Lady Alionae; I'm planning to write a sequel to this, howz that? But i won't if you don't start writing some of yours. I'm DYING to know who that girl is...
To everyone else; this chapt is a bit rushed, and if i get anything wrong just tell me, ok? It's got a little more action in this one though...
We walked down the corridors of the Aerionna, with Ithiell and Amanda by our side. Tobias had sped off ahead towards the 'bridge', probably to go to Rachel.
After a few more minutes we passed through the sliding door of the bridge, finally seeing the others, all themselves, and all looking great.
That's when I noticed him. He was standing in front of Jake and Cassie, seeming to be in deep discussion with them.
"Lowri?" I asked as we walked up to them, and he turned to look at us, smiling.
"Ah, Jade. And who is this? Marco? Well, well, what a fine young warrior" he held out his hand to Marco, who shook it reluctantly.
"My name is Lowri of the Ipkla clan" he introduced.
"I've just been telling Lowri of our situation, and he's willing to help us" Jake explained, as I looked around and saw the others. There were at least six other Chanaibens on the bridge, excluding Rtaia and Ithiell. Rtaia herself was at one of the consoles, with Ax standing beside her. They seemed to be working on something. Either that or Rtaia was showing him how to work the controls.
Not far off, Rachel and a blond haired boy stood, talking to each other. I guessed that was Tobias, since I'd only seen him once before as a human.
But then I saw Robert. He had his back to us, looking up at all the different screens that were popping up over the view screen. I could just imagine the scowl on his face then.
So, nothing's changed with you I see... I thought to myself, going over to him, leaving the others to discuss the situation.
"What happened?" I asked flatly, knowing it was the only way I'd ever get a straight answer from him.
"Jake grouped us all together, and we were about to come rescue you, when Ithiell showed up in the fighter, followed by the Aerionna. They blasted one of their thrusters, then landed in this meadow. We followed, and a few minutes later you guys showed up" he said just as flatly, and I saw I was right about his facial expression.
"But... do they know we're here? Do they know we've landed?"
"We're not sure, but we're not going to be staying here for long. They're just checking the systems to make sure we don't have any stuff-ups when we go into battle"
"How much longer?"
"Don't know" he was the arrogant Robert again. But I had seen something in him, when I was asked to choose, and we both knew I'd never forget it. There was a real person hiding under that icy glare, and nothing he said or did could change that fact.
No, pick me! I deserve to...he had said. He was willing to...
"Thankyou" I whispered, putting a hand on his arm before moving off to talk to the Lowri and the others. Now, I couldn't be absolutely sure what I heard next, but it definitely came from him.
"You're welcome" he said in a whisper, and when I turned to look at him I saw he'd turned back to the screen.
"Humans!!" Came a sudden and shrill voice, and we all turned to see Lowri's tactical officer storm onto the bridge, looking like she was about to explode.
"Calm down Talia" Lowri said calmly as she came to stand beside him, glaring at all of us.
"This is not appropriate! Humans should not be on the bridge of this ship! I..."
"Talia, look closely at who half of them are" Rtaia had come over with Ax in tow, meeting Talia's cool gaze with her own.
Talia scowled, then turned to look at me first. In seconds, I saw her face change entirely from anger to what I could only guess as relief and gratitude.
"Jade! It is you! Young warriors, I apologise" she bowed low, turning to the others "I did not realise we had such honoured guests..."
"Sir, we are ready to take off" one of the Chanaibens at his console reported.
"Sir! The Blade ship is preparing to take off! It seems they've fixed the thrusters we managed to take out!" Came anothers cry, and I saw Lowri and Talia turned serious.
"Take off! Engines at full power! We've got to get off the ground before they do!" Talia snapped, and we heard the others respond.
"We can't let them get the advantage" Lowri said, his eyes narrowing at the screen in front of us. In seconds, I felt the giant ship rise, and I had to try my best to keep a foothold. I watched as Rtaia and Ax ran back to her station, working like mad at the controls.
"Humans, brace yourselves!" Talia shouted, and I did my best to brace my feet from the sudden jerky movements of the ship. Tobias and Rachel seemed to be holding onto the wall, and Robert was holding onto one of the chairs that a Chanaiben was in.
But the rest of us...
"Thrusters, now!" Lowri roared, and seconds later five of us were on the floor, all of us either landing on our butts or one another. Ithiell and the commanders however, were still standing. They had used their tails to absorb the shock of the ship lurching upwards.
"There! I see it!" Rtaia cried, and at almost at the same time, directly beside us, was the Blade ship. I scrambled up off my sore back bone, bracing my feet the best I could again, with Cassie and Amanda beside me.
"Get off me!" Jake snapped at Marco as the two boys frantically untangled themselves, scrambling up as well.
"Hey! It's not my fault we got..."
"Maximum thrusters! We need to get above them!" Talia shouted as Ithiell ran past me and to a spare console with a chair. Seconds later...
"Maximum thrusters engaged!" Ithiell yelled, and I suddenly found myself on the floor again, with someone's foot in my back.
"They've got the same idea!" Rtaia yelled, her own fingers flying across her controls, with Ax beside her, almost keeping pace with her speeding hands.
(Very soon I believe they will turn to...)
"We know that! But as long as we try to stay above them, we might..." Rtaia was cut off as one of the others yelled out something in their own language, and Lowri replied in a simular tone.
"Get us turned around! If we can't stay above them, we'll just have to fight them!" Talia yelled, running over to one of the officers, taking over for him for a few precious seconds. The ship began to turn, but now it had turned desperate.
"Weapons, ready!"
"All systems functioning. We can try to get more thruster power from..."
"I don't care where you get it from, just do it!" Again, the ship lurched upwards, this time gaining a little more speed once we were a certain height from the ground.
"Are we going into space?!" Cassie cried.
"We might have to!" Came Talia's response.
"No! We are most definitely not! If we get damaged, I'd like to be..."
"Sir! It's firing!"
"Return fire!"
In seconds, two beams of light collided, sending shock waves back to the ships, and almost everyone on the bridge was tossed around like rag dolls. I ended up near the door, with my legs arching over my head, and looking back at the others.
"Well, that wasn't fun" I muttered, as I kicked my legs, righting myself and landing on my feet in one fluid movement. It's an advantage of being athletic.
I stood up fully, watching as the others scrambled to get to their posts, and Lowri helped both Talia and Amanda up at once. Marco had landed a few feet away, and stood up a little shakily. Cassie and Jake seemed to have collided, and picked one another up on the way. Rachel and Tobias didn't seem to have moved much, and I saw Robert holding on for dear life to the back a chair. Ax, Rtaia and Ithiell however, had somehow managed to stay glued to where they were.
"Sir! They're about to fire again!"
"Beat them to it! ATTACK!!!"
Twin beams from our ship raced towards the Blade ship, and a section of the ship seemed to explode.
"Hah! Got 'em!" I heard Rachel cry, and I saw her pump her fist in the air.
"It's not over yet!" I called to her, watching as they prepared to fire.
"Sir! We're not fully charged to..."
"Everyone, brace yourselves! And tell the others on the ship!" Lowri shouted, preparing for the worst.
"Brace for impact!" Someone shouted into what sounded like a loudspeaker, before the Blade ship fired back at us.
BOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!
The impact rocked the whole ship, sending us all tumbling again, catapulting me into the door. Four other bodies landed beside me, one's arm knocking the wind out of me.
Then one of the consoles exploded, with the poor Chanaiben not even having the chance to try and save himself. Then I felt the explosions in the ship.
"The engine room reports heavy casualties!" Came a terrified voice.
"Places everyone! Fire when ready, and keep firing until we've crippled that damn ship!" Talia yelled, running over to where the now dead Chanaiben was, moving him gently aside before working on trying to repair the damage.
The five of us tumbled to the floor, a mad tangle of arms and legs. Cassie got out first, pulling Jake out of the fray. I tumbled out next, and Amanda dislodged her foot from the crook of Marco's elbow. I grabbed her as she stumbled up, and the two of us helped Marco up.
"I feel like I've been put through a washing machine" He complained as we all watched the Aerionna fire another round, and kept firing until the weapons ran out of charge.
"Sir! We've hit their weapons system! They're offline!" Called a triumphant Ithiell, and Amanda ran to stand beside him, grabbing onto the back of his chair as she did so. I saw Rachel and Tobias had caught onto her idea.
A sudden explosion from behind us sent the now four of us tumbling into each other again.
"Another ship!" Jake cried as we all tried to untangle ourselves again.
"No, it's the engine room! We need to get someone down there, fast!"
"To do what?!"
"Release the engine's coolant. It might just save our lives!!" Talia shot back, running over to another console, then back to the charred one she had been working on.
"It's a failsafe I installed. Don't ask how it works, it'll take too long to explain!" Lowri said, looking at me. Of course, he needed me to go... I'd done it once before, so I knew exactly what to do and where to go.
"I'm on it! Ithiell?!!"
"Just a sec, Ax!" he said, and Ax soon took his place, working just as hard as Ithiell had been.
"Can we fire again?!!"
"Yes, in a few more seconds!" we heard them say as Ithiell and I sped out of the room, racing down the long and seemingly never ending corridors.
"Wait for me!!" In seconds, Jake had caught up, and was running with us.
"What are you doing?! You need to be..."
"You guys need every spare hand you can get, all right?!" He snapped fiercely, and we let it go, running as fast as we could. There was no time to fight.
We reached the engine room, with Ithiell's fingers flying across the access panel, before the doors opened to a room on fire. Ithiell raced in first, followed by me then Jake. Ithiell led us around the safest route, and we saw the casualties, as well as the few that were still fighting to keep it under control.
"It won't respond! We've tried everything, and the coolant..." one of them said, but Ithiell cut her off.
"It's all right, we got it" We found the crawlspace, where the failsafe was located, and Ithiell and Jake pulled off the cover, grunting as they did it. That's where I came in. I was small enough, and fast enough, to slide through it.
I dove, pulling myself along as fast as I could down the crawlspace, stopping at the right panel. I forcefully removed the cover, tossing it aside. There, was something like what you saw in fighter cockpits; the handled lever. I grabbed it, pulling down hard as I could, until it was all the way to the other side.
Then came one of their voices.
"Coolant levels activated. It's working!"
"Jade, get out of there!" Ithiell said, and I did my best to crawl backwards, with two human hands grabbing my ankles and yanking me out as far as they could, before I scrambled out the rest of the way.
"The pressure's returning to normal!"
"We're gaining control of the situation!" Called another, and I realised the coolant was also putting out the fire, shooting upwards, out of the vents below.
"Come on! Let's get back to the bridge" Ithiell suggested, grabbing my wrist and pulling me along. He let go when I started running, and Jake followed our lead.
Another explosion rocked the ship, sending us tumbling into the walls.
I don't know if it was pure dumb luck or fate, but as I went flailing off to the left, my hand hit a button, and in seconds I was falling out of a hatch door. I grabbed onto the door, but the wind pressure was too strong, and I was sucked out into the atmosphere, over a hundred thousand miles from the earth, watching as Ithiell screamed my name.
Will Jade survive? And what about the Aerionna? Next time...