Chat room adventures

"To the briefing room, Now" Adam pointed out of the shuttle, causing them to cower a bit as they walked as quickly as possible without running. "Heather set a course back into the Alpha sector. Set us in orbit around planet Smiley."

"Roger," her voice was clear through the comm.

"Alert, Alert, Unidentified ships approaching at faster than light speeds." the cold computer was harsh and unwanted.

"Dang it, Alice, Bella; get to your stations at once." This time they ran. Adam hoped it was a friendly ship, but experience told him otherwise. "All hands prepare for battle." The lights dimmed, flashing red as the other YWS ships did the same. Fighters launched, pulse cannons were charged while captains took their places, ready to give the orders for survival.

This is gonna be rough...

Before Bella ran to her station, she stopped.

"Adam, there's someone else in the ship..." she said quietly.

"You brought someone back?!" he sounded angrier.

"Um...kind of..." Bella replied quietly.

"Leave him, go to your station. We don't have time to deal with it right now," Bella nodded in agreement and bolted for her station.

"Told you he'd be ticked," Alice said turning around and seeing Scipio threw herself into his arms.

"I missed you so much!" she practicly shouted holding tighter to his neck.

"Same here, what's this about an unfriendly ship?"

"We're not sure, they might have followed us."

"Just no more shuttling it okay?"

Alice grinned, "okay!"

Bella ran to the navigational deck.

"Adam, what should I do?!" she shouted, looking around. "Someone?!" she shouted again, deciding to let anyone order her around for a moment or five.

"Just keep us on course and watch the radar!" Adam commanded.

"Roger," Bella replied.

"What about me, Adam? Should I be ready to take a shuttle out?" Rick asked, entering with what appeared to be a flame-thrower.

"Yes. You and Matt," Adam agreed. "Alice, Scipio! You're on weapons until further notice."

"Can I guard the prisoner?" Nutty asked cautiously.

"Alice... aren't those ships?" Heather asked, glancing briefly at the radar and then staring at the black dots.

"Uh... I think so. Was just wondering if they're with us or not..."

Bella sat down at her radar-majig, looking at the approaching ships. Suddenly, an incoming message appeared. It was a voice message.

"We are approaching with a small fleet of ships. Be prepared to surrender," the voice, deep and rich, said smoothly. All eyes turned to Adam, who was ready to go.

"Matt, Rick, ready your shuttles! Alice, Scipio, weapons! Heather, you're in a shuttle as well!" Adam looked at the others. "Nutty, stay here with Bella. Be totally prepared to make a shield around our ships if necessary."

"Where's Chris...?" Bella said quietly in the midst of the chaos. Nobody answered, and the question was pushed aside for later discussion.

"Where's Chris?" Bella asked. Heather paused a moment to wonder but then was swept along by Matt and Rick as they headed for the shuttles.

"Let's try to stick together when we're out there, okay?" Heather suggested.

"Let's blow things up!" Matt said.

"Good idea," Rick agreed.

"Oh dear..." Heather sighed, rolling her eyes. Back in the weapons room, Scipio began to ready two of the missiles.

"Fire on my command," Adam stated.

"There's two more ships," Bella noted.

"What are the coordinates?" Adam asked. Bella stared at the radar for a long moment before answering.

"There, and there?" she answered quietly, knowing this wasnt' the answer he was looking for. Sighing, Adam looked over her shoulder.

"Aim for 42 west, 73 east," he called to Alice and Scipio. "Ready...aim..."

Alice waited until Adam shouted "Fire!" before she pushed the big red flashing button near her thumb.

*sorry its so short, moms making me shovel snow, everybody's really grumpy on the day's i'm happy!*

Light zipped out for the Highwind, but not before the enemy ships opened fire. Bolts of light ran from ship to ship colliding with shields. Explosions raced through space. Fighters swarmed forth, attempting to overwhelm the YWS ships.

"Open a full spectrum secure channel to all alllied vessels." Adam commanded as they took another hit, lowering the shields further.

"Open," Nutty said, tapping the keys.

"All YWS ships, this is Adam, we cannot win this, but we can get back to YWS space now. Activate maneuver, Omicron 256." It was a quick shift, all fire from YWS stopped as the computers linked to each other. All the A.I.s were one now and in one collective sweep all of the YWS ships opened fire in sync.

"Wave one complete," echoed a mixture of cold voices. Another firing sequence ripped across the battlefield. "Wave two complete."

"All ships return to your carriers. Prepare for immediate Forum Jump back to YWS space."

Bella opened the carrier doors, letting the ships back in. As soon as they were in, she shut and secured all openings to the outside of the ship.

"Get everyone up here and buckled in!" Adam ordered. Bella grabbed the PA system microphone.

"Everyone is to report to the deck immediatly. Adam wants you all either in your stations or buckled in. We are preparing for forum jump." Bella saw another missile approaching the ship. "Nutty, shield," she said. Nutty nodded, and together the put a huge forcefield around the ship, blocking the missile. All that they felt of it was a small aftershock.

"Everyone's on deck," Nutty said, counting the crew members carefully. Adam nodded, sitting in his captain chair.

"Prepare for forum jump!" he shouted above everyone else's voices. The ship fell silent.

Heather strapped herself in and held onto the seat tightly. If there was thing she hated about space travel, it was forum jumps.

"Forum jump in three... two... one!" Adam announced. Heather felt herself thrown back against her chair and she bit down hard on her lip as she hit her head against the seat. When all had settled again, she looked around at the others.

"Everyone okay?" Scipio asked. There was a load groan from down the corridoor.

"But... we're all in here..." Alice protested. Then Bella gasped and burst into laughter.

"Our guest isn't, he's in the back of the shuttle!" she giggled. Adam put a hand to his head and groaned.

"Go see if he's okay," he sighed.

"But..."

"Go!"

Nodding, Bella ran to the shuttles. She kicked the ship, and the trunk burst open.

"What the hell?" Jordan asked, sitting up and clutching his head.

"Welcome to the YWS Highwind," Bella said introductory like. Jordan looked at her curiously.

"You took me with you?" he said, blinking repeatedly. She nodded. "Why?"

"There's something about you that intrigues me, but there was no way in hell that I would be staying on your planet."

"My planet?"

"Yes." Bella grabbed Jordan's arm and dragged him up to the deck. Before she could open the door to the deck, he stopped her.

"Bella," he said softly, grabing her shoulders. "I'm horribly sorry...for everything. I don't know what was wrong with me." Bella, not knowing what to say, just nodded. He gave her a quick hug, which was nice, and they went on the deck.

"Ow..." Alice rubbed her head absently.

"You okay Alice?" Scipio asked, freeing himself from the seat.

"Yeah... just hit my head." At that moment, Bella entered the room with an unfamiliar boy.

"Everyone, this is Jordan," she introduced.

"And what are we going to do with him?" Adam sighed.

"Eat him...?" Nutty suggested absently.

"Practice our aim?" Matt added.

"Or we could give him to Nate?" Heather said, trying to be helpful.

Jordan stared at the others, his eyes wide with fright.

"Wait!" Bella said, standing in front of Jordan semi-protectively. "I'm calling custody of him!"

"Didn't I get punched out for doing that same thing to you...?" Jordan said slowly, looking at Bella. She ignored him.

"I brought him here, so I take full responsability. But I'd like to keep him on the ship, please?" Bella looekd at Adam pleadingly. He sighed.

"I'll consider it," he said finally. Bella smiled and nodded to him.

"Wait a minute..." she stopped again, looking around. "Where's Chris?" The ship fell silent again.

"Um..." Scipio stammered.

"Well..." Matt said slowly. Rick looked the other way.

"He was an insecure jerk," Adam suggested questioningly.

"Was, meaning?" Bella said slowly, looking around.

"He left. Packed his things and left because he felt like he was being ignored. He told us he was sick of you going off and having adventures and leaving him sitting here," Heather explained quickly. "I'm sorry, dear."

Bella blinked, looking around worriedly. The room was spinning around her, adding to her confusion.

"Bella?" it was Alice's voice, worried. Bella opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out. Alice's hands grabbed Bella's arms firmly, keeping her from falling.