CHAPTER EIGHT: I THINK IT'S GAS
"This does not look good, Boss!" Ezra shook at the sight of the enemy mothership.
"It's a big one," Magno scowled, "Bigger than the one we blew up a while back! How far is it from our current position?"
"Looks like it's 200 km from the Nirvana- and moving towards the gas giant ahead. If we move there, we're in danger of being pulled in," BC noted.
"But if we stay on our heading, we'll run smack dab into that big whopper! No way I'm getting close to that monster!" Bart howled.
"We tell you where to go, blondie," Magno grinned.
"Easy for you to say. You don't literally feel beams hitting you in the keister all the time!" he moaned, rubbing his latest bruises.
"Meia, is everyone ready? That leviathan might just make a U-turn and spot us."
Meia' s face appeared on the bridge screen. " We're ready. We've deployed Eddie and Jura in the Red Guardian with Hibiki and Dita in the Blue Victory. I'm in the Double Dread with Barnett. Hopefully, the ship will miss us and the gas giant won't give us any trouble."
The trio of mecha were closely followed by Gascgone' s support ship and the rest of the Nirvana's Dreads, with Barnett' s spade-like Dread leading the secondary formation. The enemy ship was just a blip in the distant sky, but Meia was taking no chances whatsoever. On her signal, the mecha halted and formed a line in front of the oncoming Nirvana. The gas giant, green from the methane it was made of loomed in front of them.
Strangely, the Black Dread was able to accept Barnett despite her lack of Pegasus bondage. Ed suggested that the bonded pilots knew their ships inside out, but that anyone could learn the alien controls if they had the time . Up stepped Barnett, eager to try out the new hardware and also to be closer to Jura. She had taken a liking to Ed, not just for his skill with a pair of Berettas but for his inclusive attitude and sometimes frightening openness. She had managed to master the Black Dread's twin-throttle controls in no time, with a little help from Meia and Gascgone. The bonding with Meia' s Dread was more difficult, with practice runs often leading to the black and white Dreads locked in a mechanical tussle . This was because Pegasus bonding allowed the pilots to connect seamlessly, a fact Barnett bemoaned. Not being the type to surrender, however she finally got it right at last, bringing relief to the poor pit crews who had to drag the damaged goods in again and again. Ed had suggested that they try bonding the BD and the BV, but the appearance of the mother ship had put those plans on hold for the time being.
Jura looked across at Ed , who was in his RG seat opposite her watching a monitor. He had a serious look on his face as he pressed buttons and pulled switches. Now would probably not be the time to ask him for a baby, she thought. Jura was so jealous of Ezra and her pregnancy, she wanted one of her own. But for some reason she wanted it with a man. Barnett still didn't understand it, but played along .
"Hey, have you considered, um…"
"The answer is no. You cannot have my sperm."
"What's sperm?" Jura tried to guess.
"Sperm plus egg equals baby. You should ask Duerro, he's reading books on it right now."
"Sperm plus egg…? What do I have to do with you to get a baby of my own? Inject myself ?"
Ed reminded himself that if Jura wasn't from Mejale , he would have shipped her to the nearest loony bin in a heartbeat. But his sense of humor overruled him this time.
"In a way. But even if you might like it, it can be painful for some, " he batted an eye at her.
Jura swung her chair around the circular cockpit and was soon right next to Ed, peeking over his shoulder. She looked to eager, like a child readying to go to the carnival.
"Well, if you agree, we can start now. Inject me!" she thrust her arms around him.
"JURA!" Barnett' s image and voice appeared on the screen.
"EDDIE!" Meia' s image appeared in split screen., "If you're done flirting…."
"We're not flirting. Jura just wants my opinion on natural and artificial insemination techniques. Right?" He looked almost innocently at Jura. Her face went all sweaty and she hastily nodded before breaking off the comm.
"Ed! I'm serious!" she wailed.
"So am I." With that, he reversed her grip and was soon pinning her to the wide floor of the Red Guardian's control center.
"What are you doing?!" she gasped.
"Trying to make a point. Not with me, not unless…"
"What? Unless what?"
"Unless you somehow fall in love with me. Otherwise it just can't happen," he said, raising a lecturing finger.
"Hey, I don't want that! I just want a little child!" she squirmed under his heavy grip.
"You don't want that child to grow up with one parent, do you?"
"Barnett and I will take care of it-ow!"
That, because Ed had slapped her hard on the face. The smack was so loud it was picked up on the others' audio despite the closed connection. A small trickle of blood ran down the corner of her mouth, mixing with her tears of shock and terror. He got up and looked down at her, his cyborg eye glowing brightly.
"You can't. I will take the child and make sure he or she never knows you at all. A child needs two parents to grow up well. That's true even on your planet, isn't it?" he said ,taking account of the Mejale practice of having the egg donor and bearer live with the child. "You think Barnett can handle it? Can you handle it, Jura?"
"Of course Barnett can handle it! I-I…"
"No, I don't think I could, Jura…" her voice came over the net.
"Barnett..?"
"Ed's right. The child would be yours but also his as well. It'd be unfair to him and the baby…and unfair to me. I think this urge of yours is only natural, but the way you're going about it…I'm sorry, you're on your own if you go through with this. I'm not ready to be a donor , much less a step-mom...not even for you."
Jura looked at Ed and Barnett, who had the same look of concern on their faces.
"Parenthood isn't a game, Jura. You have to be serious about it. Whether with a man or woman, there has to be love between you and the other parent. A lot of it. The baby will grow up in a house full of joy and tolerance. I'll be frank- I don't love you. I suggest you look around. We have a saying on Lunar 21- every star has an opposite on the other side of the universe. And they are eternally pulled towards each other."
Dita added, "That's so beautiful! Don't you agree, Mr. Alien?" Hibiki simply ignored that remark.
Jura got up to her seat and wiped the blood from her face. She stared at Barnett on the screen, looking for some sign or response. She felt lost as her dream was shattered with Ed's refusal, but she felt even worse for realizing how selfish she had been. She turned round to Ed, who was back at his seat. He started chuckling.
"Maybe one of the other guys is willing," he grinned, " I never said you couldn't try them did I, Jura?". Her radiant smile returned as she turned to the screen.
"With a smile like that, you'll knock' em all dead." he laughed. "Go get' em, girl!"
Hibiki began uttering curse words left and right while on the bridge, Bart shivered. After hearing what the pilots had said, Duerro would request straps for his hospital beds and an extra security camera for his quarters, which were close to Jura' s.
"Opposite star, huh?" Meia came over on another audio channel into Ed's headphones.
"In her case, it's a tall, dark, mysterious black hole. With big tits," he whispered.
Meia 's muffled laughter rounded off that conversation.
"And plenty of milk, " Gascgone joined in.
"Sweet 'n sour," Ed could hardly hold his laughter back., shielding his mouth. Gascgone had no such problems, her booming laughter resonating in her egg-shaped recovery vehicle. She slammed the console trying to regain her composure when the proximity warning light came on, followed by the shrill cries of the radar alerts.
"Formation!" Meia barked.
The Red Guardian boosted itself to the front as the Blue Victory raced behind it, two mechanical knights ready for battle. The others lined up to meet the oncoming Harvesters, two egg carriers and their mothership, probably 3 miles across, accompanied by swarms of fighters that detached themselves from the main ship. The DD came between the two bipeds, its laser turrets primed. The enemy fired the opening salvos, orange-hot beams of death littering the sky from what was just moments earlier quiet space. The Victory and the Guardian avoided the blasts, twisting and turning and attacking with their own weapons while the others joined the fray, their blue plumes all converging on one location.
The orange blasts came again, knocking the Guardian around like a pinball in its machine. The powered up shields withstood the blasts, but the momentum was sending Ed and Jura into the path of possibly friendly fire. The DD narrowly swerved to avoid the ricocheting Red Guardian, a last second move of the wrist courtesy of Barnett saving their hides. Jura was screaming as she was thrown around in her cockpit ,the pinpoint attacks chucking her clear out of her seat. She grabbed the orb and held on as Ed stabilized the Guardian.
"Hibiki! Find out what the hell that fire is!"
"Oh no!!" Dita yelled, "It's our doubles!!"
In front of them stood three facsimiles of the Vandreads including the Blue Victory, colored oppositely in drab gray or green . The mock Vandread Jura sported teeth between its green claws , a mono eye glaring at all comers.
"I'm suing!" Ed yelled.
The Guardian swept aside the little Harvester pods swarming it and went for its rival, the DD and the Victory doing the same. To Ed's surprise, there was no double for the Black Dread or Vanguard, though there was no time to ponder why. The green JV fired rapid bursts of energy but also projectiles which took the Pegasus shields to their limits. Jura was flailing away with the sword, but the green Vandread always moved away before unleashing another volley.
Elsewhere, Meia and Barnett found it tough going against their double as well, the DD's mass making it an easy target for the mock White Vandread despite its tremendous speed. Barnett cursed as the red dissembler beam hit them, but was relieved to see that it had no effect on the Double Dread combination. The Blue Victory, by contrast was constantly assembling and disassembling fighting its double, a troublesome black-red number.
"Hit, damn you HIT!" Hibiki willed the shoulder cannons to strike properly.
"Not again! " Dita moaned as the Blue Victory split again due to the red ray.
"Join again!" Hibiki barked, sending the Vanguard back into the Blue Dread. A flash of light later, the Blue Victory was back.
Another red ray came, and Dita was about to howl again when the figure of the Guardian came between them and the disassembly beam, which dissipated after hitting the Guardian's upraised shield.
"Peek-a-boo!" Hibiki remarked as the Victory boosted above the Guardian, firing the shoulder cannons point blank at its double. The resulting explosion rocked both Vandreads and wiped out a large number of enemy craft.
"One good turn…" said Ed as the Red Guardian boosted towards its double, sword in hand. The green JV' s thrusters blazed angrily at this brazen challenge, the tips of its cannons brimming with red energy.
"…deserves another!" Hibiki cheered as the Guardian rolled left, out of the way of the blue beam which decimated the green copycat.
"We have a problem!!!!" Bart was heard over the net. "The giant- it's caught us in its gravity field and I can't get away from it!! HELP!!"
The pilots looked in horror as the Nirvana was pulled towards the gas giant.