Chapter 12 - The Dock Colony

"Rubedo!" Topaz cried as she saw the figure of a red-haired boy a few feet in front of her.

Rubedo answered, "Peridot? Is it really you?"

"Yes! It's really me! I've finally found you!" Topaz said happily after receiving a grin from Rubedo.

While she was running to her long-lost friend's open arms, the figure of a girl appeared out of nowhere and blocked her path. Topaz stopped abruptly, and addressed the girl in her way.

"MOMO! Get the hell outta my way, dammit! I wanna see Rubedo!" Topaz screamed.

MOMO responded, "Do you think I care what you want? Of course not. You'll never find him. No matter how hard you try."

She ended her answer with the giggle again. This time, however, the giggle turned into something more. Something more evil, more maniacal. It echoed through Topaz's ears over, and over, and over... MOMO then turned around to face Rubedo and disappeared with him. The moment Topaz saw this, she collapsed, tears flooding down her tiny face.

Topaz awoke with quite a start, and began breathing heavy. The dream she just experienced had definitely taken a toll on her emotional status. She sat up, looked over to her left, and saw MOMO sleeping in the bunk bed across from her. Topaz cringed the moment she saw the Realian, so she decided that she would go get a drink to calm herself down. She got out of her bed, and walked quietly to the exit of the room in an effort to not wake Shion who was sleeping above her, or MOMO.

"Rubedo..." Topaz mumbled as the door into the female cabin closed behind her, "I will find you... I promise."

She was walking to the area where the vending machines were, when she heard what sounded like two men talking. For a moment, she thought it was Tony and Hammer, but she then realized that one of the voices was Commander Cherenkov. She was feeling nosy, so she walked over to the area where she heard the voices coming from. She caught the last bit of the conversation while she approached, something about Cherenkov being told to return to Headquarters to be dealt with at a later time. Once she finally saw the Commander, the screen disappeared before she could catch a glimpse of who he was talking to.

"Huh? Who were you talking to just now?" Topaz asked Commander Cherenkov.

The Commander answered, "N - nobody you need to know about. Shouldn't you be asleep or something?"

"I... couldn't sleep. I kinda... had a nightmare. A bad one... I came out to get a drink, when I heard you talking to somebody," Topaz explained to the now seemingly irritated Commander.

Cherenkov responded, "I see. I'm sorry, but it's none of your business who I was talking with. Now, if you'll excuse me..."

The Commander walked past Topaz as he headed back to the male cabin. What? None of my business? If it was someone from the Federation, it sure as hell is my business! What is up with that dude? She was very curious as to who Cherenkov was speaking with, but she realized that she was not going to get any information about the subject, no matter how hard she tried. Topaz went to the vending machines and bought herself a small cup of orange juice--her favorite drink. As she drank, a feeling of extreme loneliness overtook her. She still felt alone and frightened over the dream she had only a few minutes ago.

About half-an-hour later, Captain Matthews emerged from the male cabin, along with the rest of the Elsa crew. Topaz and the crew exchanged greetings with one another, then headed to the bridge, where they sent an announcement to wake up the other passengers and inform everyone that they were already beginning to enter the dock colony. Shion entered the bridge a little while after the ship docked, and asked where Topaz and the Commander were. Hammer then advised Shion to check outside for Cherenkov and Topaz, since the Commander said something about finding a charter flight, and Topaz wanted to purchase some items for the trip. That triggered a nervous remark from Matthews--military personnel were not liked at the colony.

Shion then went with chaos to retrieve Ziggy to help look for Topaz and Cherenkov. Meanwhile, Topaz was in the Dock Colony's items and equipment shop, looking for goods, while ignoring the disgusted looks she got from civilians. Why are all these people looking at me like that? They don't even know me... Ugh, I hate all of 'em already... Bastards... She walked up to the counter to pay for the items she had selected, when some mean looking men entered the shop and began to eye her. Topaz decided to leave the items where they were, and exited the shop, only to be unknowingly followed by the men. She started to feel as if she was being followed, so she broke into a run, causing the men behind her to give chase.

"Leave me alone, or I'll make you regret it!" Topaz screamed at her pursuers as they stormed after her.

She ran until she found a place to turn right and went that way. Topaz then found herself in an alleyway, where she saw Cherenkov standing around, looking somewhat troubled himself. She yelled at him to run without even thinking that he did not have anywhere to run, either. She reached him, and the street punks caught up to the two of them. Topaz prepared to defend herself, when the commander told her to lower her fists; soldiers were not supposed to harm civilians under any circumstance.

"But...! Commander...! If we don't do something, they'll -" Topaz was cut off as she received a strong punch in the stomach from one of the street punks.

Topaz fell to the ground and attempted to get up, when she was kicked in the face by another punk; Cherenkov received a hit, as well. She yelled to the commander, only to be struck hard again.

Cherenkov got up and yelled, "Topaz! Close your eyes! Now!"

Immediately afterwards, an insignia that looked something like the letter "X" appeared on the commander's forehead. Before Topaz could question him, a bright light, which temporarily blinded her, emanated from Cherenkov. When she regained her vision, she got up and looked around. Every single one of the punks had been thrown a few feet away and were bleeding, critically injured, and unconscious.

"...Commander...? D - did you do all this? H - how?" Topaz barely managed to get out.

Cherenkov uneasily responded, "Hmm? I - I didn't do anything. Anyway, our attackers are immobilized, so let's head back to the Elsa before they wake up and try to harm us again."

"Uh... Um... Okay, "Topaz said as she followed the commander and began the return trip to the Elsa.

Once they returned, Cherenkov and Topaz ran into MOMO. She didn't bother to question them, instead, she took them to Ziggy's maintenance room to treat them using the medical kit she had stored there. Topaz was not thrilled with the idea, nor was the commander. However, both had very different reasons for their discontentment over the situation. MOMO chose to treat Topaz first using nanosurgery, which involved a needle, so Topaz was mortified; needles were a major phobia of hers.

"Topaz? It's okay. It'll only hurt for a second! You don't have to be scared," said MOMO to try and calm down her comrade.

Topaz nervously muttered, "Um... Do you have to use a needle? I really don't like -", then she received the shot, causing her to utter a quiet grunt of discomfort.

"Okay! Sorry about that, but you're done! You should begin to heal in a few minutes," MOMO gently told a shaky Topaz.

"Oh, I see. Thanks," Topaz said, and received a smile from the little Realian.

MOMO proceeded to treat the Commander, but he absolutely refused to let her help him at all. Shortly afterwards, Shion's group entered the room. Shion asked Cherenkov what happened, so he told her that he and Topaz got cornered by some street punks, but they left once the men began fighting amongst themselves. He gave Topaz a stern look when he saw her attempt to say otherwise, then he said he was fine. MOMO interrupted to say that he was not fine at all, and he wouldn't let her treat his injuries.

Cherenkov apologized and said that it was because he didn't like nanosurgery. Ziggy interrupted and told MOMO that he needed some help to check his body for problems. Shion then began to try and treat the Commander, but shortly after, he made a remark to MOMO and Ziggy, then left the room.

"Hmm... I wonder if the Commander's truly all right..." Shion muttered.

Topaz said, "Me too. I hope he is, though... Now that I think about it, he's been acting kinda weird ever since he was attacked by that Gnosis awhile back..."

Topaz and the others then made their way to the bridge and told Captain Matthews that they were ready to head out again. Once the Elsa disembarked from the Dock Colony, Shion decided that it was finally time to call it a day. The minute Topaz returned to the cabin, and lay down on her bed, she fell into a deep sleep; she was utterly exhausted from the day she had.