FSE

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"Dammit! We got hit! I can't believe they still have those!" A black technology, named that way because it is universally forbidden, was apparently in possession of the Night Prowlers on their home planet. A large Fallen Sky fleet was hovering just above orbit, and the Albatross was given first permission to enter. However, the particular piece of black technology was banned because it was highly unstable, had ridiculously high energy demands, and could completely and permanently disable any ship with a single hit.

A rescue ship dropped down and docked with the Albatross' airlock, "Everyone evacuate, now. Move, move!" Dante was rushing people across the thin walkway as the rescue ship struggled to keep the Albatross in the air. Ratchet was the last to move, but stopped when Dante didn't.

He planted his foot on her backside and shoved. Just as he did, the Albatross' weight make the structure collapse. Dante marched to the bridge, "AI? AI? Dammit... sorry, we haven't had a chance to fight together as one, have we?" Dante brushed his fingers across the main board, "All of the things we've been through, and you've never let me give the orders, it's always been the AI, or another member of my crew hitting a button. We're going down, but it doesn't need to be that way. Don't give up, fight with me, and we will live to see another day."

A plastic hatch retreated and a metallic ball slowly emerged. Dante had a lot of time doing nothing, so he read the manual of the ship a few times over. The Albatross was equipped with it's own piece of black technology, but it was never successfully implemented in any ship. Rather than using manual commands, an AI, and buttons, this metal ball should (in theory) give the person in contact the ability to control a ship with their mind. No other pilot has ever made it work.

Dante touched the orb and shut his eyes. He could "see" from the ship's perspective, "Angel, there isn't an AI, and I'm mentally connected. Get out of my brain and into the ship, repair some systems, I'm tired of you digging into my mind."

"Understood Dante. I believe I can serve better in this aspect anyway." It only took her ten seconds before Dante felt as if the Albatross was his own body, "I've reconnected all systems, and reset the breaker for all downed electrical devices. You have full control Dante."

A radio broadcast went directly into the Albatross, and Dante's mind, "Dante! Why didn't you jump! We're supposed to share our fights!"

"This isn't my fight Ratchet. The Albatross wants to prove her worth. Angel, talk with the others, I'm busy." Dante was the ship now.

The Albatross continued to plummet to the ground, slowly spiraling in the air. Daisy was smiling, "One more thorn from my side. A shame, he was fun to be with."

"It's as you say leader, the captain goes down with his ship."

"Ha, someone was paying attention. Come over here and get on your knees, I want to thoroughly enjoy this. Wait." The girl did as she was told, but Daisy watched as the Albatross was spiraling faster and faster, "Son of a- I knew he wouldn't go down without a fight! All attack ships, take it down! You keep doing what you're doing."

The Night Prowler ships took off from their hangars, but just as the Albatross was about to hit the ground the backburners erupted with energy, as did the landing engines, and it swooped back into the air. Of course, the Albatross fired a few concentrated blasts at the ships taking off, and hit two with each blast.

As it danced in the air, the Night Prowler pilots were in awe. The Albatross wasn't a massive ship, but it wasn't small either. That it was able to perform a maneuver shocked them for a few seconds. Just enough time for the Albatross to loop through the air and use the "burp gun!" to take out a few of them. The tiny fighters scattered, but distracted the Albatross enough for the larger ships to get in the air.

Three of the fighters lined up and opened fire, but the reflector shields were up so each shot was bounced directly back. One of the large ships fired it's main cannon, but the Albatross jumped to the side, almost as if it teleported. Then, it charged at the massive ship. Just before it hit, the Albatross "teleported" behind, spun, and took out the main engines. Before that ship could fall, the Albatross flew above, gripped the top with its landing gear, and flew the ship straight up into the air.

There was a moment of calm serenity on the outside, which Fallen Sky and the Night Prowlers witnessed (inside the ship was pure chaos though, the engines on that particular model were tied directly to the artificial gravity). Suddenly, the Albatross flipped backwards and rocketed to the earth with the improvised missile in the landing gear. The Albatross released and gracefully swooped into the air again as the speeding chunk of metal flew directly into the satellite which disabled the Albatross in the first place. The fiery explosion destroyed a major portion of the ground, including the satellite, energy plant, and most of the hangar.

By this time, the rescue ship had returned to Isa's main ship and the members of Zero Unit were all panicking and wondering what Dante was able to do. Jill was frantically trying to open communications with the help of Isa's ship. It took a minute, but it was successful. They were shown live video of the bridge. Oddly enough, they only saw the side of Dante, who was standing at the front rather than behind the controls. In the head seat sat a ghostly girl, "What... am I looking at..."

They also had sound, "Anima, I believe that a video uplink has been established. I am busy maintaining the Albatross' functions, it would be appreciated if you would inform them of our actions."

The ghostly girl nodded and hopped out of her seat. If it weren't for the dire situation, her actions would have been amusing. She was making faces while trying to figure out the camera, and made sure to get as close as possible, "Hello?"

Her eye was the only thing Zero Unit saw, "Uh, this is Lieutenant Titus, you can back away from the camera... who are you?"

The ghostly girl backed away so they got a better visual, "Anima?!" Wendy dropped to a knee and mumbled something quietly to herself, "It can't... I mean... is it possible?"

"HEY! Someone knows my name! That's so cool! Oh, you're from Earth? That's awesome!" She was completely oblivious to her situation, but then again she was a ghost.

"Where is Dante?" Ratchet was pretty upset.

Anima smiled, "He's driving the Albatross. Oh! We blew up the radar-cannon-ship killing thingy. Angel says you can attack. Blow up everything!" She wandered back and took a seat, clapping as the Albatross took down another ship.

Sere looked over at Wendy, who was practically praying, "Uh... that's Anima, Dante's gun, but a little girl..."

Wendy nodded as she stood up, "Dante is the center of a religion that formed on Earth. He's... not like everyone else. They say he's died many times, yet he still walks. He's a savior, and..."

Miss Star hopped up as Isa mobilized her fleet, "Well, I'll worship him if I need to, he deserves it more than anyone in my opinion."

Isa's fleet descended into the planet's atmosphere with a hail of cannon fire. Thousands of ships vaporized the Night Prowler fleet and most of their facilities in a few moments, all the while the Albatross was dodging the assault.

"Angel, take over. Anima, let's finish this." Dante removed his hand and drew his gun as the ghost vanished.

"Understood Dante, shall I land- what are you doing? Why did you open the airlock? Dante? Dante?!" He jumped from the ship, unfortunately for Angel she had to get clear as the debris from above was posing too much of a risk, even with advanced shields.

He watched as an escape pod for the Night Prowlers was hit by an engine from one of their own ships, "There." Dante curled up for a moment as every living being watched an event they would never witness again. Wings burst from his back, pure white closest to his body while fading to pure black near the ends. Dante flew up towards his target, Daisy, who happened to be plummeting towards the ground.

Flames and scraps of metal hovered in the sky as Dante landed with Daisy in his arms. She looked up, "Dante? I... you were always better than me, we're the same and somehow you were better. I hate you so much."

He kneeled down, "We aren't the same."

"Yes we are, we even worked together. And if I didn't shoot you..."

Dante put Anima to her forehead, "There is a fundamental difference. We have the same amount of blood staining our hands, the same amount of lives destroyed, and we've been given the same power and influence. However," He whispered into her ear, "I didn't let myself become corrupted."

Daisy closed her eyes and smiled, "Don't ever change Dante." He pulled the trigger, ending her life.

He looked into the frozen sky, "Angel, let's go, we're done here." The wings disappeared as the Albatross landed. He talked into his computer, "Zero Unit, get ready for pickup, we're going on vacation. Isa, finish up here."

..............................................

Dante was sitting in the lounge as all the members of Zero Unit stared, "What?" It was two hours of silence, and Dante couldn't take any more.

Mira was the first to speak, "What was that?"

"It was nothing, wipe it from your minds." He took a sip from his drink, "Wendy, stand up."

Wendy was kneeling and praying again, "S-sorry. But Anima walked again, that's a big deal. You might be upset by it, but that's a good sign to me." She looked around, "Uh, I have something to ask, but that will be later, if it's okay."

Rachel was busy scanning through her data, as she saw nothing out of the ordinary, while Miss Star was in a state of pure shock, "Wings... wings..."

Cratis scratched her head at the same time as Titus, "So uh... what are you exactly?" Chey asked the same thing after a minute of silence.

"He's Dante. That's all he is. Commander of Zero Unit, Captain of the Albatross, board member of Fallen Sky, most feared and respected person in the known universe, and the best drink maker I know. Well, not the best, but nobody else can get a drink to be 156% alcohol... I mean, how did you make that possible? You broke the laws of nature..."

Dante was going to talk with Angel, but Sere was too busy with that, "Dante, how did you do this much damage to the ship? I swear, you're more dangerous and awesome than every other ship combined." Sere sighed as she walked off to do maintenance.

Dante casually took another sip, "I'm going to go relax. I suggest you all get some rest, it's been a long day."

.............................................

Dante was in the shooting range with two standard pistols and clips lined up on the cabinet. He fired round after round and reloaded as soon as the current clip was clear. It wasn't long before Jill, Chey, and Wendy were there as well. Jill and Chey practiced their aim, but Wendy tugged on Dante's shirt, "Uh, Dante, I was wondering... can you teach me to shoot?"

Dante reloaded a pistol and handed it to her, "Learn the gun. Trigger, reload, clear, weight, kickback. Step up." Wendy looked forward and aimed at the thoroughly destroyed target. Her hands were shaky still, common for a new person. She fired one shot, but the kickback almost made the gun fly out of her hand.

Dante stopped it though, "Sorry, I'm no good at this."

"Practice. Aim for the center, line up the sights. For now, hold the gun firm until you get used to it. For now, just get used to the gun. Try to hit the center, but focus on handling." Wendy kept firing, but needed help reloading. It only took about thirty shots before she was used to the kickback and her accuracy was improving. Cratis soon joined them and was about to practice with her rifle, "Cratis, take over. Teach Wendy some firing tips. I'm going to walk around."

Jill and Chey exchanged a quick look, then took off, "Uh... what just happened here?"

Wendy tried to reload her pistol, "Uh, Ms. Cratis, I still can't do this."

Cratis took hold, "Oh, I see. When you get stronger you can force it, but for the most part, well, look." She showed Wendy more details and the track the clip rides on. Cratis also went over some ways to make it slide in easier, "This gun is easy to use, so the faster you get used to it the easier it will be to learn other weapons."

Wendy took aim. Cratis was a bit surprised at her stance, which was similar to Dante's when he was in a firefight. Her eyes were motivated, she wasn't just learning for the sake of learning. Cratis shrugged and practiced using her rifle, keeping an eye on Wendy who learned very quickly. Her accuracy would make Ratchet proud. Wendy was growling as she kept firing.

"You humans confuse me so much." Cratis fired a few rounds, "Seriously, how did you get so accurate so fast?"

Wendy reloaded, "I... want to be useful to Dante. He works so hard, and I need to do more than cook. Maybe when I get older I can be a scout like Jill."

Cratis smiled, "I was like you when I was a kid. Speaking of Jill and Chey, they left kinda fast. Where did they go?"

............................................

"Oh crap... what?" Dante didn't even need to turn around.

"Well, we're just congratulating you for today." The door slid shut, "That's all."

Chey laughed, "Yeah, well, there is more ways than one to celebrate a victory."

"Sigh." Dante didn't even budge when he heard the footsteps, "Can't you people just... I don't know, take care of yourselves?"

...............................................

Ratchet was cleaning her gun, though she didn't get a chance to use it, when Wendy entered her room, "Uh, Ms. Ratchet? Can I ask you some things?"

"Miss? Wow, haven't had people call me that before. Sure, take a seat." Ratchet noticed the unloaded pistol in her belt, "Oh, that's new. Not the gun, that's pretty standard, but I didn't expect our shy little chef to have a gun."

Wendy looked away, "Can you teach me how to take it apart and put it back together? I saw you doing that a lot, and I thought..."

Ratchet finished cleaning the barrel of her rifle, then set it down and gestured for Wendy to sit next to her, "First, tell me why."

"Well, I uh... I uh... I want to... be useful... and learn to be... brave like Dante."

Ratchet chuckled, "Good enough, but we'll need to get you a better gun soon. This one is a stock model, meant for target shooting and low level soldiers. First, clear the chamber and hit this little switch..." She went over the steps to completely disassemble, clean, and reassemble the pistol. To her surprise Wendy picked it up almost immediately, "Not bad kid."

"I think I want to start as a scout... I'm used to being careful and looking around."

Ratchet gave her a pat on the head, "That's not a bad place to start, but if you want to be like Dante," Wendy jumped, "Yeah, I figured it out. If you want to be like him, it's best to learn a bit of every job, even if you specialize with one. Then again, you might have a better grip on survival than most people outside of Earth."

Wendy took this time to look around Ratchet's room, "This stuff looks neat."

As a priestess of Abuio, she wasn't going to abandon her life and the things that held meaning, "I guess so. Most of it is religious. I actually like that little... well, you'd call it dress-like. But that on the wall." She pointed to the garment, which was simple in design, but had frills and painted designs, "I think Sere has a plan, Dante volunteered which is why he doesn't need armor. I think it would be amazing if we could wear whatever and be safe."

Wendy looked at her clothes, "I'll grow out of these soon. I guess I have a lot to learn still, and I don't want to get in anyone's way."

Ratchet exploded with laughter, "Are you serious?! Obviously you haven't seen Miss Star... oh well. For now, you're really young. Learn the basics, exercise, read up on tactics, that sort of thing. You might not be a Dante, I don't think anyone could be a Dante." She paused, "Humans... don't have wings, do they?" Wendy shook her head, "Huh, well it is Dante. Best not to wonder too much."

Wendy kicked her feet over the edge of the bed, "Do you think I need to get this one modified, or should I get a new one?"

"For now, learn with that pistol. When we stop at a dock, I'll help you pick out a new gun or two. And a knife. And a belt made for our line of work. It'll be fun!"

"So did you really like Dante's bow?"

Ratchet looked at her wall, where the crude bow was hanging on a hook and had two ribbons of straw leaf wrapped around it, "Uh, well... I am a priestess of Abuio, and Dante did what nobody else has ever done. He's the best hunter alive, and his bow was a gift. I guess you could say it's holy to a degree. A sign that we're bonded together. Not marriage, but I'm going to stay by his side to the very end."

"I think... that's nice." Wendy kicked her feet, "You saw Anima too, maybe I should talk with her sometime. If she thinks I'm worthy. And Dante lets me."

Ratchet put an arm across Wendy's shoulders, "He will, I think. I mean even Dante needs to answer some questions about his ghost err... Anima's ghost? If he wasn't so awesome I'd just give up." Ratchet carefully put together her sniper rifle as Wendy watched, "Oh, right, you'll get used to this. I could take this apart and put it together blindfolded." She finished and checked the sight, "One lesson you can learn from Abuio, even if you choose not to follow, is to always care for your weapon like it was a part of you."

Wendy nodded while taking mental notes, thanked Ratchet, and walked towards Dante's room. She knocked, but there was no answer. In fact, not even Miss Star was around and making noise (there was a suspicious thumping coming from Jill's room though). Luckily, Dante's door slid open and Anima was sitting on the bed, "Uh, Miss Anima? Are you there?"

"Oh! The other human! The non-evil one." Her ghost appeared on the far side of the room, "How are you?"

Wendy was about to kneel down, but remembered that she did want to be like Dante, "Uh, thank you for... talking to me..." She kept standing, "I didn't think the rumors were true."

Anima shook her head in a very animated manner, "Nobody ever says hello, they just wonder why Dante calls his gun Anima. I'm Anima, space people are rude."

"S-so... is Dante... really..."

Anime jumped onto the bed (quite a feat for a tiny ghost), "Dante is... huh. I don't know really. I call him Dante, but he's not, well he is, is he? Hmm... I think he's supernatural, a bit like me, but different. The women on this ship really like to take advantage of him."

Wendy nodded, "Well, he is divine enough to me, but... it's like Jill says all the time about... he's just Dante. Oh, uh..." She took a deep breath, "Do you think you can ask him to train me more?"

.......................................

Several hours later, when everyone was finally asleep and done bothering him, Dante went back to the lounge and made himself a drink, "What the fuck am I and why should I care?" He took a sip, then shuddered when he heard more footsteps, "Ratchet, can't I at least finish my drink and contemplation?" He waited as the footsteps kept moving closer, "I don't care what I am, but can't I have been something other than a man at this point? I just want sleep..." Ratchet grabbed his arm and led him to her room.