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Exact timings on a galactic scale could sometimes be a little off, when bound to the solar cycle of one small world… The War room - actually what had been the secondary battle bridge when Arcadia had been Deathshadow 4 - was deserted.

Briefly.

A small head topped by brown hair peeked around the door, shortly followed by the rest of a small boy, maybe eight or nine years old. Keen hazel eyes stared at the Arcadia's resident phantom, mouth wide open in surprise.

'You might want to close that, kid, or something will fly in.'

It was promptly shut with a snap.

'I'm not a kid,' the boy retorted, pulling himself up to his full height, chest out. 'I'm Mamoru.'

The sick little boy? Well, he was looking a lot healthier, if a little thin.

'Harlock. Pleased to finally meet you. Aren't you missing a couple of things?' he asked, 'like a couple of siblings?'

'Wattaru fell asleep, and Taro and Nami are bugging tonight's babysitter so l can sneak out ,' the little boy said in all seriousness. Very earnest, intelligent hazel eyes stared up at him from under a thick lock of hair that seemed perpetually falling over his right eye.

Snap…

'And you need someone on point for what nefarious purpose exactly?'

'Nef…? Oh! No! I'm not up to anything bad. This time.' Mamoru held up a small bottle, and a little box. 'Ali said he couldn't be arsed to fill your glass this year, so I thought it wouldn't be fair to stop.'

Cheers, Jones… you're all heart...

'I'm sure he'd get an earful from your mother about using that language in front of you…' Harlock murmured. Mamoru just grinned, and he had the distinct feeling the kid knew bloody well he wasn't supposed to be repeating words like that.

Another born rebel, huh? I suppose I should apologise for not warning you of the dangers of reproducing, Yama, but what the hell…

Mamoru placed his burdens on the table, and smiled up at Harlock. 'I know you're just a ghost, but it can't be nice being stuck like that. Mum says you wanted to be free, but you're kind of trapped here, aren't you?'

Out of the mouths...

'Not quite. And there are different kinds of freedom.' He smiled down at the child. 'Thank you.'

Mamoru gave a short sharp nod, then looked up again, as if thinking something over.

'Spit it out. I don't bite.'

'I just… I - we - we thought about writing you a note... ' A toe-drag across the floor, head down before looking back up again and blurting out in a rush: 'Would you be able to give our love to Yumi, our baby brother and Uncle Rei? We miss them so much, and Taro and me… we just thought… on the other side… if…'

Harlock knelt down until he was at eye level with the boy, careful not to touch, given the reaction Ali and Yama had had to the contact. 'I honestly don't remember anything when I'm here, but I promise you, if they are there and we meet, I'll tell them for you. And a Harlock never breaks his word.'

The trusting, beaming smile that earned didn't bring a lump to his non-existent throat. Not even close.

I hope they can keep you safe, so that smile never fades, kid…

'There you are!'

A woman's voice from the doorway, slightly scolding. Mamoru gave Harlock another smile and ran over to the tall, athletic auburn haired beauty who stood just inside the room.

Not bad… reminds me a little of the red-haired hellion… family? But can't shake the feeling I've seen her somewhere before…

Why do I keep thinking of law enforcement...

'Auntie Selen!' A squeal and a leap took the boy into her arms, and his own small arms wound round her neck in a vice-like grip.

'Ease up a little, Mamoru! That's quite a grip you've got now…' She gently disentangled him and set him down. 'Your mother's in the portside corridor with Taro - get yourself over there and let her know your guest has arrived.'

Small child removed, she strode over to the table and looked at the contents. 'I see Ali started a tradition…' She raised her eyes to look at Harlock. 'Well, you're a little faint, but I can see you. Your wanted poster doesn't do you justice - I can see where Harlock and the boys get their looks.'

Wanted posters… Huh. He'd have snapped his fingers if they were still real. 'That's where I know you from… I thought you looked familiar - Ra Andromeda Selenium… Boss of the Millennial Thieves? For the record, neither does yours. And I think your hair was longer.'

'It's Selen. and I cut my hair when my husband died.'

Her hair curled slightly just below her shoulders, a light auburn which picked up the light and framed her face nicely. He let his gaze wander lower. A wine coloured lightweight sweater which clung nicely to her breasts. Narrow waisted, long legs encased in cream slacks. Practical, simple and elegant. His gaze moved back upwards.

Has to be at least seventy, but still looks thirty… Guess those rumours about Lar Metal's genetic tampering were true…

Her eyes were compelling. Serene, but clouded with sorrow. More than a little wise. But there was a well disguised emptiness there which he recognised.

The look you get when someone tears your heart out by the roots and leaves nothing but an empty cage behind.

Something in that gaze made him sure she saw the same loss in his own eye.

'There was a time your Millennial Thieves and my crew were the two most wanted groups in known space,' he continued. 'I remember the fuss - fifty years ago? The "Lost Queen"...'

'Hardly "lost",' she replied softly. She sat on the edge on the table, one foot on the floor, one crooked over the corner. 'I ran when they came to crown me. A sixteen year old girl terrified of losing herself to several hundred years of other women's memories… In some ways, this current mess is all my fault.' She finished on a sadder note, looking troubled.

'I'm not sure from what I've heard that's true…' he began.

She smiled sadly. 'Isn't it? You and I are probably the poster children for the Law of Unintended Consequences - or should that be Good Intentions Gone Bad? My fear of being wiped out as a person led to me eventually putting my sister on the throne I abandoned - and the crown I didn't want. If not for that, our people wouldn't have been mechanised, and Loki's use of the life force of hundreds of thousands of people…' she hung her head, and he took a step forward, unaccountably tempted to console her.

'I did a lot of things in my youth I regret,' she continued. 'I fought back, and a lot of people got hurt. You know, you tell yourself it's for the greater good, but that's no comfort to the dead you drag around with you, is it?'

'I've never been dragged down by my dead,' he retorted.

She blinked. 'Really? My mother had an extensive file on you in our archives - probably more complete than anything the Gaia Sanction had after the war. I always wondered, in the dark hours of the night. .. why did you fight? So much death, and for what? Thousands of ships headed for Earth, but most of them were unarmed. Billions died in that war, and you fought on the side…'

'I know which side I fought for. Call it duty. Or paying the rent. Obligations carry weight in this family.' He turned away to look out of the porthole. 'A friend once warned me that you should only fight for what you truly believe, deep in your heart. I ignored him. The rest is history.'

'That friend… would be Tochiro?'

He didn't reply.

'He's a good man. You were fortunate in your friends…'

'A pity he wasn't..' he breathed. 'Don't try to gain any insight into your own sins by looking at mine, Selen. I only truly regret one death, and that one weighs more than all the rest together.'

Her answering smile was a little forced. 'So here we are… Two rebels who outlived our times. Both of us at least partly responsible for this Nibelung threat… Do you think we - and by that I mean all of us - have the slightest chance of stopping Loki?'

'You have fourteen years to work something out. You have Tochiro, Yattaran… smart guys, both of them.'

'It was easier before Professor Daiba died,' she sighed. 'His work on Niflheim's history and legends was key to solving the mystery of just what lies beyond that gate.'

'Yama seems to think it's an afterlife…'

She smiled sadly. 'If it was, would you tell?'

'Truthfully, I can't answer that.'

'Professor Daiba used to tell my children stories… of warriors restored to life in a cauldron, brought back to fight a war, but unable to speak of what they'd seen…' she shared that sad smile with him again. 'After Rei - Zero died… and my youngest sons… I used to wish there was a way to bring them back…'

'What would you have done, if you could?' he asked, curious.

She stared past him. 'Anything. Everything... we were a part of each other for so long... he'd been with me every step of the way, even before we became lovers. Losing him was like losing a part of myself. I'll never be whole again.'

Smoke, fire... the ship being torn apart by her sister vessels, and he was kneeling on the floor next to Tochiro, begging him to hold on...

'I think you understand...' Selen whispered. She gave a forced little laugh. 'Even now, if not for our youngest children still needing me, there are days I wish I could join him...' Her eyes were raised to meet his gaze again. 'Tell me - does it get any easier, with time? After a hundred years...?'

Harlock looked away from her. 'A thousand years wouldn't be enough,' he replied hoarsely. 'Immortality... it just makes it worse.'

Footsteps in the corridor announced the arrival of the rest of the little group. Absently, without thinking, Harlock placed his wispy hand, still in an equally intangible glove, on top of Selen's pale fingers where they rested on the tabletop, remembering too late the effect...

...his hand passed through hers, but slowly, and without a hint of a spark.