Disclaimer: I don't own starocean
BOREDOM.
Karin: Better than me. Why do i have to go cut the power, all by myself?
aren't you the xena type?
Karin: what's that suppose to mean?
nothing...
Karin: ... fine.
Though it had seemed slow, the tide of battle was slowly turning into their favour. With the combined might of Maria's fleet with the great jarganaught ships of the Kolik Federation, the Vendeeni and the Yzaks were pushed back. Maria's fleet broke through the enemy line and rushed to rescue the cornered Imperial fleet vessels.
"Patch me to the 'Diplo'."
Maria ordered and Hyug complied. A blonde woman's face appeared on the screen, her eyes were heavy with fatigue and there were tell-tale signs of stress.
"Mirage, this is Maria, are you alright?"
"Maria? Thank the gods. I thought we were done for. We have heavy casualties. Which fleet those that ship belong to? It's not registering in the federation's registry."
"I'll explain later. Right now, we have a chance of beating these guys back, but i would require your help as well."
"Sure. It's glad to see you Maria."
"You too."
Maria smiled at her old friend. It has been quite a while since they last chatted. But Hyug broke Maria's happy thoughts with a distrubing report.
"Captain! In-coming disturbances in the fabric of space! It's a multiple gravitic warp gate opening!"
"What! Identify those ships, now!"
"Already did! It's the entire Yzak fleet! Estimating... five hundred thousand ships, fifty different fleets."
"Five hundred thousand!"
Maria could not even imagine such a number, not to mention as an enemy.
"Maria, this may be hopeless. Pull your fleet back."
Mirage said, her face once mroe stressed.
"Mirage, i won't let you go down, that i promise. All ships, prepare for a major encounter. As soon as their first ships appear, fire the Particle Genosis Cannons. I want the 'Krykin' and the 'Fujin' to break the line for the imperial fleets to get through."
"Understood."
"Prepare all fighters, charge all weapons."
"Enemy appearing!"
"So, they want to make this the final battle, is that so?"
Maria said as she gritted her teeth.
"In-coming transmission from the 'Hyperion'!"
"Patch them through."
Nyiko's face reappeared on the screen.
"Maria, we have finished with our side, i see that you have noticed these Yzaks are planning to make this the final battle. The rest of my fleet have just arrived and we will be joining you in battle."
"Your help is greatly appreciated."
Maria thanked Nyiko, and now just hoped she would be able to make through the first ten mintues.
"The enemy is through!"
"FIRE!"
The giant Particle Genosis Cannons from the Hynd republic tore through the enemy ships like a knife through warm butter. It pierced ships through the hulls, the engines and even the bridges. None was spared in the onslaught.
With the PGCs mounted on every ship in Maria's fleet, it was quite an impressive sight to see. Within a couple of seconds after Maria's fleet fired their first wave of fire, Nyiko and his fleet was within firing range with their PGCs.
"Give them a volley."
Nyiko commanded. The gigantic ships of the Kolik federation were not only big for show. Being bigger, meant having larger energy cores, and also being able to mount more guns than any planetary system, that included the number of PGCs. The beams from the PGCs ripped through the second wave of enemy ships, completely destroying two fleets in one go.
"How long till the cannons can recharge?"
Maria asked.
"Twelve minutes till cool down. After that, another five minutes for full recharge."
Hyug reported. Maria did not like those numbers. It was way too long.
"All ships, attack!"
Maria's fleet blasted forward, rushing to meet the enemy head-on. By now, about seventy percent of the enemy fleet had gotten through the gravitic warp gate. The sheer number of enemy ships had overcrowded Maria's console. All she could see, was a giant black cloud of enemy ships.
"Mother mercy."
Hyug muttered, horrified by the number their odds at actually making it out alive in the next five minutes. Even a great ship like the 'Eternal Vengence' could not face off with this many ships. Maria then decided to do something to try to even the plane a little.
"Hyug, take care of the ship. I'm going down to the 'room'."
Maria stood up and walked out of the bridge. She only recently learned of the 'room'. It was a room in which Maria could try to focus her symbological powers into the ship. She could either try to do what she did back then with the excutioners, and having the ship amplify that power, or she could try something new. She walked through the hallway, seeing the crew run about, all in a state of panic and fear, yet they all still ran off to do their jobs.
They all knew, that if they even wanted a slight chance of winning, they would have to do their best, and their best, was more than just a hundred percent. It was putting nearly a thousand percent. A boy ran through the corridor, panting and sweating. His uniform told many that he belonged to the supplies squad. In space battles, they were used in many areas, reloading, moving of equipment, helping with repairs and even serving as medics on stand-by.
Most could fight, but not many would trust them behind a gun. The boy ran on and on and stopped for a breath, hand leaning against the wall. Then, his legs buckled, not able to hold on any longer, sending the boy collapsing on the floor. Maria saw this and ran to him. She helped him up and checked his pupils. A fever, mental and physical fatigue.
"Hey, are you alright?"
She asked him. The boy mumbled something and he shook his head, forcing himself to focus.
"I'm sorry captain. I'll do my best. I have to get this to the forward cannon crew."
He tried to get up, but only managed to sit on the floor.
"You can't go on like this. Let's get you to sick-bay."
Maria said, helping him up and slinging one of his hand over her. The boy tried to refuse, but he had no more energy within him to do so.
"Look, i know that you want to do your job and help out in this battle. I really appreciate that, but if you're not well, how can you help out? I want you to rest for about two hours, minimum, you hear me? That was an order."
The boy hung his head low.
"Yes, ma'am."
A slight disappointment in his tone. Maria knew it was hard on everyone. If one felt that he or she could not help in such a critical moment, their moral would dwindle greatly.
"Look, don't feel so bad for yourself. It happens to everyone. No one escapes from reality. Just think of this of helping me. If something were to happen to the crew, it would be my responsibility. So you're doing me a favour by going to the sick-bay, okay?"
The boy did not say anything as they walked on to the medical room. Maria could spare the time to help this boy since the 'room' was located close to the sick-bay. They walked into the medic's office and Maria noticed Albel standing there, arms-crossed and leaning against the wall as he always does.
"Albel, how's Nel doing?"
"She's fine for now. What is happening out there? Aren't you suppose to be on bridge?"
"I'm need to do something. Take care of this guy, will you? Thanks."
Maria did not give Albel enough time to protest, running out of the room with the boy slumped in Albel's arms. Maria hurried on past the cafeteria and finally reached the 'room'. She took a deep breath and stepped in.
The lights switched on automatically and luminated the room. It was a small space, and even smaller with all of the equipment inside. On either sides against the walls were computers. For pulse, heart rate, mental stress of the person, and most were for the machine itself. Right in the middle of the room was a chair. A giant ring was above the chair, which stood on top of a small flight of steps.
Wires and other weird things were attached to it. Maria decided to do this. She locked the room and went to turn on the power for the computers. She configured everything to her own profile and went to sit herself in the seat. She suddenly felt like she was going to be excuted by an electric chair. She undid her shirt, and took it off, placing it by the side.
Attaching wires to her chest, her heart rate and other vital information appeared on the computer screen on her left. Attaching another one to her hand, her pulse and blood flow and pressure were measured as well. Finally she attached more wires to her forehead. With everything set, she pulled the head visor, that greatly resembled a giant helmet and a visor screen in front, and placed it on her head.
Pressing the button on the arm rest of the chair, the machine activated. Electical impulses were shot into Maria, straining her body. Her muscles tensed and her blood pressure nearly sky-rocketed. Her breathing was hard and fast. Pain wrecked throughout her entire body.
It was pain like she had never felt before. Her heart pumped harder than before, her brain felt like exploding, her own head felt like it was constricting upon her brain, she could hardly breath. Chemicals were then passed into her system, further causing pain to wreck her body.
Her entire body felt like it was burning from within. The air that she breathed now felt like it was boiling water, burning her throat, her lungs and most importantly, she felt like she could not longer breathe. Her stomach burned, her legs felt like they were being twisted apart, her arms were building up pain.
Maria screamed out in pain, for the pain was too much for her to bear. She screamed on as the pain coursed throughout her entire body. Her knuckles were bleach white. Her own fingernails were dug into her palms do deep that they bled.
She screamed till her lungs were sore and her throat burned, but the pain would ease. Then, just as she was about faint, a second chemical was pumped into her body, immediately taking effect and relieving Maria of her pain. Maria panted, trying to get the cool air back into her lungs. Her throat was sore from the screaming and her lungs burned for air.
Maria took a couple of seconds to calm down. The chemicals and electircal flow were only part of the proccedure, allowing her to focus her energy better and into the machine, in which the amplification could occur. A blast hit the ship, reminding Maria of the amount of time she had left. She immediately started, pulling out a keyboard from on the arm rest.
The room was immediately plunged into darkness once again, but just as it was plunged into darkness, the walls illuminated and showed her the entire view of the battle, all three hundred and sity degrees of it. It felt as though she was the ship 'Justice Reign' herself. Her head visor activated and showed all of the statistics that she needed to know. From enemy count, to the number of crew on each ship.
She silently surveyed the battle that raged on. Everything looked so insignificant from her point of view. Maria shook that thought out of her head. It was as though that wasn't her own thinking. She pulled up a connection to the bridge.
"Captain? Are you alright?"
Hyug asked.
"I'm fine. What is the report?"
Maria lied. She did not feel fine. She felt like hurling, but she knew that now wasn't the time.
"Well, we've lost about five ships already. The Kolik ships are having troubles as well."
"The bigger they are, the harder they fall, huh?"
"Something along those lines. Hey, wait, Captain, are you naked?"
Hyug raised an eyebrow. Maria's face turned beet red.
"None of your business!"
She immediately cut the connection. She wasn't naked, well, technically. However, she did feel sort of exposed without her shirt. Maria went back to her task at hand. Now wasn't the time to be worried about some petty thing like appearance.
To Maria, it was never about appearance, but results. For what she wished to be the last time, she focused her energy into her symbological powers. For one last struggle, for everything, for freedom, for peace, and for herself.
AN: Pain, feel the pain!