This fanfic is written for the enjoyment of Gall Force fans.  It is not acknowledged or approved by MOVIC/Sony Video, Central Park Media, or any other of the copyright holders for the series.  This fanfic does not correspond with the time lines set out in any other Gall Force series than the original trilogy (or the original for that matter).  This fanfic may be freely distributed over the net.  I welcome (most) criticisms.  E-mail:  ddiddl1@umbc.edu

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LIFE DIES HARDEST

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    Old habits are hard to break, and for all the pain that surrounds it, life is the hardest of them all.  Why should we believe that hatred stops at the grave? - the Author

* * *

    Lufy jumped down from the cockpit.  She tore off her helmet and looked around the hanger.  She shook her head.  �Girl, not another mess.  You would think that they would move those other fighters out of the landing bay on occasion.�  She brushed one of the many locks of stray hair out of her cinnamon eyes and turned them up to the ceiling.  �Four, three, two��  The fire extinguishers began to spray a cold white slush that would eventually evaporate.  Lufy strode out of the hanger into the corridor beyond and brushed off the slush as quickly as she could.  She patted the bulkhead amicably, �At least you remember me.�
    A monitor on the wall powered up.  �What the hell do you think - Lufy?�  Eluza blinked.  �What are you doing here?  No, wait, come on up to the bridge.�
    Lufy didn�t reply or even wait for the monitor to turn off  she ran to the ladder that led to the bridge.  Many of the sections she past, particularly in the lower decks around the hanger, were darkened.  Lufy walked down the short hall which linked the bridge to the rest of the ship.
    Four girls leaned over the sides of their chairs to face the door.  Eluza and Rabby sat in the same chairs that Lufy first encountered them in.  It seemed like a lifetime ago.  Pony looked up from the computer seat and Patty watched from the comm-tech chair.  None of them seemed any older than Lufy remembered and none of them spoke.  Pony and Patty seemed almost overjoyed, the emotion lay visible in their wide eyes.  Eluza looked puzzled, like she was unable to figure out some puzzle.  Lufy couldn�t cipher Rabby�s reaction at all.  The red headed officer didn�t twitch.  They all seemed to be waiting for Lufy to speak first.
    Lufy decided something classic was in order.  �You just got lucky.  I�m number sev��  She trailed off.  All four sets of eyes looked pained.  �Rumy? Catty?�
    Eluza shook herself out of whatever private pit of sorrow she had fallen into.  �You�ll have to be briefed on the situation.�  She looked at Rabby then turned to Patty.  �Patty, take Lufy somewhere and tell her - all.�
    Patty stood and led Lufy back out the door.  As it slid shut the three on the bridge heard Lufy shout.  �You got to be kidding me!�
Pony looked worriedly at Rabby.  Rabby still had not moved, but from her vantage point Pony could see something that Lufy had missed.  Rabby�s gloved hand clenched tight around the Attacker�s Medal.  Pony swallowed her comment.

* * *

    Lufy slammed her palm down on the officer�s mess table.  �You and Rabby were the ones who blew up Chaos?  Are you nuts?�
    �We had to.  You weren�t there.  You don�t understand.�
    �Your right I wasn�t there, and your damned right that I don�t understand.  I heard all about the project from it�s source.  It was a failure, and your telling me you ruined Chaos for it?  If I were there perhaps I could have come up with a better solution.�  Lufy�s last words were quieter, but dripped venom.
    Patty�s cheeks flushed red.  She had taken as much of Lufy�s accusations as she could handle.  �Perhaps if you listened to orders instead of going out to fight, you would have been there.�
    The comment seemed to take the steam out of the blonde pilot.  She slumped down into a seat.  �So now I�m stuck in some sort of Hell.�  She looked up into Patty�s blue eyes.  �But where�s Catty and Rumy?�
    Patty also seemed to calm down.  �Rumy must still be alive somewhere.  We don�t know what happened to Catty.  Toil, Ail, and OX-11 never showed up either.  Perhaps as machines they really get to die and don�t have to face this - restlessness.�  She broke eye contact and hung her head.
    �Perhaps you should all hear my story.�

* * *

    The rest of the diminutive crew sat around the table in the mess hall as well now.  �There could have been some survivors, couldn�t there?� Patty objected, �Surely someone, somewhere?�
    Lufy leaned back and placed her feet on the table.  She crossed her arms and shook her head.  �You never saw the destroyers in action.  You can�t imagine what they are capable of.  No, no one survived.�  With sudden excitement she dropped her legs and leaned forward.  �Hey, perhaps we can find Shildy and the others!�
    Rabby, silent up until that point stood.  With deliberate motion she laid the Attacker�s Medal down on the table for all to see.  �Hope that you don�t.  If you find this Nebulart, I will kill her.�  She stalked out of the mess hall.  By the time the others were able to lift there eyes from the medal and respond, Rabby was long gone from the bridge deck.
    Eluza turned to Pony.  �Find out where she went.  Use the computer.�  Her voice was a mixture of anger and concern.
    Pony nodded.  �Without OX-11, I�ll need to monitor the search from the bridge.�  She dashed out of the mess hall.
    Eluza looked at Lufy and Patty, who were now standing.  �From what we�ve managed to map, we�re not in any known section of space.  We will try to find your friends, Lufy, but it will take time.�
    �We have an eternity to do it.�  Patty did not sound enthused.
    �Lufy, I�m going to need your help plotting the best course.  Follow me.�  Eluza turned to walk to the bridge.
    �The queen has spoken.  Aye, aye your highness.�

* * *

    Pony looked about the bridge.  Lufy and Eluza hung over the command console.  Patty�s monitored the communications channels.  Rabby still had not returned to the bridge.  The course to the most promising sized star had been set for the better part of an hour.  The star was a two day journey from where they picked up the Attacker.  Pony ran another quick scan of the ship.  The computer located Rabby in the same location as it had in the first scan.  Clearing the screen, Pony stood.  �I�ll be right back,� she told Eluza.  She left the bridge in the absence of a reply.

* * *

    Pony�s footsteps echoed in the Blossom�s hanger.  She approached the Breakers from behind and couldn�t see which one Rabby was in.  �Hey Rabby, what are you doing?�  Pony heard Rabby stir and shift in the seat.  Pony walked to the right Breaker and sat on the left wing, between the engine and the cockpit.
    After a pause, Rabby spoke.  �What do you want?�
    �To know what the problem is.�  Pony looked around the darkened hanger.  It was - bleak.
    �They betrayed us.  The Central Guard slaughtered soldier after soldier for their project.  Now I�m expected to warmly welcome one of the heads of that project.  That is the problem.?
    �If what Lufy said was true then Captain Nebulart had the Solnoid�s best interests at heart.�
    �When the Central Guard opened fire on the Akon-Kagu�ya, did they have are best interests at heart, too?�
    �No.  Rabby, you have to let it go though.  It was literally a lifetime ago.  The war is over, and look, little enough real damage was done.�  She paused following Rabby�s derisive snort.  �This isn�t good for you.  If you want, everyone else is waiting on the bridge.�  Pony hopped off the wing and started walking back to the bridge, slowly.  When she didn�t hear any footsteps follow, she quickened her step.

* * *

    Lufy sat in the comm-tech chair.  She had not noticed that Pony had left, so deep was she in her thoughts.  she stared at the smashed attacker�s medallion in her hand without really seeing it.  She would occasionally run  her thumb over the surface to make sure that the medal was really there.  Lufy herself was out reliving the battle for the Starleaf after Alpha 12.
    Patty�s voice startled her out of the haze of combat and reverie.  �She kept it�til the end.  I guess that�s how it showed up here with her.�
    Lufy closed her hand around the battered hunk of metal and slowly looked up at Patty.  Her cinnamon eyes were surprisingly deep.  Deeper than any expression Patty had ever seen on Lufy.  The second round really changed her.  Lufy opened her mouth to say something, closed it, then managed, �Why?�
    Patty shrugged.  �I think she blamed herself for leaving you behind.�
    Lufy�s eyes softened.  �But that�s crazy.�
    Patty smiled.  �So was what we did to Chaos.�  The smile vanished.  �Don�t tell her that I told you.�  Lufy nodded, both reverted to their own thoughts.
    Eluza looked up as Pony entered the bridge.  �Did you speak with her?  What was the problem?�
    �She still won�t let go.  She wants to have revenge on the Central Guard for what they did to us and - others.�  Her voice trailed off.
    �She promised with the rest of us to leave that behind.�
    �Sometimes it�s hard to forgive and forget, Eluza.�
    �Don�t you think I know that?  Do you think I want to forgive the Paranoid for killing the rest of the crew?�  She paused her head.  �I�m sorry, I shouldn�t have snapped like that.  I�m supposed to be the Captain now.  It�s just��
    �It�s okay.�
    Lufy looked up at the command station.  �What did happen to the rest of the crew?  Why didn�t they show up here?�
    �Hopefully we will find that out when we manage to find the main fleet.�  Eluza pressed her thumb  and forefinger against her temples.  �It�s getting late.  We can worry about everything in the morning.�  Eluza stood and left the bridge.  Pony and Patty followed her out.
    Lufy sat watching the stars.  They don�t streak by like most people would think.  They did move out near the sides of the ship.  But before the ship floated a void.  Total blackness.  If the shielding failed the bridge, and the rest of the ship would be flooded by cosmic radiation.  The darkness ahead reminded Lufy of a well that would swallow your sanity if you stared down it too long.  Lufy shook her head to clear her mind and rose.  She walked out of the bridge, leaving the gaping maw of insanity to it�s own devices.

* * *

    Lufy stalked through the darkness of the hanger.  one gloved hand felt for obstacles she might no see.  The other wrapt itself around the attacker�s medallion.  She peered into the darkness.  The left Breaker looked empty.  She approached the one on the right.  Gradually she was able to distinguish the sleeping form of Rabby.  Lufy hopped up on the left wing, near where Pony had sat.  Rabby slept slumped forward in the cockpit, her tawny hair obscuring most of her face.  It reminded Lufy of the looks of the pilots who had come back alone.  They sat just like that.  Lufy listened to Rabby�s slow breathing.  Those who came back alone gasped for air in short quick gulps.  �You and I,� she said, �We each did great things.  Together we might have set the galaxy ablaze.�  She leaned back against the engine case and closed her eyes.



__
/__\    David Diddlemeyer
/\  /\   Imperial Solinoid Navy
\_\/_/   traverser@hotmail.com

Be gentle, it's my first.
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