A/N: A lot of things will be happening all at once in this chapter, so I'm sorry if you get confused! Now, I'm going to pretend that the Collectors never told the military that the Commonwealth is fighting a civil war, ok? Oh, yeah, and a note on Helix Formation: I made it up. It's formed by two groups of ships, one group on the left and the other on the right, with the middle being comprised of both groups meshed together. Oh, and I came up with Fana formation all by myself. 'Fana' means 'veil' in J.R.R. Tolkien's Elvish just so you know, and it's pronounced: Fawn-uh.
prin69:thank you! when I have time I'll finally get around to replying to your e-mail! YIKES chap15 was just going to be a little chapter that serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever, but now since everyone thinks it's important I'm going to do more w/ family. have fun reading this whole big long chapter!
Christieanne-Anna: Beka/Rhade! YAY!
Mo Cat: that would be kinda weird if that came up in one of your conversations... :P
Iara: I read your e-mail, an I still can't reply! grrr...
abcde: That's a great idea! I think I will do that now that you mention it! Thanks tons!
Jamieson Z: yuck, essays. that sucks! This extra-long chapter is for you because of your essays!
Dancing Queen: I don't know, but since he has two, that would mean one for you and one for me! no, I just made that up because I didn't know anything about his family. Then as soon as I upload that chapter I learn that Rhade had a wife and kids on Terazed! YIKES! thanks!
Dancing Princess: and you know what the sad thing is, Samantha? WINTER IS YOUR CHARACTER!!!
A/N: This is a VERY long chapter because everything starts to come together, so bear with me, ok? And I wrote this for Jamieson Z because the poor girl has lots of essays, so good luck!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING Y'ALL FROM NORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA! :) Mommy's taking my grandmother back to the nurseing home, so I finally have a chance to upload this, it took me three days to type. Enjoy!
Chapter 16 (Two days later)
Trance was lying in the Med Bay, with the rest of the senior officers around her. She was going into labor, and Gaheris was kneeling next to her, holding her hand tight. Suddenly, Trance looked up in fear. "They're here," she announced, eyes wide and frightened.
"Who?" Dylan asked.
"The scouts. They'll be coming to collect us, Gaheris," Trance said, her voice tight with pain.
One of the medical officers shoved his way through the ring of anxious people around the bed, accidentally stepping on Telemachus's foot. "Would everybody but the father please leave?" he requested, irritated. "There's not much room. With all due respect, Captain, I must ask you and the senior officers to vacate the Med Deck."
Telemachus's bone blades came out. "No, we are not going any-"
"Yes, we understand, Doctor," Beka said, putting a hand on Rhade's arm. "We're sorry for disrupting you." She led the retreat from M-Deck, where everyone immediately consolidated into a small group outside the door.
"Why couldn't we stay?" Telemachus demanded.
"We were in the way," Beka told him.
"But wha-" Dylan was cut off by Rommie.
"Captain, I'm detecting a Slipstream event," she said. "One small ship, two lifeforms."
"Trance's people," Telemachus whispered.
"Oh, that's not good," Harper announced.
Rommie paused with her eyes closed, then they flew open. "Dylan, I'm detecting another Slipstream portal, closer in." Her eyes widened. "It's the Collectors."
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Jade whooped as she roared out of the hangar, the rest of her squadron following. This is it! she thought to herself. Maybe they'd be going up against pirates, or slavers, or Genites... ugh, Genites. They made a chill run through her.
As the rest of the squadron reported in with their call signs, Jade preformed her weapons and systems check automatically, mind caught up in dreams of glory and fame. Maybe someone would write a story about her, the mysterious Nietzschean pilot with no name or Pride. There was no fear of death in her mind, just a grim certainty of returning unscathed after the battle.
When the last member of the squadron had reported in, Jade flipped her comm system to the standard frequency used by the Collectors. "Delta Squadron, all here and reporting for duty," she announced.
"Alpha Squad prepped and ready for action," Corrin's voice came over the radio. "Fist, what're the orders?"
"This is Tight Fist," the captain's voice said over the radio. The Tight Fist was a heavy cruiser, the flagship of this battle group. "Alpha, Delta, your orders are to fly in close and take out key systems. The cruisers will stand by in support. Fist out."
Jade flipped a few complicated-looking switches until she had the radio configured so that she could hear both the slipfighters and the brass on the cruisers, but the brass couldn't hear her over the radio. "This is Jade; the cruisers are scared of the ship we're up against," she said. "Let's show them that we don't need heavy artillery to back us up." She paused, doing some quick thinking. "Get in Helix formation, Delta on the right, Alpha, you take the left wing."
"This is Hotshot," Corrin said. "Orders received and acknowledged. Pilots, break into your wing groups and maintain radio silence. Hotshot out."
Jade clicked her comm once, slipfighter shorthand for 'understood' as she and Nuria moved into their wing group. Jade glanced at the battle map, pleased to see that everyone was in tight formation in twelve pairs of two, meshed together with Alpha Squadron's twelve pairs of two. "This is Jade. On my mark, each fighter fire one missile at the ship ahead, then follow the missiles at maximum speed." She paused, arming her missiles. "Mark!"
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"Forty-eight missiles incoming," Andromeda's viewscreen said. Beka, Dylan, Telemachus, and Harper were in Command, each at their various stations. Dylan had ordered Gaheris to stay with Trance, an order Gaheris was only too happy to follow. "Missiles followed by forty-eight slipfighters. The cruisers are remaining outside combat radius."
"Rhade, target the missiles first, then the slipfighters," Dylan ordered. "Beka, get us out of here!"
"Uhhhh, newsflash!" Harper announced. "We don't have a Slipstream drive!"
"Missile tubes one through forty, fire!" Telemachus announced. The blinking dots that represented Andromeda's missiles intercepted forty of the incoming missiles, and Telemachus activated the point defense lasers to take care of the rest.
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"There goes our cover," Cynthia said sadly as the forty-eight missiles were summarily destroyed.
"Can the chatter, Oenone," Jade ordered. "Everyone, evasive maneuvers! Fire at will!" She dove, followed by Nuria. "This is Jade; Delta Squadron, split into Fana formation." Fana formation was when a slipfighter squadron splits in half, becoming two separate squads, one under the command of the normal leader and the other under someone else. They would act independently until the usual leader signaled the end of Fana formation. Jade had developed it herself, and she was proud of it because it essentially gave you two independent squadrons.
"Fana formation acknowledged," Cynthia said. "Oenone taking control of Fana Squadron."
"Storm's on your wing," Winter said.
Jade looked down at her battle map to see twelve of the blue dots representing Delta Squadron abruptly turn green and break off from the other twelve.
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"What are they doing?" Beka asked, seeing the one squadron split in half.
"I don't know," Dylan said. "I've never seen that before."
Telemachus looked up and blinked in surprise. "Nah, it can't be," he said, looking down at his console then back up at the battle map on the viewscreen.
All attention turned to the Nietzschean male. "What is it?" Rommie asked. "Have you seen it before?"
"That's impossible," Telemachus repeated.
"What is it?" Dylan asked.
"Fana formation," Telemachus said. "I helped develop it."
"Why are you so surprised?" Rommie asked.
"Well, we never told anyone," Telemachus explained. "My two brothers, my sister, and I developed it, and my sister named it 'fana' after a word in an old Earth author's made-up language. 'Fana' means 'veil,' and the end result is the enemy, in this case us, is forced to focus on two independently acting squadrons instead of one moving as a group. In a slipfighter squadron you can split it up even further into four squadrons of six pilots, and even further by eight groups of three pilots. Fana-esse fana, a veil in a veil."
"How do the Collectors know about it?" Dylan asked.
Telemachus hesitated. "Maybe one of my brothers told someone at the academy, and whoever he told is the leader of one of these squadrons now."
"You're too smart for your own good, Rhade," Dylan said. "Now the Collectors have a new tactic."
Telemachus shrugged. "Father did always say I had a mind for-" he was cut off by a beeping on his console. "Incoming missiles!" he barked, and Andromeda was rocked by an explosion. "Slipfighters coming in hot!"
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Jade was frantically dodging point defense lasers as she skimmed the enemy ship's hull, searching for a good point to drop a missile. "Prophet, you find any weak spots yet?"
"Negative, Leader," Nuria said. "I'm still lookin'."
Over in the newly formed Fana Squadron, Winter was getting curious. "These guys are good," she announced over the radio.
"No unnecessary comm traffic!" Cynthia barked.
"Oenone, can we run a sensor scan and find out who we're up against?"
"This is Venus," Shauna said. "Whoever is on the weapons control is a Nietzschean. I can tell from the way he shoots."
"Cut the transmissions if they aren't important," Corrin ordered. "You're clogging up the radio."
"Hotshot, Jade, this is Oenone. Requesting sensor scan of the enemy vessel."
"Permission granted," Jade said. "But don't get all shot up while you're scanning."
"Storm, you have full sensor kit, right?" Cynthia asked.
Winter clicked her comm twice, meaning 'yes'.
"Alright, scan the ship," Cynthia ordered. "Let's find out who we're fighting."
Suddenly a scream broke out over the comm, then Corrin's voice. "Thief? Thief, come in." A sigh, coming out over the radio as a burst of static. "Alpha Squad, we've lost Darianna."
"This is Storm," Winter said solemnly. "The ship we're fighting is the starship Andromeda Ascendant."
Silence. "The Andromeda?" Jade finally said. "You're sure?"
"The sensors don't lie at this range," Winter said.
"The Andromeda founded the Commonwealth," Cynthia said. "Why are we attacking?"
Suddenly, all those strange little occurrences clicked together like a puzzle. "The Collectors," Jade announced. "They've taken over the Commonwealth."
"This is Ace," Achilles's voice came over the comm. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Don't you see it?" Jade asked quickly. "Andromeda comes to Terazed, very hush-hush, leaves in a hurry along with most of the fleet and Tri-Lorn."
"I saw on some drift there're wanted posters for the crew of the Andromeda," Kaysea said.
"Drago-Katsov Pride wants the senior officers alive," Shauna added in her deep, husky voice.
"Don't you understand?" Jade said again. "We're fighting a war against Dylan Hunt."
Silence over the comm as the slipfighter squadrons continued to dodge missiles and laser blasts.
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"They're not firing, and I'm detecting heavy comm traffic," Rommie said.
"That's odd," Beka said.
"Is there enough chatter for you to break the encryption code?" Dylan asked. That's why most ships keep radio silence during a battle; the less you talk, the less likely that enemy ships can break the encryption code on your transmissions.
"Calculating," Rommie closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again. "Yes. There's a lot of chatter; I'll give you the summary."
Andromeda answered for her. "The pilots don't seem to know the Commonwealth has split, and the Collectors are in control," the viewscreen said. "They didn't know who they were fighting, and seem shocked at who we are."
"Captain, they're talking again," Rommie said. "I'll patch it through so you can hear it."
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"We're fighting the Commonwealth," a male Perseid said in shock, and Jade recognized the voice as that of the pilot she and Nuria had shot down in the training exercise.
"Not only the Commonwealth, Smarty," Corrin said to the Perseid "Dylan Hunt, the man who founded the Commonwealth after the Long Night. He paused. "Andromeda saved my homeworld two years ago, Savion. The Cetus was going to devour the planet, but Andromeda killed it before it could get us."
"Andromeda saved my planet as well," Clear Running Water, a Than, announced. "Mobius was about to be destroyed by the planet-killer, but Andromeda was able to direct the PSBs into Slipstream instead of at our planet."
"Andromeda ferried Elsbett Mossadeem to her wedding with Charlemagne Bolivar," Achilles said. "And somehow managed to convince her not to blow him into little pieces, which lead to the uniting of Sabra and Jaguar Prides. Andromeda also helped us in our war against the Drago-Katsov."
"I don't see that as a good thing!" Shauna announced, being a Drago-Katsov Nietzschean herself. "But two of Andromeda's crewmembers started the slave revolt on Earth, creating the necessary diversion-"
"So she could get us offworld," Kaysea finished.
"I also snuck offworld during the revolt," Cynthia said. "I wouldn't be here without them."
"Andromeda convinced our leaders to stop sending fertilizer to the Pyrians," Winter said, the Inari's voice not going much higher than a whisper. "We would have been destroyed by the Pyrians."
"Andromeda's First Officer, Beka Valentine kept Pierpont Drift from being destroyed by the Than Hegemony," a woman said, and Jade recognized her as the woman who had been arguing with Shauna. Jade bit her lip, trying to remember her name... Emmy, that what Kaysea had called her.
"Dylan Hunt is the hero I've grown up with since my childhood," Jade said. "I can't fight against him, or anyone else on board Andromeda. My brother serves on that ship. I couldn't live with myself if Andromeda was destroyed and he was killed and I did nothing."
Silence over the comm.
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Telemachus had his brow furrowed in thought. "I know that voice," he muttered. "But that's impossible."
Dylan didn't hear him. "We should try and find out who her brother is-"
"I can guess," Telemachus said.
"Who?" Harper asked.
Telemachus hesitated, and Andromeda's viewscreen said; "I've been analyzing the patterns and inflections in Jade's voice. They match positive with-"
"Me," Telemachus said. "That's my sister out there."
"You said your sister was dead," Beka said.
"We never found a body," Telemachus corrected. "It all fits. The formation, the name of which is from an old Earth made-up language, the mention of a brother, the voice match..." his voice was hopeful, and Harper hated to say it, but:
"It could be a huge coincidence," he said. "Ya never know."
"I've pulled up records of the pilot 'Jade'," Rommie said, and a picture appeared on the viewscreen with letters in Vedran next to it. "All I could get were training scores and military accomplishments. No background information or Pride, only 'Jade, Nietzschean from Terazed, age, and scores."
Telemachus looked at he picture. "That's her! It's Atlanta!" He looked at Dylan with a pleading look. "Can you get me on the radio with the squadrons?"
Rommie closed her eyes. "Radio link open.
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"I think we should just jet straight outta here and not look back," a female Jade didn't know announced over the comm.
"Yeah, but Calisto, what if Pish comes after our families?" Corrin asked, and Jade recognized the call sign as Xena Rarsh's, a Nietzschean from a small Pride, Ursa.
"Then you stay," Jade said. "I for one-" she was cut off.
"Transmission from Andromeda," Winter announced suddenly.
"This is Andromeda contacting Alpha, Delta, and Fana Squadrons," a male voice said. "Atlanta, is that you?"
"Telemachus?!?!" Jade exclaimed happily.
"Atlanta, how, wha-" Telemachus was cut off by Winter.
"Incoming transmission from the Tight Fist," she said solemnly.
"What the fuck are you doing!" the captain yelled. "Why are you talking instead of blowing them up?"
"They can't hear what we're saying, but they can detect out transmissions," Winter said.
"Telemachus, I have to go," Jade said, blinking past tears. "I'm gonna get back to you, I'm sorry." She smiled. "I'll draw off as many cruisers as I can." She cut the transmission, and opened a line to the Tight Fist.
"Captain, I can't fight the Andromeda. I'm leaving," she announced. "I have no quarrel against you, but if you continue firing at Andromeda, you are going to have at least one angry slipfighter firing missiles up your ass." She directed the next statement to the slipfighters. "If anyone is with me, we're gonna get out of here," she flipped the radio back to its previous setting so the cruisers couldn't hear her next order.
"If you attempt to leave, we will consider you aiding the enemy and treat you as such," the captain warned.
"On my mark, we are going to charge straight at them," Jade said. "Anyone else who is not with me, stay outta the way, or I won't hesitate to blow you out of space. "Mark!" she ordered, and gunned her engines. She was followed by thirteen other slipfighters.
"Anyone who stops any of the incoming slipfighters will receive 100,000 thrones!" the captain announced. The remaining thirty-three slipfighters immediately began giving chase to Jade and her pilots, and then the cruisers opened fire, catching them in a deadly crossfire.
Kaysea received a direct laser hit to the engine from one of the following slipfighters. "I'm hit, I'm hit!" she screamed frantically as her slipfighter spun into an uncontrollable roll.
"No, Viper!" Shauna yelled. "You can hold it, you can hold it!"
Kaysea's screams were abruptly cut off as her slipfighter exploded into a fiery ball of glowing particles.
"Kaysea!" Shauna screamed.
"Eternal life grant unto her, and may perpetual light shine upon her," a male voice said, and Jade recognized it as the voice of Infinity Trigan, the squadrons' resident Wayist.
"This is Venus," Shauna said darkly. "I'm going after that son of a bitch." She quickly pulled a hard 180, facing the opposing slipfighters.
"This is Moses," Infinity said. "I've got your wing, Venus." He pulled the same maneuver.
"Venus, Moses, no," Jade pleaded. "You'll be killed."
"I have to avenge Kaysea," Shauna said calmly, and Jade could almost see Shauna's bone blades extending. "Jade, I have to. I owe her that much. And besides, the more Infinity and I take down, the less likely you'll get shot in the back like Kaysea was."
"My soul is prepared to meet the Divine," Infinity said. "Are theirs?"
Shauna and Infinity roared back toward the opposing slipfighters as Jade and the other eleven continued on their path to the cruisers.
"I am Shauna Du'lakar!" Shauna yelled as she dumped her full load of missiles. "Out of Liona!" a huge explosion as two enemy fighters hit her missiles and exploded. "By Ulassim!" she triggered her lasers, reducing another fighter to dust. "Of Drago-Katsov Pride!" The loud tone broke out, and Shauna was out of firepower, so she used the last available weapon she had. "Fear me!" she screamed, piloting her slipfighter nose first into another. Both slipfighters erupted into a golden-yellow fireball, catching a third in the shock wave, and just like that, Shauna Du'lakar, out of Liona by Ulassim of Drago-Katsov Pride, was gone.
"Eternal life grant unto her, and may perpetual light shine upon her," Infinity said. He flipped his comm frequency over to that of the other fighters. "You are about to meet the Divine," he said calmly. "Are your souls prepared?"
"I thought Wayists were peaceful," a woman said as Infinity blew up one of her pilots.
"Kill them all, and let the Divine sort them out," Infinity said firmly, right before the woman blew him out of space.
Jade blinked tears out of her eyes. In three minutes she had lost three pilots to people she had counted on as allies. "Telemachus, don't let me down," she muttered.
"One light-minute until we reach the cruisers," Cynthia reported. "Enemy slipfighters still coming."
"Hard 180!" Corrin ordered. "We've got to take them head-on."
"Wait!" Winter exclaimed. "Look!"
It was the Andromeda, all lasers and missile tubes blazing. The enemy slipfighters turned to meet this new threat, and were summarily destroyed one by one.
"Incoming transmission from the Andromeda," Winter said.
"This is Captain Dylan Hunt," Jade heard Dylan's voice over the comm. "Good work, Alpha and Delta squadrons."
"Thank you, sir," Jade and Corrin said at the same time, and suddenly the viewscreen in each slipfighter came to life, showing Dylan standing on the Command Deck.
"We are out of missiles, but I just wanted to wish you good luck against the cruisers," Dylan said.
"Thank you, sir," both Jade and Corrin said again, then laughed.
"Are you going to be alright against the cruisers?" Dylan asked. "Or do you want us to deploy our own slipfighters as backup?"
Jade felt giddy. Dylan Hunt is asking me if I need help!
"No, sir," Corrin answered. "We know all the weak points in their hulls and where there are gaps in their sensor fields."
"They aren't top-of-the-line cruisers," Jade added. "Us slipfighters were the best in this battle group."
Dylan smiled. "I believe you. Our hanger bays are open to all of you when you're finished with the cruisers. Andromeda out." The transmission cut off.
"We just talked to the founder of the Commonwealth." Emmy sounded like she'd just met Drago Mousevni or George Washington.
"Blondie, juke port, juke port!" Corrin ordered.
Emmy banked to the left, narrowly missing being hit by a missile fired from the cruisers ahead.
"Cruisers in range," Winter said belatedly.
"Blondie, are you all right?" Corrin demanded.
"I think I just shit my pants," Emmy said, obviously rattled.
Jade snorted then composed herself. "Alright, we'll label the light cruisers from port to starboard A, B, C, D, and E. From port to starboard we'll label the heavy cruisers Beta, Gamma, and Omega. Oenone, you take cruiser A, Hotshot, take cruiser B, Bang, take cruiser C, Tuna, D, and Calisto, E. Blondie and Storm take cruiser Beta, Ace and Smarty take cruiser Gamma, and the Fire's Prophet and I will take cruiser Omega. Everyone clear on your orders? Good, let's go."
Knowing the weak points made the complete destruction of the five light cruisers and two of the heavy cruisers little more than execution. But the last cruiser, the Tight Fist, just as it was about to go critical, ejected its slipstream drive, then exploded. The ejected drive opened a random Slipstream portal.
"Jade, I'm getting' sucked in!" Winter screamed frantically.
"Keep calm, Storm, keep calm," Corrin said. "Get ready, everyone. We don't have enough power to escape the portal, so get ready to ride one of the worst 'Stream jumps in your life."
Jade took a deep breath and readied herself for the jump into Slipstream.
It was the whirlpool effect; if Shauna had been there to see it she would have been furious that the Collectors were using a Drago-Katsov strategy against them. One by one, the eleven slipfighters and their pilots were unceremoniously yanked into the 'Stream, leaving behind nothing but the wreckage of enemy ships, not knowing where they'd end up.
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"No!" Telemachus leaned forward as he helplessly watched his sister be pulled into Slipstream to who-knows-where. "Atlanta-" and she was gone in the blink of an eye. There was silence as Telemachus's shoulders slumped. "Atlanta," he whispered sadly.
"Rommie, can you trace the route?" Beka asked. "Find out where they'll end up?"
"I'll try," Rommie said.
"Don't worry, Rhade," Harper said, clapping Telemachus's shoulder. "We'll find your sister, don't worry."
Trance came on the viewscreen. "You guys might want to see this," she said, smiling.
The senior officers exchanged hopeful looks, then as one started running for the Med Deck.
A/N: God, Chap16 was almost like a mini fanfic, wasn't it? This chapter was longer than all of 'Illusions'! I can finally change my screenname know that we know who Jade really is! HOORAY!