[ECN Light of Destiny] Interrogating Chiharu

[Kim]

Brig, aboard Heavenly Attack Frigate "Light of Destiny"

There was a soft indirect light that gradually lit the closet-sized room, increasing in luminescence as a means to wake up the slumbering pagan captive. Through the transparent doorway, a figure in gold chain mail over flowing white robes stood watching. His snow-white skin was reminiscent of Irim, and maybe his cold stare contributed to the overall effect. Chi was under a wool blanket, her weapon belt gone, on a firm but comfortable foamlike matress. The archangel didn't say anything, but waited for the Taisho to awaken...

Chiharu's mind was still spinning when the light seeped through the darkness. She opened her eyes, pushing herself up from the bunk, her body still ached where it was damaged. Her eyes turned to the archangel at the door. "You know, it's rude to stare."

The large-framed male's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "..."

"I take it you buggers want something from me since you didn't kill me right off. So get to the point please." She stood up and glared defiantly up at the archangel. Her body straightened as she folded her arms across her chest.

The archangel seemed displeased. "Don't give me an attitude, nekovalkyrja. I'll break you" he warned. His voice was deep and powerful, and had a graininess that only added to the effect. "You will cooperate with me."

"Fine then break me. You'll most likely accomplish nothing though if you do that." Her voice had a fierce determination to it. "What do you want?"

"Alright." he nodded, and pressed a few buttons on the outside of the cell. The door slid open and he slipped into the cell with her. The door slid shut immediately behind him, and the transparent surface clouded over, so the people in the corridor wouldn't have to watch...

For whatever reason she smiled suddenly, as she stood before the Archangel. "You never answered my question, what do you want from me?" She moved her hands to her sides, knowing that he'd most likely try to torture her now.

"You're not very perceptive for a neko." he insulted her. "I said I wanted your cooperation."

"You never said cooperation in what." She shrugged off the insult. "And what makes you think I'd willingly offer anything to an enemy who I've fought against since the invasion of Hell?"

"You should start considering your futures now, Chiharu." the huge angel warned her. "Your actions will determine whether you will be happy...or very very uncomfortable. You're all alone. There's none of your crew here to judge you or watch you. You will submit to me, it is the best course of action."

"Since when does a prisoner have a choice in the matter of her happiness? You'll most likely kill me or torture me anyway, so all that will be done by cooperating is slow my own death. And if you kill me, it won't really matter. " She looked at him appraisingly. The angel was probably stronger than she was and with this small a space, it'd be hell to evade him or any possible attacks. "Besides, even if my crew doesn't see it, I will still know what I have done." She stopped again, running down her list of possibilities, surrendering will most likely get her crew killed and not surrendering would get her killed. "Just kill me and get it over with."

"Take off your clothes." the behemoth archangel commanded.

Chi just looked at him funny and made no move. She knew full well that he'd just rip them off her. She decided that this would harm no one but herself for now, as she unzipped her uniform without a word.

The brutish-looking archangel looked on with a straight face, patiently waiting for her to finish. "All of them." he added.

She didn't take her eyes off the Archangel as she continued to remove her uniform, until all her garments were on the deck and she stood before him naked.

"I've never seen a brown-haired nekovalkyrja before." the angel commented, admiring her sleek, smooth body. He moved her garments back away from her, towards the door with one foot, and then leaned forward to inspect her chest. "XNH-10?" he read the genetic tattoo on Chi's breast. "PNUgen's finest, I suppose." he chuckled, with a slight smile. "You're too beautiful." he commented, placing his large hands around her shoulders and rotating her slightly to get a view of her back, looking for VDF flaps and the other typical neko features.

She waited patiently for this examination to be over, if she did something now they'd discover the capabilities of the new body. Time to play the waiting game.

"My name is Zemer." The towering archangel removed his hands from her skin and offered one for a handshake. "I'm your caretaker, now."

"Caretaker?" She laughed for a moment before she took his hand and shook it. "Your name is Zemer? I thought you angels all had names ending in 'Ael' or 'iel'? " She supposed maybe she would be able to gleam some more info on the Angels now that she was a captive. Maybe if she could get a good look at the inside of the ship she'd be able to send the info back to the 1st fleet at some point.

"Oh, yes. My full name is actually Zemerias Kiriel" the larger angel explained. "As caretaker, I'm responsible for feeding you and attending to your needs."

"Interesting. And we went through all of this simply for an introduction? Isn't that a bit superfluous?" She looked at the angel strangely still, wonderful, she's now a pet of sorts.

"Speaking of needs..." he raised a brow, pushing a large button on the cell wall. Out of the wall slid a toilet. He pointed to the bowl and then to the button. Then to other nearby buttons in the wall. "Sink. Shower. Bed." he counted them off, pointing at each as he explained their function. At least Chi wouldn't be living in filth...

Her eyes scanned over the buttons and she memorized which one did which. It was an interesting trick actually, and it made a lot of sense for the size of the cell.

"I will be right back." Zemer told her, moving back toward the door, picking up her uniform. He tossed a digital videorecorder onto the bed as he exited the cell with her clothes. "Leave a last message to your crew if you'd like." he said. And then the door was closed, leaving her alone with the camera.

She watched the angel go and then looked down at the video recorder. She picked up the recorder and held it facing only her face when she turned it on. She started to speak, keeping the thing only on her face. "This might be my last command if things turn out how I think they will. Do not come after me. Continue with the mission and do your best. Remember, the lives of many are more important than the life of one. Stay alive." She paused for a moment and spoke in Japanese, "Watashiwa tewatarichinai." With that she ended the recording and tossed the recorder back on her bed.

The archangel came back into the room with a tray of food in one hand, and a cloth tissue in the other. Usually, this was the part where the captives would lose composure. Zemer tossed her a tissue and looked toward the recorder. "All done? I brought you some food." The tray had a generous bowl of cinnamon rice, with a glass of warm milk and a plate of honey-covered toast at its side. There was also a tangerine and a bowl of fairly fresh spinach leaves (such fresh food was unusual for starships).

She nodded to the angel as she caught the tissue and dropped it on the bed. "Done. I'm guessing I'm going to be without clothing now? " She looked at the sweet food strangely as she sat down on the bunk now. "Thank you."

"Oh, you're supposed to wear the tissue." Zemer smiled playfully.

"So you do have a sense of humor." She took the tray from Zemer, thinking that this was a rather odd way to deal with a prisoner, but the humor and fun would end soon and then the pain will begin. It was all a matter of time now.

The archangel left the room again with the recorder, and then returned with an oversized t-shirt. "Here you go. I didn't think nekos cared."

She took the shirt and pulled it on over herself, it wasn't much but it was something to keep herself covered. "Today is a learning experience for the both of us."

"I hope I'm learning more than you are." Zemer grinned wryly. "I'll make sure your message gets delivered to your crew."

Chi nodded again, looking down at the food tray now sitting on the bed beside her. "You are certainly the friendliest jailer I've ever had."

"Well, so long as you're agreeable, I've no reason to harm you. Besides, it's proven much more effective to befriend and persuade nekos though kindness than though pain and suffering. If I was going to hurt you, I'd probably put you in a human body. But I'm here to keep you happy."

"You sound more like a morale officer than a jailer. Now why was I taken off my ship last night?" She traced the rim of the milk glass as she tried to figure out what the hell was going on. "Not that you're bad company, I just want to know the reason why." She kept her voice calm, this was just ridiculous to her now, it made some sense but it still was quite strange to be beaten up and then handled with kid gloves.

Zemer looked at the food and then back to Chi. "We want to see what the GSA is up to lately, and why they're nosing around in our business so much of late." he answered and half-asked.

"I don't know, I get my orders and I follow them." She continued to trace the rim of the milk glass with her finger, "Why do you think we're 'intruding' again?" She kept a civil and even tone to her voice, there was no point to her being aggressive right now.

"I think you are investigating something..." he narrowed his eyes in a disdainful fashion. "Don't tell me about getting orders. You're the highest rank, you have no one over you to receive orders from." he verbally dissolved her statement.

"I wasn't always a Taisho. You should know by now that we have a chain of command that we follow no matter what rank we are." She stopped tracing the rim of the glass and smoothed her hair back behind her ears. An image suddenly danced before her eyes for a moment, it was that room again and the silhouette was becoming clearer... Chi shook her head and blinked as she returned to tracing the rim of the milk glass again.

"So, what are the nekos doing out here where they don't belong?"

"Doing what we always do, exploring." She thoughts were drifting towards the image she had just seen, there was a connection, she was positive of it now. "It looks like you have been busy as well, ambushing star ships and kidnapping Taishos. It's almost like you are on a crusade against us." She continued tracing the rim of the glass, her eyes were on Zemer and yet, they weren't focused on him.

Zemer responded "We're defending our territory from hostile invaders, just like you would do. To say we're on a crusade is stupid, Chiharu. We have left you alone...so why come after us?" He scooped up some of the sweet cinnamon rice in Chi's golden spoon and pressed it to her lips. "Please eat."

She moved her face away from the spoon and placed her hand on top of Zemer's, gently pushing it away. "You have invaded and conquered other cultures before, and there has been no move for a a cease-fire. Nor has there been a treaty, so how are we to know what territory to not enter?"

"Hell was originally our land in the first place. We were only taking back what was ours. But the GSA has invaded dozens of worlds only to satisfy its own lust and greed. You know you're beyond your borders." He tried again to feed her. "Please."

"We were asked by the people of Hell for assistance, and how can our motives be lust and greed? We have no form of currency to speak of and we're explorers. We make treaties with other worlds, not conquer them." She still made no effort to take the food from Zemer.

"What about Albini?" he asked, setting the still-full spoon back into the bowl. The rice was beginning to get cold, and was no longer steaming.

She looked at him blankly, trying to remember Albini and the circumstances surrounding it she wondered if she lost more of her memory somehow. She really had no interest in eating right now. "I don't remember what the circumstances surrounding the situation was."

Zemer stirred the rice and then brought the spoon to her lips a third time. "Open up, Chi." This time he wasn't asking, but rather telling her to eat.

She looked at Zemer and picked up the glass of milk finally, silently debating the worth of wasting it and instead drank some of it. "If Hell was originally your territory then why wasn't the situation handled better or even a effort made to discuss the situation with Geshrintall?"

"We did." he frowned, annoyed somewhat that she was asking more questions than he was.

She set the glass down on the tray again and picked up the piece of now soggy toast, deciding that despite her intense desire to not eat, it would be better to regain some energy from the fight last night. "Anyways, so how do you feel about Nekos?" She continued to munch on the toast, noting the frown, understanding that this was not a good game to be playing with the person who brings you your meals.

"I think they're very sad." Zemer told her. "They're beautiful, but they are sent to die fighting us and others, never getting a chance to really become a true person."

"Why do you feel that we don't have a chance to become a 'true person' as you put it?" This was an interesting line of questioning now. She continued to slowly feed herself, occasionally taking sips of the milk.

"If all they do is follow orders till their death, they're more like a device than a being." the archangel elaborated. "Of course, I'm not saying following orders is bad. I mean that they never make the decision not to make their own decisions."

"We live out our lives, fall in love, work and study. We do not fear death because we live in the moment and do what we love to do: Learn and explore. As members of a military organization you always have the choice to not follow orders but you usually do out of loyalty and respect for those giving the commands. You never really know the full story due to the issue of security and the lives of the entire force. But that is the way it is, you as an angel do have free will?" She looked at Zemer again, curious to what his answer would be as she polished off the last of the toast.

Zemer looked at her oddly, not answering. After a short pause, he asked, "So even your fresh clones question your orders?"

"The clones usually question who they are before they question orders. But they would question my order if they felt it was unjust or wrong. As an officer you always run the risk of a mutiny unless you understand and befriend your crew. As a captain, you have to become a parent as well as a friend to all those aboard. You are responsible for the well-being of everyone and they rely on you to make the correct decisions. The best route is to be honest and understanding, then they will trust you as well."

"Since when do mass-produced weapons come with a conscience?" Zemer frowned.

"Everyone has a soul Zemer, as well as morals. We have emotions as well as pain. I am as alive as you are. Does it bother you that we have a conscience?"

"You are wrong. Good night, Chiharu." Zemer said, taking the tray of food, giving it a quick inventory to make sure all the silverware was still there. "...and Chi...call me master" With that, he left her alone. The lights in the room dimmed to 'night light' level again.

Chi looked after Zemer, knowing that she got to him on some level. It would be interesting to find out more about Zemer and his position with the Angels, for now, escape would be a secondary priority. If she could discover how far along the Angels were on their plan to revive God, it'd be a good for the GSA intel. But there was still the matter of the connection between the incident, the angels and her images. All she really knew was that something happened to her and it had to do with the Angels somehow. She continued sitting the on bed, hoping her crew was alright and now one was hurt in her explosion. In some strange way she was relieved that she was the one who was captured, and not any of the crew. It was still bad but she still smiled, her crew was safe for now.

 

[Kim]

Chi had not been able to sleep after Zemer had left her, she just was wide awake as she sat there on the bed staring up at the bulkhead above her. But eventually, sleep did take her and whisked her away to the place where she couldn't remember..

Zemer paced the hallway outside the door to Chiharu's cage. He couldn't seem to stop thinking about her....

She was back in the dimly lit room again, and she was looking up at the imposing figure of a male angel. Chi tried to look at his face but shadows kept it hidden from her. As she slept, she talked quietly in her sleep. Her speech was garbled Japanese, she was saying something about a ship going down and a sneak attack...

Zemer had entered the first door and paused to look over the sleeping body of his new captive. She didn't seem too bad for a neko. It almost made him want to have a wife, a daughter. So beautiful... He spotted her lips moving, and quietly entered the room in order to hear her.

She kept switching languages as she spoke out in her slept, it was a mixture of English and Japanese which translated out to be: "Captain, I think there are still some crew left alive... demo, the enemy looks like they are coming back to finish us off." There was a eerie pause, before she spoke again, her voice was a little louder, "I can't believe the captain's dead and now.. we're been taken captive... I can hear the others scream.." She was fidgeting now, like she was trying to free herself from something and she was.. whimpering?

The large-framed archangel flattened his wings against the cell wall and sat doawn on the floor, next to the bed and close to her face. He trailed his fingers gently through her bangs and hair as she tossed and turned. "What's happened, Chi?" he whispered.

Her breathing became panicked, "why won't he just kill me instead of.. " She was still struggling with something. "he won't let me die.. instead he just.. he just.." Tears started rolling down her cheeks, her eyes rapidly moving behind closed eyelids, she was still deep in REM sleep.

Zemer leaned closer, putting his hand over her heart, as if trying to soothe its racing beat. At the same time, his mind was saturated with curiousity for Chiharu and her history. "just what, Chi?" he asked, whispering softly into her ear.

She didn't say anything else, her heart was beating fast as an image formed in Zemer's mind. He could see a different Chi in a cell not unlike this one except larger. She was bleeding badly as she lay naked curled up into a ball staring blankly at a large man. He was an angel, Zemer could almost make out his features.. the angel was very familiar somehow. The angel was speaking to her, "No no Chiharu, you can't die yet, you're still mine." The voice was lude and still very familiar..

Zemer slid a hand under her bottom, and the other under her torso, and gently lifted her out of bed and placed her against his board chest, rubbing her back soothingly. "It's alright." he whispered, unsure whether or not she could hear him. He continued to listen intently to and watch her mumbling and her broadcasted memories. Not wanting to wake her up, he layed himself face-up on the bed, and wrapped the covers over them both. His body was warm and comforting beneath her. "Calm" he whispered lightly.

Chi unconscious reaction to this was a violent struggle to get away from the Angel, in her mind she was trying to get away from the Angel in her memory, "STAY AWAY FROM ME! Just let me die with some shred of myself left and stop.. stop.." She couldn't bring herself to even say it. The images of what had happened repeatedly over the years she was trapped there flashed by in a whirlwind of pain and despair as her mind still tried to block out what happened, but Zemer could feel, could almost taste the bitterness of what happened. The angel had raped her and she still couldn't say it or accept it even though it happened years ago. But, the image of her attacker was clearer now and Zemer had no mistake who it was...

Zemer held her limbs fast by keeping the blanket tightly wrapped around her, pressing her arms against her body. "It's alright." he calmly told her. He wondered if the dream was all repressed memory. Conciously, she probably thought she was still a virgin...Zemer felt a deep sympathy for the poor young woman.

She cried out again, still trying to get away until finally the memory passed and she was still again. The images of the projected memory faded from Zemer's mind but he could still sense that inwardly she wondered who the angel was, and what she would do if she fully remembered what happened. ~The visions are stronger now and I still don't understand them or what really happened. Why does this all seem familiar?~

Zemer ran his hands up and down her back, and planted a kiss on her cheek, then leaned back on the bed, enjoying her weight on him, and her presence. It made him realize how lonely he was. Listening to the sound of her breathing as it slowly returned to a resting pattern, he only smiled, thankful for this moment, and thankful to be the one who would know her and care for her. "Good Chi." he whispered to the sleeping neko.

She laid on top of him gently sleeping, she was out of the recesses of her mind in the places she could not look and was just wondering how her crew was and hoped that they would obey her order. She quietly spoke again, "I hope everyone is ok.."

 

[Kim]

Chiharu awoke in a minor panic, she found herself tightly wrapped in the wool blanket and face down on top of some guy's chest. She struggled to free herself from the blanket and get away from Zemer. "What did you do to me?!"

Zemer had fallen asleep under the woman's gentle warmth. For some reason, he felt comfortable with this neko, despite the fact that she was just that--a neko. But his dreams and slumber were suddenly interrupted by her shouting. "Hmm?" he grunted, as Chiharu squirmed on top of him.

Chi struggled herself out of the blanket finally and uncermoniously landed hard on her side on the floor of the small cell. She winced a bit as she glared up at Zemer. "What did you do to me while I was sleeping?!" She demanded as she tried to figure out what damage she ended up inflicting on herself by thrashing about like that.

Zemer just gave his cute neko captive an odd look, his eyes trailing up from her bare lower half to meet her eyes. "Calm down, little Chi" he sighed, offering a warm smile. "You were having a nightmare. I...I didn't want you to be lonely."

Chi glared at Zemer as she knocked her shoulder back into place. "Likely story." She pulled the shirt back down to cover herself as best as she could before smoothing her hair back behind her ears. "You decided to take advance of me when I was sleeping, that's just wrong."

"Chi..." the Archangel looked genuinely hurt. Zemer shook his head. "No."

She looked at his expression and then into his eyes and saw that she did hurt his feelings by reacting this way and sighed. "I'm sorry Zemer, but it's not nice to crawl into a lady's bed without warning her. You almost gave me a heart attack.. Which somehow reminds me, is there anyway I could possibly get pants, a skirt, anything to cover myself?"

Zemer gave a warm, soft smile which contrasted against his buff, powerful body, as he saw the anger in her eyes fade. Letting out a sigh of relief, he nodded and told her, "I...didn't realize you'd be so upset. I heard nekos had a hard time sleeping alone because they sleep in groups." He patted her thigh "I'll see what I can do...most nekos prefer minimal clothing, too, that way they keep their heat-vents clear. How about my boxers?"

"I'm used to sleeping alone actually.. one of the benefits of being Captain of a Starhip I guess.." She looked at Zemer funny when he said his boxers. "That would work, so long as they aren't the ones your wearing right now." She rubbed her left arm where her almost invisible closed heat transfers were, she felt a little uneasy about how much interaction with Nekos the Angels had, a bit mislead but pretty accurate for some Nekos. "Thank you Zemer."

Zemer let out an amused chuckle. "You're at all not like the other one." He stood up and slipped out the door. "No problem. I'll be right back with some fresh clothes for you. And breakfast." Taking a slight bow, he shut the clear inner cell door in front of him, then turned around and went through the translucent outer door into the hallway.

She smiled a bit as Zemer left, well, at least he hadn't taken advantage of her in her sleep, but, she did wonder what she had nightmares about that were so bad that she had to be held down in a blanket for.

The amicable jailer returned with a big plate of food for Chi in one hand, and a T-Shirt and boxers, still smelling of fabric softener and freshly warm from the dryer, in the other. He also had a smile that was as bright as the angel ship's white interior. The breakfast had some bacon (obviously rationed stores from the rectangular cuts) strips, scrambled eggs, grits with butter, and some peach muffins. There was also OJ and Milk cartons with it. "Here you go, Chi."

Chi returned the smile genuinely, she almost felt bad that she might have to kill him at some point in time unless she could convince him to switch sides. "Domo arigatou gozaimasu, Zemer-kun." She took the food tray, for whatever resaon she was hungry. Chi assumed it might have been from the energy she lost due to her nightmare. "You've only dealt with one other Neko before?"

"No, I've...dealt with...a couple dozen, at least." Zemer looked uncomfortable. It made him think about having to kill Chi. He wasn't sure it was something he could do if he was ever ordered to. She was special, somehow, and he could see he was getting attached to her. But despite his training, he didn't pull away. Maybe it was because he could sense the good in her heart, that was better than that of some angels.

"But you said that i wasn't like the other?" She poked at the rations with the golden fork before she curiously took a bite of the food, it wasn't bad considering it's prisoner food.

"Well, I meant Jehenniel's neko."

"Jehennial?" She looked up at Zemer curiously from her food tray as she felt a chill ran down her spine, why did that name ring a bell somehow.

"He's the captain of this ship." Zemer explained, content to watch her eat the food, admiring the way she ate without being obnoxious. "He's had a neko of his own aboard for a couple months now. Poor thing she is."

"What happened to her?" She continued to eat, trying not to be too horribly rude to the Angel, he did bring her meals and clothes when he could've just left her to be naked and starve. So he wasn't too horrible of a man.
kitsurugi_yui: "She's right quite right up there," he tapped her noggin for emphasis, "anymore. Very emotionally disturbed."
kirageshadow: "What exactly did your captain do to her to cause that trauma?" Chi looked concerned now, this wan't a good thing. There would be nothing that could done to help that Neko without sending her back to Geshrintall and PNU to be repaired.

"I don't quite know." Zemer shook his head. "She seemed alright at first, but then she became more and more distant and withdrawn everytime I saw her. He'd brag about how she'd do anything he said. I think he might have tried to train her to obey him or something. Poor neko cries all the time, real quiet into her pillow."

"What color hair does she have?" She thanked the Emperor that she had Zemer as her captor instead of Jehenniel, but then again, she might've tried to kill the Angel opposed to gathering intell.

"She's a greenie." Zemer said. "With light pink skin and dark blue eyes." He handed her the OJ so she wouldn't have to reach for it.

Chi took the OJ and nodded, "Thanks." She drank some of the OJ before she spoke again. "What ship was she captured from?"

"GD-37. Same class as the one you were in." said Zemer.

"Hmm.. and you wondered why the GSA was 'intruding' in your territory. Out of curiousity, how did you know my name?" She had polished off most of her food when she set the fork back down on the tray.

"If it weren't for us, she would't be alive. The Nepleslians detroyed her fleet and left the crews for dead. We found Iseki in an escape pod." Zemer gingerly lifted the shirt up over top Chi's right boob and poked. "It's tattooed on your breast, Chi."

"You called me by my name before you had me take my clothes off though." She looked at him curiously again. She wanted to say that if Iseki had been killed she would have just been respawned again, but you can't really say that, now can you? "From the sound of it, Iseki would've been better off if she had been left drifting in space."

"How can you say that? Nekos only have backups on their ship, and hers was destroyed." he countered.

"As much as I hate to say it, it would be better to be dead than having to live as a hallowed out shell of who you once were. At least if she was dead then she wouldn't be enduring the nightmare that Jehenniel is puting her through. The damage that has been done to her mind can only be repaired on the off chance that she ever returns home, from the sound of it."

"So you would kill your sister if you had the chance?" Zemer looked at her as if she had become someone else.

Chi shook her head no. "I would only do it if she wanted to die. There might still be a chance that she could return home yet if she doesn't try to kill herself first." She sighed a bit. "I'm not a murderer, I just hate to hear that she's become this."

"I shouldn't have said anything about her." Zemer sighed. "You two aren't supposed to know each other or aboard. Seeing each other would be out of the question."

"It would probably be for the best if she didn't see me if she's that far from her past self." She smoothed her hair back behind her ears as she looked up at Zemer. "I'm still curious, it almost seems like it was delibrately planned to capture me from my ship. Why is that?"

"Your rank, I suppose. The GSA is in short supply of able command personnel" Zemer shrugged. "Jehenniel insisted on getting you, alive, after we'd determined that you'd entered deep into our space relatively unprotected.

For whatever reason she laughed, it figures as much. "And oddly enough you knew who was the commanding officer aboard ship." This was a dangerous thought, their intell was apparently better than hers.

"Of course." he smiled. "We keep track of where all your Taishos and Chujos are." His fingers playfully circled around on her belly, causing a little "Activate HDM BIT?" to appear in her vision. He knew her how to push her buttons, in a sense.

She tried to turn off the words for the interface from her vision as she backed away a bit. "You've done your homework." She guessed that they understood that she was a new model by now, but, she had to make sure that they didn't figure out what the new body could do yet, at least for long as long as she could stall for time. "You must have a fun job if all you get to do is play with Nekos all day."

"Well, not until you showed up. You're the first neko I can call my own. Although Jehenniel keeps asking to trade, I like you a lot better than Iseki. She's too depressing. So, I'll be playing with you, Chi." He smiled, tapping Chi's chest twice in the center, just above the HS3 port. Another message appeared in her vision. "Display HDM?"

Again she tried to deactivate the message appearing in her vision, this was going to be a chore, maybe she should suggest that that change the physical commands when she got back. "So we're like trading cards to you guys? Gotta catch them all?"

"No." Zemer frowned. "Look, Chi, you've got to cooperate with me, ok? You're seeing messages, right?"

She debated the value of lying to Zemer but thought better of it "Yes, I'm seeing messages."

"Good." Zemer nodded. He tapped her chest again, then instructed her "think yes".

Once again she debated the value of not complying, figuring that he'd be trying for as long as she could be stubborn. Reluctantly, the yes command came to mind and she suddenly felt dirty.

The archangel pulled her shirt off, allowing the holographic beams projected from her shoulder ports to form into a floating menu. Laying the shirt over her bosom so she could at least have a shred of modesty, he took her left hand and began rubbing his thumb on the back of her palm. She could see and feel it moving the pointer around on the floating screen. Zemer worked like a pro, calling up a text prompt.

Chi fought the urge to shut down the menu but stopped herself from sending the command through. ~Crap.~ She just watched what Zemer was trying to look up, hoping that the GSA decided to encrypt the data of the NH-X models..

Zemer paused to rise and hook up a small electronic device of some sort to the 25-pin connector on the back of Chi's neck. She could feel his warm breath on her ears as he screwed her in the literal sense of the word, securing the cable in place. He then sat down and began messing with the menu again. "When were you born?" he asked her absently.

"November 16, I'm 21 years old.."

He selected his way through a few menus until the screen displayed "Mind Section 2-3: Mechanical and Weapons Knowledge Base." He had the pointer over the "Download" key when her answer caught him off guard and made him give her a funny look. "Twenty...one??" he asked in disbelief.

"Yes, I have been alive for 21 years. I did fight in the Heavenly Wars under Kitsurugi Yui. I'm not as infamous as her though." She noticed what he was taking from her mind, understanding how they got some of their knowledge, they just downloaded it from the minds of the Neko captives.

"Moses Christ!" he exclaimed. "You're so OLD! No wonder there's so much stuff up in there."

Chi just shrugged. "Did you think we just got deactivated when we hit a certain age?" She understand why this was a shock, she was old for a Neko.

He tapped on her hand to click, then, "Dammit. There's a password for the file." He looked back up to Chi, "No, its just there's less than 10 nekos over 20."

She smiled slightly, glad that there was a password. "I would've thought you guys would have already known how old I was if you knew what rank I was and what ship I was on already."

"I thought you we only in your teens, actually. Jehenniel's the one who took the big interest in you." The archangel did a search for unpassworded hidden files... "Hey, did you know you have some memory hidden up here?" he asked.
"Not to say I'm not interested in you." Zemer added with a grin.

"I partially knew about it. My memory was damaged after the Heavenly Wars and we couldn't retrieve it due to the damage." She felt a bit creeped out again by the captain's interest in her, but she gave Zemer a quick grin. "You're just interested because I'm a relic from the Wars."

"Yeah, I'm a veteran myself. I was with the 5th Heaven defense force. You guys never managed a success there, and in the end, only got 2nd, 3rd, and after a while, 8th Heaven."

"We faired pretty well I think. I kept myself alive, lost my arm a couple times though." She smiled a bit at the fragment of memory where she first lost her arm.

"That was the first battle the angels ever took neko captives, I believe." Zemer noted, reminded of the ragged-looking nekos trapped in dirty prison/extermination camps. "We almost got Yui but the whore somehow took out a whole platoon herself. After that, the peace treaty was signed."

"I know, I was right there when it happened." She grinned brightly. "It was a pretty nasty battle, I remember everything being stained red."

"So you went back home with Yui?" Zemer asked. "Pagoda no Uesu...or was she living in Kitsurugi no Iori by then?"

She shook her head no, "After the Wars, I went onto a space ship and then the incident happened and my memory was damaged and I was found in stasis a few years later."

"The incident?" he pryed, scrolling through her memory records.

The incident was the repressed part of her memory; although, opening it would shut down Chi's mind again. "I can't remember what happened."

"That's because it's locked." he explained. "I could unlock it, though."

"It might be better if I didn't remember, if it caused my mind to shut down and put me in stasis." She debated the value of actually unlocking the memories, but she wasn't really sure if she wanted to really find out why the visions were occuring. In a way she was scared of what she would find.

"I'm sorry, Chi, I was wasting both of our time. I should be researching the XNH-X rather than satisfying my personal curiousity about you. If I don't get enough info on you, Jehenniel will try and take you away." Zemer finally said, leaving everything as it was. He flopped the clean boxers and shirt on her lap and stood to leave. "I'll see if I can find you something to entertain yourself with, Chi. Bye for now." He stopped to disconnect the cord from her her neck, he then left her, taking it with him.

Chi nodded, "Thank you, I'll see you later then." She waited for him to go before she changed into the clean shirt and boxers..

Chi moved the food tray onto the floor of her cell as she laid down on the bed, wondering why exactly Jehenniel took an interest in her. ~It can't be good if he broke that one Neko down into shambles.. I really am curious as to why Zemer has such an interest in me as well. Oh well, I'll figure it out in time, at least I have some clothes now.~

 

[Kim]

ON> Angel Ship "Light of Destiny" Chi's cell.

Zemer appeared at the door. "Good evening Chi-ko" he smiled to her, stepping inside her little closet of a home.

Chi has been thinking over the idea of actually facing her repressed past when Zemer entered. She was seeing parts of it and it did have something to do with the Angels, maybe her instincts were trying to tell her something? She sat up and looked at Zemer curiously, "Zemer-kun, still trying to hack my info?"

"No. But I was going to disable your hemosynthing and your increased strength. That way you don't form a gun or something. I was supposed to do you earlier but I got...distracted." Zemer said, then corrected his fruedian slip "Um, do IT" The giant archangel fiddled with his hair, smiling happily at her.

She chuckled a bit, "I take it Jehenniel is getting impatient?" She looked at him curiously again, as another image flashed through her mind as she said the captian's name. She then spaced out.

"Yeah, I'm starting to get annoyed with his nasty talk abou....hey, Chi-ko, are you ok?" Zemer quickly scooted forward, waving a hand before her eyes. "Chi?"

Chi didn't respond as the scene unfolded before her eyes again.. except that she was conscious of seeing it and.. Zemer was seeing it too, again. There were no words, no sounds, just the fuzzy image, like a television with bad reception, as she finally saw who the Angel was.. Zemer recognized him as Jehenniel but Chi, didn't know who he was. In her memory, Jehenniel moved towards the old NH-2 model of Chi and.. the Chi in the present started screaming, crying out in pain and shock as she finally saw what had happened to her on the Angels' Ship.

"Chi!" Zemer called to her, pulling her against his broad chest. "You poor thing!" There was a fire in him, a hatred in his eyes for the archangel he knew who had done this to her. He could see her pain, how brutal Jehennial had been, completely disregarding her feelings and using her for his own desires, the opposite of the religion which the angels were supposed to believe in.

"The man in your dreams...he's the captain of this ship!"

The memories faded as Chi cried into Zemer's chest, she suddenly the felt the helplessness and loneliness that she had felt all those years ago. She was also afraid, the captain of the ship was the man who had done this to her. "Don't let him get me." She sobbed, the past had left her defenseless when it resurfaced.

"I won't." Zemer reassured her, then began talking to himself. "How could he just ravage you like that? I mean, a cloned mass-produced neko with no personality to speak of is one thing, but an an experienced, fully sentient being? There's got to be a way we can keep you away from him."

She sniffed as she tried to collect herself again. "All nekos have personalities, we're all sentient beings who experience everything that is done to us. Sometimes some of us wish that we weren't alive.. then we wouldn't have to live through the pain, loneliness and heartbreak that comes with life.."

Zemer could help but say, "The same goes for the angels." his mind wondering how many angels Chi had killed indiscriminately...

"These wars are truly horrible." Zemer gloomily sighed, rubbing Chi's back soothingly.

"We've never thought that Angels were mindless, as a soldier fighting a war you kill who is trying to kill you. Revenge and anger are powerful emotions that come with war." Chi took a deep breath, trying to focus, she had to either kill Jehenniel or just runaway.. but then he'd still come after her..

"Do you think..." Zemer asked her, holding her by her shoulders and looking into her glossy eyes. "...we can ever find peace between our peoples?"

Chi looked back into Zemer's eyes and thought about the question. "We might be able to one day if most angels are like you Zemer.. maybe if there is a faction within your people that don't want a war we could form a treaty and try to stop the other Angels?"

"Most of our people don't trust the GSA. One time one of your emperors personally assassinated our leader at a peace convention. There's a number of incidents... But meeting you has given me some new hope."

"One of my crew as held captive by some angels and tortured.. he still feels the suffering from it to this day. Trust would have to be earned on both sides, but that will only come in time.."

"So, what about us?" the archangel asked, a bit disheartened.

"Us?" She blinked a bit as she looked at Zemer. "I feel that I can trust you, and.. you have given me some hope in your race where I originally had none." She offered a soft smile. "But if you continue to be nice to me Jehenniel might.." She stopped herself as the possiblity wandered through her mind.

"What do you think I should do?" Zemer asked. For the first time in a long time, he actually didn't know.

"... From the way things are, it would be in my best interest to kill Jehenniel and get off this ship and return the Yui... you.. you could come with me.. or.. you could take command of this ship and tell the others that I just escaped.." Chi started toying with her hair now, this wasn't going to be good.

"I don't want to betray my people." Zemer frowned.

"And neither do I but, I cannot let you get my files nor can I let Jehenniel get a hold of me again." Chi sighed, friendships during War time with someone who's supposed to be your enemy was hard.

"Maybe you could commit suicide." Zemer suggested. "If I had a backup of your soul, I could transmit it back to your ship."

Chi shook her head no. "It just be easier to try to escape for me.. I'm not even sure if you can make a back up of my mind.. I might lose all my data.."

Zemer didn't like idea of accidentally killing his favorite neko... "I'll see if I can arrange a shuttle, and we'll sneak you aboard it. We're coming up on a refueling station, so it wouldn't be out of the ordinary. You could hop on a civilian ship and ride to freedom."

She smiled softly, this sounded like a good plan. "Once I get off this ship I should be ok... I just hope that the next time we meet after that will be under better circumstances.."

Not quite sure what he was doing, Zemer gently leaned into her to kiss her lips. "I won't forget you, Chiharu."

Chi's eyes widened at the kiss, and yet she still returned it, maybe it was the wave of startled and confusing emotion she felt by this Angel's tenderness that threw her off guard. Or maybe it was because he made her feel safe? Whatever the reason, she didn't know anything except that she was kissing him.

After a long, long, moment that never lasted long enough, Zemer finally, slowly pulled way. "Thanks for being such a great prisoner." he smiled, trying to laugh but failing, his eyes watering with emotion and sadness that she wouldn't be near to him any longer, and hoping he'd never accidentally kill her in a spaceship battle. "I'm going to miss you."

"And I'm going to miss you too Zemer." She returned Zemer's sad smile and reached up to touch his face. She realized that she had been lonely for all these years and yet she never allowed anyone close to her because of some hidden fear that she now realized was because of the incident. But she knew that her crew and her fleet needed her and probably missed her as much as she missed them. Duty and friendship cannot always co-exist across the enemy lines. "When we get a treaty maybe we can see each other again.."

Zemer reluctantly rose to his feet, his massive wings partially stretching out behind him before returning to their usual tucked position. "I'll go see about that shuttle, Chi." And with that, he was gone, leaving the the room feeling empty again.

Chi watched Zemer go, getting the sinking feeling that escape was going to be harder than he thought it would be. She had a set plan for herself, once she could get onboard the shuttle she could become someone else, she had that impersation training right? That way no one would realise who she really was.. then there was the matter of clothing... she pondered it and decided that she could find a way to make do. After all, she still could field test this body's capabilities.

Jehenniel was in the hallway outside Chi's cell. "That was a touching conversation you to had, Zemer. It's somehow not suprising, our intel officer of all people, is sleeping with the enemy. But what I find stupid and disgusting is that you actually are falling for her. Wake up. She's just a God-damned neko bitch."

"You're the disgusting one, Jehenniel." Zemer shot back "She's more than just a random neko."

Chi stood up from the bed and looked at the door. She couldn't see anything beyond the cell. But she had that sinking feeling again..

Jehenniel backhanded Zemer in the face. Zemer's huge fist began to return fire, but was stopped by the sticky grasp of a seraph. "Take the heretic away." he ordered, smiling wickedly. Once Zemer was around the corner, Jehennial went into the cell, with a seraph. "Hello again, little Chi." he sadistically greeted her.

Chi's eyes narrowed, "Jehenniel. Stay the away from me." She moved one of her hands to touch the wall behind her.. she was in a tight spot with her back to a wall and 2 angels blocking the door. She'd have to time this correctly or else she'd be trapped..

"Be a good girl and take off your shorts." the sick archangel hissed. "Bend over the bed" The seraph looked on, am ugly smile full of razorblade teeth the only feature on its dull white head.

"Fuck you." She hemsynthed herself a blade as she swiftly hit the shower button and slammed the blade into the Seraph's face, trying to get past them both. She hoped that this would distract them enough..

"There's no where to go." Jehenniel cackled at her. "You should just let it happen. It'll feel good, Chi." The doors were shut, trapping her in the cell with them. "I like the wet T-shirt thing. Your tits look even better than the last time I fucked you." The seraph grabbed her by the waistband of her boxers, and ripped them off of her hips, only causing Jehennial to laugh more.

"Spread it. You know you want me inside you." the twisted man grinned, turning off the shower. "Or would you rather the seraph try your hole out for itself?" The seraph seemed to be nearly fully healed already, hissing and grinning that awful grille of teeth.

Chi had the feeling it wasn't going to work but she had to try something. She still had her blade, it had done nothing aginst the Seraph but.. she moved towards Jehenniel and tried to stab him. "I will not ever surrender to you!"

Elsewhere on the ship, Zemer proceded down the hall like he was supposed to, until the seraph was walking by a door. Then, with a sudden charge, he used his massively heavyset frame to shove the seraph into a janitorial closet...

Jehennial seemed to evade the blow with disturbing ease. As the blade neared him, he grabbed her hand by the palm and twisted it in a 480 degree spiral, just like the seraph from her initial capture. Except that Jehennial actually had to move his body to do so. The seraph behind her tore her shirt off, and she could feel a firm shaft bounce off of her bum as the thing tried to penetrate her and missed.

Chi grimaced a bit as she felt the tendions in her hand break under the force but, she still tried to fight back, struggling against Jehenniel and kicking back at the Seraph. Her mind was racing, she felt herself becoming over whelmed and her mind was trying to switch. She was now mentally and physically fighting against what was happening. If she lost control of her mind, she wouldn't be able to defend against Jehenniel or the Seraphs.

Zemer reached into his utility belt and produced a incendiery grenade, todding it into the janitorial closet with the seraph and slamming the door shut. He held it until the doorknob began to melt his skin, and the darted down the hallway, stopping to punch open a hidden weapons locker in the wall, retrieving the GP-12b which had been captured with Iseki, the other neko.

Jehenniel Grinned, grinding his hips against hers, seeking his way into her. "You're such a nice girl" his perverted comments were spouted into her ear. The seraph was all over her back now, actually partially entering her. They both laughed and joked and insulted her in the most humiliating way possible.

Chi was still fighting against herself as she still tried to get the Seraph and Jehenniel off her. Tears swelled up in her eyes, this was more painful than anything else. Then it dawned on her, she hemosynthed a new blade as she slammed her left fist into Jehenniel's chest. She was hoping that if she could do damage against at least one of them...

Zemer opened a set of cell doors to find the broken-spirited Taii Hisô Iseki. Dropping the rifle into her lap, he told her "Get up. It's time to get out of here." The defeated neko looked at him, and saw his eyes. "Yes sir." Now, to get Chiharu before it was too late...

Jehenniel pushed Chi back against the wall, sandwiching her in between the Seraph and himself, forcing the blade back into Chi's own chest using his superior strength. He was unbelievably powerful. The dagger slid into one of her lung-organs. The two beings began to hump her rabidly. Jehenniel cackled and sneered "So good." like out of a bad manga.

Chi felt herself bleeding, and then, her mind snapped back again. Her eyes went distant as the tears just rolled down her face. Chi was no longer there as the angels violated her, her mind had surrendered under the stress. ~zemer..~

Changing in like the proverbial calvary, Zemer and Hisô Iseki busted into the room. Zemer, who was even stronger than the scrawnier Jehenniel, jerked the archangel off of Chiharu's chest, throwing him agains the wall. Taii Hisô fired a shot into the seraph's head, the overpowered GP-12 blast exploding it into a flurry of fluffy white strings. Then the two switched, and Iseki shot Jehenniel in the chest, exploding him into a disgusting crater of blood. Zemer picked up Chi's nude body over his shoulder, tugging away the seraph corpse form it, and carried it into the area between the two doors.

Chi didn't respond, she was just not mentally there anymore. She could sense the familiar warmth of Zemer's body but she inwardly wondered who he was and what was going on..

He looked to Iseki, and handed the Taisho to the scrawny Taii. "Shoot me." he told her. "Shoot me and go for the shuttle."

Iseki nodded. She was completely unattached to angels...but this one had saved her and another... Unable to do it, she settled for clocking Zemer on the head with he rifle butt. Zemer cringed in pain but didn't collapse or anything. But he laid down and pretended to be another victim of the escaping Taii Hisô Iseki. "Psst. Go to the shuttle!" he gave a final direction, and then pretended to be knocked out. Iseki carried Chi over her shoulder to the shuttlebay, and set her down in the copilot seat of the small shuttle, firing up the engines and the controls.

Chi seemed to be awake despite it all. She sat in the co-pilot's chair staring off into space. Slowly, her body was repairing itself and changing itself into something else..

A pair of seraphs and another archangel came to investigate the weapon explosions, and found the carnage there. The lighting inside the ship changed as it went on alert. But on the bridge, there was chaos. The communciations and control systems weren't responding... Ahead, the doors opened to reveal a big blue gas giant and the space beyond. "We're free!" Iseki cried, tears of joy on her face.

By the time, Chi came to her senses her body had completely changed,, she looked over at the Neko flying the shuttle. "You're.. Iseki?" Her voice was ackward, and deeper somehow. She now looked like a human male wearing plain loose clothing. She touched her throat and found that.. she had an Adam's apple. "What just happened?"

( She was planning on shape shifting when she escaped. ^^;; And her body just followed through with it. Only temporary. )

Iseki looked at her like she was carrying a horrible disease. "You're male??" She'd never seen a male before, besides Jehenniel. And that made her very uncomfortable with men.

"I guess. I'm really an NH-X Neko though at least I'm supposed to be." She shifted, her weight feeling rather uncomfortable herself. "Now we have to find my ship, the GSS Yui.. I'm Taisho Ketsurui Chiharu though." She frowned, this was weird and felt funny. But she decided to stick with this body just in case.

"Wow! A real NH-X!!" Iseki stared, amazed. She pointed at Chi's lap. "Please dont.." she struggled to say, but ended up only looking down and away in shame.

Chi blushed a bit. "I have no desire to do anything like that to you Iseki. Let's just.. get into friendlier space." Her thoughts drifted towards Zemer, she wondered if he was alright. She didn't remember anything past Jehenniel and the Seraph.. she shook her head, trying to push those thoughts aside and keep them aside. "We'll be okay Iseki, I take it Jehenniel is dead?"

"My name is Taii Hisô Iseki." the abused neko quietly uttered. "Pilot, GD-37" She looked at her rifle, then back to Chi. "Yes, he's gone."

"Nice to meet you Iseki. I only wish it was under better circumstances though." She moved to push her hair back behind her ears when she noticed that she had a crew cut. It felt kinda funny to move her hand over the short hair but it was only temporary. "Do you remember what happened to your ship?" She changed the subject, this whole situation was ackward but she figured that Zemer had managed to rescue her after all. She laughed inwardly at herself, she had ended up being rescued after all when she had tried everything in her power to rescue herself. She felt a mortality that she had forgotten during the Heavenly Wars and the fear of what came with war still remained but it all felt different somehow. She had finally embraced those feelings and she had still survived.

"Our fleet was ambushed and destroyed by the Nepleslian Spacy." Iseki explained. "I got out in an escape pod and the angels came lurking around after a day or so and picked me up."

Chi nodded with a sigh. "The GSA is now at war with the Angels again. The Yui's mission is to attack, capture, and board the Angel ships we encounter.. we got ambushed by that ship and 2 others and got the crap kicked out of us. And then, they snuck aboard and snatched me. And now I'm here." She sighed again, "If you'd like, you can hang aboard the Yui until we can get you on another ship?"

Iseki sighed, quietly speaking in a hoarse voice, as if she had not spoken in a fairly long time, "if we get back to it...this place has hundreds of angel ships around. this place. it's a refueling spot for them. I'm hoping we find a neutral civilian ship to hook up with."

Chi smiled softly, "We will get back to it. But, we're going to have to hide that fact that you're a Neko if we're going to avoid suspicion." She looked around the inside of the shuttle.

"Well, this thing looks pretty empty, except for that survival kit over there, the rations, and that blanket."

"I guess I can hemosynth you something to hide your ears. And we could jimmy-rig the blanket into a cloak.

"I could do that." Iseki tried to smile. It had been so long.

"I would change into an angel but that would be a bit more attention than we need." She returned the smile again, glad to have her freedom again. "Well, let's get you un-neko as we can before we grace the world with our lovely fashion sense." She wished that she could project something to Zemer, but she knew she couldn't reach him... but maybe she could somehow reach him in his dreams?

Iseki broke open a ration. It was an old GSA ration the angels had probably picked up in her escape pod. She found some sugarless drink mix and pointed to it. "Hair dye." and from the survival kit, she salvaged some bandages and made a headband to head her ears against her head...

 

[Kim]

ON> Small Angel Shuttle

Chi adjusted her clothes, she was slowly getting used to living in this male body, but it still felt a bit ackward. "How far are we from the refueling station Iseki?" She ran her hand over the crew cut, it actually felt kinda cool to play with the short hair.

It had been several hours since the escape of the two nekos from the angel's attack frigate, and both of the two were now in disguise. Iseki was curled up in a ball on the floor of the shuttle, taking a break from piloting. She now had fake hair, a surprisingly well-made wig spun from fibers of the blanket she was wearing as a cloak. her hair was a tasty-smelling grape purple, and her ears were out of sight.

"It should only be a few minutes...." Iseki rocked on her bottom, foward and back, her thin body tightly curled up. "My name is Taii Hisô Iseki." she repeated for no apparent reason. "Taii Hisô Iseki. Gee Dee Thirty-Seven."

Chi offered the other Neko a soft, reassuring smile. She had a handsome face and there was a comforting warmth in her now blue eyes, but it wasn't going to make Iseki feel any better after all it was a man who had done this to her. "We'll get back home Iseki. I promise you that I won't let anyone get you again. I owe you one for getting me off the Angel Ship."

"Hiie...sooo. Eeee Say Ki " she repeated slowly, as if trying to associate her name with herself, as if she wasn't entirely sure who she was. "My name is Taii Hisô Iseki. Ship pilot. GD-37." Looking up at Chi's male visage. Males... Iseki put her hands in her crotch and held herself as if she was nursing some great lingering pain there. "Yes...angel ship. We are off the angel ship."

Chi sighed bit as she redirected her eyes back at the space ahead of her. Damn Jehenniel for doing this to the both of them. She hoped that she would be able to help Iseki onc she got out of this body. "We're going to get ourselves on a neutral ship and try to find our way to the GSS Yui GD-30. We're going to need a pilot on the Yui soon since our pilot just got a promotion." She tried to give the girl some reassurance of what was going to happen, but Chi said it more to give herself hope that'd this plan would work. "May the Emperor show us the way home."

"You said..." the neko looked blankly at Chi "...Home?" Her eyes were wet and the trails of tears reflected the dim interior lights. "Dead."

Chi frowned a bit, this was going to be rough. "Do you remember Geshrintall at all Hisô Iseki?" She set the controls for auto-pilot and slowly got up from the pilot's seat and very cautiously made her way over to Iseki, stopping out of arm's reach of her as Chi knelt down beside her. "It'll be all right now Taii Hisô Iseki, no one is going to hurt you, you're no longer alone."

"No Taisho. I was born on GD-37 and lived all my life on it until it was destroyed." Iseki sobbed, never having seen Geshrintall.

"Do you still remember the GD-37 and all the people who you loved?" She gently soothed, moving just a little bit closer to Iseki, not wanting to freak the girl out. "If you still remember them, they aren't really destroyed.. they are still alive in you." Chi offered the soft reassuring smile again.

"No, Taisho. You are a liar." Iseki said with a hint of resentment in her voice. "I cannot be with them anymore. They are gone forever." The underweight, malnourished neko made no effort to scoot away, though.

"Hisô Iseki.. there is an old saying that says that you are only truly dead when you are no longer remembered. But so long as someone can remember your name, you are still alive. Do you want to forget the GD 37?" Chi's voice was soft, patient and loving, she knew how Iseki felt but there had to be some hope in Iseki's heart that her ship wasn't truly dead and forgotten. If Iseki truly felt that way, then the ship and crew were truly dead. Chi wanted to hug the Neko, but she didn't want to scare the girl by making contact.

Iseki's fragile-looking fingers groped at Chiharu's pants button. "I'll do it, alright!" she glared at Chi, tugging her zipper open. Poor Iseki was trying to appease Chi in the only way she knew how. Moving her forehead to rest on Chi's waist, she said "I don't know. It seems so long ago."

Chi pulled Iseki up and away from her pants. "No Iseki, no Iseki! That's not what I want from you." Chi was shocked by the girl's actions and she lovingly hugged the Neko. "You don't have to ever do that to anyone ever again unless you really want to."

"But...I thought that's how one makes men happy?" Iseki said confusedly, "They would be angry and beat me if I didn't."

"No one is going to beat you here." Chi continued to hold the girl, gently rubbing her back. "Not all men are like that Iseki. I'm not like that, no matter what I may look like." Chi wanted to cry but, she couldn't cry, she had to try to comfort Iseki that she wasn't going to hurt her.

"If it makes you happy, I want to, Taisho. I don't want you to be angry and beat me. You don't like it? I am sorry for displeasing you!!" Iseki quickly said, her face resting against Chi's chest. "I will be a good girl. A good little girl for you, just like I should be."

"I will never beat you Iseki. Shhh.. it's ok, you are a good girl." Chi continued to hug the poor little Neko, gently rubbing her back, Jehenniel did a number on her. "What would make me happy is for you to be happy Iseki. But first we have to escape before the Angels come after us again. We're almost to the refueling station and we'll have to stay close together.. I can only protect you if you are with me ok?" Chi continued to speak softly to Iseki, she felt more like a mother now than she ever had in her life. "You'll be ok, not one will hurt you without getting through me first. I will protect you with my life, Aijou-chan." (beloved daughter)

"Yes, Chi-sama. I will stay with you, but I will not let you die before I do. You are valuable. I am just a plaything." Iseki responded, "But how can I be a good girl when you don't even want to..." she pointed at Chi, below the belt. "I am unworthy...?"

"You are not a plaything." Her voice was forceful for a moment before it returned it the soft tone it had been before. "It's not that you are unworthy or bad, Iseki-chan, I will not take advantange of you. And it's the last thing I want from you." She hugged Iseki again before standing up and rezipping her pants. "Iseki, you are not a plaything to me, you are Taii Hisô Iseki, Pilot of the GD 37. The sole survivor of that ship who has to live on for the memory of those who have been lost to the passage of war and time." Chi smiled at Iseki again and gently knelt down again, gently lifting Iseki's face up and softly kissing her on the forehead.

"My name is Taii Hisô Iseki." Iseki repeated. "GD-37...Thank you for your kiss, Chiharu-sama. I will try to be worth it. But I am a mere....space station!" Iseki pointed to the window ahead, eyes widening. The shuttle was about to hit a giant orbital base!

"Ack!" Chi ran back to the pilot's chair, deactivating the suto-pilot and trying to steer the damn thing to avoid an impact. "Well, at least we know we're here." Despite herself Chi smiled again.

Iseki tried to get to her seat but Chi was closer and sat there first. The G-forces that the shuttle experienced as Chi pulled back threw her against the floor and rear of the shuttle. "Ooomph!" she let out. The shuttle barely messed the armor station, gliding over what appeared to be a communications array of some sort. There was some chatter coming over the radio in Seraphim.

Chi winced a bit and tried to ignore the radio. And tried to steer the ship towards what might be an available landing dock.. this would be nice if she spoke Seraphim. She inwardly cursed for never learning the language and wished Aya were here to help.

The woman on the radio began fractically shouting in seraphim, and then made what sounded like a warning. Iseki crawled up into the other seat. "She says we are too close and says identify ourselves."

"you know Seraphim." Chi smiled again, what luck! She send Iseki and quick telepathic message just in case the Seraph heard her somehow. ~Please apologise for us and give her a false id. Anything that might sound good, remember I'm a human male and you are a human female and we're not GSA.~

"I am...transport shuttle...from cargo ship, coming for to obtain food" Iseki replied to the traffic controller in fractured seraphim. "Let dock, please." She looked to Chi with eyes of both hope and fear.

Chi smiled at Iseki, that'd work, whatever it was that Iseki said. She kept an eye out for anything that they might crash into, like say the station or another ship.

After a few seconds, the starfighter that had been tailing them broke away and a reply came. Iseki hugged Chi and excitedly told her "She said bay S113! We can go on the station!"

Chi grinned a bit and let out a sigh of relief as she quickly returned Iseki's hug. "Great, let's get docked then!" She steered the ship towards the bay marked S113.

As the angel starfighter passed them, Iseki a sinking feeling. "What if they notice I said Nepleslian frieghter but this is an angel shuttle? Why was the fighter following us? Do you think they will have seraphs waiting for us inside??" she asked, sounding almost panicked.

Chi shrugged, "Well, we did almost crash into the station. We'll just get aboard the station and try to keep a low profile Iseki. Remember, they're not looking for 2 humans. If worse comes to worse.. we're going to fight our way out of this."

The shuttle, thankfully entered the small shuttlebay uneventfully, and there was no welcome party, armed or otherwise.

Chi parked the shuttle as best she could before she deactivated all the systems aboard, now the question was to destroy the shuttle or not. She thought better of it as she stood up again. "Ok, Iseki let's find ourselves a new ride."

"Yokai!" Iseki hopped up and opened the rear door.

Chi readjusted her pants again before she followed Iseki out the door. She looked from side to side again, just checking for any sign of a possible incident.

Iseki spotted an old painted sign that read "To civilian area." or something to that nature. "I think we should go this way." she said to Chi, pointing down a hallway. The interior of the station was a dingy gray version of the architerure found in the angel ship. It was very dusty, like the walls were covered in space soot.

"Ok, we'll go that way. Stay close Iseki." Chi walked down the indicated hallway, trying to keep close to Iseki. She figured that people were less likely to mess with Iseki as long as they saw a man very close to her.

They went through a series of doors, until finally arriving in a central section. There were scattered groups of humans, angels, and various aliens here, going about their business. To the left was what appeared to be an electronics parts shop, and to the right, a bakery.

Chi looked around the station in wonderment, protectively taking Iseki's hand when she sw the angels walking about. She quietly spoke to Iseki, "Ok, now the hard part.. finding ourselves a ride.."

The crowd had a large variety of species and cultures. A neko in a one-piece swimsuit even walked by the two, with a pair of angels flanking her, as if they were her personal hoodlums. Stopping behind Chi and Iseki, the trio turned around and the neko took Iseki's soulder in hand, making the recently-freed neko jump a bit in alarm. "Eeep!"

Chi pulled Iseki close to her now as she spun about to face the Neko and the pair of angels. "Excuse me Miss, but keep your hands off her." Her voice was forceful and protective now, the softness gone. She straightened up as she eyed the angel wearily, because damn it, she promised to protect Iseki. The neko would be just a big a problem but she wasn't sure what the Neko's alligences were.

"You're new here." the mystery neko grinned, digging her hand and finger into Iseki, underneath her makeshift dress, not seeming to listen. "You'd better watch yourself, human." the neko warned Chi. "How much is this girl? She's got a beautiful face. It reminds me of home."

"This girl is NOT for sale, Geshrin." Chi kept Iseki close as she backed away from the Neko, her eyes narrowing.

Iseki cried out in shock as the unknown neko violated her for no apparent reason, and then in pain as Chi pulled her away. "Who are you calling Geshin?" the neko said, pulling out some sort of machine pistol and shoving it against Chi's lower lip.

The two angels, also armed, moved in on either side of Chi, Keeping their wings spread to conceal what was going on from passerbys

"So you're not a Neko from Geshrintall?" Chi inwardly laughed, it figured as much that it would be a Neko to make her life hell. Chi quickly assessed the situation, 3 armed combatants, against her and Iseki, and both were unarmed at the moment. "Nice bodyguards." She finally decided to take a look at the Neko's eyes, maybe that would let her know what was going on.

"I lived on a Ki-D1 destroyer. We never even got close to Geshrintall. What's it to you, asshole. Why don't you and stop pimping here, because I own all the girls on this block, mister geshrin tough guy."

The neko's eyes were solid blue, and her hair was regular solid green. Probably an older model NH-7.

"This girl is NOT for sale. She is my damn sister and I'm trying to get her back home relatively unmolested." Chi narrowed her eyes, she had to run into a damn pimp of all things. But the girl was a spacey, with apparently no loyalities to the GSA. "Besides, she's already got an owner, Mistress Taisho Kitsurugi Yui." Chi let the name slide, knowing Yui would forgive her at some point. Chi still held Iseki close to her, hoping that Yui's name would ring some bells in this Neko's mind.

"Yui's girls dress in gray kimonos." the neko pimp scathingly shot back, bashing Chi's credibility. "Why are you so afraid to admit she's your hump pillow? Get off my street before my girls..." she pointed to the two female angels on either side of her "...have to help you."

"Not a problem." Chi simply took Iseki and moved quickly down the street, getting the hell away from the Neko and her Angels. Thank the Emperor, she just got pissed. She'd have to make a note to talk to Yui whenever she got home to figure out if that was true. Now to find a way off this damn station.

Iseki quietly looked down, her purple hair hanging in her eyes. "It's my fault. I should have found a way to make the dress look better." she apologized.

"It's not you're fault Iseki, we didn't think we'd encounter a Neko. Are you ok?" Chi quietly spoke as she tried to figure out where she might find a damn transport off this station back to the Yui. Her eyes darted about the station looking for anyone that gave off the vibe: transport, she still kept Iseki close to her.

A scruffy-looking man in a leather jacket bumped into Iseki as he made his way into a nearby building, stepping into a sleazy-looking bar. The jacket had a number of patches sewn into it, including some that appeared to be squadron logos and military symbols. Iseki whispered, "That man grabbed my bum." to Chi, pointing the man out as he went into the building.

Chi's lower lip twitched, well hell.. scruffy looking man, military things on his jacket and a sleazy bar.. All the wrong signs for Iseki's safety and all the right ones for a ride off this place. "From the looks of it Iseki, we're going to have a chat with that man.." Chi followed the man into the bar, still keeping Iseki as close to her as she could. "This might get a bit messy Iseki.."

"Yes, mistress." Iseki nodded, pressing herself against Chi's side as the two entered the crowded bar. It was smoky inside, with the air carrying a few burning herbs and incense. At a table in the corner, the guy in the jacket was sitting down on the booth seats, pouring a tall glass of some sort of teal-colored beverage.

Chi pushed her way towards the man in the jacket, pulling Iseki along with her. "Hey mister, I wanna talk to you!" She made a mental note to hemosynth Iseki some pants at some point..

"Huh?" the man looked at Chi in surprise, fumbling under the table for something in his carrybag. "Who are you and what do you want?" he demanded in a gravelly voice. He looked about 40 or 50 years old.

Chi took a seat across from the man, letting Iseki sit near the wall. "Are you a pilot by any chance, sir?" Chi kept one arm around Iseki and the other on the table in front of her. "Please, don't do that." She soothed, as she dropped her voice so that only Iseki and the old man could hear, "I don't mean you any harm, I just need to know how the hell I can get off this station."

"Well, I suppose you could call me that." the man said, eyeing the pair with suspicion.

Chi smiled warily, knowing the man most likely had his gun pointed at her gut with his finger on the trigger this very moment. "From your jacket I take it you're a former military man?" She raised her voice again, trying to make it sound a bit more friendly than covert.

"Yeah, I was engineer on an ASF-57. Ship got decommisioned, so I took it with me when I went into retirement. Not authorized, but whatever. I've restored her to pretty good condition." the man said, running his wrinkled, calloused hands on his week-old bearded chin.

Chi smiled, again, he was an ally of the GSA... well.. sort of? "How does she run? I've only heard stories about how only the best can pilot the ASF-57s."

"Aww, shucks, kiddo." the man smiled to Chi. "She runs like a champ. Real something to be proud of." It brought a tear to the gray-haired man's eye. Iseki watched intently from the side, letting Chi do the talking, shivering violently for some reason...

"Is there anyway you could.. "Chi smiled again, trying to remember how long it has been since she flew an ASF-57 Dn Minicruiser.. and then she noticed Iseki was shivering. "Hey, are you ok Sweetie? What's wrong?"

"I feel sick." Iseki said quietly. She certainly didn't look so well, either. The old engineer put the back of his hand on her forehead for a moment and then said, "She's too hot." Iseki murmured, "I am not....feeling well." again. "There are so many."''

"Sir, is there anyplace safe to have her lie down at? We're stuck between a rock and a hard place.." Chi hugged Iseki worriedly, understanding why she was panicking, "You'll be ok Sweetie, I promise... we'll find someplace for you to lie down?" Chi looked pleadingly towards the old pilot for help.

"Uh..." the older guy scratched his head. He himself was homeless. "Well, my ship, I guess."

"Thank you so much sir!" Chi gently swept Iseki up into her arms after shaking the man's hand in gratitude, "I don't know what we would've done..." Chi looked down at Iseki, "We're going to get you a place to lie down.. you'll be all right..."

The man got up from the table and led them out of the bar and through a twisting maze of streets and corridors, finally coming to an armored airlock door. He then enter a code on the control panel and stepped inside of the airlock as it opened, gesturing for them to follow.

Chi silently carried Iseki as she followed the man into the airlock, in some strange way, this was all working out. She was glad that something out there had taken pity on them. "Thank you, thank you so much, sir."

The door behind them shut and then the one in front of them opened after a few seconds, revealing a narrow two-foot-wide catwalk ran out to the top of the docked DN Minicruiser. On either side of the catwalk, there was a thirty-foot drop to the bottom of the bay, an air containment forcefield. The man walked confidently across the small bridge and opened the roof panel to the center section of the ship, sliding into the pilot's pit. There wasn't a lot of room on the ship. In fact, the man had to open a metal grating behind his seat in order to open the shaft to the small cargo area.

"PowerSystemOnline DefensiveSystemsReady DefensiveWeaponsReady ComputerSystemReady PropulsionSystemsReady HeavyWeaponsSystemsCharging ALL SYSTEMS READY" the computer speed-talked as the ship booted up. There was a sound of charging systems and running engines and ventilation. The spherical reactor, visible through an opening behind the shaft to the cargo area, began to glow and hum. "You girls can either lay on the main deck, up top in the loft, or you could sit in the cargo area."

Chi smiled softly, "Thank you Mister. How'd you guess I was really a woman?" She carried Iseki into the cargo area and gently set her down on the floor. "Iseki, how are you holding up?"

"Huh?" the man seemed taken aback at first, then realized he'd said girls instead of guys. "It was a mistake. You're a woman??"

Iseki moaned, "Uunnh. I feel so horrible inside. I've never seen so many men before. It makes me sick."'

Chi laughed a bit, too late now. "Oops. Anyways, how do you feel about the Angels and the GSA?" She looked down at Iseki again, "But you're ok right? No one tried to beat you.. except that one pimp lady.. but we got you away from her right?"

"I try not to take sides." The man frowned, looking down at Chi and Iseki in the dark cargo area from the loft section above. "I can't say I like either."

"No sides is better than nothing right now. We're just running out of time. I don't know how long it'll take the Angels to realise that we've come to this station. I'm sorry to have involved you but we're really in a rock and a hard place. Is there any chance we could get a ride back to my ship, the GSS Yui?" Chi's features slowly changed back to her normal form, although her clothes didn't change any. She smiled as her body became familiar again. "I am Taisho Ketsurui Chiharu, commanding officer of the GSS Yui and fleet commander of the GSA 2nd fleet. And this is Taii Hiso Iseki." Chi offered Iseki a soft smile again, "This man won't hurt you Iseki. He's not a bad man like Jehenniel."

The man looked at them in disgust, angry that they had tricked him with their disguises, trying to take advantage of him for a ride. He had spent a long time trying to get away from the GSA and the wars and the politics, and now these two girls wanted to try and drag him right back into it. "Get off my ship." he growled. "Now."

"We just need to get as far away from here and then you can just drop us off wherever and then, we'll be out of your life forever." Chi looked down at Iseki. "Please sir, the only reason why this girl is this sick is because for the past few months she's been held captive aboard and angel ship and been repeatedly violated by the captain of the ship. She can't be around men for too long or else she just shuts her mind down. I won't have even asked you if you hadn't grabbed Iseki's butt on your way into that bar."

"Look, you damn mass-produced weapon. Your war and your Star Army aren't my concern anymore. You expect me to risk my life and my ship to ferry you back to your ship? Hell no! Especially not without anything in return." the man scowled.

"What would you like then Sir? We could arrange to give you something in return. The War doesn't have to be your concern, nor does the GSA but, as far as the Angels know, we are still on that shuttle in the S113 bay. And if anyone say you leading us back here, you are already involved. And the Angels may retalliate no matter how much deeper you get involved. You don't even need to take us as far as the Yui, you could just ditch us in another sector of space in an escape pod or something, and from there we could just try to hail the Yui for a pick up!" She looked down at Iseki, hoping she was going to be okay now before she looked back up at the pilot.

"Sir," Iseki bravely addressed the reluctant pilot, "I will do whatever you want if you will help Chiharu. You can keep me as your own."
kirageshadow: Chi's eyes widened at the Taii, "Iseki.." She just didn't know what to say, to Iseki. How can you tell someone to not offer their life up for you?

"Anything?" the man asked, blinking in surprise. "You mean you're making yourself my slave?" He rubbed his chin and considered, looking from Chi to Iseki. "Wow...That would ceratinly make the trip worthwhile." He considered using her as an assistant for working on the ship. "Okay, deal. Where do you want to go?""

Chi frowned at this.. it was Iseki's right to do so. "I can give you the last known coordinates we had for the GSS Yui. Our ship had just finished repairs when I was captured." Chi hugged Iseki quietly speaking telepathically into the girl's mind, ~I wish you hadn't done that for me but thank you. I think he'll be nice to you.~ Chi said the coordinates aloud as she remembered them. This was a start of getting back home, again it didn't go as she had planned..

"Alright. But how am I supposed to find the ship? The Yui-class is one of those newfangled stealth types, isn't it? I think I read about it in a magazine." The aged veteran asked. Meanwhile Iseki could only cry pitifully into Chiharu's bosom. She only hoped Chi would be happier than she was.

Chi hugged Iseki to her and rubbed the girl's back. ~I'm sorry that's I'm not happier Iseki, you're a good girl and I like you a lot.~ She kissed the girl's forehead again, before addressing the pilot again, "Luck, but I think if we can try to hail the Yui, we might be able to get it's location from there."

"Okay." the man said, and then closed the metal grating above them, and the roof panel, leaving the two nekos alone in the dark cargo hold (which was about the same size as a small shuttle interior). Strapping himself in, he then maneuvered the ship out of the docking bay and into space, headed in the direction of the GSS Yui.