Sparks and twisting metal generally heralded something dangerous. One of the technical crew saw the signs and yelled "WATCH OUT!!!" to her colleagues currently doing a routine maintenance check on Barnette Orangello's Dread fighter.
The girls were startled by the scream and looked behind them. The Hangar's wall near the fighter they were working on had been breached by a major eruption of Paksis crystal. The pulsating blue energy matrix was pouring out of these cracks and several strands were already attaching themselves to Barnette's machine. From there, it spread to engulf it into a cocoon-like structure.
Fortunately, no one was caught in it, thanks to the first technician's timely warning. They watched helplessly (and with a little wonder as well) as the Paksis finished 'swallowing' the Dread. Once it was done, it stopped expanding.
The technicians got a closer look. The crystal cocoon was pulsating almost like a human heart. And they could swear from what they saw of the fighter's silhouette in there that Barnette's Dread was... starting to change. They recalled memories of the assault on the Ikazuchi and what happened to Dita, Meia and Jura's Dreads when the two ships merged into the Nirvana's current form. Somehow, months later, the same thing was now happening to Barnette's Dread!
"Call the chief! She has to see this! And someone should tell the captain and Barnette!"
*****
The prime interested party in this new development, namely Barnette herself, was shakily standing up from the floor of her cabin. She didn't know what just came over her. She had been cleaning one of the guns from her collection when IT had hit her, driving her to squirm impotently on the ground for several minutes (She wasn't sure of the duration as Time had lost all meaning back then).
Not that it had been unpleasant, quite the contrary. The rush of sensations had been overpowering, to say the least. Such mind-boggling pleasure... She felt strangely excited just to think back to the experience. It had been like someone had made hot and passionate love to her but at the same time, it had been different. She loathed to admit it but Jura had never made her feel such pleasure.
Well, perhaps she had come close with that little trick the last time.
"...arnette! Come in, Barnette! Please respond!" Her train of thoughts was broken by the voice on the ship's intercom. Cursing her luck, she went to answer the call.
"Barnette here. What's the problem?"
"You'd better get to the hangar as soon as possible. Something happened to your Dread!"
"Damn, I'm going..." There was a pause "Give me a few minutes and I'll be there..." As soon as her legs weren't feeling like wet spaghetti and she changed her underwear and clothes, she privately thought.
*****
The consciousness of the Paksis smiled in its ethereal and non-human way. The link had been extended to include another. For the sake of fairness, it had decided to grant the same advantages the first three had been granted, hence the fourth modified Dread and VanDread form on the way. The harvesters were always coming with new tricks and war machines so maybe this would balance things a little.
Still, this event was dangerous for the Nirvana and its crew. The Paksis was severely draining itself to transform Barnette's Dread, leaving the ship's energy source weakened. The blue paksis hoped the Enemy would leave them alone until its work was finished...
See other episodes by Jamil Nate
(Posted Wed, 23 Jul 2003 22:52)
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