It was an aerial dogfight in the vacuum of space, with no way out, and nowhere to run. Even the two allies in the modified Prowler knew that, with just one thing left to do: wait for death.
Suddenly, looking out on the view screen, an enemy Prowler exploded, sending shrapnel into three others and crippling them as well. "What was that?" asked Jace.
Solaris smiled as she looked at her ship's radar, "D'Argo."
A comm. signal beeped, "Lara! Are you alright?!"
"D'Argo...... I'm...... ok, I've..... got to.... get to..... Moya....."
"I know. Are you damaged?"
"Severely."
"Ka D'Argo, We need safe passage to Moya. Can you cover us? The damage we have has disabled many of our systems."
"PEACEKEEPER....." growled the Luxan in the Lo'La.
"D'Argo..... not the...... time."
"Please, whatever disregard you have for the Peacekeepers, I assure you that I am not your enemy! I have been...... condemned, to die anyway, for helping Solaris. I am a grave man, Ka D'Argo, but I am not a deceiver."
A pause of verbal silence filled the air, save for the alarms going off, before D'Argo spoke again, "I will defend you. Lara, head straight for Moya, I will take care of the Prowlers."
Solaris gasped, "D'Argo..... that's... suicide......"
"I know. Now go."
"No......... D'Argo, I—"
"GO, LARA!!!!!!!" he cried, and cursed in Luxan, "Listen to me: I couldn't protect your parents from their deaths, but I can protect you from yours. I have lived long, Lara, and you have so much to offer still. Go."
"D'ARGO, NO!!!!" Snapping with sudden energy, she cried, sobbing miserably, "I'm not going to let you die!!!!!!"
"Lara, GO!" Suddenly, the Lo'La came into view, speeding past the upgraded Prowler and into the thicket of the Prowlers, shooting down several of them before they could even react. Instantly, the attack force reconvened, heading straight for D'Argo and his beloved Luxan ship. Only two remained on Solaris and Jace's tail, as their set course was headed straight for Moya.
She cried. Her vision blurry, Solaris bawled, knowing that this was the last time she was to speak to her close friend, "D'Argo, no....."
"I'll do all I can, now get the hezmana out of here!" And just like that, he was gone, the comm. link broken.
Jace took this opportunity to speak, "Lara, we still have Prowlers after us."
"I know..... Computer, target the two tailing Prowlers and fire at will."
"Warning! Prowler cannons only working at forty-five percent."
Hurriedly, a flash of pain came upon her, and a memory fragment invaded her mind. When it subsided, she made a few quick calculations in geometry before answering, "Target the leader. The shrapnel should catch the second one, and take them both out."
"Affirmative," replied the computer, and began the power up sequence for the pulse cannons. The grinding of metal signaled their shift in frequency, and when they stopped, the computer responded, "Prowler cannons operational and functioning. Target locked."
"Fire!"
The cannons revved up with power; electricity pulsed the air as a bolt of pulse fire ensued from the mouth of the cannon, its crimson red color creating a fiery comet-like image. Instantly, it hit its mark, catching the left wing of the head Prowler and wrenching it off, causing the enemy ship to tilt and veer off course, directly into the path of the other. The two ships collided with a screech of metal on metal, engines exploding, power cores overloading; both vessels bursting into flame, and their only chance of catching Solaris and Jace was destroyed. They were home free.
The Lo'La was a swift craft, that's for sure, but even she wasn't meant to be in this sort of situation. Blast after blast hammered the hull, and even the ship's shields were failing. This was it. "May I die a warrior's death!" he cried, before firing off his weapons as fast as he could, knowing the ending of this battle.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw it: a bright, flash of light and a concussive explosion, as D'Argo piloted his Lo'La straight into a thicket of Prowlers and shot all of them with everything he had. The Prowlers reacted instantly, and each of the five remaining ones focused their blasts on one thing: D'Argo's ship.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!" screamed Solaris, as the Lo'La, and D'Argo with it, exploded in a flash of brilliance. Her body was racked with despair, and the ship waved and bobbed with her inability to control it; her concentration over the controls broken, and the ship left with no one to take control.
"Lara!" Grasping the controls over her shoulders, Jace was instantly met with a shock down to his bones, and he recoiled away, "OW!"
"He's gone...... D'Argo's gone!!!!!" she wailed, despondently.
"I know, but he did it so you could live. Solaris, please....."
"SHUT UP!!!!!" Her voice snapped at him with venom, "My friend just DIED, you son of a hasmot!"
"But he did it so you could live!!!!!!" he objected, "And if you get yourself killed for taking revenge, then we will both die, and his death would be meaningless!"
He had a point, and even she could see the logic in it. D'Argo was dead, and soon, both of them as well, with five fighters on their tail. Solaris could feel herself growing cold from it all, and her words seemed sub-zero, "Sit back. Shut up. We're going to Moya."
Deep in Pilot's den, the alien was surprised and overjoyed to announce a bit of news over the comms. "Moya is picking up a ship heading our way, and by the looks of it, Solaris is the one piloting it!"
Chiana was the first to ask, "How is she?"
"Her Prowler is heavily damaged and I am detecting something abnormal about her Prowler itself."
Stark perked up at this, "How so?"
"It seems that she is carrying excessive baggage."
"What, like, her transmodulator thingie?" asked Chiana.
"No, it weighs much more than that."
"But she's alive, right?"
"Of course. Only she can pilot her Prowler, Chiana," replied the Banik.
Noranti was instantly excited, "Yes! Solaris must complete her mission! She must go back in time to save her parents!"
Stark was the only one who was the least bit cautious, "Pilot, is there anyone following her?"
"Yes, five other Prowlers, steadily increasing in acceleration. If she does not cause them to withdrawal, she will reach only metras of the ship before she is shot down."
"Well, where's D'Argo? Wasn't he supposed to help her out?" questioned the blind Nebari.
"Moya is.... not detecting D'Argo's ship anywhere."
"Hello, come in Moya," replied Solaris's voice over the comms.
"Officer Crichton! It is a pleasure to hear your voice again!" responded Pilot, showing a surprisingly happy tone in his voice, "Are you in need of some assistance?"
"Yeah, can you come pick us up? We're not going to make it with all these Prowlers on us. I'm thinking that they wouldn't attack Moya as much, because she can't be so easily brought down. And besides, my cannons have disabled a few of their targeting systems, as well as damaged their weapon's arrays."
"A fair assumption, and quite correct. We will be with you shortly, Solaris."
"Lari, where's D'Argo?" Chiana asked, her voice quivering slightly.
A long pause occurred before she answered, "I'll tell you on Moya. Solaris out."
As soon as Moya was visible, Solaris piloted her Prowler directly towards her, with the other Prowlers in tow, "I'm three hundred metras to your location, Pilot. Can you and Moya make a drive by and suck us into Moya's docking bay?"
"I assure you, it can be done."
"Good, do it."
Sure enough, before she knew it, the steadfast Leviathan was doing just as asked, and Solaris found herself looking into Moya's shadow. The Prowlers opened fire, but completely missed, startled by the appearance of the ship, and veered off course. Gently, Moya's outer doors swung open, the draft creating a suction for the Prowler and drew it in.
The landing was rough. Her Prowler slowing but still skidding towards the back wall, and with the doors closing, Solaris instantly pulled the cockpit door eject button, grabbed the transmodulator, and jumped out, with Jace following suit. The ship itself flew into the back wall of the docking bay, and crashed in a twisted heap of metal, the core almost overloading by its nature. "PILOT! OPEN THE HANGER DOORS AGAIN!" This time, the pressure took the totaled ship with it. Clinging to a bulkhead, Solaris and Jace were suspended in air, almost being sucked in with every other loose item in the bay as they watched the vessel her mother loved go skidding out the gateways, with its core overloading just as it was a few metras away. A brilliant flash of fire and light flared from its power source, completely destroying the remains of something Solaris herself worked so hard on. "So much for Mom's Prowler...."
"Pilot, can you close the hanger doors?" asked Jace uneasily.
"Yes," replied Pilot, and did so accordingly.
Jace looked at his partner as soon as his feet once again touched the bottom of the floor. It was now that he took the time to ask, "Are you alright?"
She blew him off, "Pilot, I need everyone assembled in your den, please."
"Of course, Solaris, I will have everyone report to this location now."
"Good. Meet you there." She turned to leave when Jace grabbed her arm firmly. Reacting instantly, she kicked him in the gut and loosened his grip at the same time, "LEAVE ME ALONE."
This was definitely not the response he was looking for. "Lara, are you alright?"
She looked harrowed and disbelieving, "Do you THINK I'm alright?" Disgusted, she turned and ran out of the bay and into the left corridor, hoping that he couldn't see the tears running down her face. "I've got a staff meeting to attend to, so move it or lose it!"
He looked pained, but followed her, "Lara, I—"
"Don't say anything. Just, just don't."
"Why not?"
"Because you can't help me with what I'm going through!!!!" she cried out at him, and ran faster, "Come or go, I don't care. I'm going to talk to the troops. They need to know...... what happened....."
Jace looked tired, but caught up and ran in stride with her, "You shouldn't be running like—"
"Like this? Screw you, Jace Kohen, SCREW YOU and EVERY DAMNED Peacekeeper who want to shoot first and ask questions later. SCREW YOU, Jace! Now GO AWAY!!!!!!!!!!"
It was hard to watch her go on ahead, to watch her go as he could see her watery blue eyes, but even he knew not to cross her. Strange. He wanted to help her, but at the same time, he knew that he couldn't. Sighing, he followed, but at a safe distance. Better to leave her to her own demons than to become one in her eyes.
Read and review everyone!
Stuill experiencing technical difficulties. Hopefully will get them resolved tonight, though. Anyway, please, read, review, chill out, whatever!
And DSP, lol, don't worry: by the end of this fan fiction, every question you have about everything will be resolved. Only one small cliffhanger at the end (or major one, it depends on how you think of it) But it'll mostly all get resolved. I'm actually about, oh, 4 chapters ahead of this one, (since I really have nothing else to do on my comp except type things up and listen/watch my Farscape music video things) and I'm going to say it right now, I'm just about done, only the epilogue to go, and then I'll be free to write the sequel! Wheeeeeeeeee! Awesome! Anyway, read, review!