Quatre took one look at the faces of the people around him, felt the depth of their hatred with his space heart, and began praying to Allah, not for a miracle, but for his companion's souls, because he was absolutely certain they were going to die. He was dimly aware of Trowa raising his hands in surrender, but if what he was feeling was accurate, they weren't going to stop because of a surrender. He felt the hate building around him to a point... and then... it froze. They were waiting for something... What?
"Stop!" shouted a familiar face. "They're friends!"
"Tiger?" one of the men asked uncertainly. "Stowaways?"
"No," Diana replied, walking back up the ramp. The people parted to make way for her. "Guns down now," she said quietly, and surprisingly enough, the guns were lowered, but not put away. "They're not with the Alliance."
A good deal of the hate abruptly disappeared, and Quatre sighed in relief. "Tiger... " one of the men said, eyeing them suspiciously.
"I'm certain of it. I only asked them to remain in the shuttle because I wanted to explain first, so we could deal with this without the guns. Who was in the shuttle?" she asked, her voice dangerously low.
"It... it was me, sir," the teenager came forward, saluting hesitantly. "My... my section head said to start refueling as soon as the ship came in. There was an odd reading in the third tank, so I climbed in the back to see if it was a faulty reading or a faulty valve. Then I saw them, and I called the alarm. I didn't realize... I'm sorry, sir."
"No, you did nothing wrong, and you did a good job in getting the alarm off so quickly. Reactions like that could save lives. Good job."
"Thank... thank you sir!" the boy stuttered, saluting again, and Quatre hid a smile. 'The boy' as he was thinking of him, was probably nineteen, older than anyone in their group, but inexperienced.
"All right," Diana said, turning back to the crowd. "These are allies. These are Quatre, Heero, Duo, Trowa, and Wufei," she said. "My guests. No shooting them."
Quatre would have laughed, but given the looks Diana was shooting in all directions, she wasn't joking.
"Come on," she said to them, jerking her head and smiling at the crowd again. "All right, that's enough celebration for now. It's great to be back, but there's still a lot of work to be done." She gave a sharp nod, and then led the way to a door. It was an elevator - they went up three floors, then down a hall and past a guard into a room with a number of computers set into a large circular table.
Another albino colonist with very long white hair was waiting inside, as were their doubles - how had they gotten up here so fast? The long-haired man smiled slightly. "That was a very impressive performance down there, but who are they really?"
"Zechs!" Quatre gasped, recognizing the face and reacting before he remembered that the other man hadn't really been Treize, either.
The Lightening Count's double raised an eyebrow and looked at Diana. "Are you going to tell me or not? Not all of use are geniuses, you know."
Brian, who, along with the others, had seated himself at the table and was typing at the computer there, snorted.
"They're from another world. A parallel dimension," Diana clarified. "They're who we might have been if we were born, not created. They're not exactly normal, either, though."
"I guessed. When Tom got off the alarm, there was a shot zero-point-eight seconds afterwards. That's slower than you guys, but better than any of us. Who was it?"
No one responded for a second, until it became clear that Heero was just going to sit and glare at the double of his longtime enemy, then Quatre cleared his throat and said, "That was Heero. He was only responding to the threat, though."
"Heero, huh?" the man asked thoughtfully. "You don't look like one to miss."
"I tackled him," Duo said helpfully.
"Who are you?" Heero demanded.
The man glanced at Diana for permission. "I'm Dev Carter."
"Pleased to meet you," Quatre said, as the others responded in their own fashions, or didn't, if that was the case.
"They're going to be staying with us until we figure out a way to get them back to their own world, do we have any free rooms?"
"Only three."
"Three? What happened?" she asked, a faint frown on her face.
"While you were out of contact, we got last-minute notification of a strike. They took out Kansas."
Diana's face drained of all emotion. "How many did we get out?"
"Just over eight hundred. We've got them scattered all over the colony, for now."
"What happened?" Quatre asked as he felt the pain that Diana wasn't letting showing on her face.
"There are a number of small, food-producing domes all over the surface of the moon. When the Alliance wants to drive the price of food up, they destroy one of them," Diana said quietly. "They don't care much about what exposure to the vacuum will do to the inhabitants. Kansas was one of those colonies - there were just under a thousand people living there." For a second her face showed nearly unbearable grief, then it was gone. "I'm sorry, but four of you are going to have to share rooms."
"That won't be a problem," Quatre said quickly.
"I'll assign someone to guide you around the base for now. If you go out, you're going to have to pretend to be colonists. Earthlings... or people who look like Earthlings... stand out too easily up here. We can't let the Alliance know that we have a way in and out that they don't control. Understand?"
They nodded, then the door opened and a young man stepped through. He didn't wear a uniform, but his bearing was distinctly military. "There's your guide," Devin said from his seat without looking up.
"If you don't mind, could we stay and watch for a few minutes?" Quatre asked as a number of people filed in through the door. Most of them were colonists, of all ages, although it was a little hard to tell their ages with all that white hair. He smiled his most endearing smile, and Diana's eyes narrowed slightly, then she sighed.
"Fine. Just stay out of the way. But I'll warn you before we start that you probably won't understand most of what we're talking about."
Quatre shrugged.
"I'd like to take a look around the base," Duo said cheerfully. "And the shuttles, if you don't mind?"
"Fine. Just don't leave."
"Come on Heero!" Duo cried, and took off at a run. Heero spared them all one last glare before following his partner, and after a moment's hesitation, Wufei followed him.
The group of people who'd just filed in stared after them in shock, then turned their stares to Trowa and Quatre. "Who were they?" one asked, glancing at Kane. "Your evil twins?"
Diana closed another file. There were only a few dozen left now. Then she could get onto the written and verbal reports. Now I remember why I never take vacations, she thought wearily.
"Here," Quatre said, suddenly, and another file appeared on the computer. "We finished that analysis you needed done. Anything else?" he asked cheerfully, while she stared at him disbelievingly. It was impossible for any soldier to be this happy, wasn't it? Or this cheerful after five hours of labor.
"No, you've already done far too much. You must be exhausted by now," she said, quickly checking over the data. It all looked fine, which was astonishing in itself. Humans weren't supposed to be able to perform these kinds of calculations.
Earlier Duo had stuck his head in, observed what Quatre was doing, and muttered something about him being the tactical genius, then left. Diana resolved to find out exactly what he'd meant.
He shrugged. "I guess we can go down to the shuttle bay and see how Duo's doing."
"I thought they were going to sleep," she said, surprised.
"That was over eight hours ago. Remember, Trowa and I went to sleep, and when we came back, you were still here working. You probably need to sleep now."
"No, I'll be fine," she said, blinking as she realized that she'd been so engrossed with her work that she hadn't realized that so much time had passed, or that Quatre and Trowa had left and then returned. Careless. I must be getting sloppy in my old age, she thought with only a hint of irony.
"Diana," Andrew said softly, and Diana turned slightly in her chair to look at him. He was wearing a tuxedo. "The limousine will be here in fifteen minutes."
Limousine... Fuck! Diana exclaimed mentally as she remembered that she'd been held for a few days, and that today was the 14th. She jumped to her feet, but pain lanced up her broken leg, and she winced involuntarily. Damn those Alliance guards! Figures they'd break her leg before they tortured her. Figures they'd do it when she couldn't take any pain medication for fear that it might slow her thought processes and dull her senses. And, of course, none of the milder medications worked on her because of the way she'd been designed. Diana was in a very foul mood, and the thought of what was coming up next was not improving her mood any.
At least Devin had brought along a medkit, so they'd been able to put a brace around it on the shuttle. Of course, all the running and fighting she'd done with the broken leg had not helped the injury, so she'd probably be a few extra days in recovering. A week or two, at most. Being a genetic weapon did come in advantage from time to time. Then she thought about the damned social event, and looked at Andrew. "Is it... "
"Don't worry, it's one of those old-fashioned things, long dress and everything. You can wear the brace. I've taken care of it. Come on, we have to change before the limo arrives."
"What's wrong with your leg?" Quatre suddenly asked from the doorway.
Diana stepped into a small alcove that she used when she wanted to change quickly. Inside was mirror and a small table that she kept makeup and lenses on - everything she needed to look like almost anyone in just seconds. Today there was a beautiful dress, sparkling with various jewels, sitting in the corner, and she grimaced in distaste as she pulled the curtain closed behind her to provide herself with some modicum of privacy. A small colony could probably have been maintained for a week on what this dress cost, and she abhorred the waste, but if she wasn't wearing something like this tonight, no one would take her seriously.
She quickly stripped and after checking to make sure that her knife was securely strapped to her thigh, pulled the dress over her head, for once grateful for whoever had started the hideous trend of having fashionable and wealthy girls wear these awful dresses again. Normally she hated them with a passion, but now this one was big enough to hide the thin brace on her leg. At least she wouldn't be walking around on an unsupported broken leg all night.
"The Alliance broke it," she heard Andrew say as she quickly started brushing her hair out, eyeing her reflection in the mirror critically. Should she put it up or down? Up, she finally decided. It made her look a little older, and people equated age with wisdom and power, and she needed as much of both as she could manage.
"When?"
"Before they tossed her in with you."
"But she was fighting... and running around... "
"We can do that. We were designed that way. She's got a brace on it now, and she'll be fine in a few weeks."
Diana finished putting her hair up into a neat bun on top of her head, and sprayed it with hairspray to make sure it stayed in place. You'd think with all they did when they were creating her that the scientists could have figured out a way for her to keep her hair in place without hairspray. She grabbed the jewelry Andrew had left out for her and quickly fastened the necklace behind her neck, put on the earrings, and slipped the bracelet on, each of them made of diamonds and probably priceless. Of course, that was assuming that Kane hadn't found a way to steal them and disguise the theft, which he probably had. Diana decided she didn't care.
"But doesn't it hurt?" Quatre's voice drifted back to her.
"So?"
"But can't you do something for her? Shouldn't she be in bed?"
"Probably, but she's got work to do tonight that only she can do, and painkillers might cloud her mind. We all know pain-suppression techniques, she'll be fine." Then, knowing that Diana would be listening in, he said, "You almost gave Hanna a heart attack. She thought she'd have to attend in your place tonight."
Diana grunted as she carefully applied the light makeup that was considered appropriate for colonists. A foundation of whitish powder, that made her look even whiter than she usually did, a hint of the faintest blue over each eye, and very, very light pink on her lips. She set down her tools and eyed her reflection critically, then smiled experimentally to make sure all of her arsenal was in place. The image she saw in the mirror was good enough, she decided, although she'd have to make sure to smile in her eyes, too. A smile plastered onto a face with eyes that looked like they could shoot bullets was no good. She smiled once more into the mirror, and made sure her eyes reflected the emotion, even though this expression was just as calculated as the last. Better, she thought before jamming her feet into heels and pushing the curtain aside.
As she stepped back into the command room, she got the distinct pleasure of seeing Quatre's jaw drop, and even Trowa looked a little surprised. Never thought we'd find someone who talked less than Devin, she mused to herself.
"Six minutes, that's a new record," Andrew remarked.
"Where are you going?" Quatre asked.
"A social event being thrown by the most wealthy man in this colony. I'm going as a representative of the new government of Alpha, the colony we freed. That's my official position, and it ought to keep the two of us safe from the Alliance, at least for now. My unofficial job is to convince the very wealthy Mr. Muller to give quite a bit of money to the Rebels in this colony," Diana replied. She glanced at Andrew. "Are you ready?"
"Why is he going?"
"Andrew's been in contact with the man, and is going to introduce me. Come on, let's get to the shuttle bay."
Diana was aware of Quatre staring at her as they walked back down to the bay. Of course the limo driver would be one of her people, in case something went wrong and they needed to get out of there fast. She'd also managed to get over a dozen of her people invited to the party under various fake names. She'd been captured once before, at another party, and was not about to repeat the experience. They reached the hangar a minute later.
"Wow. Man, she really does look like Relena," Duo said to Heero as Diana approached, and she noticed Heero's lips twitch downward. Something about her double on his world really had him irritated. "So, what's the occasion?" Duo asked cheerfully as she approached.
"Mission. Going to get money to blow things up," she replied, straight faced.
He stared at her for a few seconds, then she let her lips curl upward slightly, and he realized that she was joking. He immediately burst out laughing. "See? I told you she wasn't anything like Relena! That girl has no sense of humor."
"It isn't often that I can find someone who appreciates my own unique brand of humor," she observed. "It's a pleasure to find someone so appreciative."
"I think that was another joke," Duo exclaimed, looking like a kid who'd just stolen a piece of candy. "Two in under five minutes! Amazing! See, Heero, I'm not the only one who... ow!" he shouted as the blue-eyed pilot grabbed his braid and pulled hard. Diana hid a smile of her own. One of the doors leading to the dome's streets opened, and a limousine came in.
"Six minutes early," Andrew noted, a hint of amusement in his voice. "Well, my lady?" he asked as his skin darkened slightly and his hair became a golden blond, as opposed to platinum.
"What are you doing?" Quatre asked.
"The man we're meeting thinks I'm an Earthling, a representative of the Rebels there. I don't think he'd be pleased if I suddenly became a colonist."
"Your eyes... "
"That's what these are for," Andrew replied, pulling a contact lens case out of his pocket. He held out his hand towards her, which she ignored. She'd have enough of this ridiculous posing before the night was over and didn't want to deal with it now. Andrew knew that, and he was just teasing her. He had the most subtle and odd sense of humor in almost anyone she'd ever met.
She was about to climb into the vehicle when someone came running out into the hangar. "Andrew!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, panic in his voice.
Diana froze. "What is it?"
"There... there is a transmission, coming out of the base," the man gasped. "Transmitting our codes... and they're trying to take control of the satellites back! We need Andrew!"
Diana froze. "Find the traitor, now," she ordered the people who had automatically gathered around them at the commotion, and several of them jumped to do exactly that. "And keep them alive, I want answers. Now." Her mind flew forward. Andrew was the best at computers - if the others were calling for him, the situation had to be really bad, perhaps unsalvageable. But if anyone could do it, it would be Andrew... but she needed him to introduce her, and they really needed this funding. So what? Risk everything they'd accomplished already by loosing the defensive satellites that orbited above Alpha, the only free colony, or risk the future of the rebellion by letting it run out of money?
It only took Andrew a second longer than her to come to the same conclusion as her, and, of course, he turned to her for a decision. She was his commander, and all the decisions were always hers. But she didn't waste time on self-pity, even if she'd felt any, which she didn't. This was what she'd been designed for, and she was better at it than anyone else, although it was not something the Alliance had anticipated. Her mind flew ahead, sorting out data as quickly as any computer ever designed, shunting what twisted emotions she had off to one side while she analyzed her options.
"Go," she ordered a few seconds later, pushing her frustration aside. Too many people had suffered and died to free Alpha to risk it now. If the Alliance got the satellites, Alpha would fall. "Get those damn computers back to working for us. And don't kill the traitor. I want to see them. Now. We'll just have to hope that Muller will take my word for it that I'm your contact."
"Take him with you, if he'll go. There's an extra tux in the third room," Andrew said before he ran off.
Diana stared in astonishment at Quatre, whose eyes widened perceptibly. There was the biggest difference between him and Andrew - how openly he showed his emotions. But then, Andrew had been tortured every time he showed his emotions, or even admitted that he had them, so it wasn't surprising that there was a difference. She looked at him. "Well?" she asked shortly, having no time to be more convincing or diplomatic.
He glanced at Trowa, who stepped closer, offering silent support if he needed it, then at the others, who were silently gathering around him, aware of the tension but not the reason. They were ready to protect him, just the same as any of her five would protect the others.
Quatre visibly swallowed, then stepped forward. "What do I have to do?" he asked quietly.
Diana felt a flash of relief. "There's a tuxedo in that room," she pointed. "It ought to fit you - you're the same size as Andrew. Change and I'll explain on the way. All you have to do is introduce me."
Quatre nodded nervously and darted into the room she'd indicated, closing the door behind him.
"Where are you taking him?" Trowa asked quietly. Of course. He probably hadn't raised his voice above a loud whisper in years.
"A party. He has to introduce me to a very wealthy man, and then behave himself for the rest of the evening without offending anyone or letting it slip that... has he ever been to Earth?"
"Yes."
"Good. That will make it easier. Don't worry. I won't let him get hurt."
Trowa snorted quietly. "Quatre can take care of himself."
Whatever she might have said was undiscovered, because Quatre opened the door and emerged, fully dressed, and Diana was impressed. Almost as fast as me. "Come on, or we'll be late. More than fashionably late."
Quatre nodded and climbed into the waiting car.
I can't believe I'm doing this, Quatre thought as he climbed into the car. Diana managed to get in on her own despite the layers of material that made up her skirt.
"Thank you very much," Diana said quietly as the car started off. "You mentioned that your family was rich back on your world? So you know how to behave at formal occasions?"
"Yes," he said, still wondering how he'd ended up on another world in a parallel universe and was now headed for a ball to pretend to be his double so he could help a rebel fight against yet another oppressive government organization.
"Good. Now, look," she held out several pieces of paper. "This is Mr. Muller, he's the man you're going to introduce me to. All you have to do is say hi to him, introduce me as Diana Dorlian, and then make it through the rest of the evening without giving away that you're not Andrew, and that you're also not Kevin Jacobs, which is the name you'll be using. And try not to insult anyone especially important. Andrew has this delightful habit of finding the smartest people he can and pitching himself against them in verbal battles - please tell me you're not going to indulge in that idiocy."
"No," Quatre said, surprised at her harsh language. He'd never speak that way about Trowa.
"Surprised I'm such a bitch?" she asked, easily reading his emotions from his face. "Sorry to shatter your illusions about me, but I'm rather short tempered, and I've done some really horrible things without blinking. Like dragging you into this. Now look," she held out a piece of paper. "I hope you've got a good memory. These are all the people we'll meet, and a very, very basic overview of their loyalties. So don't go badmouthing the Alliance to anyone whose relatives work for them, or who have a lot of money tied up in them, because they'll inform on us. Got it?"
Quatre nodded. "How long do I have?"
"Forty minutes, approximately."
Quatre swallowed and started looking over the list.
Thirty-five minutes later, he closed his eyes and recited for Diana all the information she'd given him, hoping that he had it right. This was the third time they'd been through it, and if he didn't get it this time, they probably wouldn't have a chance to go through it again. When he finished, he opened his eyes and looked expectantly at her. Outwardly, her face was the same, but for someone as used to watching for Heero's changes in expression, she looked surprised. "You got 'em," she grunted, sounding a lot like Heero for a few seconds. "I didn't expect you to make it. Just try to keep them straight tonight."
"It's not so different than memorizing all the subsystems of a Gundam," Quatre said with a nervous laugh.
Diana shot him a strange look. "You are a very interesting man, Quatre," she said slowly, as if trying to dissect his mind from the outside. It wasn't a particularly pleasant experience, somewhat like taking his brain out of his head and leaving it in a sandstorm in the desert, but he knew she didn't mean bad, so he sat and suffered through her intense gaze. She's more like Heero then she wants people to think, he realized.
Finally, when the silence became oppressive, Quatre said, "I'm not a man. I'm fifteen."
"But you're not a boy, either. Not a child. No more than I am. I think I underestimated you guys," she said, and then turned her eyes away and sighed. "Here... there's one more... " she thrust a final piece of paper at him.
Quatre looked at it and froze. It was the man who'd looked like Treize, who'd locked him in that room... he shuddered and automatically turned away from the memory of what had been done to him. "Why... why would... " he checked the name "Adam Velanz be there? If you're trying to get money for the... the rebels?"
"People from both sides will be there. Supposedly I'm the representative of the new government in Alpha, and supposedly the Alliance is not controlling the colonies, and supposedly this colony is neutral, so the Alliance can't touch me. I'm a foreign dignitary. Everyone knows it's all just fiction, but it's a necessary fiction, so they can't touch me. Whether or not he'll be there is completely up to chance. It sort of depends on how angry he is with himself about our escape, and how much he wants to punish himself."
"What?" Quatre asked, tearing his eyes away from the image of the man who looked like Treize but wasn't.
"It pisses him off to see me free and know he can't do anything. If he wants to catch me, he has to do it the old-fashioned way. He had me once, completely at his mercy, and I still beat him. That pisses him off, too."
"He had you?" Quatre asked. "When? How?"
"Caught me at my fifteenth birthday party," she said with a shrug. "Held me for over five months. I managed to get into his head enough so that he couldn't break me. The guys eventually rescued me. We even freed the colony at the same time. Not a bad days work. It almost makes up for what I went through for those months." Her expression went vacant for a moment, until he touched her hand sympathetically. Then those white eyes hardened. "Anyway, if he shows up, don't worry. He can't do anything to us in this situation. Just maintain that your name is Kevin Jacobs and don't leave the party with him. Got it?" she asked as the car suddenly stopped.
Quatre nodded, then automatically straightened his shoulders as a valet opened his door. He stepped out, then turned, placed his left arm behind his back and making sure that he looked neat, he bent forward slightly and extended his right hand back into the car to Diana. She placed her hand in his and then basically got out on her own. "You did learn well," she murmured through a smile. "Ready?"
He smiled back and looked at the rather large building - mansion? - in front of them. "Of course."
She slipped her arm through his, and they slowly walked up to the front door, using slow, measured paces, and he marveled at the emotions rolling off of her in well-timed waves. Anticipation, wariness, a hint of fear that disappeared almost as soon as he identified it, and a sort of fierce joy that disturbed her even as it confused him. Those were emotions he'd felt in himself and other previous to a battle, but not before a dinner party. Of course, sometimes more politics were decided in a situation like this than in any battle - unless Heero was involved. Then the battles were always the most important - things just seemed to revolve around Heero that way. But the guilt? That he couldn't understand. He promised himself he'd think about it more later, when his mind was not occupied with a few dozen faces that he was supposed to know well.
Two men in uniforms opened the doors for them, and the light flooding outward from inside dazzled Quatre's eyes for a second, but Diana didn't hesitate, pulling him inside without giving his eyes a chance to adjust. He stumbled slightly on the doorframe, and Diana's very solid arm was the only thing that kept him from sprawling on the floor. "What's wrong?" she murmured.
"Give my eyes a second to adjust," he murmured. This was one of the major disadvantages of coming from a people who'd lived in the desert for generations. The deserts were almost always blindingly bright, even at night, the faintest light from the moon reflected off the desert sand and made it bright enough to see by. Unfortunately, his eyes were weaker than many humans because of that - he had terrible night vision, and his eyes took longer to adjust to changes in light than most people's.
"Sorry, I forgot you weren't him," she murmured. "You look so much like him, you even act like him... "
"I'll take that as a compliment," he said, blinking several times as his eyes began to clear. He could see they were standing at the top of a staircase, and faintly, people moving around on the floor at the base of the staircase. Another minute and his eyes were completely recovered, and the figures below took on a crystalline clarity as the training he'd had as a Gundam pilot kicked in. Funny that the scientists could give him more than human eyesight but they couldn't fix the basic problems he'd been born with.
"Ready?"
"Fine," he murmured back, a proper expression automatically appearing on his face as he started down the stairs. He wasn't his father's heir for nothing, and had years of training with unsympathetic tutors before he became a Gundam pilot.
"Then let's go. Give it about fifteen minutes or so before we go to Muller. Got it?"
"Yes."
"Then here we go." They walked down the stairs. Almost the instant they reached the bottom, several people came up to them.
"Mr. Jacobs, good to see you again," said a slimy-feeling man that his memory identified as Jules Alex, firmly allied with the Alliance. Very wealthy and powerful - and all of his wealth rested on the Alliance's buying his weapons and shuttles.
"Good to see you too, Mr. Alex," he replied with a formal tilt of his head.
"Now what did I tell you before, Kevin, there's no need for formality between us," he said with a leer at Diana. "And who is your lovely companion?"
"My name is Diana Dorlian, Mr. Alex," Diana replied with a dazzling smile. She extended her hand towards the man, her manner showing none of the disgust and hatred that Quatre knew what she was feeling. He swallowed and clamped down on his emotions, trying to limit what he was feeling because of his spaceheart. He had enough to worry about without having to think about the contradicting images he was getting from Diana.
"Dorlian?" the man paused in the action of bending over to kiss her hand.
"Yes. Perhaps you knew my father, Ambassador Dorlian. He was the Alliance's representative to Alpha colony, and died just a few months before... well, I am taking his place as Alpha's representative to the Alliance, only as an equal now, instead of a... protectorate."
"Of course," the man murmured, dropping her hand and looking as though this was the last place on the planet he'd like to be.
"I heard that your company lost quite a bit of money when Alpha declared independence," Diana remarked sweetly. "Allow me to offer my apologies. We never intended such a thing when we declared independence."
"Quite all right, I'm certain," he responded nervously, glancing around. "These things happen. Only business." He almost choked on those last words. "Allow me to convey my condolences concerning your father's death."
"Thank you very much, Mr. Alex." Diana smiled sadly and finally allowed the desperate Mr. Alex to back away. Quatre nearly laughed at how neatly she'd controlled that conversation. He almost wished he could see her in a verbal sparring match with the real Treize Khushrenada and see who came out on top. He had a feeling that it probably wouldn't be the Oz general.
"Having fun?" she murmured as they started to drift around the room. "Me too. Just be careful. Most of them are pompous fools, but there are a few clever tricksters among them. Keep your eye out for them." Quatre had his eye on Diana's face, and was shocked to note that her lips didn't move at all as she spoke.
"Ventriloquism?" he murmured, raising his hand to his mouth as if covering a yawn.
"Far too many people are watching us, and some of them will know how to read lips," she replied, again without moving her lips. "I should have told you. Watch what you say. Nice move with your hand, by the way."
He nodded and smiled slightly. "Who next?" he asked, extending his arm again.
"Is she here?" Adam Velanz asked his aide.
"Yes, she arrived an hour ago. We have a complete list of all the people she's talked with so far," his aide said, but he waved the offered file away.
"I'll look at it later, although I doubt she'd be foolish enough to give away her contact with plain speech, or even by speaking to him for a long time. That is, if she even makes her contact." He smiled with satisfaction. He'd timed the strike against Alpha colonies satellites - the same satellites that had once belonged to the Alliance - with exact precision, to catch the Rebels just before this event. He knew that Four had been Diana's contact, and that he was the only one who could possibly fight off the Alliance's attack through the computers. By now the matter would have been decided, and the agent he'd sent in probably captured, but that didn't matter very much. The man was disposable, and he didn't have any information that they wouldn't figure out on their own in time. And in another way, the result of the attack on the system wasn't particularly important, either. The point of the entire exercise was to force the Tiger into making a decision between two bad choices, the colony she'd already freed or the future of this colony? He rather suspected that she'd left Four behind, making the same decision that he would have - protect resources already gained - but that meant that she couldn't make her contact here. Either way, he won.
It shouldn't have come to this at all - Diana and those damned clones should never have escaped so easily. He was going to have words - many of them - with the station commander, but he probably wouldn't execute the man. He had been fooled himself by reports that the five creations were attacking the base where they were pretending to hold the girl. He should have realized that they wouldn't be fooled with a ploy like that, and had sent body doubles to the other area while coming in disguise to rescue her. Stupid on his part, but he'd activated this second plan almost as soon as he heard the news. Years of fighting again the Tiger, who was arguably the strongest leader that the Rebels had ever had, had taught him always to have a backup plan.
"Sir, Four is with her," his aide said quietly.
Adam raised his eyebrows in surprise. In that case, they might have already taken control of the satellites. She'd surprised him again, but she'd pay for it with the lives of those in the colony. "As soon as we get the satellites back online, tell them to signal the attack," he instructed.
"Sir... we've lost control of the satellites completely, and the transmission from their base has ceased. We're locked out completely."
Adam stifled a curse. Impossible! he thought. Four is the only one with the skill to get control of the satellites, and he didn't have time to do that and come here! There's no one else, so if he's here, who stayed behind... His mind suddenly jumped to the only logical conclusion, and now he did curse, once. Those damned clones! She must have brought one of them with her, and left Four behind! But who are they and how did she convince them to aid her? He went back over his last thought and dismissed it. She could be incredibly convincing when she wanted to, the main question was who those boys were and where they'd come from. He knew for a fact that the Alliance hadn't made them, and the rebels lacked the resources to start cloning, so it had to be a third party, but who...
First things first - he had to make sure that this really was the other boy, and not Four. He thanked his aide for the information, gave him orders to continue the surveillance, and headed down to the party, making sure that his uniform was straight and his appearance as perfect as he could make it - no matter what he was doing down there, he never forgot that he was representing the Alliance every time he went out in this uniform, and that appearances could be very important. A few minutes later he was strolling around on the floor with the others, as comfortable here as if he'd been born to a position of power, instead of the son of an Alliance soldier and his wife, orphaned at a young age and raised by the Alliance.
In a few minutes he walked over to where Diana and the boy were standing with a group of very wealthy businessmen, chatting about nothing. He waited several minutes before approaching them, watching the boy very closely. By the time he approached them, he was certain - the boy, whoever he was, was not Four. He had to be the clone that had escaped with Diana yesterday. A ghost of a frown crossed over his face as he realized that calling him 'the clone' wasn't exactly appropriate. This boy, unlike Four, had had a father, at least at some point. That didn't mean he couldn't be a clone, but he hadn't been raised at all like the other five. This could be interesting.
"Hello, Kevin!" he exclaimed, walking over. He'd never met Four when he was pretending to be this man, but that didn't matter much, not here. They all knew that no one here was exactly what they claimed to be, but they'd all pretend otherwise for the sake of appearances. If Adam Velanz said that he knew Kevin Jacobs, then he knew him, at least for tonight.
The boy blanched slightly, and glanced at Diana before responding. Adam watched both reactions with a kind of thrill - this boy was an amateur, at best, and would probably crumble if he exerted enough pressure. Diana had salvaged what should have been an impossible situation well, but she'd left herself with a definite weakness by bringing this boy here. All he had to do was exploit that weakness now. "Good to see you again, too, Adam!" he said, taking the clue from Adam's use of his first name to guess at their supposed friendship. But it was obvious he wasn't particularly happy to see his supposed 'friend.'
"Hello, Commander Velanz," Diana said with a smile that looked completely genuine. Very good, considering she'd ordered his death several months ago. "How have you been?"
"Well enough, thank you. I had a very nice trip back from Alpha the last time," he remarked, referring to the fact that he'd escaped her.
"That's nice," she returned, unperturbed.
"And how are you?" he asked, allowing his gaze to drift downward slightly, to brush over the leg he'd ordered broken. She was undoubtedly in a lot of pain right now, and he wanted to remind her of that fact, in case she'd managed to push it out of her mind.
"Very well, thank you. I take it that you and Kevin know each other?"
"Oh yes, we're old friends, but I haven't seen him in years," Adam said cheerfully, ignoring the obvious fact that the boy was only fourteen or fifteen years old, and they couldn't possibly have been friends for as long as he was suggesting. Everything would be taken at face value for now, that was one of the rules of a meeting like this. "We're both from Earth, you know." He was watching the boy carefully, and noticed the slight stiffening in his shoulders that betrayed some sort of strong reaction.
"Of course," the boy replied stiffly, then recovering his pose, smiled. "I do love the Earth, the moon looks so beautiful from there, and I love the open sky."
Adam murmured something appropriate, but his mind was on the odd tone in the boy's voice when he spoke about Earth - almost reverent in it's joy. Well, he'd been to Earth, that was certain, but Adam got the feeling that he didn't live on that planet. A colonist? No, not a colonist, he remembered checking that when he checked the boy's gene sequences. Well, not born a colonist, but raised on a colony... possible. It was time to get the boy out from under Diana's watchful eye. "I'm so very sorry to hear about your father," he said with sweet blatant insincerity.
Diana froze for a fraction of a second, anger flashing in her eyes before she covered it up with a sad smile and a few tears. "Thank you, Commander. Your caring means quite a bit to me." She smiled again, and carefully wiped away the tears so she wouldn't smudge her makeup, and then she looked directly at him, and for a second, she dropped the mask over her eyes and stared at him with her real emotions, and he took an involuntary step back at the death promised in her eyes. A long, slow, painful death.
Then it was gone and she turned to the crowd she'd been talking to when he arrived and made some comment, possibly an anecdote about her father. That was when the wave of anger/hate/rage swept over him, so strong he actually gasped. No one seemed to notice, but his eyes were inexplicably drawn to the boy, and he saw rage that mirrored what he'd just felt in the boy's eyes. Too late he remembered that Four had some empathic abilities the Alliance had suppressed. Apparently this boy had the same skills, and he wasn't suppressing them.
He forced himself to remain calm. "Diana, do you mind if I steal Kevin for just a few minutes?" he asked, knowing that his choice of words would throw her off-balance for a second. "Just to catch up on old times."
"Don't go to far, Kevin," she said with a laugh. "You wouldn't want to leave me all by my lonesome, would you?" she asked teasingly, her eyes making it clear that he was not to be gone very long.
Adam's smile widened at the victory, however slight, and he grabbed the boy's arm and started pulling him across the floor. The boy went unresisting until he went off the main floor and started to pull him towards a hallway. Then he suddenly stopped short, and Adam couldn't budge him, not without making it very obvious that he was pulling him away against his will. "Come along," he said pleasantly. "I'd like to talk to you in private."
"I don't think that would be such a good idea," the boy replied. "Last time I went off with you I got in a bit of trouble, and Diana's promised to skin me if I do it again."
"I insist," Adam replied, a little impressed by how the boy managed to tell the truth and make it sound so innocent.
"No."
Adam was a little startled by the flat refusal. "What say we go into a corner, where you cannot be taken anywhere against your will without everyone seeing it, but where we can have some semblance of privacy in which to speak?" he asked in an undertone.
The boy looked uneasy, but nodded agreement, and together they drifted through the crowd to an unoccupied corner. As soon as they were out of hearing range and behind a large decorative pillar, the smile drained off his face and the vice-grip he had on the boy's shoulder tightened. "Please don't ruin the tuxedo," the boy said softly, a hint of a smile playing around the corners of his mouth. "I'm only borrowing it, and I'd prefer not to ruin it."
"You're not Four," Adam accused bluntly, spinning the boy around so his back was up against the wall. If the boy felt any nervousness about being trapped, he didn't show it.
"No, I'm not Andrew," the boy agreed pleasantly. "And you're not Treize Khushrenada."
Adam blinked at this seeming nonsequitor, then remembered that the boy had thought he was someone named Treize before. He didn't know how this affected anything, though, so he asked, "So who are you?"
"I'm not telling you that."
"Can I have a name at least?"
"You called me Four before. That seems to work fine."
"I thought you really were Four - the one who calls himself Andrew. You're not Four."
"You can call me pilot zero-four if it makes you feel better," the boy said with a shrug. "I'm not telling you my name."
"You're a pilot of some sort?" Adam asked, jumping on the bit of information. "What do you fly?"
The boy looked at him carefully, then his gaze went vacant. It was clear that he wasn't going to give Adam any more information. "I think we're done here," he said softly, and started to push past him, heading back towards the people.
Adam grasped the front of his shirt and spun him back around, pinning him quite firmly against the wall, then placed an arm across the boy's throat, threatening to cut off his air supply. "Cry out and it will be the last thing you do," he warned. "I'm afraid that you're going to have to give me some answers before you leave."
The boy had been making a half-hearted attempt to break away, but did so silently. Now he stopped, raising those huge blue-green eyes to meet Adam's. Adam froze, astonished by how big they were. Then those eyes stared right through him, and he felt a sort of shock run through his heart. "What did you just do?" he growled as one of the boy's hands came up, not to push his arm away, but to clutch at his own heart.
Suddenly he saw something in the boy's eyes that he hadn't seen in the eyes of any of his enemies, not ever. He saw pity. No, that wasn't exactly right, pity he would have resented, could have pushed away, this was something more... understanding, maybe? Compassion? Why was this child looking at him like that?
"I'm sorry," the boy said softly. "I know what it's like to lose a father. It must be even worse to lose both your parents. I never even knew my mother, and when I lost my father, it drove me crazy."
"How did you know that?" he demanded, tightening his hold on the boy's throat.
"You can't hold onto it, though, you have to let go someday," the boy continued calmly, although he had to be having trouble breathing by now. "I destroyed a colony and almost killed my best friend before I was able to let go. Look at what you're doing, please. Make sure that you don't make the same mistakes I did." He closed his eyes briefly, struggling for breath, but when he opened them there was still no fear in his eyes, no anger, just compassion and understanding. Adam had never seen anything like it, never in his entire life. He was suddenly confronted by something completely new and inexplicable, incomprehensible.
For a minute he just stared at the boy in shock, then his training took over. Adam was a trained soldier, and he did what any trained soldier would do in a situation where he was completely confused and disarmed by his opponent - he retreated. He loosened his hold on the boy's neck, then let go of him completely. The boy continued to stare at him with those weird eyes. He backed up several steps, then spun and walked across the floor and back out to the observation room as quickly as he dared without drawing attention to himself.
End Part 3
(:./marika/others3)
