A New Savior
Chapter 1: A Faint Hope
A.N. Hey everyone thanks for clicking on my story and I just wanted to say that this is going to be an AU world. There will be some cannon but not much. I would really appreciate it if you would all leave me a review to let me know what you think. I accept everything from anonymous to constructive critisim. Finally I do not own MLAATR.
It was a quite night in Tremorton, but in a little while the town would get a rude awakening that would change the small town forever. Across the street from the home of Dr. Noreen "Nora" Wakeman a figure in a trench coat and hat cast feverish glances all around the area. Slowly the figure made its way to the front door darting into a hiding spot at every little noise that it heard. Once it reached the door it drew out a lock pick and in five seconds was on the other side of the door and relocking it. Just as the figure began to turn around a voice called out, "freeze!"
Out of the corner of its eye the intruder saw a scene that would have been funny if it wasn't happening to it right now. Nora Wakeman was a small woman and the mini-cannon she was holding was taller than her. However, what many people didn't seem to realize that her years with Skyway Patrol and having to work alone with dangerous machines had given her the athletic ability that rivaled that of an Olympic athlete. Raising its hands slowly the intruder croaked out, "please I come in peace allow me to remove my things and I will show you that I mean no harm." Dr. Wakeman gave a jerk with the mini-cannon and the intruder dropped its outfit.
With a startled gasp Nora dropped the mini-cannon and crushed her, heavily damaged, little girl to her. "Oh, Jenny what happened to you?" XJ-9, aka Jenny, squirmed in her mother's grip before she spoke.
"Can we talk while you patch me up, there isn't much time and there is a lot you need to hear?" Dr. Wakeman nodded and pulled her daughter to the lab and had her lay down while she began some simple repairs. As she worked Jenny told her all about the Pip Crystals, Smytus, the Crust cousins, Brit and Tiff, and the fight she had obviously lost. "… and if it wasn't for that Skyway Patrol cruiser that was flying past I never would have made it back. It was amazing they just came in guns a blazing and managed to stall the Crust cousins long enough for me to escape, but Brit and Tiff were winning when I left."
"Hmm, small favors," Dr. Wakeman muttered as she worked. "I left Skyway Patrol because it became one giant bureaucracy instead of remaining the protectors they were meant to be. Fortunately though shortly before I left by a stroke of luck we were approached by a coalition of planets that wanted to hold a summit. The summit took place on earth and among the things that were discussed were the Pip Crystals and how they were too dangerous to ever be used. So I assume that when the Skyway Patrol saw them they alerted command and actually attempted their job of protecting the planet."
"That's something I don't understand mom, just how are the Pip Crystals so powerful?" Instead of answering her daughter she motioned for XJ-9 to follow her. Hopping off the table Jenny noticed that the repairs would keep her from falling apart, but no more. Looking back up Jenny had to run to catch up to her mother who was just entering the garage. As Jenny entered she watched her mother remove the garage door opener panel and behind it was a keypad that was just the start of the most complicated security system that Jenny had ever seen. Once it was done a section of the wall slid open and her mother entered the elevator that was sitting there and motioned her daughter to join her.
As soon as the doors closed Noreen turned to her daughter and spoke as if she had just been asked the question. "The Pip Crystals are the one of the most powerful artifacts in existence because they contain the energy of a sun. They were named after their discovery, a girl named Piper who was fascinated by crystals. Piper discovered the first and only crystal star, which is simply a crystal sphere that surrounds the core of a star. Truth be told no one, not even Piper, knows how it happened. Of course that did not stop her as she harvested some of the crystals to run test on them. Once she was done she concluded that they were too dangerous to ever be used so she hid them away."
Just then the elevator came to a stop and the door opened to reveal a hanger that contained a modified Skyway Patrol cruiser. It was smaller and sleeker that its sister ships and had a large cannon stretching from nose to tail along the bottom of the craft. "Wow," was Jenny's only comment at the ship while her mother simply nodded.
"Wow, indeed dear as this ship is the only one of its kind. May I present, The Final Hope, the messenger cruiser of Skyway Patrol."
"Messenger cruiser? But, what about that cannon attached to the belly." XJ-9 said waving her hand at the most noticeable feature of the ship. Her mother chuckled and her reply was filled with understanding.
"Yes, it does look intimidating. However, that is not a cannon but a magnetic rail system which is designed to launch the ships black box in case the ship is destroyed. This ship is designed to be the last line of defense for earth by sending this ship into space and charging the cannon while trying to get to a friendly planet. If the ship makes it then hopefully the crew can obtain aid for earth in its hour of need and failing the ship making it the black box will be sent out with a message requesting help."
"You want me to fly this thing and hopefully return to earth with aid." Jenny said figuring why her mother had brought her down here. Her mother's smile and nod was all the confirmation that she needed.
"Yes, but, there is more to it than just that, otherwise I would be going with you as well." Dr. Wakeman held up her hand as her daughter began to protest. "Hear me out dear before you object to strenuously. In order to help you reach space and have the cannon charged by then we will need to divert power from several systems. First I'll turn off the gravity, life support, and defense systems. Then we will reduce the power to the shields, hopefully with that energy you'll be able to push the engines hard and the charge on the cannon will be a bit quicker as well."
"Mom, I'm no diplomat I'm a warrior, who will protect earth from the Crust cousins if I go?"
"I'll be in contact with Skyway Patrol and together we will provide you with enough cover to hopefully get away. I also will need to set the timer to the self-destruct I don't want Britt and Tiff to get their hands on my lab." Patting her daughter on the cheek she added, "of course I have to desire to sacrifice myself needlessly. I'll leave myself with enough time to get away and hopefully continue to resist them for as long as I can."
"Mom…"
"Not now dear I need you to be strong and get into that ship and prepare to download your memory of these events into the black box and be ready to launch. We will charge the ship for five minutes, but no more since once the charge begins to build up it will be easy to detect. Now to use your words 'there isn't much time' so get going and I want you to know that no matter what happens I am proud of you and I will always love you." With that she crushed her daughter to her who returned the hug as best as she could.
"I can't breathe mom," Jenny teased.
"You don't breathe honey," Noreen replied jokingly the simple joke said more than either of them could say right now. "I hope to see you again one day dear."
"I'll do my best mom, now to I better get going and I love you too." Jenny said placing a kiss on her mother's head and raced into the ship. Wiping away her tears Nora Wakeman rushed to her command center and began the remote startup of the ship and the timer for the self-destruct. Finally she turned and pressed a dusty button on the control panel and the main screen lit up to reveal Commander Ace of Skyway Patrol at his desk. He appeared startled when he saw Nora's face, but his surprise fell into a grave mask.
"It's true that Nora, the Pip Crystals are on earth and are being used against us." The commander may appear cynical, but after all that he had seen he had learned to hide his emotions well.
"Yes, I'm afraid it's true. Were there any survivors?"
"It went down with all hands."
"My condolences, I assume that you sent out the appropriate calls."
"Yes, I assume you have a plan."
"I do, my daughter is prepping, The Final Hope, now. She'll be taking the ship and hopefully making it to those robotic experts from the summit."
"Good, she's the best choice for this assignment and I'm glad to hear that my men's independent mission was a success."
"Commander Ace?"
"Call me Ace Nora, if it weren't for you this hyped up solider boy would never have passed the written exam. As to your question, well my men may not be found of your daughter, but she is the best at protecting this world and against the Pip Crystals we need the best."
"My thanks to your men for saving my daughter Ace, despite our differences in the field."
"You're welcome Nora, now I assume we'll be using the mission plan we designed all those years ago to stall the Crust cousins so that your daughter has a chance to get away."
"The stage has been set, the audience gathered, and the curtain rises we will simply have to try our best and improv when necessary, Dr. Wakeman out."
"We'll give them the best damn show they've ever seen, Commander Ace out." With that Commander Ace turned and began issuing orders that all ships were to be prepped and moving to protect the designated accesses corridor and all this was to be set up last week. While Nora informed her daughter that she was good to go and with the system at a forty-two percent charge they launched the ship and flew past the Britt and Tiff who had been heading in the direction of the energy spikes. Turning they gave chase knowing that XJ-9 was one board and that their revenge was at hand.
Jenny's fist clenched the controls hating the fact that she was being chased and that there was nothing that she could do about it. Forcing her eyes back to the front she watched in amazement as hundreds of Skyway Patrol cruisers large and small were forming a corridor from the lower atmosphere to the upper. She darted into the circular entrance, immediately followed by Britt and Tiff who were fired upon by the cruisers. The two Crust cousins were badly hit, but the Pip Crystals weren't among the most feared artifacts in the universe for nothing and the twosome gave as much as they received.
Jenny watched sadly as another cruiser was destroyed in a ball of fire and plummeted towards a small group of mountains that had been picked out long ago by Skyway Patrol as a designated battle area in order to prevent anyone from being hurt by falling derbies. XJ-9 was grateful for the backup, but it wasn't going to be enough. Years of relative peace and bureaucracy had turned many of the cruisers into relics and their captains and crews into parade soldiers. Still they were holding their own against the Pip Crystals even if they were losing.
Suddenly the three were out of the corridor and the remaining cruisers were moving to follow as quickly as they could. It was not enough and only a few of the smaller cruisers managed to follow quick enough to be effective. Finally breaking free of the atmosphere with five percent to go Jenny forced some of her own energy into the ship and the rail system was brought online. Turning her head as she punched in the coordinates that she was given she watched Brit and Tiff momentarily stop as the crystals moved quickly to cover every square inch of them before they died of exposure.
The few cruisers that were close enough took advantage of this to strike quickly and Britt and Tiff were forced to defend themselves. Reading for the jump Jenny jumped as she felt a wayward shot plow into the ships already weakened armor and grazed the ships core. Thrusting the last of her power into the rail system she felt the black box's ejection and her last coherent thought was, sorry mom I lost the ship.
All of Skyway Patrol watched in horror as, The Final Hope, was destroyed its pieces hitting the atmosphere and hurtling to the planet below. Nora Wakeman's voice crackling on the intercom broke through their paralysis. "The message is away, The Final Hope, may be gone, but the message is away. Although help may or may not come so we must do everything in our power to make a victory for the Crust cousins as hard as possible. With that a grim roar echoed throughout the remaining cruisers as they moved at best possible speed towards the two crystalline figures.
Ten years had passed since that faithful day and still no one had come. On that day Britt and Tiff had secured their rule over Tremorton. The world followed six years later and on that day Nora Wakeman, Sheldon Lee, Dr. Locus, and Dr. Phineas Mogg have been forced to create replicas of XJ-9 as security drones to guard the Crust Empire which has expanded to the moon, mars, and several small satellites. With an army and resources building up Britt and Tiff feel safe and secure. On the tenth year of the destruction of the original XJ-9 a small meteor hurtles towards earth and the Skyway Patrol graveyard.
Drawn by the noise of a meteor impact the two Jen Drones that guarded the graveyard moved to investigate and before they could react part of the meteor shot away from the body and hurtled one of the drones into a pile of scrap. A figure in black shot out and smashed a boot to the head of the other one. Smirking at the ease of it all the figure took a quick look around before digging up the two Jen Drones and dragging them to one of the cruisers that had been impaled upon the peak of the highest mountain. After the figure dropped the remains in the lab of the ship it made its way to the top of the cruiser and drew out a pair of high powered binoculars.
The figure spent all day observing the town and ignoring the sun beating down on its exposed skin and midnight blue hair. Once the sun began to set the figure headed to the command center to plan out its mission and hopefully be able to get some of the systems back online. Taking a broken piece of glass the figure observed itself making sure that her midnight blue dress was in the latest fashion of the diamond mines uniforms and that she looked just pretty enough to be a free citizen but not a threat to Empress Britt and Tiff.
Ten years ago when the message was received she was given the mission immediately. However the risks were considered to great and the past ten years had spent training and spying the wretched Crust cousins and the moment she had been waiting ten years for was finally here. Smirking she moved back to the top of the cruiser and leapt off. She glided towards the edge of the graveyard and began running towards town hoping to make it in the early morning hours and blend in once the day began. As she hurtled towards the town she smiled evilly to herself and made a silent promise to finish what XJ-9 couldn't. The new savior of earth would bring a faint hope back to the people.
