Duo stood rooted to the spot, more surprised than afraid. Heero had shot. He had missed, granted, and missed by a wide margin, but Heero had shot and had done so without verifying the target. A reckless move by any measure, and as a rule Heero was not a reckless man.

Duo snapped back to himself as soon as Heero cocked the hammer for the next shot, and he rushed forward with abandon, dodging as Heero leveled the barrel again. He lunged low as Heero fired and with a great push drove himself upward. With his left hand, Duo grabbed Heero's wrist and wrenched it sideways while his right forearm connected, firm but controlled, with the front of Heero's neck.

"You dumb shit," Maxwell scolded as Heero reeled. He grabbed the emergency rebreather from the belt of his astro suit and jammed it against Heero's mouth. Heero drew deep, greedy breaths as Duo continued to mumble, "What are you doing down here...Barely any air to speak of, firing shots without clearance..." Duo paused and glanced up. Heero seemed to be coming back to himself. "Are you hypoxic?"

Heero shook his head, his eyes wide.

Duo swore fiercely, "Wouldn't even know it if you were."

"What are you doing here?" Heero stammered, his voice muffled by the mask.

"Saving your dumb ass," Maxwell replied dryly. "The O2 in that mask won't last long. It's made for half an hour, so assume less. Now let's talk and walk and you're going to brief me."

Duo started off down the way, pulling Heero along. But then Heero pulled back, and Duo stopped and rounded on him.

"What happened?" Heero asked, and it seemed now that he had come fully back to himself.

"The Peacemillion was attacked," Duo said. His attitude remained sharp, though Heero had taken him by surprise-why would he have been wandering around the ship if he didn't know its status? "Engine was blown to hell, and there's about four dozen mobile suits idling. Well, they were idling...They scrambled when I showed up."

"How did you find us?"

Duo stared at Heero, dumbfounded and wondering genuinely if the lack of oxygen had somehow affected Heero's brain. "Did you not just hear me say there were four dozen mobile suits outside? Come on, let's move."

This time Heero moved willingly toward the dormitories, and the two made quick enough pace.

"There are men aboard the ship," Heero explained quickly once on the move. "A lot of them, and all on the upper deck as far as I can tell. All the power is out, so we have no surveillance and no alarm. Someone will definitely have heard that shot so there's no doubt we'll have company real soon... They're-" he paused and shook his head. "They're looking for Relena, they're probably planning to kill her."

"That's a load," Duo replied curtly. "They're not killing anyone."

"Well, they've tried. Problem is that I don't know where anyone else is. I was solo on the bridge doing monitors when the engine blew."

"Likely Relena will be in the dorms, then," Duo said, but then he thought again. "At least she would've been. What's your angle?"

Heero nodded. "Dorms, I agree. She might've found her way to the escape pods, but I couldn't tell you where the others are."

"The escape pods may as well be a death trap," Duo explained as he made his way hurriedly toward the starboard engineering bay door. "Don't rely on them. Even if you fired out of here you'd be space dust before your first mayday transmission ever sent."

"What do you suggest then?"

Maxwell shook his head and looked through the thick glass into the bay beyond the hall. "I'm going to go in here and see if I can't get some kind of auxiliary power online," he said. "Used to be we had transport vessels in the hangars: Are they still there?"

Heero nodded. "Trowa and Wufei spent the last week making sure that our single shuttle was outfitted for escape. Used to just have an ion cannon on it but I'm fairly sure it's got at least one gun in addition."

"Good," Duo grunted in affirmation. "Find Relena and get yourselves up to the hangar where that shuttle is located. There's a maintenance hatch that connects deck one and two—the entrance is..."

"I know where the entrance is," Heero protested. "What about the others?"

Duo shook his head. "Were they armed?"

"I had six guns to go around," Heero replied. "I've got one and they've all got the rest between them."

"Well, if I can get power I'll make an all-call to whatever communication lines are available aboard the ship. You'll have to hold out until everyone gets there, there's sure to be a flood coming after you. But, if you're gunning from in front and they come in from behind, depending on how many enemies there are you might pinch them. If you can get aboard the passenger vessel and use its gun safely..."

Heero nodded. "And you?"

"Once the call is sent and hangar doors are operational I'll head back to the gundam and provide cover for you all to get out. The Preventer mothership seemed to be online, so we should head there. O'Keefe is aboard, I saw him. There's no way they'll kill their head man."

Finally, Duo exchanged a final look with Heero which he understood meant the conversation was at its end, and he bolted through the engineering bay doors.

ф

As he rushed down the length of the hallway, Heero affixed the straps of the rebreather about his ears and clicked the safety of his pistol, working hard to keep his head. The lack of oxygen had gotten to him, and he hadn't realized it until Maxwell had forced the mask onto his face. On top of it all, his emotions had become conflicted. Blind terror had begun to cloud his mind; worry for Relena's safety and for the well-being of the rest of the Peacemillion crew. Where once he would have felt the confidence of his soldier's training, too many years of peace had worn the edge away, had rusted him just enough to cause problems. As he ran, Heero was plagued by self-doubt.

But Maxwell was back, and for that Heero had to feel thankful and perhaps just slightly happy. He would never say that he felt emboldened, but knowing that backup was nearby certainly dulled his fear. He had been set a mission: Find Relena and anyone who had taken up shelter with her, and transport them all to the passenger shuttle in the hangar. As long as he kept his mind focused on that singular goal, Heero knew he wouldn't falter.

Just as he rounded the corner toward the dormitories, he heard the call of unfamiliar voices behind him, "Masks on! Guns ready!"

Heero's stomach dropped at the sound, as the footfalls rushed down the hallway. He kept telling himself to go, to move, though his paranoia about how much noise he was certain to be making made the going slower. He passed the medical bay within minutes that felt like an hour, turned left down the hall where his room was situated. He checked every door prior to his own: Howard's room, Duo's room, the guest quarters, but every door seemed without power, and no noise echoed from within. Finally, Heero arrived at his own room near the end of the long corridor.

He tapped gently against the door with the grip of his pistol, but no answer came. He tapped again, just barely louder, and said, "Relena, you better be in here or I'm going to be very angry with you. I'm opening the door." But he hadn't yet figured out exactly how he was going to do that.

Without power the door wouldn't slide open, and he had no implements with which to pry it as he had the door to the bridge. Each passing second brought the intruders closer, and as each step of the soldiers' feet grew louder his heartbeat quickened.

In desperation, he jammed the fingers of his free hand painfully into the space between the door and its frame and gave a great heave against the mechanism. It gave just slightly, just for a moment, and he forced his hand deeper inside. He swore fiercely as the door smashed against his knuckles, but he pushed and eventually managed to squeeze his shoulder in, then his leg, and finally, with a fairly pitiful wiggle, pulled his foot clumsily into the room and wound up on his rump on the floor.

"Guuuu."

Heero looked up with wide eyes to see Relena, Noin, and a fairly amused looking baby Peacecraft staring, just as wide eyed, back at him from the corner of the room. To his great relief, all three of them had equipped breathing apparatuses themselves and seemed, at least at first glance, to be in fine condition.

"Heero?" Relena stammered, her voice muffled by the mask.

"We have to get out of here," Heero replied curtly, getting to his feet and dusting himself off. The hand he'd used to pry open the door was bleeding just slightly around the fingertips. He flexed away the pain. "There's men behind me, they're going to find us. We've got to get to the hangar and get on the shuttle and—"

"Calm down, Heero," Noin interrupted, getting to her feet herself. She passed the baby to Relena and hurried over toward the door where Heero remained babbling about men in the hall. "Slow down and talk to me straight. What happened?"

"The ship was assaulted by mobile suits and they blew out our engine, killed the power. Men boarded the ship. They're after us, hunting us. They've got guns and they're looking for Relena." And then Heero paused, staring for a moment at Noin as if just recognizing that she was indeed standing before him. "Where's Zechs?"

She shook her head. "We thought it was just an engine failure. I was with him in our bunk and he told me to come sit with Relena while he and the boys went to check on things and boot the power back up."

Heero nodded. "Good. Good. They'll run into Maxwell. Now, come on, we've got to move quick." He pressed his ear against the door and held his breath. "They're close, probably split off at the end of the hall."

At this point, Relena had approached cautiously, an increasing look of fear in her eyes. "Heero? I don't understand. I don't understand, we were supposed to be safe."

All Heero could do was shake his head, his ear still pressed against the door. "Right now we are, relatively speaking. But we're going to go out there and open the maintenance hatch at the end of the hall. We'll climb the ladder and access the hangar from there. Bright side is the air is thicker on the top deck since it's cut off from the leak, but we'll be dealing with armed..."

"There's a problem with your plan," Noin said. "How are we supposed to climb a maintenance hatch ladder with a baby?"

Heero looked between Noin and the child for a long, dumbfounded moment. He'd not stopped to consider the speed at which they would have to climb or the danger that would present itself given the circumstances. There was no way Relena would be able to climb the ladder one handed, and it felt entirely likely that Noin would lack the strength as well. Without a carrier for the child, such would be the only option. So, as if by instinct, he offered his gun to Noin and gestured for her to take it. "I'll do it," he said. "But you've got to shoot, if it comes to that."

Noin accepted the pistol hesitantly, but Heero paid her no mind. Instead he looked to Relena and nodded, and she—with just as much hesitation as Noin—relinquished the child into his arms. It gave an approving, "Guuuuu."

Again with his free hand, Heero pried the door just slightly open, listening as the soldiers marched closer. "Once this door is open we run as fast as we can to the hatch. Relena, you'll have to get it open. Give it everything you've got."

The two women exchanged a glance full of meaning that Heero could not comprehend. Noin appeared most skeptical, full of fear and apprehension, while Relena maintained an expression of interest alongside her terror. She eyed him hard as he breathed deep. And then, with all his strength, Heero wrenched the door open.

ф

Just inside the engineering bay door, Duo crouched for cover. Voices echoed down the way he'd entered. Footfalls tapped against the metal floor. He had expected company, based on Heero's panicked briefing and the shot Heero had fired, but he'd not expected it so soon.

Carefully, Duo crept down the way, hoping beyond hope that he would not be followed, that perhaps the intruding soldiers would steer clear of the intact engine the same way that they had avoided the destroyed. He moved quick but quiet down the short corridor, past lockers and storage, electrical panels and tightly bundled wires toward the engine room proper. He found the door open.

Trowa, Zechs, and Howard presently stood around the engine, elbow deep in its chassis and talking animatedly amongst themselves through the Peacemillion's emergency breathing apparatuses. They had equipped headlamps and flashlights. It seemed, Duo noted, that they had come in here with the same idea as he had.

"Looks like you boys are having some engine trouble," Duo announced, and the three companions turned to look at once. He leaned against the door frame and gestured back the way he had come. "We've got bogeys outside, so you'll need to wrap up here real quick."

They stared at him dumbly. Howard looked suddenly fit to cry.

"Where's the rest?" Duo continued, somewhat gruffly, as he entered into the room. "Quatre and Wufei—Sally. Where are they?"

"Noin and Mag were with Relena," said Zechs, somewhat distantly.

"Mag?"

"Magdalene—We were going to name her Mary but Heero..."

"Quatre and Hilde were in the galley getting some provisions ready for disembarking," Trowa interrupted, more pointedly than Zechs had. "Sally and Wufei were in the conference hall gathering paperwork and files to hand over to their Preventer's superiors. You're back, then?"

Duo grunted his affirmation. "That accounts for everyone then," he said, without truly acknowledging what Trowa had said, particularly about Hilde. There just wasn't time to dwell on it, he thought, though certainly he felt happy that she was apparently alive. "Are you armed?"

Trowa produced a handgun and held it out, but Duo did not take it. "Heero gave what he could. I have one. So do Quatre, Wufei, and Zechs."

"That leaves one extra, if Heero said he had six."

Trowa shook his head. "I don't know. I only know what we've got. Now, what's going on out there?"

"Bunch of mobile suits blew the engine and the Peacemillion was boarded, like I said. If we're lucky, the intruders ran past us. Given we're not being shot, I'd say that's what happened." He shook his head as if to clear out cobwebs. "Never mind that. You guys have to jump ship. Heero went to get Relena and make their way to the passenger shuttle you've got docked in the hangar. No doubt if Noin was with her, they'll all go. You guys have to go get the others and get to the hangar as well. I came down here to see if I couldn't reroute some power to the doors, but at this point we might not have time, especially if you've got to go rescue four more."

"The shuttle is too small to house ten people," said Zechs. "It's a three-passenger."

No sooner had Zechs fallen silent than the sound of gunshots ricocheting off metal panels echoed through the ship. Duo glanced back into the hallway with urgency, swore under his breath, and turned a hard look onto the remaining three, who seemed now more alarmed than they had ever seemed surprised.

"Find a way," Duo ordered. "Don't care if you're piled in the floors. Find a way, and man whatever guns the shuttle's got. You ought to be able to hit the galley and the conference on your way up, but you'll have to watch out. There's a lot of firepower on this boat right now and the last thing we need is another hull breach while we're on board. Looks like they went past us for now, so you all might be safe, but be certain Heero and the others are under fire. I'll get back to the gundam as soon as I can to provide suppression and blow the hangar open. Watch for my word on Heero's private channel."

Duo turned to leave again, glancing cautiously into the connector leading back to the main hallway. The way seemed clear enough, and for the time any gunfire had fallen silent. He stopped short when Howard stammered slightly, "So you're here and gone again, then?"

Eyebrows raised curiously, Duo stared at the old man before giving the slightest nod, and then he rushed from the engineering bay.

ф

The baby had begun to wail the moment the first shot rang out. It was lucky, he thought, that she had remained quiet to that point—miraculous, even—and he could not fault her for crying. She might not have known what the guns were, but she knew the noise and, if Heero's gut was to be believed, could feel how tense his body had become in the meantime.

At least ten men had been on their tail from the moment they exited his quarters, and they had opened fire without reservation. As she ran, Noin had been able to dispatch two of them, but there was little else she could do but sprint. Relena, to her great credit (or to the credit of her adrenaline), had wrenched the maintenance hatch open without trouble. In through its tiny access hole the three of them squeezed, fast as they could manage, and then they began to climb. Heero went first, one hand on the rungs and the other clutching the tiny crying child. Relena came behind him, and Noin, still occasionally firing, brought the rear.

Heero's heart pounded so loudly he could feel it in his ears, in his temples, in his eyes. Over its noise, the soldiers were swearing: They couldn't fit. Their gear was too bulky.

"Go!" Noin cried from behind, though Heero needed no urging. He practically ran up the long ladder, taking two rungs with his feet before grabbing and pulling himself up with his free hand, and before long he could see the slats of the top deck hatch.

"No time to stop!" Heero announced as he neared the end, and then he added quietly, "Let's just hope nobody is waiting for us..."

Even as he barreled through the squeaky top deck hatch, Heero knew there was no one. He would've seen the beams of their flashlights. They would've opened fire the minute they heard Maggie crying. He must've been right when he assumed that the soldiers split in the dormitories. Only half of the force had been behind them. If anything, word would just have gotten to any remaining forces that Relena had escaped, to be on watch for her on the top deck, to keep guns trained on the maintenance hatches.

Heero climbed out, helped Relena, helped Noin, and then pushed the two of them forward. "Straight down. You know the way," he urged, and off they went.

ф

The enemy mobile suits had begun to swarm, though it seemed that the gundam, hidden amongst the wreckage of Peacemillion's shattered engine, had remained unseen. For this, Duo felt grateful, and he entered the cockpit filled with determination. Everyone had been okay. Everyone was still alive, even Hilde, and that knowledge gave him something tangible to fight for, a feeling of purpose that even the idea of colonial independence had not inspired.

Deliberately, Duo counted out his preflight routine. Battery power on: check. Pressure and oxygen: Check. Helmet off and harness fastened: Check. He cracked his knuckles and touched his fingers to the control panels either side of his throttle controls. Everything felt right. Everything felt good.

He fired the engines.

6