A/N: And here we are, at the start of what appears to be the final battle. Traversing the treacherous Dark Rift with the ship they stole from the pirates will be no easy task, let alone fighting inside of it. How will our heroes fare? Will they all make it our alive, or are some or all of our heroes doomed to meet the same fate as Aika?

Again, thanks for all the reviews. On with the story!

-

Chapter 13: Into the Dark Rift

The Blue Rogues walked up the boarding ramp as they witnessed the loading of the final crates of supplies into their "new" ship which they have named "Crusader". It could never compare to the Delphinus in terms of raw power and size, but it did appear to be a fairly agile and speedy craft. If they were going to win this next battle they would have to fully exploit the few strengths of Crusader.

Vyse took all of this into consideration as he sat down in his chair upon reaching the bridge's interior. His thoughts trailed back to the escape ship that Vicente and Jericho's other survivors were using as he analyzed its own strengths and weaknesses. It was a small ship, perhaps even a bit smaller than their own. From what he could remember, there was nothing spectacular about the ship's armaments, but they had only engaged it for a second before it turned tail and ran. Turned tail and ran… that was it. It was an extremely mobile ship whose speed far outclassed that of Crusader's. All in all, it seemed as if the pirates had the advantage.

Vyse smiled. "To an outsider, this would appear to be the case," he mumbled to himself as he reclined back. "However, my crew is at least on par with Vicente's own, if not better. If absolutely nothing else, we've got Fina on our side. All the speed in the world won't help against power such as her own." He immediately realized what he was saying and slapped himself in the face. "What the hell are you talking about Vyse? Using Fina as a weapon? That's wrong and you know it."

He did know it, but he also knew that Fina would be integral to winning the upcoming battle. "Doesn't matter… I can't treat her like she's just some object of war. If I did, I'd be no better than one of those NVA goons. Besides, she hates violence and she already had to destroy the Jericho. I don't want her to resort to it if she doesn't have too. Last thing I want is to see her hurt. She's been through enough as it is. I don't suppose it'd do me any good to tell her to stay down during the fight…"

He glanced over at his newfound lover. She noticed that he was looking his way and smiled lovingly at him. He smiled back and closed his eyes. "No sense in trying. She's dead set in helping me in whatever way possible." He leaned back in his chair once again. "I really am blessed to be with her. Whenever she's near, I feel so much stronger. It's as if all of my fears and doubts just suddenly vanish when she smiles. An earthbound angel…that's exactly what she is. I have got to do everything in my power to ensure that not a single thing happens to her, or I will never forgive myself."

Hans' voice crackled over the slightly archaic communications panel situated next to the captain's chair. "Cap'n, everything is loaded and we're ready to go whenever you are, sir. Mr. Lawrence is on his way up to the bridge. Any further orders?"

Vyse picked up the hand-microphone and clicked something on the side. "Good job Hans. No further orders. Just keep an eye on this hunk-o-junk's engine. No telling what kind of abuse those pirate losers put this thing through in the past."

"Aye, aye!" replied Hans as the communicator went silent.

A moment later, the slightly rusted door leading to the bridge opened and through it came Lawrence. He nodded in Vyse's direction and immediately took his position at the wheel. "Captain Vyse, shall we head out?"

Vyse looked to his friends, awaiting their approval.

Clara winked at him. "Ready as ever, Captain Vyse! Lead the way!"

Gilder nodded. "Let's finish this Vyse. Those murdering bastards need to pay for their crimes.

Fina walked over to Vyse's chair, kneeled down, and took his right hand into both of her own. "I'll always be ready to help you Vyse. Let's do this… for Aika."

Vyse smiled and put his other hand on top of her own. "For Aika. Thank you Fina." He glanced over at his other two friends. "Thank you… all of you." He finally turned to Lawrence, a determined look crossing his face as he did so. "Mr. Lawrence, set a course for the Dark Rift. We're moving out."

-

Clara shivered as Crusader hovered in front of the "entrance" to the Dark Rift. "This place gives me the creeps. I've only been through here once, and I don't remember it being a very pleasant experience. I can't believe that nutcase Vicente would want to hide in there."

Gilder tapped on the table he and Clara were sitting at while they stared out of the observation window. "Ditto. I haven't been through here many more times than you, so I can't say that I'm terribly used to it either."

Vyse shook his head while Fina held his hand tightly. "What's there to get used to, really? This place is about as chaotic as it gets. There is no rhyme or reason to this place." He paused for a moment and closed his eyes. "When… when Aika was still alive, we used to go treasure hunting here fairly often. Each time we came here, we couldn't seem to recognize anything we saw in here the time before. This was all one thing when all we were doing is going on a relatively peaceful treasure hunt. It's going to be completely different trying to fight Vicente and his goons in here. Just…" He lowered his head as he tried to think of something inspirational to say. "Just keep your cool and we'll get out of this alright," was all he could come up with.

Lawrence turned half-way towards Vyse, his right hand nervously tapping the wheel as he did so. "Shall we head in, sir?" It seemed like a stupid question. Lawrence already knew the answer, but he was required to ask anyway.

Vyse nodded. "Take us in Lawrence. It's now or never. We can't let them get to Yafutoma."

The helmsman nodded and turned back to the observation window. "Aye aye, Captain Vyse." He pushed the lever that controlled the acceleration of their ship slightly forward, giving Crusader just enough power to move forward very slowly. Lawrence lowered his head. "Once more, into the darkness…" he whispered to himself.

Crusader passed through the thin veil of clouds that hid the vortex leading into the Dark Rift and prepared for the turbulent ride through it. Throughout the ship, the Blue Rogues did their best to find relatively stable places to situate themselves as they rode out the vortex. The bridge and all other naturally lighted sections of the ship quickly darkened as the rift quickly robbed the world around them of all forms of light. To compensate for this loss of luminescence, a number of dim, blue emergency lights slowly came to life.

Fina held onto Vyse's hand even more tightly now. "I hate this place Vyse. After we're done, let's leave as soon as possible."

He smiled nervously and rubbed the top of her hand. "You'll get no argument from me, concerning that."

-

The Crusader emerged from the vortex, peeling off the lasts wisps of dark clouds from its hull as it did so. Two searchlights situated on the front of the ship powered up and began to scan the area for any signs of Vicente's elusive ship.

Vyse tapped the arms of his chair. "We have a problem."

Adjusting his sunglasses, Gilder asked, "What is it, other than the fact that we're in the Dark Rift?"

The captain stood up and walked up to the observation window and put his hands behind his back. "These lights. I know we need them, but if all Vicente is doing is hiding, then we're gonna stick out like a sore thumb. On the other hand, this place is simply too dark to go without using them." He turned to his companions. "Any suggestions?"

Nobody said anything for a moment. It was a legitimate problem with no easy answer in sight. What could they do? Either path was very dangerous.

Clara stood up. "Fina, can you do anything?"

She looked over at Clara, a puzzled expression coming across her face as she did so. "What do you mean Clara?"

She slowly paced around the table. "Well, is there anyway to perhaps magically illuminate the Dark Rift? That will solve both problems, for, not only will it give us the light we need, but, if Vicente IS hiding, then we'll be able to see him as well. Is it possible to do that?"

Gilder slapped the table. "I'll be damned. Good idea Clara! Can you do it Fina?"

The young Silvite brought her hands together looked down. "I-it may be possible but… but I think we may be too far away from the Silver Moon's influence for me to gather that much power."

Vyse looked over at Fina, hands still crossed behind his back. "What if we combine our powers together? Between Clara, Gilder, and myself, perhaps we can gather enough silver mana together to give you the rest of the power that you need."

Gilder scratched his head. "Well damn. I seem to be the only one without a good idea today." He laughed and stood up. "I must be losing my edge."

Clara smiled at Fina warmly. "You want to try it, honey?"

The Silvite smiled back. "Y-yes of course." Her body began to glow with a soft, silverfish light as she extended one hand outward, palm-down. "Everyone, please join me."

Gilder, Clara, and Vyse walked towards Fina and slowly extended their hands to meet with hers in the middle of their little formation, their own bodies glowing with a light similar to Fina's, only dimmer. Their mastery over Silver magic could never match that of Fina's, but they had to at least try. As their power grew, an aura of sorts surrounded the Crusader but did little else.

Fina did her best to concentrate all of this energy outside of the ship in order to generate light throughout the Dark Rift, but she was having too much trouble doing so. "I-I can't do it. There's just not enough power between us. I'm sorry everyone."

Vyse squinted his eyes in an attempt to "squeeze" more energy from himself. "It's not your fault Fina. Maybe this was just a bad idea."

Another hand joined their formation. Everyone looked up from their concentration to see Lawrence, his eyes closed as his body glowed with an aura greater than that of everyone except for Fina. "No it isn't. Just keep concentrating."

"Lawrence?" asked Vyse. He received no reply and went back to squinting his eyes.

The silver aura around the ship grew and grew until, a minute later, it exploded into a shockwave of bright light that spread across the entire rift. Although the dark clouds around them stayed the same, the terrain and scenery around them could be seen as clear as day. Their plan had worked.

"It worked! It worked!" exclaimed Clara as she jumped up and down.

Satisfied with the results, Lawrence grinned and returned to the wheel. "Well done Miss Fina. You've given us a far greater tactical advantage now."

Vyse couldn't stop looking at Lawrence. He always knew that Lawrence was a good swordsman, but he never knew that Lawrence had access to any magic at all, let alone such a significant amount of Silver mana. In the year that he had known Lawrence, he had never asked many questions about him. Lawrence didn't like to talk about much other than his job, so Vyse always found it too difficult to ask him simple questions such as, "How old are you?", "Where are you from?" or "Why did you become a mercenary?"

Fina leaned over and whispered in Vyse's ear, "Vyse, I can sense a great amount of Silver mana coming from him, but it's slowly dying back down. I don't understand it. I've never felt any power like that from him ever since we first hired him. It's as if… as if he was hiding it from us all along."

Vyse whispered back, "Yeah, it's kinda weird. You'd think he was a Silvite, considering the power he's exhibiting. He sure doesn't look like one though. I wonder if-"

"Is something wrong, Captain Vyse? Miss Fina?" asked Lawrence casually.

The two lovers pulled apart, looking embarrassed as they did so. "Heh, sorry Lawrence." Vyse rubbed his head sheepishly. "We just, ah, thought that what you did was really impressive. Thanks for the help."

The helmsman nodded and turned back to the window. "Thank you for your kind compliment, captain. I used to dabble in small amounts of Silver magic years ago. I'm glad that it proved to be useful."

Dabble? Yeah right. Vyse, Gilder, and Clara had trained with Silver Moonstones for quite some time now and there was no way that they could compare with Lawrence's abilities. Something seemed fishy about him but Vyse had no time to worry about it now. They had a murderer to catch.

"Sir! Captain Vyse, sir!" Domingo's voice could be heard from the captain's communication panel. "We've got trouble!"

Vyse immediately picked up the microphone-type device and clicked the button on the side. "What's the problem, Domingo?"

There seemed to be a sense of urgency in Domingo's voice as he continued. "Vyse, we've got what appears to be a Valuan scout vessel headed straight towards us! They… they seem to be at ramming speed!"

Vyse looked at everyone in the bridge, puzzled. "Ramming speed? What is that fool trying to do! He'll kill us all!" He clicked his button once more. "Where's he coming from?"

A pause. "…below us. He's coming from straight under us!"

"Lawrence! Evasive action!" yelled Vyse as he put the microphone back down. "Something's not right here. Climbing like that, there's now ay he could get a solid hit on us, at least not one good enough to destroy either ship."

Lawrence turned the wheel hard to port-side, grunting as he did so. "What are they up to? Surely they don't want to die either."

They watched as Vicente's cruiser flew slowly past the observation window, losing great amounts of speed as it continued it straight ascent.
Observing this, a thought came to Gilder's mind. "Vyse! They're not trying to ram us!"

Vyse quickly turned to him. "What do you mean?"

Gilder threw his arms outward. "I think they're trying to board us!"

"Here they come again!" yelled Lawrence as he tried to turn the wheel again, but it was to no avail. The sides of the two ships clashed into each other and immediately became stuck to one another.

A voice crackled over the communication panel. "Too little, too late Rogues!" Sure enough, it was Vicente, cocky as ever.

Vyse picked up the microphone once again and yelled, "What in the six moons are you doing Vicente? You can't even ram a ship right!"

"That's where you're wrong, Vyse," said Vicente. "I had no intention of killing both of us. I'm not stupid.

Clara plucked the microphone form Vyse and said, "Then what in blue blazes are you doing?"

Vicente chuckled. "Simple, my lovely lady. I readily admit that I won't win in a ship-to-ship fight against you as long as that Silvite witch is on your side. If she can destroy my beloved Jericho, then she'd have a field day against this ship."

Fina looked down at her feet. He was completely right, but didn't like the fact that she could wield such incredible amounts of energy. It frightened her to no end, and everyone knew this.

Vicente continued. "That being said, if I were to board and attack you up close as opposed to from a distance, I have to wonder: just how useful will your little witch be then? If she uses that kind of power at this range, she'll kill everyone. Besides, I already know I can beat you Vyse. I proved it in Jericho's hanger. Tell me Vyse… which hurts more: those gun-shot wounds or your pride? Heh… see you on the deck, Blue Losers." The line of communication between Vicente's ship and the Crusader was immediately cut.

Everyone looked at Vyse, whose head was lowered. "Vyse," started Fina, "please don't listen to him. You can beat him. I know you can. I'll be there to help you."

"As will I," said Gilder as he spun both of his guns. "I'm ready to rock and roll."

"Don't count me out!" said Clara with great determination as she cut an X in the air with her saber. "Those NVA losers are goin' down, and goin' down hard."

Lawrence turned to his captain and offered his trademark bow. "I believe I speak for all of the Blue Rogues when I say, "You can count on us." Let's finish this." He drew his saber blessed by the red moon and swung it slowly in a wide arc.

Vyse looked through the observation window as he watched the NVA troopers pile onto their own deck. "Thank you everyone. Thank you so much." He turned around and walked toward the door leading from the bridge with everyone following close behind him, drawing his Lunarian Cutlasses as he did so. "This is it guys: do or die time. Let's stop this guy once and for all!"

The initial five Blue Rogues were soon accompanied by the other crew members aboard the Crusader and followed Vyse as they readied their own weapons. Finally, they opened the door leading to the deck of the ship and piled out, forming a line to either side of Vyse as they faced the NVA forces.

Vyse and Vicente stared at each for what seemed like an eternity. This battle would perhaps be the fiercest one that either captain had ever been a part of. Vyse closed his eyes as he gathered his thoughts. "Aika…" he whispered to himself. He opened his eyes and lifted his right cutlass to the sky. "My dear Aika, this one's for you!" He then pointed the same blade at the NVA, preparing to lead the charge of air pirates against them. With a proud and very strong voice, he yelled, "Blue Rogues! Attack!"

-

This is it! The thrilling conclusion of Under the Sky So Blue is upon us! Will the Blue Rogues walk away with a victory on this one? Even if they do, at what cost will it come to them? The final battle is here, so you'd better not change that channel! Er… I mean that URL… or something… coughs Anyway, stay tuned, and keep the kind reviews rolling in! I shall release both the final chapter, ending songfic, and a very short epilogue all at once in the space of 2 chapters, so please look forward to it!