Okay, this is my first Outlaw Star fic (duh) I really hope you like it. Please please tell me if it's good, it's the first part, if I get at good reviews, then I'll finish it. Please please please R&R!! Thanx, hope ya enjoy.
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Gene sat quietly in the Outlaw Star, thinking to himself. A chill ran down his spine. He looked around instinctively to make sure nothing was wrong. Everything appeared to be normal, he turned back around and looked at space. 'Must be my imagination. I'm too paranoid nowadays.' Gene thought, 'I need to relax.' He stared into space for a long time. It was so big, most people would call it beautiful, but to Gene, it was anything but that. Death lingered in space, looking for its next victim. It took away both Hilda and his father, and someday it would steal his life away too.
Gene looked back at his crew, Jim was sleeping, but not quietly. He wanted to stick a sock in his mouth. Melfina was working quietly on the ship, there were a few repairs that needed to be done from the last battle and she needed to figure out where the ship needed it. Sazuka was quietly meditating, Gene didn't dare interrupt her, after all, she was the one trying to kill him before. Finally, Aisha was playing a video game, making more noise than seemingly possible, every once in a while he heard the Game saying, "I love you, I want you, I need you," then responding, "LIAR!!" but Gene blocked it all out. He closed his eyes and rested a bit. He was so comfortable in the Outlaw Star. He fell fast asleep….
*****
"Father!!" Gene yelled as his father shoved him into an escape pod. But it was too late, his father couldn't hear him anymore. Even if he could, it wouldn't make any difference. He had made up his mind, and Gene knew that nothing could change it. His father was such a stubborn man, 'There was enough space in the pod to fit both of us! Why did he leave me? Why didn't he come with me? He left me all alone.' Gene thought as he watched his father's ship being destroyed as he drifted further and further into space. Tears emerged from Gene's eyes as he banged on the window, "Don't leave me father!!" he yelled, "Don't leave me all alone! Come back father!!" He fell to his knees and cried, trying to convince himself that it was all just a nightmare, a horrible nightmare and he'd soon wake up. Then somebody gripped his shoulder and was shaking him furiously….
*****
Gene awoke in a heavy sweat, Jim was shaking him by the shoulder frantically. "Wake up Gene! Time to rise and shine Sleeping Beauty!" Jim yelled at him.
"Huh? What's the fuss all about?" Gene asked, bewildered. He looked around and saw that Melfina was back in her little water chamber.
Then there was a jolt and the whole ship shook."Gene, we're under attack!" Jim yelled at him. "You know, you're a really deep sleeper."
"We're under attack? By who?"
Gilliam interjected, "By a group of pirates notorious for their strength. It is said that nobody has survived a fight with them."
"Oh great, just our luck. Well, we'll just have to prove to them that they aren't the strongest." Gene yelled.
"Gene, there is damage to the right engine and one of out grappler arms are down." Melfina stated.
"Shit!"
"It doesn't look good, Gene."
"Crap, what about the left engine, Melfina? How does that look?"
"Its still showing green. They haven't gotten to it yet."
Suddenly a beam came out of the enemy's ship and started melting away the exterior. "What the hell is that?" Gene asked frantically, but he got no answer. Everybody was too occupied.
"What are we gunna do, Gene?" Jim asked, "If they keep this up, we'll be toast!"
"Don't worry, we'll get out of this, there is no way we will die, I promise." Gene said as he gave him a reassuring smile. Then he yelled out, "Fire the laser beam!" (ok, sorry, couldn't think of another name, tee hee, anyway, on with the story!)
"It's stuck," Melfina replied, "there is a piece of metal shoved in it, the energy inside it is building. I have completely lost control over it, if the energy keeps building like this, the ship will explode!"
"What?? A Ctarl-Ctarl will never die just because of a stupid piece of metal!" Aisha said as she stood up and bolted for the door. Gene stood in her way.
"Your not going anywhere Missy. Your staying right here."
"But I'm not going to let myself die like this! Not now! Not here!"
"Who said anything about dying? Don't worry, like I told Jim, weren't not going to die, and I plan to keep that promise."
"What? How??"
"This is no time to be the hero, Gene." Jim said frantically, "It's way too dangerous."
Gene started to change into a space suit, then he turned to Jim and put his hands on his shoulder. He got eye level with him and said, "Don't worry, everything is going to be all right." With that, he made his way out of the ship, into the battlefield.
Gene looked around, trying to spot the damage. Space was so quiet, except for the fainted sounds of weapons firing. He had to keep aware of what he was doing, now wasn't the time for his space phobia to kick in. Gene at last found the metal. Luckily the enemy was now on the other side of the ship and posed little danger to him, but he still had to act fast. He tried to pull it out, but it was jammed tight. There was a blast near by that shook him up and debris started to lunge toward him. He managed to block most of it, but one big scrap of metal that he didn't see dashed toward him. It hit him head on, causing him to loose consciousness. His body floated aimlessly in space….
*****
Gene found himself floating in a blank world, only surrounded by blurry memories. 'Who… who am I?' he asked himself. He looked around but found no answers. He rubbed his head, 'Where the heck am I? What happened to me?' Then familiar images flashed through Gene's mind. Once again Gene saw his father's last day in space.
"No Father!" Gene yelled. As his father pulled him toward the escape pod. "I won't go without you!."
"I'm sorry, Gene, but this is your only hope. I've lived my life, and I want to make sure you can live yours." With that, he shoved Gene in, closed the door and watched him leave for space and safety. 'Good bye Gene, at least this way you can live out a full life,' his father thought. The ship blew up, taking him for the ride. Gene saw this through the pod. He yelled out while the pod propelled him forward. The memory stopped.
'Is my name Gene? Was that me? Was that my father?'
*****
"Where the heck is Gene? I'm getting worried, he's been out for a long time." Jim asked as he looked out the window. Tension was starting to build up in the Outlaw Star. They all knew Gene had been out too long and something probably went wrong. "That's it, I can't take it anymore. I'm going out there and getting Gene back."
"No, Jim," Melfina protested. "Its too dangerous."
"But we killed the enemy, miraculously, so it should be okay. He must have done something out there since we didn't blow up from the overload. I can't just sit back while my best friend, almost my brother, might be dying out there!"
Aisha interjected, "You can't go out there, your too weak, this looks like a job for a Ctarl-Ctarl. I'm going to save Gene." There were no interjections to that. They knew not to cross Aisha and her temper, the only one foolish enough to was Gene. Plus, she was right, she was the strongest one out of them all and probably had the best chance of getting him back.
Aisha got the space suit on and made her way into space. She hadn't realized how much of a wreck the Outlaw Star was. Though, amidst all the debris, she spotted a lifeless body floating through space. She headed in that direction to make sure it was Gene.
Inside the ship, the crew waited patiently for some news from Aisha. At this point, all they could do was pray. They were fortunate enough to be able to see everything that was going on through a camera on Aisha's space suit helmet.
Aisha found the body, and sure enough, it was Gene's. She carried his body back to the ship on her shoulders.
*****
Another memory pierced through Gene's mind.
Two men were negotiating some prices for something while a little boy tugged on the pant leg of one of the men. The boy had shiny red hair and beautiful blue eyes. He only came to about the waist of the man because he was only seven years old, plus the man was pretty tall. The little boy kept repeating, "Daddy, daddy, daddy…" trying to get his father's attention.
The little boy was annoying him and finally his dad yelled back at him, "Stop it, Gene, can't you see I'm discussing some important business? Go play in your room."
Tears filled little Gene's heartbroken eyes, "But I just wanted to show you the picture I made for you." He held up a piece of paper with macaronis glued to it. He threw it on the ground, jetted to his room, and slammed the door. Pieces of macaroni spewed everywhere.
His father called after him, "Gene!" then mumbled to his client, "I'm sorry, you know how kids are."
Gene sat quietly in his room, 'What can be more important than me? Some old guy that probably doesn't have as many cool toys as me? I don't think so.' Then he decided to listen to their conversation. He put his ear to the door, and was very quiet. He could faintly make out what they were saying.
"I told you, it's too dangerous," his father said.
"But I'm giving you 50,000 wong!" the other man responded. Gene had never seen or heard this man before.
"But I have a family, I don't want my son to one day ask his mother, 'Where's daddy?' and his mother tell him how daddy will never be coming home. We're dealing with pirates here, the ---- pirates at that. Death is almost a sure thing!"
Gene peeped through the crack in his door. He had never seen of heard his father like this before.
"But we are also talking about the Galactic Leyline. Some things are worth the risk. How 'bout this, I'll give you the 50,000 wong I promised as a sure fee, then if we get to the Galactic Leyline, I'll give you 100,000 wong extra."
"Well, that is quite a bit of money… Okay, I'll do it, " and with that, the two men shook hands. "I'll meet you at the port in 32 hours." The man agreed, and left.
"Gene's father moved out of Gene's view. Gene pressed his ear against the door once more to try to hear what he was doing. Next thing he knew, the door was being pulled from under him causing Gene to topple to the ground. He smiled and chuckled nervously. His father picked him up and sat him on his lap. "I'm sorry about earlier, Gene, but you have to be more patient. That man and I were discussing some important business. Don't interrupt people when they are talking unless it is something important. You understand?" Gene nodded his head, his father continued, "Another thing, I'm going to be leaving for a while, I'll be back soon so don't worry. I want you to tell your mother, though."
"But mommy is still in the hospital. She's still very sick. You should tell her."
"I know, but this is important. Plus, if I tell her, I'm afraid I'll worry her, she'll understand if u tell her. Its not like you can catch the disease, it's not contagious. You can even spend the night there, I'll call the hospital and tell them I will be gone for a little and I'm sure they'd be glad to keep you with them." He smiled and lifted him off his lap. "Why don't you go tell her now."
"Okay papa," he said as he bolted out the door. He was excited that he would be able to see his mother again, he had only seen her once since she got in the hospital. He ran passed many people and finally arrived to his destination. He found his mother's room and stepped in. She looked so different. So much skinnier and when she saw Gene, she didn't even have the strength to lift her head up to greet him. Her eyes became glassy and a tear ran down her cheek when she saw Gene walk through the door. He sat next to her and told her the news. She was very understanding, that what Gene loved about her. Gene spent the next few nights there, obeying his father. On the third night, Gene laid in bed with his mother, his head on her shoulder as he tried to fall asleep.
"Gene," she said in a gentle voice, "I love you so much. I never want you to be alone, okay? Make as many friends as you can, but make sure you don't feel lonely. And always stay your happy, sweet self, tears just don't fit your personality."
This confused little Gene, "But mommy, I'm not crying. And I'll never be lonely with you and papa." He could hear his mother cry softly a little, but she soon stopped.
"Good night, Gene… and good bye." There was an awkward silence that filled the room. Gene wondered what she meant, he wasn't going anywhere, and he was pretty sure she wasn't either, especially in her condition. But Gene was too tired to ask what she meant, and he fell fast asleep.
The next morning Gene awoke by the sun in the room. He noticed that his mother's touch wasn't as warm as usual. "Are you cold mommy?" he asked, but he got no respond. Figuring she was sleeping, he shook her a little. "Wake up mommy, time to rise and shine," he said silently, yet she still didn't respond. She looked so pale, he shook her harder, since there was still no response, he started to yell, "Mommy, wake up!" Now he was getting worried, he went and got a nurse, and a few other workers followed them in. The nurse held up her wrist, Gene had no clue what she was doing. She shook her head and looked at Gene sympathetically. He noticed the others put a white sheet over his mother's body.
The nurse approached Gene, "I'm sorry sweety."
"What's the matter? What are you doing with my mommy, where is she going? When will she be back?" Gene asked curiously.
She looked at him even more tenderly and added, "She won't be coming back. She's…. dead. She left and will be beginning a new journey now." Gene's eyes bulged and filled with tears as he realized the shocking truth. His head began to spin, he needed to get out, he needed time to think. How can his mother be dead? He realized what his mother meant last night, Gene began sobbing and bolted out of the hospital. He didn't stop running until he got home. Then he realized he broke his promise to his mom. She told him not to cry or be lonely, now he was disobeying both things. His father was gone, and even though he'd be coming back soon, Gene's heart ached with loneliness, he yearned to have somebody to talk to, somebody to share his feelings with. He couldn't help but to cry, he fell to his knees and just let it all out.
*****
The crew of the Outlaw Star watched anxiously as Jim checked for Gene's pulse. He smiled and the rest gave out a big sigh of relief. "He's alive, but unconscious," Jim said. They all got gloomy again.
Suddenly Aisha brightened up and said triumphantly, "I know!! All you have to do is have Mel stick him in that water tank thing of yours! I heard Jim talking about how she's done that to before and healed him."
Everybody else's face brightened up a bit too, "I'll try," Melfina said as she took Gene with her.
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ok, so how did u like it? This is basically about Gene's past, I'm gunna write more if ya like it, so PLEASE R&R!! thanx, ^_^;; hope ya enjoyed it.