The Trinity Sitch - Book 4: Heart of the Fury
Chapter 23
Sherry couldn't believe what she was seeing. Twenty-two hours ago she had handed her child to the parents of a woman she used to hate with a burning passion. It was so strange they had become the two people she could trust the most with her only child, the one being in the world who had the power to change the course of her life. The one person in the world she knew without a moment's hesitation that she would kill or die for, even beyond her husband or the few people she was learning to count as friends. There they were, not only willing but happy to take the child into their care. They may not have shared any bond of blood with the girl, but there was honest affection, even love in their eyes. It put her heart at ease to leave her with them
Yet here was the same child she had seen on the monitor, sleeping in Kim's Mother's arms as were about to leave direct communications range. They had already cleared the solar system and were getting ready to accelerate even further, planning to reach their jump-point within the carefully planned window. She stared at the child soundly sleeping on the bed. How long had she been there? How on Earth did she get here anyway?
"Computer, how long has she been here?" She said.
"I don't know. I have not been continuously been running full internal sensors. The last time I was in space, my passengers wanted privacy, especially in this room and Wade has not yet countermanded that order. If it helps, the programming she selected for the monitor has been running for approximately three hours."
Sherry growled, knowing exactly why the 'previous passengers' wanted the sensors turned off. In the process of trying to act like a 'girlfriend' with Kimmie they had gotten into some 'dishing the dirt' on their husbands, bragging, in fairly general terms, about their prowess in certain areas. Kim knew she was aware of the starship, so there wasn't any point to keeping that detail away when they were comparing their respective 'first times.' She still couldn't quite believe the Princess had managed to wait until she was twenty, especially considering how wrapped up she was in Stoppable.
Trinity's voice interrupted her reverie. "Mrs. Lipsky, I'd suggest you get her strapped in safely. We have seven minutes until Telewarp."
"No!" She rushed to the bed and scooped her daughter up in her arms. Amethyst started to stir but didn't cry once she realized she was in her mother's arms. She mounted the stairs two at a time. Four sets of eyes were on her as she reached the bridge, five if you counted Trin's visual sensors.
"Look, Load, we're turning around right now and heading back for home." She said frantically, holding her child close to her breast.
Wade just shook his head sadly. "We can't do that, if we go back now we'll lose out window and we'll have to make three jumps instead of one and that means we'll be too late according to your husband's calculations."
"Not to interrupt everybody, but the countdown is still running. Telewarp jump will commence in T-minus five minutes…mark."
Drakken pivoted in his seat to face her. His eyes looked almost sad. It would have been almost comical to see him, his skin an illusory normal skin-tone, his eyes wide, his face full of compassion. You would have never known this was the same man who once unleashed almost a million cybertronic killer robots in a bid to take over the entire world. "Shego, Doctor Load is correct, we have to go and we have to go now. I suggest you quit whining and get our daughter buckled in as best you can." He said in a soft, kind voice.
"Drak…Drew, listen to me, we…are…not…taking…her!" she raged back at him, nonplussed by his tone.
"Look, Sherry, we're already past the go/no-go stage. Put her in a seat and buckle her in. It's too late." Wade said, waving his open hand at the empty seat she had been in a few minutes earlier.
"Telewarp jump in t-minus four minutes. Initiating Hyperwarp acceleration." Trin said, a little anxiety creeping into her voice. Unless Wade (or technically Amethyst) countermanded it, she was forced to continue the countdown unless a clear danger was present. She knew the jump was physically disconcerting to humans, but it was not manifestly dangerous.
"No, you aren't listening…" She begged, looking at the two men.
Drakken cut her off, his voice still gentle, but with a slight edge of his usual impatience slipping in. "No Shego, you're not listening. If we'd found her ten minutes ago it would be different. Strap her in and sit down!"
"What about Aunt Anne and Uncle James?" Joss asked. "They've got to be plum worried sick over her."
Sherry shot Joss a look that said what the hell do you care, cow chip?
"I've already sent a quick text message to them over the burst transmitter that she's with us. At least they won't have to worry what happened to her, though I bet they've been in a panic for a while looking for her."
"Yeah, I'd bet they'd be worried, especially considering what they know Shego would do to them if something happened to her little girl."
"You little bitch. I'm talking about the safety of my daughter and all you can do is go on about what the hell I'd do? This isn't the Possible's fault…I don't know how she got here, but if she can somehow get the however many millions of miles we are from Earth to here, I don't think a couple of middle-aged parents are going to be able to keep her."
"Lipsky-san, perhaps it would be better to continue this once the jump is complete."
Sherry whirled on the young Japanese woman, but all she saw was honest compassion on her face. Nodding, she sat back down in the acceleration lounge, carefully buckling the straps over her and her daughter who was still clinging to her for dear life, though whether it was because of her ordeal reaching the ship or because of the argument going on around her, she could not tell.
"T-minus one minute to Telewarp…mark" Trin reported.
They really were past the point of no return. Wade and Drakken went to work, playing the roles they had discussed at length leading up to this point. Both of them were excited beyond words by the prospect of what they were about to do, but in the moment itself they were all business.
"Telewarp calculations have been laid into the navigation system." Drakken said, serving as the co-pilot. Trin could handle everything herself, but in the interest of science both men were participating in the process. The former (?) mad-scientist was glad to be busy. That was all that was keeping the butterflies in his gut quiet.
"Internal sensors reporting all personnel are secure for transit." Trinity relayed.
"Structural integrity at one-hundred percent." Wade said, watching a readout on his screen.
"We have achieved cruising speed of thirty plus Hyperwarp." Drakken said, indicating the ship was now traveling at a speed that in relativistic terms would be six-hundred times the speed of light.
"All systems stable. Is the drive ready for maximum output?" Wade asked. Behind him the three women exchanged glances. Sherry was actually shocked when Joss suddenly reached out and gripped her hand, fear overriding her dislike for the woman.
"Hyperwarp drive ready for stage two." Trinity responded.
"Telewarp matrix charged and ready." Drakken said.
"Telemetry is good." Trinity reported.
"Implement stage two." Wade said, gripping the leather arms of his seat.
"Chronal damping change-over in five, four, three, two, one…"
The ship surged as all of its power coursed through the engines. They were pushed back in their seats as the acceleration overcame the ability of the artificial gravity field to compensate. There was a sudden sensation of being stretched, much like the feeling one had when passing the Hyperwarp barrier for the first time on an unshielded ship, only multiplied by a factor of one-hundred.
The tiny group of passengers may have spoken, but there was no way to hear them as they crossed into a realm of theoretical space only guessed by even the most advanced scientific minds of their time. Space and time bent as the X.S.S. Trinity existed for a split moment in all of space and time. The continuum resolved itself until the ship was stretched from the point where it entered hyperspace to it's target many light years away. They felt for a moment like a rubber band stretched too far suddenly released on one end, hurling toward the other as the pent up energy stored in it unfurled.
The sense of acceleration was gone as quickly as it began. For a long moment the only sound was the distant thrum of the engines as they wound down, the ship dropping back to its normal cruising speed.
With the exception of Amethyst they were all hit by a wave of nausea as their bodies fought to compensate for what had just happened to them. Fortunately they were all aware this would happen and with the exception of Drakken they were able to keep the contents of their stomachs down.
Wade shook his head as Drakken wearily sat back in the copilot's seat. "I told you that you shouldn't have filled up on all that Bueno Nacho-to-go stuff before the jump."
"Well, I was hungry." He griped, wiping his face with a paper towel the younger scientist had the presence of mind to bring.
"Don't feel bad, Doctor D." He said. "Ron and Kim both threw up pretty good when they did this."
"Fine company to be in." He muttered, getting up to take care of the bucket Trin had insisted each of them had for the jump. "I'll be in my quarters if anyone needs me."
Sherry looked over at the teenager sitting beside her. Joss was still gripping her hand, her face white as a sheet. It suddenly struck her that the kid's behavior might be much more than simple animosity toward her. Oh, it was clear the little cowgirl hated he guts but she was supposed to be a pro, just like her older cousin. She couldn't believe that someone entrusted to pretty much be Kimmie's successor would lose control like she had over the last twenty-four hours.
"Hey, Kid." She said softly. "Possible, can I have my hand back there?"
Joss turned and looked at her, then down at her hand. She let go, absently rubbing her hands together, not quite looking at anything in particular.
"Hey, Possible? Rawhide? You okay in there?" she asked, getting more and more concerned.
Yori was out of her harness, taking Joss' hand. The younger woman continued just staring into space. "Possible-san?" she patted her hand a couple times.
Joss blinked twice, a little color coming back into her face. She finally focused on Yori's eyes. "Yeah, Yori. I'm okay, I think."
Sherry turned her attention back to Amethyst. She tore a sheet of paper towel off and licked the tip, dabbing at the tear streaks still on the little girl's face. "You sure you're okay there, sweetie?" She asked softly.
"That made my tummy feel all stretchy, Mommy!" the little girl said brightly.
She sat her back down in the seat, wiping the rest of her face. "Look, I want you to go downstairs and find Daddy, okay?"
"'Kay, Mommy." She said, hopping off the seat and heading down the stairs.
"I don't figure it." She said, watching her daughter go.
"What's that?" Wade said as he finished shutting down the Telewarp console.
"I get this close to puking my guts out," She held her fingers barely apart, "Rawhide here freaks out and Ammie's no worse for wear than if we'd ridden the merry-go-round at the Middleton Fairgrounds."
"Must have something to do with her smaller body mass, or how her inner ear works. I don't know. I'm just like you, I knew it was coming and I just about hurled too." He turned his attention to Joss, who was still quite pale though she was quietly chatting with Yori. "Trin, can you give me a quick medical scan of Joss?"
"On it." She said, adjusting the internal sensors. "Raise heart rate, elevated blood pressure, nothing reading in the danger zone. Wade, I think she may just have a mild case of Spatial Displacement Phobia."
"What's that, Computer?" Sherry asked.
"It was discovered that some people could sense when they were away from their home worlds. Some people aren't even able to leave their planets without taking certain drugs. Generally those people show symptoms much worse than Miss Possible, but it's likely this is what's wrong with her."
"So far away." Joss said, looking out the sloping windows at the front of the bridge. She got up, staring literally out into space. "Where are the planets?"
"Uh, we're actually not close enough to any of them to see. When you telewarp you have to aim for a relatively empty section of space or you run the risk of dropping out inside a planet or an asteroid or something like that."
Sherry walked up beside the younger woman, first looking outside like she was. It really was scary if you really thought about it, the fact there was literally nothing out there for millions of miles. No stars, no planets, not even bits of rock. They were truly in the void. But to her that was a an abstract concept. Here inside the safety of the yacht, it was just like home. The artificial gravity field was set to exactly mimic Earth's. The air was pleasantly cool, with just the right humidity. They were in a carefully constructed protective bubble that she had complete confidence in.
"Hey, Possible." She put a hand on the teen's shoulder. "Joss?" She said with as soft a voice as she could.
She turned toward the older woman, her eyes narrowing slightly. "What?"
"You're scaring me there, Kid."
"Yeah, scared." She turned back toward the distant stars. "What do you care?"
"Possible, has it occurred to you that maybe you're the only one running around acting pissed. Have you noticed I've been putting up with your behavior for the most part?"
"You're just being a smart-ass." She said, looking away.
"Oh? You think I'm just doing that for you? Kid, I'm a smart-ass to everyone. I'm that way to my husband, I'm that way to your cousin and her husband, hell I was even that way with Ammie's real father."
"You mean Drakken's not…"
"No, he's not. Some time when we get back, look up Neil Argus in GJ's files, if they give you access. He died before Ammie was born, so she has no idea about him. I'm going to wait until she's a lot older before I drop that on her. Right now it works just fine for her to think of Drakken as her Daddy. He's literally been there since the day she was born.
"Listen kid, I may have given up trying to be a villain, but I'm still hard-ass. Don't take it so personally." She put her hand on the younger woman's shoulder again. "Why don't we go downstairs and check on that little girl. She thinks you're pretty neat. Plus, I'll take a look in my luggage and 'buy you a drink.'"
Joss raised an eyebrow. "I'm not quite nineteen, ya know."
Sherry smiled at her. "Somehow I don't think that's mattered too much to you in the past. Come on, Kid, it ain't like I've got enough with me to get really plastered."
Yori watched the two women leave. She smiled slightly, hoping the two could patch up their differences enough to make the mission go smoothly. It was highly unlikely they would ever be friends, or at least close friends, but at least it was possible they could come to some kind of understanding.
Then again, she could really go for a cup of Sake herself.
She sat down in the seat Drakken recently vacated, pulling her legs up under her as she sat facing Wade.
"Wade-san?"
She watched with interest as his pudgy fingers nimbly worked the complex controls of the pilot's station. "Just a moment Yori, I'm almost done. Okay, what's up."
"Nothing, Wade-san. I just thought it would be a nice time just to talk."
"Sure thing, Yori. Just, please call me Wade."
"I'm sorry. I have always been taught to show proper respect."
"That's cool, Yori, but with Americans, especially your friends, you don't have to use the Japanese equivalent of 'mister' every time you say our names."
"I will try to honor that…Wade. Please forgive me if I forget."
"It's cool, Yori."
She turned to the communications console. "Have you tried to contact Stoppable-san?"
"I thought of that, but I don't think Ron had a Kimmunicator with him. Kim should have one of hers on, but even if she did they're designed to work with a satellite network. This far out I don't think I could even set the ringer off."
"Oh. I just thought it would be nice to give them some fore-warning, let them know we're coming."
"Yeah, it'd be a good idea, but like I said, it won't work until we're pretty much in the Arkonian system."
They sat there for a while, alternately looking at each other and the star-like points of light flying by. Finally Wade's natural curiosity flared up again. "If you don't mind me asking, what's your surname?"
She blushed slightly and looked away. "I am afraid I do not know."
"Don't know? Don't know your own name?"
"Wade, I was raised almost from birth at Yamanuchi. Sensei knows my true name but has not yet seen the need to tell me what it is. I am not entirely certain my given name is actually Yori."
"But don't you need a name when you're traveling legitimately?"
She looked him in the eye and raised an eyebrow. "Then I use an alias. How did you track me when I took Stoppable-san to the Amazon?"
Wade rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. "Uh, I was kind of tracking him at the time."
"His tracking chip?"
"Yeah. It was kinda easier than hacking into all the flight records and everything. I think he had already figured it out at the time, but I hadn't told him or Kim they were chipped then."
"I understand." She sat there silently for a time, just looking at him. He certainly didn't look seventeen. As tall and broad as he was he looked much more like he was close to her age, even older. Yet, when she spoke to him she thought she was speaking to someone who was at once both much older and much younger. She knew he had lived most of his life not even able to leave his own room and was awkward and shy even around his own friends, yet he was also capable of so much caring. Just as she had done with Ron so many years ago, she saw past his rounded exterior, right into his soul. Part of it was her training, but part of it was something in her that had only been awakened once before.
"Yori, about my parents."
"Wade, it can wait until we get back. I understand this mission is most important."
"Well, you see, I love my parents and they love me but there was a little problem."
"I don't understand." She looked momentarily distraught.
"It's nothing bad, at least not real bad. You see, because I had to patent a lot of my work I eventually had to employ a lot of lawyers. Well, they finally got this notion that if everything I did went through my parents I'd lose a lot of opportunities, especially if some thought my work was being influenced by them.
"What I'm saying is I technically don't have to ask my parents anything. I'm a legally emancipated minor, so as far as the law is concerned I'm really an adult. I can't vote or drink yet but everything else is pretty much up to me."
"So you are telling me you don't have to get permission from them to date me?" She looked at him, cocking her head at an angle."
"I can if you think it's still important. That was all to do with my money and my inventions, it wasn't anything bad between me and my Mom and Dad."
She got up out of her seat and crossed over to Wades. Slowly she leaned over and kissed him gently on the cheek. His cheeks colored slightly and he almost giggled, a little surprised. "Have you ever been kissed?" She asked, sitting on the arm of his chair.
"Uhhhhh." His hand went to his cheek. "A girl at the Space Center did that once when we were first doing some real work with this ship, but she's married and all, but no, not really."
"I see." She leaned back over and kissed him full on the lips. For a moment he didn't respond, clearly not knowing the first thing he was doing. Yori could feel her heart pounding in her chest. She didn't know what she was doing either, only knowing how to kiss in the most general terms. Still it felt good, very good. She liked the way he smelled and the way he tasted. She opened her mouth just slightly, brushing his lips with her tongue before leaning back again.
Wade's eyes were closed, his mouth slightly open. He was utterly and completely stunned by the kiss. "Oh, wow." He finally said, opening his eyes and looking at the smiling young woman.
Yori found herself trembling, her mind warring with her body. The kiss, clumsy and awkward as it was felt so good, so right yet it went against so much of her upbringing. Yes, Wade said he was his own man, but in the same breath he had said that it was for reasons other than the honor within his family. Was she right or wrong to pursue this without first getting their blessing?
Wade took that out of her hands for a brief moment. He stood up, towering over her and put a hand on the back of her neck, leaning in and kissing her again, this time participating much more. Yori gave in willingly, enjoying it fully. It wasn't only Wade's first real kiss, it was hers. Oh, there had been the play-kisses with the other young boys in the school when she was a child, but this was the kiss of an adult, with the pleasure and emotion that went with it.
When it was over Wade suddenly looked slightly panicked. He sat down quickly, making like he was going back to work on the console. Yori put her fingertips to her lips, feeling a lot of the same thing he was. What did Kim Stoppable-san call this feeling? Awk-weird, that was it! She went back to the other seat and stared out into space for some time.
Neither of them noticed Trin on the monitor behind them, glaring daggers at the young ninja.
"Okay, again." Ron said, sitting with his back against the wall in the sparring room.
Kim was in the center, a sword that was actually taller than her gripped in both small hands. She was wearing only the green outer layer of her armor, a sight that Ron found extraordinarily pleasing. Even so, with her legs completely bare and her midriff showing she was swearing profusely from the workout.
They were experimenting with their mental link. Ron had already gone through his workout, using moves that Kim sent to him. He had been training with her for years, but it was only through the more intimate contact he was able to finally equate her actually technique.
Somehow he didn't think she would ever use a sword in actual combat, but she was proving very proficient with it anyway. She executed the move again, the sword swinging over her head like a propeller, the blade coming to a sudden stop held directly in front of her.
"God, Ron, this thing is heavy." She said, letting the tip drop to the floor as she wiped her forehead.
"Imagine how much it would weight if the blade wasn't partially hollow." He said, taking the sword from her. He held it out and with just a tiny bit of concentration it started crackling with yellow fire. "So, have you given any more thought to the plan? We're supposed to be there tomorrow."
She picked up a towel and patted down her bare skin. She glanced around the chamber. It was part of the Herald's quarters, a private practice room with a variety of blunted or real weapons. They had quickly accepted when its use was offered by the ambassador. That ensured their privacy as they prepared to 'invade' the planet once again. What she intended to do now she only wanted to do in the utmost privacy. She looked at Ron, thinking for a moment about the love they shared, both spiritually and physically.
Multi-colored light flared around her as she concentrated. The change came quicker now, the metal not so much flowing over her but appearing. As the light faded she stood there once more, ever bit of bare skin now covered by the silver coating. Ron grinned, thinking the effect of her changing, wearing only the very revealing outer layer of her Torellian garment was very, very hot.
Concentrating a little more, some of the metallic material started to flow, growing, changing. In moments it had formed a slightly boxy shape on her back, tapering to the top, with an open nozzle at the bottom.
Metal wings snapped out the bottom, spreading out wide. Ron could only gawk as he realized she had used her power to create a perfect replica of one of their newer jet-packs.
"I don't know if I did this when I flew before, but if I'm right, I was flying pretty fast when I came after you. I'm thinking, if I can manage to do it again, once we drop into the atmosphere we can make a jump for it. Unless we think of something else, I'll carry you like if I was wearing a real Glider-pack.
There was a slight 'pop' sound and the wings rapidly drew in on themselves. Moments later Kim's entire body changed back to normal, her skin still glistening with sweat.
"You know, maybe old Bonnie was on to something years ago." Ron said from his seat on the floor.
"If you say you like it when I 'glisten' you're gonna sleep alone on the bottom bunk, mister."
He sat there, looking at the ceiling, pursing his lips.
"You were actually going to say that, weren't you?" She said, her hands going to her hips.
"Can I plead the fifth."
"Come on, Bad Boy." She gripped his wrist and pulled him to his feet. "I'm tired of 'glistening.' I want a nice shower and a nice clean nightshirt, or whatever you call that thing. We've got a long day tomorrow. We should get there right about the same time Wade said he'd be there."
"Still think he meant the Spiron?"
"Has to be. It's the only place we've been to on Arkonia, so it stands to reason that's where he'd go. Works for me since it's so far from the more densely settled parts of the planet."
"Sounds like a plan." He said, falling into step a pace behind her as they headed for their quarters.
"You're looking at my butt back there, aren't you?" She said, grinning.
"Pleadin' the fifth again." He said, keeping his eyes on the shapely cheeks peeking out from around the narrow 'skirt' portion of her outfit.
Kim shook her head as she shoved him into the room.
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