Shield of the Ma-non, the Video!

a/n: It's the 6-month anniversary of the Battle for New LA, and the Ma-non Twyleth wants to give her human coworker a present, to to to thank him for defending the Ma-non ship. Getting it just right is worth the effort, don't you think?

Set post game, spoilers to Ch. 8 and all things Alex (Alien Nation etc.). Swears, bad descriptions of non-canon battles, and extreme xeno video geekery. All the real & good stuff belongs to MONOLITH SOFT, with a huge round of love for the localization team 8-4.

The story features the crew of my OC Auxiliary Skell Refueling Station - they've shown up in Bromance and Study Break, but I think you can read it on its own. 9/9 Corrected some typos.

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Lila was surprised to see Twyleth skipping into the Auxiliary Skell Refueling Station 1.02 on a Friday morning. First of all, it wasn't pizza day, always a sure draw. Second, Ricky-Bobby wasn't working a shift, and he was almost as big as pizza in Twyleth's world view. She'd had what could best be described as a huge crush on her human co-worker for several months, and Lila had been amused to see Ricky-Bobby responding with slow warmth to the Ma-non's more skittery endearments. Lila asked no questions and made no guesses, but it was fun to watch.

"Lila! I need to to to ask you a question, okay?"

"Sure. What's up?"

"I need to ask you a special question, please?" The grey xeno looked pleadingly up at the human tech, not actually such a great distance.

"Okay," Lila said, slowly. She gave a shout at the skinny man working the first bay. "Gino! I'm taking a coffee break. If you need me, I'll be inside, but don't bug me." Gino responded with a few curses, muffled from his position mostly under the treads of a beat-up Ares 70.

Inside her office, Twyleth was still skipping from foot to foot, ignoring the mug of coffee that Lila had offered her. Lila sipped and waited.

"I want to give Ricky-Bobby a present, but I want to make sure he'll like it. If I show it to you, can you tell me if if if it is a good choice?"

Lila smiled. "That's easy. I can tell you right now: he'll like anything you give him. What did you have in mind?"

Twyleth pulled out a comm device, or the Ma-non equivalent of one. "I made a compilation of all the footage of the defense of the Ma-non ship, during the Attack on New Los Angeles."

Lila nodded, suddenly serious. "Right. It's been almost six months."

"In three days."

"Ricky did good for you guys."

"He was wonderful. I want to show him how how how grateful we are, you know? I pulled lots of extra ship's monitoring feed together. A lot of residents of the ship contributed what they had, too, and and and, well, I hope he'll like it."

The comm device flickered into life, and Lila and Twyleth watched for a few seconds. It was mostly grainy and washed out security camera footage, silent and not very impressive unless you paid close attention to the small figures moving frantically on the open deck of the Ma-non ship. "Yeah, I've seen this footage before. Any number of people in New LA have. He's seen it too, probably; no one is that modest. But sure, he'd like it." Lila rolled her neck, cramped from peering over Twyleth's shoulder. "How about we watch the rest on the big screen?"

Twyleth agreed enthusiastically, diverting the feed into the larger display beside Lila's desk. It was already too late for Lila's protest, "You don't need to restart it…" Twyleth had restarted the video, and was sitting on the couch, eyes sparkling intently.

The larger screen was not an improvement. The figures were just as difficult to distinguish. The ship and sky and ground below were all about the same golden beige color. The extra footage that Twyleth had added was deadly boring. A long shot of the sky with small blips approaching, those had to be the rogue fighters that had split from the main attacking body of Ganglion and had attempted to seize control of the Ma-non ship instead of targeting New Los Angeles. At least that's what Lila guessed. They had intended deadly harm to the non-combatants harboring in the ship, but the image didn't carry any of that horror.

"I wasn't sure about this section. It's so so so scary, don't you think?" Twyleth stopped suddenly, and gave a small gasp.

"Twyleth, it's actually kind of bland. What's freaking you out?"

"The things they say! So so so evil. I don't want Ricky Bobby to get too upset and angry at them."

Lila looked at the screen, then at her trembling employee. "I'm not hearing anything." She stopped to consider a thought, almost a revelation. "What range do you guys hear? Never mind." Lila already had her own comm link out, checking the data. "Holy cow! That's some range. You mean there's dialogue there?"

"Of course. That evil human is talking about what he'll do to the civilians. It's horrible, okay?"

Lila continued to think. "What range do you guy see?"

"Will you invoke religious animals again?"

Lila was ignoring the big screen in favor of her dive into Ma-non sensory abilities. "Probably. Here we go … for the love of clams, that goes deep into UV. You're like bees, practically. And snakes, because you go infra-red a little."

"Is that a good thing?"

"Well, it's something I sure never knew. That might explain why the video is so blah, if you'll excuse me, at least to human eyes." Lila's face broke into a wicked grin. "I got it! We need to fix this, make it something attuned to humans. Now THAT would be a present. Do you know anything about video editing?"

Twyleth reluctantly looked away from the main video, still running. Things were exploding, silently and vaguely. "No."

"Me neither." Lila opened the door of the office and shouted into the station. "Gino!"

"Whattttt!?"

"You know anything about video editing?"

"I know I got all the work while you two goof off."

Lila was standing at Gino's feet as he rolled out from under the same skell he'd been working on before. "This is important."

Gino scratched at his stubble, smearing yet more grease onto his face. "No clue. You could ask Mia, she got a friend."

"Who's she?"

"BLADE chick, hangs with Nopon mostly. Lemme call her." He handed over the wrench he'd been using, and moved over to make the call. It took longer than Lila expected, with a lot of interrupting and chatter from the other end. Tired of waiting, Lila crawled under the skell to finish the retreading. It was a good ten minutes later when Gino gave her foot a solid kick.

"Mia says her man Marty is the best of the best. Full of praises, even if he's never left New LA since he got here and uses the park as his office."

Lila sat up and frowned. "Gino, do you always make a hash of jobs if no one's looking?" Unlike Gino, she knew how to keep grease off her face, but that didn't make her expression any sunnier.

"Want his number or no?"

"Yes, please. You are a model of kindness." She handed him back the wrench and returned to her office, where Twyleth was still watching the video. (Actually, she was on her second viewing, sighing over the images of her red-haired, freckle-faced human co-worker. Squee.)

Lila hoped for luck and made her call. The target picked up. "Marty? I'm a friend of a friend. We're told you've got some skills with video editing?"

A precise yet slightly nervous young man had answered. He looked almost insulted by her question. "Gosh, I'm only Noctilicat8-4. My videos only get thousands of hits each day. I've only posted daily to FrontierNav for the past…"

"Sure. Honestly, we're super big fans (or we would be, if we cared). We need a rush job, semi-official for the Ma-non ship, part of ongoing human-xeno friendship treaties. It's being paid for through the Auxilliary Refueling Station, but this is something bigger. Can we get you on it? About 20 minutes of footage, maybe less."

"No way. That's much too long. People only want 3 or 4 minutes, tops."

"This is for the half year anniversary of the Battle for New Los Angeles."

"Oh, a memorial piece. Not. My. Boat. I can give you the name of someone else…"

"We don't want to trust this with an amateur. The real trick will be getting the unseen frequencies and wavelengths into something humans can appreciate. Did you realize that Ma-non are recording stuff all across the spectrum?"

"No." He looked nervous and slightly excited. "Tell me more."

Lila hid a smile. "This is stuff no human has ever seen, could ever see. But our source is giving us pure footage, raw and from all over the Ma-non ship, and we want it compressed somehow so that we humans can get an insight into what they went through, up on the ship."

"The fighting up there? That footage is trash." But his voice was not completely dismissive.

"That footage is the tip of the iceberg. They have recordings of the Ganglion cross-talk. All of it. Won't you come 'round the Refueling Station? We can discuss the job and the terms. Or would you rather have it go up on the Mission Board?"

"No! Why would you do that? That's for BLADEs and I'm not …" He stopped himself, swallowed hard, and tried to look dignified. "I'll be there in 20 minutes. I'm only over at the park myself."

He was there slightly faster, just enough time for Lila to fix another pot of coffee and help Gino finish both the retreading and two refueling jobs. He looked just as nervous in person, and slightly older and softer. Lila introduced him to Twyleth and set up the video. "Rush job, like I said. Done today, maybe? I'll pay high." She named a sum that felt low.

Marty went bright red. "That would be great, I mean, fine. But I'm not sure what I can do with this." Lila had to agree. The second viewing (fourth for Twyleth. Squee.) hadn't made Lila a bigger fan.

"How about I let you and our Ma-non collaborator see what you can do for the next hour. I'll be right outside if you need anything. Coffee's on the hot plate."

It didn't take an hour. Marty stomped out of the office, with Twyleth following and wringing her hands. "Lila, Lila! Marty says it can't work, and now I won't have any good present for Ricky-Bobby, right?"

"Disappointing, you giving up so fast," Lila said, swinging a hydraulics chamber menacingly.

"I can do it, sure," Marty said, defensively. "I told you that. Compressing the data, fixing the color levels, I know what to do. But I'd need more equipment than just my comm device."

"So get it."

"I don't have it. That's professional level gear."

"I thought you were a professional."

"I'm an artist. I have the vision, just not the…"

"Gotcha. If we get you the gear, can you do it?"

"Of course. I'd just want to balance the colors to match the proportions in the human range and…"

"Yes. Sure. Gino!"

"I heard. When did we become a movie studio?"

"This morning. Got any ideas?"

"Your roommates." Lila's mouth dropped open and the cylander almost hit the floor. Gino laughed out loud. "You're still paying rent, ain't ya? Girl, you are a class one fool."

"I swear, I'd almost forgotten they existed." At Twyleth's quizzical look, Lila explained. "Once the station started, I kind of moved into the office."

"Kind of, ha! And now you got a second place to bounce …"

"Shut up, Gino. Since my bedroom was empty, my roommates turned it into a recording studio. Music, mostly, but video too."

"Why are you paying rent?" The famed FrontierNav celebrity seemed appalled.

"Mailing address, mostly. And the shower. Closet space. It's useful. Sometimes I crashed there, not so much now." Gino brayed more laughter, not stopping even when Lila glared at him.

More dialing of numbers. "M-Beth! Voice from the past here."

"Lila! How's your love life?"

"Yeah, well, um, I got a business proposition. I need access to good video editing equipment. Something that can modulate colors, spectrum, …"

"Frequencies! And balance! And enhancing…" Excited suggestions originating from the area of Marty.

"What he said. Can we use your gear for that?"

"That stuff isn't a toy, Lila. You don't have any experience."

"I got a guy."

"Who?"

"Marty somethingorother. Guy behind me. Calls himself Noctilumkitty or something."

"Noctilicat8-4!"

The tiny image of M-Beth wrinkled her nose. "Ugh. That click troll?"

Marty was shoving himself over Lila's shoulder, yelling into her device. "I don't see you racking up my numbers, M-barrass-breath!"

"Children, children," chided Lila. "This is business. I can pay, and you can babysit your equipment if you absolutely have to. I got good word from BLADE about Nightkitty here, though. He won't break faith with them, not if he's got any brains."

"Doubtful, based on his videos." "I heard that!" "I wanted you to!"

Lila sighed. "So. Can we have it? Now?"

"Now? Like, right now? What is it for, anyway? And I suppose I should have asked that at the start…"

"Yes, you should have." Lila took a deep breath and tried to look completely genuine. "This is part of a larger human-xeno friendship program, making a 20 minute memorial video on the defense of the Ma-non ship during the Attack on New LA."

"Why bother? That footage is…"

"Trash. I've heard. If this works, you'll finish that sentence differently next time."

M-Beth looked thoughtful. "Okay. Yes. You'll pay for equipment, and for advice, per hour, not per minute."

"Can I get a friends and family rate?"

"Sure, why not? 25% off good enough?"

"Done. We'll be there within the hour."

"Lila, this'll be cool, seeing you again. I'm kind of excited."

"Back at ya, M-Beth." And the line was closed.

Lila looked at the other three citizens. "Right. We're off to make a video."

"You ditching me? With all this work?" Gino was right back to furious.

"Slow day, Gino, you know it. You can get Ricky-Bobby down here, once we've gone. He should be free. And, I don't know, maybe grab Ida. Ha ha ha, get it, Ida-n't know?" No one else so much as smiled. Lila shrugged. "Anyway, she'll help out, if you need someone to direct traffic or stuff. She likes you, Gino."

"She's got a boyfriend." He scowled.

"Also true. You could still hit her up, purely for station-related purposes."

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It is a sorry fact that Lila could tell you almost nothing about the walk back to her former house in the Residential Sector, having kept her eyes shut the entire time. She had focused on breathing in, then out, and not screaming. Mim-based agoraphobia was nothing short of wicked. She could only hope that her companions would find the address and not push her over the side and into the gel on the way there. She could get there on her own, at nighttime, but it involved embarrassingly long stretches of crawling.

Once inside, things righted themselves. After the flurry of greetings (M-Beth and fellow roommate Candice), introductions (Twyleth), and sniping (Marty), the group moved into the studio. Marty dropped the sarcasm at the doorway and did everything short of drooling and jumping up and down. Maybe not 100% short of it. Within minutes, he was deaf and blind to anything but the project, and M-Beth was nodding with approval. Lila noticed that Twyleth looked the least enthusiastic of all the people in the room.

"What's up, Twyleth?"

"I just wanted nice present, you know? This seems so so so complicated now, don't you think? Almost like it's not from me anymore."

"I get you, Twyleth, and I don't blame you. But I swear, you'll have last call on editing and content. Anything you want out, it's out. We're just shifting things up and down a little."

The two station members had nothing to do but wait, however. They boosted themselves onto a convenient stack of grey crates, both sets of legs dangling slightly, Twyleth's more than Lila's. They listened to Martin's mutterings, and M-beth's suggestions. "If we balance for the colors from the human range, the sky gets out of kilter." "Sure, it's heavy on purple, but it was a rainy night. It would have to be dark." "Maybe if we tried boosting the green?" … "Those voices of the Ganglion, they still sound awfully narrow ranged." "I wanted to indicate that these weren't directly heard, at least not by humans, probably transmissions." "If you tweak the higher frequencies, it'll sound more electronic." "Thanks, let's try it." And so on.

Lila leaned over to Twyleth. "Hey, is there anything else you have? Maybe stuff you thought wasn't good enough?"

"Why would you want anything that wasn't good? I want only the best for for for Ricky-Bobby, okay?"

"I'm just saying, stuff shot by humans might look boring to you, but it might be just right for our purposes."

Turned out, yes, Twyleth had been thorough, asking every citizen still living on the ship, of any race, and had even asked a few humans who had only been there during the evacuation. She had masses of poorly shot, junky human comm device recordings. People seemed obsessed with recording the floor at weird angles while shouting, "Ahhhhh!" But a few bits, very close to the start of the fight, were clear and direct. Lila couldn't help but get excited. "This is priceless. Oh my goodness, this is … this is brutal. We need this. It's so simple. It's right in our range, Twyleth." She didn't get to say much more, as M-Beth had her hand out, fingers snapping, waiting for a copy of the feed, like, 5 seconds ago!

Lila couldn't stop herself. "Anything else?"

"A little Nopon footage," stammered Twyleth, and passed on the data.

Sadly, this material did not impress M-Beth at all. "What is this? Smell-o-vision? No way we can use this." But Marty had pounced on it. "Lemme hear the audio. Oh. My. God! The sound effects are incredible! Can't you hear this detail?! We need this!" He was flicking through the feeds, head cocked this way and that. "!"

Lila looked at the two vidiots. "Gonna take much longer? Uh, Marty? Hellooooo?" No response, even when she went so far as to wave her hand in front of his face. He just slapped it away distractedly and looked at a different monitor. M-Beth shoved Lila to the side and started twiddling sliders and knobs. Lila tried not to feel insulted. She shrugged at Twyleth, who looked even more lost than before. "So. Want to grab some pizza?"

A few hours and many pies later, there was a call from the recording studio. "It is complete. It will be my best work to date."

"Can we come see it?"

"Yissss. We'll wait for you."

Another indescribable trip back to the house, and Lila and Twyleth were surprised and a little concerned to find Gino there as well, sitting on a couch in the living room, chatting up M-Beth. "Gino! Who's minding the station?! Honestly, we'll be stripped clean, down to our last skell air freshener!"

"Do I look that stupid?" asked Gino, before continuing on in a hurry. "Don't answer that. You got nothing to worry about. I got curious and left Ida and Ricky in charge. Nothing's gonna harm your precious station."

"But but but he'll know about the present!" squeaked Twyleth.

Gino looked at the Ma-non in disgust. "I lied to him, didn't I?"

"You lied to your friend?"

"Easy, little ET. Your man won't know a thing until he does." This statement left Twyleth so tongue-tied that she left off complaining entirely. It also proved that Ma-non can't blush, no matter the circumstances.

A surprising number of citizens of New Los Angeles settled on to the sofas and chairs of the living room, ready for the video. Three station attendants, two video freaks, and two more random roommates, pulled in to admire the art. Marty hit the lights, started the video, and the screening began.

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Establishing shot of New Los Angeles, with Ma-non Ship. "Shield of the Ma-non. By Twyleth, editing by Noctilicat8-4, funding by Lila."

["Yes, I will pay you, but take that part off. This belongs to Twyleth." Marty shrugs, and waves a hand for quiet.]

After more footage of the length of the Ma-non ship, gleaming golden in the fading light, the date and time flash on the screen. Slow overview of the Ma-non ship, leaving New Los Angeles. There is rain, and darkness, and the sight of a tide of enemies rolling across the plains of Primordia. Row upon row of Ganglion skells and other fighters. Small fire and distant explosions, but no other sound. The ship continues on its journey.

Interior shot, various voices, mostly Ma-non, some human and Nopon. The view sweeps across the Starboard Great Hall. Over in the corner, possibly, no, definitely, one can see Ricky-Bobby and some Ma-non. A smaller grey one, probably Twyleth. ["Squee." "Hey, that's you!" "Shhhh."]

Long exterior footage, the same footage that had initially seemed so boring to Lila. Now it is anything but boring. The approaching Ganglion force twinkles sharply against the dark green of the plains. It's not that large, maybe 20, but they're flying, and headed for the ship. [Whispering. "Remember, before the flight module?" "Man, they had us down." "Shhhhh."]

The sound, up until then mostly rain and the singing engines of the Ma-non, now becomes increasingly electronic. Clearly call and response, but so alien as to be unintelligible. It's shocking to hear a human voice, however distorted.

Alex: "I swear, I'm killing them all."

Another voice, mechanical even through the distortion: "No, keep at least one third of the Ma-non alive." ["F-ing Milsaadi, I hate them!" "Shut up, Gino." Lila's shaking and clutching Twyleth's hands. Twyleth can only squeak. "Shhhhhh."]

Alex: "Hell no. They're all going over the side. I'll toss them myself and see if they can fly."

Milsaadi: "No. You will obey."

Alex: "Gahhhh. We'll see."

Milsaadi: "You may kill the humans, but do not dispose of them. We need the materials."

A new voice, high pitched and annoying: "Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha! Stack them like barrels, darling. Can we at least play with the blueys?" ["Definian." "Yup." "Those bondage chicks got issues." "Shhhhh."]

Milsaadi: "Do as you like. Nopon as well. All will become ours." ["I can't even begin to apologize. I'm so sorry, Twyleth." No one shushes Lila for that remark.]

All around the ship, there are explosions, speckling its skin. The ship is shaking. Corridor shot, with a rush of forms, some towards the open deck, some away from it. ["You'll notice the improved color balance." "Shhhh."]

Exterior footage. The Ma-non shields shred most of the Ganglion attack. Enemy skells don't bounce so much as fragment upon reaching them. ["Niiiiice. We could have used that, you know." "It requires special conditions, so it can't be used on land," starts Lila. Twyleth says, somewhat shrilly, "Shh, the good bits start here."]

Focus on the enemy skells, a few make it through the shields. ["What's the deal?" "The shields don't attack human tech. Apparently Definian armor mimics …." "Shhhhh!"]

The landing almost shudders the ship. Four skells land. The largest skell is purple and green and clearly human technology, with a smaller bright red baby BLADE skell next to it. The other two show greater Ganglion influence, bearing those rusty black pincer claws. The main skell shows up really bright with the enhanced colors. The Ma-non make a stand against them, but it is clearly no good, one sweep and they're blown back. A few rogue human fighters launch out of the main enemy skell, and start advancing. One friendly BLADE remains at the starboard door, defending, but she is soon blasted back. The video goes weird for a few moments, almost a pencil sketch animation, very clear thin lines and pastel colors. ["Nopon footage." "Cool."] Another xeno (probably Zaruboggan) rushes to her side and pulls her back, but she's limp. ["Where the hell are the Prone?!" "They live on the port side. They're probably defending that door. Alex is smart. He'd capture the main side first, save the Prone for later." "SHHHHHH!"]

Interior shot of the corridor, confusion, the Ma-non are not doing well. We see Ricky-Bobby pushing forward. He stops before one Ma-non. He voice can clearly be heard as he reaches for the xeno's weapon. "May I use this, please?" ["He's so so so polite, you know? Swoon." "Total dream boat with an arm cannon." "Shhh. It's on!"]

Ricky-Bobby shoulders his way through the almost broken line of Ma-non. The first enemy fighter is caught off guard. Ricky flips him and stabs with a knife ["Where'd he get that?" "Standard issue." "And shhh."] Second one draws on him, but Ricky shifts sideways, behind, a blast and then more knife work, that one's down too. Another quick run, to the side of the plaza area and he's aiming, every blast hitting precisely at the joint of one of the Definian skells ["Crack it like a lobster, boieeeeee!"]

A shoulder weapon on the largest skell, powering up, releases a ball of crackling blue lightning. ["Eep!" Lila and Twyleth are both shaking. "I've seen it before, but I'm still so so so scared." "Watch out!"] A shot that exactly counters it, acting as a shield. ["You can do that?!" "Apparently." "Wooo, Ricky, go man go!"]

A second round of shots from Ricky-Bobby, at the feet, not a single one hitting the deck, all on target. Before anyone can comment on the need to aim higher, the skell is down on one knee, then onto its back. The video of Ricky shifts abruptly and stragely. Again, it is the pencil sketch Nopon footage, except Ricky is highlighted in bold strokes, almost ink wash against the dainty polygons of the skells. ["What the hell?" "Wow. Nopon must register ether. He's gone into overdrive."]

The damage he's doing on the main skell, Alex's skell, is brutal, even if he's on foot, with a standard knife, the lines of the skell shivering with each strike.

Return to regular footage, as Ricky-Bobby launches himself up high, slams down on the fallen skell, then is blown sideways by an unseen enemy. ["That baby skell, the pilot must have finally found the A button. Go get 'im, R-man!"] Indeed, the smaller red skell is marching on Ricky-Bobby, and it swings down with a powered sword attack. But Ricky-Bobby, the Shield of the Ma-non, slides beneath, then sweeps gunfire straight up the center of the skell. It staggers, and Ricky takes the opportunity to smack the lock on the the pilot capsule. The pilot tumbles out. ["Oooo, you got jacked, man, that's cold."] The skell collapses, pinning the enemy underneath. ["Ah ha ha ha ha! Perfect!" "Shhhhh!"]

Ricky-Bobby is still in overdrive. You can see the flickers of blue around his feet and arms. The purple skell rises to its feet again, even lifting gently from the deck. It floats unsteadily, then aims its gun at Ricky. There are several blasts, all dodged by a bluish blur that is Ricky, and suddenly, the skell stops, swaying slightly. ["Again! He did it again! Jacked you good! Pull the trigger, Ricky, pull it!" "Do you always shout at movies, Gino?" "Do it!"]

But once again, an off-screen enemy pushes Ricky to one side, not exactly knocking him back, but the focus is lost. ["I wish we could have helped him, right?" "He needs more eyes, that's true. Imagine him with backup." "Pick me! Pick mee!" "Shut up, Gino." "We'd wreck HOUSE!"]

The last skell, Ganglion, floats beside Alex's. The warped electronic voices come in, everyone has been ignoring the sound effects, but they have been crisp and awesome.

Definian: "Aleeeeeex, this is no fun. Let's gooooooo!"

Alex (clearly injured, gasping): "My men. I can't leave them to the xenos..."

Definian: "Ah ha ha ha ha! That toy wasn't any Ma-non. He's one of yours, Alex baaaaby. I don't care which humans kill which other ones. I'm tiiiiiiiired."

The two skells leave, the smaller clearly shielding the bigger one. The rain continues. Focus on the open deck, where one figure remains standing, tall and unyielding, ready to continue defending the ship, for minutes or for hours, if need be.

End of video.

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The lights weren't on before Gino had leaped off the couch, fists pumping in victory. "Boo-yah! That's my BOY! Did you see? Did you see?! Take that, you scum sucking space racist, and you can stay dead, why don't ya! Twyleth, your man is a MACHINE! Whooooo!"

Lila smiled, and released Twyleth's hands, which she'd been holding since the Ganglion skells had first appeared. "Don't mind him. He's excitable."

"It seems to make Gino very loud. Do you think Ricky Bobby will like it?"

"Yes. You should watch it with him, tonight. We won't say a word. Not a word."

Marty interrupted, his voice very tight. "I'm uploading this today. It's a masterpiece."

"No, you aren't. It's ours, and if you do that, I will make your life miserable."

"What can you do?"

Gino shoved up against the other man. "Punk, do you KNOW who she's sleeping with?"

Lila shook her head, a picture of mildness. "Simply put, there is probably a ton of sensitive, possibly classified material in this video. You want your access to FrontierNav yanked? That would be my first step, if you released it without permission. I'd think of some other steps, too, and you'd be glad to have just my ideas. This video is special to the Ma-non, and you want to play nice with a species that can microwave you from the inside."

Whether it was from the angry shoves from Gino, or Lila's pointed words, Marty could only gibber in response.

Twyleth tugged at Lila's hand and whispered, "You know we'd never…"

Lila whispered back, "You'd never, because you're nice, Twyleth. Not a universal quality, even for Ma-non, just as it isn't for humans." Lila gave the quivering Marty a false but kindly smile. "Keep it to yourself, Martykitty, and you'll be rewarded. I'll let you have the all-clear to upload it as soon as I can, I promise. Maybe in time for the anniversary." The smile turned less kindly. "Provided you behave."

The dainty xeno was still uncertain. She looked up at Lila with glowing eyes. "So, do you really think Ricky-Bobby is going to to to like it?"

Lila's smile became absolutely genuine. "I stick with my answer from this morning. If it's from you, he'll love it."

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A/N: 1) I was hauling audio cable almost full time by senior year (not the best for grades, but I didn't need a loan, so there's that). Sadly, I almost never got to touch the sound boards. My love to everyone in AVS. Gino and M-Beth aren't accidental names, although they are nothing like the originals.

2) I want someone to make an animation of this so bad, I cannot even say. Just the Nopon footage of Ricky-Bobby going into infinite overdrive would make my year.

3) Re. battle tactics: I was making stuff up, kids, because I generally mash the A button myself. I picked the most uninspiring weapon just so Ricky would look awesome. Turns out, that's exactly what knives will do for you, given enough arts. I'd like to say it was research or attention to detail, but really it was just luck. Or was it? Am I so in tune with XCX internal logic that I get how things must beeeeeeeee? Ha! Nope. Luck. Brainjack + Servant Sacrifice ftw!

4) Gino's responses are pretty much word for word the same as mine whenever Nagi is in action. Squee.