The Seventh Member of the Storm Hawks

Siren's Song

Master Cyclonis was furious, her plan had failed, she was further infuriated because it was a simple but effective plan – it was fool proof! She was so confident that Jor couldn't break out of the mind control that she sent him alone, sure that he and Nika would come back. Instead, she was greeted with a conscious Jor, no Nika and no Ancestral Crystal – so enraged that she threw Jor into the deepest dungeons until she saw a fit enough punishment for him. The Dark Ace stood tall and collected while Ravess and Snipe glanced at one another worried – due to her recent bad mood, Cyclonis was prone to attacking anyone that slightly irritated her, once coming close to attacking her most trusted Talon but he had remained unscathed, so far.

"You are all failures!" She called darkly as she continued to tweak the white mind controlling crystal intended for Nika, a new determination to achieve her goal was alight. "From now on, the Dark Ace will command this mission – I have much better things to do like conquer the Atmos and not pick up the failures of you three!" With each word her voice rose into a harsh scream. "What's so important about those brats anyway?" Snipe huffed angrily, being the most dim-witted out of the three Talons, he didn't understand what was so important about the Striking siblings. "I'll tell you what's important." Master Cyclonis started as she spun to face her three commanders. "Those two are the reason why Yaris still rebels against us, word reached the slaves that those two are still alive! The older one is the leader, he can rally support from those that don't even know him, and he is an escape artist! The younger one, she is the key to ultimate power – I need that crystal of hers! I need her on my side or eliminated!" Cyclonis snarled with her voice breaking into a shout, making the evil Talon siblings cower in fear, the Dark Ace raised an eyebrow in cruel amusement – he had an idea, a horribly wicked one. "If I may be dismissed Master Cyclonis?" He asked with a bow, she hummed a grant and handed him the crystal, allowing him to leave. As he walked down the corridor with the white crystal in hand, he chuckled to himself. "And I have the perfect way to bring you here." He spoke to himself.

"Squadron Log, date: Unknown. We've lost all track of time. Instruments non-functional, Time Pulse Beacon is lost. We're trapped in the one place in the Atmos that you never want to find yourself. The one place that no ship has ever returned, we're stranded in the Great Expanse." Piper wrote in her diary, Nika rubbed her eyes – whatever this place was, it was really messing with her crystal and giving her one massive headache. "Argh!" She groaned in frustration as she stood up holding her head, "I'm going to try and figure a way out of here!" She exclaimed huffily before leaving for the hangar, cringing when her headache gave her sharp pains. She began to draw out a plan for getting out of this strange place, none of which were any good – the only materials she had were balloons, but her headache wasn't letting her think straight.

"How's it goin?" Aerrow's voice asked as he entered the hangar, pausing when he saw the numerous scrunched up balls of paper. "Want the honest answer or the sarcastic answer?" Nika asked tiredly, she looked at her crystal for a moment – it wasn't the same bright purple it usually was, and it concerned her. Aerrow kneeled beside her, taking in her tired appearance for a moment. "Nika, give me the honest one." He said finally with a low voice, she looked up into his eyes for a moment before exhaling. "I can't think here, my head hurts, and I'm stumped for ideas on trying to get us out of here." She replied with a small hiccup, the redhead gently hugged her trying to reassure her that he wasn't upset with her. "You'll think of something, you always do." He gently smiled, kissing her forehead before he left to find out how Piper and Radarr were doing. In the seven months that he had known the brunette, Nika never once had a headache – how ironic was that her first known one developed in the Great Expanse? Maybe she was just worrying too much, he thought.

Eventually Junko came and told the brunette that it was time for dinner, explaining that it was Merb Cabbage which made Nika's stomach feel as if it fell from the Condor to the Wastelands – it was disgusting! "Aw man, I'd rather take my chances walking through the Wastelands!" She exclaimed as the pair walked to the bridge, sitting in between Finn and the Wallop – resisting the urge to throw up with the Merb Cabbage stench. She didn't really touch her "dinner" or pay much attention to the conversation until Finn elbowed her in the ribs. "Hey, weren't you messing with balloons earlier?" He asked, Nika nodded with a raised eyebrow not understanding what the conversation had led to. "Uh yes, why?" She asked slowly, "We can use them to show us where we've been!" Piper exclaimed happily. The Storm Hawks, kindly, left their leftovers to Stork who greedily ate while everyone else set the plan in motion. Nika and Junko released a few balloons into the air, with the Wallop announcing it was the last one. Nika sighed watching it slowly disappear before a sharp pain shot between her temples. "Ach!" She yelped, falling to her knees with Junko immediately at her side trying to figure out what happened. "Are you ok?" He asked, Nika shook her head, "Whatever is going on here... it's draining me." She replied with deep breathes as she attempted to ignore the pain. Gently he picked her up and took her to the bridge, sitting her on the seats before joining everyone else.