Chapter 2
[Angel's Thanatos]
Quietly fuming at Buttercup's minor revolt, Blossom turned to Bubbles and said, "Let's get back to the bridge and help dad!"
Bubbles seemed distressed, but nodded. Her unease was understandable considering their situation, which had led Buttercup to take matters into her own hands. In deep space, far from home, in an outdated ship, fighting a battle in which they could not bring their special gifts to bear.
She and her sister sped the short distance back to their father, who tried desperately to manage piloting the ship by himself. The lights dimmed as their shields once again took the brunt of a shot instead of deflecting it. This time, instead of coming back on, the main lights stayed off as emergency lights kicked on. Small alarms began sounding and flashing on one of the nearby consoles.
Hoping to prevent further such stress, Blossom took up the weapons console once again, ready to give their opponents something to worry about.
"Where's Buttercup?" Professor asked, concerned about his girls above all else.
Right, Buttercup! Blossom thought. She couldn't open fire with her out there. There was no doubt in her mind that she would have remembered before she actually taking a shot, but the mere thought of discovering what harm these powerful weapons might cause them....
"She went outside!" Blossom answered, working amidst her unbearable frustration as she tried to get a visual on the opposition. Between her dad's wild navigations and the black, mirror-like surface of the enemy ship, it was hard to keep track of the situation.
"Where?" Professor asked in turn, unable to completely hide the worry in his voice.
Blossom opened her mouth, ready to say she didn't know, when she finally got her sights realigned. A green streak flashed by on her display, and she watched its course take it right through the enemy ship. "Attacking the ship!"
The streak of green weakened and quickly faded as it emerged from the other side of the craft. The enemy ship itself slowed and started wavering back and forth as if the pilot kept overcompensating for the ship's incorrect heading.
"They're shaky!" Blossom said, elated at Buttercup's success, though she knew her position as leader could only allow her to scold her sister's showmanship in the end. "Come around," she ordered her dad, wanting to bring the ship's more powerful weaponry to bear. Most of the armaments in the rear of the ship had been destroyed early in the conflict.
By the time Professor Utonium had finished maneuvering, the other ship still seemed to be reeling, plumes of vapor still shooting from the two holes Buttercup had made. For the first time, Blossom was able to land several direct hits with their antimatter projectors. The blasts shook even their own ship, to say nothing of the opposition.
Blossom paused to consider what they—what she—had just done. For the first time, she had willfully taken another life in the pursuit of justice. This ship was one of three that had conducted a brief raid on Earth, stealing valuable resources and causing both damage and terror as they went.
Still, she had prepared herself for this. The Telorian Syndicate had graciously offered them this ship to play the role of bounty hunter, though in honesty the craft was probably ready to be retired. The likelihood of simply disabling another craft with this kind of crude equipment was quite slim, a kind old veteran had warned her.
Blossom took a moment to glance at Bubbles, who stood idly nearby, feeling out of place and useless from the onset of the fight. Her eyes had begun to tear up slightly, and Blossom wondered if she wouldn't have to comfort her over the deaths they'd just caused.
"Where's Buttercup?" Bubbles asked instead, noticing Blossom's glance. "Can you see where she went?"
Blossom, already focused on her monitors, furrowed her brow in concentration. "Right through the ship. She'll probably be to the airlock any minute. You should wait and let her back in."
Bubbles was gone in a flash. Blossom smiled to herself, glad to have both comforted Bubbles and given her a way to feel useful in one swoop.
"Blossom?" Professor asked, craning his neck to look at her. "Can you scan the debris field?"
Blossom nodded, leaving her tactical station. The two of them were slowly getting used to piloting a ship with a typical minimum crew of five. With Buttercup too impatient and hard on the equipment, and Bubbles paying too little attention to detail, Blossom and Professor took care of almost everything by themselves.
"I can't say I understand all of these readouts," Blossom replied, "but it looks like some trace energy signatures are still present. I don't see any survivors."
"The energy patterns are understandable, based on Lieutenant Greevok's information."
Blossom nodded. The hull of that particular ship was made of a specialized nano-engineered substance. Apart from its strength, it had the ability to channel energy and reconfigure itself to repair minor damage. The technology was still not fully understood by the Telorian authorities, but was believed to be computationally capable as well. A sturdy, self-healing, almost intelligent structure. Of the three vessels to encounter first, Blossom thought glumly, it was just their luck it'd be this monstrosity.
At least now the hard part was over. In her mind she reviewed what came next. Soon, Buttercup would be coming up to gloat. If Professor didn't make a big fuss, Blossom would make some generic comments about teamwork, scold Buttercup for putting herself and, thus, her sisters in danger, and so on. Later on she'd get Buttercup involved in tracking down the remaining ships or something else to keep her spirits up despite the lecture. Then she'd have to arrange for some time alone with Bubbles to make sure she was holding up all right.
All told, they'd seen worse. Inwardly, she was pretty proud of how well she and her family had handled these strange new dangers.
"Nothing unusual," Blossom said. "I'm not picking up any other ships at range, either. I guess they were alone after all."
Professor nodded slowly, his eyes downcast as he, too, considered their next course. Blossom swelled up with pride inside, happy for the little ways she resembled her father. Perhaps he wasn't as quick-thinking in a crisis as she was, but he could hardly be blamed for that. He more than made up for it with his overall ingenuity, as far as she was concerned.
"What condition is the ship in?"
Blossom floated to another console before making her reply. At eleven years of age, she was tall enough she didn't need to hover to use the equipment, but sometimes a quick glide was just plain faster than walking. "Looks like we took some physical damage through the shields. We overloaded more than a few relays. We should be able to hobble along to within communication range of the syndicate outpost a few days back, but I wouldn't count on anything else." Anticipating his next question, she added, "We should be able to make a few repairs in the meanwhile, but it'll take some time to figure out how to go about doing it."
"This is pretty bad," Professor mumbled to himself absently, having joined Blossom to view the readouts. Blossom smiled at him at he scanned the displays with worry in his eyes. Without her level experience in these kinds of things, he could hardly be blamed for his fears. She and her sisters came out of hard fights all the time, but they always made it back, rested up, and moved on to the next one. If nothing else, Buttercup's display had shown that they could handle things themselves if their ship wouldn't cut it. He just needed to have a bit more faith in them.
"What about your sisters?" Professor asked, turning his attention suddenly to Blossom. "Are they still at the airlock?"
Blossom again furrowed her brow, now wondering herself what the delay could be. "Lemme check. I'll be right back."
She left the room at a brisk walk, trying to review in her mind some of the technical documents she'd read before and during their journey. After straightening her sisters out, she and Professor would have to get started on what few repairs they would be capable of.
Eventually she came to Bubbles, who sat on the floor of the airlock, her knees drawn up to her chin. The outer doors were still closed and Buttercup was nowhere in sight.
Blossom turned her gaze to the exterior of the ship, using her powerful eyes to look through the bay doors. Buttercup wasn't there, either.
"I haven't seen her yet," Bubbles said softly, staring through those same doors as she spoke. "Is she fooling around outside or something?"
Blossom's stomach dropped. Her mind flitted back to the image of the green streak spearing through the enemy ship. The streak had slowed and faded after plowing through, right? Or had she imagined that? Could Buttercup have just looped back around after coming out? That might make it look like she slowed down and grew fainter. With the dust in the nebula, if she went too far, it might look like the green had faded away completely.
Blossom sighed quietly. That must be it. Buttercup just went too far into the nebula and probably lost sight of the ship. In fact, she was probably getting nervous by now. Served her right, she thought. It'd also save her some trouble in reprimanding her later.
"She must just be lost in the nebula. Let's head to the bridge again and try to scan the area."
Bubbles offered a weary nod and stood. Blossom decided to take the time to talk to her, walking back to the bridge as slowly as she'd left it.
"You look a little down," Blossom commented casually. "Are you holding up all right?"
Bubbles shrugged. "I guess so."
"Really? You don't sound very convincing."
Bubbles was silent for a while. "I dunno. I'm just worried about Buttercup."
Blossom smiled softly. "Are you sure? I mean, don't tell her I said this, but she didn't do a half-bad job once she got out there. That one shot shook them up pretty bad."
Silence again, then, "Maybe. I just feel.... I dunno. Like something's not right."
Blossom shook her head slightly. "I'm sure there's nothing to be worried about. You'll see."