With Skull momentarily defeated, Minion used his retro's to fly back to the Pyro-GX.
:arrow: "Now then, should we begin the repairs?"
Swift nodded inside his Pyro-GX and tapped: #Yep. We're all fien, but McQuarrie needs a serious overhaul.#
:arrow: "I'll call in some repair droids from Oberon."
Swift nodded again. #You do that. Send-#
With that Swift stopped tapping and looked down, his face stricken with grief for a moment.
#I guess we can't send our main dropship and transport pilot, Kagemitsu......# Swift sighed underwater, effectively wasting 20 minutes of breath in one action. #Just... send Kary. She'll be safer away from McQuarrie, anyways.#
Minion nodded. :arrow: "Right. Can you fly back yourself?"
Swift gave Min an incredulous look. #What do you take me for, a sissy? A little water never stopped me before.#
Minion raised a couple arms. :arrow: "Hey, just askin to make sure." And with that Minion turned, jumped off the Pyro-GX and retro'd to McQuarrie while Swift stayed floating for a second.
He reminenced about the battle. he had taken on 3 different foes, all three with massive weapons with them, and he had fought them back nearly by himself. He knew he had suffered heavy damage, but looking back he couldn't see a single moment where he could have done better.
Swift gripped his twin control sticks and flew into the docking area within McQuarrie. He slid down slowly onto the ground, opened his cockpit and let the water drain out. He then flew up a couple feet and flipped upside down, completely emptying alll water within his ship.
He took a deep breath of the air of McQuarrie. He never really liked the unatural air in his bases that much, Charon's especcially. His favorite was the fresh breeze of the Albertan Praire best, since he had known that air since birth, and nothing could ever top it.
He flipped the Pyro-GX right side up and landed, jumped out and went to his office, where an unarmoured Minion stood by the desk.
"Ah, Min." Swift sat down in his chair with a jump, making the chair slide and spin a little. "How goes the repairs?"
:arrow: "Kary is off in a transport, AX2-R model, to Oberon for repair droids and general supplies. She's taking two other ships, Te5-8's, along with her. Our outer core repairs are complete, but many floors are demolished, and as we know, the South side is nearly comepeltely destroyed. But, our Oxycarbon level is now at 68% and still rising, and the power level is currently at a constant 85-90% level, with a few more hours of direct sunlight to charge our battery stores."
Swift nodded. "I see. Good! Work on reinforcing the armouring of McQuarrie, then when Kary gets back we'll get to work on fixing the internal structure, starting with the West side. Save the South side for last, we can organize stuff here fine with me and you alone."
Minion nodded. "Alright then. What if Jehuty, Blackhawk or Skull return before we're ready?"
"Then we fight to the death, as we did before. Better keep your Exo Suit on, just in case Skull teleports in again. You seem to do best against him, anyways."
Minion nodded again. "Alright. I'll keep a couple Battalions outside your office door, and a few with me at all times."
Swift nodded this time. "Sounds good! Now then, get to work on fixing the armour, got it?"
Minion saluted. Swift said "At ease. It's just me, ya know."
Minion chuckled. "I know this bugs you. That's why I'm doing it."
Swift sighed, grinned, then picked Minion's small frame up, went tot he door, and threw him out of his office and on his feet. Minion trod away quickly and went to work.
Swift shut the door and turned to his desk. He ran up, jumped over it and landed ass-first in his chair, making it roll close to the large, wall sized window behind him. He stopped, leaned back and gazed out of the window.
The planet of Venus stormed below him, a huge swirl of grey and yellow. It was almost beautiful, the way it went on it's way, uncaring of what happened above it.
