Chapter 3: A Flight into Fate
The time had come for Gekkostate's mission to get underway. All the LFOs in their arsenal – the Terminus Series typeR606, the typeR808, the typeR909, the typeR303 "Devilfish," the typeR505 Kai, and the Azure Flestnia – were all prepped and battle ready in the Gekko's hanger bay. All their needed supplies for the five-day journey were stored away in the cargo hold and food storage. The mysterious black emerald was safely secured in the lab, concealed within the transparent aluminum casing, ready for transport to Tresor, along with the two archetype skeletons in the back of the hanger bay.
The whole crew was now at their designated stations, with Talho setting at the captain's chair with her baby, and her husband Holland standing by her side, while Renton, Eureka, Maurice, Maeter, Linck, Dominic, and Anemone and Gulliver were all standing above the bridge on the stairway, giving them a full view of whole bridge and lounging area, including a full view of the outside world. Renton's grandfather on the other hand was with Jobs in main engineering, while Mischa was in sickbay, Dr. Bear and Sonia in the lab next door, and Matthieu and Stoner, Hilda, Sumner, and Ruri all in the hanger bay, standing by to launch in their LFOs.
Once the hanger bay loading ramp and catapult was closed and all the hatches were secured, the Gekko-Go made its way out of the main complex hanger and over to the far end of the military base's main runway, where the decoy speed ship was already waiting for final clearance for takeoff. The Super Izumo, with Admiral Jurgens and his family onboard, also began leaving the complex's second hanger to follow the Gekko up to the main runway. Much like any other major airport, all three ships were to take off one at a time, starting with the decoy ship.
Once the control tower gave the speed ship the OK, the small aircraft speeded down the runway and took off into the sky, with a trail of green trapar behind it. The Gekko then takes its spot over where the speed ship once stood and came to a full stop, as it now began final launch preparations and awaited the signal from the tower.
"Alright, everyone, this is it," Holland announced to the crew, "We're taking off next. Time to get this show on the road. Jobs, engine room."
"Flywheel is engaged. Engines are stable," Jobs replied from engineering on the inner-com.
"We're all set down here, Holland," Axel added.
"Excellent," Holland said, "Doctor, how's your end?"
"We're all set here, Holland," replied Dr. Bear from the lab, "The emerald is secured. We're ready whenever you guys are."
"Mischa?"
"I've got medical all setup down here, Holland," said Mischa through the sick bay's inner-com.
"Good to hear. You never know if we'll run into any trouble."
Back in the hanger bay, Matthieu and the others were seated in their LFOs' cockpits when Holland radioed them in.
"Matthieu, guys, you all ready to go?"
"The 606 is ready for launch whenever we get the ok, leader," replied Matthieu.
"I got my camera all set to take some great shots," replied Stoner as he sat in the back seat of the R606.
"808 is ready to go," replied Hilda.
"The 505 Kai is prepped and ready, Holland," said Sumner from his LFO's cockpit.
"The Azure Flestnia is ready to rock," said Ruri as she put on her headphones and started playing "Life Off" and "Set Your Controls" by Star One.
Back on the bridge, Talho smiled as she cradled young Charles in her arms, "Looks like we're all ready here honey." She then looks up behind her at Dominic, Anemone, and the young Thruston family, "You guys ready?"
"Sure are, Ms. Talho," replied Renton.
"We're ready here," said Eureka.
"Ready whenever you are," replied Dominic.
Talho then turns to her husband, "Whenever you're ready."
Holland then turns to face the rest of the bridge crew with a smile of confidence, "Alright then, Hap, what's our trapar count?"
"Excellent," Hap said, "Trapar count is good. We're ready."
"Roger that. Maestro, weapons?"
"Main cannons, ready," said Ken-Goh. "Safety locks are on. All weapons are now on standby."
"Woz, radar?"
"Radar is clear," Woz replied, "Besides a few federal republic ships and a few commercial aircraft, no enemies to report. We're in the clear, leader."
"Good. Gidget, communications and clearance for takeoff."
"Communication is good," replied Gidget, "The control tower is giving us the green light. Our escape vector is cleared of all traffic. Clearance for takeoff confirmed. We're ready to go at anytime. Also confirmed – Admiral Jurgens and his crew are also ready to go, waiting for us to take off."
"Very well then. Doggie, fire up the main boosters. Time for this bird to fly."
"Roger that, leader," said Moondoggie as he took hold of the navigation controls. "Firing up the main boosters!"
The two main boosters in the back of the ship roared to life as the rocket engines ignited in two beautiful blue flames. At this time, Ruri's head phones started playing "Set Your Controls" by Star One. The rockets blasted to their maximum as the sounds of the roaring engines increased in volume. Two columns of smoke exhaust from the rockets blasted behind the ship as Moondoggie gave to word.
"Gekkostate launching now!!"
The Gekko then started its run down the main runway, gaining speed the further it went. Within a few moments, the front landing wheels lifted off the ground as the green and white airship lifted its nose toward the sky. Renton and his family and friends on the stairway held on to the railing as the ship lifted at an angle. Once the ship nearly reached the end of the runway, the rest of the landing gear lifted off the ground and retracted into the body of the ship, and the VRFs on the wings began exhausting trapar as it finally took off into the wild blue skies.
The Super Izumo was last in line as it took its stand at the end of the runway, ready for takeoff once the Gekko was far enough away for them to follow. On the main bridge, Michael Jurgens was seated at the captain's chair, with his wife Maria Schneider and the Ex-Ageha Squad standing by his side, and Hooky Zueff and Gillian Hamilton stationed at communications. A few minutes after the Gekko had taken off, they too began final launch preparations.
"We're receiving word from the control tower," said Gillian, "They say our launch vector is now cleared. Up is go at your command, admiral."
"Very good then," said Jurgens, "Maria, would you care to get us on our way?"
"Gladly, dear," his wife replied. "Attention all stations, I want a 'Go/No Go' for launch! Navigation."
"Go!" said the navigation officer.
"Helmsmen."
"Go!" said the helm officer.
"Engineering."
"Go!" said the main engineer over the inner-com.
"Tactical."
"Go!" said the female tactical officer.
"Radar."
"Go!" the radar officer replied.
"Operations."
"Go!" replied the young female officer.
"Communications."
"Go!" said Hooky.
"Alright then, let's do this," said Jurgens. "Commence takeoff!"
"Roger that! Engage!" replied the helmsmen as he started to pilot the Super Izumo down the runway.
The large, mighty red battleship picked up speed as it ran further and further down the runway. Its three main rocket boosters in the back roared loudly as the ship blasted across the pavement. Once it reached the end of the runway, the admiral's ship lifted completely off the ground, the VRFs on the wings engaged, and it took off after the Gekko and the decoy speed ship.
As the Gekko gained a high altitude, it roared through the clouds and through a school of skyfish, causing them to scattered like mad dogs as the sleek airship passed them. On the bridge, Renton, Eureka, and the kids couldn't help but giggle at the scene, thinking back to early that morning during Renton's ref boarding stunt. It wasn't long until Gekkostate had caught up with the decoy ship. Once they did, they stayed a protective distance from the small craft as they were now leaving Bellforest airspace, and started heading due west to Tresor. The Super Izumo at this time was rising from the clouds beneath, and making its way up to a standard flight altitude. They soon caught a visual of the two other ships, but kept their distance. After all, they were backup and would only catch up to them if they ran into trouble.
After entering the barren rocky mountains and wastelands outside the city, the Gekko was coming upon an active trapar trench that stretched for several miles. Seeing the trapar erupting, Holland decides now is the perfect time to let Stoner get some new LFO footage for the next issue of rayout, and allow his pilots to freshen up on their ref boarding skills while they were on their way.
He radios the hanger bay, "Guys, we're coming up on an active trench. Looks like the perfect opportunity to set you guys loose and show us what you can do."
"Roger that, leader," Hilda replied as she got her LFO prepped and ready for takeoff. "OK, guys, you all ready?"
"Ready whenever you are dear," said Matthieu, who then turns to check on Stoner in the back seat. "How about you, Stoner? Ready to takes some serious shots?"
"Always," he gladly replied as he put in some film into the camera and finished setting it up.
"We're ready here," called Sumner, with Ruri giving a thumbs-up since she was listening to her music.
With her cockpit closed and her controls up and running, Hilda's ready to go, "Alright, let's do this. Leader, we're ready to go!"
"Alright then, Maestro, open catapult," ordered Holland.
"Roger that, opening catapult," Ken-Goh replied.
The Gekko's catapult runway opened up below, and one by one, each of the four LFOs lined up for takeoff. The runway starting lights above stayed red until Ken-Goh gave the word.
"Catapult ready. You're all cleared for launch."
"Roger that, Ken-Goh," replied Hilda as her LFO took its stand at the starting point of the catapult. The LFO's engine was hot, and the car-like fighter was ready to go. Once the light turn green, she took off. "808 launching!"
The 808 raced down the catapult ramp and took off into the sky. Once the car-like vehicle launched off the ship, it transformed to robot-mode, got out its ref board, got on and took off as the board's trapar intake engaged.
Matthieu and Stoner were next in line, as the 606 started its run.
"Matthieu and Stoner, 606, launching now!"
Their orange LFO blasted off down the ramp, and like the 808, transformed and got on its ref board as they follow Hilda.
"Sumner, 505 Kai, launching," said Sumner as his LFO took off next.
"Ruri, Azure Flestnia, launching now!" said Ruri as she took off in her red LFO a few moments later.
All four LFOs were now surfing the skies on their respected boards as they got into a "V" formation ahead of the Gekko, with Hilda taking led, the 606 on her left, and the 505 Kai and Flestnia on her right. Spotting the active trench, the four humanoid fighters blasted off toward it. Once they reached the edge of the trench, the transparent light particles erupted all around them, bathing their four LFOs. And with that, their ref boards gained the extra boost they needed, and they were off as they began their photo shoot.
With Hilda leading the way, the four began by racing together across the first stretch of the trench, surfing the waves as they formed into a huge tidal wave of energy and light. All the while, the four pilots kept their LFOs leaning left and right as they kept balance on the waves, much like a human surfer riding his surf board on a real watery tidal wave in the olden days. Soon another wave of trapar exploded from the trench, and the four used the new practices to blast off higher into the skies and begin doing some aerial acrobatics. Sumner and Ruri started out with a couple barrow-rolls and side-winders, while Hilda did a few cut-back dropturns, including a few sideways and at difference angles. All the while, Stoner was taking picture after picture with his camera from the backseat of Matthieu's 606, getting great long distance and close up photos of the other three LFOs in action.
At one point, Sumner and Ruri took off higher into the sky and began to free fall. During the free fall, the two LFOs grab each others' left hands and preformed a two-person cork-screw twist, with their two LFOs holding on to each other and spinning together like a propeller. The faster they fell, the faster they spin. All the while, they were exhausting trapar from their boards, creating two coiling streams in a DNA helix pattern which soon turned into a green trapar tornado as they spin faster. After about a good 5 minute fall, the two let go and hang-ten as they took off in different directions. Stoner managed to get a few excellent shots of the whole stunt, and knew right away that the pictures were a must for his magazine.
Hilda on the other hand continued her acrobatics with a series of random maneuvers, including complex barrow-rolls, twist and turns, quarter turnpikes, and different types of dropturns. Every move she made with the 808 was done with near perfection. One maneuver that caught the eye of Stoner and his camera was a complex reverse side-winder that resulted in a counter-clockwise board spin and sideways cut-back dropturn. It was truly a sight to behold, and Stone managed to capture it on film.
Meanwhile, back on the Gekko, the bridge crew were enjoying the show via a view screen, thanks to an additional video feedback camera mounted on the 606. Holland was very proud and impressed by his pilots. They've kept up in their ref boarding skills during their free time. It just goes to show that if you're a member of Gekkostate, you never lose your touch. Renton and the others on the stairway were enjoying the show as well, and couldn't help but comment on their skills.
"Amazing," said an astonished Maeter, "did you see that Momma?"
"Sure did, sweetie," said Eureka.
"Wow, your people have piloting skills that are second to none, Holland," Dominic commented.
"Thanks," replied Holland. "My crew always kept their skills in check. It could mean a difference out there on the battlefield."
"Tell me about it. They're just as good as Anemone."
Anemone herself couldn't help but blush with a small giggle, "Thanks, Dominic, but I think I'm way better than any of Holland's men put together. And that comes from my experience piloting TheEND."
"No dough about that."
"By the way, Doggie, your friends out there got some killer moves," Holland commented.
"Thanks, leader," said Moondoggie. "Those two have skills unlike anyone else I've met. In fact, those two have already become a sort of inspiration. I'm actually very happy that they finally decided to join us."
"And I'm glad they did," added Talho. "Their skills will come in very handy in case we run into any trouble. Isn't that right, baby?" Talho cuddled Charles close and her and she gave her son a warm motherly smile.
Back on the Super Izumo, Jurgens and his family were also watching the video feedback of the LFO's air show, and where all quite impressed as well. Their skills were nothing like the pilots' on their ship. They could all learn a thing or two from them.
"Your friends Sumner and Ruri are quite something else, Lt. Zueff," Jurgens commented.
"Thank you, sir," Hooky responded. "They are the best ref boarders I've ever met. Hamilton and I are very proud to know them, sir."
"If they are so incredibly skilled, why didn't they rejoin the military after the reformatting of the Federation after the Second Summer of Love?" asked Arnette, the j-roll dark-hair boy of the Ex-Ageha Squad.
"From what they told me, Ms. Arnette, the two prefer a more free-style way to doing things. I believe that's why they never returned to the military and decided to join Gekkostate."
"Despite the type of military we use to be a couple years back, it's a shame they didn't decide to return to active duty with us," explained Marianna, the brown-hair girl of the group. "They both could have stayed on and become flight instructors in the field like Ms. Anemone."
"Well, you can't blame them for not doing so, dear," Maria replied.
Jurgens himself couldn't agree more with his wife on that.
Back with the others, Hilda, Sumner, and Ruri piloted their LFOs with their boards on full throttle as they took off into the sky and then disengaged their trapar intakes and began another freefall, all while Stoner and Matthieu captured all the action by camera.
Much like sky driving, the three humanoid fighters preformed a series of freefalling stunts, including a few upside down cork-screws and twists. After freefalling individually for a few minutes, the three got together, took hands, and from a circle as they began to spin clockwise. Stoner took a couple more pictures from a close distance until Matthieu change course to intercept the falling trio. He put the pedal to the metal as he piloted the 606 skyward until he was above the other three, then nosedived downward toward to opening in the circle. Once he got to the trio and made his pass right throw the opening, Stoner took the close ups he wanted of each of the LFOs. After a few more minutes, Holland contacted the group.
"Alright, guys, we're reaching the end of the trench. Time to wrap it up and return to the ship."
"Roger that, leader," replied Matthieu.
"And that's a wrap," said Stoner as he finished taking pictures.
"Alright, honey, you heard him. Let's head on home."
"You got it, Matthieu," replied Hilda, then looking to the others. "OK, guys, let's break and head on out!"
"Roger!" both Sumner and Ruri replied, as the two LFOs break away from Hilda and set their ref boards' intake to full blast.
Once at the end of the trench, the four LFOs went full speed ahead as they gained altitude and headed back to the Gekko.
As the four made their way back to the ship, Jurgens radioed Holland, "That some fancy flying you pilots preformed back there, Holland."
"Thanks, Michael. Glad you enjoyed the show. Let's continue on with the mission at hand, shall we?"
"Likewise. Let's get moving."
"Copy that. Gidget, confirm status of the LFOs."
"The 808, 606, 505, and the Flestnia are now approaching the catapult," Gidget confirmed. "Their matching our heading."
"Excellent. Doggie, kept our course steady. Maestro, lower the catapult and let's reel them in."
"Roger that," replied Moondoggie.
"Affirmative, leader," said Ken-Goh. "Lowering catapult now."
Outside, the Gekko's hanger bay ramp and catapult opened, awaiting the four LFOs to land. One by one, each of the four mecha aligned themselves with the ramp and put their throttle into reverse. Once each mecha made contact with that ramp, they each transformed back to vehicle-mode and hit reverse and back into the hanger bay, and one by one parked in their respected docking ports. As soon as the last LFO had landed safely, the catapult ramp closed.
"Confirmed," stated Gidget, "all LFOs have landed and are now secured in the main hanger bay."
"Catapult retracted and ramp closed," said Ken-Goh.
"Alright then, let's continue on with the mission," said Holland. "Full speed ahead!"
"Roger that!" replied Moondoggie.
Upon Holland's orders, Moondoggie increased ship's speed as the Gekko now continued on course, with the decoy ship off to their starboard side, as they continued west across the region on to Tresor, with the Super Izumo not far behind. They kept their course adjusted to the leylines as they went.
Renton and his family really enjoyed the short aerial show Hilda and the others gave them out there. For the kids, it was like watching one of those LFO air shows that Bellforest hosted every year in the spring time. They only wish they still had the Nirvash TypeZero so their parents could take them out and see the action up close like Stoner could. Renton and Eureka were also thinking same thing. The same was also for Anemone and her beloved TheEND. Maybe next time, they could ask Holland permission to take either the 606 or the 808 out for a spin. But now, they had a delivery to complete.
The rest of the day was smooth sailing for the Gekko and the decoy ship. The same was for the Super Izumo which kept a 10 minute distance behind the other two airships. With any luck, they should reach their destination within three days.
Several hours into the flight, their course brought them over farming country. Stretched out in all directions was nothing but crops and fields that went on for miles. Every once in a while they would spot a few farming communities with a few small towns and several farms where the locals made their living. Crops of various types were everywhere. From the windows of the bridge and the lounge, the scenery was beautiful. If one were on the ground below, it would make one want to stop in their tracks, take a deep breath of fresh air and admire the peaceful view. Some of the farms they passed over made Renton think back to when he met William Baxter and his wife, Martha, who was stricken with Desperation Disease. They both of course died when pieces of the Oratorio #8 satellite crashed into their home two years ago.
Later on in the evening just after sunset, Holland radioed Jurgens to ask if he and his family wished to join them for dinner. The good admiral accepted, and Holland immediately asked Renton and Eureka to cook up something special, and since there would be a lot people and only a few hours to cook everything, they were going to need help. Dominic and Anemone quickly volunteered, and both had suggested a Italian dinner for tonight's occasion. Renton and Eureka agreed. With that, the four went directly to the ship's kitchen and got to work. By the time Jurgens and his family arrived by shuttle, along with Hooky and Gillian, the four cooks were just about ready. Once the food was done, dinner was served in the main dining lounge, and what Renton and Eureka served was solid proof of their skills.
For starters, the appetizers included bruschetta, stuffed mushrooms, calamari, smoked mozzarella fonduta, hot artichoke-spinach dip, and even several types of salads, and Italian breads and dipping sauces. And if that wasn't good enough, the main course was - several types of spaghetti, lasagna, chicken parmigiana, pork filettino, braised beef & tortelloni, cheese ravioli & ravioli di portobello, five cheese ziti al forno, manicotti formaggio, chicken alfredo, tuscan garlic chicken, shrimp primavera, parmesan crusted tilapia, shrimp & asparagus risotto, and even several types of pizzas, including alfredo-style and even one topped with hot jalapeños. It was literally an all-you-can-eat Italian buffet, and for the guests from the Super Izumo, it was like being in an actual restaurant. Everyone gave their complements to the chefs.
As dinner progressed, the crew and their guests were having wonderful time talking and catching up on times past, including having a few laughs. Stoner was currently talking about a funny situation that took place at his studio a month earlier, and so far, it was a talk to remember.
"…so there I was getting my camera set up, when all of a sudden the girl comes into the room completely naked, and she said she was ready for the photo shoot, and I quickly asked 'Why are you naked? We're doing a shoot for rayout!' And she was completely in shock! She said 'You mean you're not doing a centerfold for Playboy?!', and I said 'No!' Ha-ha! She completely thought it was for Playboy, not rayout! She was a total ditz!"
Everyone at the dinner table laugh up a storm. It was truly one of Stoner's funnier moments since he opened his studio back in Bellforest.
"You know, I always want to pose naked for Playboy, but I don't think I'm pretty enough for it," Gidget stated.
Moondoggie replied, "What are you talking about? You look perfect for Playboy."
"Really? I didn't think so."
The answer she gave was proof of how much she was still the same bubblehead everyone loved and tolerated, resulting in anther row of laughs from the rest of the crew.
"You know, if you don't think you're good enough, I could volunteer to pose naked," Mischa said with a wink.
There was a short silence as everyone in the room gave an awkward look, then looking at each other. They all then laughed their heads off.
"Hee-hee, man, after hearing all that, I definitely need to get back up here more often," Dr. Bear said with a laugh as he finish taking a bite from his second helping of spaghetti and meatballs, "All the fun is happening up here anyways!"
That much was true. The overweight professor had been missing out on some interesting times since he and Sonia had been on Earth at the Control Cluster's gravesite. But that did not mean that life working on the site was boring 24-7. That have been some interesting moments for him and his associates too, just not as hilarious as what's been happening up here.
"Believe me, Dr. Bear, you're not missing much," said Jobs as he took a sip of his wine.
"You mean nothing interesting goes on over on the base?"
"Oh, believe me, Doc, there's always something going on over at the base," Hap explained, "It's just that Jobs, Woz, and myself are always too busy doing maintenance and upgrades on the airships that arrive on base to even notice until it's too late."
"You would have better luck on Anemone's end," said Woz. "There's always something going on with her and the pilots she has to train."
"Like what?" Sonia asked out of curiously.
"Well, for example, Anemone likes to show off her god-like piloting skills, making all the trainees' affords look like it was for nothing," Dominic joked. "One time, she did a reverse drive at fast speeds, and she nearly crash into one KFL unit, causing to pilot to pee his pants! And it was all intestinal!"
"Hey what can I say?" said Anemone, matter-of-factly, "Comes from years of piloting TheEND."
After laughing that one up, Matthieu asked, "So Renton, I heard you and your family went ref boarding this morning, and you put on quite a show, right?"
"Yeah, you should seen it, Matthieu, Papa was so cool!" said an excited Linck. "He took off high into the sky on his board, and went so high, I could no longer see him! Then he cuts back the intake and freefalls to the ground, going so fast, I could hardly keep up! He did so many twists and spins, and he flew right into a school of sky fish! And just as he was about to hit the ground, BOOM! He ignites his board and takes off into the canyons! It was the coolest thing ever!"
"Wow! Really?" said Sumner, "Hey Renton, how come you didn't join us out there then? You could have borrowed the 303 and joined us during the shoot."
"I could have, but I decided to kick back and watch the show," Renton replied, "which you guys performed flawlessly, I might add."
"Hey, you and Eureka did flawlessly cooking the food," said Hooky, "Wonderful job you guys!"
"Thank you, Mr. Hooky," Eureka complied. "I'm glad you enjoyed it. Although I think we wouldn't have made so much food if it weren't without help from Dominic and Anemone."
"So you two helped made all this?" asked Gillian, who was quite surprised that the two could cook.
"Sure did, and don't you dare say we did a bad job," Anemone pointed out with a smile.
"Hey, I'm not complaining," said Hilda with a laugh.
"Neither am I," said Talho as she fed her baby a spoon of spaghetti.
"Well, everyone, here's to all of us – members of Gekkostate," Holland announced as he raised his glass for a toast, "May our journey together again be forever blessed. Salute!"
"Salute!" everyone replied, tipping their wine glasses.
Jurgens stands up to announce another toast, "And here's to Renton and Eureka Thruston. A thank you toast for the wonderful meal you prepared. It is truly exquisite."
"Very wonderful you two," Maria added as she raised her glass again.
"It's delicious, Papa!" said Maeter.
"To Mr. Renton and Ms. Eureka," toasted Alice. "Here-here."
"Here-here," everyone followed.
"Thanks, everyone, we're glad you enjoyed it," said Eureka with a smile, while Renton scratched the back of his head, blushing and chuckling.
With that, everyone continued on eating as they enjoyed the Italian meal and continued chatting. It was true that the meal the young couple prepared was truly the work of professionals. Jurgens even commented that the two should take up an interest in doing their own cooking show, or even convince them to join his ship's galley as head chefs. Don't get me wrong, the food served on the Izumo is good, but theirs was nothing by comparison. Renton and Eureka could only blush at the admiral's comment, although they were intrigued by the idea.
After the lengthy dinner, the crew and their guests continued their conversations for a few more hours, with Renton, Eureka, Dominic, and Anemone joining them as soon as the food and dishes were cleaned up and put away. At around midnights, the Jurgens family and their two lieutenants boarded their shuttle and headed back to the Super Izumo. Afterwards, Gekkostate's crew placed the ship on autopilot and retired to their quarters for some much need sleep. Today had been one hell of a reunion party.
The next day was pretty much the same ordeal, as there was no sign of any Rebel activity as the three airships continued on their journey across Warsaw and on through the rocky scub coral mountains of Benson. The day was spent going through some minor maintenance here and there, in order to keep the ships ready in case the Rebels did show up. During meal breaks, the crew spent more time together chatting more and even discussing what they would do once they all got back home.
At around midnight, all was quite aboard the Gekkostate ship. Most of the crew had retired to their quarters early to get some much needed sleep, while the ships' bridge controls stayed on autopilot. Once the ship was in sleep-mode, most of the main lights were turned off, and the dim emergency lights were kept on throughout the ship, keeping the illumination to a minimum.
Holland was currently the only one on the bridge, and was currently seated in the lounge in the back, looking out the stern-side windows at the star filled skies and the passing landscape below, noticing some storm clouds nearby. Their current course would take them right by them. A small cup of hot coffee was in his hand, as he was among only a few people that were taking up the nightshift, the others being Jobs and Ken-Goh who were both occupied in main engineering. After surviving their second day out without any Rebel activity to worry about, Holland was starting to feel that there was no need for an escort, and that this mission would be smooth sailing all the way to Tresor and back. But then again, no one can be too careful. The Rebels had been known to attack when least suspected, and that was all the reason he needed to kept this escorting mission going.
After sitting alone on the bridge for a good solid hour, Holland took a sip of his coffee and then proceeded up the stairs to walk around the rest of the ship for a while and stretch his legs. The corridors were dark, but lit up lightly. After walking down the corridor for a few minutes, he noticed a glowing pulsing purple light coming from Bear's lab, whose door was opened. Walking in, he saw Dr. Bear seated at his desk writing up a report. The source of the glow light was the black emerald, as the strange gem continued rotating counter-clockwise from within its glass case. It's glow was the only light source in the room, though the desk also had a small desk lamp turned on for the doctor to read and write his report.
"How's things going here, Doc?" Holland asked as he came into the room.
"Nothing much here, Holland, but thank you for asking," the doctor replied.
"Is the emerald the one causing the glowing light?"
"Yes, this started up after the sunset. I don't know how exactly, but the emerald seems to able to create its own light source when it's in the dark. I'm currently just writing this in as an update in my report."
"Do you think it's being caused by the strange powers you said it might have?"
"No dough about it. It's also the same glow it gave off when we first found it on Earth. I'm telling you, Holland, this is one of the most important discoveries of the century. If we can harness its powers, we could be on the verge of an entirely new source of energy. Maybe one that can replace fossil fuels that we still use today, who knows."
"Well, once we get you and Sonia to Tresor, you'll be able to find out, doc. But don't forget what Ken-Goh said earlier, this thing could also be used as a weapon. You remember, right?"
"That's true as well, unfortunately. But I hope it never comes to that. Don't get me wrong, the weapon applications for it are dead on after seeing what it can do, but the thing is Holland look at all that has changed shortly in the last two years. Almost everyone around the world has turned to peace after the Second Summer of Love, and have accepted the truth about the scub coral and the coralians. Now I know the Rebels are still a problem, but we don't need something as powerful as the emerald to take them out. Besides, if the military wanted to use it, they would end up making some sort of doomsdays machine out of it. You know what that is, right?"
"Yeah, I know what a doomsdays machine is, doc. A weapon used to kill off both sides in the war. I think I understand what you're getting at here. The emerald is too powerful to be used as a weapon."
"Exactly."
As the two continued to stare at the glowing gem, Holland started to get a strange feeling in the back of his head. There was something about this emerald that was bothering him a bit. The abilities he's seen it could do was telling him that. What kind of strange force could give this thing its powers? But more importantly, where exactly did this thing come from?
"You ok?" Bear asked him when he notice he was staring at the emerald in a small trance.
"Y-yeah, doc. I'm fine," he replied after snapping out of it. "Where do you think this thing really came from, doc?"
"I don't know, but I'll you this much. I forgot to mention this back at the meeting. After we found the emerald, I send a team back to the island to take core samples from the hole it came out of. They then faxed me the report once I arrive at Bellforest, and this is what they found; Even though the surface was completely undisturbed, the emerald was somehow deliberately buried there." This got Holland's attention as Bear continued, "And also, judging from the soil, this thing was buried on Earth over 20,000 years ago, before the scub coral came."
"If that's true, who buried it there? And from where? And why?"
"I don't know, Holland, but I sure wish to find out."
But what Dr. Bear didn't realize was that he would get his wish soon enough, in just a matter of hours…
As the night progressed, Renton and Eureka were sound asleep in their bed. They were starting to dream. The same went for their kids, who were asleep in their room next door, as well as Dominic and Anemone in their quarters. Now there's nothing abnormal about that. What was abnormal – was that they were sharing the same dream:
Renton opened his eyes. He found himself a float in a dark void, with no light source in sight. The young savior then tried to look around for anything to tell him where he was. Nothing. It was too dark to see anything. All was pitch black. But all that quickly changed when a light source started to appear before him. It was a dim, dark purple glow that once it faded into existence started to get brighter and brighter. Soon, the black void around him slowly lit up into a sea of blue and green light. It kind of felt like being in the ocean. Everything stayed calm.
He did not notice, but Eureka, Anemone, Dominic, Maurice, Maeter, and Linck were also present there with him. However, they too were too fixated by the purple glow to notice each other's presence. The source of the glow started to come into existence. At first, it was too fuzzy to make out, but little by little it came into focus. The seven teens/kids were surprised to see that the source of the light was none other than the black emerald itself, in all its wonder and glory.
Before they could ask questions, seven other sources of light appeared, forming a circle, with the black emerald at the bottom. Clockwise from the black emerald's right, the sources of light were in the colors of blue, green, yellow, red, cyan, purple, and white respectively. The sources of the glows then came into focus, and they were shock to see that they were seven additional emeralds, each matching the colors of the glows they gave off. The circle of emeralds then started to rotated clockwise, with the emeralds themselves rotating the other way, and that's when they started to hear the voices speak out:
"The servers are the chaos."
"Chaos is power."
"Power enriched by the heart."
At that point, a large green glow appeared in the center of the circle. The emeralds were orbiting it. A larger green emerald then appeared. It was huge, about 7 feet in height and about two meters in diameter. It too glowed in its respective color and rotated clockwise as the forth voice spoke:
"The Controller is the one that unifies the chaos."
To their absolute shock, the four voices they just heard belonged to Renton's sister, Diana, his father, Adrok, and Master Norb and Sakuya respectively.
"Sis? Dad?" said a bewildered Renton.
"Master Norb? Sakuya, is that you?" said Eureka in disbelief.
"Where are they?" asked Dominic as he looked around for the sources of the voices. "Where did the voices come from?"
"And what's going on here?" asked Anemone.
But before their questions could be answered, the four voices spoke again, this time in union, as the other emeralds faded away and black emerald remained:
"One server, sacrificed to the sea of time and space, after the great tragedy that struck its world. Its existence lost. Like the others, it holds great gifts, but unlike the others, it carries a curse. A secret. A burden. Beware the secret within…"
The seven teens/kids couldn't make sense of what the four voices hold them. The 'servers'? They were talking about the emeralds, right? Is that what the black emerald was as well? And what was this 'great tragedy' they spoke of? But more importantly, what secret? What burden? They wanted answers, however those answers never came, for an explosion was then heard, so loud that it ended the dream they unwittingly shared abruptly.
The mighty explosion rocked the whole ship. Renton and Eureka were literality knock out of their king-sized bed and thrown on the smooth wooden floor of their quarters. The two quickly got their feet.
"Are you ok, Eureka?" Renton asked.
"Yeah, I'm ok, Renton," she replied, rubbing the back of her head. "What's going on?"
Before he could answer another loud explosion rocked the ship, and the two almost fell down again, but quickly recovered. They noticed a light coming from outside their room's small viewport window. It didn't take them long to realize what was going on – they were under attack.
"Come on, let's get dressed," he said, and his wife complied.
Renton got to his cloths next to his side of bed and got dressed, while Eureka got to her bra on her side on the chair, and then proceeded to get her white uniform hanging on the rack next to it. After all, Renton was sleeping in his boxers, while Eureka only had on a silk night gown and panties. Once they got fully dressed, they proceed to the bridge to find out what was going on.
Back on the bridge, Ken-Goh was already at his post, and had made the call on the intercom to battle stations. A few minutes later, Hap, Moondoggie, Gidget, and Woz had arrived and got to their seats. Holland soon arrived as well, along with Talho, who took her seat at the captain's chair, while trying to calm down Charles who was crying in her arms.
"Report!" Holland demand, "Where did they come from?"
"The Rebels were in hiding in the storm off to our port side," Ken-Goh report.
"It looks like our radar and sonar didn't even picked them up until they were right on top of us, leader," added Woz.
"How many are there?" Talho asked.
"I'm picking up three airships and about two dozen KLF units approaching fast."
"Jobs, what's our status?" Holland asked.
"We took some hits, but nothing too serious," Jobs said over the intercom, "Shields are holding steady."
"Our far left VRF unit was hit too, but still functional, but only at 50" added Axel.
"The decoy ship has also suffered damage to their port intake," Woz reported, "Their shields took the full force of the attack, and they won't last long."
"Gidget, get on the horn!" order Holland, "Tell Hilda and the others to launch now!"
"Roger that, captain," the teenage communications officer replied.
"Maestro, ready weapons."
"Safety locks are already disengaged," Ken-Goh replied. "We're hot and ready. Locked and loaded."
At that time, Renton and Eureka had arrived on the bridge, along with their kids who were also awaken by the attack. Unlike Renton and Eureka, they were still in their pajamas.
"Holland, what's going on? It is the Rebels?" Renton asked.
"I'm afraid so," he replied.
"How many ships?" asked Eureka as she held her kids close to her.
"Three of them, and they're fully armed."
"Do you think we can hold up to them?"
"I surely hope so."
Outside, the small rag-tag squadron of renegade airships and fighters which were part of the National Rebel Alliance were approaching the two-ship convoy fast as they exited the storm clouds they had used as cover. Their weapons were armed and ready for combat. The squadron's KFLs consisted of several Mon-Soonos and Terminus Series R505s, but unlike the Federation's, which were navy blue in color, these fighters donned a camouflage pattern with the colors of green, brown, and black. The three airships exiting out of the storm front – two small frigates and a destroyer – also donned the same colors and patterns, and they too were heavily armed.
On the main bridge of the destroyer, sitting at the captain's chair, was the leader of that particular rag-tag group – N.R.A. General Ivan Nevsky Rankov – a tall, well-built individual, 38 years of age, bald-headed with a small trimmed mustache, with a tough-as-nails attitude and a short temper to boot. He was an arrogant and vicious man. He was the kind of CO no one wishes they would get, which was unfortunate the crew that server under him. He did not look to respect, but rather fear from his people. He strongly believed that fear and efficiency were all that was needed to run a good ship, and he stuck by it.
Ivan came from a family with a long history of serving in the military, so it was no surprise that he himself would join the then United Federation Forces. His reason, however, for joining the U.F.F. at the time was to eliminate the Scub Coral. The reason was simple – his family was killed by anti-body coralians when he was just a child. After witnessing the attack, he grew a hatred for anything extraterrestrial since, and wanted nothing more than to see them gone - by any means necessary. So it was no surprise that he joined Dewey's campaign to rid the world of them. It would have been his chance for complete revenge.
When the Second Summer of Love occurred and the record interview with Master Norb was published, he didn't believe one bit what the old Vodarak Priest said. When most of U.F.F. had changed in favor of Gekkostate's cause and formed the Republic, he felt betrayed by his own kind, and wanted nothing more to do with them. When the Rebels formed, he was one of the founding fathers.
His squadron's current mission was simple: keep an eye out for any airship to raid of any resources that would be useful to their cause, then report back to one of their hidden home bases. Up until that night, his group had only ambushed two civilian transports, and had yet to find anything worth value. That was until long range scanners picked up the Gekko and the decoy ship. Once they found out who they were, Ivan jumped at the chance to get back to those who turned his people against him. He quickly ordered his group on an intercept course to engage and take them down. They took shelter in the storm nearby to keep Gekkostate from spotting them on radar and sonar. Once they were in firing range, he gave the order to launch all KLFs and attack. And so far, the attack started up well in his favor.
"Confirm hit! Gekkostate has taken damage," reported one of his officers at tactical. "Also confirm – port damage to secondary ship."
"Excellent," said Rankov, with a cold look of satisfaction in his eyes. "Who would have thought we would run into Holland Novak's ship. Now we can finally take out those coralian-loving traitors for all the trouble they had caused us over the years, especially for turning our own proud military against us. Order all KLFs fighters to attack! All batteries to full! I want that ship blown out of the sky!"
"Sir yes sir!" replied one of his subordinates, who directs the rest of the crew. "All batteries to full! Open fire once we're in range!"
As he looked out the window at the Gekko, Rankov managed to crack small evil grin. One that quickly showed just how bloodthirsty he was to have Gekkostate taken out of the picture.
As the Rebels began their assault, Gidget had already radioed Hilda and her group to take off. Once they reached the hanger bay, Hilda, Matthieu, Sumner, and Ruri got to their respected LFOs and quickly got ready to go.
"Matthieu, you ready on your end?" Hilda called out to him.
"Ready here, honey," he replied. "All weapons are fully loaded and battle ready. The 606 is ready for launch."
"505, ready!" said Sumner.
"Flestnia, ready!" said Ruri.
"Holland, this is Hilda. We're all ready to go here."
"Roger that, 808," Holland said over the com, "Opening launch catapult."
Outside, the Gekko's main ramped lowered and the catapult extended. One by one, each of the four LFOs got into launch positions.
"Main Catapult set," Holland replied. "Your all cleared for launch."
"Roger that. Hilda, 808, launching now!" she replied, running her LFO full speed down the ramp and taking off after converting to robot-mode, riding its board into the battlefield.
"Matthieu, 606, launching!"
"Sumner, 505 Kai, launching!"
"Ruri, Azure Flestnia, launching!"
The other three LFOs followed Hilda's, and once all four were transformed they got into formation with Hilda in the lead, ready to start their counter attack.
"Alright, everyone, here's the plan," Hilda explained over the radio. "Sumner, you and Ruri take out the enemy 505s. Matthieu and I will hand the Mon-Soonos. Let's takes these guys out!"
"Roger!" the others replied.
The four LFOs began their attack run.
Sumner and Ruri stayed parallel to each other as they approached their targets. Once the first wave of enemies were in range, Ruri unleashed a volley of missiles, which managed to take out two of the incoming 505s easily and scatter the rest. The couple then split up and after them, with their boomerang knifes drawn. Ruri caught up with her prey and sliced away at the enemy mech's waists, cutting it in half and causing the KLF to explode in clouds of pink trapar. Once that one was dispatched, she went after the others. Sumner on the other hand was engaged in an aerial dogfight between himself and two other 505s. Using his mounted machine guns, his let loose a storm of bullets as he attacked his opponents head-on. Both KLFs managed to evade most of the bullets, and counter attack with a volley of their own. But Sumner anticipated it and weaved hard right, avoiding the weapons fire entirely. He then put the pedal-to-the-metal and speeded right through them, passing within inches of the two. He pulled off the maneuver so fast, that the two enemy pilots didn't see him unleash his blades on them until it was too late.
Matthieu, using his beam weapon, took careful aim and made précised hits on every KLF that came his way, all while weaving left and right, and up and down as the Mon-Soonos tried their best to take him down. But their affords were futile as Matthieu single-handedly took them all out. That was one group of KLFs out, more to go. The next set of enemies came in hot from behind, and took aim with their rifles and fired. They managed to get a few hits on the 606 and cause some damage, but nothing major. Caught off guard from the surprise attack, Matthieu stalled his ref board to fall back straight into them. With his blades out, he sliced away at them once he got to them. The KLFs didn't stand a chance.
Unable to shake off the last KLF of the first wave on her end, Hilda reversed her ref board stance and opened fire. However the enemy quickly dodged the oncoming attack and unleashed a series of missiles. But Hilda saw it coming fast, and quickly sidestepped the counter attack before a single missile could touch her, executing a few barrel-rolls to evade them all. In a bold move, Hilda preformed a reverse cut-back dropturn and took off full throttle, launching herself at the enemy unit. She then reach out toward the KLF's ref board and sent him spinning out of control; but in the process, Hilda got caught in a turbulent spin. She quickly recovered, and then aim her laser cannon at the out-of-control fighter. Her beam weapon fully charge then fired, hitting its mark dead on. The KFL exploded into a fireball. Once that one was taken care, Hilda pilot her 808 onward toward her next group of targets.
Meanwhile, the Gekko and the decoy ship quickly executed evasive maneuvers as the Rebel battleships opened fire. The ships managed to cut hard right while avoiding incoming laser fire. On the bridge, Dominic and Anemone (with Gulliver) had arrived, and like Renton and Eureka before, questioned what was going on.
"What's happening, Holland?" Dominic asked.
"We're under attack," he simply replied.
"It's the Rebels," Talho explained, "They were in hiding in the thunder storm nearby, and we didn't see until it was too late."
"Right now Hilda and the others are out there taking care of the KLFs," Hap added, "while we try to take care of the three battleships."
"Have you contacted the Izumo?" Anemone asked.
"The Admiral said he's on his way," Gidget answered. "They'll arrive in about 5 minutes."
At that moment, the enemy battleships launched another volley of laser fire. Gekkostate quickly evaded the attack, but not before the lasers managed to hit their shields again, causing the ships to rock again.
"Status report!" ordered Holland.
"That last attack nearly got us, Holland," Axel replied. "Our shields are down to 50."
"This the Decoy Ship," reported a male voice over the radio, "Our shields are almost gone! We can't take much more of this!"
"Doggie, keep us steady."
"Roger that, leader," Moondoggie replied as he steered the ship.
"Maestro?"
"I'm on it," Ken-Goh complied. "Main cannons firing now!!"
After coming about, the Gekko fired its main cannons, firing six laser beams at its targets. One of the enemy frigates took a direct hit, losing its shields before being destroyed completely by the blast. The other frigate managed to survive, but its shields were now gone. The Destroyer's shields took the full force of the blast.
On the Destroyer's bridge, Rankov and crew held on tightly as the ships rocked back and forth from the attack.
"Report!" he shouted at his men.
"Our shields are down by 45.4," one of his officers replied. "We also lost one of our frigates."
"Sir! Most of our fighters have been destroyed," reported another.
Rankov was now more pissed than ever. But a moment later he calmed down. Hopefully his next attack will finish them off.
"It seems I underestimated Holland Novak and his crew," he said. "Prepare to fire out primary weapon: The Eclipse Cannon!"
"Yes sir! Eclipse Cannon coming online!"
The Eclipse Cannon he said? It's a new weapon the Rebels had been developing for their next encounter with the Republic. So far, only a few of their destroyers have the weapon installed. Rankov's ship was lucky to be one of the first have it built in. So far, Rankov didn't get the chance to test it on any live targets – just decoys. Now he would see if the weapon lived up to its name.
A panel on the top surface of the ship opened up, and out raised a large menacing looking cannon, consisting of a main body where the generator was stored, and a large shaft. Once it rose from its compartment, the lights throughout the shaft lit up as the weapon came online and the generator powered up, roaring to life. The borrow of the cannon started to glow bright blue as electricity started to erupt all round it. Soon, the weapon was ready to go.
"Battery at full! Eclipse Cannon fully charge!" reported the tactical officer.
And with a wave of his demanding hand, Rankov shouted "FIRE!!"
A huge bright blast of light shot out from and cannon, heading straight for its targets. Any KLF that was within a few feet of the huge beam was destroyed. Luckily, Hilda and her group weren't caught in the blast. Everyone on the bridge of Gekkostate saw the blast coming right for them.
"Incoming!" shouted Hap.
"Doggie, hard to starboard!" shouted Holland.
"Hard to starboard!" replied Moondoggie as he steered the ship hard right.
Gekkostate made a hard right to avoid the attack. However, the end of their left wing was caught in the blast. Once the beam hit, it went right through the shields like a knife through butter, and completely disintegrated the wing tip all the way down to the already damaged VRF unit, destroying it as well. As for the Decoy Ship, they weren't so lucky. Once the last of their shielding was gone, their ship literally melted away in the blast. They were gone.
The blast from the eclipse cannon caused the now damaged Gekko to lose altitude. They started a descent to the ground below. On the bridge, Renton and Eureka held their kids tightly as they screamed, while both them and Dominic and Anemone and Gulliver held on to the rails, and everyone else held on to their consoles for support as the ship fell.
"We've been hit!" shouted Jobs on the com, "Left #4 VRF is destroyed!"
"Shields are gone!" Axel said.
"We're going down!" shouted Holland.
Smoke exhausted from the damaged section of the Gekko as it went down. While everyone was in a panic, Holland looked out the window to see if there any place on the ground where they could land without getting killed. He quickly spotted exactly what they needed – a large field big enough for a runway. It was exactly what he was looking for.
"Doggie, try to aim for that field there!"
Eyeing a field on the ground nearby, Moondoggie adjusted course to land the ship there. Once he had the ship aimed at his targeted destination, Doggie tried his best to keep the ship steady. As they continued their descent, Holland could only pray that they would make it out alive after this. Once the ship got close to the ground, Moondoggie brought the nose up so that they would land on their belly.
"Brace for impact!!" Holland shouted, as he and everyone on the ship held on to something for support as they prepared to crash.
A few moments later, the Gekko made a violent landing as it hit the ground hard. The sudden impact jolted everyone out of their seats and send them all flying to the floor. The Thrustons and the Sorels managed to grab hold of the stairway handles for dear life as the ship rocked heavily. Sparks from some of the station consoles erupted as they took damage. In engineering, Jobs and Axel were thrown out of their seats as well but managed to grab hold of the consoles and hold on for dear life. In Sick Bay and the Lab, Mischa, Stoner, Bear, and Sonia were literally thrown to the ground by the force of the impact. Some for their equipment went flying off the tables and shelves and either breaking or causing a bigger mess. In the lab, the transparent casing that held the black emerald finally fell to the ground. The impact was so great, that the case's hatch broken open, causing the emerald to be thrown out and rolling on the floor. After dragging across the ground for a while, the Gekko finally came to a halt.
High above, Hilda and her group witnessed what had happened, and immediately tried hailing the ship to see if they were ok.
"Holland! This is 808, do you read me?" So far, no response. The Gekko just laid there on ground, with smoke rising from the damaged left wing. The rest of the ship was still perfectly intact, and didn't look like any further damage was done, but Hilda couldn't be sure. She tried radioing them again, "Gekkostate, please come in! Gidget? Hap? Talho?! Answer me!"
Matthieu, Ruri, and Sumner looked on at the scene with worried expressions. What if they didn't survive the crash? Before they could ponder further, they were quickly brought back to reality when they noticed they were being fired upon by the remaining KLFs. Ruri wasted no time as rage took over. The Flestnia quickly took off toward the two enemy mecha that were firing at her, with her boomerang blades drawn. As fast as lightning, she immediately destroyed the two fighters.
"Come on guys!" she radioed the others, "We've got to get down there and see if they're ok!"
"You got it, Ruri!" replied Matthieu. "Let's go, honey!"
"Roger," she Hilda, shedding away her tears.
"Copy that," said Sumner as he set course.
The four LFOs quickly made a bee-line down to their fallen comrades, letting the remaining three KLFs go.
A few minutes later, the four LFOs made a landing on the top of the hanger section of the Gekko, in front of the upper hanger doors. Hilda then got out of the 808's cockpit and jumped down on to the hull to get to the manual door controls. Matthieu climbed out of the 606 and join her moments later.
"Can you get the hanger bay doors open?" he asked his fiancée.
"Just give me a minute," Hilda answered as she worked on getting the upper hanger doors open.
"Sumner, Ruri, you two stay here and keep those remaining KLFs off our backs."
"Roger," replied Ruri.
Rankov was smiling with an cold expression of satisfaction on his face. He had finally taken down the Gekko. He felt victorious at last.
"Confirm! Gekkostate has been shot down," said his tactical officer, "and the secondary ship destroyed."
"Excellent!" Rankov said with pride, "Now prepare to fire one of our new homing missiles and blow them to kingdom come-"
But before he could execute his command, his ship violently rocked, jolting him and his crew out of their seats and falling to the steal floor. Outside, the last frigate was completely destroy by a beam of light, exploding to pieces and debris falling to the ground below. The destroyer itself finally lost its shields and took on some damage, recovering a few minutes later. Back on the bridge, Rankov got to his feet and demanded what was going on.
"REPORT!" he yelled in a rage, "Who fired that shot?!"
"Sir! There's a new enemy ship approaching off our port bow!" reported the officer at radar. "It's the Super Izumo!"
"WHAT?!"
Rankov looked outside, and out in the distance spotted her – Jurgen's battleship had finally arrived, with three of their KLFs leading the way. They were the ones who fired their laser cannons, after finally arriving to help their friends.
"Confirm hit, the enemy frigate has been completely destroyed," said Alice as she reported from tactical.
"The enemy destroyer has lost shields and has also taken damage," added Harsh who was with her.
"Hamilton, have you radioed the Gekko?" asked Jurgens from his station.
"Yes, I've tried, and we're getting no response," Gillian reported, "However, I did contact Sumner, and he said they're going onboard to see if everyone's ok."
"In that case, let's take care of this troublesome group once and all. Fire all missiles!"
Following his command, Alice, Harsh, and the main tactical officer prepared to fire their missiles. On the wing sections of the ship, the missile compartments opened up, revealing hundreds of homing missiles. Once they got a clear aim, the Izumo launched its attack, firing the missile storm right at the enemy. The missiles found their target, and on impact they caused major damage to the Rebel Destroyer's wings. The impact of the missile attack cause the destroyer to buckle yet again, causing Rankov and his men to nearly fall once more.
The last three Rebel KLFs tried to defend their ship, but the Izumo's KLFs dispatched them quickly before they could even flinch.
"Sir! All our KLFs have been destroyed!" said the Rebel officer at tactical.
Rankov's response to say the least wasn't very pleasant. In a fit of rage, he quickly grab his tactical officer by the collar of his uniform and brought him to eye level with him. As he look down on his subordinate with a face so angry, he looked like he was possessed by the devil himself, "FIRE THE ECLIPSE CANNON, YOU IDIOT!!"
"S-sorry, sir, but the cannon's still r-recharging," the tactical manage to say, fearing what the General would do to him, "It needs at least a-another minute."
Idiot! Why didn't he remember that? The downside to the eclipse cannon was the time it needed to recharge between attacks. In a blind rage, Rankov threw his subordinate, with all his strength, right at the back wall of the bridge, causing him to lose consciousness once he hit the floor.
He couldn't believe that he was losing this battle, not to Gekkostate, but to one of his former Federation comrades. How could things get any worse?
On the Izumo's bridge, Jurgens and Maria looked on with confidence. It was time to finish this confrontation once and for all.
"Care to do the honors?" he asked his wife.
"Gladly," Maria said, then ordering the crew, "All batteries to full! Bring all laser turrets online and target the enemy's main hull! AND FIRE!!"
Alice, Harsh, and the tactical officer gladly followed that order with grins.
Outside, the Super Izumo brought all its laser cannons online, and once they were aimed at the destroyer, all hell broke loose. The storm of laser fire went straight for its target, hitting the ship dead on. The result caused the Rebel destroyer to lose all its VRFs in the process of receiving further damage, including the destruction of its new eclipse cannon.
Soon the destroyer started to lose altitude and began a violent descent to the ground. On the bridge, Rankov and his crew braced for impact once they reached the ground minutes later. Once the destroyer made contact with the ground, it dragged itself across the land for a good mile and a half before screeching to a halt near some hills. The destroyer now laid on the ground like a dead heap, smoke raising out of the damaged sections. Both wings almost completely torn off. There was no sign off any activity. It looked like the day was won.
"Confirm! Enemy destroyer is down!" cheered the tactical officer, resulting in a few claps and cheers from the rest of the bridge crew.
"Status report," asked Jurgens.
"All Rebels have been dispatched," reported the radar officer. "There are no further signs of Rebel activity."
"Excellent." Jurgens then leaves his seat and heads for the door, "I'm taking a shuttle down to the Gekko and see if they're ok. Kids, Maria, let's go."
"Sir! Requesting permission to accompany you?" asked Hooky.
Jurgens didn't want to waste time, and quickly responded, "Very well. You and Lt. may join us. Cmdr. Stevenson, you're in charge until we return."
"Sir, yes sir!" replied Stevenson, the tactical officer.
With that, the Jurgens family and Hooky and Gillian leave the bridge.
Back on the Gekko, Hilda finally managed to get the up hanger doors open. Once the doors were opened, the four LFO pilots climbed down the emergency ladder to the main deck and checked things out. The whole hanger was a mess, but nothing that couldn't be fixed or cleaned up. They then head up the stairs to the main corridor and down the hall. The four split up into teams of two, with Sumner and Ruri heading down to engineering, while Hilda and Matthieu headed for the bridge.
Once Sumner and Ruri made it to the engine room, they found Axel and Jobs recovering from the crash. Jobs had the first aid kit, and quickly bandaged up a wound on Axel's arm.
"You guys alright?" asked Ruri.
"Yeah, we're find," said Axel, "Just a scratch."
"I'm ok," replied Jobs. "What about Holland at the others?"
"Hilda and Matthieu are heading for the bridge now," said Sumner.
Meanwhile on the bridge, Renton and his family recovered from their fall during the crash. They checked one another for any injuries. Nothing, they were alright. They acted quickly as they went to check on the others. Dominic and Anemone were alright as well, even though Anemone received a small bruise on her temple. Dominic had a sore arm, but nothing else. Gulliver was curled up into a ball on the floor, and he quickly uncoiled once he was OK. Eureka helped up Woz and Gidget who fell out of their seats. Both of them were hurt a little, but nothing too serious to worry about. Eureka immediately got out the first aid kit from behind the radar/communications consoles and treated their injuries. Hap and Ken-Goh were both alright, but Moondoggie received a cut on his forehead. He quickly got out another first aid kit from under his seat and quickly got to treating it. Holland and his wife and son were ok as they covered from the floor. It was miracle that baby Charles received no injury what-so-ever.
"You ok, Talho?" asked Holland, holding on to his wife.
"Yeah, I'm ok, so is Charles," she replied.
"Everyone else ok?"
"We're ok here, Holland," said Renton.
"We're fine too," added Anemone.
"Yeah, we're fine, leader," said Moondoggie as he finished treating is injury.
"Can you guys give me ship's status?"
Hap and Ken-Goh got back in their seats and check the ship's status.
"We lost our left #4 VRF unit back there, along with the wing it was attached to," reported Hap. "Main thrusters seem to be intact."
"We also suffered damage to the catapult as well as our main cannons," Ken-Goh reported.
"OK, what about the rest of the ship?" asked Dominic.
"Communications seem to be out," answered Gidget once she got back to her feet and seated at her station, "I can't reach anyone outside. We still have the com link, though."
Holland tries to call Jobs and Axel on the comm., "Jobs! Axel! You ok?"
"Yeah, we hear you, Holland, we're ok down here," Axel replied.
"Engineering seems to be ok and still intact," added Jobs.
At the moment, Hilda and Matthieu arrived.
"Everyone ok over here?" asked Hilda.
"Yeah, Hilda, we're all ok," answered Maurice, while Maeter picked up Gulliver.
Holland then tries radioing the lab and sick bay.
In the Lab, Mischa tended to Sonia's injuries. She had a mild concussion, but nothing more. Her ex-husband's injuries have already been taken care of. He got a small head-bleed, and got it bandaged. Stoner was not juried at all.
"Mischa! Is everyone alright down there?" Holland called on the intercom.
"Yeah, Holland, we're alright," she replied. "The lab and sick bay are a bit of a mess, but otherwise OK."
"Good. I'm glad to hear that."
Mischa and the others then proceeded to checking the damage to the lab, unaware that the black emerald was slowly starting to hum and pulsate as it began to glow brighter.
A few minutes later, Jurgen's shuttle arrived and landed on top of the ship next to the upper hanger doors. Once the admiral and his family and officers disembarked, they took the ladder down to the main hanger deck and proceeded down the corridors to check on the crew. A few minutes later, the nine of them made it to the bridge.
"Holland, are and your crew alright?" the admiral asked.
"Yeah, we're ok, Michael, thanks for coming," he said. "Let's see if can get the ship back up and running."
Back on the now wreaked bridge of the down destroyer, Rankov struggled as he crawled up to the tactical station. Most of his bridge crew died in the crash, but that didn't mean he was giving up without one last trump card up his sleeve. He quickly manage to reach the controls for the ship's still functional twin mega homing missiles – another new feature to the ship. The missiles themselves were two large homing missiles packed with enough explosives to destroy an enemy base. His plan is the fire them at the Gekko and send them straight to hell – and that's exactly what he planned to do with his last breath.
Once at the console, he prepped the missiles for launch. He quickly inputs the coordinates into the missile's guidance system, then arms them. Using a key he had with him, he quickly opens the glass case covering a red button – the launch button.
He looks out to where Gekkostate crashed, and managed to spit out the famous words of his favorite book, ". . . from hell's heart I stab at thee!"
With that, he lands his fist right on the button. He expressed a grin, knowing that this move will seal Gekkostate's fate.
A panel on top of the ship opens up, and two large missile vertically launch, taking off high into the skies.
Back on the bridge of the Super Izumo, the radar officer spotted the missiles on his radar.
"Sir! The Rebel Destroyer somehow managed to fire a couple homing missiles!" he reported.
"Can you tell me where they're heading?" asked Stevenson.
"Checking…Sir! Their trajectory has them aimed for the Gekko!"
This was not good. The admiral and the others were still onboard!
"How long until they hit?"
"If their speed remains constant, in 4 minutes, 20 seconds."
Stevenson had to act quickly, "Lt. Azuka, contact the Admiral! Tell him he better get Holland and the others out of there!"
"Yes sir!" the communications officer replied.
Back on the Gekko, Jurgens and his family were help Holland and the others repair some of the damage consoles, when Stevenson contacted Maria on her communicator.
"This is Maria Jurgens, what going on?" she asked as she talk into her head set.
"We got trouble! The Rebel Destroyer managed to launch two missiles directly for you! You got about 4 minutes to evacuate everyone off the ship!"
This surprised Maria in a bad way. She quickly told everyone what's going on.
"Everybody listen up! The Rebel ship managed to fire some missiles at us! We got to get out of here now!"
Hearing the bad news, Holland took over, "Quickly, everyone! Abandon ship!"
"Holland! This is Stoner, you better get down here quick! Something freaky is happening with the emerald!"
"Let's go everyone!"
Nobody argued, not even Jurgens, as they all followed Holland up the stairs and down the corridor to the lab.
About half a minute later, the whole gang arrived at the lab, were bright light began to pulse. Holland knew right away it had to be the emerald's doing. Once they all arrived, they found a bewildered Stoner, Bear, Mischa, and Sonia staring at the emerald.
The black gem rose from the floor and began to hover a few feet in the air, in the center of the room, pulsing brightly as it began to rotate faster than normal. It began to hum as it did so. Almost everyone was fixated on it. What the hell was it doing now? The brightness soon got a bit brighter and it began to spin faster. Its purple glow soon pulsed white as the inside of the emerald pulsed transparent with a blue inner glow.
A few moments later, Axel, Jobs, Sumner, and Ruri soon arrived, and they saw what was happening.
"What the hell is going on? What is it doing?" said Axel.
"You're guess is as good as mine, Grandpa," Renton said.
That's when Anemone and Eureka's coralian senses kicked in. Something was happening.
"What's going on?" thought Anemone. "What's this feeling I'm getting?"
"Is it, the emerald?" thought Eureka.
At that point, Gulliver leaped from Maeter's arms and ran up to the emerald. He looked at it curiously for a moment before he jumped to try and grab it. This scared Anemone as she quickly ran to her pet badger and tried to grab him.
"No Gulliver! Get back!" she yelled as she grabbed him, just as he was knocked back by the emerald's power.
Grabbing him, Anemone fell on her back as she saw the emerald begin to glow even brighter. Dominic rushed to her side and took her hand as she got up.
"You alright?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"Holland, we have to get outta here!" Jurgens pleaded.
Dr. Bear, on the other hand, was speechless as he stared at the event before him, "…Incredible."
The two large homing missiles continued their vertical claim for a few more moments. Once they reach a high enough altitude, the programming kicked in as they changed their direction and head downward.
The missiles then increased their speed as they began their vertical dive straight for the Gekkostate ship below.
Back on the Izumo, the radar officer quickly took note of this development.
"Sir! The missiles have increased their speed!" he reported.
That was not what Stevenson wanted to hear. Now he had the right to worry.
"When will they hit?" he asked.
The answer he got confirmed one thing – they weren't going to make it out in time.
The emerald's pulse soon increased to the point where the emerald stayed glowing bright white with the blue inner glow. Soon electricity begun to spark from it, causing Gidget and Moondoggie, as well as a few others, to jump back a bit in surprise. The emerald's spin was so fast, it seemed like a blur. The humming soon got louder and louder to the point were it could heard throughout the whole ship. Maurice, Maeter, and Linck were starting to get a bit scared at what they witnessing. Maria warned the others that time was wasting.
"We got to get out of here, guys!" she said.
"What about the emerald?!" said Sonia. "We can't just leave it here!"
"We might have to," said Mischa, "we don't have a choice!"
Renton held his family close as they continued to stare at the emerald.
"What's happening?" was all that Renton could think of.
As he continued to stare, the only thing Matthieu could was, "…Guys?"
Maeter, on the other hand, due to her freight, felt that something bad was going to happen, and couldn't take it anymore. "LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!!"
But before anyone could move, a bright blinding light overtook the whole room, causing everyone present to cover their eyes.
Once the missiles had reach their target, a huge dome of bright, white light erupted from where the Gekko stood.
Back on the Super Izumo, Stevenson and his crew witnessed what had happened. Most of them were thinking the same thing – the worst had finally happened. Not only have they lost Holland, Renton Thruston, and the rest of Gekkostate, but also their beloved Admiral and his family as well.
"…No. It can't be," was all that Stevenson could say.
Just then, they witnessed something really strange. The dome of light began to collapse on itself, getting smaller and smaller. Some the dome began a small sphere that continued to shrink, until it winked out of existence all together. On ground, there was no debris, no crater of any kind.
Stevenson was stumped. What just happen? A normal explosion wouldn't collapse on itself like that.
"What the hell? What happened?"
"Sir! Look at that," pointed one of the other officers out to where the explosion occur.
What Stevenson and the others saw defied all know laws of physics.
The two missiles, still intact, were suspended in the air above the area where the dome of light stood. It was like time had frozen all around them. The two columns of smoke exhaust were still raising out of the rockets above.
"What the hell?!" Stevenson manage to say.
Then, without warning, the time restored itself as the missiles then fell right to the ground and detonated, creating a small mushroom cloud from the resulting explosion.
Stevenson was now more confused than ever before. If those missiles didn't destroy the Gekko, then what happened to them? Where did they go?
Renton found himself falling in the same sea of bluish green light from his dream. This time, he was fully awake. His whole body felt like it was on fire as wave after wave of energy flooded him. The sensations were indescribable, as he had never felt it before. But somehow it felt comforting, making him feel more relaxed. There was no pain, but a sense of calm.
As the young man fell, he found himself staring at something. It was the image of the black emerald, along with the other seven emeralds, including the giant emerald, from his dream. The image then changes to some strange looking creature. Whatever it was, it was too blurry to make out, but he could see that it was blue in color, with what looked like quilts on its head. It was humanoid, kind of, wearing what he could make out was red shoes and white gloves. It had in its hand some kind of strange, oddly-shape board. It quickly threw the board out in front of it, jump on, and took off fast as lightning. All the while, the voices of Master Norb, Sakuya, Diana, and his father Adrok spoke out in union:
"The servers are the chaos. Chaos is power. Power enriched by the heart. The Controller unifies the chaos. Find the blue wonderer who travels with the winds. Let him and his allies guide you."
"W-what?" pondered Renton, "What is that?"
But Renton couldn't find the answers, as he now yelled out as he continue to fall, with Eureka, Dominic, Anemone and Gulliver, the kids, Axel, Holland, Talho and her baby, Hap, Stoner, Ken-Goh, Hilda, Matthieu, Dr. Bear, Sonia, Mischa, Jobs and Woz, Moondoggie, Gidget, Sumner, Ruri, Hooky, Gillian, and the Jurgens family falling along with him.
None of them had any clue what was happening to them. To them, they were simply falling, screaming for their lives. But what they didn't realize was that they were falling through the barriers of time and space. Through the boundaries of reality itself. Crossing from one universe into the next.
They had become victims of a teleporting ability…known as Chaos Control.
Author's Notes: Sorry for the long wait, but I was writing this chapter little by little at a time. At times, I was writing scenes at the seat of my pants kinda. Like the first scene in chapter 2, the beginning of this chapter with the take off and air show was inspired by the songs "Lifting Off," and "Set Your Controls" by Star One. They are great songs, I highly recommend you look them up on youtube.
For the reunion dinner, I wanted an Italian theme, so I went to the olive garden website to look up the names of the appetizers and main courses. Also note, I added jalapeno pizza to the menu as a tribute to Jedi Master Yoda and Sionn's Jedi Reloaded Trilogy. I highly suggest you read it.
Finally, the final moments of this chapter were inspired directly by the final scenes from the first episode of Vandread.
Well, that's it for Renton's universe. The rest of the story will now take place in Sonic's world.
Next Chapter: After a near rush with death, the black emerald has tranported our heroes away from danger. But they soon discover that they aren't on their Earth anymore...