Let's Go Possible Force!
By
Ken-Zero
Disclaimer: I own nothing of any characters associated with this story, or the general backgrounds, etc. All characters and ideas are properties of their respective owners. This is a work of fun, not profit, and so on.
Also, since this is something of a reciprocal "gift," as it were, this story kick-off/chapter is dedicated to Ffordesoon, whose birthday it is today and whose challenge gave me the impetus to write this.
You're right, dude; every conceivable idea I had for this only reinforced it being the greatest idea ever (even if only proven with pseudo-science).
"Are you so sure this is a good idea, KP?"
Ronald Stoppable, recent high school graduate and primary savior of the world (for once), was characteristically nervous, and for good reason. He, like the others with him, was trussed up in his seat by what had been described to him as "crash webbing," something that did not instill a great amount of confidence. Under the webbing they wore tight-fitting suits of an unfamiliar material that reminded him a little bit of the battle suit his erstwhile girlfriend Kim Possible—seated in front of him—had worn during their last year of school. Helmets with tinted visors, each helmet possessing a different hue, were nearby, held on a rack mounted on the wall of the boxy cabin inside which they all sat. Everything else was in high contrast colors—shades of white or gray or black that made it easy to distinguish, in a pinch, where one object ended and the other began.
Kim turned from where she had been watching to give Ron a reassuring smile. "Amp down, Ron. Everything here was designed by Dad, or someone he knows at the Space Center, and the Tweebs looked at it, and I had Wade double-check everything he could before we even climbed in. I'd trust anything Dad had a hand in, and if Wade would say even he would ride it, I can guarantee you'll be just fine."
A couple of rather derisive sounds came from the actual control chairs at the front of their cabin, but Kim pointedly ignored them.
"Still," she said, "it's almost a shame he didn't want to come along. This could be where some of the biggest finds in history are." She turned to face forward again. "We're going to space!"
Three months ago
"We're going to space?"
Kim's bewildered question seemed to actually surprise her parents, her father especially.
"Well…I suppose you wouldn't have to if you didn't want to, Kimmie-cub," he said, spreading his hands in a helpless gesture, "but when we started this project, everyone that was in on it figured you'd be 'rockets are go.'"
"I…" Kim faltered. It was an exciting prospect, to be sure. "I don't not want to go, but what about everything here?"
Dr. James Timothy Possible grinned. "Aw, Kimmie-cub, the Earth'll still be here when you get back."
She rolled her eyes. "Dad, that's not what I'm worried about." She spoke in the exaggerated patience inherent to all teenagers believing that their parents are a bit less than sane at times. "I'm supposed to be going to college in like three months. And besides, doesn't space travel take, like, an eternity?"
"But see, that's why this is so exciting. We've been working day-and-night to reverse engineer and learn what we can from the captured alien technology from that invasion. We're playing fast and loose with Newtonian physics, Einsteinian time-space, even quantum mechanics and string theory! This is one of the hugest advances for physics…well, since physics!"
Kim, seeing her father get a bit carried away, rolled her eyes. "Look, Dad, it's not like I'm not flattered, but really, I'm hardly qualified. I just got out of high school, for crying out loud!"
Anne Possible, MD, spoke up for the first time. "Kimmie, dear, it's not just your father's excitement at stake here. Remember, with your help, and the help of all the others, we just beat off an alien invasion…but there's a lot of ruin left over. Your win kept people from losing hope…seeing you in a sign of progress means you've built that hope up, made it into something real they can see."
Kim frowned a bit, already seeing where her mother was going, but she didn't have a chance to reply.
"This is really what I was most afraid of when you kept doing your missions, Kimmie-cub. I was worried for your safety, of course, but I was also worried about this kind of a situation. You're a symbol, now, and so is Ronald—even Drew and his sidekick." She smiled sadly. "And symbols need to be seen to be effective."
In her parents' eyes, that had pretty much sealed the deal—despite Kim's continuing protests to the contrary. And the more Kim thought about it, the more she realized that they'd had a point. She might not like it, but it was at least mostly true. And once she'd accepted it as partly true, her father's infectious enthusiasm for the idea had bled into her own view on things, such that by the end of a week's time, she was itching to be off.
Space was, after all, largely unexplored…and exploration equaled adventure.
Present
Kim's cheerful comment earned her another group of ill-humored comments from the two manning the actual controls, but she continued to pay them no mind.
Ron, who had taken the news of a temporary reprieve from more schooling with somewhat more initial grace than Kim (more excitement, definitely; his resounding "BOO-YAH!" could be heard for several hundred yards in all directions), continued to feel nervous, though Kim's obvious confidence helped obviate the worst of it.
Their preparations for launch, however, hit a hitch when a call came in from the base to hold the process temporarily. This, predictably, did not sit well with the pilot and head technician in the front seats.
"Whaddya mean, stop the pre-flight?" an irate female voice sounded.
"Something wrong?" Kim asked, not quite succeeding at keeping a smirk from coloring her voice. On the other hand, she wasn't trying very hard.
"Watch it, Princess, or I'll 'something wrong' you," Shego snarled from her place in the pilot's chair. While she didn't turn around, Dr. Drew Theodore Lipsky, also known as Dr. Drakken, did, and his stormy frown conveyed just as much irritation as Shego's voice had.
Kim, more amused by the threat than anything, relaxed in her chair, waiting for whatever interruption to pass.
That had been, in her mind, one of the more…intriguing aspects of this whole sitch, too. Apparently her mother hadn't been lying when she said "Drew and his sidekick" were suddenly symbols. They had, after all, participated quite extensively in saving the world, even if it was Ron who'd delivered the true deus ex machina strike and ended the threat for good. As such, the UN had seen fit to hang medals, not nooses, around both Shego's and Dr. Drakken's neck for a week afterward.
Kim couldn't help but grin as she remembered the footage of the vine tendril growing from Drakken's neck, wrapping around Shego's waist and yanking her close…right in the middle of a "smile for the cameras" moment. Of course, television sets around the world had been treated to the sight of Drakken once again running for his life as Shego threatened to burn every petal off his neck. It was the greatest unintentional comedy ever; clips on ViewToob had passed a million views inside the first day of its posting. Another unintentional side effect was that somehow they'd ended up at the top of the shortlist of people for manning this expedition to the stars…but Kim had realized that, at the very least, Drakken's mad science and (occasional) bouts of brilliance, backed up by Shego's ability to keep him from serious harm, would actually do a lot to merit the pair for what could be construed as a suicide mission—or, at the very least, a waste of time.
Then, two weeks ago, Kim's father had confided to her that Drew and Shego had had their names put forward specifically because they were seen as relatively expendable; apparently—and rightly so, in Kim's mind—in spite of the honors granted for their part in saving the world, they still weren't fully trusted…and on the off chance that the mission was doomed to failure, well, the more cynical types would infer that Drakken, while certainly something of a genius, was infinitely more preferable to lose than anyone else.
It kind of made Kim wonder, though. Was her place, now, to watch over the other two, and make sure they didn't radically screw something up? Or worse—sabotage it? Still, that part of her mind was small and quiet compared to the growing excitement and eagerness with which she viewed the rest of the mission.
The parameters of their mission were relatively simple; in watching the Lorwardians leave after their defeat, presumably on a straight-line course for home, scientists had plotted their course right up until the ships vanished from their instruments, presumably into some sort of faster-than-light traveling mechanism. Given that every indication had led them to believe the Lorwardians were a race of conquerors, it stood to reason that there were other planets with other sentient life out there, somewhere. And now that humanity had been rather rudely notified of that fact, the decision was made that it was time to go knocking on the galaxy's metaphorical door. Thus the plan to backtrack that back-plotted course, stopping every so often to get their bearings and see what awaited them.
Her ruminations were cut short when the reason for the interruption appeared.
So that's why there were a couple of extra seats in here.
A nervous-looking Wade Load stood in the cabin's doorway, fiddling with the helmet in his hands. He was suited up just like the rest of them, though sweat dotted his somewhat pale forehead.
"Wade!" Ron's shout was predictable. "What are you doin' here, my man?"
"Uh…" he gulped. "Well…they said that they needed someone in case of computers, and I was their first choice, but I said I could just send something remotely, but then they said it was going to be too far, and an AI wouldn't know what I do, and…and…"
"And?" Ron prompted. Kim frowned a little, upset for Wade's sake—the poor kid looked scared half-to-death—but she was just as curious as Ron, so she refrained from speaking.
"…and my mom said it was about time for me to get out of the house…"
An effusive snort issued from the pilot chair, but that was all that came from that corner. When Kim turned to glare, she only got the back of Shego's head…but Drakken had turned around again, frowning even harder.
"Did they forget that I, Doctor Drakken," here he raised a small, gloved hand (Did he really put his gloves on outside his suit? Kim thought in wonderment.) imperiously into the air, "was hand-picked for this expedition? Surely my genius is several orders of magnitude greater than yours, meaning you can just run home to mommy."
Instantly Wade bristled, losing a good portion of his earlier nervousness. "Look, Drakken, your genius is mechanical, and mine's electronic, so there. Besides," he added slyly, "your genius only makes it nine-tenths of the way, until it fouls up somehow."
While Drakken fumed impotently, Shego interjected. "Children. If you two are done hosing down the plate in testosterone, we're trying to get ready to go, here."
Wade obediently went to the seat behind Ron, strapping himself in without further complaint. Kim noted that the exchange with Drakken had stripped almost all the sweating paleness from him. He probably didn't do it on purpose, but he fixed Wade right up. Too bad Drakken doesn't realize that he just sucks at being a bad guy…
Focused as they were on Wade, no one else noticed one last figure enter the cabin until she sat down and strapped in beside Ron.
"Yori?"
"Hai, Ron-san. It is my honor to accompany you all on your journey."
It took some effort—more than it should have, Kim told herself—to not turn and glare at the ninja girl. After all, someone had convinced Ron that his and Kim's relationship wasn't really going anywhere after graduation—case in point, the utterly mortifying day when Kim had managed to almost completely lose her memory, and even when she got it mostly back, hadn't believed that they were dating—leading to him offering to break it off before they got hurt, or some such reasoning. Kim had argued for them remaining a couple, but Ron had actually managed to out-stubborn her on it, so for the sake of their friendship she'd given in.
Regardless, it didn't seem like the kind of decision Ron would have normally reached on his own, which is why Kim remained suspicious that someone (she again carefully did not turn to glare) had suggested the idea to him in the first place.
Finally, after nearly a minute of stewing, Kim felt like she could control herself, so she turned around. "So, Yori…what brings you along?"
The lady ninja regarded Kim with a look that bordered on…apologetic? "Master Sensei mentioned that I should return to the United States after the invasion occurred, with the intent of offering assistance…and almost immediately Doctor Director asked if I would be interested in the capacity of bodyguard for Wade-san."
"Whoah," Ron said, voice awed. "I always knew he could read the future or something."
"You kids about done with the yakking back there?" Shego's voice put in. "We're back on countdown and it would be a little helpful for me to be able to hear the numbers. No more talky."
"Sure thing, scary pilot lady," Ron replied.
"Hey! Sidekick-boy! No talky." The shout was accompanied by a flaming hand pointed in his direction.
Ron eeped and tried to cover his mouth with his hands, inasmuch as the crash webbing would let him move.
With the lack of extra noise, it was easy for everyone else to listen in on the launch preparations as Shego continued down the rather extensive list. Several of the terms therein were new even to Kim, who was at least somewhat accustomed to the more science-fiction-y terms that rocket science entailed, thanks to her father. She could only imagine—and fervently hope—that Shego had the foggiest idea what any of those things even did.
Seriously—who'd ever heard of a megathruster?
Still, partially out of distrust, and partially out of the need to have more than one person familiar with the craft's controls, Kim tried to listen and understand as much as she could—even if it was as simplistic as "that bank of switches all needs to point up, and those sliders need to go forward, and that knob twists that far…"
A short time later, Shego finished off the checklist. "Finally!" she exulted, pulling the headset off and shaking her hair free. "Alright, kiddies—hang on to your lunches. This could get bumpy!"
She replaced the headset, pressed a single button, and jammed a lever full-on forward…and the craft began to shake. A dull roaring sound ramped up quickly in volume, and the vibration became more and more pronounced.
And then Kim felt her stomach try to leave by way of her feet as the vessel lurched up. Forward. Whatever direction was appropriate.
A second later the vibration died down as their land-bound tether broke away, and Shego's voice carried over the roar—having to yell to be heard at all. "Tee-plus-seven and we're picking up airspeed! Houston, we have liftoff!"
Kim couldn't help but grin fiercely at the sheer exultation that sounded in the other woman's voice. The nervousness, the anxiety, the worries and fears—all that took a distant mental backseat to the sheer excitement of taking off in a powered vehicle for places mankind had never even seen.
The spaceship picked up speed as it ascended through the thinning atmosphere, leaving behind one, two, three sonic booms as it accelerated faster than the projections had placed it traveling. Of course, Shego's eagerness to floor it had probably not been factored in to those same designs.
Outside the cockpit, the air faded from blue to purple and finally to black, and once more Shego crowed as they continued to accelerate, angling the ship's vector for the first point on their journey, not a single person on board able to fight off the infectious, idiotic grins that that cry inspired.
"Yeeeeeeeeee-haaaawww!"