Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for Mira. I'm getting no money from this, so please don't sue me, you won't get anything any way. This is just for pure fun...so enjoy!
Session Three: Put On A Happy Face
Faye Valentine never had a place that she could truly call home. That is until the Bebop came along. She did know a good thing when she saw one, the crew of the Bebop was a good thing and the closest to family she would ever have. Sure, they were odd and weird, but then again, who said she wasn't? She had her own ways. Besides, it was all free.
Lounging back against the comfortable yellow sofa in the living room of the ship, she watched Ed sway back and forth in front of her computer screen, mumbling to herself. The red haired child typed keys at random and Faye found that the small clicking noise was all that kept her from being mesmerized by the blinking lights reflected in the girl's goggles.
Jet stuck his head into the room to check on the two girls.
"Found anything yet Ed?"
"Yes and no."
Faye let her head drop back so she was staring at the ceiling. "I came back to this."
Jet did his usual routine of ignoring her. "What did you find Ed?"
"Ed found out what Nanashi means. It is Japanese for 'No Name'."
"Good name for hackers."
"But Ed has been unable to find them."
Jet and Faye leaned over to stare at the computer screen. A bunch of code and swirling
smiley faces that were Ed's trademark drifted across the screen. It was a miracle she could find
anything. Suddenly Ed sat straight up and remained motionless. Faye leaned back in case she
exploded. Knowing that kid, anything was possible. Jet merely laid a hand on her shoulder.
"What?"
Ed blinked at the screen for a few seconds and her lip twitched. Her amber eyes never
left the code that stared back at her. She hit a few keys and a group of pixels came together to
form words. Jet's mouth hung open in shock.
How are you Radical Edward? It's been a while since I've caught you in my territory.
Faye crowded her way into the group so she too could see what was causing the fear.
"Who's that?"
Ed let out a low sound of awe. "Nanashi."
"These are the people that we're looking for?"
Jet nodded his head. "Ed, can you get a trace?"
"Working on it. Let Ed talk to them."
Didn't mean to invaded your cyberspace. Will leave soon.
Ed held her breath as the tracer ticked away. She privately hoped that they would continue to talk to her. She would love to get a hold of the world famous hackers. Perhaps they could teach her a trick or two.
What brings you here Radical Edward? Money?
Why would money have anything to do with it?
You're funny. I like you. So I will apologize.
Ed felt her stomach knot. She hoped that didn't mean what she thought it did.
Why are you apologizing?
For this…perhaps later in cyber time. Smile.
Ed groaned and fell backwards onto the cold metal floor of the Bebop. Faye and Jet were left staring at a black screen. Jet scratched his head.
"What happened?"
Ed rolled around on the floor. "Disconnected."
Faye nudged the child with her foot. "Well, did you get a trace?"
"No." Ed wailed. "Just two more seconds and we would have had it."
Jet straightened up and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "So they know how long it takes to be traced. And from the sounds of it, they know there's a bounty out for them. Do you think we'll be able to catch them, Ed?"
Ed sat up and started typing without answering. She would type furiously, pause and then resume her clicking music. After a few minutes she just threw her hands up and fell back to the floor, landing on Ein this time. The corgi let out a startled yelp, but remained laying down, acting as a makeshift pillow.
Jet looked at Faye and she returned the glance. Both asked Ed a question in unison.
"Can we find them Ed?"
"Sure, as soon as the ship gets fixed. They wiped our computer system."
"What!?" Jet yelled.
"Navigations are gone, along with the weapons systems, defensive systems, engines, everything. It's going to take Ed days to get all the information back."
Faye went back to the couch. "Great. Stuck here on this piece of junk for days without anything."
"Transmissions are still working." Ed said hopefully.
Jet crossed his arms. "Well, at least we can call for help. That was sure nice of them."
Faye went back to watching Ed program the Bebop's computer systems and Jet went back to the bridge. As he entered the room that gave him the best view of the black void outside the ship, he pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and lit it. How many times when things had gone wrong had he and Spike stood in this room, smoking and just thinking. Sometimes they would talk about non-essential things, but most the time they remained quiet. For as wild and brash as he was, Jet was hard put to find a better bounty partner.
Jet took a long drag on his cigarette. He hoped Spike had finally found his peace.
The transmission view screen beeped, startling Jet out of his thoughts. Leaning over the console, he hit the receive button. The face of a sharp featured woman appeared. Dark auburn hair hung in waves around her shoulders and brilliant blue eyes stared straight at him. Jet couldn't decide if she was pretty or beautiful, she seemed to be caught in the middle, making description futile.
"Is this the ship Bebop?"
"May I ask who's speaking?"
"You don't know me. My name is Mira Davenport. I'm looking for Jet Black, captain of the Bebop."
She seemed harmless enough. "I'm Jet Black and this is the Bebop. How may I help you?"
"I have a friend of yours here. And just so you know, I'm not calling to have you come pick him up, but just to let you know he's alright."
Jet pushed back the hope that had sprung up. "Who is it?"
"Spike Spiegel. I found him shortly after his, uh, encounter with Vicious. He's still bed ridden, but recovering. He should be up within the week."
Jet smiled. So, the lucky lunkhead had beat the odds once more. "You sure you don't want me to take him off your hands? He can be somewhat of a pill when he's injured."
Mira grinned a sarcastic smirk. "Tell me about it. I wish I could leave his mouth bandaged. But he has to eat."
Jet let out a laugh. "Tell me about it. I barely kept food on this ship when he was here."
Mira laughed with him. "I believe it."
"Do you want me come and slap him around for you?"
Mira shook her head. "Wouldn't help. I tried it. But if you would like to see him, I'll give you my address."
Jet rubbed the back of his neck and looked at the floor. "Well, that might take a while. We just had a run in with the Scarlet Nanashi. They wiped out all our computer systems. Basic directions might be more helpful."
Mira looked off screen. "Hang on. I might actually be able to help you. I'm an information broker and I might have the equivalent to a start up disk. What kind of ship do you have?"
"Basic old fishing boat. I converted it to space travel. It's a-"
"Got it. I have the basics on a disk. It should be enough to get you guys back online again, but you'll still have to program quite a bit."
"Hey, any little bit helps."
"Alright, I'm sending you the info that you need. You're computer specialist, you do have one don't you?"
"Yeah. She'll be more than happy to get a hold of this."
"Okay. She should know how to download this material."
"Hey, thanks. This is really appreciated. I think I just might have to take Spike off your hands now."
She let out a light hearted laugh that told Jet she was very good at hiding secrets. But yet, she had bailed them out. And she was taking care of Spike. She couldn't be that bad. In fact, Jet was beginning to kind of like her.
"Here's my address for when you get your navigations up and running. I'm on Mars right now and when you get here, I can probably do the rest of the programming for you. It'll go quicker for your computer specialist."
"Mars, huh? We're not that far from you. I'd say we could be there in ten hours."
Mira smiled and nodded her head. "Glad I already cleaned the apartment. I'll tell Spike to put on his happy face in ten hours."
"You have him put on a happy face, I won't recognize him."
Both shared a laugh again before Mira signed off. Jet called to Ed to see how she was coming with the information Mira had sent them. Ed was excitedly swaying back and forth once more, happily humming to herself.
"Well Ed, how much programming is left?"
"The information that was sent to us had completely brought up our navigations and climate controls. Due to the specific weapons and defense that you installed to the ship, they will take manual programming."
Faye inspected her fingernails. "How much longer Ed?"
"About eight hours. Maybe ten."
"Good. In ten hours we'll be landing on Mars."
Faye looked over at Jet. "What's on Mars?"
Jet turned back to bridge so he could lay in the course. "Spike's on Mars."
Faye jumped to her feet. "He's alive!"
Jet turned back around to face her. "Yeah. So what do you care?"
Faye tampered some of her excitement and tried to look cool. "I don't care."
"Heh. I bet." Jet mumbled as he turned to lay in the course the Mars. He for one was glad that Spike was alive. Maybe his wild partner could find peace this time around.
___________________________
Titan. The small moon that orbited Mars. The small moon that had been soaked in blood. The war had been ruthless. The climate had been barely livable. But she had survived. Thousands didn't.
Mira found herself running full tilt down a hand dug trench, clinging to her medic bag. Bombs went off all around the long hole, sending rains of dust, dirt and metal down on the occupants. She brushed the cloud away from her face, feeling the dirt smear on her sweaty face.
The whistle of another bomb flew over head. Someone from behind jumped onto her back and pushed her face down into the dirt. The bomb exploded and she could hear the person on top of her grunt as the debris hit him.
"Move!" A harsh voice spurred her protector to action. He jumped up, dragging her with him. She saw the other person a few feet ahead of them. Shoulder length white hair that had escaped the confines of the hood blew in the hot wind that always accompanied explosions. He waited until she was a few feet from him then turned those empty blue eyes away from her and took off running.
She looked up at the man pulling her along. Long ebony hair was loosely tied back from his midnight blue eyes. Beneath the grime, his lips were pulled to one side in a smirk.
"Don't tell me you find this humorous?" she found herself saying.
"No, not at all. I find the army sending an unarmed woman into the trenches humorous. Not to mention stupid."
They continued their run. The man that was ahead of them quickly gained more speed and disappeared behind a wall of dirt.
"We're almost there."
Mira's muscles were sore from the run, but the adrenaline rush was just enough to keep her going. They were almost there. She could see the opening. Just a few more feet.
Another bomb went off. This time right in front of them, in the trench. A blinding white light flooded her vision followed by an intense heat…
Mira let out a scream and sat upright…and fell onto the hardwood floor of her apartment. She was drench in sweat and breathing hard. Gasping for breath, she laid a flushed cheek to the cool floor and swallowed. The sound of bed sheets moving caused her to look up. Spike was sitting up in bed, trying his best to get up. Mira jumped to her feet, the nightmare forgotten.
"Lay back down."
"Are you alright?"
Frustrated at herself for waking him up, and now having worried him, Mira gently pushed him back down on the bed.
"It was a nightmare. Ever had one?"
"Yeah."
"There. Nothing new. Just a bad dream. Now, go back to sleep."
Spike reluctantly laid back down but watched her closely. "Who's Gren?"
Mira looked over him with a cocked eyebrow. "Why?"
"You yelled his name. Who is he?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Probably just a name I heard somewhere. Go back to sleep. I think I'll sleep in the living room tonight. If you need anything-"
"I'll call you."
Mira patted his bandaged shoulder and padded softly towards the door.
"Mira?"
"Yeah?"
"If you need anything, just call."
She tossed a smile over her shoulder as she opened the door. "I just might."