FicWad

Mission 14: Incidental Revolution

It was all dark. Yet at the same time it felt muddled and blurry, even if she knew she couldn't see in the dark. Armada felt as if patches of black blotchiness passed through her line of sight, over and over again-but there was nothing. She couldn't see anything. After all, it probably wasn't her vision that was screwed up-if her eyes were even open at all-it was probably just in her head, and as sensation slowly started to come to her, she suddenly felt as if there were a second atmosphere inside her skull.
Then she started to notice something else. Something was definitely happening, but what? She had no concept of time, and couldn't tell just how much time had passed before she finally started to get a grasp on what was happening-sounds. Something nearby... far... somewhere; there were sounds. At first, all the noises ran together, making one continuous monotone muttering. She listened for some time, trying to decipher what to her felt like a foreign language. The clamor continued for an extended amount of time, all the while Armada started to succumb to the numbing feeling in her head. She tried to stay awake though, listening in with little concentration she could muster, hoping to understand what was happening.
Slowly but surely, she came to the conclusion that the source of the noise was near, as her sense of sound began to sharpen somewhat. Soon after this revelation, she began to notice the differences in pitch of the noises. And even sooner after her latest discovery did she realize that one set of sounds was at a higher pitch than the other.
Exhausted from exercising her senses thus far, and from the fact that her head felt that it was going to explode from the pressure, Armada drifted back into unconsciousness, welcoming the chance for rest.

***

Laiserta watched in curiosity as Marice fumbled down the hall of the Verdandi to the barracks, opened the door to their room, and promptly collapsed onto the sheets of her bed without even closing the door. Without taking a second to think about what she had seen, Laiserta continued on her way, passing through the rear of the bridge and opening the door to the infirmary located in the back.
Trunks immediately glanced up at Laiserta once the door opened, noticing the small tray she carried with her. She moved toward the table behind him and set the tray down, revealing that indeed it carried his dinner on it.
"I thought Marice was on duty right now?" he asked his Taydran friend, looking up at her from the chair in which he sat.
"I sent her to bed early," Laiserta replied with a slight laugh. "She nearly cut a finger off while she cooked our meals, poor thing. She's still not used to our shift, and I doubt she ever will be. Speaking of which," Laiserta continued, feigning to look at a watch on her wrist, "yours is over."
"Technically not for another eight minutes," Trunks jested in return, smiling ever-so-slightly. "So how's Naya doing?" he queried as his smile fell from his features.
"Working as hard as she can, considering her injury," Laiserta answered. "I can hear her dropping something every now and then, but she refuses to let me help and insists that we stick to the schedule."
"She's not running on our schedule, so what does it matter to her?" Trunks queried as he turned to face the unmoving form lying across from himself and Laiserta.
"I don't know," Laiserta shrugged as she too turned to face their fallen commander. "She said something about Armada not wanting anyone to touch the ship except her, if it were ever necessary." She turned towards Trunks once more. "I didn't really catch it all; I wasn't paying attention."
Trunks sighed. "Do you think she'll ever wake up?" he asked suddenly in much more subdued tones.
"Eventually," Laiserta replied. "Just give spider-head some time; she'll snap out of it. Besides," she laughed, "if that whole 'what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger' bit is true, we may not want her to wake up, 'cause then she'll really be able to kick our asses."
Trunks stood and turned around, picking up the tray Laiserta had set down for him on the table at which his bloodied and torn jacket still hung on the one chair at the table. "Guess I'll just eat and watch the stars go by," he joked with a half-smile as he headed out.
"Yeah, at least you don't have to watch the vegetable," Laiserta grumbled sarcastically as her comrade disappeared behind the other side of the infirmary door.
Once inside the bridge, Trunks set the tray of food down on the console to his left as he seated himself at the pilot's chair in the center of the three control consoles of the Verdandi. Trunks sighed heavily and sat in silence for only a few brief seconds before he brought up the ship's navigation history. "Only four more days," he read aloud from the images before him which tracked the ship's travels for the past twelve days.
After reviewing the Verdandi's current location, Trunks leaned back in the chair he currently occupied and started into his meal which tasted surprisingly well. The fact that his dinner tasted so well was probably due to Laiserta's intervention as Marice started to cook. Of course, it would have been nice had Laiserta not failed to mention that she was a professional chef for one of the largest and fanciest restaurants in all of Taydr for more than a year. Her response when the others had discovered her not-so-secret secret was simply that no one had asked.
Trunks sighed as he ate, briefly remembering that day in the infirmary almost two weeks ago...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Trunks set down Armada's unmoving form on the operating table in the infirmary as Naya and Laiserta made their way in as well. Laiserta sat down on a chair near the table, freeing Naya to move on her own. "Take care of spider-head first," Laiserta spoke through her fatigue, waving her left hand in a motion indicating that she be left alone. "She needs more help than me right now."
Trunks glanced over Armada's form-a little blood smeared on her right shoulder and chest, but that was from being carried by Laiserta; some blood and strange marks on both forearms, but other than that, nothing. Eyes were faded and lifeless, and he didn't notice anything strange about-"No," Trunks said almost inaudibly to himself in shock.
"What is it?" Laiserta asked as Naya looked to him as well.
"Lai, what happened to her?!" Trunks shouted at his Taydran comrade.
"I-I don't know," Laiserta stuttered. "I found her like this in a cell; I don't know what they did to her," she answered, worry evident in her voice.
A slew of memories came flooding back to Trunks as he stood over his unmoving commander. "Your kind-ki-fighters-are nothing new to the universe. I'm sure that the building has an anti-energy barrier around it..." " ...special gauntlets for you and Armada; that it had to do with your ability to manipulate life energy..."
"Trunks," Laiserta stared at her comrade with a panicked visage, "what is it?"

"It's as if," he started slowly and with worry," they sucked the energy right out of her."
"Now that we know what's wrong, we can fix it, right?" Naya questioned quickly, trying to keep everyone calm in their attempts to heal one another.
"There's nothing we can do, Naya," Trunks shook his head as he backed away from Armada and leaned against the countertop behind himself.
"So what happens to spider-head then?" Laiserta asked, panic still evident on her face.
"I don't know," Trunks answered slowly, his eyes unfocused and staring at a point away from the concerned faces of his comrades. "Either she'll recover, or... she won't."
"Well we've got to help Lai," Naya tried to muster some courage for the group.
"Right," Trunks nodded. He lifted Armada once more and moved her body to one of the beds in the rear of the small room.
"I think," Laiserta began as she lifted herself up and onto the operating table, "that the bullet in my shoulder and the shrapnel in my leg both managed to hit the muscle, so they shouldn't be hard to dig out."
Embedded in the muscle but not difficult to remove? Naya wondered in curiosity as Laiserta continued to speak only to Trunks and almost ignore her presence.
"You'll need to get your suit out of the way," Trunks spoke as he threw off the jacket of the uniform that he and his two comrades still donned and prepared to go to work.
"Yeah yeah, I'm on it," Laiserta sighed as she removed her jacket as well and started to remove her suit and the portion of under-armor beneath it that covered her shoulder.
"Naya, I'm gonna need your help," Trunks spoke to a shocked Tyrian. Naya stood with wide eyes as she moved her gaze from the myriad of Laiserta's scars from her numerous surgeries to look at Trunks as he spoke to her.
"I know I'm not pretty to look at," Laiserta said darkly while averting her comrade's gaze, knowing that the former general had a pretty good look at her scars, "but we need your help."
"Certainly Lai," Naya nodded in conviction as she agreed to help her friend.
"I need you to put pressure on the surrounding areas," Trunks spoke while pointing around Laiserta's wound, "so that when I dig around for this thing, she doesn't bleed to death."
Naya nodded and did as told, holding tightly to the areas indicated by Trunks. "I didn't realize you were a medic," Naya commented as Trunks quickly went to work with a small tool resembling a pair of tweezers.
"I learned a lot from my mom," Trunks replied as he found the small piece of metal lodged into his comrade's shoulder. He set the bullet in a small metal tray nearby. "I've had to patch myself up more often than you'd think."
"Was there any damage to my muscle tissue?" Laiserta questioned with worry present in her voice.
Trunks looked closely at the few sets of red strands scattered throughout the synthetic blueish-white muscle fibers. "Everything looks good."
"Lai, I didn't-" Naya began but was quickly cut off.
"It's okay Naya," Laiserta quickly interrupted. "It's not something I'm proud of."
Just as Laiserta lifted her left leg up onto the table and started to remove her boot, Marice walked into the room. "I've set us a course to a space station not far from here, and we're far enough from Taydran air space now that we should be fine... for the time being."
"Marice," Naya turned toward the youth, "do me a favor and clean up the wounds on Armada's arms. They're not much but we need to make sure she doesn't catch an infection." Marice nodded and moved behind the trio, grabbing a few bandages and disinfectants before heading over to treat her incapacitated comrade.
Laiserta hissed as air hit the wound on the left side of her knee after she'd removed her boot and pulled her pant-leg up past the area in question. "This one hurts more than the bullet," she cringed as Naya began to place pressure above and below the knee while Trunks started to dig around for the small piece of metal.
"Is this the only piece?" Trunks asked Laiserta after he'd quickly pulled out a piece of shrapnel the size of a large coin.
"I don't see anything else," Laiserta answered as she used her advanced optics to scan the area around the wound. After Naya finished bandaging the wound, Laiserta spun her legs to her right and hopped down off of the table. "Whoa," she found her legs a bit unstable at first, but after a moment she stood upright and could walk, albeit slowly. "Feels good to walk on my own," she laughed.
"Don't overdo it," Naya cautioned, "or your wound won't heal with you moving around so much."
"Yeah yeah yeah," Laiserta waved a hand at Naya, hearing but not exactly listening to her words. She then moved towards her still fallen comrade on the other side of the room as Marice finished bandaging the woman's right arm.
"Your turn Naya," Trunks reminded the general, and she took Laiserta's place and seated herself upon the table.
"It can't be too bad considering the amount of movement I can force out of my arm," Naya stated while wincing as she removed the jacket of her Taydran uniform so that Trunks could treat her wound. While it was painful and it did inhibit her movement somewhat, the injury was at the very top of her left shoulder, managing to damage more skin than muscle.
"Looks pretty clean," Trunks responded as he examined the wound. "But you won't be able to move it for a while-you're not built like Lai."
"I suppose synthetic muscle tissue has its advantages," Naya joked with closed eyes while hissing inwardly as Trunks finished cleaning and bandaging her wound.
"Wait a minute," Laiserta said almost inaudibly to herself as she stood staring at Armada. Her eyes scanned her comrade's body once more, darting to and fro.
"What is it?" Trunks asked as he and Naya followed Laiserta to where she stood.
"Oh man," Laiserta stated with worry as she continued to scan her comrade's body with her enhanced eyes. "She's bleeding internally."
"What?" Trunks began in shock.
"How bad is it?" Naya effectively cut off Trunks.
"It's really not that bad now, but if you let it go..." she shrugged, her sentence trailing off.
"The only thing to hope for is that Armada has blood treatments stashed away somewhere," Naya spoke aloud and with a sense of worry. "Which to be honest," she continued, "is unlikely."
"Naya, you look for the blood treatments," Trunks turned away from the general as she nodded in response and went on her way. "Marice," he spoke to the teenager, "be ready to change our destination if we need to find a hospital," Trunks said the last few words of his phrase slowly, almost afraid if their situation demanded they find a hospital, and at that point, it seemed as if it did.
"It's hard to tell, but it's coming from somewhere in the upper abdominal cavity," Laiserta said over her shoulder to her comrades she couldn't see at the moment.
"Well," Naya began as she approached her four comrades once more, "We lucked out--I found some treatments, but Armada doesn't really have the equipment to use them properly, so we're just going to have to give them to her in shots." Naya set down several bottles of clear liquids on the nightstand next to the bed in which their unmoving captain lay, keeping only one in her hand as she used a small injection gun to drain some of the liquid from the bottle. "This might cause quite a shock to her system," Naya continued as she leaned forward and used the small device to send and injection into Armada's upper left arm, "so we'll have to keep a close eye on her."
"How close?" Trunks queried as Naya stood upright and set the injection gun on the table with the last bottle of blood treatment that she held in her hand.
"Constant vigil," Naya replied. "It's up to you three now," Naya addressed her shipmates as she wiped her hands on the pants of her Taydran uniform.
"What do you mean it's up to us?" Laiserta questioned in annoyance.
"I've got to repair the ship," Naya answered nonchalantly.
"Wait a second," Trunks cut in, "we don't even have plan as to where to go. And we're not splitting up until we figure something out."
"I set us on a course to a space station," Marice spoke up, "so we could re-supply. The Taydrans didn't take much, but they did take most of our essentials."
"How long until we get there?" Trunks asked the Euphorian youth.
"It should only be a few more hours," Marice replied, "because we're traveling below cruise speeds to avoid being detected by scanners."
"All right," Trunks responded. "Everyone get cleaned up, and after we re-supply we're having a meeting in the bridge to figure out what our next move is." Three sets of eyes stared back at Trunks, causing him to answer their unsaid question. "I'll keep an eye on Armada until one of you gets back."
The three women slowly left the room, still a little shaken by the fact that their true leader was actually asserting his role for once. Trunks reached for a nearby chair and sat down, knowing that the next few hours were going to seem longer than they actually were.

***

Marice sauntered into the bridge after the last of the water supply was loaded into the cargo bay and was greeted by her three seniors in silence as she took a seat at the navigational console.
"Anyone have any ideas?" Trunks spoke first from where he stood next to the pilot's seat in the front.
"I say we run like hell for the nearest border," Laiserta answered with a slight laugh from her seat on the small table in the rear of the bridge. "If we make it into the Republic or LOKI then they can't chase us there."
"Taydr may not be able to pursue us, but Rieve still could-and would, I'm sure of it," Naya replied, negating the idea of the Taydran among their group.
"Well, I know it doesn't sound like the greatest idea, but," Trunks started, "I think we should go to the capital of the Federation."
"Well Trunks, it doesn't just sound like a horrible idea," Laiserta replied darkly, "it sounds like suicide." she finished with venom in her voice.
"Taydr doesn't control the entire Federation Alliance, right?" Trunks continued. "I think we need to go straight to the top-tell them everything we know; plead our case." He stopped for a moment. "I think it's pretty obvious that we can't keep fighting off Taydr and Rieve."
"The Alliance will investigate our accusations," Naya added, "and they might actually believe the former general of Tyron."
"I still don't think it's a good idea," Laiserta continued her earlier thoughts. "How do we know they won't be expecting this? What if Hamad Gen already has people in place to pounce on us as soon as we arrive in Virda City?"
"What do you think we should do then? Just keep running?!" Trunks's voice rose as he countered his comrade's doubts of his plan with his doubts of her own. "Look where that's gotten us so far."
Laiserta sighed deeply, closing her eyes and lowering her forehead into her left hand, thinking for the words to say. "I won't say that we can't go to Virda City, Trunks," she looked up at him. "I just have a really bad feeling about all this."
"Marice?" Trunks turned to the youngest member of their group as she had remained silent thus far.
After staying silent for a moment, she finally spoke. "We've gotta try something. We can't keep running..." She then wiped at her eyes and quickly averted her gaze from her shipmates.
"So it's settled then. We're going to Virda City," Trunks surmised, albeit as if the decision was more of a sentence than a plan to save themselves.
"Tyron has and ambassador in the capital, as all nations of the Alliance do," Naya spoke without turning to look at Trunks for a moment. "If I can contact him, he may be able to schedule us a session with Lute."
"Good idea Naya," Trunks replied. "Marice," he addressed the red-head once more, "map out our course to the capital and set the ship below cruise speeds. It'll take longer to get there, but it's better that Rieve doesn't find us right now."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Since then, Naya had been busy with the ship's repairs while the rest of them took turns on eight-hour shifts of watching Armada, cooking for the others and keeping an eye out for other ships, and sleeping. Trunks had just finished his shift of watching 'the vegetable,' as Laiserta joked, and was currently on duty to watch out for other ships and prepare the next few meals. It was then that he heard a crash in the rear of the ship. "Naya," Trunks sighed aloud, recognizing the familiar sound of his comrade dropping something yet again. She pushed herself too hard, especially with only one good arm out of the two for the time being.
"Hey," Laiserta placed her right hand on Trunks's left shoulder. "I'll be back in a minute; I'm gonna go help Naya."
"I thought she was refusing help," Trunks replied with a slight laugh.
"She can refuse, but she can't actually stop me," Laiserta joked back. "Be back in a minute." With that, she dashed off to the rear of the ship.
As if on cue, Trunks could hear the faint arguing of voices in the engine area of the Verdandi. He laughed to himself and shook his head, taking another bite of his meal. As the voices continued to argue, he heard another crashing sound, this one sounding louder than the last. "Lai?" he called out, trying to make sure everything was okay and the two women really weren't getting into it. After he heard another similar sound, Trunks set down his meal and stood, turned toward the rear of the ship and saw Laiserta running in his direction.
"Everything okay?" the raven-haired mercenary asked worriedly.
"You mean, that wasn't Naya?" Trunks questioned. Without giving either the time to respond, a much louder crashing noise, intermingled with the sound of breaking glass, was heard.
"If it isn't you, and it isn't Naya or myself," Laiserta surmised aloud, trailing off mid-thought.

"And you said Marice was asleep," Trunks continued her logical audible train of thought. The two only stared at each other for another second before hurrying to the infirmary only meters from where they stood.
"Spider-head!" Laiserta exclaimed and rushed toward the straining-to-sit-upright Armada once inside the door. Trunks breathed a sigh of relief and laughed, almost unable to believe that their bedridden comrade had finally awakened. He then noticed that the nightstand next to her bed had been completely knocked over and a few empty glass containers had shattered as Armada had apparently tried to stabilize herself with the small table.
Laiserta helped Armada to move back and sit upright. "Wha-" Armada attempted to speak but found it hard to control her weak voice. She coughed briefly before trying to speak once more. "What's going on?" she questioned, looking from Laiserta to Trunks and with a look of worry upon her face.

***

Armada briefly glanced at the display upon the main monitor in the bridge before seating herself at the navigation console. "Where are we headed?" she asked rather coolly of her comrades who stood in the bridge as well.
"Virda City," Trunks quickly replied, simultaneously ignoring the concerned visages of his other three comrades as they waited for their revitalized captain to rip the poor guy to shreds for his decision.
"The capital?" Armada said aloud, trying to recall anything that she knew of the city in question.
"Whoa, don't even look at me," Laiserta started as Armada's gaze fell upon her, "it was all Trunks's idea, so he should be the one to explain it."
"Your idea?" Armada queried as she turned toward the one male mercenary of the group once more.
"I figured that since we can't keep running from Taydr and Rieve, we had to try something. If we go the capital, we can explain what's been going on with Taydr and Rieve, and hopefully the Alliance will do something about it," Trunks finished, almost afraid that Armada would fly off the handle in anger at his decision.
"How much longer until we reach Virda City?" Armada asked, stunning all of her comrades by simply agreeing without saying anything.
"Four more days," Trunks replied, also shocked at her acceptance of his proposal.
"Well that's four days I can work on repairing the ship," Armada spoke as she stood. "Ahh," she reached for her ribs with her left hand while trying to stabilize herself with her right upon the nearby console.
Trunks, who was closest to her position, leapt from where he sat on the actual pilot's controls and moved to make sure Armada could stand. "Take it easy, would you?" he cautioned in a rather annoyed tone.
"Besides," Laiserta cut in, "Naya's taken care of the ship, so you don't need to worry."
"She has?" Armada turned towards the former general while still fairly hunched over.
"Only the basic repairs," Naya quickly answered upon meeting her captain's gaze, "as you instructed me some time ago."
"After we settle this mess with the Federation and you heal up, you'll have all the time in the world to fix up the Verdandi," Marice added with a smile.

After taking a moment to think, Armada finally stood fully upright and spoke. "Four days until we reach Virda City, right?" After receiving nods from her comrades, she headed on her way out, towards the barracks, walking slowly and still holding gingerly to her ribcage with her left hand.

***

Naixame/ walked slowly, clutching her books tightly to her chest, even if the unusually warm fall weather only made it hotter to do so, especially while wearing her winter uniform. She looked up briefly, then noticing that there were several youths her age loitering together on the side of the street ahead of her. Hillbrook, she mentally noted upon seeing that they were all wearing uniforms from the school, I thought they didn't release for another hour?/
"C'mon Kei," the brunette youth seated on a bench next to a pretty brunette girl of the same school spoke to a black-haired counterpart that stood only a meter away from him. "You know it'd be fun," he smirked, his unbuttoned school uniform jacket hanging through the open space between the seat and the back of the stone bench. The arm he had wrangled around the girl next to him indicated to Naixame and any other teenager in the vicinity that the girl in question was indeed his girlfriend.
"I'm sure it would be," the tall black-haired teenager replied, "but I just can't. I've got more training with the old man tonight." He had already removed his jacket and carried it slung over his shoulder with his right hand. The strange thing was that he wore a tie and vest beneath, instead of the plain undershirt that the rest of his classmates surely wore, considering that vests and ties weren't required by any primary school in Callus.
"You never come hang out with us Kei," a crouching blonde peer to the young man under fire spoke. "Can't you just skip out this one time?"
"You seem to have forgotten Dakkan," the black-haired youth responded, "how many times I've already skipped out on Dad." The entire group laughed, enjoying their apparent time off from a school they must have 'left' early from that day.
Naixame kept her head down as she passed the group on the street, walking directly past the dark-haired young man. "Hey man, stop makin' me look bad!" she heard one of the voices say, and just at that moment, she felt something-or someone, rather-crash into her side, sending herself and her books flying across the pavement.
"Dakkan, you idiot!" the tall youth shouted from where he sat next to Naixame on the ground.
"Sorry dude," the blonde replied, sincerity and embarrassment evident in his voice as well as his very red face.
"I'm very sorry about that," the raven-haired teenager spoke to Naixame after he'd turned around to face her.
"Oh, it's all right," Naixame replied as she turned away, mostly averting his gaze.
"Here," he reached out and took Naixame's hand in his own, helping her to her feet. After sending a quick glare to his blonde friend once more, he knelt down and picked up the books young Naixame carried.
"Quite a lot of books here," he laughed and stood to hand the pile of books back to her. "Study enough?" he jested with a smile.
"Thank you," Naixame slowly responded, not particularly happy that he'd unintentionally reminded her that she carried all of her books home that day since she wasn't planning on returning to school the next day-or ever, for that matter.

"Terrence-Wayne?" the youth spoke upon noticing the school's insignia on Naixame's sweater. "You're an awful long distance from there," he laughed.
"I-I know," Naixame replied, dropping her gaze away from his. After squirming beneath his penetrating gaze for another moment, Naixame decided she'd had enough. "I have to go," she said, and quickly moved around him and headed on her way.
"Ooh, Kei was turned down," the nearby brown-haired friend of the youth in question joked. "That's a first."
Naixame nearly ran as she continued down the streets of Callus, headed for home for the very last time.


Naya awoke quickly as the alarm beneath her pillow resounded quietly. She swiftly brought out and shut off the small device and took a look around. Laiserta and Marice both continued to sleep soundly, as she suspected they would. She sighed briefly, the alarm needed in order for her to contact the Tyrian ambassador at a time when he'd be in his office, as the time difference between the time she was operating on and the time of Virda City were very different. Naya rose softly and then moved almost silently as she dressed and headed out of the room.
Naya crept down the hall leading into the bridge and stopped just short of entering. She peered in, and once reassured that no one was awake, she turned around and headed back down the hall, moving into the small communications room.
Once she'd seated herself at the console inside the room, she hurriedly typed in the coordinates of the person she wished to contact. While she waited for the other side to pick up, she pulled her hair back into her usual bun.
"Liam here," a middle-aged man spoke as the transmission was received on the other end.
"Ambassador Liam," Naya began but was cut off once the man realized whom he was talking to.
"Naya?!" the ambassador was suddenly stricken with shock. "Where have you been? The High Commander's been-"
"Ken, please," Naya pleaded. "I need your help."
"Anything Naya," Liam answered quickly, his face settling into determination as he awaited her proposition.
"I'm traveling with four people and we need an audience with Lute," she rushed her words."
The figure on the other side of the screen paused for a moment before speaking. "That's going to be tough, Naya." Liam sighed. "When do you need to see him?"
"Three days," she answered quickly, inwardly wincing as she expected Liam to back down and tell her that her request was quite the impossibility.
"I'll see what I can do," the ambassador answered. "But I can't promise anything."
"I understand," Naya replied, knowing full well how diplomats and politics worked in relation to the head honcho of the Alliance. She reached forward to terminate the transmission.
"Naya," Ambassador Liam began once more, "why'd you leave?" His expression seemed much more saddened than before. "You know that we all care about you-"
"I didn't have a choice in the matter," Naya interrupted him mid-sentence. He stopped talking to ponder her words momentarily and she took the opportunity to end the transmission. I can't be concerned with this right now, Liam, she thought. Maybe I'll get to see you all again sometime, if I'm lucky...
Naya quickly and quietly headed back to her room, satisfied with the fact that her part of their deal was done. She knew Liam, and she knew that they'd have their audience with Lute. What happens after that...not even she had a decent guess.

***

Things were finally returning to a state of normalcy on the Verdandi. Laiserta was already fully healed, and since Naya had stopped repairing the ship, her shoulder had time to rest and started to heal much faster. Marice seemed a little less depressed than normal since they'd left Stapel, and even Armada was moving around more, albeit slowly. For once in a long time, Trunks started to feel optimistic about their situation.
As Trunks headed down the long hall leading past the commons and galley, he glanced in each. Marice and Naya watched 'television' in some language that apparently only Naya understood in limited capacity, as demonstrated by the frustration on her and Marice's faces. Laiserta was happily preparing the next meal, almost excited to actually cook for people again as she'd done long ago. He looked ahead and saw that Armada was standing and working on something not too far into the rear of the ship.
Once he'd reached where she stood, he stopped and waited a moment before speaking as she spliced two wires together in an open panel in the wall of the ship. "How are you feeling?" he finally asked.
"Fine," she replied while examining her work. She brought her hands away from the wires and apparently waited for some sort of reaction that didn't occur, causing her to narrow her eyes in frustration and annoyance.
"I imagine that if I'd had my all of my energy forcefully extracted from my body that only two weeks later, I wouldn't exactly feel 'fine,'" Trunks chastised her, able to tell-as anyone would-that he wasn't receiving an entirely truthful answer from her.
"I'm still pretty sore, but otherwise fine," she responded, still keeping her gaze and attention focused on the wires she had previously spliced as she cut them apart once more.
Trunks sighed in annoyance. "I didn't want to be painfully blunt with you Armada," he continued, "but unless you learned how to suppress your ki to unusually low levels while you were away from me in that prison, then you're not fine."
Armada sighed heavily and continued to keep her gaze focused on the exposed wires before her. After taking a moment to think, she turned to face him. "I can feel it coming back slowly," she started, "little by little. But, at the rate it's been slowing down, I don't know if it'll ever..." she trailed off, not needing to explain what she left unsaid.
"Here," Trunks replied as he took her hands in his own, "let me-"
"No," Armada interrupted, jerking her hands from his. "I don't," she averted her eyes from his while failing to complete her sentence. "You've already done enough for me. I don't need anything else."
Trunks was far more surprised than he let on at how she was suddenly so somber and sincere. In fact, she hadn't really seemed like herself since... "You don't owe us anything, and none of us owe you anything," he started. "We work together because we're a team," he continued, "because we're friends. We care about each other-that's what makes us strong." He took her hands again. "Maybe if I give you some of my energy, you'll heal faster."
"What if it doesn't work?" Armada queried. "I know you've got plenty of energy to spare," she lowered her head and dodged his eyes momentarily, "way more than I could ever hope to have, but...what if it's just a waste?"
"Then at least I tried," he responded. "At least I did what I could."

"Alright," she complied, "but make it quick," she deftly added. "And I don't need a lot, so-"
"Armada," Trunks laughed, "just shut up for once."
The pair closed their eyes and Trunks started to focus on the matter at hand. He tried to sense others in comparisons rather than actual levels or numbers, and he could feel how empty Armada felt-how little energy she had compared to her maximum. He'd never exactly been able to sense her full strength as she'd managed to really keep her distance from him these past six months, but now it was all laid on the line. She would have been a formidable opponent for him many years ago, but now her strength really did pale in comparison to his own. He knew that she'd always known that in a real fight, she would have been no match for him, but a new thought occurred to Trunks-was she afraid of him for it?
He felt Armada's hands tense in his own and realized that he'd delayed the transfer long enough as he knew that she didn't like being read so. He focused back on the task he'd insisted he do and started the transfer. He gave her a decent amount of energy, more than she probably expected or even wanted. When it was over, he released her hands and smiled.
Armada took a moment to flex her hands as she felt a new wave of energy traveling through her. She looked up at Trunks. "Thanks."
"Sure," he replied simply.
"Uhh," the pair turned to see Marice standing outside the door of the commons and looking their direction, "you guys might wanna see this."
After glancing at one another for a moment, the couple headed down the hall and into the commons where the other three mercenaries watched a news broadcast from a station in Virda City.
"...and among the world leaders to appear tomorrow before High Councilman Lute there's Hamad Gen, the crown prince and most eligible bachelor of the empire of Taydr," the newswoman continued. "Yes ladies, he's single and looking."
"What are we /watching/?" Trunks questioned in confusion and turned to Laiserta.
"Hey, it's not the most serious news, but still," she trailed off in defense.
"The point is that Hamad's going to be there tomorrow," Naya added as she turned towards the two comrades to just join the trio in the commons. "So we'll need to be extra careful."
"Which basically translates to Lai needs to cool it, you can't wear your uniform, and Trunks needs a new jacket, right?" Armada queried in response.
"Basically," Naya shrugged and nodded.
"Only one more day," Marice spoke up. "I can't wait to set my feet on solid ground again!"
"Well just be ready for anything," Armada spoke to Marice and pretty much everyone else. "You never know what's gonna happen."

***

"Ready your arms, men," a fairly tall, dark-haired indigo-eyed young man in what appeared to be a Federation officer's uniform spoke to a group of men no larger than twenty in number. As the muscular youth paced in front of his troops that were dressed similarly, a much older man wearing a different kind of uniform entered the room.
"Noran," the elderly man spoke with a gritty yet commanding voice.
"Yes, Senator," the man known as Noran turned and complied, awaiting what the older man had to say.
"So," the unnamed senator glanced around at the soldiers in the small room while folding his hands together behind his back, "you and your men are ready?"
"As ready as we'll ever be," Noran confirmed resolutely. "We have only to wait until the parade starts, which should be simply a matter of minutes."
"Good," the senator nodded in approval. "I have full confidence in you, Noran," the senator continued, "but the question begs to be asked: what will you do if your plan fails?"
"It won't fail," Noran replied quickly. "My men are highly trained and well disciplined," Noran spoke while glancing to his comrades briefly before turning to face the senator once more, "and I myself am no pushover."
"I trust you Noran," the senator narrowed his eyes, "but a man without a contingency plan is a man who is unprepared."
"We /will not fail/, Senator," Noran's voice rose slightly. "So why waste the time in planning when it is not necessary," Noran stated more than asked in a voice indicating he was annoyed at the senator's doubts.
"I see the truth in your words," the senator remarked cryptically, "but you must not fail, for we do not yet even know if the people will follow us into our self-made purgatory."
"I have faith in them," Noran responded. "I know that once we destroy the Federation's main offices and expose the Alliance for the mockery of a government that it is, the people will follow us in ridding the Lynn system and others of the oppressive presence that is the Federation Alliance. I know," Noran continued, "that the people will see the need for the nations to govern themselves as they did in the days of the Old Republic and the beginnings of LOKI."
"You're such a passionate young man, Noran," the senator spoke with a slight smile as he placed a hand on his junior's shoulder. "You continue to prove to me that I made the right decision in placing my trust in you."
"I won't let you down, Senator," Noran spoke admirably and with loyalty written in his stony face.
"The parade has started," one of the 'officers' in the back called out.
"I know you won't," the senator gave one last boost of confidence to Noran before he turned to head out. "Oh, and Noran," the senator turned to face him one last time as he remembered something he'd previously failed to mention. "Make sure the High Council doesn't make it out alive. We can't have them instilling hope in the people after all of our hard work."
Noran nodded and then turned to face his comrades. "All right everyone, this is it," Noran spoke as he now faced his men. "Today, we end this."

***

Trunks looked up and around at the sprawling city that was the seat of the Federation Alliance. The planet itself was huge, but the city-its massive size almost called for an awe-inspiring moment. The group of five was led from where the Verdandi was officially parked by several Federation guards into the city's interior. As Naya had arranged, they came into the capital as refugees, which meant their ship stayed in a special area that no others had access to-guaranteeing that Taydr couldn't and wouldn't find their spacecraft.
Surprisingly enough, they weren't arrested as soon as they arrived in Virda airspace. While the group had been wanted by the 'Federation' in the Shera system, their status as wanted criminals was not known outside of the corrupted Alliance's reach. It is nice to finally not be hunted, Trunks noted as the caravan of guards and mercenaries stopped once they'd reached a set of vehicles. Of the four vehicles, the front and rear cars were filled with guards only, while the second and third were for the party in question and only a few guards. Naya, Laiserta, and Marice were forced into the second car, separate from Trunks and Armada who rode in the third.
As the caravan started to move, Trunks glanced to Armada, who sat next to him wearing full armor with a black jacket over it similar to his own old blue denim jacket that was now in bloody tatters. "You sure the armor was a good idea?" he near-whispered as two guards rode in the front.
"I'm not taking any chances," she answered as equally quiet. After a moment, another thought hit her. "How's the jacket fit?" she questioned in curiosity.
"Surprisingly well," he replied. He figured she'd asked since she gave it to him, saying that it was something she had lying around from some time ago. His new jacket wasn't too different from his old one-it was a dark blue, and the only significant differences were that it was longer and made of a softer material.
The pair rode for some time in silence, and as the line of cars finally made it closer to the actual building where Lute and the council resided, the caravan was slowed by a parade scheduled for the early afternoon. As they neared the building at a crawl, Trunks noticed that Armada sat squeezing her hands together as a sign of her anxiety.
"Don't be nervous," he said while giving an encouraging smile.
"Easy for you to say," she replied jokingly, "you can always just go home."
I would never abandon you guys like that, Trunks thought briefly. Even if I do have the easy way out-it just wouldn't be right.
Just then, the cars slowed to a stop and parked on the side of the road. "The next few blocks are closed to traffic," one of the guards announced as the other exited the vehicle, "so we'll have to walk."
Wow Trunks thought after he stood upright outside of the car. The building they were headed for was a few blocks away, but it was huge-the base nearly took up an entire city block, and the building stretched into the sky for several hundred stories. When Trunks brought his attention back down to the ground, he saw Naya's group up ahead, already several meters in front of himself and Armada. The pair and their guards headed off as well, following the others as best they could in the crowded streets of Virda City.
Naya quickly made her way up the steps to the capital's main building as Laiserta and Marice followed closely behind. Her long overcoat flowed in the slight breeze, as she'd worn it to cover up her matching Tyrian uniform beneath. At the top of the steps, she was immediately approached by another guard.
"We're here for an audience with Lute," she quickly spoke, answering the guard's question before he even had the chance to ask.
"You're the refugees?" he queried. After receiving a nod from Naya, he spoke. "Right this way. The High Councilman's expecting you." He turned and led the group inside as Trunks and Armada hurried to catch up from their current position near the bottom of the stairs.
Inside the building, the group was led past an enormous reception hall in which several hundred people could occupy. It was nearly three stories in height, and contained what looked to be huge thrones for each of the High Council's members. Everything appeared to be carved out of a material resembling marble, only blue, and then inlaid with gold. It was definitely a sight to behold.
After gazing briefly at such an awesome room, the crew was led down several smaller corridors until they arrived at a small conference room, only a fraction of the size of the reception room they'd first seen upon entering the building. Once inside the conference room, the group noted that old man Lute sat at a decorative podium directly across from them, with the remaining council members at either side of him seated at rounded tables. The guards indicated that the group stand in the middle of the room, and backed away to the doors, leaving the five mercenaries center-stage on their own.
"What is of such importance that you call upon the ambassador of Tyron in order to see me?" Lute wasted no time getting to the importance of the matter.
"We think you should know," Trunks spoke up, "that the Federation Alliance council of the Shera system has been corrupted."
"It's being controlled by Taydr, with the empire's department heads as its members" Laiserta added, "and anyone who finds out is swept under the rug by the empire."
Noticing that Lute's reaction didn't seem quite sympathetic, Armada spoke before Lute could reply. "That's not all. Rieve is in league with Taydr," she added, "and together they've been stockpiling disruptors to use against the rest of the Shera system. Their disruptor factory was destroyed, but they must have had a large quantity by then."
"They've been manipulating the Alliance in that area for some time," Naya continued, "with crown prince Hamad Gen and head of Rieve himself Ryan Rieve at the center of it all."
"Mmm," Lute nodded for a moment, taking in the information and thinking upon it briefly before responding. "And I am supposed to believe what a band of mercenaries tells me?" he shot back, showing that he knew the quintet wasn't a group of refugees.
"If you know who I am, then you know that I wouldn't lie to you," Naya added, stepping forward from the rest of the group.
"Other than a misguided middle-aged woman, I have no idea who you are," Lute replied icily.
"I am Naixame Chiro, former general of all of Tyron," Naya stood upright and announced herself to the council.
"Do you think me a fool?! Of course I know who you are," Lute continued, anger becoming more prevalent on his features. "But your words are meaningless to me. For a band of mercenaries to walk in here and claim that the Alliance knows nothing of itself and the operations of its own limbs, and that there is a supposed 'situation' with Taydr involving scum such as Rieve is ridiculous. Taydr is a respectable nation that would never commit such treason, and to believe that Rieve, a mafia based in LOKI would have a presence in the Federation, especially so far from LOKI's borders? Preposterous," he finished, the surrounding council members each acquiring a similar look of disdain towards the group.
"Guards!" he shouted. "Arrest these criminals for trying to tarnish the names of such noble men as those that serve our great Alliance."
The mercenaries turned to face the guards, preparing to fight their way out if need be, when one of the officers suddenly pointed his weapon at High Councilman Lute. "Freeze!" he shouted. "Make one move High Councilman, and I will shoot you."
The other guards in the room suddenly aimed their arms at the remainder of the High Council. "The same goes for the rest of you," another of the Federation officers spoke. "Any sudden movements and we will kill you."
"You five," a third officer spoke, pointing his automatic rifle at the quintet, "hands where I can see them."
Laiserta slowly complied with wide eyes. "What the hell is going on?" she questioned slowly.
"I think that's what everyone wants to know," Trunks responded while doing the same.
One of the officers then holstered his weapon as his seven comrades in the room held both the council and the mercenaries in check and pulled out a small radio device. "Commander Noran," he spoke, "we've got them. We're in conference room fourteen-B," he quickly finished without waiting for a reply.
"So what's the game plan now?" Armada semi-whispered to Trunks as the two stood back-to-back on one side of the group's little circle.
"Haven't figured that out yet," Trunks replied, his mind racing with possibilities. He glanced around the room, trying to plan a point of escape, knowing that at that point he was the only one that was going to get them out, considering that Armada was currently out-of-commission fighting-wise.
The double doors leading into the conference room suddenly burst open, with five more officers making their way into the room. "Secure the council," the apparent 'leader' of the rogue Alliance officers barked, "and seal the room-make sure no one leaves."
Upon studying the dark-haired youth closer, a realization hit Trunks. He's...
"That guy," Armada said in a half-whisper.
"You sensed it too," Trunks answered. "Still, he's not much. If I could just distract him long enough-"
"What?" Laiserta spoke, interrupting her comrade mid-sentence.
"When I say go, you guys head for that door," Trunks ordered the team. "Ready?" After receiving slight nods from all comrades, he gave the order with a shout. "/GO/!"
As his teammates started their sprint for the exit, Trunks leapt into the air above them and flew directly at the commander of the rogue officers, giving him a hard left roundhouse to the face which consequently sent him flying backwards, out of the conference room and into the wall of the hallway outside.
With their leader in the way, they won't fire, Trunks thought briefly as he stood over the other ki-fighter's currently limp form outside the doors, waiting for his comrades to clear the way. After the four had moved from the doorway, Trunks followed by flying backwards and keeping an eye on the fighter he'd taken down.
"Not so fast," Noran spoke to himself through an angered gaze as he stood. Once upright, he fired a fairly large energy blast at the group, nearly engulfing the surrounding corridor as it traveled towards its target.
Trunks, wasting no time, quickly took a swipe at the mass of energy with his left forearm and sent it flying back at the man who'd fired it. Noran swiftly side-stepped his own creation as it was deflected back at him, letting it continue to soar down the hall until it exploded when it crashed into a door at the end of the corridor.
"Sir, shall we go after them?" one of the officers who rushed to his commander's side questioned.
"They're not important," Noran spoke as he turned towards the contained council in the room to his right.
"Alpha-team's got the explosives in place," one of the officers relayed to his commander after receiving a message via radio link.
"Good," Noran nodded. "Is the Council secure?" he questioned as High Councilman Lute was tied down into his chair.
"Done," the last officer who'd secured Lute replied.
"Good," Noran spoke once more. "It's time to evac'."


"Doesn't look like they're chasing us," Trunks spoke as the quintet came to a stop in a narrow corridor only meters from the rebellion they'd witnessed.
"We weren't who they were after, so why would they chase us?" Armada spoke.
"I think we need to leave," Naya spoke slowly with her back to the group.
"It's not like we didn't plan on it," Laiserta joked semi-condescendingly.
"You're not looking at what I'm looking at," Naya continued shakily, staring at a small rectangular object with blinking lights on it mounted on a nearby wall.
"Oh what now-" Laiserta turned to see what Naya was so concerned with and stopped mid-sentence as a wave of shock came over her. With wide eyes, Laiserta voiced her concerns with two little words: "Oh shit."
"Don't tell me it's what I think it is," an exasperated Trunks spoke with an air of anxiety and annoyance.
"I-it is," Armada nodded, eyes wide as well.
"Oh/ shit/," Laiserta repeated her earlier words with only more emphasis this time.
"What is it now?" Armada drearily asked.
"It's not on a timer," Laiserta turned to face the mercenary leader after she'd examined the explosive in question with her enhanced eyes. "It's on remote detonate."
"Which means those guys..." Marice trailed off.
"Let's go!" Trunks shouted and the five took off once more.


"Damn," Noran cursed as the real Federation officers shot at him and his group from around another hall. "I expected resistance, but not this much," he said aloud mostly to himself as he held his back to the wall just out of range of enemy fire.
"Sir," one of Noran's men ran up to him, "we've secured an exit."
"Good," Noran replied as he stood, "once everyone's out; detonate." The trooper nodded and Noran turned his attention to their pursuers long enough to fire a powerful ki-blast their direction, killing several and incapacitating a few. Not that he really cared-they were in the way.


As the crew headed for the closest exit through the side, an alarm sounded. "What the...?" Laiserta questioned in awe as the sirens blared. "They finally hit the damn thing?"
Suddenly, several blast doors began to shut in the corridor the group currently occupied, including one in between half of the group, effectively separating them from each other.
"Marice! Armada!" Naya called from her side of the door where she stood with Trunks, who'd made his way to the front of the group earlier, and the still amazed Laiserta.
"What the hell?" Armada cursed angrily at no one in particular.
"Looks like we have to split up," Trunks broke in, speaking to both the pair and his side of the door and the others that could be seen through the small glass window in the blast door. "We'll all head for the ship and meet there, since we all know where it is."
"Good idea," Marice added quickly. "See you there," she smiled slightly as she and Armada took off down the hall in the direction they'd previously come from and turned down another side hall.
After the crew had split up, Laiserta smacked herself in her temple. "Why didn't I think of this before?!"
Trunks and Naya exchanged concerned glances before Trunks spoke. "What are you talking about?"
"I can use my eyes to find the quickest way out of here," Laiserta deftly answered.
"Well hurry it up," Trunks added with urgency. "We don't have much time."


"What do we do now?" Marice questioned as the couple arrived at another intersection of hallways.
After taking quick glances at each, Armada made a decision. "This way!" She took a left turn, heading towards the front of the building. If that particular hall actually led to the front entrance, however, was still up for debate. As the pair ran, they crossed another intersection of corridors, this time to have gunfire rain upon them as they passed.
"Shit!" Armada cursed as she pulled Marice down and against the wall closest to their attackers to avoid ricochets and shrapnel. "Marice," Armada spoke to the youth as the gunfire nearly ceased, "I'll fire at them while you get a head start, okay?"
"You're too weak," Marice protested.
"It's better than ending up dead," the mercenary spoke with sincerity. "Besides," Armada added with a smirk, "I'm not as much of a weakling as Trunks'd like you to think."
Marice slightly laughed. "Okay. I'll try and find an exit up ahead."
Armada nodded and the two stood, Marice running onward down the hall and Armada inching closer to the corner of the intersecting corridors, preparing a small but effective attack in her right hand. She waited a few seconds until she heard the footsteps of the officers moving towards her, meaning that they'd be a little more off guard than if they were waiting on her. She spun around the corner and quickly fired, taking out the small patrol of six officers in one fell swoop.
"I think I found it!" Marice called from much farther down the hall, waving to her comrade. Armada nodded and sprinted towards Marice, still mindful that if the rebels made it out before they did, the building would explode while they were still inside.


"Here!" Laiserta shouted as she took a hard right, her metal-soled boots skidding across the metal flooring. "Just up ahead!"
"Are you sure about this?" Trunks doubted from behind Laiserta, looking forward and only seeing what looked like any other door in the complex at the end of a dead end hall. Upon reaching the door, Laiserta slammed on the nearby panel with a heavy fist, causing the door to open quickly, revealing that indeed, they had made it out.
The trio quickly rushed down the few steps until they were at ground level and continued to rush across the street. Only when they were halfway down the next block did they stop and turn to look at the building. Right at that moment, a large explosion from within the building caused the ground to shake, followed by the rear part of the building shaking more violently than any other.
"Move move move!!" Laiserta shouted and the trio turned and ran, fleeing from the two-hundred-some story building before it collapsed.


Once Armada had caught up to Marice, the pair ran at a breakneck pace to the end of the hall, taking a left once they'd reached the 'T' intersection at which their current corridor had ended. "Look!" Marice exclaimed, pointing to the ornate double-doors ahead of them. "It's that fancy hall we first saw on the way in!"
"We're getting close! Come on!" Armada shouted as she kicked up her speed a notch. The two took a right at the decorative doors, running alongside the huge room towards the large entrance to the building. However, they were still inside when the explosives set by the rebels were detonated, and the building shook violently.
"Aah!" Marice was knocked from her feet, falling to the floor in the now unstable facility.
"Here!" Armada grabbed the teenager around the waist and carried her while flying, despite the sharp pain from using her energy in such a manner. Armada narrowed her eyes, squinting as the building shook harder and dropped more debris into her line of sight. Suddenly, there was a huge roaring sound behind them, unlike anything either had ever heard, seemingly chasing them on their way to the exit which lie just ahead-!
Outside the front doors of the building, Armada lost control and fell, dropping Marice and skidding across the pavement and down the stairs of the entrance of the Federation's main offices. Armada slowly lifted herself and turned towards the building that had seemingly collapsed. Instead, the front appeared to be in tact with large clouds of dust settling around the back side of the complex, indicating that it had only partially collapsed. "Marice," Armada called out over the screams she now noticed as civilians scattered in panic.
"I'm here," Marice answered, standing from where she'd landed halfway down the stairs rather than at the bottom where her comrade had.
"Let's go," Armada added rather unnecessarily and the pair took off, jogging this time more than sprinting as they'd done inside the building.
After moving through the screaming crowds for several blocks, Marice suddenly stopped. She stared at an object quite a distance away to the pair's left and remarked "Whoa...is that...?"
"Marice," Armada stopped running once she noticed the teenager had stopped. She slowly sauntered over to the red-head while questioning what the teenager was doing. "What are you-?"
"Look over there," Marice pointed and cut Armada off. The mercenary did as told and was shocked at the sight she beheld as well.


As the trio ran, Trunks glanced back and forth between the path in front of him through the gobs of people scrambling through the streets and the street on the opposite side of the block, where he hoped to possibly catch a glimpse of his two missing comrades. As luck would have it, while passing another intersection, he saw Armada and Marice standing with their backs to his position gazing at something in the distance.
"This way!" he shouted over his shoulder to Naya and Laiserta and took a hard left turn, heading down a side street to hopefully catch up with the couple before they headed off.
Laiserta and Naya struggled to come to a stop before following their male comrade. "Give us a little more warning next time!" Laiserta shouted forward as the trio ran towards the missing half of their team.
"Armada! Marice!"
The pair turned to see that their three comrades had apparently found them as Trunks called their names while running toward them.
"Thankfully you're all right," Naya spoke in relief through heavy breaths as the five were reunited once more.
"Lai," Armada lassoed the Taydran around the neck with her right arm, steering her gaze across several streets in the distance. "Look straight out that way," Armada used the hand around her comrade's neck to point where she intended for the mercenary to look. "Tell me what you see."
Laiserta took a moment, and after observing briefly she magnified the images she saw with her own enhanced vision. "Holy shit!" she exclaimed after only a few seconds.
"What is it?" Trunks asked before Laiserta could even explain her choice words for the situation.
Without turning away, she replied. "It's Hamad Gen...boarding an unknown ship."
"What do you say we follow him and take up our problems with the prince directly?" Armada turned and asked the group after releasing Laiserta.
"Is that really a good idea?" Trunks inquired doubtfully of his comrade's idea.
Laiserta studied the area in question a moment more. "I don't see any Taydran ships in the vicinity," she turned to face the rest of the group. "Now may be the best chance we get."
"Keep an eye on that ship," Armada looked to Laiserta and then turned towards Naya and Trunks. "The Verandi isn't far from here, but we still need to hurry."
"Right," Trunks nodded in confirmation and the group was off once again, racing against the clock in hopes that Prince Gen wouldn't slip through their fingers while en route to their own transportation.