Sorry for the split. This is Ch 13-Part 1-K&K
Chapter 13 “All stations go! Liftoff” or “Do you know where your pilots are?”
DISCLAIMER: Monotonous ain’t it? (Shut up Kei! We gotta do it so get going! I ain’t gonna do it Anton! Let the vacuumhead do it!
OK Yuri? Arigato sir. These creations are the property of Haruka-san Takachiho (our papa-san) and various other authors whom we
domo arigato most sincerely. However some of these characters/places are ours so be warned!) That’s fine Yuri. Thanks a lot. Stop
sulking Kei you had your shot at it too! Anyway folks at the conclusion of 12 Kome had just found out that she was the ‘Angel’s’
communications relay officer, Marlene was navigator and assistant pilot, Yuri was co-pilot and Kei was pilot and captain. She also
found out that liftoff was at 0600 hours (6 PM) and she and the flight crew had an 0530 hours (5:30 AM) wake up call! Mugghi was the
official waker upper! Now on to 13 but first Japanese words/phrases will be indicated in ( ) thus except for numbers from zero to ten
which are:-
Zero- Rei, One-Ichi. Two- Ni, Three- San, Four- Shi, Five- Go, Six- Roku, Seven- Nana, Eight- Hachi, Nine- Kyuu and Ten- Jyuu(Dew)
“Meow! Yuri, Kei, Marlene, Kome! 0530 hours. Time to get up now!” The four flight crew members simultaneously heard
Mugghi’s voice through their comlink earrings. “Shimatta frigging nekko (cat)! F***ing telepath! I wish he wouldn’t yap so loud at
this hour!” thought Kei grumpily. Aloud she said “OK I’m up! Shaddup you loud-mouthed bastard!” Grasping her comlink earring
Kei trilled Marlene. “Rise and shine sleepyhead! Get up Marlene!” Receiving no reply she trilled Mugghi. “Where the jigoku (hell) is
Marlene, Mugghi? On the bridge? Already? Arigato. How about the freak and the airhead? No answer! OK I’ll get them!”
Kei took a quick shower. Squeezing her bracelet (she was in a hurry) she morphed into her red/black TC miniskirt uniform with
low red boots. Dashing down the hall to Yuri and Kome’s suite she trilled the bridge. “Mugghi! Nammo! Commence preflight check now!
We’ll be right there!” Reaching her destination she keyed ‘Override’ on the door’s security panel and said “Valhalla. Authority Kei 1” to the
door control. The outer door sprang open and Kei ran inside and kicked open the door to Yuri’s bedroom. Grabbing her roughly Kei yanked
her co-pilot out of the bed and unceremoniously tossed her into the shower where she’d already set the water to ‘COLD’. “E-E-E-Eek! I’m
freezing! Darn you Kei!” screamed Yuri. “You overslept again you airhead! (Kei checked her wristchromo) Liftoff in san minutes! Get
dressed! Where’s the freak?” As she said this the other door swished open and Kome emerged (yawning) in a black turtleneck, briefs
and socks. She was carrying her pink jumpsuit and boots. “I’m up.” She said yawning again. “What’s with all the yelling?” Kei was
furious. “You ni morons overslept! Liftoff in ni minutes! Get some clothes on and report to the bridge! Marlene’s there already!” yelled
Kei as she rushed out. “OK Mugghi, Nammo. Final check, all OK? Then start the countdown. Be there in a second!” Kei had run through
to the rear of Yuri’s bedroom and exited through the back door. This gave onto an express lift to the bridge. Jumping aboard she was
instantly carried to the bridge level. Kei sprang off the lift almost before it had stopped and dashed to the bridge. Strapping herself into the
pilot’s chair she flipped some toggles. “No Kami shimatta co-pilot and no communications officer! Marlene, set coordinates for Sector go (5)
Subsector X-san(3) Quadrant Kyuu (9) on my mark! San, ni, ichi, mark! (Kei trilled the other two crew members) Yuri, Kome! Get your asses
up here now!” Kei yanked the throttle and the shi engines roared to life. “Warp core online. Set velocity to warp roku Mugghi. Nammo,
stand by on thrusters. (Kei trilled Yuri) Yuri, any time this century would be nice! Kome!! Mugghi initiate countdown now.” Kei growled
as Yuri ran in and took her seat. She was resplendent in her ‘Snow White’ red/white/blue TC hotpants uniform and high white cavalier
boots. “All systems go. Stand by for countdown.” she announced. “You just made it Yuri! Kome!” admonished Kei. Pulling on her boots
and with jumpsuit still unzipped Kome stumbled to the console and sat down, strapping herself in. Yuri did the same. Punching the relay
switches Kome intoned “Commo ready. OK Marlene?” A voice in her headphones (the bridge was divided into two cabins. The left was
pilot, co-pilot and communications stations. The right was navigation and assistant pilot stations. Both cabins shared the rear compartment
which gave onto the express lifts. A short hallway led to the galley with replicator, stove, microwave oven, toaster, fridge and coffeemaker.
This hallway also led to the (ahem) restroom facilities, showers, storage rooms, arsenal, two bedrooms with bunks as well as Kei’s ‘ready
room’ and chartrooms) said “For about an hour now! Where have you ni morons been? We almost missed the launch window!” answered
Marlene testily. Kei picked up and keyed the PA system’s intercom mike (These were located all over the ship on all levels along with
speakers for ship broadcasts. There was also a speaker and mike in virtually every room on board). “OK hazu (gang) this is it! Commencing
countdown now. Strap yourselves down to something. A 200-G resistance barrier ain’t a fun thing to buck! Liftoff in jyuu (10) seconds.
Jyuu, kyuu, hachi, nana, roku, go, shi, san, ni, ichi, rei, liftoff! Left thruster ichi, now! Right thruster ichi, now! Left thruster ni, now! Right
thruster ni, now! Activate warp drive now! Nammo, go to warp roku. Nana, hachi. Hold on hachi. Prepare for hyperspace thrust jump, Mugghi.
“Ready Marlene? OK now! Activate hyperthrust. All thrusters to maximum. Yuri? What’s our altitude? (Yuri:”50 thousand meters.”) Climb to
150 thousand meters. (Yuri: “Finally. OK cleared the stratosphere. Into the ionosphere.”- remember this ain’t earth!) Mugghi, ETA (estimated
time of arrival) to Cybytron? (Mugghi: “120 hours.”) Good. Setting autopilot. Whew! We’re finished guys, relax!” Kei once again keyed the
PA mike. “Liftoff successful. ETA to Cybytron is 120 hours. We are now on ‘George’ (autopilot). Spike, Legato, Leila and the Doctor are to
report to my ‘ready room’ in 30 minutes onegai. Yuri and I will brief you on our mission then. That’s all folks. Enjoy your flight.” Kei finished
and threw the mike on the console. “What a way to start a Kami shimatta mission! No commo, no co-pilot; it seems that the only ones that I
can depend on are Mugghi, Nammo and Marlene! Oh well, at least we can ditch the TC outfits for awhile anyway. We’re going in as tourists.
Got that vacuumhead? So you can shop to your heart’s content! I need a good stiff eye-opener and a smoke! The helm’s yours Yuri. I’m
gonna get changed.” Kei started to leave and then did an abrupt about face. “Kome. Marlene. You two will stay at your posts and monitor
things. I’ll be in weapons later if you need me. Mugghi, Nammo, don’t bust anything else!” Kei departed, pulling off her glove.
“This darn ship will be OK for a bit, I’m hungry.” said Yuri to Mugghi. “Mugghi, be a dear and man the helm for me. Kome, Marlene,
after I get back you two can get your breakfasts while I monitor the comm, OK?” Yuri thought a moment. Kei has several replicators on
board. So if you want to eat up here you can. Kome, get Marlene to show you where the galley is and how to use them. (Kome: “She’s
already shown me how to use it and where everything is. We’ll be fine.”) Kei’ll have a fit if you both go at the same time so go in shifts,
Kome first then Marlene. (Yuri smiled at them both) See you in a half-hour or so. Stay on course.” Yuri left the bridge and headed for the dining hall. “Kei just couldn’t wait to play with her new toy, could she? Who can blame her! A sonic beam ion cannon! Crap! Breakfast can wait. I gotta get a gander at that thing first!” thought Yuri, jogging to the armory instead.
BOOM! “Oro in the name of the kyuu jigokus (9 hells) was that? yelled a startled Anton Gustav. Glancing at the chromo on his
bedside table he saw that it was 0700 hours (7 AM). “Couldn’t have been the hyperthrusters, we aren’t due to warp jump for another hour.
Better see what’s up.” he thought. He had been awakened by something that had shook the ‘Angel’ violently. As soon as his door opened,
he smelled a heavy odor of ion residue. “Nai! They didn’t, did they?” he cried out, double-timing down the hall to the armory. “Whassup?”