"You're not going to shoot me, huh?" The old man said, grinning wildly at
me.
Oh, I hate this guy so much, he acted so high and mighty! If there was one FRIGGEN time I wished I wasn't out THIS would be it!!
"Don't be so sure," I said, holding my bluff for what was left, "Maybe I just have a soft spot for old geezers."
He laughed, something I was also hating.
"Oh please. That's such a lie, you just don't have any bullets in that thing, huh?"
Ohhhhhhhhhh CRAP! He knew! Now what am I going to do. Lie, I thought. Lie like there's no tomorrow..Which may not be that far from the truth.
"Ha! Do you really think I would be stupid enough to hold a gun to you if it was empty?"
"Yes."
Stupid one words answers.. "Well, sorry bud. But I'm not that dense."
"Ok then on the count of three we'll both fire. Sound good?"
My eyes widened. This can't be happening. This bluff was going to be the death of me.
"Right here? In your hou-"
He stopped my sentence cold. "You're empty." He stated calmly. He even lowered his weapon! Arrogant bastard!
"Empty huh! Fine then, I'll show you!!" My anger got the best of me and I shot at him, sending not bullets but air at him instead.
He laughed, something I FAR beyond hated now. "Told you, you're empty."
The man didn't even flinch when I fired at him. He was either really good at calling bluffs.Or just a senile old man.
"Ah well, an eye for an eye I guess. You shot at me so I have to return the favor. Even though mine will have more of a 'bang.'"
I dropped my jaw and almost my gun. After all I've been though, I'm going to be killed on some no-name planet by an old geezer. Somewhere up there Volk was laughing right now. He always loved ironic deaths. This would've surely got him.
He raised his eyebrow and winked at me for the second time. I couldn't help but close my eyes as he squeezed the trigger on his really painful looking gun.
I expected to hear a good, loud bang come from the gun. Oh, I heard a bang alright but it came from the STUPID old man, he didn't even fire!
"Gotcha!" He yelled out between his sudden burst of laughter.
"W-Why didn't you shoot me?"
"Oh, that's actually pretty easy to answer. I never keep this thing loaded. We were both empty, I just bluffed better." His insanely wide grin got even bigger as he watched the sudden awe cover my face.
"You dirty old man..!!!" I charged at him, ready to rip that grin right off his face.
To my horrid surprise my left hand was caught and with a quick twist, the old man had me on the ground his foot neatly placed on my chest.
Right then I heard the A.I.'s voice come from the wall beside me.
"Gene, Jim has informed me that this boy would stay the night here to rest up after being chased by the Space Forces."
"Ahh, alright thanks, Gillium. Guess that might be why he was so easy to beat."
I stared in complete shock at the man in front of me. This was Gene Starwind. I don't think you guys really see the importance of this statement so let me reiterate. THIS WAS GENE STARWIND!
"Y-you're-e-e G-Gene." I couldn't finish my statement, the shock was still in.
"Yeah, I'm Gene. You want an autograph or something?"
I didn't want to answer that for the simple reason that I really did want one.
"Uh, no I don't." I quickly changed subjects. "So, where have you been hiding all these long years?"
Wow, stupid subject to change to but at least here answered..In one word.
"Here."
I sighed, what was I going to talk to him about? I never really thought about that until right now.
"You want some food, kid?"
I nodded my head to his 'out of no where' question....Yeah, like I was one to talk.
"Good, follow me."
We walked out into the kitchen and he sat down next to the table, motioning for me to do the same. I did but decided to sit across from him.
"..So, where's food." I was glad to hear my brash attitude returning.
"It's coming up the stairs right now."
I turned to the door and a woman in a blue cloak walked in.
"Hey, Mel." Gene said with a wave.
"Hiya Gene. Jim finally came to get me from the store after dropping Jess off at school."
She walked over to him, hugged him then kissed him. Oh ew! Someone as old as Gene getting action from a young chick like her? And a nice looking one at that!
Jim came walking in waving his arms around in his defense. "Hey, hey, it wasn't my fault. That kid just knocked my schedule off, that's all!"
He glared at me as he entered. I grinned at him, remembering the order he gave me.And how I was disobeying it.
"Yeah, love you too dude." I casually shot back.
He sat in the seat next to Gene. "You told him, didn't you?" He asked the old Outlaw, him nodding in return.
"And you believed him, didn't you?" He asked, now looking at me. I gave him the same nod that Gene did.
He sighed, resting his head on the table. "Great someone finally found out. Now what do we do, Gene? What if he tells someone?"
"Hey, I'm not going to tell anyone if you don't want me to!" I don't think my statement was entirely true, but I said it nonetheless.
There was a pause. Jim looked stressed out and Mel seemed a bit worried but Gene still had the grin on.
"C'mon, Jim. It'll be fine. It's just one per-"
I wasn't able to hear his last word over the loud explosion from the front of the house. Saying I was a little surprised was like saying a 400-pound man was a little overweight.
I would have gotten up out of my seat around this time but the force of the blast did that for me. All four of us were lying on the ground, still shaken up from the explosion.
Then a man slowly and calmly walked through the now blown away door. I knew who it was immediately, the man who had been following, no, STALKING me ever since I landed here. That pirate with the magic.
"Well, well, well. I was just passing through the neighborhood and I happen to run into you yet again! Isn't life funny like that?"
I growled. "Like hell you were. Why are you following me?"
"I told you already. I want that orb."
"Well you're not getting it!!"
I heard the man sigh. "Fine, I wanted to keep you alive and take it willingly but I suppose this won't happen. Good day, worm.." He hissed the word "worm." as a blue fireball raged in his head.
"Gillium! Active defense systems!" Jim shouted, still on the ground.
"Roger." The computer replied, revealing the large guns from there various hiding spots.
It took no time for them to lock on the target and open fire.
The Pirate weaved and bobbed and over all dodged that rounds coming at him.
Gene was the first one of us up which was somewhat ironic seeing how he was the oldest and should have been the least quickest.
He pulled something from one of the drawers in the kitchen and threw it at the pirate. It was a grenade. It hit the ground and a blinding white flash came from it upon impact. Ugh..Correction, it was a flash grenade.
I was staring dead on at the grenade as it went off, luckily I wasn't the only one blinded.
The pirate covered his eyes and growled in pain. Someone in the kitchen grabbed my arm and pulled my out the back door. We were about three blocks away from the house when my vision came back. Gene had to stop and catch his breath as I try to get my bearings.
"Where are we?"
Jim spoke up. "We're on our way to the shuttle base."
"Huh? Why?"
"Because we need to get our ship and get our asses out of here. If not only to save you but ourselves as well. We're still wanted too, ya know."
We continued to run down a street as I thought about what kind of ship they would have. The answer hit my like a two-ton brick. Their ship from back in the day. The Outlaw Star. Could we really be heading to THAT ship? If we were then my only two fantasies were coming true. Meeting Gene and flying in the Outlaw Star. I think my luck was starting to turn. This orb might be working after all, better late then never.
We kept running, passing block after block everything was somewhat a blur, as in I wasn't really looking at what was passing me by. Kind of reminded me of my whole life, it was just passing me by.
We stopped in front of a large building, which, as one would guess, was the place that their ship was being held.
"Ok, let's hurry up and get in before the pirate catches up." Jim calmly ordered.
His statement came one minute too late. A familiar blue beam of energy came streaming by my head, crashing into the earth in front of me. That was obviously a warning shot, we turned around a stared at him. He was there all right but with reinforcements. Four large humanoid bots were standing right behind them, gatling guns strapped to their shoulders and what seemed like plasma rifles grafted to their arms.
Gene was the only one thinking straight at the moment.
"Run!" He shouted.
We all agreed and moved like lightning towards the building as bullets and energy sprayed our path. Suddenly the bullets stopped coming and for some odd reason I thought we were in the clear, thinking we might be safe. Boy was I wrong.
A bot dropped right in front of me, I didn't have enough time to stop myself and a large steel frame smacked me to the ground. I looked up as it aimed it's rifle towards my head. Once again, I thought I was dead, I mean I couldn't live through TWO near-death experiences right? Wrong. Sparks flew from the bot's back as the bullets from what had to be some big powerful gun collided with it.
An ear-piercing screech came from the creature which sounded like gears grinding against other metals.
I took the chance to roll under it's legs before it fell in a pile of bent steel. I kept running as Gene gave me cover fire with his shotgun/handgun. Oh and I figured just to name the damn thing "The Hand Shotgun" for easier reference. Anyways, when I caught up with him he started to run with me.
"Here!" He shouted, throwing some kind of small cylinder.
To me surprise it was a clip for a 9mm. I loaded it in without hesitation, finally I felt more useful with ten pieces of crippling led between my fingers. I couldn't help but grin as I entered the building.
Gene took lead as we headed towards his ship. I started feeling confident that we would be able to make it without anymore confrontations. Yet again I was wrong. A spray of gatling gun bullets peppered our steps, forcing us to move in random patterns before we became just a splat on the floor.
Gene put two large shells into his gun and fired them at the bot, sending it crashing down from it's perch. As it fell I ran full speed at it and jumped on it's chest, pointing my gun it what seemed like it's head and fired at point-blank range. It didn't take long for the bot to burst in a ball of flames, the force sending me back into a nearby wall.
"C'mon kid let's go! Melfina and Jim must be waiting for us!" Gene yelled, already running down some path into another room.
I followed and enter the room. My eyes fell on the ship we were taking. It hadn't changed one bit. The large red ship pointed straight up to the roof, it's four engines already heating up.
I shook myself out of the daze and followed Gen up the stairs the lead to the Outlaw Star's hatch.
Gene was way ahead of me so he was half way in the door as another wave of bullets zipped by me. I hit the grill underneath me and prayed I wouldn't be hit by a stray bullet.
Gillium's voice came from the ship in front of me.
"Main system upload to the XGP completed. Combat mode activated, releasing grappler arms."
Gene's voice was the next to come at, this time aimed at me.
"Don't worry, kid. I gotcha back, just get into the ship!"
A hail of bullets came from the Outlaw star and disabled two of the three bots left, the last one was behind me, out of the ship's line of fire.
I let some shots ring as they pitifully bounces off it's thick armor plating. It was a lot harder to blow these things up from a distance. I quickly gave up on this plan and made my way to the hatch, hot streams of energy flying past my head.
I could see the door now, it was so close..So it's obvious that "fate" would take this opportunity to give the metal beast perfect aim and allowing it to burn a nice little hole in the back of my left leg. I don't have to tell you that I fell like stones but I have to say that my face made a good dent in the grill below me.
I swiveled around to face the monster and raised my gun to it. I looked down the sights and firmly gripped the handle in both hands, no way I was missing anything I aimed at in this position. I never did and never will.
Two bullets went screaming into the unprotected joints connecting its legs to its hips. It hit the ground as hard as I did, only with much more force. It raised its right arm at me, rifle charged and ready.
The blast was careening towards me before I had the chance to blink, to my great pleasure I was not hit. A big red arm took the blow instead, it was the ship's grappler arm. I laughed, death just can't get me today!!
The hand reached over and grabbed hold of the bot, shaking it around violently before sending it dropping to the ground with such force that it exploded on impact.
I sighed in relief as I heard Gillium inform no one in particular that all enemies were defeated and he was returning to his normal mode.
I entered the door and was meet by some blue soda can thing.
"Hello, I am Gillium, the main system of the Outlaw Star. And you are?"
"Looking for the bridge." I said, knowing full well I wasn't really answering his question.
Still the A.I. didn't miss a beat. "Ah, well it is right up this service ladder."
"Wow, a ladder is your mode of transportation through this thing?"
"Yes, but only the levels above and below us. There are paths and walkways leading throughout the ship."
"Oh, well whateve-"
Gene's voice over the com in the ship interrupted my comment.
"Strife, get up to the bridge so we can take off."
I silently complied and headed up the ladder. When I got on the bridge I was met by the crew. Jim Gene and..That chick form before, Jess! How did she get here!
My last comment must have come out aloud because she spoke up.
"I was lucky enough to be sprucing up the ship when my dad came in saying we had to leave pronto, so we hastily installed Gillium back into the mainframe and started the departure procedures."
She ended and pointed to a seat next to Gene. I guessed that's were I was going to be when we took off. I sat down and looked around for the other chick that was with us, Melfina, I think she was called.
To my utter and complete shock..And somewhat enjoyment, she was positioned right behind Gene in this tube filled with some kind of galantine substance. This is not was I was so worked up over, what really got me was that she was in there, butt FREAKEN naked.
I stared wide-eyed until Gene's comforting hand smacked me senceless.
"Snap out of it, ya perve. If you're going to fly with us you'll have to get used to it."
"I already am.." I said, still in a daze.
Gene's hand once again struck me, only this time in the face. I stopped talking and listened to Gillium start the count down.
"Craft lift off in 5.."
The engines rumbled.
"4.."
The sounds of thrusters igniting filled the cockpit.
"3.."
I now strapped myself to my seat, almost forgetting that this ride would send me topsy-turvy.
"2.."
The rumble became fierce and shook me in my seat.
"1.."
The engines kicked into full and pushed the ship through the roof and into the sky. We kept going higher and higher and higher until the blue sky became the blackness of space.
Wow, I was back in space in the Outlaw star with my hero and his personal crew. I was in heaven..Too bad Volk and Sky weren't here to see it.
But, I knew..Deep down that they DID see this. That they were watching over me, well me..And my now not-so-hopeless cause.
-----------------------*------------------*-------------------------*------- --------------*---------------
Author's note: Ok, not a lot to say in this little segment, just that I really hope you enjoyed this and every previous chapter to date. I love writing this and I hope you love reading it.
Oh and I wasn't able to update yesterday because my internet went dead..FOR A WHOLE DAY! GAH!!!! Anyways, I'm not making up for any lost time, just keeping with me schedule so my FF story will be up tomorrow then this and so on and so forth.
Ok, it's like around one here. I'm off to bed, see you guys next time. (In your reviews, I mean *Wink, wink*) /end selfless plug.
As always, this is Blades. "Good reading equals good times." I'm out.
Oh, I hate this guy so much, he acted so high and mighty! If there was one FRIGGEN time I wished I wasn't out THIS would be it!!
"Don't be so sure," I said, holding my bluff for what was left, "Maybe I just have a soft spot for old geezers."
He laughed, something I was also hating.
"Oh please. That's such a lie, you just don't have any bullets in that thing, huh?"
Ohhhhhhhhhh CRAP! He knew! Now what am I going to do. Lie, I thought. Lie like there's no tomorrow..Which may not be that far from the truth.
"Ha! Do you really think I would be stupid enough to hold a gun to you if it was empty?"
"Yes."
Stupid one words answers.. "Well, sorry bud. But I'm not that dense."
"Ok then on the count of three we'll both fire. Sound good?"
My eyes widened. This can't be happening. This bluff was going to be the death of me.
"Right here? In your hou-"
He stopped my sentence cold. "You're empty." He stated calmly. He even lowered his weapon! Arrogant bastard!
"Empty huh! Fine then, I'll show you!!" My anger got the best of me and I shot at him, sending not bullets but air at him instead.
He laughed, something I FAR beyond hated now. "Told you, you're empty."
The man didn't even flinch when I fired at him. He was either really good at calling bluffs.Or just a senile old man.
"Ah well, an eye for an eye I guess. You shot at me so I have to return the favor. Even though mine will have more of a 'bang.'"
I dropped my jaw and almost my gun. After all I've been though, I'm going to be killed on some no-name planet by an old geezer. Somewhere up there Volk was laughing right now. He always loved ironic deaths. This would've surely got him.
He raised his eyebrow and winked at me for the second time. I couldn't help but close my eyes as he squeezed the trigger on his really painful looking gun.
I expected to hear a good, loud bang come from the gun. Oh, I heard a bang alright but it came from the STUPID old man, he didn't even fire!
"Gotcha!" He yelled out between his sudden burst of laughter.
"W-Why didn't you shoot me?"
"Oh, that's actually pretty easy to answer. I never keep this thing loaded. We were both empty, I just bluffed better." His insanely wide grin got even bigger as he watched the sudden awe cover my face.
"You dirty old man..!!!" I charged at him, ready to rip that grin right off his face.
To my horrid surprise my left hand was caught and with a quick twist, the old man had me on the ground his foot neatly placed on my chest.
Right then I heard the A.I.'s voice come from the wall beside me.
"Gene, Jim has informed me that this boy would stay the night here to rest up after being chased by the Space Forces."
"Ahh, alright thanks, Gillium. Guess that might be why he was so easy to beat."
I stared in complete shock at the man in front of me. This was Gene Starwind. I don't think you guys really see the importance of this statement so let me reiterate. THIS WAS GENE STARWIND!
"Y-you're-e-e G-Gene." I couldn't finish my statement, the shock was still in.
"Yeah, I'm Gene. You want an autograph or something?"
I didn't want to answer that for the simple reason that I really did want one.
"Uh, no I don't." I quickly changed subjects. "So, where have you been hiding all these long years?"
Wow, stupid subject to change to but at least here answered..In one word.
"Here."
I sighed, what was I going to talk to him about? I never really thought about that until right now.
"You want some food, kid?"
I nodded my head to his 'out of no where' question....Yeah, like I was one to talk.
"Good, follow me."
We walked out into the kitchen and he sat down next to the table, motioning for me to do the same. I did but decided to sit across from him.
"..So, where's food." I was glad to hear my brash attitude returning.
"It's coming up the stairs right now."
I turned to the door and a woman in a blue cloak walked in.
"Hey, Mel." Gene said with a wave.
"Hiya Gene. Jim finally came to get me from the store after dropping Jess off at school."
She walked over to him, hugged him then kissed him. Oh ew! Someone as old as Gene getting action from a young chick like her? And a nice looking one at that!
Jim came walking in waving his arms around in his defense. "Hey, hey, it wasn't my fault. That kid just knocked my schedule off, that's all!"
He glared at me as he entered. I grinned at him, remembering the order he gave me.And how I was disobeying it.
"Yeah, love you too dude." I casually shot back.
He sat in the seat next to Gene. "You told him, didn't you?" He asked the old Outlaw, him nodding in return.
"And you believed him, didn't you?" He asked, now looking at me. I gave him the same nod that Gene did.
He sighed, resting his head on the table. "Great someone finally found out. Now what do we do, Gene? What if he tells someone?"
"Hey, I'm not going to tell anyone if you don't want me to!" I don't think my statement was entirely true, but I said it nonetheless.
There was a pause. Jim looked stressed out and Mel seemed a bit worried but Gene still had the grin on.
"C'mon, Jim. It'll be fine. It's just one per-"
I wasn't able to hear his last word over the loud explosion from the front of the house. Saying I was a little surprised was like saying a 400-pound man was a little overweight.
I would have gotten up out of my seat around this time but the force of the blast did that for me. All four of us were lying on the ground, still shaken up from the explosion.
Then a man slowly and calmly walked through the now blown away door. I knew who it was immediately, the man who had been following, no, STALKING me ever since I landed here. That pirate with the magic.
"Well, well, well. I was just passing through the neighborhood and I happen to run into you yet again! Isn't life funny like that?"
I growled. "Like hell you were. Why are you following me?"
"I told you already. I want that orb."
"Well you're not getting it!!"
I heard the man sigh. "Fine, I wanted to keep you alive and take it willingly but I suppose this won't happen. Good day, worm.." He hissed the word "worm." as a blue fireball raged in his head.
"Gillium! Active defense systems!" Jim shouted, still on the ground.
"Roger." The computer replied, revealing the large guns from there various hiding spots.
It took no time for them to lock on the target and open fire.
The Pirate weaved and bobbed and over all dodged that rounds coming at him.
Gene was the first one of us up which was somewhat ironic seeing how he was the oldest and should have been the least quickest.
He pulled something from one of the drawers in the kitchen and threw it at the pirate. It was a grenade. It hit the ground and a blinding white flash came from it upon impact. Ugh..Correction, it was a flash grenade.
I was staring dead on at the grenade as it went off, luckily I wasn't the only one blinded.
The pirate covered his eyes and growled in pain. Someone in the kitchen grabbed my arm and pulled my out the back door. We were about three blocks away from the house when my vision came back. Gene had to stop and catch his breath as I try to get my bearings.
"Where are we?"
Jim spoke up. "We're on our way to the shuttle base."
"Huh? Why?"
"Because we need to get our ship and get our asses out of here. If not only to save you but ourselves as well. We're still wanted too, ya know."
We continued to run down a street as I thought about what kind of ship they would have. The answer hit my like a two-ton brick. Their ship from back in the day. The Outlaw Star. Could we really be heading to THAT ship? If we were then my only two fantasies were coming true. Meeting Gene and flying in the Outlaw Star. I think my luck was starting to turn. This orb might be working after all, better late then never.
We kept running, passing block after block everything was somewhat a blur, as in I wasn't really looking at what was passing me by. Kind of reminded me of my whole life, it was just passing me by.
We stopped in front of a large building, which, as one would guess, was the place that their ship was being held.
"Ok, let's hurry up and get in before the pirate catches up." Jim calmly ordered.
His statement came one minute too late. A familiar blue beam of energy came streaming by my head, crashing into the earth in front of me. That was obviously a warning shot, we turned around a stared at him. He was there all right but with reinforcements. Four large humanoid bots were standing right behind them, gatling guns strapped to their shoulders and what seemed like plasma rifles grafted to their arms.
Gene was the only one thinking straight at the moment.
"Run!" He shouted.
We all agreed and moved like lightning towards the building as bullets and energy sprayed our path. Suddenly the bullets stopped coming and for some odd reason I thought we were in the clear, thinking we might be safe. Boy was I wrong.
A bot dropped right in front of me, I didn't have enough time to stop myself and a large steel frame smacked me to the ground. I looked up as it aimed it's rifle towards my head. Once again, I thought I was dead, I mean I couldn't live through TWO near-death experiences right? Wrong. Sparks flew from the bot's back as the bullets from what had to be some big powerful gun collided with it.
An ear-piercing screech came from the creature which sounded like gears grinding against other metals.
I took the chance to roll under it's legs before it fell in a pile of bent steel. I kept running as Gene gave me cover fire with his shotgun/handgun. Oh and I figured just to name the damn thing "The Hand Shotgun" for easier reference. Anyways, when I caught up with him he started to run with me.
"Here!" He shouted, throwing some kind of small cylinder.
To me surprise it was a clip for a 9mm. I loaded it in without hesitation, finally I felt more useful with ten pieces of crippling led between my fingers. I couldn't help but grin as I entered the building.
Gene took lead as we headed towards his ship. I started feeling confident that we would be able to make it without anymore confrontations. Yet again I was wrong. A spray of gatling gun bullets peppered our steps, forcing us to move in random patterns before we became just a splat on the floor.
Gene put two large shells into his gun and fired them at the bot, sending it crashing down from it's perch. As it fell I ran full speed at it and jumped on it's chest, pointing my gun it what seemed like it's head and fired at point-blank range. It didn't take long for the bot to burst in a ball of flames, the force sending me back into a nearby wall.
"C'mon kid let's go! Melfina and Jim must be waiting for us!" Gene yelled, already running down some path into another room.
I followed and enter the room. My eyes fell on the ship we were taking. It hadn't changed one bit. The large red ship pointed straight up to the roof, it's four engines already heating up.
I shook myself out of the daze and followed Gen up the stairs the lead to the Outlaw Star's hatch.
Gene was way ahead of me so he was half way in the door as another wave of bullets zipped by me. I hit the grill underneath me and prayed I wouldn't be hit by a stray bullet.
Gillium's voice came from the ship in front of me.
"Main system upload to the XGP completed. Combat mode activated, releasing grappler arms."
Gene's voice was the next to come at, this time aimed at me.
"Don't worry, kid. I gotcha back, just get into the ship!"
A hail of bullets came from the Outlaw star and disabled two of the three bots left, the last one was behind me, out of the ship's line of fire.
I let some shots ring as they pitifully bounces off it's thick armor plating. It was a lot harder to blow these things up from a distance. I quickly gave up on this plan and made my way to the hatch, hot streams of energy flying past my head.
I could see the door now, it was so close..So it's obvious that "fate" would take this opportunity to give the metal beast perfect aim and allowing it to burn a nice little hole in the back of my left leg. I don't have to tell you that I fell like stones but I have to say that my face made a good dent in the grill below me.
I swiveled around to face the monster and raised my gun to it. I looked down the sights and firmly gripped the handle in both hands, no way I was missing anything I aimed at in this position. I never did and never will.
Two bullets went screaming into the unprotected joints connecting its legs to its hips. It hit the ground as hard as I did, only with much more force. It raised its right arm at me, rifle charged and ready.
The blast was careening towards me before I had the chance to blink, to my great pleasure I was not hit. A big red arm took the blow instead, it was the ship's grappler arm. I laughed, death just can't get me today!!
The hand reached over and grabbed hold of the bot, shaking it around violently before sending it dropping to the ground with such force that it exploded on impact.
I sighed in relief as I heard Gillium inform no one in particular that all enemies were defeated and he was returning to his normal mode.
I entered the door and was meet by some blue soda can thing.
"Hello, I am Gillium, the main system of the Outlaw Star. And you are?"
"Looking for the bridge." I said, knowing full well I wasn't really answering his question.
Still the A.I. didn't miss a beat. "Ah, well it is right up this service ladder."
"Wow, a ladder is your mode of transportation through this thing?"
"Yes, but only the levels above and below us. There are paths and walkways leading throughout the ship."
"Oh, well whateve-"
Gene's voice over the com in the ship interrupted my comment.
"Strife, get up to the bridge so we can take off."
I silently complied and headed up the ladder. When I got on the bridge I was met by the crew. Jim Gene and..That chick form before, Jess! How did she get here!
My last comment must have come out aloud because she spoke up.
"I was lucky enough to be sprucing up the ship when my dad came in saying we had to leave pronto, so we hastily installed Gillium back into the mainframe and started the departure procedures."
She ended and pointed to a seat next to Gene. I guessed that's were I was going to be when we took off. I sat down and looked around for the other chick that was with us, Melfina, I think she was called.
To my utter and complete shock..And somewhat enjoyment, she was positioned right behind Gene in this tube filled with some kind of galantine substance. This is not was I was so worked up over, what really got me was that she was in there, butt FREAKEN naked.
I stared wide-eyed until Gene's comforting hand smacked me senceless.
"Snap out of it, ya perve. If you're going to fly with us you'll have to get used to it."
"I already am.." I said, still in a daze.
Gene's hand once again struck me, only this time in the face. I stopped talking and listened to Gillium start the count down.
"Craft lift off in 5.."
The engines rumbled.
"4.."
The sounds of thrusters igniting filled the cockpit.
"3.."
I now strapped myself to my seat, almost forgetting that this ride would send me topsy-turvy.
"2.."
The rumble became fierce and shook me in my seat.
"1.."
The engines kicked into full and pushed the ship through the roof and into the sky. We kept going higher and higher and higher until the blue sky became the blackness of space.
Wow, I was back in space in the Outlaw star with my hero and his personal crew. I was in heaven..Too bad Volk and Sky weren't here to see it.
But, I knew..Deep down that they DID see this. That they were watching over me, well me..And my now not-so-hopeless cause.
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Author's note: Ok, not a lot to say in this little segment, just that I really hope you enjoyed this and every previous chapter to date. I love writing this and I hope you love reading it.
Oh and I wasn't able to update yesterday because my internet went dead..FOR A WHOLE DAY! GAH!!!! Anyways, I'm not making up for any lost time, just keeping with me schedule so my FF story will be up tomorrow then this and so on and so forth.
Ok, it's like around one here. I'm off to bed, see you guys next time. (In your reviews, I mean *Wink, wink*) /end selfless plug.
As always, this is Blades. "Good reading equals good times." I'm out.