New Partner! Chapter Six: A dish best served cold? The home planet of the Hive had a very simple name. It was called the Nest. The Nest was an arid planet, a world of small seas and tiny polar ice caps. The Hive lived among the grasslands, deserts and jungles. Much of the cities had been dug out of the living rock centuries ago; thousands of tunnels, eggs chambers, water traps and living quarters. The oldest and deepest of these rooms belonged to the Queens of the Hive. They lived within the rooms, kept cool and well fed, while they ruled the Hive. The Queens were less than happy today, for new information from the colonies had reached them, information of the worst type. "Repeat that," chirped the Red queen, her claws raking the ground as she tried to sit up in her mossy bed. The male drone, a member of the Royal Court, bowed and repeat, "We have also received news from the colony Rich Living. This is the sixth colony to report that the plants, both within the farms and the native plants, are being killed by a virus." He waited, not having been dismissed, his head bowed down towards the moist floor. "No," hissed one of the older Blue queens as she laid another egg which was quickly taken away by a tiny worker. "I fear it is so," repeated a young Yellow queen, "we are lucky not all our colonies nor our own home world were able to use the fertilizer before we discovered its true nature." "Our young will die," mourned one of the older Reds, as her fellow queens all clicked and mewled in distress. "No," remarked the first Red queen, "we will find new sources of food. We will also strike back at those who have done this to us." The male drone buzzed his wings slightly and said, "What will the first target be?" The Queens all lowered their massive bodies to the ground and thought. Captain Silver and the rest of the crew studied the sensor screens and the radar returns. "They said they wanted to meet us there," remarked Silver, as he brushed his hair. "You are SURE this is the right location?" "Yes, sir," replied the pilot as he glanced over his shoulder at his captain, "this is the correct location." The Blue Belles floated within a cloud of ionized atoms. A perfect place for the smuggler ship to meet with their employers, but also a bad place for the smuggler ship to run into Galaxy Police Ships on patrol. The cloud messed up sensors and also jammed radio. If the Blue Belles DID run into police Captain Silver would not really be able to explain his way out of it. There was no GOOD reason to be in the cloud UNLESS it was an illegal reason. 'They've never been late before,' thought the Captain as he glanced at his watch. He hated the cloud. The shapes and colors it made on the viewing screens were sometimes lovely and sometimes the stuff of nightmares. "Sir," called out one of the radar operators, "got a blip. Too small for a Hive transport." "On main screen," snapped Silver. The main screen flickered to live. At first there was nothing but white and black snow, but soon, as the ship came closer, the view become clearer. The shape was too small and thin. If Hive transports looked like huge cigars, this looked more like a black pen. Slim, with over sized engines and no cargo space. It looked more like... The Blue Belles rocked as the Hive ship suddenly started to fire on it with heavy lasers. The Blue Belles was more than just a transport ship itself. Fake hull plates covered missile launchers, a reinforced interior and oversized engines. Yet while Galaxy Patrol Ships might have to fear Silver's pride and joy the Hive Beam Destroyer outside did not. The Hive ship moved closer, as the cloud would be causing problems to its targeting systems and absorbing a lot of the lasers' energy. "Full alert," yelled the Captain, "close all hatches. Pop the outer fakes. Fire missiles! Full thrust and get us out of here!" Crew members followed his orders as fast as they could, many shaking off the surprise and amazement, as they watched the Hive ship run out more guns. The whole ship shuddered as more invisible bolts of energy raked the Blue Belles's sides. While the ionized cloud might be soaking up some of the energy, more then enough was hitting the Blue Belles. Red statues lights appeared on the lesser screens and alarms started to go off all over the bridge. Even as missile flashed out of the launchers, heading for the attacker's ship, much of the smuggler's armor was boiling out into space. The lasers chewed through hull plates and bathed the exposed insides with radiation. "It's too late!" screamed a crew member as he pounded onto his controls. "Engines One and Three won't respond." The bridge went dark and then lite up again as red back up lights came on. Smoke and ozone started to fill the air, as the many systems started to shut down right before the crew's eyes. The screens showed a few missiles reaching the target. The missiles were smart enough to find the Destroyer in the cloud of particles and radiation, but were making pathetic dents in the Destroyer's armor. "Abandon ship," commanded Captain Silver even as he unbuckled himself from the chair and threw himself at the missile firing station. The ship rocked again and many of the launchers themselves were hit. "But sir," said one of the crew, as the others rushed out of the bridge, heading for the escape pods. "Sir, you have to come too." "No," said the Captain as he launched another flight of missiles. "You need time to escape into the cloud. Don't turn on your radio beacons till AFTER that thing is gone." "Aye," she said before exiting the smoke filled bridge. The Blue Belles started to roll and pitch, the ship's systems too badly damaged to keep it steady. Captain Silver could already smell the scent of burning plastics and hear the snap of exploding circuits as the red lights also died. He tried to trigger one last volley, but there was nothing. Outside his ship the Hive Destroyer pressed closer, preparing its own last volley. All the Blue Belles could do was roll, as secondary explosions lite the darkness, as it slowly died. One piece of luck did stay with the crew. The twisting spin of the Belles meant that their escape pods left the launch cradles while on the side facing AWAY from the Hive warship. The pods' tiny engines sparkled and they disappeared into the ion cloud. Captain Silver sat in the darkness, coughing as chemicals and fire started to fill the room, and he grinned. "Well, you got me," he snapped. He flipped one of the screens to one side and exposed a jury-rigged switch. He punched it. The Blue Belles exploded when the containment fields of the fusion bottles shut down. The Hive Beam Destroyer was able to handle the shock wave easily. After all, it WAS a warship. On the other hand the Destroyer failed to find the escape pods, as the shock waves from the explosion just ADDED to the ionized chaos within the cloud and after a few hours of sweeping the area with sensors and shuttles, it withdrew into hyperspace. Bristle helped to herd the last chick up the ramp of the small shuttle. All around him, spread out over the spaceport, were other workers loading up the shuttles and larger troop transports with crates and baskets and belongings. The nurses thanked him and ran up the ramp, to make sure the babies were all strapping in and that the eggs were properly taken care off. Bristle had a war raging inside him. One side wanted him to walk up the ramp and buckle up into his assigned seat. Another side want him to turn around and give his home one last look. Bristle shivered and then turned violently, almost tossing himself off the shuttle's ramp. Before him was a wasteland. The buildings were brown, their leafs curled, their skin spotted and brown. Dust covered the streets, as desert was forming on much of the planet now that much of the grasslands and jungles were dead. Only the warehouses and control towers that dotted the spaceport around him seemed to still be tall and straight, but they were dead things and he showed them no interest than he might show a pebble. One of the shuttles started to move upwards on its antigravity engines. It was soon followed by another shuttle, then two troop transports. A tiny sound beeped behind him and he turned slowly and moved up into the shuttle's cargo bay. The ramp lifted and closed with a boom, cutting off his view of his home, now a graveyard. Washu slowly fed power to the engines and the time ship started to life, ripping its way through vines and small branches, pulling its way out of the embrace of the forest. "I can't wait to get to Earth," said Tenchi as he buckled up. "I don't know," said Ryoko, "from what the tiny gnome said, I am sure we shouldn't be heading for Jurai or one of the other planets, to help. We have to warn them." "You heard what he said," said Sasami as she nuzzled the cabbit. "Washu has to protect Earth." "Yes," remarked Princess Ayeka. "And anyway, I am sure Kiyone and Mihoshi can warn them once we get back to the Earth's System." "OK folks," said Washu as the time ship started to pick up speed, blasting up out of the forest, "hold on to your hats." "I don't have a hat," pointed out Sasami. "Just hold on," shouted Washu, as the time ship escaped the atmosphere. Before them appeared the Hive ships guarding the Gamma system. Already some was responding to the time ship, slowly pitching and spinning, as smaller fighters were launched. The small arrowhead shaped craft were closing fast. "Here we go," said Washu as she punched the "ON" button. The time drive kicked in. There was flash and the Hive fighters found themselves approaching empty space. Derek tried to light his pipe as he floated a few light years from D3's realm. All around him an invisible battle was going on, as the few members of his race who had stayed behind continued to hold the Goddess back, not even allowing her to make contact with D3. "How long do we do this?" asked a child's voice from around the gnome. "Till the Hive is neutralized," the tiny man replied as he finally lit his pipe in the vacuum of space. "She is powerful," said the tiny voice, "and she is not the only one beyond the wall we have set up. If enough energy is brought against us, the wall will fall and the release of so much power could disrupt the VERY universe we are trying to protect." "We will hold," remarked Derek. "We can feel her," stated another member of his race, the voice seeming to be many female voices that had been overlapped to speak as one. "We can feel her rage. We know the Hive is planning to do something she has forbidden. We see the Hive is going to bring the war out into the open." Derek nodded and said, "They are breaking off from her. She has lost control and it upsets her more than anything else." He gave his pipe a puff, sending a smoke ring towards D3's realm. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------- Tenchi Muyo! and characters are owned by AIC and Pioneer. The rest are mine. Answer: Gazpacho Soup.