The Sixth Line of Defense

by Shiva Winters

  * * *

  Soon enough they were leaving behind the tiny plain rooms that had housed them for the previous three days, gently escorting her mother through the corridors and up towards the massive hanger complex high above them in the rock. Gregor carried what little luggage there was, but it seemed obvious that he wasn't going to leave anything to chance until they were safely in the air and away from the base. In truth only Shiva seemed allowed to wander the base freely during the length of their stay. When she had told Vala that Jarson had been the laboratory that had served for the creation of Series 1 and 2 individuals it only made sense that she would be able to move around freely since she had been raised in place that would have been at the least similar. Ceasa was waiting for them above in the hanger bay having overseen the preparations of the smaller and sleeker looking thopter that would carry them to the nearest commercial space port. Much to her surprise it fell to Kali and Shiva to take the pilot's seats and Alex assured them that when one got involved with someone from Series 6 one usually stopped worrying over much about having a pilot, no matter what the vehicle. It was just a little cramped in the passenger compartment with two more people wearing the uniforms of lunar security, but Vala didn't mind so much about sitting in her mother's lap.

  Thankfully at the speeds the thopter was capable of even over the uneven terrain of the mountains, it wasn't a terribly long flight before the spaceport came into view. And Kali seemed completely capable of keeping the mood lighthearted with her teasing and jokes, it was good to see Shiva laughing again since the past days had really made Vala worry about her. By no means her first time seeing one of the massive facilities, she nevertheless marveled at the immense structures of the magnetic catapults that launched large and small vehicles up the vast sweeping lengths of the curved runways, firing them towards the sky overhead. Able to accelerate the shuttles up to high speeds and give them the added boost needed to overcome the influence of Earth's gravity in conjunction with the shuttle's engines so they could reach space without the need of chemical rockets. As they circled in on a low approach to their designated landing Vala watched as three such high speed launches took place, lobbing vehicles towards the far distant edge of space.

  The arrival had clearly been planned to perfection and almost as soon as they touched down they were being lead through the private terminal to the small private shuttle capable of carrying no more than 15 people from the surface to a ship in orbit, the space port, or at the outside radius, the moon. Being quite small it wasn't capable of creating the hyperspace gates that would allow them to reach the colonies of Mars or Venus. It's short range didn't require the gravity plating that consumer shuttles and larger space going vessels used, but Vala was just as glad that they were at least given some measure of privacy for Shiva's security conscious state of mind. The two people from lunar security were their pilots and the five of them were the only passengers. The airlocks were soon sealed and they started to taxi into position for their launch towards space.

  "I'm sorry for the way things have been.." Shiva whispered to her softly as they strapped in just a little distance from the others. It meant a great deal to her to hear those words from her right then as they moved towards even more distant unknown parts. For as much as she loved Shiva and for as much as those feelings had only grown even in the face of the recent disaster, the last few days she seemed to have withdrawn from Vala as black shadows had loomed over everything. Vala had honestly started to worry she would never return to the girl she had fallen in love with.

  "I'm sorry too.." Vala whispered back to her as they leaned in closer to each other despite the straps holding them into the their seats.

  "It's not your fault." Shiva countered quickly.

  "In a way it is.. until that night.. I.. I never really let myself believe that you could be dangerous. That you didn't really have it in you.. and then I saw.. all of that, and I started to ask myself if you could do that to me." Vala whispered slowly back to her, struggling a little for words as the far too recent memories tried to come flooding back. "All of a sudden.. I felt weird around you."

  "Vala.. I love you so very much.. I don't think I would want to live without you. Ever since I met you.. you were all that mattered to me. I.. I.. don't like hurting people.. but.. no matter what, I was going to protect you." Shiva told her haltingly, struggling for words as she so rarely had to.

  "You did good, kitten, and Kali set me straight before you got back.." Vala assured her leaning over to kiss her cheek.

  "What did she say?" Shiva murmured back to her uncertain even as some of her tension eased.

  "That if you had truly wanted to hurt people, you would have. That the psychological.. manipulation many of you were forced to endure might have broken down over time, but it would still allow you to simply not see those around you as people, merely.. targets." Vala told her even a cold chill raced up her spine at that thought.

  "Maybe.. never tried.." Shiva whispered back to her as she relaxed further as if those thoughts had simply never occurred to her. That if anything only reassured Vala on a far deeper level, it was proof that once the anger and despair began to fade with time that the beautiful and adorable love of her life would be able to return to her. She sighed as they leaned into each other as the last little bit of tension seemed to flow away.

  "Devin asked me about your nightmares the other day.." She murmured calmly, just for the sake of their peace of mind. "And my first response was, 'What nightmares?', until I remember Cami specifically warning me about them, so I tried thinking back.."

  "There has been only one since we started sharing the bed." Shiva confirmed softly but not willing to say what day that might have been.

  "They are hooking us up." One of the pilots called back through the open door leading from the cabin to the cockpit.

  "Shiva, I've been thinking this over and over in my head.. I don't want to lose you because you left to get revenge on my father's killers.. but.. I know you so well now. If I asked you not to go, you'd stay just for me.. but if I did that, they might win.. they'd snatch you away and everyone like you and I'd end up losing you anyways. So I want you to promise me.. when you leave, you'll get them, and then you'll come back to me." Vala whispered as the rising sound of the engines slowly began to block out all other sounds.

  "I swear it on your Father's memory, they will pay for what they have done." Shiva murmured with a determined resolve that vibrated more powerfully through the air than the shuttles high energy engines rising up towards their peak. The ten second countdown started in the next heartbeat and when it reached zero there was no more room for words, indeed it took a strength of will simply to force a breath into her lungs as they were thrust forward by a tremendous force as the catapult lunged into action. Vala was instantly and terribly worried about her mother, despite the fact that she was on the road to recovery the tremendous G-forces of the launch would almost certainly put a terrible strain on her weakened state. For as much as she might have worried about her sudden blindness it had been the fact that she had struggled just a little to walk the distance to the hanger and through the terminal to the shuttle. Vala couldn't have been more surprised to discover her mother smiling and breathing easily as she spoke something to Kali in the seat next to her as if nothing were wrong. Kali gasped something back and her head turned painfully around to half glare at Shiva's silent presence next to Vala. After about two minutes it ended in a rush and all of them were finally able to fill their lungs in gasping breaths as the launch pressures ended and their was a sudden lightness in her limbs.

  "Didn't do that for yourself, sweety?" Kali asked towards Shiva a moment later.

  "Didn't need to." Shiva whispered back to her even as she shifted a bit more to curl up in the seat acting just like the kitten Vala had named her.

  "What?" Alex asked with confusion.

  "Protecting me from that whole mess, thank you, Shiva." H
er mother whispered looking relieved and deeply touched, by whatever Shiva had done to ease the transition.

  "It might not even have helped." Shiva murmured with a calm dismissive shrug.

  "It did." Her mother stated in return. Feeling even better about the state of her relationship, Vala chuckled and reached over to unhook Shiva's harness to let her float free and so that Vala could tuck her girlfriend into her arms.

  "My beautiful, sweet, and loving Shiva." Vala whispered down to her as she kissed the top of Shiva's head.

  "What can be used to kill can also be used to protect, I always find comfort in that counterpoint." Alex murmured to them with a sigh and a chuckle as he unhooked his straps and moved to float in over top of their seats. "So Shiva, think you'll want some back-up?"

  "No, I won't risk Kali." Shiva whispered back to him firmly.

  "Hey!" Kali countered from close by.

  "You aren't combat trained." Shiva countered easily and without hesitation.

  "Fair enough." Kali agreed with a soft giggle over to Rei who was relaxed and smiling.

  "And it would be a week or more before any of the others would be able to reach Luna colony, my plan is to be back down there long before that could happen." Shiva added before anyone else could interject any dissenting opinions.

  "Not quite." Alex commented sounding mysterious and self satisfied as he hovered above them. "There was a lot of controversy just after you were taken to Earth, as you know, and the base's funding was cut back by a sizable measure. However I convinced my superiors that the lab would need extensive maintenance efforts in another 20 years if it was left in its' current state, and therefore become a massive financial sinkhole. So they gave me a grant of 50 million dollars to be paid over the next five years earmarked towards creating some profit generating purpose to offset the cost of future upkeep of the facility."

  "You lied." Her mother commented with a chuckle, no doubt sensing the same feelings from him as Vala.

  "I had incomplete information about the condition of the lab." Alex told her haughtily. "I merely neglected to tell them what sort of enterprise I had in mind."

  "Do I have to hurt you before you tell us?" Shiva growled up at him.

  "Maybe." Alex agreed chuckling with his bright playful spirit. Shiva took that for a more definitive answer and gave him a fairly gentle telekinetic shove that made a large hollow sound as the Lt. Colonel's head thumped against the overhead storage bins. "I said maybe!" He half laughed, half bitterly complained.

  "Are you okay?" Kali asked even as bright bubbly laughter rippled up through her while her mother dissolved into silent giggles nearby. He gave her a nod even as he glared down at Shiva's snickering presence while Vala laughed silently below him. "Baby, if a telekinetic ever asks that, you always say no."

  "Notes for the future.." He agreed with a good natured sigh. "Well it was pointed out to me that we still had a pretty advanced laboratory on our hands simply gathering dust, so we decided to go into research."

  "Not more genetic research." Her mother half asked with a sudden worry.

  "No the previous occupants pretty much took care of that. I simply explained to Alex that we already had a perfectly good research staff already on hand." Kali assured her gently rubbing her arm and smiling over at Vala.

  "Oh." Shiva agreed and almost seemed to smile silently.

  "How Shiva can say volumes with so very little worries me at times." Her mother chuckled back across the distance. "What does that 'Oh' mean?"

  "We simply started waking up my brothers and sisters." Kali stated with a chuckle. "Vala could probably attest how fast Shiva learns, well.. it's a family trait.."

  "Rei's your grandmother, it isn't polite to talk down to your elders." Shiva reprimanded in a sleepy voice.

  "Series 3." Her mother confirmed at Kali's surprised look.

  "Sorry about that, grandmother." Kali murmured apologetic and playful on the same breath. Her mother smiled brightly at that and gave her an unseeing wink followed by a soft laugh.

  "Go on, please, I am interested to hear this." Rei requested a heartbeat later.

  "While we were the primary research and main goal of Anslaw was to create us, once we were created, tested, evaluated, and cataloged, what then? The research had long since moved on as the scientists continued down the line. And because we were unknowns, our psychological training could only be taken so far without risking us becoming unstable or extremely violent. So while there was training we could do there was only so much that they could teach us without letting us leave. Since some of us had been awake and active for nearly twenty years before the shut down, and I am not entirely sure whose idea it was, some of us were put into work in the labs. Some of us even spent time helping to create our youngest siblings, while others did advanced math, physics, and medical research. You name it, someone probably tried their hand at it."

  "Weapons." Alex stated darkly and Shiva slowly raised her hand into the air.

  "You?" Vala asked her with surprise.

  "Vala, sweety.." Kali called to her gently. "Shiva is one of the highest level telekinetics ever known without a glimmer of empathy, and her telepathic gift is more 'wall' than anything else. She was seen as a weapon for a lot longer than most of us."

  "It's fine.. until I met Vala I wondered if I could ever be anything but a weapon." Shiva whispered honestly.

  "Shiva..." Vala whispered tenderly down to her as she hugged the smaller girl that much tighter.

  "Shiva, you don't have to be alone in this." Kali told her gently.

  "Maybe.." Shiva countered sounding even more sleepy than the seconds before. She stirred just a little bit as if forcing herself back from the edge to finish what she wanted to stay. "Maybe that will change.. but.." She sighed and opened her eyes just a little. "The first act is going to be a criminal act, no matter what happens, no matter what changes because of it, that first act is going to be act of treason against the state. They need proof to take action, and I need to take action to get proof. I won't risk the others, I won't risk Anslaw.. just like I can't risk General Owen and Devin. When I go, I will go alone.. if I can't at least get enough to make people listen to us.. then we'll see if more of us can improve the results."

  "I think it's nap time for some of us." Vala murmured to them for Shiva's sake as she could feel her mind starting waver uncertainly.

  "Good idea." Her mother murmured as she let out a tired yawn.