Winds of Change Book II Distant Thunder

by RGZ Archer

Kai has assembled his team, and the group of seven must now race against both Cyclonia and time itself to prevent a weapon of unimaginable power from falling into the wrong hands. But just whose hands are the wrong hands? Who is their true enemy?

8. First Day On The Job!

Winds of Change Book II: Distant Thunder

Chapter 8: First Day On The Job!

AN: Well chapter 8 is here! I know it took awhile, but some of the scenes in this chapter were hard to write. One in particular I rewrote from the ground up four times. *Shakes fist at muse* Anyways, this is one of the most action oriented chapters I've ever written. Forgive me if it seems to jump around a bit, but it's difficult to write two things happening t the same time in two different places. I hope you enjoy it, and that you will leave me a kind word or two.

Oh, and in case anyone didn't know, I still accept anon reviews!

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will, also I do not own anything related to Legend of the Dragoon or Legend of Zelda. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, Sony Entertainment and Nintendo, however I DO own Kai, Rose, the Shadow crystal, the Wasps, and this story.

Shadow and Griffy are the property of ShadowQueen25

Tigger belongs to ExNarrator01

Marina is Star Wars Nut's

Rondana was made by and owned by MissDedodakes

"Why am I even here?"

Starling shook her head gently as she gazed at the night sky.

It had been so long since she had even bothered looking at it, a fact she still found surprising. Many years ago, almost a lifetime ago it seemed now, she used to spend her nights watching the stars from the roof of her home on terra Mesa. It wasn't uncommon for her to fall asleep and be woken up by the sun's rays. (Which seemed to be brighter in the morning than the rest of the day she remembered.)

Old memories aside, something was wrong, she was sure of it. While she may have been tired, Starling had learned the hard way to never second guess her instincts. They might not always be accurate, but it was easier to fix the problem afterwards on the rare occasion she was wrong, than try and live with the consequences of ignoring them when they were right.

"You too huh?"

Starling didn't flinch, despite being surprised by her former apprentice's sudden appearance. He might have caught her off guard, but she didn't have to let him know that.

"Something's not right here. I don't know what it is, but something's wrong," she said tucking a stay hair behind her ear.

Kai nodded in understanding.

"It's too quiet. I've never seen a desert terra that was as dead at night as it was during the day."

The two surveyed the area with critical eyes. It would be foolish for anything to try sneaking up on them. Aside from the one boulder that was only a few times larger than a skimmer, they had a clear unobstructed view of the surrounding area for several miles.

"Think the others are ok?"

"You know they took a radio with them Kai. Why are you asking me?"

"I'm not sure. If they had run into trouble they would have contacted us or at least fired off a flare."

Starling shivered slightly from the cold night air.

Even though the temperature had been over a hundred all day, it had dropped into the low twenty's at night. A rather large leap from what she was used to.

"You should head back in. We don't need you getting sick with a cold while,"

Starling's eyes flashed and narrowed.

"Same could be said to you. Of course what's a little case of the common cold to someone that just had their ribs reset?" Starling snapped back.

"You know that's not something I have to worry about," Kai said mildly hurt.

"Just, just forget it." Starling excused herself and returned to the ship.

Kai watched her move towards the ship and slumped slightly. He was about to turn back when something moved in the corner of his eye.

"STAR! Watch out!"

Turning towards the shout, Starling saw three blasts of crystal fire coming at her at high speed, then.

Only darkness.

Piper's breath hitched as she saw the six red eyes narrow at her, almost like they were scanning her. She could actually see her reflection in the white metallic mask, along with something red moving behind her, something with two drawn blades.

"GGGRRRRRAAHHH! GET AWAY FROM HER CREEP!"

Piper ducked her head just as a scimitar blade flew out from behind her, heading straight for the masked face.

Gggaggaaa

The creature ducked its head to the side and the blade missed by several inches. Though hitting and/or killing it would have been preferred, it had still served the intended goal of giving Piper a chance to get away.

Now that she was seeing it from a slight distance, Piper had only a single thought, one that Shadow also shared.

"What the heck is that thing?!"

'It' heard them, and seemed to take offence at the remark. Looking over the group, it let out a metallic hissing sound before rising to its full height.

It, just as the Virage before, vaguely resembled a human.

Two arms, two legs, a torso and a head.

Unlike the Virage however, this creature was not organic.

At least not entirely.

Its torso was shaped like a large letter S. The neck and head seemed to be unable to turn except at the point it was connected to the shoulders, effectively making the head both look, and move like a cannon, which was rather ironic considering the rest of the creature's extremities.

Its arms and legs were not only identical in length, but in appearance as well. They looked like long metallic cylinders that had metal balls for both elbows and knees. Additionally, the back seemed to be covered with a thick armored plate. Giving the creature an overall appearance not unlike a grasshopper.

With cannons for arms.

And legs.

Ghhhrrrgggaggggrrrhhhh

"Shadow, any idea what it's saying?"

Shadow gave Piper a 'what-are-you-talking-about-can't-you-see-I'm-a-little-busy-here' look before figuring out what she meant.

At this exact same time, the creature brought up its 'arms' (literally and figuratively) and opened fire.

The six ducked away from the creature's endless barrage of crystal fire behind the relative safety of the skimmers.

Grraaahhahaaaa

Piper looked back over to Shadow.

"Well? Anything? Is it mad? In pain? What?"

Shadow closed her eyes and concentrated as hard as she could, but after a few seconds shook her head and opened them.

"Nothing. I only sense the six of us; it's like that things not even here."

"Not even there? Then WHAT'S SHOOTING AT US!?" Piper shouted.

Ggrrrrgaaaaaaaahhhhh

"Ok Piper, think, Kai told us that the Ancients had organic and technological weapons. Is it possible that they somehow merged the two?"

Peeking her head over the skimmer's seat, she tried to get a better look at the creature.

"It doesn't look like it's completely mechanical. The underside still looks like its skin. But if it's organic, why can't Shadow detect it?"

Sorting and sifting through the information she had memorized from Kai's notes, Piper figured out what had happened, and felt sick to her stomach.

Flashback

"Alright, so basically, the more human like it looks, the more likely it is to kick our cans in a fight." Marina said grimacing.

Kai nodded his head. "Pretty much. They got pretty good at biotech towards the end of the war. At first they only made large weapons and creatures, and while they were, and still are a threat, their size can be used against them. The smaller ones you have to watch out for because they are not as limited in movement or flexibility."

Flashback end

"Oh dear God. Please tell me I'm wrong." Piper thought clutching her stomach.

Flashback

"So it's basically just a giant that we have to avoid or run from?" Marina asked pinching her nose.

Kai looked slightly uncomfortable for a moment, but nodded his head. "For the most part, yes. Like I said, I don't have a lot of experience fighting them, and the only information I have on them…I haven't been able to finish going over."

Everyone looked up at him.

"You have records of one?" Piper asked in a daze.

Kai nodded. "Yes, and its part of the reason I take this work so seriously, and why I destroy everything. I don't want Lark, or the Council, or anyone for that matter finding out how to make them."

"You…don't know how, do you?" Rondana asked, sensing that there was more to this than Kai was letting on.

"No, I don't know how to make one; I have a….understanding of what happens."

"You're going to have to explain it better than that." Starling said narrowing her eyes.

"I know one of the key ingredients, so while I don't know exactly what is done to make it, I do know what is required to make one. And no, I will not tell you, nor anyone what is needed."

"Kai, are you sure that is wise? Knowing how something is made could be the key to destroying it." Tigger said from the back of the group.

"Trust me on this, if you knew what I did, you wouldn't be able to fight it. If we come across another, I'll deal with it."

Flashback end

Piper turned to her side, and felt the meager contents of her stomach 'purge'.

Seeing her teammate 'losing her lunch' Shadow asked the universal stupid question.

"Piper? Are you ok?"

Piper shook her head and held up one hand.

"Now I know why Kai didn't want to tell us what he knew." Piper felt something cold and wet falling down her cheeks, and she screwed her eyes shut.

"And why he works so hard. I can't believe someone would ever do something like that! It's sick! Sick and wrong!"

Piper looked over to Shadow and opened her eyes.

Shadow almost fell back on her butt when she caught sight of Piper's eyes. She was well aware of her squad mate's Amazonian blood, and as such, she had always seen the tiny flickering embers in the back of her eyes.

But now.

Now, those tiny flickers were a towering inferno.

Pulling her staff around, Piper rolled out from behind the skimmer and charged the creature, letting loose a war cry.

"WWWAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH MARINA! AIM FOR ITS UNDERSIDE!!"

Marina looked up and was stunned to see Piper of all people charging the creature head on.

"YOU IDIOT! TAKE COVER!"

Ignoring the older woman's order, Piper ducked and sidestepped around the creature's fire with grace and precision.

"It looks like she's dancing." Marina thought as she watched the teen pivot on her heels to the side, dodging another burst.

Then her own eyes widened.

"It's a pattern! Of course! Piper figured out is firing pattern and is distracting it!"

Grinning, Marina spun the blade in her off hand to a reverse hold and charged the creature from the side.

Grragggaaahhhhhh

The only emotion showing on Piper's face was her burning gaze of anger. Aside from that, her face was an emotionless mask, neutral and completely passive.

"Step left, duck, pivot left, lean back, duck right, pivot right." Piper ran the firing sequence through her mind and sent the information straight to her body, not taking the time to dwell on it.

She had learned long ago that it was important to think during a fight, but sometimes you didn't have the time to think, you could only react.

And that was what she was doing now. Not thinking, just reacting, moving on impulse and instinct.

Marina was about to make her move when she saw Piper bring about her staff and begin to deflect the blaster fire instead of dodging it.

The sight was awe inspiring.

Here was a creature that had blasters for hands and was being advanced upon by a young teen armed only with a staff.

Piper gritted her teeth as she focused on maintaining constant motion. So long as she kept her staff moving she knew that she could deflect every shot fired at her. The only problem was that she had to keep it in constant motion and not lose her grip. Rarely had she ever been forced to deflect successive blaster fire, but she continued on.

"A little help here would be nice!"

The others snapped out of their daze, seeming to finally understand that Piper was drawing all the fire to herself on purpose, leaving the creature vulnerable.

Marina had just reached the creatures side when it stopped firing and swung one of its elongated arms like a baseball bat.

Ducking, she brought her off hand inwards for a slice and was shocked to see the crystal beam bend on contact with the white reflective armor.

Cursing, Marina ducked out of the way and put some distance between them.

"It's beam proof!"

"No duh Sherlock!" Shadow shouted after the shot she fired off at the creatures back bounced off and nearly hit her.

"I told you! Aim for its stomach! It's the only part not armored!" Piper shouted.

"Stomach huh? Alright. EVERYONE! GO FOR THE LEGS!" Marina called out to the others.

Shadow charged in along with Rondana. The two flanked the creature and took sides.

"You take it high," Ronanda said readying a firebolt crystal in her free hand.

"And you get it low," Shadow said as she reversed the hold on her crystal ax.

"NOW!" Marina shouted firing two blast's at the creatures back, drawing its attention.

With its back now turned, Shadow charged in and swung the back of her ax into the side of the creatures head. Since she hit it with the side that didn't have a blade on it, but rather the blunt flat end, the creature was stunned for a brief second.

Rondana used this opening and tossed her firebolt crystal under the creature, throwing it slightly off balance, but before the Marina, Shadow or Piper could take action, someone else stepped in.

Radarr hopped onto the creatures back and shoved his cloak over its head before jumping down and yanking the draw strings, closing the cape section into a bag around its head.

Graaggggaahhhhh

The creature, now blind started firing randomly at the others.

Seeing an opening, Griffey charged it and head butted one of the legs like a bull, and Rondana swung her staff around, hitting its other leg out from under it, finally bringing it down.

Not wasting a second, Piper jumped in and brought her staff down, and fired a charged blast at point blank range.

The others jaw dropped upon seeing Piper standing over the now immobile creature.

She looked feral, almost like a wounded animal. Letting lose another war cry, she fired again and again, and again.

"What happened to her?" Shadow thought, slightly afraid of her squad mate. The two might not have been friends per say, but she knew that this was not normal, something was very wrong with Piper.

Starling felt…warm. Something she hadn't felt since stepping outside of the freighter to try and calm her nerves.

"What happened? I was talking to Kai, I turned to leave, he shouted something, then…nothing." Regaining her senses, she realized that she was on her back, and that something was on top of her.

Hisss

Hiiiissss

Turning her head to look up, she found herself looking into Kai's dull golden eyes. They seemed darker than usual she noted, like there was a little bit of black, or dark blue mixed in them. Glancing downward, she could see that his teeth were clinched, and he was breathing harshly from his mouth, clearly in pain.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

Kai screamed as he raised his staff and pointed it behind him.

"MY TURN!"

Kai's crystal staff glowed brightly with gold and white light before firing a burst of energy that struck the creature square in the torso.

Several seconds passed as the blast of energy continued firing before the three Solaris crystals ran out of power, and the beam finally stopped.

Breathe shuddering, Kai pushed himself up off of Starling and took a step back before holding out a hand to help her up.

"You…you ok?" He asked shakily.

Starling noticed that his hand was shaking and he was trembling slightly.

Blinking, she looked at the teen, than back to the fallen creature behind him, then back to him.

A few seconds passed while her brain processed the information.

Kai shout plus seeing black plus dead creature plus Kai now in pain equals Kai took hit then blasted creature.

After helping up Starling, Kai used his staff to hold himself up.

Starling was surprised to see that despite his labored breathing, he looked more concerned than in pain. Something that caused her to feel slightly pained for some reason.

"What…why…What happened?"

Kai motioned his head to the fallen creature. "I saw something moving, wasn't sure what it was, but it looked hostile. As soon as I saw it lifting its arms I…I reacted," he said clinching his teeth trying to hold himself up.

"I..Kai…" Before she could continue, they heard sand shifting and saw movement all around them.

"Their underground! Get to the ship!" Kai shouted before taking off towards the open gang plank.

Seeing the large number of creature's heads rising out of the sand, and remembering that she had left her weapons in her room, Starling knew she had no other choice but to run.

Falling in behind Kai, she saw a rather nasty looking scorch mark on his now exposed back. It wasn't fatal, but she knew it was bad.

"Those were meant for me," she thought as she closed the hatch behind her.

"Tigger! Get in here now!" Kai shouted from the cockpit.

Seconds later the young blond showed up. She was in her pajamas and barely seemed to be awake.

"What's going on? Who's shouting?" She asked rubbing some sleep from her eyes.

Several blaster rounds hit the ship just as Kai raised the shields.

Now fully awake, she saw the sources were several creatures…make that, a lot of creatures surrounding the ship.

"What the heck? Who did you piss off this time Kai?"

Shaking his head, Kai dropped into the pilot's seat with a sharp hiss. "Did you finish the repairs?"

"What? No, it's not ready for flight yet. You take this bird up and she'll fall apart!"

"If we don't get out of here now those things will blast us apart!" Starling shouted as she leaned over the consol searching for a medpack.

"Forget the medpack, we have more important things to worry about. The shields will hold for a little while, but not for long." Turning his attention from the worried Sky Knight to the cockpits other occupant, Kai spoke. "Tigger, what did you finish?"

"Not much, I only repaired the engines. It won't take much for her to fall apart, especially with this terra's turbulence."

Kai tapped his finger across the consol before snapping them. "What about high speed with no turbulence?"

"What? You mean like low altitude flight? This ship's too big for that, and with those things blasting us we'd smash into the ground.

Kai grinned at this. "Not exactly."

Piper had her head over the side of the large rock that served as their temporary camp, and shuddered as she felt her stomach heave again.

After bringing down the creature, Piper continued to fire charged crystal bursts until her staff's crystal ran dry. Afterwards, she ran to the edge, not able to hold herself together any longer.

A warm hand rubbed her back gently, trying to help her calm down. It had been there for a while, but she didn't know whose it was.

"Feel better?" Rondana asked in a concerned tone.

Piper shook her head.

"No, and I don't think I will for a long time," she managed to say before another dry heave wracked her thin frame.

Wiping her mouth with the back of her gloved hand, Piper pushed herself up and slowly made her way to the others.

Griffy and Radarr stood over what remained of the creature, watching closely for any signs of movement. Shadow was by the fire, staring at the flames unblinking, and Marina stood with a serious expression on her face, waiting for the other two to return.

"What in Din's name was that about?" Marina asked pointing at the creatures remains.

Seeing them made Piper feel sick all over again, but this was repressed by the wave of anger that also rose from within her.

"Who knows how many more of those things there are. We could have studied that one, tried to figure out what it was, how it worked, what its purpose was," Piper cut her off at this point.

"How many more? Possible hundreds. How it worked? You don't want to know. What its purpose was? I don't think we need to even go there," Piper said in disgust.

"Unless you forgot, I'm your commanding officer for now, and more importantly, I'm on your side remember?"

Piper looked away, but her face still showed little in the way of emotion.

Marina, despite being friends with Piper, didn't know her that well. They had only actually spent a few days together at most before this all started, and most of those were missions. But she knew enough of the young bluenett that something was up.

"Piper, I need to know, what happened back there?"

Looking back to the redhead, Piper's face mellowed out slightly. "I think….I think we need to talk….all of us," she said indicating Shadow and Rondana.

"Kai, this is insane," Tigger said sitting in one of the ships gun turrets.

"Hey cut me a little slack will ya? There isn't that big a difference between sand and water. It should work," Kai said flipping several levers.

"I'm afraid that I must agree with Tigger, this…doesn't exactly scream well thought out plan."

"Et tu Star?" Kai asked trying to lighten the moment before getting serious. "Look, we have to move, the shields won't take this much longer. Our only chance is to outrun them. If we can't fly, then we'll have to use what we got."

"But sand skiing? Has that ever even been done before?" Tigger asked massaging her temples.

"…..no….but that just makes it all the more fun. Unless you have a better idea, then I'm all ears," Kai said impatiently.

"No? Ok then, get ready, as soon as we start moving I want you two to lay suppression fire until they're out of range got it?"

"Suppression fire?"

"It means to keep firing in a way that restricts enemy movement Tigger. In this case since the creatures apparently move underground, we need to fire at the ground behind us to keep them from following. Just copy what I do alright?"

"Ok, thanks Starling. I don't really have much experience as a gunner," she admitted slightly embarrassed.

"Not a problem. Though I must admit my own experience is somewhat limited."

"You girls ready?" Kai asked over the ships com system.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"Roger, everything's set here."

"Ok, here goes everything," Kai said under his breath as he flipped the last lever.

Three large skis deployed from the bottom of the ship. The two by the rear landing gear resembled normal skis like those a person would wear, but the one in the front looked like a giant letter V, with the point in front of the ship. When they fully deployed the landing gear retracted.

"Well, at least they can hold our weight. Now for the tricky part," Kai said giving the girls fair warning.

Swallowing, he flipped a switch above his head.

The three ski's came to life with a healthy green glow, and the ship began to hover several inches off the ground.

"It's working! Girls, you know what to do!" Kai shouted as he brought the nose of the ship around towards the direction the others had gone earlier.

Two twin barrel turrets lowered from the sides of the cockpit before swiveling around backwards.

"Try to keep her steady, I don't want to accidently blast us ok?"

"Yes mother," Kai replied over the intercom before taking off.

Tigger watched Starling as she fired side to side, aiming just above the ground behind them.

"So it's like watering a garden? I can do that," Tigger thought bringing her own barrels to life.

It seemed to be working, the creatures were unable to go underground, and their surface speed was only slightly faster than a humans.

"I think we've got…"

"Tigger? What is it? Did we lose them?" Kai asked wondering why the girl cut off her radio.

"FASTER FASTER MUST GO FASTER! Step on it Kai!"

"Tigger? What's going on? Starling? Report?"

"Kai…we have….a slight problem."

"I need more to work with than that Star, what's going on?"

Starling brought her turret up so it was beside the cockpit and began firing.

Upwards.

It took a second for Kai to figure out what this meant.

Only a second.

"You have got to be kidding me!"

The creatures, seeing their 'prey' escaping haunched over and split open the backs of their shells, revealing four translucent wings, similar to a wasp and took flight.

Piper tossed a small twig into the fire and took a deep breath before looking up.

"I think….no…I understand now why Kai was being so tight lipped before….and I cant say that I blame him."

Marina and Rondana remained silent, knowing that Piper was trying her best to broche what seemed to be a very difficult subject.

"We already know why. He didn't trust us, end of story," Shadow said with a slightly hurt, yet still angry tone.

Piper shook her head. "No…he…he was trying to protect us…but in more ways than you think….he wasn't just trying to keep us out of danger," Piper said lowering her head sadly.

"What do you mean?" Shadow asked not understanding.

Looking up at the others, Marina and Rondana felt their breath hitch, both sharing the same thought.

"Her eyes….they're open."

It hurt them to see this. Of the seven, Piper, Shadow and Tigger were the only ones still somewhat innocent. Shadow had one eye open, but the other was still shut in blissful ignorance of how the world was. The others however…

Marina was still learning about their pasts, but she knew from what Starling had told her that both she and Kai had their eyes forced open when they were very young, and she could tell by the way Rondana acted that hers had been open for awhile, not as long as herself Kai or Starling, but it had been at least several years.

What they saw before them now was an awakened Piper.

"Kai was trying…to protect more than our physical bodies Shadow. I only just realized it thanks to you."

Shadow, completely confused looked to the others for answers, but seeing that they were trying to figure it out for themselves, she turned back to Piper.

"You've lost us Watson, care for a breakdown?"

Piper bit her lip, but nodded her head, signaling she would at least try to explain.

"Remember when I asked you what was wrong with that creature?"

Shadow ran the battle over in her head for a few seconds, before nodding. "Yeah, I said I couldn't sense it, there was just the four of us, Radarr and Griffy. I couldn't feel that thing at all. It was like it wasn't even there," she answered.

"Well…think about it. How could something be alive but you not be able to sense it?"

"That's easy, I couldn't. The only thing I can't sense are dead animals, but a dead animal cant move," Shadow replied, not seeing where this was going.

"You sure about that?" Piper challenged.

Before Shadow could answer, Piper turned to the two animals.

"Radarr, could you come here for a second?"

Hearing his name called, Radarr ran up to Piper before sitting down.

"Ok Shadow, tell me, does this help you understand?" Piper asked before whispering something in Radarr's ear.

The sky monkey shot Piper a strange look before turning to face the others and holding its arms out.

Piper then held onto his wrists with her own hands, and he went limp.

Shadow stared for several seconds before shaking her head. "I still don't get it."

Groaning, Piper lifted one of Radarr's arms up and the other back, then around a few times.

"Radarr is dead, his body unable to more on its own. If that is the case, how is he still moving?" Piper asked.

"He's moving because you're moving his ar…" Shadow stopped then looked at Piper with wide eyes, finally having caught on.

"Wait a minute, your telling us that the thing that was kicking our butts was a puppet," Marina asked starting to understand the situation.

Piper let go of Radarr's arms, thanked him with a chin scratch, and then turned to the others.

"Not exactly, but that's the basic idea," she replied.

"But if it was a puppet, then why did you say there could be hundreds more?" Rondana asked. She remembered when she was a child seeing people play with puppets, but only a very talented and well trained puppeteer could operate more than one, and even then it was limited to two, three tops.

"I said there could be hundreds more because that one was in near perfect condition and had no obvious flaws," Piper said sinking her head into her arms.

Rondana and Shadow were now lost, but Marina knew what this meant.

"It had been perfected."

Piper nodded her head, letting the others know that Marina had guessed it correctly.

"What had been perfected?" Shadow asked, getting a strange feeling of dread in her stomach.

Looking up, Piper answered.

"The process used to make it."

Kai was not happy.

He was still recovering from broken ribs; he had found out that it was he who was hurting Starling, lost the use of his powers, ticked off his entire crew, nearly crash landed, and had been shot in the back several times.

Now he was running from a swarm of flying creatures that could fire faster than any human and were now peppering his ship with crystal fire.

"Girls? What are you doing in there?!"

"We're doing the best that we can! These things are fast, can't you….go faster?" Tigger's voice was hard to hear over all the blaster fire, but Kai was able to make it out.

"Not on the ground I can't! Not unless you want me to risk ripping the ski's out from under us!"

"Kai, it's no use trying to hit them. They're just too quick. It's like trying to hit a fly with a cannon!" Starling called out.

"AAAHHHH! WHY WON'T YOU GO DOWN!" Tigger shouted firing at one of the 'Wasps' as fast as she could, but not coming even remotely close to hitting it.

Slamming her hands against the controls, Tigger let out a yell of frustration. "GGAAAAHHHHH! Where's a bug zapper when you need one?!"

In the cockpit Kai blinked.

"That might work." Looking up, he checked the instruments. The shields wouldn't hold up much longer, but the power stores were still topped out.

"Tigger, Star, forget the blasters, get back in here now. I've got a plan."

"What do you mean, the process to make it?" Shadow asked, not understanding how a creature could be 'made'.

Piper took a deep breath. "Shadow, what are the primary characteristics of insects?"

Thinking for a moment, she answered. "Exoskeleton, six legs, three body segments."

Piper shook her head. "Not body wise, I mean insects themselves. What makes them pests?"

"Oh, they multiply fast and grow faster."

Piper nodded her head. "What better to use for soldiers than giant insects? Rather than send your own people into battle, you have an army that grows quickly and in large numbers. Remember when we had to set off all those flee bombs after Finn's werewolf transformation?"

Shadow shuddered at the memory. "Yeah, they were everywhere. We had to put the Condor under a tent and fumigate the whole thing, how could I forget?"

"Now imagine five foot flees armed with crystal weapons and armor," Piper explained.

Everyone paled at the thought.

"But…how did they grow them with armor and weapons?" Shadow asked.

Piper's eyes clinched shut at this. "That….that's the reason I lost my temper back there Shadow…..you….you can't grow something like that……you have….you have to make them that way."

Shadow's eyes widened.

"GAHH! Star! Keep it steady up there!" Kai shouted nearly slamming his face into a wall panel.

"Well I'm trying my best! It's hard to keep this bloody wreck from flipping over just going forward, let alone dodging crystal fire!" Starlings voice called out over the intercom.

Gritting his teeth, Kai steadied himself by holding onto a ceiling mounted pipe. "Can you do it Tigger?"

"I can do it yeah, but why do you want to connect the main reactor to the shields like this? It'll cause a short circuit."

Kai had a small grin on his face when he answered. "I know, and that's exactly what I want."

Making a few necessary adjustments, the two returned to the cockpit, where Starling was doing her best to keep the ship from getting hit.

"Would you care to explain to me why I had to dodge them while you were gone?" Starling asked slightly tense.

"Yeah, we needed to save as much of the shield power as possible for this to work. Tigger, strap yourself in, things are about to get a little bumpy," Kai said taking the pilots seat again.

"When I hit the shields, I want you to switch off engines two and four, after that, hang on, and trust me ok?"

Both of the girls knew by now that 'trust me' was code for 'you're not going to like it but I'm going for it anyway' so they both gripped their armrest a bit tighter.

"Now!" Kai flipped off the shields and Tigger switched off the two engines.

Pulling the flight stick hard to the side, Kai brought the ship into a controlled spinout before bringing it to a complete stop.

Looking up through the viewport, the three saw the swarm coming their way.

"I really hope you know what you're doing." Tigger said softly.

Neither she nor Starling heard Kai mutter under his breath.

"So do I."

"You're telling me that those…creatures were….grown…and then turned into…turned into that thing we just fought?" Shadow asked shakily.

Piper nodded her head sadly. "Unfortunately, yes. I think that's why Kai has been so unwilling to accept help, or tell us what he's up to. If this is the sort of thing he comes across…."

Marina narrowed her eyes and punched the rock they were sitting on. The others jumped slightly when they saw a crack appear in the ground and heard only rock break, not bone.

"Marina…are you ok?" Rondana asked, surprised by the older woman's reaction. Sure, she was upset too, but she could literally feel the anger poring off of the redhead in waves.

"I'll be fine after we blow up whatever lab or factory we find here," she replied with a snarl.

"To think that people are capable of doing something like that. And for Kai to keep this from us….Farore help us, what else has he faced alone?"

"So…it's not that…he didn't want our help…but…he…" Seeing Shadow struggling, Piper helped her out.

"He couldn't bring himself to ask for help. Not because he didn't want it, but because what it would mean us finding out. I guess he figured better he face this alone than us finding out certain aspects of the past."

Rondana patted the younger girl on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure that Kai knew the consequences if he was ever found out. He knew the costs, but saw the benefits as being greater. And…from what he has told me.." She paused as Shadow looked up at her with a hopeful look.

"From what he has told me, he rarely holds a grudge." Smiling, she added one last bit to break the tension. "Unless of course your name is Harrier."

Shadow and Piper both laughed at this, Marina smiled, despite not knowing who Harrier was, she knew the purpose of the joke, and enjoyed it all the same.

GRRRAAHHHHH

One after another the Wasps landed on the ship's hull, or someplace close to it. They weren't attacking it; they were just making sure that it wouldn't be moving anytime soon.

"What exactly is the plan?" Starling asked, beginning to feel uncomfortable with all of the Wasp's now surrounding them.

"We wait and see if any more come. We've only got one shot with this. If it messes up…." Kai left the statement hanging, but Starling was able to hazard a guess.

Several minutes passed and no more appeared, but it was like a switch was thrown. The Wasps on the hull began cutting away and the ones on the ground jumped up on top to join them.

"Any time now would be nice," Tigger hissed.

"Not yet," Kai whispered.

More cutting could be heard, followed by pounding and various roars and shrieks.

"Now?" Tigger pleaded.

"Not yet. Just hang on," Kai said calmly.

Suddenly they heard a groaning sound followed by sparks and crashing.

"Their inside!" Starling shouted getting up and pulling her weapons free.

Kai grinned as he saw a large group gathering around the engines.

"Now." He said calmly as he flipped three successive toggles.

The first thing that happened was the shields reactivated, but instead of forming around the ship like a second skin it was like a large bubble.

Also, rather than keep the ship protected from outside attacks, it now kept everything in the bubble trapped.

The second thing that happened was the engines all fired at full afterburner, roasting the insects around them to a crisp. There was a big difference in the power of a blaster cannon and four destroyer class thrusters.

Seconds later Kai flipped down the second and third switches, killing the engines and bringing the ship to a stop before flipping a fourth switch.

This time bolts of electricity flew out from the ship's hull to the bubble shield, jumping from one point to the next. It was like being inside an electro globe for the crew, but for the Wasps, it was literally a bug zapper.

The three watched as the electric arcs jumped from the ship to the Wasp's then back to the shields. After roughly a minute the sparks stopped and the shields lowered.

"It worked? Kai you're a genius!" Tigger shouted jumping up to glomp him.

Then the ship was plunged into darkness.

"I take back every good comment I've ever said about you," Tigger said pulling away.

"Soooo now we're completely out of power?" Starling asked raising an eyebrow.

Kai shook his head. "No, just for the moment. Remember I have Solaris and Luner crystals on the hull. It'll take a little while, but they should recharge the basic systems shortly," Kai said counting off on his fingers. "Right about now."

Several running lights flickered to life, filling the cockpit with an eerie red glow.

"See, I told you I had a plan," Kai said grinning.

Tigger slapped his back.

"That you did, even if it just gave me a few more days worth of work, you did it." Tigger said happy that she wasn't going to have to spend the night in a pitch black cold freighter.

She noticed Kai flinch when she slapped his back, which was unusual since she wasn't all that strong.

"Kai? You ok?" She asked.

Kai bit his lip and began to shudder.

"WWWWAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

The echo traveled out for miles and miles.

"Piper? Did you hear that?" Shadow asked, peeking out from her sleeping bag.

Piper looked up with bleary eyes. "What? I didn hear nont…" Piper's face fell back down and she once again resumed snoring.

End Chapter 8

AN: So? What'ch think? I've been working on this chapter for a few days now, trying to make it a good balance between action and the other flavors of my writing spice rack. I felt the need to have some humor given some of the chapter's darker elements, and yes, there are some subtle and not so subtle hints for those that look for them. Piper has had her share in the lime light, now it's another's turn. Who and how you'll find out next chapter. The 'Wasp's' were loosely based on the Tarantulas from Code Lyoko, but with my own personal twist added. Giving them flight and tunneling capabilities helped to reinforce their purpose as bioweapons. I hope this didn't turn out too cheesy, I'm doing my best to resist Sueism in all forms, that includes cliché romance plots, strategies for fighting, and what happens within the stories plot. I hope this chapter was worth the wait, I'm going to try and finish the next chapter of TDT now.

Look out for the next chapter,

Chapter 9: On the road again!

To be out soon. Till next time, Ja Ne!