Urusei Yatsura Fan Fiction ❯ The Senior Year ❯ Tales of the Daishi'cha: Lufy's Quest ( Chapter 76 )

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

"Come in!"

"You wanted to see me?"

Henra looks up, then smiles. "Come in! Sit down, Lufy," the
commander of the Fourth Fleet waves the flightmistress to a chair. Seen
through the window behind the fleet shipmistress, a Second Squadron Gladiator
takes off, banking over Defence Base Ly'sha for a check flight. "So, with the
'Hasei'cha' crew decommissioned, you're free of all assignments."

Lufy numbly nods. Not three days before, the "Hasei'cha" had been
destroyed over Earth. Without a ship...no replacement was planned anytime
soon...it was illogical to permit the crew to remain together. With that, the
informal family of thirteen women who had endured so much over the last decade
and more was breaking up. "Yeah, you can say that. Catty and Pony've already
put in for their release from the Navy."

"They'll be working at Tere'na City Hospital?"

"Yeah. Mizuho wants Catty to join the EMRU and Pony's being eyed as
Deputy Chief of Surgery."

"That's good," Henra sighs. "Well, what happens to the rest of the
crew really isn't my concern. It's what happens to you, Rabby and Mie that
bothers me now."

Lufy nods. Technically, the three Gladiator pilots had been on loan
to the "Hasei'cha" from the reserve pilot pool now being consolidated into
Fifth Defence Squadron. Once the ship had no need of them anymore, back to
the squadrons they'd go. "Okay, I have Mie in First Squadron; she'll be
taking over Tinanokakyuu's old post. Rabby wants to be in Third Squadron
since Shildy's been assigned as advisor to the Fleet Defence Systems
Engineering Unit in Kyre'sha. That leaves you. So, where to?"

"Nowhere."

"I...beg your pardon?"

"Nowhere," Lufy draws a folded note from her jersey. "I've applied
for an indefinite sabbatical from the Navy. Here's the approval from the
I.G."

Henra blinks, then opens the note, recognizing Oryuu's very neat
writing. The fleet shipmistress shakes her head. She had hoped to talk Lufy
into becoming the Fifth's squadronmistress, thus making the reserve unit
equal to the active squadrons, even if she had to relocate the headquarters
flight in Tere'na to allow Lufy to remain close to Catty. "May I ask why you
put in for this?"

"It's personal," Lufy stares at her.

"I see," Henra folds up the sheet, then sets it aside. "Very well
then, Flightmistress. I do expect to see you back here one of these days.
Someone with your piloting skills is wasted doing other things. Have a nice
vacation."

Lufy ignores the blatant expression of disapproval as she rises,
salutes, then marches out...

* * *

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

WRITER'S NOTES:

1) This story is a continuation of Robert Geiger's "Final Hymn,"
starting shortly after that story ended.

2) The Order of Lyna is the only bravery decoration on Sagussa, open to
both civilian and military personnel. The criteria for its award demands
that the person in question demonstrate uncommon valour or concern for
bystanders in a life-threatening situation.

3) The children (read sex, age, education status, twin to...): LUFY -
Yolchong Moroboshi (F, 10, 5th year To-Tere'na G.E.I.); Mihagh Paama (F, 9,
4th year To-Tere'na G.E.I.); Shinsan Mendou (M, 3, To-Tere'na Daycare
Nursery, twin to Tangko); Tangko Mendou (F, 3, To-Tere'na D.N., twin to
Shinsan). CATTY - Kiboi Moroboshi (M, 10, 5th year To-Tere'na G.E.I.); Ura
Ryooki (M, 9, 4th year To-Tere'na G.E.I.); Taghme Mendou (M, 8, 3rd year
To-Tere'na G.E.I.); Koui Budou (F, 3, To-Tere'na D.N.). MIE & MAKOTO - Kum
Seikou (F, 10, 5th year To- Tere'na G.E.I.); Unmyon Seikou (F, 10, 5th year
To-Tere'na G.E.I.). PRISS - Shunran Renning (F, 11, 6th year To-Tere'na
G.E.I.); Hanyagh Moroboshi (F, 10, 5th year To-Tere'na G.E.I.); Tenghdo Budou
(F, 9, 4th year To-Tere'na G.E.I.); Sunagh Megane (F, 8, 3rd year To-Tere'na
G.E.I., twin to Neghsu); Neghsu Megane (F, 8, 3rd year To-Tere'na G.E.I.,
twin to Sunagh); Ganba Makisur (F, 5, To- Tere'na Kindergarten); Sekida Chibi
(F, 4, To-Tere'na D.N.); Sughdo Makisur (M, 2). NENE - Chianne Moroboshi (F,
10, 5th year To-Tere'na G.E.I.), Yalsimgh Shinowataru (M, 8, 3rd year
To-Tere'na G.E.I.), Pigoan Ozuno (M, 6, 1st year To- Tere'na G.E.I.), Toljan
Mendou (M, 4, To-Tere'na D.N.).

4) AL - After Lecasur. Another way of saying it is AU (After
Unification). The marker by which Vosians tell modern years. It matches the
Terran AD/CE standard.

5) A bos'n (boatswain) call is a flute used by naval forces as a shrill
whistle; it can be deafening at close range. "Pipe the still" is to make a
long even blast, calling people to attention. "Pipe the carry-on" is to make
a two-tone blast, calling people at east to continue what they were doing.
"Last Post" is a British tune played in honour of the dead; the American
version is "Taps."

6) The *pirpirsiw'r's* real names (read number, modern name, cheek
symbol, old name, home principality):

29363...Lufy...red star...Hivpira...Falcros
22860...Priss...note and dagger...Gilpizra...Falcros
61558...Makoto...heart and thunderbolt...Izripra...Varakos
28362...Score...gold star...Primpina...Falcros
22861A...Sylvie...note and dagger...Givpizra...Falcros
53631...Aminobishoojo...wave and hearts...Finripra...Kyotos
22240...Maya...mace and dagger...Hibligna...Varakos
46057...Angel...mace and knife...Hibpilra...Kyotos
26207...Tinanokakyuu...shield and spears...Bizira...Dysos

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

"Lufy, help!!!"

Lufy turns, then rolls her eyes as Sugoi collapses on a chair, her
breathing increasing as contractions began. "*De'ne!* Didn't you bother to
have a nurse look you over every week to make sure you knew when to get to a
hospital?!"

"Sorry!" the pregnant child services nurse laughs, then moans as
another sharp pain lances through her hips. "Oh, gods!!!"

Passers-by stop, smiling understandingly as the Gladiator pilot lifts
Sugoi in her arms, then carries her down the East Tere'na Market central mall
to the mag-lev station. "Hospital Emergency, stat!!" she barks to the driver
as they settle in the handicapped seats by the front door.

"*En!*" the driver guides the vehicle onto the road, then opens a
channel to Tere'na Traffic Control. "Childbirth emergency, clear traffic from
East Tere'na Market to Tere'na City Hospital."

"Acknowledged, all traffic clear ETM to TCH," the dispatch controller
replies. "Hospital emergency staff advised."

Lufy relaxes, empathically calming Sugoi, as the mag-lev picks up
speed, racing past intersections now cordoned off by drop-barriers, computer
voices telling pedestrians that a medical emergency had temporarily closed off
traffic along the route to Tere'na City Hospital and thanking them for their
patience. Lufy quietly thanked Lyna that people on Sagussa were always ready
to acknowledge medical emergencies, then gazes at the panting Oni-Avalonian
beside her. Sugoi had a slaphappy grin on her face despite her understandable
pain; her child, fathered by Aisuru Megane through the genetic samples he
donated before the Battle of Uru, was a wish-fulfilment of sorts. "He'll be
beautiful."

"Arigato," Sugoi bites her lip, then sighs. "Pumpkin'll be there at
least."

"That's good," Lufy kisses her forehead.

The mag-lev pulls up to the emergency doors of Tere'na City Hospital,
a geometrically pleasing structure spread out over six hectares. Nurses and
nursing assistants help the panting Sugoi onto an antigrav gurney, then race
off to a birthing theatre. Lufy steps off, nods thanks to the driver, then
takes her time following her expecting friend.

By the time she reaches the Natal Care Unit, Kurama's and Catty's
voices echo through the hallways, barking orders to nurses as Priss' soothing
words calm her bond-mate. Lufy sits by a table, then turns to the public-
access computer beside her. "Computer, tap into foreign information
database," she orders. "Locate all files pertaining to the Vosian practice
called recognition."

"*Acknowledged,*" the computer replies.

Information scrolls down the page, a commentary...Lufy smiles on
recognizing Hunba's voice narrating the story...softly echoing in her ears,
the sound vectored so as to not disturb patients. The pilot sighs, then
shudders. Damn, how could Vosians tolerate some of this?! *De'ne!* she snaps
at herself then. *Everyone inside the Barrier wonders why we bond to one of
the same sex before going to the opposite sex to have kids! What're YOU
complaining about?! * Sighing, she relaxes. "Computer, explain what happens
when a Vosian loses her mate under unexpected circumstances."

Images play of a barren desert world not so different from the
Sagussa of a decade before. "This is Sabaku," Hunba narrates. "Official
designation Vos Colony Sixty-four-A; it is the other Class M-type planet in
Colony Sixty-four's home solar system. This world was discovered by Lecasur
and the 'Unification' in AL 22. Those who suffer the loss of a mate under
tragic or unexpected circumstances migrate to Sabaku to endure the *nicha*
ritual. Here, one proceeds on a pilgrimage, usually of six weeks' duration,
where one attempts through self-introspection and self-hypnosis to expunge
one's grief towards her lost mate. If one succeeds, then she is considered
free of widowhood and permitted to seek a new mate."

"Thank you," Lufy nods, then turns to gaze at the ceiling.
"Cassur..." she closes her eyes, drawing forth the image of a man her age and
height, built like a fireplug. At his death, his brown hair was shoulder-
length, a neatly trimmed beard and moustache covering his face. Pretty
cute...and if things hadn't gone so tragically wrong six days ago, he'd be
Lufy's *surei'cha.*

"Hey, you in there?!"

"Eh?!" Lufy jolts, then blinks on seeing Mie staring concernedly at
her. "Oh, hi, Mie."

"You WERE out of it!" Mie relaxes beside her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Bullshit, Lufy. You can pull that on most other people, but not
your wingmate. You've been in a funk since we lost the ship. You want to
know how pissed Henra was when you put yourself on leave. It'd be like Tita
and Satomi quitting on her."

"Too bad for her," Lufy shrugs.

Mie sighs. "Is it this guy you fought?"

"Cassur."

"Eh?"

"He has a name. It's Cassur. And yes, it's about him."

"So what's the damn problem?" Mie wonders. "Lufy, why are you
tearing yourself up over this asshole? Shit, he was just another goon, just
like all the other's we've iced over the last decade!"

Lufy sighs. "You wanna know something, Seikou? You can be a real
bitch at times!"

"Well, excuse me for caring!" Mie snaps, bolting to her feet, then
marches off.

Lufy winces, then races after her. "Mie, wait!!"

"What?!" she spins on her.

"I'm sorry," Lufy deflates. "Look, I didn't mean to razz you, but
I...I just can't put him out of my head."

Mie relaxes. "Apology accepted. And please put him out of your
head, Luf! He's not worth it one bit! Besides, you have any idea how bad
this creep was?!"

"I don't care!" Lufy snaps, then sighs. "Mie...he recognized me! ME
of all people!! And then he kills himself!!! How in Eternity's name should I
feel after THAT?!?!"

Mie blinks; Lufy hadn't once really delved into what happened over
the Moon. "He...recognized you?!"

"Yes!!"

"That's impossible!!"

"That's what I thought!" Lufy shakes her head, looking away. "Oh,
Lyna, why?! Why me, for cryin' out loud?!!"

Mie sighs, hugging herself. Crisis of conscience. All those who
killed in Sagussa's name had them sooner or later. Reinoevan became a doctor
when being Pathfinder Troop Six's sniper became too much for her.
Tinanokakyuu offered her services to the EMRU when she lost combat status.
Mie herself had one dozy of a conscience attack when she reunited with
Makoto, trying to balance her life on Earth with what was expected of her
here. Now Lufy was stuck asking "what if?" Not good at all. "Then maybe
it's time you found out his whole story."

"Eh?" Lufy stares at her.

"Go find out who Cassur was," Mie urges. "Nassur had to do something
when he lost his wife and son. Who says that because you're Sagussan and it's
normally seen as impossible for Vosians to recognize Sagussans, you don't have
the right to mourn, to know the truth? Hell, I'll help. We all will, Luf!
You're our friend and we're hurting because you're hurting."

Lufy blinks, then smiles. "Thanks, Mie..."

A shrill wail echoes from the operating room next door. Lufy and Mie
spin around, then laughing, race over to share in Sugoi's happy day, the
former pilot's problems momentarily forgotten...

* * *

Vos Colony Fourteen.

Nene sips her large mug of ale, relaxing at the bar as her eyes
continuously scan the crowd for her contact. Clad in relaxed civilians, she
knows that she can still stick out like a sore thumb in this place; her
masked brainwaves, rounded ears and fair-toned skin automatically mark her as
a Sagussan. Beside her, Chianne, a beautifully maturing brown-haired version
of her mother, sips her soda, her eyes likewise scanning the crowd. Even
though she was just a fifth-year general studies student, Nene's eldest had
been picking up her mother's many tricks since before she could walk.
Besides, this was a family restaurant and there were some cute boys and girls
now tugging the sexually-maturing Chianne's attention.

Nene stiffens, then smiles. "About time."

"Excuse me for being a little late!" a beautiful fiftyish woman
swings into the room. "You wouldn't believe the traffic out there." She then
stops on seeing Chianne. "Oh, my, is this your first?!"

"Hai!" Nene beams. "Chianne-chan, this is Konba, Vos's oldest and
best Visionary. Ko-chan, this is my eldest, Chianne Ainene Moroboshi,
Visionary in training."

"Hi!" Chianne gushes, then her eyes spot a pretty girl by the
flowers. "Oh, 'scuse me, Mom!" she races off.

Nene rolls her eyes as Konba takes her place. "Oh, getting to that
time, isn't she?" the latter smirks.

"You wouldn't believe it!" Nene snorts, inwardly grinning at her
daughter's escapades. "I caught her three days ago with Kum Seikou pawing
each other. She'll be a handful and a half after the Awakening. I pity
whoever becomes her bondmate." She then looks serious. "So what's the
problem?"

"You owe me big-time, Maratok!" Konba wags her finger, calling Nene
by her pre-Sagussan name, Chianne du Maratok. "You want to know how much I
hated it when you killed yourself and got shipped to Sagussa?!"

"So excuse me if I didn't know you had a crush on me!" Nene snorts.
"Shit, so did Kaizoku, remember?!"

"One has to admire Corsair's taste," Konba laughs. "Anyhow, I need
someone smuggled out of the Confederation. Sagussa seems the best place for
him."

"Has he been a naughty boy?"

"According to the *an'san-Mikado,* he's about the naughtiest thing
you've ever laid eyes on," Konba sighs. "I know better since I personally've
dealt with him over the last couple decades. You know me; I was totally
neutral on the Civil War. I gave everyone a fair shake. This guy treated me
the same way in return. Problem is, someone whitewashed him with their own
shit and he's been on the run ever since."

"That's bad. What's his name?"

"Gilsur. He ranched here after your people did Colony Four."

Nene perks up. "Gilsur? Yeah, the *an'san-Mikado* warned us about
him sometime prior to that shit over Earth. I never thought anyone could be
THAT awful. Care to lay me the real deal?"

"He's a Visionary-class hacker, but he's never been called one
because he was the Mikado's pet hacker," Konba sighs. "His handle's Steel
Breeze, by the way."

"I know him!" Nene laughs. "He's the one who designed that real neat
graphics program that caused the billboards on Colony Nine to show the
governor doing his mistress some years ago?"

"The very same!" Konba snorts.

Both howl with delight; being first-class hackers, they could admire
another's deft handiwork especially when someone politically important got
embarrassed along the way. "Anyhow, he skimmed off some money from the
Mikado's till when Colony Four was deleted, but not the amount the *an'san-
Mikado* quoted," Konba continued. "Most of that money was extorted from poor
people, but most of them got deleted during the Civil War."

"Wonderful things, civil wars," Nene sighs. "But there is a big
problem, Ko-chan. If I brought him to Sagussa, my superiors might demand I
send him back here for trial."

Konba sighs. "Ne-chan, he'll be dead before he ever sees a
courtroom. Couldn't you let him come in as a refugee? At least try to help
him get a fair trial? People want him gone."

"Who wants him deleted?!"

"Well, the primary suspect himself bought it over Earth," Konba
sighs. "He was the one kidnapped from the Vosian embassy: Tarsur. Believe
me, Nene, if anyone deserves to be deleted, he was it! This kiss-ass
trenchwave always was ready to stab anyone in the back just to please the
Mikado."

"Can anyone verify it?"

"I'm sure Mujanba and Varena could," Konba muses. "Tarsur gave
people like them and Grisur a WIDE amount of space. You never could trust a
jerk like that! He was the one who sang to the *an'san-Mikado* about Gilsur
and the two hunters who were deleted over Earth with Tarsur. And I happen to
know that Tarsur himself was a pretty fair hacker."

"Pretty fair" meaning that he was nowhere close to Visionary class
but still skilled enough to make lives hell. "Did Gilsur leave back-up files
somewhere?"

"He has them with him all the time," Konba nods. "In fact, he's in
the bar two doors down. Want to meet him now?"

"Might as well," Nene rises to pay the tab.

After dragging Chianne away from her latest girl-hunt, Nene follows
Konba into the bar in question. It's a beach-bar, a Vosian institution where
everyone could unwind and bathe under UV lamps, not to mention enjoy a swim
in a heated pool. The three disrobe, then walk in. "Excuse me, miss, but
are you sure you want to bring her here?" a waitress walks up to Nene,
indicating Chianne.

"Mom, does everyone here think Sagussans're as prudish as Terrans?!"
Chianne stares bemusedly at her mother.

The waitress blinks, then her eyes flash, her powers detecting the
psionic silence from Nene's mind. "Oh, I thought you were Ellsians! I'm
sorry! Please, come in!" she waves them inside.

"She'll be alright, just don't give her something strong," Nene
smiles, allowing the waitress to direct Chianne to the bar.

The master hacker then follows Konba to one of the sauna rooms. She
quickly notices the presence of a guard-droid by the door to one room, its
scanners actively scoping the room. Wise precaution; an organic bodyguard
could be psi-tracked by a potential bounty-hunter. The price on Gilsur's
noggin was a handsome five million uniCredits now. At the door, Konba knocks.
"C'mon in, Konba!" a voice yells from inside.

Konba walks in. Gilsur now lays on a bench, allowing the heat to
sweat out his body before a dip in the pool. He nods on seeing his fellow
Vosian, then looks surprised on seeing the Sagussan. "I just got your ticket
out of here," Konba sits beside him. "Steel Breeze, meet Velvet Rose."

Gilsur gapes, then smiles. "A pleasure, Miss Maratok...or whatever
your real name might be now."

"Nene," she sits down. "So, Ko-chan here tells me someone's been
flaming you. Any idea who it is?"

"Who it was," Gilsur sighs. "Courtesy of your friends, that little
sleezeball is no longer among the living. But what he's said to Gomasur's
brigade of crusaders is bad enough. There's no way in Purgatory that I can
have a safe day again for the rest of my life thanks to Tarsur. Even if I
skipped off to Sagussa, I'd still be in danger. I need the chance to clear my
name, but I can't do it when I'm looking over my shoulder."

"Okay, I can understand that," Nene nods. "I can admit you into
Sagussa, then get the authorities to offer you asylum because of overt
persecution. The Vosian government'd have to apply to have you extradited,
which will give you a trial to say your side of the story. If you prove it to
the judge...even better, submit to a mind-meld interrogation...then you can
stay indefinitely."

"Sounds like a deal!" Gilsur nods.

"But I need one more thing."

"That being?"

"Any information on your friends Orinsur and Cassur."

"Why?"

"You may not believe this," Nene sighs, "...but Cassur recognized a
friend of mine before he died over Earth."

Gilsur blinks, eyes widening. "But...that's impossible! Vosians
can't recognize Sagussans!"

"Tell Lufy that," Nene shrugs. "She wants to know as much as she can
before she can put this behind her. You see...Cassur killed himself believing
he was caught between his loyalty to Orinsur and what just happened with Lufy.
He took the third way."

Gilsur sighs. "Okay, I'll help. Believe me, Cassur and Orinsur
weren't anywhere CLOSE to what Tarsur said about them to the *an'san-Mikado.*
Damn, all Tarsur was doing was saving his own hide; there were enough reasons
to have him deleted already."

"Copped a deal with the cops!" Nene snorts. "I thought Gomasur and
his boys knew better than that...!"

Suddenly, shots ring out, echoed by electronic squeals and shrieks
from frightened patrons! Everyone spins around as the guard-droid is blasted
down, then a dark figure appears at the doorway. "There you are!!"

"Chiusur!!!" Gilsur gasps on recognizing the bounty hunter.

The tall, black-robed hunter raises his weapon. "Sorry, Gilsur.
Nothing personal..."

Particle bolts lance into his head and side, blasting the hunter away
to collapse on the floor, his eyes lifelessly gazing at the ceiling. Nene
bolts out, then spins left to see Chianne standing nearby, pistol lowering,
panting after running to where their clothes were to get the firearm. "No one
hurts my mom," the young girl sighs, walking into her mother's comforting
embrace.

"Nice shooting," Gilsur whistles on seeing what is left of his
current nemesis.

"Pathfinder in training," Nene sighs...

* * *

A day later...

"Who's this?!" Lufy wonders.

Gilsur shudders on feeling the pilot's raking gaze. He now sat in
the living room of Lufy's and Catty's beautiful home in To-Tere'na. Priss
stands by the door, hand on her holster, her eyes locked on the VIQ. Lufy,
Catty, Mie and Makoto sit across the way. Nene does the introductions. "So
you were Cassur's friend, huh?" Lufy pops open a bottle of ru-jugh, then
stares at him. "So what's his story?"

"I didn't...know much before I bumped into him and Orinsur on Colony
Four," Gilsur shudders. "He was your typical Special Hunter Corps grunt.
Picked up when he was a baby, put through the hunter's school, then allowed to
go out onto the street. They really didn't do much; most of the time, they
were headquarters paper-pushers. Good pilots...but you know that part..."

"Keep talking."

"Well...when you guys came calling at Colony Four, Cassur and Orinsur
saw what your pal Moroboshi was doing to Osur's hunters in Tomobiki, then
decided it was time to get out. They were...at the base camp on the east
continent; it wasn't touched by the Warsuits until near the end. Well, that's
where I was, clearing out files and getting things ready to get out. I asked
them to fly me out and they took me to Colony 14 before you slammed the lid
shut."

"There was that problem with stragglers that bugged out before we
closed it all down," Makoto muses.

"So what happened?" Lufy asks.

"Well, we decided to delete ourselves from records," Gilsur sighs.
"We lived pretty peaceful lives until two years ago. I got into legal
computing. Cassur and Orinsur became partners in a reconstruction firm;
Colony Fourteen was pretty badly wrecked by the end of the war. That's how
they got the stuff when they decided to go after Tarsur." A pause, then
Gilsur's voice hardens as his anger races forth. "Then, everything goes to
pot. We had hunters up the wazoo, prices on our head, the works! I couldn't
do shit until I got some protection; Nene can tell you that part. So I dug
around and I found out about Tarsur."

Silence. "If we're to prove Tarsur's ultimate culpability in
slandering you, who do we ask?" Mie wonders.

"Mujanba and Varena're the primary ones, but ask any hunter who
defected when the amnesty was declared," he sighs. "Actually, Tarsur was
really tight with Bujosur when he became head of the Hunter Corps; he's the
one who got Bujosur his little sex dolls who now work for Dakejinzou Shogai.
Um...why are you asking me this?"

"If we're to build a credible defence for you, we need to get
witnesses in here," Mie sighs. "The Vosian ambassador was told of your
presence here when you came in. He'll see Marcia and Noa tomorrow about
extradition. Your trial will come up pretty quick since crime's still not
much an issue here on Sagussa, so you need people to take your side of the
story. Atop that, we can sense you were friends with Orinsur and Cassur.
Wouldn't you want people to know the truth about them one of these days?"

"I..." Gilsur sighs, then shakes his head. "Why?"

"Why what?!"

"Why help me?! Why do you want to rehabilitate them?! Jeez, you
guys just lost your ship, nearly lost your lives..."

His voice trails off, seeing that the Sagussans were seriously
thinking about what he said. A shudder of fear races up his spine; he may
have just screwed his chances of having a peaceful life here on Sagussa with
his own words.

"Aren't governments peculiar?" Catty muses.

"Eh?!"

"Gilsur, how many people served in the Special Hunter Corps?"

The hacker blinks, then shrugs. "I dunno...say about 30,000
altogether from the time Osur's school first opened."

"Thirty thousand men and women," Catty sighs. "Kidnapped at birth,
never knowing about their parents or relatives, raised in conditions that
would make the death camps from Earth's Nazi Germany and Russia's Gulag look
like a picnic, brainwashed into believing that their sole purpose was to be
agents of the Mikado's will. How many were still alive by the time it was
all over?"

"Excluding the ones still fighting for the neo-Mikadoites?" Gilsur
hums. "Maybe three thousand..."

"Ninety percent fatalities," Catty translates. "And what of the
survivors? They can never be trusted again, never will be looked on with
respect by their fellow citizens. Most of them probably don't know if they
have any relatives living now...and they don't know how to find out because no
one can track down the computer records because they were erased, altered or
just taken away by people who only cared for themselves. Atop that, would the
local governments want to help them? They're the orphans of the Civil War.
Don't you think you owe Cassur and Orinsur...and all those of the Hunter
Corps...something of your own knowledge to help them, help their relatives,
finally obtain closure?"

Gilsur blinks, then sighs. "I got a lot in my computers and
datadisks," he stares at the doctor. "It'd take me a while to dig it all up.
I can also point out the other hackers and mid-level bureaucrats who'd know
about hunters...those who can be trusted and those you'd have to stick a gun
at to make them tell the truth."

"Well, consider that your first deed on your way to becoming a
Sagussan," Catty smiles. "I'm sure Nene and the Mobius Five can be of
assistance to you. We could consider this a social aid project for the
Vosian people. What better way to help them finally put closure to the Civil
War than helping families unite?"

The others nod...

* * *

"I don't fully trust this guy," Priss warns.

After Nene took Gilsur to Kyonggh-Tere'na and the apartment serving
as his secure quarters until his extradition hearing, everyone filed into the
kitchen to consider what he said. "I could sense that he was unsure what to
think of us," Makoto muses, sipping her ale. "After all, considering how
rough we were on the Mikado's troops a decade ago, they'd never fully trust
us."

"They have the right to be wary," Catty muses. "Where does one draw
the line between simply following orders and being responsible for war crimes?
They never were taught the difference between them, you know. We've been
spoiled too much by Nassur's and Mujanba's example to see the full picture."

"That's true," Lufy sighs. "I...I wonder. Did he ever know of his
relatives? Does he have any relatives alive now? Do they know about their
son? Do they WANT to know about him after what Tarsur did...or would they
want to know the truth?"

Sighing, the pilot saunters back to her bedroom. The others watch
her go, then Priss looks at Catty. "Go with her. Make love to her, comfort
her. She's hurting bad, you know."

"I know," Catty rises...

* * *

"Mom, are you okay?"

Lufy blinks, then smiles as Yolchong sits on the bed beside her.
Shinsan, Tangko and Koui now dozed in their shared nursery cot beside their
mothers' bed, both near a large picture window offering a view of the
Esanta'cha and the cliff housing the Chamber of Eternity. "What's wrong, Yol-
chan?"

"What's wrong with you?" Yolchong asks. "You've been mopy ever since
you lost the ship."

Lufy sighs. Her daughter was pretty perceptive in her own right even
at that age; her teachers were advising Lufy to persuade her eldest to pursue
a career in psychology when it came time for her to choose her advanced
education route next year. Wrapping an arm around her, Lufy kisses
Yolchong's forehead. "Yeah, I have," she sighs. "Yol-chan, there
was...someone I had to go fight when we lost the 'Hasei'cha.'"

"He was just a Mikado goon, Mom!"

Lufy pauses. Ever since Colony Four, the Mikado and those who fought
for him were looked at very disparagingly by all Sagussans, especially when
what he almost did to Ataru and Lum became known. "Not...necessarily, you
know," she sighs. "Yol-chan, you could've once said the same thing about
Hunba's son Nassur. He was raised in one of those schools. He killed for the
Mikado once."

"But he ran away and Lord Varanko trained him."

"Yeah. Nassur was lucky, though. Not all of them were. A lot, like
Shinobu's bondmate, were pretty nice people deep down. They just never had
the chance to get out and express it; their boss wouldn't let them express
it. Cassur...was like that."

"Did he really recognize you?"

"Yeah, supposedly."

"But Auntie Pony said he had drugs in him."

Lufy sighs. After it ended, the "Kiboo'cha" recovered the bodies,
Pony and Reinoevan teaming to do the post-mortems. "Well, he had to do that
or else he felt he couldn't beat us. Yol-chan, I don't know Cassur's story.
But when he recognized me, he felt trapped. He...was *marei'cha* with
Orinsur...and then could've become my *surei'cha.* He believed he couldn't
be with me without betraying Orinsur. And because of that...he killed
himself."

Yolchong shudders, then embraces Lufy. "Oh, Mom!"

Lufy smiles at her daughter's comforting embrace, then sighs. "So
I'm left with questions. And I want to put all that behind me, Yol-chan. And
if...I could help Cassur, I could probably help all the other hunters. Don't
you think it's worth it?"

"Un..." Yolchong nods, then pensively stares at Lufy. "Mom...are you
and Mashi gonna break up?"

"What?!" Lufy gapes, then laughs. "No, sweetie, we're not going to
break up!! Why would you think that?!"

"Well, you know what people're like inside the Barrier!" Yolchong
rolls her eyes, then stares at the sleeping three-year olds in the nursery
cot. "If you brought this guy home, would he've loved Mashi or Kiboi or Ura
or Taghme-chan or Koui-chan?"

Lufy nods understandingly. "Well, they're comfortable with their way
of mating. We're comfortable with our way. What's wrong with that?"

"So what're you going to do?"

Lufy sighs. "I'm going to Sabaku. I want to find out all I can
about recognition and how it affects people."

"Can I come with you?"

"Why?!"

"Well, it's the first-term break and I don't want to spend it all
cooped up here if you and Mashi're running around!" Yolchong shrugs. "Maybe
you could ask Aunt Nene or Aunt Sugoi to watch over the others while we go
together?"

Lufy hums. She wouldn't mind taking the family out on a tour of the
worlds inside the Barrier. None of them had been anywhere else outside
Crossroads. Still, doing some fact-finding while shepherding ALL of hers and
Catty's kids would be quite the headache. "Well, since Sugoi's recovering
from giving birth to Manju-chan, we'll get her to do it. You think Mi-chan's
mature enough to watch over her brothers?"

"She'll be jealous!" Yolchong warns.

"Jealous of what?!"

They turn to see Mihagh standing there. While Yolchong had shaggy
brown hair down to her waist, her younger sister's curly blonde hair was cut
really short, usually wrapped with a stylish headband which she wore under
her helmet when training on the Minisuits, the small-scale mobile suits
brought out in third year of general studies to judge future Warsuit and
Gladiator pilots. Hopping on the bed, Mihagh scrambles over to snuggle
against her mother's other side. "Mom's going off someplace!" Yolchong hums.

"And you got her to say I'll watch over the boys, right?!" Mihagh
crosses her arms. "Forget it! If you go, I go!"

Lufy sighs. "Okay, okay, you both can come!!" she grabs her
daughters and pulls them in. "Satisfied?!"

The girls laugh, then embrace their mother...

* * *

Sabaku...

"Lovely world you have here."

Olnba gazes surprisingly at the diminutive doctor walking beside her
near the Shrine of Sabaku. Unlike those who came here to cleanse their souls
of grief, the priests who administered this place of healing were permitted
clothing. "I'm surprised you would make a comment like that," the elder
priest of Sabaku muses.

"Sagussa was like this some years ago," Catty smiles. "True, it was
because of a holocaust, but still, there are times I miss looking at the
dunes, wondering how the winds would mould them. Most of those dunes now are
under a couple kilometres of water."

Olnba hums. "Yes, that would be a bit disorientating, wouldn't it?"
she sighs. "So, can you...explain to me what brings you and your bondmate
here?"

"Quite simple, really," Catty sighs. "A week ago, a fellow named
Cassur, a former Special Hunter Corps officer, was involved in that attack on
the Vosian embassy in New York City. Incredible as this will probably sound,
he injected himself with White Noise during the fight, then engaged Lufy...and
recognized her. But because he had adopted his fellow hunter Orinsur as a
brother and both were intent on killing their target...and Cassur felt he
didn't want to betray Orinsur OR Lufy...he took his own life."

Silence. "I see," Olnba muses. "You're right, Sensei, it does
surprise me quite a bit. I'd never think that our power could latch us onto
one of you. Your race's...distaste for involuntary genetic bondings is quite
well known."

"You seem unbothered."

"Not really. Lecasur once warned that encountering other races would
bring forth a conflict of opinions as physiological, cultural and social
differences became known. We had to learn that lesson when we fought our
brief war with the Yehisrites before the founding of the Royal Kingdoms. You
should note that many Vosians were looking forward to meeting your people."

"And you found it within yourselves to accept us?"

"Quite so, as you readily accept us. While we find your cousins on
Zephyrus too theologically narrow-minded for our taste and your other cousins
on Kurakoa too accepting of moral authority to permit their lives to evolve
beyond the limits such authority imposes, we find your people...refreshing as
alien races come."

"Let's hope what we start today doesn't change that for the worse,
then," Catty muses as she slips off her tunic. "If we succeed, a couple
thousand people will finally know their history and families. If we
fail...then your Civil War will never end until all those who lived through
with it die."

"Sadly true," Olnba nods, then notices Yolchong and Mihagh stretching
themselves alongside their mother. As per Vosian custom, the bereaved was
nude when she engaged in the *nicha* quest. Olnba is surprised to see her
eldest daughters also preparing themselves. "May I ask why they're here?"

"If Cassur had came to Sagussa, he would be *monmoei'cha* to Yol-chan
and Mi-chan," Catty slips off her trousers. "The male who elects to live with
a female but isn't directly related by blood."

"Ah! And what of your eldest son, Sensei?"

"Cassur did recognize Lufy, Elder, not me. I go as Lufy's bondmate,
but could we predict how Cassur would've treated me?"

"Good point," the high priest nods.

Once the four are prepared, they form a line before Olnba, who is
attended by two underpriests. "Welcome to Sabaku," she intones as they bow
their heads. "You who have come to this world to expunge your grief at the
brief but tragic bonding between your family and Cassur shall now go forth.
Given the remarkable set of circumstances surrounding this event, plus your
profound lack of understanding considering recognition...to be truthful, even
we don't understand all its nuances...we have permitted you to set some of
your own conditions to your quest.

"Under normal circumstances, a *nicha* takes between four and six
weeks to complete. Since you have more questions than grief before you, you
can certainly end your quest at any time. Even so, you still may seek some
inner understanding as you go forth among the dunes of this world. Your own
mental powers give you a unique capacity to understand one part of Creation.
We only but ask you not to interfere in those others now among the dunes
seeking the end of their own grief, but if accidents occur...they occur."

"Thank you very much," Lufy nods. "All set, girls?"

"Hai!!" Yolchong and Mihagh nod.

"You set?" Lufy stares at Catty.

"For you? Always," the doctor smiles.

They rise. "Then we take our leave of you for a time, Elder Olnba,"
Lufy bows. "Peace, logic and harmony to you all."

"May you find your path to peace and truth," Olnba nods. "And may
the spirits of Lecasur and Lyna watch over you."

"May you find your path to peace and truth," the underpriests
ritually intone. "May you find *nicha.*"

With that, the quartet of Sagussans depart. The underpriests gaze at
their leader. "What will they find out there?" one asks.

"That is for them and Fate to discover," Olnba sighs...

* * *

"Mom?"

"What is it, honey?"

"Was it like this back home before Stage Two?" Mihagh asks.

Lufy hums. They had been walking for several hours, locating several
scrubfruit bushes which would sustain them over the next while. Initially,
they planned to endure the full six weeks a *nicha* quest normally took, but
given the brevity of Lufy's and Cassur's "relationship" and the wide genetic
differences between them, they soon realized this could be a short excursion.

Still, despite its ill-reputation as a luxury world, Sabaku wasn't
totally barren. The scrubfruit was compatible with many types of fruit across
the cluster and the spring water to be found in the oases was as good as what
came out of the deep bedrock near Tere'na-korgh. "Yeah, pretty much like
this," Lufy muses. "At least Sabaku's natural. I'm glad the Vosians kept her
pristine."

"Mashi, did Nassur ever tell you about when he recognized his wife?"
Yolchong stares at Catty.

The doctor sighs. "No, I never thought to ask him to be honest. I
do recall Lum once telling me that it happened when they took an unscheduled
time-trip."

"Oh, that's right!" Lufy snorts. "It was to some way far distant
time in the future where Lum was worshipped as a god!"

The children groan. "You mean the Niphentaxians'll take over the
galaxy?!" Mihagh mutters. "I'm gonna be sick!"

"Not really, or so Lum recalls," Catty muses. "As a matter of fact,
I recall Lum saying someone told Koosei that Sagussa finally destroyed
Phentax Two sometime before then...and that we were the only planet in the
whole galaxy which rejected the Church of Lum."

"Yeah, but Lum also said that the woman who brought her to that time
was a thoughtmistress from Sagussa trying to destroy the Church of Lum before
it got serious," Lufy adds. "And that Ataru and the others were helped by
someone from our intelligence agency, a descendant of Nassur through Tenba."

"Enough, Lufyvayae!" Catty smiles. "You're giving ME a headache with
all this talk about time-travel."

The others laugh. "There's a spring," Mihagh points.

"Mi-chan, concentrate!" Lufy smirks.

Mihagh blinks, then closes her eyes. Opening them, she alters her
vision to the purity of the *te'a,* then blinks. "Wow! Is that a real
mirage?!"

"Yep," Lufy nods. "Keep practicing your powers, Mi-chan."

"Hai."

"There's a spring," Yolchong points the other way.

Everyone looks, concentrating. "Yep, it's real," Lufy nods. "Let's
get something to drink before we go on."

"Hai!"

* * *

After their stop for water, the quartet make their way up a ridge
overlooking a vast plain that stretched to the horizon. Overhead, Sabaku's
sun beats mercilessly down as they reach the summit, where they drop into
lotus position to meditate for the rest of the afternoon. During this time,
Catty draws Yolchong and Mihagh away to give Lufy time to herself, then
begins to instruct the youngsters in using their powers to detect minds at a
distance, preparing them for the Awakening to come in a couple of years.
Sabaku's barrenness and the unique mental intensity of a Vosian's mind made
such practice here more than ideal than back on Sagussa.

Alone, Lufy allows her *mei'na* the chance to partially slip into the
*te'a,* Its Warmth as invigorating as Sabaku's heat is energy-sapping.
Opening her eyes, she blinks on seeing a bright beacon of light before her.
"Who...?"

"Why have you come Here, Lufy?"

"Who are you...?"

"A friend...or so you think of me even if we only met once so long
ago..."

Lufy's eyes widen as the form assumes shape. "Cinba!!"

"Hi," the hunter smiles. "It's been a while."

"So it has," Lufy nods. "We couldn't've come to the funeral; we
didn't want to reveal ourselves that soon."

"I understand. Lyna's come to me many times telling me how many of
your friends've prayed for me over the years. Your bondmate was mentioned a
lot, you know."

"Well, that's Catty for you," Lufy smiles.

"Lufy, why are you on Sabaku?"

Silence for a moment. "Have you met Cassur? He died about a week
ago over Earth."

"No, not yet, but I might get around to it. What happened? The way
your people chased after the Mikado's forces when he tried to hurt Lum-chan's
husband, I'd think you really wouldn't've cared much for someone like him."

"Well, someone would've said the same thing about our attitude
towards clones before we found out what the Kagamasei like to do to those they
create of their children," Lufy sighs, then explains.

At the end, Cinba nods understandingly. "That would hurt, wouldn't
it?" she muses. "I wish I could really help you, Lufy. But in the end, this
is the one true lesson of the *nicha*...you have to heal yourself."

"I know," Lufy muses, then tenses.

"Hello, Lufy. You look well."

"Cherry?!" the pilot blinks on recognizing the monk. "Geez, what is
this? Old home week? How are you?"

"I am well, as one would expect of This Place," Cherry nods.
"Actually, it's been quite nice coming Here and meeting Cinba. I've also made
the acquaintance of Nassur's father Ninsur. Charming fellow, that one. So,
you've come to settle a little disquiet in your own heart, have you."

"News gets around Here fast," Lufy muses.

"So it does, especially when one is in my position," Cherry nods.
"What you and your beloved seek to do in the end is noble in and of itself,
Lufy. Cinba and I've...met many of the Hunter Corps in our time in This
Place. Believe me, when they learn of what you and Catty seek to do, they'll
gladly cheer you on."

"That's the hope," Lufy nods, "...but as Negako Moroboshi once told
the Sailor Senshi before they fought the Fushin, all plans tend to fall apart
on first contact with the enemy."

"Wise words, Lufy," Cherry's eyes narrow. "Take heed of them, child.
That Which Is Above even us in This Place has granted us this chance to warn
you before you proceed. There are those who would deny justice to Cassur and
the others in the Hunter Corps. They will do anything to further their own
dark ends. Be careful."

"Always am," Lufy winks...

...then opens her eyes to learn night has fallen. Taking a deep
breath...at least the air was pristine even if it could have loads of dust
flowing through it when the winds were up...she looks around, then finds Catty
dozing nearby. A further look reveals Yolchong and Mihagh asleep under an
overhang. Stretching herself, she rises, then gently nudges her bondmate.
"Hey, you in there?"

"Where'd you go?" Catty stifles a yawn.

"Spent some time talking to Cinba and Cherry in the *te'a,*" Lufy
smiles. "C'mon, let's get under cover just in case."

"Hai..."

* * *

The afternoon after Lufy had his chat with Cinba and Cherry, Catty
meditates as Lufy continues her daughters' mental training. She too receives
a warning from those now within the *te'a* concerning their general mission.
After that, they decide it was time to actually "watch" a native undergoing
the *nicha* ritual, albeit discreetly.

Luck is with them the next morning. Shortly after their impromptu
breakfast, Yolchong senses someone wandering the dunes about a couple
kilometres away. Enhancing their own mind-shields to mask Yolchong's and
Mihagh's pre-Awakening mental patterns, Catty and Lufy put their Pathfinder
training to use and slowly approach their would-be target.

The VIQ is a young man, barely past his second Age Day, which
surprises and saddens both of them. "Hearing" his mental pleas for his mate
to return, the four Sagussans feel tears in their eyes. <<Poor man,>> Catty
sighs. <<These people emotionally attach so much to recognition. It's no
wonder he's hurt.>>

<<And we're different?>> Lufy wonders.

<<Eh?>>

<<Cattyvayae, if I lost you, I'd be suicidal.>>

Catty pales at the concept of Lufy killing herself, then flushes deep
crimson as the strength of Lufy's love for her flows through their bond, then
is reinforced by Yolchong's and Mihagh's love. <<So would we, Mashi,>> the
former pecks Catty's cheek.

<<Ditto,>> the latter pecks the other cheek.

They return their attention to the young man some distance away. His
wild gyrations then turn sexual, miming making love to his lost mate. <<I
wonder what happened,>> Lufy muses.

<<If she was his age, it could've been because of a premature
childbirth,>> Catty muses. <<That's common with Vosian women below their
fourth Age Day; their reproductive organs are a little slow in developing when
the rest of them starts growing out.>>

<<You mean...?>> Lufy gazes at her.

<<She might've become pregnant...and the complications killed both
her and her child,>> Catty frowns.

Lufy grimaces. Infant mortality and the death of a mother in
childbirth was still an unknown on Sagussa, thank Lyna! <<But Aunt Krinba and
the other female Vosian hunters who moved to Sagussa had no problems!>>
Yolchong objects. <<Her daughter Chienba's my classmate; Aunt Krinba was
fourteen...>>

<<Not true, Yol-chan,>> Catty objects. <<Even after they submitted
to regeneration, their bodies still were underdeveloped; there was no way
Krinba could've carried Chienba to term. She had to be removed to a gestation
matrix like you and Mi-chan were.>>

<<Oh,>> Yolchong hums, then relaxes.

Lufy gazes again at the young man, who was now hugging empty air as
he softly coos his beloved. Her eyes narrow as her *te'a*-enhanced vision
blows up a close detail of his face. <<Lyna!!>>

<<What?!>> Catty blinks.

<<That...he...get your tricorder!!>>

Catty psi-flashes the orbiting "Shinowataru'cha" to have Makoto beam
down her medical tricorder, then does a cursory pass. <<What's the matter?>>
she gazes quizzically at Lufy.

<<Do a DNA scan! Compare it with Cassur's!>>

Catty's eyes widen, then she programs her machine. A moment later,
the reading appears in the viewscreen. <<Oh, Lyna...!>>

<<Well?!>>

<<He...this boy's...he's Cassur's brother...>>

Silence as Lufy allows that to sink in. It was utterly incredible
how Fate worked at times. They had come here to better understand Cassur's
suicide...and wound up encountering Cassur's very own brother. Well, at least
finding Cassur's family would be much easier now. <<Okay, we shadow this guy
for a while.>>

<<Wait!>> Catty warns. <<Problem.>>

<<What?>>

<<He's drugged up!>> Catty sighs. <<Diluted White Noise and some
other things I've never seen before. I might have to tap into the Internal
Security database to find the chemical compounds for most known street drugs.
Something tells me there's much more to this fellow than meets the eye. We
better pass it on to Olnba.>>

Lufy nods...

* * *

"Yes, I know about Kilsur," Olnba has tea with Mie and Makoto at the
shrine later. "His wife died when she miscarried her child and the damage to
her womb caused a fatal infection to set in."

"Where's he from exactly?" Mie wonders.

"Colony Twenty-six, but we have no fixed address," the high priest
muses. "Kilsur's lived on the streets almost all his life. He has no idea
where his parents are or anything else."

"That'd explain the drugs in his system," Makoto grimaces. "He could
be a drug dealer or just some street junkie."

"That has been a problem in certain places," Olnba sighs. "As we've
recovered from the Civil War, many more orphans than just the Hunter Corps
survivors were made. Homeless children abound in all the poorer colonies,
those who don't have much of an economic support base. Still, our duty to
help people heal remains and its open to everyone, even those without
families."

"Then there's a problem," Mie warns. "Catty, as a doctor, has an
oath to protect and enhance life, shield it from disease and other problems.
She would be...honour-bound to help Kilsur heal, help him overcome his
addiction."

"But Olnba specifically told them not to interfere in another's
quest," Makoto muses.

"Mako-chan, we know how headstrong Catty can be."

"True," the shipmistress sighs...

* * *

After some psionic wrangling on Mie's and Makoto's part, Catty was
persuaded to back off from going down and cleansing Kilsur of the physical
effects of his addiction while he was still undergoing his quest. However,
given who and what he is, the Sagussans keep him in sight as they observe his
quest.

Some things become very clear as time passes. Kilsur was himself
kidnapped from his parents at birth, his tracking powers marking him a
potential hunter. But given that he is twenty-four years old now, he
would've just passed Stop Time...the average time hunters were permitted to
graduate from school and enter the Hunter Corps...when the Mikado fell from
power. He had been on Vos at the time. His school, located a distance from
Lecashuto, was overrun by the rebels prior to the final battle for the
capital city. Once they were free and "deprogrammed" by rebel psychologists,
they were let go, virtually without any social support.

With that, he and many of his classmates migrated to Colony Twenty-
six, staying together to this day. Most, like Kilsur and his late wife
Rinba, had drifted into crime, though several had found it within themselves
to press on, advance their education and work skills to give them a semblance
of a normal life. Still, even living in poverty and without any assistance
from the government, Kilsur and Rinba had decided on one good thing: to
start a family of their own. They tragically started too early.

<<Okay, so what can we conclude from this?>> Lufy faces her daughters
sometime later in a rocky grove a kilometre from where Kilsur was now
sleeping, taking the chance to give Yolchong and Mihagh an impromptu
immigration administration lesson; the impact of the influx of new citizens
was a part of the social and cultural studies class in general education
starting in third year.

<<Well, he hasn't committed any crime which might disqualify him from
migrating,>> Yolchong nibbles on a scrubfruit. <<He's male; at present, we
still need lots of males to balance the genetic pool. He seems like a good
person deep down. Like you said back home, Mom, many of them are good people
but just haven't had the chance to show their inner goodness.>>

<<He's economically disadvantaged and receives no support from local
authorities even though laws were passed that demanded welfare support for
ex- Hunter Corps members who couldn't make their own way,>> Mihagh adds.
<<He also comes with a lot of friends in the same position, all of whom would
also qualify. But we can't force him until we finally rip away the veil of
secrecy over the Hunter Corps and the histories of its members. What happens
if they still want to contact their families?>>

<<That's good,>> Catty nods. <<Now, all we have to do is wait for
him to expunge his grief over Rinba, then we'll approach him.>>

The others nod...

* * *

Sometimes, Fate has other ideas.

A day later, Lufy wanders to an oasis for a quick drink. The heat
was getting even to her, a woman from a planet once almost as parched as
Sabaku, once boasting equatorial mid-summer temperatures of over sixty degrees
Celsius. It was starting to affect her, preventing her from keeping her psi-
guards and psi-senses at full strength. Catty was the lucky one; born as a
Tritonian, her body could absorb outside heat and convert it to waves of cold.
It had now come to the point where the doctor had suggested they sleep during
the day and move at night, when things were cooler.

Kneeling before the pond, she gazes at her image in the water. "Why
are you doing this, Lufy...?" she mutters. "You can't bring him back. You
couldn't ask him to betray his *marei'cha.* Even if you could bring him
back, you don't have the right to bring JUST him and not Orinsur. He
couldn't choose between two families; that's why he killed himself. Oh, damn
it all, Cassur, why...?"

The tears slowly flow as her confusion surges into sorrow. Five
brief moments over the Moon had destroyed so much. Before that, Lufy's life
was quite simple. Find the enemy. Destroy the enemy. Anyone who attacked
Earth or Sagussa for any reason was the enemy. No mercy. Yet in those five
minutes, she discovered that the enemy had a human face. The enemy wasn't
some fanatic still fighting for a dictator Ataru blasted to stardust ten
years ago. The enemy in this case was a person much like herself, raised and
trained in the ways of the warrior. He was with a family, both of them
cornered by the manipulations of others who cared only for themselves, denied
any chance to obtain justice for themselves.

The enemy...that could've become Lufy's *surei'cha.*

As she covers her eyes, Lufy jolts as a hand falls on her shoulder.
"Why are you so sad...?"

She spins around, fist cocked, then her eyes widen on seeing Kilsur
gazing at her. His eyes were glazed, the effects of the narcotics in his
bloodstream adding to Sabaku's ferocious heat to fling him into the
uncharitable world of hallucination. "Hey, hey, I'm sorry..." he waves his
hands peacefully, then gently places them on her shoulders. "Why are you sad,
Ri-chan?"

Lufy blinks, then sighs. She was trapped. If she fell into playing
Rinba, who knew what would happen to her. If she fought it, who knew what
sort of damage it would unleash in Kilsur. She then smiles. "I was just
mourning someone."

"Oh," he kneels beside her, slipping a supportive arm around her.
"It's okay to mourn, Ri-chan. We've been mourning since we left Vos,
remember? No home, no family, nothing..."

He draws her close. Lufy shudders as their lips brush, then relaxes.
*Do...do I WANT this?!* she wonders. *He thinks I'm Rinba; he doesn't
realize that she's dead and he's on another planet trying to get rid of his
grief for her! What do I do...?*

"Why...?"

"Why what?" Lufy gazes at him.

"I killed you..." Kilsur shudders. "I wanted a baby so much, try to
do something to give us a family...and I killed you..."

Lufy bites her lip, grateful for the chance to put some control over
this, hoping she didn't botch it. "Sh-...I wanted that too," she admits,
modulating her voice to match Kilsur's memories of Rinba. "We made the
mistake together, Kil-chan."

"Why can't I persuade myself of that...?" he gazes at the sky.

"Hey, if it was you who died and I who remained, I would be asking
the same thing," Lufy turns his face to gaze again at her. "Everyone
who...loses someone thinks that. You're not alone."

"I know," his eyes flutter as the delusion overwhelms him. "Sorry,
Ri-chan...I'm so sleepy..."

"Rest, now," she helps him down, then snuggles in the crook of his
arm, reaching to close his eyes. "Rest..."

Sleep then overwhelms her...

* * *

Some hours later...

"Mashi, where's Mom?" Mihagh looks around.

Catty blinks, then concentrates. "I think she fell asleep," she
rises. "You two stay here. I'll find her."

"We're coming, too!" Yolchong rises.

"Yol-chan!!"

"We're...coming!!" Yolchong hisses.

Catty blinks, then smiles. *Just like their mother,* she chuckles,
then waves them with her.

An hour later, she walks to the edge of a cliff overlooking the oasis
Lufy had travelled to earlier, then balks on seeing her bondmate in Kilsur's
arms, both asleep. "What in...?!!" she gasps.

"What's Mom doing?!" Mihagh demands.

"*De'ne!* She's sleeping with a guy! What does it look like?!"
Yolchong shrugs.

"But she shouldn't be sleeping with HIM, for Lyna's sake!!" Catty
snarls as the three make their way down the cliff.

Some minutes later, the three kneel beside the dozing Lufy. <<ARE
YOU ENJOYING YOURSELF?!?!?!>> Catty psi-screams.

Lufy yelps as she bolts up, then spins on Catty. "***DO YOU MIND NOT
YELLING AT ME WHEN I'M ASLEEP?!?!?!***" she bellows.

"Hey, what's going on...?"

Lufy jerks, paling as Kilsur sits up. Both then look at each other,
then scream as they stumble away. "WHO ARE YOU?!?!?!" Kilsur bellows as he
slams against a tree, then jolts again as a fruit like a coconut slams into
his head! "Ite...!"

"Sorry...!!" Lufy winces.

Yolchong and Mihagh are rolling on the ground laughing. Catty shakes
her head, stifling her own mirth. Lufy coughs, then walks over to help him
up. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to surprise you like that but you're
the one who sneaked up on me."

"I did...?" he blinks, then remembers. "I was thinking of Rinba...I
thought I was actually seeing her...?"

"That was me," Lufy points to herself. "I didn't want to break you
out of your illusion; I'd no idea what'd happen."

"Um...th-thanks...urk!!!" his eyes widen on seeing her cheek tattoo,
then he stumbles back. "Y-y-you're a-a-a...!"

*CRASH!!!!* Into the tree again, another fruit making music on his
forehead. "Oh, Lyna...!" Lufy shakes her head.

"Let's get him somewhere where he won't kill himself," Catty orders.
"I'll get to work on him now."

* * *

"Wh-where am I...?"

Kilsur's eyes open to gaze into Yolchong's cherubic face. "Hi!!
Still got a headache?!"

"Somewhat..." he moans, then blinks as the odd feel of certain parts
of his body comes to him. "What happened to me?"

"Mashi cleaned up all that gunk in your body while you were passed
out," the younger girl explains. "The stuff was slowly destroying your mind,
you know that?"

"You mean...I'm not addicted...?"

"Well, only you can figure that out now," Yolchong hums. "Physical
addiction's okay, but up here..." she points to her head. "White Noise isn't
really addictive, or so Mashi told me. But when you mix it with the other
stuff, who knows..." she shrugs.

"Um...thanks, I think," he muses, then looks right to see Lufy and
Catty washing the dust off their bodies in the oasis' pond. "Um...what are
you doing here, anyway? Since when do Sagussans have cause to come here to
Sabaku?"

"Well...I better let Mom explain it...Monmoei," Yolchong winks as she
heads off to get some scrubfruit.

"'Monmoei?'" he blinks confusedly.

"'Father's brother' as it directly translates," Catty explains as she
and Lufy emerge from the pond. "It's the title bestowed by children to any
male adult living in their mother's house that they're not directly related
to. How do you feel?"

"I dunno," he shrugs. "Um...so why'd she call me that?"

"First, answer us something," Lufy sits beside him. "Do you know of
any of your relatives? You're ex-Hunter Corps, right?"

"That's not gonna get me killed, is it?!" he stammers.

"No, we're gonna help you this time, hard as it might be for you to
believe. Answer the question."

"Well...no, I don't," he shakes his head.

Lufy sighs. "Then...I have the sad duty to tell you of the death of
your older brother Cassur."

"Cassur...you mean Captain Cassur?!" Kilsur blinks, the shock
stealing his voice. "He's my...?"

"Yeah," Lufy nods, then launches into an explanation.

At the end of it, Kilsur shakes his head, clearly stunned. "I
just...I don't believe it!" he stammers. "I never thought anyone else in my
family'd be in the Corps...God, what do you say...?"

"Well, because of what happened between Cassur and I, I came here to
find some answers," Lufy sighs. "Finding you means at least one part of
Cassur's family will live on. As we speak, someone else, a hacker who worked
for the Mikado, is trying to dredge up all your records so we can link you to
parents and other relatives. We link that with the birth records here and you
all will...at least have some answers about who and what you are."

"We hope," Catty adds.

Kilsur blinks, then smiles. "Thanks. Crazy, isn't it? I...our
government hasn't really done much for us, even after all the promises made at
the end of the war. Every time we apply to the local welfare office to get
something, the instant they hear we're ex-Corps, they stonewall us. So...what
do you do?"

"That's a problem your government'll have to deal with sooner or
later," Catty hums. "In the meantime, for humanitarian reasons, whatever
hunters we encounter in our mission who need help will be offered a chance to
start anew on Sagussa...starting with you."

Kilsur shudders as the implications hit home. A safe place, a clean
home, food, a new purpose. Even if the Sagussans had been one of the factors
that tipped the scales against the Mikado so long ago, did it matter now? He
then smiles. "Thanks, Sensei."

"In the meantime, what say we find some cover, get some rest, then
head back to the Shrine?" Lufy hums, gazing at the bright sun overhead. "I
don't know how this'll affect your quest, but you've got other pressing
problems right now."

"Yeah, that's true, isn't it?"

With that, the five rise, heading toward some distant caves. Lufy
hangs back, reaching over to gently grasp Kilsur's hand. He pauses, then
stares at her. She smiles, then gently kisses his cheek. "You're not leaving
my sight," she muses.

He gulps. "What does that mean?"

"Wait for it," she winks...

* * *

Tere'na Compudata Centre...

"Okay, we got it all in!!" Katsumi grins as she stares at her
readouts. "You sure this is all of it, Gilsur?!"

"Yeah, it is," the Vosian nods, staring over Nene's shoulder at her
screen. "Can you decode it?"

"With the systems we have?!" Lebia snickers from her station beside
her fellow Visionary. "Count on it!"

"Running omniversal decoder!" Nami calls out.

Everyone relaxes as they gaze at their readouts, letting the program
do its work. Gilsur sighs. Here he was in Hacker Heaven, as those like him
called the headquarters of the famous Mobius Five, helping his late friends
and the Hunter Corps get some justice for their sufferings. The Vosian
ambassador had been surprisingly understanding when Noa explained to him
everyone's questions over Tarsur's allegations, then nodded his tacit
approval for the Sagussans to run an extradition hearing, which would include
a mind-probe of Gilsur. Evidence from mind-probes was admissible in both
Sagussan and Vosian courts of law, so once the truth was revealed, he'd be
off the hook, the price on his head wiped out and if he so chose, he could go
back to his old life.

"Wait, we got a problem...!" Nene tenses as a red icon appears in the
corner of her screen.

"Confirmed!!" Kiddy barks, then gapes. "Oh, shit!! It's a virus in
the compression program!! It's deleting all the data from the files!!"

"Shut it down!" Lebia orders.

"It's down!!" Katsumi hits the power cut-off switch.

"Checking my machine!" Gilsur sits by his portocomp and stabbing
buttons.

The screen clicks on, then his face pales on seeing a laughing skull
icon mocking him. "It's in his machine, too!!" Katsumi warns as everyone
gathers around the Vosian hacker.

"Oh, my God..." Gilsur stammers.

The skull stops laughing, then its hollow eye sockets flash as a
stream of characters appears under it:

YOU CAN'T HELP THEM ANYMORE, GILSUR...TARSUR

Silence falls over the room. "I hate to say this," Lebia pats their
guest's shoulder. "But you just got seriously fucked!"

* * *

Somewhere...

"Brothers, sisters!" the warrior raises his weapons, crossing them
over his head. "The time has finally come to rid our race of the weak, the
useless, all those who would drag Vos and her children into the sewers! The
time has come to cleanse Vos of those who degrade us by their very
existence!! The time has come for us to take our rightful place at the
galaxy's pinnacle!!!"

A bloodthirsty, inhuman roar responds. "Years ago, there came among
us one who many believed a prophet and visionary, one who would raise us from
stagnation, one who would cleanse us of the filth that had weighed us down
while unworthy races passed us by!" He points. "He was given his chance!
He failed!! The Mikado was weak, easily brought down by others! We were
amongst those who sat in judgement on the Mikado and those who followed him
in hopes of progressing Vos to the glorious destiny that awaits us all!!

"You knew what happened next! After the Chosen One of the Eternal
Voyager punished the Mikado for his crimes against Vos and the other races,
the weak seized control in Lecashuto and allowed Vos to stumble into
darkness!!" he points up. "And because of that, Vos is not given the respect
she has long deserved. We are weak in the eyes of the outside galaxy!!
ARE...WE...WEAK?!?!"

"NO!!!!!!"

"Then it is time!!!" the leader pumps his fist as the crowd cheers.
"First, we rid Vos of those who served the weakling Mikado, then we rid Vos of
those who would keep us weak!! We will be strong once again!!!
ARE...WE...STRONG?!?!"

"YES!!!!!! YES!!!!!! YES!!!!!!"

The crowd chants, pumping their fists as the leader retires from the
balcony, returning to his spartan quarters. A woman awaits him there. "We
have a problem."

"What?" he kneels before the shrine he forged to symbolize his quest
for a perfect Vos.

"Gilsur won't be coming back from Sagussa."

"What?" he glares at her.

"Tarsur left a virus in Gilsur's computers which wiped out the data
he had on the Hunter Corps. It activated when he was with their hacker
group, the Mobius Five. The Sagussans won't release him from their custody
until they get an explanation."

"Tarsur was a fool," he sneers. "Always willing to sell his soul to
the strongest one around, always willing to stab the backs of those whose
deaths could advance his status. It doesn't matter; his usefulness ended when
he was captured. Because of their Silent One training, the Hunter Corps
survivors can be turned by the *an'san-Mikado* into a force that will oppose
us. Osur was a lunatic, Hisur weak-hearted and Furusur a snivelling fool, but
their warriors were still well-trained. They will be done away with sooner or
later."

"The group targeting that one group on Colony 26 is ready to go at
any time," she announces.

"Send them," he nods...

* * *

Sabaku...

"He has achieved *nicha.*"

As the underpriest draws back after psi-linking with the latest
*nicha* quester, Olnba drapes the necklace marking Kilsur's success in
expunging his grief over Rinba around his neck. "So he has," the high priest
smiles. "Yet I sense new grief...and many questions...arising in your heart
because of your brother."

"Yes, Olnba-sama," Kilsur nods.

"It's my fault," Lufy sighs, kneeling beside him. Catty, Yolchong
and Mihagh relax behind them. "I should've kept a closer eye on where I was
vis-a-vis him..."

"Be at peace, Lufy," Olnba smiles. "What happens in the dunes is as
much the work of Fate as it is the work of one's desires. Some might
actually give you credit for helping Kilsur overcome his loss.His questions
about his brother might force him to return here for another quest, but that
is for the future to decide. Tell me, have you achieved that which you came
here to seek?"

"I have achieved some things," the flightmistress admits. "In
finding Kilsur, I know now that one part of Cassur's family lives on. I also
discovered a remarkable similarity between the feelings Vosians bestow to
those they recognize and those feelings Sagussans give to their mates.
Further, as we speak, my friends on Sagussa are retrieving information
concerning the Hunter Corps survivors. Once armed with that, we
can...finally go to the Vosian government and help people reunite with their
families."

"Then we pray for your success," Olnba nods, then blinks as a
transporter is heard. "Eh?"

"What is it, Mie?" Lufy rises as the pilot materializes.

"We have a big problem," Mie announces. "Someone threw a virus into
Gilsur's computers. All the information was lost."

"What?!" Lufy gasps.

"It turns out Tarsur screwed Gilsur, Cassur and Orinsur even more
thoroughly than anyone believed," Mie crosses her arms. "He rigged it so that
even if Gilsur tried to reveal the truth, he could never give the proof to the
*an'san-Mikado.*"

"I don't believe that!" Catty hisses.

"Can't anything be done?" Olnba wonders.

"Well, Gilsur told Nene that each of the hunter schools had special
computer caches buried way deep in the ground at each site," Mie then gazes at
Kilsur. "Where was your school?"

"At Mensohn, about 40 kilometres north of Lecashuto," the hunter
replies, then blinks. "Hey, wait a minute. Did you say it was stuff buried
really deep down?" At Mie's nod, he whistles. "Oh, so that explains why it
was set up at an abandoned coal mine."

"Are all the schools like this?" Lufy muses.

"Yep," Mie nods. "Abandoned mines across Vos and two dozen colonies.
Get this: Gilsur said that whenever someone pissed off the school
commandant, they sometimes were thrown into the mines and buried alive.
That's why all of the sites are shrines."

"Which means that the mines are considered burial places," Catty
muses. "Good and bad news for our mission. The good news is that the
chances are there the information stored in those caches might still be there
and could be retrieved. The bad news is actually retrieving it. How do we
convince the shrine keepers to go down and get them?"

"I think we can help there," Olnba smiles. "The hunter school
memorials are administered by a friend of mine in Lecashuto. I'll give him a
call and have him tell the shrine keepers to allow you the chance to probe the
mines in question."

"Good," Lufy nods. "In the meantime, let's get to Colony Twenty-
six," she gazes at Kilsur. "We'll pick up your friends and head on from there
to Lecashuto."

He nods...

* * *

Later, as everyone cleaned up from their desert excursion, the
"Shinowataru'cha" pulls out of Sabaku's orbit, heading deeper into Vosian
territory. Since the ship wasn't carrying anyone of great importance, there
was no Vosian ship dispatched to accompany the four-kilometre long destroyer,
though as per the Sagussa-Vos Treaty, Makoto had to keep local military
commanders appraised of their location and intentions at all time. The
incident in Tere'na City had Lufy's combat alarms ringing loudly, though many
back on Sagussa passed it off as Tarsur covering his ass. Fortunately, Nene
and the Mobius Five weren't among that group; they were now taking apart every
datafile and computer Gilsur had to trace down any information the virus may
have missed.

Kilsur relaxes in the forward observation gallery, watching the stars
flash past. The destroyer was going at Warp Seven, quite fast for him. Here
he was on a Sagussan warship of all places! If he had been here ten years
ago, he might've been shot on sight given the viciousness the *daishi'cha*
demonstrated to the Mikado's troops at Lecashuto and Colony Four. Now those
same *daishi'cha* were bent on helping him and the other Hunter Corps
survivors reclaim their lost families, the histories and lives they were
denied when they were kidnapped to serve the Mikado. And that had been
motivated because of his very own brother!

"Who were you...?" he muses as Cassur's image replays in his mind.
Just another soldier, an officer who spent more time doing paperwork than
fieldcraft. A born survivor, one who knew when it was going against them,
then got out when he could. Strove to live his own life until some jerk
ruined him. And when he sought to destroy that jerk, his path crossed that
of a pilot from Sagussa...which doomed him and forever changed her.

He blinks as a hand falls on his shoulder. "You're really rusty, you
know that," a voice warns.

He looks up as Makoto sits beside him. "Well, there was not much
cause for me to use my skills on Colony Twenty-six, ma'am."

"Please...Makoto," the shipmistress smiles. "Relax, you are among
friends despite what happened a decade ago. Though," a dangerous smile
crosses her face, "...if your brother had hurt my bondmate, not even Lufy
could've saved him from me."

"Oh, that's right, she served on the 'Hasei'cha,'" Kilsur remembers
the news broadcasts. "Well, given what this Tarsur did to Onii-san and
Orinsur, I'm glad he's gone."

"It might not be over yet."

"What do you mean?"

"Why would Tarsur want to wipe out the Hunter Corps records?" Makoto
muses. "All they did was point the hunters to parents and relatives, gives
them something of their history back. It wasn't vital information at all!
That makes no sense!"

"Search me. Um...Makoto, can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Lufy said something to me before we went back to the shrine," he
muses. "She said she wouldn't let me out of her sight. What did she mean by
that?"

"Well, she does blame herself for Cassur's suicide," Makoto muses.
"Chances are good that you may be all that's left of your family, Kilsur. If
your parents came from a colony that suffered a lot of damage during the Civil
War, their chances at surviving could've been less than fifty-fifty.
Regardless, if you die for whatever reason...she won't forgive herself."

"B-but, w-we just met!" he stammers. "I mean, she's beautiful and
all that, but I can't recognize her..."

"Your brother did," she muses.

"Well, Catty-sensei said that was because of drugs..."

"Oh?" Makoto smiles. "Kilsur, most Sagussans find the idea of one's
body locking them onto someone without any influence from one's mind quite
scary. We're comfortable with the concept of freedom of choice when it comes
to choosing one's mates. I love Mie-chan very much...but I acknowledge that
the chance might come that we could decide to separate. And if that occurs,
neither of us can stop the other from doing it. That's us.

"Your people evolved with that ability to bond with another without
your conscious mind influencing that choice. Vosians built a culture around
that, a culture that's stood the test of time for over four millennia. You
have deep-set customs around recognition, how mates should behave with each
other, customs that influenced how you've evolved. We have no right to judge
you just as much as you don't have a right to judge us. At the start, things
were quite rough, but they smoothed over and we get along fine now.

"During that time, NO Vosian has recognized a Sagussan...until your
brother encountered my friend Lufy. Whether it was under the influence of
narcotics or not is irrelevant. He did it. And because he did it and found
himself caught in a situation between his loyalty to his *marei'cha* and what
your culture demanded of him concerning Lufy, he chose to take his own life."

"Why do you call Orinsur *marei'cha?* Isn't that what you call the
bond between parents raising kids?" he wonders.

"Yes, it is. But the feelings that drive *marei'cha*...which are in
many respects the same as the recognition bond you had with Rinba...are the
closest equivalent to the bond Cassur formed with Orinsur," Makoto holds up a
finger. "*Marei'cha* covers both recognition and *pe'cha* in that respect.
And believe it or not, if one of us was caught in a position to choose between
two separate bondmates, I think we wouldn't really know what to do. I'm safe
because I have just one bondmate, but what would've happened if Lufy had to
choose between Catty and Cassur?"

"That would be a mess," Kilsur muses.

"You better keep it in mind," Makoto muses. "Kilsur, because you are
Cassur's brother, Lufy could...deep in her heart want to see you take
Cassur's place. The chances are good you would want to reciprocate, help
build a family with her. If you do that, all the world to you, of course,
but you better know now that even if you do, you can never have Lufy
emotionally all to yourself. Catty has first claims on her heart."

"Yeah, that would create some problems," Kilsur muses. "You can't
recognize two people at the same time, so what would be normal on Sagussa
would be pretty alien to us. What about the hunters you found on Colony
Four? How did they adjust?"

"We gave them the choice to either become Sagussans or remain as
Vosians. They all chose to become Sagussans within a year of coming...given
the power of our minds, a Vosian can't survive on Sagussa, especially when
you have to deal with *mavan'shagh* and the Awakening...but for those who had
bonds before then, they just reformed them as *marei'cha/surei'cha* bonds and
went from there. Other than that, they're considered part of our society, no
different than anyone else deep down. It's really no big deal."

"So we could fit if we wanted to," Kilsur muses. "Well, being with
two women and helping them parent a bunch of kids would be quite strange,
but...compared to the streets, not knowing if the person who passes you by is
friend or enemy, it's an improvement."

"Good," Makoto nods. "Look, there's only one really good way to
approach Lufy and Catty...any of us for that matter. Treat them as if you did
recognize them...or better, if you became *pe'cha* with them both and decided
you wanted to add forming a family, sexual intercourse and parenting children
to the way you treat your *pe'cha.* If you become a Sagussan, you can form
bonds with them. When it comes to respecting the various members of a family,
there's no difference between Vos and Sagussa."

"Okay. Thanks, Makoto."

She rises, then heads back to the bridge as Lufy walks in. "There
you are!" the flightmistress sits beside him. "What were you talking to
Makoto about?"

"You," he stares at her.

She blinks, then smiles. "Thanks. Nothing bad, I hope."

"No...just how we could...come together if we decide to do that," he
grimaces. Boy, it was hot here!

"I'd like that," she gazes appreciatively at him.

"Part of me'd like that, too," he smiles. "But I'm not sure if I can
care for you and Catty-sensei at the same time."

"Let me tell you something," she gently squeezes his hand. "When we
get back to Sagussa, I'll introduce you to a friend of mine. His name's Toren
Smith; he's a teacher in Kyre'sha. He lives with two girls named Noriko and
Kasua. Noriko and Kasua are bondmates. Guess what Toren is?"

"What?"

"Noriko's husband."

A blink. "They actually got married?!!"

"Hai, the first Terran-type marriage on Sagussa," Lufy nods. "And
Kasua came after; in fact, she convinced Noriko to marry Toren. Would you
believe that? But they don't mind that fact and Toren doesn't mind caring for
Noriko and Kasua at the same time. Love is what matters the most on Sagussa.
It drives all sorts of bonding combinations there. Believe me, what goes on
between Toren, Noriko and Kasua is quite plain compared to what's possible.

"But...and this might be your problem with living with Catty and
I...your people associate the love of mates to recognition. That is what
Sagussans find so tragic about recognition. Just because you don't recognize
me, does that mean we can't love each other, have children and live as a
family? Everyone on Sagussa would say 'yes, go for it'...but most Vosians
would say 'no, it's wrong' since your cultural experience weighs against it."

"Well, we're not racially bisexual like you are," Kilsur hums. "You
can either recognize cross-gender or same-gender. The only bis in the
Confederation are hybrids with races where that's normal like Zeiwan...and
when one's bi, one often can't recognize so they do have freedom of choice.
And there are people who look on that and consider it awful because
recognition's so ingrained into us, a relationship without recognition is
seen as...perverse."

"My point. The only way you can leap over that is to change your
genetics," Lufy nods. "And even then, you're not guaranteed to change so
completely. Makoto must've told you about the hunters from Colony Four who
work on Sagussa now. Believe it or not, they still prefer the one
cross-gender bondmate/childmate approach they had before they became
Sagussans. But we don't mind that since as Sagussans, they now have the
right to choose their fates and will have that right for the rest of their
lives.

"Cassur didn't have that chance. In fact, his cultural bias forced
him into choosing suicide over surrendering to me (which could've led to his
betraying Orinsur) or killing me in battle (which could've destroyed his
heart). And that is why I'm trying to help him and you. What happened to him
was a crime in my eyes and I can't rest until I can get justice for him. And
protecting you, ensuring you have a good future, does just that."

He blinks, feeling tears in his eyes, then gazes at her. The first
person to show him real kindness in all his life outside Rinba. "I only wish
we could become *pe'cha,*" he muses...

...then feels her fingertips touch his skull, his mind bathed in the
light of the *te'a* as Lufy's thoughts gently intermingle with his. She
quickly dulls the part of his mind which controls his psi-tracking skills;
were they to activate, he could die from the up-close exposure to her
intensive brainwaves, which reflect the infinite power of the *te'a* all
Sagussans could sense. After a moment, the bond is formed, a filter placed
over it at Lufy's end to prevent the bombardment of the *te'a* from
overwhelming him.

Her fingers then pull away. "How's that?"

"Weird," he blinks, then gazes at her. "But...it's not the full bond
you'd want, right?"

"Yeah," she nods. "If you become a Sagussan, you have to learn how
to...accept your ability to sense the *te'a* every moment of your life.
Believe me, learning that skill is very important; if you lose yourself in
the *te'a,* you can die. That's why we shield ourselves all the time; I
could kill you by dropping my shields and letting you have a taste of how the
*te'a* affects our minds. I don't want that, so I did it in such a way that
allows you to feel comfortable and keeps you safe at the same time."

"Yeah, it does feel like a *pe'cha* bond," he muses. "Your love for
Catty is really intense."

"Thank you."

"And all that came from her saying you had sexy muscles?"

"Well, that's what we were like then."

"And you adore your children."

"Who wouldn't?"

"And you really love Priss, her teammates and your shipmates."

"Best fighting partners you could ever ask for."

"And you still care for Ataru Moroboshi and Lum."

"Naturally."

He then blushes. "And...you really find me attractive."

"Yep," she smiles. "We may not have recognition, but as we explore
our emotions, better understand ourselves, we...discovered an interesting
fact. How, by our empathy and sensing a person's impact on the *te'a,* we
subconsciously judge if they're 'good' or 'bad' to be with, then base our
future behaviour around that person on that initial opinion. I heard that
some psychologists from Vos now say that sort of snap-judgement is a part of
recognition."

"It is," he nods. "Recognition's a big mix of factors. The genetic
factors involved, we're still trying to understand. How that influences our
outlook on our surroundings, that's still up for debate. But...when I
recognized Rinba, that was after we had been raised together, trained together
and survived together on the streets after we left Vos. It would be expected,
people from other races'd say. But how does that explain the spontaneous
nature of some bonds, the 'recognition on first sight' idea?"

"Yeah, that's a point," Lufy nods. "It's so funny, isn't it? When
you look at recognition that way, it's really random. Chance in a million
long- shot."

"Sort of like deciding you wanted to bond with Catty," Kilsur points
at her. "Yeah, you two interacted with each other over the years you were
cryofrozen. She was attracted to you even when you didn't understand why,
even when Catty was also interested in Noa. But your decision to pursue her
in the end factored down to one thing: what she said to you at the Forge
that day."

Silence falls. "Yeah. Just like my wanting to care for you stems
from what happened between your brother and I over the Moon," Lufy bites her
lip, then leans into him. "Well, no matter what, we're going to see this
through...and now, I can make sure you won't leave my sight ever again."

He cups her chin, then elevates her face to gaze into his. "Nor will
you leave my sight ever again."

She smiles as they kiss...

* * *

"Arriving over Colony Twenty-six, ma'am."

Makoto relaxes in her command chair as the greenish planet looms
before the "Shinowataru'cha's" bow, the bright light of her home sun in the
far distance. "Are there any military bases on this world?" the shipmistress
wonders as Mie, Lufy, Catty, Priss and Kilsur step onto the bridge.

"Negative," the combat officer, Shizuna, reports. "Nearest military
installation is on Colony Twenty. They are aware of our presence in this
system. Shall we contact civilian authorities?"

"Well, I don't see why not..."

"Wait!!"

Eyes lock on Kilsur as his eyes glow. "What?!" Catty tenses.

"Where?" Lufy wonders.

"That way!" he points starboard forward. "Faint, but there's a whole
bunch of people out there..."

"Scan the area!" Makoto orders.

"Scanning," Shizuna reports. "Sensors don't detect anything that
could be a ship or a space station, but there are some odd radiation readings
from the sector indicated."

"Localize and track in. Tell me what it is."

"Localizing now."

* * *

"What is it?"

"A vessel entering orbit over the planet, Mistress. It's a Sagussan
warship!"

"What?! What's a Sagussan warship doing here?! Identify!"

The sensory officer presses controls as the larger ship's schematics
appear. "Type Sixteen destroyer. Her beacon makes her NDS-109, R.S.S.
'Shinowataru'cha.' Makoto Seikou commanding."

The woman standing on the bridge frowns. "She's the bondmate and
life-mate to Mie Seikou, formerly of the 'Hasei'cha,' right?"

"The same, ma'am."

The woman scowls. "So, what brings them here?"

"Perhaps just a port visit before deploying for Earth sovereignty
patrol?" the helmsman proposes.

"Doubtful," she snorts, her mind rolling over the information she
knew of these beings. "The Sagussans are quite a cliquish lot. If the Mobius
Five are working on Gilsur's information, then the Visionary named Velvet Rose
may be involved. She's said to be part of Pathfinder Troop Six...and they've
worked with the 'Hasei'cha' crew on several missions, including defeating the
neo-Mikadoites who wanted to stop the Vos-Sagussa Treaty. Run up the lists of
Hunter Corps members living here and see if any are related to those who died
when the 'Hasei'cha' was destroyed!"

The computer officer taps controls, then grins. "Confirmed,
Mistress. Hunter Kilsur was Captain Cassur's younger brother."

"Is that a fact...?"

* * *

"I think I've got something."

"Talk to me, Shizuna."

"It's an omicron-type energy curve," the combat officer points to the
readouts. "Not a cloaking device we're familiar with, but there's got to be a
cloaked ship out there."

"Vosians don't have cloaked ships," Mie warns. "They wouldn't need
them because of their powers. It's outlawed here."

"Action stations!!" Makoto snaps. "All power to shields!"

* * *

"They've raised shields, Mistress!"

"They must've detected us, then!" the woman grimaces. "Are the
boarding teams back?!"

"Last team just came aboard!"

* * *

"More people just came aboard that ship!" Kilsur warns, his eyes
glowing. "Something weird's going on here!!"

"Hailing frequencies," Makoto sighs, then begins. "Unknown ship in
orbit over Colony Twenty-six, this is the Republic of Sagussa Starship
'Shinowataru'cha.' You're being cloaked in orbit over a Vosian colony world
is in violation of Vosian transportation and defence codes. De-cloak your
ship and identify yourselves or you will be considered hostile. We are
authorized to take whatever action necessary in defence of Vosian citizens
according to Clause Ten of the Vos-Sagussa Treaty. Respond now!"

* * *

"They can't do that!!" the helmsman snaps.

"They can!" the woman snarls. "Lock weapons on that ship. Prepare a
communications probe to send back to Vos."

"Mistress, we can't challenge that ship, even if we have the right
sort of weapons!!" the sensory officer warns.

"Maybe, but we can warn the others about the Sagussans taking
interest in the Hunter Corps!" the woman snarls. "Stand by to de-cloak and
raise shields!!"

"Hai!"

* * *

"No response," Shizuna sighs.

"Can we shoot first...?" Lufy wonders.

"Vessel de-cloaking!!" Shizuna cuts in. "Her shields are up and
weapons are armed, locking on us!!!"

"Stand by for evasive manoeuvres!" Makoto snaps. "Identify!"

"Type unknown, but definitely Vosian construction," the combat
officer reports as the sleek bird-shaped craft, strangely more Sagussan in
looks than the whale-cigar shape Vosian military ships were often modelled on,
swoops down on the destroyer like some hunting falcon eyeing a juicy rabbit.
"It's not in any warbook. Armament is the same as the Mark Seven star
destroyer class!"

"Must be a Mikado 'special project' unaccounted for when the Civil
War ended," Priss snarls. "The *an'san-Mikado've* been running into things
like this all the time."

"Ready anti-missile defences!" Makoto orders.

"Ready!!" Shizuna nods. "She's firing!"

The bolts of plasma energy slam into the "Shinowataru'cha's" shields,
then photon torpedoes launch. Given that the latter weapons could pass
through Sagussan shield systems with ease, the destroyer's point-defence
systems light up, blasting them down before they got close. Unnoticed, a
small probe is launched from the aft end of the alien craft, rocketing into
deep space, toward the inner worlds of the Confederation.

"Damage?!" Makoto wonders.

"Negative! Shields are holding!!" Shizuna reports.

"Return fire!"

"Aye-aye!!" she presses the red toggle.

Particle long guns and plasma cannons open up as a storm of
concussion missiles race towards the attacking ship. Mirroring the other
ship's attack, the long guns and cannons soften the shields, allowing the
concussion missiles through to slam into the hull, ripping giant holes as each
warhead...in truth, a nest of mini-explosives designed to explode in multiple
concussive waves, each wave burning deeper and deeper holes in
succession...detonates. The multiple breeches vent the ship's atmosphere into
the vacuum as conduits explode, causing the reactor to overload, the resulting
explosion bursting what is left like an overripe balloon!!

"Good shot!!!" Lufy nods.

"Wait!!" Kilsur's eyes glow. "Survivor!!"

"Confirmed," Shizuna presses controls. "Life pod ejected from the
ship just as she went! Beaming survivor into sick bay, holding her in
transporter stasis until the prisoner is declared secure."

"Going down!" Catty states as she runs off the bridge.

"Very well," Makoto nods. "Shizuna, get Yuu, Yurika and Kaede to
draw in the wreckage and what bodies survived the blast so we can do an
intelligence analysis. Then signal the colony governor and the V.D.F. on
Colony Twenty, tell them what's happened."

"Aye-aye," the combat officer nods.

Below, Catty walks into the destroyer's sick bay. Awaiting her is a
Vosian woman with very short-cut blonde hair, dressed in a black bodysuit,
currently surrounded by a secure energy field. "We've detected a mini-
explosive in her throat and suicide capsules in various parts of her body,"
the destroyer's nurse, Ayu, sighs. "I've disposed of them, but there's also
a lot of narcotics in her. Mostly mind-control elements, but there was also
White Noise in her. I've initiated cleansing protocols; they should be done
in a couple of minutes."

"Have you done a mind-probe?"

"Negative, I'sagh."

"Alright, then," Catty sighs, then puts on a pair of anti-stasis
gloves, which allows her to reach in the stasis field to do a psi-probe.
"Let's see what's going on..."

Kilsur and Lufy walk in as the doctor begins her examination. <<You
recognize her?>> the latter wonders as the former stands beside Catty, keeping
her mental "voice" down so as to not disturb her bondmate's examination.

<<Not really,>> he shakes his head.

Lufy walks over to the intercom. "Lufy to Yuu," she softly calls
out. "Come down to sickbay when you can; we need you to tap into Vosian
records to I.D. the survivor."

"On my way," the destroyer's science officer replies.

Lufy jolts as the pain of Catty's mind-probe echoes through their
bond. She walks over to place her hands on the doctor's shoulder, add her
mental strength to Catty's. "Lyna's Soul..." Catty bites her lip. "Her mind
could've been destroyed..."

"What did she do?" Lufy wonders.

"She...she...!" Catty gasps, then pulls her hands away from the
woman's face, staggering to a chair as Ayu walks over with a general
stimulant. "Oh, Lyna..."

"What?!" Lufy gently prods.

Catty shudders, then gazes sadly at Kilsur. "She...she was part of a
group from that ship," she takes a deep breath, then accepts a glass of water
from Ayu. "They beamed down...actually went to the part of the capital city
where your friends were living...and killed them!" she blanches. "Killed
them..."

Kilsur pales, then gazes at the woman as a hot flash rips through his
heart. His friends...all his friends...! "Damn you!!!" he roars, leaping at
her...

...then is grabbed by Lufy in a full nelson. "Hey!!!" she barks,
reinforcing it with a mental yell. "Knock it off!!! You didn't hear what Ayu
said about her!!!"

"She killed them...!!" he bellows, then blinks as words pour into his
mind from Lufy. "Mind-control...?"

"Yes," Ayu nods. "And there's a lot in her, too. If her mind
survives being cleansed, it'll be a miracle."

By then, Yuunoranna arrives, tricorder in hand. Taking a scan of the
woman's face and DNA pattern, she taps into a wall unit, then begins a general
query. She then smiles. "Found her!"

"Who is she?!" Lufy wonders.

"She's ex-Hunter Corps, defected to the Provisional Government when
the amnesty was called after Colony Four," Yuu replies. "Her name's Kuinba.
Lieutenant, formerly of the Ninth Ops Unit."

"That's bad," Kilsur shudders.

"I've heard of them," Lufy muses, placing a calming hand on Kilsur's
shoulder. "The 'black widows,' people called them. The ones who were called
in to do the internal dissent jobs, right?"

"Yeah," he grimaces. "Most of the people in Ninth Unit were
genetically upgraded, the only attempt by the Corps to create a team of
'hunter's hunters' based on the experiments done on your friend Koosei
Ryooki. People like her were trained to mask their brainwaves so she could
take out the other side's more successful hunters. Most of them survived,
then turned themselves in at the end. No one's heard from them since..."

"Well, someone decided the lieutenant here would be quite useful to
eliminate other hunters," Catty grimaces. "Yuu, can you find out how many
others are accounted for?"

"I'll get on it now," Yuu nods, then heads off.

Ayu checks her monitors on the side of the diagnostic bed.
"Cleansing protocols complete, I'sagh. The effects of the White Noise will
still be felt, however; the effects should fade as time goes on. Lowering
stasis field."

"Okay," Catty rises.

The field fades, followed immediately by a surprised cough. Kuinba's
eyes snap open, then she looks around. "Where...?" she slurs, then her eyes
lock on Catty...and glow for a brief moment! "Kirei...!" she then whispers.

Catty jolts, then hangs her head. "Why me...?!"

* * *

"Are you sure the vessel was Vosian-built?"

"Affirmative," Makoto nods, now in her cabin. "From what we could
salvage from the engineering logs, she was built at a yard on Colony Six ten
years before the V.D.F. captured it, then used as a special operations craft
until she was seized by its last crew."

"Did you find anything else?" Admiral Shermansur queries from his
office in Lecashuto.

"We lucked out this time," Makoto smiles. "The main computer was
relatively intact when we brought it aboard. Keeping in mind what happened in
Tere'na City, I had my science officer cleanse the data of viruses before we
scanned the information." She shrugs. "It doesn't give us what we'd really
want, but at least now we can trace everyone of the Hunter Corps to their
training schools. Now all we have to do is convince the people administering
the shrines there to allow us to excavate the mines and retrieve the other
data. Elder Priest Olnba is already making arrangements."

Shermansur sits back, clasping his hands under his chin as he
considers Makoto's words. Never before in Vosian history had the
Confederation sought the assistance of other races in solving what was
technically an internal social matter. True, there was only one other race
close to Vos with the technology that could help, but if they asked the
Zephyrites, the Holy Republic would be more concerned with pressing their own
agenda than offering humanitarian assistance. Given their need to have
friendly, honest relations with other races as they strove to rebuild their
shattered world, the Sagussans just didn't behave that way.

Honesty was a virtue on many worlds.

On Sagussa, it was holy covenant.

"What are your intensions?"

"Well, once Kilsur returns from identifying his friends, we'd like to
come right away to Vos," Makoto muses. "Given what just happened in Tere'na
City and Colony Twenty-six, many of us conclude that SOMEONE is leading a
campaign to eliminate the Hunter Corps survivors. It doesn't take much to
consider what might happen when those within the Confederation are
eliminated. There are ex-Hunter Corps officers now living on a dozen other
planets, Earth and Sagussa included. What happens if these people decide
they want to make it a total clean sweep?"

"Good point," Shermansur nods. "If you get the information about the
survivor's relatives, the chances are there that those relatives could press
the government for more protection. At the same time, however, the chance is
there..."

"...that the relatives could be targeted next," Makoto nods. "I
don't think the Confederation would want that, would it?"

"No, not really," Shermansur sighs. "Get here as soon as you can.
I'll have someone waiting for you when you arrive to act as liaison while I
try to sell this off to the Defence Minister."

"Aye-aye, sir," Makoto nods, then cuts the link.

With that, the admiral sighs. "Damn, just what we needed," he
mutters under his breath...

* * *

Elsewhere...

"There's a problem."

"What?" the leader wonders.

"The Sagussans stopped us at Colony Twenty-six," the woman reports.
"They now know that someone is planning to destroy the Hunter Corps, but they
haven't identified us."

A subtle tremor runs through his body. "And?"

"They're coming to Vos," the woman hisses. "With them is a hunter
from Colony Twenty-six, Kilsur. He's the younger brother of one of the
hunters who died over Earth. They know about the computer caches and are
obtaining permission to dig for them. The Vosian Defence Force is pledging
to assist."

"That can't be allowed," he growls, taking a knife and running its
edge on the palm of his hand, ignoring the blood and pain from the
laceration. "Once we do away with the hunters, then we have to do away with
their relatives to ensure they can't pressure the authorities to stop us when
the time comes. With the information in the Sagussans' hands, they're as good
as safe."

"Then we must destroy the caches," the woman warns.

"See to it."

"Hai."

* * *

Tere'na Compudata Centre...

"Well, the information Makoto salvaged from that ship over Colony 26
matches with what we could salvage from your computers, Gilsur," Rally sighs
as the computer sciences chief gazes at the report Lebia and Nene generated
after their latest all-nighter. "Still, it doesn't give us what we
ultimately want."

"Rally, if we are up against someone who wants to destroy the Hunter
Corps and all those related to it, we have to assume that the computer caches
might be the next things targeted," Nene warns, then gazes at Gilsur. "Right
now, we have over a thousand ex-Corps members living here. What happens if
they're targeted? Do we have to close down all trade between Sagussa and Vos
to keep our citizens safe from these monsters?"

"No, that is something the government certainly wouldn't want," Rally
grimaces, then smiles. "But there is a way around it, however...a way that,
while it can take some time to produce some decent results, could help in the
end."

"What sort of way?" Gilsur wonders.

"Before we signed the treaty with Vos and withdrew most of our
TECHINT assets from Vosian space, we had at any one time over 400 rover units
posted across the Confederation," Rally smiles. "All of them had UHD CD
recording devices which were maintained and upgraded constantly, replenished
by service rovers without a break in coverage in over 99 percent of the
cases. The information that was gathered was, after Intelligence and External
Affairs was finished with it, put into a storage vault in the Chamber of
Eternity. It could be theoretically possible to trace someone's movements
just by their DNA pattern alone, right from birth."

"All that has to be done now is to write up a search program," Nene
muses. "A person's basic DNA pattern doesn't change throughout their
lifetime."

"How soon?" Rally wonders.

"Already working on it up here," Nene points to her head. "As for
real-time on a machine, I'd say a day or so with help."

"Get on it," Rally orders. "Tell the others to pitch in. I don't
want to see you burn out, Nene. We've no idea what could happen when Makoto
and the others get to Vos."

"Hai!" Nene nods...

* * *

Lufy relaxes in the forward observation lounge, gazing at the passing
starfield. The "Shinowataru'cha" was now heading to Vos, the work over Colony
26 done. Yuu and the ship's chief engineer, Kaorinokanojo, were now going
through the mystery ship's wreckage, trying to learn more about who they were
up against. Only a couple bodies were recovered, both still awaiting
identification in the ship's morgue. What trace DNA they could recover of the
other crew was now being tracked down by Catty and Ayu.

She shudders as the gristly scenes from the back alleys of Colony 26
come back to her. Lufy had seen many forms of death in her two lifetimes, but
had never seen the aftermath of a massacre. Over a hundred people, none of
them armed with anything truly lethal, had been killed, shot in the back in
most accounts before they could defend themselves. The empathic trails of the
killers had stunned her. They had shown no emotion whatsoever, acting as if
Kilsur's friends were roaches, only worthy of being squashed.

Why? Who had such a grudge against the Hunter Corps that total
extermination was the only answer? Yeah, they were the Mikado's personal
goons, the special soldiers that made sure that any dissent against the
dictator was squashed before it led into open rebellion. But for the most
part, they were average people who wanted the chance to live normal lives
under their control after such an abnormal upbringing. Why? It made no
sense at all.

She blinks as the back door opens, revealing Kilsur. "Hi," he sits
beside her. "I've seen you here before, haven't I?"

She grins as they share a kiss. "Hi, yourself. How are you?"

"What would you say?" he shudders, tears still in his eyes. "I
thought I'd seen it all."

"So did I," she admits, leaning into him. "Do you have any idea who
or what these people are?"

"No, not a bit," he shakes his head. "All I do know is that whoever
they are, they're pretty well-trained...and they don't like us one bit. Then
again, you could say the same thing about most people in the Confederation
when you talk about the Corps."

"Yeah, that's true. Whoever's planning this must be banking on the
idea that because those targeted are ex-Hunter Corps, the normal citizen
wouldn't give a shit about them. 'They're just re-fighting the Civil War,'
some shrink'd say."

"You don't believe that."

"No," she shakes her head. "It was the same on Yehisril when the
*pirpirsiw'r* began making waves. Even if most of you haven't had cause to
use your skills in the last decade, you still are an asset to those willing
to use it. And someone doesn't want someone to make full use of that asset.
The trick of this exercise is to find out the 'who' on both sides and stop
those who want to destroy the Corps."

Silence as Kilsur considers that point. "It doesn't end, does it?"
he wonders. "Our lives were ripped away from us right from birth. Now, no
one wants us to live on our own. Why? Why...?"

She wraps an arm around him as he closes his eyes...

* * *

"Well, we've identified seven people so far from their DNA," Ayu
sighs as she files the last recording. "Sending it out to the Central Medical
Database in Lecashuto for cross-check."

"Good," Catty stretches herself.

"Care to wager what they find?" the nurse muses.

"No, thanks," the doctor shakes her head. "Personally, after what
Kilsur just went through, I wouldn't want to know what sort of sleeze we're up
against."

"What are you going to do?"

"Eh?!"

"I mean, about Kuinba?" Ayu nods towards the recovery ward, a bemused
grin crossing her face. "Can you believe it? She actually recognized you!"

"I don't WANT to believe it!" Catty hisses, then sighs. "I'm a
happily bonded woman, for Lyna's sake!! I'm comfortable with the way my life
is! I don't need someone to disrupt it."

"What about Lufy's new boyfriend?! You don't consider Kilsur a
disruption?"

Catty blinks, then smiles. "Would you?"

Ayu shrugs. "Well, he'd be welcome in any family back home. Still,
even when the White Noise's effects vanish, Kuinba will feel some sort of bond
to you."

"I wonder why," Catty muses. "I mean, I am bonded. I'd never
believe that a Vosian would recognize someone who was bonded."

"Maybe that depends on the type of bond involved," Ayu muses. "Our
bonds are mental in nature. I don't know the actual dynamics of recognition,
but everyone says it involves some sort of physical process. A psychokinetic
link of some sort? Maybe it's time to try to trace that process down and
quantify it."

"Maybe," Catty rises, then stretches herself. "Well, I'm going to
look in on the patient."

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Ayu smirks.

Catty sticks her tongue out. "*De'ne!*"

The nurse chuckles as Catty steps into the recovery ward. Kuinba was
now in bed, glancing over news reports via the ship's datalink. The latter
blinks as the doctor approaches, then warmly smiles as she stares at her.
"Kya- chan..."

"How are you?" Catty traces her fingertips over the hunter's
forehead, gentle psi-probes reaching into Kuinba's mind.

"Okay, I guess," she sighs. "If you feel you just woke up from a
nightmare that you can't forget."

"What was the last thing you positively remember before waking up
here?" Catty muses as she checks the stats.

"I was living by myself on Colony Two," Kuinba sighs. "I was a
waitress at a bar. Nothing really important. Anyone who knew what I did
during the war didn't seem to care. Anyone who didn't know never thought to
ask. I had no relations, no girlfriend, nothing at all. Little contact with
my old workmates in the Ninth Unit. Then...a blur...until I'm here...with
you."

Catty blushes on feeling Kuinba's desiring gaze, then sighs.
"Kuinba, I am a bonded woman. Could you care for both me and my bondmate?"

The hunter blinks. "I...I don't know," she admits, reaching over to
gently grasp the doctor's hand. "All I do know is that I've recognized you.
Where I come from, that's all that matters."

"Well, your life just became worlds more complex...and for that, I am
very sorry," Catty warns. "I just can't give everything of me emotionally to
you and ignore my bondmate; it wouldn't be fair, especially since you have to
factor our children into that equation. This could...change when you decide
to go in for genetic upgrade; you won't be able to live long on Sagussa
without it given our powers. But please try not to do anything which could
provoke Lufy; she...has an ugly tendency to shoot first and ask questions
later, especially when it comes to me."

"You're lucky, Kya-chan," Kuinba smiles.

"Who's lucky?"

Both turn as Lufy steps inside. "Your bondmate is...oh, my..."
Kuinba breathes in as her eyes flash, now locked on the pilot instead of the
doctor.

"What the...?!!" Catty and Lufy exclaim.

"I...I...how can I choose...?" Kuinba wonders, her voice hushed with
shyness, her emotions threatening to overwhelm her.

"What's going on?!" Ayu demands as she walks in, then stops on seeing
Kuinba's flushed face, her eyes vainly darting from Lufy to Catty and back.
"Oh, my, don't tell me..."

"First ever recognition to two people at once," Lufy muses.

The destroyer's nurse hums. "Well, that really makes things
interesting...even if it does save your relationship," she hums. "But how?
Once recognition occurs, a person's body is geared to be the mate to the one
so recognized and ONLY that one; that's the reason Vosians can't recognize
two people at the same time."

"The process has a physiological aspect to it?" Lufy wonders.

"It's quite obvious," Ayu nods. "If you may recall what the
*daimon'cha* did for Nassur-san at the Spirit War. He forged a life-link
between Nassur and Benten to save his life after the *saikoo jinseijitsu*
nearly killed him. That life-link had an immediate effect; once Nassur
cleansed himself of his wounds over losing Cinba, his recognition of Benten
immediately followed."

"That might provide an avenue of study for this," Catty blinks.
"Ayu, do a comparison scan of Kui-chan before and after she...recognized us.
See what changes there are in her physiological structure, then postulate how
that could help her recognize us both."

"*En,*" the nurse bows, then departs.

"In the meantime, we should schedule genetic upgrading for you as
soon as we can," Catty gazes at Kuinba.

"Will it hurt, Kya-chan?" Kuinba blinks.

"No, but you'll have the choice of Lufy or I to hold your *mei'na*
while your body undergoes regeneration," Catty smiles.

Kuinba shudders, dizzy at the IDEA of having her mind come in such
close contact with either of theirs, then she sinks into her sheets. "How can
I choose between Lu-chan and you, Kya-chan?"

Lufy and Catty exchange surprised looks. <<'Lu-chan?!' 'Kya-
chan?!' I take it we're her first,>> the former hums, a bemused grin cutting
across her face.

<<I don't mind our relationship having a little spice in it, but how
will the kids take this?>> the latter muses.

<<Much less, how will Kui-chan take them?>> Lufy nods...

* * *

"Another Mashi?!" Yolchong blinks.

"Yeah, another Mashi," Lufy nods as she relaxes with her daughters in
their guest bedroom just as the "Shinowataru'cha" decelerates from warp on
final approach to Vos. "She's that hunter we picked up from that ship."

"The one who killed Kilsur-monmoei's friends?" Mihagh wonders. "Is
he going to like the idea of living in close quarters with someone like her?"

"She was under mind-control," Yolchong shrugs. "Once he thinks it
through, it should be cool."

"Yep," Lufy sighs, rubbing her skull. "Lyna's Soul, this is really
getting complicated..."

"You're not giving up, are you?" Mihagh blinks.

"No, of course not," Lufy shakes her head, then sighs. "But believe
me, I never planned on any of THIS happening to me when we set out on this
little excursion."

"So what's the matter?" Mihagh inquires. "With you and Mashi gone a
lot of the time, someone has to be around to take care of Shinsan-chan,
Tangko- chan and Koui-chan. Kuinba-mashi and Kilsur-monmoei can take care of
that until they finally settle down; they'll have to spend time in special
social studies classes before they could get a job on Sagussa."

"Yeah, that's true," Lufy bites her lip, then scratches her hair.
"'Planet of Working Moms,' that's what someone on Earth actually called us
one day. Sometimes, I wonder if having a whole bunch of kids at the start is
actually worth it...!" She then blanches. "Oh, jeez, now I sound like
Ataru's stupid mother!!"

"We don't mind," Yolchong shrugs. "We know you still love us, we can
keep in contact through the Dreamscape if we're physically separated and you
do everything to spend time with us every day. And even if you and
Catty-mashi can't, there's still your companion android doubles; we could use
them."

"But some people're getting worried about making sure you have the
right parental supervision," Lufy stares at her eldest child. "Lots of other
planets whose societies swing to having both parents out working and away from
the hearth face the same questions..."

"But other planets aren't us!" Yolchong smiles, holding up an
objecting finger. "Like I said, you can contact us through the Dreamscape if
you're worried about us or your android doubles sub in for you if you're
really busy. Great advantage of being part of a race of telepaths, Mom. The
Vosians are the same way. Some planets're toying with the idea with using
visual datalinks so parents can look in on their kids; it's been standard
practice on Yehisril for a millennia. Some parents still consider it right
for one parent to remain at home. Earth's like that in places."

"Yeah, but the supporting economy has to make the conditions right
for just one breadwinner and one homemaker...and then you tack on the gender
rights issues," Lufy muses. "It's a darned good thing that we aren't as
socially dependent on economic conditions these days as most other races and
we resolved the gender rights questions before we began this whole thing."

"So why are you so worried about how we're coming out?" Mihagh asks.
"Mom, unlike some of my penpals and e-mail pals on Earth, you ALWAYS make
time for us, as much as you can. You've always told us the difference
between right and wrong and helped us accept it. Some of my pen-friends from
the States and Europe hardly see EITHER of their parents these days given how
they's so emotionally dependent on improving their economic situation, even
if it means less time observing their responsibilities to their families. At
times, they don't understand what's good and bad for them; their parents
aren't there to explain things and most school teachers don't see themselves
as surrogate parents..."

"Especially since kids on Earth know to 'protect' themselves from
teachers trying to discipline them," Yolchong sneers. "Friend of mine from
Canada told me this one. Most kids these days are so smart, the instant the
teacher starts coming down on them, they scream to their parents and get the
teacher disciplined or fired. Many teachers're afraid to do a thing to their
students these days and they're losing control of their classes!"

Lufy smiles. It awed her how intelligent her children were, even at
such an early age. Given that the distance separating Sagussa
technologically from other races meant an automatic shift to an earlier age
concerning the introduction of certain topics, it still took her by surprise
when Yolchong and Mihagh, ten and nine respectively, debated her and everyone
that crossed their path about topics that on Earth wouldn't concern their
peers until they were high school or university students.

*Parental jitters, Luf?* she smiles, allowing her daughters to
snuggle up. It was a damned good thing that the Grand Design, even before
Ataru's first visit opened their eyes to an emotionally vast universe, was
geared to protect their children both physically and psychologically as they
trudged to maturity. It would be left to Yolchong's and Mihagh's generation
to take the rough canvas that was Sagussa now and put on the touches that
best suited them; in something like this, Sagussa would never be a "finished"
work. It was a good thing they were debating the matter now, when they had
the time, the energy and the proper social environment to settle the
questions before some future tragedy forced choices on them.

But she, like the majority of *daishi'cha,* was still worried about
content, exactly WHAT her children were being exposed to and at what time.
This was the ultimate minefield when it came to raising a child: making sure
they got the information they would need when they were finally making their
own way, but at the same time not overwhelming them or confusing them with
conflicting signals. On Sagussa, it wasn't just a question of "do as I say
for your own good." That didn't make sense when the general rules were still
being written. Look what happened when Mio was believed to have died and her
bondmate Yuu charged with negligent homicide?

She then tenses as the door opens, revealing Kuinba and Catty. The
former hunter is now in a Pathfinder's duty jumpsuit with blank rank insignia.
"Hi, Lu-chan," she smiles as they relax.

"Wow, she is SO pretty!" Yolchong gapes, gazing appreciatively at the
tall blonde who was the newest member of their family. "Mom, Mashi, you know
how to pick them!"

Catty and Lufy blush. "Is that something you should speak to your
mother about, young lady?" Kuinba glares at Yolchong.

Mihagh reaches over and grasps her hand. "That soon, Mashi?" she
then stares at Catty on sensing a Sagussan's psionic signature.

"Well, it didn't take long to coax her into the regen chamber;
besides, Ayu had some mind-shield devices aboard so *tre'cha* wasn't
necessary," Catty smiles. "How do you feel, Kui-chan?"

"Strange," Kuinba admits. "I...it's nice that my tracking powers're
gone. I don't know what other hunters who've moved to Sagussa've said when
they do this, but I've always wanted to be rid of this power. Look how much
my having them destroyed my life?"

"And everything else?" Lufy muses.

"Well...my feelings for you are still there, even if there is
no...physical base for them," Kuinba stares at her. "That's how strong this
drive is in us, how much it impacts our lives, I guess. I don't mind; even
now, I can tell how decent you are. I...still want to be part of it...if you
and your children want me, of course, but...honestly, this freedom of choice
really scares me! On Vos, once you recognize someone, that's it. There's no
debate. Accept your life and go on. It's not the same on Sagussa."

"Well, we won't...solidify things until you've adjusted and undergone
the Awakening," Catty smiles.

"We might need her when we go to the camp," Lufy warns.

"I'd be against that," Catty sighs.

"But it's the same camp I went to, Kya-chan," Kuinba states.

The doctor blinks, then sighs. "Well, let's hope there's no real
problem, then..."

* * *

"Welcome to Camp Mensohn," the elder priest bows as the small group
of Sagussans appears after being cleared through customs and immigration. "I
am Vasur, the chief cleric of this memorial."

"Thank you for hosting us, Elder Vasur," Catty bows, then does the
introductions for the others.

"Peace, logic and harmony to you all," Vasur smiles. "In the
meantime, let's take you to the mine pit. Please follow me."

The group proceeds into the rectangular space, marked out by earthen
berms and lines of barbed wire, which housed one of the dozen schools whose
graduates filled the ranks of the Hunter Corps over seventy years. Most of
the land was bulldozed, eradicating traces of its previous use, though one of
the residence blocks and the training halls were intact, transformed into
museums for those wanting to understand this emotionally horrid time in Vos'
history.

As they proceed, the Sagussans close their eyes as their powers
gently flow out, touching the psionic echoes still haunting this place. An
innocent child's laughter, the scream of someone being beaten for breaking the
rules, the laughter of the teachers, the haughty snorts of the elder students,
the cowered whimpers of the younger students...the silence of death.

"How many came through here?" Mie wonders.

"According to what records we have, six thousand students came to
this school over a period of 70 years," Vasur sighs. "They say that...your
kind can hear the ghosts of the past; the echoes of their presence. Can you
hear them...can you hear them now?"

"Hai," she nods, pausing as her eyes fall on a break in the fence
line. Stopping, she walks over, then kneels, her eyes closing as images from
decades before flash through.

"What do you see?" Makoto kneels beside her.

"Nassur..."

"Eh?!" the shipmistress gapes.

"This was the school he went through," Mie bites her lip as she
watches a young Nassur lead a small group through the break in the fence to
freedom and the vast city kilometres to the south.

Makoto closes her eyes, then frowns. "We know his story. Now it's
everyone else's turn," she pats Mie's shoulder, then helps her up as they race
over to join the others.

They now gather around a closed pagoda at one end of the camp. "When
the school was open, the old metal framework was still intact, a lift used to
lower people into the shaft," Vasur explains. "After the school was closed
down, we sealed the shaft and tore down the tower; it had been...used in the
torture of some students, tying them on the beams without any clothing and
letting them welt under the sun in mid-summer or freeze in winter."

"Cute," Lufy muses, then steps into the pagoda. Her eyes fall onto
the simple memorial plaque in the middle of the concrete circle, dedicating
this place as a memorial to the nameless victims of the Vosian Civil War.
Kneeling, she closes her eyes as she mutters a silent prayer to the departed
spirits below, then reaches over to lift the plaque from the concrete. "This
is to be restored to the way it was when we found it," she stares at the
others. "Mi-chan, you bring your Minisuit?"

"Hai!" Mihagh nods.

"Get it beamed down. We'll use the winch up front to lower me down.
Try not to wreck everything in sight when you drive that thing around here;
your special skills teacher's been griping to me about how many things you
wreck during phys ed classes."

"MOM!!!!" Mihagh wails over everyone's laughter.

Once the plaque is clear, Lufy pulls out a tricorder to scan the
circumference of the mine shaft below. Nodding, she takes a cutting laser in
hand, then begins to make her incision. "She has a surgeon's skill," Vasur
muses.

"Look who she's mated to," Makoto thumbs Catty.

The Vosian priest nods as the doctor flushes. A transporter beam
heralds the arrival of Mihagh's Minisuit, then as the pilot steps aboard,
Yolchong draws out the towing winch and cable from the machine's groin,
leading the line into the pagoda. As Lufy makes incisions to allow someone
to grab the cut concrete and lift it away without letting it fall into the
shaft, Yolchong sets up a pulley to stop friction from the cable going around
a corner.

With the cuts made, Makoto and Priss raise the concrete seal and
stand it to one side. Very little in the way of a stench escapes the shaft.
Lufy slips on a pair of night-vision glasses, then looks down. "About thirty
metres to the main shaft," she muses, then rises to put the rappelling harness
on.

"I would insist on no weapons," Vasur interrupts.

Lufy stares at him, then nods, unstrapping her pistol belt and
handing it to Catty. "I'll stand outside and watch," Priss draws her own
weapon, then steps outside.

"Please forgive the troop commander, Elder," Catty gazes at Vasur.
"Her team's operational rules state she must be armed and ready for combat at
any time."

"Do you really believe there's a threat?" another priest asks.

"After our experience with the information the hacker Gilsur had with
him on defecting to Sagussa, yes," she nods. "Whoever wants to destroy the
Hunter Corps has already killed over a hundred of Kilsur's friends on Colony
Twenty-six; in fact, they brainwashed Kuinba into helping. We have no idea
what might happen if the survivors' relatives might be the next ones targeted;
you can never tell with lunatics like this. As far as we're concerned, the
best thing is prepare for the worst and hope for the best. I doubt your place
in society will shield you for long from people like this."

The priests exchange looks, then nod. By then, Lufy has strapped
herself onto the line. "Okay, going down!!"

"*En!*" Mihagh taps a finger control.

The winch unwinds slowly, allowing Lufy the chance to descend into
the dark pit. The shaft, having once served as an air vent when Vos was
dependent on coal to fuel its pre-space industrial age, is wide. "How is
it?!" Catty yells from above.

"Not bad," Lufy looks around, her night-vision goggles making the
rock around her as bright as day. She then switches on the DNA scanner
attached to the glasses, one of her bondmate's ideas. "Little trace DNA on
the walls. Going down."

The shaft begins to widen as she approaches the bottom of the pit.
Lufy looks around, all her senses active as she keeps a watch for any
possible attack. "Is there another entrance to this place?!" she calls back
up. "Where was the main entrance?!"

"Records for that were lost a long time ago!" Vasur reports.

"Pass me a tricorder!!"

"Heads up!" Mie tosses it down.

Lufy catches it one-handed, then slings it over her shoulder.
"Almost there...another four metres!" she reports.

A minute later, her feet touch hard rock. Standing herself, the
flightmistress looks around. "Trace DNA!!" she reports...then stops on seeing
quasi-humanoid forms laying near the walls. "Found some bodies!!"

"How many?!!" Catty yells down.

"Switch to wrist-comm units," Lufy taps her left bracelet, then makes
a count. "About a dozen. They're just tossed around here. Want to come down
and made a post-mortem on them?"

"It would be prudent," Catty sighs, then stares questioningly at
Vasur. "A DNA scan would go far in case parents want to know what happened to
their children."

He sighs, then nods. "As long as they're aren't disturbed."

Catty nods. "Hoist the line up!" she yells at Mihagh.

"*En!*" the would-be Warsuit pilot presses controls.

Lufy unstraps herself, then allows the harness to be boosted back up
before taking her tricorder and scanning down the main shaft. "I got an
entrance!" she reports. "Range about two kilometres. I don't think it was
the main entrance to this mine; this route leads towards an underground
stream!" She then scans the other direction. "The pit goes in about a
kilometre further. No other entrances detected."

"We'll have to mark where the other entrance is," Vasur's voice
echoes through her wrist-comm. "If prudent, I would like to see it sealed to
prevent others from getting in there."

"Understood," Lufy nods, then looks up.

Catty descends, night vision goggles over her face and her medical
kit over her back. She unstraps herself, then taps her wrist-comm. "Pull
back the harness. We'll call when we need it."

"*En!*" Mihagh replies as the line is withdrawn.

"Where to?" Catty wonders...

...just as the distant thunderclap of explosions echoes from above.
"What the...?!!" Lufy looks up...

...as a direct hit on the pagoda covering the shaft makes dust fall,
echoed by the rumble of larger things on their way down!! "MOVE!!!!" Lufy
grabs Catty and sends her deeper into the pit.

They get clear just in time; a storm of shattered masonry and rock
smashes into the ground where they stood. Lufy and Catty duck behind a corner
as the dust settles, coughing. After a moment, they look back...to see that
while the way to the other entrance is unblocked, the way up the air shaft is.
"Oh, swell...!" Lufy mutters, then taps her wrist-comm. "Lufy to Priss!
Sitrep?!"

Static. "Heavy interference from the surrounding rock and weapons
discharges," Catty scans up with her tricorder.

<<Pri!! Mako!! Mie!! What's going on?!!>> Lufy psi-flashes.

<<Little busy up here, Luf!>> Priss' voice responds. <<We got tangos
coming out the wazoo trying to make us Swiss cheese! We're all okay!!
Kilsur, Kuinba and the kids're alright; instant shots started going off,
training kicked in with the hunters right away. Mako's trying to get the
ship to fire down on them from orbit but we gotta play 'may I' with the
V.D.F. first!>>

<<Burn 'em down, love!>>

<<Always do, gorgeous,>> the Pathfinder mentally winks. <<Get the
cache while you're down there!! Let's get that done!>>

<<Got it,>> Lufy nods, then stares at Catty. "Shall we?"

Catty nods, handing Lufy a welcome present. "Managed to sneak this
down for you!" she winks.

"Oh, bless your evil heart, Cattyvayae," Lufy takes the photon
shotgun in hand, then loads up. "Let's go!"

They walk into the cave. Minutes pass as they close in on the end of
the pit. "It's a circular chamber," Catty scans ahead. "Some power source
there, plus lifesigns..."

"Lifesigns?!!" Lufy blinks, then stops. "Lyna!!"

Catty gapes as they turn a corner...to find a small bank of computers
still humming away a decade and more after being placed here thanks to the
fusion generator by one wall...and that doesn't mention the five hibernation
capsules, each containing someone...

* * *

"They're being fired on?!!"

Shermansur blinks as images of the destruction of Camp Mensohn play
before him and his guest on the viewscreen. Hessur stands beside the admiral,
stunned that a simple, humane investigation of the histories of 30,000 people
had led to THIS! "Affirmative, Admiral," the "Shinowataru'cha's" first
officer, Shigeno, nods. "We scan approximately 100 attackers involved; they
just came up in tour trams, unloaded, then attacked!"

"Status of your people?!" Hessur wonders.

"We're alright, ditto with the priests, but unless they get
reinforcements there soon..."

The ominous warning hangs in the air. Shermansur and Hessur exchange
looks. Part of them naturally wanted to handle the matter themselves. Aside
from the fact that it WAS technically their ultimate responsibility to
protect those visiting the Confederation (especially since the visitors were
happily trying to help resolve a long-standing social problem), some groups
would be really upset that the government had AGAIN turned to the Sagussans
to solve that problem. The accusations about the current regime's
legitimacy, which was partially secured with alien help, hadn't quieted down
in the years after the Battle of Lecashuto. "What's the nearest response
time for our people?" Hessur sighs.

"Three hours," Shermansur grimaces.

The chief minister closes his eyes. There were times when he wished
the Alliance Army hadn't taken the decision to practically exile Hunba from
Vos, transform a good leader into a martyr because she wasn't a capable
civilian administrator. Good administrator that he was, Hessur knew he
wasn't fit to make such snap calls in crises like this. Shermansur glares
urgently at him. As a military officer, duty and pride was on the line,
which demanded the Vosian Defence Force respond...but the admiral was also a
realist when it came to these things. Hessur nods.

"Watchmistress?"

"Yes, Admiral?" Shigeno braces herself.

"Defend your people," Shermansur orders. "Try to get some of these
bastards alive; we'll want them as bad as you do."

"*En!*" Shigeno nods, then looks at Shizuna. "Open fire!!"

* * *

Camp Mensohn...

*Hope help comes soon!* Priss grits her teeth as she peeks around the
corner to confirm where the tangos were. <<How is everyone?>> she mentally
calls out, keeping her "voice" down to prevent the Vosians from getting a very
ugly headache.

<<Okay here,>> Mie reports. <<Who are these guys?!>>

<<I can't recognize them,>> Vasur shudders. <<Monsters! Have they
no respect for what happened here?!>>

<<I think that what happened here is what brought them here!>> Makoto
grimaces. <<Hey, Pri, let's try to outflank these assholes and slice 'em down
in a crossfire!>>

<<We want prisoners,>> Mie warns.

<<Okay,>> Priss sighs. <<Kuinba, Kilsur, on my count, give us cover
fire. Vasur, you and your friends get the kids under cover. Mie, you stay in
the centre. Keep your heads down!>>

Affirmation comes from everyone else. Priss loads a grenade into her
FAPR's launcher, then fires it before sprinting out to the next berm. The
attackers automatically duck their heads as the Pathfinder pours it on, then
some cry out as they see her move, weapons rising to take her down. Makoto's
FAPR sends a grenade out, echoed by Mie's as the shipmistress breaks for her
jumpoff point, allowing Priss to get under cover. The *crumps!* of the
grenades detonating sends geysers of soil, dust and broken bodies flying
around. <<I'm set!>> Makoto calls out.

<<Ditto,>> Priss smiles. <<Ready, on three. Ai...ei...>>

<<INCOMING!!!!!!>> Kuinba screams out.

Priss spins around as flashes of light appear in the southern sky,
flashes that transform into tiny darts as anti-personnel missiles race down,
their warheads detonating over the attackers as grapeshot and shrapnel buzzes
down to slice them down where they stand. <<Bless you, Shermansur!>> Makoto
laughs.

<<Fire!!!>> Priss bolts up, her weapon chattering.

Makoto and Mie pour it on, followed two seconds later by Kuinba and
Kilsur. In a minute, it's over. "ALRIGHT!!!!" Yolchong cheers as everyone
cautiously emerges from cover and sees the carnage they wrought.

"Stay put!!!" Makoto barks as she, Mie and Priss move in, Kuinba and
Kilsur behind them.

Pained moans and the gurgling of lungs and windpipes filling with
blood answers them from the small mass of people who had come today. Many
were past help, their bodies hacked apart by flying missile parts. The comic
surprise on many faces indicates they weren't expecting such easy cooperation
between the Vosian Defence Force and the Sagussan Navy. *Idiots never
learned from Lecashuto and Colony Four!* Priss muses to herself, then hears a
harsh cough from nearby. "Survivor!" she calls out.

Makoto calls the "Shinowataru'cha" to get Ayu down to help as Priss
kneels beside the wounded attacker. She had taken hits in the legs and one
shoulder, but her vital organs were intact. Ayu appears, then scans her.
"Watch it," she warns. "Same shape Kuinba was in when she was brought aboard.
Stand back."

Priss backs off as Kuinba walks up. "Oh, God!!" the hunter cries out
as she kneels beside the woman. "Tulnba..."

"Friend?" Priss wonders.

"My former company commander," Kuinba shakes her head.

Priss shakes her head just as Ayu injects Tulnba with a painkiller,
then the cleansing agent to get the drugs out of her system. At that moment,
the eyes flutter open. "Where...?"

"Hold still," Ayu advises.

Tulnba turns towards her, then her brown eyes glow suddenly as they
lock on Ayu. "Oh, no, not again!!!" Priss moans.

"Kirei..." Tulnba feels her cheeks flush.

"Welcome to the club, Tul-chan," Kuinba stifles her laughter.

Ayu sighs, then gets back to work. "Now I know how Catty-i'sagh
feels..." she mutters.

By then, the priests have come out of hiding with Mie, Makoto and
Kilsur completing their sweep of the other attackers. "Just one other
survivor over there," the young hunter points to a man laying near the edge
of the strike zone.

"I have medical training," a priest, Palnsur, reports.

"Beam the extra medical kit down," Makoto calls to the ship.

Palnsur walks over to the man, Mie staying close in case he tried to
do anything stupid. Palnsur kneels beside him, then as the medical kit
appears, begins treatment. "He doesn't look like a hunter," the chief petty
officer hums.

"He isn't," Palnsur shakes his head. "Common street thug, more
like...Lecasur's Soul!!!"

Mie blinks, then kneels as Palnsur turns the man's head away to
reveal a curious sigil tattooed into his skin under his earlobe. It was a
globe of Vos immersed in flame. "You recognize that?" Mie stares at Palnsur.

"Yes, I do," he shudders. "Vasur!!"

"What...?" the elder priest walks over, then pales on seeing the
sigil. "Oh, God..."

"So who are they?!" Mie urges.

Vasur and Palnsur exchange looks. "The Fire of Heaven."

* * *

"Hold still..."

The brown-haired girl with the ponytail and the very kawaii brown
eyes smiles as Catty injects the hibernation sickness medication, then begins
to stretch herself. "Thank you," she sighs, then stares at her friends. "You
alright?"

"We're fine," one of the others nods, then stares at Lufy. "Who are
you people?"

"I'm Flightmistress Lufy of the Republic of Sagussa Navy," the pilot
introduces herself. "This is my bondmate, Healer-prime Catty, Personal
Physician of the Sagussan Head-of-State. How long have you girls been in
suspension?"

"What year is this?" the ponytailed girl inquires.

"Nineteen-ninety-four," Catty reports.

"We were put under in nineteen-eighty," the girl frowns. "So who are
you people and why are you here?"

"We're two of the Maidens of the Eternal Voyager as you people like
to call us," Lufy sighs. "We've been allies to the government formed when
the Rebel Alliance Army toppled the Mikado four years after you girls went
under; in fact, we helped them get rid of the Mikado when that idiot tried to
hurt the Chosen One and his chosen life-mate. We're here today to...why are
you crying?!"

All the girls are weeping. "We're dead!!!" one wails. "We died and
we became Maidens...!!!"

Lufy and Catty faint! "KNOCK IT OFF!!!!" the former bellows, causing
the girls to cower from her burning stare. "What's with you people?!! You
haven't died and were remade into Sagussans; if you did, you wouldn't be stuck
in this damn cave!!!"

They blink. "Oh, we forgot..." the ponytailed girl hums.

"Go easy on them, Lufyvayae," Catty play-punches Lufy in the
shoulder. "They're not much older than Yolchong...just past Stop Time if I
miss my guess."

"H-hai!" the girls nod.

"So what in Lyna's name are you doing here?" Lufy wonders.

The ponytailed girl sighs. "Well, when they did the initial tests
for tracking potential, we checked out and were taken here to train," she
explains. "But as we grew up, it was later discovered that our test readings
were...false. We have little tracking sense whatsoever. So...it was decided
to convert us from hunters into couriers to keep the Mikado forces in contact
with each other."

"Yes, I see the cybernetic augmentation you received," Catty notes
the cyberjacks barely hidden by their ears. "Well, you'll be relieved to know
the war's over and you can go finally back to your families once we get the
information from these computers here..."

"That won't be necessary," the girl smiles, pointing to her head.
"It's all in our minds. We downloaded it before we went into cryosuspension."

Lufy blinks, then crosses her arms. "Now, what made you girls do
that?"

"Hey, we didn't want to lose track of our relatives!" another girl
cries out. "Especially if some of the real bad rebel sects got hold of it;
they'd destroy it and kill everyone involved just to get rid of any trace of
the Corps!!"

Lufy and Catty exchange looks, then sigh. "Well, we got them alive
and well; we better get them somewhere safe, then," the former muses, then
looks up. <<Yo, Pri, you guys okay?!!>>

<<We're cool, Luf! Got the cache?!>> Priss replies.

<<Even better; it was downloaded into five cyber-couriers who flunked
hunter's school,>> Lufy smiles. <<Interested in another child to adopt,
Pri?>>

<<Thanks but no, you and Cats can have them,>> Priss laughs, then
sighs. <<But we've got a bigger problem now.>>

<<What?>>

<<We've ID'd the tangos,>> Mie cuts in. <<They call themselves the
Fire of Heaven.>>

"'Fire of Heaven?!'" Lufy and Catty wonder.

"FIRE OF HEAVEN?!?!?!" the girls scream out.

"Bad?" Lufy stares at them.

"You...could say that..." the ponytailed girl nods...

* * *

Two hours later, the Vosian Defence Force and the *an'san-Mikado*
make their appearance. As awed mutters echo from the young troopers on
seeing the enormous damage the Sagussans could do on short notice (eliciting
comments from the veterans like "this was NOTHING like what they did at
Lecashuto"), everyone relaxes by the old gym. A Gladiator was flown down so
Mie could clear out the debris blocking the air shaft, then Lufy, Catty and
their five new friends were hoisted up by a very relieved Mihagh and
Yolchong. Tulnba was transported to the "Shinowataru'cha" for regeneration
while the five young hunters were taken by Yuunoranna to have their
information downloaded into the destroyer's computer in case a transmitted
virus was pumped into their cybernetics.

"Thanks again," Shermansur comes up, Gomasur behind him. "Damn, we
always keep saying that to you people."

"Relax, you'll get the chance one of these days," Lufy nods, then
stares at the commander of the *an'san-Mikado.* "Much that I hate to say
this, you guys really gotta work on your interrogation methods if you let
that asshole Tarsur blindside you like that."

"We know," the rumpled colonel shakes his head. "Damn, who'd believe
that Tarsur was a plant to turn our attention away from the Fire destroying
the Corps survivors?!"

"Why would they do that?" Catty demands.

"That's how ruthless these bastards are," Shermansur sighs. "Look,
can we move this discussion to your ship?! I can't trust myself to say
ANYTHING to you people from any place on Vos."

"Okay," Lufy rises, then turns to Makoto. "When's Shayla supposed to
be here?!"

A flash. "Someone call my name?"

"Yo, Shayla!" Lufy waves as the scientist walks up, ignoring the
stunned looks from the Vosians; they were used to teleporters and
transporters, not instantaneous movement over 10,000 parsecs between Sagussa
and Vos. "Care to do the honours."

"*En,*" the *te'a* expert raises her *haijo-ju.* "Everyone cover
your eyes!!"

Eyes squeeze shut as the ruby-like crystal blazes to life, causing an
Akira wave of energy to encompass the whole camp. As the soldiers watch in
awe, buildings are restored, the ground returned to its pristine beauty and
the pagoda over the airshaft rebuilt. As the energy fades, Mie draws a bos'n
call to her mouth and pipes the still as Makoto barks out, "Attention on
deck!!!"

Right hands snap up to the eyebrows in salute (for military personnel
not under arms) or fall over the heart (for civilians) as the soldiers
present arms. Mie pipes "Last Post" as the priests intone prayers, begging
the souls of the deceased to forgive the disturbance of their eternal rest.
Shayla remains still, her *haijo-ju* glowing, tendrils of energy pumping new
life into this place which only knew misery and death. Flowers suddenly
bloom in the fields, filling the fields with their blossoms as a wind picks
up. The pedals part, showering the area with their leaves.

Mie then pipes the carry-on as hands lower and the soldiers order
arms. "Let's go!" Lufy sighs...

* * *

Elsewhere...

"The attackers were killed?"

"Yes," the woman grimaces. "The Defence Force called in the
Sagussans to fire at them from orbit. We've no idea what happened to the team
that went in...or the cache."

"That is not acceptable."

"I'll find out more."

"Do so," the leader's eyes narrow...

* * *

In the "Shinowataru'cha's" spacious conference lounge an hour later,
everyone relaxes around the circular table. Holoscreens are active at one
end of the room: one showing Sakura, Noa and Marcia in the prime
councillor's office; one showing Hunba, Yedris and Anri in Eternal Affairs'
main work room; the last showing Rally, Nene and Gilsur in the computer
services chief's workroom. Attending the meeting from Vos are Hessur,
Shermansur and Gomasur. All the Sagussans who were involved in the Mensohn
incident sit with them, accompanied by the five young couriers, Kilsur,
Kuinba and a healed Tulnba. "I never thought I would ever hear the name
'Fire of Heaven' again in concern with Vos," Hunba sighs.

"Who ARE these monsters, anyway?!" Makoto demands.

"Fundamentalists," Hessur sighs. "We espouse total religious freedom
and non-interference between the various faiths. For over two thousand years,
that has been the norm on Vos. But even now, years after Unification, there
are still those...who believe their particular faith is the ONLY one that
should be accepted on Vos."

"And these people are like that?" Noa muses.

"Quite correct, Elder Mother," Hessur grimaces. "There are ten main
religious groups in the Confederation. One of them is the belief in Dali'la,
the ancient Vosian god of war and physical prowess. In fact, the Dali'lans
were the group that gave birth to the Dali'lama Silent Ones that produced the
Mikado and Osur."

"Wonderful," Marcia frowns.

"The Mikado originally trained as a priest in the Dali'la Temple
before he joined the Defence Force as I recall," Noa muses.

"You know that?!" Gomasur blinks.

"You'd be amazed at how much I know about that lunatic," Noa mutters.
"Right after we obtained our last *daishi'cha*...a trainee hunter from Camp
Mensohn, Tenba, to be exact...I had ten rover units assigned to research
EVERYTHING about him, from birth to death. Since he was head-of-state at the
time we began our search for a *daimon'cha* candidate, especially after I
bonded Lum-chan and Ataru, then we unanimously chose him as *daimon'cha,* I
knew that sooner or later we'd have to deal with the Mikado, especially given
Lum-chan's friendship to Nassur."

The Vosians nod. "He was your typical Dali'la follower," Hessur
muses. "Believed that Vos was supreme in the galaxy and that we shouldn't bow
to anyone, the Zephyrites included. That changed the day he first ran across
Sheko."

"Sheko?!" Yedris blinks.

"Sheko, despite his faults as *laqu'r,* was a superb fighter in his
own right," Anri muses. "Granted, I never had the honour to meet the Prince
in battle (I was still in suspension in Chemlos), but he was believed to have
discovered lost *pirpirsiw'r* combat tomes buried in Kyotos. Self-taught
warrior; a pity all his secrets went with him to the grave. The day he
encountered the Mikado...in AL 1709, I believe...he was then working as a
knight for the earl of Tizros. The Mikado was on a quest to prove himself as
a 'proper' Dali'la priest, which demands physical prowess in battle. They
encountered the other, then as would be expected, they fought. Sheko beat
him with ease."

"That nearly destroyed the man," Hessur hums. "But Sheko saw
something in the Mikado that impressed him. According to all the legends
around that, he took the Mikado under his wing, then taught him a lot about
being a real warrior. He then sent the Mikado back to Vos to find the
Dali'lama Silent Ones to finish his training."

"As I recall, Osur was training as a Silent One at the time the
Mikado came home," Noa muses. "The Mikado was bullied by his fellow trainees
because of him being taught by an alien. Osur was the worst of the whole
lot...but none of them ever took into account that the Mikado and Sheko were
*pe'cha.* When Sheko sensed what was happening, he personally went to Vos,
found Osur and the other bullies and pounded the fools into a near-coma!"

Everyone grins. "The bastard had some use after all!" Lufy snorts.
"Pity he didn't kill the jerk then and there!!"

"Sheko probably was the one who made Osur go nuts," Gomasur
grimaces. "Thank God I trained as a Pashansho Silent One."

The others nod. "Still, the Mikado's experience with Sheko may have
started this whole mess," Hessur sighs. "Because he learned a lot about
respecting other races, he was seen as a heretic in the eyes of most of the
Dali'la. He still became a Silent One, then joined the Defence Force shortly
after."

"But when he assumed power, the Dali'la fell over themselves
accepting him back to the fold," Shermansur sneers. "He was of some help in
pressing their cause: the Hunter Corps came about because the Dali'la didn't
like the law in the old Constitution forbidding psi-hunter military
formations. But when they tried to press him to expand Vosian territory into
other peoples' domains, he resisted all the way."

"That was when the first Colony Four massacre occurred, right?"
Sakura wonders. "Around AL 1925, right?"

"Exactly, Prime Councillor," Shermansur muses. "And that's when the
seed for the Civil War was planted. When things between us and the Yehisrites
were about to plunge all the way to war, Sheko undertook a personal mission to
Lecashuto. He came unarmed, unarmored, unescorted. As Advisor Anri can
attest, for a *laqu'r* to do that meant they were VERY serious about keeping
the peace."

"The details get a bit fuzzy then, but shortly after, we discovered
that the guard duty watch at Camp Mensohn was dismissed one night after a
graduating training exercise that involved some street kids...in AL 1931 to be
exact," Hessur muses, staring at Mie. "On the secret orders of the Mikado
himself."

"Nassur..." Mie gapes.

"Mie?!" Sakura stares at the pilot.

"Nineteen-thirty-one was the year Nassur escaped Mensohn with his
friends to Lecashuto; that was the year Tenba came to Sagussa and we began the
preparation for Stage Two," Mie muses.

"Son-of-a-bitch!" Lufy whistles. "This whole thing was a big set-up
from the start."

"With disastrous results for everyone involved," Hessur sighs.
"Nassur never knew about this; we discovered it when we finally took
Lecashuto and discovered the Mikado's hidden file cache in the State House,
his residence. When Sheko came on his initiative, he privately convinced the
Mikado to set up an incident where Osur (then also a high priest of Dali'la
as well as Corps Commandant) would be blamed for failure and could then be
removed legitimately and executed. The Corps at that time was rife with
Dali'lama Silent Ones; there was no representation from Pashansho and little
from the other main groups. Once Osur was gone, the Mikado could then clean
out the Dali'la influence on the Corps, then use them against the Dali'la in
case they rebelled."

"What they didn't count on was Osur and Dosur exceeding their orders
and killing almost everyone on Colony Seventy-one," Hunba pales, the truth
behind the attack that started the Civil War making her nauseous.

"That's right," Shermansur nods. "There were to be some people
killed. Mostly the high officials who resisted the Mikado's efforts to have
Nassur extradited back to Vos. Namasur and Shuba, plus their daughter Cinba.
Your husband was under direct orders to kill Osur. Once he was dead, Hisur,
who was Pashansho, would take over the Corps, then do the cleaning out of the
other Dali'la priests running the Corps, then retire. Ninsur, who wasn't even
a Silent One, would've taken Hisur's place. And as a special reward, Nassur
would've been reunited with you and your husband."

Silence falls. "That got blown out of the water when Osur and Dosur
went crazy on Colony Seventy-one," Lufy muses. "Osur must've sensed something
was going to happen to him..."

"Doubtful he expected it coming from his own boss," Priss stares
bemusedly at her friend.

"So now we have a possible reason behind the Corps survivors being
hunted down," Catty sighs. "When they became members of the Corps, they
must've been seen as special members of the Dali'la faith. When they either
willingly defected from the Corps like Nassur or just gave up at the end of
the war like Kilsur, Kuinba and Tulnba...they became 'heretics'..."

"The Fire of Heaven was first formed to punish the Mikado and those
who followed him," Gomasur sighs. "Many of the founders of the
*an'san-Mikado* were Dali'lama Silent Ones and members of the Fire of Heaven
group. Why do you think our team name means 'death to the Mikado?'"

"That's not the exact translation, is it?" Rally muses.

"What do you mean?" Lufy wonders.

"'An'san' is a term that doesn't just imply one's physical death,
Lufy," Hunba sighs. "It implies the complete destruction, the obliteration of
everything about that person, including all works initiated by that
person...until there is nothing left of the person or what he did. To
literally become a nobody, an historical mystery."

"Nasty," Lufy sneers. "So where does one find members of the Fire of
Heaven these days?"

"The Dali'la sect have their main temple on an island in the Central
Sea, Daltos," Hessur muses. "If the Fire of Heaven is based anywhere, it
could be there. We can't be exactly sure; we never really took the time to
keep track of them over the years."

The former Corps members attending the meeting are white-faced at
those words. "'Never took the time to keep track of them?!!'" Kuinba bolts to
her feet. "How could you?!! You know what those animals are like; it stunned
everyone when you welcomed them into the Rebel Alliance!! Believe me, when I
did missions, hunting those monsters down was the one thing I enjoyed doing!!"

"When you finally disbanded the Alliance Army, you just let those
animals go do whatever they pleased!!" Tulnba adds. "Didn't you ONCE consider
what they'd do once they didn't have to worry about helping you overthrow the
Mikado?!!"

"Yes, they did help us," Hessur objects. "War makes some very
strange bedfellows. Believe me, they were needed if we were to defeat the
Corps since even after Furusur took over, there was too much of a Dali'lama
influence on training! Yes, there were a lot of things objectionable about
the Fire of Heaven..."

"We're SO glad you finally noticed!!" Tulnba snarls, pointing
accusingly at the three government representatives. "If you have one IOTA of
true decency, if you really believed in all the propaganda about social
justice you promised the people all those years ago, where in Lecasur's name
was all the social support, all the psychological help and labour re-training
you promised us when we stood down after Colony Four?!!"

"We tried!" Hessur sighs. "Believe me, Major Tulnba, we tried! But
like it or not, Vos is a democracy which runs on majority rule. When we
tried to pass legislation that would've helped all of you recover, it was
voted down. That wasn't JUST because of the Dali'la factions in Parliament.
Survivor's groups also had a say in that! I'm sorry, Major, but I can't do a
thing when my own government won't support me. If I attempted to do that,
rule by fiat, I'd be no better than the Mikado himself."

Tulnba shakes her head. "It's not good enough anymore. Over a
hundred of us were butchered because of those animals on Colony Twenty-six
not a day ago! Kuinba and I'll have to live with what those animals made us
do for the rest of our lives!! Doesn't it say SOMETHING to you people when
ALIENS show more understanding, compassion and simple decency towards us,
people they would've gladly killed a decade ago over what some of us nearly
did to Ataru Moroboshi and his wife, than the Vosian national government?!!"

With that, she turns and marches out of the room, Kuinba in her
wake. "Tul-chan, wait!" Ayu runs after her.

"Maybe we should break this up now," Makoto sighs. "What you people
decide to do, that's your business. Right now, we're going to make sure
people can be reunited, then get names out so your internal security forces
can protect them."

* * *

"Tul-chan, you can't press for change if you start accusing your own
government of something like that," Ayu sighs.

"What was I supposed to say to him, Ayu-chan?" Tulnba wonders as
everyone relaxes in the lounge, gently playing with the nurse's hair as they
gaze at the stars. "Just let them think they can get away with it until we
were all dead?!"

The others sigh. "Well, this is quite the twist," Lufy smirks. "I
set out to find out about a man who killed himself because he had to choose
between me and his foster brother. I then find his real brother, run into a
massacre, stop another one from happening...then discover that a pack of
fanatic zealots and grave robbers were responsible for nearly bringing a four
thousand-year old civilization right to its knees."

"'Grave robbers,' Lu-chan?!" Kuinba wonders.

"How do you think the Dali'lama got their skills, Kui-chan?" Lufy
stares at the former hunter.

Silence falls, then Kilsur points at Lufy. "You guys?"

"*En,*" Lufy nods.

"You mean Sagussa, Mom?!" Yolchong gapes.

"No, what I was before Sagussa, Yol-chan."

Silence falls as that sinks in. "I don't understand," Tulnba shakes
her head. "What do the Dali'lama have to do with the *pirpirsiw'r?!* They
could NEVER touch you!"

"Wanna bet?!" Lufy rises. "Come here. First spar stance."

Tulnba nods, surprised that the pilot knew the basic hand-to-hand
combat drills, then faces Lufy at close quarters, making a forward stance.
Lufy raises her right arm at angle, matched by Tulnba. "Take me off my feet,"
Lufy orders. "Begin."

Tulnba yells, grabbing Lufy's arm, then grabs air as Lufy bats it
away using wrist and forearm. She parries with her own, then the two launch
into a series of jabs and blocks using just the forearms, dancing around the
room. Priss and Makoto stare, shocked as the two continue their dance, then
Lufy pulls back, arms to her side. "Understand now?" she stares at Tulnba.

"My God..." Kuinba gapes.

"Nine centuries ago," Lufy explains. "Think of the period. Vos and
Yehisril were still picking and feeling their way around each other. It was
socially too soon after the Vos-Yehisril War prior to Yehisril's Unification.
Many Vosians couldn't understand the whole idea behind the Prime Directive.
And there are the Dali'la, seeing for the first time that their worldview
can't be really substantiated. It scares them. That's when the Sisterhood
of Steel...the *pirpirsiw'r*...appeared. Put yourself in the shoes of
someone like Osur. What would you do?"

"They stole their knowledge from you guys?!" Kilsur blinks.

"That's right," Lufy nods. "The Ancient Mothers, the first
generation of *pirpirsiw'r,* were the BEST!! We're just very good warriors
in comparison! But they didn't understand the depths people would dig to be
the best! Each of the Ancient Ones had their personal journal, which
recorded everything about tactics, training, all the strong and weak points
on the body, EVERYTHING about warfare, about LIFE in total. And it doesn't
take too much effort to dig up a grave, you know."

Horror crosses the face of the Sagussans as her implications sink
in. "This was all caused because of grave-robbing, Mom?" Mihagh gapes. "The
Dali'lama, the whole Vosian Civil War...?"

"Yep," Lufy nods. "As soon as we realized what was going on, the
journals stopped...but it was too late; that's when the Dali'lama began
appearing on Vos. Then, we noticed that they only got some of what we knew.
We were pretty safe, but we had to make sure it didn't happen again. Hence,
when I was just Princess Hivpira of Falcros, I pressed the Emperor to issue an
edict that sealed Yehisril from any Dali'la worshipper on threat of death."

"That really confused people," Kilsur muses. "That edict's still in
effect, though it's not strictly enforced these days."

"Because they've probably forgotten what was the cause of that edict
in the first place," Kuinba muses. "So what now?"

Lufy sighs. "Pri, Mako?"

"Yeah, Luf?" Priss rises.

"Get some of the others. Score, Syl, Ami, Maya, Angel...Tina if she
isn't busy with the EMRU. Get them here. We go to settle this mess with the
Dali'la."

"*En,*" Priss nods, then heads out.

"We're coming, too," Tulnba rises.

"No," Lufy shakes her head. "You have your own duty. Your final
duty to the Corps. To your families, to your brothers and sisters in the
Corps and to all their relatives. Go help those kids we found to get the
information transmitted out. Make it as widespread as you can. In a sense
of the term, we laid the seeds for the Civil War. It's not just a debt of
honour we owe you people...it's just the right thing to do."

Tulnba nods...

* * *

"I can't fully approve of this, Flightmistress," Hessur sighs as he
follows Lufy to the transporter room two hours later. The pilot was now
dressed in woodland camouflage. "Even if the Fire of Heaven are terrorists
and murderers, the Dali'la have the undisputed right to worship as they
please. Knowing how much damage you girls can do in just one foray, the
backlash from this can be disastrous for Vosian-Sagussan relations."

Lufy sighs. "Minister, do you really want to prove Tulnba and the
other Corps survivors right?" she stares at him.

"No, of course not. Believe me, I'd want to do everything to help
those people...but..." he throws up his hands.

"Yeah, I know. Ain't democracy wonderful?"

"Why are you doing this, then?" he stares at her. "This has gone way
beyond you finding out about Captain Cassur."

"Why?" Lufy stops at the door to the transporter room. "Part of it's
because of him and his *marei'cha.* Kilsur and Kuinba, too...then you tag
the girls we found and Tulnba, who recognized my friend's shipmate. Then I
think of people like Nassur, Junba and even Mujanba and Varena. Thirty
thousand hunters, Minister. For the most part, I'll bet they were all nice
people...but because they had a certain skill that could be exploited...they
were targeted when they were babies...their whole lives were wrecked. And
even if we didn't do it conscientiously, the Sisterhood provided the
knowledge that made them what they are now...and how that eventually turned
out on Vos."

She opens the door, then stares at him. "When all's said and
done...I really have no choice."

He nods. She walks in, then sees eight people waiting for her, all
armed with both edged weapons and firearms...but most of all, what they had in
their minds. "Ready?"

"Ready as we'll ever be, Luf!" Tinanokakyuu winks, twirling her
favourite quarterstaff.

"You sure you can fight with that bad eye of yours, Tee?"

"I can still whip your butt," the Emergency Medical Response Unit's
pilot daringly smiles.

The others grin. "Angel?" Lufy looks over.

"Bring 'em on, Luf, " the Internal Security special investigations
officer grins.

"Maya?"

"Let's party. I haven't heard my baby speak all day!" the Hostage
Rescue Team sniper cocks her favourite toy.

"Ami?"

"I'm set," the inspector general of weapons nods, palming her
favourite stun grenades.

"Syl?"

"Let's rock and roll," Priss' former partner cocks her sniper rifle.
"Anri's cooking my favourite stew tonight and I don't want to have it cold!"

More laughter. "Mako?"

"All ready."

"Pri?"

"Let's do it."

Lufy then stares at her elder twin sister, someone she tried to make
time for as often as she could given their vastly different workplaces and
relationships. "How about it, Ashoi'cha?"

"Haven't done this for a while," the gold-star tattooed Score winks
at her kid sister.

"Ya, eight hundred years is a bit too long."

"Let's make up for it," the engineer from the Vehicle Construction
Unit nods.

Lufy nods, then draws her photon shotgun and loads up before facing
Mie. "Okay, Mie...energize."

"Come back in one piece," Mie slides the controls.

They disappear. Hessur watches them from the corridor. "Lecasur and
Lyna go with you, girls..."

* * *

The waiting.

Catty sighs as she works in the "Shinowataru'cha's" sick bay,
preparing medical supplies and the trauma ward in case the worst happened and
she got body parts back instead of whole bodies. The regeneration tank was
ready just in case. Emergency transporter procedures were reviewed by
Shigeno. Atop that, a partial *tre'cha* was done between the warriors having
beamed down and their bondmates and friends now anxiously awaiting their
return. With the depth of the bonds between eight of the nine women now
planetside and their lovers aboard, it was possible to fire what was still
capable of remaining in the mortal realm without the need for close physical
contact.

On the bridge, Mie relaxes in the shipmistress' chair (despite her
being just a chief petty officer, she was given the place due to her
relationship), gazing at the beautiful arc of Vos rotating below the
destroyer's keel. Her hands were itching for action, to get a Gladiator's
joystick in her hand, then pilot the 200-tonne machine planetside to support
Makoto in her drive to avenge the spilling of so much blood, not just during
the Mikado's reign, but during the years before that, when the Dali'la had
lived on stolen information from warriors better and far more honourable than
they.

Rio relaxes in the wardroom, gently sipping her snifter of ran-jugh.
This was so weird. The HRT's sniper was plunging into battle and her
teammates were either on the supporting ship above or back on Sagussa. She
was just as anxious to do something to help Maya as Mie was concerning
Makoto. Maya could be damned reckless at time, especially when she lost
control of her temper (that was quite frequent) and went all out. But the
HRT's master chief warrant officer also knew how good Maya really was, with a
weapon and without. She wasn't too worried.

Sugoi nurses her son nearby, gazing out the window as one of the five
cyber-hackers from Mensohn, the ponytailed Libina, braids her hair. Every
once in a while, Libina would ask her if she needed anything. Sugoi refuses;
she needed to keep her mind and body awake over the next few hours. Why was
Priss plunging into an unknown situation without any decent reconnaissance
before hand?

Score's bondmate, Rabby's twin sister Sandy, sits nearby, another of
the cyber-hackers, purple-haired Winba, asleep in the crook of her arm. Why
did Score agree to go with her sister on this damned thing in the first
place?! Sandy was more than happy that Score had chosen engineering than
follow her sister into the Navy; it meant that the only life-threatening
situation she faced these days was engineering accidents. But here she was
being what she was first born to be. Sandy sighs, then gently kisses Winba's
hair, eliciting a curious stare from the young girl. Sandy smiles, her eyes
glistening. Winba nods understandingly, then embraces her. She was afraid
for them, too.

Mizuho relaxes in the cafeteria, eating her breakfast. Tina had no
bondmate, so the EMRU chief volunteered to be there in case she was the one
who needed *tre'cha* to be done. Mizuho sighs. Tina was still weak in her
left eye; even if she wasn't in the maddening world of Gladiator combat, that
could be exploited if someone was quick enough to notice it. Sighing, she
sips her shake. Hopefully when this was finally over, Tina could go back to
pursuing the person she wanted as her permanent mate.

Anri lays in bed, gazing at the deckhead. The gentle hum of the
ship's reactors and the engines flows into her ears, but she pays it no heed.
She wasn't in the mood to cook dinner anyway; when Sylvie got back, she'll
probably be bone-tired and want to crawl into bed as soon as she could.

Minako relaxes on the flight deck, watching the pilots and flight
crews work over their Gladiators. She wanted so much to be in her Warsuit
right now, her squadron right behind her, blazing a path for Ami and her
friends to go in and settle business. But there was no way the Vosians would
ever accept Sagussans overtly attacking a major religious enclave, even if
some of their members had gone too far in espousing their beliefs...way too
far.

Ayaka relaxes in the ship's computer room, pouring through the files
she downloaded from the cyber-couriers, the third of them, green-haired
Imonba, sitting beside her. It was all here. Names, dates when they were
"removed" from parental custody for the good of the state, names of immediate
relatives and place of residence at time of the "removal," school they went
sent to. Not just for Camp Mensohn, but for ALL the hunter schools! With a
flick of her finger, she sends it to a dozen locations, including the Vosian
Central News Service and Tere'na Compudata (you never could tell if there was
an agent for the Fire of Heaven in the receiving rooms ready to delete the
data on recognizing it). She leans back. Good to keep busy; it kept her
from worrying too much about Angel.

Kilsur sits in his bedroom staring at the letter he had prepared for
his parents. His parents! They had been living on Colony Eight all this
time, never knowing what happened to either of their sons. A quick
cross-check had revealed no other siblings; chances are if there were any,
they'd've had the right stuff to be forced into becoming hunters, too. He
sighs. How do you introduce yourself, much less a brother who was now dead
and a total stranger to you, to parents you never knew you had?

Kuinba sleeps nearby, electing not to panic too much. She had
suspected that her parents were long gone and had verified it not an hour
before; they, from Colony Forty, had been killed in the last battle for that
world, which was the prequel to the invasion of Vos itself. Besides, Catty
was safe aboard the ship and Lufy was too well-skilled and stubborn to die.
She still would love to go down and deliver some personal justice of her own.

Tulnba and Ayu work busily in sick bay helping Catty prepare.
Already, they had gone right to the bondmate stage, the nurse's knowledge
pouring into the hunter's mind. The happy smiles on their faces belied their
own nervousness; even though they weren't related to the people planetside,
they were friends and would need support in case the worst happened.

Yolchong lays blissfully in the crook of the fourth cyber-courier, a
reddish brown-haired girl named Terunba. She would be unofficially "adopted"
by Lufy when they got back to Sagussa. That was okay to Yolchong; it was love
at first sight when she saw her emerge from her mineshaft prison. Terunba
didn't know what to do; there was a four-year age difference between her and
Lufy's eldest and with Yolchong discovering all the nice things about being a
woman, Terunba wondered if she wasn't going to get it more ways than one from
her mother in case an indiscretion or two occurs.

Mihagh also had sought the comforting arms of another: the last of
the group pulled from that mineshaft, hazel-haired Nokanba. While she was
quite pretty and certainly would catch her interest in a few years, Mihagh
wasn't interested in exploring such things just yet. She was now trying not
to cry. Warsuit pilots didn't cry! Warsuit pilots were brave and strong!!
Warsuit pilots always showed a face of granite when facing trouble!!!

Tell it to her eyes and heart.

"Cry, Mi-chan."

"Can't."

"Cry, Mi-chan," Nokanba stares at her. "It's okay to cry."

"Can't."

"Why? Aren't you scared about your mother?"

"Mom's just doing her usual thing."

"If she was my mom, I'd be very scared."

Mihagh stares at her. "R-really?" she sniffs.

"Hai," Nokanba nods. "It's okay to cry. I bet even the best Warsuit
pilots cry when they're worried about someone they love."

Mihagh's lips tremble, then her control breaks as she buries her face
in the older woman's chest. "M-m-mommy..."

* * *

Daltos Island.

"Mi-chan...?"

"Luf, you okay?"

Lufy smiles at Maya. "Nah. My baby's learning that it's okay to be
human even for Warsuit pilots."

"I wouldn't be caught dead inside one of those things," the sniper
shoulders her modified FAPR. "One missile or grenade in the right joint and
you're landshark bait."

"True," Lufy nods, then scans around. They had beamed down some
distance from the small island's largest city and cultural centre for an
initial reconnaissance before penetration. Once they were spotted, their
most visible attribute...the tattoos on their right cheeks...would spread the
alarm. The presence of nine of Yehisril's dreaded Most Dangerous Soldiers on
a Vosian island where the local faith espoused that the natives were the
strongest beings in Creation would not be a peaceful one.

Makes for interesting living.

"What's the plan, Princess?" Priss looks at her.

Lufy smiles. Her party. "Pri, go ahead. Maya, left flank. Syl,
right flank. Tee, you're tail-end Charlie. Let's go."

Tina, Maya and Sylvie fade into the forest as Priss leads the
advance. Wordlessly, the rest fall into line, Lufy finding herself in the
middle. That annoyed her. Then again, the traditions of their ancestral
world were playing a role in today's action. Lufy was the only *pirpirsiw'r*
in history to have been a princess. Score was lucky; being related to a
chief-of- state, she served as Grand Duchess Royal during Lufy's term. Priss
and Sylvie were bards. Ami was a farmer. Makoto a sage. Angel a courtesan.
Tina a shepherd. Maya a guard commander. Ordinary people, save for the
special circumstances of their birth and upbringing.

Within minutes, a psi-flash from Priss warns of civilization ahead.
The great advantage of being Sagussan...Vosians couldn't track a
Yehisrite...was their telepathy; were this back in the old days, they'd have
to stay closer to ensure each was in the other's line-of-sight to receive
hand signals. This way, they could keep thirty metres between them. The
others freeze, melting into the forest as they wait for Priss to confirm what
lay ahead of them.

<<Kids,>> Priss reports. <<Sixteen, young pups. Looks like some
sort of training for primary school. Around?>>

<<Left way clear,>> Maya reports.

<<Right side all rocks,>> Sylvie adds.

<<Oblique left,>> Lufy orders. <<We go around.>>

They fade into the forest...

* * *

The Shrine of Dali'la.

Elder Seisur grunts as he continues his hard exercise on the nautilus
machine, imported from Earth. Amazing that the Terrans made such an industry
on keeping in good physical shape; a fad said to be catching worldwide, much
to his approval. Good thing they were turning away from steroids, something
Dali'la frowned heavily on. One's natural attributes were a gift from
Dali'la; to debase them THAT way was a grave sin before their heavenly Lord.
After his three hundredth rep, he relaxes, then engages in a warm-down kata.
Even if he wasn't an active Silent One, he maintained the same morning drill
he had for three hundred years.

"Elder."

He pauses, then stares neutrally at one of the underpriests. "What
is it?" he demands.

"The attack on Camp Mensohn launched by your brother failed
miserably," the underpriest reports.

"I believed it would," Seisur shakes his head. "Dali'la will punish
Yasur and his fools soon enough."

"There is more, Elder."

"Which is?"

"The Sagussans uncovered information pertaining to all the Hunter
Corps survivors, including family relations. It's now out on all the news
services, transmitted from their ship. Yasur's agents were unable to stop it
from reaching the authorities; the outpouring was too sudden, too fast."

"Indeed?" Seisur hums, then purses his lips. "Now, what can be done
about that...eh?"

He tenses, feeling...something. Not his tracking powers detecting
the mental emanations of another...but a subtle shift in the life energy
patterns around him. One of the most wonderful things the Dali'lans obtained
from the pagan Yehisrite warrior-women all those years ago was the knowledge
to sense the life energy around them. It took years of hard work to master
such a necessary survival skill...you had to be a priest to understand the
gift well...but when you did, the barest movement of anyone at a distance was
child's play to detect.

You hardly needed tracking skills with that.

"Elder?"

"Visitors."

"Who?!" the underpriest tenses.

"Nine altogether," he closes his eyes, reaching out with his more
active senses and finding nothing. "Masked brainwaves."

The underpriest pales at the implications. Yehisrites were forbidden
to come to Daltos in reprisal for that old edict and they were too
honour-bound to disobey it. That spelt one thing. "The Sagussans wouldn't
dare...!" he sputters.

"Wouldn't they?" Seisur muses. "Think about it, son. One of their
number has just engaged in a thorough quest that led them from Sabaku to
Colony Twenty-six to Mensohn...to here."

"Who told you that, sir?"

"Elder Olnba did," Seisur smiles. "We may be of different faiths,
but she sees no threat in passing on information. Would you care to know why
this quest came about?"

The priest nods eagerly. The elder tells him. The younger man then
crosses his arms as he contemplates Seisur's words. "That makes no sense,
Elder. Why engage in such a thing when not more than a decade ago, the
Sagussans went out of their way to hunt the Mikado's forces down...?" he then
blinks as realization dawns. "The woman in question was formerly Yehisrite."

"Exactly. Her name...is Lufy. Or as she was known in her first
life...Hivpira of Falcros."

"PRINCESS Hivpira?!!"

"Yes. With her came Makoto...or Sage Izripra of Varakos, one of the
last generations of *pirpirsiw'r*...and Priscilla...Gilpizra of Falcros in
her first life, a wandering bard...and two of their bondmates, Doctor Catty
and Mie Seikou."

"This is an honour-quest, then," the underpriest muses.

"As the Yehisrites themselves would say it; even if they are now
Sagussan, much of their previous lives influences them."

"What should we do?"

"Let them find my brother's base...and stay clear of them," Seisur
muses. "They are here to deal with murderers, not peaceful parishioners. The
Fire of Heaven has brought too much shame on those who follow Dali'la's ways.
It is time for He to judge them."

"It shall be done."

* * *

<<We've been marked.>>

<<Not bad,>> Lufy smiles admiringly. <<Who, Syl?>>

<<I figure he's the high priest of this place,>> Sylvie muses as they
relax outside town. <<Nice of him to oblige us by pointing us right to the
slimebags. We do his dirty work for him.>>

<<What say we make them all suffer?>> Maya growls.

<<Cool it, Maya,>> Lufy frowns. <<We're here for the Fire of Heaven,
not the normal Dali'la folks...even if they do allow this to happen right in
plain sight.>>

<<We'll just have to drop a hint about it to Hessur when it's all
done with,>> Ami chuckles.

<<Door's open,>> Score muses. <<Rude not to go in.>>

<<*En,*>> Lufy muses as they move out...

* * *

The Shrine of Fire.

Yasur, priest of Dali'la and Champion of Heaven's Fire (the title
bestowed to the leader of the Fire of Heaven) prays before his personal
shrine. It was an exquisite bronze masterpiece, one that took him years to
sculpt, showing a well-honed couple holding the torch of victory over broken
aliens underfoot. Vos' victory over all the lesser races. Closing his eyes,
he allows the heat from the many torches to warm his body, burn away what
impurities may still be within his soul so that he can be a shining example of
perfection to those around him.

He knew his brother Seisur didn't particularly care too much for some
of the things the Fire of Heaven did in Dali'la's name. Were it up to him,
the heretics of the Hunter Corps would just be left to languish in obscurity,
forever separated from their families and relatives with an impenetrable veil
of secrecy. Dali'la's punishment for them not destroying the heretic Mikado
in the first place when he strayed too far from His Teachings, actually
allowing it to go so far that an ALIEN named Ataru Moroboshi had to be the
Mikado's judge, jury and executioner. It wasn't enough in Yasur's eyes. To
allow such beings to run loose would guarantee that their heresy would spread
like a cancer throughout society, poison the Vosian people against Dali'la.

Cancers were destroyed.

"Elder?"

He blinks, then turns to see his chief underpriest, Sarinba, kneeling
behind him. "What is it?"

"We have a problem."

"Explain."

"The information on the Hunter Corps' survivors; their relatives and
all...has been released to the public."

Yasur pales. "HOW?!?!"

"The Sagussans discovered that the cache at Mensohn contained
information on all the hunter schools. They extracted it, then transmitted it
out to all the news services, plus kept copies for themselves in case we
intercepted it."

A guttural snarl escapes Yasur's lips. "How dare they...?!" he
hisses. "And they claim they respect the right of other races to settle their
own affairs?! What arrogance! It is time for Dali'la to punish these
creatures!!"

"What will you have us do?!" Sarinba wonders.

"Prepare a force! You will lead it! We shall see how strong the
Sagussans really are!" he orders.

"As you command," Sarinba bows, then withdraws...

* * *

Sneaking into town was quite easy; just get to the roofs and stay
there, crouching low to duck anyone from the ground who could be looking up
as they pass. Not that many people were out this morning, though. Curious,
but if most living here were Dali'lans, Seisur must've told them to stay
indoors and not proceed outside. Someone might accidentally shout the alarm
to ears that would pass it on to the Fire of Heaven. Lufy grimaces. They
had been dragged into some warped game of ultimate control between Seisur and
his brother Yasur (oh, yes, they sensed him now, in an underground complex
near the Shrine of Dali'la) over Dali'la's parishioners. Okay, fair enough.
Their primary task, the one tacitly approved of by Vos' Chief Minister, was
to eliminate the Fire of Heaven.

Their secondary task, one the Chief Minister wasn't even aware of,
was to avenge the crimes committed against the Ancient Mothers.

Against their own flesh and blood.

<<Found it,>> Angel reports.

Lufy concentrates, an image of a simple home appearing in her mind's
eye. Angel now looked inside to see an open trap door leading underground,
right into the Shrine of Fire. <<That the only entrance to the place?>> she
muses.

<<Found the second one,>> Ami calls from across town.

Another house appears in the pilot's mind. Same deal. <<Into two
teams, people,>> she smiles. <<Let's go.>>

The nine warriors move in...

* * *

Sarinba stares at the small group with her. About sixty, most
partially trained, all in good condition. What else remained of the Fire of
Heaven, about fifty or so priests-in-training plus what families they had,
were in the next chamber undergoing their daily devotions. She hands the
members of her group vials of a milky-white substance, allowing them to
inject themselves. Against the Sagussans, you needed the ultimate edge.
This was a proven mixture of Red Veil and White Noise, which would dull their
senses and heighten their awareness to levels that were beyond Vosians. The
same mixture they had used to take down the best of Osur's fallen disciples
of the Hunter Corps during the Civil War.

Dali'la would approve because they now had to deal with the
Sagussans. These were beings said to be raised from the dead using an alien
genetic regenerative matrix found on their moon Sagurei, then genetically
transformed. They weren't natural, weren't worthy of life. That nearly a
fifth of them were born of Vosian women was an extra affront to Dali'la. That
they happily permitted members of the Hunter Corps to live with them in peace,
away from their just vengeance, was an even worse affront to Dali'la.

Time to even the scales...

"Good morning."

Sarinba spins around to see nine female shadows standing on the
rafters, their faces and clothing somewhat obscured thanks to the many torches
illuminating the main hall. "Who are you?!!" she snarls, hand reaching to her
knife.

"You took something from our ancestors nine centuries ago," the voice
coldly replies. "The Sisterhood of Steel has come to take it back...and rid
Vos of the likes of you."

A weapon barks, a grenade landing in the middle of the crowd. It
explodes, filling the room with dense smoke as the Vosians gag. Before they
could brace themselves, their attackers are all over them. Screams fill the
hall as combat knifes leap out of their scabbards; in close-quarters hand-to-
hand combat in the middle of a fogbank, firearms were definitely NOT advised
even if you could sense where all your companions were.

Sarinba tries to get clear, then finds herself grabbed from behind,
her mind being ripped into by invisible knives as her very soul is torn apart,
her memories laid bare like an opened book. A scream escapes her as her mind
disintegrates, her body collapsing to the ground as Lufy looks up to the
balcony at one end of the hall. Grinning savagely, she sends a telepathic
signal to her sister, then races to pay Yasur an unfriendly social call.

At the other end, Score drops the hapless fool that was now caught in
the throes of the garbage in her system with a nose jab that slices into her
brain, then nodding at her sister, races out to the tunnel connecting the
Shrine of Fire with the Shrine of Dali'la on the surface. Nearby, Angel
notices Score taking off, then sensing the engineer's purpose, drills two
warriors in the head with her pistol before following...

* * *

Above, Seisur smiles as he senses the wild battle going on
underground. This was good. Very good. His brother was trapped in his
supposedly "invulnerable" sanctuary, both entrances now probably
booby-trapped to prevent any of them from escaping to cause trouble
anew...and in a matter of moments, the Fire of Heaven would all face
Dali'la's judgement for their betrayal...

Eh?!

He pales as he detects two of the pagan warrior-women storming up the
third exit from the Shrine of Fire, the one that led into the Shrine of
Dali'la. What were they coming HERE for?! He then shudders as he senses them
stop before a room...

No!!! Not THERE!!

Bolting up, he runs for the stairs to the basement...

* * *

Yasur smiles as he hears the sound of combat echo from the main
hall. How nice of the Sagussans to bring themselves here to face their
punishment, be dragged before Dali'la for their many crimes against Him.
Raising his personal combat knife, he concentrates as he injects the mixture
into his bloodstream.

Lufy turns the corner, then sees the man kneeling before a curious
shrine. Two possible outcomes could arise from this. She could challenge
Yasur to a hand-to-hand fight, pit her skills against his and settle it
honourably. Warrior to warrior. It would be a good way to judge how much
knowledge the Dali'la had stolen from the Ancient Mothers all those years ago.

She then remembers Kilsur's friends on Colony Twenty-six.

Orinsur.

Cassur.

Her pistol comes up, one bolt lashing out to punch through the back
of Yasur's head, sending him flying into the shrine! Lufy then draws out a
bauximite flash-bomb, arms it, then drops it by the priest's feet before
withdrawing...

* * *

"This is it!"

Score grins as she tenderly pulls the small book from its pedestal.
While this was a reproduction that had been specially prepared for the Dali'la
and their warriors, it was still a good sample of the knowledge the Ancient
Mothers had devised over their time in this life. The knowledge that would be
Yehisril's by right of its birthplace...but was now Sagussa's by right of
Yehisril's desire not to deal with such knowledge anymore.

"Lyna..." Angel stares over her friend's shoulder, her hand feeling
the page as if trying to sense the aura of the wise women who had written such
words down in the first place.

"I can't believe they got this much," Score shudders, flipping
through the book. "This is way worse than anyone believed."

"They were too busy fighting for their place here," Angel muses, then
hums. "Why don't you come in?"

They turn to see Seisur standing at the doorway, a neutral look on
the priest's face. A touch of uncertainty lurks deep in his eyes. Maybe a
one- on-one confrontation could go his way; he was in damned good shape and
was well- experienced. He probably knew of the Sagussan trick of dropping
their mind- shields to overload a Vosian's tracking powers, thus may have
devised a way to dull that part of his brain. But not a two-on-one.

Score and Angel exchange looks, then stare at the book in the
former's hand. She then gazes at Seisur. "The originals."

"Eh?" the priest blinks.

"The stuff your ancestors stole from the graves of ours."

He blinks, then his eyes dart to gaze on the vault to one side of the
room. Angel looks at it, then smiles. "Thank you."

"You can't take it!" he snarls.

"Oh?!" Score muses. "Look. One of three things can happen here
right now. If you haven't sensed it, your brother's dead; my sister polished
him off just now. You can try to fight us, you'll lose that fight and
probably your life, we take what we want and leave. We'll be prepared to pay
what political and diplomatic price that could extract from us; our people on
Sagussa trust our judgement and there are many on Vos who remember what our
leader did to the Mikado ten years ago."

Seisur trembles. "Or we can obey the exact letter of the Non-
Interference Directive, you can keep what you have," Score then icily smiles,
"...and, seeing as we do believe in honesty, we would then feel it right to
tell the Chief Minister how you and your clerics actually ALLOWED the Fire of
Heaven to operate from here, go out to murder innocent people when it was your
responsibility as a Vosian citizen to report a possible crime. As to how that
affect's your influence in Parliament...I'll let you decide."

He blinks. "Or we take the third way," Score smiles, holding up the
book, then handing it to him. "You keep this. We take what it was all based
on, ALL of it, back to Sagussa. You have our silence at your benign
complicity towards your brother's actions with the Fire of Heaven. You also
keep that which kept you going all these years. The crime you did to our
ancestors is resolved."

Seisur blinks, then takes the book. "You drive an interesting
bargain, Duchess," he muses. "Agreed."

He walks over, then opens the safe. Angel looks inside, then draws
out the tray of rolled parchments, aged by time but lovingly preserved over
the centuries. She gazes at Seisur, then nods. It was all there. "Angel to
'Shinowataru'cha,'" she taps her wrist-comm. "Prepare to beam some documents
in front of me into the special isolation unit in sick bay. Maximum security
around it; I'll fill you in on it when I get there."

"Acknowledged, Inspector. Energizing now."

The documents vanish. "Oh, one more thing," Score stares at him.
"Leave the Hunter Corps survivors alone; ALL of them. Let them have their
lives and families back; that's all they want. The one GOOD thing you people
espouse is that Dali'la frowns on people FORCED to obey His ways. Wouldn't
you agree?"

"And if we refuse?" he stares at her.

"Then we'll be watching you," Score's eyes narrow. "Every moment of
every day. Every step you make, we'll know about it. If there is one false
step, one person that is hurt and we trace it back to you or any
Dali'lan...then you will learn the price one pays for betraying the
Sisterhood. Let's go, Angel. We're done."

The two leave. Seisur watches them, then restores the book to its
proper place...

* * *

Days later, Tere'na City, the Hall of the Republic...

"Flightmistress Lufy, come forward, please."

Lufy rises, then bows before the Prime Councillor of Sagussa and the
Chief Minister of Vos. Sakura drapes the first ribbon over her shoulders,
gold- trimmed black holding a medallion etched with a replica of Lyna's
Ascension. "For your gallant action over Earth in defence of our Terran
friends, for your brave and gallant action at Camp Mensohn and on Daltos
Island in defence of our Vosian friends as they recover from their tragic
civil war, the Republic bestows you her highest award for gallantry, the
Order of Lyna, so that you may serve as an example for others."

The crowd cheers as Lufy salutes her, then allows Hessur to drape the
red ribbon bearing Lecasur's portrait over her shoulders. "Flightmistress,
you came to Sabaku shortly after that incident over Earth to seek answers, to
attempt to bring justice for someone who chose death over betraying the woman
he recognized or betraying his own kin," Hessur sighs. "That quest
eventually turned into a quest to bring justice to many of Vos' orphaned
children, a quest that reminded us that ALL victims of our civil war, even
those who gave the Mikado their loyalty, must be tended to if we are ever to
finally heal from that terrible time. To that end, by special order of
Parliament, I bestow onto you the title of Commander of the Order of Lecasur,
in thanks for all you've done for us."

"Thank you," Lufy salutes them both over the applause...

* * *

"So, what's happening back home?"

"It's strange, to be honest with you," Hessur muses as he and Hunba
walk through the crowd. "A day after that thing on Daltos Island, Seisur
calls me up and pledges the Dali'lans' complete and willing support for
legislation concerning the Hunter Corps getting what they need to fully
recover. Once Parliament goes back into session, I think I can ram it
through the House of Commons and get it signed before next month."

"About time," Hunba muses. "Something tells me that when they were
there, Lufy and her friends stuck a gun to Seisur's back and made him agree.
I always knew there was too much collusion between the Dali'lans and the Fire
of Heaven."

"Can't be proven in a court of law; just a lot of hearsay," Hessur
hums. "I wonder if I should ask..."

"Don't," Hunba shakes her head. "The *pirpirsiw'r* living here can
be very tight-lipped when it comes to matters of honour. They must've made a
deal with Seisur that allows him to keep his hide and pride, but makes him
leave the Corps survivors alone."

"That's good," Hessur sighs. "It's funny, isn't it?"

"What is?"

Both turn as Lufy and Score come up. "How much our planets have
influenced each other even as we try to keep our cultures and societies
intact," Hessur sighs. "The Dali'la taking all those things from your
ancestors, allowing it to transform them and leading to so much misery.
Sometimes, I wonder if in the end, there can be a Prime Directive or a Non-
Interference Directive."

"Laws are made by human beings, Chief Minister," Score hums.
"They're good guidelines for leading a decent life, but sometimes, they're as
imperfect as we are. You can't make laws for every occasion. Sometimes, you
just have to go by what your heart says is right and what experience teaches
you is the better way."

"True," Hessur muses. "So, what's happened to everyone that came
with you here, Lufy?"

"Well, Gilsur's shacking up with the Mobius Five," Lufy muses,
looking over to see the hacker with Kiddy and Lebia. "Tulnba's starting
nursing school so she can be with Ayu. Kuinba's going to be working with
Catty in the EMRU for the next while. Kilsur's joining Internal Security;
that seems to be the place most ex-Corps hunters go to. As for the kids we
found in that cave under Mensohn, they're just being adopted in...especially
since my elder daughters have their eyes on two of them."

"Aren't they too young for that?" Hessur blinks.

"You'd be amazed at how fast people mature here," Lufy stares at him,
then shudders. "Damn scary at times!"

Score and Hunba laugh. "What about you, Oshoi'cha?" the former then
gazes at her younger sister. "I saw Henra weeping into her brandy across the
room. What's going on?"

"I'm staying on sabbatical for another year, then I might turn my
wings in and go into general defence or join the Pathfinders," Lufy winks.
"There've been times I've wanted so much to hang up the flight suit and forget
about space dogfights and hand-to-hand combat in weird places. I just want to
go out, be with the people I love, care for my kids and stop living on the
damned edge, even if it's just for a little while. You're the lucky one,
Ashoi'cha; you stayed clear of it altogether."

"Well, it's nice to flex the old muscles every once in a while; I
train as much as you do," Score smiles. "But believe me, I like building
maglev trains and ground cars more. It's nice to mould metal for other things
than a sword."

"Lufy!"

"Yo, Eluza," Lufy turns to greet her former commanding officer and
her bondmate, then blinks on seeing the fleet shipmistress' rank on Eluza's
collars. "What in Lyna's name happened to you, boss?! What's with that extra
bar?!"

"Well, you may be looking at the future Inspector-General of the
Sagussan Navy," Pony smiles.

"After all, Elle might consider retiring one day soon and Oryuu is
pretty well seen as the best to take her place; Feb avoids office work like
the plague," Eluza adds. "Besides, like you, I'm a little tired of putting
my life on the line in remote corners of the galaxy putting out fires. Being
closer to home with the mate and kids does have its own rewards."

"Never thought I'd ever see you push paper!" Lufy snorts.

"Who says I'm going to?!" Eluza muses as the three shipmates and
Score part from Hunba and Hessur, walking over to where the other "Hasei'cha"
crewmembers were waiting. "If there's one thing that's going to happen in
this navy of ours, we're going to get field commanders to take some more
responsibility instead of bucking it up the line to the desk-drivers."

"Oh, if it could only happen," Lufy rolls her eyes, then sees the
people who, until her children were born, had mattered the most in her life.
Eluza and Pony, Shildy and Rabby, Spea and Amy, Patty and Rumy, Mie. Catty.
"So...this is the end, huh?"

"Not really," Patty smiles. "Nothing ever truly ends."

"True," Amy smiles. "A toast."

Glasses are raised. "To R.S.S. 'Hasei'cha,'" the coxswain smiles.
"She went before her time."

"Hear, hear!" the others raise their glasses...

* * *

Tere'na-korgh...

"How far do we have to go?"

"Not far," Lufy smiles as she and Kilsur walk over the rocky shores
of the Sogh'haeng near the entrance to the great dome over Lyna's grave.
"It's forbidden to bury anyone inside the dome itself, so we laid them to
rest nearby."

"What did you do to the other bodies?"

"Buried the Lannarkites on the planet where they were born," Lufy
sighs. "As for Tarsur, we ground his corpse up and used it for fertilizer;
waste not, want not on this planet."

"Hope it doesn't poison the plants."

They laugh, then enter a memory tree grove north of the dome. Kilsur
had learned that according to legend, the memory tree won its name from Ram
and Atar after They destroyed Toghmoghbiki. They placed the *mei'na* of the
innocent victims of Entropy from the Master's keep within the tree, thus
ensuring that even if the trees died, they would live on through their
offspring.

Cassur and Orinsur are buried in the heart of the grove, under the
shadow of a large memory tree grown from saplings taken from the area before
the Clone Rights War; the species was nearly wiped out in the apocalypse that
followed. Both graves were simple, as befitting the lonely soldier killed far
from home and loved ones. A memorial flame burns between the grave markers,
the only thing separating the two blood-brothers in their eternal rest.

Lufy and Kilsur kneel on the prayer platform at the graves' feet,
then close their eyes. A quiet chant escapes his lips, a classic Vosian
lament to a fallen comrade, a brother-in-arms. He then places small bouquets
of fire blossoms on their graves, a joint present from Cassur's parents
(Orinsur's were killed in one of the battles leading up to the final battle
for Lecashuto), the crew of the "Hasei'cha"...and the Special Hunter Corps
Veterans' League, an intergalactic organization with members on Vos, Sagussa,
Earth (Mujanba McTavish was the League's president though it was
headquartered in Lecashuto) and other worlds. A final salute to two comrades
who's death had brought them such needed healing.

Rising, Lufy then raises her voice in "Book of Days"...then blinks as
more voices join in from behind her. She smiles as she senses the presence of
Catty, their children, Score, Kuinba and the "Hasei'cha" crew standing behind
them...

Her family.

* * *

A year later...

"So why are they calling us together for?!" Lufy wonders as she walks
into the travel pod.

"Who knows!" Catty shrugs as they, Kilsur (now a detective sergeant
in Tere'na City) and Kuinba (a child services doctor at T.C.H.'s Natal Wing)
step aboard. "Hey, everyone!"

"'Bout time you slowpokes show up!" Shildy grins as she pilots the
pod away from the central work terminal over Sen'sha Seven towards the
construction yard hovering some kilometres away. "What were you guys doing?!
A little four-way?!"

"What's this about, Eluza?!" Lufy wonders, ignoring the newly
promoted shipmistress' barb.

"Search me," the fleet shipmistress shrugs. "All I was told from
Oryuu and Nagisa was to get everyone together, then take them to Bay Ten at
the yard. They said it was a surprise."

"Oh, that must be the new interdimensional explorer the Third Fleet
wanted tested," Rumy nods.

"'Interdimensional explorer?!'" Kuinba blinks.

"Seeing as how there have been occasions when people travel from
dimension to dimension...our *daimon'cha* has been through that a few times in
his reckless youth...it was decided that to expand our study of transwarp
space, we needed a ship that could phase from dimension to dimension if need
be," Rumy muses. "They've been working on it for five years already."

"Wow!! You think of everything on this planet!" Kuinba hums.

"We do try," Eluza muses. "Ah, here we are!"

The pod steers into Bay Ten, a slip large enough to take on a ship
the Gatherer's size if necessary. Awaiting them is a sleek destroyer-sized
craft with extra-large engine blisters and an X-wing configuration ending in
large sensory pods. She was well armed despite her stated role as an
explorer; you never knew what you'd run into out there. The crewmates
whistle in awe on seeing the beautiful design...then a hush falls as they see
the name.

R.S.S. "Hasei'cha," NDS-707-A.

"We've come home," Lufy smiles.

Minutes later, the "Hasei'cha" slips out of the construction slip
into the void beyond. On the bridge, everyone relaxes, years of working
together once again turning them into a team.

Eluza looks around the bridge that was (according to the orders
awaiting her when they got aboard) hers for the time of the new ship's trials,
then nods to Amy. "Let's see what she's got!"

"Aye, ma'am!" Amy thrusts the accelerator.

The "Hasei'cha" vanishes into warp...

*** Never The End ***