Trowa sagged against the inner wall of the airlock as it cycled, trying to disconnect the rope linking his suit to Ivanovich with shaking hands.
"Tro," Heero moved over, brushing his hands out of the way and cutting the knots with his belt knife. "You okay?"
"Yeah," He answered shakily. "I-want out of this suit though." Relief at being safely back in the shuttle left his knees feeling more than a little weak, and he forced himself to stay upright by will alone. Six people crowded into the airlock in full suits left no room for even one to sit down. But at least it served to remind him that he was not drifting alone in space, wearing the suit that should have been his coffin.
"Me too." Heero's helmet touched his for a moment, pulling away only when the siren sounded to announce that the inner door was unlocking. "Just a few more minutes, Tro."
"Yeah..." The door finally slid open. He and Wufei gathered up Ivanovich again, while Heero helped Cryswell into the shuttle. Howard and Lowell were waiting just outside the small airlock to take the unconscious man from them, and he unfastened his helmet and tossed it onto the nearest rack gratefully. Stripping quickly out of the suit, he slumped into one of the nearby seats and rubbed his head wearily.
"Here." Heero stopped in front of him, holding out a protein drink. His lover had removed his helmet, but was still wearing the rest of the suit. "Drink it."
"I'm okay..."
"I didn't ask if you were okay, I told you to drink it."
Rolling his eyes, Trowa took the drink gratefully and watched as Heero stripped the rest of his suit off, then turned to help Cryswell. The dark-skinned Sergeant was watching worriedly as Lowell and Howard removed Ivanovich's helmet, ignoring his own injuries and only looking away when Heero pushed him forcefully into another of the seats.
Setting the drink aside, Trowa turned to see the last member of team four slumping gratefully to the floor of the shuttle with a groan.
"Frost," Trowa moved quickly to kneel before the man, taking his helmet and snapping the top seals of his suit. "Status?"
"Fucking happy to be out of that tin can. Sir." Haggard gray eyes met his, as the stocky blond winced. "Sorry, Captain."
"I feel the same way. Don't worry about it." Trowa grinned faintly. "Are you injured?"
"My head...hurts. And I can only hear about half of what you're saying... but I think I'm okay. Ivan?"
Trowa looked over his shoulder to see Howard and Lowell exchanging grim looks. "Howard's looking after him. Get the rest of the way out of that suit."
"Yes...sir..." Frost struggled to obey, only to lose his balance as the shuttle banked unexpectedly. "Shit!"
"Take it slow," Trowa advised, steadying him until the shuttle leveled out again.
"When I hit Earth... I am never fucking setting foot off of it again," The man grumbled as he got out of the suit.
"Here." They both looked up as Relena appeared next to them, holding out another of the protein drinks to Frost with one hand and clutching the back of a seat with the other. "You look like you could use a drink."
"Is it alcoholic?" The man eyed the drink skeptically. "If it's not, it ain't gonna do me much good..." He looked up then, and his eyes widened. "S-Senator Peacecraft?"
"Yes," She sighed. "It's not alcoholic. Though I might be able to find you some champagne..."
"Champagne?" The man blinked, then considered. "Champagne would do, I guess."
"No champagne," Wufei said curtly, handing Frost two pills. "Not with those."
Trowa could see the man silently debating the merits of being pain-free but not drunk, or being drunk and not caring about the pain.
"I doubt we have enough champagne on board to do you any good." He clapped the man on the shoulder and stood up. "Belt in. We aren't out of this yet."
"Sir..." The man swallowed the pills reluctantly, still throwing wide-eyed looks at Relena as she moved past them to where Heero was examining Cryswell's injured knee. Wufei hauled Frost bodily into one of the seats and then moved over to join Howard and Lowell. Trowa sighed and started to make his way unsteadily towards the cockpit. Only long practice kept him from losing his balance as the shuttle rocked again.
In the center of the shuttle, the rows of seats on each side were fewer, and set face to face, rather than all facing the same direction. Passengers in at least three rows sat back to back, and were able to converse with the person sitting opposite them. It made for a convenient layout for planning strategy, or in the case of Relena, discussing the upcoming agenda for meetings with aides.
As he came abreast of the first of these rows, he heard a small whimper, and it was only then that he remembered the three kids they'd hauled off the docks. Looking down, he saw two pairs of wary eyes staring at him from the corner formed by one row of seats and the bulkhead. The kids had wedged themselves there, practically under the seats and pressed tight to the shuttle wall. The smallest one was curled into a tight ball against the oldest one's side, her head buried against his grimy T-shirt. The oldest one looked like he might have been twelve, though it was hard to tell under the dirt.
"Get in the seats and belt in," he growled, trying to keep his voice steady. None of the kids moved. "Dammit." Just like Duo, he thought with a grimace. Stubborn, suspicious and entirely too prone to going to ground. "This is going to be a bumpy ride, and the seats are really more comfortable."
"Leave them be..." Relena's bodyguard brushed past him, opening an overhead compartment to pull out a stack of blankets. "They're as safe there as anywhere right now. And if they feel secure, they aren't going to be moving around the shuttle."
He turned his head to look at the man, surprised as well as annoyed. "You're an expert on street kids?" He couldn't help remembering the quiet stealth as the man moved around the kids on the dock, as if he instinctively knew how to avoid their notice.
"Hardly an expert." The man frowned, and from his distant expression, it was clear he was thinking about something far away. "Though spending the last two weeks watching- my partner- blend into the streets provided quite an education." His expression darkened suddenly. "And kids are pretty much the same, regardless of where they're from. They're safe enough. Howard rigged straps for them."
Tossing two of the blankets to the kids, he moved past Trowa and back to where Howard and Wufei were examining Ivanovich. Trowa glanced back at the kids a last time, but short of hauling them bodily out of their corner, he wasn't going to be able to shift them; and he was far too exhausted to be able to corral three mini-Duos. The floor dropped momentarily out from beneath him, and he forced the three kids out of his thoughts.
"Quat, what the hell is going on up here?" He slipped into the cockpit, bracing himself in the doorway as the shuttle lurched again.
"Sorry, Trowa." Quatre didn't look up from the controls as Trowa dropped into the co-pilots seat and strapped in. "You okay? You feel like hell."
"I'm alive," Trowa grinned wearily, though he couldn't quite force himself to actually feel amused. "Fuck! Watch the escape pod..."
"What the heck do you think I've been dodging?" Quatre growled.
"Any news on the evacuation?" Trowa picked up the second com unit and slipped it over his head.
"Slow, but best guess is we have over 3000 people off that ring now." Quatre shoved the nose of the shuttle down sharply, and another of the round pods passed above the shuttle, narrowly missing their tail. "Shit! Isn't anyone picking these things up? How many are there?"
"Only fourteen were launched." Trowa craned his head to look at another monitor.
"Oh. Good. I've only nearly run into five. Hopefully that means the others have been picked up already."
It took Trowa a moment to remember his conversation with Crowley; it felt like weeks had passed since they'd left the ring. "Infinity is collecting them..."
"That's nice. We nearly hit that too." Quatre sighed. "Not to mention the cloud of debris that vented when the hull breached in Quadrant Four."
"Any idea what the population actually was to start with?" Trowa asked, as he began scanning reports from the colony.
"Not a clue."
"Make a wider orbit..."
"Would you like to drive?" Quatre asked, sounding more than a little testy. Trowa debated telling him he sounded like Duo, then decided not to mention that fact.
"No, actually- I wouldn't." Trowa eyed his shaking hands and sighed. "Sorry. But there's a cluster of ships heading our way, dead ahead."
Quatre glanced over, and his expression lightened abruptly. "Allah be praised, it's Rashid." He changed course, angling the shuttle to curve behind the formation of seven Maganac ships.
"I thought they were on L4...."
"They were heading to L6, same as we were. Changed course to get here when we sent out the distress call. It still may not be enough. The colony is destabilizing faster than we had hoped. That second explosion...."
"Yeah," Trowa sighed, watching as another mismatched squadron of ships began to make a straggling formation away from the colony in the general direction of the L1 cluster. There were fewer ships arriving now, and those that were full of refugees were leaving the field to make room for newcomers. "Shit- this is so fucked."
"Thanks for that observation, Mr. Maxwell," Wufei muttered sarcastically as he ducked into the cockpit. "Quat, Howard says to swing around towards Hanger Bay 2..."
"Right." Quatre changed course once again, then swore. "There are too many ships. Why did we think getting rid of mobile suits was a bad idea? It would be a hell of a lot easier to maneuver through this if we had the Gundams."
"Yeah, and we'd be able to evacuate all of about 7 people in only the Gundams." Trowa frowned. "There. The Botany Bay is pulling out of bay 39..."
"I see it." Quatre began the long sweep to bleed off momentum, before turning towards the opening. "This is Preventer Shuttle Sandstorm, final approach to bay 39."
/"We read you, Sandstorm."/ The voice over the com channel was calm, though Trowa could hear the faint note of panic just beneath the surface. He tried to remember which of Howard's ships was serving as the impromptu traffic controllers. So far, they'd been amazingly lucky not to have any ships actually collide in the chaos surrounding the colony. /"Botany Bay is clearing the dock. What's your capacity?"/
"We have wounded on board. Dropping off command personnel," Trowa responded, mentally trying to calculate how many refugees they could fit on the shuttle. "This is Preventer Captain Barton."
/"Sandstorm? That's the shuttle Howard's on..."/ Another voice sounded suddenly through the com. /"Fucking hell!"/
/"Roy, what the hell are you screeching about?"/ Howard's voice came online, sounding outwardly as calm as if he was simply strolling down a beach.
/"We're picking up massive heat buildup on the section seal between Quadrants Three and Two, Howard. Looks like Three is on fire."/
/"How many teams left in Quadrant Two?"/
/"Seven sir. We have most of the population on the docks, though we don't have nearly enough ships there to get them off."/
Trowa opened a new window on the monitor before him, leaving Quat to fly the shuttle. He was only dimly aware of Wufei bracing himself in the doorway, as he tried frantically to visualize the schematics of the station.
"Howard, if they can make it to the Hanger bay- we can seal off the docks from the rest of the Quadrant. We'll have to manually blow the seal between Quadrant Three and Four." He frowned, enlarging a portion of the schematics to show the section seals.
/"Vent the fire into space, huh? That'll kill anyone left in Quadrant Three..."/
"Three was already clear. And if it's hot enough already to burn through the section seal, anyone left in that Quadrant is dead by now anyway."
/"True. You heard the man, Roy. Get those teams moving..."/ There was a pause. /"Winner, is this shuttle armed?"/
"Yes." Quatre didn't bother to look away from his controls, though Trowa saw his mouth tighten unhappily.
"Why not simply blow a hole in the hull?" Relena asked, moving up behind Wufei. "Won't that do the same thing?"
Wufei shook his head. Trowa saw the movement out of the corner of his eyes. "Too much debris would be released, and there is too much traffic in orbit. We lost two ships the last time. If Quat hadn't dived when Quadrant Four was breached, this shuttle would be gone. And I doubt we'll be that lucky twice." He didn't bother to point out that their shuttle would be directly in front of said hole the second time. "The section seal could be pierced enough to vent the atmosphere through the hole in Quadrant Four, but it should still provide enough of a barrier to keep most of the big stuff in. That's going to be a damn tight angle Trowa..."
/"Winner, pull out and head back around the ring. We have four out of the five Gundam Pilots on board-and while ordinarily I would insist on Duo taking this shot, he's not here. Yuy will have to do."/
For a long moment, there was no discernable change in the shuttle's trajectory. Trowa took a deep breath, glancing down at his hands. They had stopped shaking, though he wasn't sure if that was a good sign or a bad one. Was it possible to run out of adrenaline?
"They have six minutes to get to the docks, Howard," Trowa heard himself saying. "If the seal at Two is breached, when we blow the section seal at Three it's going to take all the atmosphere from Two as well. We need that dock sealed before then."
/"Understood, Captain."/
"Preparing to take over shuttle controls." He didn't glance at Quatre as he said it, just concentrated on flipping the switches that would change his role from co-pilot to pilot. "Get out of the cockpit, Quat."
"I-"
He flipped the last switch, watching his screens go live as he cut power to Quatre's controls. The shuttle twitched as he punched in the new course, and the sleek ship responded. A moment later, Wufei practically dragged Quatre out of the pilot seat and back into the main cabin.
Trowa forced himself not to wonder how many people were left in section two- how many would die if the seals had breached. Heero slid into the seat behind him, reaching for the weapons controls even as Trowa sent the image of the target area to his monitor.
Trowa looked away from his monitor long enough to lean around the seat, looking through the open door to the main cabin as Chang strapped Quatre into a seat, and then dropped into the one next to him.
"Everybody belt in." Howard left Cryswell and Frost guarding the unconscious form of Ivanovich, heading for the cockpit and taking the former pilot's seat. "You have the schematics for all the colonies memorized?"
"No- but at the moment, the only one that matters is this one..." Trowa muttered, throwing one last glance over his shoulder to see Lowell drag Relena into the row of seats facing the three kids.
"Then this is your show." The old man met his eyes with a grimace. "And I'll tell you the same thing I'd have told Duo. Don't fuck up." His eyes turned to Heero and the scowl only increased.
"Thanks Howie."
Zechs glanced over at Duo, as the young man grimaced. "Duo?"
The young man shook his head, not bothering to look away from the communication console. If force of will had been enough, he'd have already teleported onto the shuttle. Zechs put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing a little. Duo had relaxed only a fraction since the other three pilots and the rescued Preventer team had returned to the safety of the shuttlecraft.
"Why is Trowa taking over?" Sally asked, as they listened to the conversation in the shuttle. "I though Quatre was your strategist."
"He is," Duo muttered. "But..."
"But what?"
"He won't be able to- to give the command for Heero to fire on the colony," Duo sighed, his eyes grim. "Even to save it."
"Shit." Zechs closed his eyes. It was almost unnerving, that even after a year, Duo was enough in tune with his former partners to know exactly what they were thinking. "Can Yuy make that shot?"
Duo shrugged. "Probably. I... not knowing what the angle is going to be, I can't guess. But I trust Trowa to know what he's doing lining it up. He's a damn scary pool shark."
"What happens if they miss?" Dorothy asked quietly.
"They breach the hull on the outside of the ring, and end up venting everything in the quadrant that isn't nailed down into space." He paused, then looked up at her. "Or they hit the inside of the ring, ignite the fuel cells lining the inner walls- and take out the whole colony with one shot." Reaching up, he shoved his bangs out of his eyes. "But that's what they face if they don't get that fire put out, too."
/"Section seals to the Hanger Bay 2... closing. All Sweeper teams accounted for on the docks. May God have mercy on anyone left behind..."/ Roy spoke softly, his words falling into the waiting silence.
/"Roger. We'll be in position-in thirty seconds. On my mark, Yuy."/
/"Ready."/
The seconds ticked down slowly.
/"There's the breach."/ Trowa's voice was rock steady. /"In position."/
/"Target locked."/ Yuy's voice was equally calm; through the com channel, it sounded almost as if the two lovers were one person.
/"Fire."/
TBC