Hi, NorthernMage here with chapter 4 of Silence of Division! Firstly, though, heres a response to a review I got recently.

ChocolateTeapot: Thanks for the support, I was desperate to write this story once I saw this kind of story hadn't existed before and I hope the new format I'm writing the story in has broken down the walls of text a lot. It's not completely broken down, but still, it's pretty different to before.

I've worked hard on this chapter, writing it actually pretty fast, and it's even half-decent. So, welcome to the angst chapter.

Arot: NorthernMage doesn't own Pokemon or FTL.

Chapter 4: This Has To End Now

Renina's POV

I lay on the couch in my room. It was a copy of N's, with a large window going across the southern wall, which let me see everything that was going on lower down on the Captivity. I saw a flicker of light as a ship jumped near to us. It didn't fire up its engines. Suddenly, I saw what model the ship was and my heart stopped.

'No way...' I said to myself. I looked carefully at the markings. 'No way in hell...' I quickly dialled the bridge holoplate, knowing N had gone back up there a few hours ago after telling the fleet to check their teleporters to make sure they weren't faulty, a check that would easily take a day for the entire fleet to complete. The hologram of him appeared, one of the main features of a holoplate being that it showed a live hologram of whoever you were speaking to.

'Oh, it's you Renina. What is it?'

'I just saw a ship jump near us. I think I know what it is, but I'm not sure. A 10,000 metre scan should show it up.' N stared.

'The Fallen Angel?'

'Maybe, that's why I'm suggesting a scan.'

'Ok.' He called to someone and they started scanning. I heard a call in the background. N frowned and turned to me.

'What class is it?'

'An old Kestrel I think. You know, the one that was reliable but used up a ton of fuel and missiles easily?' He snorted.

'Federation was pretty poor if that was the best ship they had to carry vital information to their survival.'

'I know right? Anyway, what was the result?'

'It's the Fallen Angel all right. On a scale of one to ten, how awkward would it be if the crew saw you?'

'A million.'

'Well then, you better come up to the bridge before I send drones to go override the controls and bring the ship in. Anything I might need to know?'

'There's an Engi called Nir in the medbay, and the rest of the crew is just human. There's a man called Markus in the oxygen room, and the captain, Rynhart Catagor, is a female. She usually stays in the bridge and has an Aringa. There's also a Starihun on board and I don't know about Markus or Nir's weapons.' N nodded.

'Guess that calls for Mark III boarding drones then. An Aringa is pretty deadly. You better get up here before they dock, otherwise you'll be seen as you get up here and even when we send boarding drones into the ship, Federation crew are hard to knock out.'

'Right. Coming.' I took a quick drink of water from my bottle on my desk, then hurried out the door.

Out the door, up the elevator to the hangar level, up the elevator again to the bridge level, a 30-second lift trip, and the doors opened to the bridge. I walked up so I stood beside N and we watched the display that showed how the drones were progressing. One of the drones was heading to the oxygen room and the other to the bridge.

'N,' I said, 'the oxygen room isn't that important right now. The medbay'll be active until it's taken, and whoever hasn't been knocked out will take the unconscious there.'

'Oh, yeah. Forgot.' Quickly it aborted its course to the oxygen room and went to knock out Nir. The other drone knocked out Rynhart quickly, if not easily. It hurried to the oxygen room, along with the other drone, who had also knocked out Nir and dragged him out of the medbay. I watched as the two ganged up on Markus, who had no hope against two drones. They knocked out the Federation supporter, took over the controls, and directed it into the hangar. N pointed to a group of elite crewmen, since only the elite ever served on his ship. 'Go disarm them, and put electro-handcuffs on them.'

One snorted as they walked off, muttering about 'dumb seventeen-year old commanding his elders like they're kids.'

'What did you say Arot?' N said in a voice that sounded innocent, but was really an annoy-me-at-own-risk voice.

'Nothing, sir.' There was no hiding the mocking in Arot's voice. N simply looked at him. Arot took a step back. 'I-I'm sorry.' N simply nodded and Arot hurried off.

'All of you, go and help them get the crew under control.' he said, pointing at the entire bridge crew. They exchanged glances, but did as he said. I took a deep breath, attempting to contain the feeling of being torn between two things. My people, the Plasma systems, or my old crew members.

'Renina.' I turned to him. 'Just know that even though this war has been fought with guns, the Federation needed us. Surely you saw their instability?' I nodded.

'It was pretty bad. The FTL jump net must have been faulty that day you attacked, and remember they built it so it couldn't be faulty?' N nodded.

'Yeah. Just-it's not your fault that they were caught. You know me. I'm not going to toss them into an airlock and open it. Ghetsis would do that, not me.' I nodded.

'I'll be fine, it's just a bit hard seeing the drones taking out people I've worked with.' Suddenly there was a hiss and everyone came back in, carrying Rynhart, Markus and Nir with blindfolds on. They tossed them in the doorway, passed us their weapons, and went back to their posts, one passing me a trigger that would electrocute Rynhart, Markus and Nir through their handcuffs. I passed it to N.

There were two or three groans as the Federation crew members woke up. Rynhart was the first to wake, with Markus and Nir only a few seconds behind her. They looked around groggily and I tensed. Any second now, they'd recognise me. Rynhart, who had been looking side to side, seeing where she was, looked at me, with Markus and Nir looking at me as well.

'Renina?' Rynhart stared. 'You're still infected! Please, you don't understand what you've done, keeping this girl with you! She has Kirau Olumi!' I sighed.

'Rynhart, they cured me.'

'Even if they did, you don't need to support them! Just toss us our weapons, and we'll get you out of here.' I shook my head.

'You're bitter about us leaving you? It was just to maintain the safety of the crew Renina!'

'I'm not bitter.' I said, looking just above Rynhart, trying to avoid her pleading gaze.

'Then, why won't you help? That man next to you doesn't have any power over you, Renina!' It was then N's time to speak.

'Captain Catagor, do you know who I am?' Rynhart's answer was slow in coming. 'N Aleriga Harmonia, prince of the rebels.'

'The Plasma Empire, actually, and what about Renina? Do you know who she is?'

'A Federation University student.' I looked Rynhart in the eye.

'No, Rynhart. That isn't all I am.'

'Then who are you?' Rynhart demanded.

'Renina Alariga Harmonia, princess of the Plasma Empire.' I said, saying words I hadn't said in over half a year. Rynhart's face turned from desperate to absolute disgust and loathing.

'You betrayed us you traitor.' she hissed. N's arm came around me, comforting me.

'Captain Catagor, you will be allowed to leave this ship on one condition.'

'What?'

'What is this "vital information" your ship is carrying?'

'I'll tell you nothing Plasma scum.' Rynhart shot.

'I have no wish to harm you.' N said calmly. 'Just tell me and I'll let you, Markus and Nir go. Renina has told me of how she was let onto your ship when Quariane was attacked, and for that I am grateful. So, all I want is those few words, Rynhart.'

'Not happening.'

'Rynhart,' I said, 'it's really not worth it.'

I looked at N with a can-we-tell-her-it-was-Ghetsis look. Before N could respond, Rynhart had jumped up and was pulling N away, her Aringa in its lethal setting. Dully I saw there was only 3 guns on the platform next to the display, and none of them was an Aringa. She held it to his back.

'Let us go, Renina.' Rynhart hissed, her eyes furious. 'Or I will shoot.' I froze. What was I supposed to do?

Let Rynhart, Markus and Nir escape and save N, or try and keep them here and hope for the best, when N was in a stasis chamber, with I having to command the Captivity so it could get to Atiris, fighting for every moment more of life?

I couldn't stand it.

'Let him go, Rynhart.' I said, my voice shaking. She responded by moving her finger which was on the trigger closer, the gun almost shooting. 'Let him go.' I begged, unable to hold back tears of terror. Rynhart methodically moved the gun to N's head. N tossed me the controls for the electro-handcuffs. I caught it and before Rynhart could pull the trigger, my hand closed around the trigger, sending her clattering to the ground. I dropped it, feeling sick.

N's POV

Renina was looking at the ground as if she was about to be sick. Her knees went weak and she fell onto her knees, looking down and shaking. I went over to her, brought her back up into a standing position and closed my arms around her, trying to calm her. Even though she was only a year younger than me, she was frozen with shock at what she'd just done. Silently I cursed Ghetsis.

He had caused this war, then left us to clean up the mess. It wasn't fair on either of us. Renina and I preferred talking things out, not fighting. I turned to the crew. 'Take them to cells in the detention level and make sure none of them are armed.' I ordered them before taking Renina down to her room.

By the time we had gotten back to her room, at the bottom of the ship, she had almost recovered. She just sat on her bed for a few long moments. 'You ok?' she asked, almost whispering.

'Yeah, I'm fine! What about you? You've basically been in shock ever since...then.'

'I'm okay.' She sure didn't sound okay, but I decided to drop it.

'Renina?'

'Yeah?'

'Do you think she'll give in?' She shook her head.

'No. I don't think Rynhart will ever give in.'

Back in the bridge, I had promised myself not to think of what had happened. For now, my goal was to get this warship back to Atiris. After that, Renina would most likely storm to Ghetsis and demand why he had fired at Quariane while she was studying there. He sure had a lot to answer for.

Right now though, I was seriously worried about Renina. Not her physical health, but her mental health. Renina had never been one to fire a gun to fix something, she talked things out. She was a pacifist when it came to things like this. She rarely got violent. Usually she would yell, or maybe, if someone had seriously managed to annoy her, she would yell, storm away (she was amazing at storming away), and slam the door, and would never drop it until she got what she wanted.

She was being torn apart by her friendship, and what she knew from sixteen years of experience. I knew what she needed. She needed this war to end. And not just the pretend end that preceded small attacks, she needed this to end end. So much of what she had said was true, the negotiations having gone fine until there was an attack.

All the Empire needed was acceptance. To not be hated. Neither of us had ever expressed hostility towards the Federation, if anything, there had been total openness from both of us, saying explicitly we would welcome negotiations so we could both exist peacefully.

I lifted my eyes from the display, and saw Atiris coming closer, the planet the centre of everything. I saw the anti-FTL net around the planet, only allowing verified vessels through. There was the typical four beeps, signalling a hail.

'State your name and business.' the officer said.

'Prince N, returning to Atiris.' I said, wondering how this officer would react to hearing me on the other end. They all reacted differently to realising they had just been asking one of the highest ranked people in the separate united systems who they were and what in the galaxy they were doing.

'Whaaaa...I'm sorry sir, I didn't know-'

'Its fine. You were just doing your job after all.' The Captivity continued onto Renina and I's homeworld.

In this chapter, I tried to show how Renina is being torn apart by what she knows and supports, and the bond created by her time on the Fallen Angel. So, the Fallen Angel's crew has been captured, and Renina and N are almost home to Atiris. Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon, so see you in chapter 5 of Silence of Division!