To Live For Tomorrow
Chapter 2
A Captain Power and the Soldiers of the
Future fanfic
By Jeannine Trevizo
8/28/2009
Spoilers: End of
season 1, references to leaked info for unfilmed
season 2.
Disclaimers:
Landmark Entertainment and Mattel – even though they probably aren’t looking
for anything.
Author’s note: Okay,
so I thought about it and realized that all the “Pilot’s not dead, damnit” stories all seem to end after she’s rescued and
everyone declares their love and happiness is assumed. But no one really goes
the next step and shows what happens next, so I’m jumping back in and adding a second
chapter to this story. Hope you enjoy!
-x-
48-2 Mark 12
It was their first
outing as a full team again following Pilot’s miraculous return.
The request from
the resistance cell in Freeland meant they needed to go to The Passages and see
what supplies were available to transport to the fighters in the field. And
while the rest of the team was loading the Jumpship with supplies, Pilot could replace some of the
things she’d lost when their base had exploded.
Pilot reverently
climbed into the Jumpship and headed for her seat,
the rest of the team following. She strapped in, listening to the sounds of the
others climbing on board. Hawk scrambled into the co-pilot seat beside her and
started checking instruments, and she smiled slightly. Even though she’d been
back nearly two weeks, she still hadn’t gotten used to the fact that she’d been
given a second chance; that she was really here with all of them. She’d almost
lost all of this when she had detonated the power core at the old underground
mountain base, but Dread and Blastarr had
unintentionally saved her and in a way all of them in the process.
Hawk turned back to
see her smile and flashed one back at her. They all knew how lucky they were.
Pilot back meant the Captain was back, which meant the team was complete once
again and they had a real chance now at winning the war and starting to work to
rebuild everything.
“Everyone
ready to go?” Power
asked as he boarded the plane last, closing the door behind him and moving to
sit in his chair, swiveling in place to face forward.
“Systems check out
Captain,” Hawk replied.
“Okay Pilot, take
us up.”
At his order, her
hand curled around the throttle and with a firm push she engaged the engines
and the thrust fired from the exhaust ports, letting them lift off. She
negotiated the Jumpship out of the hangar bay and out
into the snowy air outside their base and flew them towards their destination.
It was just like
old times as she directed the ship to a transit gate. Now that their base was
located north in what had been Canada, it was a different route to get to the
closest transit gate, but that helped keep them from Dread’s prying eyes. Once
on the other side, she guided them to the lower western part of the country
where The Passages were. The ship flew over expanses of destroyed cities and landscapes
until they came on the area that hid one of the largest concentrations of free
people who were working on both fighting the war as well as trying to create
some semblance of society.
“Bring us in
Pilot,” Power said from his command chair, the decisive tone of his voice
making her smile in her seat.
Years of working
together superseded their new relationship, and it was as if nothing really had
changed. Of course, she was very well aware that it had.
“Descending now
Captain,” she replied.
In his seat, Power
watched as the ship slid through the air and then touched down without the
slightest bump. Pilot’s skills at flying had always been excellent… She was
good at what she did. It was one of the reasons that she was part of the team.
And it reminded him of what they had lost for those thirty days when she was
gone.
“Alright, let’s go
see what we can get on their grocery list,” Scout piped up as he unbuckled from
his seat to move to the Jumpship door, his joke making
Pilot laugh lightly.
After exiting the
ship the team made their way through the vast tunnels that made up The
Passages, connecting with people there who were able to let them know what
supplies were on hand. With a list and instructions on where to find
everything, Power split everyone up into teams to go and collect the items they
needed. Tank and Power went to locate the heavy boxes of tools and hardware that
were needed to repair the resistance group’s vehicles. Hawk, Pilot and Scout went
the opposite direction to pick up medical and food supplies.
Once the three of
them had collected four boxes of food and two of medical supplies, Pilot
evaluated the load and figured she better get what she came for before they were
ready to leave.
“I’m gonna go check on those clothes,” Pilot said to Hawk and
Scout. “I have no doubts that you two strong guys can carry those supplies in a
couple of trips – I’ll meet you back at the ship.”
“Okay, but don‘t be
too long. We wouldn’t want to have to leave you behind,” admonished Hawk in a
teasing manner.
Pilot left Hawk and
Scout to take the boxes back to the ship while she made her way past the galley
area where they’d picked up the rations. Continuing past it, she finally reached
the section where clothes were not only brought and sorted for distribution but
in some cases even made. Dread needed materials to make uniforms for his
soldiers, and sometimes those materials were ‘liberated’ and made into clothes
for the resistance.
“Hello?”
After a moment, a
thin woman with dark skin and long dark hair appeared from a back doorway to
what probably was a makeshift office or something. She smiled as she noted
Pilot’s uniform and actibadge.
“Corporal Chase!
It’s good to see you. What can I do to help?”
“All my things were
destroyed when we lost the base,” she began nervously. “I was hoping you might
have some clothes to replace what I lost?”
“I’m sure we do.
There are some new UTO uniforms that a contact was supposed to pick up later in
the week. Did you want to go through what we have and take a few before we
bundle them for pickup?”
“That would be
great,” replied Pilot as she followed the woman to a pile of familiar jumpsuits
and dug through the clothing.
Luckily for her,
she found a few that were her size in the tan color she liked. They even had
the UTO patches in place already.
“Got a couple pair,”
she noted to the woman who’d been helping her, holding up the clothes.
“Good. Anything else? I know when the others were here last month
they didn’t have ANYTHING.”
“All my underclothes
are gone too,” she replied with a touch of awkwardness.
The woman smiled
with a gleam in her eyes that gave Pilot a weird feeling in her stomach. Then
she waved her past the utilitarian items that made up the section of The
Passages ‘clothing depot’ and took her to a storage space in one corner of the
room, where Pilot had thought an office had been.
“We salvage things
from the outside besides making new stuff. You never know when we’ll need them,
and it’s funny how some stuff is somewhat useless while others…”
In plastic bins,
different kinds of garments were stacked. The woman led her to one section in
particular, filled with women’s undergarments in a variety of colors, but the
material some of them were made of…
“What is this?” she
asked as she picked up a pale pink colored pair of panties that felt similar to
the material her power suit’s underskin was made up
of.
“Silk. You’d think
it would have degraded, but it hasn’t. Of course, it’s a natural material, made
by worms if you can believe it.”
Pilot nodded. She’d
learned about different kinds of materials in a session with
“Take whatever you
need. No reason you can’t feel feminine under those uniforms, right?”
Holding up the same
pale pink panties that had started the conversation, she pondered the idea of
being feminine. She’d learned to be human in the time she’d been with the team
after leaving the Dread Youth. But one thing that had been glossed over by the
guys was being a girl. For Hawk, Tank and Scout, it was most likely something
that they didn’t feel all that comfortable with explaining. For the Captain…
she had to wonder if he had shied away from it because he didn’t want her to
think he was suggesting anything. Most of what she knew was from
Looking back down
at the bin, she recognized more underclothes, including bras and nightgowns…
and a wicked smile formed on her face. Jon wouldn’t know what hit him when they
finally took their relationship to the next level when he found her wearing
something like the little black lace thing in the box to her right.
With a new purpose
in mind, she started combing through the bins to put together some sets of
clothes that she was sure would be useful for a few different purposes – both
standard utilitarian selections and some ‘special’ ones.
“This okay?” she
finally asked the woman helping her, pointing to the items she’d selected.
“I think any man
you set your sights on is in for a pleasant surprise,” the woman replied,
laying a hand on Pilot’s arm and giving her a wink. “Let me get you a bag to
wrap all these up with.”
A few moments
later, Pilot had her new clothes bundled up and was heading back to the ship.
When she got there, she saw the team loading the last box into the cargo hold.
“Did you find
everything you needed?” Power asked as Pilot walked into the Jumpship, the wrapped bundle under her arm.
“Yeah,” she
murmured, fighting to keep the blush from her cheeks as she quickly stowed the
clothes in her locker on the ship before turning back to the front and moving
to her seat.
Power turned
slightly to watch her, a curious look on his face.
“Okay, we’re all secure,”
said Scout.
With Scout’s voice,
Power shook off his mental musings and fell back into commander mode. He moved
to his chair and watched as his team settled into their positions, the ship’s
engines powering up.
“All right, let’s
go Pilot. We have a delivery to make.”
-x-
It had been a busy
week. After the Freeland supply run they’d gotten information on a supply
convoy Dread was sending into sector 18 that might be able to replace
everything they’d picked up in The Passages times ten.
They’d planned out
the attack to the minute and had been lucky in how easily it had gone. Once the
Bio-Mechs and the Overunits
had fallen or run, they’d hurriedly gotten everything on the Jumpship and gotten out of the area before either Soaron or Blastarr arrived. After
assessing exactly what the convoy had been transporting, they’d taken almost
all of it to the Passages, but had kept a few boxes for their own uses. Now
they were doing needed maintenance or restocking the spare parts and
miscellaneous supplies from the raid at the new base.
Jon had just
finished checking on where Matt was changing out components for the security
systems and was walking down the corridor leading from the command room to the
hangar bay when he found Jennifer going the opposite direction. With Matt in
the command room and Robert and Michael working on repairing the air filtration
sensors and filters, he and Jennifer were alone in this part of the base.
When she saw him,
she smiled and kept moving towards him, but now with purpose. He smiled back,
feeling like a teenager who was meeting his girlfriend on the sly. In moments
they were nearly touching, standing in the low light of the corridor, caught in
one another’s gaze.
“Finished for the
day?” she asked, the silky tone of her voice making
his heart beat faster.
“Nothing around here
is ever really finished, but I think we’ve done enough for the day,” he
replied, his voice dropping as he nearly whispered the last.
Closing the gap
between them, he caught her waist in both hands and turned her so her back
pressed against the cold concrete of the corridor. She looked up at him eagerly
as her hands moved to wrap behind his back.
Without preamble he
leaned in and kissed her, his lips slanting across hers as they pressed against
one another. With no one to see them, they allowed themselves the opportunity
to indulge their passions. As they kissed, Jon’s hands moved from her waist to
tangle in her hair while her hands pressed him against her tightly, her fingers
slowly tracing his spine from his waist to his neck. His lips coaxed hers open
and his tongue slipped inside her mouth, teasing her own as the kiss deepened.
“Captain?” called
out Robert’s voice from the wrist comm. Jon pulled his lips from hers with a
soft swear and then he sighed as he broke from Jennifer’s embrace to answer it.
“What’s up Scout?”
“The air filtration
system is working at full capacity, but we had to jury-rig a few parts. When we
go back to The Passages, we’ll need to see if they have something that works
better before our patchwork repairs fall apart.”
“Alright, add it to
the list for our next run. Power out.”
Jennifer smirked at
him as he looked back to her. She looked beautiful in the limited light of the
hallway as her eyes burned into his. She looked like she’d just been kissed
senseless by the man she loved. Her ponytail was askew from his hands in her
hair and her uniform was rumpled. Of course, he had to imagine that he looked
similarly, and ran a hand over his hair before tugging at his uniform with both
hands to straighten out the front.
“I guess we’d
better get back to work,” she said softly, the smile that had been there slowly
fading away to be replaced with a business-like expression.
“Let’s go out
tonight,” he said suddenly as he realized that he wanted to spend time with her
away from the base and the others.
“Where?”
she asked, stunned.
“I have an idea.
Instead of eating with the others in the mess, I’ll come and pick you up at
your room and we’ll go somewhere. Okay?”
“I guess it’s a
date then.”
-x-
Matt watched
intently as Jon packed up a box for his ‘date’ with Jennifer. Since her return
the two of them had finally acknowledged how they felt about one another and
were attempting to have some kind of normal relationship during the quiet
moments of the war that they were in. Matt didn’t begrudge them in the
slightest. He and the others were genuinely happy that their Captain and their
Pilot had found one another. But things like tonight did worry him with the
potential exposure to attack…
“We’ll be gone a
couple of hours, tops,” Jon told Matt as he snapped the lid closed on the box
he’d just packed.
“Are you sure about
taking just a skybike? If you get caught by Soaron out there…” replied Matt, the serious tone of his
voice matching his concern.
“We’ll be fine. I
want to leave the Jumpship for the team in case
something comes up.”
“And if we do have
to go out, you know we could go without you and Jennifer…”
“No. You call us if
something happens. We’ll meet you and the rest of the team,” Jon rationalized
as he turned to his friend and laid a hand on his shoulder.
“Heaven forbid we
not drag you two along. You’d rather we disturb… things,” Matt added as he
smirked and patted Jon’s shoulder in return. He knew that Jon was thinking of
what the team needed rather than what he and Jennifer needed – time alone.
“It’s just dinner,
sort of. Nothing that can’t be interrupted,” Jon argued, but without any enthusiasm.
“Just behave
yourselves out there. And don’t do anything I wouldn’t do – or half of what I
would.”
Jon’s jaw dropped
briefly before he recovered and then began laughing at Matt’s suggestion. He reached
for the box on the console and tucked it under one arm before turning to leave.
Hurrying along the corridor, he arrived at Jennifer’s door, his heart pounding
in his chest. Lifting his hand, he knocked lightly and waited while he heard
her moving inside. When the door opened, his breath caught for a moment, and he
smiled brightly at her.
“Ready to go?” he
asked as she stood there in the doorway of her room, still in her uniform jumpsuit
but with her hair down, the blond strands brushing her shoulders and cascading
down her back.
He could count on
one hand the number of times he had seen her wear her hair like this, and each
time he was reminded how lovely she was. Only now he could actually say
something about it and show her how attractive he thought she was, if he could
just find a way to actually form the words…
“I’m as ready as
I’ll ever be,” she replied, as she walked out of her room to stand beside him.
Catching her hand
with his, the box under his other arm, they walked together to the hangar bay. Once
inside, Jon moved to the skybike and secured the box
on the far back before he climbed aboard. Usually he’d let her ‘drive’ but
since he was surprising her, he’d have to pilot the bike. Once he was on,
Jennifer climbed on behind him, her arms wrapping around his waist tightly, and
he laid a hand over hers for a moment before turning back to the controls.
Punching in his
code, the bike roared to life and he lifted them off the floor of the hangar
bay, headed out into the cold night. He pushed the bike to go as quickly as it
could to get to the transit gate, wanting to keep them from getting frozen. It
wasn’t long before they were no longer in the frozen north but in the
southwestern skies. Jon steered the bike across the sky until he slowed near a
tall red-brown pillar of rock, hundreds of feet from the ground below them.
Guiding the skybike to a soft landing, he waited for Jennifer to climb
off, and then followed her, turning the power off on the bike as he gathered an
emergency blanket from the back of the bike along with his metal box.
He spread the
blanket across the top of the mesa, and then encouraged her to sit down. He set
down the metal box and opened it, revealing a utility lantern along with a few
food items that could easily be packed up and brought with them – a pair of
bottled water and some protein bars. He turned on the lantern and set it out on
the blanket as he passed her one of the protein bars and her bottle of water.
Jennifer grinned
lightly at the ‘picnic’ he’d created for them. It was as traditional a date as
could be expected in these times. She took the protein bar from him and peeled
the outer cover from it before taking a bite. She looked up to find him
watching anxiously, and she gave him a beatific smile and he instantly relaxed.
They ate and drank,
punctuating the meal with conversation about her repair work on the Jumpship and the results of his feelers to the other
resistance cells about Dread’s new plan of attack. When they’d eaten and drunk
their fill, Jon reached over to grasp her hand and gave a light tug. She slid
across the blanket and when she was beside him he pulled her up across his lap,
his arms wrapping around her as her head leaned into his chest with a soft
sigh.
All around them was
darkness, only broken by the light trying to pierce the dark sky of dusk and
the lantern beside them. Being there together, Jon was reminded of campfires
under the stars and a bright moon that shone overhead. But those days were long gone with the devastation
the war had done to the planet.
“Before the war the
sky would have been like a black velvet curtain filled with pinpricks of bright
white light if you were out in the middle of nowhere like this,” Jon noted as
he held her tightly.
“I wish I could
have seen it,” she mused, imaging as best she could what Jon had grown up
seeing and remembering.
“Maybe one day,
after the war is over the environment will change…”
“Do you really
believe that?” Jennifer asked as she turned in his arms and looked up to him.
“I have to have
faith that it will. Miracles do happen,” Jon said sincerely, and then looked
deeply into her eyes, “You’re proof of that.”
“If you believe
that, then maybe it will happen,” she replied, her lips parting as she inched
closer towards him.
He didn’t hesitate
a minute, and lowered his face to hers, capturing her lips with his as he let
his heart fill with the miracle that was Jennifer Chase.
-x-
Within Volcania, the changes within Lord Dread since his merger
with Overmind were even more apparent as he looked to
find the failing of his plans. His outer form held only the shell of a human
being now. No flesh remained any longer as his transformation to resemble the
machine now was complete. But the vision of a new world was still not realized.
While the setbacks
from the destruction of the New Order project were still being felt and repairs
to Volcania being completed, new plans were underway
to change the tide in the favor of the machine once again. Yet there were
still… failures.
Following the
debacle in
“Power and his team
are still operational,” Overmind reminded Dread.
“They continue to pose a threat.”
“Yes. But they are
a small threat in the scheme of things. We must identify a way to eradicate the
organics and create a better, mechanized world. We must change the minds of the
organics… make them want to bow to the will of the machine.”
“Digitization or
extermination is the only sure recourse for conversion.”
“We may still be
able to… alter them. Their minds are malleable…” Dread insisted to his sole
equal in the world – the machine that had led to the purge of all deficient
organics.
“The organic mind
is unstable. The reconditioning of Youth Leader Chase failed,” Overmind intoned starkly. “The perfection and logic of the
machine is incompatible…”
“No… WE have merged
minds,” Dread quickly remarked, “it is possible for an organic to see the way
of the machine. The New Order will assure this.”
“Organic minds are
imperfect.”
Dread could not say
anything to that. The machine was perfection, the perfection he was trying to
attain.
“We must eliminate
all forces that oppose the will of the machine. This world must be of the
machine.”
“Yes, yes of course
Overmind,” Dread validated his machine overseer, “and
when we do, it will be the final blow to Power and his people, and the victory
will be all the greater.”
-x-
Days drifted
together in a string of repetitive tasks; reconnaissance missions and busy work
at the base were punctuated by Pilot and Power’s blossoming relationship. More
than once one of the others had teased them over catching the two kissing in
the hangar bay.
Of course, the one
thing about being in a war was that they all knew the calm couldn’t last long.
“Captain, we have a
priority one message from the East Coast resistance group,” Scout yelled from
his seat at the communications console in the command room.
“Put it through
Scout,” Power instructed as he quickly moved to the comm
screen to view the incoming message.
Hawk, Tank and
Pilot all hurried from their other stations in the room to cluster around Power
and Scout. The screen crackled to life and the image of Cypher,
leader of the East Coast resistance filled the space before them. He looked
haggard, and Power was instantly wary.
“Captain, we have a
problem. One of our squadrons was scouting a Dread installation along the
seaboard and they’ve been discovered and pinned down by several squadrons of
Bio-mechs. Without reinforcements they’ll all be
killed or digitized. We could really use your help.”
Power knew that Cypher wouldn’t be calling for aid unless they were in dire
straights. He didn’t even hesitate a moment.
“We’re on our way.
Send us the coordinates and we’ll be there in less than thirty minutes. Let
your team know they just need to hold out until we get there.”
“Understood. Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me
yet. Power out,” he said, and then turned to the others who had converged on
the command center of the base. “Power up everyone.”
Everyone rushed to
the charging station, and in a matter of moments the electrical surge that recharged
their power suits flowed through them, leaving them ready to do battle.
“Pilot, Hawk, go get the Jumpship warmed up.
Tank and I will get some extra firepower from the armory. Scout, get the
coordinates from the transmission and redirect it to the Jumpship’s
navigation computer. We don’t have a lot of time people. Let’s go!”
As Pilot and Hawk
rushed to the hangar bay, Power and Tank headed to the armory, grabbing as many
therm grenades and laser stars as they could easily
carry. They were coming out, arms laden when they nearly ran into Scout on his
way to the Jumpship. The three of them got to the
ship, Tank taking all the weaponry and stowing it while Scout input the
coordinates into the Jumpship computer. Power took
his seat; his eyes anxiously watching Pilot and Hawk make the flight plan to
get to the stranded resistance fighters.
“All set,” called
out Tank as hurried from the cargo hold and buckled into his seat.
“Let’s go,” Power
announced quickly, and the ship instantly was up off the ground and heading for
the hangar bay doors.
Pilot and Hawk had
the ship on high burn, hoping that any time they could cut of the trip would
mean another few people they could rescue alive. Scout’s review of Cypher’s data had indicated that there had to be over two
dozen resistance fighters on the mission, and they were now situated in small
clumps across the rocky landscape above the Dread installation. Bio-mech soldiers had them pinned down, but due to the
inaccessible rocks, they were able to hold
off any significant assault on their positions.
The
“We’re about five
minutes out,” she stated as she and Hawk guided the plane towards a rocky
formation along the coast.
Suddenly the cabin
of the ship filled with lights and sound – a familiar alarm to all of them.
“Captain, I’m
getting a Bio-Dread reading heading straight for the coordinates of the
resistance fighters,” Scout announced grimly.
“Damn. I’ll bet
Dread sent Soaron to flush the soldiers out of the
rocks,” Power stated angrily.
“I can drop you off
and Hawk and I can keep Soaron busy,” Pilot quickly suggested.
“Good idea,” Hawk
added. “I can get out there now and Pilot can join me once you guys are on the
ground. Then that metal bird will have to chase one of us and the other can
blast him outta the sky.”
Power sat and
considered the suggestion, and nodded his head in acknowledgement, admonishing
them both, “alright, but be careful you two.”
With that, Hawk climbed
out of his co-pilot seat and headed to the emergency hatch to the Jumpship and popped it open. Slipping through, he extended
his wings and took to the sky, the hatch closing behind him. Once Hawk was
airborne, Pilot sped the ship to find a safe spot to drop the rest of the team
off close to the action on the ground before she headed back up to assist Hawk.
As the others powered on their armor, she watched and waited.
“I’ll see you in a
bit. Good luck,” she said, staring at Power intently before his head swiveled
to catch her gaze through his visor and she felt the instant connection of his
love and concern through his eyes.
“Will do Pilot.
Give us a minute and then take off.”
The Jumpship door opened and Power, Tank and Scout all rushed
out it, Power turning to close it behind them. As they moved to the rocks close
to the ship, she recognized that they were clear and she engaged the thrusters
to get the ship back in the air and up to help Hawk with Soaron.
Once on the ground,
Power signaled to Scout and Tank, directing them towards the sound of blaster
fire. Power took point, letting Tank and Scout follow. It wasn’t long until
they met their first contingent of bio-mechs. With
the metal soldiers focused on the human resistance fighters holed up within the
mountain before them, they never knew until it was too late that they were
under attack from behind.
As Power, Tank and
Scout worked to eliminate the Bio-mechs, Pilot rushed
to aid Hawk as he eluded Soaron’s laser fire, doing
his best to get in a few missile strikes himself. He banked left as he saw Soaron closing, hoping to put enough space between him and
the Bio-Dread as he waited for his backup.
“Could use that
hand anytime,” growled Hawk as his suit took another hit as he tried to evade Soaron.
The Jumpship appeared on his right accelerating quickly as
Pilot sped the vehicle towards his position. Soaron
had yet to see the
ship, and Hawk dove to keep the Bio-Dread’s attention.
“Hawk, get out of
there! I’ll cover you,” Pilot yelled as she suddenly maneuvered the Jumpship between Soaron and Hawk;
the massive metal of the vehicle shielding Hawk’s smaller form.
She felt the ship
groan and buck as Soaron’s lasers struck the ship,
and she yanked on the yoke of the controls hard to keep the ship on its course.
Another blast brought smoke and crackling sounds to her attention, and she
realized one of the blasts had fried Scout’s comm
panels.
“Damn,” she swore
as she swung the ship around and engaged the lasers. She lined up and pushed
the button, firing at Soaron’s backside.
The Bio-Dread
bucked in the air with the impact of the lasers, and then flipped around,
facing her. She smiled darkly and fired at him again, this time hitting him
square in the chest. There was a mechanical scream before it spun end over end
and plummeted to the ground.
“Good shooting
there,” called Hawk via the comm link as he flew
beside the ship. “Let’s go help the Captain.”
Hawk was able to
fly directly to where Power and the rest of the team were while Pilot had to
land the ship before she could join them. Hawk landed close to the others,
folding his wings and pulling his blaster. Power, Tank and Scout had already
been able to rescue three of the four holed up resistance groups, directing
them to retreat back to safety. The last one had dug in fairly close to the
Dread installation and still needed help. An Overunit
was directing over a dozen Bio-mechs to keep trying
to find a way of breaching the rocky barrier that stood between them and the
organic soldiers.
“Need some help?”
asked Hawk as he moved to join the others as they surveyed the situation from a
rocky outcropping overlooking the standoff.
“Glad you were able
to join us,” retorted Tank through his helmet and Hawk gave him a wry grin.
“Where’s Pilot?” questioned
Power anxiously, and everyone fought to keep from smirking at the obvious
concern in his voice that even before the change in the Captain and Pilot’s
relationship had been there for nearly forever.
“Landing
the Jumpship. She already sent Soaron for
repairs.”
Power smiled at
that, and turned back to observe the last entrenched group of resistance
fighters. To get to the Bio-mechs, they’d have to
expose themselves more than they had before. They could try throwing in some therm grenades and laser stars, but there was a bigger
opportunity for casualties.
“What’s the plan
Captain?” queried Scout, continuing to survey the scene below them.
“If we could just
distract them enough, we could probably…” Power started to suggest when a
presence behind them sent him and the others spinning around, blasters drawn.
“You guys are awful
jumpy,” Pilot joked as she held her hands up in mock surrender.
Power and the
others sighed in relief and Pilot moved to stand beside the Captain, her armor
rubbing slightly against his as they leaned over the rocks concealing them from
the view of Dread’s forces.
“Do you think we
could flank them?” Hawk suggested, pointing to the opposite ridge of rock.
“It would take
time,” Power remarked just as another volley of laser fire erupted from the
combatants below them. They were running out of time; the Overunit
was yelling something that he couldn’t hear and pointing at the rocks the
resistance soldiers were sheltering behind. “Which it looks like we just ran
out of… We’re going to have to just rush them; it looks like they’re going to
try and overwhelm them.”
Below them, the
Bio-mechs were suddenly moving forward, no longer
trying to evade the laser fire coming from the resistance people. And from
behind the Overunit, reinforcements were now coming
from the installation.
“Let’s go!” Power
shouted, heading for the break in the rocks to their right that would lead them
down to where the fight was. “Hawk, see if you can delay those reinforcements…”
Extending his
wings, Hawk took off, flying over the battlefield and firing a few missiles at
the oncoming Bio-mechs. Those that weren’t destroyed
went scattering, trying to regroup. He would keep firing at them until he had
them all down or he got some backup; he had a job to do so the Captain and the
others could rescue the resistance fighters…
“Tank, we need some
defense here; Scout, cloak and see if you can start taking out troopers as we
keep their attention.”
“Got it,” Tank
replied, and took up point, providing the Bio-mechs a
big target to shoot at.
“Already gone
Captain,” said Scout as he activated his cloaking system, disappearing from
view.
With the team
assigned, Power and Pilot followed behind Tank as they got closer to the open
space where the Overunit and the Bio-mechs were. At their approach, the Overunit
realized he was being pinned between the two forces as the resistance fighters
began firing nearly non-stop, desperately trying to keep the metal solders
occupied while their rescuers arrived.
“Power and his team
are the priority!” the Overunit shouted, taking his
own blaster and firing at Tank.
Laser blasts
bounced off Tank’s armor, and Pilot and Power shot around him as Tank used his
own heavy artillery gun and shot back at the Overunit.
As Bio-mechs fell around him, the Overunit
realized his mistake and ducked under Tank’s return fie (‘fire’?) before turning to run back towards the
installation. With his back turned, he never saw the shot from one of the resistance
fighters hit him in the back, sending him sprawling in the dirt.
Scout reappeared
across the battlefield, his knife in hand and a Bio-mech
crumpling to the ground before him. It was only a matter of minutes before the
ground was littered with mechanical soldiers and the resistance members were
able to come out from their makeshift bunker. Hawk joined the others with good
news.
“Reinforcements are
taken care of. A few missiles and they were down for the count.”
“Great job Hawk,”
Power said, and then turned to the resistance fighters, “Do you have any wounded
that you need help with?”
“No one with life
threatening injuries,” responded one of the fighters, his helmet pushed back so
he could see Power directly. “A few casualties, but… we can get ourselves home.
Thanks for the assist Captain.”
“Understood. Take care,” Power replied with a quick
salute before he looked back to his team. “Okay everyone, let’s go home.”
With that, the team
turned back towards the way they’d come in, heading for the Jumpship
and for home.
-x-
48-3 Mark 2
Power had needed to
split the team up again, sending Scout, Tank and Hawk on an intelligence
mission. They were checking out a report of a new Dread military outpost
popping up in the region where
So it had fallen on
Power and Pilot to take the Jumpship to a remote
settlement in the upper northeast with supplies Cypher
had requested. The place had become a stop for the East Coast resistance,
although they weren’t formally aligned. Power had never seen the place, and
wasn’t sure what they’d find when they got there.
When Pilot landed
the ship just outside the settlement’s building line, he was tempted to have
them power up. But not sure if they might need their suits later, he decided
against it. Getting out of his seat, he moved to the door and pressed the
button to open it.
Walking out, Power
waited briefly for Pilot to close and cloak the ship under the hologram
program. Then they walked to the edge of the town, looking for their contact.
“Captain,” called
out an older man in the ragged looking button down sweater. “My name is Martin.
I’m the senior council member here. Thank you for coming.”
“It’s no problem.
We have the supplies on the ship. Do you have anyone to help?”
Martin waved behind
him to where half a dozen youths stood anxiously. Obviously they were the ones
tasked to help with unloading the Jumpship.
Having ascertained
that the situation was secure, Power and Pilot guided the townspeople back towards
the ship. Pilot uncloaked it and moved to open the cargo hold. She and Power
handed out boxes until only two were left. They hefted them themselves and
followed the others and the community’s leader back to where everything was
being stored.
“Thank you Captain.
Cypher said you could help,” said Martin.
“We’re glad to
assist. I didn’t know there were settlements still populated this far north,
what with the winters here,” Power noted, glad that the circuitry base fabric
of the power suits could withstand cold and heat pretty well.
“There hasn’t been
a hard winter since the wars,” the man replied as he walked along with Power. “Nowadays
it’s just cool in the wintertime. Which is just fine.
The mechs don’t like the cold. Messes with their
circuitry…”
Power dismissed the
old man’s remarks as wishful thinking. He’d seen Dreads soldiers in cold enough
conditions before…
“That’s the last of
it Captain,” Pilot said as she set down a box inside the building they’d been
stacking the supplies in for the settlement.
“While you’re here,
why don’t you take a look around; let the people greet you. It’s not every day
they meet Captain Power and one of his team. Eldin
can show you around,” Martin said, waving to a middle aged man in a knitted cap
and pull over sweater with holes showing through it.
Their guide had walked
them around the town, allowing people to come out of their homes and greet
Power and Pilot. As they continued the tour, they passed the center of the town
and Power was nearly brought up short. An old style movie theatre anchored the
square, despite its battered condition it was obvious what the building was.
The marquee and ticket window damaged, but the double doors into the building
looked to be in working condition.
“An
old movie theatre?”
Power commented as they stood there, his thoughts muddled by the surprising
find.
Pilot looked at him
with a curious glance. He regarded her with a small smile. He would never get
used to the idea of how few things she knew about the world outside of Dread’s
control before she’d met up with them. His childhood, his education had given
him so many things… and sometimes he got lucky enough to share them with her.
“Yup,” Eldin informed him as he looked from the building to regard
the two resistance people.
“Is it
operational?”
“Sure is. We run it
once in a while… not too often, but often enough. Say, you wanna
see?” Eldin said pleasantly.
Power looked
flabbergasted.
“If it wouldn’t be
an imposition…”
“Nah. What with all the supplies you brought,
it’s the least we could do.”
“Power to Hawk,”
Power said as he raised his wrist communicator to contact the team in the
field.
“Hawk here.”
“How goes the
reconnaissance?” he asked, his eyes flicking to where Jennifer stood beside
him, a quizzical look on her face.
“Pretty
smooth. We’ll report up
when we’re at the base. Should be there in an hour,” Hawk replied businesslike.
“Pilot and I are
going to stay here for a bit; get to know the situation up here, talk to the
people. We’ll head back in a few hours.”
“No problem. Stay
safe out there.”
“You
too. Power out,” he said
and then tapped off the link before turning to Jennifer and smiling.
“So, what exactly
are we doing?” she asked as he moved to place a hand on her elbow and led her
towards the double doors where their host had already gone.
“We’re watching a
movie,” he replied, holding back speaking aloud all the thoughts running
through his mind about dates and movies and making out in the back row…
“A
movie?”
“You remember how
we explained that a few forms of entertainment from the previous centuries
before the war were books and plays, right?”
She nodded. In the
years since escaping the Dread Youth she’d learned so much about what humans were
capable of creating – things that were good and fun rather than evil and cruel.
She’d found music and books to be some of her favorite things. They were hard
to come by, but when she could hear or read something that had been created so
long ago, she was always entranced by the idea it had been created by people.
“Movies are
representations of those kinds of stories, except they would get people to act
them out, like live plays but instead of being in front of an audience; they
captured the images and sounds so they could be replayed. Similar to recording
music… They would then project the movie on screens so hundreds of people in
cities across the country could all see the same thing.”
“So all cities had
theaters? You’re kidding.”
“Not every city, but
close. In the 1950’s a lot of towns built at least one small theatre. It looks
like this place was one of them. I’m just surprised they have a working
projector and any film still able to run…”
They entered and
moved past the empty concession stand to the doors leading to the theatre
seats.
Inside, rows and
rows of seats were simply gone, salvaged for materials over the years, no
doubt. But in the center there were still approximately 50 seats still in
place. Their fabric worn out, springs poking through tufts of stuffing… but it
was a theatre. Jon looked for a pair of seats in the best condition and guided
Jennifer in.
“All set down
there?”
“Yeah,” called out
Jon as he and Jennifer settled in.
The limited lights
that had filled the room disappeared, dropping them into darkness and then the screen
illuminated and then vibrant colored images began to cover it as the film
started. It was an old romantic comedy, Jon couldn’t recall ever seeing it; it
was over 80 years old. Still, it was a movie and Jennifer sat in her seat by
his side, entranced by the sounds and sights being played out before them.
Without really
thinking about it, he wrapped his arm across her back and pulled her as close
as the seats would allow as they settled in to enjoy this small piece of ages
gone by normalcy.
-x-
With the beating Soaron had given the Jumpship in
their last battle and following the way the ship had handled going out to drop
off the last delivery of supplies, Jennifer had decided that she should run a
full series diagnostic check on the vehicle. With all the repairs she had had
to make to it recently, she wanted to make sure they were enough to keep it in
the air in another fight. Two days later she was just finishing the last series
of system assessments when she heard footsteps coming up the ramp stairs. They
weren’t heavy, quiet or slow, so she ruled out three of the men in the base,
leaving her with one.
“Jon,” she said
without turning around in her seat, and then felt a hand land on her shoulder
in a familiar way.
“How did you know
it was me?” he asked as he moved to co-pilot chair beside her, flashing her a grin.
“Too
loud for Robert, too quiet for Michael and too fast for Matt… simple deduction.”
He was impressed.
If he thought about it, each of them would have a different walk, and the metal
of the Jumpship would amplify their steps making it
easy for her to hear them climbing into the ship. Leave it to her to figure it
out, he admiringly thought to himself.
For a moment he sat
there and just watched her in her ‘element’ – sitting behind the instrument
panel in the Jumpship, perfectly attuned to this
vehicle that she took care of like a member of the team. She flew this thing
better than any of them and she was determined to make sure that it was in the
best shape it could be every time they went out. He thought again how lucky and
honored he was to have her with him and the team.
“Jon?” she said,
breaking his train of thought as he refocused on her and reminded him what he’d
come looking for her for.
“Sorry… anyway, I
have a surprise…”
“Do I have to power
up my suit for it?” she asked in a wry tone.
“No, but you may
have to decide which side you want,” he countered lightheartedly, and her eyes narrowed
questioningly.
Getting out of the
co-pilot seat, he moved to offer her a hand. She caught it and let him lead her
from the ship and into the corridors of the base. It wasn’t long till they were
in front of his personal quarters. Standing at the door, she swiveled her head
to regard him with a questioning gaze.
Instead of giving
her a verbal answer, he simply pushed the door open and waved her inside,
closing the door behind them. Once in the room, there was no doubt what the
surprise was. Instead of a single inset bunk where Jon would have previously
laid out, the space was fully taken up by a pair of pillows; where the edge of
the bunk had been, now the mattress extended into the room, creating a large
bed that two people could comfortably fit on.
“How…” she began,
her voice wavering with emotion.
“Robert and Michael
figured out how to do it. They used some scrap metal and bolted the additional framework
to the wall below the bunk. Then it was just a matter of moving two smaller
mattresses across the frame…” he elaborated, pointing to the now generous space
that the bed now took up; it was nearly three times the area the inset bunk had
taken up before.
“It’s wonderful.”
He noted the way
her eyes were fixed on the bed, how her voice seemed to catch on the last
syllable… If he was forced, he would have to admit that he was feeling a bit
overwhelmed as well, but over the weeks since they’d taken that next step by
acknowledging how they felt about one another; the feeling that they belonged
together had just kept growing stronger. Each morning he looked forward to
seeing her and each night he hated leaving her side again.
Now, if she wanted
it, they could stay with one another every night. Anything more than that…
well, he was certainly not going to push…
Jennifer blindly reached
out and caught his hand with hers, twining her fingers with his. This surprise
had been so unexpected, yet it was what she’d been waiting for now for weeks.
“I know we said
we’d take things slowly…” Jon ventured, knowing that he should explain himself.
“But?” Jennifer asked as she turned to pin her
gaze on the man beside her.
“I thought, maybe
you might hate falling asleep alone as much as I have been…”
“Do you just want
to have someone to curl up with at night?” she asked softly, her tongue
unconsciously flicking out to whet her suddenly dry lips.
“Yes… no, I…” Jon faltered,
and then turned to face her, his hands moving to catch her shoulders, her face coming
up to look at him with a pleading expression. “I want to be with you, but I
don’t want to rush you into anything. More than anything I’d like to wake up
with you in my arms every morning. And if that’s all we have for now, that’s
enough for me. I just… I just want to be with you… however I can.”
“But you’d like…
well, you know… to have intercourse? It’s
what lovers do, right? I mean, I know the fundamental process for, well, you know…”
Jennifer
trailed off, her voice nearly a whisper as her eyes slid away from him and she
felt a slight blush burn her cheeks.
Jon swallowed hard
and regarded the woman before him seriously. He’d had youthful liaisons, fallen
in love… but Jennifer had more than likely lived like a nun, even with men all
around. Sex was not of the machine. Tenderly he slid one hand from her shoulder
to cup her cheek, making her look at him again.
“Would I like to
make love to you Jennifer? Yes, I do… but part of me can’t even process the
idea that you love me let alone believe that you would want to be with me like
that,” he started carefully, his heart threatening to burst from his chest as
his love and desire for this woman threatened to overpower him.
Needing to show him
that she felt like he did, wanted what he wanted, she stretched her body
upwards, coaxing him to dip down to meet her lips in a kiss that went quickly
from soft to heated. His hands moved to tangle in her hair and hers wrapped
around his back, her breasts pressing flat against his chest. Their mouths
melded and the passion within them seemed to come unleashed; the moment seemed
to overcome them both and Jennifer finally broke away, her eyes burning with
all the emotions that she’d never dared imagine she could feel for anyone. But
she did feel for this man in her arms.
“I want to be with
you like that too. But… I need… you need to sort of
take the lead here.”
Jon nodded in
understanding. With exquisite care, he let his hands trail down from her hair
to the fasteners at the collar of her uniform. Undoing the closures, he started
to part the material and then his breath caught at the sight before him.
“Is that a pink
silk bra?” Jon gasped slightly as his hands peeled back the edges of her
jumpsuit’s collar revealing the silky fabric covering her breasts.
She smiled again,
this time mischievously. The woman in
The Passages had been right – he was surprised, and obviously from the look on
his face, pleasantly so.
“It is. You would
never guess the kinds of things they have stockpiled in The Passages,” she
replied softly, her own hands pulling at the front of his jumpsuit as she moved
them backwards towards the mattress, “So, how about we test this bed of ours?”
-End-
Okay, hopefully this really is the end…