Chapter 5-Kronos

The sky was gray as usual and there was a soft breeze. It was a cool wind that had only enough strength to barely move your hair. The landscape was gray as well. It was always moist and only growing a hint of vegetation. The DNA clones were unleashed upon the earth, but the animals were scarce. They were kept under constant supervision by scientists so as they wouldn't die out on their own.

Cale and Akima stood outside their Phoenix side by side. They were watching the Valkyrie land right in front of them just a safe distance away. The engines hummed as the blue fire shot out of several of them on the hull and on the back of the ship. The dark purplish-blue steel shimmered in the Andali sun and continued on with the heavy drone of the engines as it set out the landing struts and came to a quiet halt as it touched the ground. A door opened and a ramp came down from underneath the Valkyrie as Korso stood there waiting in the doorway.

"Hey, how you doin'?" Korso asked in a welcoming way. Cale and his wife stood there with only two bags: one for her and one for him.

"Just fine. We're ready." Akima replied while walking along with Cale up toward the ramp to greet Korso.

"You got everything? We'll probably be gone for a while." Korso asked wanting to make sure they were ready for this.

"It's all here. We don't need that many things." Cale said as he and Akima then reached him on the ramp and followed him inside. Stith and Gune were there to greet them as they came aboard.

"Akima! It's so good to see you!" Stith said with a loud yell as she put her brown hand on Akima's shoulder. "Cale! It's great to see you again as well." Stith continued this time a little more calm. Gune was dancing around singing their names in repetition.

"Yeah, it's nice to be back." Cale stated while setting his bag down. Korso closed the door and retracted the ramp by pushing a button on the wall near to where they were standing.

"Stith, Gune, prep for launch." Korso said and they obeyed by walking up a flight of stairs in order to reach the bridge. Stith went first and Gune quickly hopped up each step behind her with one foot. "Get situated; it's gonna be a long flight." Korso continued as he followed Stith and Gune up to the bridge.

Akima began to walk in the opposite direction of the three and Cale picked up his luggage and followed her. "Uh, Akima, where are you going?" Cale inquired while he hurriedly followed Akima through one door down a corridor and through a second door.

"To my room." she replied glancing over her shoulder in her response.

"What about me?"

"Oh yeah, my room is too small for the two of us, isn't it?" Akima halted on a dime, making Cale lightly bump into her.

"It isn't that small," Cale suggested, "We sure wouldn't be able to go to mine. That one was only a bed."

"Well, my bed is sort of small."

"That's not a problem with me," he said with a large, sly smile, "just as long as we're together." Akima started walking again and Cale continued to follow. They finally reached her room and set their bags down. Akima started to become overwhelmed with memories, some good some bad, when she came into her old room. The baseball, the towel, the pictures on her wall, it was all so comforting. She hadn't had a chance to take it with her since both she and Cale were chased off the Valkyrie by Preed and Korso.

"I wonder if they actually need us up there." Cale said as he hopped on Akima's old bed. He his hands behind his head for support and laid on his back.

"Well, we can stay here until they call for us." Akima suggested. She gave a sharp half-smile and backed into the door. She closed it with a soft clang and turned the locking wheel to catch his attention.

"I guess I'm not going anywhere for quite some time!" Cale replied taking hint of her innuendo.

"All ready to go, captain." Stith said from below the bridge. Korso held on to the rail as he climbed the stairs. Gune was just behind, doing nothing, really.

"Good. Let's get airborne." Korso said as he slumped down into his captain's chair and held on to the flight controls. He waited until Stith started the engines by pressing a button before he began to move the swivel double joystick. There wasn't a noise from the engines because they were on stealth runners from the inside. In fact, you wouldn't have been able to tell if the ship were moving let alone hear the engines fire. The Valkyrie levitated vertically upward toward the sky and spun on an axis counterclockwise. Once it had reached the direction they wanted to go, the rear engines started which made it head upward and eventually out of the gray, virgin atmosphere.

Gune walked out of the bridge and down the hallway into his lab. He walked with his usual cumbersome stride in which he nearly shuffled his feet. His steps made low thudding noises that could be heard all the way into his lab. Korso set the Valkyrie on autopilot and let go of the controls. He accomplished this by pressing a small, green button on the elliptical console infront of him. Then, he stood from his seat, "I'm gonna go talk to Cale," he announced to Stith who was studying a green, circular screen and pressing buttons that corresponded with it.

"Sure, go ahead, I was just thinking of going to weapons to make sure they're all there." Stith replied while still focusing her sight on the screen. Korso trotted down the metal stairs, making clanging sounds with his boots, and continued on his way out of the bridge. Stith followed him for a ways down the hall and then took a left at the first intersection. Korso walked with haste for the Valkyrie was big enough to get lost in if you didn't know your way. He kept his steadfast pace all the way until he reached Cale's old room.

He put both of his hands on the wheel and turned it to open the large door. "Cale, are you in there?" Korso asked with no avail. No one was in the small, rectangular room. He began to wonder where Cale could be. Then, it dawned on him, "Akima should know." He made an advent toward Akima's room which wasn't too far from Cale's old one.

As he approached Akima's room, he began to hear low groaning noises. Korso put his ear to the door and realized that the groaning sounds were from two sources: Cale and Akima. He then heard Akima whisper something, but he couldn't make out what it was, and he figured he didn't want to know. He then realized what was going on and respected their privacy, so he began walking toward his own quarters. He knew that it would have been rude, not to mention embarrassing to them had he walked in.

Later, Cale came into Korso's room. Korso was sitting in his chair in his captain's room. Cale first stuck his head in the door, "Uh, I hear you wanted to see me?" Cale asked. Korso nodded and signaled Cale with a swipe of his hand that he may enter. Cale stepped in and sat down in the adjacent chair as Korso began.

"Enjoy yourself?" Korso asked with a sly smile which made Cale blush.

"We hardly miss a night." he replied with that same sly smile. "So, anyway, where the heck are we headed?"

"I plotted a course for Kronos. It's an old science facility. One of the first ones." Korso began and finished with a distressed expression, "Where your father first proposed the Titan project."

"What's there?" Cale asked inquisitively.

"I figured they might be able to tell us where it is. Also, the Valkyrie needs a few repairs. The engines were damaged in the Drej dogfight a little over a half a year ago and it's not as fast as it used to be, so it'll take a about a week to get there. We'll have to stay for a few days." Korso explained with his feet crossed and propped up on the table before them.

"I can fix it. While we're there, I'll spend time on it. So that's it?" Cale said with a taste of sarcasm, "I don't 'hold the key to humanity' anymore? I am totally expendable."

"No one's expendable, kid. The mission isn't based on you anymore, that's it."

Just then, a crash was heard and was followed by a small, "Ugh". Cale and Korso sat up in their seats and Korso took his feet off the table that overlooked space. "That sounded like Akima." Cale said as he hurriedly jumped up from his seat and ran to the door. He opened it and looked out both ways before he continued going through.

"Akima!" Cale yelled with concern. A little groan was in reply to his holler. He followed it to the bridge which wasn't far from where he was. He came storming in to find her on the floor in pain. "Akima, are you all right?" He asked as he ran to where she was sitting and began supporting her.

"I must have hurt my back. Ah!" she said with pain. "It's my lower back, it hurts. I fell down the stairs from the pilot's seat. I was only checking the settings on the controls."

"You think you can walk back to your room? You should lie down." Cale said as he helped her up. She hissed with pain again. "I can carry you. How 'bout that?"

"Sure." she replied as Cale got down a little and set her in his arms in a forklift style. He carried her all the way to their quarters and set her on the bed to rest.

The Valkyrie moved slowly to a docking tube that protruded from the outside of the spacestation Kronos. It was in the shape of a large ring with tubes that led to the center which was a large sphere. The Valkyrie slowed down, retracted its anterior wings and docked.

"Welcome to Kronos," Korso said, "I'm gonna go get info on the Orb. You two feel free to walk the station." Cale and Akima stood there in the door that led through the tube. Stith and Gune were there along with them.

"I'm gonna go buy more weapons," Stith announced.

"I go to science division with captain," Gune said.

Korso walked through the tube followed by Gune and Stith, Cale and Akima trailed a little behind. Stith went off as soon as they reached the inside of the station in order to go to her area of interest. Korso continued on his way and went around trying to find the head of the station. Cale and Akima were busy looking around at all of the scientists and came to notice that they were mostly human. Mostly everybody was wearing a lab coat. The hallways were large and white with blue lights in a long strip on the ceiling.

"What! You don't know where the Orb is?" Korso exclaimed in frustration while he started pacing. He was meeting with the head of the station who sat at a long, rectangular, black table with several scientists and counselors. Most of them were male. There was also a large black screen behind Korso and opposite the cabinet that displayed information about the Orb and the spacestation it was on.

"We told you where it was, we just don't know where that is." The head replied.

"Right, Gianni, but how don't you know where that is?"

"We lost contact with that military operated spacestation quite some time ago," a scientist answered with much patience, "It's been floating around out there in the middle of nowhere for who knows how long and in which direction."

Korso had his hands on his hips and was beginning to settle down just a little bit, "Do you people realize just how important this is to humanity?"

"It shouldn't be any of our importance what the Drej do with their own affairs; we have things to take care of ourselves, namely the Titan." the head interrupted.

"Where do you think the Drej are going once they get this thing, huh? They're probably afraid of us now more than ever! They'll be back with a new earth-destroying ship and wipe us out all over again." Korso said arguably as he turned and pointed at the head.

"We understand your concern, captain, but we don't feel as though this situation needs to be taken care of by ourselves. Tell you what we'll do, me and my board of directors will have a small meeting and we'll decide what needs to be done. Our decision will be final. You may be dismissed, captain Korso."

Korso walked through the door on his left and out into the white hallway where Gune was there waiting for him. 'Waiting' isn't really an appropriate word because Gune had found a shiny stethoscope to preoccupy himself for the time being. Korso walked out to find him with the stethoscope on Gune's head and he was flicking the metal disc that amplified noises. Gune shook when he did this and even let out a little yelp, but he went right back and flicked it again.

"All right, Gune, let's go." Korso said as he peeled the stethoscope from Gune's head and set it down on a nearby table counter.

"What they say, captain?" Gune asked. He followed Korso as he began to walk away toward the Valkyrie to call it a night.

"Don't know, they'll probably just write me off and do nothing about it." Korso replied not turning his head to look at the short, stubby Gune. They both returned to the ship and found Cale working on the Valkyrie and Akima there with him just to keep him company. Stith was still gone. "How's it coming, kid?" Korso asked.

"Okay. Looks like you had a puncture in this thruster, here. I should be done here in a few days. Akima can you hand me that wrench, dear?" Cale said.

"This one?" Akima asked while holding up a wrench about as big as her arm. Cale was underneath some large contraption lying on his back with his hands up in the machine working on it. Korso stood just behind Akima.

"No the bigger one." Cale said as he pointed to an even larger wrench. She handed it to him with both hands. "Thanks, honey, now anyway, Korso, how did the meeting go?"

"Well, I didn't find out exactly what I wanted to know, but I did find out where the Orb is." Akima intercepted Cale's question by asking it first.

"And where's that?" she asked.

"I don't know, they don't know. Supposedly, they lost track of it a long time ago, they didn't say why. It's just floating out there in the middle of nowhere; worst place to be. This might be a bit harder than finding the Titan. That, we knew a general idea as to where it was with your ring, Cale, but this, this is like lookin' for a needle in a haystack. It could be anywhere."

"Hey, you guys, I'm back!" Stith yelled once she reached the inside of the Valkyrie. She went to where the others were at and brought a small brown bag with her. "I got something for each of us." she announced and they all paid attention to her. "I figured we were fighting Drej so I found this, captain," she said as she pulled out a large weapon and several extra rounds to go with it, "It's an EMP grenade launcher. Ought to tear those Drej to shreds." Korso thanked her as she handed him the grenade launcher. "Cale, I got you a plasma shotgun. You pump it to charge the plasma up." Cale nodded as he was working to thank Stith. "And for you, Akima, I found these." she said as she pulled out a piece of cloth and unwrapped them. They were two wakizashi blades, or Japanese swords and each had a deep blue sheath.

"Oh, Stith, they're beautiful!" Akima exclaimed as she pulled one of the swords out of the sheath and looked it over.

"The blade length is nineteen and three quarters inches long and the handle in about six and a half of an inch long. I knew how much you cared about family roots, so I thought that it was right up your alley, you being Japanese an' all."

Stith then pulled out a large cylindrical weapon. It was a laser-guided missile launcher. "This one's for me!" she exclaimed as she put it over her shoulder. "I love this place, I didn't know you could find so many weapons on Kronos!"