Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Tamers ❯ Tamers II part 1 ( Chapter 9 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Tamers II
Disclaimer:
"Wild Horses and Pokegirls" is the creation of Metroanime.
Author's note: This chapter presumes that you are familiar with Kerrik Wolf's story, Into the Fire and uses characters and situations from it with his permission. If you have not read it, you should. You need to immediately, before a certain BunnyGirl arrives with her vacation slides. Events here coincide with and follow events in Chapter 35 of ITF. This is what you get when you don't close doors properly.

     "They've returned," The March Hare told them as they waited in one of the wardrooms. Hazel and Bigwig had just about removed all the `relative bearing` grease from Stupid Fuzzbutt. "And the gate remains open," the Megami-Sama added in a perplexed tone.

    "Say!" Hazel suggested, "Maybe we could go take a look!"

    "No," Brian said firmly, "We haven't exactly made ourselves welcome. And considering what Kelvin could do, crossing Mister Wolf is not on my list of things to do today."

    "You don't really think he'd kill us," Gennie asked, "Do you?"

    "If we were the ones who killed Kelvin," Bigwig said, "In a heartbeat."

    "If he's so powerful," the BunnyGirl said, "Why doesn't he make all the Pokègirls on the ship feel better?"

    "Why don't you make them feel better?" Brian asked sarcastically, "Say go through the portal and bring Kelvin back."

    "That's -!" Hazel and Bigwig yanked the Bunny back down.

    "You'd have to be able to raise up the shade," Bigwig said, "And let us finish before you smear grease all over the whole ship."

    "They left the portal open, the other portal," Flopsie offered, "You don't think?"

    "No chance," Brian said, "And quit thinking about it, rabbit. You couldn't do anything."

    "Yeah, you'd have to be dead to go get him," Hazel said, then stopped and looked thoughtful.

    "Banish that thought," The March Hare commanded, "Banish it immediately."

    Hazel looked at her and frowned.

    "She used something that temporarily killed," Bigwig said, and stared at Stupid Fuzzbutt, "So we could kill you temporarily." This time neither of the two got a grip on the BunnyGirl fast enough. Hazel leapt and fell short. Bigwig loosed a sticky cable and missed. Thumper and Bugs just chuckled at them.

    "I can fix everything and I just have to die! My Master's a genius!" she shouted as she ran through the hatch.

    Hazel looked at The March Hare glowering at her. "It might just work," she said as she sidled out from under the glare, and sprinted for the door.

    "Boom," the G-Splice said, and jetted after her.

    "Idiots," The March Hare intoned.

    "Why?" Gennie asked.

    "They would need a focus," The March Hare lectured, "Such a thing as his soul and . . . " She turned to stare at the bulkheads. "Why do I bother?" she asked disgustedly, "Bugs, Thumper, attend me. Master collect the little one, and meet us below." She marched over to the pair and grabbed their arms.

    "What's going on?" Brian asked worriedly.

    "You really want to know?" Bigwig asked as the trio left, "Let's go bigshot. Flopsie, where is she?"
>> ==================
    April looked up in horror as the idiot rabbit came charging straight at her and Vanessa. She instinctively summoned her Dark Magician Girl in front of the Legendary to take the inevitable impact and spare Vanessa, and the pregnancy, from injury.

    At the last second, the BunnyGirl changed direction only to grab April up and swing her around in a bizarre dance. "I can fix everything and I just have to die! I can fix everything and I just have to die! My Master's a genius!" She let go of April and let her reel as she slumped to the floor, while Stupid Fuzzbutt raced off. "I can fix everything and I just have to die! I can fix everything and I just have to die! OUCHIE! I can fix everything and I just have to die!"

    "That rabbit is a bloody lunatic," April commented as Vanessa helped her up.

    "Uh, I think we have other company," Vanessa pointed out the racing-striped turtle shell, and the Blessed Jokette who was trying desperately to look friendly and harmless. Without orders, the Dark Magician Girl stepped smoothly between the Duelist and the oncoming Pokègirls.

    "We, we could really use your help," Hazel said, her hands clasped in prayer, "Both of you." She saw their nervousness. "It'll be really - " she started enthusiastically, then saw their apprehension, "It's perfectly safe! For us."
    April dismissed the Dark Magician Girl as she gave them a skeptical look.
    "Your Harem-sister said she was going to die," Vanessa pointed out. "While that's not unusual behavior on her part, the fact that this somehow involves us is new."

    The Jokette shrugged. "You can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs, and she's pretty cracked as it is."

    "Why do I have this feeling that Kerrik is going to want to know whatever it is you want to do?" April folded her arms. "We should probably consult with him first."

    "Oh, he's in Dreamtime with Miguelito, very important! I'm sure he wouldn't be bothered by something so small and . . . I'm sure he'd approve." The Jokette looked around. "You really don't want The March Hare to get involved, she'll . . . I can appreciate a joke and that others can't, but she's just so serious about this. And you don't want to see a serious Jokette, they get in other movies and . . . well your Tamer doesn't swing that way now. Let's keep it that way. Please?"

    "Boom?" the turtle shell added plaintively.

    "He won't be mad. I promise!" Hazel smiled, a truly alarming sight. "And if he is, you can blame me. Tell him I threatened to tie you up and make you watch Stupid Fuzzbutt's vacation slides. With her narrating."

    "I am not afraid of your inane threats and Kerrik has told me enough bad jokes to kill an army of Jokettes."

    "It's pronounced 'insane', if you please," Hazel politely corrected.

    "April, I believe Eve already knows what they want to do," Vanessa lied. Nobody but April saw her wink. "It won't really affect us and it may even prove useful to Kerrik in the long run. Even if it doesn't, it won't hurt us at all, according to Eve and her gifts."

    April blinked. "Oh." She shrugged and turned to Hazel. "Kerrik didn't pick us for our rule-following personalities. He's going to find out whatever is going on eventually, but since he's not available right now to tell me 'no', what is it you want us to do for you?"
>> ==================
    Angie stared at the sphere that Angie Douglas had just delivered. "A little bit late," the Titmouse said, "If Kerrik had had this . . . " She looked up at the trio who'd appeared in her room. "What do you -?"

    "Sleep, " The March Hare commanded.

    Bugs caught the Titmouse as she collapsed. The March Hare pried the glowing sphere from the girl's hand.
    "We have little time, and none for explanations," The March Hare told them, "Come!" She vanished.

    "Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to try to figure this out," Bugs told Thumper as they put the unconscious Titmouse in her bunk.

    "There are times I just go with the flow," Thumper replied, "Like now. I don't want to know their plan."
>> ==================
    Cheryl and Warden came alert as the Megami-Sama in the purple and green appeared near her. "I can't - " Warden began.

    "Be silent!" the Megami-Sama ordered as she closed Cheryl's hand around the glowing sphere.

    Cheryl looked like she'd grabbed the head of a live rattlesnake.

    "Stand with us, or stand aside, but chose instantly," The March Hare intoned.

    "With," Cheryl said as she handed the sphere back, her expression more pale that it had been facing her Master over the interrogation table. "How?"

    "I care not, but shall use it"

    Stupid Fuzzbutt bounded into the room. "The purple girl just ran away; saying we were gonna kill her. Silly! Kerrik won't do that! Is she new? Domineering couldn't be bothered," the BunnyGirl complained, "Is she gonna be mad!" she added gleefully.

    "Dominique," Cheryl corrected, "That portal is closing fast."

    "Then I shan't wait for Hazel," The March Hare touched Stupid Fuzzbutt, who crumbled to the floor. Isaik and Flopsie arrived.

    "Is she dead?" the Eidolon asked, "And what are you doing here?"

    "Observe and learn," The March Hare said. She turned to face April and Vanessa as they arrived ahead of Hazel and Boom. "Good, and again the joke plays out. I hope you have the wit to appreciate it."
>> ==================
    "Bye Mister Kerrik!" Stupid Fuzzbutt bounced up and down as she waved to the departing group, "I know you're gonna kill me for this, but I know it's all right now!" She waved at him happily. "See he's smiling!"

    "That's not a smile," Bigwig explained.

    "I'd love to see his face when April and Vanessa tell him," Easter said, "That would be completely worth it."

    "I'd like to see how he likes the Via Gramen spell Cheryl taught April and Vanessa, and Eve's face when April explains it was a spell the Alliance developed," Hazel said, "That would be a moment worth dying for."

    "I shall savor the expressions on the faces of the others," The March Hare stated, "That will truly be a moment to savor."

    "Jealous our Alpha came up with a better joke than either of us could?" Hazel asked innocently, "Just asking."

    The BunnyGirl confronted the Jokette, poking her finger in the Jokette's ample chest. "MASTER came up with that!" Stupid Fuzzbutt insisted, "Don't any of you forget it! He's brilliant! That's why he's Master!"

    "I thought it was because he was a human male," Flopsie commented.

    "And people call me stupid," the BunnyGirl snarled, then turned back to wave to her wonderful, dear friends. "Bye Kerrik! Bye! We all think you're cute!"

    Bigwig rolled her eyes. "I'm sure that just made his day," she commented.

    "Really?!" the BunnyGirl squealed, and had Brian cover her mouth before she could yell.

    "He already knows," Brian told her.

    "Oh yeah! Sorry, I forgot." She giggled and tugged at her ears. "Bye Vanny! Bye April!" she shouted, "Roll him in flour and you can have Kerrik-cake!" Hazel and The March Hare fell to the deck twitching spasmodically.

    "Next time, we do that," Cottontail suggested.

    A moment later Kerrik and his party vanished.

    "Come on," Mopsie said, while she and Cottontail raced ahead to cut the dramatis personae out of the milling crowd.

    "You had something for us to see?" Miguelito bristled at the pair who'd blocked his and Antoinette's path, "Or something from you?"
    Rainbow and Blossom had drifted over, adding their might to Voltaire's if needed.
    "Something you need to see," Brian said, "Call it a going-away present."

    "I have rugs," Miguelito commented, "And better ones than that." He considered the rolled up carpet that Cheryl and Underworld were carrying. More girls drifted towards the commotion.

    "This one is special," Underworld assured him, "I think you'll all like this one." They set it down carefully. When it moved, most of them jumped back.

    Jen manifested an energy blade and pushed forward. "I'll - "

    "Cut careful," Voltaire told her sharply, "Present inside."

    Jen paused, then looked over to Seadamar who was hugging Alba, both had tears running down their faces. Jen looked back at Voltaire and dismissed the huge, shining blade. Replacing it with a large knife composed of darkness. She carefully cut the through rug roll, and thrust it open.
>> ==================
    Brian nodded to The March Hare. Mopsie and Cottontail crowded the group together. Bigwig had covered Stupid Fuzzbutt's mouth, and Hazel looked like an attack of insane giggling was imminent. The group vanished, leaving the decks clear for the others.
>> ==================
    No one moved as they stared at the bound and gagged figure who couldn't seem to manage a proper glare at them. Chagrin kept interfering.

    Cheryl broke the deadlock. "Merry Christmas! Aren't you going to unwrap him?"

    "Master?" Warden said as she knelt beside him, "Master," she said softly, gently, "Please don't ever worry us like that again." She looked at him plaintively, while she took each of the cable-like hawsers holding him and snapped them with a report that rang across the deck.

    Kelvin watched the inch-thick ropes part like wet tissue as Warden continued, "We love you." CRACK! "We'll protect you from anything." SPANG! "You can trust us, Master." SNAP! "Our lives are in your hands." POW! "And we will protect your life." She very carefully removed the gag. "Do you understand Master, how important you are?"

    "Yes, and I'm sorry."

    With that, general bedlam broke out as his entire Harem, and nearly every Megami on deck sought to touch him, kiss him or hug him.
>> ==================
    "I assure you, I'm healthy," he told Doctor Carmen, "Aside from some bruises."

    The small man glanced at Doctor Marilyn, who took the hint and left, shooing a number of girls away from the door. Once he was sure they were alone, he rounded on him. "WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?" the man's expression was murderous, but that fury seemed to be turning inward.

    "I thought I was luring a Legendary in so she would openly help us," he replied quietly, "It was a chance I had to take."

    "Why? Why do you have to take those kinds of chances?"

    "It's all right to cry, Miguelito, I won't think any less of you," Kelvin said.

    The man's face screwed up in contortion as sadness and fury warred for dominance.

    Antoinette swept in, before the war could be won by either side, and carried Miguelito off. As Kelvin stood, he noted Voltaire had entered.

    For the first time since I've known her, he thought, She looks menacing.

     "Voltaire."

& nbsp;   "Many girls cry. You made them."

    "I'm sorry Voltaire. It was a risk I had to take."

    "Dangerous for girls without Master. You make them Masterless," Voltaire said, not moving from the doorway, but small motions of her hands and face showed her agitation.

    "I don't know what else I could have done."

    "You let Pokègirls take the risks."

    "And I'm supposed to let them suffer and die while I sit back safe and sound," he snapped, "I can't DO that."

    "Learn," Voltaire told him. She seemed to calm down a bit. "Guards, everywhere. Until we know you're well."

    "Voltaire - "

    "Guards, everywhere," the large Pokègirl intoned, and looked outside. Sabrina and Jen entered. "Everywhere," the Francinestein told the pair before she withdrew.

    "A lottery," the DildoQueen explained, "It was the only fair way."

    He lay back in the bed, and let Jen draw a comforter over him.

    "Rest," she told him, "If you want someone . . . who?"

    "I thought . . . " he said and tried to sit up, only to have Jen carefully push him back down.

    "We're guards," Sabrina said, "Captain's orders, Doctors' orders, hell if Kerrik was still here, it would be him or Eve giving the same order."

    "I'm supposed to be able to give orders too," he said.
    "Who do you want in here with you?" Jen said, "That's one we'll obey."

    He sighed. "Okay, who needs it most? I'm a little leery of Taming while people are watching, so it's just bedwarming."

    "Underground," Sabrina suggested.

    "Shana," Jen added and smiled, "The bed can handle three."

    "What about the whole nest thing?" he asked, while Jen stuck her head out and told the guards just outside the room his decision.

    "Bed rest, for a couple days," Sabrina said, "You don't have to win the war tomorrow, or even next week."

    "Okay," he said. He lay back down, and was asleep before the other two entered.
>> ==================
    Telling her she's cute would probably get me knifed, I think of the still-sleeping form curled up in front of me, her legs twined around mine, She's obviously cried herself to sleep, but right now, she's nearly as cute as Isaik.

     From behind comes a noise that's equal parts happy, and disoriented.

    "Good morning."

    She sleepily raises her arm to peer at her watch. "G'd afternoon," she manages, "Y'r feet 'r cold. Ya know that?"

    "Every time I wear socks to bed, somebody's toes think it's cute to pull them off. Or erotic. I'll have to start sticking my cold feet where they don't belong to cure that practice."

    "I'm awake," Underworld says, she looks up at her Master and clutches herself to him, "Don't leave again, don't leave us again. Please."
    "I'll do my best."

    "Not to ruin the moment, but what about Kamara, and the Third Guards. You can't send them back to Sanctuary."

    "Yes I can," he replies and grins.

    "It wasn't a technical problem I was referring to, it is a political one. They watched the disloyalty of two high-ranking Council members, and that the Celestial Alliance had Sanctuary dancing like a puppet on a string. They'll be disappeared, one by one, or all at once on arrival."

    "What am I supposed to do with 200+ soldier girls? I have the feeling if I ordered an attack on the Gates of Hell itself, the crew of the Des Moines would follow, laying down gunfire support the whole way. Add 200 heavy infantry, and there's only one use I'd have for that force."

    "You can't send them back," Shana insists, then presses her body against his, "Please, don't send them back."

    "What I decide, I'll do," he replies, "But I assure you, I won't send them back unprepared. And Kamara and their cadres will know what my plans are. The Dark Continent is a big place, and the Sanctuary Goths need their best protectors. What is their motto 'First in Attack, Last in Withdrawal'?"

    "Wait, you think there are spies aboard this ship?!" Shana asks.

    "I'd be hard pressed to point to one person aboard who isn't a spy for someone, including me. Some are spying for me, some for people I know, but I want to make sure I tell the people involved what's happening, before it spills out to all the world."

    "Okay. I'm sure Kamara will just love being part of your intricate plans, again," Shana comments and lays her head against his back, "I can hear the evil laughter even now."

    "Speaking of evil, laughter plans," he says and grins.

    "Oh no!" Underground shouts, but he'd caught her arms and runs a cold foot up the inside of her thighs. "Help!" Underground shrieks.

    "I shall!" Shana climbs over the struggling pair and begins tickling the girl's sides, then she takes over restraining duties and gently licks the back of her neck and ears, while Kelvin attacks Underground's other vulnerable spots.

    The resultant shrieking brings a dozen guards to crowd the room, who stay to watch.
>> ==================
    "You're mean," Underground told him in a good approximation of Isaik's tone.

    " 'You're mean, you evil genius Master of mine'," he replied as he sipped from the bowl of soup she held to his lips.

    "If you think I'm calling you that, you've finally lost it."

    "Ah! I've convinced a Pokègirl not to call me Master! My genius knows no bounds!"

    Underground frowned. "There's a whole caldron of this stuff. You can wear the first few bowls."

    "You wouldn't hurt me, I'm too cute and fluffy," he said in a frightened little squeak.

    She stared at him. "Why do I put up with you?"

    "Because I know how to make you squeak," he replied, then added more seriously, "And because frankly, you like being able to banter and tease without being slapped in the mouth for it."

    She put the bowl aside for a moment and lay against him, hugging him carefully and rubbing her cheeks on his chest. "I love you Master, so does every girl here. Why - why can't you -?"

    "Because I'm, not very happy with myself," he explained, "I didn't want to be here. I didn't want anything that would keep me here. I wanted to be left alone. I wanted the hurt to just go away."

    "We could have helped you," Underground said. In the background, Seadamar and Roxanne tensed, but let Underground speak.

    "Because that would have been an admission that I could never leave. I wasn't willing to give that up."

    "Now?" Underground asked, and hugged him tighter.

    "Now, I can't go home. If I try, I'll lead people and forces my world isn't ready for, straight back there. I'd be fighting to keep whoever I took with me, while trying to warn them about other infiltrators, and trying to get whoever I took respected as people, rather than products. That's leaving out disease, allergies, and a host of just living problems."

    "Would staying with us, have been so bad?" Underground asked.

    "Think about the last few days. That's how I've been feeling for months, and my Master coming back wouldn't fix it."

    "I'm sorry. It's not our fault, but I do wish you hadn't felt that way," she said quietly.

    "So do I, now. So much wasted time, and hurt feelings." He stroked her back gently. "Kerrik was wrong. I needed the time away. Away from everything, and a chance to see it all, from a different perspective. All I could feel was the hurt, and I'd tightened up to take the next punch. I would never have healed like that."

    Underground just made a pleasant noise and snuggled against him.
------------------------------

Austin Drummond,

    Hey old friend, Rudy Wells here. I bet you're wondering why I'm writing after all this time, especially after what happened at the restaurant. Well Austin, that is the six hundred million credit question. Simply put, a white rabbit chased down the hole you left, and I'm back with the old firm. Although I haven't given up on the start up that you, me and Colesmith-Briggs 3 were running. I also heard you were in the market for info about one Kerrik Wolf. He was spotted aboard the cruiser Des Moines that had been the base-ship of one Kelvin's Choice, during some doings down south.

    Officially, Kerrik was hired to go there by Miguelito Carmen, to report on the construction and layout of theme parks. Tell me, do you know anything about theme parks? This guy pays good money for that info.

    That's on top. Here's what makes you owe me a bowl of chilli: Seems some high muckity-muck going by Lindi Valiant from someplace I never heard of was trying to undo herself getting the chop, succeeded and got rechopped by some other muckity-muck Sorceress of the South from the same unmentionable place. Many fireworks later, Kelvin and the two muckity-mucks are dead, supposedly. Along with a whole passel of the leadership of the 'Flowers and Puppies, or Else' crowd.

    Enter one Kerrik Wolf, and surprise surprise, reports of Kelvin's death: greatly exaggerated. Bastard probably 'died' to send up a flare. If you're messing with these gents, don't. Seems the 'Flowers and Puppies, or Else' crowd sent a smile-enforcer down, and Kelvin splattered most of her on the walls. Him, personally. And Kelvin's people are worried about Wolf. Definitely not 'handle with care', more like 'do not handle at all.' Reports that both were aimed at the mucks and their whole kingdom by the 'Flowers and Puppies, or Else' crowd have been confirmed. This is Code Snow-White stuff and should be worth a lot of coin to somebody.

    Consider it payment for a courier job. I've got some heavy machine tools that Colesmith-Briggs 3 was pining for, and frankly, they're more use to him than to me. I need to swap out the machine tools for one of those trucks he sold you. Never saw a truck that could carry stuff where that one can. But I've got a client who needs some heavy-duty barrels delivered where my stuff can't get to easily.

    Anyhoo, things are coming along nicely. Currently under a doctor's care, so unless you've got a license and a bunch of letters after your name, the mail's the way to go. Don't go rollerskating in a Minotaura herd, it ain't worth the fun later. Oh for the record, hindsight says I was right and you were wrong, neener-neener. Running the start up helped, maybe I can arrange for some time with you as CEO. I'll explain it when I can get out of the body and fender shop.

Rudy Wells

P.S. Hoss, the medic never showed up for work. That could be good, or bad. Sherry's worried, and Matilda never saw her come in. Both are talking to people. I put Jane on it, there's always Jacob's Ladder. Somebody knows something, and I will find out.
>> ==================
    Angie stared at the screen. "Okay, I've read it three times. I was there for most if not all of it, and I can barely understand what it is."

    "Some of it is authentication codes, others are strictly information. And all of it written so Austin can just forward it to Sanctuary. It's a good way to disseminate useful info, especially if we want to send disinformation later. The British captured all the Nazi spy rings, and fed the Nazis what they wanted them to know. They even sent over the entire invasion of Normandy plan, a few hours after the Allies had already invaded."

    "How does that help?" Angie asked.

    "Just because the info was late, it was detailed and accurate. So when the same agents report that Patton's FUSAG is going to be the real invasion, the Nazi brass thinks the info isn't timely, but it is accurate."

    "I think you're needlessly complicating things."

    "Sanctuary thrives on one-upsmanship, or one-upsPokèship, and some people having information others don't. Austin can let it be known he's got a spy in Kelvin's organization, or he can not forward it at all. His choice, but if it is intercepted, he has an out either way."

    "Like I said, too complicated," Angie complained as she snuggled against him, "Why not do something straightforward?"

    "If we can get to the dimension where the Celestial Alliance's headquarters is, I'll show you straightforward."

    "Gwendoline and Cheryl said that they didn't meet in a fixed location, it was all mental," Angie replied.

    "Their leadership didn't meet in a fixed location," he countered, "But they have storerooms, libraries, armories, as well as barracks for their operatives."

    "You'd shell a hospital?"

    "Probably not, unless we took fire from it, then, all bets are off. They aren't signatories of the Geneva Convention, and neither am I. I'll be as genteel as I can, but I want their organization destroyed. Considering the blood on their hands, they should be treated as any other terrorist group. And do you know what rights a terrorist or ununiformed combatant has?"

    "No."

   &nb sp;"None. You are either a member of a recognized armed force, or a civilian who takes no part in the fighting. You cross that line from either direction, and your standing becomes very shaky. They've made no formal declaration of war, and are operating without any authority. The Des Moines and her crew operate under letters of Marque and Reprisal from over a dozen governments. They are recognized as soldiers by all those governments, and would have full Geneva Convention rights, that's also why they all wear distinctive uniforms, so they can be recognized."

    "What about Harems and their part in the fighting?" Angie asked, "Sometimes they were only given dogtags."

    "That's sufficient, as long as you don't ditch them and try to be a civilian. If someone searches a dozen Tamers and their girls and only one has dogtags, he's a soldier, the others are terrorists."

    "Okay," Angie relented, "So what do we do until then."

    "We relax," he explained, "That's the doctors' orders, and the Captain's. I think the crew needs some time off as well. They've been through a lot. I can't imagine having me, and then Kerrik walking around, was easy on them."

    "Miguelito had everyone on board convinced Kerrik was going to kill them all, for your death."

    "Miguelito gets excited, and you were all reacting to the loss. I'm sure Kerrik . . . well, he's probably going to be pissed for sometime, but he's a big boy. When he's less stressed out, he'll come around. He's pretty stressed too. He lost a lot of his Harem recently, and he's coming to realize what I did, finally. That a lot of what happens to us, to we authors, is self-inflicted. We impose our belief on the rest of the world."

    "That's pretty grim," Angie told him.

    "Speaking of grim, I think it's time to tell the others what happened."

    "You didn't tell Kerrik, you specifically didn't tell Kerrik."

    "Kerrik knows. The others need to know different things. Things I'm going to tell them now."

    "Then why representatives of the ship's company, and the Third Guard's cadre?" Angie asked.

    "Because I want whoever they're spying for to know too. Like I said, sometimes you feed the spies a little raw meat to keep the info flowing."

    "Well, this little Titmouse thinks her Master has flipped his lid." She carefully picked him up out of bed, and set him on his feet. Blossom and Acer steadied him by snuggling against him. Angie tried to frown, but wound up grinning instead. "Let's drive everybody crazy then."

    She led them to a large mess hall, about the only space that could contain the throng who attended. They sat him down and the noise which had been oppressive, vanished as all strained to hear what he was going to tell them.

    "Some of you may have guessed, Miss MixMaster was a Legendary who'd infiltrated our group to ensure our success. I knew who she was and why. I also hoped that by giving her respect, attention and place, that she'd work with us, and eventually join us. I was disastrously wrong on that regard."

    "You can say that again," Jen commented and was shushed.

    "It's a fair point, and I might take the risk again. I thought she knew that I knew, I was wrong. Next time I'll tell her. She has since meddled in the affairs of another Legendary and is temporarily off the playing field. The Evangelion of this world was instrumental in bringing me back."

    "Who was she?" Warden asked, "I didn't recognize her."

    "Rbt," Maus growled, and stared at him.

    His moment of stoicism lingered. "There is absolutely no truth that a BunnyGirl who single-handedly defeated a Seraph and Demon-Goddess, masterminded the destruction of a Mantis, converted two Jokettes into MaryAnn Drews and put into motion the plan that returned me to all of you, is Evangelion. Even Evangelion isn't that powerful. And none of you need to know the truth about her."

    "Typhonna?" one of the Third Guards sergeants asked worriedly.

    "All of the Titan Legendaries are accounted for, Typhonna included," he replied, "My immediate plans, taken from the Doctors' orders, is to relax. The Captain has been planning a shakedown cruise of her new ship, and I intend to simply wait until events unfold, or we make port, before I act."

    "What about the threat of Sanctuary?" Shana asked.

    "Sanctuary is no longer a threat," he told them.

    "If the Council heard that," Fred began, "They'd go completely ape!"

    "That's why I want you to tell them. Tell them Kerrik Wolf was here. Tell them I forced the Legendary who then killed me, to return my harem home safe and unharmed. Tell them that I've returned from the dead. Tell then that the Sorceress of the South planned to kill Lindi Valiant and with the Sorceress of the North, and West, planned on subjugating all of Sanctuary. Tell them that the Celestial Alliance played them like violins and that the authors are planning to wait for Sanctuary to simply collapse in internecine warfare, then move in to clean things up after the S-Goths have slaughtered each other in great batch lots. Tell them that's why Sanctuary no longer matters."

    "You act like I've still got connections there," Fred complained.

    "You were part of Lindi Valiant's clique. Kamara was part of their military, and there are eyes and ears from other factions present in this room. Tell them what I said, that I know who you all are, and that nothing Sanctuary learns will help them."

    He let them mutter among themselves for a time. He sipped from a glass of water, and waited patiently.

    "What about the Celestial Alliance?" Shana asked.

    He nodded to Seadamar, who brought out a bucket of Pokèballs.

    "Eight went to the Navy for interrogation. Hazel killed the rest, then she and The March Hare, reassembled them," he said, "Another reason to leave Stupid Fuzzbutt alone. Hazel is a Jokette, The March Hare is an insane Megami-Sama, and that BunnyGirl commands both of them."

    "Like me?" Voltaire asked.

    "Yes, Voltaire, thirty-five Francinesteins. All the former leadership of the Celestial Alliance. All dead, all revived. And all by characters I created. That is why Sanctuary no longer matters. I could snuff it out tomorrow. I could find all the bolt-holes and hidden places. I could find all their clones awaiting transfer and all their secret plans to gain one kind or another of immortality. I can choose who among them lives, and who dies. And, that no longer holds my interest. The Celestial Alliance is the principal threat, and they are who I intend to bend my will against. If Sanctuary leaves the authors alone, we may be willing to forgo the 'red' part of the coming revolution, and proceed directly to the 'white' part. Sanctuary will change, whether the authors press or not. They've wounded themselves fighting us, and now the cracks are open and bleeding. Patching those cracks, healing those wounds, will change Sanctuary forever, and the authors will only have to stand around and applaud."
>> ==================
    "Sanctuary isn't going to be the only one who goes mad when that gets out," Miguelito said as he walked beside Kelvin, "There's going to be people who will wonder why you and the others won't take the fight directly to their capital, or any capital."

    "I did, and the rulers fled," he reminded his friend, "It's the rulership, and governance of Sanctuary, Hell half the Leagues on this planet, that are the problem. The idea that the strongest have no responsibility to the weakest is far too common. Unlike my home where there's also the feeling that the weakest have a right to all the strength of the strongest. No politician wants to be left out of power."

    They entered his room, and Miguelito considered Voltaire, Warden, and Jen. "Kerrik said some things, and I was hoping you could explain them."

    "First of all, Kerrik was wrong about a lot of things. From my point of view. Kerrik is Kerrik, and his view of reality colors what he sees. But as an author, it colors reality too. You saw how my Harem acted like a pack of thunderstruck bunnies around him. I'd never tolerate that. But it was Kerrik changing things as he saw fit. So his explanations, are only true for him. Not for everybody."

    "So the Land of the Dead?"

    "There is no such place. I created the restaurant, and the theatre, when I was over there. I didn't want to talk to him where anyone could be eavesdropping. And he needed strikers, so I let a kid who'd had some bad breaks, and learned her lesson, get a good look at him."

    "But he was so sure."

    "For him it's true," Kelvin explained, "For me, not so much. I got Red Plague, because it's still in existence in this world. He didn't because he believed it doesn't still exist. He told me I'd made a mistake, essentially, by trying to entice that Legendary into the fold. Events unfold now that prove that wrong. I sensed that the events would play out as they have. Kerrik has been ambushed repeatedly, because he can't sense how the story is going to flow. While he could beat me seven ways til Sunday with his magical talents, I can't be caught flatfooted as he has."

    "The world is different, whether you're standing on it, or whether he is," Miguelito realized, "Is that why you didn't call him?"

    "That, and I sensed that calling in another author would have driven the story straight into Greek Tragedy," Kelvin explained.

    " 'Everybody dies', I can see why you'd avoid that. Why not tell him that?" Miguelito asked as Kelvin climbed back into bed.

    "Because until he made the connection, he probably wouldn't have believed me, until it was too late. And that disbelief would have destroyed the plans I had in works. We had neither time nor resources to develop a new paradigm. Maybe now we do. But I think coordinating, while holding each other at a distance, will be the better course of action, until we can develop a way to balance what we can and cannot do."

    "Or what you force the universe to let or not let you do," Miguelito said as he collected Voltaire. "Kelvin, you, Kerrik, may be some of the others . . . you've proven interesting, in a way I haven't been interested in anything for a long time. And not because you both know about theme parks." He grinned. "Neither of you should expend yourselves foolishly. I'll tell Kerrik, and I'm telling you. My door will remain open for you, whenever you need it. I understand General Woundwort told Kerrik the same thing, you have friends here. If you need us, call on us."

    "Thank you."

    "Thank you, sir." Miguelito and Voltaire left.
>> ==================
    "The author's what?" Kamara asked quietly, but standing over him and glaring, showed him that death was imminent unless answers were forthcoming.

    "The author's mass-producing Sanctuary Goths," Kelvin said and glanced at the few officers, and more non-coms who had crowded into the room. Rainbow and Blossom looked ready to intervene at a moment's notice.

    "That - is - not - possible."

    "We know how S-Goths are made. It is not so difficult to understand that a more efficient means could be found. Just because I'm no great shakes with magic, alchemy and necromancy, don't assume all of us are."

    Kamara slumped, and had to be caught by two of her sergeants. "They'll kill us. They'll kill us all." She looked up at him. "I sent the message, just like you wanted. You know what response I got?"

    "Pulled your security clearance?"

    "They aren't talking, to any of us! The scrambler codes on all the direct lines were changed. Phone numbers are redirecting our calls. People who backed Lindi, and opposed her, are refusing to acknowledge that the Third Guards ever existed!"

    "Hence the solution. The author has the planet's largest concentration of S-Goths, maybe greater numbers than Sanctuary itself. I think the Third Guards would be a good force to guard them."

    "This is insane," one of the Tyrannodames said, "Why would an author want us? Why would an author trust us? On your word alone?!"

    " 'He Who Must Be Feared'?" Blossom replied, "Of course he would. You've just seen how your patrons treated you. You've seen how two authors treated those in their charge. Would a third working with those two be so different?"

    "Who would you rather serve?" Rainbow asked, "S-Goths serving an author, seeking to make Sanctuary what it promised to be, or the old guard? I did not see the 'Night of Wrath', but some of you did. The 'Protectors of all Pokègirls' abandoned their charges and fled. Pets, lovers, and children cast aside for more speed."

    "This is also contingent on the author agreeing. There's every chance he won't. But I wanted you to know your options, should that opportunity arise. I suggest you let your troopers know, and let them decide for themselves. Things may happen very quickly. You may have to move fast."

    "We'll talk, privately," Kamara said, "I bet you don't want to us to officially report this."

    "How can you?" Kelvin asked.

    "Bastard," Kamara said as she left, and took most of the troops with them.

    A pair of sergeants remained behind. "The Captain has offered - to Bless us, and help us to become Angels. No offence to you or the other, but we're sick of fighting, sick of not knowing our place as anything other than under someone's heel."

    "I expect some will have other way," he said and extended his hand, "Good luck to you."

    They shook it and left. He was immediately surrounded by powerful arms. "Thank you Master," Rainbow said, "For them, and for Sanctuary."

    "It's not over yet, it's not even the end of the beginning, but it is starting."

    "And we will live, or our children will live, to see it through," Blossom added.

    "You've been talking to Sabrina again," he accused.

    "The Megami have been very busy talking to her," Blossom informed him.

    "Oh good grief!"
>> ==================
    Sabrina walked awkwardly from the assignation she'd had. They could at least arrange for one or two a night, not six, she thought, I think I know how Master feels, with two dozen Pokègirls ready to jump him. She walked to the quarters she'd taken. Then she saw her Master.
    "I've been neglecting you, while you've been doing your best for the Harem," he said, "I apologize."

    "Master, you don't have to apologize," she said happily.

    It's not like I'm built like most of the girls, or most of my breed, she thought.

    She froze as he walked over and kissed her on the lips. "I don't have to, but I am. I appreciate you taking a lot of the load off me, however much you enjoyed it. I appreciate the help." Before she could answer he kissed her again, and hugged her tightly.

    She held him close and leaned against him. Another night, a Taming would be good . . . but, she thought tiredly.

    "Master, taking a page from your book, would just cuddling tonight be all -YIPE!" she squealed as he picked her up easily.

    "Certainly, you just had to ask," he said as he carried her to his quarters.
>> ==================
    The scream of abject terror and agony woke every Pokè on the ship. That it came from their Master's cabin brought it especial attention from some.

    Maus arrived to find Master holding a sobbing Sabrina. "Not a man, not a man, just a Pokègirl, just a Pokègirl," the sobbing Dildoqueen told herself and her frightened Master. "Master, take me, take me like a Pokègirl, take me as your Pokègirl, please!"

    He didn't expect this and he'll need time to work into it, Maus thought of her Master's frightened expression, Time that is simply a waste, and delay to doing what is needed. She moved up, through the other girls and to her Master's side. Warden had Sabrina in her arms, comforting the girl as their Master had been trying to. Direct approach, Maus thought as she pulled down his shorts and engulfed him, purring up a storm. Soon her magic had done its work, and Sabrina was more presentable.

    "G'd Msrr," she told him and glanced towards Sabrina. He smiled ruefully, nodded, and took the tearful Dildoqueen in his arms.

    He understands, just a little frightened by her reaction, then Maus realized, And since I told him, I'll have to be the one who explains it! When am I gonna learn? Maus helped Warden push the others back while Sabrina laid down on her stomach, legs folded under her so Master could take her doggie style.
>> ==================
    He left the peacefully sleeping Sabrina in his bed. She'd gotten a stranglehold on a couple of pillows and was obviously continuing their encounter in her, much more pleasing, dreams.

    Maus was waiting for him as he headed for the mess hall and something to eat. "What just happened in there?" he asked.

    Maus handed him a paper, carefully written. 'Sabrina saw some of the recordings of the treatment you, and the other authors got. She especially fixed on the sexual abuse and mutilation aspects. While you did nothing to cause her reaction, when you died at the hands of a Legendary, she assumed that anyone with male equipment was a likely target. We all deal with grief in our own ways.'

    "She should see Dr. - "

    Maus took the page out of his hand and turned it over, pointing to entry 'D' 'Doctors may help for a permanent cure, but the first step is securing that she is yours, and that you want her, and that she isn't a human male, but a Pokègirl with some odd traits.'

    "I just wanted to thank her, for seeing to your needs as I could not," he replied, "And I have heard, seeing to the needs of many of the Megami aboard, including getting half the crew pregnant."

    Maus pointed to item 'J', 'Sabrina loved helping you, realizing you didn't hate her, or your girls, you were old-fashioned and that we had to understand you're basically a one-woman guy, who took time to unhook, and reacclimate. She loved you for that, for letting her stay and help, but wanted a chance with you. Even if she would be only on the receiving end.'

    Then item 'Q' 'Three-quarters of the crew, and helped us keep the other quarter from molesting you and Kerrik. She enjoyed the duty and being of service.'

    "Thank you, you obviously put quite a lot of thought into this. What else am I missing?"
    Maus made a gesture of a stack of paper over her head.

    "Gee, thanks, I'm so glad I'm doing such a good job," he said, "Should I make you my social secretary?"

    "J'n," Maus growled, and mimed a punch at him.

    "Combat training, or Taming?" His expression froze. "Of course, both. Do you know how weird I feel beating the crap out of someone who could break me in half with one finger, and her getting off on it?"

    Maus tousled his hair and offered an arm to escort him to the mess hall.
>> ==================
    "I guess I owe Maus one, eh?" Jen said, then froze, "It's not like Angie isn't doing a good job as Alpha!"

    "Angie's still a little intimidated by me and our mission," he replied, "Maus' focus is on Taming and getting Tamed. And I suspect she talked with Angie before she made her suggestions. I'm just not ready to set up a rotation." Her Master shrugged, or squirmed. "It seems so . . . clinical."

    "Let Maus set it up. Let us seduce our Master, or work out a time and place for an assignation." Jen froze again. "Sorry, the Megami have a collection of really trashy romance novels and manga . . . some they wrote themselves. If Eve ever read them . . . we wouldn't still be sitting here."

    "How many of them were written after I came on aboard?"

    "Oh, they were writing them before you came on board, and before Kerrik came on board, and . . . I'm going to shut up before you ask about any starring multiple authors."

    He twirled the heavy staff in his hands, the shot load rattling from one end of the pipe to the other. "I want that information."

    "Then come get it," she told him. "When I can't keep it in any longer, the word's 'Now is the time.'"

    " 'Now is the time'," he said and struck. Jen parried and moved across the practice mat.

    "By the way, I don't respect you. I love you and am rather afraid of you, and for you," Jen told him, then shouted, "Don't get all embarrassed in a combat zone! What are you, stupid!?"

    "Playing with my head?"

    "That's what I can reach," Jen replied, and absorbed a fast one-two combo, but he slipped in to get a knee strike. "Damn that hurts!" she told him as he moved out of counterstrike range and she grinned, "You follow that up with a cunt punch and you'll have most girls on the ground. Me too, but you'll be underneath, and I'll be the one pounding."

    "Cheryl's a good teacher. And you should have warned her before you challenged her to a one-on-one fight." He grinned.

    "I'm a HyperDoll," Jen replied as she parried his attacks, "Besides, she was warned."

    "Maybe I should get you an Everstone." He took advantage of her shock, getting a knee shot to her groin and the heel of his hand against her nose.

    Jen reeled back, her eyes glowing and her hands aching to touch him. The wet spot on her shorts having nothing to do with exertion. She shook her head. "Now who's teasing," she accused, "But even if you did, and a T-shirt saying 'My Master loves me so much he got me an Everstone' everyone would think I browbeat you into it."

    "Let'em," he replied, as staff strikes, kicks and head butts tried to find a weakness in her defense, she dodged only the last, blocking the rest.

    "Now you understand why you scare us," she told him, "You've got your mission. Kerrik has his bubble. The other authors have damn knows what, and the outside world can go howl. You're aware of things, but your perception of them prevails. I think you were that way even before you came here."

    "A lot of people are," he countered, keeping up the feints, strikes and throws as they walked around the room.

    "Not like you authors. The S-Goths had it right, you could all change the world. But a conference and working groups to support the ways and means would have been the way to go." Jen smirked. "And the Tyrannodames would have -just - been enough to keep you from killing each other."

    "Somehow I think that might not have worked as well as you think, but it would have worked better than what they did," he told her, setting the staff aside and picking up several sets of chains. "Time to change things up, a bit."

    "How are those -!?" Jen tumbled over, each wrist chained to the opposite ankle. She tugged on the chains, and they held firm. He got in a couple of cheap shots while she was down.

    Her eyes glowed with pleasure at the handling. "EEEK!" she squealed as icy cold mist invaded her private parts, "You're gonna PLAY for that!" She struggled. "Get me all hot then freeze me!"

    "That's the game," he told her, as he watched her closely.

    Then she realized if she left any slack, somehow, it vanished in an instant. "I thought you couldn't move stuff in normal time."

    "I'm - switching - chains," he told her as the chains seemed to tighten as she moved, "Putting - tighter - ones - on - and - knocking - off the - longer - ones." He walked around and she saw the pile of chains behind her. Then he vanished, and appeared back, with a similar, smaller pile beside him.

    "Okay, this works, and - Master!" she shouted as he reeled slightly. She snapped the chains like paper and was halfway to him when he straightened up.

    "Not when you are protecting me." His smile was the irritating one that could be properly answered in only one way.

    She nearly barreled into him anyway. She contented herself bumping into him and controlling his fall. Relieving him of his pants and shorts in the process. "Now is the time," she told him, and pinned his arms and legs, "What's your safe word, Master?"

    "I know you won't hurt me," he said.

    Jen felt the tears fall as she impaled herself on him.
>> ==================
    "I worry about you two," Acer commented as she and Roxanne walked beside Jen. The HyperDoll happily carried her Master as if he were fragile, and she'd kill anything that looked at him wrong.

    "He needs to learn to fight live targets, and I get off being hit. What's the problem?" Jen asked, "He only hits me, and we know it's all play."

    Roxanne snorted.

    "Don't get so uppity, I still have that purple kryptonite," Jen growled.

    Roxanne blanched at that, then spotted Seadamar. "Oh good, my watch is over, gotta go bye!" And raced off.

    "Purple?" her Master asked.

    "Causes flaccid paralysis of most voluntary muscles, except those involved with the Taming systems," Seadamar explained, "As those are the only ones receiving mental commands, they become hypersensitized."

    He rolled his eyes at their grins. "Who am I going to have to talk to about this?" he asked.

    Seadamar continued. "They did not accept Angie's authority on the composition of the force going to the other world, and were prepared to force the issue before the transition. Isaik prepared the material, Maus neutralized the pair. It has since become a running joke."

    "Don't press that one too hard. If they are getting dumped on because of it, I'll have to step in. Tell them that it only works for us, I don't want some clever idiot using it against them."

    "Understood, I'll relay that to Angie. Jen is the only one who might be considered as abusing the privilege, and has been warned about proper deployment," Seadamar said.

    "Good grief. I wonder if Kerrik has these problems."
>> ==================
    "Captain, if you don't mind my asking? What are your plans for the Sisterhood's offer?" he asked the Captain as they sat at breakfast in her day cabin.

    "I honestly was nervous about the whole thing," the Captain admitted, "While I didn't want to tell Eve to her face, I had serious doubts about the Sisterhood and that she and they seemed to have completely missed the entire purpose of the Des Moines experiment, and what we'd hoped to accomplish."

    "She has her own agenda," he replied, "The idea of training Megami to do what they aren't good at, is not something most people expect. Megami are either good, or bad at something. Thus spaketh the dex, so mote it be."

    She smirked. "You figured it out?" the Captain asked.

    "I had contact with more sources of information," he replied, "But you isolated yourself from Masters, and the support they could give. You train everyone aboard ship to master firefighting, and the basic drills. And you've placed yourselves where there is no one to give you help in conducting a task. So you either learn to learn, or you die. It's harsh but I can respect that. What I don't understand is what's going to happen when all of you deliver. As I understand it, Sabrina has impregnated nearly two-thirds of your crew."

    "Ninety-seven percent of the adults. The plan has been for some time, to increase, then divide the ship's company. But we never could figure out how to do that," the Captain explained, "One-fifty is about all we can provide food for, and increasing the crew size puts a strain on that, or puts us at the mercy of the Leagues and Navy, they could starve us out. Bullets we can do without. Not food."

    "You've been getting shipments to supply us," he apologized, "I didn't consider it."

    She waved away his concern. "The Sunshine League is happy to have you blowing up their enemies, where they won't lose people and property. The Navy is happy to have such a trouble magnet where there's enough firepower to dismember whatever you attract. So supplies are available. Including those blue-tipped shells. Do I even want to know?"

    "Not really. So . . . what are you going to do with the sudden increase of youngsters?" he asked.

    "Two things. Blue, Johto, and Silver River have been pressuring us to join them a lot more closely. The Sunnies have been pushing the Navy to offer 'join us or else', and the Navy has been resisting. Not that we're a minor power, but with a string of victories, I can see their desire to simplify things. We may have a way to give them all what they want. And you had a big hand in it."

    He paled and set down his tea. "I am almost frightened to ask how."

    "We'll go to the Mothball Fleet sites, recover ships of a similar mass to the Daisy Mae, and duplicate her, using their material."

    "That would be . . . oh," he realized, "We're part of that plan, aren't we."

    "Of course. Also with Doctor Carmen in tow, we have access to another critical resource, the long-term abandoned storage. None of those other Leagues will trust the ones we pull from just Sunshine. They'll have to allow us to draw from their own. And they've already agreed. To both the logic, and the access."

    "How many Megami are we talking about?" he asked worriedly.

    "Eight hundred. Megs and Sammies."

    His eyes bugged out. "Eight-hundred! They have eight-hundred abandoned in long-term storage!"

    "No, they have twenty-four hundred, but only one in three will be able to handle the rigor of sea life. The rest will be quietly released by us to find . . . acceptable Tamers. The Sisterhood and the Alliance regularly go through those in Abandoned Storage, but avoid killing the ones who would be unacceptable, but not antithetical to their goals. We are going to simply . . . you're an author, so you know about, the other half of Tamers.org?"

    "It's a Pokègirl only - you're going to simply disperse them to appropriate Tamers?" he asked and cocked his head as he stared, "Have you flipped?! The Leagues would never stand for that!"

    "We don't have to have the Leagues stand for it. Just Sunshine, Blue, Johto and Silver River. They want their Megami privateers, they release their unwanted spares to us, no questions asked. As long as our rejects aren't released back into the Leagues they were from. Every League is sure that the Tamers of other Leagues can't hold the attention of rambunctious Pokègirls." They both rolled their eyes at that. "It's already been arranged and agreed to. And they have to admit the ones they release are more likely to be patriotic than a random crew. Of course they'll cherry-pick their officers, commissioned and not, and probably their crews, but we'll get all of them. They'll get their ships, which neutralizes us as a threat to them, we get more Megami able to act as independent beings, rather than at the whims of random chance and what the Cosmic Awareness will provide. My plan is to get big enough that any Megami who does want to learn how to better herself, can take a tour, A year, or two, before the mast, then go out. Not as a slave to higher powers, and without the arrogance of the undeserving gifted, but as someone who knows the pain and the joy of achievement. Of doing something yourself, and not having it given to you." The fervor in the captain's face worried him. She felt true yearning to achieve this goal. "The first time you could look around and say 'I did that!' You're an engineer, you know how that feels. Imagine doing it for the first time in your life, as an adult. Then imagine doing it as a Pokègirl."

    The Megami-Sama's expression gave him an uncomfortable feeling of deja vu. Like when I talk to Miguelito about amusement parks. It's a passion that I don't need to understand, other than it rules her life.
     "Better than Taming in some ways I'll bet," he said, "Captain, with all due respect, I still think you've gone nuts."

    "That's your fault. And the other authors. You think outside the box, and you warp reality just by you being there." She smiled. "I also have met some of your creations, who are also off-the-wall, if not completely crazy. But they are effective! That's an intoxicating cocktail. It was difficult to safely tap into that: you dragging us hither and yon like leaves in the wind, battering down all barriers in your way by force of personality. But we did figure out ways to use what we can do in new and different ways. And like you, we craft a solution that appealed to both the publically altruistic goals of our would-be patrons, and their baser, hidden goals. They get the win they can take to the press and public, and the win they can take home to bed."

    "How are you going to control them?" he gasped, "The Megs and Sammies on the other ships."

    "Simple. Once they are released, you use them to make the ships. We winnow the chaff from the kelp, and then, we take the next big source of crew, who will only be loyal to us."

    "I'm almost afraid to ask."

    "The Celestial Alliance has always taken prisoners. Megami who found out too much and wouldn't go along, who opposed because they'd been brainwashed or were too slow to pick it up. Cheryl, Gwendoline and a few dozen of our own people have confirmed this. They'll provide the independent crew and cadre each ship will need to combat any patriotism or jingoism. I want those other Leagues to have a ship they can reliably call on for rescue, fire support, or just to show the flag, but I don't want their crews to be slavishly loyal. They'll have Letters of Marque and Reprisal from several nations, but they're going to have home waters to patrol and support."

    "Neutral, but leaning to one League in particular."

    She nodded. "Your idea, keep your spies in close and let them see things. Each ship will be interested in protecting their home territory, but none will undertake offensive action on the behalf of any League, without justification."
    "Captain, I still think you're nuts. But if you can get the steel and parts, the Megami to do the work, and the political cover so the Leagues won't declare war on us, I'll work with Miguelito to get your ships built."

    She smiled, then her expression softened. "Do you know how I got my job? As captain? Not just because I'm a good politician, or that I can retain a bit of each of the disciplines to understand what they are referring to. Gwendoline would be a good captain for that. I'm captain, and hope to be commodore, because I can feel the morale of any group, like you feeling the flow of the story, or Kerrik touching truewizardry." She looked at him. "Or PJAuthor hearing music, or Micah -"

    "Okay, I'm scared, what's your point?" He held up his hands.

    "I intend to destroy the Celestial Alliance, with the same kind of political operation that you, Kerrik and Micah are planning to use against Sanctuary. By training a core of Megs and Sammies to be more human and less arrogant. To understand your triumphs and travails, those of average Pokès, and Humans. Maybe we'll scheme, it's what Megami do to better the world. But we won't fall into the trap of the people who are 'so heavenly-minded they're no earthly good'. We won't be the Alliance's ivory tower-types who come up with grand plans. We'll be down in the weeds and the mud actually helping. Understanding. Putting a slight new spin on things. Not, 'we'll make this world paradise', just 'we'll make this neighborhood a better place'. Not the grand, sweeping goals that grind too many 'unfortunates' under the wheels. Face-to-face, hand-to-hand help. They'll be trained here, but they'll spread across the Leagues."

    "A grandiose dream," he said as he felt the pull of it himself.

    "The entire point of the Des Moines experiment. That's why they took the ship all those centuries ago. The Celestial Alliance is not new. They were already forming it as the Revenge War was waged. The ones who had an eye to 'what's next' and decided if they had humanity on its back, they would only let it stand up as their protectorate. Then the plagues hit, and the infrastructure and people they'd counted on to do the work for them, all died. So they had to start over, the great thinkers who assumed since they knew better, that they knew all."

    "Or that they really knew anything," he added.

    "True. Book-learned idiots. Like what you suggested to those S-Goths. Be the webbing that held things together. Instead they secluded themselves until times were better."

    "Sound like the Great Old Ones from Lovecraft."

    "The invincible, unconcerned other is a common fear. Lovecraft's monsters, the S-Goths, or the Alliance. You authors surround yourselves with a bevy of desirable, but independent women. So there is never a time when you can silence the warning cries of people who understand."

    "That's the second time you've mentioned the authors, and that you know who, and perhaps where they are."

    "We know who from the siterip we read, and the where from a combination of the techniques Miguelito used: combing and combining news reports, and a few special talents. One of our officers can sense the connections between individuals, the red-string-of-fate, if you will. Once we saw the knot you created we, mistakenly, put off tracking it. Then she saw Kerrik's, and the knot was similar. So, with a combination of seeing your footprints, and seeing the evidence that a knot should be there, but only a blank spot is present, we knew we could find where each of you was. Not in real-time, but we could get close. The confrontation with a Legendary at nearly every intersection, confirmed it. We bowed our head, went Megami-vague and offered apologies and platitudes about the lines we were walking, and that it was obvious we were tracking the Legendary, and we retreated. But now we know what to look for in the news reports and the disruptions to the world's order."
    "And you don't object?"

    "The world needs to change. You and the others are taking out the real players, and giving us down in the weeds a chance to flower and grow. We can make the world better, by actually caring about the individual people in it, instead of all of the people as one lump."

    "Captain, I think I know what you mean, and what you're hoping to do. And my prayers go with you. The Establishment usually executes people who are actually trying to make a difference, and promotes the charlatans they want the sheep to follow. Jesus Christ was a bigger revolutionary than Che Guevara ever was, yet two-thousand years later, there were still forces lying about who did what and how much good."

    "Don't fret so. Three hundred years later, we still know about the man from Nazareth. I only know Guevara from some obscure history books." She paused. "One last thing," the Captain said darkly, "This conversation never took place. You know, and you know why we're helping you, and will try to help the others. But what we do after we part ways, is neither one's business."

    "Unless it threatens our own interests," he replied, "How many ships do you want?"

    "Officially, not including this one, six."
>> ==================
    "Master?" the tentative note penetrated his consciousness. He looked over to see Isaik, and a couple of young Megami coming towards him. All three of them were smudged with grease and looked to have been thoroughly enjoying themselves.

    "Machine shop," said a teenager who quickly followed the group, and kept glancing at him in a way he recognized and was wary of.

    Fear and interest, he thought, and was glad of the two guards who were now permanently shadowing him, I think they got the idea from Kerrik's group, but I can see the point. The heavyweight champ has a bodyguard not because he can't defend himself, but so he doesn't have to.

     "I know how dangerous a shop can be," he said, "Did they learn all the safety lessons?"

    Isaik giggled. "We were just raking the chips out of the machines, and separating them. Molly showed us how sharp they were, and why we had to wear gloves and use tools to do it."

    "Always take the chuck key out!" the little ones chorused, and lapsed into giggles.

    "When you goin' to teach uh to make hull metal?!" one of the littler ones piped up, her missing front teeth made pronunciation difficult, "Wit all the pretty piderweb!?"

    "Piderweb?" he asked.

    Please don't tell me we have stress fractures already! he thought but kept his face neutral.

    "Traw!" the kit insisted.

    "The carbon nanotubes? Little straws all of the same stuff?"

    "Yeah!"

    ; "You'll have time to practice," he assured them.

    Boy will they have time, he lamented.

    "Wanna make all the tool fulla piderweb!"

    "A whole boat full of Damascus steel parts, I can imagine that," he said to Isaik, to the Megami he said, "Only if you have the Captain's and Chief Engineer's permission. I don't speak for them."

    "You can make'em," the girl insisted.

    The teenager caught his expression, despite how he tried to hide it. "Maybe we can practice on the scrap metal, we won't need the Captain's permission for that." She led them away, and threw an apologetic look over her shoulder.

    "They didn't mean anything, M - Janus," Isaik said softly.

    "I know. There's a big gap between how I want people to think of me, of all the authors in fact, and how they do look at us. Having that gap thrown at you is . . . disconcerting."

    "Janus," Isaik said, "She's just a kid, she didn't mean anything by it."

    He sighed. "I know, there's more to it than you know. Ask Angie to get a meeting with Miguelito and our tech types, somewhere private, and we'll need to talk. In the meantime. I think I'm going to either take a nap, or beat my head against the wall."

    Isaik gave the guards a deliberate look, before changing to Underworld and heading off.
>> ==================
    The Captain sat at the old typewriter. While she'd consulted the senior officers, and they'd agreed with her path of action, this was not a communique that she intended to dictate, transmit, or place on a computer. This is going to be hand-carried, she thought as she went over her notes and typed what she'd written.

To: Lucifer, Commander, Sisterhood of the Thorn
From: Officer Commanding Privateer Des Moines

    Initial discussions between you representative and the officers of this ship have been concluded. After time and reflection, we must decline the specific details of your most generous offer.

    The reasons for the refusal are many, but fall into two basic categories. First, they do not serve the important goals of the Des Moines Experiment (see attachment 1). Second, currently, all major Megami-majority organizations are secret/secretive, which creates a state of apprehension in too many people.

    The Des Moines experiment was specifically to take the 'either good or bad at something' Megami, isolate them from any support base, and train them to learn, as humans and other Pokès learn. To cease relying exclusively on the power of the Cosmic Awareness. Since the condition of 'not learning' does not appear to have a genetic component, only the rather harsh and isolated regimen of man against the sea seems to have the desired effect in all cases where the Megami or Megami-Sama desires to be changed and belong. Your desire to have a 'Celestial crew' which implies other breeds as well, would dilute and even destroy the training ground that is the Des Moines experiment (see the effect of other helpful Celestials in the mix, attachment 1, pages 17 to 36).

    Of the second item: on contacting my sources in various governments about you and your organization, I was deluged with the mis- and possibly dis- information about you, your group, as well as your motives, goals, desires, etc. The saddest part is that even those who knew about you had no faith that you weren't the really 'wetwork' portion of the Celestial Alliance disguising yourself as another group. More of them who had even heard of you, had conflated your organization with the Alliance. The public needs something aboveboard and obvious to point to when they think of Megami/Megami-Sama acting in a group.

    While we have no truck with the Alliance, they had never made my animus personal. Until recently. The attack on the person of a VIP traveling with us galvanized me to action. The report that they had kidnaped the VIP and his allies further set me against them. The final straw was that one of their representatives contacted me during the time between your representative making contact, and her arrival. I will hold in confidence what was offered, as I will not reveal the details of your offers to anyone outside my senior officers, but I was revolted and frightened by what I learned.

    I offer a counteroffer. One I hope you will accept, or can form the basis for more successful negotiations. We have been receiving pressure from various Leagues, and with support of Nuevo Ten, the Sages, and our VIPs, I have a solution. We will be producing several cruisers identical in all ways to the Des Moines. More alike than even her sister ships. To do this, Johto, Sunshine, Silver River and the Blue League have offered to release to us the complete Megami/Megami-Sama population of their Leagues' abandoned long-term storage. I suspect they are also releasing some of their political prisoners as well, but that doesn't matter to me. All told, some twenty-three hundred and eighty-five will be available for the effort to duplicate these cruisers. I would strongly advise that you send agents of your own to observe the process. And to make contact with any likely recruits. We also want some experts to bless the process to reduce potential errors and losses to life and limb.

    Once the Leagues' demands for six ships have been met, and the process has been error-tested and corrected, we will proceed to a site, and prepare an eighth Daisy Mae for the Sisterhood's use. I would request that you provide us the crew of Megami and Megami-Sama only, for a period of six months. That has been shown to be the effective lower limit for the Des Moines effect to take hold and backsliding to minimize. Once the crew and cadre have been properly trained, the ship will be yours, and you will have seen the effect of our methods.

    The Daisy Mae and her sisters (assuming that the Leagues beyond Sunshine allow it) will be a public face for the population who fearfully whisper in quiet corners about 'the Alliance'. They will have an independent and friendly group to point to and say that not all of us are like the Alliance.

    There is one item that I will have delivered to you. The mere existence of it is troubling enough without having it aboard my ship. You might have people able to analyze or utilize it without cringing. The Megami-Sama, The March Hare, who hates your group and you personally for some reason, devised a way of cutting off Megami and Megami-Sama from the Cosmic Awareness. Whether the effect is psychosomatic, the result of trauma, or is an actual effect, I will leave to your scientists. She thinks of herself as a Jokette, and even a real Jokette is cowed by her cruelty and inventiveness. She completely dismantled all the Alliance leadership who were in our custody. Enclosed are the organs she removed from all of them. It was in a different place and often in a different form in each Pokègirl, and every single one of them lost the ability to touch the Cosmic Awareness, after they were reassembled. I have included The March Hare's disturbingly clinical notes on the process. Maybe this will help, I would like to get them and all they imply off my ship.

Eve, if you are eavesdropping, please cease at this point. The data here that pertains to you and yours will be contained in a letter I have prevailed on Mr. Choice to pen.

Lucifer, and her designees,

    The other item I have to relate: A source of additional recruits for both of us has appeared. If our local VIP can prevail upon another to provide the magical knowledge, I intend to attack it. The Sunshine League vessel and crew, at a minimum, will accompany us. Our intent is to split the experienced and green crew, and prior to the assault, train them to serviceable levels. The Celestial Alliance has suffered some setbacks, but before this, they established a camp in an elsewhere to contain many of the Megami, Megami-Sama, Seraphs, Angels, et. al. who would have sensed/sought out and sided with the authors. The name of this concentration camp was chosen recently and deliberately: Caomh Sith.

    To say that our VIP's rage was considerable would stretch the term 'understatement' to the bursting point. Having met two of these VIPs, I was also incensed by the callous insult. There is no need to burden him with this information, although I request that you follow my example and leave informing him to our local authority. Never-the-less, I intend to assault it with force majeure. Both to damage the Alliance, and to rescue the captives. Gunfire support I have in abundance. Depending on the level of help our VIP can arrange, we will have sufficient marines, or an embarrassment of riches. But, the more the merrier.

    On a more personal note. Be very careful in your dealings with these VIPs. While the younger ones 'drool out of both ends', older ones, especially Megami-Sama, can develop an irrational desire to wrap them in fluffy blankets and feed them warm soup until they feel better about the world. A Hunter Ophanim from Sanctuary, of all places, explained it best. Most Tamers (most people) are pretty thin soup, while the VIPs are pure aviation gasoline. Having dealt with two, I can assure you, that the certainty they seem to exude from their very pores has a very powerful, even spellbinding effect on those around them. They might half-decide and debate, worry about things, but when they move, it is with the force, resolve and deportment of a tsunami or an avalanche. It also induces an extreme territorialism in all Pokègirls around them. Those within the accepted group will mesh in ways that should not be possible with so gentle a Master. I.e. our - even I have fallen victim, thinking of them as mine, or yours. The local one broke conditioning of a fully-indoctrinated member of the Alliance, by simply bending her over a table and not touching her, and converted a HyperDoll into a trusted bodyguard by finding her emotional weak point and shattering her hardened heart. Your VIP has anomalies in his Harem, now and in the past, that would require a normal Tamer to resort to beatings or forced Ferality as punishments, to maintain the peaceful demeanor his Harem evidences.

    Those outside the circle will be viewed by pity, disdain, or outright hostility. I strongly suspect that even a Legendary would be so affected. And would react with characteristic violence if that bond were threatened, or the formation of the bond conflicted with her own self-image.

    In short, tread carefully in your dealings. They seem to all be gentlemen, in the old meaning: someone so skilled at arms they could be secure in being polite to everyone. 'I tolerate you because I could kill you in an instant. You live because I choose to allow it.'

    I look forward to your reply and hope the advice at least is useful.

    The Captain looked over the sheets for typos. Fining none, she put them into an envelope, and then into her safe beside the jar she hoped to be soon rid of. "Hild, you were an idiot, and I hope you burn in whatever Hell they send you to."
>> ==================
    "Rapid prototyping," Janus said as he explained what he could of the Megamis' plan. "Break down the rusted hulks into new material, and then assemble a new ship exactly like this one. Several in fact."

    Miguelito was floored by the entire idea. "Janus, that's beyond the capability of even 150 Megami! Even I couldn't figure out how to juggle that much information, while juggling that much material."

    "What if you had twenty-four hundred Megami and Megami-Sama . . . Good Lord! Did she mean of each?" Janus shook his head, then continued, "We are going to have a lot of experienced, and inexperienced help."

    Miguelito stared at him, feeling his control over his emotions slipping. "Where are we going to get twenty-four or forty-eight HUNDRED Celestials?" Miguelito wanted to know, "Forget controlling them, it's going to be a problem just feeding them. If they stay in their Pokèballs, we can't train them, and if they are out and about, we have to find bunks, mess space, just walking around room. Was this ship able to handle all the people she'll have aboard?"

    "Her wartime crew was about eighteen hundred, so we'd need to either operate from shore, or have a second vessel support us."

    "The other Leagues will never allow this," Commander Genek said, "They know the Daisy Mae has been restored to full battle-worthiness. Short of one of the heavy carriers, this is the most powerful vessel afloat. Even the Lang' couldn't match her in a sea battle. If the Navy had access to two, or more; Johto, Capitol, Hell even Blue would go crazy!"

    Then Janus smiled and explained, "Johto, Blue, and Silver River are behind this operation 100%. While they might not want the others to succeed, they want their part of it to."

    The stunned silence gripping the entire group broke when Seadamar asked, "Are they providing the crews, and logistical support for this operation, in exchange for the ships?"

    "Apparently. Although they probably want to get hold of the technology of the ship. I can see that they'll get the ships, and probably jettison the Megami crew, and run it with a standard crew," he said, "And there's absolutely no guarantee that they'll be able to run the ship with less than its eighteen hundred people. The turbines, and the rest are going to be complicated to use and maintain, and it'll take months to train a crew on operation and maintenance, and I don't think some of them will leave their shiny new warship in a bunch of Megami hands long enough for the tribal knowledge of how things work to be transferred."

    "They'll have a useless and expensive toy, and months if not yearsto master it," Miguelito lamented, "Killing the Goose that Lays the Golden Eggs. When will people learn?"

    "When they decide to go back to being adults and not children," Janus replied, "It's the methodology that I'm worried about. Converting that much metal to plates of metal in situ is one thing. Converting that much metal into the hull, decks, miles of wire, steam lines, watertight seals, and all the rest of the materials that make up a ship. That's what worries me."

    "The hull first," Jen said, "Then do the wires, and the rest." She glanced around. "HyperDolls aren't supposed to be unintelligent, just stupid." She smirked at the chuckles from the others.

    "Okay. More obviously, their cadre. I get the feeling that we're going to be requested to stay aboard this ship and help supervise the work."

    "Master, are we going to tell them the ships can fly?" Roxanne asked.

    "The crews make them fly. But we really need to get some form of propulsion," Janus said.

    It was all Miguelito could do to keep from giggling. The BunnyGirl was so enthusiastic about her solution to the problem, Miguelito thought, And I would never be one to dampen enthusiasm. Especially when the solution was so appropo.

     Janus noted the silence and grins all around him, and immediately looked around suspiciously. "What am I missing?" He glanced at Angie. "Do I want to know?"

    "As I understand it, Brian is your character, your creation," the Titmouse said nervously, combing out her tail as she spoke.

    "Yes."

   & nbsp;"And Stupid Fuzzbutt is yours too?"

    "Yes. I'm starting to dread where this is going."

    Miguelito smiled at that.

    "She did resurrect you," Seadamar pointed out, "Just how is immaterial."

    "I created them at the request of another author for a BunnyGirl story, where she wouldn't instantly evolve into something else. My far-reaching plan was to evolve her into a Battle Angel. Hazel would stress evolve her into an Ingenue, then oversee her conversion to Magic Battle Angel, cute-type."

    "And the snide comments from Brian, that she's managed to carry out?" Isaik asked, "What was that about?"

    "He'd snark off about something, and she'd go accomplish it. She caught a Demon-Goddess by running her down and Taming her after she lost her partner. She defeated a Seraph by using sex attacks, and no threat of physical harm to the Seraph. No Seraph worth the name is going to harm someone as innocent as Stupid Fuzzbutt."

    "Then perhaps, her plan should be put into effect," Angie said, "We have all the ingredients. They're of Japanese ancestry, and they can sing."

    "Why am I wishing for a Widow attack about now?" he asked, "Caught up in one of Stupid Fuzzbutt's ideas? Karma really is a bitch."
>> ==================
    Eko glared at him with an intensity that was probably scarring the paint behind him. It was certainly scaring him. "You expect us to believe this will actually work?!" the Officer Jenny demanded, "Or is this just an attempt for us to look ridiculous for the rest of your adoring fans?"

    "I told you to tie her down and work out that attitude before we proposed this," Antoinette told him.

    "That's still rape," he replied, "And the laws against it are very clear."

    "Then let her go Feral first," the Bardess growled, and advanced on the Officer Jenny, who gave ground from this unexpected attack. "So, songs and music have no power. I suppose the LAW is just poetry and love to you. Maybe you should take a few law books to bed and see if they warm your nights!"

    "Antoinette," he warned, but the Bardess turned on him, and even he gave back.

    "I've watched everybody, everybody tolerate her lip. You, Kerrik, the Captain, well she just insulted me, and I'm going to teach her some respect!" She whirled back on Eko. Kay had sidled out of range while the Bardess had been busy with him, "You think your law is anything other than the collection of corrupt old men trying to control others? I bet I can find a dozen laws you violate everyday! Are they so worthy of respect? In a thousand years, will some obscure animal treatment mandate be enshrined?! Or will a symphony?! Does anyone care about the law governing Roman house painting regulations, or the lost plays of Sophocles!? If some politician dies porking his mistress and can't write the alternate side of the street regulations, no one will care, but the Unfinished Symphony will be lamented forever."

    The Bardess had backed the Officer Jenny out of the compartment and into the companionway. Senior Megami officers were scrambling to get out of her way.

    "She is right," Kay said, "Slip her some lust dust and lock the two of you in a room, and let nature take its course."

    "Somehow I don't think that would help," he admitted.

    "Oh, I don't know. It sure cleared my head." She picked up the paper he'd shown them. "Do you have any idea what this will do?"

    "I have vivid, technicolor nightmares," he told her.

    Kay shrugged. "My oath was to protect the people and constitution of the Sunshine League. Nowhere did I see anything about my dignity." She looked worried. "Antoinette is going to help us with this, isn't she?"

    "I think Typhonna herself would be hard-pressed to prevent that. Hazel is going to laugh her ass off about this."

    "Okay. I've heard about the plans. I have one condition."

    "Name it and I'll consider it," he told her.
    "Let the Blues be the assholes we all know they'll be, before we reveal this," Kay grinned.

    He nodded. "I think I can do that. I would like to see a photo of their faces, before we tell them."

    "After we've got it working, are you going to invite Granny for the test of this? I think she'll like to see it, since the Sunshine League is going to get its own."

    "I think I can see that too. In between flashes of my life passing before my eyes."
>> ==================
    "You don't like a little prick?" Sabrina asked as she sat behind her Master and nuzzled his neck. Her small breasts pressed against his back let her feel his heartbeat.

    "It's never been something I looked forward to," he admitted, and shuddered as it slid in, "How did you talk me into this?"

    "We needed a blood sample," Kay told him, and noted he was looking everywhere but at the needle. "You have a blood donor card, and tracks where it's been taken. How can you be so squeamish?"

    "I don't like it. I can imagine all kinds of things going wrong. Plus it hurts."

    "Baby," Sabrina teased as she held her Master, "So asking to stick something else in you is out?"

    "Afraid so," he said as he leaned back against her, "Maybe a three-way with Fred. In series rather than circular."

    "Take the offer, and get it on paper," Kay told him, "He may faint and forget everything once I take this needle out."

    "I'll be fine, as long as I don't have to watch." Their Master turned his head and grimaced as the needle came out.

    Kay took the sample for analysis while Sabrina raised and bandaged the arm.

    "You were very brave Master, and if you're a good boy, you'll get a lollipop."

    "Careful, I may faint and squash you."
>> ==================
    In his cabin, actually alone for the first time in days, he pulled the technical pen from the small satchel and put pen to paper.
Kerrik,

    Since this letter is being delivered by courier, I feel comfortable about using your name. It seems I have not abandoned those on the other side. Last night, we had a budget meeting. Allocation of resources rather than money, but the direction is the same. I'm sure it was not a dream dream, and they are aware of what's going on.

    I don't know what you did or said, but every 'Meg and Sammy' aboard this ship is walking about 3 feet off the ground with an expression I've only seen after a proper Taming. And I can walk alone into the mess hall without every eye in the place tracking me. The only thing they're willing to say (and only if they think I and my Harem can't hear) is 'did you hear what Kerrik said?' Well, no I didn't, that's why I'm asking.

    The point of this missive, which was asked for by the Captain, was an intelligence report from some of the Megami The March Hare processed. Some months ago, once they knew that the S-Goths were almost ready to bring us over, the Alliance began policing up all the Megami, Megami-Sama, Angels, Seraphs, Ophanim and other angel-based breeds, and even some Infernals, who could sense us, and would be inclined to assist us. Maybe not by joining up, but in whatever means they could. Policing up, it's such a trivial-sounding phrase for dragging people off to an other-dimensional concentration camp. The fact that when their Tamers are brought up, the entire room spontaneously becomes interested in the walls' paint job means I'm being hopelessly naive hoping they still live, or died easily.

    The fact that they deliberately named this little camp Caomh Sith and made sure all the captives understood the reference, should tell me all I needed to know about the Alliance. I'm now sad that I didn't give The March Hare and Hazel free rein with them.

    The Des Moines' crew is putting together plans to get there and attack. I'm formally inviting you and Micah to the party. Micah's friends are welcome, and I have an entire regiment like Blossom and Rainbow, who can never go home, but would probably enjoy serving Sanctuary and S-Goths again. As I understand it, Lucy is also on the invite list. Granny and Admiral Macmillian are also sending help. I think there are some people who are taking advantage of the fact we were going to stomp on the Alliance anyway. Hey, the more the merrier. Since I left you off the guest list last time, what is your opinion of including some of our countrymen on the invite list?

    Plans and schemes go ahead, so while I await your answer, I think everyone else will go without a yay or nay from us.

Kelvin's Choice
>> ==================
    The Des Moines's bow sloped sharply up, the angle between ship and sea becoming perpendicular. Then as speed faded, the bow yawed away from the vertical, dropping to point at the sea which rushed up at them. Only the peculiarities of the levitation kept everyone's feet firmly on the deck, if they were inside. Anything not battened down outside would have tumbled away.

    "She just did a hammerhead stall with a heavy cruiser!" Janus whimpered as the ship dropped like a stone, then leveled out changing drop rate to level speed. "Nobody told me Granny had a pilot's license!"

    "You never asked!" Miguelito replied, wishing he could be out on the weather deck, feeling the wind, like Roxanne, Aurora and Jen. He glanced back with a frown at Voltaire and Doctor Marilyn who were prepared to tackle him if he tried, again. He looked at the softly beating, immense, butterfly wings providing the thrust for the ship, while the lifting crew did their job. "They're so beautiful," he murmured, at the span of iridescent colors that nearly dwarfed the cruiser itself, "You could almost mesmerize someone with the wings alone. What do you think?"

    Janus stared at the large blob of vomit that stained the outside of the flag bridge's windows. "I think I eventually will learn to keep my mouth shut," Janus lamented.

    "It seems she's putting this ship through its paces, and securing proof for why our League should allow the all-Megami crew," Miguelito said.

    "I think I want to check on our wing team." Janus headed down the stairs from the flag bridge. Voltaire picked up Miguelito and followed. He caught sight of Janus shaking his head at the old witch at the newly modified ship's wheel. "She's going to do an Immelman," he reported as he headed for their destination, "Even bombers didn't usually do that."

    "She's tough," Voltaire said of the ship around them, or the current pilot.

    "Janus just worries," Miguelito said, "If anyone else had proposed this, I'd be worried." Miguelito giggled at his friend's stricken expression.

    The compartment had every one of the younger 'Megs' and 'Sammies', who could sing skillfully, under the direction of Antoinette. But Kay and Eko held the center stage.

    "Daisy Mae ya Daisy Mae, dongan kasakuyan indoo muu.
Rosuto uiraadoa, hanba hanbamuyan randa banunradan tounjukanraa.
Kasaku yaanmu.
Daisy Mae ya Daisy Mae, dongan kasakuyan indoo muu.
Rosuto uiraadoa, hanba hanbamuyan randa banunradan tounjukanraaKasaku yaanmu
Daisy Mae ya Daisy Mae, tasukete yo te yobeba.
Toki o koete, umi o koete nami no yo ni yatte kuru.
Mamorigami
Daisy Mae ya Daisy Mae, yasashisasae wasure.
Arehateta hito no kokoro inorinagara utai, ai no uta.
Daisy Mae ya Daisy Mae, dongan kasakuyan indoo muu.
Rosuto uiraadoa, hanba hanbamuyan randa banunradan tounjukanraa.
Kasaku yaanmu."

    Janus quietly translated the song of the two law enforcers, and the Megami choir. "Daisy Mae oh Daisy Mae, if we were to call for help.
Over time, over sea, like a wave you'd come.
Our guardian angel.Daisy Mae oh Daisy Mae, if we were to call for help.
over time, over sea, like a wave you'd come.
Our guardian angel.
Daisy Mae oh Daisy Mae, If we were to call for help.
Over time, over sea, like a wave you'd come.
Our guardian angel.
Daisy Mae oh Daisy Mae, of forgotten kindness and ruined spirit we shall pray.
For the people's spirits, as we sing this song of love.
Daisy Mae oh Daisy Mae, if we were to call for help.
Over time, over sea, like a wave you'd come.
Our guardian angel."

    "It's almost a prayer," Miguelito said reverently.

    "It is a prayer," Janus answered quietly, "Why do you think the Captain and senior staff were so enthusiastic." He glanced around with an expression Miguelito had learned heralded a change in the tone of the story. "Back to the CIC."

    "All personnel, we are receiving a distress signal. So we are suspending tests. Lifting and wing crews maintain stations. Third Guards to rescue stations, all other personnel to battle stations stand easy. We aren't expecting trouble, but we will take no chances."

    The ship raced towards the source of the distress call.

    Isaik appeared with Blossom. "Where do we go?"

    "Third Guards," he retorted. Then continued towards the Combat Information Center.

    "Sorry Master," Aurora told him as they passed, "I suspect I'll have to clean it up later, but what were we trying to do?"

    "Test the ship," he told her, and grinned, "Gunnery stations."

    "Shell handling," she lamented as she, Jen and Roxanne rushed to their temporary assignments.

    The ship closed, and settled into the sea to be driven by the propellers.

    "I would have liked to see the pirates' faces when they were attacked by a giant butterfly," Shana said as she took her position by the main plot.

    "This butterfly carries 8" radar-controlled, rapid-fire guns." The Captain entered. "As you were."
    "Mothra was no slouch in that regard either," Janus commented quietly.

    She walked to the plot, while the watch officer briefed her. "Looks like a standard pirate operating in unclaimed waters," she told the crew and Captain, "But the target is a sailing ship, some private yacht out of Edo.

    "So I'm treating this cautiously," the Captain explained.

    "Edo is supporting the pirates?" Janus asked.

    "Some of the young bucks chafe at all the little restrictions. So they get out from under their culture's thumb and play pirate, then after a little fun, slip back in and nobody's the wiser."

    "Lovely, sounds like the Imperial Army and their little games, at the expense of most of Eastern Asia. No rules, meant no rules at all." Janus stared at the plot. "How fast did we get?" he asked as the sea-borne ship seemed to crawl towards the position.

    "In the dive, we hit 235 knots. Not bad for a 350-year-old battlewagon like this," the Captain said.

    The XO handled the approach from the bridge, while the Captain and the CIC crew looked in every other direction for trouble.

    "Idiots," the Captain commented on the radar plot. She pointed out the four other small sailing ships. "They figure they report trouble, and some poor Good Samaritan sails in and loses his ship."

    "What are you going to do?" Miguelito asked.

    I know what I'd do, he thought as the vessels still closed, This ship has white phosphorus rounds and proximity fuses.

     "Des Moines is a French name," the Captain said, "So we act Noir League."

    "It means 'the monks'," Janus said, "Oddly appropriate."

    "Janus, shake out your flying squad. I think we may want to haul these pirates into a port and sell their ships. They can go home in the victim."

    "I'm not going to ask how you discovered they are pirates. Because I'd have to explain how I do what I do," Janus asked and left the CIC.
>> ==================
    "Please state the nature of your emergency," the radio operator said, the thick, and very authentic Noir accent made the English hard to discern.

    "This is the Tsumi Maru, our engines have failed and we are becalmed. Please assist us."

    "It sounds like a stock phrase," Miguelito commented darkly, "And well-practiced."

    "Six knot winds over there," a Megami reported.

    "It's a trap," Janus said as he frowned, "When do we close it on them?"

    "Flying squad in position," the radar operator said, "The two on that side are not reacting. They either don't consider them a threat, or haven't seen them."

    "Or they're better tacticians than we thought. How are our mines enjoying themselves?" the Captain asked, nodding to where the Third Guards Tyrannodames were deployed, with the Boobfin acting as lifeguards and early warning of seagoing life. Blossom and Rainbow had been brought into the CIC to act as translators/coordinators.

    "Estimate two minutes until the pirates sail into the trap," Blossom reported, "Third Guards are standing by and awaiting orders to move."

    "If the enemy reaches 50 meters, they are released to their own discretion. But I want those ships and crews alive and intact if practicable," the Captain ordered.

    Blossom nodded and relayed the message.

    Janus was at an auxiliary console, switching between close-in and distance views. "Sorry, I just worry that it's a small part of a bigger trap," he explained.

    "Keep watching, it happens," the Captain said as the group watched, and waited.

    "Attack," the Captain ordered.

    In the calm of the CIC, watching the entire operation on viewscreens, and listening to radio reports. It had a clinical detachment, Miguelito thought as he watched, None of the ships acted like a creature did when struck. The sounds of the calm voices speaking into microphones instead of the cries of the wounded and dying.

     "Medical teams to the infirmary, prepare to receive casualties," the Captain ordered, "Let's go board the bait, and give them the bad news."
>> ==================
    "I demand to speak with your Master Pokèbitch!" the young Edo man told Eko, he rattled the manacles bolting him to the chair and floor for emphasis of his physical power, "You, gaijin, are you in charge?"

    Across the nearly empty room, Kelvin looked up from where he was making notes.

    "You were acting as pirates. The traditional punishment is summary execution," Eko growled.

    "Maybe you should offer to Tame her. That dried-up old man wouldn't be much for a hot-blood like her," one of the other humans muttered in Japanese, then froze as Eko turned livid.

    "I do speak your language," she explained coldly.

    The prisoners all cringed. They also looked at the empty chair. From where one of their had been dragged, by a Megami, after he'd leered at her. The arrival of the same Megami, arms covered in blood to the elbow, to report he'd confessed, had been sufficient to get the others talking.

    "You are charged with piracy. If you give us the information we require, you will be returned home to face your League's penalties for your crimes. On the high seas, the trial is a mere formality, and the punishment immediately follows," Eko told them, "Where is your base, and where is the rest of your group?"

    Answers, begging, and a denial that they were not part of an organized pirate force followed in short order.
>> ==================
    Angie looked over the depositions from the captured Pokègirls, and the notes from the Tamers' interrogation. "I can't say I approve of scaring the prisoners that way," she admitted, "Although using the same Megami on both sets of humans was clever."

    "Waste not, want not," her Master replied in a distracted tone.

    "What's the matter? We didn't lose anyone. Their casualties were injuries. Or is it that a bunch of those girls got one look at you and Miguelito, and wanted to be part of the fine?"

    He looked up. "No, it's not that. It's - Miguelito usually speaks Spanish with Antoinette and Voltaire."

    "Yes."

  &nb sp; "And the Sunshine League patois with others. Kay and Eko speak the patois except to the crew of the ship. Our Powergirls, the Tyrannodames, and the ship's crew speak English. Cheryl speaks Chinese with Naomi and Jen."

    "Yes, so?"

    "I hear it all as English. The Swahili and most of the Japanese are opaque to me, but I understand four languages and am evidently completely fluent in all of them."

    "Sometimes you jump from one to the other, using whatever language they typically use. Unless someone else doesn't understand it. I thought you were doing that on purpose."

    "I probably was doing it on purpose. I don't know if I was doing it consciously," he smiled as he explained, "That was what's been bothering me. You've all been handling this superbly. I had little to do but be ready to step in."

    "Oh," the Titmouse said, "So have you considered adding any of those girls to your Harem?"

    "To be honest, I haven't been looking at them. I haven't really been living up to my responsibilities to the rest of you. Diluting that further doesn't seem fair."

    "Well, there's two you should look at. 'Should' as in 'if I could insist, I would'. One of them you'll have a hard time getting rid of. The other might be a good addition. But by the laws of the sea, they can all be yours. And we can always use them as cannon fodder."

    When anger overcame his initial horror, she added, "Or have them all Blessed and made into Angels." She grinned at her Master.

    "Okay, okay, let's look at these two, as a start." He took the Pokèdex and blinked. "Where is the first?"

    "With Jen, where else? She had a dozen combs made out of plate steel and told everyone to let her work."

    "Okay, I think I'll let her work. I'm surprised she hasn't torn those Tamers limb from limb."

    "She didn't know which one, and suspected that killing the wrong one would get her in trouble."

    "She's probably got that right." He set the 'dex down. "Sometimes I wonder why the world hates me. How'd they manage to take that one down?"

    "Isaik one-shotted her. I think that's why she's viable." Angie grinned. "Everyone knows that a Hild is a rare breed of poewrful magic users."
>> ==================
    Jen closed the door, very quietly. She was covered with small scratches and bruises. But her grin lit up the entire corridor as she spotted Warden and Maus.

    "How many more combs will you need?" Warden asked.

    "A few dozen," Jen smiled, "But she fell asleep in my arms." She smiled and hugged herself. Warden and Maus took the opportunity to heal all the small injuries.

    "Thanks," the HyperDoll said, then her expression clouded, "Will - can I keep her?"

    Maus made a purring chuckle that Warden interpreted, "I doubt our Master would take away anything that makes you so happy. And the sight of a HyperDoll with a healed Penance appeals to his sense of the absurd. You two could walk down the street, and confuse everyone for a 100-yards."

    "Speaking of absurd," Cheryl said as she approached, "Now that you're free, we need to deal with another problem. And all of us need to be there, at least in earshot."

    "Crap, he's going to keep her?!" Jen exclaimed, then glanced worriedly at the door.

    "That sense of the absurd," Warden said, "Remember?"

    "It's fine working for me," Jen grumbled, "I hate it when it works against me."
>> ==================
    The figure was filthy. More covered with cuts, burns and bruises than Jen had been, many of them infected. Both her eyes were gone and crudely healed over. Yet she was staring defiantly at the door before it opened.

    "You certainly look like your mother," came a male voice speaking English.

    "Go Tame yourself," she replied in Chinese.

    "I thought I'd get you cleaned up, and maybe fed before we discussed that."

    "If I could get loose - "

    "Isaik would put you right back down," the voice told him. Something cold touched her hand, and she jerked away. Then she noticed the bruises there had stopped hurting so badly. The same cold, soothing wipe covered her fingers where the nails had been pulled out.

    "Getting me pretty so you can Tame me without gagging?"

    "If you decide to join us, you'll find out that what was done to me, makes all this look like a folk dance by comparison," he said sternly. While the cloth and its soothing cold continued removing the grime that covered her, and the pain of many of the injuries.

    "Don't go making comparisons. No human would survive what they did to me."

    "Kelvin's Choice would."

    She froze at that name. "One of the author's, what do you know of them?"

    "I see him every time I shave in the morning," the reply was amused, but the cloth kept up its work.

    She lunged at him, but stiff muscles, heavy chains and fatigue made it a futile gesture. He put a leg across her shoulders and began working on her bare back. "You could just stuff me in a machine and give me a grooming and healing cycle."

    "I could, but that doesn't have the effect of seeing to your injuries personally, or proving that I can be trusted when you're vulnerable," he told her as he worked.

    "You're hardly undefended," she countered, and tried to push her self up against his resistance, only to have her abused muscles scream in complaint.

    "It isn't whether I am, it's important that you are. Your mother infiltrated my Harem. I foolishly thought she was enjoying being a trusted, well-sexed member of a group. I hadn't considered that it would never occur to her that we knew who she was."

    "I am a Hild," she countered.

    "You are a Hild, I'm talking about the Hild. The invisible Legendary. If you've been in contact with her, you probably know the story."

    "She killed you," she informed him.

    "Another mistake on her part. Imagine, everything she ever wanted: a hand in changing the universe, all the sex she could want, and possible immortality. And she threw it all away. Are you different?"

    "I want to kill the people who did this to me," she growled.

    "I'm afraid that's out of your hands," he said, and actually sounded regretful, "But that they tortured you, and tortured another girl into a Penance will be entered in the record." He paused in his wiping away her many small hurts and her covering of grime. "Unfortunately, the loss of their ships will have a greater effect on them. I'm sorry."

    "Of course, everybody's sorry about something."

    "If you'd prefer the Healing and Grooming cycle . . . "

    "Yeah, just keep the Taming below level five."

    "I'll do that," she heard as she vanished into her Pokèball.
>> ==================
    "She's going to be trouble," Angie said as she and Kay oversaw the machine's settings. Kay kept making growls that sounded more like Maus than a Nurse Joy.

    "I think I'd give her one spell against each of them. Hild's are supposed to be smart, so forcing her to leave them alive wouldn't cramp her style much."

    "I think I'll let the Edo authorities deal with them. And their families. Public ridicule, and the loss of their fathers' or uncles' expensive yachts will have more affect than any attack the Hild will have," her Master said darkly, "Such is the world. This and that one."

    "Are you all right?" Kay asked.

    "Yes, maybe, I don't know. I look at what they did, and then think about what I did . . . and is it all a measure of degree? Is beating someone the same as abandoning them by dying?" He held up his hands. "I don't expect an answer, it's just that I always think of things, see patterns and connections. It's the reason for my one-virus, multiple manifestations theory. Because the simple answer is often better than the complicated one."

    "You are nothing - "

    "Really," he confronted Kay. "I could have put a stop to Eko's problem. But I kept thinking 'she's an independent adult, she can deal with it.' I could have done exactly what I did to Cheryl: bent her over a table and pulled her clothes off, and let her initiate the actual Taming. But that would be wrong, taking away her free will and using her biology against her. So I let her run around snapping at everybody because even she doesn't understand why she feels the way she does."

    "It isn't rape with a member of your Harem. And if anyone is using anyone's biology against them, it was Sukebe," Warden said, "Every Pokègirl is someone's wet dream. Most are attractive enough to catch someone's eye. And physical beauty is still confused with goodness. So whose biology is being played with? Let Doctor Marilyn help her, and maybe then you can fix the problem."

    "I just wish the answer to most Pokègirl problems wasn't believe to be the magic wand in my pants."

    "Not all are," Kay said firmly, "There's also fingers and tongues."

    "You aren't helping," Warden told her.

Additional Disclaimer: (there's a reason it's down here)
"Wild Horses and Pokegirls" is the creation of Metroanime.
The Mothra Song was composed by Yuji Koseki.
>> ==================
    Jen walked into the cabin. She carried a gallon of Warden's milk, still warm from her body, and a small bowl. I need a name for her, Jen thought as she spotted the shadow cringing in the corner, Calling her 'the Penance' doesn't seem right. She set the bowl down and moved to the small package of combs the machine shop had made. She hid her smile as the girl clutched on to her chest, and whimpered worriedly at Jen's approach.

    "It's all right," Jen told her.

    I wonder if she even understands me, Jen considered, Or does she speak one of the Edo dialects? But she reacts to anything I say, English, Spanish, or Chinese.

     "Wakarimasu ka?" she said, and got the exact same jerky response.

    I guess not, she thought as she approached. She set the bowl on the table near the deepest shadows, and poured it half-full, then moved away. And she waited.

    After a time, the faint scratch of the ceramic over the table and a faint lapping. Jen smiled and listened. When the lapping stopped, she stood, refilled the bowl, and repeated. She listened, and watched the shadows, and faint glimpses of the girl appeared. Filled with Warden's milk, and affected by the calming draught the Bust Angel had placed in it, the girl didn't react to Jen's approach. She accepted with only a little shivering, Jen's ritual of pulling her into her lap, and the gentle combing of her razor-sharp hair began.

    We'll need to get you Tamed, and soon, Jen thought, But how to get you comfortable with my Master? That's the question. He even scares me.
>> ==================
    The look on the men's faces showed nothing, as they watched the police take away their sons and nephews. Only the glances to their precious yachts seemed to show any of the turmoil they felt.

    "Where will the sale of those boats be held?" one of the families' lawyers asked.

    "We don't know," the Captain replied, "They were taken while we were under contract. The contractor has the salvage rights."

    "May we speak with him then?" the man persisted.

    The Captain smiled. "She, has no desire to set foot on Edo soil, or speak with any of her citizens. I'm afraid that she can be ever so stubborn about such things. She may decide to let us use them for target practice."

    The man paled, bowed and returned to a hurried conference with his master. The Captain watched as the man returned.

    "Honored Captain, we offer the sum of 50 million credits, to allow the previous owners, to board, and remove certain family memorabilia."

    "Each?" the Captain asked incredulously, "That's very generous, but impossible." She let the man sweat a moment, "But as their legal representative. I think I could see my way clear to allowing a brief, supervised visit."

    The man looked like he'd rather chew glass, but bowed and returned to his masters. Now there was an uproar among the old men. As they came over, the Captain felt two familiar presences move up to support her.

    "That my boat," one gray hair demanded.

    "Not when used for piracy, sir," Miguelito replied in stilted Edo, but quite understandable.

    "The clown speaks for his Mistress?" one of the men commented.

    Miguelito kept a stoic expression. Janus delivered the coup de grace.

    "When dealing with barbarians, one mustn't forget they are barbarians," Janus told them, also in Edo, "Good day to you all." As one, the trio bowed and returned to the Daisy Mae.

    "Clown," Miguelito growled, "I'll show them a clown."

    "What? I was standing right there!" Janus replied, getting a smirk out of the Miguelito.

    "Can they see our other guests?" Miguelito asked.

    "Oh yes," Janus replied, as the men's horror grew. The Amazon party was clearly from the Jozetsuzoku preserve, and while not guarding Cologne herself, was guarding a high-ranking member of the tribe.

    "Greetings Lo Shen of the Jozetsuzoku," the Captain greeted her. The two older women hugged heartily, as their guards looked on for trouble.

    "You have five fine sailing vessels," Lo Shen told her, "And the price is amenable." Only her eyes tracked to the horrified men milling near the guards at the gangplank. "And the benefit of rubbing their noses in it, a special benefit."

    "Afraid of getting collected by an Amazon?" one of the guards asked Janus, as he'd given ground when approached.

    "No, I knifed one who worked for Sanctuary," Janus said dismissively, "Then set her on fire. I was just giving you room."

    "Warning outworlder, when she sets her eyes on a goal, she gets it," one of the other guards warned. They all laughed as his lack of reaction.

    "If you wish to speak privately, I'll leave," Janus said and bowed.

    "I will have you, man!" the Amazon told him coldly.

    Neither Janus, nor Miguelito commented.

    "That was badly handled," the Captain told Lo Shen, "They are aboard my vessel, thus under my protection. And he wasn't boasting. He's personally killed five Pokègirls I know about, two in hand-to-hand combat. If his Harem catches you skulking aboard ship, your life will end very quickly."

    The Amazon smirked at that. Lo Shen merely rolled her eyes.

    "Besides," the Captain added in Spanish, which only she and Lo Shen shared, "She's not pretty enough to catch his eye."

    "Or smart enough," Lo Shen added, and noted the number of non-Megami casually taking an interest in the Amazon party.
>> ==================
    Cheryl watched the Amazons transfer to their newly-bought ships, and consider the Amazon who'd challenged her Master.

    "Put it out of your mind," the gunnery officer told her, "Their code says they'll kill you if you beat one of theirs in a challenge, and if he beats her, he has to marry her, or some of the other tribeswomen may take it into their heads to collect him themselves."

    She looked at the stunned Megami. "Yeah, they get funny about 'superior breeding stock'. In some ways, they're worse than the most conservative Leagues."

    "Just in the opposite direction. What happens if two Amazons want the same . . . Pet?"

    The Megami grimaced at the Sanctuary title. "If they can't come to an accommodation, they fight. Usually not to the death, but to disfigure the other."

    "That sounds like an idiotic way of running things."

    "That's why most men with any brains stay miles from the preserve. And the Amazons like it that way."

    "I guess breeding for brains isn't high on their priority list," Cheryl said.

    "The smart ones, don't come on like an oversexed teenager, and they come home pregnant," Guns told her, "The sperm donor, none the wiser."

    Cheryl nodded. "I think we're going to have trouble with that one."

    "Nope, she insulted a passenger aboard this ship, with the Captain and Lo Shen looking on. She's going to be far too busy for the next oh, year or two, to come after your Master."

    Cheryl stared at the girl, then turned away.
>> ==================
    "Any word?" Angie asked her Master as she looked at his desk in his cabin.

    "None, and I'm not expecting any for a while," he replied, "Both Kerrik and Micah have their own problems abounding, and I doubt either of them is too eager to stick their head in a meatgrinder so quickly." He smirked and looked over his shoulder at her. "Me, I'm stupid that way, but I also trust my instincts. The delay is working for us, not against us. The Council leadership is undergoing interrogation, and their cells are being purged by the Leagues. The SLIS even slipped some intel on the Alliance and their little game, to Sanctuary, through the Capitol League. I think the Alliance is running scared, if not running for its life. Frankly, I'm more worried about the Sisterhood. While their goals are different, they are still on a war footing. So if we get in their way. It's us who'll get the chop. I'm not a fan of super-secret organizations. Too much gets swept under the rug, like inconvenient people."

    "What about the SLIS and all those other organizations?" Angie asked.

    "They're public. Everyone knows about them. That's different."

    Angie just stared at him and frowned.
>> ==================
    Gwendoline waited with the equipment at the Des Moines' berth in Caesar's Prank. She smirked as the Megami-Sama arrived, five hours ahead of time, with a small security detail.

    "Welcome," she announced herself, and enjoyed the odd stares at her new clothing, and the western-style saddle, "I'm afraid I only have room for one, and I'll have to ferry the rest of you over one at a time."

    "What's happened?" Eve asked curiously.

    "My boss is a brilliant loon, that's what happened," she explained as she handed over the parka, ski pants and face shield, "You'll need to change into those, and you'll need to hang on tight. Hence the saddle, have you ridden before?"

    Eve looked at her. "Not with a saddle, no."

    "Sorry, dumb question, but I had to ask. Do you want someone else to go first, then have me come back and pick you up? Or do you want to go?"

    "I'll go. I only need to deliver a message and return. I won't be staying."

    "Ah, I understand."

    She stepped back out of earshot as the three guards quietly argued with their Alpha. About as much use as arguing with Angie. The only one who can is the boss, she glanced around, And the boss isn't here.

     Finally, Eve separated herself from the others, and began bundling up. "You've changed your clothes."

    "I joined the ship's company, so I wear the uniform, or a reasonable facsimile. The boss, well he's the boss, and where he's going, I don't want to follow. A Clydesdame never had a wandering streak, and I'm already a living embodiment of the Des Moines Experiment. I like the idea of a place I can go and call home, even if it does move."

    "I'm happy for you," Eve told her, "I take it Kelvin didn't object?"

    "Follow your destiny, and all that. I think he's a little hurt, but he knows it's not personal." Gwendoline sighed, then smiled, "And what about you? Dealing with the struggles of dealing with an Author? Sometimes I think they're both crazy, maybe all of them. I still wish there were ten thousand more just like them." Gwendoline laughed. "That would be a frightening thought." She noted the Megami-Sama's silence and decided to quit teasing her. "Get your mask on," she told Eve as she fitted her own, then sat the smaller girl in the saddle. "Hang on tight. Some of the others got hurt trying this, but Clydesdames don't stumble."

    "Why is that important?"

    The sudden hurricane force winds assailed them. Gwendoline activated a shield around her, shunting most of the force aside, and trotting to the hatchway into the ship. She got the hatch open by main force and let Eve slide off her back and get inside, before she backed in and let it gently close.

    "Another reason they chose me. Only a few of them could keep the door - hatch - from slamming."

    "There were no storm clouds. Where did those winds come from?" Eve asked as she removed the heavy weather gear.

    "Let me show you," she said and led Eve to a porthole. Outside the massive wings pushed the ship forward at a steady 150 knots.

    "Those, plus a 20-knot headwind to begin with, no one goes out on deck for more than a few minutes, without heavy foul-weather gear. Most had a securing line as well."

    "The ship sprouted wings?" Eve muttered as she peered out the porthole.

    "That's a secret, although Granny was down here doing some aerobatics with her. So the Sunshine League knows, and I was asked to tell you, so you can tell her," Gwendoline said, "Are you allowed to tell me the name of the new ship?"

    Eve's eyebrows went up, "New ship?"

    "Cosmic Awareness, remember. Plus, I'm part of the senior officers. Load Master is a Lieutenant Commander's billet. So I'm breveted to that pay grade. It becomes permanent when I learn enough to actually understand any of what I just said. Let me take you to the Captain. And I hope you can take that stuff off the ship. Something about it gives every Megami the creeps just being around it."

    "Congratulation on the promotion."
>> ==================
    The Captain looked up from the letter. She went to the safe and opened it. Handing Eve the jar, and the sheaf of notes. She noted the woman's expression go from curious, to disgusted, to more than slightly ill. "Now you understand. Whatever that is. I'd rather get it away from my crew. Even other sensitives can't feel it, except as we reradiate what we feel about it."

    "It's . . . horrible."

    " 'It is the emptiness that all people truly feel, distilled and concentrated'," the Captain told her, "I think that Jokette felt it too. Of course she went on about when the world isn't funny anymore."

    "I can live without hearing that," Eve told her.

    "The name of the ship that we're to build for the Sisterhood?" the Captain asked, then explained, "You came alone, and without a satchel of papers. That's either a 'yes' or a 'never darken my door again.' Maybes require lawyers and extensive paperwork."

    "It's the Iain Grey," Eve admitted ruefully, "It started out as a joke, but since took on a life of its own."

    The Captain considered. "Yes, it has the right meter, it should work. I understand the Sunshine League vessel is being called Mountain Home, which also works. I just hope Lucifer's party has some twins who can sing."

    "I can request it. Why do you need them?"

    The Captain smiled. "Ask your Master. Preferably when he isn't drinking something." She pointed down at the faint coffee stain on the carpet Eve was standing on. "And to think, I lived to see Granny surprised about something."

    Eve smiled. "What do I reply?"

    "Tell her yes. I'll have to get the final word from my officers. Then I have to figure out a way to disguise the new recruits, those three men are alike, they can see a secret hidden behind a bulkhead. Kelvin nearly killed Cheryl when he met her. If he hadn't needed prisoners, he might have. I suspect if you tried the typical 'Megami has always been here' route on Kerrik, he would have shot you." The Captain sobered. "Eve, I have a bad feeling about this. Something is going to happen. Not with Lucifer, or her group, but with the Blue League. I've read the site-rip, all of Kerrik's stories and notes. I've taken the counsel of my own fears." She shook her head. "Maybe it's the old sailor, maybe it's the Cosmic Awareness, or maybe it's both. But somewhere out there is a spread of torpedoes with my ship's name on them, and they smell of the Blue League."

    "Iain has had considerable trouble with the Blue League, and their unwillingness to live up to their obligations," Eve said.

    "Politely spoken. Let me be blunt. Can I trust them? Silver River follows whichever way the wind blows. Sunshine, with two powerful factions, each plays it straight just so the other can't get an advantage. Blue's the one I know least about and have the most unease over."

    "No, you can't."

    "Thank you. I'm afraid I can't give you anything but a conditional 'yes', but in a couple days, you'll be off courier duty. And tell that man of yours, if it gets too much and he wants to hide out a few days, and play shuffleboard, poke around the Daisy Mae's guts, or just spin sea stories for the kits or old farts, you and his are welcome. The VIPs quarters are nice and spacious."

    "Thank you."

    The Captain clasped her wrist, Blue League-style. "Maybe those two maniacs I've got on board will complete the project they were whispering about in the mess. Turn this bucket into a space cruiser."
>> ==================
    "Even in the temperate zones, that's freezing," Gwendoline said as she returned from her tour of the outside, to verify nothing was fouling the more sensitive equipment.

    "Master," she asked the man at the radar plot, "Are you all right, with me joining the crew?"

    "It's your choice. I'll miss you, but if this is what you want to do, then I say do it."

    She hugged him tightly, and was pleased when he relaxed in her grip. "Maybe I should hold off a day or two, get a few Tamings in."

    "Maybe," he smiled, "But I think the CIC is the wrong place. It would distract the watch crew."

    She smiled and considered. "Maybe that whirlpool tub, after all, that's what it was used for exclusively before we arrived." She took his arm and escorted him from the room. Ignoring the wistful sighs of the others at their stations.
>> ==================
To: Officer Commanding, Privateer Des Moines

From: Lucifer, Sisterhood of the Thorn

    Captain, I was pleased upon receiving your prompt reply to my offer. I am sorry that my offer was not acceptable to you, but your reasoning is logical and, sadly, valid. You counteroffers are more than I'd expected when I initiated communication with you and very generous indeed.

     I don't think that much negotiation would be necessary in a normal situation and, considering the time constraints your message hints at, this is anything but a normal situation. To that end, I will be blunt. I accept all of your offers and will begin preparing my side of the arrangements immediately.

     I will have the observation team ready for transit within three days and they will await your call. As inferred, they will all be Megami and Sama. For the time being, until the observation team arrives on your vessel, please continue to use Eve as a conduit for any communications. Once they are on board, they will provide a link to the Sisterhood. I would request, and they will be so informed before leaving here, that if they can be put to work on your vessel instead of merely observing; then by all means put them to work. After all, it has been my experience that the best observations come from actually doing the work and not just from watching. Unless you require a separate group, members of this team will be instructed to assist your personnel with the Megami and Sama you will be receiving from the long term storage of the mentioned leagues. I will also make sure they know you have the first pick from among the new arrivals and, other than providing medical care if necessary, my people will stand aside until you are done processing the poor Rip Van Winkles.

    I accept your offer of the items removed from the Alliance personnel and the research notes about them. It is possible to cut off access to the Celestial Awareness, but I suspect that in this case the effect was psychosomatic. My researchers will be eager to see what was done. I have never met this The March Hare, and while it is regrettable that she hates all of us for something that we did not do, she's not the first and is unlikely to be the last. Her power does recommend caution around her, and I shall make sure everyone coming to your vessel knows to exercise that caution in order to avoid offense.

    I accept your offer of a ship and will provide a crew for training at your convenience. Some of them will have previous naval experience and some will not so as to assure that all the knowledge your crew chooses to impart will be absorbed. The soonest the crew will be available for you will also be in three days. After that, they're yours whenever you want.

    I was not aware that the Alliance had strayed so far from their stated goals and, if you wish, I will gladly provide elements for the combined arms assault you informed me of. At this time I am considering a reinforced company with an attached precision artillery platoon, but that may change once I have a better idea of your needs and possibly the composition and numbers you are expecting from the opposing force.

    The prisoners need to be rescued and the people responsible need to pay for the crimes they have committed. We both know that the prisoners would not have gone voluntarily and therefore it is very likely that they are now alone in the universe. The deaths of their harems and tamers cry out for justice.

    Our VIP has received his letter from your VIP and he is not pleased with what he has learned. I do not doubt but that you will have his help.

     I do not feel an urge to swaddle our VIP. To the contrary, his anger calls to the anger that was born inside me when I realized what Sukebe had done to humanity and what he still expected us to do to them in his name, the anger which made me refuse him and to rise against him. That anger is seductive and perhaps it means I have already fallen under his spell, but if it means we can save more of those who need saving by destroying what would destroy them, then so be it.

    I look forward to corresponding with you and I do hope that someday we may meet face to face. Until then, I wish you the greatest success in your endeavors.

     The Captain glanced around. "They will be arriving tomorrow. We will be placing one in the CIC, one in engineering, and one in gunnery, any others will be divided similarly. Officially, they are training officers, there to help us bring up the new crew when they become available." She glanced at Gwendoline. "Load Master, the contents of that letter is ship-business. No need to involve our passengers with it."

    "Understood, Captain."

    "All right. Comments, questions, the floor is open."

    "The best way to keep the newcomers from being noticed, is don't try to hide them," Gwendoline said, "While our passengers have been all over the ship, they have not met everyone. Hiding these in plain sight will be our best course."

    "I wonder if she knows more about the long term storage, and how many will be political, rather than abandoned," the XO brought up, "More important, will be hiding that new crew among the 'Van Winkles'. Ten out of one-fifty is one thing. Having one-fifty trained experts among the 'Van Winkles' may be a harder sell. They'll instantly be apparent."

    "Since everyone is discussing 'what next' I assume the arrangement goes through as written?" the Captain asked. Most at the table nodded.

    "How will be keep Janus and Miguelito from revealing the existence of the last ship?" Guns asked, "I won't have them altered, or disappeared. Besides it being too dangerous, it's too much like the Alliance." She frowned at that, as did the others. "Do any of you know where Kelvin worked in his home? Or Kerrik?" She nodded. "So they can keep a secret. Even the S-Goths never got that from them. Odd that."

    "All right, I'll bring that up with them. I don't think that the Leagues will be willing to have us wait to train up the entire force, before we begin construction. Do we use who we can, and then train the troops, or try a crash course, and make it stick later?"

    "I'd say a crash course," Guns said, "Our first real training, will have to be at sea. Construction, we'll have to take what we can get. Remember, we can live with serviceable, and our two experts can help us correct any flaws."

    "I think they're going to want the ships right the first time."

    "That's what test and shakedown cruises are for," Gwendoline said, "Putting a newly fledged ship in harm's way - I think I missed a meeting somewhere," she said of the blank faces around her.

    "We were hoping to take the ships quickly into battle," the Captain said.

    "If you wanted firepower. The Third Guards would provide you with that, in spades. While a Tyrannodame is no match for a heavy cruiser, there's little short of a Widow she isn't a match for. And over a hundred make an interesting gunline."

    "Thank you, we'll discuss it later." The Captain looked at the others. "Then we'll give Lucifer an official 'yes', and worry about crew assignments."

    "Distracting those two men will be a problem," the XO said.

    "I think Jen has something that should throw everything into chaos," Gwendoline said, "In a very few days. Once that's in place, they won't notice an all-Megami brass band, unless it steals their food."
>> ==================
    Kay grimaced at the deep cuts Jen had in her body when she arrived in the ship's sickbay. "What happened?"

    "I Tamed her." The HyperDoll winced as her Harem-sister healed the cuts on her arms and back.

    "And she fought back?" Kay asked carefully, "Some of these are pretty deep."

    "No," Jen said dreamily, "She didn't fight back. She's just . . . enthusiastic. She enjoyed it. But when you're basically all sharp objects, things happen."

    "Have you considered restraints?"

    "That would really send a good message," Jen replied sourly, "Hey, I trust you so much, I'm going to tie you up and have sex with you." The HyperDoll shook her head.

    "Then some armored mittens and booties, and maybe a hairnet," Kay told her.

    "Look doc, it was her first time. It'll take time to soften her up - "

    "Soften her up enough to introduce her to your Master?" Kay asked, "Those wounds would have killed him."

    "Which is why I'm doing it. Me, not squishy him. When she can't slice through the bulkheads without half trying, then I'll think about it."

    "You're also running a risk not introducing her to the rest of the Harem. It may be quite a shock when she sees all the other people running around."

    "She's seen over a dozen of them, since we got her."

    "Since you got her. I haven't seen her, and I should have already given her a medical exam. She might be carrying something dangerous."

    "Her fingers and toes for one," Jen said and winced as Kay worked, "Fine, you want to see her, you can see her. But no medical exam. Not yet anyway. And no sneaking in there 'for the good of the crew'. She's had a bad enough time as it is."

    Jen paused and changed the subject. "What about that Hild?"

    "He Tamed her, and had to use restraints, and Isaik as a spell blocker. It seems they were trying to change her into a Penance too. Growing all the things back that they tore out and healed over has been a full time job. And none of the Megami of the crew want to help, and I can't say I blame them. I'd rather just stick a needle in her and be done, or give her a Level 5 and start from scratch."

    "Why doesn't he?"

    Kay snorted angrily. "You know him. He thinks he can save her. Or that she deserves a chance. He gave some Legendary a chance, and we lost him for a while. He gives her a chance, and Kerrik may have to do his trick again."

    "I think the universe learns from its mistakes. We won't get him back so easily next time." Jen told her, "Why not just have an . . . accident?"

    "Ask Maus and Warden about that. If you think I want to face that again, you're crazy."

    "Fine, but if she hurts him, I'll kill her."

    "That may be something you can get away with," Kay admitted.
>> ==================
    Dr. Marilyn looked up from a copy of the site rip, and closed the cover on the report she was preparing on the authors. "I never expected you to come see me," Dr. Marilyn said to Officer Jenny.

    "Yeah, well," she said as she closed the door behind her, "I get the distinct idea that the only thing keeping some people from turning me into chum, is one person. And since that one person is the one with the biggest grudge against me . . . I thought I'd better deal with the problem."

    "What everyone thinks of you, has nothing to do with it?" the Alaka-Wham asked.

    "I was a competent officer, until I met him."

    "You blame him?" she asked.

    "Yes! No!" She threw her hands in the air. "I don't know . . . yes I do."

    She raised an eyebrow and put the report away. "That just about covers all angles," the psychiatrist said, "So what do you think?"

    Erika paced back and forth in the small cabin. "I don't like being played for a fool."

    Dr. Marilyn kept her mouth shut.

    "I dislike being manipulated even more." She faced the Alaka-Wham. "But that's what they do isn't it?"

    "Who, specifically?"

    "Them, the authors." She gestured at the world around them.

    Dr. Marilyn looked at her curiously.

    Eko saw an explanation was needed. "You trust him?"

    "I do."
    "Why? Because he likes Miguelito? Because you can't read his mind?"

    "Because he hasn't lied to me. Because he's careful the way he treats people." She considered, then added, "When he isn't obsessed with saving the world."

    "That's not it," Eko shook her head and told her, "You do it - because you have no choice."

    "What are you talking about?" the Alaka-Wham said, "If he was doing something, I'd know. His ESPer rating is good, but he has no psychic abilities, and a yearling from any magic academy could defeat him in mystical combat."

    "Despite the fact that he's killed with those trivial powers," the Officer Jenny retorted.

    "They would still have no effect on me," she replied, "And especially not without my knowing it."

    "If they were normal psychic or magic powers," Eko insisted, "You'd be correct. They aren't. The authors warp the reality around them. Kelvin makes you trust him. Sanctuary's people trusted him off the bat!"

    "After he was talked out of reducing their home to a radioactive dustbowl. I think you're making more of this that it deserves."
    "He makes you trust him!" she insisted, "Is it so hard to believe!?"

    "So you act like an . . . paranoid, as compensation?"

    "What if I do?" Eko asked angrily.

    "You act like he has conscious control over his powers. And deliberately used them maliciously against you in particular," Dr. Marilyn reminded her, "Would that kind of person willingly give themselves Red Plague? Be tortured, or go through the troubles he has? If he had that kind of control, nothing could stop him. Same with Kerrik, and the others. They'd be like the Olympians, with us reduced to playing - "

    "Their love slaves?!" she told her, "But that's what we are! The Captain admitted it. She could no more resist him than 'a wall of sugar could resist a steam hose.' You think they aren't taking advantage of that? Even if they can't control it, do you think it's necessarily a bad thing for them that it affects every Pokègirl who comes into range?"

    "So you expect that he's attacking you, and you fight against his influence?" the psychiatrist said.

    "Of course! Wouldn't you?"

    "No."

   &nb sp;The Officer Jenny looked confused. "No, why not?"

    "Because I know he's not using that ability, if it is an ability and not just a characteristic. He's not using the ability to hurt me, or anyone I care about," the psychiatrist explained, "His secret power is to insure baseless trust. Yet has he ever betrayed a trust that was given to him? He's protected you, from people that would chop you into bits and feed you to the fish. He has had more than a few opportunities to get rid of you and your sister. Administratively, or otherwise. But he hasn't taken them. He was scrupulous about protecting me from another of the author's characteristics, their mental defenses. He intentionally let himself be 'talked out' of the genocidal strike against Sanctuary. If that is the heartless manipulator you fear, whose secret power would make him the finest conman in history, why does he fail to use it in ways that would benefit him the most. I'd trust him in a heartbeat, and none of us can understand why you don't."

    "You think I'm overreacting?"

    "I think you are so prejudiced against anyone trying to manipulate you, in any manner, that you fail to distinguish between someone who is naturally persuasive, and someone who is exploiting you." She stared at the Officer. "Now you're going to storm about, convinced I'm hopelessly under his spell and incapable of understanding the obvious wisdom of your position. I'm not. And you are acting like a love sick schoolgirl who's just realized that the object of her infatuation isn't interested, maybe doesn't even know you're alive. You want him. You want him like your sister has had him. But you want him to be like every other Tamer you've run into. Someone you don't have to get emotionally attached to, and any attachment can be blamed on biology. But he's avoided giving that excuse to you, and you resent that you, of your own free will, want to crawl into his bed and accept whatever he does to you. He isn't your Tamer, he isn't your Master, except on paper, yet you want him to be."

    Eko gawked at her.

    "No, I think if anyone needs to feel threatened, it's the people around you. You don't like being manipulated, and you hate being ignored, so you act like a childish fool in front of everyone, ignoring what laws apply where and starting treating jaywalking with the same fervor you should show capital murder. It's no wonder he doesn't want to sleep with you. He's legitimately afraid you'll accuse him of rape after the fact. Even if as his Pokègirl, you'd have little legal basis to stand on, he'd still be wounded by the accusation."

    The Officer Jenny turned livid at the indictment.

    "Oh don't play high and mighty with me! You're a small-minded, thin-skinned prude who's been jealous of your sister's free and easy way with him, and you've been doing everything in your power to undermine their relationship, because you didn't want to be left out. I'm a telepath, and you project all of it so much I can hardly resist it. Now, if you're through wasting my time, go complain to someone who cares. Maybe one of the Boobfin will listen to your wild, hysterical complaints, if you Tame them while you're at it."

    She watched the Officer Jenny tearfully storm out. Well, now that she's not in denial any more, she can deal with the problems, she thought, Of course I felt it, so does every other living thing around him. But then he attempts to justify it, and that frightens him even more. So you objecting to the legitimate trust he engenders, by being an asshole, doesn't cut any ice with any of us.
>> ==================
    Kay sat down with her Master in the sickbay, and discussed her current patient. "The damage is severe. Severe enough that a healing cycle won't magically restore her. The wounds were inflicted, then healed over. So her eyes, finger and toe nails, and the mis-set bones will have to be rebroken and reset, manually. That's one of the problems with healing cycles, it just fixes the obvious symptoms, not the underlying subtle problems."

    "Someone broke her limbs and reset them wrong?"

    "Or reset them ineptly. Or got them 'mostly right' and applied healing magic. Nurse Joys are the premier healers, not because we're the strongest, but because we're the most skilled."

    "I notice you've said not one word about her attitude," her Master commented.

    "You've put up with, and broken, worse. A HyperDoll willing to fight to protect you is not that common, one willing to fight as you command is even rarer. This Hild . . . is she Hild?" the Nurse Joy looked around, "The one who . . . "

    "No, that would be a poetic irony beyond even my taste for karmic retribution. Damaged, her powers seriously reduced, and dropped back in my lap." He considered before continuing, "That would be almost too cruel. With her personality, she'd be sitting in her Pokèball, wondering when I'd get retribution."

    "And would you?"

    "The Bible is full of good advice, on many subjects. One of them is getting revenge."

    "I thought 'Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord' was the quote."

    "Romans 12, verse 19 'Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.' Everybody leaves out verse 20 and 21, 'Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.'"

    "And all the while, you smiling, and being nice, she'll be turning herself inside out, looking for the hidden knife, that will never come." The Nurse Joy laughed.

    "Yep. You don't destroy yourself, you let them destroy themselves. Nastily clever fella that Adonai," he chuckled.

    She joined him for a moment. "Speaking of 'nasty' have you considered just Level 5'ing her." She saw his expression and changed to a professional tone, "It would help her recovery, psychologically, and she'd be less of a danger to you and - us. If she was a clean slate." He started to protest, and she rushed ahead, "I'm not speaking just because she would be a threat to me, to my Harem-sisters, and to my wonderful Master, but for her health as well. She'll be going through exactly what you went through. All the pain and nightmares, all the self-doubt and anguish, everything you are still going through. Yes, I know it will erase a lot of her ingrained 'skills', but do you want those skills as part of the package?"

    He stood up, paced as much as the small space allowed. Looking like he'd crash through one of the walls to keep walking. Finally he sat down again. "Frankly, if I was going to that extreme. I'd talk to the Captain about a Blessing, then purchase an Angel Stone. Making her a magically powerful Angel, straight out of a Level 5, would be the surest way."

    Kay nodded. "It would be the surest way. But my Master likes to take the difficult way." She smiled, and was alarmed when he didn't return it.

    "I'll talk with the Captain and Dr. Marilyn about her mental state and the advisability of that procedure. Please catalog what you'd need for your treatments. Would an evolution like that, correct all the damage?"

    "It would, but I'm not supporting that, just to get me out of work fixing her. I'm doing it so I won't have to fix you." She got up and sat next to him, leaned against him. "I'm - sorry, about the trouble we've caused." She wrapped her arms around his waist. "We - reacted badly, and I don't know all the whys and wherefores. But I didn't mean to hurt you, I just . . . I just felt - giddy, and couldn't control myself. It was like when I was a teenager, and - everything seemed a good idea."

    "Yes, I'm not so old that I can't remember some of the stupid things I did in my youth."

    She looked up at him. "Could we, start again? Or at least try to start on the right foot."

    "Should I get you a Napoleon hat and bend you over a table?"

    "If you got me a Napoleon hat, I'd be bending you over the table," she laughed.
>> ==================
    "Come on Master, it'll be fun," Jen said as she carried him through the passageways, expertly ducking and dipping through the hatches.

    "If it's so safe, why can't I walk on my own?" he asked archly. Today's two guards, Maus and Warden, led and trailed, proving they knew where he was going.

    "Because I like having my Master rubbing against me, and I want to prove I can be trusted not to -" Jen teared up a bit, but kept smiling. "I will never put you in danger, Master. I know what you went through. I watched the recording of - I will never put you in physical danger." Then she added softly, "I love you. I wish you loved yourself as much as we love you."

    He rested his head on her shoulder as they continued their journey. Jen hugged him tighter.

    "This is where you've been spending time with the Penance." He realized, then asked, "Have you got a name for her?"

    "Sophie," Jen answered, and shrugged, "Everything else that came to mind was something to do with hard or sharp, or was sickeningly cute. Which seemed inappropriate."

    "Okay, Sophie. So are we going to be introduced. I've heard you've been working miracles with her, but it usually takes a lot longer than this."

    "First, she can't easily hurt me, as she can the rest of you. So I can hold her, and let her struggle, until she exhausts herself. Then I feed and groom and wash her, then just let her sleep in my embrace. She likes cuddling even more than you Master. But you are my Tamer, and I don't know if she's Feral or not. And a human is the only cure for that."

    "You've been Taming her? Your preferred foreplay would be a - "

    "No, I haven't done that, although a few cuts and bruises she gave me at the start did hike my libido a bit. But tonight, I want you to Tame me, and just let her watch. Then we'll sleep together, and let her watch."

    Neither Maus, nor Warden seemed pleased about the last, but held their tongues.

    "Won't she resent being kicked out of her bed?" he asked.

    "She hates the mattress." Jen smiled. "Her first willful act was shoving it off the bed, and sleeping on the planks beneath, so I got her a table, and she sleeps on that. We sleep on the bed, and she can sleep on her table. I sometime move the table around, and she knows it's okay to move it back where she wants it."

    He looked at Maus, who looked worried, but the girl shrugged.

    "My choice, eh? Okay. Yes, Jen I trust you." Her answering hug and happy squeal nearly squeezed the life out of him. "And I think I can trust the girl," ha said as he tried to get air back in his lungs, "But I want a clear path for her to retreat to her hideyhole/safe-spot, and a clear path for me to get to the door."

    "Already done." Jen set him down and opened the door.

    The red lights kept everything vaguely dark, but the two glowing, blue eyes from the clothes closet told him that he was not alone. The table stood in front of the nook that was really just an open closet, and other paths led to the bathroom and the entryway into the room.

    "Hello. I'm Kelvin's Choice," he told her as he stepped inside, "But some people call me Janus." Something about the way she stared seemed - off.

    The girl retreated deeper into the closet, and only peeked out when it was clear he wasn't approaching.

    His worry about the girl didn't fade as he turned back to Jen. "The introductions have been made, what do we do?" he asked.

    Jen smiled and tousled his hair. "We get you relaxed, and then, you give me a bunch of orgasms, and we sleep together."

    "I see your plan involves great hardship on your part," he teased, heard the faint scuffle as Sophie retreated. He stared at the closet. "She understands us."

    "Yes, I think she speaks English at least, maybe a few other languages," Jen said, "So, I'd hold her, and comb out her hair and - "

    "Why don't we try the shower first?" he suggested, "That was where I was headed when you intercepted me."

    "Do I get to soap your back?" Jen teased, smiling wickedly in expectation.

    "Let's see what develops. Why don't you just take me through the regime you've used on her?"
>> ==================
    "I'd rather have had a firmer assurance that this was acceptable, than a simple three-way conference," the XO said as she and three other Megami-Sama walked through the passageways to the sickbay.

    "He agreed, or didn't disagree," Kay said, "That's about as comfortable with it as he's going to get. Give him more time, and he'll think of an alternative that puts him at risk. Medically, -"

    "And psychologically," Dr. Marilyn added.

    "This is the best way," Kay finished as they entered the sickbay.

    "You're just lucky we knew where to get an Angel Stone in a hurry," Dr. Marilyn said, "And that we could get it here."

    "I think Miguelito, once he heard the plan, would have moved heaven and earth to get this arrangement into action. I think he's developing a fondness for the authors," the XO said, "He and Kelvin hit it off, he and Kerrik hit it off, and I suspect he'd be more than willing to help either one." The XO smiled. "While it's only a rumor, not due to any eavesdropping, understand. Kelvin got quite a dressing down when Miguelito actually had met Kerrik and heard Kerrik's opinion of why he'd been left out."

    "We'd fought off two company-level attacks, successfully, and Kerrik had two girls," Kay replied primly, "There's an obvious logic to his decision."

    She ignored the knowing looks the others exchanged.

    The Hild was still in her Pokèball.

    "Do I need to let her out, so you can do what you have to do?" Kay asked.

    "You need to let her out to apply the Angel Stone," the psychiatrist said, "And then recall her immediately. The Level 5 should already have been applied at that point."

    Kay winced. "Right. Sorry." Kay fed the ball into the machine and hit the buttons. "It doesn't feel like murder, and she never did anything to harm us."

    "It is better," the gunnery officer said, "He's got enough schemers to deal with, he doesn't need another one in his own Harem."

    Kay laughed nervously about that. "A few minutes. I hope she retains a little of her traits, a magic using schemer on my Master's side, who's also an Angel, might be very useful."

    "Well, I can't wait," Dr. Marilyn said, "I have another pair of patients to monitor." She sighed. "I don't think I'll be getting any sleep tonight . . . or is it already tomorrow."

    "I don't know," Kay admitted, "I haven't gotten used to the 'bells' time keeping."
>> ==================
    Jen spotted Sophie out of the corner of her eyes, as she lay in the afterglow of her latest orgasm. "Come on," Jen urged.

    The girl retreated into her cubbyhole, but peered out again.

    "You should just let her get used to it," her Master teased, as his fingers sought to stoke her fires again. "You probably scared her."

    "Me, your little trick with that icy breath of yours," she argued, and toppled him over and pinned him down.

    "Keep going, but gentle," he whispered, "Let her see that touching and arguing isn't pain."

    "Okay, let's go for the ending then," Jen smiled, "Then I'll let you sleep."

    "You're always so demanding," he complained.
>> ==================
    The extremely tall Angel stretched her wings, and looked around. Her expression one that said everything was new and wondrous. Her gaze fell on the Megami, and Nurse Joy before her. "What has happened?"

    "You evolved," the XO said.

    "Before then."

    "You were tortured by several bad men, and rescued by us. One of your fellow victims became a Penance."

    A slight mou of displeasure. "Unfortunate, and cruel." She returned to looking around.

    "We are trying to rehabilitate her now," the Nurse Joy assured her.

    She hadn't found what she'd been looking for. "What is my purpose being here?" the Angel asked, "Not existentially, but in a medical facility, wherever I am."

    "You're on board the Des Moines, a privateer," the XO told her, "The men who abused you were pirates. They've been surrendered to the authorities of their homeland."

    "No, why am I here. I see no Master, and I do not remember agreeing to serve a ship."

    "Your Master is seeing to the Penance at the moment," the Nurse Joy explained, "He'll be up to see you later. He was, rather too squeamish about all the repairs we had to do."

    "Breaking and resetting limbs?" the Angel asked, "He should be more durable, it was necessary."

    "Maybe you'd better learn a little something about him, before you come to conclusions based on what you know about other Tamers."

    The Angel shook her head. "I know no other Tamers."

    "Good," the XO said, "Then you've less to unlearn."
>> ==================
    Jen slipped out of the bed. Her Master made an interrogative noise, but she rubbed his cheek with hers, and pushed him down in the bed. She headed for the door, but spotted Sophie half-in/half-out of her cubby, and half on her table. Sophie spared a glance at her. Jen made a comforting gesture, before leaving.

    Outside and around the corner, down the hall: Warden, Maus, Isaik and Dr. Marilyn waited. The small mage wore an elaborate headset that projected her scrying spell onto a screen and into a recorder.

    "Okay, she's been introduced, now she's becoming acclimated," Jen said, "Even if she just stares at him from her cubby, it's a good first step."

    The others grudgingly agreed.

    "I don't like leaving him alone in there," Isaik said as her viewpoint scanned the area, "One of us should be in there."

    "We're all out here, for a very good reason," Jen replied, "We can get in there before she could hurt him. As if she would. He's not between her and her hideyhole, he's got a clear path to the door, or the bathroom, she'd been fed before I collected him, and I've never heard of a Penance aggressively attacking someone. It isn't their nature. They cry and run away from a confrontation. She's got plenty of running room, and he knows the breed well enough not to corner her."

    "I'd still feel better with one or more of us in there," Isaik replied.

    "Doc!" Jen protested, "This was partly your idea."

    "I suggested getting her to know the Harem," Dr. Marilyn said, as she studied the image Isaik was projecting, "I didn't think you'd start with him." Her gaze sharpened. "What's she doing?"
>> ==================
    He heard the Penance step lightly onto the floor. The faint scrape of the toes, and the sound of leather on leather as the belts rubbed one on the other. Calm, calm, he told himself, She's just curious, which is good. Jen must be doing a good job if she's willing to come investigate with only a handful of days' therapy.

     He could almost hear her sniffing the air. Scenting the shampoo and soap he used, rather than the scented versions Jen used. She's probably also smelling sex, even if we showered after and changed the bedding, even I can still smell it. If she's Feral, it's probably triggering memories. But a Penance will run if you say 'boo', and I can bolt out of here fast. So I can wait. he assured himself of his safety, and lay still, letting the girl come closer at her own pace.
>> ==================
    "She is cute," Warden sighed and admitted, "So shy and skittish. As if our Master would hurt her."

    "He has hurt you," Dr. Marilyn reminded them, "By leaving you out. I think he's learned, but he has hurt you."

    "I don't think he'll hurt her," Jen replied as she stared at the image, "Not any way she'd think of being hurt."

    "Hld?" Maus growled, clearly wanting to come to grips with the Infernal.

    Doctor Marilyn sighed. "He decided, with some advise from Kay, Miguelito and the Captain, to Bless her, Level 5 her, then expose her to an Angel Stone. Thereby producing a tabula rasa Angel. A blank slate."

    None of the others were happy about that.

    "He got rid of the other girl he Level 5'd," Warden told Jen.

    "But she'd traveled with him for a while," Isaik countered, "He only met the Hild for a few short snatches. Maybe he'll keep her."

    "I can't see him selling off an Angel," Jen said.

    "Oh! Look at that," Isaik said.

    "A shiny," Dr. Marilyn muttered as the girl approached Janus, tentatively reaching out. "Oh, this cannot end well."

    "What's your problem, doc?" Jen asked, but kept staring at the projection. "Your plan's working like a dream. It typically takes weeks, if not months to get this far."

    "My plan isn't that good," the Alaka-Wham said, "Your progress was according to plan, but it should have taken weeks to reach this point."

    "Is he in danger?" Warden asked, beating Maus to the punch.

    The doctor looked at them. "No, but all of you may be."
>> ==================
    It was the feeling of a set of table knives being dragged across his bare neck that made him nervous.

    At least with what Jen's been doing, they aren't steak knives, he thought as he suppressed a shiver, What's she doing? Seeing if I'll react? I guess playing dead is the best course of action. He distinctly heard her sniffing at his hair and skin now. Gingerly running her fingers over his shoulders. The faint clink of the belts and their buckles off each other. He lay still as she touched him.

    I can practically hear her curiosity, he thought, I didn't think they were curious.

     As the fingers paused and lifted, he took a chance. "I am awake."

    The skittering on the deck and the thump as she practically hurled herself into the cubby was hilarious. "You're like my stepmom's cat. Invincible, as long as she thought she was invisible." He turned over to stare at the glowing blue eyes staring out of the cubby. "As soon as she realized you could see her, ZOOM back under cover."

    The eyes blinked, and kept staring at him. He settled in, closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
>> ==================
    "Crap, he had to spoil it," Jen complained, "Now she'll be in there another week."

    "Sfff," Maus growled.

    "I agree, he didn't chase her, he talked to her," Isaik said, "I don't think it's over." Isaik glanced around. "Where's the doc?"

    "She slipped out, and asked that we keep recording, 'even the aftermath of the Taming.'" Warden smirked. "I think I need to get something ready for after."

    "No lactation milk," Jen warned, "Those straps would make it hurt."

    Warden frowned at her. "I know about confining clothes and breasts full of milk, believe me," Warden replied, "Just fresh and warm. She's been drinking my milk, and so has Master. Just something they can share."

    "After the Taming, he's not gonna . . . that's gotta be the fastest Penance recovery on record," Jen said.

    "Nnn dn," Maus growled, and pointed at the projection, where the girl had crawled out of her cubby, and was staring at their Master perched on her table.
>> ==================
    Doctor Miguelito Carmen did not enjoy being roused from a blissful slumber, especially after a glorious night with his two girls.

    To have my dreams invaded -! his thought failed as he looked at the deep distress that was the heart and soul of Doctor Marilyn's expression.

    "What's happened, my dear?" he asked, trying to escape the combined grasp of Morpheus and his two girls.
    "Miguelito, things have taken a turn, maybe for the worse."

    The small man was instantly awake. "What makes you say that?" He glanced around. "Never mind, give me a moment to dress and fully awaken, and then I can understand."

    A few moments later, she explained. "I was working with Jen on recovering the Penance. The program seemed to be working perfectly, and I suggested she introduce her to some of the others in her Harem. I specifically wanted her to have the girls meet her."

    He rolled his eyes. "And Jen immediately brought in Janus." The doctor began pacing, he waved both Voltaire and Antoinette back to bed. Voltaire shook her head and moved to get dressed.

    "Jen thinks Janus could do anything, she was also proud to show off her progress," the psychiatrist admitted.

    Miguelito agreed, "Janus' approval of her is terribly important to our HyperDoll, although she'd never admit it."

    "That's fine, and it shouldn't have affected the progress too much. She did it very wisely."

    "For a totally irrational act," he added.

    The doctor nodded. "The Penance, came out of her safe cubby, and touched Janus."

    "And didn't instantly bolt back into her safe place?" Miguelito asked, fascinated by the problem. He grinned. "This is Janus we're talking about," he said happily, "He can inspire that kind of reaction." Miguelito frowned. "That isn't what you're worried about, is it?"

    "No. It isn't that he's an author," Doctor Marilyn explained, "There's much more - and I never thought I'd use the word 'mundane' to describe the phenomenon, but a more mundane explanation."
>> ==================
    Jen felt a desperate need to use a head, but the images were too compelling to leave.

    "Either quit squeaking or go find a head." Isaik said as she noted yet another Megami 'stopping by to watch', "That's it! Warden, take your milk in there yourself, Jen go empty yourself before you explode and drown us all. I'm moving to a wardroom. We don't have to leap to his defense, so lets just get comfortable and watch."

    She ignored the grumbling and moved. The clump came with her, and picked up a few more Megami, and Harem-sisters as she walked through the passageways.

    When she'd set up again, the Penance was still perched on her table, leaning over as far as she could, to get closer to Master.

    "She seems frustrated she can't reach him," Naomi commented to Cheryl.

    "She doesn't want to leave her table," the Megami explained, "She's safe there."

    "Simple enough solution," Naomi said.

    "What with him watching? That's perverted!" the Megami replied, to the general mirth of the onlookers.
>> ==================
    Dr. Marilyn watched Miguelito pace in front of the room's desk, and occasionally smash his fist into the desk he paced in front of. "Damn!" he finally exploded, and glared at the Alaka-Wham, "You have the entire thing neatly categorized and -" he returned to the small screen where she'd assembled the critical clips. "It seems so innocent."

    "Innocent or not, the implications are what worries me," the psychiatrist said, "I think we need to get the Captain involved in this. Maybe I'm just overly tired, but I can't see a way this ends well. Especially after all they've been through."

    Miguelito nodded sadly. "It's that we all hoped, once he got back - "

    "Doctor," Voltaire said, and issued the Captain inside.

    "About half the crew is suddenly on edge, and Voltaire seemed to think you'd know why," the Megami-Sama said.

    Miguelito shook his head. "Lay it out again," he said, "Maybe she can find a way out we've missed." He returned to pacing.
>> ==================
    The Angel swept through the passageways, sometimes turning left, sometimes right, as if searching for something in particular. She paused, looked at the white robes she wore, and considered for a moment. Consideration done, she changed to a half-skirt and continued her quest.
>> ==================
    He heard the girl set the table down beside the bed. He opened his eyes to look at her and she froze. Exactly like a cat, caught doing something it shouldn't. Now, does she distract, or continue doing what she was doing?

     The Penance climbed back up on the table and peered at him, leaning over but staying on her table. She was just looking at him. Looking him over. He looked back, moving only his eyes. She was careful not to touch him, but moved easily on her table, to find the places she could reach.

    She isn't sniffing anymore, he wondered, So she's got my scent, or something else?

     She picked up the blanket, and touched where it had been. He stifled the urge to tickle her.

    She's nicely built, despite looking like a bizarre fetish model, he thought, I wish I knew what she was so curious about. Blossom and Rainbow said I smelled 'interesting', but they never acted like this.

     She froze again

    "What did you find?" he asked.

    Again the scramble into her cubby. A few moments of full hiding, then peeking out to check for pursuit. Then playing peekaboo for a few moments when she realized he was just watching.

    Let's move this along a bit, shall we? he thought, and moved the table closer.

    She hid again, as the table scraped across the floor. Then popped out to see him put the pillow, and his head on the table. She hid.

    Warden entered, set down the container of milk. She waved before she left, closing the door behind her.

    Again the peek-a-boo began.
>> ==================
    "What's he doing?" one of the crew Megami asked.

    "Oh, like you haven't wanted to run your fingers through his hair. Or Kerrik's," Jen teased.

    The Megami squeaked and retreated.

    "Nice trap." Naomi stared at the image. "And he's in her territory."

    "I just hope she doesn't suddenly decide to slit his throat for claiming her place," Warden warned.
>> ==================
    The Captain stood, glanced down at Miguelito, who stood aside to let her pacing wear a hole in the carpet. She looked terribly worried. She spoke as she walked, "I never thought I'd suggest this, and it goes against everything I normally believe in, but I can put a stop to this. I can put a stop to this, right now." As she paced, she gestured to the mirror of the projection the others watched. The Penance had found one of Janus's combs, and was duplicating the grooming she'd gotten over and over from Jen. Combing out Janus' hair.

    "Captain," Dr. Marilyn explained, "That's the symptom, not the problem. The fact it's even possible is the problem."
    "Besides," Antoinette added, "You'd have a mutiny on your hands, once they realized what you'd done," she explained as she and Voltaire served tea.

    "And why," Voltaire added.

    "This is a disaster," the Captain said, "I say this, batten down the hatches, and brace for a hurricane. Then let it happen."

    "Not very comforting," Miguelito complained, "Those are our friends down there."

    "Some of them are mine as well, Doctor," the Captain reminded him.

    "My apologies," he offered, "There has to be another way?"

    "Not one that will leave things intact."

    "Being an author?" Voltaire asked hopefully.

    Miguelito smiled at her, then the smile turned wan. "I'm afraid, that is also the root of the problem. Damn! Damn! Damn!" he shouted as he stomped his feet on the deck.
>> ==================
    The Angel walked out of the machine shop. "Thank you," she told the Megami machinist who's had the bushings ready before she'd even arrived.

    "Do you know what they are for?" the Pokèwoman asked, "I didn't."

    She smiled and looked at the round circles in her hand, made of the same tough alloy as the hull. "There will be an ending, and a new beginning, and all will be as it was." She walked along the corridors, no longer seeking a point in space, but seeking a moment in time.
>> ==================
    Every Pokègirl watching held their breath as the Penance lifted Janus up and took the near full bowl of milk and pressed it to his lips.

    "She is mirroring your actions?" Seadamar asked.

    Jen, unwilling to miss a moment, merely nodded.

    "Interesting. I believe showering and sleep generally followed," Seadamar said, "Unless you believe he'll take your part initiating a Taming." The GunValkyrie looked at the stunned faces staring at her. "It is the logical progression, if she is mirroring Jen's behavior. A pattern is set, and a pattern is followed. Which of the two patterns is followed, will be interesting."

    "Anyone want to bet?" Fred commented disparagingly, yet watched as intently as any of the others.

    Others hushed her as Janus drank from the bowl, while the Penance sat behind and held it to his lips. Once the bowl was empty, the girl was in a quandary.

    "She'd never wanted more than a bowl before, and I usually drank the last," Jen explained.

    "She's a fool if - wait!" Warden said and watched as the girl shifted him back into the bed. She moved the table out of the way and put the bowl beside the jug of milk.

    The entire audience held their breath as they watched which way she'd go, to the man staring at her from the bed, back to her cubby, or to the table. Several of the younger Megami squealed at the intensity, as the girl stopped and seemed to be debating the question herself.

    "If he says something, or some enemy breaks in," Jen growled and shook her fist.

    "There will be mayhem," Blossom agreed more sedately.

    "Perverts," Fred complained.

    Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when she slipped into bed. And stopped breathing again, when she started unbuttoning his shirt.
>> ==================
    He watched as she didn't work with the buttons as if her fingers were normal. She pinched the button and pushes it through. Clever really,  he thought as the knifelike fingers worked carefully at the handful of buttons. He forced himself not to speak. No encouragements, no soothing words, just letting her work.

    When the last was off, she paused and leaned close. He felt the roughness of her tongue on the stubble as she gave little licks on this throat. While her hands stroked his chest. Her hands moved lower, finding the bulge in his shorts. Her hands closed around it, squeezing slightly and feeling it react.

    She released it in abject terror and scrambled back to her cubby.

    This is weird, I can almost hear her whimpering, feel her terror, he thought as he composed himself.

    "I know you're all watching," he said gently, "And I can imagine what you are saying. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Just because she lost her nerve at the last moment. She was doing very well. Now it's time to bring this to a climax." He ignored the groans and head banging outside the room.

    It was like I felt her nerve break, he thought, More than just feeling how the story goes. He climbed out of bed and walked so he could look into the cubby, but not block her path to escape.

    He waited where she could see him for a few moments. She was holding her legs to her chest and rocking back and forth. He walked slowly up to her and lifted her from the cubby. As he set her supine on the floor, she exploded into motion. Her fingers clawed at the deck and her heels kicked at it. He lay down atop her and wrapped his arms around her.

    It's the only safe place around her, he thought as she noiselessly wailed and struck out at the deck beneath her. He waited and held her, letting her convulse and silently scream. As her fit faded, his fingers found the critical buckles. She wrapped her legs around his thighs, gripping tightly, almost painfully.

    "I don't have armor piercing ability," he told her, "I have to get at you the old-fashioned way." While she shook her head 'no', she freed the straps. She caught his hands, pulling them away from her crotch and out as far as she could reach. Once she was at full stretch, she released his wrists and immediately wrapped her arms around him.

    "It's okay, I can wait until you're ready. But sooner is better than later," he whispered as she pressed him against her as tightly as she could.

    She kept shaking her head and holding him.

    "It's okay. I won't hurt you."

    Her response was to release him, jump up and try to bolt. He caught her around the waist and set her back on the ground. She immediately rolled over, pulled her legs under her and covered her neck with her hands.

    "You do realize that if you're afraid of me raping you, that's the wrong pose, and the wrong direction?" he asked the prostrate girl, and could almost hear the whimper.

    I can't figure out if that's eager, or fearful, so I'll go with both, he thought as he put one hand on the small of her back, and one below her hands, and slowly pushed himself inside her.

    As he pulled back out, he felt a resistance across his back, slowing but not stopping him. Okay, I get it now, he thought, Just slow, and don't hurt you. He felt the same subtle resistance as he thrust into her, keeping his pace at a slower rate than he'd like. After a number of slow, steady strokes, she was rubbing her cheek on the deck and gasping breath through her mouth. Okay, she's enjoying it, he thought.
>> ==================

    The Angel waited, out of view of the entrance. The projected view of my goal will attract any errant watchers, she thought, So I needn't worry there. She clutched the carefully made parts to her breast and waited. Her stomach tightened as she realized, I'm acting completely on instinct. I have no rational thought behind this. I just knew it had to be done. I don't even really know what I'm doing. She steadied herself. Smiled at a passing rating, and waited.
>> ==================
    Miguelito pushed his way to the front of the pack watching the goings on. Many of the Megami noticed the Captain accompanied him and tried to slip away.

    "Stand fast," she ordered the terrified crew members.

    Jen noted the worried expressions on the newcomers, before her eyes were drawn back to the scene. "It's great," she began happily, then saw Miguelito's dark expression, "It is, isn't it?"

    "For them, yes," Miguelito said darkly, "For the rest of us, not so much."

    "You're acting as weird as the shrink," Jen said angrily, "He's helping that girl and you all are acting like it's the end of the world."

    "Think about the personality necessary to Recognize a Penance," Miguelito growled back, "Then think about what Recognition usually means to the rest of a Harem. And maybe you can grasp what we are so obviously over-concerned about," he shouted at her, and uncharacteristically, didn't apologize.

    "Recognition," Warden breathed, "That's - but why doesn't he know?"

    "Because it hasn't fully taken yet, and any attempt to stop it . . . will be worse," Miguelito admitted dolefully.

    "But if he Recognizes her . . . what about the rest of us?" Sabrina asked.

    "Usually?" Voltaire asked, and her sad expression gave the answer.

    "But . . . we just got him back," Isaik whispered mournfully, then came alert, "What's she doing there?!"
>> ==================
    Then Penance rose and arched her back, despite his weight on her, and seemed to howl at the ceiling. Despite her silence, he heard her joyous howl clearly.

    The howl stopped the instant she laid eyes on the nearly seven-foot-tall Angel. She hunched down, and planted her hands on the deck.

    "None of that!" he shouted, "We're still attached!" He looked at the Angel. The air around him felt greasy and tasted of ozone, like an impending lightning strike. He too stared at the Angel. She knelt in front of the Penance, as he pulled himself out of her, then had her try to back over him to get away from the Angel. He caught her and held her struggling form. While the Angel knelt statue-still and watched. "She's not going to hurt you either," he said unable to shake the absolute terror he realized was not his own.

    The Angel extended her hands together, palms up. "I only want to complete what has begun."

    He saw the rings in her hand, three of them, and understood. But the Penance still mentally beat on the walls of her mute prison, denying all and terrified of what the Angel was telling her. When he reached for the rings, the Penance twisted in his arms and knocked him down. Rather than running, she pinned his arms to his sides and shook her head.

    "It's all right, I understand," he told her, "You will too."

    She shook her head and again, then buried her face in his chest. He felt the raw terror like a choking cloud around him and the wracking sobs shaking her body even as he held her, yet silence reigned.

    As her struggles lessened, and abject despair settled over the Penance, he kissed the top of her head. Even her hair isn't sharp anymore, he realized. He looked at the Angel, pulled the Penance up his body so they were face to face. He hooked her legs apart with his and told her, "She's come for me. You won't be hurt. You know you can trust me."

    She laid her head on his shoulder and made no movement, other than shivering in terror.

    The Angel set the rings beside him, and took him into her mouth.
>> ==================
    "What the Hell's goin' on?!" Jen demanded as Blossom and Rainbow dragged her back into the room where the others still monitored, "You say the Penance Recognized him, and that Angel we've never seen before, says somethin' about 'completing' and she's giving him a hummer no questions asked?!"

    Miguelito and Dr. Marilyn had their heads together and whispered furiously. The Megami were being dismissed back to their departments, and the rest were dreading what would be their future if, as implied, their Master Recognized not one but two girls.

    "We know who she is," the Captain told Jen, "The Hild whom we captured. Now an Angel, and I think another piece to the puzzle."

    "He might recognize us all," Fred squealed, then soured, "Yeah right."

    "There's a chance!" Alba retorted, and was held high enough by Seadamar, to be out of Fred's reach.

    "Grow up," the Tomboy replied, "He's got his soul-mate, what does he need fun-toys for." Fred's grin turned nasty. "Except as meat shields for them. Yeah he'll probably keep you all around for your ability to absorb bullets."

    The Handmaid burst into tears, and there looked to be a few others ready to join her.

    "Master wouldn't do that," Warden whispered, "He cares about us. As pe - pe - people."

    "People don't have to fuck each other, they can 'just be friends'. He'll make sure you can Tame each other, and that he won't be too loud when the three of them are having an orgy."

    "Fred," Angie commanded sharply, "Enough." She glared at the others. "We don't know what's going to happen. I've never heard of someone Recognizing two Pokègirls. We can trust -"

    "Trust!" Fred shouted, "You are blind and deaf if you don't know what's going to happen. Recognized Pets are regularly - dealt with, in Sanctuary, because their Owners sympathize with them too much, to the exclusion of their other - responsibilities."
>> ==================
    He found the rings fit perfectly, almost as perfectly as the two bodies pressed against him in the shower. "One of us needs to step outside, cover themselves in soap and come back. I don't think three is going to work."

    "You and she would fall," the Angel said, "And we are clean enough, for what we now must do."

    "Yeah, you feel it?"

    "Through you. Clarice, you and I need to reassure them," the Angel said.

    "I hope you didn't mind Jen calling you Sophie, she had to give you a name," he told the Penance.

    I am Clarice, and hold no grudge against the one who would not abandon me, the Penance snuggled against him, Nor she who guarded and brought me to the one - She sighed and closed her eyes as she rested against him.

    He smiled contentedly, and looked up at the Angel who seemed enraptured by the display. "You also need a name," he told her.

    "Hannibal," the Angel said, and grinned.
>> ==================
    "The previous mark of nervousness was 'a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs'," Shana said, "I think that standard needs revision."

    "You do not feel as we do?" Seadamar asked.

    "He's decent," Shana grimaced, and explained, "That means something. You aren't getting less, you're getting more and more complete." She smirked. "Unlike you, I have faith."

    "Pokègirls who're him," Voltaire said.

    "Voltaire makes a good point. You'll have two Pokègirls who'll better understand him, and can explain him in Pokègirl-terms," Antoinette added.

    "Considering you have less of a stake in the game," Kay said, "Forgive us if we're a little more worried."

    Shana noted that both sisters seemed equally worried.
    The trio staggered out of the room, their Master in the center. The other two pressed against him, throwing him off balance as the pressure from one side to the other varied.

    Their Master stopped about 10 feet from the collected, expectant girls and looked around nervously. "What's wrong?"

    "You Recognized those two girls you dope!" Eko shouted. Kay looked like she planned to be an only child very shortly.

    "Oh, that." He shrugged. The Angel and the Penance maintained equally stoic expressions. "This is Clarice, she was an Alaka-Wham. And this is Hannibal is -"

    Miguelito's coughing fit interrupted, as Voltaire and Antoinette stared at Janus in amazement.

    "An Angel, named - Hannibal? She picked that name? Herself?" Miguelito gasped as Janus nodded, "Clarice and Hannibal." The man managed to get the coughing under control and stared at Janus. "You are an evil man, sir. They're yours no doubt or question about that!"

    "I understand that you were all worried about something, so I decided to demonstrate," he told them, "Since Clarice wanted Jen to know how much we appreciated her help, and patience." He paused to let the normally indomitable HyperDoll squirm under the combined glare of most of the Harem. "We're going to strap her down and beat her up."

    Most of the girls who hadn't heard about Jen's quirk looked horrified, until they looked at Jen who looked liked she'd died and gone to Heaven.

    "I'll take Sabrina," Hannibal said, "I need to learn a few things quickly."

    "Eep!" the DildoQueen exclaimed gleefully.

    The trio swept down on their targets and swept away with them. Leaving the rest of the Harem, Miguelito's, the Captain and a machinist mate looking around.

    "Did we win?" Alba asked.
>> ==================
    Kay looked at Jen, hanging between the pair, her Master and Clarice. The odd knife hanging from his belt told the story, as if the manic grin on the HyperDoll's face didn't.

    "I think she needs a healing cycle," Janus told Kay.

    She retrieved the girl, and fed the ball into the machine, setting the Healing for Level 4, then noted the lack of damage on the read out. "She was covered in bruises and small cuts," Kay said, "I thought -"

    The experience of pain at the hands of a lover is what she desired, Kay heard the calm and collected voice in her head, The anticipation and shock is what excited her, not the injury. So we were very careful.

     "Clarice is a telepath?" Kay said, "She retains that ability?"

    "Like Hannibal, she retains a shadow of her previous abilities. Once she bonded, she was strong, and secure enough, to use those abilities again."

    "I think we have a similar need," the aforementioned Angel entered, carrying a near-comatose DildoQueen.

    Kay reduced her to red light, and added her to the machine. "Just exhaustion," Kay said from the readout, "What exactly . . . " She paused at the Angel's blush.

    "It seems she had some - odd fantasies - involving our Master. I permitted her to play them out, and applied some of my - our - own." She glanced around. "Although, she is developing ideas about all three of us, at once, in various - " She looked straight at the Joy. "Private encounters."

    "All for one and one in all," Kay said, "I get it. No need to discuss it." She looked at the pleasant camaraderie. "How are all of you feeling."

    Well.

 &nbs p;   "Tired."

    "Loved," Hannibal said. She smiled at the expressions of the others. "They are not well bonded, and yet, something holds them as tightly as a web of Delta Bonds."

    He nodded. "I've been stubborn about this," he sighed and admitted, "Is it really better to let them sleep in their Pokèballs?"

    Clarice nodded. The Angel seemed to ponder.

    "Usually," Kay said, "Not always. Think of it as a deep and cleansing meditation. Every night is probably wrong, but occasionally, it's all right."

    We can show you, in the morning, Kay overheard between Janus and Clarice, You aren't eavesdropping, I need to speak, and this is the best alternative. I can send shielded thoughts.

     Please say 'blue', Kay heard.

    "Blue" "Green" "Red"

    Clarice smiled, and bowed. A moment later. Kay had retrieved the two girls and placed them in the machine.

    "I'm giving them a Level 2, so they can tell you what that's like. You, sir, need regular sleep. And I know there's an army camped on your doorstep."

    "So you're going to keep me here under observation?"

    "Medical observation," she said as she drew near, and began unbuttoning her blouse, "Close observation. I have to be sure no one slips in and tries to Tame you in your sleep."

    "Your diligence is commendable."

    Her blouse dropped to the floor, and she pushed him back with her breasts. "You can commend me later," she told him as her skirt joined the rest of her uniform on the floor, "I'd give you something to knock you out for eight-hours, but that isn't as restful as normal sleep." She reached for her hat, smiled, and left it where it was.
>> ==================
    He was vaguely surprised to wake up on the floor of a wardroom. Every Pokègirl in the Harem snuggled against each other, and the mass of Blossom's and Rainbow's battle-forms ringing the circle. Isaik as tight against his chest, with others laid out in concentric rings by their position in the hierarchy.

    A glance at his watch showed that 14 hours had passed. Several Megami in the styling of the ship's guard stood at the entrances to the large room. Several Tyrannodames of the Third Guards also stood with them. He sat up and had at least eight arms pull him back down. He frowned at that, and tried to ignore the answering chuckles, both outside and one inside his head.

    He sat up again, dislodging Isaik and looking over the expanse. One of the Tyrannodames stood and tiptoe and peered. He realized he was naked. "Not nice teasing the nice security ladies," he said as he cast about for something to wear, and realized that there was not a scrap of clothing in sight, except on the guards. "If you think this is going to keep me from walking to my cabin, you're very much mistaken."

    "Told you," Blossom rumbled, and handed over a set of clothes. Rainbow was giving an evil eye to the pecker-peeker.

    He picked his way across the field of girls, as Blossom and Rainbow woke the others by tossing clothing packages at or on them. "How are you two doing?" he asked the two massive dinogirls.

    "Hoping you'll deal with Eko in a thorough way," Blossom told him flatly, "Publicly would be good too."

    He blew out a breath and nodded. "That's a hornets' nest I've let fester too long." He smiled. "Any suggestions?"

    "Candles, chains, feathers, numerous very sharp pins, salted lemon juice, a drill press, whipped cream, ice cubes, fish hooks, fresh cucumbers, broiled snails, a pool of breathable water and a very sharp duck," Rainbow growled.

    Quack, appeared in his mind.

    "Oookayy," he said, "I see you've thought carefully about this."

    "Practice, for the one who killed you," the Tyrannodame growled. Blossom nodded, and the pair retook their human like forms.

    "If it wasn't a Legendary, I'd feel worried for her," he said, "On the other hand, considering I'd help, I do feel worried for her."

    Both Blossom and Rainbow nuzzled him, before turning to get the group in some kind of order.

    "Cheryl, some practice with Clarice, she needs to learn how to use her powers quickly. Hannibal, you need to go through the site-rip with Roxane and Aurora, I want you all up on the personalities and writings of the major authors. Shana, get with Kamara, we need to talk. The rest of you, the Captain has drills scheduled and work that has to be done to get this ship ready for VIPs. Guess who volunteered?" He ignored the complaints from the girls, and headed for the mess hall for something to eat.
>> ==================
    The Captain and several of her senior officers watched the ten Megami appear in one of the unused VIP cabins. Both groups saluted, as the crew did.

    "We await our assignments, Captain," their leader said.

    "One of you will be assigned to our CIC, another in engineering, gunnery, navigation, quartermaster, teaching the little ones, and I'm afraid the rest are going to be on general maintenance and cleaning up duties. You'll rotate through those position of course. If any of our passengers asks, you're part of our training cadre and brushing up on your cross-training. They've seen the least of those, and that also means no one will think it strange you're always looking over someone's shoulder and asking questions."

    "Understood."

 & nbsp;  "One of the other things you'll hear is Megami and Megami-Sama being called 'Megs' and 'Sammies'. While typically this is an insult, we've accepted it, grown inured to it, and made it our own. So don't be surprised if you hear it."

    The group looked at each other and chuckled as their leader smiled. "We're all veteran sailors, Captain, and we've been called and called others much worse. It won't be a problem."

    "I have a feeling I'll be calling for the full crew, very shortly. I trust my instincts and they're telling me a storm is coming," the Captain admitted, "The newcomers will present us a challenge I don't think we've ever faced. Something about it bothers me. If you see anything out of the ordinary, report it."

    "We'll be ready for it," the Sisterhood Megami assured her.

    "Then you've never run into an Author before," the Captain told them, "Let me give you a little taste of what you're likely to run into that passes for normal around here lately."

    "Captain," the leader said, "We do have a gift for you."

    "Thank you."

    "One of Kerrik's Harem understood that food was an issue. Our addition makes that more of an issue. So we brought 500 pounds of rice with us, each."

    "Very generous, and much appreciated," the Captain said, "But I think a little clarification about the more likely problem needs be made. XO. And an example of what I meant about normal."

    "Miss Blossom and Miss Rainbow, can you report to the guest quarters, thank you," the XO announced over the 1-MC.

    Before she could hang up, there was a knock on the door. The two tall, gray, feathered Pokègirls entered once the XO opened the door.

    "Thank you for teleporting here. These are some of our training officers," the Captain said, "Some have been on detached duty, but you'll be seeing a lot of them soon."

    "Understood, we will tell the others," Blossom said, "Just these, or are there more?"

    "We have some . . . retirees, I guess, we're bringing back," the Captain said, "We'll make sure you get a look at them."

    "A noseful would be better," Rainbow suggested.

    "If you don't mind," the Captain asked the Sisterhood Megami. None seemed to mind. Rainbow and Blossom bowed.

    Facing two 40+ foot-long, heavily-muscled carnivores brought the Sisterhood Megami to an alert watchfulness that raised them a few points in the Captain's estimation. They carefully stood still as Rainbow and Blossom scented each of the newcomers, and withdrew slightly.

    "They're - " one of the Sisters said.

    "Our Master's faithful guards. Some call us - Sturmgeschutz," Blossom rumbled, not accidently displaying her mouth full of six to nine inch-long, razor-sharp teeth, "A safe name that tells everything, and nothing."

    The members of the Sisterhood nodded.

    "They heard we were having supply problems," the XO said, "So they brought something to help."

    Both of the massive girls brightened, then their noses dilated, and their spirits fell. "We very much appreciate your generous gift. It is doubtless very good . . . rice," Blossom said as she returned to her humanoid form.

    "Do you need us for anything else?" Rainbow asked.

    "No, thank you very much."

    The pair vanished.

    "We were briefed you had Tyrannodames," one of the Sisters said quietly. "Impressive." There was a murmur of agreement.

    "Two of more than one hundred fifty we have on board. Like you, they are something else we haven't advertised," the XO told them, "They're good girls. Gentle, respectful, and incredibly tolerant of our vegetarian cuisine. We've only been rotating ten of the others out at any one time, and our two male passengers have been turning over their entire daily meat ration to them, but with twelve healthy appetites, it's more seasoning than substance."

    "Those teeth weren't just for show. One of those two ripped an immense Sharptits to pieces," the Load Master warned, "They're tolerant, but I think if we found a pirate ship, they'd jump it themselves, just to eat the crew."

    "Are they safe?"

    "As long as you're on their side, safe as the cuddliest mouse. If you're an enemy," the Load Master said, "You won't be for long. What they really need is a Leviathaness corpse to eat."

    "Or a Buzzbreast hive," Guns suggested, "Or a Vampire nest."

    The Sisterhood Megami stared at them for a second. "I don't think this tour is going to be boring," one of them muttered.

    "They're two of the more reasonable and normal of the passengers," the Captain said, "Let me warn you about some of the others."
>> ==================
    The evolution into the harbor of Ig Town was anticlimactic for the gleaming ship. Every spot of rust and peeling paint had been removed and replaced. She looked proud and fresh from the builder's yard.

    "The envy and near lust from the faces of the dignitaries watching her arrive is well worth it," he said to Miguelito, as the pair watched from the boat deck.

    "You do know they're going to completely screw us over, don't you," Miguelito replied.

    "Hope springs eternal," he replied.

    "Usually straight for the jugular vein." Miguelito raised his binoculars and looked at the group, separated from the dock workers and average citizens, by uniformed security from their nation.

    "Why didn't they let us go to the Cascade Islands, rather than down south? Bremerton is where the mothballed ships are sunk. Not the Magma Isles," he asked.

    "I don't even want to speculate on the shape of the table arguments that took place. The pitiful advantages and perceived slights that go through the heads of diplomats," Miguelito said, "Should we go and greet them?"

    "It couldn't hurt, just don't shake hands with any of them," he warned.

    "Poisoned needles?" Miguelito asked.
    He smiled at his friend. "Or worse," he replied.
>> ==================
    The group of diplomats and their parties had assembled on the fantail. Each nation cordially loathing each other. He recognized one person in particular. "Stay close," he told his guards, and his Recognized pair, "This might get dicey."

    He walked among the diplomats, looking as each guard came alert as he walked seven Pokègirls through their perimeter. The diplomats usually went from revulsion to oily smoothness as realization dawned, but he was past before they transitioned and was not inclined to turn back.

    He drew himself up, and saluted the old Witch. She returned it, and grinned. "Quite a trick, youngster." She glanced at the group surrounding him. "You afraid?"

    "If I'd planned on fighting you, ma'am, we'd be on the bow where six guns could bear."

    She smiled at that. "You'll have to write a paper. Damn few have ever come back."

    "It's a very personal experience."

    "I understand," she said and considered, "Ah, it's specific to the person."

    "Maybe because I'm - who I am - our other guest didn't see the world as I did."

    She nodded. "The girls and women are all here. So's the boat to take them north. The requisite number of spies in each, and probably some who didn't show up on our radar. You're going to need more humans, so I arranged it. Do you need anyone else?"

    He thought. "No. I suspect I'll need him later, if Carmen can spare him. But not now."

    "Should I deliver a crystal to your friend?" she laughed at his horror.

    "No, he'd use it. Or make more of them."

    She nodded, her tone was light, but her eyes were serious. "Youngster, anyone bringing light, is expecting darkness when they get there." She nodded again and let him drift away. He was trying to skirt around the crowd, but one man insistently cut through the others to intercept him. "Mr. Choice," the man announced loudly enough that the dock workers heard, if they were paying attention.

    Judas, must you betray me with a kiss? he thought of the man who'd singled him out for every spy in the place.

    The man bustled up to him, trailed by a woman who could have been a Very Near Human Pokègirl in pro forma disguise, or a human woman with odd sunglasses and a bad dye job to polish the mirror. Their suit and tie outfits were inappropriate for the tropics, she'd at least gotten rid of her jacket, but the sweat was making the white shirt clingy and transparent in places. Janus put his hands behind his back, put on a pleasant smile, and waited.

    The man stuck out his hand for a handshake, in a manner a Jokette might. In the ninety-seven-degree heat, both man and woman were wearing leather gloves.

    "I do so hope you are enjoying this little diversion. From your all-important mission, I mean." The man's hand hung there, like the puppeteer had forgotten to move it. "Can't keep the 'you know where people' far from your thoughts, can you?"

    The woman had started bleeding from her nose, tear ducts and ears.

    Clarice stuck out her hand for the man to shake.

    Probably sharp enough to separate one Planck second from the next, Janus thought, as the woman bolted for the railing, and dove off the ship. The man looked at the hand, and his departed comrade, and dropped his hand, finally.

    "I say."

    Obfuscating stupidity, or the real McCoy?

     Janus looked at Hannibal. "If she lived, fish her out, dry her off and check her out. Blue needs their spy and she's likely enough. Unless you want her back?"

    The man shook his head.

    "I shall wash her, strip her and have her sent to your tent," Hannibal said solemnly, manifested her wings and set off.

    "She always gets the sorting wrong."

    "I say," the man repeated, "Well, that was odd. Never saw that before." He sobered. "You mustn't think Blue is all Kerrik Wolf told you. We are a civilized people. He merely wanted things the government thought too important to lose track of."

    "I never suggested otherwise. But I have read all the stories set in the Blue League," he said and smiled, "And have found the Blue League closely follows the patterns of England in its dealings with others."

    The man smiled.

    "Like the Irish, Scots and Welsh," Janus said, "Good day to you, sir."

    Jen dropping out of the sky practically on top of him set more tongues wagging.

    "Are you stealing Roxanne's clothes?" he asked as she hugged him, then kissed him.

    "I missed you," she told him, setting off more murmurs among the diplomats. She took a pose in the white leotard, boots and gloves. "Too risque?" she asked.

    "You fill it out as well as she does," he said, "But differently."

    She curtseyed. She glanced at Clarice, then at him.

    There's a problem, he heard in his mind.

    I'll get Isaik and head out to the assembly area, he sent to Clarice.

    Jen nodded a moment later. "I'll get her. Good idea of Granny's." Jen flew off.

    "I take it you want me to be surprised," he told Clarice.

    Let's stir up the island a bit first, then disappear into problem solving mode, he heard, and got a kiss from Clarice. Which really had people behind him talking.
>> ==================
    The wardroom went from empty to full in an instant. "Thank you all for coming so quickly. As you know, we have a medical emergency," the XO told the assembled Megami and Megami-Sama, "You're going to be busier than you've been in a while. A lot of the people we need to carry out our plan are in danger. Our medical staff will be handing out assignments. Likewise, some of you will be getting some fast on the job training as most of the regular crew are called away."

    She paused to let them absorb that, then continued, "This will have one other effect. If one of our eagle-eyed passengers sees you later, they'll remember you were there for this emergency, and will be less inclined to ask questions. Okay. Let's get you separated and on your way to your assignments."
>> ==================
    They walked down the main drag, and enjoyed the reactions. It was almost enough to make him forget they were walking towards a disaster. Okay I think I've figured it out, he thought as he watched more and more of the same reactions, The Angel catches the eye, six-foot-ten and gorgeous would.

     Thank you, came the reply from their point guard.

    Of course, he thought, Then the laughing little girl, then they realize the laughing Pokègirl with the girl on her shoulders is a Penance, then they realize she's swinging from her Master, and a HyperDoll.

     At that point their brain divides by zero and they shut down, Clarice finished, You'd almost think we planned this.

     NAW! they all thought, and laughed.

    "I gotta get me one'a them delty blondes," Jen joked.

    "I still want to know what this disaster is," he replied.

    "Blue screwed us over, and probably told the other Leagues how to as well," Jen told him, "Not the best thing to tell you, after dealing with their infiltration, and their representative. Especially around witnesses."

    "Ah ha! I challenge you for your . . . "

    "Not again!" Janus said disgustedly, "Didn't we leave you with a PsiDyke out in the middle of nowhere?"

    "HyperDoll?" the Tamer seemed to deflate, "You turned my Harem into HyperDolls? And Penances?! How could you best me in evil and villainy?"

    "Can I kill him? Please?" Jen asked sweetly.

    "It is our holy mission, to convert evil Tamers to a more pleasing form. If you have pleasured a PsiDyke you have learned what many men never dare," Hannibal said beatifically.

    "Was that him screaming, or the sound barrier breaking?" Isaik asked of the retreating Tamer.

    "He might be a spy for the Celestial Alliance," Jen suggested, and shrugged, "You never know."

    "We do," Janus and Isaik said and continued walking.

    "You should have fought him," Hannibal said, "He may have provided you more - interesting Harem-members."

    "You wanna chase him down?" Jen asked.

    He stared at them. They tried desperately to look innocent.

    The camp for the released Megami seemed to be in order: tents in neat rows, good sanitation, laundry hanging in the breeze. Hardly a disaster by any stretch of the imagination. The Megami were chatting in small groups, and not staring at him too hungrily.

    "We're gonna need a bigger boat," Jen suggested.

    No, these will be fine, and will fit, Clarice said, These are the bulk of the trainees. Many ringers, but they should be separable into their nationalities.

     He looked around the camp. "If they'll fit," he said as they walked, "Then this isn't all of them."

    "And they aren't the disaster," Jen said.

    They crested a rise and looked down at the second camp.

    "Goddamn them to Hell," Janus whispered.

    "The ladies in the army, they think are mighty fine, most are over eighty and the rest are under nine," Jen said of the collection of old women and young girls, most who staggered around, or sat, shaking with palsy.

    "Get everyone, Granny said she sent for help," he said coldly, "Hannibal, locate them too. Have Miguelito send a message to Kerrik, maybe L's troops are here, maybe Kerrik can spare somebody." He looked with fury at the clean and neat camp he'd just passed through. "And get those prissy bitches off their asses and moving down here."

    "They may have had orders," Jen said. Laying a hand on his shoulder, and weathering the glare he gave her.

    "They certainly do now," he said quietly.

    "You're going to need a larger security force," Hannibal said, "Before you go down there. They're Feral, or near Feral. But they'll be able to sense you, and Isaik can't protect you from what will ensue."

    He nodded. "Get some people here then. Jen, you and Clarice get them moving. I'll - I'll stay up here and fulminate, until you get back."

    Roxanne, Aurora, Kay and Eko are on their way, Clarice reported, With the Captain turning over many watch-standing functions to the Third Guards, so she can lead a detail out here.

     "Thank you."

    Your pain is our pain, she said, nuzzled his hand, and left with Jen. Hannibal took wing and headed out.

    "It's not your fault," Isaik told him, "Better they get out and about now, rather than go further, or go the way of Pokèpower."

    "I don't have to approve of what was done, just because it could be so much worse," he said. He looked back, trying to spot the cruiser. "I knew they'd screw us over somehow, but not like this. Sad, when they can steal a march towards bastardy from a monster like me."
>> ==================
    The Nurse Joy walked into the tent, glanced around, then threw herself into his arms, sobbing uncontrollably. He held Kay as she cried her heart out. She hadn't been the first who'd reacted that way. Even the Captain had sought a moment's surcease in the arms of a human. He'd wanted to limit that to just the Des Moines' crew, but that plan had fallen apart as the sheer horror descended on all of them.

    When she seemed to have settled down, he asked, "What's the count?"

    "They're all viable," Kay said, sniffed, "But there's at least 600 who are full Feral, and another 200 that are deep in the Fading."

    "Which means they're the ones who are going to need kid gloves," he realized, "And lots of hand-holding."

    She nodded. She sat up, snuffled again. "I bet you think I'm being silly."

    "You'd lose. I'm not even angry anymore. Although if those diplomats hadn't all left so quickly. I'd be doing something very nasty to each of them."

    The knock on the door brought their attention away from each other. Kay smoothed out her uniform as Voltaire entered. Miguelito was back at the ship, by everyone's strict agreement.

    "More," Voltaire stepped aside, and showed the leader of the Francinesteins that had been made from the Celestial Alliance's dead leadership.

    "Much healing," the Pokèwoman said, with tears in her eyes, "Let us help."

    He looked at Voltaire who nodded.

    "Every hand is wanted," he replied.

    She nodded and Voltaire led her away.

    "Now it's time for me to go look," he said firmly, "Now it isn't eighteen-hundred to two anymore." She made a wordless complaint, but let him get up. The instant he stepped out of the tent, Seadamar and Sabrina fell in behind him. Kay led him to some of the worst cases.
>> ==================
    Megami-Sama aren't supposed to be little girls, he thought in horror as the apparent nine-year-old shook with a palsy that would have been disturbing in person ten-times her age.

    She looked up at him, eyes vacant of any emotion. She had given up on life and living. She looked down at the faded dress she wore and her shaking hands. Then she looked up, no hope there, just a vague interest in something not as careworn as her dress and hands.

    He knelt down, to look at her face-to-face. She tracked his face as he moved. She wasn't looking for anything, she was only looking at. When he took her in his arms it was like holding a wooden doll. Slowly, she seemed to waken, putting her arms around his neck to hold herself.

    Then she screamed, a sound so full of pain and terror everyone else in the tent pulled back. A sound he'd made often enough, in his first few weeks here. Hers was one word, Raoul.

    You can't keep the sound in, or it will destroy you, he thought of the girl in his arms, gasping for life as if she'd just screamed out all but the dregs. He held her, not knowing anything else to do.
>> ==================
    The cart rattled to a stop in the pool of brilliance the ship's lights made in the otherwise total darkness. Almost mechanically, he climbed out, accepted the sleeping Isaik from one of the young Megami, a twenty-something who'd needed a reassuring cuddle more than he had, and walked for the gangplank. The Boobfin had been pressed into service as guard. Several people walked the decks. But the ship was otherwise quiet.

    He stared at the gangplank as if seeing it for the first time. He felt drained and empty. Even anger had fled. He put one foot in front of the other, and proceeded up the slope to the ship, and by instinct headed for his cabin. Walking through the corridors, he heard the occasional scuffle, as Megami, and others, sought some solace in Taming, or another's arms.

    The Megami near his cabin, he didn't recognize. She didn't wear the ship's uniform. Like every other Pokègirl he'd seen to today, she'd also been crying.

    "I'm -"

    "Lucifer or her proxy, I presume," he replied.

    "We didn't know," she admitted.

    "Madam, I am so far beyond caring about blame, for anything, that if Adolf Hitler and Lindi Valiant showed up with 10,000 medics and all the supplies we need. I would kiss both of them however they wished." He nodded to her. "Good evening." He went into his cabin, and closed the door. The moment he'd sat down on the bed, he was asleep.
>> ==================
    He woke to find Acer and Roxanne nearly dozing in a pair of chairs in his cabin. Underworld was trying to play backpack, with her arms and legs wrapped around him. He released the shoulder strap and sat up. Both Acer and Roxanne came alert.

    "Rough?" he asked.

    The pair nodded.

    "When getting sent for KP is a relief," Acer said, "It's bad."

    He nodded and untangled Underground's legs. Before he headed to the small head to relieve himself.

    The nightmares weren't too bad, he thought groggily, I kept arriving too late to one problem after another, well too bad. Your bad planning doesn't constitute an emergency on my part. He looked at the unshaved face, and pseudo-Mohawk and realized he'd need a shave and a shower before going out again.

    "Great," he commented to his reflection who looked worse than he felt.

    And after we get them healed, he thought, What then? How do we weld them into an effective force? How do we keep too many secrets floating back to the other Leagues? And how do we keep the transition from becoming too onerous for all?
>> ==================
    At breakfast, he saw a sight he initially put down to fatigue-induced hallucinations. A Megami-Sama, in a purple and green dress, two rather subdued MaryAnn Drews, and an Angel in a purple and green swallow tail tuxedo, and between them eighteen Angels in similar garb, and four MaryAnn Drews. The Angels and MaryAnn Drews looked more shell-shocked than Brian's Harem members.

    "Hazel?" he asked as more eyes turned to stare at the group.

    The trailing Angel nodded. "When we found out we were coming here, we stocked up on Angel Stones. Last night, we made a sweep. There they were, exactly where I would have been."

    "They were - amusing themselves - " The March Hare stated, "At the tribulations of the camp. We should have induced Cheryl or Gwendoline to accompany us. Then we could have converted them all."

    "There were more than twenty-two?" he asked in alarm.

    "Nine of the Jokette breed, each with an average Harem of four and one-half," The March Hare told him, "But I could only Bless some of them, the rest . . . went the clown's route."

    "I hope that means some had four and others five. Wait, I can count to forty-nine and fifty without any problem. You've only got twenty-two. Are you going to need any help to get the rest?"

    "No," Hazel said flatly, "We had some help. Very good help, and plenty of it. And if in never hear 'does this taste funny to you' again, it will be entirely too soon."

    "I think, I don't want to know," he said, "You did well. Are they ready to help?"

    "Of course," The March Hare told him, then glared at them. Much nodding took place. "Our Master and some of the others Tamed them. The reward shall go to resettling those who cannot pass muster for the seaborne life. They shall be added to the 'deserving Tamer' pool."

    "You aren't going to take them with you?" he asked.

    Hazel and The March Hare stared at him in shock. "Do we look insane?" they asked, and took their work party out of the mess hall.

    "I think they walked in here, just to do that to me," Janus commented to no one in particular.
>> ==================
    The door had a small note on it, and the Tyrannodame guard had a very faint smirk.

    " 'Sorry about being late, H'," he read the card, the back side read 'Dumped'. "I suspect if I asked a direct question, I'd get a Buckingham Palace guard response," he told the girl, who looked directly ahead, not incidently over his head. "If it's dangerous, just blink twice."

    "It isn't dangerous, sir. Not to you." The smile threatened to break out again.

    "Why don't I just go in there, before you hurt yourself?" he said and opened the door.

    The naked woman spread eagled and chained to his bed didn't seem like a threat. That she was aimed at the door was more bad-taste than a hazard. The stub wings and streak of glossy white in her long hair pointed to her being a Pokègirl.

    "Whoever you are, you're in trouble, messing with a member of the BLSF carries - " She fell silent when she spotted him. "Get away! Don't hurt me again!" She tried her best to move away, her wing stubs blurring as they added to her attempted retreat.

    He aimed a Pokèdex at her and read the resulting Flydra entry, while she whimpered and struggled at the bonds. "Name, rank and identification number?" he asked when she finally fell silent.

    "I'm a member of the Blue League government. If you hold me against my will, you will be punished," she said very carefully, as if negotiating with a Widow.

    "Funny, your boss took off out of here without one word about taking you back. Seems that once your telepathy didn't work, and that I'd found out the condition of all those Megami, he was jettisoning all the ballast he could to get out of here. Now, I don't know where you're from, but around here, unauthorized telepathy is a serious crime. And I have one of the Sages of the Sunshine League present as a witness. So a Level 5 conditioning cycle is not out of the realm of probability."

    He waited for her to respond. When she didn't, he continued, "Now, I'm going to unchain you. Then you have two choices. You can stay with me, I'll get you some clothes, and you can continue spying for the Blue League. Or I can clothe you, and let you go."

    "Why shouldn't I just go?"

    "Because we're on an island. And I have the sneaking suspicion that as of a few hours ago, the Blue League never heard of you," he told her, "I've always known Kerrik had an anti-authority streak, so he wrote up the Blues as the biggest prats in all the Leagues. Your Masters would screw over Noah, even if they had guaranteed seating on the ark. That means no clearance, no funds, no friends and no hope. Now, I may be wrong. Mr. I-Wear-Gloves-To-Shake-Hands, may just be dancing on a string, and he may want you back. But I wouldn't bet my life on that." He unlocked the chains, put a shirt and shorts in her lap, and opened the door. "Your choice."

    "So I'm either your slave, or I go out there and run the risk of going Feral, or getting turned into Pokèpower?" she asked angrily as she clothed herself, "I don't believe you." She walked out.

    The Tyrannodame looked at him and shrugged.

    "You only have to offer," he told her as he collected the material he needed at the camp, "You can't force a person to accept salvation."

    "So what do you have planned for us?" the Tyrannodame asked.

    "If I can arrange it, you go back to serving S-Goths, who'll desperately need you."

    The girl looked at him suspiciously.

    "Need to know, remember? And it's not set yet." He closed and locked the door to his cabin, before heading for the camp.
------------------------------
Janus looked around the deck and seemed mollified that there were only the senior officers and Miguelito's Harem about. "They did this, and they're still going to hold us to the schedule?" Janus asked the Captain, on one of his frequent trips back and forth from the camp.

    Miguelito could almost hear Janus's temper was fraying, and his struggle to keep it from exploding on these guiltless people. Miguelito had tried and failed to maintain the same level of composure when he'd been informed.

    "Of course. They didn't know anything about this, until they let them out," the Captain said quietly, "And they expect us to fulfill our contract."

    "That's insane, but typical," Janus replied sardonically. The monster behind his eyes successfully caged again, for the moment.

    "Can we treat them on the move?" Miguelito asked carefully, "All the resources we have are ship-borne, so we could load them on the vessels, and use the transit time to work on their recovery."

    Janus sighed, as tired and anguished as he had been in the other dimension.

    Keep an eye on him, Miguelito made a mental note, then saw that Antoinette was looking at Hannibal and Clarice, in a way she often looked at Voltaire. Not speaking, but communicating volumes, Good, they'll keep an eye on him.

     "Yes. Whatever we've been doing, they are stabilizing, and we probably aren't going to lose any of them. But I don't know how stuffing them aboard two ships and sailing them to the Cascade Islands will affect that."

    "They should be fine," Kay said, "As long as we don't run into any pirates."

    "If we run into pirates," the XO growled, "It's the pirates who'll have to worry. Not us."

    "At least it will deal with some of our food problems," the Captain shuddered, but smiled, " 'Megami are friends not food,' I think our friends in the Sisterhood need to learn that. It also seemed remarkably effective in stopping the whining of the healthy long-term girls."

    "You do realize, as soon as they are their own crews," Janus said, "The Leagues will know all about the Tyrannodames?"

    "The security of Sanctuary and the myths surrounding it are all folktales and legends," the Captain said, "The reality is that everyone who really needs to know, already does."

    "Janus," Antoinette ventured, "On another note. You and your Harem may want to start sleeping in the camp tonight, rather than trekking back here aboard ship."

    "Is there any special reason?" Janus asked as he looked searchingly at Miguelito, Voltaire and Antoinette. Both Clarice and Hannibal were frowning.

    "I think it will be extremely beneficial," Miguelito explained, "The Megami may be able to gain from your proximity."
    "You - think," Janus replied skeptically.

    "We could be overrun out there," Hannibal said, "There is still a Jokette or two out there, as well as other Ferals. And Third Guards or not, I'm not eager to put my Master at risk."

    "Miguelito, it may be a marvelous idea, and highly advantageous, but I need some time alone. When I'm out there, there's a constant background hum that makes rest difficult, and would make sleep impossible," Janus said, "I'll be sleeping aboard ship, unless there's a more concrete example than your gut feeling, and if there's no need for me to be coherent after a sleepless night."

    He nodded grimly. "Understood," Miguelito said, "Please consider it."
>> ==================
    Miguelito stood deep in the bowels of the ship. The sound of the engines running to provide electrical and steam power for the ship's operations dominated all other sounds. He watched the Tyrannodames of the Third Guard being carefully milked, then each took a ration of Flower's milk so they could continue lactating. The milk is one of the few acceptable sources of protein for the Megs and Sammies. So they get their oatmeal and rice with plenty of fresh milk. It's amazing, these fearsome monsters eagerly and selflessly pitch in to help, despite being on the boundary of being trusted or not. Sanctuary were fools to marginalize them the way they do. They want no more than to be good soldiers. If that means feeding fellow soldiers, they do it. He grimaced at the inherent unfairness of it all.

    Most began heading off to duty stations. They were not to expose themselves in daylight, and they took that admonition to heart. But only the letter of the law is being obeyed.

     He considered, I think it's best to not ask about the late night 'sweeps' of a couple dozen patrolling the woods around the camp. It wouldn't do to get confirmation of where and what they are supplementing their diet with. As long as it's just Menaces, I think I won't look a Tyrannodame in the teeth. Besides, with the Jokettes Ig is famous for, we need the patrols.

     He smiled at one of the younger Guards, who blushed and giggled slightly. The others continued to their stations aboard and within the ship. He smelled but couldn't hear the sound of cooking from the galleys, as instead of 150, or even 300, nearly ten times that number were going to be fed from the galleys of the Des Moines. He turned back to the group of kits that had been detailed to him. They don't look Feral, or Fading. But better them, than some of the more adult Megami the others are having to deal with.

     "Are you ready to help?" he asked them happily. The girls nodded eagerly. His own enthusiastic tone matched theirs, "All right, first we do some practice. Then we go out among the camps."

    The group seemed to almost shimmer with excitement over helping their fellow Megami.

    I just wish I could do this as well as Kerrik does, but I can do it, he considered.
>> ==================
    " 'Where there's a whip there's a way. Where there's a whip there's a way. Where there's a whip there's a way!'"

    Janus stared through the tent flap at the BattleAngel-led work group walking through the camp, singing at the top of their lungs. He let the flap drop and returned to the desk. "Somehow I don't think that is exactly the kind of song that would have a beneficial effect on the Megami," he commented as the voices moved away.

    " 'We don't want to go to war today, but the Lord of Lash says nay, nay, nay. We're gonna march all day, all day, all day! Where there's a whip there's a way!'"

    "It is a catchy tune," Hannibal said politely as she checked the figures on food, medicine and their effect on the Megami, "And it seems the enthusiasm matters more than the words," she paused to listen closely, "I'm afraid you might be hearing more of it."

    He glared at her. "If they start singing The Bearer of the Ring I'm going to be very worried." He sighed. "When can we go out again?"

    "Miguelito needs you to stay here, while he performs his experiment. You and Kerrik would skew the results," Hannibal said.

    Clarice entered with team bearing a pair of older Megami evos on stretchers. She looked on approvingly, as her Master simply accepted, and walked over to sit on the ground between the two stretcher-bound figures. He dutifully missed the very proprietary looks both Hannibal and Clarice gave the Megami litter-bearers. He had took the patients' hands, and waited. Once they had the stretchers on the support frames, the four Megami decided to wait outside. Clarice curled up in his lap, while Hannibal knelt behind him and rested against him.

    After a time, he released the hands of the two Megami. Both had a ruddier complexion, and a more animated expression.

    "If I can't go out . . . " he said, and stared in surprise as another pair was brought in, "I thought Kerrik fixed most of them."

    "Yes, but some are resistant," Hannibal explained.

    "So he takes care of the batch lots, I get the one-at-a-time cases?" he said, "I can live with that." The new pair were a deathly pale kit, and a pretty woman his own age, who looked more dead than some corpses he'd seen. He took their hands and waited.
>> ==================
    Kay watched another group being escorted to the latrines. A canvas wall surrounded the area, but there was no individual privacy once inside. I'm beginning to hate brown canvas, she thought. She glanced at Kamara and Shana, who seemed completely embarrassed that they knew what was needed by the listless Megami well enough to teach the other helpers what was needed.

    "Okay, you know what needs to be done, how?" she asked Shana as the group of nearly faded Megami did their business. Further away, beyond the walls, guards kept any humans away.

    "There's a prison, in the Dark Continent, where there are people who act much like this. Minor transgressions among the military means a short shift as a guard or trustee there. It makes the message of what happens when you really screw up very clear indeed."

    Kamara approached. "We, two, played a practical joke on an Infernal who had more political connections than ability. We got six months there. It was, not something I'd care to repeat. This should last only a few days. But the routines and rituals got ingrained in everyone who did a punishment detail there."

    "I'm almost afraid to ask. What all was involved?"

    "Feeding and emptying," Shana said quietly, "And dealing with the occasional attempt to rescue a prisoner, or a prisoner evolving. But those were extremely rare." She walked off and began the process of cleaning the Megami, and preparing the next batch to use the latrines.

    I almost wish we could use some of the others, but the Megami won't crap or piss if they can even see a human, she considered, I wonder what that says about them psychologically?
>> ==================
    Jeremy walked wearily towards his tent in the Megami camp. A day of patrolling the perimeter and well into the evening had his bone-weary. Yeah, I'm gonna sleep inside a tin box floating on water, he thought with a shiver, I've already cleared it with Kelvin to let me sleep out in one of the lifeboats, when I have to be aboard. He pulled aside the flap of his tent, and froze. A young Megami knelt on his open sleeping bag, her eyes downcast, her clothes neatly folded beside her.

    The young Watcher swallowed. She looks older than some of the kids who've been following me around, he thought as he warily approached, Or is she just teasing me?

     She didn't move or look at him, she seemed completely content to remain motionless.

    "Excuse me?" he asked, only the slight blush of her breasts and cheeks showed she'd even heard him.

    Where're the others? he wondered about his group, Jean! He waited for an answer or a reaction, and the Megami didn't seem to be interested in much of anything. I hope this isn't one of those 'she's always been here' tricks. He touched her hair, which needed a washing/combing, or a grooming cycle. That normally gets a reaction. He knelt down beside her and looked around, then ran a finger down her bare shoulder, and down her arm. He enjoyed the smoothness of her skin, but not the lack of reaction. She blushed a little more, but showed no other reaction.

    "Look, maybe I should tell you. I'm not some hotshot Tamer who's going to just throw you down and Tame you," he said carefully as he wondered.

    How much of this is a trick? he thought as he listened for the snickering of either of his two CameraGirls recording his 'exploits' with a nearly catatonic girl.

    He spotted the tear running down her cheek. "It's not that I don't like you!" he hastily offered, "Or that I'll force you to do something you don't want!"

    It's just, what would you see in me? he didn't ask aloud.

    He moved closer, and she didn't react. He leaned over and kissed her. Finally, he thought as he felt a reaction, her pressing her lips against his. He broke off the kiss and realized that she was looking at him now. She has the most piercing eyes, he thought, I wonder what she did to get thrown in prison. He unzipped the sleeping bag completely, and practically had to load her into it.

    "Are you nervous?" he asked as he slipped in beside her, "Or - "

    Or you don't care who de-Ferals you, he thought, Even some skinny, barely-legal kid? Only when he'd slid up against her, did she tentatively put her arms around him.

    "I'll take that as a 'yes, I want you to Tame me'," he said, as he discarded his shorts, and carefully fingered her, as Sherry had taught him.

    The Megami pouted, but seemed to relax as he pressed deeper inside her. When he could feel her reacting, he rolled her on her back, and began Taming her in earnest.
>> ==================
    He hadn't heard, but outside, his Harem had watched dozens of young Megami close in and cluster around his tent.

    What are they doing? Deniece asked Jean, as Sherry tried to find a way through, without climbing on the Megami themselves.

    I'm reading brain patterns almost like sleep, the Alaka-Wham replied, Or deep meditation. But they've no hostile intent.

     If they keep me away from my Master too long, Sherry thought as she searched for a gap in the crowd, They're gonna get more 'hostile' than they know what to do with.

     Keep filming, Denephew told them, Most Megami don't let themselves be studied, maybe they're just doing what other Pokègirls do, when one of them is getting Tamed.

     "I'd feel better with one of us watching him," Sherry whispered as she rejoined the group. She gestured at the Megami crowd. "This is just weird. More like Zombabes than Megami."

    "Except Zombabes wouldn't stop," Jean told them, "Or get all brain numb. Weird. We'll tell the others in the morning."

    Sherry looked around and noted more Megami closing in. "That's if they let us out, to tell anyone," she commented.
>> ==================
    Kelvin was in an already foul mood when he walked into the Megami camp before dawn. The forced 'integration' of the two camps was complete, and the healthy Megami ex-prisoners had begun to apply the same manic rigor and straightening to this new combined camp. "It shouldn't have taken this long for them to step up and help without a knife to their throats," he grumbled, "None of them were Feral, and many of them were spies and not prisoners. How do they expect to keep their new ships, if they can't learn to work together and be proactive?"

    "Aren't you the one who keeps saying that 'good is not the same as nice, and Megami are nice, not good'?" Warden asked carefully.

    "Don't worry about setting him off, Warden," Hannibal explained, "He's more embarrassed than angry. More worried about what he happened to us, than what happened to him."

    "Or didn't happen," Cheryl said, and giggled.

    "That's not what has you so . . . pissed," Acer said, from her rearguard position.

    Kelvin frowned at that, as his loyal Harem stifled their giggles.

    "It happens to lots of guys," Hannibal said, smiled, "Age has nothing to do with it."

    "It hasn't happened since I've been here," he replied tartly, "You seem to be taking this in stride."

    Her wings and arms wrapped around him. "I love my Master, and he loves me. What more do I need?" Hannibal told him with a superior tone, and the others nodded sagely, while hiding their smiles. She released him, after she pinched his butt. "Besides I like you a little less certain of everything," she whispered, "You were getting too much like an arrogant Megami."

    That caused bursts of laughter from the entire group, save him and Seadamar.

    "Damned embarrassing," he said and shook his head, "I mean wetting a bed, at my age."

    "You did warn us about you waking up that way," Cheryl said as she got her giggles under control, "Besides some girls get turned on by that kind of thing." She sobered, slightly, and admitted, "We shouldn't have woken you up that way. My and Hannibal's clothes don't need washing."

    At that point they all giggled, even the normally dour GunValkyrie, further darkening his mood. Warden halted. She, like Acer, was his guard for the day. "Let us pass," the Bust Angel requested, and squared her shoulders. All of them came alert, scanning the people around them and considering.

    The Megami were up and around, more than they had been the day before.

    "Let us pass, please," Warden repeated herself in a commanding tone, and backed up a pace as the Megami slowly advanced.

    "They're closing in behind," Acer warned as more Megs and Sammies surrounded them. He heard Seadamar's weapons deploy.

    "What's the story say?" Hannibal asked as she formed a defensive ring around him with the others.

    "Nonthreatening," he said in confusion as he watched them mill forward. Not purposefully advancing, but tightening the knot around them. "Everyone stay loose, but be ready."

    "For what?" Seadamar asked.

    "We can't push them back," Warden reported, "They're packed and overlapping."

    "Hoplite-style formation," he said as the five girls were crowded in against him, "We can still fly," he said, "Hannibal, they look about five yards deep, are more coming?"

    "Not really, they seem to have . . . nucleated around us. They're only pressing us back against you, but not trying to crush us," the Angel replied. The tension in her voice matched the tension in her body. All of the others were coiled and ready to fight for their Master's safety.

    "Their expressions aren't hostile, but they aren't really anything, either," Acer reported from her front, "But I think they're not going to let us go without a fight."

    "They haven't hurt us, we shouldn't start hurting them. Understand?"

    "BOSS!" came a frightened cry over the radio that made all of them jump, "The Megami, they closed in on us, and won't let us go!" Kay reported.

    He struggled to get the radio loose from the press of bodies. Acer's vine pulled it clear and wormed it up where he could talk into it. "Thanks, are you in danger?"

    "No, but Maus and Aurora are pressed up against me, and we're all pretty nervous."

    "Are you hurt?" he asked.

    "No, they stopped well short of that. They didn't act like this yesterday."

    "Or the day before," he replied, "I think this is new. Okay, Aurora and Maus can get you out of there if it gets bad. But stand fast, I don't think we're in any real danger. We're in the same fix, pressed close, but not hurt. I'll contact the ship and see what help is available."

    "This is the Des Moines, we're monitoring your situation and have help standing by," came Kay's voice over the radio, "What's our recommended course of action?"

    "Charging in shooting won't help anybody," he told her, "We're near the town-side edge of the camp. Can you place a force some distance from us, but nearer the edge of the camp? Draw their attention, and do the same for Kay's group?"

    "Can do. Jeremy's people reported a similar behavior early this morning," the comm officer told him, "They surrounded his tent while he was Taming a Megami. They only reported it a little while ago."

    "I'll think about that," he replied.

    "You do that," Acer said, "A nice Taming wouldn't be too bad right now. 'Cause we're not going anywhere."

    "If we need to go," Hannibal reminded her, "We can still go up. I doubt they'd chase us across the skies."

    "Spoilsport," Acer said.

    "Master is nervous about public Tamings," Warden said, "And I'm not sure we have the free space to even try."

    Kelvin blushed at the new and expected subject of conversation. "I'd like to know why they're doing this, and why not earlier?"

    "Master, wouldn't we all," Warden said as she looked around.

    "Hey! We can lift him up top! They're packed in so tight, it would be like a lumpy floor," Acer said eagerly.

    "Can't you think of anything else?" he complained.

    "Not when pressed so tight against my Master," Acer panted and squirmed against him, "Especially when he needs reassuring so bad."

    The girls giggled, and all pressed in and wriggled against him.

    "I wish Jen were here, then I could beat on someone who'd enjoy it," he commented.
>> ==================
    "Celestial rescue service," Taylor said as they led Kelvin's group out, "Seems you aren't the only one who needed rescuing. Every human present in the camp since last night got surrounded."

    "That's interesting," Kelvin said as the Seraphs of Taylor's Harem formed a wall to let the other man escape. Kelvin considered. "Wait a second. Kerrik was out there too. Didn't he have this problem? And why didn't he report it?"

    "I do not know, sir," Taylor said tersely.

    "If it was Hazel and Stupid Fuzzbutt rescuing him, I can see why no one wants to talk about it," Kelvin admitted.

    "No comment, sir," Taylor said.

    Kelvin looked at the pack of Megami, staring at him from beyond the walls of Seraph wings.

    "A little haste, they aren't insistent, but there are a lot of them," one of the Seraphs recommended.

    "Wonder what would happen if we tried that ring and -"

    "They'd be standing over us all night," Seadamar replied, "Even Megami wouldn't mind you looking up their dresses at that point."

    He frowned at the image and his foolishness for not thinking about it first. "Probably right."
>> ==================
    The medical center was now dealing with more cases of bumps and bruises from the nucleation incidents, than the initial problems of dying Megami.

    "I don't like the fact that they will be making us pack up and move in a few days," Kay protested politely.

    "The Leagues are not willing to delay their acquisition longer than that," her Master explained, he looked around the brown, canvas walls of the tent, "Or did you want to set down roots here until we figure out how to raise those ships from hundreds of miles away?"

    "Knowing you and Wolf, you could," she said quietly. She sighed, set down the equipment she'd been moving, and looked around. "What do you need us for?" she asked worriedly, "Batteries, entertainment, what? You can get anyone you want. Kerrik could probably magic up any companions he could want. What do you need mundane Pokègirls for?"

    He stared at her for a moment, then walked over and held her trembling body against his. "What's all this all about?" he chided her, "You've been listening to your sister's wild theories about us. She's frightened and she hates the lack of control that the Authors represent."

    She rested her head against his chest. "While this makes me feel better, it doesn't answer my question."

    "What does anyone need anyone for?" he replied, "The same question could apply to anyone -"

    She pushed away from him. "Not - Pokègirls. If you haven't noticed, we tend to be drawn to powerful Masters. Even if said Master beats or abuse us, if he is strong willed, we cannot break away. None of us would leave you if you hit us, or insulted us. But what do you need any of us for?"

    "If I didn't need you, wouldn't I have already sent you away?" he asked quietly as he gathered her back in.

    He still isn't answering, she thought.
>> ==================
    Miguelito took his late afternoon constitutional out on the deck of the Daisy Mae and considered the situation he'd found himself in. Of course they sent me all the kits. And once mixed with the Des Moines' kits, they made a startlingly fast recovery, he considered, That was the breakthrough we needed. Add a few of the oldest grandmothers to the mix, and this had begun a cascade effect and proved the concept.

     He grinned at Cameron coming up on deck and enjoying the evening weather. "How goes the experiment, Doctor?"

    "Well enough, Professor. The incident this morning confirms my findings," Miguelito replied, "And you?"

    The man shrugged. "I wish we could have gotten more help from the Spanish Inquisition."

    Miguelito nodded. After we 'segregated' the, to put a fine point on it, elderly-appearing ones who needed Taming, Miguelito thought, It was the least we could do for our more active friends. Although I do wish that Bishop Cameron had been able to see past his vow of chastity. Our other two friends have been more help.

     "I'm just thinking on the rather bizarre circumstances," Miguelito admitted to his fellow academic, "Janus, or Kelvin, believed and proved that human DNA and physical intimacy of the right mind-set would eliminate Ferality in a Pokèkit. Give them some of yours, and play and cuddle with them. Claiming them, blood, soul and mind, as yours. Kerrik, or Iain, firmly believed it was a mixing of life energies, and singing together would have the necessary effect."

    "I've heard you sing, I can believe it," Cameron said.

    Miguelito grinned at the flattery, "It's one way to keep a Bardess happy."

    "So which one was right?"

    His expression was a frustrated mix of frown and smile. "That's the odd thing." Miguelito admitted, "When Kelvin was close, even within 500 yards, his method worked flawlessly. When Kerrik was within 500 yards, his method worked flawlessly. If neither was, neither method had much effect. And if both were, the closer had more effect, but it was far weaker than it would have been alone."

    "So they were curing Ferality in the kits, simply by being there, and someone following a ritual?" Cameron said, his worried expression mirrored on Miguelito's face, "That leads to some fascinating possibilities."

    "Frightening possibilities," Miguelito agreed, "I begin to wonder if the S-Goths were correct in their suppositions."

    Cameron leaned against the rail. "Maybe, but it would take a while to assemble the logical assumptions that both seem to use about how things work. With sufficient brain washing it might," Cameron looked out over the sea, "Can you imagine what would have happened if they had been wiser about putting on the leash?"

    "Thank you for the stupidity of my enemies," Miguelito paraphrased.
>> ==================
    "All night, just me, and you in your battleform?" her Master asked, his confusion manifest even in his scent, "And then in the morning -?"

    Tonight was to be her turn, and she wanted to get things straight before it happened. "You won't hurt me, I assure you," Rainbow explained as they stood in one of the lower deck wardrooms. The place where she'd planned it to take place.

    He rolled his eyes, and his scent changed to as he grimaced at her.

    He's found a problem, or he's protecting his girls, or both, she analyzed from previous times she'd caught that now-delightful smell, And he's going to kill that problem.

     "I think you've been talking to Flower too long," he commented sardonically.

    "It is the idea of being the lone protector, transport, lover and food source for my male is an interesting experience," the Tyrannodame commented, "But there is more to it. The Third Guard wish to have the 'cub huddle' of Blossom and I on the outer ring, and all of them clustered inside."

    "Now that sounds a bit on the unsafe side. All of them smelling me all night."

    "Eugene and Amanda have been Taming them, several a night, since they got here. And they will continue," Blossom chimed in, "It seems he has a slight problem with Megami."

    "He's got a reason too. He ran into one of the Megami who, if not a member of the Celestial Alliance, was one of its inspirations for the Authors. That and Kerrik's Svetlana pretty much cemented the idea of callous, sneaky do-gooders, 'Paradise at Any Price!'"

    "That does not answer the question of whether my Master will sleep atop me tonight, and feed of my milk in the morning."

    "Sorry, you're right it doesn't. I - have a hard time picturing you wanting so prosaic a dream, warrior goddess with a nearly vestigial man attached."

    "Hardly, but suggesting you leading a band of us on a hunt for the last Jokette stronghold, or with the Boobfin to attack the Sharptits who were attracted but the smell of helplessness that the Megamis' spoor put in the waters, would have me skinned alive by Clarice and Hannibal, if not by Rainbow," Blossom admitted, "So that must remain fantasy. But the general sleeping off his victories, with his captives, and kits all mixed around him, can be simulated."

    "That explains the lack of Feral attacks on all that helpless meat shambling around those camps," he said and he rubbed his chin. He looked at her placid expression.

    I hope he approves, she thought quietly, Another thing to ask, does Kerrik's Harem 'play' as we do? Or are they more prosaic in their Taming?

     Finally, her Master decided. "I'll think about it," he said, "But I think that you'll only be satisfied with the hunt as part of the imagining, and I can't come up with a good way to bring that off."

    "You will," Blossom said and hugged him, "Thank you."

    "I wonder if the other authors allow such, play," Rainbow asked.

    "Kerrik's Harem is here," he told them, "You can always ask them."

    "I somehow doubt they would," Rainbow said, "You both have blind spots. Your's is thinking of us as human, though more sexual. His is not being able to release his darker side, and keep it under control. I doubt you will ever integrate with your whole Harem as he does, and he could never play the game you did with Cheryl and Naomi."

    "Which several of the Third would like to play, with you, specifically," Blossom added, and when he cringed, "And have been told 'no' with sufficient force to believe it will remain so."

    "I hope you haven't done that to anyone inside the Harem," he said flatly.

    "Anyone in the Harem would have taken the request to Maus, or to you directly," Rainbow reminded him, "Those outside, do not have an automatic right to you or your time."

    He nodded.
>> ==================
    Miguelito had assembled enough data that speculations would become facts, once the briefing was given, so Kelvin hurried to the cruiser. Cheryl and Warden were on close guard. "Hey, that's Kerrik. I wonder - " He stopped and looked at the crowd of Megami and Samas approaching. "I thought we fixed that," he said as Cheryl and Warden took a position farther forward that they usually did.

    He spotted Kerrik and his Harem hurrying up the gangplank as the lead elements of the Megami cloud approached. Then he saw all of them had plates or little packages.

    The babble of overlapping voices translated into, 'We can't tell you how grateful we are for your rescue.'

    "We -" he managed, before a spoon of something warm and vaguely slimy was thrust into his mouth. In an instant, dozens more spoons, cookies, knitted socks, and other tokens were thrust in his face. He looked from face to face, while trying to swallow the material that tasted of sugar and berries, and stuck to the inside of his throat like concrete. He spotted Kerrik giving him a 'sorry, but better you than me' look, before that worthy vanished below decks with his Harem. Cheryl looked horrified, Warden was trying to get him some breathing room, and was getting disapproval on her clothing and figure in return.

    "I -"

    Can't open my mouth to speak, he thought as he hoped whatever it was he was swallowing wasn't poisonous.
>> ==================
    Miguelito saw that all the necessary players had assembled in the mess hall. Voltaire had passed out the packets to everyone to read while he explained.

    "At the risk of being accused of being loveless," Miguelito paused to let his friends enjoy the joke, "This has been a fascinating problem to study, and very useful."

    "How doctor?" the Captain said, that and her glance preempted others.

    "There was no malice involved in any of this. The Leagues, housed these Pokègirl prisoners as they always had, letting them out of long-term storage into heavily shielded rooms, with guards who would not be swayed by any apparent distress of the occupants. Most were put through Healing and First-level Taming cycles prior to release. Most Pokègirls released with other Pokègirls, will deal with the Ferality question rather straightforwardly and immediately. That these simply sat, perhaps exchanged a few words, and just sat, was attributed to it being a nonissue. They were returned with no incidents, and placed back into storage. Because of the slow onset, and the periods in the storage banks, the Megami and Megami-Sama themselves never realized what was killing them, or that they were dying. They were just 'lonely'. I've heard that description over and over."

    Doctor Marilyn took up the discussion. "It's been known for a long time that Megami require emotions, like a Succubus requires sex energy, although to no where near the same degree. What hasn't been known, is that below a certain point, Megami quit radiating this emotional energy for others of their breed to feed on. Like a dehydrated body stops sweating, Megami and Megami-Sama stop being -"

    "Call them Megs and Sammies," the XO said, "Time is more important than politeness."

    "Very well," Miguelito said, "The Megs and Sammies were isolated, for long periods of time, and when they were let out, received no emotional support. As other politicals were rotated into their groups, the newcomers were essentially thrown into a barren wasteland. They provided some food for the others, but their reserves soon dried up and they entered the Fading. While some of this could be inferred, without hard data, none of it could be proven. Most Megami avoid researchers, and these captive populations were primarily political prisoners. Keeping them isolated from everyone, including researchers, was government policy, even a government mandate. Any Meg or Sammy who voiced complaints was treated as a trouble making prisoner, which they already were."

    "And none could analyze well enough to make a logical argument."

    "Why let them out now?"

     "Because the governments examined their causes, and they are either mainstream now, or so hopelessly outdated that they offer no threat to the current administrations," Commander Genek explained, "They are no longer a threat."

    "Again, at the risk of seeming heartless, it actually works in our favor. Those 1800 who were starved, are making a fast recovery . . . as long as they learn to learn. The - well, Stugs, Megs and Sammies, who are teaching them, are a veritable feast, as long as they don't try the emotional blackmail that has become most Megamis' stock in trade. If they cry or wail, the teacher closes off emotionally. In the Stugs' case, it's to avoid being angry, since anger at idiotic superiors would be severely punished. The newcomers suddenly have the food cut off so abruptly, that they can't help but make the connection. They quickly learn that knuckling down and getting the job done is the best way to have the praise and affection keep coming. They also get pressure from the others to quit cutting off the banquet. The 600 who were far more healthy, are a bit more trying."

    "You can say that again."

    "Stubborn is the word."

    "Agreed, but let's deal with who we can," Doctor Marilyn said, "We have the trump card, sole access to humans. Like Taming out of Ferality is a Human only ability, a Human produces a - more diverse - set of emotions. Leave them among just each other, and they'll get to notice the soup's grown a bit thin. Play ball, and you get the whole bouquet or banquet of human emotions."

    "And other things."

    There was some laughter about that. Miguelito let it go, Pokègirls being Pokègirls. "True, some of us can do other things of value."
>> ==================
    Master, Clarice's thought appeared in his head. He looked up to see that Angie, Maus, Blossom, Cheryl and Clarice were clustered at the hatch.

    "Come in, if you'll all fit," he said as he put away yet another mind-numbing piece of paperwork for tomorrow's loading.

    I think we may have a target for Blossom's hunt, Clarice told him.

    "A target? Who and/or what?" he asked.

    The others in the room can hear. No one else, Clarice explained, When Kerrik's new girl scanned us, she scanned me in particular.

     "Damned impolite, but I suspect you did something equally impolite right back," he said.

    Kerrik has a Sanctuary assassin/hunt-group after him, Clarice said.

    Her Master threw down the pen he'd been using. "There are three forces right here that would be considered entire armies in this world, and he hightailed it out of here? With that on his tail?" Kelvin frowned and shook his head. "And he took me to task for not including him in the meatgrinder I'm standing in. Okay, you know about it. Frankly in terms of pure wizardry, he has me beat all hollow. But you already have a solution, don't you?"

    The Wild Hunt, Clarice said. Cheryl blanched.

    "You can't," the Megami stammered, "You said you couldn't control it! Please, we all love Kerrik, but you can't unleash that on Sanctuary." She looked from her Master's grin, to Clarice's, and back. "I'm missing something. Something that would make you two bonded to a once-Hild Angel giggle."

    "Dreams." Dreams. The pair told the others.

    "Blossom's hunt dream," he explained, "We have three armies, and we can send them all into the battle. A few hundred combat trained Pokègirls will be a match for any assassin group Sanctuary is likely to be able to cobble together."

    "You can't enter Dreamtime," Cheryl said, "We've all tried to teach you. You never show up there."

    "Because I go somewhere else. Beyond that soulscape you were traipsing around in. All I have to do is lure the hunt group to a location there, and then we spring the trap."

    "How will you know when they are awake, and asleep, and more important, dreaming?" Angie asked.

    "I have ways, but if they're hunting Kerrik, they'll be hunting him on Blue League time," he realized, "So unless they're following a nocturnal schedule, we'll have to hit them in local broad daylight."

    "How soon?" Blossom asked, "Kerrik brought you back. He helped here. Even if we don't get all of them, we can break them up."

    More important, Clarice added, If a death is sufficiently traumatic in the dreams, the body dies of shock in the waking world.

     Blossom considered, then quietly asked, "How traumatizing are we permitted to be?"

    Cheryl looked at the others, even her Master, who were seeking her word. "Enough to work," she said reluctantly. "I - I won't have a hand in torture. But if it helps Kerrik and his family, I won't stand in the way of it."

    "Traumatic doesn't necessarily have to be tortuous, just shocking and obvious," he said, "And she doesn't need examples, Blossom."

    "You and Clarice are far more imaginative than I am," the Tyrannodame said.
>> ==================
    "You'd think with so few possessions, and a love of order, getting them aboard ship would be easy," Blossom commented as she directed yet another Megami to the correct vessel.

    "They know the ones boarding the Des Moines are getting the premier treatment," Kelvin told the Tyrannodame, "And the ones going to the Galvis Bay, are going to get second tier."

    "Like I said, I thought they followed orders," Blossom said.

    "Not our orders," he replied, and headed to where the pallets of food were being loaded aboard. Including several hundred pounds of fish.

    The leader of the Boobfin was looking particularly pleased with herself. "Least we could do," she said, "Not that we weren't getting a little tired of the fare as well."

    "We'll be moving slow enough, you'll be able to hunt the seas underway."

    She nodded to Blossom and Rainbow. "They swim real good, and don't mind playing in the cold water," the Boobfin leader admitted. She grinned. "Who designed men so they can't play in cold water."

    "Someone who expected us to be land-dwelling," he replied and headed to check the harried group at the Des Moines' entry gangway.

    "You're not on the list," Eko told the Megami crowd who were trying to insinuate past the guards.

    One use for a stuck up rules-worshipping martinet, he thought of the officer going over the paperwork, as he approached.

    "Captain, we have mistakenly been assigned to the wrong ship."

    He realized they were talking to him, and answered. "There's only one Captain, I am not she," he told them sternly, "And the assignments have been reviewed and are correct."

    "Most of those going aboard are from the -" The Megami fell silent as she was about to say 'other camp.'

    "Don't they have more need for human contact than you do?" he asked stonily.

    The Megami realized her faux pas and smiled. "I'm certain I didn't mean that."

    "You meant it," he said flatly, then gave a grin that would frighten a Mazouku, "Now get back to your correct embarkation line or I'll have you dragged and thrown over there," he told them calmly.

    The crowd dispersed quickly.
    "Why didn't I think of that?" the Officer Jenny asked.

    "Because you aren't ready to make the rules, only enforce them," he replied, "And you're as vulnerable to the 'oh I'm a Megami, help me' as everyone else. I'm not," he added darkly.

    "Thank you," Eko offered as she turned to another Megami, "Are you in the correct embarkation line."

    "There's been a terrible mistake."

    "GET BACK IN YOUR CORRECT LINE OR I'LL HAVE YOU THROWN IN IRONS!"

    Many waiting in line scrambled towards the Galvis Bay.

    "Next."

   &n bsp;"Where is frame 23?" a Megami-Sama timidly asked.

    "Personnel aboard ship will direct you, join the line on the stairs. Next."

    "Uh, I can't read."

    Eko looked at the tag. "Galvis Bay, over there. Check in with an officer there for help," she said as she wrote 'illiterate' on the ticket and handed it back.

    Kelvin walked away, leaving the Pokègirls to do their work.

The TamersEugene Maxwell
Amanda
Taylor
'Old Man' - Cameron Simone
'Wild Thing' - Jessica Ventura
Brian
Miguelito
Kelvin's Choice (Janus)

The Watcher 'Jeremy' - Jesse Ventura

Kelvin's Choice (Janus) - Harem
Isaik/Underground - Eidolon (Hild's agent)
Warden - Bust Angel (Hild's opposed agent)
Maus - HeavenKat (Hild's opposed agent)
Seadamar - GunValkyrie
Alba - HandMaid
Aurora/One Medallion/Earth -1 - FarFuck'd
Roxanne/Two Medallions/Earth -2 - FarFuck'd
Blossom - Tyrannodame (Kitten's Harem)
Rainbow - Tyrannodame
Angie - WarMech Titmouse (Angie Douglas's faction)
Sabrina - DildoQueen (Kitten's Harem)
Hatta Mary - Fiendish Cherry
Acerpalmatum - Chikotit
Jen - HyperDoll
Cheryl - Megami
Naomi - Tigress
Shana - Hunter Ophanim (Ancelot's faction)
Clarice - Penance (former Alaka-Wham)
Hannibal - Angel

Allies:
Eriko (Eko) - Officer Jenny
Erika (Kay) - Nurse Joy (SLIS agent)
Hester - Jugguar (Kay's Harem)
Adrian - Heroine (Kay's Harem)
Pool Mouse - Pool Mouse (Eko's Harem)
Bishop Cameron (Catholic)
Bishop McClellan (Anglican)
Doctor Kincaid (Presbyterian)

Neutral or Undecided factions:
Commander Genek - Oni (ONI Office of Naval Intelligence)
Ronette - SmartDoll (faction unrevealed)
Fred - Tomboy (faction unrevealed)

`Eugene's` Harem
Flower - MilkTit (Alpha)
Downy - Seraph
Skull Cap - Alaka-Wham
Kittypussy - Boobcat Angel - `AILF`
Tai - Penance
Sam - Penance

`Amanda's` Harem
Slinky - Lamia
BoobyTrap - DigTitTrio
Tableau - PsiLady (Alpha)
Mademoiselle Bouillabaisse 'Mad B' - Sapphron
Shadow - Angel
SkyCaptain - SkyCaptain

Taylor's `Harem`
Muffin - Seraph
Bismarck - Seraph
Biscuit - Seraph
Cookie - Seraph
Baguette - Seraph Dumpling - Seraph
Kolache - Seraph Eclair - Angel

'Old Man' &'Wild Thing''s Harem
Red - Tanuki (Squad `Beta`)
Gray - StretchyMaid
Forseti - chibi Chimera
April - Billie head
May - Lioness head
June - Dragoness head
Summer - Snake head
Sally - ArchAngel
Sarah - Unicorn
Karrie - Rapitaur
Jamie - Dryder (Group Alpha)
Toni - Magic Knight (Fire)
Elaine - Magic Knight (Water)
Ariel - Magic Knight (Air)
Jenny Lydia - Dark Kitsune
Simon - MaryAnn Drew
Rolli - Tick-Tock
Magenta - Maggieton
Wilma - Balanced
Betty - Positive
Gladys - Negative
Prima - Charred Fireburst (Squad `Beta`)
Maria - Marowhack (Jessica's Alpha)

Miguelito's
Antoinette - Bardess
Voltaire - Francinestein
Doctor Marilyn - Alaka-Wham

Jeremy's HaremDeniece - CameraGirl
Denephew - CameraGirl
Sherry - Kung Ewe
Jean - Alaka-Wham

Brian's Harem
Stupid Fuzzbutt - Magic BattleAngel (Cute)(Alpha)
Flopsie - PsiDyke (Gamma)
Hazel - Angel (Beta)
Bigwig - Xerablondi (Delta)
The March Hare - Megami-Sama (Beta)
Captain Campion - Officer Jenny (Gamma)
Holly - Nurse Joy (Gamma)
Mopsie - MaryAnn Drews (Delta)
Cottontail - MaryAnn Drews (Delta)
Bugs - Seraph (Gamma)Thumper - Demon-Goddess (Gamma)
Gennie / General Woundwort - Chibi Wolf Queen (Gamma)
BOOM - G-Splice (effectively Charred Battle Battle Angel {Fire-type}) (Delta)
Easter - Blessed Nidogg (Delta)

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