Author: Jadelyn Tate
Story: Birthright
Pairings: Piper/Eli, Claudia/Kelson, Nikki/Troy, Sky/Aimee, Tommy/Kat M.
Disclaimer: I own no one.
Summery: Second in the Heritage Trilogy. Releasing Apate was only the beginning...
A/N: So….in order to get this done, I have chosen to do this fic for NaNoWriMo. One chapter a day, with roughly 2,000 words each chapter. Let's see how I do, yeah?
"Are you sure it was a good idea to tell them about the crystals?" Troy asked quietly. He'd just followed his sister into her private office just off the bridge. Piper sat down at the desk and shrugged.
"They'll find out eventually," she told him. "Besides, it's better to be upfront and honest with them than they sneak around to try and determine what we're doing."
"True," he agreed. "But maybe you should have waited a bit?"
"Maybe but doubtful," she shrugged. "Either way, I'm not too worried. I chose them using Tyche's powers so I know they're all honest good people who won't betray us."
"You probably shouldn't have done that without their permission, Piper," Troy told her disapprovingly. She snorted.
"You worry too much," she told him with a smirk. "Besides, Zordon told me to."
"Well if Zordon told you to…" he trailed off, still looking uncertain. She rolled her eyes.
"If you can't trust our great grand-dad, can you at least trust me?" she asked and he nodded.
"Yeah, I can," he told her. "And he's not our great granddad."
"I beg to differ," she told him haughtily. He frowned. "Granddad considers him a second father therefore, he's our great granddad."
"You think oddly," he told her, shaking his head. She smirked.
"You've known me all my life and you're just now figuring this out?"
"Captain, we're here," Roland announced. Piper looked up from the data-pad she'd been reading to look at him blankly.
"Huh?" she asked before his words registered. "Oh! Right! Go into orbit around Kerova."
"Yes ma'am," Roland said, his lips twitching. Piper turned to Troy. "You'll be in control while we're on a little away mission."
"We're?" he asked curiously, not batting an eye at the fact she was about to go down to a desolate planet.
"Nikki, Eli, Ella, Claud, and Alycia," she told him. "And don't worry about the breathing thing—I have that covered."
"Are you sure, Captain?" Mera asked worriedly. "The planet is still uninhabitable—no oxygen to speak of."
"I'm sure," she told her with a grin. Everret, the weapon specialist, looked at her warily.
"Why does that grin scare me?" he whispered to Eli. Eli snorted.
"Because you're a smart man."
"I think Everett had a point," Alycia muttered, staring down at her body. She was dressed head to toe in pink, skintight outfit, an black oxygen tank strapped to her back, a black belt with various instruments and weapons, and a black collar around her neck. Once Piper gave the order, each of the teens would press a button on the side of their neck that created an invisible helmet that contorted to the shape of the wearers head so that it looked like they weren't wearing a helmet at all. The six teens were standing in the medical bay, Mera helping the others adjust their tanks.
Around her, each of the teens had the same uniform only in differing colors. Catching sight of Piper in a white and gold version of the outfit she saw Eli suddenly smirked.
"It has its perks," he murmured, eyeing her. The girls all rolled their eyes.
"I look like a bumblebee," Ella grumbled, checking her tank again. Eli snickered.
"At least you don't have to worry about getting all the white dirty," Piper muttered. "Why did I allow Uncle Andros to color code these again?"
"So Eli wouldn't accidentally get into yours?" Nikki suggested, adjusting her tank. Nikki, Alycia, Ella, Claudia, and Piper all paused a moment before they abruptly burst into giggles. Mera simply smirked in amusement.
"You ladies done?" Eli asked with a sigh. Piper nodded even as another snort erupted from Ella. Eli rolled his eyes and motioned for them to get ready. "Come on, the Temple's waiting."
"The Temple is an inanimate object—a building," Alycia told him with a sigh. "It cannot wait."
"It's a figure of speech," Eli informed her.
"I nearly flunked English," she reminded him and he rolled his eyes.
"Can we go now?"
"Alright, turn on your helmets," Piper ordered and each of the six pressed the button on the side of their neck. Alycia and Mera moved through each of the teens, making sure the helmets were working correctly and they could breathe. Once certain none of them would die of asphyxiation, they teleported to the location Claudia had found.
"Wow," Alycia commented. "Queen Moriana wasn't wrong; this place is insane."
"No kidding," Ella commented, holding up a scanner.
There was nothing but rubble and ruins; the air itself was heavy and dark, filled with dangerous gases that would kill anyone without a fully sealed space suit. They couldn't really see the sky, partly due to the gases and partly because Kerova no longer had a sky—the ozone had been completely decimated. The two orbiting moons were hazy above them—the automated environmental station that kept a constant eye on the Kerovian home-world was a vague outline in the distance, despite the station being less than half a mile away.
"Come on, the Temple should be over here," Eli said, motioning. The group moved as one, keeping an eye on each other as they bounced along.
"Gravities different," Nikki noted and Piper nodded.
"Dark Specters' destruction of Kerova was thorough," she told them. "Everything that could be destroyed to make this place uninhabitable was done."
"He killed over a hundred thousand civilians in the initial attack," Claudia added. "And thousands more during the subsequent war."
"That's why there's so few Kerovians," Piper sighed. "Before the initial attack, they had about seven billion citizens living on the planet and another half a million or so elsewhere. Now, they have about ten thousand and that's only after sixty years of reproducing."
"How do you two know all this?" Alycia asked curiously.
"Pi and I researched the war when we realized what Tyche would have to do," Claudia answered. She made a face. "Well, actually, I did most of the research and Piper mostly just complained."
"I did not!" Piper argued. "I was, was…okay I was complaining."
"Here we are," Eli spoke up as the laughter faded. "We're on the outskirts of the original Temple Moriana's great great great…whatever grandmother built after Hemera and Aether stopped by."
"According to the records it was originally built with wood," Claudia told them as they hovered. "It was destroyed in a fire about six hundred years later and rebuilt with stone."
"Fire bad, stone pretty," Ella quipped.
"How's everyone's oxygen?" Piper called out.
"I'm at 90%," Eli reported and the girls all agreed. Piper nodded.
"Good," she said. "Alright, I have no idea what's going to happen when I get to the center of the Temple so I only want Eli with me."
"What about us?" Nikki asked quietly and Piper looked around.
"Keep an eye out and keep in contact," she ordered. "It would be very easy for Apate or someone to sneak up on us."
"Got it," Nikki agreed readily. Piper smiled at her and then turned to Eli.
"Ready?"
At his nod, the two stepped forward, tentively moving around the various rubble but continuously moving in the same direction.
"We should be reaching the center in another few steps," Eli told her just before running into something.
"Eli, you okay?" Piper asked worriedly as she helped the boy up.
"What was that?" he demanded, staring ahead. Piper frowned, gently running a hand through the area he hit. Sparks lit up her arm but otherwise she was fine.
"Maybe I'm supposed to go alone," she said quietly. Eli frowned, running a hand along the same surface. He was shocked for his curiosity.
"Or maybe it doesn't recognize me as a friend," he replied quietly.
"Uh, guys?"
Piper and Eli both paused at the crackle filled sound of Ella's voice. "What is it, what's wrong?" the white clad young woman demanded.
"We got trouble," Claudia answered, sounding out of breath. "They look like giant black spider people—they're shooting webbing from their hands."
Eli and Piper exchanged panicked looks.
"They have freakin wings!" Nikki snapped. "I don't think that's very spidery!"
"Spidery?" Alycia asked, grunting.
"I've been hanging out with Piper too much," Nikki grumbled. "I'm starting to talk like her!"
"Hey!" Piper exclaimed. Eli bit his lip as they listened.
"Fine, spidery bat people!" Claudia said.
"Will you three focus?!" Ella snapped. "I'd rather not get stuck in that sticky white stuff the chicks are shooting!"
"How do you know they're females?" Claudia asked curiously, followed by a whoosh of air.
"CLAUDIA!"
"Sorry, sorry, I'll shut up."
"Power up!" Eli suddenly yelled. "Call on the Protectors!"
"Small problem with that," Nikki said, sounding out of breath. "I'm not a freakin Protector!"
"Do what you can," Piper told her. "Eli and I found the center and we're going in."
"Piper, I got thrown back when I tried!" Eli reminded her as they felt and heard Aneris, Cratus, and Dike show up. Nikki was muttering murderously under her breath about stupid people and something about hating bats and spiders.
"Come on," Piper tugged on his arm and without giving herself the time to think about what she was about to do, dove through the barrier, her hand firmly holding Eli's.
A bright light lit the area so that even the three protectors and Nikki could see. "Piper, Eli?" Nikki asked quietly, moving to relative safety behind Cratus. Neither teen answered.