Shogo: Adauchi
By Graham L. Wilson.
http://www.blood-wiki.org/Shogo/Expanded-Canon/

Thanks to Monolith Productions for the Shogo game and characters.

Note: this story is dedicated to all those who suffered or died during the 2011 Japanese earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis. Whilst I can never really appreciate the calamity of the events, the fact that I also had a difficult time of it at around then makes my note here more sincere I hope.

Parts:
Around 10 pages each section.

1 Shadowy Menace 
2 The Arrival           
3 Battle Begins      
4 Unexpected Companions
5 Infiltration and Counterattack
6 Complications
7 Tides of War
8 Shifting Ground
9 Showdown
10 Endgame
11 Desperate Minds
12 Secrets and Revelations
13 Reflections and Decisions
14 Commemorations and Commendations
15 Conclusions and Beginnings

Part One: Shadowy Menace

	A group of figures huddled around a conference room table. These men were some of the most important people in the known galaxy. Today they were to decide the fate of the assets of traitors: the property of Shogo Industries. It had been a year and a half since the end of the Cronian Revolution, a year and a half since the collapse of the C.M.C. and a year and a half since the death of Ryo Ishikawa and the forced acquisition of Shogo by the U.C.A., supported by the its original founding companies.
	It was these companies' representatives who now sat around the conference table. Meetings of the U.C.A. founders were not common, not since the entity had developed a mind of its own. U.C.A. High Command, despite still being loosely bound by contract, did not often listen to the orders of the founding companies, its military might trumping its legal obligations. However, they were military commanders and economic regulators, accustomed to the big picture, and so the U.C.A. was more than willing to let its parents come in and discuss what to do about the more minute financial points.
	“I move that the wealth of Shogo, as well as its property and particularity its manufacturing, be divided among Armacham and Andra, with a chunk also given to the U.C.A. High Command to be used at their pleasure” the Andra founder, with a thick Russian accent, said. It seemed like an obvious move, but then rival corporate executives are not known to agree.
	“I don't think you are taking into account how much more resources Armacham pumped into the Cronus combat effort, how much we put into building the M.C.A.s needed by the soldiers on the ground. It is not fair for us to evenly split it” the Armacham representative stated. Unknowingly, he did have a point, given that Andra Biomechanics had covertly assisted the C.M.C.'s military buildup.
	“May I ask on what grounds you may make such a claim?” the angry Russian retorted back. The Armacham representative was quite plainly losing his cool as well. A third figure raised his hand, not wishing for the conference to derail into a shouting match... for the third time that week.
	“I am the installed chief executive officer of Shogo, placed here by the U.C.A. to oversee the division of the company among those who helped win the Cronus war. That is the end for which I am here - not to get you two to stop acting like children” the man scolded. The two corporate representatives stared back at him scathingly. They had basically forgotten he was there, hence the need to verbally reinforce his position. He had not seemed to have wanted to be noticed, what with standing in the corner alone. He was still wearing a hood and cloak, obscured and mysterious, although he had claimed that was just a ritual of shame meant to show repentance for Shogo's misdemeanours.
	“Well then, back to business” the Andra representative said eventually, “may I ask what your opinion is on equal or unequal division of the assets then Mr...” The Shogo C.E.O. smiled at them, taking down his hood at last and revealing his true features for the first time.
	“I don't I need to clarify my name now, do I?” he stated. The room was then enveloped in chaos as a squad of soldiers entered the conference room, with guns pointed at the two representatives. “Take them to a holding cell” the Shogo C.E.O. ordered, beaming profusely. Neither of the other two men seated at the table could immediately come to grips with just what was happening around them.
	“You'll never get away with this” the Armacham representative growled, his words of confidence defied by his increasingly shaking hands. Meanwhile, his Andra counterpart was spending his time emitting Slavic curse words and darkening epithets at the men presently securing his arms.
	“Oh really, who do you think will save you? Your precious U.C.A.?” the cloaked man pondered idly, “I have infiltrated their High Command, I have done what the U.C.A.'s original founding failed to do: bring unity to all our disorganized power structures. We are in control now.” He glanced around the table one last time. “At last” he smiled, “no more squabbling.” The Armacham representative looked at this mad man's face and saw that he meant what he was saying. So what if he had High Command at gun point? Is that really enough to hold back the entire force of the U.C.A.? He would have to wait and see. They all would.

	Worlds away, different negotiations were happening. This was currently taking the form of a dinner party featuring both sides of the negotiations, the formality a bit laughable really given that everyone there had known each other personally for many, many years. A small world and all.
	“We thank the U.C.A. for their support during the Disraeli uprising” Toshiro 'Gabriel' Makabe began, “and we look forward to our newly forged military alliance with your organization, to try and finally ensure a stable Coth and thus a stable interstellar future for humanity.” Coth was the name that the Fallen used for Cronus, rejecting the colonial moniker bestowed on it by humanity.
	“Likewise, we look forward to working closely with the Fallen and with Cothineal herself, surely we all agree that a Cronus without bloodshed is something we have all wished for from the start of the horrible conflict that has engulfed this unfortunate planet” the U.C.A. negotiator provided his own statement back. Sanjuro Makabe, Admiral in charge of the orbiting U.C.A.S.F. Leviathan, smiled to himself. This was the same man who had tried to exterminate the Fallen with a W.M.D. - times truly had changed, and hopefully permanently for the better. His frayed nerves always insisted otherwise.
	The negotiator was none other than Nathaniel Akkaraju, ex-Admiral and the Leviathan's former commander. He was the one now in charge of negotiations for the new strategic and developmental alliance that was not only going to stop new violence but rebuild the planet from the ashes of the former conflicts. The very fact that a man who was discharged from the U.C.A. because of his actions during the Cronian Revolution was now the negotiator for a deal with his former enemies was indeed remarkable. It was Sanjuro, the person who went against his military takeover of the Leviathan, who had ensured that he got the job. Again, remarkable, but then that is only how it looks if you only know one side of the story...
	“Here, here!” Kathryn and Kura Akkaraju shouted, saluting their father, thrilled to see him back to doing what he loved by serving the U.C.A. They were the major reason Sanjuro had petitioned for Nathaniel to be returned to the U.C.A. as a negotiator, arguing that he had repented and that this would be a good assignment to show his forgiveness towards the Fallen and his continued dedication to the U.C.A. The suggestion had eventually been cautiously accepted, though both Sanjuro and Nathaniel doubted that he would ever be put in a true position of command ever again.
	Kathryn and Kura were both people Sanjuro cared deeply for. The situation was complicated, but both shared his affections. They knew how much their father hated his forced retirement, and thus gave Sanjuro the idea when the first talk of the agreement came up. Nathaniel had also been his mentor and, in many ways, his adopted father as well, and this had only helped matters, given the two had previously reconciled their differences over the past few months. The dinner party finally lost its air of officialism after the speeches, and the group finally faced up to the truth they were old friends more than negotiating partners. Sanjuro was just glad for the break from the somewhat headache inducing diplomatic back-and-forth.
	“Nice to see you back on the job sir” Toshiro nodded towards the ex-Admiral.
	“Good to be working again my boy” he nodded back.
	“Somehow I didn't see you spending the rest of your life on the Estate reading old war books dad” Kura said, “I just hope you appreciate what Sanjuro has done for you.”
	“I do” Nathaniel replied simply, never a man to mince words, “though the fact that I was friends with people in high places helped I'm sure.”
	“Oh? Are you admitting that there is favouritism in High Command father?” Kura replied with her usual spunk, “besides, those friends didn't stop you from being discharged in the first place.”
	“Ah, Kura, your attitude reminds me of your mother” Nathaniel replied sentimentally.
	“You didn't think that way when I lipped off as a kid” Kura shot back.
	“At any rate” Kathryn cut in, “I think we are all happy to have you around for help and advice.” Kura glanced at her sister for a second, she always made comments like that when she feared that Kura was going to go too far. All in all, it was getting a little old, or so Kura thought.
	“You could have always asked for any” Nathaniel replied, “oh, and Sanjuro I just want you to know that I recognize that you technically outrank me, so don't think you have to do what I say.”
	“Yes, and I expect no insubordination!” Sanjuro said, miming the words Nathaniel had said to him many times before. Times had changed. Though the truth was that he did not mean it seriously in any way and, in his mind, Nathaniel was still his commanding officer. That thought, though, might give some concern to the people in High Command who had only agreed to the nomination on the grounds that Sanjuro, the man who had defied Nathaniel in the past, would be his keeper.
	“I am in a room full of children” Nathaniel said, “or at least that is how I remember you all, and yet I realize that you are the movers and shakers now. I know that it is the job of an old codger like me to help you run the worlds which are now in your hands. I wish you all luck.”
	“My, my, getting quite contemplative in your old age” Kura cut back in, “the most you said to Sanjuro used to be 'it's about time you showed a little initiative.'”
	“That will be all Commander” Nathaniel directed at Kura, in part parodying her point, but also subtly suggesting that he was now getting a little weary of her antics. She shut up, knowing that bothering her farther now would not be wise as, at very least, it would be bad for the atmosphere of the party. The problem, however, was that Kura had nothing else to do but make conversation in her usual style. Being the highest trained U.C.A. soldier present, she was serving as her father's bodyguard, which meant that she sat next to him and he in turn sat next to Sanjuro. Kathryn sat next to Sanjuro's other side and, much to Kura's annoyance, was covertly holding his hand under the tablecloth. Thus Kura had to find ways of distracting herself.
	The rest of the table arrangements went thus: on the opposite end of the table sat Toshiro, with Baku 'Uzeil' Ogata, Assistant Ambassador to Cothineal, and Samantha Sternberg, Toshiro's own bodyguard. Samantha and Toshiro being together was also not helping Kura enjoy herself. Not that any of them would get too comfy, partly because this was a more formal meeting and because of the presence of old man Akkaraju as effective chaperone. Baku at least was alone, the person of his affections, a U.C.A. soldier and member of Kura's security squad, was still up on the Leviathan.
	“Sometimes it's hard to share” Kura thought bitterly. She decided to focus on a war medal placed onto the dress uniform she was wearing, the one she had been awarded for her work as a U.C.A. spy during the Cronian Revolution, until the conversation started again.
	“Where exactly will you be taking the Leviathan now do you think Sanjuro? Given that, once negations are finished, Cronus will once again no longer mandate the presence of a U.C.A.S.F. command and drop ship?” Nathaniel asked, always keen to learn of the fate of his old command.
	“I don't know what High Command is going to want” Sanjuro replied, “I think they may wish us to do some outer rim surveying, now that policy is finally tilting towards expansion.”
	“Oh joy” Kura exclaimed sarcastically, always the soldier. She hated remaining on ship.
	“I think it will be nice not to be killing people for once” Kathryn commented, although she knew that a part of the mission would be clearing out any rouge outposts on the rim that could have emerged during the distraction of the Cronian wars. Hopefully as little of that as possible, she hoped.
	“Besides, it is better than drifting aimlessly like we have been doing” Sanjuro commented, “who knows, they might even give it some little interesting sub-twist, at least I can hope so.” Kathryn frowned at that thought. She had to admit to herself that she did not always align with her soul-mate.
	“Gets a little boring at times doesn't it?” Nathaniel commented, “It will wear off eventually, and one day you will think of that ship as fondly as I do. Just attending to it will be a career in itself.”
	“In someways I envy you brother” Toshiro cut in, “life on Coth is very busy, what with the reconstruction and everything. It would be kind of nice to live at a slower pace.”
	“Time to sit and think” Samantha added, having of course to also endure his schedule.
	“Well, I have had plenty of that and I would love to have some action, or at least something more of substance to deal with” Sanjuro mused, “not that I am hoping for a Donovan Disraeli to pop up out of nowhere.” A beeping noise emanated from Kathryn's vicinity, and she took out her communicator from her front pocket. She listened to what her communications Lieutenant had to say and grew a look of puzzlement. A frown of her's could communicate more than any words could.
	“What is it?” Kura asked, knowing what that expression meant.
	“The Leviathan has lost the link to High Command on Earth” Kathryn replied.
	“Wouldn't that just be communications interference?” Baku asked.
	“No, other nearby U.C.A. ships are reporting similar issues” Kathryn replied, “if it is some sort of local interference, it sure is one on a massive scale.” Sanjuro joined in Kathryn's frown.
	“That doesn't sound good” Sanjuro said, aware of the sudden irony of his past comments.
	“That could either mean that High Command has lost all communications, or just long range communications. Though it could also be possible that High Command's people themselves are not responding to our hails and not that it is an issue of technology” Nathaniel mused.
	“Why would they not return their own fleet's ping?” Kura asked, her eyes narrowing.
	“Maybe they can't answer” Toshiro stated, “Cothineal is uneasy, she senses trouble.” The seven sat there for a moment, until Nathaniel forced himself up – used to needed pragmatism.
	“Well, there is nothing for it: me, the Admiral, Commander and Lieutenant Commander should return to the Leviathan and try and make contact. You and your Assistant Ambassador ought to try and do the same with the infrastructure here in Maritropa” he pronounced, going fully into command mode even though he had no authority to do so by rank. Nevertheless, everyone sat up and did as he said, their recognition of his wisdom having not waned over time.

	“Admiral Makabe, this is Admiral Wilson of the U.C.A.S.F. Nautilus, do you read me?” a voice ran over the communications link, which Kathryn was monitoring from her bridge station.
	“Admiral Makabe here” Sanjuro replied through the voidwaves from his command seat, “and to confirm your probable inquiry, the Leviathan can not contact Earth either.”
	“I have spoken to four other Admirals on four other vessels, across three sectors, with the same story, and we all recommend that one ship makes its way closer to Earth and tries to make contact along the way. If there is no response by the time they get there, they can then proceed to send a team to investigate” Admiral Wilson stated, conveying the consensus of the outer fleet.
	“I concur Admiral, and volunteer the Leviathan for that mission” Sanjuro replied.
	“Are you sure sir? The Leviathan was posted to defend Cronus...” Admiral Wilson stated.
	“Move the Nautilus to orbit Cronus, I think we are the best ship for this job, having the most kato straight from Cothineal for the journey, having the experience of ex-Admiral Akkaraju, and for housing some of the most experienced combat troops in the area, most of them Cronian veterans.”
	“Alright, agreed. I will change my ship's course and inform the other Admirals. Tell your communications and engineering staff to try and maintain as close a link to other fleet ships as possible as you go along. We don't want the Leviathan to lose contact like Earth has. Admiral Wilson out.”
	“Kathryn, call up Cothineal's Embassy and inform the Fallen and provisional Cronian government of the situation” Sanjuro ordered, “Kura, prepare your squad. If necessary you will need to lead the investigation team.” Sanjuro was already feeling relieved to have something to do.
	“What about my tactical station?” Kura inquired, “We could get attacked by a rogue ship at any moment! If this communications problem is as widespread as it seems, pirates or just plain old troublemakers could try and take advantage of the confusion.”
	“I'll handle that when you can't” Nathaniel offered, “if the Admiral will let me. I think I can still manage a battle by computer. We will need your quick reflexes on the ground.”
	“Thanks father” Kura said, nodding her head appreciatively It was not often that she was able to delegate her responsibilities to anyone she trusted so implicitly.
	“Negotiator and Acting Commander” he corrected her, a mind reflexively tuned to protocol.
	“Right...” Kura commented, walking out to organize her squad for whatever may be.

	“Toshiro?” Sanjuro exclaimed out loud, as the airlock doors of LZ Minotaur opened and out stepped some Fallen troop backup and, much to Sanjuro's surprise, Toshiro, Baku and Samantha.
	“It is unexpected, but Cothineal senses something evil on Earth. She wants her best people to deal with it. She says she feels safe enough on Coth itself, with the Fallen battalion I have stationed there and her fortress around here” Toshiro elaborated.
	“Hmm, that seems a little extravagant for what might just turn out to be a power failure of Earth's long range communications, but Cothineal's senses aren't usually wrong” Sanjuro mused, “though how can she sense something on Earth? She can't be that powerful can she?”
	“I went to Earth with you a couple of months back if you recall. She can now sense stray moods on Earth, something to do with her influence over the human mind. That was part of the important task I had to do for her remember? I set up a repeater system, if you will” Toshiro explained, although he knew better than to explain the system too much to someone technically an outsider.
	“Spooky” Kura commented, walking into the shuttle bay with her squad behind her. “Squad to attention!” she ordered and they all jumped to it, some better than others, still all pretty quick.
	“Hey Baku” Ensign Cara Carmack said cheerily; it lacked decorum, but Kura allowed it.
	“Well then Toshiro, welcome aboard and I'll meet you up on the bridge. Kura can go an coordinate her strategy with your Fallen Commander” Sanjuro suggested.
	“For Gabriel!” the Fallen squad saluted as Toshiro, Baku and Samantha followed Sanjuro out of the large bay. Frankly, Cothineal's warnings did not make him feel any more at ease.

	“Well, we were talking about a strengthened U.C.A.-Fallen military alliance” Sanjuro noted, as he explained to Kathryn what Toshiro had told him, as he got comfortable in his quarters.
	“We are about twenty-four hours away from Earth on full burning kato power. I do hope that everyone is wrong about this” Kathryn replied, biting her lower lip in consideration.
	“I do too” Sanjuro agreed simply, “but Cothineal must know what she is doing.” Kathryn looked downwards with a small frown. Again, her face said more than her words to Sanjuro.
	“Once more onto the breach” she muttered, and Sanjuro could not help but consider that she was thinking about how she got stabbed the last time they faced a power mad megalomaniac. How common was that supposed to be in a single lifetime anyway, even for a career solider? Sanjuro decided to cheer her up with a kiss. Her face brightened up, just as Kura entered the room.
	“Ahem” she said expectantly, noticing what Sanjuro had just done. Sanjuro turned to her.
	“Would you like a kiss too sweetheart?” he stated innocently, this by now being ritual.
	“Yes I would” Kura requested, and Sanjuro relented. Afterwards, Kura sat down on her chair and rested from the days activities. “Both my U.C.A. squad and the Fallen squad are ready for anything” she elaborated, “but I have let them all off for now. There is not much use in keeping them on alert until we arrive tomorrow. Sleep deprivation can drive a road to hell and all...”
	“I trust your instincts on that one” Sanjuro agreed, “I assume the Fallen are setting up camp in the now empty extra barracks from the days of the Cronian Revolution?”
	“Yes, well, except Toshiro, Baku and Samantha” Kura replied.
	“Well, I expected them to take up a room on this deck” Sanjuro said.
	“Toshiro and Samantha did, Baku is staying elsewhere” Kura explained with a look that meant that she did not need to elaborate. Her face could be quite expressive as well at times.
	“Hmm, I hope he realizes that he might need all his energy tomorrow” Sanjuro mused. Suddenly, as quickly as she had went down to rest, Kura sat up as her usual energetic self again.
	“Ah, it feels so good to be on a mission” she commented, “don't you agree Kathryn?”
	“Not really” Kathryn stated, almost muttering. Kura studied her countenance momentarily.
	“Well, you're weird” Kura replied simply, evidently having not gotten anywhere closer to understanding certain aspects of her sister's personality, “I know Sanjuro is happy to be back in action.”
	“Well, I must admit I am pleased to have something to do, but remember you weren't injured when we fought Disraeli” Sanjuro reminded her, as always the mediator between the two.
	“I've had my share of cuts and bruises too” Kura replied, “doesn't mean I don't enjoy a good bout of battle.” Sanjuro could not help but think that she had been forever scarred by the indirectness of espionage, and so had become even more of a terminal thrill seeker than she had been beforehand.
	“Well then, save that energy of yours all up for tomorrow, and whatever is awaiting us” Kathryn replied, “meanwhile, I'm going to bed.”
	“Yeah, me too” Sanjuro decided. Kura shrugged and followed.

	“You killed them!” a voice from a horror movie screeched at Sanjuro. He wandered aimlessly across the surface of Cronus, desperately searching. “Kura? Toshiro? Baku? Where are they?! No, I can't have killed them!” his mind raced, “Where are they?!” Suddenly, the world around Sanjuro dissolved, and he spun around disoriented. What was going on now?!
	“Friend of a friend, Hank Johnson's the name” a familiar face said as he walked up to Sanjuro. Suddenly a man jumped up at Hank from behind and placed a shotgun to his head.
	“Too late Commander, say goodbye!” Ryo cackled, with a familiar viscous grin.
	“Don't do it Ryo!” Sanjuro exclaimed, but it was of no use. Soon Hank's blood splashed onto Sanjuro’s uniform as he fell to the ground dead. All he could do was grimace at the scene.
	“I'd only just met him” Sanjuro stared at the bloodied corpse, as Ryo slunk away. Sanjuro took out his assault rifle and scoped his aim onto Ryo's head. He fired, but only to a hollow click.
	His view changed again. A one-on-one foray between him and Uzeil, both in M.C.A.s, fighting for access to an airship. A cascade of bullets came down towards Sanjuro and he had to press madly at the controls in his cockpit to move his giant robotic suit of armour out of the way.
	Sanjuro knew for certain he was outgunned, before suddenly he he saw it: a red riot - one of the deadliest personal weapons ever made. He grabbed it and aimed, before feeling a strong sense of guilt. This was Baku! Insane yes, but it was still Baku! Sanjuro’s rival fired again. This time a bullet sailed through Sanjuro's cockpit glass and went right past his head. Sanjuro sucked in a gulp of air.
	“Forgive me old friend” he muttered, before firing the weapon. The world around him shook and an explosive cloud surrounded them, but despite this he could still clearly see Uzeil.
	“Caecux infirmux bhuudesco invisuu cruento pestis shatruex!” he shouted, now completely and utterly insane. In another flash, Baku's M.C.A. vaporized, revealing him as Sanjuro knew him now - his friend returned. “Oh, go ahead and kill me, like you've killed everyone else!” he shouted up at him. Suddenly he shrunk yet again and was now a small child. “Those guys always pick on me” he said bitterly, whilst glancing around at imaginary Academy bullies.
	“Get to the airship dock!” a demonic version of Kathryn screeched at Sanjuro over an unseen comm-link. The child Baku was standing in his way.
	“You'll protect me from them, won't you Sanjuro?” the child asked.
	“Airship dock now!” the Kathryn demoness shouted. Sanjuro had no choice, and stepped on Baku with a stomach-churning squish. Suddenly, the red riot shock wave expanded and he too felt himself disintegrate. Rapidly, the world changed yet again. The bridge of the Leviathan.
	“You're too late Sanjuro!” Nathaniel screeched at him, running off to commit genocide with the kato canon. Sanjuro however was staring in horror at the other person on the bridge.
	“Move another step closer and she dies!” Donovan Disraeli screeched. He was holding a knife to Kathryn's throat, her eye's bulging, darting around in terror.
	“Don't worry, I have to stop the Admiral from killing all those people. I can't go near you right now!” Sanjuro called out, before he started running after the Admiral. He heard the slicing of flesh as Disraeli shredded Kathryn to bits. He did not even look back, “Bye sweetheart.”
	Once again, his view changed and he was in an M.C.A. in Avernus. He somehow could see the Leviathan orbiting the planet, when suddenly the kato canon fired. Sanjuro was flung to the ground, off of the tall building he was perched on, as the blast consumed the entire city. The Admiral had done it - he had killed everyone. Sanjuro looked around in a panic and saw to his horror a pile of charred and broken M.C.A.s, with the faces of their dead pilots plainly visible through their cockpit windows. Eerily, they were stacked as a pyramid staircase leading up to the Leviathan.
	Sanjuro did not want too, but he started to ascend the pyramid of death, more of one even than the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan. There sacrifices had been made to the gods, but this pyramid was made up of entirely of sacrifices. He looked down at the scorched and broken faces in the cockpits and realized that he recognized them all. They were all the soldiers he had taken down in combat, every single one of them. He ascended to the top of the pyramid, which allowed him to stare into the Leviathan's view port window. Looking down, he was shaken further to see that it was Samantha's body in the M.C.A. below his feet. There was an Admiral cackling at the carnage from the bridge, but it was not Admiral Akkaraju. Sanjuro gasped at the haunting visage present before him.
	“Die, you hear me!” his doppelganger screeched. Admiral Makabe was soon joined by two other cackling figures: Ryo and Disraeli. Of course, he had killed all of those people and he would have even killed Baku and Samantha too. He was a murderer, he was a monster, he was... awake!

	“Sanjuro” Kathryn whispered, “what's wrong?”
	“What?” Sanjuro muttered, still sweating from his nightmare. Strangely enough, Kura was still asleep and had not been woken by Sanjuro's tossing and turning. He decided to let her continue and slowly slid himself off the bed, with dreams of action and adrenaline still running through her mind. No need to ruin a good thing for her, let her be at rest.
	“You look horrible. Did you have that old nightmare again?” Kathryn asked, as the two of them entered the living room to talk things over, as Kathryn had always done for him.
	“Sort of” Sanjuro answered, “I was there when Toshiro, Kura and Baku disappeared again, but then I was there when Hank got shot and then in battle with Uzeil...” he began, before his voice trailed off. Kathryn held his hand, her soft tender fingers calling him back to the present moment.
	“And? Tell me...” she cooed, her voice light and soothing.
	“I killed Baku” he said, “and not just Uzeil Baku, but modern Baku and even child Baku. I squished him to death in an M.C.A.” Sanjuro shuddered, “then I let Disraeli kill you, and then I fired the kato cannon at Avernus!” Kathryn tightened her grip, as she tried to find the right words to say.
	“That is a bad dream, but it was all just that – a dream, nothing more” Kathryn consoled.
	“Not entirely, I saw a pyramid of broken M.C.A.s., all with dead pilots. Do you know who were in there? Everyone I have killed, every soldier I have slain” he continued. Kathryn bit her lip.
	“You had too, it was a time of war, there was nothing else to be done” Kathryn said finally.
	“I thought you were a pacifist...” Sanjuro commented.
	“I am, but I know that peace has to be created. If no one resists the warmongers than they will take control and we will never have peace” she explained. Sanjuro stared at her for a moment.
	“I did wonder how you justified helping me and Kura on missions” he said finally.
	“Are you worried about what might be jamming our signals from High Command? Are you worried that there is to be more bloodshed?” Kathryn asked. Sanjuro nodded.
	“That's natural, but don't feel guilty about what you have had to do. Look at Cronus now: the cities are being rebuilt, the people are living in peace again. All thanks to you and your comrades” Kathryn continued, “and don't be afraid about what might be needed to be done on Earth.”
	“My life has been chased by madmen: Ivan Isaravich, Ryo Ishikawa, Donovan Disraeli. It has always been my job to fight them. I started out with nothing, my parents were dead. It was just me and Toshiro and I have been fighting to preserve everything ever since” Sanjuro pondered.
	“And it's done so much good for so many people!” Kathryn said, “Sure, there have been unlucky pawns sacrificed along the way. That was never your decision, you did what was needed.”
	“But I risked the lives of my friends along the way – Kura, Toshiro, Baku, you...” Sanjuro started, but Kathryn cut him off, keen to avoid him falling back into that self-defeating tone.
	“We're fighting to preserve peace for people too! We are risking our lives alongside you Sanjuro. You are only helping us, and not risking us! This life was our choice, just like it was yours!” she assured him. Sanjuro stared into her face again. He certainly did not doubt Kura or Kathryn's willingness in terms of their military career, even with the weight of family behind them on it.
	“I guess you're right” he acquiesced finally. Kathryn huddled up close to him comfortingly, and Sanjuro felt the way he did when she did that after Kura and the rest had disappeared. That thought did not bare thinking about, so instead he focused hard on Kathryn herself, her presence more even than her specific words of comfort, and his mind and mood slowly returned to normal. The two of them strolled back into the bedroom and slid back under the warm covers. Tomorrow they may have to strike once again, and Sanjuro just hoped that he could in fact do what he needed to do.

	“Wake up you two!” Kura called out. Sanjuro opened his eyes. He was by now very used to Kura blasting him awake. Kathryn stirred much more slowly as she was usually awoken by her natural clock before Kura made it her job to get everyone up. “Honestly, you were the ones who decided to go to bed early” Kura continued, “besides, today is important. We'll arrive at Earth in five hours!”
	“We're getting up! We're getting up!” Kathryn muttered bitterly, never having lost the innate sibling dislike for being ordered about by her sister – even when she did have good reason.
	“Why are you guys so sleepy anyway?” Kura snapped. Kathryn opened her mouth, and was surely going to explain to Kura about the dream, but Sanjuro gestured for her to shush. He did not think Kura needed to be involved with that. Kura paced around the living room impatiently as Kathryn changed out of her black nightdress and Sanjuro also changed into his uniform. Once out, Kura lead them out to the bridge, her impatience shown by how her hands, wound around her back, slammed up and and down into each other with her every footfall.
	“Admiral on the bridge” the night shift Commander called out as Sanjuro entered.
	“I take it that there is still no word from Earth?” Kathryn asked as she approached her communications terminal, her link to the communications section where she usually guided troops.
	“I'm afraid so ma'am, we have, however, contacted more ships and again they can't get any connection to Earth either” the night shift Commander explained.
	“You're dismissed” Sanjuro ordered, and the Commander left to get some sleep. Sanjuro almost could not help but envy the man. Meanwhile, Kura started typing from tactical.
	“I have started a comprehensive scan of Earth using long range sensors. I'll see what U.C.A.S.F. installations show up as activated” she declared. Toshiro walked onto the bridge.
	“Morning brother” he said, “Cothineal says to me that there are no problems on Coth.”
	“Did you expect there to be?” Kathryn asked, a little off-put by Toshiro's directness.
	“No, but I thought I might as well start off your day with good news” Toshiro explained.
	“Kura is running a tactical scan of the Earth with long range sensors, as we are still in the dark on that front. All other ships we have encountered report a similar disconnect from High Command, this seems utterly pervasive” Sanjuro briefed, getting the facts straight in his own head.
	“So basically, until we can get those scans done, the situation hasn't changed much since last night” Toshiro observed, “there is something quite plainly not right going on here.”
	“Well, that will be up to me and my squad to find out won't it?” Kura replied.
	“Wait for the scans first” Kathryn reminded her, almost as revenge for the wake up call.
	“Yeah, yeah” Kura muttered. Sanjuro sat down in his command chair and prepared to command the Leviathan all the way to Earth. He realized that would be the easy part of all of this.

	The atmosphere was tense in the building of U.C.A. High Command. All of the High Commanders sat and watched the clock, passing the time however possible. The soldiers that had taken over the room stood over them, watching their every move. Those soldiers seemed to have come out of nowhere and now had taken absolute control of High Command, U.C.A. Engineering and everything else involved in running the system smoothly. Jamming interstellar communications had been the idea of the Shogo leader, whereby he would disorient the fleet for long enough for him to ready his response to any counterattack from them. At present the common U.C.A. soldier did not even know that their leaders were captured, as the Shogo forces told them what to do under High Command's signature. 	“Where did Shogo get an army?” the Commanders collectively pondered, “The captured company had been tightly regulated and watched by the U.C.A., as it worked to slowly disintegrate and divide it, how could this have happened? It was obvious that the installed C.E.O. was behind all of this, but where did he get the manpower? How had he pulled the wool over all of their eyes?” The High Commanders knew that their only hope was in the fleet, but they probably remained oblivious.
	The Shogo leader had not turned off the Earth's defenses, and so these could strike out at any ship that came close to threatening them. The only way a U.C.A. ship could cause any serious damage, it seemed to the Commanders, would be to use the kato canon on High Command, and no fleet Admiral would ever do that. It was utterly unthinkable. One High Commander remembered the name of the Leviathan, as the man was an old friend of Nathaniel Akkaraju. He knew of the amazing work of that ship's crew during the Cronian crises. If any ship was going to make any headway here, short of mass murder, it would be that one, the man decided. Somehow it was still a hollow thought.

	“Scan complete!” Kura called out, pulling Sanjuro out of his quiet boredom. Tense as the situation may be, he still had nothing to do while those under him worked. That was the one side of starship command that no one had thought of informing him off when he grudgingly accepted his promotion. It had been two and half hours since he had assumed command that morning, and the only interruption had been a brief breakfast with Kathryn, Kura, Toshiro and Baku an hour earlier.
	“And?” he asked, his mind slowly focusing back on the task at hand.
	“U.C.A. High Command has appeared to have lost all ability to talk to the fleet, however Earth defenses are still present and active” Kura reported. Kathryn posed the obvious question.
	“So they can shoot but they can't talk?” Kathryn asked, “I hope that that only means a power glitch, even if still a rather serious one.” Sanjuro could only agree with her.
	“How long until the ship can be contacted by more conventional short range means of communication? How close to Earth do we have to get?” Sanjuro requested, “Those guns trouble me.”
	“Around two hours” Kathryn replied, “maybe less.”
	“Well then, nothing to do but wait for them to explain what is going on to us themselves” Sanjuro decided. Nathaniel walked onto the bridge just then, as if he had never ever left it.
	“What's the situation?” he inquired, taking in the old familiar atmosphere.
	“We're two hours and a half away from Earth, and scans indicate that High Command's long range communications are in fact down; Earth defenses however are still active” Sanjuro brought him up to speed as best he could, keenly awaiting an expert's opinion on the subject.
	“I don't see what could bring down the whole communications grid” Nathaniel mused, “I know a person who is an engineer there. Fleet communications have a number of intricate fail-safes to stop the whole system from going down, at worst only a few parts at once would. I don't see how the whole thing could have come down, that is unless it was done deliberately.”
	“Why would someone want to do that?” Kathryn expressed.
	“Saboteurs? Terrorists? I don't know” Kura brainstormed out loud.
	“Maybe it has something to do with a coup, or maybe Armacham or Andra” Nathaniel continued to ponder over the situation. Only one word came to Sanjuro's mind.
	“Or Shogo” Sanjuro muttered. The whole bridge fell into silence.
	“Shogo?” Kathryn finally expressed the group's own surprise.
	“The entity still exists in some form and I still don't trust them” Sanjuro explained.
	“But it is under strict regulation and is being slowly dismantled. What could it do to take down the communications grid?” Kura asked. Sanjuro thought about that for a second.
	“Well, Shogo managed to secretly build a war fleet, manipulate the C.M.C., Fallen, and U.C.A. alike and Ryo even convinced you Admiral to fire the kato canon” Sanjuro offered, for the sake of convenience using Nathaniel's old rank, “they're talented at shadowy double dealings and trickery. I once even played pawn to their little games myself.”
	“But that was the old management, most of which crumbled when you killed Ryo and the rest were arrested and convicted...” Kathryn protested, “and most importantly – Ryo is dead.”
	“It only takes one like Ryo to cause trouble, and they still have all the infrastructure in place” Sanjuro augured, “I would not discount them offhand.”
	“At any rate” Nathaniel cut in, “we have no I.D. on any assailant force, nor do we know for sure whether or not this was just an accident. Let's not speculate until we have all the facts.”
	“You're right” Kathryn agreed, not willing to argue the point anymore anyway.
	“Well then, what are we to do? More long range scans?” Kura inquired. Nathaniel raised his hand in the air, his face suddenly brightening with epiphany.
	“I have an idea” Nathaniel stated, “High Command has no communications, but that doesn't mean foot soldiers and M.C.A. pilots on Earth don't. Lieutenant Commander, why don't you try to tune the Leviathan's receiver to that spectrum and channels. See what they are up to.”
	“Right” Kathryn replied, as she started to furiously tap at keys. Kura, Sanjuro and Nathaniel watched her as she worked. After awhile, she looked up from her terminal.
	“I have tuned into a radio contact between an HQ station in Great Britain and a squad of British soldiers” she informed, “I'll punch it up.” The bridge's view screen lighted up as a rough graphical representation of the audio signal appeared, and the slightly distorted radio log played.
	“Commander Wallace to HQ. Routine aerial inspection of the English channel and Normandy coasts have returned as normal” a soldier with a noticeable Scottish accent noted.
	“Affirmative Commander, your squad may return to Edinburgh HQ” the squad's communications officer, with a hint of Welsh, replied.
	“Sounds normal to me, routine” Kathryn commented, “no signs of a crisis there.”
	“Indeed, too normal in fact” Kura thought out loud.
	“Maybe we have tuned into something too lowly, perhaps we should try and get into a channel a little higher up than soldier's marching orders” Sanjuro suggested. Kathryn sighed to herself and started working at her terminal again, her fingers working the controls even faster this time.
	“Got another lock. This one is communications between HQ posts in Australia and New Zealand” Kathryn said. Again, the view screen changed to display a visual approximation of the audio.
	“Have those engineers at High Command got communications with the fleet back up yet?” a Kiwi Admiral asked, his confusion and irritation apparent.
	“Pay dirt!” Kura shouted out, exuberantly raising her fist in the air.
	“Not so we have been told” an Australian Admiral answered, “I don't understand it. Communications with the fleet have never gone down before.”
	“Yes, it was incredibly odd timing: right when no ships were in short range” the Kiwi replied, “if I didn't know better, I would almost think that someone was deliberately isolating Earth from the rest of the galaxy.” Obviously they were not the only ones speculating without any facts.
	“Yeah, well, I guess it is not our place to comment on such things. I wish High Command was more talkative about it though. All we have gotten are short, vaguely worded orders sent via text from command channels mostly” the Australian sent over the airwaves.
	“Hmm” Kathryn hummed, her face turning downwards in a thoughtful frown.
	“High Command seems to be hiding from the rest of the U.C.A.” Sanjuro noted.
	“That would seem to corroborate the coup or infiltration theory” Kura stated.
	“It's either that or High Command wants to hide some hideous mistake” Kathryn suggested.
	“It's such a nice day when we are either faced with malevolence or incompetence as our two star theories” Sanjuro quipped dryly. Nathanial stepped closer to Sanjuro's chair.
	“I think there is something else we should be concerned about” Nathaniel said, “if there has been a coup or the like, and long range communications have been cut to disorient us, that means they might fire on us if we approach Earth, or at least try to order us away as quickly as possible.”
	“That's true. A good sign would be if they treated us normally” Kura agreed.
	“However, if they try to act too normal than they may be trying to trick us” Kathryn noted.
	“Confusing” Sanjuro commented, his nerves already fraying from it all.
	“Again, we should keep all possibilities open” Nathaniel reminded them all, “we'll see what happens when we reach Earth.”

	Toshiro sat in his guest quarters, waiting for the next time his brother would brief him. He had considered just going to the bridge, but decided that he might get in the way as he was no longer familiar with U.C.A. structure and protocol, and had hardly spent his days there as command staff. Cothineal had only a weak link to him here it was exhausting her, the void of space something of a dead-zone for her. Still, she sensed something insidious, so she wanted to monitor her Ambassador closely. Samantha sat opposite him, polishing a pair already very shiny of sub-machine guns.
	“There, that should keep any scum away from you” she declared.
	“I don't think I am the target here” he replied, a little amused.
	“Why would Cothineal be so interested in sending you if she didn't feel scared?” she offered back at him. Toshiro felt the need now to clarify his mistress's intentions to her.
	“It's not so much that she's scared, she senses something eerily familiar about the mood on Earth” Toshiro explained, “she feels that it might be an old threat come again. Unfinished business.”
	“You think a lot don't you” she observed.
	“Well, yes. I'd assumed you noticed” he contemplated.
	“Of course I have. In fact I thinks it's cute” she chuckled.
	“Where's Baku?” Toshiro asked, redirecting the conversation.
	“Either down with our squad or with that Ensign” Samantha stated, cleaning the barrel of one of her guns with more than a little tender loving care. It was an old friend to her after all.
	“I don't know if Baku will stay with us for much longer” Toshiro noted, with more than a little melancholy over what had always been his closest childhood friend, “his life is torn between Coth and the Leviathan, the old and the new, and that has only increased since he met her.”
	“She's a lot like your friend Kura” Samantha observed absently.
	“That's hardly surprising. According to Sanjuro, Baku had a crush on her for the longest time – he thought he did not know.” Samantha started smiling, but not about the discussion.
	“What?” he asked, so often confused as to what was crossing through her mind.
	“I got you to talk about something other than the mission” she pronounced proudly.
	“It is important to take one's duties seriously” he replied, a little put aback.
	“Yeah, but you spend too much of your time obsessing about work” she declared, “sometimes I even feel you want to spend more time with Cothineal than with me.”
	“Are you trying to make me sound like Sanjuro?” Toshiro asked lightheartedly.
	“Which one am I then, Kura or Kathryn? And which one is Cothineal?” Samantha smirked. Their conversation was interrupted by the door opening. Sanjuro walked in, only to have Samantha aim her sub-machine guns at him. Sanjuro put his hands up into the air.
	“They're not loaded Admiral” she laughed, “I was just cleaning them.”
	“What's the news brother?” Toshiro asked, his deep dark eyes fixing upon him.
	“We'll be in short range communications range around about now. I recommend that you come up to the bridge, since you are the official representative of the Fallen” Sanjuro explained. Toshiro got up, kissed Samantha goodbye, and followed his brother up to the command deck.
	“There will always be that giant underground woman to share him with” Samantha thought to herself as the two vanished behind the automatic doors. Whistling to herself, she returned to polishing her to machine guns, content at least that they were always by her side.

Part Two: The Arrival

	“U.C.A.S.F. Leviathan calling U.C.A High Command. Do you read me?” Kathryn said into her microphone as Sanjuro and Toshiro entered. No response. “High Command do you read me? This is Lieutenant Commander Kathryn Akkaraju of the U.C.A.S.F. Leviathan. Admiral Sanjuro Makabe wishes to speak with you” Kathryn tried again. No response. “U.C.A.S.F. Leviathan...” Kathryn started again. Kura was getting sick of the monotony, but this time a response did come.
	“I have received a text message” Kathryn informed, “punching it up.” The view screen changed to a black display with white text, which Kathryn then quickly magnified.
	“Leviathan. Return to Cronus. Disappointed that you should leave your position without authorization – High Command” the screen read.
	“That's bullshit” Kura hissed, “they're trying to hide from us.”
	“Explain our situation to them and mention how a group of Admirals elected this course of action when no orders could come through. Also mention that the U.C.A.S.F. Nautilus is stationed by Cronus as a replacement” Sanjuro ordered and Kathryn did as she was told. She decided that this time she would type her response instead of giving through vocalization.
	“Why bother talking when they won't?” she thought. After a little while High Command's response came through, and it was even more curt and unfriendly than the last one.
	“Explanation accepted. Return to Cronus. Communications problem only minor” it read.
	“They're bluffing” Kura commented again, voicing the room's mood as usual.
	“Demand an explanation for how the whole communications grid could go down” Nathaniel suggested, “tell them that this ship is not leaving until we get proper answers.” Kathryn shrugged and typed up the message. She was sure getting a lot of work today.
	“We attempted an update, it failed, the whole system went down. We don't appreciate your tone Leviathan” High Command's response read. Sure, they go and act all indignant...
	“That isn't an adequate explanation, and how come we are the first to hear this story? Sounds like they are making this all up on the spot. What are they trying to hide?” Nathaniel thought out loud. Kathryn kind of preferred it when he would just voice his wishes straight out.
	“Umm, how do you want me to type that?” Kathryn asked sheepishly.
	“Give me and the Admiral a microphone, let's talk directly” Nathaniel recommended. Kathryn rerouted the communications system to allow their personal communicators to be used in that manner. “High Command, this is ex-Admiral Nathaniel Akkaraju speaking, currently serving as a U.C.A Negotiator” Nathaniel began, “I, the Admiral, and practically every ship in the fleet want real answers. What are you trying to hide? How could anything take down all the communications fail-safes? Why are you communicating in anonymous text messages? Why are you hiding from your own fleet?! We want answers!” Kathryn's terminal beeped again and she punched up the latest text message.
	“Negotiator Akkaraju, most disappointed that you are trying to throw away your return to the U.C.A. so readily with such insubordination. We are not trying to hide, we experienced technical troubles while upgrading, and that is all. Return to Cronus now Leviathan!”
	“This is Admiral Makabe, how come ships in the fleet were not notified beforehand of such an upgrade, isn't that procedure? We are not aiming at insubordination, we are trying to answer the questions of many a confused yet loyal U.C.A. unit. Respond!” 
	“There are no questions to answer Admiral, don't think that just because you got your post by going against Admiral Akkaraju that you are allowed to go against all orders. Set a course for Cronus now or we'll be forced to fire from our defense grid to disable you on the grounds of treason!”
	“Firing on a U.C.A. vessel when it is only checking on an apparent breach of procedure is treason High Command. If you were going to do anything that could potentially take down the entire long range communications grid, as you claim, than it is clearly stated in Article 45/B” Nathaniel began, checking up on the regulation on his personal terminal, “that you have to inform the entire fleet. The ones who would be left in the dark if something went wrong.” Once again, Kathryn punched up High Command's text response, feeling distinctly like the consistent bearer of bad news.
	“The defense grid will fire in one minute unless you change course.”
	“Stand ground” Nathaniel ordered unnecessarily, no one had any intention of leaving.
	“Commander, prepare for any necessary evasive action” Sanjuro ordered.
	“Aye aye Admiral” Kura replied with more than a little relish.
	“High Command stand down!” Nathaniel barked one last time into his communicator.
	“Canons firing!” Kura exclaimed, frantically typing at her terminal.
	“Crew, red alert, brace for impact of incoming armaments!” Kathryn exclaimed over the comm-link. A full barrage of laser fire came at the Leviathan, but the massive command ship amazingly managed to swerve away from each blast. Once done avoiding the first barrage, Kura smirked.
	“It's all in the reflexes” she gloated, “just like driving an M.C.A.” Kathryn's terminal beeped, an all looked to the view screen to learn of High Command's next move.
	“Impressive Leviathan, but we are not here to play games. You will not be so lucky next time!” High Command's response read.
	“High Command, might I ask why your messages seem to have a... personal touch to them, as if they were being written by a single Commander?” Nathaniel growled. Sanjuro let himself make a comment when Nathaniel's radio turned off.
	“The writer's style seems rather familiar” he noted. Samantha ran onto the bridge.
	“If there is going to be laser barrages I have to be nearby to defend and heal my charge” she explained, again unnecessarily, as she rushed to Toshiro's side.
	“Commander Akkaraju, this is Ensign Carmack, your squad is ready for any action required ma'am, as are the Fallen!” Kura's communicator blared.
	“Understood Ensign, I'll keep that in mind” Kura replied.
	“Why haven't they fired again yet?” Kathryn asked.
	“They're trying to psyche us out” Sanjuro replied, as Kathryn's terminal beeped yet again.
	“Preparing second barrage Admiral, it is useless to keep this up, you will have no reprieve, your ship will be disabled and you will be captured” the villain speaking for High Command wrote.
	“Maybe you didn't understand us, we wanted to speak to U.C.A. High Command, not some random megalomaniac” Sanjuro quipped over his communicator. Kathryn's terminal beeped.
	“It's an audio stream” Kathryn said, “putting it up.”
	“Makabe, Akkaraju, I have had enough of your meddling” a familiar voice called out, “I will destroy you. Don't even think of trying to contact the rest of the fleet, I have moved a communications satellite to block all signals of yours heading out into the solar system.”
	“Identify yourself villain” Nathaniel barked.
	“Don't you recognize me Commander? I mean Admiral?” the voice replied, “Here!” Kathryn's terminal beeped for what seemed like the thousandth time.
	“He's sending us video” Kathryn said.
	“Display it” Nathaniel requested, Kathryn did as her father ordered.

	Baku held on to a metal pipe with his hand, in case Kura would buck the ship again in to evade further incoming volleys. The nearby Fallen and U.C.A. squads did the same.
	“Look's like we have enemy contact” Cara muttered.
	“I hope that Admiral Makabe knows what he is doing” the Fallen Commander commented, “I don't think a command ship is a worthy adversary to a planetary defensive grid designed to stop invading war fleets.” Baku shook his head.
	“I know Sanjuro and Admiral Akkaraju, they must have a plan” Baku replied.
	“I'll bet soon we will all be climbing into a drop shuttle and parachuting into enemy lines” Cara stated, her Kura-like enthusiasm more than obvious.
	“We'll need M.C.A.s to do that adequately, and we can't parachute those in” the Fallen Commander noted, “though I do recognize that we can't really afford to land a shuttle in these conditions. That would draw way to much attention to any ground troops.”
	“We'll have to wait and see what Toshiro and Sanjuro say” Baku figured.

	“I do hope I have made myself clear” Ryo Ishikawa beamed through the video link.
	“I killed you, I am not used to corpses coming back to threaten me” Sanjuro said, still unbelieving. Even in his most paranoid considerations he had not expected Ryo himself.
	“Quit with this disguise and reveal your true identity” Nathaniel ordered.
	“I am Ryo Ishikawa, it is amazing what certain modern medicines can do” Ryo replied, still retaining his old habit of smiling a little too broadly, and altogether too often.
	“Bring people back from the dead?” Kura hissed sarcastically.
	“The U.C.A. medic who cleaned me off the Leviathan floor managed to revive me as he hauled me away – it is harder to kill someone than people think” Ryo began, “I convinced him with a little bribe and offers of power to hide my recovery and we secretly made our way down to Cronus and regrouped with a couple of Shogo troops that got away.”
	“That scum!” Nathaniel said, though he still fully believe it, “Such insubordination!”
	“I was in a bad way after you were done with me Commander” Ryo said to Sanjuro, “major surgeries were completed to save my life. My wounds were to my heart and right arm, with massive blood loss, mechanical replacements had to be installed as well as a blood transfusion. My arm and shoulder is an implant, as is my heart. I have some ribs of metal, I am part man – part M.C.A., so to speak. Thank god for Andra's latest medical bio-engineering technologies” Ryo continued.
	“How come word didn't come out that you had disappeared?” Kathryn asked.
	“My bribed U.C.A. medic returned to your ship and forged reports of my confirmed death, cremation, and the spreading of my ashes into the coldness of space” Ryo replied, “he then made his way back to me. Meanwhile, I reorganized and considered my options. I even helped to fund that Disraeli friend of yours. I learned more about the fate of my old assets, and presented myself as a lowly manager of Shogo who could loyally be placed as C.E.O. to manage the legal destruction of my family's company. I have always kept a low profile, it is good when no one actually knows your face.”
	“What are you doing with High Command?” Sanjuro asked threateningly.
	“Well, since I will soon have you disabled and captured, there is no harm in me telling you this. My elite trained troops have all of U.C.A. Command at gun point, and through utilizing this... influence, we control the U.C.A. on Earth. We knew that controlling the whole fleet would be a lot harder, so we simply blocked communications to disorient you as we prepared to make Earth a fortress in case of any reprisal.”
	“From there you would slowly take over all of the U.C.A.'s insitutions and then stage a complete coup d'etat, and take control of the fleet, and Cronus, and the kato supply” Sanjuro finished for him, knowing full well that it was Cothineal that Ryo still most wanted.
	“My, my, how perceptive” Ryo replied sarcastically.
	“I still don't believe your story” Kura replied, “this could just be a psychological trick.”
	“I am afraid that he is not lying Commander” Toshiro interrupted, “Cothineal's senses are very clear. She sensed an old enemy on Earth and this man is it, he is Ryo Ishikawa.”
	“Gabriel? Hmm, how is that precious giant squid of yours nowadays?” Ryo growled.
	“All the more pleased that I am here to stop you” Toshiro replied coolly.
	“Tough words Gabriel, but once I have the U.C.A. fleet, Cronus and the Fallen will fall, and I'll have control of Cothineal myself. With kato under my command all of interstellar humanity will be at my beck and call” Ryo monologued yet again, trying to be a cliché villain it seemed.
	“At any rate, I should get back to ordering the defense grid to disable your precious ship – and if any of you make one more comment I'll aim to destroy. Got that, Makabe? Akkaraju?” Ryo threatened, gritting his teeth, “I won't lose this time.” The video link terminated.
	“Defense grid powering up” Kura notified the bridge.
	“How far can those guns shoot?” Kathryn inquired.
	“You have to go farther out than the Moon, there are a few lasers there too” Kura replied.
	“Let's move then” Sanjuro said, “we need more time.” Kathryn signalled for navigation to get moving using as much power as necessary.
	“Commander, keep your hands on that joystick, we may need to dodge a few more bullets” Nathaniel commented. Kura nodded at him.
	“With pleasure” Kura replied. Their expectations were soon realized as another, better aimed, barrage flew towards the Leviathan. Kura swerved but could not stop a few from hitting the ship as a series of shudders, bringing the reality of the situation to the fore.
	“Any damage?” Sanjuro asked, his hands already clinging into his armrests.
	“Superficial, the laser's force was distributed unevenly because of the movement of the ship” Kura replied, not lifting her head up from her monitor.
	“Admiral, we'll be out of firing range in five minutes” navigation reported over Sanjuro's communicator. Sanjuro sighed.
	“We need more time” he said, more to himself than anyone else.
	“Grid powering up again” Kura exclaimed, “I don't know if I can keep this ship moving.”
	“Do your best Commander” Sanjuro replied, lost for anything else to say.
	“I have an idea” Kathryn offered, “with the communications grid powered off it should not be too hard for me to send a signal powered from the Leviathan to where those guns are being fired.”
	“Meaning?” Toshiro asked.
	“Disturb them with static and harsh noises. Distract them!” she replied, Kura smirked.
	“Go ahead” Nathaniel agreed, Kathryn typed the necessary commands in.
	“Guns about to fire” Kura reported. A new barrage of lasers came towards the Leviathan, but cleanly missed the huge spacecraft, Kura swerved the ship once again just to make sure. Kathryn's message seemed to have unsettled the gunner's aim as intended.
	“Two minutes Admiral” navigation reported.
	“Nice work Lieutenant Commander” Sanjuro acknowledged, “we're almost out of here.” Kura started to type from her terminal.
	“Permission to try something Admiral?” she requested.
	“What?” Sanjuro asked. Kura grew a large grin.
	“Fighting back, I'm going to take out the Moon lasers” she smirked, “aiming now.”
	“Fire Commander” Nathaniel replied. The ship shook a little as the its weapons system activated. Kura jumped up excitedly, the shots had hit their mark it seemed.
	“30 seconds Admiral” navigation reported. A final barrage flung itself menacingly towards the ship, Kura had been too distracted from firing her own guns to have noticed. Luckily, they were too far away for the guns to have been aimed properly.
	“We're out of range” Sanjuro declared, exhaling with relief.
	“Okay” Toshiro began, “we need a plan, let's head down to the squads and see what we can come up with.” Kura, Nathaniel, Sanjuro and Toshiro headed for the door.
	“Looks like I have the bridge” Kathryn commented to herself. There were still times when she felt left out due to her decision to take up a non-violent career path.

	Ryo cursed to himself. They had followed his orders to move out, but way too late. In many ways it made him more bitter than ever, he had been defeated by the U.C.A. in the past and he now learned that their gunners were incompetent. He had been defeated by these men of incompetence.
	Sanjuro had gotten away by doing things that seemed impossible with a bulky command ship, they had driven it like a small lean fighter craft. Of course, these people were veterans. They had fought in the tooth-and-nail battle for Cronus, unlike his gunners, who had spent their lives waiting for an incredibly unlikely attack on Earth with their skills slowly atrophying over time.
	“Well” Ryo decided, “they'll come back. I'll just have to lay a trap for them.” He was good at trickery and manipulation, a skill he had inherited from his father Shinobu. The Ishikawa weasel gene had made the Shogo empire great, as similar traits had built up many other great corporate empires, both economic and political, in the past, and it was going to mark its rebirth by Ryo's hand. Makabe was not going to get him this time!

	“The plan goes like this” Kura began, debriefing her squad “we will all climb into LZ Minotaur and wait for a signal from above. The Leviathan will fly back towards Earth, trying to avoid damage but taking it if necessary. This cover will allow the shuttle to fly us down to Earth without us getting blasted, or so we hope. When we are flying near an Armacham factory, which is not too far away from where High Command is located, we will parachute in, storm the factory and take some M.C.A.s. From there we will prepare to capture High Command. Hopefully we will be able to win back U.C.A. fighters, making it so we only have to deal with Ryo's Shogo troops.”
	“As the U.C.A. forces invade High Command from the front, our Fallen forces will strike from behind, creating two fronts. While we are doing this the Leviathan, commanded by Negotiator Akkaraju will attempt to distract Ishikawa. Hopefully this sneak attack will bring a quick end to Shogo's insurrection. We will be guided by Lieutenant Commander Akkaraju and her staff who will keep us all briefed on the latest information and news from the Leviathan. Any questions?” Baku said.
	“None that occur Uzeil” the Fallen Commander replied.
	“Will it just be us and our Commanders on the ground?” Cara asked.
	“No, Admiral Makabe, Gabriel, Sternberg, and even myself will accompany you. Cothineal wants Ryo to be dealt with personally by her very best, and the Admiral has more experience with these sort operations than anyone on board” Baku replied. Kura raised turned to addresses her troops.
	“We move out at 15:00” she declared.

	A swarm of figures stood in the Leviathan's shuttle port. The crowd, however, was much smaller than the ship could support if necessary, as it was designed to hold whole armies, not just an infiltration team. Kura was guiding her team onto LZ Minotaur. The shuttle had several compartments, one was going to be dedicated to the U.C.A. force, one for the Fallen, and one for those in charge – Sanjuro, Toshiro, Baku, and Samantha. Kura, much to her chagrin, had to stay with her squad.
	“Alright, move the Fallen troops in” Kura said, as she walked in to join her squad. The Fallen Commander started doing what Kura was doing moments earlier. Once he had walked in, Sanjuro, Toshiro, Baku and Samantha went into their own compartment. Sanjuro did not want to admit it, but he was a little nervous. He had not parachuted since training at the Military Academy. He had performed some hard moves in an M.C.A., such as jumping into and floating up air output and intake tubes under Hank's instruction, but he was lukewarm about doing it in the flesh, so to speak.
	“Cothineal is really risking you a lot on this mission” Sanjuro observed.
	“She feels that she is better off with I doing my full part in stopping that monster than to keep me in a security bubble and potentially let him prevail here” Toshiro replied.
	“Well, knowing Ryo, I agree with her” Sanjuro concurred.
	“I assume you have had people check over these parachutes?” Samantha asked.
	“Of course, don't worry” Sanjuro replied, “it is standard procedure.”
	“We had a parachute training mission back at the Academy, but I guess that since you were born on Coth and never went to a U.C.A. Academy this will be entirely new to you” Baku noted.
	“I can push you if you get an attack of nerves” Toshiro offered.
	“I'm not that scared” she replied, “I just wanted to know if the parachutes had been checked. That is all. I can handle it.”
	“Alright, sorry” Baku chuckled. Kathryn's voice crackled over the compartment's comm.
	“The Leviathan is approaching Earth, Minotaur will be launched shortly. I just hope that Ryo is a bit less trigger happy at the moment. I'll head to my communications station once the Leviathan is out of firing range again, I'll guide you from there.”
	“Alright Kathryn, hear from you soon, sweetheart” Sanjuro expressed, adding the pet name since he knew how torn Kathryn felt whenever he went down. With a rumble, LZ Minotaur lifted off.
	“Let's see if we can get you all down in one piece” Captain Evans commented from the cockpit. Toshiro held Samantha's hand. Sanjuro and Baku gripped the sides of their seats.

	“Move, move, move!” the Fallen Commander shouted, as wave after wave of men pushed towards the open side door and plunged out into the Earth sky. They were hovering about a kilometre away from the Armacham factory, and about seven kilometres away from High Command. Sanjuro watched the dizzying display of the soldiers jumping out in single file.
	“For Gabriel” the last Fallen soldier exclaimed, before leaping out.
	“Give the Fallen some time to get away from the shuttle, than the U.C.A. forces can jump” Evans advised from the cockpit. Sanjuro was wondering how come the trip had been so stable.
	“So, the grid didn't fire?” Sanjuro asked into his communicator.
	“Not a single blast” Kathryn replied, “Ryo must be plotting something special.”
	“He always is” Sanjuro conveyed, “he's a rat.”
	“Be careful down there Sanjuro, Kura” Kathryn requested.
	“No worries” Kura commented over her communicator, “when have I ever been reckless?”
	“Would you like a list?” Kathryn thought to herself. Sanjuro had not noticed that Kura had finished sending out her squad, and that it was now his turn to jump. He looked down, a definite mistake. He saw that the area was largely wooded, one of the many forests that had been planted as carbon sinks to fight global warming and serve as wildlife habitats once people had been moved off to the outer space colonies. There was a small natural clearing, and that was where they were aiming to land. Sanjuro suddenly felt someone push him from behind.
	“Step up honey” Kura said, before Sanjuro tumbled down. He heard Kura follow him half a minute later. Sanjuro held his breath, when he needed to open his parachute his communicator would beep, so he just had to wait for the signal. Sanjuro needed something to distract him. He remembered an old song he once heard on the radio, it was about mercenaries.
	“Lear jet S.W.A.T team, on a midnight run, with the M-16 and the Ingram gun” he muttered to himself. “They parachute in” he continued, looking down at the approaching ground again, “they parachute out, 'Death from above' we're screaming now.” Kura had bent herself into a more aerodynamic position and had caught up to his level of descent, he looked into her eyes: unfaltering determination, typical Kura. He noticed that Kura was also looking into his eyes, she smiled at him, warming his heart, before plummeting further bellow.
	“Strength and muscle and jungle work” Sanjuro resumed to sing, “strength and muscle and jungle work...” The ground was only getting closer, his communicator blared, and he pulled his chute release string. Nothing. Panic seized him, his worst fear realized. He started to hyperventilate, he was having trouble breathing.
	Sanjuro knew that he needed to calm down. He thought about Kura and Kathryn, he imagined them cuddled up to him, he imagined Kathryn kiss him on the cheek... the emergency chute release! His mind cleared and he pulled the alternate string and to his relief a parachute soon opened and hovered over him. He looked down, it would not be long now. “Kudos to Samantha for predicting that one” Sanjuro thought to himself.
	“Three young men, in a Russian truck” Sanjuro sang again, “with a little M-10, send 'em running to the huts.” The references to Terran jungles wars in Africa, South-East Asia, and South America were not entirely poignant to the present situation, but he did not know what else to sing. “These few young men, the few who dare, to battle in hell...” Sanjuro looked down, he would be landing within half a minute.
	“Le mercenaire!” he shouted, his voice hidden by the rushing wind, and then braced for impact. He landed with a thud, however otherwise it was smooth. Kura watched him come down, having already landed. Samantha, Toshiro, and Baku soon followed. The Fallen and U.C.A. squads were already guarding the perimeter of the clearing, having taken weapons from the cache package dropped down with its own parachute.
	“Whew! What a rush!” Samantha exclaimed cheerfully, Kura laughed.
	“Yeah, that gets ya ready for action” she agreed. Sanjuro decided that there was no point now in mentioning his faulty primary chute release.
	“Successful landing?” Kathryn's voice inquired.
	“Absolutely” Kura replied, “though I think Sanjuro's a little queasy.”
	“I'm fine Kura” Sanjuro shot back tersely.
	“Don't get so tetchy, I understand” Kura submitted. Sanjuro could never stay angry with her, particularly when she was absolutely correct, though slightly insensitive, in the first place.
	“Alright, let's send out teams of three to search the surrounding area. I hope that sensors haven't detected the Minotaur or at least our presence down here” Sanjuro said, ordering the troops.
	“Right away Admiral” Cara acknowledged him.
	“Same to you” Baku ordered the Fallen squadron.
	“Yes Uzeil” the Fallen Commander nodded. That name made Sanjuro think about his dream for a second, realizing for the first real time that here he was again, out on another potential battle field. He shut his mind up, and noticed that Kura was not guiding her squad.
	“Aren't you going to...” he began but Kura cut him off.
	“Cara can handle them, and I missed being on the shuttle with you” she explained.
	“Admiral, you'll be glad to know that I am about to dock on the Leviathan” Captain Evans cut in over the communications system.
	“Alright, good work Captain.” Sanjuro complimented, before Kura gave him a quick kiss.
	“Feeling better?” she asked.
	“With you around I'll never feel bad” Sanjuro cooed back.
	“Ahem” Kathryn interrupted over the radio.
	“And you too of course” Sanjuro hastily added. He sometimes forgot about her ever listening electronic ears. If it was anyone else on the other end, he would probably feel violated.
	“Thank you” Kathryn replied smugly.

	Captain Evans sighed as the Leviathan shuttle bay doors closed and he set LZ Minotaur to land. Once he heard the familiar thunk of a shuttle hitting the deck below, he got up and approached the doorway out. He was about to hit the door opening panel when suddenly the ground beneath him shook. It was not the shuttle, but the whole ship. Ryo must have fired at last.
	He pressed the door panel and leaped out, the ship shaking as navigation attempted tactical manoeuvres. Evans knew that he needed to rush to the bridge, he had been ordered there to compliment Negotiator Akkaraju. If they were under attack they needed a capable pilot more than ever.

	Cara and the Fallen Commander approached Sanjuro, having just finished their tactical sweep of the nearby area. Sanjuro stood up to meet them.
	“What news?” Sanjuro requested.
	“There are no troops patrolling this forest as far as we could tell, they must figure that no one would go near High Command. Armacham had a few security forces at the factory, though if we explain our purposes they might not be a problem. And I don't think we have to say that there are potentially militant U.C.A. forces and Shogo troops at High Command” Cara reported.
	“It would be good if we could find another U.C.A. battalion and win them over to the cause” Kura thought out loud.
	“Yeah, but I doubt we'll get that at High Command, they'll be more loyal to them, or at least those they think are them” Sanjuro considered.
	“Sanjuro” Kathryn's voice began, “Ryo attacked the Leviathan.”
	“What?” Sanjuro exclaimed.
	“As soon as LZ Minotaur returned, a barrage came at us, navigation tried to swerve, but they aren't as skilled at that as Kura I'm afraid. The Leviathan took some heavy damage, but I don't think that it is something that our engineers can't fix, thought it will slow us down. Captain Evans took control of piloting and he managed to get us out of there.”
	“If they did that, why didn't they attack the ship before?” Toshiro asked.
	“I think that's obvious, Ryo wanted us to land” Sanjuro proposed.
	“What?” Samantha called out.
	“He's setting up a trap for us, there is something at High Command we are not going to expect. Who knows, he might even have something waiting for us at the Armacham factory. He knows we are coming, he let us come, he has an ace up his sleeve” Sanjuro elaborated.
	“Agreed” Toshiro replied.
	“Still, I can't see how we can change any of our plans. At any rate, that would be pointless as long as we don't know what he is thinking of” Samantha said.
	“Well, I guess we have no choice but to just be careful and continue. When are you going to strike that factory and get us some M.C.A.s?” Kura inquired.
	“I figure we should wait a few hours, mid-evening I should think” Sanjuro replied.
	“Be...” Kathryn started, but Kura cut her off.
	“We know!” she snarled, “Be careful!”

	Ryo looked out the window of his armoured transport vehicle. He and a few bodyguard troops were only going on a short journey, but with Sanjuro and his lackeys in the forest it was best to take special precautions. Even if it had just been Sanjuro on his own.
	“How much longer driver, we need to set this up before they get there” Ryo asked tersely.
	“Only a few minutes sir” the Shogo driver replied. Ryo's bad mood had only a slight reprieve whenever he thought how clever his trap was. He knew they would be heading for the Armacham factory, and he was going to leave a surprise for Makabe. The armoured vehicle turned down another road, and the factory came into view. “Almost there sir” the driver elaborated. Two Armacham security personnel wandered over to the vehicle.
	“This is private property, move off” one of the guards demanded. Ryo unrolled his window, prompting the guard to raise his gun. Ryo took out a bag of cash from his pocket and casually tossed it up and down with the palm of his hand.
	“How is the pay here?” he asked pleasantly. The guard stared at the money.
	“What are you doing?” the guard asked.
	“Let us in and you'll get some credit for your trouble” Ryo explained. The guard thought about it, being lowly factory guard was not a job that would cover one in gold.
	“Alright, but don't cause trouble or I'll get sacked” he acquiesced.
	“Don't worry, I am here to stop troublemakers and meddlers” Ryo replied, as the armoured vehicle drove up to the front door. Four Shogo troops stepped out, surrounding Ryo, before they then approached and walked into the building.
	“Who are you?” the factory foreman asked. Ryo's troops aimed their weapons.
	“Someone who would rather not make things messy” he replied. The foreman raised his hands into the air. He was just an administrator, he was not going to be some kind of a hero.
	“What do you want?” he asked, his eyes darting from gun barrel to gun barrel.
	“Soon you'll be visited by a squad of U.C.A. troops. They will ask for some M.C.A.s, and will use force if necessary to get them” Ryo informed the man.
	“As much as the company dislikes it, the U.C.A., as the economic regulator, is allowed to requisition any piece of private property it wishes in an emergency situation. All we can do is challenge their actions after the fact” the foreman explained.
	“Don't quote law to me, I don't think you understand that these U.C.A. troops are rouges and meddlers. How would you like to get rid of them and keep your stock?” Ryo asked.
	“What are you suggesting?” the foreman inquired.
	“All you have to do is this, when they come here cooperate with their requests and lead them to your M.C.A. storage warehouse” Ryo replied, just before the foreman interrupted him.
	“How is that going to stop them making off with our stock?”
	“Quiet” Ryo said; his guards cocked their guns and the foreman jumped, “I'll have something waiting for them there. Never you mind what.” The foreman considered his options. He did not want to lose M.C.A. stock, even with the Cronian Revolution over the company still gained decent profits from selling them to companies for use in the industrial sector or to protect bases on the outer rim from raiders, like those on Capricorn. Also, as his eyes never ceased to remind him, these men did not look like ones to toy with. The foreman sighed and agreed.

	“It's mid-evening Admiral” the Fallen Commander reported. Sanjuro and Kura had been resting together by the foot of a tree, Kura comfortably laying her head on his shoulder.
	“Alright, tell your troops to start preparing for the raid” Sanjuro replied. “And I am afraid you will also have to do the same with your squad” he said to Kura. She groaned and got up. The troops started doing warm-up manoeuvres and preparing their bodies for the rigours ahead. Sanjuro had to admit that he admired Kura's abilities as a Commander, when he was one he mostly ignored his squad mates, Kura on the other hand was a true leader.
	“We are going to launch our raid on the Armacham factory once we are all ready” Sanjuro stated into his communicator. It took a second before he got a response.
	“What?” a sleepy sounding Kathryn said over the radio.
	“I said, we are going to raid the Armacham fact...” Sanjuro repeated.
	“Oh, yeah, sorry” she replied, interrupting him, “good luck.”
	“The troops are just about ready” Toshiro said, approaching him. Sanjuro turned to him.
	“You, Samantha, and Baku stay here. We do not want to put all our eggs in one basket. I'll go with Kura and the squads though, I know Ryo better than anyone” he replied, Toshiro nodded.
	“We'll hold up the fort” Samantha nodded.
	“Okay everyone, let's move” Kura shouted and both the U.C.A. and Fallen squads proceeded to follow her. Sanjuro's reaction time to her orders was evidently not as quick as her squad's and he soon found that he had to run up to catch up.

	Negotiator Nathaniel Akkaraju slumped his head into his hand, sitting in the Leviathan's command chair. He was not a young man and putting in a full shift of command work after all that time on the Estate was rather tiring him. Not that he would ever let himself fall beneath competence, his sharp determination would never allow that. That was one of the traits he had passed down to Kura.
	“Negotiator” Kathryn's voice came up from communications, “the Admiral is leading the U.C.A. and Fallen squads towards the Armacham factory.”
	“Understood Lieutenant Commander” he replied. Engineering crews were still rushing to repair the damage Ryo had done in his last attack, luckily the ship was well stocked with replacement parts, some of which were being delivered to Cronus as part of the reconstruction. Suddenly he heard a beep emanate from Kathryn's unattended communications station.
	“We are receiving a transmission” Kathryn said as another transmission, “sending it up to the bridge now.” The message when it came was short and rough.
	“Akkaraju!” Ryo's voice blared, “I know you can hear me.”
	“I can indeed coward” Nathaniel replied, his ire more than raised.
	“Well then, hear this. I know that Makabe and your forces are down in the forests near High Command, I just want you to know that they will fail. I have set up traps everywhere, there is no escape for them, or for you up there!” Ryo continued, rolling off threats at a rapid clip.
	“We know you have set up traps, I have been a soldier longer than your entire wretched life, and I know your kind. Trust me when I say that we expect everything” Nathaniel replied.
	“We'll see about that down on the surface” Ryo retorted, closing the link.
	“I wonder what he is referring too” Kathryn's voice came in.
	“I don't know, tell the Admiral” Nathaniel ordered.
	“Yes sir” she stated. On the one hand this seemed to suggest that Ryo had lost any harmful ambition towards the Leviathan for now, but on the other hand it seemed obvious that he was out to get Sanjuro and Kura and the other ground forces. There was nothing more an old warrior could do though, so Nathaniel just sat and waited, keeping himself fresh for when he was needed.

	The two squads, led by Kura and the Fallen Commander, walked next to each other in an organized but eased march. Sanjuro moved along in front of them, aiming his gun around every tree, every fork in the road – there was no way of telling who was in these forests. It would not be long now until they reached the factory, and the sense of anticipation was starting to rise within them.
	“Sanjuro” Kathryn's voice came in.
	“Yes?” he inquired.
	“Ryo just sent us a cryptic transmission talking about setting traps everywhere” she informed them, “just thought you should be told.”
	“Well, that seems to confirm our suspicions” Sanjuro considered.
	“Did he ever mention the factory?” Kura asked.
	“Not as such” Kathryn replied, “he just said that he knew you were in the forests.”
	“Well, we'll have to look out for anything. At any rate, Ryo probably just likes hearing the sound of his own voice” Sanjuro noted, “he certainly used too.”
	“Alright” Kathryn said. Sanjuro turned down another dirt path, they were avoiding the main road to stay away from any of Ryo's possible informants. There he saw the factory, within five minutes walking distance. There were no smokestacks, not since the mandated install of specially designed filters to take out any pollutants, but the hulking size of the building made it a definite landmark.
	Sanjuro listened to the roughly synchronized clacking of boots behind him. He thought about that for a moment, all of those people following him, all of those people serving him, all of those people depending on him not to risk them unnecessarily, all those people depending on him to protect them. Sanjuro once again forcefully shut his mind up, he needed to focus. An Armacham guard approached from behind a security booth.
	“My, my, that’s a lot of men for a U.C.A. inspection” he commented.
	“We are not here to inspect the plant” Sanjuro explained.
	“Then why has a whole U.C.A. squadron shown up to our humble place of work?” the guard replied. Kura rolled her eyes.
	“The question is why has a whole U.C.A. squadron and a Fallen squadron come to your scroungy little concrete dump” Kura replied. The guard looked around and confirmed her statement.
	“Then what do you want?” he asked, uneasy and unnerved. To the people on Earth, the Fallen were just some sort of distant tale of menace and suspicion.
	“We wish to requisition some M.C.A.s” Sanjuro iterated, “we need them for our mission.” The guard then remembered what the foreman had told him, “when the U.C.A. guys come, lead them to the warehouse, and then they will be taken care of.”
	“Alright, follow me” the guard said, and turned and walked into the factory. The sound of the clacking of boots hitting the hard concrete ground bounced off the walls of the factory as the squads followed Sanjuro, Kura, and the Fallen Commander. Sanjuro looked around at the various assembly lines, each with robotic and human attendants, to a soldier it seemed like an entirely different world.
	“They're in here” the guard directed, opening the door. With that, the large group entered the warehouse, not quite feeling ready for anything.

	Baku paced around nervously, as Toshiro and Samantha stood by two trees. The two watched Baku pace around the same spot for what seemed like the hundredth time.
	“A bit stressed?” Samantha asked, lightly.
	“Aren't you?” he replied coolly.
	“Of course, but I am not trying to friction burn the local flora” she noted.
	“She'll be fine Baku” Toshiro told him. Baku turned to look at him.
	“It's not just her you know, who knows what Ishikawa has set up? Why didn't he let us come with them?” he said, his pacing if anything speeding up.
	“Cothineal needs us to be here, but she needs us to be relatively safe, so we stay here” Toshiro replied. Baku glared back at them moodily.
	“I just know that something is going to happen” he moaned. He would be right...

Part Three: Battle Begins

	More clacking of soldier's boots could be heard as the squads moved forward. On the one hand that could be considered comforting, all of these people here and so little of anyone that could be a threat. Of course the fact that the clacking was so loud presented a more disturbing realization – if this was a working factory why were their movements not disturbed by the sounds of workmen and machinery? Could it be that people were hiding? They could just be hiding from them, but in which case their speed of dispersal is something to be admired as they had no advanced warning of their arrival. The foreman pressed a release panel and a large metal door slid open.
	“Here is where we store our mobile combat armour” the foreman said, “take what you need and then leave before you disturb any more shifts.”
	“We won't be long” Kura replied while walking in. The atmosphere still struck Sanjuro as odd, first the silence of workmen and machinery, the overall edginess that was plainly shown on the foreman's features, and just the fact that they did not even ask any questions about why the U.C.A. needed to take these devices out so directly. The sooner they got their M.C.A.s and got out of there the better, that much was for certain.
	“The access doors open out to the parking lot and from there you can drive these out onto the road” the foreman informed them, looking around. He wondered how many of them they would want. The foreman at this point did not believe that Ryo had kept up his side of the bargain, if there was a surprise here they would have shown themselves by now, so he expected that he would soon be short a few M.C.A.s. Not that there was anything he could do about it either way.
	“Alright, there is no need to give M.C.A.s to everyone” Sanjuro began, “me, Commander Akkaraju, and the Fallen Commander will be given them and that should be enough for the job.” Kura and the Fallen Commander followed Sanjuro as he walked towards the towering giant robots and the foreman made a discreet exit, just in case Ryo had actually hidden something somewhere in there. Suddenly a noise behind them shrieked out, the familiar cacophony of moving hydraulics. Two M.C.A.s moved forward a single step and glared down at the Fallen and U.C.A. squads.
	“Admiral Makabe I presume?” one of the pilot's transmitted into Sanjuro's radio.
	“Ryo's trap I presume?” Sanjuro replied back, already wearied.
	“Indeed, but enough answering questions with questions. I am sure that you have already figured out the current state of affairs” the pilot said, “we control you, even though we don't have weapons we could squish anyone of your troops at any time.”
	“What are your demands than?” Sanjuro asked, thinking over strategies in his head. Kura had already started to slowly move her squad away from the M.C.A.s as their pilots were distracted by talking to him. Sanjuro realized that he had to keep them talking as long as he could.
	“Our orders are nothing fancy, we just want you to proceed out, lead us to whoever else you have down here, and then allow us to lead you all to High Command” the pilot explained.
	“And if we don't you'll try to kill us?” Sanjuro asked, already knowing the answer.
	“What else do you expect us to do with interlopers?” the pilot asked simply. Kura's squad was now safely behind her, behind an M.C.A., there they were at least relatively safe from being squished. The Fallen Commander had caught on to Kura's trick and was slowly trying to do the same as she had, though his squad was notably larger. Sanjuro had to keep the pilots talking while they moved.
	“Interlopers is a rather odd word to use for someone fighting a foreign aggressor” Sanjuro commented, as when there was nothing else to talk about, talk semantics. After all, this particular pilot had the makings on a monologing villain in him, much like his master. The Fallen Commander nodded to Sanjuro, almost to say “keep going.”
	“Shogo is supposed to be in charge, not some petty regulator like the U.C.A., or the raving lunatic followers of some giant bug” he replied. It was a good thing Toshiro was not here, he was still almost frighteningly loyal to Cothineal. “It is time we were again governed by people with vision.”
	Sanjuro needed to think up another line of discourse, anything to keep the conversation going. He could not think for long though or his audiences' attention would wander to the manoeuvring squads. He looked around, the Fallen were about half-way done evacuating one-by-one. They still needed more time. Sanjuro came up with a response, he could not let them down.
	“What makes you so sure that Ryo is any better than the rest of those in power?” Sanjuro replied, still not used to talking about philosophy, or rather much else, with his immediate enemies. Back when he was a foot soldier his priorities were to shoot first, ask questions later. In fact, had he been in this situation only by himself, or just with someone like Kura, he would have jumped behind an M.C.A. and started firing rounds at his oppressors.
	He had taken whole M.C.A.s down while on-foot before, Ryo for instance, not even to mention Samantha - it was difficult but he could do it. Unfortunately, now that he needed to look after the others, that was not an option. This situation needed to be handled a lot more delicately. The pilot was evidently tired of talking, Sanjuro would have to think fast.
	“You have no right to question us, get your men moving or we'll... hey, wait a minute, where did they all go!” the pilot exclaimed. They had been spotted. Sanjuro surveyed the situation, a group of Fallen troops were still within a short stride's distance. They had realized the trick too soon. The Fallen started to run towards the safety of the M.C.A. legions. What happened next seemed like a daze to him at the time, though it would be seen many other times with sharp detail in his memory.
	“Stop them!” the pilot called to his comrade and both M.C.A.s moved forward. The Fallen troops ran faster, but were no match to the machines' far more lengthened strides. A terrible squish sound and the spewing of blood and gibs pierced the factory floor. Out of the eight remaining troops, only two made it back to the group. Sanjuro was horrified, he had failed them, he had let them die. Kura on the other hand was furious.
	“Take them down!” she screeched and all the troops opened fire. The M.C.A.s approached, bullets bouncing off their thick armour. One of their fists came down hard towards where the troops were firing, but all managed to swerve away. The fists of the other M.C.A. came down, and with another horrible squish slew some of Kura's team. Sanjuro stood there dazed, unthinking. An M.C.A. approached and before he knew it a giant metal fist was seconds away from squishing him dead. Kura rolled on top of him and they both tumbled out of danger.
	“Watch yourself!” she exclaimed as she pressed a few buttons on one of the deactivated M.C.A.'s control panels. Before Sanjuro knew what was happening, she was inside. The Shogo controlled M.C.A.s were taking heavy damage from the Fallen and U.C.A. counterattack, the troops fuelled by a quest for vengeance for the death of their comrades. However, the M.C.A.s continued to try and strike at them, having the advantage of unlimited mechanical endurance. This all changed when Kura approached in her own M.C.A.
	“Behind you!” Sanjuro's comm-link picked up from the two M.C.A.s' communications. Kura slammed her robotic fists into the back of one of them. This unexpected attack broke the M.C.A.'s cockpit window and leaned it down sharply and the pilot was left desperately holding on to his seat for fear that he would fall out and break his neck. His M.C.A. technically still worked, but Kura had taken out all she needed to – the device's pilot. The second M.C.A. stared into Kura's own.
	“It looks like we are evenly matched U.C.A. Commander” the pilot said, focusing entirely on Kura. The Fallen Commander meanwhile was making his own plans. Kura stared back at her enemy, her focus just as strong. Unlike her opponent however, she remembered that she was not alone.
	“Fire!” the Fallen Commander ordered and every single soldier shot at once, the barrage of bullets serving out massive damage to the M.C.A., only compounded by their group affect. It began to swerve from side to side as the hydraulic systems were losing their battle with gravity. Kura approached and gave one final punch, knocking the M.C.A. down.
	“Rule number one of M.C.A. piloting, remember, just because squishies are little doesn't mean they can't bite” Kura taunted, using old pilot slang for foot soldiers. The trajectory of Kura's punch was meant to send it down onto the cold concrete, the pilot however had other plans. With a quick swerve of gear-stick, the M.C.A. completed one last wild spin and came falling into the stack of M.C.A.s behind which the troops hid. Kura gaped, doing that would basically ensure his death. “Why was he doing it? He can't even hit the soldiers!”
	“Look out!” a soldier screamed as the force created a domino effect as M.C.A. after M.C.A tumbled down. Armacham would not be happy about this. The troops ran out away from the giant metal atrocities, the exact opposite manoeuvre than they had done previously. Earlier they meant salvation, now they only meant death. Sanjuro grimaced as once again a few were not fast enough, leaving three injured as the mad pilot's last revenge. He had deliberately taken his own life to cause that chain reaction, he was like a kamikaze warrior of old: suicide killing to serve his master, his conviction unshaken. Besides, to him death seemed better than being captured.
	This had all been meant as a simple raid, no one was supposed to die. Sanjuro had expected some troops not to make it back when they attempted to liberate High Command, that was soldiering, but not now. They were supposed to just get the M.C.A.s and get out. This mission had been a disaster. Why had he not foreseen Ryo's plot beforehand? He thought that by now he knew his every trick. He was wrong and it had lead to the deaths of some of his men.
	“Someone please help me!” a voice cried out. Sanjuro looked up as the other pilot gripped desperately to the side of his broken cockpit window, knowing that if he fell he would die. Sanjuro looked at the man, his face, though distorted by distance, was visibly griped with fear and blind panic. His troops aimed their weapons, but Sanjuro ordered them down.
	“No one else needs to die here” he declared, approaching the M.C.A., with the Fallen Commander rushing beside him. The pilot looked down at them, still fearful, his grip slowly weakening. The others around them looked away, knowing what might come next.
	“AAAGGGHHH!” his scream echoed around the warehouse as he fell, Sanjuro and the Commander rushing to catch him. He looked up surprised, he had not expected them to help. He stared into Sanjuro's eyes. “Why?” he asked quietly.
	“You're a human being and I don't let people unnecessarily come to harm” Sanjuro replied, sounding a bit like Kathryn. In reality it was more of a gesture to his own psyche, he still felt incredibly shaken by the events of the last few minutes. He just hoped that he would not have another dream.
	“Well that went well” Kura's voice came into his communicator, sarcastic as always.
	“At least we now have the M.C.A.s” he replied, walking towards his chosen armour, the Fallen Commander doing the same. Down below, Cara and her comrades were attending to the wounded, counting the dead, and guarding their prisoner. As Sanjuro entered his cockpit, Kura called in again, now over his M.C.A.'s internal comm-link rather than his portable communicator.
	“We can't just leave” she decided, “not after what has happened here. We need to deal with the manager, I'm sure he knew about this to a certain extent.” Sanjuro thought about this, she was right: the man was a traitor, and could not be trusted to be left free.
	“Alright” Sanjuro replied, “we'll take him with us.”

	Ryo paced up and down furiously in his office at High Command. There was still no word yet from the two men he had stationed at the Armacham factory. Ryo suspected that Makabe had done it again, he had no idea how, but he must have somehow done it again. Something about that cheeky irritating buffoon somehow enabled him to be a brilliant soldier and tactician. Ryo decided to calm down, he liked to rant, but he had no proof whether he had any fodder to rant on yet. He opened up a cabinet and took a drink of sake, a homage to his homeland.
	His people had made Japan, he decided. Those fools that had followed the Emperor had lead to Japan's defeat in the Second Terran War, as it had been re-titled after the colonization of other worlds, leading to devastation, atomic bombing and American occupation. It had been his kind, the entrepreneurs, who had rebuilt the country and made it strong. He modelled himself after the old Japanese heads of industry before him, who had modelled themselves after the American corporate elite, those who had helped conquer his people before. He was going to let nothing get in the way of Shogo's power and profit, no matter what he had to do. Though of course, that would mean defeating Sanjuro, and that consistently proved to be no easy task.
	Sanjuro had become the figure of his hatred. He had been so close to succeeding last time - he had that Akkaraju chump in the palm of his hand, the kato canon had almost fired. Once the Fallen were out of the way, his war fleet would have stormed in and taken Cronus. With Cothineal and kato in his grasp, things would have changed. He would have controlled the future of interstellar humanity. However, that had not come to pass, and it was all thanks to Sanjuro. Again, in an incredibly unlikely display of raw skill and nerve, he had sneaked aboard the Leviathan and, fighting off Akkaraju's best troops, deactivated the kato canon.
	Ryo had only thought that he would be of minor annoyance, and he had gone out to face him in an M.C.A. Somehow, somehow, Sanjuro had won the duel! He had been on-foot but he still won, where did he get such skills? Ryo cursed, he might have just done it again. He hoped not, the man he had sent for this mission was a personal favourite, a promising Commander who had served him well during his Cronian exile. He had provided an equal to discourse with during all that time spent in a cave, away from the toxic non-breathable surface of the planet. The door to his office opened and a Shogo informant stepped in before him.
	“I have bad news sir” he began, but Ryo gestured for him to stop talking.
	“Makabe got away?” he asked, knowing the answer.
	“I'm afraid so sir, the Commander is dead. We couldn't find the other pilot, he might have been captured” the informant continued, while Ryo cursed with increased severity, “they did take out a few of the Admiral's troops, but they are now hiding out in the forest somewhere again, with M.C.A.s.”
	“Anything else you would like to report?” Ryo asked wearily.
	“They have taken the foreman away with them as well, probably as a prisoner for conspiring against the U.C.A.” the informant replied.
	“Alright, you may leave, I need to think of a plan B” Ryo said bitterly. His friend was dead, and Makabe had gotten away, but Ryo's determination had not faltered. With complete dedication, he swore that he would not lose this time.

	Toshiro began the morose job of documenting the Fallen casualties for eventual archiving on Cronus. He had known something was going on as soon as Cothineal had sensed her followers were under attack. In many ways he was relived, given how much worse the situation could have been. Cara cuddled up to Baku, many of her more Kura-like traits had evaporated after the incident. She had never faced such a life or death situation before, and she had known some of the U.C.A. personnel that had been killed or injured. Kura meanwhile, a battle-hardened soldier, had lost little of her attitude, only now tainted with anger and outrage. At the moment however, she and Kathryn were trying to cheer up Sanjuro, who had withdrawn himself from the group under his command, resting against a far tree.
	“It's not your fault” Kathryn's voice came in, “how were we to know that Ryo had men in M.C.A.s there?” Sanjuro for once did not find her voice to be of much comfort.
	“It was an M.C.A. factory, we could have put two and two together” Sanjuro replied, he had recovered some of his concentration since his initial shock had subsided. The downside to that however was that he was now able to rebuttal Kura and Kathryn's attempts to console him. Kura did not quite understand Sanjuro's feelings.
	“You've lost men before” she said, “why is it hitting you so hard now?” Sanjuro turned to look at her, he simply had to explain this to her. She had to understand.
	“I am an Admiral, it is my job to lead those under me, those men depended on me for safety and I failed them” he replied. Kura sighed, she did not know how to deal with a guilt complex.
	“It's not your fault” Kathryn repeated, she really did not know what else to say. It was clear that it was going to be a long evening.

	Kathryn entered Sanjuro's quarters on the Leviathan, noting how lonely it seemed without Kura and Sanjuro around. The Admiral's quarters was made up of a few different rooms: a living room, a kitchen, a lavatory and shower, and of course a bedroom. It all seemed quiet and uncomfortable to be alone in it. In many ways she wished that her shift had not ended, when she left she was still trying to talk Sanjuro out of his guilt. She did not like leaving him alone, Kura was a lover and a comrade to him yes, but Kathryn was more of a confidant, and she knew that is what he needed right now.
	The attack had unsettled her as well, mostly because she had no idea of it until it was all over. No one had time to send any messages or leave a microphone on so that she could at least hear some of what was going on. It made her uncomfortable not to know when Sanjuro and Kura were in danger. Kathryn saw no reason to change, so she just took off her military belt and black boots, and climbed into the bed.
	So lonely... usually she rested her head on Sanjuro's side, with Kura doing the same on the other end of the large bed. She wished that Sanjuro was there, just so she could comfort him, and so he could comfort her in turn. Her mind was filled with the thought of a squadron of Shogo troops attacking their camp in the clearing... and of Sanjuro's bullet ridden body. She was not having a good evening. Kathryn's misery was interrupted by Sanjuro's doorbell ringing, Kathryn got up to check on it.
	“Who is it?” she called out through the darkness.
	“It's your father” Nathaniel declared. Kathryn opened the door. Kathryn hugged her father before they both took a seat in Sanjuro's living room. Nathaniel looked the place over.
	“My, my, what has Sanjuro done to this place? It was never this fancy before” he noted.
	“Well, in relative peacetime more luxuries can be afforded and its not just him living here” Kathryn replied, she was just pleased to have conversation to distract her.
	“True, true” Nathaniel admitted, “but this sort of talk isn't why I came here.”
	“Why did you come here?” Kathryn asked.
	“To check on you” Nathaniel informed, “and judging by that look on your face I had good reason. What's wrong?” Kathryn sighed.
	“Oh the usual, worrying about what is going on down on Earth, and then there's that Sanjuro is not taking what happened today very well.” Nathaniel thought about that reply for a second.
	“You really love that man, don't you dear?” he asked. Kathryn nodded.
	“There must be something incredibly special about him that I haven't quite noticed” Nathaniel commented lightheartedly, “given that both my daughters have fallen for him.” Kathryn smiled. Nathaniel realized though that he would have to deal with her demons with more than whitewash. He had not been as much of one as he had might have been, but he was still her father.
	“You know what's always been on my mind ever since you and Kura entered the U.C.A.?” Nathaniel began, “Your safety. In some ways it might have put my judgment and command ability at risk, but my mind has always been on you two.”
	“Well, that's not surprising is it, after what happened to mother...” Kathryn replied. Nathaniel held his daughter's hand, and continued trying to express what he wanted to say.
	“Sometimes I wonder if I was right to push you and Kura into a military career” Nathaniel replied, “what with the danger and the challenge.” Kathryn looked at him a bit surprised, he had never, ever, admitted any doubt about the military life, never, well, at least not to her. Nathaniel returned her gaze with a smile and continued.
	“But then I see what you and Kura have made of it. Kura is a brilliant soldier, you're a brilliant guide. You continue on the great work of your mother, you're as great and your sister is as as great a soldier as she was, and that is saying a lot.”
	“As great as you” Kathryn replied warmly. Nathaniel decided to close his point.
	“You need to look at it the same way with Sanjuro, yes there is danger, but he wants to be a soldier, he needs to be a soldier. Try and let pride override fear, and you can accept both your destinies.” Kathryn thought this over for a second.
	“I guess you're right” she admitted. Nathaniel looked her straight in the eye.
	“Feeling better now?” he asked. Kathryn nodded. Nathaniel got up.
	“Well goodnight my child” he said, “pleasant dreams.”
	“Pleasant dreams” she replied, still smiling. The door shut behind him as Kathryn returned to the bedroom. Kathryn headed towards her own personal storage area for documents and she saw two artifacts. First was the letter that Sanjuro had just given back to her a month and a half ago, the letter which she had written for Kura as a child to inform Sanjuro of her feelings for him.
	The other was a photograph of Sanjuro straight out of the Academy, the one she always kept with her. She took it out and stared at it. She was proud of him, very proud, there was no reason to fear, her father was right. She lay down in her bed, and slept, with the photograph clutched in her hand.

	“Commander Makabe” a voice came in on Sanjuro's radio, “this is Lieutenant Cloud from Strike Force Carnivore. We are pinned down and are in need of assistance.”
	“On my way” Sanjuro replied. There was something about the old C.M.C. Headquarters that seemed darker and more unsettling than usual, something not right. Sanjuro could hear his heart pounding as he looked around for any stray Fallen soldiers. There was nothing for now, he was safe. He turned around another corner, and there was Strike Force Carnivore. The sounds of the blasting and ricocheting of bullets emanated through the hall, coming down from the ledge above, by now a familiar sound to him. Altogether too familiar. Well, time to make them stop.
	“They just keep coming” Cloud exclaimed, firing all the rounds he could muster up at the Fallen troops from his cover behind a storage crate. Sanjuro took out his assault rifle, eager to see if he could tip the balance a little here. He jumped out and fired, all his shots missing for reasons he could not identify. The Fallen responded with a renewed barrage, taking down one of Cloud's men. Sanjuro fired again, all misses. What was going on? More Fallen bullets, with another man down. Sanjuro fired yet again, none hit their targets. Another of Cloud's men fell.
	“Kill them why don't you?!” Cloud exclaimed, noting Sanjuro's seemingly unbelievably bad aim. Sanjuro fired again, one hit a mech-suited Fallen guard, but it ricocheted off its armour. He was now out of ammunition and was facing off against the Fallen legion basically alone. If he had been able to aim, those men would still be alive, his mind reminded him, plucking at his guilt. He had let them die, he was an unworthy Commander. Surely he should have been able to have hit at least one of them! He crumbled to the ground and held his throbbing head.
	“What the hell are you doing?” Cloud asked. Sanjuro looked up at him bitterly. He needed ammo, and he knew where he was going to get it. He took out his knife and approached the Lieutenant. “What are you doing sir?” he asked, not understanding the look in his eyes. Sanjuro continued to glare at him, knife raised. Cloud raised his sub-machine gun level with his face, but Sanjuro was quicker and with one slice through his throat he was down. Grabbing his sub-machine gun, Sanjuro ran out into the hall and up the stairs to the balcony.
	“DIE YOU HEAR ME!” he shouted as he quickly and mercilessly slaughtered his way through the Fallen troopers. Blood splattered onto his uniform, but he did not care. He had let those troops die, he had murdered Cloud, life, death, what was the difference? All that mattered was whether or not he got out alive. A Fallen guard cried out suddenly and Sanjuro saw him clinging to the edge of the ledge, pitifully trying to pull himself back up. The floor under the balcony impossibly disintegrated, replaced by a deep dark pit. The soldier pleaded for Sanjuro to help, but he would have none of it. He kicked the trooper's hands, causing them lose their grip. Sanjuro felt no pity as he watched the man fall.
	The world around him dissolved and he soon found himself in the new C.M.C. Headquarters, what was now Cothineal's Embassy. Kura was walking behind him, shotgun in hand.
	“Yeah?” she asked, noticing him staring. The two continued to walk down, some C.M.C. civilians running away in terror. They opened a door and turned around a corner, and were met with a full slough of Fallen troops – the assassin team sent to get Kura. Sanjuro fired his shotgun at them, round after round, shell after shell. His bad aim had returned to him and none of it was appearing to do any good. Kura fired herself, but her actions were equally useless. What was going on?!
	“Wait a minute, that's her!” a Fallen trooper exclaimed, realizing that they were attacking their intended assassination target. They all aimed their guns at Kura. Sanjuro ran up and attempted to punch out the leader, but he was instead knocked to the floor by a quick kick from the Fallen trooper. As he fell to the floor he saw Kura's body fall beside him, riddled with bullets. The assassins had done their job, and he had let them do it. He was a murderer and the enabler of killers, he killed innocent grunts, and let merciless ones slay innocents. He was a true monster, and he felt more guilty than ever.

	Sanjuro's eyes opened, and he saw starlight. It was the middle of the night, it had been another nightmare, just at he had feared he would have. Kura looked down at him from above, her face showing a rare look for her: concern. “What's wrong?” she asked.
	“Nothing” Sanjuro replied, laying his head back down on the ground, Kura frowned at him.
	“What's wrong?” she repeated. Sanjuro did not answer. Kura glared down at him. “I know there is something wrong” she declared, “or is this one of the things you only tell Kathryn?” Sanjuro stared at her, very troubled by the way that last statement had been worded.
	“Kura, don't be bitter...” Sanjuro pleaded. Kura shook her head.
	“I'm not bitter, I just want to know what's wrong, I want to help you” she replied. Sanjuro realized that it was silly keeping this from her anymore. Why was he? He guessed it was because Kura was such a soldier that he feared that she would think him weak if he admitted to her about the nightmares. Sanjuro sighed and rubbed the tiredness from his eyes. “I can be sweet too” Kura continued, “I can make you feel better as well as she can.”
	“It was a dream” Sanjuro replied simply, Kura look puzzled.
	“A dream?” she asked, “What kind of dream?” Sanjuro decided to tell her the full story.
	“I have had them at several points in my life, the first happened around the time of graduation, I guess it was the truths of my impending military career dawning on me” he started to explain, but Kura interrupted him, trying to understand the essence of the situation.
	“What are the dreams about?” she asked, direct as usual.
	“They usually involve you, Baku, and Toshiro going missing and me looking for you. I have a voice in my head, sometimes a demonic version of Kathryn, accusing me of killing you” Sanjuro replied. To his surprise, Kura was listening to every word with great attention. “That's what the dreams were about around graduation, they stopped after I got settled in. Then you did actually disappear and they returned with a vengeance. This time always reliving that moment down on Cronus with frightening clarity. In many ways I was even more guilty, since I felt that I should have seen it coming because of my earlier dreams. My psychiatrist told me that it had to do with my Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.” Kura mouth twitched, and she looked intently towards him.
	“Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?” Kura asked worriedly, if there was one thing that made her personally guilty it was that. She had only learned of Sanjuro's ailment after she had returned from Cronus, by which time he had basically recovered. She felt very bad about it, had she known she would have done everything she needed to do to get out of that spy mission and be back by his side.
	“Yes” Sanjuro replied, “the dreams came back last night only different.”
	“How so?” Kura asked, her face showing an uncharacteristic pallor.
	“They began as usual with me looking for you on Cronus, but then my world changed and I saw Hank get blasted again” Sanjuro explained, noticing Kura shudder when he mentioned her close friend's death. “Then I killed Baku. Not just Uzeil Baku, modern Baku and child Baku too. I saw your father run off to start the kato canon while Disraeli shredded Kathryn to bits with his knife, and then I was in Avernus when the blast hit. Only to see a pyramid of broken M.C.A.s filled with the soldiers I have killed. Then I saw that it was me who fired the canon” Sanjuro continued, recounting the events in a weak and worryingly matter-of-fact voice. Kura looked into his eyes, trying to see his true feelings.
	“And tonight?” she asked, her face perfectly level.
	“I was fighting alongside Strike Force Carnivore down on Cronus, only my shots never hit and each one of their troops were slain one by one, all because I failed to save them” Sanjuro began again, “then I killed Lieutenant Cloud to get ammunition and mercilessly slew every last Fallen. One of them clung to the edge of a pit, just like that pilot, and I forced him down to his death.”
	“Awful” Kura commented.
	“It gets worse” Sanjuro replied, “then I was guiding you out of the C.M.C. Headquarters, and the same thing happened when we were cornered by the Fallen assassins. When my guns didn't work I tried to take them out hand-to-hand but they beat me to the ground, then they shot you to death.” Kura cuddled up to Sanjuro, hoping to make a point through raw physicality.
	“I'm still here” she said, nuzzling her head against his shoulder.
	“I know that” Sanjuro continued, “I am used to the contents of my dreams being familiar. What is really haunting me is the messages that kept running through my mind: that I am a killer of innocent people and that I let other killers kill innocent people. Just like how those men died today under my watch, me failing to keep them safe.”
	“That's not true” Kura protested, “it was not your fault, it was Ryo's. Those men died in the effort to defeat that tyrant. They risked their lives just the same way we do.” Sanjuro's frown remained unmoved. Kura was feeling a little sense of panic, if the dreams were part of his disorder did that mean that it was coming back? She would do everything in her power to stop him from becoming sick again. It had been in part her fault that he had gotten sick, it was her job to prevent it from happening again.
	“You're a good man Sanjuro” she said, looking up at him, “and a very capable Admiral. Of course people will die sometimes but it is them serving the people under their own consent, it is not your fault. Listen to me.” Sanjuro held her hand. She needed to comfort him some more, but how? Kathryn had this strange ability to be caring, Kura did care about people but she was better at having a good time with them. Kathryn was good at making people feel better in times of trouble, even though she was much more introverted, which is probably why Sanjuro fell for her after the Cronus disaster. Kura got an idea, something comforting that fit in with her own talents.
	“Sanjuro” she said, softly, “I think I need to do something for you.” Sanjuro looked confused, Kura sighed and continued. “I'm no psychiatrist, but I know you need to be cared for. Well, there is only one way I know of that I am particularly good at.” She placed her hands on his chest.
	Sanjuro looked surprised more than confused now. He looked around with the camp illuminated by a dwindling fire. The Fallen guard who was supposed to be taking a look out shift had fallen asleep, everyone else was asleep, including the two prisoners who were tied to two sturdy trees. If they went behind the M.C.A.s they would have more than enough privacy. Kura took his hand and led him off. In many ways it seemed typical, what Kathryn treated with a kiss to the cheek and a kind word, Kura treated with sex.

	The sounds of people rustling through the woods were plainly audible as the search team completed its survey. Search lights shone all over the area, accompanied by the tones of hushed voices and the snapping of twigs underfoot. So far nothing out of the ordinary had been discovered. It was a typical nighttime search. They had encountered naught but the occasional deer or owl, no signs of any people, and definitely no signs of anyone out to cause trouble.
	It was then that they saw the three hulking structures: three Armacham M.C.A.s. What were they doing there? The company had no sane reason to keep them out of the factory, all that would happen would be weather damage. Besides, keeping them off factory property and on this tract of partially protected woodland was illegal. Three brand new off the assembly line M.C.A.s in the middle of the woods, how strange! Hoping to find out more, the team approached.
	As they came closer they saw a nearly dead campfire and and a collection of sleeping people. Either this was a large group of lost campers using the M.C.A.s as a landmark or something was wrong here. The leader of the search team considered their options, if they were civilians then they would have to deal with them, get them back to where they belonged. If they were a threat they would have to dispose of them. They did not have much of a choice.
	“Let's go and investigate” she declared, cocking her duel pistols.

Part Four: Unexpected Companions

	Sanjuro and Kura slept peacefully, huddled in each others arms, their uniforms and hair crumpled and dishevelled. Kura's trick had done what was intended of it, as Sanjuro was now perfectly calm and relaxed and asleep without any more disturbing visions. Kura had been different this time, rather than her usual outgoing and energetic self she had been calm and passive, letting him take the lead. She was definitely trying her best to be comforting and was doing a decent job of it.
	She herself was also feeling the better for the act, having worked out weeks worth of tension in under half an hour. Right now she was as relaxed as she could be, something she rarely experienced while on a mission. If only she and Sanjuro were still squadron mates, and then she might have made this a regular thing. Though of course, if Sanjuro was not now her commanding officer, she would never have had the nerve to even do this in the first place. On her sleeping face, which was lying on Sanjuro's chest, was a wide smile. The two were at peace with the world, ignoring all the misery going on in the world around them. Sadly this peace was not to last.
	No one was awake to see the incoming search lights, no one was awake to warn anyone else of the approaching team. No one had expected this interruption at all. However, come it did.
	“Hello?” the team leader said, looking around, her hair messily falling over her eyes.
	“Identify yourselves” a subordinate demanded, with a bit more zest than his leader. No one responded. The team leader approached the M.C.A.s and looked up at the huge and strangely placed structures. She was going to need to ask this group quite a few questions. It was then she noticed the sleeping couple, a man and a woman together at the base of one of the hulking heaps of metal. She approached and realized that she would have to wake one of them up, hopefully waking these two would prove less intrusive to the others. If these were troublemakers, then she did not want them all up.
	“Hello?” she asked again, louder and more forceful. The two were still asleep. She moved forward and tapped the woman on the shoulder. Suddenly she sprung back as Kura leaped up with cat-like reflexes and looked over her attacker. Kura wasted no time in grabbing her and forcing her to the ground. “Sorry to disturb you” the woman stated meekly, “but I was hoping you would answer a few of our questions.” Kura's eyes narrowed as she examined her quarry in further detail.
	“Who are you?” Kura replied, as Sanjuro sat up his confused and groggy body.
	“Commander Isabelle Whitmore, U.C.A. Home Guard” she replied, “would you please let go of me?” Kura obliged and Isabelle stood up and looked them over. “Now then, who are you?” she asked, finally being able to take back the initiative that she still felt was rightfully her's.
	“My name is Sanjuro Makabe, Admiral Makabe” Sanjuro explained, showing the badge of rank on his shoulder. Isabelle looked at him stunned and disbelieving.
	“You're not honestly claiming to be the Admiral Makabe, the one who won the Cronian Revolution, the one who retook the U.C.A.S.F Leviathan, the one who defeated Ryo Ishikawa and Donovan Disraeli?!” she asked, her eyes wide and surprised.
	“He is” Kura replied, “I am Commander Kura Akkaraju, yes, daughter of Nathaniel Akkaraju.” Isabelle looked her over, with only slightly less interest than she had over Sanjuro.
	“You are? But what are you doing here?” Isabelle replied, had she been more experienced she would probably not have been so quick to believe them.
	“I am afraid that we can not yet trust you with that information” Kura said curtly to her.
	“We are here on a mission of critical importance and, if we find we can trust you, we could use your help” Sanjuro told her, brushing off Kura's harshness as best he could.
	“Hang on a minute, you're intruding on my turf and I have to win your trust?” Isabelle suddenly exclaimed Kura glared at her. “Sorry” she said quietly, she had trouble being authoritative.
	“What are you doing here then? How did you find us?” Sanjuro asked.
	“We were doing a search, we do one once every few weeks. We detected some odd air traffic and decided to do one now” Isabelle replied, glancing back at her uneasy squadron.
	“Under cover of darkness?” Kura asked, her eyes still narrowed.
	“We didn't have time to do it earlier” she replied, with the feeling that Kura did not like her.
	“What do you know about the situation down at High Command?” Sanjuro asked.
	“Um, nothing out of the ordinary, other than that communications thing” Isabelle said.
	“What do you know about that 'communications thing'?” Sanjuro continued.
	“They lost contact with the fleet, and they have been particularly secretive about it all, we have only been getting orders as text messages” she explained, “I just thought that they were fixing something, do you think there's more to this?”
	“We know there is more to this” Kura replied; again Isabelle did not think she liked her.
	“What?” Isabelle replied. “Wait, stop, I'm a Commander, its not my place to talk about such...” she began, but Kura interrupted her.
	“Come on, you're a soldier in the U.C.A., if something is wrong we deal with it, no matter what rank we are.” Isabelle looked downwards with a frown.
	“I was just saying” she said, “that this stuff is too big for me. I lead search teams, I've never even fought in a battle. I had a skirmish with some escaped convicts once, scared me half to death.”
	“Great” Kura thought, “a cowardly little girl for a Commander, that's a great help.”
	“I think we are going to have to talk” Sanjuro told her, “do this for us, return to your base, report nothing out of the ordinary, and then come back tomorrow. On no account mention us to High Command, got it?” Isabelle thought she could just about handle that.
	“Okay Admiral” she agreed, turning back to her team, “bye for now then.” Kura watched them go without much of a good impression.
	“What a weak wet blanket” she muttered. Sanjuro looked at her.
	“I thought she was rather nice” Sanjuro replied.
	“Of course you would, 'not the Admiral Makabe' she said” Kura replied tersely, “they are typical of the Home Guard, weak and feeble because they are never hardened in real battle.” It was true, with the influx of troops needed to fight the Cronian Revolution, the Home Guard had become much less skilled, most just recruits straight out of their Academy training.
	“Well, at least they're help” Sanjuro said, settling back to sleep.
	“Cannon fodder” Kura muttered, laying her head back down on his chest. Sanjuro ignored her, preferring to think back on the 'soft and caring' Kura he had met just a few hours before.

	Kathryn woke up from a sustained but not entirely peaceful sleep. She sat up, still groggy, and glanced at the clock. She would have to be back on duty in half an hour. She sighed and got up, there was no need to sleep any longer. She wondered where Kura and Sanjuro where, until she then remembered and felt yet another twinge of worry. She only hoped that Sanjuro would be cheerier this morning than he had been the previous evening.
	It was then she remembered the photograph she had fallen asleep with. She rummaged through the covers of the bed until she found it. She then placed it on the nightstand and unwrinkled it. She stared at it for a little before proceeding to freshen up for a day's work, leaving it back with the letter. It had hardly been a replacement for the real thing, but it was all that she had. Half an hour later she walked down to the bridge, where she found her father in Sanjuro's command chair.
	“What's new?” she asked him.
	“Nothing as far as we can tell” Nathaniel replied, “the squads haven't called in yet.”
	“I'll go down to communications and ping them” she offered. Her father nodded.
	“Have a nice day” Nathaniel called after her, unusually informal. Kathryn turned and bowed politely, before the door closed behind her.

	“U.C.A.S.F. Leviathan calling U.C.A. squad, do you read me?” Kathryn's voice called out from within Sanjuro's communicator. Signals from the ship turned it on automatically. Everyone was still asleep, Kura and Sanjuro even more so, having been awoken twice over the night. “It is time to call in squad, do you read me?” Kathryn repeated, more forceful. A hand outstretched and grabbed Sanjuro's communicator, with perhaps a little too harsh a grip.
	“Yes?” Kura replied blearily.
	“It is time to report in, a new day has begun” Kathryn replied, the Leviathan had been adjusted to High Command's time zone.
	“Ten more minutes” Kura replied, still sleepy. Kathryn seemed amused.
	“I can't help but remember a certain troll trying to wake me up yesterday morning” she said with with an, unseen, cheeky grin.
	“Shut up” Kura snapped.
	“Aren't you grumpy this morning?” Kathryn noted tauntingly. Sanjuro got up and took his communicator back from Kura.
	“Good morning” he said sleepily.
	“Good morning” Kathryn replied, softly and sweetly, “I'm afraid it's time for all to get up.”
	“Alright, I'll tell Toshiro” Sanjuro replied.
	“Rough night?” Kathryn asked.
	“You might say that” Kura smirked, using her own communicator now.
	“A U.C.A. search team from the Home Guard found us. We managed to negotiate it so that they will not tell High Command about us and are coming to talk to us sometime this morning” Sanjuro elaborated, though he knew full well that was not what Kura was thinking about.
	“Their Commander is a weak piece of fluff” Kura commented. Sanjuro and Kathryn both ignored her, well understanding her certain prejudices. Sanjuro approached Toshiro and tapped him on the shoulder, he awoke much more easily than Sanjuro or Kura.
	“Morning brother” he greeted them.
	“Morning Toshiro” Kathryn's voice came in, “do you know about the Home Guard?”
	“What about them?” Toshiro asked confused.
	“A U.C.A. search team from the Home Guard found us last night. Kura and I managed to negotiate it so that they will not tell High Command about us and are coming to talk to us sometime this morning. You and everyone else were not awoken” Sanjuro replied, repeating almost exactly what he told Kathryn a little while earlier.
	“Well, that makes our immediate course of action much clearer” Samantha commented, opening her eyes, “we just wait for them to come.” Toshiro leaned down and kissed her, a practising romantic against his more isolated, loner past. “And good morning to you” she said smiling. Kura was getting her squad awoken, except for the injured - they could sleep for as long as they wanted, good courtesy after all. The Fallen Commander had also just gotten up and before long everyone was standing, or at least sitting, and relatively alert.
	“Alright, after we get some food into our troops it is time for this morning's squad inspection of the local area” Kura replied. Another busy day had begun, hopefully Ryo would be down by sundown. The crick in Sanjuro's neck certainly did not make him want to spend another night away from his nice warm bed, and the soothing feeling of soft hair on either side of him.

	Kura had once again left the managing of her squad's expedition to Cara, who understandably was a lot more alert at the moment. Sanjuro and Kura were still tired, but by now they had rested themselves to the point of semi-functionality. Toshiro wondered how long the Home Guards' intrusion must have been, given how tired Kura and Sanjuro seemed to be compared to the others. It was then that Isabelle and her soldiers approached.
	“Admiral?” she called out, poking her head out into the clearing from behind a tree trunk. This was the first time either Sanjuro or Kura had a good look at her in the light. She was short and slender, almost petite, with red hair that was not long but still managed to always move itself over her face, causing her to keep one hand free to move it out of the way. Kura was not impressed. Isabelle and a few of her team, she had not brought them all, approached, trying to look as formal as possible. Isabelle came up to Sanjuro and saluted, trying to impress Kura no doubt.
	“What is it you want to talk about sir?” she asked, looking around, “Wait, where are the rest of your men? I seem to remember there were more of you last night.”
	“They are out searching the surrounding area for threats” Kura replied, “I would have thought a scouting Commander would be able to see that.” Again with the hostility from her. Isabelle tried her best to ignore her, not easy given her innate sensitivity.
	“First we need to answer the question of loyalty” Sanjuro began, “in a time of crisis who would you trust? An Admiral who you are serving with personally at this moment, or a supposed High Commander who you have no idea who he really is?” Isabelle frowned, thinking it over.
	“I don't know, I am supposed to follow what High Command says...” she stated, still unsure of what her answer would and should be. Kura interrupted her.
	“What if High Command were to be infiltrated? Then you would be serving an enemy combatant. There are times when you need to respond only to local, immediate authority, like the Admiral here” she lectured. Isabelle's frown grew longer, and her bangs covered her eyes again.
	“Well...” she said, struggling, “I guess I would follow the Admiral's orders, if High Command wanted something they would order him to do it and not me.”
	“Very good, so I can trust you then?” Sanjuro asked. Isabelle nodded, and then removed the hair from over her eyes again.
	“You should really get a hair cut” Kura noted, Isabelle twitched. Sanjuro leaned forward and whispered into Isabelle's ear reassuringly.
	“Don't mind Kura” he told her, “you just need to earn her respect, don't worry.” Isabelle smiled, surprised at this sudden betrayal of his confidant.
	“What did you say to her?” Kura glared at him.
	“Nothing” Sanjuro replied, and Isabelle nodded innocently. Kura continued to glare.
	“Trust me about what?” Isabelle asked suddenly, remembering again the very reason she was here. Sanjuro thought over his phraseology carefully.
	“We have evidence to believe that High Command has been captured. The fleet block was not a technical malfunction as they claim, but an attempt to disorient it away from any reprisal. The anonymous orders to teams on Earth is again an attempt to keep us in the dark until their coup is complete” Sanjuro articulated to her. Isabelle looked dazed, this was big stuff and she was so little.
	“Who's coup?” she asked.
	“Shogo Industries'” Kura replied.
	“What? How?” Isabelle asked, more confused then ever. Kura was even less impressed by this, even though she would be equally baffled had they switched places. Sanjuro raised his hand.
	“That is not what is important right now, I and my team are here to infiltrate High Command and free it from Shogo. However, we have already suffered losses at Shogo's hands, on the mission to a nearby factory from which we got these M.C.A.s. We need help, which we ask you to provide, Commander?” Sanjuro directed at her. Isabelle deliberately did not move her hair out of her face this time around. An Admiral or anyone higher up had never asked her for help before, so she did not know how to respond and did not want that shown through her darting eyes.
	“Of... course” she agreed eventually, “what do you need?”
	“We have some wounded” Sanjuro informed her, gesturing to the men still asleep, “do you have any medical facilities?” Isabelle nodded.
	“He's only a team medic, but he knows first-aid and the like” Isabelle explained. She turned around, “Edward, we need you!” A man came out and approached her.
	“Yes Isabelle?” he asked. Kura was never big on formality, but being on first-name basis with one's Commander seemed a bit too sloppy even for her tastes.
	“They have wounded, they want you to have a look at them” she told him, and the medic set off to attend. “Anything else? We can take them back to base if you want” she said to Sanjuro.
	“If necessary. Meanwhile, don't breathe a word to High Command that we are here” Sanjuro expressed. Kura walked a few steps forward.
	“Remember, if you betray us, we'll come after you!” she threatened her, enjoying herself. Isabelle looked at her wide eyed, not knowing Kura well enough to know it was mostly a joke.
	“I won't betray you” she promised, genuinely scared, “honest.” Sanjuro gave Kura a knowing look. Kura rolled her eyes and went back to waiting for her squad to return.
	“Is your facility ever inspected?” Sanjuro asked.
	“No, well not very often” Isabelle informed him, “why do you ask?”
	“In that case, we'll move there as a new base of operations” Sanjuro told her, Isabelle nodded. It was then that the Fallen and U.C.A. squads returned. Sanjuro approached them.
	“Alright, Commander Whitmore has granted us access to her nearby scout base, we shall now move out there and set up camp. It is probably better than staying in a clearing” Sanjuro replied. The squads turned and started to follow Isabelle's team through the woods, a bit annoyed at the extra walking. Samantha, Toshiro and Baku stayed with the medic and assisted him in moving the wounded.

	Sanjuro and Kura walked side-by-side through the woods, separated a distance little ahead from the rest, Sanjuro wanted to give Kura a little talk. “Kura...” he began.
	“Yeah?” Kura replied, knowing what that tone meant.
	“You've been a bit cross with Commander Whitmore, you know that?” he told her. Kura sighed, not wanting to get into an argument with him on a morning like this.
	“She's slush, we need adults here, not little girls” she replied.
	“I agree that she is inexperienced and even a little slow, but you're just intimidating her” Sanjuro countered her, “and that's not going to help her become any better of a soldier.” Kura glared at him. “I'm serious” he said, “talk to her.” Kura sighed.
	“What do you want me to say?” she asked sharply.
	“Just tell her that you understand that she has never done this before and that you appreciate that she is doing her best” Sanjuro responded, “she's at least quick enough to have already noticed your general attitude towards her.”
	“Why should I?” she replied bitterly. Sanjuro looked into her eyes, a cold level stare.
	“Oh all right, all right!” she moaned resignedly.
	“Good girl” Sanjuro said, kissing her. “Besides” Sanjuro noted, “you said you wanted me to know that you too could be kind and nice.” For that, Kura smiled at him.

	“They have now settled into their U.C.A. patrol camp” Kathryn explained, debriefing the ship's acting commander. Nathaniel asked the predictable question.
	“Are we sure that we can trust them not to tell High Command?”
	“Well, like a lot of the Home Guard they are young and naive” Kathryn mused, “I'm sure that Sanjuro can keep them under his control. Commander Whitmore does not sound like someone who would have the guts to betray us.”
	“Well, in the end I guess it is a a stroke of luck, hopefully it will make up for what happened at the factory” Nathaniel replied, thinking it all over.
	“I should get back to communications” Kathryn said, heading for the door.

	Sanjuro, Kura, and Toshiro started to look Isabelle's base over. The base was small, hardly the preferable place to store their mass of troops, even with their casualties. However, there was no reason to be disappointed, it was far better than staying in a clearing in the woods. That had been one thing the defense grid gunners had managed to impose on them – a lack of supplies. Just as they could not have brought M.C.A.s, they could not have brought tents, medical equipment, or a number of other items preferably brought on missions of such a grand scale. They had only brought their weapons, some ammunition, and enough food and drink to only last two or three days at most. Whitmore's base was a godsend, particularly for the wounded.
	Better yet was the information on the base's computers, detailed maps of the area, something the Leviathan was blocked from accessing because of Ryo's imposed firewall that cut them off from the U.CA.'s internal database. Kathryn had received the information and her and others were studying it for their advantage. It was more detailed information than just that High Command was in a given general area and the Armacham factory was in another given area. Anything that could prevent them from walking into another trick or trap was a comfort to Sanjuro.
	“Admiral?” Isabelle asked, distracting Sanjuro from his thinking over of the situation.
	“Yes Commander?” he asked. Isabelle shuddered before saying her next words.
	“You will be glad to know that our medic is keeping your wounded in good care, I would just like to say...” she said, before trailing off.
	“Well?” Kura asked impatiently, which in the end only delayed her answer.
	“It was our sensors that alerted Shogo you were there, we told High Command about the air traffic, it was us who lead your men to harm. We're sorry” she stated repentantly.
	“I had figured it was your sensors” Sanjuro replied, “but how were you to know what was going on, at any rate, those senors are working for us now.” Isabelle still looked guilty.
	“Had I been a better Commander I would have known better than to report that to High Command when they were acting so strange” she berated herself.
	“And let a potentially lethal craft land things onto Earth?” Kura replied, in the end it was the same point Sanjuro was going to make, only he would have done it much more gently.
	“I know, I know, I can't do anything right...” Isabelle despaired, leaving the room. Kura looked genuinely surprised that she reacted like that. 
	“Had I been her, I wouldn't have cared what the Commander said” she noted confused.
	“She respects you, that's why she acts like that” Sanjuro replied, “remember your promise?” Kura looked scathingly back at him, although also upset that she had reacted like that.
	“Yeah, yeah” Kura replied tersely, leaving the room.
	Once Kura had left, Sanjuro walked up to Toshiro, who was staring rather intently at what appeared to Sanjuro to be a blank piece of wall. “Toshiro?” he asked, but his brother did not respond. Sanjuro repeated it again, no response. Sanjuro waved his hand in front of his eyes, no response.
	“He's talking to Cothineal” Samantha told him, walking in, “you won't get an answer.”
	“What's he telling her then?” Sanjuro asked.	
	“What happened at the factory I guess” Samantha shrugged, “and about your Commander friend. Cothineal likes to be kept informed, especially when her dear Ambassador is involved.”
	“That was something I have wondered about” Sanjuro mused out loud, “what is it about Toshiro that makes him the one Cothineal wants?”
	“Apparently he has a special mind” Samantha informed him.
	“I can believe that” Sanjuro noted, “but special in what way exactly?”
	“Toshiro doesn't usually talk to me about it, though I assume he has told me more than anyone else, he is rather private with Cothineal almost as if she is...”
	“The other woman?” Sanjuro ask perceptively.
	“Kind of, the two are linked in a way I can't understand. He is Cothineal's champion and she in return gave him inner strength” Samantha replied.
	“What has he told you about his 'special mind'?” Sanjuro asked.
	“He told me that his mind is rare, one strong enough in a given way to stand Cothineal's presence. Ivan Isaravich was similar” she said.
	“But he was a power mad tyrant” Sanjuro replied, “why did Cothineal keep him?” 
	“Isaravich was not always that way, he was once an environmentalist out to lessen kato mining, he figured that it would run out if it continued to be mined at the same rate. It was this that led Cothineal to take him up, however power can tend to change people. He became too ruthless. Cothineal couldn't kick him out or the Fallen would collapse, besides where else would she find someone with that sort of mind? Then she found Toshiro after you took Isaravich out” Samantha continued.
	“Interesting” Sanjuro replied, listening intently.
	“I myself joined the Fallen during that period, what else was a street girl from Maritropa to do? You know how class-based things were there. The cause was right, I remember thinking. Oh, the feeling after my first terrorist attack, striking out against those injuring our master!” Samantha replied, “I am so glad they're all gone, I'm glad we made them pay!” Sanjuro looked at her startled as she continued to ramble, however just as suddenly she snapped out of it.
	“Sorry” she said, “the hold still has strengths, I am still loyal to Cothineal of course, but I am glad that I am not that controlled anymore. Though in a way I should be glad, because it is that experience which connects Toshiro to me.” Sanjuro realized something just then.
	“You know, that little outburst of fervour kind of explains the way things were when we first met those few dozen times” he commented to her. Samantha grimaced.
	“Yeah, I guess... you were an enemy” she said, uncomfortably. Sanjuro continued to think.
	“I guess I shouldn't be so shocked that Ryo made it out alive” he considered, “remember all those times I 'killed' you?” Samantha nodded at him.
	“I do, I was always good at slinking away, its how I survived and took care of my family back in the day. I took what we needed, and got out of there. I am still good at it” she proclaimed.
	“If Toshiro's mind is so strong, how come Cothineal could take hold of it I wonder?” Sanjuro noted, thinking it over some more.
	“Remember what I said about her giving him inner strength, it all ties into that. He is a very deep intelligent man, but he had demons” she said to him.
	“He always was more sensitive about our parent's death” Sanjuro agreed.
	“There's more, but I don't know what you would think of it” Samantha replied.
	“What then?” Sanjuro asked. Samantha sighed.
	“He was deeply jealous of you, how everyone liked you so much, how Kura loved you, he knew Kathryn also adored you. He was jealous of your life, it was insecurities like that that opened him up for Cothineal to control. In a similar way that Baku's meekness allowed him to be brought along, Kura was left to die because of her inner strength, fuelled by her determination and loyalty to you. I think it was also to make you pay for you taking out Isaravich.” Sanjuro looked surprised about the depth of information she was telling him.
	“I thought he didn't talk to you about this much?” he asked.
	“Well, he does love me and I love him, and I understand what it is like to be controlled by her, and you don't expect Toshiro to be with a girl who is completely imperceptive and daft do you?” she replied, “There are some things I am capable of picking up on on my own.”
	“Are you two talking about me?” Toshiro asked, his gaze turning away to look at them. Samantha walked up and kissed him.
	“Back in the land of the living?” Sanjuro inquired.
	“Quite” Toshiro replied, “Cothineal and I discussed the situation in detail.”
	“And she says?” Samantha asked.
	“Sadly she has no shining plan to get us out of this” Toshiro replied, “we are just going to have to wait and prepare to attack High Command.” It was then the clock tolled 11:30 AM. Samantha looked at the time piece, realizing something.
	“Sorry, I have to go, I'm going to help in the mess hall, it seems someone told them about my cooking experiments” she informed them.
	“Its a shame Kathryn isn't down here, she's also been getting quite good at it” Sanjuro responded, a bit disturbed by how easily he could switch between talking tactics to talking lunch.
	“Good for her” Samantha noted, before walking out the door. Toshiro turned to his brother.
	“What was she telling you then?” he asked inquisitively.
	“Well...” Sanjuro began, “she was just telling me more about what happened to you down on Cronus, I still don't really know, having been on the Leviathan and all.”
	“I too sometimes wish I knew more about what happened with you and Kathryn, or what happened with Kura during that time” Toshiro noted, “you're curiosity is understandable.” Sanjuro nodded and started walking out. Toshiro was never one to be so inquisitive about his idle conversation, it seems he is a bit secretive about himself and Cothineal, then again, to quote him, after what happened it was “understandable.”

	Bang! Bang! Bang! The blasting of bullets and the falling of brass shell casings echoed around the small shooting range. All misses. Isabelle swore. She had to get more soldierly, she had too. This was big stuff she was dealing with: coups, and Admirals, and Commanders and Fallen. She realized that this was her big test, it was here to probe whether or not she was truly capable of being a U.C.A. Commander. Though she knew that it is more the looks that Kura had given her. Isabelle had always just wanted someone to tell her that she was doing well. She had always just done good enough, or so she had always thought.
	She even only became a Commander because she was voted it by her fellow platoon mates, rather than because she had exhibited any obvious skills. She had joined the U.C.A. because she had wanted to make something of her life. Now she was in the middle of a situation she felt she had little or no control over. To make matters worse, she was being scorned by a famous Akkaraju no less! She reloaded her clip and prepared to fire at the target again. Bang! Miss! Bang! Miss! Bang! She had closed her eyes this time to try and contain her disappointment. When she opened though, her eyes widened. She had actually hit the target! It was a mere scrape sure, but it was something.
	Isabelle grabbed for one more clip. This time she took steady aim, utilizing a new found confidence. Bang! Dead centre. Isabelle could not help but fall to her knees and cheer. Maybe she was not a good-for-nothing after all, maybe, just maybe, she could convince Commander Akkaraju that she could be of some help. She holstered her pistol to her hip and walked out of the range with a grin.

	The atmosphere was unusually bright at the camp, it was a little crowded but everyone was happy to be out of the clearing. Everyone had made themselves at home. Isabelle's squad on the other hand was having a little trouble adapting to the influx of troops. Their Commander herself sat away from the others in a corner, thinking things over. This might be the most important event ever in her short career, she just hoped that she was up to the challenge. Kura noticed her, and decided to get Sanjuro's orders over and done with. She walked up to her.
	“How are you holding up kid?” she asked. Isabelle looked up.
	“Fine” she replied quietly. An awkward silence fell. “Look” Isabelle said, “I know you don't like me, you don't have to pretend to.” Kura looked at her.
	“I don't hate you” she told her.
	“Oh really?” Isabelle commented, “Then why do you keep barking at me?”
	“Because you need a little structure” Kura replied, “I'm only trying to help you become more of a soldier.” Isabelle blinked at her.
	“Really? You don't hate me?” she asked, surprised.
	“No” Kura replied, to her own surprise she realized that she was not lying, “it's just that if you were on my squad you would seem amazingly sloppy.”
	“I know” Isabelle nodded, “but you were hardened out in space. I only became a Commander since I was elected it from my class. We all went to the Academy at the same time.”
	“Well, they were desperate to get some troops they can have on Earth” Kura noted.
	“I only think I got the job since I was okay at leading search teams” Isabelle continued, “and I guess people liked me. I'm not that good at being a Commander I think.”
	“Do your men listen to you?” Kura asked.
	“I guess” Isabelle shrugged, “but I'm not very good at figuring out what to say to them.”
	“I was always good at commanding and soldiering” Kura replied, “it was the exams I was bad at.” Isabelle chuckled.
	“Really?” she asked.
	“My sister was always the brainy one” Kura continued. A stray thought came to Isabelle.
	“I couldn't help but notice that you and the Admiral were together last night” Isabelle said, “but I heard that he was with your sister” she asked. It was then that Kura realized how odd her situation might seem to other people, some might even think it was inappropriate. Not that good given that it seemed that Sanjuro was now famously known as the Sanjuro. She had never even considered how much they had all fallen into the public spotlight in the aftermath of Cronus, though she had grown up with a father who at least had made a name for himself in military circles.
	“He's with us both” she told her quietly, “it's kind of complicated.” To her surprise Isabelle only seemed curious. “He's really sweet” Kura continued, “we were together, but then I had to go undercover and report that I was dead. Then he hooked up with Kathryn, and after I came back he... well... he loved her too much to separate. So we kind of have to share, I know it sounds odd, but he just loves us too much. And I still love him.”
	“I'm sure he does” Isabelle replied, “I don't think it's wrong.” Kura smiled at her.
	“What about you, have anyone special?” she asked, making conversation.
	“There is this guy I like” Isabelle admitted, “he's on my team. He is someone I think you would like to have on your team. He's really capable and durable, he was raised out in one of the few untamed places left you see. Hardened in the wilderness.” Kura nodded. “Sadly I don't know if he likes me in that way” she continued.
	Kura thought that over, it was a problem she had never faced. Sanjuro and herself had almost been destined for each other, having clicked since they were children. Then she thought of Kathryn's letter which had explained to Sanjuro her feelings, and she understood.
	“You should just tell him” Kura replied, “what's the worst he could say? What's the best he could say? Besides, if he does give you the cold shoulder, reprimand him!” Isabelle chuckled again.
	“You're not such a nasty person after all” she grinned. Kura smiled, there was promise in this youth, still would that be enough in the heat of battle? Even if she was not such a bad person to talk to, would she and her squad be able to handle Ryo? Kura was still skeptical, but maybe, with some help she would. She would try and provide just that help.

	Toshiro, Baku, Sanjuro, Kura, Samantha and Isabelle all sat around inthe conference room of Isabelle's patrol base. Kathryn and Nathaniel were both being projected on a wall screen from where they were stationed on the Leviathan. Given the mixed results of the last assault, they were planning their next move very carefully. They had lost a noticeable amount of troops during the assault on the Armacham factory, but they now had Isabelle’s troops as backup. Even with their inexperience, it was something to fall back on. Still, the original plan of using the captured M.C.A.s to launch a full out assault on High Command was seeming a little hard to fathom now. Sanjuro was making it quite clear he did not want to send men in unless they had some secret advantage to tip the scales against Ryo.
	“With respect Commander, there is an advantage other then backup that I can give you” Isabelle mentioned suddenly, brightening with the realization that she might actually have a useful idea to tell them. This confidence was tested however, when everyone suddenly turned to face her.
	“And that is?” Toshiro asked. Isabelle blushed, but persevered.
	“Well, Shogo does not know that you have linked up with us. That means they should not suspect us immediately” Isabelle continued.
	“Well, that is as may be, but what are you planning?” Sanjuro inquired.
	“A proper infiltration sir, we get into High Command claiming we were ordered there and somehow cause a distraction before you show up” Isabelle replied.
	“Ryo isn’t stupid” Kura remarked, “you would need more then words to convince his guards that you were supposed to be there. You would need written and signed statements of clearance.” Sanjuro had been too busy paying attention to Kura and Isabelle to notice that Kathryn had began typing on her console. Her light voice crackled through the wall speakers.
	“I don’t think that should be a problem” she replied, sort of smugly, as she grabbed the print-out and showed a perfect clearance sheet with official seal.
	“How did you pull that one off, my little forger?” Kura replied.
	“One part cracking and one part imitation from someone’s memory” Kathryn replied, glancing at her father. He nodded back at her approvingly.
	“It should be at least good enough to trick whatever U.C.A. guards are at the front doors of High Command” Nathaniel noted, “even if it would not pass muster at a court marital.”
	“Well Commander Whitmore” Sanjuro interjected, “it looks like we are going to go with your little plan. Only one thing remains, who are you going to send?”
	“Who else but myself sir? Well, that and and my Lieutenant” she told them, giving Kura a little wink. “Ah, that Lieutenant” Kura thought, “just try and not follow through on my advice when you should be watching your back...” Isabelle seemed to detect Kura’s uneasiness and immediately retracted her stare. She still did not fully understand Commander Akkaraju she realized.
	“We should probably finish our mission planning and get moving” Toshiro said, “or else we might just lose our advantage.”
	“Agreed” Nathaniel declared, before getting back down to business, “now a little trick that always seemed to work well with me was...”

	Sanjuro and Toshiro stood together and watched as Baku, Kura and Isabelle briefed the Fallen, Leviathan and Home Guard squads on their missions and obligations. It seemed strange how their lives had placed them both in positions of such high authority. At school they had all been equals, but not technically so anymore. Toshiro found himself in charge of Baku, while Sanjuro was in charge of Kura and Kathryn. Even more stupefying was Nathaniel Akkaraju being Sanjuro’s subordinate.
	It is just a damn good thing that life does not have to imitate army bureaucracy. Sanjuro tried to imagine the response he would get if he gave Kura an unpalatable direct order. The Generals that had promoted him Admiral in charge of a fleet ship were truly insane, he decided. Truth be told he was glad he did not consider Kura to be his junior. He was still feeling quite shaken by his fears of leading his men into a trap. At least he could feel he could rely on Kura to help keep trouble away.
	Meanwhile, Isabelle was instructing her troops as smartly and with as much charisma as she could. She had used up much of her bravado just by suggesting her plan to a room filled with people far more experienced than she. The euphoria she had again acquired by them accepting her plan had soon subsided again to fear and doubt. She knew she had to accomplish this mission herself, no less because otherwise she would feel worse risking one of her squad mates, but also to finally and fully prove herself to Kura. She had already taken her up as a mentor figure.
	Indeed it was how she would deal with the prospect of failure that scared her more than the actual risks of being found out about and being captured by Ryo and his subverted forces of her former comrades. If she could get this done she would be a hero, imagine! She might even get a medal from some of the High Commanders she helped rescue! Unfortunately, that thought had the opposite of a motivational effect. It made her fear screwing up all the more. All well, at least she would have Richard with her...

	Isabelle did not have a long time to work herself up in however and before she knew it, her and her Lieutenant were preparing for the mission. Isabelle in fact was fine with this, she just wanted this job to be over with. She did not want to wait and get more and more fearful of what she was about to do. This was the first time since her and her squad’s little skirmish with those convicts, she realized, that she really would have to think on her feet. Checking up on things or scouting around do not require much ingenuity and by in large any unresolved issues can be dealt with by looking things up in the regulations book she always kept with her.
	There was nothing in there, she knew, about infiltrating and disrupting High Command. She still had not figured out how exactly she was going to distract Ryo’s troops while Sanjuro and the rest began their assault on one side, with the Leviathan attacking Ryo’s defense grids in an attempt to cause a distracting two fronts. She looked over at Richard, who she knew well enough was probably just as nervous, he just did not show it. She wished she could be more like him, little did she know that her meekness was going to come in useful.
	“What’s your position?” Kathryn’s voice called into Isabelle’s radio. She was not used to being guided and informed through an earpiece, and so her voice startled the young Commander.
	“It shouldn’t be too long now Lieutenant Commander” Isabelle replied, again not being able to hide the nervousness in her voice. Isabelle noticed a slight pause before Kathryn replied.
	“Don’t worry, I don’t see why there should be any problem with this part of the operation” she said to her, trying her best to cheer up her nervous charge.
	“I hope your right ma'am” Isabelle replied, “I hope your right...”

Part Five: Infiltration and Counterattack

	A pair of U.C.A guards stood in front of the door looking around. The job had to be one of the most mundane and boredom-filled in all of the United Corporate Authority Security Force. There had not been an armed conflict on this patch of Earth for nearly thirty years. All forces, corporate, military or political had been far to focused on ventures on other planets to care to run many operations here on the home planet. Not to mention High Command had been put out of the way for the purpose of security, rather than right in the middle of a major city; as opposed to the various corporate headquarters of the U.C.A. which were lavishly ostentatious in the middle of New York, Moscow and Tokyo. One of the guards grabbed the edge of the wall and started idly tapping at it with irritation. In the past they had been allowed to read or at least talk, but an order the day before had come in, conspicuously only in text form, demanding all their attention must be directed on the the nearby forests. It was then that two figures came out down the road and started walking towards them.
	“Okay, we’re there” Isabelle whispered into her microphone.
	“Understood, good luck” Kathryn replied. Isabelle and Richard, trying to look as nonchalant as possible, approached the entrance to High Command.
	“Hello” Isabelle introduced herself nervously.
	“Identify your name, rank and purpose” the guard requested lethargically.
	“Whitmore, Isabelle, Home Guard Commander, I was ordered in for a briefing sir” Isabelle replied, remembering her instructions from Kura.
	“Hargreaves, Richard, Home Guard Lieutenant, accompanying the Commander” her Lieutenant pitched in. The guard eyes the two of them dubiously, if for no other reason than to give him something at all to focus on. At that moment, officiousness seemed very attractive to him.
	“I’m afraid I’ll have to get some confirmation of that” the guard told them, “whilst repairs are being made after the recent mechanical glitch, paper authorization has been made necessary to enter.” Isabelle gulped in a breath of air, before reaching into her bag and pulling out the two forged order sheets that Kathryn had sent down from the Leviathan to her base. The guard scrutinized them a bit longer than Isabelle would have liked. In fact, by the end of it she could not help but notice that her left foot was starting to acquire a nervous twitch. Finally the guard lowered the authorization papers from his field of vision and waved them through.
	“Your template is a bit out of date Commander” he said, “check up on that when you get back to your base.” Isabelle nodded, before quietly thanking the guard for his cooperation. She and her Lieutenant then opened the doors and entered High Command. Stage one accomplished.

	A great flurry of activity was taking place inside the Home Guard base as the Fallen, Leviathan and Home Guard squadrons were preparing themselves for the final assault on High Command. Sanjuro meanwhile paced around impatiently as Kura watched somewhat amused.
	“You’re never usually this edgy” she commented.
	“Well, given the success of our last move I have a right” Sanjuro replied somewhat tersely. The smile was wiped from Kura’s face. She eyed him studiously.
	“That is still bothering you then?” she asked.
	“Afraid so” Sanjuro replied simply.
	“Don’t worry, Ryo can’t have any tricks at High Command” Kura replied, “in basics we are going to attempt to flush the gopher out of his hole.” Kura was pleased to see that Sanjuro cracked a small smirk at the Ryo as a small tunnelling mammal imagery. Toshiro walked up to the pair.
	“The Fallen are ready, we just need to wait for Commander Whitmore’s signal” he said.
	“We’ll have to play this one carefully Toshiro” Sanjuro replied, “your forces need to come in after mine and the Home Guard. We don’t want confused U.C.A. forces to think this is some kind of amazingly orchestrated Fallen sneak attack.” Toshiro nodded, agreeing.
	“Just one thing” he added, “I am coming with you.” Sanjuro and Kura exchanged glances.
	“Isn’t that a bit risky? If something happens to you Cronus could descend into chaos” Kura asked, thinking about the ever-present threat of a C.M.C. revival or worse.
	“Look what happened when I stayed behind! No, all our forces are going to strike at High Command. Imagine what would happen to Coth and Earth if Ryo won? I am still a human and care about my species’ home” Toshiro responded. Sanjuro caught a glance of Samantha among the crowd of Fallen soldiers, and noticed that she seemed more worried than even he was. Well, there was nothing else to be said. It was time to end this.
	“Alright men!” Sanjuro called above the chatter of the crowd, which then fell silent. “Is everyone ready to go?” he continued, silence replied. That was good. “Okay then. It is time to move out to our positions and wait in the forests while we watch out for the signal to attack. Let’s move out.” Sanjuro still had his guilt and his fear, but if Toshiro was willing to go all out, he was too.

	High Command was eerily quiet as Isabelle and her Lieutenant walked down the corridors. One or two U.C.A. soldiers and several working civilians walked past them, never speaking or making eye contact with each other. All in all this was somewhat comforting, no one wanted to check their credentials and reason for being there again. They were just two more soldiers confused and wondering what had been going on for the past little while. Finally easing her mind out of a primal sense of watching out for any predator that might be hiding behind any nearby bush, Isabelle realized that she now had to come up with an idea to cause a distraction. She gestured for Richard to accompany her and the two sat down in a secluded corner.
	“We need to get that distraction going, any suggestions?” she requested. Her companion thought the problem over for a few seconds before replying.
	“Let’s first think, what exactly are we trying to accomplish?” he replied. Isabelle was a little confused by the statement but went along with it.
	“Well, we want to get all or many of the troops and people here to a certain area away from where the Admiral is going to launch his attack” Isabelle considered.
	“This is a pretty big building, we could try and just get them to go out to the other side of the building while the Admiral’s forces come in from the other side” Richard replied, “that could be easier than, say, trying to crack or interfere with the systems here.” Once again Isabelle was dumbfounded but reassured by her squad mate's strange air of competence.
	“Alright, but what would we create to get them outside?” she asked. Her companion turned back towards her again and smiled.
	“Ever light a grass fire?” he asked. Isabelle shook her head. “No? Well, it can be pretty distracting.” Arson? It sounded easy enough. Just start a forest fire.
	“Sounds like a plan, we just need to get some starter fuel” she agreed, getting her hair out of place when she nodded.
	“There should be something adequate in one of the M.C.A. refuelling stations” Richard replied. Isabelle stood up.
	“Let’s get this over with” she said as the two set off.

	In Sanjuro’s mind there was nothing more liberating then being in the helm of an M.C.A. The view these machines always provided him he always found simply breathtaking, even after all these years. If the army was his home, then an M.C.A. was his bedroom – it was where he felt the most at home. Sanjuro had heard much psycho-babble from his brother over the years, who had become quite the amateur Sigmund Freud from his own personal quest to get over the horrible memory of their parents’ deaths. He had suggested that he and to a certain extent Sanjuro suffered from what he described as a complex mandating the need for control.
	He augured that since their parents had died early in life, it had left them feeling helpless, homeless and alone. To counter this they had developed a stronger internal self that set out to make a home and give a sense of stability wherever they went. Furthermore, having been taking in by the U.C.A.S.F. had only compounded this through military rigmarole. This need to be in control however had manifested itself differently between the two of them. Toshiro was the controlling introvert, whose most important function was to be in control of one’s self and to understand the world around him.
	Sanjuro on the other hand became an controlling extrovert who rarely was much concerned about himself, at least outside of his own sub-conscious, and was more concerned with those around him and the state of the world and what he could do about it. That is why he got on so well with others, Toshiro postulated, as he focused on setting everyone and everything around him straight. This meant that he was tended to be kind and fair and put to rights arguments as an arbiter. Considering the personality conflicts between Kura and Kathryn, and how he dealt with that, or even his original kindness to the bullied Baku, the description seemed to fit.
	This applied just as well to how the two viewed piloting their Mobile Combat Armour. Toshiro once said that the attraction was the armour itself, the sense of safety and comfort that it afforded – even in the height of combat. Sanjuro on the other hand saw the machines as tools – something he could use to set the world right. When Sanjuro was in the cockpit, he was in control and those out to disturb his peace would meet their end in a fit of great mechanical fury. Sanjuro’s present peace of thought however was not to last. His earpieces suddenly blasted the voice of Kura into his ears. He had been getting too far away from himself again, behaving too much like Toshiro.
	“Hey, stop! Don’t go too far ahead or we will be spotted!” she screeched. Sanjuro put his hand off the accelerator joystick, confused.
	“What?” he said, before actually looking around at his surroundings.
	“We are back here” Kura hissed back. Sanjuro saw that the others had already set down a few paces behind him, behind a patch of convenient tree and bush cover. Sanjuro in his daze had just kept on walking until Kura had finally assumed that he was not paying proper attention. Good thing too, Sanjuro realized, looking up and seeing the towering structure of High Command in the none too far distance. As quietly as he could with the hydraulic mechanical limbs of his device, he slunk back and set the thing down with the others. Just then, the on-foot soldiers caught up to the Commanders in M.C.A s who were always about five mechanical strides ahead of them.
	“What now?” Baku’s voice came in through the collective comm system.
	“Quite simple my friend” said Toshiro, “until the signal arrives we play the waiting game.”

	“Warning Fire Hazard.”
	“Do Not Use Matches or Lighters.”
	“Unauthorized Fuel Access is Restricted.”
	“It goes boom and is very nasty” Isabelle thought, parodying the array of warning signs and labels she and her companion had just encountered outside of the primary fuel storage depot. The centralized system of fuel storage was a crux she did not want to bear, but she knew she had no choice. The weather may be warm and dry but these living trees would not catch on fire on their own. Sadly though it was hardly a matter of sneaking into a storage closet, taking a gas can, and sneaking off outside – not in High Command. The risk of terrorism was too great to just leave fuel lying about.
	Instead it had all been brought here: inside a medium sized structure of blast proof reinforced concrete. If the giant tanks of fuel were to blow, they might topple the building, but High Command would be untouched. How then do you get out just a small amount without being noticed then? It seemed that they were simply running under the assumption that no one would notice two troopers walking in, grabbing a jerrycan and heading out to the bush. They had been lucky enough to have gotten in here, it seems someone had just left the place unattended.
	“For how long?” Isabelle wondered. However, seeing no other choice, she proceed to command her Lieutenant to grab the can whilst she rushed back to the doorway to check for guards. Seeing no one outside of the entrance, she gestured for Richard to follow her, with his progress slightly slowed by the weight of the full can of petrol. They turned a corner and rushed behind the fuel depot. Focusing on her own progress to safety, she had not noticed the U.C.A. trooper patrolling behind them.
	“Wait a second!” the female trooper exclaimed as she ran up to them, “Just what do you think you are doing slinking around with fuel?” Isabelle started to involuntarily shake.
	“Umm” she started, but was interrupted by her companion.
	“We were ordered to bring some fuel out to the M.C.A. dock. Given the recent communications trouble, the base Admiral wanted them to be fully fuelled in case someone attempted to take advantage.” The trooper seemed unconvinced.
	“You don’t look like your just doing something routine” she said, “and by the way, the dock is that way!” She pointed in the direction of a long concrete outcrop of the main facility. Isabelle decided that it was up to her as Commander to try and turn this dangerous situation around.
	“We heard a noise in the bush!” she squeaked out, “We wanted to make sure there was no one there who shouldn’t be.” The trooper looked over Isabelle for a moment.
	“What’s your name soldier?” she asked.
	“Umm, Marcia Blanc, U.C.A.S.F. Lieutenant” Isabelle said uncomfortably, using the secondary pseudonym they had decided. In this case better than actually using her real name, given a Home Guard suddenly engaged in facility operations might seem a little out of the ordinary. Her real name was a good ruse to get in, given its greater authenticity, but not so good now – partly because she did not want to endanger her subordinates back with the others. If she had just been denied entry, that would not have put the others at risk. Unlike now.
	“Very funny, your pips read Commander” the trooper frowned, rolling her eyes. Isabelle was stunned - for all the effort Sanjuro and his entourage had put into giving her false papers and a pseudonym, she had forgotten to tweak her uniform once she had gotten in! Isabelle felt the blood rushing up to her cheeks.
	“Oh, yes. Sorry. Only got promoted two weeks ago. Haven’t gotten quite used to it. Haven’t even updated my papers yet. Look” she offered, fishing up the fabrications Kathryn had produced for her. The trooper read the papers and then looked Isabelle over again.
	“Alright ‘Commander’, I won’t delay you any longer. Though word to the wise, smarten up and stop nervously slinking around if you want to succeed around here. This isn’t some small base camp you know!” the trooper told her, with Isabelle feeling more uncomfortable by the minute. “Still I hardly doubt someone like you would be up to no good.” She then turned away and returned to the main facility, no end to the conversation provided. She hardly saw the point of doing so.
	“Good job Commander!” Richard exclaimed, genuinely impressed, “I could never think on my feet like that!” His praise was interrupted by her suddenly fainting into his arms. He sat down and proceeded to try and reawaken her. “I guess that trooper was a little rude to her...” he thought to himself, as he continued to fan air before her now paled face.

	Sanjuro flicked another button on his view-screen, and the little player character moved a step across his view-screen. The game “M.C.A. Maze-Man” had become quite popular underground during the Cronian Revolution, when bored or frayed M.C.A. pilots had needed something to distract themselves. Not that Admiral Akkaraju had approved when he had discovered the hacked software on the firmware of Sanjuro’s M.C.A. Now that he was the Admiral however, no one could complain about him attempting to raise himself a new high score during those interminable waits. It was then that a fire blared, visible on his view screen. This was no computer sprite however.
	“Looks like their distraction has finally arrived” Kura commented.
	“Alright, we’ll still have to wait a little to see how many of them are going to come out and deal with it from there – catch them by surprise” Toshiro noted.
	“The fire is growing fast, I’ll give Commander Whitmore one thing – she appears to be able to make a lovely fire” Baku noted.
	“Don’t get yourselves burned” Kathryn commented over the comm.
	“Oh ha ha” Kura replied, evidently not amused.
	“Any sign of Commander Whitmore?” Sanjuro asked. He would not like the answer to that question had someone known what the answer was...

	“Fire! Fire!” Isabelle screamed as she ran through the corridors of High Command. The multitude of troopers and staff she encountered just seemed confused. A Commander turned and approached her, asking the predictable, if in of itself a rather ridiculous, question.
	“What is it?” the man asked.
	“The forest outside! It is on fire!” Isabelle yelled. The man did not seem to understand what she was saying. Isabelle sighed, surprised at just how hard it was to get people around here moving.
	“Look, I’m speaking English. Someone send someone out!” she screeched. The man finally reacted to what she was saying and called into his communicator.
	“Commander Zhukov to Command, there is a fire outside of the building” he stated. Command replied, in a strange distorted sort of voice.
	“Alright, just deal with it. I’m busy” his communicator barked.
	“Don’t you mean ‘we’re’ busy sir?” the man asked.
	“Whatever” came the reply. He turned to look at Isabelle.
	“You and your Lieutenant are with me” he said, “let’s get this fire out and leave High Command to his work.”

	“A fire!” Ryo thought, “what a tiny incidental little problem!” Here he was, plotting his takeover of the entire universe as far as humankind knew it and they were bothering him with a little forest fire?! No wonder so many High Commanders always took such exuberant vacations. This was the sort of thing their underlings would bother them with?! It was just then that he remembered the briefing another one of his ‘underlings’ had given him about fifteen minutes earlier.
	That woman had said something about seeing two soldiers hauling of a can of fuel, but said that she had let them go after she had checked them. Ryo had not given it much thought, after all, as he had been thinking, he was up to something a little more grand then keeping track of cases of petrol. Still, now he realized that he had been something of a fool – he had stuck his mind so far ahead that he had not been focused on his current situation. He needed to hold High Command for now in order to make his coup a success. This especially so with Makabe on his case.
	A loose can of petrol? The perfect means of starting a fire on a day like this. The question then is who would want to start a fire? What would they want to accomplish? It is not as if High Command would burn down would it? A distraction maybe? Yes! That was it. Someone had came into the facility and started a fire to distract the area’s defenses. This must have been Sanjuro’s work! He typed for a second on his computer and searched for the name Marcia Blanc. One came up, but she was in Canada and was the wrong rank and description. Ryo cursed before he sprung into action, having seemingly confirmed his theory, grabbing his communicator.
	“All units, find this ‘Marcia Blanc’ and bring her in for questioning!” he barked, “And put the base on high alert!” Little did he know that he was too late; he would get ‘Marcia Blanc’, but Sanjuro’s troops would already have made it into the building.

	“Oh my god!” a voice screeched down below as the group of soldiers attempting to put out the fire saw the approach of several mecha and their infantry accompaniment.
	“This is Admiral Sanjuro Makabe of the U.C.A.S.F. Leviathan. We request that you stand down immediately. We have no intention of fighting with you. We wish to put this area back under U.C.A. control” Sanjuro announced, the sound blaring through all local comm devices.
	“This is Commander Zhukov, U.C.A.S.F. High Command. What do you mean ‘restore U.C.A. control’? This is about as much U.C.A control as you can get. We have orders to take down any assailant force, no matter what flag they wave. Do you understand?” a man on the ground replied.
	“Stand down. Please, don’t make us have to resort to force” Sanjuro pleaded, “I don’t want anyone to die today!” A pause. A painfully long pause.
	“You should have thought of that before you committed treason!” Zhukov replied, ordering his squad into the forest – ironically now using the fire they had been trying to put out as cover. Kura powered her M.C.A forward and extinguished most of the fire with a single foot-fall. She then leaned her massive pulse cannon down at the assortment of troops.
	“Stand down!” she barked, “Unless you honestly wish me to use this thing!” It was then the rest of the High Command’s security forces arrived, and a chain of machine gun fired struck Kura’s M.C.A. in the back. “I’m hit!” Kura shouted into her radio.
	“Get back Commander” Sanjuro called out, firing at the incoming defenses and giving his Commander and lover some cover.
	“Sanjuro!” Kathryn’s voice came in, “what are you going to do? We can’t take on the entire High Command force!”
	“I’m thinking, I’m thinking!” Sanjuro replied, firing some more. His comrades beside him were doing the same. “Great” Sanjuro thought, looking over the scene, “I never wanted to be a General on a whole damn battlefield!”

	Isabelle yelped as she was forced into a holding cell alongside her Lieutenant. Once her eyes had adapted to the darkness, she realized how lucky she was. They were just about to begin questioning her when Sanjuro had started his attack. Isabelle did not know much about her strength or capabilities, but she doubted she could stand up to aggressive interrogation. She did not fancy herself much as a secret agent. She looked up and saw Richard crawling over into a corner.
	“I guess we’ll just have to wait here until the Admiral gets here” he figured, after seeing that their escorts had left to fight Sanjuro’s forces.
	“If the Admiral does get here” Isabelle noted.
	“I’m thinking that we are better off assuming the positive for now” he replied.
	“I wonder how they knew we started the fire?” she wondered out loud.
	“Someone probably looked into that trooper’s report after the fire started” Richard replied, “it would have been nicer had that not happened.”
	“Oh, I’m sorry” Isabelle said quietly.
	“Hey, we are doing our best here” he noted, “no one is expecting you to be infallible.”
	“Well, maybe I should be” Isabelle commented, “Admiral Makabe and Commander Akkaraju seem to be.” Richard chuckled to himself.
	“You’ve been listening to too many of those Cronian war tales, I’m sure even they have had the occasional slip-up once in a while.”
	“Probably I guess” she shrugged, “but I still hope that Kura won’t look down on me for allowing us to get captured.”
	“We did manage to cause that distraction didn’t we?” Richard replied. Isabelle smiled at him, though she wondered if he could see her through the dark.
	“Thanks” she said. A thought then came across her mind from her discussion with Kura earlier. “Umm...” she began, unsure whether this was really the time and the place.
	“Yes?” Richard asked curiously.
	“I just wanted to say that you did a great job out there and that I’m very pleased to have you on my squad” Isabelle continued.
	“I’m honoured Commander” he replied. Isabelle gulped, somehow saying what she was about to say seemed to require more internal courage than facing a whole squadron in battle with only a kitchen knife. Still, if they were going to be imprisoned, she would rather he knew her feelings.
	“And... I just wanted you to know that I think you’re a nice guy and...” she paused again, trying to keep up her bravado, “I just wanted you to know how I felt about you.” A bout of silence followed. An agonizingly long silence. “Richard” she said, “please say something...” Still more silence. Suddenly Isabelle felt like such a fool. What was she doing? Getting into all this when she was supposed to be on a mission?! Richard probably thought she was a just some silly girl now. It was then that she noticed that Richard was sitting right in front of her.
	“Wow” she exclaimed suddenly, “you’re fast!” Richard stared into her eyes.
	“Isabelle...” he began before trailing off. The two stared into each others eyes again. Isabelle thought back to when she had first met him at the Academy. He had seemed strangely out of place in his new surroundings but somehow had always managed to come out on top of them. He had been something of a recluse and stayed away from his classmates, but had always been very competent and adept at whatever challenges he had faced there.
	It was that quality that had made her first realize that she had a crush on him. She realized that she was about to find out if he felt the same way. Richard’s eyes showed nothing but soft affection and before either of them knew it their faces moved closer and the fronts of theirs lips met. It was then that her eye had caught something else entirely – the door was improperly locked! They had a way out of there! She backed off and ran for the door, leaving behind a confused Richard squinting through the darkness after her.
	“Isabelle?” he asked, “What’s going on?!”
	“Look!” she exclaimed, “No guards, they must all be out there fighting Sanjuro!” Richard still did not understand why that had made her refrain from kissing him. “And the door's not properly locked!” she continued, “We can break out of here!”
	“And then what?” Richard asked, “What can we do to help?” Isabelle looked him in the eye again, this time showing some sort of new found determination.
	“Something. Anything! It’s our duty. Now come on and help me force this door open!” Richard shrugged and accompanied her as they both braced themselves against the door. She uttered a brief countdown, before the two of them put all their force into other the door. It buckled, but refused to break. “HARDER!” she yelled, and the two of them put in their total strength against the metal door encased in a wooden frame. After one last heave of effort, the door broke off its hinges and fell to the floor with a thud. The two stepped out, they were free! What were they to do now?
	“What now?” Richard asked again.
	“Let’s find a map. Let’s strike at the heart of High Command itself!”

	Ryo watched the security camera recordings of the battle raging outside with some trepidation. He wished his second in command was still here, he wished that he had not sent him out on that attempt to trap Makabe. Those Commanders out there, for all the high honour of having such an important subject to project, were a bunch of incompetents. They easily had the manpower to take out Sanjuro and Gabriel’s forces and yet their opposition were still able to hold their own. No wonder they had not been able to notice or stop his own break in and hijacking of the place two days earlier!
	Well, no use fretting about it now. He still had his crack Shogo troops inside the building and they would make Sanjuro pay for every inch if he is able to get into the building. It was time to get plan B in motion. The factory trap may not have worked, but he now knew what his next move would be. He would cut Sanjuro off from any support from above. The Leviathan would be able to strike if he was able to get into High Command and turn off the planet’s defense grid, though that would require at least one or two High Commanders. No matter, he knew just what to do about that clunking metal fist in space! Ryo tapped at his terminal and prepared his message to be beamed out of the, perfectly functional the whole time, fleet communications grid and into the depths of the endless void.

	Nathaniel Akkaraju sat in his command chair in quiet contemplation. He had long since learned how to cope with waiting for status reports whilst his men conducted missions that might just change the fate of their entire species. They were not technically his men anymore as such, but old habits die hard and luckily this applies to the sanity enabling ones as well as the ones that could drive him mad. He knew that Sanjuro by now must have already started his attempt to storm High Command. How it would turn out he would not know until Kathryn was free enough to inform him. Besides, from the Leviathan there was little he could do at this point - and so he waited.
	His peaceful musings were interrupted by a beeping from Kathryn’s abandoned communication’s terminal. Kathryn was already too busy in communication with Sanjuro and his squadrons, so it was a different officer who called up from communications.
	“Acting Admiral” the man said, “we are being hailed.”
	“What?!” Nathaniel replied, “Is it the Nautilus come to check up on us?”
	“No sir, its calling card is the U.C.A.S.F. Insurrection.”
	“Alright, put it up on my view screen Lieutenant” Nathaniel ordered and the face of an angry young commander appeared on before the bridge crew.
	“Leviathan! I have been called on an urgent request from High Command. They say you have launched a ground strike team against headquarters! I have been ordered to take you out to end your treasonous activities!” the young man commanding the other ship’s bridge yelled. Nathaniel studied his features carefully. This youth must have been one of the many promoted quickly during the Cronian affair, due to the constant need for an influx of more bodies. His youth was being shown in the anger and overly-personalized touch of his announcement. This was someone easily manipulated by Ryo, certainly just as he himself had been at one time, working on his own prejudices.
	“Insurrection, this Acting Admiral Nathaniel Akkaraju, currently in command of the Leviathan. We are attempting to restore U.C.A. control to High Command, there are no traitors here.”
	“Exactly the story I was told to be prepared to hear” the brash young Admiral replied.
	“That might just be because your orders come from the man who has taken over High Command” Nathaniel replied, “please, assist us in our mission rather then hinder us!”
	“I don’t think so sir!” the man on the screen replied.
	“Incoming barrage!” Captain Evans’ shouted from navigation, “Attempting to swerve!” Nathaniel's eyes narrowed as he stared at the tactical display of the Insurrection being shown on his view screen. If it was a fight he wanted, Nathaniel was prepared to give it to him.
	“Fair enough; a wise man once said never start a fight but always finish it” he thought, “I’ll teach this child not to mess with an Akkaraju!” He turned and stared over at the officer manning Kura’s tactical station. “Return fire!” he ordered.

	Sanjuro’s mind had entered a pure tactical mode. At first his worse instincts had been striking him again with him entering a similar daze as he was in the Armacham factory. However, he then remembered both Kathryn and Kura’s lectures and comforting after his last two dreams and had been able to gain a new found strength from it. He even managed to feel reassured remembering a certain form of carnal remedy Kura had supplied him. So no more emotional problems for him right that second. He could have a breakdown when this was all over.
	The battle on the one hand was going amazingly well, despite being heavily outgunned they were holding their own. Despite supposedly being the cream of the U.C.A, their combat experience was nothing compared the war veterans on Sanjuro’s side. The Fallen in particular fought with fanatical concentration and Sanjuro thought back to Samantha’s little relapse back at the Home Guard base. He could only imagine the essence of Cothineal urging them on to incapacitate those between them and the man who had once sought, and probably still sought, to exploit her.
	At the same time they naturally had causalities. Despite the seriousness of the situation, the sense of unreality surrounding the whole operation had stopped either side from attempting anything definitively fatal. No one it seemed, except maybe the Fallen, seemed comfortable with shooting those wearing the same purple combat armour of the U.C.A.S.F.  Still, many had been hit and were being attended by combat medics from the Fallen, Home Guard and Leviathan squadrons. How many of them who were critically wounded or already dead Sanjuro did not know.
	Still Sanjuro knew he needed a reprieve, as he could not keep them back forever. Eventually the line would break. It was then that Kathryn called in, hoping that the situation down there had calmed to the point of allowing her to attend more closely to things at home.
	“Sanjuro, what is going on? Are you making any headway?” she called into her radio. Sanjuro ducked behind Kura and the other M.C.A drivers for a little peace as he talked to Kathryn. 
	“Uh, not exactly. I don't know how long I can keep all this up. Anyways, what is up with you? You sound a little troubled.” He heard Kathryn take in a breath of air.
	“Ah” Kathryn said, deciding that now was not the time to tell him, “things are a bit strained up here as well I am afraid. Complications.”
	“Nothing too serious I hope, we can’t wage a war on that many fronts! Something's going to have to give!” he muttered into his radio, trying to hide his rising hysteria.
	“I know Sanjuro, I know! It’s just I don’t see what we can... wait a second. What’s going on over there? I can see it from Kura’s cockpit camera!” Kathryn called in. Sanjuro turned his M.C.A around and stared out. Commander Zhukov, still fighting even after having been grazed on the shoulder was raising a white flag. That and all of High Command’s troops had stopped shooting.
	“Cease fire all units!” Sanjuro ordered, “Let’s see what is going on!”

	“Where exactly are you taking us?!” Richard asked a few minutes earlier, as Isabelle continued her cautious pace forward. “You said strike at the heart of High Command! Why are we heading downstairs?!” Isabelle turned to face him, for once pleased with herself to think that she was ahead of him – her now admitted feelings for him aside.
	“There are Shogo troopers all over the place, we’ve already had to avoid several already!” she explained, “You can’t honestly expect us to strike directly!”
	“That’s what I had tried to tell you. What is your plan then?”
	“All we have to do is convince those out there that Sanjuro’s claims of Shogo infiltration out there are true and the only way I can think of doing that is...”
	“...hacking the video display into their headsets to show a video of the High Commanders under Shogo guard from the engineering floors below?” Richard finished. The smile evaporated from Isabelle’s face, as she was reminded that she never could stay more than a few steps ahead of him. Ah, well. That was why she liked him.
	“Exactly, now let’s hurry. I’m sure the Admiral is getting weary of being shot at” she instructed, moving forward. A little too steadily it turns out, as her footfalls alerted two Shogo troopers on patrol, looking to make sure none of Makabe’s men had made it into the building. They raised their guns and Isabelle raised her hands in the air.
	“Don’t shoot!” she called out, before looking around and noticing Richard had vanished. “I hope that means he has a plan rather then meaning I’ve managed to fall in love with a coward” she thought absently, still staring intently at the two Shogo guns pointed at her.
	“Miss Blanc I presume?” the head Shogo trooper asked. They still did not know her real identity. “How did you get out and what have you done? What are you trying to do?!” Isabelle suddenly realized the reality of her situation again, and her original fear and cowardice returned to her in a sudden jolt and she almost actually fell to her knees. It was then she noticed the combat rifle poking out of the corner behind the two troops. The hand on the trigger and holding the clip seemed familiar. “Alright” she thought, “time for another trademark Commander Whitmore ‘distraction’.” She called out the first thing she could think of to make sure the guard's attention stayed fixated on her.
	“Ha! You still think my name is that ridiculous pseudonym!”
	“What?! What is your real name then?”
	“Why should I tell you?” Isabelle asked, hoping that she was not preparing herself for a quick but painful death in a hail of bullets. The Shogo trooper reloaded his pump-action shotgun menacingly. “Alright point taken” Isabelle replied, kind of spooked to realize that she was actually enjoying toying with them, “my name is...”
	Suddenly the blast of a rifle echoed across the corridor and the first Shogo trooper fell to the ground dead. In a moments instinctual reaction, Isabelle leaped out of the way to avoid any further fire, which did come as the final act of the dead trooper. The second trooper turned towards, and aimed his assault rifle at, Richard’s position. Isabelle’s new found courage, and drive of pure adrenaline, had not let out yet though and before she consciously knew what she was doing she jumped up and landed on the trooper with a loud crash.
	The trooper fired his rifle, but at the wrong moment - as the bullets sailed down into the floor as he tumbled under Isabelle’s weight. The bullets ricocheted here and there and some of them flew right into his gut. By the time the two landed on the ground, the assault rifle had emptied its clip and Isabelle was lying on a corpse. She bounced off him horrified. She had never killed before and neither had she technically this time, but she had still been somewhat responsible for his death. Still, no time to consider all that now.
	“Richard?” she called out, “Are you alright?!” Richard jumped back from around the corner, brandishing his rifle.
	“Yes fine” he assured her, “lucky you I was able to sneak out and find a weapon’s locker.”
	“You ever killed anyone before?” Isabelle asked quietly. Richard looked at her for a second as to gauge where she was going with that line of discussion.
	“Animals yes, back on the farm, people never. Still, we can talk about that later. We should get as far away from here as possible before some more of them show up!” he replied. Isabelle nodded and followed him, picking up one of the dead trooper’s assault rifles and moving her hair out of her eyes in the manner of her prior era of innocence.

	Nathaniel smiled as he saw the results of the Leviathan's latest round of fire on the attacking vessel. The shielding on this craft was impressive but hopefully before too long they would be able to disable it. It was a fast ship and far sleeker then that of the clunky Leviathan, but Nathaniel knew his ship better and his crew did too. Still, no time to get cocky.
	“They are coming around for another strike Admiral” Kura’s stand-in announced.
	“Take evasive action. No need to get ourselves hit for the sake of a clear shot.” Evans tapped a few keys on his console and the ship jolted with nauseous roughness.
	“Easy old girl...” Nathaniel thought. Just then the ship rocked again.
	“We’ve been hit sir. I think the Insurrection is equipped with the new tracking torpedoes.”
	“Any serious damage?”
	“No sir, but I do think a more aggressive strategy is in order.”
	“Agreed, fire a volley back at them.” Nathaniel grew a wry smile as his ship’s volley flew directly towards the Insurrection's engines – it could all soon be done with. He was less amused however when they fluctuated out of existence in a green haze. “What happened?” he growled.
	“I don’t know sir. I’ve never seen shields like that before” the tactical officer replied.
	“I guess aggression is out of the question too, we’ll have to fight smart.” Just then, the serving communications officer shouted out with blatantly unconstrained excitement.
	“Admiral!”
	“Yes Lieutenant?”
	“Since we are facing a U.C.A.S.F. ship surely we will be able to see the schematics of the Insurrection from the database? If we patch it through the Home Guard base to get past Ryo’s block.”
	“Hmm, yes I guess so. One of the rare advantages of fighting your own” Nathaniel mused, “see if the Insurrection is in the schematic directory.” Another volley shook the ship.
	“Shields at 65% sir. We’ll need to make this quick.” The communications Lieutenant tapped at his panel with an increased intensity before a satisfying blip echoed through the bridge.
	“I’m at the Insurrection entry sir... what?”
	“Something the matter?”
	“Top secret. Security clearance required sir.”
	“Really? This must be a rather special ship” Nathaniel thought out loud.
	“Shouldn’t an Admiral be able to pass the security level?” Evans asked.
	“Ah, but I am not a real Admiral anymore and it requires a bio-reading. The only man who could give us that is down on the surface.”
	“Not a problem” Kathryn suddenly chimed in over the comm-link. “Here Lieutenant, execute the incoming program.” The Lieutenant blinked down at his console.
	“What is it ma'am?” the communications officer asked, as he accepted the file transfer.
	“Sanjuro could never figure out which order to get his bio-readings imputed so we came up with a program to give a false positive.”
	“That is technically way out of protocol” Nathaniel began, “but for now I’ll just think of it as you being my clever little girl. Agreed?”
	“Absolutely father... I mean Admiral” Kathryn replied unusually cheery. Then another volley rammed into the side of the ship, and all hands returned to work in earnest – Kathryn in particular. “I have to make sure I'm still in one piece for Sanjuro to get back to” she thought.

Part Six: Complications

	Sanjuro heard the all so familiar sound of air escaping as he opened the exit to his mobile combat armour suit. He then stepped out into the blinding sunlight of the mid-afternoon and moved towards the waiting Commander Zhukov. Toshiro, with a watchful Samantha covering him, was also stepping away from his M.C.A. to represent the Fallen whilst negotiating Zhukov’s surrender. The expression on Zhukov’s face was one of shock, fury and guilt; but surrender was not on his mind, simply a change of target.
	“Greetings Commander” Sanjuro stated politely.
	“Admiral” Zhukov replied, saluting. “I’ve just received an officially stamped and tagged recording from High Command’s engineering complex. It shows video feed of the main boardroom. The High Commanders are being held hostage by what appear to be Shogo troopers. Exactly as you claimed would be the case.”
	“We suspected they would be held as such Commander. So are we ready to deal with this problem? After attending to the wounded of course” Sanjuro replied.
	“Of course sir, sorry for causing the trouble. We were only trying to protect the U.C.A.”
	“In the same position I might have done the same, but there is no time for such apologies. Get your shoulder looked after and we’ll plan what to do now.”
	“Agreed Admiral” Zhukov nodded, for the first time allowing himself to express the pain his wound was giving him. He had the makings of quite the soldier in him, a pity he was assigned to what amounted to mere guard duty within this monolithic complex.
	“That was anti-climatic” Kura commented, approaching Sanjuro.
 	“Who could have relayed the message?” Samantha asked.
	“I suspect that there is more to Commander Whitmore than meets the eye” Toshiro replied.
	“I guess there is nothing for it but to storm the building” Kura mused, obviously tense with the desire to just get this all over with.
	“Kathryn?” Sanjuro called out, talking into his communicator. No response. “Kathryn?” he persisted, waiting to hear the familiar incoming click.
	“Oh, sorry Sanjuro. I was busy with something else” her uneasy response finally came.
	“Anything important?” Sanjuro asked, knowing all too well what that tone of voice meant and still morbidly curious as to the nature of her previous allusions to 'complications'.
	“You might say that” she explained, “we’re under attack.”
	“I thought we moved away from the defense grid” Kura commented, “you weren't going to attack the grid until we got into the building and were actually facing Shogo troopers weren't you?”
	“That’s right. Sanjuro, it is the U.C.A.S.F. Insurrection. Ryo must have sent it onto us.”
	“Insurrection? Never heard of that one” Kura considered.
	“No, you wouldn’t have. We just read its file. Apparently it is top secret. A fast, manoeuvrable but still sizable combat and drop ship intended to have protected the fleet should the Fallen have gotten spaceborne or one of the founder companies got actively involved.”
	“So Ryo is sending in the cream of U.C.A.S.F. combat engineering against us. Lovely...” Kura noted bitterly, kicking her boot irritably into the ground before her.
	“Let me guess who was a partner on this venture?” Sanjuro reflected.
	“Shogo” both Kura and Sanjuro said in unison.
	“Exactly” Kathryn nodded sullenly, “Ryo must known all too well of its armament, including vaporization shields and tracking torpedoes.”
	“Vaporization shields?” Samantha asked, “What’s that?”
	“A simple example of ‘the best defense is a strong offence’. It not only deflects damage but it emits a corrosive energy field that destroys the incoming volley. Not to mention its potential uses in a ramming attack” Kathryn informed them, her voice weakening as she spoke.
	“Have you been able to find any sort of weakness in the vessel?” Sanjuro asked.
	“Not yet. But our engineers are pouring over it. Sanjuro, we’ll handle ourselves. You need to get into High Command and stop this mess. You should be able to call off the Insurrection once you get a High Commander under your power.”
	“Agreed. Kura get the troops ready and let's end this” Sanjuro instructed, “before the Leviathan has to meet those vaporization shields hull-to-hull.”

	Commander Zhukov grunted slightly as he walked alongside Sanjuro and Toshiro. The medics had tried to convince him to stay behind and rest his sore shoulder but he had refused. He knew that the U.C.A. forces in the complex could still potentially be a threat and he knew that his presence, as a well known local officer, would help prevent any other nasty misunderstandings. It was also, though he did not admit it out loud, to deal with his guilt for starting a situation where his forces had been shooting at their own comrades. He took in another breath of air before rushing forward to keep up with Sanjuro, still waiting for the rush of natural endorphins to ease his steps forward.
	“This Commander Whitmore of yours” he said, trying not to gasp, “any idea where she got to after she sent me that live feed?”
	“She is still at large” Toshiro told him, “Cothineal can sense her through me.” Zhukov tried to hide how uncomfortable Toshiro’s comment had just made him feel.
	“This Ryo fellow” Zhukov continued, “his plan can’t be all that good. I mean now that we know the truth what defense does he have? A handful of loyal Shogo troops hidden in the complex? That doesn’t sound like the person I read about in last month’s publication of the official histories of the Cronian wars.” Sanjuro remembered that work. He had not quite enjoyed his depiction in it either.
	“He may have a point” Kura said as they turned another corner, “this does seem to be too easy. At this rate we’ll just catch the elevator, head to the appropriate floor and storm the boardroom.”
	“Ryo probably does have at least one more trick up his sleeve” Sanjuro agreed, “but we’ll just have to spring his trap when we come to it and deal with it then. What else can we do?” A flashing of lights and the bellow of sirens answered him before anyone else could. Metal security barriers came down blocking all exits. A wall mounted monitor flashed into life. Ryo’s face appeared with a flash.
	“Ah, Admiral” Ryo smiled, once again amused, “I really must compliment your tech-boys at the U.C.A. for making the environmental and security systems here so... user friendly. Your little meddler may have alerted dear little Zhukov here of my presence but the base infrastructure is still very much under my control. Your entire makeshift army is separated and locked down across this entire floor. In the meantime, I shall send in a contingency of troops, both from nearby U.C.A. installations and my own troops dressed in U.C.A. uniforms. By the time you figure out how to get out I’ll have the situation well in hand again.”
	“You won’t win Ryo” Sanjuro growled, “we’ll get out of here and we will stop you!”
	“Sure, sure. By the way did I mention the gas injectors? No? Okay. If I see you lot are up to trouble on my monitors I’ll flood the whole section. Don’t worry, it shouldn’t be lethal. I want you alive Sanjuro, and your nauseatingly messianic brother. I’m also sure old man Akkaraju will want nothing to happen to his precious daughter as well, and thus make her presence quite useful to me. I don’t promise you safety from long-term lung complaints though. By all accounts the gas can be quite searing. Have a nice bit of rest my friend.” Kura responded to all this with a rude gesture towards the security camera, to which a bemused Ryo chuckled to himself before closing the video channel.
	“I haven’t seen you make that one since school” Sanjuro remarked to her.
	“If he is so determined to play schoolyard bully it only seems appropriate” Kura replied.
	“Well” Toshiro said, “I guess we’ll just have to wait. Ryo will have to get a platoon to come and collect us eventually.”

	Sanjuro stood up to face the stunned looking High Commanders. All that effort had been for this, his mind told him, but it did not make him feel any better. He stared down at himself for a second, but turned his head away feeling absolutely sickened. He was covered almost head to toe in blood, and not just that of his enemies. Sanjuro could not believe how badly things had unfolded.
	The Leviathan was gone. The Insurrection had rendered it to nothing but rubble and space junk. He had not even thought about Kathryn’s death when Ryo called in to gloat. It was probably quick and sudden as she was either enveloped in explosion or destroyed in the explosive decompression the holes in the ship had caused. Sanjuro had felt nothing when he heard it... he knew there was nothing he could do about it at this point. 
	Ryo’s soldiers had stormed the room and taken Kura, Toshiro and himself away from the others. As the security doors had closed again he had heard the sound of the gas injectors activating and the sound of Samantha, Baku and the rest coughing and gagging. Again he had felt nothing. Despite what Ryo had said, Sanjuro was sure that the gas was not as harmless as indicated. Why else would he have waited for Sanjuro to have been taken away to activate the injectors?
	All he focused on was the guard ahead of him and the clacking of his own feet on the concrete floor. Ryo had seemed utterly uncaring about what he had done, as he attempted to get Sanjuro to send a message out to ships like the Nautilus to declare that the U.C.A. had new masters. Ryo apparently had always chosen that to be Sanjuro’s humiliation – to serve as his speaker to usher in Ryo’s new age. When Sanjuro refused, Ryo’s answer was short and direct.
	“Kill the woman” he had ordered, “evidently having killed just one of his precious dears isn’t enough to make him realize that we are not here to negotiate this point.” Sanjuro had backed down immediately and prepared the message - sensing both Kura’s frustration and embarrassment as he did so. Sanjuro had not realized he was making the same mistake he made when he went along with the soldiers. Ryo pulled out a personalized pistol and had shot Kura in the head. Death was, like her sister, instantaneous. A good deal of the blood that was on him now, Sanjuro grimly recalled, was her’s. Sanjuro had asked just one question: why?
	“I’ve gotten what I wanted from you” Ryo had cackled, “you’re subjugated and Admiral Akkaraju is dead. What other use was your troublesome little lover girl to me?” It was that point that Sanjuro had gotten mad. Very mad. More searing fury had flowed through him there then had ever in his entire life. He had, in one sudden movement, ran and punched Ryo out before diving behind his desk. The Shogo troopers had no time to react. He grabbed Ryo’s pistol, leaped and shot one of them down with the same cold precision as had felled his lover. Toshiro too had acted fast and grabbed the dead trooper’s weapon and together the two brothers had secured the room. After that, it had been a simple matter of mowing down foe after foe, both Shogo and unknowing U.C.A. alike, until they had made it to the boardroom. Sanjuro unbound the High Commanders and spoke short blunt orders.
	“Call all troops in the building, tell them to neutralize all Shogo forces.” The Commander’s did as they were told. Sanjuro was a subordinate true, but they were not going to challenge someone with the look Sanjuro presently had emblazoned on his face and searing out from his eyes, weapon in hand. Toshiro turned to address Sanjuro when a shot rang out from behind. Toshiro fell to the ground and Ryo’s grinning face appeared at the doorway. “Idiot!” Sanjuro’s mind told himself, “you didn’t kill the bastard!” Ryo aimed his gun at Sanjuro and said some parting words.
	“You win Makabe” he commented darkly, “but at the same time you lose.” It was then he pulled the trigger. It was far from what Sanjuro would have wanted but Ryo’s grinning face was the last he would ever see.

	“Sanjuro!” Kura shouted shaking him, “Snap out of it!”
	“What?” Sanjuro exclaimed, suddenly alert. He jumped up picked up his weapon and circled around, running his eye over every face trapped along with him.
	“Ryo, where is Ryo!” he barked.
	“What are you going on about?” Kura shouted, “He’s not here! At least not in any way a rifle could help with!” Sanjuro continued pacing unperturbed, waving his weapon around.
	“What’s wrong brother?” Toshiro asked confused. Sanjuro looked into his eyes, laughed wildly and passed out into Kura’s arms. Kura looked up at Toshiro.
	“He’s your brother. You tell me what to do!” she cried out.

	Isabelle tapped at the solid steel security door again and made the same low thunk sound she had made about five different times in a row now. Richard glanced towards her as the sound emanated around the tight, confined chamber.
	“Lovely acoustics” he commented, “too bad we don’t know how to sing.”
	“I don’t know. If we sing badly maybe that can ensure Ryo doesn’t have his evil camera looking down here” Isabelle commented. Richard frowned.
	“Well, I do think he’d be more interested in Makabe.”
	“I don’t know, I think we’ve made an impression on him.” Ryo had been most curt in the personalized message he had played through to them; audio only in this instance due to a lack of view screen within this stretch of corridor. It seemed that the only thing that wound him up more then being tricked by Sanjuro again was to be utterly fooled by a little girl.
	“Yeah I guess. Still I don’t see what we can do from here” Richard remarked, “I’m all out of ideas.” Isabelle ran a ponderous finger over her chin.
	“Well Richard, I guess we have plenty of time to think” she said, “don’t you think?” Richard replied simply with a grimace. “Sorry” Isabelle muttered, before staring at the security door again and releasing another reverberating thunk.
	
	“Oh, come on my little psych case! Wake up!” Kura called out exasperatedly. She slapped his face again. Sanjuro grunted and that was about it. Everyone was staring at them.
	“Too bad we don’t have any vodka” Zhukov commented, “that would get your wayward Admiral back to us.” Kura gave him a very dirty look indeed.
	“You just rest your wound” Kura replied tersely. She sighed and moved on to another tactic. “Sanjuro...” she whispered softly and sweetly, “I love you...” A slight physical response as Sanjuro’s head moved ever so slightly closer to Kura. She took it as a good sub-conscious cue and continued. “I want you to come back to me” she said, “please darling...” She sensed she was close and so went into the finale by giving him a strong passionate kiss. Baku, despite now no longer being debilitated by his secret crush on Kura, winced. Cara luckily did not seem to notice as she was more interested in observing her commander’s odd behaviour. Kura closed her eyes and thus missed Sanjuro opening his own. Sanjuro sat there dazed for a moment before Kura released. “You’re awake! Finally...” Kura said, rolling her eyes. Sanjuro blinked himself further awkae.
	“Love is a very strange thing indeed” Sanjuro thought to himself whilst observing Kura’s present expression and recalling his original unwillingness to have Kura involved with his problems due to that very same scathing sarcastic tone of her’s. Then he remembered his latest dream. He gestured for Kura to come closer again and whispered into her ear as he did not want the whole platoon to know about his psychological issues. “I had another dream.”
	“Oh...” Kura replied. Even in a hushed whisper Sanjuro could detect the despondent worry in her tone, “What happened in it?”
	“A hollow victory” Sanjuro replied simply, “the boardroom was liberated but the Leviathan was destroyed, you were killed as a demonstration to me and Toshiro and I were taken out just before I woke up as Ryo’s last revenge.” Kura grimaced as she heard him talk.
	“Don’t you have any nice dreams about me?” she asked.
	“Sometimes. Don’t worry” Sanjuro replied, again simply.
	“You alright?” Kura inquired. Sanjuro shrugged.
	“I don’t know. What happened when you woke me?”
	“You were searching for Ryo, utterly paranoid, looked into Toshiro’s face and then collapsed laughing insanely.” Sanjuro paused to think that one over.
	“Probably isn’t good that I don’t remember that is it?” Sanjuro replied flatly.
	“Depends, do you think you can manage or should I take command of the troops?” Kura inquired, fearing what would happen if open warfare broke out again.
	“No, I’ll be okay. After all, if my mind is right we at least save the universe from Ryo. Besides, its a little late for me to stay behind isn’t it?”
	“I guess. Oh, I really hope by the end of this you are normal again. You scare me like this.”
	“I can’t really help it can I?”
	“You two quite finished?” Zhukov interjected somewhat annoyed.
	“Not everyday one has a nervous breakdown” Toshiro commented with what if said by anyone else Sanjuro would have thought was a sarcastic tone.
	“Is he alright than Kura?” Samantha asked.
	“I’ll be fine” Sanjuro said standing up, “what time is it?”
	“18:00 Admiral” Ryo cut in, suddenly appearing on the monitor, “and my, my you gave me quite a show there. Still I can’t help but think you’re up to something. Don’t try anything, I assure you it will do you no good. That said, I liked you as a paranoid lunatic. Most refreshing.”
	“When are you going to let us out of here you fiend?!” Zhukov yelled.
	“In time, in time. My Slavic friend” Ryo replied, still clearly enjoying the power he had over alll of them, “my troops are coming for you Sanjuro, plus your brother and your annoying little love, as we speak.” Well, at least it meant things were moving forward.
	“Cothineal knows what you are doing you know Ryo!” Toshiro grwoled, losing his cool like Sanjuro had only ever seen him before within his Gabriel personality, “She’s preparing something special for you!” Ryo turned to look at him, patently unconcerned by this threat.
	“Oh, don’t you worry. My ships will be landing on Cronus soon enough after I’m done dealing with you all here. I’ll have Cothineal extracted, tested and working for me...” All the Fallen soldiers contained within the section, including Toshiro, Samantha and Baku suddenly unloaded their assault rifle clips into the view screen. Kura stared at them all and showed a rare expression of surprise.
	“What the hell did you do that for?” she yelled.
	“An insult to Cothineal can not be tolerated” Toshiro replied with a determined tone, as an an almost rhythmic percussion of reloading clips emanated through the enclosed chamber.
	“Toshiro, Kura. Let’s plan out what to do when his forces get here. I don’t want it to happen all over again.” Toshiro glanced over at him quizzically at that remark.
	“What?” Toshiro asked confused, still wondering about the content of their whispering.
	“Nothing...” Kura exclaimed quickly.

	Kathryn typed the same key combination for the fifteenth time and got the same distressing reply from the computer, accompanied by the same shrill noise of refusal.
	“No connection” the screen read. Kathryn cursed to herself. What had happened?! One minute she was in contact with Sanjuro’s squad and the next she had lost connectivity. Was it a problem with the Leviathan? Was it a problem with their transmitter? Had Ryo set up a jamming device? She could not think, she was too worried. It was one thing to be on a spaceship under attack. It was quite another to also suddenly lose contact with the man you love, your sister and your closest friends at a time when you know they could be in mortal danger.
	She was interrupted from her distress by a juddering jolt as Captain Evans computed another dodge of the incoming fire from the Insurrection on the bridge. Kathryn's knee banged up hard against the top of her desk and she winced in pain. She could not remember the last time she had felt this miserable. The thought of her experience with Disraeli came to mind and even the aftermath of the mission to take out Ivan Isaravich. Suddenly, however, her fortune changed.
	“Connection established” the computer hummed to itself.
	“What?” she exclaimed, and patched the feed through her speakers.
	“Come along you, Mr. Ishikawa wishes to speak with you” a distant and unfamiliar voice said. Kathryn’s heart rate suddenly increased by a factor of four.
	“Alright, alright. Just don’t harm my men” Sanjuro’s voice came in. He had been captured! That one sentence rang around through her head for a moment before she realized what she must do. She could not let them know she could hear what they were doing, but she must record what was going on and hopefully use it to get them out of there.

	George Clancy was just your average maintenance technician. He had his section of High Command and he was very thorough in ensuring that the systems there were in tip top condition. After all, not every tech was given such a prestigious posting as the headquarters of the entire United Corporate Authority military wing. He could not help but think that this was not one of his better days though. He stared at the metal security barrier with an a great deal of surprise. It had been a long string of odd things that had gotten him thinking very much that if there were any gods in this universe they were personally messing with him.
	First off was the fact that when he went to refuel the basement heater the can of fuel he had set aside was curiously missing. The second was this business of the fire, and him being called to man the pump station just before he was going to request for the requisition of a new jerrycan for him to use. This latest obstruction was quite more than he was prepared to handle. How was he going to be able to replace the lighting coils on the rightward corridor if he could not get there or to the storage closet?! He let out a sigh and sat down, and wondered if he could bill this as overtime. “No one has any respect for those like me who keep everything running smoothly” he thought to himself.

	“Ah, my good friend Sanjuro” Ryo smiled as he, Toshiro and Kura were escorted in by the Shogo troopers, “how are you?”
	“Pretty well given you’ve been trying to kill me and my men for the past few days” Sanjuro replied sarcastically. He was in no mood for Ryo’s mind games – particularly not after his dream.
	“Oh don’t worry, I don’t see any reason to kill those who might well serve me” Ryo told him, “what I want from you is simple, it is time for me to get this little coup business concluded.”
	“How are you intending to reveal yourself without provoking more U.C.A. counterattack?” Toshiro interjected, cutting straight to the point.
	“Ah Gabriel, you always were slow. You never seem to quickly grasp things. Such as when you so idiotically cancelled the deal I had set up with Isaravich. Short sighted as always. You must catch it off that slug god of yours.” Kura grabbed Toshiro around the arms to prevent him from doing anything unwise, putting her mouth to his ear.
	“Don’t rise to him” she said.
	“But indeed, you are right that it was something I needed to consider” Ryo continued, “and you Sanjuro shall help end this conflict for me.”
	“What do you want me to do?” Sanjuro asked dubiously.
	“Oh, nothing much. Just send this message out to the fleet.” Ryo handed Sanjuro a prepared speech on a piece of paper. Sanjuro read it and stared at Ryo scathingly.
	“You want me to tell them that you’ve won and use the image of my own imprisonment to stifle resistance?” Sanjuro growled.
	“Yes” Ryo cackled, “an appropriate humiliation for all the trouble you’ve caused me.” Sanjuro suddenly realized with a jolt that, except for the lack of a gas incident, this all seemed eerily familiar. His sub-conscious may be over the top, he was sad to realize, but not entirely inaccurate.
	“Surely that won’t stop all resistance” Kura replied, “just for them to see Sanjuro beaten.”
	“Ah Miss Akkaraju, you are so naive... you think I have no friends within the U.C.A.? Every organization has its willing traitors. Not to mention that, once word gets out, Armacham and Andra will fall over themselves to join me and the winning side. I’ll be able to handle whatever the rabble of your kind of people will do I very much think” Ryo explained, “but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to show them all the poster boy of the Cronian peace being kept as my prisoner.”
	“What are you going to do if I refuse?” Sanjuro inquired, somewhat afraid of the answer. Ryo sighed and looked at Sanjuro plainly in the eye.
	“Well, I know your resolve to be sturdy. You’re headstrong yes, arrogant as well, but I can’t say that you can’t hold yourself. So I’m not going to threaten you...” Ryo began, Sanjuro did not like where this was going. “...but rather Miss Akkaraju here. Falling in love with two people at once really does give you a rather large weakness. I’ll get the other one here too once the Insurrection has done its duty. That should keep you in line.”
	“At least he doesn’t want the Leviathan destroyed” Sanjuro thought. Kura glared at Ryo furiously. She obviously was rather indignant at being used as a tool. Meanwhile, up in orbit, Kathryn was listening intently. She did not even bat an eye at Ryo’s suggestion of using her as blackmail. She was too focused on the conversation and the plan she had forming in her head.
	“Please just get yourself out of there alive so I can try it Sanjuro” Kathryn thought, “don’t do anything rash.” Down on the surface, Sanjuro was thinking along similar lines.
	“I’ve got to buy some time” he realized. He considered his options for a moment. If he did not agree to Ryo’s demands, Ryo would probably hurt Kura. She would be able to handle it, but still what would they do then? Would Ryo put them back into their cells and try again later? No. He should pretend to agree and come up with some excuse to delay sending it. He needed to get back to the cells and think of something, or at least give anyone else time to think. Just then inspiration came to him: appeal to Ryo’s vanity. “This is to be your biggest pronouncement ever to the human race” he began, “are you sure you want to rush into it?” Ryo was, against his better senses, intrigued.
	“What do you mean?” he inquired, scanning his face doubtfully.
	“I’ve noticed you to be quite the showman. You always seem very keen to have everything just so. Don’t you want to plan out what how you’re going to do this?” Sanjuro replied, whilst hoping Ryo would not realize the obvious fact that Sanjuro was trying to trick him.
	“You know, you may have a point Makabe. I should at least have a uniform. Something proper for dictator of humanity” Ryo agreed, “and I’ll think of something special for you too in order to pump up the humiliation.” Sanjuro could only guess at where that was going.
	“I look forward to it” Sanjuro replied dryly, trying to hide the fact that he had just planted ideas into his captor’s head so successfully. Ryo turned to his platoon.
	“Guards, take these three to a holding cell while I think of how I want to have things.”
	“Yes sir!” the head guard said, as he and his companions started to herd them away. Kura looked most incredulous about the affair, Toshiro downright confused. As Ryo’s door closed behind him, Sanjuro smiled to himself.
	“Now time to think up plan B” he decided. Little did he know that Kathryn was way ahead of him in that regard, and was simply cheered that she still had an opening to use it.
	“Nice going sweetheart” Kathryn whispered to herself, “time to get into the High Command computer system...”

	Isabelle shivered as another cold chill ran up her body. She looked around again, and still saw the same sight of their confined off section of corridor. There was little light and, as she was not enjoying right now, heat. “Sure is cold here” she chattered.
	“I’ve been worse” Richard replied. Isabelle turned to look at him.
	“Yeah well, I was raised in a warmer climate than you” she muttered, “and I’m freezing.” Richard got up and approached her from the opposite side of their closed off corridor. “Oh, what are you doing?” Isabelle asked, as he wrapped his arms around her.
	“You were saying you were cold” he said simply.
	“One doesn’t usually hug their commander” Isabelle noted, before receiving another surprise. At the end of it Isabelle was shaking but not because of the cold. Richard eventually parted his mouth from her own, smiling down at her.
	“Why didn’t you tell me how you felt earlier Belle?” he asked her.
	“I was afraid you’d turn me down. Laugh at me.”
	“If that's the way you thought I’d react then I’m surprised you like me.”
	“Well, it’s just that I always thought you should have been the Commander and not me” Isabelle mused, “I was popular while you were skilled.”
	“I don’t know about that. A lot of this whole mission was your idea. You’ve got a knack for original thinking” Richard rebutted her.
	“I guess so...” Isabelle muttered, “out of curiosity, what did you think of me before I... told you how I felt.” Richard thought over the question.
	“Well I must admit I didn’t expect you to fancy me” Richard replied, “I thought you were always too busy to think about things like that.”
	“There’s a difference between being busy and being nervous” she replied, the hair falling over her eyes again as she moved her head to look him in the eye.
	“I always thought you were cute though” Richard said, “I never expected to meet someone like you by joining the force.” Isabelle laughed.
	“That’s funny because I always expected to meet someone like you” she replied lightheartedly, “I don’t know. Maybe it’s why I signed up. I don’t fit like that though. I’m too soft.”
	“Not all serviceable soldiers need fit any specific mould” Richard replied, “would you take the Admiral for a veteran?”
	“Well, he seems experienced all right. But way too kind for a soldier of his renown” Isabelle stated, getting her red bangs out of her eyes again, “or so one would expect.”
	“If we get out of this alive, what do you think is going to happen?” Richard thought out loud. Isabelle’s eyes widened when she considered the possibilities set out before her.
	“We might be given medals!” she gasped, “We’d be heroes! Imagine that Richard!”
	“That was not exactly what I meant...” he said, before he leaned down to kiss her again. Isabelle closed her eyes, just before, with a hard metal squeal, the security barrier lifted. The two of them, still huddled together, looked dumbfounded at their changed environment. As they gawked, Isabelle’s radio crackled into life.
	“Commander Whitmore” Kathryn’s voice called out, “I should have cleared the security lock-down on your section and removed the radio block. Can you hear me?”
	“Loud and clear ma'am” Isabelle called in, “what’s going on?”
	“Ryo’s activated another security lock-down on the level Sanjuro and the troops are on and enclosed them in” Kathryn began, “he did the same thing with you, but I’ve managed to bypass it and set you free. You are still near engineering, correct?”
	“Yes ma’am” Isabelle replied quickly, “what do you want us to do?”
	“I’m not sure. Get to the engineering complex again and try and somehow jam or break the security system controller” Kathryn explained, “if we are lucky that should set our troops free.”
	“And the Admiral?” Isabelle asked.
	“Ryo’s gotten him, along with Toshiro and Kura, in a special holding cell” Kathryn replied with a voice strongly nervously tainted.
	“I’m sorry to hear that...” Isabelle told her, remembering what Kura had said about her and Kathryn’s relationship with the Admiral.
	“He’ll be alright.... I know he will... he always is. You just get down to engineering.”
	“Of course” Isabelle said, jumping to her feet, “right away ma’am.” Isabelle sighed as she and Richard checked their weapons. It all depended on her again. This time, however, she felt ready.

	Nathaniel Akkaraju was growing tired of this. He was a soldier and not a performance pilot. He wanted to command a ship in battle instead of a ship zipping around ducking and hiding from incoming volleys. The Insurrection had them outgunned and out defended though, so what else were they to do? There were only two things Nathaniel could look to: the possibility of the Leviathan’s engineering team finding a flaw out of their rival ship’s blueprints, or Sanjuro succeeding in retaking High Command and allowing the High Commanders to order an end to this game of cat and mouse.
	They did not bother returning fire at the ship now that they had seen the vaporization shields in action. There was no good in wasting their arsenals. Nathaniel's comm-link activated with a sharp click. He was being contacted from the engineering deck.
	“Sir, we think we might have it!” the head engineer proclaimed.
	“Really? What do have in mind?” Nathaniel requested.
	“It occurred to us that we were looking at this whole thing backwards, in that we were trying to find a flaw in the Insurrection’s systems. It never occurred to us that maybe we should see how those very same, functioning, systems could work for us.”
	“What do you mean?” Nathaniel exclaimed, “What possible advantage could we have over that thing. The Leviathan is a fair old ship but that is a state-of-the-art weapon of war.”
	“With the very latest in shielding and structurally reinforced hulls. We realize that sir. In fact we are counting on it. We propose you use the kato cannon, sir” the engineer replied. The very mention of the cannon filled Nathaniel with dread, and not just because of his own personal history with the weapon. No one had ever considered using it in spacial battle. Not just because it was slow firing, but because the very thought was horrible. One blast for the super weapon would obliterate the ship and incinerate all the crew in horrible agony. Was this man insane enough to suggest using it on what were, after all, still U.C.A. forces lead a little astray?
	“You can’t be serious” he replied aghast.
	“Yes, we expected that response from you sir, but don’t you see? The vaporization shields work as an energy beam surrounding the ship that envelopes and zaps out incoming projectiles right? Then if we hit it with a concentrated kato blast most of the energy should be absorbed into it and this would cause the system to overload; something mere laser fire wound not manage to do. According to our calculations the damage should be minimal, mostly just shave off a few layers of that highly armoured hull, and leave it merely disabled” the engineer exclaimed with some excitement.
	“But powering up the kato cannon could take hours and would drain our power to the point we would lose all manoeuvrability. We would be destroyed before we could fire it” Nathaniel noted, still highly skeptical of this whole outlandish idea. The engineer inhaled a gulp of air, Nathaniel could hear, before sending out his next explanation.
	“Sir. You’re right that it would normally take hours to power it up, but we have a few ideas. First off, with some slight modification, we should be able to make it fire a smaller but still serviceable blast and... uh... well...” the voice trailed off.
	“What?” Nathaniel asked impatiently, “What else?”
	“If we, for just a moment, divert all power to the cannon we should be able to get the ‘reduced’ cannon charged within a minute and half. But by all power we mean all power; including life support” the engineer explained apprehensively.
	“How long would the life support system need to be off before the air would start to become non-breathable and the the temperature would drop to potentially dangerous levels?”
	“About a minute...” the engineer replied sheepishly, “for the rest we’d all just need to hang on. Don’t worry sir, it would all return to normal once the power surges back into life support and we should be able to move again after another minute as we put some more kato into the propulsion engines. Oh, and another thing...”
	“What now?” Nathaniel inquired wearily. He did not like the suggestion, but he had the feeling he was going to have to try it anyway.
	“Before hand we’ll be pouring almost all our kato stocks into the fuel intake in order to ensure we are able to get the cannon to fire with any strength. That means we’d be stuck in Earth’s orbit and wouldn’t be able to get away if the Admiral doesn’t succeed down on the surface. Well sir, do we proceed?” It was a rather impossible prospect being put before him.
	“I don’t know...” Nathaniel said, for once feeling indecision – this was far more responsibility then he had expected when he signed on to be a negotiator after all. Suddenly his tranquil but dull life on his Estate out in the few remnants of rural Japan seemed like a lost paradise. Nathaniel's mind was made up by another volley from the Insurrection. It tore into the left side of the Leviathan and the craft was enveloped in another vicious ship-quake.
	“Shields at 25% sir” the serving tactical officer informed him, “soon we won’t be able to take the hits without receiving serious structural damage.” Nathaniel let out a deep sigh. He called up the engineering team again, dreading his next few words.
	“Prepare the cannon” he ordered, “it’s time to put an end to our running and hiding.” He then brought up the communications menu on his bridge terminal and prepared to send out a ship wide message in which he would ask more from his crew, including his own daughter, then he would have ever dared dreamed. “I really am too old for this...” he thought before pressing the mic switch.

Part Seven: Tides of War

	Ryo was almost insanely pleased with himself. To think Makabe had gotten so close only for him to have simply locked the disturber up! It was perfect. No more slimy tricks from Sanjuro for him! All those nights he had spent plotting on Cronus had finally brought him here. His mind was running over the preparations for his announcement to the entirety of mankind’s space faring society. With the U.C.A. in his grasp Cronus, kato and Cothineal were just a simple invasion away. He would have to deal with the Fallen but he was sure he could handle them – particularly with Gabriel and his insidious little follower Uziel in his clutches. The terminal on his desk pinged to inform him of a new message. Eager with anticipation, Ryo hit the receive button.
	“Sir, your new uniform is ready and we will soon start preparing your room for your speech” his head trooper called. Not as trustworthy as the man he had lost in the Armacham  factory but still a loyal, if somewhat dimwitted, servant.
	“Excellent. How is Makabe?” Ryo asked.
	“He is sitting quietly in his cell sir” the trooper replied, “I think he is beginning to accept the situation sir.” Ryo did not like what he was hearing.
	“No, no, no. It doesn’t work if he is complacent. Go and work him up. I want him to be angry and humiliated when I show the great Admiral Makabe to the universe in shackles!” Ryo exclaimed, “After all the trouble he’s caused me it is the least he deserves.” The trooper replied with a bland sort of affirmative and Ryo closed the channel. Ryo let his mind wander again.
	“Well father” he thought, “have I made it or what? The company is strong. With kato we will dominate, and it's not just profit but power. I hope I’ve made you proud.”
	Shinobu Ishikawa, Ryo’s father, had died soon after he was arrested in the aftermath of the Cronian scandal. His aged heart just could not handle the stress of the trial and the destruction of his family’s empire – not to mention the assumed death of his son and heir. Ryo had not been able to hear about it until he was able to get off of Cronus and position himself, under an assumed identity, to be the subjugated Shogo Industries’ new temporary chief executive. Ryo blamed the death of his father squarely on Sanjuro. Now he shortly would be able to make Sanjuro pay for that. He knew, despite his desire to have everything perfect, he could not wait forever to get things moving. It was very soon to be showtime, and he would only get one shot at this. He felt ready.
	“I hope you are able to watch father” he thought, “from somewhere.”

	The High Commanders sat quietly in their seats, the same way they had been for over forty-eight hours now. It had been a thoroughly hellish experience. Ryo’s men had kept them here for almost the entire time, only ever escorting one or two of them out for trips to the lavatory. Whenever they had passed a U.C.A. officer in the corridors they had had to smile at them and act like everything was alright. Ryo was keeping them pretty much imprisoned in the one now very stale room.
	They had slept on the floor for the last two nights. And the smell... It is what one would expect after a group of people were forced in the same room for two hot summer days. What was worse was that they were beginning to give up hope of rescue. Their only glimmer of it had been the vague sounds they had heard that sounded like gunfire, battle, opposition from outside; but now even that had died down. Maybe Mr. Ishikawa had just decided to execute some people? At any rate they knew that, as for what seemed like an eternity, they would just have to wait it out.

	Cothineal raised one of her periscope like eyes out of the red lagoon. She narrowed it and looked around, pivoting its base like a camera stand. All seemed calm. The former Fallen military headquarters, which now was the institute the humans used to monitor and service her, as well as the finely tuned geologist's haven at Oshii Research Station, still stood tall and strong on the bank ahead of her. The legion of troopers that Gabriel had left for her were still standing guard. And yet she felt uneasy. Following the peace deal with the humans, she had actually managed to feel safe for the first time since the men had first arrived on her planet. Even during the Straggler Uprising she had not felt this anxious, but then she knew Ryo.
	She was able to sense anything her ambassadors did or feel. She remembered the meetings with Ryo conducted both by Gabriel and Isaravich. She remembered the amoral madness that Ryo emanated and the slick treacherous scheming. The fact that he had made it this far, and had her precious protector under his power, had made her the most frightened she had been since the Cronian wars. And when a creature her size was nervous, the entire ecology noticed. Already there were small cronusquakes on some of the planet that she occupied. She was trying to ensure that she did not damage any settlements, but every creature has its nervous habits.
	She realized that being nervous was not the answer. Both her and Gabriel shared a symbiotic bond. That was how she had been able to merge with Toshiro in the first place. She had been able to give him mental serenity and control, and he in turn was loyal and protected her. However, this also meant that they communicated their feelings to one another. So if she was nervous she was transferring that negative energy to Toshiro. She had to focus on a more useful form of spirit. She decided on the perfect one. She needed him to be angry, vicious, strong. She needed to enable him to smite the evil and end Ryo’s reign of terror for both herself and the humans she was, possibly against her own wisdom, now growing increasingly fond of.
	“Simple, but sometimes charming, little creatures” she thought, before focusing all her telepathic will onto her precious guardian and protector Toshiro. She needed it to travel far and work strong, the raw hatred to be undimmed as it passed through distant star systems.

	“Toshiro?” Kura exclaimed, “Are you alright?” Toshiro was indeed acting strangely, what with the pacing, the dark look in his eyes and the flexing and grasping. Kura could not help but think that breakdowns must be a genetic habit in the Makabe bloodline. Sanjuro approached his brother, as he was the only one who would dare approach Toshiro when Cothineal was exerting her influence.
	“What is it Toshiro?” he asked, as he put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. Toshiro spun to face him with an eerie glare. Sanjuro could tell that he was dealing with Gabriel more than Toshiro.
	“Cothineal wants him stopped” Toshiro growled, “won’t be long now until they come for us. When they do, I’ll cut them all down...”
	“You can’t be serious!” Kura exclaimed, “Look, I know Cothineal’s has made you somewhat different than how you were back at the Academy but that doesn’t change the fact that you are still human and thus not bulletproof.”
	“Cothineal feels trapped in a corner. When that happens one has no choice but to exert all force to break out” Toshiro uttered, glaring at the cell door with a most worrying intensity. Kura came up and whispered to Sanjuro.
	“I’ve never known Cothineal to panic” she said, “I hope she isn’t trying to conduce him into doing something stupid.”
	“I’m sure she knows what she is doing” Sanjuro whispered back to her, “she wouldn’t risk him unnecessarily.”
	“Still, he sounds homicidal to the point of suicidal” Kura muttered under her breath. Toshiro broke into their conversation rather suddenly.
	“Always whispering you two, aren’t you?” he growled annoyed, “Hiding something from me are you Sanjuro? Something from us...”
	“Calm down Toshiro” Sanjuro said, “getting worked up won’t do you any good.” Paranoia was the last thing any of them needed right now. Sanjuro jumped when he heard a metal clank emanating behind him. His sub-conscious had made him feel that it was the sounds of Toshiro’s footfalls on the metal cell floor as he ran to attack him. Instead it was the door opening behind him.
	“Makabe” the trooper called absently, “the great leader wishes to see you.”
	“Oh, an even bigger ego complex now” Kura muttered.
	“Quiet woman!” the trooper growled. Sanjuro heard a clunk and spun to look at Toshiro. He was walking, now perfectly calmly with his face a solid neutral, in the direction of the trooper. Slightly unnerved, the trooper decided to clarify his orders.
	“I didn’t mean that Makabe” he said, “I meant the Admiral one.” Toshiro kept approaching. “I said...” the trooper began, but was distracted by Toshiro grabbing him by the throat and throwing him against the wall. Toshiro leaned his face close to that of the Shogo trooper.
	“Look here, minion of evil” he growled in a low threatening tone, “your ‘great leader’ has made a great enemy. An enemy so large that she was mistaken for a geological artifact. And she has powers. Powers over the mind. Powers you don’t want to encounter. Clear? So, just let me and my companions out...” The trooper was not paying attention to the speech as he was too scared to concentrate on much of anything. He then made the ultimate mistake. He panicked and threw his entire strength against Toshiro and so Gabriel threw his entire strength against him.
	“Gagghhh!” the trooper squealed as Gabriel’s fingers squeezed the air out of his throat. The trooper let out one last gasp before Gabriel let him fall to the ground. He regarded the corpse as little more than a casual eyesore. He turned to face Sanjuro and Kura, who were staring at him wide eyed.
	“Follow” Gabriel ordered, simple and direct. Sanjuro and Kura did as they were told.

	“Communications sub-level control station?” Isabelle asked as she read the labels on the large bulky pieces of equipment she was currently surrounded by. Richard was doing the same on another row of machines. Kathryn’s voice came through Isabelle’s comm-link again.
	“No, that wouldn’t do it. There is probably a specialized device for controlling the security systems. I don’t know if they would have labelled it as such though.”
	“Sewer flow ensurer?” Isabelle read.
	“I wouldn’t mess with that” Kathryn replied earnestly.
	“Yeah...” Isabelle agreed. She walked down another few paces.
	“Central heating controls?” Isabelle read out.
	“I don’t think the internal temperature is a big concern right now.”
	“Oh! It could be any one of these machines...” Isabelle pronounced, whilst thrusting her hands in the air in frustration, “we’ll never figure it without some sort of schematic!” Richard however was about to prove her wrong.
	“I think I’ve found it!” he called out, and Isabelle ran to his side. The machine he was staring at was large, grey and unmarked. A simple grey metal box for all intents and purposes.
	“How do you know this is what we are looking for?” Isabelle asked perplexed. Richard pressed a switch on the side of the mysterious box. A security barrier came down behind them. He flicked it again and it raised up from whence it came. Isabelle was flabbergasted. “How did you figure out that?” she exclaimed, her eyes still fixed on the exit that was moments before blockaded.
	“I leaned down on the switch by accident” Richard replied amused, “nothing to it really.” Isabelle erupted into a fit of laughter.
	“You’re lucky it wasn’t the aforementioned sewer controls” she giggled. Kathryn was not quite as amused. Very possibly because of the omnipresent worry of being on a ship in combat.
	“Do you think you’ll be able to override the lock-down on our forces' floor with it?” she interrupted. It took a second for Isabelle to stop herself chuckling.
	“Umm, randomly press some more switches?” she replied sheepishly, “It’s not as if there are any markings or instructions. Must have been trying to keep this all top secret and cryptic.”
	“What is it’s order number?” Kathryn asked, “maybe I can break into it’s firmware control system from up here on the ship.”
	“It doesn’t appear to have any marking indicating that on it ma’am” Isabelle noted.
	“It’s 29364” Richard called out. Isabelle turned to face him again. How did he conjure up the revelation this time around? “The one before it is marked 29363 and the one after it is marked 29365 so I assume that...” he continued. Of course, Isabelle thought, it was all absurdly simple once again. Maybe she was simply expecting her superiors to have been more clever designing this place.
	“Alright” Kathryn called in, “I’ll try and get in. You two attempt to make sure no one comes down here trying to reset what I am doing.” Isabelle performed a salute, even though there was no way for Kathryn to see her do so.
	“Yes ma’am!” she exclaimed into her communicator.

	Sanjuro looked down the corridor ahead to determine whether or not the coast was clear. He saw with relief that it was, and turned to give Kura and Gabriel the all clear. Kura had waited for him to signal, but Gabriel had simply continued hurrying onward with the same intense aura of determination he had shown since ever Cothineal had first started to exert this strange influence on him. Sanjuro looked down to make sure his shotgun was properly loaded.
	He had taken the one dropped by the trooper that Gabriel had 'dealt with', partly due to the fact that he was almost frightened to let Gabriel have it and also because his brother’s alto-ego had not really seemed to have much cared. He would be perfectly happy taking them out with his bare hands it seemed. This was not the first time Sanjuro had seen the darker side of Cothineal, but that made it no less eerie. He was just glad that she, and thus him, were on his side right now.
	“Any idea where we should try and go?” he called back. Gabriel just kept on walking.
	“I don’t know” Kura replied, “do you think there is anything we can do to let the others out?” Sanjuro thought about it but realized that it would be pointless.
	“We’d either need to get into Ryo’s terminal or hijack engineering to do that” he replied, “I honestly don’t think we’d manage to do either. We need to think of something relatively nearby we can do with small numbers.”
	“Then let’s go and spill Ryo’s blood” Gabriel growled, “and be done with this.” It had to be said that this was not normally what happened to Toshiro when Cothineal stretched out her consciousness to him. Sure, he was fanatical, focused and serious, but he was normally clear thinking and direct when in this state. Sanjuro could not help but wonder why exactly Cothineal wanted to make him so angry. So bloodthirsty. The expression on Gabriel's face was enough to make him shiver.
	“Should we head for the boardroom?” Kura asked, “Maybe then the High Commanders could order the troops in.” Sanjuro was about to consider this point when from behind and ahead of him he heard unfamiliar footsteps...

	“I know this is a great deal to ask of you” Nathaniel announced into his comm-link, “but remember your oaths. We are here to protect the United Corporate Authority and its mission to ensure prosperity and security for the galaxy’s people. This is a time of crisis and know that I wouldn’t suggest this if I saw any other alternative. I give you all fifteen minutes to prepare crew, before we charge up to fire the cannon. Thank you, all you men and women who have served so loyally through the years. I’ll make sure High Command knows of all our efforts if we make it out of this. Farewell.” Well, it was not that bad of a speech. So he did still have the air of a Admiral to him after all this time...
	“Sir, the Insurrection is coming around. It is facing straight towards us” the tactical officer called out. Great, that was just what he needed. Were they trying to make him force his hand early?
	“Are they powering up their weapons?” Nathaniel asked.
	“No sir.”
	“Admiral, they are opening communications” the communications officer said. Nathaniel turned to face the ship’s view screen.
	“Punch it up Lieutenant” he ordered. The face of the same young brash Admiral stared in at the bridge of the Leviathan quite pleased with himself.
	“Well old man” he chuckled, “I guess I’ve put a stop to your little revolution. Stand by and prepare to be boarded. We don’t wish to harm your U.C.A. crew simply due to you and Admiral Makabe’s rash acts of treason.”
	“I’m afraid I can’t allow that” Nathaniel replied, “the future of the U.C.A. might depend on the continued freedom of the Leviathan.” The Admiral on the screen only seemed further amused by Nathaniel's refusal, broadening his overly self-satisfied grin.
	“And what are you going to do about it then?” he taunted with youthful impishness. Nathaniel let out an unusually wry smile while he pressed a final few buttons on his terminal.
	“This” he said simply, while pressing the final button which would send his, or rather Sanjuro’s by proxy, authorization down to the kato cannon targeting computer. The entire ship darkened. All mechanical background noise ceased. The oxygen vents closed down and the heating system spluttered out its last blasts of warm winds. The Leviathan was for all intents and purposes dead in space. That is, except for the cannon control system and the increasingly loud hum of the cannon itself. The entire power of the kato engines were feeding energy into the weapon and, as the ship itself drained out, it grew stronger. Soon it would be fit to burst.
	It was the longest minute and a half of Nathaniel's life. He counted it out in his head with growing difficulty as the air began to thin of life giving oxygen and nitrogen; being replaced with choking carbon dioxide. The cold chill of space began to seep through the ship’s hull, filling the entire place with a freezing chill. The ship’s crew sat down and huddled up in corners and simply waited for it to all be over – trying to ignore the cold and their growing headaches and weary lungs. A good deal of them still could not believe that they were going through this. Nevertheless, they all focused on surviving it. The Leviathan was a ship of dedicated veterans after all, and they would not let acting-Admiral Akkaraju or Admiral Makabe down.
	Kathryn sat in her chair in front of her now blank communications terminal. The firing could not have happened at a more tumultuous time for her. She had just sent down a pulse that should override the security lock-down. Now she would not be able to know if it worked until the ship regained life and only then would she be able to restart the ship’s outbound communications system. This was not a good time for her to be alone with her mind. She thought of Sanjuro imprisoned down below and of her sister too. It was all too much to handle. Her eyelids grew heavy. Her lungs begged for air, but could not extract it from the meagre atmosphere around her. She felt so cold and so worried. Her eyes closed and she fell out of her chair with a thunk.
	The entire ship suddenly shook as the force of the cannon spewed out in the direction of the Insurrection. In many ways it was a shame that there is no sound in space, because the noise of it hitting the vaporization shields would have been a cacophony to behold, not that the sight of it was any less impressive. The yellow kato energy hit the green of the shields and reacted with each other with a breathtaking fluorescence. The two separate beams arched and splayed out and around as they grappled with each others meaning. They were separate but similar forces alone together in the dark vastness.
	Finally they embraced each others commonality and, in a brilliant blazing flash, the energy fields converged and surged straight into the Insurrection's power system. The ship burst forward due to the sudden energy infusion before the tired circuits blew out and died.  The Insurrection came to a juddering halt and lay almost as still as its rival sister the Leviathan had been moments before. There was a difference though. Life support remained online. As the engineers had predicted, the merciless weapon had been tamed to non-lethal proportions. Unfortunately, the engineers were in no particular state to celebrate at that moment.
	A similar surge ran through the power systems aboard the Leviathan as the overclocked engines suddenly changed its distribution model and power moved away from the weapons system and into life support and propulsion. With a deafening blast, air was flung throughout the ship and the crew sucked it in quickly and thankfully. The return of the light was blinding after their time in the dark, but no one minded as it signalled their renewal from the brink. Nathaniel Akkaraju took one last gulp of air before he looked around his bridge. All around him his bridge crew were themselves trying to regain their composure, as he supposed must be his entire crew.
	“Everyone alright?” he called out hoarsely. The communications officer looked at him.
	“I’ll be alright sir” he said. Nathaniel pressed his comm-link.
	“Kathryn darling” he called out, too oxygen deprived to be formal, “are you alright?” He was horrified when no response came. He jabbed at his terminal for a few moments. “Something wrong with the systems?” he asked. The communications officer tapped a few keys on his terminal and determined the systems were fine. He looked up towards Nathaniel.
	“No sir” the man replied. Nathaniel cringed as he heard him say so.
	“Medi-bay!” he called out into his comm-link, “Send someone down to communications on the double! Acting-Admiral’s top priority!”

	Baku, Zhukov and Samantha stood, impatiently staring at the security blockade. They could not even remember how long it had been since the troopers had come to take Sanjuro, Toshiro and Kura away. Ryo could not leave them to rot in here forever. The gas injector above their heads still hung over their mind however, and they knew better than to risk Ryo’s wrath unless they knew damn well it would do them any good. Zhukov had never imagined himself becoming a prisoner on his own grounds. In many ways he was the most furious of them all about it. He realized that he should have been able to have detected Ryo before. Hell, he even should have been able to have stopped him seizing the building in the first place. This was his place to defend after all.
	Samantha did not know what she should do. On the one hand it was her prerogative to protect her charge and she could not do that while separated. At the same time she did not want to risk the others she was with. She had loyalty to the Fallen after all and it was some of Cothineal’s forces that were trapped in here with her. The U.C.A forces too she was bound to protect by treaty agreement. Those loyalties had never seemed to conflict before, but then it probably would be different if she was not also in love with him. Bodyguards were not supposed to get that involved with their charges. It created exactly this sort of lack of clear thinking. Still, she was not repentant about it.
	For a moment she longed for her days as a Fallen foot soldier. Back before she had met the exalted Gabriel in person. Back then she looked after herself as she did her best to disrupt the C.M.C. and later the U.C.A. forces and installations she encountered. Now she had so many other people to deal with it. She was a survivor, she knew, as she always had been since she was a poor street child in Maritropa. Now though greater things were at stake than her own life and she did not know what to do about it. So she waited, waited for someone to make the next move for her.
	Baku on the other hand was using this time to think some things through. His situation, beyond the current predicament, was becoming one of him feeling cut in two. It was not like the old days when the ‘friends for life’ were together in the U.C.A. Now they were separated by allegiances, one to the old force and one to the Fallen. He had not seemed to have appreciated it so much at the time he remembered though. His hidden feelings for Kura had made him feel uncomfortable being near her or Sanjuro, and so he had spent more time with the solitary Toshiro.
	That is how his life had been fractured, as he had gone with him into Cothineal’s control as his right-hand Uziel. The conflict in his mind was either to stay on Coth with him or stay permanently on the Leviathan. The Kura issue did not matter now that he had Cara. Still, he did not know how he would tell Toshiro he was going to leave him. His thoughts were interrupted by the slide of metal security doors and a mechanical female text-to-speech announcing the change.
	“All security lock-downs cleared.” The three of them stared around at the clear path ahead of them and all the others now freed who had been locked-down in separate sections. They would first have to track down everybody and then move on. They did not have time right now to question why they had been released. Maybe it had something to do with Sanjuro or the Leviathan. Right now though, they knew, it was time to act. At least their minds were clear about something.

	Sanjuro and Kura put up their hands as the covert Shogo and misguided U.C.A. forces surrounded them. Ryo’s reinforcements had arrived it seemed. Gabriel stared at each and every one of them with quite plain resentment. Sanjuro stepped forward to face the man who was presumably the team leader. Sanjuro knew it was probably one of the false-uniform Shogo troopers and so convincing him to stop what he was doing would be impossible.
	“Alright Admiral” the man said, “we are going to have to put you back into custody.” Sanjuro blinked at them. He had been captured or cornered or pursued so many times in the past few days that he was losing his ability to treat any one encounter too seriously. He considered his options, there were not a lot. Even with the now ruthless Gabriel they could not fight their way out. He decided finally to appeal to the U.C.A. soldiers who were currently aiming their weapons at his skull.
	“You must all realize that something isn’t right here. Surely it can’t seem reasonable that a crew of fellow U.C.A. forces would come from as far as Cronus to try and invade High Command without good reason?” he began, “Ask yourself where you’re getting your orders from.” The Shogo trooper in disguise was not amused.
	“Don’t listen to this man!” he barked, “He is a traitor. He wanted to take over the system for his own ends. He probably staged the long-range communications failure himself.” One of the soldiers in the group did not seem quite so convinced. Sanjuro thought he seemed a little familiar.
	“I’ve met Admiral Makabe before” the soldier explained, “we fought together getting into Avernus. Somehow I can’t believe he would do something like that.”
	“That’s right. Think everyone” Sanjuro called out, “surely you can tell you’re being mislead. I mean, do you even know who this man is?!” Sanjuro pointed at the squad leader. None of the U.C.A. officers showed any signs of having ever seen him before today. “What is your rank then soldier?” Sanjuro asked, feeling the tide starting to turn in his favour.
	“Don’t be silly! I’m a Corporal” he barked. Sanjuro smiled.
	“There is not any such rank in this sort of combat class” Sanjuro said, “who are you really?” The other soldiers, that is the ones who were not also secretly Shogo, certainly seemed to be questioning where their loyalties lay now. Sanjuro had a sense that maybe this situation was not as hopeless as it had first seemed. The ‘Corporal’ was not having any of it however.
	“We have our orders: clear High Command of interlopers. Let’s take him away.” The U.C.A forces did not move at the man’s urging but the, evidently, Shogo ones did. Gabriel forced off the man who attempted to grab him. The Shogo troopers all took out their weapons and raised them to Gabriel’s head. “We’ll have to make an example of you if you don’t get moving” the team leader growled. Gabriel glared back at the man. The other trooper again grabbed for Gabriel’s arm to take him away. Gabriel threw a punch and clobbered the man.
	The team leader raised his assault rifle and Sanjuro looked away. He did not want to see a visage so similar to his dream. A gunshot echoed across the long hallway. Sanjuro’s gut tightened, but when he looked back at his brother’s form, at least the body Gabriel was sharing with his brother, was undamaged. The familiar U.C.A. man stood with a smoking gun. The team leader was dead.
	“At your service Admiral” he proclaimed, “I think I can see the truth when it presents itself.” The other U.C.A. forces surrounded him but instead of taking away his weapon they stood beside him as comrades. The Shogo troopers in disguise raised their weapons, but the U.C.A. forces had them outnumbered. They dropped their weapons and raised their hands. “This is the path we shall embark upon” the man declared, “for those who won’t follow, we won’t harm you.”
	“They’re not U.C.A.!” Kura called out, “They don’t have any U.C.A. ID on their collars! Look!” A short glance revealed that she was indeed correct. Ryo had not been able to supply his soldiers with fully accurate uniforms. The man who had now taken charge of the squad came up to the nearest Shogo trooper, aiming his gun directly at his face.
	“Who are you?” he growled. A few beads of sweat ran down the trooper’s brow.
	“I’m a U.C.A.... um... Lieutenant?” he replied.
	“He is a trooper of Shogo Industries” Sanjuro called out, “Ryo Ishikawa is alive and is the one orchestrating this coup and not us as he, in the guise of High Command, would so claim. We’ve been trying the liberate the building for two days now.” The U.C.A. soldiers nodded at him.
	“Alright” the new squad leader said, “we’ll take this lot to a holding cell. After that, we are at your disposal sir.” Sanjuro looked to Gabriel and was a little disturbed to see that he looked as if he would have preferred being able to break a few more necks. What was Cothineal preparing him for that required such aggression?

	“I’m alright father” Kathryn muttered, “you should be on the bridge.” Nathaniel remained at her bedside unmoved, and so Kathryn simply frowned. “I was just a little overcome that’s all. I just need to rest a bit and I’ll be back to my comm station.”
	“Are you sure?” Nathaniel asked, “You don’t have to if you don’t feel up to it you know.” Kathryn stared up at him squarely.
	“Sanjuro and Kura are still down there. I’ll be back there until they are back safe and sound.” That Nathaniel understood. He himself was worried about Kura now that he was no longer focusing on spacial combat, and that was partly why he was here to distract himself.
	“Alright child” he agreed, “but learn from this experience. Don’t overload yourself like that again.” The comment struck Kathryn as rather out of character for him.
	“Would mother have listened to that?” Kathryn smiled.
	“No, but I did tell her so repeatedly.” Kathryn found that hard to believe, as she knew it had been her mother’s determination and diligence that had caused Nathaniel to marry her in the first place.  A man came up and tapped Nathaniel on the shoulder and he grudgingly turned to face him.
	“Sir, LZ Minotaur is going to be docking with the Admiral from the Insurrection aboard.” Nathaniel sighed and stood up, grudgingly turning to address the messenger.
	“Alright. I’ll be there to meet him” he replied reluctantly. He turned to face Kathryn before heading off. “You just make sure you’re okay” he said. Kathryn nodded pleasantly. Once he had left, Kathryn took a few moments thought. She figured, with an ironic smirk, that she had just encountered a kind of father she had never had as a little girl.
	“I hope he’s alright” she thought with good humour.

	Isabelle and Richard once again had no idea what their next move should be. The last they had heard from Kathryn was her saying she was about to send out a pulse that should override the lock-down. The machine had made a hollow clicking noise but they had no idea if it had worked and now the Leviathan was not replying to calls once again.
	“Ma’am?” Isabelle persisted. No response came from the radio. She frowned and turned to face Richard. “What now?” she asked. Richard grabbed the communicator from her.
	“I’ll try changing the frequency” he said as he twiddled with the various knobs and dials. “Leviathan?” he persisted, “can you read me?” There was a brief crackle, and then finally a response, but not from the Leviathan.
	“This is Commander Zhukov, U.C.A. High Command. Who is this?” Isabelle grabbed the radio back from a bemused Richard.
	“This is Commander Whitmore. Remember me?” she greeted, “What’s going on?”
	“Ah, yes Commander” Zhukov replied, “we’d assumed you were either captured or put under lock-down like we were.”
	“We were, but the Leviathan managed to get us free. We are in engineering trying to set you all free by universally overriding the lock-down.”
	“Well, it seems you’ve succeeded” Zhukov informed her, “the lock down has been lifted.” Isabelle grew a smile. No matter what had happened to the Leviathan, at least Kathryn’s hack had worked. She asked the obvious next question.
	“Where is the Admiral?”
	“Don’t know. Ryo’s men came and took him, Commander Akkaraju and that Fallen fellow out a while before you let us out. I guess finding them is our next priority.”
 	“Where are you anyway?” Isabelle inquired, “It would be nice to have safety in numbers again.” It was true that she had had quite enough of living on her own wits for one day.
	“Level 4 Commander” Zhukov responded, “you’ll have to be quick though. We won’t be staying here to wait for you. The Admiral needs us more.”
	“Understood” Isabelle replied, “we’ll meet up with you eventually. Whitmore out.” She turned to face Richard. “You heard him” she directed, “we’d better get moving.”

	Sanjuro did not like topsy-turvey, but he realized that this was exactly how things had been going from the start. First off, Ryo had gained the upper hand when he blasted the Leviathan with the defense grid. Kura’s skills and Kathryn’s wiles had then allowed them to escape. Then they had the upper hand as they had landed the initial strike team. They went out to the Armacham factory and Ryo had had the upper hand again thanks to his little trap.
	Then they had found Whitmore and her Home Guard and they had gained a new advantage. They had managed to hold their own during the initial assault on High Command and Isabelle had again managed to turn the tide with the video transmission. Then Ryo had locked them down. Then they escaped and were cornered, but managed to talk their way out of it. It was nauseatingly like a game of ping pong – moving back and forth.
	“Where will the ball land though?” Sanjuro thought. He had been fighting for the better part of two days now and night was starting to fall outside. The base was starting to be illuminated purely by artificial light. He did not want to admit it to himself but he was getting tired. No time for rest though. He knew he had to keep moving. He did not know what Ryo was going to do now, but Sanjuro just hoped that he was not going to gas the others. It was then he realized that he was forgetting something rather important, an upper hand he had lost due to his keeper’s searching him.
	“Do you have a communicator?” he asked, as he faced the squad leader who had served with him on Cronus. The man stood still for a second before his mind processed the remark.
	“Yes sir” he said, “here.” Sanjuro started work at tuning it to the Leviathan's frequency.
	“Admiral Makabe calling in” he pronounced, “Leviathan do you read me?” There was no response. “Leviathan?” he continued. Suddenly a loud screeching sound made him pull the device from his ears. The device continued to hiss for a few moments before a voice called in.
	“Sanjuro?” Kathryn’s voice came in. Sanjuro almost fell to the ground with relief.
	“Kathryn!” he called out, “What happened?” Kathryn chuckled to hear his desperation.
	“I could say the same to you. Did you manage to get out?” Sanjuro was surprised by that.
	“How did you know we were...”
	“You had your communicator on you when you were talking with Ryo” she said, “good thing you bought yourself some more time. It allowed me to override the security lock-down and let the others out, with Commander Whitmore’s help I should add.”
	“I see. What happened to the Insurrection?” Sanjuro replied.
	“Long story. We had been running from it and dodging its fire whilst the tech boys looked over the charts we had gotten hold of. Apparently this ship is so strong that they figured we’d just use a slightly reduced blast from the kato cannon. And we did. They are now dead in space – with life support still on of course.” Sanjuro found all that hard to fathom.
	“How did you fire it so fast? Surely it would have taken hours to power up in order to get it to do anything effective?” Kathryn sucked in a breath.
	“I’ll tell you when you get back honey” she replied, “how did you get out?”
	“It was Toshiro” Sanjuro informed her, “he took out the guard.” Kathryn waited awhile before replying. She was trying to think over how he had managed that in her head but nothing pleasant occurred to her that made any sense.
	“I see... anything else I should know?”
	“Only that I’m not alone. I’ve managed to win over some of Ryo’s ‘reinforcements’.”
	“Okay. You should link up with the others. They are heading for the cell blocks looking for you. They are on level 5 right now. Good luck Sanjuro.”
	“Yeah” Sanjuro told her, “you too.” Hearing her voice had done the trick. He no longer felt tired and weary. He now could see what he needed to do again.

	The young brash Admiral did not look nearly as happy sitting in the Leviathan’s conference room as he had been taunting the Leviathan’s crew from the bridge of the Insurrection. Nathaniel took some satisfaction from that state of affairs. Still, he wanted to get this little conversation done quickly so he decided to be direct.
	“You still don’t believe us about the coup, do you?” he began. The other Admiral shifted in his seat uncomfortably.
	“Let’s just say I’d rather believe what the message from High Command told me than someone who was discharged for acting out and violating direct orders from same High Command.”
	“Maybe, but it didn’t exactly occur to you to wait and hear us out. No, instead you went out and fired the first shot. Not exactly a stirring thing to do on the propaganda front is it?”
	“I had my orders” the Admiral replied, “and I executed them.” Nathaniel sighed.
	“Look” he began again, “I don’t need to be sitting here talking to you. I have other things I could be doing. I just thought that it would help show that we are, in truth, all on the same side here if I brought you over and gave you this proposal: promise me no further hostilities and, once my ship’s systems are reactivated, I’ll send some of my techs over to help fix your overloaded engines.” The Admiral thought over the bargain.
	“If you are bluffing” he considered, “I would be committing a crime by collaborating with you wouldn’t I?” Nathaniel shook his head.
	“Once both of our ships are functional again I wouldn’t ask for you to fight with us. You can even leave Earth’s vicinity if you so choose. I just ask that you don’t frustrate the situation further.”
	“Alright. I assume you have actual evidence about this supposed coup?”
	“My communications officer will be happy to submit it all to you” Nathaniel replied, finally reaching a breakthrough, “hopefully it will convince you to at least be willing to give us some of your kato stocks. We are entirely out after charging the cannon.” The other man smiled.
	“Yes, that. I’m sure High Command won’t like hearing about you using the kato cannon on another U.C.A. ship no less” he replied, “consider that.” Nathaniel sighed again, this youth was intolerable in his persistence against him.
	“I admit it was an unorthodox and untested approach” he said, “but my engineers checked their math again and again to make sure that, based on your ship’s design schematics, we wouldn’t harm your crew. The fact is that it worked exactly as intended by merely disabling your craft.”
	“Alright, alright. Fine. I’ll look over your evidence. If it is up to my satisfaction, we’ll talk. If it isn’t, I’m getting the hell out of here before I am liable to lose my job because of you lot.” Nathaniel nodded, that was fair enough, or at least not really unexpected.
	“As you wish Admiral” he agreed, “call me when you’ve made your decision.” Nathaniel turned and walked out of the room. “Children...” he thought to himself distressingly.

Part Eight: Shifting Ground

	Isabelle smiled as she saw the glint of blue, black and red U.C.A. uniforms ahead of her. Although she was equally scared that it might well be a trap. She had needed to once again employ stealth to get back up here and had zipped around three Shogo troopers. She did not want to tarnish all that by making assumptions. Such worries were evaporated when she saw some familiar faces – that of Baku, Samantha and Zhukov.
	“Commander” Zhukov greeted her with a nod, “nice to see you could join us.”
	“Pleased to be here” Isabelle panted back, still breathless.
	“The Admiral just called in” Baku interjected, “he has a squad of soldiers on Level 8 waiting for us. No idea how he managed to escape Ryo’s men.” Isabelle nodded.
	“I’ll take command of the Home Guard platoon now if you don’t mind” she declared. Samantha glanced over the young woman and saw a new look of confidence in her.
	“What will Kura think when she sees how little Whitmore has grown up?” she thought to herself. With a ding, the elevator landed again and another batch of troops proceeded to raise up to the next level. Now, unless Ryo had one, very, very last, trick up his sleeve, it should soon be done with.

	Ryo felt beaten down but by no means destroyed. It was not as if he had not expected them to get out of the locked-down corridor sections eventually. All he had intended was for it to buy time and allow him to call in reinforcements. For that reason he was more concerned about the loyalty of the U.C.A. forces he was going to have to rely on from outside of High Command. Those who had been stationed here had known just to follow the official orders he sent down to them. This new crowd had an irritating tendency to think for themselves. Oh well. It was not on idiotic fools that he solely depended, and he was ever more grateful to still have that ace up his sleeve.
	Ever since he had set up shop on Cronus, he had been raising an elite team of his own. It was of their stock he had sent to the Armacham factory, and of them he had sent to secure the boardroom. They were by no means all of their number though. He had his special strike force prepared since he heard Sanjuro had first landed. Soon it would be time to send them into High Command. What with all the confusion, he should be able to do it without alerting yet more U.C.A. personnel about his presence. They should be able to handle Makabe’s rabble even if he was making more friends.
	That was not to say that things had been going quite to plan. Under Ryo’s projections, he would already have had Cronus under his grip rather than still be playing around here on Earth. If only the Leviathan had been a nice little ship and stayed back at Cronus and not gotten involved. If only those damn defense grid gunners had not been so incompetent, if only he had not lost his dear friend at Armacham, why did Makabe always manage to disrupt even the best laid plans? Why could he never stay down? Whenever he was captured he would work his way out! Whenever he was surrounded he would somehow manage to survive. Well, at least that meant one thing. The higher the precipice Sanjuro climbed the worse the fall would be for him. Ryo relished that thought...

	Sanjuro sat and waited yet again but this time it was on his own terms. The majority of his forces were amalgamated under Zhukov, Baku and Isabelle now so it made more sense for them to come to him instead of him coming to them. He did not want to confuse them about him and his companions' whereabouts and he certainly did not want to risk encountering any Shogo assault teams. Kura disrupted his thoughts as she approached and sat down beside him. Sanjuro wrapped a casual arm around her and pulled her closer. She smiled at him.
	“Its good to see you’ve gotten over that dream now” she commented. Truth be told, Sanjuro had completely forgotten about it after it had started to stop coming true. After he had talked with Kathryn it had slipped even more inextricably from the back of his mind.
	“Well, it's not coming true is it” he said, “you’re alive, Kathryn’s alive. We are all alive.”
	“Does it ever occur to you that we are too lucky?” Kura mused, “I mean think about it. Despite it all we are still here. You thought I was dead for awhile. I thought the same about Toshiro and Baku. Even when I knew the truth I thought that Cothineal had destroyed them permanently, and yet...”
	“I just decided not to question it” Sanjuro replied, “and was just happy that you and rest were alive. I mean it is not exactly luck is it? After all that is where I got this disorder from in the first place.” Kura wished he had not said that. She decided to come clean about her guilt over his condition.
	“I am... sorry about that” she said to him simply. Sanjuro did not quite understand.
	“What do you mean?” he asked. Saying sorry was not regular Kura.
	“Your whole illness thing is kind of my fault... I let you think I was dead. I honestly can’t imagine how that made you feel... I’m sorry... but I needed to listen to father and it was my duty... and...” Sanjuro held her closer, having been sure that she had felt this way beforehand.
	“It’s okay. I’ve already told you that I forgive you.” Kura looked down at her feet.
	“And to think I had the gall to complain about you and Kathryn...” Sanjuro frowned.
	“I don’t need you going like me too, you know” he told her. Kura stared up at him, appreciated the humour in his quip and laughed.
	“I guess so” she agreed. She leaned back and thought for a bit. “I always did think you were funny Sanjuro” she began, “I still can’t believe you still have that sense of humour after everything.”
	“And you are as rambunctious and determined as ever” Sanjuro stated, “I’m glad that somethings have stayed the same.” Sanjuro did not realize that he had just made yet another horribly ironic statement. It was still a long evening ahead of him.

	The Shogo strike force commander looked out from his black balaclava. The coast seemed to be clear. He stepped back from the corner he was looking out of and took a small black device out of his pocket. With a short click, he pressed a switch and the light ahead of him dimmed. There was not much good running around in black if the lights were on, was there? They would soon be approaching the target. Their mission was simple: take out all those in their way and sneak him out and back into the cell blocks. Ryo had stressed how dangerous this man was and so the commander was not leaving a thing to chance, and taking every precaution.
	He and his small team walked down the now darkened corridor slowly but purposely. Their training served them well as they noiselessly crossed the concrete floor. Once again the commander looked across the corridor and saw two U.C.A. men on patrol. He knew them to be loyal to Sanjuro. He gestured for the others to wait and he crouched down. The patrolling soldier was coming closer... closer... closer. In a flash, the Shogo commander leaped up and grabbed and pulled the man away, covering his mouth with his other free hand. The soldier protested, but the others could not hear him.
	Ryo’s orders were to be quick and deadly. He took out his combat knife and with a fleshly swish cut the man’s throat. He then dragged the corpse back down the corridor, leaving a trail of blood behind him. “One down” he thought. It was then he sensed the presence of the other approaching. Evidently this one was wondering where his associate had got to.  The Shogo commander again gestured for his men to crouch down and lie still. They could still use the dark to their advantage. A shadow crept behind the stray U.C.A. soldier as he stared down at the inconceivably dark passage way.
	The Shogo commander slowly but clearly raised his hand to give a gesture to a particular member of his team. The subordinate understood and began assembling his weapon, a task he did so skillfully that it made a minimum amount of noise. The tiny clicks and clanks were enough to alert the soldier that something was up however.
	“What the?” the man exclaimed before a muffled ‘piff’ came out from behind the commander. The stray soldier fell into the darkness right onto the pile of blood belonging to his companion. The Shogo commander waited for a few moments to make sure the muffled sniper blast had not alerted anyone else. When it was clear that it had not, he slunk forward, grabbed the body and dragged and stowed it away with the other. It was only then that he stood up, releasing the tension from his joints, and gestured for the others to get behind him. Only a few more killings before they reached their target. Such was the life of the trained assassin.

	Sanjuro and Kura sat together simply enjoying the moment – just as Sanjuro had been musing when it came to dealing with pleasant surprises. This time to wind down and rest was most appreciated, as long as they were not suddenly faced with a legion of crack Shogo troopers. Still, they would get advanced warning from the soldiers on patrol. The man who had taken over command of the squad had made it his top priority to ensure the safety of him, Kura and Toshiro. Gabriel sat a little while away glaring at the wall, but exhibiting a glossy look in his eyes which made Sanjuro suspect he was communing with Cothineal.
	Whatever she was planning, Sanjuro thought, he was sure it was going to be something to watch. He just did not know if would be in triumph or in horror. Sanjuro decided he should not think about that right now and spoil the communion he himself was having with Kura. Sanjuro had the feeling that she actually was at her happiest in these lulls between combat as not only did she have a goal and a direction but she got to enjoy Sanjuro with Kathryn’s presence being merely an auditory one. It was not exactly a kind thought, but if Kathryn knew she would understand. She had admitted to Sanjuro on a few occasions, with some embarrassment, that she often tried to think of ways to get him away from Kura. As long as the balance held though it would not be a problem.
	He did not have time to see from which direction the Shogo strike team first came from. First of all because it happened so quickly – they had him surrounded in a matter of seconds -  and second of all was the nocturnal oriented commander had once again used his dimmer device. The next thing he knew however, he was being covered by Kura as she kicked and beat at them with the butt of her assault rifle. It had already degenerated into a situation of such close quarters combat that she could not safely fire her weapon. Sanjuro stood up and joined the fray.
	“Oomph” Kura grunted as a Shogo striker hit her hard in the stomach. Sanjuro knew for sure that she had been winded, but also knew her better than to succumb to that. Kura always seemed to have an extra stash of air to use during hand-to-hand fighting. Sanjuro shoved the front of his rifle into one of his assailant’s throat and he heard the sound of the man gagging. He threw him out of the way and used the opportunity to see what had happened to Gabriel. It was dark, but he could see a second scuffle had emerged roughly where he had seen his brother’s form standing earlier.
	His concentration was broken by the force of an arm wrapping itself around his neck. His Academy combat training had been quite specific in teaching him how to get out of such locks, and he was able to squeeze out and throw a hard punch to the man’s covered face. The man grunted and fell to the ground, though it did not take him long to get back up again. The people they were facing, it was obvious, were no newbies. These guys knew what they were doing, and Sanjuro guessed that they must be Ryo’s best. Sanjuro did not know if there was anyway they could win this fight, but he did not see any other choice but to try. If they got captured again he doubted Ryo would leave them in a situation they could escape from so easily.
	“I am Gabriel!” a dark booming voice suddenly roared, “Representing the great Cothineal: keeper of Coth! You will stand down now evil ones!” The strength of the voice caused everyone to stop fighting and stare in the direction the sound had came from. The voice had sounded much too loud to have come from Toshiro’s own voice box. Sanjuro suspected that whatever Cothineal had been trying to pull was about to be set loose in the form of his brother. The Shogo assailants recovered from their temporary distraction and the fray resumed.
	Sanjuro realized that he had been separated from Kura and decided that his immediate priority should be to fight his way back to her. Luckily, his natural night vision was beginning to set in, and in the flurry of motion he was able to catch sight of brown hair among the flurry of black clothed heads. Sanjuro took in a breath, held his rifle close to his chest, and proceeded to attempt to beat his way towards the small flash of brunette he had previously sighted. He swiped his rifle back and forth, conjuring up a strength he was sure would have been depleted by now. He kept on hitting until he saw more than just a trace of hair.
	Kura was in the middle of facing down three men at once. Sanjuro could not help but think that in many ways this was the natural habitat for an Akkaraju at war. She jumped and swerved an incoming attack, before swooping and coming up hard at another incoming assailant. The third man tried to jump up and grab her from behind, but a swift back kick by Kura hit the man in a most vulnerable part of his anatomy. Even with the man’s armour, Sanjuro was sure that that must have hurt. Sanjuro felt a sudden pain in the back of his head as the force of someone’s gloved fist collided with his skull. Sanjuro spun and took the man out purely through instinct, with no prior training required.
	He turned towards Kura again and resumed his vicious swiping motion as he tried to get to her. Kura looked in his direction, saw him coming, and threw a few hits in the direction of the Shogo forces standing between them. Sanjuro ran as he swiped, jumped, whacked out at a few more swinging hands and feet and grabbed Kura’s shoulders as he landed. Kura, in one swift movement, grabbed Sanjuro’s arm and pulled him to his feet. Sanjuro placed his back to hers and they continued the struggle. During a, relative, lull he whispered to her.
	“You alright?” Kura clobbered another man again before replying.
	“Yeah, but these guys are good” she replied, “there can’t be any more than fifteen of them but they just keep getting up again.” Sanjuro kicked at the mob again and addressed her a second time.
	“You think we got a chance?” he asked. Kura actually turned to look at him this time.
	“We’ve always got a chance” she said, “as long as we fight hard enough.” That was a typical Kura response and hearing it cheered Sanjuro up. If she was up to her normal state they might have a chance after all. It was then he heard the blood curdling scream.
	“Agghhh!” an unfamiliar voice called out, desperate and terrified. Kura and Sanjuro simultaneously turned in the direction of the noise and started clobbering their way towards it. They did not think the voice was Gabriel’s, but they had to be sure. Of course, they were also bringing the forces against them closer to Gabriel - but they stood the best chance if they stood by each other, concentrating their efforts. Or so Sanjuro had thought. After struggling their way a bit further, the two of them saw that Gabriel was more than holding his own.
	“Want some more?” he taunted as he placed his hand onto another of the Shogo strike team. The unfortunate man let out the same horrible cry of pain and horror. A strange sort of yellow glow emanated from Gabriel’s hand and spread onto the flesh of his victims. Sanjuro and Kura looked away, it was not a pleasant sight. Instead they decided to focus on those not yet within Gabriel’s arm reach. Gabriel continued yelling and taunting as whatever unearthly power Cothineal was giving him blasted down man after man. Soon they were no longer surrounded. There were only three men left, but they had their guns raised, ready to shoot.
	“Drop your weapons!” the strike team commander yelled. Sanjuro and Kura realized that they were in the classic stalemate situation and complied, but Gabriel refused to stand down. “I said drop it!” the commander persisted. Gabriel stepped closer to the man.
	“Toshiro don’t...!” Kura called out. Gabriel again just kept walking. The strike force commander made one last gesture to Gabriel before he opened fire. Sanjuro, for the second time in so many half hours, looked away as his brother was putting himself in a position to have himself killed. It was because of this that Sanjuro missed what must rank up as one of the most unexpected sights he ever thought he would ever see in this entire mission – that of a yellow energy field arching around Gabriel. All the assault rifle blasts simply disintegrated, almost Insurrection-like
	Gabriel called out for Kura and Sanjuro to come closer to them, and as they complied the field enveloped around them. Gabriel ran up and took out the remaining gunners. Once he was sure the danger had passed, the field around them dropped and all three of them fell to the ground exhausted. In the case of Gabriel, it was not Toshiro’s body that was exhausted but the energy being emitted all the way from Cronus by Cothineal. It was one thing for Toshiro’s repeater, which actually took the form of an organic pod he had left with a U.C.A. station, to allow her to sense moods on Earth but quite another to send these sort of telepathic fields into her ambassador.
	Sanjuro and Kura held each other, both of them gasping. It was the typical response from such a tumultuous and concentrated exertion of physical strength. While you engaged in it, the body did not let you tire. When it was over however, you felt as week as an hour old new born puppy. Thus the sound of approaching footsteps was the last thing they wanted to hear. Back on Cronus, Cothineal focused hard and sent out another pulse of energy that allowed Gabriel to stand up and face the incoming forces. It had not been needed though.
	“Toshiro!” Samantha called as she turned the corner and saw the three of them with Toshiro standing staring and Kura and Sanjuro huddled together on the floor. “Are you all right?” she asked. Gabriel regarded her coldly and unemotionally.
	“I am undamaged” he replied, simply and directly. If she had not been used to the Gabriel personality she would have been taken aback by that statement, but she knew that the normal Toshiro was under there somewhere, collaborating with Cothineal to perpetuate Gabriel, and that he was, in his own way, pleased to see her. Baku rushed to Sanjuro and Kura’s side.
	“Anything wrong?” he asked as he stared down at Kura.
	“We’ll be fine Baku” Kura replied, “we we’re just assaulted by a Shogo strike team but we managed to fight it off with Cothineal’s help.” Baku nodded.
	“Yes, I sensed her presence through Toshiro.” Kura sighed. She had gotten the hang of Toshiro’s post-Cronus eccentricity, but she still had trouble accepting that Baku was not normal either. It was quite a change from the quiet but loyal cadet he had once been. It was then that a face with red hair hanging over it popped up from behind Baku’s shoulder.
	“Admiral Makabe?” Isabelle called out, “Commander Akkaraju?” Kura let out a weak smile in her direction.
	“So you’ve managed to keep yourself alive then” she addressed her, whilst forcing herself back up to her feet. Isabelle smiled back at her.
	“Yes ma’am.” She looked around and stared back at them a little confused. “I thought there were others with you?” she inquired. Sanjuro looked around and realized that there indeed were none of the squad members near him.
	“I don’t know” he shrugged, “the strike team must have dealt with them.” It was not a nice thought, but one that seemed all too realistic. Then the patter of running feet alerted him that he was wrong. The squad team’s commander, bloodied but standing, ran up to them.
	“Thank god you are alright” he said gasping, “they... they... killed three of us. I managed to get away. I don’t know what happened to the others. I had to get here. I knew they were coming to get you sir.” Sanjuro raised a hand to shush the panting man.
	“You go see a medic” Sanjuro ordered him, “we’ll go see if we can find the others.” He gestured for a section to break off from the main group and follow his lead. This group included Baku, Isabelle and a legion of Fallen and Leviathan men. Samantha and Toshiro stood behind with the main bulk while Sanjuro set out to finish the long awaited regrouping.

	Ryo sensed the strike team’s defeat long before the underling had slunk into his office. He had grown quite used to the sensation that ran up his spine as he sensed that Makabe had pulled off his witchcraft again. It started as a tingling in the small of the back and moved up and increased in intensity until he was sure that his feeling was true. At that point he always felt like he was about to scream. He did not of course. That was no way for a businessman to behave. At heart, after all, he was still a businessman. He was not doing this to go down in history as a great warrior or even to becoming dictator of all of civilized space. For him the conquest was simply something he needed to do to appease the shareholders.
	Ryo’s father had taught him to be absolutely ruthless and he had practised that well during the Cronian Revolution as he fed all sides with resources and information. Little did any of them know he was deceiving and messing with all of them. He had not minded the lives he was destroying as he helped the war escalate in an attempt to get it to consume the entire C.M.C. He had not cared when he heard about all those dead in Fallen terrorist bombings with munitions supplied by Shogo factories. He had not cared about giving the C.M.C. torture devices which they had used to try and extract information out of the fanatically loyal Fallen. As long as it was good for the company, which it would have been if he had been able to take Cronus with his war fleet the first time, all would be well.
	If anything he had became even more focused on his goal beyond standards of conventional morality since the beginning of his Cronian exile, after Sanjuro had shot him down on that M.C.A. walking path aboard the Leviathan. Of course, now that his heart was half machine, it would be very easy for him to be entirely heart-less. With his even more ruthless streak, he once again had managed to save the company from the brink and again bring them on the verge of their long time goal of acquiring the source of kato. Sanjuro, of course, was making it all turn out wrong. Again. It had been at that point that the strike trooper, or what had once been described as such, had entered his office.
	The man had spoken quickly and unevenly as he told tales of a demon man who spewed yellow heat out of his hand and shot out yellow energy fields around himself. He had then showed Ryo the burning on his chest that Gabriel had inflicted upon him. To tell the truth, Ryo had not cared in the slightest about this one trooper’s petty complaints. In fact, he was sick to the teeth with the whole lot of them - the incompetent fools. How many times had they failed him now? Ryo had looked up at the man from his desk, who was still shaking from his experiences, and had addressed him calmly and clearly. The man had then nodded and turn to walk away. It was then that Ryo had raised his pistol. With a sudden sharp bang the man fell to the office floor.
	“Ah stress relief...” Ryo had thought to himself casually, and then countered that thought, “perhaps when this is all over I should discuss this little incident with a therapist...”

	Isabelle looked somewhat dismayed when she looked over the three killed by the Shogo strike team. It was not that the scene was unusually gory, far from the contrary. The precision of the job left them basically unscathed, save for the holes in the back of their heads and a small pool of blood. The faces were calm, eyes open - as if watching a passing curiosity from the ease of relaxation. One of them did have his mouth open in a gape, seemingly more aware of the fate that had befallen them than the others. Still, it was no time to get hung up on such matters now.
	“How many of them were with you?” Sanjuro asked, “Is there really anyone left?” The still bruised commander surveyed the bodies, and then turned back to the Admiral. After a considerably brief examination, he had ran off and caught up with their search team to assist.
	“Yes, that is not all of us. If they got away, they would probably be trying to track down you or other friendly troops.”
	“Well, I do not think we can wait for them forever” Baku said, “if we can’t find them we should probably head back to the main group. How long before Ryo also regroups his forces after all.”
	“I’ll keep that in mind” Sanjuro replied, “but I do want to have everyone we can for the final push.” Isabelle raised her hand to try and get the Admiral's attention.
	“Should we split up, fan out and search the nearby corridors?” Isabelle asked.
	“Alright, and then if we do not find them we return to the bulk” Sanjuro decided. It was then that his communicator pinged.
	“Sanjuro” Kura’s voice crackled, “our lost sheep have just turned up. Seems you’ve been lead on a fool’s errand.” Baku looked towards Sanjuro with a somewhat irritating sense of satisfaction.
	“Thanks Kura” Sanjuro replied, leering at Baku, “we’ll get back and then march on Ryo’s office.” Sanjuro sighed with relief over the knowledge that he had not left another group of men alone to die at the hands of Ryo’s forces. The sooner this was over, the sooner he would be able to go over his psyche with a fine toothed comb and ward off the complexes that could be making him just a bit too obsessive. “Baku still does not have the right to comment though” he still thought to himself.

	Nathaniel Akkaraju stared intently at the expression of the young Admiral, after he finally returned from his review of Akkaraju’s evidence and his considerations towards them. The youth was still apparently unwilling to submit utterly to his authority, and wore a poker face to hide his true intentions. He sat down in the chair opposite Nathaniel and waited for him to make the first move – despite it in all logical senses being his moment to respond. Nathaniel decided not to provoke any further mind games and did supply his own opening.
	“Was our evidence ‘satisfactory’?” he asked.
	“The story of Ishikawa’s surgical survival seems a little far fetched, but the supplied footage does seem rather compelling. Still, it could be faked in advance to justify a coup of your own.”
	“How likely does that possibility seem to you? I’m an old man who by no means wishes the responsibility of dictator of the Earth, and Admiral Makabe does not even take well to being put in charge of a flag ship.” He knew that Sanjuro's streak for insubordination was now quite well known.
	“That does not necessarily counter my supposition, given you could be representing third-parties. Using a recognized war hero like Sanjuro Makabe does seem a little too convenient.”
	“And yet they tarnish that by having a man like me face you? Someone still regaining trust from High Command for my admitted mistake?”
	“True, but you too have a reputation that, in many minds, supersedes your Cronian transgression. You also have that as a motive towards the overthrow of the established authority that reprimanded you. As for Admiral Makabe, everyone knows that, although he was the one who deposed you, he is still sympathetic for, shall we say, more carnal matters?”
	“Leave my daughters out of this you swine!” Nathaniel growled.
	“Aha! There you go! That is what I wanted to hear.”
	“What do you mean?” Nathaniel replied, confused and rather irritated.
	“It occurred to me that if you were doing your own coup, as the textual updates from High Command suggest, you would be slick and personable to me in order to win another ship over. The more fleet force, the more legitimacy. Yet, bring in one innuendo about Commander and Lieutenant Commander Akkaraju and you lose your patience. At very least you are not a competent coup artist.”
	“Does that mean you are willing to aid us? Yes or no?” Nathaniel inquired.
	“Acting Admiral, I think you’ve got yourself an ally” the man replied, “as long as your actions stay straight. The first sign of deviation from your story and we are out of here.”
	“I’ll respect your judgment” Nathaniel said, “let’s get our two crews to hone up the Leviathan and the Insurrection and prepare to target the defense grid over High Command. Our troops on the ground should soon be ready for their final assault.” The Admiral nodded, and set off the return to his ship to make his own preparations. Before calling up Kathryn to update her on the situation, he ran his fingers over his moustache to work out some frustration.
	“It kind of makes me wish the kato cannon was a bit stronger” he pondered cruelly.

	A deafening sound greeted Sanjuro as he and his search team arrived back at the main bulk – the sound of a sudden organized salute. Baku stepped back in surprise, Isabelle blushed and Sanjuro simply gave a little salute back to them. If this was supposed to be a show of solidarity and support, then he appreciated the sentiment. Still, it did also serve as a reminder of the lives he still had a responsibility over. He should calm down though, how many traps can one mad-man have set up?
	Surely at this point things would have to be pretty straightforward. Sanjuro, Kura, Toshiro, Baku, Zhukov and Isabelle all took their commanding positions in front, with an ever watchful Samantha directly behind Toshiro just waiting to take a bullet if that was required. Sanjuro thought back to that little outburst of her’s back at the home guard base. The signal to move came in through the pleasant voice of Kathryn.
	“Alright Sanjuro, the Leviathan and the Insurrection are back in fighting shape and are ready to take on the defense grids over High Command. Hopefully this should confuse the troops and give Ryo a bit more to worry about, and we will land more troops, including fresh ones from the Insurrection, if we can get the system down.”
	“Sounds good” Sanjuro replied, “you should switch over to coordinate the motions of the two ships. There is very little good you can do watching us down here. I think we can handle it.”
	“If you say so sweetie” she agreed, “but be careful...” Sweetie? She only said that during a mission if she was worried. That did not really help much.
	“We will be fine” Kura replied tersely, “we’ve made it this far.”
	“Well, the cut-off before scared me a bit and...”
	“If you don’t mind, we should get moving” Zhukov interrupted.
	“Bye Kathryn” Sanjuro cut in quickly.
	“Bye” she replied, as the line crackled closed. Zhukov held his stare for a moment.
	“I see why you’re supposedly so calm during missions, compared to your home life a gunfight must seem peaceful” he told him. Isabelle chuckled, but Kura did not seem amused.
	“Forces forward!” Sanjuro yelled out, and the mega-squad moved its first steps to hopeful victory. Meanwhile Kathryn, still listening, blew a kiss out towards her now dead microphone before finally turning over to her other console.
	“Alright Insurrection” she called, “Leviathan is ready to open the attack.”

	Ryo looked over the dead body of his failed minion pensively, as he impatiently read his readouts and monitored his men barricade and fortify the remaining distance between him and Sanjuro. For once Ryo did not have a plan B, and he was feeling an extremely rare feeling of apprehension. The gods must truly have something against him. What had he done to offend them so? What had Sanjuro done to earn their favour to such an extreme degree?
	Sure he had, as leader of Shogo, manipulated and escalated a vicious war that engulfed an entire planet, leading to the extra deaths of thousands, and had even tried to take control of the most significant force of power ever seen. Sure he had tried to manipulate perhaps the most massively important and awe-inspiring organism in the known universe. Why count that against him? His philosophy was right and, more importantly, it was good for the company! Was the force of karma squarely against poor embattled Shogo Industries?
	He decided that he had to calm down and listen to the words of his father: “a businessman never panics, and never retreats. He may appear to, but that is always in actuality the exploration of a new venture.” Inspiring words, words that had driven him all of his life. Words that drove him to continue on even at the brink of death, trapped under the surface of a sickly, but oh so important, planet. Surely this was not the end of him. Let us consider the investment possibilities, he decided. Could he bribe Sanjuro? All men had a price after all. No, not Sanjuro. He was not human. More importantly, what did he have to bargain with anyway? All Sanjuro wanted from him was Ryo’s life.
	Lives. Now there was a commodity that was equally replete in the universe, yet at the same time so precious and individually fleeting. He did have an option still left to him. Would Sanjuro be willing to kill him even if it meant killing the heads of the organization he was honour bound to serve? Shogo still held this sector and the High Commanders were still his, he reminded himself. He tapped a few keys on his terminal, his mind now once again made up.
	“Alright, the great leader has an announcement” he smiled, the phrase had started out as one of respect among his men back on Cronus, but once he had heard it he could not resist adopting it. “I want a small, but serviceable, platoon of troops to join those guarding over the High Commanders. Your task, if raided by Makabe’s men, is to shoot your prisoners immediately. After that, you can make your own way out.” Ha, that was a laugh. Anyone left with Makabe’s men were doomed. Somehow he enjoyed giving false hope to his foolish pawns. It suited them after their numerous failures.
	“Aye sir” one of his leading subordinates replied, “will do. Our fortifications are complete sir, the enemy will have to put up a bit of an effort to get here now.”
	“Very good” Ryo replied, “do not fail me this time... And this time I mean it damn it!”
	“Yes sir” the guard said, without even noticing his master’s exasperated refrain. Such was loyalty, Ryo thought, but sadly, with this lot, so also was stupidity.

Part Nine: Showdown

	The defense grid gunner sat lazily back behind his turret control mechanism. Despite the bit of action he had yesterday, he still felt that all in all this was a rather dull job. Fighting rouges is not exactly what he had signed up to the U.C.A.S.F. for. He had believed the shiny recruitment posters that had popped up all over Amsterdam Space-dock showing the finely uniformed man and woman beckoning the young and adventurous to “remake the galaxy!” He had imagined a life of intrigue, meeting alien races, exploring distant planets and being decorated and celebrated.
	Instead he sat behind a console all day. It was not even like firing from a real gun, as most of the targeting was done by computer. It had to be this way, he knew, simply based on the relative distances involved, but that did not make him feel much better about it. Most of the time, all he got to shoot were asteroids or pieces of space junk. Suddenly an alert blared in his ear as two blips appeared on his minimalist, and rather old-fashioned, targeting display. They were blue, and so were U.C.A. Was his machine malfunctioning or had the rouges returned, with a friend?
	His orders came in the same eerie form of plain white text on his black screen: “Hold back the coming assault, prevent the landing of ground forces – High Command.” He pressed a few buttons on his controller pad and felt the reverberations as missiles and laser rounds flew out of his turrets and launchers. He had long since dulled to this sensation and failed to see anything glamorous or even dangerous about it. It was then that his secondary alarm blared – the one that warned of a personal threat. That one was a bit more novel to him.
	The second apparently rogue ship, marked in small blue text as the U.C.A.S.F. Insurrection, had one of its many targeting sensors aimed at his position. The man experienced, for the first time ever in his military career, the feeling of fear. His hands twisted, his legs trembled and his lips  shook as his wide eyes stared at it. He pressed a quick succession of buttons, firing a barrage at the ship and raising shields, and then waited. He cringed as he saw on his display the red mark of incoming munitions, growing larger and larger by the second.
	“Collision in 3, 2, 1” the almost annoyingly calm and motherly electronic announcement blared in his ear through his headset. Soon that noise was overwhelmed by the great cacophony of the collision and explosion. The man ducked under his right desk and huddled up close, as he tried to wait it out. The room around him continued to vibrate wildly and his vision spun, blurred both from his physical conditions and deep sense of terror.
	Just as suddenly it all stopped, the building stabilized and power even returned to the displays. He looked up wearily from underneath his makeshift bomb shelter, and stared aghast at how strangely calm everything suddenly was. Just then a message flashed on his primary screen and he rushed up to read it, banging his head against the top of a bulkhead as he went. Whilst swearing, the message came back into his visual spectrum.
	“Gunner, you are now disabled. Do not fret, we mean our comrades no harm – Sincerely, Insurrection.” Once again utterly dumbfounded, the man stared at the flashing message for a few more moments before looking up and around his targeting bunker. Apart from a few somewhat distressing cracks marring the roof and plenty of knocked over equipment, papers and belongings, everything seemed uncannily normal. Given how sure he was before that his end had come, this realization actually made him quite angry. “Damn them to take away my chance to die in glory!” he cursed, before  leaning down, picking up one of his possessions from the floor and continuing to read the novel he had sneaked in a few weeks earlier.
	“Now these lot are real heroes” he commented to himself as he flipped to the next page of Adventurers from the Ninth Planet! - Now a Major Motion Picture.

	“The specialized targeting system brought over from the Insurrection is apparently doing wonders” Kathryn spoke through microphone into her father’s ear, “taking out the turrets quickly and rather peacefully. That is really quite a ship we’ve developed.”
	“It is an ugly modern beast” Nathaniel replied, “it lacks all the charm of A600 class cruisers. Now those were real ships.”
	“Father, they were decommissioned for fire problems” Kathryn replied, somewhat sick of her father’s ever present nostalgia for his first command – with a crew of roughly five, counting the ship’s laboratory gerbil. One of her most tiresome childhood memories was hearing the tale of the one time ol’ Gerby escaped into the ship’s ducts. It was one of the few military stories he had to tell her and Kura when she was about three years old. Still, it had lost its cuteness as time went on.
	“Well, if these new ones are so great why did we manage to stop it?” Nathaniel countered.
	“Try hitting the Leviathan with a kato cannon and then repeat that” Kathryn retorted.
	“Now you are acting like your sister” Nathaniel noted.
	“Look, I have to go” Kathryn said, “I do have a battle to coordinate – one you are supposed to be leading, I might add.”
	“Now you sound like your mother.”
	“Goodbye father” Kathryn called out exasperatedly, closing down communications. It was amazing what happened to otherwise serious people after fighting for over eight hours straight. It even gave her father a, somewhat off-kilter admittedly, sense of humour. It is a strange universe after all.

	The High Commanders stood up and raised their hands above their heads as the latest swarm of troops entered the room. As with the previous shuffles, reliefs and transfers, there was always the faint hope in the back of each of their minds that this time it would be U.C.A. troops rushing in to end their now days long suppression and misery. Maddeningly, every time it was the same red uniforms of Shogo Industries. Ryo’s closest and most trusted men still wore their real uniforms back behind the primary front lines inhabited by the camouflaged and the still unrealizing.
	The Commander who had thought earlier of the Leviathan, now a distant and faded hope quickly surrendering to despair, was the only one of either inmate or keeper to notice the actions of one particular trooper in red. Casually, and with great effort to hide his endeavour from even his own comrades, the soldier was configuring a small black box roughly the size of his palm. The Commander had already guessed that it was a bomb and was rather unhappy therefore, to see the man slide it under the conference table rather close to his position.
	The trooper then, equally casually, slid his hand into his pocket and handled a bulge which by all logic would be the detonator device. The Commander cringed as the idea of an immanent powerful explosion flew into his by now highly frazzled mind. However, no such event transpired and he slowly, and cautiously looked first at the trooper in question and then to the black box under the table. Ishikawa was evidently prepared to kill his own men if necessary in order to take them all out quickly. Still, the fact he knew something the trooper obviously did not want the others to know was something. It meant, for the first time in days, one of the most powerful men on one of the most powerful councils in all of civilized space actually had a slight authority. He knew he would have to consider careful if and how to press upon it.

	As the forces marched behind them, the commanders, lead by Sanjuro, faced both the immensity of responsibility to the swarm behind them and also of the dangers lying ahead of them. This was what any squad commander had to get acquainted with, so Kura and even Isabelle seemed to be taking it in stride, even if this was that sensation expanded against all sense of proportion. Sanjuro too, despite his deep fears and reservations, was also focused and centred on the task at hand – of ridding the world of Ryo Ishikawa’s threat once and for all.
	Zhukov, acting leader of the High Command force, was less used to this sort of situation. The defense and maintenance of a structure was a far different matter entirely. Still, here he was invading and besieging the same structure he was originally assigned to protect, and, curiously, that was exactly still what he was doing. To calm his nerves, he recalled an old marching song from his youth. The Zhukov family had been Russian military since Napoleon’s invasion, through the October Revolution, where they had switched sides to the Bolsheviks, to the Great Patriotic War, post-Soviet skirmishes and all the way to the present. They were not in fact related to that one famous Field Marshal Zhukov, but their dedication to their motherland was no less intense.
	Sanjuro soon noticed the small dark voice, as it continued its hard determined incantation. Zhukov spoke it all in Russian, but soon a translation from Sanjuro’s communicator device started speaking a rough mechanical translation into his ear: “The huge country is rising, is rising for the deathly battle, against the dark fascist force, against their cursed hordes...” Together, the commanders took another sequence of steps forward. With a now familiar thunderous clatter, their subordinates followed. Sanjuro focused on his earpiece again: “will resist the oppressors of right notions, rapists, bandits, people's tormentors...”
	The unified battalion turned a corner, and was suddenly faced with a small squadron of troopers, accompanied by three shock troopers in heavier mech-like armour. He signalled for all squadrons to open fire and pressed a comm button that sent the signal beep to everyone behind him. Still, to take this immediate lot out was really the task of those in front, if they did not want to be shot in the back. Sanjuro, Kura, Isabelle and the rest, with sudden courage, aimed forward, stepped forward and opened fire. Even as Zhukov reloaded a clip into his assault rifle, he continued his marching melody: “Let our noble wrath seethe like waves, the national war is going, the sacred war...”
	A succession of screams and shouts temporarily deafened Sanjuro from the translation, as several of the attacking troopers fell. One of the shock troopers jumped forward and aimed for Kura and opened fire. Kura ducked, but unfortunately the bullets struck two soldiers behind her instead. Isabelle, who was standing near her, leaped, slipped out a pistol from her belt and shot down the shock trooper with an blindingly fast succession of rounds. Sanjuro could not believe what it was that he had just seen, and neither could Kura. Richard, two lines behind, too stood still momentarily in contemplation of the reborn girl with flowing red hair, before being pushed by the flank behind him.
	Meanwhile Zhukov continued: “Don't their black wings dare fly over our Motherland, don't the enemy dare tread our immense fields...” Sanjuro wondered if Zhukov had been singing when they were rivals across the field of battle and, if so, what it was he had been saying. Sanjuro suddenly got the image of a generations-scaled back Zhukov storming into Berlin ahead of his Red Army comrades, gunning down German defenders and using a grenade to take out a machine gun nest before climbing on top of a barricade waving a shimmering red flag. A bullet soared past Sanjuro’s ear. To keep his focus, he decided to keep himself in tune to the beat.
	“Let us put a bullet into the brow of the rotten fascist vermin, let us make a strong coffin for such a breed...” Sanjuro, armed now with a combat shotgun, spread an array of pellets into another clump of enemy forces. The usual splattering of blood and death cries ensued. On later reflection, as also had become all too usual, he was bothered by how common place it seemed to him and how nonchalantly he had been conditioned to take it. One of the few survivors ran back, away from the Sanjuro’s approaching forces, and the large metal doors behind of him suddenly clanked shut.
	“Let our noble wrath seethe like waves, the national war is going, the sacred war...” Zhukov, ever persistent, quietly sputtered out. As the commanders reached the locked door, Sanjuro gave the order for his men, and women as the case may be, to halt. Toshiro came forward and put his head to the side of the door. He stood still for a moment, listening for secrets revealed through the door’s vibrations. Finally, he returned to face the group.
	“It looks like they are trying to block us from moving any further” he reported.
	“But we deactivated all those systems, well your Kathryn did anyway” Isabelle said.
	“It sounds to me like they are trying to compensate manually however possible.”
	“That might be a good thing” Kura cut in, “it seems to show that Ryo is genuinely afraid.”
	“Which suggests that he is finally running out of ideas” finished Baku.
	“Yeah” Sanjuro agreed, “but that still leaves us the problem of getting through this door.”
	“And whatever else they have put up there” Zhukov stated, out of lyrics at last it seemed.

	The High Commander stood against the wall deep in thought, while also trying to avoid the temptation to glance over at both the trooper and black bomb. He did not want the man to suspect that he knew anything about it. It occurred to him that the first order was survival. If the bomb went off where should he go? Well, the bomb would detonate under the table which would somewhat stifle the blast. The downside of this, though, was that pieces and splinters would shatter out in all directions. The corner than, furthest from the bomb, was the best bet.
	Now, the second order of business is one of communication. How can he subtly inform the others without their guards noticing? An idea did come to him, but at first he dismissed it as way too simplistic and obvious. After running his mind down a few more avenues, he decided it was the one he was going to have to attempt anyway. He walked up to the very man who had set the bomb up.
	“I’m afraid I need to be excused again” he said, with all humility.
	“Really? God, given how little we are giving you lot to eat and drink your needs are amazingly frequent” the trooper scowled. He gritted his teeth and sighed, “alright, I’ll send my assistant with you to keep you out of any funny business.”
	“I certainly do not have any business out there” he thought to himself, whilst composing his message to the others. He had positioned himself to give him the most opportunities to sneak a quick whisper to one of his kin. The guard’s assistant came up behind him, and he set off. As he passed the first prisoner he leaned close and whispered “Bomb, stay sharp, pass it on.”
	“What was that?” the guard suddenly exclaimed, aiming his gun at the man’s head.
	“A statement of support” the High Commander replied briskly, “I think we could all use it.” The guard looked very annoyed, but quickly gestured for him to move on.
	“I pray your need for cutesy cuddly solidarity is of match for your bladder” he growled, “I don’t want any ‘accidents’ here.” Oh, the damn cheek of that filthy man! He passed another Commander and spouted the same message “Bomb, stay sharp, pass it on.” The Commander, one of the few women, nodded and gestured for him to pass her. After repeating the message a third time, he reached the door and turned out, relieved that he had at least managed to do something.
	“That is good” he thought to himself, “she always was one to gossip.”

	The situation was almost comical after the rest of the day’s events. Instead of being trapped inside, or under fire or intimidation, here they all sat staring at this one metal door. It was a very different experience, to simply stand or sit, as a weary Baku did, and contemplate the dynamics of interior base architecture, opening mechanisms and potential breaks and weaknesses. Toshiro, as normal, proved to be the most pragmatic and practical of the group.
	“Are you aware of what the door is made of?” he asked, “Of what this base in general is made of? Since there will probably be more blockades as we go along.” Zhukov grunted out his reply.
	“Titanium, steel and concrete. Maybe a few wooden supports, but that would be it.”
	“That does not sound very breakable” Kura tutted, starting to pace about due to her incessant restless energy. Isabelle, as she had earlier with the lock-down walls, tapped the metal door to emit a short ping. Toshiro continued down his trail of thought.
	“I don’t suppose there is any particular area of the door that would be easy enough to strain with say gunfire?” Toshiro continued, “You mentioned some wooden supports?”
	“I do not think there would be anything like that with this one” Zhukov replied, “but that does give me an idea.” Zhukov looked towards the door as he said this, mulling it over.
	“Yes?” Sanjuro inquired, and Baku stood up in expectation. Zhukov held his audience with a short dramatic pause, enjoying this perhaps a little too much.
	“A few months ago we had a bit of an incident during an armoury restock” he began, “among the new guns was a delivery of TOW missile launchers in case of attack by tank, MCA or other such vehicles.” Sanjuro nodded, this plan seemed somewhat familiar to him.
	“I think I am starting to see where this is going...” he commented.
	“I’m sure you do” Zhukov replied, “anyways, one of our less experienced men was a little careless with one and dropped it. For some ridiculous reason, the sucker was loaded and the missile soared out and smashed into the wall. The man lost his right arm, and collateral debris injured about three others. Rather nasty.”
	“Agreed, but what was the sate of the wall?” Kura inquired.
	“A rather gaping hole. Bare in mind that this was a single blast in a comparatively poorly constructed corridor, but I think through up-scaling the same principle could do wonders here. At very least it would be a bit of stress relief.” The group considered this for a moment.
	“Crude” Toshiro replied dryly, “but it does sound like a feasible option.”
	“Alright then” Sanjuro began, re-entering Admiral mode, “where would they be?”
	“Nearest would be the armoury on level 4” Zhukov informed him.
	“Permission to send out a retrieval team Admiral?” Kura asked. Sanjuro smiled.
	“By all means Commander” he nodded, “just don’t blow yourselves up.”
	“Well, we will try Admiral” Kura winked, she always did have a soft spot for explosives.

	During a comparative lull, from the perspective of the Leviathan, Nathaniel called in and asked Kathryn for a status report on Sanjuro and his squadron. Kathryn dutifully, and thankfully, tuned her receiver for their signals and saw not only a GPS tracking signal but also a video feed, thanks to her continued ability to access the High Command security systems. Sanjuro and the others were waiting behind a door, with all their troops behind them, waiting patiently but obviously unhappily. The sight of it was strangely amusing.
	“Taking a break?” she asked down to Sanjuro. Sanjuro looked around, at first thinking the voice belonged to someone beside him, before becoming re-accustomed to radio communication again.
	“Waiting for Kura to return with the big guns” Sanjuro replied. Kathryn frowned.
	“You’re not hiding anything from me are you Sanjuro?” she inquired. Sanjuro cringed.
	“This is a public channel” Sanjuro chided her, “and no. Ryo’s men have dug themselves in and barricaded the entrances. We are hoping to blast our way in with a few TOW missiles.”
	“Hmm, that sounds a bit dangerous...”
	“I’ve handled them before” Sanjuro replied, “we will be fine.”
	“You have said that before” Kathryn mentioned, “remember your first explosives training run? You flashed off both your eyebrows and had to go the the medi-bay for minor burns?”
	“I was young and foolish then.”
	“You were trying to impress Kura” Kathryn replied, “and little has changed since.”
	“How do you suppose we should get past then?” Sanjuro retorted.
	“Well, the grid is coming down fast. Perhaps we could fly by and take a shot.”
	“That is even more dangerous!” Sanjuro exclaimed.
	“Yeah” Kathryn admitted, “but that way we up here get the fun!” Just then, Kura and her squad returned, with the three each brandishing menacing looking rocket launchers.
	“Kathryn? Fun? You’re not hiding anything from me are you Sanjuro?” Kura inquired, getting back into receiving range of the specially calculated signal target. Sanjuro closed his eyes.
	“I’ve had enough of that little joke for now, thank you” Sanjuro said, and Kura sighed.
	“Well, here’s yours” she responded, tossing him the gun, before grabbing another off of a subordinate. Before long he, Kura and Toshiro were armed and dangerous.
	“Uh hum” Samantha suddenly cut-in, coming forward, “I’ll take that.” Toshiro did not even seemed phased by the rebuke, and obediently handed the weapon over to his bodyguard. “Cothineal does not want you turned into the consistency of bacon bits” she continued, and Toshiro nodded and stepped back. Toshiro always did have too much sense to have much fun.
	“Are you ready yet?” Zhukov asked, holding his ears, “I’m not standing like this forever!” Sanjuro nodded, and gestured for his men to step back and shield their eyes from the coming explosion.
	“3, 2, 1” Sanjuro counted down, “fire!” He pressed down the trigger, as the two women on either side of him quickly followed suit. The howl of the three missiles shook down the hall and back through every single soldier behind them. What was once a sturdy metal door suddenly became a orangery-yellow flash as a violent force pushed against all sides of the corridor. As the dust slowly cleared, three smoking holes formed a passageway across. The three loaded the next round into their weapons and then aimed them back down.
	“Passage one unblocked” Samantha proclaimed, “I suppose we pass these back and continue until to the next one?” Sanjuro nodded and the weapons were hauled back, as the three then took out respectively an assault rifle, shotgun and dual Uzis. As Sanjuro stepped over the scorched metal, he could not help but notice the familiar splattering of blood and human ‘gibs’.
	“Looks like someone was waiting here for us on the other side” he commented, before gesturing for the others to follow him through. This might take awhile.

	“Another turret has locked on sir” the tactical officer called over to the Admiral’s chair. Nathaniel turned himself around and gave the by now accustomed order.
	“Use the special targeting sensor and attempt to disable it” he commanded, before slumping back down onto his chair. The man at tactical did as he was told and got straight back to work. Meanwhile, Captain Evans tapped a few more keys on his console and looked up from navigation.
	“We’ve completed another sweep over the drop area. It is starting to look good sir.”
	“What has the Insurrection reported?” Nathaniel requested.
	“Similar luck, but they have been besieged quite a bit. Their shields still have not really recovered from the cannon sir” tactical informed him.
	“How are we doing?” Nathaniel asked, “With regards to shielding and damage?”
	“Well, we were not hit by a cannon so our repairs proved more effective. 62% shield strength and holding sir. I think we are doing comparatively fine.”
	“Alright than, get Lieutenant Commander Akkaraju to offer the Insurrection to back off and repair and reset their shielding. In the meantime, we finish securing the space here and when we are done we can call them back and have them drop down relief troops for Admiral Makabe.”
	“Aye sir” tactical replied, “I’ll inform her right now.”
	“I just hope it will be in time to do them some good down there” Nathaniel thought.

	“Sir” the underling began as he slowly stepped into Ryo’s office, “Makabe has broken through the first layer of our barricade. He is blasting his way along. Akkaraju has just about finished our aerial defenses. They will probably be landing additional troops down soon.” The office seemed somehow changed since the man had reported to Ryo a few hours previously. First off, the lights had been dimmed and an unnerving stillness shook him to the bone. Suddenly, something shifted and his leader leaned out from the shadows. Ryo too seemed changed, his wiry black hair dishevelled, his eyes dark, his mouth slightly parted in a cold steady frown.
	“Your not doing you’re job right then” Ryo said simply, “if they keep getting through that means that you are all doing something wrong.”
	“We are doing the best we can, sir. We are greatly outnumbered and we have managed to buy a bit more time. They would already have been upon us if he had not acted the way we did.”
	“And what is this time for, may I ask?” Ryo scowled.
	“Well sir, for your escape dear leader.”
	“You mean for you and the rest of your cowardly friends to get away.”
	“But sir, we can not go on without you. The situation is unstable, we should get away. You should get away. I would stand here and fight to the end for you and all I ask is that you do not make that action pointless.” Ryo cursed as he realized the man might be right.
	“Just keep them back for now, if they get close to breaking in report to me.”
	“Aye sir, I knew you would know what to do.”
	“Get on with it soldier” Ryo growled, and the man rushed up and headed out. Ryo relaxed as the door closed behind the trooper, and the room returned to the sheer blackness he had set up. Even as the smell started to compound itself, the body of the dead assassin still lay still on the ground in front of his desk. Several of his men had offered to remove it, not bothering to ask how it happened, but Ryo had ordered them to leave it be. He wanted it as a warning to anyone else who would dare betray him through further acts of sheer incompetence.
	He thought about the kamikaze warriors of old, who were willing to die for their Emperor, and was instantly jealous of that level of devotion. For all the idle talk and sycophantic reassurances, had his men proven themselves in anyway loyal to him throughout all of this? No, every time they had allowed themselves to be slaughtered or otherwise silenced, and had let Makabe make one step closer to defeating him again. Maybe it was not the gods who had it in for him, maybe it was simply the company he kept. Well, he would have to keep them to their word and make them stand to the last man.
	As for himself? The idea of going down for his cause had something of an attraction. Even with the most dense propaganda Sanjuro and his precious U.C.A. were sure to begin propagating the moment after his demise, he could still easily see himself becoming a martyr. A symbol of resistance to the bureaucratic meddling regulatory agency which had far overstretched its original mandate from when the founder companies created it. Armacham and Andra may be able to stand taking orders from their stroppy child, but Shogo had stood up to it. That is the sentiment, to all ambitious businessmen, that his demise would sow into hearts and minds.
	The problem with this plan however was its lack of personal satisfaction. After all his strife, planning, and painful implementation through liars, incompetents, the corrupt and the weak-minded, to his bitter defeat, waiting and then renewed strike, oblivion seemed like the final insult at the end of it. No, he loved the company and would die for it if he knew that is what would be best, but he knew that it would not do it too much good. No, he would not give Sanjuro the opportunity to wave himself around as a trophy, either dead or alive, and he certainly did not want to face some nauseatingly hypocritical tribunal either.
	He would not simply wait and see if death would take him. The moment Makabe’s forces reached the High Commanders, he would wait for the report, and then make his exit. He got off the Leviathan after all, so he should be able to certainly find a place to hide it out here. Then, eventually he would come back and be reborn for a third time. From then on, his mission would be to take out Makabe through any means, before returning to more grand ambitions. With Sanjuro gone, his long-deserved fate might just reach him. The prospect of waiting it out again personally offended him, but planning the assassination would help make it more enjoyable. Ah, that wonderful thought....

	“Another day, another blast, another reason for renewed interior decorating” Sanjuro thought, the phrase having suddenly come into his head from nowhere. He had no idea what the original song or poem he was parodying was, but got the impression that he had in fact heard it from another pastiche of the same thing. What did that seem to imply about modern society, he reflected, if all originality was slowly being subsumed by the mass of homage and mockery? Well, it hardly mattered. He was a soldier and not a cultural professor. He looked through another blown door and stepped through, not entirely surprised to find he was not alone on the other side.
	“Die intruder!” the enemy trooper exclaimed, raising his rifle. Sanjuro was about to react but Kura ran up ahead of him and suddenly fired a kato grenade. The yellowish orb flew in an arc towards the man, hit the floor, bounced up and then came back to the ground again, just in time to singe the faces of another legion of defenders coming up as backup.
	“Aggh!” they screamed as the pulsing energy surged through their bodies. Beside Sanjuro, Kura cackled with bloodthirsty glee, before grinning down and kissing her gun.
	“Where did you get that?” Sanjuro asked, genuinely curious.
	“You obviously did not notice us pass the experimental energy weapons laboratory” Kura winked, before leaning up and kissing him on the cheek. “So you don’t think dear kato grenade launcher is getting all my favour” she smiled. Toshiro, Isabelle, Baku, Zhukov and then Samantha and the rest slowly walked through the hall and Sanjuro and Kura rushed ahead to get out of the way.
	“This is getting somewhat old” Kura pouted to Sanjuro, as a rushing Baku accidentally trod on the back of her boot. His attempts at an apology was stifled by a push forward by an equally rushed, but more belligerent, Zhukov.
	“Stay ahead of the herd you fool” he grunted, before catching up to the other commanders.
	“Fairly quiet in this sector” Toshiro observed, looking at the small pool of blood ahead.
	“Thanks to Kura” Sanjuro commented, “and her bouncy projectiles.”
	“It is like phys-ed class back at the Academy” she reflected, “only it dribbles itself!”
	“Keep facing ahead” a breathless Isabelle panted, “we are passing another corner.”
	“Hmm, now she gives out the orders huh?” Kura remarked.
	“I do wonder what Ryo’s intentions are with this repetitive set up” Baku pondered, “first off, each barricade seems fairly similar and seems to be placed at roughly equivalent doors. Then after that, roughly the same amount of troopers in between to give us a bit of a showdown, and then proceed forward. What is he driving at?”
	“If I were to venture a guess, I would say he is trying to slow us down, which makes enough sense I guess if he is going to try and escape” Toshiro considered.
	“And the sequential blockade design makes sense to me my lad” Zhukov interjected, “ever tried to get a handful of soldiers to agree on fortification placement otherwise? Not easy.”
	“I kind of hope that it is a plan for escape” Sanjuro declared, but Kura interrupted.
	“I don’t want to end this with our goose loose you know.”
	“Yes, I agree – but the other viable alternative is that he is setting something up to meet us, some further surprise or trap.” Kura rolled her eyes.
	“You are paranoid Sanjuro” Kura said to him dismissively.
	“To be fair, the factory, the lock-down, etc...” Baku cut in, and Kura glared at him again.
	“Sorry” he whispered.
	“As Admiral Akkaraju said when we arrived here” Toshiro cut in, “best not to speculate beyond the facts until we get them.”
	“Which means walking into the bed of coals again?” Kura mused.
	“Basically” Toshiro admitted.
	“Open fire!” another surprise batch of enemies shouted. This grouping had taken them at something of a disadvantage. They had become too complacent in the setup of door, group, door, group, door, group, that until they passed another door they had taken their safety for granted. They reacted quickly, but for once were caught on the opposite end of the advantage of surprise. A concussion of bullets, expertly synchronized, jumped ahead towards Sanjuro.
	Suddenly, as if an instinctual response to danger, his sensory input slowed. The bullets, his comrades and his enemies moved like snails. Still, the bullets were fast, sniper machine gun rounds and with a horrible realization Sanjuro calculated that his delayed reaction had come to late. He was going to be struck three times in a stretch. He closed his eyes, thought of Kura and Kathryn, the lights of his life, his brother Toshiro, Baku, his childhood friend, Nathaniel, the father he had never had proper, and every single person who had ever fought alongside him. The flurry of memories was a blur.
	“Garrgh” the stomach lurching scream echoed across the corridor. Sanjuro was pushed down with a sudden force and collapsed to the ground. He waited for a few moments, without a single thought in his mind. His body utterly still. Then he opened his eyes. He felt no pain, despite being slightly winded from the blow that knocked him down. When he realized the cause of that blow however, his psyche collapsed and had to be forcefully reassembled.
	“Admiral” Zhukov grunted, “Admiral?” Sanjuro steadied himself and arranged to cradle the man in his arms. Zhukov glanced up at him with respect and pride.
	“Stay still” Sanjuro directed at him, his voice shaky, “a medic will be on the way.”
	“I don’t think so sir” Zhukov struggled, “my grandfather was hit in the heart by Russian mafia whilst in Andra Security. He did not make it... * heave * ...at least I will have something in common when I meet him.”
	“Don’t talk like that” Sanjuro said, “save your breath, relax, we will save you.”
	“Admiral, do not despair. Dozens of Zhukovs have laid down their lives for mother Russia. I am not saddened to meet the same fate... * gasp * Just for one thing...”
	“Yes?” Sanjuro quivered.
	“I’m sorry I fought you outside of here, I should have realized you were a man of honour, I apologize for my...” Sanjuro could not let him continue. Not like this.
	“You were only doing your job, I forgive you.”
	“And you do yours” Zhukov heaved out, “leave me, and stop Ishikawa. Liberate my base.”
	“I will” Sanjuro proclaimed, “I will!”
	“Das vadayna” Zhukov whispered, “dear comrade.” With that, he closed his eyes, choked on a clot of blood and then lay still – his raspy breaths slowly ceasing. Sanjuro looked down at his strangely peaceful face. This was a man who truly had been prepared to die for what he believed.
	“For the glory of your motherland” Sanjuro muttered, arranging the man’s posture into a respectful attention, “and for all humankind.” Enthralled in his own personal drama, Sanjuro had ceased paying attention to the hell-storm blazing around him. This batch had been by no means intended to merely slow them down. This was a killing squad – and so they had. Sanjuro tried to get up, but he could not bring himself to push Zhukov off him. Kura leaped, ducked and swerved, with a experienced succession of trigger pulls and cartridge loading. Toshiro and Baku fought and chanted, suddenly caught up again in the fury of Fallen fervour.
	He knew that he should help them, it is what Zhukov would have wanted. He tried to remember the words in his head, and started to sing: “The huge country is rising, is rising for the deathly battle, against the dark fascist force, against their cursed hordes...” As he uttered this, he gently slid Zhukov off his legs and took his assault rifle and leaped into the fray. “Let our noble wrath seethe like waves, the national war is going, the sacred war...”

	Kathryn’s eyes suddenly flew out wide as she tuned back into the ground signal and saw the fury going on down the planet’s surface. Among it all, she did manage to gain a glimpse of Sanjuro and Kura struggling, but this did little to alleviate her sudden and intense concern. She knew better than to interrupt them at this point, but at the same time she could not bring herself to turn away, change the frequency and tune back in later.
	So she watched, through what now seemed to her to be an atrociously poor quality video feed and listened to audio consisting almost wholly of cacophonous gun fire. Finally she unfroze her terrified mind enough to to turn herself away and call onto the bridge.
	“Father, Sanjuro has been cornered! They are barely holding their own down there!” There was a short, but to her disturbingly pronounced, pause.
	“Try and calm down” Nathaniel's clear response came, “we are taking out the last turret now. Order the Insurrection to start moving to the drop point immediately.” Kathryn wrung her hands together as she listened, but then in one swift movement grabbed the signal changer and set it to the primary frequency of the Insurrection’s communications system.
	“Begin drop-down approach” she breathed, “Leviathan out.” She paused for a moment as the message carried over through the void into the receivers on the the other ship. For a machine so advanced in terms of offensive and defensive potential, its communications abilities did strike her as rather limited. Though that was always the way things tended to be, she had long since realized.
	“Roger that, order received and taken – Insurrection out” her counterpart replied. Looking back down at the view-screen showing the now muted battle, Kathryn thought a single sentence.
	“I’ve done the best I can my love, god speed.”

	The look on Kura’s face seemed to show that she simply considered this whole situation an annoyance. She once again wore the look of hard, but indifferent, determination she had when her and Sanjuro had been ganged up upon by the Shogo assassin team. Her inner strength equally inspired and diminished him, as it made his own inadequacy increasingly obvious to him. At least he had the hope that this represented Ryo’s final, and thus most determined, assault wave. Survive this last challenge, storm the boardroom and then have the rat firmly caged.
	“Surrender traitors!” a man obviously at least pretending to be U.C.A. shouted out.
	“Like hell we will, you’re the one up for court-martial” Kura threw back, kicking, punching and even at this close range shooting at the defending swarm.
	“Hatanoceo prayaNavita bhuuesco cruento pestis, cruonit shatruex!!” Toshiro shouted, in the strange and unnerving tongue of the Fallen. It seemed that Cothineal was once again feeling cornered and infusing her champions with all the strength she could muster. How much strength did she have left in her to transmit such fuelling hate from such a far distance? Well, a least a little more. Sanjuro did get the sense that they were making headway, but he was still not quite sure how long it was going to take, and how many casualties he would have on his conscience.
	Since Zhukov had died in his arms, Sanjuro for some strange reason was feeling better about the situation. It was the look on the man’s face as he went, that peaceful acceptance, that somehow made him realize that these men were not children for him to shepard and above all protect. They were men and women who were highly trained and highly dedicated, just the same as he was. Their risk was their own, and although it was still his prerogative to not risk them unnecessarily, their understanding of the risks was the same.
	It was amazing how much thought could run through one's mind whilst rapidly firing off a shotgun by reflex, it suddenly occurred to him, as he brought down another enemy trooper. Kura grabbed an assault rifle from one of the dead, and started spraying in a circular fashion into the enemy – cutting them down in an admirably rapid fashion. She then stopped, and suddenly, turned and ordered everyone around her to cease fire. Surprised, the enemy forces stopped as well and stared at the mad woman in curious dismay.
	Remembering their opportunity, they raised their guns at her and Sanjuro became highly anxious. He had little to worry about however, as in one swift motion, Kura pulled her kato launcher off the ground beside her and fired three arrays forwards. With three sudden brilliant flashes and shouts of agony, three chunks of enemy forces were disintegrated by the raw energy. Many on both sides found the display gut-churning. Kura on the other hand, once again looked quite pleased with herself.
	“Who wants some?” she taunted, waving the launcher in the air. A large group of the enemy ducked down and covered themselves. Finally one of them blurted out what they were all thinking.
	“Alright!” the man exclaimed, “We surrender! We surrender!”
	“What?” another of them, presumably covert Shogo, replied.
	“All loyal U.C.A. get out of here, all Shogo who wish to stand and fight – we won’t deprive you of that chance” Sanjuro called out, “your wish will be our command.”
	“We are all U.C.A.” the same protester shouted, “we just won’t yield our HQ!”
	“Sure, sure” Sanjuro countered, “but you seem quite lonely now.” Indeed he was correct, the main bulk of the forces had retreated down a side corridor, leaving a few hardliners to fight Sanjuro’s liberation force. The Shogo commander seemed miffed, but not ready to give up.
	“For the company!” he shouted, deliberately cryptic.
	“For Shogo!” his remaining forces shouted, causing the man to cringe.
	“Well, the truth is out now” Kura smiled, “we won’t take the first shot.” They did not, but soon the struggle erupted again. Still, it was nothing they could not handle.

	“Admiral Makabe calling Leviathan” Sanjuro said into his comm, “please respond.”
	“Yes Sanjuro” Kathryn replied, “I’m here.”
	“We managed to clear out that last batch of defender’s. Well, Kura did.”
	“That is good” Kathryn continued, “the Insurrection is landing reinforcements.”
	“That is good” Sanjuro mimed with lacking creativity.
	“Alright, I’ll let you two back to it” Kathryn acknowledged.
	“Alright” Sanjuro mimed again. The chat might have seemed somewhat pointless to a third-party viewer, weakened by combat stress and growing fatigue, but Sanjuro did know how she worried about them during such moments. Besides, any contact with her was good for his morale. One of their field medics came up beside him and reported.
	“We lost 13 men in the fray sir” he informed him, “6 of them are pronounced dead.”
	“Do you have to say ‘lost’ to mean incapacitated?” Sanjuro complained.
	“They're lost as far as you’re concerned, they can hardly move on” the medic retorted back.
	“I assume you looked over Commander Zhukov?” Sanjuro inquired.
	“Yes sir, bullets to the chest. Nothing we could have done.”
	“I know” Sanjuro replied simply.
	“I’ve been told that he died shielding you sir” the medic said, “why is it you insist on taking point?” That line of questioning took Sanjuro quite by surprise.
	“I’m there to direct the troops” he stated, “I’m their combat leader after all.”
	“You are putting yourself in a position to get yourself killed.”
	“That is not your concern, medic” Sanjuro replied, “I’m still here aren't I?”
	“Only because of Zhukov’s sacrifice” the medic replied.
	“If he were taking point without me, he still could have been shot.”
	“But he would have been less inclined to jump ahead of bullets.”
	“You are part of the HQ garrison aren't you?” Sanjuro cut back. The man nodded. 	“I understand your dismay at losing your Commander, and I am truly sorry, but his death was not my fault. I did not ask him to save me!”
	“At least Gabriel gets behind his bodyguard when things get rough” the medic continued, “he has more respect than to risk leaving his men headless.”
	“I assure you that Commander Akkaraju would be perfectly capable in my absence.”
	“I very much doubt that given what I heard, I think she might be a wee bit affected by that.”
	“That will be all soldier” Sanjuro suddenly barked, “get back in line and attend to your duties.” The medic glared at him, before walking away.
	So much for reaching some acceptance over combat risk thanks to Zhukov’s peace, he thought. The real reason he always took point was quite the opposite from what the medic seemed to be suggesting, he took it in an attempt to take all the damage and trials himself and save his subordinates the trouble. Kura, he figured, always did it simply because she thrilled for the action and despite her faith in her squad, she trusted herself more. Still, the man did have reason to be upset and Sanjuro realized that this frustration was just being vented at the first convenient target. That still did not make it very nice though. Ah well.

Part Ten: Endgame

	“Shuttle LZ Centaur about to land” the pilot announced to his passengers as the shuttle found an acceptable clearing nearby High Command. For some reason, the generation of ship’s used during the Cronian War tended to have hoofed-type names for drop shuttles. Perhaps it was to symbolize warriors riding to the battle field, or maybe someone in charge of naming them simply had a few too may bovines and equines around while growing up. At any rate, the name did not change the contents of the shuttle and the soldiers inside were rearing to go. Nothing is more irritating to a assault squad than waiting for things to stabilize during a spacial conflict. Now it was their time to shine.
	“Alright troopers” the Commander announced, “our orders are to set off and get to High Command as quickly as possible. From there we are to find an entrance and try and enter up from the opposite direction of Admiral Makabe’s men and open up a second front. Understood?”
	“Yes sir, yes sir!” was the group’s unified response.
	“Let’s get at them!” the Commander replied, as the evacuation hatches lifted. It was certainly a much easier way to get on the ground than parachuting down had been for Sanjuro and his forces. They did not realize how lucky they were.

	Sanjuro turned to Kura and asked a question that probably should have occurred to him earlier, if he had more time to think things through.
	“Do we know where the boardroom is?” Kura looked at him curiously.
	“I had assumed you’d know” she replied, “Zhukov probably would have known.”
	“Well, that does not help us much anymore” Sanjuro returned uneasily.
	“I think I might have an idea Admiral” Isabelle suddenly chirped in.
	“Yes Commander?” Sanjuro said, turning towards her.
	“There should be a wall map here somewhere” she informed him. Kura also turned.
	“Do you think they would have that on a map? It is not exactly where they let in tourists go and gawk around is it?” she commented. Isabelle blushed.
	“It is worth a shot” she replied. They kept walking until they came across the much coveted wall map. Sanjuro turned and studied it closely.
	“Right there” he said, pointing to one corner, “main boardroom. Clear as day.” Isabelle suddenly smiled and Kura was taken aback. Finally she turned to face Isabelle.
	“Well, good work Commander, I guess sometimes one has to just try the obvious” she admitted grudgingly. Isabelle grinned even wider.
	“So has been my experience so far ma'am” she noted, pulling the hair out of her eyes again in her iconic fashion. Sanjuro smiled, and Kura shrugged. Maybe she did not need Kura to teach her so many more things after all. Maybe she had instincts enough.

	Ryo tried his best to prepare and relish what might just be his one last reveal. He understood his antagonist well by this point and knew exactly the feelings he wished to instill in him with this next message. He was to be cryptic about cause and execution, but perfectly clear on effect and aftermath. Simply suggest that if Sanjuro was too hasty in entering the boardroom, that he would regret it. He honestly did not think that his threats were going to stop Sanjuro trying at this point, but it pleased Ryo no end that if he did blow up the High Commanders he had a good sense that Makabe would blame himself for it. That was exactly what this warning was all about. Ryo decided that he was ready and typed a few commands in to appear on a wall monitor near Sanjuro’s position.
	“Makabe...” he indulgently stated into his microphone, “I suggest you come and listen Makabe...” He waited patiently, as his feed still simply showed a legion of troopers walking past – he had been a little too late with his choice of this particular monitor it seemed. Eventually word did get through and Sanjuro walked up angrily and stared into the screen.
	“You know this is over Ryo” he growled, “you’re out of little tricks.”
	“I would have thought you would have learned never to underestimate me.”
	“What are you implying?” Sanjuro inquired, “What do you want?”
	“Well, I would enjoy it if you gave up, headed out and left me here to manage things” Ryo began, enjoying Sanjuro’s exasperated expression, “but as it is I suspect that I’ll have to do something else with you. Do you want me to be short and to the point?”
	“If you would not mind” Sanjuro replied sarcastically.
	“I would not rush into the boardroom if I were you” Ryo declared, “I’ve heard High Commanders are a bit... unstable...” Sanjuro was taken aback by that statement.
	“What do you mean?” he exclaimed, “What have you done to them?”
	“Oh, they’re fine... for now. I just want you to know you might want to try and keep them that way and prevent an... accident?” Ryo grinned further with every word.
	“I think I can see through your smoke and mirrors” Sanjuro countered, “you are just trying to delay us and get into my head. It won’t work. Goodbye Ryo, see you soon – from behind a loaded gun.” Sanjuro gave one last sneer, and turned away. For one final jab, Ryo leaned down into his microphone. He was going to enjoy this one.
	“I’m looking forward to it. Anyways, let’s just hope you’re right Makabe, and there is no nasty eruptions of disorder.” Sanjuro turned back to the monitor, not willing for Ryo to have the last word in this little psyche game.
	“Oh” he said darkly, “there will be... later!” Ryo smiled back, but Sanjuro had already set off and away again. Never mind, Ryo had gotten what he had wanted and if he had to run away again at least he had that one last taunt to keep him going – and that look on Makabe’s face.

	“What did he want this time?” Toshiro asked, as Sanjuro returned to the front of the group.
	“To freak me out, to stall us” Sanjuro replied, “I did not bite the bait.”
	“What exactly did he say?” Kura interjected, “Anything specific?”
	“Just a suggestion that things might go wrong at the boardroom.”
	“How did he phrase it?” Toshiro replied, “He might have accidentally alluded to his plans.” Sanjuro thought over the conversation/sparring match for a moment.
	“He did use the words unstable and eruption.”
	“As in explosives?” Kura proffered, “I would not put it past him to rig the place.”
	“Or he could just be trying to get at me again” Sanjuro responded, “like he did back when he had us locked down.” Sanjuro remembered the last nightmare again, and shuddered.
	“And you had that nervous breakdown” Kura noted.
	“Exactly, I am not letting him get to me this time.”
	“Still, he might not be bluffing” Toshiro said, “Kura is right about not putting it past him.”
	“Well, if so what can we do about it?” Sanjuro replied.
	“Take a light approach, and don’t be hasty” Toshiro suggested, looking at Kura.
	“What?” she responded defensively.
	“I think he means the kato grenade launcher stays behind” Sanjuro explained, brightening somewhat at the sudden interjection of humour. Kura did not seem to agree.
	“Hey, I can be stealthy when I need too” she protested. Sanjuro relented.
	“I’m sure you can” he said, kissing her on the cheek, “and I’m sure you will.” Kura smiled at him and all grievances were forgotten. Until Toshiro grunted, and gestured for them to go forward and Kura again grew a sharp scowl. Sanjuro shrugged, sometimes an angry Kura could be useful too.

	The High Commanders were surprised to hear the sudden racket from outside their walls. They had heard various amounts of gunfire, explosions and other such disturbances all day, but it was now both alarmingly and, from a certain perspective, comfortingly close. Maybe they would finally be let out of here soon. Of course, there was still that bomb under the table. Ever since the one High Commander had got the word out, the room had gained a greater air of anxiety than they had even imagined before. All this while trying to continue to convince the guards that they knew nothing about the device lying under the conference table.
	He had not been able to impart his plan for what to do when the bomb struck, but he assumed the others would reach much the same conclusions. They were meant to be the highest members of the United Corporate Authority Security Forces after all, so they surely must have some mind towards the tactics of the situation. Still, they were a largely desk-bound lot and it had to be admitted that not all of them were necessarily all that combat trained or there by merit. Nepotism and favouritism is one force that never really seems to go away when it comes to organizational hierarchies.
	“Then again, if they are too dumb to figure it out they deserve everything they get” the Commander suddenly thought, though eventually thought better of it. Of course he had reason to be tetchy, having been kept a prisoner and left largely to sweat it out for the past few days, but they would all get nowhere if they lacked that all necessary sense of solidarity. Besides, this was tricky. He had decided that the corner was his best bet, but it was, in all honesty, not much of one. Add to that as well the unpleasant truth that not everyone would be able to hug onto the wall and some would end up more disadvantaged than others. It would all be down to speed, and luck, in the end.
	At that moment there could well be a breach of that solidarity he knew. So many unknowns. It was something a man in his position was supposed to be used to. Ordering men to their deaths, or at least to the trials of their lives, riding the eddies of history and deciding the fate of humanity. That was the job he, as part of High Command, was there to do. However, even in the most serious and desperate situations, such as the way it was at the height of the Cronian crisis, it never seemed quite as daunting as this. What he was facing was the trial of his own life, and those of his colleagues. Somehow that made all the difference in his mind. Humankind is such a selfish lot after all, he decided.

	Nathaniel tapped on the door to communications and waited for someone to open it. It was not the most respectful of situations to be in given he was after all the de-facto commander of this ship, but he knew all too well that at the moment his tasks were unimportant while those of the men and woman inside could be of the most utmost importance. So he waited, until it was an appropriate time for them. Eventually the door did open, and he was greeted with a salute by one of Kathryn's communications support staff.
	“At ease Ensign” he nodded courteously, “rank wise I am just a Negotiator you know.”
	“No” the woman said, “a man like you is never anything less than a full Admiral sir.” Nathaniel smiled back at her. This youth probably thought that complimenting her father would get her points when it came to Kathryn. Nathaniel had learned early on to always enjoy flattery but never believe it, and he knew damn well that he had taught her and Kura that as well. So good luck my dear!
	“Is the Lieutenant Commander free?” Nathaniel inquired, and the young Ensign turned. This turned out to be needless, as Kathryn walked up to them with a smile.
	“Came to check up on me father?”
	“Well, things are pretty calm on deck” Nathaniel told her, “I figure it would be better to see how things are going on from here rather then wait for reports to be relayed.”
	“Yes, yes, very proper” Kathryn agreed.
	“And I realized that I have rarely seen you at work” he winked. The Ensign watched this display with great interest, before Kathryn turned to face her.
	“Back to your station Ensign” she commanded, and the Ensign slunk away.
	“Is she much trouble?” Nathaniel asked.
	“Sometimes, she’s too ambitious – cares more for herself than those she is talking to.”
	“While you willingly let yourself be held back to Lieutenant Commander after your sister got promoted, just to stay in a position to aid her and Sanjuro” Nathaniel finished. This was true. Although she often functioned as head of communications, including the bridge station, that was above what her rank demanded. She had gotten in that position first by being competent, bringing the Akkaraju zeal for once to a non-violent field, and secondly, admittedly, due to her relation to both the previous and currently presiding Admirals. Still, she had kept her rank down to ensure that when she wanted to stay at comm and monitor a given squadron, like Kura’s or, though this was also now rank improper technically, Sanjuro’s.
	“Exactly, others come first” Kathryn replied and Nathaniel nodded.
	“Still, could not help but notice you relished giving that order. You are your father’s daughter after all.” Kathryn blushed slightly at that remark.
	“Yeah, yeah father” she admitted, turning to return to her station with her father following.

	Ryo watched with interest as Sanjuro finally approached the boardroom. It was much to his credit, Ryo figured, that he had turned a situation he had been dreading into something he could still see himself getting some entertainment out of. The Commanders grouped together to discuss the impending raid and, much to Ryo’s delight, counter measures to any ‘tricks and traps’.
	“We do not know how many troopers Ryo has in there” Sanjuro noted, “so I think we should take it slowly and carefully. Storming in could simply cause a bloodbath, and the possible execution of the High Commanders.” Toshiro nodded in agreement.
	“Still” Kura cut in, “if we take it too slowly we might not be able to use surprise and give them time to prepare a hostage situation. What would we do then?”
	“I think Ryo has the ability to give them advanced warning anyway” Sanjuro replied, causing Ryo to smile, “I suggest Toshiro and I should enter first. They might be less inclined to open fire on valuable prisoners.”
	“I don’t know about that Sanjuro” Kura protested, “I could see Ryo simply wanting to take you out due to sheer desperation.” Samantha approached from behind to add her agreement to this sentiment. Sanjuro sighed and thought it over again.
	“Ryo likes to play egos” he answered finally, “just taking me out I think would never be his style. Besides, ye of little faith, I do know how to handle myself.”
	“Besides” Toshiro suddenly, and uncharacteristically, brightened, “I have ulterior options.” Sanjuro and Kura found that description equally encouraging and terrifying, remembering the phenomena of ‘Rambo Gabriel’ they had witnessed when they had been assaulted before.
	“Are you sure you should count on that?” Kura asked, “Cothineal must be right tired out keeping track of you and aiding you for so long from so far away after all.” Toshiro raised his hand.
	“She still has life in her yet, do not underestimate her.” Samantha nodded.
	“What are we supposed to do when this is happening?” Isabelle suddenly popped in, “We don’t just want to sit around, particularity for those of us who have this as their home turf.” Isabelle, after Zhukov’s death, had largely taken over the role of home base commander as well as her own Home Guard forces. Rather impressive for what practically amounted to a raw recruit.
	“It will be your job to to search out the nearby areas and remove any opposition” Sanjuro informed her, “and most importantly make it so Ryo does not escape.”
	“Right, we’ll get him” Isabelle assured him.
	“Don’t kill him if you do not have to” Sanjuro instructed, “I want him alive.”
	“What?” Kura shouted, “Why?” Sanjuro turned to her, dark and serious.
	“If he is a prisoner I can always check on him in holding. If he is ‘dead’ he could just be in hiding again. I don’t want him to get away like that again.” Ryo found that comment most interesting, but it in fact gave him even more determination to get out of here by his own means rather than face being tried and convicted of war crimes.
	“I assume you will want someone out here to watch your back?” Baku offered, coming back from looking over the Fallen brigade, “I’d be happy to keep them ordered whilst Commander Whitmore takes her's on the rounds.”
	“If you wish” Sanjuro agreed, “but keep them ‘ordered’ - the Fallen are known to be a bit headstrong and I do not want them to escalate the situation.” Baku frowned.
	“We are devoted and loyal to our entity” he protested, “that is not the same thing.”
	“Well keep it in check” Sanjuro said, “I know Cothineal has it in for Ryo as much as I do.”
	“No Fallen soldier will violate from your plan” Toshiro assured him, “or they will have Gabriel to answer to.” That certainly meant something, Sanjuro knew.
	“Alright, alright” Sanjuro relented, “we should get this show on the road. Toshiro and I will come in first and assess the situation. Kura will wait behind the door and, on my signal, come in and use that keen aim of yours. If we need help or wish more troops to secure the room, we will get Baku to bring the main forces in. Meanwhile, Commander Whitmore goes on patrol. Is this agreed?” All the Commanders nodded in unison.
	“Ready when you are brother” Toshiro replied, taking out a pistol from his hip holster.

	The High Commanders heard the noise first: the sound of footsteps clattering ever closer. Then it stopped, and for a while all returned to the same calm. Then, they heard subtle distinct clacks and realized that a small group was on their way. They had no way of knowing, but they all hoped it was whoever was fighting against Shogo’s forces before. At first many of the more cynical minded had thought that was simply Ryo ordering some executions, but the long-term and unpredictable nature of the struggles lead the more astute of them to think otherwise. At any rate, they held their breath and waited for the door to open.
	Their guards too were also keenly aware of the situation and if anything equally on alert. Their orders from Master Ishikawa were quite clear: hold the Commanders, at any cost. They were Ryo’s bargaining chip and his main hold on the U.C.A. They knew that it would be a battle to the death, as any cowardly retreat would lead to potentially deadly reprisal from Ishikawa. More and more he had turned to heavier and heavier punishments, and men who once beloved him were beginning to fear him instead. Still, fear worked just as well, if not better, to keep their determination up. Little did they realize that they had more to fear, and again from Ryo’s orders, than simply the coming assault.
	The door opened and all eyes glanced towards it questioningly. Silence. They waited a bit more, but nothing happened. Finally, one guard grew tired of it and started to approach the doorway. He leaned his head out to glance around the outside corridor and was suddenly shot in the head and collapsed. Then, from both sides of the door, Sanjuro and Toshiro rushed in with guns raised – immediately tracking them at the highest ranking Shogo trooper they could find. As they had hoped, no one chose to fire their weapons just yet. Sanjuro, Toshiro and the troopers locked each other in a deadly menacing stare, just daring all to make the first aggressive move. The High Commanders looked at the two, and then back at the troopers and then back again.
	“Surrender” Sanjuro demanded, “or I’ll call my battalion in.”
	“We have you outnumbered” the head trooper countered, “our orders are to fight or die.”
	“You do not want to face us in a fight” Sanjuro returned, “we can hold our own and soon you’ll find yourself outnumbered. We came only to try and end this peacefully.”
	“Yeah right, what are you going to do to us if we do?” the trooper retorted back.
	“Well, probably better than what Ryo would do to you” Sanjuro suggested, “I’ve heard some rumours regarding that.” The trooper flinched, not expecting this angle of verbal attack.
	“What are you suggesting?” he asked nervously.
	“I’m just saying, are you sure you want to die today?” Sanjuro replied, “I have no intention of killing any of you if I do not have to.”
	“How humanitarian” the trooper cackled, “but we have our loyalties.”
	“You can’t win” Toshiro cut in, “don’t be fools.” Sanjuro was pleased to see the High Commanders had been doing as hoped and were trying get themselves dispersed and as far away from the scene as possible. If this turned bloody they would simply have to to duck and dive.
	“You could be bluffing” the man said, “we have no proof you have this great battalion.”
	“Do you wish me to bring them in and introduce them to you?” The trooper glared at him.
	“You try my patience Admiral Makabe” he exclaimed and fired the first shot. Sanjuro was about to duck when Toshiro spurt out a field of kato shielding which caught the incoming volley. As usual, the response, from both Shogo and High Commander alike, was one of shock and awe.
	“Ready to surrender?” Gabriel gleamed. The trooper overcame his surprise and came up with the most obvious solution to the crisis.
	“I shall never surrender to the forces of an inhuman tunnel worm!” he shouted, “Forces attack!” Sanjuro had been tensed and ready for this moment, and, with Gabriel covering, leaned back and gave the signal for Kura, who in turned called out to Baku. After that, she ran in and covered Gabriel as he went off to shield the High Commanders. Sanjuro, on the other hand, began ducking, swerving and firing into the determined but scattered defense team. Of them, one might have noticed in clearer circumstances, there was the one that stood back and watched with his hand in his pocket.
	As Sanjuro brought down the first heavily armoured trooper, Baku led a sudden charge of forces into the room. The Shogo soldier that was holding back pressed down the button on the device in his pocket. A small beep issued from the bomb under the table, but everyone was too busy to notice. That is for one High Commander who had been paying keen attention for it for about three quarters of an hour now...

	“Sir, there is a bomb under the table...” the High Commander said politely, as he rushed up to Gabriel, who unfortunately proved to be too overcharged to hear. He attempted to leave and try and get to Sanjuro, but was forced back by Kura.
	“Don’t you go anywhere!” she instructed, before getting back in the fray.
	“Commander Akkaraju!” he shouted after her, but she seemed to have gotten too far away. He cursed to himself, they were about to all blow up and he was the only one who knew it! He then saw Kura coming back near him as she completed another protective sweep of the Commanders.
	“Kura Akkaraju!” he shouted, and a surprised Kura turned to face him.
	“How do you know my name?” she asked, instinctively aiming her gun at his forehead. He raised his hands and approached her.
	“Don’t you remember me?” he said, “I know your father.” She paused, before realizing.
	“You're ‘Uncle Robertson’!” she exclaimed, “I have not seen you since I was 13!”
	“Yes, well” he mumbled, before remembering his reasons, “I just want you to know that I think the bomb timer has been activated.” Kura was still smiling nostalgically, before she heard properly. All the muscles in her upper body simultaneously tensed.
	“What?!” she shouted, “Where!?” High Commander Robertson pointed to the back-left section of the table, and Kura ran up to Gabriel.
	“Bomb!” she called out, pointing, “What do we do?” Gabriel turned towards her, and she felt the blazing gaze of Cothineal's strength.
	“We shall handle it” he declared, before heading towards the table.
	“Toshiro!” Kura protested, “What are you doing?!” Gabriel did not reply, as he continued his steady pace towards what would soon be a blast zone. Robertson caught up to her.
	“God” he commented, “is that Fallen chap going to jump on it? Brave soul. No wonder they fought so hard during the war.” Kura turned to scowl at him.
	“That Fallen chap is little Toshiro the orphan boy, remember?” Robertson had visited Nathaniel and seen them a few times when they were at the Military Academy.
	“He is Gabriel?” he ruminated, “Wow, small world...”
	“Yeah, well I think soon this room is about to be blasted bigger to compensate” Kura replied, “I got to get to Sanjuro!” With that, lacking a proper exit from the conversation, she rushed off. Robertson headed to a corner, and covered himself as he had planned.
	“She always was an impetuous little girl” he thought, “Nathaniel must have really had his hands full after her mother died.”

	“Sanjuro!” Kura shouted, as she finally caught sight of him, alongside Baku - both of them attempting to take out the ever shrinking amount of Shogo guards. “Sanjuro!” she called again, and Sanjuro looked up, saw her and made his way to her side. Looking her up and down, he inquired upon the situation and the ever-so-strange expression she was wearing.
	“What is wrong?” he asked, “Are the Commanders okay?” Kura was still breathing from the exertion of forcing her way through the hoards of people to get there.
	“For now” she said, “but soon we’ll all be blasted to bits if we do not get out of here!”
	“What?” Sanjuro exclaimed, again an initially knee-jerk disbeliever.
	“A bomb, Ryo’s final little present.” Sanjuro sighed.
	“Damn it” he cursed, “I should have seen it coming, we can’t get everyone out of here and to announce it would just cause a panic. Hmm... where is Toshiro?”
	“That is just it” Kura stated, “when I told him, the crazy idiot started walking towards it!”
	“What?” Sanjuro repeated, “What is he going to try and do?”
	“Based on his past few previous actions, I think he is going to try and contain the load personally. I hope Cothineal knows what they are doing...”
	“I know” Sanjuro agreed, “he is our last hope, I can’t see what else to do.”
	“Should we get out of here?” Kura asked. Sanjuro winced.
	“What kind of message do you think that would send?” he replied, “Forcing our way out of the room?” Kura stared at him, suddenly fully aware of the personal implications of the situation. A stray tear ran down her face, and made her somehow look more human than Sanjuro had ever seen her.
	“Sanjuro...” she sniffled, “I don’t want you to die...” 
	“We won’t” Sanjuro promised, cradling her, “I’m sure we won’t.” Despite saying this, Sanjuro immediately thought how lucky he was that Kathryn did not have the ability to really figure out what was going on right now. The very thought of her reaction made him wince. Kura held closer to him, and he held her together as they waited for the inevitable. It had been just eight minutes since the assault began, and now it had come to this. Sanjuro knew he should have been more careful, why had he cast off Ryo’s warnings so brashly? He had let his personal hatred cloud his judgment. This was all his fault. Suddenly, a rapid succession of beeps brought everyone to attention. As the crowds around contorted their heads in confusion, Sanjuro saw Toshiro leap up on top of the conference table.
	“Get down!” he shouted, as the beeps grew more and more intense. “NOW!” Everyone, including one last standing Shogo trooper, did as commanded. Toshiro looked down at the table below him, and glanced around the room one last time. Beep, beep, beep, beeeep! “Profanuxes praaNsilenux bhuuesco pestis cruento!” he cried out in a rapid incantation, before the blast struck. Everyone else in the room kept their faces to the ground, all holding on desperately to any stranger beside them. Though a sensible option, it robbed them of observing the drama unfolding in the centre of the room.
	Toshiro arched as the energy of Cothineal flowed from his body and green and yellowish fluorescence clashed with the orange and yellow flash of the explosion. The table under him shattered, pieces flying up into the raw kato energy being projected out of the source of kato’s emissary. The sound was deafening from the explosion, the sound from the high powered field and the shrapnel smashing into it. Kura and Sanjuro huddled together, held still in time, despite how much they both wished for it all to end. Their eyes stayed open, staring straight into each other's.
	Just as suddenly as it had began, it was over. A resounding crackle flew harshly into everyone’s ear drums, and the hum of the kato field ceased. A succession of thumps of various volumes resonated around the room in place of the earlier crackle, as objects floating midair hit the ground. What goes up must come down. All those in the room: leaders, troopers, Shogo, U.C.A., injured and healthy, man and woman wearily and uneasily raised their heads, their hands still gripping those of the people around them – their faces expressing confusion, relief, dread and uncertainty. As the dust settled, Sanjuro stood up and rushed towards the blast zone.

	“Toshiro!” he shouted, pushing and shoving his way through the shocked crowd, “Are you okay!?” There was no response. Where there was once a conference table, now there was just black scorching and burnt pieces of wood. Then he saw the figure lying in the middle of the crater, bearing the purple body armour of the Fallen. Sanjuro rushed himself beside the body and rolled it over. Toshiro’s eyes were closed, his face still held in a grimace of concentration. His skin was hot to the touch, and the strength of it on his hands was enough to burn exposed skin. Sanjuro placed a finger onto Toshiro’s neck and was relieved to find a weak, but steady, pulse.
	“He’s alive!” he shouted, “Get a medic in here!” As commanded, several medics ran in from the other room, all with expressions of disbelief.
	“What the hell happened in here?” one of the shouted, “We were sure you’d all be dead!”
	“Attend to my brother!” Sanjuro ordered, pointing at Toshiro. The man nodded, ran up and started to examine the figure lying in the crater, while his compatriots started attending to the other wounded around. Attempting to look over the burns on Toshiro’s arms, the medic suddenly shrieked.
	“Ouch! What the hell?!” he exclaimed, “Why is he so hot?!”
	“It is a very long and complicated story” Sanjuro replied, and the medic turned back to his patient. After doing further, though more cautious, examinations, he looked back up at Sanjuro.
	“He’ll be okay I think, but those burns will need some work and I certainly don’t think he is going to be heading anywhere anytime soon...” Just then, Toshiro’s eyes opened.
	“Not until Ryo Ishikawa is captured” he declared, sitting up, “let’s get to it!”
	“Toshiro” Sanjuro told him, “you should rest, I can’t believe you managed that!”
	“I did nothing” he declared, “Cothineal gave me the strength and power.”
	“The vehicle was still scorched” the medic stated, “hold still.” The medic leaned down again in an attempt at applying ointment to Toshiro’s arms, only to find the burns had started to fade on their own. “What?” he shouted, “What are you doing now?” Toshiro smiled, he somewhat enjoyed the reactions of unenlightened humans to the ways of his mistress. Sanjuro’s comm buzzed in his ear, so he flicked the receiver switch. Behind him, Kura had finally managed to catch up to the group.
	“Admiral? Are you okay? We felt a blast!” Isabelle started into Sanjuro’s ear.
	“We are alright” he reassured her, “where is Ryo?” The question was followed with a period of nervous silence before Isabelle finally brought her bravado up enough.
	“He was not there, in the main office. He’s gone, we’re sorry...”
	“It’s alright” Sanjuro told her, “you can’t be everywhere at once. I’ll be right over.”
	“Uh hum” Toshiro cut in, batting some dust off his left arm, “we’ll be right over.” The medic simply shrugged, and Kura positioned herself to ease Toshiro up to his feet.

Part Eleven: Desperate Minds

	Ryo, accompanied by his two most loyal bodyguards, looked back at the building they had held for the past two days regretfully. “Never mind” Ryo thought to himself, “at least you managed to save yourself the ignominy of being threatened by Makabe’s irritating little girl.” He turned forward towards the woods surrounding the building, and gestured for his companions to follow him. Still, it had not gone as he had wished. His little drama with the bomb was not a spectacle he got to witness, as he had sensed the arrival of Isabelle and her squad too early and realized his exit was the immediate need. Hopefully Makabe, Gabriel and all the rest of the fools were nothing but ashes, alongside their precious U.C.A. High Commanders.
	Approaching a clearing in the forest, he stopped for a short rest. His surgery had done amazing things in terms of restoring his mobility from how Makabe had left him on that cold M.C.A. dock floor, but he still hardly had the stamina he was supposed to have at his still fairly young age. It was one of the many things he had sacrificed for the company, and he would have been willing to have given far more than that if necessary. Had he just been left a head and torso with no limbs at all, a quadruple amputee, he would have continued his mission to secure kato for Shogo Industries. This little upset of fate was certainly not the end for his plans.
	He glanced upwards towards the night sky and and saw the stars twinkling above him. It was still an unaccustomed sight to see such a clear dark blue sky, save for a few grey clouds. On Cronus what few sites of the sky that were granted were always clouded by dust and gases in the upper atmosphere. Even with the centuries of pollution, Earth offered a sight of so much more beauty and clarity. Yet it had always been Cronus he had wanted. His entire attempt here was simply to enable him to hold that barren desolate rock once and for all. It's funny how a place so utterly lacking in fertility and lushness had become the centre of modern humankind – and for his life in particular. Finally having caught his breath, he again gestured to his stoic guards that he was ready to move forward, his brain already working on his next great scheme.

	Sanjuro, Kura and a still, no matter how hard he tried not to, limping Toshiro entered the office and found Isabelle swivel towards them on the chair behind the desk.
	“Greetings” she grinned, placing her hands together like an evil villain.
	“Sure is dark in here” Kura observed, “what was going through Ryo’s mind?”
	“Well” Toshiro commented, “all his actions throughout this have seen a little disturbed.” As they considered this, Isabelle commanded the light level back up from the desk console.
	“Which is why we have to get to him” Sanjuro replied, “did you notice anything when getting into here Commander Whitmore?” Isabelle frowned in thought.
	“We had thought we were right on top of him sir” she explained, “we heard noise from within this room, but by the time we got through the lock he was gone.”
	“Are you absolutely sure about hearing someone in here?” Kura asked, and Isabelle nodded. When you have eliminated the impossible...
	“We just came in through the only way out” Toshiro observed, turning to glance around the room, “unless there is a secret passageway out of here.”
	“Father might know” Kura offered, “he has some knowledge about command-type places.” Sanjuro nodded, and realized that he had forgotten to call back to the Leviathan since the bomb incident. The conference room always had a jamming device activated to prevent local, or even orbital, espionage, so the last time he had been able to speak to her was when they got Nathaniel's agreement for their plan to raid the boardroom.
	“Admiral Makabe calling Leviathan” Sanjuro called in, “come in please.”
	“Sanjuro!” Kathryn’s voice called back, “Where the hell were you?!” Sanjuro gulped, despite himself. Hell hath no fury and all that.
	“We’re fine” he told her, “the raid went largely without problems.” It was a lie, and he knew that Kathryn would skin him alive when she learned the truth, but immediate concerns were more pressing than getting Kathryn worked up into a fit right now.
	“Alright” she surrendered, still dubious, “but you should have called back in sooner.”
	“Admittedly so” Sanjuro repented, “but we have a problem: Ryo has escaped the main office and we can not quite figure out how. Would your father have any ideas? From his friends in High Command?” There was the sudden clicking and scratching of raw audio as Kathryn’s microphone changed hands. The wise, authoritative tones of Nathanial Akkaraju then entered their ears.
	“What is it you wish to know Sanjuro?” he asked. Sanjuro was impressed.
	“That was fast” he commented, having expected a moment or so to transition.
	“Quite, but we must not dawdle.” Ah, he had been checking up on her the whole time.
	“Are you aware of any sort of general structure or rule for emergency escape hatches or other secret exists in this sort of place?” Nathaniel thought it over for a bit, being somewhat unwilling to divulge the information he had just extracted from his tired old memory.
	“I do have something” he called down, “but I really should not know it.” Sanjuro, despite himself, was quite curious about that remark.
	“Oh? How so?” Nathaniel breathed in before replying.
	“Well, I had a friend who was head of a similar type of installation as this. You are right to suppose that they do have secret exits in case of fire or, more to the point, enemy infiltration.”
	“I see, how is that compromising? If you don’t mind my asking.”
	“For one thing, he told me about it and some of the things he did with it, like getting his attache to sneak in some bottles of port, or using it to get away from some of the more tedious of his serving commanders” Nathaniel replied. Listening nearby, Isabelle giggled to herself.
	“We are all young once sir” Sanjuro replied.
	“He was 53 at the time” Nathaniel noted, “anyways, it might vary here but his was located on the right wall and had a small switch lying under a portrait.” Kura ran over the right wall and started examining every square inch of it, before finally glancing back and shaking her head.
	“Nothing” she reported. Toshiro attempted to raise his hand in a gesture of thought, but thought better of it after his burn twinged.
	“Are you sure you are well enough to be doing this?” Sanjuro asked. Toshiro turned towards him, not amused by the suggestion.
	“I am Gabriel, I do what is willed of me” he proclaimed, “anyways, it does occur that the side you searched lacked anything resembling the aforementioned portrait.” Isabelle clicked her fingers  and pointed over to the left wall.
	“That map there!” she exclaimed, directing them to a large wall map of the surrounding area. It was the only thing hanging on any side of the room, indicating a more modest overseer here, so it was a logical place to look next. Isabelle and Kura felt over the wall carefully as Sanjuro and Toshiro watched. Sliding her open palm across the smooth wooden surface, Kura suddenly swore out in pain.
	“Damn it!” she said, bringing her other hand up to rub her first.
	“Sliver?” Sanjuro inquired, but Kura shook her head.
	“I think I might have found it” she pronounced, gesturing towards a small metal toggle covertly resting in the shadow of the wall map. “Damn thing’s sharp!” she yelped, sucking her finger. Sanjuro walked up, kissed it ‘better’, much to Isabelle’s amusement and Kura’s mortification, before pressing the discovered toggle into downwards position. Clunks ensued as a locking mechanism disengaged and a wooden panel shifted out slightly. Mission accomplished.
	“Ladies and gentleman” Sanjuro announced, sliding it fully open, “our madman awaits.” Toshiro crouched down and crawled in, followed by the two women and finally by Sanjuro. Luckily the rest of the passageway was not as small as the entrance, and they were at least able to stand leaning down as they went. It was also wide enough for them to pass each other. Along the way it connected to other passages presumably linked to other important offices. Sanjuro took another step forward, before he heard the tell-tail clink of boot hitting glass. Confused, he leaned down and picked up a wine bottle.
	“Looks like alcoholism is endemic in these sort of installations” Toshiro commented, glancing back towards his brother. Sanjuro shrugged, before following after them again. After an indeterminable amount of similar indoor spelunking, they finally came to the end of the tunnel and the presumed exit to the outdoors. This time Kura did the honours and slid open the hatch, before taking out her pistol and jumping out onto the grass below. She patrolled around, before gesturing for the others to follow. Sanjuro leaped down first, followed by Isabelle. Sanjuro waited and caught Toshiro as he landed, much to his surprise.
	“Mustn't let you overexert yourself” Sanjuro explained, “particularly in the absence of your protector, who I am surprised you managed to lose. She’d never forgive me otherwise you know.” Toshiro sighed, trying to ignore his little brother’s remarks, some things never change, and walked towards the forest inquisitively.
	“I suppose we’re to assume Ryo took the direct route out of here” he said. Kura nodded.
	“He probably did not expect us to find the hatch after all.” Sanjuro checked his assault rifle clip carefully as he prepared to give the order to set off.
	“Before he gets out any further” Sanjuro ordered, “let’s split up and move out!”

	Ryo was actually beginning to enjoy his late night stroll. It occurred to him at this moment that it had been so long since he had a similar chance to simply relax and enjoy himself. Relaxation in a Cronian cave was never really something a tourist would wish to partake of if they had a choice of more picturesque locales, and the situation had been hardly helped by the state he would bring himself to either by rambling about his unravelled old plans and the ingenuity of his new ones. Plus of course that ever since landing on Earth, for the first time in years, he had been well, quite busy actually. An attempted take over of the entire explored galaxy can be quite stressful.
	The company he presently shared could be better though, what with the still ever quiet protectors on either side of him – each pensively swivelling their heads in rapid succession, obviously expecting two headed ogres or something to lunge and attack him at any moment. Of course though, that is what he kept them around for. They walked past the forest edge and found themselves on the rocky shores of a local river. The rains must have been pretty good this year, as the torrents were quite strong. Crossing it on-foot would be impossible, not that Ryo was really in a hurry to go anywhere – just away from the sight of another defeat.
	“Alright, I guess we’ll have to move along until we find a bridge” he considered. No response. Ryo waited some more, for one of them to say something, anything. His two lumbering companions did not say a single word, as far as he could tell they were not even breathing. Damn they were annoying. “Just keep an eye out for Makabe’s men, they might try checking along the river.” Not even an acknowledgement. Were they even listening? Had the demons of stupidity infected them as well, and they would just stand there like statues as something actually did happen to him? He decided to test them on that front. “Did you hear me?” he asked, looking the man on his right in the eye.
	The man nodded, and Ryo was pleased to find that at least part of the communications section of their brains were still functioning. Still, now prove that they really did understand English. Ryo turned to his left and similarly stared into his other bodyguard’s eye.
 	“What about you then?” he asked. A pause, a glance and finally a nod. Ryo just lost it at that point. He gripped his hands together furiously, and looked from one man to the other several times. 
Again they seemed perfectly content to, for all intents and purposes, ignore him outright. “Talk to me god damn you!” he yelled at them, who, keeping with prior tendencies, did not even seem disturbed by it. “Respond to your great leader! It is a high honour don’t you know?!” Finally, the larger of the men returned his look and considered what to say for a moment.
	“Do you want us to keep an eye on you or not?” he grumbled.
	“Of course I do, don’t be silly” Ryo cursed.
	“Then shut-up and let us do our job” the guard replied. Unfortunately, the noise had attracted others. The guards tensed and attempted to face into all directions at once as the sound of footfalls came from the bush nearby. Still, there was not much for them to do, as they quickly found about a dozen assault rifles pointed at their faces. Ryo raised his arms high and looked contemptuously at the squad commander in front.
	“Ryo Ishikawa?” the man requested.
	“Yes” Ryo replied, “you do have that honour.”
	“I am Commander Patterson, U.C.A.S.F. Insurrection, and following the warrant I was issued, I am placing you under arrest.” Ryo frowned.
	“I assume a generous payoff is out of the question?” he asked. The man thought about it.
	“This job is a bit too high profile for me to get away with that” he commented, “wouldn’t you say?” Ryo smiled, much confusing his two rather unhappy guards.
	“Oh you do flatter me so!”
	“Come along them” Patterson instructed, and Ryo stepped away from the water. It was ironic, for all his visions of Makabe chasing him down, all that thought on that inane menace, he was captured by those he had called in as his own reserves – in the end it was mostly his own god damn fault to boot! Life never seemed to treat him very well at all.

	“Endure, endure, must endure” these were the words the spread from Cothineal’s mind, her periscope-like eye still glancing out over her sanctuary, through the light-years and into the thoughts of Toshiro. They were both playing an elaborate farce on the others as they were both utterly exhausted and pained from their recent efforts. Still, they were not, as the others would suggest if they knew the truth, on the brink of death. Cothineal would not have managed to make it through the untold eons had she not been aware of her own limitations.
	She was a bit more worried about Gabriel, her human representative, due to her far less familiarity with, and far less of a positive impression with regards to strength of, human flesh. She had done her best to deal with the strain, the exhaustion, the cuts and the bruises – far more then his own immune and biological self-repair system had managed, but he really did need to see a doctor at some point. Why did they continue? Why did they hide the frailty and the burden? Because they had a mission to accomplish, one they could not fail.
	“The Admiral does not wish this” Toshiro communicated telepathically.
	“I am aware of this” Cothineal replied, “it is immaterial.”
	“It will not be without repercussions for me to defy him.”
	“We have no ill will towards him, or the rest of the friendly humans, but we can not indulge him on this front. He believes he can contain the beast and keep him under lock – it is an ill assumption my child.” Toshiro sighed, and realized that he had no option – it was what his mistress wished.
	“If I am to do this” Toshiro stated, “I must do it with no reservations, I must complete it utterly so that there can be no reversal of the task.”
	“This is understood” Cothineal agreed, “and I will ease your mission as much as I can.”
	“Mistress, you are tired, ill. You do not have the strength left in you.”
	“I am weakened, I will not lie to you – but this is a matter of personal importance. What is your human saying? If you prick us do we not bleed? If you wrong us shall we not take revenge? Ishikawa has been a menace to me and my realm far too long.”
	“I do understand” Toshiro imparted, “and as you wish it shall be done, it is just the others I am weary of. I do not know if they will understand.”
	“I notice you left your protector, Sternberg, behind. Why?”
	“I wished to spare her the sight of it mistress.”
	“You do not expect her to understand the importance of the mission? Perhaps if this is how you think of her, you’re choice in that regard was misguided.” Toshiro cringed.
	“No mistress, I do not question her loyalty. It is only an issue of personal reputation - I don’t want her to witness me commit an act of such... severity.”
	“As you wish, though I still do not understand the ways of your human courtships” Cothineal replied, “but you must prepare. I sense the objective will soon be at hand.”
	“You mean he is close? We are about to find him?”
	“No, his capture has already been secured. When he is brought, play along and then at the moment of least companionship, to help accommodate your reservations, engage in the act.”
	“As spoken, mistress” Toshiro replied, “it will be done.”

	“Toshiro?” Kura asked, “We’re going this way!” They had regrouped once they found recent footprints. Toshiro did not respond to her exclamation, and simply took a step forward in the same direction they had been going previously. Kura stopped and tapped her foot a few times in annoyance. “Toshiro!” she barked, “Over here!” At that moment, Cothineal released him and the phenomena of Gabriel slid back into his sub-conscious. He turned towards Kura, still with the intense stare that symbolized his loyal servitude.
	“That is not the way, he lies beyond ahead of me.” Kura looked at him incredulously.
	“And how would you know?” she replied. Sanjuro headed towards the two of them.
	“Did Cothineal tell you?” he asked, “Can she sense him?”
	“Indeed” Toshiro concurred, it was his normal voice but something about it was unnerving. “We needn’t worry, he is no position to escape.”
	“What do you mean?” Sanjuro asked, before he heard the familiar noises of troopers on the move. The bush ahead of them began to shake, as the group broke through towards them. In front, under the intimidating visage of a gun barrel, was Ryo and his two bodyguards.
	“Admiral Makabe” Ryo smiled, “I am surprised to see you... in one piece.”
	“Isn’t it just the way” Sanjuro replied, “you always seem to miss me somehow.” Interrupting their banter, Commander Patterson stood before Sanjuro and gave a respectful salute.
	“Commander Patterson, U.C.A.S.F. Insurrection. It is an honour Admiral!”
	“At ease Commander” Sanjuro instructed, “you’ve done excellent work today.”
	“Only regret not having the chance to fight alongside you sir!” Ryo turned away in disgust, though he was kind of reassured to see that he was not unique in his collection of toadying lackeys. Sanjuro was no more comfortable with it then he was. Meanwhile, Isabelle studied Ryo curiously. This was the first time she had ever gotten to see the man who had so interrupted her quiet life in person.
	“I guess we take him back to the building” Sanjuro decided, “they should have holding cells there suitable for the job.”
	“Oh?” Ryo said, “Scared of me scratching my way out with my large claws?” Toshiro stared at Ryo with a look of pure, intense hatred, getting himself well and truly ready.
	“A beast you are Ishikawa” he growled, “but nothing as proud or honourable as a lion.”
	“Ah yes” Ryo smiled, “fond of them dumb creatures aren't you Gabriel?” Toshiro lunged at him, screaming, only to be restrained by Kura and Patterson. Isabelle covered her eyes in timid shock.
	“No!” Kura yelled, “Don’t let him trick you into doing that. He’ll be treated under our terms, not those he gets us to do!” Toshiro, for the the moment, relented – his eyes constantly doing a man count, querying how many people he needed to get away before he was alone to do his duty.
	“Let’s bring him in and be done with it” Sanjuro exclaimed, aiming his own gun at Ryo’s head as he went along. He did understand the urge, he kind of wanted to pull that trigger too.

	Nathaniel smiled at everyone as he walked onto the bridge. All the faces were staring and expectant, unsure of what it was he had to say. They were all confident however, that they were all going to be happy to hear it. Best not to keep them waiting any longer.
	“Ryo Ishikawa” he began, pausing for effect, “has been captured by U.C.A. forces and is being brought into holding by Admiral Makabe as we speak. High Command is liberated!” Silence. Then a sudden genuine out-pour of exaltation, celebration and relief. It was over! They had won! Kathryn stepped through the doors onto the bridge, and was surprised to see her receive a standing ovation from the bridge crew.
	“It is Admiral Makabe you should be thanking” Kathryn stated, blushing ever so slightly.
	“Don’t worry” Captain Evans acknowledged, glancing at her from tactical, “we’ll be giving him our very best wishes when he gets back.” Nathaniel nodded.
	“As proud as we all are for all our forces on the ground” he began, “don’t let their efforts make you feel any less impressed with your own. We, standing alone with no chance of backup, faced the onslaught of the latest in U.C.A. military technology and not only did we survive, but we managed not to injure a single crewman of our accidentally adversarial comrades! You all held your breath and withstood the energy deprivation of the cannon charge, and you all went right back to work after that. I am not in High Command, technically still just a Negotiator after all, but I think everyone on this ship deserves a medal of commendation!”
	Another round of applause ensued, and after the message made its rounds across the ship, replies of congratulations and thanks started to clog the internal ship’s communications. Suddenly Kathryn looked up from her bridge station, having relieved her replacement to go and get some rest. She, of course, would wait until Sanjuro told her she was not needed.
	“The Admiral of the Insurrection wishes to speak” she said. Nathaniel turned towards her.
	“On screen Lieutenant Commander” he instructed her. The young Admiral looked equally exhilarated, humbled, embarrassed and pleased. If there ever was a living symbol of ambivalence it was the expression on his face right then.
	“I’ve just gotten word from the first few High Commanders who got through their medical examination” he said, “they have confirmed your story and praised me for trusting you... in the end.”
	“No ill feelings Admiral” Nathaniel nodded, “it was your men who got Ryo after all.”
	“It is not as easy as that” the man admitted, “I just wanted to send my personal apologies to all your crew for whatever trouble I caused them. Their intentions were honourable.”
	“As were yours” Nathaniel relieved him, “you were not in possession of all the facts. I would have been highly disappointed to have learned that the U.C.A. today was made up of Admirals who would simply let rouge vessels run amok in Terran space no less!” The man frowned.
	“I guess I will have to take your word for it sir. I’m heading for Star-base Terra Prime for space-dock and full inspection and repairs. I suggest the Leviathan follow suit.”
	“Of course, we’ll be right behind you. Akkaraju out.”

	Sanjuro, his eyes still fixed on the back of Ryo’s head, hardly noticed that they had made their way back to the main entrance of High Command. As Commander Patterson approached to open the door, Sanjuro ran up and did it for him, nodding to Kura to take over his vigil on the prisoner.
	“Admiral’s prerogative” he explained, and Commander Patterson nodded admiringly. Together they stepped into the main lobby, with Kura and Toshiro, plus Patterson’s squad escorting Ryo and his two bodyguards. Toshiro was getting anxious, he did not want to have to kill Ryo in a prison cell. It was simply not dignified enough. “Commander” Sanjuro ordered, “you link up with the others, they need all the help they can get with the wounded and cleaning up the place.”
	“Yes sir!” he nodded, before turning back to his squad, “You heard the man men, let’s get to it!” With the precision only a squad fresh and rested could manage, the group marched up towards the main stairway. Isabelle suddenly turned and leaned up to face Sanjuro.
	“I should get back up too sir” she told him, “I just remembered something I should look into.” Sanjuro nodded and, after one last glance towards Kura, she lumbered up the stairs with far more weariness than the squad before her had. Soon after, Kura looked around, unsure what to do next.
	“Where exactly are we taking him?” she asked. Ryo raised his hand.
	“I refuse to be referred to in the third-person like that” he protested.
	“We will refer to you however we damn well please!” Kura retorted. Sanjuro activated his comm system and called up to the Leviathan, surprised to find he had to re-route to the bridge in order to get to Kathryn. Ah well, any amount of trouble was worth it for that, he felt.
	“Kathryn” he called in, “any idea where any nearby holding cells are around here?”
	“Ah, so down comes the words of the second trollop...” Ryo muttered. Kura hit him.
	“That is my sister you little wretch!” she growled. Ryo leered at her disdainfully.
	“Easy back there” Sanjuro commented, no matter how much he deserved it.
	“Oh Sanjuro” Kathryn greeted, “sorry about that, we’re getting the Leviathan into space-dock at the moment. I was talking to the head people there, and relaying the orders from High Command. What was it you wanted?”
	“Ah, the infinite efficiency of the United Corporate Authority” Ryo sneered.
	“Good you still have him” Kathryn replied, “hello Ryo, have a nice incarceration.”
	“Hello Miss Akkaraju” Ryo replied, “how would you like to be single again? Rather than triple? Never understood the math behind that myself, but then I’m hardly alone there...”
	“Stay away from him and shut-up” she hissed.
	“He is just trying to wind you up, just ignore him” Sanjuro declared, causing Ryo to smirk, “where are the holding cells?”
	“Okay, I’ll check. Be back in just a second.” Ryo started muttering to himself.
	“I once met a man who thought himself god almighty. Not content with one maiden, he grabbed hold of two. All challenge to his authority was met with violent action. Away to prison I go, and the man thinks he has won. Little does he know, he is his own joke. The universe's comic relief...”
	“Any luck Kathryn?” Kura stated into her comm link through gritted teeth. Ryo sucked in a gulp of air and thought over the next stanza of his obscene ditty.
	“It runs in the family, brother too thinks himself all too highly. Still, humiliate himself he does, by slaving for a worm. It makes one smile, to imagine a childhood spent out in a front garden, ever listening for his slimy superiors. Such a sad case, must be due to the parents he never had.”
	“Just you wait...” Toshiro thought, “I’m going to enjoy it.”
	“Where are you now?” Kathryn finally got back to them.
	“The main lobby” Sanjuro replied.
	“Oh, well the holding cells are in another building. You’ll have to take him outside again.”
	“Goody, more fresh air” Ryo beamed, “good for the lungs.” Toshiro too, was also heartened by the news. His plan was obvious: take him outside to the holding cells, bring him to the cell door, lock up the bodyguards, offer to keep an eye on him until some guards could be arranged and, when the others were finally gone, take him out and do the deed. It was perfect, but of course there was the ever persistent phenomena of things being too prefect...

	“Say hello to your new accommodations Ryo” Kura beamed, “courtesy of the U.C.A.S.F. Isn't that nice of us? Free room and board?” Ryo looked at the weather beaten concrete structure and grimaced, it looked less inviting than his Cronian cave. He really was going to have to appeal to get into somewhere more cushy later. He knew better, however, than to let Kura know he thought this.
	“Oh yes” he said, “you were always my favourite charity. Being meddling do-gooders is about the best you and your ragtag armies can seem to accomplish. Nothing productive.”
	“Someone is a sore loser” Kura smiled, “if you don’t take that as insulting.”
	“Ah no Commander” Ryo replied, “a good chess player admits his mistakes. I’ll see you next round. The re-match should prove interesting.”
	“You already failed the first and second time” Sanjuro interjected, “and you are not going to get a third chance. You are going to spend the rest of your life in a prison cell.”
	“Don’t prove too cocky Admiral” Ryo warned him, “it will be your undoing.” Toshiro ignored the whole conversation, keeping his eyes on the two bodyguards – who remained as stoic as ever. He wanted them locked up and away from their master as quickly as possible, he already felt the blood-lust beginning to energize him. It was the same feeling Cothineal brought out in any Fallen soldier when it was deemed cruel violent action was required. It was the same force Samantha had told Sanjuro about in the Home Guard kitchens so many hours ago. Of course, it was stronger for him – Cothineal’s champion and undisputed leader of the Fallen – than it was for any subordinates. Pain or no pain, it made him feel strong. It made him feel ready to face anything, to do anything.
	“Here we go” Sanjuro declared, entering his Admiral’s key combination into the entrance door pad. With a click and a swish, the mechanical doors opened and the fluorescent light on the ceiling activated. The sight of the cold metal bars that covered the entrance-ways caused Ryo’s heart to sink. He had never in his entire life been a prisoner. He had never faced a situation in which he would have  such an utter lack of control, such complete helplessness. The thought of standing in that small grey cell awaiting a show trial made his head spin. It stirred something in him.
	“I won’t be staying long” Ryo growled, trying to steady himself, “I’ll be out soon.”
	“Not if I have anything to say about it” Sanjuro replied, “I’ll visit often – and every time I will be sure to remind you of this fact. That I have now managed to end your machinations once and for all. I’ll also have the satisfaction that, with odds against me, I managed to stop you – twice.” That did it. Ryo’s mind fell in on itself, his previously bubbling emotions suddenly boiled. He stepped back, his senses rearranged. His more basic instincts taking over any of the others. He needed to get away, to flee. He no longer saw the rifle pointed at him, he just felt his own fear and disgust. Like all animals when cornered, he struck back.
	“No!!!” he shouted, suddenly kicking Sanjuro in the legs, causing him to trip and fall over. Kura had been too busy ahead preparing the cell for them to bring him in to do anything. Toshiro then, was the only one in a position to react. He raised the scope of his assault rifle to his eye and aimed for Ryo and fired. Zigzagging like a gazelle, the shots missed their intended target of his head, but did make contact with his arm and chest. Running under too much primal fear and adrenaline, he simply kept going on all fours after he fell to the ground. Sanjuro meanwhile, had gotten himself back up and, with Kura’s help, had secured the two bodyguards again. Those two had also been too surprised to have taken their chance to flee. Gabriel, his blood-lust now almost frothing out of him, turned to give one last statement, trying his best to contain his seething insanity.
	“You deal with these two oafs” he growled, “I’ll get him, he can’t get very far like that.”
	“Alright Toshiro” Sanjuro replied, still dazed from his sudden collapse. Gabriel however had not even waited for a reply and had bounded off after Ryo into the woods.
	“Stop wherever you are Ishikawa!” he growled. “Crudux cruo!” Kura glanced over at Sanjuro, her eyes confused and concerned.
	“What do you think he is going to do?” she asked.
	“Too late to stop him at this point” Sanjuro said, “but he heard my orders didn’t he?” Kura shrugged, and gestured with her gun for the two bodyguards to move into the cells. Raising their hands again, fearing their own share of lead, they complied. As Sanjuro entered the cell complex, he leaned his head out and took one last look towards the forest. No sign of Ryo or Toshiro could be seen.

	Ryo had no idea where he was or what he was doing. The only thought that crossed his mind was a single word, repeated to infinity: escape, escape, escape! He barely had any memory of who he was. His mental state had utterly collapsed in on itself, his entire ego shattered by the idea of containment. Still running at full pace, still on all fours, he suddenly cried out as he ran straight into the river. He turned and crawled back up onto the side and shivered as the cold water was dried by a slight breeze on this cool night. The water had offended him, it had hurt him. There was one thing that remained in his mind about who he was. That was his motivation: power! Knowing this, and feeling out of danger, he decided to counterattack. Within his boggled and confused mind, he managed to produce a single sentence:
	“Attack the sea!” he shouted, “Attack the sea!” Then he laughed, getting on to his two feet. The bullet wounds still bled and twinged, but he did not remember the gunfire. He had been too consumed in that all present desire to escape. He blamed it on his new enemy: the flowing water. He grabbed a stick, which had prior been taken captive by their mutual enemy. Not giving it a chance to consider its fortunate rescue, he brought it back into action to take its revenge. “Attack the sea!” he shouted, growing even more fervent with each droplet of liquid that landed on him after every striking splash. He waved the stick up and brought it down again, again and again, in an impressively rapid succession. Blood spurted out of his wounds, but the constantly changing pull of gravity had actually started forming a natural seal.
	Gabriel started to run again when he heard the sound of splashing. What was going on? Had Ishikawa ran into the river? Was he about to drown? No!! That was not the fate he deserved. He did not have the self-empowering option of taking his own life, not even accidentally. He had to get over there and rescue him, if only to slay him the moment they reached the shore. How long until Ryo simply passed out from the exertion and his wounds? He did not want an unconscious Ryo either. Must hurry, for optimum effect. This was to be Cothineal’s own personal revenge for all the threat and damage Shogo had ever afflicted upon her. His feet struggling somewhat as he reached the rocky shore, his mind was baffled to find what out what it did.
	“Attack the sea!” Ryo shouted again, still hitting the water again and again with his heavily soaked piece of petrified wood. It was quite the sight, and had the will to kill not been so pumped up in his mind and system, he would have actually found it amusing. The humour of it did nothing to distract him from his purpose though. He started to approach.
	“Ryo Ishikawa!” he shouted, and Ryo suddenly jumped, and looked towards him trembling. He looked confused and unsure about who Gabriel was.
	“Who are you?” he asked, “Who is Ryo?” The words came together in his head like two dump trucks trying to park in a residential lot, slowly and with great care. The very thought made him more tired than hitting the river ever had. Gabriel continued to approach.
	“You have wronged my mistress Ryo” he intoned darkly, “you used her, threatened her and vowed her capture and exploitation! Do you know what she intends to have done about this?” Suddenly, it all made sense to Ryo. He wondered why he had not worked it all out before.
	“You are with the sea aren't you? With the wet?” he asked, clenching his stick tightly to him. Gabriel stood back, utterly thrown by that remark. Dismissing it, he came forward again.
	“Don’t play stupid with me, you think you may insult our intelligence with ploys like that? No Ryo, there is no alternative! It is time to die!” Ryo raised his stick in the air.
	“No wet!” he shouted, about to strike, “No wet!” He flung the stick into Gabriel’s face and broke it on top of his head. At first the Gabriel persona was shaken lose by the pain, before Cothineal exerted her influence and both braced it and framed it as a motivation. Gabriel took a knife out of his belt. Ryo raised his arms, ready for a bitter fight but not knowing the danger he was in.
	“Attack the sea!” he shouted again, hitting his opponent in the chest, “Attack the sea!” Gabriel erupted in rage and, in one swift terrible motion slung the knife into Ryo’s stomach. Ryo kept hitting until finally the normal pain responses broke through whatever insanity had manifested itself within his head. He emitted a terrible little sigh, his eyes wide, and then his entire being began to fade. The life, such as was left, began to leave the body. However, Gabriel was far from finished yet. He slide the knife up and down Ryo’s stomach, cutting a large hole. He lunged his hands in and pulled out Ryo’s intestines and other accessible organs.
	“No more!” Gabriel exclaimed, “No more shall you oppress! No more shall you subvert! No more shall you destroy! No more!” Finally stopping to rest, Ryo’s mutilated body slid off the knife and crumpled onto the uneven ground below. Though his eyes had closed, Ryo’s mouth still hung open in a wide gape. It was a terrible sight, though one far more palatable then the view below. Blood was everywhere, oozing out of him like torrents from the sliced flaps of skin. One could even see the trickle slow and accelerate as the partially artificial heart, resting just above the wound, still continued to beat. Gabriel was pleased with this result, but still knew not all his hatred was spent. He lunged down and started stabbing wildly at the corpse.

	“Toshiro!” Kura screeched horrified, “What are you doing?!” Gabriel raised his knife again and plunged it into Ryo’s right eye socket. With a wet splosh, the ball fell in on itself and bits of goo flew up onto Gabriel’s chest. Sanjuro ran up towards his brother.
	“Brother, stop!” he shouted aghast. Gabriel turned his head, his face glowing with an ethereal yellow glow of kato energy, and studied his brother’s response quizzically. Blood drenching all over his front side, he stood up and received them. Kura could not bring herself to move another step closer to the grizzly scene. Sanjuro stopped three meters ahead of him and breathed out a single question to his brother turned psychopath.
	“Why?” he asked, his face turning white, “Why did you do it?” Gabriel stared with the same malevolent power that had lead him to do what he had done and addressed his brother with a passionate conviction, it was a simple enough explanation after all.
	“The madness ends tonight” he declared, “the tyrant is dead. My mistress is secure.”
	“I told you to leave him alive” Sanjuro said, “hasn’t there been enough death?” Suddenly, the glow around Gabriel started to fade and his body began to sag. He fell to his knees, as his face lost its intensity and Toshiro reemerged from within it. Now filled with sorrow, he glanced at his brother.
	“It had to be done” he muttered, “I’m sorry brother.” The last strength of the glow faded and soon Toshiro was once again running purely on his body’s own energy. He gasped out exhausted, pained and emotionally drained. Sanjuro ran up to grab him as he fell unconscious. Resting in his arms, Sanjuro tried not to think of Ryo’s blood spilling down onto his arms. Kura finally found the courage within herself to approach and came and sat by Sanjuro’s side.
	“What now?” she quivered, still shaking. Sanjuro looked down into his brother’s eyes. The expression on his face told the whole story. It had not been his choice, he had simply done that which he was obliged to do. By this point Sanjuro understood his relationship with Cothineal, and knew better than to question it – it was the truce that kept humanity going. He also knew better than to blame Toshiro for the actions of the Gabriel gestalt, his participation was obviously a reluctant one. He turned his head back up to face Kura’s.
	“Go get a medical team out here” he instructed, “and bring back two stretchers.” Kura nodded and immediately sat up and got to it – the faster she could get away from the whole scene, she knew, the quicker her legs would stop shaking. In all her years of battle and brutality, she had never experienced the likes of this before. It was different when it was someone you had known since childhood who held the smoking gun or, in this case, the bloodied knife. She certainly had an entirely new understanding of Cothineal.

Part Twelve: Secrets and Revelations

	Toshiro, his body naked and now largely purified from the blood and gore, lay on the surface of one of the medi-beds in the High Command Hospital. With the blanket pulled up to his chin and his head resting so peacefully on the pillow, it was hard to believe this was the same being that had committed such a grizzly act as Ryo’s murder and mutilation. Ryo himself, pronounced dead on site, was now resting among the bodies of his followers and victims, Zhukov among them, in the morgue.
	There would be no getting up and continuing from this death, Sanjuro knew. Not even Andra Biomechanics could install an artificial stomach, spleen, liver and intestines. That, he knew, had been Cothineal’s point. That and the sick satisfaction of knowing Ryo lived long enough to witness some of the mutilation. Even with all that the man had done, Sanjuro still found himself somewhat reassured to realize that he could not have lasted too long. Kura sat by Sanjuro’s side, holding his hand. The head medic, suddenly a very busy man, returned to give Sanjuro a full report.
	“The damage from the blast was more extensive then he had led us to believe” the man informed him, “I do not know how he did it, but he was concealing it from us and keeping himself going with some source of strength I can’t fathom.”
	“Never underestimate the power of Cothineal” Sanjuro told him, “if she can power our fleets she can power a single injured man.” The medic nodded grimly.
	“She took quite a risk. Cold blooded murder is not a recommended form of burn recuperation. Still, give him time and he should recover. I just hope she will expect less of him next time, I do not know how many beatings he can take.”
	“I’ll be sure to have a word with him about that” Sanjuro agreed. The medic glanced over his patient once more before gaining an air of indifference, his trained internal sense of triage taking over. Not a critical case, time to move on. Still, a part of his inner humanity did have one question.
	“Are you going to do anything about what he did?” the man asked, “He was covered head to toe in blood after all.” Sanjuro winced.
	“Ryo Ishikawa was an enemy combatant trying to escape justice” Sanjuro replied, “Toshiro’s actions were not his own and were done under the coercion of his mistress. Besides, under the terms of the treaty with the U.C.A. and the Cronian provisional government he has innate diplomatic immunity.” The medic frowned.
	“I’ll just sleep better when I know he is back on Cronus” the man remarked, “lest this Cothineal decides for whatever reason I’m to be next.” Sanjuro was hurt by that remark, but decided not to show it. Turning away, he was surprised to see another man in a white coat standing behind him.
	“Hello Admiral” the man said. Sanjuro recognized the man who had looked over Zhukov.
	“Hello” Sanjuro replied, “what is it you want?” He did not want another rebuking.
	“I just wanted to say...” he paused, collecting his thoughts, “sorry for what I said earlier. There was nothing you could have done to save the Commander, and he did die with honour. I did not mean to imply it was your fault, it just affected me is all. We are... were... good friends.”
	“It’s alright” Sanjuro muttered, “we’ve all had quite the few days.”
	“No sir, it is not. You proved yourself in that boardroom sir. I’ve learned you knew about the bomb and rather then fleeing you stayed to take the chances with the rest of us. It was very appropriate Admiral, and you deserve to be commended for it.” Sanjuro gave him a small smile.
	“Thank you, but I claim no more responsibility for our liberation then any of the other men. One man is not an army, and an army certainly is diminished without good medics.”
	“Yes sir, thank you. If you excuse me, I have patients to see.” Sanjuro nodded. Kura suddenly cuddled up beside him. She leaned close and brought her face to his ear.
	“You are so charmingly modest, you know that.” He turned and kissed her.
	“Am I assume you’d never tell your squad something like that?” Kura smiled slyly.
	“Well, I credit them where credit is due – but I by no means want them getting complacent.” Sanjuro smiled too as he imagined one of those Lieutenants under her reign of terror, though Sanjuro knew she did not entirely mean it. It was all part of her little game, part of her exuberant personality that had so attracted Sanjuro as a wayward youth seeking a meaning in life. The scene as always, was interrupted just as soon as Sanjuro’s eyes started to close. It was well past midnight after all. After the third beep, Sanjuro wearily hit his comm link receiver button.
	“Admiral” Isabelle called down, “the others and I have been doing a little research into the goings on around here and we think we have found something you are going to want to see.” Kura’s eyes opened, her sense of curiosity overcoming her own sense of exhaustion.
	“We are on our way” Sanjuro called in, sitting up. It seemed you had to brutally kill a man to get any rest around here, Sanjuro decided after taking one last glance at his brother.

	Isabelle, once again exuding the same melodramatic flair, swivelled the chair of the main office towards Kura and Sanjuro for the second time. She wore a wide smile on her face, thrilled to think that she could be doing something so significant after a life prior of only menial mediocrity. Sanjuro was too tired to share her enthusiasm at this point, even though the very fact she had found them the night previous should indicate that she had a busy night as well. Though she was younger than him. Hmm, that was not a nice thought. He was not getting pooched out just yet. Behind Isabelle was her Lieutenant Richard, leaning over her shoulder as an authoritative presence behind the throne.
	High Commander Robertson also stood nearby, watching the two search over the files on what had been Ryo's terminal. All the High Commanders had, after everything had settled down and everyone had been checked over by the facility's over-strained medical staff, been eager to get up and around and stretch their legs. This had mostly been manifested by them inspecting the base for damages or, for the more sentimental, a midnight walk through the nearby woods – the same area that Toshiro had just covered himself in blood. Not such a great sentimental walk-path after all... Robertson however had been more interested in helping Sanjuro and his subordinates in investigating what had allowed all this to transpire in the first place.
	Baku and Samantha too sat far behind, only casually looking back in their direction. They were too waiting for answers. Both of them had a lot to deal with at the moment. Baku was now the only remaining Fallen official still standing. Sanjuro had only just learned that the Fallen Commander that had lead the squad down onto the surface had perished in the initial battle for the doorway, and, now that Toshiro was for the moment incapacitated, Baku was Cothineal's only ranking conscious representative. Sanjuro was surprised that Samantha had not ran down to the medi-bay to check on Toshiro, due to both her personal and professional obligations. She however, sat beside Baku with a low subdued look in her eyes. Sanjuro wondered what she was thinking.
	“Admiral” Isabelle suddenly chirped in, breaking into Sanjuro's observations, “don't you want to see what we have found?” Sanjuro turned to face the short grinning redhead reclining almost too comfortably in the office command chair.
	“Alright” Sanjuro submitted, “I assume this is to be some deep revelation or something?”
 	“Well, it is important” Isabelle acknowledged, “I'm sure the thought occurred to you about how Ryo managed to get the troops into here in the first place.” Sanjuro frowned, he had been too busy to reflect upon such things as that.
	“Okay” Kura stated, tired and impatient, “how was it done maestro?” Isabelle tapped a quick succession of keys on the terminal interface facing her.
	“First I would like to introduce you to two important individuals” she began. Within a few moments two High Command security troopers came in, leading two weary men through the doorway. One of them was particularly striking due to his classically Slavic features. He turned to face the group.
	“Ah, you must be Admiral Makabe. My name is Boris Yevtushenko, and I am the head negotiator for Andra Biomechanics. Of course, you should have known that if you did any background on what was going on before you stormed in here all guns blazing. Still, you did depose that madman Ryo and we are indebted, but...” he rambled, his accent thickening with each syllable.
	“We want to know why we are still being kept under guard like prisoners” the other man protested, “Armacham and the U.C.A. are allies!”
	“And you have no better friend than Andra” Yevtushenko finished, “so let us pass!” Isabelle clicked her fingers to call for the now packed room to pay attention to her.
	“Mr. Yevtushenko” she called out to him, obliviously mispronouncing his name, “the positions of your employers is not what is at issue here. It is just the matter of how the incident here occurred in the first place.”
	“I will not be talked down to by a foolish young Commander” the man growled. Kura made her presence known with a quite dramatic stomp and clearing of her throat.
	“Shut up and let her finish” she leered. The man looked at her, saw the malice of exhaustion burning within her and decided to do what she demanded.
	“My apologies” he retracted, “carry on madam Commander.” Isabelle gestured towards Kura appreciatively and collected her thoughts again.
	“It must have seemed to you, and everyone in this building, an immense shock that a foreign strike force could so quietly infiltrate and take this building.”
	“Well” Yevtushenko conceded, “yes, something has to be done about all that.”
	“Something already has been done” Isabelle declared, “I've found the answer to our little riddle about the suddenly materializing holding squad.” Isabelle paused and glanced around at her audience, seemingly capturing Ryo's showmanship air through the chair she now sat in. “Mr. Alexander Nevsky” she continued, addressing the Armacham representative, “is there anything you'd like to contribute to the discussion at this point?” Nevsky, corporate negotiator, accidentally let his poker face shift as his eyes darted around anxiously.
	“Why no” he refuted, “why should I have?” Isabelle raised her hands and clasped them together, clearly enjoying this strange new rush of real power.
	“Then you don't remember this message you sent to one Mr. Naoto Ishida, aka Ryo Ishikawa, interim chief executive for the captured Shogo Industries?” Nevsky's face lost about one fifth of its hue, but he still decided to play it like a negotiator.
	“I did talk to him several times in a professional capacity” he admitted, “with regards to the dismantlement of Shogo Industries. He was to be an important party to that agreement; we had no way of knowing he was not who he claimed to be. It was your High Command that appointed him after all.”
	“I am referring to the message dated four days ago sir” Isabelle corrected him, “the one you hid under level five encryption.” Nevsky's face turned angry.
	“You have no right to go poking that far into my personal files!” he growled.
	“This is not a private letter to your far off wife sir” she rebuffed, “it goes, and I quote, 'Dear Mr. Ishida, the operation is progressing right on schedule. Implements brought in with Armacham technology shipments, able bodies brought in on Armacham technician and additional security passes. We are go on the 21st.' Now you, must admit that this is all a bit strange.” Nevsky suddenly broke free of his detail and ran for the door.
	“Stand down” the guard, catching up and blocking him, growled. Nevsky's wide eyes looked up into those of the large man's, before he relented and turned back the group.
	“You still had no right to go into my files” he moaned, “it is a breach of my privacy.” Sanjuro faced the disgraced negotiator.
	“It is quite within the law” he assured him, “she was accessing facility files for the sake of the security of the building. You should not have stored them on your supplied terminal here.”
	“I'll remember that next time” he smiled meekly, “assuming you lot have not brought back hanging.” Sanjuro smiled, the thought having a certain appeal at this late hour.
	“No” he admitted, “I'm sure you'll be fine. Just stay away from the Fallen, you don't want to meet the same end as your co-conspirator. Guard, take him to a holding cell – Ryo's intended one.” Nevsky broke down into tears as he was led out.
	“I did not mean to hurt anyone, I was just showing personal initiative!” he cried as he was led out of the door. Kura enjoyed the sight, and finally grew a smile.
	“Let's hope that traitor gets all that is coming to him” she declared. Isabelle cocked her head away from the doorway to face Sanjuro.
	“I'm afraid that this is not all sir” she informed him, “I'll let High Commander Robertson fill you in on the rest.” Robertson stood up and nodded.
	“Well Admiral” he briefed, “during our joint incarceration I noticed that one or two of my fellows were being treated a bit more... benignly, than the rest of us. This treatment raised my suspicion, so when Commander Whitmore said to me that she was going to go and look into how this happened, based on things she came across while letting you out of our security barricades, I informed her of my list of names and suppositions.”
	“And?” Kura asked, “What did you find?”
	“Treachery at the highest levels of the U.C.A.” Robertson replied, “not only did he have the help of Armacham – but one or two High Commanders also exerted their massive influence to skew troop movements both to allow light security by which to enter, and to move troops out and replace them with Shogo loyal troopers.” Sanjuro sighed, not too surprised.
	“Well, I can not say I am too shocked” he admitted, “Ryo could be a very persuasive man. I mean, Nathaniel Akkaraju aside, he even managed to trick me into doing something for him down on Cronus. Still, this is a little more then pressing a few switches at a C.M.C. installation.”
	“Indeed” Robertson grimaced, “we'll have to arrange a full tribunal for the accused – if any have attempted to make a run for it, suspecting us, they won't last out long.”
	“And who will replace them I wonder” Kura mused, “we'll need to do better this time around in our nominations – we need truly competent and loyal people.”
	“Oh” Robertson brightened, “I have one or two candidates in my head to suggest to the others.” Suddenly a grunt caught them all by surprise, as a still guarded Yevtushenko tapped his foot against the floor impatiently.
	“I know you lot have a great deal to do” he grumbled, “but as I remain presumed innocent may I asked why I am still under gunpoint?” Robertson walked up to him.
	“We also did a check on you negotiator, with information from Ryo's personal Shogo backups” he informed him, “it seems you and your employers were up to some nasty old tricks during the Cronian Revolution – aid shipments and technical information ending up in the hands of the Cronian Mining Consortium.” Baku, still sitting with Samantha at the back, suddenly jumped up.
	“The C.M.C.?” he asked, “Now that is interesting...” Yevtushenko cursed to himself before glaring directly, though alternately, into Sanjuro, Robertson and Isabelle's eyes.
	“You lot could win a lot more friends if you would just directly accuse them of things, without all this posturing and torturous carrying on” he sneered, “it simply does not become all of you.” Sanjuro had decided that he had now had enough of these sort of self-righteous individuals.
	“Look, if you have a case take it up with your lawyer. I do not know if you have noticed, but it is late and some of us had a busy day. So let's just get out of here with a minimum of fuss and let us all finally get some well, or not so well, deserved rest. Okay?” Dejectedly, Yevtushenko looked away and was led out the same way as his fellow negotiator/accused moments earlier. As the door closed behind the man, Isabelle smiled.
	“So Admiral” she beamed, “have I done well?”
	“Well” he considered, “I certainly am in no fit state to go data digging or collating right now, so I am quite grateful. Still, I meant what I said. I think it is time for bed.” Isabelle frowned, having been somewhat hoping for a more enthusiastic reaction to her hard won victory in information extraction – the result of an astute eye while hacking the video feed and deactivating the lock-down.
	“Whatever you say Admiral” she replied, trying not to sound pouting. Kura picked up on her frustration and decided it was her role as mentor to let no good deed go without proper comment.
	“Relax” she directed towards her, “we'll all give you your proper dues in the morning.” Isabelle swung herself in Kura's direction in surprise.
	“Thank you Commander” Isabelle smiled, “that means a lot already.” Sanjuro had already walked off to try and help Baku and Samantha get to their arranged accommodation – the house would be full tonight. Many had already left to seek shelter in nearby bases, including Isabelle's own; for more than just their usual native inhabitants. When he stood up in front of the two Fallen, he found them all but asleep already – their heads unceremoniously slumped against each other.
	“Baku” he called down, “Samantha!” Slowly, the two sat up and looked up at him.
	“Yes Sanjuro?” Baku stated weakly. Sanjuro frowned.
	“I was just saying we should be off to our makeshift quarters.” Baku nodded.
	“Alright” he agreed, grunting with exertion as he pushed himself up. Kura, Isabelle, Richard and Robertson had, observing this, already began to make their own exits. Sanjuro helped Samantha up by raising his right arm as support. She nodded courteously after she let go of him.
	“What is wrong?” Sanjuro asked, confused at their near helplessness.
	“Cothineal is weak” Baku frowned, “she needs rest, her champion is incapacitated, we all feel it. Our war is won, but it is not really over yet. Recovery will be slow.”
	“And this is felt by every Fallen soldier?” Sanjuro asked, “I did not realize the connection was as personal as all that.” Baku stared into his eyes, exhibiting the glow of Cothineal for a brief second. Although he had always found it somewhat unnerving, after the experience of Ryo's murder it now sent an actual chill down Sanjuro's spine.
	“All feel something” Baku explained, “but only those at the top bare the larger brunt. I, Uziel, am for now the standing leader of the Fallen. Gabriel needs rest, so I manage his share as well as my own – along with his love and protector.” Sanjuro nodded.
	“I suppose I understand” he replied, “as much as the uninitiated ever can.” Before turning back, as to not lose sight of Kura ahead of him, he caught a glimpse of Samantha's face. Something else was troubling her, he sensed it, and it was more than bearing the load of a weakened super-being. In the absence of her charge, and with Baku being dutifully contorted into the officious Uziel, Sanjuro sensed that it would be up to him to provide support. Tomorrow, though, he decided. “I will fix everyone's ills, as best I can, tomorrow – like a good little Admiral... and friend.”

	The sun shining in his eyes, and the sounds of birds singing outside of his window, Sanjuro almost thought that he was a normal person. He was on Earth, humanity's home, he was in a normal bedroom with life outside – not a dark and endless void kept at bay by a metal hull. These, and similar sensory inputs, almost even convinced him that he led a normal life and had a normal job – until he saw Kura's pistol lying on the floor next to the bed. With a ping, High Command's intercom chimed in and reported the time: 12:00 AM – midday.
	He had slept for ten hours of intense REM sleep. A sleep so intense that his mind did not even seem to have had the energy to dream, which was probably a good thing. All the strife, pain and sorrow flooded back into his mind as he looked out his window and still saw the black scorched section caused by Isabelle's 'distraction'. Kura was still asleep on the other side, the need to house all the soldiers having made their cohabitation utterly uncontroversial.
	“Kura?” he leaned down and asked. Her mouth twitched slightly, but other than that she displayed no sign of having noticed him. He decided he would do the one thing that was sure to awaken her – appeal to her sense of duty, or at least her pride in never letting petty things like sleep stop her.
	“Report Commander” he called out, and Kura's eyes flew open and she stood up with a start. She raised her hand to her forehead in a quick, but still proper and respectful, salute.
	“Yes sir!” she exclaimed, before realizing, “Oh, it's you.” Sanjuro smiled.
	“You should not be so surprised” he told her, “I do technically outrank you.”
	“Only for less than a year and a half” she shot back, “back then we were even.”
	“But I thought you were dead then.”
	“If you thought so now would you not order me around?”
	“You know what I meant by it.” Kura chuckled, derailing the speeding train of sentences.
	“I know” she smiled, “what time is it?” Sanjuro gazed back at the clock to check himself.
	“Just past 'noon, we slept in.” Kura yawned.
	“We work late, we sleep in. Sounds fair enough to me” she mused, stretching. A thought occurred to her. “Where exactly do we report into anyway?”
	“The main office I guess” Sanjuro replied, “I'm pretty sure we can find Robertson there.”
	“Good ol' uncle Robertson” Kura said, “he was at all our commendations with my father.”
	“Then let's show him you are still the good little soldier and get there before nightfall” Sanjuro joked, “What time of year is it on Earth again? How long is a day right here right now?” Kura ignored these questions and stood up and out of bed. She grabbed her utility belt and starting sliding it through the top of her pants. She then grabbed her pistol, cocked it, and slid it back into her holster.
	“You never know” she shrugged. Sanjuro nodded, it was all too true sometimes.

	“Ah Admiral” Robertson greeted, “I am glad you could make it here eventually.”
	“I think given the circumstances” Sanjuro replied, “our punctuality, as it is, should be considered more than appropriate.” Robertson nodded.
	“Of course” he agreed, “I certainly did not want to sit in that conference room forever.”
	“Anything new?” Kura asked, “Or have things calmed down properly now?”
	“Well, around here it is just surveying and clean up, but beyond these walls is utter chaos.”
	“Oh?” Sanjuro asked, “How so?”
	“The revelation of an almost successful coup causes quite a stir. Dozens of fleet ships, including your friends aboard the Nautilus, have come back here to check up on things; and you should hear all the noise the media is making about this. You're, once again, being hailed as quite the hero.”
	“With respect sir” Sanjuro cut in, “I think the memorializing should be for men like Commander Zhukov, who did not make it to the final liberation.” Robertson nodded gravely.
	“Once full examinations can be arranged, which is slowed by the necessity to treat the wounded, all dead will be released for burial. We shall arrange for a special service to commemorate them, and for the fallen Fallen to be sent back to Cronus as Uziel sees fit.”
	“Toshiro... Gabriel... has not awoken yet?” Sanjuro asked, “What's the doctor saying?”
	“He is still in some sort of regenerative coma” Robertson informed him, “but Uziel assures me that this will pass and that he may be moved back to Cronus aboard the Leviathan.”
	“That is where you want me to head out next then?” Sanjuro asked.
	“When all is cleared up here yes” Robertson noted, “after all, the Fallen came here aboard your ship, and the mutual alliance pact you were negotiating was never actually signed. Am I correct?” Sanjuro, after some thought, realized that he was technically right. Despite it all, the ink was never scribbled down – though they had now acted it out in reality far quicker than ever thought beforehand.
	“Once Gabriel is back to normal, I'm sure there shall be no problems with that” Sanjuro replied, “speaking of which, have the accused High Commanders come quietly?”
	“Quite so, most of them were quite surprised that we had been able to find out – they had expected Ryo to delete all his files upon any sort of departure.” Sanjuro was surprised by this.
	“You mean he didn't?” Sanjuro asked, “Maybe Commander Whitmore interrupted him.”
	“No, he did delete files, just those pertaining proper to him. All the dirt on his co-conspirators or other agents was left here – I think he wanted us to find it. He seems to have wanted revenge for their failings or just as a warped kind of final hurrah.” That did sound like Ryo.
	“By the way, has Ryo's body been examined yet?” Robertson frowned.
	“Yes, our chief of medical staff did it personally and his report is rather interesting. I suggest you go down and meet him yourself, as well as checking up on your brother of course.”
	“Do I take that as permission to conclude this meeting sir?” Sanjuro smiled.
	“Exactly so Admiral” Robertson replied. Kura had already wandered off, having grown bored of the two-sided conversation by that point, and was waiting for Sanjuro to come so she could open the door. Robertson had noticed this, remembering her father's sometimes impatient restlessness.

	“How are things at space-dock?” Sanjuro asked, as Kathryn got back from reporting damages to communications for the benefit of the space-dock repair technicians.
	“Not as good as it could have been” she replied, “the Insurrection did a bit of a number on us in all sections, it really is a credit to the ship that she is still running as well as she is.”
	“How is your father?” Sanjuro asked, causing Kura's interest to return to him again, instead of her steady march forward down to the medi-bay.
	“Much better for a peaceful night of sleep, he did not want to show it but I am sure he was quite exhausted by the end of his impromptu command shift.”
	“Well, I know the feeling” Sanjuro replied, “we should be heading back up to the ship after a few things are cleared up down here.” Kathryn smiled, it had been almost over two days now since she had last been able to be with Sanjuro personally and, through all the stress, the thought of it had stayed in the front of her mind. She did have a plan in her head with regards to that though.
	“How is Kura?” Kathryn asked, trying to hide the possessive edge of her thoughts. Kura clicked on her own communicator.
	“She is fine” she called in, “she is perfectly fit and alert.”
	“Then why are we talking at 1:12 PM and not 10:03 AM then?”
	“She is not a super-being, talk to Cothineal about that.” That reminded Kathryn of something. She did not quite know what sort of answer she would get, but she had to know.
	“How is Toshiro?” she inquired, “What exactly happened last night anyway?”
	“We are just going in to check on him” Sanjuro replied, “and let me just say he dealt with Ryo in a rather forward way.” Sitting above her comm station, Kathryn frowned.
	“I hope Cothineal knew what she was doing with that.”
	“We all do” Sanjuro replied, turning the corner and seeing the doors to the medical bay at last. To his surprise, he found Samantha standing by the doorway. “We are at the medical bay” Sanjuro commented, “talk to you later.”
	“Alright bye” Kathryn replied, and the conversation terminated. As they reached closer to the doorway, Sanjuro noticed the same look on Samantha's face that she had on the previous night. No peaceful night's sleep for her obviously.
	“Hello” Sanjuro greeted, “how is Toshiro?” Samantha raised her head suddenly, breaking away from her personal reflection. She looked back at the doorway and then faced him again.
	“Baku is in there checking up on that.” Sanjuro was surprised.
	“Why are you out here?” Sanjuro asked. Samantha looked at Kura, and then back at Sanjuro before letting out a small shrug. Kura glanced back at her, confused as to what that look meant.
	“I'll talk to you about it later” Sanjuro told her. Samantha quietly nodded, and then regained her focused doorstep vigil, as Kura and Sanjuro stepped away and through the doorway.
	“Ah Admiral” the head medic called as he approached them from one of the bedsides, “who do want to see first? The victim or the killer?” Sanjuro's faced arched downward.
	“Ryo was no victim” he replied, and the medic shrugged.
	“I guess so” he replied, “he did leave a lot of indirect dead here too. Still...” Sanjuro cut him off and took a step closer to the man.
	“Yes?” he stated, his voice lowering. The medic stared back at him unflinchingly.
	“I'm just saying I've got something to tell you about Ishikawa, follow me.” Sanjuro and Kura complied, and followed the man through into the morgue. The cold air and persistent application of sanitary agents still could not fully mask the smell of death and decay – just now lightly laced with formaldehyde. Sanjuro glanced always straight ahead, trying not to look towards the faces of the dead. Kura too was unusually affected by this, as every time she caught a glimpse of a bloodied wound she had a flashback of Gabriel's rhythmic stabbing of Ryo. Finally, the flashbacks were realized as they came to the examination table upon which Ryo lay. His remaining eye was open, staring straight ahead, and his bottom jaw still hung down in a gasp. It made Kura's stomach clench up.
	“What exactly are you trying to demonstrate by this?” Sanjuro asked. The medic did not reply, and simply dragged the shroud down Ryo's now stiff body. Underneath, on his right side, was a metal covering extending down to his prosthetic limb - Ryo's cybernetic replacements for the bits Sanjuro had blasted out with a shotgun back aboard the Leviathan. The still uneven seam between man and machine was unnerving to look at, and Sanjuro could not help but wonder if that had hurt, or if it had been a cold thing to wear. It certainly was no pretty thing to look at, lucky for Ryo he had things on his mind most of the time other than women.
	“He had already told us about his replacement organs” Sanjuro replied, “he was quite insistent on making sure we knew how he had outsmarted us and so survived.” The medic surveyed his dead subject and cringed down at it, his eyes looking over the same seam of flesh and metal.
	“Being in a hurry would certainly explain the quality of these implants, the construction and surgical introduction is quite rough and crude – a very clumsy imitation of Andra's latest procedures in the areas of replacement and prosthesis.” Sanjuro was still unsure of what this was about.
	“Well, given what he did I do not really care if he had to suffer with a second rate heart. I was told you had something important to tell me, which would shed light on his behaviour?”
	“Just so Admiral” the medic replied, “the surgeries were performed on Cronus, he was probably heavily sedated and carefully monitored as he was taken off your ship. They probably also used tools stolen from your medical bay and the abandoned general hospital in Avernus – that is also where they acquired the parts to build these abominations.” Kura was not sure she was getting this.
	“As interesting as all of this is” she broke in, “why should we care?” The medic himself was also getting frustrated, but at the incessant wish of his two companions to rush his diagnosis.
	“In your encounters with him, as well as other accounts I have heard, he was impulsive, ranting, paranoid and unpredictable. Prone to mood swings and, based on some testimony I heard, even violent outbursts. Was this normal behaviour for him?” Sanjuro shook his head.
	“No, now that you mention it, he was always calm and collected – even after I shut down the kato cannon and saved the Fallen and Avernus.”
	“But surely all this is easily explained as a result of his exile, you know, like how kato affects the stragglers. The vast expanses of Cronus are not exactly friendly to human life” Kura said.
	“I am sure that didn't help, and you are quite right about kato. That did play a part in his madness, and he almost certainly was suffering from it – caused by a nasty case of metal poisoning.”
	“From his implants?” Sanjuro finished. The medic smiled, finally a brightening bulb...
	“Kato energy, harvested and used raw, had caused impurities in the Avernus supplies they used, and this had slowly but surely been seeping into his body. This explains his mindset and actions.”
	“Quite” Sanjuro conceded, “and I am sure that Cothineal would no doubt be pleased to learn that she had been poisoning him with her byproducts all this time.” The medic cringed.
	“Unless of course, this had caused him to be more desperate and vicious then he would have been otherwise” he noted, “the bomb in the main conference room for example.” Sanjuro realized that he could well be right about that, Ryo had always been callous but that was down right psychotic.
	“Anything else you wish to tell us” he commented, growing tired of seeing Ryo's decaying corpse, “or can we move on to my brother?” The medic nodded and started to turn back.
	“Sure thing Admiral, if you would just follow me out.”
	“With pleasure” Kura replied, taking one last look at an obvious stab wound on Ryo's chest.

Part Thirteen: Reflections and Decisions

	“Ah, good afternoon Sanjuro” Baku greeted, getting up from Toshiro's side. Sanjuro and Kura replied in kind, and took their positions at the bedside. The head medic turned towards them.
	“I've got other patients to see” he stated, “quite a lot actually, so I'll let Uziel fill you in.”
	“Alright” Sanjuro said, “you go do your job.” The medic spun around back and headed off.
	“How is he Baku?” Kura asked, “He looks just the same as he was last night.”
	“Relax” Baku replied, “he is actually far better, he is under Cothineal's protection.”
	“Yeah” Sanjuro commented, “like you said about her deferring his weariness to you.”
	“And Cothineal's” Baku relayed, “still, the collective will of the Fallen is starting to ensure that both host and inhabitant are on their way to a full recovery from their exertions.”
	“A shame most medical facility's can't match that” Kura noted.
	“Being under her care does have its perks” Baku admitted. Sanjuro looked over him again.
	“High Commander Robertson tells me we are allowed to take him back to Cronus with us when all is cleaned up back here, but I still find that somewhat difficult to believe.” Baku shrugged.
	“Those are his orders” Baku said, “and are not for me to question.” Kura's face cringed.
	“He can't be talking to you” she exclaimed confused, “can he?” Baku nodded.
	“Using Cothineal as a medium” he explained, “his mind can reach any of the Fallen.”
	“What has he said about the... act?” Sanjuro asked, dreading some of the potential answers.
	“He did not enjoy it” Baku told him, “but it had to be done. Personally I'm glad.”
	“You did not have to witness it” Kura replied, “or do it for that matter.” Baku winced.
	“Either way, what's done is done.” Sanjuro was not quite so sure about that.
	“Samantha does not seem to think so, do you have any idea what is troubling her?”
	“As I told you last night, she bares the other half of Gabriel's load.”
	“That would make her tired and weary, but she seems outright distressed by something.”
	“You'd have to ask her” Baku shrugged, “we aren't all telepathically linked.” He grimaced suddenly and looked back at Sanjuro with the sort of face he had as a boy when he got in trouble.
	“He heard us saying that” he winced, “well, I did so he did – he's listening.”
	“Spooky” Kura replied, looking back at Toshiro's stone hard expression.

	“Hello Admiral” Isabelle addressed him, as she caught them before they turned around the corner, “I heard you were around the medical bay.”
	“Good afternoon Commander, I thought you'd gone back to your base” Sanjuro replied.
	“Not yet” she explained, “a lot of my men are still here and, some group of people decided to take me seriously as head of the High Command forces in Zhukov's... absence, and I haven't been able to arrange for a changing of the guard to someone here yet.” Kura winked.
	“That's a pretty big assignment for someone just a few years out of the Academy.”
	“Too big for me” Isabelle frowned, “I'm hoping to get back to peace and quiet, at least for a little while.” Sanjuro smiled, he was sure she could get any posting she desired after this.
	“You did well apparently” Kura noted, “I've heard that U.C.A. prosecutors are already trying to build up some cases from the data you dragged up.”
	“Ryo was not hiding anything that well, all those weak encryption techniques” she replied.
	“When did you become a computer whiz?” Kura asked. Isabelle shrugged.
	“Richard, my Lieutenant, got it to work, so you'd best talk to him.” To be honest, Kura could not actually have been less interested in digital security.
	“Well” Sanjuro interjected, “I am sure the on-base Commander of the High Command forces has her hands too full to chit chat with us for too much longer, so we'll leave you to it.” Isabelle grinned back at him, before giving him a wink.
	“I bet you have things to do too Admiral” she replied, “thanks.” As she walked away, Sanjuro could not help but to poke at an old wound.
	“So a 'weak little girl' eh?” he whispered into Kura's ear. She pushed him away annoyed. “A tiny bit sensitive to correction are we?” he taunted. Kura glared at him. “Alright, alright” Sanjuro grinned. He held his face that way, until Kura's face faltered into a quick, but telling, smirk.

	To make up for the late night that almost everyone on base had, lunchtime was corrected to now occur from 1:00 to 2:00 PM. Sanjuro and Kura, their stomachs now finally unclenching from all the blood and gore they had witnessed, were finally reminding them that they had not eaten a thing since lunch at the Home Guard base the previous day. The smell of several dozen different meals being made in one go led them onward, and Sanjuro was surprised to see the sight of blue hair behind the counter. Is that how she was trying to pull herself together? By volunteering again to help the kitchen staff, and so distract her from whatever it was on her mind?
	Sanjuro and Kura took a seat, but Sanjuro already had made up his own mind that he was going to have to try and put Samantha at ease sooner rather than later. He sensed that this all must have something to do with Toshiro and Ryo, and given he was a party both to most of the prior's life and to the latter's death he was probably the best person for her to talk to about it.
	“What would you like?” Sanjuro asked Kura, “I've heard the cooking here is the best in any U.C.A. installation anywhere.” Kura smiled to herself, in a fashion close to a sneer.
	“That is because the food they serve in places like the Leviathan tastes like styrofoam. It is not that difficult to do better than that – thank god for home cooking.” Sanjuro was a bit surprised by her saying that, as she had never really saw it fit to complain about personal amenities before.
	“Why do you tease Kathryn for 'playing housewife' due to her cooking for us then?” he asked. Kura glanced downward, realizing that she had just been caught appreciating her sister.
	“She looks rather silly in that apron and hat” Kura replied.
	“I always thought she looked cute” Sanjuro commented. Kura sighed.
	“Well, you'll never get me domestic like that – I assure you of that!” Sanjuro smiled, he was sure that was true. Still, she could not dictate how Kathryn decided to live out her life.
	“She can do things her own way, besides, you dodged the question.” Kura stared at him.
	“What question?” she asked, having forgotten how this conversation started.
	“What do you want to eat, my dear?” Sanjuro re-stated. Kura rolled her eyes.
	“Whatever is only moving slightly” she stated, “and can be here quickly.” Sanjuro nodded, and stepped up and towards the serving area. He utilized his soldiery sense of timing and stealth to try and catch Samantha serving out a soup she had just made. Not noticing who was there, she completed ladling out into the two bowls before she saw Sanjuro.
	“Oh” she acknowledged him, “hello.”
	“Samantha” Sanjuro began, “I think we have to talk.” Samantha frowned.
	“Come here through the back” she said, gesturing towards a sliding flap. Sanjuro walked through, and Samantha took him back to a disused storage area for old pots and pans. She leaned against the wall, and waited for Sanjuro to make his first move.
	“You need to tell me what is upsetting you so much” Sanjuro replied, “Toshiro can sense it you know.” Samantha brought her hands together nervously.
	“Maybe I want him to” she replied, “it is his fault.” Sanjuro did not understand.
	“How so? You're not upset about Ryo are you? You'd be the only Fallen here who is...”
	“I am not angry about him cutting Ryo to shreds” Samantha protested, “I am angry that he did not let me be there with him!” Sanjuro was sure that he did not hear that right.
	“What?” he asked, and Samantha sighed.
	“I thought he trusted me Sanjuro, with his life, but what does he do? He leaves me behind and goes and does this! He put himself at risk, without telling me and without letting me be there to help him!” Okay, that sounded a bit more reasonable and a little less bloodthirsty.
	“He did not enjoy doing what he did” Sanjuro replied, “I am sure he just wanted to protect you from all that.” Samantha shook her head.
	“I am Fallen, and I am exactly what that word implies – a fanatic. He should trust my loyalty, that unflinching devotion to Cothineal that we both share, and not leave me away from the more unsightly aspects of our duty.” Sanjuro did not know what to say, if only Kathryn were here.
	“I'm sure he does trust you” he offered, “I'm sure he does not question you.”
	“Then why Sanjuro?” she said, tears suddenly streaking down her cheeks, “If he loves me, why does he push me away?” Sanjuro was in over his head and he knew it; before, suddenly, a thought.
	“Have you talked to Cothineal about this?” he asked, “I'm sure she'd know all about what was running through his mind at that given time.” Samantha stopped still, and looked up at him.
	“It is not my place to ask her of such things” she said, “particularly when she needs rest.”
	“You are an important part of Gabriel, his protector, and so you have to be a working part of the whole. If you need Cothineal's assurances about Toshiro's motivations, than I am sure she'd be willing to listen.” Samantha raised her hands over her nose and thought for a moment.
	“Alright” she agreed, “I'll give it a try.” She stepped back, further into her corner, and stood up straight, arms by her side, chest out and forward, her mouth perched evenly across her face and eyes closed lightly against each other. The lids over these eyes began to twitch and convulse, as the telepathic deliberations began to be transferred from her mind, through Cothineal's repeater pod, and its later hatched podlings, and out into space. Sanjuro was a bit concerned that he might have been incorrect in his second guessing, as her eyes continued to twitch with seemingly no end in sight. Just as suddenly, her eyes popped open and her mouth flipped up from neutral to smiling.
	“Well?” Sanjuro asked, confused, “What did Cothineal have to say?”
	“She said that you are very perceptive for a mere human” Samantha smirked.
	“And that is what makes your mind so changed?” he asked. Samantha chuckled.
	“No, of course not. She sent me Toshiro's thoughts, I'll never question his motives again.”
	“Oh” Sanjuro replied, “was I right?” Samantha nodded enthusiastically.
	“Completely, he personally assured Cothineal of my loyalty, and the the feeling he had for me... it was wonderful.” Sanjuro did find that interesting, it was hard to get any sense of what went through Toshiro's head, or how he felt, at the best of times, let alone when he was planning murder.
	“I'm glad” Sanjuro replied, but Samantha interrupted him with the same delight.
	“Do you know what he thought to himself as he stabbed Ryo?” Sanjuro's eyes widened, this was certainly off the beaten track for him.
	“Uh, no...” Sanjuro began, but was again interrupted.
	“'I do this for Cothineal, and my dear Sam! My protector, my love'” she called out, “And that same feeling! It is partly how he managed to do it – focused on something positive instead. Isn't that romantic Sanjuro?” He frowned, not sure how to respond to that.
	“I... guess that depends on one's definition” he commented, “Kathryn has yet to be touched by me killing anyone; Kura maybe...” Samantha shook her head.
	“But this was Ryo Ishikawa” she noted, “attempted destroyer of worlds.”
	“I guess... though the more immediate thought I get is that Kura's soup must be getting cold. I don't think she'd think it very 'romantic' of me to bring her it that way.” Samantha's eyes settled, gaining control back away from her exaltation, and she slowly nodded.
	“Alright, I'll let you go off and back to her” she told him, “thanks Sanjuro.” His mind was still elsewhere, remembering the fuss Kura made the one time Kathryn had tried to surprise them by serving tomato soup gazpacho-style. She had gone into a rant about how sloppy the technicians were getting and how the heating coils were constantly going on the blink. Not to mention, Sanjuro now had 'promised' her the best food in the U.C.A
	 Of course, this was just to prevent the thought from occurring to him that he might have had all he could take on with regards to the Fallen over the past few days. Ah, for the days when they were all at the Academy, when they were all normal... It was then he noticed that the two soup bowls had disappeared, and that Kura was impatiently glaring at him from the table. It was quite like pigs at a trough around there, if you hesitate then you starve.
	“Um, Samantha!” he called back into the kitchen, realizing the need for fresh soup. A hungry Kura should not be trifled with; that was true of many of her manifestations actually.

	Sanjuro, Baku and Kura stood before the Fallen and Leviathan squadrons, which had just assembled outside of High Command in anticipation of heading towards where LZ Minotaur had just landed moments ago. High Commander Robertson had also come out to address them and to send them off, having now gotten the base defences functioning again and bringing in fresh troops from afar in case of any further problems. Robertson seemed to be getting well ready to become the head of the United Corporate Authority Security Forces, having been one of the only only High Commanders to have kept a cool head and had not been found to be a traitor. Sanjuro's list of friends in high places seemed to only be expanding – this from a man who had never really respected or trusted his superiors or the authority they represented. Maybe it was his honesty that had won them all over, somehow.
	“Before you return to your ship or, for our Fallen guests, your planet, I would just like to once again thank you all personally, and officially on behalf of U.C.A. High Command. Your courage and sacrifice over the past few days was remarkable, under circumstances of the utmost confusion and difficulty. You all kept calm at even the most intense moments, and did what was required to get the job done. Your actions shall by no means be forgotten or ignored. Expect commendations or even promotions to come! I assure you, I will not let this good deed go unheralded!”
	With his conclusion, Sanjuro's forces returned the High Commander's words with raucous cheering and applause. The far more reserved Fallen simply nodded as a show of mutual respect. Sanjuro and Baku stepped forward.
	“Alright men, I am sure that you are all looking forward to seeing your quarters, friends and colleagues again – and maybe Carla and her bar” Sanjuro began, eventually being interrupted by cheers of agreement, “Anyway, I am sure that you will all have plenty of stories to tell, and quite a few to hear from our comrades up above by all accounts. So, are we all ready to go home?”
	“Yes Admiral!” all the U.C.A. soldiers, led at the front by Kura, exclaimed before flashing a blindingly sudden series of salutes. Meanwhile, Baku took Sanjuro's place in front.
	“All pause to hear the words of Gabriel” he directed, before crouching down and closing his eyes. All the Fallen troopers, save for those moving the man in question almost like poll-bearers, did the same and engaged in what looked from the outside to be a session of peaceful meditation. Standing back up, Baku simply gestured towards the woods and, together with Sanjuro, he set off towards the forest. Both squadrons followed suit after them. Robertson watched as the last batch of people went beyond his sight, looked over his building and then headed back inside towards the main office he had all but staked out for himself.

	Isabelle tapped her fingers against the side of the wall of Robertson's office, as she waited for the man to get back to her in regards to her latest request. Getting impatient, she broke the silence.
	“All my men have already returned to base sir” she reminded him, “why am I and my aide not being allowed to go back with them?” Robertson frowned.
	“You have to understand Commander” he told her, “that there has been a real shuffle here. Many of our men were incapacitated in the fighting and, more importantly after a situation like this, we are not quite sure what people are thinking and who is really loyal. I don't want to just pick someone out to be head of security here. They seem to trust you Miss Whitmore, and your loyalty is now well known, so it is tempting to just  keep you in your now hailed position.” Isabelle shook her head.
	“That was not the deal sir” Isabelle protested, “I came to help liberate this place – not to keep it. As far as I am concerned, I should be out doing my field patrols right now.”
	“I would think you would be honoured to have been given such a lofty position, given your young age and relative inexperience” Robertson replied, “why are you so resistant to this?”
	“You somewhat answered your own question there sir” she explained, “I was inexperienced, but I have now all the experience I can handle for the time being. I want to return to my old post sir, to rest and to consider everything I have done. You lived through this too sir, surely you can understand my motivations. They in no way detract from any personal sense of honour about the offer.” Robertson put his hands together and thought it over, he really did not have much of a choice. She would not serve as well if she did not really want to be in the position. Still, he had a sense that he would eventually be asking her this question again later on – she did know the area well after all.
	“Alright Commander” he concluded, “I'll let you return to your base. Commander Zhukov always seemed rather fond of Lieutenant Cartwright, and trusted in him. I guess he would be my next choice to take care of things here.” Isabelle smiled.
	“Thank you sir” she nodded, “I am sure he will be thrilled about the promotion.”  Robertson nodded and so, after getting her red bangs clear, Isabelle set out to leave. Before she turned the door knob however, Robertson called out to her.
	“Just one thing Commander” he said to her, “don't be stranger, and keep the building's outer frontier clear. Understand?” Isabelle nodded again.
	“Perfectly sir.” With that, she stepped through the doorway behind which Richard was waiting for her. Noticing the hallway was clear, he embraced and kissed her. Though she was more in mind to simply attribute that to his thankfulness that they were finally going home. Besides, they had gone through together already far more than any longer standing couple probally ever would.

	“How are you holding up back there Admiral?” Captain Evans' voice called in from the cockpit. Sanjuro leaned himself against the back of his chair before answering.
	“Simply looking forward to seeing my ship again Captain” he replied, though he was actually thinking more about how Kathryn was going to greet him.
	“You needn't worry Admiral” Evans' noted, “it is still in one piece, and our techs are doing their best to remove those nasty scorch marks. It will be just like new in no time.”
	“I am sure you managed to duck and dodge most of the nastiest barrages.”
	“Well, I certainly tried; and how are our Fallen friends back there?”
	“Our in-flight accommodations are adequate” Baku stated, “rest assured.”
	“I think you Fallen would make do even with wooden planks to ride on” Evans' noted, “but I am trying to prevent any turbulence that could trouble our comatose passenger.” The mention of this made Sanjuro glance again over to the other side of the cabin. Toshiro was laid out flat and kept under scrutiny by the ever watchful Baku and Samantha. Sanjuro also could not help but notice that the look on Samantha's face was not so much protective, as adoring. Assuming Toshiro was unaware of Sanjuro's emotional fix, he was going to be quite surprised by her reaction upon awakening.
	“How was Lieutenant Commander Akkaraju when you last saw her?” Sanjuro asked into his communicator. Evans paused, either in thought or being interrupted away by the complaints of the auto-pilot. It was nice to have the luxury of such things when one does not anticipate the need to dodge weapons fire or plot an unorthodox course for a parachute drop.
	“Well, her and Negotiator Akkaraju had made themselves at home inside the landing bay waiting room before I left” he replied, “I am sure they'll be present to greet you.”
	“Pleasant thought Captain” Sanjuro stated, “and thank you. Still, you should probably focus on landing this thing – that should be coming up before too much longer.”
	“I am in charge of providing flight schedules” Evans' replied, “but you are still correct. Farewell for now then, Admiral.”
	“Farewell Captain” Sanjuro concluded. He leaned back again, and noticed that Kura had all but ignored the conversation. Instead, she was looking out the side porthole at the twinkling stars and the glow of the atmosphere still visible surrounding the ever growing blue, green and white orb.
	“I did not take you for a stargazer” he commented to her. She faced towards him slowly.
	“It has been a long stretch” she said, “they are calming.” Kura needing to be calmed? That was a surprise, maybe she was getting older too. For some reason, that seemed even more improbable.
	“I'm sure you'll be sick of them again by the end of the week” Sanjuro stated. Kura smiled.
	“The need for calm is fleeting” she replied, “and that is what keeps excitement exciting.”
	“Hmm, deep” Sanjuro concluded. Kura grinned.
	“You sound like you are feeling better” she told him, “I take it no dreams last night?”
	“None, I think my mind is starting to get a handle on its priorities. How about you?”
	“Actually...” Kura said, considering her words carefully, “I had something of a nightmare.”
	“Really?” Sanjuro replied, “I assume you slaughtered it and sent it to the glue factory?”
	“If only, it was about Toshiro” she explained, “I don't know, it reminded me of the scene just before I passed out on that mission to take out Ivan Isaravich. The way Toshiro was acting as Cothineal took control of him, and the fear I had about you.”
	“My memory of that event is no nicer” Sanjuro agreed, “but that is all said and done. I can't say I understand Cothineal either, but I don't think she is all that malicious – outside her grittier moments when she feels cornered.” Kura scrunched up her face as she considered this.
	“I guess I will just be glad be back home” she decided, “on the ship.” Sanjuro nodded.
	“I think we all will.”

	Isabelle felt as if she was weightless, as she and Richard continued their walk back to her Home Guard Base. It was an unusually bright and sunny day, she no longer held any reservations about her own abilities as a leader or those about the man she fancied. Richard held her hand as they headed down the dirt path, eventually set to hit the road Sanjuro and the others had taken to go to the Armacham mecha factory two days before.
	For months and months, she had led teams through these woods, keeping a look out for troublemakers, unfamiliar wildlife or any other calamity or occurrence. Yet the wilderness had never seemed quite as inviting to her as it had this afternoon. She really did feel like she was walking on air. They came to a clearing and Isabelle gestured to her companion for them to have a rest. They were certainly in no hurry at this point.
	“Isn't it a beautiful day out here?” she smiled. Richard sat down beside her, at the foot of one of the larger oaks, and gave the clearing a good look over.
	“Perfectly true” he agreed, “the shrub in front of me seems particularly radiant today.” Isabelle was confused by this comment, there were no shrubs around there and certainly none in front of him. Richard grinned, “I meant you 'Belle.” Understanding, she gaped and and turned away from him for a second. She still had not quite gotten herself to the point where she could always keep up with his overactive brain, particularly when he was trying to charm her.
	“I'm not quite so sure I approve of that analogy” she said finally.
	“Which would you prefer?” he offered.
	“Of plants, hmm, I am not sure.”
	“You don't have any favourites?”
	“The local flora of my youth were street lamps and fire hydrants Richard” she exclaimed, “and neither of those sound all that flattering either.”
	“Alright, how about the I just call you the 'maiden of the woods' then?” Isabelle thought over that suggestion briefly, before deciding it was fair enough.
	“I was almost 'maiden of the concrete and steel' back there you know.”
	“Yes, I gather High Command sees you as a rising star” Richard stated.
	“Another analogy?” she noted. Richard shrugged.
	“True, but it seems cogent enough.” Isabelle was having trouble reading him again.
	“Do you think I should not have turned the High Commander down?” she asked.
	“Well, what prompted your decision to stay out here?”
	“I wanted my own back” she confided, “my base, my woods – my peace. Now that I am in a position to appreciate it more. I do not feel ready for the hustle and bustle of a larger posting. Two days ago the very idea would have been unthinkable to me, I was feeling out of place and insecure with my tiny slice of responsibility, and now I look to it as sanctuary. Funny isn't it?”
	“Not really” Richard decided, “it sounds perfectly reasonable to me. I'd stay by your side no matter where you ended up though.” Isabelle frowned.
	“Richard...” she breathed, feeling some of her old uneasiness returning as she started walking down an ally she was still not sure was safe, “how serious are you about that?” Richard was not sure what to make of that response.
	“I mean it perfectly” he replied, “I've been following you around since the Academy.”
	“I always felt it was the other way around” Isabelle shrugged, “though that thought does give one ideas...” Richard raised his eyebrows.
	“Oh?” he asked, “What are you thinking of?” Isabelle was suddenly so nervous, her hands were starting to shake like they had done during the height of their mission.
	“We've known each other for a long time now Richard” she began, “over three years. I've always admired you from afar, and now that I had the courage to tell you, I feel upset over all that wasted time and ashamed of my own cowardice.”
	“There is no need to feel that way 'Belle” Richard noted, “the future starts today.”
	“Does it?” Isabelle asked, “Would you want to make that... official?” Richard's eyes flew open as he thought over that comment.
	“You're not asking me to marry you or something, are you?” he asked, surprised.
	“Oh” Isabelle frowned, “forget it. I just wanted to let you know how I felt, and not let the cowardice win again. If you don't feel ready, I'll respect it and...”
	“Sweetheart” Richard interrupted her, “I'm not saying no.” Isabelle opened her eyes, wiped a stray tear from her left cheek and surveyed him to check for honesty.
	“But you're not saying yes either?” she asked. Richard shrugged.
	“I'll tell you at the end of the walk” he offered, “I need to think about it.”
	“You always were one to think things over first” she noted, “though I did not think you'd be so methodical when it came to something like this.” Richard grinned.
	“Nor you so impulsive about it” he said, “it is rather touching.” Isabelle raised her eyes.
	“Is that a good sign?” she asked. Richard gestured for her to calm.
	“I'll tell you when we get to base” he assured her, leaving Isabelle once again uneasy. They continued on walking, with Isabelle feeling somewhat angry at herself for potentially overstepping her bounds, and by doing so rupturing the bubble of elation that had accompanied her at the start of this journey. Repeatedly, she had looked back towards Richard and tried to read his face, and so gain an insight into his thoughts. Each time it came back to her as absolutely blank and, most unsettling of all, was the fact that he did not even seem to notice her each time she did so. Every tree that had previously seemed so inviting, suddenly seemed daunting and suffocating. Starting to come outright to the conclusion that she had made a mistake, she saw her base appearing before them. She turned towards Richard and let out some of her frustration in a way she had not at first intended.
	“You tell me your decision now” she snapped, “or I won't let you in.” Richard looked up at her surprised, but by no means intimidated by this. He approached.
	“It's alright” he said to her, “I've made up my mind on the matter.”
	“Yes?” she asked, starting to shake again, “What is it?” Richard held up his hand.
	“Hold still and I will tell you” he said, and Isabelle grabbed her left arm with her right in a vain attempt to stabilize herself. Richard cleared his throat, and her eyes widened.
	“I've decided... to say... yes” he finished, “I know you pretty well, we've lived through both peace and war and, most of all, I trust you 'Belle.” At first she had not heard him, so much expecting a negative answer. When it finally dawned on her that he had just said yes, she did not know quite how to respond. Instead of answering him, she simply looked at him. Finally she said a simple single word.
	“Why?” she asked. Richard frowned.
	“I'd have thought that you made the case for it pretty obvious” he passed back at her. Isabelle shook her head, realizing that she really had two questions on her mind.
	“Alright, what was it you needed to think about?”
	“Well...” he began, “I was actually thinking about whether or not I was right for you. You're a high flyer now and I would not want to accidentally burden your career.” Isabelle had not even thought about that, the idea of her being noticed by anyone seeming otherworldly.
	“You're a model trooper” she responded, “how could you think that?”
	“One has to ask themselves” he replied, “I also considered whether or not you were sure of what you wanted. Career aside, I did not want to become an emotional burden to you either. In the end I decided that if you have not turned off me yet, after we had served together and with you having been in a position to see all of my failings, you were not about to now.” Isabelle nodded.
	“Anything else?” she asked.
	“Well, I did also consider that divorces are rather cheap.” Isabelle cringed at that.
	“It was a joke” Richard rushed out, “just a joke.” Isabelle was feeling too drained at this point to see much comedy in it. “In all seriousness though, I also wanted to see your reaction” he continued, “you're so cute when you're worried. Did you know that?”
	“Given that was how I was much of the time, and you still liked me, I am not surprised” she admitted. The two sat next to each other in silence for a moment, before looking back towards each other. Suddenly, they both started laughing at one another.
	“I can't believe you actually thought I'd say no!” Richard chuckled.
	“I can't believe you worried about being a career obstruction!” she replied. 
	“I can't believe I was able to get you so worked up” Richard rejoinded.
	“I can't believe I let you get me so worked up” she replied.
	“I'm glad that there are parts of you that haven't changed” he said, continuing the threads.
	“I'm just glad” she concluded. They stared into each others eyes again, giggled and then embraced one another. As they rolled around together on the grass, it was clear that they were in no hurry to arrive at the destination that was looming ahead of them. The bubble had been reformed, and the bush around her was bright and sunny again. She could even start to feel her feet floating up off the ground again. Richard certainly had a way of transforming a situation, Isabelle decided.

	“Alright folks, you may disembark at will” Captain Evans called back, “I hope you all had a pleasant flight and will recommend LZ Minotaur to all your friends.” Guiding Baku and Samantha out first, carrying Toshiro's stretcher over their arms, Kura cringed at Evans' levity.
	“It is not as if we had a choice, his is the primary drop shuttle” she said back to Sanjuro.
	“Ah, but how many of them try and be friendly about it?” he replied.
	“Friendly about flying us to our potential deaths?” Kura asked.
	“Better friendly about it than aggressive, or dismissive” Sanjuro concluded. Kura frowned.
	“You're getting wiry again Sanjuro” she told him, “expectant much?”
	“You're getting bored again” Sanjuro countered, “hence your remark about Evans.”
	“Let's just go out and meet dad” she replied, and Sanjuro decided to go along with that. Stepping out into the shuttle bay, they saw Nathaniel looking over the still ordered disembarkation of both the Fallen and U.C.A. squads. Before they headed toward him, Kura rushed up in front and told her squadren the obvious – that they were dismissed and granted some R&R. She then ran up to Sanjuro and caught up to him just before he had reached Nathaniel. Still breathless, Kura ran up and hugged her father. Nathaniel accepted it, but was slightly uncomfortable with this in front of such a large crowd. Then again, his reputation had already endured much worse, so who was he to complain?
	“You alright dad?” Kura asked, releasing him, “We heard you had quite the day yesterday.”
	“Oh, just an upstart with a fancy ship” Nathaniel replied, “nothing I could not handle.”
	“I assume you saw Toshiro being carried around on that stretcher.”
	“Yes I did, I was informed his condition was better than that.”
	“Apparently he just looks that way on the surface. Power of Cothineal or something.”
	“He did a good job with that bomb” Nathaniel noted, “he deserves his rest.” Kura cringed, again not thinking about the bomb so much as his other major exertion of the previous night.
	“Where is Kathryn?” Sanjuro cut in, glancing around, “I was told she was here. Did she get called away or something? In which case, I officially counter that order – she has done enough for now.” Nathaniel raised his hand and gestured for Sanjuro to calm.
	“No need to flex your Admiral's muscle” he said, “she simply told me she had to go off for a moment. She should be back soon.” Nevertheless, five minutes passed and Kathryn still had not shown. Getting slightly concerned, Sanjuro checked his comm system. Her signal was active.
	“Kathryn?” he called in, “We are waiting, what is keeping you?” Silence. Sanjuro tried again, before turning back to Nathaniel and Kura with a shrug. “She must be busy with something.” Kura sat up and stretched her legs, looking back at her seated father and a still fiddling Sanjuro.
	“Well, she knows where we will be” she commented, “I don't know about you too, but I want to go back to my quarters now.” Nathaniel nodded.
	“Alright, tell me what happened to her later. Kathryn wants to cook a dinner for the four of us so that we can talk over our experiences.”
	“That sounds like a plan Admiral” Sanjuro replied, “sorry... Negotiator.”
	“Still sounds like music to my ears Admiral” Nathaniel stated, “see you tonight.” With that, he stood up, tested his aging legs and set off for a service elevator and his guest quarters – probably interested in writing up his experiences in the war memoir he had started working on, and thought that his daughters did not know about. Kura was never one to let her father get away with a secret.
	Sanjuro and Kura started off towards their own elevator and looked over the various storage lockers for securing personal affects whilst travellers were away, and the various other wall features. Just before the elevator doors opened, Sanjuro heard a small metallic creak. Kura, meanwhile, heard nothing and proceeded into the lift. As she spun around, and the lift doors closed, she realized that Sanjuro was no longer with her. She cursed to herself.
	“Always getting himself lost or missing his transports” she muttered under her breath, “I guess he and Kathryn will show up later.” She did not know how right she was, which was probably in the end very much for the best.

	Darkness. That was the first thing Sanjuro saw. He had never expected it, nor had he ever experienced the kind before. An abduction while walking through his own ship, with Kura by his side? He wondered if she had realized he was gone, or had simply just gone up the lift. Who up here would want to grab and drag him away? Had Ryo implanted himself as deep as that into the U.C.A.? 	Suddenly, he sensed a presence which, given its sudden close proximity, he was sure had been there all along. He sensed a sudden movement, and braced himself, before hearing a clicking sound. A small stretch of LED lighting engaged around the top and bottom of his narrow confinement. Gazing towards the presence, he was surprised to see the light strands of a brunette.
	“Hello” the woman said pleasantly, “expecting me?” Sanjuro realized that this ranked as one of the strangest moments he had ever experienced in his entire life, and it had been Kathryn and not Kura that had led him into it. This really was something for the books. He let out a weak little smile.
	“Yes sweetheart” he replied, “but at the shuttle bay.” Kathryn's eyes glistened.
	“I was waiting for you” she said, “but when I heard the shuttle come in I went off.”
	“I see” Sanjuro acknowledged, “I am just wondering about one thing: why?” Kathryn smiled, and reached to pull Sanjuro closer. Given they were kept together in an over-sized storage locker, this was no real challenge.
	“Quite simply I wondered what was the quickest way to get you away from Kura” she explained, “she has had you alone for two days, and what have I had?” Sanjuro, trying not to, remembered his intimacy with Kura the night before last. Blushing, he looked Kathryn in the eye.
	“You really should not compete with her like that” he commented. Kathryn shrugged.
	“But it produces some of my more inspired moments” she protested. Sanjuro glanced over his cramp metal surroundings and considered how he had gotten to be there, and decided he agreed with that sentiment. This was certainly unusual. Kathryn kissed Sanjuro on the forehead. “Also, after worrying about you so long, I wanted to get you somewhere where you could not run off – or get yourself killed.” Sanjuro bit his lip, showing penance.
	“I am sorry I did not tell you about the bomb” he told  her, “but I had to get Ryo first.” Kathryn glared at him sternly, here it comes...
	“I did not want to be informed by a subordinate” she scolded, “particularly given what happened to Toshiro.” Sanjuro loosened back and took the punches, knowing better than to resist.
	“As I said, I am sorry sweetie” he breathed. Kathryn suddenly smiled.
	“I know you are” she agreed, “and there is a way for you to atone for your misdeeds.” Sanjuro did not know what exactly she was going to do: hit him or kiss him again?
	“Yes, my love?” he said meekly. Kathryn wrapped her arms around him.
	“Simply make me forget the last two days happened” she instructed, “and take me someplace else.” Sanjuro had an idea as to what she was implying, but decided to play dumb.
	“Sure dear” he submitted, “where do you want to go?” Kathryn frowned.
	“Nowhere” she informed him, “we are ready to go from right within here.” She pressed her mouth against his, and Sanjuro impulsively slid his arms around her back. They held each other like that, their lips conjoining, before Kathryn pulled back to look Sanjuro in the eyes again. She held him like a snake charmer, as his body began to take in all about her essential presence. He sensed her hair drape down onto his shoulders, he felt her hands holding him across the chest, his own hands on her waist. Her deep hazel eyes bore into the depths of his psyche
	Contrasting the dim light, her vibrant red lips puckered open at him – awaiting the return of his own. Bathed in her radiance, he forgot about everything. He forgot about High Command, he forgot about Cothineal, he even briefly forgot about Kura – who always held herself in his thoughts somewhere, even when he had thought her dead. Kathryn lowered her head to amplify the effect of her stare, as she let loose a little smirk – pearly whites glowing up at him. The expression on her face was one of affection, longing and desire, plus of tension rapidly easing away. She had waited for this moment for two days, and she was going to let nothing detract from the intensity of it all.
	Sanjuro felt it too, he had missed her as well. Even with Kura beside him, he had longed for her sister. Kura may be his energy and excitement, but Kathryn was his solace and soul. He decided not to face against the growing gravitation, not to deny his own bubbling passion any longer, and embraced her again. Accepting him, Kathryn slid her hands up to the back of his head and then slowly down his back and beyond. The flow of sensation tickled along his nerves, her hands running past his shirt, her touch like fire. He slid his own hands down her sides, as their less mobile, particularity in this cramped environment, core bodies merged with one another. Together, they formed a single being, one which would hold like that for quite a while longer.

	“Ah” Kura exclaimed, placing down the book she was reading and rising from her chair, “there you two are. I was beginning to wonder if I should call security.” Kathryn looked at her sister with an almost hostile protectiveness, thinking of the slightly hunched and stiff Sanjuro following in behind her. Glancing away from him, Kathryn turned to Kura: her story prepared quite far in advance.
	“He missed the lift, silly him, so when I got back I decided to show him over the ship – what was damaged and what was still working. Do you have a problem with that?”
	“You could have called me down to join you” Kura protested, “instead you had me sit around here for over an hour and a half on my own!” Kathryn smiled at this complaint, something which did not endear her to Kura. Noticing this, Kathryn decided to poke back. “Aren't you happy to see me sis?” she asked. Kura looked over Sanjuro and was instantly suspicious. Both from the rumpled uniform and dishevelled hair, and for his seemingly sudden spinal lockup. He turned to face Kathryn.
	“Not as much as you seemed to have been to see Sanjuro” she shot back.
	“You had him for two days” Kathryn replied, “I think less than two hours with me is not even close to compensation for that. You have no right to complain.”
	“Whatever” Kura grumbled, “but you did not have to leave me out of the loop.” Kathryn smiled to herself again. She certainly did have too, she knew. The revenge of the not nearly omniscient enough guide and overseer. That was the whole point of the operation, on one level. Sanjuro interrupted this latest sparring match by walking between them and landing himself onto the couch upon which Kura had been reading. Kura looked down at him, suddenly playing herself as soft and adoring.
	“You're not going to lie to me Sanjuro” Kura stated, “is she telling the truth?” Sanjuro decided that if he had nothing nice to say, for either party, he should say nothing at all. Kura still looked down into his eyes expectantly, and moped to herself when no response came, breaking her loving act. Suddenly a thought occurred that made Kura chuckle out loud. Kathryn, who had gone over to a wall mirror to straighten herself out, spun around questioningly.
	“What is so funny?” she asked, running a hand down her left pant leg to remove creases.
	“If I am not mistaken, you promised father a meal by which to talk this all over” Kura began with relish, “so as much as I'd hate to disturb your beatification, shouldn't you be putting on that silly apron of yours and getting to it?” Kathryn glared at her, before realizing she had point.
	“Oh!” she yelped, before taking one last look into the mirror, running her fingers through her hair in a vain attempt to get it back into place, and rushing off into the Admiral's personal kitchen. Kura grabbed Sanjuro and, beaming, held him close.
	“Life is good sometimes” Kura commented, “don't you think?” Sanjuro glanced up at her.
	“That was not nice” he chastened her. Kura frowned, finding the accusation caustic.
	“Would you rather I let herself ponce herself up like a fool and let her forget that?”
	“I guess not, but you did not have to remind her of it like that.” Kura smiled.
	“We all have our fun” she stated, causing Sanjuro to consider Kathryn's 'fun' again.
	“Alright” he said, “but can you promise to get along tonight?” Kura held her mouth still.
	“What's in it for me?” she asked finally. Sanjuro pulled himself up and kissed her. Upon release, he held his arms together and stared into Kura's eyes again. They darted around coquettishly, before moving to match his gaze. “If you put it like that” she decided, “I'll be as sweet as sugar to her.”

Part Fourteen: Commemorations and Commendations

	“Admiral” Robertson opened by video link, “how are repairs going?” Sanjuro shrugged.
	“I am not a technician” he admitted, “but I should be out of dock in about a week.”
	“That means I should try and get the services over with before you are fixed, so that you can test out your refurbished ship the moment the last of the welding is complete and save calling you back to Earth for it later.” Sanjuro blinked at him.
	“Services?” Sanjuro asked. Robertson smiled.
	“I suppose you thought I was just being polite when I promised that no good deed would go unheralded. I guess most of us here in High Command do tend to speak hot air, but I actually meant it.”
	“So this is meant as commemoration?” Sanjuro inquired.
	“Commemorations and commendations” Robertson elaborated, “for all the senior staff, exceptional cases and command staff who led them through it.”
	“I already have my Cronian medal” Sanjuro informed him, “I do not really need another.”
	“To be perfectly honest, my motives are not entirely based on gratitude” the High Commander conceded, “since taking up the title as Head Commander a few days ago I've been having a media mess with questions over how the showdown happened and why. This should distract them for a moment, and help convince them that with men like you and co, the people can sleep at night.”
	“Ah, press...” Sanjuro sighed. Robertson held his mouth grimly.
	“I'll try and keep them off you Admiral” he assured him.
	“When will this be then? If it you want it while the Leviathan is still under repairs?”
	“And while the press are still hounding me” Robertson winked.
	“Exactly. When?” Robertson thought about it for a moment.
	“Friday, say a banquet?” Sanjuro did think he could handle it better on a full stomach.
	“Alright, I'll inform the relevant parties” he stated.
	“Excellent, I shall make all the arrangements. Just get yourself there halfway presentable.”
	“Get a tailor to work out the mothballs on my dress uniform you mean?” Sanjuro noted. Robertson was actually rather thrown a little by that comment.
	“You don't have moths infesting your ship do you? I can get some exterminators for...”
	“Relax” Sanjuro explained, “it was just an expression.” Robertson frowned.
	“Yeah well, get to be Head Commander and you start to hear all kinds of horror stories...”
	“Maybe you could tell me later sir” Sanjuro interrupted, “I have a ship to manage.”
	“Just so Admiral” Robertson nodded, “you are dismissed.”
	“I'll see to that myself if I have too” Sanjuro thought, even as an Admiral he was still not in charge of his own time. In fact it was worse. Ah, to be an ignored grunt...

	“Do you think Toshiro is going to be awake before Head Commander Robertson's big 'service'?” Sanjuro asked Samantha, as the two of them looked over at Toshiro still comfortably lying upon the bed in their shared quarters. Samantha frowned.
	“I think he is trying to take on more of Cothineal's wear than he should” she told him.
	“But doesn't she feel vulnerable with him out of action?”
	“As far as Cothineal is concerned, she has just taken out her worse threat. Besides, he is still able to command the Fallen, even in his quasi-comatose state.”
	“But he needs Baku to do all the paper and physical work, which reminds me of the fact that I still am going to need his signature on that treaty. That would get the press distracted.”
	“What?” Samantha asked, “What press?” Sanjuro shrugged.
	“Robertson's' problem” he stated firmly, “not mine.”
 	“Toshiro will be up when he is ready” Samantha explained, “I have no control over it.”
	“Has he talked to you?” Sanjuro asked, “Telepathically?”
	“Oh yes” Samantha nodded, “of course.”
	“Then what has he said?” Sanjuro inquired. Samantha blushed.
	“Nothing I would wish to restate to you.” Sanjuro raised his hands.
	“Alright, but surely you would like him up and about sooner rather than later?”
	“Without question” Samantha stated, “he is somewhat troublesome to live with like this.”
	“Something of an eyesore?” he considered. Samantha scrunched up her mouth.
	“I would not say that” she shook her head, “but having him flat out there is a bit difficult to sleep beside. Though he would not have it any other way, my presence calms him and helps him heal.”
	“Well” Sanjuro agreed, “I would think he'd feel a bit vulnerable like that.”
	“As I said before” Samantha concluded, trying to tidy up the bed around Toshiro, “he'll be up when he is ready to be.” Suddenly, in response to the shifting of bedding, Toshiro's leg shot out. As both turned to look over him again, he regained his steely unconsciousness again. Nevertheless, Samantha smiled. “That is a good sign” she explained, “he might just be able to oblige you soon.”

	“Admiral” a technician nodded courteously as he noticed Sanjuro come in, “we are honoured by your visit to our humble sector.”
	“I would not consider the main power core for the kato cannon humble.” The technician laughed to himself, appreciative of the recognition.
	“Yeah, I suppose you have had a troubling relationship with it.”
	“It proved its usefulness this time” Sanjuro noted, “I think I can make peace with it.”
	“In which case, you will be happy to know that we are almost done correcting it.”
	“I was not even aware it was damaged” Sanjuro stated.
	“Oh?” the technician stated, “Then why did you come down here?”
	“I wanted to see it again, I remember running amok down here trying to shut it down. I had sworn to myself I would have it decommissioned. Never got around to that, and a good thing too.”
	“Still a nasty old beast though” the technician admitted, “enough raw energy to move a war fleet put together in a concentrated blast. Lucky fuel is not so cheap.”
	“Well, that might change once we get the treaty with the Fallen and Cronian provisional government signed” Sanjuro mused, “though, in this instance, I hope not.”
	“The U.C.A. is here to help with that, isn't it sir?” the technician replied, “Keep anyone like Andra, or Shogo, from using this only for their own selfish needs.”
	“Selfish needs? Sounds a bit like several of the people we had arrested down there.”
	“A few bad apples are inevitable I suppose sir” the technician considered.
	“Do you tend to talk about this sort of thing between spanner use?” Sanjuro asked. The technician nodded proudly and stood up straight.
	“My joint doctorates were in both engineering and philosophy” he said. Sanjuro smiled.
	“It shows.” The technician laughed again.
	“I am honoured by that sir, but it sounds like you have a lot else on your mind.”
	“A few things, it was quite an experience. Still, what was wrong with the cannon?”
	“Nothing too dramatic sir” the technician explained, falling back on his more practical rather than intellectual insights, “the quick power up and power down blew out a certain amount of the wiring, transistors, transformers, conductors, semi-conductors, breakers...”
	“I think I understand what you are driving at” Sanjuro interrupted him, “still, my doctorates were in close range and squad combat and tactics and so those are all just words to me.”
	“Well, it is nice to have a thinker in charge of this ship” the tech replied, tipping down his hat, “no offence to Akkaraju of course, but he was always too career military for my tastes.”
	“I don't think he would mind being called that” Sanjuro noted. Suddenly, a serious faced woman in grey overalls leaned out of a doorway and stared towards them.
	“Hey Thomas” she called out, “I need your help with this rewiring!” The technician, Thomas, turned towards her, nodded and then swivelled back towards Sanjuro.
	“Apologies Admiral” he said, “but Gloria dislikes to be kept waiting, particularly after that time I had my mind elsewhere and accidentally dropped a live wire next to her. She has yet to forgive me for it. I guess there are times when being a, sometimes distracted, 'thinker' doesn't pay off.”
	“I understand perfectly” Sanjuro nodded, “get my ship back together.”
	“I'll do my best sir, and I look forward to any future meetings.”
	“Sure” Sanjuro nodded, “next time my toaster fries... or I need to remember which bearded Ancient Greek said what.” Thomas laughed. The door opened, and Gloria glared in.
	“Thomas!” she screeched, causing him to jump.
	“Coming!” he replied, rushing out of the room. Thinking over the previous scene, Sanjuro also chuckled to himself.
	“Kura the engineer” he thought, “he should watch out for her.”

	“Is that motor oil I smell?” Kura asked, as Sanjuro walked into his quarters. A different smell wafted towards them from Kathryn's kitchen.
	“Is that cooking oil I smell?” he parodied. Kura glared at him.
	“You've been taking more tours on the lower decks haven't you?”
	“Yes, I would have thought that would be my job as Admiral in charge of this vessel.”
	“I am just a bit surprised, given Kathryn supposedly showed you around earlier.”
	“It is a big ship Kura” he smiled, “a big ship indeed.”
	“You should get yourself cleaned up, or else come in smelly for Kathryn's meal.” Sanjuro looked down at his uniform and noticed a few blotches of lubricant and even a couple of small burn holes from some of the welding he looked over. He had been too absorbed in the actions around him, and in his own thoughts, to have noticed it. “I swear you were cleaner after we were done at High Command then you are now!” Sanjuro simply turned over his hands at that.
	“Repair is a dirty job” Sanjuro replied, “since when have you been such a neat freak?”
	“I'm just saying” she rolled her eyes, “you are in front of the world's eyes in two days.”
	“Not getting camera shy are you?” he asked. Kura shook her head.
	“I don't give a damn” she replied. Sanjuro could sense otherwise.
	“Then why are you acting the way you did before the Academy graduation ceremony?”
	“Because I don't want you to look silly, that's all.” Kathryn walked in, apron and all.
	“What happened to you?” she asked, looking Sanjuro over.
	“Told you” Kura smirked. Sanjuro placed a hand over one of the larger oil splats.
	“Just getting 'involved' in ship operations” he told her. Kathryn raised her an eyebrow.
	“You are a soldier” she said, “not a grease monkey.”
	“It is a nice place to think to yourself” Sanjuro stated, “and it gets me to know the crew. They apparently thought your father was somewhat strict and aloof.”
	“As long as they had something useful to report” Kura cut in, “he'd listen.”
	“Well, apparently I am admired for my more 'common touch'.”
	“Clean up those 'common hands'” Kathryn interjected, “and then come in and eat.” Sanjuro shrugged, and turned to get himself washed and changed. He guessed it was too much to expect his lovers from a military family, even with one's avowed pacifism, to understand that. At least Kathryn could cook so well, and Kura's concern for his appearance was actually rather touching.

	“Sanjuro” the voice whispered, and for some strange reason the name seemed familiar. It must have been the name of a long and dear old friend. Then it occurred to him, that his memories on the man were awfully intimate for just a friend. He knew inexhaustibly about him. Sanjuro opened his eyes, and finally regained proper access to his memory. He just hoped it had nothing to do with his slight recurrence of PTS. Nah, he was probably just groggy as usual.
	“Ah” Kathryn said, “there you go. I told you we did not need a blow horn.”
	“I did not say we needed one exactly” Kura smirked, “I just thought we could use one.”
	“The regulations regarding obtrusive noises aboard spacecraft might prohibit it” Sanjuro commented nonchalantly. Sitting up, he glanced over the two of them, and found them both still in their nightdresses. That was good, he had not out-slept them by much.“What time is it? When is my shift?” Sanjuro asked. Kura frowned at him.
	“You are forgetting something aren't you Mr. Sleepy?” she prodded him. Sanjuro scrunched up his face. There was nothing important that he could recall.
	“Friday?” Kathryn offered, to a blank stare, “The ceremony?” That word worked.
	“Surely that is not until later today” he offered. Kathryn shook her head.
	“It was decided to be a lunchtime banquet” she stated, “best to get the aged High Commanders doing their things with the sun still high in the sky.”
	“And no doubt Robertson is keen to get this over with and so get the press more reflective and less speculative.” Kura nodded.
	“Yeah, they are going to disclose all details on what happened, and explain 'what has been changed to stop this from ever happening again', as they say.” Sanjuro grinned.
	“Well, that will start proper with those treason trials wouldn't it?” Kathryn contemplated that comment briefly, still rather unsure about all that herself.
	“Father always did have some suspicions about those in High Command you know, that is part of the reason Ryo had managed to get him convinced enough to override them.”
	“At least he was not motivated by personal greed then” Sanjuro replied, “unlike those traitors and swindlers.” Kathryn was surprised that this was hitting such a raw nerve with him, but decided not to inquire upon that tact at that time. Instead, she stood up and walked towards their communal wardrobe to pick out her uniform.
	“We should get dressed” she gestured, “then I'll cook us something and we can get up to speed on what is going on here before we get ready for lunch.” Kura nodded and joined her, leaving Sanjuro sitting alone on the bed. Feeling isolated, he forced himself up and over.

	“Here is the latest progress reports on the repairs sir” a technician ran up and exclaimed, as the trio entered from the lift system.
	“You are supposed to say 'Admiral on deck'” Kura noted. The technician shrugged.
	“Admiral on deck!” he shouted, spinning around, before facing them again. “Sorry, I am not used to being on the bridge sir.”
	“It's alright” Sanjuro raised his hand, “it is just a petty formality.” At one time Kura would have enthusiastically agreed with him, but ever since it was Sanjuro who was respected that way she had become more sensitive to it, even if the man before him was her own father. A 'slight' against Sanjuro was a slight against her it seems. Sanjuro took the pad being offered to him, gestured for the technician to return to his duties and went and sat in his command chair. As he was reading, Kura and Kathryn brought up similar, though more specialized, reports on their various station consoles.
	“The kato cannon, though proving itself frustrating, was eventually fully repaired. 75% of its wiring has been replaced by a team of technicians led by Thomas Reinhardt. Other tactical repairs, including several blacked out turrets, is still on going.” He glanced towards Kura, and wondered how she thought about this ship still missing some of its guns.
	“Communications repairs are also moving along steadily” the report continued, “though it has actually proven more software than hardware. The usage of various blockage techniques by the captured High Command have scrambled several of its station settings. Due to this, a complete update of all communications software, and a re-tuning based on modern data about all known operating communications stations and frequencies, is on going.” Sanjuro looked up again, and saw Kathryn's focused green eyes reading her terminal. She must be happy to have her systems given such a fundamental upgrade, being one to feel her area of expertise to be under appreciated.
	“Propulsion was mostly damaged locally, based on nearby targets selected by the attacking Insurrection at the time. Due to Acting-Admiral Akkaraju's defensive posture, this mostly involved hits towards the back thrusters. Some more spread out damage was also caused by the Terran defence grid. The core kato engine is still being strength-tested to root out any damage caused by the strain of the kato cannon discharge and the massive transfer and usage of kato fuel. Replacement does not, however, appear to be required – and this will hopefully ensure us to meet our deadline.” Sanjuro was pleased to hear this, as he was feeling caged in by being stranded at space-dock – easily within reach of overbearing High Commanders. No offence to Robertson of course.
	
	“You coming out Kathryn?” Kura called, “Or are you we going to have to leave without you?” Kura, already in full dress uniform, with no regards to creases or imperfections, paced around the bedroom door, waiting for Kathryn to come out. They usually had no issue with changing in front of each other, Sanjuro being a lover and Kura and Kathryn being siblings, but Kathryn was always more self-conscious whenever she put on her dress uniform. She took more care when it came to any such public appearance, and only wanted to even let Kura and Sanjuro see the 'finished product'. Sanjuro, unnerved by the amount of medals dancing on his breast, walked up to the doorway.
	“Kura does have a point” Sanjuro said, glancing at a wall clock, “I want to check in on Samantha and Toshiro before we leave after all.” Rustling could be heard from the other side.
	“Soon Sanjuro” Kathryn breathed out, “I'm just brushing my hair.” Kura sighed, she always kept her hair either short or at least managed in a pony-tail to avoid such activities. More rustling, clunks and other background noise later, and the door opened and a flushed Kathryn emerged.
	“What do you think?” she asked, stepping through. She had obviously been making a few modifications to it, it seemed far newer than before, obviously retouched, and work seemed to have been put in to make it more figure fitting. Kathryn blushed as Sanjuro looked it over.
	“Yeah, yeah nice” Kura cut in, “as long as you are not naked, I do not think High Commander Robertson really cares; hell, he might prefer it that way, I don't know him that well...” Kathryn ignored her, on both accounts, and waited for Sanjuro to speak.
	“Did you do all of this yourself?” Sanjuro asked. Kathryn smiled.
	“Yeah” she said, “I found one of mother's old sewing books last time we visited father, when you told him about the job offer, and started practising.”
	“Mother was always quicker with a trigger than a needle” Kura rolled her eyes.
	“She was a decent seamstress too!” Kathryn protested, “We don't all need to just learn the 'deadly arts'.” Sanjuro decided to end this one quickly, they had no time to waste on this.
	“I think you did a royal job” Sanjuro cut in, “though are you sure it is allowed?”
	“What do you mean?” Kathryn stared at him, “Allowed?”
	“These are still official U.C.A. uniforms” Sanjuro noted. Kathryn nodded.
	“I don't think they would complain about a few tweaks here and there, they allow the professional dressmakers a little variety.” Sanjuro decided that she was probably right.
	“Okay, your father is waiting for us at the shuttle port already” he reminded them, “and we still have to check in on Toshiro yet.” Kathryn nodded, and linked her arm around his in expectation.
	“If he is not awake yet” Kura commented, “I doubt he'll be coming you know.” Sanjuro grabbed Kura and arranged her similar to her sister on the other side, and headed for the door.
	“Never underestimate Cothineal” Sanjuro noted, “she might just surprise us.”

	Samantha's eyes seemed a little sunken when Sanjuro entered into their quarters, with the Akkaraju sisters in tow. Sanjuro saw Toshiro still lying vacant on the bed, probably explaining Samantha's weary look – how long was she going to have to wait for him?
	“Still nothing?” Sanjuro asked. Samantha shook her head.
	“He twitches from time to time, but yes. I talked to Cothineal about it, since she knows better than anyone else how this is happening, but she just keeps going on about the 'proper time'.”
	“Has Toshiro himself said anything?” Sanjuro asked, “You know, telepathically?”
	“Actually, he is rather disconnected from his body at the moment, sort of an ether in the collective intelligence of the Fallen, planning, thinking, pondering. He is quite busy.”
	“It would be helpful if he was able to come” Sanjuro contemplated, “we don't want him to seem too aloof from the proceedings. People may question why we let a once belligerent force land troops onto Earth in the first place, and I doubt they would understand the idea of this 'regenerative coma'.” Samantha wrung her hands together.
	“That worries me too” she admitted, “Baku, even as Uziel, is not much of a public speaker. A competent and fastidious administrator, but simply lacks the charisma. We have to win over Earth.”
	“You are trusted Sanjuro” Kathryn stepped forward, “I am sure no one would question your decision to have Fallen backup. We are allies now after all.” Samantha looked her over and smiled.
	“You look nice Kathryn” she smiled, “you must have a good tailor.” Kathryn's eyes widened, not expecting the compliment, but then returned a smile. Kura stayed back, dismayed at her sentiments on the subject being so publicly rebuked. Sanjuro was a bit weary about the subject moving to clothes, and his more chauvinistic bent could not help but consider it typical of being surrounded by women; even with one trying to rally against her femininity through casual distaste. Almost as an answer to the question of gender ratios, Toshiro suddenly let loose a low moan. Samantha, ceasing to admire Kathryn's stitch work, rushed to his side.
	“Toshiro?” she called, “Are you awake?” Toshiro moaned again, rolled over, splayed out and then finally opened one bloodshot eye.
	“Is this what reality looks like?” he groaned, “I preferred being an essence.” Samantha smiled, days of waiting and worrying now over, before leaning down and beginning to kiss him.
	“Think so now?” she countered, licking her lips. Toshiro considered this.
	“You've got a point” he replied, “I can keep a better eye on you like this.”
	“I hope it is a flattering eye” she protested. Sanjuro walked forward.
	“How are you brother?” he asked. Toshiro glanced up towards him.
	“Like a bomb detonated under me” he replied truthfully, “but I think I'll be fine.” It was then he noticed that Sanjuro was not wearing his typical uniform. “Going somewhere?”
	“Uh yeah, to a commemoration ceremony, we were rather hoping you'd have been able to come. All the press are there, and the Fallen need representation.” Toshiro sat up, suddenly right and alert again – Cothineal giving his body another boost.
	“Then let it be so” Toshiro nodded, “if duty calls.”
	“And a buffet!” Kura called in, starting to feel hungry herself. Samantha nodded.
	“Yes, it would be good for his strength.” She came up to Toshiro's side and gestured for Sanjuro, Kura and Kathryn to leave. “We'll get ready, you just catch your shuttle.”

	So it was, that Sanjuro, Kura, Kathryn, Nathaniel, Baku, Toshiro and Samantha stepped down off of LZ Minotaur and faced the now familiar environs that surrounded High Command. A vehicle approached, fit to task, and parked in front of them. The driver rolled down his windows.
	“High Commander Robertson wished for his honoured guests to arrive in style” he explained, “therefore here am I to pick you up. Come on in.” They all complied, much preferring this to another walk, except for Kathryn, who had never seen the place before except on M.C.A. camera feeds. Nathaniel was trying not to remember coming here for his court-martial, though seeing dressed so smart and dignified, with his moustache just so, in his old Admiral's dress uniform, it was hard to believe that he was ever discharged. Watching the trees fly by, they quickly reached the front entrance and, after parking on the side, the driver said farewell. Getting their last breath of noonday fresh air, they stepped through and into the building
	It was really quite a change from the way it had been beforehand. The deathly quiet that had greeted Sanjuro and his men when they had first entered was instead replaced by a sedate activity. The initial rush of clean up and repair was now over here, unlike on the Leviathan, and the more ordinary pace was beginning to return. Workmen still ran about, enthusiastically taking notice of the three formally dressed young women, but their population was beginning to thin out to base maintenance and they were instead being replaced by the mass of clerical staff or military personnel reporting in from throughout the known galaxy. It was amazing how quickly the bureaucracy can reestablish itself when it tries.
	The press conference, which would build up to the banquet outside, was taking place in the building's main hall, where many of the scared and confused workers had taken shelter as Sanjuro and his forces had clashed with Ryo's men in the corridors. As Sanjuro stepped in, the first of the group, he was surprised to find a short dumpy women with a bright red dress pointing a microphone at him.
	“Admiral Makabe?” she asked. Sanjuro nodded, trying to hide his aggravation. “Do you have anything to tell ISN viewers about your role in defeating this coup?” the woman continued.
	“Yes” Sanjuro replied, smiling too broadly, “that we ended it. Good day ma'am.” He gestured for her to shove out of the way and, frazzled, the woman complied, but tried to get more answers out of the others as they followed behind him.
	“I have nothing to add until High Command speaks” Nathaniel explained, “I do not talk before more superiors.” The woman sighed, and ran off to try and find someone else formal looking to pester with questions. Kura made a covert rude gesture, causing Kathryn to grab her sister's hands and bound them together. She was not going to let her make a fool of herself, or of her for that matter. The group came to one of the larger table's they could find, and watched as Head Commander Robertson approached the main microphone stand. Sanjuro turned to Toshiro.
	“I am sorry you did not have time to prepare a statement” he commented, “I guess you are going to have ad-lib what you say.” Toshiro shook his head.
	“Cothineal and I decided on that three days ago Sanjuro” he replied, “your view of  unconsciousness is too limited. That is normal for a mundane.” Sanjuro smiled.
	“You'd better not word your speech like that” he said, “could be a bit alienating.” Kathryn tapped on Sanjuro's shoulder, to gesture that Robertson was speaking.

	“...I wish to assure everyone, that order has now been fully restored, both here and throughout civilized space. Those responsible for allowing this situation to happen, or even facilitating it, are awaiting trial in military courts. What is important now is for us to take stock of the situation, and look ahead to ensuring that our security, and the stability of humanity, can never be threatened by similar actions again. Rest assured that a full review is in progress, and that things are different now. The purpose of this gathering is twofold: one, to give the public the information they deserve, and secondly, to reward those who have prevented a political catastrophe, and so make their names and accomplishments known.” Robertson then paused for a drink of water and to catch his breath.
	“Me thinks he is going for B more than A if possible” Kura whispered.
	“Moving towards this end, I would first like to call up Admiral Sanjuro Makabe to accept his personal honours, and group honours on the part of his entire crew. Admiral?” Robertson went on. Sanjuro sighed, and headed up towards the stage, he had no speech organized or anything like that. He had already made his men well aware of his appreciation of them, and he was not about to blabber on into a bunch of cameras that no one else was probably interested in. He stood up by Robertson's side and eyed the crowd, particularly Kura and Kathryn's ever watchful stares.
	“Let's get this over with” he whispered to Robertson, who subtly nodded, and stepped towards the microphone again.
	“Admiral Makabe, previously noted for his efforts in ending the Cronian War and maintaining the stability of that peace, has once again shown his dedication and skill. Alone, not knowing what to expect, he commanded the U.C.A.S.F. Leviathan to Earth and, after examining the situation and handling counter-fire from the defence grid, landed a team led by himself and accompanied by our new Fallen allies. After a day of preparations and stocking up, including recruiting the assistance of a local Home Guard squadron, they laid siege to this very building and, winning over our internal security to his cause, eventually liberated it. This was no easy task, and Ryo Ishikawa provided innumerable amounts of challenges and obstacles, but this experienced tactician managed to make it through. In recognition of his vital role, it is my great pleasure to honour the Admiral with several medals and commendations for bravery and versatility.”
	Reaching into a compartment, Robertson produced a medal and handed it to Sanjuro. Not looking as thrilled as maybe he should have, he accepted it and attached it to his front, next to his older Cronus medal. He walked up to the microphone to perform the obligatory notice of acceptance.
	“Thank you Head Commander” Sanjuro told him, “but I served for justice and right, to stop a power-mad dictator, and not for fame and honours. I am sure all of my crew would agree.”
	“Just so, and that is why I am now handing you this second item” Robertson replied, trying to play with Sanjuro's rather dismissive comment as tidily as possible. He again reached down into his compartment, and emerged with a large gold statue almost similar to those given to athletic teams when they win major sporting competitions. Robertson was certainly going for flash. “Addressed to the entire crew of the Leviathan, this is to symbolize the outstanding service her crew has provided the U.C.A. in recent years, and give them all something to look over before their personal medals arrive.” Sanjuro grabbed the object from Roberson's grasp and nodded.
	“I suppose we have room to put this up somewhere” Sanjuro accpeted quietly.
	“Now may Negotiator Akkaraju step up please?” Robertson called down, as a relieved Sanjuro turned off to return to his table. As he passed the approaching Nathaniel, Sanjuro was surprised to suddenly find himself shaking hands.
	“Well played” Nathaniel congratulated him, “that situation takes a lot of nerve to handle right.” Sanjuro nodded, and the two passed each other. When the old man finally appeared by his side, Robertson addressed the audience, though more accurately the press corps, again.
	“Nathaniel Akkaraju has served the U.C.A. for many decades now. The military life is in his blood, and he has both capably served in the fleet and brought up two fine daughters in the dignified tradition of his family. Before I begin, I would like to call up both Commander and Lieutenant Commander Akkaraju up here as well please.” Sanjuro, who had only now sat down, was surprised to see Kathryn and Kura, who both seemed to be equally shocked, sit up and leave; thus making him alone with Toshiro, Baku and Samantha.
	“I think something big is coming here” Toshiro noted, observing the start of a buildup. As the two sisters started to head off, Robertson began his notice for Nathaniel.
	“Although only brought out of retirement to function as a negotiator in recent talks between the Fallen and U.C.A.” he began, and Sanjuro could not help but smile at the thought that the euphemism 'retirement' was now being canonized, “when the situation proved threatening, our aging hero did not flinch. After first advising the Admiral, he soon was left to take care of the ship as ground forces attempted their liberation. This proved to be a test of his rested skills, when an unfortunately tricked U.C.A.S.F. Insurrection arrived. Although being faced with annihilation by one of our most advanced craft, Akkaraju always considered the lives of the U.C.A.S.F. servicemen he was facing. Seeking only to incapacitate, he authorized an innovative use of the deadly kato cannon, proving that even the most deadly weapons can be used with peace in mind. Afterwards, with eloquence shared by his compatriot on the surface below, he won over his former adversaries and cleared Terran airspace. Without his work, Admiral Makabe's valiant efforts could have been for nothing.”
	Sanjuro could not help but have some doubts himself about the description of the cannon as in any way 'peaceful', but was in no position to protest, and accepted the need to soft pedal it. Meanwhile, as Robertson completed this summary, Kura and Kathryn reached the podium, with Kathryn trying to smooth herself out for the cameras. Nathaniel gestured for Robertson to move aside, as he was not going to let anyone but himself introduce his daughters to the world.
	“May I introduce my eldest daughter Commander Kura Akkaraju” he began, “and her slightly younger sister Lieutenant Commander Kathryn Akkaraju. Just like their sadly departed mother, they have shown me more kindness and dedication than I have ever known. Fighting with me, I was proud to see them in action, my brave Kura facing Shogo troopers on the ground and my clever Kathryn guiding the troops and using her keen mind for full tactical advantage.” Finished, he allowed Robertson to once again take the microphone. After the experience of being with Sanjuro, he was not used to having someone who actually had wanted to take the comm.
	Back at his table, as he listened to a proud father's glee, Sanjuro had also considered how pleased he was with the two of them, and how together they had defeated Ryo and won Earth back. In the striking profile offered by the stage lighting, he also examined how they looked today. Kathryn still looked stunning in her custom fit dressing. Her hair sat cleanly and neatly on her sides, flowing down over her back and topped up with a little blue bow. A close but loose fitting uniform framed the rest of her, from her shoulders, to her front and waist. Her medals glowed on her right side, and little yellow spangles sparkled on her lapel and wrists. A thin green skirt fluttered down until just over her thighs, a bit of skin, plus a side flap, quickly parted by grey socks and polished flat black shoes.
	Kura on the other hand was a quite a different spectacle to behold. At present, she held her growing hair back in a pony-tail, but still had brown bangs flowing down over her eyes. Her face was as determined as ever, and although not a self-conscious person by nature, it was obvious she was doing her best to look strong and dignified. A far less fancily done up, and more forwardly focused, green top roughly held her figure in check. Kura had chosen a more working woman's like model of uniform, even for social functions. Kathryn was Belle of the Ball, while Kura was more Tanya of the Trenches. Rather than glittering orbs, she had pockets and flaps. On her side, she still even wore a holster, even though her sidearm had been kept back. A thicker, but shorter, skirt protruded out just below this, showing off fleshy form from just a little above the knees.
	“Well” Sanjuro thought to himself, “Kura always did have nice legs.” Sanjuro could not help but think that once again they had used this as a venue to advertise their competing offerings to him. Kathryn showing she had embraced both her practicality with her femininity, while Kura had cast it aside, instead emphasizing her rough capability combined with an intense sexual edge. They both fed into his psyche, which had been forever split in two not only by their shared affections, but by the confusion and trials that had led to the whole situation in the first place. Faced with his parent's absence, he had clung to Kura's strength and will, but faced with his own personal tragedy, Kathryn's kindnesses had kept him going. Immersed so in his own thoughts, he had almost missed the big event as Robertson went on talking.
	“Nathaniel Akkaraju, though always widely respected, has at times been a controversial figure. During the Cronian Revolution he proved driven by an intent that both pleased and terrified us. His ultimate decision to defy our orders and attempt to annihilate the Fallen, through a devastating strike against Avernus, split us all in two. On the one hand, we had a fine officer who had served us for years, and yet on the other was these unconscionable actions. Now however, having proven his overwhelming virtues, I am proud to strike all negative notices from his record and, effective immediately, reinstate his rank with an added promotion to High Commander. Given our present vacancies and trials, we are all greatly anticipate the aid of your experience and wisdom.”
	Sanjuro was not quite sure he had heard that right, did he just say High Commander? Nathaniel himself was equally surprised, having been expecting simply a commendation and, after concluding negotiations with Toshiro, a swift return to his Japanese Estate. Suddenly he faced the prospect of a career again, and being a member of humanity's most powerful council. Excited at the news, both Kura and Kathryn embraced him from either side – the idea of their father being vindicated sparking their internal pride. Led by Sanjuro's table, the audience began a loud applause as Nathaniel humbly accepted both his medal and marks of rank. Kura and Kathryn both curtsied, in Kura's case somewhat immodestly, towards the audience as Robertson also handed them their medals. With Robertson moving on, the three Akkarajus returned to their table feeling quite alive.

	“Congratulations sir” Toshiro stated as Nathaniel sat down, “Cothineal approves.”
	“It is good to hear she is so forgiving” Nathaniel replied, “though that might just be her enthusiasm at having an ear to twist in the heart of U.C.A. High Command.”
	“I think you should watch the Head Commander” Baku whispered to Toshiro, “if I am any sort of an oracle, I think he might be calling you up next.”
	“That shall be all for now, as I am sure hunger is wearing on us all, but I shall continue giving medals to all those who managed to make it here throughout the day. Before this conference is adjourned however, I would like to present Toshiro “Gabriel” Makabe, formerly of the U.C.A.S.F. but now the well-known head of the Fallen, who will now explain his position and respond to questions.”
	“Told you” Baku emphasized.
	“Spooky” Kura stated, quickly becoming a catchphrase for her, as Toshiro sat up and headed up. Samantha too forced herself upward, and, grabbing Toshiro's arm, turned back to the group.
	“If ever there is need for a bodyguard” she informed him, “now is the time.” Watching the two emerge up the stairs of the stage, Sanjuro could not help but notice the surprise in many of the faces around him, particularity the eyes of the press. Here was the infamous Gabriel? The fanatical terrorist who had once threatened humanity's space faring future?
	A well-kept man in a military-style dress uniform, with an equally groomed young woman by his side? It was simply too ridiculously normal for any of them to contemplate. This man worshipped a slug god! They had expected ratty clothing, hell, maybe even a man in loin-cloth with an AK-47 for all they knew. The average Terran still had very little understanding, nor acceptance, of the Fallen or where their vital kato fuel came from. Hence the need for Toshiro to be here to speak to the press in the first place.
	“People of Earth” Toshiro began, and Sanjuro cringed – maybe not exactly the best of starts, unless he was trying to go for ironic. “Cothineal is your friend, and happily provides you with the key too your transportation and thus your entire economy. Ever since peace was reached between humanity and our mistress, Cothineal has always had only benevolent thoughts towards those who helped end her abuse, and wishes no less for you all. Thus upon learning of the trouble beginning on Earth, my mistress did not hesitate to risk her own forces and personal protection, including myself, her ambassador, to secure our joint future. All the troops under my command were kept under the oversight of Admiral Makabe and we never once had any intentions of violating Terran sovereignty. Our presence was simply to aid your more legitimate leaders in their time of strife. We played a not insignificant role in achieving victory here, but we do not ask for your praise, merely your understanding and continued tolerance and good will. Our alliance is important to us and to my mistress. Thank you.”
	“I hope that settles this issue once and for all” Sanjuro thought, still unsure. Every word Toshiro had said was eagerly watched by each and every member of the assembled press corps, and almost all there were now scribbling down notes. Did they take his message seriously? Or did they think him unreliable and still let themselves succumb to prejudice and distrust? Sanjuro realized with a heavy heart that he would have to wait until the commentary on today's events started to later disseminate to find out.
	The more immediate chronometer, however, would be the crowd's reaction. The assembled squad mates, both from the High Command squadron, and those who had managed to make it off of the Leviathan, were of course nonplussed. They had fought alongside the Fallen and so knew all too well their real virtues and loyalties. The guests however sat still for a moment, trying to reconfigure their perceptions to the new information received. Suddenly, an outpouring of applause erupted from them and Toshiro graciously bowed.
	“Long live the alliance!” Toshiro called out, to even louder shouts of jubilation. Sanjuro, Kura, Kathryn and the rest even found themselves caught in the fervour, which was only appropriate given the 'alliance' was more their doing than any of those High Commanders here. When the noise finally settled, Toshiro sat back and awaited questions. To the great surprise of all, no questions were raised. Evidently the tale of the fire spewing demon, and the man who absorbed an explosive blast, had not yet entered the public domain. Either that or it had and all the reporters were too scared to address directly any sort of being that had that kind of power within him. Fighting off a short flashback of Ryo's murder, Sanjuro could not help but consider that they might have a point on that front. Taking a final nod at his won over public, Toshiro shook Head Commander Robertson's hand and stepped down to join the others at the table.
	“Alright, press conference adjourned people. To all attending: luncheon is served outside!”
	“Goody” Kura said, “a diet of speeches does not quite provide the same sustenance.”
	“Still, I think you did an amazing job Toshiro, no wonder Cothineal saw leadership in you” Sanjuro congratulated him, watching as his brother slowly drained of his enthusiastic charismatic side and became more and more his quiet introverted self. Cothineal works in mysterious ways.

Part Fifteen: Conclusions and Beginnings

	“High Command” Sanjuro began into his communicator, “Admiral Makabe here.”
	“We hear you Leviathan, we did not want to miss your send off” Robertson replied, though it was hardly often that a Head Commander went to ground control to see a vessel off.
	“I take it we have permission to disembark and get out of your hair?”
	“Nonsense, Earth always appreciates your presence Leviathan.”
	“Is that an affirmative or a negative Command?” Sanjuro inquired.
	“Affirmative, god speed to you ladies and gentlemen. May your restocked kato burn steady and well.” Sanjuro nodded, closed the comm channel and gave Captain Evans' the order to activate propulsion. That morning Nathaniel Akkaraju had departed down by shuttle to take up his position at U.C.A. High Command, and Kathryn and Kura had tearfully said goodbye to their father. Well, to call anything Kura did tearful was a bit of a stretch of the language. That said, she had enjoyed working with her father again and was sad to see him go, in her own way. Nathaniel himself had seemed to have had a rather mixed view of the situation, the calm of his Estate seeming now like a distant memory. Oh well, there would always be the option to get back there from time to time. After all, who was there to rebuke him for it? Head Commander Robertson would be a fool to trifle with High Commander Akkaraju! The answer to that could well be a not so appreciated visit by the Leviathan to the planet.
	Sanjuro realized he was letting his mind wander again, and came upon the comfortable thought that the tiresome repetition of his usual job had reestablished itself. He wondered how long his comfort in it would last though. Although he was hardly a Kura, he knew all too well that he would soon be longing to stretch his legs and be on the ground again. Still, this one had been more than a simple counter-raiding exercise as had been his efforts on the moon of Capricorn. Already restless, however, was his thoughts – wandering and fantastical they sometimes may be. Deep in the delves of his higher functioning brain, he was still considering the source of recent events. His exploration of the down to earth, or at least down to metal, wisdom of his engineering and maintenance crews had brought some of it in focus, but he was far from conclusive as to his final thoughts on the subject.
	“Why am I the one who needs to fix things much more dangerous than burnt circuits?” he thought to himself, “Why is it guns that are needed to keep things in check?” Kathryn would appreciate that one, though he had yet to impart his concerns to her. The whole structure that had arisen in the Age of Kato was one of power blocks and insurrections, mighty corporations taking over the role of military power and assuming the guise of nations proper. That had been why the United Corporate Authority had been created. In a way its mandate was to become a United Nations for the new order. Its Security Force had assumed the role once known as peacekeepers, a duty far more profound than conventional economic oversight and regulation, or at least one less subtle.
	Yet, it was still just a counter-weight. The U.C.A. was founded by griping executives trying to keep the competition from utilizing deadly force against them, and its structure was as rigid and hierarchical as any corporation or army. Did it really amount to much in terms of being accountable to citizens? Robertson was now a very powerful man and, although his intentions were well wishing, he was not elected by the people. Actually, he was simply the last calm, and not criminally charged, man standing. Technically, there was a proper and democratic Terran government, but it was so weak as to be a nothing, mostly involved in maintaining roads, sanitation and such. The entire Terran Armed Forces consisted of less than five thousand units, most of them ex-U.C.A. or private mercenaries seeking a stable public job. The Terran police force was also poorly funded, and considered far less reputable compared to private security. Head Commander Robertson's name was probably already far more famous than that of the Terran President, or any other power figure in the government. Sanjuro himself was probably more renowned. Was that right?
	“Sanjuro” Kathryn stated, having slid away from her communications terminal in order to prod him away from his thoughts, “we are excused for lunch, they can keep us moving towards Cronus quite well without you slumped over here.” Sanjuro turned towards her.
	“Command is a thoughtful position to be in” he retorted. Kathryn smiled.
	“What would consume your thoughts more than lunch?” she asked.
	“Perhaps he is thinking of nice targets for the kato cannon” Kura cut in, walking over from tactical, “but that said, I am hungry so let's just get him out of that chair.”
	“You have not forgiven me for the soup thing yet have you?” Sanjuro replied.
	“Let's just say, I don't trust you not to be distracted anymore.” Sanjuro relented and sat up, and the trio headed off to the main exit. Before they got to the door, Sanjuro turned down to whisper into Kura's ear. She tilted her head curiously in anticipation.
	“I think even more on an empty stomach” he taunted. Kura's nose wiggled across her face.
	“Just don't walk into walls dopey” she returned. Kathryn laughed, causing both Sanjuro and Kura to glare back at her. Kathryn held her hands together and shifted her mouth over to one side.
	“Tough crowd” she thought, as the lift doors sealed behind them.

	“Well done sir, that medal looks good on you” the man said, approaching Sanjuro.
	“Sure, whatever you say. Do I really deserve it though? I wasn't one of those who died.”
	“If the only way to earn a commendation is to die for one” the man countered, “what is the point of carrying on breathing? Besides, what's so special? We all die someday.”
	“But they died because I could not save them, I could not stop Ryo fast enough.”
	“Then Ryo is the guilty party, not you.” Sanjuro had heard all of this before.
	“Look” he countered, “I am not to be one who sees those who serve under him as chess pieces. They are sentient human beings, I can't see them in merely tactical terms. I'm not a sociopath!”
	“It is you who is applying labels to yourself” the man replied calmly, “maybe you should stop trying to see yourself so narrowly as either guilty or evil.”
	“I am not the one applying labels” Sanjuro protested, “a certain medic comes to mind.”
	“He apologized” the man countered him, “you are well known and not disliked, your tactical skills are considered sound and your morality highly praised. In an age of 'pragmatic power', your idealism was needed to bring peace to Cronus. You safeguard humanity's better half, or at least that is the way the galaxy does see you. You have no reason to feel so ill with yourself.”
	“What basis do you have to give me such advice?” Sanjuro retorted, “You don't know me.”
	“But I do son” the man replied, before striking a distinct posture. Sanjuro suddenly remembered a photograph, so dear to Toshiro, of their father and mother arm-in-arm. It had been taken only a few months before their untimely deaths. Sanjuro gasped as the figure in front of him fixed itself into that exact configuration, an imaginary wife by his side. This man was no sycophantic subordinate, as Sanjuro had first envisioned, but the ultimate form of seniority – his progenitor. Startled by this revelation, he did not notice the period of transition wherein the imaginary figure by his father's side actually materialized. A short dark haired woman with strong Asiatic figures let out a smile.
	“My son, my baby son” his mother cooed. Sanjuro could not believe this. He had been a toddler at best when they had died. Where had this dream, hallucination or whatever come from? As much as it had troubled him, Toshiro's stories of kind and caring parents had never properly taken hold, their vestiges seeming alien. At least that is how he thought it had went. Had his infant sub-conscious kept this memory, this imprint, alive but hidden for so long? Why had this manifestation come to him now? What was the aim of this at times most torturing mindscape now?
	“You have no reason to look down on yourself son” his father continued, “we are proud of you.” That Sanjuro found difficult to believe. He knew all too well the manner of his parent's deaths. The Terran government had given carte blanche control of their home colony over to Armacham. The company had seen it as little more than a source for raw materials, so key to their technological and mechanical products, and so did little to improve the economic conditions or domestic infrastructure for the colonists already present there. Struggling to bring up two children in this environment, the Makabes had become involved in the fight for unionism within the mineral mines and the eventual declaration of self-government.
	During one of the more biting strikes, Armacham ordered its security troops in. Hoping to show solidarity with the miners, Sanjuro's father had led a demonstration through the colonial capital. Both he and his wife were brought into custody and were beaten and abused. Sanjuro's mother had not even been involved in the protest, having had to stay home and look after her boys. Toshiro still remembered the sound of the door being forced open as the troopers had came in and taken her away. Although they were eventually released and the family reunited, the terror had taken its toll and before long Toshiro and Sanjuro were left as orphans. Although Armacham could not be seen as directly responsible for the accident that killed the couple, their wills and lives had been broken by them.
	The U.C.A. had finally intervened in the situation, though mostly due to a sudden strategic importance in the location, and that is how Sanjuro and Toshiro had ended up at a U.C.A.S.F. Military Academy. Sanjuro had tried not to think of himself as a trooper, the image of his parent's being dragged away having been recounted to him by Toshiro endless times. Still, he had felt guilty for becoming a soldier in the first place, even though the U.C.A. had not been involved in that conflict and, given the manner of his orphaned upbringing, he had very little choice to the contrary. Now his mind was trying to tell him that his parent's would have been proud of him? That did not seem right.
	“You are so different from those Armacham thugs” her mother suddenly stated, cutting into his thoughts -  a point not surprising being she was a figment of his mind, “you are like your father, a fighter for right. I don't think there is a single person on Cronus who would deny that.”
	“The U.C.A. had not wanted to give Cronus independence” Sanjuro stated, “and I still went along with their orders. They only backed the Fallen after it was clear that a happy Cothineal was more beneficial than an angry one. They just want cheap accessible kato, and even that being so I still serve.”
	“You went with your brother when you learned the truth” his father countered, “you stopped Admiral Akkaraju from annihilating Avernus. That showed your moral courage, and had High Command ordered similar you would have broken with them too. You kind of did that again when you uncovered Ryo's plot. You just happen to have turned out undeniably right each time so far.”
	“That still does not mean I should risk the lives of others” Sanjuro replied, “those that have been placed under my command by men who could well have at one time been Armacham leaders.”
	“You're insecure with yourself” Sanjuro's father stated, “for this I am sorry. We were not there to provide security. You doubt you can give it to others, but you worry for naught. They are not children and serve you out of duty and a similar devotion as yours. They don't see you as protector.”
	“How would you know?” Sanjuro cried out again, an old and tired refrain. Sanjuro's father grinned, and looked around the room. It did all of the sudden seem quite a bit larger. With a flash, a bright light temporarily blinded him. Then the noise deafened him, a hundred voices calling out to him. Blearily, his sensory inputs distorted, he started to make out individual voices and shapes. Among them all, strangely prominent, was Commander Zhukov.
	“How are you Admiral?” he asked, his accent thickening with every syllable, “What's this I hear about you still teetering on the edge of one of those breakdowns?”
	“You died to save me, I think it is only right to feel in debt.”
	“See it as a debt if you wish, but I was not paying you anything. I did what I did as the most direct way to help defeat Ishikawa and liberate my base. It was you who did that, so I owe you one.”
	“Why did you think I was the one most liable to do that?” Sanjuro asked.
	“Because” Zhukov retorted, “it was you who alerted me that my base was taken over in the first place. It was your force that had brought the possibility of liberation. You are needed.”
	“I did do it Commander, I got Ryo” Sanjuro noted, “though I know you're not really here.”
	“I am part of you, your sub-conscious, and I am here to set your mind at rest.”
	“My disorder will need more than this to heal” Sanjuro replied, “even getting Kura back did not correct the nightmares, the guilt, the worries and the pain.”
	“Perhaps a greater show of solidarity is called for” Zhukov exclaimed, spinning on his heels to face the still obscured masses behind him, “come out comrades and salute!”
	“Hail Admiral Makabe!” the voices shouted, before faces lit up like hundreds of candles. What were once unrecognizable forms became faces Sanjuro knew from his past. The Fallen Commander, Hank Johnson, Maurice and Toshi, Lieutenant Cloud and many, many more. It was like his original nightmare, from the night before the arrival at Earth. The difference was, these were no corpses. These were themselves reincarnated, made flesh by his mind, to demonstrate their peace and appreciation of him. It was a spectacle to behold, and one even his addled brain could not shove aside.
	“Hail friends” Sanjuro replied back, suddenly grinning, raising his hand out. His mother came up to his side. She looked over the crowd with great interest.
	“Quite a selection of friends you have son” she noted, “I just hope the best people in your life have not all met similar fates.” Sanjuro turned to her.
	“They haven't mother” Sanjuro promised her, “though I had thought so, for all but one, but they are all back again. I am eternally grateful for that fact.”
	“We are of course, as part of you, aware of Kura and Kathryn” Sanjuro's father stated, “and we are happy that when we left you ended up in such good hands. The Akkaraju family is forever in our debt. They helped make you into what you are.”
	“They are part of the reason why I worry about this” Sanjuro explained, “with so much death, so much unrest, so much strife. How can I protect them?”
	“I know where your thoughts lead” his father replied, “you wonder about the system. You're concerns are justified, though you are unsure if you should act on them. Over the years you have gotten yourself quite the host of friends. Head Commander Robertson is one of them. You are in a unique position, far beyond the realms of soldiering. Do what you need to do, or at least what you can do. Your qualms about risking your friends, and hurting innocents or the unfortunate, through violent correction can be mitigated by strengthening civil processes to prevent such situations from arising. Your mother said I was a fighter, like you, but primarily I was an activist. Despite Armacham's response, my march was peaceful. Your times perhaps required more direct and brutal means, but it is now possible to embrace the more subtle, more humane path as well.”
	“I did not know dreams could make up my mind for me” Sanjuro noted, “though I guess you are right.” His parents nodded.
	“We did not make anything up, you already knew what you needed to do. You were just unsure, worried that your efforts would be futile. No such action is ever meaningless.” Sanjuro thought this response over, when he started to notice that the environment was shrinking. The crowds of well wishers that had given him the salute were dissipating. After giving one final nod of respect, Zhukov fell out into the ether. All that was left was the image of his parents arm-in-arm, just like the photograph again. His mother faced him one last time.
	“Our time is short, you must return to the waking world, the physical world. Remember our words, remember our love and remember your friends.” Sanjuro nodded.
	“Yes mother” he stated with conviction, “I will.”

	“Where am I?” Sanjuro asked, “What time is it?” Kathryn pressed her hand onto his chest to calm him, though she did not stop him from sitting up. Looking around the room, he found Kathryn sitting on a stool beside the bed on which he lay. Kura looked on, trying to hide her curiosity, from the other side of the room. Most unexpectedly, Toshiro stared down at him from the other side of the bed, his glance at first intense but slowly fading. “What is going on?” Sanjuro asked.
	“You nodded off” Kathryn explained, “and we did not want to wake you.”
	“What were you doing then?” Sanjuro countered, something strange was going on.
	“Discussing your situation brother” Toshiro replied, “I needed to know the truth behind what caused your breakdown during the lock-down. Kura and Kathryn have filled me in.”
	“Well, what do you think?”
	“Your troubles are not unfamiliar, I too had similar demons. Cothineal helped me recover from them, helped sooth my soul.” Sanjuro considered that statement.
	“Yeah well, I am not willing to be taken in by her to help with the occasional nightmare.”
	“You're naturally independent” Toshiro replied, “such a melding is impossible.”
	“But that does not make your problem incurable” Kathryn cut in.
	“Your decisions are what then?”
	“That depends, how are you feeling at the moment?”
	“Now?” Sanjuro stuttered, not expecting that response, “I'm feeling alright.”
	“Describe your dreams” Kathryn intoned, eyeing Toshiro momentarily. Sanjuro's eyes shot out, and he felt suddenly embarrassed. Even in present company, the sudden image of his parent's that his mind had conjured was so personal and intimate that he did not know how to express it, and he worried that the saluting soldiers would seem simply ego-maniacal to them.
	“I did not have another nightmare” Sanjuro replied, “if that is what you're asking.”
	“Are you at peace with what you did at High Command?” Toshiro asked.
	“Roughly” Sanjuro shrugged, “what's done is done.”
	“And moving forward?” Kathryn breathed, gripping his arm.
	“I have a few ideas, a few suggestions for Head Commander Robertson and High Commander Akkaraju. Other than that, just getting my ship back in gear.”
	“Suggestions?” Kura suddenly inquired, lowering her pretense of third-party status.
	“Have you ever voted Kura?” he asked. Kura found that reply strange.
	“No” she replied, “why would I bother?” Sanjuro grinned.
	“Exactly my point” he stated, “I wish to change that.”
	“You mean you want to make the U.C.A. democratic?” Kathryn asked, genuinely surprised by this sudden turn in the conversation, “you were never interested in politics before.”
	“All is politics” Sanjuro replied, “the Cronian conflict was all about the politics of kato, and Ryo's insurrection was entirely based on the total power of the United Corporate Authority. Surely it seems obvious that something needs to be done about that to ensure nothing like this happens again?”
	“I think it is a wonderful idea” Kathryn exclaimed with enthusiasm. Kura simply shrugged.
	“Sanjuro for government?” she pondered. Sanjuro shook his head.
	“Not exactly” he replied, “but we do have powerful friends you know.”
	“Pursue your path” Toshiro stated, “seek your goal, fight your battles. This will lead you to inner peace, just as Cothineal's cause stabilized even my wayward mind.” Sanjuro glanced over his brother, and remembered the eloquence of his speech to the assembled press.
	“Makabes for government” he smiled, and Toshiro nodded.
	“True enough” he admitted, “but I am afraid I have to leave. I think Samantha is starting to wonder where I went off to. See you all around.” The assembled party acknowledged him, and so Toshiro exited the room. Before he went, Sanjuro could not help but notice Toshiro shuffling a small framed object into his satchel. Although the lighting was poor, he could not help but notice the outline of a small dark haired Asiatic woman and a similar taller man beside her. Before he could be sure he had not just imagined it, the mechanical doors slid shut behind his brother. Sanjuro turned to face Kathryn, who had traced the path of his eyes, and observed her smile down at him.
	“Your dinner is in the kitchen if you want it” she stated, leaning down to kiss him. Her mouth still near his ear, she imparted a second whispered message: “Cothineal soothes the soul.” Suddenly it all made sense: the dream, his parents, the reassurances of the crowd and the general direction it had taken. It had all been a bit too much to have simply been a coincidence, though even Toshiro and Kathryn had not realized the importance it had played with his inner considerations.
	“Cothineal soothes the soul” he repeated in thought to himself, “even in ways Gabriel could not anticipate.” Once again, he was left in wonder about the powers of this creature – sometimes terrible, sometimes mysterious, sometimes kind. She deserved to define the age. The age of kato.

	“Farewell Toshiro” Kathryn waved, as Toshiro, Baku and Samantha entered LZ Minotaur to disembark down to Cronus. For a ship that had spent so much time here, it was quite a strange thought that their mission here was done. Soon the U.C.A. would have a formal embassy constructed in Maritropa, with consulate staff for both the Fallen and the Cronian government; no longer merely provisional but firmly enshrined with a proper and, much to Sanjuro's liking given his recent epiphany, democratic constitution. The corporatism of the Cronian Mining Consortium, a force eerily reminiscent of the Armacham domination of his youth, was well and truly routed.
	The Leviathan, the proud flagship of the United Corporate Authority Security Force's mighty fleet, now had a new mission. It was to lead a new batch of scout ships out into the rim on a very special assignment. This was no normal surveying, they had an important objective in mind. Cothineal had not only proven that the dream of sustainable energy was possible, but that extraterrestrial life of unimaginable complexity was possible and even, probability calculated, plentiful. 	Kato propulsion had made the universe smaller than ever before. No more killing over it, it was time to reach out and see what else was hiding. Kathryn had been quite excited by the report, and even Kura had shown some enthusiasm – her appreciation for the eccentric seemingly overriding her desire for thrills. That had still not stopped her from emitting her now time-honoured refrain: “spooky”. It was a quest the whole crew would enjoy, though not everyone was going to experience it.
	“Wait for me!” Ensign Cara Carmack shouted breathlessly, as she dragged down her case to the shuttle pad. Baku leaned a little outwards, acknowledged her, and then went back in to hide his surprise. Kura too had quite the priceless look on her face, the idea of this happening having been ranked somewhere near knife men in togas leaping out shouting “death to Caesar!” Noticing this, and his own curiosity getting the better of him, Sanjuro gestured for Evans' attention and sent a delay signal. Kura turned to face her protegee.
	“Going somewhere?” she asked. Cara dragged her bag a metre closer to the shuttle, and then turned towards her Commander with an apologetic uneasiness.
	“Sorry, I should have told you, but I just made my decision today” she stated, “I'm transferring to a new posting as part of the security detail at the U.C.A. Embassy.”
	“Tired of my torturous drills?” Kura retorted.
	“Actually, I just think I'd rather have a defensive assignment. That conflict on the ground thing was not really for me.” Kura was actually rather surprised by this, she had once seen this woman as being a threat due to her striking similarity to herself, and Kura felt most at home right the heat of battle. Well, Cara had always been a bit more persnickety – a fine trait for a security officer declared queen of her own castle. She would keep it well and truly clear and kept. Kura knew that she had taught this one well and had no doubt she would excel in her new position.
	“If that is how you feel” Kura shrugged, “so be it, hold our ground while we are gone.”
	“Will do Commander, Admiral, Lieutenant Commander” Cara confirmed, flashing off three quick salutes at a speed that even Kura admired. That was an example of wrist action only generated by hours of practice holstering sidearms. Kura helped her pick up her case and slid it onto the shuttle floor. Cara glanced back, a final farewell, and then vanished inside – presumably taking up with Baku and the rest. They were going to have quite the inside informant within the U.C.A. Captain Evans tapped the glass of his cockpit to ask Sanjuro if the delay order was now countermanded. Sanjuro nodded and a visibly impatient Evans reached down for the ignition functions. Sanjuro, Kura and Kathryn stepped back as LZ Minotaur growled into life and flew off towards the bay doors.
	“We're not going to see them again for a while” Kathryn thought out loud, “I hope that everything will be okay. You just never know with Cronus.” Kura was insulted.
	“She is from my squad, everything will be perfectly fine down there!”
	“It is time to look away” Sanjuro concluded, “to our new horizons.”
	“Ryo can't pop his head up once more, if that is what you mean” Kura agreed.
	“Not our problem anymore either way” Kathryn shrugged, “father will be there to keep things going straight.” Sanjuro grinned at that one.
	“Those fools will finally understand the situation?” Sanjuro mused. Kura and Kathryn were both confused by that one, as neither of them had heard the original quotation he was paraphrasing. Kathryn tried to get the conversation back onto rails that the two of them could understand.
	“I'm sure he might see it like that” Kathryn noted, “he probably will change things too.”
	“Proud much?” Sanjuro commented. Kura and Kathryn looked over him seriously.
	“How would you have liked it if your father had been court-martialed!” Kura retorted, before realizing that she might have said that to the wrong person. Sanjuro did not mind it, he understood Kura's state of mind and knew she meant no ill by it.
	“At least Baku will no longer need to jump from place to place” Sanjuro noted, “a man with his sensibilities is not the best to have feeling torn. He was probably forever walking into things.”
	“But who is going to drink with me now?” Kura asked, her face stone-cold serious.
	“I'm sure you'll find someone else on the squad to be your apprentice” Kathryn assured her.
	“Only if I pick one and get her to practice harder” Kura returned, “that being the case, we should get back. I'm going to have to work out an entirely new drill regiment!” With that she rushed off towards the exit, her hand placing itself firmly and securely on her holstered pistol. Well, no one could say Kura was not dedicated to her job, even if her motivations were sometimes eschewed. Sanjuro and Kathryn momentarily watched her pace off, before heading after her.

	Toshiro sat down on his throne, a specialized seating arrangement that allowed him to be close to Cothineal from the heart of Maritropa. The architecture incorporated several more of the pods that had allowed her to influence events on Earth, only now serving as a repeater of kilometres and not light-years. He was all set and ready to do whatever tumultuous task awaited him.
	“A civilian wishes to consult your wisdom” Samantha called from the doorway.
	“Oh?” Toshiro asked, “What is this about?” Partly to help win over the human population to Cothineal's peaceful intentions, Toshiro had adopted a sort of open door policy to the public.
	“She won't say, just kept going on about wanting to talk to a Makabe.”
	“Alright, show her in” Toshiro called back. A short middle-aged brunette woman stepped forward and looked up towards him in awe. Upon her forehead was the red spot which had become so popular among many of the women on the planet. Toshiro was not entirely sure if it was continuation of the Hindu tradition, or simply a coincidental cultural recurrence.
	“Toshiro Makabe?” the woman asked. Toshiro nodded.
	“Gabriel in official capacity” he stated, “what is your desire?”
	“Well, you might think this is silly” she began, “but your brother helped me out so much in the past. She has been missing for a week and well, when I learned that you were his brother I just knew there would be something you could do.”
	“I'm sorry” Toshiro replied, “but I am not entirely sure what you mean, Mrs... Haddam?”
	“It's my kitty” Mrs. Haddam explained, “she ran off last week and has not come back.”
	“You mean a cat?” Toshiro asked, confused. Mrs. Haddam shrugged.
	“I told you it might seem silly” she noted, “but I am at my wits end.”
	“Don't despair madam” Toshiro responded, “I think I might just be able to help you. Cothineal cares for all life no matter what size, shape or predilection. Do you have any sort of object tied to it that I might be able to sense from?” Mrs. Haddam shrugged.
	“Well, after your brother kept her old toy, she found this one somewhere” the woman thought, taking a weather-beaten doll out of her purse, “personally I think it is rather creepy.” Toshiro was rather inclined to agree with her, glancing down at the crude approximation of a little girl – her long black hair dishevelled and her form clothed only in a ragged red dress. Still, not agreeing with the cat's view of aesthetics was by no means going to dull Cothineal's, and thus his own, powers of detection. He held the doll in one hand, and closed his eyes. He felt the familiar tingle as kato energy flowed through his system and a series of images flashed before his eyelids. He smiled, this was a simple conundrum. He returned himself to the material plane, and smiled down at his visitor.
	“Perhaps you should try leaving the food dish inside the house” he advised, “and so give her a reason to show herself in front of you. I sense a wayward independent spirit in this one.” Mrs. Haddam's jaw dropped, and she cursed herself for not having considered that herself. Then again, with stragglers having been known to live in the discarded pumping station next door until recently, she had plenty of reasons to be so paranoid. Her husband had finally gotten the authorities to clear out the place, fearing for their safety. Finally, she raised her head and outstretched her hand to take the doll, but Toshiro held back and looked down at it again.
	“Sorry” Mrs. Haddam said to him, “but I fear that if you keep that she will come back with something worse.” Toshiro gestured agreement, but held it up to the light and squeezed it for a final examination. He felt a small plastic device activate from within the doll and a tinny female voice, still cold and terrible, called out to the two of them.
	“Alma Wade!” it pronounced. Mrs. Haddam shivered, and seemed rather uncomfortable when Toshiro offered it back to her. She took one last glance down into the doll's two glass eyes and decided she was going to risk leaving it behind. The cat could hardly do any worse than this.
	“You keep it” she decided, “I think this is better handled by the Fallen.” With that, she turned and headed back for the entrance. Toshiro gripped the doll tightly in his hand.
	“No matter what, life is still able to surprise you” he decided.

	“I still think it was just a rock!” Kura protested, as the trio returned from a day's duties. Kathryn was not inclined to agree with her sister on this point, as was often the case.
	“It was giving off a strange electromagnetic signal” she stated, “it might be a probe!”
	“Are you suggesting first week lucky?” Sanjuro asked, “That would be a change.”
	“If we are to do this mission right we have to be vigilant” Kathryn replied, “and look into everything that shows up.” Kura sighed.
	“And I thought I was paranoid” she muttered, “she thinks rocks are flying saucers.”
	“Do you want dinner tonight or what?” Kathryn growled, “I do believe the canteen is still open if you want to scrape the bottom of the pot.” Kura was indignant.
	“That's dog food!” she shouted. Kathryn smiled.
	“Then be nice to the chef!” she jeered. Sanjuro stepped in to intervene.
	“There is a place for both the curious and the skeptic in this sort of thing” he said, “as long as the two can manage not to rip each other's heads off.” Kura raised her eyebrows.
	“Are you saying you are not willing to take a side?” she inquired. Sanjuro said nothing, and retreated into the back room. Kathryn gave one last warning glance to Kura before heading off into the Admiral's kitchen. Kura grumbled to herself and took a seat in front of one of the terminals. As she logged into her ship account, a small icon lit up on the top right corner of the screen.
	“New message” it flashed, “from Commander Isabelle Whitmore.” Kura was not entirely surprised that she had decided to get in touch, but that did not dull her interest in it. She indulged in a little habit of hers: moving the mouse so fast that the computer could not process it. A fast shot like hers could give nightmares to the aging systems aboard the Leviathan. The processor finally cleared itself and the message box came up, allowing Kura to read what Isabelle had to say.
	“Dear Commander Akkaraju, or just Kura if that is what you prefer...”
	“Confident start” Kura observed to herself, before continuing on.
	“Things are very busy here, everyone keeps trying to get me to tell the story about what happened at High Command. No matter how many times I say it, they refuse to just read the reports. To be honest, Head Commander Robertson is also being something of a problem. He keeps calling me back from base to 'coordinate security precautions' with Commander Cartwright.
	Your father is looking well, and is taking to his job with a zeal I would not have expected from a man of his age. Then again, given what I heard happened up on your ship, I guess it is not all that surprising. Richard and I are very happy, and we are taking our time planning our wedding. Oh, did I forget to tell you about that? Sorry. Anyways, it is not until September and we were wondering where the Leviathan would be at by then.
	I know your work out there is important, Robertson is quite excited about it, but we would like to see you there – if it was not for you I do not think I would ever have braved myself up enough to ask him. Richard actually thinks I should ask you to be a maid of honour, but I somehow have trouble seeing you like that. I'm afraid I can't write any longer, duty calls and I have a patrol to lead. I can not thank you enough for everything you did for me, you really are my role model. So then, goodbye!”
	“Maid of honour?” Kura thought, “That would be strange.”  She tried to think of herself with makeup, heels and formal dress by a figure of Isabelle in white. Nah, that would never work. Would it? She never put much stock in marriage anyway, even before Kathryn showed up and complicated things she had never really minded her and Sanjuro 'living in sin', as the tradition would have dictated a few centuries ago.
	Once again, she was struck by the thought that her arrangements were at very least esoteric. It was kind of nice for Isabelle to have shown such approval, as she was about as average a sample as Kura was likely to find. She understood that Sanjuro just loved them both. Kura loved him too, even enough to stand her sister's presence. Actually, she knew full well she loved her sister too. It was kind of a communal thing. Maid of honour? Who would want a polygamist for a maid of honour? Isabelle would, what a nice thought. Alright, it was not so ridiculous an idea.
	“Contemplative towards a spam message?” Sanjuro asked. Kura looked up from her seat.
	“Isabelle wants us to go to her wedding in September” Kura stated. Sanjuro considered this for a moment and tried to remember the plotting and timing that High Command had worked out for them. As much as Sanjuro detested that kind of charting work, he was still always somewhat annoyed when Earth told him where to go. Still, September was a while off. Surely they could arrange a trip back by then. Kura and Kathryn would want to see their father at his new job eventually anyway.
	“That should work, but what was it you were thinking about?” Sanjuro said. Kura twitched in her seat, not comfortable with that line of questioning. “Kura, you told me that you wanted me to know that you were kind and caring. If you want to do that, you should let me in too.” Kura blushed.
	“Uh, okay. Sanjuro, do you ever wonder what people think. About us?”
	“I'm not quite sure what you mean, we did get those medals after all.”
	“No, no. I do not mean professionally. I mean personally.”
	“Ah, I see” Sanjuro realized. He had never given it a second thought. His decision on the matter was absolute to him, as long as they remained satisfied with the situation as it was, his conviction towards the two of them unflinching. Once he had decided that he could not bring himself to choose between them, he had simply decided he would have to go all out for both of them. It was not anything that others came into in the slightest.
	“I worry that people, even on this ship, might think how we live... how you are, is immoral. I worry that they would not understand.” Sanjuro frowned.
	“Does it really matter what other people think?” he asked. Kura shivered.
	“I don't want to be a weirdo” Kura whimpered. Sanjuro remembered Kura as a child: wild and unpredictable, but always seeking the attention and approval of others. Sanjuro had been quite different, his laid back attitude towards other people had given him an easy charm. He had never worried about it, he had just left things the way they were.
	“Has anyone suggested anything of the kind?” Sanjuro asked, “You just mentioned Isabelle, if she wants us to come she can't be all that ashamed of us can she?”
	“No, no, it is just something that came up back when I smoothed things over with her.”
	“Is this a private meeting?” Kathryn asked, apron around her waist. Kura glanced at the doorway, and hid her head in her hands.
	“Go away” she moaned. Kathryn crossed her arms against her chest.
	“Please don't be cross with her” Sanjuro thought, “please...”
	“This sounds like something we need to work out together” Kathryn said, “don't you think sis?” Kura lifted her head and, a stray tear on her cheeks, stared in surprise at her sister.
	“Alright, what do you want to say?” Kura blubbered, clinging closer to Sanjuro.
	“If anyone should feel bad about this it is me” Kathryn replied, “you were here first, and I came in and took him when your, missing in action, back was turned. I think we have reached a sort of peace with that.” Kura cringed, but nodded. She guessed so.
	“We get along alright like this” she agreed.
	“The point is that no one should look badly at you, you are just loyal to Sanjuro. That being so, I still don't feel bad about Sanjuro's loyalty to me either. I'm a communications officer, and do you know what that means? I hear a lot of the crew's gossip and inane conversation. I've heard a few comments and jokes, but they don't matter. People just talk garbage to amuse themselves. Think about your squad Kura, they respect you and they respect Sanjuro. This does not matter to them.”
	“I did not realize you had to live with that” Kura stated, “I would not have been able to keep my cool if I heard anything like that.”
	“As I said, it is just garbage. All of it. What is important is that we have each other.”
	“I guess you're right” Kura considered, “still, if I hear anyone talk like that at Carla's I will pound the little twerps.” Kathryn brightened.
	“You are feeling better” she smiled. Sanjuro grinned as well.
	“I am feeling a little superfluous here” he commented. Kura and Kathryn glanced at one another, giggled conspiratorially, and leaped up to grab and kiss Sanjuro from either side. Sanjuro closed his eyes, and thought of the image of his mother and what she had said about the Akkaraju sisters. Looking at it from one way, it kind of showed how Toshiro considered the arrangement, as well as how Toshiro's more educated viewpoint predicted how she would have felt about it. He held both of them harder and closer to him, until a smell drifted in from the other room.
	“Oh, damn!” Kathryn yelped, forcing her way out of the embrace. Kura watched with interest as Kathryn wrestled with the stove controls and hurriedly protected herself before grabbing the roaster and slamming it onto a hot mat. Even with the gloves, she still blew onto her fingers to try and cool down. Kura chuckled, not being able to help finding the image comical, before bringing herself up to Sanjuro solo this time.
	“Sometimes you're all mine” she noted, before bringing her lips to his. Kathryn meanwhile lifted the lid off and observed the damage – it was still quite edible. She had managed to catch it in time. With regards to getting back to Sanjuro however, she was way too late. Observing Kura's elated smirk, Kathryn came to her own conclusions.
	“And he's all mine sometimes too sister!” she thought, before serving out onto all three plates. With the benefit of hindsight, she thought better of her comment and gave Kura an extra piece of casserole. She then thought of Sanjuro, and decided she would simply take the smallest portion. Food was an age old way to show affection, but it was not quite the most direct.
	“Wow, that smells good Kathryn!” Kura exclaimed. Her sister smiled appreciatively.

THE END

July 29, 2009 – August 14, 2011
Two Years, Sixteen Days
Revised from May 16 – 21, 2014

Authors Notes:
There will be quite a bit of this I am afraid, even if it made keeping actual page count straight a bit more difficult than it needed to be. Still, I easily got over a hundred and almost one hundred and fifty!

Page Count by Year:
1 - 38: 2009 
39 - 74: 2010 
74 - 145: 2011

Yes, I know, Ryo coming back: how trite, how predictable. However, I wanted to make his corpse have a sting it its tail. Now I am quoting Red Dwarf Series VI “Gunmen of the Apocalypse”. Can I come up with any original statements or ideas? Well, as of late I have still been trying...

We had basically removed anime from our canon, as much as we knew, but I felt it only right to title this story in Japanese, just as a subtle reference, it seems more appropriate given the musings of Ryo about Japan that I slipped in. After all, a reviewer once correctly noted that Shogo was a rock solid shooter which had anime elements to appease fans and the developers, while also being equally a game for those who like shooters and for those who like anime, and if you just like shooters primarily like I did at that point then everything is still perfectly fine.

I originally thought of this story in late April 2008, when I was just finishing up The Aftermath. I tried writing it starting from late May of that year with no luck, I decided to try it again in July 2009. It is kind if appropriate because I started the revised version of The Aftermath that same day, and released them around the same time when we finally dumped out Hamish's Trilogy and other stories.

This was written mostly while The Expanded Canon website was down. Sorry about that if anyone noticed, that was my host's fault. I finally got it back up being hosted as a web-page on the Blood Wiki service provided by William “Willis” Weilep’s excellent site/host Deathmask in May 2011. During this time, 2009-2011, the Second Age of Shogo passed by with the death of ShogoMAD.com. Luckily the new age has been ushered in both by the maturation of the Shogo Sub-Section on the Blood Wiki and by the launch of the excellent Shogo Tribute website (http://shogo.pentacle.nl/). Thanks for keeping this game alive everyone!

I wrote 2 pages on July 29, 2009 and then suddenly wrote nine pages on the evening/morning of August 9th-10th. The rest was intermittent work. During the 13th to the 15th of August I had some trouble writing but I got over that. Then I faded out for a while, being busy with other things including getting scalded on my thigh... ouch... I finally got back into it on the fourth of July 2010 (a date of no other importance to me of course, as a Canadian) after rereading some of Hamish’s stories. I fell out of it again, due to outside issues, worked on it slightly in October and then started working on it again on Christmas Day 2010 and kept up until my break my school ended. Stopped again, distracted by school and other projects, and started again in late June 2011 and picked up strongly on July 2nd – not even stopping for long after getting my first batch of wisdom teeth pulled, which was a surprise given the horror stories I was told. I faded out in late July, due to the second batch of wisdom teeth and a nasty cold, plus the ever present trying wet weather, but got back into it as August went on.

I consider this my answer to Thanks for the Memory in terms of page length, and I consider The Aftermath to be the thing that was answered with Sex and Violence. It should also be noted that my writing style means that I fit more text per page than Hamish does, as he uses a greater amount of spacing. Some could argue that his way is easier to read, though I think they both have certain merits. This work also spread out large enough to be my equivalent to his short fiction as well, though he also has those Blood stories to count on his list, as well as Never Too Late, the final part of Trilogy. After years of playing idly with my own designs, my next primary literary project after this one is a proper novel and not fan fiction. I have some good ideas for it and am now good at getting lots of pages written, though I should warn my theme for it is going to be highly political.

This is set after Sex and Violence, Stragglers, and Thanks for the Memory and continues on elements from those stories. This was partly also a final trap to try and get Hamish to release them, having been originally reluctant to release his Trilogy stories, and just being lazy with the other one. It was Hamish completing Thanks for the Memory that lead me to start working on this. The final part of Trilogy, Never Too Late, was completed after this story, and serves as an alternative ending for The Expanded Canon, though I must admit I was a little upset by his story having yet one more character come back from the dead. Now I feel like a horrible person for denying them all that final resurrection!

We usually premiered these stories with our brother Malcolm in an old Micra car, as for some reason it added nice atmosphere for storytelling. I was the reader usually, even with Hamish’s work. I had to divide it into parts because if I were to read it in one go Malcolm would nod off, when premiering Thanks for the Memory he ran off to sleep as soon as we got through all 30 pages (hour and a half or more, I do not remember), and was dozing off towards the end. This has it in 8-12 page parts, though ultimately we never did read it all out that way, with Hamish finishing to read it on his own later on.

This is the action story I had been supposedly been plotting for over a year before starting it. It has turned out a lot different than I had originally envisioned, but that is in part because the canon I am picking up has been forever changed by Hamish's additions. That said, there is still a tremendous difference in tone between our stories. Hamish's are more character-oriented, while mine deals more with the politics of the universe, as well as, to a certain extent, representing more of Shogo's kitsch, particularly in some of the sillier asides, recollections and the over-the-top characterizations of Ryo and some of the others, even if in Ryo's case I added in a more plausible explanation for his actions. Hamish's are probably more profound, but mine are closer to the original game in the end.

I played Shogo again to get into the mood I wanted for this story and that helped get me started. I also studied the Shogo back-story notes again and you will notice minor details from those are mentioned from time to time, and form the background for the power structure sub-text in it. I also incorporated some unused ideas from an older Shogo story draft I read online, and by doing so adapted them into our canon. I am also happy with how I have tried to develop more minor characters, adding back-story for Samantha or even elaborating on the life and death of Sanjuro's parents.

An interesting thing about this story is that it is Sanjuro who is experiencing some troubled thoughts, Hamish's stories have Kura and Kathryn go through them more, though the dream idea is original to Hamish’s short stories. They all get to suffer turmoil! He, he, he, heh! Actually, after watching Evangelion I now realize that my stories are much more authentic to anime (well, at least some if it) than I might have first thought, which makes some of my reluctance to get into genuine anime even more ridiculous. Well, I am glad that I have left all of that behind me now.

I do particularly like the eve before the storm nightmare sequence for its referencing of Military Academy, Looking For the Next Best Thing, Stragglers, the deathmatch controversy over the red riot weapon, squishes and player stacking. Baku's curse is “Unbelieving foreigner, I feel such hate, curse you enemies!” in cultist (http://blood-wiki.org/index.php/Cultist_Language) by the way. “Forgive me old friend” is a homage to the end cutscene for Blood episode two “Even Death May Die”, which originates from H.P. Lovecraft (of course). Later on Toshiro also says in Cultist: “Your inflicted massacre be cursed, bloodthirsty enemies!” and before the detonation shouts “Pray my spirit be blessed!” Before killing Ryo, he shouts “crudux cruo”, well known as “fresh blood” to any Bloodite.

The second dream sequence is a reference to a popular trick to get ammo in the game: killing Cloud. Nasty players, are we not? If I ever were to write a story with Kura having a similar mental conflict, I would have her randomly blasting C.M.C. civilians, given that her A.I. seems freakishly prone to that in the game (as well as shooting the player in the back on occasion). She even shot the little girl once!

Kiwi is slang for someone from New Zealand, like my father (and technically myself as well, since I hold citizenship by descent) and Terra, as in Second Terran War, is an alternate name for Earth popular in science fiction, if you did not know. It has a similar root as the more famous term. On revision, I also  changed the word 'airwaves' to 'voidwaves' after realizing that they really are not travelling through air.

And now, for some initialism explained for the tremendously uninformed:
* W.M.D. means “weapon of mass destruction”...
* I.D. means “identification”...
* G.P.S. means “global positioning system”...
* L.E.D. means Light Emitting Diode. Sheesh... :-P 
* P.T.S. means Post-Traumatic Stress, had you been following any of this?  Not Phoronix Test Suite!
* R&R means rest and relaxation. Any rude acronym you are thinking of is your own problem!

The song Sanjuro sings to himself is “Jungle Work” (http://warrenzevon.wikia.com/wiki/Jungle_Work) from Warren Zevon's 1980 album Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School, the song has alternately been known as the “mercenary's theme song.” The rhyme “another day, another...” is based on a song Caleb sings to himself in Blood II: The Chosen. To this day, I am not sure what it was originally from either.

The M.C.A. trap I found amazingly hard to write at the time. I did it to illustrate Ryo's scheming side, homage the mecha in Shogo more than has been done in other stories, and to unnerve Sanjuro to go with the conflict of his sub-conscious sub-plot. I guess this was simply practice, but I am still amazed when I do manage to spill out a long detailed action sequence such as the attack of the assassins!

Isabelle Whitmore's name comes from two origins. The last name is in homage to Guy Whitmore, a Monolith musician and creator of the premiering “adaptive music” system first used in Blood II: The Chosen and Shogo, and the first name was from a book I picked up randomly and read a bit while starting to write this. I wanted to read something from a ‘professional’ book as a comparison. She is a kind of sequel to the Kura-Cara conflict in Thanks for the Memory, only this time instead of them being too similar, they are too different. Then it developed that Kura slowly became Isabelle's mentor.

George Clancy, your ordinary maintenance technician, will not be returning. If you thought that interlude was going to lead anywhere, I just have one thing to say: fooled you! It was simply a short moment of attempted humour. So sue me! Same thing with our schlock sci-fi reading turret gunner!

Zhukov was a random character which I had no initial plan for when I started. I made him Russian mostly as a matter of separation, and that I have a certain appreciation for Russian culture. I actually would argue that Western Canadians are in some ways more like Russians, or more accurately Siberians, than we are American or British. It is all down to the climate we share with them. Zhukov's death was even more of a random idea, coming to me suddenly whilst writing on July 7, 2011, but I liked how it kind of tied into his own guilt for slowing Sanjuro down in the first place. “The Sacred War” is a marching song from the Second World War, known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War. I am actually rather fond of Russian military music and anthems.

I know in general I had a lot of characters introduced who did not get names until much later in the story, such as Head Commander Robertson. The Fallen Commander, RIP, never even got one. I tend to dislike naming characters, as it is difficult to find appropriate ones that do not seem too cliché (Robertson is a bit of a cop out I know). I once wrote a story with no names at all, though that was partly due to work around with themes that were all too self-referential.

Ryo attacking the sea, as well as being simply an absurdity to illustrate his insanity, serves as a reference to the Roman Emperor Caligula - who is reputed to have sent his men to collect shells as part of a ‘war’ with the god Poseidon. There is some indication now however that his successor, the stuttering Emperor Claudius, made the whole story up to legitimize his rule and that he actually used fortifications originally set up by Caligula during his invasion of Britain. The silly reference to the assassination of Caesar simply shows I paid too much attention to Grade 10 English...

I had always intended for the power of Gabriel, emanating from Cothineal, to be a major part of this work – but originally just as a kind of deus ex machina for a moment when they were all being surrounded. In the end I explored the nature of Cothineal in far greater detail than I had originally thought (and explained that 'job' Toshiro does in Sex and Violence) and I think it works out rather well. The lock-down sequence, Kathryn in the compartment, rival dress uniforms (though this was originally to be in the initial banquet and more civilian; plus more explicit, with Nathaniel not there to chaperone the two and their competition still seething like in The Aftermath) and Kura and Sanjuro's mission intimacy were all part of the original 2008 design for Ryo's return. The title was also already decided.

J. Michael Straczynski's Babylon 5 helped define the political sub-text of this work. I started going through B5 about a quarter into writing this story (a time of final writing I was going through The X-Files, 'spooky', which would lead to an entirely different type of story), and its political drama in space format helped me decide how to make this story end. You can also probably see other allusions to it in the work, ISN aside, as well as general homages to science fiction series like Star Trek (and ripping off gazpacho soup from Red Dwarf). My own politics also influenced this, especially with regards to the need for economic democracy, but I have tried to make this work open and subtle enough to have a large enough audience who would not be offended by it. In other works, I do not even try to do this.

The F.E.A.R. reference towards the end (“the bitch in the red dress”) is funny given I have yet to play it. I have now gotten a hold of a copy but it failed to Wine when we tried it on Fedora, and it is a bit too demanding for my Microsoft Windows partition on my old laptop (which is mostly there to preserve Dell settings and for cross-platform development otherwise). Still, given the numerous Shogo references that designer Craig Hubbard put into it (most notably the reusing of the Armacham company name), and No One Lives Forever (which I now also have), it seemed rather appropriate. Still, I wish that Monolith would adopt GNU/Linux support, or at vert least add an OpenGL layer to LithTech (not that LithTech seems to be going anywhere anymore). While we are at it, make Blood III and/or Shogo 2 or I will shove you up my pulse rifle and fire you all at a building (see Shogo REZ file)!

I figured that since this is going to be my last Shogo story for a while at least (although the new Shogo 2 fan project project is looking to change this) I should just go and face the whole polygamy thing head on, after having foreshadowed it in conversation between Kura and Isabelle. Let me get my point of view clear on the subject: I am in favour of just about any kind of arrangement between consenting adults. Homosexuality is absolutely fine by me, and on the same token I make no exception with regards to polygamy. I just want to make it clear that is this based on a fundamental egalitarianism, so anyone in such a situation, husband or wife, should also be allowed to take on whatever partners they want. None of this one man lording over multiple wives crap. In regards to this, there was a poll on the subject of what Sanjuro should do on the Planet Shogo website back in 1999, and its users in general agreed with the concept of Sanjuro trying his best to placate them both.  Technically it is polyamory though, given they are not legally married. Am I thinking too much?

Similarly, I had not intended to resolve the whole Baku thing in this story either, but given I am for now moving on to my own original horizons I decided I would put something in. This does not mean the issue rests entirely though, I could bring it back any number of ways. For now though, Baku and Cara can just live well together in the same city. If I never get back to this, I at least gave something of an answer to that thread I opened back in The Aftermath.

I apologize if anyone thinks the forty or so pages of musings and conclusions is excessive. Some could say I was following the J.R.R. Tolkien neurosis towards ending it. Then again, once I wrote something it stayed on the page largely unchanged. It was not compulsive editing that slowed completion down. Still, some might agree with a critique of the The Return of the King with regards to this: “too many endings.” As I said before though, this will be my last for awhile at least so I thought leaving some threads open, such as the search for extraterrestrial life, was something of a wise move. Anyway, the way it is is the way it is going to stay, and, after exceeding ten sections and a hundred pages, getting in fifteen and basically one hundred fifty pages seemed nice and even. Read it all at your own discretion!

Having now re-read Stragglers for the first time in around five years I am now struck by just how influential that story was to this one in terms of the slightly silly action story that Aduachi turned out to be. Hamish even set up the whole “monologing” trope for me! I honestly no longer remembered!