A word of warning from Karen: if you're in no way interested in Reb and Yuna's relationship, click your back button now. Mush doesn't come any mushier than this story.
Part 1 Written by Patricia on February 1st, 1998
Yuna left her personal chamber with a smile on her face, until she met up with Reb in the corridor.
"Yuna, I've been looking for you," Reb says.
Yuna doesn't answer. They walk into the command center. Bren and Lise are there. Bren at weapons, Lise at navigation. Reb takes engineering. Lise gets up for Yuna, and goes to leave the command center.
"Lise, stay here, please. Lise, would you please tell Reb I'm not talking to him," says Yuna.
Part 2 Written by KareBear on February 2nd, 1998
Lise turned around in her chair to face Yuna. Yuna was looking at her expectantly. Her arms were crossed defiantly. "What's going on?" Lise asked.
"What do you think?" Yuna replied, her voice low. After all, Lise was supposed to be really good at this whole emotions-thing; she should have known.
She did. Lise slowly nodded knowingly and said to Yuna, "All right, but just this time."
Lise gave a sympathetic look to Reb as he slid into the engineering seat that Bren had just vacated. Yuna stomped to the lift behind the computer console, fuming.
"Lise, do you know what's going on with her?" Reb asked immediately after Bren and Yuna had left the Command Deck.
Part 3 Written by TPTIGGER on February 4th, 1998
Lise shrugged. "I'm sorry Reb." There was no way Reb could've missed what Yuna said to her-- it would be pointless to repeat it.
The weapons system beeped. Lise leapt to the console and tapped her communicator. "Bren, Gret, Yuna, we've got a ship of unknown configuration approaching."
Bren came straight up the lift and dashed to the weapons console. "They're scanning us, but it doesn't look like they're locking on."
Gret appeared and fired up the communications station, tapping away for a moment. As she did so, Yuna came in with Zak at her heels. Zak calmly took his station, but Yuna glared at Reb before sitting down.
"They're not responding to attempts at communications," Gret said.
Reb tensed. "Yuna, get us out of here."
Yuna turned towards Gret. "Did you hear something?"
"Yuna, there's a hostile out there, quit messing around and get us into hyperspace," Bren snapped. He muttered something that might have been "civilians" under his breath.
"We don't know they're hostile, Bren."
"Oh, really, Gret? Then how come they just locked their weapons on us, huh?"
Part 4 Written by KareBear on February 4th, 1998
Yuna straightened herself and shoved her feelings out of her mind. Bren was right--this was not the time. Quickly, she brought up the a scan of the system they were in. "All right, I'm going to try that asteroid belt between the 3rd and 4th planet," Yuna announced, inputting the coordinates.
"Yuna, are you crazy?" Gret asked. "It's way too dense, we can't get Deepwater through all that."
"Yes, we can," Yuna told her. "We'll lose them, then we can make a run for hyperspace."
Yuna started to power up the thrusters when there was suddenly a loud bang from the back of the ship. A conduit above Yuna cackled loudly. They'd been hit.
"I don't understand it," Bren yelled. "It went right through the shields."
"They took out our R2," Reb screamed above the alarm.
"Returning fire," Bren called.
Bren carefully aimed for their weapons systems and fired. "Darn, barely scratched 'em," Bren cursed. He continued, trying everything he knew to get their shields.
Yuna resumed the task of getting the thrusters. With the R2 out the Deepwater was almost crawling, but they were moving, at least. The hostile continued firing, the sound of damage burning into the crew's ears, again and again and again.
"Guys!" Gret cried frantically. "The gene bank!"
"What is it?" Lise asked.
"Switch to the gene bank cameras!" Gret screeched.
Reb did it. When he looked up, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Three of the cryo control systems had shorted out. Several of the capsules with the growing clones had shattered and the clones were writhing on the floor, dying.
"Oh my god," Yuna exclaimed.
"20% of the gene bank is gone," Gret cried frantically. "It's gone, they're all dead!"
Gen suddenly spoke. "Do you wish to activate the gene bank separation protocol?"
"Gene bank separation?" Reb echoed. "What is that?"
Gret jumped in. "It divides the undamaged portions of the gene bank into modules that can be attached to the lifepods and shuttles."
Part 5 Written by TPTIGGER on February 12th, 1998
"Negative, they'll just shoot them down," Bren said.
"You got a better idea, soldier?" Gret's growing concern for the gene bank made her snap at him.
"Yes, I do--Yuna, head for that class two gas giant," Bren said.
"Are they using mag-beams?" Reb inquired as Yuna changed course.
"Yup," Bren replied.
"Brilliant." Reb grinned.
"I don't follow."
"If we hide in the magnetic pole of that planet, it'll scatter their weapons, Lise," Reb explained.
"It won't beat them, but it should buy us enough time to figure out how we can beat them," Bren added.
Yuna moved the Deepwater over the planet's magnetic pole. The enemy tried to fire again, but the beam diffused into harmless light.
"They've lost their lock."
"Good idea, Bren, you stay here and see if you can pinpoint a weakness. Zak, take Yuna and get on that thruster. Lise and Gret, see what you can do about the gene bank; maybe we can salvage some of the chambers and reproduce some of the clones," said Reb.
Part 6 Written by Bekkie on February 17th, 1998
[Format change]
[Zak and Yuna are in Shuttle Alpha repairing the R2.]
Zak: What is with you today?
Yuna [snapping]: What do you mean?
Zak: I mean, you're behaving like a baby by not talking to Reb! You could've got us all killed today!
Yuna: I'm entitled to not speak to Reb if I want!
Zak: Yeah, in your own time, but not on duty! We can't have the pilot ignore the captain/co-pilot in a crisis situation! It's dumb!
Yuna: It's not like he couldn't have handled it--you said it yourself, he's the co-pilot, he could have got us out of there.
Zak: Not while trying to stop the ship from blowing up or stopping dead.
Yuna: His job is greatly overrated. You could do what he does, easily. We don't really need him.
Zak: So that's it, is it? Next chance we get we chuck him off and carry on as normal? Are you crazy?! We'd all fall apart without him!
Yuna: We'd cope.
Zak: Are you kidding? There'd be a mutiny on the first day. He holds this crew together.
Yuna: His role in this mission is being overrated again!
Zak: It's not! You can't let your personal feelings, whatever they are, cloud your professional judgment. Reb bends over backwards to please us, especially you! He'd move mountains for you if it's what he thought you wanted!"
Yuna: You're crazy! You should listen to yourself sometime!
Zak: Yuna, I know you're angry at Reb over something, but he has stuck by you 100% of the way.
Yuna: Zak! Get a grip!
Zak: NO! Not until you tell me what's going on!
Yuna: Ask Reb! Are you done with R2 yet?
Zak: [coldly] Yes.
Yuna: Good. Let's get outta here.
Zak: Fine by me, don't like the company much anymore.
Bren: Shuttle alpha is docking now.
Reb: Good. R2 is functioning again. Bren, any idea on how to beat those bad guys?
Bren: Yup.
Reb: Well, let's hear it.
Bren: Okay, now here [he shows a still frame picture of the hostile up on the screen] we see a weak spot in their shields, just by their weapons relay and shield generator. It's caused by a rotating shield module, that's where one cycle ends and the next begins. It's a slim chance, but it's a chance.
Reb: Good, do it. I'll be in cryo if you need me.
Bren: Okay.
Reb leaves the Command Deck via the lifts and goes to cryo, leaving Bren to 'beat the bad guys'.
Reb: [to Lise and Gret] So, how bad is it?"
Lise: Better than we thought--with a little help from you and Zak we can salvage most of the capsules and of the 20% damaged material we can save or replace 13%. It's still a great loss, but better than we first feared.
Reb: Gret, how long before we're back on track?
Gret: A week or two tops.
Reb: Okay, get on it.
[Reb turns to leave the cryo chamber, but changes his mind and turns on his crewmates.]
Reb: Do either of you know why Yuna isn't talking to me?
[Gret and Lise look at each other guiltily and then back at Reb.]
Reb: Well, do you? [He becomes increasingly more anxious and annoyed.]
Lise: Um, kinda.
Reb: Well, what is it?
Lise: It's not my place to tell you--
Gret: Lise, it's what's best--if this carries on we could all end up dead because she didn't answer one of Reb's commands.
Lise: Okay, Okay.
Reb: Well?
Lise: I'm thinking how to word it.
Reb: How to word it! Lise, I'm desperate. Yuna isn't talking to me and I don't know why, it's driving me mad.
Gret: It always drives you mad when Yuna isn't talking to you, which is always.
Reb: Lise, please, please, please, please!
Lise: "Okay! Calm down. God! She's not talking to you because..."
Part 7 Written by Patricia on February 17th, 1998
[Format change]
"It's about you and Aurora. Yuna is not talking to you because of that." Lise stated quickly. She glanced around at Gret and Reb, noting their simple reactions.
"Asteroids ahead, Yuna," Bren politely told Yuna.
"I can see that," Yuna snapped back.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine! Why doesn't everyone just leave me alone!"
"That takes care of that," Gret says as she finishes up. She soon leaves Cryo.
"I'm going to try to talk to Yuna," Reb states.
Lise doesn't look up from her work, so Reb leaves Cryo.
As Reb enters Yuna mumbles, "Oh great, here we go again."
Bren leaves the Bridge--all the big business is taken care of, its time for him to get away from these civilians.
Reb stands behind Yuna's chair. "Yuna, I'm sorry. Aurora..."
Yuna stands up and snaps, "I don't care!"
"Yuna, Aurora must've done something different to me. Implanted feelings, made me prex, or something."
"You kissed her!"
"Implanted feelings."
Yuna tries to think of something.
"Yuna, I have internal and eternal feelings for you. Nothing could replace those feelings." Reb kisses Yuna. "I hope you understand."
Yuna is surprised, and stutters out some words. "I..I..I..do..do."
Reb holds Yuna's hands in his own. "Good."
Part 8 Written by KareBear on February 18th, 1998
"Wait." Yuna suddenly withdrew her hands as she remembered. "Reb, I can't--"
The weapons console beeps. Frustrated, Reb gets up to check what it is. "We've been locked on."
"I thought the ship couldn't fire at us," Yuna said, confused.
"It's not the ship," he told her. "There are 20 fighters, all heading for us. Small, but all heavily armed."
"Bren, get in here," Yuna yelled.
Bren was in the Habitat, so he was back in a second. "What is it?"
"Look for yourself." Reb left the weapons console and went to the the engineering one just as the first shot was fired from the fighters. "Yuna, we need to get out of here," he called.
"Right." Yuna started the engines. "We've cleared the planet," she informed them a few seconds later. "Asteroid field?"
Reb nodded. "Bren, how's it going with the fighters?"
"5 down," he reported. "They have some very tricky shielding, like the ship--I'm having trouble breaking through."
Zak, Gret and Lise entered the Command Deck. "What's the situation?" Gret asked.
"We've got 15 fighters on our tail, and we're heading for the asteroid belt," Bren prepped them.
Another hard hit. "Shields at...60%," Bren yelled.
"OK, we're going in," Yuna announced, carefully maneuvering the ship through the first asteroids.
Reb helped Yuna with it by taking the short-range sensors. "Asteroid at... 351629."
"OK," Yuna responded, quickly setting a course away from it.
"Wait! Another one at 203827."
"Just how big is this asteroid belt anyway?" Lise asked.
"If they keep us from crashing on the side of an asteroid, we should be out of it in a couple of hours," Zak replied.
One by one, Reb fired out asteroid coordinates while Yuna turned accordingly. The rest of the crew already knew what had happened on the Command Deck.
Part 9 Written by KareBear on February 24th, 1998
"Phew." Yuna blew a sigh of relief and leaned back in her chair for the first time in an hour. "Finally!"
Reb echoed her actions, allowing his eyes to drift off the sensor map. "They're gone," he announced. "There're only one or two fighters left, and they seem to have gotten lost."
"And that other ship?" Yuna went on.
"It didn't follow us," Bren told her.
"Good." Reb went back into working mode as he checked the damage reports. "OK, one of the fuel lines has a leak." He looked a little deeper at the readout. "It's small enough, I'll go patch it up."
"I'll go with you," Yuna volunteered.
Everyone was surprised, even Yuna. She waited patiently for his response.
"Sure." Reb grinned slightly to himself as he left the Command Deck, Yuna not far behind.
Yuna couldn't think of anything to say. Every time she thought she did, she lost her nerve and chewed her lip instead, which was beginning to bleed slightly.
Reb saw that Yuna was nervous. Heck, he was too. What was he supposed to say? He hadn't intended to tell Yuna the way he did. Now what? Whatever the outcome, Reb knew that that day could never happen again. If Yuna ever flinched at one of his orders, or he one of hers--everything could end--the mission, the rest of the crew, mankind...
Yuna hung the protective suit back on its hook outside the engine room as Reb scanned the fuel line again.
"All right, it's done," he said. They started walking towards the lift.
"Reb--" Yuna didn't get very much past that, because Reb had just said, "Yuna." She chuckled and said, "You first."
He exhaled slowly before he started again. "Yuna... what now?"
Part 10 Written by Rachel on April 18th, 1998
Yuna didn't have time to answer. The ship rocked and she was thrown backwards. Into what, she never found out. It all went dark before she landed.
"Where are Yuna and Reb? We've hit another asteroid field and we need Yuna to fly!" Bren yelled irritably.
"Maybe they got a little...er...busy, if ya know what I mean." Zak grinned at them. Of course they knew what he meant.
"Well, I don't care what they're doing. I want them up here! We can't be expected to run this ship and have those 2 goof off. It's not acceptable. And I don't think that either of them is a good Captain." Bren said, in his military voice.
"Bren, we've been through this before. Reb and Yuna are co-captains and you better get used to it!" Gret glared at Bren. "Stop acting like a 3 year old and check if anyone is following us."
Bren followed his orders. There was no point in arguing.
Yuna woke up. She ached all over and felt dizzy and disoriented. Sitting up slowly, she tried to see what had happened. Things were a mess. Wires were shooting off sparks of electricity and a wall had crumbled down. Also the ship was still rocking back and forth but not enough to throw her off her feet. Yuna stood up and walked over to the window. She gasped. She could see the Deepwater in the distance. Yuna was floating away! She must've been thrown into a compartment and then it probably broke off from the rest of the ship. Yuna was drifting off in space with no way to get back to her ship.
Reb burst in just as they had finished flying through the asteroid field.
"Reb, it's about time you got here!" Bren yelled.
"Yuna....she's..." Reb gasped.
"Reb. Get a hold of yourself. Now what happened." Lise asked him soothingly.
"That last hit sent Yuna flying. Before I could reach her the compartment she was in broke off and drifted into space. She's gone!"
Part 11 Written by KareBear on April 19th, 1998
"What?" Bren exclaimed.
"Why didn't you tell us before we got out?" Gret asked.
"My communicator was shredded," he explained, then gasped as he put his hand where the it had been. In his daze, he hadn't noticed that there was a giant cut on the back of his wrist.
"Here, let me get that," Lise called, grabbing a med kit from the Habitat.
"No time," Reb replied. "Gret, can you get the compartment on sensors?"
She rushed to the sensor station and scanned the asteroid field behind them. "The field's too dense...I can't get anything," she told him frustratedly.
"Try narrowing the sensor beam," he suggested. "I'm taking Deepwater on a reverse course--we've got to go back for her."
"Wait a minute," Bren protested. "We barely got out alive that time, you can't take us back in there."
Reb slowly turned to face him. "Bren, she's still out there," he started.
"We don't even know if she's still alive," Bren broke in coldly. "The compartment probably doesn't have its own atmosphere, she probably died of oxygen deprivation by now!"
"I am NOT leaving her!" Reb yelled. "I'll take a shuttle." He stormed off towards the lift.
"Reb, let me go with you," Lise told him, grabbing the medkit. "She might be badly hurt."
"No, you need to stay here," he said. "Bren, take the ship to that fourth planet, and do the drill. I'll meet you there when I get her." He paused before he said the next sentence. "If I'm not back in 8 hours, go on without us."
With that, he was gone.
Quickly, he ran to cryo and grabbed a full medkit, six oxygen tanks and a communicator. Next stop--the shuttle bay. He didn't bother to change into a shuttle uniform, and grabbed two spacesuits.
"Bren, let's get going," Reb said into the communicator as he strapped into his seat.
The shuttle bay opened. "We have separation," Reb told them.
Part 12 Written by Candice on May 14th, 1998
[Format change]
Gret: Reb, Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean if you or her don't come back...
Reb: [interrupting] Yes. And both of us will come back, but first I have to find her!!
Lise: Reb, be careful.
Reb: I will. Thanks Lise.
[Reb turns the shuttle and speeds off towards the asteroid field. When he gets to the asteroid field he turns on the shuttle's scanner--it picks something up but it turns out to be a dead rock.]
[Yuna looks through the Compartments window and still sees nothing but asteroids, then she catches a glimpse of something metal.]
Yuna: [thinking] What is that??
[Then she realizes it's Shuttle Alpha from the Deepwater.]
Yuna: I have to get its attention.
[Reb spots the floating compartment that is floating more and more into the asteroid field.]
Reb: [thinking] There it is.
[Right then an asteroid hits the side of the Shuttle, causing Reb to hit his wrist against the control board.]
Reb: Ow!!
[He looks at his wrist and sees that the cut has opened wider and is gushing blood. He starts to fly the shuttle towards the floating compartment dodging all of the asteroids on his way.]
[Format change]
Meanwhile Yuna looks out of the window and is overjoyed to see the shuttle coming towards her. When the shuttle reaches the compartment the shuttle pulls right up to the compartment and opens its side door. Yuna runs to the console in the compartment and opens the compartments door she goes to the door and quickly gets in the shuttle attaching a tow line to the compartment, when Reb saw she was in he closed the shuttles side door, when she got to the cockpit she and Reb hug each other then he notices she has a bad cut on her forehead, and she noticed his hand was half covered in blood. Before she or he could say anything a asteroid rams into the Shuttle flinging Reb and Yuna backwards, Reb hit his head and fell to the floor unconscious. Yuna hit the wall really hard and fell the floor stunned.
Part 13 Written by KareBear on May 16th, 1998
"Reb?" Yuna shook her head dizzily as she tried to align herself to her surroundings again. She opened her eyes, but all she got was a blurry haze. After what seemed like an eternity of blinking, everything finally came into focus, and she saw Reb unconscious on the wall opposite her.
"Reb!" She rushed over to him, hastily trying to remember her first aid training, but her mind went blank. What to do, what to *do*... She clawed at the wall for the medkit hanging on the hook, and tore it open looking for inspiration. A bandage--that would be a start. She hastily cleaned and wrapped the cut. As for his head...Yuna had no idea what to do with *that*, so Yuna just rolled him over on his side hoping he would wake up soon enough. "Where's Lise when you need her?" she wondered aimlessly.
OK. Now they had to get out of this asteroid field. Yuna stumbled over to the pilot seat, her mind still clouded by a blanket of fog.
"OK, OK..." Her mind was completely non-functional--she couldn't *think* of anything! By instinct, she checked the pressure--it looked OK. Thrusters--relatively undamaged. Sensors--still working. "OK, OK, think Yuna," she chided herself as she looked for a direction. She needed to do something. "Get back to Deepwater, gotta get back to Deepwater," she muttered quietly under her breath. A long-range scan showed that they were not far from the edge of the field--that was a relief. Slowly, Yuna fired up the thrusters and shakily piloted the shuttle past an asteroid, then another, and then another...
"Ah!" Yuna tumbled out of her seat as an asteroid hit the shuttle again. Her only thought was to get the shuttle going again, but at the back of her mind a thought nagged at her. "The proximity alarm should have gone off," it was whining. On an impulse, she checked it--non-functional. Great.
Ten minutes, then fifteen, then twenty. Yuna continued to dodge the incoming asteroids, glancing behind her at Reb the entire time. He was still not coming to. The voice started to worry again. "Why isn't he waking up?..."
Forty minutes later, they had cleared the field. Long-range sensors didn't pick up the Deepwater anywhere. "Probably told them to wait for him somewhere," she thought, glancing back at Reb again.
Part 14 Written by Virtual on July 3rd, 1998
She calmed down a bit. Knowing that they were out of danger from the asteroids was a great relief. All she had to do now was to take care of Reb. Her forehead had stopped bleeding (she didn't know when) and the headache was almost gone, so she was able to think. Not completely clearly yet but still she was able to think, which was more than she could do an hour ago.
She went over to Reb who was still lying on his side. His pulse and breathing seemed OK and from the looks of it, he was just unconcious. "Thank God!" Yuna said to herself, closing her eyes to try to figure out what she could do next. "OK Yuna concentrate, what's to be done when someone is unconcious..." Suddenly, part of her first aid training came back to her. She turned Reb on his back again, took off her jacket and put it under his head to make sure that he would be comfortable when he woke-up, she then went over to his feet. She had learned that if she lifted his feet from the ground and held them there for a while, the blood would make its way back to Reb's head and he would wake-up almost instantly. If that didn't work, she would have to find the Deepwater on her own and the chances of succes in that case were really slim considering the enormousity of space. Yuna knew that, she was a pilot and pilots spend their lives in space.
As she lifted Reb's feet, she prayed for him to wake. He was their only chance, HE knew where the Deepwater was. "C'mon Reb, I need your help on this one," she said out loud, surprising herself.
Reb didn't know where he was, everything was black. He couldn't remember what had happened. He had a terrible buzzing headache that made him too confused and flabby to even try to move a muscle. He just didn't want to. He felt something soft on the back of his neck, like some sort of cushion. He was glad that it was there to support his head. For a moment he had thought that he was dead, until he felt that cushion...and until he heard that voice...a young, vibrant, beautiful, familiar voice.
"Familiar...humm...Yeah...I Know that voice..." , Reb thought, but the tone, a pleading one, begging, almost scared didn't seem to belong to its owner... "It's owner...YUNA!"
In a flash, everything came back to him. He remembered all of it, where he was and...Yuna! Yuna bleeding! "Oh nooo!" he screamed.
Yuna couldn't believe what she had just said. "I need you on this!?! Who said THAT?" she thought to herself the second she heard it. It wasn't like her to admit that she needed help from anyone, so saying it out loud just seemed to be coming out of somebody else's mouth. But she had said it, she knew she had. "And I really meant it, I did," she thought in amazement, but she was brutally interrupted by Reb's scream.
"On nooo! Yuna!" Reb's eyes snapped open as he looked around for Yuna. "You're bleeding! Where are you!"
Yuna put Reb's feet down immediately and rushed back over to his head to let him see that she was OK. She smiled, at him to reassure him of course but mostly at herself. She was so happy to see that he didn't seem too bad considering the shock his head had endured. She hadn't seen him hit the wall but she did hit her back and it was still sore at the moment. She probably had bruises and maybe even scratched some skin off. "Hell, I don't care!" Reb was awake and THAT was her main concern. There he was, hurt worst than she was and barely awake and all he could think about was the cut on HER forehead! "He cares that much for you!", a voice said to her but she quickly pushed it aside...for now.
She helped him to his feet. He put his arms around her waist for support, his face hiding in her neck. "That's nice," she thought, feeling his warm breath on the back of her ear. It was giving her a feeling of security and comfort.
She sat him down in the co-pilot's seat and buckled his seatbelt. She than did the same for herself.
"Reb, are you still with me?" Yuna asked.
"Yeah, still dizzy but I'm here." He looked and felt as if he was drunk, but that would pass soon.
"Than do me a favor and stay with me...please?"
That last word drew his entire attention, he turned his head to look at her and waited for her to look at him.
"There's that tone again," he said softly.
"What tone?" Yuna replied, puzzled.
"Worried...don't you worry. I'll be just fine Yuna, I promise you."
"OK." she answered. She didn't know what else to say because she didn't have to say anything else. His voice was so reassuring and the look in his eyes was so honest when he said those last words that she knew that he would soon be good as new. She trusted him on that. So she decided to go for the big one: "Reb, do you know where the Deepwater is?" she asked him.
"Yeah, it's on its way to enter the fourth planet's orbit. How long have I been out?"
"About an hour, I think, I don't know how long we were both out so I'm not sure, why?"
"Because I told Bren not to wait for us after 8 hours. But I don't know how long it's been since then."
"Then we'd better hurry," Yuna replied. "Hope you don't mind high-speed", she said, a daring look on her mischievous smiling face.
"I don't." Reb said with a chuckle. It was just like her to say something like that, and with that determination in her voice. "Yuna's back," he thought, letting out a long sigh of relief as they closed-in on the Deepwater, hoping that it would still be there.
Part 15 Written by Candice on September 1st, 1998 [Format change]
The others were getting worried.
Lise: They should have been back by now.
Gret: Don't worry Lise, I'm sure they're fine.
Bren: Sure?How about positive?
Gret: Shut up, Bren.
Zak: How long has it been?
Lise: 7&a1/2 hours.
Zak: Great.
Reb: I thought that they would be gone.
Yuna: Me too...Reb? Reb!
Yuna looked at the seat beside her and saw that Reb had passed out.
Yuna: Sh*t.
Gen: (voice) Shuttle Alpha approaching.
That last statement sent everyone into action.
Gret: Yuna, Reb, can you hear me?
(Shuttle)Yuna: Yeah, I can hear you.
Gret: Are you guys alright?
(Shuttle)Yuna: Well, we kinda had a little problem.
Lise: What happened, Yuna?
(Shuttle)
Yuna: I'll tell you when we get there, just meet us in the shuttle bay, with your medical equipment.
Lise: OK, Bren, open the Shuttle Bay.
Lise was there when the shuttle docked. Yuna walked down the plank supporting Reb who she had managed to wake up. Reb stumbled and almost fell, but Yuna helped him steady himself again.
Lise: Oh god, what happened Yuna?
Yuna sat Reb down on a chair, then turned to face Lise and told her what happened on the shuttle. At that point, Reb nodded off again.
Lise: You 2 have to get checked out. Help me get Reb to Sickbay.
Part 16 Written by Ginger on October 16th, 1998
Lise walked onto the command deck, and sat down on a spare chair.
Bren: How are they?
Lise: Well, I gave them both a sedative, Reb it appears had hit his head pretty hard, and Yuna, well, she hurt her arm.
Gret: God, how bad was the whole thing?
Lise: Well, Yuna described it to me, and it seemed pretty bad. Bren shifted in Yuna's seat from where he was flying the ship, Gret could sense his uncomfortableness; so could Lise.
Lise: Um, i'm just gonna go to Habitat and get something refreshing to drink.
Gret: I'll come pretty soon.
Lise: Ok.
After Lise is gone, Gret goes over to Bren.
Gret: Is something wrong?
Bren: Such as?
Gret: You care about Reb and Yuna don't you?
Bren: Well,.........yeah.
Gret: Yeah, me too.
Part 17 Written by Nightfox on November 26th, 1998
Yuna sat in sickbay beside Reb. He had been unconscious for almost a day. He was getting better but Lise didn’t expect him to wake up soon.
Yuna: Reb I’m sorry. I should have gotten you back faster. There must have been a way. [Yuna wipes a tear from her face.]
Lise walks into sick bay.
Lise: Yuna, you're still here. You haven’t gotten any sleep since you got back. Go get some sleep--I’ll call you if anything happens.
Yuna: You're right Lise. I’ll go in a minute.
Lise leaves.
Yuna: Please Reb wake up. We need you--I need you please come back to me. [Yuna gets up and walks towards the door.]
Reb: YYYuna is that you.
Yuna: Reb???? Oh Reb (Gives Reb a big hug and kisses him) I was so worried...
Reb: What happened?
Yuna: You were knocked out in the shuttle. Don’t you remember?
Reb: No--all I remember is getting you and then everything is blank.
Yuna: We can talk about it later right now get some rest, I’ll go and get Lise.
Yuna walks out. Lise is standing outside sickbay.
Yuna: Lise, he’s awake. (yawns) and I’m gonna go and get some sleep.
Bren: Gret I’m picking something up on scanners
Gret: It’s those ships again.
Bren: Yuna, get up here we have a prblem.
Yuna arrives a few seconds later.
Yuna: What is it? (Looking at the scanners) Oh damn. All right--Bren, ready the guns; I’ll move us into an orbit above the pole of this planet and hope they don’t detect us.
Bren: We need Reb to make repairs. We're in no condition to fight.
Gret: Can we run???
Yuna: We're not gonna run. Not this time.
Bren: But we can’t win.
Yuna: We can--if we use our heads
Bren hoped Yuna had some sort of idea. Because he couldn’t think of anything that would help them get past those ships.
Part 18 Written by Ginger on November 28th, 1998
Bren: Yuna, I certainly hope you have a plan.
Yuna: I do Bren, just trust me on this ok.
Bren: Whatever.
Yuna rolled her eyes, before concentrating on the ships.
Lise: Well, Reb, how do you feel?
Reb: Well, like.......
Reb didn't get time to finish his sentence because the ship was rocked by a gun blast.
Reb: (helping Lise off the floor) What was that?
Lise: I don't know, even though I shouldn't say this, I think you should go up to the bridge and see what's the problem.
Reb and Lise were thrown off their feet again as another blast rocked the ship. Reb quickly hurried to the lift and pressed the button for the Command Deck.
Yuna was firing rapidly back at the ships as they zoomed in and back out again. Reb got to the command deck and hurridly went to his seat at engineering. Yuna was surprised to see him.
Yuna: Shouldn't you be down in your quarters?
Reb: Lise sent me up here to help. [Looks at his scanner] Not those damn ships again.
Yuna: Yep. Consider them a fact of life.
Reb couldn't help but give a small smile at her remark.
They looked up at the veiwscreen just when a big laser blot from one of the ships was about to hit them. Yuna and Reb knew that if that if it hit the ship, the ship would blow.
"Yuna..."
Part 19 Written by Virtual aka Anma on January 12th, 1998 [Format change]
Yuna heard Reb whisper her name, a helpless tone to it. This is bad, she thought. Her idea was not going to work out. Of course, it was an incredible long shot but they had no other choice. Running away wouldn't have worked: the Deepwater was fast, but did not have the necessary mobility if those combat ships ever caught up to them. And they would have. She knew it from experience. Between fighting them off in the middle of nowhere and fighting them in that planet's orbit...at least they would have a place to crash and maybe survive. But the way that laser blast was coming at them they would have none of it. They would explode in space and not crash. As Reb pleaded for her to do something, she hoped her memory wouldn't betray her.
She had a PREX once. But she had never shared it with anyone. It seemed vague and she didn't want to induce anyone in mistake.
The laser never touched them. It came directly at them, but it crashed against a bareer of blue light, like some sort of an energy field.
"There's a ship over our heads" Bren yelled and then barely spoke in amazement "it's huge...twice as big as ours".
The EXODUS was protecting them with its own shields. And from the way the hostiles backed down and fled, it was easy to guess that it was very powerful.
Yuna let out a long sight. That was too close for comfort, she silently told herself. She had a briefing once about the EXODUS. Well...her donor did.
"What the hell is this! They're helping us? They want something from us," the ever suspicious Bren warned his crew members.
"They're hailing us," Gret informed.
Reb, was looking at Yuna. She looked like she knew this/something like this was going to happen. If Yuna seemed relieved by the EXODUS's presence, he would trust her. "Gen," the engineer instructed, "On screen".
A man appeared. He smiled at the sight of the crew safe and sound. "Glad you're all right, Deepwater."
"So my PREX really was a PREX" Yuna said, ignoring the man's remark. "I wasn't sure. Lise had sedated me after the spacebug caused an explosion. I thought I might have been dillusional or something."
The man nodded, understanding Yuna's confusion and turned to the rest of the crew. "Hi, I'm Tyrone. The engineer on this ship. Hey, I bet you never saw anything like the shields I used to save your hide, right or wrong?"
"Right," Reb replied. "I'm an engineer as well and I never saw anything remotely resembling this."
"Through our journey we managed to make some friends and advance our technology rather quickly. After which me and my creative side made some modifications and the result is something we are all proud of on this ship. If you impress your enemy, they'll fear you. I always said this and it keeps my life from ending up into boring routine. I mean by that that I work to improve the mechanics of a ship on top of fixing them, which makes the job much more interesting."
"Excuse me, that's very nice I admit but what exactly IS your mission?" Gret asked.
"To protect the Deepwater, make sure the mission succeeds". Yuna let out in one breath, barely inaudible, to the entire crew's dismay. "You see," Tyrone continued the explanation, "Deepwater is a freight ship. But with the size of its genebank and cloning module, there's no room for a fleet to protect its precious cargo. That's us. We are also a freight ship, a freight ship that carries an imposing number of combat ships and fighter pilots to assure the defense of the Deepwater. We are to escort you from here to Earth. We should have met you long before this but we got held up by these hostiles you just met. You'll need a hand getting through this sector. And once through it Earth will still be really far so you might need us at some point. Protecting you is our mission and we will fulfill it paying with our lives if we have to. Our pilots are sleeping in special regenerators that keep them in shape. Only 60 are awake and form our operationnal crew. The others will be waken up when needed, or to make up for casualties in our fleet," Tyrone added to end the briefing. "We are clones too, the only thing I can remember is my name and our mission to protect you, so I guess you re stuck with us until we blow up."
Reb looked at Yuna. Somehow she knew something like this was coming. She had told Reb once it was weird that they weren't equiped with small combat ships to defend themselves properly. He knew she had to be right about this. And judging by her informed look and the mention of a PREX concerning this, Reb, and all the others knew that the EXODUS was not an enemy.
Later that night, Reb came to Yuna's quarters and asked her if she was sure about this.
"I am, Reb," was her response "I remember my donor had a briefing about the EXODUS. It's very clear in my head now that we met this Tyrone. I can even tell you that his last name is Riley." She looked right into his eyes. "The EXODUS for sure IS our ally, there's no doubt in my mind about it, Reb."
"Yeah, Bren came to see me a couple hours ago and told me he had the same PREX about that briefing, just an hour after he went to his quarters, after we met Tyrone. He said he thought the guy's name was also Riley, like you just said. I guess I'll remember too at some point."
They fell silent for a moment.
"I'll tell you this, Reb. It sure is nice to have someone accompanying us like that. Feels...safer," she admitted after hesitating to say it. To hell if he thought she had been feeling vulnerable. She was too exhausted to care. She hadn't gotten any rest. Even when they had come back to the Deepwater, with Reb injured, and Lise had sedated her, she had all sorts of dreams about him dying on her, and had waken up after only two hours. Just when things seemed to be growing between them again...she decided not to tell him THAT yet though.
She turned to him. He was looking at her intensly smiling lightly and his eyes had a softness she had never seen in them.
"What?" She asked, uncomfortable with all the attention.
Reb's smile widened at the way she had cutely avoided his gaze. "Will you get some sleep allready or will I have to tuck you in?" He asked, half amused-half hoping, expecting for her pride to chose the first option. He giggled at the sight of her frowning at his words. How he loved to watch her reactions to his teasing and flirting. It had been a while since she'd let him act that way towards her. "I better go and let you rest some." He declared turning around, leaving and went to his quarters.
He wanted to rest too. Lise had given him the medical order to do so anyway.
As Reb went to bed, he thought of Yuna and decided that they would talk tomorrow when she was rested. He wanted her to know how worried he had been of never seing her again when he had lost her in space. That question "Now what?" had been left in the air and had to be considered. But he already well knew what he wanted her.
As Yuna's eyelids got more and more heavier, she thought of Reb and decided that when she felt less tired tomorrow she would tell him how much she had been affraid of losing him. She was now sure he wouldn't leave again, the way he had looked at her with so much fondness just five minutes ago. It had overwhelmed her but she had avoided it frowning to hide the blushing. She wanted the relationship to go further than the flirting they had experienced.
They both fell asleep at the same time, the Deepwater now gracefuly flying next to it's new companion, the EXODUS. The repairs to the Deepwater would have to start tomorrow. A busy day was to be expected. In habitat, Bren and Zak were already starting to argue about what should be fixed first. And Yuna would want to visit the EXODUS, the ship being paradise for every pilot. Yes, it would be a busy and very long day.
Do you have a good idea for the next part? If you do, go read Patricia's Rules for the Rounder post, then post the part as a reply to the last part [which was titled "Part 19", under the rules thread]. And, this is a request from me--please put the name of the person who said the line, especially when there are more than two people in the room--because unlike with the TV show, we don't have a visual or the sound of their voice to help tell who's speaking.