by Jessie Wolf
About halfway through Professor Recco interrupts mama with a question I was hoping he would not ask. “Excuse me, my Lady Dai Etsu, but you mean to say that your daughter is in truth your grandniece and the granddaughter of First High Lord of the Death Dealers James J. Owens? That this young lady is related to the man known as Death? I’m sorry but I find that hard to believe. Everyone in the Death Dealers knows that High Lord Owens’ children had died before having children of their own.”
“Oh she is his granddaughter. You see, Ohmei Owens- Steel Hart and her husband used a civilian Gift-of-Life Bank instead of the Military GL Bank. My brother-in-law paid for her to be born. So yes she is exactly who I say she is. Everything that you have been told here is considered to be a state secret and is sealed by Imperial Decree. The only reason I have even told you all this is to allay your fears of her educational credentials.”
Doctor Brim’s next question is to me, not mama. “Do you believe you can teach and run four classes per day plus follow through with your own studies, young lady? I wouldn’t want to see you pushing yourself beyond your abilities.”
Alright I just had my way out of this mess handed to me on a silver platter and he goes and turns it into a damned challenge. If he had just stopped and not questioned my abilities. Damn this man, he knows that as a true Death Dealer I won’t back down from any challenge. It is part and parcel of who we are. I know what it is for what it is. It’s a trap to see if I truly am a Death Dealer. Even mama can see it, but you know what; this butthead is not going to scare me off. Squaring off my shoulders and standing as tall as my five foot nothing looking up at Brim with all the confidence I could muster. God! I hate being so damn short.
“Not only can I handle it, but I’ll be more than glad to show you how to do it with style.”
Both of the men break out laughing. When the both get themselves under control, Brim smiles down at me. “I can see your grandfather’s influences on your upbringing young lady. That was said like a true Death Dealer if I had ever heard. I just hope that you can deliver.”
“Wilf, I not only believe she’ll deliver, but most likely prove to be a far better instructor of C and M than either you or me. There is a great deal of her grandfather in her. Not to mention the way she stands reminds me of more than one senior Death Dealer. If I did not know any better I would swear I was dealing with one of my old commanders.” Professor Recco was looking at me with a good deal of respect. “I swear, young lady, you remind me of your grandfather with the way you’re standing.”
“Excuse me, Professor, but that is the second time you have compared me to him. Did you by chance meet or know him before he had left the Dealers for retirement?”
“Young lady, every Death Dealer knows who J.J. Owens is. The man is, was a legend among the service. I can tell you this much though, the first time I had ever seen the man I was a young cadet at White Hurst. He was a guest speaker and the topic was command presences.” The man got this far away look in his eyes remembering back to a more innocent time. I to remember that time. I had just returned from a very long campaign against the Gorgonzola Republic. “We were all filed into the main auditorium to hear a guest speaker. Like all young and dumb cadets we filed in and took our seats. The only person there was this gentleman who looked like all the other civilian employees that run around making our lives a living hell. Well we must have sat there for the better part of three quarters of an hour waiting for your grandfather to show. Needless to say we began talking amongst ourselves, got quite loud too. When this bullock stood up and stepped up the podium, I like a lot us just thought he was going say that your grandfather was not going to be there. That point we saw his rank insignia and I swear all he did was stand up straight and square his shoulders, just like you just did. Needless to say the entire room snapped to attention and shut the hell up. Then your grandfather said ‘And that gentlemen is what command presence is, dismissed.’ then he turned around and walked out.”
I started to giggle as I remember that demonstration quite well. As a matter of fact I always loved to give that presentation. For some reason it always made a bigger impact on the cadets than any speech I could give them. The fact that this young man remembered it tells me I had got my point across.
“I take it young lady that he gave you the same demonstration at some point in your life?” Professor Recco asks me.
“Yes sir, he did. Only for me I was more of an observer than a participant.” I had to think of a quick little lie to cover and I came up with the perfect one. “About four years ago he did that at the Free Havens Military Academy. I thought it was very impressive.” The smile that comes to his face is one I will come to cherish.
Mama decides to get things back on track and bring things to a close. “So gentlemen, can I tell the Board of Regents that you have accepted your new positions?”
They both look at each other and nod their heads yes. “We look forward to the new challenge that you have given us, Lady Dai Etsu. I promise that we’ll get things squared away as fast as possible and back on track. As for your daughter teaching our classes, I believe that until we can find replacements she can take over and teach two classes a day for each subject. That will take up four class periods and still allow her to attend her normal classes that she will need. How does that sound?”
“It sounds lovely; except for finding the replacements; she can handle that schedule easily. Besides most of her classes are for learning the more esoteric studies. You knew poise, grace, all the ones that are taught to the young ladies here so they can be more refined.” Mama is smiling the entire time. “She is really here to learn to be a refined lady of culture and not such a tomboy. As much as I loved my brother-in-law and her grandfather he never taught her to be a young woman let alone a lady. Why here she first arrived here she walked like she was on a parade ground all the time.”
“HEY! I was not that bad.” I complained.
“Young lady! That is no way to talk to your mama!” snapped Professor Recco.
“Indeed, we do not tolerate such behavior amongst the students here.” Doctor Brim intoned. “You will apologize to her this moment.”
I must have looked like I was smack in the face with a fish I was so shocked. I was about to tell the two of them to go shove it when I remembered one simple thing. I was here to learn to be a proper young lady and they were to be two of my teachers. So with a bow of respect to the two of them. “Forgive my outburst, gentlemen.” Turning to mama “Mama, I am sorry for my disrespectful behavior, please forgive me.”
Mama smiled at me. “You’re forgiven, child”
Doctor Brim smiled at me. “That is just one of the many things you will learn here, Lady Maiha, in how to behave like a lady. I can tell that we have our work cut out for us in turning you into anything approaching a lady though.”
Smiling up at him with just a hint of mischief “You have no idea, sir, none at all.”
Chapter 3
I give mama a quick hug and kiss good bye and leave the office. Once outside I decide to take a walk before heading back to my room. When I get to the inner quad I stop there and looked around the campus grounds. By all rights it’s very lovely and beautiful area. The buildings look as if they were built in the early twentieth century, with tall brick facades, wide sweeping gables, and ivy growing up their walls. As a young boy I often wondered what it would be like to go to a prestigious schools like one of these. I cannot help but believe that everything in my past has happened for a reason. Everything from growing up on the wrong side of the tracks on the backwater dirt poor planet in the middle of nowhere, to working my way through the command structures to the highest levels of the Death Dealers, to becoming the First High Lord of the Death Dealers. There are times I wish I could go back and change things; then I realize that no matter what I do I will always be where I am now.
Shaking off the morbid feelings, I head back to my dorm room. As I walk I can’t help but try and figure out how in the world I got rop
ed into this situation. Last time I looked I was supposed to be a student, not a teacher. Now not only do I have to take classes in decorum and refinement, learn how to be a young lady, social niceties, but now I have to come up with a lesson plans and syllabus for two whole subjects. No matter what I do I keep getting in deeper and deeper.
As I enter the sophomore dorms I hear crying off to the side in one of the small alcoves. This grabs my attention rather quickly, as I walk in to the alcove area, I see a young girl in tears. As I look her over I can see she is covered in bright blue paint. “Hi, there my name is Maiha. Can I get you some help?” I can tell this girl is in some real emotional pain. For some reason I need to help her. “Come on, let’s go get you cleaned up.” When I reach down to take her hand she backs away from me in fright.
“No! Don’t touch me! Leave me alone! I promise I’ll leave in the morning!” she is in a royal freak out. She never even looked at me, and she thinks I’m going to hurt her. Someone really fracked with her head.
“Whoa, there girl, calm down and relax, I’m not going to hurt you. I swear I won’t hurt you.” I do my best to get her to calm down. I get Alice on our private network.
“Baby, where are you ?”
“I’m in our room on the third floor. Why, what’s up? You sound worried.”
“Get down here on the first floor to the study alcove. We have a situation, and I need your help.”
“On the way, kitten.”
“Thanks, pussycat.”
“Please, let me help you.” I am trying my best to get this girl to calm down and tell me what happened. When she looks up at me I smile down at her. I can tell she is still upset, but not that I want to die upset.
“What you want? To make fun of the ‘freak’ like the other ‘petty bitches’?” in a matter of seconds she has gone from ‘kill me now’ to ‘I hate your guts’ mad. “Haven’t you cunts caused me enough grief? I told you I would be gone in the morning. Isn’t that good enough for you?!” oh yeah, she is pissed off.
“Wait a minute here missy. I didn’t do anything to you so just calm down and talk to me.” I decide to change tactics on her. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but I just got here today. I’m new to this school too. So as far as me telling anyone to leave, that ain’t happening.” I am real close to losing my temper. So I take a few deep breaths to calm and center myself. Opening my eyes back up, I see she is actually looking at me. The look on her face is one of disbelief and distrust. “You heard me correctly, so don’t look so surprised. Now who did this to you?”
“Some bitch and her friends.” She just looks down at the floor. It’s like she is ashamed of being here.
“Did they say why?”
Mumbling she says. “That this school is for real girls only, not trainee freaks.”
It took me a few seconds to figure out what she was talking about. The young girl was transgendered, possibly even transsexual. Whoever did this to her did it to humiliate her. Now this pisses me off, and big time. I don’t care who you are, you don’t treat people this way. “Do you remember who they were or what they looked like?”
“Yeah, I remember them alright, but it won’t matter. I’m leaving in the morning. I won’t stay where bullies can get away with this kind of crap.”
“No you’re not. You’re staying and they’re going. Believe me when I say these bullies are out manned and out gunned.” Dee De reminds me of my promise of no violence at that point in time.
Maiha, remember what you promised before entering the school. You said you will not bring violence to this place of peace. (Dee De)
I must agree, Commander. For you to violate that promise goes against all of your core values. (Charlie)
“Enough, you two. I know what I promised, but I will not stand by and allow the students here to be bullied and abused. Not by the teachers or their fellow student. Do I make myself clear?”
They both reply with a ‘roger that’ and shut up. With a smile on my face “Now, how about you tell me who you are?”
“Cassidy Pike, but my friends just call me Cissy.”
“Ok, nice to meet you Cissy, as I said before I’m Maiha.” Before I can say more Alice shows up. From the looks of things I should have given her more info than I did. “Um… hi baby, why are you in full combat mode?” she is standing there with her armor engaged with her combat blades out.
“You said you have a situation and needed my help. So why aren’t you in combat mode?” the look on her face is one of confusion and dismay.
“All I said was I needed your help with something. Why did you think you would need to be in combat mode?”
When she starts to giggle I know that I won’t like her answer. “The Great and powerful Maiha Nakatoma needs help with something she doesn’t know how to handle and it doesn’t involve combat?! The Gods are truly laughing.”
I decide to ignore her and turn back to Cissy. And it is a good thing I did. The poor girl looks like she is trying to push her way through the far wall trying to get away from Alice. “Relax, Cissy, this is just Alice in her combat mode. She thought I was in trouble and came down here ready for a fight, instead of giving me a hand helping you.” I wait for her to relax and calm down before stepping over to take her hand and pull her out of the alcove. “Now Cissy can you tell me who did this to you?”
When Alice sees her, her giggling stops and a look of pure hate comes to her face. “The ‘Heathers’. This is one of their favorite stunts to pull on the TG students.” Looking Cissy in the eyes “Let me guess, there was four of them all with perfect hair, make-up, and tailor made uniforms. Am I right?”
Cissy looks at her in shock. “How did you know? I haven’t seen you around campus before.”
“Honey child, this is my second go around. Do me a favor; don’t let those bitches do what they did to me. They drove me off, when I didn’t want to leave. If it wasn’t for my lovely wife here, I still wouldn’t be back here. Now come on, let’s go get you cleaned up.”
“Cissy, you go with Alice ok?”
“Ok Maiha, but what are you going to be doing?” Cissy has a really concerned look on her face. “Don’t get in to trouble because of me.”
“Trust me, I won’t get into trouble, and I won’t get caught either.” I give her a hug and send her off with Alice to go get cleaned up. I turn around and begin to plot my attack on the Heathers and how I’ll deal with them.
That’s when Fuyuko, Nanase, and Nanami come through the door also in full combat mode. What did Alice do, broadcast an all hands on deck call? Alice seeing my questioning look just shrugged her shoulders. As if to say don’t blame me. “I didn’t call them.”
“We picked up the activation of Alice’s armor, and came running, sissy.” Fuyuko answers my unasked question for all of them.
“Yeah, what’s the situation? Who do we get to pound on this time?” Nanami puts in.
“Yeah, who pissed in our oatmeal this time?” Nanase says not to be outdone.
Oh yeah my family is ready to rumble, they definitely have my back, but this is one time that brute force cannot be used. “Sorry, little sisters, but you need to stand down and let me handle this. This is one time we need to out think our foe, not pound them into submission. Remember we will not start the fight but we will finish it. However we cannot use violence to accomplish our objective. This is one time where you do not yet have the training to perform the mission. Now if our foe comes at you with force then that is a whole different story. Remember they push, we flatten.”
“Hai, ane! We know, but why can’t we help. We know you’re going after the ‘Heathers’. Those bitches need to be put down, and put down hard.” Fuyuko was damned near in a tizzy over the Heathers. Something was up, and I needed to find out now.
“What have they done to you three?” when they look down at the floor I know something has happened. “Come on tell me what they did.”
Sighing Fuyuko speaks up first. “When I got to my room all of my underwear wa
s in the toilet and my uniforms had been thrown into the bathtub with the water running. Everything I have is soaking wet and my roommates were too afraid to stop them.”
Looking over at the twins I notice that they appear to have just stepped out of the shower. “We got hit with shaving cream balloons and honey bombs.” Nanase says.
Now at about this point in time I am really pissed off. I am so pissed off I don’t even realize my armor has engaged until I see the targeting crosshairs on my HUD. Thankfully Alice is there to help me keep control. “Kitten! Stand down! If you go charging out after them right now all you’ll do is kill them. System Governor or not you just can’t kill people for being schoolyard bullies.”
It takes me a few minutes to get myself under control. Once I have control I look over at Alice “You can go on and help Cissy, I have things under control now, pussycat.” She takes another look at me to be sure, then heads out with Cissy. I look back at my sisters and see how they have been degraded and there is one thing I do know. These insults will not go unanswered. The Heathers may have won the opening rounds sure, but this is a war of wills; and it is also a war of psychology. In short this is guerrilla warfare and needs to be handled with counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism tactics. Time to have some fun with the Heathers.
“Dee De, were the cameras working in the areas where these acts happened?”
Negative, Maiha, all the cameras were down at that time for maintenance. (Dee De)
“Charlie, can you locate the current members of the Heathers?”
I’m sorry, commander, I do not have enough Intel on the targets to be able to locate them all. (Charlie)
“What do you mean?”
I know of only seven members of the terrorist organization known as ‘the Heathers’. Without a full run down of the current members I have no way to track them. (Charlie)
“Dee De, hack the schools admin files and get me that info. I’m sure the administration have kept a track on who is in the ‘Heathers’”.
