Unlikely Hero - Part 4
Fate's Decree
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The atmosphere on the bridge where the crew had gathered was
thick with tension, as everyone expected to hear the worst. They were
all aware of how the work had been going, but there had been no official
pronunciation from Mike as to the actual state of affairs, and all
present assumed that was the reason for their being called together.
Hushed whispers between some members abruptly stopped as Mike
entered the bridge from his ready room, and sat in his seat at con.
Looking around, he read the faces of his crew, sighed heavily and turned
to face his console.
"Okay, Laura... let's have it." he stated, resignedly.
"Well, Mike... it's official. We've been trying for the past
three days to get the engines back, and we just can't. We need parts,
and the replicators are unusable." Laura admitted, resignedly.
"We tried as hard as we could, everyone. The damage was just
too extensive. We got the repellers back and two weapons arrays, but
the engines are hopeless. Without being able to recover the replicator
data, we can't proceed." Harjit added, as Blake walked up behind her
and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I just don't have the knowledge to
do it." she admitted, sadly.
"Okay. I hadn't wanted to issue this order, but it looks as if
we have no choice." Mike began, still facing his console. "Prepare
your personal effects, everyone. We're going to do the module
separation. Harjit... double-check the bridge module for integrity, and
the self-destruct system for the main fuselage. We can't afford to have
it not be totally destroyed once we clear it." He continued, turning to
face the crew.
"Yes, Mike." Harjit answered, quietly.
"You have two days before we abandon her, people. Take
advantage of it." He concluded, his voice wavering slightly. "That's
all." He added, rising and heading back toward his ready room.
"Dammit!" Laura cursed, pounding her console. "We tried so
hard... so bloody-damned hard..." she cursed, sniffing back tears.
"But we lost..." she sobbed, startling everyone present, including
Mikati.
"Laur... we knew this could happen... there's nothing to do now
but make the best of it." Mikati soothed, walking over and touching her
shoulder.
"I... I hate losing." came the tear-soaked response, as Laura
looked up at Mikati with puffy, reddened eyes. "Especially when I take
my friends down too."
Mikati frowned at that remark. "Baka ne... You're not taking
anyone down! This isn't your fault... Shit happens!" she admonished,
angrily.
"Sure... The only reason it happened to all of you is because
you had to ferry my ass around... and you're all going to end up dead
because of it!" Laura shot back, her face suddenly contorted with
anger. "You didn't deserve this!" she growled, and ran sobbing into
the lift tube.
"Ano.. I better keep an eye on her." Mikati stammered, heading
off after her distraught friend.
"Wow..." Susan commented after Mikati left. "I've never seen
her so emotional... this is not a good sign." she observed, frowning.
"I was afraid this might happen. By the way, how are you two doing?"
she asked, turning to regard Blake and Harjit.
"Sad, disappointed, angry... but resigned, I guess." Blake
offered, squeezing Harjit's shoulder. "We had hoped to get back home
like everyone else, but we'll make the best of it."
"Yes, we will." Harjit echoed, patting Blake's hand and
glancing up at him.
"Glad to hear it... you had me concerned the other day."
"Sorry... I was just stressed out, that's all. Harjit set me
straight, though." He admitted, smiling.
"Okay... Well, I'm going to have a peek at Laura. I'll see you
two later." She continued, heading for the lift tube.
A short while later, thanks to some 'TLC' in a dermaspray from
Susan, Laura was feeling a bit better, and had returned to the bridge to
clear out her station. She sheepishly apologized to everyone for her
earlier outburst, explaining that she had stressed out over the repairs.
Nobody held it against her, especially since they all felt similar
frustrations.
With nothing left to do, the crew eventually gathered on the
bridge and began talking to pass the time. Most of the conversation
centered around stories of the 'good old days', with everyone taking
their turn at relating their favorite adventures. It was something of a
relief valve for the frazzled group, since it was the first time they
let themselves truly relax since the initial mission 6 days earlier.
As the conversation shifted away from her, Laura stood up to go
get a drink from the bridge replicator. Catching a familiar topic as
she rose, she turned and listened for a moment before continuing. When
the conversation changed, she turned to go, only to come face to face
with a pretty blonde female stranger, decked out in a Guild Command
uniform. Instinct took over instantly as she leapt backward, yanking
her 50 calibre Predator from it's thigh holster and leveling it on the
stunned stranger.
"Identify yourself!" Laura ordered, glaring at the woman.
Everyone else in the room froze in their places, scarcely daring to
breathe.
"O-Ohaio Gozaimasu." she replied, bowing deeply. "I am Nitamaki
Aikea, Former Head of Steller Cartography for Central Command, Tokyo
Division. I'm sorry to startle you, but I didn't have any way to warn
you." she continued softly, again bowing deeply. This time, however,
when she rose from the gesture she caught sight of Mikati, who was
staring intently at her.
"Mi-chan!" Aikea squealed, diving toward the flabbergasted
woman and wrapping her in a passionate hug. Mikati stiffened in her
embrace, and just as Aikea noticed it, she also felt the cold steel of a
gun barrel on her temple.
"Release her, and step back slowly if you want to live long
enough to explain yourself." Laura snarled emotionlessly.
Aikea, realizing her mistake, complied immediately, stepping
awayfrom Mikati and keeping her hands in plain view.
"That wasn't the swiftest move I've ever seen, Aikea..." Leona
commented dryly.
Aikea responded with a mental raspberry at Leona's ethereal
form. "Leave me alone! I couldn't help it..." she added, also
mentally.
Leona sighed resignedly, and looked intently at the woman Aikea
had just jumped. Much to her chagrin, she was young, extremely
attractive, and very well kept. Leona hated to admit it, but she was a
good match for Aikea.
Mikati, meantime, still recovering from her shock, regarded
Aikea angrily. "You... You're not Aikea. She died almost five months
ago in an explosion... I was at her funeral!" she snapped, a tear
forming in her eye. "And don't call me that! Only Aika-chan ever did,
and..." she stopped abruptly, clasping her hands over her mouth. "How
did you know my name at all...?" she suddenly asked, regarding the
woman questioningly.
"Speak up, blondie... and it better be good." Laura growled,
still keeping her at gunpoint.
Aikea only smiled politely, and looked back at Mikati with
shimmering eyes. "I am Aikea, Mi-chan. I've come back. This body
belongs to someone else, but it really is me."
"Prove it, babe... anyone could know a nickname."
"Hai. Mi-chan, may I say something to you privately? It's
somewhat personal." Aikea asked, looking her in the eye. Mikati in
turn glanced at Laura, who nodded her approval.
Mikati walked up to Aikea and leaned forward to allow her to
whisper in her ear. When Aikea said what she had to, Mikati gasped,
flushed a deep red, and her eyes flew wide open. "Aika-chan! It really
is you!! But... How? You're dead!" she blurted incredulously,
staggering back from her.
"It's a long story." she sighed, shoulders slumping with relief.
"For the record, though, this body belongs to a woman named Leona St.
Paul. She's here too, but as a Spirit."
"Spirit? What do you mean, Aika-chan?"
"I'll explain later, but for now, just think of me as a ghost in
a borrowed body. Kuso, it's good to see you, Mi-chan. I've missed
you." she smiled sweetly, wishing for another hug.
"I've missed you too... So, why... are you here?" she asked,
keeping her distance.
"You're being tracked from Earth. I saw the Raider on one of
those TV news shows and had to investigate. Okay, your turn.. why are
*you* here? In this century, I mean."
"We got thrown back in time by a freak accident, and the Raider
is wrecked. We're stuck." Laura chimed in, holstering the Predator.
"Hmm.. that explains a few things. You must be Laura Devlin...
Your reputation precedes you." Aikea remarked, bowing once again. "I
suppose you were on a mission when this all happened? And I assume you
got your mark."
"I did, and yes we were. We got chased out to the Sun, and
ended up here when the engines went out of phase." Laura replied,
regarding Aikea quizzically. How do you know me?"
"You're the only Canadian in the Surgical Excision Corps."
Aikea answered, smiling.
"Good one." Laura allowed, nodding.
"Arigato! So, do you guys want some help?"
"Sure. If you've got a miracle in your back pocket."
"Ano? Why?"
"For starters, the reaction control system is blown up, and the
replicators in Engineering lost all their data for parts replication.
Plus, we have a NegaMatter leak that we can't plug. Is that enough?"
Laura deadpanned, regarding Aikea sideways.
"How did the replicators lose the data?"
"Don't know... and nobody here knows how to find out, either."
"May I have a look?"
"Harjit? What do you say?"
"I guess... Mikati, you know her... what can she do?"
"Well, if she's the Aikea I knew, it's more like what *can't*
she do. If it involved computers or electronics, there was no one
better. She can also whip up one hell of a Star Chart." Mikati
replied, grinning.
"Domo Arigato, Mi-chan." Aikea responded happily, bowing deeply
again. "Well, we better get at it... we don't have much time."
Once in Engineering, Aikea wasted no time in tearing down the
replicator core memory cells to assess the damage. She discovered that
they were primarily intact, which made the job one of tracking the
access problem... or so she thought. As the work progressed, she made a
discovery that upset her greatly. In several of the cells, the spiking
of the power supply had damaged the storage media, meaning she would
have to try restoring it before the cells could be read. That was
providing the data was still readable.
With Harjit working on the access problem, Aikea pulled out her
knowledge of media restoration gained from years of digging info from
obsoleted computers, and dove into restoring the cells. Even Leona
helped out, and ended up giving the crew the creeps by floating tools
and parts to Aikea.
After several hours intense work, they were ready to give it a
try. Aikea punched up a part that they already had for test purposes,
and compared it to the existing. Much to her disappointment, the
replicated part came out 10 percent larger. Another test revealed that
some data was in fact missing, as parts came out missing sections or
even grossly malformed.
Another intense session ensued, at the end of which Aikea felt
confident. As the testing began, the parts at first came out perfectly,
but as they experimented further, some glitches did show up. Upon
discussion, it was decided that there was no more time to waste, and
they would work with what they had, adapting as necessary.
Just as work was about to begin on the reaction control system,
Susan showed up with food and drinks for the gang, and they took a quick
break to discuss strategy. Leona floated above the meeting, listening
intently to the discussion. She had noted with some discontent that
Mikati was warming up to Aikea during the time they spent working
together, and was even now sitting beside her and casting the odd glance
her way. Aikea would occasionally do the same, and that convinced Leona
that the two of them must have been seriously in love, and that the
flame apparently still burned.
It occurred to her then that she really did love Aikea, and was
actually jealous of Mikati now, but inwardly, she knew she could never
compete with someone so obviously perfect for her soul-mate. Sighing,
she could feel herself missing Aikea already, and wished regretfully
that she had told her long ago how she had truly felt about her.
Feeling tears coming to her eyes, she tried to push such painful
thoughts out of her mind, and attempted to concentrate on the discussion
taking place below her.
Mikati took the floor just then, explaining to Aikea what had to
be done to effect the time slide. Aside from the trajectory and speed
requirements, some method of kicking the engines out of phase at exactly
the right time was also imperative. Harjit suggested using the
NegaMatter from the useless engine to upset the cell field on one of the
remaining units, which would give them the effect they needed. With due
reservation over safety concerns, and a distinct lack of options, they
decided to set up for the use of the NegaMatter, and pray that it
worked.
Once everyone had eaten, Harjit quickly assigned each their
tasks, and work began in earnest on the propulsion subsystem. The
replicators cooperated for the most part, but in the odd case, getting
an exact fit required manual modifications, which took far more time
than they really had to put into it.
Eventually, Harjit and Laura fell asleep, simply unable to put
it off any longer. In fact, Harjit dozed off with an active system test
running, which Aikea had to shut down for her. Blake showed up and took
her to bed, shaking his head at her persistence. Mikati was also
showing signs of fatigue, having been working for almost 16 hours steady
with everyone else. Finally, at Aikea's urging, she staggered off to
her quarters and passed out. Aikea and Leona continued to work on the
reaction control until Leona finally got upset.
"Aikea, you can't push the body any more... it's getting tired
and sloppy. Either go to bed, or let me put it to sleep. I'm not doing
much here anyway." she admonished, waving a finger at her chagrined
soul-mate.
"Hai.. I guess you're right. I'm not used to such limitations
any more. Okay, Lee... You go to bed, and I'll see how much more I can
do here. I'm sorry I pushed it so far." Aikea conceded, awaiting the
body-slide.
"Okay. Just don't try too hard..." Leona chided as she slid
into the body again. "Mikati and the rest are counting on you." she
intoned, collapsing in a nearby chair. "Wow, Aikea... didn't you notice
the fatigue in here? Every muscle in my body is aching... and my head
is pounding like a hammer!"
"I did, but I just shut it off... I had too much to do. I can't
let these people die, Lee... I have to get them home." She responded,
adamantly.
"I know..." Leona acknowledged, yawning widely. "and I
wouldn't expect anything less of you... after all, you saved me." She
continued, smiling.
"No.. you saved your..." she began, but stopped when she
noticed that Leona was already sound asleep. Smiling, she kissed her
forehead gently, then floated over to the subpanel they had been working
at and began the task anew. Working in her Spirit form was a bit
trickier, but she was too determined to let that bother her.
By mid-afternoon the following day, the reaction controls were
back on line, although heavily modified to accept some of the parts. To
play it safe, the first things tested were the thruster arrays, which to
everyone's great relief performed flawlessly.
Immediately, Mike moved the Raider off it's Earthbound course,
and headed it toward the Sun, banking on the engines eventually coming
back up.
Morale aboard the Raider immediately jumped 200 percent, and
Aikea had a hard time convincing them that they were not out of the
woods yet. The Mains had to be tested, and the 'trigger' mechanism had
to be built yet, and they were still only going on theory about the time
slide.
Mike called an impromptu meeting to inform the jubilant crew of
the situation, which had an immediate sobering effect. As a result of
the huge risk involved, he called a vote on the best course of action,
and to no one's surprise, they all voted to try the slide. Given that
result, he ordered everyone not working on the repairs to rig for the
run, including a possible high-speed separation in the event that their
gamble failed.
A few hours later, Harjit proudly announced that they were ready
to test the mains. Mike ordered everyone to strap in and took his place
at con, preparing for the trials. On the green signal from Harjit, he
sighed, cracked his knuckles, and touched the ignition pad.
With a throaty rumble that reverberated through the Raider, the
two remaining mains came to life, eliciting a cheer from the crew.
Harjit immediately signaled Mike to let them idle at warmup for a few
minutes while she checked their phasing.
Finally, Harjit called for sublight, and Mike got them underway.
Again, a cheer arose, as the Raider settled into a smooth course for the
Sun. In Engineering, Laura, Harjit, Mikati and Aikea traded high-fives
in celebration. Leona simply watched from a distance and smiled,
despite the single tear that escaped to run down her cheek.
Their next tense moment came when Harjit called for the jump to
cell one, and everyone held their breath as Mike committed the sequence.
As before, the Raider cooperated willingly, forming the cell perfectly.
Harjit was beside herself with excitement.
As they neared their ultimate objective, work was completed on
the transfer unit to feed the NegaMatter from the dead engine into the
field around engine two, in order to trigger the phase reversal that
they needed. Laura noted that they had lost a significant amount of the
NegaMatter already, and it was going to be tight for them to get enough.
Abruptly, Mike's voice came over their headsets.
"Okay, we're here. I need to know if you are ready to commit to
the approach, or if you want me to break off this pass."
"Break it off and take a real loose orbit, Mike... We have to be
sure this is going to work before we commit." Harjit responded, firmly.
"Will do. Assuming orbit and standing by." Mike replied,
excitement evident in his voice.
"Okay.. let's make sure this is set, and get strapped in... it's
going to be a rough ride." Harjit advised, smiling.
Leona could feel Aikea's excitement, and sent her a 'mental hug'
for support. Aikea responded in kind, turning and smiling at her.
Mikati noticed Aikea smiling at the air, and felt a pang of jealousy
twinge her heart. Aikea used to smile at her like that, and she missed
it... more than she thought she did. Having worked with Aikea so
closely over the last few days, she had begun to notice old feelings
reawakening, which she had not expected, and had done her best to
suppress.
Seeing Aikea smile like that only made it harder. Sighing
sadly, she walked over and slumped into her chair, pretending to check
some readouts.
After several repeats of the final checklist, Harjit looked at
each of her companions in turn, expecting a yea or a nay vote. All of
them in turn nodded their approval.
"Strap in girls... this is it." She stated excitedly.
Landing in her chair at the main console, Harjit punched up the
Comm and paged Mike. "Mike... the course is in the NavCom, and we're
set down here. Any time you're ready." She advised, confidently.
"Understood. Excellent job, everyone. And our thanks to you,
Aikea. Let's go Home!" he announced, cracking his knuckles once again.
Silently, everyone prayed.
Heeling the Raider out of it's wide orbit of the sun, Mike
stepped it up to cell three and began his approach. The NavCom kept him
on his line, and he counted off the seconds till the phase reversal had
to be initiated. He had to start the flow of NegaMatter at exactly the
right time to build up enough volume to trigger the reaction.
"Blake... repellers on full! Harjit... ten seconds till flow
start." he called into the Comm, his palms starting to sweat.
In Engineering, the girls exchanged nervous glances, all hoping
they had done their jobs right. Leona floated down beside Aikea and
placed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. Aikea looked back up at
her, biting her lip nervously.
"Flow Start!" Mike's voice announced through their headsets. A
few seconds later, his next statement stunned them all. "We've lost the
flow! Repeat, we've lost the flow! Nothing's going in! Harjit! Do you
copy?" he yelled, his voice cracking in panic.
"Shit! We must have lost almost all of it!" Harjit cursed,
pounding the console. Abruptly, she collapsed back in her chair.
"We're dead..." she commented, numbly.
Suddenly, Aikea's restraining straps popped open, and she felt
herself being pushed out of the body. Leona immediately stood up and
ran toward the nacelle bays.
"Lee! What the hell are you doing?? The radiation in there
will kill you!" Aikea screamed, still stunned by her actions.
"I can fix this! I have to, or they're all dead!" Leona yelled
in response, sliding to a stop before the locked-down bay doors. Not
bothering to figure out the controls, she teleported herself into the
bays, ending up perched on the catwalk railing above engine two.
Grabbing her headset mike, she yelled into it over the din of the
engines.
"Mike! This is Leona! How long till we need that phase
thingy?"
"What? Leona...?"
"Nevermind!! Just tell me!" she snapped, angrily.
"Ahh.. three seconds... two... one... NOW!"
"I love you, Aikea... Take care of them!" Leona thought sadly,
then closed her eyes and let herself fall.
"LEONA, NOOOOO!" Aikea screamed, but it was far too late.
As the horrified Aikea watched Leona's body fall onto the
engine, everything seemed to go into slow motion. She could see with
agonizing clarity the pain on Leona's face, as bolts of charged energy
licked out and struck her in midair, blowing chunks of her flesh away.
As she fell further, the tentacles of energy seemed to reach out
for their sacrifice, ripping it apart as they enveloped it and drew it
steadily downward.
A brilliant flash erupted from the engine with a deafening crack
as the body crumpled onto it, causing the Raider to lurch violently as
the engines broke out of phase, collapsing the warp cell.
Blinding white light enveloped the Raider as it vanished from
sight, and just before she lost awareness, the stunned Aikea had only
one thought run through her mind...
"Leona..."
"Raider... Identify yourself. This is Guild Central Command.
Raider... Identify yourself." The Comm chattered as Blake roused
himself from his unconsciousness.
"Guild.. this is Raider 2215... we're adrift... may have
casualties. Send help!" he replied, groggily.
"You're Raider 2215?? Didn't you guys crash into the sun
yesterday?" came the stunned response.
"It's a long story... Please, send some help out here, fast!"
"O-Okay. We're launching a Rescue right now. Glad to hear from
you, 2215. Looking forward to your report! Guild Central out."
Blake sat quietly for a second, letting reality sink in.
Casting a glance at the chronometer, he noted that it was picking up a
time beacon and reporting that it was 1 day after their adventure began.
Looking at the NavCom display, he saw that everything was where it
should be. Closing his eyes, he smiled, then laughed, then leapt to his
feet and yelled as loud as he could.
"WE MADE IT!!"
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Sorry! Limited Message length!
***Stay tuned for Part 4 A!***
Coutuva@hotmail.com
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