Nicolette

I opened my eyes in a cold sweat, gasping for air. It took a second for my eyes to adjust to the darkness of the room, and I began to remember where I was. Garlude's soft snoring came from my right and her new recruit's sleep talking at my feet. Rolling over onto my side, I rubbed my face and tried to forget the terrible dream. Reaching under my pillow, I felt the smooth, cold handle of my katanas.

Silently rising to a sitting position, I saw the faint outline of our new recruit, Valorie, or better known as Val. She was a light-purple colored bird with pale lavender eyes hidden under dark purple goggles, and she had a metallic, yellow beak. Her tall, skinny frame tossed and turned beneath the sheets as she muttered things. She was most likely suffering from a nightmare like I was.

Since the retrieval of the Bushido Katanas, which was over a year ago, many events had happened, such as the promotion of Arthur to second-in-command under the Captain and my eighteenth birthday. However, even with my aging and Yamikage graduating me from NSF training, the Captain refused to promote me to a fully graduated Star Warrior.

The army had also nearly doubled in size. The Captain became adamant about the proportion of our army to NME's, so he sent several soldiers to nearby planets to recruit new people. I and Garlude and I were required to attend one such rally, and that's where we met Val. She barely made the cut from the long line of people, but she did because of a special connection: her father. Like my dad, her's was a famous soldier in the GSA. He was a captain aboard a nearby starfighter named after him; the Vul. It was he who requested she room and train with one of the best Star Warriors on our division, so the Captain assigned her to Garlude. Several other Star Warriors throughout the army were now forced to share their rooms with new recruits; I never thought I'd say this, but the Enterprise was now almost too small to accommodate the thousands of soldiers on board.

I silently climbed out of bed and slipped out of the room. With my armor off, my bare feet padded through the dark halls with no noise. The temperature around the ship had been lowered to make up for the growing expenses that came with our growing population, so my thin, gray under armor was not equipped to keep me warm.

Shivering, I entered the quiet lobby and found my seat in front of the large window overlooking the landing platform. Outside, a brand new fleet of golden starships gleamed in the faint midnight light. I had grown used to life in space; it was impossible to tell time or dates by looking outside, for there was no sun to orbit us. A trusty radio clipped on my left side always told me what time it was and the current stardate. Right now it was 0215, or 2:15 in the morning.

I sat down on the thin cushion of the long window seat and wrapped my arms around my shoulders. My long hair cascaded past my shoulders and wrapped around my arms, providing some warmth. Outside, the stars twinkled all of the colors of the rainbow.

My father used to tell me that the sky was a snapshot of space from a long time ago because we're so far away from them. From the time the nearest star emits light and zooms through space until reaching our eyes, several years will have passed. Now, looking out at the hundreds of millions of stars trillions of light years away, I thought of the possibility of planets orbiting some of those stars and wondered what picture I was seeing of those worlds. Were there living creatures on them? Were they looking up like I was? Had the war hit them?

Were those worlds destroyed by Nightmare yet, or was what I was seeing a glimpse of the life that once was?

A soft creak came from behind me and I jumped up with both Bushido Katanas drawn near my head, but I dropped them when I saw what had caused the noise.

"Hey, Nikki," Ren said with a smile, and dramatically threw one hand into the air while with the other he pressed a finger to his mouth. I rolled my eyes and slid the katanas back into their sheaths on my back.

"Don't scare me!" I hissed and plopped back down.

"Sorry, it's just that you looked so peaceful," he said gently, and jumped over the back of the seat and landed next to me.

I sighed and chuckled to myself. Ren smiled his classic half smile and tossed his long white hair out of his face. His calm amber eyes seemed to glow in the midnight shadows without his blue helmet. He wore tall brown gloves with fancy curving wires around his wrists over black under armor. His main armor was a metallic blue color with a half chest plate cut off above his stomach and a metal band across his waist similar to mine. Noticing my shivering, he took off his light gray cape and slipped it around my shoulders.

"Thanks," I murmured, and he nodded while leaning back and putting his arms behind his head. We both fell into silence watching the beauty of space before us. I glanced at him and couldn't believe how serene he looked. His mouth drawn in a small smile, eyes half open, body free of any tension, I almost couldn't believe that he had been suffering from nightmares.

Suddenly, he asked, "What are you doing up so early?"

"I could ask you the same question," I quickly replied.

"I come out here almost every night," he began and closed his eyes. "Sometimes, I get dreams so bad I need to come and clear my head. There's something peaceful about space. I guess it's why I like being out here."

I looked away from him and absentmindedly fingered the long scar on the right side of my face. Stitches I had to have in my eyebrow left a noticeable pink line in the middle of it that I had become extremely self-conscious of, even though many of my friends insisted it was cool.

"I came out here for that same reason, actually," I confided to him. "It seems like I can't escape the nightmares anymore, either." He nodded and continued gazing outside, smile gone, while I hugged his cape closer to me.

"What do you dream about?" he asked.

"Everyone I know who's died," I replied, and drew a deep breath. "I see them and hear them as they scream at me, but I can't say anything. I have no voice, no help, no hope. I think NME likes to make me relive their deaths to remind me of how powerless I was."

"I get that," he whispered.

"What about you?"

He closed his eyes again and whispered, "My little sister." My eyes widened.

I waited a moment, then asked, "What was she like?" He shook his head and smiled fondly.

"Her name was Mae. She was a few years younger than me, about to turn fourteen. Quiet, timid, small, but quick to listen, confident in what she thought, and huge in heart. She always had some way to make me laugh. Always cooking, cleaning, serving others. Trying to think of some way to make our life better." His chuckling turned to soft breathing. "Mae's the reason I joined, kind of like how you came because of your family. We lived together in a small apartment in the city on my old planet. I worked in a grimy factory all day while she stayed home and cleaned other people's rooms. We made a mediocre living, but it was all we could do to keep on. Mae had a dream of leaving our planet and exploring space, so we made plans to build our own shuttle to travel in, but it was what she called an 'impossible dream.' She was too realistic to believe it was possible. Even so, for years I used to come home with excess metal from the factory just to see the look of joy on her face. I tried everything I could to make her dull and hard life happy.

"Then one day, while I was at work, it came. The first sign was the dark clouds, then the poisonous rain, and then the monsters. My managers ushered us into the basement and wouldn't let anyone leave. I knew she was at home by herself and vulnerable to any monster's attack, but I couldn't get back to her. They kept us cooped up underground until the inevitable happened. A monster busted the lock at the top of the stairs and came down and attacked us. It got most of my friends before could I pull a pipe from the wall and bash its head in. I sprinted out of the factory and kept running until I got back to our block, but I was too late." He flinched a little bit as a murmured, "No buildings were standing."

Even as he told this, Ren somehow managed to keep his cool. His face was slightly contorted in obvious hurt, but he seemed utterly at peace with his past. My heart ached for him as I reached out and gently touched his hand.

"I'm so sorry, Galeren," I whispered. It was the first time I had ever heard his story.

"Don't be," he said, and his smile came jumping back onto his face. "Mae always made me protect others before I protected her. That's why I'm here now, fighting to keep the universe from dying the way our loved ones did instead of fighting for her. That's how she would want it."

I nodded and stared blankly at the ground. With a grim reality, I realized that almost every soldier in the GSA most likely had a backstory similar to Ren's.

"So, is your room trashed from your recruit yet?" he asked, the sudden change of mood made me crack up. Ren had a way of making me laugh, even in the saddest of moments.

...

I crept back down the hallways in a much better mood. Ren and I talked for a good hour before deciding to go back to our rooms. Something had clicked between us the way it does when you finally figure someone out. I had a feeling he had confided something to me that he hadn't shared with many people, and it gave me a warm feeling to know he trusted me enough to tell me it.

When I peered down my corridor, however, something was off. The door to my room was wide open and the light was on. Taking cover in the shadows, I wearily approached and heard an unpleasantly familiar voice.

"Where is she?!" the Captain demanded.

"I-I don't know," Garlude stammered. "S-She was asleep last I knew, and-"

"I'm here," I said calmly, stepping into the room. Garlude and Val were still in bed and looked surprised and terrified. The Captain was standing at the foot of Garlude's bed holding his lance, and he turned on heel upon hearing me. 

"And where have you been?" he asked, and I could tell he said it through gritted teeth. Sighing, I told him about the bad dreams and my escapade to the lobby after curfew, but I left out the part about Ren.

"Breaking Star Warrior Code, I see?" he snarled, then put his lance on his back and shouldered past me. "We'll deal with that later. We have a much bigger problem on our hands." I glanced at Garlude, who returned my confusion, then followed the Captain through the dark hallways to his quarters.

"Do you remember the celestial artifacts I briefed you on a while ago?" he asked.

"How could I forget?" I mumbled. He rolled his eyes and continued.

"There was a rare crystal in my office. I obtained it on my travels before st-I mean, joining the GSA, with the power to open portals to different dimensions."

"What about it?"

"It's gone."

We had arrived at his office. Pushing the doors open, he briskly walked to an empty pedestal with the lasers and glass case still intact.

"How's that possible?" I asked. "It looks like no one touched it."

"That's just it," he said. "No one did. You're an intelligent girl. How could someone break into something without touching it?" I looked over the bolted-down glass and deadly red lasers that surrounded it then turned to him.

"Teleportation," I realized. Though small, the inside of the case was unguarded and easily accessible for someone who could control where they went.

"Precisely," he said. "And these intruders were sloppy enough to leave us a clue." Pointing his finger, he gestured toward a tiny object plastered against the glass that I didn't notice before. Upon closer examination, I saw something chilling.

An orange petal.

"He's back," the Captain said, and I closed my eyes and shook my head violently from side to side. The horrible feeling of losing my ability to control my body, the sludge-like feeling of dark matter coursing through my veins, the choking sensation of fighting to keep my body breathing while being possessed, it all came back to me in a flood of emotions. Then I remembered how bad I had felt about killing him. It all had seemed like a bad dream.

"Dark Matter is on the rise," the Captain said and handed me a map of Gamble Galaxy. "This time, they're targeting a small planet called Ripple Star. I'm sending a large group of you to handle them this time since the crystal they have is incredibly powerful and deadly in their hands." He paused and gave me an evil look. "As punishment for sneaking out, I am having Meta Knight stay here."

That cut me worse than any knife he could have used against me.

"Understood?"

"Yes, sir," I forced out.

"Good. I have already informed your crew of the situation and they are waiting for you on the battleship G.S.A. Freedom. Go." I saluted him and hurried out of the room.

My crew, as it turned out, was lead by Jecra. Under him was Amai, Garlude and Val, Falspar, and Galeren. I joined them in the battleship Freedom and hurried to the back. Val, dressed in her turquoise shoulder armor, light green jumpsuit, and blue boots, glared at me as I went by.

"You're here, too?" I asked when I met Ren, who was now fully armored and battle-ready. He and the gun turrets took up the entire back seat, so I sat down next to Falspar.

"Yeah, the Captain told me what was going on right as I got back to my room. I didn't get caught, though." He recognized my cold stare. "You didn't, did you?"

"Yup," I sighed, then took my seat in an elevated chair with a computer screen in front of it. Meta Knight had become a vital friend to me, and it hurt that I couldn't be with him now. Even so, I was with good friends now.

"Alright kids, listen up!" Jecra proclaimed from the front of the long seven-passenger ship. He and Amai sat in the front two seats, then Garlude and Val, then Falspar and I, then Ren in the back manning the gun turrets. "Ripple Star is a good few hours away, so we'll be put into hypersleep for the majority of the ride. Most of you are familiar with that. However, we aren't so familiar with our enemy. From what I know, they are unpredictable in nature, cunning in traps, and large in population. Don't let yourself be surrounded or drawn into a horde."

"There's one called Master Swordsman," I said, and all eyes turned to me. "He leads them and devises all of their traps. Don't engage with him if you don't have to. Not even Meta Knight could beat him."

Jecra gave an approving nod and turned to start the ship. We launched off the landing platform, and just before he engaged hyper speed, he turned back to us and said, "Oh! One more thing! We are to become acquainted with the residents of Ripple Star since they'll be assisting us in battle if they have to. So be social. That goes for you, too, Garlude."

We all snickered a little while Garlude rolled her eyes, then Amai pushed the hyper-speed lever forward. And we were off.