-1Chapter 10- the war begins

"Talho, are we ready to go?" asked Holland.

"Yes we are. All repairs and upgrades are complete. Re-supplying of weapons systems, food, and everyday items are done." said Talho. "We're ready to go whenever you are."

"That's good to hear." Holland replied. "Is everyone back on the ship and ready to go?"

"Not yet. A few of them are still getting a few last minute things done and ready. They should be here shortly."

"That's fine. Is Doggie at the controls?"

"Yes he is and he's ready to go."

"Alright, have him move the ship outside of the hangar for final inspection before we take off."

"Roger that. Anything else my dear husband?" Holland smirked at her last comment and said "No, that's all for now. Let's get ready for pre-flight. We'll be taking off shortly."

"Alright will do." Talho replied. Holland then looked at her and with a serious tone he asked "Are we even ready for this?"

"We have to be. We'd be in trouble if we weren't."

"Yeah I know. I'm just a little worried that's all."

"I think we all are Holland. But we'll make it through this just like we did before."

"I sure hope so." Holland replied as he looked off into the far mountain horizons with a determined look to his face.

Meanwhile on the ship, everyone had boarded and were making their last minute preparations before they left Tresor. Doggie was at the controls and had already moved the ship out of the hangar for final inspection. Holland and Talho were in the lounge with Dr.Morita going over the final paperwork with him before he left the ship. Renton and Eureka were checking on their kids to make sure they had everything they needed while they looked over the final details of the Nirvash. Gidget and Woz were on the bridge going over final flight checks, radar, and take off clearances. Hap was keeping tabs on the trapar while Ken-Goh was going over the weapons systems. Jobs was in the engine control room going over the systems down there while Hilda, Matthieu, Dominic, and Anemone were going over the final details on the rest of the LFO's along with Axel also since he was so picky about them. Soon enough, everyone on the ship was ready to go.

"Hap, how are those trapar counts looking?" asked Holland.

"Looking good." he replied.

"Engine room?"

"Flywheel is engaged. We can take off at any time." Jobs replied.

"How about radar?"

"No enemies in sight. We're good to go." said Woz

"What about clearance to take off?"

"Clearance confirmed! We can leave at any time!" said Gidget.

"Safety locks are all on. Weapons systems confirmed ok. We're good to go." said Ken-Goh.

"Roger that." said Holland. "Doggie, light the boosters! Let's start this war. If it's a battle they want it's a battle they get."

"Roger!" Doggie replied. He then lit the booster engines and the GekkoState left Tresor to start a battle that could either save the world or end it once and for all.

"You nervous Eureka?" asked Anemone. Her and Eureka were sitting in the lower lounge part of the cockpit watching the sky get closer as the ship gained altitude. Renton was in the dining hall with the kids while Dominic and Axel were in the hangar looking over the Venturion since Axel saw some flaws he didn't like.

"Yeah a little." Eureka replied as she held her hand over her stomach. Anemone noticed this right away and got a worried look on her face.

"Worried about the baby?"

"More scared than anything." Eureka replied. "I'm almost a month in already and I just don't want to have this child in the middle of a war."

"That's understandable." said Anemone.

"Totally." said Talho who came downstairs to join them. "Have you and Renton ever thought of where you want to have your baby?"

"No not really." Eureka replied. "I guess that subject never came up."

"Well if you did, what would you do?" asked Anemone.

"I would like to have it here with you guys here on the Gekko, but I would also like to be in Bellforest at home with Renton."

"Well, we could do both." said Talho.

"We can?" asked Eureka.

"Of course." Talho replied. "You can be at home with Renton in Bellforest and we can all be there with you at your side."

"Thanks Talho that would be nice." said Eureka. "Hey Talho, could you and Anemone be there in the room with me when the baby comes?"

"Sure." said Talho in a motherly tone. "I'd be honored."

"So would I." said Anemone.

"Thanks you two. I feel a whole lot better about this now. I guess I had better find Renton and tell him the news."

"You do that." said Talho. "We'll see you later then."

"Bye." said Eureka and she then went on her way to go find Renton.

"Hey Talho, do you think this war will be over by the time the baby comes?" asked Anemone.

"I hope so." Talho replied with a worried tone. "For her and Renton's sake."

Meanwhile, Renton had joined Dominic and Axel in the hangar to check on how the repairs to the Venturion were going.

"How's it coming Dominic?" asked Renton.

"Don't ask me, ask your grandfather." Dominic replied.

"Heh, that bad eh?" Renton replied with a hearty laugh.

"Quiet Renton. Comments like those are going to catch up with you one of these days." said Axel.

"Sorry grandpa. Is the Venturion done and ready to go?"

"Yeah, she's ready no thanks to the army. It should perform a lot better now."

"I hope so." said Dominic. Right after he said that, the ships warning alarm went off.

"Everyone to their ships and stations! A rebel base has been located ahead. Orders from the NFA are to go there and take it out. This is our first strike so let's make it look good." said Talho from the Paging system.

"Well, I guess we'll find out faster than we thought won't we?" said Renton.

"I suppose so." Dominic replied. "Let's load up!"

"Right!" said Renton. As he was climbing into the Nirvash, Eureka came running into the hangar.

"Renton, I have something important to tell you!!"

"You'll have to tell me later Eureka! Get in and get ready! We have orders from the military that we have to take care of first."

"Oh, ok." Eureka replied in sort of a sad tone as she got into the Nirvash.

"Anemone hurry up let's go!" said Dominic as she came running into the hangar.

"I'm coming already!!" she yelled as she climbed into the Venturion. Soon afterwards, Hilda, Matthieu, and Holland ran into the hangar and jumped into the 606, 808, and 909.

"Everyone, this is going to be a strike mission." said Holland over the radio. "Jurgens sent us the location of the base and we're to take it out. So take out any buildings, bunkers, weapons, and LFO's that they have."

"Roger!" they all replied.

"Alright then. Talho, open the catapult!"

"Right!" she replied. With the push of a button, the catapult lowered and they were ready to go.

"909 heading out!" Holland yelled and he jetted off the ship.

"808,606 launching now!" said Hilda and they left the ship.

"Nirvash, Venturion heading out!" said Renton and they launched off the ship.

"Alright everyone be careful. We don't know what we're up against out there." said Holland.

"Roger." they all replied.

At the same time, General Brady of the rebel army was sitting in his office going over paperwork when his bases warning alarm went off. "What the?" he said. He then got up to look out the window to see what was going on. As he did this, several huge explosions rocked the area.

"SIR!!" yelled a soldier who was running towards his office. "Several Federation LFO's are attacking the base! They've already taken out hangars one and two plus communications!"

"Do we know where they came from?"

"Negative sir!" the soldier replied. "All we know is that they have federation codes! That's all we were able to get before they knocked our communications out!"

"Dammit!" said Brady. "Alright then, try to get any remaining LFO's up in the air. Maybe then we'll have a fighting chance here!"

"Yes sir!" said the soldier and he ran out of the office to join the battle.

"I guess the federation army has finally reacted to our first attack. Humph, I guess they're bolder then I thought they were." He then looked out his window again and saw a sight he didn't plan on seeing. "Oh crap!" he yelled as he tried to run out of his office but it was too late. Hilda had taken out him and the building that he was trying to escape in one clean shot.

"The leaders building has been taken out!!" said Hilda over the radio.

"Good job." Holland replied. "Where are Renton and Eureka?"

"They're at our 10 o clock fighting off the remaining rebel LFO's!" said Matthieu.

"Roger that." Holland replied. "I'm going to go back them up. Finish off the base and then head back to the ship!"

"Roger." replied Matthieu and Hilda.

"Nirvash, you got one coming in from behind you!" said Dominic over the radio.

"Roger!" Renton replied. Before he could react to the incoming LFO, it had blown up in a brilliant explosion. "What the?" said Renton as he reacted to the explosion. A few seconds later, Holland came into view on his screen. "909, was that you?"

"Yeah it was. Sorry I'm late." Holland replied.

"It's alright. There's a few more left but it almost seems like they're retreating."

"Not if we can help it." said Holland. "Let's go!"

"Right!" they all replied.

"01, 05, 08, federation units in pursuit!" said unit 03. "Let's turn back and finish them……" and the radio went silent.

"Unit 03 has been taken out!" said unit 01.

"Where did these guys come from?" said unit 08. "It's like they appeared out of nowhere!"

"We don't know." said 05 as they dodged their attackers. "But they're….."

"05 is down!" said unit 01.

"Dammit!!" said 08. "That's it! Those federation scum are mine!!" He then turned his LFO around to take them on in a head on battle.

"08 NO!!!" said 01, but he was too late. He had made his decision. "Well, I'm not waiting around to get myself killed." 01 said to himself. He then took off into the opposite direction towards safety.

"Is this guy nuts?" said Holland as he watched the rebel LFO unit hurdle towards them. "Nirvash, look out!!"

"Right!" they replied. Quickly they dodged to the left but weren't quite fast enough. As they had swung to the left, the rebel unit was able to react and was able to deliver a full force blow to their midsection in a metal crunching crash. The impact was enough to knock the Nirvash off it's board and send it falling through the air.

"CRAP!!" yelled Holland. "Venturion, hurry up and catch them before they crash!! That rebel LFO unit is mine!"

"Roger!" yelled Anemone. They then dived down at full speed after the falling Nirvash.

"Nobody hurts my kids like that. NOBODY!!" yelled Holland as he took off after the rebel LFO. After several minutes of dodging and avoiding Holland's attacks, Holland was finally able to take out the remaining unit once and for all. "Nobody does that to my kids and gets away with it." said Holland to himself after he took the LFO out. He then quickly turned his attention back to the Nirvash. "Venturion, were you able to catch them?"

"Roger!" said Anemone. "But we're heading back to the ship in a hurry! They're not responding to us!"

"Crap!" said Holland. "Gekko, this is 909, do you copy?"

"909 we copy." Talho replied. "Holland what's wrong?"

"Nirvash got taken out in a head on collision with a rebel LFO unit and thrown off their board. Venturion recovered but they're not responding to anyone. Get Mischa ready along with anyone else that can help so we can get them into sick bay right away!"

"Roger that! We'll see you in the hangar in a few minutes!" and the radio went silent.

"Please be ok." said Holland quietly as the Gekko came into view.

Within a minute, all the ships were docked and secured into the hangar of the ship.

"Hurry up and let's get them out of there!" yelled Mischa.

"I'm trying!" said Talho as she jumped onto the Nirvash and tried to open the canopy. "Come on be ok." she said to herself as she went after Eureka. The stress of the situation was starting to bring tears to her eyes since her only daughter was stuck in there.

"Renton!" yelled Holland as he fought to get them out. "Man they're out cold!"

"Clear a path!" yelled Talho as she scooped Eureka into her arms.

"Let's go!" yelled Holland. They then ran up the stairs from the hangar and into Mishca's office with the young couple in their arms.

"Get them on the beds!" said Mischa as she got her equipment out. "I'll take care of them from here."

"Please do." said Talho. "Keep us posted on their conditions ok?"

"I will." Mischa replied. Talho and Holland then left her office so the young couple could be in Mischa's care. When they got into the hallway, Talho just broke down into tears.

"Why them? Especially with a baby on the way! It's just not fair to them with all that they've been through!" she cried.

Holland took his wife in his arms and said "I know how you're feeling Talho. All we can do for now is let Mischa take care of them and hope for the best."

"Yes I know but it still isn't fair." Talho replied. "The least I can do for them is to take care of their kids until they get better."

"That's fine." said Holland. "I'll help you out also. It's the only right thing for me to do."

"Thanks Holland. I suppose we had better go find them and tell them what happened to their parents. They'll be awfully upset."

"Yeah I know. But we can help them get through this, you'll see."

"That's true." said Talho. "Alright then, let's go find them."

A little bit later, Holland and Talho finally found the kids in their room going over their study guides since Eureka wanted them to continue their education.

"Hey kids." said Talho.

"Hi!!" they all replied.

"Uh, we have something to tell you guys about your parents." said Holland.

"What about mama and papa?" asked Maeter with a worried tone to her voice.

"What happened?" asked Maurice worryingly.

"Well, they got into a nasty accident with an enemy LFO and it knocked them off their ref board while knocking them out at the same time." said Holland calmly.

"No not our mama and papa!!" yelled Linck with tears in his eyes.

"Where are they?" asked Maurice in a concerned tone.

"With Mischa right now." Holland replied.

"Are they ok?" asked Maeter with tears in her eyes.

"We don't know yet dear." Talho replied. "Mischa will let us know in a little while."

"Can we see mama and papa?" asked Linck.

"Maybe in a little bit. Let Mischa take care of them first ok?"

"Ok." Linck replied in a depressed tone.

"Until then, we decided that we would watch over you guys until Renton and Eureka can do it on their own again."

"That's fine." said Maurice.

"So, you kids hungry at all?" asked Talho in a motherly tone.

"Yeah!!" said Linck and Maeter.

"How about you Maurice?"

"A little I guess." he replied.

"Well come on then. I'll make you all lunch. Maybe it'll help take your minds off things for a little bit."

"Thanks Talho." Maurice replied.

"For what Maurice?"

"For taking care of us while mama and papa can't."

"It's what we do." said Holland while he put a hand on Maurice's shoulder. "It's because we care about all of you. Now, let's go eat. I'm hungry!"

"Ok." Maurice replied with a smile. They then all headed to the dining room where Talho made lunch for them.

Several hours later day turned into night and there still wasn't any response from either Renton or Eureka. Holland had put Renton and Eureka's kids along with their own son to bed before he himself retired for the night. Talho had decided to sit in the infirmary all night with Renton and Eureka in order to give Mischa some rest since she looked like she needed it. As Talho looked and watched them lay there on the beds, tiredness slowly crept over her and she slowly fell asleep in the recliner chair that Mischa had put in there for her.

The following morning, Renton was the first one to stir and finally wake up. Talho heard this right away even though she was sleeping and jumped out of the chair to join him by his side.

"Eureka?" said Renton as he woke up.

"No Renton it's me Talho."

"Talho?"

"Yes Renton it's me."

"What happened?"

"You got into a nasty collision with a rebel LFO in the last battle. The hit took you out and the Venturion had to recover and carry you home."

"Where are we?"

"In the infirmary." Talho replied. "The hit you took knocked you both out. Me and Holland had to carry you two from the Nirvash to here. You've been out since before lunchtime yesterday."

"Knocked out?" said Renton slowly. Suddenly his eyes got wide and he yelled "EUREKA!!" as he tried to sit up.

"Lay still Renton she's ok." said Talho. "She's laying on the bed to the right of you." Renton then looked to his right and saw Eureka still sleeping on the bed next to him.

"Thank god." said Renton calmly. "Has she woken up yet?"

"No not yet but I'm sure she will soon enough."

"I hope so." Renton replied. "Geez, I hope our baby is ok."

"Yeah me too." Talho replied with a worried tone to her voice.

"Hey Talho, were you in here all night with us?"

"Yeah I was. Someone had to watch over you two."

"Were you able to sleep at all?"

"Yeah I was amazingly."

"That's good." said Renton softly. It was then that Mischa walked into the room.

"Good morning Talho." she said. "I hope you slept ok."

"Yeah I did thanks." Talho replied.

"Hi Mischa." said Renton quietly.

"I see you're finally awake." said Mischa. "What about Eureka?"

"No not yet. We're still waiting." said Talho.

"Ok that's fine." Mischa replied. "Have you tried waking her at all?"

"No I never thought of it. Do you want me to try?"

"If you could please." said Mischa. "I want to see if she'll react at all."

"Ok I'll give it a shot." Talho replied. She then went over to Eureka's bed to try to gently wake her up.

"Eureka, dear, it's your mother. Can you wake up for me?" Talho said softly as she gently rubbed her face with her hand. Amazingly, Eureka reacted to her touch.

"Talho?" said Eureka as she very slowly started waking up.

"Yes dear it's me."

"Where am I?"

"In the infirmary with Renton. You two took a nasty hit in that last battle."

"Renton, is he ok?"

"Yeah he is. He's awake in the bed next to you." Eureka looked to her left and saw Renton laying there looking at her.

"Hi Eureka." said Renton softly.

"Hi dear." she replied as she took her husbands hand.

"You two got lucky out there." said Mischa. "Other than bumps, bruises, and a couple of small concussions, you're both ok."

"What about our baby? Is it ok?" asked Eureka in a excited, worried tone.

"I don't know dear." Mischa replied. "How about we do an ultrasound and find out ok?" Mischa then pulled the machine to over by Eureka's bed and performed the ultrasound.

"Well, everything looks ok." said Mischa. "It's developing nicely by the way it looks and the heartbeat is normal."

"That's good to hear." said Eureka with a sound of relief in her voice.

"Do you want to see it?" asked Mischa.

"Sure!" said Eureka and Renton happily. Mischa then turned the screen so that they could see it.

"There's our child Renton." said Eureka softly and with a warm smile.

"Yeah, it feels great knowing it's ok." said Renton.

"I'm proud of you two for going through with it." said Talho. "You're going to make great parents."

"We already are." Renton replied.

"That is true." said Talho with a smile.

"Alright, everything looks good you two." said Mischa. "But I'm still putting you on bed rest for the next three days just to be safe. Talho, I'm putting you in charge of their care."

"Ok that's fine I've got it all taken care of." Talho replied. "Me and Holland already have their kids handled so I'm sure we can handle these two."

"Good." said Mischa. "Renton, Eureka, Head on off you your room then. It may be a little hard, but I'm sure you can make it."

"I'll be behind them so they'll be fine don't worry." said Talho. "So let's go you two."

"Ok, I'm looking forward to our own bed anyways." said Renton with a laugh. A few minutes later with some help from Talho, the two made it to their room and into their bed.

"Ok you're all settled then." said Talho. "You've got TV, radio, books, and magazines to keep you busy. I'll be keeping the door open so we can keep an eye on things with you two while we do our regular jobs.

"Ok thanks Talho." said Renton.

"No problem." Talho replied. "Now get some rest and we'll see you soon."

"Ok bye." said Eureka and Talho left the room. After she left, the young couple got under their covers, cuddled up close to each other, and fell into a nice peaceful sleep knowing that they were ok and out of harms way.