Natsumi sighed a little bit as she slumped her head down onto her desk. She hit her head again on the desk. It was boring, really boring. She hadn't seen Keiko, or Yuuko, or Shina, or anyone else since she was brought back to her quarters. She had gotten a teddy bear from Keiko, but she was bored, lonely in her tiny room.
Natsumi hugged Teta, the name she had given to her teddy bear, close to herself. Half-written stories and poorly drawn pictures scattered her room. Natsumi had wonderful ideas, beautiful pictures in her mind's eye, but she couldn't express them onto paper. She also seemed to stay in her room unless on duty. She didn't speak unless spoken to, she hardly ate; just enough to get by on, and she didn't make any effort to really get to know anyone else in the crew. She just seemed to be one of those minor characters, one that's there when they're needed, but gone when they're not. She seemed to enjoy her privacy, but she yearned to be acknowledged... to be loved.
She was timid, above all else. She rarely made eye contact with any officers, she always kept her head lowered. She felt inferior to everyone else. Maybe it was because that principle was drilled into her skull when she was young... maybe it was because now, she actually believed it.
She yearned for physical contact with someone, but she also feared it. She was afraid of angering someone, or someone harassing her for being so small, or for having a tail, or for any reason they felt like making up. She had encountered this on the celia once before, and even though she grew more and more accustomed to the ship, she still stayed to herself.

Maybe it was her nature... maybe it was her choice.

 [YSS Celia, Rave] Miko? And Straightening out.  ON> YSS Rave
Keiko was feeling at bit better after speaking with Ayame and was on her way back to the Rave when she paused near the lift to go to it. "Celia, are there any available rooms that are empty on this ship or the Rave?" She asked.

"Of course there are," Celia replied, "Both ships have room."

"Thank you." Keiko said simply and got into the lift. "Can you please take me to the Rave?" She asked, brushing a emerald hair back behind her ear. Keiko sometimes wondered what the ships thought about their crew, and wanted to ask but was a bit shy about it. "Um Celia..what do you think of your crew? Especially the man that named you?"

"Dead persons are not significant to me. When a life form dies, it remains only as historical data in my memory, thus, I carry no opinion of him. My crew is fine by me. I'll have you in the Rave in a moment," Celia responded.

Keiko felt a bit sad at hearing that. "Was he a good officer?" The kuro asked curiously.

"In performance?" Celia asked.

"In anyway." Keiko said, knowing that the Celia probably didn't understand emotion and what Keiko was really looking for.

"He was a good man," Celia assured Keiko, looking to soothe her.

The young neko smiled. "Thank you Celia, it mean a lot to me to hear that."

The lift doors opened to reveal the purple interior of the Rave.

Keiko stepped out into the purple hallway and giggled lightly. "Yuuko sure has a odd sense of style.." She commented and started for the room they shared aboard the ship. "Raver, is Yuuko in our quarters?"

"Yuuko is in the medical/science office," Raver replied. Wazu and Yuuko were both in the small room with Anet.

Keiko decided to turn and head that way, getting to the office in a few moments. She knocked politely, not wanting to interrupt something again. "Sis?" She called through the door.

"Hello," Yuuko turned around. "You okay?"

Keiko smiled and went over and hugged Yuuko warmly. "I'm going to get my own room Yuuko, I need a little time alone ok?" She said and kissed Yuuko's cheek.

"Alright," Yuuko nodded, grinning at the kiss.

Keiko let go and smiled. "I think I'm going to become a miko like Inari-chan is. I have had too many spiritual experiences to ignore it anymore; I have been possessed twice .." Keiko hugged herself.

"Hmm..." Yuuko smiled, "If that's what you'd like."

ON> YSS Rave

Keiko nodded to Yuuko, "I'm glad you understand." She said with a nod of the head; her emerald hair moving a bit over her face then back as she moved. Keiko stepped to the side to look around Yuuko; "What're you guys up to?"

Yuuko grinned and looked back at little Anet.

Wazu was holding a datapad and standing just to the right of Anet, who was sitting on one of the desks. While he was checking her health she was playing with a few pieces of mechanical bits that were lieing around. Her work had produced two odd looking creatures that were little more than a small piece of electronics and a motor that made them tumble end over end slowly to get around. They had the intelect of a pea but they were fun to watch for Anet.

Keiko smiled and turned to Yuuko. "Yuuko the mom; that's cute. I'm sure you guys will be happy; now if you'll excuse me I'll be gathering up my things." Keiko said.

Yuuko frowned, getting a bad vibe from Keiko. Her sister seemed dangerously jealous. "Why are you moving out, Keiko?" Yuuko asked, obviously a bit hurt.

Keiko sighed; "Because 1) I don't want to intrude on you two now since your together and 2) I have alot of things on my mind." She said, looking back to Yuuko.

"Keiko, you're our family," Yuuko told her sister, leaning in close and whispering, "Don't you want to meet your new niece?" She pointed at the girl tinkering with the robots on the desk.

Keiko shook her head. "I've met her before, nice girl; a bit of a techhie, but she's a good child." The kurovakten said. ~I'm not a part of her family anymore, I'm an outcast, Yuuko has her own family now.~ She was thinking. "I'm happy for you."

Anet tossed a small mass of wiring and parts into the air that looked like it had a pair of wings fasioned out of the coverings of a datapad. Anet watched enthusiasticly as it fell to the ground. The thing gave a few pitiful flaps on its way down to the ground causing Anet to frown as it landed and limped off in a circle with its remaining wing.

Yuuko hung her head in forlorn dismay. "You don't seem happy..." Her eyes trailed along the ground to the broken mechanoid. Somehow, she felt like Keiko's vow of sisterhood was broken as well.

Keiko gave Yuuko a warm hug. "It's ok Yuuko, I just feel like nobody cares about me anymore. I just feel so alone; I want to be your sister still...but I know I have to let you go. I'm sure I'm a terrible disappointment to you and the other Kessaku." Keiko said, trying to smile but sad tears were forming in her eyes.

"What? Here, step into the hall with me, Keiko..." Yuuko nodded to Wazu and then went into the hallway.

Keiko sighed and stepped out behind Yuuko.

"What is wrong with you?!" Yuuko slapped Keiko across the cheek.

Keiko simply turned with the slap and looked back at Yuuko with sad eyes, all signs of her normal cheerfulness gone. "I feel useless...ever since you and him got back together I feel like a third wheel. I haven't done anything to prove my worth to the clan..I want to but I seem to be doing only the wrong thing." She admitted, hanging her head.

"I still love you just as much as I did before I met Wazu. You've got to stop being afraid of men. Wazu's a good man and he's going to be your brother, Keiko. No one expects you to become a somebody instantly just because of our family name. I love you so much Keiko...and for you to act like I don't drives me crazy in the worst way," Yuuko said, taking Keiko's hands into her own.

Keiko just looked at Yuuko with a look of shock on her face. "But, why am I afraid of men? I think it's called a phobia: an irrational fear of something; they look at me as if they have only one thing on the mind. That's why I didn't want to form such a revealing dress in the club.." She admitted again.

"Men think very much like we do," Yuuko chided her. "You're afraid of sex, I think...and of course, you don't want to lose another man you love..."

The Emerald -haired neko nodded. "That could be it, I suppose I took his death harder than I let on. And, I still think I should be afraid of sex, there's no real point in doing it....it wastes energy that could be put to one's job or practices."

"Even Rave would disagree, Keiko," Yuuko said. "It's fun. You don't know because you've never tried...and it's not such a big deal. It should't be such an issue, I think. I love Wazu and he loves me, so why not pleasure each other? I hope your time as a Miko teaches you to be relaxed and a little more laid-back. Just because something doesn't seem efficient at first, doesn't mean it's bad."

Keiko shook her head in disagreement. "That's good and fine for you Yuuko, but I simply don't want a part in it. And I am laid-back and relaxed, I just...react quickly to things." She said defensively.

"What?" Yuuko asked, "What don't you want to be part of? Relationships? Our family?"

"Intimate sexual relationships with the opposite gender." Keiko clarified. "This family means everything to me; it's the only one I have now."

"Stay with us. Please give Wazu a chance. I love you, Keiko," Yuuko hugged Keiko tightly.

Keiko hugged Yuuko back as her eyes darted left and right, sorting out the situation. "Yuuko, it's not really my choice if I give him a chance or not, he's yours not mine." She said, smiling somewhat. "Yuuko, I admit, I really am scared of relations like that to the point I thought about sealing off my crotch and everything down there. Just to avoid it."

"Whoa!" Yuuko said, backing out of the hug, "Really? Keiko!" Yuuko seemed shocked.

"I figured it would be the best way to avoid it, is to not make myself available to it." She said. "But I haven't done anything yet." She laughed. "I was actually considering switching bodies to a lighter color skintone. I don't really like how I look, I'm ugly with this black skin, I look like I got burnt to a cinder." She laughed at herself.

"Yuuko, you're gorgeous...wow, you poor thing...you need some confidence..." She lowered her voice, "I will help you...face your fears about intimate touching, if you'd like," she said quietly.

Keiko's eyes widened and she jumped back timidly. "Yuuko!" She gasped in shock. Her eyes darted left and right unsure of herself again; she was curious as to what was so good about it..but like this? Sure, she'd played around touching Yuuko and such; but she didn't think anything of it afterward...it was all play...

"When you're ready," Yuuko nodded sincerely, giving her a loving smile. "And I think modeling would help you like your body more, too," she added with a grin and a nod.

"Thank you Sis." Keiko said and gave Yuuko another hug as if to reassure her sister that she wasn't leaving the family. Keiko shook her head and chuckled. "Is a miko allowed to be a lingerie model too Ms. frilly?" She asked, letting go and poking a finger into Yuuko's chest; as if to poke fun at her.

"Oh!" Yuuko smiled happily, "I'm sure there's nothing wrong with that!"

"But Yuuko...am I really that gorgeous? I mean can I wear this?" She asked shimmering the image of herself in thong lingerie over her skirt uniform.

"Ooh!" Yuuko clapped excitedly, "You're lovely!" She patted Keiko's bottom. "Nobody thinks any less of you because you're black," she smiled. "You're more rare and precious, even," Yuuko smiled.

Keiko blushed. "Hey, Yuuko hands off that." She said poking more fun at Yuuko as she let the illusion fade so she looked normal. "How am I more rare and precious because I have onyx skin? Aren't there alot of kurovaktens?"

"Not too many of them. Maybe only 10 on this ship, not counting the NH-12 pilots," Yuuko explained, "If that."

"Wow, I am rare, isn't sister Irim a shirovakten? The opposite of me? When I met her, she had pale skin." Keiko asked, starting to get a bit excited at the realization she was one of few.

"Yep," Yuuko nodded, "There's a nice variety in the family, isn't there?"

Keiko giggled. "I want to meet the rest of the family face to face sometime. I know my father liked Sister Anri's voice, he even asked Seigi to mimic it before she went down." Keiko said. "Maybe we can get Celia to sound like that, that soft, calming, reassuring voice."

"I don't think Celia likes anything but her Norse one," Yuuko giggled. "Raver could be soft if you'd like," Yuuko grinned. "I'll ask Anri to come by, okay? Irim will be harder to get...she's busy."

"Irim's always busy as the Taisho in charge." Keiko agreed. "And I'd like that, if Anri came by sometime." She sighed once, a bit heavily, she felt better now that she had talked to Yuuko about what she felt.

"Sure," Yuuko grinned. "Are you feeling a little better now?"

"Hai, a little better. But I'm still not sure about being a model. I know, let's get James's opinion on it!" She giggled happily. She was gaining confidence in herself already; The kuro shimmered back into the look of lingerie but a little more concealing this time.

"Sure," Yuuko nodded, and led the way back into the room. She turned away at the last moment, "What will Anet say," Yuuko giggled.

Keiko rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I'm sure he'll cover her eyes."

Yuuko giggled some more and went back into the room.

Keiko followed behind her and whistled to James. "Hey! What do you think?" She asked him and struck a pose.

James gave both girls a blank look, "uh.." was all he managed to get out, being temperarily stunned by them walking in with bearly any clothing on. He quickly cleared his head and replied, "I think it looks great!" James also made a move to have Anet look away but she was to busy with her little creations to care about Keikos temperary lack of clothing.

Keiko giggled and blushed a bit. "Really?"

"Yes, really... what prompted the sudden change in attitude?" He asked.

"A nice talk with my sister. I was feeling depressed about my looks and such." Keiko explained as shortly as she could.

"Hard to imagine, isn't it?" Yuuko grinned, looking Keiko up and down.

James nodded.

"What's hard to imagine?" keiko asked innocently as she shimmered back to normal, letting her holos fade.

"Hard to imagine anyone could be ashamed of a body like yours," Yuuko said quietly.

"aw come on, you're making me blush!" Keiko said as she did just that. "But if you want me to model your designs
Yuuko, you're going to have to understand that my priorities go like this as of now: Job, training as a miko, then the modeling. When I'm off shift, I still have to do some training before I can do anything else." Keiko said firmly, as if she was setting down her rules on this.

"Alright," Yuuko nodded.

Keiko nodded in response and smiled. "Well I suppose I'll be off, I still need a room of my own, I think I'll simply move to the room next to yours. Then I'm off to the baths, after that; I have to go on duty."

"Okay," Yuuko nodded, a bit sadly, "I'm going to miss spending my nights with you. You sure you want to move out?" She pondered the thought of making Wazu sleep alone or with Anet. After all, humans could get sweaty, and she'd rather be sleeping than making out with him, too.

"Well would you want incense burning as well as my spiritual chantting going on while you try and sleep?" Keiko asked pointedly.

Yuuko seemed confused. "At night?"

"Well, just a little blessing for sound sleep and protection; something I saw Inari do a couple times when I lived in the medical officers quarters with her while I learned the skills of a medic. She didn't seems to mind afterall, I think she was thankful for the company on some nights." Keiko shrugged.

"Oh," She looked to James, "Who do you want to sleep with?"

"Well, I'd like to sleep with you still but if you want me to sleep elsewhere then I will," He said, not really wanting to leave Yuuko.

"I meant, is Anet staying with us two?" Yuuko asked, wondering where Anet would go.

"I think personally that he should stay with Anet, she is his daughter." Keiko said professionally, remembering that Yuuko had mentioned niece; which lead her to deduce the Anet was James's daughter. "It's not like Yuuko's gonna be cheating on you." She chuckled.

"Anet is a big girl, she can take care of herself," James added, "Besides she has chosen her own room, I think we should let her have it."

"Um how old is she anyway?" Keiko asked curiously.

"Okay. May I see a map, Raver?" Yuuko asked, touching a black panel on the wall. A map of the ship's rooms appeared and Yuuko looked it over.

"I'm six," Anet said, she seemed to be paying attention only to her little creations but apparently she had a ear on the conversation as well.

Keiko walked over and ruffled Anet's hair. "You're a smart 6-year-old then. I think you'd make a good scientist or engineer with some training." Keiko smiled.

"Okay, so on this map, "Yuuko pointed," Anet has the 'Medical/Science' nest, Wazu and I have the 'Operations' nest, and you'll have the 'Visitor's Nest', okay?" she said. "This way, we'll always be close to one another if someone needs something."

Keiko looked over at Yuuko, having gotten momentarily distracted. "Does the Visitor's nest has a view?" She asked, walking over to have a look.

"Yes, it has windows," Yuuko nodded.

"That sounds good, but why aren't the other rooms taken? You a little short on crew Yuuko? All I've ever seen on this ship is us and a couple sprites." Keiko asked curiously.

Yuuko giggled. "That's all there is," she explained.

"You need to have Raver create some more sprites to handle the other key positions, if they're not already." Keiko said.

"I don't think anything's really needed at this point," Keiko's sister told her.

Keiko shrugged; "I just think it'd be better to be safe than sorry is all. Less work for me ya know." She giggled.

Yuuko just smiled and hugged Keiko from behind tightly for a long time.


JP

Tyler (Keiko)
Zack (James, Anet)
Wes (Yuuko, Celia, Rave)

 [YSS Celia] Getting it off the Chest  ON> YSS Celia

Keiko sighed, after her...interesting meeting with Yuuko; she began to have thoughts..some rather troubling things. ~ Does Yuuko really care for me? She doesn't seem to...not anymore..~ The Kuro thought and scooped up a datapad as she sat in a chair in the medbay. "Taisho?" She asked over the pad, hoping to catch her.

Ayame was rather curious at the purpose of the call but answered, "Yes Keiko?"

"I am sorry if I interrupted anything, but do you have a moment?" Keiko asked, her voice sounded troubled.

"Yes of course. What is it?" Ayame sounded slightly worried because of the tone in her voice.

"Can I come see you to chat in person? My problems are of...a personal nature.." The emerald-haired neko asked.

Ayame pursed her lips and thought a moment, "Of course. I'm in my quarters."

Keiko nodded and smiled. "Thank you Taisho." She said and bowed her head and started for the captain's quarters, familiar with the layout of the ship. It did't take too long to get there; there was a polite knock on Ayame's door.

"Come in" Ayame said through the glass. She rose from her seat at her desk and smoothed out the dark blue kimono.

Keiko walked in and bowed to Ayame, bending at the waist. "Thank you for seeing me. " The black neko sighed. "I feel like I'm losing my only family.."

Ayame took her seat and moved her hand in the direction of the one in front of her, "Please sit down."

"Thank you." Keiko said and sat down and ran her hands over her torso, smoothing her skirt uniform down. "It seems like Yuuko doesn't care about me anymore."

Ayame looked at Keiko calmly, "Why is that Keiko?"

"She..." Keiko closed her eyes as tears began to form. "Seemed to change after I got bigger, I caught her watching me every now and then..I was uncomfortable. Like she was looking at my body and not me; father told me to avoid those types..." She said. "Yuuko didn't care that I went to Fenyar..or that I got back, I think she wouldn't have cared if I had died there."

Ayame nodded, "I see, so she makes you feel uncomfortable now?"

Keiko nodded. "Somewhat. Especially now that her and James are together; she eyed me and him like she wanted me to um...you know..with him. She claimed I needed to feel what she did; and I don't want to..ever." Keiko said.

Ayame smoothed out her kimono, "Not ever?"

"There's no guy worthy, the only one who ever was is dead." She said. "I just...don't feel comfortable, I think their extra anatomy is...I dunno, gross." The medic said, remembering all the medical information on the subject in question.

Ayame nodded, "I see... Tell me something Keiko, have you spoken to Yuuko about this?"

The young neko shook her head. "I don't think she'd listen to me, she didn't at that dinner of yours, she's too into James right now..." She trailed off, brushing a silky greenhair out of her face.

Ayame studied Keiko, "Are you jealous?"

"No." Keiko replied calmly. "I just feel like my only family is leaving me...again.." She said start with a slight sob.

Ayame nodded, "I understand Keiko, I really do. I think you should perhaps speak to Yuuko alone, make her understand how you are feeling and take a few steps back. Take the time alone to think your way through what you want to do with your life."

"Ms. Ayame? Can I have a room on this ship to myself?" Keiko asked, nodding as she sniffled and wiped a tear away.

Ayame nodded, "Yes of course." She looked across at Keiko in the subdued candle light, "Do you not like your current lodging?"

"Well it's with Yuuko on the Rave. I like Keenara and Inari and all, but I need some time to myself." Keiko sighed. "I miss my daddy..." She said, hugging her knees up to her, sounding like a little girl.

"Your father will always be with you Keiko as long as you hold him in your heart." Ayame smiled softly, "Never forget that."

Keiko nodded. "The only thing I really want or need is a family who'll love me and not want to use me.. I don't want to give my body to anyone for companionship..." She said. "I never had to before when I was small, I think it's stuck in my head."

Ayame nodded, "Keiko you never need to give your body to anyone until you are ready."

The little neko smiled. "But what do I do if someone tries to force me too? To be honest, I'm scared those trolls might try it.."

Ayame folded her hands in her lap, "I will NOT allow that on my ship."

Keiko smiled fully. "Thank you Ayame." She said. "Where should my room be?" The black neko asked.

Ayame smiled, "Wherever you like. You can ask Celia for the available quarters."

Keiko nodded. "I'll do just that. Ayame..can I ask you a personal question?"

Ayame nodded again, "Yes, I can not promise I'll respond though."

"Did you happen to know my father?" Keiko asked. Kai had told her alot of life lessons, but not much on himelf, she was curious.

Ayame shook her head, "No I did not have that pleasure."

Keiko giggled, a bit, starting to relax now that she'd told someone her feelings. Someone she trusted and knew respected her. "Can you bring up his files for me to read? I can't access them due to my rank."

Ayame nodded, "I suppose it would not hurt to release that information." She smiled, "Do you need anything else Keiko?"

Keiko looked shy..." A hug?" She asked hopefully.

Ayame laughed and got up to hug the other neko, "Hugs are free."

The emerald-haired neko smiled and hugged her back warmly, squeezed her for a moment then let go, feeling better. " Thank you Ms. Ayame. Can you download those files to this pad?" She asked handing her the datapad.

Ayame took the pad and uploaded the files on the late shosho to the pad, "There you are Keiko. Anything else?"

Keiko shook her head no. "Nothing from you Ma'am...I just need a bath, I haven'thad some since getting back from Fenyar. If I may be excused of course."

Ayame nodded, "Of course dear."

Keiko stood up and walked over to Ayame and kissed her cheek sweetly and smiled, it was and old habit from the time she was small. "I used to do that to father as a thank you when I was 8 inches tall, hope you don't mind." Keiko said as she neared the door.

Ayame smiled, "Not at all Keiko, sleep well and if you need anything do not hesitate to come by."

"You remind me alot of him." Keiko smiled and exited the room with a bow.

JP

Tyler (Keiko)
Jenn (Ayame)

 [YSS Jade] Almost Confession  “Henry.”

“Uhhh, five more minutes, mom.”

“Um… sir? It’s time for you to get up.”

“Hmm.”

“Sir, you are drooling all over your pillow.”

“Hmm?” Henry was finally awake. He slowly rubbed his eyes, and saw that Shina was staring at the wet stains on his pillow with a bemused expression. “Those will just dry out,” he whispered, slightly embarrassed.

“Of course, sir,” Shina replied as she brought Henry’s uniform over to him. “Would you like me to help you put your pants on, sir?”

“Ack, get away from me, I can dress myself,” said Henry, but he couldn’t help but smile. Shina would ask him that question occasionally, when she was feeling playful. He always wondered how she would react if he ever answered “yes”.

“Very well, sir. I shall await you in the bridge,” the neko replied as she descended the ladder that led up to the captain’s nest.

Henry put on his green YSA uniform, even though he should really be wearing a white one now, and carefully affixed his lieutenant’s pin to his shirt. He then joined Shina on the bridge of the Jade.

“Since you woke me up, Shina, I presume the burn medicine is ready?”

“Almost, sir. The medics have determined the right chemical formula. It will take another 30 minutes for them to manufacture the amount that you requested,” Shina replied in an apologetic voice, “Meanwhile, I was thinking that we could have breakfast. I had some sprites bring over some food from the Celia’s mess hall over to the Jade’s galley.”

“Excellent,” said Henry has he checked the chronometer inside his right eye. He had been sleeping for a little over 8 hours.

“You are… not mad… sir? We are running behind schedule.”

“Of course not. The medics obviously took the time to make sure that the medicine is safe for the Kee’Awloos, which was exactly what I told them to do. Now, let’s go eat.”

The galley was right next to the bridge, so walking over to it took Henry and Shina mere seconds. On the counter sat two plates. One held a steaming dish of rice and jumbo shrimps, the other held golden hash browns, sausages, and veggies. Shina picked up the plate with the hash browns, along with a fork, and handed them to Henry, and then picked up the plate of shrimps for herself, along with a set of chopsticks.

“Oh good, it appears that all my whining about the Japanese food to the sprites has paid off,” said Henry with glee as he began eating.

“You need a chair, sir?”

“Nah. I’m okay,” replied Henry between chews.

When they had finished their food, Shina took out a can of orange soda, a bottle of water, and a bottle of iced tea from the fridge and placed them on the counter. Henry took a cup from the stack of cups near the coffeemaker, mixed some orange soda and water into the cup, and began drinking the concoction.

Shina sipped her iced tea and smiled as she watched Henry drink his watered-down orange soda. Her smile faded as she saw him pick up a data pad with his free hand. How would he react to the news?

Casually sipping his drink, Henry checked the latest news with the data pad, his eyes quickly landing on the headlines. He breathed a sigh of relief as he read that the SMX invasion force advancing toward his home-world had been repulsed. Henry didn’t really expect any other outcome really. He had full faith in the Empire.

His face paled as he read the casualty reports.

“Damn, that’s a lot of dead nekos,” he murmured.

Shina just looked at him with a sad expression on her face.

“I’m sorry, Shina, I guess that wasn’t a very sensitive thing to say,” Henry said to her with a weak smile.

“It’s okay, sir. It’s what we were made for: to serve and protect the Empire at all costs. We are… just weapons… after all,” replied his assistant, who was also trying her best to smile, but the sadness was evident in her eyes.

“No, Shina,” answered Henry as he slowly shook his head, “Nekovalkyrjas are more than just weapons. You are people, sentient beings. As far as I’m concerned, you are as human as Geshrins and Neplesians.”

“Thank you, sir,” said Shina, tears welling up in her eyes, “that means a lot to me, coming from you.”

Henry smiled as he put down the data pad and softly caressed Shina’s shoulder. He didn’t resist as Shina set down her tea and pulled him into a hug, but placed his drink on the counter and put his arms around her.

“There’s two things I would gladly give up my life to protect, sir: the Empire… and you,” Shina said softly in his arms.

“I know that, Shina, but… do you know that I feel pretty much the same way?”

“Sir?”

“I know I’m willing to die for the Empire, Shina, and I know that…” Henry’s voice trailed off as Meemeel walked into the galley. He blushed slightly.

“Oops, I’m… I’m sorry, sir, Shina,” the Geshrin girl appeared quite flustered as she saw Henry and Shina hugging.

“It’s okay, Meemeel,” Shina replied in a low voice as she released Henry from the hug.

“I… just wanted to let you know, sir, that the burn medicine has been prepared and is waiting for you in the shuttle bay, sir. Um, the Jade AI told me that I would find you here…” said Meemeel to Henry.

“It quite all right, Miss Meemeel,” Henry replied with a smile, “please return to your regular duties. I will try to keep strange requests to a minimum in the future.”

“It’s not strange at all to me, sir. It is a medic’s duty to heal allies and enemies alike… I hope that you can convince the Fenyaros to be our allies, sir,” said the Geshrin girl with a bow.

“I hope so, too, Miss Meemeel,” said Henry, watched Meemeel walk out of the galley, and then turned to his assistant. “Shina, is the shuttle ready?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And the weapon system?”

“Disabled, sir, as per your instructions while you were in your nest last night.”

“Good,” replied Henry as he finished his watered-down soda, “let’s go.”

As Henry and Shina stepped out of the airlock and into the shuttle bay of the Jade, they saw a T2 “Kitty” aeroshuttle waiting for them, as well as a neko pilot in a blue uniform. The pilot was wearing a Sergeant pin and holding what appeared to be a picnic basket. A plastic briefcase stood beside her. Six Lamia armor suits were also there. Two neko technicians in red uniforms were busily working over them.

“Hello, sergeant,” Shina greeted the pilot.

“Sir, ma’am, the sprites made some food for you,” said the neko pilot as she saw the two walk up to her, handing Shina the picnic basket.

Henry walked over to the plastic briefcase and opened it. Inside it were a few dozen small jars of a green gel-like substance. He nodded, closed the briefcase, and placed it under his arm.

“If you would please step inside the shuttle, sir, ma’am, I’ll have you planet-side in no time,” said the pilot neko as she stepped into the shuttle.

Henry nodded and followed Shina inside the shuttle. Shina took a seat near the front, buckled herself in, and nestled the picnic basket between her arms. Henry sat down next to her, buckled his seat-belts, and placed the briefcase on his lap.

“Ready when you are, sergeant,” said Henry, a bit impatiently.

The neko pilot was simply waiting for the order to take off. She nodded as she started up the shuttle. 

 [YSS Jade] Obligations  ON> YSS Jade (YD-524)

Henry was sitting at the operations station of the bridge, with his chin resting on his hands. He looked bored. Just when he was about to volunteer for a recon mission back to Fenyar's planet surface, he was informed that Taisho Ayame was already planet-side, and personally handling the negotiation process. Shina sat at the science station, tweaking the controls to her tastes.

Henry fidgeted. There must be something that he could do to help. "Um, Jade Megami," he finally called out, "are you there?"

"Good evening, Taii Chen, Chui Tanaka," Jade greeted the two as she entered the bridge. The Avatar has styled herself after her name, taking on a very pleasing Chinese visage, deep green hair, and an ancient-style white pants and coat, "How may I serve you?"

"Good evening, ma'am," Shina turned around, bowed, and returned her attention to her station. "Um, yes ma'am," Henry replied as he bowed, noticing the AI's Taisa pin, "I was hoping to get an update on the negotiation process on Fenyar."

"I haven't received any word on it since the two were dropped off," Jade informed them. "I have been tracking them, however, and our representatives seem to be alright. Also, the destroyed village is being rebuilt."

"Rebuilt? Interesting... Do you know what happened to the Kee'Awloo monks? Right before we evacuated, I detected the explosions that the Nerimians set off going through the entire Kee'Awloo wormhole system..." Henry closed his eyes as he remembered that painful day. "... Do we know whether any of the Kee'Awloo survived?"

"Some Kee'Awloo remain alive; more than two hundred and fifty have been detected, sir," Jade answered.

Henry trembled slightly. Grim mathematics was being done in his head. "Well... it was a low population density planet to began with..." he mumbled, "but still..." Henry shook the thought away. The YSA certainly had committed worse atrocities in the past. He certainly wasn't going to start letting himself be bothered by it now. "Well," he finally replied, "it wasn't our fault... How long has the Taisho been down there, anyway?"

"The Taisho Kyoshi Ayame has been down there for over two days," Jade replied promptly. "Shall I draw a map for you?" the computer-woman inquired.

"That would be ideal, ma'am," replied Henry.

Jade nodded and filled the main screen with a terrain map overlaying an aerial photo. The temple was labeled, as well as other landmarks. The computer scanned around a bit. "She's in the temple itself," Jade placed a little Taisho pin image on the temple on the map. A great many red dots wandering around in the area represented Fenyaro, mostly To'Yaree.

Upon seeing the map, Henry suddenly had a flashback of playing his strategy games on his laptop. He shook his head again, and smiled. This was no game. "Is there anything I could do to help the negotiation process?" he asked, mostly to himself, "By the way, ma'am, whose permission do I need to obtain if I wish to conduct a planet-side mission?"

"To assist the negotiation, you should refrain from acting in ways that alienate you to the population of the planet. To go to the planet, I would suggest asking Taisho Kyoshi Ayame, who is also still on the Celia," Jade replied.

"She is? Of course she is..." Henry said to himself. Why would a Taisho ever go into a potentially hostile situation without a clone? "Could you patch me through to her, ma'am?" Henry smiled at the AI, who vaguely resembled his mother.

"Of course," Jade replied. A tired-looking Taisho Ayame was on the screen in a moment. "Hello, Henry," she smiled.

"Hello, ma'am. I hope this day finds you well... I was hoping to obtain your permission to take a shuttle down to the planet. Shina could assist you in the negotiation process, and I could bring some burn medicine with me if needed."

"And... more importantly," he continued, "I wish to personally apologize to the surviving Kee'Awloos... I owe them much, and have so far only helped to bring them death and suffering in return..."

"A shuttle?" Ayame asked. "I suppose that'd be alright. I'm doing pretty well using hemosynthesis down here, but I'm terribly fatigued because I'm pretty much drained of blood. You'd be a big help. Guess what? Sergei's alive! He's...changed, but he's alive. I've seen him...Come on down and join me, your company is always welcome. Don't bring your weapons, alright?"

"Sergei is alive? That's wonderful news, ma'am!" Henry smiled as if a huge weight was lifted off his heart. "And I was going to ask what happened to his body... I'll join you as soon as the burn medicine is prepared. And if the Taisho orders me not to bring weapons, I will not bring so much as a sharpened pencil." Henry smiled as he wondered whether the Taisho had ever seen a real pencil. Very few of them are still manufactured on Yamatai, mostly as novelty items.

"Alright," Ayame smiled, appreciating his remarks. "I will see you soon, then." She nodded a goodbye to him and the transmission ended with the rising sun logo of the Third Expeditionary Fleet. Jade was quiet.

"Shina..." said Henry. "The preparations are already underway, sir," replied his trusty assistant. "Very good, Shina... time until completion?" he asked. "We'll have to alter the chemical composition, sir, in order to ensure that the medicine is effective on Fenyaros, and that there would be no side effects. Estimated time to completion is 6 hours."

"Would you like an invisible weapon?" Jade asked them both.

"That's won't be necessary, ma'am, I doubt that I'd be able to wield it, anyway. And Shina is well trained in hand-to-hand combat... Well, I guess I better catch some sleep before I head planet-side. You should, too, Shina." Shina nodded, bowed to Henry and Jade, and left the bridge for her nest.

"Alert me when the medics have prepared the medicine, ma'am. I wish to leave as soon as possible," said Henry to Jade as he climbed into the captain's nest, "And please take care of the ship for me while I'm gone."

Jade nodded, "I'll also have some snacks and meals ready. Have a good rest, Henry."

"Thank you, ma'am," replied Henry, poking his head out of the nest to take another good look at the AI, "Good night."

JP by:
Wes (Jade AI, Taisho Ayame)
Yangfan (Henry, Shina)
 [YSS Jade] A Chat between Chuis Shina marched into the Yade’s small medical bay, trying to look intimidating. She could see a few sprites and a Geshrin medic working in front of some computer terminals and a distillation apparatus. “I thought the medicine was going to be ready in 6 hours, it’s been 7 hours now. What’s the hold up?” Shina asked, trying to sound harsh, but only managing to sound annoyed.

The Geshrin medic was wearing a Chui pin. She answered without looking at Shina. “We are just making sure that the medicine won’t have any adverse effects on the Kee’Awloos, Shina. Taii Chen was very specific on that point… What’s he doing right now?”

“Sleeping… He did say not to wake him up until you finish making the medicine. I don’t think he’ll be very happy when he wakes up, though,” Shina answered.

“This would go a lot faster if we had some actual Kee’Awloo DNA to work with… Dante only left us some scans of him.”

“Hmm,” Shina furrowed her brow. “I don’t think the Kee’Awloos would just roll up their sleeves for us, not anymore…” She was sad that she couldn’t be of more help. Being an astrophysicist didn’t really help in these situations.

“Don’t worry, Shina, I’m sure we’ll be finished in no time,” the Geshrin girl tried to give Shina an assuring smile.

“You look… familiar,” Shina suddenly said, looking at the Geshrin girl, “have we met before?”

“I came here on the same ship as you and Taii Chen when I was deployed,” the Geshrin girl answered.

“Of course!” It was all coming back to Shina. “Your name is… Meemeel?”

“I’m glad you remembered me, Shina,” Meemeel replied as she smiled.

Shina nodded smiled, “Well, carry on, Meemeel. Let Jade and me know as soon as you are done. I’ll stop bothering you now. ”

The two girls bowed to each other before Shina turned around and left the medical bay.


YSA no Taii Chen Henry
Commander, YSS Jade (YD-524)
 [YSS Rave] Caught in the Act  ON> YSS Rave

Keiko had just gotten back on board from Fenyar; as the ship began to lift off again, the kuro walked to the bridge to say hello to her sister. Keiko brushed a long emerald hair out of her eyes and holstered her gun; and looked around. "Yuuko?"

Inside of the bridge was a young girl that looked to be only 6. Spread out on the floor was the parts to a data pad which was projecting a small image of the ship they were on. The girl was busy inputting data from the ship to create a 3d model which was fairly realistic. Occasionally she would poke the floating image while messing with some of the parts.

Keiko walked over to the girl. "Hello there...you're with James right?" Keiko asked, remembering having met her earlier.

Anet nodded, "Yes," she said shortly before returning to the small mass of circitry, "Is there something that you want?"

Keiko looked around. "Where's my sister Yuuko? Have you seen her?" She emerald-haired neko asked.

"They went in that direction," Anet said, stopping what she was doing to turn around and point. "Rave knows exactly where they are if you get lost in your search." she added before going back to her plaything.

Keiko shrugged and turned around and looked in the direction the girl had pointed. "Rave, where's my sister?" She asked, not wanting to search.

Rave politely responded, "Yuuko is in the officer's nest."

"Thank you Rave." Keiko said and went to the officer's nest to say hello.
While she was climbing up the ladder, she could hear Yuuko's moaning through the door...

Keiko perked a brow and opened the door.

"Yuuko?" She was popping her neck and had her eyes closed at that moment, she was wondering why Yuuko was moaning though.

"OH!" Yuuko squeeked, lying back on the edge of the nest, fully nude. Wazu was over her with his face near her boobs. Keiko couldn't see much of what was going on because Wazu's back was in the way. Yuuko's hands reached for a nearby blanket.

Keiko looked over, and didn't say a thing, but her grip on the doorframe increased exponentially. She was shocked Yuuko would betray her like this, he hand fingered the GP-13 at her hip. "How...dare...you..." She muttered.

Wazu quickly rolled off Yuuko to face the girl who had just entered the room, "um... hello?" was all he managed to get out.

Yuuko covered herself with the blanket. "Keiko!! Um...welcome back."

Keiko's eyes teared up and she jumped back down the ladder and ran off through the ship until she got to an empty room and locked herself in. She was crying softly, clutching her knees to her chest; sitting on the floor. "I can't...believe it..." She sniffled.

Yuuko looked to Wazu and then followed her sister. No lock on the ship would keep the ship's captain out. She found Keiko quickly. "Keiko?" she asked cautiously, "What's wrong?"

Keiko scooted away from her until her back was to a wall. "Stay away from me." She said in a mixed tone that wavered between disappointment and anger.

Wazu stayed in the nest for a moment, figuring Yuuko could deal with this better than he could. With a sigh he changed his mind. He wanted to be there incase Yuuko needed him so he got up and followed her. Wazu kept his distance from her, staying just far away enough to where he could at least tell what was going on.

Yuuko wasn't going to repeat herself...she waited for an answer.

Keiko finally looked up at Yuuko, ignoring her nudity and wetness the glinted in the light. "I come back hoping to see you, and you're up there doing....'that' with him. What about that promise? Did it mean anything to you?!" Keiko almost shouted. She sniffled once and wiped the tears away; She had only seen him on top of her and took it the wrong way. Her hair draped over her face as she put her face in her knees again, sobbing softly.

"I've kept our promise, as much as I wanted to let him, Keiko. He only was using his hands," Yuuko explained. "It was so good," she added dreamily, a smile spreading across her lips.

"He what? But he was on top of you...and your thighs are covered in feminine lubricant..." Keiko sniffled, looking up again; her Violet eyes locked with Yuuko's. Keiko had read about this, downloaded the medical information...but she didn't understand why it felt good, and she didn't want to know.

"We didn't do that, Keiko. Trust me," Yuuko assured her sister.

'Then what was so good?" Keiko asked curiously, unclenching her legs and leaning back against the wall, holding one of them up still. The young neko set her head on her knee looking at Yuuko questioningly.

"You've got to feel it for yourself sometime, I suppose," Yuuko giggled. "He's very good with his hands." She blushed and then added, "I mean, not that he should be the one to show you!" embarrassedly.

The Kuro shook her head, making her hair dance. She got to her feet, standing a little taller than Yuuko and looked down at her. "I don't care how good he is, he touches me in anyway like that with them, I'll cut them off and not reattach them."

"Well, what now?" Yuuko asked, giving her sister an angry look.

Keiko looked regretful. "I...didn't mean that...I'm so confused.." She said and walked over and hugged Yuuko. Keiko indeed didn't know what to do or think much less say.
Yuuko hugged her sister back warmly, her anger fading. "I love him, Keiko," she said.

Keiko sighed and rubbed her sister's back. "Lucky guy." She giggled and pinched Yuuko's bum gently, like she had done sleep; but that time it was unwittingly.

"He's a good guy, Keiko. I'm sure you'll like him," Yuuko smiled. "He's going to live her with his daughter, Anet. Have you met your new niece yet?" She patted Keiko bottom in return for the squeeze.

"That little girl who's tearing up and studying a datapad?" Keiko asked, letting go of Yuuko and looking past her to James. ~What do you mean he's good with his hands?~ Keiko thought to Yuuko innocently, using telepathy to hide the question from the onlooker.

Yuuko giggled, "He drives me wild," she whispered in Keiko's ear, blushing.

"I don't see why, he's not that good looking, I say shave him and he'll look better." Keiko snickered evilly as she seriously considered it.

James smiled as he saw the two girls hug and make up, hoping that they had gotten past the incident that happened in Yuuko's nest.

Yuuko smiled, and kissed her sister's cheek. "You don't understand."

"He did this?" Keiko asked as she pressed herself against Yuuko.

Yuuko's eyes widened in surprise. "Keiko!" she said timidly as her sister came on to her. "Something like that." She couldn't help but giggle too as Keiko's fingers explored.

"You're all wet Yuuko.." Keiko snickered. "Now I'm gonna work on him...do you have an automated shaver?"

"Huh?" Yuuko looked confused.

"Nothing sis, nothing." Keiko snickered. "Just lock the door next time ok?" She asked, referring to the incident in the room.

"Sure. Do I have permission...?" she asked, referring to their pact.

Keiko waggled a finger admonishingly at Yuuko. "Yuuko...I don't know." She sighed.

"You can if I can shave and bikini wax him.." Keiko giggled. "If you love him, I think it's ok for it to happen. I just don't want to see it, that organ he uses is nasty."

Yuuko scowled, "You're stupid, sometimes, Keiko. But, thanks."

Keiko just smiled, knowing she didn't mean it. "I was kidding Yuuko." She chuckled. "At least I got to know the Fenyaro without killing them." Keiko pointed out, still a bit upset about that now that she had seen the better side firsthand.

"Hrm," Yuuko looked down at her body, then back to James.

James was watching the two from a bit of a distance, not knowing if he should intervene and definitely not liking the Bikini wax talk.

Keiko caught her glance and walked over to Wazu seductively and trailed a hand over his cheek before leaning in close to him looking as if she was going to kiss him. "Make her cry and I'll kill you." She whispered to his ear and walked back to Yuuko smiling. The Kuro leaned on Yuuko's shoulder affectionately; "I wish I knew what you were thinking with that look."

"I think you need to feel what I felt," Yuuko giggled.

Keiko kissed Yuuko and licked her cheek, somewhat aroused and empathically feeling her sister's arousal. "Maybe, but not from him."

"Oh?" Yuuko smiled, wondering if Keiko meant what Yuuko thought she meant. "From me?" she asked, curiously.

Wazu looked a bit stunned, but decided now was the time to butt in. He walked up and gave Yuuko a kiss on the cheek before looking over at Keiko, "You just got back from the planet, should you be making a report or something?"

"Hey," Yuuko softly elbowed James.

He looked a bit sheepish, "What?"

Keiko reached down and pinched Yuuko very gently before letting Yuuko go and turning to face James. "Get cleaned up and change your pants then I'll inform you." Keiko grinned noticing that James had liked the yuri style action.

Yuuko shuddered, surprised and entranced for a moment. "Wow. I'm going to go to the nest, I think."

Keiko giggled; "You sure don't want to hear about what I learned down there?" She asked, playing with a hair in her finger. Keiko really did want to tell them about it all; "Aren't you curious about Taisho Ayame status?"

"Tell it to SAINT," Yuuko smiled, and headed for the door.

James followed Yuuko out, putting one arm protectively around her waist.

Keiko just laughed and walked out after them. "Rabbits." She commented.

END

 [YSS Celia, YSS Rave] Breakfast  ON> GSS Celia

"Good morning Yuuko," James said as he gave her a kiss on the forehead while she was still waking up, "Its getting close to breakfast time." James slowly crawled out of the nest to get himself in order, taking this time to use a data pad to send a message to Anet. He asked her to meet him in the galley but was fairly vague on the details. She thought it was just going to be breakfast as usual. Anet, who was wandering the ship to get a mental image of what it looked like on the inside, immediately got the message and turned around. She headed for the galley at a fairly slow pace, her head still looking around to take in the ship as she walked.

"Mmm..." Yuuko stirred, slowly squirming under the covers until finally getting up, rubbing herself with her hands, a little sore. "Good morning, James," she smiled. "I never got to thank you before I passed out..." she grinned, "...so, thanks. It was an incredible night, even if you're still learning to dance!" She giggled a little.

That brought a smile to James's face, " I'm just glad that I'm not the only one who thought so," He said, "I hope your not to sore from last night, you did do a lot of dancing." Anet walked into the galley, she was wearing what looked like a priests robe. It was solid white and had a thick red trim at the bottom with some words inscribed in a gothic looking language. She no longer looked 16, now her age looked closer to 6. The robe had a hoodie on it that was pulled up over her head and her long dark brown hair came down past shoulder length inside of it even though it couldn't really be seen.

"So, what shall we do today?" Yuuko asked Wazu.

"Well..." Wazu said, "I'd like for you to meet Anet, I asked her to join us during breakfast."

"Sure," Yuuko said. "Let's hit the baths first."

He nodded and offered Yuuko a hand to help her up.

Yuuko gratefully accepted it and the two headed out of the nest, down the ladder, into the main deck. After a short, fun trip to the baths together, they dressed and were on their way to the dining hall.

It didn't take them to long to reach the dinning hall. Anet had already sat down and was waiting for her dad's arrival before she ordered food. A small smile crossed her face as she saw him enter. It took James only moments to find Anet and lead Yuuko toward the table, "Yuuko, this is Anet. Anet, this is Yuuko." He said, trying to get the basic introductions out of the way. Anet got out of her chair and bowed slightly to Yuuko, "Nice to meet you Ms. Yuuko," she said.

Yuuko grinned and bowed to Anet, in such a way that they nearly collided, if they'd been directly in front of one another. When Yuuko returned to standing, she kissed Anet on both cheeks. "Good morning, Anet."

Anet smiled, enjoying the attention, even if she was a bit surprised by the kisses. James pulled out a chair for Yuuko and then sat down himself after Anet resumed her spot in her chair. "Anet, we are both going to be seeing a lot more of Yuuko. She is going to be your new mother." Wazu said.

Yuuko blushed at this, the heavy reality of the statement really touched something deep inside her. She nodded in affirmation and took her seat at the table. "I know you probably a little surprised," she started. "Me too. But I promise I'll be a good mom for you, Anet."

Anet just nodded, "Ok," she said, slightly enthusiastic. Perhaps that as a child she simply just didn't understand, or it could be that as a machine it was just as easy as reassigning variables, "Will you be doing the same things my first mom did?" Anet asked.

"I don't know. What are you used to?" Yuuko asked. She didn't really know anything about Anet's last mother.

"We would talk, play games, and occasionally she'd let me help her build things. She really loved the clarinet and was teaching me how to play it." Anet said, She seemed to look off into the distance in a moment of deep thought before continuing, "I like building things."

"I like talking and games," Yuuko smiled, "I don't really build things like my sister Anri does, but I design clothes, and I bet you'd like that. I can sing and dance, and play the pipe organ. It's not exactly a clarinenet, but it's probably just as fun."

"What would you two like to eat?" Wazu asked, standing up to go get everyone's food, "Waffles please!" Anet responded before returning her view towards Yuuko, "Where do you fit a pipe organ on this ship?" she asked. The only ones she knew of were huge, taking up several stories of space.

to be continued...


GSA no Shoi, Uso Tasuki
Head Cook, GSS Seigi (GB-07)
Edited by: Tasuki Uso at: 2/25/04 7:44
Dante Stormwind
GSA Security Sentry
3rd Expeditionary Flt.
Posts: 76
(2/28/04 12:31)

ezSupporter
	Re: [YSS Celia, YSS Rave] Breakfast "Well," Yuuko grinned, "I don't think that there's any one board right now, although I was thinking of getting one put in the club. Of course, celia does a good job of holographic simulation." Brooke, one of the kitchen girls, pointed to a tray of waffles nearby that was sitting under a heat lamp.

Wazu went to get plates of food for him, his daughter, and Yuuko, leaving the two alone for a moment as he looked over the buffet. Once he got some plates he started pileing waffles on them. "The club?" Anet asked, shifting her head to one side in a inqusitive look, "What is it a club of?"

"It's a vocal trance club," Yuuko smiled at Anet. "I helped set it up." She looked over at Wazu for a moment, watching his back as he gathered waffles.

"Sounds like fun," Anet said with a smile, "I still have some music of that type left over from some of the people who worked on my body," She said, refering to the ship she came from. Wazu was rumaging around in the buffet. He was a bit confused by a fluffy white meat that was there and decided to get a small amount to try before placeing the plate on the tray. He then started to fill another plate with food for Yuuko, filling it with a bunch of stuff, not really knowing what she liked.

"Worked on your body?" Yuuko misunderstood, "I had a little work done myself a while ago," she told Anet, referring to her enhanced bosom. She winked at Anet.

Wazu came back with several plates of food on a tray. He handed one of them filled with
waffles drenched in syrup to Anet and another to Yuuko before sitting down at the table again. "What did you have done?" Anet asked as she had no memory of Yuuko with small breasts.

"Oh," Yuuko smiled, about to point to her chest, but the syrupy waffles made her cringe. She'd always eaten hers with just butter. "Thanks, James," she managed, with a polite smile. The two still had a lot to learn about one another, it seemed.

"Oh, would you like me to get you something else?" Wazu asked after seeing her cringe. Anet loved syrup and was already digging into the waffles.

Keiko had been wandering around the new Kee'Awloo Palace as she looked over the culture here and was thoroughly amazed at how fast they could work. She politely approached the Dragga and bowed respectfully. "Sir, is there any method I can use to contact my sister?" She asked. Da'Ante nodded and handed her a highly powered vidpad that'd reach ships in orbit, but with voice only. "Here, you can use this. Do you know how?" The dragga asked. Keiko nodded, realizing it was like YSA datapads..actually it was a YSA datapad that had been salavaged but not back engineered. The kuro nodded with a smile and pulled up Yuuko's ship. "Rave? This is Keiko, can you infom my sister that I'm safe here, but I need a pick up. If she could send a singular shuttle to these coordinates." She input a large clearing just outside the town that was being rebuilt.

Rave sent back transmission to Keiko, explaining that the planet's barrier field would get in the way.

"It let me down here didn't it Rave? Please just send an unarmed shuttle. It may let it through." The young neko sent back.

"None of my shuttles are unarmed," Rave replied.

Keiko pouted; "Is there anyway for me to get back?"

Yuuko quietly shook her head no to Wazu.

Wazu nodded and started to eat.

Keiko didn't know how to get the shield to open and let a shuttle through, but she wanted to go home, she missed Yuuko. "Rave, does Celia have any unarmed shuttles?"

Yuuko tried to inconspicuously sponge off as much syrup as she could onto the plate, not taking a bite yet.

Rave replied, "Four, but they're trapped in behind the other shuttles."

"I got here on a shuttle, so a shuttle can pass through the barrier shield. The Overseer here gave me permission to leave whenever I felt I needed to." Keiko said firmly.


(paused JP)

Wes (Yuuko, Rave)
Zack (Wazu, Anet)
Tyler (Keiko, Dante)


YSA no Nito Hesho Dante Stormwind
Security YSS Celia (GC-55)
Kyoshi Ayame
GSA Command
3rd Expeditionary Flt.
Posts: 79
(2/29/04 11:18)

ezSupporter
	[YSS Celia, YSS Rave] Breakfast ON> YSS Celia, Main Dining Hall

Yuuko looked up as Rave's voice whispered a message in her ear. She made a confused face, and spoke after a moment. "James," she said, "it seems my sister ended up on Fenyar..."

Wazu looked over in her direction, "Well at least we know where she is." He said. Anet continued to eat, seemingly oblivious to this conversation. "I hate to ask but... what exactly happened on Feynar?" Wazu had put his silverware to the side of his plate and was looking over at Yuuko from were he sat. "and do we need to get your sister off the planet?" He said, making the obvious link between her bodylanguage and speach.


"That's what she wants," Yuuko said. "I suppose I should take the Rave down and get her. I can't believe she left without telling me!" She picked at a piece of her waffles that hadn't been soaked in syrup, and ate it quietly.

On the surface of Fenyar, Keiko was watching the Massive To'Yaree berserkers finish rebuilding the town; and Da'Ante praising them as he walked around inspecting the work. He walked back over to Keiko and smiled at her. "Oh, here, sorry about scaring you so badly young one." The Dragga said and handed her back her weapon. "Keep the Datapad too." He said and went back to the temple. Keiko bowed her head in respect. "Thank you." She said as she waited for Yuuko.

Wazu nodded, "I'll come with you." He looked across the table to his daughter and then back to Yuuko before finnaly looking over at Anet again, "Anet, I'd like you to stay on the ship. If you need anything," As much as he hated to say it, "you can go speak with Uso."

"Oh..." Yuuko cringed at the thought of Uso influencing a child's development. "Alright." After a short pause, she added, "She'd be safe with us on the Rave, too...and it'd give her a chance to settle in."

"Alright..." Wazu was a bit overprotective of Anet even though she could probably handle herself better than him, "Should we take her with us then?"

"You don't think that'd be better than letting Uso," Yuuko wanted to say corrupt, "watch over her?"
"I just don't want to see her get hurt... But I trust you when you say she will be safe on the Rave." Wazu said. Anet looked up from her food and watched her 'parents' talk about where she was going to go. After a few moments she decided that the waffles were more important and returned to them.

"Alright," Yuuko smiled, "As soon as you two are done." She sent a telepathic message back to Rave, to reply to Keiko. Keiko recieved a message telling her that the Rave would be there in a little while.

Keiko smiled and patiently waited, watching the Kee'Awloo inspecting the town from her standpointon a small hill. "They're not that bad..." She mumured.

James folded his hands in his lap, although he was still hungry he didn't want to make them wait. Anet quickly finished and did the same, "Ready?" He asked. Anet nodded back in response, causing her hair to come out of her hood slightly and cover a part of her face.

Yuuko nodded and stood, waiting for them. She helped Anet get up by moving her chair politely.

James smiled as he saw Yuuko helping Anet. The small girl stood up and said, "Thank you," Before waiting to be led to the Rave.

Yuuko led them to the lifts, which carried them directly to the Rave. Upon stepping out, she took them to the bridge. "Anet, one of the rooms on this ship will be yours," she smiled as they moved through the hall.

"Which one?" she asked, "Do I get to pick!" Anet loved to poke around for things like that. James followed Yuuko closely while Anet just kinda tagged along from behind.

"Sure!" Yuuko grinned as the entered the bridge. "Rave, show Anet a map of the ship on this station," she ordered the computer. The Defensive Systems control station turned into an intricate map for Anet to play with. "Undock the ship, and take us to Keiko," she told Rave.

Anet nearly ran over to the pannet and started playing around with it. She had fun playing with the map as well as commiting it to memory. Inside of her mind she was comparing the rooms with the scematics and such to find the one with the best view of the outside.

The ship descended toward Fenyar, shields raised.

The shielding around the planet again caught the ship in it's sensory net and began to scan it for it's threat levels. Being as the shields were up, it seemed to the system that they were more prepared for defense than to attack. The field opened just enough to allow them through deeming that they were low threat since they hadn't entered with guns raised. As the ship descended through the atmosphere, the powerful sensors had little trouble seeing the now rebuilt village and temple.

The ship pulled up over Keiko, and lowered its ladder. Yuuko watched put a view from the ship's underside up on the bridge's main screen. "Hey, Keiko," the ship's external speakers said in Yuuko's voice.

Keiko jumped in surprise, and started to climb up the ladder and got into the ship after a moment of climbing. "Ah home sweet home, Fenyar's nice, but this is my home." Keiko said thoughtfully smiling. She brushed herself off and went to look for Yuuko; heading for the bridge, figuring that's where she was.

END 

 [Kyoto] Concerned Discussion  ON> Imperial Palace, Kyoto, Yamatai

"Ah, Sijik, Welcome," Yui greeted the Chujo. Simultaneously, a neko on his ship walked up to him carrying a large black velvet-lined box. The Taishos were all meeting by hologram to discuss the Star Army's fleets.

Sijik merely nodded to Yui. Representatives of QIS flanked him on both sides of his command chair. On his right was a Qel’noran Logistics officer, dressed in the standard male GSA uniform and with a leather covering over one of his shoulders that had QnL printed on it. On Sijik's left was a Qel’noran Acquisitions officer wearing a similar GSA uniform only with a long cap on his right side, hiding his right arm, that extended down from a patch on his shoulder that was labeled QnA. "Lets get down to business. How soon will these Sfrarabla... whatever be able to launch an attack again?"

Hinosami called Taisho Ayame to the holographic meeting.

Ayame arrived and bowed politely to the Empress, "Your Highness."

Yui nodded to Sijik and Ayame, "Good morning, and happy new year...we anticipate another large-scale attack within the week by the..." Yui paused, reading off of a Tablet computer in her hand, "Sfrarabla Mishhuvurthyar Xhrafuklurp...SMX. As you all are aware, we lost a great number of ships."

"What are their production capabilities and current ship numbers?" Sijik asked, not bothering with formalities as his calculating mind started to do the math on how to deploy his fleets.

"We don't know," Yui looked impatient. The neko at Sijik's side eyed her box.
Kyoshi Ayame:: Ayame gave Yui a reassuring smile, "Are there any known weaknesses we might be able to exploit?"

The logistics officer at Sijik's side immediately started typing on his data pad the moment Yui finished speaking. Sijik himself leaned back in his chair slightly and observed the conversation.

Taisho Sharie looked at Ayame, "Nothing so far. They came out of nowhere...my SAINT and SARA crews are examining the wreckage, but we're tied up with finding survivors for at least a day or two."

Taisho Irim growled, "Their weapons are very effective."

"We need to get on the offensive as soon as possible. I suggest we make a counter attack immediately to determine their force size." Sijik advised.

Fifth Fleet's commander, Chujo Hoshi Koigokoro, admitted, "My fleet isn't in any position to do anything to them."

"And I'd like to keep mine handy in the Empire's core for the time being," Irim said. "What do you have to offer, Sijik?"

Yui quietly asked Ayame, "How are things on Fenyar? Are they still hostile?"

Ayame thought a moment, "They are no longer hostile your Highness, but I fear it will take a lot until peace is achieved."

Sijik merely lifted one of his hands and the logistics officer to his side filled it with a data pad. He took a few moments to look at it before responding. "The Helixes will not be able to move for another three or four days, however we do have about eight billion ships that are combat ready."

Irim seemed disgusted, "Eight...billion?" She really had a love/hate relationship with QIS...so far, it'd been mostly hate. It didn't seem possible so many ships could exist and function effectively.

Sijik merely nodded.

"Alright, let's send them all," Irim grinned.

"Where to first?" Yui asked. Hinosami pulled up a big holographic space map for them. Yui browsed the map, looking from place to place. "First XF has charted some world which we think they're at," she pointed at the pink-bracketed planets.

Ayame whispered to Yui, "May I be excused, please?" Yui nodded and the hologram of Ayame faded out.

"Plans have already been developed for that." Sijik said as he looked down at his data pad. Somewhere a think tank was hard at work. "Damasica, Rok'veru...." Sijik listed off four planets, "A single division will attack each of these planets, SMX forces will be spread out attempting to deal with each one while reserve forces make a breakthrough at the weakest planet, remaining units will then consolidate until the SMX forces are gone or major objectives are achieved.

"We should name these systems," Hoshi pointed out.

"Any suggestions?" Yui asked.

Sijik nodded, "Sagik, and Madik. I also suggest that you take advantage of our production ability to restock the other fleets."

"Any other suggestions?" Yui asked, pondering the names. "Irim?"

"I'd be willing to build the 3rd Fleet out of Qel'noran ships," Irim said.

"We should keep Wazu's feud with Kessaku out of this. Right now we don't need to be dealing with internal politics," Sijik asked, "May I be excused to ready my fleets?"

"Not yet," Yui said.

END

 [YSS Celia] Awakenings and Business Alexis woke up in the storage cabinet she had closed herself in before her latest blackout spell. Something buzzed in her brain, and she shook her head to clear it. "Something happened and I missed it... I know I did. WHY do I keep doing this?!" she muttered angrily at herself. The Tac mind in the Neko brain was quiet. "Oh, so you have an opinion on what I should and shouldn't put in a sandwich, but you don't have any input now?" Alexis added sarcasticly, suddenly sneezing as she disturbed the layer of dust that had settled on her slumbering form. ~Light level: 2%. Closet door: 20cm forward. Air quality: stale-~ "Oh, shut up..."

Working out the kinks in her muscles, the shifter opened the cabinet door and crawled out into the medical bay. How much time had passed this time? Two or three weeks? A year, maybe? It felt like a long time..."Celia, how much time has passed since I went into the cabinet?" Alexis asked.

The now-familiar visage of the Norse avatar appeared in a hologram a few feet away. "It is now the year YE 26, you became absent from daily activity around three to six months ago."

"Ah. Too long, in other words."

The avatar didn't answer.

Alexis ran a self-diagnostic...she had been in a hibernation state, her metabolism slowed down to keep her from going hungry. Still, her body was almost ready to eat itself. Sighing, she reached back into the cabinet and retrieved her satchel. A minute later she was munching on a hogie sandwich and quizzing the Celia on what had happened since her last period of consciousness.

"The exploration of Fenyar has been set aside for now while negotiations between the Yamatai and Fenyar governments are going on. The Nerimian forces have been banned from all further First Contact situations due to their misdeeds on Fenyar. A new energy-based species has-"

Alexis frowned. "What happened on Fenyar? Is Sergei alright?"

The avatar shook her head. "The cook was presumed lost, but has reappeared as the leader of the Fenyaro."

A strange look crossed the shifter's face briefly, but the avatar still picked it up.

"Is there something wrong, Chui?" asked the Celia.

"Huh? No, nothing important," answered Alexis. At least, not to the computer. It couldn't understand. Alexis didn't even understand. Why couldn't she leave? Why couldn't she leave without it feeling like ever connection she severed was a vein or artery to her heart? "Celia, where is Henry Chen? Is he still on board?"

"Taii Henry Chen has been given command of the Third Expeditionary vessel YSS Jade (YD-524). He has returned to Fenyar and is trying to re-establish friendly contact with its people."

"Thank you, Celia."

"You are welcome, Alexis." The avatar flickered and vanished.

Alexis sat down at a console, pulling up the reports of the Fenyar incident. Yeah, she thought. Talking with Henry might straighten some things out...he had seemed like a nice guy, and Alexis needed to talk to another male right now. In the meantime, there were events that needed catching up on.

The shifter felt a tight feeling in her gut as she read. The transcript of the proceedings, the reports given, were utterly abominable. Couldn't the YSA figure out when they weren't wanted? Alexis could understand claiming an uninhabited planet as their own, but forcing their will on a planet that was already colonized or governed...that was....She growled, clenching her fist until the small claws on her fingers drew blood and restraining the urge to test the strength of Neko knuckles against a bulkhead. When it came to exploring, the Yamatai Star Empire was no better than the Colonial Era British Empire! Finding land and booting the natives, then exterminating the people when they were refused. Even this current plan of leaving the natives in place and claiming free use of the land was wrong, disrespectful to those who lived there and their ancestors. A disruption of everything. The YSE had no sense of preservation of anything except themselves...The R'Lari had interfered, sure, but nothing that even remotely resembled something of this scale. Exploration was like wartime reconassance, something to be done without the watched aware they were being watched. Like he was doing with the YSE, for example...he was exploring their worlds, but they were permitting him to do so.

"What was so hard about just leaving? Are these people so hard-headed and arrogant as to think that everything they lay eyes on is theirs?" Alexis growled at an empty room. Then Alexis noticed the chair she had set the shell body in was empty. Someone must have moved it while the shifter slept. Frowning, Alexis glanced around...lessee...the most likely place to find a body was either in the waste reclaim system or in stasis. She doubted that Inari would have kept that shell around...so it looked like she was back to heat-farming for energy. Unless the idea she had in her sleep worked. If it did, all that black-out time wouldn't be a waste after all!

She smiled to herself as she thought about the idea. It had been quite interesting...the answer to Alexis' questions on how Nekos were made had been right there the whole time he had the NH-7 body; the mind of that form had everything he needed to copy one. By letting the body go about its processes as he watched and analyzing it using strictly passive means of study during his physical stasis, he was able to derive what the blood did and what happened when it did it. From there it would be a mere matter of trial-and-error to replicate a few drops of the nanite-inhabited blood that produced the same results as the observations. He would let the genetics build the body from raw materials he provided, not interfering with the process of cell replication and came out with the body. If it worked, he could wear his original body whenever he wanted; returning to Neko form would only be a matter of constructing a virus bearing the Neko genome and letting it assimilate his body.

Alexis left the medbay and locked herself in the Cat's Claw fighter to keep her experimentation private. Once she was completely alone, the shifter's eyes glowed as she began the replication process...

-----

Twenty minutes later...

"d'Jaren, your trail is almost ready for you. When would you like to take it?"

An Alexis wearing the renewed shell of his old body smiled at the face on the holo-projection in the Cat's Claw. "Thank you, Erin. I won't take it yet, but soon. How are things going with OpTech?"

The man on the screen seemed to be a mixture of all of the human races; no one feature could be traced to a certain lineage. He wore a plain white dickie sweater with purple trim on the collar and along the seams and the Optimum Technologies logo on the left arm. "We got an order for a sewing machine, which we delivered a couple days later. Other than that, no domestic orders yet. You know, we need to advertise actual products to get anyone interested," the man said with a slight smirk. "I know you do not intend to make any money off of this corporation, but it would not be a bad idea to do so."

The R'Lari shifter sighed. "I know. I'll have some ideas for you to work on soon. Now, you said no domestic orders, what about the military front?"

"Right. I almost forgot...SARA has been on my case to get a design submitted for their 'Project Rebecca' power armor deal, or something to show for the three thousand KS they gave us as a grant." The rep looked at Alexis in askance. "Do you even want to work with SARA?"

"No, not really," replied Alexis as he shook his head. "The Star Army is powerful enough without us giving them our technology. We don't even have anything to rival what they have yet. I want you to return the grant money to SARA with our apologies, but keep an eye out for what the other companies come up with. After returning the money, get ready to move. I'm going to rent a carrier vessel to bring you and the lab equipment to a new location so the Star Army can't hold our being on Yamatai over our heads to force us in to anything I don't want a part of." He looked steadily at Erin. "Better yet, destroy the lab. We can get replacement equipment when we aquire a new location. Set the research data on a trail and leave it there. It will be safe. And make as many backups of yourself and the information as you can." The shifter looked thoughtful, his finger twitching and tapping out an erratic rhythm on the console in front of him. "All of the trails are safe, right? And what of our other clients?" he inquired.

"All are safe, and the clients are satisfied with their products. Further research will iron out the bugs, but I think we have it finished. The orders have been shipped and the payment received. With what we got from those sales, we can upgrade to a whole new level of technology and weaponry-"

"Not on this line, please," Alexis inturrupted softly, looking through the projection and through the polarized material of the Cat's Claw portal into the stuffed cargo bay of the Celia. He knew the hatches to the Claw were sealed, that the hull of the fighter soundproof, and that this method of transmission was unknown to the YSE and couldn't be found without knowing exactly where and what it was, but that didn't mean that someone could not happen upon it. "I know you're excited, I am too. I'd rather be there than here, really. I just wish I could get away for a while without problems coming up all the time." He smiled at the man, then nodded. "I will call you again soon. Make the preparations to move and signal me when you are ready."

Erin smiled back and gave a polite nod. "I will do that, Alexis. Erin out."

The holoprojectors went dark and Alexis got up from his seat and streched, a clean ripple running from head to toe as he smoothly changed into the NH-7 Neko body that he had finally been able to construct for himself. The shifter would have gladly kept his shell body on all the time -- It felt safer to him since he had more control over it than the Neko form -- But that would be his trump card in the event of trouble. In the meantime, the fewer people who knew he could shift again, the better. Her cat-ears twitched and the red eyes glanced out the window before the shifter got up and climbed out of the dorsal hatch, then exited the cargo bay and down the corridor

-----

OOC Note: No one has a plausible reason for knowing 1) that Alexis can become male again, or 2) anything that he and Erin talked about. To the outside world, OpTech is going to put all orders (if there are any) on hold and relocate. The new location is not set at the moment, so please stay tuned.
 [Kyoto] Dark Horizon  ON> Imperial Palace, Kyoto, Yamatai.

Yui opened up a transmission to one of the names on her contact list, NDI-CONSTRACOM. "Good morning, and happy new year," she greeted the recieving person on the screen. It was now the 26th year of the Yamatai Star Empire, or YE 26 in the Star Army's calendar.

The youthful face of the Confederate Strategic Military Director, Kage Xeraux, appeared before the Empress. Xeraux was an imposing figure not because of his stature (he was rather short at 5'8"), but simply because of his mannerisms and demeanor. Like his mentor, the great Cameron Blackblade, Xeraux was a very calculated individual in that every action he took was very deliberate. He took a sip of his beloved green tea before speaking. "Greetings, Empress. May it be a good year for our allies in the Yamatai Star Empire."

"How things have changed in a few years," Yui thought to herself. "And this new year brings new problems, as well..." she said. "A recent survey by SARA and my fleet has discovered old threats are resurfacing. I'm sending you a map..." there was a short movement of her eyes. The map appeared.

"Don't they all?" replied Kage, toying with the ice blue crystal around his neck. By the faint ambient glow it produced, Yui would probably notice it as a psychoactive crystal.

www.stararmy.com/gsa/plan..._area1.gif

Yui hated those freaky things. "The star systems on this map bracketed in pink are hostile. Two alien races have been appearing with increasing freuency in our territories..."

"Are any of these planets desireable to either of us?"

"Of course they are..." Yui seemed annoyed.

Xeraux shrugged. "Pity. I was simply going to suggest that you destroy them outright."

"It's more complicated. They are a threat," Yui told him, emphasizing the last word. "They've already taken a world of mine, on the edge of my territory. In addition, there are reports of their ships venturing deep into my space in the last few days."

"And what is the nature of this alien threat? Was their victory a mere fluke, or are you capable of crushing them?"

"Largely unknown...It appears to be the ancient enemies of ours, the Vordachibeans," Yui frowned.

Xeraux gave her a blank stare. "Their combat capabilities?"

"As I said, largely unknown. No vessel numbers, or data thus far."

Xeraux frowned. "Then I suggest you find out and get back to me. As you well know, I'm sending one of our star fortresses, the Trevor Harigata, to Neplesia to form the Twenty-Sixth Fleet. I have yet to name a commander for this fleet, but by the time you have any applicable data, he'll help you deal with this 'largely unknown' threat."

"I see...Hold on. I... damn..." Yui seemed distracted and angry. "Irim?" After a long pause, she looked back to Xeraux. "They've advanced."

Xeraux simply nodded. "Where?"

"Three million, one hundred four hundred and fifteen thousand, nine hundred and twentry six ships at Damasica. All forces there are gone now..." Yui looked at the number again. "Pi?"

Xeraux showed no outward reaction. "Is everyone trying to be Jaaq'tah Jr. now?"

"Hmm.....excuse me for a moment," replied Xeraux, his image going off-screen.

"Irim's deciding what forces to inves..." Yui frowned at his disappearance.

The massive Tienshinhan-class Star Fortress, Trevor Harigata, appeared in the Neplesia system during Xeraux's away time. It immediately began generating wormholes as it began to bring in its newly-constructed warship crews. The first naval unit to arrive was the 1586th Carrier Battle Group, then the 308th and 410th Naval Task Forces.

Xeraux returned with a fresh cup of tea. "Continue."

"Nepleslia's probably the next target," Yui said grimly.

"Then tell your 2nd Fleet forces to get ready," said Xeraux. "I've ordered the Twenty-Sixth to use any means necessary to achieve victory."

END

 [YSS Celia] Final Farewells Dante had gotten back to his quarters after his "walk" around the ship; trying to avoid seeing the new Taisho. He paced around his room, his nails clicking on the hard floor as he did so in quadraped form. ~I'm not welcome here anymore, I can smell people's disgust; they don't want me here anymore. why would they? I'm just an animal.~ He was thinking. The lights were off in his room so the black and dark grey furred lupine was almost invisible. His eyes glowed with an eerie green light as the available light reflected off his retinas; allowing him to see perfectly in the dark.

Ayame stopped as she headed to the galley, it would only bring back memories of Sergei so perhaps this was not the best course of action. She sighed, her mind mulled over the events on the planet once more and she realized she had over looked a rather important event, the change in Dante. She had not spoken to him since all hell broke loose on Fenyar and she decided now was the time. She made her way to his quarters and tapped on the door, "Dante, its Ayame. May I come in?"

Dante went to speak with her but it came out in growls, snarls, barks and howls; he tried again using telepathy. ~Sure, not like I have the authority to prevent you from doing so.~ He thought to her. He was lying in the nest now looking up at the door.

She entered the room and stood near the door, "I wanted to make sure you were alright..."

Dante continued to look up at her; ~I'm as good as can be expected I guess, but I am troubled.~ He thought to her.

"What is troubling you?" Ayame asked quietly, her voice sounded weary as she spoke.

~The fact that I'm no longer human, I can feel the disgust some have for me. I should not remain here anymore, the others may view me as a threat.~ He thought to her calmly.

Ayame sighed, "Where would you go?"

~Please have a seat ma'am.~ He hinted to her, feeling her weariness. ~I want to go back to the forests of Fenyar.~

Ayame sat down, her back against the cool wall, "Do you think this is the best thing for you?"

He got out of the nest and padded over to her and laid down next to her, offering her the comfort of physical contact. ~I know that most people don't want me here; I don't know what you think about me, but it is best for me to be free. I feel like a caged animal.~ He said to her mentally, not able to speak physically anymore, at least that she could understand. "Also, I want to go see if Xieel and Seras made it out alive.~

Ayame slid her hand over him, "So you wish to be free again and to make sure those you care about are alright?"

He rested his large jaw on her leg as she petted him. ~That's about it; I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise to you though.~ He said in her mind.

Ayame nodded, "Very well, I will honour your request, though I must admit part of me wishes I could go back with you..."

He looked up at her with confusion. ~You are a Taisa....sho.~ He thought, seeing her new pin. ~You're place is here, taking care of your pack, this family.~ He reassured her in a lupine manner. ~But how will I get back?~

Ayame sighed, "We will have a shuttle take you back... That is all we can do..."

~Thank you Taisho. But can we be discreet about it? I would wish to not be remembered here by anyone other than you.~ He thought to her, leaning against her affectionately in the manner of lupines.

Ayame nodded, "Who would you like to pilot you back?"

~Couldn't the A..I autopilot it back and return?~ He asked her.

"Very well..." Ayame said almost reluctantly.

~What's wrong?~ He asked her, sensing her reluctance. Wolves were highly empathic, it was a primary means of communication.

Ayame sighed, "It somehow feels like everything is determined to go very wrong now. We lost Sergei...now Amaya... I just wonder what is going to happen next"

He leaned against her a bit more, trying to comfort her. ~There's something I wanted to tell you before, but I was too scared, and now that I'm likely to leave forever. It'd be better if I told you that I admire you; you're a good woman, and that I had a humanly crush on you.~ He thought to her. He knew he could hurt, but she should know anyway.

Ayame ran her fingers through his fur, "I am flattered..." She laid her head against him, "Though sometimes I doubt whether or not I am a good woman..."

~You're the best I've seen, and I've been around for a very long time. You're kind, compassionate, motherly.~ He commented to her, curled his body around hers almost protectively.

"My doubt stems from the fact that I left Sergei behind and while I miss him dearly, I would not have changed that decision if I had the chance. I feel no remorse for it..."

~Part of the reason I am returning, I want to see if he survived by some miracle.~ He thought to her, gently nuzzling her rear, pushing her onto his back. ~Get on my back, I'll carry you to shuttle bay to arrange transport~

Ayame laughed briefly, "I can carry my own weight but thank you anyway. I will walk with you..."

Dante smiled mentally and slowly rose up to his full height, not wanting to walk on all fours for now. ~ As you wish, please lead the way.~

Ayame led Dante to the shuttlebay in silence and arranged transport for him with little enthusiasm. She sighed as she walked over, "You are ready to go... Take care of yourself and if you find Sergei, tell him...tell him I am sorry and that I miss him."

~Yes ma'am. I'm sorry we couldn't get to know each other better~ He thought to her and boarded the alloted shuttle. ~Take care of yourself, take care of this little family.~ He thought to her as the shuttle began to pull out under the control of the AI. As the doors opened, Ayame could get the feeling that she'd never seen either him or Sergei again.


JP

Jennifer (Ayame)
Tyler (Dante)
 [4th fleet] Recon in force (cont.)  ON> Kitana

The 4th fleet wasn’t expecting the Jaaq’tah to do something like that but were indeed prepared for the eventuality that one of the Helixes would come under heavy attack. Each of the separate 512 rings that made up the structure had unlatched and made its own TTD jump to a second predetermined fallback point. Several of the rings had been destroyed but the scatter move had saved the majority of the structure. The second Helix made no move to attack the Kitana system now. Its target had arrived. The ISFBx’s torpedoes that had been fired when they first arrived were already among the Jaaq’tah fleet when they came in around the second helix. They detonated releasing not only the standard zero-point energy ammunition but space as well, flinging the Jaaq’tah fleet apart from each other. All the ships of

the 4th that were part of the second Helix started to gang up on smaller concentrations of Jaaq’tah ships, taking particular interest in destroying the command vessels, now using the GWB‘s to close the wormholes as well as break apart the PTP system and attack the enemy ships. The Transuniversal artillery of the Anteaus slowly found its way to the PTP system that was causing so much trouble. As each missile was moved off course it made a second jump to the system that had moved it using its own sensors to detect the cause of the distortion. The missiles were using their TTD’s to do this however and ended up causing damage to the space inside of the Jaaqtah universe as it was dangerous to do such a thing. Missiles started appearing inside the PTP beacons before they were launched and occasionally would be delayed unreasonably as they hit their targets several minutes in the future from when they were fired.

The Jaaq'tah Alliance kept on the move, its fleet beacons working in perfect synchronization with the TTD systems utilized by their rivals, so as the rings teleported away, the Great Amethyst Fleet appeared simultaneously at the fallback point, continuing the unrelenting blitz attack upon the YSA units. The Jaaq'tah had already decided that there would be no reprieve or the slightest bit of shelter away from their assault this time. They would kill each and every one of the enemy in a systematic manner. And so the assault continued, the Great White Fleet continuing the engage the other YSA fleet, hundreds of thousands of destroyers swarming around battleships and volleying every bit of firepower they had at the ship, while the larger vessels pounded with heavier artillery from afar. GWB blasts were continually being caught up in the 'clouds' of Jaaq'tah drones, who were continually redirecting such blasts back into the bulk of YSA forces.

Transuniversal artillery still found itself completely ineffective as even as the missiles made their second jump, they too were redirected once again near-immediately by the Jaaq'tah fleet beacons. Trying to teleport a weapon into the systems was an exercise in futility. The only hope one had of destroying one would be through more conventional methods, and that in itself would prove to be an extremely daunting task.

The retreating rings had pulled back to the center of a far off galaxy, Black holes abounded in this area providing natural cover for the huge structures. They started to make repeated jumps through the area, leaving behind massive amounts of explosives as the Jaaq'tah followed them. The Helix still involved in combat also separated and surrounded the Amethyst fleet, projecting a massive force field around the two fighting fleets as the 4th fleet made a massive disengagement, all ships simultaneously pulling out of the shield by their own means and leaving behind a series of teleportation and hyperspace inhibitors as well as Torpedoes.... lots of torpedoes. The Ring's shield

around the now contained amethyst fleet contracted as the torpedo's exploded, creating a massive contained blast. Over lapping explosions pushed the massive explosion of Zero point energy and space onto the Jaaq'tah to create a massive implosion all over the Jaaq'tah fleet as the Rings and its ships fired the entirety of their firepower into the implosion, skewring the area with GWB fire, additional torpedo's and turret fire. The Transuniversal Artillery took up new targets, no longer shooting at the Jaaq'tah targets in their own universe but instead taking aim at the units perusing the retreating rings as they continued to pull back.

The Fleet Beacon's core computer systems had its own series of surprises for the rings as they began a series of rapid teleportations, generating strategic-class aether torpedo explosions (1 AU radius explosions) in the area of every teleportation, hoping to burn the enemy with their own evasive tactics. Meanwhile, the Amethyst Fleet was returned to Kitana, waiting for the return of the enemy. The YSA could play this cat and mouse game all day and would get nowhere. If they wanted to accomplish something, they'd go after a target of importance.

The rings were protected by their own anti-teliportation systems, reducing the Jaaq'tah's PTP attack to nothing. The AI in charge of the rings figured that it could compete with the Jaaq'tah PTP system on its own grounds, using their attempt to destroy the rings with their PTP system to do the same to it. Sending its own weapons directly into the PTP system. As the Amethyst fleet returned to Kirana the attacking 4th fleet ships preformed the same move, staying within close range of their targeted fleet and continuing to hit them with torpedo's and anti-wormhole GWB's. The group of retreating rings made another TTD jump to another universe while leaving behind anti-teliportation systems to prevent them from being followed. The group of rings that had attempted to contain and destroy Amethyst fleet simply fired into the system from long range, aiming for the planets and the star in the system with a massive anti-wormhole GWB strike and a hail of torpedos

Like before, strategic attacks against Fleet Beacon facilities utilizing teleportation attacks were automatically redirected in mid 'pulse', which made the YSA backlash ineffective again. As the 4th Fleet ships made their return to Kitana, the Amethyst Fleet rushed out to assault the much smaller fleet, combinations of shields, drones, and other defensive systems blunting the force of the 4th's assault near completely. In such close-quarters battle, the 4th Fleet would find itself in a situation where it simply couldn't deal with the sheer numbers of Jaaq'tah vessels coming at them. Area-of-effect weapons would be pointless here as they would claim the lives of friendly vessels and direct-fire weapons simply couldn't do enough damage to enough ships fast enough to make any kind of effect. On the other hand, the Jaaq'tah outnumbered enemy vessels nearly 1,000 to 1 and concentrated fire would surely reduce enemy vessels to their subatomic components. A battle at this range was simply unwinnable for the 4th Fleet.

The enemy rings that began to fire at Kitana found their attack stopped in its tracks, as beam weapons were simply too slow to reach their targets in a timely manner and torpedoes could easily be intercepted before they reached their targets. Like before, GWB blasts were absorbed and redirected, and enemy torpedoes were wiped out en masse via defensive countermeasures.

Attempting to absorb the GWB blasts was a futile attempt, the moment a drone attempted to capture one with a wormhole the wormholes was closed as the GWB impacted it, allowing the beams to cut through the lines of drone defense. At close range the 4th fleet was a lot more effective than numbers alone would dictate, the ISFBx had signifigently more protection that its predecessors that were used earlier and contained signifigently more firepower, firing hundreds of torpedo's in moments. While this was going on the Minion attack craft continued into the system and past the enemy fleet, leaving behind them a trail of antimatter as they headed directly toward the planets using their GWB's to strike at the drones and the planets. The massive group of rings were needed elsewhere and pulled out to another area, covering their retreat with teliportation inhibitors so as not to be followed. The automated ships were left to fend for themselves for the time being.

Unfortunately, Jaaq'tah Hermes-class drones didn't use wormholes to capture the energy from an enemy beam. It was in effect a very-powerful satellite system which simply re-directed the blast to another drone and so on and so forth, so the entirety of a GWB blast was caught in a loop of drones before being finally re-directed at enemy vessels at 92% of its original strength (8% bled off as a result of multiple relays).

Even so, in a close-range battle, the Jaaq'tah clearly held the advantage as a pack of destroyers (roughly 500) had enough firepower in their combined salvos to wipe out multiple planets. It was simply a game of numbers, as torpedoes were cut to ribbons by massed point defense fire before they reached their targets. Minion corvettes were quickly interdicted by elements of the Great White Fleet, who dumped a tremendous wave of firepower into the bulk of the enemy formation, while other elements of the White Fleet maneuvered around them. GWBs continued to be redirected back at their enemies by the clouds of Hermes drones.

The AI in charge of the operation finally decided that it lacked the numbers required to hold any accomplished its objectives without using the limited superheavy weapons. The remainder of the 4th fleet teliported to the first fallback point and erected a massive anti-teliportation field their incase the Jaaq'tah attempted to follow them.

As the Star Army forces retreated en masse, the Jaaq'tah smelled the scent of blood. They had learned much today and already their advanced military AIs were making moves to exploit the chinks in the collective army of the enemy. The White and Amethyst Fleet Admirals congratulated each other on a job well done.

END


GSA no Shoi, Uso Tasuki
Head Cook, GSS Seigi (GB-07)
 [Ralfaris] lost in the sauce  ON> Ralfaris

The security at the QnO complex seemed tighter than it usually was. Additional guards were patrolling on the inner wall of the complex and QnT units were setting up additional force field generators just inside of the main area of the compound that held the Living quarters and work areas for the QnO personnel that worked there. In the landing area of the complex massive amounts of crates had been moved out to be loaded on incoming transports. Almost the entire planet was at or above maximum construction capacity as the entire planet was being reshaped as well as the moons that orbit it.

Sam sighed as he finished stuffing the last of his clothes into his bag. He looked around the sparsely furnished room and nodded, satisfied that everything he wanted to take with him, was in either his backpack, or his bag. He picked up his backpack off the bed, and slid it onto his shoulders. Then he turned to the door, and headed for it, bending down to grab his bag by the leather handles. He walked the halls of the building that had been home and work for the last few months, heading for the main landing area. He was supposed to catch a shuttle out to a YSA ship somewhere, and he hoped he would get a good ship, with plenty of exploring and time to analyze new life forms. As he weaved his way through the throngs of people, he didn't speak, and mostly kept his head down, only offering a soft, 'pardon me', to anyone he bumped.

The employees of QnO let him pass and the guards let him through to the Landing area. Civilians were kept out of QnO as well as kept in the dark about what this facility did. Genetic engineering of any kind was considered unholy among the religious of Ralfaris and the casts have been known to organize holy warriors to destroy such things. The Landing pad was freshly cleared as a Keiru transport took off to leave a open space for the next arrival, leaving a swirl of dust as it took off. The sun was still blocked out by the clouds over the planet and it seemed like nighttime although in truth it was almost noon. Sam had to use the textured guidelines to find his way around the open-air parts of the complex.

Sam muttered something to himself as he pulled a red handkerchief from his shirt pocket and tied it around his head, so that he could at least breathe. He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, as well, and looked at the writing, walking his way through the dust and security guards, to the area that his shuttle was supposed to arrive. He was a little early, but he figured that that would be best.

Another Keiru arrived in short order, its landing brushing away the dust for a few moments as it settled down onto the landing area and let the massive side doors, which were the only seeming flat parts of its smooth Yui class like hull, open from the storage bay that bulged out from the center of the craft. Crates were quickly pushed into the ship by ground crew using anti-grav devices. A lot of the crates were clear containers where some of the animals created here, at QnO, were being ready to be shipped out.

Sam smiled as he saw the QnO seal of approval. It gave him a sense of pride to know that he had worked for a company that produced high quality products like those animals. He reached out and caught a member of the ground crew, speaking softly to him, "Where's this going?" He then pointed to the shuttle, pulling his backpack off his back and setting it next to the bag, at his feet.

The man paused and turned, using one hand to keep a hold of the crate. Fortunately the powerful ground lights kept at least some visibility in this area. "This is heading to Tsuki for distribution to the 3rd XF," He said before recognizing the face of the man who he was talking to, "...SIR!" he hastily added.

"You needn't call me sir. My name's Sam, just call me that." Sam said, looking at the crate. "Well, then I guess I should follow you, because I have to meet a ship heading out the 3rd XF. By the way, did a small crate arrive yet? Addressed to a Miss Kyoshi Ayame, Taisa of the 3rd XF Ship, Celia?"

"It was just loaded Sam," The Geshrin said, his hair nearly filled with dust, "Why do you ask?" he questioned while he motioned for Sam to follow and pushed the crate into the transport ship while other ground crew members did the same. Even though visibility was limited the outline of a massive four legged loading mech could be seen through the dust as it lifted the largest of loads into the top of the Keiru ship to maximize the use of space available.

"Well, my unc- I mean, Dr. Dupree asked me to deliver it to her, with his apologies about it taking so long. We ran into some problems, what with our labs nearly destroyed in the attack." Sam said, following closely behind the ground crew member, into the ship.

Sam felt a gust of wind on his face as he entered the ship. The inside was kept at a higher pressure than Ralfaris. This basic trick of NBC warfare kept the insides completely free of the dust that was choking the planet even though a massive part of the ship was exposed to the elements. The inside of the storage bay was large and had two doors that led to the interior of the ship at each end although the view was obscured by the walls of crates loaded into the ship. "I'm just glad the quakes are over," The man said as he put the crate away and headed back out, "I hate those things." Only recently had the earthquakes on the planet stopped. Thoth, the massive fortress-moon of Ralfaris, had been built to occupy the space taken up by the lost moon of Ralfaris. It restabelised the gravitational fields around Ralfaris and reastablished the equilibrium among the planets tectonic plates. "Feel free to ride this ship up to the moon." The ground crew member yelled out as he stepped back out into the dust.

Sam nodded, only having heard, "free" and, "moon". He guessed that that meant that the ship was going to one of the moons, and that it would be all right for Sam to ride along. He walked through the crates, until he found the one for Ayame , and slowly pulled it out, careful to not shake or jostle it. He walked slowly among the boxes, carrying his pack on his back, cradling the crate to his chest with one hand, and carrying his bag in the other. He walked to the front of the bay, and into the interior of the ship, where he found a seat quickly and set all of his gear down, laying the crate on his lap as he leaned his head against the wall and sighed again.

The doors closed and the ship took off, making the quick trip to the Moon. Sam didn't get to see the facility from the outside due to his position but he did get a view of the internal area. The docking center was enclosed in one massive dome. From here the large brownish sphere that was Ralfaris was visible as well as the jet black outline of Thoth. Crates were immediately being offloaded by automated bots and scanned for contraband, Tsuki was going to be the processing center for all of Ralfaris soon, as some QnSe personnel stood guard, "Can we help you?" One of them asked the man standing inside of the ship.

Sam smiled and nodded. "Yes. I'm looking for a ship that's heading to the 3rd XF. I was wondering, has it arrived yet?" Sam asked, setting all his stuff on the floor and looking to the person who had addressed him. He set the crate between his bag and backpack, then added. "So have you heard of this...." He looked to the paper as he pulled it out of his pocket. "YSS Celia?"

The guard was dressed in a pure QnSe uniform, meaning he was not part of the 4th fleet, and had on black pants and a black tank top that highlighted the Qelnorans muscular body as well as a cape that was attached to a pauldrin on his left shoulder that covered his left arm. He looked down and pressed a few buttons on a small computer strapped to his wrist. "Sorry but it hasn't arrived yet. You should probably head to the main terminal. Just follow the arrows." He said.

Sam sighed and nodded, picking all his stuff back up. After getting it all situated comfortably, he began walking towards the main terminal, following the arrows, just as the Qel'Noran had instructed. When he arrived, he looked around, trying to memorize his surroundings so that he wouldn't get lost, as well as to find what all was offered here.

This room was also a large dome. Additional pure QnSe staff were on hand moving about. The roof of the dome was transparent and you could see out into the stars. The center of the room was occupied by a large help desk and radiating out from it were a few kiosks and chairs (like what you would find in a airport). All around the terminal were hallways that led out to other areas where ships were either loading or unloading. Each hallway had a screen above it that displayed the relevant information on where the hallway actually led.

Sam walked slowly over to what he suspected was some sort of information desk, setting his bag, and the crate, on the floor, smiling to the person behind the desk. "Um, I'm sorry to bother you, but could you tell me if you know when the shuttle going to the YSE 3rd XF will be arriving? I know that you probably don't know any more than that gentleman who greeted me as I got off the shuttle, but I thought that I would at least ask."

"Several ships are heading out that way. The Ayame II will be the next one and we are awaiting its arrival at gate 14" The neko at the information booth said. She had on a standard GSA uniform and also had on the shoulder cover of QnL, the logistics division.

Sam smiled and nodded. "Thank you." Sam grabbed his bag and lifted the crate, heading out the way of Gate 14.

The YSS Ayame II (YC-56) was docked by the time Sam arrived. He could see the sleek white hull of the 3rd-XF ship, dotted with little lights, through an observation window. Nekos with the brilliant red and stark white rising-sun emblem of the 3rd XF on their cloaks hurried at the gate loading palettes of supplies with KFY forklift mecha.

Several crates were hurriedly loaded into the Ayame II by the automated drones in the docking bay. The docking area was huge, a large open area in the moon gave enough space for the entire ship to fit inside. Several extremely large doors also hinted that ships could fly further into the base facility but several construction ships hinted that it wasn't yet finished.

Sam stopped at the observation window and stared out at the ship. "Wow....." Was all he could say as he stood, just taking in the whole sight before him. He grabbed his stuff and started off towards the ship, hoping to get on and take a tour of it's interior. He didn't really like being on ships, preferring planeside exploration, where you could touch and smell, and use your senses to explore, instead of technological gadgetry, which told you what you were supposed to think. He decided, though, that for this, he would put up with it, especially if this were the ship that Henry was on....Oh, he had a surprise planned for him, if only he had guessed right on the ship assignment request.

The ground crews quickly finished loading the ship and pulled away so the ship could head to its next destination and let other craft take its spot.

END.
 [YSS Celia] Friends: Lost and Found  ON> YSS Celia

Henry looked around in his room. Most of his possessions had been packed into his large backpack again. He was getting ready to move into his own ship, the yet un-named Yui, YD-524.

Wazu stood just inside his room. Anet was gone at the moment and he had the dark room to himself. Wazu lied down in the nest slowly stripped off his jacket, wincing as he did. His left arm was swollen and purple just under the shoulder. The arm had gotten infected a while back and it was really hurting now as the infection has spread to his bone. He pulled a knife out from a near by duffle bag and started cutting his arm, removing a large amount of pus and blood as he did. He then used the vial of neko blood he had gotten from Keiko and poured it into the wound. His skin started to heal quickly and the infection lessened. Wazu seemed to not feel the cuts he caused on himself, as he was able to deactivate his nerves, and soon began to use a bandage to wrap his left arm from just above the elbow to over and around the shoulder.

Shina appeared in the hallway, "are you ready to leave, sir?" she asked Henry. The neko had always traveled light. Beside what she had in her pockets, and the teddy bear that she lost on Fenyar, she had no other possessions.

"Good afternoon!" Yuuko's bright face popped in Henry's doorway. The petite, large-chested neko was wearing a Taisa pin now (the same one Kyoshi Ayame had worn before), and was standing next to Shina. "Do you sweethearts need any help?" she asked, running her fingers through her purple bangs.

Natsumi rubbed her eyes, leaning against the wall. The bags under her eyes are a dead give-away that she hasn't slept in a while and if she has, it's far from what she needs. She stumbles a bit as she walks, lost.

"Afternoon, ma'am," replied Henry as he bowed, "we were just getting ready to leave for our new ship, but, I was hoping to get something to eat from the mess hall first." Shina simply gave the Taisa some room and bowed.

Keiko had just finished her shift and was walking the hallways for a chance to stretch her legs a bit. She was in a really bright mood today for some reason. The emerald-green haired neko was humming a little song as she walked, and noticed a smaller neko stumbling down the hallway. "Hello there." She said with a smile.

Wazu took a few moments to gather a bunch of handwritten notes and organize them into something manageable. He realized that his head was starting to hurt as he looked over the papers that he had written not to long ago. He sighed and sat them down on the ground before putting his black down jacket over his tank top and heading out into the hallways in search of a drink.

"H-hi" Natsumi managed to choke out before she collapsed onto the floor. She panted gently, her tail lying limp behind her.

"Would you care for me to join you?" Yuuko asked Henry. "I'm very familiar with the Yui class."

"Hmm!?" Keiko said and rushed over to the little girl and gently picked her up in her arms, cradling her gently. "You look tired. Are you okay?" She asked. ~a tail? how cute!~ Keiko thought as she saw it.

Wazu filled the flask in his back pocket with hard ice tea from the galley and went to go sit down in the corner, away from most of the people in the galley, as he started to drink. The pain in his head started to subside slowly and he took a data-pad out of one of his pockets before started to poke away at the interface on its screen.

"We'd love it if you could join us for a little snack, ma'am," replied Shina, just in case Henry dared to refuse. "Yes... and I wouldn't mind getting a few pointers in commanding a Yui-class ship, ma'am," added Henry, who was walking toward the door.

Natsumi managed to nod weakly, half asleep, half passed out. Her dark green hair seemed longer then she was as she balled up in Keiko's arms.

"No problem," Yuuko grinned with a bounce. "Anything I can carry for you?" she offered.

Keiko held the child-like neko close to her chest as she walked down the hall and noticed her sister. "Hi Yuuko, Henry, Shina." She said. ~Are you hungry at all? ~ She asked the little girl.

Natsumi nodded, panting, "I-I’m sorry to inconvenience you."

"No ma'am, but thank you for the offer," replied Henry as he picked up his backpack and walked out into the hallway. The door to his room slid shut. It would not open for him again, since it was not his room anymore. Henry winced as he tried to put the heavy backpack on, and shook his head, embarrassed, as Shina slid the backpack off him and put it on herself.

~No, no it's ok, you must be a new officer, but you're a bit small for that. ~ Keiko assured her.

"M-medic, actually" Natsumi corrected her, realizing how ironic it was.

"Hello, Keiko," Yuuko said, giving Keiko a hug. "I missed you. I'm glad to be off Fenyar." Yuuko looked Natsumi over, waiting for Henry and Shina to continue. Her holographic uniform complemented her with skin-tight illusory fabric.
Keiko felt a little down that her sister hadn't noticed her. She smiled down at the child. "So am I." She looked up at Yuuko. "I just found her almost passed out in the hall. I missed you too sis."

"Hi, Keiko!" beamed Shina, before looking at Natsumi with a worried face, "is she okay?" Henry just smiled and nodded at Keiko. Being a computer scientist, he was always glad to meet a Kessaku.

"She's okay, she's just a little hungry and tired. I don't think she was assigned and quarters yet so she's been wandering it seems." Keiko said. "Let's get her something to eat before we worry about anything else." She said and started for the galley.

She paused and looked over her shoulder. "Hi Shina."

Yuuko nodded, "We were headed that way, too."

Henry nodded and began following Keiko. Shina was close behind him, seemingly unburdened by the heavy backpack.

Natsumi's tail began swishing a bit as she purred.

"Isn't she cute?" Keiko smiled childishly; as they walked.

ON> YSS Celia (GC-55): Main Dining Hall

The group arrived a few minutes later, after making their way through the ship to the former workplace of the late Sergei Dimitriov. The trolls and the other big guys could be seen back in their corner, surrounded by bottles of various alcoholic beverages. Probably getting wasted on account of the loss of Sergeant Oni Matsui, the Japanese/Chinese man who'd been killed on Fenyar.

Henry couldn't help but stare at Natsumi's swishing tail as he followed her. "Wait... Passed out in the halls?" asked Shina as she caught up to Keiko at the mess hall door, "how horrible! The poor thing..."

"I think she's simply lacking sleep." Keiko said as she set the little neko in a chair and sat next to her to give her something to lean on if she needed it. She tried to rouse the little girl gently. "Honey, what do you want to eat?" She asked softly.

Natsumi hugged Keiko's arm close to herself, "Nnmh."

"Something easy on her DSR organ," Yuuko suggested.

Keiko smiled softly and patted the little neko's head, "come on, you need to eat something." She said to Natsumi. "What do you suggest Yuuko?"


Henry shook his head to get the image of Natsumi's tail out of his head. "Come on, Shina, let's go get some food," he said. Shina nodded, placed the backpack on a chair next to Keiko, and followed Henry toward the buffet area.

Woot leaned over and asked Sixthree, "Isn't that the one you were interested in nesting with?" He pointed at Shina.

Natsumi purred, holding the arm like a teddy bear in her sleep.

Wazu looked up from his data pad. He didn't really want to stick around here and waited for the group to leave the entrance to the galley before he headed toward the door.

Yuuko said, "Well, something liquid-y. Maybe applesauce." She spotted a man leaving for the door. "No..."

"Well I think she's sleeping." Keiko smiled. "I don't want to disturb her, would you mind getting her a little bowl or something?" The youngest Kessaku asked.

"Hold on," Yuuko told Keiko, briskly walking after Wazu. "Heram?"

As Shina began to pile her plate high with food for her "snack", Henry simply strolled through the buffet area, looking for something he could eat. With Sergei gone, most of the available food had reverted back to classic Japanese dishes. When Henry passed the kitchen door, something inside caught his eye, and he slowly walked inside.

Natsumi stirred a bit managing to open her eyes and sit up straight in her chair, but it didn't last too long.

Wazu paused for a moment and sighed before just continuing his walk back to his room.

Keiko smiled down at the little girl. "You're just a tired little neko aren't you? What's your name?"

"Ensign Nanase Natsumi, repor-" Natsumi managed to get out before a yawn.

Keiko shook her head, making her long dark green hair dance around her shoulder prettily. "You're not on duty now Natsumi, just go ahead and rest."

"Wait! Heram!" Yuuko caught up to Wazu and stood in front of him. "Is it really you?"

Henry found himself standing in front of the spice rack. Most of the spices and sauces on its shelves were brought here by Sergei himself. Henry sighed as he looked at the carefully labeled bottles and vials. "The world has lost another great cook," he murmured before walking back out into the buffet area.

Natsumi nodded, hugging Keiko's arm close still, "Mmmm, teddy."

"Yes," He said, generally trying to avoid her gaze, "What is it that you want?" He asked, looking her directly in the eyes now.

"Wazu, I thought you were dead! Where were you?!" Yuuko demanded to know.

Keiko couldn't help but to be all smiles; this little girl was adorable to her. Maybe she reminded Keiko of how life used to be with Kai around? She chuckled. "Oh so my arm's a teddy now eh?"

Natsumi nodded, purring, "Huggy teddy."

Shina returned to the dining area, her plate stacked sky high with delicious food, mostly of the sushi variety. "I brought her some fruit juice," said Shina to Keiko as she sat down next to the Kessaku, and setting a cup of red liquid in front of Natsumi.

"Just... wandering." He said, "Why do you care?" He tried to move around her and cast his gaze down towards the floor.

Keiko looked up at Shina. "Thank you." She said and nudged Natsumi gently. "Come on, Miss Shina brought you something." she prodded gently.

Yuuko grabbed both of Wazu's arms, "I...missed you...a bit, I think," she admitted.

Natsumi managed to sit up, reluctantly letting go of Keiko's arm. She began sipping her juice happily.

Keiko smiled and turned to Shina. "How was Fenyar?" the young neko asked curiously.

Shina's face paled at the question. Keiko could see the indescribable pain, anger, and regret in her eyes. "It was... " Shina muttered, but was unable to continue. Her eyes became a bit misty.

Keiko looked down at the seat and impulsively hugged Shina trying to comfort her. "It must've been horrible…" She said.

"Heh, a bit?" Wazu asked, sounding a bit skeptical. "You never cared... "

Shina hugged Keiko back without saying a word. Henry was smiling as he made his way back to the table, with some bread and pieces of fried chicken he had found somewhere on his plate. He noticed Keiko hugging Shina and frowned, mostly at the immediate feeling of jealousy in his heart.

Natsumi looked around, still half asleep. She could barely follow the conversation.

Taisa Yuuko seemed frustrated and insulted by this, and released Shoi Wazu, and walked back towards the dining hall in a silent fury.

Wazu headed back to his room, ignoring Yuuko's fury completely.

Keiko gently rubbed Shina's back, like Kai used to do to her to calm her down. She let go of the hug and held Shina by the shoulders; "Just put it out of your mind then okay?" Keiko said and turned back to Natsumi. "You gonna be okay now little one?" She asked.

Natsumi nodded, feeling more and more attached to Keiko.

"That's good." Keiko assured Natsumi with a warm smile. "I wonder where sis ran off to? She went after that guy, I think." Keiko mused.

Henry took a seat at the table, across from Shina, setting his plate down in front of himself. "I think she's coming back now," he said as he saw Yuuko storming back.

Natsumi reached out, trying to hold onto big sister Keiko's arm again.

Keiko let Natsumi snuggled herself into her arm again, knowing that it somehow gave her comfort.

Yuuko let out a frustrated sigh, blowing her hair upward as she stood nearby, "Ugh..."

Keiko looked up at her sister. "What's wrong Sis? Did he do something to you?" She asked, seeing the look in her older sister's face; and felt a bit intimidated.

Shina nodded. She had no problem with putting Fenyar out of her mind, at least for now. Shina began to pig out on her plate of sushi. "Feel free to grab some sushi from my plate if you are hungry, Miss Keiko," she said between bites. Shina had made the most effort to befriend the other Chuis on the ship, since their friendships would not be complicated by the subtleties of military rank.

"Please join us, ma'am," Henry smiled politely at Yuuko, trying to improve her mood. He was also attempting to cut the pieces of friend chicken into manageable pieces with a dining knife, but was failing miserably against the over-fried crust.

Yuuko frowned and stepped forward, not saying anything. She looked agitated, and his struggle with the chicken wasn't making her any happier. She took in a long, deep breath, trying to dispel the frustration. Little things like the chicken grease were really getting on her nerves.

Keiko looked up at her with concerned eyes. "Yuuko... " She said.

Shina, sensing Henry's distress and Yuuko's agitation, reached over and grabbed one of the large pieces with her bare hands. She grabbed the two ends of the chicken piece and neatly snapped it in half, placed the two pieces back onto Henry's plate, and began the same procedure with the next piece of chicken on his plate.

"Wazu is on my ship," Yuuko growled. She meant the Celia, which was now also her ship, in addition to her personal ship, the YSS Rave (YD-523). The snapping chicken seemed to irritate her even more and she slammed her fists into the table. The pieces of chicken jumped from their plates a little. The fried chicken disgusted her so much!

Keiko was worried about Yuuko, she had never seen her so agitated. She gently disengaged herself from Natsumi and got to her feet and gently set the girl next to Shina. Keiko walked over to Yuuko and gently hugged her from behind; little hugs where all she could think of right now. "Yuuko, please calm down. Please." she pleaded. "Who cares if he's on the ship? Can't you tell him to go to another one of the ships?"

Henry looked at Shina, with one of his eyebrows arched. He appreciated the gesture, but he was a little too old to be helped in eating his food. Finally, he sighed and began cutting the smaller pieces length-wise, inserting the knife into the soft flesh that was now revealed. When his food suddenly jumped an inch from the plate, Henry just shook his head and began eating.

Yuuko pulled away from Keiko and stormed out of the room. She needed some time alone, or at least away from Wazu and the greasy chicken and the snapping bones. What kind of chef served food with bones still inside??

"Yuuko..." Keiko said softly; her sudden change in attitude worried her, but she figured that Yuuko knew what she was doing. The young woman sighed heavily as she watched her sister leave; torn, she wanted to go find out what was wrong, but...

Henry sighed as he watched the Taisa leave. It wasn't his fault that the sprites were bad at cooking non-Japanese dishes. Shina wiped one of her hands on a napkin and placed it on Natsumi's shoulder. She continued eating with her free hand.

Keiko looked at Henry and Shina. "Should I go find out what's wrong? Her sudden change worries me." Keiko said in an unsure voice.

Natsumi snapped to attention, looking up at Shina. She jumped a bit when she felt the arm.

"It's okay, ensign," said Shina as she smiled at Natsumi and then turning to Keiko, "it's not really my place to tell you, one way or the other, Miss Keiko, but please don't feel pressured to stay on our account." "Yes, we'll help Miss... Natsumi? Yes, we'll help Miss Natsumi find her quarters after we are finished," offered Henry helpfully.

Keiko smiled and nodded in thanks and walked out to find Yuuko. ~Yuuko, are you okay…? ~ She wondered.

Wazu lied down in his nest and looked up at the ceiling, "Wow... I sure picked the wrong ship..." He thought out loud as he turned his view to the data pad he had in his hand. His head felt a lot better now that he had a bit of alcohol in him. On the small screen a crude 3d rendering of a near 12d object was displayed. Needless to say it would give anyone a headache. ~I wish people would just leave me alone...~ he thought to himself, his thoughts were depressed as normal.

Keiko continued to search for her sister, figuring that she couldn't have gone far.

There was no sign of her in the area.

With Keiko gone, Shina looked at Natsumi with curiosity. "Are you sure you don't want anything to eat, Miss Natsumi? Some sushi, perhaps?" she offered. There were only a few pieces of sushi left on her plate. Henry was also finishing his small meal.

Natsumi brought her knees up to her chest. She purred softly as she looked down at her knees. She began slipping into thought, "N-no thank you ma'am. I'm not hungry."

Keiko thought for a moment, and remembered that Yuuko liked to dance. She walked over to the console and addressed the AI. "Celia, is there a place to dance on this ship?" She asked.

Celia's voice answered, "Yes."

"Is Yuuko there?" Keiko asked, wanting to nail her down.

"There's no need to call me ma'am, Miss Natsumi, for I carry the same rank as you. So please call me Shina," replied the neko to Natsumi, slipping the last few pieces of sushi into her mouth after she had finished speaking.

"No," Celia replied. "She's in a bath."

"Which one?" Keiko asked. "The one on this ship or on the Rave?"

"The port side baths on the YSS Rave."

"If I'm referred to as Miss Natsumi, then you're referred to as Ma'am." Natsumi said quietly.

"Wow, she's fast." Keiko said. "Celia can you take me there directly?"

Celia responded, "She used the lift system."

"I'll make a deal with you, Natsumi," answered Shina, smiling at Natsumi's politeness, "I'll call you Natsumi from now on, and you'll call me Shina. Deal?" Henry was wiping his mouth and getting ready to carry his dishes to the dishwashing area.

Keiko nodded. "Thank you Celia." She said and headed for the nearest lift and got in. "Take me to the Rave please." She said.

Natsumi nodded softly, her tail swishing about a bit.

Shina was about to take her dishes to the dishwashing area, but remembered that there was still a catgirl hanging on to her. She looked at Henry for help. "I got it, Shina," smiled Henry as he placed her empty plate on top of his, stacked their used utensils on top, and began walking toward the dishwashing area.

~Perhaps I could have been nicer to her...~ Wazu thought to himself, "Bah, who am I kidding. Yuuko always did hate me." He squirmed in his nest a bit and then settled back down on his back again, removing his jacket and using one hand to scratch at his right arm, taking his mind off Yuuko and giving him a sharp realization of the pain shooting through his body. His hand was now pressed tightly over his arm to stop the small amount of bleeding as he returned to the data pad.

As Shina saw Henry walking back, she turned to Natsumi, "Natsumi? We are going to take you to your quarters, all right? I'll have the Celia AI telepathically put a map of the ship in your memory while you sleep, so you won't get lost again."

“No," the Rave's AI countered. Celia asked, "Would you like to select an alternate destination?" Rave explained, "She wants to be alone. I don't think you were just going to your room."

Natsumi nodded, standing up a little shakily, "O-ok."

"You're right Rave, I was looking for her; she's my sister and her sudden change in mannerisms scared me. I just want to make sure she's going to be ok." Keiko said. "Hmm Where's the guy she spoke with that made her so mad?"

Walking up to the two nekos, Henry smiled as he saw Shina stood up to support Natsumi. He thought it was strange that he did not feel jealous seeing Natsumi touch Shina. Perhaps he simply felt more comfortable with people in the same color uniform as him.

"James Wazu is in his quarters," Celia informed Keiko.

"Can you point to me where that is?" Keiko asked the AI. "I think I want to talk with him..."

"Ready to go, ladies?" Henry smiled politely as he returned to where Shina and Natsumi were standing. Shina nodded and began making her way toward the exit, supporting Natsumi as she walked. Henry followed close behind, again puzzled at his own feelings as he realized that Keiko was in a green uniform, also.

Celia gave Keiko a map that would follow her along the side of the hall.

Keiko left the lift and followed the map that accompanied her until she reached James's quarters. She knocked on the door politely; "Excuse me sir." She said.

"Yes?" Wazu inquired from the other side of the door as he put back on his jacket and shoved the data pad into one of his pockets as h