02-Jan-2006
Title: Launch 2/?
Author: TB (brother_maxwell@yahoo.com)
Archive: GWA
Category: Action, yaoi
Pairing: 4x3
Disclaimer: The characters and storyline of Gundam Wing are used here
without permission. I do not profit by their use.
Rating: PG13
Spoilers: The story takes place three years after EW and will reference
it
and the series.
Notes: This story was influenced by reruns of seaQuest: DSV. It is
not a
crossover with that series. I am not a marine biologist, but I live
with one, so any mistakes are her fault.
It took a week to convince his company that his availability would be severely limited for nine continuous months, and to plan accordingly. He also flew out to Costa Dorada in southern Spain, to be near the IEO launch site and to get intensive swimming and diving lessons. His mornings and afternoons were spent in the water, his evenings belonged to his investors and his branch managers, and his nights were usually spent in exhausted sleep. It had the quality of one of his mini-breaks with the other pilots. Though he lived with Duo, they were frequently joined by one of the others. It had been five years since the Eve War, but they shared a connection born of being the only five people in the world who had experienced a very dark time in history. The kind of decisions they had been obliged to make, themselves so young and so often without any relationships except the knowledge that other Gundam pilots existed- their uniqueness had kept them together despite their many differences.
To Quatre, they were people who knew what he had been before he had taken on the mantle of his father's economic empire. They were people who knew why he loved Earth and why he was kept up at nights thinking about the colonies. They were people who knew what it was like to jump a mile when a car backfired nearby, to miss the weight of a gun at your back when you were suddenly lost in a crowd, to feel your skin crawl if you couldn't sit facing the door.
They were also people accustomed to pushing themselves to their physical limits, and Quatre had always been painfully aware of his skinny arms, his short stature, and his pampered upbringing. Though they complimented him freely on testing into his open water instructor status in a week and a half, he remained convinced that any one of them could have done it faster. Mostyn's amazement he dismissed immediately. He made a few coral dives, practised swimming with dolphins and smaller whales. On consideration, he brushed up on the IEO's communications software. The chances of him actually having to pilot anything bigger than a high-speed, single-man sub were slim, but there was no point in being under-prepared. That led to the thought that he should brush up on any number of things- hot topics in marine biology, for instance. Two weeks seemed like hardly enough time to learn everything it suddenly appeared he should know.
He was in the tank with a dolphin named Albert when he got a call from his sister Badra. He ran out his tank time while on the 'vid and had to yield to someone else. He found a bench to finish the call, and peeled off the upper half of his wetsuit. The spring sun was warm on his bare chest, and there was a light breeze through the compound. He signed off with Badra and reached for his duffle, only to notice feet behind it.
The feet belonged to the woman who had taken the tank after him. She stood with the sun directly at her back, and Quatre had to squint to look up to where her face was hidden by the glare. 'Can I help you?' he asked.
To his relief she moved, sinking down onto the bench beside him. She was a strawberry blonde, tall, square-jawed. She wore a wet-suit like his, a pair of goggles hanging from her hand, and about her neck were dog tags. She had pale freckled legs, long and muscled, under the shorts of the suit.
'I'm Kathleen Ehrlich,' she said. She opened the pouch at her waist, and withdrew a packet of gum. She slipped one strip into her mouth, and offered the packet to him. Quatre shook his head, then changed his mind and reached before she could put it away. He smiled at her as he popped the strip into his mouth. It tasted like cinnamon, not spearmint.
'I'm Quatre Winner,' he answered, and tried his best to blow a bubble. It was too tiny to make much of a pop, but it won a smile from her.
'I know.' She made a bigger bubble with her gum, but swallowed it back rather than popping it. 'I've seen you on the 'vid. I thought you were taller.'
He laughed a little. 'I get that a lot, actually.'
'I thought you'd be older, too.' She linked her hands over her flat belly, leaning back against their shade wall. 'You frown a lot. On the 'vid casts.'
'Do I?' He ran a hand through his hair, and found it almost dry. 'I thought I walked around with a permanent bleached-white smile plastered on my face.'
'Only when you think people are looking.'
It wasn't the first time a stranger had offered a critique of his personality, real or imagined. Duo offered critiques free of charge, and Trowa had shocked him once with a devastatingly blunt assessment of his character. Quatre had long ago reconciled- or at least told himself he had- his public persona with his private. Keeping the two separate kept him sane.
He said, 'I'll have to remember that,' neither cool nor warm, personal nor remote.
After an uncertain, faintly remorseful pause, Kathleen said, 'I'm the chief biologist on the IEO.'
'I know.' He switched the gum to his left cheek, and pulled his duffle bag onto his lap. He removed a dry set of clothing, and a towel. 'I read your resume. It's very impressive. Your work with cold-water corals and ecosystems was particularly fascinating.' He glanced up to find her eyes wide and dismayed, and bit his lip. 'I didn't hire you,' he added. 'That is, I sat on the committee, but only in an unofficial capacity. The other people on the board knew a great deal more than me about marine biology, and they were proportionally more impressed with your work.'
'Oh.' She watched him stand and strip the wet suit. As he pulled on his khaki trousers and cotton shirt, she said, 'You're not very modest.'
'Things are a little different in the colonies. We're not as touchy about privacy.' He straightened the lay of his collar. 'I hope I didn't offend you.'
'Seeing as how there won't be much privacy on a ship, it would be too bad if you had.' He agreed, and was glad for at least her veneer of practicality. He finger-combed his hair, and rolled the suit into a tight, damp ball. It went into the duffle, and the duffle was zipped- just before his mobile rang again.
He sighed, and unzipped the duffle. 'Excuse me,' he said. 'It's likely that I'll have to take this.'
'I can wait.'
That was unsubtle. He wondered what she wanted, even as he flipped the screen on. 'Winner,' he said.
It was his sister Rasha, CEO of one of his affiliate corporations. She wore the pinched look of someone suffering through the insufferable. 'Quatre,' she muttered- from the side of her mouth.
It wasn't a call she was supposed to be making, he realised, amused. 'Yes?' he whispered.
'What are the odds you can get me a bed on a boat for nine months?'
'Ship,' he corrected. 'And ships are on water, you know.'
She made a face. Rasha, like most L4 natives, had never seen more water in once place than a bathtub. She wasn't fond of the idea. 'Maybe I'll look into mountain hide-aways.'
'You could get married,' he countered lightly, and laughed when she pulled a more hideous face. 'Get back to work,' he rebuked gently. 'I'll call you in-' he mentally checked his calendar. 'In two weeks. We'll plan something for April.'
'April it is.' She pressed her hands to her temples. 'I'm in a meeting. I have to go. Two weeks, little brother.' She signed off without waiting for his reply.
Ehrlich was watching him when he looked up. She spat her gum into a wrapper, and tucked it away into a pocket. 'Was that your sister?' she asked.
'One of them.' He dropped the 'vid into his own pocket. 'Do you make a habit of eavesdropping?'
'If you didn't want me to listen you should have moved away.'
He decided he didn't like this woman very much, and surmised that it was mutual. 'Is there something specific you'd like from me, Miss?' he asked.
Her eyes, pale blue, went narrow. 'I heard you were coming aboard.'
'Yes.'
'Why?'
He narrowed his own eyes. 'What are the circumstances you imagine would compel me to justify myself to you?'
'I'm a constituent.'
'Consumer,' he corrected. 'I don't hold a public office.' He shouldered the duffle, settling the strap about his chest. 'If you'd like statistics on WEI products and policies, I'm happy to point you toward our monthly reports or our literature.'
'You're not used to people questioning your motives?'
'On the contrary. I'm obliged to defend myself and my companies daily. I'm not obliged to welcome it, particularly from someone whose own agenda is unclear.'
She glanced away first. 'It's not my intention to... offend you,' she murmured.
'That's unfortunate.' He gazed down at her, thoughtfully squishing his hardening lump of chewing gum against his front teeth. 'We will be seeing quite a lot of each other,' he said. 'You'll have to accept my word that I've agreed to join the voyage because I'm passionate about this project. At least until you have the proof you want.'
She came to her feet. She was, he noticed with dismay, taller than him. Everyone was, of course. She wandered a step or two away, then stood looking at him.
'I guess I will,' she replied at last. 'I'll try to keep an open mind. But I won't be the only person asking these questions.'
'Is that a warning or a threat?' He watched her shuffle, her hands aimlessly looking for something to grip. 'I'm a busy man. I work hard and I'm proud of my work. I do my best to give back and take only what I need. I'm excited about next week. I'm excited about the next nine months. To be frank- you're a buzz-kill.' He nodded once, and turned his back. She didn't follow as he left the aquarium.
End Part 2
(:./erin/launch2)
