Tenchi Muyo is the property of AIC and Pioneer.

Unfortunately, this will be the last installment of “The Last Avatar” for 
quite
some time.  I’ve been moving further and further away from Tenchi Muyo fan
fiction for a variety of reasons.  Partly because I have new priorities in 
my
life, partly because with all the nonsense surrounding the series, the 
character
bashing, it’s just not fun to write Tenchi anymore.  I hope to return to it 
one
day and finish this fic series.  I’m sorry for this delay, but I promised 
myself
that when writing became work and not pleasure, I’d stop.  As it is, this 
will
likely be the last time I update at Gensao’s Archive for a long time.



The Last Avatar
Part 8

The Day I Discovered What It Was Like to Lose




	Kiyone dreamed.
	"Two more are moving in,"  Chase told her from the right seat.  "And it
looks like they're too late.  The Danitan frigate is ready to fire."
	She bit her lip.  "Are the transports out of the way?"
	He nodded at her.  "Time to go home."
	"Home," she whispered.  She reached out and took his hand.  "It'll be nice
to have some time off."
	He returned her smile and nodded.  "We'd better get out of here.  Once
that frigate launches her torpedoes, it's going to get hairy around here."
	"Right."  She checked her board and cursed.  "Shit.  Looks like another HD
servo has failed."
	"You go ahead and check it out," Chase told her, typing away at his panel.
"I need to get ready for the blast."
	Kiyone unstrapped herself from the pilot's seat and started for the back
of the ship.  She opened one of the panels and looked for the burnt out 
servo.
	"The transports just jumped," she heard Chase's voice call back to her.
"We're the only GP ship left in the area.  The Jurains look *pissed.*"
	"I bet,"  Kiyone called back as she searched.  "This is their biggest
supply depot.  Ah ha!"  she cried, reaching in to get the circuit.
	"Oh, now what are they doing?"  she heard Chase ask himself.  "Mahotsukai,
lower blast curtain."
	She heard a low hum as a protective shield began to lower over the GP
ship's cockpit windows.  Kiyone removed the exposed circuit.  The hum 
stopped.
She heard Chase curse to himself and knock his hand against the window.
	"Shit, wrong one,"  she muttered.  She started to replace it.
	"Mahotsukai,"  Chase began, "Lower..."
	Whiteness.
	Kiyone quickly shut her eyes!  She knew what had just happened.
	The Danitans had just detonated an N2 torpedo against the supply depot.
	The light dimmed again.  She opened her eyes again and breathed a sigh of
relief.
	"Kiyone!"
	She turned.  "Chase!?"  She dropped the repair work and rushed forward.
"Chase!?  What is it?!"
	Chase turned toward her, blinking his eyes furiously.  He was as white as
a sheet.  "I...I can't see,"  he breathed.  "I can't see."
	It was if an iron ball had plunged into Kiyone's stomach.  "Chase," she
began in a haunted whisper.  "Did you look at the blast?"  He didn't reply.
"DID YOU LOOK AT THE BLAST!?"
	He nodded, tears falling from his eyes.
	Red tears.
	"Oh God!" she cried, rushing forward.
	He didn't say anything.  He slumped forward, falling from his seat.  She
caught him.  His face was even paler than it was before.
	"Dear God, no!"  she whimpered.  "Dear God, no!"  She reached out and hit
one of the keys on the pilot's terminal.  "This is GPS Mahotsukai!"  she
declared.  "Medical emergency!  Any ship, please respond!"  She looked down 
at
the face of the man she was holding.  His eyes were turning red.  Blood 
tears
had been replaced by pus.  "Oh, God, Chase!  Hold on!"  she whimpered.  
"Just
hold on!"
	What the hell was happening?!  N2 torpedoes didn't do *this*!  Only...
	She looked up out the window.  The Danitan frigate was moving away.  The
supply depot wasn't there anymore.  It would've taken more than one N2 to
completely destroy it.
	It dawned on her as she remembered what had happened to Jurai.
	Tri-plutonium.
	She looked down again as she heard a sickening rattle.  Chase took one
last breath.
	"No, no, no!"  Kiyone cried.  "Please, hold on!  Please!"  She stroked his
hair and watched as thick clumps of it came away with her fingers.  Tears 
were
running down her face.  "Not like this," she whimpered.  "Not like this!"
	She watched as one of her tears hit his chest.
	A red tear...
	Her hand traveled up to her head and touched her hair.  Several teal hairs
fell from her head.  Her vision was beginning to dim.
	She screamed.

	"Kiyone!  Are you okay?!"
	Kiyone blinked up at Mihoshi.  The stars were still out, and she could
hear crickets chirping not far away.  Mihoshi was standing over her, 
pointing a
small penlight down at her, a worried expression on her face.
	"Yeah,"  Kiyone said, sitting up and rising to her feet.  "I'm fine."
	"Are you sure?  Would you like to talk about it?"
	Kiyone took a moment to get her bearings and started for the small stream
they had decided to camp near.
	"You know, they say you should talk about your nightmares,"  Mihoshi was
saying.  "It  might help if..."
	"Shut up, Mihoshi,"  Kiyone said quietly as she made for the stream.
Mihoshi stopped in her tracks.
	Kiyone stopped by the babbling brook and knelt down on the bank.  She
reached down and splashed some water on her face.  She was used to having
nightmares about it.  This was no different.  Everytime, it was a little
different though.  Sometimes it was Shara with her, sometimes it was 
Mihoshi.
Chase didn't die in space...
	She shuddered as she thought of it.  Her skin covered with radiation
lesions, her hair falling out, the ones close to her dying...That was the 
form
the dreams usually took.  She remembered when they began.  At the time, it 
felt
so right to do it, to volunteer for the mission, to bring aid and comfort to
those who had seen hell...
	Looking back on it, she wished that she had left them to die alone.  God
help her, she wished she had never had to see it.  To see men, women, and
children bleeding from the cancerous lesions on their skin, pus dripping 
from
their eyes...
	She shut her eyes.  The images of Jurai just after the bombing had haunted
her ever since.
	She splashed some more cold water in her eyes.  According to Azaka, it
wasn't far now.

	On board the GP assault shuttle, Lieutenant Danyana'tal smiled and
deferred to her GP "counterpart."
	"Take it away, Lieutenant," she told her.
	The GP officer switched on a holodisplay.  Twenty GP SWAT troops watched
as a crude map of the target planet came up.  "The targets are here," she
informed them.  "We've located the wreckage of their ship and can assume 
they
are nearby.  These women are GP trained which means they know what you know.
Average running speed for an uninjured Llewecian and Carissian woman over 
rough
terrain is four kilometers per hour, placing them somewhere in *this* 
circle."
A red circle appeared on the map, surrounding the point where their scanners 
had
placed the crashed GP ship.
	"Your orders are clear,"  Danyana'tal told them.  "You find them...you
kill them."
	"Tokimi's will be done!"  the GP troops affirmed.
	Danyana'tal grinned.  "We land in ten minutes."

	"It shouldn't be far now,"  Azaka told them.
	"How do you know?"  Kiyone asked, climbing up onto the rock outcropping to
stand next to him.
	"We're near the Misty Mountains," he told her, pointing out at the nearby
mountain range.  "Your ship didn't disappear behind them when I watched it 
go
down, so it must be between here and there."
	Kiyone nodded.  "How long is this mountain range?"
	"It stretches almost two hundred miles, north to south.  We've never
traveled beyond them."
	"Why not?"  she asked.
	"No interest," Azaka replied with a smile.
	"We do, however, know the area right up to them well,"  Kamidake broke in.
	"We'd probably make better time if we split up and search,"  Mihoshi
declared.
	"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Kiyone argued.  "You and I don't know
the area."
	"Yeah, but Kamidake does,"  the blonde told her.  "And you and I have our
PFA's to keep track of one another."
	Kiyone bit her lip and looked down at the landscape before her.  Most of
it was forest with a few rocky plateaus, foothills of the mountain range,
breaking it up.  "What do you think?"  she asked Azaka.
	The bearded man shrugged.  "I don't see the harm if you can communicate.
There isn't anything out there particularly formidable."
	Kiyone sighed and nodded.  "Okay.  I guess we split up, then."  Mihoshi
smiled.  "But,"  Kiyone continued, "We pair up."
	The blonde GP nodded.  "Kamidake," she called.  "Wanna be my partner?"
	Kiyone smiled at her friend and turned to the remaining two Jurains.
	"I'll guide you, Captain,"  Azaka told her.
	"What about you, Amara?"  Kiyone asked.
	The brunette smiled.  "I wouldn't want to interrupt."
	Kiyone blinked.  Azaka laughed boisterously.  "Don't worry about Amara.
She can take care of herself."
	"Okay," she said.  "Azaka and I will head north.  Mihoshi and Kamidake
south.  Amara, you right up the middle.  Sound good?"  They all nodded.  
"Okay,
keep in touch as best you can."
	With that, Mihoshi and Kamidake started down the ridge in one direction,
Kiyone and Azaka another.  Amara looked down at the forest for a moment 
before
hopping nimbly down, outcropping by outcropping, to the ground below.

	Mihoshi whistled as she walked, using a long stick she found as a cane.
Kamidake smiled at her back.  It was like she were doing nothing more 
stressful
than walking in a park.
	"So how long have you and Captain Makibi known each other?"  he asked her,
trying to make conversation.
	"Oh, for *years*!  Since the Academy."  She climbed up on top of a fallen
tree and looked around from her new perch.
	Kamidake smiled up at her.  "It's good to work with friends, ne?"
	"How long have you known Azaka and Amara?"
	"We met during the war,"  he told her.  "Before that, Azaka was on Juraia,
I was on Tessus, and Amara was on Todayne."
	Mihoshi blinked.  "Juraia?"
	"Jurai's largest colony,"  Kamidake supplied.
	"You mean commonwealth,"  Mihoshi told him.
	Kamidake muttered under his breath.  Mihoshi could just barely make it
out.  "So they're a commonwealth now..."
	"And why would Azaka be on Tessus?"  she asked.  "Tessus belongs to
Danitan."
	"*Danitan?!"  Kamidake cried.  "That primitive amazon planet?!  Tessus has
been a Jurain protectorate for more than twelve thousand years!"
	"Where have you been, Kamidake?"  Mihoshi laughed playfully.  "Jurai ceded
Tessus to Danitan two thousand years ago."
	Kamidake just blinked in puzzlement.  "Blessed White Tree," he whispered.
"What has become of the Empire?"
	Mihoshi blinked down at him from the tree.  "Kamidake, exactly how long
have you been away from Jurai?"
	He looked up and smiled.  "Too long, it seems," he told her.  "Find
anything?"
	"Not yet,"  Mihoshi told him, looking around from her perch.  Suddenly,
she paused.  "Kamidake, do you have any binoculars or anything on you?!"
	"Um...yes, hold on."
	"Hurry!"
	Kamidake reached into his pack and produced an old pair of binoculars.
Mihoshi leaned down and quickly took them from him, putting them to her own 
eyes
and scanning the sky.
	"What do you see?"  he asked.
	Mihoshi's excitement was obvious.  "A GP shuttle!"  she exclaimed
breathlessly.  She squinted and tried to read the registry.  "SCC-
107....GPS...."  She grinned.  "It's from the Gavin Stolykios!"
	"Your mother ship?"  Kamidake asked.
	"Yes!"  With that, Mihoshi hopped down on to the other side of the fallen
tree and began to run in the direction of the shuttle.
	"Mihoshi!  Wait!"  Kamidake cried after her, hopping nimbly up onto the
log.  He jumped down again and tripped, landing on his face.  When he looked 
up,
Mihoshi had already run into the woods and out of sight...

	"You're awfully quiet, Captain,"  Azaka brought up.  "Is something wrong?"
	"Wrong?"  Kiyone asked with a tired smile.  "It's not like I'm trapped on
an alien world after losing my ship and my entire squadron to a traitorous
Danitan and an incompetent CO."  She shook her head and continued to walk.
	"I see.  You lost friends up there, didn't you?"
	She stopped in her tracks, but wouldn't turn.  The two had been walking
for an hour now with very little conversation.
	"I lost friends up there," she admitted quietly.
	"I understand it can't be easy," he told her.
	"Do you?"  she asked quietly.  She turned to him.  "Do you *really*?"  she
asked in a whisper.  "Do you know what it's like to look some young GP 
Detective
Second in the eye, smile, and tell him that if he stays calm, keeps his 
head,
and follows orders, he'll be okay?  That if he...trusts me...he'll come out
okay?"
	Azaka looked her right in the eyes.  "Yes, I do," he told her.  "I've sent
men, people I know, to their deaths.  I sent them there *knowing* most of 
them
would die."  Kiyone said nothing.  "It doesn't get easier, but you can't 
blame
yourself for it."
	"Yes I can," she whispered.  She turned and continued through the forest.
Azaka followed.
	"It's tough being placed in a position of responsibility," he told her
casually.  "Someone you trust and who trusts you says, 'here, take command 
of
these forty men and take that hill.'"  He chuckled.  "They don't tell you 
that
on that hill are about two hundred enemy troops and enough artillery to 
shoot
down Tsunami herself.  You don't even think about it.  You're thinking of 
the
goal.  The glory."
	"I did *NOT* think about the *glory*!"  Kiyone cried angrily, whirling
around on him.
	Azaka smiled.  "Then you have no reason whatsoever to feel guilty...do
you?"
	She turned and started marching again.  "How the hell does some Jurain
gropo get to be so damn philosophical?"  she bit out.
	"Well," he said quietly, "In my day, there was more to soldiering than
simply learning to obey orders."
	"Like metaphysics?"  Kiyone asked with a touch of bitterness.
	"Like the art of command,"  Azaka corrected.  "There's so much more to it
than relaying commands from someone else.  Or following regulations."
	"Heh,"  Kiyone replied.
	"I think you must be a good leader."
	She stopped again and turned.  "My entire command has been wiped out!"
	"So?"  he asked.  "You feel for them.  You cried for them.  Last night, I
heard you.  In your sleep."  Kiyone tensed.  "A leader...a *real* 
leader...can
see the men in their command as *people*...as men with families, children,
lives...but still have the courage and strength of their convictions...to
*order* them to die."
	Kiyone turned and continued to walk.  They were coming up on some rough
terrain, steep, rocky hills.  They were leaving the forest behind.  She 
sighed.
	"It could be anywhere for two hundred miles," she complained.
	"It's nearby,"  Azaka told her.  "Relatively speaking, of course."
	"Relative to what?" Kiyone asked with a raised eyebrow.
	Azaka smiled.  "Jurai."
	This actually brought a smile to Kiyone's face.  "Okay, let's get to it."

	It took *seconds* for the GP assault shuttle to land, deposit the SWAT
team, and lift off again from the small clearing they had found.  From the
rising shuttle's cockpit, Danyana'tal watched as the GP Lieutenant and her
troops split up into three-man teams and disappeared into the forest.
	She smiled.  She had to hand it to the GP.  They were professionals if
nothing else.
	She tensed suddenly.
	She felt cold.
	"Put us down again,"  she ordered the GP pilot.
	The pilot didn't question her.  He lowered the shuttle again and waited
for his mistress to give her new orders.
	Danyana'tal pulled her black-hilted lightsword from her belt as she gave
orders.  "Wait until I'm clear, then dust off again.  Proceed to the 
rendevous
point as ordered."
	"Yes, Mistress."
	Danyana'tal went to the back of the shuttle and opened the door.  The
ground was only a few feet away.  She hopped down and rolled to her feet, 
her
lightsword up, but not ignited.  She could still feel it.
	That coldness.  There was something here.
	She started into the woods.

	Kamidake stopped suddenly as he felt it.
	A chill.
	"Tsunami,"  he whispered, his eyes going wide.  He reached into his
knapsack and took out two wooden bracelets inscribed with Jurain characters.
The wood was old and dark.  He looked down at them for a moment before 
latching
them around either of his wrists.
	He had to find Detective Mihoshi.
	Fast.

	Mihoshi hopped over a fallen tree and waved excitedly, calling out to the
three GP troops she had found.  "Hey!!  Over here!"  She laughed in glee as 
they
saw her.  She continued to wave.  They ran up to her.
	"I can't believe it!"  Mihoshi cried.  "You all made it!  That's
wonder..."  She broke off as she saw the GP Lieutenant's face.  "OH MY GOD!"
she cried.  "YOU MADE IT!!"  She rushed forward and hugged the Lieutenant.  
"Oh,
Gosh!  I have to tell Kiyone!  She'll be thrilled!"  She turned and lifted 
her
PFA watch to her lips.  "Kiyone!  Kiyone!  Guess what?!  I..."
	Her excitement ended as the Lieutenant struck her in the back of the head
with the butt of her blaster pistol.  Mihoshi hit the ground, out like a 
light.
	"Mihoshi?"  Kiyone's voice asked from the PFA.  "Mihoshi?  Come in.
Mihoshi?"
	One of the GP troops lowered his weapon at Mihoshi's head, but the
Lieutenant stopped him.
	"We'll take her with us,"  she said quietly.

	"Mihoshi?  Come in.  Mihoshi?"
	Kiyone saw Azaka tense suddenly.
	"Something wrong?"  she asked.
	"Maybe," he muttered.  His eyes narrowed, and he pointed up at a ridge a
quarter mile away.  "Look over there."
	She looked up and squinted.  She pulled out a pair of mini-binoculars and
tried again.  Three figures were staring down at them from that ridge with
binoculars of their own.
	"Those are GP SWAT troops," she muttered.  "Maybe Mihoshi was right."
	"GP?"  Azaka asked, unnaturally suspicious all of a sudden.
	"Well, they have the uniforms and they're carrying GP meson rifles."
	"Are you *certain*?"  he asked.
	Suddenly, a green meson bolt struck a boulder they were standing next to.
The two quickly ducked behind it as another meson bolt struck it.
	"Pretty sure,"  Kiyone grumbled, pulling her blaster.  She poked her head
out and shouted up at them.  "I'm GP!  Hold your god damn fire!"
	This time, it wasn't a green meson bolt that hit the boulder, but a blue
energy blast that came within an inch of striking her head.  Kiyone yelped 
and
jumped back behind the large rock.
	"Great," she muttered.  "They have a ROTS gun up there too."  She turned
and fired a few shots at them before quickly ducking back again.  More green 
and
blue shots rained down on them.
	Their position was tenuous at best.  The SWAT troops had the high ground
and better weapons.  Kiyone and Azaka had her blaster and a few boulders to 
hide
behind, and Kiyone only had one magazine for her blaster.  That meant twelve
shots left.
	"Any ideas, Mr. Philosophy?"  Kiyone asked.
	"One possibility."
	Kiyone fired another shot back at the SWAT troops.  "Oh?"
	"We are unable to approach them."
	"Brilliant deduction, Washu,"  Kiyone muttered.
	"So the goal should be to make them come to us."  Before Kiyone could
utter a protest, Azaka walked out from behind the boulder with his hands up.
	"Azaka!"  Kiyone cried.
	"We give up!"  Azaka shouted up at the ridge.  "We surrender!"
	A green meson bolt shot out from the ridge and struck Azaka right in the
face!
	His hands went to his face as he screamed.
	"AZAKA!"
	He ducked back behind the boulder.  Kiyone took him by the shoulders and
rested him against the side of the rock.  She searched through his knapsack 
for
something she could use as a bandage, muttering curses under her breath.  
When
she turned back with a white cloth, she blinked in astonishment.
	Azaka was smiling at her, not a mark on him.
	"Wha...How...I SAW YOU GET SHOT!"
	"And so did they," he told her.  She just looked at him in astonishment.
"It's a kind of magic," he elaborated, grinning.
	"Great...Now what?"
	Azaka reached into his cloak and removed a wooden sword hilt, a hilt very
similar to Mayuka's Tenchi ken.
	"Now we wait for them to come finish us off."

	Amara shivered.  It was close.  She looked from side to side warily.  She
continued on and walked into a clearing in the forest.  Her head snapped 
around
as she saw something approaching from the tree line.
	Three men in uniforms similar to Kiyone and Mihoshi's stood there, their
rifles pointing at her.
	"Oh, please,"  Amara begged.  "Be gentle."  She reached into her robes and
pulled out a decorative piece of engraved wood about seven inches long.
	She smiled.
	"I haven't done this in awhile."
	Her hand shot out, and a blue shaft of light leapt from the stick,
striking one of the SWAT troops through the skull almost ten meters away!  
The
trooper gurgled and fell to the ground.  The shaft of light went limp and
shortened to about five meters.
	The remaining two troops looked at each other for a moment.  Amara cracked
the light whip twice over their heads.
	"Leave this place," she ordered them.  "Or Tsunami's punishment will
follow you straight to Hell!"
	The troopers raised their rifles and fired!
	Amara leapt into the air and lashed out with the whip.  The energy beam
coiled around one of the GP's necks.  With a sharp tug, the light whip
constricted, cutting into the man's neck until the head fell to the ground.
Amara landed nimbly on the other side and turned quickly.
	The trooper fired twice and missed.  Amara lashed out with her whip again,
lashing it around the trunk of a nearby tree.  With another sharp pull, the 
whip
cut through the tree.  With a loud creak, it fell.  The trooper screamed and
dropped his gun as the tree fell with a crash on top of him.
	The light whip vanished back into Amara's robe.  She sighed and approached
the bodies.  Looking down, she saw that each of the men had a dark outline 
in
the shape of a leaf on their faces.
	Amara rested against the fallen tree and took a deep breath.
	"'And the seed that was planted grew," she whispered, "And the light that
had extinguished its mother before and brought peace...was unable to stand
against the daughter...'"
	She closed her eyes and said a silent prayer before rushing off to find
the others.

	"Mihoshi!"  Kamidake shouted out.  "Mihoshi!  Where are you?!"
	"Freeze!"
	Kamidake tensed, but didn't move.
	"Don't move," he heard the voice elaborate.  "Hands up and behind your
head."  Kamidake smiled and obeyed.  "Turn around slowly."
	He turned and found three GP troops with rifles standing ten feet away.
	"Frisk him," one of them ordered.
	One of the GP's lowered his rifle and patted Kamidake down, searching for
weapons.  Content that there were none, he stepped back.
	"Who are you?"
	"Just a local fisherman,"  Kamidake told him.
	The GP held up a hand-held holoprojector and turned it on.  Copies of
Kiyone and Mihoshi's I.D.'s came up.
	"Have you seen these women?"
	"Of course," he told them.
	"Where?"
	He smiled.  "That's a secret."
	One of the GP struck him in the stomach with the butt of his rifle.
Kamidake grimaced and fell to one knee.  The GP stood over him.  "Where?"
	Kamidake smiled.  "Closer than you think."  He moved his hands, still
behind his head, closer together until the two wooden bracelets touched...
	A shaft of red light seven feet long appeared in his hands behind his
head.  The GP in front of him only had time to blink before Kamidake brought 
the
lightlance around and cut into his chest.  The GP fell without a sound.
	The other two brought up their weapons, but Kamidake was too fast.  He
lashed out with his foot and struck the rifle of the GP to his right and 
swung
the lance around to the other, taking off his head.  He turned to the 
disarmed
GP and stabbed outward, running three feet of the lance through the man's 
skull.
	With a grimace, Kamidake pulled the lance out.  The GP fell to the ground.
	Kamidake looked down at the lance and the glowing bracelets that powered
them.  He touched the bracelets together again, and the red lance 
disappeared.
	He looked down at the face of one of the GP and scowled.  The outline of a
black leaf appeared on his face.
	"Bloody Hell," he whispered.

	The GP sergeant lifted his rifle and dashed out from around the corner!
He turned and began to fire around the side of the boulder where he knew 
they
were hiding.
	The smoke cleared.  Nothing.
	"They were right here," a GP trooper holding a ROTS gun told them.
	"Well they're not now," the last trooper told him.
	The sergeant thought for a moment before muttering, "Awww....SHIT!"
	A snap-hiss sounded out behind them.  The GP with the ROTS gun turned just
as Azaka's green lightsword cut into his chest.  He fell without a sound.
Before the GP's body had even hit the ground, Azaka had turned and stabbed 
the
GP sergeant through the chest.  Behind him, the last GP raised his rifle.
	"Hey!"  Kiyone shouted from behind him.  The SWAT troop turned just in
time to have Kiyone's green meson bolt slam into his chest, and Azaka, 
forgotten
for that precious second, cut through his right shoulder and down until his
sword exited the man's left hip.  The two halves of the man hit the ground.
	Kiyone didn't waste time.  She knelt down and picked up one of the meson
rifles, checking the charge and the action.  She undid the clasps on the
sergeant's kevlar vest and equipment pack and began rummaging through it.
Inside she found power packs for her blaster, food, rope, a couple of 
flash-bang
grenades, a canteen, and a few other goodies that might prove useful.  She 
put
the vest and pack on, connecting the clasps and adjusting it until it was
comfortable.
	Azaka watched as she did this silently.  She slung the meson rifle over
her shoulder and picked up the other one.  She checked the action, looked 
up,
and tossed it to him.  Azaka caught it and arched an eyebrow.
	"No thanks," he told her.  "I'm not fond of projectile weapons.  Clumsy,
random things."
	Kiyone was about to retort when she remembered how easily he had handled
two GP SWAT officers.  If he said he wasn't going to use one, it was 
probably
because he honestly didn't need to.  She just nodded and went to the last 
body.
She picked up the ROTS gun and checked it over for damage.  "ROTS" stood for
"Reach Out and Touch Someone."  It was the nickname GP SWAT snipers had 
given to
the XS-231 sniper rifle.  It was longer than the meson rifle and had a 
better
range.
	The long-scope didn't appear broken.  Both the IR and night-vision
functions seemed to work.  She reached into the GP's equipment pack and 
found an
extra pack of energy cartridges.  She worked the action on the rifle and
reloaded it.
	One last thing before leaving.  She found the sergeant's body again and
removed his PFA from his wrist.  She checked the frequency it was working on 
and
adjusted her own to match.  She opened the frequency and listened.
	Nothing.
	"Let's go find the others," she said quickly, rising to her feet.  She
switched frequencies on her PFA.  "Mihoshi?  Where are you?  Mihoshi?"
	The voice that answered her was not Mihoshi's.
	"Kiyone, I have your right seat," it said.  Kiyone went pale.  "There's a
creek two kilometers north-west of you, near a ridge.  I want you there in
twenty minutes, or I'll put a meson bolt through her head.  Out."
	Kiyone stood there in utter shock, her mouth hanging open.
	"Captain Makibi?"  Azaka asked tentatively.
	Kiyone shook her head and asked a single, one-word question.
	"Shara?"

	Danyana'tal raised the light sword hilt as she stopped suddenly.  It was
here.
	A shaft of red light leapt from the hilt and hummed as she readied herself
for an attack.
	"Come out!"  she yelled.
	A brown-haired woman in a dark blue robe stepped out from behind a tree,
her hands clasped in front of her.  Danyana'tal smiled.
	"Just a blue-robe?"  she asked.  "For a moment, I was sure this was
serious."
	Amara looked at her with pity.  "It's not too late for you," she told the
Danitan.  "I can help you back.  If you let me."
	Danyana'tal's grin widened.  "No, I don't think so, sapling."  She raised
the sword.
	Amara sighed and pulled the pommel of her lightwhip from her robes.  "Then
this is the way it must be."

	Kiyone huffed as she ran through the forest in the direction Shara had
given her.  Running alongside her, Azaka wasn't even breathing hard.
	"This woman,"  Azaka asked, "She's a friend of yours?"
	"A good friend,"  Kiyone replied quickly.  "I don't understand what's
going on here at all.  Why would Shara hold Mihoshi hostage?"
	"I don't believe she has a choice,"  Azaka told her.
	Kiyone stopped and turned to him.  "Talk," she ordered.
	Azaka turned to her.  "The markings on those men we killed, the ones on
their faces.  I've seen them before."  Kiyone waited for him to continue.  
"It's
a form of...not so much mind control as spirit control.  They don't have a
choice in what they're doing."
	"I've never heard of anything like that," she told him.  "Where did the
Danitans pick up that little trick?"
	"I've never heard of the Danitans using it,"  Azaka replied.  "It's a
Tokimian method."
	"Tokimian?"  Kiyone asked.  "Never heard of them."
	"I have a feeling you will soon," he told her.  "But we should hurry.  We
don't know how much time Mihoshi has left."
	The two continued to run.

	Mihoshi woke up on her knees, her hands cuffed behind her back.  She
moaned at the pain in her head.  She felt someone behind her pull her hair.
	"Ow!"
	"Quiet!"  a familiar voice hissed.
	Mihoshi blinked, still not sure what had happened.  "Shara?"
	She looked up and found the orange-haired GP looking down at her.  "Just
stay quiet."
	Mihoshi looked to her right and found a GP SWAT troop standing nearby.
Another one stood to her left, their rifles were held up and ready.
	"Shara, why are you doing this?  What's going on?"
	"I said quiet!"  Shara hissed again.
	Mihoshi obeyed and looked around.  There was a river nearby.  The four of
them were standing near a ridge almost two hundred meters away.	She watched 
as
Shara put her PFA to her lips.  "Kiyone?"  she said.  "Twenty minutes are 
up.
Where are you?"
	There was a blue flash to her right, and one of the SWAT troops fell with
a gag.  Another flash and the other fell, squeezing the trigger on his meson
rifle reflexively and filling the sky with fire.  Shara didn't react.
	"There you are,"  she said into the PFA, looking up at the ridge.
	"Shara, I don't know what's going on..."  she heard Kiyone through the
PFA...

	"But it's over," Kiyone finished, lying in the prone firing position,
looking at her friend through the scope of the ROTS gun two hundred meters 
away.
She could see Shara standing behind Mihoshi, her blaster at the blonde's 
head.
	"I'm afraid it's not over yet, Aunty,"  Shara told her, using the nickname
her squadron mates had given her during the war.  "You have two options.
Surrender....or kill me.  If you don't choose one or the other, Mihoshi 
dies."
	"What the fuck are you talking about, Shara?"  Kiyone asked bitterly.
"Let Mihoshi go, and we all walk away!"
	Shara's voice faltered.  "I...I can't do that, Kiyone."

	Mihoshi felt the gun pressed against her head begin to shake slightly.  "I
can't," Shara repeated in a whisper.  "It won't let me.  It won't..."

	Kiyone turned to Azaka.  "This spirit control stuff you mentioned," she
said, "Can it be cured...or corrected...or *something*?"
	Azaka took a breath.  "Amara might be able to do something for her, but we
don't know where she is."
	"Kiyone!"  Shara called out.  Kiyone looked back through the scope.  The
crosshairs were settled on Shara's head.  "This isn't a fucking joke, 
Aunty!"
	Kiyone took a breath.  "What do you want me to do?"
	"I..."  Shara trailed off.

	The shaking was getting worse now.  Mihoshi winced as the barrel of the
pistol kept striking the side of her head as Shara struggled internally.
	"I tried, Kiyone,"  Shara told her.  "I tried to fight it...I tried so
hard to fight it..."
	"It's okay, Shara, just let Mihoshi go and we'll help you."
	"You don't understand,"  Shara told her.  Mihoshi looked up and saw a
black outline of a leaf on Shara's cheek begin to form.  "It won't let me
surrender.  And if you come down here...It'll make me kill you.  It's 
hurting
me, Kiyone.  It hurts so much..."
	Kiyone was silent for a moment.  "Shara..."
	"You have to, Aunty,"  Shara said, a lone tear running down her cheek.  "I
won't be able to fight it much longer, and when it retakes control of me,
Mihoshi is going to die."
	Kiyone said nothing.
	"Do it, Kiyone,"  Shara whispered.

	Kiyone grit her teeth.  She couldn't.  She just couldn't.  She and Shara
spent the war together, fought who knows how many battles together, went 
bar-
hopping together, laughed and cried together.  She had never had a closer 
friend
except for Mihoshi.
	She couldn't do what she was asking of her.
	"Do it, Kiyone,"  Shara repeated.
	Kiyone said nothing.
	"God damn you, Kiyone!"  Shara cried through the PFA.  "God damn you!"
She heard Shara weeping now.  She whispered, "You know I'd do it for 
*you*..."
	Kiyone took a breath...
	And slowly squeezed the trigger.

	Mihoshi flinched as a flash of blue light streaked over her head and
struck Shara in the eye.  The orange-haired GP flew backwards, landing on 
the
bank of the river, her hand in the water.  Blood from the gunshot wound 
began to
flow into the river, turning it red.
	Mihoshi took a few deep breaths and looked up at the ridge.

	Kiyone refused to open her eyes.  She refused to release the trigger.  She
refused to think about what she had just done.
	But there was no ignoring it.
	A lump formed in her throat, her heart plummeted into her stomach.  She
felt like she was going to be ill.
	She cried, tears running down her face, some of them staining the eyepiece
of the target scope.
	She refused to move.
	What started as a soft sob in her throat grew, and continued to grow until
she was screaming, screaming at herself, screaming at Shara, at the 
Danitans, at
the universe, at everything.  She continued to scream until she ran out of
breath and collapsed onto the rock floor of the ridge, crying.
	<How many more?>  she asked herself.  <How many more friends am I going to
have to watch die?>
	She felt someone place a hand on her shoulder, Azaka, but she didn't care.
She was taking a time out, dammit, and the world could wait until *she* was
ready to acknowledge it again.
	<Until then, let it burn,> she thought.
	<Let the whole goddamn galaxy burn...>

	"Mihoshi!"
	"Kamidake!"  the GP cried as she climbed to her feet.  "Get me out of
this!"
	The Jurain trotted up to her from out of the forest.  He saw Mihoshi's
predicament and took a step back.  "Hold your hands away from you and spread
out," he ordered.
	Mihoshi obeyed, holding her cuffed hands as far from her back as she
could.
	She heard a snap-hiss and a dull hum.  She heard a soft crack, and
suddenly the chain between the cuffs was cut.  She turned and saw a red
lightlance in Kamidake's hands.
	"Neat," she commented.  She bent down and picked up the PFA Shara had
dropped when she was shot.  "Kiyone?  Kiyone are you there?  Are you okay?
Kiyone?"
	"Detective, this is Azaka,"  she heard over the PFA.  "Captain Makibi
is...preoccupied at the moment.  Are you okay?"
	Mihoshi took a breath.  "Yeah.  Kamidake's here now.  What's going on?"
	"It's too much to explain like this," the Jurain told her.  "Right now, we
have to regroup."
	"Right!"  Mihoshi declared, balling her fist.
	Kamidake took a look around.  "Has anyone seen Amara?"

	Danyana'tal screamed and launched another flurry of thrusts at Amara.
	Amara, for her part, hadn't even activated her whip yet.  She smiled wanly
and moved from side to side, almost effortlessly dodging Danyana'tal's 
attacks.
	The Danitan screamed a final time and spun around in a backhand slash
towards the priestess' knees.
	Amara leapt back and flipped, planting her hand on the ground and pushing
off, launching her into the air.  She flipped again and ended up landing on 
the
branch of a nearby tree.
	Danyana'tal glared up at her, breathing hard.
	"I'll give you a final warning," Amara told her, pointing the pommel of
her whip at her.  "Leave and take your abominations with you!  This is 
Tsunami's
planet!  Your attempts to desecrate it with your filth will be punished by 
her
light!"
	"SHUT UP!"  Danyana'tal screamed and flung her sword up at the priestess,
embedding the blade in the trunk of the tree near Amara's head.
	Amara didn't bat an eye.  "If that's the way you want it," she whispered.
There was a flash of blue light from the pommel she was holding.  A second
later, she was holding a twenty foot long lightwhip.
	Danyana'tal gestured with her hand, and the red lightsword obediently flew
back to her.  She screamed again and leapt forward, slashing through the 
tree
Amara was perched in.  She saw the blue-robed priestess jump and turned,
bringing her sword up just in time for the lightwhip to wrap around the 
blade of
her sword.  She pulled back against Amara, who was gritting her teeth as she
tried to keep hold of the whip.
	Danyana'tal kept a good hold of her sword with one hand, and with the
other, reached back behind her, pulling a blaster pistol.  "Die, little
priestess!"  she hissed, bringing the weapon up.
	Amara responded by releasing the whip.  Danyana'tal, unprepared for this,
fell backward, the pistol going off harmlessly into the air.  She landed on 
her
back and saw the pommel of the whip fly back to Amara's hand.
	The priestess cracked the whip at Danyana'tal's hand, sending the
lightsword flying.  She started marching toward her.
	Danyana'tal growled.  "Kingslayer."  She disappeared in a flash of purple
light.
	Amara stood there a moment longer before deactivating her whip.

	Danyana'tal appeared on the Kingslayer's bridge and screamed at the top of
her lungs in rage.  To be beaten is one thing.  Fine.  Danitans have been
defeated before.  But to be beaten by...by....
	"A FUCKING PRIESTESS!"
	<Danyana'tal, come here,>  she heard his voice in his mind.
	She felt a tremor of fear run through her.  Somehow, the priest had sensed
her defeat and was summoning her for punishment.  She threw a look at the 
sensor
officer, who was looking at her sympathetically.
	"Darkfall," she croaked out.  A bright flash of light, pain, and then she
was there.
	The priest was waiting for her.  "Come with me," he said before turning
and starting towards the back of the bridge.  He called out over his 
shoulder.
"And recall those GP troops.  At once."
	Danyana'tal gulped, then followed.

	Kiyone heard the sound of antigrav engines and looked up.  A GP assault
shuttle was rising out of the tree line.
	She growled  "Son of a bitch," and raised the ROTS gun.  By the time she
got a bead on it, however, the ship was out of range.  She took a breath and
lowered the weapon.  A second later it was up again as someone stepped out 
of
the woods near her.
	Amara stopped and stood still until Kiyone lowered the rifle.  "Where've
you been?"  Kiyone asked.
	"Walking through the woods," Amara told her.
	Kiyone continued toward the object of her search.
	Shara's body.
	A black outline of a leaf was on her face, her remaining eye open in
shock.  Kiyone crouched down and reached out, closing her wingman's eyelid.
	The others were standing not far away, watching.
	Kiyone squeezed her eyes shut and fought back more tears.  "We...We have
to bury her," she told them.
	"Captain,"  Azaka said softly, "We should concentrate on finding your ship
first, and making sure *they* didn't."
	"We bury her," Kiyone hissed at him.
	Azaka nodded.
	She heard the rustle of robes as Amara approached her and knelt next to
Shara's body.  She removed a canteen from her robes and poured a small bit 
of
water on Shara's forehead, then made the sign of the Tree across her chest.
"Tsunami, merciful," she whispered, "Please guide this wayward child into 
your
divine light and accept her into your grace."
	"Be it so,"  Azaka and Kamidake intoned at the end.
	"Let's get to work,"  Kiyone whispered.

	Danyana'tal stepped cautiously into the priest's inner chambers and looked
on in awe at the mammoth, black tree that stood in the puddle of blood in 
the
center of the room.  Off to one side, a red-haired child was encased up to 
her
chest in a crystal, asleep.
	"We were monitoring your battle on the planet," the priest told her.
	Danyana'tal braced herself and nodded.
	The priest gestured to her, and Danyana'tal felt a shock of electricity
shoot through her mind.  She screamed and fell to the floor.  The priest 
turned
and gestured to a screen on the other side of the room.  A picture appeared, 
an
image taken from the Danitan's mind.  A picture of the priestess she had 
fought.
	"Well, well," the priest intoned.  "*The* Amara Dayne."
	"You know her?"  Danyana'tal asked.  She felt another spike of electricity
through her body and fell again.
	"You know her?"  another voice asked, coming from almost everywhere.
Danyana'tal looked around fearfully.  She recognized *that* voice.
	"Only by reputation,"  the priest replied.  "I remember reading her 'Mercy
In the Next Age,' back when I was still in the seminary.  Optimistic tripe," 
he
commented.  He continued on.  "She *was* the mother superior of the Tsunamic
convent on Todayne."
	"I see," the voice continued.
	"If she's there, there could be others as well," he told her.  He turned
to the tree to see the holographic image of Tokimi floating there.
	"To fight an ancient enemy we require an ancient ally,"  Tokimi told him
with a smile  "We cannot risk Kayzin or Ryoko yet.  Awaken the Chosen."
	The priest took a breath.  "Your Holiness," he began, biting his lip.
"Perhaps we should attempt some other means first.  To revive the Chosen now
would be premature."
	Tokimi smiled.  "Revive them...now."
	"Yes, Your Holiness."

	Kiyone reached down and hung the pair of gold wings on the small grave
marker they had fashioned for Shara.  The others were standing off to the 
side,
giving Kiyone and her friend a few minutes alone.
	The GP pilot smiled and wiped a tear away.  "We sure shook up the galaxy,
didn't we, Shara?"  She laughed as she remembered the time the two of them 
had
stolen a Vice Marshal's shuttle because they had missed their ride back to
Zehran after a *very* raucous shore leave.  Her face fell and turned harsh a
moment later.  "I'm going to find them, Shara," she whispered.  "I'm going 
to
find the ones who did this to you...and then I'm going to cut their hearts 
out.
Do you hear me?" she whispered.  "I'm going to cut their hearts out."
	She stood up and saluted, letting one final tear fall.  Then she turned
and walked away.

	The priest led Danyana'tal into one of the lowest decks of the Darkfall.
"Make no offensive moves," he told her.  "Do not speak.  Do not act.  Do
nothing."
	"Who are the Chosen?"  she asked.
	"Monsters,"  the priest whispered.  "I do have my reservations about this.
Why couldn't you have just killed them?"
	Danyana'tal grit her teeth and said nothing.
	"At this rate we'll all be dead before long..."
	"What's so bad about them?"  she asked.
	He turned to her.  "The Faithful, such as yourself, are dedicated and
powerful warriors.  Imagine what would become of us if you and a few others
renounced Tokimi and fought for Tsunami."
	Danyana'tal's eyes narrowed.  "Are you making an accusation?"
	"No, I'm forming a basis of comparison.  What would happen?"
	Danyana'tal thought for a moment.  "We'd retain our powers.  We'd be able
to fight Her Holiness with the blessings she, herself, gave us."
	"Now imagine it in reverse,"  he told her.
	She took a breath.  "They renounced Tsunami?"
	He turned and continued down the corridor.  Danyana'tal followed and
grabbed his shoulder.
	"Are you telling me that you expect, what?  Jurain Knights to fight for
Her Holiness?!"
	He sighed.  "If only they were Knights," he growled.  "I told you.
They're monsters."
	He opened a sealed door and stepped inside.  She followed and blinked.
The air smelled stale, and the room was dark.  Through the darkness she 
could
see three black, rotting trees, resting in black, soiled earth.
	The priest took a breath and approached, resting a hand on the first tree,
then moving to the next and placing his hand there.  After repeating this
procedure with the third, he stepped back.
	"Now what?"  Danyana'tal asked.
	The priest said nothing.
	*CRACK!*
	The Danitan looked up and saw that the trunk of the first tree had a split
running straight up the front where the priest had placed his hand.
	*CRACK!*
	*CRACK!*
	Black, fog shot from these cracks, filling the room.  Danyana'tal choked
and blinked back tears as the noxious fog stung her eyes.
	The priest held his robed arm over his nose and stood before the trees,
now totally consumed in the fog.  Danyana'tal tried to peer through it, but
failed.
	*DA-ZIIIM!*
	There was a loud, electronic crack in the air as something green shot from
the fog cloud.  Danyana'tal actually took a step back in surprise as a light
whip wrapped itself around the priest's neck!
	The dark priest's hands went to his throat, clawing at the whip and
burning his hands in the process.
	"This one practically reeks of Tsunami," a soft, feminine voice announced
from within the fog bank.  Danyana'tal heard footsteps and reached for her
blaster, but the priest held his hand out and bade her to stop.
	From within the fog cloud stepped the three monsters...
	They wore black robes that reminded Danyana'tal vaguely of the one that
snotty little priestess down on the planet had worn.  One of them held the
pommel of the lightwhip that had the priest trapped.
	One thing Danyana'tal knew...
	They were the most beautiful monsters she had ever seen.  Each woman had
flawless features and seemed to ooze sensuality.  The one with the whip had
green hair, matching the whip's color, that fell down behind her back in a 
long
pony-tail.  The outline of a black leaf was prominent on her cheek.
	The one on the left, opposite of the green-haired one, had short, black
hair that fell down around her ears, but no farther.  She placed a hand on 
her
hip and smiled dangerously.
	The one in the center, the leader by the looks of it, had red hair worn
long and straight down her back, almost to her feet.  Her eyes were purple, 
and
unlike the other two, she didn't smile.
	"Let's teach the little Tsunami-lover what a mistake he's just made," the
dark-haired one said with a smile, stepping forward.  There was a dull 
shimmer
around her arms, which now crackled with the tiny forcefields surrounding 
them.
	Before she could get near him, there was a flash of light, and soon the
overpowering presence of a holographic goddess was standing over him.
	"Sensoko!  Enough!"  Tokimi barked.
	The brunette gasped and fell to her knees.  "Forgive me, Your Holiness!  I
was not aware that he was one of your own!"
	"Pesutoko!  Release him!"
	The green light whip phased out of existence, and the priest fell to the
deck, gasping for breath.
	The redhead stepped forward and kneeled before Tokimi.  "Summoned, we
return to take the battle to the heathens," she intoned.
	Tokimi smiled.  "Welcome home, Shikeiko.  Did you rest well?"
	"I rested well by remembering the promise made to me,"  Shikeiko replied
respectfully.
	"Soon, Child.  Very soon.  First, there's a small problem I need you to
take care of for me."
	"Tokimi's will be done,"  the three proclaimed.
	Danyana'tal swallowed nervously.

	"It's smashed,"  Mihoshi whimpered, climbing down from the crushed tail
section of the Mahotsukai.  "It looks like it hit the ground hard, tumbled a
bunch of times, and smashed into the cliff face."
	"Yeah, looks like,"  Kamidake agreed with a sigh.
	"I think I found the cockpit,"  Azaka called from behind a large boulder
not far away.
	Kiyone was there first.  The nose section of the Mahotsukai was on her
right side.  The GP had to climb up to the top and enter through the port 
hatch.
She dropped down into the control center.  The seats were gone, of course,
having retracted into the escape pod with them right before they had 
ejected.
The rest of the controls were smashed beyond hope, though.
	She began rooting through the wreckage and debris.  Mihoshi dropped down
next to her and sniffled.  "I guess the radio's busted, huh?"
	"Yeah.  Help me look."
	"Look for what?"  Mihoshi asked.
	"Don't ask questions, just look!"
	Mihoshi started searching the floor and blinked when she saw something
shining on the shattered control panel.  "Heh," she laughed, removing the
object.  "I guess my wings fell off during the fight."  Her hand went to her
chest and found her silver RIO's wings still secured to her chest.  "Huh?"
	"Gimme those!"  Kiyone cried, snatching them from her.
	Mihoshi blinked in puzzlement.  She knew the wings couldn't be Kiyone's.
GP pilots wore gold wings.  Radar Intercept Officers and navigators wore 
silver
wings.
	She watched her teal-haired partner inspect the wings and sigh in relief
before putting them in her shirt pocket.  "Something wrong, Kiyone?"
	"No, Mihoshi," she said.  "I was just afraid I had lost someone."  She
turned to the blonde GP and nodded.  "Okay, let's strip her of everything 
useful
we can carry...then we'll torch her."
	Mihoshi nodded.  "Okay, Kiyone."
	Quietly, the two set to work.

	"Zehran's got a nice sky,"  he told her matter of factly.  "Especially at
night.  You can see all the debris in the Corridor at a distance.  Looks 
like
tiny little stars, streaking across the sky."
	Kiyone smiled and shifted around, trying to get comfortable.  Galaxy
Police R and D hadn't designed Tantos thinking that their pilots might want 
to
lie on the dorsal section and stargaze.
	"You did good today, Chase," she told him.  "I don't want to think about
what might have happened if you hadn't have picked up those Aka's hiding in 
that
debris field.  They might have cut us to pieces."
	"Heh.  They get better every day, don't they?"  he asked.
	She nodded, not caring that he couldn't see it from his position next to
her.  "Take a look at what they're faced with.  Now that the Edellians are 
in
the war, it's looking bad for Danitan."  She shifted again, her flight suit
itched.  She reached up and scratched her stomach absently.  "I'm not 
surprised
Carriga'darrin is coming up with new tactics to use.  The Corridor's 
becoming
more and more important.  Before long, they'll get tired of humoring us and 
come
to take Zehran."
	He paused as he thought on this.  "We're not going to win that one," he
commented dryly.
	She shook her head.
	"Heh, maybe it's a good thing.  Maybe it'll make GPHQ think twice before
they stick one squadron in some hole and expect them to fight the war alone.
That's the problem, you know.  We've been kicking ass for so long, we've
forgotten what's it like to lose."
	She nodded again.
	"So what do you think would happen?"  he asked her.  "Once Carriga'darrin
gets tired of playing with us?  Think she'll be a sport and let us go?"
	"Yeah," she said.  "Everyone but me."
	He turned his head to face her.  "I don't know.  She doesn't seem to hate
you.  Far from it, actually."
	"I didn't mean that," she said.  "If she attacks, I won't be surrendering.
I'll fight until she shoots me down, until she kills me."
	He was silent for a moment.  "Shit, Aunty, I hope you're not planning on
it.  I don't want to go in knowing I'm going to die."
	She could almost see the smile on his face.  "No," she said.  "As long as
there's the smallest chance, I won't plan on it.  But as long as you've 
taken
the opportunity to really live...it's okay to die.  Because you've already
experienced the best of life."
	She felt him move closer to her until she could feel his breath on her
ear.  "No more regrets?"  he asked.
	She smiled.  "No more regrets.  If I'm going to die up there, I'm not
going to do it regretting anything.  Life's too short."
	"Glad you finally think so," he said, moving a few strands of hair from
her face.  She felt his lips on her neck and closed her eyes...

	"Kiyone?"
	Kiyone snapped out of her reverie, blinking.  "Huh?"
	"We're ready to blow the ship."
	"Oh.  Okay.  Good, Mihoshi.  Um...Tell Azaka to go ahead."
	Mihoshi drew her sidearm and fired once into the air.  Kiyone watched from
the ridge as a ball of fire rose in the distance.  The orange light bathed 
them,
even from a kilometer away.
	Kiyone drew the wings from her shirt pocket and looked down at them.  The
firelight of her ship's funeral pyre reflected off the shiny feathers, 
giving it
an almost ethereal quality.
	She sighed.  "So, Chase," she whispered.  "This is what it feels like to
lose..."
	She looked up at the starry sky above her, noting how pretty it was as her
ship continued to burn.

To Be Continued...