Ch. 17: Preparations Nearly Complete

Gasco looks out the large window in the main control area, surveying the cracks and the ship off in the distance. " May the Gods be with us... because our chances don't look great, but we still have to remember to smile..."

Buzon just looks over to Gasco and sighs, " You always say remember to smile, why exactly? What is there to smile about... our little victory? How about our trashed ship? Or maybe even our depleted moral? Or better yet, our beat up crew? Tell me Gasco... why smile?"

Gasco grins and looks up at the ceiling, slowly closing her eyes she begins to respond, " Someone needs to B.C., our luck has been horrible thus far in this battle... so why wallow in our misery?"

B.C. gazes out of the window, " Life won't just smile and be nice to you just because your whole world is crashing in around you... so why should you?"

Gasco laughs a little, " Life may be cruel, but I like to try and make the best of things for as long as I am able to." With that Gasco looks over at B.C. and smiles, " So how bout you give me a smile Buzon?"

B.C. just scoffs at the suggestion and continues looking out the window, " I'll smile when those things are dead and gone." B.C. then stands up and glances at Gasco, " Take a seat and man the bridge... I'm going to walk the ship just to make sure things are in order."

Gasco nods and smirks, " And I'll try not to get any of my smiling on the chair, we know how you need to maintain the military leader, stone faced demeanor that you do oh so well."

B.C. can't help but smirk at the comment, " Nice to see you pay attention to detail." B.C. gives Gasco a wave as he exits the bridge and heads first to the hangar to see how the Dread and Vanguard repairs are going.

So while B.C. is heading to the hangar, the others are toiling away at whatever they can find. Alexei and Renz are going about to the four Vanguards surveying what is wrong with all of them and making quick and dirty repairs to the easiest things first.

" Hey Alexei what's wrong with yours?" Renz says looking over towards his comrade from the top of his battered mechanical suit. Alexei just sighs and looks behind himself to responds to Renz, " Aesthetically it's nearly perfect, but the energy waves from the creatures and the way we pushed the suits during battle really did a number on the wiring and joints in general. The left arm alone looks like it's about ready to fall off. What about yours?" Renz laughs a little, " There's a bunch of scratches and holes to the outer shell, and the frame work is a little messed up but yup, the wiring and the joints are nearly shot. This is gonna take a while to repair."

Whereas off at the other end on the hangar Meia and Barnette are looking at the Dreads, " Hey Meia... why are they so messed up? Is Peksis really that important to our machinery that if it goes down even usual minimal damage is amplified?" Meia raises a brow and shrugs, " How am I supposed to know that Barnette? Parfait is the one that handles the Peksis area of the machinery, my forte is battle maneuvers and execution." Barnette smiles and looks at Meia, " You're worried, just like the rest of us. Cause ever since Renz came into the picture you haven't acted all official and formal like you used to be. You finally found someone you like who likes you back and you're afraid to lose him... aren't you?"

Meia looks down and fights back tears as she nods slowly, " I lost my parents to war... I don't want to lose Renz. It just seems like whomever I start to care about dies, and Renz is a soldier till the end... so asking him to fight half speed isn't going to work. He'll fight until he can't, and that's what scares me Barnette..." Barnette pats Meia on her shoulder and smiles, " Hey don't let him see you crying, you haven't lost him yet. Plus, we have to get these damn Dreads up to standards before those butt ugly animal monster things want to try and drink our blood... or whatever the hell they do again."

Meia nods sharply and grins as she looks at the Dreads, " Alright, enough crying… it's time we got to work, don't you think?" Barnette smiles and picks up a wrench by throwing it in the air and then quickly catching it in mid spin, " Let's fix these pieces of crap!"

While that group continues working on the machines Hibiki and Jukkai are looking around the medical quarters for a stretcher, or at least something to use like one. Kicking over a few trays in frustration Hibiki looks over at Jukkai, " Did you find anything yet? I mean all I can find are syringes and gauze… and I don't think Magno wants to be a space mummy." Jukkai looks back at his immature shipmate and just shakes his head, " You're right in the fact that she wouldn't want to be a mummy, but can you act your age for a few minutes please?" Hibiki looks away momentarily and kicks some of the crap on the floor, " You know man… I just can't stand this whole damn thing. We try our hardest to beat those ugly freaks; we actually win when no one thought we could. And what do we get in return? A busted ship, a dead captain, screwed up mechs and a huge god damned headache! Why us man, why us?" Jukkai looks at a supply closet and moves towards it while responding to Hibiki, " I don't know why it had to be us, but we have to beat it Hibiki. Maybe we were chosen, maybe we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, or maybe it's just some dumb luck. But we're all that Mejere and Taraak have left man. We need to pull it together, if not for ourselves… then for our planets and loved ones" After pausing for a moment seeing that the door to the supply closet is crushed inward he ends his statement, " So, it's our job now to beat these things and get on with our lives. But first, we need to send off Magno… now get your lazy ass over here and help me open this door." Hibiki glances up at his friend and just smirks, " Alright you weak bitch, move to the side… let a real man take care of this." Jukkai raises a brow and looks over at Hibiki in disbelief but steps to the side and allows Hibiki to try and get the door unstuck.

Jukkai turns a toppled chair right side up and sits down to enjoy the show as Hibiki walks up to the dented door. " Alright Jukkai, watch me work!" After saying that Hibiki rubs his hands together and grabs the handle and begins to pull with all of his might. As he continues to pull the door doesn't even budge an inch. Jukkai looks down and finds a magazine on the floor to read while Hibiki is being stupid, " Whenever you get tired of losing the battle against the door, tell me and I'll help you out. Okay?" Hibiki just scoffs at the comment and stretches a little, " I'm just warming up ya know? I needed to stretch my muscles and everything first." Jukkai just rolls his eyes and nods as Hibiki now jumps onto the door. His hands on the handle and his feet actually on the door, as he begins to tug like a maniac to get it open. Now how he's staying up is beyond gravity and physics but it's an amusing site for Jukkai. Though just before Jukkai can say anything the ship's lights turn on nice and bright as the ship itself jumps slightly with the surge of power.

Not expecting the ship to move Hibiki is taken completely off guard when the door suddenly flings open and slams him against the wall. He slides down and off the wall flattened and dumb looking as Jukkai looks up and sees the door open, " Ah, you got it open… good job manly man." And with that Jukkai puts the magazine in his back pocket and walks into the closet and pulls out a stretcher that is miraculously still in tact.

" Okay we got what we came here for." Jukkai looks down at the flattened idiot on the floor beside him. " Get up and head to the bridge you dork, we have work to do." So with that Jukkai just walks out of the room and heads towards the bridge while Hibiki is still lying on the floor regaining his bearings.

Just then Parfait begins speaking over the loudspeaker, " We have power! You probably figured that out already from the brighter lights and the ship moving… but I just thought I'd state it. We're running at about 60 percent power and that's including the backup generators. So we still do have a lot more work ahead of us, but every little bit helps right? Keep up the good work guys!" As Parfait cuts out Hibiki starts coming back to reality, " Oww… my head hurts, stupid door attacking me like that. I'm gonna need to learn how to anticipate crap like that. Dammit, that really hurts." As he stumbles back to his feet he shakes the cobwebs out of his head and begins his disorientated trip back to the bridge.

Hearing the good news Renz looks over at Alexei, " Well at least something is starting to look up for us." Alexei just smirks, but before he can respond to Renz he hears footsteps entering the hangar and glances up over his Vanguard to see B.C. standing there. " CAPTAIN!" Alexei quickly drops a wrench into the cockpit of his Vanguard as he stands up and salutes to their new captain.

Before the others can react similarly B.C. lifts up his hand and begins speaking, " Save the formalities for when it actually counts. Now we should be worried more about getting these suits, the ship and Peksis operational… not who we need to start saluting at." After scanning the machines and the people's expressions he gathers that the repairs aren't going to be as easy as they would have hoped.

" Renz and Alexei… what is the status of the Vanguards?" Renz just smirks as he shrugs and starts explaining, " Joints are fried, the external damage, though not extensive is going to take some time to patch, and a few pieces here or there need to be completely reattached because they are just barely hanging on. So I would say it's safe to assume that Peksis has some kind of protecting effect along with the Vandread fusion ability." Alexei nods and adds a little, " I completely agree, cause after Peksis and the ship went down it seemed like even the slightest amount of damage seemed more severe then it should have." B.C. grits his teeth a little but nods regardless of how he really feels, " So after we get the ship functioning a little better I'll make sure to put Parfait solely on Peksis duty. But anyway… Meia and Barnette… what about the Dreads?"

Barnette runs her fingers through her hair and just shakes her head, " Not that good, we found out that the boosters are cooked, so if we had to use them now we'd go about as fast as Bart can think. As for the outsides they are fine, and as long as we get more ammunition into these bad boys, they're basically fine." Meia nods and looks over at B.C., " Our biggest problem is the lack of speed, our Dreads pride themselves on maneuverability… and without that we are basically sitting ducks." Buzon can do nothing more than just sigh and look at the floor, " Well try your best… I can't ask for anymore then that. We should just be thankful that they've given us this much time to regroup."

And almost as if it were a cruel trick of the gods, as soon as B.C. says those words Parfait comes on the loudspeaker again, " Captain Buzon please report to the bridge ASAP! We have a situation! I repeat, Captain Buzon to the bridge right away we have an emergency! It's a good thing I just fixed this; oh I'm still on… umm… ya… B.C. come here now please." B.C. just clenches his fist and looks up at the crewmembers repairing the machines, " Stay where you are and fix as much as possible, I'll contact the rest of you over the loud speaker once I find out what's going on."

The others all nod as B.C. turns to head back to the bridge grumbling about how his comment jinxed them and the gods having a sick sense of humor.

While on the bridge that ugly Hyena creature is on the screen with that disgusting sneer and equally repulsing face. This time being more impatient she begins to discuss things with Gasco, " So you are the new second in command because our attack murdered your captain? That is fantastic, I am only saddened that we can't feast on her old corpse."

Gasco smirks and maintains her cool, " So what exactly is the purpose of this transmission? Cause taken your fervor I doubt that this is to discuss your surrender." The Hyena woman narrows her eyes and bares her teeth, " Nice to see you are one of the quicker beings of your race. You have murdered our warriors, and we are more then willing to continue the fight. This is just to offer you a different course of defeat."

Before Gasco can respond B.C. walks on to the bridge and cuts in with his response, " And what would that be exactly?" The Hyena notices the familiar face and grins, " Ahh the cocky second in command is now the leader? How interesting… but I will explain to you how you will die this time. The two you murdered had an elder brother who wishes to engage in a one on one battle with one of your crewmembers. Cause even though we can overwhelm your ship and decimate you completely… our race is that of great pride and respect for the warrior's way. Our great Jackal warrior will fly out on one of our moveable hover domes. The battle will commence with one against one and no more from either side will be allowed in. But if you are lucky enough to win… I can't promise your combatant safe return, because by then the battle is concluded and everything is free game once again."

B.C. takes a deep breath and glares at the beast on the screen, " So you believe in honor as long as it is agreed upon? How novel…" The Hyena doesn't react she just responds, " That is your choice, and given the status of your ship we are probably doing you a favor in not laying siege to your ship and feasting on your bodies."

Gasco glances over at B.C., " The Jackal would probably want the one who killed his brothers… which I guess would be Renz because he killed one and came up with the tactic." B.C. acknowledges that and nods, " Alright, you get your one on one battle, but I want one stipulation to be that he must remain his usual size, no gargantuan crap." The Hyena let's out a long laugh and finally composes herself long enough to respond, " He wouldn't need to shift his shape anyway to dispose of one of you. You have a deal… I will take pleasure in watching this Renz be treated like an appetizer."

With that the transmission cuts out and the crew all look towards B.C. with Gasco being the only one brave enough to speak, " Well who's going to tell Renz?" B.C. grins and turns to Gasco, " That's not the problem Gasco, Renz will be more than happy to fight… the real question is… who is going to tell Meia…"

To Be Continued…