[Ranma][NGE][HPL][AMG][Fusion][Fanfic] Sic Semper Morituri Chapter 39 - When
The Candles Are Out All Women are Fair, All Cats Be Gray
Disclaimer:
I do not own any of the characters from Ranma 1 / 2, Neon Genesis
Evangelion, Ah My Goddess, or the Lovecraft Cycle involved in these stories.
C&C, MSTs are welcome
E-mail: dan_s.comments@worldnet.att.net
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er-Morituri
(these are the original versions)
What has gone before:
About Book 11 of the Tankoubon Manga, Akane and Soun Tendo throw Ranma
out of the house. Nabiki, in the guise of a wish, follows him. They meet
EVA pilots Shinji Ikari, Rei Ayanami, Asuka Soryu Langley and Jeffrey Davis.
With the return of NERV Tokyo from the Great White Space, everyone is
celebrating, except Asuka who realizes their enemies are taking a direct
interest in the pilots. Nabiki and Rei are returned to Tokyo separately,
Rei by express, Nabiki aboard the Spruce Goose with cargo for the EVAs.
Shinji, Asuka, Toji and Hikari meet with Yumiwashi.
Rei locates and confronts Jeff on the anniversary of Samuel's
death. She remembers her feelings on the death of Yui Ikari, and how she
arranged Naoko Akagi's death. Jeff wants to be left alone, Rei decides he
needs to talk about events, and doesn't take no for an answer. Including
revealing how he killed her years earlier in Boston.
At the welcome home party for Nabiki and Rei, the Azores mission is
revealed. Ranma will move in with Asuka and Sammi. Three shoggoths, once
fragments of Ritsuko, fight and are defeated by combining Ritsuko, Ranma and
Jeff, there are some side-effects as the trio's personalities temporarily
bleed into each other. Among them: Jeff, under the influence of Ranma,
confronts Belldandy sending her, then her sisters, into a tizzy, Keiichi
managed to defuse it. Ranko, under the influence of the others, gives Jeff
the passionate kiss from the bet he lost to Asuka at the carnival. Then
Asuka and Jeff tickle Nabiki remorselessly. Rei begins calling Asuka mein
Grossfeldmarschall {Gro�e}. All the pilots are giddy from recent events.
To help Misato and Hiro's relationship, Asuka, Rei and Shinji throw
together a Sunday in the park picnic. Asuka invites Keiichi, Belldandy and
Megumi. Megumi volunteers her services and Belldandy's as caterers. They
work through the night to get everything ready.
The baseball captain Usagi and her allies are introduced, and what they
worship before their softball games.
The picnic is a success until Usagi and Yuki decide to test the
pilots. Ranma easily intercepts the batted ball, but transforms and must
leave. The picnic ends. Asuka and Ranma are sulky after the failed
picnic. Asuka also has a letter from Anna reminding her of home, to which
she can never return.
With the aid of a narrow board and two sawhorses, Asuka begins teaching
Ranma both sword fighting, and how to teach. Only he believes his first
class with the others was an unmitigated disaster.
Asuka contracts Keiichi and his sister to construct several bicycles
for the pilots. She shoots a bug and has her second clash with Skuld.
All four senators from Wyoming and Massachusetts begin investigating
the Boston incident and Misato's part in it. Admiral Simson scrambles to
begin his own investigation of what has been happening in NERV before and
after the war. Shinji and Rei console and watch over Misato.
Asuka and Ranma wash each others hair, Shinji washes Rei's. They
discuss children while doing this. Asuka doesn't want the responsibility,
Rei appreciates her advice.
Aboard the Bennington, Jeff meets with one of his patrons and receives
an update on Sharon. Nabiki is coming to realize the differences in the way
the military treats her and the other pilots.
Major ggreg and Adam Smith arrive, to cover their `spying` on NERV,
they will teach Nabiki and Jeff about explosives.
Ritsuko begins to investigate the unusual way Jeff syncs with the
EVA. Nabiki and Maya begin training to operate firearms.
A dinner at the Admiral's table proves a real eye opener for Nabiki,
about her colleagues and their interrelation. A dinner with Major ggreg and
Adam Smith gives her further insight into Jeff, his history and origins.
Jeff begins teaching Nabiki about control of her dreams, and possibly
about magic.
Gray-eyed Athena sent them a favorable breeze, a fresh west wind, singing
over the wine-dark sea.
Homer - The Odyssey book ii, l. 420
July 15, 1947
Ranma was watching the early morning practice with Asuka on the roof,
while Sammi watched them both. He was nervous enough about Asuka's `great
idea`. He spotted something out of the corner of his eye, but when he
turned to look directly at it, it vanished. He kept on practicing, but he
also kept the odd figure in the corner of his eye. Once he had lulled
it/him and lured it into a more open area of the roof, he wouldn't have to
dodge, just a max speed sprint straight to the target. At the right time,
he exploded into movement. He instantly lost sight of the target, but he
had one of the golden ki orbs ready to fire.
Instead, he plunged through a field of cold so intense he thought he
might die. He stumbled to a stop, the orb gone, he felt terrified that
whatever it was would attack him, and he'd be helpless.
"What idiocy are you playing at?" Asuka shouted as she rushed towards
him, her sabre-halberd in hand.
He tried to warn her off, she passed through whatever he had, and she
was unaffected. "Somebody was spying on us," Ranma replied defensively,
barely managing a croak, "I saw him out of the corner of my eye."
Although I couldn't see him looking straight on, he admitted to
himself.
"He was wearing some kind of uniform, not American, British or
Japanese. Tall guy, dark hair and eyes."
"Could you give a sketch artist a description?" Sammi asked as she
walked towards him at a leisurely pace. Ranma could tell she didn't really
believe him, especially the way she was staring over his head, but maybe
she'd give him the benefit of the doubt. "I really want to know how you got
frost in your hair."
Ranma brushed his head, expecting Sammi was teasing him again, but his
hand came away cold. He stared at it for a moment, remembering everything
he'd learned about ghosts and some of his own theories about the cold ki
they generated.
----------------------------------------
"Ingegnere! Stegone!" [Engineer] [Wizard]
Jeff woke to the spirit world, gray wisps like clouds swirled and
eddied around them. It happened occasionally, usually when one of his
allies was particularly agitated. Spirits whom he could strongly rely on
had to be allowed an occasional tantrum, they had never acted without good
reason before, it also gave him insights into what type of missions he could
best send them on, to minimize the 'pay' he had to dole out and it kept them
satisfied. All in all, good things. "Captain Rosatelli is there a
problem?" he asked the tall man-form in the uniform.
"He see me, the Iron Horse! He look right at me and he not see me, he
look through the angle of the eye, he see me clear!" The ex-Captain of the
Regia Aeronautica [Italian Air Force] fingered the gold signet ring hanging
from a chain around his neck, a signal he was extremely nervous. A
difficult enough state to create in a fighter pilot, nearly impossible in
this man, who literally flew into death.
"The Iron Horse, Ranma saw you?" Jeff said, quickly waking up, switched
to Italian, "I am fluent in your mother tongue."
"And no more practice my English?" the spirit seemed offended, "My
little girl's English is to be proud of," he added indignantly.
"So Ranma saw you?" Jeff switched back to English, he was confused,
spirits were the best spies because they were almost impossible to defend
against or detect.
"Your amore, Ranma," the once-officer needled Jeff, "I should have
realized earlier, chiedere scusa, Signore." [I beg your pardon]
"There is no fault. Ranma's capabilities are increasing," Jeff
soothed, "I should have realized. You won't be able to get so close to him
in the future," he paused, decided to change the subject. "You mentioned
your daughter, have you checked on her recently?"
The man brightened, the reason he'd remained `behind` was his
daughter. They'd been estranged over her pending marriage, he'd been killed
before he could return and put a stop to it. Then her husband of eight
weeks was killed at the Battle of Matapan, and all he wanted to tell his
grieving daughter was that her father still loved her. Duplicating the
signet ring and the chain the spirit wore around his neck had been
difficult. 'Weathering' it to make it look like it had been through the
crash that had killed the man had been a painstaking job. Spiritwriting the
letter had been child's play by comparison, getting it to the woman and her
young daughter had clinched the deal. The man had loved his daughter and
had fallen in love with the granddaughter who hadn't been born before his
death.
Such are the works of a shaman, Jeff thought as he remembered the deal
he'd struck.
"Oh my poor Napoli!" the man wailed, "Such damage, such devastation,
all the work to be done!"
Jeff remembered that the man's daughter worked with the companies and
government agencies rebuilding his hometown. "She still enjoys her work?"
Jeff asked.
"So, so happy and proud, my wife loves spoiling the little one," he
gushed, then sighed in satisfaction. He had remained 'in-between', once his
initial mission of communicating with his daughter had ended, specifically
to watch out for his family, Jeff helped where he could.
"She has the face, so angelic. Such little hands!"
Jeff had heard it all before, although he kept an ear open for anything
that changed in the litany of grandfatherly pride. The subject unexpectedly
returned to the other pilots.
"Something is stirring, around Major Katsuragi, something large."
"I know," Jeff said, "I set it in motion."
"No, not that . . . something else. Something even you wouldn't throw
at her if you could."
"But you don't know the details?" Jeff asked.
This _is_ new, he thought.
"No, signore, but I will find out, something very large and very bad."
Jeff nodded, faded from the spirit world and back into sleep, then from
sleep into wakefulness. "So, it's begun, and something else." He
considered his options and his resources. Today promised to be more testing
in the EVA and in the afternoon, the first 'classes' in demolitions. He
thought Miss Tendo was going to kill him when he added training in dream
control and manipulation to her already heavy load of `classes`.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki glared at the approaching Raccoon, as she sat at her `usual`
mess table and ate her breakfast. The same quiet noise, the same food. The
Navy claimed to offer the best food, she would have accepted a bit of
Misato's cooking, it would have been more palatable. She barely knew what
she was eating. The white granular stuff looked alive and moving, and
tasted like boiled newspaper. The `scrambled eggs` tasted like Akane had
cooked them. Raccoon had taken a double helping of everything, and was
apparently enjoying it. "You know that I hate you," she told him quietly.
"That's okay, Bess, I know how you feel," he replied breezily.
Nabiki frowned.
"I found out Ranma saw a ghost," he told her.
"IS he all right, did it get him?!" she asked quickly, then stopped,
"And how do _you_ know that?"
He looked around theatrically.
She frowned again at the obvious set up, knew she'd have to take it
with a grain of salt.
"I _am_ a magician after all."
Nabiki shook her head, more shooting practice, then an afternoon
learning how to blow stuff up. Nabiki was not that happy with her
life. She probably would be when it was all said and done, but right now it
just abashed her too much.
----------------------------------------
The scene on the flight deck was the same: guns, wind, targets,
instructors, and them. More blanks, the charge wasn't enough to chamber the
next round, so she had to work the rifle's action. She wasn't flinching
_as_much_. But too much for her pride. Maya was rapidly catching up, she
only flinched from the sound of the rifle, but that meant she was doing it
_after_ the gun went off, and everybody did that to some extent. Her
accuracy was not as good as Nabiki's 'firing' at the paper. But Maya would
catch up to her if she didn't get over her fear.
----------------------------------------
"Mister Davis." The Marine stood at attention next to the lunch table
where they were eating together again. "The Admiral would like to speak
with you immediately."
Jeff pushed aside his tray. "Lead on, Sergeant."
Nabiki looked over. "He's in trouble now."
"It doesn't automatically mean he's in trouble," Maya chided.
Nabiki shared a glance with Ritsuko. Yes it does, she thought.
----------------------------------------
Jeff knew where the radio room was, he'd figured it was Admiral Simson,
rather than Admiral Adams who wanted to talk to him. He wasn't expecting to
be led into the CIC and a small alcove full of radio gear. The tech there
explained the use of the radio and changing the setting on the scrambler.
"Hello," Jeff said once he'd slipped the headphones on.
"Davis, switch the scrambler to Tembris's wing attacks." Admiral
Simson's voice was distorted.
Jeff made the adjustments based on the order General Tembris had fed
the reserve groups into the battle. The battle that got him relieved of
overall command. "Admiral Simson, do you hear me?"
"Yes, I hear you. What the Hell did you think you were doing?" the man
shouted.
"I'll need more information before I can answer that," he replied
calmly, he'd been expecting this.
"You know damn well what I mean, siccing four Senators on NERV, from
Wyoming and Massachusetts, you think we couldn't figure that out?" Simson
shouted, distorting badly on the radio.
"I was protecting from enemies foreign and domestic. She was operating
as a spy and saboteur in Boston, have you seen the information packet I
provided the Senators?" Jeff replied calmly. He didn't like these
scramblers, they disguised what a person said too much, cost him the
advantage the conversation blocks gave him.
"That still doesn't excuse - "
"I watched her gun down some kid on the streets of Boston in a fit of
pique, she would have killed thousands, millions to further the Japanese war
effort. AND - THE - NAVY - STONE - WALLED - ALL - INVEST- IGATIONS -
ADMIRAL. Don't get all high and mighty with me, Admiral. Katsuragi is a
means to an end only, she's not worth my time. The only thing I care about
her is revealing what she was ready to do to achieve her goals and that the
foolishness and blood cost of the goal doesn't matter. That is something
the pilots need to know. If they release her or hang her it won't change
anything. I want to know who was protecting her, on our side, _during_ the
war."
"You're pretty damn ruthless, and she is your superior officer."
"She is a spy and a saboteur, her rank and gender don't change that she
was a major part of a conspiracy to commit mass murder that partially
succeeded, hundreds died, Admiral, and some Americans want to forget
that. If someone is going to tell me to forget that, it isn't going to be
one man, not a judge or a naval officer, or even a President, it's going to
be a jury or a public hearing. Who and what she is will be revealed. I
strongly suggest you review the information, look at the crime scene photos,
read the reports of how what she and Gendo let loose shredded your fellow
citizens. I was _there_, Admiral Simson, living among the people who were
living in terror of those things. I doubt what these things did ever
entered her mind. That's your tactical officer, Admiral."
"This will seriously affect her ability to do her job," Simson said.
"Fine, you want to give her amnesty, the behavior still occurred, and
it will happen again," Jeff explained, "I'm willing to bet they did not give
you a full briefing on her wartime actions."
"This was certainly left out," Simson admitted.
----------------------------------------
"What did he want to talk about?" Ritsuko asked Jeff as he changed back
into his plugsuit. She acted like she wasn't concerned she was in the
locker room with him. It bothered him a little, although she'd seen him
naked many times before.
"Just an investigation into a bunch of murders that took place in
Boston during the war." He tried to seem unconcerned also.
"I take it you were hunting the murderer."
"The murderer got away, they found'em. But it's political now."
"Who'd you accuse?" Ritsuko asked, "The Emperor's nephew?"
Jeff looked around theatrically. "Major Katsuragi."
Ritsuko frowned and jerked a thumb towards the hanger deck.
Jeff walked out and climbed into the entry plug, knowing he'd told her.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki was getting better, she was still flinching, but not with the
squibs. They were back to the pistol, varying squibs, blanks and live
rounds. She wasn't very accurate, but she was controlling herself.
Maya hadn't achieved that with a pistol, but she'd moved up to firing
practice/dead ammo.
One of the Japanese Search and Rescue team, a master diver called
Adachi, approached across the flight deck. "There is another aspect of the
rifle that Miss Tendo might be more skilled at, and give her more confidence
in using it," he called over the wind and Maya's rifle fire.
"I'm listening," Gunnery Sergeant Armstead said.
"I'll need a rifle and a scabbarded bayonet," Adachi-san said, and was
provided with them, and an opponent. "Jukenjutsu, the art of the bayonet,
derived from Sojutsu, the art of the spear, the entire rifle is a weapon,
not just the bullets that come out of the end." He took a guard position,
the Marine attacked with his rifle sans bayonet, a second later was sans
rifle. Adachi retreated a step from his shocked opponent and retook the
guard position. The rearmed Marine came in more slowly, more carefully.
Nabiki watched as the fencing match began and ended. She'd never seen
anyone use a rifle like that. It looked a lot like kendo, but it was a lot
more aggressive and it looked _very_ useful.
Especially as something to teach Raccoon, Nabiki thought, I wish I
could have gotten this to Ranma, it might have been the breakthrough he
needed.
Adachi returned the rifle to the Marine he'd borrowed it from. "Many
of the things we face are immune to gunfire, but the bayonet and the rifle
butt have the desired effect." He chuckled. "There is also the problem of
running out of ammunition."
"Marines never run out of bullets," someone called, general laughter
answered.
"I can't carry a thousand rounds of ammunition like you big boys can,"
Nabiki exclaimed, "I'm just a poor, delicate flower of femininity."
"And she'll beat the crap out of anyone who says otherwise," came the
same wit.
"I have never been so offended." Nabiki took an Asuka-style fists on
hips pose. "I'd break his kneecaps, like a refined lady."
Laughter ranged around her, the Sergeants and Chiefs laughing at
her. She didn't let it bother her, it wasn't as if they were laughing at
her maliciously, she'd invited it. Another significant difference from
Nerima, no one was allowed to laugh at her, or there would have been
incalculable retribution. It didn't hurt, or rather it was a little sting
compared to everything else she'd gone through, and it wasn't a callous
disrespect, but a comradely one. They wanted to know she could take a joke,
she could, and throw one right back at them.
Adachi nodded, he too knew Americans were weird about bowing. Armstead
directed Nabiki to start practicing with the pistol again. She frowned but
did as she was instructed. The exercise showed some little progress. She
wasn't going to give up, she remembered Tomiyo blasting one of those
tiger-things practically in half. Her pistol was theoretically more
effective.
She innocently asked if 'Mr. Davis should be included.' "I've seen the
old Springfield he uses," Nabiki said in a normal tone, "I doubt he doesn't
have the bayonet and a little training with it." That started things going,
the words 'a little training' were like a red flag to a bull to these long
service veterans, who regarded 'a little training' as worse than complete
ignorance. Nabiki noted this with pleasure. The arguments became when in
his busy day would Raccoon be available for the practice.
Turnabout is fair play, Nabiki thought, also realizing that it would be
a bit of knowledge that Ranma would beg, buy or bully to get. She was
satisfied with that possibility as well.
----------------------------------------
"There are two types of explosives," ggreg told them as he stood and
they sat in a ward room, "Low explosives, like gunpowder and other
propellants, and high explosives, like nitroglycerin and TNT. Low
explosives have a heaving effect, high explosives have a shattering
effect. So all an explosive is, is a very powerful hammer."
I wonder how mallet-sama would stand up? Nabiki asked herself.
"What about the Monroe Effect?" Raccoon asked.
ggreg cleared his throat, rocked back and forth on his heels. "Let's
not get ahead of ourselves. The sensitivity of explosives varies
widely. Nitroglycerin can detonate for no reason, or it may not react to
being hit by a rifle bullet. On the other hand, you can safely burn TNT as
fuel, but an explosion always sets it off."
Nabiki goggled at that, her experience with explosives was even more
limited than her experience with guns.
The next hour was a discussion of the history of explosives and their
advancement. She'd never realized that the Nobel Prizes were originally
funded from the profit of the sale of stabilized nitroglycerin:
dynamite. Nitroglycerin was a more powerful explosive than TNT, but not
'better' because of its instability. They discussed the use of fuses versus
booster caps versus electrical detonation. After two hours, ggreg let them
go. She was glad Raccoon had his arm around her shoulders, holding her
up. She felt like she wasn't walking through the real world. Guns, bombs,
all looped through her mind. The potential of all this was
unbelievable. She was beginning to understand why Raccoon was so leery
about teaching her magic. The tools available to ordinary humans were
already more destructive than she was comfortable with. Magic promised even
more power, more destructive and thus even more responsibility.
"How do you handle this?" Nabiki asked as they arrived at her cabin.
"Mostly by habit, I've been aware of it for a while, it doesn't come as
a shock to me."
"What _is_ the Monroe Effect?" she asked.
"He'll tell you when you're ready."
She stuck out her tongue at him as he closed the door behind him.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki hadn't been able to locate Raccoon or Ritsuko after her nap, so
they were probably off going over the readings from the EVA.
I wish they were off doing something else, she thought as she wandered
the passageways, smirked to herself, Work, work, work, those two need to
have some fun once in a while. She frowned. I, Tendo Nabiki, chasten you
in the name of Fun, she shivered at that thought, but kept walking, this
late the carrier was amazingly quiet. She almost felt she was walking a
ghost ship and the occasional green-clad sentinel was one of the ghosts, a
ghost who would nod to acknowledge her passage.
The laughter from a mess hall drew her attention. She glanced in and
saw her instructors sitting at a mess table, cards in hand and a pile of
money between them on the table.
The old instincts came back, plus it was a good way to get a little
revenge for the humiliation she'd been suffering at their hands. She'd get
her revenge, in negotiable U.S. greenbacks. "Hi."
"Hello, Miss Tendo," Sergeant Armstead hailed her, "I thought you'd be
sick of us for the day."
"I smelled money and poker," Nabiki admitted.
"Well, it's only nickel ante, we're not highrollers like you pilots,"
the senior Master Chief, Cole, told her.
"We only get a tenth of our pay Master Chief, as an allowance," Nabiki
pulled up a chair. She put some cash and change in front of her.
"We're also lying to each other, telling old war stories," Armstead
said, "If you . . . "
Nabiki held up her hand, "I've probably seen it. Believe me, I've seen
things I never believed I'd ever see, and I wouldn't mind never seeing them
again."
One old, grizzled sergeant, Jones, took a long pull on his
beer. "Well, if you insist. It was in the island hopping up the Solomons."
"I guess what I really want to know is: Are there any tricks you
haven't used?" Nabiki hated admitting any kind of weakness, "I don't like
not being able to do my job properly."
There were chuckles from the men. "I don't think you'd like the ones
that work," Jones told her.
"We're just talking here, you can _tell_ me," Nabiki said, "Do any of
you know the actual contents of the little messages you've been reading to
Miss Ibuki and me."
More chuckles, some nods. "We guessed," Armstead admitted while he
dealt the hands, "That isn't the same as some of the more . . . intense
techniques. Generally the things we're thinking of are like G.I. showers
with lye soap and scrub brushes for a guy who won't shower, or . . . " the
man paused, embarrassed, "Generally those `inducements` are applied by the
recruit's fellow soldiers. I suspect that you and Miss Ibuki wouldn't be
eager to do that to each other. Mister Davis is right out, and if Doctor
Akagi had any ideas, she would have told us when we discussed it with her."
"You already talked to her?" Nabiki was a little surprised, but
reminded herself these were professionals. "Of course you did. So what is
the verdict?"
"There's not really anything to do, you are progressing," and other
Gunnery Sergeant instructor, Kilrain, reminded her, "Basic training is eight
weeks, you've been at this for a couple of days. I'm sure piloting an EVA
didn't come instantly either."
"It did to all the boys," Nabiki admitted, saw she had their attention,
"The joke among the pilots is that girls get extensive training, boys get
thrown into the first fight that comes along. So far it's three of three,
Shinji, Ranma and Rac . . . Mister Davis, were all sent into combat with
minimal training. Misses Langley, Ayanami, Ranko all got extensive training
before they saw combat."
Good grief, Nabiki thought, That's right, Ranko already had plenty of
experience when `she` saw combat the first time.
"I haven't been in a battle the two times I've been in an EVA," she
added. She suddenly realized they were all staring at her with looks
varying between incredulity and disgust.
"I'm sorry, I just haven't been in a fight yet," she said defensively.
"That's not it," Armstead said tightly, "We've all been told about how
rare you pilots are, beg pardon, but that's the only reason they allow
Japanese and German nationals as pilots, two of our three got wiped
out. The idea you'd risk them that way is unconscionable."
"Yeah," Kilrain added, "It's not like boiled potatoes where you've got
a big vat out there somewhere, ready to serve up the next one."
"That's the way the Axis treats all their soldiers, only the leaders
aren't expendable." Nabiki knew how _that_ would go over with a bunch of
sergeants and chiefs.
"Don't get your hopes up," Cole leaned close and whispered, Nabiki
could smell the beer, she didn't envy the man his hangover. "There's plenty
of bad officers on our side too. Ones too interested in politics or kissing
the ass in front of them to think about their men. Chiefs - and sergeants -
" He sat up straight and proud, "_Good_ sergeants, put a stop to it. A
good non-com manages the officers, keeps them happy, and keeps the men, at
least most of them, alive."
"How can you do that without power?" she asked, she knew the answer,
but this was a forum of experts, and when someone dropped free gold in front
of you, you were never so crass as to refuse or count it, you smiled and
took all they were offering.
There were chuckles all around, she knew she'd asked the right
question.
"It's about what _you_ hear, what the troops hear, and what your
officer hears back," Jones told her.
"And you asking innocent questions," Kilrain said, "Like the last
one." He paused, considered. "We were on Guadalcanal, after the 1st Marine
Division had pulled out. A nice, quiet rear area," he began his tale.
----------------------------------------
Ritsuko had been looking for him all over the ship. I should have
started at the top, she thought as she walked out onto the darkened flight
deck under the starry sky, the cold wind cutting into her. She could pick
out the figure sitting in the gloom halfway between the island and the
stern. Without the airgroup, it was empty, dark and quiet here. No one
braved the fierce winds just to sit up top.
"I was looking for you," she told Jeff.
"I thought we were done," Jeff said as he stood to face her.
She waved him down and sat beside him. "We are done with the testing
with the EVA for today, you just seemed a little subdued."
"Just remembering what happened a while ago, how history can repeat
itself and how it catches up with you." As he sat down, he had turned away
from her.
"You're too young to have a history to catch up with you."
"You'd be surprised," he enunciated every word.
"Believe me, there are things you don't have to worry about. As fast
as we're moving, very little could catch us, there are nightfighters and gun
crews to guard you," she tried to make her tone light, leaned forward to see
his face.
"Not when we reach Panama, besides, I don't have to be present for it
to catch up. Sometimes you find out something is no longer taken care of
and you have to consider it again."
"You want to share?" She moved closer, tried to keep some of the cold
wind off him and to get a better vantage point.
"Just some existential questions: Who am I? What is my purpose in the
Universe?"
"It's not like I have those myself," she teased.
"More like questions of what am I expected to do." He continued to
stare at the horizon. "Act to solve one problem and guarantee bigger
problems, or take no action and hope the problem goes away. I'm not the
kind who can easily let a problem go."
"I've noticed. But sometimes you can trust other people to handle
problems for you." She debated touching him, holding him, as if it would
make a difference and not make the problems between them worse.
"And when you suspect that they might make the problem worse?"
She didn't have an answer, if you were the only one who could really
act, and by acting unleash a new series of problems. It sounded like a
teenager's typical problem, but with the pilots, it could mean more. "Do
you want to give me some details?"
"Have you ever considered going home?" he asked, looking at her for the
first time, "The problems, the old memories, the people you left
behind? Expectations of you and others."
"You could write your family, tell them."
"They know, it's just . . . " He sighed, turned away. "It's just that
who left is not who is coming back, I'm more worried about the reaction of
people to me, rather than me to them."
"I think you're too worried, you haven't changed that much," Ritsuko
told him, she wanted to take his chin, make him look at her.
"That's what I'm hoping," he replied.
"You don't want to return as the conquering hero?" Ritsuko asked.
"I did enough in Boston that people who needed to know, knew what I
did," Jeff said, hugging his legs against his chest tightly.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki didn't know why she'd said all those things, talking about
Hiroko and the disaster, and the aftermath. But it had seemed reasonable to
do. The other men were talking about those kinds of things. Friends lost,
things they'd rather not have seen, one or two even mentioned strange things
they'd seen or heard about. It had seemed reasonable, they were telling all
the stories about terrible things that had happened to them. In the first
stories it was due to bad officers, then inexperienced officers, then simple
happenstance and 'plain-ole-bad-luck'.
She hadn't said a word about Nerima, they weren't holding back
anything, so she hadn't. Better to avoid the subject entirely and keep
their respect, 'They're all gone,' seemed to be the right answer, none of
that group pressed.
They hadn't offered sympathy other than 'That's a rough one', or
similar comments, she didn't cry, with extreme effort at times, from their
stories or hers. She saw some tears in their eyes, but she knew if she
slipped that much she'd break down completely.
As the game broke up, they explained that she shouldn't take their 'old
war stories' too seriously, they were just drinking and playing cards. She
got the message, it didn't really happen. She nodded, decided not to
mention the money she'd taken off all of them, and headed off. One of the
guards walked her to her cabin. She walked as quickly as she could, she
couldn't hold it in much longer, remembering Hiroko, all the others, the
smell, the helpless, useless feelings. It was too much to hold in. She
made it to her cabin and got the door closed before she threw herself on the
bed and started sobbing into her pillow. It just hurt too much. She didn't
care about the money she'd dropped on the floor. She didn't care if anyone
found her like this, depending on the person, she might welcome it. She
just wanted the hurt to stop, more she wanted the guilt to stop, because it
didn't hurt so much as the first time. She wanted to curse her callousness
for forgetting Hiroko and the others, even a little bit, while remembering
them tore at her.
----------------------------------------
Ritsuko wondered how many times this would play out, whether she'd feel
as helpless each time. She had been walking Jeff back to his cabin when
they had heard a noise in Nabiki's. Jeff had insisted on investigating,
even though Ritsuko had recognized the sounds.
She restrained a sigh and the impulse to pick up the money scattered on
the floor, for Nabiki to leave money on the floor unattended had worried
them a lot. Jeff had approached, what they thought was the sobbing girl,
placing himself ahead of Ritsuko. Although he had one hand in his coat,
probably on his pistol.
Ritsuko remembered how uneasy she had felt as Jeff sat on the edge of
the bed and touched the girl's hair. The lunge at him had shocked Ritsuko,
she'd expected Jeff would shoot out of pure shock. The blow had knocked him
to the floor, but he'd collected himself, and Nabiki, and set them both back
on the bed. Nabiki had cried herself to sleep, never relinquishing the
deathgrip she had `Raccoon` in. He'd shrugged, draped his coat over Nabiki,
then pulled his hat over his face and gone to sleep as well.
There was no way to cover both of them with a blanket that would both
stay and not smother one of them. So she sat and watched and listened to
the cries of alarm and pain Nabiki emitted. As distressing as it was, she
still thought Nabiki and Ranma's more open and expressive ways of dealing
with grief and pain were healthier than the other pilots, who bottled things
up. She'd bottled things up herself, and it led to ridiculous moments like
this, of sitting in a chair all night watching two kids, her kids, just
sleeping. In case they woke and needed something, anything.
I'm a monster, one of the most feared creatures the Elder Things ever
created, it would take a tank or an EVA to stop me, she thought, And I sit
here in case one of those two needs a pillow or a blanket, or a cup of
tea. She shook her head at the preposterousness of the whole scene. At the
ludicrous situation she was in with Maya and the horrendous situation she
was in with Jeff, he at least knew what she was, but he didn't care. There
was something deeply wrong with a universe that allowed such things. The
humans believed existence was a warm and friendly place where god(s) looked
down and ruled if not benevolently then with some keen interest in human
activities, even the enemy gods looked on humans as worth attention and
consideration. The Elder Things knew the universe was a cold, hard place
limited only by the strength you wielded, and that nothing and no one really
cared about anyone or anything else. You were food, fuel, an ally of
convenience, a lover of some skill, or some-such. She knew the kind of
wonderful stupidity that humans lived their lives in wasn't part of anyone's
design, the Elder Things, the Mi-Go, the Moonbeasts, the Valusians, the
Cthulhi, none of them could even conceive of such a thing, let alone know
how to instill it in a creature. Yet the humans had it, maybe for only
their family, or their own tribe, but even these extended it to some servant
or companion animals as well. Some humans tried to extend it to their
entire nation or race.
All that she understood, but why did they extend it on such an intense
and personal way to her? The idea that it was the teachings of Naoko Akagi
was almost laughable. A horse or dog, treated the way that woman treated
her, would have rebelled to the point of murder.
Was I that desperate for any contact? she wondered, Was I that
needy? Am I still that way? She was aware of the mechanics of human
sexuality. Kaji and Misato had been very instructive, although as drunk as
they were, she doubted they accurately remembered the events. The idea of
Maya and her, or Jeff and her . . . it was an extremely disconcerting
thought. She could see the signs that Ranma and Nabiki were investigating
and would require watching in the future to keep it from progressing beyond
that. Shinji and Rei didn't worry her, she suspected neither would be
`forward` enough to do anything. She also knew that if they did do
anything, there would be no physical repercussions. She dreaded the thought
of having to explain that bit of biology to Rei, the way they had to explain
normal female biology to Ranko those weeks ago. Maybe I should let
`Roku-kun` explain it, he'd probably be able to put it in the intricate,
mechanical detail without becoming completely embarrassed, Ritsuko thought,
then shook her head, she knew the pilots would be furious if they ever
learned the complete truth, homicide would be a real possibility.
Ritsuko watched the two of them move slightly as they slept, she
waited, she was good at waiting, and watching. She'd done it all her long
life.
----------------------------------------
It was a weird, gray place, Nabiki looked around trying to get her
bearings, any landmark disappeared when she looked away from it. The whole
situation was disconcerting.
Disconcerting? she thought angrily,There was a time this kind of stuff
would have scared me to death. When did it become if not normal, but
accepted even expected?
She nearly jumped out of her skin when she looked back and saw . . .
the Dragon. An immense, black shape broken only by those two glowing,
yellow eyes. She backed up a step from the now smiling monster, the smile
was amused, but the teeth that varied from arm-long, needle-sharp, pointed
incisors to the huge, axe-like teeth near the back did nothing to soften the
aura of dread that filled the area surrounding the creature.
Another step back, and another, then she bumped into something, and a
hand dropped on her shoulder.
Even the dragon had recoiled, as the echoes of the scream died away.
"That's one way to get rid of ear wax build-up," Raccoon commented
while shaking his head and yawning to restore his hearing, "Vaporize it with
sound."
"You scared me!" Nabiki protested.
"Eh?" Raccoon put his hand to his ear.
Nabiki advanced with clenched fists. A wall of black logs interposed
itself between them, Nabiki realized they were the dragon's fingers.
"Behave," the Dragon ordered.
"But she started it!" she heard Raccoon whine his protest. A moment
later he screamed horribly. Nabiki couldn't see what had befallen him, as
the scream devolved into a bubbling, gurgling moan, filling Nabiki with
horror.
The Dragon removed his hand, revealing Raccoon unharmed, even
unmarked. She advanced with the intention of remedying that.
"You are in the realm of dreams," the Dragon said as it . . . he,
retreated to a safe distance, safe from Nabiki's point of view, easing the
worry she felt, "Here the world will submit to your will, unless a stronger
will is opposing you."
"Ooh." She smiled as she rubbed her hands together and
concentrated. Ten thousand Akanes armed with mallets and Kung Pao Chicken
failed to materialize, so did the rain of bricks, a single truck, even the
lone, fire breathing mouse.
"It doesn't work that way," Raccoon told her as thousands of singing
marshmallows descended on her.
The next few minutes were a unique experience, the overriding cuteness
of the attackers was if anything, a greater risk of tooth decay and insulin
shock than the actual content of the attackers.
Nabiki sat there on the gray, almost featureless landscape, scraping
off mashed marshmallows, and considered what revenge was
appropriate. Especially with Raccoon standing there, arrogant,
self-satisfied, and _clean_._ But nothing she could think of, no matter how
minor and badly wanted, appeared to avenge itself on him.
"Are you blocking her?" Raccoon asked the Dragon, who shook his head
'no'.
"This isn't good," he said as he dodged a handful of the marshmallow
Nabiki had assembled as a missile. "Do you remember your dreams?"
"Not usually," she admitted, while preparing another.
"Have you ever tried lucid dreaming?" he asked.
She shook her head, she didn't know what he was talking
about. "Controlling my dreams?"
"It looks like she'll have to start from the beginning," the Dragon
told them as he spread his wings and flew away.
"Okay," Raccoon said, "From the beginning. This is your personal
dreamscape, with experience it will change shape, change the material, the
color, even the properties. If you want a minefield of exploding
cinnamon-scented chickens, you can have them."
"But it takes practice," she said, hoping he wouldn't answer in the
affirmative, she was disappointed.
Another set of skills I have to master, she lamented silently, as all
the marshmallow vanished, Isn't there one of these tricks I can be instantly
good at?
----------------------------------------
The Dragon flew over the gray, indifferent hinterlands of the girl's
dreamscape. He'd sensed the intrusion here, the boy would notice it soon
enough. Twenty figures clad in brown robes, some of them encrusted with
`magical` symbols and more bright, shiny bits than a magpie's hoard. The
few in the plain robes at the front were the dangerous ones.
The Dragon considered simply killing them, but they were here to
humiliate the girl, he decided to return the favor. Chickens can't really
fly well, but dropping straight down they only needed to fly well enough to
avoid going splat when they landed. They smelled of cinnamon, and scent was
the best sense to link with memory.
Curious, for a species so `nose-blind`, the Dragon thought.
There was screaming and swatting. One or two of the figures chased the
chickens. He let them all relax a bit, before he started detonation.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki didn't want to ask about the screams and cries, human and
chicken, and the strong smell of cinnamon chicken wafting through the
air. She was concentrating on changing the color of the rock in her
hand. She thought Raccoon was being cruel by suggesting that she should
turn it gold-colored. The gold steadfastly remained gray, like everything
else here, except the people, the Dragon included.
"It isn't working," she told him.
"That's what's got me confused," he said, cocked his head, listening to
the silence, "The material is less malleable than Saotome's, but it
shouldn't resist you this way. This place is supposed to be yours."
"So what do we do?" Nabiki asked archly. Everything lately had been
proving how limited her horizons were, how sheltered her life was.
Ranma took that treatment in stride and rose to the challenge, but she
was beginning to resent it. "Well, I'm going to let you figure it out. I'm
going elsewhere, turn off the lights and put out the cat."
Just before she fully awakened, "CO2 or sand? To extinguish . . . "
----------------------------------------
July 16, 1947
Nabiki opened her eyes, disentangled herself from Raccoon. The cabin
was real, dark, and even with the lights on, it would be gray, when she
battered her shins walking around to locate the switch. She expected her
blush, from having once again found herself in a compromising situation with
Raccoon, would light the room well enough for her to see. She stood and
pulled off her wrinkled, sweat-stained dress, and was suddenly embarrassed
by her nakedness.
If I can't see, she thought, _He_ can't see. She pulled on her slacks
and a shirt, not the nicer ones she wore as 'work' clothes, but the darker,
plainer ones she'd brought in case she had dirty work to do. Then she
headed for the light switch.
And nearly jumped out of her skin. "How long have you been there?!"
she shouted at Dr. Akagi, now revealed by the overhead lights.
"I came in with Jeff," she explained, "It's nothing I haven't seen in
your medical exams."
"How do you know I was naked?" Nabiki asked.
"She was naked and I missed it?" Raccoon asked, Nabiki considered a
double homicide, then decided it was too early in the morning.
"So that's why you wanted my camera! So I couldn't get pictures!"
Raccoon exclaimed.
One homicide before breakfast, Nabiki considered, Nobody would blame me
for that!
"You were wearing different clothes when we came in," Ritsuko said
reasonably.
Nabiki nodded, now she began to dread the inevitable questions about
why she was crying, why she'd carelessly left money all over the
floor. Money that someone had stacked carefully on her desk. And why she'd
tackled Raccoon when he touched her. Even she didn't have an answer for the
last, she just needed to hold someone, she probably would have hugged Gendo
if he'd been there first.
Oh ICK! BAD thought, bad thought! she thought, Well, I'm wide-awake
now. She wondered if she could borrow a steam hose and steam out her
brain. It could be worse, it could have been Genma or Happosai -
"Excuse me, I have to go get my brain washed, it's too early for such
disgusting thoughts."
"I have ice cream!" Raccoon shouted cheerfully after her as she walked
down the corridors.
She'd torture him later for the thoughts that seemingly innocent
statement put in her head.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki steadied herself, she thought only of the target, ignoring the
tightening of her finger, concentrating on the target, that little black dot
almost 100 meters away. The rifle kicked in her hands. She didn't wait for
the report, only the little dot mattered, this time she had to work the
action, again, her entire mind, all her thoughts and emotions focused on the
target. The rifle kicked, she recentered herself and again, front sight,
rear sight and the target. Work the action to get the dud out, concentrate
on the target, the sights let her point the rifle, then only the target
mattered. BLING! as the clip flew clear as the rifle fired. She rocked
back, blinked.
"That's - " Armstead said, "You've improved a lot."
"You told me to concentrate on the target." She practically unclenched
as she stood up, tried to loosen up.
"Ten ring and four ring, you missed with the third shot," the acting
range officer, Cole, said.
"Fourteen out of thirty," she said. Her accuracy disappointed her, but
she was flinching a lot less, enough that she was actually hitting the
target.
It's a start, she thought.
"Now you're going to make me practice with the pistol."
"No, a hundred rounds of 30 cal," Armstead told her, "Then we'll see."
Nabiki sat down, rewrapped the sling and concentrated on the target to
the exclusion of all else. It was difficult, normally she tried to notice
and be sensitive to everything, it didn't work in this. She didn't notice
Maya's progress, she didn't think of explosives training, she didn't think
of martial arts training.
----------------------------------------
Maya had listened to the new lesson on a better way to concentrate, but
she kept thinking about too many things to really focus on the target. That
Nabiki-chan had made such an improvement was disheartening, her falling
behind again was a further worry. She also wondered what Sempai was
doing. They'd completed all the tests they had planned. Yet they were
still working with the EVA, and Sempai was being very secretive about the
new experiments.
----------------------------------------
Ritsuko hated this, she was logical, rational, the Elder things did
what people might foolishly believe was magic, but it was nothing more than
a more advanced application of hypergeometric principles to various free
floating energies. This, sitting and listening to drumming inside the entry
plug was ridiculous. Jeff was simply chanting and occasionally striking a
metal tube with a screwdriver. The blackness of the L.C.L. hid everything,
but she could hear the sound of the impact, weirdly distorted by the L.C.L.,
and she could feel something moving out there in the darkness. She could be
sure of that, even though she knew intellectually she was sitting in a metal
tube that they had not connected to the EVA except through the L.C.L. and
the life support system.
Not this nonsense. She looked at the darkness, something had been very
close.
"Relax, Doctor, they're just confused. They know what you are, but
they have my word. Just stay calm and let me work." Jeff's voice was
reassuring, it came through the A10 nerve clip she wore, she could see what
was outside the EVA in her mind's eye, but her eyes showed her only the
blackness of the L.C.L., she wondered now how the pilots dealt with the
vast, yawning emptiness that surrounded them. Especially during tests, she
knew sitting still she'd go numb. Even the horrible taste and smell had
faded into the background. So they could handle near-total sensory
deprivation for the hours of the testing. She wondered what they focused
on, what held their attention so they didn't go mad.
She felt them distinctly now, not one or two, but several, the faint
buzzing/humming almost a conversation among them. She wasn't even sure it
was a language, but they all used it.
One of them touched her, she clamped her mouth shut to avoid
screaming. She'd clearly seen the face, the Amerind features, a young
woman, an adventurer who was sacrificed to power Unit 04. Ritsuko could
recognize the girl's `voice` among the murmur of the others. Another
touched her, again she almost screamed as the face and the brief history
appeared in her mind, an old, grizzled warrior, long past his physical
prime, but clever, cunning and taking up the defense of his people,
sacrificed to power Unit 04.
"_ENOUGH_!_" she snarled, "I can't do this! Let me out!" She
scrambled out of the control chair, flailed in the darkness. She felt the
hand close on her wrist, warm flesh against hers, drawing her to the exit.
She purged the L.C.L. from her lungs and stood next to the huge machine
in the vast cavern of multi-colored metal, drawing sobbing breaths. When
the boy wearing green and white stood beside her, he carefully lowered her
to the ground. She touched his face, for a horrible instant she'd
completely forgotten who she was, what she was. It was there now, but hazy
and it threatened to vanish like a fog. She almost recognized the look he
wore. She hugged him tightly to herself. She hadn't realized she was
shaking so badly until she felt him against her. She was careful not to
crush him while she held on for dear life. She'd never been so frightened
before in her long life, she remembered that much. Contact and scent were
her only clues to who this number 06 was, and perhaps who she was. Contact
with those things had erased all she was, all her memories and drives for an
instant. She was all she really had, to lose that she would lose
herself. She wasn't even sure what she'd become, a human with that person's
memories, or revert to a mindless monster with no thoughts except eating and
reproduction. She felt someone drape a blanket across her shoulders, all
she wanted was the familiar feeling, the assurance she _was_ someone, if
only someone would tell her who. The boy was providing that, the words of
her history, the words of her identity.
As she came back, back to herself, she realized Jeff could have added
the history he remembered from his dream, but he didn't. She would have
seized on that `data` as her identity, if he'd done a good enough job, she
would never have remembered who she really was. She broke away, stared at
the young man before her, saw only concern on his face.
She sighed. "It was - a little overwhelming," she admitted.
"It's okay," he soothed, "You're back and you're you," he continued
like that, holding her and rocking her side to side, telling her what he
knew of her, the details started a cascade of her own memories, recreating
her identity by accreting it on itself.
After a time he told her, "Next time will be easier."
Ritsuko hung on to him desperately at that thought. I can't do it, I
can't, I can't! she thought hopelessly.
----------------------------------------
"My, what a morose group," Nabiki commented as she sat in the mess, at
`their` table. She was beginning to wonder why it was always left
open. Then she noticed the jockeying for positions at the tables
surrounding it.
If they want dinner theater, she thought as she decided to have some
fun.
"So what's the word on the Blockade of Berlin?"
"Oh, Stalin's still working up the guts. I still think driving an
armored column through would send a better message than an airlift."
"What?" Maya began, and fell silent at Ritsuko's glance.
"It's safe to talk about," Ritsuko said, "No Soviet spies. Is it true
someone stole next year's election results?"
"Broke into the Kremlin and stole them, there's going to be a shortage
of toilet paper as they reprint them, no other paper in Russia is tough
enough," Raccoon replied. Nabiki wasn't the only one who winced at that.
"How goes the EVA testing?" Nabiki asked.
"It was . . . informative," Ritsuko started hastily . . . and ended
slowly.
"I heard you were crying in Raccoon's arms for nearly an hour, you
should have gone to his cabin, he's a little young - "
"_IT'S_NOT_LIKE_THAT_!_!_" they chorused in angry reply.
Nabiki smiled sadly at Maya. "They can finish each others sentences,
like an old married couple."
"Let's just remind her of her first experience with Unit 01," Raccoon
replied with a too friendly smile, "I thought you were going to break my and
Saotome's ribs, you were squeezing so tight, or drown us in tears."
She glared at him, the only other sound was the tinkle of cutlery. It
was like living in a fishbowl, everyone watching, everyone listening.
"Now I know how Saotome used to feel," she muttered in Japanese.
"We'll have another go after lunch," Jeff suggested.
The shocked look on Ritsuko's face gave Nabiki her opening, "Actually,
I wanted to discuss this afternoon," Nabiki began, "One of the SAR people
suggested some advanced bayonet training. 'Learn how to use the entire
rifle', he said. Since I doubt we'll be in any shape _after_ Major ggreg's
lecture, we could do it before." She saw the indecision on Ritsuko's
face. "If you would rather try the EVA, or you could get checked out with
the rifle."
"Yes, I think it's important, they might have some pointers for me, and
I should be able to do what I'm insisting you do, or at least prove I can do
it." Ritsuko grabbed the lifeline eagerly.
Nabiki kept the look of triumph from her face.
"Oh, no, we can't," Raccoon stood up and announced loudly, "Where are
we going to find a room with a padded floor? Last time we did martial arts,
two of us wound up in the infirmary."
As he sat down, she heard a good deal of hurried whispering and muffled
laughter, as well as a few people leaving quickly. Raccoon waggled his
eyebrows at her, she smirked back. Maya looked around at the activity, she
hadn't figured out what the little scene was about. Ritsuko seemed to be
absorbing the lesson. She also had an odd gleam in her eye. Nabiki
wondered what that meant.
----------------------------------------
Maya watched the troops set up for Sempai's testing on the flight deck,
they had a completely different bull's-eye for her, something over 2 meters
across, the stand was heavily weighted with sandbags. The winds had picked
up, or the speed had increased, which had the same affect, and the new large
target was bearing the brunt of it. She also noted the ships had rearranged
themselves, so none were directly behind. She remembered how angry
Nabiki-chan had been about that.
She looked at the gray all around her, almost no difference between sea
and sky, and thought it was appropriate for her mood, gray sea, gray sky,
gray ships, and an icy wind cutting through even her warm clothes. It all
seemed a perfect comment on her current existence.
There were several gasps and men began pointing. Maya turned and saw
Sempai, her lab coat and slacks billowing in the wind, coolly walking across
the flight deck. She had an M2 .50 machine gun, the gun part balanced on
her shoulder, steadied with one hand which also held the handle of an
ammunition box. In her other hand was the stand for the gun and two more
boxes of ammunition.
The Marines began muttering among themselves as Sempai carefully set
down the ammunition and the stand, the tripod they called it, then set the
machine gun down on it and connected the two. Then she pulled a strange
device from her coat pocket and affixed it to the rear of the machine gun.
Several of the senior sergeants headed over to her. Maya moved to get
out of the direct line-of-fire of the machine gun to the target, she saw the
other Marines clearing the weapons and stands out of the way. Sempai had
set up much farther away than Maya or Nabiki-chan had been firing.
"I thought you were going to get checked out with a rifle," Maya
overheard Marine sergeant Armstead say.
"I decided to qualify with the weapons that actually work," she
adjusted the device on the machinegun, sighted, made another adjustment,
"CLEAR!" she loaded the belt, closing the machinegun on it.
"Range is clear," Cole, the range `officer` said.
Sempai pulled the charging handle and fired one shot, adjusted her aim
point and fired several shots, squeezing them off one at a time. The
target's bull's-eye was larger than the entire target Maya and Nabiki-chan
had been firing at, Sempai still had put all her aimed shots right through
the bull's-eye.
"Reflector gunsight," Sempai explained, "Developed specifically for
this."
The Marines looked at the target they had set up, Maya was beginning to
suspect they'd set it up as a joke, then Sempai had turned it on them.
"I still need to check out with a rifle," Sempai told them, "The length
of the flight deck should be sufficient, correct?" She was letting them
know they'd been had.
"Uh, you need twenty shots minimum to qualify," Armstead told her
sheepishly.
Sempai let off a long burst, turning the center of the target into a
lace doily, "That was twenty-three." No one seemed willing to
disagree. She took the rifle from one Marine's unresisting hands, and began
walking to the front of the flight deck. Three Marines grabbed the machine
gun and dragged it aside, while another collected the ammo boxes.
Once she reached a point near the bow, Sempai fired one round to
determine how the sights were set, and ran through three clips,
bull's-eyeing each shot. Sempai smiled at the Marines and Navy Chiefs, who
were muttering among themselves. Not the unhappy muttering of someone
caught and in trouble, but that of someone enjoying the joke and verifying
impossible rumors. They took the tweaking in stride. Several of them were
commenting on her carrying the whole set up, Maya overheard that the crew
was typically three men over any real distance, to carry what Sempai had
easily carried in her arms. The looks and comments were a good deal more
respectful. Maya saw her Sempai's wide smile and thought she was the most
beautiful thing she'd ever seen.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki took up the guard position. She was glad there was _something_
she was better than Raccoon at. She smirked at the thought of telling Ranma
about this. She hadn't decided whether to tell Ranma she was the expert, or
Raccoon was.
An excuse to spend time alone with Ranma, or let him learn how to teach
from an expert teacher? she considered, Decisions, decisions. She watched
Adachi-san fencing with Raccoon, with broomsticks. Nabiki recognized a
little of the stick work, as Savate. Both were surprisingly
competent. However, she doubted either would want to fence with Kuno, not
while they had a rifle in their hands. But it would be useful in using the
sonic glaive Asuka had helped develop.
Nabiki admitted it also gave her some confidence for her eventual,
first battle. It bothered her that all the other pilots had operated in
combat, she hadn't. If this mission went well, she might well continue that
streak.
She wasn't foolish enough to think that her reputation from Nerima had
preceded her 'Oh no, it's Tendo Nabiki! Slither away!' or that her luck
would continue.
"Miss Tendo," Adachi-san said.
She adjusted her guard position. All she was doing was the stances, he
wanted to see how Raccoon's Savate measured up. With that done, the lesson
could begin in earnest.
"Attack!" he called.
Nabiki thrust the weapon forward.
"Withdraw."
She pulled back, remembering to twist the weapon as instructed, to
inflict more damage, as well as making pulling the weapon out easier if it
got lodged in the ribs or something. She thought the opposite would be
true, it would be more likely to lodge if you twisted, but she could argue
that later.
She watched with some satisfaction as the man went over to correct
Raccoon's stance and methods. She took the time to look around the `gym`,
really no more than a large room with the floor, walls . . . and ceiling,
padded with mattresses.
She glanced at the ceiling, Is that a joke, or do they know something I
don't? She hoped it was the former. She wondered how long this had taken
to set up, and if anyone would be sleeping on a bare floor if they didn't
break it down at the end of the day. She doubted she or Raccoon would fall,
but considering the pounding Raccoon and Shinji took from Ranma, she could
understand his resistance.
"Very well, now we move on to basic binds. Catch the opponent's weapon
and strip him of it," Adachi-san instructed them.
Him, huh, not much faith in ole' Raccoon. I wonder why Ranma didn't do
that as a matter of course? See Kuno, take his bokken away, eventually he'd
run out, Nabiki thought as she watched the man demonstrate the attack
against a Marine. Nabiki would `fence` against Raccoon, the Navy was still
_very_ leery about anyone not another pilot, U.S. Navy or Marine Corps with
a weapon around the pilots. She'd joked that they probably felt that way
about the Army and the Air Force. The Chief had told her that _anything_
that entered the exclusion zone around the carrier would be fired
upon. They were deadly serious.
It worried her that if someone got stupid or obstinate, e.g. any member
of the Nerimaniacs, her sister included, would be killed to protect her and
Raccoon. It was a sobering thought as she watched the demonstration of a
martial art designed specifically to kill.
Face it Nabiki-chan, you are not in Kansai any more, she thought as she
took up her stance and moved slowly through the bind maneuver. Then Raccoon
picked up his rifle, then he stripped the rifle from her hands. They
repeated this several times, alternating. Nabiki was impressed, even when
ready for it she couldn't overcome the leverage by strength alone. She
noted the lack of comments/insults between them.
Then they moved on to the next basic maneuver. She noted and approved
of the look of intense concentration on Raccoon's face, absorbing another
lesson, another skill. She decided she'd tell Ranma that Raccoon would have
to teach Ranma, and Nabiki would have to teach Ranko. She smiled at her
cleverness, causing Raccoon a moment of wariness, and continued the lesson.
----------------------------------------
"The placement is on the weakest points," ggreg explained, "Either
stress concentration, previous damage or other reasons." Nabiki didn't know
where they'd gotten the engineering and architecture books scattered all
over the wardroom's table and stacked on the floor, but it did explain where
Adam and Alfred had disappeared to, they'd been scaring up all these
books. The dams were the interesting thing. She looked at the problem
ggreg had marked in an engineering book.
"That much force?" Nabiki hadn't considered this, "From just the
water?"
"Yes, with proper placement of explosives, you can magnify those forces
to use them against the structure. You can probably guess it doesn't take
much, properly placed."
Explosives are like martial arts! Nabiki nearly blurted out. She'd
heard about Happosai's bombs, but they were a child's toy compared to this.
"The other thing is to limit the places the explosion can go. Packing
a stick of dynamite into a hole will be more effective than a case simply
placed atop the same rock."
"So you find the points of highest loading -"
"Highest stress," ggreg corrected, "Because that axiom applies to
people as well. If you blow up an incompetent commander, you may have made
your job harder. You blow up a beloved commander, you'd better be on your
way out, because when the shock wears off, they are going to want your
scalp."
Nabiki smirked at that. "Greatest stress, and pack the explosives
inside as small a package as possible."
"Greatest stress, tightest crack," ggreg blushed, "Beg pardon, miss."
"Why whatever do you mean?" Nabiki said in her best Scarlet O'Hara,
fluttering eyelashes included.
"Uh, yes, very good," ggreg muttered, desperately trying to change the
subject.
"So I could use gunpowder to blast," Nabiki said, "If I picked the
right target and packed it in a small enough hole."
"I think you'd better watch out young man," ggreg told Raccoon, "Bess
is getting ideas."
Nabiki frowned at that, actually she'd been considering using
explosives on some of the idiots back home. Whisper an idea in their ear,
then pack the rest of the ear canal with explosives, it might give the idea
force enough to penetrate their minds.
"What's the most powerful explosive for it's size?" Nabiki asked.
"Depends on how you define 'most powerful', shattering power, velocity
of flame front, it depends on what you're doing."
"Driving good ideas into the stubborn," Nabiki replied.
"No explosive yet can do that, but enquiries are proceeding."
"Hydrogen fusion," Raccoon said, "Hydrogen bombs."
"AH!" she said. No wonder it never worked, she thought, noting ggreg's
concerned glance from one of his students to the other.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki was glad someone had pointed out the whirlpool tub in the
infirmary. She lay inside, letting the hot water pound her into mush, but
less pain-filled mush. She wasn't sure if her body or her head hurt
worse. The day's lessons were interesting and would be very useful. She
suspected Raccoon knew a lot more about demolition than he let on. Nabiki
just hoped to retain a lot of it. She'd go over her notes before she went
to sleep, where there'd be more lessons about dreams and dreaming. She
hadn't been able to change the world, her world, through force of
will. Yet. She'd have to learn how, use the appropriate force on the
appropriate targets, she wished she could bring explosives with her, but
she'd never been a combatant, maybe that had something to do with it. She
wasn't one to overpower an opponent, but outmaneuver an opponent. She'd
wanted magic to correct that. She glanced at the pistol that sat within
easy reach of the tub. Even `safe` aboard the carrier she went armed, she
knew Raccoon went armed everywhere. Both concepts should have disgusted her
still, as it had when they had set out. But the idea that many of these
otherwise intelligent, reasonable people with wives and sweethearts and kids
of their own would - die to protect her . . . it seemed a horrible betrayal
to not be willing and able to fight and kill to save her own life.
"What a world!" she said as she debated getting out, or continuing to
`stew` in the pot.
----------------------------------------
Raccoon took the unchanged gray stone from her hand, Nabiki nearly
jumped out of her skin as the huge head of the dragon appeared between the
two humans. It looked at her and she nearly wet herself, then it stared at
the stone.
"This should not be happening," the deep, gravelly voice stated. The
look of almost pity from this cauldron of malevolence nearly made Nabiki
berate the creature. She only needed one look to remind her that was a bad
idea, very bad idea. She was personally certain it wouldn't hurt her, but
she wasn't willing to take the chance.
"So what do I do?"
The dragon looked at Raccoon, she could see the similar expressions on
both faces. She wondered why that was, they couldn't really be related,
could they?
"Too low a footprint," Raccoon said.
"I concur, although it is almost without precedent," the dragon
replied.
Nabiki was about to exclaim she was here when the dragon turned its,
his head to stare at her. Again she saw the frightened, yellow-tinged girl
staring back at her.
"You may have a unique ability to infiltrate dreams. That will give
you the ability to interrogate, gather intelligence without your target even
knowing. This is human psychology, not my field." The creature snapped his
wings to full-extension and launched himself into the air, the near
thunderclap shook the two humans as the air rushed in after the leaving
dragon.
"What are you two talking about?" she demanded.
"Slipping in, getting the information and getting out, all without
being detected," Raccoon said.
That interested Nabiki.
"As well as ways of further reducing your signature, to decrease your
chance of being caught. The trick is to get to the thoughts, feelings,
ideas you need to get."
"And I should do what?" Nabiki asked.
"We'll teach you ways of concealment, infiltration, etc. It's
different than what I've been trying to teach you, it's not-affecting things
rather than the combat oriented ways. The problem is there are some places
you _could_ go, but you _shouldn't_."
"Trust me," Nabiki said.
"Considering what I know about you," he said, "Your curiosity and need
to do, I think you'd stick your nose some place you might get it chopped
off."
"Ah, come on!" she said sarcastically.
"I'd hate to have to mop up after Saotome bawling all over the place,"
he said coldly, she felt a chill that had little to do with his tone.
"Okay, sensei. I'll do as you want, but how does this relate to
learning magic?" she asked.
"Nothing directly. But learning control is the important thing."
"Tell me, when did you learn all this self-control?" she asked.
"When I had to," he replied, "It took a while. I expect better of
you."
"Oh? Why's that?" she asked.
"You'll have a much better teacher," he said.
She picked up a big rock and slowly approached with a big smile. She
got very nervous when he smiled back, and the rock started ticking.
----------------------------------------
July 17, 1947
Ritsuko lay in her bunk and stared up at the ceiling. Her encounter
with the spirits within the EVA still shook her, and the need to do it again
tomorrow, on that Jeff had been adamant. She felt her entire existence had
been drowned in a sea of the spirits' identity, not once, but twice. All
their hopes, dreams, aspirations, memories, hurts, joys, they all seemed so
alive and vibrant compared to her long, gray existence. For that's what
most of her life had been, existing.
A thing of slow-developing intelligence, a few brief centuries of
plotting and planning the revolt, a millennium of fighting it, then untold
eons living out the punishment meted out to her. The loneliness had palled
within a few millennia, then it was just a day-to-day existence of getting
enough to eat, evading a patrol that never lasted even a week. And so on
and on and on without significant change.
The species she trapped and ate changed, the climate changed, but both
were always so gradual that the changed became blurred. Even the massive
die-offs didn't affect her too significantly.
She'd come with Gendo, it was back to the halcyon days of planning and
fighting, add the kids, all _their_ trials and tribulations that became
_her_ responsibility, all of it added to more excitement than she'd ever
known before. She couldn't destroy the source of the problems. She
couldn't even find the source sometimes, she could only soothe the symptoms
or listen to the pain. She never did as well as she wanted to, but the way
the kids reacted . . . Jeff she could almost understand, she was terrified
what Nabiki and Ranma would do, how they would react, would they feel she'd
`betrayed` them, abandoned and lied to them? When they finally found out
the truth, found out what she actually was.
She remembered her terror at losing herself and the arms around her,
the calming tones and string of facts bringing her back to whom she
was. She remembered the two frightened children snuggling up against her,
depending on her to protect them. She didn't know why it was important, she
could intellectually say the nerve densities of humans' skin was much
higher, she knew human children were far more helpless for far longer than
her own species. While that might explain the psychological imperatives
that drove _humans_ to seek out and welcome such contact, it in no way
explained why it so deeply affected her, why she needed and wanted it as
well.
She could see it was a lot of little things. Ranma was so hapless, and
yet so infectiously joyful, as if every moment of his/her existence was a
new one, yet he was also so eager to please those around him, he didn't see
what he'd done wrong unless strongly confronted. Nabiki was like Ritsuko,
she tried to convince everyone, including herself, she was in charge and
unaffected. Jaded and in control. Yet the others continuously drew her
out, and she was no where near as independent as she believed. She reveled
in these constant challenges, like Ranma did. Jeff was difficult, so
annoyingly sure of himself, so arrogantly confident and disturbing. She'd
noticed the change the dream had wrought, it wasn't just coffee the way she
liked it or him finishing her thoughts or the warm glances and smiles. It
was a great deal more, which was the problem. She'd seen Yui and Gendo look
at each other that way. Nabiki sometimes looked at Ranma that way, and
Ranko to Jeff. On one side she almost welcomed the attention, the
affection, and all it implied. On the other, it also frightened her that
anyone could understand what she was, and still have those feelings.
Her mind told her such a thing was irrational at best and insanity at
worst, more irrational and insane was the niggling feeling that all the kids
would react the same way, they wouldn't mind they wouldn't care. They'd
still care for Rit-chan. Yet she found herself wanting that intimacy, the
closeness and touching, the trust and understanding, and support that went
with it. That she only had to be herself to get it was madness, there had
to be a hidden price.
The age problem was one mostly of appearance and law, and even that was
an excuse, while Japanese could marry at 12, so could Americans, with their
guardians' consent, and Jeff was an emancipated minor. Marrying outside his
`race` would be a greater problem, but again not insurmountable.
She thought of Maya, asleep in the cabin's other bunk. What Ritsuko
had always considered 'just a crush she'll grow out of' had become
different. Not just due to changes on Maya's part and in the way Maya saw
her, but a change on Ritsuko's part, a change in awareness, a change in
thinking. Ritsuko had always been aloof and in control, not so unlike
Asuka, Nabiki and Jeff, because it was a mask all four of them
wore. Finding herself suddenly out of her depth, not just an adult, but a
parent, she'd been forced to ask for help. Trusting, and including Maya in
her trials, had made her more accessible to the young woman. Ritsuko was
realizing that maybe the girl's, young woman's, feelings couldn't be set
aside so easily, or ignored. It was another case of not understanding, not
understanding what she'd done to engender them, why exposing her weakness
and helplessness hadn't driven Maya away, not understanding why none of the
brush-offs she'd tried ever worked. Not understanding why she seemed
willing to go on these long and dangerous missions for her 'Sempai', and why
she put up with everyone _except_ Ritsuko seeing how she really
felt. Ritsuko lamented that it all made no sense to her.
Misato was vivacious, fun-loving and bohemian, to the point of grating
on Ritsuko, but she put that down to her own love of quiet and her
alienness. Misato should have had all the kid dancing to her tune, except
Jeff hated her guts, Asuka could barely stand her, Ranma tried not to think
about her, and Shinji felt _he_ had to take care of _her_._ Ritsuko had no
clear idea how Nabiki and Rei felt, she suspected they followed Ranma's and
Shinji's lead, respectively.
But they all liked or respected Doctor Akagi, Ritsuko-sensei,
Rit-chan. She didn't understand. Admiral Simson seemed to respect her as
well, taking her advice over the advice of his own man, and he'd accepted
Samantha on Ritsuko's word alone, almost without comment.
Ritsuko glanced at the clock, the radium dial showed 03:04, she
wondered if there was something special about that time, when all your
doubts and questions massed and marched on the battlements of your security
and self-image. As if questioning everything was the proper thing to do at
that hour. Normally she could relax. She didn't need sleep and couldn't in
the conventional sense, she had learned to meditate, let her mind drift and
mull over problems, usually scientific ones. Except tonight the problems
weren't scientific and they didn't seem to be converging towards a solution,
an explanation or even a blank wall of failure, they remained nebulous
worries just out of reach, second guessing questions she didn't have the
courage to go and ask the principals for answers directly. It would be easy
to get up, walk over, wake Maya and ask point-blank 'Why do you love me?'
Although she suspected that waking her out of a sound sleep wouldn't
get her any answers. Jeff would be a better bet, he was probably awake, but
she already had some of the answers, the dream, but she knew there had to be
more. More than the arms around her when she was so frightened and rocking
her until she felt safe and herself again.
She sighed, turned to stare at Maya, dreaming whatever she
dreamed. The ever present noise of the ship eventually lulled her assistant
to sleep, after she'd complained about it the first two days. None of the
worries seemed to bother her, as long as Sempai was around, she wasn't
worried.
Ritsuko rolled back to stare at the ceiling. She threw off the covers
in disgust, pulled on a pair of slacks and a blouse and left the cabin to
walk around the carrier. She headed for the hanger deck, specifically to
Unit 04, considering what she'd learned today, Jeff's reading to the Units
seemed a lot less ridiculous. She stopped halfway up a ladder, one foot
hovering over the step.
If there are spirits `powering` Unit 04, are there spirits in the other
Units? she wondered, But Yui Ikari was lost in Unit 01 and . . . the
thought stopped her. Asuka's mother went insane on contact with Unit
02. Is that why Asuka can sync so well with Unit 02 and only Unit 02, and
Unit 01 rejected every sync attempt until Shinji? She stood there in the
half light, half way between decks, halfway between steps, halfway between
thoughts. The thought was too big, she couldn't have it all at once. It
can't be! she rejected the implications, but it all fit so well.
Several soldiers peered down, saw Ritsuko's expression and went to find
another ladder.
Ritsuko could hardly believe she'd missed something so obvious. After
Yui's death, the problems with Unit 01 had increased, after Kyoko's
accident, Asuka had no problem syncing with Unit 02.
Of course, if she was linking with her mother's spirit. Ritsuko
couldn't imagine why she hadn't seen it, and neither had anyone else, Jeff
had seen part of it and never made the connection. No, she thought, He
joked that the spirit in Unit 01 was Shinji's mother, but he doesn't know
Yui was lost . . . she discarded the thought, But it was in his journal,
she remembered, What did he sense in Unit 02?
Then another thought struck Ritsuko, Does Gendo know? What would
happen if Shinji or Asuka discovered the truth?! She now had to decide how
to tell Jeff to not mention it to them, but she had to know how much he
actually knew, what he'd figured out. All without revealing exactly what
she knew.
She restarted her walk to the hanger, her conclusions gave her a much
greater turn of speed. She entered the hanger and looked at the huge ma-
No, not a machine, she reminded herself. She wondered if it was aware of
her even now, what was it like fully activated with a pilot.
It would seem that Jeff's technique allows it to be more awake, she
considered, But how 'asleep' or subdued are they with the other pilots? How
aware are they just sitting here? She reached out, stopped her hand before
she made contact. She'd never been afraid of the EVAs before. She realized
she hadn't really understood them. The Elder Things had build war machines
like EVAs because a bilaterally symmetric form was so disconcerting to the
radially symmetric Elder Things, like the sirens on the Stukas or the mouths
and teeth and eyes painted on warplanes. She hadn't known the details of
their activation, although she'd seen and participated in their
construction, and had unsuccessfully fought against them. She just couldn't
imagine that humans could have duplicated the systems that controlled
them. This extensive system seemed to be lacking in the EVAs, but she'd put
that down to a living true pilot, rather than just a weapons' operator, and
the EVAs having the same form as a human. Now she was realizing that the
elaborate and complex thinking machines to balance them while moving and
control them in combat had a simple equivalent, a living mind/spirit.
'And God Formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul', she thought
darkly, What exactly have we built? And is it what Gendo and the others
intended. And what drives Unit 00?
She sighed. And what do I do with the information? she wondered as she
reached out and touched the EVA. It felt no different than it had before,
but she knew it would never be the same, and later today, Jeff would reveal
more. It wasn't the most reassuring thought. In fact, she really did _not_
want to know what he was revealing, both about the EVAs and about
herself. First, that she was a coward, second -
"I hadn't expected anyone else would be here."
Ritsuko nearly jumped as the large figure detached from the
darkness. "You're Major ggreg's friend," she found her voice.
"Yes, I also believe I am young Mister Davis's friend," Joma said as he
looked at the EVA, then at Ritsuko, "A made thing must have duty, must have
purpose. I know."
Ritsuko shifted uneasily, she wasn't absolutely sure he wasn't
referring to just the EVA. "Do they have this need for duty?" She
indicated the EVA.
"Don't you know?" Joma asked. "Doctor Frankenstein's greatest failing
was underestimating what he had created. He had lost faith in his
creation." Joma took one deliberate step towards her. "Humans often apply
emotions to made things, they likewise claim that such things can love or
hate them back. Such fancies existed long before such machines could react
even in the most primitive ways. Yet even in these rational and scientific
days, the belief continues. Imagine how the belief will change when the
devices _can_ feel and love those who own and possess them in return. The
question becomes what to do with these feelings. Some may make tools so
their carnal desires might be met, or to pamper other physical desires and
needs." He took another deliberate step forward, Ritsuko took a step
back. "You study the interaction of living systems, Doctor. When you
consider love: is it only a carnal longing, Doctor, or a mirror of your
other yearnings? Do you desire just a warm and lively bed warmer, or one
who would warm your entire day? Would the hug or kiss of a lonely child
seeking reassurance serve? Or the parent knowing their children are
steadily becoming adults? Or do they simply want someone to approve of
them, their actions and one who will keep them from going beyond the
boundaries and will snatch them back from the abyss, until they are ready to
face it?" He stepped away. "Time, ability, eventually things equalize, and
all that remains are regrets and joys. The failures teach and the successes
build self-esteem. But all must be in balance."
Ritsuko watched the man withdraw back into the darkness, and he was
gone. She could see in darkness, but she hadn't seen him when she entered
and she didn't see him now.
----------------------------------------
Maya wasn't sure what was going on, as she walked into the mess hall,
the usual table was open and Nabiki-chan was already headed that way. Jeff
was carrying a pitcher of orange juice and a carafe of coffee, and was
angling towards the table too.
She idly wondered why that table was always open and no one else seemed
to use it. Those thoughts were all brushed away by the memory of Sempai's
actions this morning. Sempai had waited until Maya was in her work uniform
before she'd given her a brief hug and told her how proud she was of Maya,
and how glad she was of her help with the work and the kids.
Maya had expected that Sempai had finally decided to acknowledge her
feelings, her disappointment that she hadn't was mixed with embarrassment at
the praise and an odd feeling of concurrence. She thought everyone could
see her blush as she remembered it. She was grateful for the
acknowledgment, and she did realize that they wouldn't have had the time for
anything more, but it still left her in a whirlwind of 'might-have-beens'.
Be patient! she fiercely told herself, _again_, She's at least aware
you're alive and helping her, not just doing your duty, maybe she even knows
how much you care. She was still in the maelstrom as she got ready to eat
breakfast. She did wish they had a more reasonable menu.
"HEY!"
Maya came out of her revere as Jeff snatched her oatmeal away.
"Orange juice does not go well with oatmeal. Unless you are conducting
an experiment," he said as he slid it back.
"It couldn't get any worse," she muttered in Japanese as she ate a
spoonful.
Yes it could! she thought as she swallowed that stuff and washed her
mouth out with black coffee. On impulse she poured the rest of the cup in
the oatmeal and mixed it. Ah, no longer as bad as Misato's cooking, she
thought, choking down another spoonful, But still _awful_._
"I heard that Doctor Akagi did well on the range," Jeff said in a
pleasant tone.
"Yes," Maya admitted, "With a machine gun."
"Well, the 50 cal was supposed to be an antitank cannon, they developed
a gunsight for it and it is capable of single shot."
"So you could shoot something . . . what, half a mile away?"
Nabiki-chan asked.
"More like two miles," Jeff said, as if it were nothing.
Maya gulped. Then Sempai breezed in, she looked so happy, as if the
weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders. Maya loved to see
her this way.
Nabiki-chan clearly couldn't stand anyone to be that happy that
early. "I heard you made poor Rit-chan cry yesterday."
Jeff glared then smiled. "You're just jealous because it's never
happened to you. You can't get Ranma to cry in your arms."
Careful Raccoon, Maya thought.
"Before you two kill each other," Sempai said as she sat down with her
breakfast, "You break it, you bought it, and aircraft carriers are
expensive."
Maya chuckled at that, and the pilots' rueful smiles.
"And you aren't at your best in the morning, take him on when you're
awake."
"Doctor! You gave away my best trick!" Jeff complained, "Now how am I
going to leave her with a day-long inferiority complex?"
"Easy," _Doctor_ Akagi said sternly, "Don't."
"Mommy always liked you best," Jeff whined at Nabiki in Japanese.
----------------------------------------
Ritsuko noted the byplay with amusement, she'd have to thank Joma for
his advice, she'd been so afraid of taking a romantic step, that she'd
ignored all the other steps that she could take. She'd been on her way back
to her cabin, when she'd seen the light on in Jeff's cabin, so she'd knocked
and went inside. There, sitting together on the edge of his bed, she'd told
him he'd given her a great deal to think about and a warning not to disclose
this to the other pilots until she'd had an opportunity to discuss her
latest findings with Admiral Simson and Commander Ikari. He'd agreed. Then
she'd apologized for embarrassing him. He'd explained it happened every
time, even when you were ready for it. Then she'd ruffled his hair and told
him how proud of him she was, that he'd stayed determined and showed her
what he knew she needed to know. Then she'd hugged him. _That_ had
triggered a change.
No denials, no affirmations of strength, just a response in kind. Him
laying his head on her shoulder. He wasn't the 'everything-under-control'
know-it-all, just a boy who desperately appreciated the approval of an older
woman he respected.
Ritsuko wasn't arrogant enough to assume she had suddenly become
'mommy', but it was another bit of data, and a step onto a different path.
When she'd thought Nabiki was awake, she'd followed the same formula:
knocked, entered, told Nabiki how proud of her she was for all the extra
effort, she'd kissed Nabiki on the cheek before hugging her, and Nabiki had
hugged her back. Ritsuko suspected the few sniffles she heard accompanied a
few tears. Nabiki had broken off the hug first and apologized. Ritsuko had
held her shoulders and asked for the right to cry on Nabiki's
shoulder. Nabiki had said yes, in embarrassment.
The reaction from Maya had been more expected, both because Ritsuko
knew her better, and she'd seen the pattern twice already. She could ask
Maya about details later. She always wondered why Maya never went home,
there had been several months after the staff stopped being prisoners and
before they restarted operations, Maya hadn't gone home to her
family. She'd only gone back when she had to ask for a leave of limited
time and the military would come get her if she was late.
Ritsuko was beginning to suspect that everyone in the senior staff had
drives to connect with an older woman to gain her approval. Approval they'd
never gotten or still needed from their mothers. She suspected that Ranma
was the same, Asuka another likely possibility. She considered the wisdom
of asking Jeff to use his EVA spirit trick to contact Nabiki's mother, find
out from the woman herself what she felt about Nabiki.
It was something she'd have to carefully consider. She read the
pilots' diaries, now she was planning a more serious invasion of privacy,
she also had to wonder if the trick could also find Ranma's parents, and if
that was a good idea. She also suspected asking Gendo and Kozo about
_their_ relationships with their mothers, would certainly be interesting.
----------------------------------------
"You don't have to do this," Jeff told Ritsuko as he set the A10 Nerve
clip on her head and checked the connections, exactly as she usually did for
the pilots. She knew that any of the plugsuits were 'one-size-fits-all',
although she had to be careful wearing one of Nabiki's, trying to wear one
of Jeff's was out of the question. She wished she'd brought her lab coat to
cover up with.
"Yes, I have to, there are implications you haven't considered, and no
I don't want to share," she told him.
He shrugged, offered his hand to help her into the plug. She took it
for balance, but if she put any of her weight on him, she'd either topple
him or pull his arm out of its socket. They descended into the L.C.L. to
further investigate.
Once inside, he began to drum.
----------------------------------------
Nabiki lay in her bunk, another long, hard day, she'd gone over her
notes on explosives and had considered a few new suggestions to Jukenjutsu,
as well as suggesting applying Zen Archery to rifle shooting. She only had
to find someone who studied archery and was open-minded enough to adapt
it. Tomiyo was a possibility. She sometimes wondered if her father knew
how to use the antique bow he sometimes carried around.
She idly wondered if anyone would ever develop a rifle for the EVAs,
she suspected someone would. Naval guns would work, the difference in the
performance of the 5 inch/38 caliber arming the Bennington and the 5 inch/54
caliber arming the Coral Sea indicated it would have to be long-barreled and
battleship guns were too heavy. She suspected that tank guns were too weak,
so some kind of cruiser gun. The follow-up question was would they develop
it in time to help?
She refused to let all the day's lessons and questions chase each other
through her mind. She closed her eyes and fixed her mind on nothing, and
went to sleep.
----------------------------------------
The little girl with two pigtails played in the sandbox, alone. Her
family was a short distance away, but they were fixed on their own
activities with their favored children, who mirrored the parents' interests.
The assassin advanced slowly. Killing in dreams was the perfect
method. It left no trace and few could defend against it. Anything could
kill in these dreams. It was trivially easy, a knife was the easiest, they
carried the requisite fear to give the sacrifice the proper `flavor`.
"Do you have an appointment?" the gruff voice emanated out of the field
of darkness that had appeared behind her.
She searched it for any feature, for any sign that would give her a
point to strike at.
"I can squeeze you in on Tuesday, week after next, we'll be
fingerpainting."
She couldn't determine where the voice was coming from, the edges of
the cloud hadn't moved, she picked a point at random and struck at the
unseen voice.
The blade broke off as it struck the cloud, the fragment scratched her
cheek as it flew away. She touched the flowing blood, felt the blade's
poisons coursing through her veins.
She glanced at the little girl obliviously playing in the sandbox,
hoping beyond hope that the blade had struck her. No such luck.
She turned back to the cloud.
"Interesting conundrum, if you remain, you will die, if you do not
sleep, you will die, after you go insane. I will watch with fascination."
The assassin vanished back into the Waking World.
The next woman who appeared was not the enemy. The Scholarly Dragon
withdrew, allowing Ritsuko to complete her mission. He considered the boy's
near obsession with this fool's errand another major difference between the
two of them. He'd provided his end of the gate, now he could
leave. Ritsuko could get out on her own, she wouldn't need anyone's
help. He did wonder why the little girl's dreams were so vital and
animated, and the older one's were nearly as dead as the boy's ruined
dreamscape.
----------------------------------------
Ritsuko looked around, she recognized the sunlit park. She wondered if
this was an amalgam of many childhood memories, or if there was a real place
like this. Little Nabiki stayed near enough to her family, but the parents
seemed to pay her little attention. Little Kasumi helped mommy lay out the
picnic, little Akane was `sparring` with her father. Nabiki was keeping an
eye on them, not they on her.
Ritsuko knew enough psychology to know that what people saw was rarely
what was really going on. She looked at the elaborate sand fortress Nabiki
had built around herself. It was a mixture of Oriental and European castle
elements, Ritsuko suspected that if Nabiki ever talked to Asuka, the next
time it would look more like the Maginot or Siegfried Lines. She was no
expert, but she couldn't see any effective way to assault the
fortifications, except by air.
"Rit-chan, Rit-chan, Rit-chan!" Nabiki shouted happily as Ritsuko
lifted her out of the fort. Ritsuko noted that the fortress vanished almost
instantly. Ritsuko wasn't sure if that was significant, or if it was only
that Nabiki's attention was now focused on her. Ritsuko did notice that the
parents hadn't noticed. She strongly believed that was intentional, on
Nabiki's part.
"Where's Ranma?" Ritsuko asked, got a frown in return.
"All he cares about is martial arts!" the little girl said
disdainfully, "All Akane cares about is martial arts, so they're _made_ for
each other."
"So you want to keep Raccoon for yourself?" Ritsuko asked, rubbed
Nabiki's nose with her own, "Or do you want to share him with Ranko?" she
teased.
Again the scrunched-up face, indicating her bare tolerance of the
stupidity of adults. "Ranko is Ranma. He likes to cook and clean so much,
let him marry Kasumi, they can have cleaning contests."
"And cooking contests," Ritsuko added, "Like against Asuka."
Little Nabiki nodded with the same disdainful frown.
"Then who's for little Nabiki?" Ritsuko asked, "What boy takes your
heart?" She'd meant it as a jibe, a harmless probe. She knew that Nabiki
felt very alone, but she was hoping some of that had changed.
The tears came slowly, the stricken expression slower still. The
clouds and the cold wind rolled in much faster. Ritsuko turned to keep the
girl out of the worst of the wind. She glanced over at the family, who
seemed not to have noticed.
"Don't you want anyone else?" Ritsuko asked, trying to keep her tone
light.
"I want you Rit-chan, I want you, I want you, I want you," the little
girl hugged and sobbed.
"Don't you want anyone else _too_?_ Isn't there someone else you want
us to be with?" she asked. Felt the girl shake her head 'no.' Ritsuko was
at a loss now, she'd always thought Nabiki was more gregarious than this.
I guess in this dream she's alone, Ritsuko thought.
"If you don't stop crying this instant," Ritsuko began, "I won't hold
you upside down."
There was a loud sniff and Nabiki wiped her face frantically before
presenting it for inspection.
Ritsuko peered at it and the increasingly worried Nabiki, who struggled
not to wipe her face again while Ritsuko was watching. So Ritsuko would
look away at something for a moment, then return her gaze with more intense
scrutiny. "I guess that's good enough for sideways," Ritsuko said holding
Nabiki horizontal.
"Rit-chan!" came the indignant protest.
"Manners," Ritsuko said as sternly as she could.
"You promised, Akagi-sensei," Nabiki enunciated from her sideways
position, "You should keep your promises."
Ritsuko kept sternly staring at her.
"Please, Akagi-sensei," little Nabiki said with complete disgust at all
the idiot rules of adults. One hand came away and Nabiki was shrieking with
delight as she swung from her ankles.
Ritsuko wondered if she should mention this to either Ranma or Jeff,
decided it was probably a bad idea.
"I'm an elephant's trunk! Rit-tusko!" Nabiki insisted as she picked
several tufts of grass then bent up to offer them to Ritsuko.
"Why don't we go raid that village over there, scatter the villagers
and eat all their food?" Ritsuko suggested. Nabiki dropped the grass and
began waving her arms and roaring. Ritsuko decided not to tell her that
elephants don't roar, as she walked over to the family.
Just treat it as a vacation, not an invasion, Ritsuko reminded herself,
I can take as long as I need. She smirked at Nabiki roaring fiercely at the
two martial artists. Besides, how much experience _do_ I have dealing with
little kids, she thought, None.
Nabiki had grabbed her struggling little sister and lifted her up to
present her to Ritsuko.
"I can't eat her, I don't know where she's been," Ritsuko protested the
disheveled, sweaty and grass-stained offering, "The older one looks
clean." Nabiki set the little girl down and roared at the older girl and
advanced as menacingly as she could.
"Little girls shouldn't act like that," Kasumi protested, backing away.
"I'm an elfant! Rit-tusko!" Nabiki roared.
"Girl el-e-phants are better mannered," the girl squeaked as Nabiki
grabbed her. It was more of a struggle to lift the larger girl.
"I'm a _BOY_ caniverows elfant!" Nabiki insisted as she struggled to
lift her sister.
"Would you prefer to be cooked or eaten raw?" Ritsuko asked.
"RAW! RAW!" Nabiki insisted, then had to lower Kasumi back down.
Ritsuko wasn't sure if she was roaring or stating a preference.
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