Subject: [FFML] [FIC][UF] REDNECK: WILDERNESS (Part 7 of 7)
From: redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck Gaijin)
Date: 7/19/1998, 11:29 PM
To: ffml@fanfic.com




        Ch. 16/THEN

        CFA Washington
        May 24, 2300

 	Sparky watched as Kris paced back and forth across his office floor, letting his head rotate slightly every now and again to follow Kris' frequent glances at the lab door. Two days had passed since Washuu had taken Lieutenant Azland's body into the lab, two days of investigation, additional security, and everything else important on hold while everyone waited for the medical report.. or autopsy.
	Kris had been persuaded to put on a new shirt and tunic, but that was it for grooming or rest during the past two days. He'd crammed sandwiches down his throat while he studied May's service record and background end to end, called up every officer who'd served with May for testimony (some at 0200 in the morning), flown down to Saenar to get the report from the spooks at Imperial Salusian Intelligence, even bar-crawled every single dive in the bad parts of the CFA New  Orleans to catch any hint of a rumor concerning May Azland or GENOM's prototype testing facilities on Niogi.
	May had come up clean. Spotlessly clean. Impeccably clean. 
	"How long has it been, Sparky," Kris mumbled, giving up pacing for a seat in one of his office's guest chairs.
	"Hm... from the time I came in after Washuu arrived, fifty-one hours, seven minutes, fifty-eight seconds mark," Sparky replied. "Boss, she'll be done when she's done."
	"I know, I know," Kris nodded.  Washuu had thrown Kris out of her Lab after twenty minutes of his hovering over her, pacing around her work area, generally distracting her from her work. Ever since then, no one and nothing had gone in or out of the little wooden door which had appeared just beside Kris' desk.
	"Maybe you'd like me to go in and see if Washuu's busy, boss?" Sparky trundled over towards the doorway, his twin photoreceptors aimed directly at Kris.
	"No, no," Kris shook his head, folded his hands and slumped down into his chair. "You know what really, really drives me crazy about all this. The not knowing.  I've learned everything there is to know that's on paper, in witness, or even in rumor about May Azland. There is simply no reason I can think of, barring a mole personality, for her to attack -anyone,- much less me. But she must have had SOME reason..."
	Sparky thought it over for a long moment. "Maybe she wanted the reward on your head?"
	Kris shook his head. "Sparky, according to her record, May has neither training nor programming for anything more than the most basic CFMF self-defense course. But she pulled a near-perfect blindside move on me in there."
	Sparky considered this, then added, "Then how come she didn't kill you, boss?"
	Kris shrugged. "My guess is, she seriously underestimated my ability. I went so far as to have Asrial pull the file ISI has on me- I'm a Knight Fucking Defender and they won't let me see my own file- and according to the information they have, I should probably be dead." Kris smiled just a little, grimly. "I've grown quite a bit in ninety-eight years."
	"If you say so, boss," Sparky said, wishing he could shrug. 
	"Anyway, given that ISI has more information on me than any other security bureau in existence- including CFMF Intel, by the way- I got lucky. May seriously underestimated me and my ability to recover... and I'm pretty sure she had no idea I could do this," he added, calling a red ball of light into existence over his chest and letting it flit around the room a couple of times before dissipating it in a flash.
	With that, the two fell silent, letting time slip slowly, painfully by, the stillness broken occasionally by the occasional messenger or curious officer. A few grumbled words from the Redneck sent them away, confused and whispering of mystery, conspiracy, and an angry admiral plotting revenge.
	The clatter of the crab-shaped chime over Washuu's Lab Door roused Kris from his apparent fugue. Sparky turned his head to see Washuu, looking worn and frustrated, stepped into the office.
	"Kris?" the redheaded mad scientist asked softly. "I've done all I can for her. Could you step in here, please?"
	Kris stood up, walked slowly to the Lab Door. Sparky trundled along behind, his sensors going haywire for a split second in the darkness between the door and the brightly lit expanses of the Lab. Off to one side, in a chair surrounded by dozens of scanners and readout panels, sat May Azland, naked save for a dropcloth, her arms replaced, her eyes still as dark as they had been when she said, "Emergency protection mode."
	"What happened to her, Washuu?" Kris asked, looking  into those blank, dim, pupils, hoping for some spark, some hint of life.
	"She was a mole," Washuu said. "Some great intellect at GENOM-" she spat out the name with an anger Kris had seldom seen, "decided to use their most advanced AI engine for a -cosmetic personality- while patching a primitive hunter-killer override over it. The two programs were mutually antagonistic; the more often she switched between the two, the more damage was done, until finally... her neural net went into a gradual crash."
	"You mean she's...." Kris didn't want to say it.
	"I don't know," Washuu shrugged. "Programming A Isisn't one of my specialties. It's hardly as simple as designing new life forms. I've done the best I can though... I managed to save most of her memories and a good deal of her basic knowledge database... I wasn't able to remove the hunter-killer program, not without risking a total neural failure, but I've managed to remove her hardwired orders and make the two programs compatible... what's left of them...."
	"What aren't you telling me, Washuu?" Kris' voice came soft, deep, throaty with anxiety... and guilt.
	"... there was a great deal lost, Kris," Washuu said. "I couldn't reconstruct most of her personality. I saved what I could...." Her voice trailed off as she came as close as Kris had ever heard her come to admitting helplessness.
	Kris looked the Buma- such a young face, a young body, too young to die, Kris thought. "Can you reactivate her?" he asked.
	"I should be able to," Washuu nodded. "I don't know what she'll be when she comes to, though..." She waved a hand over empty air, bent over the terminal that appeared before her. "Do you see the monitor with the line marked in red crayon across the screen?" she asked.
	Kris looked up, saw the screen above May's head and to his right. The line ran slightly higher than midway up, horizontally, across the display. "I see it."
	"That's the Spengler readout," Washuu said. "At her last checkup, Lieutenant Azland registered .84 Spenglers. That one readout will tell us how well I did my work..."
	"What's a Spengler?" Sparky asked. 
	Washuu didn't bother to look at the droid. "Spenglers are unit of measurement of soulforce, named after the Earth scientist who proved that force's existence in the 2020s," she lectured. "The unit is based on the spiritual energy generated by an average adult Terran. You register at .67 Spenglers, and Kris varies between 1.18 and 1.32 Spenglers depending on conditions."
	"What about you?" Sparky asked.
	"What about me?" Washuu tapped a few more keys on her terminal, paying no more attention to the astromech.
	Footsteps echoed from across the vast foyer of the Lab. Kris looked up to see Gina, dressed somewhat more conservatively than before, holding a large pistol in one hand. "I found my EMP gun, Washuu," she said, trotting across the surreal landscape as she saw Kris standing over May's body. "Oh, hello, Redneck! Are you here to watch?"
	"Gina," Washuu said, looking solemnly at her apprentice, "please stand where you are and be quiet. Kris, please move aside so Gina has a clear shot in case something happens..."
	Kris nodded, stepping a few paces away from the displays, keeping his eyes locked on the Spengler display.
	Sparky watched, expressionless as ever but anxious inside, as Washuu typed in a quick series of commands and turned to watch the displays flicker to life. Sparky's circuits surged with excitement as the Spengler meter leaped to life, then grew chill as the leap became a grudging, slow creep up the monitor. On the chair, the dim purple eyes lit up slightly, just slightly, blinked a few times as they came into focus. One hand rose up to pull the dropcloth up over her breasts. 
	The Spengler count crept one last, agonizing bit higher, and froze. 
	The white bar reached only halfway, maybe a bit more, to the red line.
	May's mouth opened slowly, closed again, then opened; words, slow, cold, toneless, came out. "Testing. One. Two. Five. Eight. Sixteen. Ninety. May Azland, Lieutenant, fully operational."
	Kris knelt beside the chair and looked directly into May's eyes. "May," he said quietly, "do you remember what happened?"
	May nodded, once, slowly. "I was taken over by a mole program planted in my subconscious. It blocked my memory of committing several acts of sabotage, leading up to and including a direct attempt on your life." No emotion, no regret, no anger, no joy, nothing. A moment later, she added, "I should be destroyed for my actions. I was malfunctioning. I may malfunction again."
	Kris shook his head. "No," he whispered. "You couldn't help what you did."
	"I understand," May said. "Then I must request a transfer."
	"A transfer?" Kris said. "Don't you want to be my aide?" He tried to smile warmly, wanted to show May that everything was all right again.
	"My proximity to you could only impair your performance, Admiral," May droned. "Furthermore, it makes no sense to have someone with my training assigned to a noncombatant position. I suggest my abilities would best be utilized in the Freespacer Marines."
	Kris nodded. "I'll... take it under advisement..." He stood up slowly, reluctantly, looking down sadly, his eyes clouded as he said, "May... I'm so very sorry..."
	"You have no reason to apologize, Admiral," May said in the cold, mechanical voice that stabbed Kris in the heart with every syllable. "I am in full operational condition."
	Kris nodded, turned away, whispered, "I'd like to be alone now," and walked as quickly as he could to the Lab Door.
	Sparky began trundling after him, stopped when he sensed Washuu's hand on his head. "Leave him alone, Sparky," she said. "He doesn't like to have company when he cries."

	The next day, in the corridor just outside the boardroom for RebelTech Industries, Ltd., Kris met a face he'd wanted to avoid, forever if possible.
	Nalga the Hutt, like most of his species, was a giant bloated slug with tiny arms, huge eyes, and a slit of a mouth nearly as wide as his entire body. Nalga understood English, and Kris understood Huttese, like most inhabitants of the Corellian and Rigel Sectors or Hutt Space, but Hutt custom was never to allow inferior races (like humans) to speak directly to a Hutt, so Nalga had an Industrial Automaton V-series diplomat droid.
	Despite his metal chassis, V1N-E seemed to exude more slime than his master. The robot's humanoid form slumped into an arrogant, street-wise pose, his metal-carved friendly smile bowed to appear as a superior smirk. Even the accent added to the fake 'wiseguy' image: "Da great an' powerful Nalga da Hutt is pleased ta make yer acquaintance, an' expresses 'is sorrow atcher recent tragetiy."
	Kris glared at Nalga, not sparing more than the briefest glance for the droid. "Tell your master that if I had proof, I mean the least hint of proof, that he was in any way involved with May Azland, he would be dead right this very minute."
	The Hutt barely moved as he listened to Kris' threat, then nodded once, the bulk of his upper body moving back and forth once, solemnly. In a deep, belching rumble, he replied in a long string of Huttese, including some words Kris wasn't quite sure of; he hadn't used the language in over a century, and some slang might have changed, he reasoned.
	"Da great an' powerful Nalga da Hutt wishes yas ta understan' dat he had nuttin' ta do wit' dat particular treat," V1N-E translated. "'E's willin' ta admit dat he's made some minor efforts ta inconvenience yas, but dat was strictly business. Dis... " The droid looked at the Hutt and spat out a quick string of Huttese: <Do you really want me to say this, Master?>
	Nalga shook his head, then faced Kris directly. <I am told that you understand the Holy Tongue, Admiral,> he said.
	Kris nodded.
	<Then please understand this,> Nalga said. <I do a great deal of things. Some might be considered good by your species; most would be considered evil. But what I do, I do strictly for business. I do not have a personal vendetta like my employer. I do not execute those vendettas. And I do not ever use moles,> he added with an especially deep, long grunt to punctuate the point. <Wasting promising subordinates is very bad for business.>
	"Is that all you have to say?" Kris snapped.
	<Only this more,> Nalga said. <Before I go in, I wish to acknowledge defeat in my current efforts. I did not adequately anticipate your return or the effect it might have. I thought the mad one was harmless. I should have anticipated this, and I did not. I will not make any more effort to buy out the fleet... so long as it turns my financers a profit.>
	"How generous of you," Kris said sarcastically. "Now you listen to me. I took it for granted that GENOM was bad news. When I returned and read about all the changes recently, I had even more cause to treat GENOM as the enemy. 
	"But now GENOM has created, and then destroyed, a person, a living, thinking being, for the sole purpose of preventing me from interfering with their plans. Any company that cares so little for its own, much less for its enemies, is my enemy. Personal. Forever. To the death. Do you understand me?"
	<All too well,> Nalga shook his blubbery head slowly. <Perhaps I should withdraw my funding from RebelTech... good luck to you, Admiral. I hope you overcome your emotions. They will be your undoing.>
	"Da great an' powerful Nalga da Hutt has spoken," V1N-E said, opening the boardroom doors so Nalga could slither in. Behind them, Kris stood and glared, struggling to bring his emotions under control.
	Just business, is it? 
	This isn't business, slimeball. 
	This is the beginning of a long, long war...


     Ch. 16/NOW

        Washuu's Lab
        August 24, 2388

        The illumination in the lab had died to a sort of twilight
level, leaving the forms of Rianna, Kris and Washuu illuminated in the
light of several dormant monitors. None of the three forms seemed
capable of movement; Washuu still lay immobile, mummified, on the bed;
Kris lay keeled over forward from his chair, sound asleep, head and
shoulders lying beside Washuu; and Rianna sat utterly still in her own
chair, leaning back slightly on its rear coasters, eyes closed in a
low-level Force meditation trance, keeping alert for possible
invaders.
        Rianna started in her chair at the sound of the crab-chime
clattering above the lab door, blinking as the lab returned to full
daytime illumination. Rising from the chair, she watched two women
walk toward the examination area. The one in front, a voluptuous
blonde, strode forward in a state of advanced irritation- Gina wasn't
terribly happy acting as escort.  The second woman wore a CFMF duty
uniform, the brand-new tabs of a lieutenant commander on her collar.
Her orange hair framed a freckled face, normally quick to smile, now
disturbed. Who, Rianna wondered, was this?
        Gina saw Rianna and nodded to her, saying, "I'm glad you're
awake, Ri." Jabbing a thumb towards Kris' sleeping form, she said,
"I'm even gladder he isn't. He was about to go nuts and take us with
him."
        "I'd guessed," Rianna replied.  "He wouldn't go to sleep until
I forced him to.  Lucky for me he was pretty much out of it or he
would've thumped me."
        "Um... You..." Gina assimilated the idea, filed it away for
future research, and said, "Anyway, this is Terri Curtiss. She's been
bugging me for the last hour to let her in. Can you keep an eye on
her?"
        "Terri Curtiss," Rianna recognized the name instantly.
"Pleased to meet you.  Sure, Gina," she added, sensing Gina was less
than patient right now.
        "Great," Gina said. "Sit down, get Zathras to get you a snack-
and DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING. -Either- of you. I'll be right outside if
anything happens." With that, Gina turned and walked briskly back to
the lab door; the crab chime clattered her departure.
        Terri watched Gina leave; then, for a moment, she looked at
Washuu. Finally, she focused her gaze on Kris' sleeping form. She took
a step over to him, reaching out a hand to caress him.
        "I wouldn't," Rianna warned, and Terri swiveled to look at the
civ-hunter.
        "Why not?" Terri asked, half curious, half challenging.
        "Because if you disturb him now, there's a good chance that
you might get seriously hurt," Rianna answered, trying to keep her
phrasing delicate.  "He was very upset when I put him to sleep, and
very determined to hurt anyone who came between him and Washuu." She
essayed a gentle smile as she said, "Let them sleep. Right now...
right now they need each other."
        "Hurt?" Terri looked at Rianna in disbelief. "But why would
Red want to hurt me? I'm..." She looked at the withered form and its
sleeping guardian, and her voice fell, "...no, I guess I'm not... I
knew he felt something for Washuu, but..." A hand strayed to her
pocket, bringing out an old ring box. "Not like this," she finished,
looking at the ring-box and trying not to cry.  Re-pocketing the ring
box, she paced a couple of times along the bed, silently fuming at
something. Finally, she said, "Dammit! Why does the Artist have to do
this?" Turning to Rianna, she said accussingly, "Tell me why, dammit!"
        Rianna arched an eyebrow. That was an unusual statement, to be
sure; not many people used the name "Artist" as the name of a god. "I
think we need to talk."
        Terri calmed down slightly; after a moment, she dragged a
chair away from one of the diagnostics readouts and sat in it,
sighing, "What would you like to know?"
        Rianna recovered her own chair.  "How long have you two known
each other?"
        Terri smiled slightly. "I've known him about three years, a
little more," she said. "He claims he's known me, or of me, for a lot
longer." Leaning back, she said quietly, "But really... only three
years."
        "I've known Red since, oh, about `55 or so," Rianna said. "My
partner and I were still new in the civ-hunting business back then and
we ran into some trouble on the New Orleans.  Red bailed us out and gave
us a hand."  She smiled.  "We've been friends ever since."
	"Sounds like what happened with me, in a
way," Terri said. "I don't remember exactly what happened, but somehow I fell
through this hole or something into this universe... Red knew who I
was- don't ask me to explain, you wouldn't ever believe it- and he
gave me a place, a home, with the Freespacers." Smiling slightly
herself, she said, "He's gotten a lot of use out of me in return."
        "Red leans on his friends a bit, but he does his best to help
them, too," Rianna said. "At first, I didn't think we were going to
get along..." Understatement there; when Red had first seen them, he'd
assumed that she was trying to attack Mayl instead of help save her.
"But by the time that particular mess was straightened out, he'd given
us a new ship, a small nest egg to work from, and most of all..."
Rianna trailed off, trying to find the right words.
        Terri drew her own conclusion from Rianna's silence. "You
mean..." she gasped, stuttering, "were you, uh...you know?"
        "No, no, nothing like that," Rianna smiled. "I had my own life
to lead. Still do.  But we have become close friends since then. Ever
since I've known him, almost, I've known that there's someone I can go
to whenever I need help, a favor, or just someone to talk to."
Frowning slightly, she said, "For me, that's a rare and precious thing
to have."
        "All right, so you know Red well. What's that got to do with
me?"
        Rianna smiled gently at Terri. "In a way -- and don't
misunderstand what I'm saying -- I'm closer to Red than you are," she
said. "Those who are strong in the Force- like Red and myself- are
open to other Force users, in a way. We feel each other's emotions,
occasionally each other's thoughts, without even trying.
        "For a long time now, Red has been seeking someone he can fall
in love with, someone he could call a... I think soulmate is the word
he would use. I don't mean to say he doesn't love you- he loves you
very much," she added. "He loves a lot of people... even some," she
murmured, nodding towards Washuu, "that he didn't know he loved.
        "You've known Red for three years. I've known him for thirty.
Washuu has been with him, off and on, for almost four hundred years.
He depends on Washuu more than most people can ever understand, I
think. That's why he was in such pain before.  She's... he called her
his other half.  If he lost her, Kris might not be able to go on
living. That's how much he needs her... he loves her." Looking Terri
in the eyes, she said, "It took all of this madness to make him
finally realize that.  And that leaves the ball, as they say, in your
court."
        "Me?" Terri said. "If what you've just said is true, then
either Red gives up, or he runs off with Washuu. Where does that leave
me?"
        "If you believe that, then you don't understand Red as well as
you think," Rianna said, shaking her head.  "Kris Overstreet would challenge the
gates of Heaven and wrestle with the demons of Hell for you, for me,
for anyone he cares about.  Even if Washuu lives, he made a promise to
you, and he'll do his best to make you happy.  If you want him to,
he'll take you straight to the altar, without a word.  
        "So... where does that leave you, after all?" Rianna asked,
looking straight at Terri.
        Terri looked at Kris again, reached out a hand again, and
stopped. Then, standing suddenly, she balled a fist and growled,
"Dammit... why? It's not FAIR, dammit!" Furious, she swung wildly at a
nearby viewscreen. Rianna's hand blocked the punch effortlessly. Terri
looked at Rianna, then crumbled to her knees and cried, mumbling,
"It's not fair. Why do I have to lose him?"
        Rianna knelt down, hugging the redhead and trying to help her
with the pain.  "You aren't losing him," she said. "What you and he
still have won't ever change.  But what he has with Washuu is... well,
it's something even greater.  And... it needs to take priority."
        Terri sobbed even louder, and Rianna gave up on words,
settling for hugging the woman and simply being there for her. She was
no counselor, she knew; the Dark Side did not lend itself to fixing
these kinds of problems. Worse, in order to keep Red and Washuu
together, she'd had to drive Red and Terri apart. The thought made her
not a little uncomfortable.  "I'm sorry, Terri," she sighed.  "If
Washuu were awake... maybe she could explain it better..."
        It was at about that point that Washuu's body decided to take
a deep, rattling breath.
        Rianna and Terri both sat up quickly and turned to look.
Again, the withered, shattered body took a deep breath, chest moving
in and out, lungs wheezing with disuse. Then, for a long, long moment,
the body lay as still as before.
        And then _it_happened._
        The hypodermic syringe flew out of Washuu's arm, spanging
against a large cabinet at the far end of the examination area.  Gray
skin smoothed in waves, gaining a healthy pink tone.  Pinkish-red hair
sprouted on Washuu's scalp like some berserk stop-motion film.
Washuu's face and body filled out like a dry sponge exposed to water,
cartilage and flesh restoring itself, skin continuing to smooth until
the childlike body was nearly restored to its original appearance.
        Then, the body began to grow, filling out even more, becoming
taller, fuller, and more feminine. The childlike facial features
flowed into adulthood, from a strange pixie cuteness into statuesque
beauty. Her legs grew long, slender yet shapely, and her subtle curves
became extremely unsubtle. The final form was almost as tall as Kris
himself, very definitely adult, very definitely female, and very
definitely well-developed.  Washuu... and yet not Washuu.
        Terri found her voice first: "Holy shit."
        "So that's what she really looks like," Rianna said quietly.
        The voices caused a mild reaction in the body. Washuu shifted
in the bed slightly, first moving to curl up into sleep; then, as her
hand brushed against Kris' head gently, her eyes snapped open. Sitting
up, she surveyed the room, spotting Kris, Rianna, Washuu, the leaking
IV streamer still strapped to one arm, the Van de Graaff field
surrounding the bed.
        Finally, she looked directly at Rianna and Terri and asked, in
a a voice which was deeper and richer than the one they were familiar
with, "What happened?"
        Terri blurted out, "`What happened?'  What happened to you??"
as she stared unabashedly at the newly adult Washuu.
        "This is her true form, Terri," Rianna said matter- of- factly.
Turning to Washuu she went on: "As for what happened, I found you in
what was left of your X-Wing, on the edge of death. I brought you in,
and I called Red.  He brought you here... and he brought you back."
        Washuu looked down on the sleeping man, eyes filled with
worry. "How is he?" she asked.
        "He'll be all right now," Rianna said. "Now that you're all
right."
        Washuu looked at herself, sighed regretfully, and said, "The
two of you are the first to see this body in five thousand years."
Looking at them all in turn (including Kris, who still slept beside
her), she said, "I... I don't like revealing myself if I can help it.
It's a habit..." Looking at the sleeping Redneck, she said, "It's a
habit that could have destroyed us both, I think."
        Terri glared angrily at Washuu for a moment; then, her anger
faded into sadness, and she said, quietly, "He has a message for you,
if you woke up."  Rianna turned and blinked (an expression which did
not escape Washuu's notice), startled by the blatant untruth, but she
held her peace as Terri dug into her pocket and drew out the ring box.
Opening it, Terri knelt and presented it to Washuu, saying, "I think
he wants to know... will you marry him?"
        Washuu stared at the ring box, at the old diamond-studded ring
lying inside, then at Terri. Terri was fighting down her own tears,
trying to keep her face as straight as possible; watching the pilot's
emotion-filled face, Washuu understood what she really meant.  Holding
out trembling hands, she took the box, tears trickling down her own
face.  "Terri... thank you," she whispered.
        In the back of her mind, Terri heard Rianna's voice, seeming
to reverberate gently inside her skull.  <You just did a very brave
thing, Terri Curtiss,> she intoned quietly.  <And they will both love
you forever because of that.>
        Then, suddenly, Washuu's body shrank as quickly as it had
grown, and the childlike mad scientist they were more familiar with
smiled at Terri, speaking in her old piping voice, "So, how do we go
about sharing him, hm?"
        Terri's jaw dropped open, before she said, "Share?" Rianna,
meanwhile, was trying not to snarf too loudly; she should have known
this would happen.
        Washuu replied, "Sure! After all, he loves you too... and
don't tell me you didn't have fun those nights in your quarters!"
Terri blushed vividly, and Rianna's struggle to contain herself became
considerably more monumental and less successful.
        Looking at Rianna, Washuu barked, "Don't laugh too hard,
Little Miss Sith Lord. You're going to be in on this too!"
        "Oh -really-?" Rianna replied with a smirk.  This time it
was Terri's turn to break.
        "Sure... he just hasn't realized it yet..." Washuu smiled.
"And there's Leeanna, of course, and maybe others yet to come. Kris is
a person who loves deeply, and widely... reminds me of other people
I've known."
        Then, suddenly serious, she stared at both the women intently.
"One thing I ask of the two of you," she warned. "I ask you to tell no
one- especially not Kris- about what you saw just now.  I do not want
people to think I am anything else than what I appear to be- unless I
want them to know." An energy sword suddenly flared into existence in
her hand, glowing brilliant yellow. "Some secrets are very important
to me," she whispered.  The beam vanished, and she said, "Promise me.
Please."
        Rianna regarded her in complete silence for a long, eternal-
seeming moment.  Then: "On my honor as a Sith Adept, your secret will
be safe with me, Washuu Hakubi."
        Terri stared at Washuu for a long moment before Rianna nudged
her in the ribs. "Um, um, right, um, I promise, um... I promise on my
oath as a Freespacer... not as impressive, but I won't tell anyone,"
she finished with a weak smile.
        "Thank you both," Washuu said. Then, to Terri, she said,
"Please leave us for now, Terri, there are other things I wish to say
to Rianna... alone."
        Terri nodded and said, "Thank you, Washuu... I... I'll have to think about... about your offer. And thank you too, Rianna." 
Rianna and Washuu watched as Terri walked away, through the Lab Door and out into the word, in silence
        As the last echoes of the Lab Door's chime faded, Washuu  took a deep breath and looked Rianna straight in the eye. "Rianna..."  Washuu shifted back to 
her adult form..  "Rianna, I owe you my life..."
        "I would be lying if I didn't say that _was_ a very stupid
thing you did," Rianna replied evenly.  "Taking an X-Wing into a kill
zone like that."
        Washuu smiled sadly. "When I heard his voice, crying out to me
over the radio..." Washuu hugged herself, shivering. "I thought that
would be the last thing I would ever hear."
        "It very nearly was.  I might have found you, but my knowledge
was useless after that.  It was Kris who knew how to save you."
        >Do not belittle yourself, Milady,< Washuu said in Imperial
Santovasku, surprising Rianna a little. In English she continued, "I
owe you a debt not only of life, but of petty vendetta as well.  You
are Santovasku; you are Jedi, or Sith, which at heart is the same
thing. I have reason to hate both, from long before your mother was
born.
        "Ever since I met you, I have avoided you, avoided your
questions when I could, and lied when I couldn't. I dug up every
secret you possessed, to use against you if the occasion presented
itself. I went to great extents to not even give you the least hint
about your people's history, their downfall, their remnants.
        "I am sorry now for having misjudged you. I've treated you as
an enemy all this time, and in reality you were a greater friend than
I realized. For what I have done, and what I have failed to do, I am
very deeply ashamed." After a moment's pause, she said, "I will keep
your secrets, all of them, as well as I keep my own. And those secrets
you seek in turn, I will help you uncover. I only hope this can begin
to repay the debt I owe you."
        "Please, Washuu," Rianna said, but Washuu held up her hand to
forestall her protest.
         "I have reasons still, beyond spite, for not revealing
everything I know, or even very much of what I know," she said.  "I
believe the answers you seek, and people like Tita seek, are best
found through your own efforts, and not my gift.  But now, I will no
longer hinder you, and if you ask for my help, it is yours, in all
things. This I swear..."
        She took a deep breath and clenched her fist. A small trickle
of red blood slid down her palm. >This I swear by blood, as Washuu,
Lady of the Nether, Sorceress,< she swore in the old form of the
Santovasku. >This I swear unto you, Sister, Rianna, from now unto the
death of Time.<
        There was silence as Rianna watched the blood flow, clearly
impressed by what she'd just witnessed.  "Thank you, Washuu," she said
at length.  "I always wondered why you seemed cold to me, distant.  I
always wished I could understand. Now... now I think I finally do."
        "My third lover..." Washuu answered quietly.  "The one before
Kris... was a Jedi Knight. He died a senseless death in the
Yoma-Santovasku War. I have never forgotten or forgiven that; I doubt
I ever will." Relaxing her hand, she said, "But his blood is not on
your hands. I have no reason to hate you; I hope you will forgive me
for being too foolish to see it."
        The trickle of blood stopped then, and Washuu shrunk back
into her juvenile form, slumping back into the bed.  "Whew... 
that took a bit out of me," she chuckled, propping herself up on 
her elbow.
         Rianna chuckled.  "Pretty impressive speech, I gotta hand
it to you.  Dad would've liked it."
        "I don't doubt he would," Washuu grinned.  "I'm looking
forward to meeting him."
        "That reminds me," Rianna said, remembering something.  "I
gotta email him, tell him I'm still alive."
        Washuu waved a hand; a holographic terminal appeared beside
her. After a few keystrokes, she said, "There. The message you type in
will appear in his e-mail instantly, totally untraceable." With a
gesture from its mistress, the terminal glided over to Rianna.
        Rianna looked at the terminal for a long moment, absorbing the
implications of the gesture. Washuu said, "I've known your father's
identity since shortly after Kris met you. I assure you, the secret
is safe in my keeping." Smiling mischieviously, she continued, "Until
we get together and tickle him until he says Uncle."
        Rianna grinned and accepted the keyboard.  After a moment of
thought, she began typing:

	Dad--

        Belated thanks for the warning.  Sorry for taking so long to
        answer but things are a real mess out here right now.

        We made it out in one piece but we had quite an interesting
        trip.  I'll have to tell you about it sometime.

        You think maybe the new political situation will let us talk a
        little more freely?  I'd like that.  I have some friends who'd
        like to meet you.

	Until whenever,

	--Ri.


        She pushed the terminal away.  "Thanks again. For everything."
        Washuu smiled, waving the terminal back into nonexistence.
"Anything I can help you with, I will. But please, don't ask for too
many straight answers." Smiling even more cheerfully, she chirped, "I
just wouldn't be Washuu if I made things easy, would I?"
        "No, I guess you wouldn't," Rianna replied with a grin.
"Himself here probably wouldn't be Redneck if *he* made things easy,"
she added, jerking a thumb at the still-sleeping Redneck.
        Gently brushing Kris' hair, Washuu asked, "How was he, before
he passed out?"
        "Not very well," Rianna sighed.  "His aura was all over the
place, along with his mental state.  I was only able to make him sleep
because he was completely exhausted and running on vapor."  She looked
down at him, concern in her voice.  "I'm a little worried about how
he's handling the Force.  I learned how to control the Dark Side
almost from day one.  Red doesn't have any of that training." Reaching
down and touching Kris' hand gently, she continued, "I'm worried about
what the Dark Side might do to him when it *really* touches him for
the first time."
        Washuu frowned. "You had to put him under? How long ago was
that, and how did you put him out?"
        "About 12 hours ago was when I put him under; used the Voice
for that.  Before that I was unconscious for 48 hours or so, so I
can't tell you what was happening then.  Zathras might know."
        "Oh, so Zathras finally found his way back? That's good,"
Washuu said. "But the Voice... you know he reacts badly to mind
control," she said, shaking her head.
        "I know," Rianna sighed.  "I didn't want to do it but he
didn't leave me much choice."
        Thinking for a moment, Washuu finally said, "Please stay a
while. I want you to be here when he awakens."  Moving carefully in
the bed, drawing the sheets up to cover her nudity, Washuu took Kris
and easily lifted his head into her lap.  "Besides, you should know,"
she went on, smiling,  "he really does love you."
        "Yeah, I know," Rianna smiled.  "I could see it five klicks
away.  I always told him our ideologies were too different, but really
it was because I knew he just didn't know who it was he really cared
about, and if we'd gotten involved it would've just confused things
even more.  Now, though, I think we can all be truthful."  Washuu
nodded, and even without the Force Rianna could see Washuu's eyes
screaming with joy.
        "I dunno, though," Rianna continued, a smirk creeping onto her
face.  "Everytime I do anything vaguely Force-related I give him the
shakes.  He's liable to run screaming if I were to actually come on to
him."
        "Oh, don't worry about that," Washuu snickered.  "If he
survived Leeanna Zard'al, he shouldn't have any problems with you."
        "Heh.  Oh, um..." Rianna had been aware of this problem for a
while but had refrained from comment about it.  "Would you mind
pointing me to a shower?  I've been stuck in this flight suit for a
few days now and I could use some fresh clothes."
        "There's a small guest suite across the lobby from this
place," Washuu answered, pointing in the general direction. "Remove
your clothes and put them in the hamper by the bathroom door. By the
time you're done, the closet will have a selection of clothes to your
size... including some nice lacy items for later," she added,
giggling, and Rianna couldn't help but follow suit.

        Rianna had been surprised at the depth of variety Washuu's
closet had produced when she stepped out of the shower. Everything
from elegant formal gowns to skimpy workout suits, all perfectly
tailored to Rianna's measurements- if Mayl ever heard about this,
Rianna chuckled, she might just decide to emigrate to the Lab
full-time.
        One outfit caught Rianna's attention straightaway. From one
hanger draped a long, heavy black cape, beneath which lay the long,
floor-length robes, black with gold and bone trim in some interesting
places, of a junior princess of the Santovasku Empire. Poking out from
the hem of the robes was the tip of a long, heavy, broadsword; Rianna
noted the delicate etching on the metal, spelling out a long name;
Rianna Santova Hiru, nu Shar Washuu Busholdu Ji.
        Princess Rianna Santova, adopted sister of Sorceress
Washuu, Lady of the Nether.
        Rianna looked at the robes for a long time, absorbing the
message Washuu had sent through them; here, the robes said, you have
another friend.
        Rianna pushed the robes aside; the next hangar held a perfect
duplicate of her flight suit, only her old flight suit had been a
general-issue storebought item, whereas this suit looked to fit her
like a second skin. Beside it hung a small tangle of lace which,
Rianna smiled evilly, were a not-so-subtle hint from Washuu as to what
kinds of activity ought to follow when this flight suit came off.
        A few minutes later, Rianna walked back over to the
examination area in her new flight suit, and Washuu nodded approvingly
at the choice. "I thought you'd prefer that," she said.
        "Well, I was tempted with the leotard you had in there,"
Rianna said, "but I think the jiggling would be too much for Red to
take all at once."
        Washuu smiled with Rianna, somewhat more gently. "I think we
should begin," she said at last. For a long moment, Washuu just looked
at Kris, caressing his head gently. Then, she began to hum, a soft,
wandering tune Rianna couldn't quite put a name to.
        Then, in a language Rianna didn't recognize from anywhere,
Washuu began to sing, softly, gently, beautifully. Rianna was amazed;
normally, Washuu sang painfully off key, loudly and nasally, working
for maximum pain in the audience. Now, her voice filled the room,
soothing nerves Rianna didn't know were upset. In the back of her
mind, words fell into place, as if from a memory she hadn't known
she'd had.

        Close your eyes, little one.
        I will watch over you.
        My love will keep you safe.
        I will watch over you forevermore.

        Cling to me, my darling.
        Know I love you, love beyond all words.

        As the song ended, Rianna snapped back to consciousness.
"How..." she asked, but Washuu motioned her to silence, as Kris
stirred and looked up at the small form holding his head in her lap.
The woman's long red hair draped down unrestrained behind her, a few
stray locks springing up in memory of her former carefully crafted
style.
        "Washuu..." he whispered, eyes filling with tears.
        "Good morning, Kris," she answered. "Welcome back. Are you
done being homicadally mad at me yet?"
        Kris reached up and hugged Washuu, sobbing quietly as he cried
with relief. "Yes," he whispered. A bright white glow surrounded the
two, and Rianna shed a tear involuntarily as the overflow emotion
passed over her. Finally, the moment passed, and the light dimmed, but
Kris still hugged Washuu, until finally she pushed him away to look
him in the eyes.
        "And, as to your question," she smiled, holding up her left
hand to the light, "the answer is yes." The Overstreet engagement ring
shone brilliantly, diamonds glinting in the light. "Yes, I will marry
you."
        Kris stared at the ring, smiling gently, and he whispered,
"I... I don't think I've ever been so happy to be turned down by a
woman in my life." Then, he hugged Washuu again, and the light glowed
even brighter, forcing Rianna to turn her head. Finally, as the light
dimmed again, Kris said, "Washuu, I love you more than I ever knew.
You are the only woman I want to marry, now or ever. I would be
honored to have you as my wife."
        Washuu smiled, tears flowing, and she said, "Ever since I met
you, I think, I've been waiting for the day when you would look at me
and see someone you could love, instead of an annoyance, a tool, or
even just a good friend." Hugging him back, she whispered in his ear,
"You've just made me happier than I've been in five thousand years."
        "How CUTE!" a voice squealed from behind them. At the edge of
the examination area, Mayl hopped up and down with delight, ears
waggling furiously, trying to make the tall elf airborne.
        Beside her, Gina stood, arms folded, smiling sardonically.
"I't a Kodak moment," she said. Kris, startled, broke the hug, and
blushed slightly at the sight of the two newcomers.
        "Gina. Mayl. Shoo." Washuu said, flatly yet forcefully.
        "Mayl, I will see you tomorrow. No earlier," Rianna said.
        "Bye, then," Gina said, and without allowing Mayl to say
something dumb, she grabbed the elf by the arm and dragged her away.
        Washuu and Kris hugged again for a moment, and then Kris
leaned back, holding Washuu's hands. "You understand I can't marry you
right away," Kris said. "It wouldn't be fair for me to ask you to
share your honeymoon with a pile of reports from the fleet, or a
Romulan attack fleet. Can you waid a little while longer?"
        Washuu streched up and hugged Kris' shoulders. "When the fleet
doesn't need you, and you don't need the fleet," she said, "I'll be
waiting."
        Rianna watched silently from beside the bed, watching the two
with relief. Kris was apparently over his depression, mind and heart
at ease for the first time since before the battle at Wilderness. As
the two hugged again, Rianna felt a bit left out, but she kept her
feelings to herself; these two deserved this moment, for as long as it
lasted.
        Washuu caught Rianna's attention over Kris's shoulder, and
winked at her slyly. Then, before Rianna had time to react, she said,
"Kris, I'm tired, I know you're still tired, and Rianna is still
tired. Now, I can't get up just yet, but I want you to make sure
Rianna is comfortable, and that she gets a nice long rest... and
Rianna?"
        "Yeees?" Rianna grinned, guessing what was about to happen
next.
	"Make sure he _needs_ a nice long rest, eh?"
        At this, Kris looked at Washuu, looked at Rianna, and looked
at Washuu again, suspicion building.  "I've been set up, haven't I?"
he said.
        "Bingo," Washuu said. "Now get lost and get yourselves
educated. I want some surprises for my honeymoon!!"
        "On my snnrf... on my honor as a Lord of the Sith," Rianna
tried unsuccessfully to say without snarfing.  "I will see to it that
we are well-educated."
        "Ah, excellent," Washuu smiled, "a woman with a sense of
humor. You'll make a great mistress for my husband, Ri!" 
        "MISTRESS?" Kris said, mild tone of outrage creeping into his
voice as Rianna broke completely.
        Good, Washuu thought to herself, he's getting back to normal.
In Santovasku, she added, >My love with you, Sister. Treat him
well.<
        "What was that, Washuu?" Kris asked.
        "Oh, nothing, just an old proverb," Washuu said. "'The friends
that lay together, stay together.'" At this, Kris blushed and glowed,
and Ri took advantage of his confusion to drag him towards the guest
suite. 
        Washuu smiled and set a Do Not Disturb field around them, and
then called up a terminal and began preparing a feast for herself.
        She was -extremely- hungry.

        Ch. 17/THEN

        Washuu's Lab
        August 25, 2388

	"Rianna?"
	"Yes, Kris?"
	"Penny for your thoughts."
	<I was just thinking I'd like to try that again...>
	<Well, if you insist...>

        "Rianna... I don't think I've ever told you before... but I
 really do love you, too."
        "Are you going to propose to me too?"
	"If I did, would you say yes?"
        "I'm not the settle-down type, Red. Of course... I'll always
be there for you when you need me."
        "So will I, Ri. So will I."
	"... Hm, looks like you could use some help right now..."
	"I wasn't going to say anything, but if you're willing..."

	"Rianna? Rianna?"
        Kris sat up beneath the covers of the well-used bed. Rianna
had finally, well and truly, fallen asleep, after a long and gentle
session of mutual lovemaking. For Rianna, it had apparently been a
relaxing session- to say nothing of the fulfillment of not a few
secret fantasies. For Kris, though... for Kris it was yet another
complication in a tangle of personal affections and passions which
were now working overtime to keep him from sleep.
        Oh, he loved Rianna- he hadn't realized it until the
lovemaking had begun, but he did, and he had for quite some time now.
When they'd first met, he'd felt a bit like a surrogate parent, a
protector... now, the child had matured into an adult, who had taken
over the job of protector... and whom, he had to admit, he loved
rather intensely.
        And Terri- similar feelings there, Kris thought, an initial
desire to protect, maturing into a love based on mutual interests,
genuine friendship, and physical attraction. Terri had made her
feelings very clear in the 'test drive' about the latter; in fact, she
had used her body to express her desire in the most emphatic- and
enthusiastic- of terms.
        And then there's Leeanna, Kris thought. In that case, his
love, even after almost four hundred years, was strictly one-sided.
Leeanna regarded him as a -very- good friend, and a fun occasional
partner, but her heart was strictly reserved for two people, and Kris
would do nothing to disturb that bond... and everything to maintain
it. Still, he admitted to himself, he would have gladly proposed to
her at any time- had he not already known the answer.
        And finally, the love which had snuck up on him, the love he'd
been utterly blind to until it was gone- Washuu. It was unfair to say
that his love for Washuu was any greater than the love he had for the
others... but Washuu was different. In the end, it came down to this;
the woman he wanted, needed, more than any other being in the
universe, was Washuu.
        And this presented, as they say, a problem.

	"Washuu?"
        Kris, wearing bunny slippers and a bathrobe, shuffled up
behind Washuu, who was going over a long data readout on her holoterm.
She'd already found one of her usual black-and-teal uniforms and
roosted on her floating hassock as if nothing had happened in the past
two weeks.
        Her glowering expression belied just how much had changed- in
the Lab inventory, at least. "How DARE she take my naked singularity
collection?" she ranted to nobody in particular. "Why, I've been
keeping this galaxy nice and tidy for fourteen thousand years and she
just ups and snatches away my work? I ought to fill her water supply
with Rigellian swamp sludge!"
        "Washuu?"
        Washuu looked around and noticed Kris at last. "Hello," she
smiled sweetly. "Shouldn't you be lying unconscious in a puddle of
your own fluids?"
        "Been there, done that," Kris shrugged. "I couldn't sleep. Can
we talk?"
        "Sure," Washuu nodded. "What's on your mind?"
        "Love," Kris shrugged. "You just sent me off-"
        "Four hours ago."
        "Ahem, you just sent me off to have sex with someone else. We
get engaged, then you hand me off to someone else. I don't understand
it."
        Washuu looked unnaturally thoughtful for a few moments before
saying, at length, "Rianna loves you. Terri loves you. Leeanna....
well, Leeanna isn't leading you on," she smiled wryly. "And I love you
too much to lose you... but...."
        Washuu looked very uncomfortable as she whispered, "I haven't
had the prospect of my mortality thrust in my face since I was about
three thousand years old.... I went through hell twice over, once for
losing you to Terri, then again for losing you because I got fried.
        "Now I have you again... but I will never, ever forget the
pain, the gut wrenching agony, of having someone else take all my
dreams away like that." Washuu hugged herself tightly as she said that
last. "How could I live with myself and inflict that same Hell onto
any other woman?"
        When Kris opened his mouth, Washuu raised a hand. "Don't say
anything. I approve of Rianna, and Terri, and Leeanna as mistresses.
So long as you come back to me- that you never leave me- I will not
interfere in those relationships." She smiled with a hint of her old
impishness as she added, "Anybody else will have to meet my very
strict qualifications!"
        Kris actually chuckled at this, but before he could say
anything else, Washuu said, "Now go back to bed. Tomorrow you're going
to have a very, very busy day tackling all the work you've let slide
over the past week."
        Kris nodded. "Okay... good night, Washuu... and Washuu?"
        "Hm?"
	"Thanks."
        "Yeah, whatever," Washuu waved off the gratitude, already
buried in her Lab inventory. "WHAT!! She took my TARDIS?!? Does she
have any idea how much trouble I went through to borrow that? You'd
think twenty years of apprenticeship would leave some sense of
gratitude, but NOOOOOOO...."

	Next stop, Terri's quarters.
	Kris leaned on the call chime, waiting for Terri to wake up and answer.
	After serveral minutes, and one confused-looking passerby, a voice responded to the bell. "Who is it?"
	"It's me, Terri," Kris said. "Can we talk?"
	Kris waited for a few moments. Then he waited a few more moments. After he'd waited quite a few moments beyond that, he asked, "Terri? You there?"
	"Red..." Terri's voice sounded a bit shaky though the closed ship's door. "Red, I don't think we have anything to talk about..."
	"Terri...." Kris racked his mind for something to say, couldn't think of anything coherent.
	"No, Red," Terri said quietly. "Whatever Washuu told you.... I've thought about it... it isn't right for me. It may be for Washuu, but.... but... " Something thumped against the door. "... Kris, please let me alone for now...."
	Kris stood and listened for a few minutes; when he didn't hear anything more, he turned and walked back to his office, the Lab, and a nice warm bed.
	But as he walked, he kept looking over his shoulder towards the door to Lieutenant Curtiss' quarters.

        The New Avalon funeral home wasn't used to having scheduled
funerals turned into Welcome Back parties, but at 1300 hours Saturday
afternoon that's exactly what they got.
        Washuu (who couldn't understand why Kris had been so
traditional as to hire a funeral home anyway) had everything arranged
carefully, right down to the flower arrangements with labels like
YOU'RE STUCK WITH ME and TOO CUTE TO DIE on their ribbons.
        And as most expected, a considerable bit of the old Washuu
came through, beginning with an off-color and frequently insulting
(but still funny) monologue, continuing with several off-color
wisecracks throughout the reception, and including, at the height of
the party, a very complex and subtle practical joke which ended with
Gina Shannon wearing most of the WELCOME BACK cake.
        Nobody would have known if Washuu hadn't added her idea of a
punchline- a full atomic wedgie, personally administered, along with
the cryptic quote, "That's for my Thomas Dolby collection."
        Despite all this, the various guests noticed a change in the
little mad scientist... maybe not so mad, anymore. She took the time
to talk seriously with people she hadn't spoken to in decades. For
once, she was sober and considerate... and she did something else,
something unimaginable.
        She APOLOGIZED.
        Sincerely. Personally. To EVERYBODY individually.
        The only exception to the apologies was Gina, but since her
silk panties had been converted into a headband and her best dress was
covered in blue and white icing, she probably wasn't in an accepting
mood anyway.

        Monday should have brought more work, particularly in standing
down some of the reservist CFMF personnel crewing WDF ships and
getting the Freespacer fleet reorganized into a tenable force for the
long term.
        Instead, it brought invitations for the entire CFMF senior
command (at this point, anyone holding pay grades of O4 or higher) to
a reception in one of the Zeta Cygni shipyards' observation decks.
Despite (or maybe because of) the immense stack of paperwork on his
desk, Kris called a holiday and authorized leave for all senior
officers wishing to attend the reception.
        After all, keeping connections fresh can't hurt, Kris thought.
        At 1 PM, some twenty officers of the CFMF, the Marine
contingent notably absent, gathered in Observation Bay E-125 to mingle
with a somewhat larger number of officers gathered from the WDF,
Federation Starfleet, Discordian Silent Service, Salusian, Zardon,
Corellian and other fleets represented in the allied fleet.  In some
cases, it was a reunion of colleagues from other services; in other
cases, notably Aya Nakajima and James T. Kirk, it was a clash of
rivals. (The rivalry, in this case, was entirely on Aya's part.)
        About thirty minutes into the reception, the idle conversation
was interrupted by a quiet bell ring.  The officers' attention to the
two men standing by the buffet table- a short, stocky WDF officer with
a shiny new admiral's star, and a greying Vulcan barely stuffed into a
respectable business suit and smiling broadly at the gathering. "Your
attention, please," Gryphon's voice echoed softly over the dying
murmurs of the assorted officers. "Before the special review of ships
in honor of our CFMF allies and their sacrifice in the GENOM war,
there is one item of business which must be disposed of. Fleet
Commander Sleik, please proceed."
        "Ah, thank you, friend Gryphon," Sleik smiled warmly as he
moved to the center of the table.
        "Please don't do that," Gryphon muttered.
	"Don't do what?"
        "Call me, 'Friend Gryphon,'" Gryphon winced. "It reminds me of
someone I used to know... generally decent person at hearts, but he had
that awful habit... oh, never mind," he shrugged, letting Sleik
address the assembly.
        "Ah, yes, well," Sleik tried to shrug off his confusion and
drew a piece of paper from his pocket. "Ahem. 'Report of the Board of
Inquiry regarding the events at Wilderness Station, the board has
determined that Kristan Overstreet, commanding the fleet, was not in a
position to give orders through the majority of the battle, including
the critical period of Captain Condorcet's assault on the Dreadnaught;
that Admiral Overstreet had no way of knowing in advance Captain
Condorcet's intentions; and that, while in command of the fleet,
performed his duty with demonstrated competence and ability.
        "'We therefore find no cause for court martial or dismissal
from his position, and therefore reaffirm our confidence in his
command. Signed, Fleet Captain Kalen Jerani, commanding CFMF
Palendrom, board chair; Captain Nanami Kondo, commanding CFMF Valiant;
Brigadier General Piotr Zev, commander 1st Division, Freespacer
Marines.'"
        Polite applause followed this announcement, with one
exception; Captain Nakajima slapped Kris on the back and shouted, "I
knew you'd beat the rap, Admiral!"
        Kris was too busy recovering his breath to reprimand her.
        Sleik eased away from the table, allowing Gryphon to take the
fore once again. "And now, if you'll direct your attention to the
overhead viewports, any moment now, the CFMF's new additions should be
passing over for review."
        Kris, who was still doubled over from Aya's congratulatory
slap, bolted upright and gasped, "The whaa?"
        "Ahem. 'By order of the WDF high command, in gratitude for
their assistance and sacrifice in the late campaign, blah blah blah,
the WDF hereby donates the following ships, yak yak yak, signed Zoner
and me.' And if you'll look up..." Gryphon pointed to the viewport
where, at very low orbit overhead, a quartet of Miranda-class
'frisbee' light cruisers cruised over the observation deck; as they
passed overhead, they flipped over in unison, revealing freshly
painted CFMF markings on their upper hulls.
        As the cruisers flashed their lights in salute, Kris recovered
his voice and wits. "Well.. thanks, Gryph, ah, those should give us a
nice head start on rebuilding the-"
        A quartet of Ikazuchi carriers crept into view, their dark
hulls repainted to the brilliant white of the CFMF. Like the Mirandas
which had come before, the ex-GENOM ships rolled over to show the CFMF
flag as they saluted the officers on the deck.
        "... ah, those for us too?" Kris asked, wide-eyed.
        "Oh ayuh," Gryph rolled his eyes in mock annoyance.
        A pair of Constitution-class heavy cruisers passed overhead
next, followed shortly by the bulging arrowhead of an Interdictor
class cruiser; as they also saluted the deck with their new markings,
Kris wondered idly to himself how far they'd had to go afield to bring
in one of GENOM's few remaining Interdictors for this ceremony.
        Then, to the oohs and aahs of many in the group, the
streamlined, gun-bristled bow of a Yamato class battleship passed
overhead; it fired a salvo from its deck guns before rolling over to
display the Freespacer flag painted across its upper deck.
        Aya stared up at the battleship with wide eyes. "Ooooooh," she
cooed softly, "I know what I'm asking for for Christmas...."
        Kris was gaping too widely to reply; as the battleship passed
out of view, another, much larger ship pulled into view... and
pulled... and pulled... and pulled. As tthe deck rattled slightly with
the wave of ion thrust from the Imperial class Star Destroyer less
than 200 meters overhead, the behemoth slowly, slowly rolled over to
reveal:

	CFMF CHIMERA CFF-101

        Behind and above it, in escort formation, three Victory-class
Star Destroyers repeated the maneuver, firing off fireworks as the
giant white-washed vessels slid past the porthole and out of sight.
        "Uuuuuh...." Kris took several deep breaths before finally
whispering, "Gryphon, have you gone crazy on me?"
        "Maybe I could give the ships to the Zardon Defense Fleet
instead," Gryphon grinned.
	Aya chose that particular moment to pass out.
        "NO! - um, no," Kris shook his head, "that won't be
necessary."
        In one moment, so to speak, the fleet had tripled its size. Of
course, the Star Destroyers couldn't be crewed for battle anytime
soon, but the rest of the ships changed the complexion of the CFMF's
situation considerably- and for the better.
        Now, Kris wondered as he eased his way over to thank Gryphon
personally, how do I convince the reservists to re-inlist formally so
I can keep these ships flying?

        Aya dropped down into  a stuffed chair beside the other
command officers of the late CFMF Defiant, stretching her arms wide.
"Booooy, what a shocker that was!"
        Homare sat down in the chair beside her. "Do you mean learning
that Kirk was Starfleet Academy's champion thumb-wrestler in his
class, or that the WDF gave the CFMF a Star Destroyer?"
        "Both!" Aya shrugged. "I wonder which one we'll get?"
        "Didn't you ask Admiral Overstreet- um, Commodore Overstreet
about it?" Shwarz said, not looking up from his handheld Sega
Revelation(TM) game set.
        "He left right after talking with Admiral Hutchins," Homare
shrugged. "That was almost an hour ago. We would have left sooner if
Aya here hadn't kept at the champagne."
        "Sugar water," Aya snorted. "How can you have fun with
champagne? A rich Corellian brandy, now, that's some party drinks!"
        "Humans are unfathomable," T'Pall muttered as she sipped her
bottled water.
        "Excuse me," a fresh-faced Condorcet in full formal uniform
stood at attention and saluted the group. "I have fresh orders from
Commodore Overstreet's office for Captain Nakajima and her command
staff."
        Homare stood up and took the sealed envelope from Little Joe,
undid the flap, and read the orders silently to himself.
        "Well, bro, what do they say?" Aya bounced up and down. "Let's
hear it!"
        "Welllll..." Homare scanned down the list. "We're all ordered
to appear at a special WDF ceremony on Wednesday to receive the Order
of the Eternal Knight for our valor and initiative at Wilderness and
Zeta Cygni-"
        "Eternal Knight? YATTA!!" Aya pulled a pair of folding fans
from her pockets and started dancing around waving them happily. "The
highest honor in the Federation! We're hot! We're hot! We know it!
YIPPEE!!!"
        "Ahem," Homare continued, "Thereafter you and your staff will
have a week's leave, to report the following Thursday to CFF-101
Chimera-"
        "I KNEW IT!! I KNEW IT!!" Aya shouted. "We're getting the Star
Destroyer! They love me! They love me!!"
        "-- under Fleet Captain Anders Pellaeon, late of GENOM, to
begin tenure as instructors for the Fleet Academy."
        Aya froze. The fans dropped listlessly from her hands. "....
instructors?"
        "According to this, sis," Homare said slowly, cautiously,
"you've been named the new Head Coach in charge of physical education
and self-defense training."
        "Head... coach..." The tears glistened in Aya's eyes as she
remained frozen in mid-prance.
        "The orders mention something to the effect that we'll be
given a ship after we've trained enough people to recrew the one we
lost... -and- the one we stole the shield generator from." Homare
folded the orders up and pocketed them, adding, "I told you the
Admiral would mind if we took that generator."
        Aya's bottom lip began to tremble.
        "I... I believe it would be most prudent to leave the Captain
alone to contemplate these orders," T'Pall said, already three steps
towards the corridor and moving faster with every step.
        The others took the hint and, with less decorum, scattered.
        A few seconds later, the Zeta Cygni Dyson Sphere reverberated
with the cries of a heartbroken former starship commander.
        "WWWWAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!"
	
	Ch. 17/NOW

        The middle of nowhere, Texas Free Republic, Earth
        March 7, 2401

	Kris waved to the postal delivery tank as it rumbled down the old asphalt road to the next set of boxes on his route. As he walked back up the driveway, he sorted through the five letters which had arrived in the day's mail. Two were marked 'Occupant,' and a third marked 'You May Already Have Won'; as Kris passed beneath the branches of the immense oak tree in the front yard, he tossed the letters up into the canopy, where a handful of small pterodactyls and a family of mockingbirds fought over the nest-making material. 
	Kris stepped up onto the porch of his house, rebuilt on the site of his old family home, and stepped nimbly over the large ankylosaur sprawled lazily across the doorway. Looking down at the cheesboard sitting before the dinosaur, Kris reached over and moved a bishop forward to threaten one of the rooks.
	The dinosaur noted the move, lifted itself up on its forelimbs, took the rook in his teeth, and placed it down on the other side of the board. Its clubby tail thumped once, twice, then lay back on the wooden floor as the dinosaur settled back to its resting place.
	"Checkmate it is," Kris nodded. "Showoff."  He swung the front door open and walked in, stepping over some of his baby daughter's toys. He was about to open one of the two remaining letters when he noticed his daughter sitting in the middle of the room holding something small and brightly colored... which had half-curled itself around his wrists and was staring up at the tiny pink-haired girl, its black forked tongue flickering at her nose as they looked at each other.
	"WA..... wa... shuu..." Kris choked down his panic, forced himself to call for his wife in a soft, non-threatening tone. "Washuu... Wapiko is holding a -coral snake- in her hands..."
	"What about it?" Washuu walked in, a load of clothes in her arms. "It won't bite her. They never do."
	"Bugs I can handle," Kris said, his nerves still shaky. "Dogs and cats I can understand. Dinosaurs I can accept... but poisonous snakes...."
	"Get used to it, dear," Washuu said, setting the wash down on the couch and sorting it out. "We were warned... and there'll be more to come..."
	As Washuu began folding the clothes, the snake uncurled itself from Wapiko's hands and slithered slowly away, across the floor and under the crack in the door. With her new friend gone, Wapiko looked around her, saw her father for the first time, and smiled. "Ga!" 
	"Well, nice of you to notice me," Kris smiled. "C'mere, you." He reached down and picked up the little toddler, raising her over his head. "UP goes the baby!!" 
	Wapiko giggled as Kris lifted her up and down, swinging her around and around until, with the loud grunt reserved for daddies sitting down in soft chairs, he plopped down onto the sofa and hugged Wapiko close while he waited for the room to stop spinning. 
	"Here you go, darling," Washuu leaned over the couch and took Wapiko from Kris' arms. "I think it's just about time for your dinner, young lady." As she cradled Wapiko in one arm, she glanced down at the two letters lying on the back of the couch. "Is this all the mail today?"
	"I already recycled the junk mail," Kris smiled. He picked up the first letter, opened and skimmed through it. "This one's from Terri," he said. "Says here she's had a run-in with some Big Fire ships off in the Outer Rim, but they weren't able to track them down... wants to know if I have any suggestions," he sighed, tossin the letter down. "Of course I don't have any suggestions, I'm not on the scene, it's her fleet now."
	"Only because you gave it to her," Washuu smiled. 
	"Well, I gave it to her expecting she'd be able to handle it," Kris shrugged. The only uniform he kept in the closet these days was the one the Free Texas civil defense forces had forced on him, and in this new era of planetary peace and rebuilding, the most dangerous things the civil defense forces had to worry about were the giant mutant dinosaurs or other animals left over from the Collapse. A year of retirement had Kris relaxed, refreshed, and bored out of his skull- though he had no intention of admitting it.
	Kris picked up the other envelope and examined it. "Hm... from the Blissex Proving Grounds, Chiisai Zardon... wonder what they want with me..." He opened the formal wax seal on the flap and drew out a handwritten letter, the dark script thick and crabbed in the old-school Salusian style. "Hm... well, whaddya know, it's from old Jan Dodonna," he said. "Seems the old coot -finally- retired from the Salusian Navy... about time, too, he was my squadron commander waaaay back yonder with the WDF, God knows how old he is now..." He trailed off as he read farther down, then handed the letter up to Washuu.
	"'I have used my pension funds to enter into partnership with the Blissex engineering firm to develop a starfighter combining the lessons learned in my many years of service. Upon the recommendation of our fellow colleague Rayna Tangril, I am offering you the position of chief test pilot and flight evaluation officer for proving prototypes for the Dodonna-Blissex "A-Wing" interceptor. I will be available at your earliest convenience to discuss the position and the starfighter specifications...'" Washuu smiled as she read silently through to the end. "It seems your talents are appreciated."
	"Knowing Dodonna, th' thing'll probably be a rocket with one gun and a rudder," Kris grumbled. "Dodonna's so much of a speed freak he makes most Corellians look timid."
	"Are you going to take him up on it?"
	"Why should I?" Kris asked. "I'm having a great time raising Wapiko and living off my savings, why do I want to go work for someone else?"
	"Kris, dear, you spent the last six months tracking down parts and assembling an entire 1973 Gremlin," Washuu said gently. "You are bored. It shows. I think it's time we rejoined the rest of the universe."
	"But I retired specifically so I'd have more time to spend with th' baby!" Kris said. "I don't want to be gone for months at a time while I work. I want to be here for her, not off flying across the galaxy."
	"Kris, love," Washuu said, walking around the couch and sitting down beside him, sitting Wapiko down between them on their laps. "It's not like you're flying off to save the world. You'll be back home every day after work- if I take the Lab out of mothballs, that is," she smiled. "We'll move full-time back into the house in New Avalon, get involved with our friends again, -socialize- again. Wapiko'll have a whole lot of playmates her age, Martin and Eiko can watch her if we decide to have a night to ourselves..." 
	Kris blushed a bit and said, "Well, um, I don't know, I mean I want to spend as much time as I can with-"
	"Kris. Take the job before you drive both of us crazy."
	"Ga!"
	Kris leaned back and thought about it, thought about it very carefully. It was boring, it was quiet, it was isolated, and in small doses he liked it that way... but he had to admit, there were quite a few people he wouldn't mind seeing again, off and on. And it would be good for Wapiko to meet playmates that had fewer than four legs. And there would be television again, and the Net, and visiting and talking with other people, and not worrying about dinosaurs digging underneath the house... 
	"What the hell. Why not?"
	"Thank you, dear," Washuu smiled, picking up Wapiko and carrying her into the next room. "I'll start packing our things as soon as Wapiko's finished eating!"
	Kris nodded absently, picking up the letter and turning it over in his fingers, feeling the formal parchment crinkle in his hands. More change, he thought, a new life before him, thanks to a letter. 
	Things felt so different, so strange, even after- what, fifteen years since the proposal? Or two years since the wedding from Niflheim? And things kept changing, kept shifting around him, and he had to shift with it all.
	For the life of him, Kris couldn't really see any of it as bad.
	Kris folded the letter up and slid it into his pocket. He whistled his way out the door, stepping over the ankylosaur and strolling back towards the shed where the Y-Wing sat, power cells full, hull polished, ready to lift off at a moment's notice.
	It might be good to fly again...

	... and life goes on...

	*** AUTHOR'S NOTES ***

	This story was begun in May 1996, while REDNECK: THE QUAGMIRE PROJECT languished near completion. I was still working for Antarctic Press, unaware of how close AP was to a round of downsizing which would cut half its staff and all its manga and furry-animal line.
	Since I began working on this story, I wrote or co-wrote three other Eyrie Productions stories- REDNECK: DIE HARDLY, PRIVATEER: ONE FINE MESS, and TWILIGHT Seals One through Four. I made beginnings on several other stories, Eyrie and not, and began work on projects which, God willing, will actually pay some money.
	Since I began, I have left AP, returned as webmaster for their web sites, been downsized from that, and now, as I finish the last edits on the story, I am preparing to move away from San Antonio completely and return to my roots in the back woods. 
	Since I began, my father, the living (and unknowing) counterpart to Butch Overstreet in this story, Quagmire Project and Twilight, has been hospitalized twice, once in 1997 for mysterious attacks of partial paralysis, and once this year for pancreitis. He's still struggling to find a way to stay afloat in the auction business, while I do the same with my own comics trading and (hopefully) comic publishing company.
	Since I began, despite Clinton's best efforts, he was re-elected. The Communications Decency Act was overturned and is now back in Congress, making its way virtually unchanged through the legal hoops on its way back into federal law.
	Since I began, I have not upgraded my computer.
	And since I began, I have finished.

	Project SILBUSTER, Doubledealer, Aral Vorkosigan, Aya Nakajima and her crew, May Azland, and most importantly Wapiko will all be appearing in future stories, as will more characters both original and borrowed.
	The members of Eyrie Productions, Unlimited would like to thank the creators of Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Tigers of Terra, TenchiMuyo!, Ninja High School, Silbuster, the Transformers, Star Trekker: the Manga Parody, the Vorkosigan novels, Goldfish Warning!, Robotech/Macross, Iczer-One, Star Wars: the Roleplaying Game,  Appleseed, Space Battleship Yamato/StarBlazers, the Legend of Zelda, Outlanders, Wing Commander, Gold Digger, and the Honor Harrington novels, along with any other sources of inspiration we might have used in the production of this story.
	The principal author would also like to thank Larry Mann, Martin Rose, Ben Hutchins and Rob Shannon for contributing text or input for the story. Also helpful were Philip Moyer and Chris Davies, whose input and advice were invaluable in the long and torturous process of completing this (currently) longest UF story ever.

	Kris Overstreet
	San Antonio, TX
	July , 1998




Will you visit one of Kris Overstreet's web sites?
http://www.txdirect.net/users/redneck - Redneck Gaijin Online
http://www.wren-spot.com/wlp/ - White Lightning Productions
http://www.jurai.net/~redneck/dvpbem/ - In Nomine: Dark Victory PBEM
http://www.wren-spot.com/wlp/milkmaid.html - The Magnificent Milkmaid
Please make your decision quickly as I have a tendency to scream for 
no reason. ***KUDDU-KUDDU-PAW!!!***