Zodiac, Full Circle
Prologue
Contents/Warnings: Not much - some language and violence, mayhap. Perhaps OOC, your call.
Pairings: Ah, the all-important one... Treize/Une (past), Zechs/Noin - and that's it, but read the AN.
Disclaimer: They say debt is an asset - but it's one I'd gladly give away. In other words... I don't hold the rights to the GW universe.
AN: I'm yet again aiming for failure by attempting to please everyone - I'm trying to write this story so that you can read it from a yaoi or non-yaoi viewpoint - it's all in how you emphasize the little things; much like how people view the series itself. I've tried this before, with mixed results - mostly bad. That said, this story - despite what'll show in chapter one - doesn't primarily revolve around the love lives of the gundam pilots, so whichever 'side' you belong to, you'll hopefully still read this thing. Please don't create a big debate over it; that's not my intent here. I just hope I by giving you the warning of duality in this text, don't make you go bonkers by looking for the 'opposition'. ;-)
As always, any and all feedback is accepted with my gratitudes and platitudes. Doubt the following segments - and I think you can easily guess the approximate number of chapters this thing will have - will be as long(winded) as the first part is. We'll see. Don't know how fast I'll get the next part out, either - all depends on whether anyone wants it or not. But enough of this, on with the story. :-)
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One of the ceiling tube-lights of the cramped conference room fluttered in and out of working order, much to the annoyance of at least one of the six occupants sitting around the horseshoe-shaped table beneath it. Even so, the six had greater things to worry about. At least, they suspected as much, but had not yet gotten the suspicions confirmed. At one end of the horseshoe, furthest from the only entrance of the tiny room, Duo Maxwell was by no means too bashful to speak his mind. Grabbing his coffee cup with both hands, taking a generous gulp to empty it entirely, he broke the silence of the room by slamming the cup back onto the table.
"Okay, just where the heck is Lady Une anyway?"
He looked from face to face, starting with Sally directly across the U-shaped table, then progressing along the arc in rapid succession to Wufei, then Trowa, followed by Heero, and to Quatre at his right hand side, who was the least likely to give an answer, given a sudden giggle-fit the blond obviously tried to choke down and hide behind a covering hand. Duo was unable to see what was so incredibly funny, but was in no mood to ask. His gaze went back to Sally, which after all was the only senior Preventer present.
"Well?"
Sally cleared her throat. "Duo, she will probably be here any minute."
Duo growled slightly, refilling his coffee cup, rubbing an already reddened eye. "All I want to know, is why she called an emergency meeting, and didn't bother to show. I've rushed-"
Wufei interrupted, his voice calm, but clearly annoyed. "-Rushed here from L2, roused by the crisis beeper in the middle of the night, didn't have time to do anything but run for the first shuttle to Earth. Yes, Duo. We know. You've only told us three times already."
Another sip to clear his mind. "Hey, Une said that beeper was only for incredible emergencies. When I dialed the number and got an answering machine with a message from her saying 'come ASAP', I took it seriously. It's the first time she's ever called me in, anyways. I figured I would be the late arrival, not her. And for the record, I barely had time to put boots and pants on before running like hell to make the flight in time. Got around to breakfast and braiding my hair by the spaceport vending machines, right before boarding."
Quatre nearly choked on laughter, at last letting it go. Upon Duo's curious, questioning look, he was able to control himself, though his smile was as great as ever. "I guess that explains why you have chocolate stains in your hair, Duo."
Duo immediately began fidgeting with his hair, trying to affirm Quatre's statement. "What? What do you mean, I've got-" And found affirmation. "Oh, damn it!" He slammed one fist to the table. To his credit, neither further curses, outbursts nor tears followed his frustrating discovery. The rest of the table attempted to cover up their chuckles, albeit they did a poor job. After Duo distributed threatening glares all around, the concealed snickers at last faded away.
In a vague effort of reconciliation, Quatre placed a hand on Duo's shoulder. "Duo, we're not contesting you had the worst time getting here. You were the only one off-planet, so naturally you had a bit further to go."
"Not to mention, L2 is the most remote of all the colony clusters, and the one with the least shuttle connections. I swear, I was this close to having to hitch a ride with a cargo hauler, disguising as freight." He let the pinching gesture go in favor of downing what was left of his coffee, trying to wake up fully with a last jolt of caffeine.
Wufei brushed his brown jacket again, removing another thin layer of recently acquired particles from the Outback. "We're all a bit tired, Duo. Sally and I were in Australia when we got the message." For a moment, his eyes lingered on Duo's cup. "We got some sleep on the flight, though. Why didn't you rest on the flight down?"
Restless fingers spun the empty cup in circles. "I sat next to a little brat from hell. Damn kid kept wailing his lungs out. If his mother hadn't given him a pacifier after the first few serenades, I don't know what I'd have done. The airlock looked tempting." His light grin faded, as he continued to swirl the porcelain. "That, and... unlike some people, I haven't had any 'fun' since we blew up the gundams five months ago. Quatre has his company, Trowa the circus, you the Preventers... I haven't had anything like that. Ever since Hilde forced our cooperative salvage business to be perfectly legit - well, mostly legit - the fun was sucked right out of it. I couldn't rest on the flight, since I was constantly thinking of what that tiny message Une gave meant."
Wufei had smirked at first, but turned grave in no seconds flat. "All the vid-mail message the pager referred to said, was to get to the Preventer Headquarters as quickly as we could."
"Yeah, but what it could offer riled me up. I just couldn't get off the rush it gave me. Still haven't. I just want to know, and since she doesn't show, I'm left assuming it wasn't that big a deal anyway."
As Wufei brushed off his other shoulder, the dust made Sally cough a bit. "Duo..." Another cough. "Lady Une wouldn't summon us - all of us - if it wasn't important. I'm sure she has good reason for being late."
Duo was about to serve a rebuttal when the tiny door flew open, only to be closed by the mechanism above it. With quick, steady steps, Lady Une went right for the podium at the mouth of the horseshoe-shaped conference table. She put her briefcase at the side of the podium, and her notes atop it. "Sorry for the delay," she said while shuffling her notes, trying to get them in order. "I had to get the latest information from our search teams, as well as make some transport arrangements." Lady Une took one quick look around the audience, eyes lingering just a bit at Duo's disheveled appearance; from the crumpled pants and the un-tucked shirt sticking out from under the black jacket to the loosening stained braid. "I'm sure you all have questions about me pushing the alarm button and calling you all here, but I'd appreciate it if you would let me finish this briefing first." With the flick of a few switches, the lights - including the still blinking one - dimmed, the projector mounted in the roof came to life, and a screen lowered behind the Lady, to her left. At the push of a button, the white canvas was filled with the image of a rock outcropping. "This is today's problem."
Duo's face dropped slightly. "A rock? You called us here for-"
"Please, Mr. Maxwell, allow me to finish." Pausing a moment to see that her request was heard, Lady Une continued. "As you might know, following the Mariemeia incident, the Preventer agency was instructed to dig through all old records remaining from the Alliance, OZ, Romefeller, White Fang, P3 and all the rest in an effort to make sure no further skeletons were buried in the archives, ready to turn into new nightmares. For the past five months, many of our agents have been tied up with this paperwork, and two weeks ago, a 24-year-old Alliance document gave us this." She opened her hand at the projected image. "According to the papers we were able to dig up on it, this hillside contains an old R&D facility. We suspect this was where the Alliance - that is, their financial managers and later suppliers of weaponry; the Romefeller Foundation - developed the mobile suits. The relative proximity of the main Leo mobile suit factory adds to this suspicion. Now, the factory was one of the first facilities attacked and destroyed during the war..." Duo coughed, grinning. The Lady continued, producing a new image on the canvas; a close-up of the hillside, showing the vague outline of two great blast doors designed to blend seamlessly with the surroundings. Indeed, whoever had built it had done a splendid job. "This was overlooked, however. According to the documents, this base was abandoned nearly two decades ago, not long after the Leo went into production. Most likely, they moved most of the equipment to the new factory. Normally, we would simply dispatch demolition teams after scouring the place. However, we have not been able to access this facility yet. The first survey showed a complex trigger mechanism rigged to the doors. We then tried to determine just what the trigger was connected to. The initial scan of the mountain produced this." Une clicked the podium button again, and a see-through view of the initial hillside shot appeared, light reddish-brown rock parting to show a massive black cube behind the immense blast doors.
"Whatever the inner chamber walls are composed of, they do not allow any of our scans to penetrate. Infrared, ultraviolet, radio wave - nothing gets through. What we found on the outside of the inner chamber, was the reason for alarm." Another click shifted to a new close-up. One scan showed what looked like a barrel surrounded by dynamite sticks. "The outside of the complex walls is littered with these. It appears they have stacked vast amounts of explosives on all sides. That in itself wouldn't be so bad. It would simply level the facility, something that doesn't bother us much. However, these barrels are radioactive. No, the place isn't littered with nuclear bombs. We suspect they contain reactor waste or other spent material. It would contribute little to the explosion itself, but greatly to contamination. It would turn all dust released in the blast radioactive, and there are quite a few cities downwind of the mountain. This has led us to abandon attempts to break in. We need to find the key - and that is where you come in."
The entire table remained silent. Duo downed yet another cup of coffee recently refilled, at last emptying the coffee can, and in the process leaving the slightly flustered rebuttal to Wufei. "Are you saying that you've simply lost a little key, and can't pick the lock?"
"The door mechanism is not an ordinary lock, Mr. Chang. In fact, it's a highly complex device." She paused just long enough to push the button again. "Hidden by some overgrown bushes by the blast doors, we found this panel." On the screen, a square plastic column with a console at the top was displayed, one side panel removed, revealing the wired intestines. The console itself had a ring-shaped groove in it, as well as some buttons and light switches. "The key to this mechanism is to fit in that groove. Our engineers have been able to determine the console emits light bursts and radio signals from within the sides of the groove when activated, and suspect this is to interact with the circular key. The key ring is rather large; about a foot in diameter. Though we could try recreating the key, we wouldn't know how to respond to the input from the console. There is also a matter of-" Lady Une presented a close-up of the groove. "-pressure sensors. As you can see, there are patterns engraved in the groove, and these must also be pushed in. It is our belief that failure to do all of these things correctly, could trigger the mechanism, which is why we have not dared experiment on it yet. We want to find the key."
Heero squinted at the canvas. "Those images look familiar."
Lady Une presented a new image, the carvings of the groove in clearer detail, and mirrored. Eight animals, three humans, a scale, an overflowing water jar and a taut bow and arrow. "Does this make it any clearer?"
"That's a zodiac, isn't it?"
"Correct, Mr. Yuy. It appears the architect for this place - evidently also the chief engineer for this place - had an affection for astrology. The names of the mobile suits also reflect this. According to the documents, his name was Herbert Ziegler. He led the development of the mobile suits - including the construction team your five scientists were part of. It was he who determined the prototype Leo - the Tallgeese - was much too expensive and not versatile enough for mass production. He designed the simpler Leo mobile suit after your five mentors left in the wake of the Yuy assassination. Mr. Ziegler was also highly involved in the early stages of development of the Pisces and Aries suits, and we believe his ideas and designs formed the basis for the later development of the Cancer, Taurus and Virgo suits. This leads me to speculate on what the factory might contain. From what we have been able to surmise from the ancient paperwork so far, Mr. Ziegler was most opposed to moving operations to the new factory, and remained with a small staff in the mountain complex for at least three years after it was supposedly closed, using back-channel funding and siphoning resources from the main factory as needed. At that time, Romefeller had had enough of this, and cut off all funding to Mr. Ziegler's research. The mountain was sealed shortly after, and Mr. Ziegler was last reported traveling to the L3 cluster. We have found no further records on him or his projects so far, but the piles of paper to read through are immense, and we have barely begun."
During the last few minutes, Quatre had stared quite intently at the circle on the screen. He cleared his throat. "Excuse me, Lady Une - but what are the small black lines between the zodiac symbols, and what are those little nubs at the inside of the ring?"
Lady Une turned to the canvas. "You have a good eye, Mr. Winner. I was getting to that. The ring mechanism is, in addition to being quite complex, also dividable. Each of the zodiac symbols can be detached from the whole. The 'nub' on the inside is actually a tiny ring through which you can thread a string, making the symbol look like an amulet. Let me show you." The full zodiac was replaced by a single, stout bull, trapped in a triangular amulet, small black cord strung through the nub at the narrow end, which would make the bull hang upside down should it ever be worn as a necklace.
"Now, we don't know what the abandoned facility contains. For all we know, it could be anything from a discarded gundam project, a group of old Leos, design plans for new mobile suit models, explosives - or nothing at all. We do know that there are access ways through the inner walls to the explosives caches on the outside though, and that is why we want the key. The mountain has been sealed off from the public, and the site is kept secure by Preventer agents. If word gets out, we might have 'curious' people trying to gain entry to the vault - something which would be very bad indeed. Also, the explosives surrounding the radioactive barrels are aging, and can only get more unstable with time, which is why we can't leave it alone. If we are unable to find Ziegler's entire key, we might have to evacuate the nearby cities, and try to disarm the trigger mechanism - but I wouldn't want to order something like that until all other options are exhausted. Creating mass hysteria is not on the Preventer agenda. I've had to inform the President's office, of course, but beyond that, only a handful of people know about the existence of this structure - and I wish to keep it that way. Preventer resources are stretched thin as they are. Most of our agents are either busy elsewhere, tied up guarding the mountain, or digging through the paper trails of old documents. I'm counting on you to find the pieces of the key."
Heero leaned in slightly over the table, elbows down, hands folded. "What makes you believe the key has been split up?"
"We have spoken with one of the engineers that worked at this facility. Though he moved to the other factory at the time official funding was cut, he was later approached by Mr. Ziegler, and given one of the twelve pieces. At that point, only two more pieces remained, one of which he saw Mr. Ziegler give to one of their former test pilots, who was working as a mechanic at the new factory at the time. Mr. Ziegler had told them both to keep the token safe until he 'called for a reunion of the old gang'. The engineer believed the mountain facility had been destroyed. Indeed, most Alliance and Romefeller records indicated as much, except the beyond top secret ones."
Heero straightened up. "Will we be allowed to question the engineer?"
"I arranged for him to be flown here at his earliest convenience. He should be here shortly." Lady Une flicked more switches, shutting down the projector, retracting the screen, and brightening the light, still malfunctioning lighting tube blinking as furiously as ever.
Duo had just opened his mouth to ask who the engineer was, when the door opened, and the answer presented itself. There, standing in the doorway, blank dome compensated with dark sunglasses and horizontal hair, dressed as the accidental Hawaiian tourist in a cheap colorful shirt, well-worn shorts and dusty sandals, was none other than Howard.
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-end prologue-
