Chapter 2

Every time Orga Itsuka approached McMurdo Barriston's house, he was stuck by how small it was.

Of course, Saisei wasn't a planet or even a full-fledged colony, but he didn't expect such an important person to live on a tiny artificial island, in a modest two story house with a room in the attic. He suspected Kudelia's house was bigger and more luxurious, although that was because he'd heard guys in CGS's First and Second Groups constantly bitch about fat cats like her father. But still, in a way, he could appreciate Barriston's taste in homes. It was nice and showed off his wealth, but not in a way that would make his people resent him.

Maybe that was a lesson worth learning.

Of course, Orga thought as he carefully stepped onto the dock in front of the house, if I ever get rich enough to own a nice house, I'm not putting it in the middle of a lake.

Naze Turbine walked up to him, wearing a dark suit with a blue shirt, a stark contrast with Orga's red scarf and olive drab coat with orange cuffs and lining. "Relax Brother. It's just a job for the Old Man."

"That's easy for you to say," Orga replied as they passed through the gate. "You've been part of the family longer."

Naze laughed. "Believe me, Orga, everyone has to start somewhere. The Old Man threw me in the deep end too when I was starting out in Teiwaz."

"I guess," Orga replied, not entirely sure what Naze meant by that. One of the major disadvantages of being an orphan and a child soldier was that his education was pretty nonexistent. He was one of the luckier ones – he knew how to read and write, but only because CGS's old boss knew someone had to deal with the paperwork for Third Group, where all the kids were.

Naze looked at him curiously, then shrugged. "Anyway, don't worry about it. It's not like he'll ask us to attack Gjallarhorn headquarters."

When McMurdo Barriston laid out the facts, Orga almost wished they were doing something that simple. Naze standing there with his mouth open didn't help either. He knew he had a lot to learn, and seeing his mentor was equally out of his depth reminded him of his own inadequacies.

"Are you... sure about this, Old Man?" Naze's trademark easy, confident smile dropped as confusion and a bit of anxiety crossed his face. "Surely there's someone who could do the job better."

Barriston smiled. "You might be right, but you've been on a hot streak lately, Naze. Plus you have a way with the ladies, and it seems like the captain of that ship might be one."

Naze's face lit up and Orga had to fight his urge to roll his eyes. The man already had dozens of women as wives, and had kids with who knew how many of them. The last thing he needed was more women in his life.

"As for Tekkadan," Barriston said, shifting his gaze to Orga, "you'll be there as backup… and if things don't go according to plan, perhaps your creative strategizing could win the day."

"Well, I don't know about that," Orga replied, "but we'll do our best."

"That's all I can expect from any of us," Barriston admitted. "We're making history here, in a literal sense; no one has ever done this before. Even young Ms. Bernstein has historical examples to give her some guidance, while all we have are stories about how people might handle this."

"So, no pressure," Naze said with a sidelong glance at Orga. "Don't worry Old Man, we'll make you proud."

Barriston chuckled darkly as he pulled a cigar from a desk drawer and lit it. "I'll settle for you avoiding the annihilation of mankind. Anything more than that is pure profit."

He took a long drag and blew out the smoke. "And by the way, tell your people to keep this secret until further notice. We'll be doing our best to keep the information under wraps on Saisei, at least long enough to keep Gjallarhorn from poking their noses where they aren't wanted."


Orga stood below the stripped frame of Barbatos and watched the team of engineers replace this and that. As far as he could tell, they were done with the Gundam's chest, including tuning the two Ahab reactors that powered the mobile suit. Now they were focusing on the limbs and head, messing with various intricate parts that Orga couldn't recognize. A part of him hoped his mechanics, a bunch of kids under the guidance of Nadi Yukinojo Kassapa, could keep Barbatos going once they reached Earth. His gut told him they'd be running into Gjallarhorn a lot more the closer they got to their destination.

He felt a slight breeze and looked to his left, spotting Mikazuki making his way down the gantry. Orga smiled a bit; Mikazuki was popping Mars Palms into his mouth, like always. No one ever knew why he liked the things, since they tasted horrible, but that was Mikazuki in a nutshell. He was different, and an all-around good guy… once you got to know him.

But Orga knew something else. Others might mistake Mikazuki's lack of expression as a sign of boredom or that he didn't care, but it wasn't that at all. Mikazuki was waiting, waiting for him to give Tekkadan new orders, to set them down whatever path he felt best.

Orga had felt the weight of those expectations ever since the day Mikazuki killed a man to save his life.

"Hey Mika." His words carried none of the burdens he felt. "I'm glad I caught you."

Mikazuki frowned slightly as he came to a stop in the low gravity area. "What's going on, Orga?"

"Nothing serious," Orga said smoothly, turning back to face Barbatos. "Teiwaz's Old Man has a quick job for us to do. We'll be meeting another ship for a few days or so, then we'll come back, pick you and Barbatos up, and head on to Earth."

"You don't expect any trouble."

"Not really," Orga admitted, then he shrugged. "Besides, even if you and Barbatos were there, I don't think it'd do much good."

"It's that bad?" Mikazuki asked, looking up at Barbatos.

"It's not that… it's just that we're doing something no one's ever done before."

Mikazuki looked back at Orga. "We beat Gjallarhorn and no one ever did that before."

Orga blinked then chuckled. "Yeah, that's true. But we're talking about something way bigger, something that'll get Tekkadan's name in history books for sure."

"Really?"

"Really."

Mikazuki thought about it for a moment. "Then you'll find a way to do it."

That vote of confidence delivered, Mikazuki got onto the handrail and sprung off it, drifting up towards Barbatos.


"Captain, the human vessels have arrived at the rendezvous coordinates."

The words cut through the haze of Milena Dantius' bitter memories of betrayal at the hands of her sisters. First Nassana, who tried to kill Dahlia, but botched it, then Dahlia, who took over when some assassin killed Nassana. Both sisters had done their best to marginalize their younger siblings, which was why Milena was out in the unexplored frontier, instead of the lap of luxury on Illium or Thessia. At least out here, she could make the most of the pittance Dahlia tossed her way every month without worrying about her sister's paranoia.

She took a calming breath and shutdown the desk console in her quarters, then walked out of her small, but well decorated quarters. She moved swiftly through the ship's confines, arriving on the bridge within five minutes. She raised an eyebrow at her Salarian CMO, Dr. Jal Vass, talking to Wiks.

"What brings you up to the bridge, Doctor?"

The Salarian doctor turned around and smiled. "Ah, Captain, I've been keeping up with the translation matrix updates to see if any include medical data. The latest update has been most interesting."

Milena grunted in understanding. "Any advice on making sure this doesn't result in another Raloi debacle?"

Over 200 years earlier, the formal ceremony welcoming the Raloi into the galactic community caused an outbreak of an alien flu virus on their homeworld, Turvess. That meant that for a decade and a half, the Raloi spent every moment not on their planet in environmental suits, out of fear of even worse sicknesses. The mishap resulted in much debating and theorizing by the academics and medical companies of the galaxy, all in search of a solution to the problem.

"All I can suggest is parking one of the shuttles outside the airlock, going through the airlock and decontamination sweep, then enter the shuttle. Once we board their ship, I'll be taking samples of bacteria in the air, food, and liquids, as well as any surfaces, and scan the humans to see what diseases they might be susceptible to. Hopefully we'll be able to identify any potential threat microorganisms to either side and culture vaccines for them." Vass paused. "Unfortunately, until then, we will have to keep wearing our environmental suits. Hopefully it should only be a minor inconvenience for a few days."

"Very good, Doctor." Milena turned to her other officers. "What have we learned about those ships?"

The science officer, an Asari matron by the name of Hastia Iallis, pulled up several holographic displays. "We've picked up numerous unusual readings. First, both ships are generating some sort of field that interferes with radio based signals. Second, we're reading gravity fields in both ships, but ones not consistent with eezo generated artificial gravity. Third, for ships in the 300 to 400 meter range, their heat generation is surprisingly low."

"Now that is interesting," Milena muttered. "These people might not have FTL, but they certainly have technology that's worth having."

Technology that she had to have, at least in blueprint form, before she left the humans to their fate.

Before she could ruminate further, Wiks spoke up. "Captain, we're receiving a signal from one of the human vessels."

"Audio only?"

"Yes ma'am." Wiks shifted uncomfortably. "We're still working on deciphering their visual codecs."

"Audio is fine for now," Milena replied, walking up the ramp to her platform. "Let's hear what they have to say."

"Thrill Seeker, this is Naze Turbine, captain of the Hammerhead, representing Teiwaz. We welcome you to our humble solar system."

Milena raised an eyebrow as she activated her displays. The Hammerhead was the ship that, appropriately enough, resembled a hammer. But she couldn't tell if the human, who the computer thought was male, was being sincere.

Oh well, she thought, better to play polite space explorer for now. I can probably outsmart them any day of the week anyway.

"It's a pleasure to talk to you, Captain Turbine." It took all her self-control to not snicker at his name. "I'm Captain Milena Dantius."

"So I've been told," Naze replied. "How do you want to do this? And please, call me Naze."

"Based on the advice of my science officer and chief medical officer, only a small team from my ship will come aboard your ship, to minimize the chances of spreading diseases to any of our crews," she explained. "That team will be me, my CMO, and two guards. Is that alright, Naze?"

The human chuckled. "That's perfectly fine by me."

"It'll take about," Milena checked one of the displays in front of her, "an hour before we're ready to come over. I hope that's not too much trouble."

"Not at all," Naze replied, "although I suppose we'll have to skip the dinner celebrating this historic occasion."

Milena rolled her eyes, but her voice friendly and flirtatious. "Don't worry, we'll be having that dinner eventually. Just not today."

"That's a shame," the human added, "but I can wait. I'll you in an hour then. Hammerhead out."

Milena turned to Rija Irissa, her XO and yet another Asari matron. "I want the shuttle and hardsuits prepped in 45 minutes."

Irissa, one of the more laconic Asari, nodded. "It will be done."

"Good." Milena walked down the ramp to the galaxy map and headed off the bridge. "If you need me, I'll be in my quarters."


Author's Note: Expect this 3 part structure to the chapters, except maybe battle scenes, since I'm not sure how I'll handle IBO's more brutal style until I actually do it.

Just to confirm this, Dr. Vass is the same Salarian as the one in the end of Chapter 1.