Silence filled the office after Howard's announcement. Duo could see the same numbness on his partner's faces that he could feel on his own. Zechs was sitting behind him, one hand resting on his shoulder.
"Preventer Shuttle Sandstorm...what is your status?" Une finally broke the silence.
/"We're still intact. Looks like we took a little damage to the rear port stabilizer, but nothing that will impair normal flight operations,"/ Howard answered after a moment.
/"Howard, what's our fuel like?"/ Yuy's voice broke in.
/"Not great, but it should be more than enough to get us to one of the other colonies or even back to Earth."/
/"What about reaching L6?"/
/"It would be tight- but doable."/ They could virtually hear the frown on the older man's face. /"Why? Surely, under the circumstances, that ribbon cutting ceremony will be..."/
/"I'm not concerned about the ribbon cutting,"/ Yuy growled. /"We have injured on board, but every hospital in the L2 cluster is going to be overflowing. L6 has the facilities we need, they are mandatory on any colony still under construction, and at this point, it's still closer to go there than head back to L1."/
"Understood, Yuy," Une sighed, rubbing her forehead wearily. "Proceed to L6. Can your injured make it that far?"
/"Better than waiting for us to be able to dock on one of the other L2 clusters."/
/"Commander,"/ Quatre's voice entered the conversation wearily. /"One of the Maganac ships will escort us to L6. The others will help the Sweepers with- the cleanup here."/
"Agreed. Has there been a final confirmation of how many people were evacuated from the colony?"
/"Nothing final... but the rough estimate is that we managed to evacuate just over 4000 people,"/ Quatre answered softly. /"I doubt we'll ever know how many were lost."/
/"Yuy... how many on this shuttle?"/ Howard asked grimly.
/"We picked up seven Sweepers, another four Preventers and fifteen colonists. Not including the three kids already on board this shuttle, and Cryswell's team."/
/"That makes 39 people on this shuttle now...it's going to be tight,"/ Howard muttered. /"We should have just enough fuel to get to L6. You sure you don't want to drop off some of them at another colony on the way?"/
/"This colony was the farthest one out, we'd have to backtrack to reach another one, and that would leave us short of fuel. We head to L6."/
/"I retired so I could sightsee, but this wasn't what I had in mind,"/ Howard growled. /"Alright. Next stop L6. Have they at least built a bar there?"/
"Be safe," Une said quietly. "And thank you... for your efforts to save that colony."
Duo slumped onto one of the couches, watching as Dorothy collapsed onto the air mattress and pulled a pillow over her head.
"It's over."
"Yeah." He tried to convince himself of that as Zechs closed the door and dropped onto the couch next to him. "So. Think we'll get to sleep a night through tonight?"
"I don't think even nightmares could keep any of us awake at this point," Zechs sighed.
"True," Duo moved wearily to lean against his shoulder. "I could sleep for a week- except that my nerves are still twitching."
"That would be from the adrenaline." Zechs slipped an arm around him. "He really is alright, Duo."
"I know," Duo sighed. "And I was worried about all of them. I- I should have been there, y'know?"
"Instead of subjecting Howard to the joys of dealing with four grumpy ex-gundam pilots? I'm sure he would have traded places with you in a heartbeat."
"Yeah. Well. He likes Trowa, though he'd never admit it to his face. We hung out with the sweepers for a couple of weeks, while Hilde, Quatre and Heero were recovering from that last big battle against the Libra. Chang refused to part from Quat's side, so Trowa and I were left to do all the celebrating for the five of us. Tro drank Melvin under the table twice."
"That is almost frightening," Dorothy murmured, her voice muffled by the pillow over her face.
"Yeah. It was." Duo pulled away from Zechs to flop onto the mattress at her side, wrapping one arm around her waist tightly. "Thanks."
"For what?"
"For saving my best friend's life."
"And what are we?" Zechs asked as he moved down to join them.
"The other halves of my soul," Duo shrugged. "Merry Christmas guys."
"Merry Christmas, Duo." Zechs tugged on the braid, then rolled over on his back. "Merry Christmas, Doro."
"Love you guys-" She muttered, still not taking the pillow off of her face. "But I gotta sleep now."
"I think we all can."
Relena slumped wearily into one of the seats, rubbing hair out of her eyes with one blood-streaked hand. Around them, the shuttle resembled nothing so much as a hospital ward. She had been relieved to find that none of the refugees had life-threatening injuries, though most of them were battered and bruised, and several had broken bones or burns. Heero's shoulder had been strained, and the Sweeper he'd pulled aboard at the last minute had a broken wrist and dislocated elbow. Ivanovich was still unconscious, and she could read the worried expressions on the faces of his partners.
Ignoring Heero's and Lowell's requests that she stay in the relative shelter of the cockpit with Howard, she'd insisted on helping treat the wounded; though her help had consisted mainly of holding hands and supplies while the Preventers did most of the work. For the first time, she considered that maybe she should have learned first aid as well as politics.
Most of the seats on the shuttle, with the exception of the middle rows, could be converted to sleeping couches. Trowa had collapsed into one of them almost before they'd left the debris of L2- v08997 behind. Cryswell and Frost had split the watches over their fallen companion, with Frost taking the first rest. The rest of the Preventers and Sweepers had begun treating injuries and settling the refugees in for the long trip to L6.
"Senator," Lowell moved up behind her quietly. "You should try to sleep."
"I- I don't think I want to close my eyes," She sighed. "And please, call me Relena. I'm not a Senator here."
"Relena." He hesitated. "You look exhausted."
"Compared to them, I have no right to be tired," she sighed, gesturing to where Trowa was sleeping with Heero a silent sentinel by his side. "Even compared to you, I suppose. I at least slept last night."
"It seems hard to believe we only left Sanck this morning," he agreed, sinking down in one of the seats at her side and staring pensively at the three kids still huddled in their corner of the bulkhead. "Feels like years have passed, and it's still only Christmas day."
"This morning... I never dreamed that every time I close my eyes I would watch a colony die." She rubbed her eyes again. "You should try to rest, though."
He laughed softly. "You think my dreams will be any easier to bear?" Lowell shook his head. "Here..." He pulled a small bottle out of his pocket. "You might as well use these, or pass them out to those who need them far worse than I do."
She threw him a startled look as she took the bottle of sleeping pills. "This- is what Milliardo gave you this morning?"
"They were from Dr. Po, but yes." He shrugged. "I don't think I want to be trapped in sleep with my dreams. But some of them..." he nodded at the small clusters of refugees around them. "Some of them could use the sleep, as could you."
"I'll only take them if you promise to try and sleep as well." Relena closed her fingers around the bottle. "Don't try to match yourself to them. It's not possible. I learned that long ago. I don't think any of the pilots are really human, not all the time."
"Some of them are, and those are the only ones I care to measure myself by." He smiled lopsidedly. "Your brother and his partners taught me the folly of judging on the first impression. But they also earned my respect and I earned theirs. These four- we'll see."
She bit her lip, her fingers tightening around the small bottle. "The case you were on with Mil-with Zechs. It was dangerous?"
"It was a rough case," Lowell sighed, rubbing wearily at his eyes.
"Is he... is he okay? And Dorothy?" She tried to sound casual. "You both looked tired, and if Sally thought you would need help sleeping..."
"He's fine. They both are." Lowell smiled faintly. "Duo and I took the brunt of the field work. Zechs... got stuck dealing with the interrogation and fallout afterwards."
"Duo's okay too, isn't he?" She asked after a moment, an odd look on her face.
"Banged up, but fine. He'll be back in the field in a few days, probably."
"That's good..." She glanced up to see him watching her closely, his expression unreadable. "He's... been good for Zechs, I think. So has Dorothy, I suppose."
"Yeah. The three of them work well together." Lowell rolled over suddenly, and she got the impression that he didn't intend to say anything more about her brother or his partners. "You should try to sleep, Senator."
Heero frowned as he picked his way carefully through the still bodies strewn about the cabin. He had managed to sleep for a few hours, curled up next to Trowa on one of the couches, but his dreams had been troubled. Finally giving up the attempt to rest, he crept silently off the couch and towards the cockpit.
Despite the fact that he was no longer her bodyguard, old habits died hard; he found himself almost unconsciously pausing to check on Relena. She was curled up on one of the couches, and he smiled when he saw the tiny body tucked up against her side. The other two kids were tangled like puppies in a pile of blankets on the floor beside them. Lowell was dozing in the seat between Relena and the rest of the cabin, though his eyes opened when Heero paused.
"Is something wrong?" The man asked quietly, his eyes already moving about the cabin for a threat.
"No."
"How long?"
"We're still six hours out from L6," Heero muttered curtly. "Go back to sleep while you can."
"Captain." The man nodded, but didn't seem inclined to follow the command. Throwing him a last scowl, Heero turned to head for the cockpit. He could see Howard sleeping near the front of the shuttle, his gray hair sticking in unruly tufts from beneath a blanket. Which meant that either Quatre or Chang were now piloting the shuttle.
He found both of them in the cockpit, though Chang was asleep at the weapon's console. Slipping into the co-pilot's seat, he took a quick look at the monitors.
"Couldn't sleep?" Quatre asked quietly.
"No."
"Me either," Quat muttered. "I figured flying was better than having screaming nightmares. Doesn't really inspire confidence in one's subordinates."
"Hmm," Heero sighed.
"How's Trowa?"
"Dead to the world." He allowed himself a small smile, hiding it from his friend out of habit more than anything else. "Like Chang is."
"Yeah." Quatre threw him a small glance. "I'm sorry..."
"It wasn't your fault that the Colony was destroyed, Quatre."
"I- I know that. But I'm sorry, to make Trowa have to fly when I- locked up."
Heero paused, not sure how to respond. For the first time, he wished Maxwell were with them. He talked too much sometimes, but he also always seemed to know what to say when the weight of the war and their own actions became too heavy. The silence dragged out between them, as he struggled to think of what he should say. Comforting others, even other pilots, was not his strong suit.
"We wouldn't expect you to fire on a colony, Quat," he finally managed. "We're no longer fighting a war. Wanting to preserve lives now is not a crime."
"Aren't we?"
"What?" Heero threw him a puzzled look.
"If Trowa was right, and the colony control rooms were being sabotaged, then what happened to that colony was not an accident. It was an act of war. We just don't know who our enemy is yet."
"It doesn't matter." Heero growled. "We'll find out, and then we'll take the war to them."
"I hope we have that option." Quatre frowned absently. "So far, they seem to be a step ahead of us." He hesitated. "I... can't help feeling that something... something very bad is waiting for us."
"On L6?"
"I... I don't know." Quatre sighed.
"It doesn't matter," Heero replied. "If something is there, we'll face it. Just like we were trained to do."
"Yes, but my training didn't seem to extend to evacuating Colonies... only to destroying them."
"So we'll do what Duo always did, and wing it." Trowa slipped into the seat behind Quatre with a sigh. "After all, we have Heero with us. What more do we need?"
"It's not knowing that answer that worries me." Quatre forced a smile, and turned his attention back to the controls in front of him.
TBC