A/N: Excuse me, my readers, but YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!

I actually got reviews!!!

Agent-Diva, yes, I think I know you from somewhere…say, do you happen to know a place called The Matrix Community? =P Glad you liked it dude, and KEEP WRITING! you're a champ!

Tringirl25, I'm glad my evilness had an effect *evil grin*

AND I'M GLAD PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY READING THIS!!!!!!!!!!! no reviews can really be un-nerving!!!!


Chapter 5: The Nebuchadnezzar

Lewar was flying recklessly, she knew she was, but if she didn't get there in time, then humans would have no hope left in the war. Paradox's words about the Oracle's prophesy rang in her head, as she sped up, narrowly avoiding snags on the pipe walls.

"Almost there, take the next pipe on the right," said Mace, who acted as navigator. "There," she said sharply, pointing out the window at the tiny steel ship that had obviously been through a lot.

"Tell them to turn off all power, including communications!" Lewar shouted to Reflex who now had the headset and was sitting in his operator's chair.

"How long 'til they come?" shouted Paradox from next to Reflex.

"1 minute, at most!" shouted Mace, as they set alongside the battered ship called the Nebuchadnezzar.

"Power offline!" yelled Reflex as the ship plunged into a cold darkness. "So is theirs."

"Here they come!" called Mace, as a blur of red eyes and cold metal tentacles came out of a pipe into theirs, and swam through the air towards them

"When I say, Reflex…" said Lewar, getting more and more anxious. "Not yet.…" she called, as the last of the three sentinels came out, and they all activated their weapons and hooks. "Not yet…."

They heard a clang as one slammed onto their roof. "Now, Reflex, now!" she yelled, and in the Core, Reflex turned the red key with force.

"Take that, motherfuckers!" he cursed at them.

Lewar shivered as the slightly blue tinted force surged around her, getting inside her plugs and giving her an indescribable twitch. The sentinels outside fell with a shower of sparks, and their red eyes faded into a lifeless black.

"Power back online," called a relieved Reflex from the Core as lights and heat came back on.

"Is the Neb ok?" asked Lewar as she got out of the pilots chair and made her way to Reflex and Paradox.

"Yep, everything's fine over there. They'd like to dock."

Paradox grinned at her. "What will our answer be, Lee? Should I tell them 'No, we're full'?"

She pushed him gently. "Come on, you. Let's get this hatch set up." In a couple of minutes, the two of them had connected both ships, and waited for the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar to enter, as it was tradition for the visiting ship to come first. Lewar was nervous. She hoped her voice wouldn't waver when she introduced herself to the legendary Morpheus. She noticed how the others were acting nervously as well. Paradox was jumpy, fiddling with the sleeve of his shirt. Reflex was sipping what she suspected was Zion brew, but she let him off on this occasion, and Mace was drumming her fingers on the wall in a fast rhythm like she always did when she was waiting for something, with an excited grin on her face.

Lewar jumped when she heard the scraping of a door latch being opened, and she straightened up.

In the opened doorway stood a man in his late 30s, his bald head held firmly, and his tired eyes shone with gratitude and friendship. There were still beads of sweat on his dark skin, and he looked extremely relieved to get out of the close encounter.

"I am Captain Morpheus of the Nebuchadnezzar," he said in a deep, powerful and trusting voice.

"Glad to meet you, at last, Captain. I am Captain Lewar of the Shadow," she said, shaking his outstretched hand warmly. "Welcome aboard my ship." She walked behind her crew, putting a hand on each of their shoulders as she introduced them. "This is Paradox, our first mate, Mace, our weapons specialist, and Reflex, our operator."

"And this is my crew," said Morpheus with pride. "Trinity," he said as he passed the beautiful yet strong, pale, black haired woman. "Neo," he continued. Neo seemed uncomfortable at their awed looks, but they couldn't help it. He had kind eyes, and an aura of control, even if he was unconscious of it. "And Tank, our operator." he finished. Tank smiled a boyish grin, and Lewar couldn't help smiling back.

"We owe you guys one. I keep saying small ships make all the difference," he said with confidence that was contagious.

"Don't mention it," replied Reflex. They were going to get along fine, thought Lewar.

"Now, I hear you guys have engine problems," stated Mace in a business like voice. "I believe I can be of some service to you."

"Here, I'll show you what's wrong," offered Neo, leading Mace into the Neb and down a ladder.

"I'll show you my habitat," said Reflex, and Tank followed enthusiastically.

"Morph- I mean, Captain Morpheus-" began Paradox

"Just Morpheus, please," he put in with a pained expression

Paradox smiled. "Ok, Morpheus, I'd like to talk to you about something, in private, if you don't mind."

"Of course not. Come to my quarters," he said, leading into the Nebuchadnezzar.

"What were you guys doing all the way out here?" Trinity asked Lewar

"Doing a job for Zion," she started, and continued to tell her about their strange discovery.

"We were wondering why there were so many weak signals around that area." Trinity commented when Lewar had finished.

Lewar was about to open her mouth, but was cut off by complicated sounds coming from the hull of the Nebuchadnezzar. She suddenly laughed.

"Sounds like Turb0 taught her well," she said sadly. Trinity looked confused. "We lost our driver, Turb0. An Agent," she painfully explained. "One of the best damn pilots in Zion."

"He must've been," said Trinity. "Even I've heard of him, and we don't get much news on the Neb. He was famous for that Hotrod of his."

"Why not much news?" asked Lewar curiously.

"The Zion Council doesn't agree with the way Morpheus acts. They don't like the way he does what needs to be done with out asking for permission first."

"They do like to told what's going on under their noses, don't they?" she laughed.

"We've noticed that," she smiled "So Morpheus usually sticks to broadcast depth and looks for potentials. Now that the Council has officially rejected Neo of any recognition, he's given up on them. He only communicates with them when he really has to."

"What happens when you go back to recharge and restock?"

"They pretend to ignore us, until they find something for us to do. At the moment, we're mapping the thin outer pipes, even though Zion wanted us to check over the larger pipes, to make sure the maps were accurate. They said the outer pipes weren't important, because only 2 ships could fit them."

"Yours and mine," Lewar put in.

She nodded and looked around. "This looks like a fairly new ship. How did you come by it, and at so young?" The woman Lewar had considered an idol to her, an inspirational figure, was genuinely interested.

Lewar took a breath and began her tale of her past in both worlds.

---------------

"…And that the abilities of Lewar, someone who hadn't yet been freed and I would help Neo against the Agents. She specifically said fighting against the Agents. I don't know if that is important or not." Paradox finished telling Morpheus what the Oracle had told him.

"Do you have any idea who this person who is still plugged in is?" asked Morpheus with his forehead creased in thought.

"I have a feeling it is a boy called Fear. He's 11, and was about to be contacted by Agents when I interrupted. His name inside is Tom Murric. I've been watching him on my shift. He's pretty good with a computer, but his real talent is hiding. I'm not sure if he knows he does it, but he tends to change his RSI when he really wants to. He can't change it to different faces, but to different colours. He once blended right into the shadows when he was sneaking out at night to meet some hacker friends, literally turned his face into a shade of gray so no one would spot him, unless they could see his code."

"The perfect spy," muttered Morpheus.

"Do you have any idea what abilities or qualities you and Trinity could have?"

"I'm not sure about Trinity. Mine could be Faith, or something around that, although I lost that for a moment…"

Paradox smiled. "I guess that happens when you see the person you think is going to save man-kind die. But who can blame you? You have faith in him now, and that's all that matters."

Morpheus looked at him. "I can see why the Oracle wanted you to help. You're smart, but let yourself be guided by faith, and hunches, and beliefs."

"And it's not smart to do that?"

"Not smart isn't the right word….. it's daring. Risky. It's not like it's a bad thing, to trust your instincts. With your particular gift, you have to." He sighed. "Since the destruction of Agent Smith, the other Agents have been acting oddly. They are still a great danger, but they seem to be targeting people they think could be potentials. They've started to come down hard on the top hackers, suspecting that they are beginning to know the truth."

"You mean they're starting to try to stop us from being freed, instead of attacking us afterwards?"

"Exactly. They're working on prevention, which they've never done before. It's almost as if they've stopped attacking us." He paused. "Well, not stopped. But they're a lot more defensive now. As if…."

"….they're scared," finished Paradox.

"Exactly. The appearance of the One has spooked them, and they only attack at the most important times, on the most dangerous rebels."

"They attacked us….." he said slowly, his voice thick with grief.

"Perhaps they knew what the Oracle knew. There are others who have the same ability as her, programs helping the machines. They could've been informed of you're role in future events."

"What are we meant to do, though?!" he half shouted in frustration.

"If we knew exactly what was laid down in front of us, we would probably set it off course to avoid it. We should just follow what happens and decide when the time comes." said wisely. He'd obviously answered this kind of question before.

"Make it up as we go along?!" Paradox asked incredulously.

"No, we have… guidelines. A vague area that we have to get to, but we are the ones who have to work out how to get there."

They sat in silence, wondering about the Oracles words, with their train of thought occasionally cut off by complicated sounds coming from the engine room, and at last, the cheers of Neo and Mace as they finally got the engine running.

"Looks like you're back in business!" smiled Paradox at Morpheus.

"I think I might accompany you back to Zion. We could use some extra supplies, and after that, we could stick together and try to accomplish this mission of ours."

"That would be up to Lewar, or course, but I'm sure she'll agree."

Neo came up to the door, shaking his head in disbelief. "I have no idea how she did it," he told them. "She rerouted the fuel lines from on engine to another, re-set the system, almost re-built the engines from the bottom up, and now it's working better than it ever has. I doubt even Dozer could do that in the space of half and hour."

Paradox smiled at how Turb0 had taught Mace. She probably knew more about the engine systems than anyone else in Zion now, with Turb0 as a teacher. "Thanks for your advice," he said to Morpheus as he walked out of the small room and into his own ship, where Trinity was still talking to Lewar, and they looked up as he approached.

"Mace fixed the engines, and Morpheus said he needs to go back to Zion to recharge anyway, so he'll come with us," he told them.

Lewar nodded. "Good. Let's get going, we have a lot to do," she turned to Trinity. "Thanks a lot."

The strong yet kind looking woman smiled at her. "Remember what I told you," she said, with a quick glance at Paradox.

"I will," she said with a mysterious smile, and shook Trinity's hand as she passed into her own ship.

"What was that about?" Paradox asked Lewar.

"Nothing you would understand," she said cryptically.

"What the hell does that mean?" he said, getting frustrated.

"Exactly what it sounds like," she grinned and walked off to the bridge.

Paradox shook his head and walked away. Of all the women in Zion, he though, I had to fall for the one who likes to mess with my head!

They detached and started their journey back home to Zion.


Ok, that wasn't one of my best chapters, but fear not! well, not that you would, but ANYWAY! I think I'll upload the next one today anyway J

I SUCK AT WRITING!!!!! I never get around to it, damn it

EVERYONE WHO READS THIS, TELL ME!!!!! COS IF NO ONE IS, I'LL STOP WRITING!!