Cosmic Crisis 3 - A New Enemy

Chapter 13 - The Flight, part one

"Trunks, did you start the space-time wave generator?"

"Hai."

"Did you check the system's operations?"

"Hai..."

Trunks awoke suddenly, beads of sweat dripping down his forehead. He looked around frantically.

"What...?" he said, realizing that he was in his room. "I...I thought..." he trailed off. Suddenly, a figure walked into his room. "Natalie!" he cried, sitting upright. She looked at him with tears in her eyes. Trunks literally jumped out of his bed and ran over to her. As he went to embrace her, his body went right through hers, as she stood in place. Trunks spun around in horror and looked at her, waving his hand through her body to no avail.

"Trunks, why did you let me die?" she said, a tear streaming down her face. Trunks' heart pounded so loudly in his chest, he was sure that she could hear it.

"N...Natalie I..." he said, choking on his own words.

"I thought you loved me." She said, looking down towards the ground where one of her tears splashed. Outside, the sky grew dark and a strong wind picked up.

"But Natalie I do." He said, taking a step toward her. He could hear his pulse in his ears, and thought his heart would burst with anguish and terror. She narrowed her eyes and glared at him, outstretching the palm of her left hand.

"NO!" she cried, her hand glowing. "You did not love me! You KILLED me!" Suddenly, two figures appeared behind her. One was Orion, and the other was hidden in the shadows. Both laughed maniacally. Suddenly, she fired an enormous wave of energy toward him. The last thing he saw was Natalie's tear streaked face; the last thing he heard was that horrible laughter. Then, everything went black.

"NOOOOOO!" he screamed.

"Trunks!" Goten cried, shaking his friend violently. Trunks was jerked back to reality and opened his eyes. He slowly focused on the figures of Goten and a very worried Reena. He was drenched in cold sweat, and his temples were throbbing. He coughed a couple of times to make sure his body was functioning properly before supporting himself on wobbly elbows. "Trunks, relax. It was just a nightmare." Trunks drew in a shaky breath.

"That was almost more than I could handle." He said, trembling.

"Trunks, are you okay?" Goten asked, concern in his eyes.

"Iie...what happened?" he questioned.

"I should be asking you the same thing." Goten said. "You had been sleeping for a couple of hours, and I was up minding the controls, when all of the sudden, Reena ran up to me and said that you were screaming."

"I had this horrible nightmare, Goten. I was at home, and Natalie tried to... no...she did kill me. And the whole time, Orion, and this shadowy figure were watching on while laughing." Trunks said. Goten looked at him with concern filled eyes.

"Trunks, maybe you should go...get a shower or something." Goten said.

"I'm just fine Goten." Trunks insisted. "It was just a dream."

"I was only trying to help." Goten said defensively. Trunks sighed and hung his head.

"Yeah, I know." He replied. "Gomen..."

"Trunks why don't you just let me take over for a while." Goten said. Trunks just nodded silently. Goten got up and left, walking up the stairs to the main floor. Reena stayed behind.

"Trunks?" she asked timidly. He looked up at her. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but what is going on with you and Ceres?" she asked. Trunks fought to control his anger and suppress his ki.

"I don't know." He said through clenched teeth. "I'm being totally honest with you, all I remember is being in the gravity room and seeing her come in, and the next thing I know, I'm standing up next to her, and Goten is yelling at me." He said.

"Well, the thing is..." she said, looking around to make sure that nobody was looking, "I believe you." Trunks appeared to be rather shocked.

"You do?" he said, making sure that he had heard correctly. She nodded.

"Yes. See, Ceres...she's one of these people that, you can't really trust one hundred percent of the time." She confessed. "And, from what Goten has told me about you, I have reason to believe that she is the one lying." Trunks looked at the floor.

"Well, Reena, I have to say it's a relief that someone is actually on my side." He said, almost in a joking manner. She smiled. "I don't want any of this to get back to Natalie, because I really don't have any idea of what she will read of the situation."

"Hopefully this will be resolved before then. We still have over one and a half days left before arrival." She informed him. Trunks brought himself to his feet and shifted his weight back and forth until he had reached comfortable stance.

"If this Ceres is such a bad person, then why do you align yourselves with her?" Trunks inquired suspiciously.

"But she isn't bad, Trunks. She has just been known to be a bit unreliable from time to time." Reena answered.

"You know about her antagonistic approach of Natalie as well, then do you?" he said, trying to clarify the situation. Reena looked down at her feet.

"I didn't know...that she had such a grudge against the princess that she would go so far as to steal her mate...which, you are, right?" she said, looking back at Trunks.

"Hai." He said, offering a quick nod. "Do you have a relationship with someone back on Vela?" Reena looked like she had been stabbed directly in her heart. Trunks began to console her, but she spoke.

"I did." She said, her voice bordering on a break down. "H...his name was Belsevi."

"Do you not want to talk about it?"

"It's okay." She said, forcing a smile amidst her trembling lips. "He was two years older than me, and a soldier in the army. His rank and class were nothing out of the ordinary. But, he was very compassionate and caring. A lot of times, the Vela-sei soldiers were very cocky, especially the higher ranking ones. But not Belsevi. I hoped to marry him one day..." she trailed off. Trunks looked at her, feeling extreme empathy for the trembling girl.

"What happened?" he asked.

"He...was killed. He was orbiting Vela, with a few of the soldiers in his division, running a test on one of the space cannons. Everything was...going fine. Then, on their last day in orbit, their ship exploded suddenly and unexplainably. Nobody knew why."

"Reena..." Trunks started.

"We later discovered that it was Hesperos himself. It was the first devastating blow of the Vela war." She finished. By now she had a tear-streaked face. Trunks had no idea of how to console her. Sure, he knew the feeling of emptiness when you lost a loved one, but he had never even attempted to live with the loss for a long period of time.

"Reena, I thought you and the other two departed before the war." He said.

"Iie. We left right as the planet was destroyed. Queen Melina...I'll never forget the look on her face." She explained. Trunks had to force her to stop; he couldn't stand the tragic account. Just then, Goten descended down the stairs and made his way over to the pair.

"Trunks...what's going on here?" he whispered to his friend. Trunks was without words. Goten looked over at Reena, all alone, trying to control her sobs, and had pity on her. Here, she was suffering greatly, while all the time trying to help another. He immediately took her in his arms and she buried her face in his chest, finally letting it all out. Trunks instinctively left the cabin area and climbed the stairs to the main floor. Sirius and Ceres were discussing their plans on the far side. They both looked up at him when he entered, and then back down at the control panel, where it appeared that they were making calculations of some kind.

"I think that we should land near the city of Hespera." Ceres suggested. "The rural area is not heavily populated and our landing would be inconspicuous."

"What about the Astra-Hoshi lab and observatory?" Sirius asked. Ceres bit her lower lip for a few minutes, and then turned to Trunks.

"Does this ship have stealth features?" she asked. Trunks walked over to the pair and looked down at the control panel.

"Isn't the course already set?" he asked.

The course is set for the planet, but we have to target its landing point." Sirius answered. "But, we need to hide this pod from the planet's targeting equipment, especially since the war is approaching and the orbital defense stations are in high guard."

"There is a way..." Trunks said. "But I'm not entirely sure. I'll try to contact kaasan." Trunks walked over to the main panel and pressed a button on a board at his eyelevel. As he pressed the button, he spoke into it. "Kaasan?" he paused. "Kaasan are you there? We need your help." After a few more seconds of silence, Trunks was about to give up, when there was a reply.

"Trunks?" she replied. There was heavy interference, but the voice was still recognizable.

"Kaasan, how do you go into stealth mode with this capsule ship?" he asked. There was another delay. Trunks figured it was a result of the enormous distance between them, and the signal had to reach the planet before it was intercepted.

"Hai...stealth ...is...the..." her signal began to break up. Trunks, in a panic, started trying to get back in touch with her.

"Kaasan? Kaasan!" he cried into the speaker. "Your signal is breaking up!" After a delay of about ten seconds, there was a reply.

"The...panel...button...important..." was all he got in reply. He tried again.

"Kaasan, try to boost the signal. I can't hear you!" there was more static from the panel, and then it went dead. Trunks slammed his fist into his other palm in frustration.

"Damnit!" he cried. He opened the compartment containing the tracking charts, and searched for some kind of instructions. Goten and Reena returned to the main floor, and it was obvious that they had been having a very emotional talk. Goten's black shirt was stained with tears, and Reena's eyes were red and tired. Ceres and Sirius looked at her, and then at Goten, and back at her again. They then exchanged glances before going back to work.

"I may be able to figure out he system configurations." Ceres said, stepping closer to Trunks...too close. He moved away instinctively. She glances at him sideways and then turned back to the panel. She ran her fingers lightly over the vast keyboard as her brain contemplated the solution. Still not finding the resolution she was looking for, she got down on her knees and opened up the bottom panel to display a wide array of wires every shade of the rainbow. She ran her fingers down the windows, trying to figure out what each set did and where their power source directed them. Trunks looked down at her and clenched his teeth in anger. He was angry with her for spreading the lie. He resisted the urge to yell at her right then and there. Finally, she broke his concentration with an exclamation. "I think I found it!" she declared happily. She traced the wire back to its initial button and shut the panel. She then got back onto her feet and placed her hand over a bluish purple button.

"Is that the one?" Sirius asked.

"Iie. It's a series of buttons. But I think I've got it down." She explained. She then punched the buttons on the panel in a blur, her fingers darting back and forth in a fury. Finally, she pressed the final command, and the lights dimmed ever so slightly, and there was a flash of light outside, which went dim, and a low, steady hum to add to the sound of the engine and time generator. She then turned around happily and beamed with pride. Even Trunks had to admit that he was quite impressed with he skills.

"Great work, Ceres." Trunks said, however not to empathetically. She looked at him and blushed nonetheless.

"Well, that generates the stealth forcefield around the ship. It absorbs all radar beams to prevent them from bouncing off and revealing our location." She explained.

"But what about visuals? When we get close, won't they be able to see us?" Goten asked, still be Reena's side.

"I thought about that." Ceres said. "We'll just have to worry about that when the time arrives."

"But what can we do? The defense system is very strict." Reena said, worry apparent on her face. "They will demand identification, and if they don't recognize us, they will send us away. If we don't, they'll shoot us down." Ceres was deep in thought.

"I have an idea." She said. Everyone looked at her. "Sirius, Reena...us three still have our identification codes in the breastplate of our armor." Trunks and Goten looked at their armor, much to the embarrassment of Ceres and Reena.

"You mean, it's in that symbol there?" Goten asked, pointing to Sirius' armor. He nodded.

"Hai...they contain our personal identification code. Every soldier on Vela-sei has one." He replied. "Does your computer have any type of input device?" Trunks nodded and pointed to the control panel on the opposite side of the main generator from where they were all standing. Sirius walked over and inspected it. It was a small sheet of glass with resided over some kind of scanner. He then looked up at Reena and Ceres.

"Did you find anything?" Reena asked.

"You two will have to take off your armor in order for us to scan the code into the computer." He said. They all exchanged glances before slipping out of the protective shell. Underneath, they all wore slim-fitting bodysuits, almost identical to the ones that Vegeta wore, with the exception that theirs were black instead of navy blue. Sirius had a tank top like suit on, which extended down his legs and into his boots. Reena and Ceres had long sleeves, which disappeared into their gloves. All three of then walked over to the scanner and held their armor over top of it, making sure that the sensory device could pick up the codes in the breastplates.

"Your armor is very similar to that of the Saiya-jin armor." Trunks remarked. Goten nodded, because, indeed it was. The only few discrepancies were that their gloves and boots were made of a hard, metal-like substance instead of a softer, more flexible material. They also didn't have shoulder guards like the more primitive Saiya-jin armor.

"Hai, it is. The models are very similar, but our design is more sleek, and has more capabilities." Ceres said.

"What do you mean, 'capabilities'?" Goten said doubtfully.

"Well, for one, we install communication devices in ours, as well as the identification microchips we're scanning now." She said. Goten shrugged his shoulders.

"That is all way over my head." He affirmed. He then removed himself from the conversation and walked down to the cabin area again. Reena started to follow, but declined. The three Sidra-jins scanned their codes into the computer.

"Now when we come within range of Vela-sei, we can just send our codes through the network." Sirius said. "And, you two will have to hide your power levels, or they will suspect us." Trunks nodded. "Now, do you guys have any food aboard this thing?"