Ruri Hoshino looked around the bridge and watched the
silent yet important battle that was raging between all of them.
If this ship was a military ship, like the rest of the space
vessels that had been constructed over the years, everyone would
know that command rested on the shoulders of the Captain, the man
or woman standing and overlooking the bridge area with an air of
confidence that simply wouldn't be able to be contended with.  It
would be a fact, and orders would flow like water to each of the
lower stations unhindered.

 But the Nadesico wasn't a military vessel, and in all
honesty, it was questionable that command rested in any one place
at all in the ship.  It would dutifully float around at will, and
hopefully show up in the right place when it was necessary.  Just
by looking at the way the crew was standing, Ruri could tell that
each of them was hoping that command would fall to them next.

 Carrying the title of Captain, wearing the formal garb of
one, and standing exactly where a captain should, Yurika Misumaru
held the most convincing stance.  She knew it was her duty to
carry out the mission given to her by her superiors and she wanted
to make sure everyone else knew it as well ... or had generally
good idea of it.

 Standing beside her, and perhaps displaying an even greater
air of superiority and control, was Dr. Sylia Stingray, the
Nadesico's project leader.  She didn't have a title that gave her
command, or even the dress or experience, but she had the
knowledge.  Having been an integral part of almost every aspect of
Nadesico's creation, she believed she was the only one truly
qualified to stand at the head of the ship and any time Yurika
tried to stand before her, she did her best to push her aside.

 The young, purple haired communications officer turned to
the two battling giants and, with a hand to the side of her
headset, reported.  "The Tower has cleared us to begin the jump.
Admiral Kimura of the Twilight says that all ships have been
cleared of the area up to the designated safety zone."

 Yurika began, "Tell Genom we're going to start the jump--"

 "--and begin charging the Jump engines," finished Sylia.

 The battle continues.

 "I know how the procedure goes, Doctor," said Yurika,
glaring at the woman impeding on her command.

 "I'm just making sure you don't carelessly forget anything
and blow us all up or send us careening into deep space,"
responded Sylia.  She pushed a small strand of hair out of her
face and began writing something into her electronic notebook.

 Yurika fumed silently and tried to regain her posture.
"Megumi, contact the Gate and tell them we'll be entering in three
minutes."

 "Aye, captain," said the communications officer.

 The deck rumbled slightly as hundreds of small generators
sprung to life within the confines of the ship.  A low hum could
be heard in the distance.  Ruri placed her hands on the console in
front of her and did a quick diagnostic of the Boson Jump systems.

 "All systems nominal," she said.  "Jump coordinates set for
upper Martian  orbit.  Initiating Gate creation."

 The main viewscreen changed to show the area in front of
the ship where a large dark object began unfolding itself like a
large flower, revealing a circular portal emitting a dim, white
light.  The petals of the flower expanded until it was almost
twice as wide as the Nadesico, big enough to easily swallow the
ship whole.  Gradually, the ship moved closer as it's engines
slowly began pushing it towards the gaping vortex.

 A dark suited man stepped forward to stand beside Sylia,
his dark black hair slicked back and away from his brown beady
eyes.  "If this is successful, you might redeem your father of
that awful mess he left behind on Mars."

 Sylia raised an eyebrow.  "It WILL be successful, Mason.
I've simulated it dozens of times.  I've fixed what caused the
failure in my father's experiment, now nothing should go wrong."

 "For your sake, I hope nothing does," hissed Mason before
slithering back to his place on the bridge.

 "Thirty seconds until contact," reported Ruri.

 "Alert the crew to be at ready positions for the jump,"
said Yurika.  "Activate the distortion field."

 "Distortion field active."

 Yurika turned to Sylia and forced herself to smile.  "Cross
your fingers, Doctor."

 "I hardly believe that will help things, in any case,"
retorted Sylia.

 "Twenty-five seconds."

 The helmswoman turned to Megumi.  "Do you know what this'll
mean if it works?  Instantaneous travel to other planets!  We
could explore the stars."

 "Twenty seconds."

 Megumi nodded, "I wonder what kind of things and people
we'll find out there.  Do you think they'll all be friendly?"

 "Fifteen seconds."

 "Maybe they'll be all weird looking," giggled the
helmswoman.

 "Ten seconds."

 "Statistically speaking," said Mason.  "There probably
aren't any other intelligent cultures, or even habitable planets
anywhere near our area of space."

 "Five seconds."

 "Hmph, why even bother going if you're going to have that
attitude?"

 "Beginning jump..."

                            -VVVV-

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

                   Tempest Creations Presents...
        A Mobile Battleship Nadesico/Bubblegum Crisis Fusion

                      Song of the Interloper

                      By Adam Leigh & Kainsin

                Episode 1: Some Assembly Required

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

 The device looked rather simple, a Y-shaped piece of white
metal with a seam running lengthwise and a few vents in the back,
however it belied the true complexity of the mechanics involved.
Inside of the tiny shell was a series of gravity generators,
energy compensators, and crystal refractors all run by an exterior
computer via the thick cord that ran from it's underbelly to the
outlet in the wall.  The device was a work of pure science that
would have revolutionized space travel across the planets and
their proxies.

 That is, if Sylia Stingray could get the damned thing to
work right.  Actually, the device was a good ten years old by now,
but due to it's rather lethal problems, it has yet to make the
debut planned for it.  The thing was hardly simply, but Sylia was
still frustrated that she hadn't yet fully understood the design
of the device.  But since it was a legacy bequeathed to her years
ago, she felt obligated to complete it.

 None of that, of course, helped the fact that the device
has the tendency to annihilate everything close to it before
destroying itself in the process.  Before anyone changed the
world, these few problems needed to be fixed, which meant small
changes and lots of simulations.  However, at eight thirty at
night and after nearly a hundred tests today alone, Sylia was
ready to abandon the whole thing then watch the device charge up
and vaporize.

 And yet, giving up meant not only abandoning the project,
but also destroying the memory of her father, Katsuhito, who
originally designed and tested the Boson jump engine.  Nearly
eleven years had passed since he built the Endeavor, and it's been
nearly eleven long years since the ship lifted off the Martian
surface and was enveloped in it's own gravity well and crushed
into non-existence.  Nothing was recovered from the accident, not
even dust from the ship was recovered, not even a final word to
the two children he left behind, Sylia and her brother Mackie.

 It was the big scandal of the time.  The ship wasn't fully
tested, the systems not completely checked, and a whole crew was
assigned before even being put into space for the first time.
Genom couldn't let the public know such an oversight happened at
one of their scientific facilities, so stories were cooked up and
laid on thick to shift the focus of the accident away from the
truth of the matter: the engine failed and killed them all.

 Sylia was only twelve at the time, barely able to
understand why she couldn't say anything to the press or the
people she knew, barely able to comprehend why her father would
take such a stupid risk and leave her alone for the rest of her
life.  She couldn't understand, so she did the next best thing,
she hated him for it.  The hate lasted for several years, until
she found his plans, the original schematics for the engine left
behind when he left for the Endeavor that fateful morning.

 Maybe it was the years she stewed over it or maybe it was
because she was a much smarter girl than she was before, already
had completed public schooling at an accelerated rate and into her
final years of college with a double major in mechanical
engineering and quantum physics, but looking at the plans she
could almost see, in her minds eye, the engine working with dozens
of other systems, warping space, shifting the energies, *crossing
space*.  The zealous rush her father must have felt when he came
up with the idea flowed through her and she could understand why
the risks were taken, why he tried so hard to make it work.

 Years after leaving her in the cold, Sylia forgave her
father.  But she could see something that her father couldn't, she
saw the flaw, the one piece wrong in the puzzle that must have
lead to the accident.  She could fix it, she could succeed where
her father failed, and maybe, in the end, she could tell everyone,
even the press, that it was his plans that made it possible, right
the errors in history that labeled him as a fool and a malicious
murderer for filling a time bomb of a ship with a full crew.  It
would be vengeance, it would be right.

 But staring at the screen preparing the simulation, it was
easy to get a little disheartened.  Sylia tapped on the console
and primed the next set of tests.  These were the critical ones,
the ones where the device always seems to go awry and disappear.
She didn't really expect anything different, but she had to test
it anyway, there was always the remote possibility it would work.
There was also a remote possibility it would turn into a turnip
and walk away ... about even odds.

 "Sylia," came a voice from the darker depths of the lab,
most likely near the door.  "You in here?"

 Sylia activated the simulation and sighed, "I'm here
Priss."

 From the darkness emerged a woman with long brown hair and
eyes with a slightly reddish hue wearing a leather jacket and
tight red pants.  "I've been waiting in the other lab for a half
hour already.  Have you been in here the whole time?"

 Sylia glanced at the clock in the console.  "It's that time
already?  I guess I simply lost track of time.  Sorry about that."

 Priss shrugged.  "It's all right.  This that super space
engine thing again?"

 "Yes.  I'll just finish this simulation and I'll be right
with you."

 "No rush," said Priss with a wave of her hand.  "I think
Akito will be around shortly.  He's off work tonight."

 "I see," said Sylia with a smile.  "You two getting
closer?"

 Priss fumed, "We're NOT going out!  I just *live* with
him."

 Sylia raised an eyebrow.

 "Fine, don't believe me.  I've certainly explained it to
you enough times already."

 Sylia leaned back in her chair.  "I'll have to remember to
ask Akito--"

 With an audible pop, the simulation abruptly ended when the
computer no longer detected the presence of the engine device.
Sylia frowned and glance into the test chamber to visually confirm
that the engine was gone, then cursed under her breath as she shut
down the monitors.  "Another drive down the tubes," she said.

 "No luck, huh?"

 "Nope, another failure, let me just get the printout of the
data.  By the way, what do you think about the recent trials?"

 "Hm?  I'm not sure.  I know I'm flying the latest in
Aestivalis design, but it all seems sluggish.  I wish there was a
way to speed it up, make it more nimble, you know?"

 "Even with the IFS, reaction time is still limited to the
actuators in the suit, and I'm not entirely sure those CAN be sped
up."

 "Well, it's just my thoughts on it.  It'd be better if it
was less like a machine with a pilot and more like an
exoskeleton."

 Sylia removed the hard copy of the data and perused it.
"But durability is also a factor, the trade off the Aestivalis
offers ..." she trailed off.

 "What about it?" asked Priss.

 Sylia frowned, "This isn't right..."

 With a flash of light, the simulation chamber let out a
sharp noise and filled with smoke, seemingly coming from the
center of the room.  Within moments, the entire area was thick
with a fine gray powder.

 "What the hell was that?" said Priss.

 Sylia looked down at the panel and pressed the button for
the vents and fans.  Nearly simultaneously she heard footsteps
behind her.

 "Hey guys," said a man's voice.

 Priss turned to look at the person standing behind Sylia.
He stood about as tall as her with spiky black hair and eyes and
wearing a white shirt and black slacks.  She waved to the man.
"Yo, Akito."

 Akito smiled, "Hey.  What's going on?"

 "Sylia experiment just went boom."

 "Oh, business as usual, then."

 "I heard that," mused Sylia as she continued to tap
buttons.  The chamber before her cleared within a few moments,
uncovering the source of the commotion: a small, white, Y-shaped
object.  Sylia's eyes went wide.  "It came back!"

 Priss stepped forward and looked into the glass
compartment.  "Does that mean it worked?"

 "..."

 "Sylia?"

 "Why did it come back?" Sylia suddenly said with a serious
look on her face.  She immediately dove into the printed data
again.

 "Isn't it supposed to do that?" asked Priss.

 "I thought it was supposed to blow up," Akito said with a
grin.

 "I didn't change anything critical," replied Sylia in a
manic rush.  "Why did it work now?  Something else must have
changed the conditions of the experiment."

 Priss sighed, "I suppose we won't be getting to OUR
experiment tonight, hmm?"

 "Huh?  Oh, well, I'm sorry for calling you out tonight
Priss, but this needs my immediate attention.  You too, Akito, we
can do those tests tomorrow, right now I have to duplicate what
just happened so I can be sure it's really working."

 Akito looked at his watch.  "Well, I guess we should head
on home, right Priss?"

 "Suppose so," shrugged Priss as she straightened her
jacket.  "Um... good luck, Sylia."

 "..."

 Priss chuckled silently and walked with Akito towards the
door.  Sylia continued studying the data, oblivious to the two's
departure.

 Watching carefully in the dark, also oblivious to Sylia, a
dime-sized surveillance camera trained it's view on Sylia.  These
cameras were installed with the intent to prevent thief and
vandalism, but at Genom, nothing ever serves just ONE purpose.

***

 Chairman Masada Quincy leaned back in his cushioned chair
as he stared at the bank of monitors before his desk.  The screens
formed a sort of mosaic image that painted the current condition
of the Genom empire, a formally small business venture that turned
multi-planet kingpin.  These days there was little that Genom
didn't control in some manner, everything from the various food
industries, to the construction of the UN Spacey Fleet, nothing
escaped the maw of the super corporation's greedy grasp.

 Of course, it'd been this way for years now, long before
Quincy had risen to the all-encompassing title of Chairman.
Admittedly, the corporation had grown significantly in size since
his inauguration, but as far as reaching into new fields and
technologies, the advances had been few and far in between.  It
was almost ego crushing to look back and see a once evolving
corporation slide into a stagnant plateau.  But Quincy had plans,
or rather had plans since the beginning to make sure the planets
remember him, and the time to initiate them was approaching
rapidly.

 Quincy watched carefully the actions of Dr. Sylia Stingray,
the new color in the palette of Genom's mosaic.  She would take
the next step for him, start down the path that would lead to his
immorality in the annals of history.  To say he was anxious would
be an understatement, but to show it would be more than impossible
... it would be improper.

 A man stepped into view before the monitors.  He was a tall
man, wearing a pressed blue suit and tie with short, yet combed
back, hair and beady eyes.  He remained silent before the
chairman, the lord of his fragile world, until Quincy made a
motion of acknowledgment, only then did he feel it was suitable to
speak.

 "This is the recording of the event which took place last
night in Lab Terra-45-1193.  The woman, as I assume you recognize,
is Sylia Stingray, Dr. Stingray's daughter."

 "Yes," nodded Quincy.  "I remember Katsuhito's children."

 The man continued, "For the past five years, she has been
trying to pick up where her father left off, find the errors in
the experiment with the Endeavor and produce an engine actually
capable of what Dr. Stringray called a Boson Jump.'  Last night,
she succeeded."

 "I see," Quincy mused.  "Does she intend to go public with
this, Mason?"

 Mason grinned and dropped a thick packet of papers onto
Quincy's desk.  "Actually, she has something more familiar in
mind.  I received this report from her this morning."

 Quincy glanced at the title, "A Showcase Of Boson
Technology: Nadesico."

 "Like father, like daughter," said Mason.

 "Her father was a mess near the end," Quincy said with a
hint of scorn.  "The experiment was direct proof of his blunders.
I do NOT want a repeat of the Endeavor, Mason."

 "We're still not entirely sure what happened during that
test, sir," cautioned Mason.  "But this Nadesico proposal looks as
if it could really fly."

 Quincy stared at the bank of monitors and briefly wondered
when a color like this would fall into his hands again.  "I'll
leave this in your hands, Mason," he said after a moment or two of
silence.  "But make it clear to her that this will not be a
joyride with a new toy, the Nadesico will be a Genom project, with
all the provisions that go along with it.  Katsuhito got far too
many freedoms on his project, and I will not have another incident
to clean up after."

 Mason bowed slightly.  "I understand completely, sir."

***

 Sylia dragged herself through the door of her apartment and
threw her coat onto the rack in the foyer.  Sitting down on the
step, she slipped off her shoes and walked groggily into the
living room and laid down on the couch, tossing her briefcase onto
the nearby table.

 Sighing, she turned onto her back and rested her hand on
her forehead.  She'd been working on possible designs for her
Transpositional Engine all day and all night, only managing to
pull herself away from the lab out of sheer fatigue at six o'clock
in the morning.  She'd have to go back in a few short hours so she
had to get as much sleep now that she could or risk collapsing in
the lab today.

 The only problem was that she couldn't get the plans out of
her mind.  She was so close to a complete ship design
implementation for her Boson engine, everything else had been
designed and integrated with the Jump technology with one
exception: power.  To run a ship the size of her projected vessel
it required an enormous amount of electricity, even more so during
the actual Boson Jump.  The only thing she was able to find that
would even come close to the power needs was Transpositional
technology, and to even *test* that, you needed to be in zero-
gravity conditions.

 Still, even in her zero-g simulations, the engine wasn't
responding properly.  She nearly tore her hair out earlier this
morning when she found herself, again, running test after test
trying to fix a small problem in one of her designs.  It took
years of that to get the Boson engine to work right, would it take
just as long for this?

 Again, Sylia sighed and tried to clear her mind of the
day's, and night's, troubles.

 "Sylia?" came a soft voice from the door.  Sylia sat up and
looked towards the stairs to see a small girl in a set of light
green pajamas and long sky-bluish hair pulled to either side of
her head.

 "Ruri?  What are you doing up?" asked Sylia, slightly
frowning.

 "I heard someone down here," she replied.  "Also, I was
talking with Omoikane."

 "All night?  You shouldn't deprive yourself of sleep."

 "You shouldn't either."

 "Um," Sylia rubbed the back of her head.  "I'm different,
I'm already grown up, you need the sleep more than I do."

 "Omoikane says that all living beings require a set amount
of sleep to properly function."

 "You should listen to Omoikane, and get sleep yourself,
he's been programmed with the sum of the knowledge available to
Genom, after all.  I'll be going to sleep shortly."

 "Omoikane says you've been having problems with the
Transpositional Drive dynamics."

 "Yes, I have."  She smiled.  "It doesn't have any
suggestions, does it?"

 "Wasn't the Transpositional Drive part of Nautilus?"

 Sylia smile quickly faded and she shifted uncomfortably.
"Yes.  Yes, it was part of Nautilus."

 "You said that Nautilus was the worst project ever done by
Genom.  Why are you using one of it's products then?"

 Sylia sighed.  "There are a lot of things about Project
Nautilus that were really wrong.  Like the safety precautions on
the building equipment, and the way Dr. Nagumo thought he could
treat people..."

 "And me."

 "You weren't something that was wrong with Nautilus,"
explained Sylia.  "What was wrong was the way they treated you,
Ruri.  They tried to grow' you, like a cash crop, and the thought
that because of the way you were conceived, you weren't a real
person, just a tool for their machine.  They were wrong, Ruri, not
you."

 "But," continued Sylia, "there were a few good things that
came out of the project.  Like Omoikane.  If it wasn't for
Nautilus, Omoikane would never have been created and who would you
talk to all the time?  Another good thing was Transpositional
Technology.  Without that there couldn't be as fast travel between
Earth and Mars as there is today."

 Sylia tried to read the expression on Ruri's face only to
come up blank.  Ruri was not prone to showing her emotions to any
degree, a side effect to her rather cold upbringing, so telling if
what Sylia said was bothering her was nearly impossible.  Finally,
she resorted to the ages old technique of finding out what someone
is thinking.  "Do you understand, Ruri?"

 "Yes."

 "Oh," said Sylia.  Awkwardly, she glanced around the room
wondering exactly where she lost control of a conversation that
consisted of her saying everything and Ruri saying one or two
words ever few minutes of so.

 The feeling was broken with the ringing of the phone.
Sylia moved to the side of the couch and depressed a small pad on
the endtable.  A small window appeared before Sylia showing the
face of Brian J. Mason, the head of the Genom branch that Sylia
worked at.

 file://Dr. Stingray,// said the man.

 "What is it, Mr. Mason?"

 file://I'm to inform you of the decision regarding your
proposal, this project you've called ... Nadesico.'//

 "Yes?"

 file://According to the guidelines and regulations outlined in
Genom Corporate Project database, you've been granted permission
to execute your proposal.  The appropriate resources have been
delegated to you and your personnel.//

 Sylia blinked.  "I ... thank you."

 file://Your estimate tells us that it should take fourteen
months to assemble the ship.  In the meantime, you will be
responsible for choosing half of the crew, mainly those involved
in the science, mechanical, research and communications, while
Genom reserves the right choose the other half of the crew, namely
command, security, medical, and pilots.//

 "Pilots?"

 file://I told you, Dr. Stingray, this shall be a Genom project.
It will be more than just a test for your Boson engine, that will
be just one of the many things you'll be testing for Genom onboard
your ship.  Oh, in addition to the crew, I shall be accompanying
any flights off of Earth as the Genom attachZ.  None of these
provisions can be disputed, take it or leave it, Doctor.//

 "I'll take it," said Sylia, confidently.

 file://Very good, Doctor.  I shall be in contact with you this
afternoon.//  The screen went blank then faded away.  Sylia
however, continued staring at the space for several seconds
afterwards.

 "Congratulations," Ruri's monotone voice pervaded Sylia's
shocked state.

 "I'm not sure you'll continue that bravado in the future,"
started Sylia.  "Ruri, the only computer that's capable of
operating the Transpositional Engines with any degree of
efficiency is Omoikane.  I'm going to need to transplant it into
Nadesico, once it's built, that is."

 "I see," said Ruri. "Then you should take me with you as
well."

 "Ruri?"

 "If you want Omoikane to do anything you want him to do,
you'll need me to tell him.  No one else has the capability of
interfacing with him.  In short, you need me."

 "Are you sure you want that, Ruri?" asked Sylia,
cautiously.  "Back into a Genom project after what the last one
did to you?"

 "I'm sure you won't let anything happen to me, Sylia.  I
trust you."

 "You trust ... Well, then, I won't let you down, I
promise."

 "Okay."

***

One Year Later...

***

 *whoosh*

 "Good morning, Doctor."

 Sylia looked up from the various papers scattered across
her table to gaze into the eyes of the man who'd just entered her
ready room.  Or rather, she would have looked into his eyes if she
could see them through the shadows, but unfortunately, until main
power was activated, this room, like so many on the Nadesico, was
mostly dark, being lit by auxiliary lights only.  She imagined
that there were eyes below the large, white, furry eyebrows,
that's color matched almost perfectly the short brimmed hat and
uniform the man was wearing.  The aged man did hold quite a bit of
colored metal along the left breast of his uniform, mostly in the
form of military decoration, but it was hardly enough to balance
the shocking white of the Admiral's uniform.

 "Admiral Fukube," said Sylia with a smile, admittedly
mocked.  "How unusual to see you here, in our classified facility
on our top secret prototype starship that we have gone through
great lengths not to tell anyone about.  What brings you here?"

 The Admiral nodded his head slightly and shuffled close
enough to Sylia's desk to sit in the chair before it.  "A bit of
worry, a bit of fright."

 "Nice to see the Genom way is still imbued into you."

 "I'm an honorable man these days, Doctor," said Fukube with
an almost wistful look.  "Years in UN Spacey tend to do that to a
man.  As you know I have done my best to keep relations between
the UN and Genom at a relative neutral stance as a bit of thanks
to the company that got me into the fleet.  I preach the good
sides of the corp. while ignoring the sometimes shadowy appearance
you tend to take up."

 "Somehow, I don't like where this is going," said Sylia
with a raised brow.

 "Well, imagine how I felt when I saw these."  He tossed a
manila folder onto the desk that spewed out satellite photographs.
Sylia flipped through them.  They were basically showing the
supply trucks that were delivering to the facility over the past
year.  Genom had gone to great lengths to hide what was going on,
sometimes going as far as to ship EPS chips buried in barrels of
coffee grinds, but sometimes, it was hard to hide what was going
into the miles long tunnels into the underground facility.  The
pictures she was looking at were of some of the larger pieces of
equipment that were nearly impossible to make inconspicuous.

 "What's this supposed to mean, Admiral?" she asked, playing
dumb.

 "It means nothing to UN Spacey right now," started Fukube.

 "Ahh," nodded Sylia, understandably.  "Blackmail."

 "What a dirty word, Doctor, I intend to do no such thing.
I told you already, I'm an honorable man now."

 "It's the 'now' part that's bothering me."

 Fukube ignored the comment.  "I'm still looking out for
Genom's best interests in this matter.  Now, I know what's going
on here, I figured it out myself based on my knowledge of the way
things work at the corp., however, I don't imagine things will say
secret much longer."

 "How lucky for us, since we're launching in two days," said
Sylia.

 "An even greater reason you need me.  What I'm trying to
imbue upon you is that it doesn't matter, when UN Spacey finds out
about your little ship here they will be upset, and they will be
angry, and they will try to stop you.  As far as they'll know, you
built a ship with advanced weaponry and could be planning to take
out any one of the united countries or the Lunar or Martian
colonies.  To say they'll use force is an understatement."

 "And somehow you can keep this from happening?"

 "If UN Spacey knew that a representative was aboard the
ship to make sure it complies with regulations and to report any
difficulties to them they might be willing to simply stand aside
and watch."

 "A representative?" questioned Sylia.

 "Me," said the Admiral.  "It would ease some of the fearful
elements of the UN Spacey, especially those who are aware of past
Genom failures.  Everyone knows what happened to your father,
after all"

 Do they really?  "While this will be the ship's maiden
voyage, all critical systems have been tested time after time.
I'm positive they'll be no repeat of what happened to my father."

 "With the weapons aboard this ship, we can't be too
cautious."

 "And how do you know about the weapon systems on this
ship?"  Sylia frowned.

 "I got the specifications from the Chairman, if
indirectly."

 Sylia slowly nodded her head in complete comprehension.
There were levels above this that were obscured even to her.  "I
see.  Very well, Admiral, you can accompany Nadesico during it's
launch and subsequent flight to Mars.  We will prove to you we did
not come out here to wage war.  You'll have a short time to
prepare however, I'm gathering my crew tomorrow for our launch in
two days."

 "Ahh," said Fukube as he pulled a notebook out from his
pocket and opened it.  "Your crew ... I wanted to discuss that
with you as well."

 "You got those specifications too, I see," mused Sylia, now
very annoyed.  "The crew assignments were carefully decided upon
between myself and lead Genom project coordinator Brian Mason.
They were chosen because they appeared to be the best non-military
personnel at the positions we wanted them to be in.  I believe
they should be given a chance before we pass judgment on them,
don't you agree, Admiral?"

 "It's not specifically that, Doctor, it's just ... well,
they're all a bit--"

 "Eccentric?"

 "Uh, to say the least..."

***

 "Uh, ex-excuse me, sir?"

 The tall figure standing by the far end of the Sunglass Hut
kiosk looked up at the young clerk wearing a pair of wrap around
reflective shades.  "What is it?" he responded.

 "Are you going to buy any of the glasses, sir, or are you
just going to try them each on and look into the mirror all
afternoon?"

 "What you implying, kid?" said the man, eyeing the clerk
oddly.

 "Um, that you'll do the same thing that you did yesterday?"
he offered.

 "Choosing the right pair of glasses is an art, it can't be
rushed or you'll end up with the wrong look."

 "Why don't you wear the pair you already have," the clerk
said, pointing at the pair of large lens, silver reflective
sunglasses hanging off of the man's uniform.  "The rest of the
security guards here do."

 "These?  They're too generic.  I need something better."

 "It's just that, I think you're scaring some of the other
customers, sir."

 The guard raised an eyebrow behind the glasses, then pulled
them off and hung them in their place.  "Very well, I'll move
along," he said before stepping away from the kiosk.  He hadn't
gotten three steps away before he heard his name called from
behind him.

 "Leon McNichol?"

 Leon turned on his foot to gaze at the woman who'd spoken
to him.  She was a little shorter than he was, with short, dark
hair, wearing a two piece dress that showed just a modest amount
of skin, and a pair of visor-like sunglasses.  She had her one of
her arms on her hip while the other hung at her side holding a
clipboard.  Methodically, she raised the clipboard and gazed at
the top page.

 "Are you Leon McNichol?" she repeated.  "Former AD Police
detective?"

 Leon frowned.  "That's me, all right, and who might you be,
lovely?"

 The woman tilted her head at the guard's remark.  "My name
is Sylia Stingray, I work for the Genom Corporation."

 "Oh, Genom.  What is it that you want from me this time?
I'm not playing your game, not matter what you try to throw at me.
I'd rather continue to work at this godforsaken mall then betray
those who trusted me."

 Sylia's eyes widened, even though Leon couldn't see them
behind her shades.  Apparently, Genom had more interaction with
McNichol than she'd been informed of.  It was no matter, however,
those issues could be resolved later.  "I'm afraid there's a
misunderstanding, Mr. McNichol.  I'm not here to take anything
from you, I'm here to offer you something."

 "Offer me?  What does Genom want to give *me*?"

 "Please, walk with me, Mr. McNichol," said Sylia as she
started walking through the mall.

 Leon shrugged and followed.  "Okay, fess up.  You're not
here because of what happened, so what is it?"

 "I'm in charge of a project for Genom, McNichol, called
Nadesico.  It's a prototype space ship that's testing a new form
of space travel much faster than previous methods that will render
most locations in space only a few moments travel away.  I hope it
will be a stunning success, but only time will tell how the large
scale version will compare to the scaled model."

 "This is all very interesting, Genom, but why are you
telling me this?"

 "Because my ship needs a crew.  Usually, Genom's ships all
go to UN Spacy, who staff the vessels with military personnel.
However, since this will be a private Genom venture, we cannot
rely on the military and thus, must find a crew for the ship
ourselves.  This is where you come in, Mr. McNichol, there are
several key positions on the ship that require individuals who
have ... exceptional ability in certain fields.  I understand you
used to be a very good detective before your, shall we say,
unflattering departure from the department?"

 "I've heard it called worse things," shrugged Leon.
"Listen, Genom, could you cut to the chase.  What, exactly, do you
want me to do?"

 "Based on my review of your record and the recommendation
from one of our other chosen crew members, I want you to be Chief
of Security."

 "Chief of Security aboard a Genom test ship, my life long
desire."

 "The actual Genom presence on the ship is fairly limited,
myself, an attach�, and a few employees who were chosen to be in
other key positions.  Of course, I'm only offering it to you Mr.
McNichol, but it will give you a chance to do something a little
more important than a mall security guard, and it pays a great
deal more."

 "Listen, Genom"

 "Stingray.  Doctor if you prefer, but don't call me Genom."

 "Doctor Stingray, I'm sure you had nothing to do with my
current condition, you seem sincere enough, but frankly, I don't
like Genom, they took almost everything away from me that I cared
about, they got me removed from the AD Police, I went to jail.
Sure, what I do now is a pale shadow of what I used to do, but
it's better than giving up.  So, I'm afraid that my answer is no."
He turned away from Sylia.

 "Wait!  Leon!"

 He continued walking away but slowed a bit.  Sylia moved up
alongside him.  "I know how you must feel about all this, Leon.
When I was young, my father worked for Genom, doing pretty much
the same work that I'm doing now.  But one day there was an
accident, and he, along with a lot of other people, died.  Genom
didn't want to appear irresponsible so they covered up the
accident and made up some story about my father dying.  It made me
so angry that I couldn't tell anyone what really happened, how my
father was trying to help people through his experiments not hurt
anyone.  But eventually, I understood what happened.  If the truth
of the event was known, Genom might have lost it's customers, and
it might not have had the finances to fund MY experiments so that
I could further my father's work and show the world what he was
really trying to do."

 Sylia stepped in front of Leon.  "Maybe Genom has done
something to you in the past.  I don't know and I don't really
care, but I know that you're a good cop, and Ms. Romanova tells me
that what you were accused of wasn't your fault.  I'm willing to
forget that you were arrested and served time in prison and still
make you chief of security, can you forget what someone else in
the huge corporation of Genom has done to you and accept my
offer?"

 Leon sighed and rubbed the back of his head.  "Nene, huh?
She's one of your chosen crew members'?"

 "Ms. Romanova was the first to be chosen outside of Genom.
I'm going to pick her up after you, Leon.  Perhaps you would like
to come with me to get her."

 Leon rubbed his chin.  "Even if I was interested, Doctor
Stingray, I can't just get up and leave here without--"

 "I've already had someone take care of your employer.  If
you want to come, you just have to follow me."

 "You Genom types really know how to force someone into your
plans.  When's this ship taking off, anyway?"

 "Tomorrow."

 "TOMORROW?  And you're only telling me today?"

 "With the exception of Ms. Romanova, none of the crew is
getting advance notice.  We can't afford to have the knowledge of
Nadesico leak to the press.  While this isn't top secret, we would
like to keep the noise about it down."

 "Hm, in case of another accident' I suppose."

 "I have my reasons."

 "I'll bet," retorted Leon.  He shrugged and pulled his
glasses out of his pocket.  "This isn't much time to make a
decision, but, I think it might be in my best interests to join
you."

 "So you'll come?" asked Sylia.

 He put his sunglasses on and looked down at Sylia.  "Yeah,
I'll come."

***

 Nene grinned evilly as her fingers flew over the glowing,
flat surface keyboard before her.  Electronic walls that had stood
for years, fell before her hacking might allowing her to see the
myriad of additional walls behind them, guarding each of the
sensitive systems that only the privileged had previously been
able to see.  Now, however, after she was done, everyone would
know all about that data, the encrypted grail of the GenomNET.

 In a few minutes, Sylia, the woman Nene had, up until now,
only spoken to through layers of protective encryption and behind
numerous pseudonyms across the GenomNET, was going to show up and
bring her into the Genom family, after which, should would be
hacking her own company.  She only had these few minutes to check
out all that she could before she was no longer an outsider, but,
perish the thought, an employee.

 Of course, it wasn't as bad as it sounded.  She wasn't
really working directly for Genom, more like one of it's children.
The Nadesico project was simply Genom funded, so she didn't really
have to hold the shame of working for the enemy entirely, just in
a round about way.  But for now, it was just her, the computer,
and Genom's secret files.

 That's right, she was moments away from possessing the
character design drawings for the new Genkigengar Movie.

 "Hey Nene," came a voice from behind her.  "What'cha
doing?"

 "Nothing important," dismissed Nene.  "What's up with you,
Naoko?"

 "There's something weird going on with the chief."

 "Weird?" asked Nene, stopping her work for a moment.

 "Yeah, there's some woman in a dress in there talking with
him, and Leon."

 "Ahh, he decided to play after all," mused Nene, going back
to her hacking.  "It looks like I'm on my way out of here."

 "Out?" asked Naoko.  "What do you mean?"

 "I've been ... transferred, so to speak.  I've been asked
to work for Genom."

 "Genom?" asked Naoko.  "How long have you known? Why didn't
you tell me?"

 "Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't allowed to tell anyone before I
left."

 "You could have told me, I'm your friend!"  Naoko folded
her arms and turned away.

 "Naoko!  Don't be mad!  I couldn't tell you or I'd lose my
chance to do it!"

 "Why Genom, anyway?" asked Naoko.  "I thought you didn't
like them."

 "I'm more working for a project in Genom more than Genom
itself.  It's really not important, I just couldn't tell you."

 "Well, you'll stay in touch won't you?"

 Nene grimaced, "I'll try.  I'm not exactly sure how
accessible a phone will be in this project, but I'll try though."

 "Officer Romanova," a voice rung in Nene's earpiece.
"Please report to Chief Todo's office."

 She reached up and touched a small pad on the earpiece and
disconnected it from the computer.  "Time to go," she announced to
Naoko.  She wouldn't have enough time to get those drawings, but
she probably should have started earlier anyway.  "Naoko?"

 Naoko looked over her shoulder at Nene.  "Yes?"

 "Um, well, I guess this is goodbye," muttered Nene.

 Naoko raised an eyebrow skeptically, then broke and stepped
forward to give Nene a hug.  "Good luck," she said.

 "Thanks, Naoko," said Nene.  "I'll make sure to call you
and tell you everything the first chance I get."

 "You better, I'll be waiting."

 Nene smiled and looked to her computer, still running the
plethora of algorithms she'd written in the time she worked in the
AD Police.  In essence, it represented memories, the situations
that arose when she had to come up with defenses, things she
learned and taught.  It was a digital diary of sorts, and it was
all going to end today.  When she left, it would be formatted and
given to another officer.  Doubtless, they'd be inferior to Nene
in skill, but they'd come up with their own memories to put into
the machine.

 However, Nene would never know.

 With a flick of her wrist, the computer powered down.  With
an almost impossibly quiet sigh, Nene turned, and walked away.

***

 The sun beat down through the cloudless sky and reflected
off of the silvery shell of a lone plane in the air. Summertime,
thought the pilot, was especially hot in Houston and the new air
conditioning system that he had insisted on was working its
miracles as he soared through the sky at speeds that sound only
wished it could travel at. A blinking light on the control panel
told him that it was time to slow down so that his superiors could
nag him about one thing or another.

 file://Jiro, come in,// crackled a voice on the receiver as soon
as the sonic boom that was trailing the plane caught up.

 Jiro sighed and grabbed the mic. They always like to
interrupt when I'm having fun. "Gai here, how's it goin' babe?".
Oh well, I can still have a good time with the radio op.

 file://You should respond with 'How's it goin' *command*',// a
rather annoyed female voice said through the speaker.

 "Alright then, how about when I get back from my flight I
take command out to dinner?"

 file://I will not be going out to dinner with someone that keeps
anime pictures in his cockpit.//

 There are only a few things that can upset Jiro. One of
them happens to be making fun of the thing that he bases his
entire life around. "What? Are you trying to tell me that
Genkigengar is nothing but mere animation to you? Firstly it's
more than your average anime, secondly it teaches a very important
lesson about life, thirdly..."

 Jiro would usually continue to ramble on if it weren't for
the new electrical shocking system that command had decided to
install in the cockpit of all their experimental planes just for
this particular occasion. Thus his usual rants were replaced by a
short yelp and some twitches of pain.

 file://Jiro, listen. We actually have something very important
to tell you and we would all be extremely proud of you if you paid
attention.//

 "Urghhh," Jiro tried his best to tell them.

 file://Good. Now we have been informed by Genom, you remember
them right? Your employers? Anyways, we have been told that you
are to be transferred to a new project. Return to base and we will
explain the mission in further detail.//

 Jiro actually became saddened by this news, at least that's
what his voice sounded like when he talked to command. "What are
you talking about? You mean you actually want me to leave this
place? There are beautiful women here, as well as these awesome
jets, and did I mention beautiful women? What can this new mission
offer that I don't already have here?"

 Command was a bit hesitant responding to his question. They
didn't know exactly how he'd take it and they were afraid he might
do something that would cause harm to the multi-billion yen jet
that he was flying. file://Well, Jiro, on this mission you will be
piloting the new mecha Aestivalises.//

 Inside the command center the radio operator was awaiting
Jiro's reply, however none came and a still silence fell upon the
room. That is until it was broken by a short beeping from one of
the consoles.

 "Sir!" One of the men sitting at the console that was
gathering various data about the flight maneuvers  looked back to
the general that was in charge of the operation, "The plane's
gyroscope is feeding strange data and the altimeter is fluctuating
up and down at an extremely fast pace."

 The general looked at the man, "Can you get a visual of the
plane?"

 A viewscreen appeared in front of the general showing the
outside of the jet that Jiro was piloting. The rapid movements of
the plane seemed hard for someone to comprehend let alone actually
maneuver. However, the general was familiar with the term 'barrel
roll' and what its implications meant.

 He turned to the screen of his personal computer and spoke
to the figure that was present on it. "Mr. Mason, I think he
accepts."

***

 Megumi Reinard spent a lot of time being other people.
Currently, she was busy contemplating exactly how she should
articulate her final lines as Sakura Ina, the high school anime
character that had been voicing for a good number of weeks now.
The project, an anime movie based of the hit series "Love in the
Air", was coming to a close, which meant that she needed to
contact her agent to find out what offers she'd gotten so she
could choose the next person to become. She would have many to
choose from since she was, after all, a rather popular voice
actress.

 "And as long as love exists, our spirit will never fall,"
she spoke into the microphone as the movie's temporary ending song
started to play in her headphones.

 Megumi took off the headphones and looked up from her
script through the single window into the sound room. The director
smiled at her and gave her a thumbs-up, which meant that it was a
take and she was finally done.  Before she'd even picked up her
script, she'd shuffled Sakura Ina away, into the back of her mind
from which she probably would never again arise.  Such was the
life of these characters, which now needed to find life from their
fans, instead of through Megumi.

 Smiling at a job well done, she slid her script into her
hand and exited the sound studio.  Before she could make her way
entirely into the hallway, however, the director ran up and spoke
to her.

 "Hey Megumi!" he said.  "Great job!  It was a pleasure to
work with you again.  Some of the other actors can be such a pain
sometimes, but it's always a pleasure with you."

 "Thank you, Mr. Takai.  I hope we get to work together
again."

 "Oh, before I forget, some visitors stopped by to see you
about fifteen minutes ago. They said that they would wait for you
in the lobby."

 Megumi nodded, "Okay, thanks."

 The director continued to smile as he stepped aside.  "See
you at the party!" he yelled just before heading into the sound
room.

 Megumi sighed as she looked at her watch and saw that it
was already too late to call her agent since by how he would have
left his office.  She would just have to call him tomorrow.  She
rather suddenly felt beat as she shuffled towards the elevators.
The ending day of a project was always exhausting to her.  It
wasn't as if it was a particularly long or difficult series of
vocals, or even the knowledge that she'd have to move onto a new
movie and get used to new people and characters that would tire
her.  If anything, it had to be preparing herself to let go of who
she was for the past few weeks.  It felt like killing someone.

 Maybe for some of the other girls it wasn't quite as much
of an ordeal, but for Megumi it was a real painful experience.
Whenever she accepted a new role to play she would always try to
analyze the character closely, trying to figure out how the person
feels so she could better voice them.  As the days of acting
dragged into weeks, the character tended to grow within her, to
become almost alive, and it made her feel good.  It pleased her to
give a person life, to give them a voice in this world where they
would only normally have a name a short description in words.

 It made it very easy for her to act once she got to this
state in the project, but alternatively, it made it so much harder
for her to walk away in the end.  The last days were always like
slow deaths, and even if she loved the rest of it, she hated the
end.  She wasn't even sure if the rest was worth what the end did
to her.   And for a brief moment, she wondered if she was doing
the right thing with her life, if maybe there was a way to do what
she loved, without the feeling of stifling a soul.

 To say that the people waiting for her at the lobby were a
strange bunch would be an understatement.  Aside from the desk
attendant that always was in the lobby, they were the only other
people and they couldn't have looked more out of place.  One was a
women with short black hair, wrap-around visor sunglasses, and
wearing the latest style in female business clothes.  She looked
most like the people that usually came to see her, producers,
directors, and the like, maintaining a professional attitude while
trying to remain in style.  The other two, a man and a woman,
didn't belong at all, and as she realized exactly why, she became
nervous.  They both were part of law enforcement, but the girl,
and she *was* a girl, possibly no older than Megumi herself, was
wearing a somewhat business-casual suit with a long red sash from
which hung the symbol of the AD Police, and the man, who towered
above both women in height, was wearing a simple uniform and a
badge that identified him as some sort of security guard.

 Confused as to exactly what trouble she'd gotten herself
into that called together such a wide variety of people to see
her, she stepped up to the group and introduced herself.  Bowing
her head, she said, "Hi!  I'm Megumi Reinard, I was told you
wanted to see me about something?"

 The suited woman turned to her and with a smile, removed
her sunglasses to stare into Megumi's eyes.  "Good evening.  My
name is Sylia Stingray."  She motioned to the woman and man beside
her.  "This is Nene Romanova and Leon McNichol."

 The man nodded and muttered a greeting but the fiery haired
AD Police officer simply stared at Megumi with wide eyes and
holding her hands, curled up into balls, before her face.  "Wow!
You're really Megumi Reinard?" she exclaimed, startling the young
actress.  "You were so cool in 'Warrior Sensation Lai Lai'.  I
have every episode on datadisc!"

 Megumi smiled slightly as she took a step back from the
slowly advancing Nene, "Umm, thanks.  I really liked working on
that series myself."

 "Pleasantries aside," Sylia said with a stern look in
Nene's direction, "I need to talk to you, Ms. Reinard."  Nene got
a hurt look for a moment and ceased her advances but quickly
returned to her fan-worship mode while hiding behind Leon.  Sylia
looked back in Megumi's direction. "I'm a bit short on time, you
understand, so you'll forgive me if I skip right to the point.  I
work for the Genom Corporation, a large conglomerate that I'm sure
you're aware of.  Among the various household domestic supplies
and large scale industry machinery that Genom produces, they also
supply the United Nations Space Force with their ships.  As a
growing enterprise, we are constantly in the need for better and
more advanced technology to provide our consumers, but before we
can release anything to the public it must be tested.  You
understand?"

 "I suppose," Megumi offered.  She understood the basics of
the operation of a company, but was still unsure why this woman
had come to tell her this.  She assumed that getting to the point'
for this woman was a little more verbose than most.

 Sylia continued, "In order to meet the need for better,
more advanced ships, Genom has created a prototype ship called the
Nadesico, which will be launching shortly.  As her creator, I have
been given the task of finding a suitable crew for her maiden
voyage to Mars.  Among the positions I need to fill is the job of
Communications Officer for the bridge.  Since this person will be
the first voice that all ships will hear when coming in contact
with the Nadesico, I decided to choose someone with a strong vocal
talent, and an otherwise pleasant voice."

 "Me?" Megumi said after a moment, realizing what was going
on.

 Sylia nodded, "The duration of the mission is still unknown
to us, however we can offer you a substantial amount of salary for
your services.  I also understand that you are currently between
projects and have no immediate duties to take care of."

 Megumi thought about this for a moment before she spoke,
"Why aren't you getting military personnel for this?  Surely there
are people more qualified in the operation of a space ship than
me."

 "Actually, it has been a Genom tradition to only test next
generation technology with currently employed staff of the
company.  We have a strong desire not to allow our competitors to
know what we're doing in order to remain on top.  However, this is
a special case.  We do not have the appropriate individuals on
staff and even if we did, I wouldn't want to use them.  We can't
trust the military to keep our secrets and if we decide contrary
to the military on a piece of technology, they have the awful
habit of trying to make us change our mind.  In short, this is the
easiest way of doing things."

 Megumi nodded.  "When do you need me to make a decision on
this?"

 "Right now."

 "NOW?" Megumi nearly yelled.

 "The ship is launching tomorrow, and the staff needs to be
onboard immediately.  I'm sorry for the short time on this, but
the less time that the project is publicly known, the less trouble
we'll have in launching.  You'll have enough time to send for your
things in your apartment, but aside from that, I'm afraid you'll
have to do without it."

 Megumi blanched.  This was quite a decision to make right
out of the blue, and she didn't really know anything about these
people or this project aside from the words of this Genom
employee.  The easy thing to do would be to turn it down, but
after her recent thoughts on going back to what she's been doing
for years now, she gave it a second thought.  She'd been real
tired lately with her work, and she was just considering a change
of pace, but this was so sudden, she didn't want to make a
decision hastily, however, she had no choice.

 It was an amazing opportunity, however, one that she never
expected to have but did recognize.  She would be able to fly to
Mars, something she always wanted to do, and she would be doing it
on the most advanced ship to date.  Of course, she would be a crew
member, but then again, it would just be like her voice acting.
And best of all, she would get to play a character that wouldn't
have to be shuffled away in the end.  Herself.

 "Nadesico, you said, right?" asked Megumi with a smile.

 "That's correct."

 "It's quite a decision to make in a few minutes, but I
think it's a good one.  I accept your offer, Ms. Stingray."

 Now Sylia smiled and put her glasses on, "An excellent
choice, Ms. Reinard.  You can send for your things as soon as we
reach the hangar.  But first, we need to pick up one more person."

***

 The sun was setting on the western horizon giving a pink
hue to the skyline and the clouds resting in front of it. The
crickets had begun their evening songs and let them carry in the
slow breeze. A single car rolled silently along the side street
and parked in front of a white, two-story house. The car's
headlights went off as Sylia emerged from the driver's side door
and slowly walked up to the front of the house.

 When Sylia reached the front door she took out a paper from
her purse to check to make sure that she had arrived at the
correct house. When she was satisfied she put the paper back into
her purse and reached her hand up to knock on the door. Much to
her surprise, however, the door suddenly flew open and a runaway
flying frying pan hit her in the face.

 The pan was immediately followed by a middle-aged man with
brown hair that looked as if it hadn't been combed in days and
stubble on his chin that looked unshaven for the same period of
time. As if it were a race the man was followed by another frying
pan, this one larger than the first, as well as a few cooking pots
and various other kitchen utensils.

 The man, upon seeing Sylia standing there rather confused
as the frying pan that hit her fell to the ground, immediately
grabbed her and dove to the ground off to the left side of the
house. Sylia looked up and could only watch the barrage of kitchen
supplies flying out of the house with such force that she hoped it
wouldn't hit her car.  She turned to the man lying beside her his
hands over his head.

 "Seiya Uribatake, I presume?" she said as calmly as she
could.

 "Depends," came a muffled reply.  "Does that man happen to
owe you money or something?"

 "No, I'm here to ask for his services, not for money."

 The man instantly perked his head up, "A job? Where, when?"

 "The job is to be on the experimental space vessel
Nadesico.  I wish to acquire your skills as chief engineer aboard
that ship.  Our time is short, however, if you wish to come we
must leave almost immediately.  There are additional details--"

 "No time for that," interrupted Seiya as he grabbed Sylia's
arm and rushed down to her car.  He blinked as he saw the three
other people looking back at him with a curious look from inside
the car, but quickly regained his posture.  "Explain on the way,
we gotta move or else I'm a dead man."

 "I assume you wish to accept my offer," said Sylia as she
was ushered into the seat of her car.  Her door was closed
forcefully and she watched with amazement as the man leapt over
the hood of the car to get to the passenger side door.

 "Are you kidding?" said Uribatake as he got into the car
and shut the door.  "An immediate employment that not only gets me
off of the same island as her but the same planet?  Only a fool
would turn that down!"

 Sylia took that as a yes as she started the car and gunned
off.  As they left a lone cooking pot left the house with enough
force that it traveled across the street and collided into the
house on the other side before coming to rest atop a mound of
various pots and pans.

 The crickets waited patiently, as they always do, before
once again playing their songs.

***

 "Wow, this is NOTHING like what I used in the Navy," said
Priss as she gazed into the Nadesico hangar from one of the
catwalks that hung nearly a hundred feet into the air.  Below
them, polished and shining, were three large humanoid looking
robots, shining in the large fluorescent lights from above.  They
looked like metal giants, staring aimlessly ahead through dark
eyeholes in their rigid helmets.

 The mobile suit's similarities to humans were disturbing to
Akito, who, while leaning on the railing and gazing down besides
Priss, shivered slightly, as if someone had been walking on his
grave.  "They certainly are big," he said.  "Reminds me of this
show I used to watch as a kid."

 "In the Navy I'd used humanoid mobile suits on a few
simulations, but they never looked this big before and with so
many armor plates to better look like a person.  I wonder if the
handle differently?"

 "Probably," guessed Akito.  "I've used a few suits as well
but they were just barely a few feet taller than me, it's probably
a whole different thought process to use the IFS."

 "Nah, it can't be all that different, the IFS is a direct
interface to the brain, the commands couldn't possible change.
Just like controlling a crane and a mobile suit don't differ by
much."

 "Well, I'm sure you'll find out when they do the testing
around Mars."

 "That's far too long for me, I need to know now," said
Priss with a determined look on her face.  "Mason and Sylia
shouldn't be back for a while now, lets find out how they handle."

 "Uh, I don't know about that, Priss, you know how anal
Genom is about their hardware..."

 "Bah, I'm their test pilot anyway, I deserve to know how
these things work.  Come on."  She waved him on as she moved
towards the nearest elevator.

 "Priss!"

 "Going down!"

 "Geeze."

***

 Sylia drove her Mercedes through the final checkpoint along
the four-mile long underground tunnel leading to the classified
Genom UnderSea Shipyards.  By this point in the tunnel, all
verifications were being done electronically.  Passive scans
emitting from several arrays in the ceiling of the tunnel probed
the driver and passengers, searching for unique features they'd
been programmed to identify, and approved passage to the facility.
Sylia knew that this far in, if anyone wasn't authorized to the
facility, they'd all be killed, but she continued at nearly 200
km/h through the tunnel confidant that they would be okay, after
all, she entered the records herself.

 "This place is pretty deep underground," mentioned Leon
from the back seat as he stared out the window at the lights
racing past his side of the car.  "How do you plan on launching a
ship into space from underground?"

 "The GUSS is equipped with underwater launching hangars,
one of which the Nadesico is currently in," said Sylia as she
carefully navigated through the winding at a break-neck speed.
"The Nadesico herself is airtight, as she must be to survive the
pressures of space, and can easily navigate submersed."

 "Why keep it all underground, though?" asked Megumi,
sitting in the middle back between Nene and Leon.  She glanced at
Nene through the corner of her eye.  "Stop staring at me like
that."

 "What was that, Reinard-sama?" asked Nene as she watched
one of her idols' every move.

 "You're creeping me out," she said.

 Sylia shook her head.  "There are now thousands of
satellites above the earth, easily capable of viewing every spot
on the planet at one time.  In order to keep such a large project
as Nadesico a secret we had to go to extreme measures.  GUSS has
six tunnel exits stretching at least four miles from it, sometimes
more, as well as a couple of underwater entry bays for supplies.
The walls in this tunnel and inside GUSS are shielded against
every type of passive and active scan we know and develop."

 "So was it built specifically for Nadesico?" asked Seiya.

 "Partly.  GUSS was built for a project called Nautilus, the
precursor to the Nadesico.  However, Nautilus was scrapped midway
and the materials were recycled into the Nadesico.  So in a manner
it was constructed for it, and in a way it wasn't."

 "Can you say 'Magical Lai Lai Power' again?" asked Nene.

 "No!"

 "Any particular reason the Nadesico is being kept such a
secret?" said Leon.  "Nothing illegal going on by any chance, is
there?"

 Frowning, Sylia glanced at Leon in her rearview mirror.
"Genom has very zealous competitors, Mr. McNichol.  If even one of
them got a look at our plans they could devastate sales in that
field with similar products.  The enemies of Genom are not beyond
joining forces to take it down."

 "Enemies are they?" Leon asked.  "Rather aggressive
standpoint for your sales confederates."

 "It's an aggressive world out there."

 "So this is a space ship," said Uribatake, "Who's the
captain?   Are you?"

 "Unfortunately, I am not her captain and I haven't been
consulted on who will be.  I've been told it's fallen to the hands
of a girl named Yurika Misumaru, but I have yet to meet her."

 "A girl?"

 "Yes, she's eighteen and fresh out of the UN Spacey
academy.  I asked Mason about it and he told that it was his
choice and I couldn't convince him otherwise."

 "Who's Mason?" said Megumi as she tried to ignore Nene's
leer.

 "Brian J. Mason," said Sylia with a sneer.

 "Chairman Quincy's right hand man," continued Leon.  "He's
always around to pick up the pieces when Genom's new technology
goes awry.  I've crossed paths with him before in the AD Police."

 "He's a shady character," said Sylia.  "Only works on
projects by the directive of the chairman and only reports to the
top.  He's in on anything and everything Genom and the only one
who possibly knows more is the Chairman, but even that is
questionable since Mason regularly travels to the off-world
offices while Quincy remains terra-firma."

 "So even Genom employees don't know about the top men in
charge," commented Leon.  "Real security in that company."

 "Top decisions are handled at the top and I'm no where near
that area of administration within the company.  What filters down
to me has already been filtered of everything important."  She
raised an eyebrow when Leon gave her a skeptical look.  "I told
you, McNichol, I don't care for Genom any more than you do."

 "I'm beginning to see that."

 "All this aside, he's been assigned to the Nadesico test
flight to monitor how things proceed, so he'll probably be on the
bridge a good deal so keep your comments to yourself."

 "I know when to keep my mouth shut," said Leon.

 "What a mysterious corporation," said Megumi.  "Nene, you
worked in the AD Police as well, do you know anything about
Mason?"  She mentally crossed her fingers, hoping that some talk
outside of anime would get the girl to stop oogling her.

 "He pays his taxes on time," Nene said offhandedly, which
quickly drew the stares of all the people in the car aside from
the driver, and even she glanced in the rearview mirror at her.
"That's the only thing the Japanese ministry knows about him," she
explained.  "That and he owns a 'vette.  Everything else about him
has been wiped from almost every government database I could find.
Even Interpol hasn't been able to find anything."

 "How do you know that?" asked Megumi.

 "Godlike computer skills," she said, buffing her
fingernails on her shirt.  "No one can beat me for long.  Just ask
Sylia."

 "Doctor Stingray?"

 "We're coming up on the facility now."

 The light in GUSS compared to the tunnel was blinding and
all the passengers shielded their eyes while the bright beams
reflected off of Sylia's visor-style sunglasses.

***

 Priss strapped herself into the cockpit of the large mobile
suit and grabbed the IFS control orb and watched the back of her
hand light up while it interfaced.  The panoramic viewscreen lit
up and displayed a loading window.

 IDENTIFY USER.

 It read.  Priss shrugged.

 "Asagiri, Priss S.," she said.

 ASAGIRI PRISSS, CONFIRM?

 "Ugh, no," she groaned.

 IDENTIFY USER.

 "Pricilla S. Asagiri."

 PRICILLA S. ASAGIRI, CONFIRM?

 "Yes, yes."

 ESTABLISHING USER PREFERENCES AND SYNCHRONIZING ...
COMPLETE.
 AESTIVALIS OPERATING ALGORITHMS VERSION 2.0 ENGAGING.

 The window faded as the screen resolved itself into a view
of the hangar.  Priss glanced around with a smile at the near
perfect resolution and instructed her Aestivalis, as she now knew
the name of them, to turn it's head to Akito.  The screens scanned
left to center on the large red unit beside her.

 "Yo, Akito," she said, a window appearing before her the
same moment she  began speaking.  The screen turned from a bluish
tone to show Akito's face.  "Having any problems?"

 file://Uh, I don't think so.//

 "Good, lets go for a walk."  She turned her Aestivalis'
head forward.  "The hangar isn't all that big but we can at least
move around and get used to the feel of these things."

 file://I don't need to get used to it, I'm not a crew member,
I'm not coming with you.//

 "Ahh, so what, it'll be fun."

 file://As long as we don't get in trouble.//

 "Who's going to yell at us?  We're Genom employees, I'm a
test pilot and you're Sylia's test ... um, what is it you do for
Sylia again?"

 file://I'm not sure,// said Akito, rubbing the back of his head.
file://She has me interface with all these weird machines, seeing if
the IFS will let me control them even though they're designed to
be.  It's weird.//

 "Okay, well, you're a test something, still, we must have
the right to use these."

 file://That's some crazy logic.//

 "Come on, test-boy, lets move out!"

 Priss depressed a panel on the floor and held the IFS orb
tightly as she tried to operate her Aestivalis.  Responses through
the IFS told her that her leg was moving, but was somehow snagged
on something.  She glanced down to see a large brace connecting it
to the frame the unit was normally resting in.

 "I seem to be snagged on something," she said.

 file://Me too, I think it's a security brace so the things don't
fall out or shift while someone is working on them.  Oh well, we
tried, lets get out of these things--//

 "Hold on, I think there's a command here to get it to
release."  Priss called up a command menu and looked for a method
of removing the external restraint.  She called up the right leg
structure listing and perused it quickly.  "Okay, there's a
security bolt release command, I'm issuing it now."

 She felt the clamp release her leg and she lifted it
freely.  "Okay, all set."  She stepped forward, her foot hitting
the deck harder than she intended, but didn't mar the surface.
"Do the same thing and let's move, Akito."

 file://Ookay, if you say so,// he said.

 Priss started to move further away from the braces when she
felt the snag on her left leg.  In lightning speed the structure
listing came up and she saw the clamp on the other leg still
engaged.  She tried to release it in time but her momentum carried
her forward and after the clamp released her foot simply hit the
ground instead of stepping forward and she topped to the deck.

 file://Priss! Are you okay?//

 Priss put a hand to her forehead looked up at the screen
that was showing her a lot of the floor and nothing else.
Sighing, she looked over at Akito's screen.  "Ugh, that was
stupid," she said.  "I hope nobody else saw that."

 Another screen popped up over Akito's and three times as
big with a picture of a woman with black visor sunglasses and
short dark hair.  Sylia opened her mouth wide and yelled.

 file://PRISS! What are you DOING?//

 Oh boy.

***

 "I can't believe this," said Sylia staring at Priss and
Akito sitting in a pair of chairs in a darkened room.  She was
pacing back and forth with her sunglasses in her pocket and a hand
to her forehead.  "You're lucky you didn't damage anything."

 "They're combat suits, Sylia," said Priss.  "They're meant
to take a beating."

 "They are EXPERIMENTAL combat suits, Priss, they haven't
been fully tested, who knows what could have happened."

 "But nothing did, okay, lets just put this behind us."

 "We're really sorry, Sylia," said Akito.

 "I don't care if you are, there are issues here beyond your
relationship between each other and with me.  This ship is not
filed with Genom employees, it's not even filled with military
personnel.  These are people from a hundred walks of life and most
of them have never had to conform to the direct orders of anybody.
I'm trying to keep up a professional attitude, trying to get them
to respect me, and then you two pull a stunt like this."

 "Then we fit in perfectly," grinned Priss.

 Sylia frowned.  "This is not a joke!  What do you expect me
to do to you two?  Just sweep it under the carpet and forget about
it?  Act like everything is normal?"

 "We didn't do anything all tha"

 "WRONG!" said Syila.  "You broke a rule, and in these
conditions playing with machinery and sabotaging the ship are
equal crimes."

 "You mean we're going to be punished?" asked Priss,
incredulously.

 "I mean if I DON'T punish you, people will think that I'm a
pushover and do NOTHING that I say.  The crew must understand that
they are in a serious situation here and even this act shows that
I don't have things under control.  So, yes, Priss, you will be
punished."

 "What about me?" asked Akito.

 "I don't know what to do with you right now.  I don't know
when I'll be back to deal with you and we have another problem
with your Aestivalis since it synchronized with you, so I really
don't know."

 Akito frowned and glanced between Priss and Sylia.  Seeing
this, Priss got a determined look on her face.  "I say we take him
with us."

 "You are in a situation to say nothing, Priss."

 "What else will he do with everyone he knows off in space
and nothing to do at the Genom lab without you around?"

 "Please, Priss, we've discussed this before," Sylia shook
her head.  "Of all times I just can't put him aboard the ship now,
especially since there isn't really a position for him."

 "Can't you just take him on as an aide or assistant?"

 "I really don't want to be any trouble," said Akito
halfheartedly.

 "Priss..." warned Sylia.

 "How about as a cook!" said Priss in a flash of
inspiration.

 "A cook?" Sylia mused.  "That's right, you were a cook for
a while, weren't you?"

 Akito looked up.  "Yeah, before I met Priss.  I wasn't an
exceptional one, but a decent cook at least."

 "Hm..." said Sylia as she continued to pace.  "As a cook I
might be able to fit you in under Howmei in the galley..."

 "So he can come, right Sylia?" said Priss, eagerly.

 "I hadn't considered putting him in there before, but ...
this doesn't get you out of your current situation, you know.  You
two still broke the rules and will have to be reprimanded."

 "I know," nodded Priss.  Akito chimed in his consent as
well.

 "I guess then, at least for the test flight, you can stay."

 "Yes!" shouted Priss.

 "Thank you, Sylia," said Akito.

 "You don't have a whole lot of time to get your stuff"

 "I don't have anything I need to get," he said.  "I've got
everything I need already."

 "You'll also have to work with Chief Engineer Uribatake
when the new pilots arrive since that Aestivalis you were in
synchronized with you.  You'll have to un-synchronize it before
the new pilots can use it."

 "Okay."

 "And no more playing with the Aestivalis', that goes for
both of you.  You may be a pilot, Priss, but you're not to use
them until we get to the testing area, understand?"

 "Yes."

 "In that case," said Sylia moving away from the two sitting
officers.  "I'll deal with your reprimand later, right now I have
to get to the bridge and make sure everyone is getting along.  You
two might want to come along, maybe you'll meet the Captain, if
she ever shows up."

 "All right," said Priss, standing.

 "I think I'll head towards the galley to see what it's
like," Akito said.

 "Okay," said Sylia.  "But I don't want to see you anywhere
near the hangar."

 "Roger," he said with a smile.

***

 Leon, Megumi and Nene moved towards the bridge in a herd,
having dropped Seiya in Engineering already, claiming he doesn't
need to see the bridge since he doesn't work there, and Sylia had
left to deal with the pilots in the mobile suits.  The three
neared the bridge with a mixture of anticipation and anxiety,
counting down the steps before the doors would slide open,
revealing the officers already aboard.

 Megumi was a bit excited, never having been on a space ship
before and wondering what the bridge would look like.  She was
also curious about the other people that Sylia told them about,
especially the Genom attachZ that Leon and Nene seemed to be so
concerned about, but also the girls she'd been working closely
with at Science and Helm.

 Nene was having a very exciting day all in all.  She'd
gotten to meet Megumi Reinard, one of her favorite voice actresses
in all anime, and now she was padding down this corridor that
probably had hundreds of yards of computer wire and circuitry
behind it walking up to the command center of the ship: the
bridge.  Not especially eager to meet the infamous Brian Mason
that she'd had to search up on numerous times before, she was
looking forward to meeting the girl named Ruri Honshino who was
the main computer interfacer.  She was able, Sylia had told her
once, to completely link herself into the computer, maintaining a
stronger, more comprehensive link than any other method of
brainjack available.

 Nene had often wished she could have a closer connection
with the computers she used, but she was hesitant to get a cranial
datajack because of both the horror stories she'd heard about
people who got them, and because she would never want to mar her
beautiful skin.  But Ruri's connection was like the IFS system for
pilots, a matrix of nanites spread all over her body to give the
proper response for virtual interactions.  When she wasn't using
it, she supposedly looked normal, the nanites only flaring up when
she was connected.

 It was the coolest thing she'd ever heard of and she wanted
to know more, so she stepped excitedly forward, waiting for the
doors to usher her forward.

 Leon was the nervous one.  His last dealings with Brian
Mason were not quite the most pleasant and led to his eventual
persecution and jail stay.  He wondered, casually, if he even knew
that Leon was coming aboard.  He didn't know what the procedure
was between Mason and Dr. Stingray, but it was possible,
considering the way he was recruited, that Mason didn't know he
was coming at all.  He would soon find out.

 The doors slid open with a hiss and the three found
themselves standing on the polished white upper deck of the
bridge.  For a moment, they were all impressed by the room.  It
was large, with at least a twenty foot high ceiling where they
stood, conducted on three levels.  The upper deck, where they were
standing now, looked over the other two decks with a railing
around the edge so clumsy captains wouldn't fall on the helmsman
or communications officer.  A series of consoles were lined on the
railings as well as several stools to sit on.  On either side of
the deck were ramps leading down to the other two decks.

 The second deck, in front of and only about five feet below
the top deck, consisted of a single large console with three
chairs before it.  The panels showed a variety of commands, the
furthest one to the right containing obvious flight controls.

 In front of and another five feet below that deck was the
lower or third deck that only held a series of chairs along the
perimeter with basic consoles in front of six of them currently
displaying diagrams of large mobile suits.

 On the far wall from where they entered the bridge was a
large viewscreen, stretching from the ground of the third deck to
the ceiling of the top deck, displaying a light blue color with no
text, apparently operating on standby.

 After getting over their awe, the three noticed the people
standing around them.  To their left was a tall, elderly man with
a long beard and a UN Spacy uniform and hat that obscured his eyes
with dark shadows.  He stood silently, looking at the group
inquisitively.  Next to him was a man in a dark blue suit with
black hair that had been slicked back and beady eyes that stared
evenly at Leon.  To the right was a woman, probably in her
twenties, with long blonde hair and a figure that was bursting
right out of the uniform she was wearing, literally.  Finally,
there was a man beside her that had to be about seven feet tall
and four feet wide.  The large, looming structure was squeezed
into a pressed, expensive suit with a look of man who's been
dealing with tension his whole life and has yet to discover
relief.

 Suffice to say, it was just as quirky a group as the one
that just came in through the bridge doors.

 The man in the dark blue suit was the first to talk.  "I
assume you're the group brought in by Doctor Stingray.  I'm Brian
Mason, the Genom attachZ.  This is Admiral Fukube, UN Spacy
ambassador, Minato Haruka, main Helm officer, Gort Holy, Tactical,
and sitting down at the Science station is Ruri Honshino."

 A girl stood up from the center seat on the second deck and
stood on her toes to look up onto the top deck.  She had long
bluish-white hair tied up in two tails on either side of her head
and gazed, without emotion, onto the deck with large yellow eyes
that almost seemed to sparkle in the light.

 "Hello," she said in a soft yet monotone voice.

 "Hello, Ruri," said Megumi as she crouched down to try to
reach the girl's level.  Glancing up at the other people on the
deck she motioned behind her.  "I'm Megumi Reinard and I've been
hired to be communications officer.  Behind me is Leon McNichol,
who's going to be Chief of Security, and Nene Romanova who's ...
uh ..."  She stood and turned to Nene.  "What do you do on the
ship?"

 "Oh, I'm a secondary communications officer but I'm mostly
going to be doing computer work with Sylia, uh, Dr. Stingray."

 "Oh."

 "Brian J. Mason," said Leon as he stepped deliberately
towards him.  "I can't say it's a pleasure to meet again."

 "Leon McNichol," said Mason with equal malice.  "I'm
surprised you came, Dr. Stingray must be a better negotiator than
I believed.  Surely you've put our past dealings behind you."

 "I'm finding it difficult with my second rate job and my
third rate reputation."

 "But look at you now, Leon, aboard the most advanced ship
on the planet, and soon off-planet, keeping security, the very job
you'd been removed of last time we chatted."

 Leon stepped forward into Mason's face.  "Just give me a
reason to throw you in the brig and I'll be more than happy to
oblige.  I'll just let you know now, I don't trust you any further
than I can throw this ship, but I've got the unique position that
allows me to watch your every move so as soon as you slip up, I'll
be there to catch you."

 Mason smiled evilly, "Please, Mr. McNichol, step back,
people are going to get the wrong idea if you keep this up."

 Leon stepped back but continued to grit his teeth at the
suited man.  Mason turned Megumi and returned to his emotionless
state.  "I understood that you had brought an engineer aboard, was
I mistaken?"

 "No, he's already in engineering."

 "And Ms. Stingray herself?"

 "She's ... uh, well, she's dealing with an incident in the
hangar."

 "An incident?"

 Megumi started to laugh nervously but was cut off by the
sound of a klaxon.  He looked to the front of the bridge as the
screen faded from being blue to show a large red sign saying:
SECURITY ALERT.  He stepped forward to the railing and looked down
at Ruri.  "What's going on?"

 Ruri turned and placed her hands on the console before her.
Long silvery threads traced their way down her arms and spread out
across the console as her eyes began glowing gently.  "There's a
jet that's circling the base.  It's set off the proximity
sensors."

 "Put it on screen," said Mason.

 "Routing GUSS exterior cameras to main viewscreen,
filtering for water distortion."  The screen changed blue again
but it was blotted randomly in white.  Then a gray jet appeared
and circled the perimeter of the screen.

 Mason frowned.  "Can you magnify?  I want to see the
pilot."

 "Magnifying."

 "Good god," said Mason, in a rare moment of incredulity.
"Open hailing frequencies and get that bozo on my link."

 Megumi turned and jumped down to the second deck and sat at
the far left, putting on a headset and scanning the console for
the proper commands.  Ruri glanced over and pointed at a button
and Megumi pressed it.  A screen appeared overlapping the main
viewscreen with the pilot's face on it.

 "Yo!" said Jiro.

 "What do you think you're doing, Yamada?" said Mason.

 "I keep telling you, it's Gai, Daikouji Gai!"

 "You're violating our secrecy flying overhead like that!"

 "I'm looking for a place to land."

 "There AREN'T any places to land, this is a classified
facility, go back to the airstrip I originally told you to go to
and take the tunnel!"

 "But tunnels aren't any fun," frowned the pilot.

 "DO IT, now!"

 "Whatever."  The screen disappeared and shortly after the
jet left the screen.

 "Standing down from alert," said Ruri.  "Sensors are
resetting to normal."

 "Maybe that guy was a mistake," mused Mason.

 "Wouldn't be your first," chimed Leon.

 Mason growled.

***

 Akito walked briskly down the similar halls looking for the
galley which, according to Sylia, was located somewhere on the
mid-decks.  He's seen the blueprints that she'd come up with years
ago and was actually around during the Nadesico's construction,
but the actual ship seemed so much larger than the designs and it
threw off his sense of direction.  He was pretty sure he was
heading in the right direction, although he wasn't really in any
rush to get there.  His head was still swimming from the day's
events.

 His sense of direction wasn't improved when suddenly a
purple mass came careening around the corner of the corridor ahead
of him and ran head long into Akito's chest.  In a flurry of
purple and the yellow outfit he was wearing the two bodies came to
rest on the floor at the intersection.  Akito rubbed his temples
as he came onto his knees as noticed what had decided to collide
with him.

 She was a young woman, probably not any older than Akito
himself, with long deep purple hair that encircled her tall but
slim body that wore a white, modified UN Spacy uniform.  She
picked herself with lithe movements and looked at the man she'd
run into.

 "Owww," she said to him in a sort of whimpering way.

 Akito stood and offered the girl a hand.  "I'm sorry," he
said, "I didn't see you in time."  The girl took his hand and
stood.

 "It's my fault.  I was trying to get to the bridge in time
and wasn't looking where I was going."

 "That's probably a good way to get lost," commented Akito
with a smile.

 "Yeah, probably," said the girl with a giggle.  "You
wouldn't happen to know where the bridge is, would you?"

 "Umm."  He scratched his head.  "Not exactly.  I thought I
knew, but then again I thought I knew where the galley was and
here I am, wandering the ship."

 "Oh!" said the girl as if she suddenly realized something.
"I went through the galley, it's ... umm..." she glanced at the
intersection of corridors with a perplexed look.  "Which hall did
I come down?"

 "I don't recall seeing," said Akito.  "It's really not that
important.  Oh, hey, I'm Akito, a cook."

 She gave him a skeptical glance.  "You're a cook and you
don't know where the galley is?"

 "It's a big ship!" said Akito in defense.

 "Hm... Akito," she mused.  "I like that name, it's really
cute.  I like saying it.  Akito."

 "Hm?"

 "Akito."

 "What?"  He was starting to get this weird feeling in his
spine, an almost unnerving sensation that occurred whenever this
girl said his name.  It was odd, yet almost familiar.  "What is
it?"

 "I'm just saying your name."

 "Well ... uh, knock it off, okay?"

 "Okay, Akito."

 The sensation came again, this time accompanied by a
nervous shiver.  He couldn't explain it.

 "You cold?"

 "Nah."  He waved his hand.  "Anyway, lets see if we can get
you to the bridge."

***

 "Hey, babe," said Jiro Yamada (or Gai Daikouji, depending
on your preference and the relative proximity of the man) as he
inched closer to Minato.  "Ever been in an experimental, high
velocity, military jet with variable geometry and half a thousand
kilograms of explosives before?"

 Minato eyed the man strangely.  "I'm sorry, I'm not in
communications so I'm not used to deciphering encoded
transmissions.  Was that supposed to be a pickup line?"

 "I can take you in one someday," he continued as smooth as
possible.

 "In what?"

 "A military jet."

 "Why would I want to be in a military jet?"

 "Ah..." he stopped and furrowed his brow.  Wait a minute.
She was supposed to be impressed, what was this strange response
she was giving him?

 Noticing the momentary pause for probably primitive
thought, Minato quickly stepped aside and behind the hulking mass
of Gort Holy, promptly disappearing from the pilot's view.  Gort
simply looked down at the man impassively.

 Sylia, watching the event from the other side of the top
deck, shook her head and looked up to Mason.  "This is
incredible," she said without the marked enthusiasm that a
statement of that sort usually generated.  "Why did you get this
guy again?  And where is the captain, running a little late isn't
she?"

 Narrowing his eyes Mason glanced over at Jiro.  "I got him
because, despite his rather... energetic personality, he's one of
the best test pilots at Genom.  There's this airstrip owned by the
corp. that he used to work at that was consistently trying to get
this guy killed through some of our new-tech.  Somehow, though, he
keeps walking away."  He pinched his temple for a moment.  "And
we've gone over why I chose the Captain."

 "Yes, yes, I just like hearing it," said Sylia with a half
smile.

 "Haven't I seen you before?" asked Leon to a slightly
indifferent Priss.

 "I doubt it," she replied shortly.  "I used to be in the
Navy and you don't look like you could hold up."

 Leon took the insult with stride.  "No, I've never been in
the navy, but still, you seem really familiar.  It's not just your
face either, your voice sounds memorable as well."

 "Sorry, security-boy, I don't recall you at all."

 Leon snapped his fingers.  "Got it!  Priss and the
Replicants!"

 "Oh boy," said Priss with a groan.

 "You're not just Priss, you're PRISS!"  He seemed like he
was about to jump for joy.

 "Funny how that works out."

 "Hey, I really liked your stuff, why'd you quit?"

 "I got a real job you floozy," she snapped.

 "Hey Ruri," said Nene from down on the second deck.  "Why
does it say baka all over this screen?"

 "That's just a child's scribble, what do I know?"

 The doors to the bridge slid up suddenly and everyone's
conversation stopped to look up at the new arrival.  All eyes
turned to see two figures, out of breath, standing next to each
other in the doorway.  One had short black hair and was wearing a
yellow jacket with the Genom symbol on it, and the other had long
purple hair and a white UN Spacey uniform which, under closer
examination, had a Genom patch sewn over the UN Spacey logo.  The
purple-haired woman held up her arm ahead of her and stuck out two
fingers as if she were counting how many eyes she had.

 "V!" she said enthusiastically.

 The whole bridge did a double take.

 Then Sylia, with her jaw still slightly ajar, stepped
forward and greeted the woman.  "Captain Misumaru, how great for
you to join us."

 Akito, the brown haired one beside the Captain, turned to
face her.  "You're the *captain*?" he said with disbelief.  "And
you told me it was odd that a cook didn't know where the galley
was when you couldn't find the bridge?"

 Yurika Misumaru laughed nervously then noticed Sylia's
outstretched hand.  "Oh!" she said and moved forward to shake it.
As she stepped forward, however, Akito thought it was a good idea
to move as well and due to their relative proximity, the whole
ordeal ended up on the floor again, this time on top of Doctor
Stingray.

 "Oops," said Yurika.

 Akito groaned.

 Sylia tried to calm the burning rage in her.

 Ruri typed 'baka' one more time into the computer.
Appropriate ringleader for this circus, she thought.

***

 At night, there isn't much of a difference in lighting in
the hangar that the Nadesico was in.  The large fluorescent bulbs
remained their brightest throughout the night as workers moved at
a hellish pace making sure everything on the Nadesico was working
and had been polished to a shine.  Out in space, there would never
really be any light shining in the windows, so the bright bulbs
were the last comfort for the crew before the final launch.

 On the ship, lights had dimmed everywhere except for key
places to simulate night.  After launch, the secondary staff would
take over at night to run the ship's critical areas such as the
bridge and engineering and, of course, the galley.  But right now
there was nobody, which was a little unnerving for Akito, having
finally reached the galley, only to find it empty.

 He sighed openly and crawled over the counter to the
kitchen and looked around.  The place was stocked to the ceiling
with goods, including an extensive collection of exotic vegetables
and grains.  Everything was neatly packed and organized according
to usefulness and displayed extravagantly.

 Continuing his perusal around the spotless area, he noticed
a single, unmarked door to the side of the burners that didn't
seem to lead anywhere.  Walking up to the door he pressed the
release panel beside it and was greeted with a whoosh of cold air
that was soon followed by an army of smells that assaulted his
nose with a vengeance.  He staggered back by the onslaught as the
door continued to open and a light came on inside the doorway.

 Staring at the lit passage, he crept forward towards the
mysterious chamber and, after a moment to steel his will, stuck
his head inside.  His jaw dropped.

 In the room, perhaps eighty square feet in size, were rows
of racks of clear jars lining the walls from floor to ceiling.
The jars were each filled with a different spice and plugged with
a cork top that was letting the aroma of each glamorous leaf and
powder seep out and proliferate the room.  Unable to stand the
stampede of smells, he stepped back out of the spice closet and
closed the door.

 "Good evening," came a soft voice directly behind him.

 Akito jumped and turned on his toe to look at the tall
woman standing behind him.  She was wearing a yellow jacket
similar to the one Akito was wearing and a long, white apron
stretching down to her shins.  She smiled warmly at Akito and
stepped past to the closet and opened the door again.

 "Sorry," said Akito, hanging his head.  "I didn't mean to
intrude, I was just curious."

 "It's okay," she said with a soothing voice that felt like
a warm pillow at night.  "It's taken me a good deal of my life to
collect all of these, I couldn't come aboard this ship and produce
any good food without them."  She turned to look at him, still
smiling.  "Besides, you can't make the best tasting food of the
human culture without half of these.  If we encounter people from
other worlds, I wouldn't want them to eat anything but the best.
You're Akito, right?  I'm Howmei."

 "Hello Ms. Howmei," said Akito, bowing again.  "I was just
looking around the place, trying to get a feel for the kitchen."

 "Hmm..." she mused.  "I was just doing the same thing.  I
just got aboard myself this evening.  I figured I should be here
though, someone might get hungry and crave a midnight snack."

 "Yeah," said Akito, absentmindedly.

 "Would you like me to cook something for you?"

 "Hmm?  No, that wouldn't be right, I'm a cook as well, you
shouldn't be making food for me."

 "Even cooks have to eat," she reminded.  "And there isn't
anyone else here right now.  Sit down, we'll talk, I'll make you
some pancakes.  Do you like pancakes?"

 Akito made a half smile and nodded, "Yeah," he said.  "I
like pancakes."  He sat down on the side of the kitchen as Howmei
moved to the shelves and pulled down a bag of flower.

 "Hey," came a voice.  "What are you guys doing up so late?"

 Akito looked to see Priss leaning over the counter into the
kitchen from the dining area outside.  She was smiling and had her
fingers folded.  "Hey, Priss," he said.

 "A little eager to get back in the food prep business?" she
laughed.

 "Pancakes?" asked Howmei.

 "Really?" said Priss.  "Sure."

***

 Sylia and Mason walked down the halls of the Nadesico like
the stiff businessmen they appeared to be.  Detecting their
proximity, the lights in their area of the corridor brightened
slightly then dimmed when they had moved past.  If they were a
little low on self-esteem, it would have made them feel important,
however as it was, it was just another facet of their walk and,
consequently, heated debate.

 "She's an imbecile," said Sylia quite matter-of-factly.  "I
told you that before and this afternoon she proved it.  I do NOT
trust my ship in her hands."

 "That's a shame, doctor," said Mason in his icy voice.
"Because this isn't really your ship, it's Genom's, you only came
up with the design.  That also means you will respect the captain
and Genom's choice in this matter."

 "You know, you talk to me as if I'm some sort of outsider.
I'm part of the corp., I'm an employee of Genom."

 "But isn't that what you wanted?  It seems you believe
we've ignored you over the years, doctor.  We are well aware of
your discontent about the corp. and how we do things.  We also
know of your distaste for our handling of your father and his
maiden voyage.  You have tried to remain a separate entity of
Genom, only relying on us to provide you with money and resources,
and it's far time to realize that your unspoken words were in fact
as loud as thunderclaps as far as myself and the chairman are
concerned."

 Sylia looked at Mason with horror, but quickly tried to
tuck that face away in an emotionless barrier.  "I see," was all
she could say.

 "Don't get down, doctor," said Mason with a smile that
conveyed absolutely no additional pleasure than did his original
straight-faced gaze.  "You still got your ship, and you still are
the definitive resource in running it.  We just have someone else
standing at the helm."

 "Fine, Mason," snapped Sylia.  "Let your dimwitted puppet
run the show, but I'll have you know.  I will NOT allow this crew
or myself to be killed.  If she's making a stupid choice, I WILL
supersede it."

 "If you can get anyone to listen to you, you're welcome to
it."

 "My people know, they understand that I made the Nadesico
work.  You just keep your people from interfering."

 "Your people?  Well, if that's the game you want to play,
so be it.  But, just as a word of advice, don't' forget my people
are the ones at helm, flying the Aestivalis', and at tactical and
weapons.  You made the Nadesico work, and you'll continue to make
it work, but my captain makes it go.  Stay in line and you won't
have to be removed."

 "You can't remove me," said Sylia with incredulity.

 "You think so?" said Mason.  "I seem to recall you
incorporating a computer into this ship that was easily capable of
diagnosing it's own difficulties and fixing them."

 "Don't trust the computer, Mason.  It's brilliant and
indeed can diagnose itself, but it's not designed to handle the
burden of an empty ship."

 "Then take your own advice, Doctor, don't give me a reason
to remove you."

 Sylia grimaced at this turn of events, then perked up.  "Do
you hear something?" she asked.

 Mason paused and listened to the distant sound of people
chattering and goings on.  "Yes, I do."

 "It sounds like it coming from the galley."

 They increased their pace to a brisk walk as they
approached the double doors into the main dining area of the
galley.  When they got to the doors, they slid open and displayed
what was causing the noise.

 The galley was hardly full, but the entire hand-picked
leading crew were there, talking, drinking, eating ... pancakes.
Everyone was laughing and discussing, cheerfully enjoying
themselves, forgetting the stiff introductions they had this
afternoon and embarking on full out camaraderie.  Standing in the
kitchen, behind it all, and flinging pancakes out to the
occasional crew member, were Howmei and Akito.

 Sylia leaned over to Mason.  "How much you want to wager
that those two are behind all this?" she said.

 "What gives you that impression?" he replied.

 "I know Akito," she smiled briefly.  "So much for yours or
my crew."

 "What's that?"

 "It seems as though they've become the Nadesico's crew.  I
wonder if they even remember who brought them aboard anymore."

 "They better remember who hold their reins," he said as he
turned away.  "I've certainly had enough for the night, Doctor.
You deal with this."  Sylia turned to watch him go then looked
back to the galley.  Yurika stood up from the crowd suddenly and
Sylia began to frown.

 "Tomorrow," she said as the crowd quieted down.  "We're
going to travel faster than anyone else has ever traveled before.
If it works, we might just be the first people ever to see the
rings of Saturn with our own eyes, or Jupiter's red spot, or maybe
even the far reaches of Pluto.  But to do it, we all need to work
together at one people.  So, to start the journey off right," she
reached down and picked up a glass of orange juice.
Simultaneously, several other members of the crew held up their
glasses of the orange liquid (Howmei refused to let them have
anything else accompany her perfect pancakes) and waited for their
cue.  "Cheers to the crew of the Nadesico, the best on Earth and
soon to be in space!"

 The gatherer's cheered and clanked their glasses together
and continued being merry.  Sylia, from the doorway, looked on
with interest.

 "Charismatic," came a small voice from below.  Sylia
glanced down to see Ruri standing against the wall next to the
door inside the galley.

 "In a word," said Sylia in reply.  "She still has no right
to be captain."  With that she turned away and walked down the
corridor, the parade of lights dimming behind her.

                           -VVVV-

***

 Yurika opened her eyes slowly, adjusting to the dim lights
of the bridge.  All around her she saw the stirring bodies of her
bridge crew, all apparently victims of the same stunning blow that
knocked her out cold just as they activated the Jump Engines.
Turning to the expert on the process, she saw that Sylia was just
beginning to pick herself off the floor as well.  Yurika
straightened her cap and leaned on the console before her.

 "What happened?" she asked.

 "Don't ask me," said Sylia as she moved to help Admiral
Fukube up onto his feet.  "The engine's not supposed to do that."

 "You're the expert on this!" replied Yurika.

 "But *I* don't have all the information.  Why don't you try
asking your crew?"

 "Oh yeah," said Yurika.

 A screen appeared before the bridge showing the disheveled
face of the Chief of Security.  file://What the hell just happened?//
asked Leon.

 "Standby," answered Sylia, grabbing the edge of the
projection and dragging it closer to her.  "We're still trying to
figure that out."

 file://My security net is showing a blank, I can't tell where
anyone is.//

 "Hold on," said Sylia.

 "Ruri?  What's our status?" asked Yurika.

 "Sensors are down," a monotone voice replied from below
Yurika's stand.  "Omoikane says that there was a power surge just
after the jump and it has reset most of the ship's systems.
Backups are currently being accessed.  We are operating on
auxiliary power."

 "Communications are down," said Megumi.  "I can't establish
a link with Mars or Earth.  It could be distance but I can't tell
with sensors."

 "Minato, can you determine our location?" said Sylia.

 "Without sensors, I have nothing to match our location to
the star maps."

 "Can you put the view to the front of our ship on the main
viewscreen, Ruri?" asked Yurika.  "I'll have to do this manually."

 The large screen to the front of the bridge flickered twice
then resolved into a large array of stars.  "Hm..." mused Yurika.

 "Can you figure out where we are?" asked Sylia, shocked as
to this development.

 "Nope, can't figure it out at all," she replied bubbly.

 Sylia nearly had an aneurysm right then and there.

 "Ruri, can you rotate the camera view to aft?" asked
Minato.

 "Yes."

 The camera flickered again then was replaced by a different
array of stars with the exception of the large reddish-white
planet taking up the lower half of the screen.  The bridge went
silent.

 "Is that..." started Yurika.

 "Jupiter," said Sylia.  "We've grossly overshot our mark."

 After a few moments of silence, another screen appeared
beside Leon's showing Seiya's face.  file://The main power array was
shorted out but I've replaced the circuit board.  The
Transpositional engines are coming back online now.//

 As if on cue, the lights on the bridge brightened and
several fuzzy viewscreens cleared up.  "Good work, Uribatake,"
said Sylia.

 "Sensors are coming back online," announced Ruri.

 "Find out our exact coordinates, I need to know our
position to program the engine to make the trip back."

 "Hold on," said Yurika.  "We're not going anywhere until
you find out what happened."

 "I have to agree with the Captain on this matter, Dr.
Stingray," said Mason from his position next to Admiral Fukube.

 "Of course *you* would," dismissed Sylia.

 "What are you implying, Doctor?"

 "I'm implying nothing.  What I am SAYING is that I need to
know our position before I begin any analysis work on the jump.
Stop jumping to conclusions!"

 "Why don't we jump to Jupiter then?"

 "This is just a glitch, they happen on maiden flights."

 "ATTENTION!"

 All eyes on the ship turned to the source of the loud voice
and stared wide eyed at the elderly man standing behind Mason.
He'd been a fixture on the bridge since the crew came aboard, and
several were stunned that he could speak at all, but the biggest
shock came from the sheer presence he had when he spoke.  With a
single word, he commanded the whole of the people listening to
him.

 "This is ridiculous," he said with a gruff voice.  "You're
acting like children.  Lets keep the insults to a minimum and
calmly find a solution to our problem."

 For moments after the Admiral finished talking, much of the
crew continued to stare at the man, as if waiting for more
instructions.  Finally, the silence was broken.

 "Um, hey, guys?" said Priss, standing right in front of the
main viewscreen with Akito beside her.  They were both staring at
the viewscreen intently.

 "What is it, Priss?" asked Sylia.

 "I read that stars twinkle at night because of the
atmosphere of Earth.  Is that right?"

 Sylia looked confusingly between Yurika and Mason.  "That's
right."

 "Then," said Akito, pointing up at the screen, "why are
those stars twinkling?"

 Yurika and Sylia simultaneously leaned forward on the
railing that separated their platform from the lower portions of
the bridge, staring at the screen.  "Ruri, could you magnify that
section of the screen?" asked Sylia.

 "Magnifying," said Ruri.

 The stars grew in size until they were clearly not stars
anymore.

 "Are those ships?" asked Yurika.

 "Impossible," said Sylia.  "There aren't any ships in
vicinity of Jupiter.  Ruri?"

 "Sensors indicate a fleet of twenty four ships approaching
the Nadesico.  They seem to be small, short range vessels,
probably fighters, closing in fast.  They are definitely not UN
Spacey ships."

 "That's impossible," repeated Sylia.

 "I'd say it's very much possible," said Priss, "considering
they're coming at us right now."

 "Megumi, see if you can establish a link with them.  Can
you determine their origin, Ruri?" asked Yurika.

 "Their trajectory indicates an origin on the far side of
Jupiter.  Sensors cannot determine their exact departure
location."

 "I'm getting no response from the alien fleet," said
Megumi.  "It seems as though their ships are capable of
communicating with us but they are simply refusing to connect."

 Sylia turned to Fukube.  "You wouldn't happen to be
familiar with any first contact protocols, would you?"

 The Admiral slowly shook his head, "Nothing that would help
here."  He turned to Yurika, "It's up to you to decide what to
do."

 Yurika stared at the incoming ships with a determined look.
"Prepare to launch the Aestivalis'.  Ms. Asagiri, if you please?"

 Priss nodded and jogged out of the bridge.

 "Megumi continue trying to contact the ships."

 "Aye, Captain."

 "Seiya?"

 file://Captain?//

 "Launch the Aestivalis' when ready.  Tell the pilots not to
engage the enemy until fired upon, and even if they are attacked,
respond with only enough force to disable.  Understand?"

 file://Roger!//

 Seiya's window disappeared as Yurika turned away to look at
Sylia.  "Admiral Fukube is right, we need to work as a crew
instead of a group of individuals.  You may have built Nadesico
from the ground up, but I am her captain and if you won't work
with me voluntarily, I'll order you to."

 Sylia looked even eyed at Yurika.  "What do you want?"

 "Find out what happened during our jump and how we can get
back as soon as possible.  I don't want to be here a second longer
than we have to."

 Sylia tiled her head slightly, "Aye, Captain."

 Yurika watched as Sylia turned towards her station and
began accessing Omoikane.  "Nene?"

 A screen appeared in front of Yurika with the young
redhead's face in it.  file://Yes?//

 "Launch the recorder buoy in the direction of Earth.  Make
sure it contains all our sensor data since the jump as well as the
bridge transcript."

 file://Right-o!// Nene winked as the window shrunk away.

 "What are your intentions now, Captain?" asked Mason.

 "We wait.  We let the make the first move."

***

 Jiro jumped down into the cockpit of his Aestivalis, the
large blue humanoid robot he'd been assigned to pilot, and
strapped himself in.  At first the interior was dark, and he had
to feel around to get the straps, then, a few moments after he'd
become properly seated, the large, panoramic viewscreen flashed to
life and several windows popped up displaying the startup status.
Jiro waited as the windows disappeared and the interior of the
hangar came into view.

 file://Jiro!// a voice called out moments before the face
matching the sound appeared on the viewscreen.  Chief Engineer
Uribatake stared coldly at the pilot.

 "The name is Gai!" Jiro yelled back with equal force.

 file://I don't care what the hell you call yourself, just don't
bang up those Aestivalis' any more than you need to.//

 "I protect my Genkigengar with courage and honor, so
nothing can hurt it!"

 Seiya blinked.  file://Jiro!  Get you head out of the clouds and
listen to me.  Do NOT engage the enemy with your Aestivalis, your
honor, or anything until we have orders from the captain,
understand?//

 "Yaaa!  Let's Gekigan-IN!"

 Seiya put a hand to his head just before his screen
disappeared.  The cockpit then rumbled as Yamada placed his IFS
blazoned hand on the interface orb and the robot rumbled to life.
With the depression of one of the foot petals, he launched off of
the track and out of the hangar into space.

 Moments later, he was joined by a second, green colored
Aestivalis, flying out in space.  The pilot's face appeared as she
established a link with Yamada's unit.

 file://All right, Gai, you just hang back until I say so,// said
Priss.

 "Are you joking, lovely?  I'll protect you, let me go
ahead!"

 file://Yeah right, you're the last person I'd trust my life
to.//

 "Come on, Priss"

 file://Yamada,// a young, pale faced girl said as her image
appeared in the cockpit.

 "Daikouji Gai!"

 file://The ships are approaching your position.//

 "Huh?"

***

 "Time to find out what this is all about," mused Mason.

 "Can you determine anything more about the ships, Ruri?"
asked Sylia.

 "They are composed of various common metals and plastics,
similar to the hull of the Nadesico.  They appear to be running
off of several large batteries, located on the belly of the
vessel, which are powering the main drive, operational systems and
weapons."

 "Weapons?" asked Megumi.

 "Ships are equipped with particle laser weapon systems
comparable to the Nadesico's own main defensive laser cannons.
They are currently being shielded by small pockets of warped space
that Omoikane believes to be distortion fields."

 "Impossible..." said Sylia.

 "It seems," said Mason, "that these approaching ships are
equipped with an awful lot of your prototype technology.  How
might that be, Doctor?"

 "I have no idea!  Why don't you ask *them*?"

 "Megumi?" said Yurika.

 "Still nothing."

 "Ships will be within weapon range in fifteen seconds."

 Yurika turned to Dr. Stingray.  "Any advice?"

 Sylia raised an eyebrow.  "Keep my ship safe."

 A window appeared on the main viewscreen with Priss in it.
file://What's the word?//

 "Wait until fired upon," said Yurika.

 file://What if we don't survive that?//

 Yurika looked away.

 file://I see.//

 "Ships are entering weapons range now."

 The bridge crew simultaneously held their breath.

 Then all hell broke loose.

***

 Priss was thrown against the side of the cockpit by the
sudden impact, coming real close to slamming her temple against
the bulkhead, before she got a firm grasp on the console in front
of her and steadied her Aestivalis.  She managed to look up at the
viewscreen just in time to fire her jets and get out of the way of
another shot.

 "They're shooting at us!" she yelled knowing her connection
to the Nadesico was still up.  She gripped the control ball firmly
and did a maneuver similar to a back flip to avoid the next
barrage.

 file://Lets go!  Genkigangar!// Jiro's voice came over the link
just before she saw his Aestivalis gun towards the alien ships.

 "Wait!  Gai!" she yelled as she turned her Aestivalis again
to avoid being skewered by an enemy barreling towards her.
"Geeze, these guys are crazy."

 file://Hold up, Priss!  Gai!// said Yurika.

 "What is it?"

 file://Their energy source is on the bottom of their craft, try
to disable them!//

 "Why?  They're certainly trying to kill US!"

 file://This might be a misunderstanding, we did intrude into
their space.//

 "They're pretty damn jumpy if this is a mistake!"

 file://Just try to do it, okay?//

 "Fine, but you have to convince Mr. Romantic over there!"

 file://Come on, Priss!// said Jiro.  file://We have to fight the
battle of justice!//

 "Shut UP, Gai!"

***

 "Megumi, try to convince Jiro to tone it down."

 "Yes, Captain."

 "How far are they from the Nadesico?"

 "The alien fighters are concentrating on the Aestivalis'
right now," said Ruri.  "They have yet to approach the Nadesico,
maintaining a range of one-point-five kilometers."

 "We need a way to talk to these people," said Yurika.
"Explain to them that we mean them no harm."

 "Diplomacy doesn't seem to be these people's best trait,"
Mason said.

 "We have to try!"

 "Yamada is in trouble."

 file://OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!//

 file://Dammit, Gai!  Stop rushing into them like that!// yelled
Priss.

 file://But they're EVIL!  They'll flee when faced with the
purity of my courage.//

 file://They don't seem to be fleeing!//

 file://Give it time...//

 "Ugh," Megumi said turning to the captain.  "He isn't
listening to anyone, Captain, not me nor Priss."

 file://They're too quick,// said Priss.  file://I can't get into a
position to hit their underside fast enough.//

 "You have a choice here, Captain," Mason said.  "Either you
engage them with full force or we lose two good pilots."

 Yurika hung her head.  "Charge the forward laser
batteries."

 "Additional ships approaching," Ruri announced.

 Yurika looked up quickly.  "What?"

 "Sensors indicate a fleet of no less than one hundred and
fifty ships approaching from around Jupiter.  Intercept time: five
minutes fifteen seconds."

 "Target all available lasers on the enemy fleet and begin
firing."

 "We're far out of range of them, Captain."

 "Fire anyway, try to scare them off."

 "Hold on," interrupted Sylia rushing to the railing beside
Yurika.  "Forget the lasers.  Call the Aestivalis units back and
ready the Gravity Cannon."

 "Belay that order."  Yurika turned to Sylia.  "This is
first contact, we don't need to commit genocide."

 "They seem to be ready to do it to us, we need to meet
their force."

 "We do NOT need to kill a fleet of 150 ships when we don't
even know why they're attacking!"

 "We know why they're attacking; they consider us the
enemy."  Yurika gasped but Sylia stared evenly at her.   "We have
no choice, Captain Misumaru.  Self preservation takes precedence
over the safety of the aliens."

 Yurika shook her head.  "I won't let you kill them all."
She turned away.  "Continue with the laser batteries, try to ward
them off.  But do as Dr. Stingray says and call back the
Aestivalis units."

 "This is ridiculous!" yelled Sylia as she turned and
stormed towards the door to the Ready Room.

 "Where are you going?" said Yurika.

 "I'm going to find out how to get home so we can ESACPE
since you're so against killing our *enemies*."  The doors to the
room opened and she stepped through.

 "Ugh," sighed Yurika.

 file://Having a little trouble here!// Priss said.

 "The enemy units have surrounded the Aestivalis units,"
reported Ruri.

 "Can the main batteries get them off?" asked Yurika.

 "Not without risking the safety of the Aestivalis units."

 "Can we send them any help?  Are there any more Aestivalis
suits?"

 "Yes, but no registered pilots."

 In the front of the bridge, before the viewscreen, Akito
turned his head to look at the captain.

 "We'll have to risk firing at the enemies around them.  Mr.
Holy?"

 The large man looked up from a console on the left-hand
side of the bridge.  "Yes, captain?"

 "I'm leaving it to you to keep the pilots safe.  Time to
prove your sharpshooting skills."

 "I'll try my best captain."

 "Minato, move the Nadesico closer to the ships attacking
the Aestivalis units.  It'll make targeting easier."

 "Not much," mentioned Gort Holy.

 The sound of the bridge doors closing caused Yurika to turn
but when she looked at the doors, she saw nobody.

***

 Akito raced down the halls of the Nadesico towards the main
hangar as fast as the thousands of thoughts going through his
head.  He wasn't really sure what he was doing right now, and had
nearly stopped himself several times along his run, but he wanted
to help Priss and that kept him physically going each time.
However the train of thought in his head was not so easily
satisfied.

 He came aboard the Nadesico mainly because everyone in his
world was coming and didn't really know what he would do if he
didn't come.  He was a modest cook, he'd like to believe, so being
a chef was a good excuse, but really, he was afraid of being
alone.

 He wasn't sure what had happened to him when he was
younger, he couldn't remember any more than flashes, flickering
memories of years past, but of the times he could remember,
everything from the time he arrived on Earth and on, most of it
was spend being alone.  An orphaned child, a lonely tenant, a cook
at a bar with no friends, a whole lifetime without people to talk
to, to bond with, to support.  It was terrible.

 Then he met Priss and everything changed.  She became good
friends with him, introduced him to Sylia who then offered him a
job at Genom.  It was a sudden change, but he took to it quickly
and soon came to value it dearly.

 When he heard that all of those people, those friends were
going off into space for possible lengthy journey, he felt as
though everything was being stripped away from him.  Thankfully,
Sylia knew how he felt and managed to get him aboard, however,
what he felt before then was so horrible he never wanted to feel
it again.

 Standing on the bridge and listening to Priss' distress and
the captain's inability to help, he knew he had to do something.
He'd operated IFS controlled mobile suits before, as part of the
many things he'd helped Sylia with, not an Aestivalis of course,
they were prototypes, but he knew the general concepts.  He could
help *her* this time.  Afterwards, she'd be fine, and he wouldn't
have to be alone.

 Just this once, at least.

***

 "We're as close as we're going to get, Captain," said
Minato, gently easing the ship closer to the ongoing battle.

 "The secondary enemy fleet will enter weapons range in one
minute."

 "Mr. Holy?" said Yurika.

 "Targeting."

 file://Captain!// Seiya's face appeared before Yurika.

 "Yes?"

 file://Someone just climbed into the spare Aestivalis!//

 "What?"

 "Another Aestivalis unit has launched from the Nadesico and
is approaching the combat area."

 "He moved right into my firing reticule," said Holy.

 "Establish a link with that Aestivalis," said Yurika.

 Beside the videos of Priss, Jiro and Seiya, Akito's face
appeared on the main viewscreen. file://Hey.//

 "What are you doing?" asked Yurika.

 file://I can pilot an Aestivalis,// said Akito.  file://You said you
wanted to send them help and I didn't want you to shoot at them
with your lasers.//

 "You can pilot?" asked Mason.  "What's your name?"

 file://Akito.  Tenkawa Akito.//

 "Akito..." repeated Yurika softly.  "Sounds familiar."

 Mason nodded.  "That's right, you came on with Sylia as
personal staff.  Why weren't you listed in the pilot database?"

 file://Well, that's because I'm a cook.//

 "A cook?" asked Mason.  "What is a cook doing with an IFS?"

 file://Um... I'm not sure.//

 file://Akito!// Priss said from her window.  file://Turn back, you
aren't trained for this!//

 file://I can do it, I can help.  After all, I don't want to lose
my only roommate.//

 file://Ahrg...// grunted Priss as she was struck again by the
flurry of small quick ships.  file://You keep this up and people are
going to get the wrong idea about us.//

 "Tenkawa's Aestivalis is engaging the enemy ships."

 file://Leave this to me, boy, I'll handle it!// said Jiro.

 file://I'm just giving you a hand.//

 file://If you're not fighting with the purity of heart, then you
might as well not be fighting at all.//

 file://I'm fighting as well as I can.//

 "The enemy units are beginning to disperse."

 "Holy?"

 "I can get a clear shot now," he said.

 "Fire!"

 Gort pressed down hard on the firing trigger as the main
viewscreen lit up in white with laser fire.  The beams stretched
out from the Nadesico and struck the enemy ships circling the
three Aestivalis units leaving only a few left.  Satisfied with
his work he turned to the captain and gave her a thumbs up.

 "Two ships are remaining of the units attacking the
Aestivalis'," reported Ruri.  "The approaching fleet will be in
weapons range in forty five seconds."

 "Priss, Jiro, Akito, get back to the Nadesico right away!"
said Yurika.

 file://I'm working on it,// said Priss through gritted teeth.

 file://There are still enemies out here,// Akito added.

 "Get back as quick as possible."

 "Captain," said Minato, turning in her chair to look at
Yurika.  "I've just lost control of helm, the ship is moving on
it's own."

 "How could that be?" asked Yurika.

 "Omoikane isn't responding to me, ships systems are no
longer being controlled by the bridge."

 "Who IS controlling them?" asked Mason.

 "The Gravity Cannon is charging," Holy said.  "The ship is
targeting the approaching enemy fleet."

 "Stop it!" yelled Yurika.

 "The computers are not responding," replied Ruri.

 "Pilots, get out of there!"

 file://We're trying!//

 "Gravity Cannon is set to discharge in five seconds."

 "Abort the process!"

 "Targeting won't let me interrupt the sequence," said Holy.

 "Firing."

***

 Ideas have the tendency of being two faced.  One is a
pretty, imaginative face, often it's the one the creator of the
idea sees.  It's a wondrous sight, full of promises for the
future, stepping stones towards an even greater idea.  These are
the faces that Einstein saw, Galileo envisioned, and Sir Thomas
Moore trusted.

 But behind every beautiful scene, lurking in the shadows,
lies the second face.  This face knows that the pretty side is
na've, it knows that it can be manipulated to serve one man or one
group and force the others away.  It knows the price of power and
it's eager to assert it.  This face is what told people to make
the atomic bomb from Einstein's theories, told the church that
Galileo's theories about the universe were the words of satan, and
spoke to Henry VIII about how his trusted companion was a traitor
to the crown for disapproving of his marriage.

 This doesn't mean that ideas are bad, far from it.  The
entire world of 2196 was build on the monumental ideas of it's
scientific legends.  It just means that you have to be careful
about what your idea will mean to other people.

 When Dr. Nicolai Barton created the first anti-mass field
in 2174, he saw a future of powerful force-fields to protect
people, hovercars to transport them, and a possibility for a
nearly endless power supply.  He saw the pretty face and was
entranced, unable to look away, so he gave his idea to the world,
and to his credit, most people saw the same face he did, a bright
future of peace.

 But there were the ones that caught a glimpse of the darker
side, the evil face that told them there was more to be had from
his technology besides clean power and a new way to travel.  They
saw a way to bend space and crush whatever was caught in the fold.
They saw a weapon to kill people easily, and with a new power
supply to charge their weapon, they could be invincible.

 These were the thoughts in the minds of Genom scientists
when they created the Gravity Cannon for the Nadesico.  They
imagined destroying hundreds of people in an ever-expanding cone
from the tip of their weapon.  Where some saw peace, they only saw
war.

 So it goes.

 When the bright beam of light erupted from the nose of the
Nadesico and arced towards her, Priss didn't think of the two
faces of an idea.  She'd never heard of Dr. Barton, who'd passed
away long before she'd ever come aboard the Nadesico, she didn't
know who made the weapon being used, all she did know, was that
she'd had so much left to do in life and she'd suddenly run out of
time.

 Jiro hadn't even noticed the beam when it came, he was too
busy trying to fend off the remaining enemy ships.  He was only
thinking about fighting the good fight, the battle of good and
evil.  He was taking a beating but he was actually happy.  They
say ignorance is bliss.

 Akito saw the beam, even though he'd been fighting the
small crab-like ships fiercely, and was afraid.  He'd seen a lot
of Genom's prototype weapons and equipment in his occasional
wanderings through the terran Genom tower, but he'd never seen
this.  It looked like fluid white, pouring out of the Nadesico and
channeled off away from the ship towards him.  He imagined such an
unusual weapon would be strong, he just wasn't sure how strong.

 Before any of them could breathe another breath, the
whiteness was upon them.  Barton would have turned in his grave if
he knew his idea had turned into this.

 Incidentally, many of the enemy ships saw the beam coming
as well and thought ... nothing.  But that was a matter still to
come.

***

 Yurika collapsed onto the deck of the bridge, her knees
unable to support her own weight anymore.  She simply stared ahead
as the whiteness dissipated off of the main viewscreen leaving
only an empty view of space and the three windows of static that
once showed the faces of the Aestivalis pilots.  To say she was
horrified would be an understatement.

 "Priss!" yelled Megumi into her headset.  "Jiro!  Akito!"
She turned.  "I can't reach any of them!"

 Ruri delicately placed her palms on the console in front of
her, her fingertips lightly glowing as a complex design of thin
white lines appeared on her forearms and stretching across her
hands.  "The approaching enemy fleet is no longer on sensors."

 Yurika tried to push herself to her feet.  "Does that mean
they got away?  Did they have Boson technology?"

 "Scans indicate a very large debris field in the area the
fleet occupied," Ruri said.  "The composition matches the
materials used in the first group of enemy ships.  There are
enough pieces to account for the full 150-ship complement."

 "What have we done?" said Minato, unmoving.  "Those could
have been people with families, friends, loved ones.  Who were we
to end all that?"

 "That will be enough," said Mason, calmly.  "Hard choices
have to be made every day, lets not waste our time lamenting
them."

 "150 people might be DEAD!" Minato yelled back.  "It's our
fault, and you expect us to just calmly accept it?"

 The suited man turned towards the helmswoman and stared her
down with his icy, emotionless eyes and stiffly nodded.  Minato
scowled in response.

 "Omoikane is responding again," said Ruri.  "Reports
indicate an override code was engaged several moments before
firing, diverting all bridge functions to one location."

 "Where?" asked Yurika, an uncharacteristic amount of venom
dripping from her voice.

 "The bridge ready room."

 As if on cue, the door to the ready room opened and Sylia
stepped out, her normal stoic look upon her face but with a
slightly smug walk.  Yurika pounced on her the moment she was
within range.

 "Ladies!" said Mason.

 "What did you do?" Yurika nearly screamed.

 "I took the necessary initiative to protect our crew," said
Sylia.  "Get off me, you're ruining my outfit."

 "Protect our crew?  You killed our pilots!  You killed
Akito!"

 Sylia raised an eyebrow to Yurika's last statement but
retained her calm  voice.  "I've done nothing of the sort.  Check
your sensors, the Aestivalis' are drifting off to the port side of
the ship."  She coughed gently.  "Will you get off now?"

 Yurika looked up then towards the viewscreen.  "Ruri?"

 "She's right, Captain," replied the young girl.  "They are
heavily damaged and inoperative, but I'm detecting strong life
signs from all three.  Seiya is launching a pickup to get them
now."

 "Some of those pilots are my friends as well, Captain, I
wouldn't put them in danger.  Now, get up."

 Yurika turned back to Sylia, "That still doesn't change the
fact that you killed all those ships."

 Tired of it all, Sylia grabbed Yurika's arm and yanked her
to the side and stood herself up.  Dusting off her clothes she
regarded Yurika with a bored look, "Sometimes the hard choices
need to be made, you can't wallow with indecision when lives are
at stake."

 Standing, the captain strode up into the Doctor's face, "We
need to--"

 file://Captain.//

 Yurika turned to see Seiya's face hovering before her.
"What is it, Chief?"

 file://I think you should come down her and look at this.//

 "What's wrong?  Are our pilots okay?"

 file://The pilot seem to be fine, it's about these enemy ships.
I had one salvaged with the pilots.//

 "What about it?"

 file://They don't seem to have a pilot compartment.//

 Yurika and Sylia frowned at each other.  "What?" said
Sylia.

 file://These ships don't have pilots, they were all drones.//

***

 "Akito!" the voice came, high pitched, whining, a sound
he'd heard far too many times recently.  Akito glanced back at the
young purpled-haired girl, probably no older than 6, following him
with a worried look on her face.  "Akito!  Where are you going?"
she said, noticing she'd gotten his attention.

 He quickly turned forward, continuing to walk towards the
sun, hanging low in the Martian sky.  His small legs moving him as
fast as they could without going into a full out run.  "Stop
following me," he said.  "I'm going home."

 "But home is back that way," the girl said pointing behind
her.

 "That's not my home, I'm going to where mommy and daddy
are."

 "But they're in the Biiiiig Building, we're not allowed to
go in there.  Daddy says only people in uniforms and long white
coats like your mommy and daddy can go in."

 "I don't care, I'm going to see them.  I don't want to say
in that house anymore."

 "You can stay in my house!" said the girl, cheerily.  "I've
got lots of rooms in my house and Ms. Tella is very nice."

 "I only want my mommy and daddy."

 "But Ms. Tella can make us some hot chocolate and cook very
good--"

 "Shut up!" yelled Akito.  "I don't want your food, or your
Ms. Tella, or your daddy, or your stupid house.  I don't want my
house either.  I just want my mommy and daddy, and I wish everyone
else would just go AWAY!"

 He turned on his foot as he noticed the girl starting to
tear up and stormed off down the road towards the Big Building.
Already crying, the young girl reached down on the ground and
picked up a small rock.  "Stupid!" she yelled as she hurled the
rock at Akito.  The small stone wobbled through the air, striking
the boy in the back of the head, knocking him silly.

 With a yelp, Akito sat up in his head and looked around the
room.  He was lying in some non-descript bed in a large room
frilled with other beds and the soft, regular beep of machinery.
The room was dimly lit but glancing to either side he could see
Gai and Priss in beds to either side of him.  In a flash of
realization, he knew that it was the Sickbay of the Nadesico.

 Lying back on his bed, he breathed deeply and thought about
what just happened.  The last thing he could remember was fighting
the small ships to save Priss and Gai then being engulfed by a
white light that seemed to come from the Nadesico.  Was the ship
firing on them?  What had happened to the enemy ships?  Was
everything okay?

 He tried to rationalize some of his questions, of course
things must have worked out, he didn't hear any sirens and the
ship seemed to be steady, none of the regular signs of combat.
The ship couldn't have fired on them, could they?  Why would they,
only to rescue him and put him in sickbay.  No, something else
must have happened, something he didn't understand yet, it had to
be.

 Convincing himself that everything had to be okay and even
if it wasn't there wasn't much he could do from sickbay, he tried
to relax on the bed.  His thoughts quickly drifted to the dream he
just had.  It seemed like an ancient memory, from the days of his
youth, but he couldn't be sure.  Much of his childhood he couldn't
remember, some sort of repression, Sylia had said.  That some
event in his past was so traumatic to him that he locked it all
away.  But from what he could remember from that dream, the only
traumatic thing was that crazy girl that was following him around.
What was her problem?

 Thinking again about those images, he thought he heard
himself mention parents, a mommy and a daddy.  Akito couldn't
remember his parents at all and was beginning to question whether
he had them at all.  That young image of himself seemed to be
certain, however.  He wondered what they looked like.  Did he have
his father's hair, or his mothers?  What about his eyes?  The
dark, piercing appearance must have come from his father.  Or
maybe it was a mysterious look from his mother?  He wished he
knew.  There were too many speculations and not enough facts about
his past and Sylia had never been able to find out anything about
them in her searches.  It would have to remain unknown, at least
for now.

 "Are you awake?" a soft voice said.

 Akito was startled by the sudden sound in the quiet room,
and looked around quickly for the source.  From the shadows in the
other side of the sickbay a figure stood and started moving
towards the bed.  Apprehension gripped Akito, like it did
yesterday, as the shadow stepped into the light and revealed
herself to be the Captain.  Oddly, the apprehension didn't fade.

 "Feeling all right?" she asked with a large smile.

 "I'm fine, thank you, Captain," said Akito.  It sounded
strange for her to ask that, but he didn't know why.  Something
about the Captain lingered just out of reach so that his mind
couldn't grasp it but it knew it was there.

 "I wanted to thank you for your bravery in trying to save
the other two pilots," said Yurika.  "You saved Priss and Gai and
possibly the Nadesico by keeping the enemies busy.  And I also
wanted to apologize for what happened afterwards.  It was out of
my control but I still wanted to say I'm sorry to all the pilots."

 "What happened?"

 "There was a conflict on the bridge and Dr. Stingray used
the Nadesico's main weapon against the approaching fleet.  It's
not that important as long as you're all right."

 Akito grimaced, he knew how Sylia was when someone
questioned her reasoning.  He was surprised they weren't brawling.
"You were waiting here to tell me that?"

 "Yes, and..." she trailed off and turned slightly red.  "I
don't know how to explain it but I was really worried about you.
I don't know why, but I feel like I know you, from a long time ago
or something."

 He nodded, "I know what you mean.  There's something
familiar about you as well."

 "Maybe we were lovers in a past life!" announced Yurika.

 Akito laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head.
He suddenly winced in pain as his hand rubbed across a sensitive
nerve and he closed his eyes for a moment.

 "What's wrong?"

 "Nothing," he said through gritted teeth.  "I must have hit
my head on the bulkhead in the Aestivalis.  I'll be fine."

 "Are you sure?  Maybe we should do a scan or something."

 "No, I'll ..." he looked up at Yurika and did a double
take.  For a moment, he saw the young purple haired girl in his
dream instead of the captain.  Blinking, the image went away but
the memory lingered until he made the connection.

 Purple hair ... high pitched voice ... overly concerned
with his well-being ... childish attit

 "It's you," said Akito, eyes widening.

***

 Leon leaned back in his chair and looked at the reports
about the events that occurred today with the enemy fleet.  He
wasn't really all too involved in what was going on between the
Nadesico and any other ships, since his concern was security
aboard the ships, but he was still curious.  It seemed as though
after the entire drone fleet was destroyed whoever they' were
hasn't returned.  Maybe they decided that they were too powerful
to mess around with and decided to retreat.  Or maybe they were
simply swelling their forces for a stronger attack, who knows?

 Clearing his screen of the event, he put his feet up on his
desk and watched through his doorway at the passing officers.
Several nondescript crew members walked past, probably part of the
engineering staff or some of his security staff he hadn't become
familiar with yet.  Then a very large man appeared and turned to
walk into Leon's office.

 The man lumbered forward and dropped a few pages of paper
onto the desk and stood, looming above the sitting officer.  Leon
scratched his chin.  "Mister ... Holy, right?  Gort Holy?"

 "Yes, sir," said Holy.

 "What's this?" asked Leon as he poked the pages of paper
with his index finger.

 "My report," came the swift reply.

 "Report?"

 "Under the articles of the UN Spacey charter, of which
Genom is trying to mimic, the Chief of Security is in charge of
all aspects of safety aboard the Nadesico including the protection
of teams that go to the surface, and the active defensive and
offensive systems used in ship to ship combat.  Thus, all officers
in positions that operate in regard to these areas of activities
report to the Chief of Security.  As the main tactical officer, I
report to you."  He tapped the pages with his finger once to
stress his point.

 Leon looked up and gaped.  "That's the longest I've ever
heard you talk before."

 "If that will be all, sir?" asked Holy with a curt cough.

 Leon waved him back as he saw the man stepping away from
his desk again.  "Wait a minute, have a seat, Mr. Holy."

 He obliged.  "What is it?"

 "You are far too stiff," said Leon leaning back in his
chair and staring over his desk at the suited man.  Leon himself
had been called a giant on occasion, his height allowing him to
tower over most people, but the man before him was tall AND
heavily built.  He would be more similar to a walking wall than a
person and his tense attitude was only confirming that idea.
This, of course, would have to change.  "I assume you're at the
end of your work shift if you're delivering this to me?"

 "Yes."

 "Then you have no reason to object to having a drink with
me," said McNichol as he moved over to a section of the wall and
slid it aside revealing a small wet bar.  "What would you like to
have?  Keep in mind I'm no mixed drink expert."

 "Sir, I don't believe this is"

 "You have to relax, Gort," said Leon as he reached into the
back and pulled out a few chilled bottles of beer.  "Call me Leon,
and take a beer."  Gort accepted the offer but only held it in his
hands while Leon twisted off his cap and took a swig.  "You have
to open it in order for it to work right," he chided.

 Reluctantly, Gort twisted off the cap and sipped the
beverage.  Leon smiled in response.  "There you go, now, lets push
this report aside and talk about other things.  I just heard you
ramble on about UN Spacey regulations so I know you CAN talk, you
just seem to choose not to.  This needs to change."

 "We are in the middle of enemy territory with little to
defend us, perhaps this isn't the best time to be relaxing."

 "Dr. Stingray is working on getting us home and we haven't
heard anything from whoever was controlling those drones.  Things
are fine right now, the night crew can handle everything.  Just
chill out and talk before your hair goes gray with all the stress
your giving yourself."

 Gort was hesitant, then he took another sip of his beer and
settled in his chair.  "You still look like a brick in that
chair," said Leon.  "Maybe it's the suit, you should invest in
some t-shirts and sports coats."

 "I like my suit."

 "Okay, fine, at least take off your blazer."  Leon raised
an eyebrow at the unmoving man.  "Anyway...  So, Gort, what did
you do before you were recruited for the Nadesico?"

 "I was an officer in the UN Spacey Fleet."

 "Really?  I thought they weren't using military personnel."

 "My time in the fleet did not end with my joining the
Nadesico.'

 "Oh, I see," mused Leon.  "Care to talk about it?"

 "No."

 "Oh."

 Leon drank his beer and looked at Gort, who stared straight
back.  For some reason, he couldn't come up with anything else to
talk about.  What a conversation killer this guy was.  Their
silence was interrupted by the bridge helmswoman walking into the
office.

 "There you are," said Minato exhaustedly.  "I need to talk
to you in private."

 Gort placed his beer on Leon's desk and stood up.  "Good
night, Chief," he said as he turned towards the door.

 "It's Leon, call me Leon," pleaded McNichol.  Gort simply
moved over to the woman and walked away from the office.  Leon
sighed when they were out of sight.  "I'm going to have to do a
lot of work on that man."

***

 Sylia stood silent on the small green field in the
observation deck staring off into the inky black space outside of
the ship.  Normally, when the observation deck is in use,
occupants like to cover the large, panoramic windows with screen
depicting their favorite time of day over the illusion of many
more fields or lakes or whatever their preference.  One of the
luxuries of a room created solely for the purpose of creating
atmosphere was the ability to experience any event as many times
and at whatever speed you desired.  Often couples would sit aboard
these rooms in ships and watch the sunset only to leave so another
couple could view the same event.

 Originally, these rooms, which have been aboard space
faring vessels since the creation of an Earth Fleet, would have
synthetic grass and a few polystyrene trees decorating, but it was
quickly discovered that in an entirely fake environment was not
any more relaxing than any other place on the ship.  So now the
Astroturf has been replaced by a real grassy field and the
Styrofoam trees by living oaks.  It was harder to maintain, but
the effect was seen almost instantaneously.  Stress levels
reduced, mental ailments were quicker cured, and even the level of
simple headaches reduced, all the result of keeping a relaxing
room populated by plants.

 These findings led to several studies leading to the
conclusion that man, as a species, is, to a degree, attuned with
the plants and other simple immobile life it shares it's habitat
with.  The reason this link had never been found before was simply
because no matter where you go on earth, you are never too far
from plant life.  But with the increased time spend in orbital
stations and eventually interplanetary ships, the matter was
discovered and addressed.

 All this was trivial to Sylia, however.  While it was
relaxing and slightly pleasant in the room, she had several other
things to be doing that were very pressing and she didn't need to
waste time.  Why she was called out to this place by Admiral
Fukube at this time was beyond her.  So to pass the time, she
gazed calmly at the view to the front of the ship as it moved,
slowly in comparison to the distance needed to be covered, towards
the sun.

 She became so entranced by the image however, she didn't
even hear the Admiral approach her.  "Doctor Stingray," he said in
his gruff yet low voice.  "I'm glad you came."

 "Admiral," nodded Sylia.  "You'll excuse me if I'm a little
blunt, we're in a very precarious situation and I need to do a lot
of work in a short period of time.   So, what do you want?"

 "Hm..." said Fukube.  He turned to look out the front of
the ship just a as a myriad of colors appeared to suddenly shoot
out of the sun and paint the inside of the Observation deck.  The
colors gently drifted, cycling through several shades.  "It's
beautiful, isn't it?"

 "I assume so," said Sylia, remaining all business.  She
glanced once around the room.  "It's the asteroid belt between us
and the sun.  The crystalline minerals refract the light, nothing
that can't be done at home."

 "But this isn't home, Doctor.  We can't walk down to the
lab and call up a historical file and reprint it all over the
landscape.  We can't do a lot of things that we would like to do
if we were in orbit of Earth.  We may not have intended to, but we
stepped right into a different game than the one we were playing
and this one has different rules."  He turned to Sylia this time.
"We can't leave again unless we beat this one."

 "What are you getting at, Admiral?"

 "I've noticed a bit of tension between yourself and the
Captain," he said shortly.  "You two don't seem to like each
other.  Especially after you went and did today."

 "I know where you come from," said Sylia.  "You're used to
military style orders and procedures.  But this isn't a military
crew, and I can't help it if our *Genom-chosen* captain refuses to
see the usefulness in my suggestions."

 "You didn't really suggest it," he pointed out.

 "Regardless, she threw my idea away without giving it a
second thought.  So I did it myself."

 "That's the problem, you shouldn't have done that."

 "But I was RIGHT in my thinking."

 "That is not for you to decide," he said louder than he had
been speaking.  Pausing for a second, he turned back to the sun,
basking in the continuing colors.  "This isn't my ship, I haven't
captained a vessel in over thirty years, I don't know how these
new devices work.  But I know how a crew is supposed to respond to
their captain and frankly, you're the worst offender."

 "This is MY ship, I was in charge of EV--"

 "Yes, yes," said Fukube.  "Everything from bow to stern,
all the computers and all the technology.  You know all that there
is to know and then some, and that's made you arrogant."

 Sylia frowned.  "I don't think"

 "Precisely the problem," he interrupted.  "This is a large
ship and a numerous crew.  They all have their different duties to
perform and by themselves they are chaotic and inefficient.  They
need to have the strong leadership of a captain in order to do
their jobs well.  By continuously disagreeing with her and going
over her head, you are destroying the iconic figure of the
Nadesico's captain and it's going to cause trouble."

 "Iconic is hardly the word I'd use.  Now what's really the
problem, Doctor?  If you wanted to be in charge why aren't YOU the
captain?"

 "Genom didn't want it that way.  They still wanted me
aboard for technical support as it may seem but they would not let
me be captain.  I still don't know why.  If they wanted someone
with more experience why did they choose such an airhead to be
captain?"

 "I know the Misumaru's well, Yurika's father, the Admiral,
is a fine officer, and I understand that Yurika herself did
excellently at the academy.  Top of her class in tactical
simulations and mock combat.  She's got a few things to learn
about commanding a diverse crew, but she'll learn."  He turned
back to Sylia, "Why don't you give her a chance?"

 "Because we're in the heart of enemy territory, because she
doesn't know the ship well enough, because we don't have the time
to dawdle.  Would you like me to continue?"

 "All the better chance for her to prove herself," said the
Admiral, raising his eyebrows.  "She'll come through, you just
wait."

 Sylia turned her back to Fukube and started up the gentle
slope of the hill towards the doors.  "I'm sorry, I don't have the
time.  Will that be all, Admiral?"

 He nodded slowly, turning back to gaze out of the window.
Sylia quickly turned and walked out of the room.

***

 Yurika padded through the halls of the Nadesico in a bit of
a haze.  Something was really nagging her and she couldn't figure
out what it was.  Every since talking with Akito and when he
suddenly became silent and ended their conversation, she'd gotten
this feeling that she should remember something about Akito,
something rather important but rather old.

 The name was certainly familiar, it felt almost natural for
her to say it, the way it rolled off her tongue with ease.  But
she didn't think she knew him, unless she was wrong, then she
would have known him, but couldn't remember, but since she can't,
she wouldn't, and won't

 Her highly perplexing and rambling chain of thought came to
a halt as she heard someone coming down the corridor towards her.
She looked up to see who it was.

 And froze.

 She knew this would happen.  Ever since they salvaged the
pilots and the enemy drone, she knew that she would have to finish
what she started, the matter needed resolution.  The only question
was if she could sum up enough courage to see it through.

 "Captain Misumaru," dripped the woman before her.

 "Doctor Stingray," replied Yurika with equal venom.

 The two stood watching each other's every move with cold,
calculating precision.  Like two cowboys in a showdown in the
center of town, the duelers tried to strike emotion into the other
with stern, fearless glances.

 Yurika swallowed and gathered her thoughts.  She had to end
this, she had to initial the final confrontation, it was her duty
as captain.  If she couldn't do this, what reason did she have
being in charge?

 Unfortunately, while she waded through her thoughts, Sylia
beat her to the punch.  "I don't want you here," the doctor said
bluntly.  "Your intentions, while humanitarian, placed the
Nadesico and her crew at significant risk.  I can't very well tell
you to get off the ship but I'd suggest you keep your role in
command to a minimum and let me take care of things.  Understand?"

 Yurika nodded slowly.  "I knew that you felt that way about
me," she said, then straightened.  "I also know what you think
about my skill as an officer.  But I'm sure you know that, as
Genom's selected commander, I retain full command of the Nadesico
and it's crew and, actually, have no obligation to obey your
commands.  You are a technical advisor and project leader, but the
ship, at least out here, belongs to me."

 Sylia narrowed her eyes, "I built this ship, and I will NOT
stand by and let you damage it."

 "I have no intention of causing damage to this ship or it's
crew.  I just want to get everyone home safely.  After that, you
can get another Captain or convince Genom to let you do it
yourself, but until then I'm in charge, and you'll take up your
problems with me in *private* council."  Yurika breathed and
internally did a double-take.  She couldn't believe she'd just
done that, but she felt good about it for some reason, like a
weight had bee lifted from her shoulders.

 "You do not have the experience or the familiarity to
properly command this ship!"

 "You don't have the proper training to command a space
vessel!"

 "You--"

 file://Captain.//

 Sylia and Yurika stopped in the conversation yet again to
stare at the screen that had just appeared next to them.  Ruri
looked passively at them.

 "Yes, Ruri?" said Yurika.

 file://Sensors are picking up more enemy ships coming around
from behind Jupiter.  Composition unknown, but estimates are over
a hundred ships of varying sizes.  Assuming they keep up their
present speed, they will catch up with the Nadesico in four
hours.//

 "Can we increase our speed?" asked Sylia.

 file://We are approaching our maximum velocity away from
Jupiter.  We are still feeling the effects of it's gravitational
pull and cannot reach our higher speeds.  If we increase power to
the Transpositional Engines we'll only increase the intercept time
to five hours twenty-five minutes.//

 "Increase speed to max," said Sylia.  "And get the main
crew back on duty."

 file://Yes, si--//

 "Wait, Ruri," interrupted Yurika.  "Can we reach the
asteroid belt before the enemies catch up with us?"

 file://It is possible to reach the fringes of the belt before
contact with the enemy vessels, but not by more than a few
minutes.//

 "Head directly towards the asteroid belt, I'll be up there
as soon as I can."

 file://Aye, Captain,// nodded Ruri before her screen
disappeared.

 "What are you doing?" asked Sylia incredulously.  "You said
you WEREN'T going to risk the safety of my ship and our crew!"

 "I've got a plan," said Yurika, moving past the doctor and
walking down the corridor.  "If it works, we'll come out of this
unscathed."

 "Where do you think you're going?"

 Yurika glanced back and smiled, "The bridge."


TO BE CONTINUED...


Authors Notes:

--- Adam ---

 The first thing that comes to mind is 'Why?' and to that
question I have no really clear answer.  The roots of this story
lie in my first viewing of Nadesico at the RIT Anime club.  I
went, with co-writer Kainsin, to watch the show and afterwards we
were so impressed we eagerly went out to find more in search of
the true entertaining anime where life was pure and wholesome and
ironic as hell.  Then we found a golden buddah in the basement of
the SAU who came to life and told us we were to be granted one
wish...

 Well, maybe that didn't quite happen.  But we were excited
about the anime and, after a mere week Kainsin had watched it all
and a few weeks later, I followed suit and we were hooked.  We
both thought the ending was bit... unfulfilling and I really
wanted to keep telling the Nadesico story without going into the
movie 'Prince of Darkness'.

 At this point, however, I hadn't yet told Kainsin about the
story, I hadn't had enough meat on it yet.  Then, I got the crazy
idea to cross Bubblegum Crisis (OAV) over with Nadesico and the
whole thing really took off.  The two series seemed to mesh rather
well, if you forgive the century and a half time difference, so we
thought fusion was the way to go.  Kainsin and I sat down one
night and hammered out a basic plot, then the first episode, then
the next, and we set some goals to accomplish before the end of
the series, and here we are, writing Episode One.

 We've changed a lot of the characters here and really
created a different world than either Nadesico or BGC.  The full
extent of our changes will be told in later episodes as the true
story unfolds, you'll just have to be patient.

 One issue I really wanted to address, though, is the star
of this series.  In Nadesico it is very obvious that Akito is the
center of attention, but if you notice here, he's been pushed
slightly off stage to make room for a few of the BGC characters.
In this part, it's absolutely Sylia as the star, she hogs all the
screentime and is the driving force in this episode.  But don't
expect that to keep up, all of the characters will get their time
in the spotlight including Akito.

 Anyway, enough babble.  Send e-mail to Tempest@mail.com and
I'll answer as quickly as I can.  Now, without further ado, I turn
the spotlight to my compatriot: Kainsin.


--- Kainsin ---

 Gai Daikouji is the best! Gai Daikouji Gai Daikouji Gai
Daikouji.
 *Kainsin opens his eyes and notices everyone staring at him
with sweatdrops on their heads* Hehehe...hehehe...uhhh

 *Ahem* Anyways, like Adam said, he told me after Anime Club
one day, "Hey, want to co-author a BGC/Nadesico fusion?" and I
said "Sure."

 A couple months later he came up to me and said "Remember
that story?" I said "Yeah." and he said" We'll, we had better
start writing it." and I said "Okay." and well...here's the first
episode.

 At the time of this writing Adam and I have come up with
the outlines for the next two episodes and a good draft for the
outline of the entire story ( nothing is ever set in stone ) and I
personally can't wait to get all of the ideas into actual story
format.

 You may have noticed that the setting appears to take place
in the world of BGC and the story seems to follow Nadesico's, but
trust me, this world and story is far different from that of BGC
or Nadesico. We tried to use most of the characters personalities
in order to figure out how they would interact with one another.
Also, we didn't just take the story-line of Nadesico and just
change how things happened in order to make a seemingly different
story, we instead took some of the concepts and exciting points of
Nadesico and tied them into a story that we constructed.

 All in all, I believe that this will be a very good, unique
if anything, read. You can send email to me at
chris69@mail.rit.edu and I'll do my best to respond a.s.a.p.

Legal Jargon:

 "Mobile Battleship Nadesico" (or "Martian Successor
Nadesico") was created by Kia Asamiya and was produced by Studio
Xebec.  It was translated and adapted for North American audiences
by A.D. Vision.  "Bubblegum Crisis" was created by Suzuki
Toshimichi and Sonoda Kenichi and produced by YOUMEX.  It was
translated and adapted for North American audiences by Animeigo.
Although this series contains characters and situations from the
above works, this work is Copyright (c)2000, Tempest Creations.

---
Adam Christopher Leigh
Tempest@mail.com
http://dogbert.simplenet.com/Tempest




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