A/N: Well, let's get on with it. What happened last time? Um, the crew realized that they were lost in space, and were basically screwed. Inez is considering putting the key into the computer, though she knows of its disastrous results. Yurika is starting to sense things wrong when she's with Akito. Those are basically the main things… What will we see here? God only knows. Well, let's look and see what kind of trouble I can get us into today, shall we?

~*~

Uribatake was surprised to find Hikaru sitting on her Aestivalis's foot, armed with a sketchpad, the next morning. 'She said she wasn't going to come down here to just hang around any more…' Nevertheless, Uribatake raised a hand in greeting and yelled, "Hey!" Hikaru looked up from her drawing of an innocent schoolgirl and smiled at Uribatake. She waved back before returning to the sketch. Uribatake walked over and looked over her shoulder. "Hey, that's pretty good. Any reason for drawing her?" Hikaru nodded. "I figure that, since I have nothing better to do, I might as well start my own manga." She laid a skinny finger on the drawing. "This is Ryusaki Reina, smart, kind, and a teacher's pet." Hikaru fell silent and started drawing again, her red eyebrows furrowing.

The silence rang in Uribatake's ears, interrupted occasionally by a slight grunt and a murmur from Hikaru, talking to herself. Eventually, he heard her sigh, crumble the paper, and throw it in some direction. Uribatake turned away from his plans and glanced at the artist. "Trouble?"

Hikaru nodded slowly, then hopped off the robot's foot and sat on the floor, leaning against it. She picked the paper ball up again, and stared at it, examining the folds and edges. 'Something like a distressed, discolored rose.' She took a deep breath. "I don't know why I bother, anyway." Hikaru wasn't sure why she said that, but, as it caught Uribatake's attention, she couldn't bring herself to stop. She was like a shaken soda, and, once opened, she knew she was about to spew everywhere. "I mean, yeah, I'll admit it. I'm a good writer. I can draw pretty well. I guess I'm still bigheaded with my success of 'Under the Branches'. But… I just can't seem to do this correctly when I have too many things to think about."

Uribatake walked over to the yellow robot and crouched down next to the petite girl, the girl of many smiles, none of which graced her face now. The redhead continued, however, seemingly unaware of Uribatake's new position. "Itsuki and Ryoko are bickering like a married couple, and they make up the same way. I'm at a loss most days about who's speaking to who, who am I supposed to be mad at, all that. And then there's Izumi! The girl's so smart, but she's wasting her energy away pining for Miss Fressange, and she hasn't even noticed Izumi! I don't know why Izumi bothers; she has so many good things going for her, and dammit! If she wants lesbian sex, she knows I'd always say yes!" Hikaru threw the paper ball across the room in her rage, it going much farther this time. "And let's face it, Jun and Gai aren't taking this Akito-and-Yurika thing very well. I know, it seems like they're taking it nicely, but let's face it. Jun and Gai's favorite pastime now is to insult Akito and talk about how much of an ass he is! And all of US are trying to get Akito to hang out with us again, because we all feel the hole where that little bastard used to be. Gai gets so quiet sometimes… and he's been reading everything in sight, especially my things. I mean, Jesus, he's becoming as much of a bookworm as Izumi! And Jun… he doesn't think I know, but I do. He cries himself to sleep, every night. That's why I got him a teddy bear, you know? It was hard buying so many things off of the Howmei girls, but I wanted to give my friends good presents, you know? To set the bar and crud. And I didn't even get to give Akito his present! I was going to give him a collage, from copies of all our pictures, but he never wants to talk to me anymore." A single tear dripped off Hikaru's cheek. "It's like, I've lost one of my best friends, and only because I was friends with both of them. But why must I carry all the baggage? Is it because I worry too much about my friends?" Hikaru ripped her glasses off her face and covered her eyes with one hand, pulling her knees up to her chest. "Is it so wrong to love those who understand me so much?" whispered she, before giving way to sobs.

Uribatake wrapped the weeping girl in his arms, surprised that she let all this out. 'She holds it all in until she bursts. And she just burst.' Hikaru gripped the fabric of Uribatake's jacket and sobbed into his shoulder, not even caring that this was the married man that suggested that he had a crush on her. The man whose feelings she secretly reciprocated. Uribatake was at a loss at what to do, not used to comforting women in depression, so he just patted the redhead's back and shushed her until she slowed her crying. It was only then that she pulled away and, after wiping her face with her sleeve, replaced her glasses. She took a deep breath, and turned to Uribatake and smiled broadly. "Thanks Uri-P! I really, really needed that." She stood and walked out of the hangar bay, but not before turning and waving goodbye.

Uribatake smiled, but raised his eyebrows. 'Is that what she meant, by people understanding her? The fact that she lugs around everyone's problems as her own, and hides them behind her pretty smile? Very strange.' Uribatake walked back into his office and glanced over his plans. 'Strange, but very noble.'

~*~

For the past week, Izumi had been spending her afternoons in Inez's lab, listening to her ramble about her latest experiment proudly. Izumi mostly went there for "therapy", but everyone knew she wanted Inez to notice her.

Izumi stopped at the door and knocked twice before entering. She had been such a regular; Inez must have known that, at this time of day, it was the quiet pilot.

Inez glanced down at the door from her perch on the air. "Shit." 'I've forgotten about Izumi's daily visits around now. Damn.' She closed her laptop and lowered herself to the ground, not caring for discretion around Izumi. The pilot's jaw dropped when she discovered Inez floating on air, but quickly regained her composure as she realized that Inez must have lowered the gravity in this room. 'Yes, that must be it. But why is my hair not going every which way?'

Inez's metal shoes came in contact with the floor, and she walked with ease to the desk, and set her laptop on it. Izumi made a cautious step toward the desk, minding that the gravity had been lowered, but became confused at how easily it was to walk. 'The gravity hasn't been lowered, but how…' "How did you do that, Miss Fressange?"

"Please, Izumi. How many times must I tell you? You may call me Inez. Or Ai, if you wish. Miss Fressange is what those tight-asses at Nergal call me." She opened the computer again and started typing at an alarming rate. Izumi walked, still cautious of a supposed gravity fluctuation, towards the desk, and jumped onto it, sitting right next the small computer.

"I'm sorry, Inez. But you're avoiding my question. How did you do that? Did you change the gravity from your communicator or something?"

"Magic."

Izumi chuckled. "I never would have seen you as the humoring type, Inez. But seriously, how did you do it?"

Inez blinked, but didn't smile. "I told you. Magic."

Izumi sighed, and started swinging her legs off the edge of the table. "Fine, don't tell me. God forbid the great Inez Fressange explain something to someone."

Inez glanced at the younger girl, and then continued typing her evaluation of Jumping. "If you don't believe me, I suppose the explanation would have to wait for another day. I have a question to ask you, Izumi. If you had the ability to Boson Jump, would you? Especially under our circumstances as they stand now."

Izumi shrugged. "Most likely. If you have the ability, use it, I say." Inez nodded, thoughtful. "Do you think Akito, Kanchou, or Yukina would have the same view?" Izumi blinked. "Yukina?"

Inez nodded. "She can Jump as well. Or didn't you know that?" She smiled slightly at the pilot. Izumi's eyebrows gathered and she ran a hand through her bangs. "No, I guess I never thought about it. But Jumping is how she got to the Nadesico in the first place, isn't it?" Izumi scratched her chin, in deep thought. "Yukina… after her becoming Assistant Comm Officer, I wouldn't be surprised if she did. But, she doesn't seem to be very interested in Jumping. She seems more into her own life, then scientific research. Kanchou… she's more relaxed about it now, but you knew that. She probably does think the same way, with her not-liking-to-fight, but I'm gonna do it anyway approach." Izumi made a face. "Akito. The most used saying in reference to him nowadays is 'Fuck him.'" She giggled softly before continuing. "Anyway… I don't think he does. He's been against piloting for as long as I've known him, but he is DAMN good at it. So… I don't think he would be randomly Jumping to get around. That is why you asked, right?"

It took a moment for Inez to realize Izumi asked a question, but nodded after she switched out of listen mode. "Interesting. Thank you for your insight, Izumi. You've just helped me make an important decision." Izumi nodded, hopped off the desk and left.

Inez tapped the table for a moment, thinking. 'Damn, I should have asked what she thought Omoikane would do. Well, then again, she probably wouldn't know. Damn my arrogance. I should have known better than to use my abilities so indiscreetly. It will be all over the ship by tomorrow, the fact that I can use it. Damn damn damn. Well. Can't cry over split milk. I suppose I know a new subject for my next experiment. We shall see if Omoikane can do what the Jupiterians and Martians can, for he is not human.'

~*~

It was when walking back to her room, holding hands with him, that Yurika felt the odd feeling again. It felt wrong, but she didn't know why. She bit her lip and stopped walking, her hand slipping out of Akito's. The cook turned around to face the woman he had fallen in love with. "Is there something wrong, Yurika? You've been acting funny lately." Yurika nodded. "I know, it's just… I keep getting this feeling… like something is wrong. I just don't want to worry you. Especially since you're going on your first piloting mission since the Jump tomorrow." Akito smiled at her. "Yurika, I'm gonna be worried about you until we get locked into a padded room in straight jackets, and then I'm gonna worry more. I know I can't do a damn thing about it, but you can't kill me for caring, can you?"

Yurika grinned before wrapping her arms around his neck. "And people wondered why I fell for you so hard."

~*~

The mission briefing the next morning was not pleasant, to say the least. Hikaru was slightly sleepy, getting little sleep, as usual. Ryoko was pissed off at the world. Itsuki seemed ready to just break down and cry, or kill someone, whatever came first. Izumi was so thoughtful; she actually got caught not paying attention, three times. Gai was so silent; people almost forgot he was there. Akito sat on the absolute other side of the room, and seemed rather peeved himself about having to take a piloting job.

Goat Hory, Head of Security, cleared his throat. "This is going to be just a routine check. Just stay within Energy Transfer range and name anything you see that could determine our location. We will compare these descriptions with previously chartered star maps. You have one hour."

As the pilots walked in silence toward the hangar bay, the women kept exchanging glances that made many messages, ranging from 'Wow, this is uncomfortable' to 'Say a word and I will personally rip your head off.'

Communications were kept to a minimum as well. You would never be able to tell that this group used to be very good friends, instead of a group of friends and one person.

"I got some asteroids over here, just a few though. Mostly just space dust. Interesting formation of stars though. It looks almost like a triangle with two hairs."

"Blue and red nebulae, none of which I'd ever heard of. And I see the formation, it looks more like a pair of lips."

"Um, I think I've got a planet."

The last transmission was from Gai. The entire bridge erupted in exclamations of excitement. "Displaying on screen," announced Omoikane. Sure enough, it was a small, blue and green planet that was very similar to Earth. Much smaller, however, and it looked about as far from the Nadesico as Mars was to Earth.

Yurika smiled. "Jackpot. Set course for the planet, Minato! Omoikane, recall the Aestivalises. We found what we were looking for."

On the lower section of the bridge, Akatsuki turned to Inez. "Why do you have a feeling you knew about this planet all along?" The woman smiled at her own childhood friend. "Because I did."

Akatsuki sighed. "I suppose Erina was right. You do have a thirst for chaos." Inez's smiled faltered. "She said that about me? How strange."

~*~

Yurika greeted Akito at the hangar bay, leaving Jun in her place once again. It seemed like she spent more time off the bridge, than on. In any case, she was very happy to see Akito, as usual. When he reached the ground floor, she nearly bowled him over with a tight hug. Akito laughed a bit before kissing the older woman. Yurika's eyes widened as he deepened the kiss, and she came to a terrible realization. It was so sudden she immediately pulled away and out of the arms of her boyfriend. She took a few steps back, breathing heavily.

Akito's eyebrows were knit. "What the hell is the matter with you, Yurika?" Yurika shook her head, her green orbs widening even more still. "I… I don't know Akito. I just don't know. I… I'll see you later, okay?" She bolted out of the hangar just as fast as she came in. The truth was, she knew what was wrong. And it certainly wasn't a fluctuation of Boson particles.

'Why is it that when I'm with Akito, sharing affections with him, I feel so dirty?'

~*~

The other pilots noticed Yurika's sudden escape. Itsuki gave a half-smile at the amusing scene before raising her eyebrows. "Trouble in paradise?" Ryoko seemed much more calm than she was earlier that morning. She placed a hand at Itsuki's hip, smiling at the scene as well. "That's so predictable."

Gai glanced over indiscreetly, but accidentally caught Akito's eyes. Akito glared at his former boyfriend, and Gai found himself doing the same. But he also perceived hurt within the chocolate brown orbs. 'Kanchou hurt his feelings?' Gai was immediately disgusted with his concern, even if it was in his thoughts. 'Who cares? He made a choice.' Gai walked on with all his female friends toward the cafeteria, congratulating each other on a job well done.

~*~

TBC…

~*~

A/N: Ok. Now who's still here? Okay, I put in many intriguing thingies this time. I got to indulge in my Hikaru and Uri-P side… I showed that Inez knows as much as me about the whole thing, and I added more pilots' things in general… What's this with Yurika? Can't tell you. ^^ Anyway, this is it and I'll right more eventually. Need to gather thoughts… Review as always please!