Plane in the Sunset

by Godshatter

Several years after the series the world of Prestor is begining to change. For the moment these changes are slow, but soon the world will be thrown into chaos at the hands of the Exile once more. Warnings include: Language, Lemon, Violence

3. Chapter 3

WARNING: if you are not comfortable reading LEMON fanfiction do not continue. you have been warned.

AN: and again it takes me quite some time to get another chapter out. Again I apologize, but a few factors in my personal life have made me hard pressed for writing time.

AN: this is the first time i am submitting WITHOUT employing the use of a beta reader (i don't want to use beta readers supplied by and have always relied on friends, but these friends are becoming increasingly busy). this chapter may be subjected to alterations in the future (hopefully nothing too severe).

Plane in The Sunset part III

by: Godshatter

Bless the make and his water

Bless his coming and his going

May his passing cleanse the world

And may he keep the world for his people

-Prayer of Shai'Halud (Dune)

--

Claus yawned and flopped down hard onto the couch. The sun was starting to set and he sat quietly marveling at the spray of orange and red that washed out the horizon. Lavi came in and sat down beside him and leaned heavily into his side. He put an arm around her touched their heads together.

"I never expected it would take all day to fix the oil pump," said Lavi tiredly.

"If I'd made it right the first time it wouldn't have," growled Claus.

"It's not your fault Claus." Even to Lavi her assurance sounded weak.

Claus did his best to sink further into the couch. He had had to make an extra trip back home to pick up his welder and cutting torch to finally get Mr. Kusagi's oil pump to fit. It had taken him several hours of readjusting until he realized that he had based his design on an even older variant of the D99. He had sworn darkly to himself for several minutes as he cut and welded the pump and tank into place.

He still had yet to deliver and install Moran's fuel tank. Luckily it was getting cooler and he wouldn't he be needing it just yet. Another day wouldn't hurt anything.

"I'm kind of tired," said Lavi drowsily. "Do u mind if we eat a little bit later?"

Claus shrugged. "I can make dinner if you like."

Lavi smiled sweetly at him. "Alright," she said and kissed him on the shoulder.

Claus leaned over and snagged a kiss from her lips before rising from the couch and lumbering into the kitchen.

Lavi heard water running and ran her hands through her hair. She felt like a mess. She had oil and engine fluid stained to her. "I hope you're washing your hands!" she called.

Claus didn't reply. A moment later she felt cold wet hands cupping her eyes.

"Hey!" she yelped.

Claus laughed and went back into the kitchen.

Lavi grinned coyly at him as he left the room then sprawled out on the couch. She yawned again.

--

"Dad, the solution is getting really erratic."

Emit cursed under his breath. Night was falling. He knew he shouldn't have taken this last minute job. They were still an hour out from the Norkia observatory.

"She'll hold together," he said calmly into his mic.

"I hope so, dad."

"I'm gonna use what speed we can, tell me if the solution thins or starts to catalyze with the air."

"Will do." Henna felt their acceleration creep up and prayed her dad wouldn't burn them out. The evening air was cold and bit fiercely at her.

--

Director Bylar was busy mapping out the night's sky watching activities with the assistant director and one of the telescope operators. Around him was the steady clockwork rhythm of the observatory machines.

"Mr. Director?" asked a man standing in the doorway- he was wearing a heavy coat along with a flightcap and goggles.

"Yes?" replied Bylar, turning to face the pilot, tilting his head down to look over his bifocal glasses.

He was holding a silver dispatch tube and looked very tired. The pilot handed him the message tube and a receipt to sign. The director took them both, asking, "What is this about?" as he signed the receipt.

"Dunno," replied the pilot with a half shrug. "I'm just the messenger."

Bylar recognized the pilot's flight crest as belonging to the Anatoure Vanship Consortium. "You flew from the imperial city, didn't you?"

"That's right, I did."

"Did you have any stopovers?"

"No, but we did fuel at an aerial dock." Haggard, the pilot took his receipt and trudged back to the door.

The director clearly saw how fatigued the man was; his gray eyes were bloodshot and had dark puffy circles under them. "Can I offer you a place to sleep here for the night? You certainly have a long flight back."

The pilot turned back, considering the offer. "Let me ask my navi," he said, running a hand through his shallow beard.

Director Bylar turned to one of his assistants, "Shuri, show the man back to the hangar." The pale redheaded girl standing next to him nodded and followed the pilot back out the door. The director could hear his heavy boots clumping on the wooden floor trailing down the hall in the direction of the vanship hanger.

The observatory complex wasn't large, it consisted of a central dome that operated an old 1.5 meter telescope, a housing building right next to it (in fact they shared a common wall) that contained a small kitchen, a dining room/lounge, and another room with cots and hammocks set up. There was also a small hanger at the head of a small air field that was attached to the building by a hallway.

The director made sure his subordinates understood the night's plan and stepped out of the room and made his way down the hallway towards the hangar. He stopped in front of the heavy green door and pulled it open, turning as he did to glance out the window. The night was chilly up at this altitude but the air was clear. He could clearly see across the naked rock clearing that the observatory was built on and down into the lights of Norkia.

Bylar stepped into the dimly lit hangar and saw the pilot standing by the wing of his vanship, talking to a young girl in the backseat.

"I don't know what the problem is dad, the engine won't turn over at all. I hear the initiator fire and crank but after that nothing, just a slosh of claudia solution. Whatever was messing with the solution earlier finally killed it."

The pilot turned as Bylar was closing the door to the hall behind him, its latch clicked and he walked towards the vanship. "Looks like we will be taking you up on your offer tonight, my vanship needs repairs and I'm too tired to mess with it tonight."

Bylar nodded, "I'm afraid I don't have much more than a cot or hammock and some blankets to offer. There is food in the cabinets as well, help yourself to whatever you like."

"Thank you, Mr. Director," the pilot replied, grasping Bylar's hand in his own and shaking it firmly as he and his daughter walked by. "I'll need to find some tools and a place to work on my vanship tomorrow. This hanger looks a little bare."

Bylar went over to the hanger's opening and grabbed hold of one of the latches, trying to cycle the large metal door closed. The door squealed on its guide rails and slowly inched forward. The vanship pilot jogged over next to Bylar and grabbed hold of one of the handles; shoving the door forward they closed the hanger.

"Thank you," said Bylar.

"Emit," said the pilot. "At least, that's what everyone else calls me." He smiled tiredly and put a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "This is my daughter, Henna."

"I know of someone who can help you with your vanship tomorrow, but for now, please rest. You've had a long flight and I extend to you whatever resources we have available."

"You are very kind," said Emit. Turning to his daughter he said "Lets go sleep Henna, we have a lot of work to do tomorrow."

Bylar showed Emit and Henna to their room then headed back to the observatory deck, where the assistant director was staring down at the currier's message.

"Unbelievable," said the Assistant Director. "Absolutely unbelievable," he repeated.

"What's so unbelievable?" asked Bylar, closing the observatory's heavy wooden door behind him.

The Assistant Director stood up from the table where the night's team had been previously examining sky charts and walked over to Bylar, thrusting the message into his hand. "Read," he said. "We are already realigning the telescope to look at those coordinates."

Bylar quickly scanned the note once, then reread it a second time to make sure he hadn't misunderstood. "Unbelievable." His words were lost in the whir of machinery as the telescope was muscled around on its massive rotating platform.

Stopping the telescope with a silent wheeze of tension, the Assistant Director locked the array in place with the pull of a lever and walked up to the base of the viewing platform. The main gear housing was used to wheel the large frame of the scope around on its track, but it was far too powerful for the precise adjustments necessary to hone in on a specific target. Sitting down at the telescope the Assistant Director peered up into night sky, occasionally glancing down to the dials beside him. He adjusted the large telescope using a set of three wheels beside him: one for attitude adjustment, one for rotation, and one to adjust the focus of the telescope.

"There it is! I've got it!" The Assistant Director jumped up out of his chair and rushed Bylar over to the telescope. "This doesn't make any sense- it has no inertial drift that we can see."

"Look, right there, there it is!"

Bylar leaned up to the eyepiece of the telescope and stared up into the sky. The object took up just a piece of the scope's field of view. "It looks kind of like a squashed hourglass," he said.

The assistant director nodded, "Did you see the rings around it?"

"Oh?" Bylar looked harder. After a minute his eyes adjusted and he saw the faint glow of several gossamer rings of light encircling the object at its two ends.

"It's a shame we can't get a better look at it, I'm sure the guys up at the Imperial Observatory are having a field day with there new telescope." The director sighed and leaned back into his chair. "Well, what do we do now? I'm sure the other observatory has made all the necessary calls, they just want us to officially corroborate their findings."

The observatory door clanged open and Shuri rushed into the cavernous room. "Mr. Director," she said, "Someone one from the Navy just called, he said we will be receiving two range finders at the request of the Anatoure Observatory."

The assistant director blinked and sat quietly for a moment. Then, standing up he said, "We have a lot to do between now and their arrival. We need to set up some proper living quarters and give the telescope a thorough mechanical diagnostic before they use it. All of our instruments must be as precisely calibrated and fine tuned as possible."

"Also," spoke up the Assistant Direct, "It would probably be a good idea to tell the vanship consortium that we will be sending dispatches to the Imperial installation on very short notice. I'm sure the Navy can supply us with a better alternative but we have to work with what we have here and now."

Bylar nodded in agreement.

"Ill also see about getting some better supplies up here," said Shuri. "Let me know if anyone thinks of anything specific that they might need. I'm hoping that the Navy will tell us beforehand what sort of provisions they will require."

As far as the Director was concerned everyone knew what their job was and would be seeing to it as quickly as possible, his intervention wasn't needed. He turned his attention back to the novelty floating in space, so very high above him. He knew that soon the night sky would grow dim, but there were still a few hours of starlight left and this would probably be the last time he would have control over the telescope for quite a while. He stared up at the dark hourglass figure and sighed. "What are you up there? How did you get there?" The shadowy object slowly spun as it lazily floated above the earth, occasionally a more reflective piece would shine in the moonlight cast from just below the horizon. The moon would be dawning soon. The director sighed again. This new discovery was certainly interesting, but he knew it meant he would be barred from the night sky that he loved so dearly. Of course he had his own telescope at home, but the view it offered was nothing compared to what he considered his god's eye view of the universe that the observatory offered.

Bylar stood up and walked out the side door to the observatory, not quite letting the door close all the way behind him he propped it open with a nearby rock. He stood staring up into the night, on the horizon he could already see dim flashes of lightning. A curtain of clouds would be pulled across the night's stage of light, but he would enjoy the show while it lasted.

--

Moran was busy changing out the transmission fluid on his tractor. The mornings were starting to warm already and he was trying to get it in perfect working order for after the cold season. He heard the door slam and looked out from underneath the large machine and saw Dunya walk across their gravel drive to the open spot where the tractor was.

"Moran?" she called.

"Down here, babe," he said.

Dunya gently sat down on the gravel and leaned back against her arms and peered under the tractor at him. "How's it going?" she asked.

"Almost done draining the old fluid."

She smiled at him. "Claus called," she said. "He is bringing you your new fuel tank. He wanted to know if he could use your tractor to haul in a busted vanship from the observatory."

"Yeah, sure, I just need to get the engine buttoned up after I put in the new fluid," replied Moran, easing himself out from under his tractor to sit next to his wife.

Dunya leaned over and took his hands.

"I'm pretty greasy," said Moran.

"I don't care," she replied sweetly.

Moran grinned and kissed her before standing and helping her up as well.

--

Lavi had been surprised to get a call from the observatory that morning. Claus had been asleep when the phone rang. She was already up and about. She could hear him curse mildly as he rose from sleep. She had giggled to herself as she ran to the kitchen to catch the phone.

The girl on the other line had said her name was Shuri and that there was a vanship crew with a broken ship stuck with them at the observatory. Lavi had agreed to bring Claus and help them out. After hanging up the phone she had started wondering how to get the ship down to their workshop.

So Claus suggested they bring it in using Moran's tractor.

So here they were flying to Moran's.

The engine thrummed calmly in her ears while the rest of the vanship vibrated casually around her. She had really started to miss flying.

"I missed flying with you," said Claus into their radio as if he had been reading her mind.

Lavi smiled to herself. "I missed it too," she said.

"Alvis is working hard and learning a lot, but you're my navi."

Lavi was silent for a minute. She could see Moran's land plot coming up fast. "It really means a lot to hear you say that, Claus."

"Oh?" Claus turned around in his seat and faced back towards her. She smiled brightly at him. He smiled back. "Well I really was starting to miss you," he said again.

Claus turned back around and Lavi waited for him to dump their throttle.

"Airbreak," he said.

She eased back on her break levers and felt the vanship decelerate sharply.

Claus carefully corkscrewed down and landed with a thump. Not is best landing- it jarred Lavi's neck a little.

Once they were out of their seats and firmly on the ground Lavi hurried over to Claus and caught him before he had gone too far from the vanship. She kissed him quickly on the cheek. "Thanks," she said softly. He looked a little confused but grinned back and kissed her playfully on the mouth.

Claus pulled away from her and led her by the hand towards Moran's backdoor. He knocked a few times and Dunya answered after a pause.

"Hi you two," she said cheerfully. "Moran will be down in a second."

A few moments later Moran appeared on their small wooden staircase trying to get his head through his shirt.

Lavi noticed that Dunya's cheeks were a little more rosy than usual and arched an eyebrow.

Dunya saw this and smirked knowingly.

"You two ready?" asked Moran.

"I've got your tank lashed to the vanship," replied Claus. "Let's get it put in and get over to the observatory."

Moran nodded. "Alright, let's get this done." He kissed Dunya on his way out the door and patted her playfully on the behind. She giggled at him as she pushed him out the door.

--

Henna was lying in a makeshift hammock when her father came in and rapped his knuckles against the door.

"The mechanics just got here," he said. "They brought some sort of tractor."

"Oaky," she replied. "Do you need me for anything?"

Emit shook his head. "Nah, I think we can handle it. I thought u might want to come out anyways, not really a lot to do around here during the day."

"Yeah, I am kind of bored," she replied lazily.

She followed her dad into the small hangar building and saw a dark haired man looking over their vanship. He was wearing work pants and heavy boots but had an old looking blue jacket with several strips of metal sewn onto the sleeves with three chevrons piping each arm.

"Henna?"

She turned and saw a young man with shaggy blond hair and dark work overalls. He had a length of steel cable slung over his shoulder.

"Claus? What are you doing here?"

Claus grinned sheepishly. "I'm the mechanic."

She was about to go up to him but another girl stepped up next to him and put her arm around his waist. She thought for a moment trying to remember the girl's name name.

"Hi Lavi," she said after a moment.

"Hey," replied Lavi absently.

Henna smiled at the other girl but she looked away.

Claus looked down at Lavi and then back at Henna and shrugged. She smiled back.

"Let's get these cables hooked up," he said to Lavi. He looked back at Henna. "Moran and I checked over your superstructure. You have enough hardpoints that we can tow you back to my workshop."

"Do you need help with anything?"

Claus untangled himself from Lavi and dumped his cable on the concrete next to the starboard wing. "We can rig it ourselves. You and your dad will have to help us steer it through some of the turns though."

Henna nodded. "Okay."

"It won't take long to rig the cables."

Henna and her father waited off to the side while Moran, Claus, and Lavi busily made their way around the vanship attaching the steel cables to its hardpoints.

Moran gunned his engine and slowly crept the tractor forward. He looked around for Claus to tell him his clearance but found him off to the side. Lavi had herself wrapped around him again and was keeping him otherwise preoccupied. Claus caught his eye and Moran saw him try to shrug. Moran smirked back and made a point of looking away.

Lavi stepped back from Claus and bit gently at her lower lip. She was blushing furiously and looked around like a little girl caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Claus took her hand and pulled her over to the vanship. Her mouth still tingled just a little bit from their kiss.

Claus called out Moran's clearances and slowly they pulled the larger vanship out of the hangar. He saw Lavi run up beside the tractor and hop on as Moran opened the throttle. The engine roared up and churned down the gravel road. She turned back to him and caught his eye. She smiled shyly back at him. He grinned so wide he face started to ache.

He knew Lavi to be fairly open with their affections but for her to kiss him like that in front of Moran, the observatory staff, and everyone really made him happy. He certainly wasn't embarrassed or shy about his feelings for her but it still felt like they had done something a little out of line and it kind of excited him.

--

Alvis yawned. She had been lying on the couch all morning waiting for Claus and Lavi to get back. She had gotten up late and saw a note on the table saying that they would be back soon. She hazily remembered them saying something about Moran's but she had been half asleep when she overheard them talking outside of her room.

She shivered. It was pretty cool in the house that day. She wandered into her room and put on a long sleeve shirt that dropped down to almost her knees; you couldn't even see her shorts. She chuckled. It might as well have been a dress. Claus was right, she needed to stop making do with his old clothes and get some of her own, though she still thought she looked really cute in Claus' oversized shirt.

She yawned again and rubbed her eyes sleepily. She walked into the kitchen and cut herself a few slices of meat and cheese and poured herself a glass of water. After a few minutes of silence she heard an engine rumbling in the distance. It didn't sound anything like a vanship.

Alvis checked outside and saw that their vanship was still in the workshop. She frowned to herself. Where would they have gone? She swore she heard the vanship leave that morning.

The engine sound kept getting louder so she stepped outside their backdoor and looked around. She saw a tractor heading her way and it looked like Moran was driving. He waved at her. She waved back and started running towards it.

--

Henna sat in her navi's seat while her dad and Claus muscled the vanship around trying to keep it following the tractor. She looked up and saw a young girl with bright blond hair running towards the tractor. She waved at Moran and Lavi as she passed and almost collided with Claus.

"Hey Al," said Claus as the girl hugged him.

"What's with the tractor rig?" she asked.

"Work."

Henna furrowed her brow. Suddenly the girl was bounding along next to her.

"I'm Alvis," she said smiling sweetly at her.

"Henna," replied Henna. "That's my dad, Emit." She pointed forward and Alvis waved at the older gentleman when he turned around at the sound of his name.

"Are you Claus' sister?" asked Henna.

Alvis shook her head, tossing her loosely formed ponytail around.

"Daughter?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.

Claus coughed explosively and Alvis blushed.

"C'mon, there is no way he looks old enough to have kids yet," shouted Lavi from her perch on the back of the tractor.

Henna shrugged. "Some guys are older than they look."

Lavi shook her head and turned around. Henna saw her peek back at Claus and Alvis a few moments later and bite delicately at her lower lip.

"You really thought she was mine?" queried Claus, drifting further aft of the vanship as he walked.

Henna shrugged again. "You never know. Besides, she does kind of look like you and like I said, some guys are a lot older than they look."

Claus blinked a few times rapidly and turned to face forward again. Alvis kept pace beside him. Henna laughed quietly.

Soon they pulled up to what looked like a workshop-slash-hangar type building. Henna watched Claus move forward and offer Lavi his hand as she hopped down delicately from the tractor. She hugged him quickly once her feet were firmly on the ground.

"Hi," said a voice below her. She looked down and saw the man who had driven the tractor. "I'm Moran. I don't think I bothered to introduce myself. I apologize" He offered her his hand as she stood up and he helped her climbed down from her cockpit.

"I'm Henna," she replied, dusting an invisible layer of grime from her clothes.

Moran grinned wolfishly and walked over to introduce himself to her father. The two men shook hands and followed Claus into the hangar.

--

Henna sat next to Alvis as the younger girl cut several five centimeter long pieces of tubing.

"How long have you done this kind of work?" she asked.

"Not long," replied Alvis. "Claus has been teaching me how to use the tools in his shop for a couple of years, but I've only been able to do anything on my own for a little while."

Henna looked over her shoulder at where Claus and her father were looking over their engine. Lavi was in the cockpit going over their instrumentation wiring. She had never really bothered to learn the workings of her ship. She had always been happy to just navi for her father. There was always someone else there to fix it.

"Has he taught you how to do anything else?"

Alvis waited a few moments to reply- long enough dump the dozen or so metal rings into a small box next to the band saw's table. "Lavi and him are teaching me how to navi."

When the older girl didn't reply Alvis pulled her clear goggles down around her neck and looked up at her. Henna smiled weakly back at her for a moment but then turned to face back towards the vanship.

Alvis scrunched her eyebrows up for a moment in thought, then grabbed the box of cut metal and brought it over to another table and grabbed a large file and began grinding it over the sharp edges of the tube ends. She watched Henna get up and saunter over to the vanship, where she stopped next to Claus.

Lavi watched Claus and Emit from her seat up in the cockpit. She finished checking all of the instrumentation connections and started carefully stuffing the loose wiring back inside the underside access panel.

"Everything checks out up here," she said, putting her ammeter away.

Claus pulled himself out of the engine compartment and looked up at her with oily features.

Henna quickly fanned her hand through his hair and pulled away. "You're getting pretty grimy," she said amusedly.

Claus shrugged. "It's an engine. What do you expect?"

Her father chuckled while Lavi frowned and looked elsewhere.

The door to the house slammed. Claus turned and saw Moran coming towards them.

"You don't need the tractor anymore today do you?" he called.

Claus thought for a minute. "No," he replied, "I don't think so. Thanks for the lift. You want to just call us even for the tank now?"

"Sure," said Moran. "Worked out pretty well, didn't it?"

Claus nodded.

Moran and Claus shook hands and then Moran was off. It took several minutes for the sounds of the tractor engine to fade completely into the cooling air.

"I'm finished!" called Alvis.

Claus looked back at the younger girl. "Alright," he said. "Why don't you and Lavi start dismounting the centrifuge."

"You really want us to take that apart?" asked Lavi, gingerly dismounting.

"Gotta check everything, we still haven't found the culprit and I'm starting to run out of ideas."

Thirty minutes later Claus had completely pulled the starter system and was slowly examining each part. Next to him Emit had removed the control surfaces from the port side wing and was examining the lift coils underneath.

"I don't know if this is the whole problem, or just one of many, but I definitely found something," called Lavi from where she had the centrifuge disassembled on the floor of the workshop.

Claus walked over to where she was sitting and examined the centrifuge. Some of the inner bulkheads were breached and the motor was clearly damaged- there were traces of slagged motor coils as well as a lot of scorched metal around the housing.

"Looks like it completely seized," said Lavi.

Henna came up and stood next to Claus. "Can you fix it?" she asked.

Claus laughed. "Nope. Nothing I can do for this. Just going to have to find a new one. I'll call the parts merchant after we finish checking everything out. Who knows what else we might find that needs replacing."

An hour later Claus pulled a black cylinder the size of a beer stein out of the engine and set it down on the wing. "I think this is the root of the problem," he said.

"The claudia filter?" queried Lavi in a disbelieving tone.

"That would explain why the centrifuge was burned out. Raw mineral was building up and started catalyzing over time with the oxygenated fuel. It corroded clear through the primary bulkhead and started shorting out the centrifuge motor. The whole thing just ate itself."

"Well at least that's easy to replace," said Emit.

Claus nodded. "Alright, I'm gonna go call the parts merchant. I think if anything else were wrong we would have found it by now."

"Why would the solution thin out if the filter were bad? Wouldn't that mean the solution was too rich?"

Claus turned to Lavi.

"Over time the saturated solution started to degrade your centrifuge. The centrifuge is what keeps the solution mixed properly as it pours into your SCE. When the centrifuge started to fail, the solution started to be re-used and began losing claudia density," she said.

Claus chuckled. "She's the real mechanics. I just make parts."

Henna made a pouting face. "You still know more than I do about vanships."

He shrugged.

Alvis' stomach growled. Her cheeks reddened as everyone turned to her.

"That sounded like an engine," laughed Emit.

"I'm hungry," she replied meekly.

"She takes after Claus," said Lavi, winking.

Alvis tried to hide behind Claus.

--

Lavi and Henna sat in the kitchen waiting for the stew to cook. Alvis, Claus, and Emit were all still in the workshop piecing the engine back together.

"How long have you been with Claus?" asked Henna passively.

"For as long as I can remember." Lavi spooned out a small bit of stew and tasted it.

"How did you meet?"

Lavi sat back down and leaned back in her chair. "Our fathers were a vanship crew a long time ago. His father was a pilot and mine was a navi. Our vanship is…" Lavi paused and looked lost.

"Your vanship?"

A distant look settled into Lavi's eyes. Henna waded through the silence for a few moments before repeating herself.

Lavi's eyes sharpened as she let her chair down to rest on all four legs. "The vanship that we fly belonged to a good friend of our fathers'."

Henna remained politely silent.

"For a long time Claus and I thought that vanship was actually our fathers'."

"I thought you said your fathers were lost in the grand stream."

She nodded. "They were. They were flying with another crew- a man and his fiancé. Only the man returned. I don't remember the words he said to Claus' mother when he came back. All I remember is that soon after that she passed away after that man left us with our vanship. Grief, the doctors had said."

"What about your mother?"

Lavi ignored the question and continued with her own story. "So Claus and I were left with our home and our vanship. Our fathers had already shown us the basics so it was just a matter of picking up where we left off."

She sighed. "Learning to fly didn't pay the bills though. Our parents were considered nobility, but in name only. We were actually not very well off. Their first love was flying. So eventually people came to take possession of the vanship. We sold the house to keep it."

"How old were you?"

Lavi laughed. "Not old enough."

Henna sighed. "I remember when my mother died. I was very young. After we buried her dad wouldn't come out of his room for days at a time. Finally a friend of his came by and asked him if he wanted to go flying in an attempt to pull him out of his funk. After that first flight dad was hooked. He sold a lot of our stuff and bought a clunker of a vanship and had his pilot friend help him restore it. They taught me how to navigate and I've been flying with him ever since.

At first I only did it because it was the only thing that dad would get enthusiastic about. The only time he would talk to me was when we were flying."

"I'm sorry," said Lavi softly.

"It's okay. Flying saved us. Both of us, I'm sure. At first it was really frightful, being so high above the ground. But after a while I got used to it and began to really love it."

"That's exactly what Claus and I went through. We tried so hard in the beginning, but getting the vanship off the ground was a huge ordeal alone."

Henna stood up and walked over to the side counter and looked out the window towards the open workshop. "You two are lucky," she said, "Being able to live together like this."

Lavi arched an eyebrow. "I wouldn't really consider us lucky. We had a really rough time up until just a few years ago."

The other girl shrugged. "Still, it's different from all the other kids. You were on your own with just Claus. I know it must have been hard but would you have traded your life with him for something else?"

Lavi fidgeted. "I don't know." She wasn't really comfortable with the direction their conversation was taking. She was trying not to be confrontational with the girl- she was a client after all.

Henna peered at her intently for a moment before shrugging. "Where's your bathroom?" she asked.

Lavi pointed. "On the left," she said.

Henna was gone for a few minutes before returning. "You have a nice little house," she said brushing her short spiky dark hair out of her eyes.

"Thanks," replied Lavi meekly. "Claus and Moran have been working on it for a few years now."

"Just the two of them?"

"Alvis and I help of course."

"There seems to be a room missing though," said Henna, hopping up to sit on the counter next to the side wall. She leaned to peer out the window again.

Lavi made a screwed up face. "I don't get it," she said.

Henna was silent.

Lavi shrugged mentally and stood up to check the stewpot.

"Oh I get it," mused Henna. "You just sleep with Claus."

Lavi almost dropped the pot onto the floor.

"That's why there were only two bedrooms," continued the other girl. She turned her attention from the window and back to Lavi, who was blushing fiercely. "It's okay," she said. "If I had the chance I'd bed him too." Henna grinned wickedly.

Lavi was so embarrassed that she couldn't find her voice.

At that moment the door opened and Claus and Emit appeared in the kitchen, their boots scuffing loudly on the wooden floor. Henna winked at Claus who then turned to a still red faced Lavi.

"Hey girls," he said.

Alvis quickly appeared behind him and scampered in, closing the door behind her.

"So what to do now?" asked Emit.

"Gonna call the parts merchant and then see to piecing the rest of your engine back together."

"Lunch!" shouted Alvis, hopping over to the stovetop.

Lavi still hadn't said anything yet. She shot Clause a desperate look and turned back to the stewpot. Claus frowned and walked over to her.

"Something wrong?" he murmured into her ear.

Lavi shook her head though she had a look of intensity.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded.

Claus gently kissed the back of her shoulder and touched her hand. She squeezed back momentarily and then let go so she could spoon out the meal.

--

Alvis was curled up on the couch after lunch. She had napped off and on for a half hour after the meal while Claus called the parts merchant and chatted quietly with Emit off in a corner of their den. She watched Lavi hover around them until Henna sprung up from the kitchen.

"Guess we should finish putting your engine back together," said Claus, just a hint of sluggishness in his voice.

Emit nodded. "Right, how long will it take to get the new centrifuge and filter?"

Claus scratched absently at his neck. "Well," he said, "The filter is easy. Those are a dime a dozen. The centrifuge though, those don't go out very often. They aren't really a very high maintenance part either. So it won't be in until tomorrow."

Emit nodded, "Alright."

"You and Henna can sleep here tonight if you like. The charge for the centrifuge order is gonna be somewhat sizeable, so we won't charge you for rooming with us. I have a pallet I can pull out for you." Claus turned to Emit. "And Henna can sleep on the sofa. It's not a bad arrangement. I've slept on both just fine."

"I'm not very picky about where I sleep. I don't think Henna will be either."

Claus cracked his knuckles. "Let's go back outside."

--

Evening was beginning to settle and Claus was sitting in the workshop with Alvis beside him. The younger girl was napping again with her head resting on his shoulder.

Lavi came over and sat down opposite of him. She handed him a screw driver which he used to tighten the fuel valve on his plasma torch.

"There," he said. "Stupid thing kept losing pressure on me."

Lavi leaned across the workbench and took Claus' hands. "I'm still worried about Alvis," she said quietly.

Claus looked down at the sleeping girl and shrugged. "I don't know what you expect me to do."

"I don't know either," said Lavi, looking down at his engine stained hands.

"Where are Henna and her father?"

"Emit is still eating. I assume she is with him."

Claus pulled his hands back and wiped them on his pants. "That was a really amazing dinner you whipped up. I'm not surprised he is still going at it."

Lavi didn't reply.

Next to him Alvis stirred and her head slipped off of where it was braced against his arm. Her eyes popped open.

"If you keep napping you wont want to sleep tonight," warned Claus, as he resumed tinkering with his torch.

Claus turned back to Lavi, who was fixated elsewhere. He let out just a whisper of a sigh.

Alvis looked up at him and caught his eye. She reached over and pulled his sleeve up and gently kissed the side of his arm.

Claus turned his attention back to his tools. Alvis leaned her head against his arm and watched his hands while he worked.

Lavi shook her head and got up to walk back into the house. Claus got up to follow her but Alvis hooked her arm around him. "Wait," she said.

Claus paused for a moment but then gently untangled himself from her. "I'll be back in a minute," he said.

He caught up to Lavi before she could open their back door. He put his hand on her shoulder and carefully turned her around to face him.

"What's bothering you?" he asked.

Lavi smiled at him sadly. "Silly boy," she said. "You really don't ever notice these things do you?"

He remained mute, not sure how to respond. So instead he pulled her closer to him and kissed her forehead.

Lavi pressed herself against him and reached up with her mouth to catch him in a slightly deeper kiss. "I'll be alright," she said. "Go back and finish up in the shop. I'll be back out after I clean up inside."

Claus nodded. "Okay."

She smiled sweetly at him and disappeared inside.

Back in the workshop Alvis was waiting on the bench for him.

"If Henna takes the couch and Emit uses our spare mattress where are you going to sleep tonight?" she asked.

Claus sat down next to her. "I'll pull out some blankets and probably sleep here in the shop. I've done it before."

Alvis made a screwed up face. "Why not just sleep with me again?"

Claus hesitated in replying.

"I know what you're thinking," she said preemptively.

Claus was still measuring his response when Alvis scooted closer to him and dropped her head against his shoulder again. She put her hand on his forearm.

"You know," she said quietly. "I wouldn't mind if it happened again."

This time Claus looked down to meet her stare. She was blushing but wore a devilish little grin. Why was she like this? He wondered.

He turned back to his work and was silent. Alvis remained silent as well, though she still hung on to his forearm.

"It's kind of you to offer to keep me warm tonight," he finally said after a while.

"Does that mean you'll let me?"

Claus was beginning to feel lost. "Alright," he said, not meeting her expectant gaze.

Alvis was just about to reply when Lavi appeared beside Claus and sat down on his other side. She leaned over and whispered in his ear. He looked down at Alvis and then back at her.

Lavi ran her hand through the back of Claus' hair and let it rest on the back of his neck.

"You sure?" Alvis heard him ask. Lavi nodded nervously. She watched Claus lean over and kiss the side of her cheek. Lavi smiled warmly at him and stood up to leave.

When she was gone, Alvis asked what she had told Claus.

"She asked me to spend tonight with her," he replied. "I just wish it didn't take her fear of being humiliated."

"Humiliated?" Alvis looked genuinely confused.

Claus nodded. "A while back when Lavi and I stayed a night at an aerial dock we ran into Henna and her father for the first time. The short version is as we were preparing to leave after some repairs, Lavi was on the other side of the vanship and I was trying to close the engine up when Henna managed to steal a kiss from me."

Alvis giggled. "How does one steal a kiss?"

Claus shrugged. "She just kind of leaned up and pressed her lips against mine."

"Did Lavi see it?"

He nodded. "She didn't tell me until later. Before Henna kissed me though, Lavi had been acting differently. She was really adamant about us leaving right then and there and not a minute later. Even at the risk of us running out of fuel with a leak I still hadn't found."

Alvis smirked. "Claus you really are a dolt."

He peered down at her silently. "I admit it," he said. "I'm a fairly simple creature."

The younger girl shook her head and laughed. "Claus, you are anything but simple as far as us girls are concerned."

He shrugged.

"So what is this about her being humiliated?"

Claus shrugged again. "I think she just wants to stick it to Henna that we sleep together. I don't know why. I don't think she is trying to hurt the girl. Henna is a flirt, nothing more."

"Just try and keep it quiet, the rest of us will be wanting to sleep."

Claus laughed. "I doubt that will be a problem," he said, looking back at the house.

Alvis mentally flinched. "I'm sorry," she said. "It wasn't supposed to be mean."

He put his tools aside and wiped his hand on his pants. "I know," he said. "You're always sweet to me."

"It's only because you're so affectionate," she replied softly. "I feel safe showing you how much I love you."

Claus remained silent.

Alvis leaned her head against his shoulder again.

"I'm sure Lavi thinks the same thing," she continued. "She is just nervous about other things I bet. It's not because you're not doing something."

"Thanks," said Claus.

"Will you be with me tomorrow night then?"

"We'll see." Claus was hoping that tonight would lead to a new habit for Lavi and himself.

Alvis pouted.

Claus looked down at her with a measured gaze.

She flinched.

"Lavi is worried about you," he said, staring as though he were trying to look through her. "And honestly," he said, "I'm a little worried too."

Alvis' brows furrowed in thought. "Why?" she queried,

Claus' blue eyes seemed to refocus on her. "Because I know that I can't be with both of you. I'm not something that's going to be shared."

The younger girl looked away.

"When you tell me that you love me, I know what you're really saying. And I know that it's different from what I say to you, when I tell you that I love you."

Alvis continued to avoid his eyes.

Claus put his palm on the back of her neck and let his fingers spread out through her hair. "I'm also worried about myself and Lavi," he said. "I feel that recently I'm pulled in a couple of different directions at once. She knows this, there's no way she hasn't noticed it. She's worried that you are making an already difficult situation even more obfuscated."

"You're saying I'm making things worse?" She looked up and gave him a terribly pained look.

Claus bit hard at his lip, thinking of what he should say. "I'm not saying you're doing anything wrong. Just not helping. More importantly though, I'm really, really worried that I'm going to hurt you."

"You're already hurting me," replied Alvis in a strained tone.

Claus shifted so he could sit straddling the bench with her in front of him. He didn't know what to say. He could see that he really was hurting her, as much as he didn't want to. He desperately didn't want to hurt her, not ever. He sighed.

"How am I… not making things better?" she asked, throwing Claus' own word play back at him.

"C'mon," he said, "You can't expect me to believe you have no idea what's going on."

Alvis smiled coyly. "You're right," she said. "I know. But you saying so makes me think I'm having some kind of an effect on you."

"You are," said Claus without thinking.

His words startled her. She hadn't really expected him to answer. She was suddenly very happy to hear she held some sway over him.

"You're so different from Lavi," he continued. "Lavi is strong willed- as are you, but you never seem to be guarded. Lavi can be slow to lower her guard, even when it comes to me. You on the other hand are the exact opposite, you will charge right in not caring about the consequences. Where Lavi will sit and think something through, you act first and figure out the details later."

"Do you like that part of me?" she asked, almost in a whisper.

Claus nodded. "Yes, I wish some of it would rub off on Lavi. It makes it very easy to be drawn to you, because you don't tease, you lay it out for everyone to know- this is who you are, and how you are- there is no game."

"Does Lavi play head games?"

"No," laughed Claus, "She isn't a schemer, she just isn't one to show all her cards at once."

Claus heard the house door slam and looked to see Lavi walking over to them.

"Ready to sleep?" she asked standing over Alvis and Claus.

"Yeah," said Claus. He looked out past their home and watched the deepening night drift out over the Norkia crater. "I wonder how cold it's going to be."

Lavi shrugged. She took him by the hand and tugged at him gently.

--

Claus lay in their bed waiting for Lavi to finish in the bathroom. He was fighting to stay awake, to wait for her. A few more minutes passed and he heard the door open as she stepped into the room. She smiled at him and started to undress in the darkened room.

Lavi felt herself blushing as she shed her clothes and stood in front of Claus in just her underwear. She pulled a nightshirt out from her drawers and put it on while quickly undoing her bra and pulling it out from under her shirt. She tossed it on the side of her nightstand and climbed under the covers.

"You beat me," she said.

Claus nodded sleepily. "So I did," he said drawing his arm around her and pulling her close to him. He eased his head down next to hers and breathed in her scent. Just now she smelled like vanilla.

He kissed at her shoulder and took her hand so that he could pull it up to his mouth and kiss her fingers.

"You're beautiful," he said to her quietly. In the darkened room her body seemed particularly languid against the shadowy moonlight.

She smiled at him blearily and leaned over to kiss him deeply- fiercely. Her tongue swirled around his while she hugged herself tightly against his body. When she pulled away she put her hand against his forehead and brushed casually at his bangs.

"I love you," she said, kissing again at his mouth, and then at his neck.

Claus could feel the warmth from her soft kisses spreading along his neck. She stopped for a moment before nuzzling the side of his head and breathing hotly into his ear.

"Who are you and what have you done with my Lavi?" asked Claus playfully.

Lavi didn't reply, instead she kissed him again. And again, and again, all over his chest and across his shoulders. She wasn't sure just yet what she wanted so instead she tried to show Claus that she was ready for- something.

She felt him slip his palm across her stomach and spread his fingers over her skin. They were warm and felt like they tingled with energy as they pressed against her.

Lavi breathed shallowly as she felt Claus' palm start to slide about her midsection. She rolled on her back and pulled him against her side.

Claus winced. "Still kinda sore," he said, rubbing his bandaged side.

"You'll live," teased Lavi, pressing his hand back against her abdomen.

Claus shook his head and laughed. "Silly girl," he said, leaning over so he could pull her shirt down and kiss her shoulder while he continued to move his hand about her midsection. Slowly he fanned his fingers out and slid his hand up to cup her breast. Her nipples were already erect and he thumbed them gently.

Lavi sucked in sharply and slid her hand down to Claus' shoulder and then back to his head so she could pull him into another furious kiss.

"Your hands are warm," she said quietly to him.

Claus continued to gently massage her breast while he breathed heavily against the side of her head. "You're warm too," he said.

Lavi smiled shyly. "Tell me you love me, Claus."

"I love you."

"You still make me blush sometimes when you tell me I'm beautiful." Lavi kissed his cheek and then kissed up the side of his face and started kissing at his ear. He shuddered ever so slightly. Lavi smiled at herself. Maybe she could keep up with him.

Minutes passed while the two were pressed closely together. Lavi's breathing was deep in Claus' ear while his hands continued their journey about her torso. Slowly he reached down and started pulling her shirt up her body. Lavi eased up from the bed and allowed him to pull her shirt off of her completely.

Claus had of course seen Lavi naked before, but the previous circumstance had been anything but titillating. So he took a few moments to just marvel at her near nakedness. He sat up and scooted himself down so he could kiss her stomach and her abdominals and the sides of her body. He was completely enamored by the shape of her body. She had such a beautiful figure and her skin almost looked like it was glowing. Her breast were small but had a full round shape to them and her nipples were two cute medium sized dots.

He worked his head further up her abdomen and gently kissed her breast before easing his mouth around her nipple and playing at it with his tongue.

Lavi was lying very still through this, trying hard to control her breathing. Claus noticed this and looked up at her. "You shouldn't be afraid of responding," he said. "There isn't anything you'll do wrong. Just let your body do what it will."

She nodded and sighed deeply. She took his other hand and intertwined their fingers before squeezing hard and then unclasping them. It's not that she was afraid of responding she just didn't know how.

"I don't really know what to do," she whispered.

Claus stopped what he was doing so he could gently kiss her on the mouth. "I don't really know what I'm doing either," he said.

"But you're doing great," she said. She had all but wanted to shout it. "Keep doing what you were doing. Just being touched by you feels good Claus. It always has."

He nodded and placed a hand firmly on her lower stomach and resumed.

Lavi's arousal was growing and she started moving her legs around. She reached down and pushed Claus free hand down between them. She still had her panties on and he gently applied pressure to the delicate bulge at the joining of her legs. He massaged his fingers back and forth across her sex and started playing his hand up and down her leg only stopping briefly every few passes to resume massaging her between her legs.

"What do you want me to do for you?" she asked.

"Nothing right now," said Claus- he had stopped playing with her breast and had sat up so he could slide her underwear off of her. Lavi arched her body up and let him remove them.

He traced his mouth up and down the length of her thighs, breathing in her musky scent. Her legs were strong and wonderfully shaped. He brushed the side of her inner thighs with his nose and breathed coolly against her skin.

Claus felt Lavi's fingers sift carefully through his hair. He bit playfully at her inner thigh and started kissing around her dark red bush. He pushed her legs back and found her lips open and waiting. He pressed his mouth against them. She was hot and slick with arousal and he flicked his tongue out against her inner lips and explored.

He felt her tugging at his head.

"Stay up here with me," she said. "I'm still not ready for everything yet."

Claus sat up again and eased himself down next to her. Lavi took his hand and carefully slid it back down between her thighs. She opened her legs up and pressed his fingers against her sex.

He could feel her warmth flowing out across his fingers as he moved them back and forth across her opening. At first they slid easily but soon they were completely covered in her arousal as he eased a finger up inside of her.

Lavi started to moan quietly in his ear and played her own hands across his body.

Claus' fingers massaged her lips and his hand massaged her thighs. The tip of his fingers found her clit and pressed in and around. After a few minutes Lavi's breathing became more sporadic and her body language became more intense.

"There Claus, keep your finger there," she pressed his whole hand against her sex and slid his finger in circles around her clit.

She was so wet that he had trouble keeping his finger pressed against her clit.

"You don't have to keep it there the whole time," she said huskily. She reached down and pressed one of his fingers part ways into her slit and rubbed it up and down. If she wasn't so turned on she would have been horribly embarrassed at the mess she was probably making.

Lavi fumbled around and finally got her hand under Claus' boxers and found his engorged penis. She pulled at his underwear and he stopped what he was doing so he could discard them. She tugged gingerly at his shaft and did her best to manipulate it in her hands.

"What should I do?" she asked.

"Whatever you want," he replied, rolling her against him so he could kiss her fiercely.

"But I don't know what that is," she whispered, still carefully stroking his member.

"Just do that," he said.

Lavi was lost in her arousal. His touch gave a deliciously pleasurable undertone to her aroused organs and every time his finger buzzed over her clit she felt all of her senses kick up a notch. It was a rhythm that was building something intense inside of her and her voice started to betray her excitement.

She heard Claus' labored breathing mixing with her own and felt him kissing her breast hungrily. The intensity of her emotions and her building pleasure was amplifying Claus' touch. It felt like something was about to completely take over her body.

Just as her body was arching on the cusp of something really powerful; and her desires, her arousal, her love, and her hunger were about to burst out of her body like a physical thing- she was suddenly overwhelmed by a darkness. She didn't know what it was but her emotions were already so elevated that she was simply terror stricken by the darkness. She started to sob.

She sobbed uncontrollably. Hysterically. She suddenly felt so vulnerable she couldn't function. She rolled away from Claus and balled up.

Claus leaned over and pulled her back to him. "What's going on?" he asked. "Did I hurt you? Are you okay?"

Lavi could hear the uncertain fear in his voice and clutched tightly at his arm. She rolled away again, pulling his arm with her.

"I don't know," she replied shakily. "All of a sudden I couldn't stand being touched." She didn't tell him the rest; she didn't tell him how she had almost shoved him off the bed out of desperation, just to get away. She lay facing away from him for a few minutes. The silence in the room had a cooling effect on her body and her emotions.

Lavi rolled over again and draped her arm over Claus' side. "I'm okay now," she said. She kissed his chest. "I'm sorry."

Claus wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly to him. "It's alright," he said. "I still don't really know what I'm doing. I'm just thankful you can tell me what you like."

Lavi blushed. "It's really kind of embarrassing," she said. "I don't know what I want but my body seems to." She paused, "But I trust you. If I didn't trust you I don't think I could let myself try to tell you what to do."

Claus frowned. "That doesn't make much sense. You trust me enough to direct me? Shouldn't it be you trust me enough to be directed?"

Lavi did her best to shrug but the motion was lost against Claus' body. "I don't know how else to describe it. It feels… shameful for me to tell you how much I liked having your finger up inside of me. It really surprised me how much I liked having your tongue pressed against me down there. That's why I pulled your head up, I don't think I'm ready to be that vulnerable yet, to let you see and smell and taste something so… personal."

Claus remained silent but kissed the side of her arm and shoulder.

Lavi rolled so she could face him again and stroked his cheek. "What you did tonight was really amazing Claus. I feel… so incredibly close to you just now. I like being in your arms and I like sharing myself with you even though I'm not ready for everything just yet," she said.

Claus kissed her forehead and put his head down next to hers. He started rubbing his palm up and down the side of her body.

"But just a minute ago you were something else entirely."

Lavi pulled the sheets back over herself and Claus. "I don't know what that was. It was terrible for the few minutes it lasted, but before that, and after it were both wonderful." Though in truth while she was feeling somewhat euphoric she still tried hard not to tremble. There was still something tugging in the back of her mind but for now she wanted to reassure Claus and try and enjoy something she knew was hidden from the rest of the world. This was their love, and right now there was nothing in the world separating them, not even their clothes.

She gently pulled Claus hand back down to her thighs and then pressed his hand carefully against her bush and the top of her lips then pulled herself closer against him. "I feel older all of a sudden," she whispered.

"It's probably because we've been living together for so long and not seeing the obvious."

"Probably," agreed Lavi.

Claus yawned and was quiet.

"Do you think that will happen again?" she heard him ask after a while.

"I don't know." Sleep was thick in her voice now and the warmth pouring out of Claus was making her even more drowsy. Even the pressure of his hand pressed generously against her sex was making her tired in a trusting lover sort of way. "I hope not," she replied.

Claus breathed quietly while Lavi started to sink into sleep. "I love you," she heard him say.

"I love you too," she mumbled just before plunging into dreams.

--

Claus was staring out the window watching the daylight try and creep in through the side of the blinds when Lavi stirred next to him. The sheets had fallen down to her waist and his attention was diverted to the gentle curve of her body. He touched her softly and traced over her skin with his finger tips.

Lavi rolled onto her back, exposing her naked breast to the cool morning air. Her eyes opened and slowly focused on Claus. He suddenly had the most amazing smile she had ever seen.

"Good morning," he said, pressing his lips against hers.

"Good morning," she replied, pulling on him to keep him pressed against her. "Keep me warm for a little longer," she said, curving an arm around him and stroking his back.

Claus chuckled, "Alright," he said, kissing her under her eye. "But not too long, we need to get up."

"You aren't going to Moran's this morning are you?" asked Lavi, sleep still pulling gently at her.

"I'll go tomorrow." Claus reached under the sheets and put his hand on her stomach. He kissed her again, deeper this time. "I know I tell you this a lot Lavi, but you are so beautiful to me."

Lavi smiled and kissed him on the arm. "I love you," she said. "I love how you look at me; even your eyes tell me that I'm beautiful."

Claus nodded and put his head down next to hers.

"I know I'm not the most beautiful woman in the world, but you never let me feel insecure about myself or unsure about your feelings towards me," continued Lavi. "That's a really amazing feeling." She pulled him into another kiss.

"Alright," said Claus after another minute. "I guess we should get up." He rolled over and stood up from the bed.

Lavi moved over and flopped onto her back, watching Claus walk over to the window. He had such a strong body and she would definitely enjoy looking at it more often in the future. She was reminded of how Claus would look at her when she was naked herself. There was such a fierce desire in his eyes, almost a longing. Yet they were still warm and kind. She didn't feel like something to be consumed, but instead like partner when he would look at her like that.

She got up from the bed walked over to stand behind him. She put her arms around him and clasped her hands flatly against his lower stomach.

"Want to take a shower?" he asked her.

"Sure," she replied, kissing the back of his shoulder.

Claus turned and kissed her back quickly before going over to one of the cabinets in the room and grabbing a pair of towels and a washrag. He threw one around his waist and tossed the other to Lavi and then quietly stepped out into the hallway.

Lavi wrapped herself in the towel and quickly followed after him. In the hall she could hear Emit snoring in the other room. She waited before Claus came out of the living room with a change of clothes. She suddenly remembered she had forgotten her own clothes and quickly dashed back into her room to get a change for herself.

She quietly slipped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her with a soft click. Claus was leaning inside the shower curtain trying to get the water warm before they got in. She stripped off her towel and gave Claus a playful swat on the backside. He went absolutely rigid and slowly turned to face her. His expression was bloody priceless. She pointed at the shower. "In," she said, trying desperately not to burst out into laughter.

"Yes ma'am," he replied, grinning like an idiot.

Lavi pecked him on the cheek and then carefully pulled off the tape from his midsection. Claus grunted a few times but otherwise was no worse for the ware.

He pulled back the shower curtain to let Lavi in then followed after her.

--

Alistia clicked the lock to their front door. She slung her flight bag over her shoulder and joined Tatiana at the base of their porch.

"Nervous?" asked Tatiana.

"A little."

"Me too."

The two girls walked out to the road in front of their home and waited patiently.

After a few minutes they heard the throaty roar of a heavy lift vanship. They looked and saw the large craft approaching from the western side of the crater. The vanship grew steadily larger and very soon it was settling in front of them. The side door opened and two armed marines jumped out.

"Captain Wisler and Lieutenant Agrew," said the one on the left. He saluted smartly. "We will be in charge of your security during your weekly flights to and from Avery Air Station."

The girls both returned the salute wordlessly and stepped into the heavy transport. Earth and grass swept outwards as the powerful engines thrust the craft up into the morning air.

--

Lavi was busily scrubbing Claus' shaggy hair. She hadn't really known what to expect when she got into the shower with him and was a little surprised when he picked up the bottle of shampoo and dumped some into his hand. "Is this enough?" he had asked. She shook her head and giggled. "You need a lot more than that." She was relieved that he hadn't pulled her hair.

Having Claus wash her hair for her was actually something of a turn on and she had pressed herself very close to him while he massaged his fingers through her hair. He rinsed her hair carefully and then picked up a bar of soap and thoroughly lathered up a wash rag. He had pulled her out of the water stream and kissed her playfully on the mouth before carefully scrubbing her neck and shoulders and then the rest of her.

Lavi had blushed through some of it, but then Claus squatted down and picked up her foot and started washing it. "You know," he had said. "There isn't any part of you that I don't adore. I love every little piece- good, bad, dirty, clean, whatever." He finished washing her feet and legs and kissed her thigh. Lavi had been running her hand through his hair the whole time.

"I don't know what I do to deserve such love, Claus," she had said. "You've shown me something this morning and last night that I just didn't know existed in you."

Claus was silent but had looked up at her approvingly.

Now it was her turn.

"Claus you have almost as much hair as I do," she teased as she washed him, kissing him while his eyes were closed.

"Maybe I should get it cut," he said, eyes still closed. "Would you like me with shorter hair?"

"I don't know," she replied while Claus ducked back under the torrent of water and rinsed all the shampoo out of his hair. He rubbed his face and opened his eyes.

"Well if you want me to I will, I don't really care either way."

Lavi shrugged. "We'll see," she said. "Maybe just a trim for now."

Claus laughed. "Alright."

Lavi grabbed the washcloth and lathered it up again. She was more timid than Claus when it came to washing him but she found that she actually enjoyed it and realized why he had said what he had.

"You were right," she said while they stood holding on to each other under the spray of water.

"About what?"

"I feel just like you do."

Claus smiled but cocked his head to the side.

Lavi shook her head and pulled herself more tightly against him. "I love you, and I trust you. I know I've always trusted you but today it just feels different."

"What do you mean?"

Lavi thought for a moment. "I don't know. I just feel… safer all of a sudden. You love me even when I'm not at my best, even when I'm dirty and you're washing everything away. When I woke up today I wasn't sure if all of this was a good idea, but I feel differently now."

"I'm glad," said Claus warmly. He smiled again at her and kissed her deeply.

She responded and kissed him back furiously.

His hand slipped from her shoulder to her breast where it lingered briefly before slipping down between her thighs.

Lavi bit enticingly at his lip and then again at his neck then reached down to grasp his swollen member.

His fingers slipped back and forth across her lips and soon she was flooded with arousal again.

Lavi carefully slid her hand back and forth along his shaft while he pressed a finger against her clit. His fingers continued to play with her and she felt one of them pressing up inside of her. She moaned and bit at his shoulder while she played with him more intensely.

The water pouring down her body was starting to feel particularly good. In fact everything suddenly felt particularly good, like her whole body was starting to radiate.

"You feel so good, Claus," she said in a husky voice. "Why do you always do such amazing things?" She moved her whole body against him and continued to make soft moaning noises.

Lavi was totally lost in the warm water pouring down her body and the intense glowing pleasure that was growing between her legs and spreading out to the rest of her.

Then suddenly it all started to feel sick. She pulled Claus' hand away from her but fought the urge to push herself away from him entirely. "Stop," she said hoarsely, trying hard to keep her emotions under control.

Claus was silent but stopped.

Lavi tried desperately not to cry but the tears still came. She felt so wretched for wanting to be far from him after he had been so loving to her. She was torn between desperation and devotion and couldn't handle it. She leaned hard into him and sobbed quietly into his chest.

It wasn't as terrifying this time though. She quickly regained herself and looked up to see Claus staring at the tile on the wall. "I'm sorry," she said.

Claus was still silent and still content to keep looking at the wall.

Lavi dropped her head and pressed her forehead into his shoulder.

"It's okay," he said after a minute.

"I don't know what's wrong with me," replied Lavi. "I want to be able to share myself with you; I don't want to be like this every time."

"What is it exactly that happens?" he asked.

Lavi shook her head. "I don't really want to talk about it right now," she said. "We should probably get out before anyone else needs to get in here."

Claus nodded and reached down to turn off the water.

Lavi noticed Claus' still erect penis and patted it gently. "Sorry," she said again.

Claus chuckled. "It's alright."

"I know you didn't get angry but I still feel really guilty. You seem to know what to do for me but I don't know how I can make you feel like you make me feel."

"It's really alright Lavi," he said again. "One thing at a time. Maybe next time." He winked at her pulled back the shower curtain.

--

Henna was waiting by the bathroom door. She really had to go. Luckily she heard the water click off just as she got to the door and a few minutes later Claus emerged followed by Lavi.

"Good morning," said Claus cheerfully.

"Hey Claus," replied Henna. "Hey Lavi," she said, winking at the other girl.

Lavi blushed and hurried past them into the kitchen.

"All yours," said Claus, stepping aside to let her through.

Alvis woke with a start. She had been dreaming about Claus again. She reached down and touched the damp spot between her legs.

"Not again," she grumbled. She sighed and sat up in bed, noticing her extra pillow was lying next to her. The last few nights since she had slept with Claus on the couch, she had been having intensely sexual dreams about him. She was just glad she hadn't started shouting in her sleep, she didn't know if she could face that kind of embarrassment.

"Lavi's right," she said to herself as she got out of bed to change. "I need to get a handle on my emotions."

Alvis threw on a pair of work pants and a more fitted shirt she had gotten from Lavi and walked out into the hall to the bathroom. She saw the light on under the door and waited a few minutes for whoever was in there to finish.

She heard the toilet flush and the door opened to reveal Henna. She was still a little bleary eyed and smirked at Alvis.

"Sorry," she said. "Lavi and Claus took their sweet time showering together and I really, really had to go when I got up."

Henna brushed by her and headed into the living room to wake her dad.

Alvis sighed and pushed open the bathroom door.

--

The flight to Avery Air Station took less time than Tatiana expected. Looking out the window she could see a tight network of roads crisscrossing between buildings of varying sizes. To the north she saw a particularly large building with a long strangely painted road that only ran a few kilometers and didn't seem to go anywhere at all- it was perfectly straight and just stopped on both ends.

They flew in low over some of the buildings and promptly dropped to ground level, landing harshly.

"Sorry about that folks," said the pilot over the intercom, "Windshear forced us down a bit prematurely."

Tatiana and Alistia gathered their gear and waited for the marine corporal to open the side panel.

Stepping out into the mid morning air they noticed it was still cool out, even with Avery Air Station being surrounded by mountain ranges that blocked most air currents.

"Alright," said Alistia, "Week one."

Tatiana nodded and the two followed the marine squad as they were led across the airfield.

The marines set a brisk pace. Both Tatiana and Alistia hurried to catch up with the corporal.

"How many people are here on the base?" asked Alistia.

"Avery isn't an official airbase ma'am," replied the corporal. "We are a research facility. On staff are a number of scientists and engineers as well as a battalion of marines."

"What about pilots?" asked Tatiana.

The corporal shrugged. "Only a handful, including you ma'am. There are elements from the 3rd tactical air wing but they number less than a dozen craft."

They arrived at a large field office and the corporal opened the door for them. They stepped inside and were hit by a sudden blast of cold air.

"The Lieutenant Colonel is this way ma'am."

The group walked down a short hallway and entered an office door with the words 'Lt. Col. Ratzec' stenciled boldly on the door.

The colonel regarded them silently as they shuffled in and waited to speak until the door was closed

"At ease marines," he said. "Captain Wisla, Lieutenant Agrew, welcome to Avery Air Station. I am Colonel Ratzec, the commanding officer here. I understand you two are to be attached to one of our development teams."

"Yes sir," replied Alistia. "We are the test pilots."

The colonel nodded. "Very well, on your way out my assistant will have you sign the Capital Act and then show you to your quarters."

"As in the Capital City sir?"

Colonel Ratzec was stone faced when he replied. "Capital Punishment."

Both girls blinked.

"Dismissed," said Ratzec.

Everyone saluted. Ratzec returned it and watched everyone file out the door.

Outside Alistia and Tatiana met with a junior aid and leafed through several documents entailing both their legal obligation as well as the proper chain of command regarding their deployment to Avery.

"Standard legal fare," said the aid- a pretty young sergeant with tea colored eyes. "You are forbidden to discuss any technical, flight, or operational related subjects regarding activities on this base. You are limited to discretionary personal remarks only regarding you work here. While on base you are permitted to discuss matters regarding your work on a discretionary bases to technical crews and supervisors as well as the base commander. There are several projects going on and everyone is on a need to know basis."

The girls signed and initialed in several locations and then handed the documents to the aid who then sealed them into an envelope and placed the documents in a nearby safe.

"It's really sounds a lot worse than it is," she said, turning back to Tatiana. "We've never had more than a few minor incidents that resulted in non-official reprimands so don't worry too much about it."

Alistia and Tatiana were led back out the building and out to the parade ground; their marine guard had already left.

"You will each have a dorm to yourself in the pilot's barracks. I know this is unusual for flight crews, but it is necessary to compartmentalize as much as possible on this base." The aid pointed at a small squat slate gray structure some two hundred meters off to the west. "You will find out pretty quick just how compartmentalized Avery really is. Don't be too surprised if you get the cold shoulder more than once. It isn't anything personal, everyone else is just very preoccupied with their own projects. I think you will find the pilot's and maintenance crews fairly affable though."

The three girls marched down to the dorm building and walked around it. "Further to the west is where you will be working. Hanger three is our largest building on the field. It houses several experimental aircraft as well as several very specialized facilities. You will find out more about those tomorrow as I am not allowed access to that information. But from what I've seen of them they are unlike anything you have ever flown."

"We've already read the technical literature for them," replied Alistia, looking over at Tatiana who nodded in agreement.

Behind them a shrieking engine noise came up out of nowhere. They all turned and saw a large carryall carefully drop onto the marshaling yard and spin down.

Carryalls were used for very heavy aerial lifting and their engines had to spin at speeds far in excess of normal vanship engines due to airframe constraints. Their was a limit to how big a claudia engine could be built, so instead it had to cycle faster. Before the destruction of the Guild, warships were typically used to transport heavy materials. Now Anatoure and Dusith engineers could only build smaller claudia engines fit for vanships and heavy transports.

"I never realized how loud those were," said Tatiana in amazement.

"They can get even louder. That one was probably only carrying at seventy percent of its capacity."

They watched the carryall disgorge a large shipping container from its dull blue underbelly. A deck crew swarmed about the machine for several minutes before a tractor drove up and towed the container away. The carryall's engines spun back to life again but never reached the same high pitched wail as before. It flew off sounding like a drunken banshee.

"We sometimes get as many as a dozen heavy shipments in a week," said the aid.

Alistia raised an eyebrow. "Where are the guards?" she asked.

"The marine presence here tries to stay low key." The aid resumed walking towards the dormitories while the other two caught up. "Perimeter security is tight but once inside guards are only posted at key access points. There are a few patrols of course, and a response squad of MP's is never more than a minute away by truck. The civilians who work here are required to wear uniforms with special insignia. They are never addressed by any sort of rank but it does help keep everything in order."

Alistia and Tatiana looked at each other and shrugged.

--

Alvis was inside a side hanger at the parts merchant's. Claus was in the main building attached to it and had been gone for several minutes. She walked around idly and hummed to herself. The hanger was not terribly well lit but there was enough daylight pouring in through the windows that she could clearly see several partially deconstructed vanships and a pair of stripped down engines.

Off to her left a door slammed. She turned expecting to see Claus. Instead she saw a familiar young man whose name she struggled for a moment to place.

"Nathan?" she exclaimed.

"Oh, hey Alvis. Have you seen my dad around?"

Alvis blinked. "He is next door talking to Claus."

Nathan nodded slowly and walked over to sit down on a bench close to where she was standing. He picked up a pneumatic hammer and spun it around as if it were a pistol.

"Did you need him?" queried Alvis.

He shook his head.

Alvis shrugged and resumed her slow stroll around the workshop.

"Where's Dex?" she finally asked after a few minutes.

"He's at home. His mom is sick again."

"I'm sorry," replied Alvis automatically. She paused and frowned. "I never knew she was sick."

Nathan shrugged. "He doesn't like to talk about it. It's been a hard couple of years for him since her illness set in."

"I'm sorry" said Alvis again, this time she meant it.

Nathan shrugged again. "So what are you and Claus doing here?"

"Claus needs a centrifuge for a customer who flew in last night," replied Alvis with a touch of irritation in her voice.

It was Nathan's turn to frown now. "You don't sound too pleased to be here."

Alvis chewed on her lip while she thought. She looked up and caught him staring at her. He didn't look away.

"How old are you Nathan?" she asked.

"Sixteen," he replied, cocking his head a little to the side. "Why?"

"I never knew you were younger than Claus," she replied. "How old is Dex?"

"Seventeen as of a month ago."

"But Dex has a thing for Lavi doesn't he?"

Nathan nodded. "He's been pretty obvious about it for a while."

"I know how he feels," murmured Alvis.

Nathan remained respectfully quiet.

"Why are you in here anyways?" asked Alvis suddenly.

"It's my dad's shop. Why wouldn't I be in here?"

Alvis walked over to sit on the desk next to him. Nathan noticed how her steps had a slight mincing motion. She looked like she had something on her mind but instead she kept looking about the shop.

"I love Claus," she finally said, folding her hands in her lap, not entirely sure why she was so readily admitting it to him.

Nathan continued to remain silent. After a minute Alvis started idly bouncing her feet against the table leg.

"Claus loves Lavi instead though."

Nathan spoke up finally. "But back at the consortium air field we thought you were with him now."

"I wish," she replied. "I really do. I didn't think to correct you because I wanted to pretend for a minute that maybe it was true."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Why are you in here watching me?"

"I'm not watching you."

"You came in here looking for your dad, I told you where he was, and you sat down and haven't stopped looking at me since."

"Does that upset you?"

"I- no. It doesn't upset me," replied Alvis, suddenly feeling very off balance. "I'm sorry I got snappish."

"Do you want to tell me the rest?" offered Nathan.

Alvis thought for a minute. "Would you really want to hear it?"

Nathan nodded.

Alvis suddenly felt very small and vulnerable. "I don't really know how to start," she said. "I love Claus. Claus loves Lavi. That's the big picture."

"The big picture doesn't explain a lot," ventured Nathan in turn. He watched while the younger girl sighed and shook her head.

"Lavi loves Claus back, but she is a little more guarded."

"Aha!" exclaimed Nathan suddenly. "So she won't put out."

Alvis glared at him. "That's a terrible way to put it."

"But that's exactly what's happening isn't it?"

"Before last night, yes."

"Oh? So she finally caved?"

Alvis looked away. "I don't really know. I know they spent the night in her bed last night and took a shower together this morning."

Nathan laughed and smirked. Then all of a sudden he frowned. "Dex is gonna be devastated. He really thought Claus and Lavi weren't anything of an official couple."

"You don't have to tell him everything," suggested Alvis.

"You're right. I should just tell him to try and forget about it."

"That won't be easy."

"How do you know?"

"Because that's what I'm trying to do right now, and it isn't easy."

"You just need some help," replied Nathan.

Alvis' thoughts took a sudden change of course as Nathan spoke. She looked up at him with a slight simpering smile. "Maybe," she said.

Nathan quickly leaned over and pressed his lips firmly against hers.

Alvis was caught with her lips parted just a little and suddenly felt Nathans' tongue flick against hers. She pulled away out of surprise more than anything else.

"You hardly know me!" she exclaimed.

He shrugged and leaned in to kiss her again, this time he just briefly touched their lips together. "It helps you forget, doesn't it?"

She couldn't look back into his eyes but she nodded just a little. .

He gently kissed the corner of her mouth.

"Don't tell anyone," whispered Alvis.

"I won't," replied Nathan.

Alvis closed her eyes and drank deep.

--

Henna was sitting in her navi's seat looking over her instrumentation panel. Her father and Lavi were talking off to the side. They had already pulled the mounting bracket and the fuel lines out from the rear of the vanship so they could put in the new centrifuge as soon as Claus got back.

In the distance she could hear the buzz of an approaching vanship and turned around to look out the shop door. A minute passed and the buzz turned into an idling drone before a vanship hummed up to the grassy lawn in front of the shop. It set down gently and she watched Claus and Alvis dismount.

There was a flurry of activity lasting long enough for Lavi and Claus to attach the new centrifuge while Emit worked under the engine cowling to bleed fuel into the system.

"No leaks," said Lavi. "Give it some pressue."

Emit opened the fuel valve all the way.

"Alright," she said. "Button up the engine and get it started. Gotta do the only test that counts."

Henna started setting her instrumentation and then stood up to lean over and start setting her father's as well while he helped close everything up.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Henna turned to see Alvis leaning over the edge of her cockpit.

"Sure," she replied.

"Why did you kiss Claus?"

Henna smirked. That wasn't a question she was expecting. "Because I wanted to."

"That's it?" replied the younger girl skeptically.

"Yep. I'd do more if I thought I could get away with it, but I don't want to mess up what those two have."

"But you don't even know him."

Henna shrugged. "I don't want to marry him," she said. "I just wanted to see what he was like. He's a good looking guy and I'm something of a free spirit."

Alvis was not prepared for that answer. "So you just stole a kiss from him because you thought he was cute?"

Henna somehow managed to smirk and frown at the same time. "I wouldn't say I stole it exactly. He didn't push me a way, but he didn't respond very… intensely either. I think he was just surprised is all."

"Would you do it again?"

Henna wasn't at all sure where the girl was going with this line of questioning. "I'd do it over again sure, but I'm not going to go down there right now and try to kiss him in front of Lavi. That would be very… crass."

Alvis fidgeted and looked intently down at the instrumentation panel. "I want to try something different," she said more to herself than to Henna.

"Different is always good," replied the older girl. "But be careful."

"Careful of what?"

Henna looked down. "I could have easily caused a lot of problems when I kissed Claus. I knew there was something between those two but I wasn't really sure what. I didn't think I would ever see either of them again so I just did it on a whim."

Alvis listed her head to the side and peered at Henna with very large eyes. Henna flinched.

"I'm a flirt," said Henna after a moment. "But I don't like to hurt people and I don't try and steal men that aren't mine. I just want to… sample a few."

Alvis giggled. "You make them sound like pies."

"Do you like pies?"

The younger girl nodded vigorously.

Henna smiled. "Maybe that's a bad way to say it. Claus and Lavi are happy together. I'm not ready to let just one man have me. I want to see what there is to offer out there."

"How old are you?"

"Why don't you guess?"

Alvis put her finger to her mouth in thought. "Younger than Claus?"

Henna shook her head. "I'm older than him, but I won't tell you by how much." She winked.

Henna set her claudia pressure to "idle under" and hit the firing switch. The engine popped and roared to life.

Alvis covered her ears. "Man that's loud." Her voice was lost to everyone else.

Lavi frowned. "That's awfully loud for a vanship."

Emit smirked. "I've modified a few things." He had to practically shout it into Lavi's ear. She nodded in response.

Henna reached over and dumped their solution pressure and returned the engine to neutral. "I think that's it."

--

Claus stood between Lavi and Alvis as they watched Emit ease the vanship up into the air. Henna blew him a kiss and he gave her a half salute in return.

Alvis turned away and skipped back to the house. Claus and Lavi lingered in front of the workshop a while longer. She opened the door and turned to watch them but decided to leave them alone instead. The house was cool inside and she shut the door with an emphatic click. She had a few things on her mind anyways.

--

Duke Maddosein sat comfortably behind his desk. The large blood colored desk had been in his family for generations and was made from an extremely rare type of wood. Usually its face was bare save for a few scraps of paper so as to show off its impressive engravings but today nearly every inch of it was covered.

"So Exile is back," he said guardedly.

"We have several sources confirming this sir," replied the sharply dressed man standing across from him. He wore an Anatoure Navy uniform with the crest of Commander embroidered on his right collar.

Maddosein nodded. "Very well. Cancel the range finders. We already know a few things about Exile. I'll have my people calculate its orbit."

"I don't know how the others will react to that," replied the commander.

"It doesn't matter. The Empress gave me authority where Exile is concerned. We don't know why it's back but I intend to get some answers. And I intend to get those answers with as much prudence and as little hassle as humanly possible."

"Of course, sir."

"Commander Richter you are to ensure total secrecy until it is either impossible to continue to do so, or I inform you to do otherwise. I'm going to give you some latitude for this assignment but I don't want to start hearing strange reports about people gone missing. You are to be discreet, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir, very clear."

Duke Maddosein dismissed the Commander with a wave. Richter saluted smartly and turned on his heels to march out.

When he was alone the Duke leaned his chin into his hands and exhaled sharply through his teeth. This was going to lead to war somehow. He just knew it. Exile still had too much mystique surrounding it. He picked up the highly ornate phone on the desk next to him and made a few calls.

--

Sweat was beading along his forehead and pooling hotly along the side of his neck. Dio wiped at it passively. He still wasn't accustomed to sweating like this.

Days in the desert felt like life in an oven while nights were unbelievably cold.

He brushed at his forehead again. This time sweat and grime left a dirty smear. He shrugged trying to mentally ignore it- he swore he would never be clean again.

"Dio!"

He turned and saw a woman jogging over to him. Her features were washed out shadows in the failing daylight. She caught up with him but was panting heavily.

"Catch your breath first," he said quietly.

She nodded and stopped and took several deep breaths and forced her heart to calm.

"I'm afraid none of us are used to this type of work," he said while he waited.

The woman nodded, still trying to slow her breathing.

"Alright, what is it?"

"The deep water cores, they're working!"

This was good news. For several days now the remnants of the Guild had been subsisting on stored water.

"Would you take me there please?" asked Dio.

She nodded and smiled.

Dio dipped his head in acknowledgement. "Lead the way," he said, motioning for her to go first.

The water cores were large powered bores that bit deep into the earth and siphoned out water from the cold underground cisterns. The Guild had access to several very old geological survey maps as well as ground penetrating radar devices. Finding the water was easy. Tapping in to it was a different matter entirely.

"Sir?"

The voice behind Dio was barely a whisper. He turned to see an aging engineer. The mark on his forehead denoting his purpose was bright and shimmered slightly even after his long years of service.

"Glasken," said Dio. "As fragile as ever I see."

Glasken snorted.

"How long until we can start pumping water?"

Glasken flared his eyebrows. "Whenever you like." He reached over and produced a canteen from the folds of his cloak and held it shakily under a faucet. He turned a valve and some of the clearest water Dio had ever seen surged out like a transparent snake.

The old man smiled knowingly.

"Do you know we don't even have to filter it?"

Dio whistled. "Some of the cleanest water I've ever seen and it comes from the middle of the desert. Who knew!" he smiled enormously and clapped the older man on the back. "Well done sir, well done!"

"Enough of this- go get the others."

Dio stopped with his mouth still open just as it was about to form more words. He snapped it closed.

"Alright I'll go and get the others."

Dio turned and walked back to their base camp spread out across several sprawling sand dunes. Evening was already fast collapsing across the desert and the pyre lights from the settlement were staring to spark up across the waves of sand.

--

"We need more practice at celebrating" remarked Dio passively. He was standing on the top of a dune a hundred meters away from the edge of camp. Next to him stood Glasken and the guildswoman who had brought him to the water bores.

"What do you think, Darian?"

The woman shrugged and upended her canteen into the sand. "All we did before was work. We still have a lot of work ahead of us too. I don't think it makes much difference."

Glasken snorted.

Dio turned as if to say something to him but thought better of it.

The night out in the desert was actually a very dark shade of blue- the starlight filtered down through the darkened sky and tinted everything in a deep prussian hue.

"Master Dio?"

Dio turned and saw Van, his intelligence officer. "You know I hate it when you call me that," he hissed.

Van ignored his comment. "I have a source in the Imperial Court who tells me that Kirov is planning a move against his father."

"I thought I instructed you to remove all of our spies."

"Ah, but you forget that we are the only shield you have left. The population of this planet hates us, the government doesn't really trust us, and we are now very small in number."

"They hate us because we meddle, that is why I asked you to pull everyone out."

"Meddling is our job," admonished Van. "Guild isn't even our title. It is Planetary Engineer. Our purpose is to maintain this world and its populace. Your dear sister just forgot that we were supposed to be regents, not tyrants."

Dio flinched at the mention of his sister. He was still torn about his feelings for her. She had been his sister, and something of a mother to him, but she had also been manipulative, and a destroyer.

"I am not my sister Van, nor do I need to be reminded of what she was or was not. It is because of my sister that I think we should remove ourselves as completely as possible from the population for a while. Let a generation or two pass, let them forget."

"What if Kirov manages to start another war?" Van's eyes thinned to slits, making him look like a hooded serpent.

Dio frowned. He looked over to Darian and Glasken. They nodded and left him with Van. He noticed a long slice of red tangled loosely in Darian's unfurled white tapestry of hair. He reached out and grasped at it without thinking.

Darian whirled at the contact but remained silent.

Dio blinked a few times. "I like it," he said.

She gave him a half smile but felt her cheeks turning color. "Always so honest, Dio. And always right to the point."

He tilted his head to the side and grinned boyishly.

Darian shook her head and giggled as she left him with his spy.

Glasken had already left wordlessly.

"So," said Dio flatly, turning to face Van again. "You say Kirov wants war. How do you know?"

"He has been secretly sending Dusith's old military commanders back across the border. They haven't done much yet but they are slowly rebuilding- and not the type of rebuilding the Empress has in mind."

"What does his father say to this?"

"His father doesn't know. Kirov thinks his father is growing weak and is already planning to remove him somehow. He has positioned several of his most trusted contacts in places where they can quickly assume power throughout their government."

Dio sighed. "How deep does your spy ring go?"

Van allowed himself a brief but feral grin. "You need not concern yourself with that Master Dio. We are positioned where we can hear the most."

"How soon until he makes a move against his father?"

"Hard to say," replied Van offhandedly. "It would not be tomorrow, but it could be next month. He isn't completely positioned yet but he is close."

"What do you recommend?"

"Remove him- immediately."

"Of course you would. You always think about things in the simplest yet least practical manner."

"Killing him would not be practical?"

"Killing him would be an egregious breach of trust of the Empress."

"She need not know it was us Master Dio. I could arrange for an accident, or for a botched burglary."

Dio quickly cracked his neck to the side and looked up at the canopy of stars. "Is this really the only answer?"

"Would you rather we bring him here and let you persuade him to do otherwise?"

Dio laughed. "No, I doubt that would work. Unbridled ambition is as deadly as any machine pistol. He would declare us the common enemy of all the world and call for our extermination. I doubt he knows we are still around."

"That is indeed correct. The Empress has told no one of your audience with her."

Dio was surprised and just a little bit hurt. He had hoped to be able to use her to gain at least a modicum of trust with the rest of the world. But still no one knew they had survived.

"We may need to make some sort of appearance in the near future then. I don't want people finding us flatfooted like this."

"That might be for the best," replied Van. "At least then no one would see us as a threat."

"And assassinating someone like Kirov vis Leover will endear us to them?"

Van shrugged. "We could kidnap him and hold him indefinitely if you like. But he would have no freedom and be an unwelcomed guest all the while as well as a drain on already meager resources."

Dio knew that, of course, Van was not serious. Killing young Leover would probably be the only course of action they could take for some time, and by the time they had other options available it might be too late.

"We don't know much about what Kirov is having his friends do across the border do we?"

"No, they are spread out over a huge region. There still aren't many new settlements out there. We found a few villages but we found more barracks, training grounds, and war industries."

"Why not just tell the Empress and let her deal with it?"

Van shrugged again. "Because the Empress wouldn't believe it. She has a soft spot for Governor Leover. He rarely objects to her laws regarding his Dusith minority and he is a genuinely humble and likeable gentleman. She would be very hesitant to insult him so thoroughly as to accuse his own son of plotting against him and the Anatoure Empire."

"Dusith is hardly a minority. Even with all of the migratory deaths they are still almost forty percent of the current population now." Dio sat down on the sand and dug his hand into it- it was still plenty hot from the long day under the sun. It would help keep him warm during the cold night. Already a chill was starting to set in.

"And why do you think the Empress wants to start relocating them as soon as possible? Anatoure can't support such a huge population boom."

Dio nodded to himself. Van's point was made. If the Empress put too much pressure on Governor Leover the Dusith population would revolt. In some places the population strain was already being felt. Not much, but enough that people knew hard times might lay just over the horizon. But if Kirov were left alive he would probably push them all in to war anyways.

"Alright," he finally said. "Take out Kirov vis Leover. But I want it messy. This cannot look professional. This has to look like something we could never be involved with."

Van's lips pulled taught in a hungry leer exposing sharpened teeth.

--

Alistia was alone in her room staring up at the ceiling trying to decompress from the day. She had her blinds drawn down tight to filter the harsh nighttime illumination that Avery kept. They hadn't seen the new aircraft yet but they had covered everything else to see at Avery.

The barrackers weren't like their home back in Nokia; they weren't even like the cabins on the Sylvana. Here everything was either dirty yet tidy, or incredibly sterile and efficient.

The commandant ran things like a well kept watch but didn't seem to like a lot of personal initiative, unlike Alex Rowe who had routinely relied on the independent judgment of his subordinates.

She was nervous about being the first crew to actually fly the machine but luckily that was still a few days away. They had at least one assent planned for before she and Tatiana would rotate back to Nokia for a week and she kept imagining them embedded in the parade ground as an impressive, if not messy crater.

She sighed and tried to blank her quickly running mind before it spun out of control. She made a deal with her imagination- if she could get some sleep she would let it run free whenever it wanted to think about Claus.

It seemed to work because within ten minutes she was completely lost to sleep and totally oblivious to deep throaty roar of a heavy lift vanship laboriously droning away from the eastern dustoff.