CHAPTER 25: THE END OF AN ERA (BUT NOT THE STORY)
It was about four months since the great battle that freed humanity from Earth. The heroes that fought in that war were celebrated in the fashion of their own worlds, parades and press conferences a common occurrence. To the shock of many, Kyumei Ozeki retired from service and became a mushroom farmer. His Blue Vanguard was kept in a Talark museum, where little children were told the tale of his heroic defense of the planet. The empty shell of a Fake, stabbed in the chest with Ozeki' s naginata was proudly displayed with the label "First Kill of the Great Battle". The Border Patrol now patrolled the skies with the Empire military, pods and sleek angelic ships forming odd combinations. The defense system was scrapped, transformed into a welcoming post. Lunarian ships came and went, carrying new technologies that helped both Talark and Mejale recover from their respective environmental problems. On the desolate wastes of Talark, giant fertilizer drones labored endlessly to spread the seed of life. The resource depleted Mejale lands were enriched with nanotechnology and new machinery. People came and went between the two planets as their leaders allowed, slowly at first but then in droves. The women marveled at the Talark will to survive, never imagining the suffering their longtime foes had to endure since settling on their barren world. A lot of them left with guilt etched in their hearts. The men were left in awe of Mejale' s natural beauty, wondering why the women simply wasted all of their time competing with each other when there was a world to enjoy. They also left with guilt, asking themselves why they had endeavored to destroy such beauty. Sister Annie even caused a stir when she met Zen in the middle of a green field somewhere near the planet's capital for an old fashioned sack race.
Yet the real heroes of the war were gathered in another place. The former hideout of the pirates was now designated Alpha One, which signified beginning. The Paraiso and the Nirvana hovered near to the asteroid base, watching as a small shuttle pod docked. The people who had played such a pivotal role in leading the fight were all there. Parfait, along with the bridge ladies were all there, Celtic choosing a kimono costume for this occasion. Duerro and Paiway were there, the tall doctor with his arms crossed, a number "4" pinned to his chest for some reason. Ed and Meia were leaning on the shuttle railings, staring at the ramp. Dita, Pyoro and Gascgone were there as well, Hibiki standing alone in front of everyone. Rebecca and her pirates stood to one side, knowing who would come through that door. The door hissed open and the shuttle ramp came up to meet its passengers. Out came Magno, flanked by BC and Bart. She had her eyes solemnly shut , but walked without support down the ramp. BC and Bart followed, Bart now dressed in the uniform everyone remembered him in. He still had his hair, which BC had combed into a handsome sheen. BC herself was still in the vice-commander outfit, though she was wearing the jeweled bracelets and necklace that Bart had given her on Christmas Day long ago. They smiled and were deep in conversation with each other when Magno cleared her throat.
"Ahem! Now I can tell you the results of our negotiations with Grandpa and Grandma."
Everyone listened and stopped what they were doing.
"They've agreed to Alpha One becoming an experimental staging place for male-female relations. I take it you've adjusted to wearing your number, Doctor?"
"I'd be gladder if I knew who my "4" counterpart was…"
"Wait, men and women are going to live here together? Whooo… There's gonna be a lot of hanky-panky going on…" Gascgone twirled her comm set.
" So some of you are participating, as I can see…" Magno laughed, seeing even Varoa wearing a number. "That's good. Of all people from both planets, we're the only ones who are worthy of teaching cross-gender relations. So make sure you do well, or we might have another war… and I'm too old to save the universe again."
"The Fathers have a request…before Hibiki and Doctor Duerro are initiated into the program, they have to return to Talark temporarily. They'll come back to this station as model cases for living with women," BC announced.
"When do we leave?" Duerro looked around.
"Right now, on this very shuttle. Bart and I are coming with you as well."
"Now?" Dita despaired, looking at Hibiki, "But Mr. Alien hasn't fulfilled his promise to me yet!"
"Promise?" Ed got off his rail, eyes wide open.
"To play in Dita' s room," Parfait pointed out.
Ed blushed, " Oh…I had all sorts of thoughts…"
"What thoughts, eh?" Pyoro cheekily leaned towards Ed. Meia playfully slapped him on the back, holding back her own laughter.
"We've packed your belongings for you. This isn't goodbye, but it's surely the last time we'll all be together like this. I hope we can all meet again someday and have more adventures!" BC nodded, noticing Paiway and Parfait walk up to Duerro.
"Come back quickly…our 'patient' is temperamental, Doctor," Parfait grinned, referring to the Pegasus core. The tiny figure of Paiway peeked over and behind Parfait, squeezing her puppet through the crowd.
"We won't see you in a while, Kero!" a familiar squeaky voice announced. Duerro picked the girl up and hugged her tight.
"I won't see you either- keep on training and I'll have a colleague over here to help me." Paiway blushed, and let Duerro set her down. Suddenly, she burst up, swatting aside Duerro' s long hair on the right side of his face. The hair flew up, revealing what had been the longest standing mystery among the crew- the right side of his face. While the left side of his face had a brown eye, the other side of his face had….another brown eye.
"What was that for?"
"I was just…curious for a long time!" Paiway was now all red and Parfait sighed a big sigh of relief. Gascgone grabbed someone's hat and passed it, collecting the pool money that she had just won. Bets ranged from a tattoo to a cyborg eye to a half-woman face. Hibiki slung a green bag full of his stuff over his shoulder and prepared to follow Duerro and BC up the ramp when he saw Jura, Barnet and Robbie in front of him. The blonde was dressed in some sort of administrator's uniform , with a black tie and full suit.
"I'm in charge of selecting the men for this experiment," she declared, "I don't want any slobs, any ugly ones or any assholes… so you guys have to call us… everyday, okay?" Hibiki and Ed sidestepped Jura' s wide open arms, letting her run into Duerro. Parfait loudly protested, but the doctor was helpless and could do nothing but hug Jura back.
"Let me guess…you're number four?" Ed rolled his eyes. Jura nodded, gleefully holding onto her prize. Parfait had to be held back by four crew members as she swore bloody murder.
"Mejale democracy," Barnet sighed, looking at Robbie, whose hand she was holding. Varoa whistled, noticing that they were both wearing number 3 badges. Robbie blushed and reached for a cookie jar Barnet was holding in her other hand.
"Well, well…so I'm not the only one out of character here! " she laughed.
"It is an experiment, you know…." Barnet tried to hide her own flushing face. Her fingers twisted into Robbie's as she held on tighter.
"Judging by the e-mails you send to me, I guess it's going rather well, huh?" Robbie whispered in her ear. She put her finger to his mouth and fed him another cookie.
"Shut up, or I'll fail you," she whispered back, stuffing him with another helping.
Hibiki went past them but was soon facing Meia, who had her hand out. He took it and shook it, looking at the smiling Leader, her blue hair now unrestrained by her headband and flowing down her back.
"You look much better this way."
"I'm glad I met you, Hibiki Tokai. You changed my life and made me realize just how great life could be. I'll be seeing you when Ed and I get back from Lunar 21."
"Lunar 21?"
"Yes. We're -" she stammered slightly.
"We're moving there." Ed put his hands on Hibiki' s shoulders. They high-fived, though Hibiki woefully missed Ed's reply and slapped the floor. The laughed and embraced as Ed picked Hibiki up dusted him off.
"Aren't you wearing numbers like the others?"
"Hibiki Tokai! Meia and I aren't an 'experiment', if you hadn't noticed. We're an 'item' ." Ed gazed into Meia 's blue eyes.
"Oh, I noticed…me and the entire crew! I wish I had your confidence…" he turned to look at Dita, who was trying to mediate the fight between Parfait and Jura.
Bart walked down the ramp and put his hand on Hibiki' s shoulder. He still looked a little too priestly for Hibiki' s liking, though he clearly saw the face of his good friend, the Bart Garsuss of old. His voice had lost a lot of its old nasal tingle, but the man behind the voice was still him. And so was the cheekiness that he extolled.
"I got a bit of confidence…and look who I scored!" Bart turned to BC, who was standing right there.
"BC 1, Bart zero." Ed made a ring with his finger and thumb as BC twisted Bart's ear.
"To me, that's the score," she grinned, "Hibiki, come on! We're approaching our departure time! You know how the Fathers are. Come, Bart! I need my helmsman !"
They both disappeared into the ship, though Bart stuck his head out and gave Hibiki a thumbs up, screaming Ganbatta ne! . But Hibiki was looking the other way as Dita slowly walked towards him, ignoring the fistfight that had broken out between the chief engineer and her opponent (despite Duerro being on the ship). She hung her head down, hiding her expression behind her brown hair.
"I…I...just wanted you to say my name…once more…? Please? You never called me by my name…I promise, no more 'Mr. Alien' from now on…Hibiki." She was close to crying. The fight stopped prematurely as everyone took interest. Meia and Ed held each other, speechless and with bated breath.
"I…what? Er…oh no!…." Hibiki nervously looked around. Behind him stood Robbie and Barnet, beside him Paiway and Pyoro and in front of him this poor young lady who wanted him to simply say her name in front of everyone. " I can't just…you…arrggh! We'll be really busy now…so….um….see you later."
He turned around and reboarded the ramp, the locks releasing and beginning to retract the ramp from the ship as Hibiki trudged his way onto the craft. Ed and Meia looked at each other and back at Hibiki. He had his back to everyone, as Dita hung her head, the tears flowing freely now. Pai had half a mind to throw a dart at Hibiki as the ramp began to slide off the shuttle. Dita turned around and gave up, walking away from the shuttle ramp. There were still her friends here and on Mejale, little baby Karu and his nanny Pyoro…what did this little fellow do to mean so much to her? She wiped her tears away, wiping the betrayal she knew was coming. But something rather…unexpected happened.
"DITA!" she heard. "DITA!" she heard again. She turned around and her heart was so filled with joy she cried some more, running towards the ramp. Everyone else though, were standing with mouths wide open. Paiway was fumbling for a notebook she never carried anymore while Magno lowered her gaze and shook her head. The ramp kept on moving as Dita hopped onto the shuttle and into Hibiki' s loving arms. The sight of them embracing was the last thing everyone saw as the shuttle door slid shut and the Talark pod shot into space.
"He is learning from me, blue eyes. The kid had to make it so melodramatic, didn't he?" Ed stood at the edge of the platform, arms akimbo.
"What do the Fathers want with them, anyway? Boss?"
Magno looked at the fading speck of light that carried them to Talark.
"They're just a little curious about a few things. Nothing to concern you kids with. So, when can I visit your new lodgings?"
"We'll call you, Magno," Ed smirked. "Eventually."
"Edward my boy, I'm not your mother-in-law , so don't treat me like one!" she held her nose high. "I'm not a pirate queen anymore…but please, some dignity," she harrumphed.
Parfait and Jura were still eyeing each other suspiciously as they both went to separate sides of the station. Robbie and Barnet went here and there before finally disappearing somewhere into the crowd, along with Varoa. Magno felt a sort of emptiness, now that her vice captain and childhood playing companion were now going off to Talark. The news that Uncle Jin had finally died in the interim didn't soothe her one bit; she also knew her time would come sooner or later. Jin wasn't alone- Annie was beginning to show her age, as were most of the Fathers and Zen. Yet she saw more hope in the immediate generation, eyeing Ed and Meia as well as the next, looking at Karu. Pyoro held the baby in his little robot arms, with Rebecca and Ezra looking at their baby boy with pride. Apparently Rebecca took the news of Karu' s gender quite well and was only too happy to let the robot take care of the baby, seeing how much he cared for it. Magno chuckled slightly to herself- Pyoro was technically, as old as she was. Yet he would outlast her. This freak of Pegasus interaction was allowed to stay on the station, though that decision was prompted by his vow to blow up anyone who would separate him from Pyoro-2, whoever that was.
"So Varoa, who's your match? Is he here?" Barnet asked her.
Varoa blushed, "I don't know, but everyone says he's retired and that he's a mushroom farmer…his initials are 'K.O ' I wonder who he is? Can't wait for him to come to the station!"
Robbie and Barnet grinned; she held on to his arm as they walked around the station. This was odd for Barnet at first, but Jura had long resolved to capture the last unattached (to her knowledge) male on the ship- Doctor Duerro McPhail . Her own growing curiosity led her to apply for the program, knowing which other male had applied for it. They surprisingly hit it off, though Barnet' s gun collection made him slightly uneasy. His father approved of Barnet, admiring her for her dedication and tenacity- two traits any Lunarian could identify with. After the battle, Barnet had endeavored to contact him through e-mail and managed to get him on a chat program. The rest, they say is history. Gascgone was still working on the Nirvana, though not alone- she had the company of a certain man in overalls as well as his legions of nanotech droids and her own crew.
A few days later, everyone was gathered again to say goodbye, this time to Ed and Meia. The Black Star and White Vanguard lay there, sparkling in the starlight. The cockpits were clear and transparent, the hulls echoing the magnificence of earlier days and battle songs of old.
"One more time, blue-eyes?"
"One more time."
The two Vandreads launched in a blaze of blue flame , uniting in a silver flash outside the base. The Double Dread boosted towards a waiting Lunarian cruiser, which made a slow flyby of the station. Everyone waved goodbye as the ship went into its jumpgate and disappeared, headed for the travelling colonies of Lunar. Magno turned to the figure standing next to her.
"So, PhantomS…is this the last part of our adventure?"
Nope. I'm writing a full epilogue, detailing what Hibiki and co. get up to on Talark and why they were summoned back. Every character does indeed get a bit of spotlight, as everyone is reunited for one more event. What is it? Well, read the Grand Finale! And don't worry, it's gonna be a great ending!
"Why don't you speak with speech marks?"
Because I'm the author. Anyway, thanks to all who reviewed this story and had the patience to read it through to the end! Any comments should be put on the review board- I'm only too happy to explain anything! Till then!