Disclaimer:
"Wild Horses and Pokegirls" is the creation of Metroanime.
Author's note: This chapter presumes that you are familiar with Kerrik Wolf's story, Into the Fire and uses characters and situations from it with his permission. If you have not read it, you should. You need to immediately, before a certain BunnyGirl arrives with her vacation slides. Events here coincide with and follow events in Chapter 35 of ITF. This is what you get when you don't close doors properly.
"They've returned," The March Hare told them as they waited in one of the wardrooms. Hazel and Bigwig had just about removed all the `relative bearing` grease from Stupid Fuzzbutt. "And the gate remains open," the Megami-Sama added in a perplexed tone.
"Say!" Hazel suggested, "Maybe we could go take a look!"
"No," Brian said firmly, "We haven't exactly made ourselves welcome. And considering what Kelvin could do, crossing Mister Wolf is not on my list of things to do today."
"You don't really think he'd kill us," Gennie asked, "Do you?"
"If we were the ones who killed Kelvin," Bigwig said, "In a heartbeat."
"If he's so powerful," the BunnyGirl said, "Why doesn't he make all the Pokègirls on the ship feel better?"
"Why don't you make them feel better?" Brian asked sarcastically, "Say go through the portal and bring Kelvin back."
"That's -!" Hazel and Bigwig yanked the Bunny back down.
"You'd have to be able to raise up the shade," Bigwig said, "And let us finish before you smear grease all over the whole ship."
"They left the portal open, the other portal," Flopsie offered, "You don't think?"
"No chance," Brian said, "And quit thinking about it, rabbit. You couldn't do anything."
"Yeah, you'd have to be dead to go get him," Hazel said, then stopped and looked thoughtful.
"Banish that thought," The March Hare commanded, "Banish it immediately."
Hazel looked at her and frowned.
"She used something that temporarily killed," Bigwig said, and stared at Stupid Fuzzbutt, "So we could kill you temporarily." This time neither of the two got a grip on the BunnyGirl fast enough. Hazel leapt and fell short. Bigwig loosed a sticky cable and missed. Thumper and Bugs just chuckled at them.
"I can fix everything and I just have to die! My Master's a genius!" she shouted as she ran through the hatch.
Hazel looked at The March Hare glowering at her. "It might just work," she said as she sidled out from under the glare, and sprinted for the door.
"Boom," the G-Splice said, and jetted after her.
"Idiots," The March Hare intoned.
"Why?" Gennie asked.
"They would need a focus," The March Hare lectured, "Such a thing as his soul and . . . " She turned to stare at the bulkheads. "Why do I bother?" she asked disgustedly, "Bugs, Thumper, attend me. Master collect the little one, and meet us below." She marched over to the pair and grabbed their arms.
"What's going on?" Brian asked worriedly.
"You really want to know?" Bigwig asked as the trio left, "Let's go bigshot. Flopsie, where is she?"
April looked up in horror as the idiot rabbit came charging straight at her and Vanessa. She instinctively summoned her Dark Magician Girl in front of the Legendary to take the inevitable impact and spare Vanessa, and the pregnancy, from injury.
At the last second, the BunnyGirl changed direction only to grab April up and swing her around in a bizarre dance. "I can fix everything and I just have to die! I can fix everything and I just have to die! My Master's a genius!" She let go of April and let her reel as she slumped to the floor, while Stupid Fuzzbutt raced off. "I can fix everything and I just have to die! I can fix everything and I just have to die! OUCHIE! I can fix everything and I just have to die!"
"That rabbit is a bloody lunatic," April commented as Vanessa helped her up.
"Uh, I think we have other company," Vanessa pointed out the racing-striped turtle shell, and the Blessed Jokette who was trying desperately to look friendly and harmless. Without orders, the Dark Magician Girl stepped smoothly between the Duelist and the oncoming Pokègirls.
"We, we could really use your help," Hazel said, her hands clasped in prayer, "Both of you." She saw their nervousness. "It'll be really - " she started enthusiastically, then saw their apprehension, "It's perfectly safe! For us."
April dismissed the Dark Magician Girl as she gave them a skeptical look.
"Your Harem-sister said she was going to die," Vanessa pointed out. "While that's not unusual behavior on her part, the fact that this somehow involves us is new."
The Jokette shrugged. "You can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs, and she's pretty cracked as it is."
"Why do I have this feeling that Kerrik is going to want to know whatever it is you want to do?" April folded her arms. "We should probably consult with him first."
"Oh, he's in Dreamtime with Miguelito, very important! I'm sure he wouldn't be bothered by something so small and . . . I'm sure he'd approve." The Jokette looked around. "You really don't want The March Hare to get involved, she'll . . . I can appreciate a joke and that others can't, but she's just so serious about this. And you don't want to see a serious Jokette, they get in other movies and . . . well your Tamer doesn't swing that way now. Let's keep it that way. Please?"
"Boom?" the turtle shell added plaintively.
"He won't be mad. I promise!" Hazel smiled, a truly alarming sight. "And if he is, you can blame me. Tell him I threatened to tie you up and make you watch Stupid Fuzzbutt's vacation slides. With her narrating."
"I am not afraid of your inane threats and Kerrik has told me enough bad jokes to kill an army of Jokettes."
"It's pronounced 'insane', if you please," Hazel politely corrected.
"April, I believe Eve already knows what they want to do," Vanessa lied. Nobody but April saw her wink. "It won't really affect us and it may even prove useful to Kerrik in the long run. Even if it doesn't, it won't hurt us at all, according to Eve and her gifts."
April blinked. "Oh." She shrugged and turned to Hazel. "Kerrik didn't pick us for our rule-following personalities. He's going to find out whatever is going on eventually, but since he's not available right now to tell me 'no', what is it you want us to do for you?"
Angie stared at the sphere that Angie Douglas had just delivered. "A little bit late," the Titmouse said, "If Kerrik had had this . . . " She looked up at the trio who'd appeared in her room. "What do you -?"
"Sleep, " The March Hare commanded.
Bugs caught the Titmouse as she collapsed. The March Hare pried the glowing sphere from the girl's hand.
"We have little time, and none for explanations," The March Hare told them, "Come!" She vanished.
"Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to try to figure this out," Bugs told Thumper as they put the unconscious Titmouse in her bunk.
"There are times I just go with the flow," Thumper replied, "Like now. I don't want to know their plan."
Cheryl and Warden came alert as the Megami-Sama in the purple and green appeared near her. "I can't - " Warden began.
"Be silent!" the Megami-Sama ordered as she closed Cheryl's hand around the glowing sphere.
Cheryl looked like she'd grabbed the head of a live rattlesnake.
"Stand with us, or stand aside, but chose instantly," The March Hare intoned.
"With," Cheryl said as she handed the sphere back, her expression more pale that it had been facing her Master over the interrogation table. "How?"
"I care not, but shall use it"
Stupid Fuzzbutt bounded into the room. "The purple girl just ran away; saying we were gonna kill her. Silly! Kerrik won't do that! Is she new? Domineering couldn't be bothered," the BunnyGirl complained, "Is she gonna be mad!" she added gleefully.
"Dominique," Cheryl corrected, "That portal is closing fast."
"Then I shan't wait for Hazel," The March Hare touched Stupid Fuzzbutt, who crumbled to the floor. Isaik and Flopsie arrived.
"Is she dead?" the Eidolon asked, "And what are you doing here?"
"Observe and learn," The March Hare said. She turned to face April and Vanessa as they arrived ahead of Hazel and Boom. "Good, and again the joke plays out. I hope you have the wit to appreciate it."
"Bye Mister Kerrik!" Stupid Fuzzbutt bounced up and down as she waved to the departing group, "I know you're gonna kill me for this, but I know it's all right now!" She waved at him happily. "See he's smiling!"
"That's not a smile," Bigwig explained.
"I'd love to see his face when April and Vanessa tell him," Easter said, "That would be completely worth it."
"I'd like to see how he likes the Via Gramen spell Cheryl taught April and Vanessa, and Eve's face when April explains it was a spell the Alliance developed," Hazel said, "That would be a moment worth dying for."
"I shall savor the expressions on the faces of the others," The March Hare stated, "That will truly be a moment to savor."
"Jealous our Alpha came up with a better joke than either of us could?" Hazel asked innocently, "Just asking."
The BunnyGirl confronted the Jokette, poking her finger in the Jokette's ample chest. "MASTER came up with that!" Stupid Fuzzbutt insisted, "Don't any of you forget it! He's brilliant! That's why he's Master!"
"I thought it was because he was a human male," Flopsie commented.
"And people call me stupid," the BunnyGirl snarled, then turned back to wave to her wonderful, dear friends. "Bye Kerrik! Bye! We all think you're cute!"
Bigwig rolled her eyes. "I'm sure that just made his day," she commented.
"Really?!" the BunnyGirl squealed, and had Brian cover her mouth before she could yell.
"He already knows," Brian told her.
"Oh yeah! Sorry, I forgot." She giggled and tugged at her ears. "Bye Vanny! Bye April!" she shouted, "Roll him in flour and you can have Kerrik-cake!" Hazel and The March Hare fell to the deck twitching spasmodically.
"Next time, we do that," Cottontail suggested.
A moment later Kerrik and his party vanished.
"Come on," Mopsie said, while she and Cottontail raced ahead to cut the dramatis personae out of the milling crowd.
"You had something for us to see?" Miguelito bristled at the pair who'd blocked his and Antoinette's path, "Or something from you?"
Rainbow and Blossom had drifted over, adding their might to Voltaire's if needed.
"Something you need to see," Brian said, "Call it a going-away present."
"I have rugs," Miguelito commented, "And better ones than that." He considered the rolled up carpet that Cheryl and Underworld were carrying. More girls drifted towards the commotion.
"This one is special," Underworld assured him, "I think you'll all like this one." They set it down carefully. When it moved, most of them jumped back.
Jen manifested an energy blade and pushed forward. "I'll - "
"Cut careful," Voltaire told her sharply, "Present inside."
Jen paused, then looked over to Seadamar who was hugging Alba, both had tears running down their faces. Jen looked back at Voltaire and dismissed the huge, shining blade. Replacing it with a large knife composed of darkness. She carefully cut the through rug roll, and thrust it open.
Brian nodded to The March Hare. Mopsie and Cottontail crowded the group together. Bigwig had covered Stupid Fuzzbutt's mouth, and Hazel looked like an attack of insane giggling was imminent. The group vanished, leaving the decks clear for the others.
No one moved as they stared at the bound and gagged figure who couldn't seem to manage a proper glare at them. Chagrin kept interfering.
Cheryl broke the deadlock. "Merry Christmas! Aren't you going to unwrap him?"
"Master?" Warden said as she knelt beside him, "Master," she said softly, gently, "Please don't ever worry us like that again." She looked at him plaintively, while she took each of the cable-like hawsers holding him and snapped them with a report that rang across the deck.
Kelvin watched the inch-thick ropes part like wet tissue as Warden continued, "We love you." CRACK! "We'll protect you from anything." SPANG! "You can trust us, Master." SNAP! "Our lives are in your hands." POW! "And we will protect your life." She very carefully removed the gag. "Do you understand Master, how important you are?"
"Yes, and I'm sorry."
With that, general bedlam broke out as his entire Harem, and nearly every Megami on deck sought to touch him, kiss him or hug him.
"I assure you, I'm healthy," he told Doctor Carmen, "Aside from some bruises."
The small man glanced at Doctor Marilyn, who took the hint and left, shooing a number of girls away from the door. Once he was sure they were alone, he rounded on him. "WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?" the man's expression was murderous, but that fury seemed to be turning inward.
"I thought I was luring a Legendary in so she would openly help us," he replied quietly, "It was a chance I had to take."
"Why? Why do you have to take those kinds of chances?"
"It's all right to cry, Miguelito, I won't think any less of you," Kelvin said.
The man's face screwed up in contortion as sadness and fury warred for dominance.
Antoinette swept in, before the war could be won by either side, and carried Miguelito off. As Kelvin stood, he noted Voltaire had entered.
For the first time since I've known her, he thought, She looks menacing.
"Voltaire."
"Many girls cry. You made them."
"I'm sorry Voltaire. It was a risk I had to take."
"Dangerous for girls without Master. You make them Masterless," Voltaire said, not moving from the doorway, but small motions of her hands and face showed her agitation.
"I don't know what else I could have done."
"You let Pokègirls take the risks."
"And I'm supposed to let them suffer and die while I sit back safe and sound," he snapped, "I can't DO that."
"Learn," Voltaire told him. She seemed to calm down a bit. "Guards, everywhere. Until we know you're well."
"Voltaire - "
"Guards, everywhere," the large Pokègirl intoned, and looked outside. Sabrina and Jen entered. "Everywhere," the Francinestein told the pair before she withdrew.
"A lottery," the DildoQueen explained, "It was the only fair way."
He lay back in the bed, and let Jen draw a comforter over him.
"Rest," she told him, "If you want someone . . . who?"
"I thought . . . " he said and tried to sit up, only to have Jen carefully push him back down.
"We're guards," Sabrina said, "Captain's orders, Doctors' orders, hell if Kerrik was still here, it would be him or Eve giving the same order."
"I'm supposed to be able to give orders too," he said.
"Who do you want in here with you?" Jen said, "That's one we'll obey."
He sighed. "Okay, who needs it most? I'm a little leery of Taming while people are watching, so it's just bedwarming."
"Underground," Sabrina suggested.
"Shana," Jen added and smiled, "The bed can handle three."
"What about the whole nest thing?" he asked, while Jen stuck her head out and told the guards just outside the room his decision.
"Bed rest, for a couple days," Sabrina said, "You don't have to win the war tomorrow, or even next week."
"Okay," he said. He lay back down, and was asleep before the other two entered.
Telling her she's cute would probably get me knifed, I think of the still-sleeping form curled up in front of me, her legs twined around mine, She's obviously cried herself to sleep, but right now, she's nearly as cute as Isaik.
From behind comes a noise that's equal parts happy, and disoriented.
"Good morning."
She sleepily raises her arm to peer at her watch. "G'd afternoon," she manages, "Y'r feet 'r cold. Ya know that?"
"Every time I wear socks to bed, somebody's toes think it's cute to pull them off. Or erotic. I'll have to start sticking my cold feet where they don't belong to cure that practice."
"I'm awake," Underworld says, she looks up at her Master and clutches herself to him, "Don't leave again, don't leave us again. Please."
"I'll do my best."
"Not to ruin the moment, but what about Kamara, and the Third Guards. You can't send them back to Sanctuary."
"Yes I can," he replies and grins.
"It wasn't a technical problem I was referring to, it is a political one. They watched the disloyalty of two high-ranking Council members, and that the Celestial Alliance had Sanctuary dancing like a puppet on a string. They'll be disappeared, one by one, or all at once on arrival."
"What am I supposed to do with 200+ soldier girls? I have the feeling if I ordered an attack on the Gates of Hell itself, the crew of the Des Moines would follow, laying down gunfire support the whole way. Add 200 heavy infantry, and there's only one use I'd have for that force."
"You can't send them back," Shana insists, then presses her body against his, "Please, don't send them back."
"What I decide, I'll do," he replies, "But I assure you, I won't send them back unprepared. And Kamara and their cadres will know what my plans are. The Dark Continent is a big place, and the Sanctuary Goths need their best protectors. What is their motto 'First in Attack, Last in Withdrawal'?"
"Wait, you think there are spies aboard this ship?!" Shana asks.
"I'd be hard pressed to point to one person aboard who isn't a spy for someone, including me. Some are spying for me, some for people I know, but I want to make sure I tell the people involved what's happening, before it spills out to all the world."
"Okay. I'm sure Kamara will just love being part of your intricate plans, again," Shana comments and lays her head against his back, "I can hear the evil laughter even now."
"Speaking of evil, laughter plans," he says and grins.
"Oh no!" Underground shouts, but he'd caught her arms and runs a cold foot up the inside of her thighs. "Help!" Underground shrieks.
"I shall!" Shana climbs over the struggling pair and begins tickling the girl's sides, then she takes over restraining duties and gently licks the back of her neck and ears, while Kelvin attacks Underground's other vulnerable spots.
The resultant shrieking brings a dozen guards to crowd the room, who stay to watch.
"You're mean," Underground told him in a good approximation of Isaik's tone.
" 'You're mean, you evil genius Master of mine'," he replied as he sipped from the bowl of soup she held to his lips.
"If you think I'm calling you that, you've finally lost it."
"Ah! I've convinced a Pokègirl not to call me Master! My genius knows no bounds!"
Underground frowned. "There's a whole caldron of this stuff. You can wear the first few bowls."
"You wouldn't hurt me, I'm too cute and fluffy," he said in a frightened little squeak.
She stared at him. "Why do I put up with you?"
"Because I know how to make you squeak," he replied, then added more seriously, "And because frankly, you like being able to banter and tease without being slapped in the mouth for it."
She put the bowl aside for a moment and lay against him, hugging him carefully and rubbing her cheeks on his chest. "I love you Master, so does every girl here. Why - why can't you -?"
"Because I'm, not very happy with myself," he explained, "I didn't want to be here. I didn't want anything that would keep me here. I wanted to be left alone. I wanted the hurt to just go away."
"We could have helped you," Underground said. In the background, Seadamar and Roxanne tensed, but let Underground speak.
"Because that would have been an admission that I could never leave. I wasn't willing to give that up."
"Now?" Underground asked, and hugged him tighter.
"Now, I can't go home. If I try, I'll lead people and forces my world isn't ready for, straight back there. I'd be fighting to keep whoever I took with me, while trying to warn them about other infiltrators, and trying to get whoever I took respected as people, rather than products. That's leaving out disease, allergies, and a host of just living problems."
"Would staying with us, have been so bad?" Underground asked.
"Think about the last few days. That's how I've been feeling for months, and my Master coming back wouldn't fix it."
"I'm sorry. It's not our fault, but I do wish you hadn't felt that way," she said quietly.
"So do I, now. So much wasted time, and hurt feelings." He stroked her back gently. "Kerrik was wrong. I needed the time away. Away from everything, and a chance to see it all, from a different perspective. All I could feel was the hurt, and I'd tightened up to take the next punch. I would never have healed like that."
Underground just made a pleasant noise and snuggled against him.
Austin Drummond,
Hey old friend, Rudy Wells here. I bet you're wondering why I'm writing after all this time, especially after what happened at the restaurant. Well Austin, that is the six hundred million credit question. Simply put, a white rabbit chased down the hole you left, and I'm back with the old firm. Although I haven't given up on the start up that you, me and Colesmith-Briggs 3 were running. I also heard you were in the market for info about one Kerrik Wolf. He was spotted aboard the cruiser Des Moines that had been the base-ship of one Kelvin's Choice, during some doings down south.
Officially, Kerrik was hired to go there by Miguelito Carmen, to report on the construction and layout of theme parks. Tell me, do you know anything about theme parks? This guy pays good money for that info.
That's on top. Here's what makes you owe me a bowl of chilli: Seems some high muckity-muck going by Lindi Valiant from someplace I never heard of was trying to undo herself getting the chop, succeeded and got rechopped by some other muckity-muck Sorceress of the South from the same unmentionable place. Many fireworks later, Kelvin and the two muckity-mucks are dead, supposedly. Along with a whole passel of the leadership of the 'Flowers and Puppies, or Else' crowd.
Enter one Kerrik Wolf, and surprise surprise, reports of Kelvin's death: greatly exaggerated. Bastard probably 'died' to send up a flare. If you're messing with these gents, don't. Seems the 'Flowers and Puppies, or Else' crowd sent a smile-enforcer down, and Kelvin splattered most of her on the walls. Him, personally. And Kelvin's people are worried about Wolf. Definitely not 'handle with care', more like 'do not handle at all.' Reports that both were aimed at the mucks and their whole kingdom by the 'Flowers and Puppies, or Else' crowd have been confirmed. This is Code Snow-White stuff and should be worth a lot of coin to somebody.
Consider it payment for a courier job. I've got some heavy machine tools that Colesmith-Briggs 3 was pining for, and frankly, they're more use to him than to me. I need to swap out the machine tools for one of those trucks he sold you. Never saw a truck that could carry stuff where that one can. But I've got a client who needs some heavy-duty barrels delivered where my stuff can't get to easily.
Anyhoo, things are coming along nicely. Currently under a doctor's care, so unless you've got a license and a bunch of letters after your name, the mail's the way to go. Don't go rollerskating in a Minotaura herd, it ain't worth the fun later. Oh for the record, hindsight says I was right and you were wrong, neener-neener. Running the start up helped, maybe I can arrange for some time with you as CEO. I'll explain it when I can get out of the body and fender shop.
Rudy Wells
P.S. Hoss, the medic never showed up for work. That could be good, or bad. Sherry's worried, and Matilda never saw her come in. Both are talking to people. I put Jane on it, there's always Jacob's Ladder. Somebody knows something, and I will find out.
Angie stared at the screen. "Okay, I've read it three times. I was there for most if not all of it, and I can barely understand what it is."
"Some of it is authentication codes, others are strictly information. And all of it written so Austin can just forward it to Sanctuary. It's a good way to disseminate useful info, especially if we want to send disinformation later. The British captured all the Nazi spy rings, and fed the Nazis what they wanted them to know. They even sent over the entire invasion of Normandy plan, a few hours after the Allies had already invaded."
"How does that help?" Angie asked.
"Just because the info was late, it was detailed and accurate. So when the same agents report that Patton's FUSAG is going to be the real invasion, the Nazi brass thinks the info isn't timely, but it is accurate."
"I think you're needlessly complicating things."
"Sanctuary thrives on one-upsmanship, or one-upsPokèship, and some people having information others don't. Austin can let it be known he's got a spy in Kelvin's organization, or he can not forward it at all. His choice, but if it is intercepted, he has an out either way."
"Like I said, too complicated," Angie complained as she snuggled against him, "Why not do something straightforward?"
"If we can get to the dimension where the Celestial Alliance's headquarters is, I'll show you straightforward."
"Gwendoline and Cheryl said that they didn't meet in a fixed location, it was all mental," Angie replied.
"Their leadership didn't meet in a fixed location," he countered, "But they have storerooms, libraries, armories, as well as barracks for their operatives."
"You'd shell a hospital?"
"Probably not, unless we took fire from it, then, all bets are off. They aren't signatories of the Geneva Convention, and neither am I. I'll be as genteel as I can, but I want their organization destroyed. Considering the blood on their hands, they should be treated as any other terrorist group. And do you know what rights a terrorist or ununiformed combatant has?"
"No."
"None. You are either a member of a recognized armed force, or a civilian who takes no part in the fighting. You cross that line from either direction, and your standing becomes very shaky. They've made no formal declaration of war, and are operating without any authority. The Des Moines and her crew operate under letters of Marque and Reprisal from over a dozen governments. They are recognized as soldiers by all those governments, and would have full Geneva Convention rights, that's also why they all wear distinctive uniforms, so they can be recognized."
"What about Harems and their part in the fighting?" Angie asked, "Sometimes they were only given dogtags."
"That's sufficient, as long as you don't ditch them and try to be a civilian. If someone searches a dozen Tamers and their girls and only one has dogtags, he's a soldier, the others are terrorists."
"Okay," Angie relented, "So what do we do until then."
"We relax," he explained, "That's the doctors' orders, and the Captain's. I think the crew needs some time off as well. They've been through a lot. I can't imagine having me, and then Kerrik walking around, was easy on them."
"Miguelito had everyone on board convinced Kerrik was going to kill them all, for your death."
"Miguelito gets excited, and you were all reacting to the loss. I'm sure Kerrik . . . well, he's probably going to be pissed for sometime, but he's a big boy. When he's less stressed out, he'll come around. He's pretty stressed too. He lost a lot of his Harem recently, and he's coming to realize what I did, finally. That a lot of what happens to us, to we authors, is self-inflicted. We impose our belief on the rest of the world."
"That's pretty grim," Angie told him.
"Speaking of grim, I think it's time to tell the others what happened."
"You didn't tell Kerrik, you specifically didn't tell Kerrik."
"Kerrik knows. The others need to know different things. Things I'm going to tell them now."
"Then why representatives of the ship's company, and the Third Guard's cadre?" Angie asked.
"Because I want whoever they're spying for to know too. Like I said, sometimes you feed the spies a little raw meat to keep the info flowing."
"Well, this little Titmouse thinks her Master has flipped his lid." She carefully picked him up out of bed, and set him on his feet. Blossom and Acer steadied him by snuggling against him. Angie tried to frown, but wound up grinning instead. "Let's drive everybody crazy then."
She led them to a large mess hall, about the only space that could contain the throng who attended. They sat him down and the noise which had been oppressive, vanished as all strained to hear what he was going to tell them.
"Some of you may have guessed, Miss MixMaster was a Legendary who'd infiltrated our group to ensure our success. I knew who she was and why. I also hoped that by giving her respect, attention and place, that she'd work with us, and eventually join us. I was disastrously wrong on that regard."
"You can say that again," Jen commented and was shushed.
"It's a fair point, and I might take the risk again. I thought she knew that I knew, I was wrong. Next time I'll tell her. She has since meddled in the affairs of another Legendary and is temporarily off the playing field. The Evangelion of this world was instrumental in bringing me back."
"Who was she?" Warden asked, "I didn't recognize her."
"Rbt," Maus growled, and stared at him.
His moment of stoicism lingered. "There is absolutely no truth that a BunnyGirl who single-handedly defeated a Seraph and Demon-Goddess, masterminded the destruction of a Mantis, converted two Jokettes into MaryAnn Drews and put into motion the plan that returned me to all of you, is Evangelion. Even Evangelion isn't that powerful. And none of you need to know the truth about her."
"Typhonna?" one of the Third Guards sergeants asked worriedly.
"All of the Titan Legendaries are accounted for, Typhonna included," he replied, "My immediate plans, taken from the Doctors' orders, is to relax. The Captain has been planning a shakedown cruise of her new ship, and I intend to simply wait until events unfold, or we make port, before I act."
"What about the threat of Sanctuary?" Shana asked.
"Sanctuary is no longer a threat," he told them.
"If the Council heard that," Fred began, "They'd go completely ape!"
"That's why I want you to tell them. Tell them Kerrik Wolf was here. Tell them I forced the Legendary who then killed me, to return my harem home safe and unharmed. Tell them that I've returned from the dead. Tell then that the Sorceress of the South planned to kill Lindi Valiant and with the Sorceress of the North, and West, planned on subjugating all of Sanctuary. Tell them that the Celestial Alliance played them like violins and that the authors are planning to wait for Sanctuary to simply collapse in internecine warfare, then move in to clean things up after the S-Goths have slaughtered each other in great batch lots. Tell them that's why Sanctuary no longer matters."
"You act like I've still got connections there," Fred complained.
"You were part of Lindi Valiant's clique. Kamara was part of their military, and there are eyes and ears from other factions present in this room. Tell them what I said, that I know who you all are, and that nothing Sanctuary learns will help them."
He let them mutter among themselves for a time. He sipped from a glass of water, and waited patiently.
"What about the Celestial Alliance?" Shana asked.
He nodded to Seadamar, who brought out a bucket of Pokèballs.
"Eight went to the Navy for interrogation. Hazel killed the rest, then she and The March Hare, reassembled them," he said, "Another reason to leave Stupid Fuzzbutt alone. Hazel is a Jokette, The March Hare is an insane Megami-Sama, and that BunnyGirl commands both of them."
"Like me?" Voltaire asked.
"Yes, Voltaire, thirty-five Francinesteins. All the former leadership of the Celestial Alliance. All dead, all revived. And all by characters I created. That is why Sanctuary no longer matters. I could snuff it out tomorrow. I could find all the bolt-holes and hidden places. I could find all their clones awaiting transfer and all their secret plans to gain one kind or another of immortality. I can choose who among them lives, and who dies. And, that no longer holds my interest. The Celestial Alliance is the principal threat, and they are who I intend to bend my will against. If Sanctuary leaves the authors alone, we may be willing to forgo the 'red' part of the coming revolution, and proceed directly to the 'white' part. Sanctuary will change, whether the authors press or not. They've wounded themselves fighting us, and now the cracks are open and bleeding. Patching those cracks, healing those wounds, will change Sanctuary forever, and the authors will only have to stand around and applaud."
"Sanctuary isn't going to be the only one who goes mad when that gets out," Miguelito said as he walked beside Kelvin, "There's going to be people who will wonder why you and the others won't take the fight directly to their capital, or any capital."
"I did, and the rulers fled," he reminded his friend, "It's the rulership, and governance of Sanctuary, Hell half the Leagues on this planet, that are the problem. The idea that the strongest have no responsibility to the weakest is far too common. Unlike my home where there's also the feeling that the weakest have a right to all the strength of the strongest. No politician wants to be left out of power."
They entered his room, and Miguelito considered Voltaire, Warden, and Jen. "Kerrik said some things, and I was hoping you could explain them."
"First of all, Kerrik was wrong about a lot of things. From my point of view. Kerrik is Kerrik, and his view of reality colors what he sees. But as an author, it colors reality too. You saw how my Harem acted like a pack of thunderstruck bunnies around him. I'd never tolerate that. But it was Kerrik changing things as he saw fit. So his explanations, are only true for him. Not for everybody."
"So the Land of the Dead?"
"There is no such place. I created the restaurant, and the theatre, when I was over there. I didn't want to talk to him where anyone could be eavesdropping. And he needed strikers, so I let a kid who'd had some bad breaks, and learned her lesson, get a good look at him."
"But he was so sure."
"For him it's true," Kelvin explained, "For me, not so much. I got Red Plague, because it's still in existence in this world. He didn't because he believed it doesn't still exist. He told me I'd made a mistake, essentially, by trying to entice that Legendary into the fold. Events unfold now that prove that wrong. I sensed that the events would play out as they have. Kerrik has been ambushed repeatedly, because he can't sense how the story is going to flow. While he could beat me seven ways til Sunday with his magical talents, I can't be caught flatfooted as he has."
"The world is different, whether you're standing on it, or whether he is," Miguelito realized, "Is that why you didn't call him?"
"That, and I sensed that calling in another author would have driven the story straight into Greek Tragedy," Kelvin explained.
" 'Everybody dies', I can see why you'd avoid that. Why not tell him that?" Miguelito asked as Kelvin climbed back into bed.
"Because until he made the connection, he probably wouldn't have believed me, until it was too late. And that disbelief would have destroyed the plans I had in works. We had neither time nor resources to develop a new paradigm. Maybe now we do. But I think coordinating, while holding each other at a distance, will be the better course of action, until we can develop a way to balance what we can and cannot do."
"Or what you force the universe to let or not let you do," Miguelito said as he collected Voltaire. "Kelvin, you, Kerrik, may be some of the others . . . you've proven interesting, in a way I haven't been interested in anything for a long time. And not because you both know about theme parks." He grinned. "Neither of you should expend yourselves foolishly. I'll tell Kerrik, and I'm telling you. My door will remain open for you, whenever you need it. I understand General Woundwort told Kerrik the same thing, you have friends here. If you need us, call on us."
"Thank you."
"Thank you, sir." Miguelito and Voltaire left.
"The author's what?" Kamara asked quietly, but standing over him and glaring, showed him that death was imminent unless answers were forthcoming.
"The author's mass-producing Sanctuary Goths," Kelvin said and glanced at the few officers, and more non-coms who had crowded into the room. Rainbow and Blossom looked ready to intervene at a moment's notice.
"That - is - not - possible."
"We know how S-Goths are made. It is not so difficult to understand that a more efficient means could be found. Just because I'm no great shakes with magic, alchemy and necromancy, don't assume all of us are."
Kamara slumped, and had to be caught by two of her sergeants. "They'll kill us. They'll kill us all." She looked up at him. "I sent the message, just like you wanted. You know what response I got?"
"Pulled your security clearance?"
"They aren't talking, to any of us! The scrambler codes on all the direct lines were changed. Phone numbers are redirecting our calls. People who backed Lindi, and opposed her, are refusing to acknowledge that the Third Guards ever existed!"
"Hence the solution. The author has the planet's largest concentration of S-Goths, maybe greater numbers than Sanctuary itself. I think the Third Guards would be a good force to guard them."
"This is insane," one of the Tyrannodames said, "Why would an author want us? Why would an author trust us? On your word alone?!"
" 'He Who Must Be Feared'?" Blossom replied, "Of course he would. You've just seen how your patrons treated you. You've seen how two authors treated those in their charge. Would a third working with those two be so different?"
"Who would you rather serve?" Rainbow asked, "S-Goths serving an author, seeking to make Sanctuary what it promised to be, or the old guard? I did not see the 'Night of Wrath', but some of you did. The 'Protectors of all Pokègirls' abandoned their charges and fled. Pets, lovers, and children cast aside for more speed."
"This is also contingent on the author agreeing. There's every chance he won't. But I wanted you to know your options, should that opportunity arise. I suggest you let your troopers know, and let them decide for themselves. Things may happen very quickly. You may have to move fast."
"We'll talk, privately," Kamara said, "I bet you don't want to us to officially report this."
"How can you?" Kelvin asked.
"Bastard," Kamara said as she left, and took most of the troops with them.
A pair of sergeants remained behind. "The Captain has offered - to Bless us, and help us to become Angels. No offence to you or the other, but we're sick of fighting, sick of not knowing our place as anything other than under someone's heel."
"I expect some will have other way," he said and extended his hand, "Good luck to you."
They shook it and left. He was immediately surrounded by powerful arms. "Thank you Master," Rainbow said, "For them, and for Sanctuary."
"It's not over yet, it's not even the end of the beginning, but it is starting."
"And we will live, or our children will live, to see it through," Blossom added.
"You've been talking to Sabrina again," he accused.
"The Megami have been very busy talking to her," Blossom informed him.
"Oh good grief!"
Sabrina walked awkwardly from the assignation she'd had. They could at least arrange for one or two a night, not six, she thought, I think I know how Master feels, with two dozen Pokègirls ready to jump him. She walked to the quarters she'd taken. Then she saw her Master.
"I've been neglecting you, while you've been doing your best for the Harem," he said, "I apologize."
"Master, you don't have to apologize," she said happily.
It's not like I'm built like most of the girls, or most of my breed, she thought.
She froze as he walked over and kissed her on the lips. "I don't have to, but I am. I appreciate you taking a lot of the load off me, however much you enjoyed it. I appreciate the help." Before she could answer he kissed her again, and hugged her tightly.
She held him close and leaned against him. Another night, a Taming would be good . . . but, she thought tiredly.
"Master, taking a page from your book, would just cuddling tonight be all -YIPE!" she squealed as he picked her up easily.
"Certainly, you just had to ask," he said as he carried her to his quarters.
The scream of abject terror and agony woke every Pokè on the ship. That it came from their Master's cabin brought it especial attention from some.
Maus arrived to find Master holding a sobbing Sabrina. "Not a man, not a man, just a Pokègirl, just a Pokègirl," the sobbing Dildoqueen told herself and her frightened Master. "Master, take me, take me like a Pokègirl, take me as your Pokègirl, please!"
He didn't expect this and he'll need time to work into it, Maus thought of her Master's frightened expression, Time that is simply a waste, and delay to doing what is needed. She moved up, through the other girls and to her Master's side. Warden had Sabrina in her arms, comforting the girl as their Master had been trying to. Direct approach, Maus thought as she pulled down his shorts and engulfed him, purring up a storm. Soon her magic had done its work, and Sabrina was more presentable.
"G'd Msrr," she told him and glanced towards Sabrina. He smiled ruefully, nodded, and took the tearful Dildoqueen in his arms.
He understands, just a little frightened by her reaction, then Maus realized, And since I told him, I'll have to be the one who explains it! When am I gonna learn? Maus helped Warden push the others back while Sabrina laid down on her stomach, legs folded under her so Master could take her doggie style.
He left the peacefully sleeping Sabrina in his bed. She'd gotten a stranglehold on a couple of pillows and was obviously continuing their encounter in her, much more pleasing, dreams.
Maus was waiting for him as he headed for the mess hall and something to eat. "What just happened in there?" he asked.
Maus handed him a paper, carefully written. 'Sabrina saw some of the recordings of the treatment you, and the other authors got. She especially fixed on the sexual abuse and mutilation aspects. While you did nothing to cause her reaction, when you died at the hands of a Legendary, she assumed that anyone with male equipment was a likely target. We all deal with grief in our own ways.'
"She should see Dr. - "
Maus took the page out of his hand and turned it over, pointing to entry 'D' 'Doctors may help for a permanent cure, but the first step is securing that she is yours, and that you want her, and that she isn't a human male, but a Pokègirl with some odd traits.'
"I just wanted to thank her, for seeing to your needs as I could not," he replied, "And I have heard, seeing to the needs of many of the Megami aboard, including getting half the crew pregnant."
Maus pointed to item 'J', 'Sabrina loved helping you, realizing you didn't hate her, or your girls, you were old-fashioned and that we had to understand you're basically a one-woman guy, who took time to unhook, and reacclimate. She loved you for that, for letting her stay and help, but wanted a chance with you. Even if she would be only on the receiving end.'
Then item 'Q' 'Three-quarters of the crew, and helped us keep the other quarter from molesting you and Kerrik. She enjoyed the duty and being of service.'
"Thank you, you obviously put quite a lot of thought into this. What else am I missing?"
Maus made a gesture of a stack of paper over her head.
"Gee, thanks, I'm so glad I'm doing such a good job," he said, "Should I make you my social secretary?"
"J'n," Maus growled, and mimed a punch at him.
"Combat training, or Taming?" His expression froze. "Of course, both. Do you know how weird I feel beating the crap out of someone who could break me in half with one finger, and her getting off on it?"
Maus tousled his hair and offered an arm to escort him to the mess hall.
"I guess I owe Maus one, eh?" Jen said, then froze, "It's not like Angie isn't doing a good job as Alpha!"
"Angie's still a little intimidated by me and our mission," he replied, "Maus' focus is on Taming and getting Tamed. And I suspect she talked with Angie before she made her suggestions. I'm just not ready to set up a rotation." Her Master shrugged, or squirmed. "It seems so . . . clinical."
"Let Maus set it up. Let us seduce our Master, or work out a time and place for an assignation." Jen froze again. "Sorry, the Megami have a collection of really trashy romance novels and manga . . . some they wrote themselves. If Eve ever read them . . . we wouldn't still be sitting here."
"How many of them were written after I came on aboard?"
"Oh, they were writing them before you came on board, and before Kerrik came on board, and . . . I'm going to shut up before you ask about any starring multiple authors."
He twirled the heavy staff in his hands, the shot load rattling from one end of the pipe to the other. "I want that information."
"Then come get it," she told him. "When I can't keep it in any longer, the word's 'Now is the time.'"
" 'Now is the time'," he said and struck. Jen parried and moved across the practice mat.
"By the way, I don't respect you. I love you and am rather afraid of you, and for you," Jen told him, then shouted, "Don't get all embarrassed in a combat zone! What are you, stupid!?"
"Playing with my head?"
"That's what I can reach," Jen replied, and absorbed a fast one-two combo, but he slipped in to get a knee strike. "Damn that hurts!" she told him as he moved out of counterstrike range and she grinned, "You follow that up with a cunt punch and you'll have most girls on the ground. Me too, but you'll be underneath, and I'll be the one pounding."
"Cheryl's a good teacher. And you should have warned her before you challenged her to a one-on-one fight." He grinned.
"I'm a HyperDoll," Jen replied as she parried his attacks, "Besides, she was warned."
"Maybe I should get you an Everstone." He took advantage of her shock, getting a knee shot to her groin and the heel of his hand against her nose.
Jen reeled back, her eyes glowing and her hands aching to touch him. The wet spot on her shorts having nothing to do with exertion. She shook her head. "Now who's teasing," she accused, "But even if you did, and a T-shirt saying 'My Master loves me so much he got me an Everstone' everyone would think I browbeat you into it."
"Let'em," he replied, as staff strikes, kicks and head butts tried to find a weakness in her defense, she dodged only the last, blocking the rest.
"Now you understand why you scare us," she told him, "You've got your mission. Kerrik has his bubble. The other authors have damn knows what, and the outside world can go howl. You're aware of things, but your perception of them prevails. I think you were that way even before you came here."
"A lot of people are," he countered, keeping up the feints, strikes and throws as they walked around the room.
"Not like you authors. The S-Goths had it right, you could all change the world. But a conference and working groups to support the ways and means would have been the way to go." Jen smirked. "And the Tyrannodames would have -just - been enough to keep you from killing each other."
"Somehow I think that might not have worked as well as you think, but it would have worked better than what they did," he told her, setting the staff aside and picking up several sets of chains. "Time to change things up, a bit."
"How are those -!?" Jen tumbled over, each wrist chained to the opposite ankle. She tugged on the chains, and they held firm. He got in a couple of cheap shots while she was down.
Her eyes glowed with pleasure at the handling. "EEEK!" she squealed as icy cold mist invaded her private parts, "You're gonna PLAY for that!" She struggled. "Get me all hot then freeze me!"
"That's the game," he told her, as he watched her closely.
Then she realized if she left any slack, somehow, it vanished in an instant. "I thought you couldn't move stuff in normal time."
"I'm - switching - chains," he told her as the chains seemed to tighten as she moved, "Putting - tighter - ones - on - and - knocking - off the - longer - ones." He walked around and she saw the pile of chains behind her. Then he vanished, and appeared back, with a similar, smaller pile beside him.
"Okay, this works, and - Master!" she shouted as he reeled slightly. She snapped the chains like paper and was halfway to him when he straightened up.
"Not when you are protecting me." His smile was the irritating one that could be properly answered in only one way.
She nearly barreled into him anyway. She contented herself bumping into him and controlling his fall. Relieving him of his pants and shorts in the process. "Now is the time," she told him, and pinned his arms and legs, "What's your safe word, Master?"
"I know you won't hurt me," he said.
Jen felt the tears fall as she impaled herself on him.
"I worry about you two," Acer commented as she and Roxanne walked beside Jen. The HyperDoll happily carried her Master as if he were fragile, and she'd kill anything that looked at him wrong.
"He needs to learn to fight live targets, and I get off being hit. What's the problem?" Jen asked, "He only hits me, and we know it's all play."
Roxanne snorted.
"Don't get so uppity, I still have that purple kryptonite," Jen growled.
Roxanne blanched at that, then spotted Seadamar. "Oh good, my watch is over, gotta go bye!" And raced off.
"Purple?" her Master asked.
"Causes flaccid paralysis of most voluntary muscles, except those involved with the Taming systems," Seadamar explained, "As those are the only ones receiving mental commands, they become hypersensitized."
He rolled his eyes at their grins. "Who am I going to have to talk to about this?" he asked.
Seadamar continued. "They did not accept Angie's authority on the composition of the force going to the other world, and were prepared to force the issue before the transition. Isaik prepared the material, Maus neutralized the pair. It has since become a running joke."
"Don't press that one too hard. If they are getting dumped on because of it, I'll have to step in. Tell them that it only works for us, I don't want some clever idiot using it against them."
"Understood, I'll relay that to Angie. Jen is the only one who might be considered as abusing the privilege, and has been warned about proper deployment," Seadamar said.
"Good grief. I wonder if Kerrik has these problems."
"Captain, if you don't mind my asking? What are your plans for the Sisterhood's offer?" he asked the Captain as they sat at breakfast in her day cabin.
"I honestly was nervous about the whole thing," the Captain admitted, "While I didn't want to tell Eve to her face, I had serious doubts about the Sisterhood and that she and they seemed to have completely missed the entire purpose of the Des Moines experiment, and what we'd hoped to accomplish."
"She has her own agenda," he replied, "The idea of training Megami to do what they aren't good at, is not something most people expect. Megami are either good, or bad at something. Thus spaketh the dex, so mote it be."
She smirked. "You figured it out?" the Captain asked.
"I had contact with more sources of information," he replied, "But you isolated yourself from Masters, and the support they could give. You train everyone aboard ship to master firefighting, and the basic drills. And you've placed yourselves where there is no one to give you help in conducting a task. So you either learn to learn, or you die. It's harsh but I can respect that. What I don't understand is what's going to happen when all of you deliver. As I understand it, Sabrina has impregnated nearly two-thirds of your crew."
"Ninety-seven percent of the adults. The plan has been for some time, to increase, then divide the ship's company. But we never could figure out how to do that," the Captain explained, "One-fifty is about all we can provide food for, and increasing the crew size puts a strain on that, or puts us at the mercy of the Leagues and Navy, they could starve us out. Bullets we can do without. Not food."
"You've been getting shipments to supply us," he apologized, "I didn't consider it."
She waved away his concern. "The Sunshine League is happy to have you blowing up their enemies, where they won't lose people and property. The Navy is happy to have such a trouble magnet where there's enough firepower to dismember whatever you attract. So supplies are available. Including those blue-tipped shells. Do I even want to know?"
"Not really. So . . . what are you going to do with the sudden increase of youngsters?" he asked.
"Two things. Blue, Johto, and Silver River have been pressuring us to join them a lot more closely. The Sunnies have been pushing the Navy to offer 'join us or else', and the Navy has been resisting. Not that we're a minor power, but with a string of victories, I can see their desire to simplify things. We may have a way to give them all what they want. And you had a big hand in it."
He paled and set down his tea. "I am almost frightened to ask how."
"We'll go to the Mothball Fleet sites, recover ships of a similar mass to the Daisy Mae, and duplicate her, using their material."
"That would be . . . oh," he realized, "We're part of that plan, aren't we."
"Of course. Also with Doctor Carmen in tow, we have access to another critical resource, the long-term abandoned storage. None of those other Leagues will trust the ones we pull from just Sunshine. They'll have to allow us to draw from their own. And they've already agreed. To both the logic, and the access."
"How many Megami are we talking about?" he asked worriedly.
"Eight hundred. Megs and Sammies."
His eyes bugged out. "Eight-hundred! They have eight-hundred abandoned in long-term storage!"
"No, they have twenty-four hundred, but only one in three will be able to handle the rigor of sea life. The rest will be quietly released by us to find . . . acceptable Tamers. The Sisterhood and the Alliance regularly go through those in Abandoned Storage, but avoid killing the ones who would be unacceptable, but not antithetical to their goals. We are going to simply . . . you're an author, so you know about, the other half of Tamers.org?"
"It's a Pokègirl only - you're going to simply disperse them to appropriate Tamers?" he asked and cocked his head as he stared, "Have you flipped?! The Leagues would never stand for that!"
"We don't have to have the Leagues stand for it. Just Sunshine, Blue, Johto and Silver River. They want their Megami privateers, they release their unwanted spares to us, no questions asked. As long as our rejects aren't released back into the Leagues they were from. Every League is sure that the Tamers of other Leagues can't hold the attention of rambunctious Pokègirls." They both rolled their eyes at that. "It's already been arranged and agreed to. And they have to admit the ones they release are more likely to be patriotic than a random crew. Of course they'll cherry-pick their officers, commissioned and not, and probably their crews, but we'll get all of them. They'll get their ships, which neutralizes us as a threat to them, we get more Megami able to act as independent beings, rather than at the whims of random chance and what the Cosmic Awareness will provide. My plan is to get big enough that any Megami who does want to learn how to better herself, can take a tour, A year, or two, before the mast, then go out. Not as a slave to higher powers, and without the arrogance of the undeserving gifted, but as someone who knows the pain and the joy of achievement. Of doing something yourself, and not having it given to you." The fervor in the captain's face worried him. She felt true yearning to achieve this goal. "The first time you could look around and say 'I did that!' You're an engineer, you know how that feels. Imagine doing it for the first time in your life, as an adult. Then imagine doing it as a Pokègirl."
The Megami-Sama's expression gave him an uncomfortable feeling of deja vu. Like when I talk to Miguelito about amusement parks. It's a passion that I don't need to understand, other than it rules her life.
"Better than Taming in some ways I'll bet," he said, "Captain, with all due respect, I still think you've gone nuts."
"That's your fault. And the other authors. You think outside the box, and you warp reality just by you being there." She smiled. "I also have met some of your creations, who are also off-the-wall, if not completely crazy. But they are effective! That's an intoxicating cocktail. It was difficult to safely tap into that: you dragging us hither and yon like leaves in the wind, battering down all barriers in your way by force of personality. But we did figure out ways to use what we can do in new and different ways. And like you, we craft a solution that appealed to both the publically altruistic goals of our would-be patrons, and their baser, hidden goals. They get the win they can take to the press and public, and the win they can take home to bed."
"How are you going to control them?" he gasped, "The Megs and Sammies on the other ships."
"Simple. Once they are released, you use them to make the ships. We winnow the chaff from the kelp, and then, we take the next big source of crew, who will only be loyal to us."
"I'm almost afraid to ask."
"The Celestial Alliance has always taken prisoners. Megami who found out too much and wouldn't go along, who opposed because they'd been brainwashed or were too slow to pick it up. Cheryl, Gwendoline and a few dozen of our own people have confirmed this. They'll provide the independent crew and cadre each ship will need to combat any patriotism or jingoism. I want those other Leagues to have a ship they can reliably call on for rescue, fire support, or just to show the flag, but I don't want their crews to be slavishly loyal. They'll have Letters of Marque and Reprisal from several nations, but they're going to have home waters to patrol and support."
"Neutral, but leaning to one League in particular."
She nodded. "Your idea, keep your spies in close and let them see things. Each ship will be interested in protecting their home territory, but none will undertake offensive action on the behalf of any League, without justification."
"Captain, I still think you're nuts. But if you can get the steel and parts, the Megami to do the work, and the political cover so the Leagues won't declare war on us, I'll work with Miguelito to get your ships built."
She smiled, then her expression softened. "Do you know how I got my job? As captain? Not just because I'm a good politician, or that I can retain a bit of each of the disciplines to understand what they are referring to. Gwendoline would be a good captain for that. I'm captain, and hope to be commodore, because I can feel the morale of any group, like you feeling the flow of the story, or Kerrik touching truewizardry." She looked at him. "Or PJAuthor hearing music, or Micah -"
"Okay, I'm scared, what's your point?" He held up his hands.
"I intend to destroy the Celestial Alliance, with the same kind of political operation that you, Kerrik and Micah are planning to use against Sanctuary. By training a core of Megs and Sammies to be more human and less arrogant. To understand your triumphs and travails, those of average Pokès, and Humans. Maybe we'll scheme, it's what Megami do to better the world. But we won't fall into the trap of the people who are 'so heavenly-minded they're no earthly good'. We won't be the Alliance's ivory tower-types who come up with grand plans. We'll be down in the weeds and the mud actually helping. Understanding. Putting a slight new spin on things. Not, 'we'll make this world paradise', just 'we'll make this neighborhood a better place'. Not the grand, sweeping goals that grind too many 'unfortunates' under the wheels. Face-to-face, hand-to-hand help. They'll be trained here, but they'll spread across the Leagues."
"A grandiose dream," he said as he felt the pull of it himself.
"The entire point of the Des Moines experiment. That's why they took the ship all those centuries ago. The Celestial Alliance is not new. They were already forming it as the Revenge War was waged. The ones who had an eye to 'what's next' and decided if they had humanity on its back, they would only let it stand up as their protectorate. Then the plagues hit, and the infrastructure and people they'd counted on to do the work for them, all died. So they had to start over, the great thinkers who assumed since they knew better, that they knew all."
"Or that they really knew anything," he added.
"True. Book-learned idiots. Like what you suggested to those S-Goths. Be the webbing that held things together. Instead they secluded themselves until times were better."
"Sound like the Great Old Ones from Lovecraft."
"The invincible, unconcerned other is a common fear. Lovecraft's monsters, the S-Goths, or the Alliance. You authors surround yourselves with a bevy of desirable, but independent women. So there is never a time when you can silence the warning cries of people who understand."
"That's the second time you've mentioned the authors, and that you know who, and perhaps where they are."
"We know who from the siterip we read, and the where from a combination of the techniques Miguelito used: combing and combining news reports, and a few special talents. One of our officers can sense the connections between individuals, the red-string-of-fate, if you will. Once we saw the knot you created we, mistakenly, put off tracking it. Then she saw Kerrik's, and the knot was similar. So, with a combination of seeing your footprints, and seeing the evidence that a knot should be there, but only a blank spot is present, we knew we could find where each of you was. Not in real-time, but we could get close. The confrontation with a Legendary at nearly every intersection, confirmed it. We bowed our head, went Megami-vague and offered apologies and platitudes about the lines we were walking, and that it was obvious we were tracking the Legendary, and we retreated. But now we know what to look for in the news reports and the disruptions to the world's order."
"And you don't object?"
"The world needs to change. You and the others are taking out the real players, and giving us down in the weeds a chance to flower and grow. We can make the world better, by actually caring about the individual people in it, instead of all of the people as one lump."
"Captain, I think I know what you mean, and what you're hoping to do. And my prayers go with you. The Establishment usually executes people who are actually trying to make a difference, and promotes the charlatans they want the sheep to follow. Jesus Christ was a bigger revolutionary than Che Guevara ever was, yet two-thousand years later, there were still forces lying about who did what and how much good."
"Don't fret so. Three hundred years later, we still know about the man from Nazareth. I only know Guevara from some obscure history books." She paused. "One last thing," the Captain said darkly, "This conversation never took place. You know, and you know why we're helping you, and will try to help the others. But what we do after we part ways, is neither one's business."
"Unless it threatens our own interests," he replied, "How many ships do you want?"
"Officially, not including this one, six."
"Master?" the tentative note penetrated his consciousness. He looked over to see Isaik, and a couple of young Megami coming towards him. All three of them were smudged with grease and looked to have been thoroughly enjoying themselves.
"Machine shop," said a teenager who quickly followed the group, and kept glancing at him in a way he recognized and was wary of.
Fear and interest, he thought, and was glad of the two guards who were now permanently shadowing him, I think they got the idea from Kerrik's group, but I can see the point. The heavyweight champ has a bodyguard not because he can't defend himself, but so he doesn't have to.
"I know how dangerous a shop can be," he said, "Did they learn all the safety lessons?"
Isaik giggled. "We were just raking the chips out of the machines, and separating them. Molly showed us how sharp they were, and why we had to wear gloves and use tools to do it."
"Always take the chuck key out!" the little ones chorused, and lapsed into giggles.
"When you goin' to teach uh to make hull metal?!" one of the littler ones piped up, her missing front teeth made pronunciation difficult, "Wit all the pretty piderweb!?"
"Piderweb?" he asked.
Please don't tell me we have stress fractures already! he thought but kept his face neutral.
"Traw!" the kit insisted.
"The carbon nanotubes? Little straws all of the same stuff?"
"Yeah!"
"You'll have time to practice," he assured them.
Boy will they have time, he lamented.
"Wanna make all the tool fulla piderweb!"
"A whole boat full of Damascus steel parts, I can imagine that," he said to Isaik, to the Megami he said, "Only if you have the Captain's and Chief Engineer's permission. I don't speak for them."
"You can make'em," the girl insisted.
The teenager caught his expression, despite how he tried to hide it. "Maybe we can practice on the scrap metal, we won't need the Captain's permission for that." She led them away, and threw an apologetic look over her shoulder.
"They didn't mean anything, M - Janus," Isaik said softly.
"I know. There's a big gap between how I want people to think of me, of all the authors in fact, and how they do look at us. Having that gap thrown at you is . . . disconcerting."
"Janus," Isaik said, "She's just a kid, she didn't mean anything by it."
He sighed. "I know, there's more to it than you know. Ask Angie to get a meeting with Miguelito and our tech types, somewhere private, and we'll need to talk. In the meantime. I think I'm going to either take a nap, or beat my head against the wall."
Isaik gave the guards a deliberate look, before changing to Underworld and heading off.
The Captain sat at the old typewriter. While she'd consulted the senior officers, and they'd agreed with her path of action, this was not a communique that she intended to dictate, transmit, or place on a computer. This is going to be hand-carried, she thought as she went over her notes and typed what she'd written.
To: Lucifer, Commander, Sisterhood of the Thorn
From: Officer Commanding Privateer Des Moines
Initial discussions between you representative and the officers of this ship have been concluded. After time and reflection, we must decline the specific details of your most generous offer.
The reasons for the refusal are many, but fall into two basic categories. First, they do not serve the important goals of the Des Moines Experiment (see attachment 1). Second, currently, all major Megami-majority organizations are secret/secretive, which creates a state of apprehension in too many people.
The Des Moines experiment was specifically to take the 'either good or bad at something' Megami, isolate them from any support base, and train them to learn, as humans and other Pokès learn. To cease relying exclusively on the power of the Cosmic Awareness. Since the condition of 'not learning' does not appear to have a genetic component, only the rather harsh and isolated regimen of man against the sea seems to have the desired effect in all cases where the Megami or Megami-Sama desires to be changed and belong. Your desire to have a 'Celestial crew' which implies other breeds as well, would dilute and even destroy the training ground that is the Des Moines experiment (see the effect of other helpful Celestials in the mix, attachment 1, pages 17 to 36).
Of the second item: on contacting my sources in various governments about you and your organization, I was deluged with the mis- and possibly dis- information about you, your group, as well as your motives, goals, desires, etc. The saddest part is that even those who knew about you had no faith that you weren't the really 'wetwork' portion of the Celestial Alliance disguising yourself as another group. More of them who had even heard of you, had conflated your organization with the Alliance. The public needs something aboveboard and obvious to point to when they think of Megami/Megami-Sama acting in a group.
While we have no truck with the Alliance, they had never made my animus personal. Until recently. The attack on the person of a VIP traveling with us galvanized me to action. The report that they had kidnaped the VIP and his allies further set me against them. The final straw was that one of their representatives contacted me during the time between your representative making contact, and her arrival. I will hold in confidence what was offered, as I will not reveal the details of your offers to anyone outside my senior officers, but I was revolted and frightened by what I learned.
I offer a counteroffer. One I hope you will accept, or can form the basis for more successful negotiations. We have been receiving pressure from various Leagues, and with support of Nuevo Ten, the Sages, and our VIPs, I have a solution. We will be producing several cruisers identical in all ways to the Des Moines. More alike than even her sister ships. To do this, Johto, Sunshine, Silver River and the Blue League have offered to release to us the complete Megami/Megami-Sama population of their Leagues' abandoned long-term storage. I suspect they are also releasing some of their political prisoners as well, but that doesn't matter to me. All told, some twenty-three hundred and eighty-five will be available for the effort to duplicate these cruisers. I would strongly advise that you send agents of your own to observe the process. And to make contact with any likely recruits. We also want some experts to bless the process to reduce potential errors and losses to life and limb.
Once the Leagues' demands for six ships have been met, and the process has been error-tested and corrected, we will proceed to a site, and prepare an eighth Daisy Mae for the Sisterhood's use. I would request that you provide us the crew of Megami and Megami-Sama only, for a period of six months. That has been shown to be the effective lower limit for the Des Moines effect to take hold and backsliding to minimize. Once the crew and cadre have been properly trained, the ship will be yours, and you will have seen the effect of our methods.
The Daisy Mae and her sisters (assuming that the Leagues beyond Sunshine allow it) will be a public face for the population who fearfully whisper in quiet corners about 'the Alliance'. They will have an independent and friendly group to point to and say that not all of us are like the Alliance.
There is one item that I will have delivered to you. The mere existence of it is troubling enough without having it aboard my ship. You might have people able to analyze or utilize it without cringing. The Megami-Sama, The March Hare, who hates your group and you personally for some reason, devised a way of cutting off Megami and Megami-Sama from the Cosmic Awareness. Whether the effect is psychosomatic, the result of trauma, or is an actual effect, I will leave to your scientists. She thinks of herself as a Jokette, and even a real Jokette is cowed by her cruelty and inventiveness. She completely dismantled all the Alliance leadership who were in our custody. Enclosed are the organs she removed from all of them. It was in a different place and often in a different form in each Pokègirl, and every single one of them lost the ability to touch the Cosmic Awareness, after they were reassembled. I have included The March Hare's disturbingly clinical notes on the process. Maybe this will help, I would like to get them and all they imply off my ship.
Eve, if you are eavesdropping, please cease at this point. The data here that pertains to you and yours will be contained in a letter I have prevailed on Mr. Choice to pen.
Lucifer, and her designees,
The other item I have to relate: A source of additional recruits for both of us has appeared. If our local VIP can prevail upon another to provide the magical knowledge, I intend to attack it. The Sunshine League vessel and crew, at a minimum, will accompany us. Our intent is to split the experienced and green crew, and prior to the assault, train them to serviceable levels. The Celestial Alliance has suffered some setbacks, but before this, they established a camp in an elsewhere to contain many of the Megami, Megami-Sama, Seraphs, Angels, et. al. who would have sensed/sought out and sided with the authors. The name of this concentration camp was chosen recently and deliberately: Caomh Sith.
To say that our VIP's rage was considerable would stretch the term 'understatement' to the bursting point. Having met two of these VIPs, I was also incensed by the callous insult. There is no need to burden him with this information, although I request that you follow my example and leave informing him to our local authority. Never-the-less, I intend to assault it with force majeure. Both to damage the Alliance, and to rescue the captives. Gunfire support I have in abundance. Depending on the level of help our VIP can arrange, we will have sufficient marines, or an embarrassment of riches. But, the more the merrier.
On a more personal note. Be very careful in your dealings with these VIPs. While the younger ones 'drool out of both ends', older ones, especially Megami-Sama, can develop an irrational desire to wrap them in fluffy blankets and feed them warm soup until they feel better about the world. A Hunter Ophanim from Sanctuary, of all places, explained it best. Most Tamers (most people) are pretty thin soup, while the VIPs are pure aviation gasoline. Having dealt with two, I can assure you, that the certainty they seem to exude from their very pores has a very powerful, even spellbinding effect on those around them. They might half-decide and debate, worry about things, but when they move, it is with the force, resolve and deportment of a tsunami or an avalanche. It also induces an extreme territorialism in all Pokègirls around them. Those within the accepted group will mesh in ways that should not be possible with so gentle a Master. I.e. our - even I have fallen victim, thinking of them as mine, or yours. The local one broke conditioning of a fully-indoctrinated member of the Alliance, by simply bending her over a table and not touching her, and converted a HyperDoll into a trusted bodyguard by finding her emotional weak point and shattering her hardened heart. Your VIP has anomalies in his Harem, now and in the past, that would require a normal Tamer to resort to beatings or forced Ferality as punishments, to maintain the peaceful demeanor his Harem evidences.
Those outside the circle will be viewed by pity, disdain, or outright hostility. I strongly suspect that even a Legendary would be so affected. And would react with characteristic violence if that bond were threatened, or the formation of the bond conflicted with her own self-image.
In short, tread carefully in your dealings. They seem to all be gentlemen, in the old meaning: someone so skilled at arms they could be secure in being polite to everyone. 'I tolerate you because I could kill you in an instant. You live because I choose to allow it.'
I look forward to your reply and hope the advice at least is useful.
The Captain looked over the sheets for typos. Fining none, she put them into an envelope, and then into her safe beside the jar she hoped to be soon rid of. "Hild, you were an idiot, and I hope you burn in whatever Hell they send you to."
"Rapid prototyping," Janus said as he explained what he could of the Megamis' plan. "Break down the rusted hulks into new material, and then assemble a new ship exactly like this one. Several in fact."
Miguelito was floored by the entire idea. "Janus, that's beyond the capability of even 150 Megami! Even I couldn't figure out how to juggle that much information, while juggling that much material."
"What if you had twenty-four hundred Megami and Megami-Sama . . . Good Lord! Did she mean of each?" Janus shook his head, then continued, "We are going to have a lot of experienced, and inexperienced help."
Miguelito stared at him, feeling his control over his emotions slipping. "Where are we going to get twenty-four or forty-eight HUNDRED Celestials?" Miguelito wanted to know, "Forget controlling them, it's going to be a problem just feeding them. If they stay in their Pokèballs, we can't train them, and if they are out and about, we have to find bunks, mess space, just walking around room. Was this ship able to handle all the people she'll have aboard?"
"Her wartime crew was about eighteen hundred, so we'd need to either operate from shore, or have a second vessel support us."
"The other Leagues will never allow this," Commander Genek said, "They know the Daisy Mae has been restored to full battle-worthiness. Short of one of the heavy carriers, this is the most powerful vessel afloat. Even the Lang' couldn't match her in a sea battle. If the Navy had access to two, or more; Johto, Capitol, Hell even Blue would go crazy!"
Then Janus smiled and explained, "Johto, Blue, and Silver River are behind this operation 100%. While they might not want the others to succeed, they want their part of it to."
The stunned silence gripping the entire group broke when Seadamar asked, "Are they providing the crews, and logistical support for this operation, in exchange for the ships?"
"Apparently. Although they probably want to get hold of the technology of the ship. I can see that they'll get the ships, and probably jettison the Megami crew, and run it with a standard crew," he said, "And there's absolutely no guarantee that they'll be able to run the ship with less than its eighteen hundred people. The turbines, and the rest are going to be complicated to use and maintain, and it'll take months to train a crew on operation and maintenance, and I don't think some of them will leave their shiny new warship in a bunch of Megami hands long enough for the tribal knowledge of how things work to be transferred."
"They'll have a useless and expensive toy, and months if not yearsto master it," Miguelito lamented, "Killing the Goose that Lays the Golden Eggs. When will people learn?"
"When they decide to go back to being adults and not children," Janus replied, "It's the methodology that I'm worried about. Converting that much metal to plates of metal in situ is one thing. Converting that much metal into the hull, decks, miles of wire, steam lines, watertight seals, and all the rest of the materials that make up a ship. That's what worries me."
"The hull first," Jen said, "Then do the wires, and the rest." She glanced around. "HyperDolls aren't supposed to be unintelligent, just stupid." She smirked at the chuckles from the others.
"Okay. More obviously, their cadre. I get the feeling that we're going to be requested to stay aboard this ship and help supervise the work."
"Master, are we going to tell them the ships can fly?" Roxanne asked.
"The crews make them fly. But we really need to get some form of propulsion," Janus said.
It was all Miguelito could do to keep from giggling. The BunnyGirl was so enthusiastic about her solution to the problem, Miguelito thought, And I would never be one to dampen enthusiasm. Especially when the solution was so appropo.
Janus noted the silence and grins all around him, and immediately looked around suspiciously. "What am I missing?" He glanced at Angie. "Do I want to know?"
"As I understand it, Brian is your character, your creation," the Titmouse said nervously, combing out her tail as she spoke.
"Yes."
"And Stupid Fuzzbutt is yours too?"
"Yes. I'm starting to dread where this is going."
Miguelito smiled at that.
"She did resurrect you," Seadamar pointed out, "Just how is immaterial."
"I created them at the request of another author for a BunnyGirl story, where she wouldn't instantly evolve into something else. My far-reaching plan was to evolve her into a Battle Angel. Hazel would stress evolve her into an Ingenue, then oversee her conversion to Magic Battle Angel, cute-type."
"And the snide comments from Brian, that she's managed to carry out?" Isaik asked, "What was that about?"
"He'd snark off about something, and she'd go accomplish it. She caught a Demon-Goddess by running her down and Taming her after she lost her partner. She defeated a Seraph by using sex attacks, and no threat of physical harm to the Seraph. No Seraph worth the name is going to harm someone as innocent as Stupid Fuzzbutt."
"Then perhaps, her plan should be put into effect," Angie said, "We have all the ingredients. They're of Japanese ancestry, and they can sing."
"Why am I wishing for a Widow attack about now?" he asked, "Caught up in one of Stupid Fuzzbutt's ideas? Karma really is a bitch."
Eko glared at him with an intensity that was probably scarring the paint behind him. It was certainly scaring him. "You expect us to believe this will actually work?!" the Officer Jenny demanded, "Or is this just an attempt for us to look ridiculous for the rest of your adoring fans?"
"I told you to tie her down and work out that attitude before we proposed this," Antoinette told him.
"That's still rape," he replied, "And the laws against it are very clear."
"Then let her go Feral first," the Bardess growled, and advanced on the Officer Jenny, who gave ground from this unexpected attack. "So, songs and music have no power. I suppose the LAW is just poetry and love to you. Maybe you should take a few law books to bed and see if they warm your nights!"
"Antoinette," he warned, but the Bardess turned on him, and even he gave back.
"I've watched everybody, everybody tolerate her lip. You, Kerrik, the Captain, well she just insulted me, and I'm going to teach her some respect!" She whirled back on Eko. Kay had sidled out of range while the Bardess had been busy with him, "You think your law is anything other than the collection of corrupt old men trying to control others? I bet I can find a dozen laws you violate everyday! Are they so worthy of respect? In a thousand years, will some obscure animal treatment mandate be enshrined?! Or will a symphony?! Does anyone care about the law governing Roman house painting regulations, or the lost plays of Sophocles!? If some politician dies porking his mistress and can't write the alternate side of the street regulations, no one will care, but the Unfinished Symphony will be lamented forever."
The Bardess had backed the Officer Jenny out of the compartment and into the companionway. Senior Megami officers were scrambling to get out of her way.
"She is right," Kay said, "Slip her some lust dust and lock the two of you in a room, and let nature take its course."
"Somehow I don't think that would help," he admitted.
"Oh, I don't know. It sure cleared my head." She picked up the paper he'd shown them. "Do you have any idea what this will do?"
"I have vivid, technicolor nightmares," he told her.
Kay shrugged. "My oath was to protect the people and constitution of the Sunshine League. Nowhere did I see anything about my dignity." She looked worried. "Antoinette is going to help us with this, isn't she?"
"I think Typhonna herself would be hard-pressed to prevent that. Hazel is going to laugh her ass off about this."
"Okay. I've heard about the plans. I have one condition."
"Name it and I'll consider it," he told her.
"Let the Blues be the assholes we all know they'll be, before we reveal this," Kay grinned.
He nodded. "I think I can do that. I would like to see a photo of their faces, before we tell them."
"After we've got it working, are you going to invite Granny for the test of this? I think she'll like to see it, since the Sunshine League is going to get its own."
"I think I can see that too. In between flashes of my life passing before my eyes."
"You don't like a little prick?" Sabrina asked as she sat behind her Master and nuzzled his neck. Her small breasts pressed against his back let her feel his heartbeat.
"It's never been something I looked forward to," he admitted, and shuddered as it slid in, "How did you talk me into this?"
"We needed a blood sample," Kay told him, and noted he was looking everywhere but at the needle. "You have a blood donor card, and tracks where it's been taken. How can you be so squeamish?"
"I don't like it. I can imagine all kinds of things going wrong. Plus it hurts."
"Baby," Sabrina teased as she held her Master, "So asking to stick something else in you is out?"
"Afraid so," he said as he leaned back against her, "Maybe a three-way with Fred. In series rather than circular."
"Take the offer, and get it on paper," Kay told him, "He may faint and forget everything once I take this needle out."
"I'll be fine, as long as I don't have to watch." Their Master turned his head and grimaced as the needle came out.
Kay took the sample for analysis while Sabrina raised and bandaged the arm.
"You were very brave Master, and if you're a good boy, you'll get a lollipop."
"Careful, I may faint and squash you."
In his cabin, actually alone for the first time in days, he pulled the technical pen from the small satchel and put pen to paper.
Kerrik,
Since this letter is being delivered by courier, I feel comfortable about using your name. It seems I have not abandoned those on the other side. Last night, we had a budget meeting. Allocation of resources rather than money, but the direction is the same. I'm sure it was not a dream dream, and they are aware of what's going on.
I don't know what you did or said, but every 'Meg and Sammy' aboard this ship is walking about 3 feet off the ground with an expression I've only seen after a proper Taming. And I can walk alone into the mess hall without every eye in the place tracking me. The only thing they're willing to say (and only if they think I and my Harem can't hear) is 'did you hear what Kerrik said?' Well, no I didn't, that's why I'm asking.
The point of this missive, which was asked for by the Captain, was an intelligence report from some of the Megami The March Hare processed. Some months ago, once they knew that the S-Goths were almost ready to bring us over, the Alliance began policing up all the Megami, Megami-Sama, Angels, Seraphs, Ophanim and other angel-based breeds, and even some Infernals, who could sense us, and would be inclined to assist us. Maybe not by joining up, but in whatever means they could. Policing up, it's such a trivial-sounding phrase for dragging people off to an other-dimensional concentration camp. The fact that when their Tamers are brought up, the entire room spontaneously becomes interested in the walls' paint job means I'm being hopelessly naive hoping they still live, or died easily.
The fact that they deliberately named this little camp Caomh Sith and made sure all the captives understood the reference, should tell me all I needed to know about the Alliance. I'm now sad that I didn't give The March Hare and Hazel free rein with them.
The Des Moines' crew is putting together plans to get there and attack. I'm formally inviting you and Micah to the party. Micah's friends are welcome, and I have an entire regiment like Blossom and Rainbow, who can never go home, but would probably enjoy serving Sanctuary and S-Goths again. As I understand it, Lucy is also on the invite list. Granny and Admiral Macmillian are also sending help. I think there are some people who are taking advantage of the fact we were going to stomp on the Alliance anyway. Hey, the more the merrier. Since I left you off the guest list last time, what is your opinion of including some of our countrymen on the invite list?
Plans and schemes go ahead, so while I await your answer, I think everyone else will go without a yay or nay from us.
Kelvin's Choice
The Des Moines's bow sloped sharply up, the angle between ship and sea becoming perpendicular. Then as speed faded, the bow yawed away from the vertical, dropping to point at the sea which rushed up at them. Only the peculiarities of the levitation kept everyone's feet firmly on the deck, if they were inside. Anything not battened down outside would have tumbled away.
"She just did a hammerhead stall with a heavy cruiser!" Janus whimpered as the ship dropped like a stone, then leveled out changing drop rate to level speed. "Nobody told me Granny had a pilot's license!"
"You never asked!" Miguelito replied, wishing he could be out on the weather deck, feeling the wind, like Roxanne, Aurora and Jen. He glanced back with a frown at Voltaire and Doctor Marilyn who were prepared to tackle him if he tried, again. He looked at the softly beating, immense, butterfly wings providing the thrust for the ship, while the lifting crew did their job. "They're so beautiful," he murmured, at the span of iridescent colors that nearly dwarfed the cruiser itself, "You could almost mesmerize someone with the wings alone. What do you think?"
Janus stared at the large blob of vomit that stained the outside of the flag bridge's windows. "I think I eventually will learn to keep my mouth shut," Janus lamented.
"It seems she's putting this ship through its paces, and securing proof for why our League should allow the all-Megami crew," Miguelito said.
"I think I want to check on our wing team." Janus headed down the stairs from the flag bridge. Voltaire picked up Miguelito and followed. He caught sight of Janus shaking his head at the old witch at the newly modified ship's wheel. "She's going to do an Immelman," he reported as he headed for their destination, "Even bombers didn't usually do that."
"She's tough," Voltaire said of the ship around them, or the current pilot.
"Janus just worries," Miguelito said, "If anyone else had proposed this, I'd be worried." Miguelito giggled at his friend's stricken expression.
The compartment had every one of the younger 'Megs' and 'Sammies', who could sing skillfully, under the direction of Antoinette. But Kay and Eko held the center stage.
"Daisy Mae ya Daisy Mae, dongan kasakuyan indoo muu.
Rosuto uiraadoa, hanba hanbamuyan randa banunradan tounjukanraa.
Kasaku yaanmu.
Daisy Mae ya Daisy Mae, dongan kasakuyan indoo muu.
Rosuto uiraadoa, hanba hanbamuyan randa banunradan tounjukanraa
Kasaku yaanmu
Daisy Mae ya Daisy Mae, tasukete yo te yobeba.
Toki o koete, umi o koete nami no yo ni yatte kuru.
Mamorigami
Daisy Mae ya Daisy Mae, yasashisasae wasure.
Arehateta hito no kokoro inorinagara utai, ai no uta.
Daisy Mae ya Daisy Mae, dongan kasakuyan indoo muu.
Rosuto uiraadoa, hanba hanbamuyan randa banunradan tounjukanraa.
Kasaku yaanmu."
Janus quietly translated the song of the two law enforcers, and the Megami choir. "Daisy Mae oh Daisy Mae, if we were to call for help.
Over time, over sea, like a wave you'd come.
Our guardian angel.
Daisy Mae oh Daisy Mae, if we were to call for help.
over time, over sea, like a wave you'd come.
Our guardian angel.
Daisy Mae oh Daisy Mae, If we were to call for help.
Over time, over sea, like a wave you'd come.
Our guardian angel.
Daisy Mae oh Daisy Mae, of forgotten kindness and ruined spirit we shall pray.
For the people's spirits, as we sing this song of love.
Daisy Mae oh Daisy Mae, if we were to call for help.
Over time, over sea, like a wave you'd come.
Our guardian angel."
"It's almost a prayer," Miguelito said reverently.
"It is a prayer," Janus answered quietly, "Why do you think the Captain and senior staff were so enthusiastic." He glanced around with an expression Miguelito had learned heralded a change in the tone of the story. "Back to the CIC."
"All personnel, we are receiving a distress signal. So we are suspending tests. Lifting and wing crews maintain stations. Third Guards to rescue stations, all other personnel to battle stations stand easy. We aren't expecting trouble, but we will take no chances."
The ship raced towards the source of the distress call.
Isaik appeared with Blossom. "Where do we go?"
"Third Guards," he retorted. Then continued towards the Combat Information Center.
"Sorry Master," Aurora told him as they passed, "I suspect I'll have to clean it up later, but what were we trying to do?"
"Test the ship," he told her, and grinned, "Gunnery stations."
"Shell handling," she lamented as she, Jen and Roxanne rushed to their temporary assignments.
The ship closed, and settled into the sea to be driven by the propellers.
"I would have liked to see the pirates' faces when they were attacked by a giant butterfly," Shana said as she took her position by the main plot.
"This butterfly carries 8" radar-controlled, rapid-fire guns." The Captain entered. "As you were."
"Mothra was no slouch in that regard either," Janus commented quietly.
She walked to the plot, while the watch officer briefed her. "Looks like a standard pirate operating in unclaimed waters," she told the crew and Captain, "But the target is a sailing ship, some private yacht out of Edo.
"So I'm treating this cautiously," the Captain explained.
"Edo is supporting the pirates?" Janus asked.
"Some of the young bucks chafe at all the little restrictions. So they get out from under their culture's thumb and play pirate, then after a little fun, slip back in and nobody's the wiser."
"Lovely, sounds like the Imperial Army and their little games, at the expense of most of Eastern Asia. No rules, meant no rules at all." Janus stared at the plot. "How fast did we get?" he asked as the sea-borne ship seemed to crawl towards the position.
"In the dive, we hit 235 knots. Not bad for a 350-year-old battlewagon like this," the Captain said.
The XO handled the approach from the bridge, while the Captain and the CIC crew looked in every other direction for trouble.
"Idiots," the Captain commented on the radar plot. She pointed out the four other small sailing ships. "They figure they report trouble, and some poor Good Samaritan sails in and loses his ship."
"What are you going to do?" Miguelito asked.
I know what I'd do, he thought as the vessels still closed, This ship has white phosphorus rounds and proximity fuses.
"Des Moines is a French name," the Captain said, "So we act Noir League."
"It means 'the monks'," Janus said, "Oddly appropriate."
"Janus, shake out your flying squad. I think we may want to haul these pirates into a port and sell their ships. They can go home in the victim."
"I'm not going to ask how you discovered they are pirates. Because I'd have to explain how I do what I do," Janus asked and left the CIC.
"Please state the nature of your emergency," the radio operator said, the thick, and very authentic Noir accent made the English hard to discern.
"This is the Tsumi Maru, our engines have failed and we are becalmed. Please assist us."
"It sounds like a stock phrase," Miguelito commented darkly, "And well-practiced."
"Six knot winds over there," a Megami reported.
"It's a trap," Janus said as he frowned, "When do we close it on them?"
"Flying squad in position," the radar operator said, "The two on that side are not reacting. They either don't consider them a threat, or haven't seen them."
"Or they're better tacticians than we thought. How are our mines enjoying themselves?" the Captain asked, nodding to where the Third Guards Tyrannodames were deployed, with the Boobfin acting as lifeguards and early warning of seagoing life. Blossom and Rainbow had been brought into the CIC to act as translators/coordinators.
"Estimate two minutes until the pirates sail into the trap," Blossom reported, "Third Guards are standing by and awaiting orders to move."
"If the enemy reaches 50 meters, they are released to their own discretion. But I want those ships and crews alive and intact if practicable," the Captain ordered.
Blossom nodded and relayed the message.
Janus was at an auxiliary console, switching between close-in and distance views. "Sorry, I just worry that it's a small part of a bigger trap," he explained.
"Keep watching, it happens," the Captain said as the group watched, and waited.
"Attack," the Captain ordered.
In the calm of the CIC, watching the entire operation on viewscreens, and listening to radio reports. It had a clinical detachment, Miguelito thought as he watched, None of the ships acted like a creature did when struck. The sounds of the calm voices speaking into microphones instead of the cries of the wounded and dying.
"Medical teams to the infirmary, prepare to receive casualties," the Captain ordered, "Let's go board the bait, and give them the bad news."
"I demand to speak with your Master Pokèbitch!" the young Edo man told Eko, he rattled the manacles bolting him to the chair and floor for emphasis of his physical power, "You, gaijin, are you in charge?"
Across the nearly empty room, Kelvin looked up from where he was making notes.
"You were acting as pirates. The traditional punishment is summary execution," Eko growled.
"Maybe you should offer to Tame her. That dried-up old man wouldn't be much for a hot-blood like her," one of the other humans muttered in Japanese, then froze as Eko turned livid.
"I do speak your language," she explained coldly.
The prisoners all cringed. They also looked at the empty chair. From where one of their had been dragged, by a Megami, after he'd leered at her. The arrival of the same Megami, arms covered in blood to the elbow, to report he'd confessed, had been sufficient to get the others talking.
"You are charged with piracy. If you give us the information we require, you will be returned home to face your League's penalties for your crimes. On the high seas, the trial is a mere formality, and the punishment immediately follows," Eko told them, "Where is your base, and where is the rest of your group?"
Answers, begging, and a denial that they were not part of an organized pirate force followed in short order.
Angie looked over the depositions from the captured Pokègirls, and the notes from the Tamers' interrogation. "I can't say I approve of scaring the prisoners that way," she admitted, "Although using the same Megami on both sets of humans was clever."
"Waste not, want not," her Master replied in a distracted tone.
"What's the matter? We didn't lose anyone. Their casualties were injuries. Or is it that a bunch of those girls got one look at you and Miguelito, and wanted to be part of the fine?"
He looked up. "No, it's not that. It's - Miguelito usually speaks Spanish with Antoinette and Voltaire."
"Yes."
"And the Sunshine League patois with others. Kay and Eko speak the patois except to the crew of the ship. Our Powergirls, the Tyrannodames, and the ship's crew speak English. Cheryl speaks Chinese with Naomi and Jen."
"Yes, so?"
"I hear it all as English. The Swahili and most of the Japanese are opaque to me, but I understand four languages and am evidently completely fluent in all of them."
"Sometimes you jump from one to the other, using whatever language they typically use. Unless someone else doesn't understand it. I thought you were doing that on purpose."
"I probably was doing it on purpose. I don't know if I was doing it consciously," he smiled as he explained, "That was what's been bothering me. You've all been handling this superbly. I had little to do but be ready to step in."
"Oh," the Titmouse said, "So have you considered adding any of those girls to your Harem?"
"To be honest, I haven't been looking at them. I haven't really been living up to my responsibilities to the rest of you. Diluting that further doesn't seem fair."
"Well, there's two you should look at. 'Should' as in 'if I could insist, I would'. One of them you'll have a hard time getting rid of. The other might be a good addition. But by the laws of the sea, they can all be yours. And we can always use them as cannon fodder."
When anger overcame his initial horror, she added, "Or have them all Blessed and made into Angels." She grinned at her Master.
"Okay, okay, let's look at these two, as a start." He took the Pokèdex and blinked. "Where is the first?"
"With Jen, where else? She had a dozen combs made out of plate steel and told everyone to let her work."
"Okay, I think I'll let her work. I'm surprised she hasn't torn those Tamers limb from limb."
"She didn't know which one, and suspected that killing the wrong one would get her in trouble."
"She's probably got that right." He set the 'dex down. "Sometimes I wonder why the world hates me. How'd they manage to take that one down?"
"Isaik one-shotted her. I think that's why she's viable." Angie grinned. "Everyone knows that a Hild is a rare breed of poewrful magic csss."
Jen closed the door, very quietly. She was covered with small scratches and bruises. But her grin lit up the entire corridor as she spotted Warden and Maus.
"How many more combs will you need?" Warden asked.
"A few dozen," Jen smiled, "But she fell asleep in my arms." She smiled and hugged herself. Warden and Maus took the opportunity to heal all the small injuries.
"Thanks," the HyperDoll said, then her expression clouded, "Will - can I keep her?"
Maus made a purring chuckle that Warden interpreted, "I doubt our Master would take away anything that makes you so happy. And the sight of a HyperDoll with a healed Penance appeals to his sense of the absurd. You two could walk down the street, and confuse everyone for a 100-yards."
"Speaking of absurd," Cheryl said as she approached, "Now that you're free, we need to deal with another problem. And all of us need to be there, at least in earshot."
"Crap, he's going to keep her?!" Jen exclaimed, then glanced worriedly at the door.
"That sense of the absurd," Warden said, "Remember?"
"It's fine working for me," Jen grumbled, "I hate it when it works against me."
The figure was filthy. More covered with cuts, burns and bruises than Jen had been, many of them infected. Both her eyes were gone and crudely healed over. Yet she was staring defiantly at the door before it opened.
"You certainly look like your mother," came a male voice speaking English.
"Go Tame yourself," she replied in Chinese.
"I thought I'd get you cleaned up, and maybe fed before we discussed that."
"If I could get loose - "
"Isaik would put you right back down," the voice told him. Something cold touched her hand, and she jerked away. Then she noticed the bruises there had stopped hurting so badly. The same cold, soothing wipe covered her fingers where the nails had been pulled out.
"Getting me pretty so you can Tame me without gagging?"
"If you decide to join us, you'll find out that what was done to me, makes all this look like a folk dance by comparison," he said sternly. While the cloth and its soothing cold continued removing the grime that covered her, and the pain of many of the injuries.
"Don't go making comparisons. No human would survive what they did to me."
"Kelvin's Choice would."
She froze at that name. "One of the author's, what do you know of them?"
"I see him every time I shave in the morning," the reply was amused, but the cloth kept up its work.
She lunged at him, but stiff muscles, heavy chains and fatigue made it a futile gesture. He put a leg across her shoulders and began working on her bare back. "You could just stuff me in a machine and give me a grooming and healing cycle."
"I could, but that doesn't have the effect of seeing to your injuries personally, or proving that I can be trusted when you're vulnerable," he told her as he worked.
"You're hardly undefended," she countered, and tried to push her self up against his resistance, only to have her abused muscles scream in complaint.
"It isn't whether I am, it's important that you are. Your mother infiltrated my Harem. I foolishly thought she was enjoying being a trusted, well-sexed member of a group. I hadn't considered that it would never occur to her that we knew who she was."
"I am a Hild," she countered.
"You are a Hild, I'm talking about the Hild. The invisible Legendary. If you've been in contact with her, you probably know the story."
"She killed you," she informed him.
"Another mistake on her part. Imagine, everything she ever wanted: a hand in changing the universe, all the sex she could want, and possible immortality. And she threw it all away. Are you different?"
"I want to kill the people who did this to me," she growled.
"I'm afraid that's out of your hands," he said, and actually sounded regretful, "But that they tortured you, and tortured another girl into a Penance will be entered in the record." He paused in his wiping away her many small hurts and her covering of grime. "Unfortunately, the loss of their ships will have a greater effect on them. I'm sorry."
"Of course, everybody's sorry about something."
"If you'd prefer the Healing and Grooming cycle . . . "
"Yeah, just keep the Taming below level five."
"I'll do that," she heard as she vanished into her Pokèball.
"She's going to be trouble," Angie said as she and Kay oversaw the machine's settings. Kay kept making growls that sounded more like Maus than a Nurse Joy.
"I think I'd give her one spell against each of them. Hild's are supposed to be smart, so forcing her to leave them alive wouldn't cramp her style much."
"I think I'll let the Edo authorities deal with them. And their families. Public ridicule, and the loss of their fathers' or uncles' expensive yachts will have more affect than any attack the Hild will have," her Master said darkly, "Such is the world. This and that one."
"Are you all right?" Kay asked.
"Yes, maybe, I don't know. I look at what they did, and then think about what I did . . . and is it all a measure of degree? Is beating someone the same as abandoning them by dying?" He held up his hands. "I don't expect an answer, it's just that I always think of things, see patterns and connections. It's the reason for my one-virus, multiple manifestations theory. Because the simple answer is often better than the complicated one."
"You are nothing - "
"Really," he confronted Kay. "I could have put a stop to Eko's problem. But I kept thinking 'she's an independent adult, she can deal with it.' I could have done exactly what I did to Cheryl: bent her over a table and pulled her clothes off, and let her initiate the actual Taming. But that would be wrong, taking away her free will and using her biology against her. So I let her run around snapping at everybody because even she doesn't understand why she feels the way she does."
"It isn't rape with a member of your Harem. And if anyone is using anyone's biology against them, it was Sukebe," Warden said, "Every Pokègirl is someone's wet dream. Most are attractive enough to catch someone's eye. And physical beauty is still confused with goodness. So whose biology is being played with? Let Doctor Marilyn help her, and maybe then you can fix the problem."
"I just wish the answer to most Pokègirl problems wasn't believe to be the magic wand in my pants."
"Not all are," Kay said firmly, "There's also fingers and tongues."
"You aren't helping," Warden told her.
Additional Disclaimer: (there's a reason it's down here)
"Wild Horses and Pokegirls" is the creation of Metroanime.
The Mothra Song was composed by Yuji Koseki.
Kelvin's Choice (Janus) - Harem
Isaik/Underground - Eidolon (Hild's agent)
Warden - Bust Angel (Hild's opposed agent)
Maus - HeavenKat (Hild's opposed agent)
Seadamar - GunValkyrie
Alba - HandMaid
Aurora/One Medallion/Earth -1 - FarFuck'd
Roxanne/Two Medallions/Earth -2 - FarFuck'd
Blossom - Tyrannodame (Kitten's Harem)
Rainbow - Tyrannodame
Angie - WarMech Titmouse (Angie Douglas's faction)
Sabrina - DildoQueen (Kitten's Harem)
Hatta Mary - Fiendish Cherry
Acerpalmatum - Chikotit
Jen - HyperDoll
Cheryl - Megami
Naomi - Tigress
Shana - Hunter Ophanim (Ancelot's faction)
Allies:
Eriko (Eko) - Officer Jenny
Erika (Kay) - Nurse Joy (SLIS agent)
Hester - Jugguar (Kay's Harem)
Adrian - Heroine (Kay's Harem)
Pool Mouse - Pool Mouse (Eko's Harem)
Bishop Cameron (Catholic)
Bishop McClellan (Anglican)
Doctor Kincaid (Presbyterian)
Commander Genek - Oni (ONI Office of Naval Intelligence)
Neutral or Undecided factions:
Ronette - SmartDoll (faction unrevealed)
Fred - Tomboy (faction unrevealed)