Chapter 18
The Journey Home
Dipper was sitting outside one-night writing in his journal leaning against Ixcia. "Mason what are you doing out here?" Pacifica asked breaking the sound of chirping crickets,
"I've been writing about everything that's happened since we got back, and I just wanted some fresh night air."
"It was a night like this one we were abducted."
"It better not happen again tonight, we're renewing our vows tomorrow." Mabel said as she and Gideon came outside.
Gideon looked up at moon. "It's hard to believe it's here, sometimes I wake up in the morning and still can't believe I'm back on earth, like it was a dream."
"What feels unreal is that I'm going to be a mom." Pacifica said, "Think about it, our kids will be asking us about our journey home someday."
"It was only a few months ago, fifteen years of being lost came to end." Dipper looked up at the stars thinking back to when they finally got what they needed to come home.
Six months ago,
The Ixcia crew had been working hard for the past seven months since they learned where in forbidden space Earth was. The cargo bay was loaded with dozens of crates of parts and supplies for a long trip. Dipper and Mabel were talking to Wolvri of the Coalition of Free Worlds over the comms. "It took a while, but our intelligence network has something you guys have been wanting for a long time, a lead on a quantum infuser."
"Really where?!" Dipper asked,
"We got reports on a Zoxnar ship that was towed to a salvage depot fifteen years ago, the only reason the Imps never removed the infuser was because the engine room was flooded with radiation from a pirate attack and the levels only dropped to the safe zone recently."
"A Zoxnar ship that pirates attacked fifteen years ago? If it's the one that brought us, then that would be one hell of a coincidence." Mabel said,
"I don't care if it's in a garbage truck, we got to get to it! This could be our only shot at going home, you know how crazy the Imps are about controlling the infusers. Wolvri, we need whatever you have on the location, the layout, usual traffic, and most of all defenses of the place."
"I'm sending over what we know, I think your best chance is in two days when the Imp fleet will attack the Arvos system." Wolvris took a deep breath. "Where we plan to make our last stand, we're bringing the whole fleet including Kelmogi resistance, Owellian Space Navy, Cotax rebels, even former members of the Onyx Brotherhood are bringing in Kill Cruisers. The Imperium will need to pull in every ship they have in the area to take this last system so there should be no backup coming when you hit the place."
Mabel looked glum. "Wolvri we wish we could help but…"
"We all know we're not going to win but we are going to make them fight for every millimeter of Isoban. Don't blame yourselves, we should have joined forces as soon as we knew what we were up against. Just make sure the Imperium doesn't conquer you or anyone else in your space."
"Right." The twins said at once,
A short time later the Pines family sat in the common area going over their heist plain. Ixcia projected the layout of salvage depot. "This is Imperium Salvage Depot 47524, normally it is guarded by at least two Imp cruisers but in 48 hours it will only have their security drones." Mabel explained,
Dipper began pointing out sections of the depot. "The whole thing is surrounded by a network of sensor satellites with theta particle emitters so the only way in is this area so to get in we have to use the front door." he pointed to a gap in the field next to a small station that looked like two umbrellas linked together.
"I take it that isn't going to be easy." Pacifica said,
Mabel nodded, "We got some ideas, since they will ask why we're there and scan our transponder Gideon you'll have to change the code again and Ixcia will be faking the image to make me look like a celestanite."
"You got it my peach dumpling." Gideon said with a smile,
Dipper spoke next pulling up an image of a drone that looked like a three sectioned hourglass with an eye on each section, "These drones patrol both inside and outside of the ships to make sure no one removes anything without permission. While Mabel talks with the crew, Pacifica we'll need you to put on a life patch and jump over this exhaust port to sneak in." Dipper pointed to a section of the station and began drawing a path. "Your skills should let you get into the room that controls the drones; we'll write up a virus on a drive that will keep them away from the gloxnar ship. We'll pick you up at this airlock on the way out."
Pacifica sighed, "Time to put the skills the felggur taught me to the test. What's next?"
"Mabel will fly Ixcia over to the ship where Gideon and I will board it. The two of us will make our way to the engine room remove the infuser, come back, pick up Paz, and install it in Ixcia, then we set course for the Milky Way."
Ixcia projected an image of the quantum infuser. "Installation will take approximately fifteen minutes and the jump drive will be offline until the installation is complete. I recommend we go to a system we can hide in during the installation."
"So, this is it?" Gideon asked, "What if the thing is broken?"
"While I'm in I could check their manifest to see if it is." Pacifica said,
Dipper looked out the window, "It's a chance we have to take. Ixcia display my first log entry, there something I want you all to remember while we're doing this."
A video of thirteen-year-old Dipper appeared, "What should I say? Captains log…no everyone would do that. Dipper's log, my sister Mabel and I find ourselves lost in space on this incredible ship named Ixcia. However, our friends Pacifica and Gideon were taken to other parts of this galaxy. One thing Mabel and I agree on is that we will not go home until we get them back. We all go home or none of us do." The man the boy became then said, "It's as true now as it was then. We are all going to go home alive."
Two days later the Pines family were watching a live feed from the Arvos system. Wolvri stood on the bridge of his ship in front the banner of the Coalition of Free Worlds. "Today we face our darkest hour, one system stands alone against a vast empire. Some of you wonder if this is a fight worth having, will it make a difference? For this one system and its people no, it will not change their fate. But it will change the fate of a whole galaxy or more! Right now, friends of the coalition are undertaking a mission that will allow them to warn others of the Imperium and build anew what we have forged. You know who they are and how they have given us hope, now it is our turn to give it to them so they may pass it on. Today let history remember that from all over Isoban many who were rivals and even enemies fought side by side to give them this one chance. Let history remember that we fought with everything we had. Let us show our friends from a distant galaxy our courage and conviction so that all the children of their world will be inspired by the Coalition of Free Worlds!"
"The battle started, let's go." Mabel said as they pulled up to the depot entrance,
"Then we better get into our positions." Dipper said, "But first maybe a kiss for good luck?"
"I think we all need it." Pacifica said and she and Mabel kissed their husbands,
Dipper, Gideon, and Pacifica left the bridge. Mabel opened the comm to the voldari commander of the station who saw her as a red headed celestanite. "Salvage depot 47524, this is captain May-May of the cargo ship Long Shot. We here to deposit a shipment of spent antimatter injectors."
"Drop them off at the designated coordinates." The commander said,
Pacifica was in the starboard airlock putting her life patch and gravity braces on when Ixcia spoke to her, "Pacifica my scans show a total of ten lifeforms inside."
"I fought more. Are we lined up?"
"Yes, depressurizing air lock in 3…2…1." Pacifica was shot out and flew right to the station and landed feet first and pried off a grate and crawled inside. She heard directions from Ixcia and found her way to a hallway.
"I'm just outside the drone control room" Pacifica whispered,
As she opened the door, she was met with one male centurion. "Who are you?" he demanded,
Pacifica leaned back on the wall, "Just a girl who wants to give you a good time."
The centurion leaned in close, "Even if I swung that way, I'm not that stupid."
"Fine by me. I just needed you to get close so I could knock you out." Pacifica slammed his face into her knee and closed the door. "One down, nine to go." Pacifica plugged in the drive and pulled up the manifest. "Guys, good news. According to the data the driver is intact; this is our ticket home."
"We're at the target and we're heading in." Dipper said over the comm,
"Go get it for us baby."
Dipper and Gideon wearing their own life patches and braces entered the silver sphere and walked down dark grey corridors. "This place is bringing back some bad memories brother, I was almost probed." Gideon said,
They turned into a room just like the one the four of the were kept at all those years ago. Dipper had the scantrix out and used the glow of the crystal in his gauntlet has a flashlight. "I'm reading human DNA." Dipper pointed the scantrix to a spot. "Old skin cells, that matches Mabel's DNA. This is the ship that brought us here. Come on Gideon, let get that infuser and go home."
They opened a door and went down another hall until the came to the damaged door of the engine room. "Should I blow it open?" Gideon asked,
"Better not, this place is falling apart, and we can't risk the attention. We are just going have to pry it open." The door was no match for the combination of Gideon's muscle and Dippers gauntlet. "Come you piece of junk! You got us here now you're going to get us out!"
They saw the small green cylinder in the room. "There is, just give me a few minutes to disconnect it." Gideon got right to work pulling out tools from the toolbox he brought over.
On Ixcia Mabel noticed several blips moving toward them on holo-screen, "Guys, the drones are coming, what's going on?"
"What?" Pacifica looked at the screen. "Damn it! They ran a virus scan! The one thing we didn't get in the intel was when they'd do this!"
"We're almost done here!" Dipper said, "Paz get to that airlock now!"
"There done!" Gideon placed the infuser in the toolbox,
"Time to go." Dipper grabbed the toolbox and began to run.
On the way back the Pines men ran into a swarm of drones, Dipper and Gideon shot back until Gideon threw a grenade. "This isn't the time to be delicate." Gideon said after the explosion, "Now fly!" the ceiling began to collapse as they rocketed back to the ship.
Back at the station Pacifica was fighting her way to the airlock. "Stop her! Stop her!" the station commander yelled,
Pacifica punched two more centurions. "That's six and I'm almost out. Guys can I have an ETA?"
"The boys have just got back." Mabel said as she shot at drones from tactical. "Ixcia's heading to the rendezvous point in less than three minutes!"
Pacifica slashed the guns of two more before hitting them with a spilt kick. When she got to the airlock Pacifica was grabbed by a female centurion, her reflexes kicked in but at the last moment Pacifica twisted her dagger so that she would hit her with the hilt knocking her out. "I am in control of me. That's nine." Pacifica entered the airlock and damaged the door controls.
The commander banged on the door as Ixcia stopped outside surrounded by drones. "You can't escape!"
"Tell your regent the Pines family thanks the Imperium for helping us get home." Pacifica double checked her life patch and hit the control opening the airlock blowing her out. Pacifica slashed drones as she flew, she saw her family waiting in the port airlock shooting drones while Ixcia fired her cannons. Mabel fired her grappling hook and Pacifica took hold of it.
Mabel reeled her while Dipper took hold of his wife, "Ixcia jump to the prearranged location!" Ixcia jumped leaving drones accidently firing on each other.
Meanwhile on The Hand of Suprema, Stellara, Buckgis, Captain Kondar, and Duradis was watching Eyes on the Imperium. "With 75% of their fleet destroyed Coalition forces retreated from the Arvos system bringing the whole of the Isoban galaxy under Imperium protection. Regent Duradis has stated that remainder of the Coalition fleet will be hunted down and destroyed." The Soothsayer reported,
The broadcast was interrupt by the commander of the salvage depot coming in on the comm. "Regent Duradis! You ordered us to report if someone tried to take the infuser you ordered us to store, and it was stolen. We have now identified the thieves as the human heretics. One of them had a message for you. 'The Pines family thanks the Imperium for helping them return home'."
"As I expected they took it. Thank you, that will be all commander." Duradis said,
"You still haven't told me. Why we want them to leave this galaxy?" Stellara asked annoyed,
"I did this for you your highness, so you may completely ascend to the throne. You have already passed the trial of faith with your knowledge of the sacred writings, and the trial of wisdom with the trade deal you made with the Fanmarx last week, all that is left is the trial of bravery in which you must defeat an enemy in battle. Wouldn't it be so poetic if you complete your final trial by conquering the home world of the people who killed your mother? To end the lives of her murders with your own hands?"
"And how do we find their home world?"
"Our research and development team have made a tracking device that we can follow even after it was taken into another galaxy. It is constructed out of voidarium and was placed in the quantum infuser they just stole."
"We have our own infuser installed on the Hand of Suprema." Kondar said,
"And a whole company of centurions on board, more than enough to take a primitive world." Buckgis added,
Duradis continued, "And I hired an expert in the Pines tactics to join us."
Duradis waved Vax in from the hallway. "I faced them more times than anyone else. I'll bring them to you then my rep is restored, and I can finally retire."
"Once the tracker has not moved in ninety days, we'll have them. So, what do you say?" Duradis asked,
Stellara was silent for a moment. "Take me to my enemies."
Duradis smiled as he thought, "In just a few months either she will kill them, or they will kill her. Either way I will have footage for my ascension to the throne, then I'll kill the survivors and any witnesses. The humans will probably tell their people about what I did but I already took steps for when the time comes, I can wipe out everyone on the planet."
Ixcia arrived in orbit of a large white gas giant near some wreckage. The whole crew looked out from the bridge. "You jumped us to another scrapyard?" Pacifica asked,
Dipper sighed and explained, "This is the Lonmar system in the Goldon Nebula. This is the first time the two of you would be seeing from the outside but that is what remains of the slave market we all were sold at. Me and Mabel figured this is the last place anyone would look for us and it seemed appropriate that this is where we'd leave this galaxy."
"This has been a day of bad memories." Gideon said,
"Well it's almost over now." Mabel said, "Now get that infuser and your cute butt in the engine room so we can go home."
"Yes, my queen!" Gideon ran out to the engine room.
Ixcia then spoke, "When installation is complete, we'll enter the Milky Way at the closest point to Isoban. A quantum jump is only good for traveling between galaxies, so we'll need to travel the rest of the way with normal hyper jumps. The rest of the trip will take almost three months."
"We have more than enough food, water, fuel, replacement parts, and other supplies for that trip, so boredom might be the only thing that may turn this into another Cotax Run." Mabel said,
Dipper shook his head, "No, we're going to get to work surveying each system along the way for resources, potential allies, even future colony sites for humanity. We need to do everything we can to get our people ready to fight the Imperium."
"Guys, I'm almost done putting the infuser in. Strap yourselves in and I'll join you." Gideon said on the comm,
After Gideon came back, he took engineering, Pacifica sat at tactical, Mabel was setting in the course at navigation, and Dipper manned the helm. "It's working!" Mabel said looking at the readings,
"This is it!" Pacifica said,
"At long last." Gideon added,
Ixica counted down, "Quantum jump in 5…4…3…2…"
Dipper looked determined, "Here we go."
They all saw a rainbow of streaks as they traveled for about thirty minutes. When they stopped, they were in a star system with two small planets. "We have arrived in the Milky Way galaxy." Ixcia said,
The whole family breathed a sigh of relief. "Now no one is hunting us." Gideon said,
"Ixcia open a new personal star chart for me, give access to the whole family. Use data from the map of forbidden space focused on this galaxy." Dipper ordered,
"Confirmed." Ixcia said displaying the chart,
Mabel was curious. "You haven't looked at a personal star chart since we got Pacifica back."
Dipper pulled Pacifica close. "I didn't need another one until now. Mabel you've done a great job on keep us motivated but I had an idea that I'm sure you'll like. Ixcia display the fastest course to earth and time to arrival in days." A line appeared on the chart and the words "days to earth" along with the number 76 was placed above it.
"That's great bro! Ixcia display it in every room when we're not talking to you or using a holo-screen until we get to earth."
"Confirmed." Ixcia said,
"Well we better get started with this survey, after that…guys let's say this order together. We waited fifteen years for this." Dipper said,
The whole family then said, "Set course for earth!"
Six months later,
"We all thought our troubles were over after that." Dipper said,
Mabel stared out into the woods. "They were until we found that planet with the killer weed."
Gideon hugged his wife, "It was bad, but we'll still need to go back someday, and as I recall we were all eager to go there."
Four months ago,
Their countdown to home was now at 31 days and it was Mabel vs Pacifica in today's training session. Mabel tried to trip Pacifica, but she jumped back and charged. They grappled each other until Ixcia made an announcement, "We are arriving in the next system."
"Let's call this a draw." Pacifica said,
"Fine by me." Mabel smiled,
The pair went to the bridge and found Dipper pointed out of the dome. "Girls, you are going to love this." Outside was an earth like planet.
"Great! A chance to stretch our legs." Pacifica hugged her husband. "We haven't been outside for two months; this is the best planet we've found so far."
"Grunkle Stan would like that last planet we surveyed; it was 75% gold." Mabel said,
"And the scans show something great here! Large deposits of Vyron crystals!" Dipper said,
"That the first time we've found any in this galaxy," Gideon said. "We brought enough to build jump drives for about one or two dozen ships and those need to be replaced every five years."
"It would take ships from home over a million years to get here. This world is going to be a vital human colony, it has no intelligent life like all of the planets we've found so far in the Milky Way, we won't need to build airtight habitats, people will just need to build a house and move in! From here we could build a real fleet to explore and defend."
"Scans have not picked up any dangerous life forms." Ixcia reported,
"So, what are we waiting for? Let's get down there!" Mabel said,
They landed in in a large open field of green grass and yellow flowers with blue spots near a forest. Mable was the first out holding a pipe with a homemade American flag tied to it. "Ixcia record this. That's one small step for a woman, one giant leap for mankind. I hereby claim this planet for all humanity."
"She's been holding onto that flag for fifteen years." Dipper said, "Happy now?"
"I can't help that someone got on every planet we went to before first."
"So, what do we call it? We found this planet, so we get to name it right? It's like a garden here." Pacifica asked,
"That's a good question." Gideon said, "It seems a little egotistical to name a whole planet after ourselves."
Dipper rubbed his chin. "All the planets back home were named after Greek gods and I'm can't seem to think of something that's not too cliché. New Earth, Terra Nova, Aristotle, I can't make up my mind."
"I have a suggestion." Ixcia said, "Rivaria. As you know you know I was named for a goddess and the pantheon she was part of lived in a garden paradise called Rivaria."
"That's a pretty name. What do you think guys?" Mabel asked,
"Sounds good to me." Dipper said,
"I like it." Gideon agreed,
"It's beautiful." Pacifica made a frame with her fingers, "But how about we suggest we call the first town to be built here Pine's Park? This time my family really would be the founders of one. I can see the town hall going there."
Mable pointed to a nearby hill. "And that would be a good place for Gleeful Elementary."
Everyone laughed, "Okay let's get to work." Gideon said pulling out a tablet. "Let's take notes on what we see to give scientists back home a head start.
Dipper brought down the jet bike, "The closest Vryon deposit is in a cave in some salt flats about an hour's flight from here. Call if you find anything cool or important."
"Right." The rest said as they split up none of them saw the flowers turned in each of their directions. As Dipper flew, he kept seeing the same flowers on the ground until shortly before the salt flats.
An hour later Mabel was at a group of bushes with pink berries growing out of them. "I wish we had another scantrix so I could tell if these were poisonous or not." She then saw a beetle with a zebra pattern crawling on the bush. "Right naming you Zebra Beetle." At that moment Mable felt a prick on her back followed by blurred vision and weakness. "What…?" she then felt something wrap around her and drag her away.
Gideon looked into a clear stream, "Pine's Park should have plenty of clean water but where are the fish? I should have seen an animal drink from here too." Gideon felt a prick on his arm and saw several needles sticking out before his legs gave out as a vine wrapped around him.
"Ixcia something's odd." Pacifica said at the edge of a forest, the trees were wrapped vines with the same flowers they saw everywhere. "I haven't heard anything making any noise; no birds or animals." Pacifica then saw what looked like a large bat with horns fly overhead but then it was hit by needles and fell to the ground where a vine grabbed it and dragged the animal deeper in the woods. The flowers opened to show holes where the needles quickly grew and began shooting them at her. "Guys watch out! The flowers are not harmless!" Pacifica said as she dodged and began slashing them. "Do you read?" Pacifica then saw Gideon and Mabel were being dragged into the forest. The shock of her family's state dropped her guard long enough for her to be hit in the neck. As the toxin flowed into her system she cried, "Mason, help us."
Dipper had gone deep into the cave and found a chamber full of crystals. He scanned them, "This is better than I hoped! These are high grade, in Isoban this would have made us rich! Better get a sample." Dipper used his gauntlet to break a piece off and looked around again noting the beauty of the place. "Paz you should come down here it's beautiful." There was only static. "Must be too far down." He made his way to the surface.
"Dipper come in! It's an emergency!" Ixcia said scraping the ground in front of him collecting salt,
"What's wrong?"
"I was wrong! The flowers are part of one massive organism. Scans show this plant was inside a meteor that crashed in the nearby forest a year ago. The flowers grow thorns with an incapacitating toxin in seconds. I didn't pick them up before because they weren't growing them at the time! The organism is carnivorous and has nearly eaten all the local wildlife in the area. Dipper it has the others."
"No! Not after we made it this far! I won't lose my family to alien ragweed!"
"I have found a weakness, the lifeform hasn't spread to this area because it is easily dehydrated by salt, thus why I am collecting it. All the vines grow from a central point."
"What about the toxin? Do you have an antidote?"
"Yes, in sickbay."
Dipper brought the bike aboard, "Let's go!" The pair flew over to a clearing in time to see the bat get swallowed into a large purple pod with teeth like thorns. Bones were all around and the rest of the Pines family were being pulled closer. Ixcia began dumping the salt on the plant. It turned brown and the nearby flowers withered making a shrieking sound. Dipper flew down and injected his family. "Guys we got to kill this thing! We can't lose this planet!"
The got up and drew their weapons. "Take this you rotten rutabaga!" Mabel screamed as they shot and slashed at the central pod. When it was destroyed all the vines turned black and died.
"We got sloppy." Gideon growled, "Just because we left Isoban we let our guard down."
"At least it won't be a threat to any colonists we bring back here someday." Dipper said, "Still you guys need to see all the crystals I found."
Mabel sighed, "Okay but then we should get back on the road."
"Yeah, I think I feel like salad for dinner." Pacifica joked,
Four months later,
"That taught me once and for all to eat my vegetables." Mabel said,
"The rest of the trip was quiet after that." Pacifica mused, "We didn't find one intelligent race on the way back.
Gideon looked up at the stars. "Hard to believe we've been back only three months, so much is changing for us."
"The end of our odyssey, it's what everyone asked about most that wasn't about aliens or tech." Dipper said smiling at the memory. "The goal we worked most of our lives to get."
Mabel looked at her and Pacifica's stomachs. "Hey babies. Let us tell you a bedtime story."
Three months ago,
The crew of the Ixcia held off going back to earth for two weeks to make absolutely sure they weren't bringing anything that could wreck the earth's ecosystems. The encounter with the killer plant on Rivaria last month drove this lesson home for them, but now the countdown was at only one day until they would be back home. They were celebrating with a party in the common area including a game of Dungeons, Dungeons, & more Dungeons as they orbited one of the stars of Alpha Centauri. "Probabilitor is weakened." Ixcia said, "Diphar the Ranger and Gidemus the Barbarian's assault was successful, now it is Jackie the Elf Bandit's turn."
"I use my Shadow Support spell to give advantage to Mabella the bard's next attack." Pacifica said as Ixcia projected a random number generator showing 24.
"Yes!" Mabel cheered, "I cast Death Muffins!" One number was only 3 but another showed 38. The hologram of Probabilitor exploded, "We won!"
"That was fun." Dipper said taking a sip of apa tea. "This drink may be one of the few things I'll miss from Isoban."
"So, what now?" Gideon asked, "We secured all cargo including Soostron, turned off the nanites…,"
Mabel interrupted, "One year before the deadline."
"…triple cheeked all systems, what should we do next?"
"I still think we should be cloaked when we enter the atmosphere." Pacifica said, "I don't want to die at the finish line."
"We talked about this weeks ago Paz." Dipper groaned, "We can't let just one government control all our tech, we agreed on that, and everyone seeing us come to earth is the best way to prevent a cover up. But we'll take another vote. All in favor of going in without the cloak raise your hand." Gideon and Mabel raised theirs with Dipper's.
"Okay but I'll man tactical to shoot any missiles they fire at us and hope I'm worrying over nothing."
"Let's get some fun going again." Mabel said and thought for a second, "I know!" Mabel ran into the galley and came out with her arms loaded with algae bars.
"Mabel what are you doing?" Dipper asked,
"We all hate these things and since we'll never have to eat another one again, I think we should load them all into the airlock and blow them into the sun!"
"You have such a beautiful brain my dear." Gideon said opening the airlock door,
"Help me load more of with your sister darling?" Pacifica asked giggling,
"Yes dear." Dipper said getting up,
They had a large pile in when they were done. "I'm glad we had just enough food that we didn't need them on this final leg." Gideon said,
Dipper threw one last bar in before closing the door and made his way to the window, "I think a few of them were in the cabinets since Mabel and I first came aboard. It's hard to tell. Ixcia open the starboard airlock."
The green bars were blown out and were caught in the star's gravity. "Goodbye forever! Burn you gross suckers! Burn! Die! Die! Die!" Mabel cheered as the other just smiled and watched,
"Well I think I'd like for the two of us to celebrate alone before going to bed. Big day tomorrow and it will be the first time we could have kids from it." Gideon chuckled necking Mabel,
"Oh Giddy!" Mabel purred, "I'm sure you two will want to do the same."
"I will if you will." Pacifica said,
Dipper kissed Pacifica's cheek and said, "You know it my golden flower. Tomorrow we'll be home. I just can't find the words."
Later in Dipper and Pacifica's room they had finished making love and were talking in bed. "Mason, do you think tomorrow I'll see my parents?" Pacifica asked,
"Maybe, they may have to wait for whatever government agency they send to talk to us to let them see you."
"I'm scared Mason, when they find out what I did…this isn't like losing a competition or disobeying them. I murdered people!" Tears rolled down her cheeks, "They'll hate me."
Dipper wiped away her tears. "You were used, you couldn't stop what the felggur made you do. Even if your parents don't understand I'll be here for you always."
Pacifica sniffed and giggled, "As much hell as those Gloxnar put us through I am grateful to them for taking us. It removed the barriers that kept us from really falling in love, you are my soulmate Mason."
Across the hall Mabel and Gideon were also engaged in pillow talk. "Mabel my angel, you really are full of energy tonight." Gideon said panting,
"I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve again! I'm not sure if I can fall asleep! All of our hard work is going to finally pay off." Mabel pulled her Waddles plushie close. "Tomorrow I'm going to be hugging the real thing, my family is going to be whole again."
"Mabel, I spent most of my life with you and every day I am amazed at all the positivity you give the world. This whole journey you pushed this whole crew forward all the way home. You made it possible to complete my last mission as a Raider."
"I did it because I love you all, but you most of all my Punwidge." Mabel rubbed Gideon's pecs. "Tomorrow is the day."
The next morning after getting dressed and having breakfast Dipper began recording one last log, "Dipper's log, June 1st, 2028. Today is the day. After fifteen years lost in space, today we're just one more jump away from home. We'll have a lot of work ahead of us, pushing humanity into the stars. But looking back at what this crew, my family has done to get us this far I know we can do it. When me and Mabel went on that fateful camping trip it was to prove we could take care of ourselves but in the years of wandering among distant stars the four of us took care of each other. I for future generations that may see this log I note my' family's bravery and determination and how much I love them. End log." Dipper walked to the bridge seeing his family there. Mabel was at navigation, Pacifica was sitting at tactical like she said she would, and Gideon manned engineering. "Let's go home everyone." Dipper sat down at the helm.
"Setting course for the Sol system and planet earth." Mabel said,
"All systems are green." Gideon reported,
"Shields and weapons are on standby." Pacifica said,
Ixica's avatar then said, "Hyper jump in 5…4…3…2…1." They saw the familiar flash of the jump and twenty minutes later they were out. "We have arrived."
They flew past planets they all learned about in childhood, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and then they saw the planet they wanted to see most. "It's Earth! We did it!" Mabel was crying tears of joy.
They took one orbit of the planet to take it all in. "Out of all the worlds we've seen this is the one whose sight will always mean the most to us." Dipper said, "Ixcia, thank you for bringing us all the way here. We never could have done this without you."
"You are all welcome." Ixcia said,
Dipper turned the controls, "Let's land where it all began, Gravity Falls." They descended through the atmosphere like they did like any other planet and flew to the Pacific Northwest. Looking at a holo-screen they saw a familiar water tower as they buzzed over the little town as Dipper picked a spot in the woods to land in. With a familiar thud Ixcia landed, the Pines family would never know they had just crushed the remains of their old enemy Bill Cipher.
Pacifica saw police cars, news vans, and the cars of the townspeople pull up, "Well here is the welcoming committee."
"They must be scared." Gideon said,
"Then let's show them they don't have to be afraid of us." Mabel said taking her husband's hand.
The Pines family took the lift down to the cargo bay and opened the door. Dipper walked out first followed by Mabel, Gideon came out next placing his hand on her shoulder smiling, Pacifica came out last and took Dipper's hand. "Finally, we're back." Dipper said, they were home at long last.
Three months later,
"The end." Mabel said, finishing the story. "You won't remember this story but that's okay. We'll tell it to you as many times you want."
"After so many years of struggle and hardship things are looking up for us at last." Gideon sighed.
Pacifica then said. "Tomorrow we'll be legally married and all our friends and family will know we're having babies, the house is looking good and will be a great place to raise the kids, and by next year we'll be leading other ships to new star systems."
"Tomorrow we'll get our lives completely back on track." Dipper said closing his journal,
At the far edge of the solar system on the Hand of Suprema, Stellara was sparing with Buckgis and half a dozen centurions. Using only her bare hands she disarmed them all and dodged every shot that came her way. Buckgis applauded, "Excellent work my Empress."
One of the Centurions took her helmet off revealing herself to be Buckgis' old friend Rubya. "As ordered, we went at you with everything we had. It's amazing the difference from the child who came running to us for help all those years ago."
"It is all due to the training Buckgis gave me since I was ten." Stellara said,
"You are the one who put in the effort." Buckgis said, "The same effort you made Rubya, to make lieutenant like me." Buckgis slammed the bottoms of his fists together.
Duradis entered the room. "All preparations are complete your grace."
"Good." Stellara clenched her fists. "Tomorrow the lives of the Pines family will end."
"As will yours." Duradis thought,