GESB: Operation Time-Cops

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

Ossanlin draws more power into the front shields, leaving just enough rear shielding to deflect a stray dracon, and leaving just enough power in the ship to crack open the z-drive.  The lighting dims to a very deep red as the main overheads go offline, and the air starts to get just a bit stuffy as the life-support slows down in order to feed energy to the front shields.  <Thermosphere is almost clear, stay ready Myitt.>  Ossanlin reaches out wiht his mind, feeling the twist and flux of the Earth's magnetic fields, and the gravity well as well.  He keys up the z-drive. 

<We're ready, Ionosphere immersion only.  Myitt, deploy in 3...2...1...MARK!>

[Myitt]

Myitt squeezes the manual triggers at Ossanlin's word and hopes, desperately, that the missiles hit their mark. 

Please, please, please God, Tara finds herself thinking.

[Chad32]

<You should be worried about us killing you than being curious about why we grabbed Zorish first. Aren't you afraid of death? You're not a rebel, yet you don't act like we're your enemies.>

"I'm good at keeping control of my emotions. I own a host that's a lunatic who believes Visser Three is the most awesome person in the galaxy."

<That's because he is.> Cody said.

"If I acted like your typical emperial, I'd widn up too much like my host. Don't get me wrong. I don't like you people, and I would kill you if I needed to, but I don't get all emotional about it. I can't afford to."

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

Ossanlin punches the maneuvering thrusters forward, initiating full burn towards the impending explosion.  Space lights up outside the ****pit viewer as the two missiles impact each other and explode violently.  <BRACE FOR IMPACT!!>  The thought is wide-band and easily heard throughout the ship.

Just as Ossanlin finishes speaking, the shockwave splashes against the forward shields, bolts of electricity arcing over the now-visible defensive energy field.  The cloak deactivates and the hull of the silver ship is illuminated in blinding white light.  Ossanlin lurches forward as the forward momentum of the ship is severly hampered by the out-blasting shockwave.  The shields begin to bow in and alarm claxxons sound loudly throughout the ship as the shields wear thin.  Ossanlin reaches out with his mind and opens his senses as they approach the zero-g singularity.  Ossanlin diverts all power from surrounding shields, leaving only the front deflection grid online as he punches the z-drive and rams the ship forward with an overdrive burn.  Space-time warps inside the blast wave and the singularity stabilizes into a z-space rift just as the Mirage reaches it, slipping through into the blank whiteness of z-space.  Time seems to freeze for a moment before things outside the ship become completely quiet in the vast expanse of nothingness.

Back in real-space, the ship can be seen hurtling into a pulse-wave explosion, shields slicing into the shockwave, electricity arcing around the shields before everything grows deathly silent...a second later a massive explosion rips through the Earth's ionosphere, the shockwave easily ten times as powerful as a five pulse-missile spread.  The shockwave fans out at about half the speed of light...any human ships in the North Pacific Ocean would see one heck of a lightning show as bolts of electricity leap hundreds of miles through the ionosphere within the shockwave's blast radius.  The wave distorts light reaching the planet as well, compressed matter causing a strange radiating shadow to flash across the surface of the planet underneath the anti-gravity explosion.

Back in the ship Ossanlin breathes a sigh of relief as the Mirage glides through the empty whiteness of z-space.  <See, I'm a decent pilot, nothing to worry about.>  Ossanlin chuckles nervously as he releases his silver-blade energy and reverts to his normal deep hue of blue.  The claxxons had stopped, but now another one began to sound.  <Oh...what now?>  Ossanlin quickly diagnoses the problem...the over-drive burn had over-loaded one of the matter/anti-matter reactors.  He quickly shuts it down.  <I pushed one of the reactors too hard...bored out the phase integrators.  Thankfully we can run on one reactor.  Hopefully we won't run into any more hostiles before I can make repairs...these advanced Hylon-matrix shields are nice, but they require a lot of energy to function at maximum.  We can run on one reactor, but the Mirage is just a regular combat fighter without the second.>  Ossanlin sighs again before glancing over at Myitt.  <I would invite you to sit down, but I don't have any chairs onboard.>  He grins nervously, his body still coming down from the adrenaline overflux.

[Terenia]

((Nice to meetcha Luke ))

Zorish falls silent, listening to Sukohn and the young Andalite warrior, storing the information away for potential use later. It is clear that the Andalite is somewhat foolish, and Zorish knows that if he is patient he may be able to gather useful information. His concentration is broken, however, when the ship thrashes violently and the life support is purposefully weakened.

"I think we very well may die, Andalite," Zorish says, smirking, "tell me, warrior, was running me down worth all the trouble?"

It seems that Zorish has spoken too soon, though. The ship lurches, and he braces himself for death, but a moment later everything seems to become smooth once more.

--

The Bug Fighters swoop back for a third round of attacks as the Mirage's shields absorb their previous shots; however, they quickly back off when they see the tell-tale signs of Z-space engines preparing for initiation. The fighters hang back, avoiding the close attacks that they had attempted within the atmosphere and instead shooting less powerful but more accurate beams from a distance.

Meanwhile, the Blade Ship's energy readouts detect that the Mirage is far enough out of the Earth's atmosphere to fire. The ship lines up their front Dracon Cannons at the bright flare of energy and fires. Two red beams of energy lance from the cloaked Bug Fighter, point blank at The Mirage. At the same instant that the beams would have made impact a massive explosion turns the sky into an inferno that absorbs the energy. When the flames clear, the target is gone.

[Myitt]

"Uh huh," Myitt says tremulously, seeming to realize she is gripping the weapons array console so tightly that her host's knuckles are white.  She takes a few shaky steps back. 

She looks over at Ossanlin.  "We're alive, right?" she whispers, eyes tracking blankly, then she clears her throat and sounds a bit stronger.  She even smiles a little, part of her more exhilarated than anything else.  "That was insane.  Insane!  I'm glad you were flying, because I don't think I could've pulled it off." Myitt exhales in relief.  "You're right, I need to sit down."  She staggers to the wall and sits down with her back against it, hugging Tara's knees. 

A few feet away, what remains of the Yeerk pool liquid has sloshed itself against the far wall from the momentary inertia of the jump.  It has the scent of mulch and oil.  The rest of the floor, where the water has dried, has taken on a faint iridescent sheen.

[Chad32]

Claxter fell over when the ship lurched, and Zorish's words were drowned out by the strapped in Human yelling in panic.

"Somebody get me out of here! I don't want to die! Please!"

When things calmed down somewhat, Claxter decided to let the Human out to keep him from having a heart attack. When released, he jumped up, but didn't really have anywhere to go. he ran to an empty corner like a scared cornered animal, sweating and breathing heavily with wide and fearful eyes.

<Please calm down. No one is going to hurt you.>

"I've been abducted by aliens. I know what happens to people who get abducted by aliens. You can't fool me."

"We're not those kind of aliens. You're thinking Skrit Na. We're Yeerks and Andalites." Sukohn said. "Yeerks just want your body as their vehicle. Andalites just want you to do what they tell you to and act grateful when they meddle in your personal affairs."

[Alic]

All Alic could do when Ossanlin gave the warning was put her arms out to catch her fall. If she made it to the ground... If they didn't blow up. Seconds later her she was face first on the floor, and her hands had only softened the blow to her face. "Ugh." Slowly Alic sat up and leaned against the wall, crossing her arms again.
She was still feeling bitter and doing her best to ignore the other occupants of the room.
She rolled her eyes and turned to look at the human. "Great. Now we're stuck in space with some human who can't hold it together. "He was calmer with the slug in his head, you know."

[Chad32]

"Maybe you'd be calmer with him in you. Trigger happy...shoot me as well as Sukohn probably." He said, though he didn't look Alic in the eyes when he said it.

<I don't suppose you'd like some sedatives to calm yourself down?>

"What I want is to go home. We're not leaving earth, are we? I know we're being attacked, but can you guys just give the Yeerks their friends back and put me back on Earth?"

<Afraid not.>

[Alic]

Alic smiled. "Trigger happy? I dislike using weapons. I prefer physical combat, actually." Then she decided to add, "And I try my best not to have to kill innocents, but sometimes sacrifices must be made. I wouldn't mind if Sukohn was destroyed, I don't think anyone in the room cares."
She sighed and relaxed her arms, tired of feeling locked up with the prisoners. Maybe Alic had reacted poorly earlier, but she didn't deserve to be stuck with the company she was with.

Alic snorted. "Yeah. Can't bring you back right now. You're stuck."

[Terenia]

Zorish sighs in annoyance at the freed human, sounding rather like a snotty young girl. Tamora's body was quite good at portraying arrogance and indignation, and Zorish was truly becoming exasperated.

"I'm afraid that we are likely a long way off from Earth now, human," Zorish says, "otherwise we would be dead at this point. No more than a few molecules floating through space. No, we are likely hurtling through Z-space headed towards...well, I'd very much like to know what we are headed towards. Where is it you Andalites are taking us? To the Captain's Dome Ship? If you are going to kill me, you may as well get it over with. I have told you everything there is to tell."

[Chad32]

"Sorry. I kind of got the first impression that you liked to shoot people. My name's Derrel, by the way. What is Z-space?"

<It is the antithesis of regular space that can be used to trverse long distances quickly. It is a pure white nothingness.> Claxter said.

"Antithesis of space? But there aren't like, black dots where stars would be?"

<No. I suppose it isn't the exact opposite of space.>

"Just think wormhole or hyperdrive." Sukohn said.

"Oh. So where are we going?"

"We came from a weird place that's better understood if you've been there. probably going back there."

<Yes Sukohn, now be quiet.>

"You're so crabby for being the victorious side here. I'm willing to bet money that you wanted more from Zorish than just information. Or her host."

<Well we certainly don't need to keep you alive.>

"Hey I'm surprised I'm still alive right now."

[Terenia]

"No one cares what your name is, human," Zorish snaps, frustrated, "let me make your role in all of this perfectly clear. You are a free human on an Andalite space craft that is being powered by an Andalite captain and Yeerk refugees. You have a rather limited future ahead of you. You will either be hauled off to the traitor's camp and forced to fight, taken back to Earth and eventually fall back into Yeerk hands or killed outright. You have no future."

[Chad32]

Derrel didn't take Zorish's words very well. He sat with his head resting in his knees, and looked like he might start crying.

"The people at The Sharing liked me. They gave me food, and hung out with me, and said I could be a full member."

"I know this is just going to crush your morale, but the Sharing is a front organization for the Yeerks. Every full member you know is an Emperial, or Controller as we are commonly called."

Derrel definitely didn't take that well. He turned towards the wall to hide the pain on his face.

[Luke Skywalker (Ossanlin)]

Ossanlin smiles a bit at Myitt as he gives the systems another once-over before leaving the auto-track to run the z-space jump.  <Well, it's only a 50% success rate for a good Andalite pilot, there's just too much randomness.  But I must say it helps to be able to feel the fluxes in space.  Works much better than a computer.  Being touched by the Ellimist can have it's uses...>  Ossanlin chuckles a bit to himself.

<I suppose we should go see how the 'children' are doing.>  He chuckles again and opens the flight-deck door to survey the situation.  <Everything still functional out here?>