CHAPTER 9: SHORE LEAVE
Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends...well...never say never.
Anyhow, the Nirvana crew is ready to set sail and head for the Earth and do some treasure hunting. Not to mentiong trying their new Dreads--and they want you to go with them. At least it's what they say...
Preperation went by in the morning while the Nirvana crew loaded up on supplies and upgraded a few things onboard as well. Right now, the Dread crew known as Hibiki, Meia, Dita, Jura, Misty, Barnette and Cara were looking over in the hangar section, the cheerleader's hastily built Dread, which was battered, painted black and looked half Lego and half SR 71 fighter plane, in all, a pile of junk.
"Yo," said Cara, "I don't mean to nit pick, but it looks like a piece of junk."
"What chuu 'spect?" said a glum Meia. "It was all we had left from the scraps from our Dreads and some of The Harvest's. You'd think we'd get better parts from the retail store..."
"Maybe we should put an ad in the paper for a custom job," said Hibiki.
"You sure it was the best the crew could do?" said Misty.
"'Fraid so," replied Dita. "Much of the time was centered on getting ready for our first hyperspace jump."
"They say never look a gift horse in the puss," said Barnette. "What do you think, Jura?"
"Seems like," replied Jura, "the afterburners look a bit frayed."
"'Fraid of what?" said Hibiki, who just put out his burnt cigarette.
"Oh, what's the use?" said the Mejere cheerleader in despair. "I know youse meant well, an'
I don't mean to be an ingrate, but it just looks like a pile of junk. I just wish something could be done 'bout that."
Suddenly, as it was with Barnette, the fragment of the Pyxis within Jura flew out, split in two,
and the first half went back in the blonde diva while the other went within Cara, who said, "Y-yo, what's happenin'?!?"
"Don't ask," said Misty.
And on cue, for the second, if not the third time, a pulse of energy raced out from the blue Pyxis, rocketed down the hall, entered the hangar and engulfed Hibiki and co., along with their Dreads and the Van; after a minute or so, the pulse faded, the Dread crew and their ships intact.
"Everyone OK?" said Meia.
"You askin' me that?" said Hibiki who looked back at his Van and the Dreads and exclaimed,
"HOLY DOG POO!!!!!!"
And no wonder, for in place of the trashy, battered pile of junk that had been earmarked to be Cara's Dread, was now a black glossy sleek craft, shaped like a cross twixt a B2 Stealth bomber and a Russian MiG fighter craft, the main and tail wings decorated with white stripes in a zebra pattern, with twelve engines in the back.
"Y-yo...," said Cara. "Someone pinch me, I mus' be dreamin'..."
"Did we build THAT...?!?" said Barnette.
"Seems that way," said Dita.
"I hope Detroit is takin' notes," said Misty.
"Oh my oh me, oh me oh my," said Jura.
"Seems like B.C. and the capitan will be interested in THAT...," said Meia, with a grin.
At last, the upgraded Nirvana was ready for its first flight to Earth, and many ships full of well wishers from not only Taarak and Mejere, but also from Melanus and several other planets were in planetary orbit, overlooking the pirate ship. Right now, up in the bridge,
Magno, B.C., and much of the bridge crew were ready when Ezra said, "We got the communiques coming in from Taarak and Mejere, exclusively from Lord Granpa and Lady Grandma."
"Onscreen," said the boss.
Two digital screens came out of nowhere, one of Lord Granpa of Taarak and the other of Lady Grandma of Mejere, the former saying, "Well...it's been years since it came to be, eh,
Magno?"
"Maybe," said Magno. "Freak luck? That is up to the pundits."
"All the same," said Lady Grandma, "it's an honor that your ship should be the first to be equipped with the newest hyperdrive, enabling ships to travel faster than light."
"Just think," said the Taarak ruler, "what took years to travel arcoss the universe, may take a few minutes--and for the first time, beable to travel back to where it all started...the Earth,
and someday restore it back to its former glory."
"That is a lot of stuff to lift up anyone's spirits," said the boss. "which reminds me: the time's come to inform the crew and everyone else here what our task at hand is..." Turning to B.C,
she nodded and the first mate touched a switch, enabling the capitan to be seen and heard throughout the ship, as well as the well wishing ships, along with those on the planets of their space and that of their home planets as well.
"To all the crew of the Nirvana," Magno was saying, "people of Taarak, Mejere, Malanus, and other races and planets, hear me out: we've reason to believe, a year or so after we had bested The Harvest, that a new enemy just showed up, in the form of The Pereira Star Empire,
under the leadership of its founder sorceress and Empress, Brittany Pereira, and it seems she's after something of crucial value. Which means the saga continues. But here's where the real reason for the Nirvana reunion comes in. You see, for the better part of last month, me, B.C.
and gascogne have been working with Lord Granpa of Taarak and Lady Granma of Mejere, along with The Cornerstone Empire of planet Balderon, a planet whose people happen to be the most highly technilogically advanced,and its Empress, Vanna Traedi, and we've set up and arranged to do the one thing no one ever thought of doing, now that The Harvesters neve been rendered now defunct--traveling to the planet Earth and hopefully restore it back to its original form and habitible for everyone, and if it works, the populaces of Taarak and Mejere can finally come home to their real home planet, known as Earth, after so many years..."
Everywhere, from the ships, the planets, you name it, there was cheering and applause, before the boss added, "Right now, we, for the better part, along with Her Illustrious, the Empress Vanna and her Cornerstone Empire, along with one of their plaenet's number one engine and hyperdrive company, The Hale-Warp Corporation just recently modified and retrofitted The Nirvana and installed the company's top of the line engine and hyperdrive system, which should enable the Nirvana to travel faster than light; with it, we can travel to the Earth and hopefully restore it back to what it once was, so that we can repopulate it, and start a new beginning, while at the same time, figure out what motive The Pereira Star Empire's got in mind, and if circumstances call for it, whoop the daylights outa them!! May we succeed in our task. That is all."
Whithin the cheering, Lord Granpa said, "Godspeed to you and your crew, Magno."
"Bring glory and a new chapter for Taarak and Mejere," said Lady Granma.
After the screens vanished, Magno turned to B.C. and said, "Prepare for flight, and enegage the new hyperdrive. We're heading for our first stop of the day, planet Balderon."
"At once," said the mate. To the others on the bridge, he said, "Prepare the hyperdrive and set course for Balderon. Bart, it's time."
A new telescreen came on, showing the scion of Garsus Foods in his helm bubble. "Unkel dunkel," he said.
Throughout the pirate ship, in the hangars, living units, engineering spaces, everywhere,
telescreens came on, depitcing the boss who said, "Attention, attention, the time's come for our first hyperspace journey, to planet Balderon, en route to what could be the ultimate journey--a journey we might not come back from. But we'll perservere, sneak past The PSE,
and reach The Earth and back safely. And by the by, there'll be shorter coffee breaks."
"Hyperdrive ready," said B.C.
"Course 1-8-0 readied and programmed for planet Balderon," said Celtic.
From down in the bowels of the Nirvana's engine room, several of the techs were at the controls when a thick humming sound came in; turning to the comm, Parfet said, "Cryogenic plant coming online." Then under her breath, she added, "Hyperdrive don't fail me now..."
"Standing by," said Bart. "All you jokers, hang on to your unmentionables and don't do no no in then."
"Ready," said Amarone.
"All set," said Belvedere.
"Let-err-rip," said Celtic.
"Start er up," said Ezra.
"What they said, " said Rebecca.
"Stand by on 12 second countdown," said B.C. "12 seconds, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, zero,
HYPERSPACE!!"
At once, at the same time, Bart, Amarone, Belvedere, Celtic, Ezra and Rebecca touched a major control; a blue sphere enveloped the pirate ship and both that and the sphere appeared to shrink while they zoomed into hyperspace, the stars ahead shifting to green and the stars behind shifting to red...
Finally some peace and quiet.
While the Nirvana zoomed through hyperspace for the first time, inside his fancy apartment, Hibiki Tokai took the last draft of his cigarette before stabbing it out in the ashtray and looked up to the ceiling in thought, unsure as to how the ship's crew could save the earth. That, and the worry over solving that strange map with the PSE on their tails. Sure, beating The Harvest was one thing, but compared to the PSE, even The Harvesters were considered sweeties. All of which the hothead took into account until a knock at the louvered door broke into his reverie. Getting up, the Van pilot peered through the slats and saw Meia with a cart of food, a champagne botte and glasses, and a big cook book.
"What's up, Meia?" said the mechanic. "What's with all that stuff?"
"Can I come in?" said the Dread leader. "Thought I'd make for me an' you a special meal in your new place."
Opening up the door, Hibiki said, "Sure thing, Big M. What you got?"
"Special, bell peppers with beef," replied the blue haired pilot.
From what happened next, Hibiki discovered that Dita, Jura, Misty and Barnette weren't the only cooking virtuosos--so was Meia when she set to work in stir frying in a pan, nuggets of red, yellow and green bell peppers and ground beef, then readied a salad of romaine lettuce, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, corn and mashed potatoes before setting all that on their bowls and plates on the table. Soon the Van pilot and the Dread leader were dining, with glasses of milk and the food at their sides; like all the other females, the blue haired pilot was a wizard at cooking.
"Fantastic!!" said the hothead. "There ain't no other way to describe all that!!"
"You mean all that food?" said Meia. "When was the last time you had food like that?"
"To begin with," said the Van pilot, "your bell peppers and beef--it's 40 times better than Dita's."
"Better than Dita's?" echoed the Dread leader. "Why's that?"
"Her bell peppers and beef," said the mechanic, "ain't got no beef--in fact, a week after our junket on Taarak after we bested The Harvest mother ship, she made me her bell peppers and beef, but without the beef, saying she couldn't afford any."
"Couldn't afford any?" said the blue haired pilot. "What happened to the big paychecks you two got for your part in the victory over The Harvesters?"
"We were on Taarak with Duero and Bart," replied Hibiki, "and naturally, dumb Dita insisted on renting a car so she could tour the city with me an' what's worse, insisted on driving; I mean, piloting a Dread,
it's one thing, but driving a car, THAT is a different story. As a result, she crashed her way all over the Taarak capital city, and after that, the repair bill for busting the rented car, the fine for reckless driving, the bill for repairs on the stores and places she crashed through, and the medical bill for injuring a Taarak high official--KILLED ALL THE DOUGH!!!!"
Meia whistled in surprise before saying, "That sucks. I can see why your relationship with Dita went downhill after that. So, you looking foward to our stopover on Balderon?"
"Who wouldn't?" said the hothead. "But when it comes to trying to healing the Earth, and the fear of another run in with those PSE freaks, well, then scared would be a better word."
"I would be too," agreed the blue haired pilot. "But we've got a job to do there, starting with obtaing supplies from Balderon, as well as meeting with one of the officials with The Cornerstone Empire, touring their capital city which is also called Cornerstone in the state of Cornerstone, in the capital nation of The United States of Balderon. And THEN we've got to meet with their Empress on the possibility of a secret mission for hire--maybe something to do with a secret base operated by The Pereira Star Empire--and in one day, no less. An' y' know what? You ain't the only one scared."
"Figured that, eh?" said the Van pilot.
"Yup," said the Dread leader. Then, producing a bottle of white champagne and two crystal Baccarat glasses,
she added, "On the other hand, I got just the thing for the scaredey blues." Uncorking the bottle, she poured the white fizzy stuff in the glasses and handed one to Hibiki, picked up her own glass, and said, "Here's to a new chapter in the Vandread saga."
"What you said," said the mechanic while he and Meia toasted each other. After that and the meal, they had fudge sundaes before they washed everything before the Dread leader handed the hothead the cookbook saying, "Hibiki, here's a present--just follow the directions in the book, and you should be cooking like a pro in no time."
"Thanks a heap," said the Van pilot. "Y' know...if I didn't know better, I'd swear you see me as more than just a friend..."
"You think so?" said the blue haired pilot, who was blushing.
"I guess," said Hibiki. "Listen, thanks for all here, you're one of the good ones."
At that moment, Amarone's voice came over the P.A. system: "Attention, all personnel, we'll be coming out from hyperspace, en route to Balderon in one minute time."
"Let's head to the bridge," suggested Meia.
The bridge crew was on edge when Hibiki and Meia arrived, before Magno said, "It's time, B.C. Time for some major history."
"Right," said the first mate. To the rest of the crew, he said, "Stand by to switch to sublight normal speed, 12 seconds, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, zero, SUBLIGHT!!"
As before, the bridge crew, along with Bart worked their controls before the lightspeed distorted points of starlight shifted from streaks to stars, the Nirvana coming out from light speed; ahead was the Betelgeuse sized ocean and desert planet of Balderon, with a gas cloud bank nearby.
"Now THAT is a BIG planet...," muttered the hothead. "They'd dwarf Taarak, Mejere and the earth all at once."
"Amazing and beautiful at the same time," breathed the blue haired pilot.
"What do you think, Captian?" said B.C.
"I say," said Magno Vivian, "that you inform Gascogne that she and the Dread crew prepare for the arrangements."
Seems the Nirvana crew is making good timing on their first hyperspace jump to the planet Balderon. Any idea what the planet's Cornerstone Empire's emissaries might be? Let's just hope they don't look like Jillian Reynolds in Bermuda shorts--UGH. And what would the planet itself be like? Let's hope it ain't like Pittsburgh with all that pollution. Anyhoo, just what sort of monkeydoodle is the evil Empire up to on the planet? And given the fact she's nicer to Hibiki and even treated the H-man to a fine meal, could it be she's nicer, maybe having the hots for the Van pilot? And we thought she only saw the ol' grouch as just a friend.
--a440
Next: Chapter 10: New Friends