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SAFES Liaison Log, Science Vessel Searcher, May 25th, 2555

I believe we've officially crossed a major threshold. This is the furthest that the people of the Solar system have been from their mother world or even imagined being. As near as my team on Charles was able to determine, the location to which we have been catapulted is on one of the further arms of the Milky Way galaxy in a somewhat denser cluster of stars than appears on all but the Sol arm. The sun of this system is a highly unusual medium yellow-white which means that whatever civilization fired upon our instrumental probe likely resides on a planet quite a distance from its sun.

Turning to the journey itself, I was pleasantly surprised at how smooth it was considering the gargantuan distance between point of departure and point of arrival. The below-threshold reading appears to have translated into a folding anomaly that was sufficiently stable to burrow through the space-time layer with an unusually low amount of signal disruption (and thus, less of the aggravating "pins and needles" sensation upon arrival). Since we have always brought ships back through the ripple gate itself, I've never had the chance to witness an object arrival. It is the most awe-inspiring sight I've ever seen, space seeming to split open, briefly displaying a crackling universe where our own physical laws do not apply, and then a ship flies out of the rip which snaps shut behind it. I do admit a certain residual concern that the recall effect will not operate at this extraordinary distance but over five years of field tests, we have discovered no indication that distance or astrological phenomena can interfere with the ability of the gate to burrow a pathway back to itself for a ship to travel. I suppose that the next step is to build a drive system that will allow a ship to generate this path itself to any destination that it chooses but that sort of advancement is far in the future.

To borrow a term from our fleet's SpecOps asset, this star system is insane. Our detection array in the Searcher is struggling to keep up with the input flooding in from every direction, especially from a few dozen derelict-looking stations spread around where we entered the system. Initial analysis indicates some sort of slingshot technology that allows a ship to transit quickly between two lit-up points although without a technical readout, finding out more will impossible.

The planet we arrived above is the most frightening stew of atmospheric disaster I've ever seen. The upper atmosphere is murky with ozone pollutants and as near as a quick instrumental scan can determine, the lower atmosphere is thick with methane, sulfur and nitrogen dioxides, and immense particulate matter. In a way, it's almost fortunate that their carbon dioxide pollutant level is so highâ€"while the hazardous gasses would likely choke all plant life on the surface to death, high concentrations of practically the only dioxide that's not toxic seems to have temporarily stabilized the herbaceous ecosystem. I'm frankly astonished that this is a heavily-populated world but I would estimate the planet's population at 18 billion with massive urban concentration. I am hoping that we won't be called on to go to the surface because I do not desire to breathe that roiling chemical soup that the inhabitants breathe. With the variety and density of the gasses, especially in the upper atmosphere, we'll need to reconfigure our scanners to step around it before we can decide about their apparent technology level.

As to the fleet, it appears to have arrived intact and well. I admit to having seen quite a few of the fleet ships passing by Charles during my tenure there but the sheer mass and elegant designs never cease to amaze me. Probably due to a designer having a sense of humor, the heavy capital ships look very much like what they are. The Lady Lex has a totally flattened top with a tower structure (actually, its heavy equipment umbilical folded up against the side) to one side, making it look like an old oceanic supercarrier. And there's no mistaking what the Redux Executor is with its numerous visible turrets and visible gun ports. It's a lovely ship but I got a really big laugh out of seeing it for the first time: the Admiral painted the Williams coat of arms in large-scale elegant Scottish style on the side, obviously to mark distinctively as her command vessel. At any rate, it's time to sign off so I can get moving on that reconfiguration. I have my doubts about the wisdom of our expedition but I suppose we'll soon discover whether or not it is worth the possible risks.

Dr. Melinda Campbell, SAFES

As soon as Navigation said "mark", Sera immediately felt the sensation of a sudden drop... but sideways. It was immediately accompanied by the worst case of pins-and-needles she'd ever experienced, every bit of her body tingling uncomfortably for a few seconds. About the time that the sensation went away, Nomi stretched a little, flexing her wings to rid herself of the last tingling, before turning around to the command crew. "Security, spin up the shield generators." She ordered. "Weaponry, tell the gunnery crews to mount their weapons and await further orders. Instruments, reel off anything you can see, no matter how unimportant. Communications, power your delta-rings and report any transmissions from the task force. Engineering, keep engine room on open channel and prepare damage control. Navigation, do you see any navigational hazards or anomalies?"

"One moon, rock, Luna-type." Navigation replied promptly. "Several dozen ring-like structures. Planet, slightly above Earth-normal gravitational effect. No space junk or navigational difficulties in immediate vicinity, Captain."

"Security reports shield generators spun up."

"Set them burning." Nomi replied.

"Generators firing, aye." Security nodded.

"Gunnery crews are stationed."

"Communications reports no transmissions as of yet."

"Engine room reports all engineering concerns running hot and normal."

"Captain, Instruments reports that one ring-like structure, detected by navigational sensors, has powered." Instruments reported in a clipped manner. "RADNAR is returning small echoes, similar to Liberty II size, emerging from apparent superluminal transport system. No detected escorts."

"Navigation verifies." Navigation promptly added. "Ships are maintaining course for the planet. At present heading, the task force should intercept in fifteen minutes barring any navigational corrections from flagship."

"Forward SIB batteries have acquired target solutions." Weaponry said right after Navigation had finished.

"Belay acquisition." Nomi responded. "There's no need to point our guns at transport vessels with no apparent hostile intentions. Have gunners keep watch for any valid threats."

"Valid threat watch, aye." Weaponry nodded once and relayed the command to the gunners with the flip of a switch and a quick sentence.

"Any more station reports?" Nomi glanced around to each console.

"Security reports negative."

"Weaponry reports negative."

"Navigation reports negative."

"Engineering reports negative."

"Instruments reports..."

"Directional Radio reports contact." Communications interrupted. "Lead ship is transmitting to planet. Hypothesize that we've been made and a sighting report has been relayed."

"Very well, Communications." Nomi nodded. "I expected that to happen the moment they came from their transportation station, actually. Instruments, what actions are the ships of the task force taking?"

"Executor is moving to uncover all starboard batteries towards the ring structures." Instruments reported. "Searcher is dropping back and elevating their z-orientation. Instruments cannot see what actions Lady Lex is taking but SOP is putting pilots on alert and sheathing their armored hanger doors."

"Making ready for hostilities?" Nomi quirked an eyeridge. "Comm, pull up the Executor. Unless Instruments missed something, there're no valid threats in our immediate vicinity."

"Permission to speak, Captain?" Sera piped up.

Nomi laughed. "You outrank me, General." She replied amusedly. "What is it?"

"Might the Executor and Lady Lex be considering the possibility that the moon has anti-orbital rocket batteries like Luna does and preparing accordingly?"

Nomi nodded. "Ah, of course. Comm, belay raising the Executor. Fortunately, we don't need to change our orientation to uncover our weapon systems. Helm, maintain course until otherwise instructed."

"Yes ma'am." He nodded.

"Any more helpful observations, Serafine?" Nomi inquired with an impish grin.

"Well, if these people are anything like us, any defense fleets will be scattered around to keep out invaders that cannot simply pop out near their planet." Sera replied, ignoring the tease. "If they are sufficiently far out, they will be coming out of those gates and their destination will be high orbit."

"Good point." Nomi admitted. "However, there's no way to properly take advantage of the insight without one of the mainline fleets. Anything else?"

"Isn't this what your XO is for?" Sera inquired curiously.

"Don't got one." Nomi shrugged. "The command crew is mine, sure, but SAFN typically handles XO assignments and, well... I wasn't the expected commanding officer."

"Why?" Sera knew her expression surely reflected her astonishment but she didn't bother to try and conceal it. "You strike me as amply competent and besides... Shadow hand-picked everyone but the intel weenie."

"I think SAFC expected that Shadow would select a warship captain as opposed to a freshfish from Janus Command." Nomi admitted wryly. "I don't know why I got pulled but I'm not complaining."

The mention of Janus Command made Sera stop and think a moment. Largely, the command was composed of patrol and sensor ships that did high-resolution mapping at the edge of the Solar system where 21st-century astronomers had theorized about the existence of additional planets and planetoids besides the Pluto/Charon binary planet. While technically part of SAF, the duties and tendencies of the captains that were assigned to the command tended to be highly intellectual instead of especially suited for "real" naval command. She was startled out of her contemplation by the communications officer.

"Captain... you're not going to believe this but one of those ships is actually transmitting to us!" She exclaimed, her eyeridges both practically disappearing into her mane.

"Well, what're you waiting for? Put it on." Nomi responded immediately. "Strange they'd be directing a transmission at the smallest ship but..." She shrugged as the technician adjusted a control and onto the screen flickered the image of a creature that Sera momentarily mistook for a cross between an iguana and an Australian frill lizard.

"Ver sinds eis? Welche ert schiff ist da?" The creature demanded in a hissing snarl of a voice. The words jolted Sera; although it sounded like a very unusual dialect, she realized that she could understand. For all intents and purposes, the creature had just asked "Who are you? What type of ship is that?" in German!

"Is that... GERMAN?" Communications gaped, clearly having come to the same conclusion as Sera with much the same dumbfounded reaction.

"Sounds like it." Nomi looked at Sera. "You're the resident Hun... talk before it actually gets annoyed."

To the various sounds of disbelief, Sera cleared her throat nervously, relieved that unlike Nomi, she was still very fluent in her native language. "Um... Greetings." She said in what she hoped was a composed manner. "We intend no harm but are simply the military escort for a..."

"Get down on your knees, scum!" The creature interrupted, its rill slowly going erect. "How DARE you address me as an equal!"

Sera was momentarily taken aback by the vehement and insulting response. "Excuse me but did you just demand that I bow to you?" She asked with clear incredulity.

The rill, now fully erect, started to flush a dark color, reflecting, Sera supposed, extreme agitation. "Dare you defy me, albiru?" He all but roared. "You, who pretend to be the master of a vessel, do not give proper homage? The Enforcers will punish you dearly!"

Sera was far too stunned to be insulted by the raging creature, trying to figure out how to reply as Communications piped up. "Captain," she said, "the computers are struggling to correctly apply their German translation protocols to what is clearly a highly unusual variant but I believe that... thing... just got done calling the General ‘scum' and demanded that she worship it. It also is threatening her with punishment from people it calls ‘Enforcers'."

"I'm pretty sure that ‘it' is male." Nomi commented with a frown as the alien continued to glower malevolently at them. "Weaponry, kindly ask the gunners to acquire firing solutions on all of those ships in case they get it in their heads to do more than snarl."

As Weaponry nodded and began conveying the orders, the creature spoke again. "Why do you not obey?" He hissed. "Has space warped you such that you cannot recognize your betters? Are you too stupid to understand my commands?"

"No." Sera retorted, finally getting over her astonishment enough to feel affronted. "I simply am standing on the bridge of a vessel that is well-armed where you are aboard a vessel that has no weapons at all. I'm not thinking that you're in a position to snarl at me and make demands."

His eyes shot open with surprise as his rill became tinged with red. The creature seemed temporarily too enraged to say anything, his mouth opening and closing in a curious rendition of an exotic fish. "You... you..." He finally sputtered. "You... treat... my commands... as jokes? You dare... speak... to me... like... like... an... equal...?"

"Now, I don't know if I'm your equal, sir." Sera replied evenly. "I do, however, know that you are not in any position to insult and rage at me. I also do not know what I said to you that is causing you to be so angry. Are my words difficult to understand? Am I not speaking your language correctly and unintentionally insulting you?"

Somehow, the question caused an easily-recognizable expression of comprehension to dawn on the agitated creature's face. It seemed that whatever he realized calmed him some as his rill lightened noticeably. "You... are not using a computer to speak to me?"

"I am not." Sera confirmed.

"Then... you are not the albiru of our people." He stated, the rill starting to droop as whatever caused the furious reaction subsided.

"I do not know what an ‘albiru' is."

"Who are you?" He finally inquired after a long pause.

"We are the military escort for a science expedition." Apparently, the translation program had fully synched because Nomi stepped forward to answer the question; relieved that the captain was taking the heat off of her, Sera stepped into the background to listen.

"A military escort commanded by a reject?" The alien looked frankly astonished. "A mutant too... almost as large as its body..."

"A... reject?" Nomi looked quite taken aback at this. "A reject of what?"

This, in turn, caused the iguana-like face to furrow in clear confusion. "A... reject." He repeated. "It... a... flawed creature."

"Flawed?" Sera couldn't help but step in. "You, who are as ugly of reptile as..."

"UGLY?" The frill began to blush and rise again. "You dare...!"

"Of course I dare." Sera growled back. "You dare to speak to the..."

"Silence from the both of you, please!" Nomi interrupted with a severe look. "Serafine, I can speak for myself. Sir, your conversation is with me, not my contingent commander."

He frowned but the rill came back down. "Yes, it is." He agreed.

"I am not flawed." Nomi told him calmly. "I am actually a very typical example of my species. Now, I have told you who we are. Who are you?"

"We are of the Viis and this is..."

"...not your concern at this time." As suddenly as if a switch had been flipped, the volatile-seeming creature on the merchants had been replaced with a significantly more ornamented one bearing the distinct air of a military person. "What is your concern, however, is that you have brought warships into the sovereign space of the Viis Empire. If you do not wish to be attacked in self-defense, you will immediately submit to a detailed search of your vessels."

"That would be a matter that you must address to the commanding officer of this task force." Nomi replied, her face not even flicking with surprise at having the other person in the conversation abruptly replaced.

"You are not?" The other person was not as controlled as Nomi and there was the barest hint of surprise at this.

"I am the captain of the smallest warship in the formation." Nomi informed him. "If you wish, I could have my communications technician direct your transmission to the battleship upon which our commander can be located."

"Do so." He nodded stiffly as Communications adroitly manipulated her control board, making the image vanish.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but that conversation didn't sound all that encouraging, Captain." Ops remarked dryly.

"You're not wrong." Nomi sighed. "This is just great. They couldn't be simply violent or peaceful or some other category... they had to be arrogant of all things."

"How is them being arrogant worse than them being hair-trigger loose cannons?" Sera asked incredulously.

"I don't have the overwhelming urge to create a diplomatic incident by slugging a violent person." Nomi replied, albeit with the hint of a grin. "Shooting them, yeah... but then again, they'd have shot first."

"Why do you suppose that some grease trap merchant would have the balls to insult and snarl at the General?" Engineering asked. "It's clear he thought that she was a native of this star system but you'd think he'd have noticed that she's well-dressed."

"Why would that make a difference?" Helm looked back at him.

"Well... OK, I took a bunch of history classes in college, right? Well, the sort of language that jerk was using sounded like the sort of contempt you'd use for slaves." Engineering explained. "But slaves aren't exactly known for being well-dressed."

"Unless they're courtesans." Weaponry grinned fiercely at him.

"Weaps, trust me when I say that if you want to get some of this, neither paying nor enslaving will work." Nomi cut in, winking. "Incidentally, I agree with Engineering. The grease-trap twit has surely seen a military officer before and General Wilson's uniform doesn't look appreciably different than that military officer's."

"It's possible that his equipment is considerably lower-resolution than ours." Communications suggested. "He could discern the general features of both you and the General but couldn't tell that your wings weren't an overly-large rill or that the General was dressed in a military uniform. He also implied that the language of his people isn't exactly German because he calmed down when he realized that the General didn't have the advantage of a precise computerized translation."

"Well, neither did I but he didn't seem all that bothered by it." Nomi pointed out.

"Because our computers can adapt to syntax and dialect more quickly than a native speaker." Comm replied. "I'll bet that the computer's transmission was much more precise."

"You're making me feel all warm and cuddly inside." Sera retorted dryly. "So what should we be doing while the Admiral deals with our new friends?"

"Well, Serafine, I don't know about you but I could really use a snack." Nomi smiled. "Care to join me? I hear that the sauerkraut is surprisingly good for reconstituted lettuce."

"I'm more for bratwurst." Sera smiled back. "Sounds like a great idea. Who's buying?"

"SAFC." Nomi grinned. "Don't tell me you didn't know that flag officers get one free meal a day."

"It's not as if I've ever been a flag officer." Sera pointed out as she followed the draccian off the bridge. "Then again, you aren't one either."

"As far as the mess staff is concerned, the captain is a flag officer." Nomi grinned widely, showing off a row of gleaming incisors. "Or at least they thought that way after a nice chat."

After the unpleasant first contact with the creature that called itself a "Viis", Sera enjoyed just sitting down with a few links of bratwurst and a chicken Caesar salad facing the friendly draccian captain who, despite apparently having convinced the mess hall staff to give her free food, had settled on a simple grilled-cheese sandwich and reconstituted applesauce.

"I get the feeling bullying free food out of the cooks was meant to be more symbolic than practical." Sera remarked wryly as they chose a table and sat.

"Why, whatever do you mean, Serafine?" Nomi inquired innocently as she took a hearty bite out of her sandwich.

"At a captain's pay grade, a cheese sandwich and applesauce is a pittance and don't try to tell me differently." Sera retorted, grinning. "You did that just because you could, didn't you?"

"Hey, if people are scared of my pearly whites, I might as well use it to full advantage." Nomi took another bite and washed it down with a swig of juice. "Strangely, enough, humans scare rather easy. At least, the ones that land on KP duty."

"Yeah but fortunately, many times their number are brave, sometimes recklessly so." Sera said in between bites of the salad. "For example, a certain Russian commodore I know."

"Looked him up, huh?" Nomi chuckled. "What'd you find?"

"I didn't look him up." Sera corrected her. "I recognized some of his chest bars. They are not easy decorations to earn, especially when you're distinguishing yourself from the distinguished. It's fortunate for the both of us that in her career, Shadow has put many important people in her debt, not all of them known even to me. Stealing an asset like Andropoli from the Russians must have required many favors."

"I'll bet the cost was a pittance compared to Major Obsydian and Dr. Campbell." Nomi moved on to her applesauce and took a moment to enjoy the cinnamon-apple flavor before continuing. "You heard Andropoli... SAFN owes her a great deal which speaks to her giftedness."

"And Gunslinger?" Sera quirked a brow. "She's a bit young-seeming to be the pride and joy of SAFC."

"I haven't seen her file without the scrub." Nomi replied. "But she's too young to be in the Supersoldier program which says a lot. Even being a draccian, she's too young to have made it through the Patton and Fran-Mar with honors."

"How can you tell her age?" Sera tilted her head curiously, rotating her ears forward unconsciously as she picked a bratwurst up between claw tips and took a bite.

"Old enough to be shapely, too young to be an adult." Nomi replied. "Horns too developed for a young teenager and she can heft and carry something about half her body weight without effort. It puts her at either eighteen or nineteen."

"I'm impressed."

"Don't be." Nomi grinned. "It always paid in high school to be able to distinguish between the less-old kids who would dribble me and the oldest who treated me like their best friend in the universe. There's something about the 18 to 19 gap that does interesting things to the brain."

"Unless you got one early, captain dear." Both Sera and Nomi started at the smooth drawling voice that came from just outside their mutual peripheral vision. Standing there with her odd rifle in one hand and a plate of grits and frankfurter in the other was Akeya herself who was grinning widely at making them jump.

"Hello, Major." Nomi greeted her brightly. "We were just talking about you."

"Ah could hear that from way yonder, cap'n sweets." Akeya smiled. "Idle speculations won't get you nowhere, boss, but the somewhere it gets you ain't usually right."

"You could fix that, you know." Sera suggested.

Akeya laughed. "And give up the speculations and enticin' rumors, Sera?" She asked impishly. "No way on my green Earth or any other planet!"

"Part of the fun, huh?"

"Somethin' similar, yeah." Akeya put her tray down on the end of the table and took a big bite out of one of the frankfurters. "Mmm... well, it's not the good Pollack but it's surely nearly as good."

"Don't you Southern lasses usually take grits with some dressings?" Nomi inquired, eyeing the generous bowl.

"Not if we all wanna grow up all shapely, strong, and eye-candy." Akeya winked. "Granddaddy loved them plain grits and taught me what he knew. If ya can eat the grits hard, you can eat anything easy."

"Alabama must be an interesting place." Sera observed after another bite of her bratwurst. "I've never met another American from anywhere in the states who talks like you."

Akeya shrugged. "I grew up rural." She stated in a tone of voice that seemed to expect that that explained everything before taking another big bite of frankfurter.

"Moers isn't exactly urban either but I'm not quite so creative with my native language." Sera pointed out.

"Why don't you just hush up?" Akeya frowned. "Ah'm a hick from the sticks, OK? Ah talk the way ah lahk ta. Leave it alone, kay?"

"OK, OK... sorry." Sera held up her hands in surrender. "You act as if people being curious about a SpecOps prodigy is a bad thing."

Akeya eyed her but the corner of her muzzle twitched upwards. "No one's ever used ‘prodigy' before, General." She replied, her irritation disappearing instantly. "OK, fine... y'all are curious ‘bout me bein' so young and skilled and the like. But don't ya figure I've been stared at that way for, lahk, mah entire life and service? Not lahk I signed up to be poked and prodded and drooled at when I joined up, yanno? Well... I don't mind the droolin' so much." She winked rakishly. "But I'm no more special than the rest of the SpecOps ‘less you know my age."

"And you talk funny." Nomi pointed out with a grin.

"So do you, froggy-girl." Akeya grinned back, the flash of annoyance as if it had never happened. "So long as the important people can understand, well, it's no matter, y'all agree?"

"Yes we do, Gunslinger." Sera assured her. "Sorry."

"Oh, don't worry your fuzzy lil head ‘bout it, Serafine." Akeya assured her, polishing off the frankfurter. "I've got way too many tripwires to be a pro but I'm as old as my tongue and a tad older than my teeth, as the expression goes. So... forgive mah idiosyncrasies?" The draccian extended a paw to each of them, eliciting a quick shake.

"No harm done." Nomi assured her.

"Yes, especially since you're a valuable asset." Sera added.

Akeya chuckled, picking up a spoon and starting in on her grits, munching them with relish and an audible crunching.

"Aren't grits supposed to be, yanno, soft?" Nomi asked as she watched the performance with wide eyes.

"If ya cook ‘em longer than 2 minutes, yeah." Akeya grinned widely. "Remember: hard grits and you can eat anything easy."

"Liar." Sera grinned back at her. "I'm not conversant in Southern cooking very much but grits aren't hard before you cook ‘em."

"You're thinkin' of hominy grits." Akeya told her. "But I'm mighty impressed with my boss-girl from Moers."

"Thanks but I was also thinking of regular grits." Sera corrected her. "It's just coarse corn meal."

Akeya tilted her head back and laughed heartily. "Oh, dear me... ain't you just precious?" She giggled. "Serafine Wilson, ah officially dub thee orphan of Southern USA."

"Thanks." Sera smiled. "You're just like all the smart girls I remember from school who didn't want anyone to know... funny as hell, exuberant, hated to talk about their brains."

Akeya didn't reply to this and picked up her spoon to continue eating the grits when she stopped and furrowed her eyeridges before turning her head, putting the spoon down as she did it. Curious, Sera stood up slightly and looked over the SpecOps' head, immediately spotting Jenkins at the doorway. No one else seemed to notice him (or they were doing everything possible to ignore his existence) which made Sera wonder how Akeya had known he was coming. She glanced down at the SpecOps and spotted a look of momentary confusion at the sight of the arrogant human before her lips acquired a distinctly compressed look and she turned back to her grits.

"That was mighty strange." She muttered as Sera sat down as well. "Coulda sworn I smelled blood..."

"I don't see how." Sera commented. "So far as I know, I've not cut and neither is..."

"Not that kind of blood, General." Akeya interrupted. "Who the hell is he?"

"Major Jenkins." Nomi replied with distaste. "He thinks he's the big man on the mission."

"You should have heard him smart off to Shadow." Sera added with even more disgust. "I knew that the intelligence service ignored some nasty character traits but blind arrogance doesn't makes for a good intel weenie."

"Ain't the intelligence liaison supposed to be at least colonel rank?" Akeya asked as she ate another spoon of grits, chewing more slowly, even thoughtfully.

"Shadow busted him down." Sera replied. "Told him that while she can't chuck him out of an airlock, she can limit his rank privileges with demotion."

Akeya gave her a curious look. "That much a mud-sucker, huh?" She seemed to think a moment then returned to her grits, quietly taking a bite from the other frankfurter from time to time. After a look at one another, Nomi and Sera likewise finished their respective lunches and got up to take their trays back to the kitchen washbin; rank had its privileges but cleaning up your own mess was sort of a traditional duty. They'd just dunked the plates and utensils in the soapy water when Sera noticed that the mess hall had gotten unusually quiet and, curious, turned her head around to look at what was happening.

Major Jenkins was standing there looking disdainfully down at a politely-smiling Akeya who had a hand extended to him in a friendly fashion. However, something about the look in the female's eye made her tap Nomi on the shoulder. "Hey... don't look now but I think Akeya's preparing to start trouble with our least favorite officer." She muttered to the captain.

Nomi turned around to look and frowned. "Much as I would love to see how she deals with that ‘mud-sucker' as she calls him... we don't need a fight starting right off the bat."

"So stop her." Sera told her.

"You're the general, Serafine." Nomi responded. "You make it a direct order."

"I can't afford to have any occasions where she defies my orders, Captain." Sera said sympathetically. "Especially on a fairly picayune matter."

Nomi smiled. "The burden of command." She acknowledged, squaring her shoulders. "At least back me up?"

"Sure." Sera nodded and followed as Nomi elbowed through the forming crowd as Akeya's smile began to fade under the steadily more obvious sneer on Jenkins' face.

"Is there a problem here?" Nomi inquired in a the-answer-better-be-no tone of voice.

"Of course not, Captain." Jenkins' smirk grew into a sneering smile. "Just a... misunderstanding."

"That is true, Captain." Akeya added, her hand dropping to her side although her eyes never left Jenkins' face. "The Major seems to have misunderstood my friendly greeting to be some sort of obstruction to his ability to get lunch."

"An obstruction is a good word for... it." Jenkins agreed calmly, still smirking.

All pretense of pleasantness disappeared immediately from Akeya's face and a frighteningly hard expression replaced it. "I think, Major, that being demoted did not teach you to be careful about what you say." She retorted with a glacial tone, causing the circle of soldiers to step further back. "Unfortunately, I cannot properly educate you."

"You're right, you can't." Jenkins agreed with a sneer. "So move out of the way, if you please, so I can get my food."

Sera had the sudden and sinking feeling that somehow, Jenkins didn't recognize that he was being confronted by someone who was emphatically not a regular Major. Even as she wondered how this could possibly be the case, she noticed Akeya's eyes narrowing, the muscles of her jaw flexing visibly as she clenched it.

"Of course, Major." She replied with the same glacial tone, making a pretense of politeness as she stepped to one side. "Don't let me hinder you any further."

Apparently, Jenkins thought he had once again won one of his little battles of will because he took the implied invitation and began to step passed Akeya. The soldiers between Jenkins and the counter parted way and Sera began to breathe a sigh of relief that Akeya had apparently decided to swallow Jenkins' insult. Just as she turned away, she heard a wet crack and whirled around to see the human fly forward with a cry of pain, landing face-first on the floor with another crack. Akeya folded her hand across to rest with the other hand on the barrel of her rifle and looked over her shoulder at the prone and moaning major with a cold and spiteful look.

"I can, however, teach you that you are a pitiful worm." She remarked quietly. "The rest is for people better than you or I to teach you."

"Major..."

"Feel free to issue a formal reprimand, Captain." Akeya interrupted the mortified Nomi. "He is no brother in arms to me and I don't regret punishing trash like him. I regret being insubordinate to a respected superior, however. I apologize, Captain Rousseau."

"I... I..." Nomi seemed utterly incapable of finding words to respond to the sudden change of the cheery drawling draccian of minutes ago to a cold automaton who spoke with a glacial and deliberate voice free of any accent.

Akeya apparently noticed the discomfort and responded with a soft smile. "When you collect yourself, Nomi, I'll be in the barracks." She said, reaching a hand up and patting Nomi's arm. "Tell the medical team to treat for back injuries and a broken nose."

Nomi was visibly stunned and Sera could hardly blame her: the utter casualness with which Akeya had slugged Jenkins and the dramatic effect it had had on the visibly larger human was disconcerting to the extreme.

"I'm a SpecOps asset, Captain, as the General so accurately observed." Akeya said simply in response to the stunned expression, smoothly stepping around the dumbfounded draccian and heading towards the door. When she drew even with Sera, she stopped and looked up.

"I'm sorry, General Wilson." She said simply and with visibly sincerity before returning her gaze straight ahead and striding out of the mess hall, leaving a dead silence, punctuated only by the soft groans of the wounded Jenkins.

"How did mere training do that to someone?" She whispered to herself.

The next day started out relatively calm. For once in a long while, Sera had a good night's sleep and avoided being woken up by alarms, urgency, or anything else. After taking a nice warm shower, she decided to take a self-tour of the ship; preferably a lot less rushed and haphazard than her first one. Upon stepping out of her quarters, she nearly smacked into Akeya who was skipping down the halls whistling happily, seemingly having returned to her cheery little-girl self.

"Mornin' Sera." Akeya smiled. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes." Sera replied. "Akeya, about yesterday..."

"You should never have been made to see that side of me before you needed to, General." Akeya said quietly, the drawl vanishing like before. "I should have given you an opportunity to stop me."

"Would you have listened, Major?" Sera inquired. "I know that SpecOps are not obligated to, usually."

Akeya blinked, visibly surprised by the question. "General, you are among the very few who I would have listened to." She replied seriously. "You, Admiral Williams, possibly Commodore Andropoli, and Captain Rousseau."

"But..." Sera began but Akeya lifted a hand to quiet her.

"You and Myna Williams have earned that respect for your selfless and courageous handling of Poplar Village." She continued. "The others have their own virtues but I would accord them that respect because they were hand-selected by one of you. I could not defy you except in the greatest need and punishing filth like Jenkins is not a case of the greatest need."

"While I wish I'd been the one to slug him, Akeya, that's hardly the best way to deal with a sneering bully like Jenkins." Sera chided her. "It's why I'd have asked you to refrain."

"I understand." Akeya smiled. "But above anything else, a bully must be made to understand that he isn't powerful because people can not do anything but because they will not do anything. A little girl, or someone who appears to be a little girl, knocked him down without any effort and verbally twisted the knife right in front of hundreds of people. The injuries may be nothing but the humiliation of the thrashing may yet make him manageable."

"Not cure him?" Sera half-smiled.

Akeya's smile disappeared and the harder expression of the day before replaced it. "There are some illnesses that you can't cure." She replied flatly. "The illness of blind narcissistic arrogance is one of those. You cannot cure it with your fist or with humiliation. You cannot even cure it with the most terrible of means imaginable as the Governance eventually came to recognize after immense sorrow."

The reference stopped Sera cold. "You realize that you're essentially comparing Jenkins to a werewolf, don't you?"

"I realize that." Akeya sighed. "I get a very unsettling feeling about that man, Serafine."

"The intelligence officer that met me on Arid said something similar." Sera admitted. "Other than the fact that he's a self-absorbed ass with a nasty streak, I don't get any especially evil vibes off of him."

"Well, in the intelligence world, instinct is the thing when there's no fact and SpecOps like mah pretty self hone them instincts obsessively." Akeya replied, slipping back into her normal drawl. "Well, ‘nuff ‘bout unpleasant stuff. Got plans for right now?"

Sera blinked at her but nodded. "I suppose it depends on the proposed activity..." She replied thoughtfully.

"We gots ourselves a shootin' range on the ship." Akeya informed her cheerfully. "Actually, lots of them, but I like this certain one. You much of a shot?"

"Standard Level 2 marksman with a sidearm, Advanced Level 5 marksman with sub machinegun." Sera replied with a hint of pride. They were after all, difficult levels to achieve with the standard security officer loadout, especially with the sidearm since anyone could hit a bullseye with a modern recoil-compensated tritium-sight sub machinegun.

"Good marks for standard infantry." Akeya noted, looking suitably impressed. "Minimum standard for SpecOps but y'all don't pull 20-hour training shifts to push your skills higher."

"And we all don't lug around customized modular rifles." Sera teased.

"Oh, you hush up now about my baby." Akeya retorted with a grin. "You just envy that lusciously smooth bolt and the sensuous curves of perfect manufacturing."

"You're right, I do." Sera told her earnestly. "Where do you get a thing like that?"

"Normally, from Specter Works in collaboration with Swastika but this baby is a special case because she's my baby." Akeya gestured to herself proudly. "No part of this here beauty was made by anybody but the owner."

Sera stared at her. "YOU made it?" She gaped.

Akeya blushed at the astonished look, always an unusual sight with a black-scaled draccian. "Well, there be a reason I'm Gunslinger, boss." She explained with uncharacteristic shyness. "Gots myself high marks in physical engineering disciplines."

"You know, I'm certain you get sick of hearing it but I've never heard of a prodigy anywhere near your level." Sera told her. "Evidently a SpecOps with all that entails and marked skill at gunsmithing despite being a teenager still."

"Steep development curve." Akeya shrugged. "Frankly, until I landed in my niche, I didn't much like bein' brilliant and skilled. But then that translated to people takin' a shine to me and after that, it was plenty nice."

"Speaking of nice, was the shooting range suggestion serious?"

"As a heart attack, dearie." Akeya replied brightly. "When I'm not groomin' her, or walkin' her, I keep mah gun locked up at the range."

"What's so special about this particular range?" Sera asked as she followed Akeya along towards the training rooms, primarily located towards the stern of the ship.

"A sophisticated sensor suite married up to holographic projectors and this keen ol' sound system so it's like bein' on a junkyard range back home to test out your boomstick." Akeya explained. "It's the bestest thing ever, let me tell ya. Ah can do fine adjustments and even tinker up some new modules and test ‘em in the nearest thing you can get to the real universe."

"Thought the thing was modular." Sera nodded. "What can it do?"

"Kill mah enemies faster than they can wander into my sights." Akeya grinned toothily. "Bit hard to describe its limits proper since I can tinker with those limits even within a specific function. It's all in knowin' how everything operates and fittin' things together in the most unlikely of ways. Like, imparting instability to a Dev-Special so it blows right out of the muzzle and gives me one helluva wicked scattergun without me even needin' shells."

"I think a general idea would capture what it can do pretty well." Sera suggested as they reached the pentagon-shaped doorway into the range. Reacting to their proximity, the doors rumbled open, revealing a rather plain-looking series of benches and shooting rests with a few lockers in the corner. There were already a few soldiers on the range, one of whom was just standing up to collect his brass when he spied Akeya and Sera entering.

"Hot dog!" He exclaimed. "Hey boys and gals! If you're tired of blowin' holes in light, get over here so we can watch a real show."

"A real show?" Sera looked at him as Akeya went over to a locker and began unlocking it.

"General, you haven't seen an infantry weapon till you see the Ragin' Cajun taking pot shots at heavy metal like she was taking on paper." He assured her. "And shooting small objects off enemy soldiers... she seems to get a kick out of the simulated expressions before the next shot removes something rather more vital."

"Don't forget what I consider vital to the health of male soldiers." Akeya called over her shoulder at him with a wicked grin, opening the locker and taking her rifle out with a touch better suited for handling a soap bubble. She then reached in and took out what seemed to be a normal long-rifle case and brought both to the bench. She set her rifle up, unfolding the bipod and triggering the bracing legs before putting the case down on a partition beside her and opening it up.

Sera supposed she shouldn't be surprised at anything from Akeya anymore but the array of modules packed almost lovingly into the case was staggering. There was a heavier barrel with a hexagonal shape, three varieties of scopes, two other kinds of bipods, all-in-one modules to change out the mechanism between automatic, bolt, semi-auto, and break-away, two box magazines, and other pieces that Sera couldn't begin to fathom the function of. Akeya grinned and at her reaction and selected the smallest scope, clicking it into place without any effort then inserted the automatic module and a box magazine. The barrel was rapidly changed out for the hexagon and a bizarre-looking device that Sera supposed was a muzzle brake was attached to the end. Finally, Akeya moved the bipod back and inserted a bidirectional rotation plate in between the legs and the gun.

"It must be really ponderous changing out functions in the field." Sera commented, staring with amazement at what seemed to be a totally new weapon constructed on the framework of the old.

"My slowest time yet is 30 seconds." Akeya replied. "I've memorized the location of every single component and which ones combine for which effects."

"No kidding..." Sera responded distantly as she put on ear protection and watched Akeya put the end of the belt into the feed chamber and reached down to select a holographic field for her demonstration. A desert range shimmered into view with various pockmarked junk scattered around but also pop-up and moving targets. Sera was impressed with the amazing realism of the sandy scrubland which even took into account the effect of sun angles on various objects and the occasional effect of cloud cover as wispy rainless puffs drifted lazily across the sweltering sun.

"Fire in the hole." Akeya announced laying her cheek against the top of the stock and looking through the small scope as she fired. Even through her ear protection, Sera could distinctly hear the sound of the gun as it spat ammunition, sounding oddly like the roar of a flamethrower discharging. Akeya picked and fired upon her targets with an indifferent detachment, having a mechanical air about her as she calmly emptied bursts into the junk and even shorter ones at the moving and pop-up targets. The soldiers seemed awed by the cool professionalism of the shooter; Sera was more fascinated by the incredible stability of the weapon platform. The muzzle brake apparently arrested most of the jerking recoil that came from firing an automatic weapon at a target, even one that was anchored as solidly as Akeya's was. Although she couldn't see through the scope, she guessed that it had some sort of fish-eye lens on it because looking directly into it, Akeya seemed to have a relatively complete picture of the shooting range, precisely moving the gun to point at the next target without having to open her off-eye or raise her head to look around. After several minutes, and half-way through her ammunition, Akeya raised her head and took her claw off the trigger.

"Fire down." She announced, glancing back at Sera with a grin. "Impressed, boss?"

"It's a really good stationary automatic weapon." Sera replied honestly. "One of the most stable fire support platforms I've seen that a single person can lug around. What else does it do?"

"Generally, it can mount a 50mm lob tube beneath which ah prefers to marry up with the gun scope and ballistic scope mounted in sequence." Akeya replied. "Also got a really keen sharpshootin' configuration, mountin' the snipe scope alone or, if ah really wanna do somethin' scary, mount ‘em all in sequence and click in some of mah harmonization and stabilization modules. I call it the ‘Legend' configuration but sorrowfully, you can't properly appreciate how evil my baby can be ‘less I use the Legend in the open."

"Only triple-function?" Sera eyed her.

"The rest be a surprise, dear general." Akeya grinned in a playfully evil way. "Pleasant or unpleasant, all dependin' upon who's in front of mah muzzle when I get mah feathers all knotted up."

"Then I'm hopeful that I'm never the one in front of your muzzle when you're in a bad mood." Sera chuckled. "So... I don't suppose I'd be allowed to give it a heft and a look-see?"

"Sure ya can, m'dear!" Akeya smiled. "Most people only care ‘bout how flashy it is but I know all ‘bout your daddy and it'd be flattery indeed to have a fellow gunny give it a look."

Sera smiled back gratefully but no sooner had Akeya vacated the bench where the rifle was resting than the wall com began beeping. "General Wilson?" Sera sighed as she recognized the voice of the Security technician and walked over to the wall unit.

"Ja, was is los?" She inquired with a touch of irritation.

"Um, I don't speak German..."

"Yes, what is it, Security?" Sera repeated.

"Captain Rousseau wants you up here pronto." Security replied. "Apparently, the Admiral has finished her discussion with our new friends and wants all the brass on the horn so she can discuss what came of it."

Sera sighed and looked over at Akeya. "Don't give it a thought, Sera." She consoled. "I'm savvy. Sometimes, it just ain't the cat's meow to be the boss. You can examine mah pride ‘n' joy later."

Sera gave her an appreciative look before turning back to the comm unit. "I'll be right up, Security." She informed the officer. With a resigned sigh, genuinely disappointed that she'd been interrupted before she could examine the fascinating weapon, she headed towards the bridge, wondering what had come of Shadow's conference with the arrogant-seeming reptiles.