-----------------
Disclaimer: And here be the sad, sad truth: I don't own Outlaw Star. The only thing that consoles me through this tragedy is knowing that no one else writing fanfiction does either.... -----------------
Author's Notes: Okay! I'm REEEEEAAALLLLLYYY HAPPY! WE finally broke 100 reviews!!!! Congratulations to me and the readers!!!! I'd like to thank everyone that has reviewed so far!!! Please continue with your greatly appreciated support!!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!
Oh, yeah, one more thing – asterisks don't seem to be working anymore, so when I'm going to have to use - from now on.
-----------------
Review Responses:
Dishrag1313 – Thanks for the review! One question...who's KAvender??? I seriously hope it isn't someone from Outlaw Star because then I'll look like an idiot that hasn't done her research....
Seashah – Hey Seashah! Thanks for coming and read my fanfiction too! Go to sleep, girl! You're gonna be exhausted!!! Make sure you take a nap, too! LOL. I can't believe you were going to read my entire works!!! gets all teary eyed I feel so loved!!! Seriously, though. You have no idea how touched this makes me feel. Thank you SOOOOO SOOOOO MUCH!!!!
iwzreemdbyff.net – (The Ronin) -crunches up her nose- Yeah, I was kind of disappointed in Chapter 15, myself. I didn't try as hard as I could have. I'm going to make sure that I write more and write better this time; simply because I only have two chapters left to upload everything I want to say. I think that 17 and 18 are going to be extremely long....-- Thanks for the review, though! I'm going to try and write in a few flashbacks that will coordinate with what's going on that might help to explain exactly what Jim did!!! By the way, I'm really glad that everything worked out for you and your fics. Fanfiction.net needs to change their policies. --()
StoryWeaver1 – Hey! Nice to hear from you again! Yeah, I'll be sure to add fluffiness! But it probably won't come full throttle until Chapter 18, simply because...well, you'll see. -winks and nudges her knowingly-
Layline – I'm glad that you read Chapter 15! Please read on!
Midi Tenshi – Whattya mean it was short? -punches her arm playfully- It was 10 pages in Word! Yours are always shorter than that!!! Just kidding. Anyway, UPDATE your fic, WOMAN!!!!
SonJanusX – I'm glad that you liked it. Your opinion really matters to me, since you tend to give great reviews. Thanks a lot, I appreciate it.
And now that that's over with, on with the chapter!!!!
-----------------
(In the last chapter...)
-----------------
They all reached the ship at around the same time, each one of them gasping for breath.
"Why hello, everyone. Are we leaving so soon? My repairs are still incompl- "
"Shut it, Gilliam!" retorted Gene when he had regained his composure. "We have a situation on our hands!"
"That's right!" rang out a catty voice. They turned to see a very tired- looking yet unabashed Aisha ClanClan. "Melfina's in trouble! We need to take off right now, Gilliam!!!"
"Yes, of course."
The door to the ship slid open and everyone hurried inside.
(WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT? READ ON TO FIND OUT!)
----------------------
Prince Charming: Chapter 16
----------------------
Gilliam swept the door shut immediately as soon as he was sure everyone was safely inside.
"Thanks Gilliam!" Gene and Jim said in unison, hastening everyone forward into the piloting area.
"Wait a minute, Gene!" called Aisha loudly. "What are we going to do about navigation?!"
Gene quickly handed Melfina over to Suzuka before shouting to Gilliam: "Get ready, Gilliam! We're leaving in a hurry!"
"Right."
He settled himself down into his seat and then glanced at Aisha before turning to Suzuka once more.
"Melfina knows she has to pilot us. What I'm hoping is that once she's inside the mainframe she'll start recovering, if only for a little while. She saved me through it once...maybe it will work for her too. Help her over to the deck, Suzuka. Hurry!"
The assassin nodded once before helping Mel over to the black, circular deck.
"Good luck, Melfina," she said, before the younger girl glided down into the main frame.
As soon as she had disappeared and the metal closed back over the deck, Suzuka and the other two quickly sat down. As Gene made last minute preparations, the black metal bars that Melfina had sat staring at what seemed like forever ago slid open slowly to reveal a very tired-looking but otherwise determined Mel.
"Are you going to be alright?" asked Jim, concerned.
Mel nodded wearily.
"Yes, Jim. Thank you, I'll be fine." Her eyes narrowed suddenly. "Let's go."
Gene nodded once and the ship started up, straining against the metal poles and straps holding it in place.
"Haven't we already been through a situation like this?" asked Gene, gritting his teeth.
"Why yes, Gene, we have. Exactly four months, two weeks, and-"
"I don't need statistics right now, Gilliam!" Gene shouted angrily. "I NEED A TAKEOFF!"
"Er – right then. Are you ready, Melfina?"
"Yes, Gilliam. I am."
"Then here we go."
----------------------
The takeoff fortunately went better than expected. They cleared the station rather quickly, despite the many assaults by the Tao pirates, and managed to break through the atmosphere of Sentinel 3 not four or five minutes subsequent.
Melfina quickly calculated the latitude and longitude before they were safely on their way to their destination, which Jim, Aisha, and Gene were growing more and more curious about.
The discussion came up quickly.
"Hey, Suzuka!" asked Jim loudly, turning around in his seat to face her. "Where the hell are we going anyway?"
Suzuka's eyes narrowed on him.
"I'm not exactly positive," she began slowly. "But it's somewhere 700,000 miles from Blue Heaven."
"Miles? You still calculate in matter of miles? What year are you from, Suzuka? 2000?"
If the person had been someone other than the assassin, who was known for her stoicism, Jim would have been lying on the floor in agony.
Fortunately for him, it was Suzuka, and all he received was a dry, comprehensive stare.
Still, he knew what lay behind that stare, and he immediately shut up.
Gene was hesitant to stop, but they all knew that if they didn't have the correct supplies, they'd be screwed over. Or at least that was how Gene so quaintly put it.
Jim and Suzuka stayed behind with Melfina.
(A/N: Get ready for flashbacks of what happened when they were in the control tower. I'll shut up now.)
After the long – or what seemed like long to poor Mel – flight to Blue Heaven, she was feeling pretty exhausted. And when Suzuka and Jim proved true that they were going to remain silent, Melfina fell into a light sleep, feeling protected by the system.
But in reality, the two had been waiting for the girl to fall asleep before they discussed anything.
And they certainly had something to discuss.
"I'm guessing that you noticed it as well, Jim?" asked Suzuka, positive that she already knew the answer.
"You mean the warning in the control tower? Yeah, I did. The whole freakin' place was rigged. We could probably even now have an entire score of Tao on our tails."
The assassin was surprised by the maturity Jim was showing through his words. He was always mature, but he never spoke so seriously.
She quickly thought back over what had happened.
--
It only took them three or four minutes to reach the control tower near the docks. Melfina was starting to weigh down in Suzuka's arms, and Jim was nearly exhausted from sprinting for what had seemed like forever.
"Come on," said Suzuka quickly, gesturing towards the door with her head. "You're going to need tools of some sort to open it. I can't reach my sword and I can't entrust you not to cut yourself."
If the situation hadn't been so serious, Jim would have glared at her for treating him like a kid.
But instead of causing even more trouble – (he'd convinced himself not to act like Gene in times of difficulty) – he just pulled out his handheld computer and began searching for activation codes that would allow him to open the door to the main control room.
"C'mon," Jim urged, impatient to get this over with so that they could get off of Sentinel 3.
After a few minutes of playing around with digit and letter combinations, something clicked and the door swung open.
"Finally!"
The both rushed inside and Suzuka leaned Melfina up against the wall carefully before hastening over to the control panels, where Jim was already well at work on getting the platforms under his control, as well as gaining access to the satellites so that they wouldn't go crazy and alert someone when they left without permission.
"Are the firewalls as weak as you at first thought?" asked Suzuka about ten minutes after he had stopped bragging about the system's horrible defenses.
"Apparently not," grimaced Jim, continuing to type furiously. After a moment, the screen blinked out and then reopened to a blue and silver screen, asking for three different access codes. "Damnit! Why the hell would a dock have such a strong security system?"
Suzuka chuckled.
"Probably because of what happened last time with Gene, remember? He practically destroyed this place. Guess that they don't want to miss any precautions that might keep people like us out."
Jim rolled his eyes but laughed.
"I guess s- well, FINALLY!" Jim grinned and pressed alt/delete/enter. "There we go. All done. We now have the platform under control."
Suzuka nodded.
"Good job."
Suddenly Jim's brow furrowed as he frowned at the monitor.
"What's wrong?" asked the woman.
Jim shook his head slowly, eyeing the small pop-up suspiciously. "Nothing," he responded, not wishing to confuse to frighten anyone. "Nothing. I just missed something. Give me a second."
Suzuka opened her mouth to answer, but before she could say anything else, there was a small moan, and the assassin went over to attend to Melfina.
--
"Do you think that there's any possible way for us to keep them from following us anymore?" she asked.
Jim thought for a moment, and then shook his head, sighing.
"I should have tried right then and there to break down the codes, but...I was nervous and I wasn't sure if it might open a trap...I'm sorry."
"It's okay, Jim. Don't worry about it. We'll be able to avoid the Tao."
"Gene and Aisha are back," said Gilliam, his miniature pink robot zooming towards them. "They should be here any sec-"
"Alright, let's get this show on the road!" exclaimed Aisha, bursting into the main hull. Gene soon followed, carrying a few things.
"I know you don't like this, Jim," said Gene, lifting a few boxes of Chinese food from a bag, and noticing Jim's frown, "but we all need to eat. And we don't have time to stop and go to any other room to make some tea, so sit back and eat."
For once, Jim didn't argue, he simply nodded and grabbed a pair of chopsticks.
"Let's get going, Gilliam."
"Of course."
--
"Hey Melfina, how much longer until we reach the place?"
Mel closed her eyes for a moment, silent. Then she said: "Only 30 more minutes or so, Gene. Not much longer."
Gene nodded, wishing that everyone had stayed in the hull with him and Mel. They'd all left to get some sleep, but Gene had insisted on staying.
He just didn't know what to say.
He glanced over at her, surprised to see that she was looking at him as well. They both looked away.
"Erm...Mel?"
"Yes, Gene?"
"You...you do know...that..."
Melfina nodded.
"I know, Gene. I know."
Gene smiled sadly.
"I thought so. I'm sorry, Melfina. I really am."
Mel smiled too, and wished that she wasn't presently confined to the navigational system.
"I'm sorry too, Gene. If I hadn't met up with you in the first place, then you wouldn't have to go through all this trouble."
All of a sudden, Gene was standing in front of her, giving her a strange look, a mixture of pain and sorrow.
"Don't ever say that, Mel. If I hadn't met you, I never would have grown up enough to see what my life was amounting to – nothing. At least now I've done something to help others out. I became a better man. Don't ever say that you shouldn't have come into my life. Don't ever."
Melfina stared at him, wide-eyed. Then she looked away, smiling a little.
"I love you, Gene."
"I love you too, Melfina."
And then the pain hit.
-----
Okay, even I'm surprised at me. That was the mushiest chapter yet!!! Also pretty long. And we still aren't anywhere near where we need to be!!! TT -sobs pathetically- I guess that I'll just have to get my butt to work and write as much as I can per chapter so that I can still leave all of my wonderful friends a nice, mean cliffy. BWAHAHAHAHAA!!!! -cackles maniacally- Man, I love being evil.
Please review, because you know they make me happy! I want to see if we can break 150!!!!
Disclaimer: And here be the sad, sad truth: I don't own Outlaw Star. The only thing that consoles me through this tragedy is knowing that no one else writing fanfiction does either.... -----------------
Author's Notes: Okay! I'm REEEEEAAALLLLLYYY HAPPY! WE finally broke 100 reviews!!!! Congratulations to me and the readers!!!! I'd like to thank everyone that has reviewed so far!!! Please continue with your greatly appreciated support!!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!
Oh, yeah, one more thing – asterisks don't seem to be working anymore, so when I'm going to have to use - from now on.
-----------------
Review Responses:
Dishrag1313 – Thanks for the review! One question...who's KAvender??? I seriously hope it isn't someone from Outlaw Star because then I'll look like an idiot that hasn't done her research....
Seashah – Hey Seashah! Thanks for coming and read my fanfiction too! Go to sleep, girl! You're gonna be exhausted!!! Make sure you take a nap, too! LOL. I can't believe you were going to read my entire works!!! gets all teary eyed I feel so loved!!! Seriously, though. You have no idea how touched this makes me feel. Thank you SOOOOO SOOOOO MUCH!!!!
iwzreemdbyff.net – (The Ronin) -crunches up her nose- Yeah, I was kind of disappointed in Chapter 15, myself. I didn't try as hard as I could have. I'm going to make sure that I write more and write better this time; simply because I only have two chapters left to upload everything I want to say. I think that 17 and 18 are going to be extremely long....-- Thanks for the review, though! I'm going to try and write in a few flashbacks that will coordinate with what's going on that might help to explain exactly what Jim did!!! By the way, I'm really glad that everything worked out for you and your fics. Fanfiction.net needs to change their policies. --()
StoryWeaver1 – Hey! Nice to hear from you again! Yeah, I'll be sure to add fluffiness! But it probably won't come full throttle until Chapter 18, simply because...well, you'll see. -winks and nudges her knowingly-
Layline – I'm glad that you read Chapter 15! Please read on!
Midi Tenshi – Whattya mean it was short? -punches her arm playfully- It was 10 pages in Word! Yours are always shorter than that!!! Just kidding. Anyway, UPDATE your fic, WOMAN!!!!
SonJanusX – I'm glad that you liked it. Your opinion really matters to me, since you tend to give great reviews. Thanks a lot, I appreciate it.
And now that that's over with, on with the chapter!!!!
-----------------
(In the last chapter...)
-----------------
They all reached the ship at around the same time, each one of them gasping for breath.
"Why hello, everyone. Are we leaving so soon? My repairs are still incompl- "
"Shut it, Gilliam!" retorted Gene when he had regained his composure. "We have a situation on our hands!"
"That's right!" rang out a catty voice. They turned to see a very tired- looking yet unabashed Aisha ClanClan. "Melfina's in trouble! We need to take off right now, Gilliam!!!"
"Yes, of course."
The door to the ship slid open and everyone hurried inside.
(WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT? READ ON TO FIND OUT!)
----------------------
Prince Charming: Chapter 16
----------------------
Gilliam swept the door shut immediately as soon as he was sure everyone was safely inside.
"Thanks Gilliam!" Gene and Jim said in unison, hastening everyone forward into the piloting area.
"Wait a minute, Gene!" called Aisha loudly. "What are we going to do about navigation?!"
Gene quickly handed Melfina over to Suzuka before shouting to Gilliam: "Get ready, Gilliam! We're leaving in a hurry!"
"Right."
He settled himself down into his seat and then glanced at Aisha before turning to Suzuka once more.
"Melfina knows she has to pilot us. What I'm hoping is that once she's inside the mainframe she'll start recovering, if only for a little while. She saved me through it once...maybe it will work for her too. Help her over to the deck, Suzuka. Hurry!"
The assassin nodded once before helping Mel over to the black, circular deck.
"Good luck, Melfina," she said, before the younger girl glided down into the main frame.
As soon as she had disappeared and the metal closed back over the deck, Suzuka and the other two quickly sat down. As Gene made last minute preparations, the black metal bars that Melfina had sat staring at what seemed like forever ago slid open slowly to reveal a very tired-looking but otherwise determined Mel.
"Are you going to be alright?" asked Jim, concerned.
Mel nodded wearily.
"Yes, Jim. Thank you, I'll be fine." Her eyes narrowed suddenly. "Let's go."
Gene nodded once and the ship started up, straining against the metal poles and straps holding it in place.
"Haven't we already been through a situation like this?" asked Gene, gritting his teeth.
"Why yes, Gene, we have. Exactly four months, two weeks, and-"
"I don't need statistics right now, Gilliam!" Gene shouted angrily. "I NEED A TAKEOFF!"
"Er – right then. Are you ready, Melfina?"
"Yes, Gilliam. I am."
"Then here we go."
----------------------
The takeoff fortunately went better than expected. They cleared the station rather quickly, despite the many assaults by the Tao pirates, and managed to break through the atmosphere of Sentinel 3 not four or five minutes subsequent.
Melfina quickly calculated the latitude and longitude before they were safely on their way to their destination, which Jim, Aisha, and Gene were growing more and more curious about.
The discussion came up quickly.
"Hey, Suzuka!" asked Jim loudly, turning around in his seat to face her. "Where the hell are we going anyway?"
Suzuka's eyes narrowed on him.
"I'm not exactly positive," she began slowly. "But it's somewhere 700,000 miles from Blue Heaven."
"Miles? You still calculate in matter of miles? What year are you from, Suzuka? 2000?"
If the person had been someone other than the assassin, who was known for her stoicism, Jim would have been lying on the floor in agony.
Fortunately for him, it was Suzuka, and all he received was a dry, comprehensive stare.
Still, he knew what lay behind that stare, and he immediately shut up.
Gene was hesitant to stop, but they all knew that if they didn't have the correct supplies, they'd be screwed over. Or at least that was how Gene so quaintly put it.
Jim and Suzuka stayed behind with Melfina.
(A/N: Get ready for flashbacks of what happened when they were in the control tower. I'll shut up now.)
After the long – or what seemed like long to poor Mel – flight to Blue Heaven, she was feeling pretty exhausted. And when Suzuka and Jim proved true that they were going to remain silent, Melfina fell into a light sleep, feeling protected by the system.
But in reality, the two had been waiting for the girl to fall asleep before they discussed anything.
And they certainly had something to discuss.
"I'm guessing that you noticed it as well, Jim?" asked Suzuka, positive that she already knew the answer.
"You mean the warning in the control tower? Yeah, I did. The whole freakin' place was rigged. We could probably even now have an entire score of Tao on our tails."
The assassin was surprised by the maturity Jim was showing through his words. He was always mature, but he never spoke so seriously.
She quickly thought back over what had happened.
--
It only took them three or four minutes to reach the control tower near the docks. Melfina was starting to weigh down in Suzuka's arms, and Jim was nearly exhausted from sprinting for what had seemed like forever.
"Come on," said Suzuka quickly, gesturing towards the door with her head. "You're going to need tools of some sort to open it. I can't reach my sword and I can't entrust you not to cut yourself."
If the situation hadn't been so serious, Jim would have glared at her for treating him like a kid.
But instead of causing even more trouble – (he'd convinced himself not to act like Gene in times of difficulty) – he just pulled out his handheld computer and began searching for activation codes that would allow him to open the door to the main control room.
"C'mon," Jim urged, impatient to get this over with so that they could get off of Sentinel 3.
After a few minutes of playing around with digit and letter combinations, something clicked and the door swung open.
"Finally!"
The both rushed inside and Suzuka leaned Melfina up against the wall carefully before hastening over to the control panels, where Jim was already well at work on getting the platforms under his control, as well as gaining access to the satellites so that they wouldn't go crazy and alert someone when they left without permission.
"Are the firewalls as weak as you at first thought?" asked Suzuka about ten minutes after he had stopped bragging about the system's horrible defenses.
"Apparently not," grimaced Jim, continuing to type furiously. After a moment, the screen blinked out and then reopened to a blue and silver screen, asking for three different access codes. "Damnit! Why the hell would a dock have such a strong security system?"
Suzuka chuckled.
"Probably because of what happened last time with Gene, remember? He practically destroyed this place. Guess that they don't want to miss any precautions that might keep people like us out."
Jim rolled his eyes but laughed.
"I guess s- well, FINALLY!" Jim grinned and pressed alt/delete/enter. "There we go. All done. We now have the platform under control."
Suzuka nodded.
"Good job."
Suddenly Jim's brow furrowed as he frowned at the monitor.
"What's wrong?" asked the woman.
Jim shook his head slowly, eyeing the small pop-up suspiciously. "Nothing," he responded, not wishing to confuse to frighten anyone. "Nothing. I just missed something. Give me a second."
Suzuka opened her mouth to answer, but before she could say anything else, there was a small moan, and the assassin went over to attend to Melfina.
--
"Do you think that there's any possible way for us to keep them from following us anymore?" she asked.
Jim thought for a moment, and then shook his head, sighing.
"I should have tried right then and there to break down the codes, but...I was nervous and I wasn't sure if it might open a trap...I'm sorry."
"It's okay, Jim. Don't worry about it. We'll be able to avoid the Tao."
"Gene and Aisha are back," said Gilliam, his miniature pink robot zooming towards them. "They should be here any sec-"
"Alright, let's get this show on the road!" exclaimed Aisha, bursting into the main hull. Gene soon followed, carrying a few things.
"I know you don't like this, Jim," said Gene, lifting a few boxes of Chinese food from a bag, and noticing Jim's frown, "but we all need to eat. And we don't have time to stop and go to any other room to make some tea, so sit back and eat."
For once, Jim didn't argue, he simply nodded and grabbed a pair of chopsticks.
"Let's get going, Gilliam."
"Of course."
--
"Hey Melfina, how much longer until we reach the place?"
Mel closed her eyes for a moment, silent. Then she said: "Only 30 more minutes or so, Gene. Not much longer."
Gene nodded, wishing that everyone had stayed in the hull with him and Mel. They'd all left to get some sleep, but Gene had insisted on staying.
He just didn't know what to say.
He glanced over at her, surprised to see that she was looking at him as well. They both looked away.
"Erm...Mel?"
"Yes, Gene?"
"You...you do know...that..."
Melfina nodded.
"I know, Gene. I know."
Gene smiled sadly.
"I thought so. I'm sorry, Melfina. I really am."
Mel smiled too, and wished that she wasn't presently confined to the navigational system.
"I'm sorry too, Gene. If I hadn't met up with you in the first place, then you wouldn't have to go through all this trouble."
All of a sudden, Gene was standing in front of her, giving her a strange look, a mixture of pain and sorrow.
"Don't ever say that, Mel. If I hadn't met you, I never would have grown up enough to see what my life was amounting to – nothing. At least now I've done something to help others out. I became a better man. Don't ever say that you shouldn't have come into my life. Don't ever."
Melfina stared at him, wide-eyed. Then she looked away, smiling a little.
"I love you, Gene."
"I love you too, Melfina."
And then the pain hit.
-----
Okay, even I'm surprised at me. That was the mushiest chapter yet!!! Also pretty long. And we still aren't anywhere near where we need to be!!! TT -sobs pathetically- I guess that I'll just have to get my butt to work and write as much as I can per chapter so that I can still leave all of my wonderful friends a nice, mean cliffy. BWAHAHAHAHAA!!!! -cackles maniacally- Man, I love being evil.
Please review, because you know they make me happy! I want to see if we can break 150!!!!