Chapter 1: Bacchus Gill
Chapter Text
This Harvest of Hopes, My Companion
Cut down all
The wounded plants,
Do not leave them without water, at their last gasp;
Tear away all
The writhing flowers,
Do not leave them pining on the boughs.
This harvest of hopes, companion,
This time too will go to ruin,
All the toil of mornings and evenings
Now too will prove worthless.
In holes and corners of the ploughland
Once more pour the fertiliser of your blood,
Once more water the earth with tears;
Once more take thought for the next season,
Once more take thought for the next season,
When once more it must come to ruin.
One harvest ripened, we shall have satisfaction,
Until which time we must go on doing the same thing.
-Faiz Ahmad Faiz
Marvelous thinks it would be helpful if he could remember their faces at all.
Instead, his memories are more like statistics, a roll call of events that he remembers with no or little visual imagery. He still tries to think of what he knows from time to time.
He remembers the general shape of their ship and not being tall to reach past the railings and always being picked up when he wanted to look at the stars, he always wanted to look at the stars and the distant planets when he was a child. He remembers or thinks he remembers relying on his parents, whose faces he can never picture in any detail, to grab him in their arms and talk about each star and each planet in detail.
In their culture, five or six parents for a set of children weren't unheard of, some had less, some had more. One of his friends had eight, he had five and nearly ten siblings of various ages running around, or what would be known as crew on one ship-- five or six adults and around five to ten children. Most of the time siblings weren't even related by blood, he had three such siblings who had joined their ship only a few years ago, but there was no difference between their bonds and the bonds of his other siblings. If you were crew, you stuck together and also fought and teased each other, but in the end you looked out for and looked after each other.
He was aware that their parents who were part of another ship had been taken away by the Empire, never to be found.
This fact was still spoken in hushed voices--- but his people had not gone down without a fight, several convoys of ships had gone to put an end to the Zangyack Empire's violence and were crushed mercilessly.
The Zangyack had advanced weapons which they had been building from all the riches of the planets they had conquered, and they had a powerful centralised military. No matter how much Marvelous' people's infrastructure was strong, they were still nomads primarily who had kept friendly relationships with other nations and people and had not developed such advanced weaponry or a centralised military, they had no use of them till the Empire came.
The Empire was a vague bogeyman in the minds of the children who played around otherwise spared of any cares of the Universe. They had heard sometimes the children being separated from their families; sometimes ending up with the Zangyack, many times ending up alone or as orphans in what passed for the Zangyack childcare system, but that wouldn't happen to them they figured, not while their parents were alive.
The children meanwhile had dreams and lives to live. In the evening one of his parents would teach him about the stars and navigation using musical notes, another had promised to carve out a smaller version of the ship they were sailing on for him as a gift for his name day, another still was going to take the children to trade with neighbouring planets so they could learn how to sell the wares once they were older.
He was dreaming that he had overslept and his parents and siblings had left without him to the bazaar, but they had had a large spread last evening with many of his favourite dishes, and later he had slept on the deck with the other children after watching the Nebula.
Someone is gently shaking him and he wakes up with a jolt.
"Marvelous-san." Ahim's voice reaches his ears, "Doc-san wanted me to tell you that we're nearing the Zangyack homeplanet."
Marvelous nods and gets up from the chair where he has been taking a nap and walks downstairs to the bridge. Strange, that he should be dreaming of his childhood after so long. Even stranger that they are not the usual memories he has had in the past-- that of his family dying. His brain seems to have made peace with the more unsavory aspects of his past, or so he thinks.
He takes over the wheel from Navi and looks at their computer readings. Not even three sleeps till they reach the Zangyack homeworld.
They drop anchor on the Zangyack homeworld and he's looking out clear headed. Luka and Joe have been spying the activities using a telescope and Marvelous joins them for a quick survey before they climb down.
"There are several ships on the horizon," Luka points out.
They watch as ships are loading people onto them, people who are trying to leave the planet. There is a lot of chaos and confusion. The planet is all blues, greys and blacks and has a heavy military presence-- checkpoints and barbed wires everywhere.
"Even worse than Mimas." Doc whispers as they walk past barbed wires, and soldiers point their guns at them, causing him to hide behind Luka. A surveillance camera follows him and he makes a face at it.
A general fear seems to pervade in the populace; there are the usual mundane cruelties of the Empire still ongoing; welfare services being denied to the poorest of the richest Empire and people complaining about that, the shops having less and less to sell and people having less and less to buy. Even now the televisions in the shops are blaring advising people to remain calm, to not join the faction that was trying to cause unrest and civil war. The good citizen was peaceful and did not destroy property, the public service announcement was telling everyone.
Joe is quieter, his face paler and there is a terror visible in his eyes, something that Marvelous and Luka can't help noticing. Doc and Ahim even ask if he is alright and he nods absentmindedly-- he has never spoken about this, but, he has been here, the first military academy after he graduated was built and still exists here.
There are military bases everywhere, military academies by the dozens and factories to manufacture weaponery tucked away near the poorest parts of the planet. The barrenness of it all is the hardest to come to terms with, no plants or shrubs or bushes would grow, likely because of the weapons being tested, the water flowing in the river also seems polluted and blackened. This is where he had spent another four or five years of his training before graduating as an Imperial Special Officer, before setting out on his first mission, before being declared a traitor for refusing to kill some royal children--
New frigates arrive with soldiers, some even, Joe realises with a jolt, from his own planet. He wonders what running into them will be like and if they will think of him as a traitor or as a friendly face because he has been in their shoes.
He has not kept up with any family, has not stepped foot on his own planet ever since he had joined the military and been whisked off on a large frigate with other children from his planet. Seeing the presence of a few young faces with sorrow visible, sporting long hair like his and dressed in the same black and grey uniforms sends new waves of shock to his system.
Marvelous squeezes Joe's hand and arches his eyebrow, and Joe shakes his head, he is not fine but this is not something he can't endure. He feels grateful that he has his people beside him. He thinks back to the first time he had landed on this planet after finishing his basic training.
The parting from his family especially his mother and his younger sister was hard and Joe remembers it vividly to this day. He hasn't dwelled on it much until now when he thinks about these kids and the families they must have left behind. Two or three of these kids are crying and he feels pity rising in his chest for them.
He remembers how they were not allowed to send letters to their families, except on special occassions such as birthdays; he had sent them religiously when he was young and in the military school and had received them from his family just as promptly. And then they grew fewer and fewer and then sometime later stopped completely. He had also not sent letters back after that, feeling petulant and angry that they had forgotten him perhaps.
He was feeling homesick and angry that they had not even bothered to show up to his graduation, when they were all brought to this planet and restarted the gruelling schedule of trainings whether day or night, whether rain or desert heat and sun, they had to train. If they failed, they were beaten and held back and had to practice for hours to master the technique. The older cadets would either be sent to the frontlines or stay back to teach, Sid Sempai had chosen to teach even though this was his last year as a cadet and his first as an Imperial Special Officer.
Joe who did not have many friends and kept to himself, focused entirely on qualifying for the Imperial Special Officer position and studied as diligently for the exam he would have to sit for as he practiced his sword skills. Both would be tested for him to qualify. He was relieved when the gruelling three hour exam finished and vowed to never sit for another.
Sid-Sempai was the only one he told when they received their results in fat envelopes. A sharp stab went through his heart that he could not write to his parents or his brothers and sister with the news, he did not know where they were or even if they were alive. Sid Sempai at least celebrated that news appropriately by taking him out to dinner. Even while they celebrated, Joe knew several of his classmates had not made it through cadet training, and the ones that did, several of them had been dispatched to the front lines as fodder. It wasn't surprising when each new morning news came of how a classmate or another had died.
A letter from one of his brothers- a rare occurrence, and one which happened when he was still in the Imperial Special Forces, resurfaced in his mind. That was the only letter from his family he had ever kept, a letter from his dead brother, the only letter he had read so many times that he had memorised the words. He had dismissed it the first time he had received it, horrified at the excesses and the deaths but still somewhat convinced of the Empire being in the right. As he confronted the realities of what the Empire was doing more and more and had to pass through his own test to kill those royal children, he had never let this letter out of his sight again.
Joe, you lucky bastard, be glad you are not here with us. Everyday I see scenes of blown up buildings, scarred people walking around everywhere, my dreams are all the same- I think of people running around as fires engulf them. The people on Anthe have been resisting and fighting, and yesterday they blew up some of our barracks, you should know that big boots, sleepyhead and theatre kid all died, I should use their real names now, but all I can think of them is through the ridiculous nicknames everyone received in the academy. I can only think of them as living, breathing companions who should walk through the door at any moment. I know we weren't close, but dammit Joe, what I wouldn't give to be back in the academy, just as my little brother was entering it, and start from scratch or better yet not have entered the wars in the first place, these stupid pointless wars. We had no right to come here-- Everything is burning, we're going to destroy the planet in retaliation for the deaths of our soldiers and Commanders- the orders are going to come in, I just know it, but by the Heavens and-(I am not going to take the Emperor's name, not anymore)! we really should not have come here. I have blood all over me, Joe, it won't ever go away--
As an Imperial Special Officer, he would only be sent on covert and delicate missions and once he achieved seniority he could even choose the missions he would be sent on. It was the best possible route for him, and it still messed him up in many ways, including how much baseline pain he was in constantly now. The Zangyack had never cared for him or anyone else, if he hadn't escaped when he did--
His reverie is punctuated by the arrival of a new contingent of fresh faced soldiers, newly graduated from military school, barely fifteen or sixteen, some even younger, and being told that this was the start of the rest of their lives. Something breaks inside Joe, he cannot watch more children becoming canon fodder, not now while the Empire was desperately clinging to any little vestiges of power it had, not now while it didn't care if the children were too young or too disabled to fight. Not now, when it was thrusting many of its own people into the machine because it was fading and irrelevant and dying out.
They wanted soldiers desperately to stop any rebellions and power struggles on the planets and they were taking any children who signed up and even picking up children from the streets and promising them a better future. Joe would snort at that, all they do is convince you that fighting wars for them to keep their power and oppress people was in your interest too, that they were protecting you, by killing children from other planets.
Joe looks down at his boots in shame, how could he have believed their lies for so long. He stifles a sob escaping his throat and rubs his eyes vigorously. Deep breaths, Joe, he tells himself.
Marvelous places his hand on Joe's shoulder. "That's why we're here, to make sure no kids have to fight Zangyack anymore."
Joe exhales and nods.
"If you want to talk, Joe, we're here." Luka tells him. Ahim, Doc and Gai look at him with fondness and Joe is glad for them all at this moment.
"Let's find Bacchus Gill then." Joe nods, looking determined as they move forward through the city and into the more suburban areas and open fields.
Chapter 2: Amid the Crumbling Ruins of an Empire
Chapter Text
It just so happens that Bacchus Gill finds them all first, he appears with the Zangyack Commanders and blocks their path.
"Well, well, fancy seeing you here, pirates. Didn't think you'd have the guts to show up."
"Didn't think you'd be strutting around so casually after what happened to Ackdos and Warz Gill."
"My cousin was weak." Bacchus smiles, "Unfortunately you will get no quarter from me, you space rats."
"Did you steal that insult from your cousin too? Just like you stole his fashion sense? and I don't mean that flatteringly." Marvelous tells him casually spinning his pistol in his hand.
"Why you little-" Bacchus sputters out.
"You will get no quarter from us too. Let's go!" Marvelous says, but none of his crew have to be told, they have jumped into the thick of the battle. The sabres are clashing and sending out sparks, the pistols are sending their hails of bullets everywhere. They take down several Goumin, Sugoumin and even one Zangyack Commander but there are three more Zangyack Commanders along with the supposed Emperor. Some Vaglass including their Captain also join the foray but the Gokaigers are already tired even though they are heroically trying to keep fighting against the incoming tide of Zangyack and Vaglass.
"Give up already pirates." Bacchus Gill spits out, as his blade clashes with Joe's and then with Marvelous'.
"Are you tired? Very well, we accept your surrender." Marvelous grins, despite only being able to eke out his words in between a lot of pants. He is bruised and bleeding; his right arm keeps dripping blood, while he has a gash on his forehead. He also thinks he may have a bruise on his torso somewhere, he feels a sharp stabbing pain near his right lung whenever he tries to breathe too deeply.
The sky is filled with ash and soot and the ground littered with bodies of the Goumin, Vaglass, Sugoumin and the Zangyack Commander. Another Zangyack Commander is struggling with his wounds too. Marvelous looks around him and it is a similar state of affairs, there is a gash running up Luka's hairline and she appears to be limping. Doc is sporting a bloody lip as well as a wound on his left arm, Gai is clutching at his stomach while his hands are aching, and Ahim's hands are bleeding. The worst is Joe, whose left hand dangles a bit too limply from his shoulder for Marvelous' liking and is sporting a visible pistol wound, which is blooming near his chest.
Joe has also been fighting more intensely, throwing himself into the thick of the fight, determined to face off the worst of the Commanders. Marvelous has seen the same burning light in Joe's eyes that was there when he was fighting Barizorg and has let Joe handle the main Commanders as much as he can while also covering for him and not leaving him too open for attacks. The few glances that Joe gives him, show that he is grateful for that.
Marvelous himself can go a few more rounds but his crew and especially Joe are faltering more and more. They realistically cannot handle a much more prolonged fight and he's always preferred retreating and regrouping if a fight is too much for them. No shame in that, they are pirates after all.
He takes several steps back and finds his way blocked by the Zangyack Commander in red and black who looks too much like Kiaido from the distance. He grins, thrusts and then parries while also shooting several bullets from his pistol. At least the bullets hit and hurt this one and he can see an open wound near the chest of this Commander that has been courtesy of his sabre; but the Zangyack Commander still manages to lift him up by the scruff of his coat some feet above the ground and drops him below.
The fall does hurt but doesn't break any of his bones, as far as he can tell-- there are shouts of "Marvelous" and "Marvelous-san" in the distance. He immediately gets up to face the Commander again and so that he can reassure his crew that he is alright, but his left leg is throbbing and aching since he fell on it directly. He's having to shift his weight on the right one too often. He looks at Joe and receives a nod in return from him, a temporary surrender is the only thing they can do at this moment.
He's quickly disarmed of his weapons, he looks around him- the other Zangyack Commander has made short work of the rest of his crew's weapons as well. Some Sugoumin that were in the background cowering during the battle, surround and point their guns at them.
He can hear the Emperor give an order to destroy their ship and in the rushing of blood to his ears he barely hears what everyone else is saying.
In the distance he can see what appears to him to be the Gokai Galleon burning and he grits his teeth in pain and anger. They had no right to burn his home again. He watches the flames rise and dance and the mast crumble in the distance. His eyes prick with moisture but there is no time to wallow in pain. He'll get his home back, he rolls his hands into fists, it isn't just his, it's theirs - his crew's. He's not letting their home die, not without a fight. He wonders if this was also how his parents felt when he was a child. He averts his eyes from the flames in the distance as the Galleon starts sinking into the sea.
Bacchus Gill holds him up by his hair (he hates when they do that, they can just use his coat). The Emperor is gloating, as if he's obtained his most important victory yet.
"Captain Marvelous." The voice is shrill and loud to his ears and he winces.
"Captain Marvelous." Bacchus Gill, probably the most powerful Zangyack left in the Universe, repeats. "You're one bug that's hard to quash, I'll give you that Captain."
"Oh, bugs? I see you've improved your vocabulary of insults a little. I was despairing that we would ever hear a good one from you. We still haven't but I have hope now." A backhanded slap follows and Doc's cry reverberates in the background.
He is trying to rile up Bacchus so that the Emperor hurts him and not his crew, a foolish and hotheaded way to go about things perhaps, but no one has accused him of being calm and sensible and he'd like to maintain that track record.
"Take them away." Bacchus orders and soon more Goumin arrive in droves and clap them all in irons. They struggle but no one utters a word, they feel too defeated. Marvelous glares at the Emperor as they are taken away and thrown unceremoniously in one large cell.
Marvelous turns to his crew silently to check for injuries. He's stripping away Joe's sleeve to check how deep the wound is, meanwhile Doc is staunching Gai's wound and Ahim and Luka are looking after each others' wounds. Marvelous heaves a sigh as he assures himself that Joe's arm isn't broken, only swollen and badly injured. He tears away strips from his own shirt to make bandages and stops the bleeding from near his sternum. Joe has his eyes closed passing in between the two modes of fainting and being alert for several minutes.
"Joe." Marvelous says tearing more strips to bandage his first mate's arm and Joe tries to open his eyes. Joe brushes Marvelous' Mastoid process softly with his working hand and feels tears clouding his eyes.
"You're bleeding, Marvelous." He whispers before he has to close his eyes again to prevent himself from feeling dizzy. Marvelous suspects Joe must have received a mild concussion from the Zangyack Commander's sword. He had moved in quickly and along with Joe, attacked and disarmed the Commander before pushing their swords in his abdomen and killing him, but that might have been enough time for him to be injured. He removes the fringe from Joe's eyes and sure enough there is a small area above his eye that is swollen and slightly red. It doesn't seem to be much to worry about, Joe has had worse bruises than this, but he worries still.
Marvelous nods absentmindedly, ignoring the flow of blood from his arm which is becoming steadily smaller, he might also faint in an hour or two if he goes without food, but right now he needs all his sense alert. He is scanning their cell for any way out before the new Emperor decides he wants to execute them all. He doesn't know how they will escape from the Zangyack homeworld without their ship but there are always spacebuses and ships they could borrow or stowaway on. He hasn't yet lost hope completely of making a getaway from the planet; even though Doc is talking about the Galleon being lost and how they will not be able to escape. Marvelous keeps his thoughts to himself. Unless he has a solid plan, he's not going to raise their hopes up. But he needs to think fast.
The cell door opens and he jumps up in between the two Sugoumin and his crew even though his left leg is still throbbing painfully. The Sugoumin shrug and pick him up and drag him away. The cell door closes behind him.
He's being half dragged, half taken in the direction of the Emperor's palace.
The gigantic glass building that rises to at least ten meters looms in front of him and the rays of the nearest star cause the building to throw solar glares around it. Marvelous shields his eyes from the harsh light, that has got to be one ugly building he thinks, suits the Emperor's tastes alright. He doesn't have time to linger, the Sugoumin keep walking and pushing him forward.
They lead him to the throne room where Bacchus and a few Zangyack Commanders have taken their seats. Marvelous notes that there is another faction that has joined forces with the Zangyack, the Vaglass and he can see their leaders sitting around and conversing with the Zangyack Commanders.
The Sugoumin try to force him on his knees but he resists and pushes them back. They look in confusion at the Emperor and then move towards him again.
"Leave him." Bacchus tells the Sugoumin who bow and move away. Marvelous stands upright, looking in defiance at the court.
"Tch! Is that how far the mighty have fallen." Marvelous tells Bacchus looking around him, "colluding with the Vaglass? I thought you had more self respect than that."
"Silence." The Vaglass captain rises from his seat. Bacchus Gill places an arm on the Vaglass captain's arm and he sits back down.
"Captain Marvelous, the only reason I am not stringing you and your crew up on the town square right now is that I have a proposition. Have you heard of the Mystical Keys?"
Marvelous hasn't but he's not about to let Bacchus know that.
"I--might have."
"So you know how to obtain them?" the voice is different this time, someone who looks human from planet Earth, although that is no guarantee that they are human, Marvelous knows. The human-like being is excitedly waving around five large empty vials.
"Once we collect the powers of the keys we can revive the Empire."
"Of course we do," Marvelous bluffs and then with as much swagger as he can add. "We're pirates aren't we? We know how to obtain this treasure that you speak of."
"Sit down, Enter." Bacchus tells the excited entity.
"Here's my proposition, pirate." He spits out that word as if it's something bitter on his tongue. Marvelous grins at his reaction, he's used to people invalidating his identity and his chosen profession. The reason why he's so unashamed of it is that everyone else hates him for being a pirate. They were going to hate him for one reason or another so this might as well be it.
"You and your wretched band of worthless space pirates help us collect the keys and we will think about sparing your lives."
Marvelous looks at him coolly, he knows this is the best option they all have now that the Zangyack have burned their ship, but he's not about to cower and accept. They will do things on their terms.
"We have a few conditions of our own."
"Are you hearing this impudence?" The Vaglass captain rises from his seat again.
"Silence." Bacchus Gill retorts. Marvelous can tell that Bacchus Gill is desperate for power and these keys are his only route to amassing power in a short span of time. Otherwise the Zangyack are weakened as they stand now and on the way to crumbling as an Empire. Many planets further inspired by their exploits on Earth have been challenging or have overthrown their power already. Zangyack are weak, and this is a last plea for power and control for which they need the pirates, Marvelous knows that much.
"Go on." Bacchus Gill looks at Marvelous, his face has a pinched and sour look on it while Marvelous has a grin on his face.
"Go what and where?" Gai looks up as Marvelous finishes explaining the deal he struck with the Zangyack, a star is setting in the distance and throwing its rays through the bars of their cell. Bacchus Gill is providing them the ship, a replica almost of theirs and will be accompanying them in it. Doc looks at Marvelous and he doesn't seem worried that they don't have their own ship, he decides to follow his lead and say nothing. He catches Marvelous' eye and spies a small nod from him and he nods in return.
The cell door opens with a clang.
"You're all free to leave." one of the Sugoumin guard tells them and they walk out enjoying the taste and smell of this planet's wind in their faces. They walk to the makeshift spacepod waiting for them, where the paramedics treat their wounds and then deliver them to the Emperor's ship.
Gai and Navi are hastily bundled into a space bus and they take off towards Earth. There hadn't been time to explain everything to Gai, just that he and Navi were supposed to reach Earth and also were to request the Sentai for their keys. Once the space bus disappears from view, Marvelous heaves a sigh and then follows the rest of his crew inside the ship where they are provided with some dinner and allowed to rest and recuperate from the battle. Marvelous already feels many of his wounds healing, and Joe is also doing better- he can move his arm a little and it is less swollen than it was.
"We need time to prepare disguises as we search for these keys." Marvelous tells the Emperor the next day after breakfast. They walk around downstairs searching for costumes in cupboards and talk in peace, for the first time in a few days.
"It's not our Galleon." Doc exclaims in disappointment, looking around at the engine room and opening and closing all the doors.
"Of course it isn't, but the Gokai Galleon is safe." Marvelous grins.
'How did you manage that?" Joe turns to him.
"Told them that one of the conditions of us working with them was that they fix our ship. We just need to have the Galleon sent for, once we reach Earth." Marvelous has a grin on his face.
"Just like that?" Luka's eyes are wide and she looks incredulous. What did you do, Marvelous, to convince Bacchus?"
"Didn't do a thing. They need us and we need our home back. Luka?" Marvelous is picking up the eyeliner from Luka's hands and applying it to his eyes.
"And what is this about knowing where these new keys we've never heard of are?" Luka snatches the eyeliner back, fixing a little wing for Marvelous and applying it on her own eyes.
Ahim, sighs, "I hope Gai-san and Navi have made it back to Earth to collect the key there ."
"How are we going to find these Mystic-keys?" Luka turns back to Marvelous as she's buttoning up Ahim's blouse for her.
Marvelous who is wearing a black coat over a beige kurta, grins. "Who knows."
Joe shakes his head as he's putting on a long tunic and a blue shawl, helped by Ahim and Doc for all the things he still cannot do because of his wounds. Doc is tying a green bandana on his head and adjusting his own vest, and without thinking he grabs a pirate hat from underneath some clothes and crams it onto Marvelous' head.
Marvelous grins, looks in the mirror and adjusts the pink lipstick.
"Now that we look like disreputable pirates, let's go search for this treasure." He grabs his sabre and walks out.
"No, but really do you have any idea where the treasure is?" Doc's voice floats to him as they walk through the corridor and make their way upstairs to the living space.
It takes them around twenty sleeps but they manage to collect the four mystical keys.
The ship's navigational system manages to pin point rough locations and the pirates treat this as a treasure hunt; shimmying down and retrieving the keys from hidden locations on different islands and planets quite easily. Some are found in caves, some in shallow lakes, others in tree trunks and other such nooks and crannies. "Were all the stories of pirates finding treasure chests, a hoax?" Doc asks sand clinging to his wet body as he drags himself up from the lake, having slipped in accidentally after they had retrieved the key from the lake already.
Luka shrugs as she helps him up, "Let's go, Doc. Stop dawdling."
"I wasn't dawdling." Doc retorts as they all walk towards the black coloured Galleon, a ship that Doc still resents because it reminds him too much of his ship. "Luka, wait."
"We don't want to let the keys fall into the Emperor's hands." Marvelous looks at them all as he holds the final key in his hands and they all nod.
"Now everything is dependent on Gai and Navi." Doc says as they climb up the ropes of the ship.
"The fourth key." Enter is almost dancing with happiness as they deposit the key in the vial.
"We have prepared a feast for you. I hope you like pasta." They walk to the table and it is laid out in a feast with spaghetti in tomato sauce , roasted chicken and other delicacies.
"You've done well pirates!" Emperor Bacchus Gill tells them as he walks the length of the living quarters. "Really well. Now enjoy this spread until we reach Earth."
Marvelous does not need further encouragement, he bites into the chicken leg while the others are piling up pasta on their plates.
They defeat Bacchus Gill with the Gobusters- the new Sentai team formed to protect Earth, and make their way back to the Zangyack homeworld Pallene, this time with Gai and Navi. The planet Pallene is in even more disarray than they found it before, but also plants are still growing through stubborn cracks in the pavements.
News of Bacchus' death and Vaglass faction's subsequent desertion has spread, the Zangyack have been broken completely and finally.
They aren't gone, some Zangyack remain; just that they aren't going to be a serious threat again, not for a long time. There are more young people on the streets with banners and shouts of joy. The restaurants have started opening again too. A lot of things are in the process of being torn down, the Emperor's hideous palace for one; or repurposed for the sake of the community. Some Zangyack are leaving, some new people are arriving: exiles, traders, merchants among others.
The interim government has already been formed and has started some work; a makeshift town hall is holding meetings, there are committees formed in abandoned houses of former Zangyack Commanders, there are other committees that are in the process of forming, there are a lot of people, a lot of confusion but it also feels like the start of new and hopefully better things; it does not feel right to linger here, to be privy to the start of new things but they can't leave also, not just yet.
Marvelous spends a long time staring at the sky that is lightening from dark purple to a softer shade of mauve.
In the distance there are shouts from kids who are playing with glass balls among the ruins of a building. A farmer moves with his sheep to pasture somewhere.
He's not sure what he's supposed to feel at the thought of the Empire finally crumbling, an Empire that had caused so much hurt and pain.
They are not politicians or builders, there isn't much else they can do for this planet, except hope that one day it too will rise from the shadow of being a former Empire to something better.
They walk past the military academy--the academy has become non-functional as a school and is in the process of being demolished. Joe heaves a long sigh and then walks inside sidestepping some debris. "We used to have our classes here." he points out to a half broken down classroom. "And this was the courtyard." They all gaze in silence at the ground. Joe finds it easier to talk about these things as he stares at the building that is no longer reminding him of his past. He has walked along its corridors many times, knew each passageway like the back of his hand. The memory of a roll call darts randomly into his mind. He knows half of the kids in his class were dead. From the other half, some had gone missing in action. Hardly a handful had survived. He wonders what they thought of him deserting and leaving the way he had done.
One used to read in stories of the planets having changed but not being able to enter the new dawn even if one did play a small role in its existence, Joe sometimes feels this way now. There are many parts of the new dawn, the new era they are entering, an era without the Zangyack Empire, that are inaccessible for him. He will always remain a soldier, a fighter and what does anyone care for a soldier who remembers the past too much and with too much bitterness?
He does want to tell them all this, wants to share the part of his life that he hasn't so far. They have all grown together so much over the years that it feels right.
He wonders too about his own planet, wonders what becomes of it now? Wonders if he has any right thinking about it, he who hasn't seen it in decades, hasn't cared to keep up with or ask what became of it. He thinks of his family; his sister, his two brothers who had died while he was in the military, his parents who must be elderly now if they are even alive. There seems to be a vast expanse between who he is now and the person he was, when he left his planet. He is not sure he could face his family, he hasn't talked to them in decades, they would all be strangers to him. His sister was only a child when he left, she might not even remember a brother who never could keep her safe and protect her. He does wonder what they think of him, or if they ever think of him and feels a pang that he hasn't thought of them too till now. He wonders if his parents received news of his desertion and how they handled it, he hopes the Zangyack didn't make their lives harder due to that. He wonders also if they ever received news of him having played some role in the downfall of the Empire.
His past was a chapter he had closed to the point that it pained him to even talk about this, at least before, but now---
Some emotions get lodged in his throat as he talks and he has to take several pauses in between; it's easy to show them the courtyard, less easy to describe how the cadets were made to practice for hours on end here or how they were punished for failing to be loyal, and fed the Zangyack ideology little by little in all the subjects they were taught. Joe lets out a small laughter, their Empire had ended, it had ended even though it seemed impossible at one time.
If only he can let go of the guilt of the past that is threatening to engulf him now, reminding him of the many ways he has failed: failed as a son, failed his seven year old self who was shy and withdrawn and wanted to explore the stars, failed to be a soldier (but he's proud of that) though still unhappy he bought all their lies and propaganda in the first place, he had been the one who had joined the military; even if he came from a colonised planet, he chose to better his life at the expense of others.
Another memory flits in his mind, that of memorising Geography and History lessons of the Empire, a revisionist history that glorified their brutalities as achievements, a revisionist exercise in map making that drew and erased the planets that were in possession by the Empire where it was convenient.
He had at least made sure to pass along his classmates pieces of paper full of irreverent conversation even if he was too afraid of breaking the rules at that time to start those himself.
He exhales, looking at his crew who are expressing their horrors at the military academies and how children should not have been put through so much and somehow he feels fresh indignation at the thought of any of them going through any of that.
Ahim takes his hand in hers. "Joe-san. You should not have had to go through all this. No child should have."
"Joe." Marvelous clasps his shoulder. "The children that we saw earlier being brought to this school no longer have to attend here, that is something."
Joe snakes his own hand into Marvelous' and clasps it tightly. "Yes. that is indeed a comfort." No future child will have to grow up being like him and rather than pain him this makes him happy.
Ahim putting it this way somehow opens his eyes to the fact that he was a child at that time who was also following in the footsteps of his family and glad also of a way out of his under-resourced planet from which the Zangyack had stolen much, glad of a higher quality of living even if it was through serving his own coloniser.
He needs to let go of the complicated feelings about the past he's still carrying; realistically he knows that dwelling over the choices he made at that time- and over the guilt they bring- after all these years, serves no purpose, it doesn't help anyone. His narrow focus on wanting to right the wrongs of his past was comforting to him for so long; it pushed him to want to be the best sword fighter, to fight harder against the Empire, to actually transform himself from a soldier to a space pirate, someone he could be proud of.
But now, in the absence of the Empire, in the absence of a new fight- in the blurring of his roles- is he a space pirate still, if the Empire no longer exists when it was the Empire that declared them as pirates and brigands? If not, then who is he? And suddenly all the guilt returns anew as he views the ruins of the military academy, as he views a planet struggling to rebuild itself and finds himself unable to help, because he doesn't have the necessary skills, because he was always a swordsman, always a soldier.
He doesn't know what to do with this guilt. It paralyses him, plunges him into fresh grief. He feels as if he's trapped in a glass box the more he looks around, unable to move, feeling like he'll shatter at the lightest of touch. Sid Sempai isn't here anymore, he cannot ask him how to rebuild his life after everything that happened. He loves his crew, but none of them understand, would understand this guilt that has lodged itself in his heart no matter how much he reasons with it.
Doc and Gai place their hands on his shoulders and he smiles at them; he reassures his crew who are looking worried, who want the best for him, who love him and he can see that love in their eyes for him. Yes, he thinks he will let go of the past now, it no longer serves him. He takes out his brother's letter from the pocket and it flutters in the gentle breeze till it flies away from his hands, landing some distance away. A few kids pick it up and make a paper plane out of it, and Joe thinks it the best use of it really.
Chapter 3: Planet Famille
Chapter Text
They make their way back to their spaceship, setting a course to planet Famille where Ahim wants to be, to see her planet one more time and observe the political situation. She asks them all, remembering how they all had rushed to support her to fight Zatsurig- so of course they all end up traveling to Famille, a good hundred or so sleeps away.
She describes her planet to Gai during dinner, as she remembers it, as it once was- with all its seasons and its peculiarities and a sheen covers her eyes which she quickly blinks away. Still, she is hopeful of her planet being able to bounce back from the scenes of devastation that still cloud her thoughts sometimes.
Joe is standing in the crow's nest after dinner, deep in thought when Marvelous walks up there to join him.
"Do you think we'll ever be able to be a part of the future?" Joe asks after a few stars have passed them by, he can tell Marvelous is standing behind him with his hands folded on his chest for some time now, but he doesn't break the silence between them.
He's been wondering about star deaths- how the star they are both observing in the distance could have been dead years ago but it would take several more years for them to actually see its death.
"Which future?" Marvelous asks, wondering what exactly is on Joe's mind. He's only seen his first mate sadder and more withdrawn when he first came on board and was struggling with nightmares. He's worried about him and how he might be slipping towards a place like that again and he wants to make sure that wherever Joe is going, that he should be able to return back to him. He needs Joe beside him for many years still.
It feels strange to consider that he ever had a life where he didn't know Joe, they are so much a part of each other's daily lives. "Are you still thinking of your past?"
"No." Joe shakes his head. "It's easy for Ahim and even Luka, Doc and Gai to talk about rebuilding things and starting over from scratch, wonderful even- to see such resilience after everything they've been through with their planets destroyed by the Empire.
They would do well if they left and settled back on their home planets. Now that, you know--" Joe gestures to everything, and then takes a deep breath to share what really is on his mind, "You and I well, we're--"
"We're not--" Marvelous sighs.
"We're not." Joe turns to look at Marvelous and he cannot imagine any future where Marvelous is not who he has been so completely, a space pirate.
"I've been thinking about it too. Could never imagine a future for myself where I was not who I am. I have fought so hard to be who I am, who I wanted to be." Marvelous looks at Joe. "Atleast, I have you now. I have you all, for now."
After a pause he adds, "I wouldn't ever stop you or anyone else from leaving if you wanted to, you know."
"I know." Joe gives a shaky laugh, "I'm not going anywhere." He adds in a lower voice, "Don't have anywhere else to go."
"No family you want to go back to? No planet?"
"No. I've not been in touch with my family for years. I couldn't even go back and face them after I deserted from the Zangyack military and felt so ashamed of facing them. My father and my brothers were in the military too. Maybe they would understand now, if my parents were even alive--" Joe tries to smile, "And my planet, well, this is why I've been thinking about this- about-about all of this. I don't know if I have a future on my planet, or any planet anymore, because what it needs are people to rebuild, to start over after the Empire- the same as we saw the Zangyack homeworld do. But, I can't do any of those things and I left my family and my planet too long ago to want to go back. So, I really don't have anywhere else to go."
"Yes you do, you committed to following me across all my dreams, remember? It's almost what the Earthlings do, so I've learned recently."
"Every planet has some version of it, yes," Joe rolls his eyes, "And I did commit to all of it. Can't say I have regretted it so far."
"Good. Kiss me then." Marvelous grins as he receives the kiss.
Joe pauses after a while, dropping his hands from around Marvelous' neck, and turning away from him to hide the strong emotions rising in his chest.
"What if we can't travel into the future, Marvelous? What if there is no place in the future for people like us?"
He raises his head towards the vast space they can see in front of them-- the different rock formations and planets they pass by. Each planet is a different blend of colours amid the darkness, each having a different source of obtaining water as well as heat and light. Travelling in space has become like second nature to Joe and he's learned to spot the different rock and star formations without having to think.
Marvelous takes Joe's hand in his, "We're part of each other's futures of course! Perhaps we might never be part of any resettling and rehabilitation efforts going on elsewhere. But we do have a future, we're space pirates."
"Even now that the Zangyack Empire is gone?" Joe has a questioning smile on his face.
"There are other Empires. Other powers. You know that. Even if there aren't, there will arise some in the future and well, I sometimes think we're some kind of guardians you know?" Marvelous gives a sad smile, "Ensuring there is a future for all the others that have come after us."
He places his hands on the railings, sometimes he still wishes more of the spacefaring community he comes from were alive, so he would feel like there was a future for someone like him despite how he tried to represent that to Joe. In the next moment, however, he reminds himself that there is a future for someone like him.
He's alive isn't he? he's survived everything that ever happened to him. He still remembers the space sheriff's words to him when he was a young child afraid of dying on a freight ship in the middle of nowhere: "Die here if you want, but if you want, you can have a fine future if you have the courage to grab onto it."
And then, deserve is such a loaded word for him. He's been told over and over in many ways that he doesn't deserve to be alive because of who he is- a nomadic spacefarer. He's been told he doesn't deserve good things, because he is a pirate, a rogue. People tend to assume many things about him without knowing him, and the contrarian in him always ends up pushing back against that. He could not believe in any paradigm where people only received things because they deserved them according to some metric that society had decided and failed to communicate to him. He was always going to be outside society, society was never going to accept that he deserved things simply because he was alive and he was here right now.
"We need to find new dreams of ours to chase." Marvelous is thoughtful before a cheeky grin appears on his lips and he whispers in Joe's ears, "Well right now, in my future, I see a good long fuck."
Joe laughs, but it does put his mind at ease, he's been looking for a grand answer to the question of whether he has a future, whether he even deserves one after everything that happened. But Marvelous was right, which future? in what place? in what time? Marvelous would even pooh-pooh the suggestion of deserving, if Joe broaches it and a smile appears on his lips imagining such a conversation.
Time moves so differently in space too, folding in on itself, letting them experience the past of the dying star, in their present and in their future too.
Right now, here, with his ragtag crew that he loves the most in the Universe, well, this was the future too, even if it may not be the most important one.
He kisses Marvelous deeply, and they hurry downstairs. Once in their own room, they remove their clothes, throwing them hastily on the floor. Joe moves down to Marvelous' neck, to his chest, armpits, touching all the curves of his body with his hands; spending time to arouse all his senses; and giving both himself and Marvelous multiple orgasms and tiring them both out.
Ahim's aunt and her ministers had stopped any and all communications with her for the past year they had all been on Earth, declaring her a traitor who has been threatening Famille's past and heritage by trying to topple the monarchy. The accusations and the propaganda hurt her but were hardly surprising, since she knew they were planning to take over and re-establish a monarchy with Ahim's cousin as the king.
Other people from Famille's diaspora did not want a monarchy again. While they travel, weaving their way through planets and rock formations, the phone lines keep buzzing with calls from different groups once part of Famille, including many rebel groups that Ahim had set up or helped set up before coming to Earth. They have been asking her to join forces in an uprising to overthrow the monarchy, sharing plans, introducing other groups to Ahim.
Now that the Empire has been overthrown, they don't want to live in a system that is also oppressive and unfair. There are however many opinions on what such a system should be and different factions have aligned themselves with different ideologies even though all want to abolish the monarchy and establish people's power as they start the slow and long term process of rebuilding their planet.
Ahim wants to see this through, morally she cannot justify leaving her people under a monarchy to chase stars, especially since she knows how her aunt and the ministers are. It has been a hard decision, she has had to harden her heart against the only remaining family she has, but her crew is more important to her, and in her mind somehow she knew this day was always on the horizon. It does help that her aunt had mistreated her crew and undermined her agency before, and her crew was and will always be more important to her than any biological family.
Luka sees her lost in thought and comes over to check on her.
Ahim looks composed but that composure is being held with much effort. Luka remembers her this way when she first encountered them.
"You don't have to, you know." Luka tells her. "You've already walked away from all of this, from taking power. You already helped the different factions, you're already considered a traitor by your pleasant relatives."
She makes a face causing Ahim to laugh quietly.
"No one is expecting more of this from you. More of giving yourself to this fight. I know the different factions want to have you there, a former princess behind them lends much support to their fight, especially since the former princess fights well too. But you don't have to agree to be there."
"I know Luka-san." Ahim takes Luka's hands and kisses them. "I still must do this."
"Ahim."
"I must see it through." The careful composure breaks a little and Luka can see the Ahim she's felt a protectiveness over for the past two years, but then she returns back to the determined woman standing in front of her and in this moment Luka feels that she loves Ahim deeply.
"Because I can." Ahim's voice grows softer, "Help me Luka san." Ahim hugs Luka fiercely.
"Of course we will, you know that Ahim."
"I love you." Ahim whispers raising her head and kissing Luka. Luka kisses her fiercely feeling her heart will jump out of her throat. She loves Ahim, she loves her dearly. She helps Ahim undress and also takes off her jacket, shirt, shorts and leggings in quick succession.
"Here, Luka san?" Ahim looks up from the couch where Luka is showering her with kisses.
"What if someone walks in?"
"We'll invite them to join." Luka grins. "I really cannot wait, I must have you right here."
"Oh Luka san." Ahim giggles as Luka rubs her face on her breasts, rubbing her tongue on them, liking her armpits kissing her belly. They hit their heads on the couch's armrest and almost fall off causing them to laugh. Ahim turns and adjusts herself properly and soon has Luka on her back. It doesn't take long till Luka is moaning loudly in pleasure as Ahim goes down on her. They both take turns getting each other to orgasm, knowing each other's sensitive spots well enough by now.
Later they lie down together on top of each other after exhausting themselves but feeling very pleased.
"Would you ever consider leaving?" Luka asks. "In the hypothetical scenario where your relatives are overthrown and you're asked to play a role in rebuilding Famille, maybe even hold a high level post, you could reorganise and rebuild Famille the way you wanted."
"I'd miss you all too much." Ahim places her finger on Luka's nose and playfully bites her neck, leaving a small mark there.
"I'd miss our home." She smiles, "I know Famille was supposed to be mine, but that Famille was destroyed. And now you are all here, you are the people I love and care about the most, this is where my home is now, with all of you. I cannot give up that, I cannot give up being a pirate."
"Ahim."
After a while Luka gets up, "Don't you think the ship is too quiet? Where are the others?"
"Maybe they had the same idea as us, Luka san." Ahim grins.
"Well that is just- I'm going to find and annoy them." Luka starts walking to their room, looks at Ahim's face and then slowly walks back towards the couch. "Maybe we can leave that for a while."
Later she sees Doc walking to the kitchen with rumpled up hair and wearing boxer shorts only. They both startle each other and Doc tries to find something to cover up with.
"Where have you been?" she asks him enjoying his look.
"Marvelous' room." He has a sheepish look on his face as he tries to rearrange his hair. "Where have you-" Doc groans, "Not the couch, Luka. We all sit there."
Luka punches him on the shoulder. "We put towels down and it's not like everyone else hasn't already done it there?"
Doc groans again before leaving with a glass judge full of water and three glasses.
"Can you be done soon, so we can have dinner?" Luka asks.
The door closes before Doc can answer.
"Ah, mou!" Luka grumbles, going back and collapsing over Ahim, who gives her a warm kiss.
Ahim becomes busy taking more calls and making plans as their ship sails across sectors. It is a long way to Famille, they have covered around ten sleeps and ninety still remain and they need that time to figure out their role in the plans to overthrow the monarchy that the people of Famille have been working on for months.
Ahim is on the bridge with Marvelous, and she's handling the steering wheel while Marvelous watches from the side, a look of pride and happiness on his face.
After crossing from one sector to another she hands the steering wheel back to Marvelous.
"The work has been going on in secret for months. It soon was obvious that that was my aunt's intention. Maybe she wanted me to stay at that time so she could influence my becoming queen and the decisions I would take- maybe she even wanted me to eventually marry my cousin- I do not know. Finding that I couldn't be moulded to her liking, that I had taken a close interest and attachment to the pirates and to different political systems than the monarchy, she gave up on me while pretending to be still in my corner," Ahim shrugs.
"And now she's declared you a traitor." Marvelous has a sad smile on his face.
"Can't say it isn't appropriate for pirates." Ahim turns to him with a smile on her face and he tilts his head.
"We will support you no matter what, you know."
"I know Marvelous-san." Ahim tells him, her eyes glazed and far away. "I saw a glimpse of my planet before I left. Everything was burnt and blackened. I despaired of ever seeing it restored you know, of it being habitable again." Her eyes fill with tears. "You should have seen it, Marvelous-san, in the old days when it was alive, when there was so much there. My parents promoted architecture and arts as rulers, and to watch it all burn, watch people die, people I knew-" Tears fall from her eyes, but she keeps her voice steady, "I used to see the buildings burning and acrid smoke filling my lungs for weeks after that. I still feel a dread going back, facing all of that. Facing my relatives and other members of nobility who I know from childhood- facing them as enemies."
She pauses and looks outside the porthole, Marvelous also has a sad, pensive far away look while she's been talking, but now that she has stopped, he looks at her tenderly and with so much kindness. He moves forward and kisses her on the forehead and threads his hand gently through her hair.
"Luka-san said that I could walk away and I know I can, but, it wouldn't feel right. Some people from Famille still rely on me to be the hope right now amid the collapse of the Empire. It's only natural that they want to resist the monarchy too right now, when our planet is still being built anew." Ahim continues. "I can do it."
"I have no doubt." Marvelous tells her softly, stroking her hair. "I have so much faith in your strength. We will be right behind you, following your lead. But Luka is also right, if it becomes too much, there is no shame in regrouping, retreating and planning again. It won't be easy, your relatives will not give up their powers except through a violent fight- maybe several. People rarely do, in my experience."
Doc and Gai poke their heads from the living quarters with the announcement of dinner.
They are deliberately taking an obscure route as well, so as to not make it easy for any Famille spies to discover their plans. The communication that is going through their switchboard is scrambled already and hard to intercept and Doc has tightened security further. Ahim has also developed a rudimentary code along with Doc's help and together they work on sending and receiving communications, but otherwise, they don't cower or shudder from any plots that the Famille monarchs may be hatching. They are pirates after all.
Some of their messages are reproduced here for fidelity though the names have been redacted for their own safety.
From: [redacted]
Subject: [Communication]
To: [Ahim de Famille]
We will gather once again under your banner.
We do not recognise the usurper and your aunt. We will only establish a monarchy with you as our queen.
From: [Ahim de Famille]
Subject: [Re: Communications]
To: [redacted]
I appreciate the sentiment, but I am a pirate and no longer a princess.
I will not be your queen, but I will help you in any other way, as your friend. I am willing to march beside you and look to you as our equals.
- Ahim
From: [uasi]
Subject: [Preparations]
To: [Ahim de Famille]
Our numbers grow day by day and we've been gathering supplies and resources.
We are emboldened by your fight against the Zangyack and we only wish for your blessing to continue. This fight is not yet over.
- Uasi alliance
From: [tamarud group]
Subject: [Meeting Location]
To: [Ahim de Famille]
We will be gathering near Famille's central location [location redacted] and spreading our fight to the peripheries. The king is expected to bring nearly 20000 troops. Long Live the rebellion!
From: [Ahim de Famille]
Subject: [Re:Meeting Location]
To: [tamarud]
Understood! We will be there!
- Ahim
Chapter 4: This Pink Flower that blooms here today
Chapter Text
Gai has been sharing cooking and cleaning duties with Don-san who is amused at finding Gai usually so quiet and lost in thought. Not that Doc hasn't had thoughts to occupy himself with. He's wondering what became of his planet, what became of his siblings and parents. He's wondering about the little things- if the lab where he used to work and the University where it was based, has opened again, if his mom still takes her medicines, if his sisters still talk about him. Seeing Oohara Jou's university and Date Kenta's school on Earth had brought fresh memories of what it was like in the distant past. He has learned more about Earth schools and universities since then from Gai and it seems to him that they are not too dissimilar from the ones on his planet.
He breaks off the thread with his teeth once he has finished fixing a button on Marvelous' jacket and puts the sewing kit away, still lost in thought.
He imagines the faces of his former colleagues and classmates as he tells them he is a pirate and chuckles at the mental image.
He wonders what a reunion with his family would be like. He knows nothing of where they are, he doesn't know if the people that were displaced from his planet are returning to it again. Are they allowed to return or has some powerful faction taken the place of the Zangyack. Would he want to return to his planet to connect with more of his past? or was that a foolish thought? It's not like he wouldn't come back here, to his home, to his people. But he wants to know, although he feels quite settled in his life and afraid of unsettling it. What if he doesn't like the answers? He folds his laundry and walks with it downstairs.
It doesn't help that Gai has been feeling homesick, even more than usual, and keeps bringing up his family and his sister and sharing anecdotes about them. Doc likes hearing what Gai and his parents are like but he has his own complicated feelings about biological families. His parents were generally kind, but sometimes they argued loudly and it made him cover his eyes and ears and hide in his room till the argument was over. And now he hasn't seen them for several years. He misses his older sisters fussing over him and trying to protect him. He hopes his family is doing alright somewhere.
To cheer Gai up Luka and others are throwing him a party, it will also serve as a way to introduce him to their festivals. Joe nods solemnly as Luka shares this idea with them all. Ahim is delighted, Marvelous ofcourse is immediately on board.
"An excellent plan, Luka."
Luka throws a punch at him which he immediately catches but it doesn't stop her from placing her elbow on his shoulder and grinning, "Knew you'd be immediately on board. We have to introduce Gai to the hot tub as well, after all."
"There's a hot tub?" Gai's mouth falls open in surprise, "In the spaceship?"
"We'll show you." Doc grins as he twirls the spaghetti around his fork.
"We should have done that before but, things were happening." Luka tells him.
"The Zangyack homeworld and Ahim-san's planet." Gai nods.
"Well, things are still happening, we have some time before we reach there." Luka tries to downplay the worry she feels, but she knows they'll be fine, something about having recently fought and won against an Empire that seemed at one point undefeatable seems to have given them a new lease on hope.
"We are moving into unchartered waters so to say, but dealing with the Zangyack was only the start." Marvelous says digging into his pasta. "Not even Red Pirates had to worry about what would come after. And they were the group that the Empire found the most threatening."
He looks up from his pasta after a few minutes to find them all staring at him.
"What?"
After a pause he continues, "We didn't even set out to be the rebels that would prove to be the thorn in their backsides. They felt threatened and started targeting us and making us out to be a bigger deal than we were at that time. Even Basco when he joined didn't start out as a privateer. If they had only ignored us, things would probably have turned out pretty different-" Marvelous grins, finding the five pairs of eyes still fixed on him.
"Is there something in my teeth?" Marvelous asks and Doc shakes his head. "What did I do or say that was so shocking?"
"We're just surprised you brought up Basco and the Red Pirates." Joe tells him.
Marvelous shrugs, "Doesn't hurt that much anymore."
"Really?" Doc asks wincing a little, even Gai looks at Marvelous with a little trepidation, remembering the conversation he had had with him.
"Of course." Marvelous focuses on his plate of food with gusto.
Luka is thoughtful, her half eaten plate forgotten, "I sometimes think if you and Joe hadn't come when you did for me. I might have ended up like him."
"No!" Marvelous tells her. "I know you, you never would have."
"They were going to kill me, I was going to do whatever I needed to, to survive. I always did." Luka feels grateful and relieved at the unwavering trust that Marvelous shows in her, even though a part of her still believes that they cannot predict what would have happened in that timeline, just that she's grateful she was given a lifeline when she was.
"You never would have deliberately and not just once but over and over, chosen to betray people who trusted you, and sided with the Empire for personal gains even when you did not need to for survival, and that's what matters." Marvelous answers her thoughts more than her words, because he knows what she's thinking, it's something he's thought through for himself too, would he have turned out like Basco if the circumstances had been different enough? - if he hadn't met AkaRed when he did, if something else had happened that had led him to a different timeline, would he? He does not know.
"If anything, I sometimes think I could have ended up like him. Basco-" Marvelous' gaze is steady and focused on a distant spot on the opposite wall, "I still don't know what his deal was you know. But when we found him, he was also quite alone in the world- no family, no one, someone used to surviving on his own. That was also one of the reasons we bonded so closely. I felt like he understood me and where I was coming from. He never talked about his childhood, never spoke about his past, but, I know he must have been hurt by the Zangyack Empire too, would have been impossible not to be."
"And yet he turned to the Empire. Betrayed you, betrayed Sally." Joe's voice is low but there is still anger burning in it. "You too could never have been like him."
Marvelous exchanges a look with Joe, he is grateful for Joe's fierce loyalty especially in rare moments like these and grateful too for Joe's level headedness which leads to him raising any doubts and questions directly to Marvelous about any of their plans.
"Something to be said about how Ahim's relatives also made her a target." Doc brings up as he clears away the plates.
"How did that start?" Gai asks.
"Oh, right this was before we met you." Luka looks at him and then at Ahim. "We met Ahim's relatives, our first impressions weren't--great. They- er- threatened us and accused us of kidnapping Ahim, the princess of Famille. It went about as well as you can expect."
"I think it well pretty well, Ahim handed the whole thing admirably. Recently they started declaring her cousin as the rightful heir to the throne and disparaged Ahim. Even the pro-monarchy side, which still had nostalgia for the days of her parents' rule, took up supporting her and there were clashes between them and her aunt's supporters." Doc tells Gai.
"It turned ugly, and then people who were already against the monarchy and had tried in the past to challenge it, also figured that it would be best if I became a point about which people belonging to different segments and politics could rally, to fight the monarchy." Ahim smiles at the people around her.
"You became the hope for your people." Luka tells her holding her hand. "For the second time."
"Which is why I have to do this." Ahim tells Gai and then looks around the table. "I'm grateful you're all coming with me even though you don't have to."
"We're long past that now-" Luka rolls her eyes. "You don't get to say that you're dragging us into trouble. We go where you go. We're crew."
It's not like Marvelous hasn't been dragging us into trouble all these years. We're used to trouble and adventures." Joe folds his hands and nods at Marvelous who grins.
"We're pirates aren't we?" Doc tells her and Gai nods, feeling himself getting excited for another adventure with his favourite people.
"Of course we would come." Marvelous says casually, getting up and looking at Ahim with half a smile on his face. "Anything for crew."
After dinner Ahim teaches Gai to braid Joe-san's hair and he attempts it- his fingers learning how to braid for the first time, watched on by Marvelous lazily relaxing in his captain's chair.
Gai grins at the people around him and his grin doesn't fade when he discovers the hot tub and the heating mechanism that is currently warming him up and making him feel pleasant and sleepy. He closes his eyes and relaxes just as the rest of them also discard their clothes and climb into it.
"Onsen springs are just like this, Gai has talked a lot about them." Doc is telling the rest of them.
Gai opens his eyes, "Yes- well they are more natural springs that have formed over time and their water has minerals, so many people take them for their health too. Do you know how many sentai have-"
"No." Joe shakes his head as he relaxes into the tub and gives a long sigh. "No test."
"Joe-san, I wasn't gonna give a test. Only talk about the sentai I know who have visited onsens." Gai looks at the rest of them who seem unconvinced although Luka is trying to stifle a giggle.
"And then quiz us on them." Joe opens one eye lazily.
"Relax Gai, he's only teasing you." Don-san tells him as he's about to protest, and Ahim-san places a small kiss on Gai's naked shoulder.
The hot tub gives Gai enough time to reflect on what he knows of his crew and how easily they pass from one hurt to the next. Marvelous-san was dealing with Basco for most of the year when they were on Earth and now it seems to be something he's worked to make peace with.
Joe-san was dealing with his sempai's torture and transformation to Barizorg and his subsequent death but he seems to have made peace with that part of him, he's joking with Marvelous-san, Luka-san, Don-san and Ahim-san.
Luka san is climbing over Ahim and teasing Don-san and Marvelous-san and he knows that her past life was pretty harsh. Don-san has talked of Marvelous-san, Joe san and Luka-san struggling with their nightmares before. Gai is also thinking of Ahim-san and the weight on her shoulders of this upcoming fight, even though she's smiling charmingly and being part of several conversations at once. Don-san also, he wonders what Don-san thinks about when he's alone or in his more pensive moods. He's only recently told him that he doesn't know where his family is and would like to search for them and to find more of how his planet is doing. Gai is suddenly plunged into the terrifying thought of losing his sister and his parents this way and he rubs his eyes, plunging himself into the water to clear his head.
"Gai!" Doc calls out to him, and he takes his head out from under the water, runs to him and hugs him, burying his face in his shoulder and sobbing.
'What's wrong, Gai?" Don-san is asking him.
'We will visit Earth soon if you are feeling homesick?" Ahim-san tells him and he shakes his head. It's not so much that he wants to go back to Earth right at this moment, though it would be nice to visit for Christmas in some months, and share all his adventures with his friends and family. He said his goodbyes to everyone when they left Earth since he fully expected to be away for a while. He's also used to moving from one place to another and not seeing his friends for years and still picking up the threads of friendships when they meet again. He can also contact his parents and his friends through calling them from his Gokai Cellular or from Don-san's laptop if he wants to see them.
"Ah! sure!" Marvelous-san agrees.
It's not Earth that he wants to travel to, immediately at this moment. It's that even though he was offered physical intimacy and he accepted whatever he was comfortable with before, he's seeing the rest of them be more vulnerable around him than they have been before, he is able to see more of their previous wounds, and past hurts and even though a part of him aches seeing the old wounds, he feels closer to his crew than he has before.
"No, it's-" Gai doesn't know how to explain, he gestures quite uselessly, he doesn't really have words for how different their relationship with each other has seemed after they left Earth and it touches him. He touches Marvelous-san on the sleeve and gestures to his room and Marvelous-san grins and nods.
Gai relaxes in Marvelous' room some hours later, looking at Marvelous-san's hands, taking them in his, kissing them and feeling a pleasant warm feeling wash over him.
Marvelous' heart jumps as they near GJ-103- Pirate Island as everyone knows it by, and which unlocks several memories for Marvelous, and for Joe too. They have been travelling for nearly fifty sleeps and everyone has been requesting a little stopover. Besides they want to meet with a few groups in person to plan things and this island had been suggested as the meeting point.
Marvelous recognises them as soon as they moved forward, they were the Sairian he had met once before on this Pirate Island, years ago, but it felt like such a distant memory, he had fought with other rebels there, and been kicked out. And could that be? Some familiar faces and someone he had never met before, leading the group, with more decorations in their gown- small silver mirrors and embroidery, which catch the light and give off a full spectrum of colours.
Marvelous had met one of the Sairians before. Mahad had been someone who had reawakened Marvelous' desire to be bold and playful in terms of gender presentation, to own who he was unashamedly. They had at least five different identities in between men and women, and even men and women weren't based on social roles or on hierarchies of power and domination. People could easily change social roles and gender identities if they wanted as well. The one walking in front of them is known as Atamai a higher ranked and more respected Sairian in terms of her experience and her work. She is the one who speaks to them now and sprinkles some amusing anecdotes from her past where she had at various points presented as various gender identities and had meaningful experiences in all of them. She herself acknowledges that freely, feeling no incongruence between the gender identities she had inhabited and who she was right now.
Sairians live much longer lives than many others on different planets too, so changing genders was sometimes a personal preference, sometimes it was to fulfill social roles and responsibilities.
"Marvelous." Atamai extends a hand and Marvelous shakes it warmly.
He sees another take place beside Mahad, dressed in similar clothing and hair style though with fewer decorations sewn in the dress.
"This is my lifelong companion." Mahad speaks a few words of the Sairian language, and Gai who does not have a translator can make out only wopdaroba from among the words and he is not sure if that is the right word or pronounciation and is too shy to ask. Doc tries to translate the sentence under his breath for him and Gai thanks him. The companion takes Mahad's hand and kisses it, eyes shining with love. Marvelous smiles softly at that, "You seem to be doing well."
"Some of our people are. The ones who were able to escape the destruction of their planets and Zangyack occupations. The ones who came from well off circumstances. Others." Atamai winces. "Well, it was no different than many other spacefaring societies. We know you were part of one, we were in touch with some of your people in the past. Many who were poorer were forced in dire circumstances, forced to beg or be entertainment for the Zangyack troops and since we look and do things differently, we were punished for that too." Atamai looks around at the others gathered around her, some who present like her, others with multiple or indeterminate gender identities, wearing several colourful long dresses.
"Many contracted fatal diseases this way and there was no help, no funding, no money to save them except what little we managed to get together. We helped each other, but even other communities abandoned us because of how we look and dress." The anger seems to still be burning in Atamai's eyes.
"You're here starting afresh?" Marvelous asks. In Atamai's story he sees echoes of a lot of his own, even though her people were punished because of their gender expression and Marvelous' people because of their fast healing and both for being societies which were difficult to control and subjugate.
"Don't know if such a thing is possible." Atamai smiles wistfully, "It's not like we can recover all that was lost. It's not like we can bring back all our loved ones who were murdered so cruelly. Almost everyday for a time we were burying our people or hearing the harrowing stories of them being forced into traumas to fit the very narrow gendered stereotypes allowed by the Empire."
Marvelous looks up to the sky for a moment, he knows how that feels.
"We are preparing to provide resistance and assistance to overthrow the monarchy on Planet Famille, since many of us have relatives and friends from among the Famille diaspora.
But we are working towards a post-Zangyack society too. We've been part of different resistance groups as well. It's not just the Empire we needed to overthrow, but their rules, their decrees, their laws, their subjugations against us completely; they criminalised us because of the way we dressed and thought of our gender identities, of how frequently we changed them, who we fucked and how and with what appendages we did it. We have been witnessing what happens when you don't at Veralden. The Falir government took over when the Zangyack were weakened and they have been running the planet the same way the Zangyack were, none of the laws have been overhauled, the laws against our people are still there in their society, they've weaponised hatred the same way Zangyack did.
We need a different society, one that is not built on the subjugation of workers and the oppressed. It's not been easy, we're still working on it, some factories have been restarted, some hospitals and schools as well, farmers have gone back to growing crops and food production. Our aim when we rebuild all the cities that were destroyed, is for them to become more accessible and better living spaces for the people. We're determined to do things differently than the Empire. We want to get rid of the state eventually, but we're working on establishing a workers state in the interim."
They all nod and look at each other, while Atamai turns to the rest of her people, "I suppose we should be heading to Planet Famille with some of our forces." They take their leave and the Gokaigers are left to wander the Pirate Island to search for the appointed rendezvous spot with someone from Planet Famille who wanted to meet them.
"I wonder if that inn is still there." Joe says to no one in particular but he nods at Marvelous who grins knowingly, as everyone else looks at them. It feels like many moons ago, that Joe was new to being a space pirate, and still working through the effects of being in the Zangyack military. They walk to the inn and it feels much emptier than Joe remembers it, the tattoed bar keeper is nowhere to be found, which disappoints Joe, he had wanted to meet him and learn more about him and his island and apologise for the past.
A member of the pro-monarchy faction joins them at this time. He is overjoyed to find Princess Famille standing with her entourage and Ahim gently but firmly tells him that they are all pirates, they are all part of the same crew of the Gokai Galleon, a ship that Ahim loves with all her heart. Once the drinks are ordered, the man begins his story:
"Princess, there's a pink flower that bloomed here, no one knew what it was called anymore except the people who study it or know these things about flowers- the war even before the Zangyack burned Famille to the ground, lasted so long that barely any flowers would grow by the end. But after the planet was burned, no one had even thought in their wildest imaginations that it would return to life in this way. The lone pink flower grew out of the burned and scotched Earth, barely a month after and gave us hope to rebuild the planet. It gave us hope that life was possible, there was something worth fighting for. As did your face on the wanted posters. We nicknamed the flowers by your name." Ahim blushes.
"Some of us returned back after a few months only, determined to resist the Zangyack in any way, determined to form alliances and fight and die. This was our home, after all. None of us had wanted to leave." The man pauses for a deep breath and a glass of water before continuing.
"When news reached us of the Zangyack Empire being weakened and then destroyed we were beyond ecstatic. There were parades and celebrations that would fit several sports grounds," there are tears in the man's eyes. "We would have done anything then."
"I shouldn't say, but even though they share your blood they are unfit to wipe even your boots- your cousin, your aunt, their friends- well they had grown much richer from the dying Empire's wealth. They made us believe that we needed to put our money to rebuild our planet, and we did. We didn't care, our spirits were high. And then, we didn't get any of it back. The rebuilding efforts also never reached most of us who were already poor to begin with."
The man tries to stifle the sobs and Ahim tries to console him, "You did your best. we are here to help."
"Everyday we watched them talk of how much they cared about the people and we were going to turn things around- there was a coronation ceremony recently, the king wore the flashiest robes and biggest crown. While we," the man breaks into violent sobs and bangs his fist onto the table.
"This is a travesty," Ahim's face is grave. "We're pirates, only we're allowed to be flashy."
The man laughs despite his tears.
"Please don't worry, we will try our best to restore what is rightfully yours to you."
"I suppose most people have left this island to return to other planets?" Doc says observing the quiet fall over the place once the man walks away and no new customers arrive. "Should we even be having lunch here? Maybe we should look for another inn that is more frequented?"
Marvelous shrugs, "Fine."
They walk slowly through the market that Marvelous remembers, that too lacks a lot of lustre, many shops have closed or moved away. He supposes it makes sense, this was a haven for pirates, without the Empire, the pirates have little reason to exist.
He reaches the larger street that he remembers walking on with rows of houses lined with balconies and through a few side streets until they reach the two floor house, and his breath hitches a little, here Rosa and her crew used to meet, here they made plans to overthrow the Zangyack and succeeded.
"A memory from the past?" Joe asks without missing a beat as he glances quickly at Marvelous' face. "A crew you knew who died?"
Marvelous nods briskly and walks through the small two floor house; everything seems preserved and frozen, as if through time, as if the years in between didn't happen. He looks around him at the faces of concern. "I didn't know them well, we fought together once."
He walks to the green building of the inn he once knew and where he had been lodged by Farai. This inn at least has a loyal clientele and they manage to order a few drinks. Mai, the innkeeper is nowhere around, her place taken by a burly fellow who seems intimidating but is knowledgeable and has a kind look about him. Doc and Gai spend a lot of time sipping his rum and talking to him about the history of this island. Marvelous doesn't listen for two reasons, he knows half the story, has lived through it, and for the other, the pirates from the crew of Borande walk through the doors.
The circumstances are different now, Marvelous thinks. For one, he knows he can take them in a fight very easily, for the other, he doesn't think they would try to pick a fight with him now but he still stiffens as they walk through the door. A hush still falls over the drinkers, even the bartender stops relaying an interesting anecdote to serve them quickly.
"Some things never change." Marvelous says in a casual voice. The pirates turn towards them and Marvelous realises that he's been holding his breath, even though they don't recognise him and sweep over the whole inn while drinking their beers and rums in silence. Swales and Bart, the two notorious pirates who had taunted Marvelous when he was a teen, have a much greater number of scars, they look older and more weary, but they are the same old bullies, still terrorising the islanders and controlling the economy.
Joe and Luka also shake their heads as they watch the pirates strut around.
One of them comes over to flirt with Ahim and meets Luka's fists and insults.
"Leave my crew alone." Marvelous' quiet voice floats to Swales.
"Captain Marvelous!" Swales and Bart both stare at him.
"Oh! So you do know who we are."
"Pirates who defeated the Zangyack. We've been observing your activities." Swales spits on the ground. "What do you want here? Why are you here?"
Marvelous notes there is fear in the other pirate's face, do they think they are here to takeover this island? He laughs at this thought. For one it isn't true, for the other, he never belonged on this island too, even though it should have been a safe haven for him. Funny how that keeps happening, Marvelous thinks. Still, no reason he couldn't have fun with these pirates for old times' sake.
He laughs, "We're not here to takeover the island, but we've been receiving complaints of the ill treatment here by your hands and we'd like it to stop." Marvelous puts his leg on the chair and raises his sword to the other man's throat.
"Uh-uh."
Marvelous grins and then slings his sword on his shoulder, "Glad we came to an understanding."
"Now wait a minute." Bart lungs towards Marvelous, but Swales stops him.
"See ya!" Marvelous walks out of the inn, and is followed by the others some moments later as the Gokai Galleon appears in full view of all the patrons at the inn, blocking the light from the nearest star and giving an impression of a ship that is larger than life and more impressive than the Borande standing in the harbour. Marvelous raises his hand and with that he and his crew are gone from this island, sailing into the open skies and onwards into space.
Chapter 5: We're Comrades, aren't we?
Chapter Text
"When the monarchy existed under your parents, we were poor. During the Zangyack Empire we lost everything. Now we have time to reimagine our lives from scratch, we will not live by the same systems that kept our ancestors in a fixed place. Our poverty was not written in the stars, nor decreed by the gods, why should we settle for it again then, when we can have more? we cannot let the power and wealth gather in the hands of the few."
Ahim has been turning this speech by one of the groups who want to overthrow the monarchy over and over in her mind. She fiddles with the dials of the communication systems to relisten to the speeches made by the different political factions to gauge political support and what they can expect once they land on Famille. The rest of the crew have defaulted to her judgement and expertise in leading the ship and directing them in what and how much to participate; she's defacto captain for the remaining journey and climbs up to the crow's nest to observe the situation. Her heart jumps at seeing the old planet so close, a thing she had always hoped for but rarely thought it would be possible in her lifetime- to return to Famille.
"Father, Mother, please guide me here too, as you did in the fight against Zatsurig. As you have always done." She clasps her hands together, thinking of the prayers from her childhood.
The first sight of her homeplanet is of rows of pink fields of flowers, the stubborn flowers that were the first to grow according to the stories that the locals have shared. Something stirs in Ahim's heart thinking about this. Things are growing back in a land where she didn't think things would grow again. She hears voices and children and she nearly cries out and drops the telescope. Her planet is alive again, after being burned and destroyed by the Zangyack. She doesn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Outside, there is a false sense of calm with the blues and whites and reds of the Famille planet becoming larger and larger in view as they reach nearer to it. Inside there is a lot of work that the crew is busying themselves with. Doc is tinkering with the Galleon Buster, Gai is wearing Luka down with his enthusiasm till she punches him on the shoulder and he calms down a little, while Joe is standing quietly beside Marvelous, gripping his sabre, waiting and listening. Ahim returns downstairs to relay the news of ships waiting for them even before they land, the Famille naval force.
They are not like Zangyack, they're smaller and less well equipped and Marvelous waits no time in destroying four or five of them by cannon fire as well as ramming their ship into them.
"Gai!" Joe places a calm hand on their excited sixth member's shoulder. "Wait."
Marvelous nods in agreement as well.
"We go together on my signal. We're not losing any of us in the middle of the fight." Joe says thinking of the planet where they nearly lost Luka, the first time the three of them entered the fight together.
"Good thinking, Joe." Doc also agrees. They transform in the middle of the ship.
"Right, you know how it goes." Marvelous grins.
"Let's make it showy." Ahim says as they run their ship aground near the centre of the planet where the enemy troops are gathered-- the Galleon takes with it several of the enemy units as well as any remaining ships and advanced weapons. The streets are full of smoke and dead enemy troops. "Zangyack?" Marvelous says as a commander flits into view. It makes sense that some small fry who ran or surrendered in the battle with Bacchus, have now found themselves working very readily with other factions. He also sees a handful of dogoumin scattered around. The fight continues, it seems that the cousin-king has amassed quite a large army, none of them are strangers to battles however and not likely to be intimidated.
Ahim sees some of the groups she has been communicating with quite frequently, locked fiercely in battle as she sends a few enemy troops to their deaths. Some more soldiers appear, not Zangyack, but not Famille either- their armours of a similar monstrous form that the Gokaigers are used to seeing among Zangyack. Ahim dispatches more people but she's looking around her constantly to find the positions of the rest of her crew. "We'll follow your lead." Marvelous-san had told her.
She sees him, Joe and Luka thrust their sabres into the Zangyack commander and finally they all finish him off with the Galleon Buster. She observes Doc-san and Gai-san moving together seamlessly amid the sea of troops and making quick work of them, though Doc-san's fighting style is still unconventional while Gai-san seems tireless and enthusiastic still. Then there are the ones in front of her, she fights as if her life depends on it and it does, more than anywhere else. The Gokaigers swap sabres and pistols with each other and work together as they are used to.
She cannot lose here, she fears the consequences of being humiliated in front of her relatives- she fears having to give up her crew as a term of surrender. She fears many things, but she keeps most of those thoughts to herself. There is an edge, a desperation to her fight now, as more and more enemy are driven back, others appear. The makeshift hospital also fills up with their own allies and she sees many are being bandaged, from the corner of her eyes.
Night descends on Famille and the troops retreat, to return at the break of dawn. Their forces also make the streets their beds for the night- there is talk of making barriers to stop the advancing forces. Strategies are being discussed, songs being sung, some people write hopeful messages on the walls. A message arrives for Ahim and she stands a little farther away from the rest who are joking and discussing politics and making casual remarks on the power of guns to receive it and read it.
Ahim opens and closes the letter again and again. She spent years learning diplomacy, spent years having dinners with foreign diplomats and planet leaders as Princess of Famille. She wants to have this fight end, with no more people dying. But she cannot fulfill the price asked. Marvelous sees her and stands beside her.
"Ahim?"
"I received a message from the king and," she winces, "--Queen Mother as my aunt fashions herself." She sighs deeply.
"I cannot fulfill what it asks of me even if it would stop the war now. They say they are bringing in more troops tomorrow otherwise."
"What does it ask?" Marvelous tilts his head questioningly, he wonders what demands the royals would place to them, he cannot think of anything they would want, already their armies were large, and their coffers were full of Zangyack wealth.
He looks weary and exhausted, but unharmed except for several scratches and surface wounds.
"To give you all up." She shows the text of the letter to them all.
"She knows we work well together- so long as we're together we're each other's strengths." Doc says coming to stand beside them and reading the letter. Joe grunts at the pronunciation.
"It is more to humiliate me than anything." Ahim tells them. "She knows I cannot do this one thing. She's wondering if I would, and dangling the end of the war in front of me as a reward. Even though I know they do not intend to honour their side of the bargain. It is only to create chaos and get the rebels to fight amongst each other that they even offer this."
"Well, why don't you do just that?" Luka says a glint in her eyes as she looks at Marvelous. Marvelous is quick to catch onto her meaning and agrees.
"Luka-san." Ahim turns to her feeling distressed. "I would fight the entire Universe before I give any of you up."
"Don't worry, Ahim." Luka grins at her, rubbing her hands with glee. "You only need to give up Marvelous and me."
"Alright, what are you planning, Luka?" Joe asks her.
"Wait and see, Joe. Wait and see."
Ahim begins to understand Luka's plan, "That's too risky, Luka-san."
"Trust Luka to come up with such ideas." Joe tells her. "I'm surprised you're agreeing to it, Marvelous."
"Sounds fun." Marvelous tells him. "Besides since they're not being honest with us and this is just a sham to unsettle us, we're also double crossing them. We're not going to stop the fight. None of the groups must give up arms and abandon the battle. We need to all be on the same page."
"The concessions they promise are as false as their claims to the throne." Luka agrees.
"What if things go wrong?" Ahim and Doc both echo variations on this. "What if they hurt you?"
"You need to tell us how the palace works. We need a map." There is a mad glint still in Luka's eyes, she hasn't forgotten how Ahim's relatives had made fun of her, of them all. She had practiced darts using the Queen's drawing she had hastily scribbled, to assuage her feelings after they had met Ahim's relatives for the first time.
Ahim grabs some leftover bandages from the makeshift hospital and quickly draws the plan on them using pens that someone is able to find.
"That's genius, Ahim. We can wrap the bandages and keep the plans on us at all times." Luka kisses her on the forehead.
"Don't go, Luka-san." Ahim turns to her and then to Marvelous. "Marvelous-san. No temporary ceasefire is worth your lives."
"We'll be fine and we'll pay the royals for insulting us, when we visited those years ago."
"They don't even expect us to take them up on their offer." Joe says slowly pointing to the royal artillery still present in large numbers near the castle. "I bet they're expecting we'll reject it."
"Let's call them out on their bluff. I think it'd be fun to get some payback from last time we were face to face. And even if they stop the fight temporarily because they never expected us to take them on their offer, it will buy us some time which we desperately need." Marvelous agrees.
"The groups fighting with us, good as they are, cannot last as long as the royal army. We need time if we are to win." Luka adds.
Ahim nods slowly but now it is Gai's turn to object.
"Ahim san, what if they hurt Marvelous-san and Luka-san?"
"Which is why we're not all taking them up on their offer." Joe says leaning against the wall with a 'Down with the false king' slogan. "We'll be right behind, watching, waiting to attack at the first sign of trouble. I will have some people waiting in the underground passages with me, to storm the castle if anything goes even a little bit wrong."
"But-"
Marvelous places a hand on his shoulder, "it's alright Gai!"
"Can't say we haven't been in more reckless situations than this." Joe smiles as he exchanges a last look with Marvelous, that seems to be their own language, and which says, come back to me, alright? Marvelous nods and then he disappears with Luka.
It takes all of their collective will power, especially Ahim's to watch the rising sun slowly warm up the cold fingers of the rebellion's forces as they prepare to pick up their arms for battle again, to watch Marvelous and Luka walk past the castle guards very casually, to watch the castle gates close up behind them and to grip their sabres and pistols more tightly.
"Ahim, are you alright? Don't worry it'll be fine!" Joe tells her, though a line of worry is etched on his face. Of course, they worry about each other- We're comrades aren't we? Doc-san and Luka san's lines flit through her mind.
"I'm not worried, Joe-san, if they so much as harm the hair on their heads, I will dispatch them all." She says matter of factly, looking up at the bright sun and smiling at him in a way that takes Joe aback a little, but he grins at her. He's come to respect her strength quite a lot in these past few years and to know that she means each of those words.
No I haven't lost hope in anyone and especially not Luka-san and Marvelous-san, no I have not lost hope at all, she thinks as Doc and Gai lean on her shoulders and they watch the rising sun in silence and the castle gates.
"What is going on?" some people from the different rebel groups question each other, unease visible on their faces at the continued non appearance of the royal forces and the banners.
"We're trying to buy ourselves some time." Doc tells them, looking down on the floor.
"What?!" there is suspicion on several faces.
"We want to keep fighting, we're not giving up!" a young rebel looks at them.
"Some of us want to go back to our families you know." an older fighter looks towards them.
"We're not giving up until we remove all the yokes of oppression from our heads. The royals made many promises, yet we are still rebuilding our homes; our schools, our work places, our places of worship and our neighbourhoods receive no money, while the rich live near their castles in luxury. We cannot talk about these things for they have kept the Zangyack Empire's guards, the Goumin, who still harrass us. They still own our land, land that we work on and till and grow food from but have to pay increasingly large taxes on. They make decisions that they impose on us- they've increased taxes suddenly. How are we supposed to feed ourselves and pay them. No, we cannot stop."
"You do not know what it was like in the years during the Empire- the war that lasted so long, the horrors, even before everything was burned to the ground. We only want what is ours, we'd be happy even if there was a monarchy which cared about us." the older woman places a hand on the younger girl's shoulder.
"But still-" the girl clenches her fists. "There are some that promised support but did not show up when it mattered. They thought our methods were too extreme, our fight too much. That we should just accept our fate. It was better than being part of an Empire, right? They said the same- protest but be civil and respectful. But we can't. We actually do have the audacity to believe that we can change things for the better. That we deserve better than a monarchy that does not care for us at all. If we few also leave then we would have lost."
"Throwing off oppression always seem hopeless till it isn't." Ahim tells them matter of factly. "That was what we learned in our fight against the Zangyack. They too once seemed too mighty to fall. But fall they did."
"You can't decide things without us. Promise me you will not surrender to them." the girl turns to Ahim with a fierce look still present in her eyes, as she clenches and unclenches her fists.
"We won't, we aren't. The fight will resume." Ahim reassures them, she knows her relatives will not stop the fight despite the ruse, they intend to crush the rebellion. I will feel better as soon as I have Luka-san and Marvelous-san beside me again, she thinks.
In the lull, the rebels get time to focus on obtaining more ammunitions and making more bandages, many are still hopeful that more people will join in their fight from groups that offered support before. Some of them are humming under their breaths, some of them wander off to nap or eat for a few hours before returning to the battle. The mood lifts and becomes cheerful as the sun slowly creeps up in the sky.
"Isn't it too quiet? I have a bad feeling about this." Doc says to no one in particular fidgeting with his Gokai key as he transforms and then untransforms.
The castle looks formidable, yet it is not impenetrable, as Ahim knows, it would never stand in a siege, there are too many secret passageways and tunnels that were built to escape the Zangyack and Joe-san is probably right now in the one that leads directly to the room where the royals would be.
Ahim has listed all the ones she knows in the map she had given to Luka-san and Marvelous-san, she only hopes it is enough as she sees the royal army returning and the battle resuming in full force.
The inside of the castle is bigger than either Luka or Marvelous have seen in their lives. They do not have a lot of time to gaze at the numerous paintings and sculptures that line each corridor and stairwell before they are ushered into the large hall with a few courtiers, and several servants.
"So this is what has been made of the Zangyack Empire's wealth? Terrible paintings?" Marvelous addresses the man sitting in front of him.
"What would you know of art, pirate? Criminals do not care for such things as art." the king's lip curls in disdain, one has to assume that it is the king speaking, because of the magnificent crown on his head.
"Says a guy wearing an idiotic hat." Marvelous shoots back without a pause.
"Enough." Another voice, a familiar one this time, immediately rings in the air. They know the voice, it is that of Ahim's aunt. She doesn't bother reintroducing herself and gets right to business. "We are not here for exchanging pleasantries, pirates."
"Exchanging pleasantries is not what I would call this, no." Luka tells her sweetly. "And I have many more saved up especially for you."
"You said you'd stop the fight if we gave ourselves up and you'd listen to the rebels' point of view. You would take their grievances into account. You would decide on holding elections. We all saw the letter-" Marvelous begins, looking at Luka's angry face and turning back to stare calmly at the royals to watch them squirm at these words.
"We said if all the groups you have misled into fighting us laid down their weapons and if you all also surrendered to us. I don't even see the rest of you, I seem to remember there are more than two of you in that dreadful crew of yours. And you corrupted my niece into following you and filled her head with rebellion."
"We knew you were going to break the terms immediately." Marvelous looks at them without any fear in his eyes.
"There was no mention of a complete laying down of arms by everyone." Luka takes a few steps towards them angrily, prompting the guards to step in between them and the royals.
"And you've already restarted the battle, you didn't mean to even keep that promise." She says as the sounds of the battle resume and her sharp eyes pick up the army moving towards the streets where the rebels are holed up, again.
"No, I suppose there is no harm in admitting that we never intended to. Why should we, when we have a powerful army at our disposal?" The aunt replies thoughtfully looking at them.
"What's the matter? do you need guards to step in to save yourself every time we pirates say something? But then again that makes sense, people who hoard all the power and riches are usually cowards in my experience."
"Did you really expect us to play nice with rogues like you? Guards!" the king looking bored waves them away.
"Oh, give my regards to Ahim. Tell her she was too naive for picking the losing side." The aunt tells them sweetly.
Luka glares at them as she and Marvelous are dragged away. This was all part of the plan they had discussed with each other, but she can't help feel annoyed all the same.
The prison cells are small with barely enough room to lie down and strong iron bars on both the windows and the door, but at least they put both of them together in there. "Now for the actual fun part." Marvelous grins and nods at Luka.
He waits for the guards footsteps to disappear before signalling to Luka to set in motion the plan they had all along. Luka is busy unwrapping the bandages from her arm to reveal Ahim's plans of the castle. She takes out a pin, fiddles with the lock on the door and within a short interval a click sounds and the door opens.
She swings it open carefully and gestures to Marvelous to follow her and they make their way slowly, hiding behind walls and in crevices to avoid guards on patrol, following narrow passageways to make their way to the throne room to steal some of the royals treasure as payback. They both have their ranger keys with them and a few guards is hardly a matter of concern to either of them; the current fighting seems to have distracted the royals enough that they are not paying attention to what is going on in the castle, nor are there many servants in these corridors. Once they come across a royal servant observing them but he lets them pass, too surprised to act in any way. They make their way through the castle, stopping by all the various rooms to take whatever strikes their fancy.
"Oh, look at all these shiny jewels!" Luka whispers, depositing a few ruby, emerald and topaz studded rings in her pockets. The throne room is magnificent- a trove of all the stolen treasures that the royals have kept from Zangyack, not bothering to return it to the planets where the Zangyack originally stole it from.
Some of it is Famille's- but it carries Ahim's initials, and these Luka pockets with very different emotions, murmuring Ahim's name and lingering to wipe the objects with her sleeve, trying to imagine the kind of life Ahim would have been living in this castle.
"Come on!" Marvelous whispers to her urgently keeping a lookout towards their exit- a window from which they plan to climb down towards the underground passageways. "No time to linger, thief girl."
"Ah! Mou!" Luka grumbles in a low voice, but she's soon climbing to the rear window even as some guards spot them and raise an alarm, and then shimmying down towards the secret passageway Ahim had pointed out.
They make their way through the underground tunnels meeting Joe and the rebels along the way and make their way towards the streets and their crew while some buildings burn in the distance- the result of the ongoing fighting.
"Luka! Marvelous!"
Ahim who has been fighting desperately but without her usual edge, is relieved to see them back. Seeing them safe, returns the viciousness and anger to her fight, and she dispatches a few more soldiers. The soldiers and the Goumin keep coming however, and she thinks sadly of how the Zangyack's machinery is still being put to use by other power hungry factions.
The Gokaigers try all the attacks at their disposal, and push the attackers back, but the other groups fighting with them have sustained many losses- the royal army has become more desperate and are not fighting fairly.
Marvelous smiles sadly as he thinks of Basco and his exhortation that surely they didn't expect him to fight fairly. He spins around lightly and ducks letting the soldiers crash into each other- at least Basco had allowed him to come to terms with the fact that some opponents would just not fight fair, he swipes his sabre and more soldiers fall.
He takes cover as an explosion sounds, another explosion sounds and he rushes to protect the people that are directly in its path. He's strong and he heals fast, even so, the explosion leaves him hurt where it might have killed someone else outright. He tries to struggle to his feet and cries out in pain.
"Marvelous!" Joe's voice reaches his ears.
"Marvelous-san!" Gai and Ahim voice in unison. He grins and faints, supported by Doc and Joe from falling to the ground.
"Alright, let's go!" Joe puts his hands under Marvelous' torso and carries him to the makeshift medical tent.
"It's broken, I think." Marvelous whispers pointing to his foot, which is bent at an awkward angle and covered in blood. His face and hair are dripping with sweat and all colour seems drained from his face. "You need to set it-" Marvelous tells the medical assistant, a student doctor from the looks of it. "Joe-"
Joe grabs the tibia of Marvelous' leg at the talocrural joint- there is a crunching of bones and Marvelous screams in pain as the foot returns to its normal position.
The medical assistants take over and tie the splint and bandages to the leg. "I just need food and I'll be fine." Marvelous says, his face still ghastly pale and pain visible on it.
Doc brings over a protein bar that he had in his pocket as well as some water. "Here." he tells Marvelous, "you're still not moving from here for a while, no matter what."
Marvelous doesn't have energy to reply and knows that he cannot set any weight on the leg at all for a few hours. Joe and the medical team are talking about new reinforcements arriving and Marvelous tries to strain his ears to listen, "if they were for their side, they were saved, if they were for the royals, then-"
He looks at the groups still trying to fight bravely. He looks towards Ahim, who has been dividing her attention to come check on him and to fight. The sound of fighting continues and Marvelous listens as he lies in the makeshift tent- even he knows his body can't heal in less than an hour, though he feels impatient at it for this weakness.
He notices the battle shifting and changing, the royal army are becoming more erratic, there is more chaos in their camp and they are falling back, he wonders if they discovered the theft of the jewels yet and if that is what is causing the chaos. He dismisses the suggestion as surely they would have more sense than that, but in the next hour the royal army is pushed back further and further.
By the time Marvelous gets up and walks out, he is seeing a very different scene than when he left it. There are signs that the army may break soon, everyone seems more hopeful, new faces keep joining in the fight and royal soldiers keep surrendering or walking away from the battle. There is more discord in the ranks of the royal soldiers and each spy from their side brings news of them faltering more and more.
The lights twinkling in the houses, and in the sky above herald the rebels' victory as the royal army officially surrenders and lays down their arms. The king is arrested trying to flee, the Queen mother is nowhere to be found. Ahim is asked to address the crowd and she does, soaking in sweat and with blood all over her dress.
"It is not for me to proclaim how Famille should govern itself. That is up to the will of the people now, and your hard fought victory. Remember when you are despairing, it is you who have won and overthrown an unjust rule. Remember this feeling, and never forget that your victory was possible by your own hands, whenever some injustice occurs in the future, remember this day."
"We might have to ask you if we can stay for a few days here." Ahim turns to her hosts, an old family that she knows very well from her childhood, as she gestures to all of her crew, all of whom are injured in some way.
"Ofcourse you must! We owe so much of our victory to you. If you didn't stay we would have insisted." the host smiles graciously, "By the way," he turns to Marvelous and Luka, "that was quite a jewel theft, one which unseated the royals very literally. Where did you store the jewels?"
"We hid them in the castle itself. Ahim told us where to and how to." Luka grins looking at Marvelous who is leaning on Doc for support. "You mean they were so upset by this they gave up?"
"From what I keep hearing, that played a significant role, as well as their reinforcements failing to arrive while more and more working class people joined our fight."
"You spent a lot of time mobilising them." Joe tells them, "I'm glad it paid off for you."
Doc is fixing up the Galleon- it's work that he finds enjoyment in and it's work that is motivating to him, stuck as they are in a kind Famille resident's spare rooms while they heal from all their various injuries. The people of Famille sleep on the floor and they find themselves in various arrangements, legs digging into someone else's back, someone's foot across someone else's cheek. This is the first time in a while they've all been together in this way, all six of them, and they take advantage of it to have an orgy.
There is a sense of them having accomplished something again after the defeat of the Empire, and a sense of events and places still being in an amorphous form and recovering from all the Empire has done. A sense perhaps of them also growing, changing with the years- it has now been over a year since their time on Earth and each of them feels closer to one another, although sometimes it feels like they are the same as they ever were. "Luka!" Doc groans as Luka brings her socks close to Doc's face. Luka stretches herself to pat Doc's hair and moves her feet away, grinning. Doc has been receiving attentions from Joe and Marvelous and is soon distracted by their kisses and by them making him orgasm.
The Famille situation is also allowing them to experience how life was like on this planet, and how life recovers after the Empire. Children with their own specific cultural dresses often arrive to say hello to them all in the afternoons- usually Navi ends up teaching them how to annoy Marvelous, and it makes Doc chuckle watching a bunch of kids terrorise the space pirate and Marvelous indulging them in it. After all the play, there is usually a tea ceremony to which they get invited, either at their host's house or at the various neighbours' homes. Doc likes the rose flavored sweetmeats that accompany the tea, the most. Luka likes the extra sugary one and Doc rolls his eyes at Luka appearing for dinner with sugar coating her lips and fingers and Marvelous kissing them.
He's also noticed with interest how much women have a say on this planet, how easily and openly they are able to love one another and be in relationships with each other. He has met several older grandmothers who take an immediate liking to him and want to feed him foods they've made and sweaters they've knit, since Famille's weather can become really cold and small changes in weather are noticeable.
All of this is making Doc realise more and more how much he wants to know what happened to his planet, to his people, to his family again.
"Doc-san." Ahim sees him one day staring out the window, watching the children play pirates with some of the 'treasure' that Marvelous and Luka stole. They are carrying wooden swords and attacking Marvelous and Joe who are content to play monsters to their heroes. He turns away from the window and peers at his laptop to monitor the progress of the new software he's trying to install into the Galleon's navigational system. He is thinking of several discussions with the people of this planet who felt a deep connection with their planet, their land and who kept that connection alive even while being part of the diaspora of the different planets.
Who is he, Doc wonders and what if any is his connection to his planet? to his people? He needs to find out.
"Mhmm-" Doc looks up from his work, "The Galleon is nearly finished being fixed and I'm installing better navigational software for our next adventures. I've also fixed up a translator for Gai. It's not the most advanced stuff, but if he attaches it close to his ears, he should hear everything- all the local dialects can be translated into Japanese. I won't have to translate for him all the time then and he won't mistake urundun for burundun." Doc shakes his head. It was a simple mistake to make. Both the words for fuck and mistake were similar in Famille. Instead of saying "I have made a mistake," Gai had told a group of Famille elders, "I have fucked." Their faces were priceless to behold though. Doc chuckles a little thinking about it. Come to think of it, he's sure that Luka had given Gai the wrong translation on purpose. Just how many times she's done it so far, he doesn't know.
"Doc-san."
"Mhmm?" Doc has become distracted again, typing furiously into his laptop. He is a pirate, that is a broad enough identity, why does he need to search more? What does it matter where he came from? Pirate was an equaliser wasn't it? The former princess of Famille was as much a pirate as he was. She places her head on his shoulder and embraces him. He holds her hands in his.
"What if I want to find out if this exists for me too?" he wonders out loud, his heart too overcome with feelings.
Ahim is taken aback a little but she kisses him on the cheek. "I wouldn't stop you from chasing it, even if you felt like you had to do it on your own."
"Ahim!" Doc doesn't know what to say.
"I've seen you occupied in thought even before we came here and I was hoping you would come talk to us about it yourself, so I waited, because I didn't want to push you."
Doc stares at Ahim who gives him a warm smile, "We're comrades aren't we?"
"I haven't talked to others about leaving, especially on my own like this, but, I honestly don't know where to go or what leads to chase. I don't want you all to travel aimlessly around the universe for my sake."
"You know we would."
Doc concedes, of course this is the kind of thing they'd all jump on doing, because they were crew.
"If you want to leave on your own we would understand, if you wanted us to travel the entire universe, I think I can safely speak for us all, that we would do it. We will do everything for crew."
Doc stares out the window again and sees Luka with bags of clothes and jewellery as she returns from her shopping trip. She is making Gai carry the bags.
"And." Ahim's voice is cracking a little, and there are tears shining in her eyes. "You may find that the truth hurts more than you want it to hurt." She had found her best friend had not survived. It had been years since she had seen Anaya, but a part of her still missed her, they had been lovers after all, before everything had happened. "You may find that you struggle to figure out your place in it, that the planet has changed and grown beyond recognition and that is not a bad thing. But, it is not your Famille. It cannot be, and part of you still grieves for the old one even while you are glad for the new welcoming changes." Ahim smiles through her tears at Doc.
"We will still be here waiting to welcome you back if that happens. Or let you go if you find it is where you need to be for the rest of your life. We're crew."
"I wonder how the others will react if I tell them." Doc muses.
"They will be fine." Ahim reassures him. "If not, I will handle them." Doc smiles weakly.
He has no doubt Ahim will smooth things over. Now he just needs to figure out if he has the courage to explore new leads and be away from his people for a few days. He would miss them all ofcourse, especially Marvelous. But at least he would no longer wonder about the what ifs. No, he thinks, he should make a plan to leave for a few days. He's aware that Marvelous will start feeling homesick for space soon, that they stay because of necessity and to recuperate and recover and because Ahim wants to see her planet rebuild itself a little after all that, she wants to see the wealth being redistributed, she wants to see prosperity returning, even though she has never said anything about it. But Doc understood, and has taken his own sweet time with fixing the Galleon up so she can spend more time here. They're comrades after all.
Chapter 6: Something you don't want to lose
Chapter Text
Marvelous has never cared for the concept of time in space- for one, it does not matter so much when travelling out among space's vast inky arms what specific second of a specific hour is passing, and two, hyperspecific awareness of time had always seemed to him an invention of the Zangyack Empire- many times as a child idly existing, having lost everyone he had ever cared for as well as any support systems he could have fallen back onto, to Zangyack's ruthless murder of his people; he was not allowed to just exist in the Zangyack universe without an assumption that he would work towards or be a productive member of its machinery. He was rounded up and thrown aside quite frequently because he refused to do any of that- with the result that he was found stowing away on ships, in jails, and on the cold streets most often.
His rebellion had been with time itself as commodified by the Empire even though he had not understood it that way as a child; the Empire had shaped many aspects of the pirate after all, but it was something he had only fully realised as an adult. Even so now he is acutely aware of each passing moment, aware of how it's flowing from his fingers like water, aware of standing on the bowsprit but still not being able to tune out the thoughts in his head, thoughts that blame him if anything should have happened to Doc, thoughts that are rekindling the traumas he has never really dealt with properly except for internalising their pain, ones that are so far away now and the ones that are recent still.
They haven't heard back from Doc in weeks now, whenever he looks around the Galleon after waking up, there is one place on his bed always missing, one seat always empty, one chatter always missing, and it sends a small pang to his heart each time.
When they said their goodbyes they expected him to be back in less than a week according to Famille's time tracking methods. There had been nothing special in the goodbye, Marvelous was able to keep up cheer for a few days, sure that Doc would return, very glad that he was spreading his wings and figuring out things, and a little disappointed that he didn't want them to follow him. Marvelous would have been too happy to venture into space once again- but they all understood wanting to do things on your own, they had always supported each other whenever one of them needed to sort something out on their own.
Weeks had passed since then though without any news of or from Doc.
Weeks full of watching and waiting and listening to the different political groups try to organise and divide power and duties among themselves and argue over the smallest of things and try to make up- it was amusing because he had seen these groups organise well and collaborate together during their fight against Famille's royal army, despite their differences.
The disagreements between these political groups who mostly believed in similar ideologies but differed on how they should be implemented, and the strategies they had been using for conflict resolution were interesting to observe and would have been fascinating to study if his mind wasn't fully occupied with worries revolving around Doc. Weeks had deepened the longing and love he had for Doc and how essential Doc was for the normal functioning of the Galleon, how essential Doc was to the normal functioning of him.
He spends several hours on the Gokai Galleon each day, Doc had fixed it up before leaving, he misses how much Doc's presence and work made everything easier, so he could be a better captain. He wonders if he should have entertained the possibility of Doc not returning, even earlier than he did--it was easy to talk in terms of hypotheticals, of one day some of them leaving to figure out their own place in the Universe, he just didn't think it would be so soon or that it would hit him so hard.
He should have, he looks out of the porthole at the cold Famille winter and people dressed in fur coats walking around, people who are also perhaps grieving the loss of their relatives during the recent uprising against the royals.
Dinner is silent these days, Ahim is still away for much of the day, busy as she is with Famille politics now that the royals and many of their ardent supporters have been killed or exiled and new disagreements emerge in the running of a government that cares about the people first and foremost. There are many issues that the new government is facing, including what it even means to implement a kind of government that is run by and for the workers, as well as dealing with threats from neighbouring planets and a small but vocal pro-monarchy faction which is divided among itself currently, not happy that a better monarchy is not replacing the unjust monarchy and scared of the further taking away of their class privileges. In the many discussions between the political groups in power right now, it has been agreed to deal with them forcefully should the need arise.
Atleast she is busy and does not have a lot of time to think of everything that Doc means to her, unlike him. He knows everyone else also misses Doc, Gai has been without his usual bounce and excitement and Luka and Joe keep staring at him from time to time, even Navi's voice carries sadness when she moves from room to room calling out Doc's name.
But, he's fine, or trying to put up a front at least while he works on becoming fine with Doc's absence. He can deal with this, he has to be able to, this was always a possibility, he knew it, had talked about it with Joe before too. But now he's avoiding making eye contact with Joe whenever they are in the same room. He doesn't want to talk about this, doesn't want to be reassured that it is okay to miss Doc. He just wants to know if Doc is okay, he busies himself in small work around the ship, trying to release the pent up tension he feels, trying not to let his brain imagine any sort of scenarios where Doc is not doing well, trying not to let out the pent up energy on other people around him. He looks up from his chair where he's taking an uneasy nap to find Luka staring at him from the couch in one of her moods he recognises. He grins confusedly but allows her to push him on the captain's bed and bring out the ropes.
Luka grinds against Marvelous thigh as she lowers herself down on him while his hands and legs are loosely bound to the bedframe in the sailor's knots that he has taught her and which they've practiced and played with several times. She closes her eyes to focus on the skin to skin contact, made more pleasurable by the lube that they poured on Marvelous' thigh beforehand, the heat from their bodies intermingles as she lowers herself slowly onto him. After a while she lets Joe have his turn with their captain, while she settles near his face and lets him use his tongue on her, while she guides him, often being rough and both of Luka and Joe enjoying tiring Marvelous out. They can see beads of perspiration glistening on his forehead once they go to untie him.
"Wait," she tells Joe who is loosening Marvelous' feet.
"We need to talk about what's bothering you."
"Bothering me?" Marvelous rubs his ankles and wrists as he sits up in bed trying unsucessfully to reach his clothes but Luka stops his hand. "Not so fast." Joe also folds his hands and stands by the side of the door.
"We're all worried about Doc, you know? If you want to talk-"
"I'm fine. And Doc can take care of himself, he's a pirate isn't he? Why would I worry?" Marvelous tries to dodge the conversation out of long ingrained habit, but then sighs, he can't really do it anymore, they have been making a point of talking to each other directly about things that bother them, even though the transition hasn't been perfect and he's often been guilty of lapsing into old habits, of not talking about hurts that are on his mind. He changes back into his clothes with a thoughtful look on his face.
His crew are still very much the only people he cares about the most, he thought he was past all of the dying for his crew, that he'd made his peace with it all, but, he looks up at the ceiling, he hasn't he supposes. He wishes there was a way to love people deeply without there being a gaping hole in his heart when they left.
"I miss him," are the only words that come out of Marvelous' mouth. "There's not a lot more to be said. It would at least help if I knew he was doing fine and was happy."
"We all do, he's been gone for more than a month when he was supposed to be gone for two or three sleeps. It's alright for you to still be worried about him even if you want him to move on to better things for himself." Luka tells him, her voice softer than its been. She misses Doc too, every single day. And she wants to talk about it, while Marvelous' way of dealing with it is to become quiet and withdrawn and she's given him space for a while, but now it's been irritating her.
She has released some of her pent up tension and hoped that she had tired Marvelous out a little as well, but she's still a little bit concerned Marvelous is withdrawing too much into himself, she sees him sleeping very little most nights. Still she knows there isn't a lot they can do until they make contact with Doc, Marvelous will keep worrying and a quiet, withdrawn Marvelous draws attention to himself, even if he doesn't mean to.
"You can worry openly you know? it's not like it's not allowed." Joe tells him pushing Marvelous' hair out of his forehead gently and Marvelous looks at him strangely, he's never given himself permission so far to openly talk about how much he's worried about Doc. Mainly because he does want Doc to be well and all his worrying be for nothing, and also partly he's afraid that others might put off leaving for their own adventures, even if they really wanted to, if they see how much he misses them all, and that is the last thing he wants for them, to stay out of obligation for his feelings.
"We won't stay out of obligation, you don't have to worry about that." Luka assures him answering his thoughts. "At least I won't. If I'm here, I want to be."
"Of course we stay because we want to, we're pirates and this is home. And I do love you, you know. That is very much the reason. I made a promise once, many years ago to follow you everywhere to chase your dreams and I haven't forgotten that." Joe tells him with a twinkle in his eyes causing Marvelous to laugh a little, which makes him feel relieved, he can handle Marvelous in this mood. Marvelous leans over to kiss him causing Luka to grab a pillow and start attacking them both. "Ugh! you two are gross!"
The next moment Ahim enters the Galleon, bringing snow with her on her coat as she hangs it on the coat hanger, the temperature is going to fall much more in the coming weeks on Famille, and she is feeling the small changes. Her discussion as she pours the tea for herself and everyone else is on the workings of the government she has had a chance to observe. The leaders have been discussing establishing a more proletarian form of government where wages are based on cost of production, and then to eventually phasing out the idea of unequal wages entirely and are talking about the abolition of the class structure that Famille was used to even before the Zangyack Empire's war to destroy the planet. Already she can see improvements- the establishment of a robust welfare system using the wealth that the royal family and other aristocrats had hoarded, the establishment of more art and science centres, as well as giving away homes to people for free, the landscape of the planet is also changing and being shaped by the needs of the people instead of the aristocrats' whims. At the end of her discussion on Famille, she brings a welcome bit of information.
"Oh, by the way," she takes a sip of her tea. "Doc-san wants us to meet at Varda."
"Don-san?" Gai says getting up and accidentally bringing his fist close to Luka's face, who swats it away and pulls him down to sit again.
Marvelous looks at the ground but his face lights up at the news.
"I'm leaving, the Galleon can weigh anchor very soon, all arrangements are done." He says folding his hands and looking at his crew. "Whoever wants to stay can stay, whoever wants to come-"
"We all are." Ahim tells him. "I already said my goodbyes. We can leave immediately."
Luka places a hand on Marvelous' shoulder and agrees. "Let's go Marvelous."
Joe grunts, "time to be reunited with Doc."
Gai nods enthusiastically trying hard to stay out of Luka's personal space. Marvelous remains at the helm for most of the two sleeps it takes them to get there; increasing the knots the ship is travelling at, with Joe by his side and Luka keeping watch. They all want to reach Doc as soon as they can.
Varda is a sea of greens and blues with two satellite bodies orbiting around it. They lower the Galleon into Varda's atmosphere and start searching for the meeting point Doc has relayed. Marvelous insists on standing beside the computer and keeping an eye on the distance, a fact which annoys Navi. "I'm capable of locating Doc on the map." she tells Marvelous gruffly. Joe, Luka and Ahim are keeping watch in the crow's nest and they see Doc standing with a few other people.
The reunion is subdued, Doc looks exhausted, shaken up and has a few cuts and bruises on his face and arms. He holds up his bag wearily as he sees five people he loves the most in the Universe, walking towards him. Marvelous tries to hide the concern, although neither Luka nor Navi is letting him off easily with Navi whispering in Doc's ears how much Marvelous missed Doc and drove everyone nuts with his moping around.
"Shut up, bird," Marvelous tells her. Doc smiles and looks at him.
"Ready to leave?" Marvelous grins as Doc's blonde hair blows in Varda's atmospheric winds.
"Well-" Doc begins looking around him as he shifts his bag from one hand to another. "I have a few people with me who would be glad of a ride, so I offered."
Marvelous glances towards a group of kids and adults that look wary, but underneath he can see they are exhausted and it seems they have lived through much hurt and pain from the way their faces don't smile readily, the way the smallest children in the group cry silently, seeking refuge among the older adults' dress, the way the older children are completely at ease on their own and have a look on their faces that he would have recognised on himself as a young child, a look of defiance, a look of being alone against the universe, a look that is judging the pirates and wondering if they will be able to help.
Luka standing beside him is also focused on the children and he can understand what she is thinking, just as much as he knows she understands his thoughts at this moment. They can't not take these people in. Whatever they've been through, it feels harrowing, it feels similar to their own experiences as children. Joe beside him also nods, he knows Marvelous is going to take these people in and it always amuses him that Marvelous cannot help taking in strays all the time. He loves him for that and he trusts Doc enough that he has his reasons for wanting to help these people and whatever comes next, they are all back together. Joe will watch his crew's backs, just as he always does. For now it amuses him to look at the children and see in them a tinier version of the man he loves so much and who is talking to them all calmly and directing Gai to help board them onto the Galleon.
They make sure their guests are settled in their ship, Doc has spoken very little about them, just that they are on their way to Tirawa in the galaxy NGC-1300 and he told them that he and his crew were going there anyway. That wasn't strictly true, but also it wasn't like they had any specific place to be, now that they had left Famille. Tirawa however was around thirty to forty sleeps away in an entirely new galaxy.
Marvelous is spending time on the bridge navigating the ship, his mood returned more and more towards joviality, now that Doc is back and is relatively unharmed. Part of him also feels guilty for worrying, of course Doc knows how to look after himself. He would have been able to take care of any threats, he's a good fighter and Marvelous has seen Doc's confidence rise and his belief in his abilities grow over the time he's been with them. He steers the ship as he listens to the sounds of laughter and chatter coming from the living quarters.
"You alright?" Doc walks to the bridge pulling Marvelous from his reveries to stare at Doc, to hold him in his mind. He hasn't asked Doc what happened to him or about any of his adventures while he was away. If Doc wants to, he will talk about them on his own time. Right now he's glad Doc's with him.
"Yeah!" Marvelous tells him.
"Hiding from the crowd?" Doc asks and Marvelous gives his cat like grin, he is a little if he is honest. He doesn't always know how to be around new people, he needs time to adjust and take measure and, well, someone's got to navigate the ship through the rocky patch around these planets. A tune plays in his mind over and over, one that he had written down in the captain's log to navigate this sector.
"This specific space sector needs careful maneuvering." Marvelous tells Doc who nods looking unconvinced but smiles, "well if you need me to introduce you to more people and get conversation started-"
There is a pause. "I am glad to be back." Doc tells Marvelous who says nothing, but a smile appears on his lips all the same.
"I also met some people who said they were from space sector SY-312 and used to live a nomadic lifestyle before the Empire forcibly took them away and resettled them elsewhere. That is where you've said your people were from, right?" Doc's voice is low. Marvelous blinks rapidly, that was the place he remembered being in as a child, remembered the freight ship that was passing nearby where he had been bundled in a hurry by the adults to save him and other children.
He had visited it as a pirate some years later and could still see some remnants- of ships left in a hurry, of broken parts of the ships that he recognised from his dreams sometimes, they had moved around in other places before Marvelous was born too, he had loved hearing the stories of the different planets and the sectors as a child and of legends associated with each place their community visited. Their society were called many names, some derogatorily by the Zangyack, others that they had adopted and changed over the centuries of the community's existence, but that sector was the one he remembered fairly well as a child. If he closes his eyes even now, he would be transported back there to the ships, to his parents voices, to the crew's chatter, distant and dim as they grow with each passing year. He opens his eyes and the voices die down.
He's not sure he's hearing it correctly, some of his people may be alive? Well, that would be- He doesn't know how to feel or process information this big. He always wanted them to be alive, he hoped they would be, but to find out that they are- that the Empire didn't kill all of them, that they survived, that they built lives after all that happened to them. He exhales a little, feeling the floor slip out from underneath him a little. Should he make contact? Is there any point to it? He would like to know what they know of the history and their language, of resilience and how they survived all these years. He also feels shy at the thought of talking to these people that are strangers to him despite sharing the same culture and identity. In a world without an Empire, he would have learned about them, visited them perhaps even. They were a close knit community, but the Empire had severed those bonds completely. He returns from his thoughts to listen to Doc.
"I didn't find much about the whereabouts of my parents or my siblings." Doc sniffs a little staring outside from the porthole to the stars. "I don't know how to feel about it."
"Doc." Marvelous takes Doc's hand in his.
"It's alright. Not sure what I was expecting to be quite honest and maybe this is better than if I had found them. I wouldn't know what to do with suddenly finding myself in front of my family. I don't even know what to think of the memories I have of them. I wanted to know more about my past, find a way to connect with it and it didn't work. I found some things but not others."
"They might be still alive."
"I know. I know." Doc hesitates, his whole body goes stiff as he tries to wipe away some tears.
"We can look for them together if you want to."
"I would prefer if we don't." Doc says simply. "I do not have the energy for that." Or courage, he doesn't add. But Doc knows it is true, his feelings about his own family have been complicated at the best of times. His father who was himself a successful engineer held him in too high expectations, and criticised him growing up, so that he had struggled with self confidence all his life. It was only after joining the pirates that his self confidence had been given several boosts. He wanted to find his family but was dreading the bringing up of old wounds and how he felt like a child in front of his parents, even though he had been managing the daily life on a pirate ship successfully for many years now. He supposed his feelings about his family were no different than many children's feelings, he loved his parents but also resented their micromanagement of every aspect of his life when he was young. He was afraid meeting his father would plummet him to low self confidence again but he felt guilty if he didn't try and find them, made sure they were alright at least. But it would not end there, there would be demands placed on him, to cook some of their favourite dishes, to bear their criticisms of everything he does, to not say anything in return when they scolded him and treated him like a child again. He wanted to stay with his crew, he didn't want to spend time taking care of his parents and siblings. A sharp pang of guilt stabs at him again and causes tears to prick at his eyes.
"Doc!"
"I'm sorry Marvelous." Doc hesitates, before throwing himself on Marvelous' chest as his captain hugs him tightly.
"I understand. We'll do whatever you want."
Doc smiles through his tears. "I'm glad we're not family. You're all much more important to me. I want to continue traveling with you all on many more adventures."
Late that night Marvelous sits in his captain's chair listening to the passionate arguments over the card game between the new people they have picked up and his crew and he smiles to himself.
One of the kids is standing at a little distance from the others and Marvelous' attention is drawn to him. He remembers him as one of the children with burns over more than half his arm wonders what happened to this child. Ahim and Gai have patched him up and now the child is holding his arm in a sling and slyly egging other children to cheat against Luka and Joe. He catches the kid's eye and the kid grins at him.
Chapter 7: Home
Chapter Text
Doc takes a deep breath as he boards the space bus clutching his bag to himself, he cannot allow himself to waiver after he's said his goodbyes, or he'll never leave and this is important enough that he's allowed himself to travel for two or three days to Onissya, his planet. Even if it doesn't exist anymore, he wants to see the ruins, wants to know the history of what happened to it and wants to locate his family, make sure they're okay. He tells himself that he just wants to find them, find more about his past, his planet, and himself in the process.
Maybe it's no longer having an enemy to fight each week, maybe it's seeing the rest of the crew struggling to figure out their futures but a part of him also wants to know who he is if he stops being a space pirate.
The spacebus starts moving slowly and he can see Luka arguing with Marvelous. He can almost hear her telling him not to sulk and him being outraged. He laughs and waves his hand again and they stop bickering to wave back, getting smaller and smaller as the space bus picks up speed and then lifts off into the atmosphere. Doc leans back in his seat with his bag clutched to his chest. He will miss his crew, if it weren't for the fact that the bus was already hurtling higher and higher at great speed he might have run back into Marvelous' arms.
"Yes, you can do this Doc." He tells himself looking out of the window to stop any tears from gathering in his eyes.
He fumbles with the straps on his bag for the remaining journey, not noticing when the spacebus slows down and dives into the atmosphere of the planet. It takes him a while to accustom his eyes to the lights of a new planet. It has been years since he left Onissya and its purple-blue-green behind. He remembers his own university, its computer and robotics labs and the engineering classes. He remembers his older sisters getting him to cook meals for them once they came back from work. He remembers going out to dinners to gourmet restaurants, he remembers small get-togethers and picnics with friends.
As the space bus draws nearer and nearer to the planet, he is dismayed to find that the planet looks nothing like he had built up in his memories even though he knows that it was destroyed, it still takes him a while to accept that most places he remembers, he cannot see anymore. His university with its striking dome shape is nowhere to be seen, neither is the cafe he used to study in. A lot of the places are in ruins.
An announcement echoes through the spacebus that while they've been circling Onissya, they aren't able to land there, so they will be landing at the nearest planet, Varda. From there passengers can take much smaller shuttles that are able to land easily on Onissya, since the planet doesn't have infrastructure to support the landing and taking off of large spaceships. The capsule like space shuttle drops him off at an abandoned bus stop that has its markings and signage completely missing. He walks around in a daze for a while feeling confused and disoriented until a kind woman notices him and offers him a place on the bench and a glass of water.
He asks her for directions to his family's home, and tries to describe it but finds that he barely remembers the structure, except its white gate and the balcony where they all stored their bicycles, he also isn't sure of the street he's describing. The woman shakes her head but takes him to someone in a mostly abandoned office building who is sitting marking and poring over lists.
"Aino Street and Dogoiers." the man nods his head and tallies it. "We don't know if they came back. There have been too many people whose records don't exist anymore, they might be alive, but we don't know, unless they come here." Doc nods looking disappointed. The man with the lists, gets up from his chair and takes Doc to a side street, his shoes crunching the pebbles as well as the debris from the construction and broken homes to a camp where hundreds of people are staying.
"It's been like this." the man takes a deep breath, "it's only now that the Zangyack are leaving from this planet."
"Zangyack!" Doc's eyebrows shoot up in astonishment. "Weren't they-?"
"Defeated? Yes! They don't have an Empire anymore. But after they nearly flattened our planet, and destroyed much of the infrastructure, some of them moved here to govern this planet and it is only now that they are leaving the administration to the people of Onissya."
Doc smiles sadly as a flock of children gather round him.
"They lost their parents during the time when this planet was destroyed. The Zangyack are the reason the records and administration is like this. People who have been living here and the ones who have moved back, we have nowhere to settle them, it's chaos." He places a comforting hand on Doc's shoulder.
Another, much older man enters the camp to talk to Doc's companion and is filled in on Doc's search as well.
"Well you should visit the R&R Office. They might help." He tells Doc, his look unkinder than the first man's. Doc nods, if only to avoid talking with him though inside he is furious.
"Is there a place to stay anywhere here?" Doc asks somewhat timidly, not expecting any kind of help, but determined to not be cowed into not asking questions.
"Depends how much you can pay." the older man tells him brusquely.
"The administration might be able to arrange something. Otherwise you're welcome to pitch your tent wherever."
Doc smiles at the children who are playing around him to avoid glaring at the administrator who is so blatantly asking him for a bribe.
The money; Doc remembers how Luka had given him a ring as a parting gift and it comes in use now. It doesn't get him better than a motel though with lots of workers as well as new arrivals like him packed together in a small space. He tries to use phones to connect with his crew but finds that he cannot connect to anything beyond a metre of the place he's staying, the telecommunication cables haven't been laid properly and certainly no satellite connections have been established to contact people in space. Doc spends some time dreaming of how his University had established the first video communication channel with multiple planets and his heart hurts at the thought that it might take decades to establish all that again.
The next day he visits the Resettlement and Rehabilitations Office and is astonished to find a Zangyack low level officer in-charge who proves worse than useless at tracking anything to the point where Doc loses his cool. In the end, he visits many offices and pores over many lists, many of which are incomplete or missing but doesn't find much, he tries to dispel his worries and frustrations by walking around the town during evenings, the effect of which is that he meets some locals who are more than happy to point him in the right direction.
It's not till a week and a half in Onissya time has passed that he finds any solid leads.
He is able to locate someone sitting in yet another local administration's bare bones office that he's been sent to, who is genuinely helpful and doesn't treat him like an incredulous foreigner to be taken advantage of, and he ends up locating the address of a neighbour he remembers.
He is standing beside the refugee camp, there are hundreds of these across the entire planet, as he has discovered. When one of the children from before comes to talk to him.
"You should be more assertive you know." the boy, hardly ten or twelve years of age tells him as he leans casually against one of the poles holding up the large tent where these children eat, play and sleep. "These officers came when the Zangyack were in power here. And they're still here. Zangyack made a rule which says that you can keep your job till you die. So no one does anything or only the bare minimum. But you should be more pushy. I can help you." Doc smiles at the brashness of the young child which reminds him of Luka and Marvelous. The child peeks at the name and address in Doc's hands and nods to one of his friends to join him. They carry out a conversation which Doc understands only partially, not because his translator isn't working, but because they keep using new phrases they have invented and his translator stumbles frequently over those.
The two kids lead Doc over debris and uneven pathways till they arrive at a street that Doc has some recollection of.
The neighbour makes Doc feel less alone and they reminisce over a cup of coffee in a cafe that is miraculously still standing.
"I remember you all, especially your sisters. They used to play many pranks on me when they were little. Tiny terrors I would call them." the neighbour chuckles sipping his coffee. "I lost touch with your family when they left for Leda. This was several months after you left for Mimas."
"They were going to follow me to Mimas but they couldn't get the paperwork done in time. It was hard getting the Zangyack to approve and you could be sent back for any reason including that they didn't like you even if you had been living there for months or years." Doc sighs. "I was hoping I could find some people here that would help me reconnect with my planet, with my past."
"And right now?"
"Oh, I live with a few friends." Doc tries to play off his present, his heart beating fast. He hopes no one realises he's an infamous pirate that played a role in the Zangyack's downfall, but he's also feeling disappointed and annoyed that no one recognises he's an infamous pirate that brought about Zangyack's downfall. Does he have to fight a space dragon to make it happen? Sure, people here seem to know about the Zangyack being defeated only too well and perhaps they fought them too in their own way as most societies seem to have but, it peeves him that no one talks about the infamous pirates and remembers that he is one of them.
Maybe he should have brought that magazine he made up as a prank. He takes out his Mobirates to try and connect to his friends to tell them about this, he can imagine Luka being indignant at least, even if the rest of them might smirk. But, it is no use, there are no signals to connect- the line goes dead and he places the Mobirates back in his pocket with a sigh.
"Well?" the boy starts walking beside Doc as he returns back to his dingy motel. "Did you find something about your family?"
Doc shakes his head.
"Me neither," the boy tells him. "I mean I know they are dead. I want the officials to release a death certificate so I can go live with my aunt on Tirawa, in the next galaxy. They still have all of our old records and won't recognise my aunt as my legal guardian, so I have to stay here waiting forever while they refuse to release the documents I need for travel." He makes a face.
"Amel here too." He points to his friend, a girl of the same age as him, who grins at him. "She wants to go to Tirawa too."
"Why is it like this?" Doc asks looking at the sky.
"Oh, the Zangyack left it in chaos when they packed up hurriedly after their Empire collapsed. The last of them are still leaving and there's no one to take their place here. No one knows where to go, what to do. So many people who had been displaced by the planet being destroyed, continue to be displaced and not have a home and Zangyack never let them be settled while they were incharge, so we grew up in these camps. Some of them are only now settling wherever they find space and building their homes there. Many are still looking for their families. I'm Olavi by the way."
Doc spends the next few days in schools, libraries, and in visiting more offices to track more records. He wants to help these kids too, and it helps him be 'pushy' as the kid said when he is advocating for them and a few more people who are looking for loved ones or trying to find documents, and he ends up making friends with them this way.
It takes him another two weeks but he finds more news about his neighbours and some of his sisters' friends. Some good, some not so good. Some have died, some have not returned. Some returned, but they have nothing to talk about anymore. A wide gulf has come between them, their politics, their worldviews. Doc sits with an old university friend for an hour only saying a few words here and there, and nothing of much import, before the friend leaves. Doc knows in his heart he will never see the friend again.
He remembers Ahim's words about finding things have changed, and wishing for old Onissya but there isn't one. He's not sure that he even wishes for an old Onissya, mostly he wants to go home. Home to him is his crew, it has always been like this for years and his longing has grown so much deeper. He misses them terribly, like an ache that hurts with each breath he takes, and not being able to even call them takes more and more out of him each day.
Each day also brings him closer to helping the kids who have become friends with him. The kids have also brought a few more people: Oum, who is a medical Doctor and Tamrat, an engineer with whom Doc has been talking about the workings of space ships. Doc has been trying to find records for them, even though they have been lost in the destruction of the planet at the hands of the Zangyack. But his persistent and dogged research pays off when he finally finds the name and address of one of Oum's relatives in one of the ledgers that no one had thought to look and traces the address through the shopkeeper who remembers the person and Doc is able to witness the happy but tearful reunion.
It truly takes a community to rebuild any place, Doc thinks to himself, as each new day he's running around and getting papers signed and stamped and finding more information about other people's families. They are grateful to him and even try to offer him clues for his own search but all his searches have convinced him that his family returned to Onissya after they were unable to join Doc at Mimas due to their paperwork being denied. Where they went after that, no one is able to say.
"Hey!" Olavi tells him. "They finally released the death certificate for my parents and I can get my travel papers made now. You helped, otherwise they would have taken several more years."
Doc tries to smile, he still wonders what would happen if he came face to face with his parents now. They would express some kind of disapproval perhaps that he became a pirate, they would criticise his politics and everything he does. And perhaps that is how they showed their love but, he wishes he was more excited at the prospect of meeting them. Families are complicated and too tied up in various obligations he thinks. Much easier to choose the people you want to be with, he thinks, conveniently choosing to ignore the fact that he had been recruited or press-ganged or however anyone would put it, rather than joining the crew completely. Then again, he knew that the old Doc would never have become a pirate willingly. Now, it was part of his core identity.
Doc is hanging out around the refugee camp when he comes across two people being bullied around by the annoying officer from his first meeting. Doc has to take a moment to recollect his name- Cam. This is the officer who is refusing to entertain them and their request to give them more time because they don't have the necessary paperwork, and instead starts insulting them.
"All you spacefarers are like this, never any paperworks in order, and what you have is incomplete, how am I supposed to use these? Half the data is missing including last names."
They flinch at the insult but the officer, Cam is already walking away. Doc calls angrily after him.
He feels indignant on their behalf and there might have been a time when he would have not interfered, but he's a pirate and he cannot see this injustice, he's walking to call the officer to apologise, when his companions tell him not to, their faces drawn out and pale.
"He's always been like this with us, they all have, all the Zangyack, all the non- Zangyack officers too," one of them tells Doc picking up the papers the officer has thrown on the ground.
"This is outrageous. I don't like people like him, I would make him apologise."
"No, he will punish us, if you do. We've always been second class citizens here and on other planets, though we have tried hard to fit in and look and act the same as everyone else. They killed our people for years because we could heal a little bit faster than them and because we refused to do things their way, we refused to settle down on a planet and be easy to control. My parents only survived out of sheer luck and they were the only ones from their family, there have been many such families. Our parents were children and they grew up here among the Zangyack having to hide their culture and their identity. We don't have our language anymore, we daren't celebrate our customs for fear they'll find something to criticise or kill us over it. Our children do not know anything about our identities, we have a rich history that goes back centuries that we are disconnected from and yet they still-"
Doc doesn't know what to say. He's heard Marvelous talk about his past in similar words and out of curiosity he asks them which spacefaring community they belong to. To his surprise he finds that they are Marvelous' people.
"I have a dear friend who is also from the same spacefaring community."
"Always glad to know there are many more of us who are doing the best to survive," Both of them grasp Doc's hand warmly and are soon making their way hurriedly out of there as the irate officer appears again with a Zangyack supervisor in tow.
"Why are you disturbing my officers?"
"Your officers are treating people here horribly for no reason." Olavi and Amel, the children who had become Doc's friends stick out their tongues from behind Doc towards the Zangyack. Doc is filled with happiness though he tries hard not to show it.
"Oh, you seem familiar-" The Zangyack looks closely at Doc and sneers. "Aren't you one of the infamous pirates from those wanted posters, but not one of the important ones? Where are the rest of you? Not so bold now that your friends aren't here?"
"I'm not afraid of you. We destroyed your Empire." Doc tells the Zangyack officer, remembering how he stood up to Damaras to recover Marvelous from being executed, how he had jumped from a great height, how he had fought his own ranger key, how they had held back Basco for a while, how they had defeated Ackdos Gill and then Bacchus Gill and even fought against the royals from Famille so the people could shape their own planet the way they wanted. He had come so far from the Doc on Onissya, from the Doc on Mimas even who never thought he could do all these things; the Doc who was scared when he could not calculate risks, who was scared of the fight and whose first instinct would be to make a swift exit from it. He's still scared a little right now, if he is very honest, but he has learned not to let that stop him. This is yet another space dragon for the legendary Don Dogoier.
He pulls out his key. "Gokai Change." and transforms, jumping in front of the beam that the Zangyack sends towards the children, to deflect it. "Coward." Doc thinks, "to attack children, when I'm right here."
"That was so cool!" the kids clap and a few more of the people Doc has helped in the past also join the crowd to see what is going on. Doc manages to tire the Zangyack officer with his unconventional fighting, darting here and there to avoid the bigger blows and eventually stabs his sabre and pistol into his chest at the same time.
He lets go of his armour, there are several cuts and bruises on his face and arms but he feels happy that he stood up to a Zangyack, albeit a minor officer he tells himself, not an actual commander. He is managing to convince himself that he didn't do much, but the kids gather around him and make much of his fight. There are others who also express their gratitude and shake his hand because they have been terrorised by this particular Zangyack officer when trying to navigate the heartbreaking task of looking for their loved ones. Doc knows realistically that the bureaucracy will not go away with one person, that it is entrenched as a system now because of years of Zangyack rule and mismanagement on this planet, but, it's not like he would have watched cruelty happen in front of him and just stood by. He's a pirate through and through.
He sits inside the camp, on a makeshift bench and is joined by Olavi, who comes to sit beside him.
"Maybe my parents are not alive anymore too." Doc says after a long pause, hugging the kid to himself. "But it's okay. We'll be okay."
"They have managed to establish contact with Famille!" Someone comes to tell Doc of this latest development. "You wanted to contact your people there right?"
Doc has known that the entire set of telecommunication engineers have been working on solving this issue since he has been talking to various engineers and been impressed with their dedication to trying to solve the problem of connecting people to their loved ones.
"Yes!" Doc almost rushes to the phone in the building being pointed out.
"It's shaky and the line drops frequently, be aware of that-" the man shouts at him, but Doc doesn't pause till he reaches the phone. "Hello!" he murmurs out of breath. "This is Doc. Can you ask my crew to meet me-" he looks towards the operator who is focusing on the buttons and making sure the connection holds, and who mouths the name of the nearest planet by looking up the timetable of the spacebus. "At Varda."
Doc puts the phone down, his whole body quivering with excitement. He was going home. He is exhausted and tired but he is finally going home. One thing he has learned from staying on this planet, a kind of self-knowledge he tells himself, it doesn't matter where they go or what planet they stay on or what ship they travel on, as long as he is with his crew, he is Home.
Chapter 8: Journey to Tirawa
Chapter Text
It is an incredibly crisp autumn day somewhere on his planet and Ara remembers that he is on a pirate ship.
Like Sitara and Alina, he is an exile- the local military have taken power after the Zangyack and they have not been interested in the transformation of society, but keeping it mired in bureaucracy and in hoarding power for themselves, just as the Zangyack had done. All three of them along with many other groups had organised and tried to reform society, but quickly found themselves isolated and reviled, their presses sealed, their main organisers arrested until there was no one left to fight. What was there left to do but leave with an aching heart, they considered themselves in self imposed exile as a protest against the military and political factions that supported them, on Onissya. They were disappointed, they had been looking forward to dreaming a different kind of society, alas that it might remain a dream for a while. They had been sitting discussing next steps and what they could do. The talk came round again and again to building up some kind of resistance movement, which might take many years but was their main hope. They planned to start a new journal in Tirawa about their history and their struggles. Sitara was a poet, and she was already writing poetry and songs related to resistance.
Ara looks down below from the deck of the Galleon, feeling yet again that this is not real, he never thought pirates existed outside books in this day and age, let alone that they did such things like taking in people without planets of their own and transporting them wherever they wanted to go. At any moment he feels that the lights will come on and he will be asked to leave the theatre, so much do the events around him feel like a play. For instance only focusing on the things happening here, he could have written one himself as a former playwright and artist. He begins imagining one, writing down the bare sketches in one of his notebooks. It is reproduced here, just as it appeared.
Cast of Characters
Ara, a passenger travelling on the pirate ship due to circumstances
Bird Navi
Gruff Captain Captain Marvelous
Inscrutable First Mate Joe Gibken
Navigator kids seem to like Luka Millfy
Princess Ahim de Famille and apparently no longer a princess
Don Dogoier
Sentai fanboy Ikari Gai
Olavi
Amel
Scene
Various locations on the Gokai Galleon, a pirate ship.
Time
The Present.
ACT I
SCENE I
SETTING: We are in a fully red pirate ship sailing to Tirawa. The ship is nicely decorated and comfortable. It consists of the living quarters, the kitchen, the deck, crow's nest and ofcourse various rooms. In the basement, there is an engine room and also several types of plumbing. There is also a hot water tub, the mechanisms of its function are not yet clear.
AT RISE: The main Living Quarters which contains a dining table, a captain's armchair, and several doors leading to different rooms as well as to a kitchen. People are sitting on the dining table talking, some voices of children are heard as they enter the living quarters from downstairs. The children are crowding round Don Dogoier, the ship's mechanic and tech expert and general handyman. Don is fending off the questions as best as he can while the children's voices grow louder and louder.
OLAVI
How does the navigation system work? Can I press this button? (Navi screeches at him to not do that) You have a funny robot bird.
NAVI
Not a bird!
AMEL
(holding one of Doc's work tools and looking at Navi. She wants to catch Navi to figure out how she works)
Come here bird. (Navi escapes and runs off. Amel turns back to Doc). You have a hot tub? How do you get water? How does it heat up?
OLAVI
How do the ranger keys work? Can I use them? What if I win them from you? Can I keep yours?
DOC
(looking around him at the work that is left on the ship. The kids are looking at him expectantly) (Luka enters at this time from upstairs, sees the look on Doc's face, smiles and walks towards them)
Er...one question at a time maybe.
LUKA
Hey, kids you want to see something?
(The children follow Luka off stage, and Doc gives her a grateful smile and she raises two fingers in salute)
AHIM
(walks to the deck with a cup of tea for herself and Ara)
I hope you're not feeling too spacesick?
ARA
I did, but the feelings did abate after a while. There's no light here too, doesn't it get gloomy?
AHIM
We have lots of lights in the living quarters, as well as temperature regulation. And well, I suppose we're used to it now. Space and its darkness doesn't bother us much now. But, I expect it's not the same to people who are not used to it. I can make my room available with extra lights.
ARA
Mhmm. I noticed some of your pirates are pretty great at cooking, that meal last night was delicious. I have never tasted such good pasta and garlic bread in my life.
AHIM
Yes, Doc-san and Gai-san are amazing.
(There is a long awkward pause where none of them know what to say. Fade)
ACT I
Scene II
Setting: Some approximate hours later according to the Narrator's clock. Marvelous is standing on the bowsprit alone, wind whipping thru his face and blowing his hair. Ahim and Ara are on the deck watching the star nearby throw its rays around, as it turns around in its orbit.
ARA
Is the captain always like this?
AHIM
(sipping her tea and smiling as she looks in the distance)
Like what? (she sees Marvelous-san standing on the bowsprit) Oh! Well...
ARA
I'm worried about how the ship is being run.
AHIM
You needn't. We've been doing this for years now. We all have a pretty good idea of how to run things on the ship and we know what Marvelous-san wants for the ship without him needing to say it. Also, Navi is pretty capable at navigation, if you're asking that.
ARA
Last night- well, night seems the wrong way to describe it, before going to sleep, I was standing on the deck and your captain began pointing at the specific cluster of stars and humming a tune I had never heard before telling me we were only forty sleeps away from Tirawa, as well as the speed we were travelling at.
(Ahim smiles as she watches Marvelous return to the living quarters, his coat billowing behind him. Ara notices the scene and looks amused)
ARA
He also refused to explain why we were avoiding NGC-1300 galaxy and instead going the longer way. I was afraid I had offended him.
AHIM
You haven't. Marvelous-san takes time to open up to new people. But he is very kind if you get to know him and appreciates you all showing trust in us to let us transport you to Tirawa.
ARA
The first mate too seemed very taciturn. Seemed to understand things by looking at the captain's face but would not explain things in turn. He did bake us all a cake, so I feel more inclined to warm up to him.
(Noises from the living quarters, the children are crowding around Marvelous and hanging onto his words. Ahim looks pointedly at Ara, who smiles. Joe Gibken also appears at this time, but he focuses on completing his pushups. Once they are done, the children demand more cakes from him and he smiles.)
ARA
(watching the scene)
Why are you a pirate? Really.
AHIM
(with a twinkle in her eyes)
Oh, I suppose, now, because it's fun.
(Doc joins them and Ara poses the same question to him)
DOC
(internally thinking that it is because most planets except for Famille, Earth, and a few others, still recognise them legally as pirates and have bounties out on them.)
(Loudly) Oh, I've always wanted to travel.
ARA
(with incredulity) As pirates?!
( Doc smiles but doesn't respond)
ARA
I heard you all saved one of the planets, Earth, was it? I heard on the news that the Emperor had been killed and the Empire was no longer standing. Quite a credit that someone from our planet had a part in it.
DOC
(blushes fiercely)
Yes, Gai's planet. We had a lot of help. Several sentai lent their powers to us, we didn't do it on our own, we couldn't have.
(Gai arrives to the deck hearing his name being called, he then proceeds to explain everything he can about the Sentai and their powers, while Ahim and Doc smile and walk away. Ara is listening to the conversation with great interest)
(Blackout)
(End of Scene. Curtain.)
It takes a while before the feeling that Ara is watching a play fades away and he is able to see the captain having a soft sad look sometimes while being lost in thought, his small glances at the children are the only clue as to what he could be thinking for he refuses to elaborate. Their navigator too, Luka Millfy, she also seems to carry that faraway look of sadness, and is protective towards the children, in turn they seem to love her. They've been following her around, asking questions, apparently excitedly discussing the things she's been showing them.
They also follow Marvelous around, though they hide immediately when he looks around. It seems to be a game they're playing with the captain of the ship.
Now that they curtain is drawn and the play is over, we can take a closer look at what the players are thinking.
Marvelous
For Marvelous' part he feels amused at the attention from the kids, he doesn't mind them returning to him as he is on the bridge steering, they've also asked several questions of him and felt slightly disappointed when his explanations were short and consisted of they should be asking Doc for specifics. They end up asking more new questions of him and then trot over to Doc to ask him for the answers and relay the information back. They seem to think that he as a captain doesn't know how ships work and are trying to help him and he lets them think that. He teaches them naval slang and they're threatening to make each other walk the plank or keel hauling or cat o'nine tails. They've also learned the basics of the navigational system pretty fast, just by watching the buttons that Doc presses.
It's amusing and it keeps him occupied and from being inside his head too much. He looks ahead at the empty darkness from the deck after dinner, his eyes making out the outlines of the rock formations and his breath hitches a little and his palms feel sweaty. He feels a sense of foreboding that he usually doesn't get from being in space. He knows what those rock formations signify and why he cannot force himself to go through them, even though it would be a much shorter route to Tirawa. It is the route that leads directly to SY-312, the sector he was born in. A few, faint childhood memories from that time still linger in his mind and he's been dreaming more and more about them, about the crews he spent the first years of his life around- he remembers very vividly feeling calm and happy whenever someone picked him up and let him see the nebulas, a true child of space and in-betweens. But now all it reminds him is of a childhood snatched away too soon, of never getting to celebrate the time when he found his own crew, which was monumental for his people and marked the passage into adulthood.
Learning from Doc how the people from his community who survived, are not doing that well, that in the end, neither their language survived much, nor most of their culture through forcing them to adopt Zangyack culture to survive, has also mixed into his complicated feelings about this particular sector where he saw fires erupting and guns being raised on him and other kids, and everyone he knew being killed in front of him. When he wished and hoped for some of his people alive, he was imagining something completely different- that it would be a community where he would be able to reconnect with his culture, his history, relearn his language, maybe introduce his crew to the live celebrations that he remembered only certain snatches of, and to hearing songs that had never been written down - his people had so many songs for all kinds of work and occassions especially navigation but they had never been written down.
Gai was always so excited talking about Earth's different cultures, he wanted that for himself too. Sometimes the things he lost to Zangyack- the ones which could never be recovered like the loss of an entire rich culture and way of life still hurts him, this is why he clings to pirate as an identity now even more strongly than before, when there are no Zangyack and no Empire. What else is there left for him, that is his specifically? He closes his hands into fists, allowing himself a moment to steady himself before walking inside. And anyway, someone needed to ensure that no children ever had to face what these children, he smiles at Olavi and Amel's peaceful sleeping faces and many others like them had faced.
If there was one thing he knew about Empires, it was that given the right conditions they had a tendency to rise again especially if the conditions had not been eradicated. It was in one of Doc's books, the idea of overhauling the structure of societies from the way they had existed under Empires to ensure that such conditions do not return. Ahim and Famille had managed such restructuring, he wasn't sure if other planets had moved towards that. Sometimes he heard rumours of political factions looking to recreate the same occupation that Zangyack did, rising anew and taking the power on some planets due to the vacuum created by the Empire leaving or being invited to take up power due to lack of any anti imperial political leadership. From what Doc had described of Onissya, his planet, it seemed that political factions like that wanted to take over that planet, may already have if the discussions from the guests onboard was any indication.
When one of the guests onboard ask him about the route, he admits that they are taking a long route, because it would be obvious to anyone that a direct passage from Varda to Tirawa, isn't exactly going to take forty sleeps, hardly ten, especially if there were no storms from bright stars nearby, and it's not like he can stop the navigational system from showing that they are taking a longer route. He hasn't bothered explaining, he doesn't want to explain. He's okay with strangers thinking of him as a gruff, strange pirate captain. It works in his favour.
It won't work on his crew, he knows they are wondering for sure, and may even guess at the reasons but, he's hoping they'll trust him enough to not probe, to trust that he has his reasons, no matter how silly they seem, and they are silly but that doesn't mean he is not feeling a sense of dread at the thought of sailing through that sector, as well as a pounding feeling in his chest that constricts his breathing. He doesn't have much apetite because he feels a sense of nausea and dread in the pit of his stomach and he searches for rum in their hold to settle these feelings a little. It shouldn't be this way, he should be able to work through this, he thinks a half empty bottle of rum beside him It is unfair though that his body reacts and remembers things this way and won't let him forget. It's just one of those sectors that he can never pass through, no matter how many cool asteroids and nebulas there are. And there were quite a few that he remembered from his childhood that he can never go visit anymore.
Once they are well on their way through the longer route, his body relaxes and he can focus on other things though it is probably too late to remedy his image infront of the guests he thinks, smiling as they hastily and politely wander away from the dining table as he sits down in his captain's chair.
Joe
Joe has a hard time with children being in his space, it's not that he doesn't like them, he does quite a bit, and even though the children on Earth were brats, he had built quite a good rapport with a few of them who reminded him of Marvelous and his recklessness. He hasn't experienced children outside of the military setting so he doesn't know how to treat them and is slightly amused by them and their running around the ship as he practices his pushups.
The kids also he feels avoid him until one day, he bakes them little treats, not knowing how else to entertain them while Luka is busy, and then they're talking his ear off about things he barely understands while munching on the cookies and cream tarts- they share everything from their lives in Onissya to their hopes and dreams. He feels happy in the knowledge that their future atleast is going to be better than their young lives so far have been.
He thinks of the children on the Zangyack homeworld, the ones who joined the military, ones like him from colonised planets perhaps and hope they too have found good futures for themselves by now.
Marvelous, he sighs as he glances at the serious face of his companion focusing on his plate of food, he's more silent, more withdrawn, and that could be due to the new people on his ship but he's also insisted on taking the long route and avoiding certain sectors is not like him usually. Sure, he's joked about certain sectors being haunted but Marvelous would never avoid them because of that, he's never avoided things unless there was a reason and it seems to Joe that there is a reason and could even be a potentially painful one.
It's not like he himself would not understand, there are certain sectors where when they have passed, he has thought of how he was chased by Zangyack through them. Talking about it wouldn't help much, so he understands Marvelous not wanting to share. Marvelous doesn't volunteer the information and after a few sleeps everyone is talking about it and raising doubts on the captain's knowledge and skills which hurts Joe . If Marvelous ever hears the conversations, he never says anything.
Joe knits his brows, Marvelous is always on the bowsprit too these days, sad, distant and lost.
Joe has been comparing the two routes on the main computer; if anything the shorter route is also more scenic with lots of cool rock formations and nebulas, as well as a trading post for ships to refuel. Not that there isn't a trading post on the longer route, but it still doesn't make sense to him why Marvelous would choose a longer route. Marvelous must have a strong reason, he concludes finally and that is good enough for Joe, he will defend Marvelous and protect him from all the questions and doubts about his judgements meanwhile.
"Ghost sector, eh?" Joe asks Marvelous one day as they are standing together on the crow's nest. Marvelous searches Joe's eyes and then grins, he has noticed that Joe has been questioning the decision and he cannot blame him, as first mate his responsibility is to the crew and he would not love him if he didn't question his decisions. His hand shakes a little at the thought of turning the ship and passing through that sector.
"Joe, please I am counting on you to trust me."
There is a small pause as Joe gazes at Marvelous his eyes full of understanding, "Do what you must, we will always stand by you and you know that." Joe clasps Marvelous' shoulders as he says this and feels Marvelous let out a huge sigh in response, the tension in his shoulders somewhat loosening.
He could confront him, ask for reasons and he knows Marvelous will oblige, but this is not like Sally, they're not walking into a trap, merely taking a longer route to get somewhere. In all his years being together with him, Marvelous has never let him down, so he trusts him and will continue to trust him, no matter what. Marvelous will share in his own time if he wants to, and after all, he owes it to Marvelous to not probe too deep. Marvelous supported him all the while through him trying to find Sid Sempai and dealing with Barizorg without asking about the situation. Besides, he loves Marvelous, even if Marvelous seems more distant to him than he has been in a while.
Marvelous feeling jittery and distant subsides after a few days and Joe is atleast grateful that there is nothing more serious going on. He can't forget Marvelous' face when he was confronting Kiaido and was terrified and shaking.
It is with this in mind that Joe exchanges a look with Luka, he feels like he has to intervene at that point and tell them that he agrees with the captain and there are good reasons to take a longer route, there are places that they can experiences this way. Luka also throws her agreement behind him and can't help talking about ghost sectors a little, the way Marvelous and Joe did to her once. She's become comfortably settled into space, and it has become a part of her so thoroughly that while she has a genuinely respect for things that can actually kill her in space, she has less so for the legends and stories that surround it. The children at least are riveted by the stories and Luka can get them to do anything for her, so long as she tells them more stories about the ghost ships and sirens and space whales.
Doc who is looking worried, tries to reassure the people that the diversion is for a reason. He shows them navigational tools and it distracts everyone from talking about it further. Ahim also quickly smoothes any lingering doubts with her conversations and tea and Gai always can be relied on to change the conversations towards other topics like sentai and they all heave a sigh of relief when the route is no longer being discussed.
Joe 's been so occupied with everything that he's not checked in much with Doc to see how he's been ever since he returned. He's feeling too stretched, there's so much to occupy his time and his thoughts these days, he looks guiltily towards Doc who is busy working in the kitchen peeling and chopping vegetables. Does Doc even want to talk about all that? He has gotten the impression that Doc is keeping what happened to himself. He has only briefly told them that his searches have been unsuccessful and then talked about missing them before throwing himself in the work around the ship. And there was quite a lot of it, somehow things were never according to Doc's specifications, even though they had tried to keep everything running in his absence. It is good to hear Doc complaining to Luka for something or other she has done.
Everything is also so much smoother with Doc around, things fall in place so easily, things are found much more easily, Joe catches Doc's eye and Doc smiles at him. Atleast the crew is together again and they will find time to relax and talk to each other once they are alone.
Luka
Olavi and Amel are throwing a piece of chalk they borrowed from Doc and hopping on the deck of the Galleon as Luka looks on, the light from the nearest star shining on their ship as the slowly travel towards Tirawa. Luka with her keen eyesight, watching from the crow's nest had guessed before anyone else that they were not taking the route that was showing on the navigational computer. Both Navi and Doc had shared their concerns with her. Luka had tried to find Marvelous to confirm but with the children always wanting to spend time with her and needing her to solve their various disputes with each other and Marvelous feeling more distant and spending all his free time on the bowsprit, she hadn't found the right moment to ask. Sometimes she's worried he's being too reckless again but the living quarters these days do not offer privacy, and she understands his need to have some moments of time alone even if it is on the very edge of the ship. But then again, Marvelous is very sure-footed and she knows he will not fall.
She glances at Joe from time to time who is also unclear about the changes in plan but his trust for Marvelous also shows in how he never lets it slip that it is bothering him that Marvelous hasn't shared the plan. Luka is amused as she watches Joe watching Marvelous. She has other things on her mind as well therefore she doesn't spend more time on this, only supports Joe when he explains the long route and talks about ghosts and spaceships. She laughs quietly to herself, there was a time when ghosts in space would have frightened her. A time when she was new on the Galleon and everything was exciting. She shows the children the hot water tub and their excited squeals make her laugh.
The children have never seen such a hot tub. They've been used to taking sporadic showers using a cold bucket of water under Zangyack. Luka looks at their eager surprised faces and the details of how they used to live under Zangyack and it fills her with rage. She tells them they can spend as long as they like in the hot tub and they keep hugging her at this which makes her laugh as do their antics in the hot water tub.
"They destroyed our schools too-" Amel tells her as she dries her hair and eyes some books that belong to Doc. They were assorted ship manuals or cookbooks or calculus books, and some contained various political theories, with neat bookmarks folded in them.
"You can ask Doc to teach you book maths," Luka grins, "I was never good at school. I never learned these things. I can still manage budgeting and finances better than Doc though."
"We had classes in shelters and sometimes in refugee camps," Olavi was relating as he showed Luka his drawings. "I can recite all my maths tables."
Sometimes, when the nearby stars are shining more brightly these kids play their games on the deck, Olavi shows how to hop to pick up the chalk piece and Luka's eyes fill with tears as she remembers Jia one of the orphaned children she was taking care of playing the same game during lulls between bombings by the Zangyack. And how Luka couldn't save Jia and she couldn't save her sister. She wondered what future they would have on Tirawa.
Olavi shrugs, "My aunt tells me things aren't much better there, but at least I will be with family."
Amel starts crying silently and Luka hugs her, after a while through hiccups she explains, "I don't have any family, they were killed when Zangyack destroyed our planet. Olavi's aunt said she could take care of me too."
Olavi takes her hand, "Amel, we will go to school together, like brother and sister." Amel dries her tears and smiles as Olavi kisses her cheek. Luka's heart aches for these kids and her old dream stirs in some forgotten part of her brain. She wanted these kids to have better futures than the ones promised by the planets still struggling to get back to their feet after being destroyed by Zangyack. Rebuilding something for the children on such an Universe wide scale feels daunting to her, but she did promise Cain, and she did promise her sister and Saya and she promised herself. Luka blinks away some tears from her eyes furtively while the kids continue playing.
Doc
Doc looks at the kids whenever he answers their questions and feels like somewhere along the way he's picked up a burden that weighs heavily on his shoulders. It feels more that way since he's returned from Onissya. Maybe that's why he really wanted to do something for these kids and all these stranded people, even if it was only transporting them to a planet that would be safer for them. The thought of being able to do nothing for his planet continues to eat away at him a little, even though it is not helpful but what can he do?
He's a pirate though he's circled back to not thinking of himself as any kind of hero, and the buzz of defeating the Zangyack has worn off, he has started shrugging anyone expressing their thanks to him, much like Marvelous was wont to do and still does.
He understands more and more how guaranteeing safety for anyone is a heavy promise to make in a Universe still reeling from all the effects of an Empire and trying to heal but the wound was too large to begin with and it will take more time.
He still feels guilty for not being able to find his family, still misses his siblings now that he cannot assume that he'll just meet them in the future someday. And yet he doesn't think it would help him if he spent more time searching for them as Marvelous had offered, at least right now he can still believe and hope they are alive somewhere. Whatever complicated feelings he carries for his family, a part of him will always miss them.
He will miss his older sisters; their pranks and games and saving him from the bullies in school and he will miss his parents too. That's how it was on his planet, everyone felt more obligated to their parents for their entire lives, and it feels like he's failed them even though he tried as much as he could to live up to their high expectations, especially his father. He's found himself thinking more and more of how it was so difficult trying to impress his scientist-engineer father with his own achievements all through his school years, even though he was good at schoolwork and enjoyed it, for a given value of enjoyment. He also struggled to connect with his father because of arguments that would sometimes break out in their home in his childhood where his quick tempered father would shout at the rest of them.
He left University due to Onissya being close to an invasion by the Zangyack and therefore did not finish his full degree, and he can still hear the disappointment in his father's voice, not that he ever expressed it out loud. And now the University was gone too, the Zangyack destroyed it along with his entire planet and it hadn't been rebuilt.
Maybe he regrets not being able to make his father proud and now having no chance to do so. He wonders all the time what he would think of his current life and can find no answer. His entire childhood he had struggled to love his father, engrossed as he was in his work all the time, travelling to different planets for various workshops and conferences. Maybe he wanted to find his family so he could have some closure. Maybe he wanted to connect with his father again. Tears threaten to overflow from his eyes.
This is why he told Marvelous he was glad they were not family, because they never had such obligations among each other. They stayed because they wanted to, they stayed because they were in love with each other. They stayed because they were not family but each other's most important people all the same. They stayed because they were Home for each other in ways that his childhood home had never felt fully like home.
He takes a deep breath as he answers the questions from Ara, Alina and Sitara about navigation and general life on the ship and attempts to work around the kids games. Gai and him are also working more in the kitchen and around the ship to ensure lunch and dinner are on time and there are enough servings for seconds for everyone as well as all the laundry covered, the hot tub filled, the showers and sink unblocked, and various chores around the ship seen to. Doc is grateful that he is only getting a few moments of peace each day because it is taking everything for him to look and sound cheerful while being ready to cry at any given moment.
And then there is the obvious long route that they've been taking and Marvelous feeling sad and distant through all of it. Joe, Luka, Ahim and Gai have been explaining how the longer route was necessary to take, so of course he has also put his weight behind it and explained with navigational charts why they are travelling this way. His words are what convince the guests to drop any further questions, while he himself only ends up feeling more and more distressed.
His heart aches all the more because he can see Marvelous not doing well and it is foolish but he derives a lot of his strength from Marvelous' support and praise and misses it sorely this time. He thinks of how Marvelous' face had darkened at the news of his people, the ones who had survived, either forced to assimilate or hide whatever they had saved from Empire's clutches. He cannot even imagine how hard it must be to do that constantly, his planet had been destroyed but he never had to hide his culture, his identity and his associations with it.
Coming out of the laundry room with fresh sheets he cannot help but breakdown into tears, everything that has happened during the past sixty or so sleeps, all comes crashing down on him at once. His family missing, possibly dead, his planet still suffering from ravages due to Zangyack and possibly at the brink of more internal war and occupation from other factions and his crew especially Marvelous facing their own turmoils and he's seen Luka also carry a troubled look of her own and she's passed up multiple opportunities to tease him, which means that something is bothering her too. Worse is that he cannot help with any of that. He wipes his tears with his shirt sleeves and goes to spread the bed sheets in the rooms.
Ahim
Ahim really doesn't know what to do with children. She likes them, they are funny and smart, and she falls more in love with the way Luka-san handles them when they are angry or sad. She falls more in love with Luka-san everyday, but beyond helping out with chores along with Gai-san so that Doc-san would have an easier time, she really doesn't know what to do with children or how to attend to them or entertain them.
She watches them play, she engages the adults in conversations, they ask her about her planet, they ask her about the ship, the captain, the crew, whether she likes being a pirate and it makes Ahim think more and more about these things.
They share some customs from their planet, Alina talks about the small creatures zahwe that were native to Onissya and which came out in spring and that was how they marked one of their festivals.
"We didn't mark spring," Ahim tells them, "but we did mark winter." She goes on to talk about the celebration of colours from Famille, because the planet ended up being colder than many others for longer, they had month long celebrations with coloured powdered dyes and fireworks that filled the sky against the whites of winter. The sweetmeats from the festival are what Ahim remembers best. The talk then moves onto foods, and all three, Ara, Alina and Sitara talk about what they miss from their planet.
"Doc-san also talks about these sweet crunchy desserts with honeycomb on top, but he said that he never found ingredients for it elsewhere."
"Ah yes, baro, yes that's also a delicacy from our planet that we miss." Sitara adds flipping the pages on her notebook to one of her poems, which is all about this dessert and Ahim smiles. She certainly enjoys sipping tea and entertaining the guests. She wishes it all was in better circumstances, when her crew was less occupied with internal troubles. She sees Luka-san carrying a sad look many times as she takes care of the children, part of her feels glad that Luka-san is not fussing over her so much, they seem to have grown past that point to become equal as partners and lovers and it pleases her, but now she feels like she must look after Luka-san and make sure she's taking care of herself, even as she throws herself into looking after the kids. This is what she knows of Luka-san from her earliest days, even though she hasn't talked much about them. She knows of Luka-san doing everything to keep the young children, orphaned from the Zangyack war, alive, while she herself was an adolescent. She wants to take care of Luka-san. She bites her lips as she watches the sad look in her eyes which disappears as the children crowd around her asking for treats.
She also sees Doc - san furtively wiping away his tears. She has made it a point to spend more time with Doc-san, not to ask him to relate his troubles, but for him to share if he wants and to distract him from the heavy feelings he is carrying ever since he returned.
And Marvelous-san, well, she sort of understands the stuff he's going through, there is one sector near Famille where the Zangyack chased the spaceship she was on and destroyed the second ship. But he needs space and she respects that. Talking to Joe-san also confirms her initial guess. She will, she concludes be very glad when they reach Tirawa.
Gai
Gai is spending most of his time helping Don-san with the chores, so when he sees Don-san wiping away some tears, he doesn't know how to react for a minute and stands around awkwardly, before he moves forward and hugs Don-san.
He has lived most of his life self assuredly, admittedly with a few bumps and bruises here and there, things do end up working out for him, but with his crew he is slowly adjusting to things not being fine immediately, maybe not working out at all.
That was something he noticed for the first time when Kiaido came up in discussions. Kiaido was dead, they all had used Jetman senpai powers and it seemed to him the day was won and nothing else to mull over, but then one day Marvelous-san had casually mentioned some details from his first meeting with Kiaido.
From what Gai could put together later in his discussions with Don-san, Marvelous-san was very young and alone when he faced Kiaido and was haunted by what Kiaido did to him, by feeling helpless in the face of death.
He couldn't help but shudder at the look Marvelous-san got in his eye for the briefest moment when talking about him. It also didn't help that Marvelous-san for a time after they faced Kiaido was rushing into things and making decisions like ejecting them from their mech and not caring about his life.
It felt wrong to deal with things this way and even though he had voiced that opinion that day, and they had eventually defeated Warz Gill, the matter was not resolved. Somewhere along the way, with the urgency of trying to deal with Kiaido, they had not dealt with his ghost that haunted Marvelous-san and made him want to prove things more than before, to be willing to walk into anything even death to protect them all. The way the ghost of Kiaido lingered for far longer for Marvelous-san than it should have, made Gai pause and reflect a lot. They had talked about Basco after he had been killed but never really talked about Kiaido.
Joe-san and Barizorg was also something similar, where Joe-san was haunted, so to speak by his mentor who had been turned to Barizorg. It took a really long time even after Barizorg had been killed for Joe-san to bring up Sid-sempai in regular conversations.
Gai didn't know much of Luka-san's ghosts, he had heard from Ahim-san that Luka-san had lost her sister early on in life and sometimes she had that faraway sad look, but he also felt that if he had lost his sister, whom he loved dearly, he would miss her for the rest of his life, even though he would never say that to her face. Truth be told he did miss his sister right about now, he would see if he could call her tonight.
There were no simple answers to things, Gai put the dish down on the dining table, only sandwiches for lunch, because neither Don-san nor him had gotten much time today, maybe Marvelous-san, Joe-san, Luka-san Don-san and Ahim-san will continue to be troubled by past memories and there was nothing much he could really do for them.
Joe-san had talked about how Don-san, Luka-san and Ahim-san had lost their planets and he had seen Ahim-san go through various emotions as she returned to her planet and took a stand against her relatives. There was no reason to suppose that Luka and Don-san didn't feel similar emotions, especially Don-san who had not been able to find his family in the records, that was all he would say about his experiences.
He wanted to help, he wanted to be there for Don-san, so when Don-san clung to his shoulder, Gai managed to control his impulse to shout. He placed a hand tenderly on Don-san's back. When Don-san raised his face, it was wet. Gai not knowing what words would help kissed Don-san softly on the cheek tasting the salt from the tears, and Don-san smiled and took his hands in his murmuring "Gai. Gai," over and over. Gai was getting used to spectres of the past hanging over his crew, he was getting used to not asking them about things they didn't want to talk about, to not talk over the things they did share in his eagerness to help them, and to curb his enthusiasm a little in offering advice if he noticed their body language was off. His crew had lived a very eventful past and they might always have that hanging over them, the best they could do was be there for each other and for Gai that was okay. He could live with that.
When they weighed anchor from Tirawa, after safely depositing all their guests there, Marvelous-san addressed Gai, "Gai, we know you have been wanting to visit Earth, that it is your home, and you wanted to visit it every holiday but we haven't been able to manage that." Marvelous-san winces. "Things always keep coming up, so we will set a course for Earth, barring any emergencies."
Gai's face breaks out in a wide smile and he nearly blows Marvelous's ears off with his shrieks. It was true that Gai had been feeling homesick somewhere in the background but he had put his feelings aside because Don-san was not doing well. It would make him happy to return to Earth and visit everyone including sentai. He nods at Marvelous-san.
"Yes! Let's go then!" Marvelous spins the steering wheel around as he smiles at his crew. It feels good for it to just be the six of them after a while. Luka-san is glued to the porthole waving goodbye to the children. Gai smiles, Luka-san really does behave like an older sister. Although he won't make the mistake of thinking that her and Ahim are sisters, not again. He's been invited to and been part of a couple of "orgies" by now. Maybe there will be time for some more moments like these with the crew, Gai thinks, now that they are alone, all of them. He would be glad of any opportunity to become much more closer to them.
Chapter 9: Luka's Dream
Chapter Text
"It's been a long time since we've been to Earth." Gai says, as he and Marvelous are standing on the bridge together. Marvelous grins as he guides the ship to one of the harbours on this all-blue outpost, "I've missed the curry rice on Earth. No where in the Universe does it quite like it."
"We're going to celebrate Christmas again," Gai tells him, "I know what I want to get all of you this time."
Marvelous is about to ask when Luka appears on the bridge.
"Huh?" He raises his eyebrows at her.
"Can you all come to the living quarters for a bit? There is something I want to tell everyone."
"What is it Luka-san?" Gai asks. The cheerful atmosphere of a while ago becomes suddenly serious as Luka disappears into the living quarters.
"Oi! Luka!" Marvelous drops his armour and takes quick strides after her.
They are currently on VF-1122, an outpost, to shop for food and use it as a stopover for a few sleeps, before travelling across an entire galaxy to reach Earth, because Gai has been homesick and it has also been a while since they've been there. Navi has prophesied the arrival of a new sentai, the Zyuohgers, who need a little help searching for their powers, and they are all curious about how the Earth has been holding on since they left.
"It's a nice little planet that I've grown fond of," Ahim tells Gai, "It's good to visit to relax. Almost like a vacation for us pirates."
"We're pirates, do we even have vacations?" Doc asks.
"Of course we do, Don-san! Isn't it correct Marvelous-san?" Gai asks.
"Of course! We pirates do what we want. More importantly, it's practically another treasure hunt." Marvelous says, once Navi plops down on the couch exhausted after spinning around.
Their plans however, have hit a snag, Luka announces she wants to visit her planet Themis for a while.
"I'll join you all on Earth." She tells them all once they are gathered in the living quarters for the meeting. "There is something I urgently need to do by myself."
"By yourself? Luka-san?" Ahim looks at her surprised. She had imagined Luka-san might want to return to her planet someday, but right now out of the blue? Ahim doesn't know what to say.
"This is too sudden, Luka," Doc interrupts. "You could wait till we return from Earth."
"I can't." Luka snaps back.
"No need to be so cutting." Doc replies flinching a little.
"So what do we do now, Marvelous-san?" Gai looks towards Marvelous who is equally caught by surprise. It takes him a moment to gather his thoughts. "Uh- if Luka needs to go, then she needs to go, can't be helped. The rest of us can go to Earth."
"Ah!" Joe nods in agreement.
"But, Marvelous-san, it won't be the same-" Gai tells him. "I'd rather wait and not go like this." Marvelous shrugs.
The meeting breaks up and everyone returns to their duties and to explorations of the outpost. In a few sleeps they will weigh anchor from here.
The outpost is sleepy and the pirates are enjoying the difference in how they never see their own Wanted Posters anymore and don't have to wonder if they would be welcome on the satelite planet. They are welcomed everywhere; people even shove free items in their arms ever since news has spread about their part in defeating Zangyack to at least a few galaxies. The mood on the ship however, is anything but celebratory.
The news about Luka leaving has been hard to digest for most of the crew on the ship. Especially Doc.
On one of the last few days of their stay on the outpost they make their way to a fine-dining restaurant in the heart of the trading post. Doc has been talking a lot about it and sharing brochures and flyers about the menu.
"Time to relax and enjoy ourselves," Joe observes looking around at the various ships in the space harbour as well as drinking in some of the less familiar smells from the sea on the outpost.
"I'm glad we helped the people who wanted to reach Tirawa safely, but now we can just be ourselves and have fun." Ahim agrees watching the waves in the distance as she walks.
"I hope there's a meat menu." Luka says sniffing the air, as they walk inside a well lit restaurant and Marvelous grins.
"Chicken wings," Joe mumbles to himself as he smiles.
Doc rolls his eyes and Gai laughs at Don-san's expression.
"I'm sure it's going to be good and fun regardless." Ahim says.
They are seated inside and then shown a selection of wine and other drinks. The menu items keeps coming one after the other. Sometimes the waiters introduce the items with a different wine or whiskey pairing.
"The portions are quite small isn't it?" Marvelous asks looking around him after a few courses have gone down.
"There's a total of fifteen main courses here. I've always wanted to try it." Doc explains.
"How much is it?" Luka asks jokingly, "If I have to part with one of my rings for a meal-"
"Stop it!" Doc says looking annoyed.
"Luka you're always nitpicking everything I do."
Everyone looks at Doc.
"I was joking and I wasn't the only one, Marvelous did too." Luka is irritated as she holds a small delicate piece of meat on her fork. "I don't even like the menu, quite a lot of vegetables and broccoli served different ways for my liking. But I was putting up with it."
"Oh, what else have you been putting up with? Do you put up with us too? Would you be happier on your own? Do you want to leave for your planet right now too?"
Luka throws down her napkin. "That's it. I'm going to have a proper lunch somewhere where I don't have to listen to all this."
"Luka!" Marvelous and Joe look at her confusedly as she's walking out.
"Luka-san." Ahim gets up to follow her, thanking the wait staff for an excellent meal. By this time everyone has walked out from the restaurant into the strong breeze that is blowing. "Where is Luka?" They find her waiting for them on the Galleon, a box of pizza in front of her. Marvelous also digs in, Luka pretends not to notice Doc as he walks to his room.
Doc and Luka have been irritated at each other a lot more and these days; Doc is being more critical of Luka and receiving more elbows and annoyed expressions in return. Luka is trying to humour him in her own way. They do continue arguing however, and Doc keeps questioning any decisions that Luka takes till it drives her up and into a blackhole, which is her expression for being fed up with his criticisms.
"You're not taking this seriously, any of you." Doc yells at them as less than one full sleep lies between them and their departure from this outpost.
He glares at Marvelous who has picked up his fork to start eating and the captain puts his fork down reluctantly.
Luka had announced her plans to leave to visit her planet, Themis at the start of their short stay at VF-1122. She would rejoin them on Earth afterwards, she had told them and they had all shrugged and the matter had been assumed to be closed. Where was she going to stay? How long? Did she read up on the latest news from Themis? All these questions seemed to irritate Luka and she would brush Doc off or avoid him.
But Luka's departure is growing nearer and still no one has raised any of these issues with her, Doc has had it finally.
Once they are all gathered for dinner, he starts telling them off, more forcefully than he had intended.
"Stop it! None of you have taken Luka's announcement seriously and it has been ten whole sleeps since then."
"Don-san-" Gai begins but Doc has only gotten more heated up in the interim and he wants to let it all out.
"I thought you would care more Marvelous-" there is a slight anguish and plea in Doc's voice. "Did you find out anything about what Themis is like now? You're just going to let Luka go without any plans."
"Let me? Let me?" Luka has been putting up with Doc's words so far patiently but she's getting annoyed now.
"If Luka wants to go, then that's it, isn't it? What do any of us have to do with it? She can do whatever she likes." Marvelous tries to put in a word before Luka gets angrier, "I'm sure she can handle things on her planet."
"Do you have any idea how hard it is to navigate a planet that has been brutalised by the Zangyack? I've been on mine, and I wish someone had said all this to me before I went, at least I would have been better prepared. And mine didn't have a civil war going on like on Luka's planet right now, did you all not read the newspapers?
But it was- there was a lot of rubble and bodies and mass graves and-" Doc flashes back to the time on his planet that he hasn't allowed himself to talk about or think about. "People everywhere were living in squalid conditions-- in camps, in informal slums with little amenities, and there wasn't much you could do to help, there were so many orphans too whose parents were killed by the Zangyack or killed during the riots-" Doc clenches his fists to stop his tears from falling. "The new government was using the military to fight threats from the planet Nereid for control of resources and various water-rich and mineral rich smaller bodies in between them, while people were going hungry and riots were erupting everyday due to lack of food.
There could be months before we even manage to contact you Luka, people were trying to do their best with what they had- I watched the telecom staff work to put up communication lines despite no proper infrastructure available to them, I watched people come together to help time and time again but everyone had failed the people there, it was so obvious.
The Zangyack had ruined whatever systems there were because all they cared about was to control and subjugate people and extract profit from the planet. The government that was coming in to replace them didn't want to do anything- couldn't do anything with the lack of resources, there were external attacks still ongoing," Doc looks around the room at all of them seated and listening to him quietly, "the worst thing was that I couldn't talk to you all-" Doc's voice is shaking with emotions. "It was so lonely, the kind of loneliness I haven't felt and I had no idea if I would ever be able to return or make contact with all of you again-"
"Doc-san." Ahim places a hand on his arm to comfort him.
"Sounds like it's not really about my planet is it? or about me?" Luka says after a long uncomfortable silence.
Doc stands there, wiping the tears flowing from his eyes with his shirt sleeve.
She gets up from the table.
"I'm going to go for a walk, clear my head."
"Luka-san." Ahim scrapes her chair back to go after Luka, but Marvelous shakes his head and stops her.
"Doc!" Joe says, the rest of the words not appearing in his throat, he doesn't know how to comfort the engineer who has been holding all this in for a while now.
"Doc-" Marvelous repeats as Doc averts his eyes.
"We didn't know-" Ahim and Gai's faces are downcast.
"Yeah well-" Doc waves his hand. "I don't want Luka to make the same mistakes."
"Unfortunately there is no guarantee of that." Joe points out. "We all need to make our own mistakes and do things our own ways sometimes. But, we know that we're there if one of us fails and falls. That's all you can do sometimes."
Marvelous nods at the pronouncement.
"We'll be nearby, you know. Of course we're worried for her, just as we were for you, we're crew."
This reassures Doc and he gladly accepts tissues from Gai to dry his eyes and tries to smile. "Doc-san, are you alright?" Doc nods towards Ahim. "I know, I just got carried away, I suppose. Luka was right that it really wasn't about her at all."
"Don-san." Gai says squeezing his hand, this is followed by Navi's sad murmurrings of Doc over and over.
"Can we eat now, Doc-san?" Ahim asks, while Marvelous has already picked off a few bites of curry from his plate.
Doc sits down and miserably picks up his fork to eat.
"Hey, Marvelous."
Luka enters the ship after several hours and sees him sitting in his chair in the stillness of what passes for night on the ship, with dimmed lights and a slow hum from the stars outside.
"Not like you to be sleeping here."
Marvelous rubs his eyes. "Why wouldn't I? This is my chair and it's comfortable."
"I bet," Luka's face breaks into a smile, "it didn't have anything to do with the fact that you were waiting up for me?"
"No, why would I?" He grins at her and tilts his head to the left. Luka is startled by the couch where the blanket moves a little but then she sees Ahim's head poking out and Doc's blonde tousled one near her.
"Doc wanted to let you know that your plate is in the kitchen if you're hungry."
She rummages around in the kitchen, opens a can of soda from the fridge as well and closes the door with her foot before settling on the floor near the couch. She looks fondly up at the couch, but Ahim is asleep cuddling the blanket and Doc is fast asleep clutching Navi to his chest. Doc's head droops on Ahim's shoulder as she sleeps and Luka feels a sudden fondness at Doc's sleeping face.
After a few mouthfuls of rice which she shovels up quickly she turns to Marvelous again.
"You didn't stop me from walking out today, even though it was mostly in anger, and you didn't say anything about me going to my planet on my own, unlike Doc and Ahim. Even Joe thought it was a step too far, what with things being how they are on my planet." Luka winces at the thought of her poor planet still struggling to get back on its feet after the Zangyack.
A group of wealthy people from different planets who were now settled on Nereid and who had profited off of the Empire, had been extorting money from various planets and threatening invasions and coups. Doc's planet was struggling because they had also gone to the Nereidians, hoping they would help with the rebuilding but ended up being betrayed instead.
"I knew you'd come back, whenever you were ready." Marvelous says it matter of factly watching Luka dig through the rice and the meaty curry.
"Aren't you sad I'm going away?" Luka looks at Marvelous and makes a face.
"I'm going to make you work twice as hard around the ship for this leave you know old girl."
"Why you-" Luka looks at him, annoyed she can't throw a punch at him at this moment. They settle for grinning at each other. "I will get payback for that, I always do. You're too soft on your crew Marvelous. Not enough discipline and punishment going on, on the Galleon. There were zero keel-haulings this week too." Luka shakes her head and Marvelous chuckles at that.
After a while Marvelous answers.
"It's important to you and that's part of being a crew, and being a captain for me, learning to let go." He exhales deeply and there's a pause, broken only by Luka's spoon in her plate and Ahim and Doc's gentle snoring.
"I was greatly tested on that with Doc going to visit his planet, and I thought it would get easier the prospect of you going away, but it never gets easier, any of you leaving, not really, not for me. Still, I need to keep the door open, always; to not bind anyone to me or to the ship, no matter how much it hurts when you all fly away. Me and the Galleon will be there to welcome you back whenever you want to return, even if you don't, it's not like I can stop loving any of you." Marvelous' voice grows quieter and more wistful though Luka catches the last strains and her spoon hovers in the air as her face softens. Trust Marvelous to have one of his rare moments of sentimentality while she's having dinner, she makes a face. He sees her look and laughs.
"Before, when you all joined, with the Zangyack around, the universe wasn't safe, none of you had a choice to really leave but now things are changing. I don't know how the future will look like, but we are shaping it how we want it to be, we are chasing after the dreams and promises we made to ourselves years ago. And I have full faith in you being able to handle anything the Universe throws at you. For what it's worth, despite everything, we've managed to all stay together. We're Gokaigers after all. "
Luka grins at that.
"Also we'll be near your planet the entire time."
"Marvelous!"
"Three planets away, technically. You never know when you might need the help of five other space pirates."
Luka snorts as she gets up to run the plate under hot water in the sink and sees Joe sleeping on his equipment. She also pauses to watch Gai smile in his dream as he snores on the dinner table. She smiles to herself as she washes and puts the plate away, they all were waiting for her to return, of course.
She wants to feel exasperated at her crew, but can't bring herself to, she only feels immense fondness for them. She can't even feel annoyed at Marvelous' words. They both know that there isn't a good rebuttal to this, Luka herself used that tactic when Marvelous had told them to not show up in his fight with Basco.
"Well played." she says as she returns and sits near Marvelous' chair.
"We do have business in the area, we have been contacted by and are contacting local rebel groups again, and trying to learn more about some of the groups of Nereidians since they've become a threat to at least three planets by now. We'll hold down the fort for you, till you return. We work better together and that is the truth, thief girl. " He tells her and she places her head on his knee and agrees.
"We do!"
Marvelous observes for all that Luka claims to be fierce and love independence and she is and had to be, she really enjoys small luxuries and soft things around her. It was one of the first things he had learned about her after only a few days of her joining the Gokai Galleon. In a different life than theirs, she would never have had to be as strong and fierce as she is and even though that is one of the things he loves about her now, he also loves the soft look in her eyes whenever she's happy.
After a while she raises her head again. "I hate admitting it, but, I am glad that you're all going to be nearby. Doc's objections weren't wrong. I do feel a sense of dread going back to my planet, I don't know how to deal with the children from my planet being dead and there's going to be more people like that I will learn about, the war stretched on for some years after I had left. It used to fill me with guilt in those early years, that I escaped and saved myself and left them to get help through other means; but Themis was being destroyed over and over, Fia had just died, I had to leave from there, even if for a few years. I couldn't bear to be there and lose any little hope I had by seeing the children die in front of me and not being able to do much for them or for myself. I used to get nightmares for weeks when I was new to the Galleon, about abandoning those children-" Her eyes fill with tears and she looks down again. "After seeing those two children that Doc brought with him, I can't stop wondering what their future is going to be like, just as I wondered all those years what the children I left behind on Themis went through. I was the one responsible for them, I failed them-"
"You didn't-" Marvelous gently rubs his hand over her cheeks to wipe away some of her tears, "consign them to anything. It was the Zangyack. And by escaping you helped your planet rid itself of Zangyack. You joined in the resistance against them. You couldn't do much on your own, none of us could. I didn't seriously become a threat to the Zangyack Empire till I joined the Red Pirates and then it was Red Pirates that were known as a dangerous rebel group alongside others."
"I know," Luka whispers, her head back on his lap, she hugs his thigh tighter.
"It still feels so inadequate sometimes. It feels like I didn't do anything."
Marvelous lifts Luka's face with his fingers, "Because you didn't do everything? because you couldn't save those kids? Luka, that would be demanding the impossible from you. You were so young-"
"I wanted to leave so badly after Fia died, I held her cold, lifeless body in my arms for hours, not knowing what to do or where to go. I had made so many promises to get her out of that place, when she was sick. I had so many plans of where I'd take her, what we'd do. How we would restart our lives without our parents; that when she died, all my dreams died with her. Except for this one-"
She doesn't know why she's telling this story now, after all the years she's kept it bottled in, even all the years with her crew, she's guarded her past so carefully, stored away Fia's memories so safely, hid her dream away so thoroughly that she wouldn't even share it when Joe asked her once fearing it won't come true.
To be fair, it hurt even then to speak of it. It hurts much less now but she dreads how she'll feel once she lands on her planet. In her mind, she can still see the planes overhead dropping bombs, she can still feel the hunger pangs as she used to get them regularly. She can still see the food becoming scarcer and scarcer, the price on everything going up, the children crying and then getting used to sleeping on hungry stomachs. Even Luka's stories for the children about the war being over soon, or them all being able to get away from there and being rescued seemed to crumble after a while and become less believable. Imagining themselves warm while shivering in rags in winter didn't work after it went on for longer than a winter. The older children didn't want to hear the stories from her - they no longer believed in them. The worst was when one of the older kids told her she didn't have any dreams of the future anymore, since the child had lost her entire family due to the Zangyack bombings. Luka went off alone and cried after that.
She had grown up during the war, most of her childhood and adolescent years had been spent during it. You feel numb to things after a while, surviving day in and day out in a war zone; her dream of helping the orphaned children was the only thing that made her determined to live on even after everything.
Nowhere was really safe too, there were Zangyack shooting and sniping at people from their ships. Everything was so hard, she did her best, she brought her sister to the hospital on her own in the rains with no transportation to be found because the Zangyack had bombed ambulances. She ran for miles just to get Fia to a doctor. She buried her only sister and there seemed no reason to make any plans anymore, all her plans were for Fia. She was going to hurt the Zangyack for Fia's sake, that was the only thing she could think about.
"You were so young, Luka." Marvelous murmurs again and it brings her out of her reverie and she grips Marvelous' hand tightly. She has an easier time confessing these things to Marvelous and she wonders again why that is. Perhaps because they both never got to live their childhoods, there is a recognition in there of how hard things once were, how they were failed by everyone in the Universe who ever came across them as children, and she wants to be seen and known. A part of her desperately wants that acknowledgement that she herself has denied her all these years; that she was young, and it was not her fault for leaving, for not being able to save them, for not being able to buy a planet to house all the war orphans, for not being able to tend to their needs and watch them recover and put their hurts behind them. But now-
"It's alright to grieve you know." Marvelous finally tells her. "It's alright to grieve your people who were killed, and the children who never got a chance to fulfill their dreams because of Zangyack invading your planet."
Luka looks at Marvelous closely.
"Do you still?"
A sad smile plays on Marvelous' lips. "I couldn't go through the sector where many of them were killed even though it was ages ago - " Luka looks at Marvelous' face, she cannot begin to imagine what that horror entailed.
"I figured it was something like that."
"It was silly." Marvelous brushes it away, "But I would rather have cut and eaten my right arm then than gone through that sector. I was afraid of the shadows of the past being rekindled, everything I had felt as a child watching it all happen, was threatening to overwhelm me. The years have put enough distance between that massacre for me to move on, and I have tried to forget it all, but I suppose I didn't quite manage to." Marvelous looks at the ship's ceiling with a wry look on his face. Most of his memories of himself as a child are of moving from planet to planet, but without papers or ID or being a part of any society, always outside it and always treated as a threat. The presence of some of his people on Doc's planet that he had only recently learned about, was also why he wanted to help Doc's planet and others overthrow new threats from Nereidians. They finally deserved to live in genuine peace.
"It wasn't silly. You watched people you had loved, your entire community, be murdered by Zangyack in front of you and you still found a way to survive and live after that." Luka tells him.
"This is silly." She gestures to herself and Marvelous understands her meaning, she wants some closure of the chapter of her life she left behind, she wants to move on.
"It's not." Marvelous tells her. "You should get a chance to fulfill your dream, that's why we do what we do. That's why we're pirates, we take what we want. Our dreams are ours to chase after across the Universe. "
There are tears in Luka's eyes again. "I do really need to grasp my dream with my own hands. "
Marvelous nods as he gets up and stretches. The lights are coming around in the ship, the view above is also breaking out in light as they pass a nearby star.
"We will help you with whatever you need for that. Just tell us what to do."
"I'm sorry for the outburst."
Luka shakes her head, "Don't be, you were worried for me, it came from a good place."
"It wasn't needed. But of course you've thought of all the things that could go wrong, much before I had."
"I haven't stopped thinking about my planet ever since I came to the Galleon. Not because I wanted to go back and settle there, but because, I couldn't forgive myself for leaving the other orphaned children behind." Luka looks clear-eyed at the motion to and fro of the waves of this outpost. "And you know, Fia's grave is still there."
"Luka!" Doc doesn't know what to say in response. They let the waves fill in the silence.
"You said you wished someone had told you everything beforehand about the way your planet was, would you still have gone?" Luka looks at him.
Doc sighs and shakes his head, he knows very well that he wouldn't have. He was looking for an excuse to stay, but-
"But a part of you would have wondered, right? Wondered about everything, your family, your friends, your university, wondered if you could have just gone back and started a new life there, even if you decided later that you wanted to stay with us?"
"Yes." Doc looks down at the water lapping at his ankles.
"And now you have an answer, it may not be a good answer, but at least, there is something. There are some hurts you can't really protect someone from, even if you love them. Sometimes you really just need to do things, to face the demons of your past."
Doc nods as Luka jumps from rock to rock to settle on a large one.
"What good weather there is today." she closes her eyes and lets the heat and light from the nearby star soak into her skin. She opens one of her eyes to see Doc settled right beside her and she pats his blonde hair as they both gaze off into the distance at the dots visible, ships or a far out port most likely.
"I will miss you, you know." Doc tells her. "For all you make me do your shopping," Luka punches him playfully. "And this. And everything else. I will miss you, I always miss you. The shopping trips too are an excuse to spend time with you and have some of the coolness rub off."
Luka looks at Doc, "Doc - "
"Remember when we were on Earth and you were badly wounded? I didn't know what we'd do, all of us if something happened to you. Just come back to us soon."
"I will miss you too Doc. You're cool in your own way." She places her hand on his blonde curls.
"I know. We just have to compensate for each other." Doc smiles. "You told me that, do you remember?"
"Alright, enough sentimentality, let's go back. I expect the others are waiting. Also you need to cook something tasty for me before I go." Luka elbows Doc who rubs his chest and winces. After a few moments, Luka drapes her arm around Doc's shoulder as they walk back and Doc laughs.
Luka reflects on the goodbyes she's managed so far; with Marvelous it has been short and sweet, they had already talked about her need to go and he doesn't say much, preferring to focus on checking if Luka has her Mobirates with her and telling her the coordinates of where they will be and to call on them at the slightest hint of trouble or issue. This is Luka and he has full faith in her handling things because she's a Gokaiger and she's strong. She does notice the same sadness in his eyes that was there when Doc left and she can imagine how he's going to spend the next few days. She knows he's planning to throw himself into the work he's set out for himself, that of discovering more about the wealthy Nereidian faction terrorising planets and if he cannot find work to occupy himself, he will mope and miss her and despite not saying anything it will be very obvious to everyone else.
Joe too focuses on making sure Luka has all the things needed for survival though they talk a bit more about each other's planets and Luka is surprised to learn a bit more about how he's been keeping tabs on Pellene, the Zangyack homeworld, which after the deaths of its aristocratic class of the Emperor and his cronies, is doing much better, though it has not yet achieved class abolition and some of its bourgeoisie have joined with some Nereidians to impose conditions of debt on other planets like Luka's and Doc's to regain power. She is touched by his concern for the kids they had seen who had joined the military at an early age; he has talked a lot about them and hoped they had a chance to live their own lives and chase their own dreams instead of giving their lives for the military of an Empire like he did once. He readily supports Luka trying to fulfill her dream of taking care of other orphans.
Luka can see that Joe's making an effort to share more of himself, which she appreciates. He's still reticent about his own time in the military as well as his own planet and family. She's heard a few things about his planet, how it has a more tropical climate with rich growing crops and fruits; how the Zangyack forced much of the planet into growing monoculture crops to feed their soldiers and populations and opened up weapons factories there, but Joe still shrugs when the discussion returns to his feelings about his planet and the people he knew there. "There's not much to tell." He repeats again when Luka asks. "I keep myself updated on the situation there, when my back pain keeps me up at night. Beyond that I don't have any interest or curiosity to return."
Joe's gotten better at telling them all how much he loves and cares for them through words, though he's always shown his love by bringing them what they need. But their time on Earth has changed them; just as their time fighting and defeating the Empire changed them in ways that are not perceptible to a stranger but to them it is obvious. She can see the triumphs in the smiles of her crew and see the many scars they live with, most of them invisible. Some things still haven't changed much, Luka thinks. Their work isn't over, perhaps in some sense, it is only getting started. She thinks of the long task she has set herself and sighs a little. It is what is needed, yet she still wishes someone else was doing it, rather than her.
But then again she thought the same when they were fighting Zangyack. We're not heroes, she had told Gai, we'd rather wish someone else was doing all this, we never had a choice. It was either resist the Empire or die. And now, in terms of building new futures, it is this or fall back into old ways of being controlled by Empires new and old through different methods, and still end up dead. She's not letting that happen, she's come too far for that.
"Remember when it seemed too difficult to imagine the death of an Empire? Now we're dreaming of other things."
Joe laughs and nods, "We were living on pizzas and hadn't tasted Doc's cooking yet. Can't say I miss that kind of life."
Neither do I." Luka grins.
"You kept telling us you would leave, in those early days. That you were only here to see where these pirates with ideas wilder than space whales would go. And to take some of the treasure because it seemed like too much for Marvelous and me to manage on our own. But we knew it wasn't true, you weren't going anywhere then, you had grown attached to us despite saying otherwise." Joe smiles at her and holds her to his chest.
"I'm not leaving now too, not anytime soon."
"Good." Joe nods. "I can't imagine the Galleon without you."
"I was right about ideas wilder than space whales though, imagine taking on a thief as crew? Don't know what you both were thinking."
Joe has a wide grin on his face. "I liked the way you faced Zangyack all on your own. It was reckless, just like an idiot we know. I figured we would get along well based only on that and I was proven right."
Luka laughs, "It was driven by desperation. Which I guess was true for Marvelous too. Stealing from Zangyack on my own was always going to be risky, no matter how much I tried to plan. But it didn't matter to me, I'd lost everything, death couldn't be that much worse. And then we ended up running into each other and things became so much easier, like the Universe falling into a rhythm. That and Doc's cooking is delicious, so I am stuck here instead of being Space Pirate Captain Luka Millfy." She grins and then her face becomes serious, "Will you all be alright in your fight without me? Don't let Marvelous do anything too reckless when I'm not there to save you all, and watch his back like always."
"We will do our best. Don't worry about the rest of us, we'll be fine. We might not even get to a battle by the time you return. We want to organise and plan more, we're going to talk to the local people and figure out strategies. Only come back to us soon," he tells her his face becoming soft and full of worry and concern. She looks at him closely to make sure it's the same Joe, that it's her Joe, and she reaches on tip toe to kiss him. He smiles broadly at that.
The goodbye with Gai was also simple. Gai understood her need to leave and he didn't mind that their plans to reach Earth had been delayed.
"I'm glad, I get to spend more time with all of you, Luka-san. Besides, we're crew, we do these things for each other." Gai tells her as she apologises to him for the delay in their plans. She pats his head fondly and kisses him on the cheek and forehead. Gai has gotten better at being part of the polycule and takes everything in his stride including late night cuddling sessions as well as intense bedroom discussions that end up in sex frequently. He also defines his boundaries well now, sex has always been less important to him than to the rest of them and they negotiate arrangements that work best for them. His first love will always be sentai and it's not a bad deal to be part of a sentai with Luka-san. Not a bad deal at all, Gai thinks fondly.
Later, while she is on her planet, Luka remembers all these memories and keeps them fondly in her heart. There is still one person however that she needs to talk to, perhaps the most important one to her.
"Luka-san?" Ahim says as she scoops up soapy water onto Luka's back and rubs it gently. The air fills with bath salt bubbles and they watch the light of the bright star near their trading post, glinting off the hollow bubbles, before Ahim continues her massage of Luka's back. She reaches Luka's pelvic bone before pausing, her eyes lingering on the curve of her back and the shape of her butt. She runs her hands gently over Luka's hips, cupping the cheeks in her hands and kissing them, before she moves even closer. Their thighs are touching now, sending pleasant signals to her brain. She stops momentarily to put her head on Luka-san's shoulders, one hand resting in the water, another on her back, as she admires Luka-san's collar bone when Luka gently asks what is on her mind.
"I still wish you would take me with you." Ahim's voice is sorrowful. Luka doesn't reply, she takes Ahim's hand from the soapy water and kisses it, tasting soap and causing them both to laugh. Her hand brushes Ahim's breast and it makes Ahim's heart beat much faster.
"Ahim." They gaze into each other's eyes.
"I wish you would trust me. I wish you would let me treat you like a younger sibling, to care for sometimes."
"I do. That's not why I'm going alone, if there was a fight, I would gladly take you all, you know it." Luka kisses Ahim's hands again and Ahim's gaze lingers on Luka's breasts.
"I want to visit Fia's grave and Ria, and other childrens' graves. It has been too long. That is all."
"And you want to see if you can start your dream?"
Luka nods, "I have some half-baked ideas." She laughs a little, "I haven't stopped thinking about it ever since Doc brought those children with him from his planet and we heard what they had gone through. I always wanted to fulfill that dream, to have something for the orphans who have lived through the brutalities inflicted by the Zangyack and lost their parents or their entire families just like me and my sister had. I have been in touch with Cain again."
"Luka-san!" Ahim's face carries surprise.
"I didn't want to say until things were more finalised. This is a very dear dream of mine. I couldn't afford to have it not come true if I talked about it."
"Luka-san." Ahim hugs her.
Luka listens to Ahim's heart beating against hers, "Cain and I have been talking to the community on Tirawa, that planet is in less of a dire situation than mine and Doc's right now. They managed to form a government that is trying like yours did, to undo all the changes the Zangyack implemented. They are working to build a planet with no classes and where everyone is equal. The community is talking about establishing centres for orphaned children including parks, schools and community centres that are focused on the children. New programs are being started in sports and in arts to distract the children from their past and to let them rebuild their futures.
We don't want children shuffled from one foster family to another and one or two adults to end up having power over them. We want them to be raised in a communal setting and with the help of everyone who lives in the neighbouring communities doing a little for them, that way no one person is burdened or has enough power over them to abuse them. We want to make it easier also for children who get adopted or decide to live in parental or large family units to be able to leave them. That's what we owe the orphans from all the Zangyack wars. Cain has already reached Tirawa and working with people there to understand the logistics and work required. He will return to our planet and we will try to replicate what we've learned. There is a lot more to do on my planet, what with the political situation still so uncertain and many external and internal threats. But this is why I need to be there, I'm a Gokaiger, I can help in ways that others can't. I feel a responsibility to do all this, in Fia's name if nothing else."
"Luka-san, that is wonderful." Ahim has tears in her eyes.
"I want to take you all, but it's going to be lots of town hall meetings and laying the groundwork for centres and infrastructure that can hopefully in time bring a smile to the children's faces. At least that is what Cain says. He's attended so many planning meetings he tells me, he's met with many people to see where he can put the billions he earned to better use for children. Besides, I know Marvelous and Joe want to observe and figure out how to defeat the Nereidian faction that have some of our planets in their control right now and threaten to undo all this good work, I know they have their sights on Tirawa as well. If anything they need your sword more than I do."
"And you also want to be able to grieve on your own?" Ahim asks gently.
"Ahim."
"We're crew. Sometimes the way we can be there for each other is to let each other go on their own to do things." Ahim says softly. "I accept that Luka-san. Please come back to us as quickly as you can."
Luka kisses Ahim in reply; they kiss each other over and over as they stand in water that is growing colder by the minute because none of them wants to breakaway to switch on the heater again, the heat from their bodies is enough for them. Luka dips her head in the bath and reemerges, splashing Ahim with stray droplets and Ahim watches the water run from Luka's san's lips to her collar bone to her breasts. She cups Luka-san's breast and runs her tongue all over it before sucking and causing Luka to moan a little as she fingers herself too at the same time.
Ahim grins and dips her right hand in the water to join Luka-san's fingers hovering near her groin, while Luka slides her fingers down to Ahim's navel all the way to her clitoris to explore her.
The air becomes colder in the room and catches on Ahim's wet back, sending more shivers down her spine as she picks up the loofah and rubs Luka's chest. She watches Luka's breasts jiggle as she brings the cloth to clean between them and they both giggle like schoolgirls. She is also gentle as she cleans between Luka's thighs, touching her softly in between before rubbing her feet and bringing them up from the water to kiss them. Luka picks up the loofah and starts from Ahim's feet, slowly moving up and kissing between her thighs, groin, to her delicious folds with their sensitive nerve endings, as well as her hips. She also sucks Ahim's breasts before dropping the loofah in the now darkened water, ending with a long passionate kiss to Ahim's lips.
The star that has been shining its light through the narrow window of the room, has completely disappeared by the time they drain the water, change and walk upstairs to the living quarters, their hair still damp, though no longer dripping with water. They are going to being weighing anchor and leaving this outpost after dinner and then in a few more sleeps Luka will be on her planet again.
"Where were you both?" Marvelous asks from his chair, "We were about to start dinner without you."
"Just in time," Joe says plopping down on the chair, "I finished my set for today."
They all gather at the dining room table, as Doc and Gai bring out the food from the kitchen and Luka gives a knowing look to Ahim who smiles shyly in turn.
Chapter 10: This Harvest of Hopes - I
Chapter Text
Luka thought she knew everything about grief as a teenager; after all Fia and her had lost their parents; they had been killed in a Zangyack attack that left both her and her sister homeless. They had not been able to mourn them. They lit candles for them once, when they visited their old neighbourhood and met a few of their neighbours again. The Zangyack ships were constantly circling and bombing their planet at that time, therefore they couldn't do much. Fia who was still just a child cried a lot for them, not understanding why her mom or dad wouldn't return. At that time, Luka decided she couldn't cry, despite the grief gnawing at her insides, she had to be strong for her sister, she had to raise her on her own now after all.
Luka walks past the same neighbourhood now which has been trying to rebuild after the Zangyack and is in a much better shape than what she last remembered it as, there are still some traces of the past visible to her eyes, she can picture her family home as it once stood here, she can see the faces of her parents smiling, she remembers holding her baby sister here in her arms. There were so many memories of her early childhood here, memories that she had buried and ignored for several years, that were now resurfacing.
She continues walking until she reaches the purple ocean, its waves lapping up to her knees, she scrunches and buries her toes in the warm soft shiny sand and sighs. She has dreaded coming to her planet, but now that she is here, there are some memories that have become less hazy as if the sea has washed away some of the sand and dirt and she can see what lies underneath.
She remembers one such memory, of running around with the carefree abandon that comes of being a young child at the beach, while her parents sit together holding hands quietly in the distance. Fia is there, she is a toddler who can barely walk, and older sister Luka helps her and builds a sandcastle with her. There is something to these memories, they give her the courage to face what lies ahead.
She walks past the beach and some brambles, there in a quiet spot, one she had dug with her own hands while crying uncontrollably, lay her sister's grave. The graveyard is in a terrible condition, destroyed as it was by the Zangyack bombs. Luka spends a large part of her morning making it presentable. She hopes it helps Fia's soul somewhat. A tear slides across her cheek as she remembers the moment she held Fia's lifeless body in her hands. That was the time she truly knew grief. She doesn't know how long she spent that way clutching Fia's body to her chest as rain poured down.
Cain found her, shaking, and numb with shock and grief. She started thieving again, no longer caring whether she was caught by Zangyack or not. She was almost caught a few times breaking into vaults and security systems; fearing for her safety Cain pressed whatever money they had gathered into her palms and told her to leave, promising they'd work on her dream. The glass crunches beneath her foot and she presses her lips together. She almost died before she met Marvelous and Joe on that planet, whose name now escapes her. She imagines she must have been a pain to deal with, the first time she was on the Gokai Galleon.
She's always had to be strong, she's always had to be an adult from a young age. Except for the solitary tear, tears don't come easily to her even now. What use is there in crying? What use was there ever? Could her grief ever be contained with tears?
Luka is in a much better headspace now and happier, as Cain has told her in the past. She only wishes she could introduce Fia to her crew. "I think you'd like them," she murmurs softly to the silent grave.
Cain is arriving from the South where the civil war has grown intense. She looks at the statue of a whale at the roundabout, this was where she took the spacebus and left, all those years ago. It has a history, which Luka never had time to learn or care about while the war with Zangyack was ongoing, but it's part of a story of how whales appeared in the oceans and brought with them a habitable ecosystem, which cooled the planet and led to it becoming habitable.
People from space nomadic societies were some of the earliest people who ended up here on this planet, losing their adaptations for the harshness of space in the process and adjusting to the planet's conditions. Space whales became part of the idioms and language here. One thing they adapted to after living here was to gain sharper eyesight. This planet had no moon and therefore no source of light during nights except for a few smaller asteroids and stars that were distant. For people to live and thrive over hundreds of years, they developed sharper eyesight and greater discernment for colours compared to people who inhabited other planets. Luka had also kept practicing to keep her eyesight sharp. She needed that advantage to keep up alongside Marvelous and Joe.
It feels different being here now, back when she was trying to survive the war on this planet, she wanted nothing more than to leave, now she wants nothing more than to become acquainted with the things and places and people.
The eyes of the whale statue stare at her. She's supposed to meet Cain here. The large clock in the square sounds the hour.
Cain arrives before the long needle of the clock has traversed half the circumference. His large spaceship becomes visible first, Luka has seen it once before and she waits patiently for it to land. Cain jumps out of it before its engines have even fully died down, he seems excited to see her.
"Luka! you came! you really came?" A hesitant pause, a question hangs in the air. The whale's look seems more reproachful to Luka now.
"Did you think I wasn't going to?"
Cain pauses to think and Luka elbows him lightly. "I mean-I-" he lets the sentence linger between them, filling in the distance, the sound of the ocean waves does the rest though Luka can't help but notices a sadness in his eyes for a split second which he immediately covers up.
She doesn't blame him for doubting. She wasn't even sure she was going to come, even though this was the thought that was always at the back of her mind, even as she quietly put away some things and worked on others, just in case she would want to return someday. She closes her eyes and lets the sound of the waves calm her. At night the sky and the sea turn various shades of purple that are beyond the visible lengths that Gai can see as he's told her, but they are visible to her, and in a clear sky like tonight's, very beautiful to her.
She wants closure, she wants to be able to move on and let this part of her life stay in the past. She wants - she wants to fulfill the promise she made long ago and chase the dream she had sketched out with Cain. She feels guilty that all this while he has been working to gather all this money for her dream, for her specifically. Still, the doubt, the pause, the surprise in Cain's eyes hurts her a little bit.
"Right, you want to hear what we've discussed so far?" Cain has changed the subject, even though Luka knows they are both thinking of the same thing.
"Cain."
"What do you want me to say, Luka? I know your friends mean a lot to you. I don't suppose they are just friends."
They both know the truth by now which is why the conversation feels awkward, it feels like dancing around the issue.
Cain still loves her, a little at least, and he is dying to ask her about the people she loves. He has met them, in a manner of speaking and he wonders what they thought of him, what they think of him. But if he voices these thoughts he fears it will make him seem ungrateful, when he couldn't be happier that Luka has found genuine happiness. Still, it feels unfair to have this thought occupy all the silences between them. When he visited Luka on Earth, it was too obvious. These people made Luka happy in a way he had never seen her be happy. He knows in his heart also that however long she chooses to stay here, it is probably the last time he will see her and that makes his heart ache more than it should. So they do a little polite skirting of the issue, even though it is such a romantic night with a clear sky.
"But we are here for business, since you can't stay for long." He finally hears himself say.
"Tell me more about your life here, about how you've been, first. We met under the worst of circumstances before-"
"While kidnapped by Zangyack in a warehouse." Cain smiles though his eyes are shining with tears.
"While kidnapped by Zangyack in a warehouse," Luka grins.
"I thought you weren't going to return, here of all places," Cain turns to her and Luka wonders if there is an accusation there, but dismisses that thought. There does seem to be some concern in his voice, maybe he.
"I didn't know that I would either when we met the last time. But it felt necessary, all of a sudden now. We've managed to defeat the Zangyack, we managed to retrieve the greatest treasure in the universe. But, I wanted more you know? I wanted to see if I could chase the dream I once had. That dream also felt more within reach than it ever has been."
Cain exhales deeply and smiles, it fits the Luka he remembers. The Luka who was hopeful and determined underneath all the bitterness and cynicism that living in a war zone had given her. The Luka who cried because she couldn't scavenge or buy any food for the children they were trying to take care of even though she had been running around all day just to obtain a piece of bread, all those years ago. The Luka who gathered all those children around her and tried her best to keep them alive even though it was an impossible task. She always was an impossibly hopeful person even though she would have laughed and rolled her eyes at that title.
"So what now?"
"So, tell me about your life here? Did you find someone?"
Cain shifts a little uncomfortably, "Earning eight billion Zangins leaves little room for personal life."
"Yeah about those-?"
"You were fighting your battles. And I wanted to help in whatever way I could too, you know."
There is that awkwardness again -- both of them are painfully aware that it nestles between them, and grows.
"Cain." Luka makes an effort again as they return to the place that Luka remembers. There are still traces of their shelter here, of the fires they built in winters, of the small treasures they held onto to survive the war. She smiles a little as she takes in the crumbling building.
"What happened after I left?" She picks up an abandoned doll from the ground, Fia had one similar to this, she immediately thinks. Her eyes fill with tears again and she looks up to see that Cain's have too. He shakes his head, "I'm sorry Luka." His frame shakes as he sobs. "I'm sorry."
Luka clutches the old doll to her chest, letting the tears flow this time. Perhaps she's not as strong as she thought she was.
"Right-" she wipes away the tears hastily after a few moments. "Onto more practical matters. You said the civil war is still going on in the south?"
Cain nods, "The Nereidians have been arming groups of mercenaries to destabilise the planet, cause chaos and topple what uneasy government alliance we currently have between the North and South. If they aren't contained they will take over and destroy the planet again. It might be slower this time, but that is what will happen again. "
Luka nods, filling Cain in about the Nereidians plans.
"The Nereidians are trying to build a new Empire, they benefitted from their arrangements with Zangyack, some are former Zangyack too, settled on a new planet. They did the same on Doc's planet, made it harder to recover and rebuild. If nothing else they can cripple the economy of this planet, make it dependent on them. It would be as good as being controlled by Zangyack. We must stop them."
"How? We simply do not have enough organisation to be anything more than a thorn to their side. Besides, the people of this planet are exhausted."
Luka smiles, "Marvelous and others are working on that." Cain looks at her with surprise. "We're pirates after all, we'll always be there to oppose Empires."
They have reached the town while talking and meet several people who are trying to rebuild their homes; the people whose homes were destroyed are laying the bricks themselves, some people are cooking in a large pot for the neighbours. There are lots of partially destroyed homes.
"We still have a long way to go to rebuild the planet." Cain tells Luka.
The children gather round her and Cain and she stops to talk to them. They have all lost family but talk about their lessons and their hopes for the future.
Luka has tears in her eyes as she listens to their stories.
Cain sees her and put his hand on her shoulder. He shows her the foundation stones laid down for all the community buildings that would serve children.
"We're getting so close to your dream." Cain tells her. "We've had discussions with so many communities here on how they can support children. Lots of things are in the process of being discussed and approved by heads of those committees. We've been talking within these committees of your dream more and more, getting input on how to make it work."
One of the community leaders, Maya takes Luka's hand, "The war lasted for so long that the most affected have been the children, we're all invested in supporting the children's futures. When Cain told us about this dream of yours, we were really happy and wanted to meet you. We wanted to ask all sorts of questions about it. We want to build something for the children too. To make sure no children in the future go through what you all did."
"After all, all the children are ours." Bia, Maya's companion, says holding Maya's hand.
Maya adds, "We lived so much through Zangyack's cruelty that sometimes it was hard to remember that. We narrowed the circles of family until only two people remained to raise children. But this is not sustainable. So many children lost their families, so many children are orphans, we cannot just abandon them."
"Marvelous, talked about something like that among his people too." Luka says in a low voice, thinking out loud. "How the entire community came together to raise children. There are other communities like that."
"There was a poem we used to think about during the war. It went something like, This Harvest of Hope, my friend..." She recites the entire poem and Luka listens quietly, feeling something stir in her again. Marvelous' words came back to her, "this is why we do what we do, this is why we're pirates."
"We know the fight isn't over, we know there is more work to be done, even after the enemy leaves." Bia adds. "Our real work is only just beginning. It might take several months, it might take years, but we will build the future, better than the past."
Luka and Cain spend the next few weeks discussing with different leaders and communities how society could work to accomodate thousands of children that had been traumatised, that were alone or orphaned, that had been injured and disabled by the war. Luka also meets and talks to the children themselves, hearing what they have to say. She begins to feel a sense of pride in how her dream is shaping up, already things are working out better than she could have hoped for, at least in the North of the planet. The shaky government which has been under the influence of the Nereidians and accepting their capital has been convinced to step down upon threat of civil war erupting in this region too. The people have come together and rejected the government and rejected the Nereidians money and aid.
The children are being cared for, the money that the planet does have is being used on the people, on education, on building community centres and parks and recreation facilities. They are being used to help children recover physically and mentally from the scars of war. They have achieved much in the months Luka has been on her planet, yet the feeling of uneasiness seems to grow within her with each passing day.
She gazes at the sky one night as she sees the Nereidian spaceship leave the planet. The Nereidians have withdrawn all aid and imposed strict conditions and sanctions on the planet regarding trade, hoping to turn the planet destitute and to make them beg for their help.
"What?" Cain asks her looking at the sky and then at her face.
"I don't think the Nereidians will give up that easily," she says. "I think in all eventuality, we will have to prepare for another war." Cain nods but doesn't say anything. Luka continues on, more to herself than to Cain at this point as she counts the shooting stars out of habit.
"The Nereidians have the spoils from the Zangyack Empire at their disposal. They have better technologies, they still have the Zangyack weapons, they have the new government of the Zangyack homeworld as their allies. We will fight though, it was inevitable, the Emperors may have been long dead but the Empire still lingers on. They want to colonise without destroying planets, they want to control our planets without subjugating directly. The Zangyack homeworld had to share some of the spoils of the Empire with their own people, we saw how desperate their conditions became after the death of Bacchus Gill, but it seems that the new ruling powers that replaced Zangyack are not done with colonisation, nor are the Nereidians."
"My friends in the South tell me that it is in an uneasy territorial control with parts of it controlled by the government appointed by the Nereidians and the other part by local rebels. We can keep working on your dream here. One of my friends was showing me the plans of another centre that we can build for children. There are new museums too we can think about. More schools for sure." Cain says finally hoping to hear Luka's answer, that she'll stay. Luka doesn't say anything. "Is that-- the Gokai Galleon?"
The red spaceship descends lower and lower and even Cain can spot it, his heart sinks a little as he watches Luka's face burst into happiness. Her friends really do make her happy, he sighs.
She sees Doc's face and yells out, "What are you doing here, Doc?"
Her crew jump out of the ship in style.
"We wanted to say hello." Doc tells her his face beaming as she ruffles his hair. Ahim runs to hug Luka.
"We're not here to spoil your party, Luka old girl, if you plan to stay here." Marvelous tells her grinning as she throws him a punch and he catches it with his palm. "We were passing on our way, we're going to the South of your planet, we've been called there to help fight against the Nereidians and the Zangyack homeworld, we couldn't really refuse."
Gai is bouncing around excitedly, soaking up the new scenery and planet and she smiles.
"What have you been up to?" Luka asks them, looking around the ship to see that everything is just as she left it.
"No time to exchange pleasantries," Joe tells her, though she can tell he is happy to see her by how he catches her elbow and smirks.
"It is true, that so much has happened with us, as we suppose with you, Luka-san, but we will fill you in later," Ahim tells her and she feels a pang at being away for so long, even though they had been in touch every couple of days, it still wasn't enough to learn everything that had been going on with them. Sometimes they couldn't talk beyond exchanging news of how they all were doing.
It feels so good to be back with her crew, to take her place in their midst, to climb up to the crow's nest, to tease Navi again. Besides, she is a fighter, she is a Gokaiger, she belongs with her crew, she should be in the fight, no matter what happens. She starts feeling homesick intensely, which is funny because her crew is everything, they are her home. She will always hold some sort of fondness for her planet now, but, she already has a home. Cain looks at her and his eyes fill with tears as he laughs at how ridiculous the whole situation is, with Luka pining after her crew when they are right there.
"Go, Luka. I can see that you want to be with them. I will work on finishing what we started."
Luka throws Cain a grateful look and runs towards her crew. She trusts Cain working on the rest of the dream, he has enough money to complete all the projects they've been dreaming and outlining, and what is more, the communities are themselves supporting these projects and the children all seem much happier though it will probably take years for them all to recover from the effects of war.
"Goodbye Fia!" she whispers to the wind hoping it will carry her words away. She takes one last glance at the rich purple and red fields of her planet and at the ocean and its rolling waves, as the Gokai Galleon weighs anchor and starts sailing up and up into space.
"What? you all would have been lost without me in the fight." Luka answers Doc's confused but happy look, and grins at Gai unable to contain his excitement, even though he is trying to restrain himself.
"Alright, I'll allow it, just this once Gai."
Gai runs and hugs Luka tightly, which she endures with a wry look on her face. She is fond of their pirate recruit more than she lets on and is amused at the fuss he's making. She pats him gingerly on the head. "Alright, Gai! There will be more, later."
"Today we will have a special dinner in Luka-san's honour," Gai announces running around the ship and the kitchen and earning a few exasperated yet fond exclaimations of "Gai!" from Doc as he watches Gai struggle with an elaborate meal, eventually getting up to help him even though he wants nothing more than to sit and hear all about Luka's adventures. But there will be time for all that tomorrow, she must be tired. At least Luka is looking more at peace with herself, Doc can tell her time on her planet has been what she needed and he is glad. Luka grins at Joe, Marvelous, Doc and Ahim. Ah, it really is good to be back, she thinks.
Chapter 11: This Harvest of Hopes - II
Chapter Text
Joe is turning the slip of address in his hand as he stares blankly at the view from the crow's nest, not taking any of it in.
It is a pity, because the stars are especially hard at work tonight illuminating everything in the distance and shining a spotlight on him (if Luka was around instead of visiting her planet, she would be counting all the falling stars around him).
The slip of paper causes his brow to furrow. He knows what he needs to do and yet it also chills him from the inside and makes him hesitate.
He hasn't met Captain Hofner in years, and in any other circumstances would have preferred to keep things that way. But this is important, they need to know more about the Nereidians' plans and the types of weapons and spaceships they posses, and his former Zangyack batchmate is someone who would know, nay, someone who definitely does know these things, because after leaving the Zangyack military he had taken a position in the government of Pellene.
Joe is fairly confident about Hofner giving the information because he is no longer part of the Zangyack and has chosen to distance himself away from Nereidians directly. Dan Hofner would hedge his bets till he could pick a winning side and right now, if Joe could convince him that Nereidians were not that, he would give them the information.
As for what Dan Hofner does, he has been involved in logistics for the Pellene government; overseeing trade routes, shipping and supply lines across many planets including sometimes keeping an eye on military ships. Supply chains are the new model of taking over countries and causing civil wars and coups and Dan Hofner has always been one of the first adaptors to new innovations and in this way he would be ready if his own government wanted to cause civil wars and unrest and amass power that way.
Unfortunately for Joe that meant returning to Pellene, which was not without some complicated feelings for him. Pellene, better known formerly as the Zangyack homeworld, was now in a coalition with the Nereidians, not enough of the aristocrats harbouring Empire ambitions had been expelled from it, and the ones that had been had only taken refuge in Nereid. They couldn't be an Empire anymore, but its current rulers had not stopped having Empire-like ambitions or thinking fondly of themselves as such, they had even offered an honorary position of King to Ackdos' cousin twice-removed. But in everything they looked towards and revolved around Nereid. Nereid was now the seat of the Empire or rising that way.
Would ex-Captain Dan Hofner see him? what would he make of Joe being a space pirate?
People usually had strong reactions to space pirates, Joe laughs as he thinks to the time when he first met Marvelous. That day he thought the space pirate was only there to profit from his situation and steal money. And, here he was now many years from that moment with very different ideas about the same space pirate. What a difference in his views time had made, Joe blushes a little.
He has changed, several times himself too between then and now; in many ways the new Joe would be completely unrecognisable to any of his younger versions. He has stopped feeling guilty too, for the most part, for things he cannot change and is instead focusing on what he can - they are encountering new ways that the Empires are using to hold onto power, and Joe is right beside his crew fighting them.
His ideas about the universe and its politics are much clearer in his mind now too than when he had rebelled at the idea of killing children and become a traitor. He has come a long way no matter which definition he uses, why then is he still uneasy at the thought of going to see an old acquaintance?
It is true that he tries to never think or talk about his time in the military if he can help it.
That is one thing he has never shared with even Marvelous let alone the rest of the crew, and none of them has ever demanded he talk about it since they knew that it was a sore topic for him.
His mind went back to Sid teaching him the sword technique and praising him for grasping it so quickly; later he glimpsed Captain Hofner in a corridor when he went back to his dormitory after practice. For some reason Hofner seemed angry at him and he saw the other man whisper something to Sid sempai, who quickly shut down the conversation. Joe during mess hall dinner, imagined Hofner throwing angry glares towards him even though they had barely interacted in person. He met him several more times after that and Hofner was always polite to him to the point where Joe thought he had only imagined that scene and it wasn't true.
Still, he had never gotten a good read on Dan Hofner, there was something about him that made Joe uneasy though he would never have been able to point out what it was. In all respects Dan Hofner seemed a very pleasant man, able to hold conversations on a variety of topics. Joe had asked Sid once about him, since Sid had attended the elite officers track with Hofner and they had taken several classes together. His sempai always shrugged and gave the same response that Joe knew he would, that he himself had also come to, there was nothing truly off putting about Hofner, he managed to attract a large body of people around him, but there was nothing truly likeable about him too; the most praise anyone had ever ventured about the man was that he got along with everyone and all political opinions were the same to him.
Joe shudders a little but whether from the cold up in the crow's nest or at the thought of meeting Hofner he can't tell. The paper slip flutters in the breeze blowing from Pellene down below, and for a moment Joe's heart is buoyed at the thought of losing the address and never being able to make the visit but then he thinks of the need for the information that Dan Hofner possesses and his hand clutches tightly over the piece of paper again.
It's not like he doesn't have other options.
Marvelous has offered, but the thought of Marvelous going to meet Dan Hofner, the thought of Hofner treating the most important person to Joe with haughty contempt is too much to bear even if Marvelous would be able to outmatch him in exuberance and wit.
Then there is the fact that Joe wants to keep all the memories from his time in the Zangyack military locked within him completely. He's never been eloquent enough to lay them out in words and he thinks that the exercise of doing so will leave him with too many fresh scars that it is not worthwhile. He walks down to the living quarters, puts on his jacket and muffler and makes his way outside.
The walk calms him down a little and steadies his heart-rate.
Dan Hofner's secretary is already expecting him and he is ushered into a large well lit room with polished mahogany furniture.
Hofner sits in his large brown leather chair.
Joe smiles a little at all this pomp and show of power put on for him and it makes him relax a little. He could never respect a man that went out of his way to assert power instead of just having it. He and Hofner both pointedly smile at each other, while the muscles around their eyes tense.
"What a weather these past few days we've been having eh?"
Joe remains cold and unmoved, only nodding his head a little and Dan who has always prided himself on being able to converse pleasantly with anyone from any spectrum of politics, wipes his forehead with his handkerchief.
The chess board lies on his large table, sometimes he plays with superiors and lets them win to put them at their ease. This time the game is more metaphorical than literal, but he still stares at the board from time to time, moving pieces around to make himself feel more powerful and in control of the situation. His opening gambit however hasn't work as well as he hoped.
Nevermind, he has more moves planned, he thinks as he watches Joe's face intently.
He had agreed to this meeting because the pirates had become adversaries worth listening to after they had defeated the Zangyack Empire in coordination with different rebel groups and alliances, but he didn't have to keep listening to them, there were other ways of dealing with the pirates if they become too inconvenient. They certainly weren't going to make the same mistakes as the former Zangyack Emperor and underestimate pirates.
He smiles pleasantly at Joe and presses a button for his secretary, he wants Joe to see everything he has achieved. The secretary pokes his head through the mahogany doors.
"Yes, Mr Hofner?"
"Two teas please."
Hofner turns to Joe.
"Do you still not take any sugar in yours?"
"No," is Joe's curt reply.
The secretary disappears.
The clock on the wall ticks steadily.
"I am not here for tea and conversations, Hofner." Dan's stolid ex-batchmate finally begins.
"Then what are you here for? Please tell me again. It was unclear when we last spoke."
Joe clenches his fists in his lap, it is perfectly clear to Dan Hofner what the purpose of this meeting is, because of the file on his desk, neatly prepared in anticipation of his arrival, but he wants to continue this charade of power.
Joe takes a deep breath to steady himself before explaining. The Pellene government was only loosely allied with Nereidians, Nereidians were arming factions and creating civil wars on several planets. Pellene could stand on the right side of history by supporting the planets that were fighting for their right to self determination and to an end to the Empires from their planets once and for all.
The information also wasn't top secret, it was common knowledge among government servants of Pellene, even low ranking ones.
Dan Hofner scowls at Joe's tone and pauses that linger on "even low ranking government officials".
He prides himself on having an ear among the top Nereidian officials but deep down he knows that he is still a pawn in their game to amass power, he hopes that that will change, once he delivers something of great worth and value to them. But Joe is also correct, this information is declassified and readily available to anyone who is part of the government, he will not be in any trouble for offering the piece of paper which gives no part of Nereidians' hand away. Giving the pirates this information also means that the Pellene government and the Nereidians can watch their next moves.
In fact the whole thing has been approved from the top Nereidian brass, they want to watch the pirates squirm in a web of their own making. Dan Hofner has his ears in all the right places.
"Give them what they want. Just enough, so that we can watch them act on this information and it is easier to take them all in."
And Hofner also wants to observe Joe's moves, so he stalls a little, looking him up and down and moving the chess pieces on the board, he plays as white, always as white, imagining Joe playing with the black pieces and being able to crush him one pawn at a time. The tea arrives in a white teapot and the cups and saucers and sugar is placed on the table along with a small milk jug.
As familiar as the face on the wanted posters has become, there is something jarringly different between the boy from his memories and the man in front of him now. Gibken had always been built for speed and strength, and he has since lost the awkward look of adolescent gangliness; that is hardly surprising. But there is something about his appearance now that tugs at the edges of his subconscious, something that speaks of danger and assurance. Which is a ridiculous thought, because Gibken looks clearly uncomfortable under his regard, his shoulders curling inwards, his face pulling into a familiar awkward scowl, his eyes darting around the office and not meeting his, eventually settling to stare at the tea cup.
That habit had landed Gibken in hot water more than once, Dan recalled with sudden vindictive amusement. Their instructors didn’t take kindly to distraction, or assumed dishonesty or cowardice from shifty eyed glances. Most cadets learned quickly how to soothe ruffled feathers by projecting calm, respectful attentiveness with their demeanor, but not Gibken. Never Gibken, who couldn’t understand the simplest of things. The amusement at Gibken’s discomfort is congealing into something cold and vicious at the back of his mind.
“I have kept an eye on your career, you know. Quite an impressive showing. Not really what I expected from you, if I’m honest.”
He allows his smirk to widen at Gibken’s unimpressed look. He can't stop the words even if he wants to.
“Back then, they used to call you Captain Bammick’s loyal dog. Funny thing, that. Steadfastness is a virtue after all. Had anyone asked me, I would have sworn you’d lay down your life for him, or follow him into the depths of hell if necessary.”
Gibken rears back as if slapped, but Dan Hofner doesn’t need to see his face to feel the effect of his words.
It is stupid, careless, and not what he planned at all, but oh, it feels good to finally let it out, all this tension and rage – ah yes, it is rage – swirling through his mind, mixed with something almost like grief. He can never be rational when it comes to Bammick. Sid's death had come as a blow to him deep down, his heart had ached without understanding why.
Sid was just a casual friend, yet his glances and attention towards Joe had always filled Hofner with a rage he couldn't explain. He had wanted Sid to look at him the way he looked at Joe, wanted Sid to care about him that way.
Sid--Bammick, he never knew how to refer to the man in his head, had never really done that despite all his efforts. Hofner had even managed so that they had all their classes and trainings together for the elite track (swapped schedules with another cadet), and then Sid, no, that foolish Bammick-- he threw his life and career away, all for this silly cowardly boy who couldn't even man up to do what was expected of Zangyack soldiers. Not like he himself approved of killing children, mind you, not in theory, but there is a time and place to refuse commands and that was not it.
What had Joe supposed would happen when he joined the military famous for destroying planets? Instead, Bammick-- Well, not like he cared, but sometimes he thought of Bammick, his warm smile, his soft touch, his sensible words, and he resented this boy- no, man sitting opposite from him, this Gibken who looked much the same as on the wanted posters, he noted, down to the tacky bright blue jacket. He resented him greatly.
"In fact it was the other way round suddenly one day, he followed you into the depths of hell, never to return. Why did you throw it all away to become a traitor? Why did you let Captain Bammick die for your foolish ideas?"
Hofner's voice is soft, silky and pleasant and yet his words sting Joe.
There is also a deep resentment and hatred that Joe can feel emanating from Hofner's eyes. He lowers the teacup to the saucer but doesn't say anything.
"There were smarter ways of achieving what you wanted weren't there? Do you know what happened on your planet after you joined the pirates? Do you know what happened to your family? Do you know how they tortured Captain Bammick for days after he gave himself up for you?"
Joe's mouth goes dry, he looks at the file on Hofner's desk.
"I am not here for conversation, I just need the information. I assume your time is also very valuable." Hofner places his hand on the file deliberately but refuses to hand it over.
"We've met after such a long time Gibken. What's the rush? I cleared my calendar at this time to see you, see an old friend."
Joe clenches his jaw so tightly his teeth hurt. They were not friends, could never be friends. He looks at Hofner with a deadpan expression that he hopes doesn't reveal too much especially how much Hofner's words cut through him.
"I can tell you if you don't know," Hofner continues.
"We're from the same planet after all and at least I always dutifully visited and kept up with my familial obligations. The Zangyack were really not happy at your desertion and they took some of the rage out on your family and on our planet."
Joe closes his eyes to stop his world from spinning.
He knew that, he expected that, but there was nothing else to be done than what he did. Sid sempai had also told him that they did the right thing by choosing to stand up to the Empire no matter the consequences to their lives. The repercussions would have come anyway, even if Joe had acted like a model soldier or a model colonised citizen all his life, the relationship between him and Zangyack was always built of such precarious scaffolding that he was either their pawn in destroying planets or being destroyed himself, not that it justified destroying others and uprooting their lives. The Empire could have at any time hurt his family too, just as they had hurt many other families from his planet. Why should he help them achieve their ambitions of destroying other people's planets to gain some benefit for himself especially after he knew better.
He wasn't special, his family wasn't special or more important than the lives he had ruined -- would ruin in the process. He tries to keep his breath and expressions steady.
"Yes, well. They're still alive, you know, your family. I even have their address if you want it. Pity you've never been to visit them, you'd have heard their entire ordeal from their lips. I don't think I would have been able to do what you did, to my parents or my sister, people kept talking about it for years afterwards. I could never be a disappointment to them and their hopes and dreams."
Hofner leaves it at that. If Joe wants more information, he will have to beg, and he feels a savage pleasure at that. Dan Hofner is in the business of moving information as well as goods after all, for a price.
Joe's hands which he has hidden in his lap are shaking but he still manages to not break his composure.
"Better a traitor to the Empire and to my family even, than to my code," he tells Hofner. "You accused me of being Sid sempai's lapdog at one time, what did you get by being Zangyack's?"
"I was never the Zangyack's lapdog." There is a snarl, a curl of his lip that accompanies Hofner's pleasant tone and Joe feels some slight happiness at being able to unsettle his opponent.
"I am no one's lapdog."
Hofner's voice settles into an easy tone once again. "Considering that I'm helping you and your band of merry pirates that would prove it, no?"
"Are you?"
Joe looks at him, he doesn't trust Hofner, he would never trust Hofner, there is a slipperiness to him, one that made Joe uneasy whenever he saw him in military academy too, which only seems to have accumulated in the way his silky voice rolls into perfect syllables that Joe's translator never has to struggle with.
"I must say that I am not completely convinced in any challenge you and your alliances may pose to Nereidians. Pellene's government has more to gain from aligning with Nereidians than with you as things stand, though that may change and my help may change based on that."
There, Hofner's hand is revealed, he is testing Joe, seeing whether Joe will go for the attack on the Queen even after losing many of his pawns. He sees the chessboard, Hofner has taken several pawns from the black's side using his white pieces but it is still anyone's fight.
Give me some promise or proof why I should help you, why I should go against my government's official line of supporting Nereid.
"You did not see that we defeated Ackdos Gill, the Emperor and then Bacchus Gill his successor? Not to mention that we had already defeated Warz Gill and several Zangyack Commanders before then?"
Hofner waves his hand. "This is the only reason we're having this meeting in the first place."
He opens his drawer, takes out the box inside and casually flicks it open. Inside cigars are lined neatly. He takes one, lights it and then closes the box. Joe notices that Hofner doesn't extend the offer to him and he smiles. Somehow, Hofner is still unsettled and shaken by Joe and his presence.
"We will defeat the new Empire building efforts as well." Joe states calmly.
Hofner smiles at Joe's confidence, he's definitely changed from the kid he remembered at the Academy. There is a lot of trust and belief in himself there and in his foolish group of pirates and a lot of calmness too with which he answers Hofner. It is foolish because the Nereidians still have the militaries of Pellene and Nereid at their helm and the pirates' alliances are shaky and can easily be disrupted.
Hofner staring at the pirate, however, sees Joe's unshakable faith in being able to win against the governments of both planets.
"You've changed."
He means it to be a criticism but Joe accepts it with pride.
"I have people I care about and who care about me. I know what I'm fighting for and why. I'm no longer a pawn or a tool in the Empire's plans. I've been helping build communities. I was no longer okay with getting a stuffy office built over the graves of the people I helped kill, and leading a group of Goumin around to do more of that, so yes I changed and I'm happier for it."
"I am not burning with guilt and remorse for my actions unlike you," Hofner tells him.
Joe flinches a little as Hofner continues, "you have to look out for yourself and your family. My grandfather did that for me, and I have a duty to my future children and grandchildren to do that. But that is all."
"What a lonely way to live your life, caring for no one but yourself and a handful of others related to you."
Hofner flicks the dregs from his cigar and for several moments both of them stare intently at each other. He moves the chess pieces on the board once more, then finally he picks up the file on his desk. Dan makes a great show of opening and then closing the cover, and staring at the Calendar hanging on his wall before extending his hand with the file towards Joe.
Joe takes the file and flicks through some of the pages, his shoulders relaxing now that he finally has the information he came for.
"Everything you requested is in there, proof of my confidence in you and your group." Joe looks at Hofner and narrows his eyes. His opponent shifts uncomfortably in his chair.
"Thanks." Joe gets up from his seat and so does the other man. He presses a button for his secretary to show his visitor out.
"By the by, happy birthday Gibken. I suppose you still receive letters from your family on your day? I remember you not having any friends, except Bammick sometimes who pitied you. But I'm sure that's changed-"
"Goodbye Hofner. I trust we will not have the need to meet again."
Saying that Joe walks out of the office as fast as he can and disappears even before the secretary has had a chance to escort him out of the premises.
Hofner sits down at his desk, observing the chessboard on his desk which looks like it has been disturbed and a few pieces moved. He had not noticed the black knight before, which now threatens and pins his king. Check and mate. Joe has had the last word, and the moral victory it seems, despite him delivering what he had hoped would be very cutting blows.
"I'm going home." He tells his secretary and then packs up and leaves within a span of fifteen minutes.
Joe takes the long way back to the Galleon to process and think about the meeting and Hofner and what he told them and didn't tell them.
Hofner's words are still echoing in his mind.
"I'm not burning with guilt and remorse for my actions unlike you---"
Burning, funny word to use.
He's annoyed that he didn't tell Hofner there and then that he's not burning with guilt, it wasn't true, he had gotten over all those emotions long ago. He walks a few meters towards the pier leading towards the ocean, imagining the perfect cutting reply but of course it is too late now.
Guilt doesn't help and he knows this, he's going to spend the rest of his life being a pirate, he's argued over and over with himself about this. He climbs down the steps and pauses, not seeing the waves pass to and fro; his stomach still feels like it is tied up in knots. And even the waves and their soothing motion cannot erase the hurts etched over his heart.
There are other things that Hofner had also said: about Sid sempai being tortured, and about Joe's family -- about his family being possibly tortured or at least questioned for their involvement with him, the traitor, the wanted man, from a Zangyack officer with bright career prospects to a pirate. Hofner blamed Joe for them both and for foolishly throwing away his own future and career. It's not like Joe hasn't chastised himself enough over the years for everything Hofner has said.
It was a background sadness, much like the pain from all those years of trainings and beatings, a sadness which hovered over him, and made him unable to talk about his military years and his family.
Burning, huh?
He would have chosen not to kill those children had he been given the option to relive the past, he would have betrayed his family and his planet again in a heartbeat to become a traitor to the Empire. It wasn't even a question to him anymore, the lives of the people Zangyack destroyed were important too, just as much as his and his family's. Whatever the oppressed people suffered because of his actions or non-actions deserved to be taken into account too. He deeply wishes Sid Sempai had not given up his life for his sake, but, at least his sempai would never reproach Joe for what he had faced.
They both knew what would happen for going against the Empire the way they did. Sid sempai, he--he seemed proud of Joe when Joe freed him from Barizorg. He keeps that image in the back of his mind, even now.
He thinks back to the islander (Joe had never even asked him his name much to his deep regret) he had met several years ago who finding that he was a Zangyack soldier had tried to attack him in anger.
Was he really burning up with guilt even now? He looks at his hands. Maybe?
Maybe it was a lie that he never felt guilt anymore.
He needs to keep moving forward it is true so he won't let himself be paralysed with it, but it still hums in the background mixing with all the other pains and griefs that he tries to never think about.
He keeps walking, the scene shifts, there are now birds chirping and trees and a park full of flowers, and Joe fails to take in any of those too. That is not quite right, he remembers the last birthday he had at home with his family, though he doesn't remember the day it fell on anymore. He remembers someone bringing in flowers for his parents and gifts for him and his younger sister because she didn't understand why she wasn't receiving gifts too and threw a tantrum. He had loved his sister a lot as a child.
His birthday, oh right, that was today. According to the Zangyack military anyway.
He hopes no one on the Galleon brings it up. He discussed it with Marvelous when it came up once, they were the only ones on the Galleon at that time.
It was easier to explain that birthdays under Zangyack were as regimented as anything else and even the dates were chosen by the Zangyack for each child for when they first arrived at the Academy. Marvelous would surmise his indifference for birthdays and he did. They all received a few hours of free time and a letter from their families that day. Otherwise it was no different from other days and much lonelier than them too, because Joe was always a shy kid who never made any friends, except Sid sempai.
Eventually even the letters from his family stopped coming or came too infrequently, and he didn't even want the stupid unemotional letters in the first place, he wanted to spend time with his family but that never happened, could never happen while he was in the academy. His birthdays were always the loneliest time of the year for him to the point where he tried his best to forget them.
When Gai came on board he asked Joe about his and Joe mumbled an excuse about not remembering his birthdays and Marvelous or Luka never corrected that. He really really doesn't celebrate or like birthdays for himself.
Besides, birthdays meant different things to everyone else on the crew (Ahim's was when she came of age to inherit in Famille, but even those traditions would probably change now that Famille was no longer a monarchy. Marvelous had talked about when he would choose a crew for himself or be chosen as one, that was called a birthday among his people. Luka had celebrated birthdays whenever they could find some extra food items- the war had gone so long there, they needed any reason to celebrate life, therefore all the children ended up having multiple birthdays and now it was a tradition for her. Doc's birthday was the only traditional one among the crew before Gai had arrived) it has not been so difficult to hand wave his own amongst all that.
Gai now thinks that no one on Joe's planet has a birthday, he shakes his head fondly at the most enthusiastic member of their crew. It's a lie but it's easier than telling the truth. It's easier than talking about his time in the military. Joe takes a deep breath, pausing to let the traffic pass by, the roads have been built again, he remembers things were not like this when they came to fight Bacchus Gill here.
He wonders if the Military Academy from his time has been rebuilt.
He walks quickly past the same route he took for several years as a recruit, from the pier to the building itself, and sees the Academy building touching the sky, trying to project an image of its grandness, which would be funny if it wasn't so horrifying. Recruits from Pellene and Nereid pass through it and he feels disappointment coursing through his veins. The Empire is destroyed not just by chasing away the tyrant that rules over it, but by demolishing the system that enables them to obtain power in the first place.
Joe knows that too familiarly by now, it is not surprising that they built up the Academy and still harbour imperial ambitions. It checks out according to the information that Hofner has given as well, it means that Pellene, with many of its old aristocrats who became rich under the Zangyack have no intention of breaking their alliance with Nereid.
Even if the information is correct, Joe is still wary of the reason Hofner has given him the file and what the Nereidians expect the pirates to do with it. He twists his lip in thought, their enemies were underestimating the pirates and the alliances they had made if this was the case. They will not and he cannot stop fighting till the Empires stop existing in all their different forms.
For this reason he is still a pirate and it is important to him, as is following Marvelous wherever he travels in the universe. He smiles as he thinks of how he had moved the black's knight towards the king to win the game for black. Chess was a favourite pastime of elite track soldiers, so obviously he knew how to play and also knew how much this would annoy Hofner.
That pompous fool, he thinks of that man, if he thought a large office built from the spoils of the wars would impress Joe or make him feel a deference then he really did not know Joe at all. It would have impressed a much younger Joe, sure, who had dreamt of advancements and promotions and a good career in the military. But not him now, not this Joe.
Joe starts relaxing again as he nears the port where the Galleon is docked.
He has changed, from the lonely and shy adolescent at the Academy and the proud Imperial Special Officer in training to who he is now: a quiet, confident pirate who is learning and has learned to rely on people around him more and more and to love them strongly and fiercely. Then again it is because Joe has an idiot who would die for him, even though he wishes sometimes he wouldn't be that reckless and also four other people he calls home who have had the strongest effect on him.
All Hofner has surrounded himself with are yes-men. Hofner's success doesn't remotely make him jealous or inspire any feeling but pity in him and even that not for long. His ex-batchmate can hedge his bets all he likes, he can waltz with everyone on the planet, but Joe noticed a loneliness and frustration in the man during the meeting. He has no real friends to stand by him. He always goes where he can win, he breaks deals he thinks will make him lose, he never has had any real connections even though he is surrounded by people all the time. Joe meant it when he told Hofner that his was a sad way to live.
He smiles again as he boards the Galleon and sees Doc pushing Marvelous out of his chair to clean the living quarters. Marvelous sulks for a few minutes before Ahim's tea cheers him up and he asks about Joe. And there is Gai on the coffee table pouring over his sentai encyclopedia. The air inside the Galleon is full of cheerfulness even if Luka is missing and Joe feels her absence dearly.
He appears in the living quarters and is greeted by his crew who are all delighted to see him return successful, and the annoyance of dealing with Hofner is released from his shoulder. He won't trade all he has helped build, all he has worked on to become a better person for anything of Hofner's. Despite the difficulties and struggles that he continues to fall back into he wants to continue improving and fighting for a better Universe for everyone.
He steals a quick kiss from Marvelous surprising his captain even, though Marvelous' face afterwards is of a contented cat, and busies himself in the kitchen to make a cake to show his appreciation for the most important people in the Universe to him. They don't bring up his birthday or wish him Happy Birthday but still fuss over him in a way which makes him happy.
Late at night after everyone has gone to sleep, Joe is reading the documents Hofner gave him for any clues that might be helpful in figuring out anything about Nereidians next moves and plans. Everything that Hofner has supplied confirms Joe's suspicions that they are using multiple old Zangyack ships, the ones he has good knowledge about. He has seen some flying past on Pellene, and he wonders if it would be foolish to plan an operation to take them out, knowing that the Nereidians are probably gonna be watching the pirates next moves. He doesn't want to get out of the comfy bed with Marvelous' leg draped over his and Ahim's peaceful sleeping face beside him, so he opens the file on the bed to read.
He hopes that this is not what the Nereidians expect them to do and that they'll not just walk into a trap by choosing to go after these ships and their weapons. He pores over the documents again carefully, thinking deeply. The Nereidians are awfully guarded about the Special Forces spaceships but he's seen a few other ones prowling that he can recognise the make and model of. They have the same hull and the same control systems, he even knows the type of guns they have on board: beam weapons in front as well as one or two kinetic weapons mounted on the forecastle if the ship was bigger. The special forces ships also carried missiles sometimes and were the most dangerous out of these. Joe decides to get up from the bed and is planning how to make it past Doc and Gai on the outskirts of the bed, before Ahim raises her head.
"What is it Joe-san?" She leans over his back to look, peppering his naked torso with kisses. In return he strokes and kisses her hand that is draped over his shoulder.
"Still trying to figure out our next move."
"That can wait till tomorrow?" Ahim asks as she lays back down and her eyelids flutter shut.
Joe nods, but he's too wound up to sleep, so he carefully moves around Doc and Gai's supine figures on the bed, to walk to the living quarters where he can keep poring over the file and think about their next moves carefully.
He flips through the file once again and finds two sheets sticking together. Unsticking them carefully reveals an extra sheet with more details of Special Annihilation forces spaceships and their flight plans and weapons systems.
Joe gazes at it a few times, surely this can't be a mistake right? Did Hofner want him to have this paper? Joe recognises the way the classified files were presented and this seems to follow the same format.
What is Hofner playing at? Is he really hedging his bets this much? This paper isn't a lot on its own but it's still classified information that he shouldn't even be sharing with his government's enemies. Hofner is likely to get in trouble if he reveals that he leaked this information to the pirates and even if he uses this to capture Joe, it would mean an end to Hofner's career that he was proud of and had taken pains to show off to Joe.
Joe spends most of the next day lost in thought, trying to figure out the next plan of action, before eventually calling a meeting and asking for opinions from the rest of the crew.
"It might be worth following this lead. If we can steal the weapons on some of their special forces planes, that would give us a huge chance." Joe tells them all as he paces around the living room.
They don't speak of the dangers, all of them know they are putting themselves back in the position of being the most wanted people in the Universe after experiencing some respite for several months. But, it's not like fighting Empires is without risks and it is still their fight if they call themselves pirates. Something about their work not yet being finished, and how they needed to pour their lives and their blood and sweat into ploughing the fields over and over till they obtained a harvest of hope.
"Gai you should go with Joe." Marvelous says from his captain's chair after a long pause, the tips of his hands pressed to his forehead in concentration. Gai looks up, "Me?"
"Yes. It's not a mission for one person, there might be significant danger involved in this still even though Joe says that it seems unlikely that it is a trap and that you both might be able to sneak in and sneak out before they even know what is happening. I trust you Gai, to do what is necessary to keep you both safe. Don't take any needless risks. We're pirates after all."
Gai nods vigorously, tears appearing in his eyes at Marvelous-san's words.
Marvelous turns to Joe and lowers his voice to barely above a whisper, "come back to me safe."
Joe smiles and fixes Marvelous with the stare reserved between the both of them before nodding slightly.
In a few days after making the required preparations, Joe and Gai set off on their mission.
There isn't much to do with only three people left on the ship. There isn't a lot to cook too for Doc, so he has taken to rearrange the pantry and can be heard talking in an affectionate tone to the bag of onions he is putting in the shelf.
"You are so fickle, so capricious my darlings; but given proper love and heat, this capriciousness turns into sweetness, softness and an aroma which spreads across the entire kitchen. What would we do without you, alliums?"
Ahim and Navi giggle outside the kitchen at Doc's words.
"It's getting quieter and quieter here, isn't it Marvelous-san?" Ahim observes after dinner one day when Joe, Gai and Luka's places at dinner are empty. Marvelous smiles a little, "going to get even quieter."
"What do you mean, Marvelous?" Doc asks as they are lazily spread on the couches and chairs.
"Our own funds are pretty low by now, Luka was talking about the need to get more before she left. We also need money if we're going to fight the Nereidians and their forces and to gather groups together against their newly rising Empire." Marvelous begins.
"And for emergencies if something unexpected happens." Doc nods.
"And if the fight goes on for several weeks, maybe months and we need medicines and bandages." Ahim agrees. She gets up from the couch and stands besides Marvelous' chair studying his serious expression.
"What are you thinking of Marvelous-san?"
"I am thinking I need to go visit some people."
Doc and Ahim look at each other, before Doc begins.
"Uh-- are they the same people that used to cause some trouble from time to time because they wanted to extort money from you Marvelous?"
"Maybe extort is a bit much--"
"Then it's decided, I will go with you to meet your friends, Marvelous-san." Ahim speaks firmly.
"They're not friends, and I wasn't expecting too much trouble-" Marvelous turns towards Ahim who is looking back at him with clear determined eyes.
"Oh, I hope there won't be trouble too, this is why I'm going." Ahim replies, a twinkle in her eyes and a mischievous smile playing on her lips.
"Besides, I would like to meet your friends."
Marvelous opens his mouth to say something, actually there are a lot of somethings he could say, starting with, they are not his friends, and also he wouldn't like to drag his crew to meet them, because those 'friends' as Ahim keeps calling them love playing dirty and Marvelous is fully expecting them to do that this time too.
He sees the look in Ahim's eyes and shrugs.
"Do what you want," he says, before getting up from his chair and walking to the deck.
"I will." She says feeling pleased she had managed to talk him into letting her accompany him. Ahim didn't trust the people Marvelous-san was going to meet and she would protect her crew from them as best as she could. That was what was expected of a pirate.
Doc follows Marvelous to the deck after a while, the air is cool on the deck as they are still moving near Pellene's atmosphere after dropping off Joe and Gai on their mission to search for Special Annihilation Forces spaceships. Doc hums a tune, and Marvelous turns to him in surprise before smiling.
"You've memorised the notation for navigation across the space sectors?"
"I wanted to." Doc holds Marvelous' hand. "I wanted to learn some of what you knew. Now I have two ways of finding the time and distance to our destinations."
Marvelous feels his eyes gathering moisture, to distract himself he studies Doc's face, "You're doing alright after everything you've been through recently?"
"Of course. I made my peace with the past, just like all of us have had to." Doc looks ahead, his hand still in Marvelous', clasping his fingers, squeezing his palm.
He really is fine, Doc thinks, even though it has taken him a while to get there, even though he took some of his own traumas out on his crew, who were patient with him, all things considering.
He worries about things and people easily, especially the ones he loves but also anyone who is in trouble or having a hard time; that is just who he is, but he's learning to let some things go and be more at ease with the uncertainties of being a pirate. Also, he can even beat Marvelous at darts with the weighted bracelet now. He no longer thinks he can't do things because he's inherently terrible at them and others are inherently better.
He has memorised the musical notations for navigation that spacefarers use - those that Marvelous had written down in his ledger. It took him a while to understand musical theory and to be able to read the notes, but this was important to Marvelous and he wanted to preserve this knowledge therefore he persevered in his free time.
"This is the life I have chosen and I'm okay with that, we're pirates after all. We heard from Luka today and she's doing fine and I'm not worried for her. Maybe I'm a bit worried about Gai and his excessive enthusiasm getting on Joe's nerves."
Marvelous laughs, "Gai has a great ability to bounce from anything and everything. I trust him to cover for Joe and for Joe to balance out Gai's enthusiasm and keep them from getting caught."
Doc nods and wraps himself around Marvelous' chest, both of them silent for several moments.
"So these node points where we're meeting these people, these smuggler friends of yours-" Doc begins, snuggling deeper into Marvelous' coat, not willing to let go of the warmth radiating from Marvelous' body.
"Yes they were rest points that my community and others like ours used. There were some traps that we placed on those islands to protect them from being taken over by Zangyack at that time. I'm hoping that knowing the geography of these stopover places will give us an advantage in our dealings."
After another pause he nuzzles his head into Doc's neck leaving small red teeth marks behind which causes Doc to tilt his head and bite his lips in delight. He enjoys it when Marvelous bites him playfully. For his part, he has probably lost count of the number of bite marks he's left on Marvelous' body and it sends a little thrill down his spine to remember all the places on his captain's skin he has marked over the years.
"You're alright with manning the Galleon on your own while Ahim and I go to meet them? You'll need to be nearby though not so close they can spot you easily and shoot at you, and ready to pull us up in case of trouble. Not that I'm expecting any--" Marvelous' body becomes tense for a moment in Doc's arms, but he relaxes soon after.
He has made preparations to anticipate any backstabbing attempts from them. Ahim and him should be fine even though dragging his crew into this encounter still leaves him with some jitters he cannot fully shake off. Not as much as he used to, but some. He is fine with that, since that is the price of loving them fiercely like he does.
"Of course Marvelous." Doc says resolutely. "Of course, I'll be right there."
The Gokai Galleon is by now travelling in the murky darkness of space where Doc can't see much beyond his hands, the outside has a distinct lack of wind too. It has also suddenly grown very cold.
"We should head inside." Doc turns to leave, and Marvelous nodding, follows.
Chapter 12: Old Friends
Chapter Text
you, darkness, that I come from
I love you more than all the fires that fence in the world
— Rilke
Space with its fathomless boundary and its relentless darkness haunts many an imagination. Node points have been an important ecology for as long as people have lived and traded in space. They were thought to be important gathering points for many communities of spacefarers and looked upon with awe. There, some communities believed the Gods descended, there the ancient spirits would connect with the new generations or so the ancient space folktales -- those that have been written down and preserved, tell us.
Many of these node points are silent now in the way a river is once it dries up, because no one is there to maintain and take care of it anymore. In some stories, Node points were a safe haven, a place of retreat, something for poets and lovers alike, something for people who liked to find solace in solitude. There were hidden caves and waterfalls too on some.
Now they look just like any other random island in the middle of nowhere. They have been subjected to the extractivist, colonialist way of looking at planets, at places. There are no stories anymore because there are not enough people left who would remember those stories. And so time has stolen away all the stories and all the pride and prestige of these places.
Marvelous himself doesn't remember many of these stories and he doesn't see the node points as anything other than a place where he would have advantage because of knowing the lay of the land. He isn't even thinking about the past, so intent is he on trying to make out the smugglers' approach to this land. The Galleon hovers overhead and out of view. Ahim is waiting a few meters away for his signal. Marvelous grips his key tightly in his hand. He's ready to meet the smugglers no matter what happens now.
"Good to see you again, Marvelous. It's been a long time." Philip greets him.
Marvelous says nothing for a while, trying to get a feel for the surroundings and scoping out any accomplices. No one seems to be around as far as he can see. Marvelous hasn't put his guard down - years of being wary and looking out for danger means he's still on high alert for any signs of danger though he relaxes his shoulders a little.
"You know why I'm here." Marvelous tells him coolly.
"And here I thought we had a special relationship going on."
Marvelous rolls his eyes.
Philip looks around, "Yeah-yeah I know you don't have any love for me anymore, it's all for your crew. Though I don't seem to see them around."
"Do you have what I asked for?" Marvelous asks cutting into Philip nosing around for news of his crew.
"No, but I know where it is." Philip tells Marvelous pointing somewhere in space. Marvelous curses underneath his breath, "You're not making it easy for me, are you Philip?"
"I figured it was like a treasure hunt. You pirates seem to enjoy them."
Marvelous turns and begins walking towards his ship as Philip calls out after him, "the guards won't be around of course. You're welcome."
Marvelous raises a hand but doesn't stop walking or pause to look back. The small satellite with the vault is in the same sector from Node point A21 though Marvelous, Doc and Ahim spend some time searching for it in the Galleon.
Once they find the place - a satellite post that looks like it has been used recently, there are food cartons scattered around - Marvelous descends down, with Ahim following close behind and Doc keeping his eye on both. What Philip said is true, there is no guard in sight, Marvelous keeps his sabre drawn and his gun ready though as he walks inside. It is a simple mission for him, he grabs the money and prepares to call the Galleon to pick him up.
Before it arrives, he hears the singing of a bullet passing near his ear and lodging in his shoulder. He dodges the next one by rolling away from it and strains his eyes even though it is very dark by now, to see who it is.
"Is that how you greet your old friends, Philip?" Marvelous asks.
"Didn't you enjoy the little welcome party we set up? " Philip asks stepping out into the light and Marvelous finds himself surrounded by six pirates and smugglers who were also hiding in the shadows. There is clash of steel against steel, the smugglers together are too many for Marvelous, he shoots and manages to hit one of the smugglers' weapons out of his hand, and spins the gun around to aim at another but before he can shoot again, he finds himself disarmed with six guns pointing at him.
One of the smugglers tells him to get on his knees but he just cocks his head at him and smirks, "Fuck you!"
Apparently they don't like that, and the butt of the gun hits his knees hard and he finds himself on the ground, with the smugglers surrounding him.
The one who had told him to kneel, now steps on his hand gleefully, Marvelous grimaces but still manages to look unperturbed.
"You're too predictable, Philip."
"Predictable how?" Philip bends down, "I don't see that from where I'm standing." He walks away as one of his cronies hits Marvelous on the head with his gun, causing a small trickle of blood to start flowing. Marvelous is still grinning despite all that.
"Predictable how?" Philip repeats getting angry. "We're not doing this because we want a bigger percentage of your loot."
"No, it's because you're valuable again." Yorick, another smuggler shows Marvelous the latest newspaper which calls the Gokaigers wanted thieves and criminals and offers rewards for them and their whereabouts. Two of the smugglers bring out their ropes, force him to stand and tie his hands behind his back.
"Sorry for treating you like this." Philip turns to him. "Despite all the deals we've done together, all the partnerships. It's been fun, if that helps?"
Marvelous can't help but snort at the way Philip is going on about their friendship as if it wasn't just a series of deals they both agreed to out of self interest in tough situations when Marvelous was on his own.
"But put yourself in our shoes, it's economics, pure and simple. Just like it was economics when Zangyack destroyed the spacefaring societies from here."
Marvelous stops smiling and struggles against his bonds, and gets a gun poked very sharply at his back.
"Spacefarers like your people were a threat to the Zangyack's plans for taking over the Universe. A people who refused to pledge allegiance, refused to cooperate, who were able to pose a significant challenge to the Empire, what with their ships scattered all around the Universe, getting in the way all the time, not to mention the multiple wars they fought to defend themselves and their sectors. They had to be broken, the fact that some of the spacefarers' blood contained a fast clotting protein was just the cherry on top--"
Marvelous feels hot anger pricking him at the fact that they're dragging up the past, his past, in this manner.
"This is why you chose that place as a meeting point, right? For nostalgia and old times sake?"
He doesn't reply, choosing to look coolly back at them.
"That's fine by us. Wasn't really expecting you to be chatty under the circumstances, Captain Marvelous," Philip grins before looking around. "But if you don't have a crew can you still call yourself a captain?"
Yorick grins as well, "It is easy to imagine what happened. They left because there are better things to do than be a thief, criminal and a vagabond now."
"I would leave too. Especially since they're offering pardon for any past and current deeds if you tell the government you're sorry now." another smuggler shows the article to Marvelous.
"Full pardon for any pirates or smugglers who want to live an honest life." Jack snatches the paper from Yorick and starts reading.
"Right, settle down, work for the government and enjoy life," someone else comments, "the Nereidian government is not like the Zangyack. Their economy is doing great. Whether they are an Empire or not, who cares? Things are better under them."
Marvelous curls his lips in disdain, the underdevelopment of the other planets after the Zangyack fell, was the reason for the Nereidians prosperity. And the fact that Nereid had come out pretty unscathed out of the long reign of the Zangyack Empire. The Nereidians had also benefitted from keeping the unequal relationships in place to be able to declare themselves as the new Empire, Doc's planet, Luka's planet, many others were still struggling, still caught in the trap. But the pirates had come too far to let the Empires have the last word.
"Somehow I find it hard to imagine that you would settle down, Marvelous. Can't leave well enough alone can you? Even as a child, there was a stubbornness in you--" Philip turns to Marvelous again. "You were always going to remain the space vagabond. Especially now that your people are all dead."
"That's not true." Marvelous is burning with rage now, "I know that some of them survived, many more that I don't even know about. And they have rebuilt their lives, despite everything. Meanwhile the Zangyack Empire is dead and gone, and someday the Nereidians' foolish gasp for power will too. All Empires fall eventually."
He assumes his casual attitude again, "And I want to keep being a thorn in any Empire's side until they are no more."
Marvelous keeps reminding himself that it is this that makes him persist, but even when imagining a time when the work of resisting Empires is over and people have rebuilt their planets, he still can't imagine starting a life over on any planet.
He belongs in the Darkness, in the pockets of space where his people lived, and the harsh surroundings that he had become well adjusted to. He could imagine staying at Node points were they livelier, could dream of what it would have been like if he had gotten his own crew as a mark of reaching adolescence if circumstances had been different, could even think back to one or two memories of celebrating Holken with large groups of spacefarers fondly and miss the large gatherings and food and drink. He wants to look forward to working and singing on ships with his crew in times of genuine peace and equality; what he cannot imagine is being away from the darkness. He wants to stay there always, wrapped tightly in space's embrace. He loves the darkness too fondly, too fiercely to let go.
Perhaps there is also some truth to the fact that the rebels cannot easily enter the future they are working towards, once that future is achieved. He wants the rest of his crew to experience the future they are fighting so hard for, but stepping into that future is not for him.
He has been changed enough, lost enough in life to know that for certain. None of the spacefarers who survived ever returned to the way of life as it was before the Zangyack, he didn't think they would. At least they would have a better chance at starting over on different planets, preserving their languages and some customs along the way. If there was one thing he knew about the spacefaring people he grew up with, they would survive, they would adapt and change according to circumstances, he was proof of it.
He sometimes feels angry at himself for the way grief's black tendrils, like the fabled space kraken's tentacles grip him suddenly from time to time, thrusting him to a time in the past when he was just a child, leaving marks that are not visible in the process, but ones that still sting sharply. He doesn't want to go back to a past he doesn't know much about anymore, doesn't want to consider going back to a society without the Zangyack with its uncertain composition; perhaps another space empire would have existed in its place, or perhaps life would have been peaceful, it doesn't matter in the slightest. That question was asked once and he rejected it for himself very quickly and he doesn't have any regrets about it.
He loves what he's built with his crew, they keep pledging to stay with him despite their planets involved in various levels of rebuilding efforts, and already he is looking forward to the idea of defeating the Empire thoroughly and going off to search for a particular treasure on Earth following Navi's cryptic prophecy once again, something to do with a newer sentai, the Zyouhgers. But sometimes, a part of him aches, because he wants his crew and their adventures and he wanted to be able to experience life as a spacefarer, maybe he would have returned to rebuild and stay in the space sector that was once home for him, and now only reminded him of how death smelled and how fires crackled as they consumed everything in sight including large ships.
Philip's conversation brings him back to the present.
"Pity, you never learned to leave well enough alone, Marvelous. I knew it was going to get you killed someday. At least your crew isn't here to die with and for you."
Marvelous receives a cut above his jaw from an eager new smuggler for glaring. There isn't much he can do tied up as he is and with guns pointed at him and his shoulder wound stinging. The smugglers and pirates surrounding him know how to fight well. He had cut his teeth on some of his earliest fights practicing with them.
"Oi! Don't." Philip warns Yorick. "We do go a long way back, Marvelous and I. We may not see eye to eye, but we're not enemies."
Marvelous smiles at the words as he sees Ahim on the rooftop above - she nods silently at him.
"Not enemies, huh. Certainly, a fun way to show it," he turns to Philip. "Well, it's been fun, and I've enjoyed your hospitality, but it is with a heavy heart that I must take my leave."
Ahim jumps from the rooftop using a rope, kicks one of the men holding Marvelous -- the rest are too surprised to shoot, as she makes a graceful landing.
"Pardon the intrusion, Smugglers-san." She greets them while curtseying. "But, Marvelous-san said he wanted to leave, so I have come to pick him up."
She turns the key in her Mobirates and transforms to Gokai Pink, she rests her sabre on her shoulder and points the gun at them.
The first order of the day is to cut Marvelous-san's bonds which she does with a quick flick of her sabre, and he too picks up his ranger key and transforms, ignoring the throbbing pain in his shoulder. Together they take on three smugglers each and soon have the upper hand. They exchange weapons and Ahim ends up with two pistols the way she prefers. Eventually the smugglers give up, they are no match for the Gokaigers in their armoured suits.
Marvelous grins as he looks at Philip and how the roles have been reversed. Now it's the pirates who are pointing the weapons.
"You win," Philip tells Marvelous, turning away and not making eye contact. "Take your money and leave."
"What will you do?" Ahim asks them.
Now that Marvelous-san is no longer in trouble, she can see that the people he's been doing dealings with all these years are the more desperate but troubled sort. She's shocked once again at the people Marvelous-san used to keep company with because just like Basco these people could have been his friends in a different life, but instead they don't think twice before backstabbing him and have probably done it before too. It probably says a lot about Marvelous-san's life before he collected his own pirate crew that he would run with them despite knowing that, because any other alternatives weren't available.
It still shocks her when people do not trust each other, before she could have chalked it to her sheltered life, but now she wants to be able to live her life by fully trusting people, she cannot be any other way.
"Here." Marvelous shoves a briefcase with money towards them, "for your help."
He and Ahim start walking away as the Galleon draws closer and Doc throws them the ropes.
"Wait," Philip calls out and Marvelous stops in his tracks but doesn't turn around.
"The Nereidians are planning to move to Themis to destroy it, we saw them moving some of their ships in that direction." He turns to Ahim, "We'll survive, you take care of yourself, you all."
"Thanks." Marvelous turns his head and begins walking back to his ship again.
"I heard what your friends said, Marvelous-san." Ahim begins once they're all settled in and Doc has seen to his wound, it's not deep and Marvelous sighs with relief.
"This again." He rolls his eyes.
"It's not bad to want to continue to challenge unjust systems and Empires, you know." Ahim smiles.
He folds his hands and looks happy at the acknowledgement.
Ahim continues. "Until the oppressed people everywhere take power in their own hands, it's not truly freedom. Luka-san talks of the organising the worker communities are continuing to do on her planet. She's gotten involved as well, from what she's said."
After a pause she continues, "Doc-san has been contacted by the people we took to Tirawa - they have also been involved in organising communities and workers on Doc-san's planet too to fight the Empire and the systems they left in place, once and for all. They've asked for our support at Luka-san's planet since that is the Nereidians' target now."
Marvelous nods, "The smugglers said much the same about the Empire's latest target. Well, then that's where we'll be. We can greet Luka on the way." He presses a few buttons on the computer and the ship's low hum changes as she turns and speeds ahead.
"I'm feeling nostalgic and we're still waiting for Joe, Gai and Luka to return, maybe it's time to bring out the book about pirates that I read as a child and reread it." Doc looks pointedly at Marvelous who has been napping in his chair but is now suddenly alert, and shifting in an uncomfortable manner.
"Why are you looking at me like this?"
Doc who has brought the book out from his room and has made himself comfortable on the couch is staring at the title as he answers, "No reason. Or well, you know the reason."
"What's gotten into you suddenly?" Marvelous shakes his head before getting up from his chair to stretch and look out of the porthole as they hover near Pellene to wait for the signal to pick up Joe and Gai.
"What's the deal with the book, Doc-san." Ahim asks as she wheels the tea trolley from the kitchen and sits beside Doc to glance at the book which is causing a lot of controversy apparently.
"It's just a silly little childrens' book." Marvelous waves his hand around dismissively. "No idea why Doc is so taken by it."
"It's a little bit more than that, I would think, Marvelous." Doc is trying not to laugh.
"What's the deal? What's the deal?" Navi echoes hovering near Marvelous and earning a "Shutup, bird," from him.
Ahim shakes her head as she sips her tea, it seems like an old joke between these two, although she hasn't seen Doc-san being on the offensive like this in a while.
"Oh you should read it too." Doc hands the book to Ahim. "It's very informative."
"Informative?" Ahim takes the book with interest.
"There's a pirate with a coat like Marvelous' and lots of talk about walking the plank and keel-haulings and treasure maps."
"Fine, I read it as a child, it was formative in some ways about my ideas of pirates. That was the first time I learned what they were." Marvelous says, electing to stop here because the rest of it is still not something he wants to share, perhaps someday. Not that it is important, it is about how he joined his first pirate crew.
Ahim is engrossed in the book and Doc walks up to Marvelous and places a hand on his shoulder, still trying and failing to keep a serious face, "we can see."
Marvelous chooses to make a face at him in return.
The computer beeps at this moment, "Big Trouble, everyone!" Navi says. "We need to rescue Joe and Gai."
Doc immediately gets up to set the pathway for their descent on the computer. Marvelous and Ahim nod at each other as they both rush to separate quarters to prepare for any equipment they might need for a rescue.
"Joe san, wait!" Gai calls out after him. Joe has been striding through long stretches of barren land in search of their target, the special forces ships. It has taken them the better part of two days to make their way here because of how hard the military facility was to find and to sneak into. Luckily, armed with disguises and Joe's former Zangyack training, they had been able to find it, although Gai's enthusiasm had nearly gotten them arrested when one of the guards became suspicious.
Gai pants as he bumps into Joe who has suddenly stopped and is looking through binoculars at the horizon. He gestures to Gai to hide and then pulls Gai towards the narrow shrubs. Gai rubs his bare arms which are turning slightly pink and turns to Joe who nods straight ahead.
"That's our target, the special annihilation forces ships," he whispers thinking about the paper with details about the ships as well as the weapons they carry, "You can recognise this kind of green painted aluminium-titanium hull anywhere, as well as these N-14 plasma missiles they fire. They used to have Gigalolium missiles but Zangyack over-mined and over used those. Gigalolium is incredibly difficult to mine and was also very unstable and unsafe. A whole planet could be destroyed in the blink of an eye. The N-14 missiles are less deadlier and easier to obtain, though they are still pretty potent compared to the other ships in their fleet which only have energy beam based missiles or heat missiles depending on the models, some earlier only had heat based missiles and mounted guns of course."
"How do you know?" Gai asks but Joe has already run straight to where the ships are anchored.
"Simple," he whispers, unfastening the rope with a contraption, from his belt, swinging it to the spaceship's window and climbing up. "This kind of design is made by and for the military, for speed. The Nereidians haven't and won't modify the ships too much because these materials work really well to give both speed and toughness - a well placed fleet can destroy most of the planet in a matter of a few days even without the Gigalolium. Zangyack spent a lot of money on developing weapons and the science behind them. Developing new engineering and technology was a matter of pride for them."
Joe sighs as he remembers the weapons shows his superior officers would routinely go on. They are on the ship by now, and Gai and Joe walk hurriedly towards the control panel.
"Press these two buttons on the APU, Gai." Joe tells Gai as he keeps a lookout for anyone who might be arriving. They had taken advantage of the very brief period of time when the guard duty changes and therefore there were less guards than usual present on this barren land in the middle of nowhere, where the special forces spaceships are docked. They had been able to take care of the ones that were present, but that would change very soon.
Joe opens the panel on the ceiling of the cockpit, and presses a button as well. They move to another ship, a slightly different model and repeat the process, Joe glancing at his watch constantly because he knows the military work on fixed time schedules and they have precious little time left before this area becomes heavily guarded once again and any sabotage becomes impossible.
"Alright," They jump and make their way crouching and crawling amid the shrubs before running into black leather in their line of sight. "Boots," Joe thinks glancing up and seeing Hofner and a few other Zangyack and Nereidian officers.
"Hofner." Joe says as he and Gai are captured by the officers. "Well, well, well. Fancy running into you again, Joe Gibken." The smooth silky voice coated in disdain is back again and nothing can capture how much Joe hates Hofner in this moment.
Joe smirks and nods towards the ships which explode causing them all to take cover.
"Why you!" The Nereidian Commander is seething with rage as he orders one of his subordinates, "Take them away."
"Getting your hands dirty, Hofner?" Joe asks, "I thought you weren't the type."
"Wait." Hofner tells the guards holding them. "Ah, but the rewards of capturing you were too immense. Don't think I've forgotten about the chess game in my office and how you cheated."
Gai looks at Joe and Hofner confusedly, Joe maintains eye contact with Hofner.
"I won," Hofner tells Joe, "I can put you and your friend away and rise in the esteem of the Nereidians." Joe only smiles calmly at the pronouncement making Hofner uneasy.
"Take them away."
Joe and Gai are led away to some cells in the facility, temporarily, the Nereidians tell them till they can be transported to the capital where they will be sentenced . There is nothing much to do except wait for a rescue.
"We were so close." Gai says as Joe paces around the cell trying to figure out an escape route.
"What, Gai?" Joe asks after a while as he sits down near the Earthling, water is trickling nearby somewhere and the small hints of light are peeking from the bars.
Gai has been looking at him strangely for a while.
"Nothing, I just never thought you knew so much about weapons and planes." He begins.
"I'm normal," Joe shrugs feeling alarmed at Gai being impressed with him. "I don't know that much."
"That was amazing, Joe-san. I didn't think you enjoyed reading or learning stuff that wasn't related to being a better sword fighter. You never read my encyclopedia too."
Joe looks at Gai amusedly for a few seconds before patting his head, "How do you suppose I became an Elite Imperial Officer when I was with Zangyack? There are exams."
Gai opens his mouth and closes it, he hadn't thought about that.
"They were useless and we had to cram so many of them that I hate sitting exams now. Most of what I've learned about the world, I've gathered outside of any academy's setting anyway."
Gai is nodding, this is the first time he's learning anything about Joe-san's Zangyack military related past.
"And not like you learned about sentai by cramming in school, right?"
Gai laughs.
"That's true, Joe-san. Well, it makes me happy that you're a nerd and that you enjoy these things."
"Gai you find the oddest things to be happy about at the oddest times," Joe tells him ruffling his hair. He really likes Gai and is not going to explain that nerd wasn't a mark of pride when he was in the military; nerds were kids who crammed too much and were favourites of the Zangyack lecturers, nerds in the military ended up as Scientists or Engineers who built infrastructure, weaponry and machines for Zangyack - machines which tortured Sid Sempai and many other dissidents of the Empire.
Joe takes a deep breath, he is not offended that Gai calls him a nerd, he is still learning and growing as a person, something that is a lifelong process for him, and if he wouldn't tell Gai off for being passionate about his interests, he shouldn't take offense that Gai calls him a nerd. And well, there are more important pressing matters such as getting out of here.
There is a click in the lock at that moment in time and Joe freezes, gesturing to Gai to stay still and silent even though Gai is rearing for a fight after having been locked up for several hours in a small cell. The guards haven't taken their ranger keys and that is a card Joe is holding close to his chest, as soon as they are moved from the cell to the capital, they will transform and escape. It's not a Nereidian guard, it's Zangyack, to be more precise it's--
"Jealoushitto!" Gai exclaims and they both have to calm him down. There are two other former Zangyack officers with him that Joe recognises the faces of but cannot place their names.
"We've come to help," they tell Gai and Joe.
"Why--"
"We decided we no longer wanted to be part of the Empire and there are more of us who are leaving. But hurry, hurry." They throw them guards uniforms and escort them through the high security area.
Once they reach the more crowded and densely populated parts of the planet, Joe and Gai relax.
"What were you doing there?" Joe folds his hands on his chest and taps his foot, looking at Jealoushitto.
"Ah! That is a long story--" Jealoushitto brings out a handkerchief and blows his nose and wipes his eyes. "You see--"
"Nevermind," Joe says, "we don't want to know."
Gai is distracted and waving gleefully as he espies the Galleon in the sky. The sound of the anchor dropping is loud and then three other pirates appear in front of them.
"Kept you waiting did we?" Marvelous says turning to them.
"Not really." Joe tells him walking to his side and nodding towards Jealoushitto and a few other former Zangyack who rescued them, "We had company." "Jealoushitto!" Doc exclaims as he pauses while hugging Gai. "Long time no see! Where have you been?"
"Well you see--" Jealoushitto pauses to blow his nose again.
"Don't encourage him." Joe says as they all laugh.
"It's good to see you Gokaigers again." Jealoushitto tells them.
"Ah, you too!" Marvelous tells him.
"Are you sure you will be alright?" Doc asks.
"We have our own ship." Jealoushitto tells them as another ship appears in view. The pirates use the rope to climb onto the Galleon, weigh anchor and fly away.
"You both need better friends," Ahim says sitting down on the couch beside Doc and Gai as Gai finishes talking about his and Joe-san's adventures.
Joe looks at Marvelous, catching his eye and they both grin.
"Well at least I didn't get shot at. Unlike a certain someone I know. Honestly, Marvelous, I was gone for two minutes, you're really hopeless without me watching your back, huh?" Joe looks at Marvelous pointedly.
"Give it a rest Joe." Marvelous says but he's not mad, he's smirking, pleasantly surprised that Joe is flirting with him in front of the crew.
After relaxing showers and dinner, Gai brings the conversation around to Joe-san nerding over weaponry and ships. Gai tells them how much he was impressed at Joe-san's knowledge and that he is making it his mission to promote Joe-san being a nerd about things he likes and is interested in. For the next several days, Gai is going to observe Joe-san in his natural habitat and ask questions about everything he loves. Ahim and Doc nod and agree but when they look for Joe he is nowhere to be found.
"Did you check the treasure chest?" Navi flies towards them after they have spent some time searching for Joe around the ship unsuccessfully.
"Navi!" floats Joe's disgruntled voice from the treasure chest towards them. "Navi you're supposed to be on my side."
"I didn't know there was a game with sides," Navi chimes as the Galleon speeds towards Luka's planet.
"So, what did I miss?" Luka asks as she returns back on the Galleon after several months. She spends the entire day walking around the entire ship and soaking in the hot tub, a luxury she said she had missed on her home planet.
"Marvelous-san and Joe-san have terrible friends," Gai fills her in. Luka opens her mouth to agree.
"Not a word Luka, your old friend is a shady multibillionaire-" Joe cuts in.
"Hey, that's unfair. He's still better than any of yours and he's been so helpful in organising and rebuilding our planet with his own funds." Luka moves to punch him but he catches her punch.
"And we're trying to figure out what interests Joe can nerd about." Doc tells her handing her her favourite cookies that he's made for this occasion.
Luka bites into the cookie and closes her eyes, she loves these and she had missed Doc's cooking so much.
"Alright," Marvelous folds his hands on his chest and stands beside her, "Fill us in on everything that's been going on on your planet."
Chapter 13: New Beginnings
Chapter Text
Luka is still thinking about her planet as they all sit around and relax after sex, their bodies spooning each other. Gai is half asleep while Doc is also moving in and out of sleepiness. Joe is wide awake, feeling Marvelous' hands in his hair as he ties Joe's braid, but thinking of his own recent experiences and of their plans moving forward. They had discussed what the best method of attack was against the Nereidian Empire. The Southern part of Luka's planet was under a repressive ruler who supported the Nereidian Empire and was propped up by them there. There was an ongoing civil war against his government's oppressive rule. There were also some groups promoted by his government to keep people under control. The crew had been invited to be part of the rebels to overthrow his government and loosen Nereidians' grip on Themis once and for all so that new forms of governments could be dreamed up there.
The hum of the spaceship continues, they have set the Galleon to orbit a nearby planet while they study the conditions in the South of Themis. They need to know the best places to land and make contact with locals as well as to be able to reestablish contact with the different rebel groups for a more coordinated attack. There is a lot to plan but this night they've taken out for making each other feel special.
"What's on your mind, Luka?" Marvelous asks guessing at least some of what she's thinking about.
"You've been so faraway, Luka-san." Ahim says as she kisses Luka and hugs her naked torso.
"It's just--" Luka grimaces, but she's still thinking of the conversation she had with Cain. They're all focused attention on her, Doc and Gai have woken up from their half sleepiness. Everyone's looking at her.
"I'm fine--" she tries but she knows this is the one excuse that doesn't work, not with her crew and she can read the look of disbelief on their faces plainly. If she had said she needed space, they would have understood and let her be, if she had said to not ask her about this, they would have respected that. They have known each other for far too long to not have acquired the ability of being able to read each other well. Many times she is grateful for this kind of bone deep knowledge: knowledge of when one of them might be suffering from nightmares, the ins and outs of each other's worst nightmares too and how to fix them. What makes each of them tick and what gets on their nerves. She has known where all the moles, calluses and stretch marks are over the years and how they've shifted, and what parts of their bodies still hurt and ache. They all still have a few secrets of their own, she's sure, but they know when a crew member is not acting like themselves and when something might be wrong.
It's a special kind of comfort, coming home to her crew, and not having to worry about being herself fully- all her sharp edges and a bit of a bite that still hasn't smoothed over with time, and which the crew sometimes gets a handful of. Despite all that, she is always treated with love and affection and infinite patience, no wonder Cain had said that she had gotten so much happiness and a warm glow from living with her friends.
Her crew has also filled the void left by the kids she watched die, the kids she buried, the kids she couldn't, leaving them for the birds to take as she, Cain and the other orphans moved from shelter to shelter to avoid being killed themselves by the Zangyack spaceships. Sometimes there weren't even bodies to be found, the Zangyack attack having been so powerful and lethal. She still hears 'big sister' in their voices sometimes. Luka breaks down in sobs.
"It's just--" she breathes shakily between sobs finding Doc and Ahim hugging her and Marvelous and Joe and Gai looking at her with love in their eyes. Gai would have probably crushed her in a hug if there was space. But she appreciates Ahim's arms around her and Doc's too and doesn't punch or push him away.
"Cain told me about the other orphans after I stowed away and left. How he--how he tried to keep them alive, but the Zangyack ships became more intense in their bombings, how--how many of them died one by one, some of them by starvation as food became scarcer and scarcer, how he buried them--" Luka's face is wet with tears but she doesn't care, this is her crew, the crew she can be vulnerable with, and breakdown in front of, going back to her planet had brought out all those feelings of guilt she had for surviving to the forefront.
Sharing all this is something she's learning to be okay with after being stoic for so long, for keeping her past and her dream so close to her chest for years.
"Luka." Marvelous is the first one to break the silence but none of them know what assurances to give and Luka isn't looking for any. Marvelous continues, "we cannot change the past but we can keep fighting for your dream, all of us together to give the orphaned children a better future. I promise you, Luka."
"I will make sure the South of my planet is also free from the last vestiges of Empire. And Doc's planet too. And build the kind of community I've always wanted for the orphaned kids there. Cain and I started up North with it, trying to rebuild hospitals and schools with the money he had gathered for my dream. That is why I had to go back."
"Luka-san." Ahim wipes away her tears and kisses her on the lips.
"It's unfortunate that as soon as you defeat an Empire there's always a counter-revolution waiting in the wings." Joe says and they all look at him and nod. "But we will make your dream a reality, Luka. Thank you for entrusting us with it."
"Joe." Luka says her eyes soft and bright.
She wipes away a few more tears, and turns to Marvelous. "I remembered you talking about your people living on ships as crews, where no one person is responsible for a child, but the entire community." Marvelous turned to her and nodded. He had multiple parents because of that, the whole crew became responsible for children, and to him it had been so much freeing, he never felt like he missed the attentions and affections of the people he loved this way, and everyone took responsibility for the care of him and his siblings, even when some of his parents had been disappeared by the Zangyack. He was surprised that Luka had been thinking of all that but had to agree that that was a good idea.
"Marvelous was probably reckless enough as a toddler that they needed that. Otherwise he would have been too much of a handful." Joe says grinning ignoring how Marvelous is rolling his eyes behind him. "Handful! Marvelous is still a handful!" Navi also joins in. Joe reaches out a hand to stroke Marvelous' hair.
"Which is why Marvelous-san has us now." Ahim says with a twinkle in her eyes.
"Ahim, not you too." Marvelous says.
"This works for children who are too reckless and a handful too." Luka grins, "I want to give the orphans on my planet and on all other planets the option of being raised by the community. There is no way to go back to the way things were being done, to the way families used to exist, not anymore at least on my planet. Too many children have lost their parents and will have to raise themselves now. Too many children will be lost in whatever system ends up replacing the Empire, if we wash our hands of their welfare. I can't do that."
"On my planet too." Doc says quietly. He is thinking of how much it would have helped him if there were more people in his life he was close to. He loved his parents and they did the best raising him and his older sisters, but he wondered how much different his life could have been if having to satisfy his father's expectations and his exacting attitude wasn't something that had defined and shaped him and led to his self confidence issues. If children could just choose who to live with, without it impacting their quality of life. If they could move away from parents they didn't get along with to others they did, if they were given full autonomy over their lives and treated as full human beings, so much could be improved-- Doc sighs.
"There are so many families where only one child survived and that child has no one to look after them. There are many others like mine was, where I had to take care of my sister and I didn't know what I was doing. I was just a child myself. I want communities to take responsibility. I have been talking to a lot of people, sounding them out on this, making sure they would be willing to raise their children this way instead of in a closed family system. Every orphan is looked after this way."
"Will they?" Joe asks taking interest in her plan. This is something he would appreciate for the children who became soldiers like him. Many would need re-education and reintegration into society after all this, not something to leave to one family.
"On my planet they wanted to implement new forms of government and try new ideas. What ways of doing things we have been following are not so set in stone that they can't be changed," Luka tells him, "Some were already taking in children from their community or their neighbours but I want it to have wider reach. I don't think children should belong to any one person, that is not fair to the parent or the child. It should be everyone's responsibility to raise them and care for them." She looks so fierce and determined that they all feel like they are a little bit in love with her all over again.
"Luka-san." Gai breaks the silence. "That seems like an admirable plan. Let's do it." He gets up from the bed and starts pulling his clothes towards him.
"That can wait, Gai." Marvelous says dragging him back down. "I'm using my captain's powers to order everyone to relax for a few more hours. Before you know it we will be back fighting. Besides, Luka's just gotten back, and we owe it to her to have a mini celebration."
"And you think it will be tough?" Doc pulls his head out of the blanket, his hair a tousled mess.
"Of course it will." Marvelous grabs Doc towards him and kisses him passionately. "But we're Gokaigers, we're pirates. We can do tough."
"If we're doing celebrations," Ahim says, "How about welcoming spring? From what I know, everyone has some version of a celebration around it. I know that my planet did. "
On Doc's planet it used to be things they made out of paper to celebrate the arrival of new life, new beginnings. Doc was telling them how once he and his university colleagues had made the most aerodynamic version of a paper bird to fly on a challenge from the other university. On Luka's they celebrated the humble rice, cooked in several different ways. On Ahim's they had festivals involving different kinds of dances that went on for weeks.
"We have a spring festival where you have floats that travel through towns in the form of parades." Gai pips up.
"So what I'm getting is that we need to dress up and have a huge float and make lots of rice." Doc says counting it all up on his fingers.
"I will make rice then." Gai gets up and Doc follows but both of them are immediately pulled back by their crew to tumble between them and get cuddled and spooned again.
"We'll have whatever is in the fridge." Marvelous tells them, it's not an order, but they can tell their captain is serious, "We're all relaxing tonight. I'm not having my crew already exhausted when we land, we need to be prepared for all eventualities."
Doc looks at him in surprise, if Marvelous who loves Doc's and Gai's cooking is insisting that they not spend time in the kitchen then it must be respected. They still manage to have a shortened version of the festivities with costumes made from discarded bed sheets and scarves, designs made from different coloured papers, and lots of leftover rice to usher in new beginnings.
Even if they can't see the seasons changing from space, they still want the seeds they've tried to plant of revolution, of relationships they've cultivated with different rebel groups, of the fights they've fought against the Empire to bear some kind of permanent harvest in the future and to bring about Luka's dream for every orphaned child. There is a lot to be hopeful about even if the same odds are still present for them, that of dying, but they've never shied away from that. Gai doesn't call them heroes anymore, he's had enough experience of how hard and how lengthy the fight is, but also so much worth it. They do what they do because someone has to.
Soon they have cleared the plates of rice and are lazily playing card and board games.
"This feels like a limitation of living in space all the time, I miss being able to mark new seasons." Gai says. Joe looks at Marvelous questioningly.
"Not really for me," Marvelous replies, choosing what he thinks is a good card to play.
"From what I remember, we travelled to node points to mark occasions that were full of changes and new beginnings. Node points have an unusual geography, they are connected and in sync with other node points millions of miles away and have similar constellations around them. It helped with communal celebrations even if some parts of our communities were spread far apart because of being nomadic and travelling in ships, while some lived on planets. These node points emit radio waves that can be tracked and recognised, that way everyone could gather and celebrate at the same time. On a larger scale cosmic filaments and galaxies do this too, communicate with each other."
Doc jumps excitedly leaving his cards on the table and heads to his room, which has basically become a dumping ground of all the books he's collected now since he usually sleeps in Marvelous' room.
"I read about it in one of these books. They're supposed to be transport channels of matter, or so one theory goes which is why they're so interconnected. Galaxies being in sync with each other is harder to explain." He brings one of the books out and shows the pictures to them excitedly. "I looked up more of your people who were alive and what they'd done, after I came back from my planet." Doc explains to Marvelous, "Some of them have been recording a lot more of their knowledge now, to preserve what remains. I ended up falling into researching cosmic filaments and node points, they're really quite sophisticated you know."
Marvelous nods, he's always happy to learn more of what his people are up to, he's travelled to multiple node points over the years, studying these places, trying to figure out and piece the knowledge from his people. Far too often Empires like to claim all knowledge as belonging to and propagating from them even when it is undertaken by the people subjugated by Empire. It had happened with translators too, Zangyack Empire's scientist Zcien had laid claim to the work of many different communities including Marvelous'. They distribute more cards for the next game.
He still manages to lose all of the card games again as everyone expects, and even Gai joins in on the fun of teasing Marvelous for his bad luck and his inability to keep a poker face.
"Do you have any more songs from your people about starting anew, Marvelous-san?" Ahim asks, "Maybe." Marvelous closes his eyes and smiles.
"Well, let's hear it then." Luka demands.
"When we win Luka."
"Okay now this is unacceptable." Luka gestures to Doc and Gai to gang up on their captain.
"You're on your own." Joe tells Marvelous as Marvelous tries to ask him for help.
It helps that he is pretty ticklish and easily defeated by their joint efforts.
"Fine, you win." Marvelous adjusts his vest and shirt and begins an old song while his crew listen to him. He is not sure of his voice, starting off hesitant, but as the song goes on, the rough patches smooth over and it sounds very pleasant after all. His crew are praising him more than is warranted though he is sure, feeling like he needs to crawl somewhere to hide. He mumbles an excuse about these songs not being very hard to sing.
"Everyone has been contacted Marvelous-san." Ahim tells Marvelous late at night as they stand in the communications room. She has used her existing contacts with rebel groups and Doc's setup on the Galleon to coordinate their arrival on Luka's planet. It has required setting up more encryption from Doc since they feel it is more likely that they are being intercepted and listened. The Nereidian Empire has learned from Zangyack's mistakes, it is more cunning, it is more insidious, getting its tentacles on Doc's planet that had been struggling after Zangyack, and on various nearby planets. Famille's peace is also being threatened by them.
Nereidian Empire didn't rely on brute force as much as Zangyack did or on destroying planets, they set up governments that were loyal to them, a thing that Zangyack had also toyed with when they wanted to replace government leaders with Sugoumin but ultimately had not succeeded. Nereidians also propped up factions that were fringe and had little support initially and made them stronger by supplying them with money and arms through agents like Hofner, causing civil wars on each planet. These factions terrorised the residents and installed Nereidian rule on the planet without Nereid having to intervene itself and get its hands dirty.
The rebels had been planning to overthrow the Empire in advance, the groups had been armed and prepared with the money Marvelous and Ahim had stolen. A lot of time had been spent talking to working class people on many different planets and being assured of their support. Luka and Cain had been talking to the people on their planet, and making connections and relationships. Doc and Ahim had continued doing that for theirs through the communication channels on the Galleon.
Cain's money had helped the rebuilding efforts in the North of Themis, confirming to the people that the rebel forces were on their side and to remind them that the Nereidian Empire was not their friend. Not content with playing the long game, the Empire had started attacking several planets at once. No tactic was too low for them to stoop to including the ones Zangyack had already popularised. They had also tried to splinter and cause splits between resistance groups. All of this was at once very familiar to the crew.
An old friend of theirs had this to say, "The old tactics of the revolutionaries no longer work. Despite my work, I couldn't help but feel disillusioned as I saw our fight fail again and again, parties constantly splintering. But Empire is not working great as well, they've chewed on far more than they can handle, opening war on several fronts, they're eating themselves alive. There is hope yet. The only solution to prevent the Empire from rising is an end of the Imperial Order across the entire Universe."
It seemed the right time to move in and fight against the Empire, if no one challenged them right now, they would lay waste to half the planets once again. The other groups had been training and preparing for almost the length of an Earth year, and there were several distractionary fights prepared, if they didn't attack now, they might as well give up and go home.
Some hours before they are expected to land, they receive the signal from other comrades that it is not safe to land at the proposed landing point due to the heavy presence of the Nereidian and Zangyack Commanders and mooks that have changed their position to throw off the rebel forces.
They would have to land much further off and make their way across the bare terrain to where the Nereidian military lay in wait. They discuss this proposition at length, if they land at the original agreed upon location and meet a heavy presence of Commanders, they wonder if their Gokaiger keys will be enough to resist. Then there is the question of the different rebel groups, if they come out too early they would force the other rebel groups to change their plans and reveal their hand.
"We used the money we stole while you and Gai-san were away to stock up on rations." Ahim tells Joe as Doc opens cupboards to show the mostly dry, long lasting foods that now populate their cupboards.
"How much of this will we be able to take with us on the long trek too?" Doc wonders out loud. Under the original plan they had figured they wouldn't need to carry a lot of rations.
Luka also makes a face as if she's thinking, before she puts some of the cans and other items in a bag. "We carry as much as we can and hope for the best." She has her past to carry, in the way she says it, but her jaw is set, her eyes looking forward. She wouldn't do it if there was any other way (she likes living in luxury and comfort).
If there was another way that the Universe would be free of Empires she would choose that, but if there's one thing she knows with certainty, it is that Empires have a tendency to return if you don't struggle against the grain of the present order towards their destruction and replace them everywhere with another form of government that was equitable and just. It was only by struggling together, by forming a united front that any of this was even possible. That was how they could glimpse the horizon of the new world.
"Do we have enough rations?" Joe asks, the time he's spent running away from Zangyack still weighs heavy on him.
"For now, yes. But if we're going to trek a longer distance--" Marvelous is lost in thought, worries creasing his forehead, before shrugging. "Can't be helped."
"Not your burden to carry," Luka tells Marvelous as she deciphers his look, he doesn't want to drag his crew on yet another uncertain fight which involves risking their lives and dying if they aren't lucky, but it is their fight and it is their dream and they will keep fighting for their dreams, that's what they do and Marvelous learned pretty early on to not protect his crew from dying for their dreams too. To his credit he doesn't say anything, only nods.
Their plans hit another snag as they are flanked by a few of the Empire's ships that attack them suddenly, damaging the Galleon's hull before they are able to counter attack. Defeating the ships isn't difficult, they dispatch them with ease, but the damage is done and it takes all of their capabilities and skills to maneuver the Galleon somewhat close to the agreed upon landing spot before it crashes.
"We've done it again." Luka says as she sits on the warm sand of her planet with her bag, surveying the land, the red sand at once familiar and unfamiliar to her. This is not a part of her planet she has ever visited, she doesn't know what to expect.
Marvelous holds out a hand to her, but she just jumps and slaps it and keeps walking. "No time to linger Doc," she calls out behind her as Doc pants and heaves as he climbs a small hill while carrying a heavy bag on his shoulders.
"How did we miss them on the radar?" he wonders, shielding his eyes from the harsh rays of the nearest star as he too stares in wonder at the deep red sand, wonders at what minerals make it so orange-red.
"No time to worry about that now, Doc," Joe says urging them all forward. They need to cover as much ground as they can to make sure their rations last and they are not attacked before they are ready. Joe's strategic mind is already mapping out how much they need to travel each day to get to the meeting point and he gives them a rough estimate.
They try their best the first day, making a valiant effort to cover as much ground as possible though Doc and Ahim struggle a little. On the second day, things get off to a bad start. Marvelous hears the bullets whizzing towards them before the rest of them do and tells them all to take cover, pushing Joe away from the bullets trajectory. They search around for the source and find the enemy scouts on nearby hills. The scouts are no match for the pirates and they dispatch the enemy easily. They travel for almost half a mile before Marvelous even feels blood trickling down his leg and pooling when he stops.
"Marvelous-san." Ahim catches his arm, and makes him notice.
He looks at the gash on his leg (bullet entry and exit seems the most likely explanation to him), mutters an "Oh" softly, sways and collapses in Joe's arms as the adrenaline starts to wear off.
"Marvelous." Joe holds him in his arms, not knowing what to do.
"We watch each other's back." Marvelous mumbles struggling to get up. The rest of them run towards Marvelous. "That's a deep wound." Doc says rolling the trouser leg up to examine it, Gai also looks on worried.
"Place a cloth on it to stop the bleeding, Luka-san." Ahim directs and Luka rushes to comply.
"It's not stopping." Luka says after ten minutes of applying pressure along with Gai.
"What do we do? We're in the middle of a place we don't know well and there might be more of small groups of enemy nearby."
"Need. to. stitch." Marvelous says, feeling dizzy from the sudden loss of blood.
"Uh, do we have a sewing needle and thread?" Luka looks around.
"In the pocket of my bag." Ahim says as she takes it out.
"I can do it." Marvelous says.
"Don't be silly, Marvelous-san."
"Doc has a steady hand." Luka says, she can do it just as well as Doc but she doesn't want to move away from trying to stench the blood flow and her hands are already stained with Marvelous' blood and therefore slippery. Doc moves to take the needle and thread from Ahim.
"Just do it, Doc."
He looks apologetically at Marvelous before heating the needle and plunging it in Marvelous' flesh. Marvelous bites his lip to stop screaming out in pain, "It hurts" he manages to grumble. Doc works swiftly, with Luka's help and the wound is sutured. Marvelous opens one of the bags and takes out a granola bar and shoves it in his mouth. He struggles and finally is able to get up.
"Right, let's go." he says looking pale and still weak, but they need to keep moving. He will not delay them on his account.
"Are you sure Marvelous-san?" Gai asks. "Maybe we should stay here for the night?"
"Of course I'm sure." Marvelous drapes his arm over Joe's shoulder and starts limping forward. After a while he stops leaning on Joe though he is still limping. They manage to cover a lot of ground even though they are worried about Marvelous putting too much pressure on his wound which doesn't seem to have been healing as fast as it usually does.
At the end of the third day, the stitches come loose again.
"Marvelous." Luka points it out, before he notices. The bandage over the wound is soaked in blood.
"It's fine." Marvelous shrugs it off.
"It's really not." Joe finally says. "It's not healing like it should have. Your wound should have healed by now."
"We're not getting enough food too." Luka says. "We've been portioning the rations so they last us for longer, which means that it's not nearly enough food for Marvelous to heal."
"We need more rations." Doc says.
'At least let us change the bandages Marvelous-san." Ahim says and Marvelous sits down. They try to clean and re-suture the stitches that had come undone and put extra bandages on it.
"It'll keep opening because of how much we're walking." Doc says as he finishes putting on the bandages.
"We just need to reach our destination quicker then." Marvelous says grabbing onto Joe for support, a strange gleam of a madman in his eyes. Joe sighs, he knows this look. Marvelous is hard to move from what he's settled on when he looks like this. Not that Joe was going to try to move him, Marvelous is right, time is of the essence. The other rebel groups are waiting for them, all the other minor plans hinge on them making to the agreed destination on time. Once they make it there, they can shelter among the mountains and the villagers. The villagers will also help make up numbers and supply them with more arms.
Can they make it before Marvelous loses consciousness from loss of blood? He's not healing like he should, Joe has been trying to slip more of his rations to Marvelous each night for dinner in hopes it would help his body heal. He can endure hunger much better than Marvelous, even better than humans like Gai. He only hopes Marvelous doesn't notice. It's been hard on Joe, trying to support Marvelous during the second half of the day, since he nearly always opens his stitches walking long distances before he will consent to having it re-bandaged once the make camp for the night, but watching him grow weaker and weaker is the hardest to bear for Joe. It drives him mad with worry and he wishes he could find some more rations, he would be willing to traverse the ends of the world to get Marvelous more food. Except, well;
Marvelous is firm. "I am not having Gokaigers scatter when we're not sure of the enemy's locations and positions. I am not losing you." This last sentence is said in a low voice and it feels to Joe, said with a lot of feeling and a little bit of the clinginess that Marvelous has tried to get rid of. "Joe," Marvelous mutters, his voice full of emotion and Joe can't argue any further. He can't leave Marvelous' side, his eyes fill with tears.
"I know you have been slipping me some of your rations." Marvelous' voice is quiet. "You shouldn't."
"It is true it is not right for Joe-san alone to sacrifice on his meager rations, we shall all take turns doing it, Marvelous-san." Ahim says, smiling.
"Ahim!"
"You need to heal, Marvelous." Luka looks like she's annoyed at him. "We know all it needs is food and rest, and you're not getting enough of either."
"None of us are--" Doc says before stopping, there he goes with saying something at the wrong moment.
"Yes." Marvelous says with a deep sigh. "I don't want any of you sacrificing your rations for me."
"We do need our captain." Joe says. He's never known how to make a big show of the things that are important to him so he says it straightforwardly and in a few words. He's getting older he thinks and would like to disappear in the quietness of space sometimes with Marvelous. They've talked about it a little, and they wouldn't mind being forgotten, being known as legendary pirates of the past, while they rest and enjoy each other's company, always willing to help anyone in the Universe who needed it but none of them consider themselves as heroes and do not want to keep playing the role of one.
Marvelous will miss adventure if they stay still in one place for too long but Joe has a lot of plans of where they can travel and what they can do. He wants to try all the gourmet restaurants on Doc's list, he wants to travel to a few different moons Marvelous has talked of in the past. Most of all, he wants to visit the node points with Marvelous because they are important to him, he wants to know Marvelous more deeply. Perhaps someday they can turn them into a growing vibrant community of people from various planets, full of songs and cheerful spirit.
But there isn't any version of his life that does not include growing old with Marvelous beside him.
"I'll be fine. It takes more than that to kill me." Marvelous grins. There is something to be said of their bond with each other giving them strength. Joe used it to defeat Barizorg, he must have faith in Marvelous, in all of them as crew.
"A few more sleeps before we reach the agreed upon place. Let me know if you want me to carry you in my arms." Joe grins feeling Marvelous roll his eyes behind him.
"Let's go," Gai walks forward determinedly. "Yes," Marvelous agrees as they climb another hill.
Chapter 14: Fires, Burning
Chapter Text
It turns out that willpower cannot overcome food deprivation. The wound closes very slowly over the next few sleeps, bleeding a little from time to time, Marvelous' pace has slowed down with the shortage of their rations, which have almost run out. His body needs more food to deal with the injury and their tough journey, it is opting to shut down. He's meandering between dizziness and mild fainting spells which grow more and more frequent as his stubbornness to keep going increases.
Even if they stop, Joe reasons, their situation doesn't improve. The Nereidian military will be approaching soon from the North, they need to keep moving or risk being crushed by the Empire's soldiers. What they need is food, Luka replies as Joe discusses whether they should pause at one point for a few sleeps if it would help Marvelous recover. Having Marvelous fully recovered is more important than missing a few coordinated attacks on the enemy. Joe furrows his eyebrows in worry as the clouds above also darken threatening rain. Having their meagre supplies wash away will make things harder, as will travelling along muddy ground. Joe stays awake after the rest of them have gone to sleep thinking about what to do, he loves Marvelous too much to lose him here. He loves him too much to not do what he thinks is right. It wasn't an order and he knows that Marvelous would understand. He wakes up quietly, packs a few small things and slips away into the night.
When Luka wakes up the next day, Joe's not around and has left no indication except for a small note apologising for what he's done.
"Joe will be back," is all Marvelous says and none of them have any reason to believe it will not be so. Joe would never leave Marvelous' side unless it was something urgent. They only hope he will not do something foolish and risk his life needlessly. The terrain is difficult, it has rained at night and they are cold and shivering on top of being very hungry, dirty and miserable.
They collectively decide to move forward, staying and waiting for Joe is not really an option, they are racing through their rations and if they stay in one place, they will either starve or die of cold. Even what Luka has managed to scrounge and gather is not enough though they are grateful of her skills. Luka for her part has an undecipherable look in her eyes and is quieter than usual. No one is in the mood to talk much, Marvelous is still grimacing and limping as he walks for miles each day, and at night he alternates between cold sweats, fever and worrying over Joe meeting enemies he won't be able to take on his own.
"We're always together," he tells Luka who is worrying about the same thing, they don't know where the enemy is placed, her keen eyes cannot make out many things in the distance because of the clouds and lack of any moon to shine any light. Marvelous had expected Doc to be more worried but Doc is quite worn out from walking and supporting Marvelous and tending to his injury, and only repeats, "Joe will be back."
The more Marvelous struggles with the physical circumstances, the more resolute he looks, a fire always burning in his eyes.
They have covered quite a distance this way and are seeing more and more villages dotted up ahead. However their pace is slowing again and weather has become colder after the rains and Marvelous always seems like he's in pain. One day, they have lost count of how many sleeps it has been since they set out, how many days since they lost Joe, they gather all their rations to find there is barely enough for a single meal; one or two paltry vegetables that look like a turnip and a radish perhaps, two or three piece of salted meat. They look at each other in despair. They still haven't talked about where Joe is. They have to keep on hoping that he's found some way to save himself, the other possibility is too distressing to consider, but Joe was just as much starving and struggling from lack of rations as they are, where could he have gone to that would prove his salvation and not his destruction? Marvelous will not entertain any other option though, his faith in Joe never wavers, Luka grits her teeth only hoping Marvelous is right. They make their way through their very last meal and prepare to sleep. At night Luka finds Ahim's arms around her the biggest comfort, she is beginning to feel the same desperation she did when she was on her planet with Fia and the orphan children. This desperation of wanting to escape only helped by the fact that she has a specific dream she is working towards.
It is hard to sleep on a nearly empty stomach, so they spend the night talking, sharing stories, and exchanging songs, they do not know how long they can last but they will continue until they can't, this was always a possibility they had considered, they just didn't think it would come so soon. The next morning they make their way again, their pace growing slower and slower as the nearby star shines its heat on them. Halfway through the day they can see some figures walking towards them. After a while they see the figures are friends, villagers and rebels from nearby, carrying food with them.
They cannot believe their eyes and Doc and Gai hug each other with joy, Ahim and Luka do the same. Marvelous, too weak, too much in pain can only stand by quietly, a look of relief on his face.
"Now, we may have won the fight," he says.
They break into the food with joy, Marvelous eats some of the food but it doesn't bring him any relief from the pain he's been in. The rebels and villagers take note of his situation.
"You friend needs medical help."
"I'm fine." Marvelous says, not convincing anyone. His wound continues to pain him, his fever doesn't go away anymore and the collective pain and feverish state doesn't let him sleep much at night but he has only one question on his mind, "Joe?"
"Our friend," Doc looks at the villagers, "have you seen him?"
They shake their head, all they know is that some people from their village wanted them to deliver these to a group who was running out of rations. They suggest that they should help carry Marvelous since he looks too weak to be able to walk. Marvelous would protest, but he's too weak and food has kicked his body into sleep mode, his eyes close.
When he wakes up he's in a strange bed and his leg has fresh bandages on it, it doesn't pain him as much as it did, so he supposes that they must have given him some painkiller or medicine. The room smells of warm and pleasant scents. His eyes search for his crew and finds them nodding beside his bed causing him to smile softly.
"We made it, though no sign of Joe still." Luka tells him biting her lips and looking outside the window at the arrangements going on. There are safe houses, people were making weapons and exchanging weapons. The preparations to meet the regime propped up by the Empire are nearly complete.
"We can hold the fort for Joe-san." Ahim says.
Despite missing Joe intensely, Marvelous feels confident as he sees his crew, as well as several other groups of rebels: including their friends who they dropped off to Tirawa, radical groups from Famille, Sairians under Atamai who always gather to fight against the Empire, and multiple villages who are armed; they can definitely win. The people who have done the work to defeat the Zangyack Empire in the past and established a different way to do things on their various planets, are here to do the same to uproot the Empire once and for all from everywhere in the Universe and establish a rule of the oppressed, the working class to prevent any Empires from taking over again.
"Let's make our stand incredibly showy." Marvelous rallies everyone.
Joe figures that by now his crew would know that he left out of great necessity. He is incapable of leaving them, they are his home, they are his everything.
It has always been an understanding between them that the Gokaigers, the five of them and Gai too share a deep bond between them and are strengthened by it. That was something they heard the Shinkenger Princess comment about them and Sid Sempai had said that to Joe directly. When one of them was missing their crew's ability to defeat enemies fell apart, they worked extremely well together reading each other's cues to move accordingly and watching each other's backs. But he didn't intend to be gone for more than a few sleeps.
It
was
a decision he made in desperation to save Marvelous. It is true that his people can endure many more deprivations, though he has never questioned why, he half thinks it might be something made up, after all he only ever remembers being born into and living in a Zangyack world. Still, it is a useful fiction if it is that, and he channels that endurance to cover longer distances by walking all day and during most of the night, only stopping to sleep an hour or two. It was something he had done when he was being chased by Zangyack for being a traitor, and how he had managed to survive till he ran into Marvelous. He smiles as he remembers the first words Marvelous had said to him, "Is this how the Zangyack party?" He didn't know then that his life would be changed for the better in every aspect.
Walking like this is not something he could have asked the rest of them to do, especially with Marvelous injured. As a former soldier too he was used to walking in the cold and wet seasons, as well as dry and hot seasons, in mornings or at night, carrying large heavy weights on his shoulder. Once they had even marched all night. It sucked and he hated it, but he was also used to it. He does it more readily now for Marvelous and for all of them and feels strengthened by the bond they share even as he walks alone.
He reaches a village after three Themis days and nights, tells them to find his friends and help them, providing a rough idea of their locations before collapsing himself. Joe wants to know if his crew has had food before he will touch some himself, taking a few bites when he is assured of that fact that some villagers were sent after them at the coordinates Joe shared. In a day he makes his way out of the village to head to the site of the fight with the Empire, hoping to be reunited with his crew.
It takes him a much longer time to arrive than he had planned, because he stops to scout the area and their enemy positions and to get a better idea of the lay of the land.
He sees a few Goumin, not surprised that the new Empire is using the foot soldiers from the old one, after all the elite from the Zangyack had joined forces with the Nereidians. There are some Nereidian foot soldiers too, but many more Zangyack ones including some like him, from the Elite Imperial track. He knows the material conditions of the people need to improve, otherwise wars and Empires will always be profitable.
He sighs and clenches his fists, gripping the Ranger key and his Mobirates at the ready. Joe is wary, he has inherited this from Marvelous, there should be more than a few Goumin around, Goumin they can take on easily now, even Sugoumin and Dogoumin are nothing after defeating the Emperor and his idiot son. He scouts a few different cavalries of Elite Imperial track soldiers as well as Nereidian and Zangyack commanders though they are few. The Empire really is interested in sending more canon fodder to a war while the elite sit back and relax. There are many groups from this planet too, to be fair, from the dictator that the Empire has been supporting as well as a few others with extreme religious views who support him.
He hears footsteps behind him, and not that he ever thought that Hofner was the one to get his hands dirty on the battlefield, but it seems the Empire is deeply unhappy with him, so they have sent him to the fight. As vanguard too, with a few mooks to defend him, which will not be enough, not with this Joe. He smiles, time for a showdown. Before he even hears the voice he has come to loath, he mutters,
"Gokai change."
"Joe Gibken." He knows Hofner will stall, but this time they are on an equal footing, Joe has never been a civil servant like Hofner, but he has been and is, a better fighter. He sees Hofner change into an armour himself.
"I have nothing more to say to you. Let's make it showy," Joe says gripping his sword, "For Marvelous. And for my crew."
When he reaches his crew he is a little bloodied and fighting is about to begin. He walks to his crew and they're overjoyed to be reunited with him. "Sorry for taking so long," he says.
"It's fine." Marvelous says, relief clearly visible on his face. Now that Joe is back, he can breathe easy.
"Joe-san, you're injured." Gai says pointing to his forehead and hand which are bleeding, and Joe shrugs it off. "It's nothing."
He turns to Marvelous, "By the way, I managed to scout enemy positions as well."
They listen to Joe and organise accordingly, letting the other groups know what they have discovered as well.
The fight is fierce as they have expected, they use everything in their arsenal including their Galleon Buster to hold the enemy at bay for several days. The Nereidian Empire's grip is loosening on Luka's planet. The Nereidian military sent as reinforcements cannot make any gains, they keep retreating each day and dying in large numbers.
In anger, the Empire retaliates; one night Marvelous dreams of something he hasn't in ages: he's a child and fires are raging around him again making it difficult to breathe, the worst is the smell of death which grows as the fires dance around him. There are horrible screams, and a smell of burning flesh. He feels small, afraid. He never told Gavan, the space-sheriff, why he was so afraid of jumping while fires were raging around the Zangyack cargo ship he had snuck into.
"Go, run." a figure shakes child-him, but he can't make out the face. There are desperate screams in the distance, he's paralysed, he refuses to move, he's afraid of death, someone else pushes him away from the raging fires, from the worst of it.
He's not sure why he's dreaming of these things tonight, but the smell of burning flesh is everywhere, the smoke rises to the skies, the dancing flames lick and eat everything in their path, none of it goes away when his eyes fly open.
"FIRE--BURNING," Marvelous is quick on his feet as he realises what's happening and wakes up Joe who is a light sleeper, and together they wake up the rest of his crew. What has been a brutal regime of a dictator propped up by the Nereidian Empire on Luka's planet is faltering and dying, the dictator afraid of losing power and the Nereidian Empire's favour, has set fire to multiple villages to crush the rebels' spirit.
"We don't have GoGo V Ranger keys anymore." Gai says rubbing his eyes as he watches the fire rise higher and higher in alarm. "What do we do, Marvelous-san?" He can't decide whether he should run or stay still and wait for further instructions.
"We need to get people from out there." Ahim says, her face pale, a frantic look in her eyes. It's unusual to see her lose her calm demeanor. Gai has never seen her like this and neither has anyone else, except once, when Zatsurig appeared on Earth. Gai nods at her though he is unsure of how they will manage that.
"Ahim, are you okay?" Luka is the first one beside her.
"Gokai change." Ahim says, as she heads into mouth of the fire.
"Ahim!" Marvelous and Joe call after her retreating figure. Their Gokai armour will protect them from the fire to some extent but they don't have any way to put out the fire.
"I'm going in with Ahim." Luka says as she changes into her own armour and follows Ahim.
"Ahim's planet was razed to the ground and her people killed and made refugees by Zatsurig burning her planet. We met her after she had made a difficult journey to survive the fires and reach a different planet." Doc explains to Gai, as he looks to Marvelous to see what they will do.
Marvelous' face is pale, he's frozen and paralysed, he needs to go in, but, why is his body not letting him move towards the fire, why is his mouth dry and his breathing fast, he feels a little dizzy and overwhelmed--
Joe looks at Marvelous, "Marvelous, are you okay? Perhaps you should rest."
This decides Marvelous, he shakes his head. He needs to imagine this fire is just a game that he's playing with MagiRed. He closes his eyes, hears MagiRed telling him and Doc, "Can you follow me without transforming?" And before he can pause he's muttering Gokai Change and following Ahim and Luka and Joe into the thick of the fire. Doc and Gai follow them.
They're rescuing people, moving them away from the fire. Ahim feels like she's in an urgency, she needs this to not be like her planet. "Father, Mother." The images rise in her mind of her planet burning and her parents burning with it, as she takes each family out of the fire and towards the higher ground which is safe from the fires.
"I must, do this." she keeps muttering, despite it becoming harder and harder as time goes on and fires don't stop roaring and raging into the night sky. They don't have enough water to put them out, they are also only a few dozen people trying desperately to rescue people, from multiple villages. Some rebels and medics join in, though they can only help a little, since they don't even have the Gokai armour. It feels like an impossible task.
"We need to retreat." Joe tells Marvelous after several hours of rescuing people. "It's not possible to save everyone."
Marvelous feels unable to make any of his crew stop, he's afraid for the first time in years, this is hard for him, if he stops, he will not be able to make himself go back in. He knows the smell of burning flesh too too well, it is imprinted in his mind, he doesn't have any memories from that time anymore, only raging fires and burning flesh. That sector is still a place of death where he can't venture, try as he might.
For this reason he needs to save as many people as he can, to prove he is not afraid of fires anymore. Or well, that's not accurate, it's not fires that he's afraid of, it's being helpless and unable to do anything while people around him get hurt and he cannot save them.
"Give the order Marvelous." Joe tells him.
Marvelous looks at him and shakes his head ever so slightly, "I can't."
Joe feels frustrated, they've never not retreated from a situation that was hopeless, he wants to trust that Marvelous has a reason for his refusal, and they are trying to save the villagers but, he's afraid his crew will succumb to the fires themselves and his first thought is that he can't lose Marvelous. He's lost without his captain. His next thought is to be ashamed of himself for thinking that.
He can see his entire crew struggling, except Ahim who keeps pushing on determinedly. Ahim, he understands her motivations, it must be awful to be suddenly reminded of the destruction of her planet, but Marvelous?
"Marvelous, Ahim!" he says once again, "let's get out of here." Joe drags a young family from the fire and rushes back in after Marvelous.
"Marvelous, your crew is struggling. Give the order, NOW!"
Marvelous gulps and nods as he watches his crew. Ahim won't stop till she's saved everyone, she is starting to suffer from lack of oxygen and smoke. They all are. The Gokai suit won't protect them indefinitely, it will disappear if they get too injured as it happens in all of their fights. In his mind's eye he sees them falling to their deaths, burning, and opens his eyes. No, he can't let that happen.
Losing his crew is something he can afford even less than proving to himself he is not afraid of such raging fires anymore that lick at flesh with their yellow-red tendrils of pain and swallow entire forests and villages turning them to ash and dust. He gives the order to retreat, Ahim's face falls, looking disappointed and grief stricken, but she walks out of the fires dragging a young girl with her and doesn't go back in.
Doc is grateful once he emerges and can shed his armour which has not prevented him from receiving a few burns from the licks of the fire. He's not as afraid of fires as he was when MagiRed surrounded him and Marvelous in a ring of magic fire to test their courage, but he is still afraid of dying. That feeling doesn't go away, not ever. He does things in-spite of it now, knowing that courage is a thing you can build up and get better at. He's not inherently doomed to lack it and that is comforting to him. He can do things when it matters, he can support his crew when it matters.
They watch the fires crackle louder but so does the thunder in the distance. In a few moments heavy rains pour out of the skies, extinguishing the fires in a quarter of a Themis hour. There don't seem to be any deaths that they can count, though several people have burn wounds including themselves. The villagers rush to thank the Gokaigers who are exhausted both emotionally and physically.
"Please don't thank us, we didn't do anything," Ahim says politely, her composure restored. "I lost my family and several people from my planet when the Zangyack burned my planet to the ground. I had to do something."
She has the worst injuries out of all of them, and Luka fusses over her and she looks at Luka with a loopy look of love in her eyes, hopped up as she is on multiple painkillers and ointments for various burns. Gai and Doc also receive medical attention from the medics among the various rebel groups as well as the local doctors. Marvelous is standing a few feet away from them all on higher ground, leaning against a tree, and Joe joins him with a cup of something hot which he takes from Joe without asking about its contents.
"Thank you!" Marvelous says blowing on the hot steam rising from the cup. "For telling me to give the order to retreat. It was the right call."
"They were killed in fires when you were a child, huh?" Joe says searching Marvelous' face and his eyes. Marvelous had talked about his people being killed when he was a child, it suddenly clicks to Joe just now that that must have been how they died, and Marvelous witnessed it all. Marvelous doesn't reply, staring straight ahead.
Joe squeezes his shoulder and they watch the proceedings together. There isn't any point in prodding the past, at least not such a distant one but Joe wants to understand Marvelous and why he does things the way he does. Most of the things he does make sense and when they don't he explains things to Joe if he asks, to the point where all of them trust him implicitly now, Marvelous always has a reason. But Joe still wants to understand the man a bit more. He feels that he keeps discovering more and more things about Marvelous, despite knowing him for several years now.
Gai and Doc are sharing hot drinks and talking to local villagers and other rebels. Luka and Ahim are huddled and cuddling together, Luka refuses to leave Ahim's side for anything. Marvelous stares at the scene with eyes full of love, he has the best crew that anyone could ask for.
Chapter 15: My friend's Life
Chapter Text
His hands are shaking as he holds the gun, very reasonable since his target is one of the fiercest pirates in the Universe, a man called Captain Marvelous. The man in front of him is looking at him coolly, unflinchingly, as if he's only mildly irritated by the interruption, as if this is not an attempt on his life. It angers him, the nonchalance with which Captain Marvelous looks at him. His whole life has been turned upside down, he has had to flee his home due to the rebels and the pirates. All his lands had been taken away by his worthless tenants. He couldn't make a living anymore, and it was all the fault of the man standing in front of him and his crew. It was his, the lands, the money, even the poor who worked on them by the inherent order of the Universe, how dare the pirates take them away.
It isn't good enough for these space pirates that they have taken part in rebellions, but they also have to spend time trying to change the very fabric of societies, the natural hierarchical order. It angers him whenever he thinks about it, his family lost their inheritance and their wealth overnight. He tries to steady his hand and blink back angry tears. This was for the entire universe as well as for Nereid which was struggling to maintain its powerful status in the Universe. The threat of the pirates had to be eliminated.
When officers from Nereid approached him, he jumped at the chance.
He takes a deep breath, the pirate still doesn't move or take cover to protect himself, only acknowledges the rest of his crew joining him. He tries to fire, this is his last chance, but his heart rate is still elevated and his hands are still shaking and the gun doesn't go off. Visibly annoyed, he tries to press the trigger again, this is his last chance, now or never.
"That's enough." Joe Gibken the first mate is standing over him. He didn't realise when he was disarmed it happened so smoothly, only that his gun is now in the first mate's hands.
A few locals who accompany the first mate arrest him on the spot. He throws a contemptuous look at the pirates as he's taken away, but Captain Marvelous stops them, asks if this is the only thing they've arrested him for, and tells them he doesn't want to punish someone for trying to kill him or they'd have to arrest almost half the Universe. The smug grin with which the pirate says that angers him even more, but of course there's nothing he can do now, it's too late. He only hopes someone else will be able to complete the task. He doesn't want the pirates' mercy or kindness, he scorns the very idea, he had hoped they would be cruel to him, so that at least it would confirm his ideas of their ruthlessness.
Joe's first move is to look at Marvelous, after yet another attempt on their lives (there have been at least five, only in the past several sleeps) while they are sailing on the Galleon across the Universe. They have been visiting different planets and taking stock of the situation there as well as planning their next moves, however, their recent trips even to buy groceries have become more perilous than they remember even under Zangyack.
They are the vanguard group against the Empire; risking their lives comes with the territory, but, Joe worries about his crew. This time, all of them had been hurt to some degree, though from the aim of the attack and the damage to the Galleon (navigation, Captain's quarters), their target was still the captain, more than the rest of them.
They had anticipated the attack and were on their guard; after multiple recent attempts they have had to be. Ahim has been talking to her contacts to locate the source of the attack. This time it was someone from the Empire who had infiltrated the rebel groups, which was admittedly a more worrying situation than a wealthy landowner trying to shoot Marvelous from a close range out of a personal grudge at having his lands taken away by the workers and peasants during the rebellion in which the pirates had taken part.
Meanwhile, Doc repairs the Galleon with the crew's help. They have also been receiving many messages of support and help from multiple groups and planets they have been to.
Doc is reading the letter and smiling to himself, when Ahim appears beside him, a smile on her face, "What are you reading, Doc-san?"
"You remember our poet friends from Tirawa? They sent some of their poetry along with updates from their planet." Doc shows the letter to Ahim inscribed with a scrawl.
"I'm glad they're doing well." Ahim says, scrunching her nose, she hadn't read a lot of poetry when she was a princess, busy as she was with her royal duties, though she knew that they had state poets on Famille and there would be birthday wishes from them every year for her and her family.
"That's an interesting format," she points out as Doc reads out some of the poetry to her. She doesn't know a lot about poetry so she just nods when Doc-san reads to her.
"It has repetitions after every other line. It's something Tirawa's poets invented. Things have become so much better since the Empire has been pushed from Tirawa and Onissya." Doc says putting the letters on the table.
"And the kids?" Luka's main preoccupation is still all the kids in the Universe, the more she thinks of the kids on her planet finally living more fulfilled lives and getting to experience their childhood, the more determined she is to make that a reality on every planet. It is the most unrealistic dream of hers, but the one she's the most attached to.
"I received a letter from them too." Doc grins and hands it to her and watches Luka read the letter several times, her eyes dancing with happiness at all the shenanigans those kids have been up to. She really loves children, Doc thinks, it's what he loves about Luka.
He is truly delighted about a change of government on Onissya, things had been so dire when he had visited, now they had plans to rebuild his old university. Onissya was planning to build multiple universities and colleges. The new government has been prioritising the people instead of taking dictation from Empire and that is worth celebrating for him. He has been making cookies and cupcakes and humming in the background while he does his chores.
Luka flops on the couch and stares at Marvelous while he's busy gazing at the computer. The Empire is crumbling, it has been taken over by a leader who is as incompetent as Warz Gill was and whose decrees have angered enough people to drive Nereid to the brink of civil war with small fights among the most powerful families breaking out. It only needs a small push and the pirates are wondering from which direction the push will come.
It also makes them happy to see the rest of the planets stand up to the Nereidian Empire. The Empire's rule is finally waning and waning in such a way that there is going to be lasting permanent change on many planets.
Luka's planet Themis has also been enacting comprehensive reforms and consisted entirely of a workers led leadership for the first time in the two hundred years of the planet's history and she's been reading some dispatches and letters from Cain, as well as the newspaper.
"Onissya too!" Doc says as he reads the newspaper after Luka is done with it. "Our fights and the rebel groups and workers joining us have started to pay off. The new government is no longer collaborating with Nereidian Empire. We're finally building the planet the way we want to. Same goes for Tirawa, Omol, Cay, there's hope for others joining too someday soon, like Joe's planet Sawiskera -" he pauses looking sheepish but Joe only nods and smiles.
Luka finally gets up and places her elbow on the handle of the captain's chair. He stares forward calmly for several minutes before turning to her.
"What?"
"What number of assassination attempt was this one?"
Marvelous shrugs, "I don't keep count."
"Some of them were simply too embarrassing for the Empire. Trying to assassinate with a poisoned pen? Really?" Doc clears the coffee table and sits down in the chair.
"They're interested in us, all of a sudden." That was Marvelous, adopting his thinking pose with his fingers joined together, an intense look in his eyes.
"Why did you let the assassin go?"
"You will have to be more specific than this Luka. I don't know which one you mean." Marvelous grins at her.
"You know the one, the one that came the closest to killing you, tch- you know, that rich landowner whose wealth we took away when we supported the workers and peasants on his planet to overthrow the landowners and so he had a personal grudge with us. I forgot which planet he came from-" Luka waves her hands, the rest of the attempts weren't worth discussing because those felt like the Empire wasn't even trying.
Marvelous shrugs again, "I don't know."
After a while he continues, "It didn't seem that punishing him would have resulted in anything since his hatred and grievance was with us - with me. Besides, we've achieved most of what we set out to do. Your planet, Doc's planet, many others are doing very well now. It's been a cascading effect. Even on some planets where we didn't join the resistance, they have been inspired to resist and change their government."
"That's really due to the very large workers movement that has been building and has been built against the Empire, one which has grown stronger and stronger by day. More and more planets are having their own revolutions and overthrowing the tyranny of the Empire." Ahim says as she returns from the communications room and takes her seat besides Doc.
"I don't know what assassinating me would even achieve at this point." Marvelous says. "The movement's already gained so much momentum that it would be foolish and impossible to stop. I'm just one person too, there's so many others who can carry it forward, who are carrying things forward."
"His aim also sucked." Joe can't help pointing it out. "He's not going to be able to do much assassination, maybe injure someone or himself at best." He's uneasy at the fact that the main target of most of these attempts has been Marvelous, but he knows there's not much point in bringing that up and telling Marvelous to be more careful. They've had these discussions, their main fight years ago was over this. All he can do is keep worrying and watching Marvelous' back.
Luka is thoughtful and hasn't been listening to Joe's remarks, "We're not heroes, never have been, never wanted to be."
Gai nods, "Marvelous-san, I finally get what you all meant when you said you weren't heroes. That it was silly to put you on the pedestal as heroes." Gai takes a deep breath, "I have seen firsthand the improvements on Luka-san's planet and Don-san's. Everything is so different now to what Don-san was describing when he last went there. "
"Oh, Gai!" Luka drags Gai to her and fluffs his hair affectionately.
"Spoken like a true pirate." Marvelous says, his eyes shining with pride.
"Well, maybe it's not bad to consider us a tiny bit heroic." Doc says rubbing his hands on his trousers.
The rest of them laugh.
"Don-san you are always heroic for me." Gai says and Doc blushes.
"You don't need to do your laundry duty this week Gai, I'll manage it.
"Do I need to call you a legendary hero to get out of chores too?" Luka suddenly has the most convincing pleading look on her face, "please Legendary Hero Doc, can I also be excused from my chores this week?"
Doc smiles, "No you will have to do Gai's this week, Luka. Laundry needs to be done."
"Haaaaa!?" Luka is indignant.
"This time, we really did change the destinies of the planets by getting the masses to fight alongside us." Ahim agrees, "And sticking around to change the way governments were working on the different planets. I do believe that this time our victory will be long lasting."
"This harvest of hope huh-" Doc says.
Everyone stares at him, "Oh it's just something that was also in one of the poems that the Tirawans sent us."
"Go on then-" Luka elbows him. Doc looks at her surprised, "Oh, okay-" he takes a deep breath-
"Silenced is the boot of the imperial soldier, quieted are the whimpers of the hungry child
At long last, laughter rings in our abodes once again
Our tyrannical executioners failed to extinguish the moon
the world is filled with warmth and light once again
We grasped the thorns that were planted and turned them into roses
my love, your brow is adorned with flowers once again
Pearls of water glisten on the green shoots
This Harvest of hope will bear fruit once again
Refugees for so long, and estranged from you, O beloved
What joy to someday become acquainted with you again "
Doc folds the sheet of paper with the poem and tucks it safely in one of his books for safekeeping. The Tirawans have sent him multiple poems, this last one has been the most hopeful of them all, the one where it seemed they too believed that change was just around the corner.
They had all toiled over the seeds and the conditions of the soil till it bore the fruit of hope, it was backbreaking and hopeless labour sometimes but also the most rewarding. There is a silence as the rest of them are still contemplating the poem.
"That doesn't mean that the Nereidian Empire will stop considering us as targets, especially you, Marvelous because you're the captain. They don't understand that it is something we've built with the people of different planets and that it is something that has a life of itself now. They think we have been influencing planets and once we are out of the picture, everything will go back to the way it was--" Joe is the first to break the silence after several minutes. "We need to protect each other all the more during this time."
"Well said, Joe-san. The Empire is lashing out while it is weakened."
Marvelous shrugs as he looks out of the porthole and watches Tirawa and Onissyya becoming smaller and smaller, they have continued to visit planets to consolidate the movement against the Empire since they left Luka's planet.
So long as the Nereidian Empire focus their energies on him he doesn't mind, he's not going to compromise if they hurt any of his crew. He should take this more seriously he knows, Joe and Ahim have made solid points, but he can't help but be amused at the attempts by the Empire so far. They were spending so much money on these counter-revolutionaries that weren't even trained properly. Meanwhile their economy has been collapsing and their own rule is being threatened by unrest that threatens to spill into full out rebellion. The other planets had rejected the Nereidian Empire's dominance, they were slowly being pushed into a corner. These really were the childish tantrums of a dying Empire.
He smiles, Luka is still not satisfied it seems, she comes and stands beside him, "We can finally actually rest, huh?"
"We can finally re-visit Gai's planet you mean?" Marvelous says a grin breaking on his face.
"Sorry Gai, we've not been keeping our promise to you to take you to your planet every year." Luka looks at him sheepishly.
Gai who is in a cheerful afterglow from being praised by Marvelous-san, shakes his head, "Don't worry about that Luka-san, Marvelous-san. I'm happy enough being a pirate and being with you all. Besides, I get regular updates from my friends. " He shows his stacks of letters, and points to Doc's laptop, as well as their communication room. Gai has been keeping up with friends and family quite well.
"Where would you go, assuming all this blows over and the Empires finally die? The planets will not need us to fight for them soon. What will we do in a time of genuine peace?" Doc asks.
"I want to visit Themis one last time." Luka says, she had been feeling calmer and happier since she came back from her planet. She sometimes wonders if she should have gone earlier, she turns to Doc, "You'll visit Onissya?"
Doc nods, "Gai wants to spend more time on Earth. Ahim will probably visit Famille?"
Ahim smiles, "It's been a few years, I know my planet is doing well, I get updates from many of my people, but I would like to spend a few days there, just relaxing."
Joe shrugs and looks at Marvelous, "I'll be with the captain of course. Someone needs to watch his back all the time." There is a slight twitch of a smile on his lips as he says that. There isn't anywhere else he feels happier than by Marvelous' side.
Marvelous they know will be on the Galleon, they all return to their activities. He feels a bit petulant no one asked him so he adds, "I'll just be here on the Galleon."
Going back to node points is a tempting thought, he wonders if the spacefarers will make pilgrimages to these places after the Empires finally die. Then again there are all the little adventures he's wanted to go on, like exploring different parts of the Galaxy, visiting planets for their cuisines, visiting Nebulae--
"There are some space kraken that I would like to chase," Marvelous can't help but add to keep the conversation going . Maybe he can figure out what kind of a captain he wants to be, and the kraken and space whale hunting ships and their captains come to his mind, there is high valour attributed to them in songs he's grown up on.
"Isn't that considered bad luck?" Joe looks surprised.
"Only if you kill them and boast about the killing." Marvelous points out, "The sailors who boast about killing space kraken disappear mysteriously in those tales. I suspect it was also because they strayed too far into a freezing cold galaxy, they didn't know when to stop and turn back, they were adamant on chasing the kraken and once they finally caught and killed it, they found they had ventured too far out from their course and their provisions ran out and they died of hunger and hypothermia."
"I also read that they were too confident of colonising that part of the Universe under Zangyack. That the space kraken was just a story told about that expedition several years after." Doc says.
"What was the story?" Ahim asks. "I've never heard of this."
"It's an old space sailors tale from a hundred years ago when the Zangyack Empire was in its heyday." Marvelous explains. "There was an expedition that went out either to expand the frontiers of the Zangyack Empire or to hunt down kraken, depending on whom you ask," he grins at Doc, "they entered an ice cold Galaxy and starved and froze to death. No sailor worth their salt would have ventured that far and risked the ship and his sailors lives to just hunt down some kraken. I believe Doc is correct in that it was an expedition to colonise that inhospitable galaxy."
"What happened to them after?"
"What else? neither their ship nor their corpses could be recovered. That Galaxy is not somewhere most people can venture without suffering extensive hypothermia. The only animals and a few communities that live there have adapted to the ice cold temperatures. I believe if you try to bring them out to the rest of space or to another planet, they would die instantly. Their blood has special antifreeze proteins that prevents it from forming ice crystals in the extreme cold and killing them."
A sudden hush falls on them all.
"What's our next move, Marvelous?" Joe asks breaking the silence.
Marvelous walks back to his chair, "We need to plan that. From our perspective it seems that the Nereidian Empire will tear itself to shreds without much interventions or fighting, or they will turn more repressive towards everyone including their own and come after us in the process. It looks to be teetering towards both of these."
"The Nereidian Empire has been trying really unsuccessfully to impose economic sanctions but there's too many planets that have banded against them and aren't afraid to fight them. Ahim knows more about the troubles we had to get to this point. When the Nereidian Empire started withdrawing aid and imposing sanctions and threats, some planets wanted to buckle and agree to rejoin them, but we ended up convincing them otherwise." Doc is rather proud of the organising work he, Ahim and Luka have been carrying out for the past couple of months with some help from Gai occasionally.
Gai gets overexcited too easily and blurts out their plans instead of keeping tight-lipped sometimes, so even though he loves the Earthling as a younger sibling, sometimes they just have to leave him on the Galleon. It works out though, because he can keep Marvelous and Joe company on such occasions, and Gai has been pretty helpful in them avoiding a few attempts on their lives since he is a strong fighter.
"Some factions in our midst, especially the rich and powerful on almost every planet we've been to, thought we were going too far, that we should try appeasement and reforms." Ahim winces. "We've tried those before, they never work, all they do is stifle any genuine fight against the Empire and its forces." She looks proud, "Don't worry, we took care of those dissenting factions."
"When you say took care-?" Gai hesitates wondering if he really does want to know what Ahim san did. This was one of their plans he wasn't directly involved in. He has never really forgotten how Ahim took on a Zangyack Commander on her own and through various disguises broke his power, nor will he forget in a hurry their fight against Zatsurig. He's also increased his respect for Ahim by the way she fought the battle to free Famille from the monarchy.
"We kicked them out from any organising. They showed their true colours by joining the Empire." Ahim shrugs. "As long as they are not undermining our movement, it's fine. We'll defeat them eventually."
"Ahim wanted us to be stricter in dealing with them." Doc explains. "She was ready to fight them. A few of us including me thought that maybe some of them would see reason and join us someday. But eventually we decided the best course of action was at least their removal from our ranks."
"I have seen these people stand in the way of genuine change so many times on my planet. I don't mind making hard decisions that serve our cause." The cool calm composure with which she says that makes them all grin at how much of a pirate Ahim has become from the first time she had joined the crew. She really doesn't mind being ruthless and direct when it comes to the counter-revolutionaries they've had to face recently.
Luka looks at her proudly. "That's Ahim for you."
"I also think we should be ready for a direct confrontation with the Empire." Ahim continues, still blushing a little at Luka-san's praise. " The Empire sees us as a direct and open threat and blame us for the change in system and regimes across the planets, much more strongly than the Zangyack did. They're also an Empire that has been in power for a much shorter time than Zangyack, they're more desperate and less experienced."
"You think the Nereidian Empire will come for us very soon-" Luka looks at the rest of them and then at Ahim to confirm.
"I think the Empire will be coming for us yes. They explicitly hate the system we espouse, they dismiss it as the work of terrorists which they've been painting us as." She glances at the newspaper on the table, an amused look in her eyes.
"They've also been working to undermine the worker led coalitions on multiple planets since the nobles from Famille and Zangyack and some others joined together after the Zangyack Empire fell, but it has not been succeeding recently because we've been fighting them at every turn. The people have been finally convinced that opposing the Nereidians is in their best interest."
"The theorists and philosophers from multiple planets keep emphasising that the system we're working towards is better. They call it by different names on every planet-- Boronism, Malevenyevism, Communism-- are the ones I know of so far, but the ideas are the same. " Doc says. "Their focus on community, on workers and on the exploited planets has been good as a solid base on which to build a movement which we modify based on the different situations of each planet."
"Our bounties have increased quite a lot in just a few months." Gai picks up the newspaper and shows the front page to all of them. Doc's mouth hangs open in surprise as he scans the page.
"Look at my bounty, it is 500,000 Nereidian now, Navi's too! They're clearly not kidding around." Navi flies around them and settles on Doc's shoulder to look. "The Nereidian currency and Zagins are roughly equal." Doc explains the currency exchange system to Marvelous in answer to his look.
"They've been trying to purge sympathisers to our cause from their own planet and trying to assassinate resistance leaders on other planets too. I wouldn't be surprised if they blame us entirely for the entire resistance against their Empire even though it is not true." Luka takes the paper from Gai to scan her own bounty. "What Ahim says makes sense, we need to be prepared for a direct confrontation. The Empire is near collapse, their current leader is a new idiot, just as pompous as Warz Gill but they don't have someone who can counsel some caution, the new Emperor is even more in pursuit of a space whale's call1 than the Zangyack."
"Is it wise to assume the Empire is incompetent?" Ahim asks feeling uneasy. She doesn't want them to underestimate the Empire. After all, they had moved swiftly to capture several planets in their power once Zangyack Empire's power weakened even subsuming what remained of the Zangyack into their underlings.
Doc is also beginning to feel nervous and has started rubbing his hands on his trousers, an old habit of his, "Some planets at least are yet to join our movement especially the ones that were more friendly towards Nereid or Zangyack Empire before. There are others that hesitate also, not convinced of a system based on ownership of the workers, still desperately trying to be neutral. Sawiskera--" he looks towards Joe and then trails off. Joe feels a jolt at the mention of his birth planet.
"There's no space for their neutrality in the Universe as it is right now and we should consider them aligned with Nereid." Ahim's voice is firm and clear. "The rest of the planets that were being exploited and their resources extracted for years have joined in the fight against Nereid. Nereidian Empire has nothing to offer to these planets except more exploitation. A farmer or a peasant on a planet like Onissya has had their entire life at the whim of Nereid even after Zangyack left."
"What do we do about um--weapons and military supplies?" Doc begins hesitatingly. Everyone remains quiet but focuses their attention on him. "Joe and Gai did destroy many of their special war spaceships, but they still have Zangyack spaceships which have been modified to last for longer during battles as well as, well--" Doc looks at others for help.
"What Doc-san is saying is that," even Ahim seems to hesitate and glance at Joe before continuing, "that Sawiskera is one of the planets that is still under complete control of the Empire right now. They've been used as a military and weapons base along with Pellene."
We know thanks to Joe that Pellene, despite outward appearances of diplomacy, is aligned with Nereidian Empire fully. " Doc refers to Joe's meeting with Dan Hofner. But, um--Sawiskera is where their current military forces, planes and weapons are still coming from."
"And they don't want to give up their dependence on Nereid?" Luka asks sharply.
"They can't, they've been extremely poor during the Zangyack Empire, so much of their planet's wealth, natural resources and people was siphoned off for the Empire's use. They get everything from Nereid, they're completely dependent on them through multiple series of aid programs that were there on my planet too after Zangyack left. They won't leave of their own accord. Some groups there want things to change and are fighting for it, but it's a more hopeless situation than your planet, Luka."
"We have to decide what to do about them, because they are directly threatening us. They've been giving their revolutionary minded groups to the Nereidian and the space police. Their spies regularly infiltrate resistance groups to break them up and arrest their members. There are even reports of torture cells, the kind the Zangyack used." Ahim knows that all of them immediately thought of Zangyack turning humans into mindless cyborgs at this news. Even now the thought of what they did to who knows how many people in their pursuit of perfecting the cyborg transformations, horrifies her.
She continues, "we should have been focusing on them from the start and it's a mistake that could end up hurting us," Ahim pauses, "I located several counter-revolutionary groups and police coordinating their actions from Sawiskera, with the blessing and leadership of the Empire of course."
"We should answer them, go where they are to face them." Joe finally speaks, though he doesn't make eye contact with any of them and his words are stilted and slow drawn out, as if he's making a great effort to say them. "We also have a duty to destroy the weapons and spaceships they've been providing to the Empire."
"Joe-san." Ahim's eyes are soft. "We know how hard it is for you to deal with anything related to your home-planet. We were planning to help and join some of the groups there. Covertly of course." She further clarifies, "Me, Luka-san, Doc-san, and Gai-san. We thought you could stay here with Marvelous-san to provide reinforcements."
"We don't want to cause you more pain and hurt." Doc adds sotto voce as he sees the anger in Joe's face.
Joe knows they are all trying to dance around his feelings but he doesn't appreciate that. It is true that he only has painful feelings around his planet. He would never go there in different circumstances, but these aren't ordinary circumstances, they need to do what would help their fight against the Empire. Joe like the rest of them is committed to destroying the Empire once and for all. He's annoyed they've been treating him with kid gloves and not including him in their plans.
"I don't appreciate being kept out of this." His voice expresses annoyance and they can feel it. "We will all go there, that's all there is to it." He walks downstairs to their rooms.
"Joe-san." both Ahim and Gai call out to Joe's retreating back.
"Joe." Doc tries to follow him but Luka holds him back. She looks at Marvelous with a look she has perfected to mean you deal with him.
Marvelous sighs, nods and walks downstairs to Joe's room. The door of his room is ajar and he's pacing restlessly. Marvelous hears something clattering in Joe's room and walks inside to find an upturned table.
"Joe." Marvelous' voice is soft.
"I knew, I know that we should have gone there when the Zangyack Empire was crumbling and made contact with the groups who were sympathetic to us and helped them. That was my mistake. I had a duty to stop other children from becoming pawns in the Empire's endless wars of conquest. I utterly failed in it," Joe is leaning against the wall, his eyes red, struggle visible in his face and by his disheveled hair, "I couldn't bring myself to face everything in my past which I would need to do, to-to make that happen. I hoped my planet would--", Joe becomes quiet then laughs, "I don't know what I was hoping for. Any rebellion, any change was brutally crushed and repressed immediately by the interim government and the planet quickly fell in line with the Nereidian Empire. It has been painful enough following the news, not just to see the planet struggling, not just to see other young children falling into the same fate as mine, but to know that whenever they were talking about me, it was as a space terrorist and traitor." He walks to a wall and bangs his fist against it.
"I'm not running away from the fight, Marvelous. Not anymore--" Joe looks at Marvelous after he places his head on the wall and stares at it for several quiet moments. "The fact that my crew even thought I would. The fact that You thought I would-"
"We never thought you would run away. I never thought you would. We wanted to--"
"Protect me, I know." Joe tries to smile, but can only manage a bitter grimace, his voice still carrying an angry snarl that he's trying desperately to soften, "I made my peace with everything that happened in my past, I have moved on."
Joe gulps as he says this, he knows this is a lie. He has not stopped thinking about some of Dan Hofner's words, 'they tortured your family, they tortured Sid Bammick because of you-' 'you abandoned your planet and everyone on it'.
There is a pause and he can feel Marvelous sensing what is unspoken between them. Joe throws himself on the bed and Marvelous follows him, taking his hand in his and squeezing it. Joe closes his eyes imagining his entire planet's censure and disapproval following him. He imagines running into Sid's family and friends and they are reproaching him, he imagines his own family doing so and he has no replies for them. The group of people pointing fingers at him grows. "Traitor", "Space Pirate", "Monster", "You left us to suffer and die", "Space terrorist".
I left when I was a child, I don't have any connection to this planet anymore, I don't have any connection to any of you, because none of you ever bothered to ask if I was even alive, you let me join the Empire's military and then abandoned me as soon as I turned traitor to the Empire.
He is shouting this at the crowd of people who are chasing him. He's never had 'dreams' this vivid since-- since he was being chased by the Zangyack.
He opens his eyes to find Marvelous gently caressing his face and tucking his hair behind his ear. He is reminded of Marvelous being there for him when he used to have nightmares, the first time he was onboard the Galleon.
Whatever happens, he has a home, he has his friends, his crew, and he has Marvelous, he doesn't want or need anything more than that.
He takes a deep breath and looks at Marvelous who has been combing and braiding his long hair. It's this quiet concern and love that touches him deeply and calms him down. The images in his head that have been causing a tempest quiet down also.
Joe can get through this, they were demons he never wanted to confront, but that was not what life had in store for him. His planet was in this mess because he kept running away. All his life he had been running away, no more, no more. He had to do something for the current and future children of his planet. He owes them that much.
"I have two conditions," Joe takes a deep breath and is surprised to find his voice is calm and steady, "One is that I don't need to be protected from whatever happens on my planet when we get there. I can handle it." He takes a deep breath, "Two is that you be there by my side when we're there."
Marvelous moves closer to Joe and kisses him. "That's a ye--" Marvelous begins as he pulls away grinning, but Joe shakes his head, "We're not done yet," he says, his long braid swishing, as he holds Marvelous' face in his arms and continues to kiss him on his face and neck and all over.
'We're not going to your planet right this moment. They have arrest warrants for us on landing, last we heard. But, we still need to deal with the weapons and military bases there, or we won't stand a good enough chance against the Empire. Our best option is to use disguises and undertake a covert operation for which we've been planning for a while. We hoped we wouldn't have to put it into action, but it seems that we don't have much of a choice--" Marvelous explains in between the kisses and Joe trying to remove Marvelous' shirt.
Joe mumbles Mhmm and removes his own shirt and trousers while trying to kiss Marvelous all over.
Marvelous is the first one to wake up at the sound of a noise, they had set the Galleon to travel through random coordinates, mostly for their own safety these days. The rest of the crew are still sleeping on the other side of the bed, though Joe wakes up when he finds Marvelous' place beside him empty.
"Marvelous-" he whispers.
Marvelous points to another soft thud that sounds like it could be coming from inside their ship, and now Joe is fully awake. Marvelous signals him to keep quiet and to wake up the others, while he goes in search of the source of the sound. Joe is waking up Luka when he hears another louder thud, and he rushes outside, fearing the worst has happened to Marvelous and finds himself at the end of the knife point. Joe recognises the insignia on the arms of the one holding him, as one belonging to the Empire's military forces, specifically their Intelligence division, aka spies.
"Captain Marvelous, we would like you to come with us or we kill your crew." The Nereidian spy says, digging the knife a little too sharply at Joe's throat drawing blood while holding his hands pinned tightly enough that he can't turn to free himself or take the knife away.
Marvelous doesn't say anything, only drops his sword and gun at the spy's feet and raises his hands in surrender.
"Marvelous, No!" Joe manages to shout. "Take us all with you, kill us, I don't care. Don't take Marvelous."
Another spy appears from the shadows, he has tied up Marvelous' hands and is dragging him along to the entrance of the Galleon. Joe looks out of the porthole to find the Nereidian Empire's ship waiting. "It's made in Sawiskera." The other spy grins at Joe. "Such a useful resource your planet has proved to be."
Joe doesn't get time to react to this news, instead he gets kicked in the stomach and receives a few more blows on his arms and legs. By the time he regains composure, the two spies have disappeared. So has Marvelous. Joe headbutts the pole near the captain's chair in his frustration. He had failed to stop Marvelous from being abducted, and he had failed to stop his planet from being continually used as a military base and weapons hub for the Empire. Both were weighing on him at this time.
Luka, Ahim, Doc and Gai run to him, "Joe, what happened?" "Joe-san, are you alright?"
"Marvelous-" he can only blurt that out before he breaks down, his voice quivering and full of emotion. "Marvelous."
"Over here." Gai gestures, they rush to the porthole to see the Nereidian spaceship taking off. Joe is still crumpled on the floor. Ahim, Doc, Luka, Gai and Navi rush to console Joe. They can only spend a few moments together before Ahim has to focus all her attentions on their communications room with several messages coming in, and Doc and Navi turn to the computers trying to find anything to be able to locate the Nereidian ship Marvelous has been taken on.
There is an urgent broadcast and the face of the current Emperor is plastered in full definition and colour across their screens.
"Listen up, Gokaigers and everyone else. We have some of your people with us, especially the notorious Captain Marvelous. If you want to ever see them again, you need to surrender to us at Nereid. Leave fighting, join your planets in alliance with us. Everything will be forgiven. If you do not, we will kill your leaders. We are waiting." The computer screen fades to black.
"No!" Ahim exclaims, cupping her mouth, even as a few silent tears fall down her face.
Joe is still silent, though internally, it feels as if his world is crumbling. Marvelous gone. It feels unreal still, like a bad dream he pinches himself hoping he wakes up and Marvelous is still here but nothing of the sort happens. The Galleon feels heavy and mournful, like it's missing an important piece of itself.
"What do we do?" Doc wails in dismay, he is still shocked the Nereidian spaceship had managed to track their location. How long were they being followed for? Luka stares quietly at Joe looking for their next move, he knows. But he's got nothing, his mind seems to be made of candy floss. He can't focus on anything except the fact that Marvelous is gone, but he needs to. He uh--
"Can we find out where Marvelous-san is? Did he have his Mobirates with him?" Ahim's voice shakes Doc into action. He inputs something into the computer. The Mobirate is active and sending its location. Except the location isn't Nereid, the heart of the Empire, it's--
Joe has to lean forward to confirm.
"Sawiskera?"
Doc is as surprised as Joe and refreshes the computer a few times to check. "According to this, he's in Sawiskera somewhere."
"So sending us to Nereid was just a trap?" Luka asks.
"They want us to surrender to them."
"They know we will try to rescue Marvelous-san. Maybe sending us to Nereid is so they can keep an eye on us while we go on a wild goose chase," Gai reasons.
"We go to Sawiskera then." Joe says, the only thing he manages to blurt out.
"No, wait, what if this is a trap too?" Doc says, "They would know that we'd look for Marvelous, wherever we could. That we'd do whatever it took to get him back." Something about this makes Doc feel uneasy, surely it can't be this easy?
"What other choice do we have? Surrender at Nereid?" Joe is feeling angry at the delay. The longer they wait, the more danger Marvelous is going to be in. 'they tortured Sid Bammick because of you, they tortured your family,' plays on loop. He can't add Marvelous to the list. He's not losing Marvelous, he's not having someone else die because of him, just as Sid sempai had.
"Marvelous-san wouldn't want us to rush into this." Ahim points out even as she flinches at Joe's harsh tone.
"Does that mean we let him die?" Joe is unable to contain the rage in his voice, which makes him feel ashamed. He needs to think, he can't rush wildly into things. He can't lash out at his crew too. They all want Marvelous back. He takes a deep breath and walks over to the couch to throw himself on it. Luka sits beside him. He can see she is also listless and worried and that helps him to recenter him. He has his crew who depend on him, he can't let them down, Marvelous would not want that.
He also thinks of what Marvelous had said before, "I don't know what assassinating me would even achieve at this point. The movement's already gained so much momentum that it would be foolish and impossible to stop. I'm just one person too, there's so many others who can carry it forward, who are carrying things forward."
The movement was the most important thing, it was more important than all of them and Joe knew that, but, he couldn't do without Marvelous. He takes a deep breath, what Marvelous said was important. He couldn't take any decisions that would compromise the movement and everything they had achieved till now.
"What do we do?" He finally asks the rest of them trying his best to compose himself. "How do we get Marvelous back?"
"It's not just Marvelous san," Ahim says sitting beside Joe and patting his arm, "they've taken some people from other groups fighting the Empire as well. I've received several messages to that effect on our communication lines."
"Going to Sawiskera still seems worth attempting." Gai says. "If we are right then we rescue Marvelous-san, if we are not and it is a trap, then we would be captured but at least we would have tried to find Marvelous-san."
"At least we die together." Joe smiles feeling a lot better.
"No one is dying." Navi screams, she jumps angrily on Joe's head at these words. Navi is also disoriented after Marvelous' disappearance. Doc lunges forward to take her in his arms and hugs her. She nuzzles into him whispering his name.
They all lean into each other even though the couch is not big enough. Ahim gets up to prepare their beds on the couch tonight. They have each other, things will be fine. They will get Marvelous back and they will defeat the Empire. Joe watches the computer screen as the Galleon hurtles towards Sawiskera. They have to, he will make it so.
Chapter 16: Sawiskeran Resilience
Chapter Text
The Galleon is crossing galaxies almost at the speed of light, Doc estimates. He has adjusted it to travel as fast as it can go and even he is surprised at the knots per hour it can manage despite being a large ship. Luka has been up on the crow's nest navigating them expertly through space debris, asteroids, as well as through different planets.
Ahim has been trying to find any news about Marvelous-san and has been up for several hours. Gai is making sure everyone has something to eat. Navi is on the computer trying to trace the Mobirates again since they lost the signal pretty soon after. Joe is at the helm, steering the ship, focused intently on this one task. He doesn't have to direct anyone or tell anyone what to do, everyone has been at their post for hours, and in this manner the Galleon glides across the Universe like a fish swimming in the water.
Their dinners are silent and quick, despite Gai's efforts. At night, the living quarters' couch is still functioning as their bed though most of them only sleep for a few hours. Sometimes Luka wakes up in the middle of the night to find Joe is not sleeping beside her and Ahim. She usually can find him in the crow's nest, not looking at anything in particular.
Often she clasps his hand and squeezes it, other times she doesn't, only stands besides him. There isn't any point in saying a lot of words, especially when words aren't how either of them derive any comfort. They will get Marvelous back, that's all they need to focus on. Joe is not allowing himself to drown in guilt, or think of his planet. The purple, blues and the whites of his planet show up and he's so focused on all his tasks and on getting Marvelous back that he feels almost nothing at the prospect of returning and running into people who would know him and who would still hate him. He'd face anything for Marvelous. Despite being in one of the farthest galaxies, they have arrived here in a quarter of the time it would have taken normally.
"Joe-san?" Ahim looks at Joe questioningly as they draw near the planet and try to find somewhere on the neighbouring planets to drop their anchor.
The air around the planet is heavy and full of dust and smoke. Military installations rise up into the sky and are easily identifiable from their spiral tops. The barracks too are numerously littered, resembling strong fortified boxes. The Zangyack homeworld, Pellene had similar military barracks, except there is something more depressing about this being a heavily fortified and militarised planet under control of the Nereidian Empire.
There is a struggling tourism industry, there are some jobs in the bureaucracy and civil service, but this planet is even more bleak in terms of its prospects than Pellene and has worse infrastructure than Pellene as well. The rest of them take all of this in, except Joe who is focused on figuring out where they should go, they are not yet sure where Marvelous would be, if he is indeed still here. If they are too clumsy on the rescue they are afraid the Empire might kill their captain. Then again, there is the nagging thought in the back of their heads, which Doc voices, "Could this all be a trap?"
Joe looks around, he doesn't know if it is or isn't, for his part he scarcely cares, so long as he gets Marvelous back somehow out of all of this, he doesn't want to drag the rest of the crew into a trap, but it's not like he can stop them, they all want Marvelous back.
The planet is quiet, too quiet, as if everyone is afraid. There are lights in some restaurants and people drinking and laughing, but there seems to be something missing, which Joe cannot quite place. He is brought out of his reverie by Ahim talking, "-luckily we have some friends on this planet who can help us." Joe looks at her questioningly and she explains, "some of the groups that were against the Nereidian and Zangyack Empires went underground during the height of the repressions to avoid being tortured and killed. They've agreed to help us look for Marvelous-san. They know this planet better than any of us." Joe breathes a sigh of relief, it is true that he has been feeling overwhelmed on where to even search for Marvelous. None of the streets or localities are familiar to him.
"Are you sure you remember nothing?" Luka asks and Joe considers the question. He thinks that things have gotten worse for this planet from what he remembers, it has become more of a military fortress although he doesn't really remember much, only brief outlines of a childhood that he had long since abandoned any recollection of.
Then there were things which he didn't remember but imagined to have happened from the brief news headlines he had come across. He wasn't there when people were being abducted and put in torture cells or killed for being against Zangyack and then Nereid, the Empires followed similar playbooks. Somehow it felt that his planet never recovered that. Many people left also it seems, the ones who had the means and who could. The rest went to work for the Empire which involved menial factory jobs including making parts for weapons if your were poor and joining the military to deploy those weapons on innocent people on other planets if you were middle class.
Ahim leads them through many crisscrossing pathways till they are finally in a secluded location at the edge of this planet, there she walks hurriedly towards an unmarked little house and knocks, three times precisely.
The door opens and someone ushers them in quickly.
It's a small unassuming house with very little furniture Luka notes, or anything of value really. She opens her mouth to ask about it, but their host answers, "We keep moving houses, this is why there's very little furniture, but please--" they gesture to all of them to sit and the space pirates take their place on the floor in the middle. It's cosier this way. Doc leans into Luka as she listens to their host.
"Call me Sam. There is a fort, which was--is a tourist attraction, which is now used as a prison for political prisoners, the ones which our Governor at the behest of the Empire wants hidden away. Most people don't know that that is its current use. We suspect that is where they have taken your friend-" He brings up an image of the building in front of them and they read that it was once a castle several centuries ago.
"Does it block trackers?" Doc asks and Sam nods. "It blocks any signals and Captain Marvelous may have had his Mobirates taken away as well. It's a prison that was established to disappear and torture dissidents and their sympathisers."
A chill runs down all of their spines. How do they rescue Marvelous if it is impenetrable?
Gai voices all of their thoughts, "But if it's so impenetrable then how do we break in and rescue Marvelous-san?"
Their host smiles, the first time since they've arrived, "We've got maps and tools to do that. This isn't the first time we're breaking someone out of there. Though admittedly our guy wasn't as high profile as your Captain Marvelous, or as well known across the Universe. There's heightened security for the past few weeks which might make things difficult."
Joe gulps, he's heard small snapshots and whispers of these things.
"Joe--Joe Gibken? You're from here right? Your name is very Sawiskeran--" Sam turns to him suddenly and Joe is startled like a deer caught in the headlights. He reluctantly nods, "I was born here but I haven't been here in decades, this planet feels as strange and new to me as to my crew."
"Ah-Imperial Elite Military."
Joe nods lowering his head.
"Those always were shipped off to the Zangyack homeworld for further trainings from a young age. It's been the same under Nereid." There is some acridness in the way Sam says that but it is not directed at Joe.
"Some of them came back and started rounding up any of us who hated the Empire and were fighting them. It went on for some years, everyone was touched by death and you could feel it. Some left the planet, many of us who remained had no choice but to hide and lay low for several years."
They are quiet at this pronouncement, Joe is thinking back to how Dan Hofner had described it, he didn't give the full picture of how brutal it was. Hofner's family and friends of course would have been untouched, almost certainly part of the ones enforcing the repressions even.
"But, I will not keep you," Sam gets up swiftly and touches something on his phone. There are more knocks on the door, and two women enter. "Flo, Gia, the Gokaigers. I will leave you to them, they will guide you to the fort at least." He tries to smile comfortingly at their worried faces, "we will get your friend out, have hope."
"We've finally finished mapping out the prison, it took several days but it is done. There are some traps we need to talk about," Gia grins, shaking their hands with her prosthetic arm before adding, "This isn't the only part of my body that is different from what I was born with." She sees Luka looking appreciatively at her boobs and winks, "They hate me for my girl qualities as well as being against their Empire." Luka giggles at Gia's sense of humour. If circumstances were different, she would have really liked to know Gia well.
Flo who is more aloof and quiet and has been scanning the street outside, nods at them and tells Gia to hurry, "Let's go."
They make their way outside cautiously.
"Sorry, we're gonna be taking you to the prison the long way round." Gia tells them. "The streets around the prison are heavily guarded, but even more so because of your friend."
They look at each other, while Flo and Gia continue, "We suddenly had more security around the fort almost two--three weeks ago."
"That's when Marvelous--" Joe exclaims.
"What kind of security?" Doc asks curiosity getting the better of him.
"It's not soldiers if you wanna know." Gia smiles.
"Not all soldiers." Flo corrects Gia who chooses to ignore her and continues talking.
"There's been news from our sources on multiple planets that the Empire is planning action against the groups that are resisting them. They have brought out all of their spaceships and artillery and some of the soldiers stationed here have been leaving to join them there."
"Oh, mostly on Nereid and Pellene, the Empire's strongholds, about time too. We thought those planets and their people would never stand up against their own Emperors but there's been a series of strikes and riots which snowballed. Some of it has obviously spilled onto other planets because of the Empire's tendency to keep trying to gain a foothold there." Flo answers their thoughts.
Gia looks at her and rolls her eyes, she's annoyed at Flo for interrupting her storytelling, "Things have gotten worse and worse for the Empire, after they had to run with their tail between their legs from Themis. Some of the brutalities they had inflicted on other planets, they brought home with them and finally everything became too much."
Luka looks on proudly at this.
"You lot were there at Themis right?" Flo looks at them curiously. She's more no-nonsense and quieter than Gia but even she can't help but be impressed with the Gokaigers and what they have achieved so far.
Luka and Ahim nod and smile.
"It seems they've become afraid of you pirates."
"So, this is a trap, just not in the way we thought." Doc looks around at them all.
There is a sudden understanding in Flo and Gia's eyes, "They want to keep you all here while they destroy the rest of the resistance forces? It is very likely."
"And then come finish us, since they know we're here." Luka completes the thought.
Gai looks at them all worriedly, "Should some of us travel to Nereid instead?"
"I'm not leaving." Joe is firm before adding in a low voice, "not without Marvelous."
"Joe, what if we reach Marvelous and they arrest us and keep us here?" Doc tugs at his shirt in nervousness. "There are patrols around the prison. I can't believe the rulers of Sawiskera will just let us waltz into the prison and take Marvelous."
"Don-san--" Gai leaves the sentence hanging in the air, he isn't convinced they should leave without rescuing Marvelous-san, but his dream of defeating the Empire will be incomplete if they don't win once and for all and he's also debating whether they should have gone to fight the Empire, if that would have been the quickest way to free Marvelous-san.
This is a moment that has been years in the making, and if they can defeat the Empire at Nereid, they would still be able to rescue Marvelous-san. The only question is whether they can fight and win without Marvelous-san and Gai isn't sure. They have always worked best when they have all been together. It's how they derive their strength and power; from each other. It is a moot point though, since Joe-san will not leave without Marvelous-san.
"We have to try don't we?" Ahim looks at Joe's face and then at Doc and Gai's. She too is hesitating, a part of her knows that they should be facing the Empire right now, they knew the Empire was planning something like this for a while and it is a shame to not be there to see this through to the very end.
The Nereidian and Zangyack (whatever is left of them and their ambitions anyway) have brought together everything to destroy the ever growing movement against them once and for all. But, like any serious analyzer of history, she also knows that their movement has become stronger over the years, and their strength is in all of the people across multiple planets resisting, not just the six of them, technically five if they went right now, without Marvelous-san.
And not just resisting but rebuilding and reorganising the planets completely by dismantling class hierarchies so as to not allow them to fall victim to Empires in the future.
But they couldn't leave Marvelous-san behind. They didn't even know what condition he was in. Or if he was even alive.
No, he'd have to be alive, the Empire would want to keep him alive till they knew the rest of his crew had seen him at least. It still remained to be seen what they'd do once they reached Marvelous-san. Would the Empire arrest them all? Would they be able to escape?
"Ahim, Luka, Doc, Gai, you should go join the fight." Joe tells them after what feels like a long time that he's spent struggling whether this is the right thing to do or not. But mainly he knows that Ahim would be more useful in rallying people at least right now. She has an amazing store of courage in the face of adversity and losing people she loved. Joe could not do any of that, not while Marvelous was--
"Absolutely not." Luka is adamant. She hasn't forgotten the persistence with which Marvelous and Joe stuck with her when they were lost on that planet Enceladus many years ago. "I'm not leaving without him."
"But Joe-san-" Ahim interjects. She's still torn, she knows some of them should be there at the battle, to rally any spirits that might feel dejected and for a show of power, but, well, her crew is everything to her. She can't leave Marvelous-san behind. She couldn't fight knowing that her crew was in trouble. Joe looks at her distressed look, sighs and nods. There was nothing to do, they just had to press on and rescue Marvelous before joining the fight.
"Why are they so afraid of us?" Ahim asks trying to ignore some of her more pessimistic thoughts.
"Because of the hope you inspire. Because you're persistent and keep chipping away, despite losing so much over the years."
Joe looks at the two girls, he feels as if someone has peered through to his heart and seen the deepest secrets within.
Despite losing so much over the years, you keep chipping away at the Empire.
He does think that that is perhaps their special sentai quality, the way they have made it their life's work to change the Universe despite the cost to themselves. He has lost almost everyone he has ever known and he's come so close to losing Marvelous and others from his crew multiple times too. Even now there is no guarantee they will find and rescue their captain.
There is still so much work left to do, Joe thinks. And this time, I will not make the same mistakes I made in the past. We will help rebuild Sawiskera the way we want it to be, I owe this planet that much.
"How did the battle start?" Ahim asks, "We had been following the Empire's moves closely before Marvelous-san was abducted, once he was captured we had to focus all our efforts on finding him."
"The Empire had not been faring well since they had to evacuate Themis after the fall of the leaders they were supporting and funding there. They have not been able to reestablish any kind of position on other planets, even though they keep trying to replace the leaders there and start fights. They have been turning the violence inwards on their own planets because of that. There has been a lot of recent repression on Nereid and Pellene, you know, breaking up of organising groups, workers, students, putting everyone in prisons, all that sort of business. What with the economy also worsening, it has led to a breaking point, and an all out battle against the Empire on various fronts." Flo's manner of explaining is more matter of fact and dryer than Gia, but at least they have a good picture of what has been happening.
The scenery has shifted and changed since they've been walking and talking and they've met with two more of the underground resistance leaders as they near the fort.
"This is it." Flo says stopping and nodding towards a building in the distance that looks like an old castle after they had been travelling for several hours.
"This was the easy part," Gia grins. "The fort was once an old castle, they still keep the pretense of it being a tourist attraction and don't like to cordon it off or keep it off limits to not arouse suspicion, many people don't even know its dark history or its current real use. Inside though," her face darkens, "it's one of the most efficient and most ruthless military prison. Around 10,000 people disappeared inside its walls during the peak of repressions."
"That's an underestimate." Flo says and Gia whispers a soft 'of course'.
"So, how are we getting in?" Doc asks feeling his confidence rise and fall just like incoming tides. The idea that Marvelous was in there made him braver than he felt like at the prospect of penetrating such a difficult prison.
"We'll sneak in, in a few hours when it gets much darker." They walk to another safe house which is nearby. Gia pulls a bottle of alcohol and some sandwiches out of her backpack and starts handing them around.
Marvelous is lying on the cold hard floor of the cell, his thin raspy breaths punctuating the silence, occasionally he coughs and a little blood fills his mouth with its metallic taste. There are bruises and cuts on almost every part of his body, some of his bones have been broken by his captors and are in the process of healing back together- he calculates that one of his ribs is almost certainly broken due to how painful it's become to draw breath, there are some burn marks on his arms that are also healing -- all of it the result of torture for the past several days. He hasn't seen the outside world in forever, he's lost count of how many sleeps he's spent locked up. He tried to count the sleeps when he first came here but he had no sense of when day ended and night began, the cell remained dark and quiet regardless of the time.
All he knows is that he's spent a long enough time in a small cramped cell, first on the spaceship that brought him to this planet and now here in this fortress prison. They took away his Mobirates soon after they kidnapped him, so he has had no way of contacting anyone. From the little he had heard of their conversations after being captured, they seemed to both understand that his capture was a great prize and a decisive victory for the Empire, while at the same time they were afraid of him.
If he was with his crew on his ship that would amuse him. In this moment though, he is not thinking of any of that because his head is throbbing badly and he has consumed very little food or water. Still, if they thought that would break his spirits in any way they are grossly mistaken because the movement is bigger than him and has acquired enough momentum to keep going and defeat the Empire eventually. It might take longer than they wanted, but the Empire's defeat was inevitable.
He pulls himself to a sitting position with great effort as he hears the footsteps and the keys jangling outside before they come to a pause near his cell. He is straining his ears to hear anything of what is going on outside.
He tries to recollect what happened after they abducted him, but it all feels like a blur, he remembers the spaceship, an ordinary Zangyack one in which he was held (Nereidians use many of those still), before he was brought here to this fort. His captors had told him it was used as a monument but was now repurposed as a prison for people like him who were political prisoners of the Empire. There were others here too of course; sometimes Marvelous hears their cries and supposes they are also being tortured. He has tried to find a way to get to them to help them, but it is no use, the door as well as the walls of his cell are too thick and there are no windows, only the tiniest of slits through which not even light can enter most of the time.
But the cells are silent most of the time and therefore wearying. As if his captors mean to cut off all hope and keep him in darkness and silence. He is learning of the immense difference in the darkness he associates with space and the one he associates with this prison. The former is the one he gravitates towards and feels at peace in, the latter is disconcerting and distressing.
Marvelous is no stranger to captivity and prisons, even so this has been one of the worst times he's had in them. The Commanding Officers from Nereid have been practically gloating whenever they visit his cell. Early on in his captivity they told him that they had been after him and his crew for some time now, since the pirates were the ones responsible for the uprisings on many planets.
Marvelous could only laugh at that despite the pain he was in, "You don't know anything. The movements against the Empire were bound to rise up, you can't crush someone to the extent that you have and not expect them to fight back."
"You pirates gave the people hope and somewhere to direct their anger at us," the Commanding Officer Zolan tells him one day after putting him through one of the more brutal torture sessions thus far. "By capturing you, we mean to put all the people who joined you and your misguided crew, into great despair."
He grins defiantly in response and receives another kick in the stomach for his insolence which causes him to double up in pain, despite that he keeps smiling through gritted teeth until Officer Zolan leaves and the cell door clangs as it closes. They do not give him any dinner that night because of his defiance and his remarks, he's called uncooperative, difficult and this is reason enough to deny him basic rights.
It's not a lot of food to begin with, mind you, some meagre mouthfuls of dry rice shoved at him through the narrow slit at the bottom of his cell door as if he was an animal. Even so, going without food altogether feels harsher. His stomach frequently growls in hunger and he spends dinner hours each night trying to distract himself from thinking about food.
Clinging to hope in between these four walls with no view of the outside world is one of the hardest thing he has had to endure. Yet he knows he has to survive and live on to see the death of the Empire. There have been rumours of the battle between the Empire and several planets erupting, even though none of the guards tells him anything. All he has to go on is stuff he has pieced together from snatches of muffled conversations he has been hearing from time to time. He hopes the rest of his crew will join the fight against the Empire instead of rushing to rescue him and getting captured themselves, which the Nereidian Commander Zolan has tormented him about as well.
He looks around at the cell for a hundredth time for a means of escape. Even if the bones in his legs hadn't been broken by Zolan and he could get up and run right this instance, this place was too secure and impenetrable and the entire planet was strange and unknown. Most people he had heard, feared and disliked the space pirates on this planet.
He could endure till the Empire was defeated. Even though it was disappointing to not be able to join the fight, he was adamant that he was just one person and that it was a joint effort which would defeat the Empire once and for all. That there shouldn't even be one popular person elevated to a demiurge. That the ones who were and are worthy of the label of great heroes are the people themselves. If this was as far as he was going to be able to walk with the movement, then so be it, he was content. It was that which made the Empire afraid, because they didn't understand that at all. They didn't understand where power came from, they thought that removing the Gokaigers would end the resistance. It was for that reason they couldn't break Marvelous' spirit, and they couldn't kill him.
Still, he wished he could send his crew a message, telling them that he was alright, and to not come here to rescue him.
The star that supplies the planet with light sinks lower and lower into the horizon heralding the arrival of night, as the Gokaigers munch on sandwiches, chips and beer at the safe house near the prison. Before they can make an attempt to rescue Marvelous, however, there is a knock on the door and they are asked to join the Commanding General and current Governor Emre at Sawiskera, for tea and conversation. It seems the Empire did expect them to defy the announcement to surrender at Nereid, knowing they would do no such thing and are obviously keeping tabs on their movements on this planet.
The letter from the Governor has been delivered by two Imperial Soldiers further emphasising how it is not a request but an order. They are taken to the Governor of Sawiskera, as captives it feels, more than as guests. They find a thin man dressed crisply and smartly in his old military uniform waiting for them in the garden of a large mansion. Joe is strangely reminded of Hoffner sitting in his office, the same pomposity and arrogance on display.
Governor Emre speaks pleasantries, addresses Joe as his compatriot and tells them that he can offer them any hospitality, even to show them around the planet, have them stay in the finest hotels, anything they want, except what they're here for. From his discussion, it seems that he also doesn't want them to leave and join the fight against the Empire.
"Why are we being stopped from visiting the fort if it's a tourist attraction? And more importantly why are you holding the prisoners for the Nereidian Empire there?" Ahim is the first one to speak after they have been sitting through long spiels about the planet and its past and future, delivered by the Governor as a literal captive audience with the same Imperial military soldiers patrolling the gardens and smiling menacingly at them.
She keeps her voice a careful mix of polite and calm measured words without making it feel as if she's conceding any ground. Underneath, the same rage simmers in her as it does in all of them, Ahim is just better able to reign it in. She is able to direct the conversation as to why the Governor won't let Marvelous-san go free. The Governor mumbles something about crimes against Nereid Marvelous is accused of (all made up of course) but reading between the lines, she gets the same answer she already knows; that the space pirates offer hope, by imprisoning Marvelous and others, they intend to break their movement and have it fizzle out organically.
It is partly working, much to her frustration. She knows some of her contacts have been greatly dismayed at the news of the abduction of many of their friends and especially by the abduction of Marvelous-san. She had tried reasoning with them and had managed to convince a few to stay and fight. It seemed that the Gokaigers couldn't completely disavow or underplay their role, many did indeed look up to the Space Pirates for courage and hope since they had been fighting the Empire for decades. Which was why she was determined not to miss the entire fight against the Empire.
"It won't happen you know," Doc's voice is low but determined, "what you want and are planning."
"Are you arresting us?" Luka demands. She is too impatient for the games the Sawiskieran Governor wants to play.
"No, of course not," comes the reply in a sickly sweet and polite tone, "But if you venture to rescue your friend, we will have to detain all of you. By force if necessary. Do not impose too much on our hospitality."
"Do you like sucking up to the Empire that much?" Luka can't help blurting out.
"Luka-san, " Ahim places a calming hand on her shoulder.
"Finally someone is showing some sense." The Sawiskeran Governor turns to Ahim and smiles at her.
"Oh, don't worry about it. We will free Marvelous-san eventually whether you like it or not. By force if necessary." Ahim tells him before walking out of the mansion with her head held high. She sees the guns of the Imperial soldiers pointed at her back, but she's not afraid of them. She hears the Governor tell the soldiers to lower their guns since Ahim is not headed towards the prison but is making her way in the opposite direction.
She has a plan, well, she has several, but losing their cool in front of this sycophantic idiot will not solve anything.
Joe meanwhile hasn't spoken, he doesn't trust himself to speak up and not jeopardise everything. All his energies are also focused on how to rescue Marvelous, but he can't think of a way ahead, he's only too glad that the glint in Ahim's eyes that is visible to him means that she at least has a proper plan worth trying.
"Ahim san-" Gai is just as impatient as Luka at being able to do something though he had held his tongue when they were meeting the Sawiskeran Governor because she had asked him to let her do the talking.
"We knew this would happen, the Sawiskeran planet is kissing the Empire in the dirt, as we used to say on Famille." Ahim laughs.
"It's basically an outpost of the Empire, huh? We knew things were terrible and dire but, by the north star- " Luka curses and then lowers her voice.
Ahim nods, "the Governor here is way too interested in the shape of the boots of the Empire but--" she pauses, "there's a way, there's always a way."
Ahim spends the entire day mobilising other comrades whose loved ones have been arrested as well as spending time with Sawiskerans to understand what they've been living through, in this she gets the help from Gia, Flo, Sam and others. Many of them want to resist the Empire, the Gokaigers teach them to fight as well as ways to organise and resist. It helps them pass the days as they are waiting for an opportunity to rescue their captain, along with everyone else who has been captured.
Several more sleeps pass before the Sawiskerans are able to become better organised, gradually more and more people are joining and pledging support in resisting the Empire and learning the tools of how to, even if they don't fight them physically.
There are still not enough fighters to take on the Sawiskeran leadership, most of Ahim and Doc's contacts are still occupied in the fights that have erupted against Nereid on multiple planets. The Sawiskeran Governor and his Deputy Commanders can also call on reinforcements, but the Gokaigers still plan to be a nuisance to them to get their Captain released. They hope that the Empire being occupied means that they won't be able to respond to calls to defend their colony. This should be enough to break Marvelous and the others in that impenetrable prison. It will have to be.
Gia sees Joe looking at the stars that night, standing all alone from the rest of them. "You alright?" she asks. Joe sighs.
"Silly question, I know. How can you be alright, when one of yours is abducted and a prisoner."
Joe nods as he tries to smile.
"You've seen the layout of the prison fort, right? It will be hard, but we'll get your Captain out."
Joe's smile is softer this time, and he is more touched at the concern, "Thank you," he murmurs softly.
"You're from here?" Gia asks.
Joe nods, "It's ... complicated."
"Not one for longer chit-chat are you?" Gia teases him. "Alright, I won't probe."
Joe sighs, trying to take stock of all his feelings, wondering which ones he should share. He left when he was very young, he barely even remembers much about the planet now. He looks at the stars, maybe he could voice the turmoil in his head that he's been living with for years. Gia might still resent him for abandoning her and everyone else on this planet, but at least she would understand.
"I felt resentful really, of my family, of this planet, having abandoned me after I turned traitor and then a space pirate. There were warrants out for my arrest, I learned the Zangyack interrogated and even tortured my family despite my parents having a long record of serving the Empire."
"Ah, military family." Gia exclaims, she nods to let Joe know he should continue.
"Yeah, we were, it was quite common, so many people I know had children they gave to the military, quite proudly too. My parents did everything to appease the Empire, they had distanced themselves from me too. It didn't help them, it never does." Joe looks too weary and tired as he relates all this.
"Then when I could return I was so ashamed, I felt so guilty for everything I had done as a cog in the Empire's machinery especially when I knew how bad the repressions were and how they continued under Nereid. I reproached myself for not coming back, but I couldn't make myself, I couldn't face everything, couldn't face my family. It was still my fault they faced so many hardships at the hands of the Zangyack, but I couldn't, I couldn't do anything different to what I had done." He exhales and takes a moment to look at one particular star which is shining brighter than its neighbours, "My only regret still is that I didn't do all of it sooner --"
Gia's face softens, "Hey, it's alright. My family was terrible to me for much the same reasons, I turned traitor to the Empire and I changed my gender, so I cut them off. It's fine. You're fine."
Joe breathes a sigh of relief, being told that it was alright, that he didn't have to face all the demons of his past, didn't have to meet his family if he didn't want to, made him feel better. Joe had been raised to believe in many things being his duty, and while he had given up being an obedient soldier years ago, he still felt guilty for not having been an obedient son, an obedient citizen of this planet, even though on some level he knew that he couldn't have done things any other way than he did.
There was one thing however he did mean to do differently; to rebuild this planet to make sure it didn't fall into the Empire's hands ever again. His heart hurt at how much had been taken from this planet for Empire building. No longer could he stand by and say, I'm a soldier, it is not my job to rebuild. He was even looking forward to putting down his sword for a while. Marvelous' wild goose chase of the space kraken seems more and more like a good idea, he'd like something fun and a little less stressful for a while. He can't help being amused at how dealing with the space kraken feels less stressful to him.
Doc has found his way to Joe by now, he squeezes his shoulder, "You ready for tomorrow?"
Joe is looking happier than he has, ever since he came to this planet, he smiles and nods.
Gia turns to Doc, "I was telling your friend it is alright to not want to see people from his past, it is alright to not want to forgive some people, to not want a reunion, even when it comes to family."
Doc nods emphatically, "We all have a complicated relationship with the idea of families, huh? Well, except Luka and Marvelous, who were too young when they lost theirs."
"I'm too used to us all being together, despite coming from different circumstances, despite being very different people who would not even have met in a more peaceful universe. Despite us being together for so long, somehow, I don't think of us as a family. It's just us, we're crew, we're comrades, even when we argue and bicker, it's, we're--" Joe is searching for the right words.
"Home?" Doc knows it's cliche to say this about them and he winces at suggesting this, but, he's just always felt a greater sense of belonging with the pirates than anywhere else. They are the North on the compass of his heart- he feels an affectionate sap thinking in those terms, but it's true. He can hear Luka teasing him mercilessly if he voices this in her presence.
Luka comes up at this moment to elbow him and all seems right with the Universe. His world is bickering with Luka and being protected by her, coming up with creative ways to feed them all, talking with Ahim late into the night to concoct plans with her, and making love to Marvelous, Joe and Gai. Gai and Ahim soon follow and they all stand there together looking at the stars and at each other, Joe feeling a great sense of calm wash over him with every passing moment. It seems even the star is winking at him, as it twinkles and temporarily becomes hidden among the clouds.
The next morning they put their plan into action. The Gokaigers along with the Sawiskerans and Gia's group engage the Sawiskeran Governor and his Deputy Commanders in an intense fight, one that would hopefully keep them occupied for a few hours at least. Ahim holds her Gokai Pink key as she looks at Joe. "Joe-san, Luka-san, please go rescue Marvelous-san, we'll keep these people distracted and busy for you."
Joe has grateful tears in his eyes as he nods and runs, Luka follows close behind him.
"Gokai Pink." Ahim enunciates clearly as she faces the Sawiskeran Commanders, especially the one called Zolan who seems the most menacing out of them. "For Marvelous-san," she thinks, as she shoots her gun straight at the enemy along with Doc and Gai.
Marvelous feels that the prison has become much quieter recently, even though he still doesn't know how many sleeps he's been here and that is messing with his ability to think clearly. He knows that some of the Nereidian Commanders that were here when he was first brought to this cell have left, though he has seen Commander Zolan around from time to time. He was the worst of them and the one who had taken special pleasure in breaking his bones, beating him with batons and fists and even stun rods which was how he had acquired so many burn marks.
The battles elsewhere must have been becoming more intense and drawn out than the Nereidians had initially planned for, Marvelous assumes. The Empire thought that arresting and keeping the Gokaigers here would break the spirit of the revolution, but that does not seem to have happened, the Empire who had posed a veneer of invincibility, are now struggling, with their ships taking heavy losses while with each passing day the resistance declares more and more victories.
There are less guards patrolling around his cell and he is largely left alone. It's still hard, missing his crew as deeply as he does, missing the fight against the Empire. He's too restless to want to sit still while the fight is going on, but he has no choice right now and it is that which is the toughest thing to bear, along with tiny portions of food and no access to the outside world. He does manage to smuggle in some papers and some rudimentary utensils for writing with the help of the other prisoners and is able to write out the messages he wants to send. Now he just needs to find a way to be able to send them.
After more sleeps that are like this, one day he finds there is an eerie quiet outside his prison cell and wonders if the guards have all left. He limps and half drags himself to the door to listen, feeling frustrated at how there doesn't seem to be a way to force the door open from the inside. The guards' footsteps soon return at regular intervals. After a while of listening to the regular click click of the boots, Marvelous notices the sound changing, there is someone else, two people in fact - with very familiar footsteps, followed by voices he would know anywhere in the Universe. His heart jumps for joy.
"This has to be the right corridor according to the map. The other one was a dead end." The voices have been whispering.
"Joe? Luka?" he almost cries out with happiness. It really is them, it is really them standing just outside his cell, after all this time. "Marvelous." Joe breaks down crying as he cups Marvelous' face in his hand through the small window on his cell's door. The prison was labyrinthine and they had had to take out several booby traps along the way (Gia, Flo and Sam's knowledge proving extremely useful to them), but he is finally face to face with Marvelous.
He had imagined the reunion in his head multiple times, but even he is shocked at how tired, thin, worn down and hurt Marvelous looks. Fresh feelings of anger rise in him at how these people have treated Marvelous.
"You're hurt," is all Joe can say tenderly caressing Marvelous' face but Marvelous shakes his head, "I'm fine. How are you both? Ahim, Doc and Gai?" They smile at each other, it was like Marvelous to care about what they were going through more than anything that happened to him. Joe can't help grinning through his tears at how predictable his idiot is, and how much he loves him. Luka has been trying to open the lock outside with a hairpin and even though she has managed to open the main lock, the door still doesn't budge or open even slightly. Feeling impatient and annoyed at how this door seems to be beyond her skills, she grabs a passing guard by the collar.
"Open the door," she points her sabre at him, but he mumbles about not having the passcode and she peers closer to notice that this door has a specific combination lock that can only be broken into by specialised equipment. That or someone inputs the code. She is rapidly losing her cool at the door and the guard both of whom are the final barriers keeping them from reaching Marvelous.
Joe raises his pistol, "Who has it then?"
It turns out that the Sawiskeran Governor is the only one who has. Luka contacts Ahim on the Mobirates and in a few moments, Ahim has brought the Governor to the door of the cell, cowering. Joe and Luka are pleased at how different the Governor looks from the pompous man strutting about in his mansion as he carried out the Empire's orders from several millions of miles away.
Marvelous feels a savage pleasure at the thought that Commander Zolan who had tortured him for days had been defeated by his crew and he looks on proudly at Ahim, who couldn't help crying out at Marvelous-san's state. The Governor tries to resist, refusing to give up the passcode. This time the Gokaigers are all united in pointing all their sabres and guns at him
The rest of the Sawiskerans that follow them inside also threaten the Governor leaving him with no option but to open the cell door. Marvelous is finally free and has his Mobirates returned back to him as well. They make the Governor release everyone in the fortress prison as well, the crowd becoming louder in cheers as they go up and down the cells breaking the locks and releasing the prisoners.
Marvelous leans on Joe's shoulder as light finally hits his skin for the first time since his abduction at the entrance of the fort and he turns towards it, soaking up the warmth.
"It has been nearly six months in Sawiskeran time," someone who introduces herself as Gia tells him, referring to his captivity and Marvelous blinks, not knowing how to feel about that.
"But time does travel faster here, compared to other planets." Doc interjects helpfully causing Marvelous to roll his eyes and ruffle his hair fondly.
"Let's go." Marvelous tells Joe after a few moments of soaking up the light from the nearest star that is flooding Sawiskera as dawn has broken out on the planet. Doc has brought the ship round and Marvelous is itching to get back to her, to take the wheel in his hands once again.
"Marvelous!" Navi screams in delight, as she escapes from Doc's hands and runs into him. He swats her away with one hand grinning, "Bird!" She dodges his hand and hugs his chest while he strokes her head absentmindedly.
The Sawiskerans are celebrating capturing their Governor and his immediate Commanders. He was selling their planet out to the Empire and was responsible for abductions and murders of multiple citizens to stop them from rising up in revolt against his rule and joining the fight against the Empire. There is still a lot of work to be done, but at least Sawiskerans don't have to live their lives in fear anymore.
"Don't worry about the weapons' base here," Flo and Gia tell them, raising their fists in the air. "We'll take care of it now. We're cutting off the Empire's access to soldiers, spaceships and weapons."
"Do what you can, eh." Doc smiles thinking fondly of the advice he had gotten from Marvelous and Luka in his early days of being a pirate when he was questioning whether he was even cut out for it.
"I thought we were staying for a few more days, to help you recover?" Joe tells Marvelous, shifting his own weight on his other foot, so that Marvelous can lean more on him. "I'm fine," Marvelous repeats and Joe looks at him in disbelief as the broken rib causes Marvelous to wince in pain.
"He's fine, nothing a bit of sleep and food won't fix, eh Marvelous?" Luka says brightly, taking Marvelous' left arm and placing it on her shoulders to support him as well. Together they make their way towards their ship.
'We have a lot of unfinished business here," Ahim says surveying the impoverished planet, "But we have a lot of unfinished business elsewhere too."
"We still have an Empire to defeat, what do you say Marvelous-san?" Gai asks after running headlong into Marvelous and trying to hug him too tightly. He is stopped by Luka, who tells him to reign in his enthusiasm since Marvelous is too injured to withstand his crushing bear hugs.
"I say, let's make it showy." Marvelous raises his own sabre to applause, cheer and spontaneous breaking out of songs.
Chapter 17: Shaping the Universe
Chapter Text
Marvelous is alive, and it feels unreal to him still--The light in the bedroom is warm on his face--his head still aches-- he might have a concussion--he's thinking of the dinner with his crew--Gai and Doc went all out with rice and curry and sweet delicacies--he swirls his tongue around his mouth and feels the phantom taste of blood in his mouth from when he was beaten up badly in the prison--he strains his ears for the soft hushed chatter in the living quarters--sleep, he's supposed to be asleep--he can't sleep; the pains from his body healing are too persistent--one moment he tries to close his eyes the next he's moaning in pain, softly, to not have his entire crew stand beside the bed worried, all night. They deserve to rest after everything too--he has to pinch himself to remind himself he's alive--they are travelling to the heart of the Empire--he needs to sleep--he stares at the bandages on his arms and legs--the smell of iodine still lingers in the room and he sniffs it--this is going to be a difficult fight he anticipates, but he's also ready for it, he's been ready for it for years--he's alive miraculously after everything--his heart keeps being full of feeling for his crew tonight, they risked their lives to break him out of prison, of course they would--he wants to do something about the prison, perhaps after this is all done, right now he can't think much farther ahead than the fight they are facing--he's too stubborn to die--his dreams keep getting bigger. It is akin to chasing treasure. He has always wanted too much even when he didn't have anything. He never stopped chasing dreams, stubbornly, foolishly--his eyes finally close despite the pain and he drifts off to an uneasy fitful sleep.
In his dreams, someone is stroking his hair softly, in the next moment he's gazing with a child-like wonder at the nebula along with the other children on the various ships they live on, and making plans as trade season rolls around. Someday he will learn and take on some of the trades of the spacefarers but at the age of six, Marvelous only cares about learning how to sail the ships they travel on and about the stars and the different planets.He has too many questions that he fires off at any of the adults he meets and knows. He feels warm and content, the space is exciting and vast but full of possibilities and he was always a fearless and confident child.
The scene shifts suddenly like the floor slipping from beneath him, his life is now contained in boxes or hideouts on ships, the space, the Universe turns hostile and lonely because he's become very aware of the Zangyack's existence. He's either trapped between fires or in between a lonely darkness without anyone to comfort him or hear his cries and he doesn't know which one is worse. He quickly learns to stop crying, no one is coming to save him.
The scene shifts again, he is being thrown onto the hard surface on a planet, he doesn't know which one and then he is in cuffs and in a prison. The Zangyack try to teach him how to read and write in their language, but he's too stubborn, too defiant of their authority and power. They think he's barbaric, stupid and a criminal (they think all spacefarers are like that) and they give up, he teaches himself anyway, slowly, painfully, giving up what he knows of his own language in a perverse exchange. The scene shifts again, there are people who hate his guts for being a spacefarer and there are others who hate him for standing against the Empire. Sometimes these two circles overlap and he loses track of which is which, not like he's going to ask. The ones who hate him usually try to kill him - he's lost count of how many times this has happened, how many times he's almost died. His humanity will always be suspect, he tries not to show that it cuts him, the darkness wraps around him. He remembers being on a ship and learning the ropes (how to fight, how to navigate, how to steer, how to become a deadly shot with the pistol). The scene shifts again, and he can't see due to the crowd blocking his view, but his heart sinks at the long row of noose and at someone saying they hanged the pirates, he knows they are talking about his former crew.
The Empire calls everyone they hate a pirate (they call him many other things as well, all unpleasant and he pretends it's all water trickling off his skin, Gai had taught him this metaphor). The scene shifts again, billowing his wanted poster to him, he's joined the resistance against the Empire and found camaraderie with other people but very soon he's dropped in the inky darkness once again an overwhelming sadness clinging to him like a scent he can't shake-- he's been betrayed. There is no resistance group that exists against the Zangyack anymore. He builds one again from scratch and obtains a moment of happiness. Somewhere along the way, his stubborn hope reignites, but it's fragile. He's back in prison, and being kicked around despite trying to put up a fight. He winces in pain, someone is stroking his hair softly and he wakes up covered in sweat.
"Marvelous-san, Marvelous-san." Ahim is sitting beside his bed and it takes him a few seconds to find his bearings. He sinks back into the bed, "It was just a dream huh?"
Ahim strokes his forehead and kisses it softly. Marvelous takes her hands in his. "I was proud of how you led the rest of the crew while I was in prison."
Ahim smiles shyly, "It was nothing, Marvelous-san. I'm so glad you're back with us." She continues, "I think Joe-san's actions are more commendable, because all of this was so much more harder for him, facing his planet, trying to face his past." Marvelous looks across from him at Joe sleeping like a log, fully dead to the world and feels a soft fondness and love rise in him. He never wanted to be away from Joe too, not for very long at least.
They had both made a commitment to each other when they were very young and perhaps a lot more foolish than they were and he thought how fortunate he was to stop at that random spot where the Zangyack had destroyed another planet to run into Joe.
Marvelous pulls in Ahim for a soft kiss, he assumes they know he thinks the world of them. She grins and reciprocates, though she stops at just a kiss because Marvelous-san doesn't seem in any condition for anything more strenuous. He sees her look and hesitation and pouts.
They only have a few sleeps to go before the confrontation with the Empire, but he's also planning to make the most of these few sleeps he has with his crew. He tries to get up from his bed, causing Ahim to be alarmed. "Marvelous-san, you mustn't. Doc-san said to not let you out of the bed. You had a concussion--"
"My head is fine. If Doc's so worried about me, why isn't he here making sure I'm getting plenty of rest." Marvelous demands breaking into a grin. He tries to get up but it takes him several attempts and he feels a sharp stabbing pain in his ribs. Maybe his body didn't heal after a single night's sleep, especially when he had slept so poorly. He still feels disoriented from the nightmare.
"Where do you think you're going?" Doc asks as he and Luka barge in.
Doc is looking even more threatening than Luka and is ready to start lecturing. "You need to take rest. You--" his lecture is cut short as Marvelous pulls him into a kiss. It is sloppy and not as forceful as usual, since he is still tired and injured, but Doc leans in and brings the forcefulness for the both of them, so glad is he of Marvelous being finally here with them, with him.
"Okay now, lie down quietly, try to sleep if you can. You will heal better this way." Doc says fully leaning into the confident, suave voice he reserves for their sexual encounters where he often likes playing dominant roles. Marvelous searches for a way to distract Doc.
What he wants is to make love to his crew, even if his body is still aching and disagrees. It is unreasonable that Doc is not on his side on this. "Look, Gai is calling you--" he says, trying to distract Doc. Unfortunately for Marvelous it doesn't work because Gai enters at this moment into the captain's room. "Marvelous-san are you alright?"
"Maybe you can help, Gai." there is a mischievous glint in Marvelous' eye, if Doc won't agree to it, maybe he could use Gai's wide eyed concern to convince him they should kiss a little, maybe more if Gai is in the mood. "Honestly-" Doc throws his hands as his eyes move between Marvelous and Gai and he reads Marvelous' intentions correctly. "Luka, help."
"There." Luka sits in the middle of the bed and pulls Marvelous to her who in turn pulls Doc and Gai beside him. Luka catches Ahim in her lap who does a faint "Luka-san" in protest at the impropriety but then rubs her head in between Luka's thighs causing her to giggle. Luka also wakes up Joe, prodding him with her feet and a shout "Oi Joe" causing him to rub his eyes, his hair sticking out from his ponytail as well. Joe hadn't slept much since Marvelous had been abducted and was only now catching up. They all snuggle into each other, removing their clothes to get more skin contact. It feels comforting, and warm, as the heats from their bodies mingle, more kisses are exchanged and hands probe each other.
The Galleon floats along at a regular pace towards Nereid, towards their direct confrontation with the Empire. Realistically, they are still ready to face a lot of challenges, even death, but they aren't going to miss any small moments of being together till then.
"Are you alright?" Marvelous asks Joe the next day, Joe had brought him his coat and they watch the movement of ships from the deck. They are nearing Nereid and need to be prepared for any surprise attacks on the ship so they have started taking on a rotating watch on the crow's nest or the deck.
"I should be asking you that," Joe says as he lowers the binoculars.
"I don't know what you mean," Marvelous grins, "I'm fine."
Joe raises an eyebrow, but he doesn't contest the issue despite having caught Marvelous in the middle of a few painful grimaces as he climbed up the stairs this morning for breakfast. It would still be incredible to heal as fast as Marvelous does, he thinks.
Joe looks straight ahead and does not make any eye contact as he speaks coolly. "Don't get abducted again and I will be fine."
Marvelous' mouth is twitching into a smile but he doesn't say anything, only nods.
After several moments where they're just standing around together quietly, Joe adds, "I want to help rebuild Sawiskera, if we, you know, triumph against the Empire. I can't give up my duty to the rebuilding of the Universe, I made that mistake once thinking it was not my job and the planet continued being exploited, it only changed ownership between one Empire and another. I-well, you've seen how it is on that planet, if nothing else, I owe the children on Sawiskera to give them a better future and Luka would never forgive me if I don't do something for them," he laughs weakly, "but if you have other plans-" Joe looks at his companion, he can't bear to be separated for a few days from Marvelous, especially now after he's spent the past several weeks without him, and he's always going to follow Marvelous wherever he goes, whichever dream he chases, that's the vow he made when they first met and he intends to honour it for as long as they both live.
But for the first time in his life, he feels torn about leaving Sawiskera to its fate. Pellene too, he muses, since he has probably spent more time there than on his birth planet but even so he was shocked at the state Sawiskera was in. The planet has suffered so much already. Even so, it is not personal, he does not feel this way just about his former planet but wants to focus on reorganising and rebuilding generally. He also feels in two minds about exclusively being a fighter and doing nothing else. It comes as a surprise to him that he does not in any way feel like the obedient soldier he once was. He has been changed in multiple ways, multiple times, through interactions with all the people in the Universe on planets or otherwise, and through reading and developing his own worldview and politics. His crew too have had the greatest contribution in his growth. Sid sempai was right, his greatest power is his crew, he thinks fondly.
At this time, he is perhaps seeing a brand new version of Joe even, but one which he is interested in being acquainted with. He is doing things for himself more and having dreams of his own, and it feels exhilarating and strange to see this version of himself.
Even now he finds himself asking again and again if they are foolish to believe that they will see the end of all the Empires in their lifetimes because of how the death of the Zangyack Empire has not led to the death of Empires in general.
But the closer they get to the Universe that they have been trying to shape, one that is many times more equitable than the one they have lived in their whole lives, the more fervently he wants to exist in it, with Marvelous and his crew.
They can live in a Universe where they are irrelevant. They can give up the mantle of fighting and really, isn't that what they did on Earth by letting the newest kouhai take over as sentai? They can give all that up, even if temporarily till they are needed again, although he really wants that to not be a serious possibility. He is surprised at how little sadness he feels at this idea of laying his sword down for a while, he has nothing to prove to anyone anymore. He has confidence in his sword skills which have been tested over and over again, he has trust in his crew and how strong they are together. They can rebuild, rest, and step into the future and whatever it holds. Joe really, really wants that-- all his daydreams these days revolve around that, what he and Marvelous would do after the Empire. He remembers talking to Marvelous about how they both weren't cut out for this work, how both of them were only fighters compared to the rest of their crew who had planets to return to if they wanted, but that feels like a memory from years ago. He's changed so much since then too.
Marvelous has a small grin on his face, "Let's dismantle that prison."
Joe nods and looks at Marvelous wondering if he should probe. None of them had asked what had happened, though it was obvious that he was badly tortured in the prison. But before Joe can say anything, Marvelous continues,
"Our real work will start after the end of the Empire. That will be my next dream to chase." He smiles, he knows this is what Joe wants, and what he wants now as well. But he would have also followed his crew on all their own dreams too, those are just as important to him. The dreams are now yours to seize, Akaranger had told them once and he is thinking more and more about this and about how Joe is right, none of them can actually afford to not be involved in what comes after. Joe was right, it was their collective failure to not be involved immediately in the rebuilding efforts after the Zangyack Empire was weakened and lost its hold on power. It allowed the people who were in power before to regroup and seize power again, it allowed reactionary and counter-revolutionary forces to become stronger, supported as they were by those who had all the wealth and power already at their disposal.
Despite all they have faced, fighting was on the whole an easier business. Making sure the planets implemented the systems they were fighting for, despite the messiness and mistakes, always trying to do better, always trying to prioritise the people, the workers; that was the hard but a very necessary part. And maybe some of the spacefarers would want to return to the places where they used to live, but even if they don't, he could make the Universe better for others. He takes a deep breath, the clouds on this planet they're passing through remind him of the ships of the spacefarers that now only live on in his dreams.
"I will of course follow you in it." Joe says feeling overjoyed, a weight lifted from his shoulders now that he doesn't have to choose between staying by Marvelous' side and being involved in reorganising the Universe. These are perhaps some more skills he will have to learn and he is determined to, his priorities have been shifting.
Joe breathes a sigh and curses slightly under his breath, a Sawiskeran curse that Gia had taught him, it was also getting harder to deal with the chronic pain flareups from his back on some days, maybe he was really just getting older, he grimaces as he straightens his back reminding himself to do more pushups today and maybe adjust some of his regular pain medications.
Nereid is all skyscrapers and tall buildings that boast of opulence. It's a rich planet and it shows, not always in the lives of all of its residents, but in the type of lifestyle they are afforded. Nereid was a planet that had already been a Zangyack stronghold during the time of their Empire, having expelled many of the people who lived there before it grew more powerful than the Zangyack as the Zangyack's influence waned. It had also served to welcome the rich landowners from Pellene, Famille and other planets. They not only brought their own wealth to the planet, but the wealth of all the planets they subjugated.
If Doc and Luka had lived even for a short while on the planet they would be indignant at all the things that have been available here that were not on their planets. But the disparity between the landowning classes and the poor had grown too much to be sustainable. Nereid had also lost its hold over other planets it once controlled.
It came as no surprise then that parts of the planet were embroiled in riots. Maybe the space pirates could claim that they were searching for treasure here, and that would be true more or less. The Nereidian Empire had treasures, but they had also made it personal by trying to kill the space pirates. The Empire was still running ads and flyers demanding the pirates surrender in person at Nereid. There was no other place they could go but straight to the Empire and its enforcers.
The Gokaigers meanwhile had received even more messages and pledges of support after Marvelous' imprisonment. People from different planets came forward in large numbers telling them how much they viewed the pirates as heroes and how much they looked up to them. Many even took up arms because the pirates inspired them directly. The Empire had once again created heroes out of pirates by targeting them. So great had their legend grown in fact in a very short span of time that there were already multiple tales of their escapade from an inescapable prison, each more and more wild.
Gai has a smug look on his face at the developments and Marvelous has to playfully shove him away. "Shut up Gai."
Gai is not in a mood to shut up. He's rubbing the fact that many people do look up to them as heroes in Marvelous-san's face.
Joe looks on amused at the teasing going on, up in the crow's nest, knowing what Marvelous is thinking: that the mantle of heroes which is ill-fitting for them at the best of times is something they can lose so easily. He's watched them be heroes after defeating Zangyack on Gai's planet with its culture of sentai heroes tasked with protecting it, and then overnight turn into villains again after the Nereidian Empire published their Wanted Posters and no one wanted to challenge Nereid because Nereid was rich and therefore had power. It always comes down to that, Joe thinks, whoever has lands or money or the means to control them has power and Nereid had both.
For now the Gokaigers are heroes again, on an even grander scale than last time, recognised, accepted and loved with multiple planets' leaders declaring, "We are all Gokaigers." He thinks it is good that many in the Universe are sharing the dreams that the Gokaigers are dreaming, that of emancipation from tyranny, that of fighting back against injustice.
"Heroes, huh." He shakes his head smiling, he would rather do the work quietly than be one.
He's on the lower deck alone, to contemplate before the fight. He's returned to Sid sempai's words again, "Your strength is not yours alone, it is all of your friends." He feels that in his heart, now that Marvelous is back, he feels calmer, more focused, more confident to take on anyone, even the whole goddamn Empire. They've all gone past the point of caring about death. They are walking with optimism and hope in their eyes believing steadfastly in their victory. They call it revolutionary optimism. It's one they've forged on Earth by defeating Ackdos Gill and the Zangyack. No longer do they believe that the Empire, any Empire is invincible and they can only do a little here and there. The road is hard for sure, but they've put in the blood, sweat and tears to get to this point. But even so, it's funny how much they echo Gai in this now, this unshakeable belief that they will win.
He also burns with a different strength now that he's looking forward to the future where he can rebuild the planets and make sure the children's lives are happier, better and safer and none of them join the Imperial military. Luka joins him on the deck and he can sense that she too shares in his outlook of the future and burns with the same fire. Eventually the rest of them also join on the deck, with Gai adopting a more sober expression as they prepare to drop down on the planet.
"Well, feels like a decisive battle one way or another," Luka says as she looks down below. The pirate flag is blowing strongly in the winds as they look at each other for the final time. "Alright, let's go." Marvelous says.
They see some processions of ships flying overhead once they land, but mostly they see the battle, the one that has been going on for a while in the form of collapsed buildings. Gai rushes immediately to a spot alarming Joe and Marvelous who wanted them to band together.
"Gai, wait," Joe calls out running after him. He doesn't want the Earthling to rush into trouble, but Gai is removing a beam that has fallen and helping the rescuers remove the people that are buried there. Joe supports him by holding the beam as well and together they manage to lift it. They find the family, alive but pretty shaken talking about how the building had collapsed. A few Nereidian soldiers are there and the pirates have no issues dealing with them.
Ahim and Luka escort them to the hospital which has also taken considerable damage. When they landed here they expected to find a battle to fight, but this, this is much more painful to contemplate. Even more so, because the Empire turned its ire on its own planet after making the lives of people on most of the planets worse in a similar manner.
"Kids," Doc calls out in shock as he sees Olavi and Amel. "What are you doing here?"
"We wanted to fight," Olavi brandishes a long pointed stick he's carrying.
"Why are you here? Where is your aunt, Olavi?" Doc bends to Olavi's level to ask. Olavi shrugs, "Probably in Tirawa. I'm not a child anymore, I wanted to stay and fight."
"So did I." Amel joins in. Sure enough both of them seem to have grown several inches since the Gokaigers last saw them. They were in the awkward stage of newly hatched teenagers, where they would rebel against things, trying to test the waters and to find their own individuality and identity in life. Marvelous can't help but feel proud of these kids earning a disappointed look from Doc and a grin from Olavi.
"You came all the way to Nereid to fight the Empire?" Ahim looks at Doc with a worried expression on her face.
"Uh-huh." Olavi sticks his chest out proudly.
Amel shakes her head. "Nah. When you dropped us in Tirawa there was a lot of fighting going on and it went on forever before things got better. Olavi's aunt was worried about us, so she sent us to this planet to stay with her sister to keep us safe."
"Nowhere safer than the heart of the Empire," Joe says thoughtfully.
"That's what she thought," Amel says in a tone which implies she strongly disagrees.
"We're not going back. We want to fight in our own way. We were inspired by Doc."
Doc points to himself looking pleased and happy.
"Don-san to you." Gai interrupts but the kids ignore him.
"It's fine Gai. Well now," Doc is looking at the others and raising his hands apologetically. He didn't think this would be the outcome of his visit to his home planet that these kids would be inspired by him to fight.
"Stay then," Marvelous says, amused at the kids' resolve. He nods at the kids and gets a nod of approval in return. "You're not making us leave, that is better than almost all the adults we ran into," the kid explains as he brandishes his makeshift weapon at one of the Empire's foot soldiers who has suddenly appeared. Marvelous shoots his gun a couple of times and the Nereidian soldier drops the weapon he was threatening Olavi with and runs away.
Marvelous remembers taking part in the rebellion on that island with all the other pirate crews when he was Olavi's age. He remembers also not finding a crew and having to make his way on his own across the Universe for a few years.
"Marvelous was probably more reckless at his age," Joe says referring to Olavi as they try to decide what to do, "Still, they should not be here."
"Not like I can send them away, Joe," Doc says recognising defiance in Olavi's look as well.
Marvelous and Luka glance at each other, both shaken by the fact that they were the same age as these two kids when they were fighting and stealing from the Zangyack, much younger in fact when they started. In hindsight, it seems obvious that they were so young, didn't always know what to do, only knew that they had to survive and fight back -- and these kids are so young. But, did they even have a right to say anything to these kids if they would have also just kept fighting, did keep fighting at their age. Yes, they wanted to bring a future where each child would get to experience their childhood, but they were not there just yet. Tantalizingly close, but there was still a last battle to win.
Marvelous grins at the kids and ruffles Olavi's hair, "Don't die kids."
"I won't." they both speak in unison. There wasn't any good way of keeping these kids safe here in the middle of a civil war, no, a genuine rebellion against the Empire, especially since the kids had made up their minds to remain and no amount of persuasion would work. Marvelous and Luka would also have not stopped fighting if the adults around them (what adults?) had told them to stop. He didn't know about Luka, but for him, he had been so angry at the Empire for what they did to his community, his people and only violence worked and seems to work against Empires. That the only time they listen to you, is when you speak in the language of violence. He shrugs, he was so eager to learn how to fight during those days and he looks at these kids and at other kids he's met in the past and sees the same anger in their eyes, and a few tears dance in his peripheral vision which he does his best to hide by ruffling Olavi's hair affectionately.
"We will all help keep these kids safe," comes a voice and the Gokaigers turn around to find Sitara, Ara and Alina walking towards them.
"You are here too?" Doc asks them. All three of them nod, the kids meanwhile have run to hug them. "We received your poetry and letters, quite a lot of them too. But we er- became busy and only could rejoin the fight now-" Doc explains. "We heard the news," Sitara nods at Marvelous who looks embarrassed, getting captured for a few months was definitely not something he had accounted for.
"I'm glad your captain is back with you all. Don't worry, we've been holding the fort. That's what comrades are for."
"Tirawa's gotten stronger. Onissya and Themis, and Famille and other planets too. We still have some ways to go, but we're operating as a united front against the Empire and countering them together. We destroyed many of their ships and much of their forces too." Ara adds looking at Alina who agrees, "Our experiences and history too has shown that the Empire will try to undermine any movement. If it was on a single planet, it stood no chance. But making a centralised united front, worker led of course, and sharing our resources, training fighters and attacking in a coordinated manner has really exposed the chinks in the armour of the Empire."
"It's still taken us some months to get to this point, because the Empire had an advantage over us. But, we're almost there. They can be defeated and we've been getting closer to it each day." Sitara says hugging Amel. "But of course you all know that very well." They all nod enthusiastically, it's always nice when their fight against the Zangyack is acknowledged.
Marvelous' ears prick up at the discussion going on near them and he's deciding whether to walk towards the strangers or to keep his distance when he espies an attack aimed at the new group. Luka who has been keeping one eye on her surroundings also spots it and nods at him.
"Watch out," he calls out pushing one of the people away as Luka does the same. The ground where they were standing just a moment ago is scorched and burnt-- the shell from a rocket is what remains, though they cannot find the source even though they search. "Ah, Mou," Luka is annoyed at how the Empire's soldiers escaped them this time.
"Sorry about that," Marvelous extends a hand to the person he had pushed away to the ground.
"The Empire doesn't fight fair, we've seen robots being used for explosions too," The stranger rubs the dirt from his sleeves. "Thank you."
There is a wariness in the stranger's tone and body language and he goes back to his group immediately, not bothering to introduce themselves or mingle. Marvelous on the other hand stands there transfixed. This is the first time he's heard snatches of the language he once knew. He wants to simultaneously talk to them, yet also give them their privacy. He's feeling a mix of emotions once again, maybe it is better for them to not meet each other.
"What is it?" Joe asks, Marvelous shakes his head, he is turning back, it is better to leave them alone when he sees them walking towards him.
"Apologies for our abruptness, living in the belly of the beast as we do, we have to be cautious in what we say, do and think. But it is silly to be so wary with comrades. Thank you for saving our lives."
Marvelous dismisses it by saying that it was a lucky coincidence that his foot slipped at the same time but that the stranger was gracious enough to not notice. His companion is amused at that and introduces himself as one of the nomadic spacefarers. They have been fighting the Empire and resisting for a very long time, but ofcourse they are few in numbers and many had to assimilate and give up everything of their culture.
"Our friend is--," Doc is excitedly blurting out before Luka elbows him and he shuts up. Luka is looking at Marvelous. It is after all his secret to reveal. No one even recognises him as a spacefarer anymore: he doesn't carry the name he was given, he doesn't speak the language, and he doesn't know or travel with other spacefarers.
"I'm Captain Marvelous."
He is trying to keep his tone casual even though he feels anything but.
"We know who you are," the people in the group murmur, they are staring at him politely, waiting for him to finish what he wants to say so that they can leave.
"I recognised some of the words you were saying just then."
They all look at him curiously at this statement and Marvelous blurts out the name of his people and the sector they used to live in, and suddenly the wariness and tautness in the man's shoulder relaxes. He sees curiosity and camaraderie in the eyes of the others as well.
He wishes in this moment that he had kept his spacefarer name and could give it to them. It was less possible in a Zangyack universe, it would have singled him out specifically even more than he was as the enemy of the Empires. But he still wonders--
He looks at them again and it feels like they all have become a lot friendlier in the span of a few moments. They want to know more about him now.
"Ah, we knew your folks. We're slightly more distantly related to you all through your grandparents, but I recognise them all the same. We used to do a lot of trade together, your community and ours."
Two other women in the group add more, one of them looks at him and shakes her head sadly, "We knew most of your parents. We attended the ceremony where five of them pledged to become part of a crew, though this was before you and your siblings were born."
Another woman takes his hand in hers, "We heard what happened to them all, and how some of your other parents were abducted and murdered even before then--"
Marvelous looks down at the ground and moves the dirt around with his foot. He never knows what to say in response, but he was one of the only spacefarers to survive from that sector as far as he knows. Everyone else was murdered by the Zangyack.
"Our community too didn't fare much better. We barely escaped and had to rebuild our lives from scratch, but it never stopped, us being murdered through wars, diseases, and famines. So we always carried a flame of resistance in our hearts and a burning hatred of Empires, knowing that someday we would like to fight back which we have been doing for the past few months. We also feel compelled to fight because we feel solidarity with the people of Nereid that were displaced for the Empire's ambitions."
Marvelous nods and murmurs a wish for all people to be able to live freely wherever they want. He wonders if they ever visit the sectors they've come from.
His companion shakes his head, "There's no one there anymore, we're all scattered on different planets, and what's worse, the Empire's names and the Empire's words have been the currency for quite a while and those sectors are no longer called what they once were. It was a very effective erasure of a collective memory, most people forgot what happened, except us. Only we continue to live with the scars and keep wondering if we even have a future. But we're still here, it's hard to get rid of us--"
Marvelous smiles at the words of his companion, it feels so good to be seen this way.
"It's quite a pleasant surprise running into you, Captain Marvelous-"
"I'm a space pirate," Marvelous says a half apology in his tone. He is fully aware of what the stereotypes have been of the spacefarers and how criminals, vagabonds and savages are usually the words anyone associated with them, and the first thing he did as soon as he was able, was get a bounty on his head--which doesn't help, probably. Not that he's ashamed in any way of being a pirate, fighting back was the only thing he could do. He wouldn't need to fight back if the Empire didn't exist. Several feelings and thoughts are raging inside him at being face to face with his people--
He feels kindly hands press on his shoulders.
"You're Gokaigers. You're part of our long history of resistance. Our people have always fought against Empires through whatever means we could. It is great to see that continued by the younger generations."
He feels a weird happiness rise in the pit of his stomach and make its way to his chest at these words.
It seems like a dream to him to actually run into an entire group of spacefarers who are here and who continue to fight, like him. Maybe he would see the node points come alive once again someday.
"We should do that." Ahim punctuates the silence after their new companions have left and they are finally alone again. "A ceremony to become part of the crew."
"Yes, yes." Doc becomes excited at that thought, "Can we Marvelous?"
"We already have been a crew for several years, idiot." Marvelous playfully teases Doc. "Should have done that when we first got together, that's the point. But, fine--" He grins, he will take any excuse to spend more time bonding with his crew.
"We sure are running into a lot of people we know." Luka says brightly as she looks around while walking.
"Maybe we will run into Sairians as well." Marvelous says in a low voice.
"Oh, I already spoke to them. They are here." Ahim explains cheerfully. "I've kept in touch with them ever since they came to our aid on Famille."
"Ahim." Marvelous feels proud of her resourcefulness. They owe a lot to the Sairians, no, he owes a lot to them for the way he forged his identity, his fashion, even the way he understood gender because Sairians were the only ones in the Universe he knew who had no need for gender as an oppressive social class to be enforced on people against their will which was what a lot of planets did.
They still changed their genders and went on hormones and made their bodies into the shape they desired, they weren't constrained by anything except their desires and wishes in how they wanted to live. Atamai, their leader, had also introduced the Gokaigers to a lot of writing on how to organise societies. "The reason to read and learn from forms of governance that have worked and have been written about is that they provides a systemic framework through which we can intervene and change the Universe." Atamai had told Marvelous and the crew when they were discussing how to approach the fighting on Famille to take back Ahim's planet from her royalist aunt and cousin. "The Universe is not static and cold. We are the Universe."
"You need some framework on which you build what you're fighting for," she had told Marvelous. "Otherwise your fight, even though it rose out of valid grievances, will be in vain. You will achieve nothing if you don't have concrete goals and what you're working towards. The movement that grows will lose momentum."
This is why he agreed with Joe, they had to build towards a Universe that would not let the Empires develop in the first place. That was the most urgent thing to do.
"Marvelous," Joe points out, his voice angry and shaking as another building collapses. The Empire, challenged on all fronts was adopting a scorched planet approach.
The robots the spacefarer comrades had mentioned become visible. They are being used to cause explosions and kill people including rebels. The Gokaigers spend a lot of time trying to destroy them and rescue more people. Ahim is shaking with anger at all of this, all of this is too too familiar to her. "How can they do this," she keeps repeating, while she transforms into Gokai Pink and destroys some of the robots which are carrying bombs.
As they are occupied in that business, they come face to face with another Commander, Talun. She was one of a handful of Commander close to the Emperor and involved in many different operations including trying to assasinate the pirates.
"Gokaigers, we finally meet," She says. "Do you like our planet and our hospitality?"
"Why are you targeting people trying to flee?" Ahim asks her face still angry almost on the verge of tears.
Talun doesn't answer, Marvelous cocks his head to one side. Clearly talking is no use. "Gokai Change", they all say in unison. The fight is intense, when Talun feels like she is losing, she sends robots in the middle of a group of unarmed people.
"Watch out!" Ahim and Marvelous call out. They try to reach the group in harm's way leaving themselves open for attacks from the Commander.
"Leave it to me Gokaigers."
"Jealoushitto! What are you doing here?"
They have never been so glad to see Jealoushitto. He throws himself on the robot to save the people Ahim and Marvelous were trying to save and doesn't receive a single scratch.
"Well, talk about timing." Doc says shaking his hand. In the next moment though, they need to focus on defeating Talun while Jealoushitto disappears searching for more bombs.
The pirates manage to defeat her and her army of Nereidian soldiers eventually. Having bitten their teeth on the toughest Zangyack Commanders has made them capable enough of defeating Nereidian Commanders as well.
"Marvelous." Luka points to the ships that have been hovering and dropping fire and bombs.
Marvelous has a strange gleam in his eyes.
"We have the Gokai Galleon, I can get close enough to destroy several ships at once." He turns to Joe, "Can you guys hold the fort here?"
"Sure," Joe says, "leave it to us."
"Please." With that Marvelous runs towards Gokai Galleon which is being manned by Navi.
"Hey, Bird. Are you up for a dangerous mission?" Marvelous grabs the wheel.
"What?" she asks flying around looking worried.
"Just kidding, I think you should go somewhere safe." Marvelous grins booting Navi off the ship. He makes sure three or four of their ships are chasing after the Galleon before blasting them with the cannons. Most of the ships have been destroyed already during the months long battle, but Marvelous makes sure there are no Nereidian ships flying overhead shooting at unarmed civilians. He finally returns to the rest of his crew to find them trying to help more people out of the fallen buildings.
"Did I keep you all waiting too much?" He grins almost out of breath.
"Didn't even notice you were gone." Joe grins as he's helping Gai and Doc rescue more people while Luka and Ahim finish fighting off a minor Commander.
Chapter 18: Those Wretched Pirates
Chapter Text
Amrundor, the leader of the Nereidian Empire watches from the safest building in the Universe, from the building that is so grand and majestic that one can see several planets from it.
It is known as the White Palace-- the Empire isn't known for its creativity. He has been watching the unrest unfold here, on Nereid for the past several months with dismay, fearing for his and his family's lives. In his youth, Amrundor had briefly flirted with joining the fight against the Zangyack but hadn't lasted much long, being discouraged by the first signs of things turning pear shaped to switch sides. While the Zangyack Empire continued to decline under Ackdos Gill and Warz Gill, the Nereidian Empire's star was on the rise.
His ambitions soon became grandiose overtaking even the former Nereidian Emperor who was known to have turned away multiple refugees from Nereid once. He was openly inspired by the Zangyack Empire and their deliberate acts of cruelty against multiple planets and did not care to hide that fact; exploitation of other planets brought him riches and power. Anyone who stood in his way was executed or disappeared. He saw how much the Zangyack got away with, in their heyday and determined to do the same, with the result that his family and Nereid in general made billions even as the Zangyack Empire fell into chaos and left multiple governments of the planets including Doc's to scramble to set up any kind of system in place. They, like multiple other planets became indebted to Nereid for everything.
Since then his stature and wealth had only grown. He was not as imposing as the rest of the Emperors, he was slight in stature compared to other Emperors, was indistinguishable in appearance from the humans on planet Earth, with one exception that he could shift into a different form to fight- one he had made stronger by using the best Nereidian science and technology.
Despite all those advantages, the bilge rats --those filthy pirates had continued to be a source of annoyance to his ambitions, he thought of them as vermin that needed to be stamped out even while he could not help admire their bravery sometimes. Brave vermin were still vermin to his mind.
He especially despised their Captain and had done so for years; this so called Captain Marvelous. Amrundor had looked into him: spacefarer, vagabond, part of the people from the islands and ships in the middle of the planets, the people who had given the Zangyack so much trouble and resistance when they first started their colonisation project. Brave fool who refused to die by the hands of the Zangyack and by the hands of the Nereidian Empire. He watches Captain Marvelous rescuing people now, putting himself in harm's way over and over and he sneers at the act, being a coward is safer. The ships fly overhead to cause more destruction and deaths but many are also falling like flies to the ground, the work of the pirates, no doubt.
He still debates whether to join the fight or not. He did not have any plans to, the Commaders and the Nereidian soldiers were enough. But, seeing the pirates clash with the Commanders and come on top, he reluctantly descends from his Palace to join the fray to protect what is his at all costs. The pirates intend to dismantle the Empire, he knows their politics and it angers and scares him to imagine living in the future they want to bring into existence. He's lost three Commanders in quick succession as well as more ships. He will not be cowed by them, he is determined to defeat them and turn the tide of the battle to his advantage.
He clears away whole swaths of resistance fighters with the flick of his powerful sword as he walks on the Nereidian streets. He is annoyed that they keep attacking, keep fighting after so many months. Don't they know Nereid is superior in every way to them? Don't they know they come from poor impoverished planets? How dare they challenge the might of Nereid.
He's made it a point to study resistance fighters all his life, and he's studied the pirates over the years of course, their weaknesses and blind spots. This was how he knew that the rest of them would go to rescue their captain and so he had him put in prison. It was reckless but brave of them to survive all that, it is true, especially Captain Marvelous. He didn't think that someone would be able to survive the harsh captivity of one of their most notorious prisons. To be fair, many hadn't, they had disappeared into its gaping mouth never to be found. The fact that Captain Marvelous and his crew survived it irked him the most.
It is different seeing the pirates face to face, the intensity in the Captain's eyes, the fierce abandon in the way the entire crew fights makes him pause and for a moment consider that he has already lost; it is evident that they don't care about death, are willing to risk it to achieve their dreams. He still has enough of the Nereidian and Zangyack military at his disposal to be able to defeat them after months of the fight but he is also afraid of their courage and how they fight.
"Vagabond Space Pirate, is that all you can do?" Amrundor walks towards the pirates as he uses his sword to blast them all backwards. He feels a specific vitriol towards Captain Marvelous, he walks over to him and casually picks him by his hair, earning a wince. "I have to confess, your reputation made you out to be a more worthy opponent than you're proving to be, Captain Marvelous."
"How dare you." Joe blurts out from beside Marvelous.
Marvelous can't help but laugh, "Your reputation made you out to be more of a dangerous egotistical ruler than you are. Instead your Commanders are so brave for killing innocent unarmed people while you hide in your palace."
He pushes Marvelous' head towards the ground, wipes his hands from the dirt, and laughs. "I preferred to keep my hands clean. Unlike the Zangyack Emperors."
Joe is reminded of the way Hofner had talked. It all feels eerily similar. He can't help but laugh even as the Gokaigers struggle to get up.
"The way we worked was by promising the already weakened planets after the Zangyack Empire was defeated," the Emperor takes a short walk forward and then turns, "some help to lift themselves out of poverty. Before they realised it was a trap, they were in too deep. We must have taken over almost a hundred, two hundred planets this way in the span of a few years. It was easier since we didn't have to destroy them, only subjugate them to us forever. Not bad wouldn't you say?" He puffs out his chest.
"Shuddup idiot." Luka calls out.
Marvelous has stood up by now, "Will you quit your yapping?"
"We don't want to listen to a history lesson about how you turned into an Empire. We know," Joe says also getting up.
"We're only concerned about taking away your power," Ahim says.
"I don't like people like you," Doc adds.
"I want an end of Empires everywhere." Gai chimes in.
"We don't like Empires and what we don't like, we crush." Marvelous says. He could say a lot more things. He's had a lot of time to reflect on and get more acquainted with the systems and circumstances that create Empires and the ones that created the Nereidian Empire. But this is the way he knows how to express his anger. He was never one for big fancy speeches.
The Emperor blasts another beam from his sword, even though the Gokaigers duck, they are unable to mount any effective attack.
"Marvelous, his sword is too powerful," Joe calls out and Marvelous nods.
"Ah, we need to find a way to destroy that first."
"Luka keep an eye out for any weakness we can exploit." Joe tells her.
"Ayo!" Luka scans the sword during the fight, her eyes are sharp and notice things in greater detail than the rest of them.
The Emperor it seems is enjoying this, he strolls over to Marvelous, deflecting his attacks. Another blast from his sword causes Marvelous to fall again. He casually walks over and puts his boot over Marvelous' left hand drawing blood. "Is this the best you can do?" Marvelous asks even as he winces in pain. The Emperor uses more blasts from the sword to propel him backwards.
"Marvelous." Joe shouts and receives a backhanded beam from the sword which he manages to dodge. Luka, Ahim, Doc and Gai do the same.
"Marvelous-san."
Marvelous manages to get up again.
"You're vermin who refuse to die, especially you, Captain Marvelous. I have to marvel at how an uneducated, miserable little spacefarer made it this far. We did our best to crush you all for centuries. Why? Why are you still alive?"
"There isn't any humiliation you can inflict on me that I haven't been through, no suffering that I haven't experienced. There is nothing you can do that would hurt me," Marvelous says, getting up and wiping the blood from his lips, a feral look in his eyes.
"Are you an idiot or what?" Luka says, also getting up.
"You will soon be forgotten by history." Ahim says. "All tyrants have been."
"We on the other hand are prepared to fight and die for our dreams." Gai retorts.
Together they manage to find an opening to prevent him from sending multiple powerful attacks from his sword simultaneously.
"Joe, now!" Luka calls out, she has seen a way to exploit the sword's weakness.
Joe uses the sword technique he had learned from Sid Sempai to mount their attack. The Emperor was powerful, but not invincible.
"Callow tyrant, we've seen worse than you." Marvelous says as their fight gains momentum finally. They manage to overwhelm the Emperor enough for him to drop his sword and Gai and Joe break its powerful beams rendering it ordinary.
"Let's make our final stand extremely showy." Marvelous says as all of them attack.
"Why are you all so powerful." The Emperor shouts, his attacks having no effect anymore.
Marvelous grins, "We're sending you to hell." They launch several more attacks pushing the Emperor back more and more as he's forced to continually be on the defensive. Their final attack causes him to burst into a shower of sparks, his last words, "Damn you, pirates."
"We did it?" Doc asks hesitatingly, not believing it. None of them can believe it as well, the fight on Earth had seemed different since they had the whole power of sentai behind them. It feels almost anti-climactic this time, some ships are still shooting, people are still trapped under the rubble and need rescuing. They still need to keep going.
"We still need to clean up here." Joe says, after a pause echoing the sentiments the rest of them feel. Before they can say or do anything, there is a sudden explosion and they rush to the site to find Marvelous' spacefarer friend caught in the crosshairs.
He is breathing heavily, Marvelous bends down to find he's bleeding, "You're hurt." Marvelous doesn't even know his name.
The spacefarer shakes his head, "I wanted to pass on the good you've done for me." They see that he was protecting a group of children which included Olavi and Amel too. Most of the children were very young and Luka feels a strange sense of protectiveness rising in her again. She would do anything to protect these kids, all the kids in the Universe from being in situations like this.
Marvelous doesn't know what to say, he only holds the man in his arms, his eyes shining with tears that he blinks away. He hasn't known him for very long, but he can't help it. It feels like losing AkaRed all over again, someone who could have been his mentor as an older spacefarer and Marvelous doesn't know what to do with that.
"I am glad I got to live for a short while in the Universe where we've defeated the Nereidian Empire. Now I leave it all in your hands, Gokaigers. I know you have big dreams about it and I trust those dreams."
The spacefarer's breath is coming in shallow bursts even as he makes a great effort to say this and clasp Marvelous' hand in his bloodied ones.
His eyes soon close and his body goes limp. Ahim starts weeping silently.
Marvelous carries the spacefarer's body in his arms to where he can see the rest of them gathered, they seem to know already that one of their comrades is dead. His heart sinks as he approaches them even though he's unable to articulate what the death means to him and why he feels more shaken than he should.
"Thank you for bringing him back," His wife hugs Marvelous. "Itri couldn't stop talking about you after he met you."
Marvelous feels embarrassed at that.
We will have a funeral to honour our comrade. You are invited of course, he would want you to be there. We would all be honoured if you do too." Another spacefarer whose name stands for a pretty moon on a far away galaxy, shakes his hand, and he nods.
"The Empire was so effective in dividing us even though we're from the same community. It feels strange, you already should have been part of our lives but now we want to invite you in sharing our lives and our deaths, our joys and sorrows with us."
Marvelous doesn't reply, he bends down, his eyes soft and sad as he stares at Itri's peaceful sleeping face. He whispers a soft goodbye, comrade before getting up and walking away deep in thought.
Olavi and Amel rush to the Gokaigers after they have been walking for a few moments, "Thank you Gokaigers!" Marvelous has no heart to even come up with an excuse. He ruffles Olavi's hair and gives a weak smile but keeps walking, with Joe and Doc squeezing his shoulders.
"Go back to your aunt, Olavi," Doc is beginning to tell him before he remembers his own complicated feelings about families and Luka's dream of creating communities that take care of children on every planet. They need to find ways to replicate the model from Themis where Luka played a big role in implementing it and where it is working well to everywhere else in the Universe. It wouldn't matter if Olavi stays with his aunt, he will have adults to take care of him. All children should be the responsibility of the adults around them, all the elderly too. In the universe they are trying to shape, everyone owes each other kindness and care.
"We didn't do anything," Ahim says as she follows feeling distressed at Marvelous-san feeling so lost and wounded.
"You okay?" Joe asks and Marvelous nods though he doesn't say anything, what is there to be said?
They don't have time to talk since the crew are occupied with the work of rescuing people which goes on till the long hours of the Nereidian night. Some ingenious volunteers have repurposed the Nereidian robots that were being used to kill people, into helpers which are removing debris and rescuing people who are still stuck and hard to reach. This has made the work faster, they rescue as many people as they can.
The Nereidians commanders and others close to the Emperor have either been arrested or killed. The rest of the Nereidian soldiers lay down their arms and are taken into custody. Joe sees the same dark uniform he used to wear being discarded permanently and feels a great sense of relief. There is jubilation among everyone on the planet as the final rockets and bullets die down and there is quiet.
Many are on the streets to look for and take part in honouring their dead. The Nereidian Empire had dumped the people they killed unceremoniously. Not even in death did the Empire afford anyone dignity and kindness. The next few days will see many griefs acknowledged. It seems to the Gokaigers that even having your relatives returned to you in death, had been a privilege under the Empire especially if you were suspected of being an enemy of the Empire. Many never were returned even after death or there was no news of whether they were alive or dead as had been the case for Doc's family.
They can see people breaking down as they receive news of their loved ones deaths or finally hold their bodies in death.
"Let's go to the Galleon, Gai and I made dinner." Doc says as his watch shows the time as the early hours of the morning and they are all feeling sombre at the planet that is grieving, that is finally allowed to grieve after several months. It will only be dark for an hour or two before the nearest star emerges to shine its rays over the planet and flood it with light.
"Hear that?" He asks Luka after they have been walking for some distance and the Galleon which is anchored and waiting, finally comes in view.
"What?" she questions feeling alarmed and trying to listen, wondering if Doc has picked up a hidden threat she missed.
"Exactly! It's so peaceful and quiet," Doc grins at her and receives an elbow to his chest. The resistance groups are celebrating, it had been a really long battle against the Empire. They had invited the Gokaigers too, but all of them are so worn-out, tired and hungry that they don't have the strength to go. They will also have to leave soon if they want to attend the funeral at the Node Point which is almost eight or nine sleeps away.
Itri's family had decided to revive the ritual of memorialising their dead, at one of the Node Points that had been used for this purpose for a millennia, before the Zangyack interrupted everything.
Their spirits lift up as they walk through the streets and markets that are filling up with people. The mood on the planet is full of hope for the future, the Gokaigers are being thanked and invited enthusiastically to homes of strangers they have never met, all eager to thank them.
Ahim smiles, "It wasn't really just our fight. Everyone came together and played a part or we never would have come this far--"
"--so you don't need to thank us." Doc completes Ahim's sentence. They all feel embarrassed at the profuse gratitude they are being shown. More than any other fight, this would not have been won if everyone else hadn't kept on fighting and challenging the Empire.
Navi greets them as soon as they arrive on the Galleon and they rush towards the dining table without further ceremony. Even though the fare is pretty simple- some rice bowls that Doc and Gai had prepared some hours ago, it tastes so much more delicious in this moment than any rice bowl has ever done. Everyone focuses their attention on dinner and besides the scraping of spoons against bowls there is peace and quiet on the ship.
Chapter 19: A Funeral among the Stars
Chapter Text
The stars and planets continue their rotations and revolutions.
As the days move forward, Gokaigers continue surveying the changes with interest as well as receiving news about them from the various groups they work together with.
The supporters of the Empire were already having their wealth and lands taken from them and distributed to everyone else on other planets and now that is being enforced on Nereid and Pellene as well. The inhabitants of this planet who were displaced by the Empire are returning. There is much celebration as they arrive, as some who were part of the Empire but were from Pellene, start leaving for their own planet. Pellene too is undergoing radical changes with a complete overhaul of their current government, replaced by the one led by the workers on that planet.
The shift takes time on Pellene since Pellene was the planet from where Zangyack had emerged. Their military facilities, most of the militaries on the different planets in fact, are reduced in half, with the militaries being used for dealing with counter-revolutionary forces that emerge in these early days only. No more children being drafted or signing up to join the wars, Joe heaves a great sigh of relief at that. There was specific effort to ensure that this time they got things right. Maybe not everything, since the work of Shaping the Universe is too big and ongoing and will be for years and they might make mistakes here and there, but at least everyone wanted to and is committed to getting the broad strokes right.
Things had started changing and shifting subtly as well, a different culture was emerging from the one pushed by the Empires for decades; the seeds of which had been laid even before much of the fighting started. A culture that was not based on exploiting the planets and exploiting the people. There was more focus on giving people who changed genders or wanted to change gender more rights and more freedoms and a dismantling of the patriarchy that had become more embedded with Zangyack even though it had been in place before them too, had begun as well. There was more focus on giving children more rights and making them less dependent on only a few people, on ensuring orphans of the Universe were looked after by everyone and thrived-- something that was started on Luka's planet Themis, but was spilling out everywhere and Luka was involved in these discussions feeling like she had achieved her little dream.
Even though outside the mood is shifting and changing as spring transforms winter, the inside of the Galleon has become much quieter, a sorrow pervades it, seeping in without them noticing - sometimes fluid like water it covers all surfaces, other times like a bird it flutters from one room to another, dampening the mood and none of them know what to do with it. The Galleon's hum and Navi's murmurs the only things breaking the too still and silent dinners these days. Ahim tries to break the quiet by discussing some of the changes she has been seeing and has been involved with.
"Good," Marvelous says, before he turns his focus on his plate again and the silence pools and fills again, and none of them know what to do except focus on their plates as well.
They suspect the reason for the quiet and some of the gloom is because the Spacefarer Itri's funeral is approaching. Itri was killed protecting the children during the battle. Marvelous and his crew had been specifically invited by Itri's community, and even though they hadn't decided whether to go or not, they needed to make a decision pretty soon. The sorrow and quiet on the Galleon, on Marvelous' part mostly, draws them all into it, because Marvelous draws them all in with whatever mood he's feeling even when he's sitting quietly in the Captain's chair not saying anything. That has always been the case. Luka and Joe both think that someone should talk to him. They keep signalling to each other with their eyes during the dinner hoping the other person would.
"What are spacefarer funerals like?" Ahim wonders after a long pause.
Marvelous shrugs as he drags the spoon across the plate and chews the rice thoughtfully. "Who knows."
"We are going to attend the funeral right?" Luka asks.
"Would be rude not to I think," Gai chimes in looking at Marvelous as he clears the dinner table.
"I think, it would be good for us to attend," Ahim and Doc agree as they wheel in the tea trolley and settle down together to enjoy tea and have long discussions that drag into the long hours of what is late night on the Galleon.
"Of course we're attending the funeral, aren't we?" Joe folds his arms and looks questioningly at Marvelous.
Marvelous shrugs, he wasn't sure if he wanted to go, but his crew thinks they should, so they will. He himself feels some kind of an obligation to go even if he is hesitant and would have been very glad to have an option not to attend, if his crew had showed any inclination of that sort.
He doesn't know how spacefarers' funerals work. What is he supposed to do once he gets there? Will he be the only one wondering what rituals to fulfill despite being a spacefarer? Probably. Which was why he really didn't want to go. It was working out fine, to not mourn, to forget everything that happened, to bury everything including feelings of pain and sadness deep inside. A few glitches inadvertently happened here and there such as when they came near that particular sector and something in him refused to pass through - a manageable event. But now he's confronted with all the griefs, past and present.
His breath hitches a little as he makes his way to the bridge after dinner, to steer the ship to a place he doesn't remember anything about, except its coordinates. Why did he even memorise those? Did he think he might go there someday? His crew would tell him that that was indeed the case. That he believed in the Empire being dismantled completely one day, not just the visible present threat but all its trappings, which were now being removed, bit by bit. The revolution wasn't complete, it was ongoing. But the trappings being removed, has been allowing grief to flow in and fill his being with it, as if a valve had been opened. He steers the ship in silence.
After a while Ahim knocks, "Aren't you going to sleep Marvelous-san?"
"I'm taking the first watch," he says not looking at her. "It's only fair I do that as the captain and because I like being awake at this time." He grins, his crew is aware of how he likes sleeping in late in the mornings.
"I will take it with you." Ahim says since she's not feeling particularly sleepy and Luka-san and others were playing cards to relax. Marvelous does not have the heart to turn her away. He would be glad of some company even if he is not in a mood to talk. He's thinking of the spacefarer's name, Itri, 'of the stars', many of them had names that referenced celestial bodies.
Ahim doesn't make any attempt to talk of what is on his mind, and he feels grateful. They discuss the future and he is always impressed at how clear and focused Ahim is and has become in terms of understanding and appraising the political situations. He would feel lost without her, without all of them. He squeezes her hand and she kisses his cheek softly. He holds her in her arms for a while, feeling calmer as he feels her heart beating against his, her warmth and softness offering comfort. He finally lets her go after a few moments to turn back to steering the ship.
She walks upstairs to the crow's nest to keep watch.
The space is a lived-in being to the spacefarers, for that reason they had decided to hold the funeral at the closest Node Point to honour Itri because Node Points are tiny nodules that open into and give a view of the vast stretches of space that planets did not. The Node Points are returning to life again, looking like defiant glimmers in the vast darkness as more and more spacefarers gather to honour Itri, their fallen comrade.
Marvelous is either on the bridge or on the bowsprit most of the time only returning to the living quarters to eat and sleep. He continues to be quiet and distant. Gai wants to talk to Marvelous-san but Joe stops him. Let him deal with the weight of grief and mourning, he will talk to them if he wants to. They don't need to talk about or share everything, they just need to be there for the crew. That's how Marvelous has always run the ship.
Joe, Luka, Doc, Ahim and Gai are mulling around in the living quarters.
"We had a lot of commemorative ceremonies after we helped overthrow the monarchy," Ahim is saying. "It was a relief, as much as it was sad. I felt like I had been holding this weight first to fight and defeat Zatsurig and then finally to defeat my aunt and my cousin's ambitions of becoming a monarchy before we could do all that. But I did mourn my parents over the years, in different ways. After the monarchy was overthrown there was a lot of celebration and a lot of mourning."
"How do you do funerals, Ahim san?" Gai asks.
"We don't have one way. It depended on the parts of the planet." Ahim's eyes become soft. "The Northern part of our planet remains very cold, all year round, colder than your Earth, Gai-san. Most people would bury the body in a hole in ice and cover it with something, animal skins or a log or cloth. It is different in the South, there are other ways of dealing with death but I'm not familiar with those much. But it was different for us who were rich and from the aristocracy. All the people I knew had monuments dedicated to the dead. The more the money a family had the more lavish the monuments became." Ahim scrunches her nose in distaste. "We abolished those with the abolishment of the monarchy and with more of a workers' government now everyone gets the same respect and dignity in death, even the people who can't afford it."
"It is the same for us, there are different ways of mourning the dead on different parts of my planet." Gai says feeling surprised. "I thought you all would have very different rituals from us on Earth."
"Well, we're not that different from you Gai, we just live on different planets," Doc says. "We may be aliens to you, but you are also the same to us."
"Yes, I know." Gai says. Sometimes he forgets that, sometimes he believes they are just like him and then sometimes he assumes they are completely different and even though there are things that are different about all of them because of the planets they come from, in truth they seem more alike, a fact which takes Gai by surprise sometimes.
"What was it like for you Don-san?"
"Oh you know, the usual, listening to family members complain and gossip at your elderly relatives funerals-" Doc's voice trails off, his voice a little broken. He never did find out what happened to his family. He assumes they are dead, there is such a small possibility they are still alive. But- he never got to mourn them. There are tears in his eyes, he makes an excuse to return to the kitchen. A few tears spill out from his eyes and he rubs them off before returning.
"--so what was I saying, Ah! Yes." Doc smiles, "I once ended up at a ceremony for the dead."
"Did you go there on your own?" Luka is looking at him suspiciously.
"Well, no! Some of my university friends dragged me along." Doc says. "But on our planet they leave food every night after there is death in the family. This is so the dead spirits who arrive to take the dead with them would have something for the way."
"And you went there to eat some food?" Luka teases Doc.
"Luka!"
Gai is listening to the story transfixed, "Don-san please continue--"
Doc smiles, "My colleagues wanted to see if the spirits would show up to take the dead."
"And?" Joe leans in.
"I ran away from there before I could find out."
Luka makes a tch-tch sound from her tongue.
"It was dark, okay?" Doc tries to justify himself, "And I did think I had seen a ghost. I didn't know about the dances. Not every family has the dances. Our family never did." Doc thinks of his scientist father tolerating an entire week of dancing and fireworks and intricate paper decorations after the death of his favourite aunt and it feels inconceivable to him. At least he ended up making a lot of paper decorations for the funeral of his great aunt.
"There were dances and the mourners had painted their faces in white and it was dark and it felt like they were ghosts and--"
"Oh Doc-san." Ahim squeezes his shoulders and Doc hides behind her while sticking his tongue out at Luka who rolls her eyes and elbows him.
"What about you Joe?" Doc quickly deflects from himself.
"Me?" Joe smiles bitterly. "Oh I have seen many funerals, alright. They were always of the high ranking Zangyack officers-- you would think that low ranking officers never died. But they died in large numbers and were buried or burned or disappeared somewhere, no one knows where. The high ranking officials when they died were all presented to us wrapped in great shrouds. There were a lot of speeches that followed all the crying from their families. It all felt too artificial, now that I think of it. The staged, over the top crying, the eulogies that would never end. You would think that that Imperial Officer was the most beloved person in the Universe. By my sixth or seventh funeral, I had grown tired and weary. It was all the same. They all vowed to burn the planets in revenge after every funeral. And they did." Joe's voice is bitter. "There was a lot of food in the mess though, afterwards and we ate well. That's all I remember. You get desensitised to it after a while. I looked forward to the food, didn't examine what was going on too closely at that time--" There is a sadness in his voice.
"What about you Luka?"
"I-" Luka turns to look through the porthole. She still remembers the night Fia died, she has also not attended any funerals on her planet. She was too young when her parents were killed and then she raised Fia on the streets. Who even had time for grief or mourning when you were too busy trying to keep yourself and a handful of children alive in all kinds of weather and under constant fire from Zangyack and destruction of your planet. What was happening on Nereid a few sleeps ago was eerily reminiscent of what the Zangyack did to her planet, except on Nereid it was the Empire turning on itself in a civil war-esque manner after all the sources through which it exploited the other planets were cut off. It was the snake eating its tail; the hunted whale doing the hunting, as they would say on her planet.
It wasn't like the children didn't die. She buried Fia with her bare hands, there was nothing else she could do. Whatever rites or rituals there were, it didn't matter. She buried her, hoping the North Star would watch over her sister, and then mad with grief she chose to rob the Zangyack without any plans. Other children had died before Fia. She made sure they had their blanket for comfort in death. She couldn't always bury them too. Sometimes they all had to move forward too quickly, to keep out of the line of fire of the ships. Sometimes there was no way to save them from the ships fire, not even bodies could be recovered. She had been lucky in that regard she had been able to bury Fia. She knows that sometimes the Zangyack didn't let mourning or funerals happen because they would lead to more unrest against them. Grief could be a powerful force to bring people together to want to fight and resist the Empire. She clenches her hands, forcing herself to compose herself.
"Luka san?" Ahim goes to her.
"Ahim--" Luka puts out a hand to keep her at a distance, if Ahim looks at her with kindness and love Luka will start crying on her shoulder. She deals with griefs, the only way she knows how, by not thinking of them at all because the children's deaths are always the heaviest for her to bear. Children shouldn't have to die, and yet they did and were even targeted by the Empire specifically.
"I don't want to talk about all this right now." She runs upstairs to the crow's nest.
After a few hours it is Joe who brings her her jacket.
"Thanks," she says taking it.
"You alright?" Joe asks.
"I'm great!" she doesn't mean it to come off as sarcastic as it does but she is still feeling a bit raw and on edge, the razor sharp grief becoming harder and harder to contain inside of her.
"Point taken." Joe says. "Sorry for putting you on the spot."
"It's alright. Talking about the past is just, well it never gets easier does it?" Luka says and Joe shakes his head.
"I keep thinking about Sid sempai and how when I first believed he died, I had to keep on moving because the Zangyack were on my tail and would be for several more sleeps. I couldn't mourn him." Joe says. "I attended so many funerals where the Empire told me I should grieve because they were my fellow soldiers but I felt nothing and then I couldn't grieve the one person I wanted to grieve."
Luka nestles into his shoulder. "Now you can and should."
"I did when I killed Barizorg." Joe smiles. "This will seem ridiculous, but, I saw Sid sempai then."
"Nothing seems ridiculous to me anymore," Luka says. She wants to punch Joe for distracting her and making her feel better. "Thanks Joe," she says, then after a while she adds, "you've grown so much wiser. It's annoying."
Joe grins as he wraps her in his arms and kisses her forehead softly a few times.
The closer Marvelous gets to the site, the more dismayed he feels as the light from the nearby stars throws all the damage it has taken over the years into sharp relief.
When they finally drop the anchor, it becomes evident, not even their griefs have survived unharmed by the Empires. Many of the memorials on this Node Point are missing or torn down. The last caretaker of this site had to leave, forced away by the Empire. It is in disarray and ruin, though Itri's community have been trying to clear what they can.
"We are in the process of restoring this site." Zaria and Qamar, two of Itri's friends explain as they greet Marvelous.
"That reminds me, I wanted to ask you-" Zaria looks at Qamar and takes a deep breath. "It is a big ask but we were hoping you could help us set up memorials for your community too. Many of our people are missing from here. We weren't able to care for this place when the Zangyack and then Nereidians were around."
Qamar continues, "Everything here is falling apart, we will have to restore it and it will take several years. But we want to honour all the spacefarers especially the ones who were killed by the Zangyack because we don't have numbers and names for the people who were killed then."
Marvelous doesn't know what to say in response. On one hand having his community memorialised and remembered by other spacefarers is something beyond his wildest imaginations; he would actually be able to visit this site if he wanted to, and keep their memories alive. Other spacefarers would also be able to remember them, they would not be forgotten and consigned to obscurity after he died and he really wants that for them.
On the other hand, his heart hurts so much at the idea of thinking about that time deliberately, thinking about all the people who should be alive and who aren't. It goes beyond his family too. His parents' friends, their crews, everyone he ever knew as a child was killed that day and in the days that followed. Even his siblings, who were also children. They were all mercilessly slaughtered by the Zangyack. He clenches his fists, it's not something that is easy to talk about even now. All he wants is to keep moving forward, and forget that part of his life even though they all deserve better, they deserve to be honoured and remembered, especially since he's forgotten much of who they were and what they did. It had taken till now from discussions with other spacefarers, to learn how fiercely his parents and their various crews had fought against the Empire before he was even born.
His face carries signs of a visible struggle within himself.
"All we ask is that you think about it." Zaria claps him on the shoulder as she and Qamar leave.
Marvelous spends the rest of the day on the bowsprit thinking about the proposal. He doesn't want to talk to his crew about this and thankfully they understand. The funeral has also occupied them completely.
In the evening the Node point lights up to honour the spacefarers who have died fighting the Empire. It is a sight to behold. The node points are connected to other Node points through webs of gas and other matter, so when one lights up, the other Node Points also do. It allows spacefarers who could not make the journey to travel to their nearest Node Point to attend the ceremony.
Zaria stands solemnly in the front and reads out all the names. When she comes to Marvelous' community, he feels a sudden jolt inside and gulps a little. He had given the names for the memorial. It would have felt wrong not to. Even so, the reading of the names comes as a shock, he was not expecting it, his eyes grow moist and he has to walk away for a while from the ceremony.
Doc squeezes his hand when he returns back and he feels grateful. It takes a long time to read out most of the names, the Empire had massacred thousands of spacefarers, initially to stop them from challenging their growing might and then to amass economic power and expansion unchallenged. There must always be an exploitable underclass for the Empire to function and spacefarers fulfilled that function for a long time before the Empire subjugated other planets and their people to their will.
The ceremony continues, Zaria talks about Itri and the others who lost their lives recently. Everyone has so many fond memories to share. It stings Marvelous a little that he does not have that for his community but he smiles hearing the warm ways the people who fought and died recently are being remembered. More than anything he is happy they finally have the space and time to grieve.
The ceremony ends with the prayers which were always a part of the spacefarers funerals, and even though Marvelous knows the first few words from memory, the rest of the Prayers are completely foreign to him.
He doesn't know the words or what to do and he walks away again feeling the full weight of how completely he has been severed from his own culture by the Empire who had always looked down on spacefarers' culture and rituals as being backward and childish so they could be assimilated into the Empire's dominant culture.
More than all that also, he feels like colonialism changed the way he connected with the spacefarers. Some of the people he's met only now, used to live only a few sectors away from where he was born. In a different Universe, they would have been friends from childhood or traded with each other or attended each other's name-days and important events. He's not one to linger on what-if's in a Universe where the Empire has never existed but he's not oblivious to how the Empire severed the connections between spacefarers by taking over sectors to cut them off from one another to prevent their organising and banding together against them.
His crew finds him in the crow's nest looking above, at the stars-- Node Points always had the best view of the nearest stars. It felt like he was connecting with his five year old self which was when he was last here properly. Marvelous is glad to have experienced the grief and mourning as a spacefarer for the first time in his life and even though he is grateful to get the chance to mourn, it has been one of the hardest things he has experienced.
He clutches at Joe's jacket pulling him into a hug and Joe leans in. He can only imagine how raw and vulnerable Marvelous must be feeling. Even he didn't escape feeling a whirlwind of emotions. Joe lets Marvelous cling to him, holding him close to his chest for several long moments before Marvelous finally lets go, composes himself and walks back downstairs.
"One is missing." Marvelous says in the morning as he finally appears for breakfast. "Where's Luka?" His eyes have dark circles under them.
"She needs to do her own thing." Joe says, he's been noticing she has been looking distracted and is too silent. Luka has also never been the sharing kind and Joe respects her wishes. He knows and loves Luka too well to push her when she doesn't want to talk.
Marvelous shrugs, "Fine."
Luka watches the children get dressed for the second day of the memorial as she roams around the Node Point to read the names and tributes. The children are wearing black dresses and makeup which is intriguing to her. Some of the children are wearing masks. She is transported to a time when there was too much bombing on her planet and the children needed a desperate distraction from the death around them so she got some discarded cardboard and made masks. When Fia died the rest of the children insisted on making masks. Luka liked it because she could hide behind it. She wants to hide behind the mask now too but it is hard because every so often tears trail down her face, she is happy no one is here to see them. Last night's ceremony is also weighing on her. She knew that the spacefarers had been massacred a lot over the years but she didn't know the full extent and hearing the history and the stories that even Marvelous didn't know about or if he did he never talked about them, was shocking. She should go back to her crew, but she walks around in a daze feeling disoriented and lost.
"Are you okay?" a girl with a painted face, a long black dress and a white mask bumps into her. She blinks as she sees Luka's reddened eyes and tear stained face.
"Come see the stars," she drags Luka to the other part of the island and Luka's mouth drops open. She can see multiple colours and hues of red in the way the light dances around the giant red star and it feels magnificent to her.
"These stars are at the end of their lives." Zaria, who she has met before tells her. "But their lives are still much longer than ours, so they have and continue to watch over our griefs and our mournings. And once the Red stars die they either become Nebulas or explode as Supernovas. Not a bad way to go, right?" Luka smiles as she gazes at the red star. "That's what some of us believe too." Zaria continues. "That we're not really gone after death that we exist in different forms in space and that someday maybe we will meet again."
Luka smiles, she really likes that idea. She would like to meet Fia someday and also show all the children she had grown to love, a galaxy and a Universe where they could play.
Zaria takes her hand as the singing starts. The notes are melancholy and deep and the words sorrowful and for some reason it touches something in her heart. The interpreter in her ear stumbles a little because it is a dialect that it does not know very well but the song becomes a promise to meet again someday, under the pale glistening light of the moons, in the boundaries between space and time.
"This ceremony and time while melancholy is the time we are reclaiming our languages and identities back, we are reviving our places of gathering. We were nomadic and would travel everywhere for trade, and most of us had our movements restricted and we had to settle on different planets. Now we can explore all the possibilities that lie beyond the Empire, it is--"
"Exciting," Luka agrees. "I feel that way too, I didn't mean to be so out of things, I am excited for the way everything is moving forward."
"Yes," Zaria says, "We want to remember what happened, because it is in the interest of any Empires to erase the memories of their past wrongdoings. We're still doing the work of imagining and rebuilding what comes after, it is an active process and I don't know where things will be some time into the future. Every time we win there is external pressure and push-back and this time we are determined to not let the Empire grow any roots and to nip any counter-revolutionary potential in the bud but we can't predict too far out into the future, history tells us that this time is the most challenging with attacks on what we're trying to rebuild, on erasure of and rehabilitation eventually of Empires. We want to not let down our guard just yet and also remember our griefs which are one of the reasons that we fought against the Empire and continued to fight till we won. We need to remember everyone who was just trying to live their lives and everyone who was trying to fight and resist."
Luka nods, she is grateful to remember and it feels all so insignificant what she went through when she's standing here while the lists of all the children, all the spacefarers Zangyack killed is being read.
"It's not," Zaria says, when Luka voices that opinion. "Your griefs are just as important as mine. We too mourn your sister and the other orphans of the Universe."
Luka smiles.
"Luka what are you doing here?" Marvelous appears, he seemed distracted and out of sorts since they left Nereid to come here. Even though it does feel like he's been touched with fresh griefs, there is a quiet gravity around him and he still pulls everyone in without much effort.
"Same as you. Trying to escape from the crowd and be alone." She grins punching him on the shoulder.
"Oh," he looks alarmed a little at having his secret discovered so swiftly, before smiling. They watch the glowing red star together, Luka points out the different colours visible. She and Marvelous lean into each other, standing together for some hours like this. In the background the ceremony continues with songs and dances by the children who are wearing masks and costumes.
"There is an old tradition, it was on several planets too, not just for spacefarers, where you would send names into the stars. If you want, we can do that for Fia and the orphaned children who lost their lives."
"Marvelous-" Luka's eyes fill with tears.
"I know you didn't get to mourn and grieve for your sister as much as you should have been able to, so I would like to give you that, if you want it."
Luka nods, a stray tear finding its way down her cheek as she hugs her captain.
"What about your people- your family and others who died?"
Marvelous shrugs, "I gave the names for the memorial they are working on. I should have asked but I gave Fia's and Joe's mentor's name, and Ahim's parents and Doc's family's--They wanted to honour all the lives lost and I agree with that decision."
She elbows him, "Yeah you should have asked." She buries her face in his jacket, "Thank you. That means a lot. I had someone offer to weave the names of Fia, Ria and other kids into something I would carry with me all the time." Luka pauses before fishing out a small thin quilt. "Mira-she-she gave me this." Luka places the quilt over both of their shoulders as they stand together quietly. "I think it was a good idea coming here."
"Mhmm," Marvelous murmurs as he holds the quilt over his shoulder with one hand and wraps his other hand around Luka's shoulder.
Their crew finds them there, looking wistfully at the dance and celebration and wishing to have one of their own crew ceremonies. Marvelous is evasive, "Why the sudden interest?"
"If the Empire hadn't destroyed your sector and scattered you all, you would be celebrating you getting a crew." Joe says.
"Yes, and they would all be very different people than you guys." Marvelous counters. "We have had to fight and risk our lives under Empires, but we also ended up together. I've never been someone to focus on the past. I'd rather move on to the next adventure on our list."
"The next dream." Joe agrees clasping Marvelous' hand and squeezing it softly. He doesn't mind anymore if anyone sees him being openly affectionate with Marvelous, he loves him, he loves his crew too much.
"I agree," Ahim says. She misses the ceremonies on her planet and wanted something to celebrate with her crew but she also understands that spacefarer ceremonies would require them knowing and learning so much more than they do about the way things were done. Marvelous-san doesn't remember much and all her conversations with the people here have made her realise they also don't have the objects they would need to carry out the crew ceremony the way the spacefarers used to do.
"There's no reason we can't invent our own pirate ceremony?" Luka says looking at Ahim's downcast face and wrapping her in her arms. She kisses her softly on the ear and on the cheek and Ahim giggles as Luka's breath tickles her ear.
"As long as it involves food, I'm in." Marvelous grins.
"Marvelous." Doc rolls his eyes in fond exasperation.
"What? I'm starving."
"I saw various food stalls here and people giving out food--" Gai is excited to take them to all the places he's been visiting on the Node Points. He loves Earth, but being on different planets and on these Node Points which are technically equivalent to what would be islands on Earth, has greatly expanded his views and his love of the Universe. He still loves Earth because it is his home, but he loves and appreciates all the other places as well, appreciates their beauty, appreciates the people living there.
"--but after that, I think we should head back to the Galleon." Doc tells them all.
"Aye, Aye." Luka says, she likes when Doc takes a decisive lead sometimes, it makes a nice change from her ordering him around most of the time. She shares a final look with Marvelous and he seems calmer and more composed than he has looked in a while.
Marvelous is looking forward to being back on the Galleon with his crew, to stand on the bowsprit once again with the winds from the planets sweeping his face and seeing the stars and their lights and the different celestial bodies on the horizon. More importantly for him, these are moments of quiet, solitary reflection that he needs from time to time.
As they are weighing anchor, they are treated to a burst of fireworks-- the Holken celebrations have started and would continue for several weeks, on almost all Node Points and all planets where the spacefarers now lived. The spacefarers would celebrate and drink and have lively parties to honour their ancestors and to ensure that the coming generations opened their eyes in a Universe that was free, peaceful and more importantly much kinder than the one they had lived under for years.
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Ri2 on Chapter 15 Sun 06 Jul 2025 02:43PM UTC
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