The Sixth Line of Defense

by Shiva Winters

  * * *

  "We're here!!" The giggling high pitched squeal came from the direction of the two massive vehicles that had just hovered in to land on the road. It sat to one side of the massive garden square in the center of a complex of buildings meant for those who lived and worked at Digel base. Vala had been there for hours already lingering on the fringes of the growing crowds of children who filtered in small groups usually followed by one or two smiling adults and greeted by excited calls and hugs by those who had been first to arrive. For as much as she enjoyed seeing all of them after the four short days since they had left Anslaw, there was one figure who was far more important in her eyes and quite remarkably absence. Even though Devin's phone call the previous evening had assured them that everyone was all right save for a few minor injuries Vala desperately wanted to see with her own eyes that Shiva was not one of those with even minor injuries, but more important she wanted to see if that darkness was still there. Even as the gaggle of high ranking officers turned to see who would appear next the massed children swept into towards those that were offloading, obscuring the new arrivals. Straining to see if was Shiva or any of the others she might have recognized were there, she was almost frustrated enough to go swimming through the sea of excited happy children and abandoning her mother in the process. Even as the new arrivals were swept away or otherwise dispersed Poe appeared out nowhere to slide her fingers into her mother's other hand.

  "Hey there, sweety." Rei greeted with a smile and a laugh as she pulled away from Vala for just a moment to scoop up the mysterious girl and settle her up on her hip.

  "Hey.." Poe called back smiling as she settled in close to half curled around her mother's neck. The officers were surprised and Vala was touched by the scene, knowing that her mother had come to adore the small quiet girl in the face of the more rambunctious masses. She almost forgot who she was looking for in the next moment as the twins went bouncing in mimic each others' greetings to both of them before once again they were bouncing away. When Vala's eyes shot back up she found Shiva almost immediately standing in the distance as she talked quietly to the drivers of the trucks, they both saluted her before wandering off towards their own home-comings. Shiva looked out over the gathering with a smile seeming almost ready to make a decision before she made a cute little face and turned to smile back over her shoulder as she found Vala watching her. After that, all the hours and days of waiting didn't matter as Shiva's smile grew and she moved on a straight determined course right through the heart of the gathered officers and directly into Vala's arms. All but the Advocate General seemed stunned by the scene well aware who had just entered their midst, the former chuckled as she watched Shiva with obvious affection.

  "I assume this means that none of my shuttles will be disappearing any time soon." She commented in their direction only too obviously addressing Shiva.

  "Probably not, but if you keep us here for very long there might be a mass escape over or through one of the walls." Shiva murmured shifting her head just enough to make herself heard.

  "Oh?" The General asked with playful concern.

  "Yeah.. towards the nearest mall." Shiva commented back to her and was greeted with a lot of laughter from the many surprised officers.

  "Well, you keep us posted on that." She agreed happily.

  "If you will excuse us." Vala murmured to all of them before she turned to lead Shiva away. The direction didn't matter and where they would end up didn't matter, just as long as they could find some moments where they could be alone. Shiva seemed calm, happy, and bit sleepy as they walked half curled in the others arms, just as they had done it at the Academy what felt like a life time ago. Shiva almost felt the same despite the fact that she was still wearing body armor and smelled just a little like she needed a shower as there was the smell of smoke still lingering around her presence. But those moments felt so very perfect, so very warm like nothing horrible had ever happened, Vala was certain in that moment that they would be all right, that they could survive anything just as long as they were together. They hardly set a bristling pace and didn't really care which direction they were going as long as it was away from people, eventually coming to rest in the bleachers that sat at the edges of the parade grounds.

  "All fought out?" Vala asked after a long perfect silence.

  "Mm-hmm." Shiva agreed practically curled into her lap like a purring kitten after a hard day's playtime.

  "Good I love it when you are meek and yielding." This aroused a soft giggle from the tired but pleased girl in her arms but hardly encouraged Shiva to any acts of defiance right then.

  "I missed you so much." Shiva whispered to her after a short contented silence.

  "Would you really have stolen a shuttle to come see me?" Vala teased gently.

  "I was about too.. figured no one would be looking for trouble from our little swarm.. until I felt you there watching me.." She gave the distance a soft far off smile as she shifted just a little deeper into Vala's arms.

  "They requested our presence through Alex, he had to stay up there for just a little bit longer to find a few more adults with Devin's help to watch over the really little ones before he could get away without having to worry." Vala told her softly as she hugged the girl she loved with all her heart just a little tighter. "And the doctors at Jarson said that Mom was a very good candidate for artificial eye replacement surgery, so she'll be going to the medical facility here in a few days for the procedure."

  "I'm glad." Shiva whispered sounding even sleepier than moments before almost as if she was ready to fall asleep right there.

  "Come on.. we should head back before I have to carry you up to bed." Shiva whined at her sounding so very much like the twins when they were trying to put a guilt trip on someone. "Be a good girl.." Vala whispered to her teasingly.

  "But I am soo good at being bad.." Shiva giggled back to her, even as the two of them slipped away from their comfortable positions. Wandering with just a little more direction than they had before they were soon enough returning to the courtyard. Virtually everyone was out and about in the square, while the trucks were gone the crates that had been part of their cargo had been scattered around the space as make shift benches. The numbers of high ranking officers had nearly tripled from before, as they added their uniformed presences to an even greater number of lower ranked personnel who had been there earlier. In all truth it made for a chaotic scene she wasn't quite ready to face after the quiet the two of them had shared, but she was amazed by the firey, bright, and strange demonstrations that were happening for the entertainment of their guests. Involving things as simple as telepathy, to manipulating fire, lightning, water, and shaping pieces of stone as it were clay. Never ones to be outdone, the twins were as always the center of attention as between them and in an arching space over fifty feet they were juggling two dozen giggling subjects picked from the youngest children in complex weaving patterns through the air, much to the delight of themselves, their audience and their willing victims. As if to prove that their showmanship was a shared trait, Vala felt Shiva's tethers slip away from around her arms and suddenly they were the only people in the square attached to the ground as they strolled through the floating figures.

  "Keep practicing kiddies." Shiva announced with barely contained laughter in her voice.

  "Very funny!!" The twins called back at her.

  "Now put us down.." Athena snapped at her.

  ".. before we do mean things to you in your sleep." Shiva chuckled back to them as the area resettled on the ground and her tethers returned with a quiet snap.

  "Pretty impressive." One of the Generals commented as they reached the area where more high ranking officers were gathering around her mother with Poe sitting happily in her lap and with Ayla sitting nearby.

  "General if you want impressive, have your men pull some staff vehicles over into the parade ground and the twins and I will play some v
olleyball." Shiva murmured as she suddenly spun Vala around and almost seemed to dropping her to the ground when her butt landed into a surprisingly comfortable invisible chair before her girlfriend slid down into her lap. There were some chuckles at that, but some laughed simply because they didn't believe her. "Are you all right?" Shiva asked Ayla with real concern.

  "I'm fine." Ayla assured her. "Alex had some of the neural suppressants made up for Poe and I, and a few of the others in case we were exposed to large crowds."

  "Pardon?" A Colonel asked with a confused expression.

  "Drugs.." Ayla replied quickly displaying a sub-dermal injector from one of her pockets. ".. it suppresses my abilities, some of us would never be able to adapt to life outside of Anslaw without using such medications all the time. All the mental.. noise.. around us would overwhelm our ability to block it out. Around our family we are fine, since most of them have developed an ability to mute their stray thoughts and dampen their emotions, and because there are a few like Shiva who pretty much have an off switch which makes them hard to hear." Ayla explained with a calm smile. "The drugs aren't harmful for short periods of time, but I also wouldn't wish to remain in a fog all the time."

  "If it gets bad enough, let me know I'll steal a shuttle and take whomever needs to get away back to Anslaw." Shiva murmured to her as she let herself relax.

  "You are just looking for excuses to cause trouble, aren't you." The Advocate General teased.

  "Sure, why not? At least I am not razing buildings and causing mass panic in the streets." Those few who laughed were the ones who understood Shiva would never do such things without a damn good reason. "Anyways, better I steal a shuttle for 16 hours, than someone lose control and leave all of your brains in a state remarkably like gray pudding."

  "Shiva, stop it." Rei reprimanded gently even as she smiled and caressed Ayla's shoulder as Ayla herself smiled at the officers around them. "I hope you can see now why Shiva is not the designated Diplomat for all these children." She added which did make everyone laugh, though some were still just a touch nervous.

  "I'd prefer to be the President of destruction and disaster anyways." Shiva agreed with a small giggle.

  "Too bad, the twins all ready took that position. You got elected as the Director of military affairs while you've been down here." Ayla teased right back as the gathering seeming to relax as they realized that Shiva was being playful in her own strange way.

  "If nothing else.. seeing them all here like this.." One of the Generals she had never seen before commented softly gesturing to the courtyard around them. "I can not find myself disagreeing with Mrs. Winters or you General Vandemere and the opinions both of you have put forth."

  "I.. about.. recent events.." Shiva murmured as she seemed to find an opening for something she had been wanting to say for some time. "It.. occurred to me after it was over that I.. and some of the others might have overdid it a little. I wanted to apologize for any damage you might have thought was excessive.." She murmured to them sounding more than a little uncomfortable and far more like the Shiva she had first met on that warm summer afternoon.

  "There wasn't much any of the armies or naval forces could have done to take that base out of the hands of those who betrayed the oaths all of us swore, beyond whole scale destruction. All of you were the precision strike that I would have never thought was possible in that situation." He murmured back to her.

  "I.. just don't want all of them to be judged by some of their bad examples." It seemed obvious to all of them she was referring specifically and exclusively to herself. "It has been.. implied in my hearing.. and rightly so that I was one of those who should never have been let out of Anslaw.. that I was planted by those who wished to turn Series 6 into merchandise and were using me to discredit the efforts to give Series 6 lives outside the lab.. and if.. it weren't for Vala they would have succeeded." All the officers were watching her with a mixture of amazement and a few with blurry eyes. Vala hugged her close knowing she was almost on the edge of tears herself. "As much as I would hate to give up a life on the outside.. if.. it would mean that those more deserving and better prepared would get the chance.. I.. would do it quietly if that was the decision another board of inquiry reached." Shiva whispered to them scrubbing at her eyes in the shadows. Poe whispered something Vala's mother and she caught it out of the corner of her eye, before she popped up and hurried over to take Shiva's hand. "Excuse us.." Shiva whispered as she was pulled away.

  "She wasn't suppose to hear that." The Advocate General whispered to them rubbing at her eyes.

  "It's all right ma'am. I know Shiva better than most everyone except Vala." Ayla told them with a soft smile. "I am one of the few people who she will let past that barrier of hers.. so, I can tell you the reason she speaks the truth in the fashion that she does, the reason she is is so bad at lying, is because she'd much rather hear the truth, no matter how painful it might be for her to hear."

  "She can be rather blunt at times." Her mother agreed with a warm affectionate smile.

  "I would ask for all of you to keep this off the record.." For the Ayla she had come to know in the past week this seemed very unlike something she would say. "The reason she only wants to truth.. the reason why she has nightmares.. the reason why she doesn't let most people get close to her.. even the reason why she was selected to discredit the acclimation programs, is because there was.. an accident. Though.. I don't think there is reasonable soul who could blame her even if it weren't an accident." There was not one person who could not see the rage that was bubbling just beneath the surface of the extremely gentle girl. "Shiva used to be different, a lot more like she is with Vala now. She couldn't have been more than seven years old at the time, until one of the scientists got into his head.. to try and 'Augment' a living specimen. Shiva trusted him and used to hang off him like Poe is with Rei, so he picked her, told her that she was going to get a special treat. They took her into one of the surgical bays, and tried to open her skull with her still conscious.. and.. she lost control. Everyone in that room, and 12 others in the area were killed and Shiva was forced to watch strapped down to a table with her own blood running down into her eyes." Vala's blood ran cold and none of them seemed to be breathing. "For her to say that she would willing return to confinement in Anslaw.. I think all of can clearly understand now how much all of us mean to her, and how much she wants to see us have the same opportunity as she has gotten." Ayla added wiping tears away from her eyes. "If you will excuse me, I'll go make sure she's feeling better." She hurried off seeming desperate to distance herself from any further discussion of what she had just told all of them. Not quite ready to face Shiva in that moment with anger bubbling up inside of her, but not ready to be alone Vala quickly retreated close to her mother's side.

  "We can't ever turn our backs on these children. Never.. never again.." An Admiral growled with a barely contained rage just behind his eyes. "Not on Shiva, not on those who can't live their lives in public, not on any them."

  "You okay?" Her mother whispered down her.

  "I.. I honestly feel like hurting someone.. for the first time in my life." Vala whispered softly to her as outraged angry tears burned hotly against her cheeks. Thankfully no one wanted to discuss anything even closely related to Shiva after that and topics changed over to the debriefings, trials, and investigations that were ahead.