-11-

"All dread teams to the launch bay! Incoming enemy attack!" yells BC into the intercom, then switches it off. Immediately, the ship is rocked violently by an explosion as a number of enemy ships dart past the bridge. "Get those shields up!" she orders as she fights to regain her balance. After doing so, the ship's second in command turns to the sensor station that sits to one side of gangplank that connects the deck to the navigator's station. "How many enemies are we talking about?"

Amarone Slaintheav, the dark skinned radar operator turns to her. "I cannot confirm enemy numbers, Commander," she replies. BC could tell she was worried. "But I have detected cube types as well as clamshell motherships. They keep darting in and out of the nebula, so there is no way for me to lock on to them."

BC nodes to Amarone. Her attention is diverted as a door behind the captain's station opens. Mango Vivian appears in a motorized chair that rolls along a path that docks her into the cubicle. The elderly captain looks at BC. "What have we got, Commander?" she asks as the ship shudders from another volley.

"An unknown number of enemy units using the nebula for cover," replies BC.

Mango nodes and looks up through the dome covering the bridge. "It's a classic ambush, it would seem." She pauses for a second then calls out; "BART!"

In front of her, an image materializes. On it, the bald head of the ship's navigator, Bart Garsus, looks back expectedly at the elderly woman as he replies. "Orders, Captain?"

"Get us away from that nebula!" she replies.

"With pleasure, Captain!" he replies before his screen disappears.

BC braces herself as the ship begins to move. Despite its size, the Nirvana is extremely maneuverable. As she feels the vessel shift and try to put some distance between it and the nebula, she notices a number of enemy ships streak past the clear shield above them. Another shift in the Nirvana's path tells her what is happening.

"Captain!" announces Amerone. "The enemy units are shifting to block our path!"

BC grits her teeth as the radar operator confirms her suspicions. They don't want us to get to far away from the ambush site. "Bart! Fire the main weapon!"

Bart's image again appears in front of them, his face looking a little panicked. "It's no good Commander!" he screeches, his face filling the screen. "I can't lock on to anything!"

BC looks over to Celtic Midori. The teal haired bridge operator, who today is wearing a soldier's camouflage outfit, nods to confirm. "I'm sorry Commander, the enemy's first attack took out our targeting systems. Damage control teams are already working on it," she reports.

The Nirvana's second in command bites her lip. It could not be worse news. The ships primary weapon, a series of beam cannons that line the edges of the ship, was first used only recently above a dismal, contaminated world. Bart had unlocked its power by channeling his motivation to protect the planet's inhabitance, specifically a sick little girl that he had befriended. Since then, they had used it one other time to great effect. It had raised moral quite a bit to know that they had a weapon that could compliment the power of the Vandreads. Now they had neither.

BC's attention is diverted to the Captain as she lets out an exasperated sigh. "It never ceases to amaze me how quickly they adapt," she muses.

"Looks like we will need to rely on the dreads this time," replies BC.

Mango looks down at her second and nods. "Unless there is some sort of intervention, I think you are right."

XXX

Just as the announcement to scramble the dread teams finishes, the ship lurches, sending Dita, Keiichi, and Belldandy crashing to the deck. To Keiichi, it felt as if he had given too much throttle to one of the Motor Club's racing bikes, and it had unceremoniously dumped him on his backside. As he moves, he feels Belldandy under him. Panicking, he flips over to check on her, and sees her smiling back at him. He lets out a sigh of relief.

As they try to get to their feet, Keiichi looks up and sees Meia rush into the hanger on a dead run. She pauses only for a second to help the redhead to her feet. "Come on, Dita!" she yells breathlessly over her shoulder as she sprints past them.

Keiichi follows her with his eyes and sees three large ships that look like fighters docked at the far end of the hanger. He had been so enamored with the vanguard that he had failed to notice them. Those must be the things they call dreads. They were stacked on top of each other. A bulky blue dread sits closest to the ground. To Keiichi, it looks more like a talk than a fighter. Sitting in a cradle above the blue one is a sleek looking white dread. He could tell that one is built for speed and maneuverability. On the third level above that sits a red dread that reminded him of a two fingered claw. As Meia reaches the area below the dreads, she steps on to a small platform.

Dita starts to run after Meia, but pauses and looks back over her shoulder at the Goddess and her charge. "But Meia, what about them?"

Meia turns towards them as the platform starts its ascent and looks down at Dita. "They will be safe in here, we need to get out there!" Keiichi watches as it stops at the white dread, where she jumps into the cockpit.

From behind them, Jura appears and starts pushing the redhead towards the dreads. "Let's go, slow-poke," she teases. Dita gives them a worried look, but relents and starts running to the large blue dread. She reaches it as Jura boards another platform similar to the one Meia used, and climbs a ladder to its cockpit.

As Jura begins to rise, she looks down at Keiichi and Belldandy. "You guys should get clear!" she yells as the platform reaches the red claw dread.

When the three dreads begin to power up, Keiichi feels a tug on his arm. He looks to see Belldandy, with a concerned look in her eyes, beckoning him to follow. He takes another glance over his shoulder and sees the white dread begin to rise out of the cradle it was sitting in. He swallows hard, then turns and quickly follows Belldandy, who is running back to the yellow and white vanguard. He feels a rush of wind as they reach the platform and when he turns, the white one is gone. As he and Belldandy watch, the red claw dread rises out of its cradle, then rockets down the hanger. As it disappears, the blue one follows.

Keiichi looks at Bell, who is standing next to the leg of the vanguard. She looks back at him, he can tell she is worried. "I can sense a lot of fear on the ship," she says, then lets out a sigh.

He can feel massive vibrations through the deck plating. Nothing like what they experienced before, but Keiichi can only assume that the reason for them is that the starship is taking fire from some unknown enemy. This must have been how sailors in submarines felt when they were being attacked by depth charges. He sits down on the deck and leans up against the leg of the Vanguard. "Based on what Dita has told me, that's totally understandable without this guy out there."

"Who are you calling a guy?!"

XXX

As Meia and her dread leave the hanger, she starts to turn to starboard to come alongside the Nirvana. Because of the special nature of her dread, as well as Jura and Dita's, they have to launch from a hanger that opens in the aft section of the ship. As she turns, she looks around and sees that nearly three quarters of the other dreads were already in space. The remainder are still in the process of launching from the Reg bays in the lower section of the ship that used to be the women's pirate ship.

She reaches up and chimes her communications. "Dread teams! We're on our own on this one," she says as she continues to circle the great ship. She starts to see some explosions in the distance as some of the dreads are engaged by the enemy forces. "Team one, on me, formation delta. Jura, you take team two and protect the Nirvana. Barnette and Dita, you're with me!"

"Roger!" replies all of the other pilots in unison.

She turns away from the Nirvana, and through the shields protecting it. As she does so, Barnette and Dita come up alongside. Her com chirps, and Barnettes image appears on the screen.

"Meia," says the green haired pilot. "How are we going to…..you know….without…"

"We just have to step it up," replies Meia, cutting her friend off. They had been in desperate situations before, and Hibiki had been able to bail them out in some way. Now that he was not here, she could tell from some of the general com chatter that the moral of the other pilots was down.

On another screen opposite the one that Barnette is on, Dita's image appears. "We have to do our best, or Mr. Alien won't have a home to come back to!" she says with a determined look on her face.

Meia thinks about this for a second. Dita's right of course. She looks down at her screen and sees Barnette nod in agreement, a new look of determination that mirrors the red head's. "Right, we have to protect our home," says Meia.

Dita and Barnette's images disappear from her screens as she turns her dread, locking on to a group of enemies that are below. She dives toward them, with the other two dreads close behind.

XXX

Startled, Keiichi stands and scrambles away from the Vanguard. There really wasn't any sound to react to, the voice he heard was straight in his mind. Wide-eyed, he looks over to Belldandy, who is giving him a puzzled look. "It talked!" he cries out.

A look of realization and a smile crosses her face. "Of course it can, I gave the spirit inside permission to speak to us." She steps toward him and puts a hand on his shoulder to reassure him. "It's just like the Shinden, do you remember?"

Keiichi smiles and scratches the back of his head in embarrassment. "How can I forget," he replies, thinking back to the one and only time he piloted an aircraft. "I had a heck of a time trying to convince it to land before it ran out of fuel and crashed."

She reaches in and takes his hand, then guides it back to the vanguard. As soon as he touches it;

"I asked you a question."

"I'm sorry," he replies. "I just made an assumption based on your appearance, I won't do that again."

"Hrmph, The One says that assumptions are like…"

"HAH..YEAH..we know," cuts in Keiichi before she can go any further. "I've heard it before!" He turns to Belldandy and smiles. "SHE is a sassy one, isn't she!"

The blue-eyed goddess returns his smile. "Yes, I think she is somewhat of a reflection of the attitudes and desires of her pilot."

"I'll take that as a compliment! Speaking of which, where is he, there is a battle going on out there!"

Keiichi groans. He had been hoping that the vanguard was not aware of what was going on. Apparently, its awareness was much keener than he though. He glances over to Bell, who only shrugs at him. "Well, he isn't here. There was an….accident, and….I replaced him." The last part sounded more like a question as he struggled for the correct words. He did not think that the vanguard would quite understand the concept of a magical being coming in and using its powers to swap a person from the past with one of the current present.

"Hmm, wait here, I will be right back."

"Wait….what?" exclaims Keiichi, but there is suddenly no response. He looks over to Belldandy, who shrugs again.

"She had definitely left us," she says as she focuses more of the vanguard as if searching for it. "I have never seen where a spirit can leave its container before."

They both frown and stand in silence for a few minutes, waiting for the spirit to come back. After a moment, Keiichi actually feels its presence return, causing him to startle a little.

"The Mistress says that you and he were switched by a demon."

Keiichi mentally chastises himself for again assuming something about the vanguard. It was much more aware of its surroundings than even Bell knew, as he can tell the surprised look on her face right now "Yeah, I wasn't aware you knew."

"Oh, I didn't, but she told me the story. You want to know what else she told me?"

"Um, sure," he says, as he swallows down a nervous gulp.

"She says that this one time, I can let you drive me! Isn't that great!"

"YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT?!" cries out Keiichi in surprise. He takes a step back and looks over to Belldandy. "Surely she can't be serious!"

"I think she is," replies the goddess.

"What?" he replies. "I don't know anything about running one of these things, I barely understand what's going on around me right now!" Keiichi drops down on the deck and stares at the floor, dejected.

Before he realizes it, Belldandy's hand appears under his chin and gently raises his head. Somehow, she has moved over and is now stooping in front of him without him noticing. "Keiichi, remember, you barely knew how to fly before you flew the Shinden. He helped you, she will help you as well," she says as she takes both of his hands and holds them lovingly in hers. "The Shinden had confidence in you, she has confidence in you." The Goddess then leans in and kisses him on the forehead, then looks at him with her glowing smile. "And I have confidence in you."

Keiichi relents. I just can't say no to her. "Ok, I will do it," he says, mustering up his new found resolve. He scoots back over to the leg of the vanguard and places a hand on the foot. "Tell me what I need to do."

"Oh goodie!"

XXX

On the bridge, BC tries to manage the controlled chaos of the battle as Captain Mango gives orders. The dread teams had been trying unsuccessfully to break the blockade that the harvester craft had put around them, without much luck. As soon as one formation was broken, another would appear out of the nebula to take its place. They were trapped.

Without warning, the ship lurches, nearly sending the Commander to the deck. "Amarone! What was that?" she cries out as she steadies herself.

"Unknown Commander, whatever it was, it came from the nebula!" replies the dark skinned radar operator.

"Dammit," mutters the second in command as she stands at her full height. She looks over to Celtic. "What's the status on the repairs to the targeting system?"

Celtic looks back with a worried look. "Repair crews last reported that it will be at least ten more minutes before they can have it back up!"

BC bites her lip to keep from cursing again. Her reply is interrupted by another explosion that causes the Nirvana to shift to port, and tossing the beleaguered Commander to the deck.

"Shields are down to sixty percent!" cries out Celtic.

"Tell the repair crews they have five minutes, IF we last that long!" barks BC as she gets back up. "Belvedere, what's the status on the dread teams."

"I've completely lost contact with dread four," replies Belvedere Coco. BC detects a hint of sadness in the blond woman's voice as she makes her report. Everyone on the bridge knows what that means. "Dreads twelve and fourteen are out of action and returning to the Reg for repairs."

"Ezra, contact Meia, tell her we need them to concentrate on making us an opening so we can get away from the nebula," orders BC as she turns to the communications station. To emphasis her point, the Nirvana lurches again under the assault of whatever is firing at them from inside the nebula.

As the commander once again picks herself off the deck, Belvedere yells out. "Captain, the vanguard!" she cries out, almost in shock.

"What about it?" responds BC.

Belvedere swivels in her chair and faces the Commander. "Mr. Morisato is requesting permission to take off!"

"What?!" exclaims BC in shock. No one had been able to drive that vanguard other than Hibiki. Everyone assumed it has something to do with what the Peaksys did when it was changed that allowed only him to fly it. Now, Keiichi Morisato, had figured out how to do it.

"Well, well, well, sounds like that man from the past want to make himself useful!" says Mango Vivian. She gives the Nirvana's second in command a warm smile. "I don't see why we shouldn't let him try at this point."

"Right," replies BC. She turns to Belvedere with a smile of her own. "Tell him permission granted and good hunting."

A few moments later, they see the vanguard fly out in front of the Nirvana. Immediately, it is set upon my three cube types. BC winces, thinking back to the first time Hibiki took the yellow and white machine into combat. It didn't start out too well. She shakes her head. "I hope he knows what he's doing."