Well, after being gone for an extremely long time, I have returned with another chapter! To tell you the truth, I had writer's block, then I moved on to… other projects glances nervously at Yami Tenchi

Chibi-T: Good grief! What took you so long?

I just told you, stupid! Anyway, I have the plan now! I have the next four chapters completely mapped out! I'm so happy! Yet, I think this will be a long story, maybe too long. Should I cut it short?

Chibi-T: Whatever. Just get on with this chapter before you think too much about other chapters.

Oh, right! Well, here it is! The moment you've all been waiting for!


Chapter Six

I breathed a sigh of relief, followed by a slight groan of frustration. I couldn't believe I was stuck on a starship full of people I despised, and that I would be stuck there for a long time.

"Something wrong, Chief?"

"I am not the Chief. Don't call me that." I said, not bothering to face the person speaking. I knew who it was.

"Well, what would you like to be called, then?" Joey asked, obviously trying to get on my nerves.

"Excuse me, Sir," I said, contempt dripping from every syllable, "My presence isn't required here, so I'll just take my leave."

I hurried to my quarters. I knew exactly where they were from the times I had been aboard. Once there, I threw myself on my cot. Somehow, I felt a little sick to my stomach. I didn't know what I was expecting, but…. Here I was living my… my… I don't know… Fantasy, I suppose. And it was full of my enemies and bad experiences.

I stared at the wall. My first official workday wasn't until tomorrow, but I had planned on getting an early start today. But I really didn't feel like it anymore.


I woke up the next morning feeling incredibly drained. Still, I knew I had to keep everything running, for Mokuba, if nothing else. I pulled on my uniform, slapped on my comm badge, and staggered out the door. I tried hard to rub the sleep out of my eyes and look presentable, but it was difficult. The night had been rough. The cots on the ship were comfortable, but for some reason, I had a hard time getting settled the previous night. I sighed.

"Something wrong?"

I jumped, startled. Tea Gardener, the alleged "ship's counselor" (I've never believed in ship's counselors. To me, they were just there to take up space), was walking beside me. Angry at her for startling me, and angry at her for simply existing, my reply was rather blunt.

"No."

"Oh. Well, I know you've been through a lot, so if you ever need anything…"

"Really," I said, my rage building, "I don't think you should wait up for me. If I ever had problem, you would be the last person I would go to. Please, just let me go about my own business."

I could tell right away that I had hurt her feelings. "I was just offering to help. You don't have to be so rude."

"My job is to keep the Millennium running, not socialize with my nosy fellow crew members." I picked up my pace a bit to get away, but I needn't have. Tea had just stopped dead in the middle of the corridor, and watched me depart.

For an instant, I almost regretted being so rude to her. She was, after all, Mokuba's friend. But I didn't have the time for any of this. I wasn't about to be all nice and friendly just because I was stuck in the holodeck. Holograms or not, if they wanted me to treat them any differently than their real-life counterparts, they would have to earn it.


For the next few days, work was fairly routine. I ran checks on all the systems, and fixed whatever needed fixing. I ate all my meals alone in my quarters, and I rarely talked to anyone except when giving orders to my engineering team. The rest of the crew, especially Yugi and those close to him, stayed away from me. I knew I should have been happy; after all, I enjoyed my work, and I had wanted them to leave me alone. But somehow, without Mokuba, without anyone to talk to, there was a bitter emptiness that followed me everywhere I went.

There was no sign of the Romulans, and I was beginning to fear for his safety. Getting to him was the one thing that kept me going. What would I do if something were to happen to him?


After about a week of the same routine, we finally found a Romulan ship.

We were following the projected course of the ship from our last encounter. I was on the bridge, which was a rarity for me. I had to give a report to Yugi- sorry, Captain Mouto- so I was forced to give it to him on the bridge. All eyes were adverted from me, but I could tell they were sneaking glances at me, waiting, most likely, for an outburst. Just as the pad was passing from my hands to Yugi's, Joey looked up from his console and shouted,

"Sir! I've detected a Romulan ship, heading mark zero point- Wait a minute! It's heading right at us!" My heart just about stopped. Mokuba…

"They must have been cloaked!" Yugi shouted. "Can you identify it?"

"Is it the one that took Mokuba?" I asked.

"No, it's not the same ship," Joey said quickly, tapping frantically at his console. "But I'm willing to bet it's with them."

"Well, obviously!" I shouted. I was trying desperately to hide my anger and disappointment.

Just then, the entire ship shook. I grabbed the back of Yugi's chair to keep my balance.

"They've opened fire!" Tristan said from his lone console at the back of the bridge. "We've taken heavy damage on Deck Twelve!"

"Shields up!" cried Yugi. He turned to me. "Chief, I need you to get an engineering crew down there, now!"

I hesitated. I didn't want to leave the bridge and miss anything at this moment, but I knew I had a job to do. "I'm on it!" I said. The bridge shook again as I rushed into the turbo lift.

"Deck Twelve!" I commanded as the door slid shut. I hit my comm badge. "Kaiba to engineering! I need a team down at Deck Twelve, stat!"

As the lift descended, I leaned against the interior walls, breathing heavily. I was in the middle of futuristic combat, and it was frightening. I never thought a hologram could be so real…

Suddenly, the turbo lift gave a huge jolt, and stopped dead. The lighting inside flickered out, as well. I smacked the badge again, harder than intended in my surprise. Wincing, I spoke. "Kaiba to Bridge! What's going on? The turbo lift stopped!"

Yugi answered me. His voice had an odd tone to it. "I have no idea. We took another hit from the Romulans, and then…. everything just stopped."

"Where are the Romulans?"

"Again…I don't know."

"You don't know." I slid my back down the wall in exasperation. "You don't know."

"Hang on, Chief. We'll get you out of there."

I didn't even bother getting angry with him for calling me "Chief". I just sat there, staring at the wall opposite me.

I had barely spent five minutes sulking when the lights flashed on again, and the turbo lift continued moving. The lift stopped gently and the doors opened, leaving me to step out onto Deck Twelve. I looked around. It seemed perfectly fine, as if nothing had happened. There was no sign of "heavy damage" anywhere.

"Kaiba to Bridge! What the heck is going on?"

This time, Joey's voice answered me. "We're as weirded out as you are. This makes absolutely no sense."

"I thought we took heavy damage! This place looks perfect!"

"Tsk tsk tsk. You should be grateful that someone helped you out!" A strange voice spoke from behind me, and I turned to face a dark-haired man that I recognized instantly.

Joey was calling over the comm system again. "Chief, we're light years off course!"

"I know," I said tentatively, not taking my eyes off the man for an instant. "And I think I know why."

The man smiled. "Oh, Seto! You recognize me! I'm flattered."

"I'm sure you are. Now what do you want, Q?"

To Be Continued…


Dear me, another cliffhanger. Well, I bet you all kinda know what's in store for the next couple of chapters! A whole lot of Q fun! Yay!

Chibi-T: What is it with you and Q?

He's awesome! He'll be so much fun to depict in this story, too! He has such a weird personality! Hooray for Q!

Chibi-T: Yeah, yeah. Don't you need to do reviewer notes?

Oh, yes! Here they are:

To Dark Ice Dragon: No, I don't believe he does… I haven't quite figured out how to bring Yami Yugi into the story yet… Hee hee, yes, cliffhangers are awful, but they'll be a ton of them in this story! I love suspense! Thanks for reviewing!

To Oort: Well, here's the latest chapter! I hope you like it! The next chapters will be up soon! Anyway, I don't believe that there are any replicators rations. Don't replicators use random molecules or something? I can't remember…. And yes I do read the Yu-Gi-Oh manga! It is pretty weird. Bakura seems to like to stab himself, and there's lots of psychos threatening to cut off people's limbs. But, then again, it's not necessarily a bad thing, hee hee! As for why Yugi would want to say no? He wouldn't! He was just joking around with Seto a bit… Thanks for reviewing, and I really hope you enjoy the rest of the fic!

To Unrealistic: No kidding! I drew him in uniform once… It looks great on him! Very natural, like he was born to wear it! I'm glad you find my fic exciting, too! Thanks so much!

To Ame no Kodomo: Thanks! I know, I really haven't updated in an age…T.T

To Oni Tenchie: Hee hee, here's your update! Don't worry, I'll update more frequently now!

To Yami Tenchi13: Oh wait, you didn't review. Don't worry, I know what happened.

Well, see you all in Chapter 7 (holy cow…)!

Chibi-T: Bye!