DISCLAIMER: Concurrent with fair dealing clauses of the Copyright Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-42) of Canada and fair use clauses in copyright legislation in other nations, this is a work that was created solely for entertainment purposes. Furthermore, it is posted freely on the Internet without expectation or requirement of remuneration.
Let Us Have Peace
by Fred Herriot
A side story to Phoenix From the Ashes
Based on Urusei Yatsura, created by Takahashi Rumiko; Ikkitōsen, created by Shiozaki Yūji; and Koihime Musō, created by BaseSon.
Phoenix From the Ashes was derived from the fanfic The Bet: Crippled, written by Gregg Sharp. This story also contains characters and situations from the fanfic series Urusei Yatsura: The Senior Year, created by Mike Smith and Fred Herriot.
WRITER'S PREFACE
A little side story explaining what happened to Ōgi after he was taken from the Dead Grove on Yaminokuni in Part 48 of Phoenix From the Ashes. This is inspired by the fanfic reader calling himself The Wandering Soul of 1014, who has quite the collection of stories he's marked as his favourites at this website. While this short explained some things, I realise there will be questions, so notes explaining what was done here will be at the end of the story text.
The planet Vos, some kilometres west of Lecashuto (Earth date: Wednesday 7 July 2010, after dawn [Japan time])...
Goddamned long war...!
Blinking as she gazed through her macro-binoculars at the forward lines of the Rebel Alliance Army not ten kilometres away, Mikado Marine Captain Yanba could only sigh. Despite the vast salient around the ancient capital city of the Confederation of Vos still being firmly under the control of the Mikado's forces, the captain — a forty-year veteran, over thirty of that spent in combat of one sort or another against a growing rebel army that seemed not to want to quit or stop, to say anything about properly acknowledging the Great Leader as the true head-of-state for his people — was one of many who knew it was only a matter of time. In the wake of the battle of Colony Forty a year ago, when the Mikado had lost the whole of the Space Defence Force ships still loyal to his side, the Alliance Army under command of Admiral Ninsur's wife Hunba had crashed onto Vos itself like a storm. Taking city after city in rapid succession, they had soon been able to draw a tight noose around Lecashuto, cutting off the Mikado from any possible support, especially from fragments of his ground forces still fighting on various colony worlds.
And while the Alliance Army had yet to devise a final plan to take the capital city and end the thirty-five year-old conflict, it was only a matter of time.
You had to be a total fool — or some of the young troopers that Yanba and her peers commanded — to not see what was in the immediate future.
"Captain."
She tensed on hearing that voice, and then turned, nodding as a grey-haired, green-eyed man came up to her. No visible salutes were made; even if the range was long, spotters among the rebels always went out of their way to track the officers so they could be taken out with mortar bombs or sniper rounds. And this particular officer would be a fine kill for some sniper across the way. "Colonel Sussur," she said with a smile. Despite what some people on both sides of the war thought of the Mikado and his immediate subordinates, this particular officer in the Space Marines — who had remained loyal after Colony 71, thus having been granted equal rank in the Volunteer Marine Corps of the People's Confederation, also known as the "Mikado Marines" — was not one of them. Even if some hotshot sniper would gladly take him down, scuttlebutt from over the lines reported that Hunba and her chief civilian government adviser, Hessur, would gladly welcome Sussur into a reformed government once the Mikado was gone. "It's a quiet day here, today. What brings you out here?"
"Oh, just needed to get out of the Tower for a breath of fresh air," Sussur said as he nodded thanks to a grinning sergeant after being handed a bottle of spring water in a canteen. "Usual talk about plans to recover the offensive and all that."
Hearing that, Yanba nodded. Scuttlebutt on this side of the line was rampant with words of a possible mission to the fabled Planet of Shadows, a Dyson sphere located on the other side of the galaxy from Vos itself (accessible through one of several known stable long-distance wormholes, which would prevent the need for a multiple century voyage the "normal" way!) so that the Sceptre of Lecasur could be found. Thinking on that alien device located by the Great Founder of the Confederation when he travelled through space on the Unification, Yanba could only shake her head. Found drifting in space nearly two thousand years ago, the alien mace-shaped device — whose actual planet of origin still remained a mystery to this day — had been used by Lecasur as a symbolic icon of the final unification of the Vosian people, their freedom from the Seifukusu Dominion, and the founding of the Confederation right to the day the Mikado seized power. Then, Silent Ones from the very deadly Pashansho Sect — under leadership of the infamous Master Kyōsur himself, one of the few living beings alive today the Mikado openly feared — stole the Sceptre from the Hall of Government in Lecashuto and whisked it off to a place where it would remain relatively hidden...most likely, until such time as the old general was finally gone and decadent democracy "returned" to Vos. To lead this mission was Hunter Sergeant Junba, one of the few experienced members of the Special Hunter Corps still alive and active today. She was also twin sister to the Lady Hunter Cinba of Colony 71, wife to the Arch-Traitor Nassur himself.
"I can see that," Yanba then said. "Well, the accommodations aren't..."
"YAN-CHA!"
She perked, and then looked over. "Chisur, what is it?"
A panting sergeant-major came up to her, nodding greetings to Sussur. "Why Colonel Sut-cha! Pleasure to see you here today, sir! Sorry to interrupt!" Chisur said. Like Sussur, the grizzled grey-haired and grey-eyed tri-centenarian was also a veteran of the Space Marines who had stayed loyal. They had served together for years in the same regiment. Many times had Sussur tried to get Chisur to come with him back to the Tower of the Future (the Mikado's headquarters structure, located right in the very heart of Lecashuto) so he could serve as his personal aide. Chisur had refused every time; he wasn't abandoning the kids he had personally trained himself, much less the bright young captain who was his company commander. "Begging to report, My Captain, but I do believe you need to take a look over at the Noukiite Quarter."
The officers blinked, and then they glanced to the north. Lecashuto was located in a wide, fertile valley with two great rivers flowing on either side north of the metropolis; their confluence was in the southeast corner of Lecashuto (which was about the same physical size as metropolitan New York City on Earth). While most of the surrounding mountains had been taken by the Alliance Army over the last few months, there was still one particular tall peak to the north, a long-dormant volcano known as Mount Jedinst, under loyalist control. And while the mountain — which was the site where Lecasur had first mustered his core group of fighters against the hordes of the Seifukusu, thus leading to the planet's liberation and Confederation — remained pretty much uninhabited, the Mikado had placed a surface-to-space ion cannon battery there. Said battery was one of several reasons the Alliance had not called in ships of the Defence Force to attack Lecashuto from orbit. Atop that, located at the base of the southwest slopes of the mountain was what Vosians called "the Noukiite Quarter," which was still seen as the home for Her Imperial Majesty's High Embassy to the Confederation of Vos (despite the normal people who lived there having been evacuated a year ago when the Alliance Army finally invaded the Home World). Per custom and tradition — and backed by the threat of unleashing her against those foolish enough to violate the sovereign space of the Imperial Dominion, as several of Junba's fellow hunters had learned to their eternal cost! — the Noukiite Quarter was never intruded on by either side.
But now, the dark green flag with the black ten-spoke wheel, flanked on both sides by snarling ch'uokyek, was flying from the highest mast of the Embassy.
Sussur blinked. "Who in Purgatory's Name is there?"
"Colonel, darlin', you better look at the southwest tower," Chisur warned.
The Mikado's executive assistant nodded, and then smiled as Yanba handed him her macro-binoculars. Adjusting them, he then put them up to his eyes and glanced once more at the Noukiite Quarter. Focusing on the great flag flying from the pole on the roof of the embassy building itself, he then swept slightly to his left to gaze on the southwest guard tower of the complex. Flying from the flag pole there was a smaller square standard, befitting someone below planetary governor's or imperial commandery warlord's rank. He then quickly felt a lump in his throat on seeing the design. Divided perfectly in half, a white hoist and a black fly, there was a stylish battle staff embossed right on the dividing line, topped with a nasty-looking battleaxe head, that itself topped with a stabbing spear. And wrapped around it was a blood-red ch'uokyek with a golden mane of hair.
"Oh, my God..." Sussur whispered. "She's here..."
"Who?" Yanba demanded.
"The Dragonspeaker herself, Captain," Chisur answered.
"CAPTAIN! WHITE FLAG!"
Yanba perked on hearing one of her junior spotters shout out, and then on seeing where the young girl — not much more than a child — was excitedly pointing, she turned her eyes to the northwest and down to ground level; her particular company was occupying a high earthwork that had been constructed to serve as a spotter tower in the outer defence ring protecting the capital city. Seeing the very pretty woman in the white jacket and black pants riding the quite muscular Noukiite equine, Sussur gaped before he smiled. As soon as the visiting alien from Okusei had stopped as two of the outer skirmishers came up to her, the colonel called out, "Lady Ekpuo!" As she looked up, smiling on recognizing him, he gave her the proper fist-in-palm salute; there would be no danger from the rebel lines as their spotters no doubt had seen by now what was going on in the Noukiite Quarter. "Welcome to Vos. Heaven's sincere blessings on you."
The Lady Seu-Nich Yesu-Ak Hechnich'-Ekpuo of Ait'uch Nehech — to her friends and family, she was "At'at'at'" — handed the flag of truce to one of the skirmishers, and then returned his salute. There were smiles all around on recognizing this particular free warrior of Noukiios. ANYONE who lived on Vos remembered what had happened ten years ago when the young Dragonspeaker had teleported to this world from Okusei to personally subdue and kill the deadliest Yizibajohei heel of all, Doctor Death, thus saving many people on Lecashuto from being butchered by someone who was almost as powerful as the "God Who Walked Among Men," Infinity himself! And if you knew of the Lady Seu-P'ye Yesu-Re Hechnich'-K'ekhech of Ait'uch Nehech, you also knew of her travelling companion/lover, who had also been her strategist in their first lives three millennia ago. "Lord Colonel Sussur. Heaven's most sincere blessings on you this day, sir. My apologies for interrupting this quiet time, but my mistress' business brings me to this ancient world this day."
Sussur nodded. The Noukiites, though normally seen by Vosians as "short-lives" as their life spans were near-Terran norm — thus earning them some disdain from the more racist elements within the Confederation — were respected thanks to actions done near the start of the modern Nehech Dynasty a thousand years ago by the "Eunuch Spaceman," Lord Eyu-Nek Ch'a-Seu (who was privileged to be welcomed among the historical Flower Youth after his death as "Eyu-Nek Ch'a-Seu Hechnich'-T'uhut'k'e of Nehech"), who lead his home world's ever first deep-space warp-capable exploration fleet beyond his own solar system. On coming to Vosian space late in his thirty-year voyage of discovery, the Lord Eyu-Nek encountered a Vosian defence cruiser nearly Colony 28. Of course, said cruiser's crew had been understandably quite alarmed to see a fleet of three hundred heavily-armed transports, escort frigates and scout ships appear so close to Vos! However, after communications were established and the peaceful nature of the Noukiite expedition made clear, the captain of that cruiser, a Pashansho Silent One named Ceysur, invited the Eunuch Spaceman and his fleet to come visit Lecashuto.
That would turn out to be most fortuitous; a terrible plague — the first ever contact Vosians had with the infamous Hifuto Syndrome — that would eventually fell thousands had recently begun to break out. The Noukiites, who were all too familiar with the deadly filovirus — having encountered that on their first contact with Zephyrus a hundred years earlier — sprang into action; at Lord Eyu-Nek's order, every healer in his fleet was sent to aid in caring for the sick and dying. Twenty-nine Noukiites would die in the First Great Hifuto Plague of Vos; they would be consigned to the soil on the slopes of Mount Jedinst on grounds that would later be turned over to the Imperial Dominion in perpetuity for their embassy to the Confederation.
When asked later by the Confederation President about what had happened, the Eunuch Spaceman simply shrugged before gazing at her. "My Lady President Isanba, the Black Flesh-Wasting Curse..." — that was the Noukiite nickname for Hifuto — "...cares not for what victims it claims. Be it the natives of your beautiful and ancient land or our own poorer and younger world, it will kill if given a chance. Did I not do that, the Ch'uoeuk would have been justified in condemning me to the lowest of the Sacred Orders of Life and allowing me to be reborn as a dog when I faced him at the Pool of Reincarnation! I did what my own personal ethics and my own humble soul told me were true and proper."
Reflecting on that story — he had learned it in primary school — Sussur could only shake his head. Noukiites are so damned humble all the time! And it was odd that the Lord Eyu-Nek had call his race the "younger" of the two when Noukiios had been united under Emperor Muchach three millennia before Vos had been under President Lecasur! And in comparison to the Yehisrites (who saw themselves as the supreme warriors of the Universe, even if they were bound by a strict code of personal honour which made them quite loyal friends as well as dangerous enemies), the Zephyrites (who saw themselves as the supreme spiritual arbiters of all sentient races in the Universe despite the fact that no other race had their remarkable "inner eye" power concerning the mysterious Te'a they believed in) and the Seifukusu (who viewed all races save their own as "lessers" worthy to be only slaves or client races to be deprived of the most advanced technology so they would remain militarily superior), most Noukiites — even the free warriors of the Flower Youth such as the Three Princess Dragons of the Imperial Outmarches — acted with such personal humility and respect that one simply couldn't help but like them!
Even the expedition lead by the Lady K'ekhech herself six years before to help survivors of the Niphentaxian bio-warfare attack on Lecashuto had been that way...and as both Sussur and At'at'at' (he did know her personal name but never called her that even in private) could remember, the Dragonspeaker had — not months earlier — brought the corpses of a dozen hunters sent to Noukiite space to kill some dissidents. Remembering then what Kyech had done to the Mikado, Sussur tried not to laugh; seeing a four century-old man spanked on the buttocks by a woman one-tenth his age had been quite funny (even if he never spoke of that incident to anyone!), especially after Kyech tossed him into his chair and scolded, "You were silly. Don't do it again."
The Mikado never repeated that mistake, even after the current Empress of the Imperial Dominion had declared Nassur, his wife Cinba, their two sons Akisur and Hamasur, and their fifty part-Ipraedies stepchildren "honourable free warriors under the protection of Our House and the loyal soldiers of Our Imperial Dominion," which effectively meant that any attack on the family now resident on the Home Base asteroid was seen as an attack on Noukiios itself.
As Terrans would say it, a casus belli. A reason for war.
"So why has your mistress come back to our world?" Sussur then asked.
At'at'at' smiled. "A situation which concerns the foul crime unleashed on this beautiful city six years past, to which we both were witnesses to." She then pulled out a sheet of parchment, which had been rolled up and sealed with wax. "I have here a list of acceptable representatives of your government that will be permitted into Her Imperial Majesty's Embassy to learn more of this matter directly from my mistress herself." She handed it to one of the skirmishers, who then went through one of the open gates of the barbed wire and electrified fence that served as the outer boundary of Lecashuto's defences to deliver the parchment to Sussur himself. "Be advised, Lord Colonel: A like number of people will be invited as representatives of your honourable opponents; the Lady Kep'uo will escort them in." She then turned her horse. "I will come to the guardhouse on the Jedinst Turnpike Line in an hour's time to escort you to my mistress. Do be there please. Until later."
And with that, she snatched up the white peace banner and rode off. Sussur blinked as he watched her go, and then he exhaled. "What's going on...?"
The south gate of the Noukiite Quarter, ninety minutes later...
"Open the gate!"
Watching the two Imperial Marines pull open the solid metal gates that closed off the southern entrance of the Quarter from the surrounding territory, Sussur could only shake in head in wonder over what was happening. He had been quick to report to the Mikado about this matter. He wasn't surprised that the old dictator had agreed to all of Kyech's demands; no doubt, facing being spanked again by the Dragonspeaker in public was something he didn't care to experience. Still, the people that had been invited with him to this meeting had surprised him. They represented most of the surviving central government ministries as well as the commanders of the military forces in Lecashuto, all possessing a wide range of political, cultural and social views about how life in the Confederation should be lived. Were the Noukiites — who had been quite neutral during Vos' long civil war — moving to help negotiate a final end to over three decades of bloodshed? Thinking of that, he then shook his head as the hover-car slid past the gates, escorted by At'at'at' on her horse (she had handed her white truce banner to another Imperial Marine) as they approached the embassy complex in the geographic middle of the Quarter. The Mikado would never negotiate with Hunba or her husband, especially given that it was their son that had, in a way, started the whole damned thing when he had fled the Mensohn training camp north of Lecashuto all those years ago. "I will either be triumphant or be dragged out of this place as a corpse!" the old warrior had vowed when the first demand for surrender had been sent under flag of truce by Hunba's people a year ago. "I will NOT surrender! Especially to his mother!"
So what was this about...?
"Lecasur's Soul...!"
He turned to see Junba gaping as her eyes focused ahead of the hover-car. "What, Sergeant?" he demanded before turning to look himself. Seeing the main gate of the Embassy complex itself before them, he then blinked on seeing a woman in a pink old-style hunter's jumpsuit standing by the closed gate doors. Noting the sunflower-blonde hair done in a high ponytail and the knotted kill-belt around her waist, he then blinked before staring once more at Cinba's twin sister. That's not surprising, the colonel then mused as the driver manoeuvred the car around to stop at the parking lot to the gate's immediate west. Despite her power and her prowess in a battle, the Dragonspeaker is quite the sentimental person at heart, especially when dealing with family issues! He then smirked as the car settled onto the ground and the driver stepped out to open the door and allow him and his companions to get out. And those who try to take advantage of that learn very quickly never to do it again!
"AO-CHA!"
"JUNBA!"
Despite the fact that the elder daughter of the late governor of Colony 71 was a wanted criminal among the Mikado's forces, Sussur and all his companions could only smile at the tearful reunion between sisters that had been separated for decades thanks to the recruiting policies of the Special Hunter Corps. As an Imperial Marine took up the reigns of At'at'at's horse, the gate doors leading into the embassy opened to reveal a tomboyish woman dressed in an orange top and red slacks. Noting her shaggy green hair and the quite friendly eyes the shade of maple fudge, it didn't surprise Sussur that she wasn't visibly armed. For she was perhaps the physically second-most powerful of the reborn Flower Youth of Noukiios, the Lady Seu-Nech Yesu-Kai Hechnich'-Kep'uo of Eap'ye, once the bodyguard to the last Imperial Chancellor of Ait'uch Nehech — who had been reborn along with the other Flower Youth; presently, she was the Governor of Kaisei — in the early years of the Tri-Kingdoms age and now serving as a wandering free warrior and restaurant owner in Kai City in this life. While she didn't have the many different powers the Dragonspeaker could call upon, P'yap'ya (as she was personally known to friends and family) nearly matched her in physical strength. The sparring bouts across the Outmarches that P'yap'ya often fought with Kyech as the former tested herself against the latter were stories that rivalled the more insane "fight scenes" that constantly rocked the planet Yiziba with her native population of battle-crazed metahumans.
"Ah, you're all here," P'yap'ya said. "Good. The Lady K'ekhech awaits you in the Embassy building. Do come this way, please; your opposite numbers are waiting."
The ten people who had just come from the Tower of the Future nodded as they moved to pass through the gates, the military officers all returning the salutes from the Noukiite marines as they passed by. Walking towards the main doors of the central building, everyone then stopped to either salute or bow to the statue of the Eunuch Spaceman, set off to their right before the doorway to the Temple of Infinite Salvation, the burial place of the lost space-travellers of the First Great Hifuto Plague. They then nodded as two other Imperial Marines opened the main doors and bowed as they walked through. And as they got through, their noses all then twitched on smelling something quite tasty awaiting them in the main hall. "Oh, Lecasur's Soul!" Vice-Admiral Fujisur, the commander of the remaining Defence Force personnel loyal to the Mikado, gasped as he tried not to drool. "Lady Kep'uo, I have heard of your reputation as a chef, but if this is something you prepared for us, I might just die and go to Heaven!"
"Well, it would be quite a shame if you are to confront the Ch'uoeuk after one of my meals," P'yap'ya stated. "You were invited here for a reason, Lord Admiral. I know not what it is, but the Lady K'ekhech does NOTHING without due cause."
Everyone blinked. "You don't know what's going on?!" Sianba, the Minister of the Interior in the Mikado's cabinet and the senior civil servant present, then asked.
"No, Minister, none of us do."
Everyone perked on hearing that familiar voice. "Nassur...!" Sussur gasped as his hand twitched for his sidearm before he remembered where he was, and then he calmed himself. "My deepest apologies, Ladies. I forgot how you view flag-of-truce rules." He then nodded at the famous renegade hunter. "It's been a while, Hunter Commander," he said as Nassur nodded in return; the colonel had led a team to capture the famous dissident a decade before at Reiner's Five. All of his troops had been killed, but he had been spared at Cinba's request; Sussur never did find out why. "I would assume either the Lady Ekpuo or the Lady Kep'uo brought you here."
"P'yap'ya did," Cinba said as she waved to the green-haired veteran of the armies of Eap'ye. "She got a signal from Kyech telling her to come to Home Base, pick us both up, then take us to Vos. At'at'at' here was directed to come here right away from Kegusei with a battalion of Imperial Marines to open the embassy grounds and raise Kyech's flag on the southwest tower to alert you they were here. We just got here two hours ago." She then sighed. "C'mon in and relax. Administrator Hessur's people are waiting for you so that we can all dig into the food! Trust me, we don't want all that good stuff to go bad, especially since P'yap'ya spent the three hours between Home Base and here cooking it up for everyone, not to mention the rations she had beamed down to both camps before she and At'at'at' were sent out to get you all here."
"We noticed that," the current chief of the Special Hunter Corps — and Sianba's husband — Hisur then said. "We thank you for such a show of kindness; both sides are on short rations. And if it tastes as good as it smells, I'll dig in!"
Laughter filled the room as they headed into the main hall, and then they headed over to take their seats across from their opposite numbers. Gazing at the people awaiting them — all of whom had risen to bow to his group — Sussur was quick to recognize three people. Hessur, Hunba's chief of staff and senior civilian adviser in the Alliance Army. Admiral Shermansur, deputy commander of the Defence Forces that had rebelled against the Mikado; he was Admiral Ninsur's number two. Commodore Darenba, commander of the recently-commissioned star destroyer V.D.F.S. Lecasur's Soul, the flagship of the Alliance fleet and a near-equal to the Noukiite Type 402 barque-rigged space battleship...or the Type One aerospace-capable space battleships built for the people of Earth — as noted by long-term observers on that planet — with the technology of the Maidens of the Eternal Voyager by two ex-prisoners of the Ipraedies who escaped and stumbled onto a starship construction dockyard over the second world of the Den'sha system near Spotak over a year ago. As the party from the Tower of the Future returned the respectful bows from their opponents and then took their seats, Nassur and Cinba — who were no doubt seen as under the direct personal protection of the Dragonspeaker — moved to sit at the head of the hollow-square table as Noukiite stewards moved to serve the food, not to mention cups of sodium spring water tea, which was a Vosian delicacy given their bodies' needs for high amount of sodium sulphate compounds. In a show of return respect to their hosts, many of the Vosians on both sides gladly took up teaspoons of Noukiite red pepper powder to put into their tea; though it made the tea quite damn hot and spicy to the taste, it was still tolerable.
"So where is the Lady K'ekhech, anyway?" Shermansur asked.
One of the stewards bowed. "She sends her personal compliments and apologies for not being here for the meal, Lord Admiral, but the Lady K'ekhech teleported here from Yaminokuni just before those of us under the Lady Ekpuo's charge arrived on this planet. She needs to rest up from such a long journey."
Silence.
"YAMINOKUNI?!" Cinba shrilled. "What in Lecasur's name is going through her head?! That's twenty-three hundred light-years from here! How...?!"
"It was not as difficult as you might believe, Cinba."
Hearing that calm, quiet voice, all the Vosians immediately rose to bow to their host. "Remain where you are," Kyech said as she moved to sit between Nassur and his wife. Despite her looking in perfect health, the independent bounty hunter couple from Home Base — not to mention Kyech's lover and her frequent sparring partner — were quick to see the touch of weariness in the Dragonspeaker's dark chestnut eyes. "Please, relax and eat. Forgive me, P'yap'ya, but I am not quite hungry now, so if you don't mind, I'll have a serving of huokti-t'uchpa later today in my quarters."
P'yap'ya blinked as Nassur and Cinba exchanged a relieved look. Kyech, despite being the simple girl she was deep in her heart, had perhaps the most impeccable table manners of anyone — regardless of race! — in the known local cluster. Even Yehisrites — who certainly didn't care much for such manners thanks to their quite rough-and-tumble lifestyle — like their own teacher Varanko were often reduced to gushing wrecks on seeing Kyech eat anything, especially her favourite meat-filled pastries. Inwardly glad that they wouldn't have to deal with a bunch of emotionally insensate people, the hunter couple from Home Base turned back to their meals as Kyech enjoyed a cup of spice tea. While they had no real idea what was going on here, that the Dragonspeaker had come to Vos directly from Yaminokuni of all places clearly indicated something odd had happened at that planned marriage between Hensō and one of the great-grandchildren of First Patriarch Upa; Lum had called Nassur from Okusei two weeks ago to tell him about what she had arranged concerning her Avalonian-born "sister."
Soon enough, the small feast was over with and everyone was relaxing and chatting with each other, even with people across the way from them. Hisur himself had come over to speak with Nassur; he had been the commandant of the Mensohn School when the latter had been a cadet there and had been quite a humane man despite the hellish conditions he had been forced to impose on his students there thanks to the actions of the Corps' founder, Osur, when he made said school his command base. Naturally, the talk concerned about the fifty part-Vosian/part-Ipraedies hybrid hunters born under Project: Superwarrior. An attempt by Emperor Schwartz to counter the Vosian advantage of their brainwave-tracking powers in a future war, that project was brought to a halt on the planet Barsoom by the Noukiites a decade before, seeing those children liberated (along with their mothers) thanks to the forces of the Rose Dragon of Kasei. Many times had those kids been targeted by the Mikado to replenish the empty ranks of his own Special Hunter Corps, though Nassur and Cinba — along with Varanko (who counted his granddaughter Kuriinba — "Hazel" to all who knew her — amongst them) and Shogai Dakejinzō, not to mention many of the Flower Youth of Noukiios — had been quite successful in putting such attempts down. And despite their being here on Vos now, their children and adopted children/students were under the protection of P'yap'ya's best friend, the Lady Seu-Se Yesu-He Hechnich'-Nakuk of Eap'ye — "Yoai" to friends and family — a woman possessing an equal level of physical strength to P'yap'ya. She also, in her first life, had served as one of Seup'it's personal bodyguards and these days commanded the reserve militia of Kaisei.
Finally, after an hour or so, Kyech stood up and tapped her empty tea cup with her finger, making a soft ringing noise. The others in the room perked on hearing that, and then quieted down as they gazed at her. Smiling at them, the Dragonspeaker then turned to one of the stewards. "Have one of the soldiers get the prisoner that's in the holding cell in the basement out of there and bring him here."
He bowed, giving her a hand salute. "At once, My Lady!"
"What's going on?" Nassur then asked as the steward went off.
Kyech smiled. "I take it you heard of the attempted kidnapping of Ataru by Kamen, Mienai and Damasu some days ago through the Central Warp Chamber of Triton."
He nodded. "Yes. They were trying to prevent Hensō's marriage to either Rupa or Ika, thus went to Earth to try to force Ataru to help out by making him deny that he had divorced her at Onishuto six months ago. People under Yethis and Ōgi..." — on saying that name, an angry hiss escaped many of the Vosians present — "...took advantage of it as a way of showing the 'heretic tailless monkeys' of Earth who was the real boss there. A pity that a woman with a fully-loaded Lawgiver was waiting for them, along with a very well-skilled martial artist who has the ability to create vacuum blades out of thin air." As people whistled in awe on hearing that, he added, "Six hundred-and-nine dead, four hundred-and-nineteen wounded, the Chamber itself shut down for two weeks to effect repairs. Even more so, King Fuyu was declared to be totally incompetent and replaced by his niece Pukaze as Regent of Neptune. And Lum-cha's sister Negau was finally able to eliminate the vast majority of the Urusian Imperial Round. So what happened on Yaminokuni?"
"A new replica of Lum was created to be Ika's wife," Kyech reported. "Even more so, a rogue stealth cruiser stolen by surviving Imperials was tricked into attacking Muzlim Madiina through their spaceport. They sailed right into an ambush of almost 400 anti-ship field guns firing antimatter warheads, then driven into orbit where ten Terran battleships were waiting. The ship was gutted, the crew abandoned it and beamed into the Dead Grove south of the city, hoping to escape. Hiromi — who was in command of the Terran force — sent many of her brothers and sisters from China's Tri-Kingdoms age into the Grove to track them down and capture them, thus ensuring that information could be obtained to locate whoever secretly supported the Imperial Round on Uru and her colonies and who may have escaped Negau's dragnet." She then smiled. "Among them was Ōgi."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
And then...
"He's here, isn't he?"
That was Hisur. "Yes," Kyech replied.
"My Lady K'ekhech, your prisoner."
Everyone turned...and then all the Vosians, even Nassur and Cinba, gaped at the sight of Ōgi ot'ndai-Zkuhsbagh, stripped to just a loincloth and a muscle shirt (Noukiites, while respecting Vosian cultural mores concerning public nudity, didn't really care to replicate them, even with prisoners), having been dragged into the room by two scowling Imperial Marines. Seeing that, Shermansur laughed. "Who in Lecasur's name did that to him?!"
"Moroboshi Hiromi's distant cousin from their first lives and spiritual kinsman in this life, Koro Sonami. With the assistance of a very beautiful straight double-edged long sword known as the Mustang Blade." Kyech walked over to indicate the wounds. "Direct cut by the tip here," she said, pointing to the slash across the nose and cheek. "Broken wrist bones thanks to an underhand swing of the blade when sheathed," she added, pointing to his wrecked right wrist. "The eye smashed in by the cross guard." Here, she pointed to the swollen-shut left eye, and then she pointed to the bruised gut and then the broken left ankle. "And then an abdominal strike with the sword pommel, thus lifting him off the ground and making him fall, breaking his ankle."
By then, all the military people had gathered to take a closer look. "Quite amateurish," Hisur then concluded with clinical detachment. "No formal training."
"On the contrary, Master Hunter," P'yap'ya stated. "Somumi is quite skilled in both the longbow and duelling halberds. Though I don't..."
"P'yap'ya, I said 'Sonami,' not 'Somumi,'" Kyech cut her off.
"Who is Sonami?" At'at'at' then asked.
"She's Ch'esyuk's spirit-sister."
The other Flower Youth blinked, and then they nodded in understanding. "So what was Hiromi's request when she turned this murderer over to your custody to bring here?" Nassur asked. "I think I personally speak for everyone in the Confederation in saying this: Seeing this animal brought to the bar of justice would be a good thing."
"N-n-Nassur-sama...I did that...!"
"Oh, shut up, Ōgi!" Cinba snapped, which made the deposed president of Phentax Two wince as she glared at him. "All you've ever done since Lum-cha made that horrible mistake a decade ago and saved your worthless hide from the Terrible Swamps has always been about YOU, not about her or all of her friends or all the people on Earth whose lives you deliberately threatened with an annihilation bomb of all things until the Noukiites removed it! A pity they never elected to drop it on Lumukyō; we would have been forever rid of you and all your stupid cronies once and for all time!"
"Oh, Ao-cha, that would make them victims!" Junba protested as she gazed on her twin sister. "After all, just like we lost five million of our brothers and sisters six years ago thanks to this trench-wave, his people lost eight million of his brother and sister sycophants when the Lady K'ekhech and Lord Varanko destroyed Phentax Twelve. When they turned around and took the Niphentaxians' slaves away!"
"THEY ARE ONLY MACHINES!" Ōgi cried out.
"Oh?" Nassur asked. "We all recognize Shogai Dakejinzō as a sentient being. And she's less organic than any Avalonian! Even the Mikado acknowledges that!"
"Nassur, it's just like Elder Ganzo has always said!"
Eyes locked on At'at'at'. "What's that?" Fujisur asked.
The green-haired free warrior smirked as she walked over to glare intently into Ōgi's lone working eye. "'The crimes of my guilty race will never be purged away but with blood! I had once believed that without very much bloodshed, it might be done. I know differently now. The purge must be total and it must be done without mercy! Only then would the last century of misery we have imposed on sentient beings — descent of the very world where the Maidens of the Eternal Voyager now reside — will be answered!'"
"HEAR! HEAR!" Shermansur howled, clapping his hands.
The others in the room all applauded, and then they paused as Hisur cleared his throat. "Nassur did ask an important question just now," the silver-haired commandant of the Special Hunter Corps then declared. "Lady K'ekhech, what exactly did the Lady Hiromi propose when he turned this creature over to you to be brought here?"
"That he not die," Kyech responded. "That he be forced to live the rest of his natural life, isolated and imprisoned — I would recommend the prison on Daltos Island in the Central Sea — until the time comes for him to face the Ch'uoeuk."
Everyone blinked, and then people nodded. "I'm sure both Admiral Ninsur and Commander Hunba would gladly support such a thing," Hessur then stated. "They would have to see this in person, though. If I may, Lady K'ekhech, can I be permitted to step outside and communicate with the Alliance Army headquarters camp?"
Kyech nodded. "P'yap'ya, take him outside. If Ninsur and Hunba require escort to come here, be prepared to provide same. Sianba, I assume you wish to call the Mikado and inform him of this? He did make a most concerted effort to launch a retaliatory strike against Phentax Two in the wake of the bio-bombing attack."
Sianba smiled. "My thanks, Lady K'ekhech."
"I'll be ready to escort him here," At'at'at' then offered.
The Dragonspeaker nodded. Only Nassur was quick to see the slight twitch of a smile curling one side of her mouth as the others began chatting away with each other...
An hour later...
"My Lady K'ekhech, the Lord Admiral Ninsur of the Vosian Defence Force serving the Alliance to Restore the Confederation...and his most noble wife, the Lady Herald Hunba, commander-in-chief of the Army of the Alliance to Restore the Confederation."
"Be welcome here, both of you," Kyech said as she nodded at P'yap'ya's words.
Ninsur — one look at him and many could immediately tell where Nassur got his good looks from, though his hair and eyes were deep red and dark green respectively — smiled as he bowed his head at the woman who had saved his life during the Battle of Colony Forty, giving the Dragonspeaker a proper Noukiite fist-in-palm salute. "Lady K'ekhech, it's a delight to see you again under such wonderful circumstances."
She nodded. "Ninsur. Hunba. Please take a seat. Stewards, some tea."
Everyone — even those who were on the Mikado's side — stood and bowed as Ninsur and Hunba walked over to take their seats. The latter, a very slender and beautiful woman with the same brown hair and blue eyes her son possessed (though she had lost her right eye in a skirmish eight years ago; that was now covered with an eye patch), smiled before she turned to glare at the barely-conscious Ōgi, who was prostrate on the floor and being guarded by two Imperial Marines with drawn Peacemaker rifles. "Hearing how much your friend's cousin worked this monster over, I took the liberty of asking Master Healer Fressur to come here at once." As people gaped at her, Hunba smiled. "My friends, please! The Lady Hiromi accomplished what hunters and soldiers on both sides of this war we're involved in have tried to accomplish for six years! Does that not grant her the ancient right of declaring the tracked one's disposition?"
Hisur nodded. "You are quite correct, Madame Hunba. Hearing of the great family Art she and her siblings inherited thanks to the Lady Grandmaster Negako, it is quite easy to declare that the Lady Hiromi, the Lady Tariko and the Lord Ataru are each all master hunters by the ancient laws of Vos. What happened at Morningstar Plain, as the Lady K'ekhech can confirm — not to mention that whole disgusting business with the Konton pirates — proves that beyond any shadow of a doubt." He then slipped off his tinted glasses to reveal two small yet quite wise black eyes. "The Master Hunter Hiromi passed on her most heartfelt sympathies — and that of not just the leaders of Earth, but all of New Avalon! — for what happened to our people. To deny her truly well-thought proposal concerning the final fate of the prisoner Ōgi — to see him waste away on Daltos for the rest of his useless and worthless life while that which he created back on his home world is forever smashed down by President Miree ot'ndai-Boghar and her supporters — would be most disrespectful."
"Agreed," Ninsur said with a smile; despite their being opponents now and despite Hisur having been the commandant of the school where Ninsur's son had spent the majority of the first fourteen years of his life under conditions that were simply unspeakable, he had always respected Osur's successor as leader of the Special Hunter Corps. If there was any way he — and his wife, who was a political moderate in the Mikado's government — could be saved, that would go a long way in helping the many rifts of the past century finally heal. "So let's just..."
All the Vosians' eyes then glowed as the main doors then opened, revealing At'at'at', who bowed and saluted her lover. "My beloved Lady K'ekhech, the Great Leader of the People's Confederation of Vos, the Master Hunter of Dali'la and Lord Marshal of the Defence Force of the Confederation, the Lord Mikado...and His Most Serene Imperial Highness, the Crown Prince Sheko of the Imperial Yehisrite Principality of Kyotos."
Gasps filled the hall as At'at'at' turned and bowed her head to the two elderly warriors that then walked inside, giving them a formal salute. The others in the hall — even Ninsur, Hunba, their son and their daughter-in-law — all rose to politely bow to the two newcomers. Gazing at the array of useful lackeys, blood enemies and the alien warriors who currently now hosted him, the Mikado smiled as he bowed in return, his dark eyes flashing with intensive calculation, genuine interest...and a clear hint of the madness many in the Confederation and beyond believed he had begun to experience long before the Civil War began. He was dressed in his normal black officer's uniform, a kill-belt wrapped around his waist and both shoulders indicating a long and successful career as a hunter and a soldier. His slate-grey hair was trimmed to proper military shortness, as was his beard. A peaked cap was on his head, matching what was normally worn by senior officers in the Defence Force, though the cygnet — the traditional symbol of the Confederation — hat badge was black, not gold as it had been in the years before he had taken power and not the white worn by the officers of the Alliance Army; he chose black because of his past life as a Silent One.
Beside him, Sheko of Kyotos was adorned in his normal armour-enhanced chainmail bodysuit with cape wrapped around his shoulders, coloured magenta with gold and silver trim on the edges to denote his home principality on the planet Yehisril. Naturally, he was also armed with a sheathed broadsword, though it was tied down with gold peace chains to indicate his respect for Noukiios' neutrality in Vos' long and blood-soaked civil war. Swarthy-skinned as his entire race were, he appeared to be a man half the Mikado's age despite their being both having well lived past their four hundredth birthdays. Blond-haired and blue-eyed with a moustache, he also had a very calculating look on his face, touched also with a bit of madness; it was publicly known he and the Mikado were pe'cha and his rule over Kyotos — which started near the time the Mikado overthrew the government of Vos to become President-for-Life — had become somewhat erratic in recent decades. Still, he was one of the most feared warriors in the Royal Kingdoms, his principality both the richest and most populous. He was often challenged for his throne, but he had beaten all comers...though he had yet come to face Nassur's own stepfather Varanko, who was a little over a third Sheko's age and quite the deadly human killing machine in his own right. Reflecting on that, Nassur tried not to smile. While Varanko held years of experience over his most famous student, Dakejinzō was almost impossible to kill thanks to her being a synthezoid created by an unknown race five million years ago that was fitted with unbelievable regenerative abilities, and Kyech welded the equal power of a major god, there were only two beings in all known space Nassur himself was genuinely frightened of: Master Kyōsur of Pashansho...and Moroboshi Hiromi's sister Negako.
Against either of them, Sheko would never stand a chance.
"Welcome, sir," Kyech said as she gazed dispassionately at the Mikado, and then she smiled at Sheko. "Prince Sheko. My Empress passes her compliments to you and prays your rule over your noble principality is most beneficial for your subjects."
Sheko was quick to sense the quip against his more questionable actions against his people in the Dragonspeaker's words, though he did not comment on it. Like many on Vos, many on Yehisril — despite their normal disdain for the resurrectionist beliefs Noukiites held as sacred — had come to respect this resurrected warrior from the bloodiest chapter of Noukiios' long history as a united people, reborn to life and allowed to properly use the powers the mightiest ch'uokyek of all gifted to her in her first life. Kyech had travelled to Yehisril and several of her colonies in the past ten years or so to deal with insane miscreants from Yiziba...especially one time where she had fought a lunatic named Tracker, who wanted to slaughter a herd of wild mountain sloths Kyech had found to be pretty. THAT epic fight had been one for the bards to sing about!
"My thanks to you for relaying those kind words to me, Most Noble Blood-Sister of the Grand Sky Lord Nengmek'i. Please convey my most profound respects to your noble Empress when you return to Suchkyuk. I pray her rule over the Imperial Dominion will be for the benefit of all for a long time to come." He then straightened himself. "Agents of mine on Yaminokuni reported to me of the Lady Hiromi's most cunning plots against the Urusian Imperials and this slug here." He nodded disgustedly towards Ōgi, who was now shivering at the sight of the man who had dared threaten the life of Lum-sama and her blessed and most holy family years ago...and then escaped his most righteous punishment when the followers of the One True Faith had retaliated in a way that had even stunned those who were actively working to overthrow this beast, especially Nassur-sama's parents. "Hence, I was able to get here quickly since I suspected the good lady would hand this fool over to the citizens of this world to ensure they got their justice even though the Lady Lum and her friends also suffered grievously at the hands of their 'most faithful.'" As rueful laughter filled the room, Sheko's eyebrow arched. "Tell me, Kyech: What were the Lady Hiromi's wishes concerning this fool's fate?"
"Rotting for the rest of his years in Daltos Prison," Hisur declared.
Sheko blinked, and then he roared with mirth, a booming sound that made many of the Vosians visibly wince; if she had ever met a Yehisrite, Seki Haneko would undoubtedly then come to believe her new lover Sandi McLugh was one. "Oh, WELL DONE, young Hiromi! Well done indeed!" he declared. "If THAT doesn't prove that her people are worthy of the gifts the Avalonians have come to give them, NOTHING will!"
Hearing that, everyone in the room save two then applauded. Ōgi was moaning and shaking his head, his mind — now pretty much lost to madness thanks to what Benten had made him do in the Dead Grove not hours before — drifting to and fro as he moaned apologies to Lum-sama for being made to kill her like that.
And the Mikado...
"No...he must die...he must DIE!...HE MUST DIE!"
Sheko's hand slapped down the Mikado's as he drew his pistol and moved to aim it at the Niphentaxian. "STAY YOUR HAND!" the Yehisrite snapped as the Vosian dictator stared wide-eyed at him. "Much that I understand your desire to see this one done away with, old friend, the Lady Hiromi has a valid point! Let this one rot in Daltos; your brothers in the Shrine of Dali'la will be more than willing to make sure he suffers for the rest of his years before being cast to the pits of the Afterworld!"
"And returned as a dog, of course!"
Sheko blinked, and then he gazed on At'at'at'. "While I personally can never believe what you hold as sacred truth, young At'at'at', perhaps that WOULD be a befitting fate..."
"How dare you...after all the years we...!"
"SHEKO, LOOK OUT!"
CRUNCH!
"UUURK!"
As Cinba then stopped herself from shooting a stun bolt at the Mikado, everyone watched in morbid curiosity as the Vosian dictator blinked before he collapsed to the floor at Sheko's feet. The Yehisrite prince, who had felled his oldest friend with the stab of his right index and middle finger into the Mikado's ribs over his heart, could only shake his head. "Three hundred years since you first challenged me on the fields of Tizros...and you fell for the very same thing I used to defeat you back then!" He closed his eyes. "I would believe, old friend, you would have finally learned..."
"I think that indicates he's my responsibility now."
Eyes turned to see the middle-aged man with the short, curly dark brown hair, the twinkling brown eyes and the moustache standing at the doorway, currently accompanied by P'yap'ya. He was dressed in the traditional field jumpsuit worn by healers, overall green — as was his kill-belt...though healers did not call the traditional symbol of successful hunts that! — with a gold cygnet on his chest indicating his total neutrality in the Civil War. When it came to this man, that was respected as much as the neutrality of the Noukiite Quarter...and Heaven help anyone stupid enough to violate that; he was personally under Master Kyōsur's protection. Before anyone could say anything, P'yap'ya bowed and saluted Kyech. "My Lady K'ekhech, the Grand Master Healer and Mind-Healer Fressur of Vos," she declared before bowing to him.
Fressur nodded, and then looked down at the unconscious Mikado before he turned to gaze on Sheko. "When I get him stabilized and under some sort of decent treatment, would you be offended if I came to Kyotos City to see you? I think you need it."
The prince of Kyotos blinked, and then he nodded. "Much that for a long time, I believed I was well, I will welcome such a visit. As long as you are discrete."
"Well, my granduncle taught me some things," the legendary mind-healer mused.
Sheko blinked, and then he roared with laughter. "You're blood-kin to Kyōsur?!" he demanded. As Fressur nodded — ignoring the gaping looks from all the Vosians in the room; no one knew that! — the leader of Kyotos then smiled. "You have learned much. I suspect he is quite proud of you, especially after your actions three years ago on Colony Two."
The Vosian healer shrugged. "Wasn't really much."
The Yehisrite crown prince nodded. "I await your coming, Grand Healer. Signal me when you are on your way." He then sighed. "Do take care of him. Despite his dishonourable actions to his people, he is still a great warrior. And he is still my friend." With that, he turned and bowed deeply to Kyech, who bowed her head in return. "Hisri'hilm, Kyech. When next you come to Kyotos, we will share some blood wine together!" Sheko then gazed on Cinba. "I will not forget your actions this day, Lady Cinba. You, your husband, children and stepchildren — even the one who serves your former teacher as an Executioner — have nothing to fear from me." He then straightened himself.
"May I make a small request?"
Sheko gazed knowingly on Nassur. "Nakanba?"
The independent hunter nodded. The prince of Kyotos then nodded. "Done."
And with that, he was gone. The whole room then seemed to relax as an exhale of relief escaped everyone there. Fressur then smiled. "If I can make use of this nice place's cockpit to look over my patients, Kyech, I would appreciate it."
A Noukiite Imperial Marine came up to salute him. "Master Healer, we have a full platoon of field medics with us! If you wish, they will prepare the cockpit for you. Our transportation platoon will be on standby to obtain supplies."
"Appreciated, Sergeant."
Litters were then brought up to carry the Mikado and Ōgi away, Fressur following the Marines to begin work on them both. Once they were gone, silence fell as those who had come from the Tower of the Future exchanged looks. Seeing them, their opponents felt a sudden surge of sympathy for these people. Loyal to their evil and insane leader — though they obviously had not personally see him as that! — right to this very moment, they were now effectively leaderless! And with over a million troops in Lecashuto prepared to make a last-ditch defence of the capital...!
Hunba then perked as Sianba took a deep breath. "Commander Hunba," the Minister of the Interior then declared. "While we all remained loyal to a clearly questionably sane man — especially if Doctor Fressur discovers what's going on his mind turns out to be what I suspect it is — we did so because we felt we had no choice. Much that we admire you, your husband and your subordinates for your incredible ability to unite so many diverse groups together to fight for a free Vos, we have yet to really see what you truly plan for the 'after-war' phase. What are your goals for our people past reconstruction and restoration of government? Do you plan improvements in government or the economy? If you decided to just put things back to the way they were a century ago, I guarantee this is going to happen again!"
"We know," Hunba stated. "As a matter of fact, one of the big things driving our demands for surrender of the Lecashuto garrison and your government intact was a hope to get people such as yourself — and the senior officers with you now — to help us chart a new path for the future! I agree; if we went back to a hundred years ago after we beat the Ipraedies, we'd be the biggest fools in the universe. I don't want that!"
The people from Lecashuto took that in, and then Fujisur cleared his throat before he walked around the table to stand before Shermansur. He gave the elder officer a salute, which was returned. "Admiral Shermansur, speaking as senior military commander of the forces loyal to the People's Confederation, I would like to propose an immediate cease-fire effective today at midnight Lecashuto time to allow both sides to rest, recuperate and prepare for the final reunification of our people under one banner and one government." He gazed at Kyech. "Lady K'ekhech, with your permission, we need copies of the internal security tapes so that we can show the more passionate of our subordinates what just happened here. They've grown up their whole lives with the Mikado and they can't imagine him leading them astray. He drew a weapon while within the sovereign territory of the Imperial Dominion of Noukiios, guaranteed by a treaty our ancestors signed in good faith and sealed in the blood of the crew who bravely served the Venerable Lord T'uhut'k'e of Nehech and died for people that were still strangers to them."
"If I may, Lord Admiral..."
He turned...and then smiled as a charming female security officer handed him a package of what would resemble computer hard-drives to Terrans. "What did happen just now would have forced the Empress to reconsider her Imperial Rescript of Neutrality Toward Vos, which she did not desire when she was alerted of the Lady K'ekhech's coming here," she warned. "She was quick to sense the Lady K'ekhech's mission; we were fully in the know concerning what the Terrans and the Avalonians planned to do with the horned dog people and their foolish allies, so it was quick to conclude who was being brought here by She Who Speaks to Dragons." A smile to Kyech, and then she saluted him. "May you have a long and peaceful life reuniting with lost friends and working to rebuild this most ancient land, Lord Admiral Fujisur. And when the day finally comes that you slip away from this mortal coil and ascend to the next life, I pray you are not forced into Purgatory."
Fujisur blinked, and then, after handing the cassette to Hisur, saluted her back. "Lady Captain, when the day comes you face the Ch'uoeuk at the end of your time in this life, may he judge you well for your good deeds." He then relaxed as something then came to him, and then a smile crossed his face. "He was wrong, you know."
She perked. "Who was?"
"The Lord T'uhut'k'e," the vice-admiral said. "He said to President Isanba after the First Great Hifuto Plague that your society is 'poorer and younger' than ours. Your Ch'uoeuk united your world with a government that would last two thousand years...and that happened three thousand years before Lecasur led us into freeing ourselves from the Seifukusu, and then brought our world together as one people."
The captain then hummed. "We have never felt that way, Admiral. Even those of us who now bear the blood of the World of Holy Reincarnation within their veins. To say anything of the True Sacred Bone Lady who bears a ch'uokyek's blood in her veins." She nodded to Kyech, At'at'at' and P'yap'ya. "That ultimately proves the statement the Most Venerable Inuch'ech said at His Great First Sermon where K'ap'ang Temple would rise south of Yekna. By our being forced to face the Pool of Reincarnation and the Judgement of the Ch'uoeuk every time we die and then are given new life, we are renewed. But the most inner heart of our souls still remembers our first lives in more primitive times." She sighed. "Perhaps in thousands of years to come, that might change. But we hopefully will not forget the noble lessons our faith has always taught to us." She bowed. "Heaven's blessings on you, sir."
He bowed in return. "And to you as well, Captain."
The others all nodded...
Later...
"You planned all this, didn't you?"
Kyech perked on hearing Nassur's voice, and then she slowly nodded. "I hoped it would go that way," she admitted. "Sheko's coming was a welcome surprise that ensured it would work and peace will finally descend on Vos." A sigh escaped her. "And perhaps, if Master Fressur is successful with the Mikado, he will alleviate the shackles his pe'cha bond with Sheko unleashed on him. Were the Mikado slain — by you, by your wife, by anyone — Sheko would have unleashed unholy vengeance on whoever had done that and his own people would have suffered as a result of it." She shook her head. "No. I know what it means to fight a useless, meaningless war, Nassur. That was why I was condemned to be frozen between death and life for three thousand years until the Elder Ganzo gave me this new body." She held up her free hand; the other one was holding a meat bun from the small pile of pastries P'yap'ya had brought the Dragonspeaker to this bench near the entrance of the Temple of Infinite Salvation. "Hiromi knows that, too."
Nassur nodded. He had met the Moroboshi siblings after the bloody Battle of Morningstar Plain six months ago, immediately following Ganzo dai-Louc giving Ataru's sisters their own bodies — and lives! — they could truly call their own. Negako, as he reflected before, had scared him to death; she had easily defeated both him and Cinba, and then bested a mass attack by Hazel and her fellow hybrids — they had come to Okusei to visit their adopted parents' friends there — with the ease of a knife slicing through hot bread spread. Tariko was adjusting to being forced to take a girl's body — the Avalonians were still debating whether or not to allow themselves that sort of capability with the bioroid factory — but she had gladly accepted the expat Vosian with the cheery phrase, "Any friend of Lum's is a friend of mine!" Ataru, the man who had saved his people from potential Urusian invasion, was debating if he would return all the medals the nations of Earth and the United Nations awarded him in the wake of the Tag Race (he would do that as Lum later told him), plus was still recovering from losing Hensō like he had and was then realizing that trying to pursue the Dragonspeaker romantically might not bear fruit. And Hiromi had taken one look into his blue eyes, and then leaned up to gently kiss his forehead.
"You are tōshi."
Tōshi. Fighting soldier.
For Hiromi, that was a profound statement, one Nassur would come to truly understand once Negako had explained what the word had meant. As he had endured at Mensohn for fourteen years, witnessed years later on Colony 71, put through by Varanko on Cademus, then lived through over the last twenty years...yes, he could see the comparison between a renegade psi-hunter like he and the thousands of tragic souls forced to live again and again, pushed by the darkness of their first lives to relieve those bloody years in China even if they slowly migrated through Korea into Japan. On remembering that, he then blinked. "Will she succeed? With the other tōshi?"
She nodded. "She has made great inroads. And in a way her brothers and sisters from China's own Tri-Kingdoms age were not expecting." She gazed at him. "She did not command them. She asked for their help. She did not conquer them. She befriended them. She did not judge them. She accepted them with all their human faults. She did not despise them as her younger child had come to despise them. She vowed to save them from the 'fate' forced on them by the magatama bearing the souls of their past-selves that they wear." With that, she gazed on the growing night over a Lecashuto that was about to embrace a new day of peace. "And that had to happen to the Mikado as well, Nassur. When the history books are written years and centuries after we all are gone from this life, they will record his good deeds. His fight to protect Vos from the grasp of Ipraedies socialism. His taking control of a government that was floundering in malaise and scandal, having long before lost Heaven's Mandate. His drive to revive industry, pump new vigour in everyone's lives, show the people of the Confederation that they did not have to wallow in mediocrity for all their years." She then sighed. "And yes, his bad deeds will be recorded as well. The Hunter Corps. Colony 71. His breaking the most fundamental social tenets that have ruled this land for so long." A shrug twitched her shoulders. "The judgement? I can't predict that and I won't bother predicting something like that. Let's leave it to the historians."
"Yeah," Nassur whispered...
The End
WRITER'S NOTES
The whole conflict that has torn apart Vos for thirty-five years prior to the time period of Phoenix From the Ashes was one of the central themes of The Senior Year, especially given that Nassur was the primary character introduced by my friend Mike Smith into the series. While the general themes of that event have remained the same in this story, certain changes (especially given my changing the Noukiites from a small "regional" power to one of the effective "superpowers" of the local cluster) had to be made to compensate.
For those of you interested in reading the original story, you'll need to do a deep scan of a lot of TSY, starting right away with Nassur's first appearance in "Return of Memory" and then picking up things with "Shinobu's Best Friend" and then from "Dakejinzō's Story" onward, especially the three stories immediately following that one: "Nassur's Story," "Be Forever Nassur" and "Stage Zero."
One big change I did in this storyline was to allow Nassur's wife Cinba to live past the shuttle accident that killed her in the flashback scene in "Final Cinba." They also have two sons, Akisur (who appeared in "Great Father Ataru Stage Seven: Rebirth") and Hamasur (who, in a different format, will soon appear in Twenty Years Later).
And now, the specific notes...
1) The members of the Flower Youth introduced here — as indicated in the writer's notes for Phoenix From the Ashes — are based on characters from Koihime Musō converted over into Noukiites (who are Klingon-like physically) in appearance. Kyech (real name Seu-P'ye Yesu-Re Hechnich'-K'ekhech of Ait'uch Nehech) is based on Ryofu Hōsen (Ren), who first appeared in the fifth episode of the first KM series, "Kan'u Exterminates a Monster." At'at'at' (real name Seu-Nich Yesu-Ak Hechnich'-Ekpuo of Ait'uch Nehech) is based on Chinkyū Kōdai (Nenene), who appeared in the seventh episode of Shin-KM, "Chinkyū Is Taken In by Ryofu." P'yap'ya (real name Seu-Nech Yesu-Kai Hechnich'-Kep'uo of Eap'ye) is based on Ten'i (Ruru), who first appeared in the sixth episode of Shin-KM, "Ten'i is Tested by Sōsō." Yoai (real name Seu-Se Yesu-He Hechnich'-Nakuk of Eap'ye) is based on Kyocho Chūkō (Kii), who first appeared in the seventh episode of KM, "Chōhi Has a Fight With Kan'u." Seup'it' (real name Seu-Ne Yesu-Ne Hechnich'-T'uokch'eng of Eap'ye) is based on Sōsō Mōtoku (Karin), who first appeared in the third episode of KM, "Chōhi and Bachō Fight Each Other." And Ch'esyuk (real name Seu-P'ya Yesu-K'i Hechnich'-Syechch'eng of K'uongno) is based on Ryūbi Gentoku (Tōka), who first appeared in the second episode of Shin-KM, "Ryūbi Visits Tōka Village."
2) The other characters appearing in this story and their introductions in TSY and elsewhere: Nassur first appeared in "Return of Memory;" this story was also where Cinba was first mentioned. Ōgi first appeared in "What Price For Love?" Shogai Dakejinzō first appeared in "Arrive Reiko-chan." The Mikado first appeared in "Dakejinzō's Story." Sussur, Hunba and Junba first appeared in "Nassur's Story." Ninsur was also mentioned in that story; in the timeline of TSY, he had died at the Battle of Colony Forty. Darenba first appeared in "Stage Zero." Sianba, Hisur and Osur first appeared in "Great Father Ataru Stage Seven: Re-birth," though Osur was first mentioned in "Nassur's Story" and a shadow-clone of his appeared in "Stage Zero." Shermansur first appeared in "Great Father Ataru Stage Nine: Redemption." Hazel and her fellow hybrids from Project: Superwarrior first appeared in "Enter Space-Hybrid Hazel." Varanko first appeared in "Ancient Ties," which is where we learned the fate of Hazel's aunt Nakanba (who is mother to the only Superwarrior hybrid to become a trainee Executioner on Yehisril after the events of that story, Yukio). Sheko first appeared in "Great Father Ataru Stage Five: Rescue;" it would be his death prior to the events in "Shinobu: Warrior Princess of Kyotos" that would forever change things for Ataru's ex-girlfriend. Miree ot'ndai-Boghar is a character from Lonely Souls. Kyōsur would appear in the Twenty Years Later story "The Beginning of the Circle." Fressur is also a 20YL character due to appear in the future; he is modelled on the character of Major Sidney Freedman from the M*A*S*H television series (as played by Allan Arbus [1918-2013]). And Daltos Island and the Shrine of Dali'la first appeared in "Lufy's Story."
3) The formal names for units like the Mikado Marines, much less the Mikado's own government (and place locations such as the Tower of the Future), have never been used before; when Mike and first introduced these groups, locations and concepts, we never really sat down and thought out about things like that.
4) The Sceptre of Lecasur was the object that Nassur was forced to quest for thanks to the Mikado in "Nassur's Story." In truth, this device (as was revealed later in "Stage Zero" and also in Lonely Souls) is an old Sagussan genesis bomb-like weapon called the Genesis Wand of Parah. Fortunately for the Vosians, since the Genesis Wand/Sceptre had been drifting in space for over ten thousand years when Lecasur found the thing while commanding his exploration ship Unification, the functions that would later enable the Sceptre to completely revitalise all life on Colony 71 (as shown in the epilogue of "Stage Zero") had long since been disabled. And the Planet of Shadows, where the Sceptre was found, is a Dyson sphere (but a habitable one, not like the one found by the U.S.S. Enterprise in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Relics") located on the opposite side of the galaxy (in Delta Quadrant) from Vos itself.
5) Translations: -cha — the Vosian and Yehisrite version of the Japanese "-chan" suffix honorific and means the same thing; Ch'uokyek — Noukiite spirit-dragon; Ao-cha — the Vosian way of addressing one's elder sister; Huokti-t'uchpa — Noukiite version of nikuman; Trench-wave — Vosian euphemism for someone who is fundamentally evil, demented or just plain stupid (their brainwave patterns are "too low in the trenches" when sensed by any self-respecting Vosian, in other words); Ch'uoeuk — Literally "King of Kings," this is the posthumous name of Noukiios' first worldwide ruler, Muchach; Hisri'hilm — the standard greeting and farewell used by Yehisrites anywhere they go, literally meaning "Die with honour"; World of Holy Reincarnation — Noukiite euphemism for Sagussa; True Sacred Bone Lady — Said in Noukiite as Hechnich'kye, this is the social rank the Flower Youth are acknowledged as having once given a style name on reaching adulthood.
6) The ten-spoke wheel on the Noukiite flag visually represents the Ten Orders (called here the "Sacred Orders"), the ten super-castes all citizens of the Imperial Dominion belong to throughout their lives. In descending order, they are the Yekhu (priests and clerics), K'et'hu (monks, nuns and missionaries), Eip'ihu (royalty and nobility), Eyukhu (guardians, soldiers, police and teachers), K'uot'hu (healers), T'up'hu (farmers), Huhat'hu (urban dwellers), Aekhahu (government servants), Naihu (the personal servants) and the Uohu (the untouchable trades). Each of the Ten Orders is represented by a symbolic animal (respectively save for the Huhat'hu: dragon, tiger, elephant, wildcat, serpent, mule, monkey, mouse and dog); thus, per Noukiite religious beliefs, it is conceivable (as the Eunuch Spaceman would say) for someone to be resurrected as an animal and not a person in a future life. Huhat'hu, as they cover a wide variety of occupations, has multiple caste symbols on their cheeks to identify them. The Flower Youth like Kyech are seen as part of the Eyukhu.
7) The Yizibajohei are a race of metahumans I based on the Levramites from Jim Valentino's parody comic series normalman that appeared in the 1980s. I made use of this race in various storylines at the Anime Add-venture, especially The Doctor Is In. And because they are as wild (if not wilder!) than people such as Captain Everything, people of most races in the galaxy are too afraid to say the race's name, calling them "They Who Must Never Be Named" or the "You Know Whos" (just as people in Harry Potter did concerning Voldemort); Yiziba itself gets the nicknames "The Unspeakable Place" or "You Know Where." Yiziba is a planet that is AVOIDED by all space-faring races as a result of that.
8) The "Eunuch Spaceman" is the Noukiite analogue of Zhèng Hé (1371-1433) from Chinese history.
9) Hifuto Syndrome is the intergalactic version of the Ebola virus and just as deadly.
10) As people who have read TSY know, Junba is actually Cinba's clone (as was revealed in "Stage Zero" and fully explained in "Great Father Ataru Stage Nine"). In the history of this universe, though, Cinba would know the truth about Junba and still accept her as her sister due to the fact that her mother Shuba would, after giving birth to her, never be able to bear children again. The Mikado's former wife Marinba was Junba's creator.
11) The joke concerning Kyech's eating habits comes straight from Koihime Musō, where Ren (Ryofu Hōsen) always makes everyone that watches her eat gush in awe at her impeccable table manners. If you see the ending song of the first series or watch the scene in the KM OVA where Ren is given food by Aisha (Kan'u Unchō) and her friends, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.
12) At'at'at's quote from Ganzo dai-Louc is actually derived (with modifications) from the note John Brown (1800-59) passed on to a friend before he was hanged on 2 December 1859. The actual quote is as follows: "I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now think, vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it might be done."
13) Pe'cha is the Vosian variation of marking one's blood-brother or blood-sister. Instead of sharing blood, a subtle psionic bond (like Jean Grey would form with Scott Summers in the X-Men comic) is forged between the two persons so marked. And while under most circumstances, a Vosian's mind normally can't really influence the mind of a non-Vosian bonded in pe'cha, there are often many exceptions as noted here.
14) Suchkyuk is Noukiios' capital city, an analogue of Sŏul (Seoul) in Korea. In the universe of TSY and its sequel series, it is known as "Noukiyek." It is located on the northwest coast of the southern continent, in territory that was often contested between Eap'ye, Hichp'u and K'uongno during the Tri-Kingdoms period.
15) Tizros is an earldom of Kyotos on Yehisril. Events concerning the leadership of that place were a major part of "Shinobu: Warrior Princess of Kyotos."
16) K'ap'ang Temple (or K'ap'ang-hi) is the Noukiite analogue of one of Korea's most famous sites, the Pulguk Temple (Pulguk-sa) which serves as the head temple of the Chogye Order of Buddhism, which was the first order to practice the native version of Zen (in Korean, Sŏn). K'ap'ang-hi was founded over 4000 years ago by Inuch'ech, the legendary founder of the worldwide Noukiite religion and the man who postulated the whole theories of reincarnation, the present divine fate of Muchach and created the spiritual and legal foundations of the Ten Orders. The temple itself is located to the southeast of the city of Yekna, the ancient capital of Hichp'u and the Noukiite analogue of one of Korea's most beautiful cities, Kyŏngju in the southeast part of North Kyŏngsang Province.
As an aside, Inuch'ech is the analogue to the Buddhist priest Ich'adon (501-527), who was the man who persuaded the king of Shilla at the time, Pŏphŭng (unknown dates of birth and death, ruled 514-540), to make that faith the state religion. He did it in a way that would shock anyone these days; Venerable Ich'adon accepted martyrdom to trick those in the royal court who didn't want the Buddhist faith spread over the land to accept the new religion when the king made his official proclamation. When he was executed, Venerable Ich'adon predicted that the earth would shake, the sun would darken, beautiful flowers would rain from the sky, his severed head would fly north to the sacred Mount Kŭmgang (located north of the Demilitarized Zone in the North Korean section of modern Kang'won Province near the East Sea coast) and milk instead of blood would spray a hundred feet in the air from his beheaded corpse!
Naturally, after noting all THAT, the doubting Thomases in the royal court saw what happened as a sign of the approval of the Heavens in accepting the Buddhist faith and agreed with the king's proclamation, which went into effect shortly after the Venerable Ich'adon's death. The priest's body, of course, was buried with proper respect on Mount Kŭmgang. In his honour, the Hŭngnyun Temple was erected as the first state-sponsored Buddist monastery in Shilla. The modern Hŭngnyun-sa can be found in the Yŏnsu Ward of the city of Inch'ŏn west of Sŏul.
17) The story title, for those who might want to know, is the deathbed quote of General of the Army Ulysses S. Grant (1822-85), the 18th President of the United States of America, when he passed away on 23 July 1885.