Chapter 10: Explanations and Indecisions
Unknown to Magno or B.C., but when the rest of the crew left the bridge they did not head to their quarters. Instead, their curiosity got the best of them and they all traveled down to the hallway in which the two very special people where supposed to be. The crew taking then starts getting into comfortable positions somewhere along the hallway, Dita for instance, is sitting happily on Hibiki's lap, Meia and Renz are standing against the wall shoulder to shoulder discussing formations for when they are out on the battlefront, Jura is standing off to the side giving Meia a very infuriated glare as she waits to ambush Parfait and yell at her for doing the act of making a baby before she could, Alexei and Barnette are arguing about what to cook for dinner later, while Jukkai and Bart were dropped rather haphazardly onto the ground the impact probably being what assists their return to a conscious state while the other continue to bide their time until Duelo and Parfait come out.
Well, off in the escape pod Duelo and Parfait are in the after glow of things as Parfait is laying in Duelo's arms nestled closely towards him talking in a soft dreamy type of voice, " Oh Duelo, that was great. To think in 9 months I'm going to give birth to your child." She smiles and hugs him tightly as Duelo smiles back and replies, " Not my child Parfait, our child. I'm just astonished at how much energy is exerted during this act. I mean it makes the Vangaurd and Dread simulators look like child's play."
They both laugh a little as Duelo then rummages through his scattered belongs and finds his watch. As he looks down at the time he shakes his head and speaks in a hurried manner, " Parfait… we've been in here for over 3 hours. I wonder what's going on." After a slight pause Parfait slowly picks up her cloths and begins redressing as she states rather plainly, " I hope nothing important happened while we were in here. Cause I made this one sound proof, no sound goes in, no sound comes out. Maybe I should have just left it the way it was…" Parfait says in a nervous kind of way. Though shortly after she said those words, Duelo comes up behind her and gives her a reassuring hug. " Calm down, everything is probably fine."
Nearly 15 minutes pass until they are done re-clothing and begin to step out of the pod. Once they are completely out, they straighten their cloths in an attempt to look presentable and suddenly Parfait looks up at Duelo. " Umm Duelo…" He turns to her and raises a brow, " Yes Parfait?" She blushes a little and giggles in an awkward way, " Well… ummm… can we hold hands on the way out? I read it in one of your books that a sign of affection is holding hands… and well…" Before she can conclude her question Duelo quickly takes her hand in his and smiles, giving her a soft kiss on her left cheek. " Let's get going" he says in a gentle yet slightly urgent way.
The happy new couple reaches the doorway and turns to make their way up the corridor and towards the bridge when they are greeted with the site of each and everyone of their crewmates waiting and staring at them as if they were freakish life forms. But before anyone can be happy, or celebrate, Jura in all of her sharp-tongued glory quickly turns it into a harsh argument.
" HOW DARE YOU MAKE A BABY BEFORE ME!" Parfait's eyes widen, as her face turns red with anger. " And who are you to tell me what I can and can't do?" After that brief exchange of words the two women are head to head, muttering obscenities about the other below their breath and seemingly poised to kill, until Duelo uses some quick thinking to discourage any type of battle the two may have. " Well Jura you see, this was an experiment, because in my studies I've read that there is only a 93.356 percent chance that a woman will get pregnant after engaging in sexual intercourse. So as you see… she may not get pregnant. So there is still plenty of time for you to attempt to be the first." Parfait looks over at Duelo as if she would smack him if she didn't know he was just trying to stop the fight.
Yet, Jura smiles and tosses her hair over her right shoulder, " Well that's better, and here I thought this act was fool proof. But, then again that means I'd need to do it multiple times to ensure that I become pregnant." She turns on her heel sharply and sends a piercing glance of urgent lust towards Renz as he just quirks a brow and hopes to God that she's looking at something or someone else. " Oh Renzy Wenzy! I want you to ask Duelo how it's done and come see me tonight so we can try to have a baby. And I want this to continue for 2 weeks straight. Understood?" Renz looks at her like she's insane… or stupid, or well possibly both. " Jura, you're not going to tell me what I will be doing tonight, or any other night of the year. Most importantly because in 2 days we may all be dead, injured or on the dinner list for some kind of freakish humanoid race."
Duelo looks over at Renz and asks in pure bewilderment, " What on Earth are you talking about Renz?" Renz looks at Duelo and Parfait and smirks as he then shrugs and decides he'll tell them, " Well let's see, while you two were having your fun, we were all called to the bridge. It seems that there is a ship positioned, umm, what did Ezra say…" Meia chimes in to assist Renz with the briefing, " About 25 light years away" Renz nods and smirks, " Ya 25 light years away and they sent us a transmission. Long story short… they are the spawn of genetic experiments gone wrong by Earth scientists 300 years ago. The race is part human and part, animal of some sort. They all seemed to be made of different animals, but anyway, after learning that we defeated the Earth Harvesters they are now after us." Parfait trying to take everything in asks the obvious question, " But why are they after us?"
After a slight pause Renz continues, " Because we are descendants of the Earthlings, and even though we aren't responsible, they have that whole revenge thing on their minds. So as long as they get the blood of something even semi-Earthling they'll be happy. So we need you both to run pilot and machine diagnostics on the shape of the Vans and the Dreads and the compatibility between the new men and the main female Dread pilots. Because B.C. believes that the Vandread fusion can be done by anyone, they just need to share a common bond, or a strong compatibility, or a liking for one another." Parfait nods and places her right index finger on her nose, " I think B.C. has a good idea there… the Peksis responds to feelings and strong emotional bonds. So if the people are very compatible… the fusion should be easy. It's a wonderful hypothesis!" Meia nods and looks at Parfait, " Not trying to be a bother but it would need to be a very quick hypothesis, because you'll need to report your findings by tomorrow. So we have to hope it's more then just a theory." Parfait nods and runs towards the main control room to run some tests on Peksis.
Duelo looks at everyone and smiles half-heartedly, " Well since time is of the essence, please everyone hand over your information chips and I can help speed up the process for Parfait." Alexei cocks his head to the side and inquires, " Why would it help?"
Duelo looks up and pauses a moment to formulate his response, " Well if the Peksis has extra information, like genetic code, immunities… and things like that, it could increase not only the speed of the data gathering, but also the accuracy." Alexei content with the explanation hands Duelo his info and stretches a little as he starts to walks off. " All of this near death speaking and the air of catastrophe is tiring me out… Barnette… help me make something to eat. I really say the peanut butter stuff looked good…" Barnette smiles as she throws her information at Duelo and runs to catch up to Alexei, " I already told you, you can't mix Spaghetti and Peanut Butter… it's just not good!"
Duelo catches Barnette information and counts them all up. " Okay, that's everyone that is a Dread and Vanguard pilot. Great. I'll make sure everything is settled by tomorrow." As Duelo walks off to the control room to try and assist Parfait in actual work and not just pleasure Jura glances over at Renz and Meia and makes her ways towards them.
" Renz, we all know you're going to be most compatible with me. So why don't you just disregard Meia and focus all of that hunky attention on me? I mean I'm prettier, I'm bustier and I know I'm much more fun then Meia, so come with me, okay?" Jura says this while running the tips of her fingers along Renz's arms.
Not really knowing how to respond Renz says nothing, but Meia more then makes up for his silence, " Jura, if you don't learn your place you will become a liability to this ship and to the entire crew. Whoever he is most compatible with will be decided tomorrow. And if it does happen to be me, I'd appreciate you to shut your mouth and realize no one, except yourself, likes to hear you talk!" After getting to her point Meia turns and walks off secretly hoping she gets Renz over Jura, just because she doesn't think Jura deserves a guy like Renz.
Jura on the other hand just watches Meia walks off as she then wraps her arms around Renz's neck and smiles, " Well now that she's gone… we can finally talk in private." She smiles as Bart and Jukkai just kind of sit on the floor and look at each other. As Bart then coughs quickly and says, " HELLO! More people then just Renz are still around… why don't you try and maul him somewhere else. Like your room…" Jukkai shakes his head and rubs his eyes, " Don't talk about her room man. Just don't…" Renz laughs a little bit after that is said and looks at Jura.
" Here's a question Jura, did you want to talk about anything aside from making a baby, how pretty you look or how pretty you think the child would look if I gave you the baby?" Jura blushes but retains her sharp tongue and never retreating personality, " We can talk about anything you want Renzy wenzy just as long as you give me exactly what I want." After that sentence Hibiki stands up and throws his hands in the air, causing Dita to slide off of his lap and land on her butt. " Okay, I don't want to hear anymore talking about babies, or the way they're made. I just don't… I'm going back to my waterbed." After he says that he looks around for Dita noticing she's on the ground with a couple tears in her pretty blue eyes cause the fall hurt her butt. Hibiki looks at her very apologetically and picks her up, " Umm, sorry Dita, I forgot you were sitting on my lap" Dita's eyes narrow slightly as she then smirks and states in a kind of mean way, " Fine then Mr. Alien… no more fun on the waterbed then!" After she says that she walks off in a playfully huffy mood as Hibiki chases after her, " Hey! I'm sorry… no need to go that far, I mean really, the bed is fun and well…" He starts to trail off once he and Dita turn the bend back towards the main hallway that heads to their room.
With that little scene being almost like a wake up call everyone else gets up and starts walking off to wherever they need to be. So as Jukkai and Bart are leaving Bart starts up a small conversation, " You think B.C. like me?" Jukkai not knowing how to respond shrugs his shoulders slightly and answers, " Maybe, I don't know. Why are you asking me and not B.C.?" Bart blushes and then nods, " Yah… I suppose you're right…" With that they head off to their respective bedrooms. At the same time the conversation between the two men is happening, Jura is continuing to try and tempt Renz to her room,
" Come on… I have lots of new outfits… and I'll let you do whatever you want as long as it makes a baby. Come on, please Renz…" Renz then stops and glares right at Jura and through barred teeth responds, " Listen, not right now. Maybe when we aren't in a state of emergency I will. But right now, making a baby is the farthest thing from my mind, got it Jura? Now… good night, I'm tired and we have a long day ahead of us." Renz then nods, breaks out of her cuddly hold and strolls off to his room leaving Jura standing there, speechless but minutely happy.
" Don't worry Renz, I'll get you. Since you didn't say you don't want anything to do with me… I know I'll get you." With the she smiles and begins to saunter off towards her quarters content with the idea that Renz will be hers.
Though when Renz reaches his room he sees Meia there, laying on his bed appearing to be crying into his pillow. Renz walks over to her and taps her shoulder, " Meia, why are you in my room… and why are you-" Before he can finish his sentence Meia lunges at him locking her lips with his and pulling him down on top of her body. After Renz is on top of her she warps her arms around him and holds him close, " Renz… this may seem odd but I feel a strong connection to you, and I think I'm really starting to like you, but I don't know why. You just make me feel, so… so… complete." Renz smiles and kisses Meia on the cheek and stays there like that with her speaking briefly before they fall asleep in one another's arms, " I really like you too Meia. Jura doesn't have a chance as long as you're around." Renz then kisses Meia's lips gently as they fall asleep, happy, smiling, and nearly oblivious to the impending battles.
To Be Continued…