~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Chapter 5~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Awakening
"Yo! Anyone in here?" Called a far too cheerful Kitten in the doorway.
A muffled "No" was the only answer that Sassy deemed fit after lolling about in abject misery for the past hour on duty. Not up to my usual standards at all, but it'll do for no effort, she thought dryly, hoping against hope that Kitten had been sent to relieve her and take next watch. When the cheerful reply was that they could move out, Sassy used all the speed the Kais had blessed her with and had the ship in gear before Kitten could finish her sentence. She returned Kitten's wave before settling down for some serious piloting. Hali had set their course for a nearby planet where they could get some more supplies and wait for their next job offer. Granted, it was also an ideal place to drop their "guest" if need be…
Piloting the ship with the ease of long practice, she turned her thoughts to their guest. According to Kitten it'd been on board for 2 hours, which meant that its cycle was a third of the way over. Kitten had been in to check on it once or twice, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary… Granted, they didn't know what race the creature was from, so they couldn't be certain that things were going right. Not that it really mattered in the long run – they would just be dropping it off at the next planet anyways – but still, she, like all the crew, was very curious about the stranger in their midst. Was it strong? Dangerous? Weak and pathetic? Possibly… crazy? Why had it been alone on a planet it was obviously alien to?
But she had a ship to fly, and she should probably inform the others of what was happening. "Hey guys! Sassy in the cockpit - we've just left orbit, and we're on our way to Arix'jyo-sei. We'll be there in…" she paused to check the control panel, "approximately 8 hours. Dae, I'm giving you the honors of next shift."
"Hey!" came the indignant voice of her red-haired friend over the intercom, "that isn't at all fair! I took it last shift into Keman-sei, and darling Xe hasn't taken it since first shift to Ryaji-sei!"
Amusement lacing his words, it was Ryl who spoke up in reply. "Dae, think long and hard about that. Remember what happened? Do you reeeeally want Xe piloting the ship when we have a wounded creature on board that's completely unknown? Not only would Xe probably kill it with his piloting, but I at least would rather have Xe right there when the thing wakes up."
There was a moment of silence from Dae's end, and Xe took that as an opportunity to insert his own opinions. "Well now," came the soft, dangerous voice of the Faelk-jin, "it seems that Rylon does not think highly of my abilities behind the wheel."
Anyone else would have been quivering in fear at the tone, the voice, and most of all the person doing the talking - but not a member of the Faceless Ones. Ryl's reply to Xe was as genial and impertinent as it had been to Dae. "Yeah, it seems I don't. I've never thought much of it, in fact. Did you ever wonder if there was a reason why I took so many shifts, and you so rarely had to?"
"I simply assumed that a being of my superiority was being shown the respect I deserve," came the nonchalant reply that said quite clearly that Xe had known exactly why he had so few shifts.
"Well, Xe," came the highly amused voice of Kitten from yet another corner of the ship. "If that's the case, then I'm respectfully telling you to get your superior ass down to the workroom ASAP so that you can give me your opinions on the new model Gx5 that I've drafted up."
There was a quiet affirmative from Xe, and Dae cheerfully relented to take next shift. Sassy smiled to herself as she made minor adjustments in their course. Life with the Faceless Ones had never been boring, and with the addition of Dae and Kitten it was livelier than ever. Verbal spars were as common on deck as physical ones, and humor ran high. Everyone felt completely relaxed and comfortable in each other's presence, a very valuable commodity in a group such as theirs. It was amazing, really - they were all so different, yet they fit together like pieces of a puzzle. There had only once been a death in the group, and Caiman had been much missed. That, too, was amazing. One would expect that a group of people making their living out of fighting would experience far more than one casualty in their entire 14-year career…
But the Faceless Ones were blessed with considerable luck, it seemed. Stifling a yawn of boredom with the back of her hand, Sassy sent her mind into a light meditation, while still keeping an eye on the monitor. If something changed, she would know.
They were almost to the planet, and still there was no apparent movement from the healing rooms. The regen-cycle's monitor stated that the process was still going on, and the ki-lock around the room hadn't been tested at all - which meant that whoever it was in there must have one hell of a slow recovery rate, or they'd been knocked up worse than originally believed. Kitten was getting a bit worried, to say the least. What if something had gone wrong? In theory, the regen tank should say if its patient had died… But no one had ever died in a regen tank before, and therefore that function had never actually been tested. For all she knew, the thing had been dead before she'd finished wrestling it in there.
Heaving a deep sigh, she looked towards the door to the chamber. She hadn't checked on it for nearly 4 hours… Something might have happened, and she wouldn't know. Looking at the door, then the floor, then down the hallway leading to the rest of the ship, Kitten decided to say screw it. She walked to the door and carefully opened it, walking into the room and shutting the door behind her. For some reason she was very nervous. But why should she be? She'd been in and out of here several times already!
She touched on the lights just in time to see a small figure hurling itself at her, clothed in a tattered orange gi. Yelping, she barely managed to jump away from the thing, hopping up onto a shelf that held some medical equipment. She stared down wide-eyed at the thing, wondering briefly how it managed to escape, before she was forced to leap to the other side of the room and float in a corner to avoid another attack. Looking around for an answer to her question, the puddles of blue liquid and the shrapnel lying in disarray gave her an answer that she didn't necessarily like - if the thing had done that to the tank, not only would they have no way to heal anybody if the Thing ended up hurting them, it also meant that the Thing had to be pretty strong to break out of such a sturdy contraption while obviously not fully healed.
"Hey, watch it!" She cried as it flew up at her, forcing her to dart back down to the ground. "What the hell are you doing?!"
The creature paused for a moment, confusion flashing across its features. She swore: it probably couldn't even understand her! Damnit, wasn't that just her luck… She was casting about for sturdy footing - if she was going to have to fight, she might as well pick up all the advantages she could - when the thing stopped her with its reply.
A/N: dun dun dun duuuuun… Cliffhanger! ^__^ Um, I don't think there's anything that needs to be explained in this chapter, is there Kat?
Kat: *still miffed at not being aloud to write her own author notes* No, there isn't Lexi.
Lexi: Ok, then! ^___^
Kat: *rolls eyes* Anyways, catch you guys with the next chapter of "Dance Among the Stars" next week!
Lexi: oh, and thank me for posting this today instead of tomorrow – Mondays suck too much to post such a good story up on. ^_~
Next Time on Dance:
Gohan meets the Faceless Ones and explains himself…
