% You wrote:


entertainment industry, trade in most of known space, even the religious
circuit. All this

% All of this

black hair that fell to his shoulders, and always managed to look slightly
greasy. Beneath chromed glasses there lurked a superior sneer

% As opposed to an inferior sneer? ^_^

     The first was that he was watching a very pretty, very sweaty girl
work out. The second was that he knew her to be a distinct sadist on a
number of
levels. Sleet liked that. The third was that she was currently beating the
living hell out of her unlucky sparring partner in the BTR facility's gym.
Sleet really liked that.


 % Sounds like a match made in heaven.

Well, though it isn't exactly my job, I can put the scare into any bitch
under the sun, and that definitely includes the Dirty Pair.

% Not bloody likely

      She made a surprised sound and looked him up and down. He raised an
eyebrow at her inspection of him, but didn't protest. Finally, she sighed
and
shook her head. As she began to dress in plain brown slacks and a white
blouse, she said, "It's just my luck. I hear a First Class hotshot has the
blueballs for me, and it ends up being�well, you."

%  Heh. nice to see he carries such respect.

     Sleet had a sudden urge to empty at least a mag of ammo

% I see you took my advice. ^_^


glance at him, predominately the area just below his belt, and went on,
"Besides, you're giving me a pretty good show right now."
     Sleet flushed as he became aware of the miniature tent in his slacks

% He should be happy he's big enough to be noticed. ^_^


put a hand on her shoulder. "I knew you'd come around."

% I believe this is the point where we tell him 'Good bye.'

     He turned Mary slowly to face him. Halfway there she shook him off of
her and drove her right fist into his gut hard enough to drive him to his
knees. Sleet wheezed and shot out a hand to stop him from falling on
hisface. He had never been good at physical activities. Mary leaned over
and took his chin in her hand. She was smiling once more as she said,
"Kevin�one thing you have to understand is that I don't like being ordered
around."

% well, if she's going to work for the company, she'd damn well better
learn unless she plans on running the whole show.

wiped blood and tears from his face. He laughed again, a sound that the
others didn't like much. He wiped at his nose and said, "Oh, I'm just
fine."

He stared after the retreating forms of Mary Latimer and Kevin Sleet and
laughed again, a low braying sound. His eyes shined with a hateful,
brittle
light. "I'm fine now�"

% Oh well, they deserve it.

    Yuri closed the book and set it aside. "It's fine. These books are

in

perfect condition." She looked at the book she had been reading. "I used

a

heads-up translator unit on this." She looked at Kei worriedly. "Kei,

this

is
a copy of the Necronomicon."

% Heh. Amazing how that little thing gets around.

approximately in the year 600-700 BC by Abdul Al'Hazrad, known as the Mad
Arab. He claimed to have come upon ancient alien beings of god-like power
in
the desert and was given their knowledge. The original copy made it's

% its

    While Kei concluded her infodump, Yuri picked up another book, this
one
bearing the words "Domini Di Morta" on the front cover. She tapped the
edge
of the book's cover against her chin as she said, "Well, that copy isn't

a

day under two-thousand years if it's a day�Want to hear something
interesting?" Kei nodded, and Yuri went on, holding up the book she had
been
toying with. "Every book I've looked at here deals in one way or another
with
the animation of the dead or with giving inanimate objects life. This one
here," She nodded towards the book in her hand, "Is all about ways to
resurrect the dead�I think. The translator didn't make it very clear. I
think
we'll need to get a special historical program to get a clear idea of

what

they're about."

% Hmm. Very interesting. Now we get some idea as to the actual purpose of
the books.

    While she listened to the response, Kei groaned and climbed to her
feet,
only to be hurled back down when the ship rocked sharply to the right.
Yuri
staggered but kept her feet. She stared in disbelief at what the computer
"said". <What do you mean you've been taken off of autopilot? By whom?>

% Heh. LIke she needs to ask. Someone is going to end up getting served a
can of 'DP-style Whup'Ass'

to her micro-disk music player back over her ears and bounced in her seat
in
tune with her favorite song. The ship moved into orbiting speed, and
Natsumi
began to sing along, rocking the steering shafts back and forth to the
beat.
"Yum yum, Bumblebee Bumblebee tuna, I love Bumblebee Bumblebee tuna. Yum
yum,
Bumblebee Bumblebee tuna, I love a sandwich made with Bumblebee!"

% She's a sick little thing.

    The Dirty Pair lunged forward and knocked the alarmed girl aside.
Yuri
plopped into the seat Natsumi had so recently occupied and tried to get a
response from the ship's computer. No response came. Kei picked up the
palm-sized slaved console attached to the I/O ports on the underside of
the
control panel. "She hacked it!" Kei stared incredulously at Natsumi. "You
hacked our ship?!"

% So who gets to space her, Kei or Yuri?

eventually use their hellishly predatory instincts, advanced

intelligence,

and obscenely unpleasant appearances to form an intergalactic trade
federation that would threaten all of occupied space with their rapacious
business instincts. This would continue until a young warrior and his
aging
mentor would come to mediate a dispute between�well, that's a different
story
altogether, and a far less interesting one as well.

% You are an evil person.

    Yuri growled and grabbed Natsumi by the ear and pulled her head down
to
her own level. "You little twit! What were you thinking? No, don't answer
that. You weren't thinking! You could've gotten us, and any number of
civilians killed! You�you moron!"

% 'Yeah,' Kei agreed. 'Killing civilians is our job.'

    As they walked into the moderate-sized town alongside the lake,
ignoring
the staring crowds gawking at what was recently their lake, Sakura looked
at
her surroundings. The town was small and idyllic, made up of individual
homes
and small businesses. Not a single building over three stories high�She
mused. She glanced at Kei and Yuri, who were talking quietly and

giggling.

"So tell me again exactly why we're here?"

% Kei: We're going to end up destroying everything you see around here.

    He advanced on her and stuck his grizzled hand out. "Pleased to
meet'cha."
    Sakura shook his hand, keeping one of her own protectively over the
seat
of her pants,

% Probably a good idea.

*****
    Already extremely bored, Natsumi laid on her belly on the warm wing
with
a sheaf of paper and some pens. At the moment she was amusing herself

with

a
drawing of Yuri and Kei. She giggled as she added some more flies buzzing
around the red-haired Angel's head. She gave Yuri horns and a handlebar
mustache, humming a cheery tune. Looking at the result, she giggled

again.

She glanced out at the shore. The crowds of people that had been shouting
things like "Dirty Pair go home!" and "Leave us in peace, you homicidal
bitches!" had dispersed after she threatened to practice her target
shooting
on them with the Angel's light auto cannons.

% Ah, she's fitting in already.

    Ham nodded thoughtfully as Kei concluded the story of how they had
come
into possession of the books. He grunted and dragged himself out of the
chair
he had been sitting in. As he stumped

% 'stumped'?

    The girl made a face so cute Natsumi felt her teeth start to ache.
"Are
you really from the 3WA?" The girl asked sweetly.
    Wary of against anti-3WA sentiments,

% If they are against anti-3WA sentiments, that means they are in favor of
the 3WA. I think you can drop 'against'

    Though Mary had pinned her arms, Natsumi's legs were free. She

bucked

under her considerably smaller attacker and lashed out with her right

leg.

When her foot hit Mary in the back, she rocked back hard and drove the
back
of her head into Mary's face as hard as she could.

%That was sloppy of Mary.

    Natsumi was caught off guard as Mary slammed her fist into her
throat,
followed it with three swift punches to the gut, two left hooks to the
ribs,
and an open-palm strike to the chin. Natsumi fell to her knees, vision
swimming. Something cannon-balled into her side, flipping her through the
air
and onto her back.
    The entire world was stained red, as it always was to Mary when she
became angry. She kicked the bitch who ruined her perfect, cute nose a
second
time.

% Unless Natsumi broke Mary's nose twice, I think you mean.

'bitch, who ruined her perfect, cute nose, a second time.

    Natsumi gasped for air. The foot came down on he

% the

    Some time later, Mary stepped through the silent hatch and out into
the
light. Her face, shirt, and arms up to the elbows were spattered with
blood.
She inhaled through her mouth, smiled up at the sky, and said, "What a
beautiful day�oh! A butterfly! Pretty!"
    She chased after the insect, which had good enough sense to avoid
her.
And behind her, in the wreckage of the lake, the Lovely Angel lay,

silent.

% Hmm. That was surprising. I didn't think Mary would win. It'll be
interesting to see how Sakura and the others react.

D.B. Sommer