Faith Luana
Chapter 1:Jake
I sliced a hork-bajir into halves. Cassie! Watch out! I yelled to her in thought speak.
Then, this Whiteness swallowed me up.
I was demorphing. I wasn't making myself demorph, but I was demorphing nonetheless. For a split second, I thought that maybe I had died. That this was heaven. When I saw the others, I kind of dismissed that theory.
"What's going on?" Cassie asked me. I shook my head.
"I have no idea" I said, slipping my arm around her back for comfort. "Is everyone ok?"
"Where's Ax?" Marco asked. "I know he didn't come with us to the battle because he was close to communicating with an andalite ship, but is he here now?
yes Marco a voice spoke up, as Ax made himself visible to us. I am present.
"does anyone have any idea what's going on?" I asked them. Tobias spoke up.
"Before Vera died, she said that the time line had been disturbed, and that something would happen."
"So, she obviously didn't say what?" Marco asked sarcastically. He looked a little pained, like Vera's death was hard on him.
EVERYTHING WILL BE REVEILED SHORTLY.
We groaned. Everybody knew that voice. Ellimist Ax said, half irritated/half expecting.
YES, AN ELLIMIST he replied.
"So, what are you not going to tell us?" Rachel asked grumpily. "You come down here, either offering us something, or telling us to do something, then whisk us away to GOD knows where-"
PATIENTS, RACHEL. PATIENTS. I WILL TELL YOU WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW.
That seemed to calm her down a little. "I'm all ears" She spoke up.
BY MAGUS'S REAWAKENING IN KARA, THE TIMELINE WAS DISRUPTED. SHE WAS TO GO ON AND BE THE NEXT WARRIOR QUEEN, AND TOBIAS'S AND RACHEL'S DAUGHTER WOULD BE THE NEXT PRINCESS.
I glanced over at Rachel and Tobias. They had both noticeably stepped away from each other. Their cheeks were flushed.
"Go Xena and Bird-boy!" Marco chided. Rachel sent him a killer look.
RACHEL HAS THEREFORE BECAME THE NEXT PRINCESS. SHE WILL PLAY AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE UNIVERSES HISTORY. IN FACT, ALL OF YOU WILL. YOU WILL GO ON TO SEE THE FUTURE SO YOU KNOW HOW THE TIMELINE WILL BE CORRECTED.
"And?" Marco asked sarcastically. He must of caught the look I sent him. "OH C'mon!" he said. "You KNOW there's an 'and'"
The Ellimist paused. YOU MIGHT BE NEEDED FOR BATTLE IN THE FUTURE.
Everyone groaned. "Here we go again" Rachel mummered.
Cassie was the next to speak. "Do we have a choice?" she asked.
NO.
Suddenly, we weren't in the whiteness anymore.
Chapter 2: Cassie
We stood in a large house. You know Joe Bob's Fenestre's house? This house had to triple it.
"Where are we?" I asked out loud.
YOUR LOCATION IS NOT IMPORTANT. THIS IS SOMETHING YOU MUST KNOW FOR FUTURE REFERANCE. I WILL NOTIFY YOU WHEN YOU ARE VISABLE AGAIN.
I sighed inwardly. Suddenly, a man walked in. He was very tall, with long brownish/blondish hair that was smooth on his head. He had very deep brown eyes.
"It's….It's Tobias!" Rachel whispered. She was right. He walked over to an intercom, and pressed the button.
"Faith? Dinner." Then he waited for a reply.
"Daddy? I'll be right down!" He sighed.
"Faith, I guarantee you your boyfriend will be fine in the time it takes for you to get to this part of the house, eat dinner, and get back to the nearest phone."
"But Daddy!" the voice protested.
"I. Said. NOW!" He said firmly, but not crossly. I heard a sigh.
Five minutes later, a young girl emerged. She had long, brown hair, about four inches past her shoulders. Her eyes were a bright blue. She was dressed very fashionable, or what we assumed was fashionable for the time period we were in.
"Defiantly Rachel's daughter" Tobias, Marco, Jake and I all said at the same time. Rachel put on a face of mock offense.
"So nice of you to join us!" Tobias said smiling, then, he walked into the kitchen. Faith sighed, and followed after him. We followed her.
There dining room was beautifully decorated. Very light, and sunny. It wasn't like a dark and rustic old mansion's dining room, you know the ones with the dark furniture and bear skin rugs with the heads on them? It was more like…I can't explain it. But it was very elegant.
"Where's mom?" Faith asked, sitting down next to her father.
"She's in with a call. She said she'd be out in a minute."
Faith nodded. "Oh." She said.
Suddenly, Rachel entered. I heard Tobias gasp. I could see why.
Rachel hadn't changed except for the fact that she got older, and the fact that she was taller. She went over, and took the seat on Tobias's other side.
"sorry for the delay. They were just wondering what was going on with the Martreq invasion." Maids brought out there food and set it in front of them.
They talked a little bit more about this. I really didn't understand what they were saying. It was freaky. Rachel was so much more…well…calm!
They finished there dinner.
"Oh! Rachel, we need to decide where we are gonna be for V-Day. I've talked to Marco, and he doesn't think he's gonna go. After all, Callia is expecting," then Rachel joined him in unison "another" "baby"
Marco started to cough really hard. I slapped him hard on the back. "Thanks" he mummered.
"We should probably drive over there to discus it with him," Rachel suggested. Faith, who had gotten up to go call someone snapped her head around.
"Good idea! We'll call him on our car sat. phone." They both stood up.
"Wait!" Faith gasped, she hurdled the couch, and raced so that her back was pressed up against the door which I could only assume led to the garage. "Before you go, Daddy, I just want to tell you how much I love you! I mean, you are so, like, the BEST daddy in the world!"
Tobias looked slightly panicked. "Which car was it this time?"
Faith looked slightly sick. "I think the better question would be which car isn't it. I mean, it's really not my fault! Those drivers came out of NO Where!"
Now it was Rachel's turn to look sick. She closed her eyes like she was trying to gain control. "Tell me it wasn't my Ferraris. Anything but them."
Faith only smiled. "I love you too, Mom!"
"Which car isn't wrecked?" Tobias asked. She winced, like she had been expecting something.
"My Silver Z-3" she said in a small voice. "Well, that and the Hoover-cycles."
"Faith Luana _____!" Tobias yelled. Suddenly, the whole house shook. Faith looked around shocked.
"What's going on?" Faith shouted in panic. Tobias reached out for Rachel.
Suddenly, a wall panel burst open, inside, there was a television monitor. I recognized the face. Jake. MY Jake.
"Tobias? Rachel? I think we're under an attack?"
"Gee, You think?" Rachel snapped.
"Get to your shelter immediately!" He said snappishly. For a split second, African American Women came onto the screen.
"Jake! Shelter! NOW!" she said, tugging him. I recognized the women. It was me.
Suddenly, we weren't inside the house anymore.
There was no house.
"What happened" Rachel wondered out loud. An Atom-Shift Bomb Ax replied unhappily. This one has obviously been upgraded. In all my time, I've never see one do this
I saw Faith emerging from a door on the ground. She climbed out, her face and clothes covered in dirt.
It was a total massacre. There were no houses, just pieces of houses. Halves of bodies hung out of what used to be windows. Heads without bodies laid everywhere. Of Babies, of children. From an onlookers stand point, your reaction would be to scream. She just stared, wide eyed. I saw Rachel and Tobias climb out of the hole behind her. Tobias went up and gently put his hand on his daughters shoulders. "Are you o.k.?" He asked her. She shook her head no.
"I'm never going to be o.k. after a thing like this," she replied softly.
"Faith…Do you know what your name means."
"To Trust" She replied without any thought, still staring at the mess of bodies.
"No," he replied. "Your whole name"
"No" she replied softly. Rachel came up behind them
"Your whole name together means to Trust Great Warrior. You get your attitude from me. Let me tell you, it saved my life more times then I can remember. The point is, when something is bothering you, you fight back. If you die, you die because you died for something you believe in," Rachel said. "there is no greater cause then that."
Chapter 3: Tobias
Suddenly, the bodies were out of our sight. We were standing in a house just like the house we had been in before it had been bombed.
HERE YOU WILL LEARN ABOUT AN IMPORTANT PART OF JAKE AND CASSIE'S CHILDREN: ZO DUKE AND AYANNA VANGIE.
Rachel glanced over at Cassie. "Honey, you've got some odd taste in kid names" she said.
YOU ARE QUITE MISTAKEN, RACHEL. THEIR NAMES HAVE VERY IMPORTANT SIGNIFICANCE. YOU WILL FIND THAT IN THE FUTURE, NAMES DETERMINE YOUR PERSONALITY. ZO DUKE MEANS GREAT AND VICTORIOUS LEADER. AYANNA VANGIE MEANS INNOCENT, ANGELIC. JUST AS FAITH'S NAME LATER DESCRIBED WHO SHE WILL BECOME, THEY DESCRIBE WHO THEY ARE DESTINED TO BE.
Just then, Jake entered. He had changed only slightly. His hair was grayer then mine had been. But hey, he was under a lot more stress right now then I was under.
Cassie came in too. She had grown up to be quite a beautiful women. She walked over and kissed Jake on the cheek. He stroked her hair.
"Where are the kids?" he asked her.
She smiled. " 'stayin' chilled' " she replied, mimicking the way her teenagers talked. Jake laughed too.
Just then, a teenager, about Kara's age walked in. She had short, black hair, and light brown skin.
"Mom, Dad? Can I go over to Faith's house?" Jake glanced at his watch.
Suddenly, another boy that looked a tad older then Ayanna walked in. He looked exactly like Tom, except for the fact that he had darker skin and eyes. "You're taking me aren't you?" He asked her. She rolled her eyes.
"Yes, Zo can go too" Jake said. Just then, everything started shaking.
Jake and Cassie stumbled to hold on to something. Maids and butlers were running around the house in a frenzy, trying to get down to safety.
Cassie grabbed Ayanna and Zo by the wrist and dragged them over to a maid. "Make sure they get down safely." She told her.
"Yes, Miss" The women said in panic, and grabbed the two kids arms
"but-Mom!" Zo protested. Cassie ignored him.
Jake stumbled over and banged open a panel in the wall.
"communications!" He yelled into the screen. "Connect me to 239-8078-998- Rachel and Tobias ________," Suddenly, my older face appeared on the screen.
"Rachel? Tobias? I think we're under an attack,"
"Jeez, you think?" Rachel snapped.
"Get to your shelter now!" he snapped back.
Just then Cassie ran up to him. "Jake! Shelter! NOW!" And they took off.
We followed them down to the shelter.
Then, it was over again. We were back on ground, surveying the wreckage. Ayanna looked sick.
"Ayanna? Zo?" A faith rang out. I recognized it. It was Faith's.
"You're ok!" Ayanna said gratefully. They went over and hugged each other briefly, as did Faith and Zo."
"Have you heard from Conner?" Ayanna asked her. Faith looked like she might be sick.
"Not yet," she whispered. Zo looked pained.
"I'm sure he made it out," he said, trying to reassure himself more then he was reassuring them.
"I hope so," she said quietly.
Just then, Rachel and I came into view. I had my arm draped around her back. She was looking sadly around, tugging at her hair, like she does when she's nervous.
"Who did this?" She demanded.
Jake shrugged. "I'm guessing the arachnids. They had this coming for a long time,"
"And what are we going to do about it?" she snapped back.
Then, we weren't standing on the street anymore.
Three more people joined them. I recognized him. It was Marco and his family.
Faith raced over to who I assumed was his sun, and jumped into his arms. He held her, and after they had kissed for a brief moment separated, but not very far apart.
"Are you o.k.?" she asked worriedly. He nodded.
Then Marco spoke up. "Conner barely made it in time. He had me and his mother scared to death".
"Why would someone do this?" Cassie spoke up, looking around. "Think about it. All the innocent children. They'll never get a chance to grow up. Think about all the people who didn't have enough money to put in a safety shelter! It's just-" her voice broke and she started to cry. Jake walked over to her, and held her.
Suddenly, We were back in what was becoming to be known amongst us as the 'whiteness'.
THAT WAS TWO YEARS BEFORE THE DATE I WILL NOW SET YOU AT explained the Ellimist.
A WEEK AFTER THIS DATE, PLANS FOR A SPACE BATTLE STATION WENT IN PLACE. RACHEL AND TOBIAS WERE PUT IN CHARGE OF IT. AFTER IT'S COMPLETION A YEAR LATER, THEY MOVED IN AND REINED AS THE EMPORER AND EMPORESS, MEANWHILE, RACHEL BECAME THE WAR QUEEN. FAITH WAS THEREFORE NAMED THE WAR PRINCESS AFTERWARDS. HOWEVER, THE BOMBINGS EMOTIONALLY SCARED HER, AND SINCE THEN, HER MORALS HAVE BEEN INCREDIBLY DIFFERENT.
Then a picture flashed briefly before us, almost like it was on a movie screen. A picture of Faith, but she was looking quite different. Her perfectly styled hair had not been cut in ages. It was tied neatly up into a tight double bun. She was kicking and punching the crap out of this kicking bag. Her cloths were very basic and sporty, and very black.
Then the screen disappeared. The Ellimist spoke again. MARCO MOVED UP THERE WITH HIS FAMILY, INCLUDING HIS NEW BABY DAUGHTER PANDORA KARA, AND WORKED AS A MILITARY SCIENTIST, RUNNING TESTS ON ALIEN SPECIES CAPTURED OR KILLED IN BATTLE TO HELP THEM LEARN MORE ABOUT THEIR ENEMIES. HE HAS ALSO IMPROVED THE TECHNOLOGY GREATLY.
Another picture came up on the screen projection. Of Marco, looking very serious in a white coat. His wife working right beside him.
That picture disappeared as well.
CASSIE AND JAKE MOVED AWAY FROM THE CITY IN WHICH THEIR LIVES WERE BASED, AND JAKE BECAME PRESIDENT OF THE SUPER NOVA-THE UNITY OF ALL THE COUNRIES IN THE WORLD. EACH OF YOU REMAINED IN CLOSE CONTACT OF EACH OTHER.
We then got a picture of Jake in a tux standing on a pedestal in front of tons of people.
THE CHILDREN HAVE EACH BEEN STRONGLY AFFECTED IN THERE OWN WAY. SOON, FORCES MADE IT UNSAFE FOR JAKE AND CASSIE TO LIVE THEIR, SO THEY TOO, MOVED UP AND JOINED IN THE INTERGALACTIC WARS. THEY TOO FORMED A SPECIAL BOND. ZO DUKE IS CONSIDERED THE LEADER, AND AYANNA CONSIDERED LIKE HER MOTHER. FAITH AND CONNER QUINLAN (OR WISE AND VERY STRONG) TOOK DIFFERENT POSISTIONS, LIKE NO OTHERS HAD BEEN IN YOUR GROUP. FAITH BECAME VERY STRONG, AND WAS NOT QUICK TO SHOW HER EMOTIONS. SHE CAN NOT BE SAID TO BE LIKE RACHEL BECAUSE SHE WILL NOT LET HER EMOTIONS SHOW THROUGH-NOT EVEN ANGER. CONNER IS MOST LIKE HIS FATHER, IF ANYONE, BUT AFTER THE DEATH OF HIS BROTHER, HE BECAME VERY MUCH LIKE FAITH. THEY BECAME QUITE CLOSE.
The Ellimist paused.
THIS IS WHERE MY HELP TO YOU HAS ENDED. FROM NOW ON, YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN. I WILL SET YOU NOW, TWO YEARS LATER, IN THE AREAS I HAVE JUST DESCRIBED. YOU MAY BE TRANSPORTED TO DIFFERENT PLACES AT MY WHIM. I WISH YOU BEST OF LUCK.
And with that…he was gone.
Within a few more seconds, we weren't standing in the whiteness.
Chapter 4: Marco
We were standing in the middle of the biggest metal room you could ever imagine. It was about the size of 50 football fields, and had several different levels with balconies that went all around. Shuttles, and bug fighters zoomed in and out of it above us. People were on ground, walking to their fighters, running to the other side as if they were in a rush, talking to other people. They were all dressed disgustingly similar. The women wore there hair in Princess Lei style hair do's. They had solid black tank tops on, dog tags, and black spandex-like sports pants with 3 gray strips running down the sides of the pants and the shirt. The men had very short hair cuts, with black muscle tee's, and more relaxed fit pants, but still had the gray strips running down them. I also noticed, on everyone's arm, there was a tattoo. It was all the same symbol. It was a single circle with this zig zag, almost Chinese looking symbol in many different colors in the middle. Welcome to clone world.
"Where should we go from here?" Cassie asked.
I shrugged. "Like I know. We've already drawn attention to ourselves."
Jake gave me a sideward look. "Like how?" he asked me.
"We're the only ones that are dressed in something different" I pointed out."
Jake didn't get a chance to respond. A very tall, strong man came up to us. This man seriously looked like a gorilla. I mean, we're not talking "6 pack, strong looking arms, I occasionally go to the gym" It was more like "8 pack with arms that could make a groan man shake at the sight of them" This was unreal, I had never seen ANY man as strong as this.
"Are you Tobias, Rachel, Jake, Marco, and Cassie" he asked in a non-suprisngly gruff voice.
We all nodded weakly. "come with me," he said, flicking his finger, and walking towards the door. We all looked at each other, then, reluctantly, started to follow him.
He led us out of the big metal room and into a small elevator type thing. We rose up really quickly, then stopped. We stood at the opening of a long, white hallway. We walked past a couple of doors, and stopped at the end. A security guard was standing there. He gave us a slight nod, and let us in the door.
It was a good size room. Not nearly as big as the place where we were first placed at, but a good size room compared to the standards I once knew. These big, heavy machines and what looked like sat. phones where everywhere. Each station had two people sitting at it.
"Sir" The guard said bowing. "are these the children that you sent for?" Another face came into view. It was Jake's.
"Yes, dismissed" Jake said. The man nodded, and exited the room.
Older Jake motioned us to follow him. We walked back down the long hallway. The first door on the left automatically opened. Tobias was in there talking to Faith on a video phone.
"We're trying to annihilate the base," she said, her eyes really cool, like her father was annoying her.
"No" he corrected her. "You are NOT under ANY circumstances to TOUCH that base!" He glanced at a radar screen. "There are no other fighters within three hundred miles. I'm not sending you in there alone,"
"I have Conner and Zo to back me up!" she protested.
"Faith-" he started.
"Commander of War Faith" she snapped.
He narrowed his eyes. "I do not want you anywhere near that base. You and I both know that you have the fastest fighter. If you go in, and call for backup, you'd already be firing at the base by the time they got there boosters warm-"
"This is our only chance to do this, Conner, Zo and I can take this thing down!"
"You will not do that, do you hear me? That is an order from your Commander!"
She stared at him for a second. "Screw you," she snapped. "This is down to us. If the rest of your stupid crew decides to take their time, that's their problem. I'm not about to let this base get off without me at least burning it up a little bit,"
"Now-" Tobias started to say. But the screen went blank. "Communication path has been lost" a mechanical voice said. Tobias banged his desk, then hit a button.
"Rachel, your daughter-"
A door burst open. Rachel walked in with her normal Rachel saunter. "How come she's my daughter when she does something wrong?" she teased.
"Is going to try with Zo, and Conner to take down the Avertik's base."
She looked at him like she was crazy. "But that's suicide."
"Zo would never do that" Jake spoke up.
"But Faith sure would. And you know Conner isn't going to let Faith go down there without him to watch her back.
Then, I walked in. Well, not me me but…the future version of myself. "And if Conner goes in, you know Zo's not gonna let Conner go in by himself.
Rachel hit the wall. "This is ridiculous" she said. "This is the 5th time she's disobeyed our orders! And the fact that she's dragging Zo and Conner into this!"
The future me laughed. "She didn't drag anyone into this. Conner's thinking with his heart more then he is his head. You," he said glancing at Tobias and Rachel. "Of all people, cannot criticize anyone for that" Rachel looked like she was about to say something, but closed her mouth.
Just then, they had another call come in. It was Ayanna. "Commander, Faith, Zo, and Conner have succeeded in blowing up the left side of the base. Faith's long distance port isn't working, so she paged me and told me to tell you. They will now be returning home."
Rachel nodded her head. The screen went off. Jake hit a button on Tobias's desk.
"Main Control" he said into a com. "When the fighters E-42, R-13, and FF-1 return to the outer deck, I want to be notified immediately."
"I'm sorry for the interruptions," Older Rachel said. "I mean, it's not everyday you get to talk with your past selves. But, we have a matter of importance right now."
"Commander, we have the fighters you wanted notification of scheduled to arrive at the main deck in five minutes. They are at the outer deck now."
"Thanks" he said. They all looked at each other, and then took off.
There was something about all of us. I couldn't put my finger on it. It was the way we sauntered down the hall I guess. Like, we had this chip in our shoulder or something.
Anyway, in approximently five minutes we arrived at the inner deck. I saw three fighters zoom in. All of the people in the inner deck raced over and took position in two lines. The stair cased opined on each of them, and out stepped Faith, Zo, and Conner.
Conner looked almost identical to me, only his skin was a tiny bit lighter, and he was a lot taller then me. Also, his hair cut was different.
The people standing in two rows held up a salute as they sauntered down. Faith took off her helmet, and took down her hair out of it's "Leia" wannabe style. It flowed down to about mid thighs. It was surpassingly dark considering her blond parents. There's a joke in that somewhere.
The future us didn't look quite as happy as the others did. Tobias and Rachel went down the line rather quickly, and each grabbed one of Faith's arms, then pulled her. She looked at me when she passed by as if saying "I've done it now" Jake and the future me just looked at our son's as if to say "You are so dead right now, it's not even funny"
The future us dragged their kids into the same office we had been in before. All three of them sat down, and stared at their parents.
"How-" Tobias started to yell, then put his hand on his head as if he had a headache. "What on Earth possessed you to do that?"
"Dad! We got out alive! The way I see it-"
"Oh!" Rachel interrupted her. "Let me guess, you did us a favor. Oh see, now it's different Tobias, she did us a favor by nearly getting herself, Zo, and Conner KILLED," she said sarcastically.
"and YOU!" The future me started up on my son. "Would you for ONE second contemplate NOT getting yourself killed?"
"It's not his fault!" Faith of course.
"You would say that!" Rachel snapped at her.
"Shut up!" Faith said suddenly, jumping up. "you think you know everything! What did you do when you were my age? Huh? Morph into some animal to go off and fight the slugs? Jeez! I'm 15, FIFTEEN Goddamn years old! Everyday, I blow up bases, train for HOURS with my master, fight WARS that NO child should be fighting, and yet I GET YELLED AT!! Why the hell did you even bother to HAVE kids if you didn't want them?"
Rachel looked like she had been slapped in the face. Then her expression turned angry. "Listen to me!" she snapped. "When I started fighting, I didn't quite get the LUXARY of training. I was a kid, and that one night, that one Friday night in that damn construction site, I became an adult. I had to grow up way to fast-"
"You had me when you were 17!" Faith snapped. "You could have controlled that!" Faith looked like she was ready to hurt someone, she got up, and just walked out.
"Faith?" Conner called after her, then got up, and walked out.
Rachel sat down hard at Tobias's desk. She looked at Jake who had been talking quietly to his son all this time. He caught the look she was giving him, and sent Zo out as well.
"I don't know what to do," Rachel sighed, leaning up against one arm and putting her head on her hand. "Everything I've ever done, she throws it back up in my face,"
"Rach," Tobias said, kneeling down so he was face to face with her. "You are not a bad person. She's just a teenager…a teenager who's been in more wars then most older warriors. She'll grow out of it"
"It's in Conner too" the future me spoke up. "He just has this temper lately. With everything! Not even Callia can seem to take him out of his temper."
"But Faith can, can't she?" Jake asked me. The future me stared at him sideways.
"Yeah, now that I think about it, she's the only one I've never seen him snap at,"
"Faith's like that to Conner too" Tobias said. Jake nodded.
"Rachel, you were the EXACT same way, Well, almost. Tobias was the only one that could calm you down."
"And he still didn't do that good of a job," the future me mumbled under my breath. Rachel raised her eyebrows at me. I ignored her.
Chapter 5: Faith
I was extremely mad.
Here I was, putting my ass on the line every day, and only getting yelled at! She had no right!
I guess deep down I felt bad for what I had said to my mom. I mean, don't get my wrong, she was the best mom I could ever ask for. She had always been really honest with me. Like, she had always told me about her visits to the future and everything. I knew my parents from the past were coming today. I probably didn't make the best impression on them, but oh well.
I was born a ditz. I know, it sounds degrading, but two years ago, the only thing I could process in my mind was shopping, Conner, and trying NOT to wreck the cars. That bombing…I can't bother to think about it.
I don't know how I changed. Maybe my mom was right after all. Maybe my name did decide what I should become. To Trust, and great warrior. It wasn't a bad thing to be remembered by.
I stopped walking along the balcony that opened into the main gate and stared at the fighters coming in. I felt hands slip around my waist, and someone laid their head on my shoulder. I breathed deeply. Conner.
"You ok?" he asked me. I smiled.
"I wasn't ok to begin with," I said. He laughed.
"Join the club," he said.
"She just-" I started. Then I stopped. It wasn't my mother I was mad at. It was the universe.
"I know" Conner said softly. He had read my mind. I turned around so I could look him in the eye.
"you are the only one that understands me," I said. He smiled.
"Well, that and I'm the only one that could put up with you," he teased. I laughed, and hugged him. It just felt so right, you know?
Suddenly, my pager beeped. I checked it. "Oh! I'm sorry! I have my training appointment now! I forgot all about it!" I said in a rush, and started to take off.
He grabbed my arm, twirled me around kissed me, then let me go. "It's ok" he said, smiling. I laughed, and took off running down the halls to the nearest elevator.
Five minutes later, I arrived at my master's room.
Master Koen was a elder Japanese man who had spent his whole life learning different forms of self-defense. He was nothing less then an artist.
"Ahhh, my dear Elita" he said as I entered. He always called me Elita. I had no idea what it meant. He never told me.
"Master" I said bowing. This man was like a father to me. I loved him dearly.
"We shall warm up," he said, handing me a stick for sparring. I smiled.
Chapter 6: Rachel
After the future me was calm once more, they went back to work. It was amazing at the technology in that space center. And the view! My Gosh!!!
Suddenly, a voice rang out among the hard workers.
"Dear God! The Arachnids! They've sent a…what IS that thing?
Cassie appeared. "I've ran the bio-scans on it already. It's DS345. That thing can dent the earth almost like an asteroid would do, but has a high pressure chamber in the center, so that whatever's inside will live. We need to activate the force protection field before it gets in Earth's atmosphere. That would be the Armageddon."
With that the future me, Rachel went over and pounded a piece of glass covering a button really hard, and pressed it. Tobias, Jake, Marco, and Cassie, each located a button and did the same thing. Suddenly, a clear, mechanical voice rang out.
"Evacuate Immediately. All fighters to their battle stations and fly off to the fifth preset location and await farther instruction. The rest of the fighters, to the evacuation pods."
"come on!" The older Jake motioned to us. "I promise, we'll get a chance to talk!"
All of us, from both the past and future, raced down the long hallways. There, we were met up with the rest of our children. All except Faith.
We reached the main inner deck. People were running to their fighters, and attempting to load up in these big ships. Then I saw Faith. She was helping an old man get into a big ship. The future me must have saw her too.
"Faith!" she screamed. "C'mon!"
Faith made sure he got on safe, then ran over to the ship we were being loaded up too. The older me seemed to stare at her for a second. "We can't fly this war-ship without you." Faith smiled at her, then pecked her on the cheek, and ran up into the chamber. We all loaded up after her.
There was a huge big window in the front of this enormous ship. In front of it, set four chairs that sat in front of the controls. In the middle, were 10 other seats. The future us took seats in the middle. We sat behind them in the back row.
Ayanna, Conner, Zo, and Faith sat down in the four main seats. Faith, who was seated in the middle seat next to Conner flipped a switch, and spoke into the computer.
"computer," she said. "You will respond only to these following four voices. Voice one:" she said.
"Ayanna" Ayanna said out loud.
"Voice Two:" Faith said.
"Zo" Zo said.
"Voice three:" Faith continued
"Conner" came the reply.
"Voice four: Faith" Faith ended.
"Voices affirmed" came the computers reply.
"Computer, prepare us for departure," Zo said out loud, busying himself with buttons.
"Departing" came the reply.
The ship suddenly picked up, and speed backwards.
"Control ship" Faith asked into a intercom like thing.
"This is the control ship" came a reply.
"Alert me when the station has been evacuated" Faith ordered.
"As you wish, your highness" came the reply. Faith rolled her eyes.
"What are we supposed to do?" I whispered to Cassie, who was seated next to me. The future me must have over heard me.
"We wait, and let the more experienced ones do the flying" she said, smiling. "We were too old when the station was founded to learn how to fly the ships. Faith, wasn't."
I nodded, but still unsure of my "daughter's" flying skills. I had already heard about her driving.
"This is control ship. I repeat, control ship to her empress. The station has been evacuated"
"Thank you captain" Faith replied. Then she switched more switches.
"Why do they have to evacuate?" asked Marco. His version of the future self turned to him.
"We still have very limited technology. To put up the protection shield that will help stall the asteroid, we have to deactivate our main chargers, which means, the cooling doesn't work. Our blood would all boil."
"oh" Marco said, like that was something he really didn't need to know.
"Computer, connect to the main computer in the Space station" Ayanna rattled off.
"Connecting in 4.3 seconds" the computer said again.
Faith breathed deeply, and continued flipping switches. "Zo," she mummered, "when the computer connects, I want you to tell it to activate the protection shield immediately."
"Do you want me to run the virus detection first?" he asked her.
"No time" Ayanna replied. "You run those, there's no way your going to have enough time, or energy for that matter to get the shield up.
"Ok," Zo said, and started typing furiously.
"Activation shield up" the computer rang out.
Faith sighed. "Ok," she said to herself. "Computer, connect me to all the fighters at the rendezvous point"
"Connecting" Several beeping sounds followed after that. "You are now connected,"
"Attention fighters. I want sectors a and d to stay up in the air. We have that thing stopped. I want the elite section to follow me at my command down and land on that thing. I want the whole area surveyed. Kill anything that looks suspicious. If it attacks you in a cave, do not use shredders. That will cause a cave in." Then she turned to stare at us. "Just give me the word," was all she said. Jake nodded.
"Ayanna, when your dad gives the word, I want you to broadcast it. Zo, scans on the planet to see what you can find on that thing. Conner, I want you to fly this thing. I'm looking up arachnids." With that, she got up, and went to this panel in the middle, right in front of where we were sitting. She typed in a few buttons, and there popped up a 3d image of this ugly, looking, almost like a spider.
"Arachnids" spat out the computer. "Living off the planet Fabian, they feed off the internal organs of humans and other creatures."
"That would make sense" the future Cassie spoke up. "If they sent the meteor thing to knock out earth, they would view the bodies as an all you can eat sort of thing."
"But why wait until we're dead? Why don't they just land there and knock us all out?" the future Rachel asked.
"Simple" the future Marco said. "Earth is not totally unarmed. Besides, if people were alive, they would be able to hide. Arachnids may be strong, but they do not have an eye for detail."
The image went away. "Now" the future Jake said.
"All Elite, prepare to disembark after our ship" Ayanna rang out clearly. Conner shifted the controls a little bit.
"go that scan yet, Zo?" Faith asked, taking her seat again, and messing with a few controls.
"It's picking up no immediate reading" he said. "But the surface of that thing is made of some unknown substance to the computer. It's picking up a lot of creators and holes and such, so something could be in that hole that we don't know about.
"Like arachnids" Ayanna said quietly, staring at the window. The "ship" was approaching us.
"Everyone, please note that there will most probably be arachnids on that ship. It's entered our force field. I have my voice-com with me. When I give word, I want a and c to go down on the planet and attempt to blow the main crater up. If we can get that down, they can't swarm us, and it should be easier to kill them as they come out. Follow my lead" and with that, she clicked the com off.
For a minute there was perfect silence. Then the future Jake spoke. "We all know how this is going to end. You guys" he said, motioning to us. "We were you one time. I remember sitting in that seat, staring at myself. Now it's the other way around. I know what's going to happen. I know what has to happen. You guys have to come with us"
That was a little suprising. We hadn't expected that.
"We can't risk an arachnid attacking the ship with now one to guard you," the future us explained. "We will give you each a weapon, but do not use it unless you are about to be the victim. Do you understand?"
We all nodded. "good, then let's go" With that, Faith, Ayanna, Conner, and Zo all got up, fitted these helmets on their head, then grabbed a blaster of some sort. They left.
Our futures selves stood up, and motioned us to do the same. They equipped us with a helmet, and a mini gun each. They, then put on theirs. "Be careful" we were warned about a zillion times. Then, we too left the ship.
Chapter 7: Future Rachel
I remembered being in the other position. Not trusting Faith's driving, not being sure what was going on. Being angry for not being able to control the situation. We were all in awe, I guess. It's a horrible feeling….not being able to control the situation.
But now, I was on the other side. You see…I knew how all this was going to turn out. I knew. And I didn't like it…one bit.
We got on the planet surface to see Faith and her friends yelling out orders on where to take groups. She had a natural strength in combat. To see her fight is breathtaking. She's so quick. She makes it into an art, almost.
We were the main group. We had coms on every one of the groups there. We were consisted of the older animorphs, the younger animorphs, and our children.
Zo took us out in front. When it comes to battle situations, he's always out in front. He's the one that can think clearest when he's in a life or death situation.
I guess, I should probably explain to you know that we had not known about the yeerks still surviving. We had known they left Earth, and had not bothered any creatures since then. We figured, they went back to their home planet, and created a race to infest…like the iskoort. We were wrong. They had taken over the Arachnids.
It was a great choice. Arachnids are fast, strong, and have these little intense stick things sticking up front there mouth, and two from just above each eye. They can impel you, snap you in two, anything that you can picture.
The yeerks had predicted our move. They were waiting for us.
We turned a sharp corner, There were arachnids.
"Oh shit," hissed Faith. Then into her com, she screamed, "EVERYONE! GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE NOW!!! THEY'VE PREDICTED OUR MOVE!" The rest was total blood shed.
I can't give you all the specific details of the fight. All I remember is how many died that day. We finally got all the troops evacuated. Jake fired his shredder at the roof, which cause rocks to fall. He was of course, half way out of the tunnel.
The rocks fell. It blocked the passage way for the arachnids to get out. It also caused another set of rocks to fall in. They landed on Tobias.
"Tobias!" I screamed, and dug at the rocks to try to get him out. Faith rushed over and joined me. I cleared most of the rocks away. He was still conscious.
"C'mon, Tobias," I whispered. He rubbed the back of his head. It came back bloody.
"No, Rach," he said softly. "I'm gonna die."
"No, your not!" I said over and over. "C'mon, get up! We've got to get out of here.
"Rach," he said. "There's still a big rock on my leg. I can't move.
"Rachel, C'mon!" Jake yelled. "The whole caves about to come in!"
"No!" I screamed at him.
"Rach," he pleaded. But then he looked into my eyes. For a split second, he realized what I was talking about. He knew that he would want me to do the same thing for him.
He walked over, and hugged me goodbye. Cassie did the same thing. She was crying.
"what are you doing?" shrieked Faith. I admit now I was being selfish. She grabbed my arm hard. "Mom! C'mon! I'm losing dad! I don't want to lose you too!" I smiled at her, leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. Then, I drew back my fist.
She went down easy. Conner walked over, and lifted her up. "Take good care of her, Con," I said to him. "She loves you," He smiled at me, then turned, and ran out of the tunnel, following the rest of the crew.
I lied down beside Tobias. He turned his head to me, tears in his eyes. "I wish you didn't do that," he whispered to me.
"Shhh…." I said, closing my eyes, and laying my head against his chest. I heard a big bang.
The rocks fell in.
Chapter 8: Faith
I awoke the second we were out in space. It took me awhile to remember what happened. But when I did, I sat up straight.
"Mom?" I asked, panicked. No one met my eye site. "no," I whispered, tears coming to my eyes.
I jumped up, and ran to the window. The outer, earthy covering of the asteroid ship dropped off. The inside of the ship zoomed out of site at hyper-speed.
I fell to the ground, and started throwing up. My world was spinning. Soon, it disappeared completely.
I cannot give you an accurate account of the next following week. I shut myself in my chamber, refusing to eat, refusing to sleep, just staring at my wall. All I can tell you is that they allowed us to go back to the station. But I didn't care. My family was gone. I hated this war.
A week later, I was mad. I got up, showered, brushed out my looooong hair, tied it up into a double bun, and dressed in my normal station costume, I walked down to Uncle Jake's office. He was inside with everyone else, Conner, Zo, Ayanna, and the past thems. I refused to look at Rachel and Tobias.
"I'm ready to take my place" I said.
Uncle Jake looked confused. "your what?" he said.
"My place," I said matter of factly. "My parents were the Emperor and empress of this battle station. They died, so now, that makes me the next reining Empress."
He looked like he was going to argue, but another voice rang through the room.
"Silly Elita!" Came the oh so familiar tone of Master Koen.
"Master Koen!" I asked, surprised. "what are you doing here,"
"You are not the empress!" he said matter of factly.
"I don't understand," I asked, confused.
"Your parents are not dead,"