by L. Fergus
“They ripped you apart because they fear you. They fear the power you had and, even more, they fear your potential and your motive. It wasn’t fair to you, me, Jane, our kids, our friends, or all the people who depend on us. You’re a victim of your own success. But, it’s not over. You’re back and they, and I mean more than the Empire, need to worry. It’s not a matter of if you’ll regain your strength, but when.
“Everyone is going to try to stop you. So, be smart and be yourself. Don’t let your rage and hate get the better of you. You have to walk the tightrope of your desires and do what’s right. I’m not going to be there to nag you, so you’re going to have to lean on Jess. I can help you with big decisions if you can reach me.”
Kita sighed. “Thank you. That helps a lot. I’m not just floating in space.”
“I know it’s hard, kitten. It’s probably the hardest thing you’ve ever faced. I’ve proven you’re not a Valkyrie so they won’t blow up the ship. I’ll have orders telling them the ship is for your private use after you drop off Cotton.”
“Thanks. You have that kind of power?”
“Like I said, I once again have a cushy job that has real power and perks.”
Kita smiled. “What is a Valkyrie? I have the name, but no idea what they really are. They must look like Angels?”
“I have only theories, none of which I can share at the moment. They shouldn’t bother you. If the calculations are correct, they’re about forty million light-years from you. You should get some rest. Who did your hair? It looks good.”
“I did,” Kita smiled holding up the star in the end.
“I might have actually succeeded in making you a stylist after all.”
“I’ll never be as good as you.”
“No one will ever be as good as I. You can tell that to Jane when you see her. It’s time to go. Our window is closing.”
“What window?”
“FTL comms can only last a few minutes due to the shifting nature of the relay ships, but you have my number. So, when you get another window feel free to call me.”
“Ok. I love you, pretty kitty.”
“Take care of yourself. I’d say stay out of trouble, but I know that won’t happen. Try and stay in one piece. You can’t put yourself back together like you used to. And Jess, if it does happen, pick up the pieces and send them to me.”
“Ah, sure. No problem,” said Rabbit, looking bewildered.
“Time’s up, kitten. I love you and come back to me in one piece.” Snowy kissed her hand and placed it in front of the camera. Kita returned the gesture, just as the feed cut.
Holding the rail, Kita knelt and cried. The one person who knew her in all the ways she needed, couldn’t tell her what she needed to know, and what she could tell her was only available five minutes at a time.
Rabbit came and knelt next to Kita. Retracting her armor, she put her arms around Kita and held her.
“You’re already a much better friend than I deserve,” Kita whispered.
“Hey, you’ve been just as good to me. You do deserve it.”
Kita rested her head on Rabbit’s. “I’m tired and hungry.”
Rabbit chuckled. “But you just ate.”
“And I used up a lot of energy.”
Rabbit helped her up. “We’ll find food. Come on.” She turned her attention to Cotton. “You heard Snowy, the ship belongs to Kita. We need quarters and food.”
“We’ll find you a place,” said Cotton, eyeing Kita suspiciously.
Kita stepped into the common area of her new quarters. She missed bumping into a pair of Diamock technicians who’d come to accommodate the quarters for humans and Angels. They stood aside for her. From the alterations, they’d made it more for her than the humans.
“Excellent work, soldiers. I am very pleased,” was the rough translation of what Kita told the pair. She stepped aside to let them out.
The pair saluted her and left.
Kita let out a long sigh and made her way to the low-backed couch. Rabbit sat in the middle watching something on the large screen. Kita thumped down next to her and fell into her lap.
“The meetings went well?” Rabbit asked, resting a hand on Kita’s shoulder as she paused the program.
“I remember how much I hate military societies,” Kita moaned.
“I’m getting the feeling the doggies are a bit rigid. They make the Political Bureau look like chaos,” Rabbit said, stroking Kita’s braid.
“So, what’s the plan, boss?” said Hawke.
“Relax, eat, and sleep. We’re going to be here a while. Auggy, you, Case, Lacy, and Raph will go over to Dallas later to get it repaired. Hawke, you and…who are you, kid I picked up and tossed aboard my ship?”
The young Marine jumped to his feet. “Timothy Cross, Private, UEE Marines, ma’am.”
Kita covered her ear while the kid yelled.
“You don’t have to sound off,” said Hawke gruffly, but with an approving look.
“Where’s he from?” Kita asked Rabbit.
Rabbit repeated the question.
“Amarillo, Texas, ma’am,” Cross said proudly.
“Neptune’s bloody rings,” Case groaned.
“Well, you know what they say about Texas,” Lacy told the other girl with a laugh and a wink.
“Welcome aboard, kid,” said Kita. “Until I figure out otherwise, do what Hawke tells you to do.”
“Hey, you didn’t say I’d be babysitting,” Hawke snarled.
“You’re not babysitting. You’re making sure your ass doesn’t get shot up when the shooting starts. So, you’d better teach him well.”
Hawke grumbled some profanity.
“Anyway, as I was saying, you and Cross are going to do some training with the Diamocks. They want to know what humans do, and I want you to know what they do. Jess and I will join you if we don’t get pulled away. Oh, and you’ve all been assigned a rank. Being part of my guard wasn’t good enough for them. This is just ceremonial. I just placed you to their equivalents. Jess and Auggy, captains, Case and Lacy, commanders, Raph, lieutenant, Hawke, sergeant major, Cross, I put you down as sergeant.”
“How come I’m not an officer?” Hawke demanded.
“I didn’t want to make you soft,” Kita said with a sigh.
“Why don’t you go get cleaned up?” said Rabbit. “You’ve got some stuff in your hair and you kind of smell like burnt…dog.”
Kita chuckled lightly. “You want to come?”
“Do you really need me to stand there and tell you where you missed again?”
“I think I can figure it out this time.”
“The hair stuff we bought is on the table.”
Kita sat up. “Oh, good. I thought we might have lost it. I hate to have spent half a million on the stuff and not get a chance to use it.” She grabbed the bag and headed for the shower. “When I’m done, you’re to use it too.”
“Sure, whatever.”
“Who the bloody hell spends half a million on crap for their hair?” Hawke exclaimed to Rabbit.
“She does, apparently,” said Rabbit. “She has some connection with the Gjord family.”
“Her? No way,” said Case.
“Maybe she’s the black winged stepchild they’ve had hidden in the basement,” Lacy said, causing Case to giggle.
“Nah, she’s way older than any of them,” said Rabbit. “She said she was born on some unknown world as a noble medieval type.”
“And you believe her?” Case teased.
“Considering I was captain of half the guard force keeping her captive in a medieval city theme park, I’d say, yeah, I do. Watch her long enough, and you’ll notice she’s got some weird phrases and habits.”
“Like putting her head in your lap and inviting you to the shower?” Hawke said with a wolfish grin.
“And what’s wrong with that?” Case demanded.
“Ah? Nothing,” Hawke said defensively. “Just two lovebirds on the lam is what it looks like.”
“We’re not lovebirds,” Rabbit huffed. “We’re—”
Kita, stark naked, bounced excitedly out of the hallway leading to the rooms.
“Jess, look,” Kita said, pointing to her chest and body. “All the scars are gone. Did they do something to us?”
Rabbit turned and then raised an eyebrow. “Not that I know. Turn around.” Kita did. “Huh, everything’s gone.”
“And my armor has been repaired, and I noticed earlier I have a full quiver.”
On the opposite side, Raph had been ignoring everything, while working on is Arcom. He looked up when Kita spread her wings. When he saw the rest of her naked, he was mesmerized.
“Hey, lad, it be impolite to stare,” Auggy said, nudging Raph. “You make a girl self-conscious and you liable to never see her again.”
“Sorry,” said Raph, his cheeks turning red.
“Hey, normally I’d agree with you, old timer, but give the kid a break on this one,” said Hawke. “It’s not every day a piece of tail walks in looking like that.”
“I don’t have a tail,” said Kita, interrupting her conversation with Rabbit. “But, I have slept with a few girls who did. It’s definitely worth doing once.”
Kita’s comment caused Hawke to stumble a bit. Kita disappeared back down the hallway.
“So, that furball she was talking to earlier…She slept with that?” Hawke demanded of Rabbit.
“I take it you weren’t paying attention? That was Snowy, Kita’s ex. They have two kids together and, if you couldn’t tell from the public displays of affection, they’re still very close.”
“It sounds like fun to me,” said Case with a shrug.
“This keeps getting weirder,” Hawke grumped.
“I’m sure we can find you a helmet,” said Rabbit, laughing at him.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I mean you haven’t even started down the rabbit hole to Wonderland yet. She’s got a lot more secrets hiding in that head of hers.”
“What’s stranger than being on an alien ship with dogs and bunnies with a six-foot chicken?”
Rabbit told the group about Kita being an assassin and her childhood.
“Are you sure she’s not making this up?” said Case.
“Why? It dovetails with what she can do. How many people can handle not one, but two swords, like she can? How many archers are in Empire space? I know there are specialized nanites to generate heat used in specialty fields, for keeping you healthy and give you a speedy recovery, and even to make you stronger and faster, but not like her. Not even in the Political Bureau.”
“That you know of,” said Lacy.
Rabbit shrugged.
“So, ya be thinking the lass has got herself some super nanites flowing through her?” said Auggy.
“It is possible. I’ve read in Political Bureau reports nanite capabilities are held back due to concerns over public misuse,” Raph said, not looking up from his computer.
Case laughed. “He almost sounded human.”
“I don’t think the human body can withstand the forces her nanites generate. The heat alone would cook her,” said Cross.
“What do you know, Marine?” Lacy scoffed.
“Nanite construction and manufacturing was my specialty before I joined the Shadow Fleet. I couldn’t qualify for the research division. I hoped after a few years as a grunt I could transfer.”
Rabbit shrugged. “Kita’s got something protecting her.”
“Yeah, you,” Case said with a smile.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“If you’re not her little squeeze, then why defend her so vigorously?”
“She’s my friend. You wouldn’t stick up for Lacy?”
“Of course, but you guard Kita like a rabid dog.”
“You don’t suppose these Diamocks can go rabid, do you?” Lacy said with a giggle.
“I don’t see any collars on them,” said Hawke.
“Anyway,” Rabbit said loudly, “protecting and taking care of her is also my job.”
“Says who? I thought you ditched the Emperor’s service?”
“Wait, we’re not part of the Empire?” Cross exclaimed.
“I can see why you didn’t get into research, son,” said Hawke.
“But, then why are we here? Why are you helping? They’ll do more than kill us if they catch us. Do you think if we turned ourselves in they’d let us go?” Cross rambled in fear.
Auggy chuckled. “No, I don’t be thinken so, lad. Me guess be if you see that girl alive, and the Emperor’s goons catch us, we be taking a short walk out an airlock.”
“Then why risk helping her?” Cross demanded.
“Money and the chance to kill,” said Hawke.
“Adventure,” said Lacy.
“I followed her,” said Case, thumbing at Lacy.
“I be followen them,” said Auggy. “But Kita got a charm about her says being on her side be a good thing.”
“She was the first person to care and not to look through me,” said Raph. “And every fantasy book says to follow the powerful supporting protagonist.”
“So, who’s the main protagonist?” Case mused.
“Well, they might be the same thing in this case,” said Raph. The lights in the room flickered. “Awesome.”
“What was that?” said Lacy.
“I’m into their power and life support systems.”
“You know their computer systems?”
“I’m learning. They’re not that much different than ours.”
Lacy nodded with an impressed look. “So, why you, Jess? What prompted you to throw away a captaincy and career in the Political Bureau for Kita?”
Rabbit rolled her jaw. “Her sister convinced me.”
“Her sister?”
“Last chance to back out before you go down the rabbit hole.” No one took her up on the offer. So, she went into a long explanation of what had happened escaping from Angelica.
“That’s the biggest load of bull I’ve heard since joining the Legion,” Hawke snarled.
“Gods? Please,” Case said, rolling her eyes.
“Hey, wait a sec, I can prove it,” Rabbit said. “Raph, can you link my system up to the screen?” She opened an access panel on her bracer.
Raph tapped on his keyboard, the screen blinked, and Rabbit’s VI appeared. She gave it some quick commands and a video appeared of Kita being killed by Galina. Rabbit’s screams drowned out parts of the footage’s audio. The group watched Tina appear and the summit of the four gods. Tina revived her sister and Kita’s wings grew back. Rabbit stopped the replay after Kita took down Galina. She looked around at the stunned or blank faces and smiled. “So, how much bull is that?”
Raph recovered first. “The universe just got so much cooler. I mean, it’s like…like…”
“We’re in some serious deep space here,” said Case.
“I think I retract my objection to being outside the Emperor’s service,” Cross whispered.
Auggy smiled. “Told ya that girl be worth keeping aboard.”
Lacy looked over to where Sarge and Jupiter lay cuddled together. “And neither of you bothered to tell us? You let us look like a bunch of foolish chumps?” she yelled.
The two cats raised and cocking their heads in curious looks. They yawned and went back to sleep.
“Chill, Lace,” said Case. “It’s not their fault. There’s nothing to be scared of or at least the scary parts aren’t after us.”
“You don’t know that. Did you see what those cats were? What they did? What’s going to happen to us? What’s she going to do? Sacrifice us to them? We’re going to die out here in the middle of nowhere surrounded by aliens we can’t even see and who can kill us with their minds. Maybe we can kill her and the cats, and we can go home, and no one will know.”
“Lace,” Case said as the other woman charged the two cats.
Rabbit jumped up to intercept her, but Case grabbed Lacy in a be
ar hug from behind.
“You don’t want to do that,” Case told her. “They’re nasty in their cuddly form, and you don’t want them to change into their non-cuddly form. Come on.” While Lacy struggled, she dragged her to the open loveseat. Case waved Hawke and Cross away, while Auggy stood by in case she needed him. She pushed Lacy onto the couch and jumped on top of her. Pinning the frantic woman down, she yelled at her until Lacy finally looked at her. She released Lacy’s arms and gently wiped at the stream of tears coming down her face.
“Lace, it’ll be all right. We’re fine. We’re better than fine. We haven’t had it this good in forever.”
“I don’t want to die. Not like this, not here. Not with those things.”
“You’re not going to die, no one is…Maybe Hawke, but that’s because the moron always goes first.” Hawke made a face but kept his mouth shut. “It’s strange and weird, but that’s what we came for, right? Kita’s got some weird friends, but they’re powerful friends who’ll help us. She’s not going to let anything happen to us, but we’ve got to keep ourselves together. What do we always tell the greenhorns, if you ain’t useful then you can be useless in space, right?”
Lacy nodded.
“The same goes for us. If we’re not useful to Kita, we can’t expect her to do any less than what we’d do. I know it’s scary, but so was the first FTL jump and the first time we pulled a core by ourselves. That crap is old hat. So will all of this. We’ve got to trust Kita and Jess a bit. If we don’t like it, we can always go home. But I don’t want to go home, so that means you’ve got to stay. No wussing out, just because it’s scary.”
Lacy buried her face in her hands. Case rolled off and hugged her. She looked at the others. “She’ll be good, just give her a few minutes. She doesn’t like change. You should have seen the explosion over having to replace the navigation system in the Valcon. Remember that, Auggy?”
The old man nodded. “Aye.”
“Then why the hell did she sign up for this?” said Hawke.
“Because she always thinks new things are a good idea until reality hits, and you can’t go back,” said Case.
“The girl with big black wings and another in a tin suit wasn’t enough of a warning?” Hawke grunted.
“Maybe she just saw the romantic part of adventuring and not the danger part,” said Raph.
