Cosmic Crisis 3 - A New Enemy

Chapter 22 - What is Andromeda?

Sirius perked up at Ceres' proposal.

"But that's impossible." He said. "With the planet gone, it would be flung out of orbit and end up floating around until it crashed."

"Wait...what the hell are you talking about? What is Andromeda?" Trunks asked, shaking his head in confusion.

"The moon of Vela-sei." Reena replied.

"Um...okay..." Trunks said, his eyes moving from Reena to Ceres to Sirius.

"It still exists." Ceres said.

"It can be used..." Sirius trailed off.

"As a base." Ceres finished his sentence. "I know."

Trunks and Goten sweat dropped and looked at each other.

"What the hell? You mean for Hermes?" Reena said, jumping up. Goten tried to contain his obvious amusement. He hadn't heard Reena swear before now.

"What else?" Sirius said, looking at her. "I think that's exactly where the power is coming from."

"Is that where Nat is?" Trunks asked.

"You two shut up for a few minutes!" Ceres snapped. "I'm trying to figure it out!"

Everyone looked at Ceres with astounded expressions on their faces. She ignored them and continued to stare at the screen, taking in the readings she was getting.

Trunks was having trouble sitting still. All of the sudden he was extremely anxious and angry.

"Sirius you were right." Ceres said, not taking her eyes off of the screen. "There is a power coming from Andromeda, and it's frequency matches the readings I got on Vela."

"I knew it." Sirius said. "So what do we do? He probably already knows we're here, we didn't have time to hide our power."

"We can't hide, that's for sure. We need to land on Andromeda and find him." Ceres said. Reena sat quietly in the corner, looking out the far window.

"Well at least he's not halfway across the galaxy." Trunks said, trying to lighten the mood. However, nobody found comfort in his comment.

"He's got a point." Reena spoke. "The Omega is a large galaxy and we're lucky we don't have to chase him around."

"Wait a minute...I thought Omega was the universe." Trunks said. "That's what Orion said when he came to Earth."

"On Vela, the term "universe" has a slightly different meaning. But it is the galaxy." Reena said.

"Well that explains a lot." Trunks said, recalling Nat's dream. From what she told him...

"They were not king and queen of the universe." Sirius replied, looking at Trunks. "Just Omega."

Trunks facefaulted.

"Were you reading my mind or something!?" he said in astonishment.

"Just then." Sirius replied. "Some of us can do that. Orion can as well, I'm surprised you didn't know."

"Well don't use it around me!" Trunks said. "I don't want anyone reading my thoughts."

Sirius smirked at him. Trunks growled inwardly...Sirius' attitude was starting to annoy him. Maybe it was a trait of Sidra-jin males.

"Do you two bakas want to start this mission or not!" Ceres hissed, shattering the silence.

"Ceres stop acting like the authoritative figure!" Reena retorted. "This is a group effort, not a leader-driven action!"

"Nobody was speaking to you Reena!" Ceres said defensively.

"All three of you!" Trunks shouted. "Stop acting like little kids!"

Goten watched everyone fight with each other. He hoped that they would learn to get along before their fight with Hermes, because if it was one thing he learned, it was that if they didn't unite, they would fall, and everything they had worked for would be taken away.

"Okay." Sirius spoke commandingly. "Let's just forget about it and head to Andromeda. We can worry about our differences when everyone is present and safe."

Everyone was silenced immediately.

"Ceres do you want to get us there or should I do it?" Sirius said, stepping toward her. She backed away submissively and sat down a few feet away from Reena. "I don't want you to think I'm normally an aggressive person, but someone has to take charge."

Trunks turned towards Goten, who was looking at Reena.

"He's right." She answered. "I haven't seen him this upset in a long time."

"I'm sure we all want to get this over with, so why don't we just lock on to Andromeda and get there in the quickest way possible." Sirius said.

"What, is it right outside the window or something?" Goten asked.

"No, it's about 800 million miles from here." He replied.

"Using the standard universal measurements, we should arrive in...." Ceres trailed off, calculating something on the control panel, "it should take about 71 minutes."

"That's good." Trunks said.

"No, this ship has old technology. The newer systems can travel through sub-dimensions and reach speeds almost ten times the speed of light." She explained. "This only has light-speed capabilities."

"That ship Orion used...what about that one?" Trunks asked. "He came here pretty damn fast."

"Standard pod, it travels five times faster than light." Ceres said.

Everyone was extremely impressed with Ceres' knowledge.

"Ceres..." Goten started. "You should have become a scientist."

She looked at him.

"I wanted to be." She said. "It was my dream."

"What happened?" he asked.

"Well obviously, I never got my chance. Vela-sei was destroyed before I was even close. You have to be at least 16 years of age on Vela, which is about 21 on Earth, to even apply for that type of job." She explained.

"On Earth, you can." He said. Ceres just rolled her eyes.

"What do you say we get going, huh?" she said, smiling faintly, and stepping back to the control panel. Trunks looked at Ceres and, for the first time, actually felt sorry for her. Because of events beyond her control, her dreams were taken away from her.

Ceres set the controls and locked onto the celestial body Andromeda.

"Since we have just over an hour, you two can shower, get something to eat, whatever." Ceres said to Trunks and Goten.

"What time is it anyway?" Trunks asked. "Night or day?"

"There is no concept of day or night in space, Trunks." Ceres smirked. "So there is no way of telling. But I can give you the time based on Earth readings."

"What is it then?"

"Estimated...1400 hours." She replied. Trunks looked puzzled and rubbed the back of his head. "Standard time." She added.

"I could really use the room of spirit and time right about now." Trunks said. "We would be able to get a year's worth of training in just today. Hermes would be no match for us!"

"You know, Saiya-jin, that the big threat isn't Hermes." Sirius said. "His power is relatively weak. It's his genius that is the danger. His ability to manipulate time, space, and even the Sidra-jin psyche...that's our problem."

"If he can do all that...what makes you think we can just barge in, kick his ass, and make everything right again?" Goten challenged. "Based on what you three say about him...this guy is unstoppable."

"Nobody is unstoppable. You just have to know how to use his weaknesses to our advantage." Ceres said.

"What is his weakness then?" Goten asked.

"He has no known...but that doesn't mean they don't exist." She replied.

"Well let's go already."

"We already are." Ceres said, laughing. "The gravity is stable, so we don't feel the speed of the ship. Only if we were in subspace would we."

"Oh..." Goten trailed off. He picked at his chicken leg, cleaning off any last scrap of meat left on the bone.

"You like the niku?" she asked, observing him.

"The what?"

"The niku. You seem to enjoy it."

"This? It looks like chicken to me." Goten said, holding up the bone.

"Chicken? Must be an Earth term." She said. "You and Trunks both...but then again, Saiya-jins like meat, don't they?"

"I...guess." Goten said.

Later, Trunks and Sirius were sparring to pass the time.

Trunks threw a series of punches at Sirius' body, but missed every time. Sirius managed to dodge every one perfectly, almost like he predicted his next movement. Trunks brought his foot around to do a side-swipe, but Sirius jumped up and threw his foot out, kicking Trunks in the jaw. Trunks retaliated by grabbing Sirius' leg and hurling him onto his back, bringing his fists down. Sirius rolled away and Trunks' hands struck the floor of the ship. Cursing, Trunks wiped sweat off of his forehead and charged the Sidra-jin warrior.

"You look so cocky. That's not a good attitude to have in a fight." Trunks said, sneering.

"It's not intended, I just have that appearance." Sirius replied coolly, bringing his fist to Trunks' chest at an insanely high speed. Trunks dodged easily and knocked Sirius in the back, throwing him off balance, and kicked him in the side, sending him flying towards the wall. Sirius skidded to a halt and turned, rubbing his ribcage.

"Good job Saiya-jin." He said.

"You...why do you have to call me that? I have a name you know." Trunks said.

"Trunks." Sirius said, and then blurred out of sight. Trunks sensed him right behind him, so he immediately jumped out of the way. Sure enough, Sirius went sailing past him. They continued to battle for a few more minutes, getting very few hits in on each other.

Then, there was a flashing of light, and they both stopped to see Ceres standing in the doorway of the chamber.

"Are you two going to get ready?" she said, raising an eyebrow. "We land in less than ten minutes. You two might want to shower."

"Thanks, Ceres." Trunks said, wiping his forehead and lowering his ki to normal. She just winked and walked out, leaving Trunks to roll his eyes and sigh. Sirius threw a towel around his shoulders and walked to the door after Ceres. Trunks was the last to depart, turning off the light as he left, and shutting the automatic door.