The mood was sombre on Sakusei Station. Oyuki watched Ran and Benten, seated by the bar with a rather large array of weapons, which they were busying themselves cleaning. An intimidation tactic, she figured. Lum was just in the next room over, being tended to by their doctor, and their minister. She was found by them nearly bled out and barely alive, and had swept her away into their shuttle, brandishing weapons and firing warning shots as they shuttled her off to Sakusei Station.
And the three women sitting opposite them would've probably be the reason for the tactic, as they were wearing uniforms that very few people in the Federation would recognise. A uniform that Oyuki never would've thought to have seen being worn in her own extensive lifetime.
The brunette's uniform was blue, with red trim and boots. The redhead (who bore a funny resemblance to that Cutey Honey character from Ataru's manga), a green top and red pants with gold trim. The blonde had the same uniform as the brunette, dark blue with red trim. On each of their uniform shirt fronts, the trim took the form of a firebird that spread its wings over their chests, forming the unmistakable markings of the uniform of Sagussa.
They all heard the stories, of course. Of a massive starship that roamed the known universe, armed with guns that outclass even a fleet of Zephyrite battle cruisers, claiming the bodies of women who had died in honour, or in tragedy; the last remnant of a race that had battled itself into oblivion.
The Eternal Voyager. Or as the Tritonians called it, The Gatherer.
Benten and Ran both watched the women like hawks. The three Sagussans scowled back just as hard. No love lost, then.
Oyuki quietly cleared her throat, and all eyes turned to her. "I am honoured that you grace us with your presence, misses, but we would like to know the reasoning of this visit..."
"Why should we tell you anything?" The brunette snarled, in a manner that made her friends noticeably startle. "You brought this on yourself, didn't you?"
"Because we do not usually trust those that violently eject an injured person's friends and family from their bedside, under pain of death." Oyuki replied, not even missing a beat. "It tends to make a bad impression on those involved."
"You can trust us." The redhead answered. "Catty ia one of our best medics. She was... Programmed to do so."
That was a strange word to use, and Benten immediately picked up on it. "Programmed? You're androids?" Benten raised herself to her feet. "I'm not waiting for some android to do Gods-knows-what to my friend!"
The blonde rose to her feet as well, a knife drawn. "She's not doing anything to Lum." Quickly, she brought her knife to her palm. Benten started, as she cut across it and turned the bleeding cut to face her. "We're not going to hurt Lum. Not when there's worse things out there, gunning for her."
"Lufy, come on!" The brunette said. "You think these idiots would be convinced? Lum would be better off dead anyway!"
"You take that back, you bitch!" Ran snarled, drawing out a rocket launcher. "You're just scum, that's what you are! You and that monster Ataru!"
"Good going, Mie!" The redhead groaned. "Now you've turned her friends against us! I don't even know why we took you along..."
"Us and Ataru? All the same?" Lufy asked. "If only you knew... Noa only just told us herself about him."
"Told us what?" Ran asked, the rocket launcher lowered.
"About The Chosen Son of The Eternal Voyager, of course." Honey said. "The one who will herald the beginning of the Fifth Republic."
A horrible silence descended.
"...are you saying Ataru's the messiah of Sagussa? Like in the stories? Seriously?"
Lufy scratched the back of her head, a blush rising in her cheeks. "When you say it like that, you make it sound really stupid. But it's true. He's the Chosen Son, the future First Great Father of our Fifth Republic."
In a flash, Ran was on Lufy, and her two companions drew weapons, moving into attack formations.
However, they didn't expect Ran to be simply hugging her.
"I'm so sorry! I feel so bad that you'll have to put up with that idiot now! It must be horrible!"
Oyuki noticed Mie's face turning purple. "You bitch! I'll kill you for saying those thiiiiEEEEKKK!!"
Luffy craned her head, to see Mie encased in a block of ice.
"She would've meant it too, wouldn't she?" Oyuki asked.
Honey nodded. "Yes, she would have. She was dating Ataru on the sly before the Second Tag Race, before this whole... thing. She was with him on those two weeks on Okusei. She was always bad mouthing you to us."
"How could she even pull it off?" Benten asked. "Lum's on his back a hell of a lot of the day..."
"Let's just say she did a lot of 'reconnaissance' missions with him." Lufy said, a bitter smile on her face. "We've got equipment that makes it easy to jam any sort of surveillance equipment around a given person. Good for up to thirty meters."
"Oh my." Oyuki said. Mie made muffled squeals from under the ice.
Benten sat heavily down on a sofa. "He really did fuck all of us over, didn't he? Me, Oyuki and Ran, Mendou, Megane and his dumb buddies... Lum..." Her head hung down over the floor. "Lum..."
"Lum's still alive." Honey said. "Noa won't let her die. And she'll make sure she want to live again." Honey gave the ice block a good hard rap with her baton, causing it to break apart and release Mie's head. "Now... I think we can see them."
When Mie was broken free, they gathered themselves up, and walked towards the shuttle where Lum was kept in care. Honey entered the code to open the gantry on her remote device, and led the others inside.
The ship was clean white, all smooth lines and white panelling, rounded and functional like an Oni ship. Lights were set into the walls and floor, illuminating the room. Honey led them through, past the cockpit, over to the infirmary. Similarly, the infirmary room was clean, and free of dust, with featureless white walls and floor that shone. The room had two rows of three beds placed against the walls, with monitoring equipment and tools at the head of each.
Lum was laid out in the far corner, two women at her sides, a translucent white sheet over her body. Several wires were attached at points across her face and body: life sign sensors, possibly.
The first woman, with purple hair and a dark blue uniform shirt with green pants and red trim and boots, was busying herself checking the monitors, and writing in a PDA. All seemed very usual. But the other...
"Uh..." Benten asked carefully. "What's she doing to Lum...?"
The other woman had short brown hair, and a black uniform jumpsuit, with gold trim and boots. Her eyes were closed, and her face was neutral, almost lifeless. Her hand rested on Lum's head, fingers stretched over her scalp. Judging from the reaction of Honey and Mie, nobody expected her in this position.
"Oh no..." Honey breathed. "She can't have. She couldn't..."
"Can't have what?" Benten demanded.
"Marei'cha." Lufy said, her mouth dry. "The sacred bond we place on those we love dearly. We reach out and enter each others' minds, share our memories, and unite our souls..."
"But... Lum?" Honey uttered. "Noa... and Lum? Catty, how long have they been like this?"
"A couple of hours at least." Catty answered. "I tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn't listen! This is very unbecoming of her station as it is..."
"Great... Is this what you call 'taking care' of her?" Benten sardonically cracked.
"Not really." Catty answered. "We don't perform a bond like this unless the person involved is a very close friend, or a lover. I'm surprised that Noa managed to hide this for so long..."
Ran leaned over Lum's body, looking at her face. Like Noa, Lum's face was stone still and emotionless. "What's going on inside her head right now? What's she going through?"
And now...
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(Posted Mon, 10 May 2010 13:28)
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