I'd like to start by apologizing for the delay. My muse is an evasive creature and writers block doesn't begin to describe the situation when it's gone. I can't promise any consistency with my chapters so all I can say is, I do have ideas that run right up to and past the end of the anime series and I will post chapters when I can.

I'd like to thank Moonlit Memories for pointing out a mistake I've over looked. Those that have read my profile will know that I am a proudly serving member of the United States armed forces. As such the terms and acronyms of the military are as much a part of my speech as my accent. If some of the phrases I use confuse you I do apologize, but several of the characters in my story are from the same military I'm from and that's just how we speak. Thanks for pointing that out Moonlit, Semper Fi.

Oh and TealDragonUnleashed; If you want to give Meathead a nutcracker surprise you can do it your self. It's your cousin he's based off of.

Enough talking. Enjoy

As always, I own nothing.

Chapter 2

"So," began Magno settling into her chair in the conference room, "Let's get this over with."

"Yes captain," said BC as she launched into her report. "Our ship has been completely swallowed up. The bridge, residential quarters, and engine room have been entirely engulfed by the crystal. Fortunately, mostly due to the actions of the Marines, there was minimal damage to the dread platform and the Reg system. We're in the middle of cleaning up and installing the new database. The spread of Paksis Pragma seems to have reached its peak. The bridge has stopped sliding and is currently situated over the ships biogarden. The changes to the ship seem to have come to an end. Meia, your report." she finished, handing it over to the dread pilot.

"Thank you BC. The three dreads that were swallowed and transformed by the Paksis will no longer fit in any of our regular platforms. We've modified the vanguard hangar on the mens side and are storing them there. While making those modifications we discovered that the ship hasn't been used in quite some time. The circuits and cables are too old, most of them too decayed to use."

"The main problem as we see it is our current location. It's difficult to believe but we are quite some distance from Mejare. We are, in fact in a completely different nebula. By my estimate it will take approximately 270 days of steady travel to return to Mejare."

"Well thats just great," complained Magno, fanning her self to try and alleviate some of the heat that seemed to be up all over the ship. "What did we do to desreve being swept across the galaxy. And," she added turning to where Meia and Jon were sitting, "What about our enemy? Do we have any information about them?"

"Only what we were able to observe in combat I'm afraid." reported Jon, "The ground troops and basic space combat units seem to be entirely mechanical drones, there were no living beings piloting the assault pods either. Beyond the basic combat units I cannot say. The entire system seems to run like some sort of hive mind control system."

"Hive mind?" asked Magno.

"Yes ma'am. One control system, in this case the system destroyed by the blue mech, controls all of the subsystems. Going the other way everything seen or heard by the subsystems gets filtered up to the control system, potentially allowing all the rest of the units to learn from and act on that knowledge. The best proof we have of this is that once the main system was destroyed the cube type fighters ceased functioning." Jon finished.

"I concur with this theory," added Meia, the words tasting like vinegar coming out of her mouth. But, she had to admit, the Marine certainly knew combat, and had learned more from three brief encounters with the enemy than she had in one prolonged battle. "The battle only got progressively harder the longer we fought." she continued, "My team is understaffed so I asked for volunteers to investigate the enemy's main system to gather more intel."

"Volunteers? Who?" asked Magno pausing in her constant fanning.

"Dita and Miss Gasco." Meia said sheepishly.

"Weren't there any Marine volunteers?" Magno asked of the Lieutenant.

"Every one of them ma'am." said Jon with a slight edge to his voice at the very idea that a Marine would shy away from volunteering for any assignment, no matter how dangerous or mundane. "The fact is they've been assigned all over the ship. My computer specialist alone is being constantly bounced between restoring the old and damaged circuits and wires, helping to integrate the new system to the Paksis, and integrating our marine database to everything else. My armorer is heading up the inventory of the Reg system. And my mechanic is on loan for an indefinite amount of time to the engineering department. And all the rest of my Marines are doing everything from inventory in the pantry to doing heavy lifting in the hotter sections of the ship. The self-contained cooling systems in our suits coupled with our increased strength is making my Marines invaluable everywhere in this situation. We are keeping our helmets on around the rest of the crew to keep the fact that most of us are male a secret, but we won't be able to keep this a secret forever. And personally," he continued as the video feed showed the Tarakan men getting hosed down in the brig, "We seem to be getting preferential treatment."

"You said it yourself," shot Meia, trying to keep her voice disdainful when speaking to the Marine. He was after all still a man, no matter what his beliefs towards women. Life on Mejare made her extremely distrustful of men. Yet at the same time when it came to this particular male, for reasons she couldn't explain she wanted him close. She chalked it up to the fact that he was a proven warrior, and someone you wanted at your back in a fight. "Your abilities make you useful. Were it not critical to use every available resource, you and the rest of the men under you would be right there with them."

"Yes what about these men of Tarak?" Magno interjected stopping a possible argument from happening. She wasn't so much worried about the Marine, he was a lieutenant after all and as such should have an incredible amount of self discipline, but Meia still had some real prejudices against men. Even though, Magno had noticed with interest, Meia was less violent towards the Lieutenant than any of the other men on the ship. Chuckling at the thought that Meia could ever actually care for the young Lieutenant, she decided to keep the conversation away from the Marines for the moment. "These were the only ones left after we sent the rest off in the escape pods right?"

"Correct, and we'll have to depend on them until we fully understand the systems on this ship." said BC.

"Yes, I've never seen the like before." Magno said as she recalled the helm spitting out the blonde helmsman. "It was as if the ship had a mind of its own. A very unnerving thought."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"It was really unnerving." Bart told the other men in the cell. "All my allies were falling around me, but survival kicked in and I persevered..." as Bart launched into a self gratifying speech about how he "outsmarted" the women, Hibiki tuned him out and became lost in his own thoughts.

'This sucks. I thought I'd changed my fate, but look at where I am now. Even so what the hell...' "Happened back there?"

"Huh?"said Hibiki, confused until he realized it was Bart that had spoken.

"Who made that vanguard and how was it able to combine with the woman's dread?"

"How the hell should I know?" said Hibiki immediately going on the defensive. "I still haven't forgiven you for that blow to the gut by the way."

"Easy there brother, no need to be upset. I did it for your own good you know." said Bart raising his hands up defensively.

"You don't know when to shut up, do you?" snarled Hibiki.

"He's scared." muttered Duelo.

"Huh?" uttered Hibiki in surprise at the sudden statement from the doctor.

"He deals with his fear by talking. Please forgive him." Duelo continued.

"Wow, you're really clever," said Bart sincerely, "You really are one of the elite students aren't you? So how about it, huh? With your brain and my silver tongue we could easily out smart those women."

"Would you mind repeating that please?" asked BC, who was standing just outside the holding cell with her hands on her hips.

"Oh!" Bart cried as he turned and saw the vice captain standing there listening to his conversation, flanked by two security guards. "I was just joking around, you know." he said chuckling nervously.

"I'd like to hear these jokes of yours. Follow me to the bridge won't you?" said BC, signaling one of the guards to deactivate the energy beams that formed the door.

"S-sure, as long as its a social call." Bart stuttered as the guards brought him out of the cell, the energy beams springing back to life as they left for the bridge.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"In my opinion Captain, this place looks more like a giant factory than a space ship." reported Gascogne as Magno watched the feed from the eva suit's helmet camera, showing what was left of the enemy's main system.

"So are there any clues as to their intention?" asked Magno desperately fanning her self as the temperature continued to rise throughout the ship.

"We're searching the database for information but its pretty extensive." said Gascogne as another eva suit came up in front of her field of vision, its mask going to clear mode to reveal the smiling, excited face of Dita.

"Hey Miss Gasco is it okay if I take a look around?" the girl asked with enthusiasm.

"Absolutely not!" Gascogne said pushing the girl away into an uncontrolled tumble, "We've got a job to do."

"Wahhh! I can't stop!" cried Dita as she fought to stabilize herself.

Chuckling in amusement at the girl's antics, Magno was interrupted by a buzz from her chairs comm link. Pressing a button she answered the call, "Yes BC?"

"I've brought our navigator Captain." came BC's voice over the link.

"I'll be right there" said Magno as she turned back to Gascogne, "I'll leave the investigation to you Gascogne."

"Gotcha." she replied as the connection was terminated.

Pressing another button on her chair, Magno's seat slid backwards out of the conference room, through the back wall which slid open to allow her chair through. On the other side of the wall, the chair came to a stop on the landing of a ramp overlooking the bridge. Turning 180 degrees the chair then proceeded down the ramp settling into the Captains position on the bridge.

"Hello there." said Bart as the Captain's chair came to a stop, "Was there something you wanted from me?"

"Yes." said the Captain pointing at the helm platform on the end of the 'diving board', "That thing. We haven't been able to operate it, so maybe you'd be so kind as to tell us how you did it."

"I guess i'd better. Given the circumstances," he said indicating his restraints, "I have no choice". As BC hit the button on her remote device the cuffs fell off of his wrists. Falling into his air of chauvinism, he continued making his way down the access ramp to the helm, "Now try and pay attention closely. This is a male ship which means that only men can operate it, so I'd say you were very lucky to have me aboard." He finally came to the end of the diving board and was standing next to the swirling energy sphere. "In fact you could say that I'm an indispensable..." The bridge crew never heard how he was indispensable, as the energy sphere chose that moment to suck the helmsman in again, with him screaming in protest.

"I really don't understand this system at all." remarked Magno.

As the view of the navigation chamber went from static to clear, Bart readjusted himself to being in the sphere. Before he was able to do anything however, the ship's drive systems suddenly kicked in and took off despite the protests of the navigator. Everyone on the bridge scrambled to hold onto something as the g-forces kicked in. "Whats going on?" demanded Magno, not at all pleased at the sudden jolt.

"The system just booted up Captain." reported Amarone stabilizing the halo-like data screen that hovered around her position.

"Projecting current destination." called Belvedere finally getting her own data screen under control.

"Just what the hell did you do in there." yelled Magno bringing up a vid link that showed the helmsman's face.

"What? Nothing, I swear!" said the blonde man desperately trying to bring the ship under control, "Just a minute."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meia and Jon were in the refitted vanguard hangar, hooking the dreads into the custom made restraint system. They were the only ones there so Jon had his helmet off as he hooked up the fuel umbilicals to Meias dread as she sat in the cockpit shutting down all of the major systems. All of a sudden a mighty shift in inertia caused Jon to lose his balance. After a moment of flailing his arms trying to regain his balance, gravity finally won, pulling him down off of the ledge he was on. Seeing the Marine disappear over the edge, Meia experienced a brief moment of panic as she jumped up from her seat to lean out and see if the man was still alive. Somehow Jon had managed to grab hold of the ledge on the way down and now dangled, one handed, from the ledge he previously stood upon. Meia let out a very noticeable sigh of relief as she saw that the Marine was okay.

"Wow, was that concern on your face just now?" remarked Jon climbing back up to stand on the ledge, "And a sigh of relief?"

"Relief that I don't have to explain a dead Marine in the hangar to the Captain." Meia said settling back down into her seat but still keeping her eyes on the man, an unfamiliar feeling creeping into her chest. 'Just what is it about this man? I can't seem to keep him out of my mind?' she wondered as the Marine in question shuffled his way up to the cockpit.

"You know something Meia?" he said leaning in close to her face, causing her breath to catch in her throat, "You need to learn how to lie better."

"What makes you think I'm lying?" she asked as her pulse quickened.

"It's your eyes." the Lieutenant replied. At this range he could identify the aroma of her shampoo, and gods did she smell wonderful, 'Stop that, dammit' he chided himself. "You've been watching me like a hawk since you found out I was a man. When are you going to trust that I'm not the enemy?"

"I haven't been... I wasn't..." she stuttered. Damn him! Why did he make her feel this way? "What was with the sudden jolt anyway?" she said changing the subject while trying to get ahold of the bridge.

Jon sighed as he allowed her to duck the question. For the life of him, he just couldn't figure this girl out. She was the queen of mixed signals. Concern for his safety but scorn for his existence? Leaning in to listen as Meia got ahold of the bridge, he decided she was going to be the ultimate onion case. And pulling these layers back one at a time was going to be either slow or painful, probably both.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The download complete, the hacking tool spit out the data disc. Grabbing hold of it and placing it in a pocket, Gascogne radioed the ship, "I've finished copying the data." Static was all that answered her as she waited for a response. "Are you there?" Turning around she saw empty space where the ship was supposed to be. "Dita?" she asked managing to keep from panicking, "Where's the ship?"

"Huh?" the girl asked, turning around from whatever it was she had been looking at. Not seeing the ship either she gulped loudly, "Uh-oh!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Miss Gasco, Dita! If you can hear me please respond!" cried Ezra trying everything she could to raise the two on the radio.

"Release the markers!" barked BC.

"Roger." replied Amarone hitting the button that released a nav marker to give them a return path once they got control of the ships drive again.

"Miss Gasco..." Ezra gasped as she collapsed onto her control screen.

"Ezra!" said BC rushing over to aid the girl, "Whats wrong?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hibiki's dreams were plagued with visions of his grandpa, one memory coming through clear. His gramps had sent him to the city to make friends so that he could learn about himself. Hibiki had insisted that he already knew enough about himself but his gramps had told him that friends were like mirrors, and you could see who you were in the friends around you.

"Gramps..." Hibiki muttered as he woke up. Eyes widening as he saw the doctor there touching their foreheads together, he freaked out a little pushing the doctor away as he yelled, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Checking your temperature, you were muttering in your sleep." the doctor said, apparently not insulted by the boys actions.

"I-I'm fine doc, really." Hibiki said calming down a bit.

"Who's gramps?" Duelo asked.

"He's just gramps. He's the one who raised me."

"Strange, to think that a member of the first generation would be in contact with a third class citizen like yourself."

"You're Duelo right?" asked the vice commander appearing before the cell again, "If you're not too busy, I'd like you to come with me."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What's the situation here girls?" asked Parfait, the head of engineering, as she removed the top half of her coveralls and tied the sleeves around her waist in an attempt to combat the heat.

"Crystalline responses are down 45%." said one of the techs.

"Temperature is up an average of 6 degrees all over the ship." said another.

"I have no idea where to start with this thing." said one tech on the verge of giving up.

"Just do what you can." said Parfait turning to the tech working with the egg shaped robot that called itself Pyoro. "How are you doing? Something interesting?"

"I don't know." responded the tech as the robot which had wires coming out of everywhere gave what sounded like a moan and said, "Sick."

"Sick?" gasped Parfait.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As the door to the sick bay slid open, Duelo noticed a brown haired girl lying in a bed on the far side of the room.

"She's running a slight fever and it won't go down," said BC referring to the girl in the bed, "Do you think you could take a look at her?"

"My understanding was that women's medical technology was fairly advanced." said Duelo glancing sideways at the vice commander.

"Probing for information even in basic conversation," said BC shaking her head, "You really are one of the men's elites. Very well, approximately 90% of the ships systems are offline, unfortunately that includes the automatic medical systems. Is that enough information to satisfy you?"

Smiling Duelo answered, "I'll examine the patient."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Huh?" asked Dita looking around for the ship with her star scanner.

"What's wrong?" asked Gascogne.

"The only things I can see are markers." Dita said.

"Something must have happened," remarked Gascogne uneasiness settling in her chest, "We got what we came for, lets get the hell out of here." As the two made their way out of the innards of the enemy vessel, Gascogne noticed too late something happening behind her as she suddenly found herself trapped by the same solid energy ribbons that had trapped the vanguard. Unable to escape, Gascogne blamed herself for getting caught so easily. Dita came forward and attempted to cut her out with a laser, to no effect.

"It's no use." Dita cried putting the laser away, "Hold on, I'll get the tools from the dread."

"Forget it." said Gascogne, "Have you forgotten our job? We came here on a mission and someone needs to return with the data."

"But Miss Gasco. I can't just leave you here."

"Who the hell said you were leaving me to rot? This ain't some cheesy daytime drama, I'm counting on you to come back with help!"

"I understand." said Dita sadly, turning to make her way to her dread. "I'll be back soon, don't go anywhere!"

As the girl left, Gascogne laughed, "And just where am I going to go?" That laughter died quickly as she noticed some of the pods in the husk she was trapped in, glowing and coming to life, spitting out the cube type enemies that had fought Meia. "Shit, looks like I've got company."

"Scanners are picking up a nebula directly ahead of the ship." reported Belvedere.

"We're unable to regain control of the ship." added Amarone.

"I can't stop this thing!" screamed Bart.

"It's just one thing after another around here." muttered Magno putting a new ice bag on her head.

"Meia here," came her voice as another vid screen came up in front of Magno, "The platform is offline we're unable to retrieve Dita and Miss Gasco."

Another vid screen came up showing Barnette and Jura looking cramped together and very uncomfortable. "Jura and I have been trapped in this elevator for hours!" yelled Barnette. "Someone come get us out!" added Jura.

"Good grief! What next?" sighed Magno.

Duelo was finally getting something on the sonogram when suddenly the power just went out. Quickly grabbing the radio off of the guard standing next to him he radioed engineering. "Engineering, I'm working on a patient. I need you to make power to the sickbay a priority."

"We've got our own problems down here." came the voice of the chief engineer, "I'd love to help but I can't read men's language."

"I could read it for you if I were there." he replied.

"Go right ahead." said BC.

Several moments later, Duelo stepped off the power lift into main engineering, to the alarm of several of the females working there. One of them openly screamed, "It's a man!"

"Oh, hey. Over here please." said Parfait noticing the man standing there. As he came up next to her she continued, "I've been trying to check the status of the Paksis, but the data does me no good if I can't read it."

"It's just a hi-type #6," he responded, recognizing the robot. "What are you doing?" he asked turning to the girl.

"I have no idea why, but the Paksis and this thing are sharing the same wavelengths. I thought it would make a good sensor but I can't read the language."

"I see," Duelo said accessing the data on the little bot. "Impurities are spreading within the main engine room," he said after a bit, "It's likely due to all of the changes to the ship."

"The way I understand it," said Parfait, "This system was designed to harvest the energy from the crystal's growth. But I've never seen a reaction like this before."

"Perhaps it's a result of the two ships fusing." offered Duelo.

"You're probably right. Can you do anything about it?"

"Sorry," Duelo said straightening up, "I'm a doctor not an engineer."

"That's a pitiful excuse!" said Parfait placing her hands on her hips, "I believe that everything that moves is alive. And a doctor's job is to heal all living things, right?"

"You have a very interesting perspective." Duelo remarked. As he removed his long coat to get to work the ship shook yet again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Captain," said Belvedere, "The ship's engines seem to have shut down."

"Great," moaned the Captain, "Just when we get the good news that we've stopped its in the middle of a nebula." As though to add insult to injury the small fan that was Magno's only relief from the heat died with the engines.

"Captain," called Amarone as her station started beeping, "Readings show a section of the ship is starting to transform again."

"It never ends."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The numbers at Duelo's station started going haywire. "The ships parameters are changing." he said to Parfait who was still working on Pyoro.

"Here too. It's strange, why the sudden shift? What is with this thing?"

Coming over to where she was, Duelo leaned over to look at Pyoro's screen, "It might have something to do with the composition of the nebula."

"That's it!" cried Parfait as an epiphany struck, "It must be getting rid of the impurities and neutralizing them."

"fascinating," mused Duelo, "It's behaving exactly like a living being."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

'Damn it.' thought Jon as he and Meia were furiously trying to get the dead platform to release the dreads so they could deploy. 'Brand new equipment never works when you need it.' "I'm getting nothing. You having any better luck Meia?"

"No. God-damned, jury-rigged, piece of shit!" she screamed kicking her terminal.

Before Jon could comment on her very unladylike vocabulary, not that he really cared if she had a sailor mouth, the ship shook violently and shuddered to a halt. Since Jon and Meia were side by side, this resulted in Jon falling on top of the dread pilot. Not wanting to crush the girl he stopped himself by placing his hands outside her shoulders, a position any anime fan would be familiar with. As the two gained their bearings, they noticed the rather compromising position they were in. Jon swallowed hard and was grateful for the armor covering his reaction, Meia on the other hand felt a heat rising in her face, 'Why the hell is this happening?' she wondered, 'Am I getting sick?'

Fate, being a cruel bitch, decided that this would be a good time for the vice captain to walk into the hangar. Eyes wide at the scene before her she smirked as she realized that the two on the ground were staring at each other so hard that they hadn't noticed her presence yet. Clearing her throat to get their attention she said, "Maybe I should come back later." Meia jumped as though she'd been electrocuted, Jon rose to his feet slowly, determined not to let the vice captain walking in on him and Meia cause him to lose his cool. As Jon helped Meia to her feet, Buzam continued, "Have you managed to get the platform working yet?"

"Not yet." said Jon, "but if Bart doesn't learn to fly straight, he's going to find himself swimming home."

"Okay so the dreads are out of the game," said BC smirking at the Marine's ire, "What about the vanguard?"

Jon palmed himself on the forehead as he exclaimed, "I can't believe I forgot about the kid's mech!"

Meia was already at her terminal again checking the status of the launch catapult. "The capacitors are fully charged, it is possible to deploy the vanguard to retrieve Dita and Miss Gasco. The question is, how to convince him to save Dita."

"Oh I'm sure he'd miss her if she wasn't around, even though he'd never admit it." said Jon grinning.

"Before we call the mission a success there's a problem we have to fix." said BC.

"What problem?" asked Jon.

"That one." BC said pointing at the catapult seat which was at the other end of the hangar, right by the door. "Can we get it reset to launch again?"

"Yes," responded Meia, "But it would drain the capacitors, and with the power out we can't charge them again for the launch."

"There is another way to retrieve the launch seat." the Marine said making his way to the far side of the hangar.

"Oh really?" said Meia, full of skepticism, "And just how do you plan on doing that? Pull it back here by hand?"

"Nope." said Jon as he reached the launch seat. Placing his hands open palmed on the front of the seat he said, "I'm gonna push." Before either of the women could say anything, Jon called on every ounce of strength he could muster and leaned into the seat. Slowly, inch by agonizingly slow inch, the seat began to move. It felt like pushing a parked tank uphill, but Jon kept at it.

As the Marine was setting the new bar in strength and determination, BC called the bridge, "Captain I have a suggestion."

"Yes, what is it?" asked Magno as she set a new bag of ice on her head.

"We should be able to launch the vanguard with no problems.

"I'm listening."

"It's potentially risky but we could have the boy use it to search for Dita and Goscogne."

"That's not a bad idea."said Magno sitting up a little straighter in her seat.

"Acknowledged." said BC as Jon grunted with the effort of his labor.

"Who was that BC?" asked Magno hearing the noise.

"Just the Marine Lieutenant pushing the catapult back into launch position."

"By hand!" cried Magno leaning forward in her seat. Even the bridge bunnies stopped what they were doing as they looked at the screen in front of the bridge."

"Yes Captain, see for yourself." said BC as the camera swiveled to reveal the man, arms bulging where they were exposed, pushing the massive launch seat back into place. Even with the poor quality of video everyone on the bridge could see the sweat running off of his face. It was then that Magno realized that he wasn't wearing his helmet.

"Wait, thats a man!" cried Amarone.

Too late.

"Yes," began Magno, "The leader of the Marines is, in fact, a man. Furthermore a good many of the Marines are male. But, as you'll notice, he's going above and beyond to help save two of our own. So I won't hear a foul word against them. They've proven to be valuable allies, and they don't have the Tarakkan mistrust of women, so I ask you to treat them with respect."

"Aye aye Captain." replied the two girls turning their attention back to the screen where the man was holding the launch seat in position while Meia got the clamps in place.

"BC I leave this to you." Magno said cutting the link. Turning to the two girls she said, "When this is over, the whole crew is going to have to be told about the Marines, until then I ask you not to speak a word of this to anyone."

"Yes ma'am." the two said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As the clamps secured themselves into place, Jon let the seat go slowly as it settled against its guide. He staggered slightly to the side, exhausted by the effort of moving two tons of steel fifty yards. Coming to rest against the dread platform, he rested his hands on his thighs and brought his breathing back to normal. When meia finished prepping the catapult for launch she came to the side of the Marine "Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be fine, but that was one hell of a workout." Jon said dismissively to mask how shocked he was that Meia was showing concern again.

BC had been watching everything transpire, and decided to leave the two alone as she left to collect the vanguard pilot.

Meia had seen BC leave and decided to use this time alone to clarify a few things. "Why?" she asked turning to put her back against the wall.

"Why what?" said the Marine standing up straight and turning to look at the girl.

"Why are you trying so hard for people you don't know. Why would you care for women at all."

"Because it's the right thing to do. And so what if they're women, what the hell difference does it make who's in trouble?"

"The men of Tarak believe women are monsters who eat men's innards."

"I am not from Tarak." Jon said pointedly.

"But still..." Meia began.

"Look Meia, propaganda is nothing more than pointless lies designed to shepherd unthinking masses into following the beliefs of a few individuals. There's no reason that men and women can't be friends and more."

"More?"

"Where I come from it's commonplace for men and women to not only be friends with each other but to fall in love with each other."

Before he could say another word Meia took two steps forward and delivered a beautiful right hook to the Marine's jaw. "Blasphemy!" she spat venomously, "Stop lying."

The blow, while not actually causing pain did succeed in turning Jon's face slightly to the side. Turning back to face her, his eyes seemed to pierce her soul as he responded, "And what exactly do I have to gain by lying to you? Hmm? You've only ever seen life from one perspective. It's time to open your eyes and see past the lies of your government. Open your mind and you'll be amazed at the things you'll learn."

Meia matched his gaze with a threatening one of her own, searching his eyes for the lie she wanted to see there. She saw only truth. "Fine." she said, "You obviously don't believe as the men of Tarak do, but that doesn't mean that I have to believe what you do."

"I can accept that." Jon replied silently reveling in this small victory. Noticing Meia massaging her hand he asked, "Are you alright?"

"Are all Marines as thick headed as you?" she said with a small amount of humor, "It felt like I punched a brick wall."

"Pretty much." he answered with a grin, "Ask any drill instructor. Driving a point through our thicks skulls comes just shy of needing a sledgehammer."

"So..." Meia said, "You say your not our enemy, and you've given me no reason to doubt your word. But the question that now stands is, what are you now?"

"Well, we've both stood our ground and faced the same enemy, though not side by side, I guess that makes us comrades-in-arms."

This answer obviously didn't go over too well. The slight grin was wiped off of Meia's face as it resumed its slightly angry look. "We can take care of our selves. We don't need help." Having nothing more to say, she returned to her console and got back to trying to make some headway with the hell-spawned system.

With a sigh Jon returned to his own console. 'It's too bad she's so bull headed.' he thought, 'She is pretty hot.'

Pausing in her work, Meia placed a hand over her heart. 'Just what is this feeling?'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hot." moaned Hibiki. He was sure that he was going to cook to death, the rising temperature had forced him to remove all but his underclothes. As he wondered how long it would be until he was done enough for the women to eat, the vice commander came to the cell again.

"My, what an interesting outfit."

"So, its my turn to go with you now huh?" he growled.

"Not exactly, I came here to ask you for a favor."

"What favor?" the boy asked, the edge in his voice softening.

"I'll level with you. We left two crew mates behind. I'd like you to help us retrieve them."

"Ha!" the boy spat, "And why should I help you?"

"This isn't the time for the men and women on this ship to be fighting with each other." BC growled, her patience with the impertinent boy wearing thin. "You saw it, right? That unidentified enemy? I figured since you were able to handle them so easily before, you'd be willing to lend us your strength once again. I had heard that in a mans world, the strong helping the weak was a common ideal. But I guess I was wrong." she said as she started to walk away.

"All right!" Hibiki called, sitting up. "I've already shown you a side of myself that I probably shouldn't have. But this is the last time I give in to your threats."

"Threats?" asked BC, "I certainly didn't intend for that to come across as a threat."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Damn." said Duelo.

"What's the matter?" asked Parfait not looking away from her own console.

"The intake/outtake ratio is off. There aren't enough link routes for the excess power, and the existing ones can't handle the stress."

"Don't give up so quickly," Parfait said turning to the man, "There's got to be a way around the problem."

"That's it." cried Duelo. "A bypass. When an artery is blocked you just create another route for it."

"A detour huh? Great idea. Ya know," Parfait said patting the man on the shoulder, "You wouldn't make a half bad engineer. All right everyone, it's time to get busy." As the girl headed off to tell the rest of the engineers the plan, Duelo slowly reached up to touch the spot where the female made contact with him.

'Curious.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Captain." reported Belvedere, "We have a proximity alert!"

"What is it?"

"An asteroid sized ice mass is on a collision course with the ship."

"You hear that Bart?" yelled the Captain at the helmsman. "Do something!"

"Some one get me out of here!" screamed the man.

"He's useless." sighed Amarone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What the hell are these things?" wondered Gascogne aloud. The machines that had come to life, assembled themselves at the ragged edge of a section of hull and fused themselves together to make new hull. "They can make repairs even under these conditions?" Noticing movement in her peripherals she turned to see one of the machines coming right for her. Eyes widening she muttered, "Great they're going to use me for parts."

"No!" Dita cried as another blast glanced off her shields. "I really hate bad aliens who don't know when to give up." These three cube types had been chasing her since she left the wreck. "Huh?" she gasped as another signal appeared on her tac map, "From the front too?" Just then another blast on the shields just above her canopy caused her to flinch, resulting in her squeezing the weapons controls on her control sphere and letting loose two beams of energy to shrink away and disappear into the distance. A few moments later, a small explosion could be seen as the beams contacted the craft that the radar had shown to be ahead of Dita. As the fireball receded an angry voice came over the comm channel.

"HEY! Is that any way to treat the guy who came all this way to get you!"

"Mr. Alien!" cried Dita joyfully.

'Ah shit' thought Hibiki as he desperately tried to stop his mech and get away from what he knew was coming. "S-stop. Get away."

"You came all the way out here just to save me didn't you? You really are a good alien."

"No I'm not. Would you knock that off!" he cried as Ditas dread came into contact with his vanguard and a bright light enveloped them as they tranformed once again into the blue vandread.

"Oh wow. Neat." said Dita as she took in everything about the new cockpit.

"Hey! Quit moving around would ya!" yelled Hibiki. The design of the cockpit left a lot to be desired in his opinion. The seat they were in had solid restraints over his shoulders that kept him from moving around too much. There was a belt that went all the way around the girls waist which, in Hibiki's mind, only served to keep her close to him. On top of all that the way the seat was set up had her literally sitting on his lap, and all that moving around that the girl was doing only served to send strange and slightly uncomfortable sensations through his body.

Turning to look at the boy, Dita couldn't help but notice how cute he looked when he was uncomfortable. 'But then, he always looks cute' she thought to herself. "I want you to know, I believed in you. I knew that no matter what happened you'd come and rescue me." she said to the man whose lap she was sitting on.

"I didn't come here to rescue you." he said becoming more uneasy after seeing how the girl was looking at him, "I was just looking for you."

"Well, thank you." she said softly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gascogne was impressed, in less than a minute the cube type in front of her had precisely cut away most of the energy ribbons that had held her. "You guys work fast, we could use good workers like you."

Finally it seemed that enough ribbons were out of the way because the cube type's claw arm was headed directly for Gascogne's head. "Heh. Looks like its finally my turn."

The claw never reached her. Mere inches from her face the arm stopped moving forward as most of the arm and all of the cube type were crushed in the hand of the giant blue mech. Turning to face the mech she said, "You guys put off saving me to the last possible second, but I'm still here so I guess I can't complain."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Typing away furiously at her terminal, Parfait spared a moment to talk to Duelo. "We've managed to secure up to 36 bypasses. How are things on your end?"

"I can't do anything more over here." said the doctor as he closed the panel on the small navi-bot he'd been working on. "We'll have to make due with what we've already got."

"No way!" said the head engineer turning to face the man, "We'll throw the Paksis completely off-balance if there aren't enough routes for the power."

"Do you know what doctors do at times like this?" he asked turning to the girl. He gave a small smile as he continued, "We believe in the patients will to live."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"The ice mass is getting closer!" cried Belvedere, starting to panic with all the heat and constant stress, "Distance 12000!"

"There's no response from the Paksis," said Amarone, close behind her friend in terms of panic, "We have no control!"

Magno growled, frustrated at the situation. It looked as though their fates had caught up with them and Magno was once again preparing herself for the end when she noticed the fan beside her had turned back on. At that moment power and systems started coming back online all over the ship.

Gasping in delight Amarone reported, "The systems just booted back up!"

Not wasting any time Magno barked at the helmsman, "Hard to starboard! 30 degrees!"

"Oh Grand Pa, no!" the blonde man cried as he threw his arms up to shield himself.

As the ice leviathan hurtled towards the ship that was easily 1/100th it's size, a beam of light suddenly clove the mass in two as a katana would an orange, sending the two halves of ice hurtling in separate directions as explosions ripped through it. As the titanic iceberg split, the ship managed to slip through the resulting void, clearing the ice by mere feet on either side.

"It looks like this is the end for me." Bart moaned as he risked a peek under his arms. "Huh?" he muttered stupidly as he saw that the ice mass was no longer there, "What's that?" It was then that he noticed the blue mech from before, situated in front of the ship. "Hmph!" he muttered, "So he saves the day again."

Leaning back in his seat Hibiki moaned, "For some reason I feel really tired right now." It was certainly true enough, all his energy seemed to be sucked away from him. He had a feeling it was caused in part by the girl who was now bouncing excitedly on his lap. The other part could be the action of a certain part of his anatomy that had never happened to him before.

Not noticing the discomfort of the male, Dita continued to bounce with glee as she said, "See Miss Gasco. I told you it was amazing!"

"Yeah thats great." muttered Gascogne from where she was stuck upside down in the tiny cockpit, "Now would you hurry up so that I can get out of here? Sheesh!"

All of the various red lights turned green and then disappeared as the 'eyes' sprung back into existence on the face/screen of Pyoro. Standing up and popping all of the cables and wires out of his body he rendered a comical salute and said, "I'm back in service."

"All right!" cried Parfait grabbing the doctors hand in celebration, "We did it! Are we good or what?"

Duelo didn't answer, his attention on the physical contact he had with the female. Slowly Parfait noticed this too and a slight blush tinted her cheeks. Pyoro just sat there and watched the two with interest.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jon sighed as he sat down in front of his uniform locker. The events of the last 24 hours had been interesting to say the least. Several things that he thought would be constant were either gone, or had changed so much that they were almost completely new. His newest problem, namely the berthing of his troops, was just another of the things that would veer off of the usual path. He had only been alloted eight rooms for his troops located just off of the vanguard hangar. The Captain had also informed him that a roommate of similar rank would be selected from the female crew by her to room with him in the interest of energy conservation, leaving Jon with seven rooms for his fourteen troops. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, however there were an odd number of females meaning at least one of the rooms would have to be co-ed.

As he looked at his troops chatting about the various things they had done, an idea struck him. Rising to his feet he put his camouflaged over shirt on, rolled the sleeves, and set his eight point cover on his head. "Marines." he barked stopping the chatter as his Marines gave him their attention, "I've got some word to pass. The Captain has given us eight rooms to live in, just off of the main hangar. I have been informed that someone from her crew will be selected to room with me, but I have been given free reign to assign the rest as I see fit. For those of you who didn't fail math, you'll realize that this means at least one of the rooms will have to be multi-gender." There were several snickers at this as several eyes looked at Knight and Ghost. "However I won't put just one female out there like that so I've decided that all females will share a room with a male." Smirks were replaced with opened mouthed gaping as he continued. "In keeping with the Captains suggestion we'll do this by rank, so the room assignments will be as follows. Doc you and Meathead will take room across the hall from myself and my as yet unknown roommate. Next to my room will be my fire team leaders D-day and Tigress. Across from them Clip and Sparky will finish out the support staff. Tank and Titan, you will room across the hall from Dozer and Lovely. Runner you and Dragon will be next to the twins, leaving Knight and Ghost with the last room."

The room was silent, a mix of confusion, excitement and nervousness on various faces. That silence was broken by Runner as he slapped Knight on the back and said, "Way to go kid. Lucky you rooming with your girlfriend. Do me a favor and keep it down tough, I'd like to be able to get some sleep at..." BAM! His words were cut off by a fist planting itself right in his mouth. Looking up from the floor, Runner was surprised to see the twins standing over him with dangerous glares on their faces. "Why the hell did you hit me?" he yelled as he got to his feet.

"Because our momma raised us to have more respect for women than that." said Tank massaging his fist.

"But if you insist on talking that way, then I'll have to pick up where my brother left off." said Titan.

Runner looked around at the rest of the Marines, flinching when he saw the murderous look on Ghost's face. As his gaze fell on the Lieutenant, D-day said, "Don't go looking for support Runner. That was way out of line."

"It also brings me to my next point." he said as the Marines brought their attention back to him. "This is geared mostly towards the men here but everyone should take this to heart. The men and women on this ship have been separated from each other for almost a hundred years. If you don't want to float home, I suggest you steer away from any remarks that will upset them." He threw a withering glare at Runner. "For the next three quarters of a year or so we are, for better or worse, stuck together. This is not an order to completely avoid them however. We need them to like us so if you can become friends with them, by all means, it can only help our situation. I advise you to tread cautiously if you want to take it farther than just friends though. Common sense should tell you that every female on this ship is, to a one, a virgin. And being separate from the opposite gender means that contraceptives are not an option. So if you get a little too friendly with them you will be responsible for any outcome. Having said that I understand that you are all healthy adults and I would be stupid to try and stop you, especially with a male to female ratio like this. I ask however that try to use your heads as something more than just a place to rest your cover. And if you notice something going on between the Tarakkans and the Mejarians you steer clear and leave them to each other."

"Like the doctor and the engineering head." added Meathead. "I noticed the sparks flying off of those two a mile away."

"I'd like to add the redheaded dread pilot Dita and the vanguard pilot Hibiki to that." said Jon. "While the boy doesn't seem too enthusiastic about her, she seems completely obsessed with him."

"And of course the rest of us will steer clear of the blue haired dread pilot sir." said Doc.

"Why's that Mike?" Jon said, feigning ignorance.

"Come on sir we all saw the way you two were looking at each other." said the medic with a smile. All the rest of the Marines, Jon noticed, were smiling or nodding in agreement.

"Guess I should have expected as much from my Marines." the lieutenant said. "Okay I admit it. I've got a thing for the girl, but you would not believe the amount of brainwashing the Mejarian government does to keep the genders separate. She straight up clocked me when I put men, women, and love, in the same sentence."

"No shit sir?" asked Dozer.

"I warn you all now, if you want to get anywhere with these girls you're going to have to break through a hundred years of lies and half truths dug in like it was religious dogma."

"At least you have the guts to tell the girl the truth, despite the consequences." said Dozer looking at Knight.

"Hey, don't look at me like that. I have the guts too." Knight said.

"Then why haven't you?" asked Dragon.

"He did." said Ghost smiling.

"No way. He did? When?" asked Titan.

'Good grief. They're like a bunch of old women in a sewing circle.' thought Jon.

"Didn't you guys notice we were the last two to show up here?" she asked.

"So what did you say?" asked Lovely, positively giddy.

"I didn't say anything." the pink haired girl said.

"Nothing?" asked Tank.

"She couldn't." said Knight turning red. "She was too busy kissing me."

"No shit? Well it's about time chico." said Runner.

"This isn't a problem, is it sir?" the boy asked.

"Are you kidding?" said the Lieutenant. "I knew it wasn't a matter of if, but when. But no I don't have a problem with it. Just remember the points I brought up before. That's all I ask. So long as you are able to follow orders and fight, your personal life is your own."

"Am I interrupting?" came a voice from the other side of the room. Everyone turned to look and saw Meia standing at the door.

"Not at all, I just finished." said Jon. "Did you need something."

"Besides a clue?" murmured Tank earning him an elbow in the ribs from his brother.

"The Captain wants you on the bridge." Meia said turning around and walking out the door.

"Alright Marines, I'll go see what the Captain wants." Jon said walking towards the door. Stopping as he reached the portal, he turned around and said, "Oh and before I forget. There are some people stuck in an elevator between level 7 and level 8. D-day, Tigress, get a team together to get them out."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

All over the ship screens popped into existence as the all hands broadcast went out from the bridge. The screen displayed the Captain with the vice commander by her side as always. The vice commander stepped forward and began to speak.

"The Captain and I have concluded our meeting. We've decided to inform the entire crew of our current situation. After analyzing the debris, we have gained some intelligence on our enemy. I'd like you all to take a look at this image." The screen cut to a very grainy image of a multi colored orb with what looked like clockwork gears encasing it. "This is the enemy's home planet. We do not know it's exact location but it is apparent they have a considerable amount of military power. We are currently in the territory of this enemy force and we are being attacked because we are being perceived as a threat. Because of this we anticipate more battles with this enemy as we make our way to Mejarian space."

"Theres more," she said as the video cut back to the bridge. "Our enemy is about to launch a full scale operation which calls for the destruction of several planets, to include our home world of Mejare as well as the male planet Tarak. We have no information as to why our faceless enemy is calling for the complete obliteration of our home worlds."

"We are pirates and as such our loyalties are not bound to either Mejare or Tarak." said Magno. "However it would be bad business sense to allow an unknown enemy to destroy our potential customers. Therefore I plan to arrive at our home planet before our enemy to inform both worlds of this crisis. In order to be successful we must incorporate the men we have taken captive as well as the Marines, many of whom are male, into our crew."

"huh?" gasped the bridge bunnies.

Bart chuckled from where he sat on the helms plank as he muttered "So, you finally see it my way."

The camera angle widened to show the Marine Lieutenant and the dread team leader standing by the Captain opposite of the vice commander as Magno continued, "There are many things we don't understand such as this ship and that large mech. However I am sure that we'll learn about these things a piece at a time as we continue our journey. I expect the cooperation of the entire crew in this. That is all." Magno pressed a button on her console and cut the transmission.

"Nice speech." said Jon as the Captain sighed and relaxed back into her chair. "But I'm sure you didn't bring me here to use me as the poster child for my Marines. Was there something you wanted?"

"You're very clever Lieutenant, yes I did have something to tell you." Gesturing to Meia, the captain said, "I have decided your room mate will be Meia."

"But Captain." began Meia before she was cut off by Magno.

"You two are the leaders of my fighting forces. It's in my best interests to keep you two close."

"Makes sense." said Jon. "I just got done assigning rooms to my troops and I did the same thing."

"Exactly." said BC, "The best way to ensure communication between the two groups is to keep their leaders close. Besides you can use this opportunity to bounce battle strategies off of each other. And if I'm not mistaken, Lieutenant, you've expressed an interest in our dreads, correct?"

"Actually, I had some ideas about those unused vanguards in the hangar. One of my men managed to get one working and destroyed a cube type in the hangar with it. I figure with some training I can give you a squad of van-types to supplement your dread teams, after I let my mechanic and armorer have a look at them first. Captain I have no arguments about the berthing arrangement but mine isn't the only opinion here." he said, looking to Meia for her input.

"If its the Captain's decision then I will of course go along with it." she said, making her way to the door. "As for your plan to use the van types, don't bother. We don't need your help." the door shut behind her with a loud click.

"Stubborn girl." said Magno as she shook her head. "I'm sorry to do this to you Lieutenant but maybe you can help break her of this obsession she has with doing everything by herself."

"Honestly captain, I'm still trying to break her of all the anti-male propaganda that Mejare has been feeding you women." said the Marine. "And with her not letting anyone get close to her, that's proving to be one tough nut to crack."

"I hope you succeed Lieutenant." said the Captain. "You two would make for a very cute couple."

Stunned, Jon had to struggle to find his voice again. "I'm not sure I understand you Captain." he bluffed.

"I've been around for a very long time young man, she may hate all men but she respects your knowledge of combat. I'm sure there are many things she can learn from you. Honestly Lieutenant, I'd say you've got the best chance of anyone on this ship of getting into that girls heart. And I've seen the way you look at her."

At that moment the door to the bridge slid open again as the Tarak doctor and Ezra walked in.

"I'm sorry for worrying everyone before, I'll be returning to my station." Ezra said.

The vice commander stepped forward. "Have you determined the cause of the fever yet?"

Ezra stuttered a bit as she began, "Uh, well, the reason is..."

"There appears to be a parasitic organism feeding on my patients body." Duelo finished bluntly.

Disgusted faces were shared around the bridge. Before ezra could correct the doctor.

"No. You're wrong." she told the doctor.

"Hmm?"

"Well, you see. It looks like I'll be having a baby!" Ezra blurted out with a bright blush covering her face.

The Marine was the first to recover. "Congratulations."

Having returned to the bridge when she heard about Ezra's release from the infirmary, Meia gave him a strange look as the bridge bunnies crowded around the expectant mother.

"Ezra when in the world did you become a fahma?" asked Belvedere.

"So who's the ohma?" asked Amarone.

"But I thought babies were made in a factory?" said Bart, joining the conversation.

"A factory?" asked Jon, thoroughly confused. "Alright, someone's going to have to explain to me how men and women have been procreating for the last hundred years."

"You mean you weren't born in a factory?" asked Meia, nothing this man said matched up to what she had been taught.

"Hell to the no. My mother, a woman, gave birth to me."

Meia was shocked, Bart looked flabbergasted, but Duelo seemed curious.

"Now that you mention it I have heard the rumor that women reproduce internally."

Ezra nodded at the doctor confirming what he said and turned back to the Captain. "Captain, please forgive me. I'm sorry, I was going to tell you once we finished the raid on the men before."

Magno just smiled, "There's nothing to apologize for Ezra, I hope you have a healthy baby."

"Jeeze Ezra, why didn't you tell us anything?" asked Belvedere.

"C'mon." said Amarone, bouncing with excitement. "Tell us, who's the ohma?"

"What is that exactly." asked Duelo.

"The ohma donates the egg and the fahma nurtures it in her womb." the girls explained. "Don't you know anything?"

"This is the first I've heard of it." admitted the doctor.

"Doc if you think that's strange you'll flip when you hear how I was created." added the Marine.

"We certainly have our share of things to be surprised about around here don't we BC?" said the Captain.

"Uhh, yes. Certainly Captain." she answered.

"The whole crew had better work as hard as it can to care and set an example for the new life that will be joining us."

"Right, it appears this is going to be a long trip." said BC turning to look out of the giant window into the ether.

'You said a mouthful.' thought Jon as he left the bridge to settle his gear into his room. As he walked he wondered wether or not he should sleep with a gun under his pillow. He though of his assigned roommate and he wondered if the gun would be enough.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hey jura?" said Barnette.

"Yeah?"

"When do you think someone's going to let us out of here?"

"Someone help us." Jura whined pathetically.

Suddenly there was a sound of tearing metal as a hole opened up in the wall. Dozer stuck his head in the whole and asked, "Did some beautiful ladies ask for a rescue?"

His answer was the click of a glock's hammer being pulled back.

Pulling his head back from the gap he said to his companion, "Clip, I think someone in there wants to talk to you."