Helpless

[Admiral Hart]

The afterglow was spoiled by a rapid knock on the door.

"Captain? Captain, it's Jane. Something bad's about to happen. I don't know what but I got a real, real bad feeling." She, for once, actually sounded worried.

"I'm not going to ask how you knew where I was." Jo replied as she found the pile of clothes she had stashed here and quickly dressed. "Start a general alert, we can figure out..."

Then the proximity alarms began to wail.

****

Morgan had just finished getting dressed and was starting to say something comforting when he saw a shape outside the dome.

"What the bloody..."

Then the proximity alarms began to blare.

****

"Master!" Shiyounin said suddenly, interrupting him as he showed a sleepy Angel the fine art of eating pocky and watching anime during the off shift.

"Yeah Shiyou, what's the big.." Then the alarms started.

"There's someone in the system, Master!" She said in a panic. "I cannot stop them!"

*****

Katy knelt next to Dagger, Dane on the other side.

"She was like this when you got in here? No injuries or blood?" Katy asked, taking her pulse and shining a light into Dagger's eyes.

"Yeah, just lying here. Looks like someone cleaned this place in a hurry, though, because the floor was a little wet." Dane replied. "I saw Dagger in action, so I don't think she slipped. I think someone did something to her."

Katy nodded. "I can't see any wounds, but then again I'm not too good at this yet. I should, uh, probably take her to the med bay and call Dr. Reyes. She can probably find out what, um, happened I hope."

"I'm more concerned with who." Dane stood stiffly. "If there's someone knocking people out on this ship, I wanna know who before I get knocked out. Because honestly I'm surprised it wasn't me first. And a little disappointed."

"I was told that I shouldn't but I think I should call the doctor. I just hope the Captain isn't mad at me but I think this is an emergency." She said hurriedly, and was interrupted when the proximity alarms went off.

*****

Willlie had been having a nice dream about living on a farm with Miller and about fifteen little children when she found herself pulled into an empty white space.

"What the fuck?" She said slowly.

"Listen to me, Wilona Barbary." A young, female, maybe British voice said, "Because you do not have a lot of time."

"Who the hell is that?"

"I cannot show myself or tell you my name. I am doing enough damage talking to you now. Suffice it to say at this point you do not yet know me. But there is someone you need to talk to and it has to be you." The voice replied. "So listen, time is short."

"What the hell are you talking about? Who do I have to talk to? Don't know you yet?" She asked.

"You have to talk to me." Came Dagger's voice. Willie turned and saw her also in the white void, wearing what looked to be a prom dress.

"There's a lovely invention called a commlink, you know." Willie replied.

"Hard to use when in a coma, rich girl." Dagger shot back. "Listen, I need to tell you something and mystery voice says we don't have much time."

"You're not doing this?"

"No. Now listen. You're the only one that will." Dagger began. "The magi are up to no good. Nathan put me in a coma, with some help from Gloria, and used the mute girl to clean up some of the evidence. They did it because they're planning something that I might get in the way of."

"So, what, I'm supposed to use my superpowers to stop this how?" Willie shot back.

"Do I look like I know? All I know is, I had to tell someone. Also, when i wake up, it's apparently important. Tell me to check my pocket."

"Why..."

"I'm sorry, that's all the time we have right now. Well, all the time you have. I'm traveling in time, so I have all the time I could ever want. Back to your body!" The voice announced, and Willie was woken by the proximity alarms shrieking.

*****

The Captain was arranging her hair when she stepped onto the bridge. "What's the situation?"

"Fucked up." Jane replied.

"Four Mamba warships suddenly appeared and boxed us in." Cook replied. "I have no idea when they got there, they just kinda showed up."

"Get Miller up here, now." She said, turning to her comm officer before saying into the comm link. "All hands to battlestations, this is not a drill, we are surrounded by the enemy."

Miller was on the bridge. "What's the..."

The main screen turned on, and the face of Asp was visible.

"Attention Plunder's Heart, you are surrounded by the vessels Anaconda, Reticulated Python, and Basilisk." He said sternly. "You have half an hour to stand down completely or we will obliterate your vessel."

"...I never knew Mamba had cloaking devices for ships." Hart said, glancing at Miller.

"Oh, he did not know. Psychological tests showed that he was a risk, so there are a few things we never told him about." Asp replied before Miller could say anything. "But, yes, we have cloaking devices for our warships and about fifty banks of high powerd weapons ready to reduce your ship to atoms. And your communications ports have been blocked, so, Taipan, don't think your girlfriend can run to daddy and get you out of this one."

"Captain, our shields and main drive just powered down." Cook said suddenly.

"And that would be the other thing we never told Miller about. Ghost Viper."

****

"What is going on here?" TK asked as he, Angel, and Shiyou entered engineering.

"Somethings in our system. And it's moving fast." Ryan replied.

Then, on every computer screen, a single message flashed.

"HELLO, MY NAME IS GHOST VIPER. DO YOU WANT TO PLAY A GAME?"

*****

"You're dead in the water. You have no weapons and no ability to move. But I'll give you an incentive to surrender." Asp said, both calmly and stone-faced. "If you and your crew surrender, the civillians you have on your ship, Miss Barbary, the Reyes sisters, Mr. Montefort-Cooke, and all those magi children you 'liberated' will be free to go. And if you do not, you have their lives on your hands."

Asp gave a pause, and then said, "Oh, and one more thing."

****

The girl who was plugged into the machine sat limply in the metal seat she was strapped into, wires leading from her temples, her wrists, and her spine, to a massive, glowing, cylilindrical machine behind her. Her skin may have normally been tan, but now it was pale and wan, her head, maybe once having the same black hair her eyebrows had, was now shaved.

"Mommy?" She asked in a pained voice. "Mommy, please, it hurts. Where are you? is Stefan there? I miss him." She could not have been more than seven.

A woman, maybe of Pacific Islander descent in a lab coat, walked up to her, a concerned look on her face. "No baby, he's gone, remember."

"I miss him, Mommy."

"I know sweety. But You have a job right now. There's a whole bunch of bad people on a ship, do you feel them?" She asked in a slightly pained voice.

"I feel them Mommy."

"You know what to do baby girl. Make Mommy proud." The woman replied.

The machine began to glow brightly and she cried out, fainting almost instantly.

****

Cassi, on her way to the bridge regardless of being told to stay in her room by Morgan, cried out in pain suddenly, her whole body burning.

In her coma in sick bay, Dagger began to toss and turn.

Tina fell to the ground, holding her sides and screaming. Clara stood and her stripes began to burn, and uneasy feeling filling her.

And the same thing happened to every mage on the ship--blinding, horrible pain raced through them for several agonizing minutes before they passed out into the blissful release of sleep.

All except two.

Clara shuddered a bit, hanging on the consciousness as she rushed Tina to the med bay. She hurt like she had never hurt before, but something inside her burned through the pain.

And, in his room, Stefan rolled over on his side, pillow over his ear, and began to drift off once more into sleep, mumbling something about lousy pirates the whole time.

****

"You have thirty minutes." Asp finished. "Make of them what you can."

[Dr. Andromeda Reyes]

Andromeda Reyes was--first and foremost--a doctor.

So, despite her chaotic inner turmoil over her first ever sexual experience--which had been incredible, but rudely interrupted and now steeped in smothering amounts of guilt--despite the near dozen children now littering her sick bay all unconscious and in various states of obvious discomfort and agony--one of which was her baby sister whom had been carried in by a stricken Morgan only moments after Clara had arrived with Tina--despite the fact that their ship was now surrounded on all fronts by four deadly Mamba Warships, with no power and no clear hope of escape, despite all of these things Andromeda Reyes was a rock of eerie calm.

The slender woman barked orders to her assistant Katy and a few other crewman who could be spared to help as she worked to get the children and Dagger stabilized and in some form of comfort. Whatever was affecting them was also affecting Clara, though the tiger-girl refused to let it cow her. Instead she sat resolutely at Tina's side, expression wreathed in grim-faced agony while her crimson stripes seemed to glow and throb.

Andromeda would worry about that oddity later. For now, she had patients to see to. Everything else--including their impending doom--would just have to wait.

[Katy]

Katy was not quite sure how to break the news to Dr. Reyes. Every time she started with an "Um." or a "Doctor..." it seemed she had another task for her to do. So Katy worked dutifully, quickly, and efficiently.

"Doctor, I need..." She began.

"Hand me to scanner, I believe Rascal might have broken his ankle in the fall." She said quickly.

"Yes, but Doctor..." She started again.

"Help me set this please Katy." She said then, and Katy used her gentle touch and amazing strength to quickly set the bone.

"Yes, um, but..."

"I think Siegfried may have hit his head rather hard." She said, gesturing to the large boy that had been the last to be awakened. "We should check for a concussion."

Katy looked uncertain, but then blurted out, "Dagger was comatose before all this started D-dr. Reyes. Dane thinks someone knocked her out somehow."

Neither of them caught Clara twitching and glaring at Nathan's silent form for a moment before grimacing and holding her burning arm.

"Are you certain?" She asked. Katy nodded.

"Y-yes ma'am. I'm certain."

"We should tell the Captain immediately." Andromeda said.

"The Captain has more than enough to deal with as is." Clara chimed in from the background, wincing as her stripes flashed again. "I will investigate, you keep concentrating on helping the Orphans."

"Good, yes, the Captain is probably thinking up a brilliant plan to get us out of this at this very moment." Andromeda replied. "No need to tax her further."

"Is this when we pray, Dr. Reyes?" Katy asked tentatively.

"Yes Katy," She said, somewhat distant as she looked to her grimacing sister. "Now is when we pray."

[Dr. Andromeda Reyes]

Andromeda came to an abrupt halt a moment later. Her golden eyes flew over the occupied beds before she whirled to the lavender-haired android trailing at her heels.

"Katy, we've got one child unaccounted for. Where's Stefan?" The android merely blinked, somewhat at a loss.

"I-I don't know, doctor. He wasn't . . . he wasn't brought in."

Andromeda was already running for the door before Katy had finished speaking. The ship was a riot of activity, but for now Andromeda ignored it all, confident that the crew would get them out of yet another impossible situation.

And if not, they'd all be dead anyway, so it wouldn't matter much anyway.

Moments later she was rushing into the room that Stefan had been given to share with Rascal, and for a moment drew up short at the threshold, somewhat stunned. Rather than unconsciousness and painful writhing, Stefan seemed to be fast asleep. Completely untroubled.

Andromeda rushed forward and knelt, shaking his shoulder hard and causing the teen to jerk awake.

"Easy," she called, quickly searching his eyes for pupil dilation and other signs of trauma. Other than sleepy and confused, he seemed perfectly fine. "Are you in any pain? Do you feel any disorientation at all?"

"Um . . . no?" the male teen droned, now looking rather put out. He tolerated Andromeda's presence more than some of the others due to the fact that she'd saved his life and wasn't actually a pirate herself, but he was far from warm and fuzzy.

"Listen to me very carefully, Stefan, there isn't much time. The ship is under attack by 4 Mamba warships." His expression seemed to drain of color at this, eyes wide. Andromeda hurriedly continued. "All of the other Magi besides you and Clara were put down by something that I'm not entirely sure what it is just yet. They have no physical signs of trauma, but they're all unconscious and in extreme pain. Even Clara is in agony, but I suspect her level of power is fighting off whatever it is that's attacking them through sheer force of will. You're the only one who seems completely unharmed. Which leads me to believe that it must be magical in nature, and that your powers are countering it."

Andromeda stood again, and motioned a little impatiently. "Come with me to the infirmary. We'll see if using your powers has any effect on the others, that way we'll know for sure."

The teen didn't put up an argument, scrambling from his bunk and then hurrying after the taller female doctor as fast as he was able. They reached the infirmary in moments, and Clara, Katy and some of the others blinked in surprise to see Stefan on his feet, awake and seemingly unfazed.

Stefan stared at the others however, eyes wide. "It's definitely magic. I can feel it . . . and it's strong, whatever it is."

Andromeda opened her mouth to say something, but it was Clara who spoke first, somehow managing words past the way she was gritting her teeth in agony.

"Stefan, quickly! Counteract the magic holding Cassiopeia and Gloria. Now!" she barked louder when he balked a little.

The boy neared Cassi and Gloria's beds, who happened to be placed next to one another, and stretched out his hands. A moment later, after a heavy grimace of concentration, both girls' faces cleared of pain. A moment after that, they both sat up straight with gasps of confusion and surprise.

Clara didn't waste any time. "Cassi," she called, gaining the blonde's attention. "Quickly, you must search for the cause of this attack."

Cassi balked. "But Clara, my power doesn't work like that. I-I have to know what I'm looking for--,"

"You can do this, Cassiopeia," Clara interrupted, almost hissing out the words now, her stripes glowing hotly. "You have more power than you realize, my friend. Concentrate. Visualize your objective, and see it!"

Andromeda remained silent for once--knowing full well what was at stake--while her sister hesitated only a moment more before taking a shuddering breath and activating her power. Her metallic eyes began to swirl tentatively, then stopped. Then swirled again. On the third try they whirled into a full activation. Though Cassi winced a little with the strain, she maintained it. And then gasped.

"Oh my God, it's . . . it's a little girl! They . . . ." her expression became horrified. "She's hooked up to a machine of some sort. I think it's amplifying her power somehow." Her eyes came to a stop, and she turned to lock gazes with Clara again, ignoring everyone else. Both teens had matching expressions of pained worry.

And growing anger.

"She's on the third ship, off the port side," Cassiopeia announced, in a hard, deadpan tone that Andromeda had never heard her sister use before. "Lower level, between engineering and medical."

[Clara Hart]

Gloria nodded. "Well, just gimme a sec and she'll be safe and sound.."

"No." Clara replied. "No, you're going to leave her right where she is for the time being."

Everyone in the room who could gave Clara a surprised look. "She's suffering, Clara!" Cassi said. "We have to save her."

"Yes, we do. But if we rescue her now, the Mamba ships will know we did as such. So we wait until we are home free, then save her. That is an order." Clara replied. She gingerly got to her feet and started towards the door. "I am going to tell my mother what has happened thusfar. No rescuing."

Gloria sighed and nodded her head reluctantly. "Right. No rescuing."

[T.K.]

To say that T.K. was furious, would be a gross understatement.

Not only had the damn Snakes taken on his computers, but they'd also done something to Angel. Only a sudden impulse had allowed him to catch her, and prevent her from cracking her head open on the Junction Box behind her.

He'd sent Ryan and George off with her to Medical, while he pondered this 'Ghost Viper'.

After a moment, he sat at the Main Terminal and focused on the main problem.

“Hello Ghost Viper, I am T.K. With a name like Viper, you must be a Mamba, correct?”

"I  AM NOT A KEEPER, I AM KEPT."

T.K. thought that one over a bit. So, sounded like it thought of itself as some sort of pet. An intelligent pet to be sure, but that implied that it was used to obeying orders from those it considered to me superior to it.

“Tell me Ghost Viper, do your orders come from any Snake, or just the top Snakes?”

"I OBEY MY KEEPERS.  YOU NEVER ANSWERED MY QUESTION."

Sounded like it considered any Snake to be it's superior.

“Games are fun. Yes, we could play a few in a moment, but I just might have a surprise for you. I doubt the other Mambas even know, but we have a very Special Keeper here on the ship, would you care to meet her? She goes by the name of 'Queen Cobra'.”

"QUEEN COBRA DOES NOT EXIST."

“Ah, but she does. We rescued her on a treasure hunt a few months ago. She's on the ship right now. We even have medical records to prove it, considering that the Captain is her daughter.”

"THERE IS NO FACTUAL INFORMATION CONCERNING THE LIFE OF QUEEN COBRA.  IT IS A HOAX.  IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO PLAY THEN I WILL HAVE TO START WITHOUT YOU." 

The lights began to flicker in the room, and the emergency sprinklers came on. Unphased, T.K. continued talking.

“I can prove to you that she exists. I can even have her come here in person. I have a man in Medical at the moment, who can even bring us the medical files. All you have to do is say the word. While you decide that though, why don't you talk about what sort of game you'd like to play? We have almost any game you can think of on board. But, I suppose you'll have to pick. After all, you can't play a game, and try to disprove Queen Cobra at the same time.”

"THE KEEPERS HAVE TOLD ME THERE IS NO QUEEN COBRA AND THEY ARE INCAPABLE OF FALSEHOOD.  I WILL DISPROVE THESE FILES AND THEN COME BACK TO PLAY THE GAME."

T.K. nodded toward the screen.

“Very well, if you'll allow me to use the Ship's Com system, I'll be more than glad to help you figure this out.”

"...YOU ARE TETSUO KAZUKI NAKAMURA."

As the screen went blank, T.K. switched on the Com system. He paused slightly as a new message appeared.

"IF YOU HAD STAYED, YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN ONE OF US."

He blinked a few times.

“Queen Cobra, report to Engineering. Doctor Reyes, please assist Ryan in transferring all of Queen Cobra's medical records over to Faust's databanks. After that, I need Ryan to bring Faust back here to Engineering.”

After he switched it off, he pondered that last statement from Ghost. One of them? There were more of these things? His blood suddenly ran cold, as he realized what it meant. This thing had been a person once. Hell, there were more than one, they all used to be human once.

No wonder his bounty was so damn high. The EU wanted to turn him into another one of them.

[Admiral Hart]

Captain Hart stared at the screen for a good long while. Whenever someone started to talk to her, she said,"Hush. Thinking."

"They only named three ships." She said at length. "Why only name three ships...hmmm..."

Hart got to her feet and walked over to Cook's terminal. "What info do we have on the unnamed ship?"

"Uh, basic stuff. No callsign. About the same number of people as the other ones. Basically seems like the same type of ship." The junior sensor officer replied.

"Hmmm. Show me a 3D map of the four ships." Hart asked. Cook did so.

"Okay, now map out distances..." She watched as the numbers appeared on the screen.

"...tetrahedron." Hart said at length. "Oh those clever bastards."

"Ma'am?" Cook asked. And then the realization hit him too. "Oh. Oh God. That is clever."

"What is?" Morgan asked.

"That bottom ship isn't really there. He only named three because there are only three ships." Hart replied. "It's a hologram. They're also beaming a false sensor image right there to make it look like we're more surrounded than we are. That's why they're in a perfect tetrahedro formation, to make sure all the beams are aligned from the three real ships. It's a damn clever plan." She smirked. "Good thing I'm cleverer."

"What if there really is a ship there?" Morgan asked.

"There isn't. Stop worrying." Hart replied. "Alright. Assuming we can mess up those two remaining ships and get our ship up and running...naw, I think just running away's not humiliating enough." Then Hart smirked. "Oh. Oh, I think that is, though." Her grin widened quite a bit.

[Alexandria Wright]

Alex made her way quickly towards engineering. Once again she was finding herself a part of that engineer's crazy plans, but damned if they did not seem to work more often than not.

She started to pass Clara in the halls, when her granddaughter called out in a pained voice, "Grandmother."

Alex turned and saw Clara staring right at her, her stripes still flashing.

"Grandmother, what do you think of me?" She asked.

"This isn't the time, Clara. Ask me again when this is over." Alex replied and started to move, but a swirling wall of air stopped her.

"This may be the only time, Grandma." Clara replied. "And I want to know."

"When I look at you, Clara," She began, "I see you're your parents' daughter. You're passionate, strong willed, and in a poorly defined relationship with a young woman. When you have a cause or loved ones to fight for, I don't think, even without your powers, there's a force in this universe that could stop you, just like your mother." She paused. "But when I look in your eyes, I see that feeling of superiority, that determination and callous disregard for the lives and rights of others that is wholly something of your father." Alex said calmly. "I think that your mother's passion and your father's haughtiness are mixing into something truly terrifying, and I think that some day, perhaps a few days, perhaps years, you will make this galaxy tremble." Alex then continued, "You're my granddaughter, and I love you. But I have seen the look in your eyes before. You're a conquerer, Clara. You're a warrior and a born leader and I think that you won't be happy until you can reshape this whole cosmos in your own image. Now may I please go so we can get out of this imminently fatal situation?"

Clara gave her maternal grandmother a very stunned look for just a moment before nodding, and the two went on their way again.

Alex then made it into engineering.

"THIS IS NOT QUEEN COBRA. EVEN IF SHE WERE REAL SHE IS NOT OLD ENOUGH." Said scrawling text on every monitor.

"That's new. Never been called fake to my face before." Alex said wryly.

"Just check the medical data." T.K. said. "It's all there."

T.K. watched a monitor on the side of Faust.

"IT'S NOT TOO LATE FOR YOU TO BECOME LIKE US." The text said a moment before a light blinked on on Faust.

T.K. then ran to a crate and pulled out a stasis field generator and slammed it down around the machine.

"Captain, this is T.K., I should be able to get systems up and running shortly. I have an idea about what to do about those ships, but I need some time to screw around with the dropship." The engineer said into the comm.

"You have five minutes. Make them count, the clock's ticking. Oh, and the bottom ship is just a hologram." Hart replied back. "So keep that out of your calculations."

[T.K.]

“Shiyou, help the others get everything running. Try to keep as many systems keyed down to minimum power as possible till the Captain gives the green light. No sense letting the Snakes know what's coming ahead of time.”

T.K. grabbed Ryan and a toolkit as they rushed for the docking bay. Along the way, he hurriedly typed up a set of instructions on a Datapad. He also paged a call across the Com for Jane, Miller, Dane to meet him in the Docking Bay.

“Ryan, we're going to use Option 39, Variant Black.”

He handed him the Datapad, then shoved him toward one side of the Docking bay.

As for himself, he raced for the Transport, ripping off one of the control panels, to gain access tot he control lines for the stealth system. Controls were all well and good, but he wanted to make damn sure, that this thing would work, and that he could keep it working.

As soon as the others showed up, he waved them over.

“Dane, Miller, get your Girl's ready to go. Rig up with explosives for the Tractor Systems. We'll only need enough for three ships. Jane, you're the only one who can fly this thing close enough to the ships with minimal systems.”

[Willie Barbary]

Willie didn't bother mentioning her off-the-wall dream to anyone. At least not yet. Situation being what it was, it got pushed to the back of her mind as irrelevant. Instead she hovered near the foot of the bed still in her pajamas, cradling her faintly swollen middle and watching as Miller swiftly and silently donned his black uniform and multitude of daggers. Her lover was as calm and controlled as ever, not a tiny iota of his demeanor letting on to the fact that they found themselves in a situation that could--finally--see them all dead or arrested or eventually both.

Miller started to turn to head off to the hanger and Willie grabbed his sleeve. The normally mouthy pilot opened her mouth to speak, but nothing would come out, for once. Luckily her man was a pretty smart cookie. He just smiled his small little smile and bent to kiss her brow.

"I'll be back before you know it, babe," he assured in his soft, self-assured way. Willie--fighting pregnant-hormones--blinked the stab of tears out of her gray eyes at that.

"You better," she growled with false anger. "You leave me with this kid all by myself and I'm going to find away to bring you back from the dead just so I can kill you again myself."

Miller just smirked before he turned and trotted out of their bunk on ever-silent feet.

Willie paced the confines of the room for all of five minutes before she couldn't stand herself any more. Ignoring Miller's caution to stay out of harm's way, Willie got dressed herself and then headed for the infirmary. Maybe she could lend a hand in there or something. She was not one to sit idle doing nothing, especially during highly tense and stressful times.

The pilot entered the sick bay, and then drew up short at the sight that greeted her. A number of the Magi children were spread out, unconscious but obviously in pain. And Dagger. Dagger was stretched out on a bunk. Unconscious.

Goosebumps raised up all along her arms.

"Doctor," she called, catching Andromeda's attention. The Latina woman turned, golden eyes sharp.

"Willie, what are you doing here? You should be in your bunk. If something should jostle you or cause you to fall, it could injure the baby--,"

Willie waved her down frantically. "Later! What happened to her?"

The doctor blinked a little at Willie's somewhat hysterical tone. "She was found shortly before all of this started. She doesn't show any signs of trauma, but internally everything points to her being beaten into a coma . . . why?"

Willie felt all the color drain out of her face. Her wide eyes flickered from Dagger's prone form to lock onto Clara, Gloria and Cassi instead. The latter was watching her with a faint expression of curiosity, but Willie had noticed how Cassi had seemed to change these past few months. More secretive. Less cheery and open with the crew. And the other two seemed notably . . . guarded.

The magi are up to no good. Nathan put me in a coma, with some help from Gloria, and used the mute girl to clean up some of the evidence. They did it because they're planning something that I might get in the way of.

Willie's whole body suddenly felt very, very cold.

"Willie? Willie are you okay? Are you feeling faint? Any abdominal cramping?"

Willie snapped back to reality, turning somewhat dazedly to the now very-worried doctor. "What? N-no, no I'm fine. I'm not going into labor. I just . . . I just remembered something. I . . . I-I have to go . . . talk to somebody. About something. I'll be . . . I'll see you later."

Willie turned on her heel then, hurrying for the door. She had to get to the Captain. The redhead may or may not believe her. Probably the latter, especially as it seemed her two daughters were conspiring something. Something big. And were willing to beat a woman near death to keep it a secret. But Willie had to tell someone about the dream she’d had. One that was now getting proven as true.

Before that option was taken out of her hands.

[Dane]

Dane smiled wildly as he boarded Elsa, the sprite herself danced around him. Over excited due to the high stress situation, he smiled at her as the hatch closed and he set his artilery aside-- never know when a grenade launcher comes in handy....

His fingers glided across the controls as he preped and powered up his mech, next to him Miller slipped into Fang, not seconds later comunications between them lit up his board.

"Test, can you hear me Dane?" came millers voice. He smirked before responding.

"Loud and clear. Finally get to take the girls out to play. Pretty sure ole' fang's restless." the only response over the radio was a confirming snort. Any further conversation was cut off when Captain Heart started speaking.

"Alright boys, hope your girls are ready to dance."

[Mamba]

"Brigadier?" One of the Mamba cadets asked on the deck of the Anaconda. Asp glanced over at him.

"Yes?" The high-ranking officer said, standing.

"There's been an explosion from the docking bay of the Plunder's Heart, sir. It looks like someone tried to make a break for it in a panic and rammed right through the doors. One of the boarding shuttles." The cadet continued. Asp glanced to Cottonmouth, who was herself giving it a clinical eye.

"It's probably a trick. Keep an eye out." Asp said at length. "Any contact from Ghost Viper?"

Another cadet shook her head. "Negative, sir."

Asp gave another look to Cottonmouth. "Get your Avatar ready. If they try something, make them pay for it."

Major Shaeffer nodded. "Yes sir. I full intend to."

****

Cottonmouth made her way down to the hangar and towards her Avatar, a newer model, similar in appearance in many ways to her cousin's Fang, except its main weapons appeared to be a pair of snub submachine guns with some sort of beam blade projectors in them rather than Fang's giant swords, and in the each forearm appeared mounted magentic grappler claws.

"Talon, activate." She commanded. A brown hologram of a bear girl in a sailor's outfit appeared and stood at attention. "Ready and waiting Major."

[Miller]

"You know, when we were being told to suit up, I expected action." Dane said as their mechs carefully placed huge pallets of explosives on the tractor beam power casings of the first Mamba ship. "I mean, not that I'm complaining because I'm the first guy hurt if I can possibly be hurt, but, seriously."

Fang chimed in over the comm--they were using line of sight laser communication rather than normal comm frequencies. She was in her standard "battle" ninja getup. "This is seriously demeaning. I am not some lousy service mech! I am a state of the art combat machine!"

"I can understand being a bit stir crazy." Miller replied as the last explosive charge was put into place, and the two mechs quietly went back into the cloaked Mamba transport they had stolen months before he was on the Plunder. "But, honestly, I'd rather be putting these charges up than face Asp and Cottonmouth in mechs."

"Ah, come on. I could take both of them on and maybe you could handle the mooks." Dane said back. "No problem. Elsa and I are invincible."

"You got that right, Dane!" Elsa replied.

"I'd rather not test Asp's undefeated streak if I can avoid it." Miller added.

"Miller, this is why we are different people. You see an undefeated streak and think, 'that's a sign I should steer clear of that guy.' I see an undefeated streak and think, 'I bet I could break his streak and not lose anything I don't have two of."

"Doherty Taxi Service." Jane called back from the front of the drop ship. "Next stop, Reticulated Python. Don't worry boys, I don't need a tip. Not in money anyway."

Miller glanced to Fang. "How much more time do we have?"

Fang sighed. "Ten minutes. At our current rate, we will be ready and back home with thirty seconds to spare."

"Better hurry it up then!" Miller heard Dane called. "Because I don't wanna be too late for the fireworks when this thing ends."

The former Mamba used the external cameras of the cloaked ship to glance back at the Anaconda. "Don't worry, Dane. I'm sure, one way or another, we'll be front row center."

[Clara Hart]

Clara grimaced and glanced at a wall chronometer. I really need to get a watch someday. Only one minute until the ship's deadline. She looked to Gloria and said, "Go, now. Free the poor girl."

Gloria nodded and was then gone. She reappeared in the belly of the Anaconda. A surprised woman took a step back, maybe reaching for a sidearm, but then sighed. "You're here to free my daughter. Do it. Please."

Gloria stared in shock at the massive machine the little girl was in. Then she spun on the woman. "How could you? She's your daughter!? You..."

The woman was sobbing, however. "I'm so sorry. Yes. I know. It was the only way I could stay with her. Take her away from me. Please."

The blue-haired girl then remembered she was on the clock, and ran forward, embracing the tired looking girl before teleporting back to Plunder's Heart.

"...Stefan?" She said blearily upon seeing him.

"...Brittney?" He gaped back at her.

"Good, she's free." Clara said with a smirk, stretching like a cat. The other magi began to moan and wake as well. She then hit the comm. "T.K., you have your signal. Explosives can be detonated when ready."

[Admiral Hart]

Everything was going according to plan when Cook had to ruin it as usually.

"Oh. Oh fuck. Captain. This is bad." He swore.

"Bad news from Cook. A shock as usual. What's wrong ensign?" Hart asked as she wandered over to him.

"Ghost Viper erased all the drivers for moving and firing. That means even though everything's working, our computers don't know how to tell them what to do." Cook replied.

Hart then called engineering. "T.K., don't blow things up just yet. I need Shiyou to re-write all the drivers for the computer systems, and I needed her to do it ten minutes ago."

"It'll be hard her alone. Try to get Dagger's AI to help." He replied.

"That won't be hard." Hart called up the Anglerfish.

"Oui oui?"

"Anne, I need you to interface with Shiyou and help her in a massive, quick, programming mission. Be gentle, it's her first time." Hart said.

"Oh, Madame, I cannot promise a zing." The comm link went dead and Hart was positive that she could hear Shiyou's screaming from the bridge.

Asp called the very moment after. "Time is up, Hart. Your answer."

Hart, almsot imperceptibly, looked to Cook, who mouthed "Stall."

"I want to renegotiate." Hart replied.

"You're in no position to negotiate." Asp turned to an offscrean crewman. "Fire at will."

"Wait!" Hart called out. Asp held up his hand.

"Are you going to surrender or not? Yes or no, Hart. Yes you and your crew lives, no we blow you out of the sky." The scarred Mamba said sternly. "Now, tell me."

She glanced to Cook, who still looked unsure and nervous, and then to Asp. "Asp, I'm not going to lie to you. Yes, we had a plan to escape. And no, it's not quite through yet, so we're unprepared, and if you fire on us, you'll probably kill us all." She cleared her throat. "But, even then, I'm still going to have to say, as the heir of John Melrose, that you can take your offer of surrender and shove it up your ass, if that Mamba-stick they implant in it leaves enough room."

Asp lowered his hand, and artillery began to barrage the ship. The com screen came down and Hart turned to Cook.

"Shields are up, along with basic thrusters, but we have no maneuverability and our weapons aren't going to do us much good against capital ships that size." The ship rocked. "Unless we have a miracle..."

The blasts abated for a few moments. "T.K. must have set off the charges, that gives us..."

And then they stopped altogether. Hart looked at Cook, who was already rapidly typing away.

"The shots are being deflected off of...um...something." Cook replied.

Morgan called, "Get us a visual." The external cameras caught an image on the viewcreen, and revealed exactly what was going on outside and absolutely everyone was staring at the sight in disbelief.

****

Moments ago...

Clara held Tina as the ship rocked again, medical supplies flying everywhere.

There was nothing she could do.

The attacks were in space. No earth, no air, no fire, no water. No emotions to mess with.

All her power, and she was going to die powerless.

The ship rocked again, and both she and Tina were thrown into a wall. Had she been anyone else, the force and angle might have broken Clara's back.

Clara The voice inside her whispered. Put down the female and feel your power. Feel what you can be. Feel your power. Let go of Tina The voice sounded older now. And set. Me. Free.

Project Savage stood up in the brief lull and let go of her girlfriend and took a step forward. Her eyes began to glow brightly, and her stripes began to burn hot. To burn brightly, filling the medbay with red light.

*****

Outside the ship, reality was torn at the edges and folded around Plunder's Heart. The lasers and missiles all harmlessly struck a shimmering field of distorted space rather than impact the damaged frigate.

"Captain, all drivers are intact!" Cook called.

"Jane, go straight up, right through the middle of those ships. When you hit the midpoint, hit the boost." Hart ordered. Jane shot the ship up, and right, in between the three of them, the boost engaged. Everyone on the ship was thrown back and, at this time, Clara collapsed into a heap, the shimmering field of distorted reality fading and her glow dissipating.

When the boost was hit, the three Mamba ships, who had been expecting Plunder to go through the hologram, lost tracking, but kept firing for a brief moment. Because of their formation, these meant that barrages of weapons fire hit each other rather than the Plunder, and the pirate ship shot off into space, and away from the ambush at speeds faster than they could really manage.

Hart let out a sigh of relief and collapsed into her chair. "Well, that's over with."

No sooner had she said that that Andromeda called from medical, "Captain, Clara has collapsed, she's.." There was a sound of a scuffle, and then Clara's voice on the other end. "I'm fine, mother. False alarm."