It couldn't be true, this all had to be a dream. There was just no way any of this was real…Ms. Gasco…You can hear me right?…Ms. Gasco.
Staring at the massive fire cloud that covered the harvest mothership every pilot, every crew member that just saw what happened, all of them were petrified Gascogne…was gone.
Snapping herself back to reality BC looked over to Ezra "Ezra!" she barked.
"Right" Ezra gasped opening a communications line with Gasco's delivery ship "Ms. Gasco! Ms. Gasco can you hear me please respond! Ms. Gasco!"
Nothing. There was no answer, not even static.
"Damn you!" Hibiki yelled, separating from Meia and charging toward the harvest drones alone, but both Chase and Barnette cut him off.
"We're not going to win if we're so impulsive" the green haired pilot told him.
"We're pulling back and that's an order to everyone" Chase yelled grabbing hold of the Vanguard and pulling it back toward the Nirvana while all of the pilots entered into a full scale retreat.
Once everyone began retreating from the battle the Nirvana took control of itself once again, launching Bart from the helmsman portal before flying away from the battle at maximum speed.
Quickly making it back to the Nirvana's hangar the Dread pilots as well as Hibiki and Chase were still terrified of what they saw, but right now wasn't the time to be afraid, right now they needed to figure out how they were going to survive.
On the bridge Belvedere spotted a gas nebula that was expanding at a high level and it was right in front of their flight path.
Once the ship entered the nebula Aramone began getting immediate interference readings in all systems throughout the ship, making the Nirvana's sub-commander grit her teeth in frustration.
From the hangar Meia had contacted the bridge and offered her apologizes to the captain for what happened to Gascogne, but the captain dismissed them rather harshly before closing the communication screen.
Still in her Dread Meia had slammed her fist against the side of her console angrily crying that she thought she had become strong enough to not be fazed by such things.
Across the hangar Chase was still sitting inside the cockpit of Nighthawk, he hadn't even taken off the safety straps; he was just leaning back in the pilot's seat staring off into space.
"Hey Nighthawk" the cowboy said "Think we're going to get out of this one?"
Nighthawk didn't respond to its pilot, not so much as a subtle growl or anything, complete silence.
Chase scoffed weakly "It's looking that bad huh?" he asked before undoing the safety straps and climbing out "All right. Just sit tight, we'll figure something out, we've cheated death before after all".
Returning to his room the cowboy sat at the edge of his bed and placed his hat on his nightstand before resting his face in his hands. "There's got to be something we can do to get out of this, we just have to find it" he muttered to himself before brushing his hands over his hair "Just think, there's always a way out".
Inside the infirmary, all of the lights were off and Barnette was sitting at Jura's bedside as she continued resting. Seeing her friend like this and with the events that just transpired still fresh in her mind Barnette just couldn't hold back anymore. Her tears came full force as she quietly cried Jura's name.
Feeling a gentle hand under her eye Barnette opened her eyes, surprised to see Jura gently wiping the tears from both of her eyes.
"The Barnette I know" the blonde pilot began as she laid there smiling gently "Is much stronger and cuter than that".
In the men's shower room Chase stared at himself in the steam covered mirror still thinking on what happened before they fled the battle. Twice they've had to retreat from the same battle, twice they've lost to the same fleet. "There's got to be a way to fight them" he muttered "We can't just keep running we've got to fight them somehow".
After a brief minute of thinking Chase finally lost it and slammed his fist against the wall yelling "Dammit! This all started because of the peksis, how did it come to this!" Chase gasped and looked at himself in the mirror again, staring right at the scar above his right eye where he had a fragment of the peksis embedded within his skull. "The peksis…" he muttered "That's it!"
Quickly throwing his shirt on he rushed out of the shower room and back to his own to grab his hat and vest before he ran out again to find Misty.
Inside the darkened Reg Central, Hibiki had returned to the table where he and Gascogne were playing their last game of poker together.
Seeing something move at the edge of the table he leaned over to see what and saw a mushroom shaped puppet pop up and slowly wave back and forth hearing Dita's voice saying "Smile, smile".
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked the red haired pilot angrily "How the hell can you be smiling at a time like this?"
Poking her head out from the table Dita smiled shyly "Well you see. Ever since I was little, when I was all alone after the unit we were living in got shut down, everyone had such sad looks on their faces just like they do now. And whenever I would do or say anything strange everyone laughed and became happy. So I just thought that maybe I could do that now".
Looking up at Hibiki, Dita continued "I don't like seeing everyone so sad; I just want everyone to keep smiling".
Hibiki lowered his head to the side thinking on what Gascogne would've said in this situation, but his thoughts were interrupted when Barnette entered the room and demanded that Hibiki tell her why he didn't try and save Ms. Gasco.
Turning around to face her, Hibiki glared and said "What was that? You think this is my fault?"
"You should've been able to do it" Barnette said through gentle, fearful tears "You're always boasting and saying that you can do it all. So tell me why you didn't save her!"
Both Barnette and Hibiki looked like they were about to start yelling, but thankfully Chase entered the room and immediately settled both of them "There's no time to be fighting each other" he said catching they're attention "Dita, Barnette" he said looking at each of the pilots "Get everyone down here. It's time we have a tactical meeting".
Not too long after announcing he had a plan Chase alongside Hibiki and Misty were standing in the center of Reg Central in front of every pilot as well as BC who had just entered the room "What's this about?" she asked them.
"We've got a plan" Chase told her while he sat on a small crate with Misty and Hibiki standing behind him.
"Oh?" the sub commander asked him.
"Yeah that's right" Hibiki confirmed "We've figured out a way to shut down the enemy mothership".
Raising her eyebrow BC looked over to Hibiki and then to Misty, Chase and back to Hibiki scanning each of their faces "And how's that?" she asked him.
"With this" Misty said stepping forward and revealing something from behind her back.
"That's!" BC gasped seeing the capsule in Misty's hand "The capsule from Pluto?"
The blue haired girl nodded "That's right, a virus that eats up the peksis. All we have to do if insert this into the mothership's system and we can beat it".
Hibiki quickly turned to Misty and asked her "Is it ready?"
Misty nodded "Yep, all we have to do is have him eat it" she pointed at Pyoro "And we'll be all set".
Pyoro clearly didn't like the idea as he began protesting while claiming that Pyoro 2 wouldn't like being separated from him. Quickly retaking her baby from the NAVI-bot Ezra said "Her name is Kaluah".
"There's still one problem" Meia said from the side of the group "We'll have to get past all of those cube types first".
"We've already got that covered" Chase told her "Parfet's fancy new weapon will make short work of them, so everything is on the table. Let's suit up".
Hibiki threw his fist into the air "All right, let's get 'em!"
Returning to the hangar Chase immediately climbed back into Nighthawk and started making system checks making sure everything was ready. "Hah!" he laughed lightly slapping the edge of Nighthawk's controls "I told you we'd find a way out of this didn't I?" he asked the machine.
Once the pilots got the ok to take off Chase made sure he was the first one back out so he could lead the charge "All right, Barnette you know your part in this scene, show us what you got!"
"Leave it to me, I'll get them all in one shot" Barnette responded from her Dread as she flew in next to Nighthawk with Parfet's new weapon attached to the top of her fighter.
Once she was within range of the enemy Barnette unlatched the safety switch on the weapon and fired it scoring a direct hit on the center of the enemy fleet shutting down all of the cube types. "It worked perfectly Parfet" Barnette said with a thumbs up motion to her communication screen.
"All right everyone let's go!" Chase cried leading the charge through the enemy lines.
Once they broke through the enemy lines they cube types had returned to life and began their pursuit after them only to be shot down by Bart from the Nirvana. "Just leave the little ones to me and keep going" he told them firing another barrage at the enemy lines.
"There's the big guy!" Chase yelled seeing the harvest mecha reveal itself once again.
"Just ignore it and follow our lead" Meia said before combining with Hibiki and entering the hole Gascogne left for them in the side of the mothership.
Dita, Barnette and Chase followed them inside the massive ship flying a straight path to its core.
"Whoa!" Chase yelled after narrowly evading a head on collision with an oncoming enemy cube type and then avoiding crashing into the wall "This is heavy, we've got to watch where we move in here".
"Infiltration successful" Aramone announced from the bridge "They're moving toward the heart of the enemy now".
"We're almost there just another mile to go" Chase said before dodging a burst from the defensive laser inside the ship.
"I'm hit" Barnette cried from behind them as her Dread began falling behind.
"Barnette!" Chase yelled slowing down.
"Don't worry I'll catch up just keep going" she told them.
There wasn't enough room for Chase to turn around, so he had no choice, but to continue on with the rest of the pilots while Barnette slowly followed them.
"There it is!" Meia cried once they entered the core "All right I leave the rest to you two" she said separating from Hibiki so he could combine with Dita.
"Meia over here" Chase said before flying toward her and combining into the Musketeer.
Once both the Musketeer and Vandread Dita were formed Pyoro was ejected from the Vandread and swam down toward the core of the mothership while the Vandread protected him.
Chase told Hibiki and Dita "Just focus on covering Pyoro Meia and I will deal with whatever enemies come in after us".
Just as he said that a wave of cube types entered the core right behind Barnette, but the Musketeer's gatling cannon was more than enough to deal with them.
"Hurry up Pyoro!" Hibiki yelled just as a massive hole was ripped open in the side of the core room.
Seeing the harvest mecha enter the core Chase turned the Musketeer around and Meia opened a full barrage at the enemy scoring minor damage.
The harvest mecha raised its arm in an attempt to swat down the Musketeer, but thanks to Chase's reflexes they were saved when he forced the two ships to separate.
Pressing their attack on the enemy's mecha the pilots were exhausting their ammo supply while the enemy didn't seem to be showing any sign of giving up.
"Just die already!" Chase yelled after firing the last shot he had from Nighthawk's dual revolvers.
Once again the harvest mecha raised its arm aiming straight at Barnette's Dread, but thanks some last minute interference by Jura she was saved.
"Stop dragging your heels" she yelled at them "Hurry up and finish this".
"Don't strain yourself" Duelo said as he contacted her "Your painkillers will wear off soon".
"I know that" Jura said calmly "Why do you think I'm telling them you hurry".
"Jura incoming!" Chase announced before he flew right into her Dread combining into the Shogun.
The crimson eyes of the dark grey mecha flared up as it slowly reached around its side and drew its sword before making a single swing and cutting the part of the wall the enemy mecha was standing on causing it to fall to the core floor.
Once the harvest mecha began falling Pyoro screamed "That's it! Virus launched".
"Let's get the hell outta here!" Chase yelled as the virus quickly began spreading through the mothership's system.
Just as all the pilots prepared to leave the harvest mecha returned and with a single shot tore through Vandread Dita, Meia's Dread and the Shogun causing massive damage to each of the ships leaving Barnette's undamaged.
"No!" Barnette yelled seeing all of her friends get hit in a single shot.
Shaking off his pain as much as he could Chase looked down at Barnette's Dread and yelled "What are you sitting there for? Get outta here!"
Both Jura and Meia were also at Death's door, they were both bleeding just as bad as Chase was. They both looked down to Barnette and told her to leave before it was too late.
"It's ok" Dita said as Barnette cried out her refusal to leave them behind. "We won't lose" she continued "I know we'll win, we just have to because I don't want to see anyone with those sad faces ever again, we just have to win" she finished in a calm voice.
Barnette's fears were worsened as the harvest mecha began charging its main weapon for the killing blow, but just as it fired a massive light enveloped all of them taking all traces of the damaged ships with it.
"Contact with the infiltration team has been lost!" Aramone cried from the bridge.
Just as the mothership began falling apart a new machine erupted from the blinding light holding Barnette's Dread safely in its hand.
This new machine was a giant mecha its armor was a silver, white color and its joints were a pale shade of purple while its eyes were a menacing dark green.
Inside this new machine the pilots were no longer injured. Jura sat at a massive console at the lower side of the room, while Dita was sitting on Hibiki's lap in the center and Meia had her back to them while Chase was to the side of Hibiki and Dita inside some kind of glass tube with various wires wrapping around him.
"What is this?" he gasped seeing the new machine they were all in.
Seeing all of the controls in front of her Jura moaned "What is this? I can't be expected to work all of this by myself!"
"Quit whining" Chase said "It's time to win this fight".
Ahead of them the enemy mecha was preparing another attack and Jura frantically began looking around her controls completely lost at what to do.
Once the enemy fired its main weapon again, Jura freaked out slamming both of hers hands down on the controls sending several commands to Chase.
"All right!" the cowboy yelled from his glass chamber before he slammed his hands together and threw his right arm out.
The new machine mimicked Chase's movements and once it threw its right arm out formed a massive shield that blocked and deflected the enemy's attack.
"All right Hibiki" Chase said turning his head to him "You've got the controls let's end it".
Hibiki roared "Let's show them our true power!"
Chase nodded before once again slamming his hands together and this time holding his left arm out forming a crystal like sword in the hand of the new machine.
Holding the sword in attack position and with the focused power of the peksis and the power of the pilot's hearts all coursing through this new machine one swing was all that was needed to eliminate the monster standing before them.
Once the monstrous mecha was dead the pilot's steered the new machine back to the Nirvana before it returned to being separate ships and docked in the hangar.
With the battle won and every last enemy destroyed, everyone could return to a normal day which they rightfully earned.
"A super Vandread" Chase muttered from Nighthawk's cockpit "A new light".
Nighthawk's voice echoed in Chase's mind. "Yeah, you're right" he said "Even though we won, there's no way I can tell her the truth now it would kill her".
Sitting up straight Chase contacted the captain on the bridge and requested that they have a funeral service for Gascogne.
"A funeral service?" the captain asked.
"Yes captain" Chase nodded "It's only right after all. We wouldn't have won that battle if she didn't sacrifice herself to make that hole for us".
Magno closed her eyes "Very well, we'll hold one tonight".
Chase nodded "Thank you captain".
Climbing out of Nighthawk Chase returned to Reg Central and was surprised to see Barnette in a new outfit just as she contacted the bridge "I just wanted to let you know that I'll be taking over command of Reg Central from now on. So don't worry just leave it to me" she said cheerfully before signing off.
Stepping up to her Chase smiled "She'd be proud of you".
Turning around on her heels Barnette looked up to Chase and quickly hugged him tightly, apologizing for everything she had done.
"You've got nothing to be sorry for" he told her "Everyone here is behind you just like you're behind them. We won today because we stayed strong and banded together instead of falling apart".
Chase gazed right into his lover's eyes "And as long as you like I'll be right beside you through everything".
Barnette wrapped her arm around Chase's neck and pulled him down to her and kissed him thinking to herself "Thank you Chase".