Heero glanced up as Trowa emerged from the bathroom. Wet hair had been slicked back from the taller man's face, revealing both of his dark green eyes.
"So- where are you taking me for dinner?" Trowa asked as he dropped the towel providing his sole covering on the floor, and reached for the jeans he'd left on the bed.
"Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a demand for five star dining on any of the L2 colonies," Heero shrugged, though he didn't move his eyes from Trowa's body as his lover dressed. "But one of the local Preventers recommended a steakhouse a few blocks from here."
"That sounds good," Trowa smiled slowly. "Right now, I'm hungry enough to eat Chang."
"I wouldn't advise it," Heero glared at him in mock anger. "Quatre might get a little hostile- and so would I."
"Hmm..." The rest of Trowa's response was cut off by the buzz of the communicator that Heero had left on the desk. Frowning, he moved over to pick it up.
"Yuy."
/"Captain Yuy. Sorry to bother you sir, but we're getting reports from L2-v08997."/
"And?" He met Trowa's eyes, seeing his growing unease mirrored there.
/"The colony is experiencing massive power fluctuations, sir."/
"Which team is on that colony?"
/"Team four sir."/
"Have they reported in?"
/"No sir."/
"Keep trying to contact them. What is the status in the colony ring there?"
/"Rioting is starting to break out, sir."/
"Damn." Heero closed his eyes for a moment, even as Trowa hastily stripped off the jeans he'd just put on and grabbed his last spare uniform out of the closet. "Have my shuttle prepped. We're on our way. ETA at the dock, 20 minutes."
/"Yes sir!"/
"Trowa..." He turned to his lover with a pained sigh. "I'm sorry."
"You owe me dinner in Paris when this is all over with," Trowa growled as he picked up his jacket. "And Une is going to owe us a hell of a long vacation."
Dorothy hissed, spilling coffee across her wrist as Epyon pulsed unexpectedly in her palm. Dammit! Grabbing up the report she'd been reading before it could soak up the coffee, she cleared away the mess and started blotting it up quickly with napkins.
"What?" She asked impatiently. When Epyon merely pulsed again, she reached out to touch the laptop that Epyon was currently resting in. She could feel the odd tingle in her palm as the program flowed back and forth across the interface.
Danger. Epyon sounded uncertain, pulsing again in something she would have called distress in a human.
"Where?" She frowned uneasily. "No one's out in the field right now-except Lowell. Is he in danger?"
Not Lowell. Far away There was a brief pause, then Epyon began resorting to pictures again. Images of rioting... men in body armor trying to control angry, frightened crowds... and then images of a long hallway, the walls bowed from an explosion. She recognized the last image from her nightmare with a sense of growing horror. Dragging her cell phone out of her pocket, she hastily hit the speed dial for Zechs' phone.
/"Merquise."/
"Zechs, Epyon's nightmare-it's happening now."
/"Doro? What is-oh hell. Where?"/
"I don't know. Is there currently rioting on any of the colonies?"
/"We'll find out. Where's Duo?"/
"I think he's in the clinic with Sally."
/"I'll call him, then meet you in Une's office. I was on my way there anyway."/
Hanging up the phone, she stuffed Epyon into its case and ran for the door.
Shit-Une. She hesitated for a moment, thinking of the older woman. How the hell were they going to explain this to Lady Une?
Zechs knocked hastily on Une's door, opening it almost before she had a chance to answer the knock. She looked up from her computer in surprise as he caught the doorframe to steady himself.
"Lady..."
"Zechs? What's wrong?"
"I need to know- has new rioting broken out on the colonies?"
Her eyebrows raised as she stared at him. "How did you...?"
"Has it?"
"Yes," Une muttered, frowning. "On one of the colonies in the L2 cluster. There were also stirrings on L1main, but Yuy's team managed to stop those before it turned into a riot, before heading for L2."
"Yuy was on L1?" Dorothy asked breathlessly, joining Zechs in the doorway. A moment later, Duo and Sally appeared in her wake. "How did he know?"
"They found a possible cause for the riots. Apparently one of the temperature controls for the colonies is subject to failing, and has given out on each of the colonies where the riots started. We've been sending teams in to check the control rooms of all the colonies and replace the parts if necessary."
"Bloody hell," Dorothy gasped. "The control rooms. If there's an explosion there, it could knock the entire colony out of orbit."
"What are you talking about? Explosion?"
"Call your teams, Une." Zechs threw her a pained look. "You have to trust us on this one. Please."
Lady Une stared at them grimly for a long minute, before reaching for the communications console. "Yuy, report."
Zechs moved around the desk to look at the monitor, while Dorothy dropped into one of the chairs in front of Une's desk and surreptitiously rested her left hand on the back of Une's computer.
/"Commander?"/ Yuy appeared on the console, dressed in riot gear but with the helmet off.
"Have all of your teams reported in?"
/"All but the team on L2-v08997."/ He frowned. /"Communications with them have been spotty since they headed into the colony core. Barton and I will be docking at that colony in less than ten minutes. The other L2 teams are on the way as well."/
"Is that where the riots are?" Zechs asked grimly.
"Yes. Power seems to be fluctuating there, and the lights keep turning off."
Sally frowned. "Looks like more than just the temperature control has failed then."
"You think it's already happened?" Duo asked grimly.
"It's possible." Dorothy bit her lip, as everyone turned to look at her.
"I don't know-" Zechs frowned. "Yuy, try to call your team again. If they haven't already gone in- tell them not to open the door to the Control Room."
"Merquise? Commandeer Une, I don't..."
"Just do it Yuy," Sally snapped.
Une stared at her in shock, then scowled at Zechs. "But there had better be a damned good reason for this, Zechs."
"There is..." he muttered, hoping he could think of an explanation that she would accept.
On screen, Yuy turned away and spoke quietly to someone. They could hear an unfamiliar voice hailing the missing Preventers team.
"Which colony did you say?" Duo frowned at Une.
"L2-v08997. What does that...?"
"I'll call Howard. The sweepers know those colonies inside and out. Hell, they're the ones who have practically kept them running for the last fifty years. He'll know if there is another way into that control room..." Duo shook his head. "Since I'm assuming your team didn't try to go in through the outside hatches, but were heading down inside the core."
"No-we knew those were sealed."
He nodded and pulled out a small com unit.
"Maxwell- this situation is extremely- sensitive. I don't know that I like the idea of bringing in..."
"Lady. If that control room blows and takes out the main drives, and the colony is knocked out of orbit- you'll need to call every ship in space to try and evacuate that ring. There aren't enough working escape pods on any of the L2 colonies to take a fraction of the population. And the majority of the population doesn't have a clue how to reach them anyway." Duo's eyes were haunted. Ignoring her expression, he punched in Howard's number as he moved out of the office.
"We don't even know for sure that there will be an explosion. Or is this another of your anonymous tips?"
"Is that team already dead?" Sally asked faintly. "Is that how you knew?"
"No. I-don't know if they're dead or not." Zechs winced. "I don't even know who is on that team." He looked down at the monitor, meeting the cold blue eyes staring back.
/"Commander Une... we've begun docking maneuvers. I have fifteen Preventers on this shuttle, and another fifty on this colony-not including the three that are missing. There are currently two quadrants of this ring in complete darkness and the colonists are panicking. What are your orders?"/
Lady Une rubbed her forehead. "Do whatever you have too, to restore order and prepare for possible evacuation of the colonists. Keep trying to reach that team, but don't send anyone else into the core until we find another way in. Keep me updated."
/"Ma'am."/ Yuy's face vanished from the screen.
Zechs moved around to put a hand on Dorothy's shoulder, feeling her tremble, even as Une turned the full force of her glare on him. "Ok. Someone explain what the Hell is going on here."
"We don't have time to explain," Zechs said hoarsely. "You have to trust us. I can't explain how, but we knew something was- going to happen. An explosion. There was just no way to know where or when. And if we don't get those people off that colony, a lot of them are going to die."
"You... just know this." Her eyes narrowed. "It just came to you, out of the blue? I need an explanation, Zechs. If you expect me to divert every ship anywhere near the L2 cluster to evacuate an entire Colony, I need more than just your word that you had a feeling that something was going to happen. If you're wrong..." She shook her head. "I can't trust a hunch on this one, Zechs."
"Dorothy- what didn't you tell me the other night?" Sally spoke up, her voice grim. "I seriously doubt that Duo just happened to touch something that told you there was going to be an explosion. And he hasn't been off planet in six months. But if you don't know the team is dead... then obviously you didn't get the information from Zechs. So?"
"Shit..." Dorothy winced. "I-saw it."
"What?"
"I... have been having nightmares. I saw this happening."
"Nightmares." Sally sat back. "So now you're telling me you're clairvoyant?"
"Is that any harder to believe than what I told you two nights ago?" Dorothy whispered.
"Nightmares?" Zechs looked up to see Une pale. "What... kind of nightmares?"
"I saw-a hallway-and an explosion. People dead in space. If I'd known where or when before this, don't you think I would have tried to stop it sooner?"
Une looked stunned, and her eyes met Sally's. "That-was what I dreamt too. But how...?"
"Epyon." The single word silenced the room. Dorothy took a deep breath, and Zechs tightened his fingers on her shoulder in silent support. "It saw probabilities. The future. And at the end of the war-I was interfaced with it."
"And you projected the dreams to me?"
"No. Epyon did," Zechs said quietly. "According to Treize, you used the system once. That may be to be all it takes to form the link. I suspect that the longer it was used, the more extreme the talent, since most of us affected used it...extensively. Duo is the exception to that, but he had a degree of psychometry already."
"So it wasn't just chance that the three of you are now... telepaths or whatever."
"None of us are telepaths- though I guess Dorothy and I come close to it," Zechs sighed. "The short version, which is all we have time for now, is that using either the Epyon or Zero system can... alter the user. So far it's been different in every case. Treize was the only true clairvoyant, though it doesn't seem to be working for him now. I am a medium, Duo has psychometry, Quatre Winner is an empath, Dorothy..." He hesitated. "I don't know what to classify Dorothy as." He looked at Une. "I also don't know what it did to Yuy."
"Oh fuck." They looked up to meet Duo's eyes as he reappeared in the room. "I just remembered. Trowa-and Chang. They both used Zero too, though not Epyon. And only once, for each."
"If they didn't already have a latent talent... it may not have done anything to them. Zero was the lesser of the two systems."
"It gave Trowa his memories back," Duo frowned. "I don't think it affected Chang at all though."
"I- when I used Epyon- I saw only two futures," Une sighed. "Trying to follow both of them... was the cause of much of my..." She sighed. "And none of that matters now. If I accept that you- that this is true, that still doesn't help us save that Colony."
"No... but the sweepers will." Duo waved his com unit. "Howard needs Yuy's com channel. He figured that would save time if he talks to him directly. All of the sweeper ships in the L2 quadrant are already heading for that colony."
"I thought Howard was in Jamaica again." Dorothy raised her head.
"Apparently not. He said something about giving an old friend a ride home."
Zechs smiled. "Good. Did he know another way into the core?"
"Not an easy or a fast one. But it may not matter. Something has happened, whether it's the explosion we're afraid of or not, and the colony is already losing rotation."
Sally frowned. "What does that...?"
"It means that in less than twelve hours, they're going to be evacuating that colony in zero-g."
/"Quatre! I need you in here."/ Chang's voice crackled over the intercom, interrupting Relena's discussion of politics with Quatre. She looked up, not sure why the tone of his voice sent cold chills down her back. It wasn't panic... quite. She didn't know how to describe it. Quatre didn't even bother to excuse himself from their conversation, just stood and ran down the aisle towards the shuttle's cockpit.
Turning her head, she saw Lowell's eyes meeting hers in concern. "Robert?"
"Stay here," He sighed, standing up. "Stay in your seat and buckle up. Just in case."
"No." She stood up as well, following him down the aisle towards the cockpit. He didn't bother to argue; though when they reached the last row of seats, he turned and pushed her down into the nearest one.
"Sit. Please." He turned to the door, only to find Quatre standing in the doorway staring at both of them in shocked silence.
"Quatre?" Relena reached out to him, worried by the odd expression on his face. "What's wrong?"
"We- We are diverting course to L2-v08997. It's-only three hours out of our way on our present course."
"Why?" She bit her lip. "What happened, Quat?"
"We aren't sure yet. Une- said there was the possibility of an explosion in the main control rooms. They are losing rotation and power. Half of the colony is already in the dark."
"Are you out of your mind?" Lowell sagged back against the bulkhead. "You can't take the Senator into that."
"Every ship in this quadrant is being diverted to help evacuate the colonists. Even if they fix the problem and save the colony-they can't afford to risk having 6,000 people trapped in freefall; especially not if they get the artificial gravity back unexpectedly. Heero reports that they may be losing life support before then as it is."
"Heero's there...?"
"He and Trowa both. They're trying to restore order, but he says to evacuate the majority of the citizens will require a street by street sweep, and there isn't time for that. Nor do we have the manpower there to do it."
"Aren't there evacuation plans in place?"
"This is L2. The majority of the population is indigent and apparently untrained in the procedure. And the lights are out, so even those with a clue where to go, are panicking. We're just lucky that this is the smallest of the L2 colonies. If there was a population of over 10,000-we wouldn't have a prayer of saving even half of them."
"Of course we have to help," Relena heard herself saying. "But... what can we do?"
"The sweepers will be handling most of the actual evacuation. Heero is in contact with Howard, and the first ships are already docking. We're to hold position just off the colony."
"You are not going to be holding back because of my presence," Relena turned to Quatre with a determined glare. "My life is not worth more than any man, woman or child on that colony. We'll dock and take on as many as we can-and then-"
"Relena... it's not that. We're going to provide support and coordination from orbit, and then swing around and pick up Heero and Trowa." Quatre sighed. "Howard is working on a way to bypass the main airlocks into the core... and get them into the control room from the outside." His eyes dropped away from hers.
"Why are they trying to get into the control rooms?" Lowell finally asked, echoing the question in her own mind aloud. "If they're already going to evacuate the colony?"
"There's still a chance to keep life-support and rotation from failing-if we can find out what went wrong. There- has been evidence that sabotage might be a factor. Preventers have been sending teams into the control rooms of all of the colonies to do routine inspections and repairs, to stop this sort of thing from happening."
"The riots?"
"Caused by failing temperature controls." Quatre met her eyes again. "Nothing like this has happened on any of the other colonies. We don't know yet what went wrong there."
"What about the team sent into this colony?" Lowell asked grimly. "Are they dead?"
"We don't know. Contact was lost with them before the lights started going out... but it is unknown whether they triggered the explosion or have been simply trapped by it."
"Oh...God..." Relena sagged back in her seat, staring numbly at her hands. "Sabotage-someone deliberately set out to kill an entire colony...."
"It wouldn't be the first time," Quatre hissed, and turned away. Realizing too late what she'd said, and to whom, she raised her head only to see the cockpit door closing behind him.
"Quatre-I'm sorry." The words echoed ominously in the nearly empty shuttle.
Tbc