On a ship as large as the Jupiter's Thunder, the logistics of having a single dining hall, or even a couple (divided for Officers and Enlistees) would have been impossible. So, throughout the Super Star Destroyer, multiple dining halls were found nearest the living quarters in multiple sectors. None of these, however, were appropriate for guests. Fortunately, when my wish was realized one universe ago, the magic which created the Thunder also took into account things like this, and installed a pair of dining rooms near the bridge. One for me and my wife, Makoto, and another, slightly larger dining room in which VIPs and Guests could be fed by the ships best chefs.
Entering the VIP Dining hall, Our small group quickly took places at the large table, and placed our orders with the datapads provided. Despite this ship originating in a Galaxy far, far away (and a long time ago) the foods listed were typical Earth-foods, though they ranged from western style means like Chicago-style pizza, to eastern meals like sukiyaki.
"Aren't you hungry at all, Archer?" I asked the Captain, who had taken a guard-like position near the door.
"No, My Lord, I ate just before our most recent... shift. I appreciate the concern, however."
Nodding at him, I turned back and punched in my order, glad that the ship could duplicate Coca-Cola so perfectly. While waiting for our drinks to arrive, I was somewhat surprised as the door opened, and Makoto and Nabiki entered, Captain Bowen taking place on the opposite side of the door from Captain Archer. Catching Makoto's eye, I quirked a brow at Nabiki, and Makoto just shrugged, before sitting down beside me. Nabiki took a seat between Makoto and Blair, while Peters sat at the end of the table, leaving a space between her and Blair for Maniac.
"So..." I said, breaking the akward silence.
"Yeah." Makoto responded instantly.
Blair, Nabiki, and Peters blinked, before we all turned to watch the Petty Officer who brought the drinks in and placed them before us.
"This is a rather.. informal meal, for such a formal atmosphere," Peters finally said, after taking a sip of her water.
"I've reserved the right to waive formality to ensure comfort," I said with a smile. Blair frowned at that, and I turned my attention to him, "Something wrong, Colonel?"
"Formality, as well as Discipline and Tradition, are not things to take lightly. While I've seen some indication of structure and order, a lot of what I've seen doesn't strike me as being orthodox compared to any Militant Structure I've ever heard of."
"Hmm..." I said, softly, before smiling slightly, "I'm assuming my age, among other things, are the basis of your concerns?"
"Among other things. Your title, or rank, or whatever it is, seems somewhat out of place among the Lieutenants and other standardized ranks, as well."
Captains Archer and Bowen both stiffened up at that, but a slight wave of my hand was enough to cool them off. Blair's questions were to be expected, after all. If not voiced, then at the very least thought. Before I could respond, however, the door opened again, and Major Todd "Maniac" Marshall entered the Dining hall, a Lieutenant beside him, ostensibly to guide him here.
The Major's face displayed both awe and trepidation, but despite that, he spoke with an arrogance only someone who'd garnered the callsign "Maniac" could exude after a narrow escape from obvious death.
"Boy, this is some ship, Colonel. Can you believe they've got a working teleporter in this thing? Not to mention about a million of those little fighters. Whoever's got the wheel of this thing must be nuts not to just go and take out Kilrah."
"Nice to see you too, Maniac. If you'd have a seat, maybe we can find out why this ship hasn't leveled Kilrah, or at least, why it hasn't offered to help up until today."
"All right. When is the Captain going to get here? By the way, nice dress, Flint," Maniac said with a grin asn he sat down beside Peters. Glancing at us, he frowned, before waving and asking, "Who're the kids?"
"Lord Kyle, Lady Makoto, and Admiral Tendo aren't... 'kids!'" Captain Archer shouted, Blaster drawn. Captain Bowen hadn't drawn her weapon, but her hand was resting on it as she added quietly, "Aside from commanding the Jupiter's Thunder, Lord Kyle's quick thinking is the only reason you're not sucking vacuum. And if my Lord and Lady would permit it, I'd like to show our guests another reason entirely to respect them. If I may, My Lord?"
I blinked, then turned to Makoto, "you make the call." Makoto, for her part, blinked back at me, then shrugged at Captain Bowen, "Go ahead."
"SHODAN, Play the video the crew has come to refer to as 'The Practice,' followed by 'The Battle.'"
"Loading," the AI said, her voice managing to convey anticipation as the file was loaded. The Room darkened quickly, and I stifled a groan as I realized the wall the table was facing had just flickered. An image of the Hangar Bay Makoto and I had sparred in appeared, and I sighed as I realized we would be watching said sparring session when Makoto and I walked onto the screen from the left.
Leaning over so I could talk to Makoto without being heard by our guests, I quietly asked her guess as to what 'The Battle' probably was.
"Well, I'd say either our fight with the Nerima Wrecking Crew, or our battle with Happosai and that Pantyhose guy... though I doubt the latter."
"Ohyeah. I totally forgot about out fight with Tarou. Why do you doubt that fight?"
"That wasn't quite as intense as our larger fight. And we were outnumbered in the other fight. It's more impressive."
"I suppose..." I said, sitting back in my chair as our sparring match waged on.
I was impressed by the depth and resolution of the giant screen, if, indeed, that's what it was, and not some sort of projection. While my computer monitor was capable of playing movies and DVDs, and they looked good, this was much more than good, it was perfect. More like watching the fight through a window or something, than watching a recording.
Finally, our sparring patch came to an end, and the wall went blank for a moment, before an image of Earth appeared. Again I was impressed with the display, and how it made me feel like I was looking out a window, as opposed to a recorded set of images.
When the image began to zoom in on Earth rapidly, I glanced down and realized that during the sparring match, our food had been delivered. Looking down the table, I watched as Nabiki and Makoto quietly ate their meals, while the three guests stared at the screen in open-mouthed amazement.
Makoto had apparently ordered a cheeseburger, and I grinned as she tore into it, managing to demolish it rapidly but all the while doing everything mannerly. Wondering how that was possible, I looked past Makoto, at Nabiki, to see what she'd ordered. In front of here was a small Pizza, similar in size to one of Pizza Hutt's Personal Pan sizes. Glancing down at my meal, pigs-in-blankets, I shrugged, and dunked the exposed hotdog end into a rather large puddle of ketchup.
Blair had apparently ordered a steak, and Peters, beyond him, had ordered herself a sandwitch, though in the darkened room, I couldn't exactly make out what was in it. Both pilots, however, were too engrossed with the image of Ranma, Makoto, and I fighting off Ryouga, Ukyo, Akane, Mousse, Shampoo, Kuno, and Happosai to realize they could begin eating.
A subtle flashing light from my Datapad drew my attention from the fight, and I glanced down at the smaller screen to see what it was doing.
"Have plotted a Hyperspace course to the Delius System and will arrive in 48 hours. Battle Analysis compiled, and broken down for later review."
The message was listed as being from SHODAN, and I nodded, figuring her cameras could see in the darkened room enough to pick up said message. A moment later, the datapad blinked off, and I glanced back up at the screen as out fight came to a somewhat anticlimatic end. As the lighting increased to the natural level, our guests turned to look at Makoto and I, then back at the blank screen, before finally fixing their gazes on their plates.
"So!" I finally said, after a few moments of silence. The startled look on our guests faces let me know I'd gotten their attention again, "While you're eating, I'll begin to explain how we came to be here. I'm fairly certain most questions you have will be answered, but feel free to ask whatever questions arise once we're done."
"'We?'" Maniac asked, quirking a brow.
"Who am I to tell Nabiki and Makoto's roles when they're right here to tell it themselves. I may be in charge, but I'm not some sexist megalomaniac."
"So we'd noticed," Robin Peters muttered into her drink. I grinned slightly, but didn't otherwise let her know I'd heard her. The fact that she was a pilot, and flew a starfighter alongside women and men made me wonder as to the nature of her outburst. Weren't all pilots considered equal? Or was it still a male-driven military, that was so hard up for polits they'd turned to Women after realizing that staying sexist would loose the war? Thinking further, I considered how few women I'd seen in the Wing Commander universe show up with higher rank than Flint. Despite outward appearences, Flint had apprently found herself bracketed, though when and where I wasn't sure of.
Realizing I'd captured my autiences attention, then gotten lost in my introspective, I smiled nervously.
"Just... ah... gathering my thoughts. I suppose this all began a couple months ago in my little apartment on the souther side of Denver, Colorado. January 2003-"
"Two... That's Six Hundred and Sixty-Six years ago!" Blair said, interrupting me.
"Well, yeah. I suppose. If it's... 2669, right now," I said, doing some quick math in my head. I shrugged, "that's not the really important part, though."
Over the next half-hour I explained how Nabiki, Makoto, and Mara had appeared at my door, and how we found ourselves experiencing things like universal rewrites, inter-universal transportation, and of course, magic."
"You mean to tell us that not only is Makoto here some sort of Fairy-tale princess, but this ship is the result of a simple wish?" Maniac all but shouted.
"Oddly enough, it does make a bit of sense..." Blair said, unconvincingly.
"Yeah, we're being entertained by a bunch of loons with a ship 17 kilometers long." Flint muttered.
I chuckled, before pointing to Archer and Bowen, who both looked somewhat angered by our guests blatant disbelief.
"If I were truly insane, I seriously doubt the crew aboard this ship would follow my lead. I doubt even with my newfound martial arts abilities, I could tackle so many people if a mutiny arose."
"Have you told them this story you've so interestingly woven?" Flint asked.
"Haven't you wondered why someone as young as me has a ship this big following my orders?"
"Well..." Marshall said, frowning. Blair and Peters did the same. I shrugged, then looked at the room slowly.
"Believe what you will, but I'd like to hear you explain exactly how a ship this big has managed to evade the Terran Confederation or Kilrathi for so long. Bonus points if you can also find a way to write off the Technology capable of jumping to hyperspace without jump points, Teleportation, and even the design of this ship and it's TIE-Fighters."
"Well, that does eliminate most guesses.." Blair said, slowly. I nodded.
"And once you've taken away all the other possibilities, the last one, no matter how improbable, is the answer. So did I manage to make this ship in some unknown shipyard, said ship using technology your physicists say is impossible? Or did I arrive through some sort of 'Multiversal Wormhole?'"
"I will admit that the wormhole theiry has some merit, but before I believe it, can you prove it?"
"Aside from all the technology? I dunno. Umm..." I said, looking around. Nabiki rolled her eyes, then turned to Makoto.
"Transform." She said, frowning at me. I blushed slightly as I realized I was married to my proof and had completely overlooked it. The fact that Nabiki disaproved of my ignorance of the obvious added to the embarassment, and I hoped our guests paid my wife more attention than they did me.
Makoto stood, an almost deafeated look on her face, as she walked to the center of the room. Pulling out her henshin stick, she held it aloft, before calling out her transformation phrase.
"Jupiter Star Power, MAKE-UP!"
While the lightshow took place, I heard Nabiki mutter softly to herself, "Jupiter's a planet, not a star." Maniac snorted at that, and I rolled my eyes. When Makoto finally landed, Flint clapped and Blair just stared at her like she'd... well... like she'd transformed via magic into someone else. Maniac, however, crossed his arms.
"Something wrong Major?" I asked.
"Feh, That was impressive, no doubt, but given enough time, I could have set up some sort of holographic version of that," he replied, smirking a little.
"You're quite full of yourself for a guy who broke formation to go up in a blaze of glory. Not to mention you're accusing one of the people who saved your life of lying." Nabiki said, quietly.
"I was fine. If you hadn't pulled me out of my ship, You'd have realized I was ejecting."
"Your lies fool nobody, insect," SHODAN said, her voice dripping with contempt. The wall flickered, and suddenly a slow motion replay of the end of the recent starfight took up the entire far wall. Still in vivid detail, I watched as the scene depicted grew untill Maniac's Thunderbolt was taking up most of the wall.
While it pulled away after launching it's compliment of missiles, I watched as three laser blasts lanced out from offscreen towards the fighter. The first struck a thin sphere of lighting I knew to be the shield, but the second and third drilled into the engine of the fighter, which glowed golden before exploding out the back end of the fighter. Another laser struck midship, and a small string of explosions began walking towards the pilots canopy. At the last moment, it exploded open, but before the figure in the chair could get clear, a final explosion launched a multitude of shrapnel at the ejection seat as it blasted away from the fighter.
Said seat was punctured from behind by multiple pieces of metal, and there was a flash from within the helmet a moment before the metal pieces tore their way out the front of the flight suit. The glowing piece of metal wer acompanied by crystalized Oxygen, and red crystals that could only be blood. The screen paused as more shrapnel exited the flight suit, and SHODAN began speaking again.
"That flash from within your helmet was you being teleported into the medical facilities here on the Jupiter's Thunder. If you look closely, you can see a nice, fist-sized piece of shrapnel that would have severed your spine from your backbone about to exit the faceplate. Would you like to watch it shatter the glass of your helmet, or have you seen enough?"
"I.. ohgod, I think I'm going to throw up," the Major said.
"Ever the eloquent one, eh Maniac?" Flint said, though she was looking somewhat pale as well. Blair shuddered once, then turned to look at Makoto, Nabiki and I, before nodding.
"Alright, we'll buy your story. For now. As much as I dislike the thought of being entertained by Extra-universal kid.. people," he caught himself, "The thought of someone holding technology like this back, instead if using it to end or just plain help with the war bothers me even more." I returned the nod, before standing up.
"Well... now that we're done with the 'how-we're-here' explanations, I'd say it's time to drop the bomb."
"How you knew where you were, and who was who so well?" Flint asked.
"Exactly," I smiled. And drop the bomb I did.
Authors Notes!
Been a while, hasn't it? Yeesh. Almost a year since I really started this. NASIF 1, chapter 1 was published bacn in January, but it sat on my computer for a couple months before I decided to actually post it for real, and, well.. It's come a long way.
Unfortunately, it's not what I wanted it to be. At least, up until now. This chapter was written after a long drive home, thinking about the way I write, and the way I should write. As you can see, I suddenly went from my "outline with dialogue" writing style to.. something a bit heftier. By no means am I ready to tackle Stephen King for most words wasted on describing a shadow, but at least I've gotten my descriptive lines a bit more fleshed out. What do you, the readers, think? An improvement? Or did I miss something, and end up trying too hard? Let me know!
Oh, and the Choices of universes. Well, I have planes for that "Final destination" of mine, and therefore, I have to be careful about where I go. But that's boring stuff. YAY! I'm writing again! Expect more space battles, more confusion, and maybe a fight scene or two.
Thanks to Nate and James for feedback, encouragement, and commentary. And George Lucas, Chris Roberts, Rumiko Takahashi and Naoko Takeuchi for all that I've used to give my avater some entertai... protagonist... and allies.
And thanks for leaving feedback, all you who've done so in the past.
Entering the VIP Dining hall, Our small group quickly took places at the large table, and placed our orders with the datapads provided. Despite this ship originating in a Galaxy far, far away (and a long time ago) the foods listed were typical Earth-foods, though they ranged from western style means like Chicago-style pizza, to eastern meals like sukiyaki.
"Aren't you hungry at all, Archer?" I asked the Captain, who had taken a guard-like position near the door.
"No, My Lord, I ate just before our most recent... shift. I appreciate the concern, however."
Nodding at him, I turned back and punched in my order, glad that the ship could duplicate Coca-Cola so perfectly. While waiting for our drinks to arrive, I was somewhat surprised as the door opened, and Makoto and Nabiki entered, Captain Bowen taking place on the opposite side of the door from Captain Archer. Catching Makoto's eye, I quirked a brow at Nabiki, and Makoto just shrugged, before sitting down beside me. Nabiki took a seat between Makoto and Blair, while Peters sat at the end of the table, leaving a space between her and Blair for Maniac.
"So..." I said, breaking the akward silence.
"Yeah." Makoto responded instantly.
Blair, Nabiki, and Peters blinked, before we all turned to watch the Petty Officer who brought the drinks in and placed them before us.
"This is a rather.. informal meal, for such a formal atmosphere," Peters finally said, after taking a sip of her water.
"I've reserved the right to waive formality to ensure comfort," I said with a smile. Blair frowned at that, and I turned my attention to him, "Something wrong, Colonel?"
"Formality, as well as Discipline and Tradition, are not things to take lightly. While I've seen some indication of structure and order, a lot of what I've seen doesn't strike me as being orthodox compared to any Militant Structure I've ever heard of."
"Hmm..." I said, softly, before smiling slightly, "I'm assuming my age, among other things, are the basis of your concerns?"
"Among other things. Your title, or rank, or whatever it is, seems somewhat out of place among the Lieutenants and other standardized ranks, as well."
Captains Archer and Bowen both stiffened up at that, but a slight wave of my hand was enough to cool them off. Blair's questions were to be expected, after all. If not voiced, then at the very least thought. Before I could respond, however, the door opened again, and Major Todd "Maniac" Marshall entered the Dining hall, a Lieutenant beside him, ostensibly to guide him here.
The Major's face displayed both awe and trepidation, but despite that, he spoke with an arrogance only someone who'd garnered the callsign "Maniac" could exude after a narrow escape from obvious death.
"Boy, this is some ship, Colonel. Can you believe they've got a working teleporter in this thing? Not to mention about a million of those little fighters. Whoever's got the wheel of this thing must be nuts not to just go and take out Kilrah."
"Nice to see you too, Maniac. If you'd have a seat, maybe we can find out why this ship hasn't leveled Kilrah, or at least, why it hasn't offered to help up until today."
"All right. When is the Captain going to get here? By the way, nice dress, Flint," Maniac said with a grin asn he sat down beside Peters. Glancing at us, he frowned, before waving and asking, "Who're the kids?"
"Lord Kyle, Lady Makoto, and Admiral Tendo aren't... 'kids!'" Captain Archer shouted, Blaster drawn. Captain Bowen hadn't drawn her weapon, but her hand was resting on it as she added quietly, "Aside from commanding the Jupiter's Thunder, Lord Kyle's quick thinking is the only reason you're not sucking vacuum. And if my Lord and Lady would permit it, I'd like to show our guests another reason entirely to respect them. If I may, My Lord?"
I blinked, then turned to Makoto, "you make the call." Makoto, for her part, blinked back at me, then shrugged at Captain Bowen, "Go ahead."
"SHODAN, Play the video the crew has come to refer to as 'The Practice,' followed by 'The Battle.'"
"Loading," the AI said, her voice managing to convey anticipation as the file was loaded. The Room darkened quickly, and I stifled a groan as I realized the wall the table was facing had just flickered. An image of the Hangar Bay Makoto and I had sparred in appeared, and I sighed as I realized we would be watching said sparring session when Makoto and I walked onto the screen from the left.
Leaning over so I could talk to Makoto without being heard by our guests, I quietly asked her guess as to what 'The Battle' probably was.
"Well, I'd say either our fight with the Nerima Wrecking Crew, or our battle with Happosai and that Pantyhose guy... though I doubt the latter."
"Ohyeah. I totally forgot about out fight with Tarou. Why do you doubt that fight?"
"That wasn't quite as intense as our larger fight. And we were outnumbered in the other fight. It's more impressive."
"I suppose..." I said, sitting back in my chair as our sparring match waged on.
I was impressed by the depth and resolution of the giant screen, if, indeed, that's what it was, and not some sort of projection. While my computer monitor was capable of playing movies and DVDs, and they looked good, this was much more than good, it was perfect. More like watching the fight through a window or something, than watching a recording.
Finally, our sparring patch came to an end, and the wall went blank for a moment, before an image of Earth appeared. Again I was impressed with the display, and how it made me feel like I was looking out a window, as opposed to a recorded set of images.
When the image began to zoom in on Earth rapidly, I glanced down and realized that during the sparring match, our food had been delivered. Looking down the table, I watched as Nabiki and Makoto quietly ate their meals, while the three guests stared at the screen in open-mouthed amazement.
Makoto had apparently ordered a cheeseburger, and I grinned as she tore into it, managing to demolish it rapidly but all the while doing everything mannerly. Wondering how that was possible, I looked past Makoto, at Nabiki, to see what she'd ordered. In front of here was a small Pizza, similar in size to one of Pizza Hutt's Personal Pan sizes. Glancing down at my meal, pigs-in-blankets, I shrugged, and dunked the exposed hotdog end into a rather large puddle of ketchup.
Blair had apparently ordered a steak, and Peters, beyond him, had ordered herself a sandwitch, though in the darkened room, I couldn't exactly make out what was in it. Both pilots, however, were too engrossed with the image of Ranma, Makoto, and I fighting off Ryouga, Ukyo, Akane, Mousse, Shampoo, Kuno, and Happosai to realize they could begin eating.
A subtle flashing light from my Datapad drew my attention from the fight, and I glanced down at the smaller screen to see what it was doing.
"Have plotted a Hyperspace course to the Delius System and will arrive in 48 hours. Battle Analysis compiled, and broken down for later review."
The message was listed as being from SHODAN, and I nodded, figuring her cameras could see in the darkened room enough to pick up said message. A moment later, the datapad blinked off, and I glanced back up at the screen as out fight came to a somewhat anticlimatic end. As the lighting increased to the natural level, our guests turned to look at Makoto and I, then back at the blank screen, before finally fixing their gazes on their plates.
"So!" I finally said, after a few moments of silence. The startled look on our guests faces let me know I'd gotten their attention again, "While you're eating, I'll begin to explain how we came to be here. I'm fairly certain most questions you have will be answered, but feel free to ask whatever questions arise once we're done."
"'We?'" Maniac asked, quirking a brow.
"Who am I to tell Nabiki and Makoto's roles when they're right here to tell it themselves. I may be in charge, but I'm not some sexist megalomaniac."
"So we'd noticed," Robin Peters muttered into her drink. I grinned slightly, but didn't otherwise let her know I'd heard her. The fact that she was a pilot, and flew a starfighter alongside women and men made me wonder as to the nature of her outburst. Weren't all pilots considered equal? Or was it still a male-driven military, that was so hard up for polits they'd turned to Women after realizing that staying sexist would loose the war? Thinking further, I considered how few women I'd seen in the Wing Commander universe show up with higher rank than Flint. Despite outward appearences, Flint had apprently found herself bracketed, though when and where I wasn't sure of.
Realizing I'd captured my autiences attention, then gotten lost in my introspective, I smiled nervously.
"Just... ah... gathering my thoughts. I suppose this all began a couple months ago in my little apartment on the souther side of Denver, Colorado. January 2003-"
"Two... That's Six Hundred and Sixty-Six years ago!" Blair said, interrupting me.
"Well, yeah. I suppose. If it's... 2669, right now," I said, doing some quick math in my head. I shrugged, "that's not the really important part, though."
Over the next half-hour I explained how Nabiki, Makoto, and Mara had appeared at my door, and how we found ourselves experiencing things like universal rewrites, inter-universal transportation, and of course, magic."
"You mean to tell us that not only is Makoto here some sort of Fairy-tale princess, but this ship is the result of a simple wish?" Maniac all but shouted.
"Oddly enough, it does make a bit of sense..." Blair said, unconvincingly.
"Yeah, we're being entertained by a bunch of loons with a ship 17 kilometers long." Flint muttered.
I chuckled, before pointing to Archer and Bowen, who both looked somewhat angered by our guests blatant disbelief.
"If I were truly insane, I seriously doubt the crew aboard this ship would follow my lead. I doubt even with my newfound martial arts abilities, I could tackle so many people if a mutiny arose."
"Have you told them this story you've so interestingly woven?" Flint asked.
"Haven't you wondered why someone as young as me has a ship this big following my orders?"
"Well..." Marshall said, frowning. Blair and Peters did the same. I shrugged, then looked at the room slowly.
"Believe what you will, but I'd like to hear you explain exactly how a ship this big has managed to evade the Terran Confederation or Kilrathi for so long. Bonus points if you can also find a way to write off the Technology capable of jumping to hyperspace without jump points, Teleportation, and even the design of this ship and it's TIE-Fighters."
"Well, that does eliminate most guesses.." Blair said, slowly. I nodded.
"And once you've taken away all the other possibilities, the last one, no matter how improbable, is the answer. So did I manage to make this ship in some unknown shipyard, said ship using technology your physicists say is impossible? Or did I arrive through some sort of 'Multiversal Wormhole?'"
"I will admit that the wormhole theiry has some merit, but before I believe it, can you prove it?"
"Aside from all the technology? I dunno. Umm..." I said, looking around. Nabiki rolled her eyes, then turned to Makoto.
"Transform." She said, frowning at me. I blushed slightly as I realized I was married to my proof and had completely overlooked it. The fact that Nabiki disaproved of my ignorance of the obvious added to the embarassment, and I hoped our guests paid my wife more attention than they did me.
Makoto stood, an almost deafeated look on her face, as she walked to the center of the room. Pulling out her henshin stick, she held it aloft, before calling out her transformation phrase.
"Jupiter Star Power, MAKE-UP!"
While the lightshow took place, I heard Nabiki mutter softly to herself, "Jupiter's a planet, not a star." Maniac snorted at that, and I rolled my eyes. When Makoto finally landed, Flint clapped and Blair just stared at her like she'd... well... like she'd transformed via magic into someone else. Maniac, however, crossed his arms.
"Something wrong Major?" I asked.
"Feh, That was impressive, no doubt, but given enough time, I could have set up some sort of holographic version of that," he replied, smirking a little.
"You're quite full of yourself for a guy who broke formation to go up in a blaze of glory. Not to mention you're accusing one of the people who saved your life of lying." Nabiki said, quietly.
"I was fine. If you hadn't pulled me out of my ship, You'd have realized I was ejecting."
"Your lies fool nobody, insect," SHODAN said, her voice dripping with contempt. The wall flickered, and suddenly a slow motion replay of the end of the recent starfight took up the entire far wall. Still in vivid detail, I watched as the scene depicted grew untill Maniac's Thunderbolt was taking up most of the wall.
While it pulled away after launching it's compliment of missiles, I watched as three laser blasts lanced out from offscreen towards the fighter. The first struck a thin sphere of lighting I knew to be the shield, but the second and third drilled into the engine of the fighter, which glowed golden before exploding out the back end of the fighter. Another laser struck midship, and a small string of explosions began walking towards the pilots canopy. At the last moment, it exploded open, but before the figure in the chair could get clear, a final explosion launched a multitude of shrapnel at the ejection seat as it blasted away from the fighter.
Said seat was punctured from behind by multiple pieces of metal, and there was a flash from within the helmet a moment before the metal pieces tore their way out the front of the flight suit. The glowing piece of metal wer acompanied by crystalized Oxygen, and red crystals that could only be blood. The screen paused as more shrapnel exited the flight suit, and SHODAN began speaking again.
"That flash from within your helmet was you being teleported into the medical facilities here on the Jupiter's Thunder. If you look closely, you can see a nice, fist-sized piece of shrapnel that would have severed your spine from your backbone about to exit the faceplate. Would you like to watch it shatter the glass of your helmet, or have you seen enough?"
"I.. ohgod, I think I'm going to throw up," the Major said.
"Ever the eloquent one, eh Maniac?" Flint said, though she was looking somewhat pale as well. Blair shuddered once, then turned to look at Makoto, Nabiki and I, before nodding.
"Alright, we'll buy your story. For now. As much as I dislike the thought of being entertained by Extra-universal kid.. people," he caught himself, "The thought of someone holding technology like this back, instead if using it to end or just plain help with the war bothers me even more." I returned the nod, before standing up.
"Well... now that we're done with the 'how-we're-here' explanations, I'd say it's time to drop the bomb."
"How you knew where you were, and who was who so well?" Flint asked.
"Exactly," I smiled. And drop the bomb I did.
Authors Notes!
Been a while, hasn't it? Yeesh. Almost a year since I really started this. NASIF 1, chapter 1 was published bacn in January, but it sat on my computer for a couple months before I decided to actually post it for real, and, well.. It's come a long way.
Unfortunately, it's not what I wanted it to be. At least, up until now. This chapter was written after a long drive home, thinking about the way I write, and the way I should write. As you can see, I suddenly went from my "outline with dialogue" writing style to.. something a bit heftier. By no means am I ready to tackle Stephen King for most words wasted on describing a shadow, but at least I've gotten my descriptive lines a bit more fleshed out. What do you, the readers, think? An improvement? Or did I miss something, and end up trying too hard? Let me know!
Oh, and the Choices of universes. Well, I have planes for that "Final destination" of mine, and therefore, I have to be careful about where I go. But that's boring stuff. YAY! I'm writing again! Expect more space battles, more confusion, and maybe a fight scene or two.
Thanks to Nate and James for feedback, encouragement, and commentary. And George Lucas, Chris Roberts, Rumiko Takahashi and Naoko Takeuchi for all that I've used to give my avater some entertai... protagonist... and allies.
And thanks for leaving feedback, all you who've done so in the past.