Across The Galaxy

Vastulja Sata Menton

Chapter 20: Back to work

Quatre smiled as the small rejoice of their victory died down. He looked a round and noticed a crew member missing. Heero. He knew exactly where to look and made his way to the medical unit. It was no surprise to see Heero there, watching Duo's unmoving form. The blond Arab walked over to the table, looking at Heero for a moment before checking the Americans vitals. "He's stable and I believe that his body is simply in shock. Knowing Duo, he should come out of it soon." Heero nodded, knowing that Quatre was right and he wasn't just saying it to comfort him. "I'll keep an eye on him as I do checks on everyone. You're needed on deck right now." There was a moment of silence and a pause. Heero nodded and left, but not without one last look at his lover.

Quatre sighed. Come on Duo. Pull out of this; I know that you can. Quatre moved over to his work station and began to do checks on everyone's physical state. The chips that were placed in their bodies were unable to measure mental health, so he would have to do that check on his own. It was going to be a long day.

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Zechs left Trowa and Wufei on the deck and went straight down to the engines. He had nearly forgotten about the un-named energy source. He made his way down cautiously, not knowing what could happen. He slowly walked to the area that the energy source had been hooked up. What he found there shocked him. The energy source was gone; no traces of it ever being there existed. What the hell? The blond man stood there for a moment, unsure exactly what to do. He would have to report it to Heero, that was for sure. Other than that, he didn't think that there was anything else that could be done. With the decision made, he quickly made his way upstairs to get Heero. He found him coming out of the medical unit; no surprise. Emotion lacked Heero's countenance. Zechs took a deep breath and approached him.

"Heero." The ex-Zero pilot looked up. "I need to show you something. Please, come with me." They headed downstairs and Zechs showed Heero his find. There was a mix of shock and confusion.

"Where is it?" Heero inquired.

"I don't know. My only thought is that it just sort of disintegrated. I don't know how else to explain it," Zechs answered. Heero examined the area, hoping to find a clue. After a few minutes of finding nothing, he stepped away.

"I guess that explanation will have to do. Make sure to make note of it in your report and keep an eye on this entire area. I'll have Quatre keep an eye on it as well, and on your physical stats. We should scan the area; do that and report back to me when you are finished." Zechs nodded and headed to his station to start the scan.

---

Heero sighed, slumping into his chair. He needed to start his report, and after that he would have to pick up Duo's job. He was exhausted, physically and mentally. He wasn't sure how much sleep he had gotten since the start of it all, but he did know that it was far from enough. He just had to finish the two jobs and then he could get some rest, but then would he even be able to sleep, knowing that Duo was in the medical unit? He would just have to try.

It took Heero longer than expected due to the length of everyone else's reports. It was late by the time that he finished and everyone else was already sleeping. He sighed heavily and made his way to his and Duo's room, resisting the urge to go to the med unit. He slumped into his bed but did not lay down. He stared into the darkness, trying to make sense of everything that had happened so far in the last two and a half years. It was non-stop work – not even a weekend to break. There was so much work to be done that they didn't have the time to take a break, but it was draining. He hopped that the time went by fast. He wondered what the next two and a half years would hold. All he could hope was that it all went well and turned out for the best.

End Chapter 20

AN: Chapter 20 finally finished. Short, but it's something. Sorry that it took so long. I've no good excuse for the length of time it took, so I wont make any. I want to go back and fix the chapters before where I skipped large amounts of time. I'll try to work on chapter 21 and that at the same time. If I get a chance to add chapters, I'll wait until I get them all finished and then reconfigure (I'll send out a message to all of you who are watching this story)