Urusei Yatsura Fan Fiction ❯ The Senior Year ❯ Tales of the Daishi'cha: Penpals ( Chapter 72 )

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

"Chief, phone call for you!"

Naru looks up from the mess is the central power pack of her Warsuit,
pointing at herself. "Me?! Who wants to call me?" the brown-haired Ellsian
slips her reading glasses from her blue eyes.

The sergeant shrugs. "I dunno! Some lady. She said her name was
Kariyu! It's a long-distance call, by the way."

Naru jolts, her cheeks flaming. "Um...okay!" she nods, then looks at
the weapons techs with her. "Take over here! I'll be back in a bit."

"Sure, Chief," one smiles as the squadron commander climbs down from the
Warsuit, then races off. She then glances at her friend. "Who do you suppose
Easy Naru's got on the go this time?"

"Who knows with that one," the other rolls her eyes.

Naru pants as she jogs to her squadron office. Damn, she told Kariyu
never to call her when she was on duty. If everyone learned Naru had the
equivalent of a steady girlfriend...even if it was over subspace
communications, e-mail and letters...her reputation as "Easy Naru," the
hottest date in the Warsuit Brigade, would be dashed. If her relationship
with Kariyu didn't pan out...it was a very distinct possibility, something
Kariyu had warned Naru about right from the start...her children would really
suffer for it.

For years, she had searched for the right girl...both single and
bonded...in hopes of locating the one she wanted to have as her bond-mate.
Yet, no one seemed to fill Naru's expectations. She got away with it by
allowing herself only two children, Malegh and Melhin. She wanted more, but
without a bond-mate in a different job to watch over her kids when Kilo
Squadron was on first standby, she was forced to resort to the Namu'sha
Daycare Centre. While the staff was excellent, it still wasn't the type of
place she wanted to have her children grow up.

Entering the office, she heads for her private room, and picks up the
phone. "I told you not to call me while I'm at work, Karivayae!" she hisses,
cupping the phone to block her voice from transmitting outside where a dozen
people could listen in.

A giggle echoes over the earpiece as Naru glances at the image on her
videophone; for relatively private conversations, an Terran-style phone
receiver was attached. The woman before her shudders, then gazes at Naru, her
evergreen eyes melting the Sagussan's heart like nothing ever could. Naru
sighs as the Kagamasei woman leans back, revealing that she was nude, the
sight of her lovely pale-skinned body sending a warm rush thundering through
Naru. Oh, Lyna, what had she done to deserve Kariya? "I called to tell you
something, Naruvayae," Kariya sighs, her hand playing absently with a lock of
her long black hair.

"Couldn't you've saved it for your next letter?"

"No, this is too important," Kariya shakes her head, then blows her a
kiss. "I love you, Naru."

Naru blinks. While she happily applied the "-vayae" suffix a Sagussan
used to one she cared for deeply, the fact that Kariya had called over the
twenty thousand parsecs separating Kagamasei and Sagussa to tell her what she
already knew was...unusual. "Kariya, why are you calling to tell me that?"
Naru chides, smiling to ward off her annoyance. "You know I love you. We say
it every time we write and call. Couldn't this've waited?"

"There's more," the pale-skinned woman shakes her head, then shudders.
"Naruvayae...I want to meet you. In five days by your count, I'll be on
Crossroads. Can you meet me there?"

Naru jolts. "When did this change?!" she gazes at her would-be bond-
mate, wishing the Kagamasei were telepathically strong enough to be drawn into
the Dreamscape. "You said you could never leave Kagamasei by yourself, though
you never told me why...!"

"I convinced my brother I wanted to see more of this galaxy," Kariya
winks. "He still doesn't realize how deep I've fallen for you and I don't
intend to have him ruin it for me. You're my last chance to get off this
rock, Naruvayae. Look, your friend Minako's going to have her change-of-
command tomorrow with Nike, right? I know Minako's penpal Kunoo Chotta; we're
very good friends. A bunch of us're getting together to be on Crossroads in
five days. We'll be contacting all of you. Can you please come, Naruvayae?"

Naru shudders. A small part of her was screaming out a lot of
questions. Kariya Oullida seemed determined...no, desperate...to meet her
penpal. Yet that small part couldn't dampen her libido's growing hunger for
the Kagamasei's gorgeous body. "I'll be there."

"Great!!" Kariya beams. "Remember, five days your time! Be there!! I
love you, Naruvayae!! Bye!"

The line clicks off as the screen goes dark. Naru blinks as she hangs
up, then jolts as the door to her office crashes down, revealing a sea of
surprised faces. "Boss, is it true?!!" her squadron sergeant-major gasps.
"She wants to meet you?!"

Instantly, the squadron commander finds herself in a sea of chatting
women, many firing the usual questions: "When did you meet her?!" "Did you
get pictures of her?!" "Does she really want to come to Sagussa?!" "How come
you want an alien girl, Boss?! There're still a lot of single women here
available!"

Naru laughs as she is led out of her office, people running off to
spread the news. She reaches into her jumpsuit top to pull out a snapshot
Kariya sent with her first letter. Staring at the bouncy woman who seemed so
full of life, one who had to be twenty at the latest, Naru sighs as she kisses
the picture, then puts the picture away. She'd have to chat with Minako after
the change-of-command parade to find out if Kunoo wanted to meet her on
Crossroads, perhaps put a message into the Webscape asking others if their
Kagamasei penpals had done the same...

* * *

Urusei Yatsura - Tales of the Daishi'cha: "Penpals"
by Fred Herriot
**** **** ****
Edited by E.B. Kushnir
**** **** ****
A story based on the series "Urusei Yatsura - The Senior Year," in turn based
on "Urusei Yatsura," created by Rumiko Takahashi
**** **** ****

WRITER'S NOTES:

1) Lyna, the inspiration just keeps on coming! This story came to me in
the middle of an English class, when we were discussing the impending attempt
by a Chicago doctor to clone a human being. Since the prejudice against
clones is the one major hatred all Sagussans possess, it would make an
excellent story.

2) This story is set a year after "Newgrange."

3) The Kagamasei women introduced here are based on characters from a few
anime series and video games, including "Neon Genesis Evangelion," "Sailor
Moon," "Nadeshiko," "Sakura Ward," "Tokimeki Memorial," "Sentimental Graffiti"
and "NoeL." Their names have been changed so that the names of these
characters could also be used to name *daishi'cha* whenever I get some 10-
sided die and get a free night to sit down and work out some calculations.

4) Adopted sisters to *daishi'cha* (like Ayesha) get an S (shoi'cha)
added before their sister's number (S19282 in Ayesha's case) so they can be
registered in the master citizen registry in the Chamber of Eternity.
Foreign-born bond-mates (Hunba, Yedris, Sugoi) have an M (marei'cha) added to
their mate's number. Young women or children being cared for or adopted by a
*daishi'cha* (Shakki to Henra from "GFA Stage Four," for example) get an R
(rei'cha) added to their guardian's number. Foreign-born child-mates
(Shinsur, Makisur, Aisur, Toren) have a U (surei'cha) added to their host's
number.

5) And some more Sagussan terms:

Namu'sha - Village in Kyre'sha province 2000 kilometres
west of Kyre'sha City. This is where people
serving in the SDF units headquartered in
Kyre'sha live; their base are close by. The
equivalent villages in Tere'na and Ly'sha are
Kolza're and Daejagh're respectively.
Maghilsa - Fourth planet in Sagussa's home system. So
called because it is usually the first star
seen every night. A world Venus' size missing
the water necessary to properly support life.
Terraforming Maghilsa (pronounced MAY-ill-sah)
has long been a dream of many Sagussans.

**** **** ****

Received: 1A009.201.6.2.28.9
Terminal: Tere'na CDC
From: Konra Choyak <kchoyak@arukasdraw.kagamasei.com>
To: Ayesha Aruka <S19282@webscape.s5sa.com>
Attach: home:/persfile/holofile/konra6.thmf

Dearest Ayesha,
Life with my brother is going well. We're engaged in
transcribing old books for the local library in Arukas-draw. I've
found some interesting texts on personal relationships. My brother
doesn't want me to read them, but I manage to sneak a few away when
he's not looking. Oh, the passion the elders possessed when they
were our age. I wish that you and I can feel it.
There is talk about our going to Crossroads to visit some
used book vendors next week. Would it be possible for you to come
so we can meet? I haven't told my brother about you but he
suspects something's going on. Men! Can't live with them and
can't kill them all to make the universe run better. I think you
Sagussans have a better grasp of the whole idea than we Kagamasei
ever could. I wish I was a daishi'cha.
P.S. I have a datachip file attached to this letter for your
personal pleasure. I love you,
Your beloved Konra

"Computer, extract holo-message file and copy to my server.
Authorization code Ayesha-Shi-Two-Oh-Four."

"*Working.*"

Ayesha relaxes in her chair, then turns to the holosuite beside the
terminal. She was in the PUSU...Private Usenet Service Unit...of Tere'na
Compudata Centre, derisively known as the "dirty flicks shop," the place where
personal messages over the Webscape and computer connections from abroad could
be received and viewed away from the prying eyes of family and friends. With
the advent of children, many *daishi'cha* were taking advantage of the PUSUs
in Tere'na, Kyre'sha and Ly'sha to capture the special magic of a more
innocent time. Though in many ways, Ayesha had next to nothing to worry
about: she had neither bond-mate or children. However, her apartment in
To-Tere'na wasn't equipped with a personal 3D holosuite unit.

"*Holo-message file extracted and transferred.*"

"Run message."

"*Running.*"

Light shimmers as the holo-image of a slender Kagamasei woman appears
before Ayesha. With her brown hair tied in side pigtails, her hazel eyes
covered with very large reading glasses and freckles all over her face, Konra
seemed your atypical nerd. Ayesha knew differently, both through her letters
and her more...personal messages. "Hi, Konra-chan."

"Ohayo, Ayesha-chan," Konra smiles as she reaches up to her toga-like
dress, typical uniform for a Kagamasei female. "Well, shall have some fun?"
she reaches up to the tie holding her top in place, seductively smiling.

"Why not?" Ayesha sighs, standing to embrace her...

* * *

A half-hour later, Ayesha, her hair now a frazzled mess and her uniform
improperly secured, exits the PUSU. Turning to her mirror, she draws out a
comb and straightens her strawberry-blonde locks, then smooths her jumpsuit.
Gazing at the time, she sighs. Six tenth-hours before she had to meet her
sisters at the Hall of the Republic. Well, she could go grab a bite to eat at
Saku's, then catch the shuttle to Kyonggh-Tere'na.

"What were you doing in there, Ayesha?!"

Ayesha blinks, then stares at the dark brown-haired Vosian-born woman
now standing behind her. "None of your business, Maya," she smiles. "Just
chatting with a friend."

"Must be some friend," the computer systems architect remarks archily as
the immigration chief heads off.

Shaking her head, Mayanoevan walks into the suite, then sits down at her
terminal. "Computer, call up all messages for User One-Three-Three-Six-Nine,
Architect Mayanoevan. Authorization code Maya-Dee-Oh-Oh-Four."

"*One message received.*"

"On screen."

The screen flashes up the following message:

Received: 1A009.201.6.2.26.4
Terminal: Tere'na CDC
From: Kashi Suhom <ksuhom@ikemikotlairomem.kagamasei.com>
To: Mayanoevan <013369@webscape.s5sa.com>
Attach: home:/persfile/holofile/kashi12.thmf

Mayavayae,
Play my attachment. It'll show you what's wrong. Forgive
me, my love, for putting you through this.
Your loyal Kashi

Maya tenses, angry tears filling her eyes. She was afraid to see what
Kashi had recently endured at the hands of her family. Still, the Kagamasei
looked on the Sagussan architect as a possible route of escape from her
abusive family. "Computer, extract holo-message file and copy to my server.
Authorization code Maya-Dee-Oh-Oh-Four."

"*Working.*" A second pause. "*Holo-message file extracted and
transferred.*"

"Run message."

"*Running.*"

The image appears. "Oh, Lyna..."

"Help me, Maya," the weak voice of Kashi Suhom gasps through a bruise on
one cheek and several cracked ribs...

* * *

"Why are you dragging me along with this, Noa?! You know I can't stand
diplomacy!" Honey hisses as she follows her sister into the Hall of the
Republic. "That's your bailiwick, not mine!"

"We're meeting the elders of the T'Kon Concordat, Honey!" Noa sighs as
they wind their way into the upper levels of the arcology, where her guests
will be waiting in the cafeteria. "You know the Republic and the Concordat
have maintained peaceful relations for millennia. Besides, they've always
wanted to meet you. Ayesha'll be there, too. We haven't done much as a
family since Ataru and Lum left, so we should take every chance we could to be
together."

Honey sighs. Truthfully, they hadn't done much as a family since the
Battle of Uru. Honey had returned to her primary duty of helping the
Education Ministry set up physical education standards for the children, the
eldest now in their third year of general scholastic training. Ayesha had
been snapped up by Madoka to become Director-General of Immigration, handling
the people taking a chance at starting a new life in the Fifth Republic. And
Noa, heartbroken over Ataru's and Lum's decision to return to Earth in the
wake of Koishii's loss, had reverted to the traditional duties as Elder Mother
of Sagussa, acting as minister-without-portfolio in the government, usually
being the one sent out to handle trickly diplomatic problems. Like the T'Kon.

The Concordat was based in the Greater Magellanic Cloud. Like Sagussa,
the T'Kon had lived in brutal cycles of racial birth, life and death over the
last few million years. The present Concordat, a widespread alliance between
the T'Kon and dozens of other races, was the sixteenth such federation,
founded a millennia ago. The T'Kon were Sagussa's technological equals, a
fact that had hung over them through all their incarnations. A war would
destroy both races for sure, even more so than a Sagussa-Nagussa conflict, so
keeping the peace between the two states was paramount.

Honey personally liked the T'Kon, a reptilian race that once reminded
Toren Smith, Noriko's child-mate, as "walking two-legged dinosaurs." They were
famous for their logic and rational thinking, plus superb psis at a level the
Sagussans could appreciate. It was said the T'Kon version of the Dreamscape
was just as raucous a place as Sagussa's. She knew and appreciated the vital
nature of Noa's yearly meetings with Elder Tok and Elder Kuk, though she
wished that Sagussans and T'Kon would stop fearing each other and appreciate
each other for all their strengths and faults. Maybe she should come to these
meetings more often, get Noa to start preaching what she practiced. People
still listened to the Elder Mother after all.

Waiting by the cafeteria entrance is Ayesha, Alphonse sitting beside his
pet's sister. "Onee-chan!" she smiles, embracing first Noa, and then Honey.
"C'mon, they're here."

"Did you get the chance to talk to them?" Honey wonders.

"They remind me a lot of Kamahanites," Ayesha admits, smiling.

"Tok!! Kuk!!" Noa laughs as she sees the two elders rise, hand out to
gently grasp their clawed forelimbs. "How are you? My, Tok, are you getting
a little brown in the scales there?!"

"You always were such a flatterer, Noa!" Tok hisses pleasantly as she
touches her horned snout to Noa's cheek in the approximation of a kiss. A
T'kon's mouth didn't come equipped with malleable lips like a humanoid's.
"Are you getting grey in your head-bush, child?" she gently feels Noa's hair,
which was starting to go grey at the temples. "Don't tell me your heart-
mate's departure some summers ago is hurting you that bad!"

"Somewaht, but this is probably more from work. Besides, some are
saying this might be a side-effect of the matrix," Noa smiles, then kisses
Kuk. "Hello, Kuk! Are you keeping this one busy in your bedchambers? You
seem in good shape!"

"You Sagussans and your desire for sex!" Kuk's breath explodes from her
snout in a laugh as they sit down around a table. "Yes, we've been keeping
quite busy in our nest! I swear, the males in our warren wouldn't want to
mate with us come next spring! How many hatchlings do you have now, Noa?
Six?"

"Eight," Noa smiles. "Tooto-chan and Atsu-chan were released from the
gestation chambers last month. They're quite a handful."

"Any child of Ataru's a handful, sis," Honey laughs.

Noa quickly introduces her sisters, then a waitress appears for their
order. "So, how go the affairs in the Republic these days?" Kuk begins. "We
noticed the amount of green when we came into orbit, plus some changes in the
coastline. Are you getting more water imported in?"

"Not really," Noa sighs. "As soon as we got Mizu's load, the moisture
blown away from Sagussa when Eisen'a exploded has been slowly accumulating in
the atmosphere. Hazel suspects that we'll be back at pre-Clone War water
levels in a decade. Plus with the solar collector construction soon to be
completed, we can drain off some of Sen'a's access hydrogen, then we could
combine it with the atmosphere on Maghilsa to start terraforming."

"So soon after you've begun?" Tok blinks her slitted eyes. "You haven't
the population base to support Sagussa, much less consider the establishment
of terraformed colonies."

"True, but properly preparing a planet takes a lot of time," Noa hums.
"We can now afford to start thinking ahead. Besides, our population has
already hit the one million mark and could be expected to hit the ten million
mark in a century. We don't want to overpopulate Sagussa and we're not
interested in constructing sides like Earth's doing right now."

"A wise precaution," Tok nods. "How fare your allies? Does their
growing relationship with your ancestral people improve?"

"It's improving, as are the new bonds between Earth and some other
planets," Noa sighs. "I'm relieved. I can't conceive of our sending
technology to Earth, but the Terrans are surprising us by adopting very
quickly to the introduction of Urusian and Ipraedies technology with minimal
cost to their societies."

"Perhaps you should consider loaning a hand," Kuk muses. "We've done it
on occasion with other races in the Concordat."

"It'll be destabilizing," Noa shakes her head. "There are still those
who're angry at us for slamming down the doors and cutting them off from
dealing with Earth in the superior-inferior mode the Urusians followed after
the First Tag Race. Most were dealt with a long time ago, but there's still
the odd agitator or two on the loose. We want people to be at peace, not
war."

"Such emotionalism," Kuk sighs. "Sometimes, I very much pity your kind
for their giving vent to their hearts more than listening to their heads. Our
meetings, Noa, help our races deal with the buried emotions Sagussan and T'Kon
feel for each other."

"True, which is why I enjoy them so much," Noa smiles. "So, what goes
on in the Concordat these days?"

Honey and Ayesha exchange surprised looks. It seemed a crime that the
Fifth Republic and the Sixteenth Concordat couldn't exchange embassies, as was
just done the previous year with Newgrange. Still, the guarded approach the
two races took to each other was well ingrained into the psyches of many. You
wouldn't know it by seeing Noa with Tok and Kuk, chatting away like the
dearest of friends instead of being the only official contact between two
suspicious planetary alliances.

"ELDER KUK!!!!!! ELDER TOK!!!!!!"

Everyone spins around to see Mayanoevan standing there, the heat of her
rage radiating from every pore of her body. "Maya!!!" Ayesha leaps up. "What
are you doing here?!!"

"Who are you?" Tok blinks.

"This is Mayanoevan, Maya for short," Honey waves to the pulsing systems
designer. "She's Chief Computer Systems Architect of Sagussa, normally
working out of Tere'na Compudata."

The two T'Kon exchange confused looks while Noa hangs her head. The
great thing about these chats was that people knew NOT to butt in...usually.
"Is there a problem?" Kuk stares at Maya.

"Yes, Madame Elder, there is!!" Maya storms up to them, a datachip in
hand. "Please correct me if I'm wrong, but is it not law in ALL the
Concordat's member states that the physical abuse of children and spouses is a
capital offense?!"

"It is," Tok hums. "I assume by your indignation that you have come
onto a serious case requiring immediate attention."

"I would say you are facing a potential *epidemic* of such abuse on one
planet," Maya shudders, then feeling Ayesha's steady hand, silently exhales.
"Forgive my sudden outburst, Madame Elder, but the person who informed me of
the scale of this problem is a very close...friend of mine."

"Please continue, Architect Maya," Kuk hums.

Maya draws out a portable small-scale 3D holoplayer, then inserts her
datachip. An image then appears of a Kagamasei with long crimson hair and
brown eyes...her whole body covered with nasty bruises as well as her cheek.
She is now seated on the bed. "Look at me, Mayavayae," she sniffs back tears.
"I try to be good. I try to be nice to my dad and my family. But none of
them care. None! Why? If they didn't want me, why did they give birth to
me? Why? Please, Maya, help me! Please, get me out of this awful place!
Please..."

She sobs, then wipes her eyes. Maya's recorded voice then asks, "Do you
have some way to get to Crossroads at least?"

"Hai," Kashi nods. "My friend Kirensa is going there to meet her penpal
Usagi. I think there're a bunch of others going there, too. Mayavayae, a lot
of them...a lot of them are just like me."

"What do you mean?" Maya's voice inquires.

"They...they're hit all the time! Beaten, abused, then thrown away like
so much garbage!" Kashi sniffs. "Please, Mayavayae, please get me out of this
place..."

Maya shuts off the recording. "I did a general inquiry on the Webscape
before coming here to ask those with Kagamasei penpals to see if Kashi-chan
was alone," the architect reports. "She's right. There are probably another
seven or eight on Kagamasei with penpals on Sagussa, two of whom are very
young girls, that are in the same sort of situation as Kashi-chan. Madame
Elder, the T'Kon Concordat survives by all its members sacrificing for the
greater whole. If this sort of thing gets out, if it's PERMITTED to get out,
then the stability of the Concordat could come into question by those who
prefer chaos and mistrust to peace and trust."

Kuk and Tok exchange sad looks. "We are pleased you brought this to our
attention, Architect Maya," the former breathes in. "Kagamasei has always
been a...problem district in the Concordat. May I ask your poor friend's
name?"

"Kashi Suhom," Maya reports. "She's of the district of Ikemikot-
Lairomem."

"KAshi Suhom?!" Tok repeats, emphasizing the first syllable of the
girl's name. "We will see about it. Thank you again."

Maya sighs, then turns to head out. "Excuse me, please," Ayesha rises,
then runs after her friend. "Wait up, Maya!"

Honey and Noa watch them leave, then both gaze at the T'Kon elders. "Is
there something you two aren't telling us?" the latter muses, her eyebrow
rising with curiosity.

"Something...that is difficult for either Kuk or I to explain without
arousing your anger, friend Noa...or your race's most unique prejudice," Tok
sighs...

* * *

"I'm gonna get her out of there!! I swear by Lyna's Grave, I'll get her
out of that place if it's the last thing I do!"

Ayesha sighs, gently rubbing her friend's shoulder as both relax in a
private booth at Saku's. Maya was now working her way to the bottom of her
third glass of ran-jugh, shuddering indignantly. "Maya-chan, relax. There's
nothing you can do right now except pray and hope."

"Pray?! Hope?!" Maya spins on her. "Damn it all, Ayesha-chan, that
girl looks to ME as the only hope she has!! How could they do that to her?!
Lyna's Mercy, child abuse is a capital crime in the Concordat just like it's
that way here!!"

"I don't know," Ayesha sighs, looking at her untouched drink. "It's
strange, isn't it? People I've talked to say that the women they write to on
Kagamasei are either treated badly or else seen as nothing more than servants.
Weird, if you ask me."

"It's a disgrace!!" Maya snarls. "How could the T'Kon have made such an
error in judgement?! Their standards for people to enter the Concordat are
very strict and are never to be broken!! It ensures self-discipline, keeps
people on their toes. It may not be the way we run things here, but it works!
I hope they find the slimes who did that to Kashi-chan and make them pay!!"

She swallows the rest of her drink...just as a briefcase slams on the
table in front of them. "Oh, I'm so excited!!!" Usagi's bubbly features
appear before the two.

"Usagi-chan, can't you announce yourself for once?!" Ayesha smacks the
zoologist over the head with her fist!

"Aiowch!!" Usagi grunts, then laughs. "Oh, chill out, Ayesha-chan!
It's okay!! I'm just so excited!!"

"What's there to be excited about?" Maya growls.

"What a dirty look!" Usagi gasps after being caked in mud, then wipes
herself off. "Well, I'm going to be meeting my penpal on Crossroads in a few
days!! Isn't that great?!"

"The one that kinda looks like you?" Ayesha blinks.

"Yeah!!" Usagi gushes. "Now I'll know how Yui and Kumiko back up in
Ly'sha feel about having a mother!"

Ayesha and Maya exchange looks. Usagi, a former resident of Ly'sha City
before she moved to Tere'na to be with her new live-in lover Rei, had always
been jealous of her neighbours Yui and Kumikonodokyuu, both of whom were the
daughters of the few family couplings of mother and daughter found by the
Gatherer. It struck her as wonderful to have made contact with her penpal, a
woman who could have been an older Usagi as given by the pictures of her in
her's and Rei's apartment in Pugh-Tere'na. "Say, who is this girl anyway?
What does she do? You don't even tell us her name."

"Kirensa Nopa," Usagi proudly proclaims. "Age thirty-two, single, no
other family than her brother Rensa, she works at the local citizen's registry
office. I could even give you her e-mail address if you want to write her."

"Kirensa?!!" Maya grabs Usagi by the collar of her jumpsuit. "Did you
say KIRENSA?!?!"

"Y-yes...M-maya, y-you're ch-choking m-me...!" Usagi gags.

"Oh, thank Lyna!!" Maya lets her go, allowing Usagi to collapse to the
floor. "I've been looking for her penpal!"

"Why?!" Usagi wonders.

"Because MY penpal Kashi is going to be brought to Crossroads by Kirensa
so I can get her to come to Sagussa."

"Eh?!" Usagi leaps to her feet. "You mean Kashi Suhom?! That poor kid
who gets beat up all the time by her folks?!"

"The same!" Maya nods, shuddering. "I swear to you both, I'm not going
to rest until Kashi-chan is here, safe and sound!!"

"I'll help, that's for sure!" Usagi nods. "I hate it every time
Kirensa-onee-chan always talks about Kashi-san!! It really makes her upset!"

"It makes HER upset?! I went straight to see Elder Kuk and Elder Tok
and told them about it! You want to know how many penpals are abused and
treated like slaves on Kagamasei?!"

"It is strange," Ayesha hums. "Hotaru-eii'sagh told me about hers and
Setsuna-eii'sagh's penpal Kubichi once. That really turned my stomach when I
heard about her."

"They told you about Kubichi-chan?!" Usagi gasps, then shakes her head
in total disgust. "Oh, Lyna, now that's a sad case!"

"What about her?!" Maya looks confusedly at the zoologist.

"She's sexually abused...by about everyone in her family," Usagi gags.
"Shit, where do people get off doing that to a sweet kid like that! If I was
her penpal, I'd sponsor her coming to Sagussa on the spot!!"

"Pity we can't do that," Ayesha sighs. "Immigration between the
Concordat worlds and the Republic is forbidden."

"To the Master's keep with that!!" Maya snarls. "One way or another,
Kashi-chan is coming to Sagussa...and that's final!!!"

* * *

In a dark alley thousands of parsecs away, a shivering girl cowers in
the shadows, checking her wrist-chrono every minute or so to see when her
contact would arrive. Despite the liberal application of healing paste, her
skin is still quite discoloured in a few places. "Oh, please come..." she
whispers.

"I'm here," an imposing voice declares.

The woman looks to see a statuesque blonde beauty with twin long
pigtails walk out of the darkness. "Kirensa Nopa of the district of Num-
olies?"

"En, I am she," she nods, her blue eyes glittering. "You are Kashi
Suhom of Ikemikot-Lairomem district?"

"En, Elder Kirensa," Kashi bows. "When will we go?"

"Right now if you want," Kirensa smiles. "My brother and I've spent
some time preparing for this day, Kashi. It is time for we to expose our
world's crimes to the outside universe. Come."

"En, Elder," Kashi nods as they proceed back into the dark...

* * *

Received: 1A009.202.4.8.49.1
Terminal: Namu'shadet/Kyre'sha CDC
From: Kasua Tonggap <ktonggap@itufarug.kagamasei.com>
To: Noriko & Toren Smith <26699@webscape.s5sa.com>
Attach: home:/persfile/holofile/kasua4.thmf

Dearest Noriko and Toren,
It's happening. My brother and I will be coming to
Crossroads within the next four days. I hope both of you will
come. I can only stay on Crossroads for a maximum of six days,
so I intend to do a lot with you. I wish you'd think of
bringing Jung with you. I know how much she wants to meet her
future Mashi. I really loved the holo-message she sent for me.
I have one for her.
My love to you both, my shining knights.
Kasua

Toren Smith sighs as he gazes at the message, then leans back.
"Computer, extract holo-message file and copy to our server. Authorization
code Smith-Toren-Jay-Six-Six-One."

"*Working.*" A second pause. "*Holo-message file extracted and
transferred.*"

"Standby," Toren smiles, then looks outside. "Jung! C'mon in here, you
beautiful little girl!!"

Into the room races a beautiful five year old girl with her stringy
black hair in a ponytail. "What is it, Daddy?"

Toren smiles. "Run message."

"*Running,*" the computer replies.

Jung turns to the holosuite as it activates. Appearing in the middle of
the pad is a slender Kagamasei woman with brown hair in a pageboy cut and
expressive brown eyes, now dressed in the toga-like dress of her people.
"Hello, Jung-chan!" she smiles, leaning down to gaze on the beautiful girl.
"I'm your Mashi, Kasua-chan! You want to be friends?"

Jung gasps, then takes the hologram's hands as the room around them
switches to a beautiful park scene. Toren shakes his head as he walks out of
the entertainment suite of the apartment he now shared with his wife,
daughter, his wife's best friend and her two daughters. It would be even
crazier when Kasua and Kazumi's penpal Kumie Allak came to live with them...if
they could somehow get around the rules blocking Concordat citizens from
taking residence on Fifth Republic sovereign territory.

Walking into the living room, he gazes at the beautiful scene of the
hamlet of Namu'sha, its namesake mountain shielding it from the hustle and
bustle...and from the many potential accidents...of Defense/Engineering Base
Kyre'sha. Six years he had lived here. Shortly after he had come here to
work for Earth's first embassy on another planet, he met and fell hopelessly
in love with Noriko. He fathered her first child Jung-freud Ainoriko Smith,
then somehow...even HE wasn't sure how...managed to persuade the Warsuit pilot
to do that most un-Sagussan of acts: marry her child-mate.

In that six years, he had helped construct a warm home for his wife and
daughter, plus Kazumi and her twin sons Kocgh and Ajira, kids who also called
him father. From mere clerical assistant in Tere'na City, he had become an
unofficial cultural advisor to the Kyre'sha Provincial Education Ministry,
lecturing on Earth's many nations to a sea of eager faces. It was a job he
liked and one he excelled at, most of all since he liked kids in general and
entertaining them in particular. But in those six years, he hadn't confronted
the one sometimes overriding facet of life few men his age sit back to think
about before taking a chance and starting a new life on Sagussa...until now.

*Marei'cha.*

It once was so easy. Terran men who move to Sagussa somehow always
deceive themselves into believing that having sex with a *daishi'cha* is
emotionally painless; a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am approach to dating while at
the same time helping to markedly improve the population statistics. But the
responsibility of raising the child always hit home with the force of a
torpedo, especially when the mother looks at you, her eyes, face and voice
telling her friends that YOU are the one who helped her create life, YOU are
the one who gave her the greatest joy of life for anyone. And with that comes
the sober realization that YOU have a greater responsibility to the child than
just helping conceive her.

But on this planet, there was always stiff competition for your child-
mate's heart: her bond-mate. It was true that there were still many unbonded
women among the *daishi'cha,* so if you lucked out...and like Toren, elected
to become a Sagussan in fact as well as name...you could get a woman for
yourself without any outside emotional attachments. Toren believed Noriko was
one such person since Kazumi was always the elder sister figure...and now
squadron commander...so she was family in a different manner.

Until Konra Choyak.

It was simple at first. As the *daishi'cha* worked at transforming
their wrecked homeworld into something alive, economic and social contact was
initiated with the T'Kon Concordat. With that came contact with the only
mammalian humanoid race in the organization, the Kagamasei. As soon as the
Webscape e-mail system was connected to its counterpart in the Concordat, the
*daishi'cha* gave into their curiosity and tried to make friends on Kagamasei.

Four years ago, Noriko encountered Konra over the invisible bridge of
the Webscape. The Kagamasei was part of a farming family from the district of
Itufarug, a naive girl younger than Noriko looking for a friend outside the
borders of her homeworld. Soon, they were exchanging letters, e-mail and
holophone calls, promising that as soon as both could coordinate their
schedules, they'd go to Crossroads and meet in person.

Along the way, Noriko felt that powerful urge she never got with Kazumi.
The urge to have a soul-mate, someone she can relate to in the most personal
way. Toren thought he was that person. But despite the compromises they both
made, there was still the vast social rift between the young man from Kansas
and the young woman from Kyre'sha. Noriko's co-workers in Lima Squadron
looked at her oddly, wondering why she surrendered ALL her heart to a man when
there were plenty of unbonded women in Namu'sha, the most obvious one being
Kazumi herself! That, tacked to Konra's need to meet someone outside her
world, vent out her frustrations at being penned in a family who looked at her
more as an unwanted adjunct than a beloved daughter, became a heady brew Toren
couldn't fight.

"Who says you have to fight it?"

Toren sighs as he feels that wonderful rush in his mind, her arms slip
around him as his head tilts back to receive her gentle kiss. Noriko smiles
as they gaze into the other's eyes. "I'm not sure if I'm ready to share your
heart with anyone, love," Toren sighs. "I hope you don't mind my being a
typical male about it, but I'm afraid I'm going to lose you if she comes
here."

"Hold it, buster," Noriko laughs. "Who says that I'll turn my back on
you even if Konra-chan comes. First of all, what's wrong with loving BOTH you
AND Konra-chan? Lyna have mercy, you Terrans are so damn possessive, it's a
wonder that your race actually made it this far without killing yourselves
because you had to compete for resources and people's loyalties."

"I know," Toren sighs, gazing at her. "But I want to give my all to
you, Noriko-chan. Can't I do that anymore?"

"You can give your all to me and Konra-chan," Noriko insists. "You
think love is finite. Stop thinking that, Toren. Love is as infinite as the
*te'a* Itself. You love Kazumi, don't you?"

"Of course I do."

"So why can't you love Konra-chan?" Noriko wonders. "Toren, haven't you
come to realize that Konra-chan was the one who persuaded me to marry you?"

Toren stops, blinking at her. "You're kidding."

"No, I'm not," Noriko shakes her head. "When you proposed to me, I was
so overwhelmed, I wanted to run away. Konra-chan told me if I did that, I
would betray not only you and Jung, but betray myself too. I won't do that.
And...she also said," a smile twitches her lips, "...that if I didn't marry
you, she'd never speak to me ever again."

"Ouch!!" Toren winces. The penpals many people on Sagussa had were a
way for people here to vent out their frustrations and pet peeves to those who
didn't have to put up to the problems this planet produced every day. Who
knew when Noriko would find someone to take Konra's place. *That's one I owe
you, Konra-chan.*

The door to the entertainment room opens, revealing Jung. "Mommy,
Daddy, Mashi wants us all to go to Crossroads so we can meet her."

Noriko and Toren exchange looks. "I think we don't have a choice in the
matter," the former smiles.

"Never disappoint our baby," the latter grins...

* * *

"Commander, I stand relieved."

"Commander, I relieve you."

Nike and Minako exchange salutes, then exchange the batons marking their
positions as squadron commanders in the Warsuit Brigade. As Leona beams, the
new commander of Golf Squadron holds out her hand to her replacement as
commander of Bravo Squadron. "Take care of them, Nike. They're good people."

"So are the ones you have now, Minako," Nike shakes her hand.

The two turn to face the massed ranks of both squadrons, then march into
their new places. Golf's squadron sergeant-major then barks out. "Three
cheers for the Boss!! Hip-hip...!!!"

"HOORAY!!!!!!" the others chant.

The chant repeats, as does the cheers Bravo gives Nike. As the crowds
quiet down, Leona takes command, then dismisses the Brigade. As the troops
march off the field, the other squadron commanders move over to congratulate
their members. It seemed quite strange; after all, neither Nike or Minako
were getting promoted or were mustering out of the Brigade. Still, with what
had happened in Minako's home life, this seemed the best solution of all...or
so everyone hoped.

"Way to go, Mina!" Annapuma slaps her back. "You did the right thing!
Hope you can work together with the folks in Golf!! Pity I couldn't do
something about being closer with Una!"

"I'm sure you can do something, Anna," Minako smiles, then nods at the
others.

She then tenses on seeing the crimson-skinned woman now chatting with
Nike. Looking away, she breathes out to expunge her anger...Leona and Motoko
would kill them BOTH if they lost control in front of the troops...then feels
a twinge of regret. Why couldn't she've been more compromising? Why couldn't
she've tried to see Rei's side of the story? Why couldn't she do something to
show how sorry she felt? Damn, damn, damn...

"Hey, Mina!"

Minako blinks, then turns to Naru. "What is it, Naru? I'm not really
in the mood for a date..."

"*De'ne!*" Naru snorts. "I just came to ask you if you were heading to
Crossroads in the next little while?"

"Crossroads?!" Minako blinks, then nods. "Well, yeah, I'm catching the
flight in three days. Why?"

"Great! Let's go together!!"

"Eh?! Naru, I said I wasn't going on a date..."

"And I'm not asking you for one, stupid!" Naru laughs. "Look, you have
a penpal named Kunoo Chotta, right? She's a woman from Leon district, right?"

"Yeah! How'd you know...?!"

"I have a penpal named Kariya. She's from Okihsedan district. They
know each other quite well and they're coming to Crossroads together. What
say we get together and go meet them? Kariya-chan asked me to talk to you
about it."

"Well, if Kunoo-chan and Kariya do know each other, I don't see the harm
in it," Minako hums. "Besides, Ami wants to meet her penpal, too; she's also
from Leon."

"Ami, too?!" Naru blinks. "Well, isn't that funny?"

"What is?"

"It seems as if a whole bunch of people are heading out to Crossroads to
meet their penpals," Naru hums. "I know Rei and Usagi are heading out to meet
theirs...and I heard Kazumi and Noriko are also going with Toren and their
kids. And I just heard that Misato and Ritsuko are also heading out."

"Misato and Ritsuko, too?!" Minako hums. "Isn't that weird?!"

"Hey, guys!!" Usagi calls out.

Minako tenses as the zoologist walks up. "What is it, Usagi-chan?"
Naru stares at her.

"Get this! We got a whole pack of people on their way to Crossroads in
three days!"

"We know; we're going!" Naru points at herself, then Minako.

"Not only that, but Mayanoevan, Ayesha, Honey, Hunba, Hotaru, Setsuna,
Linna and Nene are also heading out...and I think Rei and Asuka from
Pathfinder Six are going, too!"

"That is quite a pack!" Minako blinks.

They then tense as Leona and Motoko walk by, heading back to their
offices. "Are you sure you asked Oryuu if she was coming with us?" the
brigade commander hums.

"Already made the hotel arrangements," the operations officer grins.
"Got two nice suites at the Crossroads Hill Manor!"

As they head off, Minako, Usagi and Naru exchange looks. "Hey, that's
the hotel I'm going to!" the latter hisses.

"So am I!!" the former gasps, crossing her arms. "Whoa, this is gonna
be a VIP flight for sure!"

* * *

"No, Linna."

"Sylia...!!"

"I said 'no!'" Pathfinder Troop Six's commanding officer sighs, gazing
evenly at her demolitions chief. "You cannot take the 'Kiboo'cha' to
Crossroads."

"Sylia, in Eternity's name, almost all of us are going to that place!"
Linna insists. "Naru and I want to meet Kiriru-chan and Rei, Asuka and
Shinsur are heading out to meet Konama! What's the big problem with taking a
little side insurance?!"

"If this was Earth or any other planet, I'd be all for it," Sylia sighs.
"But this is Crossroads we're talking about here! This is neutral ground for
us and the Concordat. If we go in with guns ready to shoot from the hip, we
destroy any respect we might have with the Concordat. The next thing we'll
know is that we'll have border incidents, incursions into each other's space
and then possibly a shooting war! Is that what you want?!"

"Sylia, in Lyna's name, we're talking about people getting in a snit
over two nice girls who want to have a better life away from abusive
families!" Linna snarls. "Shit, you know how much garbage Kiriru-chan goes
through every day!! And Konama! Eternal Sands, her family ignores her even
more than Ataru's parents ignored him!! This is common humanity we're talking
about here!"

"And under normal circumstances, I would happily support such actions
were it to save lives!" Sylia insists. "I would gladly go to Kagamasei, get
every woman who's suffered at the hands of their spouses and siblings, then
bring them here to give them a good life. But we CAN'T do to the Concordat
what we did to Uru and Vos when they threatened Earth! The stakes are way too
high even for my tastes, Linna! I will help you in every way possible, but
not with the 'Kiboo'cha!' I'm sorry."

Linna sighs, then looks down. "Yeah, I know."

"Linna, you're not going to Crossroads alone," Sylia sighs. "You want
to know who else is going?" she hands her a datapadd.

Linna looks at the names. "Shit!!" she whistles on seeing who was going
on the next flight.

"And a half," Sylia adds. "If T'Kon authorities on Crossroads heard
that several senior defence officers, including the commander of one of our
ground formations and the second-in-command of the whole Navy was on the
planet, they'd be suspicious! And Noa's sisters atop that?! If I was the
chief of security on Crossroads, I'd be on my toes!"

"Yeah, so would I," Linna bites her lips, then stares at her friend and
commander. "Sylia, look. I know we're supposed to respect the neutrality of
Crossroads and all that. I know it's forbidden to bring Concordat citizens to
resettle on Sagussa. But this I swear to you: when Nene-chan and I come back
in the next ten-day, that wonderful girl will be with us!"

"I believe you," Sylia smiles...

* * *

"Passport and travel documents, please."

Kirensa smiles as she hands the datachips to the T'Kon customs officer
at the out-service desk at Crossroads Spaceport. Beside her, Kashi tries to
relax, ignoring the many stares projected her way from passers-by. From the
other races of the Concordat, the emotions Kashi senses range from outrage to
mute sympathy. From the Kagamasei males, indifference to Kashi's pain and a
lot of confusion; why were they travelling alone? From the few Kagamasei
females, a silent prayer that this time, they would make it.

The customs officer stares at her readout, then gazes at the two women.
"She doesn't have clearance from her family," she warns, her voice turned very
low.

"The district medical official authorized her to come here to be free of
her family," Kirensa hands another chip over.

The customs official scans the chip, then nods. "So he did. Very well,
you may pass. Welcome to Crossroads."

"Thank you," Kirensa nods. "Come along, Kashi."

"En, Elder," Kashi falls in behind her.

The customs official watches the two go, then sighs. If only the
Council of Elders would firmly punish the Kagamasei for what they did to women
like those two. It was sheer madness that living sentient beings were treated
always with the same respect given to cattle, property to be used, abused and
then destroyed at a whim. Noticing her companion stare at her, she smiles,
switching to the purring hiss of their native tongue. "<<If those two try to
make it to Sagussa, I won't stop them. Will you?>>"

"<<Not in ten thousand years,>>" the other affirms.

Meanwhile, Kirensa and Kashi relax in the lounge. "Why are we here,
Elder?" the younger woman gazes at the elder. "What do you want to do? Wait
until Maya-chan and the others come to pick us up? We'll have Home Security
all over us!"

"Not necessarily," Kirensa smiles. "If the arrangements were all
properly made, Home Security won't know what's happening until we're long gone
from here. We're awaiting someone else to join our little rebellion against
our creators. Someone who is in the same position as myself."

Kashi tenses, then after a quick inspection of the lounge to ensure no
one was listening to them, looks down. "Forgive me, Elder. I'm very scared.
This is my first trip off Kagamasei."

"I know," Kirensa sighs. "My first trip with my brother was the same
for me. Awe, curiosity, fear...ah, there she is!"

Kashi turns to see a slender, yet physically-fit woman walk up, now
dressed in a flowing robe with her long black hair tied up with a red bowtie,
her hand on a very ornate sword. Her grey eyes widen on seeing Kirensa, then
smiling, she walks over. Beside her is a bespectacled girl with brown hair in
pigtails. "Kirensa! We meet at last!!" the first kisses the blonde
Kagamasei, then waves to her friend. "This is Konra Choyak of Arukas-draw
district; that's my home, too. Who's your friend, Elder?"

Kirensa introduces Kashi, then turns to her companion. "This is Kurasa
Hullyon of Arukas-draw, Kashi."

"Pleased to meet you," Kashi smiles. "I've never met anyone who
practices the art of the sword before."

"My pleasure," Kurasa bows.

The four relax. "I can't stay for too long," Konra warns, fighting down
the urge to give into her fear. "My brother doesn't want me too far out of
sight while we're here. If we're going to move, it'll have to be very soon."

"In three days, our knights will arrive," Kirensa hums. "Once that
occurs, all else will fall into place. Our kind has waited too long for an
opportunity like this, Konra. To give in to the urge to panic will destroy
years of preparation work, plus maybe deny our peers or those who follow us
the chance to do this again. The cost to ourselves...I don't need to
explain."

The others grimly nod...

* * *

"*Welcome aboard Warpshuttle 101 for today's trip to Crossroads
Station,*" the computer announces. "*Please secure all belongings in your
storage chambers prior to take off.*"

Linna and Nene sigh as they slip their bags under their seats, ignoring
the rest of the pre-flight service announcement. Since the Crossroads service
was initiated, the main hull of the former military fast courier was
transformed into a beautiful lounge meant to make the under-two hour trip as
comfortable as possible. "Well, we're here, all ready to tame the dragons
again," the latter sighs. "You all ready to do this?"

"More than ready," Linna grins. "If I lay eyes on Kiriru-chan's
parents, I'm gonna personally rearrange their faces!"

"Save something for me," Nene snorts, then relaxes.

Both then blink surprisedly as two surprising faces appear. "Can we
join you?" Hunba smiles.

"Sure!" Linna waves Hunba and Honey to the seats before them. "So what
brings you two out today?"

"Probably the same reason you're here," Honey sighs. "We have a friend
awaiting us on Crossroads."

"You?!" Nene gasps. "No way!!"

"Strange as it sounds, Honey-chan persuaded me to see the logic of
bringing in a third caregiver to our family," Hunba grasps her bond-mate's
hand, gazing fondly on the woman who both saved and transformed her life nine
years ago in Lecashuto.

"You really want to start having kids, huh?" Linna muses.

"More than anything else," the former rebel commander sighs. "I didn't
like it when Catty talked me into allowing Shinobu to take Aiotoga with her.
That poor little girl's the last thing I have of Natsu-chan and Benten-chan.
And while helping raise Honey-chan's brood is a delight in and of itself, it's
been quite a while since I've felt the pains and joys of bringing a child into
this world myself."

"But since we're so busy, someone's got to stick around the house to
watch over the little ones," Honey sighs. "Though I think the one we're after
may not pan out so well."

"What makes you say that?" Nene asks.

"Our penpal's a thoughtmistress in the Kagamasei sword art, strange as
that sounds," Honey reports. "Kurasa-chan is not one for the gentle arts of
raising children, though she is more than willing to learn if we can find a
way for her to get across the line to live with us."

"She sounds determined to come to Sagussa," Linna muses.

"She is," Honey sternly nods. "She may not say it, but she shows it in
her letters and holo-messages. She's really scared of something, something
that's going to happen very soon and that will have terrible consequences to
her if she's still on Kagamasei. Though I'll be damned if I know what it is."

"Our penpal's the same way, except she's lived it every day of her
life," Linna shakes her head. "Kiriru-chan's a sweet girl who needs a nice
home, but she's never got it in Okihsedan. If it isn't her parents beating
her on the flimsiest excuse, it's her brothers fondling her."

"Barbaric!" Hunba hisses. "Even after hearing all the tales about
Yedris' old rival Chena and what she did to her daughter."

"Kiriru-chan's parents make Lan's old lady look quite tame," Nene
snarls, then tenses. "Over here, Rei!!"

"Hey, everyone!!" Asukanoevan smiles as she, Reinoevan and Shinsur relax
in nearby seats. "All ready to head over and have loads of fun with the ones
we want to love?!"

"Ready and willing," Hunba smiles, then notices Rei and Minako walking
out of separate restrooms, notice each other, then with an angry humph, march
off to join their companions. "Although for some, this won't be much of a
pleasure cruise."

Hunba nods as Warpshuttle 101 moves away from her docking cradle and
turns her prow from Sen'sha Seven's main base for the distant Magellanic
Clouds.

* * *

Kirensa stares forlornly at herself in the bathroom mirror. Her side
pigtails, a decoration she had taken to wearing since she and Usagi began to
correspond, were untied, the blonde mass covering her back almost to her feet.
What was she doing here? Her place was with her dying brother, seeing to his
last requests as his life...and by extension hers...came to an end. Fear
claws at her heart relentlessly, trying to make her not see the possible
success of this escape, this DEFECTION from the only life she had known into
something that seemed at times a mad dream. She was no leader by any shade of
the imagination...but her brother's position as head of the Otikijerag
Province Citizens Registry Office gave her an opportunity few others of her
kind possessed.

For their sakes as well as hers, she could not fail.

A knock is heard at the door. Kashi walks over to stare through the
spyhole. "Who is it?"

"Kurasa with friends," comes the familiar voice from outside.

Kashi opens the door, allowing Kurasa to enter, followed by friends.
Kirensa steps into the suite's living room to see the sixteen other women who
had privately made a decision to risk their lives to start anew on Sagussa
march into the room. Picking places to sit, they all assume the rigid
attentive pose all their kind had been instructed since childhood to assume
whenever their families demanded they respect their proper places in Kagamasei
society. All eyes lock on her as she walks up to them, then sighs. "All of
you, please relax!" she gently sighs. "We're not here to parade ourselves in
front of our families. Be at ease."

Hearing that, everyone seems to deflate, many breathing out in relief.
Did they fear their host to be of Home Security? Very few of them knew
Kirensa outside her name and her brother's position at the CRO. All their
districts were in Otikijerag Province, so their information would be at the
elder woman's fingertips, including any information concerning their contacts
on Sagussa. All their e-mail addresses had to be registered with the CRO,
normally available for their families to inspect at a whim. In many cases,
they were scrutinized with a fine-toothed comb...but Kirensa and her brother
took precautions to ensure any damaging evidence that hinted that all of these
women had lovers and/or families awaiting on Sagussa was long gone from
computer files before they were opened.

"Well, then," Kirensa begins. "For all of us, we might as well
introduce ourselves. I am Kirensa Nopa of Num-olies. My penpal is Usagi, the
Director of Zoological Life Studies. She desires me to become a sort of elder
sister. Kashi?"

Kashi breathes out, then introduces herself and her future bond-mate.
Next comes Kariya Oullida, an Okihsedan native, followed by Konra. "I'm
Kareha Piyong of Ikemikot-lairomem," a young woman with green eyes and green
hair looped in pigtails smiles. "My penpal and future bond-mate is Misato, a
psychiatrist who works with the Sagussan Defence Force. Kyo?"

"I'm Kyo Songshil of Otiemumur," a pleasant brown haired and eye girl
beams. "My penpal and future bond-mate is Misato-san's bond-mate Ritsuko, a
weapons engineer who lives in Kyre'sha."

"I'm Katai Onggi of Leon," says another with brown hair and eyes, this
one more slender with angular features. "My penpal and future sibling is
Squadron Commander Rei of the Warsuit Brigade's Juliet Squadron."

Next is Kiyui Chongbi, a black haired girl with hazel eyes under
glasses, who will soon meet Aminobishoojo. After is Kunoo Chotta, a very
graceful woman with square-cut blue hair and eyes. Then comes Kasua. "I'm
Kumie Allak, also of Itufarug," a super-kawaii girl with brown hair in side
pigtails and hazel eyes beams. "My penpal and future bond-mate is Noriko's
commander, Squadron Commander Kazumi."

"I'm Kotana Hamsok of Ikemikot-lairomem," a girl looking a lot like
Kashi save for shorter hair smiles. "My future bond-mate is Hikari, the
Construction Engineer Articifer for Ly'sha."

Kurasa introduces herself and her future bond-mates. Then comes a
brown-haired, hazel-eyed girl from Noiregnave, Konama Pamnat, who will soon
meet Reinoevan and Asukanoevan. Next is Kashi's and Kotana's countrywoman
Kisha Migi, a Tritonian-like girl with blue eyes and hair who wants to bond-
mate with Inspector-General Oryuu. Afterward is Kiriru Teuda, a very young
Okihsedan with lavender hair in side pigtails. Then there is Kubichi Aegyo, a
pink-haired version of Kiriru from Num-olies. Finally, there is another from
Itufarug, a Shinobu-esque woman named Kariru Ibul, who has her eyes locked on
Leona and Motoko.

With the introductions made, Kirensa sighs. "My sisters, we take an
enormous risk doing what we're about to do," she gazes at each of them.
"Kurasa and I are meant to die when our brothers die in the next week or so.
Some of you are just tired of being viewed at with disdain by your families.
Some of you are abused. All of these things are so hideous by Sagussan
standards, there is no logical reason they would not refuse our request for
asylum.

"But each of us, and those we leave behind on Kagamasei, represents
something that nearly destroyed Sagussa long ago, the very act of which
brought us those we now seek to aid us. We are the personification of our
penpals' darkest nightmares. None of us has told them of how we came into
this world...and very soon, when we see them, we must tell them that truth. I
love Usagi-chan very much. I cannot think of anyone else I'd like to replace
my soon-to-be late brother with.

"But will Usagi-chan accept me, a clone, as her sibling?"

* * *

Crossroads.

Planets are sometimes settled because of an abundance of natural
resources. Planets are sometimes settled because the challenge of
terraforming a hostile world is too much to resist. Planets are sometimes
settled because their position gives them a strategic value that makes the
cost of settlement seem worthwhile. And then there are planets who exist not
to give advantage but to maintain the peace. Crossroads is one such world.

Located in a remote system on the edge of the Magellanic Clouds,
Crossroads, a tranquil Class M world similar in many ways to Reiner's Five, is
technically a Concordat colony world. But like Nagasaki once served Tokugawa
Japan, it is a portal, a bridge between the Concordat and the outside
universe, especially Sagussa. Only here were Sagussans permitted to freely
interact with the many races composing the T'Kon Concordat. A neutral,
demilitarized world, Crossroads is a sign of hope for a better tomorrow.

The history and purpose of this world are well known to the passengers
of Warpshuttle 101 as they disembark for the customs terminal, presenting
passports and tourist visas to the T'Kon authorities as they head through
Crossroads Station. Once they are cleared to enter, the group splits up for
taxis to head to their chosen hotel suites. Ironically, all of them chose the
Crossroads Hill Manor, the best five-star hotel on the planet.

"We're here finally!" Ritsuko sighs as she relaxes on her bed, slipping
out of her jumpsuit and putting on her preferred civilian dress, a leather
skirt, halter top and jean vest. "So when do you think we'll be able to meet
up with Kareha-chan and Kyo-chan?"

"They said they'd be here by today," Misato gazes at a hard copy of her
last message from Kareha, received two days before the psychologist and her
bond-mate left Sagussa, then dresses in her usual tank-top and cut-off jeans.
"I suppose we'll have to head to the central mall strip to see for ourselves."

Ritsuko gazes at the Fukunokami-born woman she fell in love with a long
time ago, someone she once vowed to herself she'd never leave or betray.
While it was accepted on Sagussa that a person could have multiple lovers, the
practice of one bond-mate per person on Sagussa seemed to be as rock solid as
the concept of marriage elsewhere. She still felt uncomfortable bringing in
two strangers to their home to help watch over the children. But with the
last couple of years stacked full of all-nighters for her and long hours for
Misato, the intimate care they wanted to give their children was greatly
threatened. Daycare centres helped, but many *daishi'cha* were adverse to
depending solely on those institutes, run by distant acquaintances, caring for
their prodigy.

"Ready?" Misato stares at her.

"Ready!" Ritsuko nods as both head out...

* * *

The next morning...

"Oh, I haven't done so much shopping since my last trip to Earth!" Usagi
gushes as she drags Rei down the central corridor of the Crossroads Mall.
"C'mon, Rei, let's go!!"

"Okay, okay, give me my arm back!" the Warsuit commander gripes as they
head to a particular store, then looks at Luna. "Boy, you'd think Usagi-chan
never got out to play, huh?!"

Luna growls as if saying, "Tell me something I don't know."

The three head into a beautiful boutique run by an elderly T'Kon couple.
Luna relaxes by the doorway as Usagi starts to tear through the gowns. Rei
relaxes nearby, catching her breath. Lyna, it was impossible at times to keep
up with the blonde whirlwind she now lived with. Minako never bent her out of
shape like this...

Minako...

Rei squeezes her eyes shut, damming her tears. Where did it go wrong?
Why did she lose her temper like that, drive Minako out when she began to
resist? Why didn't Minako try to understand Rei's feelings? Deep down, she
still loved her fellow squadron commander, loved her with the same ferocity
she now loved Usagi. But...Usagi had filled certain emotional needs Minako
couldn't. How could Minako demand Rei make such a drastic choice? Her three
precious children still wondered why they were living in Tere'na with Minako
and their beloved playmates now in Kyre'sha. How could Rei make them
understand the concept of breaking up?

Sighing, she turns...and blinks on seeing a raven-haired Kagamasei woman
with glasses walk into the boutique. Blinking to ensure that wasn't a mirage,
Rei watches her scan through the local selection of jewellery, then pick out a
beautiful set of bracelets. The Aimaiyite-born Warsuit pilot knew that those
bracelets were meant to mark adopted sisters, so whoever this girl was, she
was on the hunt for a sibling. But who...?

"Kiyui?!!"

Rei spins around to see Usagi embrace the surprised Kagamasei. The
latter blinks, then laughs as she returns the Sagussan's greeting. "Oh,
Usagi-chan, you surprised me!!" she kisses her cheek, then notices Rei staring
at her. "Oh, who's your friend?"

Usagi makes the introductions, mentioning Kiyui Chongbi's friendship
with Ami. "You're Kiyui?!" Rei shakes her hand, then leans up. "Then if
you're here, is Katai-chan here, too?!"

"Katai...oh, yes!" Kiyui nods readily, then looks down. "Did Ami-chan
come...?"

"Oh, she's here with Minako," Usagi reports. "We're all staying at the
Hill Manor. What about you people?"

"Most of us are in the Hilton with our families," Kiyui then reports.
"It was such a pain trying to get out of that place; my parents and my brother
can be very difficult at times!"

"Oh, tell me about it!!" Rei rolls her eyes. "Katai-chan has it just as
bad! What's with you people and the way families treat their daughters at
times?! It's barbaric if you ask me!"

"You can say that again, but would people ever listen?!" Kiyui giggles,
then turns to Usagi. "Oh, by the way, Elder Kirensa is at the Hill Manor with
her friend Kashi Suhom. Did Kashi's penpal come with you?!"

"Yep, she's there," Usagi nods. "Boy, this is so neat! Hey, Kiyui-
chan, why don't you and the others come on over to our place later tonight and
we'll get to meet everyone?!"

"I'll see what we can do," Kiyui sighs. "Our parents are really nervous
about our being here!"

"How old are you?!" Rei's eyes narrow.

"Eighteen. Why?"

"Lyna's Soul, by eighteen, most people on my planet are hard at work!"
Rei shudders indignantly. "What do they think you are, anyway?! Some sort of
prize trophy?!"

"Prize trophies get better treatment than I ever will!" a storm of
bitterness flows into Kiyui's voice, then gazes at her purchase. "At least
I'll have something now that'll mark me as different from others like me!"

"Why'd you buy those?" Usagi blinks confusedly.

"Throughout the Concordat, this symbolizes the concept of spirit-
sisters, the one you want to have as kin," Kiyui holds up the bracelets. "I'm
going to give these to Ami-chan as soon as I can. At least if things don't
work out, we won't part as nastily as Rei and Minako did...aaah, sorry, Rei!!"
she quickly apologizes on seeing the hurt look on the Warsuit pilot's face.

"I'm glad for you," Rei admits. "C'mon, let's get some more shopping
done, then go eat!"

The three laugh as they walk out, Luna following. The couple running
the store watch them go, then nod contently...

* * *

Minako and Ami sigh as they head downstairs to the lobby, Artemis
trotting after them as they head out for a day on the town, both relaxed in
jeans, T-shirts and vests. "Well, this seems like a good day to head out and
see the sights," the former muses as she turns a corner...

...and slams into someone, falling on her backside! "Oh, I'm so
sorry!!" a woman quickly apologizes.

Minako shakes her head, then looks up...then gapes at the stately vision
before her. "Ah...well, er...gee, I...!"

Kirensa chuckles bemusedly as she offers her hand. "You must be
Minako," she helps the pilot back to her feet. "Pleased to meet you! I'm
Kirensa Nopa."

"Usagi-chan's penpal!!" Ami's eyes widen in recognition, then she gently
grasps Kirensa's hand. "Pleased to meet you! I'm Ami!"

Greetings are exchanged, then the three relax around a coffee table. A
waiter comes up to offer tea, then heads off. "So, how many managed to come
out to see us?" Minako wonders.

"I think eighteen including myself," Kirensa smiles contently. "It
seems so wonderful to be able to speak to you face-to-face. By the way, Ami,
Kiyui is in the Crossroads Mall doing some shopping if you want to go down?"

"Really?!" Ami blinks, then smiles. "Oh, I'd love to! I'll go later on
to see her. Where is she staying?"

"Most are in the Hilton across town with their families," Kirensa
reports, trying to keep her face neutral. "I'm here right now with Kashi
Suhom."

"Where is she?!" Ami blinks surprisedly.

"She's resting in my room right now," Kirensa hums. "Tell me, is Maya
anywhere about?"

Minako and Ami exchange grins, then the former taps her wrist-
communicator. "Minako to Maya. We have a present for you."

"Pr-present?" Maya's tired voice replies. "What present?"

"It's in room..." Minako looks at Kirensa, who mouths the reply,
"...three-three-seven right now. You better hurry."

She clicks off the wrist-comm as the three laugh...

* * *

Maya mutters something incoherent and profane under her breath as she
staggers down to the third floor. "Present?! Jeez, Minako, what does that
mean?!" she walks up to room 337, then knocks.

The door opens automatically. "Come in..." a weak voice echoes from the
bedroom."

Maya blinks as she steps inside, then looks around. Suites at the Hill
Manor were like a luxury apartment elsewhere, with a fair-sized living room
and side doors leading to a bathroom-jacuzzi and two bedrooms. Maya walks to
the open door of one bedroom, then peeks inside. Her eyes widen on seeing the
mess of red hair sticking out from under the covers. "Who's there...?"

Maya shudders with delight, then tip-toes into the room, sitting down on
the bed. A hand pulls back the covers to reveal Kashi's slowly healing face.
"Elder Kirensa...?" she turns, then stops on seeing her visitor.

"Hi," Maya smiles.

Kashi blinks, her eyes watering on seeing her guest. "Maya!"

Maya growls as she leans down to draw the slender girl into an embrace,
causing Kashi to cry out in pain as her healing ribs protest the jerky
movements. "Aaah!!! Maya-chan, stop...!!"

"What's wrong?!" Maya gazes at her.

"My ribs," Kashi coughs, then tenderly slips off her tank-top to show
her bruised body. "Look for yourself."

"Lyna!!" Maya gapes, taken by surprise even after seeing this in Kashi's
last holo-message. "Oh, Kashivayae..."

"I'm sorry, Mayavayae," Kashi gazes apologetically at her. "I didn't
mean to drag you into this."

"Hush," Maya tenderly kisses her. "I'm glad I'm involved. There's no
way I wouldn't've backed away when I heard what they were doing to you. Have
you seen a healer?"

"I'm going later today," Kashi sighs.

"Wrong," Maya growls, then taps her wrist-comm. "Maya to Hotaru. Are
you up?"

"Just got up," Hotaru yawns in response. "What is it?"

"Come to room 337; I've a patient for you."

"On my way."

Kashi blinks, then stares at her. "I don't think your friend could
really help me, Mayavayae..."

"Are you kidding?!" Maya laughs. "If Hotaru can't heal it, no one can!
Relax!!"

The door opens to allow Hotaru inside. "I'm here...oh, you must be
Kashi!" the nurse smiles on seeing the wounded Kagamasei. "Well, let's see
what's wrong with you today, shall we?" she draws out her tricorder and
scanner, then begins the preliminary work.

"I'll get some tea," Maya quickly exits.

"Well, you really have been banged up," Hotaru whistles on seeing the
extent of the injuries. "Six broken ribs, five more cracked, very badly
healed bones on the legs and arms...Lyna, how could your family do this to
you?!"

"You know?" Kashi blinks.

"Believe me, it was all Maya talked about on the trip here," Hotaru
grimly sighs, then blinks as a strange reading is picked up. "What the...?"

Kashi tenses as Hotaru runs the scanner over her. Silence then falls as
the readout comes over the nurse's tricorder. Hotaru blinks, then stares
quizzically at her. Lyna's Soul, this couldn't be real...could it?

"When are you going to tell her?" she softly inquires.

"I don't know," Kashi shrugs. "I don't even know how to tell her,
Eii'sagh. What will she do?"

"I can't predict that," Hotaru admits. "But I know Maya is one who
likes to deal with the truth. We all do."

Kashi sighs. "I love her...and I won't risk losing that love just
because of the way I came into this life."

"Then tell her," Hotaru insists.

"Tell me what?"

Both turn to see Maya standing at the door quizzically staring at them.
"Oh, Maya!" Hotaru sighs.

"It's alright," Kashi hums. "Maya, please sit down. There's
something...I have to say to you."

Maya sits on the bed, setting the tray down. "What?"

Kashi takes a deep breath. "I'm a clone."

Silence. Maya blinks, staring at the Kagamasei, her mind recoiling from
hearing the one word whose historical equivalent on Sagussa, *mei'aidoei,* is
seen these days as the lowest insult. Then, a part of her clicks in,
reminding the architect about the hideous level of abuse Kashi endured because
of her parents and siblings. If that was because of her origins, it explained
much.

"You were afraid you'd lose me," Maya looks down.

"Yes," Kashi nods.

Maya then stares at her. "You're wrong."

Kashi blinks, then a loopy grin crosses her face as Maya draws her into
her arms. Hotaru smiles as the two start to cry, hugging each other for all
they are worth. Finally, they pull away, then Maya looks at her. "How did it
happen?"

Kashi sniffs. "It's a long story," she smiles. "I was first created
when my brother Shi was born. They took a sample of his DNA, then played
around with it for a bit before allowing it to germinate into a living
being...me."

Maya blinks. "You're not a clone; more of a test-tube baby than a
clone!" she shakes her head, then turns to Hotaru. "How could you tell she
was a clone?"

"She still has a bit of gestation residue in her muscles from the matrix
used to create her...and that still has strands of her brother's DNA in it.
Sloppy process if you ask me," Hotaru shakes her head. "You'd have to go for
full regeneration to get all that out of you. How long have you been
suffering from anemia?"

"How'd you know...?!" Kashi blinks, then laughs. "Sorry!"

"It's okay," Hotaru draws out a hypodermic and injects it into her.
"There, that should help you."

"Why would she suffer from anemia?" Maya blinks.

"Courtesy of those strands of her brother's DNA in her body still,"
Hotaru admits. "The different codes between a man and a woman send different
requests to the brain, which then confuse things when it directs her digestive
system to draw in food. Her cells are asking for the wrong things from her
cardiovascular system, denying her iron and other elements she needs."

"It's long been the reason my parents discipline me," Kashi sighs.
"They wanted a strong daughter to be her son's companion, not someone like me
who can't do much on the farm."

"Well, as soon as we get you into regeneration, you should be alright,"
Hotaru smiles.

"Can we regenerate her?" Maya wonders.

"We can," Hotaru nods. "Ever since the problem with Junba, Catty
perfected a serum that would cleanse out the gestation residue before
regeneration; the residue serves as a warning flag to the matrix that this
isn't a naturally-born person. Besides, Kashi was created as a baby and grew
up naturally; your analogy of a test-tube baby was right on. In essence,
she's really no different from the rest of us. Our genes were altered by the
matrix when we were regenerated to make us Sagussan. Hers were altered when
she was first created, then she came to term like many of our children do via
a gestation matrix. The regeneration matrix shouldn't be much of a problem.
In fact," she draws out a second hypo, then injects it. "There! That'll
start cleaning out the residue in your body; you'll eject it as normal waste
matter. Once you're 'clean,' then we can regenerate you."

"Great!!" Maya grins, then tenderly kisses Kashi. "Once you're
regenerated, you and I are going to bond, then I'm going to take you to
Reiner's Five and show you the whole galaxy!"

"I can't wait...wait a minute!!" Kashi's eyes open. "Maya-chan, I can't
leave the Concordat! How are you going to get me off Crossroads?!"

Silence falls as the two Sagussans exchange pensive looks...

* * *

"Enter!"

Noa looks up from her papers to see Kuk and Tok walk into the room.
"What brings you to my office?!" she rises to greet her friends. "I thought
you'd be heading back to V'ath-T'kon today."

"There is a bit of a problem, my friend," Kuk sighs as the three sit,
allowing Kana to serve them tea. "Your sisters and several friends are now on
Crossroads meeting their pen-friends, are they not?"

"Yes, they should've been there yesterday," Noa nods. "Why? Are the
authorities on Crossroads concerned over the presence of so many defence
officers at the same time?"

"Oh, no, not that," Tok shakes her head. "It is a more vital problem.
You see, it is the problem of those women your people desire to meet."

"You hinted at this when we had our meeting," Noa crosses her arms.
"You said this had something to do with our most unique prejudice. I assume
you're here now to elaborate."

"Yes, we are," Kuk sighs. "We are the leaders of the Central Council of
the Concordat, but we are restricted from our ability to act when it comes to
possible indiscretions made by one of our member states, such as what
Architect Maya noted at our meeting. However, we...all of us on the Central
Council...have decided enough is enough and that a lesson has to be taught to
the Kagamasei about the mistreatment...of their clone children."

Noa's eyes widen surprisedly...

* * *

At that same moment, twenty thousand parsecs away, a door leading to the
bedroom of the chief officer of the Otikijerag Province Citizens Registry
Office. Three men storm in, their pale skins contrasting their dark,
Nazi-like uniforms. The lights are switched on to reveal the stilled body of
Rensa Nopa, his arms crossed in an X over his chest. Everything about the
room seems neat, tidy...though the pervasive stench of a body that has just
freed itself of rigour mortis fills the room. One of the intruders walks up
to the records officer's throat, then feels for a pulse. He then faces his
friends. "Dead."

"Where is his sister?" the leader demands.

"She has not been seen for the last two days," the third then reports.
"Our agents at the spaceport saw her leave the planet accompanied by the clone
girl from Ikemikot-lairomem, Kashi Suhom."

"The one who disappeared, eh?!" the leader snarls. "Rensa always spoke
out against the law concerning the clones! Put out an alert for the nearest
planets. Have our agents track down the two escapees and bring them back!
Kirensa has a final duty to perform for her sibling, then she'll join him!"

A *click!* is heard from the nightstand. "Sorry, gentlemen, but my
brother and I've already made many preparations concerning your possible
interference," Kirensa's voice echoes from a tape recorder beside the night
clock. "You'll not live long enough to make your report to Home Security
about us."

The agents exchange confused looks...then scream out as Rensa's body
suddenly glows, the bauximite flash-bomb within him detonating on command! A
second later, there is nothing left of the Nopa home save a large crater and a
billowing cloud of smoke...

* * *

"WHAT?!?!?!"

"The agents sent to inspect Rensa Nopa's home and locate his sister and
the renegade clone Kashi Suhom were killed," the chief investigator of Home
Security for Otikijerag Province bows to the provincial commissioner of
police. "It was a disintegration weapon similar to what the Sagussans call a
bauximite flash-bomb. The whole house and everything in it was pulverized."

The elderly man shudders as he gazes out the window at the tranquil
landscape of Otikijerag City. "What of the team sent to look at the home of
Rasa Hullyon in Arukas-draw district?!"

"We've yet to hear from them," the investigator replies.

The door to the office bursts open, revealing a panicked detective.
"Commissioner, Chief Inspector, we just got a call from Arukas-draw! Rasa
Hullyon is dead!!"

"Where is his sister?" the commissioner demands.

"No sign of her," the detective shakes his head.

The elderly officer closes his eyes. "We now have three renegade
clones," he turns to stare out the window again. "Pass it on to your
counterparts in the other provinces, Chief Inspector. Have the news
transmitted to the colonies as well. They can't've got very far if they left
in the last three days. Find them."

"Yes, sir," the chief inspector nods, then heads out...

* * *

"I can't believe this!"

"Nor did we when we learned of the full extent of what the Kagamasei
do," Kuk sighs, sipping her tea. "Try as we might, we have failed to dissuade
them from the more...darker practices that emerge from this tradition. Now it
is time for more direct action, Noa. That is where Sagussa enters the
picture."

The *ashi'cha* blows out in awe at the scale of the problem, then gazes
out the window at the tranquil cityscape of the Fifth Republic's capital.
"You know, multiple births on other planets were viewed at so differently in
antiquity. I heard of a case on Earth where the first group of quintuplets to
ever survive infancy were used by a local government as a tourist attraction
during their Great Depression, psychologically damaging them for the rest of
their lives, possibly contributing to the deaths of two while they still had
many years before them. Yet, I must confess that Kagamasei is the first
planet I've heard of that views fraternal twins as something divinely
ordained."

"It surprised us when we learned of it," Tok snorts. "Many years ago,
almost every mother on Kagamasei gave birth to twins. When they were
identical, there was no real problem. But fraternal twins, a male and a
female, were quite unique. In their theology, it was seen as personifying the
duality of existence. Those twins were considered blessed by the gods, given
preferential treatment over normal twins or single births. It was a social
institution."

"But as time went on, technology and a changing environment slowly
eradicated the part of a Kagamasei's DNA that allowed them to give multiple
births. It was seen as the gods turning their backs on them," Kuk continues.
"Over time, many on that world believed their race was doomed. Only when they
discovered how to clone a person at birth...and how to manipulate a child's
DNA to create a near-replica of the opposite sex...did fraternal twins
reappear. From that point on, everyone could have a twin."

"I see," Noa scratches her chin. "So what is the problem?"

"The problem the Concordat has with this practice is the way the clone
twin is bound to his or her template," Tok sighs. "They have practically no
rights whatsoever in society; that's how desperate their parents and siblings
are to curry the gods' favour. They are legally bound to their template,
usually restricted from seeking a mate and starting their own family, treated
almost as a slave...and should the template die, the clone is always put to
death as if they were guilty of first degree murder."

Noa pales. "Lyna have mercy..." she gasps, then shakes her head.
"I...that's barbaric!! And I thought the practice of using clones to provide
spare parts for the template was bad enough!"

"As do we," Kuk hums. "There are some within the Central Council who
are demanding Kagamasei's expulsion from the Concordat until they reform this
practice. However, the majority of the Council, Tok and I included, have
decided a more sharper lesson needs to be dealt to them. Sagussa can help
us."

Noa looks to Kana. "Have the Prime Councillor and the Speaker of the
House come here, Kana. They'll want to hear this."

"Yes, Minister," the secretary bows, then runs out.

A minute later, Sakura and Madoka walk into the room. "I hoped to see
you two before you returned home," the former offers her hand to Kuk. "So,
what's the problem?"

"You both better sit down," Noa advises. "You'll need to be seated to
hear this one."

Sakura and Madoka exchange surprised looks...

* * *

Sometime later, a small party has begun in the main banquet hall of the
Hill Manor. A PRIVATE PARTY sign hangs from the door as inside, Minako and
Kirensa slide across the dance floor in a fast tango to Maya's haunting
version of "Tracts of Melancholy." Around them, people clap to the drum beat
as the Warsuit pilot draws a rose from a nearby vase, then sashays her partner
across the floor, their faces not an inch apart. "Boy, Minako can sure cut a
rug, can't she?!" Usagi whistles from nearby.

"Yeah, she can," Rei sighs.

Usagi gazes at her. "It's okay to be angry, Rei-chan."

"I'm not angry, Usagi-chan, not anymore," Rei shakes her head, wiping
her eyes. "Just sad."

"Then go to her and say you're sorry, Rei," Katai squeezes her arm. "If
you don't say anything soon, how will Minako know?"

"Minako feels just as bad, Rei," Kunoo adds. "She may act like she
hasn't forgiven you, but deep down, she doesn't know what to say anymore to
make you understand."

Rei blinks, then gazes fondly at her ex-bond-mate. By then, the song
comes to an end and Maya bows as everyone applauds. Rei then gets up and
walks over to the architect. "Hey, Maya!"

"What is it, Rei?" Maya kneels to stare at her.

"'Silent.'"

Maya blinks, then nods, returning to her microphone as she programs the
karaoke machine for the requested song. Given the Sagussan love for music,
singing in a karaoke pub was much more than just an idle pastime. With that,
Rei heads over to stand beside Minako and Kirensa. "May I have the next
dance?"

Minako spins around, then stares wide-eyed at Rei. The latter smiles,
her eyes sparkling with fresh tears. Kirensa exchanges looks, then kisses the
former. "I'll leave you two be."

With that, she heads to the refreshments bar. Minako stares at Rei,
then blinks as a piano is heard. "You didn't."

"I did," Rei nods.

They draw into an embrace as Maya begins to croon "Silent...", one of
the most popular fast waltzes on Sagussa. Other couples quickly slide onto
the floor to join the two. Nearby, Kariru looks knowingly at Leona. "You
knew that would happen, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Leona nods. "All they needed was some time apart, then they'd
get back together. Though now with everyone else involved, I wonder how
they'll arrange things now."

Kariru laughs, kissing her penpal's cheek. As the song comes to an end,
Kirensa makes her way to the stage, then steps up to Maya. The architect
backs away as the former records officer takes the microphone in hand. "I
hate to interrupt such a wonderful voice as Maya's, but there is some business
to be done tonight. May I ask who is the senior minister here?"

The Sagussans exchange looks, then Honey walks up. "I think that would
be me," she points to herself. "What is it?"

Kirensa sighs. "Our time together tonight and today has proven beyond a
shadow of a doubt that the destinies of myself and my friends are with you,
Honey-san. To that end, my friends and I request...asylum in the Fifth
Republic of Sagussa.

"We wish to defect."

* * *

"***DEFECT?!?!?!***"

Everyone stares in shock at the stately Kagamasei woman now on stage.
Kirensa's countrywomen stay close to their new families and friends, gazing
hopefully on the Sagussans that were now their only hope for a new start.
"Yes, that is correct," the former records officer sighs. "As Hotaru-san
explained earlier, we are clones, 'designer' clones if you will, created to
fulfil our families' desire to be at peace with their gods and themselves.
But there is much more to tell. None of you have any idea how restricted our
lives have been for the last bit. Incidents like what happened to Kashi,
Kiriru and Kubichi are commonplace. Further, I myself and Kurasa now face an
imminent death sentence."

"What?!!" Honey exclaims, then spins on Kurasa. "What does that mean,
Kurasa-chan?! What's she talking about?!!"

"It's true," the swordswoman bows her head ashamedly. "If our templates
die, we are automatically put to death without any hope of reprieve. Don't
you see, this is the only chance we have, the only chance ANY of us have, to
get away from that place and start again! I'm dead, Elder Kirensa's dead, if
we go back. Kashi's life won't be worth spit if she goes back. And the rest
of them; once their relatives find out how close we've all become, they'll
just get it as bad as Kashi! Honey-chan, Honeyvayae, please! This is our
only chance to really live!"

Silence falls as Ataru's aide-de-camp shudders, wishing that Noa was
here to handle this problem...when, speak of the devil, a wall-phone rings.
Hunba walks over to it, then picks it up. "Main Dining Hall, Hunba speaking,"
she places the receiver to her ears, then blinks. "Honey-chan, it's your
sister."

Honey blinks, then sighs, marching over to grab the phone from her
bond-mate, then glares at the receiver. "Noa, dear sister of mine," she
sweetly begins, "...I can't wait to get back to Sagussa because when I'm back
home," her face deforms hideously, "...I'M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR PUTTING ME
THROUGH THIS!!!!!!"

* * *

"Aiowch!!" Noa winces as Honey's sonic boom echoes over her receiver
back in Tere'na City. "What's with you?!"

"You idiot, you knew this was going to happen, didn't you?!!" Honey
snarls back. "About Kirensa, Kurasa-chan and the others wanting to defect to
us?!! I ain't no diplomat, you moron!!"

The *ashi'cha* blinks, then sighs. "Relax, Honey, I didn't know about
that until you told me!" she gazes at Sakura, who is trying not to laugh at
Honey's assumption. "In the meantime, can you ask Kirensa-san to come to the
phone, please?"

"Oh, okay!!" Honey snarls. "I still think you arranged all this!
Kirensa, c'mon over here for a sec', willya?!" she calls away from the phone.

A second later, the Kagamasei's voice inquires, "Yes?"

Noa hands the phone to Sakura. "This is Prime Councillor Sakura,
Kirensa-san..."

* * *

Kirensa blinks on hearing the voice of Sagussa's head of government.
"Yes, Prime Councillor, what is it?"

"I understand you and your friends have requested asylum with us due to
the persecution and near-slavery conditions you face back on Kagamasei,
correct?" Sakura wonders.

"Yes, ma'am," Kirensa nods.

"Then, it's my pleasure to, on behalf of the Fifth Republic of Sagussa
and her citizens, welcome you amongst us. Your petition is granted," Sakura
cheerily replies. "I've discussed this with the Elders of the Concordat and
they'll happily allow you to leave Crossroads and resettle on Sagussa without
conditions."

Kirensa blinks as her mind interprets that incredible message. She then
stares at everyone else, who has gathered around her to hear Sakura's message.
"We can go..." she barely whispers.

"Hello?! Kirensa-san?!" Sakura's voice echoes over the line.

Silence falls, then Maya turns to Kashi. "You can come!!"

"I can come...?" Kashi gasps, then screams out as she fiercely embraces
her future bond-mate. "I can come!!! Oh, Mayavayae, we're together at
last!!!"

The cheers are infectious; in a second, everyone is screaming, crying
and embracing each other. "Hello? Kirensa-san?! Anyone?!" Sakura's voice
vainly echoes over the line.

Honey walks over to pick up the receiver. "Sorry about that, Boss.
Everyone's pretty happy over here. What now?"

Noa comes back on line. "We're dispatching Shuttle 100 to go pick you
up right now," Honey's sister advises. "They'll be there in two hours. Be
off that planet in three."

"No problem...wait a sec'!!" Honey cries out as she realizes something.
"What about customs and all that?!!"

"Kuk and Tok are already sending a message to the chief of customs on
Crossroads," Noa reports. "Get everyone's sizes so we can get uniforms ready
for them when Shuttle 100 comes in; we'll have to escort them out dressed as
us. Keep them in sight at all times; who knows when Kagamasei Home
Security'll get wind of this and come running with guns out and ready. Watch
yourselves!"

"No problem, sis!!" Honey hangs up the phone, then turns to get
everyone's attention...

* * *

"Commissioner."

The police commissioner for Otikijerag Province gazes at the chief
inspector of Home Security's local division. "What is it?"

"We've received the reports for all the colonies and the other
provinces," the younger intelligence officer sighs. "There is no sign of the
renegade clones Suhom, Nopa and Hullyon."

"Then where could they have gone?!!" the commissioner snaps. "What
other place could they have fled?!"

"Sir, Crossroads is on one of the major trade routes our people use,"
the chief inspector reminds him. "Most likely, they are there right now. We
did a quick analysis of recent passenger shuttle records and there are now at
least fifteen clones on Crossroads...and with a quick inquiry to customs
there, almost two dozen Sagussans, including some high ranked ministers."

"Sagussa?!" the commissioner laughs. "Don't be stupid, Chief! The
Sagussans themselves would destroy those clones without hesitation; you know
how much they despise clones in general!"

"That may be true, sir, but my cultural contact group did warn your
office some years ago about the problem of increased e-mail and postal mail
contacts between many locals, most of them clones, and the Sagussans. We also
noted that the Central Records Office did frequently erase all e-mail records
from those clones now on Crossroads as well as the three renegades every time
their families demanded to see any personal messages...and almost all of them
came from Sagussa!"

The commissioner blinks as the full scope of the problem begins to
reveal itself. He himself had a clone twin, a lovely woman who served now as
his homemaker. He had wisely not allowed her out of the house often, much
less learn anything like working a computer or discovering the vast universe
beyond Kagamasei. But others may not have been so wise. The fates of dozens
of families were now in potential jeopardy if a majority of those clones on
Crossroads made contact with their penpals, then somehow connived the
Sagussans into allowing them to escape from the Concordat.

If that was true...

"Then contact your friends on Crossroads, Chief. Have them find and
detain all the clones for questioning. Explain to their families that we
suspect they have been subverted by alien agents into betraying their people.
Given what you've just said, I'll wager than our renegades are there."

"Of course, sir," the chief salutes, then turns to head out.

"And Chief?"

"Sir?"

"Thank you for your advice," the commissioner nods. "You may have just
saved many people from a worse calamity. I don't want to appear ungrateful."

"It is my pleasure to serve," the chief bows, then leaves...

* * *

"How long will we wait?"

Linna sighs as she gazes at her wrist-chrono. "One hour mark six," she
bites her lips, then sighs, her hand feeling the pistol she had now strapped
to her leg. Personal defense sidearms were permitted on Crossroads. "Relax,
Kiriru-chan. They'll be here."

"I hope so," Kiriru sighs as she lays back on the bed. Nene was now in
the lobby making arrangements for an early departure with Honey's help. The
others were in their rooms, keeping close to their charges during the
eternally-long wait. The young girl then sits up to stare at Linna. "Linna-
chan, when I'm adopted, will it be you who adopts me or Nene-chan?"

"Eh?!" Linna stares at her, then laughs. "Well, we won't adopt you like
Priss adopted Shunran-chan. What we'll do is host you as a refugee, which is
what you are. You'll be under Nene-chan's direct charge, so you'll get her
registry number with an 'R' added before it. Nene-chan's already thinking of
asking her friends at Tere'na Compudata to take you as an apprentice."

"She is?!" Kiriru gasps, then gushes. "Oh, I can't wait! Are the
Mobius Five really nice?!"

"Yeah, they're pretty cool," Linna nods, walking over to sit beside her,
then draws the younger girl into an embrace. "Kiddy and Lebia can't wait to
meet you. Outside Nene, they're the best hackers on Sagussa. You'll learn a
lot!"

"Great!!" Kiriru beams, then yawns. "I'm sleepy."

"Oooh, too exciting a day for you, young lady," Linna hums as she shifts
the dozing girl onto the bed, then draws the covers over her. "Now go to
sleep."

"Okay..."

Linna breathes out as she turns to the window...then gasps as it
explodes inward, three dark figures swinging in on rappel lines! The chief
petty officer leaps behind the bed as she draws her pistol, moving to shoot as
the intruders disengage from their ropes, their own weapons out. "Hit her!!"
the leader barks.

Linna grabs the screaming Kiriru and ducks behind the bed as their
weapons thunder, particle shot racing at them like mad hornets! She waits
until their fire slackens, then she sends a volley back toward them, forcing
them to take cover. *Thank Lyna the beds are built of ironwood and solid to
the floor!* Linna grits her teeth as she ducks a second volley.

The gunfire stops. "Sagussan!!!" the leader barks. "We want the clone
and nothing else!! Surrender and you live!!!"

"Pathfinders don't surrender!!" a voice barks.

"Priss?!!" Linna's eyes open wide.

Stun shots are heard, echoed by the shocked cries of the strike team as
they are dropped like ten pins. Linna leans up to see Priss, Sylvie and Sylia
standing there, all three in dark combat uniforms, covering the downed agents.
The former leans down to draw the balaclava off one, then sighs. "Kagamasei
Home Security," she snorts. "The Gestapo of the Concordat."

"Wonderful!!" Sylia sighs, then walks over. "You two okay?"

"We're fine," Linna rises, helping Kiriru to her feet. "How many others
are here?! How'd you get here?!!"

"We came by the 'Kiboo'cha,'" Sylia winks.

"But I thought you said...!"

"I did and I meant it," the commander sighs. "But when you left, I
realized that the only way Kiriru-chan and the others could come across was
via defection. So Priss, Sylvie and I took the ship and parked ourselves
outside the neutral zone and waited. When Noa put the call in to Honey, we
came in cloaked."

"But we've got over forty people to get off the planet now," Linna
warns. "We can't carry them all on the 'Kiboo'cha;' there's not enough room,
especially if these jokers have friends out there waiting for Shuttle 100 to
try to make the run back!"

"We know," Sylia taps a wrist control, having something beamed down from
the orbiting sloop. "T'Kon Customs are on our side and if things get too
dicey, Elder Kuk's promised military escort. The 'Hasei'cha' and the
'Shinowataru'cha' are on their way; they'll be in range within the hour. Now,
in the meantime, let's get Kiriru-chan and the others ready."

"How?" Kiriru wonders.

Sylia opens the case just brought in, then produces a computer services
technician's dark green, black and silver uniform. "Well, Technician Kiriru,
how'd you like to get your uniform?"

The young girl blinks, then beams...

* * *

A half-hour later, a troop of Sagussans, 41 in all, exit the Crossroads
Hill Manor, then board a fleet of taxis for the ride to the spaceport. Sylia,
Priss and Sylvie tied up the three KHS agents, then left them in Linna's and
Nene's room with a note for Concordat Frontier Security, the intelligence
service charged with keeping the peace on Crossroads. In ten minutes, they
arrive at the spaceport's departure lounge, then head inside. All of them
have overnight bags filled with clothing and some mementoes from their brief
stay on Crossroads. Filing inside, they all proceed at once to the customs
departure gate for out-clearance.

"Name, please?" the T'Kon official smiles.

"Kariya, *daishi'cha* Em-Eight-Four-Two-Five-Six," Kariya smiles, now in
her new computer services' officer's uniform. "Chief Telecommunications
Officer, Kyre'sha Province. I live in Namu'sha Village."

"And did you enjoy your stay?" the official hums, gazing at her identity
card, then running it through the computer.

"You mean our honeymoon," Kariya grins, gently grasping Naru's hand.
"We've waited SO long to do this!"

"Congratulations," the official hands the card back. "May you have a
safe trip home."

"Lyna's blessings on you," Kariya smiles as she and Naru clear the gates
for the passenger lounge.

"Nicely done," Naru whispers.

"Thank you," Kariya kisses her.

Nearby, Sylvie stands guard, dressed in normal civilians as she watches
the line proceed through the customs checkpoint. Once in the departure
lounge, Priss and Sylia, along with three CFS officers, all T'Kon, would take
over until the warpshuttle's arrival. So far, the departures concourse was
very quiet, no sign of KHS goons or any family members who could shout the
alarm to someone who wasn't clued in to the operation. Sighing, she walks
over to get herself a can of calorie juice. "Silky Doll, this is Wanderer,"
she taps her collar mike. "Halfway done."

"Understood, Wanderer," Sylia replies. "Maintain watch."

"Aye-aye," Sylvie nods, then pops open the can.

By now, Kirensa is making her way through customs. The T'Kon customs
official pointedly ignores the picture of the former records officer sent by
Kagamasei Home Security a half-hour before. "Your name, please?" she
inquires.

"Kirensa, *daishi'cha* Es-Five-Triple-Six-Two," the newly-minted zoology
articifer smiles. "I live in Kyre'sha Province."

"And did you enjoy your stay on Crossroads?"

"It was very pleasant," Kirensa gazes at Minako, who winks at her. "My
dear sister here decided to take the opportunity to introduce me to her friend
and we...had fun," she leans down to squeeze Usagi's hand.

"Personal stuff," Usagi whispers.

"I see," the official snorts in laughter, then nods. "Have a pleasant
journey home. You may pass."

"Thank you!!" Kirensa and Usagi chorus as Rei and Katai, now in the
uniform of a Warsuit Brigade corporal, take their places.

Nearby, Sylvie sighs, then blinks as she notices three men march into
the outer vestry of the departure concourse, all in dark trenchcoats and
obviously armed. "Wanderer to Silky Doll and Wild Thing," she hisses. "I got
three gomers topside, range sixty-five from the end of the line. Need
backup."

"This is Wild Thing," Priss replies. "Hang tight, partner. We're on
our way."

Sylvie drops the empty can into a nearby refuse basket, then moves in to
close the range on the three KHS agents. They notice the line of Sagussans,
then quickly move to intercept the one at the end. Grabbing her, the leader
draws his gun. "You're coming with us!!" he whips her around...

...to find Minako. "Hands off, pervert!!!"

She slugs him in the jaw! Sylvie slows down as Kunoo, now also a
Warsuit brigade corporal's uniform, turns to stare at her fellow warsuit
officer. "Commander, is there a problem?"

"You're one!!" another lunges for her.

"Hey!!!" Kunoo backs off just as Artemis walks into the way, his wings
raised to protect his pet's new sister.

The Kagamasei shudder on seeing the sandpanther, then jolt on feeling
Priss' and Sylvie's hands on their shoulders. "Hey, Mina, Kunoo, is there a
problem?!" the former smiles.

"Oh, hi, Priss, Sylvie!" Minako grins, cracking her knuckles as she
gazes at Kunoo. "No real problem other than these dorks were trying to feel
up my sister!"

"Your SISTER?!?!" the agent grabbed by Sylvie laughs. "That's a good
one!! Now hand the clone over!!!"

"Clone?!" Minako blinks, then stares at Kunoo. "Are there any clones
living on Sagussa, Corporal?"

"None to my knowledge, Commander," Kunoo shakes her head, her hand
parting her blue locks to reveal her ears. Her tapered, Vosian ears. "The
last clone that was on Sagussa was Nurse Shinobu Miyaki's would-be bond-mate
Junba."

"There, you see," Minako shrugs at the Kagamasei. "There're no clones
on Sagussa."

"Next, please!" a customs official calls out.

"That's us, *Ashoi'cha!* C'mon!!" Kunoo grabs Minako, then both head to
the counter, Artemis limbering after them.

"Gee!" Sylvie smiles. "Don't look Kagamasei to me. After all," she
whips the hair away from the agent's round ears. "You don't have points on
your ears. Let's go, Pri!"

"Right behind you, Syl," Priss hums as they head off.

The agents blink as they watch the Sagussans file into the departure
lounge, then exchange looks. "Was it a false lead?!" one of them demands,
then blinks. "Look!"

The others look to see Kurasa gazing at them from the doorway to the
lounge, now in the uniform of a government official with officer's rank on her
sleeves. "Hullyon!!" the leader growls, then grabs his sidearms. "Hullyon!!!
You come back here...!!!"

They run into three giant green walls! The Kagamasei spill onto the
floor, then look up to see three brutes from Concordat Frontier Security in
their dark green fatigues gaze contemptuously at them. "Is there a problem,
gentlemen?!" the leader hums.

"There are clones escaping!" the Kagamasei team leader points at the
lounge, where Kurasa has just disappeared.

The security troopers blink, then the leader turns to the customs
official who had cleared Kunoo and Minako. "Officer Kash, did you just clear
that group of Sagussans now in the lounge?"

"Yes, I did, Sergeant Shac," she nods.

"Was there anything wrong with their documents?"

"Nothing wrong at all."

"Pull one up for verification, please."

"As you wish," she types a command, then stares at the readout on her
screen. "Kurasa, *daishi'cha* Es-Seven-Six-Oh-Seven-Three. Resident of
Tere'na City, Kyonggh-Tere'na District. Deputy Director of Immigration for
Refugees for the Fifth Republic, officer's rank. Adopted sister of Sylia,
Commander Pathfinder Troop Six and bond-mates to Honey, Aide-de-Camp to the
Head of State and Hunba, Advisor on Vosian Affairs at External Affairs."

"'Adopted sister?!!'" the Kagamasei leader growls.

"Arrived on Sagussa Year Three, Day Two-oh-two," Kash adds. "Confirmed
with the Central Citizens Registry in Tere'na City."

"Thank you, Officer Kash," Shac nods, then faces the three Kagamasei
agents. "This planet is neutral territory between the Sixteenth T'Kon
Concordat and the Fifth Republic of Sagussa. Inform your superiors that if I
catch any member of Kagamasei Home Security on this world again, I will lodge
a VERY serious complaint to the Central Council. You may leave."

Roaring, the KHS leader spins around as the three leave the lounge.
"What do we do now?!" one of the others demands.

"Alert Special Operations!" he barks.

As the doors close behind them, Sylvie and Priss exchange knowing looks
with Shac and his friends. "It is not over yet," the grim T'Kon security
chief muses.

The Troop's first officer sighs, then taps her collar-mike. "Wild Child
to Star Leaf and Thundergirl. Gomers are going to block the Yellow Brick
Road. Persuade them otherwise."

"This is Star Leaf, we acknowledge," Eluza replies.

"This is Thundergirl," Makoto adds. "Already in place."

Priss smiles, then pats Shac's arm. "Pleasure doing business with you,
Sarge. See you later."

"Oh, Commander," Shac hums.

"What?"

"Could you send a couple bottles of that nice spring water you draw from
the wells near Tere'na-korgh?"

"I'll send you a whole damn case! Later!!" Priss waves as she and
Sylvie race off to join their countrywomen...

* * *

An hour later, Warpshuttle 100 soars at maximum speed for the still-
distant Fourth Stellar Cluster. On the bridge, Shipmistress Melody relaxes as
Priss, Sylia and Sylvie man the controls. While only a watchmistress in rank
despite there being a shipmistress-equivalent in Sylia, Melody was in command.
"E.T.A. the Twins?"

"Forty seconds," Sylia stares at her screen.

"Maintain shields," Melody sighs.

To mark the line where Sagussan and T'Kon warships couldn't cross into
the other's border space, two small red dwarf suns nicknamed "the twins" were
used as a base point, the border at right angles to the direct line between
Sagussa and the T'kon homeworld, cut straight from the Galactic Barrier around
the Milky Way galaxy into infinity. Melody's eyes watch the timer mark the
countdown to the point where they would be safe and the Concordat off the
hook. "Standby," she tenses.

"Standing by...hold it!!" Priss barks. "We got a bogie on our ass,
range ten thousand and closing fast!"

"Identified as interdiction cruiser operated by Kagamasei Home
Security," Sylvie supplies. "Will be in weapons range in thirty."

"Time to the Twins, twenty-five," Sylia reports.

"Flank ahead both engines!!!" Melody barks. "Increase power to one-ten
on the main reactors!!"

Priss jams the accelerator to FLANK AHEAD while twisting the reactor
power output indicator to EMERGENCY 110%. She watches the speed indicator
pick up as they entered the dangerous realms of transwarp space, anywhere
about Warp 15 equivalent. "We're pushing it!" she warns as the shuttle's hull
begins to quake.

"Relax, she'll get her second wind," Melody sighs.

"You hope," Sylia grimly notes. "Twins in ten."

"Interception in eighteen," Sylvie adds.

Ten seconds pass as the dark red balls of the Twins races past to
starboard, then everyone relaxes. "New contacts off the bow, both sides!"
Sylvie then barks. "R.S.S. 'Shinowataru'cha,' R.S.S. 'Hasei'cha,' R.S.S.
'Kiboo'cha'...!!"

Bolts of energy rip through the dark sky as three flashes of light race
to both sides of Shuttle 100, their weapons blasting their pursuers still
several seconds from being in firing range. "'Hasei'cha' and
'Shinowataru'cha' engaging Kagamasei cruiser in passing!" Sylvie reports, then
sighs as a bright flash is sensed from aft. "Kagamasei cruiser destroyed."

"Slow us to normal warp, set course for Sen'sha Seven," Melody orders.
"Half ahead both engines, reduce power to seventy."

"Aye-aye, ma'am," Priss spins back the controls.

Shuttle 100 slows down as it drops back into normal warp space, soon to
be joined by the "Kiboo'cha." A message is flashed from the sloop's bridge to
reveal Linna, Nene, Shinsur, Reinoevan, Asukanoevan, Kiriru and Konama. "Nice
of you to stop by and say 'hello,'" Sylia beams.

"Always glad to be of help," Rei grips Konama's hand. "After all, we
have to protect our own."

Everyone laughs as the four ships assume formation for the trip back to
Sagussa...

* * *

Two weeks later.

"Brrr! It's cold!!"

Naru shivers as she slips off her uniform, then draws a shawl over her
body, then gazes fondly at Kariya, who was now shivering from the sudden damp
draft flowing through the Forge. "Actually, I've been here so many times, I
hardly notice the wind in this place anymore," the Warsuit officer smiles as
Kariya slips a shawl over herself, then the two head inside.

As they proceed to the raised mound with the lone shaft of light to mark
Lyna's final resting place, the two nod pleasantly to passing groups of
pilgrims returning from their time with Sagussa's spiritual guardian. No sign
of mistrust echoes from anyone towards Kariya though the news of the Kagamasei
had been public since Shuttle 100 made dock at Sen'sha Seven. "Strange,"
Kariya sighs. "I always thought that if you ever learned I was a clone, you'd
hate me for the rest of my life. How wrong I was."

"You may have been right," Naru gazes at her. "We loathe the idea of
having clones made of us, especially if it was behind our back or without our
knowledge. But sooner or later, we'll have to stop pressing our standards on
everyone else. You have as much right to a free life under your control as
anyone else does, Karivayae. Remember that."

"I'm not free," Kariya gazes at her. "Not as long as I love you,
Naruvayae."

Naru flushes as they continue their walk. A timeless eternity later,
both ascend the low mound to stop before the glowing crystal sarcophagus
bearing the body of someone who really was not so different from Kariya
Oullida herself. Drawing the blankets off their shoulders, both fold them
into prayer mats, then kneel before Lyna, relaxing their minds and hearts to
allow them to reach out and touch the spirit of the one whose life and death
had altered the destinies of so many.

<<Hello, Naru...>>

Their eyes open to reveal themselves in the timeless mists of the
*te'a,* seeing Lyna gaze tranquilly at them. "Lyna," Naru sighs as she holds
out her hand for Kariya. "This is my bond-mate, Kariya Oullida of Kagamasei.
She's a clone like you."

"So I've known from the others who've come here," Lyna gazes warmly at
Kariya, speechless on meeting the living spirit of someone who's been dead for
thirteen millennia. "So, you're the one Naru-chan prayed for so long to come
make her heart whole. It's good to meet you, Kariya."

"A-a-an h-h-honour, El-elder L-l-lyna!" Kariya stammers, bowing
respectfully to the idol singer.

Lyna laughs as she reaches over to draw their hands together. "Still
regimented," she gazes at Naru. "I think you'll have to do something to
loosen her up, Naru."

"I guess so," Naru smiles.

With that, Lyna reaches up to guide their faces together in a slight
kiss...

...and both find themselves kissing in the damp darkness of Tere'na-
korgh. The stomach-churning disorientation of their transition back to their
bodies fades as their minds lower their psi-guards in *mavan'shagh,* their
souls binding together in a way no Kagamasei secret service agent could ever
shatter.

"Do vanan'cha, marei'cha-Naru."

"Do vanan'cha, marei'cha-Kariya."

They gaze on each other, then smile. "I'm still cold."

"I'll warm you up," Naru draws her closer...

*** The End ***