ExoSquad: Take a Chance

by Mileena
(Mileena13@aol.com)

Disclaimer

Exo-Squad and everything related to Exo-Squad is property of Universal Studies, and not me. The very first scene in my fanfic is exercepted from the episode, The Fall of the Neosapien Empire, Part I. I am poor, young, with a bright future ahead of me, so please do not sue me, Universal Studies. However, if you feel that Exo-Squad should be given all new episodes, and if you need a writer, I’m willing. :)

General Info

In order to make this story work, I switched a bit of the events around. For example, the whole thing when JT witnessed the destruction of Planet Chaos never happened. Kaz is still at Exo-Fleet Academy. Nara is still with Able Squad, and is still the leader of it. Her recent powers have been secretly flourishing. Admiral Winfield is still with the Exo-Fleet. Oh ... there’s some explicit language in here ... so, younger readers out there, don’t make me come over and beat you up for imitating me! >:)

Part I

“All E-Frames return to the fleet immediately! We are under attack by Neo E-Frames!” Admiral Winfield’s message rang loud and clear through everyone’s communications system, jump troop and E-Frames alike. They were standing on the moon, just outside of the entrance to a Neo base.

Commander JT Marsh looked over apologetically to Captain Avery Butler. “Looks like you’ll hafta take this one alone, Captain,” he said empathetically to the jump troop captain.

“Without your E-Frames we might as well hang targets on our backs!” snarled Butler angrily.

Marsh looked torn. “I’m sorry Captain, but I got my orders,” he said.

Butler looked about ready to tear JT’s head off, but a calming voice interrupted him. “JT, one more E-Frame won’t make a difference up there. But it might for the Captain. Let me go with him.”

Maggie Weston was taken aback by Alec DeLeon’s bold words, but said nothing from her E-Frame. There wasn’t a chance in hell that she was going to give that arrogant twit the satisfaction of knowing ...

JT looked down for a moment, considering his best friend’s proposition. “All right, Alec,” he relented, “but take care.”

“Always, JT,” Alec replied with a self-assured grin on his handsome face.

Marsh grinned back. Without another word, he flew his frame upwards. Behind Maggie, Torres, Bronski, Takagi, and Burns and Marsala did the same. Only Weston remained with DeLeon.

“Hey, don’t get cocky Alec,” she said, forgetting the silent vow she had made to herself a few moments ago.

DeLeon’s grin widened. “Why, Weston, I didn’t know you cared,” he said smoothly, his big blue-green eyes twinkling.

Weston scowled at him, remembering the teasing words she had said to him just a few hours before. Hidden Neo E-Frames had ambushed them. One of them had managed to blast her E-Frame’s arm off. Amid the chaos, DeLeon had taken the time to fly his E-Frame over to hers, just to see if she was all right.

“Are you okay, Maggie?” he had exclaimed.

“Yeah,” she’d grumbled, looking up as she tried to steady her E-Frame. “I just hate surprises.”

“Well, be careful, will ya?” he’d replied, a concerned look on her face.

Weston tossed him a teasing glance. “Why, Mr. DeLeon, I didn’t know you cared,” she’d said flippantly, putting her fingers to her chin and feigning a bashful gesture. And with that, she had left him, hovering in mid-air in his E-Frame.

Now, DeLeon was teasingly reminding her of their encounter. Weston’s blue eyes flashed as they narrowed. “In your dreams, DeLeon,” she snapped, tossing a stray strand of fiery copper hair back from her face. She started up her frame and took off into the air, watching Alec’s frame grow smaller and smaller as she ascended.

Suddenly, there was a huge explosion; the world seemed to rock. Weston covered her mouth to keep from screaming as her frame was pushed back with tremendous force. She grabbed her controls and tried to steady herself, meanwhile attempting to look through the haze of smoke that had appeared in front of her E-Frame.

She couldn’t see below her. The moon’s surface was covered with smoke and flames. A blood-curdling shriek rose from Maggie’s throat. “Alec!" Oh God! she thought. Oh God! With trembling fingers, she pressed her comm-button. “Alec! Alec, can you hear me?” Her only answer was a haze of static.

She flew her frame down, through the smoke and flames, searching for something--anything at all--that would tell her if Alec DeLeon was all right. “Alec! Alec!”

Finally, she found his frame, lying on it’s front among dust and debris. Its green paint was charred and chipped, the frame itself crushed, and its little satellite dish was shattered.

“Alec!” she gasped. She flew her frame over to his and used her frame’s huge hand to turn him around.

Staring back at her was a skeleton, trapped inside DeLeon’s frame, its mouth open wide in a silent scream of terror.

Part II

"Alec! No!"

Maggie Weston sat bolt upright in her bed, her hand curled over her heaving chest. Droplets of sweat trickled down her face and neck. Breathing heavily, she placed her head into her shaking hands and tried to calm down.

It had happened again--that damn dream. The dream that she had the night that Colleen O'Reilly told her that Alec DeLeon had perished in a fight with Typhonus on the moon. She had it once, and only once, during the night that she learned of Alecs death. And now it had happened again.

"Weston? Hey, Weston! Wake up!"

Maggie looked up. Quickly, she tossed on a robe over her oversized nightshirt and pressed the lock release on her quarters sliding door. Standing before her, in uniform, was Sgt. Rita Torres.

"Torres? What is it?" Maggie asked curiously.

Rita stared at her. "Weston, are you all right?" she exclaimed, noticing her sweating face.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Maggie said hurriedly. "What's up?"

"You were supposed to be on the bridge thirty minutes ago. Remember? That new captain, Captain Jameson, wanted to talk to Able Squad. JT sent me up here to get you."

Maggies jaw dropped to her chest. "Oh my God, I forgot all about that!" she exclaimed.

Torres looked at her, concerned. "Weston, are you sure you're all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Weston said, already going into her bathroom to put on her uniform. "I ... just had a bad dream, is all."

Torres raised her eyebrows. "Okay," she called out from inside Maggies bedroom. "I lied, actually. Alec volunteered to get you first, but JT told him no."

Weston had been dressing inside her bathroom. She stopped abruptly. "Oh," she replied flatly. She had been avoiding Alec since his return. It was no secret among Able Squad. In fact, it was a little too public for her taste.

"Look, Mags," said Torres softly, calling her by her nickname, "if you want to talk about anything, anything at all--"

Maggie nearly burst out laughing. Here they were, two of the most unemotional members of Able Squad, talking about feelings! It was even more of a joke coming from Torres--Rita Torres, who never talked about anything other than kicking butts or ordering the squad around.

She was nevertheless touched. "Thanks, Rita," she said, emerging from her bathroom in her uniform. "But I can handle it."

Torres gave her one last appraising glance, then replied, "All right. See you at the bridge."

Five minutes later, the sliding doors to the bridge of the Resolute II slid open. Maggie Weston flew into the bridge, practically skidding on the slippery floor. All the other members of Able Squad--minus Kaz Takagi--were already on the bridge, as well as Captain Connor Jameson. Heads turned to stare. Maggie's face turned about as red as her hair. Quietly, she took her place next to Torres. She could feel a pair of eyes locked hard on her face--Alec. Maggies jaw clenched and it took all oher composure not to just turn and leave.

"Good of you to join us, Lt. Weston," chuckled Jameson.

Maggie's face turned even redder. "I'm ... sorry, sir, it won't happen again," she said, her eyes focused in front of her. She knew everybody was laughing inwardly at her.

"It's all right, Lieutenant," Jameson replied. "We have more important matters to discuss.

"Able Squad," he went on, "we have just received reports of a Neo base just beyond the distance of Chaos."

"Beyond Chaos? Aw, man, I thought the Neos didnt know about that place," whined Bronski.

"Can it, Bronski," muttered Torres.

"Apparently, they don't. By sheer luck, and because of Chaos dark matter substance, they were never really able to detect the planet," said Jameson. "We think that some renegade Neos might still be there. We want Able Squad to go there and round them up."

"All right, some action!" exclaimed Bronski under his breath.

Jameson chuckled and cracked a smile. "Commander Marsh won't be joining you, and Lt. Burns will be filling you all in the rest. Youre to depart aboard the space shuttle carrier Promise at 1300 hours. Good luck."

Part 3

Nara Burns shivered and tried to calm herself while she snapped on her yellow belt around her slim waist. It wasnt cold in the Resolute II's hangar, but why did she feel chilled to the bone?

A flash pain sizzled up her left arm. Nara bit down on her tongue hard to keep from crying out. She grabbed her upper arm and turned her back on the rest of the squad--they were busy prepping their frames and wouldn't notice.

"Ketzer," she hissed through her teeth. That damn doctor! The crazy loon had injected her with some sort of serum a few months back. Ever since then, she had been manifesting strange new ... well, she couldn't call them powers, but that was the only term that came to her. And ever since then, she had been experiencing pain.

Suddenly, the pain stopped, just like that. Nara stood up straight and tall and wiped the sweat from her brow, never noticing that instead of it being clear, her sweat was a slight tinge of green.

Nara turned around to face her squad. Funny, it still didnt seem like "her" squad. JT had been promoted to commander of E-Frame squadrons some time ago; she was now in charge of Able Squad. But she still felt as if JT lead them. Not that she minded, though. She enough troubles as it was.

"Able Squad, please stand by for docking. Able Squad, please stand by for docking."

Able Squad was tossed around a bit as Resolute II was docked by the smaller space carrier shuttle, Promise. Five minutes later, the hatch doors swung open and standing there was the pilot of the shuttle.

"Able Squad?" he barked in a gruff voice. "Who's Able Squads commanding lieutenant?"

"Here," Nara said, coming forward.

"Lieutenant Burns?" Nara nodded acknowledgment. "Has your squad been briefed thoroughly on this mission?"

Upon hearing this, Nara grimaced. No. They hadn't. Jameson had met with JT and herself a full hour before he met with the rest of Able Squad. And in that full hour, he had said some pretty scary stuff.

"I'll be upfront with you," Jameson had said when Nara and JT arrived on the bridge earlier that day. "I'm commanding Able Squad into a blind mission. With your hands tied behind your back."

"Captain ...?" JT begun.

Jameson raised a hand for silence. He proceeded to tell them a story completely different from the one he told Able Squad. "JT, Nara, your squad and Captain Avery Butler's jump troops were the ones who discovered the so-called alien antennae on Mars. Since Mars destruction, Professor Algernon has developed a keen interest of it.

"Ever since Mars was restored, Professor Algernon has been calculating abnormal readings."

"More precisely, abnormal radio wave readings," elaborated Professor Algernon as he stepped into view. "As you all know, I determined that the device you uncovered on Mars was an alien antennae of sorts, that sent out a continuous radio wavelength message. When Mars was destroyed, the messages stopped. When we managed to restore Mars, the messages came up once again.

"This time, we--well, I really should say I--managed to discover exactly where these radio messages are going to.

"They're being transmitted to a point beyond our own solar system--even beyond planet Chaos. And worse yet, I've determined ... that the messages are being received. And replied."

"We've pinpointed exactly where the messages are being received and replied," added Jameson. "It's at a point about a dozen light years from planet Chaos. We've also determined that it's ... alien."

JT's mouth had practically dropped down to the floor. Nara's face had paled dramatically. "Alien?!" JT exclaimed. "Are you sure? Could it be Neosapien?"

"Its unlikely that Neosapiens were able to discover a technology advanced enough to create wormholes," replied Jameson, "so they couldn't have possibly set up base outside of this solar system. What's worse yet, we cannot decode these messages. We need a squad to go out there and fight what the hell is going on over there."

"But how can we go there? Its a dozen light years away from here! It'll take months, even with our fastest ships," JT argued.

"Professor Algernon has developed a technology that will basically ... teleport you there," Jameson said, nodding over into Algernon's direction. Algernon merely nodded. "He'll tell you more about that later, Commander Marsh, but during these cautious times, we need to discover everything we can about this."

JT looked about ready to argue, but then Nara quietly interrupted, "Sir? If I may speak?"

"Certainly, Lieutenant."

"Sir, why aren't you telling the rest of Able Squad? Why us first?"

Jameson sighed heavily. "Because. This is very top secret. I want nothing, absolutely nothing to get out. I dont even want you tell Able Squad until you all reach the appointed destination. In fact, I'm going to tell Able Squad that you all will be actually going to Chaos to check out a renegade Neo base--"

"But sir, that's lying!" Nara burst out.

Jameson stopped and stared at her. "I mean ... sir ..." stammered Nara, "is that ..."

"What she means, Admiral Winfield, is that we can't go out and directly deceive our squad like this!" JT clarified, trying to keep his own voice calm. "Hell, we've been through some trying times lately. We're down a man, and not to mention that I don't think that Trooper Alec DeLeon is mentally or physically able to--"

"JT!" barked Jameson, silencing him instantly. "I told you, this mission is to be kept entirely confidential." He turned to Nara. "After I'm done briefing Able Squad, I want you to make sure that you have these supplies ready." He handed her a computerized check list. Then he turned back to JT. "Commander Marsh, I'm afraid you'll be staying back here, on the Resolute II."

"But sir--"

But that was that. Now, Nara stood grimacing in front of the captain of Promise. "Yes sir," she said through clenched teeth. "Able Squad is prepped, briefed, and ready."

Commander JT Marsh watched as the little carrier shuttle Promise flew slowly away from Resolute II. His arms were crossed in front of his broad chest, his brow furrowed. He hated being left back. And although his squad was technically no longer his, he wanted to be there with them.

JT had been horrified when Jameson had asked Nara and himself to directly lie to the squad. He had never done that before--never. He didn't believe in that. He disliked Captain Connor Jameson very much and wished the Admiral Winfield was here to straighten things out, but the Admiral was off at a meeting with the rest of the Homeworld delegates and wouldn't be back for weeks.

Captain Connor Jameson was steadily proving himself to be the next Captain Matthew Marcus, only worse. He was about ten years older than JT himself, with dark green eyes and black hair. He was arrogant, mean-spirited, and whatever jokes he did manage to crack were often at the expense of another's pride. But he was the new captain of the Resolute II and deserved to be treated with respect.

Even so, JT did not like him, nor did he like the fact that Jameson wanted to keep the mission "confidential." So what if the mission was to be kept confidential? After all, Able Squad was trustworthy.

Promise was growing smaller and smaller. The energy contrail erupting from its thrusters was slowly turning from its bright orange to a dull, pastey yellow color. Soon, he wouldn't be able to see it at all.

"Good luck," he muttered. With a start, he realized he was doing something he hadn't done in a long time.

Praying.

Part 4

"Man, I can't wait until we get to Chaos," Wolf Bronski was saying as he belched loudly. The squad was in Promises cabin, which was rather small compared to most carrier shuttles. "Haven't seem some action in a long time." No one replied. Bronski sighed wearily. It was actually quite pathetic. All of them used to be friends ... almost like a family. But now ...

Now, they were all barely speaking to each other. Nara was off somewhere, probably talking with the captain of the shuttle. Torres doing a routine equipment check, checking out her hand blasters for about the sixtieth time. Marsala was typing up something on a lap top, lost in concentration. Weston was quietly sitting on a crate, looking out of a porthole, and trying to look as if she was looking at something tangible. But Bronski could tell she was just trying to avoid looking at DeLeon, who was examing several power backpacks on the cabin floor. Occasionally, he would look up and glance at Maggie, sigh very quietly when he noticed that she was purposely avoiding him, then return to his work, only to repeat the same procedure every ten minutes.

The doorsained a sigh. "Just doing a routine scan, Sarge," she said, watching little figures appear on her screen.

"Maggie?"

Weston looked up. She had been so distracted that she didn't even notice Alec flying next to her.

"Alec!" she exclaimed, startled. "Shouldn't you be up ahead with the others?"

"Shouldn't you?"

Maggie pursed her lips. "You're right. Lets go."

She sped her frame up and within a few seconds, they had caught up to the rest of the squad. They flew together in silence, until Maggie said, "Look, Alec ... I know I haven't ... said much since--since--"

"Since I came back?"

"Yeah. Since you came back," she echoed. She kept her eyes forward, locked on her frames readouts. "I ... I've just been under a lot of stress lately." Oh, Mags, that sounded like such a damn excuse ...

"I understand."

"You do?" Maggie asked, surprised, and for the first time, stole a glance in his direction.

Alec nodded. "Of course I do. Why does that surprise you?"

Weston bristled. "Well ... I ... I guess I expected you to be ... mad at me."

DeLeon laughed, and suddenly, Weston was reminded of how much she had missed hearing him laugh. Then she wondered how much time had passed since she had last heard him laugh.

"What for?" DeLeon exclaimed.

"For ... ignoring you."

It was DeLeon's time to bristle. "I was pissed for a while, yeah. But then I realized that of course you'd be under a hell of a lot of stress. Probably even more than me."

"Alec." Maggie stopped her frame short and turned it around to face him. Alec halted as well.

"I don't know how much you know about what happened after you--you were ..."

"Killed?"

A lump formed in Maggie's throat and she nodded, ducking her head. She hated crying, and she had already shed so many tears. "Yes," she whispered. "Did anybody tell you ...?"

"No. I wanted to hear it from you."

Maggie looked up, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand to prevent the tears from falling. "Yeah, well ... after Colleen told us, I couldn't believe it. I didn't want to. At that point, I realized how much ... how much I'd miss you. I didn't know what to do. So I gave your black box to Professor Algernon ... I didn't want to remember you, or remember how much I'd miss you. I wanted to forget.

"And then you came back ... and I ..."

The tears were flowing freely now. Maggie looked down. The only thing that she could hear was the humming of the engines of both of their frames. When she looked up, Alec was staring down too.

"There was a reason why I told Colleen to give you my black box, Mags," he said softly, so softly that Maggie had to turn up the volume in her comm. "Because I knew you'd save me. At least I thought I knew you'd save me. That was why I wanted to come back. For you."

Maggie's eyes widened. He thinks that I hate him, that I couldn't possibly lo-- "Alec," she said, her voice hoarse. "Alec, I didn't mean that I--" Bleep! Bleep!

The noise was coming from both of their frames. Maggie quickly wiped her tears away and looked up at her screen. She gasped. Something was happening!

"Nara! Rita!" she practically shrieked into her comm, and yanked her frame around. Without another word, she flew full-speed ahead.

"Maggie?!" Alec cried, and flew after her.

Up ahead, not very far away, Nara Burns immediately stopped her E-Frame. She knew Weston and DeLeon would've discovered the entrance portal by now. "Yes?" she said, feigning calm.

"Nara--get away from there! There's ... oh my God, Nara, it looks like a black hole--"

"Weston, you and DeLeon just sit tight."

"Nara?" Marsala asked questioningly. "Weston is right, there is something only a few thousand meters up ahead--"

Nara looked down at her watch. Five ... four ... three ... "Hold on!!!" she screamed, just before the flash of light enveloped them.

You can return to the fan-fiction page.

Or return to Patrick Danner's ExoSquad page.