Reviews:

vampiregirl081: oh, so happy you liked it!

Jamieson Z: yeah, I love Egypt! I just kinda spelled it phonetically, so I really didn't know how it was spelled. Oops! yes, there will be a sequel! I already finsished this fanfic in my notebook, and I'm already working on my sequel, Night of a New Dawning.

Vee017: yeah! that's the show! w/ Amon-hir-kapishef! yeah! no, no, no! chapter 25 is more Rhade/Beka/nefatari, so don't worry!

Iara: love ya! still can't reply 'cause I can't be on the internet long, but I present the project tomorrow! YAY!

eris: a friend told me if you search for 'Rhade action figure' on Ebay, you'll find one. I'm too busy to check it out ,myseslf, could you do it for me?

L.C. Brotherton: yay, love ya! yes, there will be a sequel, Night of a New Dawning

Mo Cat: Good luck!

prin69: don't worry, there'll be a sequel!

DancingQueen: s'ok, I know what a pain puppys can be!

Chapter 23 (few days earlier)

Jade Rhade gripped the controls of her slipfighter and braced herself as the pull of the Slipstream portal proved too much for her little fighter. Her slipfighter was pulled into Slipstream.

Jade bit her lip to keep from screaming as her controls refused to respond, sending her careening off the sides of the Slip tunnel. She could feel what she had eaten earlier rising in her throat, and she swallowed against it; knowing from previous experience that throwing up in an enclosed cockpit was not fun. She pulled at her controls, begging them to unstick. Jade could feel the temperature in the slipfighter rising as her Slipstream drive began overheat sooner than expected because of the incredible jostling that it was going through.

Her controls responded, and Jade squeezed them tighter before reminding herself to keep a light touch on the controls. Eventually she steadied her fighter's course, and the heat in the cockpit began to subside as the engine cooled down. She blew a drop of sweat of the tip of her nose as the heat began rising again soon after. Jade knew she had to get out of Slipstream soon before either her slipfighter shut down, exploded, or melted. None of those possibilities appealed to the Nietzschean female.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Jade was violently catapulted from Slipstream. Her fighter tumbled end over end as she desperately tried to slow her momentum. She pulled back hard on her controls, bringing the slipfighter to a complete stop. "Motherfuck," Jade whispered as everything shut down with a whir, leaving her in complete darkness. Then the emergency lights flickered on, bathing her in a yellow-orange light. Jade was hanging alone in space with no way to defend herself or move. She was alone in the darkness. Jade took deep breath to calm herself.

Then another slipfighter was hurled from Slipstream; heading at full, uncontrollable speed directly at Jade! Jade quickly started flipping switches for a manual start. "Motherfuck, motherfuck, motherfuck," she muttered frantically; a collision at that speed would vaporize both her and the other fighter. Her engines whined feebly, and then the little lights next to the override switches turned red. "Come on, come on," Jade urged, glancing up worriedly at the other fighter heading straight for her. She flipped the switches off, then on again. Nothing, not even a flicker of energy. Jade squeezed her eyes shut tight and reflexively hunched forward against the coming impact.

At the last second the other fighter pulled up, zooming over Jade. The backwash from the engines spun her slipfighter around in a complete circle; Jade couldn't help it, she laughed in relief and tried to control her trembling. She took a deep breath and focused on getting her slipfighter up and running again.

One after another nine more slipfighters came roaring out of slipstream. One of them was corkscrewing wildly and its engines were smoking. The slipfighter exploded, and with chill Jade realized it might have been her. The ten slipfighters hung in space, some showing obvious signs of damage, others only having internal damage.

"Right, Jade," she muttered to herself. "Fix radio, fix engine, fix weapons." She looked at the nine other fighters. "Radio," she decided, unbuckling her harness and popping open a metal plate in her control panel.

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Roughly an hour later, Jade wearily pushed the plate back in place. She switched on her radio, pleading for it to work. "This is Jade calling other fighters. Can anyone hear me? Over." Silence. "Repeating: this is Jade. Can anyone read me; over."

"Hotshot here, Jade," the welcoming sound of Corrin's voice floated through the comm.

"Smarty also here," the Perseid male announced. "I don't think the others' radios are working yet."

"Mine is," said a male voice. "It's Ace. Do you think the others are working on their Slip drives or radios?"

"Oenone's up and running," Jade announced, surveying her battle map. "She didn't sustain much damage. Neither did Blondie nor Tuna."

Eventually everyone was running at full power, having diverted enough power so that they could limp to another system. Communicating over the radio, no one bothered to use call signs since there wasn't another ship for light-years.

"Jade, why didn't you ever tell me who you really were?" Nuria asked in a hurt tone. "I thought we were friends."

"I'll answer all questions later," Jade said. "Right now we need to focus on other issues. Where are we going to go?"

"I don't know about the rest of you," Cynthia said. "But I've got about an hour's worth of oxygen left in my fighter, if not less."

Jade cursed, wishing there were some kind of device in slipfighters that would convert carbon dioxide to oxygen.

"Anybody have ideas?" Corrin asked. "I don't know how long the jury-rigging on my engine will hold up."

"I know where we can go," Achilles announced. "Before my parents were... murdered, they were exceedingly wealthy. All their possessions were passed down to me. I've already checked the coordinates; a short Slip hop from here is the hollowed-out asteroid I inherited. As far as I know, it's still deserted."

"Define 'short'," Winter requested.

"Fifteen, twenty minutes in the 'Stream," Achilles replied. "The hanger will be large enough to house our ten slipfighters."

"Yes, that's something I've been meaning to ask," Corrin mused. "Who's with us? I only know a few of your names; would everyone please list their names?"

"Nuria Fatima out of Sierra by Tallis."

"Achilles Kadon out of Sabra-Jaguar by Kadon.

"Cynthia Valerie, from Earth."

"Emmy Baut from Pierpont Drift."

"Clear Running Water, a highly amusing and easily confused Than from Mobius. Just call me Tuna."

"Xena Teraskasi, out of Ursa by Teraskasi."

"Giani Senzar, from Sinti," now finally Jade had a name to connect to the Perseid pilot.

"Corrin Larkan, from Savion."

Jade hesitated. "Jade Rhade, out of Majoram by Rhade," she admitted.

"Achilles, send those coordinates," Xena ordered. "I have no desire to die of lack of oxygen."

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It looked like an unremarkable asteroid, but Jade followed Achilles's slipfighter as he skimmed the surface. She labored to draw breath, for the air had become as thick as molasses, and could only imagine how the humans felt.

Emmy was seeing black spots dancing in her vision, and she felt so sleepy as she gasped for air. "No. Must-stay-awake," she muttered. But her body gave into the lack of oxygen, and Emmy fell into a deep slumber. She was never to wake again as her slipfighter banked downward, heading at an angle that would send her crashing directly into the asteroid's surface.

"Emmy? Emmy!" Jade shouted. "Pull up! Pull up, motherfuckit!"

Emmy's slipfighter impacted nose first against the asteroid, exploding into fiery pieces of molten metal.

"Oh God," Cynthia breathed. "Achilles, can we land soon?"

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As soon as she landed her slipfighter and the hanger was repressurized, Jade immediately popped her canopy, breathing heavily as finally fresh oxygen filled her lungs. She climbed down, fighting the dizziness from breathing so little oxygen for such a long time. Jade could hear the other pilot's jumping down, all eight.

Achilles spread his arms wide to encompass the entire asteroid. "Welcome to Kadon Base."

A/N: I dunno if I'll be uploading before Christmas, so if I don't:

MERRY CHRISTMAS/ HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE JADE RHADE!!