesn't matter which. Do not allow anyone in. Don't open the door to anyone, Maria, even if you consider them to be a friend. Pretend you are not there if at all possible. We have ESUN agents on the base, infiltrated from the Alpha Dome. There are also hidden agents. Sleepers. Once they have been activated they'll take you out to complete Simpson's mission."

Sharnice returned with a spray of anesthetic solution in time to hear. She hesitated for an instant, nodded decisively, and helped him to turn, kneeling to aid him in getting off the shirt.

"Maria came in just after you left. Frightened the life out of me and then went all gooey over the twins. I take it I can trust her if you are sending us off together? You will have three, maybe four hours once this takes effect, before the pain returns. How effective it will be will depend on how hard you punish your shoulder."

Her hands moved over his shoulder, testing muscle and bone, probing deeply before she began to spray the already bruising flesh.

"I'll take that with me, if you don't mind. It would be best for you to stock up on food and water for yourselves in your quarters. Take what you need for the babies. Enough for a few days at least. If it turns into a siege who knows how long it will take to settle the situation? They may try cutting the power, so if you have access to candles it might pay for you to get some."

"Your shoulder isn't dislocated. Just bruised, but the more you use it the longer it will take to heal. Do you think it likely they may try to cut the air supply? How long do you think we have before they come?" Sharnice queried.

"You have access to oxygen cylinders? If you do, it would probably pay to take some, if at all possible. It likely will not be necessary, but it never hurts to take precautions. You can't trust anyone other than yourselves. You don't know who could be a Sleeper working for them. Check the hallways before you enter them. Go quietly and quickly. I have to get Noin. Try to convince her to stay out of this mess. If I can I'll take out the agents as I go. Remember. Be aware that they have Sleepers in the base personnel. Trust no one. Once you get the door closed, open it to no one except Noin or I. No one."

"This can't be real." Maria whispered, cradling a still sobbing Katerina in her arms.

"It's all too real, I'm afraid. Go to ground. Keep the twins with you and try to keep them silent. Try to let no one see you. Don't give away where you are until you get the all clear."

He moved to the door, glancing quickly out into the hallway to be certain that there was no one coming toward their location. All clear and he moved to each of the unconscious women, relieving them of their shock weapons and hastily disabling their more conventional weapons. No need to give anyone who came along the chance to use the extra ammunition against him. Behind him he could hear the women gathering the baby's bottles and soothing tiny bodies. The wails began to ease off into delicate little sobs and he felt his heart clench. It brought back too many memories.

Sanc. There had been babies in the palace. He had had cousins. The staff had had children. The stench of smoke was teasing at his nostrils and he could distantly hear children screaming and gun fire blazing. He forced the visions away, desperate to retain control. No time now. No time to relive it, not that he wanted to at any time. This was here, now, not there, then. Time to move.

"Go." He whispered at them. "Go quickly and go quietly. And please..." He reached to lightly touch his children, a blessing, almost a benediction. "Look after them."

"They'll be safe. Watch your back, Zechs." Sharnice whispered as he slipped out of the room.

It was only seconds before she and Maria left the room, babies and bags of supplies bundled in their arms, but he was nowhere to be seen and around them the base was eerily silent.

Across the hall, in the maintenance room, Zechs swiftly disabled the automatic weapons of the unconscious agents and hoisted himself into the ventilation ducts once again. He needed to find Noin.

t.b.c.

Karina Robertson 2004