Odyssey Part 4: Lost and Found


X1 held the board and went down the list of things to do, checking off those he had managed to accomplish. "Done. Done. Done. Done." He came to: 'Recharge the machinary hooked up to Death Star before it shuts down and kills him.' "Uhhhhhh....." X1 said, trying to remember if he did, while in the background corner Death Star's body shook in pain as he slowly died due to the machinary being off. "I caaaaaan't remember....damnit, think...think...." X1 muttered, walking back in forth as Death Star shook, rattling the bed he was on and banging it on the wall. "Ehhhhh, done." X1 marked it off on the list and threw it on the table, walking past some rushing MedDroids who ran over to Death Star to stablize him. "What's THEIR problem...nitpickers, always going over everything I do and redoing it...."
Dominator sat back in the pilot's seat and flipped the engines on, Garland seated next to them. So far Garland hadn't told him about what happened on Parnel, though Dominator did know of Death Star's deteroating condention. Ariel, Cheryl, Crystal, Slash, and Arono were seated in the back of the Avenger, talking and goofing off as usual. "You're sure we have that mineral on the Avenger?" asked Dominator.

"I put it on, Dominator..." Garland told him with a grin on his face as Dominator lifted off the Avenger and flew from the station's hanger bay, entering the hyperspace cordnets and making the jump to lightspeed.

"Let's hope so or this'll be the quickest mission of our careers..." Dominator responded.


X1 jumped into MedBay and skidded across the slippery floors, coming to a standstill beside Death Star's bed, who was struggling to raise. He always knew Death Star had an incredibly knack for moving when the majority of the universe's population of reploids would be stuck, unmoving, half-dead and with no hope left, but Death Star always seemed to ignore the pain...block it out and continue on with the goal on hand. X1, even though he would never admit it probably, knew Death Star was always in an incredible amount of pain and continued going. The pain, inflicted by Zero over seventy years ago, was still with Death Star...but ever since being infected by the virus, that pain had increased and was followed by new, deadlier ones. The virus was wiping out his memory and twisting his body to a pile of twisted metal, killing him slowly and painfully. A normal reploid would probably have two weeks to live...X1 gave Death Star four. "Chief, you should be resting...don't make me bring out the old bedside manner..." X1 threatened.

Death Star blinked, dazed. "Eh? X1?....Fine." He laid back down, too tired to talk, but at least he was back from the brink of death. "I'll stay here... rest for two weeks...but then I'll get up. I have to lead the team still...can't let something like passing out stop me, now can I?" muttered Death Star. X1 turned to go when he heard Death Star call out, "Tell Iceheart I said hi."

"Yeah, I promise..."


Dominator hit the switch and jumped out of hyperspace, flying right into the static field in the area, rocking the Avenger. Up ahead Slash spotted the Lost Armada. "There it is," he told the two pilots, pointing at it with his sword. Dominator nodded, checking the systems and saw everything was staying powered up. "So far, so good..." Dominator said, watching a slight drop in power as the neared the Armada.

Finally they arrived at the sixty-five ships, with only a 20% drop in power. "Alright, Slash, you lead the team outside with the cables and hook all the ships up together. Make sure they're all connected and then reconnect them to the Avenger. Lets see if Death Star's idea to tow them will work," Dominator ordered and Slash led the group outside. An hour later, and another 20% drop, the Lost Armada was hooked up to the Avenger and everyone was aboard. "Lets go, team." Hitting the turbo boosters and then flicking the enchancments made at Parnel, the Avenger jumped into hyperspace, heading towards HQ in mere seconds, tugging the ships. The entire ship rattled and shook, throwing Arono into a wall.

"T-h-is no-t going t-o w-or-k," Dominator said through rattled teeth. Hitting the button out of hyperspace a few seconds later, the Avenger stopped outside the station. "Not going to work, eh?" asked Garland. Dominator shrugged slightly and powered down the Avenger. Hitting the release button, the sixty-five ships detached from the Avenger and each other and stood in space. "I'm sure they're going to need a lot of maintance work..." Ariel said, gazing at them.

"Probably, but we have the time..." Dominator told her.