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Authors Note:...How? Just how? That is all I have to say. After watching the amazing Star Blazers 2199 to the point where the beautiful Melda Deitz and the equally beautiful Akira Yamato meet, I was intrigued with the way that their relationship developed from enemies, to something along the lines of mutual respect, to a form of friendship and perhaps a deeper respect for one another.
After watching the scenes between the two, and seeing how they interacted with one another, I was left with expectations of seeing a great many fanfics where the two were together and happy...
Instead I found...0 stories between the two, after trying two different variations of the search one being Melda x Akira and the other being Melda x Yamato, I found...nothing again. That is aside from a view cool pieces of fanart and such, but that is beside the point.
My fellow yuri fans, I cannot in good conscious allow for this to pass! I will fill the yuri tag for Star Blazers 2199 by myself if I must!
I will come up with as many different yuri pairings for this series as I can and will see them immortalized into the annals of fanfiction history by my lonesome if I must.
Some will be more than one-shots, others will be just one-shots, and some will be little more than either pure fluff with little plot or pure lemon with no plot. If you don't like it, well than you don't have to read it.
This one will be a mix of things namely fluff with some small plot (if you count *Spoilers Have been Omitted* as plot that is, angst, drama and romance.
For Now, however, we turn our gaze to a one-shot between the aforementioned beauties of the series.
I am going to be taking some liberties with how Garmillas society and such works (to be honest I am going to be making this up as I go along) because I don't think it is ever truly explained in depth in the series. This will apply to both this story and to any future Star Blazers 2199 stories that I do.
So yeah, let's just go and call this AU alright?
Disclaimer: If I owned Star Blazers 2199 it would have Yuki and Yurisha being a cannon pairing alongside Akira and Melda along with a few other things being different, but unfortunately, I do not own any thin related to it at all save this story. Ownerships of Star Blazers 2199 resides in the hands of Voyager Entertainment, I believe at least.
Now, on with the show my-
Oh boy, here we go again *sighs*
Resh! *Jumps out of chair and lands on floor*
Oh? Did I startle you? My, my, my friend you really need to work on your situational awareness you know?
Resh I swear to whoever is up there that I am going to-
Ah, ah, no need to get violent. Come on, let's get to work shall we. We have a lot of work to do if you truly intend to fill this tag by yourself, don't we? *Stretches out hand to pull Show up*
*Growls as he reaches out hand and takes Resh's hand and stands up* You...*Sighs*you have a point, but so help me if you startle me like that again I am going to...
Yeah, yeah, you'll end me I know. Heard it enough times to fill up the Marianna's Trench by this point.
All of them have been more than well deserved. Do I need to remind you about that time in Paris? We are still banned from entering that section of the city. And we still owe that restaurant for the stunt you and EX pulled, just how you managed to smuggle in live Emus, I have no clue.
*Titters amusedly* I told you then my friend and I will tell you again. 'A magician never reveals their secrets.'
Resh...*Pinches forehead as I count down from 10* you were thrown out of that school for whatever you did to them during that demonstration. No one has told me what happened that day. Only that the whole school was chasing you down the middle of town after you did whatever you did.
Ha ha ha...We had a small...miscommunication, that's all. Now, *Cracks knuckles* let's get to work shall we.
*Mumbles under breath* Miscommunication he says...alright let's get started-Hey! Get out of my seat!
Sorry, you snooze you lose old friend.
...I am going to grab another chair for you. If you are not out of that chair when I get back, I am going to throw you out of it. *Leaves in search of chair*
…Ah well, as he always says "On with the show my friends".
Story Starts Here
'Terrons are such strange beings' This was the thought that echoed through the head of the proud pilot of the Great Garmillas Empire, Melda Deitz as she sat down on her bunk within the chambers that had been provided to her by the captain of the battleship Yamato once she had joined on to the crew as an envoy from the Garmillans to the people of the worlds that they had wronged under the tyrannical rule of Ardal Dessler.
She was chosen to go as the diplomatic envoy, given the fact that she had prior experience with the crew of the Yamato, and was as such one of the very few Garmillas in existence who had had some form of direct contact with Terrons, as well as the fact that her fellow diplomat had all but demanded that she be sent alongside her.
The quarters were somewhat more spacious than the standard berthing chambers within a Gamelan vessel, which were typically small chambers, room for a bunk, a wardrobe, and a desk, and that was about it. That was of course with the exception of the Captain or Admiral's quarters which tended to be somewhat more opulent and spacious, the same going for other high-ranking officials such as the First Mate or such.
Despite the high position of her father within the imperial forces, she had always preferred to make her own way through the corps without having to rely on her father's influence for more than being able to take the mandatory tests and evaluations to be given her rank and place within the navy as a fighter pilot. Her father had never truly been a fighter, true he was an excellent leader and a great commander, and though her could certainly hold his own in a fire fight, he was no pilot or frontline soldier but her mother had been one of the best pilots that they had seen in several generations of her family, or at least that was what her father had told her.
Her mother had been on what was supposed to be a routine patrol of a previously conquered star system when her ship had malfunctioned, the distance between herself and her fellows was such that there was no time for any of her fellow pilots to attempt anything to assist her before her ship had slammed into an asteroid with enough force to cause great chunks of rock to be flung about from the impact and into the void of space surrounding what had become her grave.
Her body had been so thoroughly obliterated by the crash that they had been unable to recover anything of her save the few mangled pieces of scrap metal belonging to her ship turned coffin that had been flung out into the void alongside the rocks and stones, and a handful of horribly charred and warped pieces of flesh that had been mutilated by both the immensely opposing temperatures of the temporary inferno and the frigid sub-zero void of space and the jagged pieces of metal and stone that had torn and thrashed her apart on impact.
She had only been a child when her father had come to her room one day, the proud and indominatable admiral, the man who had always seemed to her to be some form of great avatar of the power of the Empire had been trembling, his weight partially supported by one hand being placed on the nearby wall as he staggered slightly into her room. His dark blue eyes normally as calm and cool as the great frozen tundras of remote rim worlds had been overflowing with tears that even his iron will and discipline had not been able to hold back, as he fought desperately to keep from breaking down sobbing before his now worried daughter.
That day was the first and last time she had ever seen her father cry, and the last day that she had let him see her cry. After that day, the two had drifted apart from one another in terms of emotions. The day she joined the military in full, embracing the proud traditions of her family, was the day that they had begun using more of the militaristic discipline to communicate with one another, saluting in place of embracing, Admiral and Pilot, later on Lower Storm Leader, in the stead of father and daughter.
Yet despite that distance and formal means of addressing one another they still cared for one another.
Didn't they?
Melda laid back on the bunk, her lower body hanging of the bed with her feet hovering just above the ground as she contemplated just what had brought on her thoughts. She knew she shouldn't be allowing words spoken by a man who was currently in the medical bay, and would soon be consigned to the brig for a sizeable amount of time if the fact that he had started what had evolved into a full-on melee that had the majority of the crew involved, to plague her thoughts and make her second guess what she believed she knew.
But she couldn't help herself, and so she allowed her thoughts to drift what had brought on her little bought of introspection as she waited patiently the answer to her internal query to come to her.
Flashback to Two Hours Earlier: Mess Hall of Yamato
She was honestly amazed that Terrons were capable of hearing themselves think with all of the noise being generated around them.
She had no idea just what was going on, only that the woman who had become a constant companion and she would even dare to say a good friend, Akira Yamamoto or Yamamoto Akira as she had told her was the proper way of greeting someone in her homeland(?) was equally as confused as her at the small amount of pandemonium that seemed to have engulfed them mess hall prior to their arrival.
Honestly, she was more confused than anything else when she had learned that Terrons, though viewing themselves as a singular collective species, Humanity, she had learned was the name that their species had chosen for themselves, but she had found it easier to refer to them as Terrons, they also viewed themselves as belonging to separate races within this singular race.
For the life of her she could not wrap her head around the concept of referring to a member of one's own species as a member of an entirely separate species just because of the land in which they were born or the color of their skin. True most Garmillas did discriminate against others who did not share their blue skin, but those individuals also came from completely different worlds, and, despite the astounding number of similarities between them, they were also members of entirely separate species as they had come from an entirely separate world.
She was more confused than anything else by the brief history lessons that she and Iscandarian Princess Yurisha had been receiving from their respective guides and... friends (She was honestly uncertain of just what the relationship between Yuki and Princess Yurisha was. Friends? Lovers? Partners? Sister? She honestly couldn't figure it out.) She had come to one simple conclusion that she had boldly stated to the Princess once their brief lesson with Lieutenant Mori, something that, much to her surprise, their guides had agreed with fully.
"Terrons are such strange beings."
The response from Akira to her statement was not to jump to the defense of her race's honor or image. Instead she placed her hand on her shoulder, the warmth of the contact surprisingly seeping through the material of her uniform prompting her to have to suppress a blush at the pleasant sensation, as the woman had calmly looked her directly in the eye.
Blue met Red as the woman calmly told her something that made her both confused and slightly worried, a sentiment that Princess Yurisha seemed to share if the way she looked at Lieutenant Mori as though seeking some form of reassurance that what the woman had said was not true only to share her slightly worried look when Yuki had simply placed her hands over her face as though she were embarrassed.
What Akira had told her was; "You have no idea. You think we're weird now, wait till we start getting to the more serious matter, or to some of the older events in history, like the Americans "Operation Fishbowl" or "The Running of The Bulls". If you think we're weird now, wait till we get to things like them."
Akira had given her a pat on the shoulder before she had beckoned her to follow her back to the mess hall for lunch. The sad part was that Melda had believed her on the matter of her species apparent collective insanity.
She honestly had no idea how Terrons were able to operate as a collective species in pursuit of their goals, when it seemed to her like most of the species should be consigned to a hospital undergoing mental evaluations to insure, that they hadn't lost their minds at birth or so.
Her attention had been snapped from her thoughts of the races apparent madness to the chaos taking place in the mess hall when Akira had stepped in from to them, her red eyes narrowed into slits as she opened her mouth and yelled out:
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!?"
Her roar having the effect of causing a portion of the chaotic yelling to subside, only for one part to grow even further in intensity as one particularly brave (or perhaps foolish) soul raised his own voice in response and yelled out a statement that had her eyes widening and her hands tightening to the point that she was amazed that the tray hadn't dented under the intense pressure she had begun exerting on it, her knuckles turning a lighter shade of blue under the strain.
"Well if it isn't the traitors!"
In a Garmillas ship, calling someone a traitor meant that you either better have definitive proof of their treason or to prepare for an on the spot reassignment to the brig for a sizeable amount of time, typically the amount depended on how much you managed to upset the C.O. over the course of your attempts at justification, and then to face a tribunal once you had returned to port or to the Home world. Some of those Tribunals tended to end in one facing the lash of one of your superiors until your back was little more than a mangled mass of welts and bloody gouges, until they were certain that you had learned your lesson. She had seen that happen more than few times during the former Chancellor's rule.
She was uncertain of just how the Terrons dealt with someone who allowed for their mouths to get them into as much trouble as the fool seemed to be desperate to get into. Not only had he just insulted her if she was correct, as well as a Princess of Iscandar and her friend(?), but he had also just insulted her own friend, and Garmillas can be quite protective of the honor of their own comrades.
She was about to step forward and make her own stance on the matter quite clear, namely by adding her tray to his head, and if the looks most of the those gathered were anything to go by, then she would probably not be alone in so doing.
She was more than willing to spend time in the brig if it meant to protecting the honor of both herself and her fellows, even if that meant being sent to the brig for beating this fool's brains out of his head with either a metal tray or her own bare hands.
However, before she could do so, Lieutenant Mori stepped forward, her eyes narrowed into a stern glare as she raised her voice to be heard above the noise of those gathered, as several more had started yelling at the man following his statement.
It idly occurred to Melda that she had never heard the normally calm and peaceful Lieutenant Mori yell before.
"Sub-Chief Nanbu Yasuo!" Her voice echoed through the Mess Hall, the yell not a deafening roar but certainly containing all the power of one, it was either said power or perhaps the fact that it was Yuki Mori, the normally calm and composed radar operator, the woman who almost always had a soft smile on her face, especially when in the presence of Yurisha, who had just yelled at the man, that had caused the room to go as silent as a grave.
She faintly noticed the aforementioned man, who had been largely concealed by a few other men, perhaps they had been shielding him from some form of mob justice or maybe they were his allies in whatever little argument they had just entered, peak his stand up on a bench, his face flushed and twisted into a snarl of anger.
The flush on his cheeks and the slightly shaky way that he stood, told her that the man was either intoxicated or had either been given or found something that had made him lose whatever inhibitions had been keeping his opinions to himself.
When the man's gaze turned to Yuki it was a look, she had seen on the faces of several of her superiors, or rather her former superiors, when they were speaking with a member of one the races that the Empire had conquered, a look of such open disgust and superiority that even when she had shared their views she had felt insulted at seeing the expression on their faces.
She could at least keep her opinions to herself and not go parading around that she was a bigot, granted those opinions had faded as she spent time on the Yamato and around the Terrons themselves, to the point that she had come to see them as equals.
An opinion that she believed her people would come to share in the future, however far off it might be.
That being said, she had no problems in believing that people like...that were the ones who were truly inferior.
The man's mouth opened and he started to yell at Lieutenant Mori in full, the hate dripping from his words like blood from an open wound, the disgust present in his tone was something that made her take a step forward, only for Akira to put a hand on her shoulder.
She felt the woman lean in close to her, her breathe tickling her ear as she whispered to her.
"Stay with Yurisha. Me and Yuki will deal with him."
She turned her head slightly, fighting down the urge to blush once more, and looked into the scarlet eyes of her friend.
She saw the steel in the woman's gaze and knew then and there that if the man continued to allow this deluge of bigoted filth to leave his lips that Akira would be the one to ensure he wouldn't be speaking for however long it took the ship's medic to fix a broken jaw, and maybe a few broken teeth as well.
She nodded her head slightly to the woman and moved to step closer to Yurisha, the movement drawing the man's gaze from Lieutenant Mori, who was now clenching her fists in anger as she seemed to fight the urge to go up to the man and knock some sense into him.
"See, Look! Those things always together, who knows what those two are plotting! For all we know this diplomatic mission might just be an excuse to get on board and sabotage the Yamato!"
The way he referred to them as things made the blood in Melda's veins run as hot as a lance of plasma, her will power being the only thing that kept her from attacking the man for daring to insult both herself and Yurisha in such a manner.
Well that and the fact that several of the man's won fellow crewman were now looking as though they were getting fed up with him, some wearing open looks of disdain and disgust in their eyes as they looked at the man who seemed to swell with some form of warped pride at the attention.
Perhaps he was so intoxicated that he was truthfully unaware of the anger in most of those gazes, or maybe he simply didn't care anymore as long as he had people listening to the gospel that he was preaching.
Melda forced herself to calm down as she moved to stand in front of Yurisha, she would lie on the cold floor dead before the allowed for the man to attack the Iscandarian if this rhetoric of his turned into violence.
And if they way several others moved closer to the nervous looking Iscandarian, who had pushed herself to where she was partially concealed behind Melda's frame, save for the long golden tresses of her hair, and the side of her face that she peaked out from behind Melda's own.
She felt the woman place her hands on her shoulders and could feel the small tremble in the woman's frame as she hid herself from the hate filled glare the man flung at her, Melda could feel the rage and anger she held towards the man begin to swell and grow into a form of malice reserved for those who had truly earned her anger and this man had just managed to take one of the top spots on that list.
She didn't tun to look at any of those around her, instead keeping her gaze, as cold as the steel of her gun which she was sadly absent at the moment, on Yasuo as Lieutenant Mori had called him.
She only turned her head a little bit to make sure that it was clear she was speaking to one of those around her when she asked the question:
"How long has he been going on about this?" She was honestly curious about just how long this man had been spilling this mindless dribble of bigotry as he continued to yell and growl out obscenities at them and at those around them.
Ranting to all of the Heavens and the Hells of existence about how all of them had gone and turned traitor to their own species by choosing to protect an Iscandarian, and possibly herself as well although she doubted that, over agreeing to his bigoted rhetoric.
The man nearest to her, a member of the engineering crew if the color of his uniform was anything to go by, turned his head slightly to look at her from the corner of his eye like she was doing and answered her.
"About an hour or so by now. It started off funny, watching him trip over his own words, going from subject to subject, and then he heard someone mention you or Yurisha and then he started...well I guess you can see." The man's voice was low and yet she could hear it perfectly well, even over Yasuo's insipid yelling and growling as he and Lieutenant Mori began an argument like nothing she had heard in years.
Her eyebrows raised slightly at hearing just how long this fool had been yelling his insults and spilling this litany of bigotry. She had honestly imagined that the poor fool had just been sitting at one of the tables, stewing in his own inadequacies and anger as he cursed the Garmillas and Iscandarians simply for existing for only a little while before those around him became fed up with him.
"And no one has gone to get Security, because?" She asked the man, truly curious as to why the fool wasn't being hauled off to sleep off his intoxication in a cell.
"Because aside from some occasional yells he was doing good at keeping himself composed, until a couple of minutes ago when a few others started arguing with him and then he lost it. One of the guys from tactics ran off to get security but they probably couldn't find them."
"Why not?" She asked curious as to where the guards were at a time like this.
"They're doing some type of training drill in the hold. Even if we're no longer at war with each other we've still got to keep on our toes in case something happens." The man said, probably referring to the attempted coup that she had heard about from Akira a few days ago, or to a surprise attack by elements still loyal to Dessler's Regime.
"So, it might take them a little while to find them if they didn't know that. Hell, I only know because the lot of us in engineering had to set up the course their going through. With any luck someone went to get the captain as well because-"
He was cut off when she put her hand to his chest and pushed him out of the way as she herself moved back a bit, almost knocking Yurisha over in the process but also avoiding the tray that Yasuo had just flung at them.
The loud clanging of the metal on the ground had become the only sound audible in the now silent room as Yasuo glared at her now and not the Lieutenant, the rage in his eyes visible to her through whatever haze of intoxication the man was under or perhaps he was simply looking and acting like he was drunk due to stress.
She was no genius in psychology, but she could safely say that Yasuo looked like someone who had gone well past the threshold of the stress they could endure. She had seen that look several times in the eyes of her fellow soldiers during the particularly arduous campaigns or missions.
Yet that did not excuse what the man had just done.
She looked Yasuo dead in the eye, a gaze of such focused malice that it made the man actually take a step back in slight surprise as she looked at him as though he were one of if not the most repugnant beings in existence.
She clenched her fists tightly as she attempted to reign in her temper and prevent herself from giving the man what he seemed to want by beating him into such a mangled heap of flesh and bones that he wouldn't even be able to raise a finger without crying out in agony.
It was more the fact that he could have hit her charge than herself that had her upset, that coupled with his blatant breaking of military protocol and the bigoted insults that had been pouring from his mouth even as she had spoken to the man from engineering, aimed at both the princess behind her and her friends, had managed to do what much greater things had failed at doing and pushed her to the limit of her own control.
She would not stand to see the honor of those she called her comrades, no her friends, be insulted by the likes of this drunken fool.
She was about to open her mouth to make her own opinions about the man very clear, when a very welcome voice filled the Mess Hall.
"What in the world is going on in here!?"
Came the voice of one Juzo Okita, an Admiral of the Earth Defense Fleet, and the captain of the Yamato, and if the look in his black eyes was any indication, he was pissed.
The fact that the white-haired man was still alive at this point was no small miracle in its own respect, something largely owed to the unlikely brilliance of the medical officer of the ship and the timing of said officer going to visit the captain to check up on him following his most recent episode.
As a gift to the crew of the Yamato for their assistance in aiding with ending the war, Queen Starsha had captain Okita's condition treated with the near miraculous technology of the Iscandarians, a gift for him leading his crew so far even with the shadow of death cast on him.
Although they had been able to repair the brunt of his condition, it was still possible for the captain to experience a heart attack that would end in his premature demise if he didn't tale sometime to relax and allow for his body to rest.
Unfortunately, the old man was quite literally more stubborn that a bull.
He refused to give in and he refused to rest until his crew and their cargo were home safe and sound, then and only then would he allow for death to take him. Most of the crew agreed on the fact that he had probably managed to amaze the reaper so much with his sheer stubborn tenacity that the being had let him live to see his mission through to the end, if for no other reason than out of some form of respect. Either that or it was afraid of the fight that he would put up. (1)
After having spoken to the man and seen how he worked, she could honestly say that she fully agreed with them.
The man, although aged and in a still somewhat fragile health situation, managed to have a presence that filled a room, an aura of command and authority that would make even the most disobedient officer or soldier stand at attention.
Now that presence filled the room, and Melda found herself having to fight the urge to salute to the old man who she had come to respect, if for no other reason than the fact that he was one of the main reasons that the Yamato had managed to make it to one end of its long journey and was still in enough pieces to make its way back home with a cargo that could help save the people of their home world. That and the fact that he was one of the best captains she had ever seen, the sheer amount of trouble that one man and his crew had managed to cause for Dessler was nothing short of praiseworthy in her eyes.
She idly noted that he had Kodai on one side of him and a small detachment of security officers, whose faces were slightly flushed from running all the way here from the storage hold, or out of embarrassment for having been unaware of what was going on, behind him.
She could only imagine just what the captain would have to say regarding that matter, and she didn't have to guess to know that it would be thoroughly unpleasant for them, and more than likely very embarrassing if he started delivering his view on the matter in front of everyone assembled in the Mess Hall at the moment.
Okita strode forward into the Mess Hall, each stride long and purposeful as his gaze met the still slightly wild eyes of the now seemingly paralyzed Yasuo. The captains face was a visage of calm rage that managed to send a chill down the spines of all of those gathered there, making most of them trip over themselves in their bid to get out of his way as he drew nearer to the Sub-Chief who was now looking as though he was torn between a drunken rage and a drunken panic.
'Personally,' Melda thought as she winced slightly as she moved a few steps to the side as the captain passed by her and Yurisha, giving the two of them an apologetic gaze for a brief moment, before he turned his full attention back to Yasuo, 'I would be panicked.'
The captain continued his strides, each step echoing as loudly as artillery shells in the otherwise deathly silence of the Mess Hall. It didn't take him long, perhaps but a few moments until he stood before the table that Yasuo had perched himself on, his black eyes boring into the drunken man's as he met his gaze without lifting his head, his hat obscuring one eye as he simply looked at the man who had goes a rather interesting mixture of pale and flush, a shade that none of those present could say they had ever seen before.
"S-sir," in direct contrast to his earlier bravado, Yasuo was now speaking in something along the lines of a mixture between a whimper and an attempt at sounding normal, Melda had to give him grudging credit for being able to suppress his slur, and also in having the state of mind to not yell at his superior.
The look of vindictive pleasure of Akira's face and the slight smile and dark glint in Lieutenant Mori's eyes, made her shiver slightly, their faces were still flushed from their earlier yelling, but now they were calming themselves down as they moved to stand beside their friends. Yurisha darting out from behind her and to Yuki's side as she seemed to look her over for any wounds, although she must have known there would be none, the normally energetic and bold Iscandarian having been slightly afraid for her friend(?), before she pulled the lieutenant into a hug that was graciously returned.
The feeling inside her was not jealousy, but more an appreciation for the sight before her, and a small amount of joy or perhaps happiness at the way the two held each other. Perhaps there would be close ties between the humans and the Iscandarians in the future.
The sensation of a hand on her shoulder jolted her from her internal reverie, the pleasant warmth seeping through the material once more and once again prompting her to fight down the blush that tried to rise and turn her face a darker sapphire in color than its normal noble blue, as Akira placed her hand on her again.
She honestly needed to take the time to sit down and sort out just what she felt in regards to the other woman, and if possible, ask Akira just what she felt regarding her at one point or another, although she would save that for once she was certain of just what it was, she felt for her.
That being said, she could not stop herself from smiling slightly at the concern that Akira showed for her as she checked her over as well, probably making sure that the tray hadn't hit her or something along those lines.
After insuring that nothing had gotten on her, Akira gave her a faint smile, something which sent a plume of warmth racing through Melda's body, causing her to shiver in delight at the sensation, something which prompted Akira to raise an eyebrow in a mixture of concern and confusion at the sight of it.
Just as Melda opened her mouth to speak, she heard another voice fill the silence of the room, and she would honestly be lying if she said that she didn't shiver slightly at just how absolutely frigid the voice of Captain Okita was as it filled the room, despite being spoken at a normal volume.
"Sub-Chief Yasuo Nanbu, would you be so kind as to explain to me just what is going through your head right now," the voice was as frigid as the winds of a frozen moon as the captains equally cold gaze met the young man who was now shaking atop the table.
'Is it bad that I wish he would fall' Melda though to herself, and judging by the expressions on Akira's face and several of those around her, including the adorably pouting and glaring Princess Yurisha much to her surprise, it was a shared thought.
She watched as the man trembled slightly opening his mouth to wet his lips with his tongue for a moment before he shakily swept his gaze around the room, probably searching for someone who would be willing to attempt to assist him from escaping the situation that he had just found himself in.
She could safely say that no one was going to get involved in this mess with the intention of helping this loudmouthed fool, even those who had been standing near him, listening to his bigoted gospel, perhaps out of agreement or simply to keep others rom beating him to a bloodied pulp, had quickly bolted away, some of them tripping over their own feet as the fled the scene, only to be detained by the security operatives a moment later.
As he gazed around the room, his gaze eventually settled on the four of them and she immediately saw the way his cheeks flushed again as he began to grit his teeth as the frightened look in his eyes became a venomous glare as he looked at them with rage and not fear now prompting his form to shake.
He opened his mouth and Melda sighed internally as she simply shook her head from side to side as she thought to herself, 'This fool is really going to try and dig himself a deeper hole isn't he.'
However, before he could start his new tirade, against them and theirs, he found himself silenced by the voice of the captain once more as Okita spoke up again, his eyes narrowed as two security officers moved to stand by his side, more than likely in preparation for pulling the fool off of his perch.
Or to ensure that no one else tried to do it, something that many people in the Mess Hall would very much enjoy doing.
"Before you attempt you speak up, bear in mind that based on what I hear from both the people around you and you yourself, you may wind up facing more than just time in a cell to rest off your intoxication. That being said, I would very much like to know just how you managed get yourself this drunk in the first place."
Yasuo looked as though he was either about to try and bolt for the exit, she honestly doubted that anyone could be that stupid however, although she could be wrong, or suffer a heart attack on the spot.
He opened his mouth and began to try and form any number of syllables to use in his own defense, but nothing came out save for a low drunken whimper as he seemed to finally realize just how much trouble he had managed to get himself into in such a short span of time.
His eyes resumed their panicked darting, flickering around the room at a rate and speed that was only possible in those who were gripped by a sense of true desperation and panic, consumed by the near primal urge to flee from a threat to themselves. Although this threat was not physical, unless he was truly stupid and attempted something in front of not only the captain but the two security officers in front of him and the near dozen others who had begun to form a circle around him, there is little to no telling just what delusions a drunken mind can come to in a situation such as this.
As such it should have come as little to no surprise when instead of attempting to flee or even trying to plead his case before the captain, the man would instead choose to dig himself a deeper grave.
His gaze fixed on Melda and Yurisha, his eyes narrowing into thin slits as he opened his mouth and yelled out something that made Yurisha whimper slightly as Lieutenant Mori...no Yuki pulled her into a warm abn protective embrace, while Akira had to put both of her hands on Melda's shoulders to keep her from doing something that she would not regret as she made good her earlier thought of ensuring the man would need to have a broken jaw fixed.
"Why are you all defending them! They're nothing but monsters! They don't feel sorry about what they've done! Hell, they probably enjoyed it! Those bitches are just sacrifices made to keep us from using the Wave Motion Gun on their own damn planets!
How does it feel you fucking monsters, to know that your own families sent you to your deaths?! When we get to Earth, you'll both be lynched for what you've done!"
By the time the man had finished his yelling, his face was flushed scarlet and his eyes were alight with a somewhat mad light that seemed to shine through the drunken haze that had otherwise dominated his gaze, only parting for the fear and anger seen previously.
Melda had always valued her discipline and her ability to control herself, something drilled into her very being from spending her entire lifetime in a society that glorified conquest and glory in battle and in death alike. She had always been more than willing to bite her lip at the scathing comments of those who disliked her, or whom she disliked, just as she had been perfectly willing to face the harsh reviews and criticism of her skills brought on by rivals of her father and her late mother who simply could not let go of their grudges.
The iron will of a soldier had been drilled into her from the age of 15 when she had been recruited into a flight school, although the basis of it had always been present, perhaps as some form of trait that laid within her very blood.
That being said, Melda was also more than willing to admit, however grudgingly, that her control was not perfect.
There were times and moments when her control was pushed to the limit, moments when she had to bite her lip to the point that the metallic tang of blood filled her mouth as she fought the urge to either yell or to attack. There were also those moments when the adrenaline was racing through her body, the sound of her heart beat echoing as loudly as the roar of her fighter's engines in her ears as she either prepared for or entered into a battle.
Likewise, there were those moments when she lay awake at night, her eyes fixed on the ceiling of her quarters as she fought back the nightmares that plagued her mind at the time. The sight of her mother's charred and broken body, still clothed in her signature black uniform, shambling into her room at night, as she leaned in a whispered to the paralyzed woman that she had become, little more than a murderer just like her.
She would tell her how they would be together again, in a place of fire and blood and pain unending for all that they did. She would lean in mand press charred lips to her daughter's cheek as she whispered the three words that always made her jolt out of her bunk, sweat coating her skin.
"See you soon."
She had long accepted that she would have to take lives, that her actions would, directly or indirectly, cost countless others their lives and steal them from the one's that loved them. Or perhaps even rob them of ever having the chance of finding someone who would love them or who they would be able to love.
Yet still the nightmare that called her a monster would always linger within her mind for several days following the night that it occurred, as though it was directly taunting her, forcing her to question what she knew about herself. During those days her control was stretched to its limit as well, the amount of time she could peacefully sleep was constantly disrupted by brief flashes of the nightmare that forced her to snap awake and then struggle to fall back asleep, only to typically fail and be forced to spend the rest of night awake as she fought trembles and shakes.
It had never come to pass however that her control had completely snapped, it had never occurred that her control was pushed to its absolute limits and then beyond them and that she had done something that she would later come to regret.
That is until now.
She could faintly feel something within her mind snap, as her vision began to tint as red as Akira's eyes as she began to take a step forward.
She would gladly spend time in the brig if it meant she could knock this fools' teeth down his throat and then force-feed him his tongue after she was done tearing it out of his mouth.
Not only had he just insulted herself and Princess Yurisha, but he had also just insulted their families by claiming that they had sent their own kin out on what could very well be a suicide mission, at least from his point of view, as some form of sacrificial lambs.
The thought that this fool had the gall to not only insult the honor of both the queen of Iscandar, but also her own father was more than enough to anger her, that coupled with the rest of the dribble and the verbal onslaught that the man had been aiming in her and the Princesses direction, was more than enough to make her control snap.
Even the worst of her father's rivals and enemies, as well as her own, had known better than to insult the honor of a family that had devoted itself to the Empire for generations, and who had proven themselves time and time again as a family whose skills and prowess had made them one of the greatest families in service to their Empire.
She distantly heard someone call her name as she found herself being held tightly from behind, a pair of warm arms wrapping around her midsection as a voice whispered gently into her ear, the soft voice pleading with her to calm down and let the captain and the Security Guards do their job.
She distantly heard the sound of the Princess whimpering as she was held tightly by Yuki who looked as though she were torn between maintaining her embrace on the young Iscandarian, her hand gently rubbing soothing circles into the woman's back as she embraced her, or temporarily releasing her hold on the young woman as she did what Melda herself was currently being restrained from doing.
She distantly noticed that the person holding her, the warmth that seeped through her clothing and the familiar scent telling her that it was Akira, was also steadily pulling her backwards, although it seemed that she was having a bit of trouble going so without tripping both of them up and so was consigned to slowly inching her backwards and struggling to keep her in place as Melda fought against her hold in order to get to Yasuo.
All the while she could hear that yelling had broken out in the Mess Hall between the crewmen and women on both sides, Yasuo's and theirs, and all though Yasuo's fellow bigots were few in number they were making their voices as loud as possible, well that was until the security guards took hold of them, forcing their hands behind their backs as the handcuffed them.
Some of those who were on Yasuo's side had even resorted to grabbing trays and slinging them at the officers who were drawing near, only for their protests to come to a quick and sudden end when a voice yelled out:
"ENOUGH!"
That lone yell, coming from Captain Okita, managed to make the entire room go as silent as a tomb once more, the crewman who had been fioghting with the security officers seemed to suddenly become aware of just who they had been fighting in front of...
Melda would later wonder if her eyes had been playing tricks on her when she saw that all of those who had been fighting, Yasuo included, turn as pale as a sheet of paper, even their hair seemed to lose its color as the realization sank in and many of them suddenly began to drop what they were holding and try to flee, only to be tackled to the ground or pinned to a nearby surface and promptly be cuffed before being hauled to their feet.
Okiuta's gaze swept over those assembled, his eyes glinting in the light like blades as the man spoke once more, his voice raised enough so that it was audible over the pleading of Yasuo and his cohorts as the guards hauled them from the room and towards the brig, how they intended to fit all of them in there Melda didn't know, perhaps they would repurpose some of the storage space in the hold into a makeshift form of prison or maybe they would simply stick all of them in the same cell...she would honestly pay to see just what would happen if they chose that option.
Gradually the red tint left her vision, her gaze clearing as Akira held her tightly to her, the other woman's body pressed so tightly against her own that she could make out the feeling of her breasts pressed into her back, the sensation something that was thoroughly pleasing to her, and the woman's breath gently tickling her ear as she whispered for her to calm down.
The combination of the two stimuli, combined with the woman's closeness was enough to make her finally blush, her already blue cheeks becoming a darker blue, near purple in color, for a few moments before she was able to reign herself in.
It took her several moments of deep breathing for her to regain control of herself enough so that Akira's grip on her lost some of its strength, but she noticed that the woman did not let go of her completely, her linger grip a soothing and relaxing sensation that forced her to fight back a blush once more.
She idly noticed that the Captain was busy speaking with the assembled crewmen and women although she was more focused on the embrace that she was currently still being held within rather than his words, she was able to make out the gist of just what the man was saying.
In essence he was delivering to the crew very well worded warning on just how long they could all expect to be spending in the brig and just what sort of charges they would be facing upon returning to Earth if they attempted to follow in the currently detained Yasuo Nanbu's place. He was also explaining to them, that as diplomatic envoys from both the Great Garmillas Empire and the people of Iscandar, the two of them were not to come to any harm, unless those responsible wished to be held accountable for what may become an intergalactic incident on a grand scale.
She had to admit, somewhat begrudgingly as she refused to be treated with gloves on, that the man had a point when he said that they were to die or come to any sever harm at the crews hands, either direct or indirect, that there could be sever ramifications.
She knew for certain that Queen Starsha would be checking in on her sister once they had arrived within what the Terrons had termed 'The Milky Way System,' she was still confused as to just how they came up with that name, if for no other reason than the fact that her sister was now the only family that she truly has left in the cosmos, a fact that seemed to have weighed heavily on the Queen's heart if her somber tone and demeanor when she had been conferring with the princess concerning this diplomatic mission was anything to go by.
She knew for a fact that her people would react to harm befalling the Iscandarian Princess in a very...severe way. That was saying nothing should the young princess lose her life. She could easily see a second Garmillas-Terron War emerging from such an incident, and this one would end with only one of the two involved factions still numbering amongst the living.
As her breathing evened out and she managed to compose herself, her mind wandered to how the man had seemed so certain in his belief that she and Princess Yurisha had been sent as little more than sacrificial pawns in someone's own grand scheme.
As the assembled crewmen and women began to disperse, their gaze downcast in many cases as a result of the captain's yelling as they contemplated just what could have happened had Yasuo or any of his fellow been armed or been within reaching distance of a weapon other than empty metal trays, Melda found herself relaxing into Akira's hold as she let her mind drift.
As she was pulled along by Akira to take a seat at one of the tables for lunch, she was thankful that Akira and Lieutenant Mori had the state of mind to pick on further from the other crewmen, as well as the fact that they took the time to grab all four of them those wonderful Ice Cream Parfaits that she had come to enjoy.
Yet still her mind wandered, drifting to the certainty in Yasuo's statement even as she enjoyed her friends' company.
End Flashback
That was what lead her to her current situation.
Her legs idly swung back and forth as her gaze bore into the bunk above her own, as though the grey metal held the answers to the questions that had begun to plague her mind once she had found herself alone with her thoughts.
Akira had been called down to the flight deck to help with inspecting the fighters, as, though they didn't think they had anything to worry about in terms of attacks from her people or from any other race, it never hurt to be careful, a sentiment that she whole heartedly agreed with.
The only reason that she had not gone down there herself to look over her own fighter, was because she had done so the day before during the free time she had after her lessons with the Princess, Liutenant Mori (Yuki she reminded herself after the fact, it was still difficult for her to not use the woman's rank, even in her thoughts), and Akira and would more than likely do so again tomorrow.
And so here she was, alone in her and Akira's quarters as her mind whirled around the words that the drunken fool, she was still uncertain as to just where he had gotten his hand on enough spirits to become intoxicated, but if the grumbling of the captain as he had passed her by in the hallway on his way to what seemed to be med bay about their doctor needing to 'find a more secure place or it's going out the airlock,' she had a feeling she knew the answer but out of respect she didn't voice that opinion aloud.
Her internal contemplation was broken when the door to the quarters opened.
She did not need to turn her attention to the door or ask who it was to know just who had come into the room, as she knew fully well who it was without doing so.
She felt her bunk shift as Akira joined her in gazing up at her, Akira's, bunk, the other woman not saying anything as she simply offered a silent form of comfort and companionship by simply being there with her, Akira's own feet joining hers in swaying back and forth.
Melda was uncertain of just how long the two of them laid there enjoying the comfortable silence, before Akira spoke up, her voice filling the once silent room even though it was spoken in a low, near whisper tone, to the woman beside her.
"Yasuo will be spending a while in the brig," she said softly, Melda turned her head slightly an inquisitive look in her eyes as Akira turned to look at her, a smirk on her face and a glimmer of vengeful joy in her eyes as she answered Melda's unasked question.
"Not only did he start yelling again once he had been tossed in the cell, but he had the guts to call Captain Okita a traitor right to his own face," she said, her tone relaying the same joy that showed in her eyes at the drunken fools' fate.
Melda's own eyes widened slightly, her thoughts grinding to a halt for a moment before she started to tremble slightly as she raised a hand to her mouth in a desperate attempt to fight off a fit of laughter at the thought of just what the security guard's faces had looked like when the man had said that, that and what Yasuo's own face looked like when her realized just what head had said and just who he had said it to.
Eventually she found herself unable to fight off the laughter that was boiling inside her, it started with a snicker and then giggles and before she knew it, she was outright laughing alongside Akira at the fate of the drunken idiot.
As her laughter subsided, she idly noted that she felt a great deal better, the doubts that had been brought to the surface of her mind by Yasuo's words were largely banished by her humor at the situation the man had just managed to land himself in.
Perhaps that had been Akira's intention when she had told her?
As she opened her eyes after having screwed them shut during her laughing fit, she noted that Akira was looking at her, an odd gleam in her eye as the red eyed woman's cheeks were flushed slightly, the dusting of scarlet making the woman look all the more alluring...
Melda felt her own cheeks flush slightly at the thought that raced through her mind, her blue cheeks darkening as well as she met the other woman's gaze, finding her mouth going dry at the sudden intensity that had settled into the gaze of her fellow.
Her tongue darted out from her mouth to wet her lips as she tried to speak before Akira cut her off.
"You shouldn't listen to what bakas like Yasuo say," although Melda was unfamiliar with the word 'baka' she had a feeling that it meant something along the lines of 'idiot' or maybe 'fool', " You weren't sent as a sacrifice and neither was Yurisha, and if anyone else says something like that I'll make sure they need to go to the damn ICU before they get tossed in the brig." Akira finished, her gaze having only grown more intense as she looked a Melda, never once breaking eye contact with her.
Melda's own eyes widened at the declaration, the conviction behind those words was as hard and unyielding as the metal of the ship around them, and made Melda feel a shudder of delight run down her spine at the protectiveness of the other woman's tone.
She was no fool. She knew fully well that she harbored a crush on the other woman, something that she had been attempting to fight down over the course of her time spent in the other woman's company as she did not wish for her heart to be shattered like her father's was upon learning of her mother's fate or have her heart be broken by having Akira reject her.
And yet...
"I-I don't know what you're-" Melda tried to deny what Akira was saying and yet she knew that whatever defense she conjured up would be a hollow and meaningless thing, a token defense at the very best, especially when Akira narrowed her eyes and reached out, gently placing her index finger at Melda's lips, silencing whatever protest she was about to say.
"Don't lie Melda-chan," the suffix attached to her name made her shiver slightly, another jolt of delight racing through her system at the word that Akira had told her was a means of expressing affection towards females in one of her world's cultures, "We both know why you were in here looking at the bottom of my bunk like it held the secrets of the universe."
Melda tried to avert her gaze from Akira's, only to find her chin being gently grasped by the woman's other hand, her index finger gently stroking her skin as she found her head being pulled towards the other woman.
Her face was pulled close enough that she could feel the heat of Akira's breath n her face, could smell the pleasant and comforting scent of the other woman, could see into the deepest depths of those beautiful scarlet eyes, could feel a few stands of silver hair gently tickling her cheek, and yet still she tried to avert her gaze, only for Akira to stop her efforts by speaking to her again.
"I don't know just what thoughts that baka put in your mind Melda-chan, but I can safely tell you that all of them are false." Akira spoke, her words once more ringing with the absolute certainty and conviction of someone who knew what they spoke to be an indisputable truth, something which made Melda's eyes widen once more as she stopped trying to avert her gaze from Akira's and instead looked into the other woman's eyes as Akira leaned in closer, closing the distance between them so that her next words were but a low and husky whisper that caused Melda's cheeks to flush to a new shade of dark blue as her whole body shuddered in delight sat the words.
"H-how d-do y-you know that?" Melda asked as she found herself stuttering from the sheer intensity of her friend's gaze as she felt as though she were being pulled into a black hole as she was drawn into Akira's gaze.
Akira's lips quirked into a smirk as she pressed their noses together, her eyes becoming half lidded as the woman looked deeply into Melda's eyes before she spoke up again.
"This is how I know it."
And with that statement Akira leaned forward and seized Melda's lips with her own, Melda's eyes snapping wide open for a moment before they became lidded like Akira's had and then they drifted shut as she simply reveled in the feeling of the other woman's lips on her own. The texture of Akira's lips was near heavenly to her, the wonderful softness and slightly sweet taste of her lips was enough to prompt Melda to let out a low gasp, something which allowed for Akira to lean in close and let her tongue delve into Melda's mouth and begin wrestling with her own.
Melda's eyes had nearly rolled into the back of her head at the sensations that was a simple kiss with Akira, the sensation of her tongue exploring her mouth as it dominated her own tongue with ease, she was too stunned and dazed by the kiss to offer more than a token resistance, was something that she had never truly experienced before in her life and it was marvelous.
Her own people had little in the way of regards for discrimination towards those who pursued relationships with members of the same sex, or even with multiple partners, this being largely due to their ingrained sense of pride, or perhaps it came as a result of the amount of time that they had had to grow as a people and come to terms with just what made them themselves. That being said there were those purebloods and such that frowned upon such things, believing that fellow purebloods should produce heirs and if not heirs than suitable soldiers for their empire.
This sentiment had largely died out with the creation of technology that allowed for members of the same gender to have children, although the exact science of the matter was lost on her, however there were still those who felt as the purebloods of old did and that lead to some tension when it came to such relationships being made public or known.
That tension, coupled with her uncertainty on her father's stance on the matter, and her having been focused more on her career in the military had made her new to all of these sensations racing through her body as well as the thoughts of lust that had begun to swirl within her mind.
Her mind had nearly gone blank under the constant assault of the stimuli, but just before she truly relinquished herself to the swirling maelstrom of feelings that had dominated her mind, she had one thought.
Akira's right...that man really was wrong...
Fin
...And done. The ending seems a little rushed to me, but we'll see what the readers think.
...You have a point, but it was the best way I could think of to tie the story together, admittedly I probably could have done better but...
Hey Now! None of that second-guessing bull. If we don't like it, we can always go back and rework it at a later date.
True, however the readers might not feel the same way...
Ughh you are always such a worrywart. Honestly, I'm amazed that we can even leave the house without you having to run around quadruple checking everything...it's bad enough you have to double check everything as it is.
And whose fault is that? If I remember right, the last time I didn't double check things we wound up with half of the house underwater because you were in such a rush to see the movie that you left the bath on!
And the movie was terrible anyways.
Resh! That is not the point!
Oh! Then what is?
*Takes a deep breath* The point is that I have to double check everything because I don't want to have to spend an entire day arguing with the insurance people about whether or not my 'Fool insurance' covers stuff like that.
'Fool Insurance,' What the hell is that?
Just as the name entails. It is a special type of insurance that the local agents have started giving me because of just what the lot of you do on a near daily basis.
We're not that ba-
Do I need to remind you about the time you decided to surprise Deus with making a cake and managed to flood the house with dough because you poured nearly four bottles of yeast into the mix? Or how about the time you managed to set half the house on fire by trying to bake a pie, with a cook book right in front of you!
Hey now-
What about when Machina broke the damn laundry machine when he tried to fit a mattress inside of it? Or maybe when Boss tried to get clean the windows by using an industrial strength water hose and managed to break half of them before we were able to turn off the water? That isn't counting the flooding that the hose caused either!
Hey we're gett-
And don't even get me started on the time Ex and Deus got into a fight and managed to total half the damn house when they started throwing things at each other! For god's sake we had to find a way to get a table out of the ceiling! How they managed to do that I have no idea.
They probably just smashed into it a made it go through the floor.
Resh...that table belonged in the basement and it was lodged in the roof of the attic, it was visible from outside the house!
...Oh yeah, now I remember.
...I assume that I don't need to give any more example-
*Cue the sound of an engine starting*
Huh?
Huh?
*Resh goes to window and looks out*
...Um kid?
Yes?
We have a small problem.
Define small.
Umm*A loud crashing sound echoes through the house as the whole building trembles*
What the Hell was that!?
*Jumps to feet and races out of room to investigate*
*Resh follows slowly behind while muttering*
That my friend was the sound of Seer's Cadillac going straight through the garage and into the back yard. Oh boy this is going to be-
SEER!
Welp here we go again.
Authors Note: Well this turned out a lot longer than we thought it would. To be honest I was hoping to make this only a couple thousand words at first but then this little plot bunny struck me and well...
You will notice that a lot of liberties have been taken with Garmillas society and such and that is because this is an AU fic and I can do whatever I please with the lore, that and I have no idea about how their society functions entirely save that it is a largely militaristic one, and as such I had to take some liberties with some matters.
As for the reason I chose Yasuo to be the sacrificial lamb, it's not that I have anything against the guy personally, it's simply a matter of needing someone that I could make into a believable scapegoat to set into motion some of the events necessary for the endgame I had in mind. That being said, he was just the one that drew the shortest straw.
I also kept Okita alive because that man is one hell of a captain and a trooper to the core, and, as such, he deserves to see his mission through to the end.
By the way that statement about death fearing the fight that Okita would put up was inspired by a statement made in regards to President Theodore Roosevelt by Thomas R. Marshall:
"Death had to take him sleeping. For if he was awake there'd have been a fight"-Thomas R. Marshall
You have to admit that it seems a fitting quote for both of these tough men. (By the way if you google that you will find a picture of Death finding a pillow with Theodore's face on while the man creeps up on him from the shadows).
I apologize for any grammatical errors and such but like always I have no beta.
That being said I open to advise and criticism but flames will be used to make delicious S'mores that I will not share with anyone, either that or a wonderful pie that I will promptly fling at the flamers.
That being said I hope you all have a great day and enjoy the beginning of 2019.
Sincerely- The Greatest Show
P.S. does anyone know how to get a Cadillac out of an oak tree? Because we can't get this thing out no matter what we try.
P.P.S. Never mind we got it, although I don't think we needed to cut down the whole tree and HOLY-*CRASH*
...Well there goes the Cadillac...and a picnic table and assorted benches *Sobs are heard in the distance*
*Sighs* Now where did I put that number for the Insurance Guy?