Chapter 38:
The ducks stood on the platform with Angel at their side. Jessica was with them, Molly too, but the team and Angel flanked them to ensure nothing could get to her without going through them first. To their right, on the other side of the platform, stood Kyoza and his trusted bodyguards. They had been greeted by the president already who was currently droning on about the world leaders as a whole, granted not all, feeling it beneficial to ally themselves with the Galactic Alliance. That most governments already knew of other races, even before the ducks had arrived on their planet was a surprise to the ducks but they stayed silent. When he had finished, Kyoza moved forward to address the crowd before him and the world watching.
"My name is Kyoza." He started, "I am one of the high council members of the Galactic Alliance, often called by those who know us as the GA. I have come in person because I am aware that your experience of those not of your world are limited and I wished to reassure you all that we are indeed here to assist you. With your technology, your wellbeing and your safety. We have evidence that your world and perhaps the seven galaxies of our universe are in grave danger. Alone you would stand very little chance. Even with your feathered friends here assisting you." He nodded to the ducks behind him, "My fear is that any fight against such odds would be futile and slaughter or perhaps worse could be the result. We contacted your leaders some time ago and they have accepted our offer of aid. I am sure there are many of you who will be apprehensive of this and we will be sure to keep you all informed to keep your minds at ease." He looked behind him and smiled, "I would like to allow one of my trusted bodyguards to address you before we allow you to return to your day. I am quite sure you are bored to tears by now." The old man chuckled at his own joke. Kii'era stepped forward.
"People of Earth." She said calmly, "We have helped many planets now, as well as many refugees from planets who have been attacked before we could assist. We intend to ensure that we pass on what we have learned to people such as yourselves who will benefit, if only to ensure you do not fall victim to the same evil that many other planets in the 7 galaxies have fallen to." Duke tuned out at that point and turned to Angel.
"Do they always drone on like this?" He asked in a pained tone.
"Kii-era's in serious mode." Angel shrugged, "This is the first time I've had to stick around to the end though." Angel rolled her eyes as her feline friend told the humans more about what the GA could offer them. After what seemed like far too long Kii'era finished and the humans watching gave a reserved round of applause. The feline woman walked over to Angel and smirked.
"Could you have made it any more obvious you were bored." Kii'era shook her head but certainly didn't seem angry.
"Well if you and Kyoza had made those speeches more engaging maybe I wouldn't have been bored." Angel challenged.
"She has to be serious; her usual sparkling personality would scare the locals." Streaks snorted as she draped an arm over her partner's shoulder.
"And we couldn't leave it to you because you would just start blowing anyone up who dared interrupt." Kii'era scoffed.
"Yeah yeah, I'm not very diplomatic." Streaks raised her hands as if in defeat, "You don't have to rub it in."
"Don't feel bad Streaks." Kii'era gave the mouse a wicked grin, "It's a common occurrence amongst your race. You can't help it!" She added in a mock innocent tone.
"Whatever cat." Streaks scoffed, "At least I don't get distracted by balls of yarn."
"You have been watching way too much Earth media." Kii'era shook her head in disbelief at her comment. Then turned to Duke, "I've been meaning to discuss that arm of yours." She changed the subject and earned a glare from the eldest mallard. "Angel tells me that the creator is struggling to get it to move like a regular arm. Is that right?"
"Uh, well, yeah." Duke shrugged and gave a look of apprehension as the feline woman moved closer to him.
"May I take a quick look?" She asked looking at him with an unreadable look. Duke gave Angel a questioning glance.
"Trust me, you're lucky she asked first." Angel shrugged as she tried to keep a straight face, which was hard with the dirty look Kii'era gave her.
"I am not that bad." Kii'era pouted earning several laughs.
"My dear," Kyoza slapped her back, "you are a wonderful woman, but you lose all reason when it comes to technology." When Kii'era's nose went slightly pink the old man and Angel burst out laughing.
"Do you mind?" She turned to Duke again, choosing to simply ignore them, although she felt the eyes of Tanya on her.
"Why not." Duke shrugged and the arm awkwardly rose. Kii'era took gentle hold of the appendage and pulled out a small palm pad. She ran it along the arm and across the area of chest closest to said arm.
"Who created this arm for you?" The feline asked not taking her eyes off the arm and her pad, "It's quite advanced compared to the tech I have seen on this planet so far."
"A kid called Buzz." Duke scratched his cheek with his real hand feeling a bit uncomfortable being the centre of attention for his disability.
"Kid?" Kii'era raised a brow. "A child made this? How old is this child?"
"He's 15 now." Wilding supplied. The white mallard had just returned from finding Jessica a chair to sit on until they were ready to go. With a smile, Jessica gratefully sat down, and the white mallard picked up a tired Molly to hold her on his hip so the little blonde could rest her head on his shoulder. He doubted it would be long before Molly would be asleep.
"Impressive, even by our standards." Kii'era replied, then looked up at Duke, "However, as impressive it is, I doubt this arm serves its purpose. Am I right?" Duke's breath caught in his throat, then he looked away.
"No, it doesn't." He said quietly feeling ashamed at the admission.
"I can help with that." The woman assured him, finally releasing the arm. "Although I will want to meet with this Buzz to discuss his future. With a place at one of the universities on Falsus, he could flourish beyond anything he could imagine here."
"Are you already trying to increase your staff, cat?" Streaks laughed showing no animosity in her jab.
"If he wishes to join our ranks then that would be up to him." Kii'era huffed, "For now, I will settle for ensuring a boy with this kind of potential, gets the opportunities he deserves."
"So, the arm?" Duke reminded her.
"Oh, yes." Kii'era smiled, "It would involve a trip to Falsus." She held up her hand as Duke seemed to want to object, "We have recently finished a transport module up on our temporary moon base, so we would only need to get you there and the remainder of the travel would be almost instantaneous. Once there we can replace this arm for something that will look and feel more like the arm that you lost." She paused, "Of course, only if that's what you want."
"You kidding?!" Duke laughed bitterly, "Continue feeling like a useless lump, or get a working arm back so I can join my team in battle and on the ice again?" Duke ignored the incredulous look from Wildwing and continued, "If you think you can give me an arm that will be useful then I accept!"
"Now that's settled!" Kyoza clapped his hands together, "I suggest you and your team all join us on Falsus for a much-needed break. I will arrange for a team to stand in your place, in case anything should happen whilst you are gone." He then looked at Angel, "And I can discuss some matters with my former student." Angel raised a brow but didn't seem phased. "And you dear lady," He held a hand-out for Jessica, "You clearly need to return home to rest. So perhaps we can discuss this another time, when your day has not been so long."
"Um, thank you." Jessica said as the old man helped her up. Kyoza passed her to Wildwing who wrapped his spare arm around Jessica's shoulders protectively. Kyoza bowed slightly to them both and then began to leave.
"Come on ladies," Kyoza called his guards, "It's time to leave these people so they can return home." The ducks watched them leave and began to leave themselves, noticing that most of the officials had left some time before.
Tanya scanned the information on the screen before her. Her face looked like that of a child in a toy store as she took it all in. Her teammates and the handful of friends that they had invited to accompany them were all elsewhere, but Tanya had opted to stay with Duke, citing that it was partly her fault that Duke had lost his arm so she should be with him for the procedure. Kii'era had met them and introduced them to the doctor who would be carrying out the operation needed. She then left Duke with the medical staff to be prepped. Kii'era had taken Tanya to her lab in a neighbouring building and allowed the blonde duck free reign to explore and look at anything Tanya wanted. Tanya absorbed the information as she went and made mental notes of things that could seriously improve her own tech. Other mental notes were made relating to things she wanted to discuss with the feline woman to better understand what she was reading.
"See anything interesting?" Kii'era asked. Tanya jumped and turned in Kii'era's direction with a sheepish smile. She didn't quite trust herself to try and talk around someone she didn't know very well as yet, so she nodded. Angel had already warned Kii'era of Tanya's speech issues and the blue haired feline smiled before moving closer. "Wanna know more about anything?" Tanya paused and looked apprehensive. Kii'era came closer though and gave the blonde a kind look, "Angel told me you struggle with words sometimes." Kii'era commented. "If it's easier, why don't you just point out what you're curious about?" Tanya blushed but took a deep breath and pointed to a file that included information surrounding the teleportation technology developed by the Plutarkians. "I understand that your people don't have that kind of technology. Is that right?" Tanya nodded to confirm, "To my knowledge, this universe only has universal capabilities. But they have been working on interdimensional advancements, curtesy of that Draganus character. We haven't been able to obtain any form of intel surrounding this, which is irritating, but I have been writing my own notes and theories surrounding this." Kii'era looked at Tanya, "As someone who has actually experienced the technology in action, I would very much like to discuss those experiences with you. Not to mention swap any notes." Tanya blushed at this, "Obviously, I wouldn't want to impose in any way, and you might not feel up to it now but…"
"N..No, It's o…okay." Tanya stuttered and smiled at the woman beside her.
"That's great!" Kii-era beamed then brought up her notes. "Now, I have a theory that some Amayan technology might be the solution. More particularly, I think that the hyper drive systems in the old Amayan built battle cruisers, could prove to be the link to understanding this interdimensional technology." Kii'era kept bringing up more diagrams. Tanya recognised Angel's cherry red ship but there were diagrams of different technology that the blonde assumed was from inside the ship itself. "Little is known about how the technology was developed and the ships that remain with the technology are incredibly old. They were reserved for the emperor and his family as well as the highest-ranking members of the Imperial Guard. We have one former member on our staff, so I have been able to study one recently. The ability to move at hyper speed is beyond all other ship technology known to the 7 galaxies, and the methods of creating the ships were lost when Azmaria fell. Although enough can be garnered to repair the few that remain. When an Amayan ship goes into hyperspace," Kii'era brought up a small animation showing a ship similar to Angel's but was white with blue accents. This ship seemed to glow for a few moments before it looked like it was sucked into a portal. The portal looked like a tunnel. A tunnel that looked very familiar to Tanya. "I believe that the dimensional limbo that has been mentioned to us in recent months, is what the Amayans would call sub-space and this is what their ships pass through when they hyper jump."
"If th.. that's the c..case," Tanya took a deep breath, "Then their ships could have tele… tele… their ships could do what Draganus' ship can do!" Tanya stared in awe at the screen then looked to Kii'era, "Sh… Show me e..everything!" Kii'era grinned and began bringing up all of her files, then moved to a filing cabinet where she produced a note pad. This was given to Tanya as well. The two women, both avian and feline, sat down and began going through all of the theories and notes gathered so far. They talked well into the night and Tanya truly enjoyed herself for the first time since being kidnapped.
"Are you sure you don't want to take Kii'era up on her offer of getting one of their doctors to look at you?" Wildwing asked as they wondered around a park nearby to the GA HQ.
"Kii'era also said that she intends to be back and forth between Earth and Falsus and would speak with Alex and Tanya about interspecies births." Jessica chuckled, "Not to mention that Tanya nearly has all those upgrades finished. She told me that the tech schematics, taken from Angel's ship will make this baby as safe as can be. Now we have it at the pond too. So, for once in your life, stop fussing." She kissed his cheek with a smile.
"I am not fussing." Wildwing pouted at her, "I'm worried about you."
"I know that." Jessica rubbed her belly as the baby landed a good hard kick.
"Are you okay?!" Wildwing grabbed her shoulders as if she were about to collapse.
"So, help me Wildwing, I will ask Tanya to sedate you if you're not careful." Jessica rubbed her temples before taking a deep breath and regaining her composure. "Bean just kicked me is all." She said more calmly." Jessica watched as Molly was talking to several alien children of varying races before the small group went to play on a climbing frame. Satisfied her daughter was safe, Jessica led Wildwing by the hand to a bench where they could see the children play and sat him down. "Wing, you know that I am not glass right? I have had been pregnant before and, this one may be a little different, but..."
"But you could have lost bean when..." Wildwing tried to interject.
"Which was a particularly stressful and long day, that included me falling!" Jessica pointed out, "We all did, it's just I must have fallen on my stomach or something. Alex has already said that walking around like this is fine and I have not left the pond without an armed escort since." She laughed a little, "I am starting to feel a bit like a prisoner with how protective you're being." She held up a hand to stop him from interrupting again, "I know that's not why you're doing this and I kind of like how your being, to an extent. But even you're not fool proof."
"I don't want anything to happen to you or our baby Jess." Wildwing said quietly leaning towards her and resting his head on her shoulder, closing his eyes as if afraid to see her face and her reaction.
"I know Wildwing, and I love you for that." Jessica placed a finger beneath his beak and made him look at her, "But you need to stop worrying or you are going to have a heart attack before this baby even has the opportunity to attempt to come into this world! And trust me," She smirked, "That will not help keep me calm in the slightest." Wildwing laughed and nuzzled her neck.
"I love you Jess." He whispered.
"I love you too Wing." She replied.
Elsewhere, Angel led Mookie and Thrash into a Falsus equivalent of an arcade. Unlike arcades on Earth, this arcade was several stories high with a section for everything from games that were similar to the Earth computer games to entire rooms that emerged you into fictional worlds better than any virtual reality the pair had ever seen. The purple haired punk and her red-haired partner had stared in wonder for several minutes, not even noticing that Angel had left their side to pay for their entry into the building. Angel handed them some electronic passes with a grin.
"Why would Nosedive not want to be here?!" Thrash exclaimed.
"He wanted to finally try out his bike properly and Streaks offered to show him the best places to do it." Angel shrugged. "He's going to meet us here later so I can go see what Kyoza wanted." She told them as she led them to a room of games she thought they would find most familiar with to start them off, "That way you can spend as long as you like here." She added with a wink.
"Hell yeah!" Mookie whooped as she trotted ahead to look at the offerings in the room.
"These are probably the most similar to the arcade games Dive has shown me on Earth, so I figured we should start here." Angel supplied as she showed them how to use the cards she had given them to boot up the games.
"So, what's the rules for these things?" Thrash asked as he picked up some gear that the other gamers in the room were wearing and looked at it curiously.
"Easy," Angel said as she pulled on the gear slowly to ensure her friends could see how it was done, "beat the bad guys any way you can."
"So, a standard beat em up then!" Mookie laughed.
"Pretty much!" Angel chuckled.
Nosedive whooped as he gunned his engine along the desert sands as fast as his new ride would go. The blue racer beeped along with him as he pulled off a few tricks, curtesy of the powerful engine within his new bike. Streaks was close behind riding lazily but keeping up with very little effort. She had lent him a Martian helmet for the occasion, explaining that the atmosphere out of the city could affect some riders and the helmet would automatically adjust his air intake as well as offer better protection than his normal headgear. The helmet was just the right shape to accommodate his beak, although he suspected it would still be an issue for Wildwing's longer beak. The tan mouse had also given the bike a quick look over and showed Nosedive a few maintenance jobs he should do on a regular basis that was particular to the Martian design. Then she had produced her own bike and led the way to the Falsus wastelands where she advised him he could open the throttle up and see what his new bike could really do for the first time since acquiring it.
"All right," Streaks said over the helmet's in-built communicator, "before I die of boredom, you've got the bike," Nosedive could hear the smirk in her voice, "let's see if you've got the moves?" Streaks pulled level with him, "See that mountain range to the north?"
"Yeah?" Nosedive replied making a small jump over some rocks jutting out of the sands then glancing to his right again, once he had the bike under control again.
"Last one to reach the middle peak, buys the drinks tonight!" Streaks cackled as her engine roared and she left Nosedive for dust. "Let's rock and ride kid! Woo hoo!" The blonde duck blinked and leant down and patted his bike.
"You gonna put up with that?" He smirked to himself as the bike roared in a response. Dive got back into a better position on his new ride then opened the throttle and pressed the button Charlie had shown him, before the redhead had left with the Orion. The rear wheel suddenly moved at an incredible speed and Nosedive was moving at a rate he never thought his bike would ever manage. He was soon level with Streaks and the mouse nodded at him in approval before she encouraged her bike to go a little faster.
As they neared the mountain Nosedive saw that the terrain became patchy and there were huge gorges and crumbling paths up into the mountains that they were racing towards. Nosedive looked at his bike before leaning his body down to help with streamlining before hoping his bike would help him out and he remembered everything Charlie and Streaks had told him about what the AI marvels could do. As he approached the first gorge, Dive noticed a button flashing he frowned in confusion but pressed it and rocket boosters accelerated him even more, allowing him to make the jump easily. He maintained the speed to get along the first crumbling path before it could crumble beneath him. It was then that he noticed Streaks simply driving straight up the mountain that was their target.
"Can we do that?" Dive shouted to his bike. The bike beeped and the button from before began flashing along with another. He pressed the buttons in the order they began flashing and steered the vehicle to drive vertically up the mountain. "Awe man!" Dive whined, "We're gonna loose!" with a final burst of speed, his bike did everything it could to accelerate enough to beat their opponent, but they were too far behind and Streaks was sat sideways across her bike grinning at him as he skidded to a stop. "I call foul!" He laughed.
"I guess I could let you off the drinks for now." She winked.
"You're so kind." Nosedive laughed with a roll of his eyes.
"This is nice." Mallory sighed as she leant into Canard whilst they explored Falsus on foot.
"Hmn?" Canard looked down at her, "What did you say?"
"I said this was nice." Mallory scowled at him, "You agreed to treat this like a date Canard, and you aren't even here, are you?"
"Sorry Mallory," Canard scratched his neck, "I guess I just think we should still be on Earth."
"And we have perfectly suitable replacements whilst we're away. Actually, qualified ones too!" Mallory rubbed her temples, "For the first time ever, we are getting to have a real date without fear of being attacked or being swamped by fans and all you can think about is work!" Mallory pouted and let his arm go, crossing her arms instead.
"Mallory, don't be like that!" Canard almost whined.
"You complain about Nosedive all the time," the red head snapped, "but you can be just as childish! You know that?"
"I'm nothing like that brat!" He snapped angrily. He paused and took a deep breath before continuing, "I'm sorry Mallory. I'm just on edge. We still don't know exactly what Draganus is planning and I'm pretty sure that small team on Earth aren't going to be able to stand up to a saurian invasion, no matter how good they are."
"Neither would we." Mallory pointed out with a brow raised.
"No, but where do you think Draganus plans to go as soon as Earth is under his control?" Canard scowled, "Puckworld! At least if we make a stand we've done something!"
"And if we die making that stand," Mallory sighed, "we won't help our home at all, or Earth for that matter!"
"But at least we did something." Canard looked to the side bitterly. A small hand on his cheek brought his attention back to Mallory.
"It's twenty-four hours." She said, "I know a lot can happen in that time, but after everything we've all been through, I think we've earned that." She nuzzled him gently, "don't you?" Canard's face softened and he pulled Mallory to his side.
"Good thing they gave us money to spend," He smirked, "I guess Angel and her connections are good for something."
"Canard!" Mallory slapped his shoulder but chuckled, nonetheless.
Grin had wondered the city before finding himself a small park that was close to a more run-down area of the city. Children played in the streets, as adults went about their day, doing chores and selling their wares. Despite the bustling community Grin found the atmosphere calming.
"Hey mister?" Grin turned to see a little white and brow mouse staring up at him. The little boy was flanked by other mice, some bird like children, feline children and other species' with various coloured skins and appearances. There were even two Amayan children. Grin counted at least twenty children gathered around him, looking up at him curiously. Grin smiled down at the boy who addressed him. "Where are you from? I've seen all sorts of people and I've never seen anyone like you mister."
"I am from a planet called Puckworld." Grin told them.
"Where is that?" A little onyx skinned child asked him, taking their thumb out of their mouth long enough to do so, but swiftly replacing it back in their mouth when the question was raised.
"It is in another dimension." Grin answered and could tell this confused many of the children, "It is a little confusing. But my friends and I are the only ones of our kind in this universe because we cannot get home to our planet or our own dimension. It takes a very special teleportation device to get us there and only our enemies have that technology." One of the Amyan children stepped forward and took his hand.
"Did the Plutarkians take your planet too?" She asked sadly.
"It's okay," an older Amayan boy said confidently placing a hand on the girl's shoulder, "the space pirate Angel and the Silver Sabre are gonna kick the Plutarkian yellow bellies to the ends of the universe where they can't hurt anyone else ever again!"
"Yeah!" A female mouse stepped forward, brushing her mop of brown hair out of her brown furred face, "And the Biker Mice will help too!" She grinned.
"These are your heroes?" Grin asked.
"Yeah," Growled a Catatonian defensively, "What of it!"
"Will you tell me about them?" Grin asked pointing to a small patch of grass with a single tree on the corner of a street. He walked over to the tree then sat down in the lotus position beneath it. The children looked at each other, looking unsure at first. Then they all ran forward and sat down around him. One by one, children began telling him the tales of both people he knew and people he had herd stories of but had not yet met.
So, I started the one shot mentioned in the previous chapter then realised it would contain spoilers. As such I am trying to proofread all the chapters that are needed to ensure that certain things are still kept as a surprise for you. Hopefully will get another up soon. Angel xx