Chapter 3



Aki and Sid walked into the bay to meet a small engineer with a mop of brown hair and lively powdery blue eyes; "Hello Dr. Ross, Dr. Sid." He said with a small nod.

Aki smiled politely, "So, exactly what ship am I using?" Aki asked instantly, looking around the bay. Her eyes fell on the familiar ship sitting in the corner.

"Your own." He said, "It's a bit slow and the scanners are still a bit touchy but you'll manage to get wherever you need to go, Dr."

"Thank you," Dr. Sid nodded.

"No problem. When you bring it back we'll fix it up again. Just needs a few things adjusted after your heroic efforts in the crater."

Aki smiled slightly; she forgot that everyone was informed of that, but no one knew about the new threat except the council and a few generals, majors, and so on. When she made it back she was greeted and thanked by quite a lot of people, which made her feel better that she knew she made an affect in someone's life at least.

Aki walked into her ship and sighed at the familiar surroundings of her ship; Gray had been standing there, telling her how insane she was just a few days before. She sat down at the cockpit, preparing for the pre flight countdown; she had two minutes before the ship took off.

Behind her, the hatch slid closed with a hiss. She sat down in the chair and waited for the ship to take off. A moment later the engines shuddered and started up, rattling her bones a little before the humming died down a little.

The ship slowly hovered through the bay and blasted off into space, leaving the orange barrier behind her. To the side, a small time calculator clicked on, and she gave a moan; it read 1 hour 25 minutes 58 seconds; that's how long it was going to take just to get there.
The familiar warmth of passing through the atmosphere reached her, then the sudden coldness of space and weightlessness overcame her. Though the thrusters took her through the atmosphere fast enough, it was now going slow of it's remaining engine, trudging through the blackness of space.

"I'm in space now, Sid." She said into the transmitter.

"Very good Aki. I just hope there's enough air inside the piece of the Zeus Cannon to last whomever happens to be dwelling there. Good luck Aki." The voice faded into static, and she clicked off her ear piece.

She unbuckled herself from the chair and floated through the cabin, looking at all the small panels and buttons on the wall; everything was running fine. This was going to take just about forever.

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Aki floated through the cabin of the ship, trying to kill time it would take to arrive to the broken part of the canon. She still needed a few minutes before she would finally reach it, and she had already been there an hour and a half. Her ship was partially damaged so it wasn't quite as fast as it used to be, given that one of the engines was turned off because of repairs.

As she got closer, she could see the cannon clearly; a very, very large chunk was still left, burnt and half of it was glowing green because of the generator radiation was still glowing inside the long tubes of energy. She could tell the door had cut off at the hatches,
for as she approached her wristwatch started beeping again, telling her that the life form was alive and well, as far as she could tell. The ship's scanners were still a little haywire, but it only needed a few adjustments.

She felt a loud clunk as the ship connected with the broken hatch of the Zeus Cannon.

She sighed and floated until she came to the hatch. After she was sure the scanners were telling the truth, that the air was breathable, she pressed the button that should have opened the hatch; nothing. It was frozen, literally.

She turned until her feet were pressing against the iced door, and grabbed the edge of the opened hatch that was on her side of the ship. She slammed both feet into the door at the same time and it broke into small pieces like ice.

Cold air hit her like a brick wall, filled with the smell of smoke and gases; one spark and she would be done for. She floated through the tube and looked around the first section of the broken piece of the Zeus Cannon. So far it was vacant, but on the far side of the room was another hatch, which she hoped was working, since it hadn't been in direct contact with the freezing coldness of space.

The walls around her were covered in ice and frost, and blackened slightly by fires, but she guessed they had gone out when this side of the ships fire systems activated. She floated forward to the next hatch, grabbing the handrail used to pull herself along.

She came to the next hatch and pressed a hand against the pad; it was also frozen. Using the same method she kicked it opened, and was hit by another wave of cold and more smoke. After it cleared, she looked forward into the room. She first noted it was the core of the reactor, but as her eyes traveled she saw another form.

The man was passed out, floating, but not moving, a few inches off the floor on the platform that had taken him to the controls. His black leather trench coat was in tatters, he was facing away and his dark black hair was disheveled.
She floated over and landed softly on her feet. She kneeled down and turned the form over, and gasped.

It was General Hein.

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Severus: WHOO HOO! Another chapter up! Actually, I just finished chapter 10 but you peeps have to wait. :p

Thank you LadyKayoss! You are awesome! And yes, your speculation was quite correct. We did this because we decided general Hein needs at least some little happiness of some sort and Aki had just lost Gray so, you know, a nice little Raine/Sevy fixer upper. :D Anyway, thanks!