Entering the Hangar Bay, I watched as a pair of battered Thunderbolts were gently set down by the tractor beams that had pulled them in. As the canopies opened, I waited patiently while someone found a portable ladder that the pilots could use to climb down from.
Although I'd ordered the bay clear, a platoon of Stormtroopers created a corridor which I walkd through, towards the disembarking pilots. Both were somewhat nervous acting, and I waited patiently for them to take their helmets off.
Finally they did, and I watched as, first Lieutenant Peters appeared, then Colonel Blair.
"Colonel, Lieutenant, welcome to the Jupiter's Thunder. I appoligize for my rought arrival, but I had very little choice in the matter."
"Well, I wasn't quite certain what to make of you when you appeared, but I appreciate your effort to protect my wing, and the Victory. I only wish Major Marshal were here to see this." The last was said a bit quietly, and I noded to myself as I recalled all the arguments the two'd had throughout their careers.
"As soon as he's up to walking, we'll have to see what he thinks about all this," I said, watching them carefully.
"Sir, that just isn't funny." Blair said, frowning. I shrugged, which caused his frown to deepen, and I sighed, before continuing.
"Right before his Thunderbolt exploded, I had him teleported aboard. Apparently he's got some wounds, because he's still in Medical, but from what I undertand, he'll be up soon... and I'm fairly certain he'll be wanting to tell everyone about his exploits destroying a Kilrathi Destroyer."
"He.. Maniac's alive?" Peters asked, finally saying something. Glancing at her, I blinked, remembering she was supposed to be grounded, but then, I'd never grounded her, and it might have been at another point in the story. Putting those thoughts aside, I nodded at her, and turned, walking with them towards the door.
"We can go see him if you'd like, though I assume you two would like to get out of those flight suits and into something a bit more comfortable, if not casual. We can run to the shopping center, if you'd like... Or the ships tailor, who I'm sure has a uniform you two could fit into. Not Confed Blues, I'm afraid, but a uniform, none the less. Which would you prefer?"
"A uniform for me," Blair said, having spotted the hanging TIE-Fighters on the far side of the bay.
"I'd like to see this store of yours, though I might take a uniform incase I don't find anything to my liking," Peters said, watching the Stormtroopers closely.
I nodded, and began walking, though Blair paused, before asking "How long before we can cycle back to the Victory?"
"That depends on whether or not Captain Eisen jumps to that 'D'-system when they reach the point, or if they stick around. SHODAN is working to decode the Galactic map she downloaded from the Victory's computer, and once we can map out a safe Hyperspace route, we can jump to.. wherever we need to go. When we get back to the bridge, I'll see what Communicatiosn has for me."
With that said, we quickly, if quietly, made our way to the shopping area, then the tailor, where Blair and Peters changed into an Imperial Uniform, and a sundress, respectively. Before reaching the bridge, however, we stopped by the Medical Center, where the two Confed pilots could see Maniac.
Upon arriving, the two hurried over to the bacta tank, where Maniac's body floated among the rising bubbles.
"What the hell is this?" Blair asked, looking at me.
"Bacta therapy. Looks like he was worse off than I was originally told. Still, he should be okay. Bacta heals up internal and external wounds like nobody's business. He should be out relatively soon, barring any complications."
"Complications?" Flint asked.
"Yeah . I can't think of any, really... he's obviously not allergic to the bacta, so..." I shrugged, then looked at the Doctor, who was busy wrapping the arm of a TIE pilot.
"He was exposed to hard vacuum while the transporter worked to pick him out of the expanding fireball. He's also sustained minor burns, as well as lacerations from flying debris. We could treat all these outside of Bacta Therapy, but Major Marshal is a guest, and guests deserve the best."
I nodded my agreement, and Blair stared at the Bacta tank a moment longer, before nodding softly.
We arrived on the bridge a few moments later, and I turned to my guests, a grin on my face.
"Welcome to the Main Bridge and Command Center of the Jupiter's Thunder."
"Hell of a ship." Peters said, looking down at the Combat information Center then out the large viewport windows.
"And all this is yours?" Blair said, almost incredulously.
"Well, yeah. I figured if I was going to get something for nothing, might as well go all out." I shrugged, and suddenly Blair frowned.
"How have you avoided Confed- and Kilrathi, for that matter- forces for so long? And Why join the battle now, when you could have done something as soon as your ship was finished being made? God, the Logistics for Crewing... or MAKING this..."
"Relax, Colonel. I'm not really here by choice, but had I arrived sooner, rest assured I would have helped sooner."
"Arrived from where? This Galaxy's not big enough for you to have been hidden in for the years it would take to make something like this. You outsize everything but Thrackhath's Dreadnaught, and with the technology you've displayed, even his ships greater size wouldn't gurantee him the fight."
"Stupid Dreadnaught. Wish I had a Death Star to... hey..." I said, turning to Archer, "can the WDs make a Death Star?"
"No, My Lord, their not capable of making things larger than their exit ports. However, I'm fairly certain SHODAN could set them up to manufacture construction Drones that would be able to, if you had enough drones, and enough Devestators to convert... matter... into Death Star components."
"SHODAN, how fast could we theoretically create a Death Star? If we made enough W-Ds to speed up the process?"
"The more construction drones and World Devastators you have to create and construct the Death Star, the Faster, but your upward mobility would be hindered by overall speed and efficiency of both the drones and the Devastators. The fastest you could have one, starting from what we have aboard, is 16 weeks."
"Screw that. Could a W-D make a Sun Crusher?"
"No, the quantum armor is beyond the construction capabilities of the Molecular Furnace. As are the Star-Bursting torpedos."
"Hold on a minute, 'Star-Bursting torpedos?'"
"Yeah, these energy globules that can cause a star to explode. Instant Nova. Works on any kind of star. The Quantum Armor was nifty, too. A beam that could blow up a planet was the only thing that caused it any damage, and that was limited to loss of weapons, and hindered engine power. Too bad. Id've given you one to end this war. Looks like Palladin's Te.. err..."
"Palladin's what?" Blair asked, frowning at the Mention of his old Wing Commander.
"Ehh.. need-to-know, and all that. You understand, right?" I said, waving it off.
"No. No I don't understand. Where the hell did you get all this? No offense, but you aren't exactly the age of a typical ships captain. You've displayed, and spoken of, technology that could be employed to end this war in days, technology nobody's ever seen before, or even thought of. No. I don't understand. Enlighten me." Blair crossed his arms, and scowled at me.
"Us." Peters threw in.
"Err, right. When Maniac is up, we'll talk, untill then, I'd rather not have to explain it all twice. It's a screwed-up story as-is."
"Lord, SHODAN has decrypted the Galactic Map Downloaded from the Victory, and is establishing hyperspace routes at the moment. The Delius System is accessable from a nearby area of space, but we currently cannot jump due to a large buildup of nebular gasses debris between us and the system."
"Ahh, right. Plot a course around the nebula to Delius."
"Understood, My Lord. Preparing a course."
"Great. Now, lets go get some food," I said, turning towards the door. Suddenly, it opened, and in stormed a red-faced Nabiki, Makoto following her with a worried expression on her face. I didn't have anytime, however, to ask abut either, because before I could react, Nabiki had buried her foot in my gut.
Staring up at her from the floor, I managed to squeeze a "Why?" out with what little breath I had left.
"WHY? Because I was home! I'm not home anymore, am I, Kyle?"
"Well... " I said, climbing to my feet slowly, "Ahh... not really..."
"That's right. And, while this time around, my family will probably think I eloped with you, I'm fairly certain your current method of transportation is not capable of taking a nice, fat 'U-ie' and dropping me off in Nerima."
"Sailor Moon could probably send you home." Makoto said, finally. Nabiki walked over to an unoccupied chair and collapes bonelessly into it.
"I was home. Damnit. I was home, and now it's a universe or twenty away."
"Nabiki... I.. I'm sorry. I didn't even know you were pulled with us when Usagi tried to bring Makoto home."
"Well I was. Teleported out of my class, and into my lovely gray-walled room here."
"We'll get you home, Nabiki. Somehow or another, we'll find a way to get you back home," I said, finally, putting my hand on her shoulder. I wasn't sure how to reassure her, but I knew that, even though I hadn't meant to bring her along, it was still somewhat my fault.
Nabiki sighed, then looked up at me with red-rimmed eyes, "You know... as stupid as that was... I actually believe you. I... thanks." She stood up, then, and turned to the door, her steps still heavy, but at least she was holding her head up. Before leaving, she turned to me and said "I'm going to go back to my quarters... I'll be back out later."
"That was..." Flint said, summing everything up well. I nodded, then turned to the two guests.
"Lets... umm... grab some food, then go check on Maniac again. He should be up soon, and then I can explain. That should clear up some of that last conversation."
Maverick and Flint just nodded, and we left for the Dining hall.
Although I'd ordered the bay clear, a platoon of Stormtroopers created a corridor which I walkd through, towards the disembarking pilots. Both were somewhat nervous acting, and I waited patiently for them to take their helmets off.
Finally they did, and I watched as, first Lieutenant Peters appeared, then Colonel Blair.
"Colonel, Lieutenant, welcome to the Jupiter's Thunder. I appoligize for my rought arrival, but I had very little choice in the matter."
"Well, I wasn't quite certain what to make of you when you appeared, but I appreciate your effort to protect my wing, and the Victory. I only wish Major Marshal were here to see this." The last was said a bit quietly, and I noded to myself as I recalled all the arguments the two'd had throughout their careers.
"As soon as he's up to walking, we'll have to see what he thinks about all this," I said, watching them carefully.
"Sir, that just isn't funny." Blair said, frowning. I shrugged, which caused his frown to deepen, and I sighed, before continuing.
"Right before his Thunderbolt exploded, I had him teleported aboard. Apparently he's got some wounds, because he's still in Medical, but from what I undertand, he'll be up soon... and I'm fairly certain he'll be wanting to tell everyone about his exploits destroying a Kilrathi Destroyer."
"He.. Maniac's alive?" Peters asked, finally saying something. Glancing at her, I blinked, remembering she was supposed to be grounded, but then, I'd never grounded her, and it might have been at another point in the story. Putting those thoughts aside, I nodded at her, and turned, walking with them towards the door.
"We can go see him if you'd like, though I assume you two would like to get out of those flight suits and into something a bit more comfortable, if not casual. We can run to the shopping center, if you'd like... Or the ships tailor, who I'm sure has a uniform you two could fit into. Not Confed Blues, I'm afraid, but a uniform, none the less. Which would you prefer?"
"A uniform for me," Blair said, having spotted the hanging TIE-Fighters on the far side of the bay.
"I'd like to see this store of yours, though I might take a uniform incase I don't find anything to my liking," Peters said, watching the Stormtroopers closely.
I nodded, and began walking, though Blair paused, before asking "How long before we can cycle back to the Victory?"
"That depends on whether or not Captain Eisen jumps to that 'D'-system when they reach the point, or if they stick around. SHODAN is working to decode the Galactic map she downloaded from the Victory's computer, and once we can map out a safe Hyperspace route, we can jump to.. wherever we need to go. When we get back to the bridge, I'll see what Communicatiosn has for me."
With that said, we quickly, if quietly, made our way to the shopping area, then the tailor, where Blair and Peters changed into an Imperial Uniform, and a sundress, respectively. Before reaching the bridge, however, we stopped by the Medical Center, where the two Confed pilots could see Maniac.
Upon arriving, the two hurried over to the bacta tank, where Maniac's body floated among the rising bubbles.
"What the hell is this?" Blair asked, looking at me.
"Bacta therapy. Looks like he was worse off than I was originally told. Still, he should be okay. Bacta heals up internal and external wounds like nobody's business. He should be out relatively soon, barring any complications."
"Complications?" Flint asked.
"Yeah . I can't think of any, really... he's obviously not allergic to the bacta, so..." I shrugged, then looked at the Doctor, who was busy wrapping the arm of a TIE pilot.
"He was exposed to hard vacuum while the transporter worked to pick him out of the expanding fireball. He's also sustained minor burns, as well as lacerations from flying debris. We could treat all these outside of Bacta Therapy, but Major Marshal is a guest, and guests deserve the best."
I nodded my agreement, and Blair stared at the Bacta tank a moment longer, before nodding softly.
We arrived on the bridge a few moments later, and I turned to my guests, a grin on my face.
"Welcome to the Main Bridge and Command Center of the Jupiter's Thunder."
"Hell of a ship." Peters said, looking down at the Combat information Center then out the large viewport windows.
"And all this is yours?" Blair said, almost incredulously.
"Well, yeah. I figured if I was going to get something for nothing, might as well go all out." I shrugged, and suddenly Blair frowned.
"How have you avoided Confed- and Kilrathi, for that matter- forces for so long? And Why join the battle now, when you could have done something as soon as your ship was finished being made? God, the Logistics for Crewing... or MAKING this..."
"Relax, Colonel. I'm not really here by choice, but had I arrived sooner, rest assured I would have helped sooner."
"Arrived from where? This Galaxy's not big enough for you to have been hidden in for the years it would take to make something like this. You outsize everything but Thrackhath's Dreadnaught, and with the technology you've displayed, even his ships greater size wouldn't gurantee him the fight."
"Stupid Dreadnaught. Wish I had a Death Star to... hey..." I said, turning to Archer, "can the WDs make a Death Star?"
"No, My Lord, their not capable of making things larger than their exit ports. However, I'm fairly certain SHODAN could set them up to manufacture construction Drones that would be able to, if you had enough drones, and enough Devestators to convert... matter... into Death Star components."
"SHODAN, how fast could we theoretically create a Death Star? If we made enough W-Ds to speed up the process?"
"The more construction drones and World Devastators you have to create and construct the Death Star, the Faster, but your upward mobility would be hindered by overall speed and efficiency of both the drones and the Devastators. The fastest you could have one, starting from what we have aboard, is 16 weeks."
"Screw that. Could a W-D make a Sun Crusher?"
"No, the quantum armor is beyond the construction capabilities of the Molecular Furnace. As are the Star-Bursting torpedos."
"Hold on a minute, 'Star-Bursting torpedos?'"
"Yeah, these energy globules that can cause a star to explode. Instant Nova. Works on any kind of star. The Quantum Armor was nifty, too. A beam that could blow up a planet was the only thing that caused it any damage, and that was limited to loss of weapons, and hindered engine power. Too bad. Id've given you one to end this war. Looks like Palladin's Te.. err..."
"Palladin's what?" Blair asked, frowning at the Mention of his old Wing Commander.
"Ehh.. need-to-know, and all that. You understand, right?" I said, waving it off.
"No. No I don't understand. Where the hell did you get all this? No offense, but you aren't exactly the age of a typical ships captain. You've displayed, and spoken of, technology that could be employed to end this war in days, technology nobody's ever seen before, or even thought of. No. I don't understand. Enlighten me." Blair crossed his arms, and scowled at me.
"Us." Peters threw in.
"Err, right. When Maniac is up, we'll talk, untill then, I'd rather not have to explain it all twice. It's a screwed-up story as-is."
"Lord, SHODAN has decrypted the Galactic Map Downloaded from the Victory, and is establishing hyperspace routes at the moment. The Delius System is accessable from a nearby area of space, but we currently cannot jump due to a large buildup of nebular gasses debris between us and the system."
"Ahh, right. Plot a course around the nebula to Delius."
"Understood, My Lord. Preparing a course."
"Great. Now, lets go get some food," I said, turning towards the door. Suddenly, it opened, and in stormed a red-faced Nabiki, Makoto following her with a worried expression on her face. I didn't have anytime, however, to ask abut either, because before I could react, Nabiki had buried her foot in my gut.
Staring up at her from the floor, I managed to squeeze a "Why?" out with what little breath I had left.
"WHY? Because I was home! I'm not home anymore, am I, Kyle?"
"Well... " I said, climbing to my feet slowly, "Ahh... not really..."
"That's right. And, while this time around, my family will probably think I eloped with you, I'm fairly certain your current method of transportation is not capable of taking a nice, fat 'U-ie' and dropping me off in Nerima."
"Sailor Moon could probably send you home." Makoto said, finally. Nabiki walked over to an unoccupied chair and collapes bonelessly into it.
"I was home. Damnit. I was home, and now it's a universe or twenty away."
"Nabiki... I.. I'm sorry. I didn't even know you were pulled with us when Usagi tried to bring Makoto home."
"Well I was. Teleported out of my class, and into my lovely gray-walled room here."
"We'll get you home, Nabiki. Somehow or another, we'll find a way to get you back home," I said, finally, putting my hand on her shoulder. I wasn't sure how to reassure her, but I knew that, even though I hadn't meant to bring her along, it was still somewhat my fault.
Nabiki sighed, then looked up at me with red-rimmed eyes, "You know... as stupid as that was... I actually believe you. I... thanks." She stood up, then, and turned to the door, her steps still heavy, but at least she was holding her head up. Before leaving, she turned to me and said "I'm going to go back to my quarters... I'll be back out later."
"That was..." Flint said, summing everything up well. I nodded, then turned to the two guests.
"Lets... umm... grab some food, then go check on Maniac again. He should be up soon, and then I can explain. That should clear up some of that last conversation."
Maverick and Flint just nodded, and we left for the Dining hall.