Mobile Suit Gundam SEED - Pain

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Phase 06 - A Place to Be Free

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The trip to the hangar was short and the three pilots, clad in green ZAFT flight suits borrowed from a forgotten locker, were silent. It mattered little what they said or didn’t say anyway— the rumble of mobile suits outside the colony walls and the screams of panicking civilians would have drowned out anything they said. They burst into the hangar just as a towering Alliance 105 Dagger, sporting a long black bazooka, did likewise.

“They’re gonna get our machines!” Clotho exclaimed, pointing at the mobile suit. The Dagger motioned to an ally landing in the bay, pointing to the three silent Gundams. Orga took off at a sprint, vaulting off the railing and diving into the Calamity’s cockpit, slamming the hatch shut and bringing the Gundam online just as the first Dagger opened fire with its bazooka.

The Calamity Gundam emerged from the smoke, staring down the two mobile suits, and Orga silently took stock of his foes. One was armed only with a bazooka and a beam rifle, the other sporting a dull green Launcher Striker pack. The Launcher Dagger opened fire with the shoulder-mounted Gatling gun, but the Calamity’s Trans Phase armor came to life, sending bullets flying across the hangar.

“Would you two hurry up?!” Orga snapped, glowering down at Shani and Clotho as they took cover on the gantry. “We don’t have all day here!”

The Calamity stomped forward, two CIWS guns in its head blazing to life in response. The two Daggers took cover behind their shields, pulling back, while Shani and Clotho leapt into their own machines. The Forbidden hefted its scythe, the Raider lifted its hammer, and the three Gundams stalked to the end of the hangar, looking out into the darkness of space.

“There they are!” Clotho snarled, as the Raider pointed up ahead. A black Archangel-class warship, the Mephistopheles, hung in space, weapons ready.

“Wait!” Orga shouted. “They only brought two suits?!”

The two Daggers opened fire, pounding a bazooka shell into the Calamity’s face. Orga grunted angrily and returned fire with his beam cannons, but the Daggers darted aside expertly. More beams lanced down from above— the three Gundams split up, and Shani and Clotho found themselves face to face with four more Daggers, two armed with Aile Striker packs, one armed with a Sword Striker, and one without any Striker pack.

“Where did they come from?!” Clotho growled, transforming the Raider into its mobile armor mode and blasting off over the Daggers’ heads. The two Aile Daggers arced up to follow. Shani armed his scythe, the beam blade flashing to life, and charged at the two remaining Daggers.

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Amy arrived to find the docking control room in a panic. Numerous screens were emblazoned with the terrifying image of the Mephistopheles, but even more screens were tracking the developing battle outside the colony walls. Three mobile suits were taking on the Alliance’s six— but what was the ship waiting for?

“What’s going on?!” Amy demanded of an operator, staring up anxiously at one of the screens as the blue Gundam exchanged fire with two Daggers. “Who are those guys?!”

“They’re the units that showed up here the other day,” the operator explained. He punched a few keys on an adjacent keyboard, and a smaller inset appeared of three photos. Amy blinked in surprise.

“Them?!” she exclaimed. “They’re the ones out there fighting?!”

“Those are the machines those boys came here in,” the operator answered. “Did you send them?”

“N-no!” Amy shook her head, looking back at the screens. “They said they wanted a home…”

“Well, looks like they’re willing to fight for it,” the operator said, rubbing his temples. “What do we do?”

Amy watched the blue Gundam dodge a bazooka shell and a shimmering red beam blast. “Contact the Prime Minister,” she said. “He’ll want to know what’s going on.”

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“I expected this level of resistance,” Stone snorted derisively, arms crossed, watching the battle from the Mephistopheles’ bridge. “At least from them.”

“What shall we do, sir?” Lee asked.

“Remain in position and provide support if necessary,” Stone said. “Open fire if they get too close. If we attack the colony, they may respond with more forces, and we’re not equipped to handle that.”

Lee looked skeptically at the battle. “What if the prototypes get past those mobile suits?”

Stone smiled. “They won’t,” he said. “Those men survived Jachin Due, piloting Mobius units in the thick of the fighting. If they don’t have skill, they have dumb luck, and either way, I intend to capitalize on it.”

Lee sat back, wondering what kind of military strategist relied on dumb luck. On the other hand, no mere mortal could survive Jachin Due in a Mobius.

He crossed his arms. Surely this would be an interesting fight.

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A blaze of bullets rattled against the Calamity’s frame as Orga backpedaled against the two voracious Daggers. The Launcher Dagger fired off a pair of missiles from its combo weapons pod— Orga picked them out of the inky sky with a CIWS burst. They were only Daggers, but the pilots knew what they were doing.

The Dagger with the bazooka lunged up over its companion, squeezing off another shell. Orga yelped in surprise as the shell pounded into the Calamity’s face, knocking it back.

“Dammit!” he snarled. “I could handle this no problem! What’s wrong with me?!”

The Calamity returned fire with its beam cannons, but the Daggers deflected the shots effortlessly with their shields, plowing through the barrage. The Launcher Dagger leveled off its Agni cannon and fired again— Orga countered with a desperate blast from his Scylla cannon, and the two pulsing red beams slammed together, sending all three machines sailing apart with a forceful blast of energy.

“Are they that good or am I that bad?!” Orga growled, firing his ram cannons at the Launcher Dagger. It expertly dodged the shots and returned fire with a blaze of Vulcan fire, sending bullets flying off the Calamity’s shield.

The second Dagger rushed in from the right, beam saber extended. Orga backed away, firing a bazooka shot towards the attacker, but it easily arced over his shot and came storming down, saber extended, and brought it down through the Calamity‘s bazooka.

“I can do that too, jackass!” Orga screamed. A lone beam saber appeared in the Calamity’s hand as it abandoned the sparking bazooka, and with a shout, Orga sliced the Dagger’s bazooka in two as well. It drew back in surprise, drawing a beam rifle and firing a handful of defensive shots to cover its retreat.

The Launcher Dagger fired again— Orga skirted the shot and charged towards the Launcher Dagger, beam saber in hand. It tried to draw a saber of its own, but with a scream, Orga roared forward and severed the Dagger’s right arm at the elbow. It backed away before he could follow up.

“I can do this,” Orga hissed, glowering at the Daggers as they pulled back, watching him carefully. “You won’t make me go back!”

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The Raider screamed across the battlefield in mobile armor mode, with two Aile 105 Daggers in hot pursuit, beam rifles blazing. Clotho glared back at them as he spiraled past their shots.

“Damn you!” he shouted. “Get the hell off my back!”

The Raider abruptly stopped and fired the brakes, firing its Ahura Mazda cannons horizontally as the Aile Daggers overshot it. The two Daggers ducked aside, opening fire with their beam rifles, forcing the Raider back on the defensive. Clotho fired back with his beam cannons, but the Aile Daggers darted around his shots.

“Come on!” Clotho groaned. “You can’t be that fast!”

One of the Daggers charged forward, beam rifle held aloft. Clotho narrowed his eyes at the attacker.

“I don’t think so, asshole!”

The Raider surged forward, kicking the Dagger in the chest, and with a crash, Clotho brought his hammer down on the Dagger’s shield, smashing its left arm. The Dagger lurched aside, sparks flying from the stub of its left shoulder, as the second Dagger opened fire to cover its comrade’s retreat.

“You too, huh?!” he screamed, whirling around and bringing his hammer to bear on the second Dagger. A beam shot from the first Dagger sliced out of nowhere, piercing the hammer and blowing it apart in a blaze of fire. “Goddammit!”

The first Dagger lunged in close, beam saber raised— Clotho backed away, abandoning the hammer’s remains and firing back with his beam cannons.

“I still have a beam saber around here somewhere!” he yelled. “It’s not over yet, asshole!”

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Beams went flying as Shani pulled back behind the protection of his Geschmeidig Panzer armor. Holding his scythe aloft, he charged forward at his foes, a basic 105 Dagger toting a bazooka and a Sword 105 Dagger. Shani narrowed his eyes at an incoming bazooka shell, cutting it out of the sky with his scythe, and charging forward, letting the Geschmeidig Panzer push his enemies’ beams aside like water.

The two mobile suits darted apart at the last second. Shani glared over his shoulder at them, firing a plasma induction shot that lazily arced around and clipped the basic Dagger’s shoulder, knocking its bazooka out of its hand. He whirled around and followed up with a pair of railgun shells aimed at the Sword Dagger, but it expertly eluded his shots, hurling its beam boomerang down at him. Shani knocked it aside with his scythe—

…only to blink in disbelief as the basic Dagger seized it on the rebound and hurled it back at him, ripping a smoldering gash across the smooth green surface of the Forbidden’s Geschmeidig Panzer.

“You,” he snarled, charging towards the Dagger. It backed away, and the Sword Dagger lunged into the Forbidden’s path, blocking the scythe with its anti-ship sword. Shani narrowed his eyes at the enemy and surged forward, putting the Forbidden’s engines behind his attack. The Sword Dagger held fast. Shani glanced to the side— the basic Dagger leveled of its beam rifle for a killing shot.

Immediately, the Forbidden kicked off the Sword Dagger’s torso, deploying the scarred Geschmeidig Panzer. The Dagger’s rifle shot went sailing off the armor and tore through the Sword Dagger’s right leg, severing it at the knee.

Shani allowed himself a thin smile, backing away as the wounded Dagger reeled and looked at its amputated leg.

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The Prime Minister of Avalon, Maddack Hanes, was a towering figure in a rumpled dark suit. The control room went silent as he arrived, taking in everything, silent and unreadable.

He glanced over at Amy. “Those three mobile suits,” he said, his voice low and grim. “Who sent them?”

Amy looked nervously from the screen to the Prime Minister. “They went on their own, sir,” she explained. “There was no authorization that I was aware of.”

Hanes crossed his arms, regarding the three Gundams carefully. “And they’re what that ship came for,” he said. “If they’re the fugitives the Atlantic Federation wants, then this is merely a case of resisting arrest that is right next door to us.”

Amy returned her unconvinced gaze to the screens. “…but will they blame us for it?”

“Of course they will,” Hanes snorted. “They’re the Atlantic Federation. They’re bullies.” He shook his head. “But that will be my problem, I guess. Keep me informed of what goes on out there.”

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A beam rife blast came lancing too close to the Raider’s shoulder, tearing a scar into the black armor. Clotho cursed under his breath, pulling back and returning fire with his beam cannons. The Daggers darted apart, with the damaged one sweeping in with a rifle shot that clipped the Raider’s left leg.

“I’m not a pushover, dammit!” Clotho screamed, rocketing over the next shot and returning fire. The second Aile Dagger charged from behind— Clotho whirled around to face it, but the damaged Dagger was instantly upon him, and with a crash, blew off the Raider’s right leg. “Shit!”

Clotho fired the Raider’s shoulder thrusters, pushing both Daggers back, and charged towards the undamaged one.

“You assholes can’t bring me down!” he shrieked. “I won’t let you!”

The Raider slammed into the Dagger, knocking its beam rifle aside. With a flash, a beam saber appeared in the Raider’s hand, and Clotho sank it into the Dagger’s Aile Striker pack, and then knocked it away with a devastating kick. The resulting blast blew the Dagger’s right arm off at the shoulder.

The second Dagger, still armed with an Aile Striker, came sailing in with its rifle. Clotho whirled around, cleaving its rifle in two, but the undeterred Dagger drew a saber, bringing it down on Clotho’s saber.

The first Dagger, still smoking from its lost Striker pack, lunged up behind Clotho. He raised his left arm to fire the beam cannons— an instant later, the Dagger plunged its saber down into the Raider’s left arm, blowing it apart.

“Dammit!” Clotho shouted, taking off above them both with a halting burst of exhaust. “I can’t lose like this!”

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The Daggers shuddered as the Forbidden’s railgun shells exploded around them, but continued their attack undeterred. The Sword Dagger lunged up over Shani’s head, firing its anchor down at him— Shani cut the line with his scythe, snarling, and ducked aside as the anchor sailed past him.

The second Dagger came streaking in from behind, beam saber extended. Shani stabbed backwards with the tip of his scythe, puncturing the Dagger in the shoulder— with a scream, Shani hurled the stunned mobile suit at its comrade, and only a timely duck saved the Sword Dagger from being crushed. It charged, wielding its anti-ship sword, bringing it down with a crash on the Forbidden’s scythe. Shani glowered at the Dagger as it somersaulted over his head, and both mobile suits whirled around to face each other—

The Forbidden rocked as a bazooka shell slammed into it from behind, and Shani let out a yelp of surprise as he was thrown forward in his cockpit. The Sword Dagger came down with a powerful slash, and with a shriek of torn metal, the Forbidden’s left-hand shield and railgun went spiraling away. The Sword Dagger brought the sword down further, severing the Forbidden’s left arm at the elbow and left leg at the knee, and only a timely stab with the scythe saved Shani from further damage.

“Shit,” he growled, assessing the damage. The second Dagger lunged into his view, bazooka in hand— Shani blasted it away again with his CIWS, this time destroying it in a blaze, but the Dagger merely drew its beam rifle and opened fire again.

The Sword Dagger attacked again with its beam boomerang— Shani smacked it aside with his scythe, sending it spiraling up towards the second Dagger and ripping its beam rifle in two before the Dagger could react. The Dagger furiously abandoned its ruined weapon, drawing a beam saber instead.

Shani narrowed his eyes up at them.

“Lily told me to live,” he growled, “so you won’t stop me!”

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Another red beam went sailing by over Orga’s head as the Calamity desperately moved to dodge. The second Dagger charged in close, beam rifle in hand, opening fire. Orga wheeled around to face it, but not before the second shot blew off the Calamity’s left leg.

“Dammit!” Orga shouted. “What’s wrong with me?!”

He lined up his ram cannons and fired, but the Daggers darted apart again, returning fire. The Launcher Dagger leveled off its Agni cannon, firing it off with a stream of missiles that plowed into the Calamity’s buckling armor.

“No you don’t!” Orga cried, as the Calamity lunged out of the smoke, squeezing off a beam cannon hot that blew off the Dagger’s right shoulder, sending the combo weapons pod sailing into space. The Dagger lurched as its limb was torn free, but the second Dagger charged in to cover the first, firing a shot from its beam rifle that drilled through the Calamity’s right shoulder, blowing apart the thrusters inside. Orga cursed under his breath as the cockpit quaked, ducking to the right to avoid the Dagger’s follow-up shot and firing his Scylla cannon into the opening. The Dagger threw its shield up to defend, but the pulsing red beam pounded its way through, tearing the Dagger’s left arm off in the process.

“I can’t be losing,” Orga growled. “Not when I’m this close!”

The Calamity activated its lone beam saber again, staring down the two damaged Daggers.

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“Captain,” one of the deckhands reported nervously, “all mobile suits in battle have sustained damage. But the prototypes…”

“It’s of no concern,” Stone snapped, glowering at both the deckhand and Lee. “It’s a shame we can’t take them intact, but it’s far better to destroy them than to let ZAFT get their hands on them. Order the Dagger pilots to press onward.”

Lee glanced over at the simmering Admiral, seeing the worry in his eyes. “Sir,” he began, “at this rate we might lose our Daggers, and if Avalon sends reinforcements— ”

Stone leapt to his feet furiously. “We will destroy those prototypes at all costs!” he snarled. “The Coordinators will not get their hands on an Extended!”

Lee blinked in surprise. Extended? Here?

“Flank speed!” barked Stone. “Close in! All guns, prepare to fire! Target the prototypes!”

“But Admiral, at that range we might destroy the Daggers!” the weapons officer protested.

“Do not question me!” Stone roared, eyes flashing. “Activate the engines now!”

Lee watched uncomfortably, his command hijacked, as the Mephistopheles began to advance.

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“It’s moving!” Clotho’s voice cried. Inside the Forbidden, Shani risked a glance in the Raider’s direction, and caught the dark shape of the Mephistopheles inching forward.

“What the hell for?!” Orga exclaimed. “Are they trying to fight us too?!”

The Daggers came roaring back down towards the Forbidden, beams blazing. Shani took cover behind his remaining Geschmeidig Panzer shield, noting grimly that the blasts weren’t being deflected, but merely blocked. The shield was losing its strength— he would have to end this fight quickly.

The first Dagger lunged up over Shani’s head, beam rifle leveled off for a killing shot. Shani backed away, firing his plasma induction cannon. The Dagger skirted aside— Shani’s eyes narrowed as he saw his chance. The Forbidden lunged to its left, as Shani diverted all power in a temporary surge to the Geschmeidig Panzer. The shield returned to its full strength— Shani clenched his teeth as the beam arced closer—

With a shriek of protesting metal, the plasma beam bounced off the Geschmeidig Panzer and drilled through the Dagger’s cockpit.

Shani smirked as the Dagger exploded. His Geschmeidig Panzer was shorted out, but that was no matter— the Sword Dagger couldn’t hurt him from afar anyway.

The Sword Dagger, not to be forgotten, came streaking in, sword upraised. Shani threw his scythe up with all his strength to block the blow, following it up with a shoulder-ram assisted by his right-hand arm-mounted machinegun. The bullets shredded the Sword Dagger’s armor, but the sparking, smoking machine kept coming. Shani fired his remaining railgun once more, but the Sword Dagger cleaved through the shell with its sword and came roaring in, sword held aloft.

Shani saw it coming, his eyes flashing.

“I want to be free!”

The two machines came together with a sickening crash. The Sword Dagger cleaved deep into the Forbidden’s shoulder, tearing the scythe in two in the process— the cockpit rattled as the power disappeared. But an instant later, a surge of energy ripped through the Gundam’s circuits, and with the last of the Forbidden’s power, Shani opened fire with his machinegun, shredding the Dagger’s cockpit at point-blank range.

The Forbidden’s eyes went dark, and Shani sat back, gazing at the burning remains of his foe.

“I’m going to be free,” he said.

He opened the cockpit, donning a jetpack, and pulled himself out of his Gundam. As he drifted back towards Avalon, he paused to glance at his loyal steed, lying dead in space next to the body of its last foe.

He risked a smile and took off, back towards the colony.

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Orga cursed again as a beam rifle blast from the first Dagger clipped the Calamity’s right leg. The Gundam went spinning out of control, as Orga struggled to maintain his wits. The Launcher Dagger took aim with its Agni cannon, opening fire—

“I don’t think so!” Orga screamed, ducking aside and somersaulting over the blast. As he hung over his foe’s head, he followed up with a desperate Scylla shot— the weapon threw sparks and smoke as it fired its last shot, drilling down through the Dagger’s torso and blowing it apart.

Another beam rifle shot lanced through the darkness, clipping the Calamity’s left shoulder. This time Orga stayed in control, glowering at his remaining foe as it charged forward, beam rifle blazing. His eyes flashed as the Dagger closed in; the Calamity raised its ram cannons, but a beam tore through them, blowing the left arm apart. A pall of smoke rose between the two machines— the Dagger fired one more shot through the smoke, tearing into the Calamity’s left side— the failsafe began to kick in, shutting down systems to preserve the computer and its combat data—

Orga lunged through, screaming, and with the last of his strength, embedded the beam saber in the Dagger’s cockpit.

The Calamity went dark, thrown back as the Dagger exploded. Shrapnel tore through the mobile suit’s unprotected armor, ripping the cockpit open. Orga seized his chance as instinct overtook him, grabbing a jetpack and lunging out of the opening.

The Calamity sailed into the darkness behind him. He watched it go and smiled thinly.

At least Azrael’s power went to good use.

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The Raider spiraled down through a barrage of beams from the remaining Aile Dagger, as the second Dagger followed with its beam saber active. Clotho scanned his sensors for signs of the Calamity and Forbidden, but none were forthcoming.

“Don’t tell me you guys died!” he shouted.

A beam from the Aile Dagger blew off the Raider’s left-hand Ahura Mazda cannon, sending the crippled mobile suit into a tailspin. He whirled around just in time to stop the second Dagger’s beam saber with his own, leaving the two mobile suits pushing against each other.

Clotho saw the Aile Dagger behind him line up to finish him off.

“It won’t end this way!” he screamed. “Take this, asshole!”

A pulsing red beam lanced out of the Raider’s Zorn cannon, pounding through the Dagger’s torso and blowing it apart. Lost in the smoke, Clotho whirled around again, transforming into the Raider’s mobile armor mode and blasting out of the smoke. The Aile Dagger fired again, clipping the Raider’s engine block. The directional controls quickly shorted out, and the engine sped up— Clotho screamed as the Raider slammed into the Aile Dagger, using the last measure of control he had over the crippled machine to clamp the claw down over the Dagger’s torso and blast it apart with the Ahura Mazda cannon.

The Gundam kept going, its right wing sailing off in the explosion, tearing through space towards the Mephistopheles.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Orga’s voice shouted. “You’re gonna crash!”

“You’re alive?!” Clotho exclaimed. “The controls aren’t responding!”

“Then bail out,” Shani’s voice snapped. Clotho glanced over his shoulder, magnifying the image and finding them both in space, wearing jetpacks, watching from in front of the colony.

“I’m gonna go down fighting!” Clotho said, glaring at the Mephistopheles. It began to fire, but its Gottfrieds and Valiants were unable to catch the speeding mobile suit, and the missiles fell behind.

“You’ll die!” Orga yelled. “Wasn’t the point of leaving them and fighting them so that we wouldn’t die?!”

“They killed everyone who saved us!” Clotho shot back.

“And they died so that we could live!” Orga answered. “We came this far together, we’re all going to Jupiter together, now bail out!”

Clotho looked up ahead at the fast-approaching warship. A missile clipped the Raider’s remaining wing, but it kept going. He saw the image of the kindly Doctor McCormick again, telling them to live.

With a scowl, he seized a jetpack and leapt out of the Raider’s cockpit.

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“Admiral, all of our mobile suits have been destroyed!” the operator cried. Stone stared up in horror at the charging Raider, trailing smoke.

“All weapons, fire!” he shrieked, pointing in panic at the Raider. “SHOOT IT DOWN!”

The Mephistopheles’ guns roared, but the Raider lanced through the barrage, storming straight down towards the Mephistopheles’ left leg.

“Brace for impact!” Lee roared, lunging out of his seat and tackling the admiral to the floor. The bridge windows splintered, and were immediately covered by the hissing gray emergency shutters. The Mephistopheles rocked as the Raider plowed into the ship’s left leg, snapping it in two and shattering parts of the rest of the ship. The stricken vessel staggered back as the engines immediately disengaged, leaving the shift to drift forward lifelessly, smoke trailing from the shattered port leg.

Lee dragged himself to his feet. “Assess the damage!” he ordered, as his crew picked themselves back up. “Full retreat, now! We’re going back to Arzachel!”

Stone looked up in disbelief at the smoldering wreckage.

“Admiral,” Lee said, helping him to his feet, “we’re pulling back.”

Stone said nothing.

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The Mephistopheles struggled to turn around, its starboard engines damaged by the shockwave. Clotho watched it as he went hurtling away, towards the colony.

Arms were there to catch him, and he looked in surprise at Shani and Orga as they used their jetpacks to slow him down.

“They’re retreating,” Clotho said. “We…we chased them off!”

“Yeah,” Orga said, “they won’t be taking us back.”

A crackling voice came through inside Orga’s helmet; he glanced back at Avalon.

“Are you three alright?” a woman asked.

“Amy?” Orga exclaimed. “Uh, yeah, we’re okay…”

There was silence for a moment.

“Come on back, then,” she said. “The ship departs in twelve hours.”

Orga glanced back at Shani and Clotho. They smiled, and together, they took off, back to the colony.

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“Passengers and guests,” the gruff voice of the captain began, “welcome aboard our fine Tsiolkovsky-class transport Europa, preparing for its third voyage to the great expanse of Jupiter. Most of you are orphans and widows and veterans of the war that shook this Earth Sphere not long ago. And quite justifiably, you wish to escape a world where such a war is likely to give a repeat performance. And it is my honor, and the honor of this crew, to take you from this shattered world, to a better one.”

Sitting in one of the many cafeterias aboard the sprawling Europa, Shani glanced at Orga and Clotho. Clotho looked somehow annoyed, and Orga looked almost bored, but Shani knew better. They were eager to get this trip started— so that once and for all, the minions of Azrael would never be able to bother them again.

“Our trip will last seven years,” the captain continued, “during which you will live aboard this ship, as it will be your home. But after those seven years, we will reach the remote Literia colony orbiting Jupiter, which has agreed to take on refugees of the war. You will be welcomed there and settled there, and there, you will find peace. This is the pledge of the citizens of Literia, and this is the pledge of this crew and this vessel’s captain, to you.”

Shani almost smiled.

“Now,” the captain said, “let our journey commence! Bid farewell to this war-torn Earth Sphere! We have only a peaceful new life at Literia ahead of us!”

The ship began to rumble, as the powerful thermonuclear engines came to life.

Shani sat back, glancing at Orga and Clotho, and they all three smiled.

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End