Akira Bane: omigosh, i love you! thanx for all the updates! Gaignan/Shion fics are awesome, and they're not slow at ALL! just wait till you see the ending... lol. yep, Red Dragon's a pain. Albedo's the generic opponent, and he's a U.R.T.V. too, so mite as well, rite? Jin's awesome. i love him, he's great. yes, he's in control of his Red Dragon now. unlike... Jr. lol. pheeew... done with all ur updates. well, i'm glad you like it, here's the next chappie for all you.

Disclaimer: meh... it's not mine... ok?

Chapter 7

Ataria

"Welcome to Ataria. What is your business here?" asked a happy looking guide at the Atarian Space Port.

"Greetings." answered Gaignan. "We are here to speak with... former Representative Jonus."

The guide's happy feeling departed as soon as he mentioned Jonus' name. "You wouldn't happen... to be with the Federation would you?"

"No, I assure you. We are not in any way working for the Federation. May we see Jonus?"

"Well... come this way." he led them through busy streets and past many buildings. When it seemed nobody could walk any further, the guide stopped. "This is as far as I can take you." he bowed and left. The group was left in front of a huge building. The sign in front said: Atarian House of Representatives.

"This is it guys... time to meet Jonus." Gaignan entered, followed by everyone else.

The secretary at the front desk greeted them without looking up. "Hello sir or madam. Welcome to the Atarian House of Representatives. Our current leader, Jonus, has left the Federation. We are sorry for any inconvenience. Please come back soon, sir or madam."

"Hello." Gaignan started. "We would like to see Jonus please.

The secretary looked up at Gaignan. "Did you not hear what I said? Jonus has left the Federation. Please come back later wh-"

"You don't understand, miss." Gaignan interrupted "We are here on terms of a peace treaty from the Federation."

The secretary stared at Gaignan, and then at everyone else. She then pushed a button on the desk and spoke into a microphone. "Sir, there's a group of people here who say they want to talk about a peace treaty from the Federation. No sir, they certainly don't look-" she stared at Gaignan again. "-like they're from the Federation. Understood sir, I'll send them up." She pushed the button again and looked back at Gaignan. "Go straight then go in the elevator. 49th floor. He'll be there. Have a good day and thank you for coming to the Atarian House of Representatives."

So taking the simple directions given to them by the secretary, they all went to the 49th floor via elevator. What they saw was not what they expected. Rather than entering a hallway or a secretarial room, it was a giant office! Huge pictures lined the walls, each one perfectly depicting the face of former Federation Representatives, all up to Jonus. At the end of the office, in front of a wall of windows, was a desk and a chair.

"Welcome." said a voice. The chair remained facing away from them. "What business do you have here?"

"Well..." Gaignan cleared his throat. "We're here to propose the signing of a peace treaty."

The chair turned to them, and in it sat Jonus. He was an old man, slightly wrinkled, with blond hair and gentle brown eyes. Dressed in the Atarian colors of red and brown, he no longer had his Federation uniform on. "Hmm... good. The Federation still lives up to it's words I see. I don't remember seeing you around the Federation."

"You shouldn't sir." Gaignan chuckled. "We don't work at the Federation. We're just good acquaintances of the Miltian Representative Helmer. We happened to be nearby, so he asked us to drop by.

"I see." he nodded. "A peace treaty? What kind... of peace treaty?"

"Well... it says here..." Gaignan took out a folder filled with papers. "That if you sign this treaty, the Federation will not have a violent response to your leave from the Federation, but you may not show any violence towards the Federation. Furthermore..." he shuffled through some more papers. "This also states that you will agree to meet with a Federation negotiator in an attempt to find an agreement on the terms on which you would reenter the Federation as a Representative of Ataria."

"Hmm... sounds pretty good to me. When would I meet with this negotiator?"

"It doesn't specify a date in here sir." Gaignan looked through some more papers. "Ah, here it is, a specific date and meeting place will be determined when news of the signing of the Federation-Ataria peace treaty has reached the Federation."

"Well, I'm a reasonable man... and I don't see any reason not to sign... so..." suddenly, a button beeped on Jonus' desk. "Excuse me." Gaignan nodded and Jonus pushed the button. A young man who looked very nervous appeared on the screen. "Defense secretary Marshall? What is it?"

"There's a large mass gating out right by out atmosphere sir!"

"What? Can you identify it?"

"It's... it's... Gnosis sir!"

"Gnosis?" he turned back to Gaignan. "Con artists!" he yelled. "You led them here to blackmail me into signing the peace treaty didn't you?"

"What?" Gaignan was shocked at the news, as was everyone else. "We wouldn't do such a thing!"

"Well, it's not going to work! We can take care of ourselves here!" Jonus turned back to Marshall. "Well, don't just stand there man! Prepare our defenses! Send out our ships! Arm our A.G.W.S. units! Send all men into battle!"

"Yes sir!" Marshall saluted. Alarms suddenly began blaring. Marshall's voice could be heard over the intercom. "All defense men and A.G.W.S. pilots head to your stations! There is a large mass of Gnosis gating out by our atmosphere! We need you to defend our home! This is not a drill! I repeat, this is not a drill! All defense men and A.G.W.S. pilots to your stations! Hurry!"

Jr. pulled Gaignan to the side. "You don't think..."

"They must've followed us." Gaignan could sense what his brother was worrying about. "It's the only way they would have been able to gate out so close to the planet. We'll just have to hope Ataria's defenses are sufficient."

"Sufficient?" Jonus cried out, a vein popping out of his forehead. "Our A.G.W.S. unit are the top of the line! We have the best weaponry out there! Those Gnosis won't know what hit them!"

Another button on Jonus' desk flashed, and he pushed it. A screen popped up, showing the Gnosis. A dark hole had appeared by Ataria but instead of sucking stuff up, it spewed out Gnosis. Gnosis that resembled giant lobsters with wings flew down to the planet, rendezvousing with Ataria's air defense. Already, Ataria was outnumbered, and the Gnosis just kept on coming.

"Now!" Jonus yelled. "Fire! Blast those damned Gnosis to hell!" every ship Ataria had to offer was out there, and the all opened up, revealing their main guns. Energy was gathered and they all simultaneously fired. The blasts reached the Gnosis and... were a direct hit! But... nothing happened to the Gnosis... they just kept on coming.

"What?" Shion carefully examined the Gnosis... they seemed... transparent. "No! Jonus! You have to call off the attack! Those Gnosis aren't on our dimensional plane! You can't damage them!"

"Nonsense! Recharge and fire again!" he yelled, ignoring Shion.

Shion just grunted and turned to Kos-Mos. "Kos-Mos! You have to activate the Hilbert Effect!"

"Negative Shion. The Gnosis are sill in the outer atmosphere. Even at it's fullest range, my Hilbert Effect wouldn't reach them. Activating it now would just be a waste of energy."

Everyone watched as the Atarian ships recharged their guns and fired again. Like last time, they hit their target, but nothing happened. By this time, the Gnosis had reached the ships. Many of the began firing large beams of energy from their "claws". Other's, however, landed on the ships, and began... molting. Their skin broke, and hundreds of tiny crabs came out. They devoured the ship, and flew on to others. The ships instantly began launching their A.G.W.S. units, but they too were useless. The Gnosis just absorbed each and every blow. More of the lobster Gnosis landed on the A.G.W.S. and somehow fused with them... creating G.W.S.. These new Gnosis Weapon Systems, which were equipped with the, to use Jonus' words, best weaponry out there, began attacking other A.G.W.S. and Atarian defense ships. It was a complete massacre.

Marshall's screen popped up again. "Sir! We've lost 40 of our ships, and A.G.W.S. losses exceed 60! What should we do?"

Jonus looked back and forth from screen to screen as the fight went on. "There's nothing we can do..." he had finally realized his odds. As more and more Gnosis gated out and more and more ships were either destroyed or infected, Marshall got even more nervous.

"Sir! What are we going to do? 65 of our ships are gone! A.G.W.S. losses exceed 90! What will we do?"

Jonus looked at Gaignan and Shion. "Call a full retreat. Tell everyone to come back."

"Excuse me sir?" Marshall was even more shocked.

"There's nothing we can do. Call the retreat." Jonus turned off Marshall's screen and turned to Gaignan. "Look, I know I've been hard on you, and I'm very sorry. I'm asking you now... not just for me... but for everyone on this planet... please help us. I'm... I'm begging you..."

Gaignan turned back to the group. "Do you think we can do it?"

Jr. smiled. "We've handled harder things! Now... we just need a plan."

Marshall's screen popped up again. "Sir, I'm sorry to bother you... but it seems there's a problem."

"What could be worse than what's happening now?" Jonus sighed.

chaos chuckled. "Do you really want us to answer that question? I mean, really?"

Jonus laughed, but shook his head. "What's the problem?"

"Well..." another screen popped up, showing a map of the immediate surrounding area. "All the Gnosis are headed our way sir."

"What? Why?" Jonus yelled.

"They're not letting their prey get away." Jin murmured. "They're coming in for the kill."

"No..." Jr. whispered, as shocked as everyone else was.

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A/N: prepare for the Gnosis battle of your lives! where ALMOST EVERYONE GETS MORTALLY WOUNDED! don't hurt me! (hides behind chair) review please! up next... The X-Buster!