Chapter 8

Eddy spun his Galliard around with a curse. Echo'd simply up and vanished off his radar, and nobody could find her.

"Double D? Kevin? Ed? Any of you see her? She couldn't have just.-" he cut off at the sight of the white, blue and pink jet flashing past a nearby asteroid. He glanced down at his radar, looked out again, and swore more vehemently than before.

"Mind the language, hotshot." Maiyumi Kamijo's voice filtered through the comm channel. Kevin chuckled.

"Can it, shovel chin. She's got Active Stealth on that thing." He glanced among the rocks again.

"Shouldn't have used stock models." Kevin cut in, his Drachen coming to a standstill nearby. Eddy only nodded.

"-Have a visual! She's all over-" Edd's pickup faded in and out. "-She got Ed! Damage is minimal, repeat-" Double D's pickup dissolved into static with Kevin's growl replacing it. Both mechs rocket to Double D's position, only to arrive an instant too late. Both swerved to avoid autocannon fire.

"Gotta do better than that, you slackers!" Echo's taunting came through loud and clear. Eddy had an instant to realize she'd slipped in behind him, and groaned as the pod's screens went dead. He pulled the headset off as the familiar "You have been annihilated!" scrolled over the main multi-function display.

"Game, set, match. Hatches are open, folks." Maiyumi sounded vaguely amused, and Eddy grunted as he hauled himself out of the Custom Mekton pod.

"I thought you said you didn't have much pilot training!" Kevin shouted across the floor of the arcade.

"I don't!" Echo replied tersely, adding "It's probably just the stealth system that makes it seem like that."

"Even so, that was an impressive display." Double D strode over and leaned against the wall with a sigh. "Taking all four of us out in so short a span..." Echo only shrugged, and Ami laughed as she descended the nearby stairs into the CM arena floor.

"So long as she doesn't encode any illegal weaponry." Maiyumi muttered from behind Ami, and Kevin rounded on her.

"It was only the one time, and only 'cause I'd heard of that Reynold creep's habit of cheating," Kevin snapped, bringing his hands up in a defensive gesture. Maiyumi sighed and shook her head.

"Don't remind me. Ugh, I'll never pull another all-nighter like that again." Maiyumi's right hand tugged through her neon pink bangs an a moment of frustration.

Echo leaned on Edd, who visibly began to shudder. "Huh? What're you talking about?" She asked, looking up at Double D for a long moment.

Double D, Ed, Eddy, Kevin and Maiyumi all connected with a single glance, each mentally trying to figure out how to explain the entire semi-convoluted series of events.

"In a nutshell-" Kevin started, but Ed interrupted.

"Kevin once used an illegal nuclear cannon during a tournament and reduced the defending cheaters to atomic gravy. Yum." Ed smiled dreamily. Kevin sighed again- a habit he'd gotten into lately- and frowned.

"It was a little more complicated than that, but that was what started it." Kevin leaned against the wall next to Edd. Echo frowned, and looked at Kevin over Edd's torso.

"Complicated how?"

Maiyumi piped up. "One of the opposing players had a history of cheating. Kind of guy who always has to be on top. Anywho, he'd had a friend slip in and hack the mainframe. Managed to do it without my knowing, or dad knowing."

"Figured it out when we started getting picked off in one shot by those cannons." Eddy muttered bitterly, and Kevin snorted in agreement.

"Yeah. So I broke out the Red Riot and vaporized the hilltop. And then I convinced the judges to give us a day to prove the other team had been cheating first." Kevin sucked in a breath, and looked at the far end of the arcade.

Ami rested her elbows on Eddy's head. The shorter boy frowned grumpily and muttered something unintelligible under his breath. "So...what happened?" she asked after a moment, and Echo nodded.

"I recruited another person from yet another team- her name was Maki, I think- and two friends of mine from the Technical Institute." Double D said with a frown.

"So the lot of us-" Maiyumi made a gesture indicating the three Eds, Kevin and herself- "go tromping down to the Peach Creek Technical Institutes's prestigious north hall and spend the next seventeen hours going over the code line-by-line. Finally found what we needed around seven-thirty the next morning."

"Must've taken a lot." Jimmy's voice piped down to them with a slightly annoyed tone. Maiyumi giggled at that statement.

"Hey, Jim. Yeah, it did. You got my brownies?" Maiyumi held her hand out, and Jimmy granny tossed a small Seran-Wrapped package that Maiyumi caught with one hand. "So, what did it take?" Ami asked an instant later, caught up in the tale.

Maiyumi thoughtfully chewed a bite of brownie, then swallowed it. "The entire North Hall computer lab, one of the main network nodes, two of the redundant ones, and a ton of patience."

"And six liters of Mountain Dew, two pots of coffee, two pizzas- delivered, of course- Chinese take out from down the street, and four jawbreakers apiece." Double D added in, with a grimace. "Ugh, messy messy messy..."

Jimmy, Ami and Echo all winced. "We're waiting," Jimmy cut in when his stomach stopped playing roller coaster at the thought of the Long Night.

"All right, Curly-Q, keep your pants on." Eddy stomped up the steps, the rest of the kids following. Maiyumi shook her head and walked back to the arcade's front desk.

---

"All right, I call this meeting of the Peach Creek Defense Force to order!" Double D said proudly amidst the smack noise of a bunch of kids slurping down brownies and Ed's humming Breaking Benjamin's 'Firefly' in the back of an abandoned van.

Johnny 2x4 chuckled. "So, what's the news, Double D?" Double D sighed and sipped at a thermos lid filled with milk.

"Well, sleeping arrangements for one thing." Double D tapped the thermos lid in a steady rhythm. "Eddy doesn't have room to house all three girls, and we can't leave Echo or Lyric at the Drome."

Lyric hummed in sync with Ed at the mention of her name, leading her older sister Echo to roll her eyes in exasperation.

"Lyric can stay with me!" Sarah shouted happily. "Double D, can I stay with you?" Ed asked around a mouthful of brownie, causing Edd grimace.

"Well, I don't think-"

"I'll roll out the cot and spare TV set." Kevin said, his head rising a bit. "Nothin' in my family's basement anyways." Ed smiled and promptly gave Kevin a hug that would have been fatal if it had been held a few seconds longer.

"Can I stay, Edd?" Echo asked, looking at Double D with a pleading expression while Kevin coughed and gasped up lungfulls of air behind her.

"I...guess so..." Double D said. Eddy frowned at the hesitancy in his friend's voice. "Nervous?" Eddy asked with a smartaleck grin. Double D frowned at him, and Eddy chuckled.

"Don't toy with me, Eddy-" Double D started, and Ami cleared her throat.

"Boys."

Double D set his cup down in the bright orange shag of the van's floor. "Second item concerns the Polaris." Double D tapped the flat screen computer that had been installed in the van.

"With the recovery of the Progenitor starship- Ed's ever-so-thoughtfully taken to calling it the Macross- we've been able to upgrade the Polaris substantially."

The screen flickered to a side-by-side comparison of the two starships. The Macross was over twice the length of the Polaris. "Why not simply move to the Macross?" Nazz asked, and it was Johnny who piped up. "'Cause it has no engines! Right, Plank?"

Ami laughed, and nodded. "They're right. The Macross' main engines were pretty much slag when it reached the Drome. It can't move at sublight speed. Heck, right now it can't even break lunar gravity."

Edd nodded. "Anyways, with Echo's help, Ami and I have adapted several systems to the Polaris."

The screen flickered again, showing a 'detail' view of the Polaris. "The addition of a small shield system should allow us to take the Polaris into combat without worry- barring, of course, failure of said shields."

Kevin nodded. "What else?"

"A new main gun- Echo said that it's called a 'Reflex Particle Cannon'. At least, it's a small one, but we can now effectively engage Hive capital ships. We also have an FTL comm array and a new, more efficient FTL drive."

Lyric and Sarah leaned in over the screen, and Jimmy leaned over them. Echo leaned them all back and sighed. "Told you we should've just-" she fiddled and hooked something in, and suddenly an image appeared in the air over the screen.

"Double D calls it a fold drive." Echo said leaning back.

"Anyways, it's faster than the hyperdrive." Double D concluded.

"So, why'd we come back here?" Sarah demanded. Rolf smiled sagely.

"So we're not missed."

Double D nodded. "And because the girls need to buy new clothes."

Nazz smirked. "Fine. But someone else has to go with us. Any ideas?"

Edd sighed and dug in his pockets. He came out with a small black bag. "All right, you all know the drill by now."

Ami, Echo and Lyric all arched eyebrows at Nazz. Nazz shrugged. "Red stone looses."

The four sat in silence as the remaining girl and the boys all picked a stone. "Three." Eddy said with finality. The kids all opened their palms.

"Oh, dear." Double D gulped. The sole red stone in the bag sat squarely in his palm.

"Ha! Guess you're stuck on shopping duty, sockhead!" Eddy crowed victoriously. Kevin's hand came up and smacked Eddy back into a seated position before the shorter boy had a chance to start his patented 'victory dance'.

"Seriously, Eddy, that's not cool." Nazz shook a solitary finger at Eddy. Eddy raised his hands in a defensive gesture.

"We may as well get going." Double D piped up before another argument could break out. Nazz nodded in agreement.

Edd sat slouched in a chair. Nazz was helping the girls try on outfits, and he had no intention of interfering in that process. And (More importantly) modesty forbid him to enter the girl's changing rooms.

His head raised at the sudden, semi-insistant poking. "You awake, Double D?" His eyes met Echo's bright blue eyes.

"I'm awake, yes." Edd glanced Echo over. She'd finally settled on a pair of blue jeans, an off-red t-shirt, and a sports jacket.

"So, tell me." Her hands produced a black beanie with a yellow stripe along the brim. She placed it loosely on her head. "Whatdya think?"

Double D buried his face in his hands. "Echo...please..."

"It doesn't look as cute on me as it does on you, I'm sure, but still, its nice, right?" Echo twirled around, and Nazz laughed. Edd found himself wishing he could die of emberassment right there in the store.

"Can we go home now?"

Edd's question was answered by Lyric's setting her stuffed Ryo-Ohki ('Her cabbit', he corrected mentally) on his head. Echo stifled a giggle, and Double D tried again to will his heart to stop and spare him any further emberassment.

"All right you two, let's go. Poor Edd won't survive this much longer," Nazz quipped. Lyric hopped off her chair, the lower half of her face obscured by the plush cabbit's head. Double D sighed and stood up.

"Um...Double D?" Echo's query was soft, soft enough that Double D almost missed it.

"Hm?"

"Um...I kinda...found some stuff that I thought'd look nice on you..." Echo was blushing furiously. Edd blinked, not entirely sure what to say. He appreciated the sentiment, but still...

"I...suppose it wouldn't do any harm to try them on." Edd capitulated softly, and Echo smiled, dashing back into the changing room. She emerged with a vest and a pair of sunglasses.

"Oh, dear."

Eddy blinked. It wasn't every day that Double D sported something new. The vest was nice, he had to admit. A dark sea blue which Echo claimed set off Edd's brown eyes (A comment which had Double D's face turning the same shade of red as his regular shirt).

The sunglasses, though. Small, amber colored lenses hung at the tip of Double D's nose. It was a taste of flavor on Echo's part that nobody had considered, but truly enjoyed.

"Something wrong, Eddy?" Edd asked his stocky friend, who looked up. "Huh? Oh, no..."

Eddy sipped at the glass of juice that Rolf had thoughtfully provided. While the foreign boy's choice of meals was sometimes almost frightening, his skills at juicing fruit was beyond compare.

And Double D had helped to pasturize it so nobody would get sick, so what the hey.

The short boy's gaze traveled over the whole of Jonny 2x4's back yard, looking over everything. Rolf was just putting sausages on the grill with a smile, Jonny and Nazz were talking in one corner, Kevin was being chased around by Lyric and Sara (Heaven only knew why), Ed was watching clouds with Ami...And he, Echo and Double D were leaning up against the house.

Edd sagged nervously until Echo wandered over to help Rolf with the sausages, and Eddy chuckled. "You know, Double D, she's sweet on you."

"Ed-dy!" Double D gasped harshly, and Eddy laughed.

"Man, Sockhead! Lighten up! I think you two'd make a wonderful couple." Eddy sucked in a deep breath, trying to stifle his laughter.

"Oh, I suppose you're right...But still, I mean...why me? What could anybody possibly see in me?" Double D stared into his juice, and Eddy patted his shoulder in a jesture that struck the capped boy as both comforting and sarcastic.

"Must be somethin' special, Double D. I mean, there are worse choices out there, right?" Eddy's tone was lighthearted, but Edd caught just how serious Eddy was being. He supressed an instinctive shudder at the thought of Marie Kanker.

"True. I guess we'll see, right?" Double D managed a shaky grin as Echo strode back over.

"Yeah...speaking of worse choices, has anyone seen those three lately?" Eddy asked arching an eyebrow.

"Not since Principal Antonucci caught them harassing us." Double D pointed out. Eddy winced in memory. It took precious little to strain the temper of the school's principal, but nobody could remember seeing him that angry in a long time. Inside of an hour of being caught, the Kankers had been ushered into the school's administrative offices, interrogated, expelled and arrested for stalking and harassment. Then the court system had sentenced them to mandatory therapy and over a year's community service.

Double D felt a little guilty about it- the girls hadn't actually meant any harm-but he was still dealing with the memories the Kankers had left.

"Hrm."

"Towers. Awaken."

"You called, my master?"

"Your sarcasm is uncalled for."

An image of an arrogant smirk appeared in Bowman's mind. "Apologies, sir. What do you ask of your horsemen?"

"I ask for you to dispose of those who oppose us."

"Oppose us? Your need of us as a vanguard hasn't been needed in centuries. Who are they that they need a more...personal touch?"

"They posses Protoculture technology."

"The technology of the olden ones? How is this possible?"

"A cruiser, fleeing the massacre at the start of this. Destroy them, and the technology they posses, and I will give you this pathetic planet you once called home."

Another image, of moonlight glowing off a knife blade. "I ask for nothing more than blood to fulfill my thirst."

"Then go."

"Death rides this night, Bowman, to ply his trade."

Hive Mothership Saractis

Inside Mars Orbit

"Awaken, my riders!"

A hatch on the Saractis' outer skin wheeled open. Four mechs stood within, the four Riders of the Hive fleet.

The most massive mek, a black and silver affair stepped out to the airless void. "Come, my riders, my fellow horsemen!"

The other mechs followed suit, blasting toward Earth.

"The four demons appear again, tonight!"

Time turns, ignoring such things as the Hive's vanguard launching. It ignores the children of a particular cul-de-sac in the suburb of Peach Creek who sleep in their own beds for another night, ignores the oncoming results of a war that must be won.

It also ignores small surprises, crossing the void at speeds that Earth's physicists could only sputter in surprise at.

"Mmmmmnnnnnhhhh...What?" Ami rolled over and glared through slitted eyes up at the Eds.

"Message for you, on the Polaris." Ed said happily, and Ami bolted upright, hair and pajamas in serious disarray.

"A message? From who?"

"You'd probably be better off watching for yourself." Eddy admitted nervously, and wandered out the door.