Disclaimer: I do not own Stellvia. Geneon (use to) and Xebec do.

To Reviewers. I have blocked all anonymous reviewers due to harassment. You must sign in to review. Any and all hatful comments not pertaining to this story shall be reported.

STELLVIA II: THE FINAL CRISIS

Chapter 3

Sabotage?

Late Saturday afternoon. It’s been almost a week since the incident in the first flight training class where Hudson and Leila got into a big argument that resulted in the discovery of a fleet wide problem. A lot of the small craft had parts that were defective or malfunctioning in some way. This forced the docking of all small craft and the cancellation of all training classes until further notice. During the week all training craft from the newest Bianca MK-IIs all the way up to the teacher’s Katie MK-IIs were being totally overhauled with every part throly inspected before being installed.

Rinna and Rita are in the shopping district, like any normal teenagers, mainly just widow shopping and walking around. Rinna is wearing a pink, button dress shirt and tan kacky pants that are cut off half way down her shins, while Rita, however, is wearing a sexy solid black miniskirt that shows off a lot of her long sexy legs and exposes plenty of her cleavage. She’s also wearing dark red lipstick and some eye shadow. And wearing highheels is only adding to her sex appeal. And as expected she is drawing a lot of attention from the young males around her. And she loves it.

Rinna and Rita are on the moving sidewalk headed to the restaurant section of the shopping district. Rinna looks up out of the viewing dome above the shopping district at all the large cruisers and cargo ships passing by. One cruiser catches her attention as it begins its docking procedure. It has dark red stripes down the side indicating that the ship is from the Odyssey II. As she watches it dock she can barely make out the name of the ship. “The Caesar.” Rita looks over and sees that Rinna still has a bit of a sour look on her face. The same one she’s had since Monday. “Oh come on Rinna-chan you’re not still upset about Hudson having our flight classes canceled are you? Come on lighten up! We came out here today so we can have a good time and get your mind off that stuff. Cheer up already.” says Rita.

Rinna looks slightly at the ground. “Yeah I know. But I can’t help it. Every time I try my mind keeps going back to how rude and mean he was to Miss Leila.” says Rinna. “Yeah I have to admit he was a bit crude there, but you have to admit. His actions did save a lot of people from getting hurt, or worse.” explains Rita as she puts her hands on the back of her head.

“True. But there are a lot better ways of going about it. He didn’t need to act like such a know-it-all.” says Rinna as she gets that sour look on her face again. “Well technically when it comes to the Bianca MK-IIs, he IS Mr. Know-it-all. *giggle*” says Rita. “Ohhh!!! Rita-chan! You know what I mean! Don’t try and twist my words!” yells Rinna at Rita bit flustered.

“Ok! Ok! Have it your way. I wasn’t trying to defend him or anything.” says Rita as she jumps back a bit with her hands up waving in front of her. “Geez by your reaction there you sound you may actually may like the guy” says Rita jokingly. “Ah-!” Rinna can only let out a squeak of surprise. She stands there in utter shock with her mouth agape and a bright red blush appears on her face.

Rinna’s brain filly catches up to that comment. “RITA-CHAN!” nearly screams Rinna. “Uh-oh.” says Rita and she turns and starts running (rather comically since she’s in highheels). “Get back here you!” yells Rinna as she gives chase with little puffs of steam coming out of her head. “OK OK! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it!” shouts Rita back.

The two finally stop running and Rinna lets out a sigh. “Geez! Don’t even kid about that stuff. How in the world could I possibly like a knuckle-head like him!?” says Rinna as she crosses her arms. “I don’t know. He’s seems dreamy to me! He is quite the handsome fellow.” says Rita with a dreamy look on her face. “Handsome yes. Future husband material. NO! Why if he were here right now I’d give him a piece of my mind about that shouting match he had with Miss Leila.” Rinna quickly responds again with her arms crossed.

“Looks like you can have that chance. Isn’t that Hudson and the other guys in that juice bar over there?” says Rita as she points beside of Rinna. “Huh?” says Rinna as she turns to look. Sure enough she sees Hudson, Ikuto, and Joseph in the back of a familiar Juice bar playing a game a pool. Rita then grabs Rinna’s hand. “Come on! Let’s go over and say hi! You can even give Hudson a piece of your mind like you said you’d do!” says Rita with a wink. “Uh wait a minute Rita-NAH!” yelps Rinna as she gets yanked by the arm.

As the girls get closer they can start to make out what Hudson and the others are saying. Hudson bends over to take his shot at the 8-ball which is the last one he needs to sink. He takes aim and hits the Q-ball. It hits the 8-ball and it rolls to the cornet pocket, but just barely bounces off the corner and rolls back near the center of the table. “Ahh fudge.” Hudson says with a less than enthusiastic tone.

“Wow Hudson you’re game is really off today. Usually you’d run the table against us.” says Ikuto. “Yeah I know. I’ve just been really distracted by this fleet shut down thing. I just don’t get how all of this could have happened without anyone noticing.” says Hudson. “Excuses! Excuses! Time for me to sink this easy shot and finally win $50 from you!” says Joseph with confidence.

Joseph bends over and takes aim at an easy shot to the side pocket. Suddenly – “Hi guys!” comes a call from the entrance of the juice bar. Joseph quickly looks up and is shocked to see a hot looking Rita walking over to them, and as expected he misfires his shot. The Q-ball hops over the 8-ball and goes right into the side pocket. “Ah oh no!!” he yells. *SLAP!* “Ha ha ha! Well Joseph! Looks like you owe Hudson another $50!” says Ikuto with a sarcastic laugh as he slaps Joseph on the back. “Ah damnit!” he curses as he reaches for his wallet.

“Tell me Hudson did you plan to have a dolled up Rita walk in to distract me at the last second?” asks Joseph. “No. But it was great timing.” he says as he takes the $50. Rita and Rinna reach the pool table. “Holy cow Rita! We all knew you were one of the hottest girls in school, but wow! Seeing you dressed up like this is like a dream come true!” says Ikuto. “Why thank you!” says Rita as she strikes a sexy pose, which in turn makes the two guys drool.

Rinna looks over at Hudson real quick and he looks over at her for a second. Rinna gives him a stern look and then looks away real quick. “Humph.” she grunts. Hudson jerks a bit with a “What did I do?” look on his face. “You guys want to sit a talk for a while?” asks Rita. “Sure. We just got through with our pool game anyway.” says Ikuto. As the five walk over to a nearby booth the bartender speaks up. “And what would you two ladies like?” he asks.

“I’ll have one of your citrus smoothies please! And make it extra sweet if you don’t mind!” says Rita with a smile. “Oh! Uh. I’ll have a water with some lemon please.” says Rinna. “Coming right up!” says the bartender. Rinna then notices Hudson looking at her again. “What?” she asks with another stern look. “Eh…. Nothing. It’s just my mother always orders a water with lemon.” he says. Rinna for some reason blushes ever so slightly. “His eyes went soft again.” she thinks to herself.

The five sit down in a booth and begin to chat. “So what have you guys been doing since our flight classes were canceled?” asks Rita with her chin in her hands and her elbows on the table. “Well I’ve had more time to practice for my baseball team. Getting better at hitting the ball actually.” says Joseph. “Well this has been great for my engineering classes. We’ve been going to hangers to watch overhauls and learn about the different parts to the Bianca MK-IIs and the Katie MK-IIs. It’s been really helpful in my studies.” says Ikuto.

“And what about you Hudson?” asks Rita as her and Rinna’s drinks are brought to them. “Well I’ve been very busy this week. My dad had asked me to help in the investigation of what went so wrong. He’s doing everything he can on Earth checking out the factories and assembly lines that make the Ora-avies parts, while I’m up here inspecting every bad part they find and supervising the overhauls. Being the son who helped his father help build the next generation Ora-avies machines can be very demanding at times.” explains Hudson.

“Wow. Sounds rough.” says Rita. “It is. This is actually one of the few times I’ve been given some time off during the week.” adds Hudson. “So any ideas or leads on what could have happened?” asks Ikuto. “Oddly no. Every part that’s been pulled is always different. Not one part that was damaged or malfunctioning was the same as the other part in the craft beside it. It was always a different part. And that’s what has us scratching our heads.” says Hudson.

“Hm… well it sounds to me like there was a mass mix-up in the factories. That’s the only thing I can think of.” says Ikuto. “But that’s just the thing. My father and I thought that too, but he has inspected most of the factories and has gone through all their records and computer recordings and, besides the occasional mess up on the assembly line, nothing was out of the ordinary. He even sent me the information and I’ve gone through every page. There’s just no proof that the bad parts came from the factories.” explains Hudson.

“This is a mystery. I can’t think of another reason.” says Joseph as he leans back in the booth. Hudson also leans back and crosses his arms, but he has a very serious look on his face. He stays silent for a second and then speaks back up. “I can think of only one other thing that could be the reason.” he says. “What is it?” asks Rita as she takes sip of her smoothie. “Sabotage.” he answers. Everyone gasps. “Sabotage!?” says Joseph out loud.

“SHHH!!! Not so loud!” responds Hudson quickly. “But how can you think that? I mean the chances of someone or someones being able to have access to all the training craft, as well as the teachers’ ships, being able to damage so many different parts, and doing it while slipping past all the security around the hangers is difficult enough. But, not to mention, the maintenance crews cheek all the craft before a class or mission starts, I mean the chances have to be astronomical to pull that off.” says Rita. “Very true. But the chances of so many parts on so many craft failing all at the same time….. are even higher than that. Sabotage is the only way this could have happened.” says Hudson.

“Well have you told military security about this?” asks Ikuto. “I have. I also told the maintenance crews, several of the teachers and even tried to take it to Mr. Shirogane himself, though he’s been very busy. But every single one of them scoffed at the idea. Security said they didn’t receive any reports about suspicious activities and none of the alarms went off in the hanger or maintenance bays. The maintenance crews said that they went over all the craft before any of the morning classes. And the teachers said they couldn’t believe a saboteur could be on board because every person goes through a throe security background cheek before they are allowed to work here or even study here.” explains Hudson.

“Do you suspect a cover-up?” asks Ikuto. “No. Everyone I told this too looked as though they generally didn’t believe me. And believe me I can tell if someone is lying.” says Hudson. Rinna who had been quietly sipping her lemon water finally speaks up. “Well given all this information the only conclusion is that someone is hiding something. What you need is to find some proof that there is a saboteur or saboteurs on board.” says Rinna calmly. “Precisely what I had already concluded. And I may have a plan on how to get some, though it runs the risk of getting expelled.” says Hudson.

“What do you plan on doing?” asks Rita. Hudson leans in a little and starts to talk softly so no one else can hear him beyond the booth. “I plan on accessing the main security server to download all personnel files. I can then go and interview all the ones I find that seem suspicious. It’s a long shot but I think it could work.” explains Hudson. “Sounds very risky if you ask me. Isn’t the security server room constantly guarded?” asks Rita.

“It is. And that’s the problem. I have the security clearance to get in, but I’d never get permission to get the files, plus it takes two people to man the controls in the sever room, and I’d never be able to get past the guard at the door.” explains Hudson. “Wait? You? Have security clearance?” asks Rinna. “Yeah. I AM apart of the investigation. I’ve been given some security clearance to help with the investigation. I just don’t have enough of it to get me past the security guard and into the security server room.” explains Hudson.

“He he! You can leave the security guard to me. I know a way to distract him.” says Rita with a wink and a sexy smile. “Wait. You don’t mean you’re going to use your…assets do you?” says Rinna with some worry. “In a manner of speaking yes. The thing is I know most of the security guards are only about 18-21 years old. So it stands to reason that they’re nothing but rookies who’d rather be on a date with a hot girl rather than standing guard in a dark hallway for hours on end. I can easily distract the guard long enough for you and Hudson to slip into the security server room and download the necessary files.” says Rita.

“Huh? Wait! Why do I have to help out?” asks Rinna with a bit of shock. “Well, as Hudson said, it takes two people to man the controls in the server room, and you’re the only other person I know here who has the ability to access just about any program.” says Rita. “But I don’t want to risk getting expelled! Or worse! Arrested!” says Rinna in protest. “Would you rather risk the saboteur or saboteurs getting away and possibly sabotaging your Bianca MK-II next?” says Hudson. Rinna only looks down and moans.

“Hey what about us? Don’t we get a part of this plan?” asks Ikuto. “Don’t worry I have a part for you two also. So here’s my plan.” begins Rita. Everyone leans in to hear Rita’s plan while she whispers. After a few minutes of explaining her plan she then leans back. “So what do you think? Shall we all meet up at the server hallway entrance tomorrow at 1:30 p.m.?” she asks. “Sounds good. Ok we’ll all meet up at the indicated time and then we will set our plan in motion.” says Hudson. With that the group separates for the rest of the day.

Meanwhile as they are departing for the day some very important people are getting ready to disembark from “The Caesar.” The Docking bay door slides open and a large elderly old man with a cane walks through; his eight stripes on his shoulder pad just below his patches indicating his rank of Fleet Admiral. He is followed by a younger man in his 40’s with dark gray hair. Jinrai Shirogane and Yayoi Fujisawa are there to greet them. As the elderly man exits Jinrai extends his had as a greeting.

“Ah! Admiral Curt Wagner. It’s been a while. I take it that your trip from the Odyssey II was a pleasant one? How’s life treating you?” he asks with a smile as Yayoi bows. “It was. I am 75 after all. I’ve been making these kinds of trips since I was in my 20s so I’d better be used to them by now. And I’m doing just fine. Ever since I retired from being the Odyssey II’s commander and became Fleet Admiral I’ve actually had it rather easy.” explains Mr. Wagner.

“And how’s Ren and your daughters doing? I take it they’ve been rather busy since the new semester has started.” asks Mr. Wagner. “Well somewhat. Since the flight classes are canceled for now there’s a bit of a lull in the medical calls. I take you already know Miss Fujisawa, second in Command of the Stellvia II.” says Jinrai. “How do you do sir.” Greets Yayoi with another bow. “I do and it’s nice to see you again Miss Fujisawa. As for you Jinrai I believe you ALREADY know Mr. Robert Polowski, the new commander of the Odyssey II.” says Mr. Wagner.

“Heh do I!? He’s the guy who got me kicked out of that Astro-ball game that ended up costing the Stellvia that championship match.” says Jinrai with a smirk. “Hey. It was YOU who collided with me Shirogane. You got yourself kicked out of that game. But no hard feelings still, is there?” says Robert with a smirk of his own. “Hey don’t worry about it. That was a LONG time ago. The Stellvia II has won plenty of championships for the past 25 years under my leadership anyway, so it’s all-good now.” says Jinrai.

“Ok that’s enough you too. I do believe we have more pressing matters to attend to.” says Mr. Wagner with a smile. “Yes. Of course sir. Right this way.” says Jinrai as he motions for them to follow him. The four plus a couple of guards head out of the docking bay and into the Stellvia II. Within a few minutes they arrive at the Stellvia II’s meeting chambers. Everyone then sits down at the large table in the center of the room.

Several members of the Stellvia II command staff are there as well as many of the flight instructors, maintenance staff, representatives of the other foundations (stationed on Earth), and even a few high ranking officials from the Earth are present for this important meeting.

“Ok everyone I would like to call us to order now. Miss Fujisawa if you would please?” says Jinrai. “Yes sir.” answers Yayoi. She then stands up holding a holo-chart in her arms and begins reading from it. “Greetings everyone. Now as you all know by now, almost a week ago, thanks to one of our prepatory students, a fleet wide shutdown was ordered due to the discovery of faulty or damaged parts in a lot of our small craft fleet. Parts from different sections of the crafts were affected. Ranging from propulsion, to navigation, to gravimetric control, to power distribution, all the way to life support systems were effected. After a massive investigation by literally hundreds of investigators, experts, and top officials, we can’t come to a cause for how or why all these parts failed at the same time.” explains Yayoi.

A short silence goes through the room as Yayoi finishes her report. “You mean to tell us after an extensive investigation costing millions we’re no closer to figuring out what happened than we were when we started?” says one of the Akapusu II representatives. “That is correct.” answers Yayoi. “But there just HAD to be a screw up somewhere! Parts don’t just mass fail all on there own.” says one of the El Santo II reps. “That’s right! I smell something fishy going on here! There just had be something going wrong at those factories. I bet you it’s Dr. Bale covering up flaws in his MK-II designs that he wants to keep hidden. It could be that there are real design flaws; just like what happened with Mr. Austin in that tragic test flight!” says the Akapusu II rep again.

“Now, Now calm down gentlemen. Let’s not go and start making wild, unsubstantiated clams and theories and bring up past tragedies. We need to come up with a viable and realistic explanation using the information we have. Miss Fujisawa have there been any real credible theories on what could have happened?” asks Mr. Wagner. “Um….. No sir not really.” answers Yayoi hesitantly. “You sound like you’re not very sure of that.” says Mr. Wagner. “Well one person has come up with a hypothesis, but it’s not very realistic.” answers Yayoi again.

“Well we would all like to hear it and who it was from.” says Mr. Wagner. Yayoi looks a little off to the side a little hesitant to say the person’s name, but she knows she can’t disobey a direct order. “It’s comes from our own Stellvia II lead investigator, Hudson Bale.” says Yayoi. “You mean the prepatory student who found out about this problem and sparked this mass shut down?” says one of the Vision’s representatives. “Yes sir.” answers Yayoi. “Well tell us what he has to say.” says Mr. Wagner.

“Well sir he says that after an extensive investigation the only conclusion he can come up with is mass sabotage.” answers Yayoi. A short silence goes through the meeting room again. “He can’t possibly be serious! That’s just preposterous!” says the Akapusu II representative again. “I agree. All of our stations have already investigated that possibility but have all come to the same conclusion! It’s impossible to get past all the security and sabotage that many spacecraft overnight and NOT have been seen. Either by another person or by all the security monitors we have. Not to mention that ALL small spacecraft, whether it be a student’s or a teacher’s craft, undergo a throe inspection before every launch. There’s no way even a small part that was defective would not have been caught and replaced or repaired.” says Mr. Polowski.

“Yes sir we know. We here too have dismissed that hypothesis.” says Yayoi. “You say it was Hudson Bale? He’s Dr. Bale’s son isn’t he? Sounds to me like he’s doing the same thing his father is: tying to dismiss the faults of his father’s designs onto some fictitious saboteur theory. Or maybe it was him and his father who set up this whole deal of ‘mass accidents’ He and his father probably paid some people on the stations to sabotage the MK-IIs just to get them more recognition.” accuses the Akapusu representative sarcastically again. “Sir I thought I said not to start making wild accusations!” orders Mr. Wagner with a stern look. The Akapusu representative jerks back a bit. “Er. Sorry sir.” he answers.

Mr. Wagner then turns to Jinrai and Yayoi. “Though I don’t agree with the Akapusu representative’s accusation, I do agree with him and Mr. Polowski that sabotage is not a viable reason. There are just too many factors for it not to work. I recommend that the investigation continue until a viable reason is found. Until then I believe that the all the damaged craft will be done being repaired tomorrow so I give permission for flight classes to start back up on Monday. But I will order extra security to monitor the hangers just in case. I am also ordering that Hudson Bale be taken off the investigation team, Though he has a lot of knowledge about the MK-II project and craft, he has a very personal investment in this investigation that may be clouding his judgment. I’m ordering a new head investigator to be put in charge to continue the investigation. Until then this meeting is now adjourned.” says Mr. Wagner. Everyone then stands up, solutes, and are dismissed.

Later that evening, Hudson is in his room on his computer terminal checking up on the security protocols he’s going to have to get past in the security room when there’s a knock at his door. Hudson turns off his monitor, walks over to his door and opens it. There stands Yayoi. “Miss Fujisawa! Ma’am!” says Hudson as he stands a bit at attention. “At ease. Hudson I need a word with you.” says Yayoi. “Yes Ma’am. Please come on in.” says Hudson as he motions for her to come in. If you don’t mind I’d rather stand here and tell you.” says Yayoi. At that moment Hudson knows something is wrong. He looks on as Yayoi hesitates to tell him the bad news.

“Hudson…. I’m here to tell you that, as of this Monday, you have been ordered off the investigation team.” says Yayoi. “WHAT!? Why!?” Hudson nearly screams. “Well for the most part no one in the meeting believed your saboteur theory. Most of them dismissed it right off. Even Admiral Wagner dismissed it.” explains Yayoi. “But can’t they see this is the only explanation for the mass failures?” protests Hudson. “Hudson even I’m having some trouble believing your explanation.” says Yayoi. Hudson is taken back a bit. “Miss Fujisawa, out of all the people there I thought at least YOU would believe me.” says Hudson. “I’m sorry Hudson. But even I can see that mass sabotage just isn’t humanly possible.” says Yayoi.

Hudson balls his fist in anger. “Well this still doesn’t explain why I’ve been taken off the investigation team.” protests Hudson again. “Well Admiral Wagner believes that you have too many personal issues to be in this investigation. He thinks someone who doesn’t have any personal issues staked in this investigation will come up with a better conclusion.” explains Yayoi. “But people’s lives are at stake here! If we don’t open an investigation about even the possibility of saboteurs then we’re going to wined up with a tragedy on our hands!” yells Hudson again. “I’m sorry Hudson, but the Admiral’s decision is final. You are not to investigate that matter any further. I suggest you obey his orders and not try and force the issue. You could wined up in more trouble than just yelling at a teacher. Now If you will excuse me I must get back to my duties.” says Yayoi.

Yayoi turns away from Hudson’s door and starts walking down the hallway. Hudson’s door closes and she then hears a loud thump from his door. She’s knows what he did. Inside his room Hudson has punched his door as hard as he could as soon as it closed. He has an intents angered look. “DAMNIT!!!!” he yells. “Those damn fools are going to wined up killing someone! They couldn’t see a breached hull even if they were standing right in front of it about to be sucked out into space! Well I’ll show them! I’ll prove once and for all that there are saboteurs on board! I’ll prove it tomorrow after I get those personnel files!” he says angrily again. Hudson then picks up his cell phone a shoots of a quick e-mail to the rest of the team telling them that’s there’s been a slight change in plans.

“So it comes all down tomorrow. Either I prove my theory, or people are going to get killed.” he says to himself after he sends the e-mail. He then goes back to his computer to look over the procedures again.

End of Chapter 3

To be continued in Chapter 4: Deadly Consequences.

Author Note: Wow I know it’s been a while But I’m finally back to the story. A little thing called college and life got in the way. I do apologize to my readers for taking well over a year to get this chapter up, but some things can’t be helped. I thank my readers for being patient and I hope to never again make them wait this long ever again. Also you may have noticed that I fixed Iktou’s name. I hadn’t realized that until now I had been misspelling his name slightly with the t and the k switched. His name will be corrected from now on.

Story Note: Well things are starting to get interesting. What could Rita’s plan be? What kind of information will Hudson and Rinna find. And can they prove that there are saboteurs on board before some get’s hurt…. or worse? Be sure to read the next chapter to find out!