Alternate Gundam Wing Universe:

Gundam Apocalypse

by Maria Rocket

Chapter Six

***

It took her a while to get there with her leg in a cast, but Relena finally answered the front door. She was hoping to find Heero there, though she knew it was unlikely he would have returned from space so soon. Instead she found herself facing Sally Chang and her small daughter. Relena's face lit up with surprise.

"Sally! I'm sorry I kept you waiting, but I recently had an accident, and it's a little hard to get around." Relena was beginning to consider calling the servants back to the house to help with Duo, but she had been feeling somewhat paranoid about having anyone else around after everything that had happened. She didn't think she'd feel right again until Heero returned home. "Please, come inside! What are you doing here? With all that awful business that's going on in space, I would have thought you'd already be on a shuttle off the planet."

"So you've been watching the news," Sally and her daughter followed Relena inside. "There hasn't been anything this serious underway since Mariemaia. And the worst thing about it is that we have no idea what's really going on. We've picked up two new gundams and their pilots, but so far no one's been able to find out anything from them."

"Another gundam?" Relena automatically sent a worried glance towards the stairway. Then she smiled down at Sally's daughter. She was no older than her own son, so young and innocent of the problems of an old world. "Tina, I think your mommy and I are going to have a long talk. Maybe you should go upstairs and play with Duo, I'm sure he'd love to see you again."

The little girl's short honey-colored pigtails swung on either side of her head as she turned her glittering obsidian eyes up towards her mother. Those eyes seemed to be begging for mercy. Sally just smiled knowingly and shook her head. "That's a good idea. Go along and play now."

With a sigh of defeat, the little girl blew at her bangs and shuffled up the stairs.

***

In the dim light of the sickbay within the Preventer's starship, soft copper-brown eyelashes fluttered open over forest eyes. Zara felt a little lightheaded, and very confused. Glancing to the side, she saw medical equipment blinking its tiny lights at her. This wasn't the barren cell she'd been in. Where was she now? She couldn't remember.

Slowly pushing herself up on her elbows, she heard a soft choked sound. Turning towards the sound, she saw Solo sitting in a chair beside her bed. He was asleep. His arms were crossed, and his head hung slack over his chest. The black hair that fell in his eyes cast most of his face in shadow. But the faint medical lights reflected in the bright trails that ran down his cheeks.

Zara shook her head ever so slightly. He was crying in his sleep again.

Sitting up on the bed so that her legs hung over the side, Zara rubbed at her sore shoulder. Now she remembered. Falkner's men had come for her, and she'd been knocked out. A shot of fear ran coldly through her, and she looked around nervously. Were they in another lab?

Jumping off the bed, she swayed uneasily on her feet for a moment, then turned back towards Solo. She shook his shoulder urgently. "Solo!" She whispered. "Solo, wake up!"

"Maybe you should let him sleep. It's always a good idea to sleep when you can, especially in times like these. Besides, I'd like to talk to you alone, if I may."

"Who?" Zara nearly jumped a mile at the sound of the strange voice. She whirled around, her eyes immediately darting towards the shadows. However, the stranger was standing in the lighted doorway.

"I'm Quatre," he smiled.

"You sure it isn't Dr. Quatre?" Zara narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"I'm sure."

"So then what are you doing here?" As Quatre stepped forward slightly, she leaned back slightly as she got a better look at him. She knew she'd never seen him before, but there was something very familiar about him that she just couldn't place. She didn't feel comfortable with him getting much closer, but she was curious now.

The blonde man smiled and shrugged. "It's my turn to keep a watch on you two. And like I said, I wanted to talk to you."

"About what? I'm not piloting anything for Falkner anymore, so he can just forget it. I'm tired of being his prize labrat."

"Hmm?" Quatre blinked with a confused expression. Then it melted away, and he laughed softly. "Oh... Don't worry, you're still here on the Preventers ship. This is the sickbay."

As he said this, Zara mirrored his previous confused look. "So they didn't get us?"

Quatre shook his head.

"Oh..."

"Zara." Suddenly serious, Quatre turned his head down to look at her directly. "Who are you?"

The girl hesitated for a moment before replying. "My name is Zara Winner. If you've been talking to those guys that interrogated me until they were blue in the face, you should know that already. I can't tell you anymore than that."

"Why not?"

Zara mumbled underneath her breath.

Quatre was clearly frustrated, but he only sighed and persisted gently. "Look, I've searched for an answer for hours, but no one in the Winner family seems to know who you are. I know you're not lying, but can't you tell me a little more about yourself? I only want to help you. You couldn't have just come out of thin air."

Zara leaned back against the side of the bed, seeming to withdraw into herself until she was nearly expressionless. "I did."

"I don't believe that." Quatre frowned. "Listen. My name is Quatre Raberba Winner. Do you know who I am? I find most of my family knows who I am, even if I don't always know who they are."

Zara stared at him. Slowly, a look of despair soaked into her features. "I don't know you..." Her emerald eyes were suddenly bright with tears.

Before he knew what he was doing, Quatre had her in a close embrace. He closed his eyes as the small form sobbed against him, feeling lost. His space heart was whispering something to him, but he couldn't understand what it was. All he knew at the moment was that he wanted to protect her, against whatever it was out there that had tried to take her away.

"It's okay," he murmured. "It's okay."

***

With only the humming of the engines and the metallic click beneath his boots as company, Heero made his way towards the sickbay. Solo hadn't been able to tell him anything about Falkner's possible activities on Mars, leaving them in the dark as to what was going on there. There had been no more messages from Trowa. Feeling uneasy about the whole situation, Heero had commanded the ship on a course to Mars.

On his way to sickbay, he stopped by the bridge. They were almost on top of the planet. He stepped in among the officers, nearly scaring them out of their wits.

"Have you tried reaching the Terraformer Command Station?"

The bridge's commanding officer didn't meet Heero's intimidating stare. "Yes, but we aren't getting any response. And we're not close enough yet to attempt communication with the surface."

Heero frowned, making the officer cringe slightly. "Why isn't the station responding?"

"Can't say, sir."

The sinking feeling in Heero's gut went into a trench. "Head for that station," he ordered gruffly. "And speed it up."

He didn't wait for the officer's confirmation. Heero turned around and left the bridge, continuing on towards the sickbay. He had to inform Quatre of the newest development in their deadly chase. He only hoped Trowa hadn't met up with more than he could handle by himself.

***

Little Duo Peacecraft's blue eyes stared at his mini-laptop. He had sent several e-mails to his father, but he hadn't received any reply. With a sigh, he rolled from a crosslegged position onto his back, his arms outstretched as he stared at the ceiling in boredom. He wanted to know what was going on. He was tired of being too small and stuck in his room. He sent the happy-faced balloon floating overhead a well-practiced scowl.

Squeak, squeak. Scuff, scuff.

Hearing sneakers dragging on the carpet, Duo blinked out of his scowl into wide-eyed curiosity. His mother never dragged her feet on the carpet like that. Who was there?

Pushing himself back up, he saw a little girl standing at the doorway to his room. She stared back at him, looking at him as if he were the most despicable creature she'd ever seen. Duo smiled brightly, remembering seeing her before at one of his parents' parties.

"Hi Tina!"

Tina grumbled and edged away towards a window. She pulled herself up on the ledge and sat there, staring out at the cloudy sky. "Hi loudmouth."

"What are you doing here?"

"My Mom made me come up here." When she saw him try to get on the window ledge as well, she held him back with one foot. "Stay back, you're not getting your boy cooties on me again!"

Duo pouted. "Why are you so mean to me!?"

"Because, you're a stupid boy."

"Meanie." Duo made a face at her. "Did you know my Dad's up in space right now?"

"I think that's where my Dad is too. My Mom can't find him. That's why we're here, I think. She's trying to find him." Tina's big almond eyes were suddenly filled with anxiety.

"You too?" Then Duo noticed her face and blinked. He didn't like seeing other people upset. So he went and gave her a big hug.

***

"Wufei's missing?" Relena watched Sally pace around the room nervously. She had come to Relena hoping she knew his whereabouts, as well as to check in on her, but she hadn't been able to tell her anything. Relena wasn't even sure where her own husband was now. Trowa had contacted her days earlier to assure her everything was fine, but he hadn't elaborated much, and she had felt that something wasn't right. "You don't think he went into space after Heero and the others, do you?"

"That's what I thought at first, but when I contacted the Preventers ship carrying the gundams, they said he wasn't onboard." Sally's body shook in a burst of frustration. "Relena, he's still ill with that virus, his body can't take this kind of excitement! I can't believe he took off like that!"

Relena sighed and nodded in sympathy. "I know how you feel, believe me. But even if he hasn't reached the Preventers ship yet, it's most likely that he's gone after the others." She grimaced slightly. "No doubt Heero or one of the other pilots are behind this."

Rubbing her forehead, Sally nodded, frowning deeply at the floor. "You're right, Relena. And I think it's about time I went up there myself to get to the bottom of all this madness. Heero's re-routed the ship to Mars, I should be able to rendezvous with them there. With any luck, I'll catch Wufei as well."

"Why are they going to Mars?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Sally paced around Relena a bit. "Something about a message from Trowa. I'm just trusting Heero's judgment on this one."

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeee!!!"

Both women startled at the sound of Tina screaming upstairs. Immediately, Sally ran up towards Duo's room, while Relena hobbled after her as fast as she could. Sally rushed into the room in time to see Tina smack Duo hard in the face, knocking the little boy to the floor.

"OW!"

"Tina!" Sally scolded sharply, picking up the girl by the wrist and pulling her up. Tina tried her best to look innocent, but it obviously wasn't working. "Don't hit people! Apologize right now."

"Sorry," the girl in pigtails mumbled to the little boy, sulking.

Duo just stared at her with an unreadable wide-eyed expression. He rubbed at his face, his blue eyes glittering.

At the doorway, Relena shook her head with a relieved sigh and turned to Sally with an almost amused look. "Well, if you're going into space, you can leave Tina here with me if you want. I'll do my best to keep them from tearing into each other."

Sally smiled gratefully. "Appreciated."

***

Hearing the soft sounds of conversation, Solo awoke. He frowned at the familiar wetness on his face, and rubbed at his face. Then he turned to see who was there with him. It didn't sound like Heero was around anymore.

He recognized Zara's voice before he saw her. She was sitting on one of the medical beds in the corner. Next to her was a blonde man, listening with a soft nod every once in a while. Solo recognized him from earlier. Quatre. He looked at them both with a grim curiousity. Just what was their connection anyway?

Pushing his black bangs back from his face, Solo stood without making a sound. Then he silently walked over to where they were, listening to them without being noticed.

"Twenty-nine sisters?" Zara giggled. "Wow, it must be impossible to keep track of them all. Maybe I'm your long lost little sister."

Quatre grinned and rocked his folded hands between his knees. "Yeah, I forget some of their names sometimes, or get them confused, and it can be embarrassing. I'm afraid you couldn't be one of my sisters though, since I'm youngest in my family."

"And you're old enough to be my father," Zara sighed.

"Hey, I'm not THAT old," Quatre protested with a weak smile.

"Sorry, cheap shot," Zara apologized sheepishly.

As still as a statue, Solo stared at Zara. Just what had she been doing in Falkner's labs? Had she been born there, or had she just been trained there from a very young age? He frowned, taking in her coppery hair that waved down, curling past her shoulders. He couldn't imagine a pretty girl like that living cooped up in a lab all her life. She looked like she belonged out somewhere natural, like a park or a forest, like a deer, or a wildcat with those green eyes...

He blinked. His mind was wandering. What were they talking about now?

He didn't get to listen in any longer, as suddenly the sickbay door whooshed open, and a heavy command brought the lights back to full illumination. He turned to see Heero walking towards them. Then he turned back to see Zara and Quatre looking back at him in surprise.

"When did you get up?" Zara slid off the bed to stand on her feet. "Have you been spying on us?"

Solo closed his eyes and shook his head. "I couldn't sleep, so I decided to stand here."

Heero looked between the two briefly with a seemingly cold glance, then turned to Quatre. "Quatre, we'll be reaching the planet soon."

"That's good," Quatre, who had also stood, stepped over towards Heero. "Any more word from Trowa?"

"None." Heero turned away slightly. "In fact, we're not getting any kind of response from Mars' Terraformer Station at all. In a few minutes we should be able to contact the planet's surface, but I've got a bad feeling about this. We'd better prepare ourselves for the worst."

Quatre's face transformed into a grim mask as he searched Heero's eyes. "Heero..."

"There's no telling what we might find." Heero turned back to give him a hard stare, but there was a softer understanding deep in his eyes. "I won't hold it against you if you choose to stay onboard while I take a team out to investigate. In fact, it might be in everyone's best interest."

"N-No," Quatre's voice wobbled. "There's no way I'm staying here. I'll come with you." He pushed his hands into the pockets of his Preventers jacket and glanced over at Solo and Zara, who were discreetly listening in. "I'm sure Trowa's waiting for us."

"Quatre..." Heero warned.

"Don't worry about it Heero," Quatre waved the matter away as if it were a gnat buzzing at him. He looked over at Zara. "Come on Zara, you can come with me while I get a unit ready to shuttle out."

Zara glanced over at Solo, who just looked back, before following Quatre out of sickbay. Heero sent a disapproving look after them as they left, but said nothing. After the doors shut, he turned back towards Solo, who was standing there silently, staring down at nothing in particular.

"Hn... Well, c'mon with me then. You can help me in the weapons hold." He sent a meaningful glare at the dark braided boy. "But if you have any sense, you won't try anything funny."

Solo looked up at Heero with his large blue eyes. "You don't, I won't."

Heero stared at Solo a moment longer, then closed his eyes and nodded. Then he turned and led the way out of sickbay.

***

As the shuttle approached the Terraformer Command Station, orbiting the red planet below, Quatre couldn't help but notice how dead it looked floating there. It was completely without any lights, and one side of the structure looked as if it had been ripped apart. The closer they got, he could see scar-like rips on almost every surface of the station.

Behind him, he could feel the apprehension in the four officers and the two children. He still felt uncomfortable with bringing them along, but Heero hadn't wanted to leave them alone. Heero was worried too, but he was trying to focus on the situation. Quatre's gloved hands tightened on the hard, smooth surface of the helmet of his astrosuit before putting it on.

Before they'd left the Preventers craft, it had been confirmed that lifesigns in the broken station were very faint. His chest tightened. He was determined to keep calm for the sake of the others. After all, they were still waiting for a response from the surface.

Once they were docked into the station, Heero turned to the others as he was fastening his helmet on. "Stay close, and stay alert."

There was a soft hissing sound as the door opened, and Heero half walked, and half floated out, followed by Quatre, Solo, Zara, and the four officers. The inside of the station was almost pitch black, and as quiet as only space can be. Although they each carried powerful flashlights, Heero lit the way, cutting through with an almost grey light. It revealed mostly floating debris and swirling particles of dust.

Then as they approached the command center, the light hit onto a dead body, mangled and bleeding from exposure to the vacuum. Zara shrieked and clutched onto Solo's arm. The boy was so startled himself, that he barely noticed. He looked away as Heero diverted the light towards a computer panel up ahead.

"This is terrible," Quatre sighed, sounding scratchy through the commlink. Despite the dark, it was clear that many such forms were floating deadweight around them.

One of the officers joined Heero next to the computer's control panel. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to get this computer back online." Heero pryed off one of the control panels with little effort. "Maybe we can find out what happened here. You stay here and help me. Quatre, you take the others and search for survivors. There's someone still here. Stay in contact at all times."

Quatre nodded. "Be careful."

***

Searching through the rest of the station uncovered more scenes like the one they'd found in the command center. To cover ground more quickly, Quatre had split them into two groups, sending the three officers to search one end of the station while he took Solo and Zara to search the other. But as they went, it was only dead body after dead body, and he was losing hope. It was beginning to look like any life signs they might have detected had since faded away. The light in his hand shook slightly. He quietly prayed each time his light fell onto another lifeless body that he wouldn't find it was Trowa floating there, eyeless and bloodied...

He swallowed audibly, and the two lights darting around behind him flew towards him in alarm. He only waved them onward. Once again wishing they had been left behind on the ship, he tried to hurry them along. They shouldn't have to see such horrible things.

"Watch your step," he warned as they moved into an area where most of the ceiling seemed to have come crashing down. As they had in similar areas they'd come across, they began a careful search through the wreckage. Dead wires hung from the ceiling like thick jungle vines and small exotic jungle snakes.

Solo turned his flashlight towards the floor as one of the wires seemed to fall away to the floor. He frowned and stepped closer. Curiously, he reached out to touch it. It tugged away from his hand, as if trying to escape beneath a section of the wall that had been crushed beneath the fallen ceiling. Wondering what was making the wire taunt, he directed his light on it, and reached down to try tugging it out.

As he did, a small gloved hand poked out from beneath the wreckage, the fingers flexing desperately. Then he heard the small voice come through the commlink in his helmet.

"Help me... Can't get out..."

"Huh?" Solo reached down and touched the fingers. His ice blue eyes widened in shock as they moved against his. "Hey guys, I think I found somebody alive over here!" He tried pulling the fallen ceiling up himself, but it was stuck tight.

"Help!" The voice cried louder, definitely a girl's voice. "I'm down here! Please get me out!"

Then Quatre and Zara were there, helping him pull at the wreckage. After a good minute of dragging and a few good placed kicks, it finally moved, and they were able to lift it. Solo looked down and could see the girl down in the darkness. Still holding up on his side as well as he could with one hand and a foot, he reached out to her with one hand.

"Get her out!" Quatre barked, feeling the metal start to slip. Even in zero gravity, the unstable structure was too much to handle.

Reaching so far he was afraid he might be killed if the ceiling were to fall again, Solo snagged the cowering girl by the shoulder and yanked her out. Her light form flew out easily, nearly knocking him over with her momentum. Quatre and Zara dropped the ceiling and leapt back lightly as even more of the surrounding wall started crumbling into pieces.

As the dust swirled around them anew, there was a moment of apprehension, but when the room didn't collapse around them, they turned their attention and their lights towards the girl now clinging to Solo. She was shivering in fright and cold, and two bright blue eyes stared out at him beneath strands of light purple hair from behind her helmet's faceplate.

"Aleta!? Is that you?" Quatre took the girl by the shoulder and turned her around to get a better look at her. She didn't look much younger than Solo or Zara, but he knew she was only ten years old. He watched as recognition materialized in her eyes. "What happened? Where's your mother?"

"Uncle Quatre?" Aleta blinked. She flung herself from Solo into Quatre's arms. "Uncle Quatre! Everything was shaking, and Mom made me put on a suit and told me to stay low to the ground..." she sobbed. "It felt like the entire station was being ripped apart, and then it fell on me and I couldn't get out. And no one would come back for me..."

"Well, we'll get you out of here now," Quatre soothed, feeling the tears welling up in his own eyes as well. Was Lucrezia still somewhere on the station? Alive? He avoided the question by asking about the other matter troubling his heart. "Aleta, was Trowa on the station?"

"Uncle Trowa?" Aleta looked up at him, then over at Zara and Solo. "I saw him for a little while yesterday."

Quatre felt his chest hitch up.

Solo glanced over at Zara curiously, noticing the girl suddenly look very uneasy. He frowned slightly, hoping she wasn't going to start bawling too. It made him uncomfortable.

"But," Aleta added, "he left on a shuttle before anything happened. I think he went down to the surface. He hasn't come back either."

A wave of hope strengthened Quatre. Maybe, just maybe... He took Aleta by the hand and turned to leave the room. "Let's get back to the command center. We've done all we can here."

***

A few minutes later, everyone had regrouped in the command center, where Heero had just finished restoring what power he could to the main computer. The screen flickered softly, casting a sickly blue light on his face. He turned to Quatre while the officers made another routine report back to the ship. His eyes fell on Aleta.

Heero smiled softly, for the first time since leaving home. "Aleta," he asked in the voice usually heard only by his family, "I didn't expect to see you here. I thought you were living on the surface."

"We move back and forth between the planet and the station," Aleta explained. "It depends on what Mom and Dad are working on during the year." Her eyes widened slightly and looked between Heero and the others. "Did my Mom and Dad come with you?"

Heero's soft expression dampened, and he looked away from his niece and back towards the computer. "Your father couldn't come with us. And I'm afraid I don't know where your mother is."

Quatre shook his head slightly. He knew Heero was still beating himself up over what had happened to Milliardo. More than before, he prayed they would find Lucrezia safe. If not... He knew Heero might never forgive himself. He looked worriedly at Aleta, who had become quiet. Then feeling eyes on him, glanced over to find Zara watching him. He just blinked curiously.

A sudden storm of crackling static turned all faces back towards the computer monitor as Heero patched them into the system. Suddenly, Trowa's face broke through the static on the screen, looking near panic. The image was shaking so much it was hard to say whether or not the background was shaking or not, but there was a deafening noise that made what Trowa was shouting barely audible.

"Evacuate! Evacuate now! They're heading right for..." Then the noise drowned out Trowa's voice and he flinched as something knocked him over. Then something dark fell into view and the screen fell back into static.

"Trowa!" His blue eyes wide with fright, Quatre nearly knocked Heero out of the way. "Trowa, it's Quatre, please reply!"

Heero caught Quatre's arm tightly. "It's no good, he can't hear you. The signal was received from the surface several hours ago. It's just a recording."

One of the officers stepped up beside them. "Sirs, the ship is reporting no other lifesigns on the station other than ourselves. This place is completely dead." He finished quietly.

Zara, Solo, Aleta, and the officers stood watching with an air of anxiety as Heero stood in silent consideration. Finally, Quatre frowned and took a step back, getting his attention.

"Heero, we need to go down to the planet's surface. If Trowa's still alive, then I'm going to find him."

-------------------------------------------------

[Author's Notes: Wheee, I'm really gettin' into it now. ^^ Again, sorry if yer really confused, this story really requires you to read all previous chapters to avoid getting lost. ^^; As far as I know, this chapter introduces the last of the new chars, and it's starting to approach the halfway point! O_o

For the very few of you who know what I'm talking about, and the even fewer who may actually care ^^;, I haven't forgotten about my Heart of Space series, it's just coming along slow, as a lot of my writing does. Trowa's angel prologue is still in the works. I've also decided to go through with more for the Dorothy/Quatre fic, 'Unseen' as well. If ya guys want to see one more than the other first, just let me know. Otherwise, it'll be a coin toss. ^_^

And no, Midii, I haven't forgotten about Bed of Lies, but I'm very very confused right now. ^_^; Oh, an' sorry about trickin' ya, hehe, but I just couldn't give it away, hehehe... Ya know what I mean. ^_^;

Well, thanks for reading my little story that keeps chugging along! ^_^]