Now repaired, the Gaian naval forces once again turned their sights upon Deep Sea Lab.  Their EMP pulse hadn't yet recharged, and their air force was still being refueled and restocked.  They were sitting ducks.  The order was given to open fire.

The Chaos guns opened fire and seared through the walls of the base.  The citizens took up arms, but no noticeable damage was done to the ships.  Soon, they were jumping overboard, among the debris of the damaged base.

Shila watched the chaos from the top deck, breathing heavily.  She wanted to jump, but she knew there was no place to go.  The only thing she could do was watch as the first of the Gaian ships pulled up against the base.  The first person out of the boat was Deirdre herself.  She pointed towards the command center, and several soldiers ran to it, blasting open the doors.  Shila didn't move through her fear.

The Gaian's exited the control room, carrying a struggling Zakharov between them.  Try as he might, hardened soldiers were easily keeping him contained.  All he could was drop Shila's datapod on the deck as he was dragged into the Gaian cruiser.  Shila turned to Deirdre, who had a wicked grin on her face.  Then, she walked back into the boat without a word.

The boats sailed off, and Shila was left alone.  She screamed, but there was no one to hear her.  Only the ocean waves were heard, crashing against the base's walls.  She fell to her knees and began to cry, barely noticing the missile that shot out from the Gaian flagship.  It slammed against the wall of the base and exploded, igniting everything.  Shila felt herself begin to burn-

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Shila screamed as Zakharov shook her from her slumber.

"Shila…Shila!! What's wrong??"

The girl was breathing heavily and visually disturbed.  "Prokhor…I had a dream.  A bad dream…"

Zakharov looked at her with curiosity.  She hadn't yet dreamed before (at least, not that she'd told him about), and now she experiences the one thing that makes people fear falling asleep:  nightmares.  He wanted to delve into it with her, but it would have to wait.

"Shila, promise me you'll tell me about it later?"  Zakharov asked.

She nodded.

Zakharov smiled and put his hand on her shoulder.  She seemed to calm down a little at that.  He then walked to the control room and stood near his center chair.

"Report, cadet."

"Sir, Deirdre's ship has repaired it's systems and has left the navy mass.  All other vessels appear to still be damaged."

Not good, he thought.  She's out of the static field.  "Cadet, deactivate phase three.  I need to contact Yang.  Besides, now that she's out of the field she'll be able to contact her own bases anyways."

The cadet nodded.  "Yes, Provost.  The field is now deactivated."

Zakharov nodded and picked up the monitor near his chair, carrying it to his study.  He placed it on his desk to replace the one he dropped.  He quickly typed Yang's comm. number and waited for him to pop up upon his screen.  He appeared and dispensed any sign of pleasantries.

"How is your base, Zakharov?"

He sighed.  "Not good.  I need to evacuate the base, but Deirdre still has me surrounded.  I can't keep their Chaos guns deactivated for too long.  I need support…how long until your division arrives?"

Yang smiled.  "A little less then an hour.  Stay alive until then, Prokhor."

Zakharov attempted a smile as he closed the connection.  He walked over to Shila, who was looking out the window.  She turned to him and smiled weakly.

"Prokhor, it was about our base.  They'd destroyed it…they'd destroyed everything.  And they took you away…took you away from us.  It was horrible, Prokhor…"  She leaned against him and put her head on his shoulder.  Zakharov comforted her as she cried on his shoulder.  "Promise me that we'll be okay, Prokhor…"

He hugged her tighter, sadly knowing damn well he couldn't make that promise.

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The air force once took to the skies, raining bullets on ship after ship.  Although they didn't have any armor, it was still time consuming to sink a cruiser.  Regardless, Deirdre's navy slowly shrank under the constant pounding of University planes.

Zakharov smiled as he looked out his window at the field.  They'd all told him he was a fool for taking this course of action.  They'll never penetrate Gaian forces, they'd said, or Machine guns aren't worth the metal they were made from!  Well, as yet another Gaian cruiser slowly sank below the green sea, I guess our effort keep us alive another day.

"Why does she hate us, Prokhor?"

He looked at Shila, who was sitting next to him.  "I don't really know, Shila.  I wonder if we'll ever find out."

"I was kinda thinking about it.  The old datalinks said that the Gaian's were friendly to the University.  But then, out of the blue, they decided to become our enemies."

Zakharov scratched his head.  "It can happen that way with humans sometimes, Shila…one minute you're a friend, the next, you're an enemy."

Shila looked up at Zakharov and turned his head so he faced her.  "Prokhor…you wouldn't do that to me…would you?"

He smiled and kissed her on the forehead.  "Never…never, Shila."

She giggled and relaxed a little.  "Prokhor, you missed."

He raised an eyebrow.  "Missed what?"

She raised an eyebrow as well.  "My lips."

Zakharov internally gasped as Shila grabbed his neck and kissed his lips.  The feeling was obviously nice for them both.  Zakharov gasped as it ended.

"Remind me not to program such assertive holograms."

Shila would have retorted, had it not been for the explosion on the deck above them.  In a flash, Zakharov stood and walked out into the control room.

"Report, cadet!"

"Sir!  Attack from naval vessel, damage taken.  No Gaian ships repaired yet, searching for the source of the attack…got it!  It's an unidentified vessel a little distance from the Gaian navy."

"Open a comm. link," Zakharov said.  "Aggressive Vessel, identify your ship and faction."

"Provost Zakharov, this is the Benediction of the Remnant's of Earth.  If I need to explain my purpose here, you're not quite as smart as Planet believes you are."

Zakharov moaned.  "The Remnant's of Earth is declaring Vendetta on me too?"

The comm. was dead.  Zakharov turned to the cadet.

"Begin phase five.  Yang or no Yang, we're running out of time, and time is something we can't afford to waste right now.  I'll be in my study."

~