Homestar Saga

Chapter 151: Jewel of the Sky

"Well, Crunch." Yvian gazed longingly at the Gate, still half submerged in the Skygem. If she'd been just ten seconds sooner... Well. There was nothing to be done about it, now. She'd just have to trust the Captain. Between him and the Peacekeeper unit, rescuing Lissa shouldn't be too hard. Probably. She hoped.

Yvian shook her head and got moving. Reba's YEETs were still out there. Plasma wouldn't do a damned thing to her Lucendian ship, but kinetics were another matter. A YEET round would pulverize the Skygem, and she wouldn't even see it coming. Constant evasives were her only defense.

Yvian sunk deeper into the ship, expanding her awareness to check on the battle. The Queenships were intact, still protected by the Stinger units and their modified beam cannons. Reba's asshole YEETs were countered for now, but the Xill were firing too. They were using more conventional weapons, thank the Lady, but there were still an awful lot of them. Ions and protons and plasma and who knows what else crashed against the massive Queens. A normal fleet would be debris by now, but Pixa's repurposed Klaath flagships were monsters. Their shields were holding.

Reba's battlecruisers had failed to jump the Techjammers out of the system. The Queens were reducing the last of the escort vessels into molten debris. A few more seconds, and they'd be able to start in on Reba's reserves. There were still millions of Xill unleashing a massive and constant barrage of charged particles, but Yvian's forces should be tough enough to pull through. Probably. She hoped.

"What's happening?" The voice was muffled. Yvian pulled more of her soul into her body to find Yuriko pressed against her. The woman had wrapped an arm around Yvian's shoulder, cupping the back of her head as she pressed their helmets together. Between the Peacekeeper suit and her inert armor Yvian couldn't feel much of the contact. Still, it was... it felt intimate.

"Yvian?" Dr. Miner tried again. "Can you hear me? What's happening?" Oh. Right. Yuriko wasn't coming in for a cuddle. This was the only way she could communicate while Yvian's comms were fried. Skygem offered to pressurize herself. It would be mostly methane, unbreathable, but it would make talking a lot easier. Yvian told her no. It would complicate things when the Captain came back with Lissa.

"Yvian?" Yuriko said it louder this time.

Yvian let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "Mims and the Peacekeeper went through the Gate. I'm taking evasives in case the YEETs try to take us out." She took another breath and asked, "What are you two doing here?"

"Rescuing you, sexy," Yvian could hear the woman's lopsided grin. "What else would we be doing?"

"You know what I mean," Yvian chided. "We tried to get Skygem to come out for this, and she said no. Emphatically. How'd you convince her?"

"When we talked to the Last Hope," Yuriko explained. "I promised I'd do whatever it took to get her babies back. She didn't... She'd already given up on them."

"I know." Yvian had had a similar conversation with the Mother.

"Yeah," Yuriko nodded slightly. "I was talking with Sara, Dr. Laswell, about it. Dr. Roboto heard us. He took us back to City 43. Had us talk to Shard. That big green Vrrl was there. Scarrend, I think? Anyway, the Vrrl's been communing with the City since you left. Learned the language, I guess."

"Learned the language?" Yvian frowned, keeping half her soul focused on Skygem's view of the Gate. "It's been like two days."

"Yeah," Dr. Miner agreed, "It's crazy how they can do that. Anyway, he translated for us. Once Shard understood what we were trying to do, she convinced the Hope to send Skygem on the condition that we come with and tell her what to do." A brief pause. "Only we didn't know what to do. If Sara hadn't felt your implant, we'd still be wandering around like idiots."