Title: Be Prepared
Author: Karina
Rating: PG
Pairing: Pagan
Notes: Challenge 206. Baby Series 4 #76. Takes place at approximately the same time as Flood.
Spoilers: None
Warnings: Extended Length
Many thanks to ShenLong Deb for her work betaing this set of fics.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or the Characters from the series but the baby is mine.
Title: Be Prepared
Pagan, cautious of his footing, slid closer to the railing, staring into the depths of the ice. Fantastic columns of frozen water interspersed with delicate traceries of ice crystals where the water had flowed more sedately, formed the wonder that was the frozen falls. It was the primary tourist attraction during the winter season for New Port City, and no visitor to the city missed a close up and personal viewing of this marvel of nature.
He was well aware they were experiencing an out of season heat event. The Watcher's had contacted him reporting higher than average temperatures in the peaks region and snow melt beginning on the mountain slopes. Additionally the Weather Bureau had warned of the approach of a high pressure system unseasonably north of its usual latitude.
At the present time there was no cause for alarm, but he intended to monitor the situation. An unseasonable heatwave in Sanc was generally greeted with trepidation, not delight. It only took a five degree rise in temperature at the wrong time to give them grief. Long range forecasting was far from being an exact science, but at present the modelling was suggestive of an early and warm spring. A very early spring.
He had noted the diminishing snow in the palace grounds, and the thawing of the icicles from the palace buildings, statuary and trees. It had come as no real surprise to receive the communications from the Watchers and the Weather Bureau. Neither he nor Milliardo had been surprised by it, though he rather thought the King was a little more alarmed than he at present.
The modelling suggested they might have a week of warmer weather and then a cooler change to discourage excessive thawing of the snow fields, though there were a few models that projected a disturbing trend toward warming more quickly. It was alarming enough to ensure Milliardo had given the word to monitor the situation carefully. Sancian memories were long when it came to disaster, and the Great Thaw, even though it had occurred something like eight generations in the past, had never entirely left local memory.
He half turned, eyeing the deep channel now visible beneath the metal walkway. The flood defences had been let go during the occupation, debris filling much of the huge fortified bank and ditch designed to channel water away from the city. It still needed work, a great deal of work, but should there be an early thaw of greater than normal flow, it was thought the channel would successfully defend the city. No one was expecting there to be a repeat of what the Weather Bureau named a 'once in a 600 year' event.
Pagan was never one to consider anything, anything at all, to be a sure bet... Except, of course, when it came to the old saying that if something can go wrong, it will go wrong. That, he had learned, was a rule to live by. Be prepared. Always expect the worst and you would survive to shake your head and move on. When millions of lives hung in the balance one could never be too careful.
End
Karina Robertson 2013