Lunar Andromeda

 

 

Fandom: Andromeda/Sailor Moon
Disclaimer: All Andromeda characters are copyrighted to Tribune Entertainment. The Sailor Moon concept belongs to Naoko Takeuchi.
Rating: NC-17
Archive: Anywhere, just give credit where credit is due
Feedback: Yes, please! Send all comments to purenightshade@gmail.com
Author’s Notes: There are some severe spoilers for the entire series, especially concerning the character of Trance Gemini. You’ve been warned. Also, I don’t plan on using Doyle, as she’s a character I know nothing about. I’m pretending she doesn’t exist.
Summary: After a brutal attack by the Magog on a planet belonging to the restored Commonwealth, Dylan Hunt decides to get rid of the Magog threat once and for all. Trance has a plan

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Episode 01: Awakening

Trance found Dylan sitting under on a chair in the observation deck looking out at the stars. His face was void of all expression. She couldn’t blame him. Whatever was in that private message from his superiors, it certainly wasn’t good. He hadn’t said anything since getting it, nor had he eaten.
She pulled a chair up beside his and just sat there for a while, glancing at him every so often. When it was clear to her that Dylan hadn’t noticed her, she cleared her throat. “Dylan? What’s wrong?”
Startled, he looked up. “I just got a message from Admiral Jaynes. He tells me that Arntzed, one of the Commonwealth’s member worlds, was attacked by the Magog yesterday.”
Trance winced. “How bad was it?”
“There were no survivors. If it hadn’t been for the cargo freighter scheduled to drop off a load of weapons there, it’s likely that no one would have known about it for weeks.” He slammed his fists into his legs and stood up, walking towards the window, leaning against it. “Something has to be done about them. I’m starting to think that the Nietzscheans were right about exterminating them rather than signing a peace treaty.”
“Do you have any orders?”
“I was only told to destroy them if we find them, but really, I’m not sure how sucessful we’ll be. No one knows where their World Ship is right now. For all we know, it could be anywhere.”
“To destroy the Magog, one needs to destroy their leader, the so-called ‘Spirit of the Abyss’,” Trance mused out loud.”
“We’ve hit their World Ship with nova bombs and they still keep coming back. I’m starting to think that nothing short of dropping them into a black hole will get rid of them.”
Trance sat silently, staring at Dylan’s back. A black hole huh? Not the most elegant solution, but it’ll do in a pinch.
“I should go inform the rest of the crew. We should head for Arntzed to see if we can pick up their trail.”
She watched him leave and then turned her gaze back to the window. I wonder…

The Andromeda Ascendant exited slipstream near Arntzed. If they hadn’t known that the Magog had been there, they wouldn’t have been able to tell. Everything looked normal.
“Andromeda, scan for any recent slipstream events,” Dylan ordered. “Beka, take the Maru down to the surface to see if you can find any evidence of where the Magog might have gone next, or even why they attacked this world in particular.”
Harper snorted. “Yeah right. Since when do the Magog need a reason to attack anyone?”
Rhade looked over at Harper and then at Dylan. “I agree with him on this. They just attack. No rhyme or reason for it.”
Dylan gritted his teeth. “Just do it, ok? I just want to get this over with.”
Beka looked at him. “Whatever you say, Captain. You want to come with?”
“I’ll pass, thanks.”
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to come with you, Beka,” Trance said, walking onto the bridge. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Should we take Rommie or Rhade with us as well, then?”
“That’s not necessary, but they can if they want.”
“I’ll go,” Rhade volunteered. “It’s better than sitting up here doing nothing.”
“Rommie?” Beka asked, looking over at the ship’s avatar.
“I think I’ll stay here, thanks.”
“Suit yourself.”
“Search completed, Dylan,” Andromeda piped up. “I’m only detecting one recent slipstream event, and that was us. The last one I can find corresponds with the cargo ship that was here yesterday.”
Dylan looked over at Beka, who threw her hands up in the air. “Alright, we’re going.”
“Keep an eye out, Andromeda,” Dylan told her as Trance, Beka, and Rhade left the bridge. “I don’t want any surprises.”

Beka landed the Eureka Maru in a large clearing near the edge of the planet’s capital city. The three crewmates got off and started to look around. Everywhere they looked, there were dead bodies, the remains of people that had either died trying to fight off the Magog or had been implanted with heir larvae. Rhade’s nose wrinkled in disgust at the smell. For once, Beka didn’t envy him his genetically enhanced Nietzschean nose. Even if she was the Nietzschean Matriarch, she didn’t share the genetic enhancemetns he did.
Trance wandered off into a building that looked ready to collapse. Rhade followed just in case. He found her crouching beside a table, holding a blue-furred creatre in her arms. Judging by how she was talking to it, she was fmailiar with it.
He crouched down beside her. “What is that?”
The blue thinturned its head to look at him. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t refer to me as a thing. My name is Tsuki. Just because I look like a cat doesn’t mean that I don’t deserve the same courtesy and respect as any other sentient being.”
Rhade stared at her. “Tsuki? Trance, how…”
“Tsuki was my pet as a kid. I haven’t seen her in a long time,” she said, stroking the animal’s back. “I couldn’t take her with me on the Maru, so Ieft her on Ayn Rand station. I told her I’d come back for her, but I never got the chance.”
“And you weren’t worried about her?” Rhade asked, incredulously.
“Not really, no. She’s quite self-sufficient. She probably found someone else to take care of her, someone who understands what she is.”
“And what is she, exactly?”
“What does it look like?” Tsuki asked sarcastically. “A cat, of course.”
“Cats don’t talk,” Rhade informed her.
Tsuki yawned. “Well, it just so happens that I do. Besides, humans don’t have bone blades on their arms, but you do. You smell more or less human. Unless you happen to be part alien, who are you to judge?”
Rhade straightened up, offended. “I’m a Nietzschean, not a human.”
“Whatever.”
“Hey, Tsuki, you wouldn’t happen to know why the Magog attacked this planet, would you?”
“Asking a cat for help. That’s not going to help.”
“Quiet, Rhade,” Trance snapped. “You don’t understand.”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. They were looking for me.”
Rhade rolled his eyes. “My, don’t we have a big ego?”
“They were looking for me because I know you and others like you. If they can destroy you and the others, then they’ll be more or less free to do as they please.”
“Aren’t you giving the Magog a lot of credit here?” Rhade asked. “They’re mindless killing machines.”
“Yes, but they do have a leader.”
“The Spirit of the Abyss,” Trance said slowly.
“Yes, him.”
“We’ve tried to get rid of him, but even nova bombs don’t seem to work.”
“This is why this Spirit wants to get rid of us. We can destroy him and his precious Magog.”
This caught Rhade’s interest. “Really?”
Before Tsuki could answer, Beka came running in. “We’ve got to go. Now! There’s a group of Magog headed this way!” Gesturing frantically, she ran back out again.
Trance jumped to her feet and ran out of the building with Rhade right behind her. They headed for the Maru as fast as they could go. Rhade, naturally, was faster then either of the two women. When they got to the ship, they found a group of Magog between them and safety. Rhade took out his force lance, but Trance put a hand on his arm.
“I’ll take care of this,” she said calmly. Tsuki jumped down out of her arms. “Find them something to hide behind. This could get ugly.”
“You don’t honestly expect me to hide, do you?” Rhde objeced.
“This isn’t something you can help with, Rhade, so just please. Go with Tsuki.”
Beka grabbed Rhade by the arm. “Come with me, or do I need to pull out the whole Matriarch thing to get you to listen?”
“No, Matriarch, of course not.”
Tsuki led them around the side of a building. “What’s she doing, anyways?” Beka asked the little cat.
“You know about her being a sun avatar, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Put in the simplest terms, well, what she’s doing is drawing on that power. There is a longer, more complicated explanation, but we don’t have time for that here.”
As they watched, the Magog approached Trance, surrounding her. She simply stood there, calmly, waiting. She easily dispatched the first one tht attacked her, throwing it to the ground. The leader of the group snarled at her.
“Prepare to die, abomiation!”
“I think not. Vedra Solar Power, Make Up!”
There was a flash of blinding light as Trance was completely engulfed in flames. When they cleared, there was Trance, but not Trance. It still looked like her, but she was wearing the strangest outfit. She had on a short pleated skirt, a white bodysuit, wrist length gloves with missing fingers, a scarf, ribbon, chocker, a pair of sandles that laced up to her knees, and a pair of ribbons trailing from the back of her skirt. On her forehead was a golden tiara with a white stone. Her colors were all in yellows and golds.
Rhade and Beka exchanged glances of confusion. Beka had been there when Trance had switched places with her future self back when they were trying to use he Tessaract machine to rid Harper of his Magog larvae, but this was weird beyond that.
“Meet Sailor Vedra,” Tsuki said proudly.
“What?” Beka asked.
“I’ll explain later.”
The Magog were just as shocked to see this transformation as Beka and Rhade. They stood around, unsure what to do, until their leader ordered them to attack. Trance, or, rather, Sailor Vedra, simply smiled.
“Vedra Solar Flare!” She swung her left arm outwards. An arc of flame followedthe path her arm traced. When the fire hit the Magog, they burst into flames, screaming. Three of the Magog managed to avoid the fire. Two grabbed her from behind while their leader attacked her.
“This will teach you for attacking us!” he snarled.
From where he was crouched behind the building, Rhade clenched his fists. “We have to help her!”
Tsuki walked up to him and looked him in the eyes. “There is a way for you to help her, Telemachus Rhade, but it will change you in ways I can’t begin to describe right now.”
“What kind of changes?”
“You will become like Trance.”
“An sun avatar?”
“Avatar isn’t the best word, but it’s one people around her understand, so it will do for now. As for sun, well, no. Planet, actually.”
“I thought avatars were born as they are,” Beka intruded.
“Thayare. The just don’t always realize what they are. In some cases, they need to be told, awakened to their potential. Can we save the discuissions about this for later? Vedra could die!”
Despite the unshakable feeling that he was going to regret this later, Rhade nodded. “Tell me what I need to know.”
Tsuki jumped up into the air, flipped around, and landed. In the air in front of Rhade’s face appeared a silver bracelet set with a single large piece of onyx. “Put that on your wrist – it doesn’ matter which one – and repeat after me: Terazed Planet Power, Make Up!”
Feeling very foolish, he clasped the bracel onto his left wrist and repeated Tsuki’s words. A bright reddish glow enveloped him. It was the most curious sensation, feeling like he was being changed on the inside. When the light cleared, he was dressed in a black suit jacket and pants with a white shirt, mask, and bowtie.
Beka chocked back a laugh. “My, don’t you look….”
“Can it Beka!” he snarled. “I feel foolish.”
“You’ll get used to it,” Tsuki told him. “You are Terazed Kamen, a warrior like Sailor Vedra. Now come on. We have to help Vedra!”
He got up and followed the cat out, wondering why he’d agreed to do this. “What do I do?”
“Do what your heart tells you,” was the reply.
“That’s not very helpful.”
The lead Magog stopped his attack on Vedra and looked at him. “What can we do for you, pretty boy?”
“Let her go.”
“Or you’ll do what?”
Rhade, Terazed Kamen, froze, his mind going blank. In that blankness, a voice spoke to him.
“I’m waiting.”
Terazed straightened up. “Or I’ll do something like this. Terazed Serious Laser!” A brilliant blue beam shot out of his hand and hit the Magog leader in the center of his forehead. The other two Magog let go of Vedra and turned to face Terazed. Figuring that it worked well enough the last time, he used the attack again, hitting both Magog. With them dead, he went to Vedra’s side.
“Trance? Are you alright?”
The young woman grapsed his outstreatched hand and pulled herself up. She was battered and bruised, but alive. “Thanks for your help, but I don’t recognize you. I thought I was the only avatar in this area.”
Terazed took off his mask. “Trance, it’s me. Rhade.”
Vedra did a double take. “Rhade? Well, this is unexpected. I didn’t think that you were one of us.”
Tsuki and Beka came out from behind the building. “He would have continued in his ignorance had this not happened,” Tsuki told her calmly.
“Why did you wake him, then?”
“You needed help and he was my onlyoption. As strong as a Neitzschean is, he wasn’t strong enough to help.”
“That makes sense, I guess,” Trance said, turning back into her normal self. “Well, Rhade, welcome to the group.”

 

Episode 02: Terra Firma

When the Maru returned to the Andromeda, they were greeted by Dylan, who was waiting impatiently.
“That took a lot longer than it should have. What happened?”
“We were attacked by Magog,” Trance explained.
“Are you alright?”
“Fine,” Rhade said, walking past him.
“What’s with him?”
“A lot of strange things happened down there,” Trance said. “I’ll explain in a bit. First, I need to clean up.”
Then Dylan noticed the furry creature on her shoulder. “Uh, Trance? What’s that?”
Tsuki sighed and shookher head. “My name is Tsuki. Please don7t refer to me as a thing again.”
“She’s my childhood pet,” Trance explained. “She hasn’t explained how she got down there.”
“I didn’t have the time,” Tsuki grumped.
“Go get cleaned up, Trance. I want to hear this story.”
Beka shook her head. “You know, Dylan, I’ve seen somestrange stuff in my time on the Andromeda, but today takes the cake.”
“Oh?”
“Ask Rhade about formal wear,” she said as she walked off with a smirk.
“Doesn’t anyone around here give a straight answer anymore?”

“So what are you saying, exactly?”
Trance looked a little uncomfortable. “What I’m saying is that I have powers that I’ve never told anyone about, powers that could have helped out before now, but I’ve been afraid to expose my secret.”
Harper looked very skeptical. “Trance, the stories of the sailor suited soldiers are myths from the 20th century. Get with the times.”
“Don’t be so quick to jump to conclusions, Harper,” Beka told him. “I saw her transform. I saw Rhade transform, too.”
“No way. Rhade? I can just picture him in a skimpy little skirt.”
“It wasn’t a skirt, Harper,” Rhade snarled.
“No. It was a tuxedo with a mask.”
“So what’s your superhero name? Tuxedo Mask?”
Trance snorted while Rhade looked even angrier. “Sorry. That name has already been taken.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Dylan said.
“I’m serious! There was a guy in the 20th century who went by the name Tuxedo Kamen. Kamen means mask.”
“So Terazed Kamen means…”
“Terazed Mask. I don’t know how the term came to be in use.”
“Stop it, Trance, you’re killing me here,” Harper moaned. “This is the most entertainment I’ve gotten in days.”
Rommie looked at him. “It’s not nice to tease, Harper. Rhade looks like all of this has been a very traumatic experience. How would you feel in his situation?”
“Pretty damned ridiculous.”
“So don7t mock,” Dylan finished.
Tsuki looked up from licking her paw. “Mockery is something that Rhade will just have to get used to.”
“And you’re saying this…why?” Rhade asked.
Tsuki blinked. “People often react that way when they first see a senshi.”
“Trust me, I’m not doing this again. I only did it to help Trance.”
“Oh, you’ll be doing this again. You won’t be able to help it.”
“Watch me.” He started to walk away.
“It’s a great way to meet girls,” Trance informed him.
He turned around. “If you think that’s going to get me to keep doing this, you’re dead wrong.”
Trance shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
“Now I know why there are no other Nietzschean senshi,” Tsuki commented.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he snapped.
“Exactly what it says. You people are arrogant, vain, self-centered…shall I continue? These things don’t show up in senshi. It’s just not in their nature.”
“So you’re saying that I can’t overcome my Nietzschean nature?”
“I didn’t say that. You did.”
Rhade shook his finger at the little cat. “I know what you’re trying to do and it’s not going to work.”
“Um, Tsuki, this is probably a bad time to tell you that I know another Nietzschean senshi. She’s a sweet little thing.”
“She?” This piqued his interest.
“Yes, she. She’s quite interesting in a bizarre kind of way.”
“Not telling me any more than that are you?”
“Nope. You want to meet her, you’ll need to train and learn more about what you are. There’s no going back once you’ve transformed. It changes you in ways that aren’t always apparent. Even wiping your memory won’t let you go back. Eventually, this will come back. I’ve heard of it happening.”
“Heard?” Dylan asked. “You don’t have any first hand experience there?”
“No. As far as animal guardians go, I’m still very young. Trance is my first senshi. Until today, she was the only one, but now that Rhade here also has the abilities, that makes two. I’m not sure that this is a good thing, though.”
“Why not?” Rhade demanded.
“For one thing, I don’t know if I can train two senshi at the same time,” she started. “For another, I know I can’t handle your Nietzschean nature. You’ll drive me nuts within a couple days.”
“So what are you going to do about it?”
Trance leaned against a wall. “I have a suggestion, but you’re probably not going to like it, Tsuki.”
“I don7t see that we have a lot of options.”
“I remember you telling me about another cat guardian by the name of Miocci, that he had a couple different senshi that he took care of.”
“Oh no! I know what you’re asking.”
“You’re asking Rhade to do this. The least you can do is find someone who knows what they’re doing. Besides, aren’t Miocci’s senshi all women who are very experienced at this stuff? They could help train us.”
“Don’t you have some training at this, Trance?” Beka asked.
“Well, yes, but I don’t have a lot of it or experience. My training was frequently interrupted and then stopped when I joined you on the Maru.”
“Makes sense.”
Tsuki sighed. “I can always try and get a hold of Miocci, but there are no guarantees. I don’t even know where he is right now.”
“Please try.” Tsuki wandered off.
“Trance, why is this so important to you?” Dylan asked.
“Because if we have a strong enough team of senshi, then we can defeat the Magog and their Spirit of the Abyss.”
“That’s crazy!” Harper exclaimed. “You’re saying that a group of girls, and Rhade, in skimpy little skirts can defeat the Spirit of the Abyss? Yeah, right. And I’m a Nietzschean.”
Rhade gave him a scathing glance.
“Yes, Harper. That’s what I’m saying. Don’t knock this thing. Senshi can do some pretty amazing things. I’ll tell you about them someday.”
“So what do we do now?” Dylan asked.
“Nothing. We wait for Tsuki to get a hold of Miocci. That’ll tell us what our next move is.”

It took two days before Tsuki got a reply. When asked about where she sent her message, she avoided answering the question, frustrating the crew. She joined them on the command deck. “We need to head for Earth,” she said tiredly.
“Earth? Why Earth?” Harper asked incredulously. “There’s nothing there but a bunch of Drago-Kazovs.”
“Earth is halfway between where Miocci lives and our present location. It’s a convenient meeting point. Besides that, I couldn’t tell you how to get to his home world. I’m not familiar with Slipstream.”
“I could always transport there,” Trance offered. “To his home world.”
“Not with the defenses that they have in place.”
“I see. Well, Earth it is then. I’ve wanted to visit it for a while now. I guess this is my chance.”
“Can we just stop and consider what a bad idea this is?” Harper asked nervously. “I mean, come on! Nietzscheans, Magog, Nightsiders, and all sorts of other ugly things live there.”
“Yes, but there is also beauty there. Or, at least, there will be soon. Miocci is bringing his first senshi with him. He said he’d try and contact the other three, but couldn’t promise anything just yet. He said we’d be able to round them up quickly enough.”
“He’s brining Yumeko?” Trance’s eyes widened. “Oh wow!”
“Who’s Yumeko?” Rhade asked.
“She’s a very special kind of senshi, a Guardian of one of the four elements. I can never keep straight which one she has dominion over.”
“Air, I believe,” Tsuki said. “I’m not really expecting to see the other three Guardians. They prefer to keep to themselves unless there’s a crisis. And even then, it’s hard to get them together. If we can convince Yumeko that there’s sufficient reason to call them all together again, we’ll be able to convince them.”
“And if we can’t?” Dylan asked.
“Miocci has pledged his support. He and Yumeko will help, even if we can’t convince them of a serious crisis. It seems,” Tsuki added with a smirk. “that Yumeko is bored and needs to get away from her home for a time.”
“That’s good to hear,” Trance said, relived.
“So it’s off to Earth we go,” Harper said, rubbing his hands together. “Seeing as we have no choice, I think I’ll look up an old friend of mine. While you guys are training and all.”
“I see no reason why not,” said Dylan. Let’s get going then. Earth is still a ways away even by Slipstream.”

“Good old mother Earth,” Harper said when the familiar blue-green orb appeared in front of the Andromeda. “Some days I wonder why I ever left at all, but then I remember the bad stuff and it all comes back.”
Tsuki stared at the screen from her spot on Trance’s shoulder. “I’ve never seen it from up here before. I can see why humans are so attached to it.”
“Dylan, we’re getting a signal,” Andromeda spoke up.
“Put it on,” Dylan replied.
A grey cat with a yellow star on his forehead appeared on the screen. “Greetings, Andromeda Ascendant,” he said. “I’m Miocci. Welcome to Earth.”
“Thank you,” Dylan said. He sounded uncomfortable at talking to a cat.
“Please, join us down here. Yumeko is getting a little impatient.”
“Where are you?” Tsuki asked him. “Earth is a big planet.”
“We’re just outside of Boston.”
“Alright!” Harper exclaimed. “My old stomping grounds.”
“Tsuki should be able to find us with that to work on. I’m sorry that I can’t be more specific. The last time I was on Earth, I was on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.”
Tsuki sighed. “You’re putting an awful lot of stock in my abilities.”
“If you couldn’t do it, you never would have been assigned a senshi to look over,” Miocci assured her. “You’ll find us.” The screen went blank.
“So. Who gets to go down?” Beka asked. “I assume the Maru is going, as are Trance and Rhade.”
“I’ll go. Earth was my home. I might be able to keep the locals from hurting anyone.”
“Or from trying to anyways,” Rhade interjected.
“Alright. Beka and I will stay up here just in case,” Dylan said. “Be quick about this.”
“We’ll try,” Trance said, heading for the Maru.

After an hour of flying around while Tsuki tried to locate her fellow guardian, Rhade finally landed the ship. The blue cat was positive that Miocci and Yumeko were in that particular area. Rhade himself had a headache just from listening to the cat mumbling to herself about whether or not this was the place or if it was somewhere else.
If this isn’t the place, I’m going back to the Andromeda. Enough is enough.
They were greeted by a small grey cat, Miocci, a young blond girl with a somewhat Asia look to her features, a shorter grey haired boy, and a very tall, dainty looking woman with deep blue hair. The blond smiled and waved.
“Hubba hubba,” Harper muttered under his breath.
She turned her light blue eyes his way. “Thank you,” she said sweetly. “My name is Kiyoshi Yumeko. I am pleased to meet you. You’ve met Miocci.” She bowed politely.
“I’m Trace Gemini. These are my friends, Telemachus Rhade and Seamus Harper.”
“My companions here are Utano Okami and Namida Tenshi. For the time being, though, they prefer to go by the Earth names they’ve been given: Wolf and Serenity.”
“I thought Miocci’s senshi were all female,” Trance said, sounding puzzled.
Serenity and Yumeko looked at Wolf and burst out laughing. “They still think you’re a boy, Okami,” Yumeko giggled.
“The shorter girl glared at her. “It’s not funny. I can’t help it if I’m not built like a typical woman.”
“This makes things less disturbing, then,” Trance said, relieved.
“How so?” Rhade asked.
“How could you have missed the looks she’s been shooting your way?” Trance asked him.
“Looks?” Rhade looked at Wolf, who winked seductively.
Yumeko punched her in the arm. “No time for that. We came here for a reason.”
“Yes. I, for one, would like to know what that is,” Serenity said calmly.
“Do you know what Magog are?” Trance asked.
“Those thing are disgusting,” Wolf said, wrinkling her nose.
“They are allies of something called the Spirit of the Abyss. Now, we’ve tried to destroy them, but nothing seems to work. I thought that if I got a bunch of senshi together, then we could destroy them.”
“And I’m still not clear on how we’re supposed to do that,” Rhade grumbled.
“Don’t misjudge us just because of our strange outfits,” Trance told him. “The senshi have done great things in the past.”
“So what you’re asking is for us to fight again.” Serenity sighed. “It never ends, does it?”
“If you won’t help us with the fight, could you at least help with our training?” Trance pleaded. “Tsuki is still new to her duties. She can’t possibly train two senshi, or more if we can find any.”
“Which two of you are the senshi, anyways?”
“Me and Rhade. I’m Sailor Vedra and he’s Terazed Kamen.”
“Terazed, huh?” Serenity mused. “Never heard of it.”
“You can count me in,” Wolf said.
“I promised I would help regardless,” Yumeko said. The two looked at Serenity. “What do you think? You’ve been a senshi longer than either of us. Your skills and knowledge would be very useful.”
“I told you, I only came to find out what happened to Jen.”
“Jen?” Harper snapped to attention. “I know a girl named Jen. Frickin’ hottie. Tall, thin, black hair, black eyes, a body to die for.”
“That sounds like our Jen,” Yumeko said.
“Man, I haven’t seen her in years,” Harper sighed dramatically.
“We haven’t heard from ours in six months,” Serenity told him. “Do you have an image of your friend?” Harper fished something out of his pants pocket and showed it to her. “Yes, that’s her.”
“Well, what do you know? I was going to try and look her up while we were here.”
“Any help you could be in finding her would be appreciated.”
“Appreciated enough to help us train?” Trance asked hopefully.
“We’ll see. It depends on what’s happened to Jen.”
“Right, well, I’ll go find my friends and see if they know anything. I’ll meet you all back here at the Maru,” said Harper.

Harper returned three hours later, looking very worried. “I have a bunch of bad news and worse news. The bad news is that she’s not in town. The worse news is that my cousin says she was caught by a group of Drago-Kazovs and taken to one of their camps.”
Serenity looked like she was going to be sick. “From what I’ve heard of them in the brief time I’ve been here, they’re not nice people.”
“The same could be said for the general Nietzschean population,” Harper said. “Well, except for Rhade here.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Harper,” he said shortly.
“Do you have any idea where this camp is?” Serenity asked.
“Yeah, it’s just a few miles from here. We can make it in no time if we leave now.”
“What are the chances that she’s still alive?”
“Pretty good from what I heard.”
Serenity stood. “Help me rescue her, and I will help you in your fight.”
“What about the fourth member of your team?” Trance asked.
“We will discuss this with her when we see her next. For now, we must hurry. Jen does not deal with captivity well.”

Episode 03: Prison Break

The Drago-Kazov prison camp was heavily guarded with high walls and frequent patrols. Trance, Harper, Rhade, the two cats, and three senshi sat a good distance from the walls waiting for the opportunity to strike. When the patrol got close enough, Rhade dispatched the other Nietzschean so that they could get inside. He took the lead with Wolf beside him.
“I’m still not sure why you’re up here with me,” Rhade whispered, peeking around a corner.
“Because I know what Jen smells like,” she replied. “Besides, I’m the only one of the bunch who could possibly keep up with a modified human.”
“We prefer to be called Nietzschean,” Rhade informed her stiffly.
“No matter what you call yourselves, you’re still, fundamentally human.”
“You’re kind of annoying.”
“That’s what I’ve been told,” she replied, sniffing the air. “This way.”
“Right.”
“Oh, and there are more people like you up there. I’m smelling a lot of fear and pain.”
“You can smell that?” Rhade asked, impressed.
“It’s a trait my people have.”
They crept forward, taking out the guards. Rhade watched Wolf, impressed. She was strong and fast, dispatching her targets before they could make a sound. I wonder what her people are.
Wolf’s nose led them down a hallway with doors on both sides. “I can smell her down here, but I can’t pinpoint which door she’s behind.”
“Process of elimination, then. We check each one.”
“Works for me.”
In the room behind the fifth door they checked, there was Jen, sedated and strapped to a table. Her clothing was disheveled and torn in places. Her fair skin was marked with cuts and bruises both old and recent and her hair was a mess of tangles. There were all manner of tubes and wires attached to her body leading into monitors. Wolf approached her cautiously. She poked her once in the ribs. There was no response.
“I don’t know what they have her on, but it’s not easy to get her out like this and keep her there for any length of time.”
“Let’s get her out of here.” Rhade shuddered. “I don’t like being so close to the Dragos.”
“Agreed.” Wolf unbuttoned Jen’s shirt to remove the monitors attached to her pale skin. At first, Rhade turned away, but looked back out of curiosity. Jen was tall and thin, as Harper had said, but Rhade didn’t find her to be as well endowed as Harper had claimed.
Body to die for? Maybe to other humans, but she has nothing on a Nietzschean woman. He reached down to untie the bonds that were holding her to the table and then turned the monitors off in case they were designed to make noise when disconnected.
“Here. I’ll carry her,” Rhade offered.
“I should point out that I am strong enough o carry her,” Wolf pointed out. “It certainly wouldn’t be the first time.”
“I’m larger than you are, so it’ll be easier for me to do it. You’re small and fast, fast enough to take out anyone we meet on the way out.”
“I’d argue the point, but we don’t have time for that. Let’s get out of here before anyone comes to look in on her.”
“Wise decision.” With Wolf’s help, he was able to get Jen up off the bed and onto his back.
Wolf opened the door and peered around the corner. She signaled to Rhade that all was clear. He shifted Jen’s weight into a more comfortable spot on his back and followed. He hated all this sneaking around, but it went against his self-preservation instincts to die in a fight with a camp full of Drago-Kazovs, so he swallowed his pride and moved as quietly as he could after Wolf.
“This is a little too easy if you ask me,” Wolf commented as they approached the exit.
“Agreed. Where is everyone?”
“Right behind you,” a voice said. Rhade turned to see a gun pointed at him. “Return the girl to us and you’ll receive a quick death.”
“I think not,” Wolf said, growling.
The Nietzschean looked at her and laughed. “You hardly look like a threat, little one.”
“Don’t underestimate me solely based on my size.”
“What are you going to do? Bite my legs off?”
Rhade watched Wolf’s reaction with interest. She went from snarling to calm with disturbing speed.
“I don’t bite. Well, I do, but not legs. Earth Elemental Power, Make Up!”
A bright leafy green light enveloped Wolf. Within it, the two men could just make out her form. The light cleared, leaving in its place a woman with the same height and build as Wolf wearing a uniform made entirely of black leather. Long pants with lace up sides, a silver belt with a green gemstone serving in place of a buckle, knee high boots, long gloves, and a sleeveless top that showed a good portion of her well-muscled abdomen. All of it had a strip of grey trim.
“Wolf?” Rhade asked.
“What are you?” The Drago asked, taking a step back.
“They call me StarLight, and yes, Rhade, it’s me. Obviously.”
“Well, then, StarLight, let’s see if your fancy new clothes can block this.” The Drago aimed his weapon at her and fired.
StarLight ducked the blast. “What were you aiming at? Double Snake Twist!” The twin beams of energy shaped like snakes shot out of her outstretched hands and wrapped around the strange Nietzschean, paralyzing him.
“Quick! Get her back to the others before he can move again.”
“What about you? I can help,” Rhade protested.
“I need you to keep Jen safe.” She opened the door. “Go on! I can take care of this. Trust me, I’ve been in worse situations than this.”
Taking her word for it, Rhade ran through the door and headed to the spot where the others were waiting. As he ran, he could alarms going off as well as lots of weapons fire. Serenity met him just inside of their hiding place.
“Where’s Wolf?”
“She transformed to hold of some of the guards,” he explained. “She said she’d be ok.”
“She’d better get her leather covered ass back here soon or we’ll have to head back to the Andromeda without her,” Yumeko said, irritated. “She knows better than to do this kind of thing.”
“We didn’t exactly have time to argue the issue.”
Serenity sighed and sat down. “You may as well set her down. We could be waiting for a while.”
“No need,” Wolf said, running up. She was exhausted. “Let’s get out of here.”
“What about the Dragos?” Rhade asked.
She waved dismissively. “They’re not getting out of there anytime soon.”
“Questions later,” Trance said, stalling Rhade’s demand for further explanation. “We should get out of here before anything else happens.”
“Shouldn’t we stop by her place to get her stuff?” Yumeko asked as they boarded the Maru.
Harper shook his head. “I was by her place earlier. Her place is completely empty. None of the guys knew where her stuff went to.”
“The Dragos must have taken it when they got her,” Trance guessed.
Rhade set her down and looked at her carefully. “Well, she looks to be Rommie’s size, so maybe she can borrow something until clothing can be found for her.”
“That works.”

“Med deck is this way,” Trance told their guests, leading them in the right direction. “We’ll be able to find out what they did to her when we get there.
Holo-Andromeda appeared in front of them. “Dylan and Beka will meet you there.”
“Thanks Andromeda,” Trance said as the hologram vanished.
Wolf stopped and stared. “What was that?”
Beside her, Rhade smirked. “Never seen a hologram before?”
She made a face. “My home world is somewhat low tech, but I know what a hologram is. I’ve never heard of an interactive one before.”
“Andromeda is the ship’s AI. You do know-“
“Artificial Intelligence, yes I know what that is.”
“Just checking.”
“For someone who looks as hot as you do, you sure are a smart ass.”
“Oh please,” Harper groaned. “You think he’s hot?”
Wolf blinked in confusion. “There’s a problem with that?”
“He’s a Nietzschean.”
“From what you were saying on the way back here, they’re supposed to be physically and genetically perfect, yes?”
“Well, yeah.”
“So where’s the problem in acknowledging that his genetic programming is successful? I find him to be attractive.”
Rhade stared at her. What is she? I’ve never heard a woman speak so frankly before in public. I admit, I’m flattered, but this is quite odd.
“I think there might be something wrong with your head,” Harper said, catching up with Trance.
Wolf stopped, very confused now. “I think I’m lost here.”
Rhade turned to look at her. “Harper doesn’t like Nietzscheans.”
“That much is clearly obvious, but I’m still a bit lost.”
Yumeko came back to join them. “Okami, remember that talk we had about your culture versus others? In yours, it’s expected to be so open about everything. Among humans, it’s generally not a good idea.” Wolf opened her mouth to protest. “I think it would be wise to do as they do for the time being. At least until they understand a bit more about us.”
Wolf pouted. “Fine, fine. I’ll try. And no jokes about that.”
Yumeko giggled. “I promise. Now let’s just get Jen to the med deck so that she can get better.”

Rhade set Jen down on a bed and let Trance examine her. Dylan and Beka were already deep in discussion with Serenity. He joined then along with Yumeko and Wolf, who had been with him. Miocci insisted that Yumeko pick him up. Tsuki, Trance’s cat, was perched on Dylan’s shoulder. Dylan looked very uncomfortable about it.
“Glad you three could join us,” Serenity commented.
“We weren’t that far behind,” Yumeko said, sticking her tongue out at the older woman.
Serenity turned back to Dylan and Beka. “So anyways, I’m glad to hear that you have training facilities already on the ship. This is good.”
“I’m telling you, though. Rhade doesn’t really need much in the way of physical training,” Dylan told her. “He’s in great shape.”
“Perhaps for conventional fighting, but for the kinds of things that senshi wind up doing, he’ll need to be able to coordinate that with the use of his powers. It’s not easy to do. Trust me on that. I’ve been doing this longer than anyone else in this room.”
Dylan narrowed his eyes. “Just how old are you anyways?”
“At present? It’s not polite to ask. Senshi are reborn into different bodies to fight again another day. I’ve had many different lives that I can remember and doubtless I’ve had others I can’t remember because my senshi self was asleep for the entirety of it.”
“Sounds interesting.”
“It gets old after the first half dozen times,” Wolf informed him.”
“So there’s a chance I’ll be reborn after I die?” Rhade asked.
“Not just a chance,” Yumeko told him with a sympathetic smile. “It’s inevitable.”
“You know, I wonder,” Dylan mused. “Nietzscheans believe in genetic reincarnation. Rhade here is the genetic reincarnation of my former first officer, Gaheris Rhade.”
“Not to mention that all the Nietzscheans are waiting for the reincarnation of Drago Museveni,” Beka added.
“This is interesting,” Wolf said. “I think I want to know more about this.”
“I’d be more than happy to tell you about it later,” Rhade offered.
Wolf looked at him through her lashes. “I’d like that.”
Dylan looked between the two of them. “Did I miss something?”
“It’s nothing,” Yumeko told him, blushing a little. “Anyways, you were saying something about powers, Serenity?”
Serenity gave her an odd look, but continued. “Anyways, back on topic. Each senshi is different when it comes to their strengths. Personally, I’m physically the weakest member of my team, but my powers are correspondingly stronger than theirs. Wolf is physically the strongest and she has average powers. She has one attack that’s really strong, but the rest are pretty average.”
“And then there’s me,” Yumeko chimed in. “I’m just average all around.”
“Except in looks,” Harper muttered under his breath, too low for her to hear, but the look that both Rhade and Wolf gave him indicated that they’d heard.
“If you aren’t all that strong physically, how do you expect to train me?” Rhade asked. “You certainly aren’t a match for me.”
“While Wolf is capable of doing that, she’d likely wind up overpowering you in a fight. She’s small and fast, never mind her strength.”
“Hey!” Wolf protested. “I know how to control myself.”
“Sure you do. What about that remark you made on the way here?”
“That’s a different story all together.”
“I’m hoping that Jen would be able to help there.”
“Jen?” Rhade looked over at the unconscious girl. “I somehow doubt she’d have any more luck than you would.”
“She knows more about weapons than the three of us.” Serenity shrugged. “Until she gets her strength back, most of what I’ll be teaching you is how to access and properly use your powers and putting you through some basic focusing techniques.”
“What she’s saying is that you’ll be doing a lot of meditating, fight posture drills, and Tai Chi-type stuff,” Wolf explained. “I feel for you, buddy.”
“Don’t think that you’re getting away from this,” Serenity warned. “We could all use a refresher. Besides, we all need to learn to work together as a team.”
“Nuts.”
Trance joined them. “Well, I can’t really tell what’s wrong with her. The drugs in her system will have to go away on their own. I can treat her wounds, but there’s little else I can do for her until she wakes up.”
“We’ll have to get her some clothes,” Beka said. “Hers are no better than rags.”
“She and Rommie are the same size,” Andromeda said, appearing beside Dylan. “I’m sure something can be worked out there until a more suitable wardrobe can be acquired.”
“Thank you Andromeda,” Serenity said politely. “Well, Rhade. When would you like to start your training?”
“No time like the present.”
Wolf smirked. “Bit of a masochist, aren’t you?”
“How bad could it be?”

Two hours later, Rhade was eating his words. He would have preferred a real fight to what they put him through. The meditation part wasn’t so bad, but the poses they made him hold had required all of his balance and concentration. He ached everywhere. When the session was over with, Trance suggested that he head to the med deck and get some ointment for his aches. Wolf had joked at him on the way out that she’d happily help him put it on. He’d heard her yelp after that, presumably because Yumeko had punched her in the arm.
He rummaged around in the cabinet Trance had indicated and found the bottle of an ointment that was questionable in both odor and appearance. Turning around, he saw Jen still lying on the bed. He walked over to her and pushed a knot of black hair out of her face, studying it.
Not bad, but nothing special either, he concluded as she began to stir and open her eyes. She blinked owlishly up at him.
“You’re finally awake,” he said simply, offering her a hand. “I’m-“ he stopped. She was staring at his bone blades in a mixture of hatred and terror. She rolled off the bed opposite from him, ducking down in an attempt to hide. “I’m not going to hurt you,” Rhade said, walking over to the other side. She simply ducked around to the other side to avoid him. Shaking his head, he climbed over the bed.
Snarling, she backed away. He walked towards her. He was starting to tell her that her friends would be happy to see that she was going to be ok, but was interrupted by her foot making contact with his stomach.
“Nietzschean,” she hissed. “You die now!”

 

Episode 04: Jen

“Nietzschean,” she hissed. “You die now!”
Caught by surprise, he doubled over. “I’m not trying to hurt you, crazy girl,” he said, straightening up.
“Liar!” She aimed a fist at his jaw, which he blocked easily. She sent blow after blow aimed at various parts of his body, also blocked easily.
During her attacks, his mind was reeling. What is wrong with this girl? She takes one look at me and tries to kill me. Her technique isn’t even all that good. She’s fighting like an amateur. I could keep this up all day under normal circumstances, but not after than so-called training session I just got out of. Could this day get any weirder?
Jen finally scored a blow to his jaw, sending him reeling with the impact. Before he had a chance to recover, he was flat on his back with the wind knocked out of him. He turned his head to see her running from the room.
He sat up. “Andromeda,” he wheezed. “Jen’s awake and loose on the ship.”
“Acknowledged.”
Picking himself up off the floor, he located the bottle of ointment and left med deck, hoping that he wouldn’t bump into Jen again until her friends talked some sense into her.
No such luck. On his way to his quarters, he saw Jen curled up into a ball, trying desperately to hide. He froze, not wanting to go near her again so soon. Wolf walked up beside him.
“You look like hell,” she observed.
“Your friend is psychotic,” he commented, not turning his eyes away from Jen.
“Good to see that she’s alright,” she replied.
“You mean this is normal for her?” he asked incredulously, turning to look down at Wolf.
She nodded. “Jen has always been the psychologically unstable one. She’s a great person, but has these odd tendencies to just flip out. I’ve never understood it, or understood what men see in her anyways.”
“Men? What men?”
Wolf shook her head. “Those are all long stories. Maybe if you ask nicely, I’ll tell you about them someday,” she said, heading for Jen.
Jen looked up at Wolf and said something very quietly. Wolf nodded and pulled Jen to her feet. Serenity, Yumeko, and Harper joined them. Dylan and Rommie stood beside Rhade and watched the scene. Jen looked very confused at the three girls, but recognized Harper instantly.
“I don’t get it,” Dylan said, watching. “I thought Serenity said that Jen was their friend.”
“She did,” Rhade agreed, rubbing his jaw.
Rommie saw that. “Are you alright, Rhade?”
“She hit me.”
“Why?”
“Beats me.”
“Literally,” Dylan said, laughing.
“That’s not funny, Dylan,” Rhade scowled.
Harper led Jen over to them. “Say, Rommie, do you think you could lend Jen something to wear? Just for a day or two.”
“I could,” she agreed.
Spotting Rhade, Jen started to growl and ball her hands into fists. Her black eyes glared up at him from under the tangled and matted black hair.
“Down girl!” Harper told her. “It’s just Rhade.”
Wolf stepped in between Jen and Rhade. “No one will hurt you here, Jen. We promise.”
“Let’s get her out of here before she tries to attack Rhade again,” Rommie said. “She needs to get tidied up anyways.”
“Give us a set of clothes and some grooming tools and we’ll take care of the rest,” Serenity told her stiffly. “We have a lot to talk about.”
“But she looks like she didn’t recognize any of you,” Harper protested.
“We’ll explain about that when she’s calmer and cleaner,” she replied.
“There is a room right here that she can use,” Rommie suggested.
“No offense, but I don’t think it’s a good thing to put her so close to Rhade.”
“Put me in between them,” Yumeko suggested. “Put all of us around her so that she feels safe.”
“Dylan?” Rommie asked, looking to her captain for his approval.
“Makes sense. I don’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable. I also don’t want Rhade getting hurt here.”
“We’ll talk to her about that,” Wolf assured him.
Rommie walked over and keyed open the door. “I’ll come back with clothes and other things for her.”
“Thank you, Rommie,” Yumeko said, bowing politely.

Inside, they got Jen’s clothes off her and put her in a tub full of hot water. She hissed as the water came into contact with her skin, telling the others that it had been a while since she’d had a hot bath. Rommie dropped off some soap, a brush, towels, clothes, and a few other things she figured they’d need. First, they attacked Jen’s hair, easing out the tangles. Once it was smooth, they washed it again and then piled it up on top of her head before handing her the soap, letting her wash herself.
The three others left her alone in the bathroom. Jen stared at the door for a few minutes in contemplation. I’m really confused. Who are these people? How do they all know who I am? Did Harper tell them? No. That’s possible, but they seem to know me beyond that. What’s going on here? And why is there a Nietzschean here? She started to scrub. For that matter, where is here? It doesn’t look like the Drago’s camp. I don’t remember ever being anywhere this nice before.
She ducked under the water to rinse off. I may as well hear what these people have to say to me, even if hey have a Nietzschean around. Maybe he’s some sort of slave. Now isn’t that an interesting thought? One of those so-called genetically superior beings being forced to serve an inferior race.
Clean now, she got out of the tub and dried off. This is a change. I’m actually clean with a high chance I’ll be able to stay that way for a while. Now, some clothes would be nice. She wrapped the towel around herself and peeked out the door.
Serenity spotted her. “Ah Jen. Finished? There are some clothes over here for you. Rommie said she didn’t mind if we altered them to suit your style a little better.”
“How do you know what my style is like?”
“It’s a bit of a lengthy story. Get dressed and then we’ll tell you.”
“Sounds better than standing around listening to you talking while wearing only a towel.” She took the offered garments and retreated back into the bathroom to dress. They consisted of a red crop top with thick gold straps and a gold hem, red shorts with a similar gold hem, and thigh high black socks. Putting it on, she went back out.
“Tell me how you know me,” she said simply.
Yumeko handed her a pair of dark red boots, the same ones she’d been wearing when Wolf and Rhade had rescued her earlier. “It all starts more than a thousand years ago on a world called Nomaie.”

Rommie looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps. “Dylan, they’re done with Jen and are heading back this way.”
“Good. Let’s see who this person really is.”
“I’m telling you, she’s my friend,” Harper protested. “Card carrying man-hater, but she’s still my friend.”
“You’re going to have to explain that one,” Beka told him.
“There’s very little to explain,” Jen said, walking into the room. All eyes turned her way. “
“You’re looking better,” Harper commented. “I don’t remember ever seeing you in anything like that shirt before, though.”
Jen shrugged. “It’s what happens when you borrow clothes.”
“Rommie’s never worn anything like that.”
“I gave them permission to alter them,” Rommie explained. “They didn’t want her being mistaken for me.”
“I can’t see how anyone would ever make that mistake,” Rhade said quietly, staring.
Cleaned up, Jen was much more pleasant to look at. Her injuries were still faintly visible and she had a slight limp, but those were easy enough to see past. Her black hair was clean and tidy, pulled back into a glossy black braid tied with a strip of red leather.
In contrast to her three friends, she still looked odd. They had all discarded their Earth-style clothing for things that they were more comfortable in. Serenity was wearing a long white floor-length dress with a silver belt, long sleeves, and a wide collar that showed part of her shoulders, but not much of her cleavage. Her hair was pulled up into a bun on top of her head with a bit of braid trailing down to the center of her back. Something about her face had changed, making her look inhuman, but still lovely.
Yumeko still looked human, but there was a change in the slant of her eyes, making her previous Asian look even stronger. On her forehead was a round blue dot with two smaller white dots on either side of the top of the blue dot. Her blond hair now hung loose from its previous ponytail. Like Serenity, she also wore a dress, but it was light blue with a v-cut collar, double spaghetti straps, and no belt. It was cut specifically to fit her slight form. Miocci was perched on her shoulder.
The change in Wolf’s appearance was the most drastic. Her eyes slanted and her ears now had long pointed tips. The tip of her left ear was pierced with a small hoop earring made of copper. When she smiled, fangs became visible. She wore tight sandy colored leggings that appeared to be made of animal skins, as was the lace up forest green shirt she wore. It’s sleeveless cut emphasized her muscles. On her feet she had a simple pair of sandals. Her grey hair was tidier than it had been earlier and was pulled into a long tail wrapped in a piece of brown leather down its entire length. Snaking out behind her was a thin, tufted tail. The tuft was the same grey color as her hair, but the tip was a light green, clearly dyed.
“Don’t you make an odd bunch,” Beka commented.
“How did you do that?” Dylan asked. “You all looked human before.”
“With our appearances it’s very hard to blend in on Earth,” Wolf explained.
“We’d been hiding behind illusions,” Serenity added. “One of the abilities we’ve developed is that of disguise.”
“So how come it didn’t vanish when Wolf transformed?” Rhade asked.
“We can hold it even in our senshi forms,” she told him. “It’s not as easy though and it drains our energy faster than it would otherwise.”
“That’s why I told you to take Jen back to the others instead of staying to help fight,” Wolf added.
“Makes sense.”
“So now that you’ve assumed what I’m guessing are your real appearances, what would you have us call you?” Dylan asked, eyeing Serenity carefully.
Serenity and Wolf exchanged a look. “Our real names would be our preference. Mine is Tenshi and hers is Okami.”
“What about Yumeko?”
The blond laughed. “Yumeko is my real name.”
“So why didn’t you didn’t change your name?” Trance asked. “Anyone knowing about you people would hear your name and turn you into a very large target.”
“Changing my name would be pointless, as I tend to not recognize it as referring to me,” she explained sheepishly. “I only respond to the name I’m born with and my senshi name. In the cases where my birth name and real name are different, I will respond to that as well, but that doesn’t happen often.”
“Wait. What?” Harper looked confused.
“I think Yumeko’s translator is on the fritz again,” Jen said casually.
“Now that you’re looking better, I think we’re owed an explanation as to who you really are,” Dylan said. “Please. Have a seat at the table.”
Jen looked at the chairs. “I would much rather stand for now. I was stuck on that bed in the camp for the last five days.”
“Fair enough,” he replied as everyone else sat down. Jen moved to lean against the wall near to Tenshi. “Please start at the beginning. What are you anyways?”
“First of all, our star system is in a different galaxy, one you wouldn’t have heard of. Being who they are, the Lambent Kith do, but they do not come to it without good reason. They may have dominion here, but they have little power in our home,” Tenshi began. “My home world is called Aiella and my people are the Kal’tresh’nal. Okami is called a Laisheen from the planet Ha’ven. Yumeko’s people, the Tora, are from Kinshei.” The three looked at Jen expectantly.
She gave them a look. “I am from Nomaie and we are simply called Nomaien by others not of our world.”
“And by those of your world?” Rhade asked.
“We are not to speak that word to outsiders,” she said stiffly.
“We don’t even know what they call themselves, and we’ve known her for a very, very long time,” Okami said, pouting.
“Before anyone asks, Jen is the reborn fourth member of our group. She isn’t human, she just looks it.”
“Hey!” Jen protested.
“Sorry, but I’m trying to explain things here,” Tenshi apologized. “Anyways, she was sent to Earth to check up on some rumors we’d heard about it having been taken over. Her memories were blanked as a means of protection and she took up a name she’d had the last time she was on Earth, over a thousand years ago. We figured that, because she responded to it once before, she would have an easier time with it than giving her a new one. She was instructed to make friends in order to learn.”
“That explains the amnesia,” Harper said.
“Yes. Her back story was thought out for years before the mission went forward.”
“But something went wrong,” Okami continued. Because of what she is, she came to the attention of the Drago-Kazov. If we had known about Nietzscheans before the mission, we would have sent someone else. You see, Nomaien women are well known in our corner of the universe for being strong and fast. In short, and don’t hurt me Jen because you know it’s true, to the uneducated, they seem like Nietzschean women.”
“I’m definitely going to have to hurt you later,” Jen snarled angrily.
“Bring it on.”
“Calm down, you two,” Tenshi warned them. “We don’t have time for you two to be engaging in business as usual.”
“They fight a lot,” Yumeko explained to the crew.
“As a result of her behavior and her seemingly above-average physical skills, they got really curious and decided to see what her genes were like.” Tenshi shrugged. “What happened to her after her capture is unclear to us.”
Dylan looked at Jen. “You would know.”
“You’d think that, wouldn’t you? It’ll come back, but I do remember a lot of the tests they did. According to Tenshi, I was in there for six months. I don’t have enough memories to account for that length of time.”
“In the process of returning her identity, we may have accidentally buried a lot of her memories of that time,” Tenshi admitted. “Though it doesn’t seem to have wiped her memories of Harper.”
“Which is a good thing, yes?” Harper asked.
“Yes,” Jen replied. “It means I’m more likely to help with this insane quest of yours.”
“All we want to do is destroy the Spirit of the Abyss,” Trance told her. “What’s so insane about that?”
Jen snorted in disgust. “Someone please explain to them what happened when Sailor Galaxia tried to destroy Chaos. I don’t have the patience for that right now.”
“Lessons learned that long ago are often forgotten,” Tenshi reminded her.
“Be that as it may, doing what you suggest will only give you a short respite from this Spirit.” Jen walked up and slammed her fists down on the table, glaring at each person around the table in turn. “And which of you will be next? Who will trade their soul to destroy Chaos for a time? Who will invite within them that same spirit they sought to destroy?” She spun on her heel and stalked out of the room.
The Andromeda crew turned to watch her go and then back to Tenshi. “What was that all about?” Rommie asked.
“I don’t know exactly when this happened, but there was a very powerful senshi, Sailor Galaxia. She was, in fact, the most powerful. During the Sailor Wars, she got it in her head to take on Chaos in order to end the war. She couldn’t do it. In the end, she brought Chaos into herself. It was the stupidest thing she could have done. Instead of destroying Chaos, she became Chaos. She started taking over the universe. Luckily, she hadn’t gotten to ours, but we know people who had their homes destroyed by the Shadow Galactica and the Animamates.” Tenshi paused to look in the direction Jen had gone. “Jen, in fact, was very close to someone who had their home destroyed, which is why she reacted like this. Galaxia was stopped when she reached Earth. The senshi of the Sol system were able to free Galaxia of Chaos, returning it to its proper place in the cosmos.”
“How could we have forgotten?” Trance moaned.
“You of the Lambent Kith are fortunate. Galaxia never came this far out, so you were untouched,” Okami told her.
“If we’re going to do this, we’ll need Jen’s help,” Yumeko said. “Because of Seiya, she knows things that will help us fight.”
“If she’s even willing,” Rhade pointed out. “She didn’t seem to happy about this.”
“Of the four of us, she hates being a senshi the most. Her only reason for doing it is that it’s better than the alternative.”
“And that would be what?”
“Being herself,” Okami replied cryptically.

 

Episode 05: Training

The next day, Rhade walked into the gym for his training session to find Jen going through the same set of exercises that Tenshi had put him through yesterday. She was barefoot, her hair braided, wearing the same clothes from yesterday. Jen, however, was having more success at it than he had. Frowning, he walked over to Tenshi. “What’s going on here?”
“When we blanked her memories her senshi training went with it. She knows what to do; she just can’t, so she needs to be retrained. We can’t have her operating solely on instinct.”
“So her sessions are before mine?”
“No, she just got here early. I’ll be training the two of you together.” Rhade heard a thud followed by an exclamation of pain. He looked over to see Jen pulling herself off the mat.
“You can’t be serious, Tenshi,” Jen exclaimed. “Train with that…that…” Anger got the better of her, rendering her unable to finish.
“Loathe as you may be to hear this, Jen, but you could learn a lot by training with him. Besides, he could actually put up a fight in a sparring match. You know very well that I can’t, nor can Yumeko. Okami would likely hold back. Rhade, on the other hand, has to go all out or risk being seriously hurt in a fight with you. I know you won’t hold back on him, not after what’s happened to you.” Jen looked at her friend in dismay. “Don’t worry. I won’t have the two of you spar just yet. Neither of you is ready for that. We’ll just stick with meditation and balance exercises for now.”
Jen looked relieved at that and went back to her exercises while Rhade watched. His assessment of her from the previous day proved to be less accurate. Seeing her going through this showed him what he was doing wrong yesterday. That aside, he was reasonably confident that if they fought again, he could beat her. She only scored the hits she did the other day through luck and not skill.
“Rhade, stop standing around and get over there,” Tenshi instructed. “You won’t get anything done just standing there.”
Jen paused, watching him come towards her. She tensed, prepared to fight or run, whichever the situation would call for. He took his shirt off and started going through the routine, doing what Tenshi told him to. Feeling confident that he was decently occupied, Jen started again.
As he went through the drill, Rhade became aware that Jen was doing the same thing he was. Her poses were better than his, but her movements were awkward. She kept glaring at him, staying as far away as she possibly could without leaving the mat area.
Tenshi sighed. “Jen, how many times do we have to tell you? You need to learn more patience. You’re trying too hard, trying to rush it. Relax.”
Jen stopped, fuming. “This is ridiculous! I’ve been through all of this before.”
“And you’ve forgotten almost everything you’ve been taught,” Tenshi reminded her. “You need to do this. We can’t afford to have you out there with the level of control you currently have, and that’s very little. We both know you can do this.”
“Tenshi, it took me the better part of five years to perfect this. We can’t afford for it to take another five years.”
“It won’t,” Tenshi assured her. “You just need a reminder.”
“No. I can’t do this,” she said, turning to leave.
“What are so afraid of?” Rhade asked her.
She froze. “How dare you speak to me, Nietzschean?” she asked without turning around.
“Answer the question.”
She turned her head to look at him out of the corner of her eye. “I fear nothing.”
“So you’re just not willing to do something that I’m doing. Is that it?”
“This is not about you.”
“So what is it about? Think you can’t do it?”
She turned around, narrowing her eyes.
“That’s it, isn’t it?” Rhade laughed. “You just don’t have it in you to do this. I do.”
“Are you insinuating that you’re better than me?”
“You could say that, yes.”
Her back stiffened. Tenshi faked a coughing fit in order to hide her laughter. “You aren’t. You’re just a male, and a particularly annoying one at that.”
“So now you think you’re better than me.”
She folded he arms across her chest. “I know I’m better than you.”
“Prove it,” he said, walking up to her, staring her right in the face. He was a fair amount taller than she was, so he wound up looking down at her. She glared back up at him.
“You’re on, asshole,” she said heading back to the mat.

“Rhade, could I speak with you for a moment?” Tenshi asked once the training session was over. Jen smirked and left the gym.
“What can I do for you, Tenshi?”
“I wanted to thank you or what you did earlier. If you hadn’t been here, I don’t know how I would have gotten her to continue with her training.”
“No problem. I just want to know what her problem with me is.”
“If you were stuck in a Drago-Kazov prison camp for six months, you’d hate Nietzscheans, too.”
“I suppose, but I’m not a Drago-Kazov.”
Tenshi shook her head. “It doesn’t matter to her. You’re Nietzschean. To her mind, you’re all the same. Hence why she refused to back down when you challenged her like that. She refuses to loose to something she hates.”
“So it’s just what I am that she hates? That’s irrational.”
“It’s a survival instinct,” Okami said joining. She took a moment to stare at Rhade before continuing.
“You’re kidding.”
“Sorry gorgeous. No joke,” she said, patting him on the shoulder. “Another part of it is culture based, but it’s really complicated.”
“Try me.”
Okami blinked. “Sorry. Thought you said something else.” She coughed. “And no. If you want to know about her people, it’s best to talk to one of them.”
“Jen won’t talk to me.”
“And you know this because you’ve tried oh so hard?”
“Be nice, Okami,” Tenshi warned.
“Look, Rhade, I’ll let you in on something. Jen doesn’t like me much. My culture is almost completely opposite from hers. We’re very open about everything. We’re very earthy people and speak what’s on our minds. In addition, I like men, as you may have noticed.”
“I have,” he agreed, blushing a little.
“Just let me know if I make you uncomfortable. It’s just how I am.”
“It’s ok.”
“Just talk to her. It can’t hurt to try. At the very least, you’ll find out if it’s you personally she doesn’t like or what you are.”
“It’s worth a shot,” Tenshi mused. “But I have a feeling I know the answer already.”
“Care to let me in on it?”
“Both.”

Rhade found her in the arboretum sitting under a tree staring off into space. He stood there just watching her. She was still barefoot, her socks and boots sitting in a pile beside her. Her knees were curled up under her chin.
“I know you’re there, Rhade. You may as well stop pretending you’re not. What do you want? Come to taunt me again?”
“No, I just came to talk,” he said, walking over to sit beside her.
“I have nothing to say to you.”
“You’re not running away or trying to hit me,” he observed. “This is a good sign.”
“I’m too tired from training to bother. Come near me again, though, and you won’t be so lucky,” she warned him.
“What is it about me that you hate so much?”
Annoyed, she turned her head to look up at him. “Seven reasons. Three are on your right arm. Three are on your left arm.”
“My bone blades. What’s the other reason.”
“You irritate me in so many ways.”
“You’ve only just met me,” he protested.
“I’m a good judge of character.”
“No, you’re not. You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know enough to know I don’t like you.”
Rhade peered down at her. “Damn, you’re interesting,” he blurted out.
Jen shot up to her feet and glared down at him. “Where the hell did that come from?”
Rhade scrambled to his feet. “It’s true. I think you’re interesting. Odd considering your very clear feelings towards me, but you are.” Tentatively, he touched her cheek with one hand.
Jen grabbed hi hand and twisted it. “Lay another hand on me and I’ll break it, Nietzschean,” she hissed. Gathering her boots and socks, she left him standing there alone.
Smooth, Telemachus, very smooth, he chided himself. You think you would have learned how to deal with women from dealing with your dead wife, but no. You had to do the one thing that would irritate her the most. Brilliant.
He sighed and headed back to his quarters, bumping into Okami on the way there.
“Hey there,” she said, smiling.
“Hi Okami.”
“Why so glum?”
“Talked to Jen.”
“How’d it go?”
Rhade shook his head. “Badly.”
“Not going to give me any details are you?”
“No.”
“That bad, huh?”
He stopped and leaned his back against a wall. “You could say that. Damn it!”
Okami eyed him curiously. “You know? I think you like her.”
“It’s hard to like someone who hates you.”
Okami put her arm around Rhade’s waist as his shoulders were too far up for her to reach that way and said, “Let me tell you a story about a guy named Seiya and his attempts to woo our girl Jen.”

Rhade sat alone in his quarters long after Okami had finished the story and left. He thought about what she’d told him. Long story short, it wasn’t hopeless to befriend her, but he got the distinct feeling that Okami was hinting at something else, something he just wasn’t interested in.
Or was he?
He shook his head. She’s not Nietzschean, regardless of the interest the Dragos were showing in her genes. She is attractive in a violent sort of way. It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who’s felt that about her. It’s too bad that this Seiya person died a thousand years ago. He’d be useful to talk to. He leaned back in his chair. At least I know a bit more about her now, but why did Okami warn me not to ask Jen too many questions about herself? Also, why isn’t anyone telling us Jen’s real name?
Andromeda appeared in front of him. “Rhade, the Magog World ship has been spotted. Dylan wants you on the bridge immediately.”
“So much for deep though,” he muttered, getting up. “I’ll be right there.”
“If you could find Jen on the way, it would be appreciated. She’s not answering me.”
“Great. I’ll see what I can do.”
He left his room and headed for Jen’s room, which was two doors down from his. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door. He wasn’t overly surprised that she didn’t answer, so he went inside. He found her sitting cross-legged on the floor with her eyes closed. Cautiously, he approached her. She didn’t seem to notice his presence at all.
“Jen?” No reply. “Jen, are you still in there?”
He was about to touch her shoulder to try and shake her out of this when Tenshi interrupted him. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
He looked up at her. “Why not?”
“She’s meditating. It could cause her some serious damage if you interrupt it like that.”
“Andromeda says that the Magog have been spotted.”
Dylan wants us on the bridge, yes I know.”
“Then what are you two still doing here?”
“Finishing off an exercise that I’ll be doing with you later on. You may as well head up to the bridge and let Dylan know we’ll be there as soon as we finish.”
“He’s not going to like that,” Rhade warned her.
“Understandable, but it’s out of my control for the time being. I’ll apologize when we get up there.”
Taking one last look at Jen, he left her room and headed for the bridge. Dylan looked up at him.
“Where are Jen and Tenshi?”
“Meditating,” he grumped.
“Meditating? In a crisis?” Dylan asked incredulously.
“It wasn’t a crisis when they started,” Yumeko told him.
“They’d better get up here soon, or-“
“Or what?” Jen asked, walking up to him, staring him right in the face.
“Or we could be in big trouble,” Trance finished for him. “We need all available hands to deal with the Magog.”
Jen looked at Trance. “Still dead set in doing this bit of stupidity, are you?”
“It’s not stupidity to try and rid the galaxy of a threat like the Magog,” Rhade told her.
“That all depends on your definition of the word threat.”
“An expression of intention to inflict evil, injury, or damage,” Rommie supplied helpfully.
Ignoring the android, Jen continued. “By your definition, the Magog are a threat. By mine, Nietzscheans are a threat; therefore, should I attempt to wipe you all out, people who like Nietzscheans would consider this stupidity. Others who think like me would endorse it.”
“She sounds like those crackpot Genites,” Beka commented.
“Except that she has a better reason than they do to not like Nietzscheans,” Trance told her. “But unlike the Genites, who hate all genetically altered people, she only hates Nietzscheans.”
“Comforting.”
“Not for me,” Rhade protested.
“Look, Jen, are you with us or not?” Dylan asked, rubbing his forehead.
“I have little fondness for sticking my neck out for a cause that isn’t mine, but my friends have decided to help you. Like it or not, they need me and I need them to get home again. It’s in my best interests to help them survive this in order to get home.”
Trance looked surprised. “I thought you didn’t want to go home.”
“Home has no Nietzscheans,” Jen pointed out.
“Your home is a burning hot desert,” Okami commented. “But I guess it all comes down to which is worse: the Nietzscheans or your parents.”
Jen shuddered. “Good point. I can’t kill my parents, but….” She shook her head. “That’s beside the point. I’ll help just so that I can go home again.”
“Self-preservation.” Rhade nodded approvingly. “Something I understand.”
Jen walked over to him. “Let’s get one thing clear here. I don’t want your understanding. I have to train with you and it looks like I have to work with you. Outside of those two things, I don’t want to see or talk to you. Clear?”
Rhade didn’t get a chance to reply as the Magog World Ship appeared in front of them. It launched several swarm ships that attached themselves to Andromeda’s hull, punching through.
“Alright, people. This is what we’re going to do,” Tenshi said, addressing everyone. “Jen, Rhade, you’re with me. Trance, you go with Yumeko and Okami. Beka, Dylan, Harper, Rommie, if you four could help as well, it would take the strain off our not quite fully trained senshi.”
“Sure thing,” Beka said gleefully.
“Why do I have to go with you?” Jen asked, giving Rhade a black look.
“Because I have the highest chance of being able to contain your powers if they run out of control on us.”
“Fine. Let’s just get it over with.”
Dylan led them all to the nearest weapons locker and distributed weapons to Harper, Beka and Rommie. Rhade took a force lance, but the other senshi refused his offer of weaponry, stating that their powers would be more than adequate.
“Well, then. Shall we?” Tenshi asked.
“Earth Elemental Power…” Okami began.
“Air Elemental Power…” Yumeko said.
“Water Elemental Power…” Tenshi said, looking to Jen expectantly.
She sighed. “Fire Elemental Power…”
“Make Up!” the four girls finished as one. Rhade remembered Okami’s bright leafy green light, but with the lights of the other three girls it was brighter. Tenshi glowed a deep ultramarine blue, Yumeko was a pale sky blue, and Jen’s was a deep scarlet color.
“Ok, I think introductions are in order here,” Beka said, eyeing the changes in the four girls. They were all wearing a uniform made entirely of black leather. Long pants with lace up sides, a belt with a gemstone serving in place of a buckle, knee high boots, long gloves, and a sleeveless top that showed a good portion of their abdomens. Each girl had a different trim and color of gemstone.
The black haired one, standing where Jen had been, rolled her eyes. “Is this really necessary?”
“Would you rather that they shout your other names out in the middle of a fight, thus revealing who you are?” Trance asked.
“Fine.”
“I’m StarLight, as Rhade knows,” Okami said. Her trim was grey and she had a green gemstone.
“StarSinger,” Tenshi said nodding. Her gem was a very dark blue and the trimming on her uniform was a little lighter shade.
Yumeko tugged at the light blue trim on her top. “StarLove,” she said. Her gem was clear blue.
Jen sighed and started to leave, the blood red gem in her belt absorbing the light instead of reflecting it the way the gems of the other three did, making the red trim on her uniform seem darker. “StarFire,” she said. “Now lets get this over with.”
“Vedra Solar Power, Make Up!” Trance finished transforming and looked at Rhade. “Your turn.”
Rhade looked uncomfortable. “I’d actually rather not until we meet up with the Magog.”
“You may not have time,” StarSinger told him. “Transform and let’s get going.”
“No jokes,” he said warningly to his crewmates. Terazed Planet Power, Make Up!”
Beka eyed him carefully. “You look good in a tux.”

 

Episode 06: Magog

They split up into their groups and headed off into different parts of the Andromeda. StarSinger, StarFire, and Terazed Kamen headed towards the gym while Dylan and Beka headed to the observation deck. Rommie and Harper went to the Slipstream core, and StarLove, Sailor Vedra, and StarLight patrolled the area near the docking bay.
StarFire lagged behind Singer and Terazed, wanting to be as distant from him as possible. Bad enough that she had to work with him so soon, but she’d be damned if she was going to like it or get any closer than this unless absolutely necessary.
Of course, now that I’ve even thought that, it will soon become necessary, she told herself glumly. If I’ve ever been in a worse situation than this, I can’t remember it. I’ve never hated any of my fellow senshi before. Granted, I don’t think I’ve ever gone into things like this knowing who they all are before hand either. A group of Magog came around the corner. Right on cue.
“Alright you two. Stay calm and focused. That goes double for you, StarFire. You know what you’re capable of, but you don’t have anywhere near your old level of control. Don’t overdo it. I’d rather not have to deal with one of your power drain headaches.”
“Don’t treat me like a child, StarSinger,” Fire snarled. “I can handle myself.”
“That remains to be seen.” Singer turned to face the Magog.
StarFire came up to stand on the opposite side of StarSinger from Terazed. “Bring it on, fur balls,” Fire snarled at them, dropping into a fighting stance. Shrieking, the Magog rushed at them, aiming for their stomachs. In the vicious fighting that ensued, Terazed kept a close eye on StarFire. StarSinger looked busy with her own group. She was doing well for someone who claimed to be the weakest member of her group.
“Water Wall Surround!” StarSinger called out, stalling another group of Magog trying to come around the corner.
StarFire turned around, having finished off her batch. Seeing StarSinger still struggling with hers, she pointed at one with the least amount of contact with her friend and said, “Flaming Circle Rise!”
The Magog in question went up in flames, shrieking. StarSinger jumped back as the other Magog started bursting into flames. They ran around, crashing into each other in confusion. The heat around the first flaming Magog was so intense that one of the panels on the wall exploded in a shower of sparks.
Terazed made his way over to StarSinger. “Is this supposed to happen?”
“No. Water Rise!” Columns of water rose up around the Magog, extinguishing the flames. They collapsed to the ground, dead. “This is why you’re with us, StarFire.”
StarFire wasn’t listening. She fell to the ground, her uniform vanishing, replaced with a set of clothes unfamiliar to Terazed. Black pants and a short sleeved t-shirt with an image of a large red bird on it. She was unconscious.
StarSinger cursed under her breath. “Great. Power drain. Andromeda, are you there?”
The hologram appeared in front of her. “I am always here.”
“Great. Could you send me some back up? StarFire is exhausted.”
“Dylan is on his way.”
“Thank you.” Turning to Terazed, she asked, “Could you take her back to her quarters? She needs rest. If she wakes up, tell her I told you to do this.”
“Somehow I don’t think she’ll buy it or stay put.”
StarSinger grinned wickedly. “Tie her down if you have to, but make sure she stays put. She’s going to have a nasty headache when she wakes up. When she’s settled, come find me. I want to see what you’re capable of.”
He nodded and picked up Jen’s unconscious form, carrying her away. She wasn’t light, but it wasn’t hard to carry her either. Unconscious, her face was completely relaxed. In his opinion, it vastly improved her looks. Awake, she tended to always have a grumpy expression.
Jen’s quarters weren’t far, so he got there quickly. He lay her down on her bed and took her boots off. She whimpered a little and rolled partially onto her side, one hand curling up over her chest. StarSinger had asked him to come back, but he was torn between going and staying to try and learn more about this odd, angry, young woman. It was with a fair amount of reluctance that he left, figuring that Jen would likely try to kill him if she found him in her room. Given her current state and the headache StarSinger mentioned, she was in no condition to be doing any sort of moving, so she’d likely hurt herself in the attempt.
He found StarSinger and Dylan surrounded by Magog. They were coming at them as fast as Dylan could cut them down with his force lance. StarSinger was keeping them off him. Both were starting to wear down, as was the power cell in Dylan’s force lance.
“Dylan!” Terazed shouted, tossing the older man his force lance. Dylan caught it and turned it on a Magog locked into a struggle with StarSinger.
“Thanks!” he called back.
“Your powers would be most helpful right now,” StarSinger panted, exhausted.
Selecting a target, he shouted, “Terazed Serious Laser!” feeling incredibly foolish as he did so in front of his captain. The attack burned a hole directly through the chest of a Magog.
Dylan turned to him, impressed. “Nice work.”
“Could be better,” StarSinger told him, “but not bad for your second fight.”
“Dylan behind you!” Dylan turned just in time to shoot the snarling Magog in the chest.
Holo-Andromeda appeared beside the fallen body. “That would seem to be all of them. I’m getting reports from the others that their areas are all clear.” She frowned. “Magog always attack until they’re either destroyed or their target falls.”
“They didn’t send nearly enough to take us out,” Dylan commented, looking at the bodies on the floor.
Terazed’s uniform fuzzed and returned Rhade to his original clothing. “Why would they send insufficient forces against us?”
“Testing the waters,” Okami said, joining them with Yumeko and Trance in tow. “It’s a common strategy. Find out what numbers your enemy has, test their skills.”
“You’ve seen this before, Okami?” Rhade asked her.
“Every single time. We should have seen it coming.”
“It’s my fault,” Tenshi said, detransforming. “I didn’t think they’d attack this soon.”
“Well, we beat them,” Dylan said.
“For now. We should meet with the others, see if they noticed anything odd about this.

“So first off, I’d like to point out that I have a good feeling about this. Rhade’s senshi powers are strong. A little unfocused, but that’s easy enough to fix,” Tenshi began. They met up with the other groups on the obs deck and were now all seated around the tale.
“Good to hear,” Rhade said, folding his arms.
“Trance’s gifts are also promising,” Okami added. “She’s also had the benefit of previous training.”
Tsuki looked up from her spot in Trance’s lap. “Not that I did her much good.”
Miocci rolled his eyes. “You’re quite hard on yourself. Vedra wasn’t needed, so there was no need for extensive training. Enough said.”
“So what happened to Jen?” Yumeko asked.
“She lost control of a flaming circle and it drained all of her energy,” Tenshi explained. “Rhade took her back to her quarters to sleep.”
“I hope these people have enough drugs powerful enough to keep her out until she recovers from the headache we all know she has.”
Trance shook her head. “I know the kind of headache Tenshi is talking about. I don’t know much about Jen, but I doubt we could keep her out for more than a couple hours.”
“So how did the Dragos do it?” Harper asked.
“We don’t know, nor will we until Jen decides to be more forthcoming about her time there,” Yumeko told him.
“I have a few very wild theories, but much of it gives them more credit for knowledge than they likely have,” Okami added.
“Nietzscheans are very smart,” Rhade told her stiffly.
“It’s not a slight against the Nietzscheans as a whole, but you’d never heard of a Nomaien before you met Jen. Frankly, you know very little about her.”
“Besides the fact that she’s a bitch,” Beka muttered.
“Hey!” Harper protested. “She’s not a bitch. She’s just had a really rough few months. Underneath all of that, she’s really quite a nice person.”
“Pardon me if I don’t believe you.”
“Don’t worry about it. This happens every time she wakes as a senshi,” Yumeko assured the very annoyed looking Harper.
“Doesn’t like it?” Dylan asked.
“No, but it’s better than the alternative.”
“We’ve had this talk before,” Rhade reminded her. “What is this alternative? Don’t tell us about it being herself. We don’t even know what that is.”
Tenshi, Okami, and Yumeko exchanged a look. “There isn’t a lot we can tell you without her permission. What we can tell you is that, back home on Nomaie, she would be her mother’s daughter, subject to all the rules and restrictions that implies. She would have no freedom whatsoever,” Tenshi said hesitantly.
“And as if that wasn’t bad enough, there’s her siblings to consider,” said Okami. “Her brother isn’t so bad. He’s a senshi as well, but her elder sister…” She shook her head, the light glinting off her copper earring. “Hihana is a stuck up, self-centered, vain bitch. If you think Jen’s a bitch, you should meet Hihana. Even Tenshi would have bitchy tendencies if she’d grown up with her.”
“You can’t give us anymore details than that?” Rhade asked. “Not even her brother’s name?”
Yumeko shook her head. “For some reason, his name is as closely guarded a secret as Jen’s real name. This is odd, considering that in Nomaien society, women have all the power, and so I can’t see any need for the secrecy.”
“Except for the fact that Jen’s very close to her brother. He took a lot of the heat from Hihana to protect her,” Tenshi reminded her. “If people knew his name, they’d be able to figure hers out.”
“Couldn’t they do that knowing Hihana’s name?” Dylan asked.
“Hihana is a fairly common, if lovely, name. Jen’s name isn’t so common. Her brother’s is even less common.”
“If any of you want to know more, ask her about it,” Miocci interrupted. “Jen’s past is if no importance right now.”
“Wouldn’t it help us relate to her better?”
The grey cat simply shook his head. “She doesn’t want to relate to any of you. She may talk to Harper, but she knows him. Admittedly, she met him before she remembered who she really was, but that’s beside the point.”
“She can trust me,” Harper said smugly.
“Trust is a strong word, too strong a word for this situation. She’d talk to you. Nothing more.”
“You’re being very pessimistic, Miocci,” Yumeko scolded.
“Optimism isn’t going to help us out here.”
“Nietzscheans don't believe in optimism. It inhibits survival,” Rhade said.
Okami gave a short, barking laugh. “If you were optimistic about Jen, you’d probably be dead by now.”
“That aside, we all did well today. Okami is right. This was just a test. I for one would very much like to know how they knew we were after them. This is too soon for this kind of strike.”
“It could just be random,” Beka suggested. “The Magog attack without rhyme or reason. This could all just be one giant coincidence.”
“Our luck has never been that good.”
“Personally, I don’t believe in luck,” Jen said, staggering in to the room.
“You should be in bed resting,” Tenshi scolded.
“Do you honestly think that I could rest with a headache this bad?” Jen asked, wincing as she walked towards the window. She leaned her head on the glass. “Besides, I am, or was anyways, a fully trained senshi. I still have all my knowledge of things.”
“Do you have anything to add to this?” Dylan asked her softly.
She looked at him. “Not that it means anything to you, but while I was out cold, I dreamed.”
Tenshi, Okami, and Yumeko jumped to attention. “What now?” Okami groaned, cupping her head with her hands.
“Just tell me you didn’t see the Andromeda going up in flames.
Jen made a face. “No, nothing like that. Not this time, unfortunately.”
“Unfortunately? How could not seeing my ship going up in flames possibly be a bad thing?” Dylan demanded, jumping to his feet.
“Careful, Dylan,” Miocci warned. “Until her retraining is complete, she’s a loose cannon.”
“Time bomb is a better word,” Okami told the cat.
“We could prevent that. What I saw was this glowing red person surrounded by those Magog things. On the ground in front of them were our broken bodies, ripped to shreds. It wasn’t pretty.”
“By our bodies, you mean all of us, right?” Harper looked sick.
Dylan laughed, getting up out of his chair, walking towards her. “It was only a dream, Jen.”
“Oh boy,” Yumeko muttered under her breath.
Jen spun around, grabbed Dylan by the throat and slammed his back into the window. “You know nothing of dreams,” she hissed before she let him drop to the floor.
Dylan rubbed his throat. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Did you miss the part where they tried to warn you all that I’m unstable or do I need to drive the point home again?”
“I don’t think that will be necessary. Rhade, would you mind taking her to the brig?” he asked, getting up.
“Don’t even try it, Nietzschean.”
Tenshi got up and put herself between them. “Dylan, this is not the wisest course of action.”
“Need I remind you that she attacked my captain?” Rommie asked angrily.
“I saw what she did. Trust me, the brig isn’t a good idea. She’ll just get out and you’ll be back to square one. If you want to punish her, turn the Andromeda around.”
“And go where? Earth?” Beka asked.
“Nomaie.”
Jen’s face went white. “That’s not funny, Tenshi.”
“Nor was it intended to be,” she replied calmly.
“Seriously,” Okami said, standing. “That’s a little extreme.”
“From our current position, it would take a week to get there. Doing so would help with Rhade, Jen, and Trance’s training. It would also stabilize Jen.”
“Yes, but at what cost?” Yumeko jumped in. “You’ll have a stable senshi, but there’s a high risk that she’ll be useless at best, taken from us a worst.”
“Say no more, Yumeko. It would be best for her, and you know it. You, too, Okami. If not Nomaie, the Ha’ven for the healers there to have a look at her.”
“No, no healers,” Jen chocked out.
Dylan looked at Tenshi. “How do we get to Nomaie? I don’t want to have to lock your friend up in the brig, but I can’t have her attacking people.”
“She only attacked you because you mocked the dream,” Tenshi told him bluntly. “Never mock a Nomaien for having a dream, especially not if that individual is a senshi, as those dreams tend to precognitive. Now that she’s told us what she saw, we can take steps to make sure it doesn’t happen.”
Beka looked skeptical. “You trust her dreams?”
“We’ve never had reason to doubt it before. I remember well the first time we didn’t listen to her.”
“What happened?” Rommie asked, curious.
“We all died,” Okami said shrugging. “Lucky for us, we weren’t the only senshi there at the time. They were able to pick up where we left off.”
“That’s still no reason to have attacked Dylan.”
“Again, did we forget to mention that I’m unbalanced, possibly irrational?” Jen asked, exasperated.
“That explains a few things,” Rhade said. “Like your hatred of me.”
“No, that’s one of the more rational things going on right now. At any rate, message delivered. I’m going to go find something to eat.”
“You can actually eat right now?” Okami stared at her.
Jen shrugged. “I don’t want to, but I know if I don’t, I’ll pay for it for the next three or four days.”
“Nomaiens have a very high food need to make up for the lack of water on their planet,” Tenshi explained when Jen was out of hearing range.
“So we head for Nomaie, “ Dylan said. “Any objections?”
Trance broke her silence. “I do, actually. We don’t know how to get there, or if it will help.”
“It’s a risk we have to take,” Tenshi told her gently. “Even had she not attacked Dylan, I would have suggested it after the battle. If the Magog are attacking us this soon, then we don’t have nearly as much time to prepare as we thought. Don’t worry Trance. Your abilities will still work in our galaxy. Ours work just fine here.”
“That’s no what I was worried about.”
“Also, won’t the Commonwealth miss us?” Rhade asked.
“We won’t be gone all that long.”
“You said it will take a week and a half to get there. Same transit time back, say a week or so there to get this done. We’ll have been gone almost a month.”
“It will take less time to get back here, as once we’re there, we’ll have access to our modes of transportation. They aren’t as versatile as slipstream, but they work and will be able to get us back faster. Okami, if you could give Andromeda the coordinates that would be appreciated. Dylan, I would like to speak to you about our home worlds a little more. Preferably in private.”
“That can be arranged.”
“One more thing. Rhade, I know you put out a lot of energy fighting today, but if you could run through some exercises as well as spend some time meditating. Don’t worry about doing too much. You know your limits as far as exercise goes.”
“Might I ask why?”
Tenshi sighed tiredly. “Because I’m going to need your help tomorrow burning Jen’s energy. We need to give her something to do to keep her mind off the fact that we’re going to the one place she doesn’t want to go.”
“I think I can handle spending more time with Jen, even if we’ll be beating on each other.”
“I didn’t think it would be a problem. Now, Rhade, Rommie, if you two will excuse us, I’d like to have that chat with Dylan now.”
The two nodded and left.

 

Episode 07: Duel

“So what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?” Dylan asked when they were alone in the room.
“Jen.”
“I see.”
“I felt you deserve a bit more detail to the explanation I gave earlier.”
He crossed his arms. “I’m listening.”
“If it was only about the dream, we would have jumped down her throat as well. That’s not the only reason she attacked you. The Nomaiens are female dominated.”
“So she took exception to me laughing at her.”
“If you were a Nomaien man, you wouldn’t be conscious right now. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t have attacked you like that.”
“But as you keep saying, she’s not all there right now.”
“Yes, exactly. I’m not condoning what she did, I’m just saying that, given her background, it’s understandable.”
“I should warn Rhade and Harper.”
“No, you shouldn’t. Harper she knows from before and understands his behavior. Rhade…well, him knowing this isn’t going to help him out any. If Jen is as traumatized by her experience in the prison camp as I think she is, she’ll take any excuse to pick a fight with him. No matter what he does, he’s in trouble.”
“Great. Is there anything you can do?”
“Getting them to work together is the only way to curb it. Perhaps if she knows he’s not as easy a target as she currently thinks, she might think twice about trying anything.”
“I hope it works. If she hurts Rhade, I will have to confine her.”
“Good luck with that.”

Jen woke the next morning soaked in sweat. She tossed the covers off and sat up, cupping her head in her hands. This is insane. I’ve had the same dreams over and over for the last six months. Why won’t they stop? She got up and headed for her bathroom to splash her face with cold water. I haven’t gotten a decent night’s sleep since they started. If this goes on for much longer, I may truly loose what’s left of my sanity.
She patted her face dry with a towel and went back out to put her clothes on, making a face as she did so. I’ve got to get some better clothes. Granted, I’m lucky that I’m the same size as Rommie, but these just aren’t me. I prefer to have less of my skin showing. It’s all fine when I’m in uniform, but not for every day wear. Admittedly, I have the clothes I came out of my transformation with, but they just don’t feel right anymore. I haven’t seen that outfit in a very long time and the memories associated with it aren’t pleasant ones. I’m still not sure why those clothes appeared and not the ones I was wearing before I transformed. For that matter, how did the ones I had been wearing show up back in my quarters?
There was a knock on the door. She finished pulling the shorts on and opened it to find Rhade standing behind it holding a large bundle in his arms. “What do you want?” she growled, tensing up..
“How many times do I have to tell you that I’m not going to hurt you before you finally believe me?”
“It’ll never happen.”
“Uh, anyways, Trance asked me if I’d bring these by.”
“And those are?”
“New clothes,” he said, handing the bundle to her. “She said to tell you that Okami and Yumeko sat up last night getting these together for you.”
“I see. Well, thank you for bringing them by.”
Rhade looked at her, startled. “That’s the first nice thing you’ve said to me since you woke up on board.”
“Don’t get used to it.”
“Oh, Tenshi also asked me to let you know that there will be a training session in one hour. She suggests that you get something to eat before hand. I can show you the way, but if you want to change your clothes first, I can wait for you out here.”
At the mention of food, her stomach rumbled unpleasantly. “The last thing I need is to be following you around the ship. On the other hand, it’s a big ship. I get lost easily when I can’t see the sun.” She nodded. “I’ll be back out in a couple minutes,” she said, closing the door.
Jen leaned her back against the door. What the hell am I doing? I hate him! Why am I saying these things? It’s not like me, even my normal self isn’t like this. These dreams are affecting me more than I thought.
She took the bundle over to the bed beside the small couch she’d slept on the night before. She hadn’t felt comfortable sleeping in something that large bed, so it was as good a place as any to toss the clothes for now. Sorting through them, she found a lightweight pair of tan pants and a dark red tank top with the Japanese kanji for fire embroidered on in a dark golden color of thread. Her lips twitched into a brief half smile. Her friends had even included underwear in the pile.
Much better, she said, slipping into the soft pants and top. Maybe now I can avoid accidentally giving myself a black eye during training sessions and concentrate better on giving Rhade one.

While Jen changed, Rhade leaned on the wall beside her door. That was entirely unexpected. Perhaps she’s not as much of a bitch as she wants us to think. Granted, she didn’t look like she slept very well last night. If I wasn’t curious about her before this, I would be now. He turned his head to look at the door. What is it about her that’s so fascinating that I have to keep putting myself near her, knowing that she hates Nietzscheans and would kill me in a heartbeat given the means and opportunity? I know it’s not masochism, but what is it if not that? Attraction? Maybe. She’s pretty. Not beautiful, but not hard to look at either. The only problem there is that she’s not Nietzschean. If she were…
He let the very pleasant imagery of Jen with bone blades fade when he heard her door open. He knew she was going to hit him or yell at him for staring, but he couldn’t help it. It appeared that her chest had shrunk. I wonder if she knows that those are the colors used in High Guard uniforms. ”Ready?”
“You can stop staring now,” she said, glaring up at him. “They’re just clothes.”
“It’s not the clothes I’m looking at. You don’t look like you slept well.”
Jen shrugged casually. “It’s a new place. I’m too tense to sleep.”
Rhade nodded, leading her towards the mess hall. “Even though I know you’ll turn it down, I could help with that.”
“You’re right, I will turn it down, but for the sake of argument, what would you offer?”
“Normally, a soothing neck massage and hot cup of tea. If that went well, perhaps a back massage as well.”
Jen wrinkled her nose in disgust. “I hate tea. Mother always used to make me drink it. As for massage, we don’t do that on Nomaie.“
“Might I ask why?”
“Only if you leave me alone and stop asking questions about my life afterwards.”
Rhade raised an eyebrow. “Why is it that you don’t want people knowing much about you?”
“Because I’m a very private person. Now stop asking questions.”
Rhade shook his head. “I can’t make that promise,” he said, stopping.
She took a couple of steps and turned to face him. “You’re being intrusive.”
“I find you fascinating. I think I mentioned that before.”
Her black eyes flashed angrily. “There is nothing fascinating about me. What you see is what you get.”
Taking a deep breath, he walked towards her. “You have no idea what I see.”
“Really? Enlighten me.”
He nodded. “As you wish. What I see is a woman with some very odd behavior, but otherwise fascinating. Between that and your looks, I need to know more. Who are you? You say what I see is what I get, but I’m not entirely sure what I’m looking at. I ask questions to better understand the image before me. I’m quite confused, actually.”
“What do you mean, my looks?”
“Heard that did you? You’re pretty. Not stunningly gorgeous, but pretty. Maybe if you smiled you’d be lovely, but I doubt there’s much chance of that happening where I can see it.”
“I’ll only tell you this once. I’m not pretty. Your eyes must be defective.”
“Not possible. Nietzscheans are engineered to be perfect.”
“Then open those supposedly perfect ears of yours. I don not like you. I don’t want to talk to you. We will never be friends. I’m here to help with this insane fight Trance decided to get us all involved in and nothing more. When it’s over-“
“You’ll do what? Go home?” Rhade rolled his eyes. “You’ve made it clear that you don’t want to go back there. Where will you go if not there?”
“That’s not your concern, Nietzschean.”
“Stop calling me that. I have a name.”
“As if it matters to me. Now. You said you were taking me to the mess hall. I’d like to get there before I starve to death.”
He bit back a curse. “Of course. This way.” They continued on in dead silence. As they walked, Rhade’s mind reeled. I can’t keep doing this to myself. No woman is worth this much anguish, no matter what one feels for her or how fascinating she is. He looked down at her as he walked. This is ridiculous. She’s not even Nietzschean.

Jen prodded the plate of food with her fork, moving it around but not really eating much. Okami slid into the seat opposite her. “I thought you were hungry.”
She pushed the plate away, setting the fork down. “Not anymore.”
“It’s really good,” Okami said encouragingly.
“It’s not the taste. I just don’t have any appetite right now.”
“Want to talk about it?”
“Why does everyone want to talk to me about things that aren’t relevant?”
“Ah. Rhade.” Okami leaned forward. “Being a bit of a pest?”
“I’m forcibly reminded of Seiya in his annoying persistence.”
“Yes, and we all remember how that turned out.”
Jen snorted. “Turns out he wasn’t what I thought he was.”
“You also weren’t what he thought,” Okami pointed out. “In this case, you both know who the other is. Well, you at least know what Rhade is. You’ve made sure that he knows as little about you as possible.” She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “You Nomaiens are so secretive you make my head hurt. It’s a wonder you people talk to each other at all you’re so obsessed with privacy.”
“You well know why,” Jen replied stiffly.
“I still say it’s a bunch of crap, but that’s me.”
“Everyone knows how open the Laisheen are.”
“Someone has to be. Who else would it be? The Kal’tresh’nal? They’re so busy with their music and philosophy that they rarely have the time for anything else. The Tora? Well, ok, they’re fairly open, but they still have weird restrictions.”
“The Tora are actually a lot like humans.”
“Like I said, they have weird restrictions.”
Jen gave her long-time friend a strange look. “How do you survive away from your won people?”
She shrugged. “It’s a struggle, but I manage. Especially when there are so many lovely men out there. Like Rhade.”
Jen snorted. “You find him attractive? By all means, go for it.”
Okami’s grin faded. “You’re serious? This isn’t like with Seiya?”
“Seiya’s people didn’t do to me what his did.”
“Hating a person solely based on their race is completely irrational and wrong.”
“It’s not just that. He irritates me. He’s pushy, intrusive, far too tall…shall I go on?”
“Please,” Okami said, gesturing for her to continue. “Entertain me.”
“My apologies, but I have to interrupt,” Rhade said, walking over. “Jen, Tenshi sent me to get you. Our training session is going to start soon. You might want to change.”
“I’m fine dressed the way I am,” she informed him in a cold voice.
“Well, then, if you would let Tenshi know I’ll be there as soon as I change, I would greatly appreciate it.” She gave him a curt nod and left. He watched her go.
“Well, isn’t this awkward,” Okami said, eyeing him carefully.
“How so?”
“It’s written all over your face, Rhade. You like her.”
Startled, Rhade looked down at her. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh please. You’re going out of your way to talk to her, to be nice and polite and learn about her and her people regardless of how horrid she’s being to you. If you didn’t like her you wouldn’t bother. Trust me. I’ve been through enough of her relationships to know.” She sighed. “Unfortunately, I have almost the exact same taste in me. Even more unfortunate is the tendency on the man’s part to prefer Jen.”
“Must be the tail,” Rhade quipped. “Or the ears. Not sure which.”
“Just what I thought.” She stood up. “Look, Rhade, being polite to her isn’t the best way to get her attention.”
“What is?”
Okami smiled slyly, her tail curling upwards, the tuft twitching beside her left ear. “What’s in it for me?”
“My eternal gratitude.”
“I suppose that will have to do. All right. I’ll help you on one condition. Don’t you dare tell Jen I gave you any advice other than ‘stay away from that psychotic she-bitch from hell’. Alright?”
“Deal.”
“Great. Walk with me to your quarters. I’ll give you some pointers while you change.”
“From outside?”
She grinned, showing her fangs. “No, no, silly boy. How are you going to hear me from out there? If I can’t touch, I may as well take the one chance I’ll likely ever get to look.”
Rhade sighed. “I suppose. I really need your help.”
“Excellent! I hear that Nietzscheans are physically perfect. I admit to a curiosity as to just how perfect that is.”

Jen and Tenshi waited in the gym for Rhade to show up. “You said he’d be here shortly, but he’s late.”
Jen shrugged. “When I saw him last, he was talking to Okami.”
“You didn’t. Did you?”
“Tenshi, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t give me that,” Tenshi warned her. “I know you too well for that.”
“You’re late,” Jen said, looking past Tenshi to Rhade, who had just walked in.”
“You aren’t getting out of this so easily, Jen.”
“Whatever. We’ll talk later.”
Rhade looked between the two women, puzzled. “Did I interrupt something?”
Tenshi said yes just as Jen said no. “It’s not important,” Jen said, shrugging. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Right. Today, we’re going to do two things. First, we’ll start with the same warm-ups we used last time. Then I want the two of you to spar.”
“Spar?” Jen repeated. “You’re joking, yes?”
“No. Come on, Jen. I’ve seen you take down guys bigger than him without breaking a sweat.”
“What makes you so sure that she’d win?” Rhade asked.
“I’m not. There’s a chance you could come out the winner.”
Jen rolled her eyes. “Doubtful.”
“Afterwards, we’ll do something different with our meditation exercises. I won’t tell you what just now.”
“I hate it when you get all secretive about these things,” Jen grumped, taking her place on the mat.
“You’re hardly one to talk about being secretive,” Tenshi replied, running them through their warm-ups. “Rhade, watch your left leg. It’s looking a little wobbly.”
“Right.”
Tenshi watched them for another few minutes before telling them to stop. “Alright. That’s good enough. Take a break for a couple minutes, Jen. I need to talk to Rhade for a minute.” Jen smirked and walked away. “Why were you late?”
“I was talking to Okami.”
Both of Tenshi’s eyebrows rose, vanishing under her long bangs. “May I ask about what?”
“Jen.”
Tenshi relaxed her shoulders. “Good. I don’t have to worry about you being involved with Okami then.”
“She’s giving me advice regarding Jen.”
“Oh no. Not again,” Tenshi groaned.
“She offered.”
“And you took her up on it.” She shook her head. “You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into, do you?”
“Should I have turned her down, then? Tenshi, I’ve tried to be nice to her, but nothing I say or do has any effect on her.”
“You really do like her, don’t you?”
He ran his hand through his hair. “I’m not even sure why,” he admitted.
“I see. What did Okami advise you to do?”
“I promised not to say anything.”
“Alright. Just don’t let Jen know, ok? She and Okami aren’t fighting at the moment, but with her dislike of you, we can’t afford for the two of them to be going at it yet again.”
“Okami already warned me about that.”
“Sensible of her for a change.”
“Are you two done over there?” Jen asked impatiently. “I’d like to get this over with.”
“I think that about covers it,” Tenshi sad, nodding. “Take your positions, then.”
Jen and Rhade took their places on the mat, facing each other and waited for Tenshi’s signal. Jen’s eyes were narrow slits with only a small portion of the black eyes peeking out from under her lashes. Rhade tried hard not to think about whom he was fighting and concentrated instead on beating an opponent.
“Go.”
Rhade lunged at her. Jen grabbed his fist and flipped him using the momentum of his attack. He landed in a crouch and swung his foot out to knock her legs out from under her. Jen landed on her butt. She was back up on her feet quickly, returning to her original fighting stance. She lashed out with her feet with enough force that, had any of them connected, it would have really hurt. Rhade grabbed on of her feet as it passed just in front of his face and held it there. He gave her full credit for not falling down. She tugged her foot back, but she couldn’t free it.
Rhade grinned at her. “Looks like I win.”
“Think again, Nietzschean,” she snarled, dropping to the mat, taking him with her. She rolled over and up onto his chest, pinning him to the mat. “I win.”
“Not so fast.” She wasn’t very heavy, so it wasn’t too hard for him to flip her onto her back, pinning her legs with his, pinning her arms above her head. He lowered his face until it was a couple inches from hers. “Think you can get out of this one? I doubt it. I’ve beaten you and there’s not a damned thing you can do about it either.”
“That’s enough, Rhade,” Tenshi said, walking over. “Get up and we’ll move on to the meditation.” Rhade let go and got up, offering Jen his hand. She slapped it away and stood, glaring at him as she did so. “Jen, behave. It was a fair win. Now, I want you two to sit cross-legged on the mat, facing me. Now, what we’ll be doing today is attempting to see our auras. Jen, I know you know how to do this already and are quite good at it, but Rhade has never done this before. Your aura is quite clear, so it should be easier for him to find than, say, mine or Okami’s.”
“How, exactly, do I go about doing this?” Rhade asked, puzzled.
“It’s not impossible, but it isn’t easy. I will be guiding you as we certainly can’t count on any help from Jen,” she said with a wry smile. “Now close your eyes, both of you. Relax. Clear your minds of everything and picture each other in your minds.”
Rhade followed her instructions, wondering what the point of this exercise was. An image of Jen instantly sprang to his mind. Now what?
As for Jen, it was easy enough to bring an image of Rhade up. She was familiar with this from her very first training sessions. With the image formed in her mind, she forced herself to relax.
“Now, try to relax and think of the other person. What are they like? Not what you feel, but what you know. Take that and apply it to the image in your mind. If you’re doing it right, you should see a colored outline around the image,” Tenshi instructed.
Inwardly, Jen cursed. What did she know about Rhade? Very little, really. He was intelligent, certainly, if extremely annoying. He always spoke politely to everyone. Really, that’s about it. I don’t care to get to know him at all.
As for Rhade, his list was somewhat longer. She’s strong, fast, irritating, proud, private, and excessively stand-offish. Angry, too. From what Okami told me, she can be very passionate about things. Passionate, fiercely angry. She is her element of fire, for certain.
Jen felt as if the floor had dropped out from under her. She opened her eyes to find herself standing in a bright white room opposite from Rhade. He glowed with a bright red aura. Her heart stopped for a moment, seeing him as he really was. Not Nietzschean, not an enemy, but a senshi. He was staring at her, walking towards her as the room went black.

Episode 08: Desert Fox

Rhade’s eyes flew open. Jen had collapsed. “What just happened?” he asked weakly.
“You went beyond my instructions and wound up in a space my people call the Sanctuary. It’s a place senshi use to talk to other senshi at a distance, but it’s not easy and many don’t have the aptitude for it. Some have used to escape from pain.” Tenshi looked down at her friend. “Jen’s never shown much aptitude for that skill and I doubted that you possessed it. It would seem that I was wrong.”
“I saw her aura, if you were wondering.”
“I don’t doubt it. If you could get into the Sanctuary, then you saw her as she really is.”
“So that’s why she looked different,” he mused. “If that’s what she really looks like, she’s beautiful.”
“Don’t go telling her that,” Tenshi warned. “She’s not considered a great beauty on Nomaie. Her elder sister, Hihana, is the beautiful one. Dark hair is considered plain. The blonds, now, those are the beauties. She’s still considered to be desirable because of her rank and skills. She’s pretty, thankfully.”
“Her people must all be blind.”
Tenshi patted Rhade’s hand. “Just wait until we get there. You’ll understand what I’m getting at.” She bent and tapped Jen’s cheek. “Come on, Jen. Snap out of it.”
“This is a little worrying,” Rhade commented. “This is the second time she’s passed out.”
“The first time, I figured it was just her lack of control. With this, I’m afraid that it might be part of a deeper problem. Certainly, she lacks her former control, but that’s not enough to cause this. Come on Jen. Shikarishte o!”
Jen stirred, groaning.
“What did you just say, Tenshi?”
“One of the few useful things I know in her language. Oy na! Jen!” Tenshi shook her shoulder.
Jen’s eyes opened, but she squeezed them shut again with a squeal of pain. She rolled onto her side and got up onto her knees, curling up into a ball.
“What’s wrong?”
“My head,” she whispered hoarsely. “I feel sick.”
“Lovely,” Tenshi muttered. “Her entry into Sanctuary gave her a migraine.”
“Is there anything we can do for her?” Rhade asked, frowning in concern.
“Thankfully, yes. Stay here with her. I had Okami make something for this after she passed out the last time. I’d send you to get it, but it’s buried in some of my private things. I’d rather you not be going through those.”
“Understandable. Hurry back.” Tenshi nodded and left. Alone in the gym with Jen, Rhade simply sat and watched her, unsure what else he could do. She seemed unwilling to move, so he sat and watched her. After a time, he moved a little closer. “Jen?” He reached a hand out to touch her shoulder.
She flinched away. “Don’t touch me,” she whispered.
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Lower your voice.”
“Anything else?” he said softer this time.
“If you could dim the lights my eyes wouldn’t hurt so much.”
“Andromeda, dim the lights in here, please.” The lights went down. Jen blinked and sat up. “Is that better?”
“It’s not perfect, but it’s less painful. Total darkness would be best.”
“Something tells me you’d rather not be alone in the dark with me.”
“That’s putting it mildly, yes.”
“I saw your aura, incidentally.”
“What of it?”
“It’s lovely.”
“It’s not supposed to be. It’s just a sign of power, nothing more than that.”
“I thought you looked very powerful surrounded in your aura like that,” he offered gently.
Jen gave him an odd look, but any reply she would have made was interrupted by Tenshi’s return. “I found it,” she said, holding up a vial of sickly green liquid.
Jen looked at it in dismay. “Oh not. Not another one of Okami’s concoctions.”
“Do you want to suffer through this migraine? I didn’t think so. Drink up.”
Jen took the vial from Tenshi’s hands and grimaced before downing it in one swallow. She looked like she was going to be sick. “I wasn’t aware that I’d pissed her off recently. That was worse than usual.”
Tenshi simply shrugged. “Who knows with her? You might want to go get something to eat. Or not,” she amended after seeing the look on Jen’s face at the mention of food. “I don’t suppose rest is appealing to you?”
“Not particularly. Even if I could see straight long enough to read, I don’t have any of my books and I know from experience that trying to fall asleep with one of these headaches is virtually impossible.”
“I have something that might interest you, then,” Miocci said, walking into the gym. “Tenshi told us what happened to you. We think we may have a solution.”
“We won’t need to go to Nomaie?” Jen asked hopefully.
“Sorry Jen. We still need to go back, but if Captain Hunt doesn’t mind an extra passenger, one who also happens to be en route to Nomaie, then we have a means to keep you from passing out like that again.”
“You have a theory, Miocci?” Tenshi asked, surprised.
The grey cat coughed. “Until Jen tells us what really happened, this is pure speculation, but the Dragos must have done something to her to knock her off balance.”
“This mysterious passenger can help restore her balance?”
“Not restore it, no. Going home is the only permanent fix to that problem, but this person will be able to keep her stable until then.”
“Let’s go talk to Dylan, then,” Tenshi told him, heading out of the gym.
“Don’t I get a say in this?” Jen asked them.
“I guess not, Jen,” Rhade told her. She gave him a dirty look and followed Tenshi out.

“Well, we’re here,” Beka told the expectant crew three days later. “Wherever here is. You’re sure that this person lives here?”
“This is just a place he comes to on occasion,” Tenshi told her. “That’s his shuttle heading towards us.”
Andromeda appeared on the screen. “The pilot of the Desert Fox is requesting permission to come aboard.”
Dylan sighed tiredly. “Permission granted. Let’s go meet this friend of yours, Tenshi.”
“My thanks for this detour,” she said on the way down to the hangar. “I know this is all very confusing to you, and we must seem to be very demanding.”
“That’s one way of putting it,” he agreed.
They walked in silence the rest of the way. Rhade, Trance, Okami and Yumeko were already there. The shuttle landed smoothly. The door opened. A lone hooded figure walked out and looked around. Yumeko squealed in delight and ran forward, throwing her arms around the figure.
“Jason!” she squealed happily. “I missed you!”
The figure chuckled and pried her off in order to pull back his hood. He was tall, standing even with Rhade, with shaggy black hair, piercing black eyes, and a ready smile. Part of his hair was pulled into a short pony tail at the back of his head, tied with long strips of leather decorated with beads and feathers. Around his neck was a black cord decorated with beads and a clear white crystal pendant in the center.
He came over to stand in front of Dylan. “My thanks for allowing me on board, Captain Hunt. You may call me Jason.”
“You have another name?”
“Yes, but I’ve been warned not to mention it for some reason.” He looked over at Tenshi. “I’m sure that will be explained to me in more detail later.”
“Perhaps,” Tenshi said teasingly.
“These are some of my crew. Trance Gemini and Telemachus Rhade.”
“A pleasure to meet you,” Jason said politely, smiling.
“Well, nice to see that you’ve acquired some manners,” Okami said smirking.
“If you don’t mind my asking, Tenshi, where is Jen?” he asked looking around, blatantly ignoring Okami’s statement.
“In her quarters last time I checked, recovering from her latest sparring session with Rhade.”
Jason looked over at Rhade skeptically. “I’ve seen her take on bigger guys than that.”
“Rhade is one of the senshi I told you about in my message.”
“Ah.” Jason peered at him appraisingly. “And a Nietzschean to boot. That’s interesting. I’ve never heard of a Nietzschean senshi before.”
“Why is that, exactly?” Dylan asked.
“Nietzscheans are genetically engineered, yes? They aren’t a natural species. Don’t get me wrong, I find them to be quite interesting, really, but being what they are, they don’t have any ties to a planet where they would have evolved naturally. I wonder why one has the skills all of a sudden.” He shrugged. “Ah well. I’ll ponder that later.”
“Are you wanting to go see Jen right away?” Yumeko asked.
“No hurry. If she’s recovering from a fight, the last thing she’ll want is company.” He looked around him again. “Fascinating ship. Would it be alright if I looked around?”
“I’m not busy at the moment if you’d like someone to show you around,” Rhade offered. “It’s a big ship, so it’s easy to get lost your first time on board.”
Jason’s eyes lit up. “That would be great, thank you.”
“This way, then.” Rhade led him out into the hallway as the others went back to their previous activities.
“So, if you don’t mind my asking, which senshi are you?”
“How do you know about these things anyways?”
“My sister and I are both senshi.”
“Ah. Terazed Kamen.”
“As I said earlier, a pleasure to meet you. I hope your awakening wasn’t nearly as traumatic as mine was.”
“A blue talking cat told me to put this bracelet on and say strange words,” Rhade replied. “I wouldn’t call that normal by any stretch.
“That’s pretty standard, really. I was twelve at the time. There was an earthquake. My powers woke up. I was pretty messed up for the next year. I was just lucky that there are so many senshi where I’m from.”
Rhade gave him an odd look. “You’re quite open about all of this. Why?”
“We’re on a ship surrounded by five female senshi. We men need to stick together. Besides, I can teach you things they can’t. Tenshi is a wonderful teacher, but she knows little about the powers we have. They’re similar to theirs, but not quite.”
“I would appreciate your help.”
“Not quite comfortable with all of this yet, are you? Didn’t think so. I can’t imagine that dealing with that hell cat Jen is helping much.”
“Hell cat? Just how well do you know her?”
“I’ve known her my entire life. We grew up together.”
Startled, Rhade stopped dead in his tracks. “You’re Nomaien as well?”
Jason turned to face him. “Didn’t they tell you anything about me?”
“We didn’t even know your name until today.”
He sighed and shook his head. “Typical. Well, I guess they didn’t want to get Jen’s hopes up too much. If this doesn’t work, it will only make it worse. If she’s nervous, it stands a higher chance of failure.”
Rhade licked his lips. “Since you know her so well, would you mind telling me about her? She’s not very communicative. I’m told that Nomaiens are very private people. You don’t seem to have that problem.”
“I’m a bit of an anomaly among my people. I’m a senshi, so I don’t fit into the traditional male roles back home. I’ve been scolded my whole life for being too curious. With Jen and the girls away from home, I got bored and went exploring, hence why I’m out here.” He nodded. “I’ll tell you as much as I can without intruding too much into her private life. Problem is, so much of her private life is also my private life.”
“Anything you can tell me will be greatly appreciated.”
“Could we talk about this over something to eat?” Jason asked hopefully. “It’s been ages since I’ve shared bread with anyone.”
“That sounds fine with me. The mess hall is this way.”
“Excellent!” he said, rubbing his gloved hands together.
“Do all of your people dress as you do?” Rhade asked on the way.
“Oh this? No, not really.” He was wearing sand colored leggings and a long sleeved vest of a slightly darker color. “My people very rarely wear sleeves. Nomaie is a desert world, so it gets very hot there. Space, however, is very cold, so I’ve had to adapt my clothing accordingly.”
“Jen’s never complained about the temperature.”
“She’s also been on Earth and has had time to adjust to lower temperatures. The question is how well will she readjust to being home again.”
“She’s not looking forward to going back.”
“I’m not surprised. That means she’ll have to face her parents, elder sister, and the Queen.”
“You have a queen?” They walked into the mess hall.
“We’re a very strict matriarchy.” He looked around. “So, what is there to eat in here?”
“I think there are still some things left over from breakfast. Ah, here we go.” Rhade handed him a plate of food and headed for the nearest table. “So what was she like, growing up?”
Jason swallowed a mouthful of food. “She’s always been the strange one. When other girls were out playing whatever games girls play, she preferred to play at being a senshi or reenacting the adventures of the great warrior Jennavrie, her idol.”
“Is that where Jen comes from?”
“Yes. We always told the people on Earth that is was just short for Jennifer. It was quite convenient, really. Anyways, she memorized all of the stories about her that she could find and acted many of them out around the home. Beyond that, she was always wild, even for a Nomaien woman. She preferred to be out sand skimming rather than be indoors paying attention to her tutors. Not that I blamed her, but it drove her parents and tutors crazy trying to keep her indoors. I think it came as a relief when her senshi powers came out.”
Rhade let this information sink in while Jason polished off the food in front of him. I’m not sure if this was helpful at all. I think I’m actually more confused, yet intrigued at the same time. Why doesn’t she want to see her parents and sister? That doesn’t make any sense to me.
“So anyways, when her powers showed up, she was sent away to a remote village out of the edge of the Sea of Fire to train with senshi from other worlds.”
“That must have been hard on her.”
Jason stopped, looking thoughtful. “You’d think that, but no. Her mother tried to prevent it, but the Queen overruled her. We needed her senshi gifts. Still do. Incidentally, that’s where she met Tenshi and the others.”
“So they’ve been friends a long time?”
“Yes.” Jason sighed. “I’m not really sure what else I can tell you. I should probably mention, if it hasn’t been brought to your attention, that’s she’s a bit of a man hater.”
Rhade stared at him. “No one’s mentioned that.”
Jason winced. “That’s not good. It’s one of her fundamental personality traits.”
“It explains a lot.”
“It’s also a main pillar of our society. As I mentioned, we’re a strict matriarchy.”
“It goes a long way to explain this irrational hatred of me she has going.”
“Male and Nietzschean. That’s about the long and short of it, yes. Two strikes. This may sound weird to you coming from another man, but you’re also rather attractive, which also doesn’t help your case.”
“How does my appearance not help?”
“You Nietzscheans are all a good looking bunch. Under no circumstances are you ever to tell her I’ve told you this. Got that? Jen has a thing for attractive men. It’s a weakness that afflicts the majority of Nomaien women. None of us men have ever really figured out what it is.”
“Okami told me the same thing three days ago.”
“She’s helping you out? Despite the fact that, knowing Okami, she’s attracted to you? Weird. Jen must have done something to piss her off.”
“That’s the second time that’s come up.”
“Must be true then. Well, what has Okami told you so far?”
“Stop trying to be nice to her.”
“Good advice.”
“Why is that? It’s not easy to follow.”
Jason smirked. “You’ll see.”

The next day, Jason wandered into the gym towards the end of Jen and Rhade’s training session. He stood and watched them, taking note of the flaws in Jen’s performance, wincing at one very clear misstep. Now the urgency of Miocci’s message made sense. She needed help. Badly.
Tenshi met his eyes but gave no other indication of his presence, not wanting to distract her students. She waited for them to finish their last exercise before acknowledging his presence. “Well Jason? Your opinion?”
“You should have gotten a hold of me sooner,” he said, walking towards them.
Jen spun around at the sound of his voice. “Jason?”
He grinned down at the slightly shorter woman. “Hello Jen. Long time no see.”
They clasped forearms and embraced fiercely. “I missed you.”
“It’ll be ok now,” he said, stroking the back of her head gently.
“So you’re who they sent for. They made me leave the room before they’d tell Dylan who we were going to be picking up.”
“Surprise!”
“I hate surprises, you know that.”
“Oh? But I have some things on my shuttle that you’ll like to see.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah, you know, clothes, books, assorted oddments.”
“Clothes, not so much, but books?”
“Yes, books, silly Fox.” He ruffled her hair, earning him a shot in the shoulder. He laughed. “Haven’t changed a bit.”
“I find it hard to believe that she’s always been this psychotic,” Rhade muttered.
“Only as far as men and Nietzscheans are concerned,” she replied stiffly.
“Oh, I do have one other thing for you, the thing Miocci and Tenshi asked me to bring.” He pulled a small red silk pouch out from under his shirt and handed it to her. “I hope it helps.”
Jen opened the pouch and pulled out a necklace identical to the one Jason was wearing. She held the crystal up to the light. “Is this what I think it is?” He nodded and she slid the cord around her neck, adjusting the length of the string so that the top of the crystal sat just beneath her collarbones. It glowed briefly with a dark red light. The light faded quickly, leaving only a small speck of red at the core of the crystal.
“What is that?” Rhade asked.
“It’s a piece of Nomaie’s core,” Jason replied. “Until we can get her back home and in contact with the planet’s energy fields, this should keep her stable. It shouldn’t be used as a long term solution.”
Jen sighed, fingering the crystal. “That feels better.”
“That was quick,” Rhade observed, surprised.
“It doesn’t take long. On Ancient Earth they had ionized bracelets that did something to improve your health. They worked almost instantly after putting them on. This is the same basic principle; only it improves her health as a senshi. If she were to never transform again, she would be able to just get by with wearing the necklace, but we know that’s not an option.”
“No, it’s not,” Jen growled. “I have no intention of retiring.”
“So we have to take you home to realign your senshi self.”
“I thought the training was supposed to do that.” Rhade was getting really confused.
Jason shook his head. “That will help with controlling her powers, but her internal balance has been thrown way off. I was watching the two of you train. Don’t take this the wrong way, Jen, even though I know you will, but as things stand, Rhade has more control and balance than you do. Granted, he’s new at this and doesn’t have any old skills to relearn.”
“You sure know how to make a girl feel good about herself.”
“Come on Jen,” Jason laughed. “You know what I’m getting at.”
She sighed. “I know, I know.”
“Say, why don’t we go look at the stuff I’ve got on my shuttle while you tell me about what’s happened with you lately? I hear things have been interesting in the style of that old curse ‘may your life be interesting’.”
“You don’t know the half of it.” The two Nomaiens walked out of the gym, switching from Common to their native

 

Episode 09: Reincarnation

Jen and Jason sat in the shuttle Desert Fox. Jen was busy looking through the books and things Jason had brought for her. She selected a couple and set them aside to take back to her quarters later. Among the so-called oddments, she found an abused-looking guitar. She sat down in a chair with it, plucking at the strings and twisting the pegs on the head to tune it. Jason watched her for a while, waiting patiently for her to finish, knowing better than to interrupt.
He looked down at his own bronze colored skin and then up at Jen. He’d forgotten just how pale she was in comparison to the Nomaien norm. She was a little darker than the average Caucasian human, but noticeably paler than she should be. He himself was a little darker than average. Jen’s skin should be a sandy color. Part of the reason she was considered to be so plain was due to her skin color.
Jen finished tuning the guitar and sat idly playing chord progressions. He cleared his throat. “I’m going to get right to the point, Fox,” he said in their native language, using her childhood nickname. “What the hell happened to you? When Tenshi told me they’d lost contact with you, I was worried.”
Without looking up from the guitar, she replied, “They haven’t told you anything, Yuki? I’m shocked.”
Jason flinched at the use of his real name. “Tenshi says she doesn’t know anything.”
Jen sighed. “No, she doesn’t really. All she knows is where I was.”
“Now it’s my turn to be shocked. Fox, Tenshi is your best friend. Why didn’t you tell her anything?”
“Reserve judgment until you’ve heard the whole story.”
“You’ll tell me but not her,” he observed. “This isn’t normal.”
Jen took a deep breath and stopped playing, leaning forward on the wide body of the guitar. “As you know, I was sent to Earth with my memories of who I really was blanked. In your travels, you’ve no doubt learned that the Drago-Kazov Pride has turned Earth into a slave world.” Jason nodded. “I was hanging out with some friends, minding my own business, when a group of those damned Nietzscheans came by and arrested me under some trumped up charge. Don’t ask me what. I can’t actually remember right now. Anyways, they took me to this prison camp to see some guy. I guess he was their leader or something. They had me drugged up pretty bad. Not sure how, but I was. They were saying something about a Valkyrie and reincarnation. None of it made any sense at the time. I woke up a couple days later to learn that they’d done some tests on my genetic code. From what I overheard them saying, my DNA was similar to some woman named Valkyrie who was of some importance to them. What, exactly, was so important about her, I didn’t learn for months down the road.
“They did all sorts of things to me, experiments with altering my genes as well as trying to surgically alter my physical appearance.” Jen held her forearms up for his examination. “About a month and a half ago, I finally learned what they were doing. Their Alpha came to see me. He told me that I was the genetic reincarnation of a woman named Valkyrie Museveni, a woman who was a member of their pride some three hundred years ago. He didn’t say too much about her, but he also said that there were impurities in my DNA that were being removed. These impurities are what separate the Nomaien genetic structure from whatever it was that made them think that I was this woman reborn. Over the next month and a half, they replaced some of my DNA with Nietzschean genes. Long story short, they mutilated my body from the inside out, attempted to give me bone blades, and in essence turned me into some sort of half Nietzschean freak. Never mind that they held me captive for six months.”
Jason stared at her. “You can’t be crazy. That story is far too wild for it to have been made up. That certainly explains your hatred of the Nietzschean people and your reluctance to talk about this to anyone else.”
Jen nodded glumly, setting the guitar aside. “I’m not whole. I don’t feel…right inside.”
“Ho boy… Jen, this also explains why you have no control, why you pass out from things that shouldn’t be affecting you. It all makes perfect sense. Tenshi would have been able to tell you the same thing if you’d only told her.”
“Don’t you get it?” she cried. “I can’t talk about this. Not to anyone else. Can you imagine if mother and father found out? How would they react?”
“That’s the first time in years that you’ve actually cared about that.”
Jen lowered her eyes. “The last thing I want anyone thinking is that I’m less than I was. Admittedly, I know I am, but the fewer people who know the truth, the better off I’ll be.”
Jason got up out of his chair and went over to Jen, wrapping his arms around her comfortingly. “I don’t think any less of you knowing this. Anyone who does is an idiot. It wasn’t your fault that this happened.”
The two sat in silence for a long time. Jason was perfectly happy to hold her for as long as she needed the comfort. It wasn’t her fault. He knew that, but the real trick was convincing her that things would be all right again. Knowing what he now knew, it was imperative that she get back home.
“Is there anything else I should know about?” he asked, the thought just occurring to him.
“A couple dreams that I’ve been having for the last six months. The first one has changed since I came on board the Andromeda and met the two new senshi. We’re all lying at the feet of the Spirit of the Abyss, dead.”
“Cheerful. And the second one?”
“That’s the one I’d rather not talk about.”
“Do you want my help or not?”
“You have to swear on all that you hold sacred that you will never tell a soul about this one.”
“You’re serious?”
“I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t.”
“This must be one hell of a dream for you to be asking this of me.” He nodded. “I swear.”
Jen closed her eyes briefly and started to talk, describing what she saw in her other dream. It sounded to Jason like something out of a movie. Unbelievable. Jen has to be the only person I know who could have a dream like that and consider it a bad thing.
He coughed politely when she finished talking. “Forgive me if I’m being rude here, but that doesn’t sound like a bad thing to me.”
“No? When I first had the dream, it was a series of vague images. The images became clearer as time passed. The images were sometimes coupled with feelings. As the images cleared, the feelings and sounds became clearer as well. Ever since a week before I was rescued, I’ve seen the dream with crystal clarity. After coming on board the Andromeda, the physical aspect of it has become almost painfully real. Everything that happens in the dream, I can feel. That feeling lingers through most of the day. I haven’t slept well in six months.”
“No wonder Rhade referred to you as being psychotic.”
“This isn’t a joke, Yuki.”
“It was just an observation, Fox, nothing more.” He let go of her and stood up, looking down at her. “Is there anything you’d like me to do to help?”
She shook her head and stood up. “Just don’t tell anyone anything that I just told you, especially about that dream.”
“I promise.”

Jason had been assigned quarters beside Rhade’s. He transferred some of his things over from the shuttle as the quarters were larger and more comfortable than the Desert Fox. He sat in a chair trying to read a book, but the things that Jen had told him earlier kept coming back into his mind. He sighed and set the book aside, making a note of the page he was on.
“Andromeda?” he asked hesitantly.
The hologram appeared in front of him. “How can I help you?”
“Would it be possible for me to have access to some of your files to do some research?”
“What do you need?”
“Everything you have on a woman named Valkyrie Museveni. Who she was, who she knew, what happened to her, what she looked like, everything.”
“Checking.” Andromeda paused briefly. “All the pertinent files will be made available to you through the screen on the wall behind you,” she said, pointing.
“Thank you, Andromeda.” The hologram vanished. He stood and went over to the screen.
“Valkyrie Museveni out of Verdandi by Achilles of the Drago-Kazov Pride,” he said to himself, reading her biography. “I can see why the Dragos believe Jen is her reincarnation. They’re identical. Well, Jen doesn’t have any bone blades, but she said they tried to give her some. Explains the scars on her forearms.” Reading a bit further down, he whistled in disbelief.
“Andromeda, I need to ask you another favor.”
“Yes?” The hologram asked.
“Could I get a look at the records for both Gaheris Rhade and Telemachus Rhade?”
The hologram raised an eyebrow. “An odd request, but I see no reason why not.” The records appeared on the screen as she vanished.
Reading through Gaheris’s record, his eyebrows raised. Comparing it to Telemachus’s record, his jaw dropped. “Things just keep making more and more sense the more I look into this.”
He left the records open on the screen and went to find Rhade. He found the other man in his quarters. He looked at the urgent look on Jason’s face in puzzlement.
“Is everything alright, Jason?”
“Yes and no.”
“How can it be both?”
“Everything is starting to make perfect sense. This would be good if wasn’t also creepy to the infinite degree.”
“Care to explain?”
“Mind if I come in? I’d rather not have everyone overhearing this.”
“This isn’t a good time-“ Rhade said as Jason slipped past the taller man and into his quarters.
Jason stopped dead a few steps inside. “Oh,” was all he could say, seeing an image of Jen on a display screen. There was a chair nearby, facing it.
Rhade walked over and turned the screen off. “Like I said, not the best time, but since you’re here, you may as well explain what the hell is going on here.”
“Are you or are you not the genetic reincarnation of Gaheris Rhade?”
“I am.”
“That must be why you’re a senshi. We’re all reincarnations. It’s just a thing we accept and tend to take for granted. It also tells me why you’re so attracted to Jen.”
“You’re going to have to be more clear about that.”
“She told me what happened to her. I’m a dead man if she learns I’ve told you this, but in the interest of peace and getting her a good night’s sleep, I have to break my word on this one. She owes me anyways. When she was being held captive, she was told that she is the genetic reincarnation of a woman named Valkyrie Museveni.”
“That’s a Nietzschean name.”
“Indeed. It gets better though. It would seem that she married a man by the name of Gaheris Rhade. According to Andromeda’s records, she was his third wife. They had a daughter together before he was killed.”
“She could be one of my ancestors,” Rhade mused.
“She’s not, I already checked that. She refused to go to Terazed with her daughter. That daughter, Cleopatra, went with her half siblings. Her descendants are some of your cousins, but her genes aren’t a part of you in any way.”
“So I’m in love with a woman who was a Nietzschean in a past life, married to the man I’m a reincarnation of?”
“In simplest terms, yes.”
“I think I need to sit down.”
“Ready for the last piece? Well, second last, but it’s the final thing I can tell you.”
“You mean there’s more?” Rhade asked incredulously. “What else could there be?”
“In addition to her being a reincarnation of Valkyrie, the Drago-Kazovs altered her DNA and tried to give her bone blades. You see, Nomaien DNA is slightly different from Nietzscheans. What they thought were impurities were what makes her a Nomaien. They attempted to remove it and replace it with Nietzschean DNA. Effectively, she’s half Nietzschean.”
Rhade collapsed into a chair and stared at him. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Jen would never lie to me, especially not about something this serious. I’d know if she was.”
“I have one question to ask you in order to put all the pieces in place in my mind. Tell me, Telemachus, do you dream at night?”
A look of surprise passed over his face. “Sometimes,” he admitted.
“How real are these dreams and how long have you been having them?”
“That’s more than one question.”
“Please answer.”
“And I thought you Nomaiens valued privacy.”
“Damn it, man! Jen’s sanity is at stake here!” Jason shouted. “Answer the damned questions!”
“Her sanity?”
“That’s right. Your average Nomaien can go without sleep for a week at most, but only if they’re in peak health. Jen, in peak health, can go a few days more than that, but she isn’t pleasant to be around. Jen hasn’t had a decent night of sleep in six months and she is in the worst shape I’ve ever seen her in. Between the sleeplessness and the two dreams that reoccur nightly, she is going to loose it if we don’t help her. I’m amazed she’s still functioning.”
Something dawned on Rhade. “Her hatred of Nietzscheans must be giving her something to focus on. I’ve seen something like it before.”
Jason nodded thoughtfully. “Now will you answer the questions? Please, Telemachus.”
“The dreams are extremely detailed and vivid. I’ve been having them off an on for a week now.”
“Thank you. That helps out a lot. Some advice before I go. Do whatever it takes, but get Jen to not hate you. It will help her sleep and, if all goes well, it will help her be more comfortable with who and what she is now. Right now, that’s the best case scenario I can think of.” Jason left Rhade alone in his quarters to ponder the nova bomb that had just been dropped.

Four hours later, after running the information over and over in his mind, after cross checking it with the Andromeda’s records, Rhade concluded that, as strange as it sounded, Jason had been telling him the truth. He brought up the images of Jen and Valkyrie and put them side-by-side. Aside from the differences in hairstyle, clothing, and Jen’s lack of bone blades they were identical. So how did Gaheris Rhade manage to catch her attention? From these records, she was just as much as a time bomb as Jen is. Wait. Dylan said that he was a good friend of Gaheris’s. Why don’t I go ask him?
Smiling, Rhade got up to go find Dylan.

“Valkyrie?” Dylan repeated. Rhade had found him on the observation deck, staring out the window. “Why do you want to know about her?”
“I’m just curious about my ancestor. Her name came up and I was just wondering if you knew her at all.”
“Not very well, but I did meet her a couple times. Gorgeous woman. Great legs. Gaheris had a tendency to go on for hours about his wives, but rarely said anything about her. I asked him about that one day. He told me that no one could understand about Valkyrie unless they’d been with her. As he sincerely doubted that anyone else had, he felt it would be pointless to try and explain.”
“What did he say about her when he did say anything?”
“Lots of things about being able to watch her for hours at a time without being bored. She was a very gifted fighter and would dedicate hours out of the day to perfecting her skills. Even during her pregnancy she didn’t stop, much to the dismay of her physicians. They kept trying to get her to ease up. She was quite smug when Cleopatra was born a perfect, happy baby right on time.”
“What else?” Rhade urged him.
“You’re quite curious about her aren’t you? Let’s see…He often commented about her temper and her passion for life. I do know that they loved each other very much. I must have broken her to learn of his death.”
“Thank you, Dylan,” Rhade said standing. “You’ve been most helpful.”
Dylan watched the younger man leave the room, a puzzled look on his face. “Now what was that all about?”

The next day, Rhade found Jen and Jason sitting opposite from each other at a table in the mess hall, a checkered board between them. On the board were several ornately carved pieces made out of red and white clear glass. Jason moved a white piece resembling a horse’s head to another square. Jen countered by replacing that piece with a red piece shaped like a tower.
“Check,” she said.
“How do you do this?” Jason groaned, moving a small piece to replace the tower.
“You’re too predictable, Jason,” she said, moving a piece with a spiked ring around the top. “Checkmate. I win again.”
Rhade walked over. “What are you doing?”
Jason looked up at him. “You’ve never seen a game of chess before?”
“No, but I’ve heard of it.”
“I should teach you to play if only to give Jen another opponent. None of the girls will play with her.”
Jen folded her arms. “What makes you think I’ll play against him, Jay?”
“Two reasons. The first reason is that it would be something new to do. Second being a chance to beat him.”
“I think not. If I’m going to beat him, I’ll do it at something else.”
“Not afraid are you?” Rhade asked.
“Of loosing a silly game of chess to you?” She snorted. “Hardly. I don’t play novice players. It’s just not exciting or challenging enough.”
Rhade pondered that for a moment. “Trust me, if I learned to play, I wouldn’t challenge you to a game until I felt good enough. To a Nietzschean, a game is never just a game.”
Jen raised an eyebrow. “It will take years before you’re even close to being that good.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Before Jen or Jason could reply, Andromeda’s voice came over the intercom. “All hands on the command deck. We’re receiving a distress call.”
“We’d best get up there, then,” Rhade said, leaving the room.
Jen and Jason exchanged a look. “We may as well,” Jason said, standing. “Unless you have something more pressing to do.”
“Can’t think of anything,” she said reluctantly.

Episode 10: Questions

Jen and Jason joined the others on the bridge just as the Andromeda
entered slipstream. "Where are we going?" Jason asked, watching Beka's
piloting with fascination.
"A backwater world named Callien," Dylan replied. "I've never heard of
it before."
"I'm not surprised," Rommie said. "It was never a member of the Commonwealth."
"I've heard of it," Trance said. "The solar avatar here is a good
friend of mine."
Dylan looked at her. "Why am I not surprised? Rommie, how long until
we get there?"
"Half an hour."
"We're closer than I thought. So what do we know about Callien?"
"Not much. The only notes in my database are that it has a climate and
continent structure similar to Earth circa the twenty fifth century
and that the people there are peaceful. Their message indicates that
they are under attack by creatures they'd never seen before."
Okami rubbed her hands together gleefully, her tail twitching.
"Unknown creatures, huh?"
"Don't get too excited, Okami," Yumeko warned her enthusiastic friend.
"What are the chances that it's something we can destroy? It's far
more likely that it's an invading army."
Okami rolled her eyes. "Our luck is never that good, Yumeko. Whenever
it's an invading army, it's hordes and hordes of monster-things that
we have to destroy. It's never just an army."
"And the two of you wonder why I don't believe in luck," Jen pointed out.
"Cynic," Yumeko chided.
"Pessimist is, I think, more accurate," Tenshi told her.
"Nietzscheans don't believe in optimism. It inhibits survival," Rhade said.
"So does pessimism," Dylan told him.
"This conversation sounds familiar," Andromeda mused. A few minutes
later, Beka brought them out of slipstream near an average sized
blue-green planet orbited by twin moons.
"Well, it looks like Earth except for that extra moon," Harper said.
"Let's go see what the problem is," Dylan said. "Andromeda, hail them."
A face appeared on the screen. "Can I help you?" the haggard looking
man asked hurriedly. He was busily packing things into a case. His
clothing was torn and his face was smudged with dirt.
"I'm Captain Dylan Hunt of the High Guard warship Andromeda Ascendant.
We received a distress call from your planet and came to help," Dylan
told him.
The door behind the man exploded. "I'm too late!" He looked up at
them. "Help my people." A group of men carrying weapons entered the
room. "Please!" he shouted as the screen went blank.
Jen turned to leave the bridge. "I'm going down there."
Jason blocked her path. "Danye?" he asked in Nomaien.
"Kal to frien sha leshye," she replied coldly. Jason moved out of the
way and she left.
"What was that all about?" Beka asked him.
"The attacking army is made up of Nietzscheans. How she knew that, I'm
not sure."
"Andromeda, replay the last few seconds of that message. Freeze and
enhance the images of the men in the background," Dylan commanded. The
image reappeared on the screen. "Enlarge their forearms." The image
changed, clearly showing the faintest sign of a bone blade.
"Whoa," said Harper.
"Definitely Nietzschean," Rhade agreed. He turned to Jason. "So why
did you let her leave?"
"Relax. She can't get off this ship without us. Jen doesn't know how
to pilot a ship."
"For once that's a good thing," Okami muttered.
"Let's go," Dylan said. "We need to know why those Nietzscheans are
attacking these people."

They caught up with Jen half way to the Maru. She ignored their
presence and kept on going. Jason caught up with her and spoke to her
in hushed tones. Dylan turned to Rommie. "What are they saying?"
"I can hear it, but not understand," she replied. "Must be more of
their native tongue."
"If you heard more of it, could you translate it?"
"Doubtful. It's very odd."
"You should see the written version," Tenshi told her. "Even with her
translating the text, I can't make heads or tails of it."
"Just be glad there isn't much of it," Yumeko added. "Her ancestors
were nomads. Books are too heavy to be packing around with you, so up
until the capital city was founded, their entire history was oral."
"So who stays and who goes?" Beka asked impatiently. She was getting
heartily sick of hearing nothing but things about Jen. The entire crew
seemed obsessed with the cold woman's past.
"I'd like Rommie and Harper to stay behind this time," Dylan said.
"Just in case anything goes wrong."
"If it's all the same to you, Captain, I'd like to remain behind as
well," Yumeko told him politely. "Just in case the Nietzscheans spot
the Andromeda and come calling."
"That sounds fine with me. Harper? Rommie?"
Harper stared at the blond girl. "Sure. I don't mind."
Rommie shook her head. "No objections, Captain."
"Good. Everyone else, get on board the Maru."

They exited the Maru down on the planet's surface and looked around.
It looked like Earth. The buildings had sustained heavy damage and the
ones that were still standing looked close to collapsing. There were
dead people littering the streets. Parents futilely attempting to
protect their children, people cut down as they tried to run from
their killers. The smell of death hung heavily in the air as they
walked.
"I'm glad Yumeko stayed up on the Andromeda," said, Jen, looking like
she was going to be sick. "This would have broken her tender heart. I
haven't seen anything this bad since Kage Neko attacked our home
worlds back before we went to Earth that first time."
"I never thought I'd see any sort of emotion from you beyond that cold
hatred of yours," Beka commented.
Jen ignored her and walked over to a body with clothing different from
the others. It was lying face down in the dirt. She flipped it over
with her foot. The dead man had a broken piece of wood piercing his
heart. On his forearms were the bony protrusions that marked him as a
Nietzschean. "I know him," she said slowly.
"How could you?" Dylan asked. "Before you went to Earth, you'd never
seen one before."
"He was one of the guards who captured me," she replied in a voice
void of all emotion.
"This means that the Drago-Kazov are responsible for this attack,"
Rhade growled. "Their Pride is a disgrace to all Nietzscheans."
Startled, Jen turned to look at him. "Not all Nietzscheans are the
same, Jen. The Drago-Kazov are bullies and thugs. It's just our bad
luck that they came out the strongest after the Commonwealth fell."
She turned her focus back to the dead man, giving him a kick to the
head before walking away. She said nothing more until they turned a
corner and bumped directly into a line of natives in chains being led
away by armed Nietzscheans. " That's it. Those bastards are going
down," she growled, clenching her hands into fists.
"I couldn't agree more," Rhade told her. "What is it with them and slavery?"
"So transform and get out there," Dylan suggested.
Trance shook her head. "These are real people, not demons. Our powers
would only kill them. We aren't supposed to kill."
"So reduce your power level," Tenshi told her. "It's not hard, it just
takes some concentration. Hasn't Miocci been teaching you anything?"
"We haven't gotten to that part yet."
"Just think thoughts about not doing much damage," Jen said, rounding
the corner.
"Is she nuts?" Beka asked. "She's heading right for them."
"Let's see what she's got up her sleeve," Jason suggested, watching
her intently.

As soon as they spotted her approach, the armed guards instantly aimed
their weapons at her. "Halt!"
"I think not," she replied calmly, continuing on.
One of the guards turned to another. "Hey, isn't this the girl Thor
was talking about? Sure looks like her."
"What are you talking about?"
"The reincarnation of Valkyrie Museveni," the first guard hissed. "She
escaped from one of the camps on Earth. No one knows how."
The second rolled his eyes. "She must have had help, idiot."
Jen smiled at them. Not a pleasant smile, either. "That's me alright.
So, can I assume that you have standing orders to bring me in if you
found me?"
They both looked at her suspiciously. "That's right," the second guard
said, indicating that the other guards should proceed with taking the
chained prisoners away.
Jen spread her arms out. "So what are you waiting for? Take me to your leader."
Both guards came up and grabbed her arms, leading her the opposite way
down the street towards a large, untouched structure that could only
be a government office of some sort.
Okami smacked her hand against her forehead. "Does that girl have a
death wish or something? She's walking right into the viper's den."
"Okami, there are sometimes when death is preferable to life," Jason
reminded her. "Besides, I think I know what she's doing. It's their
fault they're too foolish to see through it."
"Just so that the rest of us know what's going on, could you explain?"
Dylan asked.
"By turning herself in like that, she will be taken to their leader,
as clichéd as that sounds. In turn, we're supposed to follow."
"What about the slaves?" Rhade demanded.
"Which is your higher priority, Rhade? Jen or the prisoners that we
can free later?"
"You know what?" Beka asked them. "I'm going to go after the
prisoners. I don't give a rat's ass about that bitch. Anyone coming
with me?"
They all exchanged looks. "I'll go," Tenshi said.
"Tenshi, Jen is your best friend," Okami said, surprised. "Wouldn't I
be the better choice here?"
Tenshi shook her head. "You're stronger than me, so you'd be more
useful breaking into and out of a building."
"I'll go with you as well," Dylan said. "You know, just in case you need help."
Tenshi stared at him and blushed. "If you like," she said shyly.
"Ok, let's do this thing," Jason said. "Nomaie Planet Power, Make Up!"
The light that surrounded him was only a shade lighter than Jen's
aura. When it vanished, he was dressed in a uniform similar to Terazed
Kamen's, but it was dark red instead of black.
"Glad to see that Rhade isn't the only one who looks good in a tux,"
Beka whistled appreciatively.
"Get it in gear, people," Nomaie Kamen said impatiently, blushing at
Beka's comment.
"Vedra Solar Power…"
"Terazed Planet Power…"
"Water Elemental Power…"
"Earth Elemental Power…"
"Make Up!"

Nomaie Kamen, along with Sailor Vedra, Terazed Kamen and Guardian
StarLight, followed Jen and the two Nietzscheans into the large
building. Once inside, they looked around. There were hallways and
staircases everywhere. Confidently, he led them up one staircase.
"How do you know this is the right one?" Terazed asked him.
"I can feel her presence tugging at me. Can't you?"
Terazed gave him a questioning look. "How can you feel her?"
"I was wondering the same thing myself," Vedra added. "What, exactly,
is your relationship with her? Why are the two of you always
together?"
"Could we talk about this later?" Nomaie asked urgently. "Let's
concentrate on getting her out of here first."
Terazed narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but nodded. "While I'm all of
letting her cut a bloody swath of destruction through the Drago-Kazov
Pride, I'd rather not get caught in the way. She may not recognize
me."
"Or worse. Recognize you and deliberately take you out," StarLight
told him, grinning evilly.
Nomaie led them up the stairs, pausing on the landing briefly before
continuing. The stairway led them into the entrance of a long hallway.
There were doors on either side. He looked around and sighed.
"Great. I couldn't tell you which door she's behind. She's up here
though, no doubt about it."
"Terazed?" Vedra asked. "Nietzscheans have better hearing than most.
Can you find her?"
"I think so," he said, heading down the hall, pausing by each door to
listen for voices. At the second last door, he stopped and motioned
them forward. "She's here," he whispered.
"What are we waiting for?" StarLight demanded impatiently. "Let's get her out!"
"They're talking to her. I want to hear what's going on."

"So, Valkyrie, you've chosen to return to us," the large man in front
of Jen said, cupping her chin in his hand. She jerked her head out of
his grasp. He grinned. "I'd wondered when you ran away from us before
your cleansing was completed."
"I was confused," she said simply, shrugging. "There was so much going
on. I didn't know where I was or who any of you were."
The man smiled. "That's understandable. It's not every day that
Valkyrie Museveni is reborn. This isn't your time. None of the people
you knew are alive today."
"With the exception of that annoyance Rhade," the first guard amended.
"Rhade?" Jen asked. "What does he have to do with this?"
"So you know of him?" the tall man asked.
Jen waved her hand dismissively. "He is of no consequence. I believe
you were about to tell me who you are?"
"Ah yes. I am Augustus out of Marie by Romulus Pride Drago-Kazov," he
said with a bow. "We are distant cousins."
"How distant?"
"Distant enough that, should you accept me as a husband, it wouldn't
pose any problems." Seeing the look of dismay on Jen's face, he
chuckled, caressing her cheek. "No need to answer just now."
"Touch me again and I'll remove that hand at the shoulder," she
growled warningly.
He laughed, delighted. "Your fire is legendary in our Pride."
"Anyways, your guard here was saying something about Rhade?"
Augustus waved his hand dismissively. "It's nothing. Just an annoyance."
"If it's of no importance, then there's no reason why you shouldn't
tell me, now is there?" she asked sweetly.
"Anything for you, Valkyrie. You see, rumor has it that this
Telemachus Rhade is the genetic reincarnation of your former husband,
Gaheris Rhade." He laughed again. "I highly doubt it, though."
Jen swallowed her shock at hearing that and continued. "Is that so?
Odd that no one mentioned this before."
"It's probably not true. Now, then, how about we go and find you
something more…appropriate to wear before we board the next ship bound
for Earth? Our Matriarch would love to meet you. On the way, we can
finish removing the impurities from your blood."
"I have a better idea," she said, walking slowly over to him, cupping
his face in her hands. "We could stay here."
"I like how you think."
"It gets better," she purred, digging her nails into his face. "We
stay here and I wipe your filthy Pride off this planet for what you
did to me!" She pulled her hands away, shredding chunks of his skin
off as she did so. He screamed in agony. The senshi burst through the
door just as Jen finished dispatching the guards. She looked at them
calmly, wiping her bloodied hands on her pants. "What kept you?" she
asked calmly.
Nomaie brushed past Terazed and grabbed Jen's shoulders, giving her a
shake. "What the hell were you thinking?" he demanded. "I understand
your reasoning, but the risk was too high. They could have hurt you!"
"I was never in any danger, Jason," Jen replied with a calm that was
bordering on scary. "I knew what I was doing."
Nomaie wrapped his arms around the startled Jen, hugging her fiercely.
"Promise me that you won't do anything like that ever again."
"You know I can't. It's my job."
Terazed looked at the two Nomaiens and then down at the broken bodies
of the three Nietzscheans. The guards had broken necks. The third,
Augustus, had his face torn to shreds by Jen's nails as well as having
a broken neck. His head had been twisted around so that his face was
looking up at them even though the body was lying on its chest. He
looked back up at Nomaie Kamen and Jen, feeling a surge of jealousy
rush through him at the sight.
Vedra placed a hand on his shoulder. "They're the same species,
Rhade," she said, trying to be comforting.
"You think it matters to me what species she is?" he said for her hearing only.
"I didn't say that. I only meant that she would probably prefer her
own kind, especially given her expressed views on Nietzscheans."
Nomaie released Jen. "You should probably transform so that we can go
help StarSinger, Dylan, and Beka. They went after the chain of
prisoners."
Jen frowned. "Why Singer? Why not StarLight?"
"She figured I'd be of more use breaking in here to get you out,"
StarLight explained, looking at the bodies. "Seems that I wasn't
needed."
"It looks like none of us were needed," Terazed added, leaving the room.
"What's his problem?" Jen asked.
"Could be the killing of the Nietzscheans," Nomaie suggested.
"The Drago-Kazov are a blight on the Nietzschean race," Vedra told
her. "That likely wouldn't be bothering him."
"Who knows?" Light said grumpily. "Let's just get going before more of
them show up."
"Too late!" Terazed said from outside.
"Fire Elemental Power, Make Up!"

Episode 11: Breathe

StarSinger, Dylan, and Beka followed the chain of prisoners for half
an hour before they came to a building in a valley on the edge of the
town that was being used to house them. They waited for the doors to
open and the prisoners to be safely inside before attacking. Beka and
Dylan started firing at the guards while StarSinger created a wall of
water that crashed down on them.
"StarSinger, can you get in there and free the prisoners? Beka and I
will cover you?" Dylan asked her.
She nodded. "I can." She got up and took a deep breath. "Ready."
"Go!" Beka and Dylan concentrated their fire to keep StarSinger safe.
Once she was inside, they shot anyone trying to get inside.
"Drop your weapons now," a voice said from behind them. Dylan felt the
cold muzzle of a gun on his neck. He dropped his force lance. Beside
him, he saw Beka drop her gun. "Stand up slowly. Walk towards the
building."
"And if we don't want to?"
"Then you're a dead man. You, and your friends as well." The guard
behind him smashed the body of the gun into Dylan's head. "Move it!"
The guards paraded Dylan and Beka down into the building where
StarSinger, backed by some of the freed prisoners, greeted them. Some
of the freed prisoners were releasing their fellows. Grinning, Dylan
turned on the guard holding the gun to his back.
"Water Dragon!" StarSinger shouted. A spiral of water shaped like an
Asian dragon hit Beka's guard, knocking him backwards into the others.
"Get out of here!" she called to the prisoners. They didn't need to be
told twice. They rushed out the door. "We'd best get out of here as
well," she suggested to Dylan and Beka. They nodded and turned around,
heading out.
Outside, they saw a group of Nietzscheans headed for them. "Run!"
Dylan shouted. "I'll hold them off."
Singer grabbed his hand. "No, you won't. They'll kill you. If we can
get up to the edge of the valley, I can stop them."
Together, the three of them ran for the edge of the valley. Beka made
it first and took aim at the approaching Nietzscheans, picking them
off as they got closer to StarSinger and Dylan.
Singer joined Beka, gasping for breath. Dylan took a spot by Beka and
started shooting. "Whenever you're ready," Dylan told her. "I suggest
you hurry and do your thing."
Singer took a deep breath and reached inwards for calm and balance.
She closed her eyes and pictured the valley in her mind. She could see
the elements in the area: the earth of the ground, the air, the fire
of lasers, and, deep beneath the surface, an underground river. She
reached for that water and pulled it upwards. "Water Rise!" she
commanded.
The ground started to shake, causing the Nietzscheans to stumble. A
minute later, great geysers of water erupted from the ground, flooding
the valley. The Nietzscheans turned and ran, confused.
Dylan watched StarSinger, fascinated. She was glowing a deep
ultramarine blue. Her eyes were closed and her long blue hair was
floating around her despite the fact that there was very little wind.
When the valley was completely flooded, she collapsed to her knees,
the glow vanishing. He knelt beside her.
"Are you alright?"
"A little dizzy, but otherwise fine," she said with a slight smile.
"I hope that the planetary leaders don't mind their new lake," Beka
said, staring out across the water.
"It'll go away on it's own eventually. I'd put the water back
underground myself, but I'm too tired."
"Now what, Dylan?"
"Now we wait for the others to finish what they're doing."

StarFire and the others joined Terazed in the hallway. There was a
group of armed Nietzscheans headed their way. "Perfect," StarLight
muttered. "Just perfect. StarFire, don't you dare use your powers."
"Care to explain that?"
"You'll wind up torching the place. That crystal may be stabilizing
your powers, but I don't trust it to do that much."
StarFire shrugged. "There's, as they say, more than one way to skin a
cat. Or, in this case, a group of Nietzscheans."
"Was that really necessary to say?" Terazed asked her.
She simply gave him a look and headed for the Dragos. They aimed their
weapons at her. She simply flashed a feral grin at them before
attacking. She lashed out with fists and feet, knocking a couple of
them down. They recovered quickly. One got behind her and grabbed her
arms while another slammed his foot into her stomach. The other senshi
joined the fray. Vedra, not being overly good at hand to hand, went
back into the room and took one of the guards' guns and did her best
to pick the Dragos off her friends.
Terazed took out the one holding StarFire's arms, freeing her to fight
some more. He stayed as close to her and Nomaie as he could, watching
how they interacted. They fought well together, turning their
movements into a vicious dance, playing off each others moves without
really seeing what the other was doing. Nomaie was right; they did
have a connection. He felt another surge of jealousy just before a
fist connected with his jaw, knocking him down.
"Careful, Terazed!" StarLight warned from beside him. "Don't get
distracted." She helped him up to his feet and took down another
Drago. "I think that's the last one."
"Let's go find Dylan," Vedra said, dropping the gun.

"Do any of you remember seeing a lake on our way down?" StarLight
asked as they approached the spot where the others waited.
"This smells of StarSinger," StarFire said. "I'd recognize that power
aura anywhere."
They found StarSinger lying on her back, her head cradled in Dylan's
lap. Beka was sitting off to the side, staring out across the
artificial lake. Dylan looked up at the sound of their approach. "Glad
you could make it back," he said.
StarLight and StarFire knelt beside their friend. "What happened?" Light asked.
"Got a little carried away?" Fire asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Something like that, yes. I'm exhausted," she said quietly with a faint smile.
"Well, I can give you an energy boost to last you until you can get
back to the Andromeda, but I'll only do that if no one has any serious
injuries to attend to."
"Dylan got hit in the shoulder."
"I'll be fine," he told her stubbornly. "You need help more."
StarLight looked at the others. "Anyone else hurt badly?" They all
shook their heads. "Alright then." She placed her hands on
StarSinger's stomach. Almost instantly their auras became visible. It
looked as if StarLight's aura was pouring into StarSinger's body. They
sat like that for a couple minutes. The color gradually returned to
Singer's face.
StarLight swooned a little as she sat back. "That should hold you for a while."
"What did you just do, anyways?" Dylan asked.
"As the avatar of the earth element, I have limited healing abilities.
Unlike those possessed by StarLove or StarFire, mine can be used to
heal injuries or restore energy levels."
Terazed looked at StarFire. "You can heal?"
"It's not what you think. We've come across creatures that were once
human, but were either corrupted by their own power or by an outside
influence. Love and I can return these things to their original form."
"StarLight, you only said that three of you could heal. What about
Singer?" Dylan asked.
StarSinger shook her head. "My powers are different than theirs. I can
do other things."
"Such as?"
"Things I'd rather not get into right now," she told him gently. "I
hope I won't have to use them."
StarFire stepped away from the group and looked out across the lake.
The breeze picked up, blowing her long black ponytail out behind her.
Her form fuzzed and she returned to her usual self. Terazed did the
same and walked over to join her.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Rhade asked conversationally.
"No, it isn't," Jen said, shivering.
"What do you think of it then?"
"Aside from an urge to back far, far away from it, very little."
He looked down at her. "You don't like water?"
"None of me people do. Well, with the exception of Jason, but he's
always been an odd one. Nomaie doesn't have any bodies of water. This
much water in one place is just unnatural."
"Can't swim either, can you?"
"Why would I want to do that? Water only has two purposes: drinking
and bathing."
"Might help keep you alive if you learned how."
She turned to face him, taking a step backwards. "I have no desire to do so."
"Careful, Jen," Okami called out to her. "You don't want to fall in."
She spun to face her friend. "I'm not a child, Okami. I know-"
Whatever she was saying got cut short as the ground beneath her feet
gave way and she fell backwards into the lake. Like a stone, she
dropped beneath the surface.
"Jen!" Jason shouted out.
Rhade pulled his vest and sweater off and dove in after her. He
resurfaced, looking around. "Jen!" Her head broke above the surface
fifteen feet away from him before falling back under again. He swam
towards her, taking a deep breath, and diving under the surface.
The water wasn't too dark for him to see through. He looked around.
There. Beneath him. She was sinking. Kicking furiously, he dove for
her, grabbing her wrist. Rhade pulled her towards him as he headed for
the surface. Her body reached his arms just before he broke the
surface, so he wrapped his arms around her.
With his head above water once more, he gasped for breath and looked
at Jen. Her eyes were closed and she hung limply in his arms.
Frantically, he swam for shore where Jason and Dylan were waiting to
help them get out. Jason took Jen while Dylan helped Rhade pull
himself up onto shore. Jason lay Jen down on the ground. The natives
gathered around them as Rhade walked over and dropped down to the
ground at Jen's side. Jason knelt at her feet.
Frowning, Rhade stared at her chest. "She's not breathing. Is there a
doctor around?" The people all shook their heads. "I'll do it myself
then," he said, tilting Jen's head back and opening her mouth.
"What's he doing?" one of the natives asked Okami.
"It's called mouth-to-mouth resuscitation," she told the young man.
"He's trying to get her to breath again."
"If she finds out that he's done this, I don't know what she'll do,"
Trance said, worried.
"It might actually be a good thing," Tenshi said.
"Or it could make things worse," Okami countered. "Point is, we have
no way of knowing."
"Come on Jen, breathe!" Rhade pleaded with her in between breaths.
Jason started to make a strange noise in his throat. "She's gone, Rhade."
"Damn it, Jason, I'm not giving up!" A few breaths later, Jen said up,
coughing out the water from her lungs. She swung up onto her knees,
coughing. She wrapped her arms around her chest, shivering.
"Someone get her a blanket," Rhade called out to the people around
them. Four women came forward with thick blankets and one with dry
clothes. With her was a man, the same one they'd talked to when they'd
first arrived in the Callien system.
"My people owe you a great debt of gratitude, Captain Hunt," he said
as the women fussed around Jen.
"Really, I had very little to do with it. It was mostly some of the
odd passengers I've picked up."
"It doesn't matter who did most of the work," the man told him. "What
matters is that my people stand a chance now."
"We can't stay here forever, sir."
"My apologies. I am Jarek Der, First Minister of Callien. Our leader
was killed sending the distress signal."
"I'm sorry for your loss."
"It was nearing election time again anyways. We will mourn his loss
all the same, though. Won't you and your crew stay the night here?
That woman doesn't look to be in any shape for travel. We have
medicine here that will help her."
"Before you give her anything, I'd like to have a look at it first,"
Okami told the minister. "She has a very unique physiology and what
would heal you could make her worse." "Of course, of course. We
understand that not all people are like us."
Jason's face went white. "Okami, a word with you in private if I may."
Okami frowned. "What's all this about?"
"I'll explain when we're in a private place," he said, heading off.
Okami shrugged and followed.
"Let me contact my ship and let them know what's going on. The rest of
my crew may want to come down as well."
"They are more than welcome to do so," Jarek said, smiling broadly.
"Aleis?" A young woman walked over. "Instruct the women to take the
drowned girl and her companions to the guest house." She curtsied and
headed off. "My apologies, captain, but our accommodations are, at
present, limited."
"We understand." The sound of engines caught their attention. "Well,
it looks like the Dragos have decided that the people of Callien
aren't an easy mark."
"They'll be back with more ships," Beka reminded him. "Typical Nietzscheans."
"We'll find a way to keep your people safe," Dylan assured the panicky
minister.
"We will be forever grateful for any help you can lend us."

Jen woke up in unfamiliar surroundings. Panicking, she sat up, looking
around frantically for anything familiar.
"Relax, Jen, you're safe."
She swung around to face Rhade, who was sitting beside the bed she was
in. "What are you doing here?"
"The others are all busy helping the Calliens repair buildings and
find food. The Dragos destroyed most of their supplies in the initial
attack. They thought I would be best suited to protect you if they
attacked again."
"You certainly aren't my first choice."
"Likely I'd be your last choice."
"If you were the last man alive in the universe, I still wouldn't choose you."
He frowned. "That's a little harsh."
"You go ahead and think that," she said, peeking under the blankets.
"Where are my clothes?"
"The women took them to dry them out. There are spare ones in the
drawer beside the bed. What's the last thing you remember anyways?"
"Falling into the lake."
"That explains your harshness," he said standing. He put his hands on
either side of her and leaned forward. "Let's clear one thing up here,
Jen. You almost died out there today. Jason even thought you were
beyond help after some attempt was made to revive you. I was the one
who went in there after you. I got you to start breathing again. I'm
told that this will mean something to you."
The small amount of color in Jen's face vanished. "You saved my life?"
Rhade nodded. "Just for the record, you don't owe me anything. I
didn't do it for that reason. I did it for your friends. I was closest
at the time."
"Turn around."
"Pardon?"
"Turn around," she repeated. "I'm getting dressed and I'd rather that
you didn't see me do so. Bad enough that these women you speak of
did."
"Shy?" he asked as he turned around.
"Not shy. I'm just picky." She climbed out of bed and pulled the
clothes out of the drawer.
"Jason says that these are some of the clothes he brought for you on
his shuttle. Harper and Yumeko came down while you were sleeping. The
women here had clothes for you as well, but he figured that these
would appeal to you more than the dresses the women here wear."
"He's right about that," she said, slipping the soft, sleeveless, sand
colored tunic over her head. She pulled the darker leggings on and
belted the tunic over top. The leggings were a little loose around her
feet just the way she liked them. Just the boots and three scarlet
ribbons left. One of the ribbons was long, designed for her hair. "I
don't suppose they left a brush, did they?"
"Afraid not."
"I'll just have to do this without one then." She untied her hair and
discarded the soaked string. She took the ribbon and wound it down the
entire length of her long black hair, tying it in a knot at the end.
The remaining two ribbons were shorter, meant for decoration. She
smiled to herself as she wrapped one ribbon around her left forearm,
using her teeth to help her tie the knot. After she got the second one
wound on her right arm. "Alright. I'm done now."
Rhade turned around. "You look nice," he said, stunned.
"I have nicer things on Nomaie. Not that I ever wear them," she added,
putting the ankle boots on and pulling the legs of her pants down over
top.
"This is Nomaien fashion?"
"It's a variant of what the common folk wear."
"You're not common?"
She sighed. "I am the third highest ranking woman after our Queen and
her Heir. This is only because I was formerly Sailor Nomaie before I
was chosen to become the new Fire Guardian."
Rhade stared at her. "I had no idea. I thought you were just from a
wealthy family."
"Well, yes, that, too."
They stood in awkward silence for a few moments before Jen cleared her
throat. "So Jason told you that you saving my life would mean
something to me. Did he say what?"
"No, he didn't. He said you would explain that."
"Typical. My recent near death experience must have scared him. He's
not normally this mean. Anyways, on Nomaie, life debts are taken very
seriously. Until the debt is repaid, the person under the debt can't
do anything. They can't take a mate, hold any sort of important
position and, in fact, must give up any if they have one. If you
weren't a senshi as well, effectively I'd have to retire until I
repaid you. Unless, of course, using those powers would help in some
way. As distasteful as it is, until the debt is repaid, my life is
yours."
Rhade shook his head. "Your life belongs to no one but yourself. I
can't let you do this."
"You can't? Are you mocking my people's traditions then? By refusing,
you give great offense."
"You hate me though."
"I don't have to like you to be indebted to you," she pointed out.
"This may also work out to my advantage. Not quite sure how, but I'll
find a way."
"You're a strange woman, Jen."
"Aside from Jason, you're the only person who has ever called me just
a woman. Usually it's 'girl' or 'young woman'."
Cautiously, Rhade walked towards her. "This means you can't hurt me, right?"
"Technically, yes; however, if you take advantage of this, there is a
loophole that allows me to defend myself."
"I would never do that. You have my word."
Jen snorted. "The word of a Nietzschean."
He caressed her cheek with a finger. "I swear. I'll do what I can to
help you discharge this debt of yours as quickly as possible."

Episode 12: Feast

Rhade and Jen joined the others for dinner in the large government building the Drago-Kazov had been using as their base during the short period of time that they’d been on Callien. Dylan was talking animatedly with First Minister Jarek Der. Rommie was with him. Harper was mingling with the locals, flirting with the prettier ladies. Trance was off to one side talking with Miocci, Yumeko, and Tenshi. Okami was nearby surrounded by men and was engaged in an arm wrestling competition. At her feet was a large tankard of some sort of local alcoholic beverage.
Beka watched her from a distance, nursing her own drink. She looked up as Jen and Rhade approached. “I was starting to wonder when you two were showing up.”
“Jen just woke up,” Rhade explained.
“I am still capable of explaining for myself, Rhade,” she said coldly.
“You never have before, so why should you star now?” Beka asked her. Jen gave her a cold look. Instead of answering, she walked over to join Trance, Miocci, Yumeko, and Tenshi.
“You really don’t like her, do you?” Rhade asked Beka.
“No, I don’t. She’s a bitch. She also doesn’t strike me as being overly rational.”
Overhearing her remark, Jason wandered over. “How do you figure?” he asked politely.
“Her hatred of Nietzscheans, for one. Her thing against men for another.”
“The first is entirely justified, the second is just our culture,” Jason explained.
“How can that be justifiable?”
“I’d really like to explain, but I promised I wouldn’t say anything about it.”
“And you’re ok with this?”
“No, but I understand. And don’t bother poking at our culture. It’s how I was raised.”
Beka sighed and finished off her drink. “I’ll be glad when we get to Nomaie. Maybe the bug up her ass will go away.”
“We can only hope,” Jason agreed. “She’s not a bad person; she’s just had very bad things happen to her recently.”
“Clearly she’s never heard that old saying: ‘pain shared is pain halved’.”
“Rhade, Jason, Beka,” Dylan called to them. “They’re starting to serve dinner now if you’d care to join us.”
They walked over to sit down around the table. The others were already there. Noting that there was a space beside Jen, Rhade sat down there, wanting to talk some more about discharging her life debt. She looked uncomfortable with him being there, but said nothing. This confused the crew of the Andromeda, but no one was given a chance to ask any questions. Minister Jarek stood and gestured for silence.
“I would like to take this time to thank our new friends from the Systems Commonwealth for coming to our aid,” he started, gesturing to the crew of the Andromeda. “Without them, we would all now be slaves of the Drago-Kazov.” The people of Callien cheered. “We are but a small colony, but whatever we can do to repay you, Captain Hunt, you have but to name it.”
“Helping people is just what we do, First Minister,” Dylan told him. “Your thanks is enough repayment.”
Jarek nodded. “Stay the night, then. Eat, drink, and enjoy yourselves. We will help your crewmember recover her strength before you leave.”
“Your generosity is much appreciated,” Tenshi told him from her seat beside Dylan.
“Please, dig in.” Jarek clapped his hands and a troupe of dancing girls came over to stand in front of them. “Some entertainment while we eat.”
The four young women were dressed in wide skirts of many layers of filmy, transparent fabric, and tight corset-like tops. Their feet were bare, adorned by woven bracelets with bells on. They each had a scarf made of the same material as their skirts wrapped around their necks. A small group of musicians over on the side started to play a haunting tune. The music was largely percussive in nature with a few deep wooden wind instruments that gave it the haunting sound. The skirts of the dancers floated around them as they moved, the bells on their ankles adding a gentle tinkling to the music.
Jen watched the entertainment with great interest as she took a bite of some sort of red pepper-shaped vegetable. She chewed experimentally, holding it up to her eyes for closer inspection. Seeing that Jen was eating it, Harper took a large bite of one and promptly gagged, fanning his mouth.
“Spicy!” he gasped.
“Really?” Jen asked him. “This is the first food I’ve had in a long time that has any flavor to it.”
Jarek looked at her in distress. “Those are guiveri. They aren’t meant to be eaten, miss. They’re a garnish.”
“They’re quite good. Tastes like a cabera fruit.”
“What’s that?” Harper gasped.
“It’s a very spicy fruit from back home. Usually, we grind it into powder and add it to our cooking. We like things to be spicy.”
“You people are nuts if you eat things like that.”
“That’s what we’ve been telling her for years,” Yumeko giggled, pouring Harper a glass of juice. “Drink this. It should help.”
Harper downed the glass in three long swallows. “Yeah, that did help. Thanks. If my lips weren’t burning, I could kiss you.”
Jen turned her attention back to the entertainment, nibbling on the garnish. Rhade watched as she followed every movement the dancers made. As the musicians played, her eyes half closed and an almost smile appeared on her lips.
“Would you like my guiveri, Jen?” Rhade asked her politely.
“Remind me to explain to you some of the finer points of Nomaien social habits,” she said in a distant tone of voice. “If we were on Nomaie right now, that sort of offer is tantamount to you asking if I’d share your bed with you.”
“Ah. That’s not what I’m offering.”
She turned to look at him. “I see.”
“Not that I wouldn’t mind,” he said, turning away from her black eyes. “But you would, so I retract my offer.”
Jen reached over and plucked one of the three guiveri from his plate. “You’re right. I do mind.”
“And yet you take one all the same,” he observed.
“I owe you,” she said simply. “Have you forgotten already?”
“You owe me, so you take things from my plate?”
She popped the spicy vegetable into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed. “Yes. I owe you. Your offering the guiveri, despite its connotations in my culture, means little right now.”
“I’m confused.”
“Perhaps I should explain when there are fewer people around,” she said, looking around uncomfortably.”
“I would really rather know now,” he countered. “You’re being very cryptic and it’s driving me crazy.”
She glared at him. “Fine,” she said in hushed tones. His Nietzschean hearing was able to pick it up, but he doubted that anyone else could. “You have the right to ask that. Because I owe you my life, by law on my world you are allowed to ask anything of me. Understand that it means anything, even things that I would never ordinarily do. There is no limit, and all things asked of me remain valid up until the debt is repaid. Repayment on the debt means that either I save your life or I meet a requirement set by you to discharge it.”
“So if I say that by doing something your debt is repaid then it is?”
Jen sighed. “This is why I wanted to discuss this in private. It’s a little more complicated than that. You can’t just tell me to do something simple, like bring you a drink, to discharge it. It has to be worth a life, thus why it’s most common for it to repaid in kind.”
“I’ll have to think about this.”
She picked a second guiveri from his plate and popped it in her mouth. “You do that. For now, I plan on enjoying the entertainment,” she said in normal tones.
“Dancing girls don’t strike me as being something you’d enjoy.”
“It’s a weird culture thing that you couldn’t hope to understand, so don’t even ask.”
“But if I did ask, you’d have to answer.”
“Yes, but I advise you to not be a pest about all of this. This debt won’t be around forever. I may not be able to hurt you for the time being, but when it’s over, I can.”
“Point made. I’ll try to be more careful when asking questions.”
“Good. It seems that we have an understanding.”
The dancing girls finished their set, took their bows to the applause of the crowd, and left, allowing the dinner to wrap up on its own. As the food was cleared away, everyone got up to mingle and chat over light drinks. Minister Jarek tried to make his way over to Jen, but was intercepted by Trance, who suddenly had lots of questions to ask him. He looked at Jen with suspicious glances as he tried to brush Trance off. When he wasn’t looking, Jen slipped away, heading back to the room she’d woken up in.
An hour and a half later, Rhade found her sitting on the bed with one of the woodwind instruments the musicians had been playing. She broke off the melody she’d been playing and looked up at him. “So. You found me.”
“Jarek is looking for you.”
“I’m aware of that,” she told him calmly. “I have no desire to talk to him.”
“Any idea what he wants?”
“Could have been nothing more than to ask me how I’m feeling.”
“You’re probably right about that,” he said, sitting down beside her.
“I’ll only tell you this once, Rhade. Nomaiens value their personal space. I’m uncomfortable with physical contact. We have very sensitive skin, and skin-to-skin contact makes us very vulnerable. It affects us the way addictive drugs affect other races.”
“Touch is addictive to your people?”
“I’m told that we developed it as a survival thing that allowed a mother to recognize the feel of her children by touch alone. This could be very useful in a sand storm. My people, historically, are nomadic. It’s only in the last 10, 000 years that we started to build cities.”
“So when I touched your cheek earlier…”
“Once is fine, even though under normal circumstances I would have broken your hand for it.”
“So you’d rather I not make any requests of you involving touch.”
“That would be my preference, yes, but my life-“
“Is mine, yes, I know,” Rhade finished. “So I guess a relaxing back rub wouldn’t be something you’d be happy about doing?”
“No, but should you want one, just ask.”
“You’re turning into quite a contradiction.”
“I hate to point it out, but it is, in a way, your fault?”
“Mine?” he asked incredulously. “You’re the one who never learned how to swim.”
“Nomaie is a desert world. Where would I have learned?”
“Good point,” he conceded, smiling. He looked at the woodwind. “I didn’t know you played an instrument.”
“I don’t often. It’s one of the little known facts about me.”
“Jen, everything about you is a little known fact.”
She looked him in the eye, her eyes unfocusing slightly. “Hooo…. Those guiveri are more than just spicy. Perhaps I shouldn’t have eaten so many.”
“Are you feeling alright?”
“I feel lightheaded.” She leaned forward and smiled a little. “I never knew you had brown eyes,” she said, her words slurring a little, reaching out to touch his face.
“I think you’re a little more than lightheaded, Jen,” he said as she leaned a little closer. He took her face in both of his hands, bringing his to her level, looking in her eyes.
“You might be right about that,” she said, her eyelids drooping. She suddenly went limp and fell forward, her lips landing on his briefly before she toppled over sideways. Rhade caught her before she could hit the floor. He laid her back on the bed. Her eyes were closed, her breathing that of a sleeper. A loose lock of hair fell across her face, so he brushed it back behind her ear.
I seem to see a lot of her asleep, he mused to himself. This is odd considering her very clear feelings towards me. Strange. For a moment, I thought I smelled something. Sweet, but spicy. He brushed her lips with a finger. They’re just as soft as they felt when I was trying to revive her, but not as cold or as blue. It’s too bad that this won’t last. She’s almost tolerable with this debt hanging over her head. I have to free her from it as soon as possible. He kissed her on the forehead.
“Goodnight, Jen,” he said, leaving the room, shutting the door quietly behind him. He didn’t notice her eyes opening as he walked out, nor did he see or hear her getting out of bed.
First Minister Jarek met him a few steps away from the door. “How is she?” he asked anxiously.
“Sleeping,” Rhade replied. “It’s been a long day for her.”
Jarek peered at him, sniffing the air. “Nothing happened?”
“She got a little lightheaded from those guiveri and passed out. Nothing more. Why? What were you expecting?”
Jarek flushed guiltily. “Your captain explained to me about her and her professed dislike of you. I thought that, by having guiveri ready to hand might loosen things up.”
Rhade narrowed his eyes. “What are they really?”
“A very mild aphrodisiac. My people often consume them before pursuing a mate. Until I saw your Mr. Harper’s reaction to taking a bite of one, it hadn’t occurred to me that other species might have a different reaction to them. After she ate the ones on her plate and two of yours, I grew concerned. Consuming that many in such a short period can be bad for you. It’s only recommended to eat one in a five hour period, but five at once?” He shook his head.
Rhade saw red. “Why would you do such a thing?”
“Your feelings for her are quite clear to anyone with eyes,” Jarek squeaked. “The women all think you’re quite attractive. I thought that, if Jen loosened up a little, she might see it as well.”
“Listen to me very carefully, Minister. I care very deeply for her, and I’m well aware of how she feels towards me. I understand that you were only trying to help; however, I want Jen to like me on her own and not under some drug-induced haze. Excuse me,” he snarled, brushing past the minister.
Jen, who had gotten out of bed with every intention of waking off the fuzz in her head without anyone knowing about it, was perched beside the door and had overheard the entire conversation. Her fists were clenched in anger at what the minister had done.
How dare he! Who does he think he is, interfering like that? She put one hand on her forehead. It explains why I feel so funny. A shame. Those guiveri were quite tasty. She shook her head, pondering what Rhade had said instead. So he cares for me, does he? Too bad for him.
She got up and opened the door a crack, making sure that no one was around to see her leaving.
She found Rhade sitting beside the lake she’d nearly died in. Only one of Callien’s two moons was visible. It’s silver crescent reflected in the ripples on the lake making it appear to glow. He sat cross-legged on the ground, staring out across the water. The moonlight highlighted his features, frosting the tips of his dark brown hair. Silently, she approached and sat down beside him. He looked at her briefly in surprise before looking back out across the silvery water.
“The moving moon went up to the sky, and nowhere did abide; Softly she was going up, and a star or two beside,” Jen said softly, breaking the silence.
“Beg your pardon?” Rhade asked.
“It’s from part four of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It was required reading in school the first time I went to Earth. Somehow it felt appropriate, despite the fact that the entire poem is incredibly long.”
“Poetry is one of the last things I’d ever thought to hear you say.”
“My people are very good with poetry, given that our histories are largely oral.”
“Warrior, musician, poet. Is there anything you don’t do?” he asked, looking directly in her eyes.
“Swim,” she said with a faint smile.
“You really need to do that more.”
“Do what? Joke?”
“Smile.”
“It must be the guiveri talking, but you aren’t as bad as I thought at first. I still don’t like you, but I don’t ”
He gave her a strange look. “That guiveri is powerful stuff.”
“I know. I overheard. I wasn’t as asleep as you thought. I just wanted to get rid of you so that I could get out and walk this buzz off.”
“One doesn’t simply walk off an aphrodisiac.”
“I didn’t know what it was until Jarek told you. It feels like I’ve had a little too much to drink more than anything else. It’s not an unpleasant feeling. Stars know I’ve had little but unpleasantness in my life the last six months.”
“On behalf of the majority of the Nietzschean people, I apologize for how the Drago-Kazov treated you.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Only most of them?”
“There are other Prides like the Drago-Kazov, other Nietzscheans that aren’t particularly nice. One of Andromeda’s former crew, Tyr Anasazi, was one such Nietzschean.”
“Very well then. I accept your apology.”
They turned to look once more out at the lake. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
“I’ve never been one to appreciate water, Rhade. A moon rise out in the middle of the desert is more my taste.”
“I’ve never seen one like that.”
“If you ask nicely, I’ll show you what you’ve been missing when we get to Nomaie,” she suggested. “You’ll never be the same ever again.”
“Every moment I’m near you changes me,” he said quietly. “Why should a moon in the desert be any different?”
“You weren’t kidding when you told the minister that you care for me, were you?”
He shook his head glumly. “It doesn’t seem to matter how you treat me, how cold you are. I can’t help but wonder if this is how my ancestor felt about you.”
Jen rolled her eyes. “Oh please! You’re acting like this is fate or something. I don’t buy that for one minute.”
“Why not?”
“If you follow your line of thinking, you’re essentially saying that we’re meant to be together because Gaheris and Valkyrie were. It’s absolutely ludicrous.”
“You may be genetically identical to Valkyrie, but you sure don’t think like a Nietzschean woman.”
“I don’t normally take compliments, but I’m taking that statement as one.”
“It’s odd, you know. You aren’t Nietzschean, so by rights I shouldn’t even entertain the feelings I have for you. It’s considered low by most Nietzscheans. Most of us won’t even consider those outside our own species.”
“And yet you are, even though I don’t reciprocate.”
“It certainly wouldn’t be the first time in my life that it’s happened to me.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “Same here. People I didn’t like deciding that they liked me, that is.”
“Never felt that way yourself?”
“Not that I remember.”
“I don’t recommend it. It does all sorts of unpleasant things to you. Even while you know it’s hopeless, you can’t help but hope that, maybe one day, something could come of it.”
“Men really are sad.”
“It’s not just men,” he countered. “There are women out there like this.”
“A disgrace to my gender.”
“They would likely say that you’re the disgrace. Cold, unfeeling, and showing no interest in men.”
“Show me one worth my time and I’ll consider it.”
“What would you consider to be worth your time?”
“There was one man I used to know. His name was Seikou. He’s the only man I can remember loving so completely that it nearly killed me when he died.”
“Yet you seem quite capable of talking about him,” he observed.
“It was a very, very long time ago. I still haven’t been able to correlate the Commonwealth dates with our own, so I can’t even give you a relative date. In a few of my lives in which I awoke as a senshi and could, therefore, remember him, I did find someone to take my mind off him, but I’ve never loved that deeply before or since. So before you go around calling me cold and unfeeling, make sure that you know all the facts.”
Rhade sighed. “The truth is, Jen, Okami told me about someone named Seiya that you met on Earth. Not a lot, but enough to know that his situation was like mine. You two eventually got together and, from what she said, there was love there.”
“Seiya just so happened to be identical to Seikou. He was one of the ones who took my mind off him. That is, until I learned more about Seiya. What that was isn’t important, but it cooled things for a while. The fact that I was taken by our enemy and turned against my friends and Earth’s senshi being a large reason as to why.”
“I see.”
They were silent for a while longer. “Mother of light! How fairly dost thou go over those hoary crests, divinely led! Art thou that huntress of the silver bow fabled of old? Or rather dost thou tread those cloudy summits thence to gaze below, like the wild chamois from her Alpine snow, where hunters never climbed--secure from dread?”
Jen blinked in confusion and turned to look at Rhade. “Where did that come from?”
“You started this conversation with a bit of poetry about the moon that you learned in school. This is one that I learned. It’s an excerpt from Ode to the Moon by an Earthman named Thomas Hood.”
“Poetry from a Nietzschean.” Jen shook her head. “Well, this night couldn’t get any stranger.”
Rhade leaned towards her, a smile on his lips. “Want to bet?”
“What could possibly make this weirder?”
Before she could react, he grabbed her face in his hands and kissed her.

Episode 13: Portal

“What could possibly make this weirder?”
Before she could react, he grabbed her face in his hands and kissed her.
Stunned, she just sat there; eyes wide open as his lips pressed gently on hers. Slowly, he brought his hands down to her shoulders and pulled her closer, deepening his kiss. It was insistent and yet still gentle, a lover’s kiss.
She stiffened, trying to figure out how to break free without hurting him. Panicked, her mind raced as her body started to respond to his touch. Her hands moved up to his shoulders, sliding up his neck to his face. Once there, she forced her hands to push him away.
“I was wondering how long it would take you to do that.”
“Well what did you expect?” Jen retorted. “You surprised me.”
“I’d hoped that you wouldn’t have fought it.”
“There are only so many ways to do that without causing damage.”
“Oh, right, that life debt,” he muttered. “Look, Jen, we need to talk about that.”
“There isn’t anything left to say,” she said standing up. “I explained everything at the feast earlier.”
Rhade stood up. “I can’t deal with this, with you being forced by your culture to be indebted to me. I’m not mocking your culture or your people, but it’s ridiculous! I release you.”
“It’s not that simple, Rhade. Believe me, if it was, I’d be gone by now.”
“Why not? Your life is mine. I give it back to you.”
“That’s not how it works. Not even you can change that.”
“Who would know if I release you? No one else knows except Jason.”
“I would know,” Jen said quietly. “As much as I dislike this situation, I still have my sense of honor. If I listened to you and left, it would be a stain that could never be washed away.”
“This really is serious to you.”
Jen rolled her eyes and threw her arms up in the air. “Now he gets it!” she exclaimed, turning around and taking a couple steps away. “Yes, Rhade, this is serious.”
Rhade walked up and put his hands on her shoulders. “You’re shaking.”
“It’s cold. I’m always cold now, ever since you pulled me out of this damned lake.”
“Let’s get you back to your room and wrap you in some nice warm blankets. Dylan says that we’re leaving tomorrow morning for Nomaie.”
Jen nodded glumly. “I’m still not sure if it’s a good thing or not.”
“Won’t you get worse if you don’t?”
“It’s a toss up. If I go home, I will have to deal with my parents and condescending elder sister. If I don’t, I’ll likely go insane. While we don’t have the same stigma against the insane that most other people have, I do still prefer to be in possession of all my faculties.”
“Alright, because I can finally ask this without being hit, what is so bad about your family?”
“It’s very, very complicated, but I’ll try and explain. Just don’t ask me to elaborate on things. You’ll understand when we get there. You see, my mother expects me to take her place at the head of our family when she passes on. I don’t want the position. It should, technically, go to Hihana, my elder sister, but mother prefers me to her.”
“Which has caused some bitterness on her part, I assume.”
“Oh did it ever,” Jen groaned, facing him. “She’s hated me for most of my life. When my powers asserted themselves, it grew deeper until it became apparent that I had absolutely no interest in men whatsoever, she figured that mother would have to choose her instead, especially after the birth of her daughter Tamashiiko, but no. Mother still wanted me instead. Hihana keeps hoping that I’ll do something to make myself ineligible, the worse the better.”
Rhade shook his head. “I think I understand, but how could it be more complicated?”
“Like I said, everything will be clear on Nomaie.”
“Everything?”
“Everything,” she repeated in agreement.
“So, does this mean that we’ll finally be told your real name? I have to admit that I’m more curious about it than before.”
“And yet I’ve notice that you haven’t made any moves to ask me what it is.”
“You had reasons not to tell us before, so I doubt that you’d thank me for asking now. I’m willing to be patient on that one. I’ll respect your privacy.”
The relief was clear on Jen’s face and in her posture. “Not all men would be so thoughtful.”
“I’m not like all men.”
“I can see that,” she said, amused, fingering the first bone blade on his left arm. She yawned. “I think that damned vegetable has worn off enough to let me sleep.”
He nodded. “Let’s get you to bed, then. We still have a week or so to go before we get there.”
“Goody,” Jen grunted.
The next day, after a lengthy farewell, everyone was back on board the Andromeda and heading for Nomaie. Trance had a very secretive smile on her face during the entire farewell. She’d kept exchanging looks with two women, women who had hugged her quite fiercely before she boarded the Maru. When asked about it, she simply smiled and refused to answer. This went on for days before she finally told them that one of the two women was the Caliien sun avatar and the other woman was the senshi of the smaller moon, Kalbera and that she had awoken them in order to protect the planet after they left.
That afternoon, Rhade found Jen and Jason sitting under a tree in the arboretum talking quietly under their breath in Nomaien. He watched them for a time from the doorway. Jen’s voice, though quiet, was still very insistent about whatever she was talking about. Finally, Jason shook his head, throwing his arms up in defeat. He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek, got up, and headed for the door. Jen looked away from him. Rhade felt a surge of intense jealousy.
How dare he? Who does he think he is?
As soon as Jason was within reach, Rhade grabbed the smaller man and pulled him into the hallway, slamming him into the wall. “What the hell do you think you were doing?” he snarled.
“What are you talking about, Rhade?” Jason wheezed.
“Jen! Once and for all, you’re going to tell me what your relationship is with her. Are you involved? Is that why she- What? Why are you laughing?”
“Involved? With the hell cat herself? Not for all the money in the universe, even if the thought itself weren’t incredibly disgusting.”
“You’d better explain that and be very careful about your words,” Rhade warned.
Jason stared at him. “You honestly don’t have a clue, even with those keen Nietzschean senses of yours? Rhade, she’s my sister.”
Rhade let him go. “Your sister?”
He nodded. “Younger by half an hour, if you were wondering. We’re twins. That’s why we have that connection, why she doesn’t treat me like dirt the way she does with other men. Growing up, she was the only one who stood up for me. We’ve always been very close.”
“You have no idea what a relief it is to hear this,” he sighed. “I apologize if I hurt you.”
Jason rubbed his neck. “Nothing that won’t fade quickly. Don’t worry about it. I’m not personally familiar with feelings of jealousy, but I’ve seen it often enough to understand.”
“Jealousy? Am I that obvious?”
“Yes,” he replied bluntly. “Look, Rhade, if you ever get through to her, I’d be more than happy to let you have her.”
“I wasn’t aware that you had any say in the matter.”
“Culturally speaking, I don’t. She is, however, my younger sister and she tends to listen to my advice. She doesn’t always follow it, but she gives it careful thought.”
“What were the two of you talking about in there?”
“You, oddly enough.”
“Really?”
“Concerning the life debt. She’s trying to find either a loophole to get out of it or a way to use it. We couldn’t come up with anything. She asked me to keep trying. I’d contact some friends of mine on Nomaie, but we’re still too far away.”
“If she can find a way out, I’m more than happy to let her go. I have to say I don’t like this in the slightest.”
“I don’t expect you to understand.”
“She tried to explain.”
“You aren’t Nomaien, so you weren’t raised with the core beliefs he has. The things we take for granted are things that outsiders won’t understand.”
“Try me.”
Jason shook his head. “No. Sorry. I consider you to be a friend, but you’d be better off hearing it from Jen. Don’t force her to explain it, though. If it comes up, ask.”
“Why are you asking this of me?”
“Because I get the feeling that you wouldn’t like her quite as much if you knew certain things about her and our people.”
“You know I’m curious now.”
“If you can wait until we get to Nomaie-“
“Everything will be clear, yes, I know. That’s what Jen told me yesterday.”
“She’s right, you know. Her childhood nickname is a well-deserved one.”
“Nickname?”
“In your language, it means Fox.”
“Appropriate.”
“You don’t know the half of it.”
It’s been six days since then, Rhade thought to himself, watching Jen chatting amiably with Harper over lunch. Six of the most frustrating days I’ve ever had. I have so many questions to ask her, but I’m afraid to ask. The warning they gave me was so vague. All I can do is sit back and watch. She tries to avoid me, but is always nearby just in case. She spends most of the time talking to Jason or Harper when she isn’t training with me and Tenshi.
Rubbing the back of his head, he recalled their last few training sessions. Despite what happened the first time, Tenshi keeps giving us these meditation exercises. I do wonder what her goal is with those. Oh, Jen doesn’t pass out on us anymore, but the headache she got after the last one makes me wonder. Tenshi tells me that I’m improving, but I feel like I’m standing still. She also tells me that Jen’s doing better despite the headaches. She’s hardly said two words together since we left Callien. On the other hand, Jason is always more than willing to talk to me and give me pointers after training sessions.
He paused at that, recalling the intensity with which the smaller man watched him during the sessions. Even with his back turned he could feel Jason’s black eyes following his every move. It reminded him of the way Jen had watched the dancing girls on Callien. Strange. I wonder if there’s any reason for that. If so, is that one of the things they keep saying will be explained?
No matter, he sighed. I’ll learn when I learn. I just have to be patient. Damn it! It’s so hard to be patient. I’m so sick of waiting. I wish Jen were a true Nietzschean genetic reincarnation of Valkyrie Museveni. It would simplify things immensely. A Nietzschean woman would be easier to talk to, to understand. One wouldn’t torment me like this. Then again, would I have met her if she were Nietzschean? Museveni is a Drago-Kazov name. Chances are, she wouldn’t be the same person. Wishing for things that can’t be is a waste of time. Why am I even entertaining these thoughts? She is who she is.
He poked his lunch with a fork, having lost his appetite. I can’t take this much longer. Thankfully, Jason says we’re close to Nomaie. I don’t know what he’s talking about. According to Andromeda’s charts, there is no planet called Nomaie in this area of space. For that matter, it’s not in her database anywhere.
He gave up on eating and was about to leave when Okami sat down in the chair opposite him.
“Going somewhere?”
“I’m not hungry.”
“I’ve been watching you the last few days. How much have you eaten anyways?”
“Enough.”
Okami rolled her eyes. “Sure. You haven’t eaten enough to keep a small bird alive. I know you Nietzscheans have all sorts of survival things written into your DNA, but I doubt that starving yourself is one of them.”
“What do you want, Okami?”
“Just to talk,” she said, crossing her legs. “You know that we’re within range of Nomaie now, right?”
“That’s what Jason said last night when he was giving me some pointers on senshi fighting.”
She nodded. “Good. I’m glad he’s helping you out there. Anyways, the closer we get to Nomaie, the edgier Jen’s going to be.”
Rhade snorted. “Thanks, but I’ve noticed. You should see the bruise she gave me in training this morning.”
Okami leaned forward and grinned. “I’d love to.”
“Okami!”
She shook her head. “Sorry. Back on track. Have you even tried to spend time with her?”
“We haven’t been alone since we left Callien. She’s always nearby, but there’s always at least one other person in the room with us.”
“Hmm. Alright. Find an excuse to get her alone to talk.”
“How? She hasn’t said more than two words together to me at one time since then.”
Okami waggled her finger at him. “Life debt, remember? If you ask her to do something, she has to. Personally, I think this entire thing is nonsense, but try telling her that.”
“I have.”
“Right. So, get her alone this evening.”
“Why?”
“You want her to like you?”
“Of course, but-“
“But nothing. I’ve talked this over extensively with Jason. We’re both getting tired of all this. Jason is starting to loose sleep over this, as Jen’s dreams are intruding on his sleep. Being twins is all well and good, but the psychic connection between them is a bad thing as often as it is a good thing.”
“What dreams?”
“He wouldn’t say, only that he’s known about her dreams since he came on board, but had no idea that they were powerful enough to spill over into his.”
“I wonder. Those two talk about everything and keep no secrets from each other. Would she have told him what happened to her in the Drago-Kazov camp? I don’t really buy this whole amnesia thing anymore. It’s been far too long since it happened for that to be a problem.”
“How would she react if I asked her about it?”
“Likely not well, but she’d have to answer you. Oh, she’ll make you pay for it later, but she’ll answer.”
“That’s not very encouraging.”
“Just do it, Rhade. I’ll have something for you before then. Tell her to meet you in your quarters later this evening. I’ll pop by just after dinner.”
Rhade looked doubtful. “I don’t think this is going to go over well.”
“Just trust me.”
As Rhade later learned, trusting a Laisheen wasn’t a particularly good idea.
Okami showed up on time with a small wrapped package and handed it to him with a wink and no explanation. He sat down on his bed, turning the rectangular object over and over in his hands while he waited for Jen to show up.
She’s late, he mused, looking up at the door. What could be keeping her?
The time came and went for her to show up. He stood. This is strange. According to her own culture, she should have shown up. It goes against the rules for her to not show up. I wonder if there’s anything wrong? I suppose it can’t hurt to go and check on her.
Package in hand, he got up and went two doors down to her quarters and knocked politely on the door, getting a surprise when Okami, Tenshi, and Yumeko answered it.
“Oh, hi Rhade,” Yumeko said sheepishly. “We’ve, uh, hit a snag.”
“A snag?”
“We can’t get Jen to come out of the bathroom,” Okami told him. “Maybe you’ll have better luck.”
“We should be going now,” Tenshi told her two friends. They nodded and left, heading into Yumeko’s room.
Rhade stood in the doorway for some time before walking in and closing the door behind him. “Jen? Are you in here?”
“I’m not coming out,” came the muffled reply from the bathroom. “Whatever you have to say to me you can say through the door.”
Rhade walked over to the door. “Jen, please come out. I’d much prefer to talk to you face to face.”
There was a lengthy pause. “You have to promise not to laugh.”
“I’d never laugh at you, Jen.”
The door opened and Jen peeked around the corner. “Promise!”
“I promise. Now will you come out of there?”
She sighed and stepped out. “The girls thought this would be amusing.” Her hair was braided and wrapped around her head. She was wearing a pair of light grey skin tight leggings leaving none of her figure to the imagination, a long sleeved, tight mesh top with a blood red tank top overtop of it to provide some modesty.
“I fail to see why I would laugh at you,” Rhade commented. “You look good.”
“I hate having my hair pinned up like this,” she gripped. “It hurts.”
“Does it?”
She rolled her eyes. “You see, that’s the problem with men. They like to look at the results of this, but never take in to account just what goes in to producing these styles. I have so many pins jammed into my scalp that I feel like a pincushion.”
Rhade thought about that. “You’re right. I never considered that before. If I’d known what they were planning on doing to you, I…Well, I’m not really sure if I would have stopped them. You do look good like that.”
Jen sniffed. “This is the kind of hair style I spent most of my life avoiding. Those simpering fops in the high court wear it. I prefer to disassociate myself from them as much as possible.”
“So take it down,” Rhade suggested. “I don’t want to cause you pain even though I’m glad to have seen it.”
“I can’t. It’s impossible to put up or take down on your own, hence why it’s only worn by nobles with servants to do their hair.”
Rhade nodded. “Sit down on the bed. I’ll take the pins out for you.”
Jen stared at him. “You’re serious?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
Jen nodded. “Ok, but only if you just take the pins out. No undoing the braid.”
“I promise.”
She sat down on the edge of the bed after clearing a spot for Rhade to sit. He sat down behind her, settling his legs on either side of her body. He was more than comfortable sitting like that, but by the way Jen squirmed she wasn’t overly. Well, she’ll just have to cope for now, he thought to himself. I can’t do this any other way.
Rhade started to pry the long thin pins out of her hair, setting them down beside him. This is one of the most tedious things I’ve ever had to do, but it’s worth it to have a good excuse to be this close to her. She smells so good, sweet and spicy at the same time, and her hair feels like silk. I just wish she wasn’t so stiff and shaky.
“Would you relax, Jen?” he asked, pulling the last pin out, loosening the thick braid. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“I’m cold,” she informed him bluntly. “All of this looks good to you, but I’m freezing.”
Rhade wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. “Is that better?”
“It’s warmer, but less comfortable,” she said quietly.
An awkward silence followed, interrupted by Rhade’s comm beeping. “Yes?” he answered testily.
“Dylan wants everyone up on the command deck,” Beka answered.
Rhade sighed. “We’ll be right up.”
Jen and Rhade met the others up on the command deck. Jason was pointing out an area of space, saying, “If the senshi pool their powers together, we can open a portal from here that will take us into our planetary system.”
“How?” Beka asked him skeptically.
“All five of us have a connection to that region of space, being that all of our home worlds are in the same system,” Jason said, indicating himself and the four Guardians. With an added boost from Vedra and Terazed, opening it will be no trouble at all and will, in fact, help get us there faster. We might even be able to drop the Andromeda right in orbit around Nomaie.”
“Won’t that raise some alarms?” Rommie asked.
“We don’t do the space travel thing,” Okami tod her. “We have the capability, but we just don’t use it. Jason’s shuttle is one of the few of its kind. Mostly we use a series of interplanetary portals when we need to travel.”
“Convenient,” Rhade said.
“I suppose it depends on your point of view,” Jen told him. “Some days it would be nice to not have travel so readily available. Other days the portals aren’t fast enough.”
“So how does this work?” Trance asked him.
“First, we all transform, then we focus our powers on Tenshi. I’ll be guiding Rhade while Yumeko will guide Trance. It may take a while to explain this, so instead of telling you exactly what will happen, just follow our leads. Time is of the essence here. Beka, as soon as that portal opens, fly through it as fast as you can.”
The senshi transformed and formed a circle, holding hands. They closed their eyes and focused their energy on StarSinger. As they did so, their auras glowed around them.
“Water Elemental Power-“ StarSinger began.
“Earth Elemental Power-“
“Air Elemental Power-“
“Fire Elemental Power-“
“Nomaie Planet Power-“
“Vedra Solar Power-“
“Terazed Planet Power-“
“Pegasus Portal!” the group of senshi called out as one. A portal appeared in front of the Andromeda. Remembering Jason’s urging, Beka gunned it, heading for the portal before it closed.

Episode 14: Nomaie

As far as the crew of the Andromeda knew, the journey between where they’d previously been in the Milky Way galaxy and the other side of the portal had been instantaneous. When the blue glow of the portal cleared, they were looking out at a dusty red planet orbited by two moons. There were no bodies of water that they could see and no signs that there had ever been any.
Andromeda’s image replaced the view of the planet. “Scan of the system indicates that there are seven planets orbiting a yellow G-type sun. Stellar charts indicate that we are presently located in the Pegasus galaxy. The red planet we are presently orbiting is the fourth one from the sun.”
“A long way from home,” Terazed commented as his uniform faded away, returning him to normal.
“We’re receiving a hail from the surface of the fourth planet,” Rommie told them.
“Let’s say hello,” Dylan said.
The face of a woman appeared on the screen. She had mocha colored skin and bright green eyes. Her copper colored hair was pulled back in a severe style that emphasized her high cheekbones. She was wearing a long sleeved, high collared black uniform. “I am Netaya, commander of the Nomaie Home Guard. State your business.”
Nomaie stepped forward. “Commander Netaya, greetings. It’s been a long time.”
Netaya snapped to attention. “Noamie Kamen! My apologies. I didn’t see you there. Welcome home. I’ll contact the capital immediately and inform them.”
“My thanks. I bring with me the four Guardians and two other senshi as well as my new friends. Please treat them as guests.”
She nodded. “I will see to it. Is your ship capable of landing?”
“The Andromeda Ascendant isn’t my ship.”
“She’s mine,” Dylan spoke up. “I am Captain Hunt.”
Netaya looked down her nose at him. “I know they do things differently off world, but I would have expected that you’ve told your friends something of our ways.”
“My apologies, Commander, but this is their way,” Noamie said, shrugging. “They are aware of some of our ways. Again, treat them as honored guests. They were kind enough to return us home and two of the crew are the senshi I mentioned.”
“I see. Very well, then. Captain Hunt. Is your ship capable of landing on the surface.”
“No, she isn’t, but we have a smaller ship, captained by Beka Valentine called the Eureka Maru that is capable of that.” He indicated Beka to the Commander.
“Ah, good. A woman. Very well. I will relay the message. We shall be expecting you shortly?” Nomaie nodded and the screen returned to a view of the planet.
“Kind of stiff, wasn’t she?” Beka commented.
“The Home Guard are a strange bunch,” Jason said, returning to his normal self. “Jen and I will take the Desert Fox down, as we have some preparing to do. This is, after all, our home world. Tenshi can brief the rest of you on what to expect.”
“No doubt by now she’s passed the message on to the other worlds that we’re home,” Okami said, looking out at the planet Nomaie. “Assuming that the sudden appearance of a strange starship didn’t set off a few warning bells.”
Yumeko frowned. “Shouldn’t Rhade ride with Jen?”
“Under normal circumstances, yes, but not this time,” Jason told her. “Remember, kitten. They know little about her.”
“Yes, right, but still.”
“Not this time. Don’t worry. It’ll be ok.”
“Easy enough for you to say,” Jen grumbled.
“Fox, would you sit down? We haven’t even left the Andromeda yet and you’re already fidgeting.”
Jen stopped her pacing to look down at her older brother. “I’m not fidgeting, I’m pacing. There’s a difference.”
“Well stop it. You’re driving me nuts.”
With a sigh, Jen sat down in a chair and picked up a book. She opened it to the first page and sat staring at it as Jason powered up the Desert Fox and left Andromeda’s hangar. A few minutes out of the hangar, Jen tossed the book down in disgust. “Useless. I can’t concentrate on it. The words are just meaningless scribbles on the page.”
“You’re nervous,” Jason told her, heading for the planet’s surface. “It’s perfectly understandable. It’s been a very long time since you’ve been back.”
“Despite everything that’s happened to me, it all seems like a pleasant vacation compared with the debriefing I’ll get once I’m home.”
Jason winced. “You make mother sound like a cruel dictator instead of a mother who’s missed you.”
Jen snorted. “I doubt she missed me as much as you think.”
“We’ll see.”
On board the Maru, Tenshi was busy briefing the crew about what to expect when they reached Nomaie’s surface. “It would be best if Trance and Rhade made their first appearance wearing their senshi uniforms, especially seeing as how we told Commander Netaya that we had two more on board.”
“The other reason being that we need the Nomaien leaders to have some respect for at least one male member of the crew,” Okami chimed in. “If Dylan were a senshi, this wouldn’t be a problem, but it’s Rhade, so we have to take every precaution.”
“Strangely, this makes sense,” Trance told them.
“I’m glad someone thinks so,” Beka grumbled from the pilot’s chair. “Where do we land?” she asked as they cleared the atmosphere. All they could see outside was an endless stretch of golden sand. The only variation was the occasional dune.
“Desolate place,” Rhade commented.
“Keep heading in this direction,” Tenshi told her. “You’ll eventually come across a large city.”
“Eventually?”
She shrugged. “I should have insisted that we keep at least one of the twins with us. No matter how many times I come here I never seem to pick up their knack of navigating the Kanehr Shovasea.”
“The what?” Dylan asked.
“Loosely translated it means ‘sea of fire’.”
“Such a cheerful people,” Dylan commented.
“This way it is,” Beka acknowledged with a sigh.
“I’m picking up another ship,” Trance spoke up. “It’s Jason’s Desert Fox.”
“Follow them,” Dylan suggested.
“No, don’t. They’re heading somewhere else, further out into the desert,” Tenshi told them. “I’d rather get to the capital where it’s nice and shady as opposed to the aptly named sea of fire.”
“Gets really hot out there,” Okami said, snickering. “Water types don’t like it much.”
“Aren’t the two of you best friends?” Rhade asked.
“Yes. I don’t much like her home world and she’s terrified of mine.”
“Might I ask why?”
“It’s mostly water,” she replied with a smile. “Our cities all float on the water.”
“Interesting,” Dylan said. “I’d like to see that.”
“If we have time,” Tenshi replied as the capital city of Nomaie came into view.
“I really hope Jen and Jason don’t get lost out there,” Harper said as Beka landed the Maru just outside the gates of the city. “She has the worst sense of direction of anyone I know.”
“The only place she can navigate is here on Nomaie. She even gets lost up on the moons. We’re not really sure why that is. It’s scary how well she knows where she is here and equally scary how she has a hard time finding her way around anywhere else. Now, let’s transform and get out there. I’ll do the talking.”
“I wouldn’t know what to say anyways,” Dylan said quietly, watching the now familiar transformations of his crew and their new friends.
A large crowd awaited the five senshi exited the ship followed by Dylan, Beka, and Harper. Upon seeing the three Guardians, the crowd cheered. The three women bowed politely. It took them a few minutes to realize that there were two missing. Some of the little girls in front started to ask questions about the absent StarFire and Nomaie Kamen.
StarSinger raised her hand for silence. “They went out into the Kanehr Shovasea. Why, I am uncertain, but they should be with us shortly.”
The people looked relieved. A contingent of women in long sleeved, high collared black uniforms approached. Their leader was Netaya. She bowed briefly.
“Welcome, Guardian StarSinger,” she said formally. “Her Revered Majesty awaits you and the others in her Audience Chamber. Your regular rooms have been made ready for you and rooms have been prepared for your friends.” She eyed Terazed and Vedra. “The new senshi, I presume?”
“Sailor Vedra and Terazed Kamen.”
“Welcome.” Netaya looked behind them. “And you are?”
“Captain Dylan Hunt of the Andromeda Ascendant.”
“Beka Valentine, captain of the Eureka Maru and first officer on the Andromeda.”
“Seamus Harper, engineer and all around genius.”
Netaya frowned. “This way.” She turned and led them into the city. Inside, the people went about their daily business, pausing briefly to watch them pass by. The route to the palace took them through the market district. There were stalls with their wares spread out for display, selling everything from simple, undecorated earthenware dishes and containers to food, clothing, weaponry, and exquisitely designed jewelry. Various smells from the food stalls assaulted their noses, some pleasant, some not. The air was alive with the sounds of people bargaining with each other and the odd street musician. To the crew of the Andromeda, the music reminded them of the musicians from Callien.
No wonder Jen was so relaxed that night, despite her near death, Rhade mused as he watched a pair of laughing women stagger past him and collapse against a wall, kissing each other hungrily. That’s odd…
The closer they got to the palace gates, the fewer people they saw. They passed by a large training field full of youths wearing minimal clothing. Most were women, but there was the occasional man among their ranks. All were going through drills with long wooden staves.
Netaya indicated the field. “Our Home Guard trainees,” she explained before they passed through the gates. “This year’s batch is quite promising.”
The palace itself was an immense, smooth, ivory colored structure that appeared to be made from one single block of material. From the front, all they could see were the two wings extending out from the central gate and a tower with a dome shaped roof.
It was on a raised section of similar colored stone with a long set of steps leading up to it. On either side of the bottom steps was a statue of a fierce-looking bird that appeared to be on fire.
“Two of the guardian spirits of Nomaie,” Netaya explained. “Kanehjer Makaler on the left and Kanehjer Neytreo on the right. Makaler represents Nomaie Kamen. Neytreo should represent Sailor Nomaie, but at present we don’t have one. In the past, our Heir was once the sailor, but she has since given up the position for another and we have been without one since. We are hoping that her daughter will some day fill it if another is not found before then. Thankfully, we have a Guardian, so we are not entirely at a loss.”
They climbed the stairs and Netaya continued to talk. “There are twenty steps. Any significance to that number has since been forgotten.”
When they reached the top of the steps, they saw the large statue perched over the entrance into the palace itself. It was another large flaming bird. This one had its wings spread wide, its head thrown back. Its beak was open as if to scream a challenge or warning. Netaya and her fellow Home Guard bowed briefly before entering the palace doors.
“That one was Kanehjer Sherakasei, representation of both Her Revered Majesty and the Heir,” she explained.”
Inside, the palace was sparsely decorated. The walls were carved and painted. The main foyer contained a large white statue of a woman with long, loose hair and a bird perched on her arm. She wore a loose robe belted at the waist the left her arms bare. Around the base of the statue, scented candles burned, leaving a pleasant aroma.
“The spirit of Nomaie Herself,” Netaya said reverently. “Only the senshi know what she truly looks like, and none of them are saying anything on how accurate the carving is. Legend says that she came to the artist in a dream. No one knows for sure as it’s older than the palace itself. Her Revered Majesty’s Audience Chamber is this way,” she said leading them off to the left and towards the back of the palace. The other members of their escort peeled away once they reached the massive double doors. The doors swung open as they approached.
The room itself wasn’t very large. The floor was made of deep red marble. The walls were carved with the constellations that could be seen from the surface. At the back of the room was a throne that was made out of a clear red crystalline material. Presently, it was unoccupied. Beside it was a smaller, clear topaz-colored throne. There was a tall, thin man sitting in it. He rose as they approached.
“My apologies, but her Majesty was called away to an emergency council of monarchs,” he said in a soft, deep voice. His clothing was similar to those that Jason wore, but in a very dark blue silk. His black hair was cut short and his eyes were emerald green. He smiled warmly at them. “Guardians, welcome back to Nomaie. You and your friends are more than welcome here.”
StarSinger bowed. “Thank you, Honored Consort. When can we expect Her Revered Majesty to return?”
He sighed and shrugged. “Who can say? The last emergency council meeting lasted days. I don’t even know what the crisis is, only that Her Revered Majesty of Kinshei called it.”
All eyes turned to StarLove. “That’s your world, isn’t it?” Harper asked her.
She nodded. “Yes. Mother isn’t usually easy to upset, so whatever it is, it’s important.”
“Your mother is a queen?” Dylan asked incredulously.
“Is that a problem?” she asked, frowning.
“No, but you could have mentioned that before now.”
“It wasn’t important for you to know,” she said shrugging. “Besides that, I’m here as StarLove, not as Princess of Kinshei.”
“So, two new senshi,” the man said. “Might I ask who all of you are? Your names were all passed on to Her Revered Majesty, but not to myself.”
After introductions were made, he nodded. “Vedra, Terazed, you will undoubtedly be wandering around in your civilian clothing for most of your stay. In your rooms are pins that will identify you as senshi. Please wear them for now. I don’t want you to be mistreated.”
“What about the rest of us?” Dylan asked him.
“There are also pins denoting you as honored guests in your rooms.” He smiled. “The women here tend to treat strangers coldly, men even more so, so watch your step around them.”
“And the men?”
“You’ll likely find them to be more tolerant of strangers, just be careful if they start acting a little too friendly. Well, in the meantime, it would be best to show you to your rooms. I do hope that StarFire and Nomaie Kamen return in time for dinner. You are, of course, free to roam around until then.”
“When will that be?” Harper asked.
“When dinner is ready, we will find you,” he said with a knowing smile. “The servants here are quite good at that by now.”
“That’s somewhat disturbing,” Terazed told him. “People being able to find us at will?”
“One becomes used to it after a while. They won’t intrude on your privacy unless it’s an emergency. They knock first, though.” He winked.
“Good to know,” Vedra said slowly.
“Before we go, might we ask your name?” Terazed asked him.
“Yes, of course. How rude of me. My name is Akatsuki Yoake Chuuseki, Consort to Her Revered Majesty.” He clapped his hands and a pair of servants entered the Audience Chamber. “They’ll show you the way to your rooms now.”
The servants, both male, bowed and gestured for them to follow.
Once they’d all been shown to their rooms, the two servants left them to their own devices. The crew of the Andromeda gathered in Dylan’s room at Trance’s insistence.
“So what’s the big deal, Trance?” Beka asked, fiddling with her pin.
“The Lambent Kith don’t really know much about the people and places outside of the Tri-Galaxies, but the name Yoake is known to us,” she began slowly.
“How well known?” Dylan asked.
“Not very well, but every so often, stories filter over. The last time any of us heard that name was thousands of years ago.”
“I’m sure you’re going somewhere with this.”
“Because it’s been such a long time, I’m sure things have changed, but based on the stories we’ve heard, we’ve come to the conclusion that the Yoake women are unpredictably violent, vicious, and not good to mess with.”
“What about the men?” Rhade asked. “He didn’t seem so bad.”
“He’s not a Yoake by blood. He gave his name as Akatsuki Yoake, meaning he was born to eh Akatsuki family. Most men aren’t allowed to take the names of the women they pair with, but in this case he’s actually married to the Queen, so he’s allowed.”
“So this Queen can’t be trusted?” Dylan asked.
Trance shook her head. “I’m saying that she’s dangerous and unpredictable. We should watch our step even more so around her.”
The servants found them there deep in conversation. “My apologies,” the taller of the two said. “But dinner is ready. The Guardians have already descended. We’ve been sent to tell you that there is appropriate clothing in your closets.”
“Please put them on,” the shorter man said. “We will wait at the top of the staircase for you. When you are ready, we will take you down to the dinning hall.”
Examinations of the closets in their rooms revealed, for the men, clothing like that worn by Jason in light brown for Dylan, khaki for Rhade, and mocha for Harper. For the women, there were sleeveless tunics with v-cut necks, and loose leggings. Beka’s were a light blue-grey and Trance’s were golden yellow. Dressed, they met the servants and went down to dinner.

Chapter 15 -

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