Legend: "(...)" ------ Colonel Roland glared at the pale looking woman sprawled out on the ground in front of him. Suddenly, all the events connected with the destruction of the Silky Doll took on a new light; Sylia Stingray was one of those Knight Sabers. Not just a member, though; when he asked for the leader to come forward, she was the one who came. "You..." he stammered, "You're the leader of the Knight Sabers?" There was no anger in his voice, only surprise. "Put the riffle down." He heard behind him. He looked back to Nigel Kirkland, whose gun was still aimed at him. Both he and Captain McNichol had guns aimed at Nigel, but then as Roland looked around, it was fairly obvious everyone had everyone covered, and everyone was waiting for somebody to make the first move. "What in the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" Captain McNichol asked over his shoulder to Henderson, whose derringer was still pressed against the back of his head. "I'm aiming my gun at you, young man. Same as you're doing to Mr. Kirkland." Priss' hand was still hovering above the handle of her dotanuki, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. Behind her face plate, she looked over to Linna, who had a Winchester aimed at her head. "Chikusho (damn)!" she swore in frustration. Swords and daggers she could take, but guns were another matter. The best she could hope for was to fling her body in time between the gaijin with the gun and her beloved. Deep down, though, she realized that no matter how fast she was, there was no way she could save her beloved if the gaijin pulled the trigger. She then looked at the others in front of her, frowning as her eyes came upon a certain British Military Captain. She wasn't sure which was worse; her geisha being in harm's way, or the fact that that baka was here. Nene, who still had Daley covered, looked behind him and finally recognized the young man with the peach fuzz growing in on his chin and above his mouth to be Mackie. She'd been waiting for this moment, longing to see him again, ever since she and the others left the cabin. But not like this, not out here. Adding to the tension already present was Sylia, who was trying to get back up to her feet by pulling herself up using her horse's stirrup. Linna was desperate to help her sensei, but couldn't move because Colonel Roland still had his riffle aimed at her. As Sylia finally managed to pull herself up to her knees, she and Nigel exchanged a silent glance. Meiji, watching everything from the sidelines, had had enough. "(All of you, put your weapons down now!)" he ordered. Colonel Roland slowly shook his head. "(I can't do that, Your Majesty. These women are under arrest, and...)" Emperor Meiji put his hand to his head. "(You British and your sense of duty.)" he mumbled. Then, sitting up straight in his saddle, he looked at Colonel Roland directly. "(These women,)" he began, "(Are under the protection of the Imperial Meiji government of Japan. Any action against any of them by you or any of the men here with you will be viewed as an act of war against said Meiji Government. So unless you are prepared to see ‘Her Majesty's Army' embroiled in a bitter war against the people of Japan, I strongly suggest you lower your weapons and drop your charges.)" Daley and Toodou immediately put down their weapons, neither of them prepared to go against the wishes of their Emperor. Colonel Roland turned from the green figure in front of him to the Imperial Ruler of Japan. "(Your Majesty, with all due respect...)" "(Now!)" Meiji ordered, anger flashing across his face. Roland and McNichol exchanged glances, then put their weapons away. Linna now came to Sylia and helped her up. Nigel, Henderson and Mackey likewise followed suit with their weapons, Nigel dismounting and joining Linna at Sylia's side. Sylia looked up at the man kneeling down beside her, and smiled as she saw the look of concern and sadness in his normally stoic face. "Hey hon." She said, as she gently stroked his cheek, "Care to help a girl to her feet?" ------ Major Jose Collins had his hands full. Ever since the disappearance of Colonel Roland and Captain McNichol about a week ago, he found himself thrust into the position of commanding officer at the British military outpost in Tokyo. The scene outside the outpost was that of a war zone, with charred and burnt buildings everywhere to be seen. The base itself had become overrun with British and American refugees, as well as the wounded. He was quickly running out of ammo and food. As he trudged past the sea of tired and scared faces littering the hallway to his office, he passed two women sitting unusually calmly outside the door to his room. One of whom, the one dressed almost like a school teacher and wearing black-rimmed glasses, was actually reading a book in the midst of all the chaos. Her companion, dressed far less modestly in a tight fitting blue number that showed off her curves, watched him intently as he opened the door. Soon after entering the room and sitting wearily behind the large desk, a knock came at the door, and Private Charles Sweager came into the room. "At ease." Major Collins ordered. "What's the bad news this time?" "Sir, we intercepted an incoming message to Genom International's headquarters here in Tokyo." "What does it say?" Collins asked, bracing for the worse. "A gun ship is due in port within a week." "Bloody hell." he mumbled. "Right, tell all the men to ration all the gunpowder and bullets we have left. Then get every bit of scrap metal we can find, and start trying to melt it down into cannon balls." "Then it's finally coming?" "The showdown? Yes, I'd say it's safe to assume that within a week we're all going to be fighting for our lives." "I see." The young Private said as he turned to leave. Suddenly remembering something, he turned back to Major Collins. "Oh, Sir, there are two young ladies out in the hall from one of the branches of the British Secret Service who were sent here to offer their help in this current crisis." "British Secret Service? You mean spies? Humph. We need munitions and men, not women spies." "I understand Major Collins, but they did insist I at least give you their cards." He looked at the cards handed him, and frowned. "Private Sweager, is this a joke?" "No, Sir. They're quite serious." He disdainfully gave the cards back to the officer. "You take these back to them, and tell Miss..." he looked at one of the cards again, annoyed by the fact that he had already forgotten the women's names. "Tell Miss Readaman and her friend, that if I ever become aware of someone stealing books or not returning them to the library on time, then ‘Section A of Library Special Operations' is the first one I'll come to for help. Then send them away, and tell them to stop bothering me. Understood?" "Sir, yes Sir." "Good. Now dismissed." As Private Sweager left, Major Collins shook his head, wondering what the world was coming to when librarians were apparently being recruited for British espionage missions. ---That Evening--- An uneasy truce had been enforced by the Emperor of Japan upon the group of people intent on getting him back to Tokyo. Chief Toodou and police officer Wong were the most eager to comply, neither one willing to displease the Son of Heaven and descendent of the divine Amaterasu. Colonel Roland knew his duty; to arrest the lot of them. But he also knew that if he made any attempt whatsoever to do anything against the four women or the three men from the cabin (who, it turned out, were in league with the women from the beginning), that the Emperor fully meant to carry out his threat to declare war. As guilty as they were, he was powerless to arrest them. He still couldn't get over it, though. The four women Known as the Knight Sabers, feared and respected throughout Tokyo, were really a women's clothing store owner, her housekeeper, a tavern singer, and his secretary. It was an unlikely group. And now, as they rode on, he stirred uneasily in his saddle as he pondered the fact that the twenty or so men who were after them, who they'd been able to maintain a day's distance from, were the very same men they were now all riding towards. Captain McNichol, riding along side of him, was still bitter about having a gun pointed at him by that old man Henderson (sure it later turned out to be unarmed, but still!). He remembered when the blue and green Knight Sabers took their helmets off. Leon's suspicions were confirmed when the blue one turned out to be Priss, her hair tied up on top like Sylia's was. The other woman, the one in the green armor, looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place her. Of course, it would've been easier to try if he wasn't so distracted by her almost total absence of hair. She looked like a boy. Looking back over his left shoulder, he saw Sylia sitting in Nigel's lap on his horse, her head resting against his chest. They had tied her horse to the back of the wagon, and she had insisted on sharing a horse with him instead of laying down in the wagon. She said she wanted to be there in case there was trouble, but Leon had to smile at that. If there was trouble, what the hell was she going to do? She could barely stand. Over his right shoulder, he saw his Priss and... What was it again? Laura? Lora? No, Linna. That was it. She seemed nice enough, but she was constantly near Priss, like her shadow or something. He'd wanted to talk alone with her for a while now, but with her around she never was alone. As they rode along, Colonel Roland looked over his shoulder to the young man riding next to Nigel and Sylia. "So let me get this straight," Roland began, eyeing Mackie suspiciously, "You actually traveled from England to Japan alone?" "Yes sir, all alone." "Blimey." Captain McNichol put in, "What was the scariest part of the trip?" "Oh, that's easy. The pirates we ran into between India and China. Funny thing was, the captain of the pirate ship was a woman." "A woman?" Leon asked incredulously. Roland suddenly looked much more intensely at Mackie. "What did this female pirate look like, lad?" he asked. "Well, she had hair almost down to her legs in the back, and a scar right across her face here." he said, motioning with his right index finger across the bridge of his nose and down his left cheek. Roland gasped. "Emeraldas? You saw Emeraldas?" he asked in awe. The "Pirate Queen" was one of the most feared pirates in the seven seas. "Well, I think that was her name. But..." "Sun's going down." Nigel broke in. "Time to set up camp." ---Daybreak--- Leon woke up in the early morning hours of dawn as the sun was just rising over the horizon. As he sat up off the ground, he thought he heard movement in the camp. He grabbed his Colt and snuck out just in time to see Priss and that Linna woman leaving camp to go together in the woods, each carrying wooden practice swords. Quickly going back into his tent, Captain McNichol put his trousers and boots on, grabbed his coat and made his way after them. He soon came to a small clearing near a brook, where he saw Priss going through drills with her practice sword. She was dressed in a plain white kimono top and hakama pants, and her hair was pulled back up at the top. Her style was fairly simple; withdraw the sword, strike, flick (the move used to remove blood from the blade), and return the sword to the scabbard. Leon found himself mesmerized by the different variations of each move. He saw at least three different types of withdrawals, and several types of strikes against invisible opponents. As he watched, hidden behind some bushes, he could tell she was trying to improve on the speed of her withdrawals. As she began to breathe heavily, he turned his attention to her fellow Knight Saber. Linna was dressed in a kimono, a scarf covering her head. She had two of the wooden swords, and was twirling them at her sides. She then began to swing them in front of her. Faster and faster they went, yet neither one collided with the other. After a few minutes of each practicing their own forms of swordsmanship, they stopped and turned toward one another. They bowed, took positions, and rushed toward each other. From his hidden vantage point, Leon watched wide-eyed as the two women came at one another full force. For a while, the practice swords moved so fast he couldn't follow the action. Then, Priss ducked under the sword in Linna's right hand and got her from behind the knees with her sword. Her opponent's knee immediately buckled under her, sending her to the ground. In an instant, Priss was on top of her, her knees pinning Linna's arms as she raised her sword above her head with both hands. They stayed in that position for maybe five or ten seconds as Leon held his breath. Finally, Linna looked into Priss' eyes, and cracked a smile. She then began to chuckle. Priss broke into a smile too as the young woman underneath her continued giggling. Finally, unable to hold back any longer, Priss began to laugh as well. Leon was awestruck. He'd never seen Priss smile before, and as she did so he saw her whole face light up. He then saw Priss toss her practice sword aside, and repositioned herself so that she was straddling the other's hips, keeping Linna's armed pinned with her hands. She then bent down, brought her lips to the other woman's, and... Leon looked on in disbelief. There was the woman of his dreams, the woman he'd been nursing a crush for ever since he first saw her, engaged in a romantic kiss with another woman. As he quietly snuck away, his mind continued playing the same scene over and over again. That... that... troll, with the boy's haircut, was kissing his Priss! What in the hell could've compelled Priss to engage in such a disgusting act. Didn't she know how wrong it was to make love to another woman? Especially when she had him here? Leon tried to figure out what could've led the singer into a relationship with someone so inferior to him. Blackmail? Possible. The woman in the green armor might have something on Priss, forcing her into a relationship. Hypnotism? Less likely. Yet, he had heard of such things as people barking like dogs on the orders of a hypnotist. An aphrodisiac? He'd heard of love potions, and it would certainly explain how Priss could make love to someone like that. As he came out of the woods and headed for the camp, he made up his mind. He would have to break them up, for Priss' sake. And to do that, he would have to confront this Linna woman. ------ A short time later, Priss and Linna came out of the woods, heading for Linna's tent. "Ha! I finally beat you." Priss said, beaming with pride. "Maybe," Linna said teasingly, "But you'll still need to win ten more before we're even." As they got nearer to camp, Linna suddenly became much more serious. "Priss-chan, will Sylia be okay?" Priss smiled a bit at that. "You don't know Sylia like I do. She'll pull through. She's a fighter." "Maybe." Linna said, as they approached her tent, "But we're sure to run into the enemy today. She's not in any condition to fight, Priss. She can barely stand up straight." Priss grabbed the flap to Linna's tent and opened it. She jumped back, startled. There, sitting cross-legged on the sleeping bag was Captain McNichol. "Leon!" Priss spat out, "What in the hell are you doing here!" "Priss," he said, not looking at her, but at her beloved, "Please leave. Yamazaki-san and I have some things to discuss." ---To Be Continued--- End Notes: Right, for all those playing at home- Jose Collins: one of the officers in the AD Police TV show. Hey, somebody has to watch things back at H.Q. in Colonel Roland's absence. Emeraldas: the Pirate Queen from the Harlock Saga and Galaxy Express 999. Yomiko Readaman: from R.O.D. (Read or Die).
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