Author’s note: << >> , denotes character’s thought-injected dialogues.

**, Events that are in simultaneous progress with it’s preceeding event… or a time-distorted event.

CHAPTER ONE:

R A M R O D:

April pressed a button on her console and sighed. "I still can’t get the pilot to respond." She then turns to Saber. "The enemy must be using some kind of disruptor on long-range communications."

"Hang on, people, we’re almost there. I can see dozens of sporadic implosions up ahead." Fireball tightened his grip on the navigational controls, he never took the Ramrod up to its maximum speed level before because of its tendency to go sluggish on its response time. Adding up to his worries are the NeoPhytes strapped in their makeshift consoles that April had installed; He and the rest of the StarSheriffs can take on this kind of pressure, but Fireball wasn’t sure about the young guns. Everything was silent inside the bridge until their consoles screeched in alert status, signifying that they were nearing their objective. He took Ramrod’s speed down to cruise level and glanced to his left. "Hey Topsword, it’s your call."

"Good job, Fireball." Saber jumped out of his post and made his way to the NeoPhytes. April and Colt was right behind him. "All right, chaps, this is it… I trust you could perform the necessary tasks since we’ve gone this far. Are you ready?" All five of the NeoPhytes stood up and held their helmets before them.

Cady nodded to her brother and ran off to her assigned spot in the bridge. Circe just gave an affirmative headshake before concealing her face in her helmet, following the young Rider’s lead and filling in April’s post. Diana took a deep breath and gave Saber a smile before wearing her helmet. She runs off to cover Colt’s post. Brent and Pathfinder high-fived with one another, and as the younger one wore his helmet Brent send Colt his relative Fist shake, "Leave some for us, would `ya, mate?"

Colt glanced back at the main viewport before returning his attention to Brent. "This is a critical mission, hombre… But I’ll try." He then gave a light tap to Saber’s shoulder. "I’ll head off to my baby now… I’ll just wait for you guys there."

Saber gave him a nod. "Okay, just launch with April… I’ll catch up."

"Okay Saber, we’ll just see you out there." April said before running off with Colt to their vehicles on the lower deck.

Fireball took another glance behind. "We’re closing in. You guys better be ready to go, cause from what I see, that pilot out there won’t last long with the way the enemy’s going… That Carrier’s launching snubfighters like it’s feeding pigeons in a park."

"Understood." Saber replied. "Well, then… Better got to your posts too, lads." He thummbed his empty spot to Brant and Pathfinder. "Enjoy the view, and see you when we get back." And with that, he rushes to the lower decks.

S P A C E:

A few kilometers from the Ramrod, the battle intesifies. The Black Ship has stopped moving but is periodically releasing fighters to replenish the attack waves being shot down. Though lacking in strategic skills, the enemy fighters close in on the lone Airframe in great numbers in hopes of overwhelming it.

Francis, struggling though the combat engagements one at a time, pulls hard right and executes another barrel roll to avoid the stubborn enemy fire. He levels the Airframe off after getting out of the enemy’s firing arc. A fighter wanders into his HUD’s crosshairs and he lets it hold for a little while longer. Hearing the lock-on beep, he pulls the trigger and veeres off to another flight path. Another short beep told him that his last missile salvo counted. Slightly turning his head back, he manages to chatch a glimpse of the firery ball before it dissipated. <<"That one’s for my sister.">>

A violent shake forced him to face front. He grunted at what he saw. Up ahead was the Enemy’s Carrier, and he found that it was dangerously close for his comforts. His eyes grew wide as the exterior of the ship started to bristle with gun platforms. <<"What the!?!">> Mere seconds later, the ship opened fire and Francis was now fighting hard on the controls to dodge the flak barrage. <<"I’ll never give up…">> The enemy started scoring some hits on the Airframe, luckily not one did any real damage to the hull.

He observed his position and looked back at the black ship. <<"Perhaps if I get close enough…">> He paused for a while, and as he looks at the small digi-pad on his right a smile formed on his face. <<"That’s it!">> Bringing his ship around one more time, he sets the digi-pad to count down from sixty seconds. <<"…that should be enough.">>

Ignoring the fighters closing behind him, he throttles up to the Carrier. He shoots down pair of fighters that got in his way and returned to dodging flak. With the distance closing down to 216 meters, the balck ship resumed firing at him with the rest of its laser guns. Another dozen fighters make their way out of the hangar and starts firing at him the moment he got in their sights. There were too many of the enemy now for him to handle, and another lucky hit forced his ship to go off course and crash into an enemy fighter. He was driven forward, smashing the crystal HUD with his head as the Airframe spun wildly out of control. The rest of his display went out from a power surge that grounded him a while.

<<"Shit!">> He immediately cut the digi-pad and the artificial I-Gravity off and struggled to stabilize, speaking a couple or so of colorful languages in the process. Seeing his efforts were futile, he cursed some more. Then his head started to hurt like hell when, suddenly, everything stopped. He looks up and sees, through the noticeable crack in his helmet, another black ship above him. He notices that it has smaller configuration but it still held the same intimidating form of the carrier. "…It’s all up to Earth now." He pulls his blaster out and checks its load. "I guess it won’t hurt to take a few of the enemy troops out before I go." He waits for destiny to unfold as the belly of the ship opened up.

R A M R O D:

Pathfinder clapped his hands and cheered. "I got him!" The display on his console had the Airframe locked in a blue crosshair, with the message `Target Acquired` blinking at the bottom. "The tractor beam worked!"

"Well done, Squirt." Fireball reprised. "Now let’s bring him in."

"Underway." Came Brent’s reply as he went over Pathfinder and pressed a sequence of keys. The display zoomed out to show the Airframe slowly being towed into the hangar.

Cady flicked a switched and pressed hard on her helmet’s side. "We’ve got him, big brother… Mission Accomplished."

"Good job… Stand by, we’re just cleaning up here." Saber replied, April and Colt helped him take out approaching fighters.

"Cady, I can still see a dozen or so fighters…" April said, after firing another shot from her energy rifle. "Can you guys do something about it?"

Diana overhears it and starts to make some calculations. "Got it!" She exclaimed, "We should take out the Enemy Carrier first, that way, we can worry less about the snubfighters." She sends her display to the left viewport and points to a lower section of the black ship’s hull. "We should hit it there. If it still is an Outrider-class fleet guard, hitting it there would set a chain reaction throughout the ship, completely destroying it."

"Okay," Circe replied, "I’ve got the firing solution, sending it over to your console, Hunter. But we have to get the Ramrod closer to the cannon’s effective range."

"Merci, Goddess." Diana replied as she

Fireball throttles up. "All right, I’ve got that part covered. Watch out for friendly fire, Topsword, we’re going in."

"Don’t worry, we’ll supply you cover." Saber replied after slicing his way through a fighter’s blind side. He hears a laser streak nerby and another fighter explodes behind him. Steed manages to stabilize from the shockwave.

The Bronco Buster darts past Saber, "Careful, pardner, one of them almost had you." Colt then returns to a flank position on Ramrod.

"Thanks, Colt…" Saber gave him a quick salute. "I owe you one."

Colt let out a chuckle. "Aww shucks, it was nothin really."

April rode up with Nova to Saber’s side. "Are you all right? You gave me a scare back there." Though her face was covered by her helmet, the tone of her voice carried her expression of concern away.

"I’m fine, Arpil…" Saber replied, sheathing his sword and pulling his blaster rifle out from Steed’s side. "By the way, how’s the Airframe’s pilot?"

Pathfinder slapped a hand over his head. "Daah! I completely forgot!" He was about to get up when Fireball stopped him.

"It’s okay, squirt. I’ve got it." He then presses hard on his helmet’s side. "I’m going over to the hangar to check the pilot out, Topsword. I’ll report back as soon as I find anything wrong." Looking over to Brenton, he motioned him to come closer. "We’ve been through the drills, Brent… Now show me what you’ve got." He then points to his Navigator’s console.

Brenton’s jaws gaped open and his eyes widened for a while before returning a salute to Fireball. "Just ease it over, right?" Fireball nodded and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder before heading for the hangar.

"Wait." Circe jumped out of her post and went over to the Iso compartment to retrieve a medi-kit. She gives Cady a quick nod and heads over to Fireball. "Okay, let’s go."

Fireball shrugs, "Lead the way then, Goddess." And follows Circe down to the hangar.

S P A C E:

Saber and April took potshots at the wave of fighters which they unanimously designated as autonomous-bots, since Saber oberved that a lot of the fighters he cut down earlier had nobody in them. The Ramrod took a few of the raining laser bolts but it’s sturdy hull deprived the agressors of any successful penetration. The Bronco Buster’s pilot continued to give a light show for the Ramrod, shooting down the remaining autonomous-fighters that decided to play chicken with the battle cruiser.

"Hooooweee!" Colt exclaimed as he returned to flank position. "And I thought them fighters were better than the outriders."

Saber reholstered his rifle back to Steed and turned to look at April, who had already slumped down to Nova, brushing her mecha horse’s mane. Ushering Steed to go beside Nova, Saber gently planced a hand over April’s back. "Is something the matter, April? Are you hurt?"

April quickly sat up and shook her head. "No.. I – I’m fine." She then breather a sigh of relief. "I think I just got a little exhausted from the fighting." And before April could add another statement, Cady beeped an alert to all of them.

"Okay everyone, Ramrod’s ready to fire… keep clear off the guns."

"Let her rip, amigos!" Colt replied with a chuckle. "I’ll just sit back and watch the light show from here… too bad I don’t have popcorn with me." All three of them went below the Ramrod and out of it’s firing arc. Then the black carrier started to release another flak barrage.

Saber turned to look over his shoulder and then back at April. "Well then, shall we go to a safer location?" He thumbs the Bronco Buster which was just floating aimlessly in space, away from the battle area.

April sits up, giggling, and gives Saber a nod. "Okay." She then follows him, directing Nova towards the Bronco Buster.

R A M R O D:

Down the hangar, Francis staggered out of the Airframe with his blaster at hand, leaving the cracked helmet behind. Looking around, he saw that the entire room was empty except for a few vehichles. He made his way cautiously to what seemed to be the only access door in the room, slightly limping with his left leg. <<"Funny… where’s the traditional welcoming committee?">> Treading lightly onward, he observes every steel panel that might conceal potential threats. He felt the floor shake and stopped his approach. He held his position to feel more of the preiodic tremors. <<"Either there’s a fight between the enemy and the late cavalry outside… or this ship has one messy jump node.">> A short hiss coming from the Access door got him jumping, and he quickly hid behind one of the combat vehichles, finally remembering to take his blaster off from it’s safety lock. He didn’t know why his hands were shaking, and he could feel himself sweating, but somehow it felt warm. He ignored all of it for now, hearing a set of footsteps approach.

Back at the Bridge, Brent’s vocabulary was reduced to grunts as he held the Ramrod steady. Cady and Pathfinder quietly sat in their posts, watching the targeting crosshair turn from blue to yellow as the "quick-draw" configuration was activated. Diana sat quietly in hers, her entire body tensing up as the firing solution counted down. Her hands firmly gripping the main battery controls as the number came closer to zero. The alert status suddenly blared condition red as the enemy carrier started to let loose it’s guns at the Ramrod.

Brent broke into cold sweat, fighting his urge to pull the ship off course and into safety. In his commlink, he could barely hear April, Saber and Colt. "Bloody hell!" He faced back at the post behind him and shouted through the already noisy bridge. "Hunter, hurry up! I don’t think I can hold the Ramrod on this course much longer!"

Diana gasped, pulling the trigger after seeing the crosshair turn blood red. A split-second later, the Ramrod grew bright as it handed down it’s deadly promise to the Enemy Carrier. The massive beam energy engulfed it’s prey and everything glared in prismatic lights. Saber looked down from the blinding light while the rest covered their eyes. Suddenly, the black ship vanished, letting the dark space preside the area.

The red lights switched off along with the siren as Pathfinder let out a low whistle. "That was one sneaky ship. Looks like it activated the space jump just as we hit it and got away." He had the Hacker linked to the onboard computer, downloading all of the scans he took of the enemy ships. Just then, the radar beeped, displaying the same enemy ship defolding 500 meters away from them. Everyone looked out of the viewport in time to see it explode. Pathfinder looked back at the others, chuckling. "I guess I spoke too soon, huh?"

Diana leans back in her seat, closes her eyes, and lets out a big sigh of relief. "Thank goodness, it’s over." Feeling a hand rest on her shoulder, she looks up and smiles. "Oh, Brent..."

"Looks like your cards were right, Diana." Brenton smiles briefly and reverts his attention outside the viewport. "Hey…" He squints his eyes and raises an brow. "Unless I miss my guess," He points out to a corner from where the black ship exploded. "That yellow streak of cloud’s not dissipating as it should."

Colt called in, overhearing everything in his commlink. "You’re right about that, Brent. And it’s heading this way."

Pathfinder finished his calculations and swallowed loudly. "..and it’s pretty fast!" He shows Hacker’s display to everybody in the bridge.

Cady pressed hard on her earpiece once more, watching the aggressive rainbow slowly make it’s way to the Ramrod. "Saber, April, Colt!!! Heads up! Shockwave at 270 meters and closing!"

Saber couldn’t help but notice the cloud close its distance between them. Hearing Colt’s expression of dismay he motioned the three of them to go below the Ramrod. "Cady, can you open the Hangar?" He then dismounted from Steed and drifted his way over to April.

Cady pressed a few keys in her console. "Fireball, Goddess, what’s your status? We need to open the hangar soon." She listened quietly for the other line. "Okay, but please hurry, there’s a shockwave coming and we don’t have much time."

"What’s wrong?" April asked.

"They’re still attending to the pilot." Cady replied. "Fireball said that the guy’s seriously injured, but Goddess said she’ll try to be quick on patching him up."

Pathfinder activates the hangar bay’s camera and closely watches Fireball and Circe. "Looks like there’s no way for us to open the bay doors, Captain. The Airframe’s sitting ontop of it."

Saber pauses a while. "Okay, never mind that. Just send out a couple of tow cables, would you?"

Cady pressed a button. "Tow cables deployed. Are you sure you know what you’re doing?" She asked.

"I’ll just have to hook up Steed and Nova to the cables while We’ll hang onto them." Saber replied. "It’s quite risky, but from the size of the shockwave, there really isn’t any choice left."

"What if we went took Ramrod to Challenge Phase and let you guys hide in it’s hands?" Diana suggested.

"You can’t," April quickly added. "Fireball and Circe are still in the hangar, and the Airframe will pose interior damage to the ship when it folds."

Colt coughed, trying to catch the others’ attention. "And what about me n’ Bronco Buster here?"

Brent keyed in his commlink. "Don’t worry, Colt, I’ve got you in the Tractor Beam’s sights. Just kill your engines." He keys in a few commands and presses a button that activated the acr of light that held onto the Bronco Buster.

"Thanks, Brent." Colt replied as he took his helmet off. "I’ll just rechannel Bronco Buster’s power to it’s stabilizers. That way, I won’t feel like I’m inside a tequila shaker." HE raised an eyebrow as he could swear he heard a giggle from the other line. "Hey, I’m serious!"

April shook her head and quickly followed Saber’s lead and tied Nove and herself to the Tow Cable. Afterwards, she wrapped her arms around Saber, watching the prismatic cloud grow larget as it got closer.

"Hold tight, April." Saber told her as he held onto both Steed and Nova’s reigns. He looks down to April after hearing her whisper `I won’t let go.` From that point, everything started to divide into split-seconds.

Diana strapped herself in her console as the others did just as she finished calculating thetime of the Shockwave’s impact. "Ten seconds!" She turns her attention to the console in the far left. "Pathfinder, alert the people in the Hangar, quick!"

Dutch boy panics and fumbles at the controls and switches in front of him. "Darn! which button is it!?!"

"Six!"

"Wait!" Pathfinder broke into cold sweat, still unable to locate the switch.

"Three…"

Cady activated the PA system. "Fireball! Goddess! Brace yourselves, schockwave’s about ti hit!" Just as she finished her statement, they were engulfed in the cloud.

Saber grunted as he strained to hold onto the reigns, while April held onto him for as long as she could. Steed and Nova brayed as they did their best to counter act the intensity of the shockwave. The Bonco Buster, although pretocted from the physical damage that the schockwave inflicted, shook along the Ramrod via tractor beam connection in a reduced intensity. Five seconds later, everything went silent. "It’s over…" Saber spoke up, presing his hand over his helmet’s right side. "Is everybody okay?"

April looked up at Saber, "I’m all right.. thank you, Saber." She didn’t release him from her embrace, though.

"Fine dandy, here, Topsword." Colt replied.

Everybody in the Ramrod’s bridge looked at each other, except for Pathfinder, who was in his post, downcast and unmoving. Cady flicked her commlink. "We’re fine up here, Saber… but we haven’t heard from Fireball or Goddess, yet."

"I have…" Came Pathfinder’s reply as he pressed a button that made the Ramrod’s main viewport light up with a monitor display of the Hangar. Diana gasped at what she saw, while the others froze. Fireball’s distress could be heard over the broadcast. "Circe-san!?! Daijobuu, Circe-san!?!"

**Fireball moved up to walk side by side with Circe, still trying to form something good to say in his head while they make their way to the Hangar. Deep inside, Fireball was a bit dismayed that they were wearing their helmets, he couldn’t steal a glimpse of Circe’s face through her dark visors. Neither spoke up, the sound of their heels hitting the steel floor panels was the only thing that separated them from total silence. <<"Kuso, this is pathetic! I hate to say it but I wish I had Colt’s `skills` right now.">> The ship started to shake every now and then, but Fireball ignored it and decided to give his attention to the task at hand. "So…", He finally said, his eyes still fixed front. "What made you decide to come along?"

Circe turned her head to face her colleague. "What do you mean by that?", She held the Medical Kit in her arms, braced to her chest.

Fireball Shrugged. "Well… You know I could’ve handled this one by myself." He then arched his arms up, with his hands held together supporting the back of his head.

"Hmm…" Circe stopped and handed the Medical Kit over to a surprised Fireball. "Here, then. I’m going back now." Truning around, she slowly headed to the bridge.

"Aa! Chotto! Matte Kudasai!" Fireball grabbed Circe by the hand, giving her a gentle tug. "That’s not what I meant. Don’t go." Circe turned back and faced him. "Okay.. just… forget what I said eariler, all right?" He shook his head. "Let’s just go to the hangar and see to the pilot’s condition, okay?", and handed the Medical Kit back to her.

Circe held the pack in her other hand. "All right… I can agree to that." There was a pause. "Uhm… you can let go of my hand now, Fireball."

"Huh?" Fireball looked at his hand, which was still holding Circe’s, and immediately lets go it. "Aa… gomenasai!" His helmet came in handy, concealing his uncontrollable blush. He then catches up with Circe, who already continued the trek to the Hangar.

"Do you always speak in Nippongo?" Circe asked as she pressed the green button in the side panel of the access door.

"N…Nah…" Fireball replied. "A – actually, it’s been quite a while since I spoke my native language." He chuckles as the access door slowly opens comepletely. "Okay, Goddess, let’s go check on our guest." He motions Circe to walk ahead of him. They then started their approach to the Airframe. "There it is…Hm… wonder what happened to the lights, though?"

Francis stopped his hands from trembling as the first figure that went past him. He held his breath and cocked his blaster. Gathering all the strength that he had left, he leapt out hiding and took aim at the second figure that passed by.

Fireball heard something behind him, turned around and gasped. "Wait! Don’t shoot! We’re here to help." Circe heard the warning. Turning back, she saw a young man pointing a gun at Fireball. And from the way he was standing there holding the gun, he wan’t in a good condition.

Recognizing the flashing plate over Fireball’s left chest, his first reaction came as a surprise. <<"EBU!?!">> He then returned his attention to Fireball, "S – Star Sheriff? Oh, God… I’m sorry." Leaning his back on the six-wheeler combat vehicle, he puts his blaster ontop of it. "I.. I thought that the enemy… had me…" His vision finally got blurry to the point of blacking out.

Fireball catches him on time and gently puts him down on the floor. "Whoops, gotcha ,pal." He then hears Cady in his commlink. "We found the pilot, but he’s in a bad shape."

"He’s in a bad shape," Circe added, "And from the looks of it, he lost a lot of blood. I’ll do what I can to close the wounds. Then the three of us will clear the bay as fast as we can."

"…Hopefully, there’d still be enough time for the rest to get inside Ramrod before the shockwave hits."

Circe stepped in, motioned Fireball to stand back and started to check on Francis. Pulling out some disinfectant solution and a set of iso-gauze she started to patch the wounds. "Hmm… He’s got a nasty cut on his head. This must be from the collision."

Fireball looks over Circe’s shoulder as she finishes washing the blood out of Francis’ face, and notices the scar on his cheek. "He’s scarred." He hands out the bandages over to Circe.

"Yes," Circe replied, taking the bandages and wrapping it around Francis’ forhead. "Luckily that one’s from a previous occasion."

"Wonder what happened?" Fireball asked.

"Personally, I don’t care." Circe replied.

Fireball sighs, "There you go again. Your objectiveness makes it seem that you’re older than me. You know, you should really lighten up a little. Maybe even let yourself be concerned of the others around you from time to time. You’ll definitely need that when you guys finally get into your missions with your own ship."

Circe smirked, finishing the bandages. She observes Francis closely then looks up a Fireball. "He’s having a hard time breathing, help me take his armor off."

"Okay." Fireball knelt beside Circe and started to look for the armor’s snap-lock. "Oh, here it is." Pressing it down, the chestpiece loosened.

Circe took Francis’ scarf off around his neck and saw something fall off. "Hn?" She picks it up and takes a look. "Ano `to?"

Fireball takes a closer look at it as well, having successfully taken off most of Francis’ upper armor. "An ID of some sort."

Circe began to read the inscription. "Gerardo, Francis… Cadet DG, Second Class. Batch 195…" Her intonation changed as she read the last line. "New Manila?"

"What’s wrong?" Fireball asked. "You sound so surprised."

Circe returned the ID in the scarf. "N – no. There’s nothing wrong." She then returns to Francis and slowly slid her hands under his head. "Come one, we’ve wasted too much time. Let’s get him out of here a---"

"Fireball! Goddess! Brace yourselves, schockwave’s about to hit!"

Then, Ramrod violently shook. Everything rattled inside the hangar, including Francis’s blaster --- falling off the hood of the vehicle and hitting the floor. <*bang!*>

Circe screamed as the bullet shatters her helmet’s visor. She sprawls to the floor as the tremors intensified.

"What’s going on out there!?!" Fireball looked up, as he was on all fours. With the tremors finally over, his heart rate climbed seeing Circe, facedown on the floor. "Sh – Shimatta!!!" Fireball quickly rushes over to Circe, slightly lifting her with one of his arms supporting her back. "Circe-san!?! Daijobuu, Circe-san!?!"

"I…" Circe weakly moans as she tries to take her helmet off. "I’m all right." She finally gets it off with Fireball’s help and examins it.

Fireball breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that Circe wasn’t scratched. "aa… yokatta." He then removes his helmet. "For a moment there you had me worried." He helps Circe sit up and smiles at her.

Circe sits up and looks back at Fireball, their eyes momentarily met. "T – thank you." She then looks away, feeling strange. "The shockwave’s over. We should take Cadet Gerardo up to the cabin now." She moves over to the unconscious pilot, gently reaches under his back.

"Circe, what happened? Are you all right?" Came Diana’s voice over the PA system.

"I’m all right!" Circe replied. "But we might need some help in getting this pilot up to the cabin!" She added, making her voice audible enough for the camera to transmit back to the Bridge and it’s crew. Then, lifting Francis’ up with Fireball’s help, the two of them slowly head back to the access door.

"Hang tight, Brenton’s on his way there."

Fireball closes the access door behind them and activates the airlock. He presses on the commlink switch and leans closet to the panel. "We’re clear off the Hangar, you can do your stuff now." And just as he finished, Brenton appeared.

"`ay, mates… mind if I join in?" Brenton asked, easing off after his run. "Glad you’re okay, Circe, I’ll take it from here." He added, taking hold of Francis in place of Circe.

"Thanks, Brent," Fireball smiled and looked over to Circe, who was already heading to the upper deck. "Ne, Goddess, wait for us."

Circe stopped but didn’t turn back. "I have to prepare the cabin, I’m going ahead." And then she left.

"Alrighty, you do that," Brent said loosely, "Fireball and I’ll be right behind you."

Fireball nodded, sighing. "Okay, now let’s get moving."

R A M R O D: (moments later)

Everybody was gathered in the bridge, standing infront of the main viewport. April punches a few keys in her console and returns to the other just as an image of Commander Eagle replace the view of the Earth. Everyone rendered their salutes and waited for the person on the other side to return it.

Commander made a quick salute, "At ease, Star Sheriffs, we saw what happened from here. How is Saturn’s survivor?"

Saber steps up, holding his helmet at his side. "The pilot is resting in one of the cabins, Commander. Goddess here managed to patch up most of his wounds, but she said that further medical attention should be carried out."

Commander Eagle nodded. "Hmm.. Understood. We saw the Airframe run into one of the enemy’s fighters, that young man’s lucky to be inside a sturdy craft." He clears his throat. "A Medical staff will be waiting for him when you get back." He then smiles. "I think the young ones are ready now, don’t you think, Captain Rider?"

Saber smiled and shortly looked over his shoulder to the NeoPhytes, who were smiling back except for Circe and Pathfinder. "Yes, sir. They exellently handled the battle inside Ramrod while the rest of us were outside."

"Well I think there’s something that all of you can look forward to when you get back." Commander Eagle said and lets out a laugh. He sees the Star Sheriffs look at one another in puzzlement. "Ah, you will all know what it is soon enough." He was about to end the link when he stopped, "Oh, and Saber, you can just append the reports here at H.Q., looks like you all need to rest… That goes for you too, April."

Saber saluted again. "Thank you, sir."

"Yes, daddy." April replied, smiling sweetly back at Commander Eagle.

"That’ll be all for now. I’ll be here when you get back… Base One, out."

With Commander Eagle’s image vanishing, everybody returned to their positions. Diana looked over to Pathfinder and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Don’t be like that, Pash… It wasn’t your fault." Pathfinder just closed his eyes and sat back, firmly holding onto Hacker. Brenton was already snoring moments after they got into their seats, Cady couldn’t help but notice it and laughs. Circe sat quietly in her seat, staring at the Navigation Console where Fireball was, contemplating on how she was back at the hangar. Colt had his legs resting ontop of the blaster controls with his hat covering his face, confident that it wouldn’t set off. April was busily reviewing Pathfinder’s data scans of the Enemy ships, while Saber had his face buried in his hands, in deep thinking. Fireball had his attention into cruising the Ramrod back to Earth. They all had a long day… And most of them feel that it’s going to be like it from this point on. They’ve acquainted themselves with the new Enemy and racieved more questions that answers. The second card has played it’s part… The New War has begun.