It was, Si'ren blearily mused to herself as she punched in her door code,
either entirely too late in the evening or entirely too early in the morning.
Regardless of the situation, she knew that whatever sleep she would be able to
grab before her alarm went off probably wouldn't be enough. Still, she rather
reluctantly admitted to herself as the door slid open, allowing her to make her
way into her personal quarters, Azi'mar's touch had proven to be worth it.
The room seemed to blur around her in a mild daze as she went into the
bedroom only long enough to exchange her evening dress for a somewhat plushy
albeit well-used bathrobe. She then reversed her course and made her way into
the bathroom, promptly tossing the robe aside and all but collapsing into the
somewhat opulent shower stall.
She didn't quite remember reaching for the control knob, but the sudden
outflow of deliciously warm water raining down from the spigots served to drag
her weary mind back into some semblance of cohesion. The ablutions were done
in a brisk yet efficient manner, wanting to get completely clean in as little
time as possible in order to maximize the amount of sleep left. She had just
finished rinsing off the last of the soap suds and was reaching for the knob
when the bathroom lights suddenly took on a pulsing blue cast, freezing her in
mid-motion.
Security alarm, she thought as she completely woke up. She cast a quick
glance at the control knob and decided to leave it running, letting the sound
of the shower mask any noise she might make. She carefully stepped out of the
shower, trying not to make a mess on the floor as she reached under the sink to
retrieve a small handheld scanner. A quick shake of the device enticed it to
come to life, showing a simple red dot on a schematic of her quarters.
"Brave," Si'ren murmured to herself as she realized that the intruder was
sitting on her couch in the living room. She watched the display carefully for
a number of seconds before deciding that her 'guest' was stationary and thus
was probably waiting for her to come out of the shower.
Typical, she thought darkly as she glanced around, realizing that she only
had the bathrobe to wear. She sighed softly and put the scanner back in its
hidden cradle, reaching further under the sink to retrieve the small energy
pistol that she had been given as a promotion gift after making full lieutenant
so many centuries ago. Her expression promptly turned sour as she realized
that the batteries had failed at some point and that the pistol no longer held
a useable charge, leaving her without a weapon to confront her intruder with.
Why me? the white-haired admiral sighed as she reached into the shower to
shut the water off. She then took her time in drying off, not having any great
desire to find out what unexpected surprise was waiting for her this time. I
suppose they'll put Rune back in charge, she thought to herself as she stared
at her reflection in the half-fogged mirror. It's either her or Al'vexi if I'm
assassinated, and I really don't think Al will go for that. Why couldn't they
have waited until I was asleep to try something?
"Let's get this over with," she murmured to herself as she donned the old
bathrobe and securely tied the sash shut. She cast a measured look at the
inert energy pistol before shaking her head, deciding that she wasn't up for
bluffing and not really caring about things anymore. You could have had a far
worse send-off, she told herself as she briefly thought of the warmth found in
Azi'mar's embrace before taking a deep breath and opening the bathroom door.
The sudden outflow of warm and humid air into the cooler and dryer air of
her quarters produced a small cloud of steam, briefly obscuring her vision for
just a moment before the room came back into view. Her guest was casually
sprawled out on her couch, one arm slung over the back of the dark blue fabric
as he glanced up at her arrival. She couldn't see if he was armed or not, but
his posture suggested that he wasn't here to start anything. Or at least not
anything unexpected of him....
Si'ren simply sighed as she waited for the shock of recognition to wear
off and let her think rationally once more. "You know," she spoke up in an
openly rueful tone, "After the day I just had, I really shouldn't be surprised
to see you pop up like this. Someone should name a weed after you."
"Hello, Admiral," Jedyt said calmly, his eyebrows arching up as he studied
her minimal attire. "I take it I caught you at a bad moment?"
"What do you think?" Si'ren growled quietly, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Are you here to kill me, or can I go get dressed first?"
"Kill you?" Jedyt echoed, giving her a genuinely surprised look. "No, no,
nothing like that," he assured her with a faint smile. "I'm a little insulted
you would even think I would do such a thing."
Si'ren snorted quietly to herself. "Two words: Colonel Hal'eel."
The blond general rolled his eyes for a moment. "I told you I didn't kill
her," he sighed as he leaned back into the couch cushions. "Not that I mourned
her tragic loss, as she was in my way on the glorious road to becoming a flag
officer, but I had nothing to do with her admittedly timely demise. Oh, and
feel free to get dressed," he added lightly as he cast a causal glance at the
few curves her robe left exposed. "Not that you need to bother on my account
as I won't be staying long, but whatever makes you comfortable, my dear."
"Still a ptanka, I see," Si'ren sighed as she padded into her bedroom and
nudged the door mostly shut.
"Honestly, how would I benefit from your death?" he called out, raising
his voice so she could hear him. "It's not like I could get a promotion out of
it or anything. Besides, my career is already over and I'm not exactly current
on the political scene, so I don't have any favors to earn or pay off."
She emerged from the bedroom several moments later, her hands re-tying the
sash shut after apparently putting on some underwear. She then crossed her
arms over her chest and leaned heavily on the door frame, causing it to creak
quietly. "I'm sure somebody somewhere in the grand scheme of things could find
a way to make it worth your while," she replied in an openly weary tone. "But
one thing at a time. How'd you get past the door lock?"
"It was locked?" Jedyt mused, his eyebrows arching up in mock-surprise.
"Odd, I must have missed that little detail. You *did* set the lock after you
unlocked it earlier, didn't you?"
Si'ren just closed her eyes and brought one hand up to massage the bridge
of her nose. "It figures," she murmured, more to herself than to him. "Do you
have any idea what time it is? On second thought.... don't tell me, I'm liable
to get depressed at the answer. Just tell me what you want so I can send you
on your way and try to get some k'vesi sleep."
He paused and regarded her carefully, fully aware of the rather unholy
hour of the morning. "So you spend the night partying somewhere and then grump
at me when somewhat important business arises?" he observed. "I thought you
were a little more professional than that, Si."
A quiet growl rose up from Si'ren's throat at his comment, more out of a
general feeling of frustration than actual annoyance. "Jedyt, do you have the
slightest idea of what I've had to deal with these past few days?" she sighed
as she leaned harder against the door frame.
"The landscape outside gives me a clue," Jedyt replied with a jerk of his
thumb towards the wall. "Si'ren.... what the hell is going on around here?"
She quietly blew her breath out as she absently hugged her chest tightly.
"What does it look like?" she countered. "As far as I can tell, it's a power
struggle between Rune and Nop'tera that is getting out of hand. Tell me you
didn't break into my quarters in the dead of the night just to ask me that."
Jedyt merely raised an eyebrow at the change in her tone. "That wasn't my
original intention," he said in a neutral tone, "But I figured while I was here
I might as well make the most of things. And before you ask, Admiral, I'm only
here at the request of a very dear friend of ours. You might even know him,"
he added with a faint smirk.
"An old friend of ours?" she echoed in an openly leery tone. "Do tell."
"I have been asked," he said as he got to his feet and very slowly made
his way over to her, making sure to keep his hands relaxed at his side so she
wouldn't mistake his approach as hostile, "To arrange a meeting between you and
our recently-minted Royal Highness, Crown Prince Darian of Earth." He came to
a dead halt as she started to laugh softly to herself, one hand coming up to
massage her sinuses again.
"Is that all?" she inquired dryly as she gave him a look of only somewhat
patient suffering. "You're the third person today to suggest such a thing.
Believe me when I say I've gotten the message loud and clear. Assuming you're
heading back to Earth to start even more trouble, feel free to tell Prince
Darian that just such a meeting is already in the works."
"Oh?" the former general replied, allowing his surprise to show. "Odd, I
was under the impression this was a recent decision on his part. So who were
the first two individuals to bring this up?"
"Perhaps he just now decided on such a thing," Si'ren said in a careful
tone, "But others before him thought it would be a prudent thing to do as well.
General Ar'kanis of the Imperial Red Wings suggested it over dinner earlier,
and Dragoon Commander Tolaris suggested it during.... let's just call it a low-
key roundtable discussion in the Northern Mountains and leave it at that."
Jedyt's blond eyebrows promptly arched up higher. "Really now," he mused
as he casually leaned against the door frame opposite her. "As Alice would
say, curiouser and curiouser indeed."
"Whomever Alice is," the admiral replied in dismissal. "I don't suppose
you're done yet? I really don't want to come across as a cranky old ter'aka,
my purportedly deceased general, but I have not slept well in days and probably
won't be gifted with much sleep in the visible future. Hence a need to get as
much of it as I can when allowed."
"Alright, then," Jedyt said quietly as he gave her a somewhat piercing
look. "Have you heard the news about Sailor Moon, by chance?"
"That she's supposedly half-denizen?" she replied, having to actively
stifle a yawn as fatigue began to set in.
He made a casual gesture with his chin. "That is, pardon the pun, half of
the story. I have every reason to believe she truly is a hybrid, and so does
Rune. There is another aspect to her, I am told, one that I have not been able
to verify yet. I do, however, have reason to believe that Sailor Mars didn't
just stumble on this one on her own."
"Sailor Mars?" Si'ren said as she abruptly sobered up. "The pyromancer?
You were able to speak with her and weren't roasted alive?"
"Obviously," Jedyt replied dryly. "Yes, I got to speak with her, and on
fairly civil terms at that, but let's just say she made no effort to conceal
her dislike for my presence. However, like Prince Darian and Sailor V, she was
willing to listen to what I had to say without taking any hostile action."
"You met with V as well?" the visibly surprised admiral echoed as she
stood up straight. "That was brave, though now I'm starting to wonder what
sort of trouble you're causing now. And don't think I would believe for an
instant that you're not up to something," she added darkly. "I know you far
too well, General Jedyt, you have always been a trouble-maker from the start."
"Si, make up your mind," he replied with a smirk as he casually crossed
his arms over his chest. "Either you want me to tell you everything, which at
this point will take hours, or you want me to let you get some sleep."
Si'ren just shook her head to herself as she leaned back against the door
frame, unconsciously mimicking his hands-over-chest gesture. "Must you be a
ptanka?" she grumbled.
"It keeps me amused," was the smug reply.
"Get on with it," she sighed.
"According to Rei.... Sailor Mars," he added by way of explanation at the
look of confusion on her face, "Our dear Moon Princess has not only survived
her half-denizen Chaos Factor evolution but has managed to grow wings on us.
What's more, and this is the part that bothers me beyond words...."
Si'ren remained perfectly still as the other denizen suddely stood up and
moved over to her, almost until their noses were touching. She would have
dismissed the gesture as mere theatrics if she hadn't suddenly noticed a look
of genuine unease in his eyes, suggesting that he was well and truly rattled by
what he was about to say.
"According to her," he said in a low tone, almost as if he feared being
overheard, "Sailor Moon is believed to be the Ar'kanis il' Hal'al."
A wave of ice immediately flooded her veins as the implications sank in.
"According to who?" she demanded quietly.
Jedyt just shook his head to himself. "She didn't say," he admitted as he
exhaled quietly, still visibly tense. "But if I had to take a guess, I would
say at least Master Healer Maq'i if not any of the other denizens they keep
company with. They almost certainly had Maq'i with them when Serena underwent
the final changes and would have seen her wings for herself. I'm trying to get
an audience with Sailor Moon to see her wings for myself, but that seems to be
a somewhat difficult task for obvious reasons."
The faintest of coughs rose up from Si'ren's chest as she suppressed the
urge to laugh. "I'll give you one thing, Jedyt," she said dryly. "You still
have an excellent gift for understatement. Not that I have any real sympathy
for your plight, since you're the one who went to Earth to start trouble with
the Sailor Scouts, but that's not really important anymore. Just for the sake
of discussion, let's say that she is the Ar'kanis il' Hal'al. So what?"
Jedyt just looked at her as if she had suddenly grown a second head. "Let
me guess, you never paid attention to the subject of ancient legends and the
like when in school as a youth," he said in a tone of open dismay.
"Humor me," she said gently. "Pretend I know nothing and spell out the
dire consequences of this for me."
The former general took in a deep breath before slowly exhaling through
his nose as he tried to decide how to phrase things. "If the legends are to be
read literally," he said carefully, "The Ar'kanis il' Hal'al is one of the four
Heralds who will presage the arrival of Chaos. Whether this Chaos is an event
or an individual is unknown, but the end result is almost universally regarded
to be the destruction of our world. 'Crashing the sky into the ground' is the
literal translation, I believe."
"And you think Sailor Moon is indeed a Herald of Chaos?" Si'ren prodded.
"At this point, Si," Jedyt replied quietly, "I would not put it past her.
She is a very powerful woman, even with as young as she is. And what of the
fact that she's half-denizen? That's never happened before, and you know as
well as I do about the fusion experiments on captives after the invasion of the
Moon Kingdom."
"Mmmm," the admiral grunted quietly, trying not to dwell on the reminder.
"So she's unique," she allowed. "But that doesn't make her a Herald of Chaos.
There have been how many 'sightings' of them throughout history, and yet we
still stand here today?"
"Yes, I know about the fakes," Jedyt grumbled, briefly rubbing the bridge
of his nose. "But how many have been confirmed by the K'maal il' Hal'al? It's
my understanding they're the ones tasked to keep an eye out for signs that the
prophecy is coming about. Si'ren, something tells me you're not taking this
notion seriously."
Si'ren sighed to herself and gave him an openly weary look. "So what do
you want me to do about this?" she demanded calmly. "You're asking me to do
something based on a k'vesi rumor, something that not even you are sure about,
in regards to a story written down how many tens of thousands of years ago?
You're right, I never was one for the ancient religious texts, but that has
little to do with the current situation I'm in right now. Unless one of our
moons is about to drop out of orbit to land in my lap in the next week, I'm not
going to spend what little free time I have left stressing about a what-if."
The blond denizen blew his breath out quietly in frustration and started
to pace the room, absently crossing his hands tightly over his chest. "Rune
would have her killed in an instant," he said softly. "I think that would be
a very bad mistake. We know Darian's daughter will be our next Queen, and at
the moment it looks like Sailor Moon is going to be her mother. While that is
liable to give Rune a seizure just thinking about it, just stop and think for
a moment.... we know who Sailor Moon is. Not just in name, but we know what
kind of woman she is, how strong and how.... pure she is, how honest. Who
would you rather see raising our future Queen, a ruthless tyrant like Beryl or
a woman like Sailor Moon?"
Si'ren raised a slender white eyebrow. "I'm not sure, I've never been in
a position to meet Sailor Moon before," she pointed out. "I'll admit she's not
painted in flattering terms by people like Rune and Al'vexi, but I know a bias
when I see one. Having said all that, I have to admit that I found the thought
of Queen Beryl being pregnant with Darian's child to be a little repugnant."
"Tell me about it," Jedyt muttered sourly as he continued to pace the room
in near-silence. He stopped dead in his tracks as an idea hit him, causing him
to blankly stare at a knick-knack hanging on the wall before turning around to
glance at Si'ren over his shoulder. "Si? What are the odds you could find a
way to have the K'maal il' Hal'al present when you meet with Prince Darian? I
have a hunch he won't be coming alone, and if that's the case then it is very
likely that Sailor Moon and her skirt brigade will be accompanying him."
"That is being anticipated," Si'ren assured him in a neutral tone, her
face slipping into a somewhat hard-to-read mien. "It's funny you should just
happen to mention the notion of having the K'maal il' Hal'al in attendance for
any such meeting. Would you believe there's a monk visiting us right now?"
"Oh?" Jedyt replied, his eyebrows arching up in surprise. "He's here in
the Imperial Castle? How'd that happen?"
Si'ren made a casual gesture with a hand. "It seems the Chaos Factor was
kind enough to let him accelerate the decay-rate of radioactive particles. A
very, very useful power to have available given the nuclear strike the other
day. Very useful.... and very convenient. Almost too convenient, perhaps."
Jedyt looked at her in heavy silence for a number of moments as he tried
to digest the unspoken implications of her suggestion. "You think this is all
a plot of someone's?" he finally asked in an uneasy tone. "As the humans would
say, pieces of the chessboard being moved into position for a final gambit?"
"I don't like coincidences, you know that," Si'ren replied warily. "And
I've had far too many of them crop up in the past few days. Maybe this really
is being orchestrated. Stop and think, both the NegaForce and the Imperium
Silver Crystal are god-like entities and we both know that the NegaForce has
intervened in events before."
"Perhaps," Jedyt allowed, looking just a little pale. "Or perhaps it is
being guided by another hand.... the one that guided a script-writing monk in
ancient times," he pointed out.
Si'ren closed her eyes and leaned against the door frame again, ignoring
the muted creak of the metal beneath her weight. "If I could influence the
water molecules in your bloodstream from across the room, I'd be sorely tempted
to do so right now," she grumbled.
"So sorry to be the herald of bad news," he deadpanned, drawing a truly
venomous look from her. "I don't like it any more than you do, Admiral, and in
fact I'm pretty sure I like it far less at this point than you. Maybe that's
because I'm a believer and you're not, but such ignorance can be cured."
"Fine, have it your way," Si'ren sighed as she made a snap-decision and
wearily pushed herself upright. "Go open my eyes, Jedyt. Find me proof that
she is the Ar'kanis il' Hal'al and I'll take that as seriously as I'm taking
this mess between Rune and Nop'tera. Until then, I've got other things to
worry about. Good night," she added as she turned to head into her bedroom,
one hand absently untying the sash to her robe. She paused when she heard him
call her name quietly, twisting around just enough to cast a sidelong glance at
him out of the corner of her eye.
"I hope I'm wrong," Jedyt said quietly. "I really do hope I'm on a wild
vep'tera chase with this. But what scares me is the feeling that I'm right,
and that it might already be too late. If Sailor Moon truly is the Ar'kanis
il' Hal'al, then it means the prophecy is already in motion."
"Things that are in motion can be stopped," she replied in an empty tone.
"But first you have to prove to me it even exists, let alone is in motion. One
day at a time, General."
Jedyt remained silent as the door was closed just as the robe was cast
away, granting him only a very transient glimpse of her bare back and panties.
He continued to stare at the door in silence before sighing quietly and turning
to leave, part of him easily understanding her skepticism at the situation. It
was hard for him to believe himself, that a girl who was born in an entirely
different dimensional existence could be the one who enables the downfall of
his world, if not the actual hand that causes it. And yet, after fighting her
himself for so long, having directly felt the power she wielded, how could she
*not* be a child of prophecy?
"Well, Darian," he said quietly to himself as he slipped out the door to
Si'ren's quarters, pausing for a brief moment to set the privacy lock before
leaving completely, "I've kept my end of the deal. Time to see if you'll be
able to keep yours...."
He cast a quick glance up and down the hallway to ensure that he wasn't
going to attract any undue attention before pulling the small purple gemstone
out of his pocket. A simple thought directed into the Silkworm crystal was
enough to bring it to life, causing the energies inside to lash out and rip a
portal through the very fabric of the multiverse to bridge the gap between the
Imperial Castle and a desolate church somewhere in downtown Tokyo on Earth. A
simple step was all it took to traverse the wormhole before it collapsed in a
burst of energy behind him, leaving no trace of his visit to the woman on the
other side of the now-locked door who had quite literally fallen asleep the
moment her head had hit the pillows.
* * * *
The sensation that finally brought Leda into semi-consciousness wasn't the
strident chirping of her alarm clock, but rather the stinging sensation in her
hand as she brought her fist down on the snooze button. Bah, she thought as
she sat up, the veil of sleep and dreams slipping further and further away with
every moment that passed. The alarm clock obediently waited fifteen seconds
before chirping again, resulting in another bash of her fist against the metal
device before she extended a finger to properly deactivate the alarm.
"Yeah, I'm up," she groused at it as she tossed the covers aside and made
her way into the bathroom for her morning wake-up shower, not bothering to grab
a robe or a towel to hide her nudity. She paused in the doorway as something
registered on her still-fuzzy senses. It took several moments to realize that
something was gurgling in the kitchen, prompting her to take an extra pair of
steps down the hallway to peer around the corner.
"Good morning," Susan said quietly as she kept one eye on the kettle of
water she was boiling. "I apologize if I'm intruding, but I felt it was best
to catch you before you left for school."
Leda just grunted quietly to herself, only half-surprised to find the
green-haired woman in her kitchen. "Gimme a few," she grumped as she padded
back into the bathroom and closed the door.
Susan shrugged in dismissal and returned her attention to the tea she was
brewing. The sounds of the shower only lasted a few minutes before stopping,
suggesting that the brunette had her morning routine down to a science and was
not one to waste time. The bathroom door opened up again just as she started
to pour the tea, followed by the soft sounds of footsteps heading back down the
hallway to the bedroom.
As expected, the first cup of tea had cooled to a tolerable temperature by
the time Leda emerged from the hallway, dressed in the brown-on-white school
uniform she was permitted to wear instead of the more common blue-on-white that
the others favored. "I trust Alex and Michelle behaved themselves as proper
guests?" Susan asked quietly as she held out the steaming mug to Leda.
"Of course," Leda replied as she accepted the mug and cautiously took a
whiff. "Mmm, apple and.... bergamot?" she ventured.
Susan gave her a gentle smile of approval. "It is," she replied. "Good
teas are hard to find outside of the former British colonial empire, but they
can still be encountered if you know where to look. Might I have a few moments
of your time before you depart for school?"
"You do know it's before sunrise, right?" Leda reminded her as she blew on
the edge of the mug before taking a cautious sip of the tea.
"I am eminently aware, I assure you," the succubus replied calmly.
"Just saying," the brunette murmured as she indulged in a deeper sip of
her tea. "Don't expect much mental focus out of me yet," she warned. "That
usually doesn't kick in until the bus pulls up to the school."
A knowing smile crossed Susan's lips as she picked up a second mug of the
apple-and-bergamot tea. "I shall explain it to you as I would to Alex, then,"
she said in light tone.
"Ouch," Leda smirked. "So what's up?"
"A rather important business matter, actually," Susan replied in a somber
tone as she gestured to a small manila folder laying on the counter. "To make
a long story short, I am in the process of setting up some funding for the nine
of us, which is to say the civilian identities of the Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo
Mask, and I have encountered a surprising number of administrative snags along
the way."
Leda blinked and set the mug down on the counter before she could spill it
by accident. "Wait, back up," she protested. "You're trying to set up what?"
"Financial resources," Susan explained carefully. "The idea was to create
a series of checking and savings accounts that each of you could use at your
leisure as well as serving as a starting point for financial investments for
your needs in the future. Funding for college, for instance."
Leda blinked again as the idea finally registered on her rapidly-awakening
brain. "Okay," she said slowly, casting an uneasy glance at the paperwork.
"I'm not an accountant or anything, but I know my way around a checkbook and
all. Just what kind of funding are we talking about here?"
"Twenty-five thousand each to start with," Susan replied calmly, causing
Leda's green eyes to double in diameter. "Four thousand for unrestricted
checking, which is yours to do with as you please, seven thousand for limited
savings to be drawn upon with restrictions, and the remainder set aside as a
base for various investments geared towards future returns."
"Whoa!" Leda gasped, absently taking a step back. "And you're just giving
us access to that kind of money?"
Susan sighed quietly to herself, seeing the exact same look in Leda's eyes
as she had seen in Sailor V's eyes several hours ago. "As I told Mina," she
explained carefully, "I am now the heiress to an ancestral family fortune, one
that will be put to use in accordance to my aunt's wishes. She was a friend of
Sailor V's, you see, and we both know little old English ladies aren't ones to
forget their friends.... or the friends of their extended families," she added
as she gave Leda a meaningful look.
"Right...." Leda said slowly with open suspicion.
"You need not worry about the details, Leda," Susan assured her as she
took an absent sip of her tea. "All that I will need from you is the approval
of your legal guardian to set this into motion."
Leda frowned and cast a measured look at the manila folder before she
reached out to pick up her own mug of tea again. "Uh-huh," she said in a non-
committal tone before taking a measured drink.
"I sense this is going to be more complicated than I had anticipated," the
green-haired woman observed in a neutral tone.
"He's going to ask questions," Leda assured her with a level look. "He's
the one that set me up like this, including the financial ninjitsu with the
trust account, so he'll probably want to put every single letter of the fine-
print under a neutron microscope."
Susan simply nodded in understanding. "If he feels the need to get in
touch with me, he may contact me at the number I have listed in here," she said
as she made a gesture with her free hand to the manila folder. "All of the
supporting paperwork is here, however, including a cover letter that explains
the details of my aunt's non-binding will. I doubt there will be anything
unseemly with the paperwork itself, but at this point I am no longer willing
to concede anything."
"Mmm-hmm," Leda murmured absently as she eyed the folder warily. She took
a measured sip of her tea before sighing quietly to herself. "And this isn't
going to bite me on the butt at some point down the road, is it? I mean, in
terms of having to pay taxes and the like."
Susan shook her head. "The only tax burden you will incur from this is on
any interest your investments produce, and that will not have to be paid until
you go to draw upon the principal or otherwise 'cash out' the account. Leda?"
she added in a gentle tone. "I understand your reluctance at getting your
legal guardian involved in affairs, but I am under a legal constraint to do so.
As I told Mina, this is only an initial set-up and I fully anticipate being
able to expand the funding considerably in the near-term future. However, as
I am all too aware of the sometimes ponderous pace of bureaucracy, it may take
some additional time beyond what has already been anticipated."
Leda visibly hesitated, looking up at her over the rim of her mug. "Not
to be nosy or anything, Susan, but just how much of an expansion are we talking
about here?" she inquired in a guarded tone.
Susan made a gesture of casual dismissal with her own mug. "It depends on
how much of the money can be recovered after taxes," she replied calmly. "The
most conservative estimation is three hundred million, so that will roughly
equate to thirty million for each account."
"Daaaaaaaaaaaamn," Leda rasped as she came dangerously close to choking on
her tea. She quickly tossed back the last mouthful and leaned past Susan to
set the empty cup in the sink. "And that's the cloudy-side estimation? What's
the sunny-side look like?"
"Considerably higher," Susan replied dryly. "But again, that will take a
fair amount of time to fully liquidate. In the mean time, I ask that you take
the time to arrange a sit-down meeting with your legal guardian in the visible
future for the purpose of going over the paperwork to his satisfaction. Once
I receive the notarized forms, the accounts should be available a day or two
later for immediate use."
"Immediate use, huh?" Leda said, once again casting a faintly uneasy look
at the manila folder. "Four grand to play with just like that?"
"Indeed," Susan affirmed with a simple nod of her head. "I believe that
you are all mature enough to handle such an amount for leisure purposes at your
individual discretion. The bulk of the resources, however, come with a number
of restrictions and safe-guards as they are intended to serve a purpose beyond
keeping your sense of instant-gratification sated on pizza and ice-cream."
"Heh," Leda chuckled quietly. "Okay, so you got me on that one, but it's
not like I'd blow the entire pot on having fun. Hell, a couple hundred thrown
in the sunshine column of the budget would probably last for months."
"Budgets are useful tools indeed," Susan agreed as she picked up one of
the forgotten mugs of tea and held it out. She remained impassive as Leda gave
her a curious look and reached up to accept it, silently observing the brunette
as she nearly leapt out of her uniform as the discovery of Michelle standing
right next to her.
"Holy hell, don't do that!" Leda gasped as she clutched her chest, bracing
her free hand on the counter for stability.
"Sorry," Michelle murmured quietly as she shrank away from her. She held
the cup in one hand as she crossed her arms over her bare chest, wearing only
a pair of panties.
"Christ," Leda grumbled as she moved past her and headed back down the
hallway. She returned a few moments later with a black robe in hand, still
shaking her head to herself. "Why do the quiet ones always have to be the
freaking ninjas?" she asked Susan. "I swear, we have this exact same problem
with Ami from time to time. Here," she added as she held the robe out to
Michelle.
"Thank you," Michelle said quietly as she set her cup of tea down and
quickly slipped the robe on.
"And what problem would that be?" Susan inquired with genuine curiosity.
Leda just wrinkled her nose as she moved past her to open up one of the
cabinets. "Moving around in absolute silence like a ghost," she grumbled as
she started to search for something to call breakfast. "You have no idea just
how many drawer-checks she's caused by not warning us that she was joining a
group for a chat or whatever it was we're doing at the time. Hell, I almost
pissed myself the first time she did that, and that was long before she became
a vampire. Scared the hell out of Serena, too," she added darkly as she found
a half-empty box of Pop-Tarts that would suffice. "She yelped like someone had
just jammed an ice-cube in her panties. My ears rang for hours after that."
Michelle and Susan traded knowing looks before faint smiles crossed both
their faces. "The Princess has always been.... easily excited," Susan said in
a diplomatic tone. "Granted the majority of the blame could be and often was
attributed to the amount of sugar recently consumed, which regrettably tended
to be disturbingly copious at times, but it quite common for her to.... shall
we say, openly and audibly express the variances of her moods to those within
her ambient vicinity."
"Great," the brunette grumped as she briefly fought with the foil wrapping
on the package of Pop-Tarts before managing to rend it apart. "So she was a
squealer back then too, eh? I'm half-tempted to ask Darian if she's a moaner
as well. HEY!" she protested as Michelle choked on her tea, sending a light
spray of moisture in a wide arc in front of her.
"Leda!" Michelle gasped in shock as a somewhat heinous blush rose to her
cheeks at the visual.
"Michelle, let's not pretend to be pure and virtuous here, okay?" Leda
sighed as she took a large bite out of the pastry. "You may walk quietly and
speak softly, but you sure as hell don't orgasm quietly. I'm fairly sure I
only got to sleep last night once Alex was finished with you."
It was all Susan could do to keep her expression unchanged as Michelle's
face almost literally exploded with crimson coloring, a truly moritifed look
crossing her face as she almost dropped her tea in open embarassment. "Leda,"
the succubus said in a reproving tone as she glanced at the brunette.
"I'm jus' sayin'," she mumbled as she chewed. "I don' hav' any problems
wif'em foolin' around as lovers. I say more power to 'em," she added after a
brief pause to swallow. "I'm just going to call them out on it if they try to
act all cute and innocent, that's all. Take it easy, Michelle," she added with
a sigh as the other girl visibly appeared to be wishing she could crawl under
a rock.
"I'm sorry," Michelle whispered almost too softly to be heard, her face
still an absolute wall of intense blushing shame.
Leda waved her half-eaten pastry around in dismissal. "Look, I've had a
few nights like that myself when Jenni was with me, so don't think I'm railing
on anyone's so-called sinful ways. I'm just pointing out the fact that you're
not as quiet as you'd like to think."
"I think you have made your point sufficiently clear, Lady Jupiter," Susan
observed dryly with an edged undertone. "If you are finished expounding on the
issue, I should like to continue our earlier discussion in reference to the
financial resources I am attempting to set up for you and the others."
Leda simply shrugged before chewing on the remaining Pop-Tart. "It's not
like I can just drop in on him unannounced," she pointed out. "I'll give his
secretary a call after school and see if I can't arrange a quick meeting with
him. Might take a day or two, depending on what he's busy with."
Susan nodded in understanding. "That will suffice," she agreed as she
drained her cup of tea. She raised a delicate green eyebrow as she heard a
somewhat heavy plodding sound in the hallway, shortly followed by a visibly
half-asleep Alex making an appearance. "Good morning, Alex," she said in a
gentle tone.
"Meh," the blonde muttered back as she stifled a yawn, wearing only a pair
of panties as Michelle had done earlier. "Hey," she added to Leda by way of
greeting.
"Hey," Leda countered casually. "Sorry if the alarm woke you."
"Nah, z'okay," Alex murmured fuzzily as she leaned over to kiss Michelle's
cheek. She paused as she realized that her lover's face was tinted a fairly
moderate shade of red for some reason. "You alright?" she inquired cautiously.
Michelle cast a brief glance at Leda before she looked away, her cheeks
once again taking on a truly henious blush. "We were too loud last night," she
managed to say in a strangled whisper.
Alex blinked and cast the briefest of sidelong looks over her shoulder
before refocusing on Michelle. "What do you mean, we?" she ventured.
"D'oh," Leda chuckled as Michelle promptly took a step backwards to bring
her heel down on Alex's toes. "Alex, are you sure you're not a guy? I know
you're not exactly built like one," she added as she briefly eyed the blonde's
bare breasts, "But you certainly seem to act like one. Or at least mouth-off
without thinking like one."
"Ow, damn," Alex moaned as she limped back, giving Michelle a truly upset
look. "What the hell did I do to you?"
"I'm going to take a shower," Michelle muttered, more to herself than to
anyone else as she darted past Alex at a somewhat rapid pace. Alex watched her
departure in confused silence, staring down the hallway for a number of moments
before slowly turning around to give the rest of the group a nonplussed look.
"It's before sunrise," Leda pointed out casually. "Enough said."
"Right...." Alex said slowly, still not sure what to think.
"Look, I need to get going," the brunette sighed as she glanced over at
the clock on the microwave. "Feel free to scrounge around for anything you
think will make an appropriate breakfast, but like I said last night, try to
use a little common sense alright?"
"I will ensure that everything is in order before we leave," Susan spoke
up quickly. "You will not need to worry about anything being amiss once you
return from school."
"Mmmhmm," Leda replied in a neutral tone.
"Back up, Sue," Alex sighed quietly as she leaned against the kitchen sink
in a manner that most would have found to be casually provocative given her
state of undress. "What sort of craziness do you have planned for us today?
I'm just asking so I know if I want to bother eating breakfast or not."
Susan sighed quietly as she absently ran her fingertips through her mane
of dark green hair. "To summarize in a single word, Alex, shopping. I have a
fair number of people I would like to meet with today, and unfortunately there
is no one central location where they all congregate. Therefore I have little
recourse but to visit them individually. As that will take me across the city
in various ways, I figured it would be best to make the most of the situation
and ask that you, Michelle, and Whisper accompany me in order to secure a new
supply of clothing for ourselves."
"Clothes shopping, eh?" Alex said warily as she cast a reflexive glance
over her shoulder at the sound of the shower starting up. "Okay, so Mich'll
be there without a second thought, but you know I'm not all that keen on the
whole bargain-hunting, haggle-with-the-merchant expedition thing."
"And your current selection of clothing consists of...?" Susan prompted,
resulting in a sour look crossing the blonde's face.
"I know, Sue," Alex sighed. "I'm just saying it's not my thing."
"Heh," Leda chuckled. "If you want a guide for shopping, just wait until
school's out and dangle a wish-list in front of Mina. Trust me, she knows the
local shopping malls like the back of her hand."
Susan nodded in understanding as she picked up the last all-but-forgotten
mug of tea and held it out to Alex. "Be that as it may, Leda, it would also
necessitate a delay of several hours in order to wait for her. If a second
shopping trip is necessary, and I suspect it may be, I will be sure to include
both her and the Princess in the group. With time being what it is, however,
I cannot wait that long. In fact, I am not entirely sure I will be able to
meet with Darian for lunch as intended in order to appraise him of my current
situation in regards to the planned funding for the group."
"Yeah, about that," Leda said in a faintly wary tone as Alex silently
accepted the tea and promptly downed half of it in a single gulp. "How exactly
do you plan on breaking this to the others? I'm not going to say I know how
everyone's going to react, but I can guarantee you at least one jaw is going to
hit the floor hard enough to leave a mark."
"I will attempt to meet the five of you after school ends for the day,"
Susan replied calmly. "This way, we can discuss the matter as a group. Having
said that, I also plan on individual discussions with each of you in regards to
the matter of parental or othersise legal guardian consent."
"Oh, good luck with that," Leda stated, seeming to cringe just slightly.
"Don't get me wrong, Doctor Anderson's quite the reasonable lady and all, but
she gets really protective when you start talking about Ami. Same goes for
Rei's grandfather, and I think you might want to really stop and think twice
before dropping in on him. He's taught Rei everything she knows about all that
spiritual stuff, so if she bitches about being able to sense your demonic side
and all from across the room, just imagine what he'll be able to sense. Oh,
and don't forget the spiritual wardings around the temple," she added. "We've
had to quit getting together there since they drive Ami up the wall now."
Susan nodded somberly. "A fair warning," she allowed in a neutral tone.
"There is only so much I am able to do in terms of masking my nature, however,
so I shall simply have to see how it goes. And yes, I am.... aware.... of the
consecrated nature of the Temple. They are not as great a threat as you think,
but I shall nonetheless have to tread carefully. Alex, are you alright?" she
added as the blonde silently leaned past her to put the empty mug in the sink.
"Just waiting for you to finish babbling, Sue," Alex grumbled. "I'll let
Mich try to make sense of it when you try to explain it to me again later."
"On that note, I'm out," Leda said before Susan could finish sighing in
resignation. "Good luck with the shopping and all, and I guess I'll be seeing
you girls after school or something. Should be another robe in my closet if
you feel like getting dressed or something," she added to Alex as she cast a
brief glance at the way the blonde's petite breasts were still prominently
thrust out in a most tantalizing fashion.
"Maybe after a shower, babe," Alex replied as she moved aside to let Leda
walk past her. "See you later."
Leda made a sour face as she retrieved her backpack from the couch and
hefted it onto her shoulder. "Yeah, something like that," she grunted. She
paused for a moment as she patted herself down, absently nodding as she felt
the tell-tale bulge of her keys in her skirt pocket. "Oh, yeah," she spoke up
as the sound of the shower suddenly died away. "Could someone make sure that
Michelle knows I'm not trying to harass her sex-life or anything?"
"I will attempt to explain the matter to her," Susan promised gently.
"Whoa, wait," Alex said as she stood up straight. "What's up?"
"The volume," Leda replied dryly as she moved towards the door. "Just try
to keep it down a notch next time, eh? I could care less what you two do on
your own time, I just don't need to hear about it. See ya," she added as the
door was opened only long enough for her to slip outside.
"Sue, do I want to ask?" Alex sighed as the door was shut with a muted
thump that barely rattled the walls.
The succubus simply shook her head. "It may be best that you don't," she
sighed. "As I myself have been on the receiving end of such requests in my
youth, I know it is not something one wishes to have discussed openly with
others. Even with one's lover," she added with a faint hint of a blush.
Alex regarded her warily for several seconds before seeming to give up.
"Whatever, Sue," she muttered as she glanced over her shoulder at the sound of
the bathroom door opening up. "You go ahead and take care of whatever it is
you need to do, I need to grab a quick shower."
"Very well, then," Susan said calmly. "Hopefully the rest of today won't
be nearly as.... coarse, perhaps, as this morning seems to be. In any regard,
there is much to be done today and I should like to get as early a start as I
can manage. Time waits for nobody, after all," she added lightly with a smile.
"Word of advice, Sue?" Alex grumbled. "Switch to decaf. Your morning
cheerfulness is starting to chafe."
"You say that like it is a new experience," Susan observed, giving in to
a rare impulse to needle the blonde's dislike of early mornings.
"Not even sunrise yet and already I hate this," Alex sighed as she left
the kitchen and padded into the bathroom for an abbreviated morning ritual.
* * * *
The tiny device casually perched on the nightstand had already chittered
rather loudly five times and was about to do so a sixth time when he finally
managed to grab it and slide his thumb across the switch at the base. "K'tal,"
he said in a truly fuzzy voice as he flopped back against the pillow, making
sure not to squish the reptile-like creature curled up next to him.
<You plan on getting out of bed anytime soon, by chance?> a familiar voice
replied in a hard-to-read tone. <I don't know about you, but the rest of us
have places to be today.>
"Half an hour," K'tal grumped, reaching out with his free hand to caress
his companion as she rolled over onto her side to look at him.
<Don't suppose you could expedite that?> Tolaris prodded.
"No, I can't," K'tal promptly replied as the veil of sleep began to slide
away. "Go grab breakfast if you're afraid we won't get back before the chow
hall runs out of that gray goop they call food. If you absolutley, positively
must head back now, go ahead and hit the sand. I'll thumb a ride with one of
T'Del's cargo drones if I have to. I'll see you later. Out," he added in a
flat tone as he closed the channel and casually tossed the comm-link across the
room to land somewhere on the couch.
"I thought you military types were always ready to leave on a moment's
notice," she murmured softly as she stretched, her leathery greenish-blue skin
creaking ominously.
K'tal grumbled quietly as he leaned over to brush his lips against the
base of her throat. "We are," he murmured. "But this isn't an emergency, now
is it? Or is this where you kick me out of bed in the morning?"
B'nai said nothing as she reached up to carefully run a clawed hand over
his head and shoulders. "So why are you still here?" she inquired softly.
The Dragoon paused and lifted his head up to look into her eyes. "It's
warm and comfortable for one," he pointed out. "It's got you in it at the
moment, so that's another big bonus. Or is morning-after cuddling out?"
"That depends on what you had in mind," she replied softly.
"Nothing too serious," he admitted with a quiet sigh as he idly traced the
contours of her neck and chest with his fingertips. "I'm not about to start
anything I don't have the time to finish, and as we both know...."
"Duty calls," she spoke up before he could finish.
He simply looked up at her. "Do you think I want to leave?" he inquired.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm going to have to leave your bed soon if only to take
a leak, and yes.... I do have to return to my division in fairly short order.
But that doesn't mean I want to leave you."
"And why is that, Dragoon?" she asked softly.
K'tal stared into her eyes for a moment before sighing quietly. "Tell me
you enjoyed it," he asked quietly.
"I did," B'nai admitted as she drew the sheets tightly around her. "So
how do I compare to your other conquests?"
"One of the best, actually," he stated, drawing a raised eyebrow ridge in
response. "In another time and place I'd have told him to get bent and check
back with me around lunchtime next week. Ne'ana, I thought we already reached
an understanding about this before that first kiss," he murmured in an almost
pleading tone. "This wasn't meant to be a just-for-giggles thing."
"I know what you said," she countered in a muted tone as she glanced away
from him.
"So what's the problem?" he prodded. "Buyer's remorse, such as it were?"
A faint cough of a laugh rose up from her throat as she studied the walls
of her bedroom. "I'm not sure what I paid for this, but...." she began to say,
only to be silenced as he leaned against her and melded his lips to hers.
The kiss remained unbroken for some time, his lips gently working against
hers in a slow and unhurried progression as his free hand lightly roamed over
her body. It wasn't a passionate kiss or caress, but one that she found to be
oddly soothing and comforting. The sensation eventually proved to be relaxing
enough to allow her to get full control over her Chaos Factor power, smoothing
out the reptilian lines of her changed body and restoring her skin to a far
more normal texture and coloring.
"You are not some whore to be used and left behind, ne'ana," he murmured
when their lips finally parted. "You are a very special woman who deserves to
be treated as such, with respect and tenderness. I regret that I cannot stay
here to spend more time with you, not without incuring a severe cost that just
might end my life under the current circumstances. Yes, the situation I have
to leave your side to face is that grave and that important," he added as she
blinked. "That's one of the prices of duty, having to leave the pleasant to
face the unpleasant for the sake of others."
She looked at him in silence before nodding gently. "So now what?" she
asked quietly, giving him an openly uneasy look.
"So now we go back to life as it was," he murmured as he leaned over to
kiss her gently again. "You to the bar and your patrons, and I to my military
ways and my fellow Dragoons. Only when we do, B'nai? We each carry with us
the memory of the other, and what else is the sum of one's life if not their
collection of memories? I would like to think I'm a slightly better person
inside after having spent time like this with you, and I would hope that you
feel the same way about your experience with me."
"Perhaps," she whispered, more to herself than to him.
K'tal simply shook his head. "One night with a lover won't change your
world, B'nai," he said gently. "It may change your view on a few things, but
it certainly won't alter your feelings about the military, nor should it be
expected to. We already discussed this. I'll try to keep in touch with you
as best I can, but I'm not going to intrude into your life or abandon my own.
You know why I came to you like this, to show you how it can be.... not to try
to make it be."
"Yes, you certainly showed me," she agreed quietly as she leaned back
against the pillows, letting her gaze wander across the lines of his face.
"Don't tell me I hurt you somehow," he prodded cautiously.
She shook her head gently. "No," she replied. "It was.... what you said
it would be, and believe me when I say I am.... relieved.... it wasn't what I
had feared it would be."
He gave her a gentle smile and dipped his head down to very gently kiss
the shallow curve of her breast. "Conquering a fear sounds like an improvement
of the mind and soul, don't you think?" he pointed out. "Even if it means no
more than that, B'nai, surely that alone would suffice?"
"To a certain extent," she countered. "As you just said, you've shown me
how it can be.... but not how it always will be. I will probably be just as
afraid the next time.... should there be one.... that it will not be as gentle
as you have been. Why are you laughing?" she demanded, her face twisting into
a dark scowl as his shoulders began to shake with suppressed humor.
"There's only so much I can do, ne'ana," he explained with a smirk. "Each
encounter is unique, just like every individual is unique. One guy might be as
gentle as a vep'tera feather, the next might be rough like a sandstorm. Tell
me your dancing girls don't complain about the occasional rough 'boyfriend'
from time to time. See what I mean?" he added as he saw the way her expression
changed with realization.
"I suppose," she admitted.
"It just means being selective about whom you open up to, that's all," he
said languidly as he carefully rolled over onto his side to slip out from under
the covers. "And women can be just as mean and cruel in bed as men can, so
don't go blindly hating the lustful desires of men, okay? Hey, don't sigh at
me like that," he protested quietly. "I'm not leaving you because I want to,
okay? That, and I kinda have to use the bathroom here."
"I suppose," she repeated quietly as she looked up at him. She remained
silent as he leaned over to kiss her yet again before leaving, her gaze never
straying from his body as he stepped into the bathroom. Her thoughts remained
in a calm but somewhat controlled whirlwind as she reflected on the evening's
events, recalling virutally every word whispered between them, every caress,
every kiss, and every movement of him within her as she surrendered her virtue
to both his passion and her own.
If he had been bothered by the discovery of what the Chaos Factor had done
to her, uncontrollably twisting her body into a lizard-like appearance whenever
she was truly stressed, she hadn't been able to hear it in his voice or see it
in his eyes. In fact, his touch had only gotten gentler after that, exploring
her carefully as she reacted to her uncertain situation.... and her desires.
Maybe Than-Tei was right, she thought to herself as she relaxed against
the pillows and allowed her eyes to close of their own accord. She was only
dimly aware of the sound of flushing water before she felt his lips on hers in
a feather-light kiss again. "Mmm?" she protested sleepily as she thought she
heard his voice.
K'tal shook his head as he gazed down at her beauty. "Go back to sleep,
ne'ana," he murmured softly, already having cleaned up and gotten dressed while
she had returned to the sleep and dreams that had been interrupted by the sound
of his comm-link chitting. "Just remember me like I will remember you. I left
my office number on your refrigerator," he added. "Just in case you ever need
me in a professional sense. Take care, B'nai," he added as he gave her one
final kiss before quietly leaving the bedroom and exiting her private suite.
The bar was essentially empty as he quietly made his way down the stairs,
with only a pair of patrons at the tables still sleeping off their indulgences
from the previous night. Sucks to be them, K'tal thought as he made his way
over to the door, hang-over headaches *and* cricks in their necks from sleeping
like that. Speaking of cricks, he added with a faint wince as he rubbed his
back, let's hope that little bar-check she pulled didn't crack something.
"Ow," the Dragoon groaned as he opened the door and was promptly blinded
by the glare of the rising sun reflected at just the right angle off of a large
cruiser on one of the landing pads.
"Good morning," Octane grunted quietly as she leaned against the front of
the pub with her arms crossed over her chest. Her tentacles were splayed out
behind her as wide as possible as she apparently basked them in the glare of
the reflected sunlight.
"I think you're lying about the good part," K'tal replied as he turned his
head away to refocus his vision properly. "Sorry I'm late."
"Who said you're late?" Octane inquired casually.
"Tolaris, apparently," he pointed out as he gave her an uncertain look.
The tentacled mechanic shrugged her shoulders, causing the front of her
overalls to flex rather impressively. "You're here before he is, so I'm not
seeing the problem just yet. Besides, Glitter is still shock-checking the new
fuel-injector she installed this morning, she should be back in.... well, never
mind," she sighed as the muted sound of an approaching engine could be heard.
"Shock-checking, eh?" he echoed, wincing slightly as the ground transport
was sent into a controlled sideways skid, the engine audibly ramping down as it
came to a halt with the side hatch not three feet away from him. "Know what,
I'm just going to use my imagination and not ask for a formal definition. So
how's it holding up?" he called out as the hatch hissed open.
<I'm not T'Del, so I can't say how solid the weld is,> Glitter's voice
drifted out from the internal speakers. <But I think it'll hold for the time
being. Chief, you ready?>
"Soon as everyone gets here," Octane replied with a yawn as she gingerly
rubbed her temples.
"Hangover?" K'tal inquired delicately.
"Please," Octane scoffed without opening her eyes. "I know how to hold my
liquor, Dragoon. You don't see me parked on one of the tables, now do you?"
"I'm just asking, Chief, that's all," K'tal said quickly. "Maybe I need
to take a closer look at those gents to make sure one of them isn't.... ah, so
there you are," he said as the door opened to allow Tolaris and T'Del to exit
the bar. "Wondering if you got lost or something. So remind me again why I
needed to expedite matters while you...?" he prodded.
"Plans change, Commander," Tolaris said simply as he moved past him to
climb into the waiting transport. "Sorry to keep you waiting," he said to
Glitter.
<Good timing,> Glitter replied, both hands firmly connected to the neural
interfaces. <I just finished testing the repairs I had to make. T'Del, next
time you get some spare time, I need you to take a closer look at the threads
on the fuel-injectors. They're wearing out faster than expected.>
The redhead simply nodded in understanding as she climbed into the open
transport and moved towards the back seat next to Tolaris. She waited for him
to strap himself in with the webbing before sitting down herself and likewise
doing the same.
"I know I'm not much of a morning person," K'tal said quietly to Octane,
"But is it just me or is everyone in an unusually quiet mood today?"
"It's sunrise, enough said," Octane replied with a grunt as she pushed
herself off of the wall and moved over to the open hatch. "And there's nothing
wrong with silence in the morning."
K'tal just shook his head to himself as he waited for her to get situated
before climbing inside and taking the chair opposite her. He then had to very
quickly brace himself as Glitter put the drive-train into gear, sending the
transport surging forward with a sudden jolt that slammed the hatch shut with
an almost deafening clang. "Oh, yes, I just love mornings," he said through
gritted teeth as he sat down and struggled to strap himself in securely against
the somewhat jostling acceleration.
<Wuss,> Glitter grumbled as she executed a three-quarters looping turn to
steer around a cargo transport parked at the far end of the landing zone.
"Know what?" K'tal called out over the roaring of the engine. "When we
get back, I'm going to introduce you to a friend of mine. A Felinoid named
Asrial. She's kinda cute and more than a little fuzzy, but something tells me
the two of you will get along great."
"K'tal," Tolaris murmured in a reproving tone.
<Nothing wrong with making new friends,> Glitter observed calmly.
"Speaking of which," T'Del spoke up lightly, "Should I and the others be
worried about B'nai's state of mind now?"
K'tal leaned against the webbing just enough to glance at her out of the
corner of his eye. "Probably no more so than I need to worry about what you've
done to Tolaris' so-called mind," he said calmly. He paused as he could see a
pale blush spring to her cheeks for a few moments before she was able to regain
her composure. "Great, now I really am worried," he sighed.
"As you were, Commander," Tolaris said in a flat tone.
"Speaking about where we were last night, and I don't mean in that way,"
K'tal said, causing the rest of the group to collectively wince, "Now that I've
had the chance to sleep on a few thoughts, I think we need to find a way to get
ourselves dug out of the sand and ready to launch as soon as possible. Call it
a gut feeling if you want, but I'm not liking this feeling of being exposed all
alone out in the desert like this without a way to relocate in a hurry."
"Agreed," Tolaris said somberly.
<Don't like our hospitality, eh?> Glitter said as she finished a banking
turn and started to accelerate on a section of straight terrain.
"No, no, you are truly a bunch of lovely ladies," K'tal assured her with
a smile that tried to mask a grimace as his internals were compressed against
his spine by the force of the acceleration. "It's just the fact that we're
out in the middle of a desert with no current capability to avoid reflective
orbital mirrors that bothers me. Someone made our hull glow once, I'd rather
not be in a position where someone could take a second shot at us, you know?"
"A valid concern," T'Del pointed out.
"Thank you," K'tal replied. "And speaking of concerns, I have to admit
being more than a little concerned about just exactly we'll be able to do this
without extensive environmental damage. We're buried about this deep in the
sand," he said, holding his finger and thumb about four inches apart, "And you
wouldn't believe how much melted sand we have clogging the intakes. We'll need
at least a foot of clearance between the intakes and the ground if we want to
avoid turning the intakes into sand vacuums."
"Your SMT weighs how much and is only displacing a few inches of sand?"
Octane spoke up as both she and T'Del blinked in surprise.
"That's our resting depth relative to where we are now," K'tal explained.
"The shields made a rather neatly-shaped crater when we bounced the hull off
the floor after the tractor suddenly gave out, so that probably displaced more
sand that is obvious. I actually think we're resting a good ten feet below
where ground-level used to be."
<That explains the sand-waves,> Glitter observed with a soft grunt.
"Even so, that's still not a lot of surface displacement," Octane pointed
out as she traded still-surprised looks with T'Del.
"Two words, Chief," K'tal countered. "Gravity shields. They're still
running at full power, so our mass-displacement value is as low as it can get
without breaking anything. Turn them off and we probably bury the entire third
sub-floor in the sand. Probably the second one as well," he added. "And if
that happens, we'll be excavating ourselves for months."
"Huh," Octane mused to herself as she started to think carefully.
<Scenario,> Glitter spoke up as she tilted the cruiser into a surprisingly
gentle turn. <Large volume, low mass. Vectored thrust is an option, but not
in the Z-axis.>
"Actually, z-thrust is available but only above a certain threshold,"
T'Del corrected, her face a mask of introspective contemplation. "So all that
really needs to be done is to raise their hull above the sand-line."
"Preferably high enough that we don't liquefy anything when the mains are
turned back on," K'tal added. "Not that we haven't made a mess already, but
there's no need to make things worse. I'm not looking forward to having to
file our report with the Environmental Authority as it is," he grumbled.
<I'm sure someone will find a use for low-grade industrial glass slag,>
Glitter pointed out as she levelled out and started to speed up once again.
<One problem at a time. I don't suppose one of your Engineering types could
give us a rough mass-displacement value that we can work with?>
K'tal nodded in response. "I'll ask the Chief when we get back."
"If memory serves," T'Del said to Tolaris, "One of your officers mentioned
in passing that you use a series of particle-tractors for station-keeping?"
"They're used for fine-tuning and softening landings," Tolaris explained.
"Granted they're designed to cope with the weight of the hull, but only on a
temporary basis and are more like shock-dampeners than inverse tractors. We
need to replace at least one, I believe," he added with a faint sigh.
"Three," K'tal corrected. "One tore itself apart trying to keep our nose
up, and Engineering says the other two in the forward section will probably
fragment themselves if we even think about pushing them beyond the specs."
<You only built them to the spec minimums?> Glitter inquired archly.
"Of course not," K'tal countered with a mild glare. "But as with any
piece of equipment pushed well past the spec maximums and almost right up to
the theoretical maximum, it will not take kindly to being asked to do so again
without a little tender and loving maintenance. And to be fair to the ones who
actually built the tractors, those three units took the brunt of our weight on
landing."
<Here's a question, Chief,> the drone pilot spoke up as they cleared the
outer limit of Sector One and approached the mountains. <How difficult would
it be to rebuild a trio of tractor units?>
A pair of tentacles promptly twitched in a modified shrug. "Depends on
their size and thrust requirements," Octane replied. "We have enough junk in
the backyard to probably build a half-dozen units from scratch, but don't ask
me to make any promises on the output."
"Commander, what exactly is your flight thruster configuration?" T'Del
spoke up suddenly, her gaze unfocused as she continued to think.
"In regards to...?" Tolaris prompted.
"Spacing and capacity for independent plasma output," the redhead replied
as she blinked and refocused on the group. "More specifically, are you able to
use just one section for thrust without requiring the use of the others?"
Tolaris promptly blinked and turned to look at K'tal. "I'm not sure," the
elder Dragoon said after K'tal shrugged helplessly.
<Got a new idea, do you?> Glitter inquired warily.
"I have a possible solution in mind, yes," T'Del admitted with a simple
shrug of her shoulders. "I am well-versed in the subtle mechanics of particle
waveform physics, and depending on the engineering constraints I could probably
construct new units capable of withstanding a considerable amount of stress.
With that in mind, presuming these improved replacements are installed in the
same section of the forward hull, it is within the realm of possibility that
their combined output would be sufficient to act as a jack of sorts to tilt the
entire SMT up at an angle."
"Okay...." K'tal said slowly, casting a concerned glance at the cruiser
pilot as the force of the increasing acceleration started to press them into
the bucket seats. "That's good for changing a ground vehicle's wheel or maybe
even a light cruiser's landing pad, but.... umm...."
"Glitter," Octane said flatly as the g-force abruptly increased.
<Settle down, I'm still below the maximum limit,> Glitter grumped.
"A hardware limit, maybe," K'tal pointed out. "Some of us paper-pushers
have soft innards that need to be coddled, however."
<Wuss,> the pilot sighed as she eased off the acceleration slightly.
"The logic, Commander," T'Del spoke up, "Was that if your forward section
could be lifted up without compromising your hull's integrity, that just might
be sufficient to unmask your forward flight thrusters enough to permit you to
use them without directing their entire thrust downwards where the heat would
liquefy the sand."
Tolaris immediately shook his head. "That won't work," he pointed out.
"The tractor output has to be synched to avoid a catastrophic failure of our
structural integrity from the stress. Remember, gravity shields only reduce
the mass within the local gravity field, not eliminate it. That will indeed
work with a light cruiser, and perhaps even a heavy cruiser, but our mass is
simply too great even with the local gravity mathematically neutralized."
"Hmm," T'Del murmured to herself, her expression darkening slightly as she
realized the fatal flaw in her planning. "What is the configuration of your
tractor units?"
"I'll see if I can't get you a copy of the superstructure blueprints,"
Tolaris replied with a quiet sigh. "That's a technical question that I'm not
capable of answering."
"Three along the forward leading edge," K'tal spoke up calmly. "A pair
bracketing each of the twelve landing struts, two groups of three clustered by
the trailing edges near the engine shrouds, and two lines of four along the
secondary north-south arteries of the superstructure."
Tolaris simply looked at him for a moment before shaking his head. "Thank
you, Commander," he said in a faintly rueful tone.
"I only know that because I sat through an Engineering briefing while you
were out on the roof playing in the rain," K'tal countered with a shrug. "If
it wasn't for the nice graphic someone was kind enough to put up on the screen,
I wouldn't have had a clue either."
"Oh?" T'Del said as she sat up straight. "If you have a reference graphic
available, I'd like to look at it. If the thrust needs to be balanced, there
may be a way to position the replacement tractor units in such a way that they
will be able to act in concert without unduly stressing your superstructure."
"I will put you in touch with our Chief Engineer," K'tal replied with a
slow nod of understanding. "I'm not going to pretend to see where you're going
with this, but I'm not about to stomp on a potentially useful idea simply out
of ignorance. The primary goal is to be able to take off successfully without
flooding the intakes with sand, liquid or otherwise. Sparing the landscape,
while desirable, is a lesser concern."
"I believe we might be able to accomplish that," T'Del murmured as she
closed her eyes and went back to thinking.
"No promises, however," Octane spoke up in a clear tone of warning. "I'm
warning you boys now, we're mechanics and damn good ones at that, but we're not
rocket scientists. Okay, T'Del is," she amended quickly as the redhead cracked
one eye open to glance at her chief, "But there's a major difference between
understanding how it all works in a lab and being able to actually put it all
together using spare cruiser parts under harsh field conditions."
"Duly noted, Chief," K'tal observed.
<Approaching the tunnel,> Glitter warned as the cruiser zoomed past a
flashing marker beacon. <Traversing it will take a bit, but once we're clear
we should be back at Sector Seven in no-time.>
Octane just shook her head to herself as she tightened the restraint webs
around her. "Just remember to slow down before you approach the landing zone,"
she called out. "It's early morning and there might be people trying to hammer
out the Dirty Thirty before breakfast."
<Oh, good point,> the pilot admitted as she set a mental note for herself.
<Okay, I'll dial it in before we reach visual range, that way we won't end up
surprising anyone out for a morning jog. Not that I expect anyone to be out
in the desert like this, but I'm sure the Dragoons have their hard-core cases
like the rest of the military.>
"You have no idea," K'tal spoke up with a faint chuckle. "Speaking of
which...." he added as he glanced over at Tolaris.
The elder Dragoon just grunted softly to himself. "We'll see when we get
back," he said in a neutral tone, pointedly ignoring the faint smile on T'Del's
face as she reached out to briefly pat his shoulder.
"Fun, fun, fun," K'tal sighed quietly as he leaned back in his seat and
tried to make himself as comfortable as possible. The cruiser plunged into the
tunnel entrance a moment later, resulting in a truly haunting echo as the sound
of the racing engine began to rebound back and forth along the reinforced walls
of the narrow passage through the Northern Mountains.
* * * *
"Yo, Rei!" the familiar voice called out, easily cutting through the din
of hundreds of students flooding the hallways. The faintest of grunts rose up
from her throat as she continued to exchange half the textbooks in her backpack
for the ones stacked in her locker. "Morning," she said calmly as the brunette
came to a halt beside her, seeming to be slightly winded for some reason.
"Hey," Leda said in a somewhat subdued voice. "Real quick head's-up for
you, we'll probably have company after school so don't go anywhere."
Another faint grunt rose up from Rei's chest as she thought about it. "So
what life-changing disaster is it going to be this time?" she inquired as she
zipped her backpack shut and closed her locker.
"Susan and a metric buttload of money," Leda said, lowering her voice even
further. "Like I said, don't go *HEY!*"
Rei immediately whipped around at the startled exclaimation, her eyes
widening slightly as she saw Leda likewise spinning around on her heel to face
a visibly terrified student who was already backing away from the brunette.
"I'msorry,itwasanaccident,Iswear!" he blurted out, keeping his hands held
up in a gesture of surrender.
Leda's green eyes narrowed down to mere slits, and to those on the other
side of the corridor her gaze was so stormy that they half-expected bolts of
lightning to come shooting out of her eyes. "Uh huh," she said in a glacial
tone. "You need to be more careful then, since we all know just what kinds of
accidents happen to careless people. Now beat it."
"Sorry, sorry," the boy babbled as he quickly turned around and half-ran
down the hallway.
"Do I want to ask?" Rei inquired, raising a delicate raven eyebrow.
"Eh," Leda growled, her temper still simmering. "Probably was an accident
like he said, but my butt doesn't stick out that far to create a hazard. Oh,
now what?" she demanded as she heard the faint noise in the priestess' throat,
whirling around to glare at the dark-haired girl.
Rei just shook her head as she hefted her backpack onto her shoulder.
"I've got work to do after school, so I can't stay too long," she pointed out.
"Trust me, girl," Leda said in a low tone, "It'll be worth it. I'll see
you during lunch," she added as she briefly clapped Rei's shoulder before she
headed off into the throng of students making their way towards their morning
classes.
Rei just grunted quietly to herself as she cast a sidelong glance at the
disappearing brunette. "We'll see," she said very softly to herself as she
briefly turned her focus inward. The phantom-like sensation was back again,
tickling the edges of her spiritual senses like a ghostly feather and promising
to continue to disrupt her concentration as it had yesterday. Sighing heavily,
she did her best to ignore it as she blended into the controlled chaos of the
hallway and headed off to her homeroom.
* * * *
Molly lifted her head up as the classroom door opened just moments after
the teacher had closed it, almost slamming the doorknob into his backside. As
she privately expected, there was a blur of motion as Serena darted into the
room only to come to a very startled halt as the teacher turned around to cast
a very unamused glare at her. The final bell suddenly sounded, signalling the
official start of the first class period and thus the school day.
The air was deathly still for a moment before the teacher drew in a very
slow breath. "Timing, Ms. Tsukino," he said in a very level tone, "Is indeed
everything. Two seconds to spare is cutting it very close, don't you think?"
"I'm sorry," Serena whimpered quietly, seeming to be doing her absolute
best not to openly heave a sigh of relief that she wasn't technically late to
class this time. "But the bathroom...."
He simply held up a hand, cutting her off. "Just try to expedite matters
in a timely fashion next time so we won't have to have this discussion again.
Now please have a seat."
"Thank you," Serena said quietly as she quickly moved to claim her seat
next to Molly. The blonde paused for a moment as she realized that Lily was
sitting in the next seat over, the pale-haired girl giving her a look that was
a mixture of pained embarrassment at having to witness the public rebuke.
"Morning, Serena," Molly muttered in a low tone as Serena sat down and
seemed to promptly sink into her seat.
"Morning," Serena replied in a very muted tone, her cheeks still tinted
pink. "Don't use the bathroom in this hallway," she warned. "They forgot to
stock up on toilet paper again."
Molly immediately winced, trying not to imagine the chaos that would have
erupted in the bathroom once the discovery was made. It seemed that at least
one of the bathrooms always ran out of toilet paper before the end of any given
week, prompting a couple of the more cynical students to hold betting pools on
which bathroom it would turn out to be and on what day.
"Tell me you didn't sacrifice your homework," the redhead ventured in a
leery tone, casting a sidelong look at Lily as the Canadian seemed to shiver
for a brief moment.
"Uh-uh," Serena whispered back as she turned to give Molly a triumphant
look of satisfaction. "I've got it right here."
"Good," the teacher said in a calm voice, causing both Molly and Serena
to nearly hit the ceiling. They both looked up to find him standing next to
Willow's desk, which was right in front of Serena's desk. "Then you wouldn't
mind passing it up to the front of the class, then."
Molly simply handed her assignment up without comment, doing her best to
ignore the sudden wall of crimson tainting Serena's complexion. She cast a
quick glance off to her left in time to catch Lily looking over at Serena with
a truly disturbed expression. Lily's focus shifted slightly and the two girls
locked gazes for a moment. A knowing smile crossed Lily's face as faint gleam
appeared in her pale yellow eyes before she looked back down at her textbook.
A tiny tendril of ice suddenly began to filter through Molly's blood, not
sure what to make of the sudden change in the other girl's expression. She
tried to put it out of her mind as she refocused on the classroom, listening as
the teacher quickly skimmed the assignments and praised everyone in general for
their thorough completion. Huh, Molly thought as she found herself shifting
her attention back and forth between the teacher's lecture, the somewhat blank
look on Serena's face as her attention started to wander, and the focused look
on Lily's face as she paid rapt attention to the lesson.
Gawd, she sighed to herself as she stifled a yawn. It's only Tuesday, and
already this week is dragging on. Hopefully things will get better and soon.
The sooner the better, heh, she added with a faint chuckle that drew an odd
look from Serena and the faintest of knowing smiles from the pale-haired girl.
* * * *
Nop'tera remained silent as she gingerly eased herself down into the chair
that the medical staff had been kind enough to provide for her, unable to keep
herself from wincing slightly as her muscles continued to protest the movement.
She cast a dark glare up at Freya as her slave reflexively moved forward to
assist her at the subtle expression of pain, waiting until the other woman had
taken a step back before turning to the medical technician. "Proceed," she
said simply as she focused her attention on the glow of the containment unit.
A simple flick of the technician's fingertip was all it took to cut power
to the magnetic field, allowing the glowing blue sphere to collapse like a soap
bubble. The pink mass inside promptly succumbed to the force of gravity and
literally splashed against the floor, resulting in a cascade of goo that would
have flowed in all directions if it hadn't been confined in the fuel pod.
"Ouch," one of the physicians muttered, unable to keep a pained look off
of her face. "I don't care if she is a morph, that had to have hurt."
"As you were," Nop'tera said calmly, her voice still rasping slightly.
"Hey," the technician protested as he took a step back, his eyes widening
as the goo suddenly began to pull itself back together.
"I thought you said you've seen morphs before?" another physician asked
with open interest as he watched the pink mass reform.
"Biomorphs, yeah," the technician replied, still warily watching the goo
flow and reshape itself. "But not protomorphs, and certainly not anyone mopped
up off the deck plates and carried in here in a wet-vac."
The first physician nodded to herself as the blob started to stretch and
elongate, assuming a roughly humanoid form. "Trust me, I think this is a bit
of a learning experience for everyone."
Eyebrows rose all around as the pink mass started to violently shiver for
several seconds before it solidified all at once, the features seeming to melt
and flow like water before firming up into a nude denizen female form.
"Good morning, Agent M," Nop'tera said calmly as the metamorph opened her
eyes and very carefully massaged the front of her now-solid forehead. "How are
you feeling?"
It seemed to take M an unusually long time to draw in a breath to respond.
"In all my centuries of life," she said in a tone best described as tender, "I
have been shot, stabbed, sliced, crushed, decapitated, eviscerated, frozen,
fried, boiled, broiled, electrocuted, asphyxiated, depressurized in airlocks,
and even microwaved once by a satellite uplink. However, this is definitely a
new experience for me. Let me just say for the record that whatever trap you
laid for me in your conduit was completely overlooked, highly effective, and
extremely unpleasant."
"Ay'cha navidshi, are you serious?" one of the physicians asked quietly.
Nop'tera simply shook her head to herself, more than a little impressed by
the metamorph's confession. "I wish I could take credit for it, but it seems
you had the misfortune of being ionized by a nuclear warhead's EMP wave."
That caused M to blink hard in surprise. "Wait, what?" she said, pausing
for a moment as she glanced down at her nude body. Her skin seemed to shimmer
briefly before it melted and reformed into a nondescript brown jumpsuit, giving
her the appearance of being fully dressed. "Someone detonated a warhead?" she
inquired, giving Nop'tera a truly unsettled look. "Where?"
"Right in our laps," Brigadier Sor'en muttered from her spot by the main
doors to Sickbay.
Nop'tera silenced her with a glare before she returned her attention to
the metamorph. "The eastern parade field of the Imperial Castle," the vampire
said calmly. "Close enough for the EMP wave to damage my ship even through the
shields. That is, however, not something you should concern yourself with. If
you don't mind my saying so, Agent M, I am a little surprised to discover that
you were aboard the V'ral at the time."
M just gave her a look of mild disbelief. "A nuclear weapon is used that
incidentally ionizes me into protoplasm, no doubt inflicting a catastrophic
amount of damage to the region in the process, and you're telling me that I
shouldn't be concerned with it?" she said with a faint hint of contempt in her
voice.
"At the moment, Agent M," Nop'tera said in a level voice that carried a
chilling undertone, "You have more immediate concerns to worry about. I will
ask the question more directly: What are you doing aboard my ship?"
The metamorph frowned as she cast the briefest of sidelong looks around
the medical ward to assess her current situation. "Quite frankly, General, I
was attempting to figure out what the hell is going on amongst the top brass,"
she said crisply as she refocused on Nop'tera. "Rune wants Sailor Moon dead
for obvious reasons, unwise as they may be, but you want her alive for other
reasons which are presently a mystery. And after being paid to be part of a
rather cruel and distinctly painful illusion, I think it's time I took a step
back to look at the overall picture before deciding if I wanted to continue in
Rune's employ. And speaking of which, my dear General Nop'tera," she added in
a light tone, giving Nop'tera a charming smile, "You still owe me money for our
little chat the other night."
Nop'tera's only immediate response was a slight arching of a lone eyebrow.
"Odd," she said after a studious silence, "I know I sent the transfer order to
your account with the agreed-upon payment. Freya, go see if you can...." she
started to say before catching herself with a visible grimace. "Belay that,"
she muttered with a sigh as she leaned back in the chair. "To be blunt, Agent
M, we are under strict stealth conditions to avoid further attacks from General
Rune, so I'm afraid tracing down your financial due will have to wait."
"How convenient," M observed dryly. "Not that I believe you're lying,"
she added as Nop'tera's expression darkened. "After all, a nuclear explosion
tends to push everything else onto the proverbial back-burner, but it's still
the thought that counts."
"That still doesn't explain why you're an uninvited intruder aboard the
Red Wing's flagship carrier," Sor'en spoke up in a somewhat edged tone as she
studied the metamorph carefully.
M glanced over at Nop'tera before shifing her focus towards the younger
woman. "Not to be rude, but who are you?" she inquired in a neutral tone.
"My daughter, Brigadier Sor'en," Nop'tera spoke up in a calm tone. "While
I command the entire Red Wing division and my flag is flown from the bridge of
this ship, the V'ral itself is hers and her word has great weight on the fate
of any stowaways."
"Oh?" M replied, glancing over at Nop'tera again. "I thought the military
had rules about nepotism."
"We do," Nop'tera countered, giving her a smile that exposed the tips of
her vampiric fangs. The gesture was not unnoticed by the rest of the medical
staff, who very quietly and discreetly started to busy themselves with other
tasks. "We also have very clear guidelines on how both leadership and merit on
the field of battle are to be rewarded. You are not the first to question it,
and I doubt you will be the last, but she has earned her rank and her place at
my side. Now if you are finished with your questions, I should like to return
to the subject of my questions."
"Actually, I have another question for you," M replied conversationally.
"Do you always try to intimidate prospective employees, or am I just a special
case this morning? It is morning, isn't it?" she added in a faintly uncertain
tone as she glanced over at a medical technician.
"Excuse me," Nop'tera spoke up in a faintly bemused tone, "You breached my
ship's security perimeter.... uninvited this time.... stowed away aboard my
ship, damaged part of our life-support systems, had to be vaccumed up and kept
in a magnetic containment field so you wouldn't flow down a drain by accident
and cause even more problems, and when brought out of stasis you accused me of
both nepotism and financial malfeasance. Tell me why I shouldn't have you
liquefied again and poured into my port reactor's deuterium stream? I am
curious as to how you view your situation and how you expected to be treated."
The rest of the group traded uneasy looks at M simply began to chuckle
quietly to herself. "Maybe I'm going to enjoy working for you after all," she
finally said after a few moments of muted laughter. "If you want to play the
perception game, I just highlighted several weaknesses in your operational
security, a service I usually charge a premium for. I'll admit you have me on
the accidental damage issue but one can view it as another cost-free chance for
additional training of both your engineering and medical reponse teams. I do
think you're jumping to conclusions with the malfeasance claim, since I merely
pointed out I haven't been properly paid yet, and the casual question about
nepotism was just that.... casual."
M suddenly stood up straight and crossed her arms over her chest, giving
Nop'tera a piercing look. "Oh, and about your threat of dumping me into your
fuel tank?" she added in an unamused tone. "While I'm not a reactor engineer,
I've learned enough on my own to know that spraying heavy-neutron atoms, like
the kind I'm made of, into an anti-matter reactor's fuel stream will probably
choke the filters to the point of blockage, which means you either kill the
reactor on the spot or risk an anti-proton charge build-up in the core which
could detonate in an explosion that would make the previous nuclear blast seem
like a wet firecracker. Spare me the threats, General," she added, putting an
audible emphasis on the last word, "I'm not intimidated by anyone."
It was Nop'tera's turn to laugh quietly to herself as she leaned back in
her chair to study the metamorph carefully. "As I said to Rune, you obviously
are a woman with k'vesan," the vampire observed. "And knowing your nature, I
think I understand her comment about how you tended to have it in the literal
sense as well. However, I don't think you quite understand the situation as it
stands. Do you know where we are right now?"
M raised an eyebrow as she glanced around the room again. "I presume you
don't mean in a medical ward," she said in a guarded tone. She visibly paused
as she shifted her weight slightly on her feet before looking up at Nop'tera
again. "I'm going to hazard a guess and say we're airborne somewhere. As to
precisely where, I couldn't say unless I looked out a window, but even then
that might not help."
"Excactly," Nop'tera confirmed with a simple nod of her head. "We are out
to sea, as it were, only sailing among the clouds instead of across an ocean.
That changes things, as I'm sure you're familiar with the legal latitude given
to ship commanders who are not at port, and a stowaway's presence onboard a
ship tends to be rather.... offensive to the ship's crew."
M visibly paused again as she cast another series of quick glances at the
various medical technicians and physicians around her. "Alright, then," she
said in a perfectly neutral tone. "I can offer two solutions to take care of
that problem. Hire me and I'll be contracted to your crew, or just let me take
a walk off of your deck and I'll be out of your collective hair. Trust me, I
can deal with being in free-fall a lot better than any non-Avian denizen can,"
she added with a faint smile.
"The main flight deck is not a place you would wish to be right now," the
Dark General spoke up with a faint smile. "While I'm sure your physical body
is highly adaptable to less-than-benign environments, radiation tends to prove
a lethal hazard for virtually all life-forms. As for hiring you, let's just
say it's still being actively contemplated."
"Good to hear," M replied in a faintly suspicious tone. "I prefer half my
pay to be in advance, with the remainder due on completion, and I'm more than
willing to have a refund-on-failure clause put into any contract, but I'm sure
you have your own templates that can be negotiated with minimal fuss."
"Yeah, you're a mercenary," Sor'en muttered quietly to herself, prompting
a faint chuckle from at least two others in the room.
M simply bowed her head at the perceived compliment. "As I am often fond
of saying, it pays the bills. Or at least it does when payment is received,
but as I said before, nuclear weapon blasts tend to take priority over things
like financial paperwork. Not to be rude, but I don't believe I caught your
name earlier," she added, giving Sor'en a faintly curious look.
"I am Brigadier Sor'en of the Imperial Red Wings," Sor'en replied crisply.
"Ah, thank you," the metamorph replied with a faint smile. "I had my own
name at one point in life, but with all the field operations and masquerading
as other people for years on end I largely forgot what it was, so everyone just
calls me M these days. And believe me, when you're busy oozing around the air-
ducts as a quarter-inch-thick ribbon of goo without a real brain structure, it
becomes real hard to keep most things in mind."
"So how do you remember anything?" one of the medical technicians asked.
The metamorph shrugged absently to herself. "Who knows," she replied.
"If I use it a lot, it stays with me. If I only need it for a short period of
time, I can manage to retain it. Otherwise it gets lost. Ask me what I had
for dinner the other week and I honestly couldn't tell you if you paid me to.
One more reason to have contracts written out ahead of time," she added with a
mild look over at Nop'tera.
"As I said, it is still being actively contemplated," the Dark General
replied with a faint smile.
Everyone except M cast a reflexive glance up at the ceiling as a soft
chiming sound was heard. "Brigadier Sor'en to the bridge, please," the speaker
said in a muted tone a few moments later. Sor'en promptly sighed as she turned
around and keyed open the doors to the medical ward. "It's not even time for
breakfast yet," she grumbled, her voice almost masked by the pneumatic hissing
of the metal doors.
"I will see you at lunch," Nop'tera spoke up before Sor'en could depart.
"Yes, ma'am," Sor'en replied absently as she strode into the hallway,
disappearing from view a few seconds later when the doors hissed shut again.
M studied the closed doors for a moment before briefly glancing at Freya.
"Your daughter, hmm?" she observed as she returned her focus to Nop'tera. "If
you don't mind my asking...."
"I do," Nop'tera said briskly as she smoothly rose to her feet. If the
gesture required any additional effort due to her current muscle weakness, it
certainly didn't show. "We all have our own personal likes and dislikes in our
lives, Agent M, and one of my personal dislikes is uninvited commentary about
my daughter. Her record of accomplishments and merits speaks for itself, and
if you have any personal questions you are to ask her personally and no other.
Perhaps I am indeed protective of her, but what mother wouldn't be? All others
need to know is that she does her duty to my satisfaction, which is all that I
ask of anyone under my command. Are we clear on the matter?"
"Fair enough," M said simply. "So where do we go from here? Or am I to
twiddle my thumbs while you try to decide if my services are worth my prices?"
Nop'tera paused for a moment before tilting her head slightly. "To be
honest, Agent M, I have no idea what specific prices you have in mind for your
services, but I'm sure that can be negotiated to one degree or another."
"I see we have a starting point for a discussion, then," M observed with
a smile that most would describe as bordering on predatory.
Nop'tera simply raised an eyebrow before allowing a faint smile to touch
the corner of her lips. "I suppose I can endure company at breakfast," she
allowed. "So while we are discussing the subject of breakfast, conveniently
here in the medical ward, how do you like your blood served? I'm sure a pouch
or two of your favorite can be located."
It took M a few seconds to figure out how to respond to that, suddenly
mindful of the fact that her hostess was indeed a vampire and that the offer
was probably simply an attempt at unsettling her. "A simple plasma infusion
should suffice," she said in a neutral tone. "Nothing fancy."
"Oh?" Nop'tera said, seeming to be genuinely interested in the response.
"Not into whole blood, I presume, or do you just like light breakfasts?"
M cast the briefest of sidelong glances at the medical technician as he
visibly shuddered for a moment. "Let's just say I'm quite adaptable in how I
sustain myself," she explained. "And blood-free nutrient-rich plasma is about
as close as you get to the protoplasm I'm composed of when not in a rigidly
structured form. I can even subsist on photosynthesis if necessary, but that
tends to leave me with a case of what humans call 'the munchies' after a few
days. Very annoying."
"Interesting," the blue-skinned woman mused as she glanced at Freya.
"Has anyone ever tried to study your physiology in any depth?" one of the
physicians asked in an openly curious tone.
"They tried," M responded with a shrug. "But we couldn't reach a deal on
the subject of compensation for a few indignities, so I found something more
rewarding to do with my time."
"Indignities?" the physician echoed, giving her a startled look.
M simply looked at her. "How would you like to be taken apart beneath a
microscope?" she asked calmly. "Or poured into a spectral analyzer? I freely
admit being put into a centrifuge was a fun ride, but I'm not a lab specimin to
be talked about in the third-person during discussions. And don't talk to me
about how many cell-samples they took from me."
"I suppose I see your point," the physician admitted.
"Freya, go ahead and make the proper arrangements for breakfast," Nop'tera
said in a faintly purring tone as she started to head for the door. "As soon
as the medical staff is certain Agent M isn't suffering from any lingering
issues from being ionized, have her escorted to my quarters. I think we will
indeed have a lot to talk about."
The metamorph frowned as she glanced around the ward. "I'm fine," she
assured her in a faintly-edged tone.
"I insist," Nop'tera said simply as the doors hissed open at her approach.
"Consider it a safety precaution, if you will, as few of us have had any sort
of exposure to the sorts of germs and virii that commonly exist in this world.
We don't need you wandering around giving everyone a head-cold, now do we?"
"You know," M said casually to the physician as the door hissed shut once
Nop'tera left, "That actually makes a lot of sense when you sit down and think
about it, doesn't it?"
"In theory, yes," the physician said as she pulled a medical scanner out
of a pocket and switched it on. "Of course, being ionized probably cleaned out
everything in your bloodstream, but still. Do you even *have* a bloodstream?"
she added as she glanced at the initial sensor readings.
M glanced over at Freya for several moments, watching as the pale-haired
woman held a muted conversation with one of the medical technicians. "Only
when I want to. How long is this going to take?" she added as she refocused on
the physician in front of her.
"How long can you spare?" she replied with a shrug. "Wow, I've never seen
readings like this before. Well, not from a sentient denizen, at least...."
M just shook her head in resignation. "Someone once told me that one clue
that your day is off to a bad start is when you wake up lying on the pavement,"
she said, drawing a faintly startled look. "I think we can add waking up in a
fuel pod to that list...."
* * * *
"Excuse me," Susan said politely to the weather-worn elderly man sitting
behind the newsstand counter. "Are you Mr. Carraba?"
The old man looked up from the newspaper he was reading to give her a
faintly suspicous look. "Aye," he said. "And who might you be, young lady?"
Susan merely smiled at him. "A friend of a friend, nothing more," she
replied calmly in a tone that wouldn't be easy to overhear. "There is a storm
gathering on the horizon," she added, leaning closer so that he would be able
to clearly hear her.
As with the convenience-store clerk and the electronics shop owner, there
was a brief look of confusion in his eyes before the realization set in. "So
there is," he replied, his tone changing to one of unease. "But the winds are
calm for the moment."
"So they are," Susan observed as she cast a casual glance around the small
newsstand. "And, I might add, so are they likely to remain."
The old man cast a quick glance over Susan's shoulder to where Michelle,
Alex, and Whisper were clustered together around a mailbox casually talking as
they sipped on frozen-slush drinks from the convenience store. "Who are you?"
he demanded in a low tone as he turned his attention back to Susan.
"As I said, a friend of a friend," Susan replied demurely with a faint
smile. "My name is Susan Meiou, and like you I am indebted to Sailor V. To
make a long story short, Mr. Carraba, her list of friends needs organizing and
that is all that I am doing. For the moment," she added.
"So now what?" he asked in a guarded tone. "I'm not looking for trouble."
"Nor should any find you," Susan assured him. "As I said, I am simply
seeing who remembers their friendship with her. If anything will be asked of
you, you have both my word and hers that it will not impact your life in any
way. You are a friend of the family, Mr. Carraba, not a servant or a slave.
Do you have a copy of this morning's Tokyo Sun, by chance?"
He gave her a deeply suspicious look before reaching down to pick up one
of the newspapers that had been delivered earlier. "Here," he said simply.
"Thank you," Susan replied with a smile as she laid a folded dollar bill
on the counter and accepted the newspaper. "I noticed the convenience store I
visited earlier hadn't received their copies yet. Perhaps their distributor is
simply running behind schedule today, but perhaps they are in need of a new one
who operates with more reliable timing. Do you know much about such things?"
The old man promptly raised an eyebrow. "With as long as I've been in the
business of selling newspapers and magazines, young lady, I think I know how
it works. And those convenience store chains all have their own distribution
channels, so good luck convincing them to bring in someone from the outside."
Susan tilted her head at an angle. "Interesting, I wasn't aware of that,"
she said in an intrigued tone. "In any case, Mr. Carraba, I do thank you for
your time. Pleasant morning to you," she added with a genuine smile as she
took a step back from the counter with the newspaper in her hand.
"A pleasant morning to you, too," he intoned as he watched her leave.
"Hey, Sue," Alex said casually as the succubus rejoined the group. "So
wha'cha got this time?"
"Hopefully something worth reading," Susan observed absently as she folded
the newspaper under her arm. "I shall find out later. This way, please," she
added with a gesture towards a particular street.
"Wait, I thought the mall was that way?" Michelle spoke up in an uneasy
tone as she gestured in the opposite direction.
"It is," Susan admitted, "But there are a few other stores I would like to
visit before we reach the mall. Are you alright, Captain?" she added as she
noticed the look on Whisper's face.
"Brain-freeze," the telepath admitted with a rueful chuckle. "I forgot
what happens when you eat something this cold this quickly."
"Bah," Alex grumbled as she took a deep sip. "Been there, done that."
"You should be careful how you say that, Alex," Susan observed lightly.
"Some might think that you're almost as experienced with life as I am." She
simply smiled as Alex half-choked on her slush quickly brought one hand up to
her nose as if to stauch a flood.
"Dammit, Sue...!" the blonde rasped.
Susan glanced over at Michelle, raising an eyebrow as the other woman was
visibly fighting the urge to laugh. "In many ways, Alex, in many ways," she
said dryly as she began to walk towards her next destination.
* * * *
"Meeting after school," Leda said quietly to Mina as she scooted past her
to claim her seat.
"Gotcha," the blonde replied with a half-muffled yawn.
"Artemis keep you up late or something?" Leda prodded.
"No, no, no, I wish it was just Artemis," Mina sighed heavily as she cast
a bleary look at her open textbook. "At least I know how to deal with him."
"Do I want to ask?" the brunette ventured, casting a brief glance up at
Lily as she entered the classroom. As before, every single guy in the class
turned to watch her claim her seat.
"Trust me, honey," Mina sighed as she fought off another yawn. "When they
say ignorance is bliss, they ain't kidding. You don't want to know, honest."
"Right...." Leda replied in a faintly uneasy tone as the bell sounded,
signaling the start of history class.
* * * *
Al'vexi didn't bother to glance over her shoulder as the main doors to the
Operations command center hissed open, keeping her gaze focus on what the main
display screen was showing. "Magnify the image," she said crisply as a series
of heavy metallic footsteps was heard behind her.
"We can't," the communications lieutenant informed her with a genuine look
of apology on his face. "This is an oblique shot from a satellite located in a
geostationary orbit above the North Polar Ocean, and the image has already been
enhanced as much as possible. The orbit of OH-3 has already been changed, but
it won't be in position for another two hours so this is the best we can get
until then."
Al'vexi just grunted quietly to herself as she studied the image of the
Dragoon Legion's SMT parked in a desert valley. She paused as the heavy sounds
finally registered in her mind, causing her to blink and twist around to face
her visitor.
"General Al'vexi," Ar'kanis said calmly with a bow of his head.
"General Ar'kanis," the retired telepath replied in a faintly uneasy tone.
"If I may, what brings you here?"
The faintest of chuckles rose up from within his armored chest. "If you
have something productive for me to do, I'd appreciate hearing about it," he
rumbled. "It seems that Admiral Si'ren is not available at the moment, which
leaves me with more idle time on my hands than I am comfortable with. Seeing
how the Red Wings are to be re-integrated with the rest of the military, I felt
it prudent to try to familiarize myself with the day-to-day operations of the
command structure. Hence my presence here in Operations," he added with a
gesture to his surroundings.
Al'vexi visibly paused before seeming to sigh quietly and nodding slowly
in understanding. "You do have a point," she allowed.
"Yet you seem uncomfortable with that," the tank general pointed out in a
calm and causal tone.
"Call it a political concern," Al'vexi replied in a neutral tone as she
cast a measured look at his all-encompassing helm.
Ar'kanis merely gestured with a hand. "Do not misunderstand my motives,
Al'vexi," he said carefully. "While I am Nop'tera's executive officer and in
many ways her right hand, I am not General Nop'tera. Her style of leadership
is indeed an inspiration, but my leadership strengths are different from hers
and I would hope that my own style of leadership reflects that. The question
of who ultimately leads the military is not my concern, only that there be a
clear and unambiguous chain-of-command for my soldiers and I to rely upon. She
has made it clear to all in her command that, while we are to serve her while
she is in charge, we are also servants of the NegaForce and the military as an
institutional whole."
Al'vexi merely raised an eyebrow in response. "I remember a time when I
myself spoke of and believed in such words," she countered. "But that was long
ago. Believe me when I say the web of politics is far more encompassing and
dangerous than you suggest."
"Be that as it may," Ar'kanis rumbled quietly, "The 'political problem'
you speak of exists between General Rune and General Nop'tera. While I am not
able to proclaim to be a perfectly neutral party in this, I am still quite able
to carry on professional and cordial relations with my fellow flag officers.
Or am I to be shunned simply because I am a denizen who was born in a different
dimension where service in the Red Wings was the only option available?" he
added in a faintly prodding tone.
The telepath regarded him carefully in silence for a number of moments
before absently shrugging to herself. "Very well, General," she said as she
turned back to face the main display screen. "For all intents and practical
purposes, we are simply waiting for some sign of what the next move will be and
by whom. The communication networks have largely been regenerated, although
several repeater stations will need servicing due to EMP damage. The overhead
satellites are likewise in overall health, save for a trio of satellites in
geosynchronous orbit directly over the Imperial Castle that were 'spiked' by
the EMP pulse as it flooded their uplinks."
"Casualties?" Ar'kanis inquired in an openly uneasy tone.
"Quite frankly, I haven't bothered to ask yet," Al'vexi replied in a flat
tone. "The surrounding civilian buildings have been all but obliterated, and
I'm fairly sure the main Security Annex building is no longer hospitable. I'm
sure I will be suitably horrified and depressed when a rough estimate is laid
in front of me, but I am not about to go out of my way to ask for it."
"Operations!" Ar'kanis spoke up, the echo-effect of his helmet giving his
voice a truly chilling tone. "What was the last census value for the Imperial
Castle and the surrounding civilian regions?"
"One moment, sir," one of the technicians replied as she quickly turned to
her console.
Al'vexi cast a sidelong glance at the armored figure next to her. "I see
you share your commander's penchant for directness," she observed.
"A warrior should not shy away from the horrors of the battlefield," he
replied calmly. "I do not know your history, General Al'vexi, but I know what
horrors the power of the mind can unleash, and a warrior of the mind is no less
of a warrior than a warrior of the sword."
"Already I am starting to understand the mindset Rune is up against," she
countered as she turned to face him. "Has it always been this way, that one
should strive to be a warrior on the field of battle?"
Ar'kanis flexed his wings gently before sighing to himself, the soft noise
sounding like a hiss of steam escaping a boiling kettle. "When has it not?" he
replied quietly as he gave her a piercing look that she could feel even without
being able to see his eyes. "For three thousand years, Nop'tera has waged a
vastly-undermanned war against the Renn. A sum total of five airborne carrier
units, pitted against an entire world of billions. Support from this world in
our efforts has been.... lacking, to put it politely, and yet we have fought on
as best we could. Things lasted so long that three generations were born to
both sides, most of whom were given a simple choice: Serve in the military on
the front lines, or serve as a civilian manufacturer in an often inadequately-
guarded rear zone that the other side would routinely try to obliterate. Yes,
my general, it always was this way.... one was either a warrior who could fight
back, or one was a target that couldn't fight back. Tell me how you would
choose to live under the circumstances, then we shall speak of how a warrior
should live."
"Do not think I am condemning you or second-guessing your choices," the
telepath replied quietly. "But at the same time, do not presume that others
see the world through the same blood-smeared window as you do. I am not an
innocent woman, my hands are as bloody as any general's.... though, I suspect,
not to the degree that yours are. And it is because I have had my fill of such
things that I retired and tried to leave the web of politics and blood behind.
But time and again, the web ensnared me and dragged me back into the pool of
blood to be bathed again. I tire of it, General Ar'kanis, and with all due
respect to the Red Wings, your commander is the epitomy of the war and blood
that I have grown so weary of being subjected to."
"Then help me end this," the wing denizen said with a sharp gesture of an
armored fist. "Help me negotiate an understanding between Rune and Nop'tera so
that warriors such as you and I will finally taste peace instead of continuing
to dine at the table of war. Nop'tera knows we are all weary, she herself has
said as much to me from time to time, and yet she presses on for the sake of
duty and honor and what she feels is right."
"Perhaps what we should be asking is what she feels she is owed," Al'vexi
replied as she leaned against the railing. "It is my understanding that she is
of the mind that she should be running the military instead of Rune. Explain
to her the letter of the law, and thus her place in the chain-of-command, and
we might yet have the peace we crave. Rune is not the kindest woman but she is
the legal and lawful Commander-General, and that is not negotiable."
The quietest of grunts arose from his armored chest. "The law has been
explained to me in sufficient detail, I assure you," he rumbled. "And I will
ensure that Nop'tera is made aware of this upon my return to the V'ral. There
are other matters that need to be discussed, however, and she will not let them
rest without a satisfactory resolution."
"Who says she is in a position to demand a resolution?" Al'vexi inquired,
causing Ar'kanis' wings to visibly twitch in surprise. "If she understands
that Rune is in charge, then she also should understand that Rune has the final
say on matters relating to the military."
"The military, agreed," Ar'kanis countered. "But what of the monarchy?"
"What of it?" the telepath echoed in an openly wary tone.
"We have a Crown Prince, do we not?" he prodded. "Well?" he added after
Al'vexi remained silent for several seconds.
"So we do," she finally allowed in a deeply guarded tone.
"Then why is he not involved in this?" he demanded quietly. "Ask him to
make a decree, and Nop'tera will obey him as she would the NegaForce. After
all, he does contain an embodiment of the NegaForce, does he not?"
Al'vexi shook her head quickly. "Rune will not listen to him."
"And what does the law say?" Ar'kanis asked. He waited in silence for her
response, taking a very careful breath to speak once he realized that an answer
wouldn't be immediately forthcoming. "If you do not know the answer, Al'vexi,
I strongly urge you to find out as quickly as possible. Nop'tera will not be
happy if the law is against her, but she will obey it nonetheless. The inverse
is also true: If the law is on her side, then she will not hesitate to take
what is rightfully hers.... or to ensure that the law is upheld on behalf of
another."
"And what would you have Prince Darian do?" she shot back in a quiet but
edged tone. "He cannot name a new Commander-General, that much is known. Nor
can he dictate his will to the military, that much is also clear. He is the
consort and advisor to the Queen, nothing more."
Ar'kanis shook his head, creating a loud rasping sound of grating metal.
"You are looking at this from the wrong perspective," he said gently. "We know
the laws regarding a Crown Prince, but what does the law say in regards to his
role as an embodiment of the NegaForce?"
That caused the telepath to take a step back. "What do you mean?"
"This may be semantics, my general, but this may also be important," he
said cautiously. "Nop'tera will obey the NegaForce, as Rune should as well.
The key is whether or not an embodiment of the NegaForce, such as the Crown
Prince, has equal weight in the law."
"Go on," Al'vexi said quietly, her expression becoming unreadable.
"Say the NegaForce were to possess me," Ar'kanis continued. "Such a thing
is unlikely, of course, but there are historical records of it doing so. Would
you then say that what is said using my voice would be my own words, or would
they be considered the words of the NegaForce?"
Al'vexi raised a withered white eyebrow. "I would imagine that such a
possession would be patently obvious," she pointed out.
"Perhaps," Ar'kanis allowed. "But as a matter of law, which would it be?
Consider the fact that, by definition, Crown Prince Darian carries the seeds of
the royal bloodline within him, which in turn are recognized as being seeds of
the NegaForce given flesh. As a matter of law, where is the line drawn?"
"You are treading on dangerously thin ice, General," Al'vexi warned him.
"If you Rune seeks to hold the sharp edge of the law against Nop'tera's
throat," Ar'kanis replied coldy, "Then she is in no position to expect sympathy
should the same sharp edge be turned against her in a different matter. If he
has legal authority as an embodiment of the NegaForce, then it will be expected
that both Rune and Nop'tera will obey the law in that regard. And before you
ask again, my general, neither of us knows what Prince Darian is legally able
to do for us as nobody seems to have researched the law."
Al'vexi regarded him very carefully in silence before she absently made a
gesture with her chin. "Perhaps you are right," she finally said. "However,
given the current political situation, I am not in a position to spend hours in
consultation with various regional magistrates. You, of course, are more than
welcome to perform such research yourself. In fact, I believe you had asked
for something productive to do when we first spoke. Convenient, isn't it, how
such problems can be resolved on their own?"
"If only all our problems were as trivial or easily-solved," Ar'kanis said
in a perfectly neutral tone. "Very well, I shall go consult with a magistrate
and leave you to your duties. Thank you for your time, General Al'vexi," he
added with a bow before turning to leave.
"Ar'kanis," she spoke up quietly as the doors hissed open, causing him to
pause in the doorway. "Rune is unavailable and Admiral Si'ren is liable to be
preoccupied with her duties. Given the sensitivity of matters, I ask that you
not discuss the results of your research with others until you and I have had
the opportunity to review it together. I do not desire to be manipulative, but
as with all who are trapped in the web of politics, one must always take the
spider into account when laying out a plan of action."
The armored denizen remained motionless for several seconds before nodding
slowly in understanding. "Understood," he said simply before leaving the area.
"Ma'am?" the Operations technician spoke up as the doors hissed shut. "I
have the census information that was requested earlier."
"Save it for later, Lieutenant," Al'vexi sighed quietly as she reached up
to massage the bridge of her nose. "I didn't ask, and just between you and me,
I would still rather not know. Perhaps one day there will be a reckoning for
us all, where the blood on our hands will be measured and atoned for.... but it
will not be today. Continue with the atmospheric displacement search," she
ordered in a louder tone. "If the V'ral does leave a trace in the air like a
boat does on the water, we should be able to find it."
"If it's large enough," one of the console operators pointed out.
"And we won't know unless we search, won't we?" the telepath countered in
a faintly edged voice. It wasn't until the sound of her voice faded from the
air and the chastised operator had turned back to his console that she realized
what she had said was simply an echo of what Ar'kanis had said to her barely a
minute earlier.
Perhaps a reckoning will come sooner than expected, she thought to herself
before sighing quietly and returning her focus to the Operations center and the
data pouring in from the rest of the world around her.
* * * *
"I see life on Earth has been good to you," the Healer said with a faint
chuckle as she finished analzying Tolaris' vital signs.
"So it has," Tolaris replied in a neutral tone, all too aware of the small
amount of extra weight he had put on since his dimensional exile. "You should
try to visit it yourself."
"Mmmhmm," Healer Relan said absently. "And I'm sure the humans wouldn't
give these a second glance," she said as she gestured to the dark brown stripes
of pigment on her skin that made her look like a pale-furred Felinoid from a
distance.
"So wear long sleeves," Tolaris countered with a faint chuckle. "And I
know for a fact that the Sailor Scouts won't care what you look like. After
all, they've spent how much time with Ra'vel?"
"One thing at a time, Commander," she said as she carefully studied the
readings on her medical scanner. "Well, I'll probably have to do a detailed
work-up of a blood sample to confirm this, but I've got good news and bad news
for you."
Tolaris just grunted quietly. "Let's hear it," he sighed.
"The good news is that your heart is in perfect condition," Relan said in
a carefully-pitched tone. "There has indeed been some cardiac stress in recent
history, but that's just caused by your electrical powers interfering with your
body's natural electrical rhythm. In fact, I haven't met a denizen yet who had
any control over electricity and never had a case of chest pains after a solid
jolting. Having said that, you will still need to be careful when you use your
electrical powers in the future. It is still very much possible for you to
trigger a self-induced heart-attack, so be aware."
"Okay," the Dragoon said slowly, giving her an uncertain look. "If that's
the good news, what's the bad news?"
"The bad news," she said in a level tone as she glanced at her diagnostic
scanner, "Is that you're critically low on a few key enzymes. One is so low
that I can't detect any reserves at all, which is definitely not good. Had I
to guess, I'd say you've been eating too many human foods and not enough of the
right kind of denizen foods. That might be contributing to your electrical
issues, but I can only speculate. Long story short, you're on a diet for the
next month and not just because of your weight, and vitamin supplements might
not be a bad idea either."
"Really, now," Tolaris said, his eyebrows arching up in surprise. "I've
been scanned by Sailor Mercury's computer more times than I care to admit, and
not once did she ever suggest I was low on any enzymes. In fact, she made it
a point to scan me for enzymes after analzying Sailor Moon's metabolism to pin
down an anomaly."
"Which would you rather trust, Commander?" Relan said pointedly as she
gestured with her scanner. "A human device scanning for denizen enzymes, or a
denizen device scanning for denizen enzymes?"
"Hmm," Tolaris murmured as the implications sank in. "If she did miss
something, she'll probably start to panic once she finds out."
"Can't help you there," the Healer admitted casually as she tapped in a
series of instructions on her scanner. "I'm a denizen Healer, not a hardware
mechanic, you'll have to have Engineering look at her scanner. Keep your tunic
off for a moment," she added as Tolaris moved to put it back on. "I'm not
kidding about your abuth'elin level being non-existent, and your na'seri level
is down around your ankles. I'll be back with the injector," she said as she
left the small room.
Tolaris made a sour face purely out of reflex at the thought of being
injected with anything, even if it was needed vitamins and enzymes. He blinked
as his comm-link chittered quietly, causing him to cast a brief glance up at
the ceiling. "Commander Tolaris," he said as he plucked the device off his
belt and thumbed the channel open.
<I hope I'm not interrupting anything undignified,> K'tal's voice emerged
from the tiny speaker.
Tolaris cast a brief glance at the doorway before shaking his head. "Not
yet at any rate, but give her a few minutes."
<Hate it when that happens. Anyway, whenever she's finished playing the
poke-prod-tug game, we could use your help down in Engineering. They're going
to try to clean out the intakes and wondered if they could get a strong current
of air going behind them to keep any sand from being drawn further inward.>
"I'll see what I can do," Tolaris promised.
<Great, thanks. K'tal out.>
Tolaris nodded absently to himself as he thumbed the channel closed. He
then almost completely leapt off of the examination table as something metallic
was pressed against his shoulder, resulting in a jolt of stinging pain that was
quite distinctive. "AAAH!" he gasped in surprise before he could recover.
"Jumpy today, aren't we?" Relan observed dryly as she swapped medicinal
cylinders and tapped the injector against a different spot on his shoulder.
"A little *ERGH* warning would have been nice," Tolaris groused as he felt
the second sting against his shoulder.
"Mmmhmm," the Healer mused quietly to herself as she quickly swapped the
cylinders again to load a third one. "Last one."
The Dragoon sighed in resignation as he was injected for a third time,
casting an idle glance at his bare shoulder to see how bad the marks were. A
thin trail of gray blood was already oozing down the length of his arm from the
first site, and the second was was likewize beginning to bleed. "Peachy," he
muttered, starting to understand the subtle undertones found in Alex's voice
whenever she used the word.
"Well, aren't you the messy one," Relan observed as she swabbed his upper
shoulder with sterile gauze to wipe up the blood. "Give it a couple of seconds
and the bleeding should stop."
Tolaris cast a faintly unamused look at her. "I thought blood-letting as
a purported cure was abolished thousands of years ago," he observed. His look
of unamusement deepened slightly when she reached out to grab his shoulder in
a firm grip, briefly sending a wave of warmth coursing through his skin.
"There, you feel better now?" she said calmly as she finished using her
regenerative powers to seal the puncture wounds.
The Dragoon just shook his head. "I really should introduce you to Ami,"
he grumbled as he hopped off of the table and started to put his tunic on.
Relan just gave him a sweet smile. "There's nothing wrong with making new
friends, now is there, Commander? Here, your dietary restrictions," she added
as she handed him a small medical form.
Tolaris quickly glanced over the list and absently nodded to himself once
he realized that was nothing outlandish or objectionable on it. "Very well,"
he sighed quietly. "Thank you for your time, Healer."
"Diet and exercise, Commander," Relan admonished him gently. "That is,
has been, and probably will remain the best preventive medicine one can take.
Now get out of my ward, I've got work to do."
"Yes, ma'am," Tolaris replied out of reflex as he quickly tugged a few
wrinkles out of his tunic and started to leave the medical bay. He paused as
he heard his name, turning around to find Relan hurrying after him.
"Wait, wait, one more thing," she said quickly. "I should have thought of
this earlier. Ask Lieutenant Maze and Lieutenant Ra'vel to stop by as well,
since they're liable to have the same enzyme-deficiencies as you do. Granted
they haven't been on Earth as long as you have, but I still want to have them
examined to be sure."
Tolaris nodded in understanding. "I'll see to it," he promised as he
resumed his walk towards Engineering. He was halfway across the complex when
it hit him, causing him to stop in mid-stride for a brief moment. Maze and
Ra'vel can be seen by a Healer, he thought to himself, but what about Whisper?
And if Ami's computer isn't as sensitive as she thought it was....
The Dragoon quickly resumed his journey across the complex, realizing that
he needed to contact the Sailor Scouts on Earth as soon as possible. Whisper
would probably still be okay, having her own natural reserves of enzymes from
a lifetime of eating denizen food, but what about Serena? Granted she was only
half-denizen and had never eaten any denizen foods up until recently, but that
didn't take the Chaos Factor into account. And if her body was still burning
through enzymes at an accelerated rate as it had been earlier....
Let's hope I'm wrong, he thought as he ducked into a staircase that would
take him to the lower Engineering level where both Maze and K'tal would be.
* * * *
"Hey," Leda said quietly to Ami as she made her way over to her own desk.
"Real quick, there's a meeting after school."
"Alright," Ami said absently as she continued to review her textbook at a
rapid rate for the test that was expected to be given today. She continued to
process the information for several more seconds before an icy chill abruptly
broke her concentration. She blinked hard and glanced up to find Lily making
her way down the row of desks next to her. The pale-haired girl flashed her a
somewhat shy smile as she brushed past, leaving a faint trace of a chill in the
vampire's blood.
"Ami?" Leda whispered in confusion, having saw the change in her friend's
expression without warning.
"What?" Ami blurted out, giving her a startled look. She blinked at her
own outburst and quickly recovered her composure. "Oh, yes, I heard you, I'll
be waiting," she promised as she briefly shook her head to clear her senses
before returning her focus to her textbooks.
Leda gave her a nonplussed look before sighing quietly and dismissing it
as a simple over-reaction to the disruption of her laser-like focus. "Right,"
she muttered with a sour sigh as she returned to her seat, completely missing
the faint smile that briefly crossed Lily's face as the classroom bell rang to
signal the start of yet another instruction period.
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