RP XSDF Roleplay Thread: Vanguard of Forseti

[Frostlich1228]

DarkGemini24601 & Frostlich1228
"Itsy Bitsy"

The Einherjar
Civilian Quarters
March 21st, 2044
12:45 PM

Arachne looked around the big room, oooing and ahhing at all the space, after a second she hopped up and rolled around in her bed sheets. A few of her spiders crawled out and she gave them a smile, "You all can come out! We've got plenty of room!"

She got up after a minute, poking her head out of her door to looking down the hallway, wondering where her new guard could be. "I hope he's not like that last one... He wouldn't even say hi..." She said to herself, a slightly pouty tone in her voice.

After a few more minutes later, and a tall figure walked down the hallway towards her room. He had pale white skin, where it wasn't covered by his built-in armor. His German-style helmet and arm 'metal feathers' stood out in particular. He bowed slightly as he saw Arachne. "Hello. I'll be your escort for the next few hours."

"Whoa..." Arachne reached up to try and grab his arm, "Are you a robot? Like 37?"

Hermes nodded. "I am not familiar with 37," he said, wondering if that was a combat droid's designation or something, "But I am an android."

"So you're a... robot... made to look like a human? The girl asked, opening the door a little wider and allowing him to see the hundreds of spiders in the room.

Hermes didn't seem phased in the slightest, and nodded. "Well... sort of. As you can see, I am not a perfect portrayal by any means."

"Sometimes that's good." She responded, "At least that's how bubbles feels, she doesn't like organics very much."

"Bubbles?" Hermes asked. "Is that a friend of yours?"

"Yeah, that's what I like to call 37." Arachne stood on her tip-toes and whispered to him, "She doesn't like it, but it's just really fun to bug her..."

"So your friend is a sentient android then? That's interesting... I thought myself and Ezra were the only ones on the ship," Hermes noted, leaning against the wall slightly as they talked, but being careful not to crunch any of the spiders as he did.

"She wouldn't call herself that... She calls herself just a machine, she wasn't made to look anything like a human since she was made to become any shape." She stated, inviting him in and making sure to tell her spiders to make a path, "37 didn't like master very much either, but I never had a problem with him, he kept me and my babies safe in the pod after all. Sometimes he put me on a table to sleep, and I woke up with some pain, but he said it was something to help my children, so I understood."

Hermes frowned, knowing there was probably more to it than Arachne realized, but figured that was something she was better off not knowing. He sat down at the table inside, and responded, "It's odd... the events that took place in the Ethereal Subject War are known to almost every human, but I don't have an intact memory, so if I used to know the details intimately myself, I no longer do. In that aspect, we are in the same boat, as I was told you weren't aware that there had been a war in the first place until arriving here."

"Oh... I know there was some fighting... and master wanted me to... get someone dangerous, I never got the chance though..." Arachne kicked her legs a little, "19 knows almost nothing though, I don't think she even knows that the humans were trying to fight until your boss told her..."

"Well, I doubt you'll have to do any fighting now. You're basically going to get luxury here," Hermes offered encouragingly.

"I've never had that... Sounds fancy!" I spider crawled onto her arm, she stuck her tongue out at ti playfully before adding, "Maybe I'll even get Ricky here a little butler of his own..."

She names the spiders? "I didn't mean that luxurious," Hermes replied with a wag of his finger. "But certainly nothing like what you had before."

"That's fine... I'll just sew them some Top Hats with their thread, I'm sure they wouldn't mind considering they get to look so regal..."

Hermes chuckled. "I'd like to see that if it's possible, actually... that sounds amazing."

"I just need a sewing needle... a few hours to get their thread..." She looked up, smiling, "And some sewing lessons."

Hermes shrugged. "You'd have to ask someone else about that last one. I'm no expert in that regard."

A red-striped spider began to slowly crawl up Hermes' leg, finally stopping on the top of his knee. Arachne chuckled, "I think he likes you..."

"I would say on basis of coloration, but then again, I don't believe spiders can see colors." Noting the red stripes blending in with the armor on his kneecap, Hermes smiled. "Though if not for the black stripes he'd be practically invisible there."

You're really nice, it seems like most people don't really like my babies that much, even though they only ever try to bite when I tell them to." Arachne stated, letting a few crawl back inside of her.

"Humans are cautious around things that could be dangerous to them, even if the threat is slight. Plus, I believe the texture bothers them. I have built-in armor, so I hardly feel it... and their venom wouldn't have any affect on me. My internal systems may modify human ones, being a combination of synthetics and cybernetics, but they aren't affected by poisons," Hermes explained. "Hard to dislike something that poses no threat to me, and regards me in return as a harmless walking pile of metals."

Arachne's stomach began to grumble a little, she looked up, "I'm hungry... They gave me some really amazing food earlier! Do you think they'd let me have some more?

"Just as long as you're talking about your breakfast, and not asking for a second lunch," Hermes chided jokingly, pushing himself to an upright posture again.

Her spiders all quickly returned to her as she got up, "Oh hey! Can I ask you something?"

Hermes walked over to the door, and then turned back to her. "What would that be?"

"I saw some stuff on one of the T.V's the other day, this lady was talking about going to war! What's going on?" She asked, following him.

Hermes would have paled slightly if he was capable of such coloration variations. "Apparently the pirates are more dangerous than we let on. I can explain some things to you... maybe it's just my naivete, but I won't just tell you 'let the adults worry about this one'." Hermes shook his head. "Still, you probably are better off not knowing all the details."

"That's okay, my babies will get them if they come here! They won't get past me!" She replied excitedly.

"I doubt we'll be boarded, but if we were security and the rest of us soldiers would take care of that. It's not something you need to get involved in," Hermes cautioned, a concerned look on his features.

"But I can! Master once told me I'm a weapon, that means I can help!" Arachne said, crossing her arms.

Hermes shook his head. "You aren't a weapon. I don't know how to best explain this to you, but your former master wasn't exactly a good person. I don't need full access to the files to know that." Hermes knelt down in front of Arachne, bringing himself to her height. "No one is a weapon. No humanoid, nor even us androids. All sentient beings may be able to fight, but the ideal is that we only do so if it is a cause we believe in. And as far as humans go... you're too young to be seeing the horrors of war."

"I'm that that young, I'm..." She took a second to count on her fingers, "Thirty-Four? I think."

"Chronological age with stasis involved only counts in... what was the phrase? Horsefeet?" Hermes sighed at his limited knowledge. "In any case, biologically, and mentally, you are nine years old. I know it doesn't feel fair, but it's for your own protection. It was wrong of that Humiliata to try and make you fight, especially considering they have similar standards for their own children."

She looked down, after a few seconds her stomach growled louder, "I understand... I'm still hungry though, maybe we could talk more while we eat?"

Fickle, aren't we? "As you wish," Hermes conceded, standing back up and starting to walk down the hallway with Arachne.

"Since you're a robot, does that mean you aren't able to eat things? 37 doesn't like to eat things, but I think that's because she can't taste them." 24 asked, holding onto his hand.

I am able to consume food, actually, though it doesn't appear to be necessary," Hermes responded, not seeming to be bothered by the contact as the headed towards the Terminal Elevator. "I typically don't, though, since it would just be expending resources, and..." He smiled. "The really good food is usually on reserves anyway. I don't need to sleep either, though I tend to either walk around the ship at night or go into shutdown mode. As one of my roommates put it, 'Hermes, it's impossible to sleep if you're just staring in my direction all night long'."

 

[Frostlich1228]

Part 2

Arachne got a chuckle out of what he said, "So you just walk around at night for hours? Wouldn't that get boring?"

"I talk with the staff, and I've helped around with some basic maintenance work," Arcwright answered. "I don't do nothing at all... especially when I have the holo-rooms to fill gaps in my knowledge. I am hoping to perhaps get permission to help around more extensively with the Einherjar's mechanics, though."

"My master was a really good mechanic, he had quite a few robots on the ship that he made himself, even a few special ones like 37." 24 explained, looking at the glowing buttons on the panel next to her.

Hermes called up the elevator, and sighed. "Just call him your creator or something... a master would be someone worthy of such a noble title. He was not, and I don't want you to think what he did to you was justified. Playing God never is."

"Well, he did create me and give my babies a home... I don't think he was that bad..." She explained, rubbing her arm.

"While I'd be wrong to say that creating you was wrong, considering what I am..." Hermes sighed. "Human cloning, especially for war, is for a number of reasons unethical. One not-so-minor reason for that is if he was going to use you to try and harm your own species's, both physically and strategically. You're not a weapon, and you never had any obligation to obey him." He closed his eyes for a moment as the elevator began to rise. "Even if I meet my creator someday, if they are anything like your master seemed to be, I wouldn't obey their orders, even if I felt conflicted about it."

"Well, he didn't like it when I didn't listen to him... And he was mean to me sometimes... But he never hurt me or my babies unless he was trying to help them..." She stated, "And he said that the place he got my DNA from was even worse."

"I can't be sure whether there was any truth to his words or not." Hermes sighed as the door opened and he lead Arachne towards the mess hall. "But it's not important. You likely won't ever see him again, and that's for the better."

She looked away, staying quiet as they reached the mess hall door. After Arachne looked in, her expression changed and her mouth watered at all the delicious looking food.

Hermes kept in reigned in like a pet on a leash, leading her over to the food court. "Just so you know, you have to pick a few things. You can't have everything..." He remembered something he had been told about her. "Slightly higher metabolism or not. You wouldn't want your babies eating too much junk food, after all. They have to stay in shape."

She didn't seem to care, filling her plate with as many sweets as possible. "My babies love sugar just as much as I do, they know when to stop eating though, I don't!"

Hermes shook his head in defeat. "Well, I'm not the one that will become a human balloon, so if you insist..." he joked. I'm becoming like Ezra, aren't I?

She passed him up a bowl of ice cream, "Here, take it! I know you want some."

Hermes held up his hands in defeat, and then took the bowl. "Very well... though I have a feeling you're going to go through their supply of sweets rather quickly."

"They'll get more." 24 smirked, finding a table and digging in, her mouth getting absolutely covered in melted ice cream.

 

[BMPixy]

MarineAvenger and BMPixy:
“Word”
In Orbit of Forseti; Aboard the Einherjar
0009 Hours Local; March 21st, 2044
Engineering Deck

Ayako slowly wandered through the dim halls of the engineering bay, one hand holding her favorite mug - filled to the brim with her special blend of coffee - and a small datapad in the other hand, words and figures slowly scrolling along the display. However, a small beam of light streaming through the crack in a workshop door drew her attention away from the datapad, drawing her curiosity.

“Who could be up this late?” she murmured to herself, slowly approaching the door and taking a quick glance inside.

Inside, there was a small figure with his back to the door, hunched over a large robot in the center of the room, another small figure laying off to the side on a cot, though that one was female and sleeping.

Taking a quick breath to steady herself, Ayako gently pushed open the door, and stepped inside. “Pulling the graveyard shift, eh?” she asked, putting on a slight air of non-chalantness about the situation.

There was no response from the person working on the robot, but as Ayako listened in, he was mumbling something under his breath.

“Mind speaking up there, monsieur?” Ayako queried, stepping further into the workshop and maneuvering around to the side of the robot the figure was working at.

Upon closer inspection, the person had headphones in his ears, but when Ayako’s shadow passed over him, he looked up and was a little surprised to see the woman standing there, a slew of sparks jumping up from the robot and causing the boy to jump back and shake his hand. “Ow, ow, ow, ow… dang it…” He took the headphones out of his ears and shoved them in his pocket, kicking the robot’s leg. “Every time you hunk of junk…”

“Ah, my apologies,” Ayako said, bowing slightly. “Should have realized you were hard at work there, didn’t mean to distract you. Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Clunker tends to bite me at least once everyday so I have gotten used to it by now…” He growled at the robot and shook his head. “Anyways, can I help you, uh…?”

“Ayako. Ayako Henderson,” the chief engineer introduced, moving to offer a hand before realizing that both of them were still full. “Sorry if I can’t shake your hand at the moment,” she apologised.

“Nah, it’s fine… I understand.” Nick scratched his ear and looked Ayako up and down and smiled. “Oh, right… you are the new Chief of Engineering. I was wondering… when you would sort of pop in. Alice sort of told me about you.”

“Ah, then I assume that you are Nicholas Cauthon?” Ayako asked. “Quite the interesting file you had, I must say. Haven’t seen those kinds of accomplishments in one so young since Dr. Randolph.”

Nick smiled nervously and scratched the back of his head. “Thanks… she is actually the one who inspired me to be an engineer.”

“Oh, really? Well, it certainly shows,” Ayako said, smiling slightly and leaning back to examine the robot. “Mind if I ask what exactly you are working on?”

“Oh…” Nick brushed his winter coat and smiled. “This is Clunker, a drone of my own design. Right now he is my biggest personal project but I have a lot of ideas for him… who knows, maybe he could be the next SHIV?” Nick’s smile did give way to a bit of worry. “If I ever get him to work…” Nick muttered.

“I’d offer my assistance, but unfortunately robotics aren’t exactly my specialty,” Ayako replied sheepishly. “Got my degrees in mechanical and aerospace engineering, so I’m fairly out of my depth when dealing with anything beyond basic maintenance for bots.”

“Well… trust me, I’ve gotten help and he still seems to just not wanna work. Everything that should work is, but something… something is holding him back and I will find it out if it kills me!” Nick stated with determination.

Ayako took a quick sip of her coffee, and said, “Well, as long as you don’t get too caught up in this and end up forgetting to handle your actual job, I’ll wish you the best of luck in finding the gremlins responsible for your troubles.”

“When I do I am going to strangle the little buggers… huuuuh… Waarom moet mijn werk soms zo frustrerend …” Nick’s head perked up and he quickly covered his mouth.

Ayako raised a confused eyebrow, and asked, “Didya say something you didn’t mean to?”

Nick’s face blushed almost immediately, his face burning a deep red. “S-S-Sorry… I-I uh… well… um…” Nick scratched the back of his head furiously.

“C’mon, spit it out garçon, I won’t laugh,” Ayako demanded, locking gazes with Nick.

“I-I-It’s just… well… my more uh… traditional side tends to… um… unconsciously slip… when I don’t mean it to… oh geez… this hasn’t happened here before… not even in front of Alice…”

“Don’t worry, it’s not unusual for this kind of thing to happen to boys your age,” Ayako replied with the straightest of faces, restraining the urge to clasp over her mouth as the words slipped out.

“W-What? What is that supposed to mean?” He asked, his face still beet red.

Oh thank god he’s sheltered, Ayako thought, a sigh of relief escaping her lips. “Nothing, don’t worry about it,” she dismissed. “Anyways, what do you mean by ‘traditional side’?”

“U-Uh… it’s… it’s nothing… don’t worry about it.” He shot back in her face.

“Alright, can’t fault you for being a bit defensive,” the Afro-Asian said, shrugging slightly. Taking a sip of her coffee, she added, “Can’t expect you to spill your whole life story to anybody who passes by, after all.”

Nick took a deep breath and released it shakily. “T-Thank you…” The little engineer stared at Ayako’s mug. “What are you drinking?”

“Special blend of coffee,” Ayako explained. “I get the darkest beans I can, grind ‘em so fine that they’re as close to monomolecular as possible, then brew it up into something so strong that it can wake a person under the influence of elephant tranquilizers. And no, that isn’t hyperbole.”

“Geez… keep that stuff away from me… I don’t need the back of my head blown out thank you… never been able to have coffee… too risky.” He explained.

“Am I the only coffee person here?” Ayako asked rhetorically, shaking her head slightly in disbelief. Perking up slightly as she thought on Nick’s words, she continued, “Wait, what do you mean by it being too risky?”

“O-Oh…” Nick sighed as he turned around and tapped the metal plate on the back of his neck. “This…”

“You have implants?” Ayako stepped in slightly, examining the plate. “Looks a bit haphazard…” she muttered, her brow furrowing in concentration.

“Nah… the important parts are completely enclosed, so there is no danger to them. However… they use my own neurological pathways as a command center, and it is only regulated for a certain average way. Something like coffee would actually be very bad… maybe… I’ve never really tested it, just been a little scared to. Never had coffee, or anything with high amounts of caffeine that would be a risk.”

A brief thought popped into Ayako’s head as she stepped back, though she just as quickly dismissed it with a shake of the head. “Well, if you ever do decide to try it, make sure to start off with something light,” she said. “After all, you don’t jump down a flight of stairs unless you want your legs broken or you’ve done it hundred times before.”

“Y-Yeah…” Nick looked at her with a bit of a confused look but shook his head. “For right now, I am just fine with tea. Being British helps a bit I guess…” He jested, pressing his index fingers together.

“Oh, a Brit, are you?” Ayako said, before putting on the thickest French accent she could muster. “Well you don’t frighten me, English pig-dog. Go and boil your bottoms, you son of a silly person. I blow my nose at you, and all your silly English teas.”

Nick tilted his head and just scratched his head. “What are you on about?”

“Monty Python and Holy Grail?” Ayako asked. “You know, the classic comedic tale of English foolishness and French superiority? One of the greatest films of the late 20th century?”

Nick shook his head and stated, “I am only 16 you know… I’ve never even heard of that.”

“So? That’s no excuse for not knowing about the classics,” Ayako replied. “Heck, they’re before my time too, but I still know about them.”

“I’m not a big movie person, they are too distracting, and I can’t focus on my work if I have them playing in the background, so I never watch them. I’ve never actually gone to a movie theatre before… that’s why I stick to music… both on my player and as a musician.”

“Oh, you play music? What instruments do you know?” the head engineer queried.

“Well… I have a piano with me… a fold up, holographic one, and I also have a guitar at home.” He told Ayako.

“Ah, then you’d probably get along with my sister, Hanako. She’s currently studying music theory out in Bordeaux, actually,” Ayako said, leaning back slightly.

“Nice… I… I don’t have any sib-” Nick quickly caught himself and he shook his head, “Sorry… I didn’t use to have any siblings like that…”

 

[MarineAvenger]

"Word" Part Two

“Ah, then I take it your parents had another kid?” Ayako asked, raising a curious eyebrow.

“N-No… well… it is… sort of hard to explain.” Nick scratched the back of his head. I should have really put more thought into my lies. “That girl in the cot over there is my sister, Hestia… but she is… well, she is adopted… Alice might not have told you but… well… she is my sister too.”

“Oh, an Artificial Intelligence for a sister?” Ayako asked. “That certainly must have been interesting growing up.”

“O-Oh… she told you…” Nick let out a relieved sigh and smiled. “F-Forget it then, I said nothing.”

“Yeah, I found out when I spoke with Alice,” Ayako explained. “So, how ‘bout the truth this time, ne?”

“Well… Hestia is just a younger body Alice has in order to have a failsafe in case she was ever in any danger. She has a simpler A.I. than Alice, but it would just be weird since she sort of popped up out of the blue, so me and Alice came up with the cover we are all family.”

“Must be a bit difficult, considering the whole different last name thing.” Ayako took one last sip of her coffee, raising an eyebrow as she did so.

“Well… you try to come up with a better cover…” He said, looking away.

Ayako took off her glasses, rubbing them on the bottom of her jacket as she thought. “Well…” she began, “you could have just had Hestia be Alice’s little sister, and you’re just a close friend of the family or something along those lines.”

“Well… Hestia sort of… refers to me as her… Big Brother… so that makes things kind of hard. I guess I could say something like Alice had a different Dad and didn’t want to change her last name, and when Hestia wakes up have her set her last name as Cauthon.” Nick speculated. “It doesn’t really matter for you or others who know Alice is an android… like I said, this is just a cover.”

“Wait wait wait, back up for a second…” Alice replied, holding a hand up as if to stop Nick. “Did you get her to start calling you her big bro, or did that come up of her own free will?”

“Well… a bit of both really. I explained to her she had to call me that in public but she sort of kept the habit saying she thought of me as an actual brother. I find it a little annoying sometimes but it really is sweet of her… I never really had any siblings.”

“Trust me, after a little while you’ll wanna strangle the little pricks,” Ayako said, a mirthful smile on her face. “Though on the bright side, at least you aren’t one of those deviants that thinks just because they watched a bit of anime they can get any girl younger than them to call them oniichan. Hate those guys…” she added, her smile falling to a pained grimace.

Nick’s head perked up a bit. “You watch them too?” He asked. “I actually did become a fan for a little while two years ago… but sort of just dropped out of it and… well… I never really got people’s stigma about stuff like that. Granted, the ones I watched were more for kids or a younger audience… like those old fighting ones.”

“Eh, I only really watched it so I could keep up on my Japanese when my dad and sisters were out of the house,” Ayako replied. “And mostly the kind of stuff I watched was the old historically influenced stuff, as well as.... uh, other stuff,” she finished weakly, figuring it better not to divulge that selection of her tastes.

“What other stuff?” Nick asked, raising an eyebrow. “Come on, I want to know!”

“Yes, but you don’t need to know,” Ayako deflected. “It’s a fair bit outside your age demographic, after all.”

“Oh, come on…” Nick crossed his arms and growled. “I hate being held back by my age… when people praise me, they see me as an adult… but when I try to do anything else I am seen as a… a stupid kid… I want the previous to be how I’m seen all the time… I’m not a kid dang it!”

“Gomen’ne, gomen’ne,” Ayako apologized. “Didn’t mean to step on any sore spots there. It’s just… you know, there are certain things that you gotta have the right mindset for, and usually that mindset comes with age and experience. Not trying to say anything, but your brain is still developing and you’ve probably got a cocktail bar’s worth of hormones running through your system. You gotta wait for those kinds of things to pass, and your mindset to stabilize before you can run around trying to figure out what being an adult is.”

Nick’s angered expression didn’t leave. “Well how am I supposed to know if I am adult enough if you don’t even give me an example of what you are even referring to? I can’t make decisions like that, no one can.”

Alright, I have two options here, Ayako thought, rubbing her hand on her chin. One, I piss off Nick by refusing to tell him anything. Two, the beautiful and charming Ayako gets her ass beat three ways to Sunday by Alice for the corruption of a minor. Life is cruel. “Well, you know when a boy loves a boy…” Ayako began to explain, gently nudging her index fingers together awkwardly.

“W-Wait… I thought it was a girl and a boy? At least that was how Alice explained it to me… is… is that what you… watched?” He asked, blushing a fair bit.

“Well would you look at the time!” Ayako exclaimed, hastily turning and making her way for the door. “I gotta go, uh, iron my tree!”

“Iron a tree? Really?” Nick asked, looking away. “If you want to leave, just say so…” He mumbled, probably too loud.

 

[BMPixy]

"Word, Part Three"

Ayako’s hand froze just before the doorknob as she heard Nick’s words, a slight chill shooting down her spine at the familiarity with that tone. With a sigh, she let go of the doorknob, and turned around. “No, no, it’s just that talking about those kinds of things is incredibly awkward, and when I’m in that kind of situation I try to remove myself from it,” she explained. “And, well, telling a teenager about those kinds of things… ranks an eleven out of eight on the awkward scale.”

“Well… in case it isn’t fairly obvious, I’m not just some normal teenager.” Nick walked over and pulled out a second cot, not laying down on it but just sitting on it and pulling his legs close to his chest and resting his chin on his knees. “I’m in an adult world… and I just want to be seen as an equal… in every way…”

“Yeah, but as cheesy as it sounds, you gotta enjoy that youth while you can,” Ayako replied, her eyes levelled at the floor. “After all, you’ll have the rest of your life for being an adult, but you only got a couple years left of being a kid. I know I sure as hell regretted not seizing every opportunity I could in my youth.”

Nick looked down. “It isn’t as great as you think…” He said in a practical whisper.

“Hey, I was your age only about seven years ago,” she responded, folding her arms over her chest. “And while I may sound very old when I say this, there is a kernel of truth to it. Youth has been all you’ve known. I’m not gonna go on about how the adult world is so much more difficult or crap like that, but it is different. It’s like trying to understand robotics when all you know is how to fix cars, if you catch my drift.”

Nick twisted a ring on his right ring finger and he sighed. “I understand… but it just isn’t about being a kid and not being able to do ‘adult things’. It’s about the respect that comes with it… and the fact you don’t have to worry whether or not someone takes you seriously because of how they think you are…” He said almost saddened.

“Really?” Ayako deadpanned. “I’m a black asian woman working in one of the most male dominated fields short of Alaskan crab fishing. I had to work three times as hard, twice as fast, and four times longer than a lot of my colleagues to get where I am. And admittedly, I lucked out with this position, but I only had that chance because I put in the hours to get a modicum of respect from my peers. So, I gotta ask you, are you willing to put in the hours? ‘Cause if not, then all this is is just useless moping.”

“Of course I am!” He exclaimed. “I’ve… I’ve always tried to go above and beyond… I am still trying to get stronger…”

“Then that’s all you can do,” Ayako said with a resigned shrug. “It’s up to your peers to determine if you’re worthy of that respect, all you can do is make yourself seem worthy to them. Simple as that.”

The little engineer was silent for a few moments, but he then looked up at Ayako with an inquisitive look. “Do you respect me, Ayako?”

“Well, that’s one hell of a loaded question,” she said, chuckling lightly. Taking a deep breath and steadying her expression, Ayako continued, “But… you’ve proven yourself competent, and you seem to have a good head on your shoulders. Unless you’ve got some massive skeletons in the closet, I can say that you are indeed worthy of my respect.”

“I don’t know what sort of skeletons you would expect me to have…” He stated, still twisting his ring.

Ayako looked Nick right in the eye, and with the straightest of faces, she asked, “Have you killed more than three men in cold blood in the past six years?”

“Yes.” He returned with an equally straight face.

“Then I’m afraid I’m going to have to terminate your contract and have you arrested, Mr. Cauthon,” Ayako said. “I’d recite your Miranda Rights, but we aren’t exactly in America.”

“You’d have to take me alive first…” Nick stood up on his cot and said, “But now that you know my dark secret, I will have to kill you and stuff your body in Clunker’s chassis. Perhaps your soul haunting his cold, metal body is the missing part I have needed this whole time!” Nick gave a deranged laugh.

“You certainly have quite the high expectations of your skill,” Ayako replied, a grin slowly slipping onto her face as she fell into a combat stance. “But I am the daughter of a well-renowned shinobi and a psychic sniper. You fighting me would be like a monkey trying to fight a man. That is to say, it would be muda muda muda muda!” she bellowed.

Nick raised an eyebrow and reached under his pillow. “Well I got this!” He pulled an object out, the item clearly a pistol, however it was apparent right away that the thing wasn’t built in the same way as a normal firearm, rendering it unfireable, a detail only a skilled engineer would be able to distinguish.

Thankfully, Ayako was a skilled engineer, which assuaged her fears over Nick accidentally shooting her. “What part of shinobi trained did you not get, Nick?” she taunted. “Bullets can’t hurt a lone ninja, everybody knows that!”

Nick rolled his eyes. “A little full of yourself too it appears. Care to test that theory?” He pointed the fake gun in Ayako’s general direction, and he made a ‘bang’ noise.

With a mighty ‘kiai’, Ayako flung her arms as if she were trying to catch the bullet, before miming that it had struck her in the chest, prompting a grunt of pain. “Gah… how could you…? My technique was perfect…!” she asked as she fell to her knees, clutching her gut.

“Because no matter how good you claim it is physically impossible for a human to process the speed of a bullet in a way that makes them impervious.” Nick spun the gun on his finger and pretended to blow it before he smiled at Ayako and couldn’t keep up the facade any longer, letting out a rowdy laugh at their ridiculousness.

“Ah, and I had a whole dying speech planned out too,” Ayako said disheartedly, though the bout of laughter that followed dispelled any suspicious of it being serious.

“I haven’t played like that since I was a runt in 1st grade with my friends.” Nick stated between his bout of laughter, only resuming afterwards.

“Yeah, been nearly a decade since I had that kinda fun,” Ayako replied, wiping a tear from her eye as she slowly stood and her laughter died out. “Ah, always good to have a reminder of the good ol’ days...”

“Yeah…” He said, shaking his head and getting off his cot, and quickly jogging over to Ayako and wrapping his arms around the Head of Engineering and giving her a long hug.

Ayako was caught slightly off-guard by gesture, though after a moment she returned the hug, a fond smile growing on her face. Pushing herself up slightly, she rested her chin on Nick’s head, and said, “Quick to show affection, eh?”

Nick blushed a bit. “What… what can I say… you are a nice woman…”

“Oh, a flatterer too?” Ayako joked, gently letting go and stepping back slightly. However, any further comment was cut off as she did the math, remembering just where exactly Nick’s head went, prompting an uneasy cough and a slight flush on her cheeks. “Ah, sorry about that…”

It took a long while but when Nick realized what she was apologizing for, his face was practically on fire. “U-Uh… no need to… apologize…” He stated.

“Well, at least you have a sense of shame and didn’t try to cop a feel,” Ayako assured, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly.

Nick’s face somehow continued to glow red, any more embarrassment would result in steam coming out of his ears. “W-Well don’t say it like you wanted it to happen!”

Ayako gulped audibly, doing her best to restrain a comment that in most countries would get her arrested. “A-anyways,” she stammered, “probably for the best I get going now. Kept you up late enough, after all.”

“Trust me… I pull more all nighters in one month than most grown men do in their entire lives.” He assured Ayako.

“That ain’t exactly healthy, you know,” Ayako replied, putting a hand on her hip. Kettle, meet pot, she internally deadpanned. “After all, your brain is still developing and you don’t have an entire department to run. Go and get some rest.”

“Yes, Mom.” He mocked, his flustered face still somewhat there as he turned around and climbed into his cot. “Stop in whenever you like. This… this was a lot of fun, Ayako.”

“Yeah, it certainly was,” Ayako replied, stepping backwards to the door. “Good night, Nick, and I wish you the best of luck.” With that, she gently pushed herself out of the door, and closed it behind her with a soft ‘click’.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 and ZombieSplitter53: “Streetside Confessional, Part 1”

High Orbit over Forseti (March 23rd, 2044)
The Einherjar (1019 Hours, Ailey Standard)
Floor 5: Holo-Room 3: “Cusco”

Kallpa leaned against one of the walls of the tight alleys that made up his hometown, simulated in the private holo-room. It was small enough that it couldn’t handle expansive spaces, but between rows after rows of buildings that made up the beautiful patchwork of the town, it was suited just fine to Cusco. The Peruvian of Incan descent watched people pass by, either heading to work within the town or in fields beyond it, or just socializing and enjoying being outdoors. Even though they were merely holograms, Kallpa smiled softly, feeling at peace in the depiction of home.

“It’s been awhile since I’ve actually been back here,” Kallpa said to himself, the people passing by paying him no mind as he was as spectral as a ghost with the way the room’s settings were currently calibrated. We never did go back after moving to Mars… but I’m sure not much has changed. Nothing for the worse, at least.

The sound of the room’s door opening could be heard across the room, and a few moments later, Kallpa could hear a familiar voice call out. “Hello. Is anyone… where are we?”

What’s she doing here? Kallpa straightened his shirt, a hand-woven red linen article of clothing with simple designs along its length, and went forward. He turned the corner, coming within view of his unexpected guest. With a smile, he said, “To what do I owe the pleasure, Korra? I wasn’t expecting someone to track me down to the holo-rooms.”

“Um… hi… Vizcarra…” Korra rubbed her hands nervously. “I… I had something… I-I needed to… tell you. Something… important…”

Kallpa’s smile faded as a concerned look replaced it. Did something happen to her? She’s usually not this shy… He motioned for Korra to follow, rounding the corner again and inviting her over to a set of stairs before a door that acted as an impromptu bench. “What is it?”

Korra sat, but fidgeted a bit. “Listen, Kallpa… you… you said that you liked me and everything. But… but I don’t think I’m good for you. You should… you should find a woman who won’t end up hurting you.”

Kallpa regarded her in momentary disbelief before responding. “What… what do you mean? I’ve told you before that I’m interested in you, more so than other people I’ve dated in the past.”

“Vizcarra… have you ever been… betrayed?” Korra asked apprehensively. “By… by a woman?”

“You mean… cheated on? Not really… there was one girl that was interested in another guy besides me, but by that point I was about to break up with her anyway…” Kallpa replied at length.

Korra looked away, not sure if that made this better or worse. “Listen… I… I care about you, Vizcarra. More… more than I’ve admitted to you. It was just me being stubborn, you know? Which… which is why… what I have to tell you is so hard… I… Vizcarra, I…”

The realization seemed to hit Kallpa, hard. “You…went all the way with… someone, then?” he questioned shakily.

Korra slowly nodded. “I… I’m sorry, Kallpa. I didn’t… want to betray you. And when I realized I had… I know it doesn’t make it better. I’m… so sorry.”

Kallpa sighed, shaking his head and looking away from Korra. “I can’t… really blame you in fairness. We weren’t in a relationship, so why should it matter… to you.” Quieter, he added, “That doesn’t make it sting less, though.” I should have acted sooner… I tried to take things slow and this is where THAT strategy got me.

“No, Vizcarra… it does matter to me.” Korra dipped her head, her red locks covering her face. “I… I respect you… a lot. And you wanted to take things slow, and I was going to give that a chance. Because you were so nice to me, and you didn’t care about… that. But… but then… the first opportunity I get…”

Kallpa rubbed his forehead. “Who… who was it?” Please tell me it’s not someone I know…

Korra hesitated, knowing that this was going to be the worst part. “W… W-Walker…” she practically whispered.

The gunner turned to look at Korra with horror in his eyes. “Cayden…?” The shock quickly became anger. “That… pendejo… he…” Kallpa punched the wall, the hologram offering resistance that was probably going to hurt once the Incan acknowledged the pain. “Who… who was the one that suggested all of that in the first place? Him?” the gunner guessed dryly. So much for living up to my expectations.

“He… he doesn’t know about us!” Korra insisted, unable to look Kallpa in the eye. “But… but it was… it was him. I went along with it, but… it was his idea.”

“Then it’s not your fault!” Kallpa yelled louder than he had intended. Lowering his voice, he continued, “He… was desperate after that mission went south, and he took advantage of you. That’s what it sounds like to me.” He’s no better than that person Korra’s mentioned in the past that used her for sex!

Korra let out a shuddering breath, turning to Kallpa. “I… I can’t just pass off all the blame on him. It isn’t fair to him… or to you. It isn’t fair that you should be mad at me for this. I could have said no. Something was nagging at me to say no, but I ignored it to satisfy my own lust. I… I’d learned nothing from our time together.”

“I… I can’t be angry at you, though,” Kallpa responded wearily. “I care about you too much for that… it would just make my heartache worse if I blamed you for everything and pushed you away.” He smiled weakly. “You’re… kind of naive, Korra… Cayden isn’t. He weighs more on the scales of justice right now for the wrong reasons.”

“Cayden has his own problems right now because of what he did. It… it is strange. He didn’t put any blame on me either. He wanted to take it all. I… I don’t understand why you people are being so good to me. I’m not ignorant to the kind of person I am. I… I don’t deserve it…”

“I hope you realize that talking crap about yourself isn’t going to make me feel any better…” Kallpa muttered. “It doesn’t do either of us any good.”

“I know…” Korra stood up, stepping a few feet away. “I guess it is hard to get out of my head. Did I… did I ever tell you one of the reasons I act the way I do. What I… had to convince myself?” Kallpa shook his head. “I… I had to convince myself that what I did wasn’t… as bad as he told me it was. Because the moment I stopped and looked at my past, I’d be crushed by what I found. But… the longer that goes on, the worse it gets when I face that truth.”

Several questions buzzed in Kallpa’s head, but he elected to just ask two for the moment. “Who are you talking about? And what did they say?”

“My superior officer… during my training. He… he told me I was nothing but a prostitute… that all I knew how to do is use my body to get what I want. That’s why… when he threatened to… to have me dismissed from the XSDF... I… did as I was told…”

“I… remember that he had taken advantage of you… but I didn’t… know it was that bad.” Kallpa clenched a fist. “You realize he’s full of shit, right? You’re so much more than that…”

A few tears rolled down Korra’s cheeks, and she slowly turned back. “I… I don’t… I’ve never met someone like you. I… everyone has always either only been interested in my body… or only interested in being a friend. You’re the first one who ever wanted me… but it didn’t have to be that kind of relationship. I… I can’t thank you enough for that. And… this thing with Cayden showed me how I really feel.”

Kallpa shook his head. “You’ve just been unlucky with the men you’ve met. I’m not that special… I just have feelings for you I can’t explain, but act on them anyway. Nothing more to it. I love you, and aside from the logical reasons the more deep ones are lost to me.”

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

DarkGemini24601 and ZombieSplitter53: “Streetside Confessional, Part 2”

Korra nodded slowly. “Um… can I… do something, Vizcarra? Where I come from, you’re supposed to call people by their family names when you really, really respect them. But… but I’d like to call you Kallpa. Something we do for the people we respect when we… we want to…”

Kallpa slowly smiled. “Of course you can. I didn’t realize that’s why you always called me Vizcarra… I wasn’t sure why, honestly...” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I didn’t realize you thought that highly of me.”

“Well, I do.” Korra walked over to him, sitting down and taking his hand. “And… and I promise, as long as I call you Kallpa… I’ll never be with another man. It…” She frowned. “It is going to be hard with all the men I hit on. But… but I promise you.”

The gunner nodded. “And in return, you can count on me to help you with anything you need, as well as the same loyalty.” Kallpa chuckled. “To be honest, I’ve never been this… obsessed isn’t the right word, is it…” He sighed helplessly. “The point is, I’d do anything to make you happy. Barring running off with you to become a space pirate, of course.”

“Of course.” Korra smiled at him. “But… I might need your help getting some guys off my back. A few have been… pushy. I’ve been able to keep them off my back so far, but some are… really annoying.”

Kallpa closed some of the fingers on his metallic hand with a few clicks. “I think they’ll learn they have better things to do in their spare time.”

Korra giggled, then kicked her legs a bit. “So… what do we do now? I’ve… never been in a relationship like this.”

Kallpa shrugged. “We’ve already been out to eat before, and it’s not really that time of day… I could show you around more of the city, or we could go to one of the other recreational facilities. Maybe...” Kallpa shook his head, trailing off. Probably not a good idea.

Korra tilted her head a bit. “Maybe… what?”

Kallpa looked away. “I was considering the Natatorium, but that feels like a petty excuse to see you in a bathing suit, and I’d like to be better than that.”

Korra smiled. “I… I’d like that, actually. Could be a nice change of pace.”

Kallpa sighed. “Guess I couldn’t back out of it after almost saying it, huh…? When do you want to meet down there? We’d both have to go change.”

“I’ll meet you there in thirty minutes. I’ll have to make sure I have something to wear. Could always just…” Korra shook her head. “Don’t have to flirt with you any more, though… that won’t stop me from doing so from time to time.”

Kallpa looked at her incredulously, having a good guess as to what she was about to say. “I expect nothing less… though do stick with an actual swimsuit. Your birthday suit does not count as one.”

“Birthday…” Korra shrugged and headed out, waving as she turned the corner.

Does she not know what that is, or…? Deciding it probably didn’t matter, Kallpa requested that the computer save the simulation before walking off in the same direction to retrieve some swim trunks from his room.

***

He met Korra at the end of the row of changing rooms, the gunner wearing a simple pair of brown and white swim pants. The vast central pool stretched out in front of them, having an island in the middle for sunbathers and smaller columns to take a rest from the exertion of treading water on. There were quite a few people trying to relax in the waters, prompted Kallpa to glance at his companion. “So… do you want to use the larger pool, or head over to one of the four smaller ones?”

Korra wore a fairly modest swimsuit for her, a white one-piece with an open back, though it looked a bit small on her. She placed a finger on her lips, and said, “Let’s go with a smaller one. Preferably one that doesn’t have too many people.”

“Sounds fine to me.” Kallpa walked along the outer walkway with her, heading to the second auxiliary pool, knowing the first was probably more crowded by merit of being the closest. Once there, he was quick to jump in backwards, landing on his back and floating on the clear water. Still in the morning, albeit late morning rather than midmorning, there wasn’t currently anyone else there.

Korra cannon balled in herself, shivering a bit until she adjusted. She floated over to Kallpa, able to float easily for some reason. “This was a great idea, Kallpa. I knew it was here, but I never visited it.”

The Incan smiled. “I didn’t really have a reason to go here alone, but now that I have someone to spend time with I have an excuse.” He let himself sink a bit in. “This is something I missed… we had some small pools in Cusco, but on Adamantem water is a bit too precious to be used for that sort of thing for now. Until the whole ‘complete terraforming’ plan goes into effect, that’s pretty much the norm for Mediotierra. Being immersed in a cold vessel of water is refreshing.”

Korra nodded. “Where I came from, it was cold all year long. So we didn’t really have places like this. Though… Tamearins are kinda boring, so there isn’t much in the way of ‘swimming’ aside for exercise.”

“Not even hot tubs?” Kallpa inquired. “There are some of those here.”

“Hot tubs, huh? I used one of those when I first visited Earth. Nice and cozy. We had those on my planet… but my parents never got one. I’m… not sure why. Though they were always kinda strange.”

Kallpa attempted to shrug, but that only moved him to a treading position for his trouble. “Maybe they didn’t have enough money to afford one? It’d be harder to heat something in a cold place.”

“Oh… yeah…” Korra chuckled nervously. “That… that wasn’t really a… problem for them… heh…”

“I’m not going to think badly of you if your parents were rich or something you know… not all farmers’ sons are like that,” Kallpa assured her.

“Well… they were, but…” Korra sighed, moving to float on her back. “You know that human saying? About money not making people happy? Well, it’s true. I mean… I know my people aren’t the emotional type, but they never seemed happy. Even when they were happy, they weren’t happy.” She glanced at Kallpa. “Your parents the happy sort? Happy… family?”

Kallpa nodded. “My parents are, and for the most part my family gets along, teasing aside. They’d probably like you… though I know my sisters would find some way to tease both of us.”

“Teasing, huh? I… I can handle teasing.” Korra moved into an upright position, having to brush the wet hair from her face. “Teasing… means they love you, right? Because they just want to mess with a little, not… insult you, right?”

Kallpa nodded, his expression falling. “I’m… guessing your family tends to do the latter to you?”

“Yeah… sorry.” Korra smiled. “Didn’t mean to bring us down. Just… saw my brother recently, and it brought up old memories. I’d rather hear about that sister of yours.”

“Well, there are two of them, actually. Yulanda’s the older one, nineteen and learning to become a terraforming engineer, while Lesli’s seventeen and directionless,” he explained with an amused twinkle in his eye. “They’re a mess when combined.”

“They sound delightful.” Korra’s smile widened. “And you said you grew up on a farm? What was that like? I always imagined it was much more peaceful than the big cities.” She looked at his arm. “Hmm… maybe not.”

"It usually is... When I was younger my family lived on the outskirts of Cusco... worked on a terraced farm. Basically, we planted crops in rising rings along the mountainside, if you're unfamiliar with the concept," Kallpa explained. "Mediotierra was similar, but we had sometimes unfriendly tourists like that bank robber."

As she had before, Korra's eyes fixated on the arm, and she asked, "What... what happened to the man that did this to you?"

"He got 30 years on New Alcatraz. First-degree robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, and injuring two police officers does that for you." Kallpa shrugged. "He'll be out in his physical forties, I suppose."

"Not good enough," Korra mumbled, pouting a bit. "Call me crazy, but I think a man's limb is worth more than thirty years."

Kallpa shrugged. "No point in a jail if someone's going to be there forever unless they really deserve it." He shuddered. "Life sentences are more severe now that people live twice as long."

"Hmm... good point." Korra floated closer to Kallpa. "Can I ask you... what was the girl you were serious with like?"

Kallpa raised an eyebrow. "I haven't really been serious about anyone that I've dated... Aside from you, of course."

"Really?" Korra smiled. "What makes me special compared to them?"

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 and ZombieSplitter53: “Streetside Confessional, Part 3”

Kallpa thought for a moment. Putting me on the spot, huh? "I guess it's because of several reasons. You're not overly concerned about money, you actually have a similar job to me... And you have an exotic quality to you. I find myself wanting to know more about your planet and your personal history both to get closer to you and your world," he answered honestly.

Korra gave a satisfied nod, floating behind him. "And how is it such an understanding man like you hasn't found someone before? Bad luck? Something holding you back?"

"Well, I haven't found a woman that I really like as much... And I'm starting to believe in Lesli's airhead notion that some people are just destined for one another." Kallpa smiled awkwardly. "Besides, I haven’t met anyone as... physically attractive as you are."

Korra placed her hands on Kallpa's shoulders, pressing against his back. "Somehow, that means more coming from you. Maybe because it wasn't you lead in line."

"I'm not that clueless," Kallpa responded, smiling. "And you're free to lean, just know I can't keep us both afloat indefinitely," the gunner added, sinking up to his chin.

Korra laughed, kissing him gently on the neck and wrapping her arms around his waist. Kicking rapidly, she said, "Then I'll help you stay afloat. That's what two people do for each other... right?"

"In a manner of speaking. That isn't actually a bad metaphor.." Kallpa congratulated her. "Better than anything I could come up with, at least in English."

As she continued to kick, the Tamearin placed her head ear against Kallpa's back and listened to his heart beat. "Kallpa?"

"Yeah?" He asked in reply.

"I... I'm not sure what love is. But you make me feel happier than I've felt since I lost my grandmother. I... like being with you. Is... this love?"

"That's love in a nutshell." Kallpa sighed. "To be honest. I was a little angry with you earlier even if I tried to put all of it on Cayden, but... I feel the same way you do right now. All is forgiven."

"Good," Korra whispered. "But that isn't going to stop me from trying to make it up to you."

"Again, I'd expect nothing less." Kallpa hummed for a moment. "Should we move to the hot tub? I think I've taken care of some of my exercise for today."

"Sure, I'd love to." Korra pulled away from him, realizing it probably wouldn't have looked good if someone had seen her clinging to him, but not really caring.

Kallpa pulled himself out of the pool, and led Korra over to one of the hot tubs. It was a room about 4 meters in diameter, and the circular pool had a diameter of 3m. Steam rose off the pool, deep enough for two or three to dive under alongside each other, obscuring the sitting bench from immediate view. Kallpa climbed in with a relieved sigh, relaxing without choking on hot air thanks to a specialized ventilation system.

"Oh, this is nice." Korra climbed in next to him, nuzzling close. After a minute, she gave a worried sigh. "Kallpa... you... you saw that transmission they broadcast the other day, right?"

Kallpa nodded grimly. "I did... I wasn't expecting to be fighting a war... Though I have no intention of backing down."

"Me either. But... you know what scares me the most." Korra pulled a little closer, shivering despite the heat. "They seem to know... so much about us, and we know practically nothing about them. It does take a military genius to know how much of a tactical advantage that gives them."

"What can we do about that, though? That's something the Commander has to handle... And don't we have one of the best intelligence departments in the known galaxy?" Kallpa smiled optimistically. "We can close the gap."

"I'm... I'm sure you're right." Korra smiled lightly. "Fred... I mean, Commander Mason personally scouted me, you know. He... he was always hard on me, be he never gave up on me. If it wasn't for him, I never would have been given an active position. I... I have confidence in him, even if no one else does."

"Hey, he seems to know what he's doing and care about us. Plus, he's straightforward. That's enough for me."

"Just be careful out there." The voluptuous red head ran a hand across Kallpa's metallic limb. "Don't take any unnecessary risks. I just found you. I don't want to lose any more of you."

"Of course." Kallpa ran a hand through Korra's slick red hair. "I'll be careful, but I have something personal to protect now as well."

Korra nodded, whispering, "I love you, Kallpa Vizcarra." Kallpa returned the affection with a more physical conformation, kissing Korra gently.

 

[MarineAvenger]

DarkGemini24601 and MarineAvenger: “Lights in the Darkness, Part 1”

High Orbit over Forseti (March 23rd, 2044)
The Einherjar (11:31 A.M., Ailey Standard)
Floor 13: Room D-006

Sasha sat at the table in the center of the room, her vision panning over a set of five wooden spheres on the table. They were hand-carved, and had special designs running through each of them, from depictions that seemed to be Mexica in nature to simple landscapes. Their purpose wasn’t just for aesthetics, though. The female Dragomirov closed her eyes, concentrating intently while her brother watched patiently.

“Anything I can do to help?” Mikhail asked gently, his own lingering pain overshadowed by concern for his sister, mirrored in his eyes. “Don’t push yourself too much.”

Sasha cracked open one eye, shaking her head at him. “I’ll be fine. I just need to reassert control over my powers… I don’t want to lose control like other people with Reflections on the ship seem to when they tap into the deeper reserves of their energy. I don’t mind my ‘guardian angel’ coming to me in a pinch, but I don’t want her being the sole manifestation of my psionics.” Smiling weakly, she added, “And your presence here...well… it calms me, a little. That’s all I need from you right now.”

Mikhail returned the expression. “If you say so.”

Shutting her right eye again, Sasha focused on her telekinesis, orange energy shimmering around one of the spheres, enveloping it in a soft glow before lifting it into the air. The lightweight object offered little resistance, and Sasha was able to set it spinning. This isn’t the hard part though… Mr. Burrick made these to train a specific skill. For upon closer inspection, the designs on the balls were grooves within the objects. This meant that the telekinetic force wrapping around them and manipulating them wasn’t even, forcing a greater degree of control and focus.

Carefully, Sasha pulled two more of the almost-spheres into the air, and set them to rotate as well, though all three wobbled slightly as she furrowed her brow in concentration. I… remember your advice, Atka… not all colors deal directly with control, but it is still one of the most important attributes… wisdom and control are not all that different, and both are required to use power safely. With beads of sweat forming on her skin, the newly-promoted support specialist brought the last two into the air, but was having trouble spinning them. “Come on…”

Mikhail seemed impressed. To be able to control her powers that well after everything we’ve been through… you have more resolve that you realize. “Just a little more, Sasha,” he encouraged.

The fourth and fifth started to spin, when the door slid open with a hiss, making Sasha turn her head, and the spheres clattered onto the table again. Muttering a curse in Russian, the support opened her eyes. “Chert poberi…”

Coming into the room with a duffel slung over his shoulder, Leo had a cocky smile on his face and he waved a hand. “Long time no see, Dragies.”

Sasha’s eyes widened, as did her twin brother’s. “Leo?” The former uttered in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“And technically it would be long time, no see in person,” Mikhail interjected, amending Leo’s statement, though his mild sarcasm was overshadowed by his surprise.

“Well sorry, working part time in a coffee shop doesn’t really pave the way for funding a flight and stay in Russia.” He looked around the main room for a moment, looking back at the twins but not being able to resist a laugh. “I’m your new roommate.”

Mikhail smiled. “Well, that certainly will liven things up… I’d ask you what role you’re taken on, but since you’ve been asked that a million times already, maybe the better question would be why you wanted to join the XSDF?” Especially when we’re at war, or does he not realize that yet? Mikhail thought grimly.

“Well worked for a small company for a while, enjoyed the work but when they got eaten up by corporate, I wanted something new. XSDF was recruiting, my brother was in service, what option was left other than the XSDF. Could you honestly expect to see me… me of all people kissing corporate ass, this Walker thinks not.”

Sasha raised an eyebrow. “What would your aunt have to say to that, I wonder?” Reaching a hand out to pick up one of the spheres - having the shapes of red maple leaves carefully carved into it - Sasha spun the ball with physical force rather than her psionic abilities. “Vindicta so happens to be on the ship… I was actually looking to talk to her soon, so after we catch up maybe you could join me while I get some advice from her about… a problem I’ve been having.”

“Whatever you say, now that I am here, I want to try and catch up as much as I can.” Leo set his bag down and walked over to Mikhail, holding out a hand. “Besides… I don’t officially start till Monday.”

Mikhail shook his friend’s hand. “Well, we’re off-duty for awhile, so we’re in the same boat. Though we have an excuse.” He retracted the hand, adjusting his ushanka. “Besides visiting Vindicta, we’re both due for a visit to Dr. Cross.” Modya’s son glanced at his sister. “You are doing that, right?”

Sasha nodded. “I haven’t changed my mind… even if I’m worried about bothering her with my problems…”

Mikhail shook his head. “You’re not bothering her. Even if it weren’t her job, you’re her friend. She’ll want to do anything she can do help.”

“Yeah, she said as much when I saw her this morning. I actually went to my temporary room right after, had lunch then just came here. Was nice talking to Cross like old times.” Leo hopped over the couch and immediately sat next to Sasha. “You should do it Sashy. Just spill it all out!” He made an exaggerated arm expression to punctuate his statement.

Sasha blinked for a moment, before replying, “I.. guess. Not something I’d bother you with though. You… weren’t here to see what happened on Operation Static Crow, and maybe that’s for the best.”

“Even still… you should know me and you are good friends, and no matter whatever happened doesn’t change how I perceive you, or whatever new found sort of power you may have obtained.” Leo rubbed his chin for a moment and he chuckled. “Do you remember when you both came over for my seventh birthday?”

Sasha scratched her head. “I’m… not sure I do... accurately. We were only ten at the time.”

Mikhail nodded. “Same.”

Leo rolled his eyes and he smirked. “Well… since you don’t remember allow me to enlighten you for old time’s sake. My mother had just brought out this giant cake, it was ice cream just like I liked it and after I blew out the candles and everyone was distracted, I took a finger full of frosting and rubbed it on your face.” He chuckled as if he saw Sasha with it on right now. “Next thing I know, I am face deep in ice cream cake and you laughing at me, but I remember saying that day I would never judge you again… granted I was seven and it was years ago but I am staying by that. But also be warned if it is anyone’s birthday, I am still out for revenge.”

Sasha sighed. “I remember that… and you deserved it. Alex even agreed with me.”

Mikhail chuckled. “And you already missed our birthday by about two weeks. It was fun, so you missed out.”

“Yeah…” Sasha looked down for a moment. I just wish it hadn’t been followed by… that massacre.

Leo noticed Sasha’s moment of sadness, so he reached over and put an arm around her. “Come on, this is no time to be thinking about bad things, chipper up, talk some more… chase Mikhail around with one of those balls, just don’t try and turn this around in a bad way, you shouldn’t do that to yourself woman.”

“You weren’t there…” Sasha mumbled. “I...I know you’re trying to be nice, Leo, but it’s different when you’ve seen… nine people die… all in one day.”

Leo nodded his head, looking up at the ceiling trying to think of the best thing to say. “I… it must be tough… going out there and fighting for the sake of something bigger than yourself. You really are a courageous person, Sasha… it is something I could never do. I’m sorry you have to go through this pain but all of your friends are here for you, you aren’t alone in this struggle. You have your brother, you have Cross… you have me Sash. Now that I am here, I promise I won’t let things fall away like they did during high school… alright?”

Sasha nodded, though she shivered a little. He’s talking about us disconnecting… he doesn’t know that I… she mentally trailed off, trying to reassure herself of something. Outwardly, she straightened up. “Right. And I’ll be talking to Cross, of course. I… know that things like what we’ve been through can lead to PTSD unless addressed… so I’ll make sure my issues and Mikhail’s are addressed,” she stated simply.

“Good… it takes a lot to overcome hardship, but I know you got it in you. Even with some of the problems you shared with me when we were younger… I always thought you were strong.” He told her honestly. It wasn’t long until Leo chuckled though and he ran his free hand through his hair, “I promise I am not trying to kiss your ass.” He said as a joke.

Mikhail raised an eyebrow. I hope he doesn’t mean that literally.

 

[MarineAvenger]

DarkGemini24601 and MarineAvenger: “Lights in the Darkness, Part 2”

Sasha shook her head. “You don’t seem like you are. Was there anything else you’d like to catch up on? Besides… the darker events of recent days, I mean.”

“Are you still friends with what’s her name? Um… I’m blanking right now but her name did start with ‘I’ didn’t it?” He asked, looking away as he tried to pull the name from memory.

“Irina,” Sasha confirmed for him. “She’s actually a doctor on the Einherjar, so we got to catch up when I came aboard.”

“Nice… I hope you guys are as close as before. I remember you used to never shut up about her.” Leo teased with an equally teasing look.

“She’s a loyal friend, that’s why I’ve mentioned her plenty,” Sasha responded indignantly. “Don’t you start being like Cam… I swear, she tries to model her aunt a little too much.”

Leo couldn’t resist laughing out loud, shaking his head. “Oh… oh, I have missed you…”

Mikhail looked between the two for a moment, but shook his head, not wanting to ruin the mood with a concern of his. He quickly dispelled any appearance of uncomfortableness as Sasha responded, “Anyway… if you want to head down to the psi labs with me I wouldn’t mind reintroducing you to your cousin.”

“Yeah… that is going to be fun…” Leo sighed. He took a few moments to answer, responding with, “You know what… I will take you up on that, it sounds interesting, and it isn’t like I really want to just throw you into the ‘Exalt maws’ without some assistance.” He jested.

Smiling, Sasha got up and led Leo out of the room, heading towards the Central Elevator. Rather than walk the full length, she headed over to one of the coffin rails that ran through the barracks. As they waited, she asked, “The Exalts did visit your family often, right? You probably know them better than I do… I only met Vindicta once several years ago.”

“Well… we had an annual sort of family reunion at my house every year. You know… beach fun, barbeque… basically what happened whenever you and Mikhail stayed over except with a lot larger attendance. What… would you like to know?”

“Just… what is she like? More towards her mother, or does she take things from her father as well?” The horizontal elevator arrived, and the two stepped inside, the capsule speeding them towards the vertical set of elevators.

“Well… she has her mother’s intelligence without a doubt… a bit of her personality as well but once she warms up to you, she is actually really down to Earth, sort of like her father.” Leo gave her a thumbs up of confidence. “You got it in you to do just fine.”

Sasha sighed in relief. “Alright… her mother’s sometimes intimidating to approach… and from what I saw of Lily, she takes after her sister these days.” The coffin rail came to a stop, and the two stepped out, only to step into a new elevator and begin traveling several floors upwards.

“I haven’t seen my aunts in a while actually… so I wouldn’t know very much about their current statuses.” Leo said, rubbing the sides of his nose to resist a sneeze. “Seems we all sort of went our own ways for a while.”

With a shrug, Sasha stepped out, heading into the main labs. After a short chat with the security guard, the two were escorted to the psi labs, where Vindicta wasn’t initially anywhere to be seen. However, upon exploring the labs further, they came across her with a machine gun mounted on a tripod in the testing room. Vindicta seemed to be staring at the weapon intently for a moment, before sighing, summoning forth Black Bishop and picking the weapon off the tripod with the Reflections’ strength.

“That’s better,” the scientist decided, before testing the psionic SAW out. Letting some of her energy flow into the power pack to charge it off, the weapon unleashed a brief burst of psi lances with the size and speed of rail-accelerated bullets. They crashed into the target, decimating it, and satisfied, Vindicta dismissed her Reflection after it set down the weapon on the tripod again. Noting her visitors, Vindicta grabbed her lab coat, putting it back on and stepping outside of the testing room.

Leo’s smile grew and he opened up his arms to his cousin. “Hey, Vin… surprised?”

Vindicta returned his expression upon realizing who he was. “Leo! It’s good to see you again.” She embraced her cousin briefly, before stepping back with a confident grin. “Impressed? That guardian of mine is the product of downtime in college, between classes, studying, and shaming people that got too big for their britches.”

“You’ve definitely gotten better… pretty impressive.” Leo glanced over at the gun in the background, and raised an eyebrow. “Though it seems you have really got a lot of time on your hands to work on a big boy like that. Makes me a little jealous.”

“I’ve had help, to be fair. But it was my idea, to tell the truth.” Vindicta glanced at Sasha. “In any case, since I doubt Leo has suddenly learned how to conjure a storm of Pulsar Cores, I imagine you’re the one I’m going to be working with here, Dragomirov.”

Sasha nodded. “I wanted to get some advice from you about my powers.”

“Yeah, and I just came to say hi to one of my favorite cousins.” Leo stated, not mentioning he was also there to help Sasha with Vindicta. “So I’m just gonna wait outside for you two to get your crazy mind powers even crazier.” He jested with a smile. “See ya when you get your questions answered Sash. If you need me before then, I will just be outside.”


***

Floor 13: Room D-006

Cayden rubbed his brow with his towel, his workout taking more out of him than usual and the soldier coming to a decision to return to the room early. He opened the door and walked in, shutting the door behind him. “Hey, anyone in?”

Mikhail was going over a diagram of a plasma grenade, reminding himself of the ins and outs of the explosive, and filing away the knowledge for future use. He’d seen the plans in pieces, but until joining the XSDF he’d mostly been working with alloy grenades and modern frags. Glancing up, he noticed Cayden. “Just me. Brigid and Korra are nowhere to be found, and Leo went off with Sasha to the psi labs.”

“Is that so?” Cayden went to go sit on the couch and asked, “How have you two been doing? I’ve been giving you guys your space so I didn’t smother you guys everyone else going to help you. Sorry if that… might have given you the wrong impression.”

Mikhail shook his head. “We’ve been… doing alright. And when I saw how Sasha seemed to pick herself up after talking with Brigid… well, it helped me by extension. Though I agree that we still need to talk to Camellia… even if I’m a bit embarrassed to come to her unable to solve my own problems.”

“It’s fine, Mikhail. Some loads are too heavy to bear alone…” Cayden took a deep breath and he shook his head. “Look… I… I owe you and Sasha both an apology.”

Mikhail leaned forward. “For what? You haven’t wronged either of us.”

“Because…” Cayden looked down at his hands and closed his eyes. “I… I lost myself out there. When those commando guys descended on us… I panicked. If I hadn’t… disregarded everything around me, I could have helped more… I held back…”

“We all panicked,” Mikhail mumbled, absently rubbing his arm. “Believe me, I felt like I swallowed my own heart when that bastard was on top of me… I’ve had the occasional nightmare of suffering the same fate Harvey did,” The male Dragomirov practically whispered.

Cayden sat silently, not really knowing what else to say. “I’m just glad I could have gotten you guys safe… I didn’t care what happened to me, I just couldn’t let you two die.” He responded in his own low tone.

Mikhail shook his head, dispelling the painful memories. “The point I was trying to make is that we all had our failings out there, we all suffered. No one’s to blame for that but the enemy.”

He nodded in agreement. “And once Sasha and I get our powers under control better… we will take the fight to them… we won’t let something like that happen to us again.” He said to Mikhail a little hopefully. “We… we can do it… I know we can, we have to.”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

DarkGemini24601 and MarineAvenger: “Lights in the Darkness, Part 3”

Mikhail sighed. “I wish I could be of help like that… I don’t have any special powers. I guess this is how my father felt in the war, standing beside some of the best psions we know of with only his guns and explosives and a couple of gene mods under his belt. Maybe I should get some now that we’re at war and everything. It may not thrill my parents when they find out, but… I doubt they expected us to be in this sort of situation in the first place.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit. You… you probably kept your sister going on that mission. I… it is probably not my place to talk about your relationship with one another, but one brother to another… we have to be there for our sisters. If we don’t protect them, then who will when they need it? That is probably the biggest power you could ever have.” He told to Mikhail as honestly as he could make possible, crossing his arms.

“So I’m our field staff morale officer?” Mikhail scratched his head. “That’s nice, but I still need to be able to do more than that. I doubt I’m cut out to be an actual officer, though… that seems more of a Wiewora or Walker thing. It’s in the w’s.”

“Well… it might be a bit entitled of me but… would you like me to help train you too? I am not a rocketeer, but I probably have a few things that you could pick up that may help you. As for your actual rocketeer abilities, I am sure some of the more seasoned officers here might be able to give you personal training.”

Mikhail sighed. “Lyudi strannyye… I’m a Heavy, Cayden. Just because my father was a rocketeer…”

Cayden raised an eyebrow. “Yet you steal his catchphrase?” Cayden chuckled and shook his head. “Sorry, just assumed. I didn’t know you went with Heavy training. I went Paratrooper considering my Rangers history.”

“I prefer to work with a SAW, though… I see why my father disliked the heavier weapons.” Mikhail tapped his foot. “Hard to build muscle with a high metabolism, and something like that isn’t a medical issue Exalt has really got around to resolving. I’m not sure they even could, anyway.”

“Well… perhaps gene mods would be a good route. I mean look at Brigid, she is no different than you or me in terms of everyday life but when she gets in a ring.” He tilted his head and sighed. “Maybe you should just come out and ask them. Might be good to talk to them period. Helps me when I need it, and it might work for you too. Just something to consider.” Cayden shrugged his shoulders.

Mikhail nodded. “I’ll definitely consider it, at the very least.”

“Alright, that’s good.” Cayden took a deep breath and stood up, stretching his back. “Hey Mikhail… we are good friends, right?”

“I assume so...why?” Mikhail asked with a combo of trepidation and curiosity.

Cayden looked up and he thought for a moment, “Why don’t me and you grab a beer sometime, just to hang out. Seems like forever since we have actually done just that. Might be nice to just relax and try to forget this war that has been forced on us and our troubles. We aren’t kids anymore… but we should still find time to enjoy ourselves.”

Mikhail shrugged. “Just as long as you don’t think your resistance to alcohol is any match for a Russian’s constitution.”

“If that is a challenge then it is accepted.” Cayden smirked and proceeded to walk to the bathroom. “Anyways, I need a shower. Afterwards we can have a battle that will make even O’Brien’s Irish blood boil.”

***​

Floor 8: Psionic Labs

Vindicta clasped her hands together. "I imagine you're referring to your Reflection, naturally."

Sasha held her arm nervously. "Yeah... I want to be able to control it, if at all possible."

Vindicta's expression grew serious. "Well, I have to be honest with you. The only reason your guardian was strong enough to manifest is because you were experiencing immense stress and emotional trauma. We can try to call it forth with just the aurora armor, perhaps by redirecting the power from the shields, but..."

"Then let's try that," Sasha pressed anxiously, prompting Vindicta to lead her into the supply room where the backup psi armor was kept. Vindicta helped Sasha apply the armor, and then led her into the testing room. "Try to focus your emotions... Convince yourself we are in danger and that you need to call forward your guardian angel."

Sasha nodded hesitantly, closing her eyes and clenching her fists. Try as she might to conjure up a fight-or-flight response, not a single thing happened, the room devoid of any psionic activity. "Nothing..."

Vindicta shrugged. "That isn't entirely unexpected. A real psychological response is hard to simulate. Though you need to strengthen your will so you can bring out that "Angel" of yours without lasting trauma." Vindicta's features softened. "My condolences on... What you seem to be going through, for what they're worth."

Sasha seemed surprised at the Exalt's gentleness, and smiled tiredly. "Thank you, Dr. Exalt."

The scientist waved her hand. "Please, call me Vindicta. There are too many Exalts aboard this ship for that formal crap."

"Alright, Vindicta."

"Yes, yes, parrot me," Vindicta responded with light sarcasm. "Now do as monkey says, not say as she says. Sit over on the bench over there."

The support glanced to where Vindicta was pointing. "I don't see a..."

The female Exalt clicked a button on her wristpad, and a bench unfolded from the wall. "Modern technology."

"Right..." Sasha complied, sitting down with a mildly impressed expression. "Was the room this user-friendly when you came here?"

Vindicta walked over and began helping Sasha out of the upper half of her armor, making the latter redden a bit, being undressed (even if it was just an outer layer) being a lot more awkward than the inverse. "No, I modeled it to be more befitting of a testing room. It still isn't up to the standards of EE's headquarters though."

"W-What are you... um... doing, exactly?" Sasha dared to ask.

Vindicta finished removing the upper portion of the armor. "Not stripping you if that's what you think. Though to be honest, your boobs have a propensity to bounce a bit when one pulls an article of clothing above them."

Sasha covered her chest with her arms even though she was still wearing a shirt. "V-Vindicta!" She exclaimed.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it." Vindicta grinned mischievously, and then called out to one of her assistants. "Get the chitin plating, please."

"Y-you're just joking right?" Sasha asked. "You're not... making fun of me?"

Vindicta looked hurt for a moment. "Of course not. It was a complement on your voluptuous chest."

"I-I'm straight you know..."

"Oh, I'm very aware, Ms. Sasha "Eastern Roman Catholic-Orthodox" Dragomirov."

"That's not the reason I..."

Vindicta chuckled. "I know... my apologies if I come off as mean. One too many times with Sora as a babysitter."

Sasha smiled with her cheeks still a slight shade of pink. "I-I know... I kind of wonder if I'm stupid to cling to my beliefs though when not everyone does and nothing seems to go right even when I believe..."

Vindicta leaned down, giving Sasha a serious look. "Well, the peer pressure excuse isn't valid. You won't find the Vatican, or pretty much the vast majority of South America, changing religiously anytime soon. And on your father's end, plenty of Russians stuck with it even during the era of communism when being a Christian was flat out illegal. And God isn't a genie."

Sasha seemed a bit taken aback. "You seem to... Know your stuff."

"I do my homework. I can't say I believe in the infallibility of the church or a dusty book, but I'm not blind to the fact that things like psionics that defy conventional science are just random. Nor am I blind to the fact that the universe is rather intelligently ordered."

"I didn't figure you as the religious type."

"Not obnoxiously so," Vindicta affirmed. "but don't throw me under the "science and faith don't mix" bus. I'd like to think people in this day and age are more tolerant than that."

Vindicta's assistant returned. "If you are done debating philosophy, Vindicta, I have the chitin plating," she announced, offering her restored superior the armor vest wound from synthesized carapace.

Vindicta took it with a grateful nod, and helped Sasha put it on, then reapplying the top half of the aurora armor including the helmet. "Let's try something else now," she said as Sasha got up again. "You brought the other item I would need, right?"

The assistant handed a ballistic pistol to Vindicta, and as Sasha's eyes widened she shot it at the support's chestplate. There was a flash of orange, and a hand tried to form to block the bullet, but it passed through, clattering against Sasha's torso harmlessly. "W-what was that?" Sasha asked frantically.

"A test," Vindicta replied calmly.

"Y-You're crazy! That didn't do anything!"

"Didn't it?" Vindicta smiled. "Look at your barely-dented chestplate and ask yourself if medium armor is immune to conventional weapons fire."

"Y-You're saying the 'angel' actually protected me?"

"To the best of its ability. Strengthen your will and you might be able to harness some of its power. We can work on a solution to the emotional question as we go. So much for Him not providing you some sort of help."

Sasha calmed down, smiling slightly. "Let me amend my statement then... You're crazy in a good way."

Vindicta bowed. "I gladly accept that compliment. Now... Think of an actual name for it, please. Perhaps a saint or something. I won't forgive you if you make your Reflection the third thing in the XSDF called a seraph."

 

[Dahlexpert]

High Orbit over Forseti (March 23rd, 2044)
The Einherjar
Barracks

Noire and Cassia were in their room. Cassia was looking over her gauntlet trying to figure out ways to upgrade it. Noire just looked at Cassia.

"Cass, I need to say this. I’m getting sick and tired of you borrowing my underwear."

"Well tough, I recall you saying that I need to be civilized."

"Well, borrowing one's underwear, and it being the same pair over and over again... That’s nasty, so since we can go off the ship we're going to the planet and going shopping. "

"Ugh." Cassia grew irritated, angry about going shopping, the two getting on a shuttle nevertheless and went to the planet's capital.

"Wow this is amazing, I never would have imagine that the colony would improve this much." Noire is awestruck by being on a different planet. Unlike Novum she wasn't having bullets shot at her.

Cassia breathed the air of the new planet. "Sigh, that air's cleaner than Progressus, that’s for sure. But as much of a cesspit Progressus is, it's home."

Noire grabbed Cassia arm and brought her to what looked like a clothing store. "Come on, Cassia. First things first you need underwear."

"Can I at least get some money first?" Cassia went to the closest thing to an ATM machine. "Sig,h no matter were in the galaxy, money finds a way to be transformed," Cassia said.

"Cass how much money do you have? I mea,n it’s like you have an infinite amount..."

"Don’t you worry about that Noire. Beside,s it’s best you don’t know how you got the money."

"Yeah your probably right." Noire and Cassia went into the store. Noire dragged Cassia into the underwear section. "Ou these look cute. Cass what do you think?"

"I think I want to shoot myself."

"Oh come on it’s not that bad." Noire gave Cassia a bunch of underwear to try on. "So Cassia how are they?"

Cassia grabbed Noire and brought her into the changing room, and showed her the black underwear Noire gave to her. "This feels alright. I mean it feels comfortable..."

"Great I have plenty more for you to try." Noire granted Cassia a pair of jeans, and had Cassia try on a bunch of clothes. One in particular gave Cassia the space cowboy look, which Noire laughed at.

"Hay laugh all you want, but I’m keeping this."

"Fine, I have a few more ideas for you." Noire seeming having fun with this gives Cassia a variety of clothes, one being a leather jacket and jeans, another being a duster and cowboy hat. "Aww you look so cute Cass."

"Yeah, yeah. Are we nearly done here?"

"Stop rushing things. We still need to stock on underwear."

After a few hours, Noire and Cassia finally left the store.

"Great, now you finally have some decent pair of close and underwear which means you no longer have to wear my stuff anymore. "

"But your underwear is so comfortable; it makes us act like lovers."

"You’re not funny." Noire thought for a moment and decided to ask Cassia a question. "Hay Cassia, can I ask you something?"

"Sure what is it Noire?"

"Are you gay? Because you seem to only tease women, and you seemed to like me bathing you. I mean you started moaning once I start cleaning your legs."

Cassia thought for a moment as well. "Yeah, does it matter what my sexual preference is?"

"No it’s just... I don’t know. You never mention it."

"That’s because it’s no one’s business if I’m gay or not. Besides its best people don’t know anyway."

"Don’t worry Cass I won’t tell anyone."

After walking for a while Noire decides to ask Cassia another question. "Soooo Cassia, why are you a bounty hunter?"

"Isn’t obvious, I can’t stop criminals' drug deals and so on by being a police officer or a soldier. Too many regulations and stuff telling me why I can’t do that. As bounty hunter I can do whatever I want how I want within the legal limit."

"I understand that, but I don’t get you Cassia. I haven’t met many bounty hunters but you seem to have a conscience. Unlike most bounty hunters you seem to do it to help people. Why is that?"

"Because people messing with the weak or people that can’t defend themselves are pathetic. And I can’t stand the government saying the middle class and below fend for themselves and we protect the rich, that’s also why I hate society."

"Well that does explain why your antisocial, but that does make sense. I mean Brigid and me were wondering why you're with the XSDF."

"You met Brigid?"

"Yeah, it happened when you were in prison she’s a very nice person I can see why you love her."

Cassia looked at Noire. "I don’t love Brigid Noire."

"Sure you do, I mean the way you talk about her. And how you act more friendly to her and no one else says you have some feelings for her."

"Yea I do have feelings for Brigid but I don’t love her. I used to but it took time and a lot of drinking to get over it."

Noire looks at Cassia for awhile. "So... you don’t love Brigid."

"Can we get off the subject!" Cassia yelled.

Noire regarded Cassia's expression and decided to take her out to lunch to calm her down.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

MarineAvenger & ZombieSplitter53
Idol Worship: Part One

Forseti Surface, North Market
Near the XSDF Elerium Research Center
March 23rd, 1300 Hours

Bɒkɒ slowly examined the motherboard, carefully looking for any signs of wear. "And you... say this comes from a current generation Humiliata Fighter."

"Oh, yes," the Shinso saleswoman said, nodding her head. "It was not easy to come by, either. Hence the... high price."

"Indeed." The Baʒir engineer offered it to his partner for the day. "What do you think?"

Nick took the piece in his hands and pressed a button on his wrist computer, a small little drone floating up from the port on his wrist. The drone carefully scanned it and the readouts came directly to Nick's brain. "Sorry, but this isn't current gen. It's hard to say if it is Humiliata but judging from the components, if it did come from a current ship, they were using old hardware." He handed it back to Bɒkɒ.

Bɒkɒ placed back on the counter while the vendor have them a sheepish smile. She hit a button on the side of the counter, setting off a buzzer in the back, and asked, "Are... are you entirely sure, young one. I... I have it on good authority that..."

"Well... my chances of being right are 99.82% so there is still that .18% but even then I know my stuff." Nick returned Buzzer to his port on his arm and looked down, making sure the drone was deactivated before moving on. "I don't blame you for not knowing... it really is hard to tell the differences between a last gen and current gen motherboard."

"Th... thank you for your understanding." A young male Cartus stepped out from the back, and the Shinso raised a finger. "Excuse me for one moment." Walking over to the Cartus, she barely contained her anger, yelling, "Benta pie dagada no! You find out where that patga Borobis is, and you tell him he either gives me 7000 credits, or I KILL HIM!"

Nick glanced over to Bɒkɒ -who was currently on his shoulder- and he smiled a bit awkwardly. "Gotta hate bad business deals, though I think me and you make a pretty good team little guy."

"I-I... agree. I am sorry if I am... less then useful when it comes to defending us." Bɒkɒ slowly climbed down. "I am grateful you know how to... handle these situations. I... do not have good luck when it comes to the Shinso."

"Trust me, I am not really that good at defending myself either when I am usually alone, besides, I am grateful to have you too... I'm not really good with getting a good price, I am usually too trusting." Nick smiled as he shivered from the tickling of Bɒkɒ climbing down.

The Shinso vendor returned, bowing her head. "So... how do we make this... work."

Bɒkɒ thought for a moment, pulling out his computer pad. "We could... still use this, but not at that price. Perhaps if you were to include a batch of Trilidium ore."

The vendor's smile wavered ever so much. "H... how much are we talking?"

Nick reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded up piece of yellow pad paper. "Uh... this much should really be how much we need." He handed the paper over to the Shinso.

Her eyes widened as she looked at the sheet, snarling a bit. "Are you mad!? That is all that we have. I could never..."

"A-actually, mistress..." The Cartus timidly look over her shoulder. "We... we could not full that. The Trilidium we have is on reserve for Mr. Borobis. I will be here tomorrow... to..."

A large grin spread across the Shinso's face, and she leaned forward, grinning at Nick. "As I said, I apologize for this mistake. You have a deal, and please accept some hydroponic capsules..."

She looked back at Cartus, and he scanned the ledger. "Um... we have three, but Mr. Borobis..."

"...three capsules if you promise not to mention this to anyone." The vendor extended her hand, claws retracted.

Nick blinked in complete surprise, not expecting the situation to turn around but he still reached out and shook the Shinso hand. "Thanks... this... this really helps out."

The Cartus typed in the order with Nick while Bɒkɒ and the Shinso handled the payment. He smiled at Nick, saying, "You got an excellent deal... but the mistress might have got a bit... carried away. Just... if you come across a rather heavy set Shinso named Borobis... you were never here."

"Of course. We won't be planet side much longer, so don't worry about anything." Nick smiled as he finished up the business and he scratched his head. "Thanks for being so helpful by the way... I hope you guys have a nice day." The teen said as he collected his partner. "Ready to go, Bɒkɒ?"

"I am." Bɒkɒ bowed his head to the vendor and walked out with Nick. "Alright." He looked at his pad. "That leaves the Elerium. I... I am afraid I will need your assistance on this one as well, sir. I am... not very good at judging the material."

"Don't worry about it little buddy. I do have a lot of knowledge about what correct materials are best, but I still rely on Buzzer to help me make sure. Better to have a second option than to second guess." He stated, the drone popping off and flying around at his command.

Bɒkɒ stared up at Buzzer as they walked. "It is quite the interesting device. Did you make it yourself, sir?"

"Yeah... it was really hard considering how small I made it, but it really turned out great. I use him the most. He helps me look at places someone normally wouldn't, can tell me thinks I would normally miss, and he acts as my personal security camera." He listed off, a proud look dawning the engineer's face.

"Very nice. I can imagine how useful that could be. Could I... see his plans some day." Bɒkɒ blinked several times and added, "U-unless it is... confidential of course. I wouldn't want to impose, sir."

"N-No... it is nothing like that Bɒkɒ, I promise." Nick chuckled and he shook his head. "The plans aren't confidential or anything like that, I just don't have them with me, they are back home. When I get the chance though, I would be more than happy to let you have a look."

"That is very kind of you. Thank you, sir." Bɒkɒ gave Nick a Baʒir's version of a smile as they stepped into the well lit facility.

Nick looked around, a little taken aback by the look of the facility, still fascinated by the things he was seeing on his experience in the XSDF. "Things were always drab and mono color back home. Green, orange and brown gets boring after a couple of years." He thought out loud as he followed the directions to the store front to place his order.

"The XSDF tries to give a healthy environment for their employees to work in," Bɒkɒ responded, opening his carapace and hovering up to hit the bell on the counter.

A very bored looking attendant walked up, looking between the teenage boy and the bug man. "Can I... help you with something?"

"Yeah..." Nick took out a second sheet of paper, unfolding it and holding it out to the man. "We need this grade of Elerium in that quantity today. Can you do it?"

The attendant took the sheet and looked it over. With a confused look, he turned to his computer and typed for a bit. Give Nick a disbelieving look, he asked, "You two... are the representatives for the Einherjar?"

"Yeah, what of it?" Nick asked, crossing his arms.

The man rose an eyebrow, but simply shrugged. "Whatever. I'm not paid enough to question the higher ups." He grabbed a sign in form and slid it in front of Nick. "I'll be right back with the stuff."

As he walked away, Bɒkɒ asked, "Do you think he dislikes Baʒir or something?"

"No, I just think he doesn't care enough. Besides, we aren't the most conventional group of friends for a military organization, are we?" He asked with a light smile.

Bɒkɒ smiled back. "I suppose not, sir."

The attendant returned with a bit of paper work. "Your request is from a grade we don't have a lot of. Like a medical prescription I can't sell over the counter. You'll have to get a doctor's note first." He handed Nick the forms and pointed down the hall to the left. "Research lab D. Down the hall, first left, second right, door at the end. The doctor will see you there."

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

MarineAvenger & ZombieSplitter53
Idol Worship: Part Two

"Alright, thanks for the assistance." Nick told the man, walking slowly as to let his companion keep up, the directions sticking in his mind. "Alright..." Nick said as he reached the first turn. "So... left." He continued on. "Then the second right..." He turned right. "And then... and then..." The engineer looked at all the doors down the hall. "Uh... which... door was it again, Bɒkɒ?"

Bɒkɒ looked at the door labels, pointing to one. "I believe her said lab D, sir."

"Right... thanks buddy." Nick walked over and knocked on the door to Lab D, opening the door. "Hello?"

A loud crash came from the other side of the door, followed but a slight groan. "J-just a minute!" called out a woman. "Damn it... where the h... come in!"

Nick looked over at his Baʒir friend and took a deep breath, opening the door and entering inside. "HI... uh... we are here to get the Elerium we need."

The woman pushed herself out from under an ancient looking engine, with the appearance that it belong in a sixty year old auto mobile. A few pieces of it were scattered nearby. The woman herself was dressed in a modest pair of overalls, one with a delicate, attractive frame. She had a cute face, or at least very likely did under the grease and grime on it. Her hair was stuff into a cap that read "Cross Tech" on the front. "You're... you're the two from the XSDF?" she asked, climbing to her feet.

"Yeah, we are." Nick looked around the lab and he was amazed. "This place is really awesome."

"Thanks! I haven't been here for long, but I told them if they wanted me on loan from Cross Tech, I need to have the best to work with." The woman pulled off a glove, wiped her hand off, and extended to Nick. "Call me Sonya."

"Huh... that is a nice name. It is a really pretty one too, but I don't know a lot of people who have it. I only know one other person with the name." Nick shook his head, getting on a tangent. "Anyways, I'm Nick, and this my companion, Bɒkɒ. We are both engineers for the XSDF on the Einherjar."

Sonya shook Bɒkɒ's hand, smiling. "I'm happy to meet you two. I have that special order Elerium for you, straight from the mines." She walked to the back of the room, bring a large case to the front, as well a jar containing a sample. "This is the good stuff, too. The XSDF might have helped build the colony, but they still have to pay. Just need you to verify the quality."

"Easy..." Nick looked up at the small ball floating in the air, Buzzer floating over to the jar, beginning a scan of the substance. After a minute, Nick smiled. "It's perfect, just what we needed."

"Ooo!" Sonya rushed forward, reaching out for B uzzer, seemingly having to stop herself from snatching the drone out of the air. "Such a wonderful little device! May I have one?"

Nick blushed and looked over to Bɒkɒ. "First Volupta wants Glitch... then you want a Buzzer and now she does... I should start selling these things for a nickel at this rate..." He whispered to his companion, looking at Sonya and scratching his cheek. "Unfortunately not... I don't have his plans with me currently and he sort of requires something special to operate."

"Something... special?" Sonya's grin widened. "I know who you are. You're Mr. Cauthon, aren't you? The XSDF's next top engineering prodigy?"

"Well... I don't really think of myself as a prodigy..." He said a little embarrassed. "But yeah, I am Nick Cauthon."

Sonya gabbed his hand, shaking it more vigorously then before. "I have heard a lot about you. I've been keeping an eye on the engineers on the Einherjar." She winked at Bɒkɒ. "That includes you, bug boy."

Bɒkɒ blinked. "Really?"

"Of course! The first official member of the engineering crew from any race deserves attention. And you, Nick. Do be at your level at your age! Just don't let it go to your head, alright?"

"U-Uh..." Nick blinked in surprise and he found himself blushing. "W-Well... thanks, but... how exactly have you heard of me?"

"I have a friend working on board. Haven't talked to her in a while. Do you mind if I see... your, uh..." Sonya pointed to the back of her head.

Nick's eyes widened a bit and he bit his lip, shaking his head and turning around. "S-Sure... go ahead."

Sonya looked over his implants, her eyes lighting up. "External links. Sure beats needing brain surgery every time something goes wrong. And... she said you did most of the hard stuff by yourself? And years ago. Even I would have had problems with that."

"She? Your friend, right? Who is she?" Nick asked with a little curiosity.

"Her name is Alice Fischer," she answered. "Last I heard, you two worked together. She speaks very highly of you. I hope you are as nice a person as she claims."

"W-Wait... you know Alice?" Nick's eyes widened and he quickly spun around, taking a step back. "W-What... what is... your last name...?" Nick took a big gulp.

Sonya took off her hat, her silver hair falling to her shoulders. "Randolf. But you can just call me Sonya. Or Sunny, if you prefer."

Nick's jaw dropped and he nearly stumbled onto the floor, stepping back as if he was standing before a god. "O-Oh my... I... Uh... I'm... oh geez... I-I-I..." Nick's back hit the wall. "Oh mijn god het is Sunny Randolph... Ik kan het niet geloven... ze is eigenlijk... wat moet ik... uh... wat moet ik doen!?" He whispered.

"I-I'm sorry? Was that Dutch?" Sunny looked at Bɒkɒ for answers.

"I... am not sure." Bɒkɒ rushed to his side. "Are you okay, sir? Your implants are not malfunctioning, are they?"

Nick covered his mouth quickly and his face turned a deep red. "Not again... that's the second time I've done that this week." He mumbled. "I-I'm fine... just... it's..." He felt a little light headed.

Sunny rushed over herself. "I-it's okay, Nick. Just... tell me what I can do to help?"

Nick shivered with anticipation. "G-Geez... I am acting like a bigger fool than when I met Alice..." Nick's face burned up more but unfortunately couldn't step back any further from Alice.

"Oh dear." Sunny suppressed a smile. "Alice did say you were a fan. Perhaps it would have been better if I fully introduced myself from the start. Are you going to be okay?"

"Ask me in an hour..." Nick said in a near silent tone. "This is... this is so surreal... you don't understand just how much I love you."

Sunny's eyes widened a bit, not being able to hold back the smile now. "I, heh... I think you might be coming on a bit strong there, friend. But I'm flattered."

"What!? No.. not love... I mean... I don't... not in that way... I mean I would if... uh..." Nick covered his face with both hands.

"You mean admire me, right?" Sunny leaned down next to him. "Because we're the same in so many ways?"

"Yeah..." He said in a high pitched tone, shaking his head in complete embarrassment. "I owe my whole life to you..."

"How so?" Sunny rubbed the back of her neck. "I mean... we never met before today."

"Well... I've reviewed almost every file of yours I could... from your SHIV designs, to your A.I. notes on Alice, to even your more obscure projects... you... you made me an engineer. I created an A.I. of my own with the help of your notes, and he... he is basically my second half..."

Nick looked up at Sunny. "I believe this A.I. of his has watched his back in more then one critical situations. And so, you have saved him vicariously."

"Really?" Sunny smiled big, clapping her hands together. "That is wonderful. I always hoped I could help people. It is not easy to believe I did, what with all the weapons I have helped build."

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

MarineAvenger & ZombieSplitter53
Idol Worship: Part Three

"Well... you did build Alice, and she has by far been the best thing you made while not a weapon. I... I probably wouldn't even be out of the workshop without her majority of support, and she has taught me a whole lot I wouldn't have learned back home... she is... she is my best friend..." He told Sunny honestly.

"Is that so." Sunny placed a hand to her chest, letting out a sigh of relief. "You don't know how happy that makes me. I... I've been so worried about her."

Nick nodded. "Yeah... funnily enough... we are so close her cover revolves around us being family... sorry if that... sort of weird you out but she is doing her best to appear human..."

"She's always wanted that. I'm glad to find someone that can help her with it." Sunny thought for a moment. "A family, huh? Does that... include her younger body at all. Because I detected a signal coming from it."

Nick chuckled. "Y-Yeah... we named her Hestia. She is basically... well... the 'younger sister'. She has grown too... at least the simple A.I. she was installed with has expanded a bit, though she still needs a lot of help so she doesn't blow her or Alice's cover."

"I see." Sunny rubbed her chin in thought. "That body wasn't meant to develop its own A.I. like that. Interesting. Is she still acting on her basic programming, or has she developed her on sentience?"

"Well... she still accepts commands and the stuff like that but... she seems to have her own opinions... aside from what is programmed into her."

"I see." Sunny nodded. "That should be an interesting experiment." She smile faded a bit. "How... how is Alice doing? We haven't... spoken in a while."

"She... she is worried about keeping her identity, and feels out of place sometimes but she is... she is so bright, she is such a hard worker... I look up to her a lot..." He explained, almost a little star struck when he said it, as if he was in love.

Sunny's smile widened again. "You... really like her, huh? It's good to hear she has such a great friend... and admirer."

Nick chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Well... there isn't anything not to like about her." He looked Sunny up and down, his smile seeming to fade a bit but something else taking it's place. "But you... you are just... you blew my expectations out of the water."

Sunny looked down at herself, blushing a bit. "Oh... w-well, thank you, Nick. That's... very nice of you." Nick blushed himself, looking away and rubbing his hand hard in nervousness. Sunny giggled. "Well, you've exceeded mine as well. I was afraid you might be someone that might be taking advantage of Alice, but you... you're just as charming as she claimed in you messages. Can you... promise me that you'll watch her back? You know... just in case."

"You don't need to ask. We are already doing that. She watches mine, I watch hers, and Hestia gets the wrong idea and messes it all up." He stated with a big smile.

Sunny's smiled dipped again, and she shook her head. "Actually... I do need to asked. There is something I need to tell you, Nick."

Nick's smile slowly disappeared. "What is it, Sunny?"

Sunny cleared her throat. She looked between Nick and Bɒkɒ. "I can trust you two, right?"

Bɒkɒ nodded. "I have been told I am quite trustworthy."

"Of course you can trust me... I have no reason to betray you." Nick assured her.

"It isn't me I'm worried about." Sunny rubbed her hands nervously. "There are... a couple reasons why I'm on Forseti right now. One of them is for Alice. I'd like to see her again, but right now I'm more worried about protecting her. I picked up a rumor that she crossed some bad people years ago, and those people are looking for her. I... I'm afraid they might already be on the Einherjar."

Nick's eyes widened. "Wait, what!?" He walked forward with a worried look. "Who? How did she cross them?"

"I... I don't know." Sunny leaned against the engine she had been working on. "I'd ask Alice herself, but any contact with her risks alerting the people after her that I'm on to them. That's the last thing she needs now. Can't have them getting nervous and hurting her."

"W-Well... that's... that's crazy!" He pressed. "W-What if... what if I acted like a middle man! I could... send messages to Alice, or ou could send your messages to me! You could... you could even visit and Alice could jump into Hestia's body! There are no cameras in my workshop except my own!" He rattled off, trying to think of ideas.

Sunny thought. "I... could work with a few of those ideas. Once I finish gathering the information I have. I know I can trust the two of you, but that's about it. In the meantime, I want you to keep an eye on Alice. Or, more importantly, keep an eye on anyone acting odd around her. I know it's a lot of pressure to put on you, but I don't know who else I can trust."

"No, it's fine, you can count on us, right little buddy?" He asked the Baʒir. .

Bɒkɒ nodded. "What can I do help?"

"You and your kin have eyes and ears all over the ship. Listen for anyone suspicious. Remember, this will help the ship as a whole out too. Whoever it is doesn't care about the XSDF." Sunny closed her eyes for a moment, then looked at Nick again. "And... if you can try and find out who these people are through Alice. Don't let on that they might be there. You'll need to be... subtle."

"Alright... I mean, we sleep with each other a lot, and she has alluded to a past so she might be willing to diverge that..." He explained to Sunny.

"You... you sleep with Alice?" Sunny blushed a bit, turning away. "Well, I... I'm glad she found someone to have an... intimate relationship with her. I should have guessed by the way you spoke of her."

Nick blushed. "What, no! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" He shook both his hands and his head. "Not... not sleep like that... even though I..." Nick shook his head. I can't think of Alice like that, stop brain!

"Even though you... what?" Sunny kept her back turned, hiding her big grin. "Come on. Out with it."

"W-Well... me and Alice are... a bit open... with... each other..." He told Sunny in a progressively lower tone with each word.

"Oh... I see." Sunny twirled around, all smiles. "Well, I'm sure, with time, you'll reach that level. Good to hear you're so... ahem, 'open'."

"Y-Y-You... you... it isn't... we are... it isn't that sort of relationship... we are... just friends... that's it..." Nick hid his face in his hands again.

Sunny laughed, falling on her rare and holding her sides. "Oh... oh man... I'm sorry Nick. I knew a woman way back when. People would do this all the time. I guess I know why now."

Nick growled and he crossed his arms, looking away. "W-Well... you are a pretty woman too... I could be equally attracted to you as well..."

Sunny blinked rapidly, but only shook her head. "Sorry, Nick. I'm a little old for you. And besides... kinda married to my job, if you know what I mean."

Bɒkɒ tapped Nick on the on the arm. "I believe we should head back, sir. I believe they are waiting for us to bring the Elerium."

"Y-Yeah... that would be best." He glanced at Sunny with both ruefulness and amusement. "T-Thanks for this Sunny... this has really been a dream came true... especially with my birthday so close..."

Sunny knelt down in front of the teenage engineer. "Then I'll be sure to send you something. And we'll meet again. I promise."

"Alright, I look forward to it. Alice said you did send her some stuff for me to look over so I will once I get my increasing workload done. Gotta prove myself somehow..." He said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"You already have, Nick." Sunny stood back up, bowing her head slightly. "Until next we meet. You too, bug guy."

Bɒkɒ nodded. "This was an interesting human interaction to watch."

"Sh-Shut up, Bɒkɒ..." Nick said, crossing his arms.

 

[Adrammalech]

| MEETING A NEW ALLY
| Tabitha Le’talla / Vindicta Exalt (DarkGemini24601) feat. Mark Exalt (MarineAvenger)
| Einherjar – Psionic Labs
| Ailey, Forseti
| March 23rd, 2044 – 1:15 PM

Mark walked beside his girlfriend, Tabitha, holding her hand as he guided her through the halls along to the psi labs. “Look… you really don’t have to do this if you don’t want…”

“I do,” Tabitha nodded, holding her tail nervously. “If we’re going to be in a relationship, it should be pure, and this is the way to do that.”

He looked at her for a few moments, nodding his head, and looking straight forward. “Okay… but just remember you can stop if you don’t want to go on anymore, but hopefully she doesn’t do anything crazy…” He smiled a little, and he shook his head. “It shouldn’t be too bad… just get it over with and we can continue unabated.”

“What crazy things could she do?” Tabitha asked, brushing a sky blue hair out of her eyes. “It should only help, realistically...right?”

“Yeah, but I question my sister sometimes.” He shook his head and chuckled. “But it isn’t my field so I won’t answer what exactly will go on.” As they reached the door to the psi labs, Mark stopped and turned around. “Here we are… just get it done and we can go get lunch later, alright?”

“Sounds good,” she smiled a little. As they reached the door, Tabitha looked around a bit, turning back towards him. “You know, we could probably kiss in the open now. You know, if you wanted…”

He smiled lightly and walked over to Tabitha and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “Good luck, I will be waiting back at the room for you to get back.”

Tabitha smiled much brighter. “Thanks. See you soon, I hope.”

The Tamearin gave a sharp exhale and opened the door, carefully entering the psionic labs.

Within, the newly-restored mogul of the psionic division was looking over a completed psionic machine gun with admiration. I guess you weren’t so useless after all, Geritel… Glancing up and noticing Tabitha, her expression only brightened further. “Ms. Le’talla! It’s nice to finally meet you,” she called out, laying down some panels of dark violet metal plating for the psi weapon and walking over.

Tabitha looked around warily, at the gun and its creator. “T-thank you. I’m here because M-...for Mark.” She looked away for a moment, seeming to mumble something else.

Vindicta raised an eyebrow, but rather than press at the current moment, she continued, “I’d like to see your abilities in action, as well as perhaps get a chance to study an example of psionic Tamearin genetic makeup.” The scientist frowned. “I understand the field of genetics is a sore subject for your people, however, so it’s purely consensual. I can always try with Devolina if you don’t want any part of that half.”.

“Is it…” Tabitha cleared her throat loudly, “is it intrusive, this ‘study?’”

Vindicta shook her head. “Not at all. I would just use a device the Gene Labs created that sends a Tz6-borne agent to clone some target cells. It would pass through your bloodstream, but you’d neither feel it nor take away any temporary or lasting effects.”

“Isn’t that...the thing the Humiliata made? You want to put it in my b-blood?” Tabitha asked shakily, paling a bit.

“As I said, it has no lasting effect. It’s no different than getting a vaccination…” Vindicta paused. “Do your people… do that, even?”

“Yes, of course, health is important to us.” Tabitha nodded, and let out a heavy breath. “I-I can do it.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to make you do something that you’ll regret.” Vindicta stepped back, sitting on the edge of the table. “As much as I’d like to have more than one sample, if I only end up getting one from the other Tamearin that might be willing to volunteer for this, so be it.”

“It’ll just pass through and go away, right?” Tabitha asked, “I can handle that, I can do that.”

“Indeed.” The Exalt reached to the side, grabbing a small handheld device with a round nozzle at the end of it, and got up again, returning to Tabitha. “Just pull up your sleeve for a moment, and I can have this done in a minute flat.”

Tabitha stepped a little closer and began rolling up the sleeve on her right arm, exposing the red-purple skin underneath. She looked away and tried to look neutral until it was over with.

Vindicta pressed the nozzle against the exposed skin, and a slight pneumatic sigh denoted the release of the Tz6-borne agent. She waited for sixty seconds, the light on the side of her device red to indicate the process wasn’t yet complete, but at the end of that period of waiting it flared green again, and Vindicta withdrew the DNA collector. “There, all done.”

“That wasn’t so bad,” Tabitha said sheepishly, running a hand over the spot repeatedly. “The information will help people, right?”

“It will help the medical staff treat any injuries or sicknesses the Tamearin staff might have, and it’d also help you in particular. By understanding similarities and differences between our species’ neural networks and yours, I’ll be able to better teach you.” Vindicta smiled. “That said, don’t think I won’t be able to help out without looking over that data first. Your file said you had… ESP and minor Cryokinesis in your ‘blue’ mood, correct?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Tabitha nodded. “I don’t know how ‘minor’ the latter is, I’ve never tried to use it on much more than ice cubes.”

“Let’s bring an end to that then, shall we?” Vindicta lead her to the testing room, opening the door with a pin code. “Have you tried creating ice on your own, or have you only frozen existing liquids?”

“I’ve frosted things, but never anything that big or that isolated.”

“Well, we can start there, then.” Vindicta sauntered into the room, and turned around to face Tabitha. “Cryokinesis is usually one of those abilities that benefits from being calm. Be as cool as the ice is, and will yourself to summon it forth. The law of conservation of mass has no sway on you as long as you don’t let it.”

“Just create something? Like...a snowflake, or an ice slick, or what?” Tabitha asked, shrugging.

“Try different shapes. A sphere, a cube, a pyramid… whatever strikes your fancy,” Vindicta prompted. “If you have trouble with the three dimensional, try with two dimensions at first.”

Tabitha held out her palm and closed her eyes, focusing on creation and nothing else. Five blasts of white wind shot out from behind her and connected just above her palm, forming a vague stick figure-like form, but primarily being a simplistic wisp of energy. It pulsated and writhed in place, forming a small, sheer sphere of ice in front of it.

Vindicta leaned forward curiously. “That’s…” She rubbed her chin in thought. “I didn’t realize you had a Reflection, Tabitha… curious...”

“A what?” Tabitha asked, opening an eye to peek out at her creation. “This is what it always looks like, just...with a sphere instead.”

“It’s a manifestation of your psyche… because it’s often a part of a person that they don’t typically acknowledge, but since it is like looking into a mirror, they were dubbed Reflections. They act as guardians, and often have abilities that a psion couldn’t usually reach on their own,” Vindicta explained. “I have two, though… admittedly my ‘White Bishop’ is less developed than my ‘Black Bishop.’ Mainly because I need to stop slacking off…” she mumbled to herself, ruining her air of wisdom and mystique that she had almost pulled off.

“So...should I order it around instead of trying to do it myself? How would this work…” she began running over and testing ideas in her head, and the wisp in her palm responded, causing the sphere to expand into a cube, and then cutting down into a sharp pyramid.

Vindicta smirked. “Not bad. It seems to be starting off simple, so you’ll be able to control it more easily than my cousin has. As your guardian it will obey your will, but it will also act to protect you on its own if it is present on the battlefield. A valuable extension of your abilities and a loyal protector, that is another way to define a Reflection.”

“So...it’s like a person? Should I...give it a name, or something?”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

| MEETING A NEW ALLY: PART TWO

“I’ve yet to observe a Reflection that’s actually sentient, but they seem capable of learning and acquiring intelligence. It is customary to name them, or at least I think so,” Vindicta answered for both questions. “I associate my two with the major arcana of the Hierophant as well… but I doubt you’re familiar with the tarot.”

Tabitha shook her head, accidentally losing focus and sending the icy creations away. “I can’t say I have.” She turned back towards Vindicta and thought for a moment, curling her tail up into her hands as she did. “How about...Elapi?”

“That seems like it would be phonetically fitting.” Vindicta nodded in approval. “Elapi seems to be small for the moment, which, coupled with its size, leads me to believe that perhaps it has a longer range than my Bishops. It may take some time before you can get it to it’s full range, but perhaps you can see how far it will go at the moment within this room.”

“Thank you, it’s based on ela-pinh, a Tamear word for the feeling of extreme cold...just made to sound more...name-y, you know?” Tabitha said, looking around. “So if I understand, when it gets more ‘range,’ it’ll get bigger?”

“Not exactly… it’s the bigger and more powerful ones that have less range. Though to use Lieutenant Wong as an example, her Konglinglong is stronger when it’s closer to her, but has an effective range of over a kilometer.”

“Interesting how that works…”

“It’s a great universal balancer, I suppose,” Vindicta offered. “But why don’t you give it a try?”

Tabitha closed her eyes and focused solely on summoning the reflection this time, bringing it back above her palm in the same way as last time. Getting it to move independently was a difficult barrier to break, but with enough willpower, movement burst into the little wisp all at once. The tiny strands that made up its ‘limbs’ held forward like a needle, and it made a quick oval-shaped dive a little over a dozen meters away before returning. A smile crept across Tabitha’s face.

“I did it!” she said happily, not needing to open her eyes to see it herself.

Vindicta grinned. “Indeed you did. You seem to have a natural talent for this, but I would expect no less. I know a psion with potential when I see one.” Continuing, she added, “It would only be fair that if you showed me your Reflection that I would show you one of mine. Perhaps my less developed one since most only see my current pride and joy.”

Tabitha backed away and gave her space, watching with a newfound enthusiasm. “Go ahead.”

Vindicta closed her eyes for a moment, before reopening them with a gold corona around her irises. Electricity crackled around her arms, and she raised them, letting it flow forth and take a humanoid shape, perhaps seven feet tall and somewhat gaunt. It was only vaguely human in appearance, though, having arms and a distinct torso and head, but a singular column of energy for a lower half. The eyes were a light, electric blue, matching the color of Vindicta’s. “This is White Bishop. Current combination of its ability and composition is, naturally, electrokinesis, my initial ability.”

The scientist glanced at Tabitha, her Reflection mimicking the movement. “You’d actually be an interesting case in that regard… since you’d have possible have two initial abilities with the way your psionics are organized. Even with only minor colors rather than major, that gives you remarkable capacity to grow in strength.”

“It’s, um, really big,” Tabitha said, shrinking down a bit as the Reflection looked at her. “But mine doesn’t show up when I’m using red abilities, and there’s nothing new for those, as far as I know. I’d show you, but...yeah.”

Vindicta outstretched her left arm, recalling the Reflection back within herself. “I wonder if that’s something we’ll have to work around, or something we can work with. Have you tried to switch between ‘mood colors’ before, or is it something that absolutely has to come naturally?”

“No, not from nothing, but I’ve helped it along or been manipulated before, plenty of times.” Tabitha rubbed her arm, sighing. “I try not to do it in front of people, because it’s embarrassing…”

“If you don’t mind me asking, why? Because it displays strong emotions, or for some other reason?”

“Because everything changes, the way I act and talk, my hair color, my skin color - temporarily - it’s like being naked, just...emotionally, if that makes sense.”

“I understand.” Vindicta shrugged. “And I wouldn’t ask you to do it if you didn’t want to. It is worth considering if combat calls for it, though. I’m planning on helping Dragomirov harness her emotions to be able to generate enough power to call forth an otherwise dormant Reflection. That is perhaps something that makes Tamearins without emotional blockers more powerful in certain situations… emotions can temporarily spike psi power, but n...most Tamearins wouldn’t dream of attempting to weaponize that concept.”

“I would imagine that’s the case, and you said you had another Tamearin, so you know how...we can be treated for that,” Tabitha winced.

“I… understand that is an issue. I meant no offense, of course,” Vindicta insisted. “I haven’t met Devolina personally, in any case.”

“Me neither,” Tabitha replied, “I know we employ a lot of people like me, but, I don’t know, I guess I haven’t tried that hard to branch out to them.”

“You could try, at least. Perhaps you’d find some common ground, and solace in the confirmation that you are not alone,” Vindicta offered.

“I’ll keep that in mind. At the very least, it would be nice to talk to someone that agrees with me on…” Tabitha glanced at the lab equipment momentarily, then shook her head. “Other things.”

Can’t really blame her for being immersed in a culture that despises any sort of bodily augmentations… though it is ironic that even those that are rejected from that culture still retain certain aspects of their society such as a dislike for modification. Dismissing the musing for now without faltering, Vindicta straightened her lab coat. “In any case, I’d like to continue working with you to improve your psionics in the future. I’ll help you realize your potential, and you needn’t worry about anything else even tangentially related to the gene labs.”

“I think that might be good,” the Tamearin nodded, playing with her fingertips. “You were kinder than I expected.”

Vindicta raised an eyebrow. “What, did Mark tell you horror stories about me or something? I’m only cruel to my siblings when the mood strikes me.”

“He told me you…‘convinced’ him to get me to come here...but I came on my own, not because of that. To...clear the air, I think is how you would say it.” Tabitha’s tail curled around her, and her hands didn’t stop fidgeting. “He pleases me very much, and I would tell anyone that, should they think otherwise…”

Vindicta tilted her head slightly. “He mentioned that I threatened him with blackmail if he didn’t send you here?” She placed her right hand on her forehead, and after a moment chuckled. “Tabitha, I was joking. I would never ruin my brother’s relationship over something so petty.”

“R-really? He seemed worried about it…”

Vindicta sighed. “I have a feeling he takes me too literally… though I didn’t realize he was that worried…” A look of concern formed on her otherwise smooth features. “Perhaps… we need to talk, my brother and I. I haven’t thought about it much, but he’s tended to avoid me since we came here. And now this…”

“He can be pretty literal sometimes,” Tabitha gave a nervous chuckle and held her tail tightly. “I...just feel silly now. I should probably just go.”

“You shouldn’t feel bad… it’s a misunderstanding between us. I’d hope we could be on better terms than that,” Vindicta insisted. “But in any case, I don’t currently need anything else from you.”

“Okay, thank you for helping me with the...with Elapi,” Tabitha said quickly. “Maybe I’ll come back later.”

Tabitha quickly shuffled out of the room, her skin a deep purple twinge as she looked away.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

BMPixy and DarkGemini24601: “Second Debut, Part 1”

High Orbit over Forseti (March 24th, 2044)
The Einherjar (1400 Hours, Ailey Standard)
Floor 13: Staff Bar

“Barkeep! Another round for us hardworking fighter jockeys!” Vincent proclaimed, holding up his shot glass into the air. With a pained grunt, the barkeep did as he was told, refilling each of Bone Arrow’s shot glasses before figuring he might as well cut out the middleman and just leave the bottle with them.

“I don’t see how you can stand this stuff, Driz,” Lawrence groaned, dreading having to down another shot.

“Bah, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” Drizzle replied, quickly downing his shot. “Jeremiah Weed has been the definitive drink for any fighter pilot worth their salt for generations! It’s part of the time honored tradition of getting wasted, talking shit about people who don’t fly your craft, talking shit about people who do fly your craft, and waking up in a port-a-potty floating down a river.”

“I won’t ask…” Hayden muttered, wincing as she took a sip of the bourbon. “Though what I will ask is why Edge hasn’t joined us in this torture and gotten his IV out.”

Not inclined towards a repeat of this last time I got drunk, the Sectoid replied, putting a hand up in defense. High proof alcohols and small bodies do not mix very well.

“What happened?” Nelson asked, raising a curious eyebrow.

“I’ll have to show you the video some time,” Vincent assured. “It has to be seen to be believed.”

Y-you still have that!? Jefferson exclaimed, his grey skin somehow growing even paler. I thought you said you destroyed it!

“I lied,” the Swiss man said coolly, pouring himself another shot.

Off to another corner of the room a fair distance from Bone Arrow, the automatic door slid open, and a Englishwoman with blond hair wearing a green flight suit and a brown jacket walked in, followed by a German with a simple white tanktop and camo cargo shorts. Behind the two entering the room, doing his best to remain inconspicious, was the Fleet Coordinator, having forgone his black jacket while keeping his typical blue button-up shirt and gray pants. In particular, he kept his glasses to obscure his features, at least for the moment.

Phoebe and Anja sat down at a table for two, while Addington leaned onto the table from the side. “I have the feeling this is going to go terribly…” Khumalo muttered.

“You have to do it, though. I’m not giving you an out,” Phoebe responded. “Unless you want a flight leader to despise you during wartime, I suggest you swallow your pride and go apologize, and maybe actually talk to them.”

Anja grinned. “We’ll give you moral support, at least.” And discreet support at that, she added mentally.

Addington shook his head in defeat, but snarked, “That is an immense relief. Thank you, Anja,” before heading over to the other side of the bar. As he came close to the bar itself where Bone Arrow was seated, he pushed up his glasses, and cautiously said, “Hello, Lindberg.”

All at once Bone Arrow seemed to freeze upon hearing that voice, and slowly the three lesser members of the flight turned to face the Flight Commander. However, Vincent did not give Addington that courtesy, instead merely replying with a pained grimace, “Good evening sir. What may I do for your esteemed self?”

A sarcastic reply came to mind, but Khumalo regretfully dispensed with it. “I… wanted to apologize for my behavior on our first meeting. I...was…”

Saaay it… Phoebe warned him.

Addington cleared his throat. “I acted out of line for how a superior officer should behave, and…” He trailed off.

Oh, come on, that’s just a compliment… Anja’s groan echoed in Addington’s head.

“And I undervalued your experience while ignoring my own lack thereof,” Addington managed to say, somehow.

The eyes of Bone Arrow shifted to their flight lead, who quietly ground his teeth as he thought. “Edge, please move. The Commander needs your seat,” Vincent said, as he quickly reached over the side of the bar to grab a triple shot glass. Nodding hurriedly, the Sectoid quickly scrambled off of the stool, and took up another by Lawrence.

Cautiously, Addington sat down next to Vincent. I guess that won’t be the end of it… but I should have expected as much. Glancing at the bartender for a momentary distraction, Addington requested an Amarula Cream, something that the bartender had to send an assistant to go retrieve from storage.

“Y’know, I really want to believe your apology, Khumalo,” Vincent said, carefully topping off the triple shot glass with the bottle of Jeremiah Weed. “But, I’m not exactly the type to go warmly accepting anybody who says ‘I’m sorry’, especially if they don’t actually say those words. So…” Vincent carefully slid the shot glass over to Addington, still refusing to make eye contact. “You wanna prove your convictions? Drink that without coming up for air.”

I like this guy! Anja proclaimed.

Not helping. Addington stared down the shot glass like it was an angry rhinoceros, considering his situation and weighing his options. Damn you, Phoebe, he thought to himself, before actually psing something to her. Would you mind… speeding along the arrival of that Amarula? I’m going to need it. Addington picked up the glass of Jeremiah Weed, hoping that there was some deity that would help him through this trial. And damn you, Drizzle. Closing his eyes, he tipped the shot glass to his mouth, and drank the foul substance, having to focus all his willpower into not spitting it out and resisting the urge to vomit, all at once.

Vincent watched analytically as Addington downed the bourbon, giving a slow, approving nod as the glass returned to the bar. “Alright, I accept your apology,” Lindberg said, patting Khumalo on the shoulder as he did so. “Though if you want my forgiveness, you gotta do that twice more,” the Swiss deadpanned.

The Fleet Coordinator glanced at Vincent in disbelief. You’ve got to be kidding me…

Maybe I could pull off some dreamscape thing? A happy place? Anja offered, though her smile indicated she had little sympathy for Addington’s discomfort.

I hate all of you. “Fine, then…” Addington muttered.

At that Vincent let out a long, hearty chuckle, managing to say in between laughs, “Alright, alright, I’ll let you off the hook. That’s all I need to see, especially with how your eyes were bulging during the first glass. Don’t wanna be the guy to kill our Fleet Coordinator, after all.” At this, the remainder of Bone Arrow let out of sigh of relief in unison, Lawrence even wiping some sweat off of his brow.

Addington’s shoulders slumped in relief, and he gratefully took his South African drink as the waiter went by, drinking it greedily to try and get some of the taste out of his mouth. I wonder if anyone’s ever told him he’s a sick bastard…

Be nice.

“Trust us, none of us know how he handles that shit,” Hayden said. “Tastes like petrol with a shot of industrial cleaner.”

“It’s because I’ve accepted that it’s likely the worst drink to exist short of that crate of Fosters you brought in that one time,” Vincent replied. “If you try to distance yourself from the pain, it chases you down and mauls you with a windshield wiper.”

“Regardless,” Lawrence said, shaking his head slightly. “What’ve you been up to lately, SkyEye?”

“Aside from being ‘reformed’ a couple of weeks ago, preparations for war, and I wish I were joking,” Addington replied, the fire in his throat finally starting to subside, though he was still a little hoarse. “If you thought I was arrogant, that leader of the TFD… that’s a whole different scale.”

 

[BMPixy]

BMPixy and DarkGemini24601: “Second Debut, Part 2”

“Aye, we all saw the transmission, though it still seems kinda surreal that we’re at war,” Hayden added. “The way it’s set up is almost like some cheesy video game, what with the whole sorting algorithm of enemy difficulty. Just hope they don’t have that kinda hierarchy for whatever air force they might have.”

“Nah, it’ll probably just be the ground-pounders who have to deal with shit like that,” Vincent said. “Though I will say, if I see some custom enemy fighter with a red paint job and the pilot wears some fancy mask, I’m retiring.”

“In air combat we might be closer to technological parity, considered we can make fusion weapons… we just need a lot of Elerium,” Addington offered optimistically. “And particle weapons would do next to nothing to our shielding, but against hulls… I’m not so enthusiastic about seeing what happens if and when our shields drop.”

Then all we merely need to do is send them to a fiery grave before they have a shot of doing the same to us, Jefferson offered, leaning back against the edge of the counter.

“As always, Edge with the bright and cheery solution to all our problems,” Lawrence deadpanned.

Addington shrugged. “We’ve yet to see the stellar capabilities of the TFD though. I’m not doubting they’re effective, if they manufactured those Rapiers… but I can at least hope that we might have a better chance than those on the ground. And if they intend to fight us by proxy in the name of that “Great Game” or whatever the hell Trismegistus was going on about, we can beat them back.”

“Aye, here’s to that,” Vincent said, raising his glass in toast before downing the contents in a single gulp.

Floor 13: Wing C

Shepsut cin Menes walked along the wide length of Wing C’s hallways, the Seikron pilot considering recent events and their potential impact upon her. I’ve never heard of one of us becoming a pirate… especially considering what the punishment is, that would seem to indicate something else is going on here… but what? Unable to come to a consensus, the third Red Eye member had been trying to walk it out, but couldn’t seem to take the foreboding question off her mind.

As if out of nowhere, a second set of footfalls began echoing forth from behind Shepsut, the ‘tap-tap-tap’ cadence indicating it to be another Seikron. “Shepsut cin Menes ya Tabanje,” a voice spoke out, “as per orders by High Command, I, Tak-sharu kan Katesch ya Hibaya, need to speak with you.”

Shepsut paused, glancing back at the Hibaya with a hint of disdain. “Tak-sharu...enza… for what reason, might I ask?”

Tak-sharu silently ignored the implication of Shepsut’s choice of honorific, and replied, “The appearance of one of our own among this new faction… the ‘TFD’, has High Command in a controlled panic. They have given the order to ascertain the location and status of, as well as retrieve any information that the tabanje have. I am here to do that, Shepshut-nje.”

Shepsut crossed her mechanical arms. “I have nothing to do with pirates, kan Katesch. I joined the XSDF specifically to have a purpose in fighting those like them. And while some of the casteless might be… unsavory, I don’t know how they would have come into an important position alongside this ‘Trismegistus’. I don’t believe you’ll find the answer to the venerable High Command’s fears among us humble tabanje.”

“Do not be so antagonistic,” Tak-sharu growled. “I merely am asking for your co-operation in this matter. I would have left you to your own actions had this incident not occurred. Now, you mentioned that some casteless are unsavory. Do you have any names to match those accusations?”

“I meant in general. Those that didn’t leave voluntarily, or because of dissident. I don’t tend to associate myself with criminals, as I stated originally,” cin Menes asserted. “And as I implied, my cooperation is useless. I don’t know any more than you do. Perhaps less, considering you have connections to the SSS that I have discarded.”

“Any information, no matter how seemingly useless, could be the key to discovering this mysterious Seikron’s identity,” Tak-sharu said, grimacing slightly. “Now, next question. Have you bred any children since becoming a tabanje?”

“I have not,” Shepsut replied. “But there is no guarantee this ‘shadow Seikron’ of ours even is one more recently born. Perhaps you should look inward… pirates do take captives, do they not? And as much as I’m sure you’d like to believe all loyal to the SSS are unbreakable, that simply isn’t true. Biological and biokinetic reprogramming are both possibilities…or…” Shepshut gave a shark-like grin. “Perhaps they simply grew tired of tyranny as many like myself have, taking the wrong approach to resolving it.”

“Nonsense,” Tak-sharu dismissed. “The last incident where we lost a ship to pirates was in 3121, and that cargo vessel went down with all personnel. And in the majority of other incidents, the pirates were successfully repulsed and captured. High Command does take care of those under it, even allowing those such as you to leave peacefully so long as you keep state secrets.”

“How soon after were they captured?” Shepsut questioned. “There could have been time for a transfer of prisoner cargo.”

“Counter-assaults, on average, came within three days of the initial attack. Of those, nearly a quarter were the result of garrison troopers boarding enemy vessels immediately after the strike was repelled,” Tak-sharu stated, standing ramrod straight as he did so.

“That sounds like enough time to me,” Shepsut responded.

“Perhaps, though we are thorough in our interrogations,” the Hibaya countered. “And as you likely know well, we are quite keen on repaying ten fold all blood debts.”

“I suppose there’s also the matter of if you found the same ships or not… we don’t know if Trismegistus would have been fine with sacrificing a crew as bait while the real occupants spirited off their captives,” the pilot continued, unphased. “There are many possibilities other than a simple ‘lucky tabanje’.”

“See? I told you your co-operation would be helpful, Shepshut-nje,” Tak-sharu said. “I am certain that an investigation shall be launched soon enough into discovering any of our captured kin. Now, my last question.” Leaning in towards the pilot, Tak-sharu whispered, “Have you been following the great three foreign policies?”

“Of course. I don’t wish disaster on our people, only change,” Shepsut replied uneasily. “Though it is a foolish dream to believe that those policies will be upheld forever. It only takes one without any regard for secrecy to destroy everything… or perhaps a TFD captive tortured and manipulated beyond the point of no return.”

“Not being a Hibaya, I am not surprised you do not know this, but at least among our kind confessions obtained under torture are considered circumstantial at best,” Tak-sharu said. “And for those who try to destroy us of their own will… we have ways. Hibaya are not just diplomats.”

Unless they had a powerful ally that could save them from the jaws of death. To think that arrogance comparable to that of the koingozi might be the SSS’s undoing… “I should hope that isn’t a threat, Taksharu-enza. I believe you are on thin ice with the XSDF as it is… should I ‘disappear’, tensions could escalate further. I’m sure a diplomat such as yourself could read the ‘writing on the wall’ there, as the humans put it.”

“No, I am not making a threat, Shepshut-waha,” Tak-sharu answered diplomatically, though giving particular emphasis upon the honorific. “Merely reminding you of what we all have at stake.”

 

[Taxor_the_First]

Respect your Elders

Above Forseti
Einherjar Bar
March 23rd, 3:43 PM


Samantha frowned, taking a swig of her beer. “That worried?”

Isaac nodded gravely. “This ‘Trismegistus’ knows a lot more than either of us like. In a position like the Overseer’s…”

She shook her head. “We’ll see how cocky she is when I break down her front door holding a heavy plasma weapon, or, if your daughter comes through, one of those fancy new fusion ones.” The Huntress took another swig, a grin on her face. “Nobody can hide forever.”

That’s exactly the problem, Isaac thought, though he remained silent.

“Well then… you really have everything thought out, don’t you?” A voice stated from behind the two, a guy taking the spot next to Samantha and ordering a spiced rum. “Hope that daughter of yours is good then.”

“Eh?” Samantha made a face. “Who the hell are you?”

Her partner merely raised an eyebrow. “Mr. Exalt,” he said with an element of surprise in his voice. “To what do we owe the pleasure?” He ignore Sam’s head whipping around to him, a quizzical look on her face.

“Please, don’t use the name as if it carries any weight with me. Ezra works just fine.” The android said, turning around and leaning his back against the bar top, pouring his drink from the bottle into his glass and taking a big gulp. “As for what I am doing here… I am merely enjoying a drink.”

“Can you do that?” Isaac asked, one eyebrow raised.

“Why wouldn’t he?” Samantha asked. “It’s not like it’s against regulations to enjoy a drink… i-is it?” She glanced at the half-full glass in her own hand.

“I can do a lot of things Sir Isaac. I can do a lot of things.” Another drink went down. “Though I can see age hasn’t been well to you though. You look like you got bitchslapped by a Geriatric ward.”

The former Overseer grimaced. “I’d heard you were charming,” he said. “You haven’t disappointed.”

“Alright, the suspense is killing me,” Samantha interjected. “Who is this?”

Her partner smiled. “Samantha, meet Ezra Exalt. He’s, uh… a bit of a devil.”

“He’s…” Her eyes widened, and she leaned back slightly, away from Ezra. “I see…”

“You don’t do me enough credit, Mr. Anderson…” Ezra swished his third drink around and glanced over with a smile, leaning in. “I’m the whole devil, mate.” With a chuckle, he shook his head and looked up. “Best not to forget that little fact.”

Before she could say anything, Isaac’s hand clasped around Samantha’s shoulder, pulling her in close. “Not that devil,” he whispered in her ear, before releasing her. “Well, certainly no saint either,” he said, louder. “I must admit, your actions make for entertaining readings when I’m reviewing on-ship activities.”

“You know I’m not surprised really. You don't need to be ex-Overseer to know I am not set on being average.” Getting a bit bored of his drink, Ezra set it aside and crossed his arms. “Besides, isn’t it usually the greatest minds who are born from the weirdest of personalities? It goes something like that.”

By now, Samantha had paled considerably. Isaac, meanwhile, remained unruffled. “I can respect that,” he said. “You’re looking to make a mark, in your own way.” He frowned. “Probably better ways to do that than antagonising people, but if that’s the path you chose, who am I to argue?”

“You know my father never trusted you.” Ezra stated directly at Issac, looking off as if he was remembering an old memory. “There was one lesson he taught me though, one I have learned to use and that is to put all of your cards out front for everyone to see. Just when they think you have you figured out, you pull the ace from your sleeve.” He raised an eyebrow. “Granted we were playing poker at the time and I don’t think he meant it to be taken literally but it was worked well for me so far. You don’t see me trying to hide too much what I am. If someone misses it, just all the better for me.”

“I wouldn’t call a stint in the brig ‘working well’,” Samantha retorted, recovering. Her gaze softened slightly, however. “Granted, the circumstances were rather exceptional and most people would only get a reprimand…” The gaze hardened again. “But still, you shouldn’t have provoked people like that. Certainly not the old Commander, of all people.”

“Well it worked out for the better… I am out, I caught up on sleep, and even gained a few supporters who thought my treatment was a little unethical. If A.I.s are ever supposed to be considered equals, we need those.” He explained. “Meanwhile, Streczyk got demoted for a blown mission. You tell me who got the better end of the deal.”

“Streczyk made the same mistake you did,” Isaac said, shaking his head. “She believed she was right, and therefore untouchable. Regardless of whether you are right or not, that’s going to irk someone else, and they’ll want to take you down a peg.”

“That mission was hardly her fault,” Samantha argued. “Honestly, I don’t think we could have done much better, regardless of who went in. We certainly weren’t expecting pirates with tech far outstripping our own.”

“True, but that wasn’t really what made the Council take her down,” Isaac responded. “It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. There was a lot of weight on that spine already, what with the issue of crew satisfaction, reports of discrimination… though she was capable, I will give her that.”

Ezra sighed, shaking his head. “Well… I hate giving her any ground but I can’t really say she wasn’t.” Ezra found himself drinking again.

The former Overseer simply watched him down the drink. He chuckled. “You know, I was considering asking your father if he’d like to work for me at one point.” A shake of the head. “But I figured that he’d prefer to hack things of his own accord, for his own purposes. He had potential, but just as you said he didn’t trust me…” He shrugged. “Well, I didn’t trust him.”

“Shows just how formidable he was then if even you didn’t trust him… though I doubt you really trusted anyone.” Ezra smirked. “I must be your worst nightmare then. Not only do I have his abilities, but my mother’s as well. I am the worst of two worlds.”

Isaac actually laughed. “No, no. I have far worse nightmares than you. Not to put you down, but you’re not much more than a hiccup in an otherwise pleasant dream.” He shook his head when he got blank looks. “Bah. Remind me never to look into poetry.”

Samantha rolled her eyes. “You’re a soldier though, aren’t you? What would possess you to move away from, say, cyberwarfare, into real warfare?”

“Simple… boredom. I wanted a more exhilarating experience than going to school everyday, and I found it here.” He answered simply with a chuckle.

“Hmm,” Isaac grunted. “I think this trip is turning out to be a bit more exhilarating that we thought.” He leaned back in his wheelchair, thoughtful. “You’re not exactly a meathead, Ezra. Tell me, what’s your take on this ‘Pirate Queen’?”