Chapter 24

It wasn't often the Arcadia set down on a planet - the ship, at slightly over a kilometer in length - was a bulky beast, and, as Daiba overheard Ali grousing, steered like a cow in atmosphere. But it seemed after the recent repairs her captain was taking no chances, and the ship landed with all the grace of a punch drunk albatross, on a barren plain a few miles north of Tabito's main township. Once the dark matter cloud had dissipated, two rovers exited from the rear ramp and headed south.

In the second vehicle, Daiba gritted his teeth as Ali seemed to take great delight in deliberately finding and driving into every pothole between the ship and the town.

'Could you turn back? I think you missed a couple of sinkholes back there…' he ground out in between bumps, after one lurching take-off left Meg in his lap and his stomach apparently suspended two feet over his head. He gave Meg a little push to get back up right, and watched as she sheepishly buckled her seat belt this time.

'You want to drive? Be my guest if you think you can do any better on this road…' Ali retorted.

'Driving? Is that what it is? I thought you were trying for orbit…' Daiba dead-panned. Behind him, he heard Zack snigger.

'There's a road?' Niobe asked innocently.

'Held together by pothoooooles…' Zack sang. He ducked the assorted slaps that headed his way without any effort, since to inflict any damage the rest of them would have had to release their safety belts, and no-one looked as though they fancied their chances.

'So… guys.. these other ships?' Daiba jabbed a finger upwards.

'Professor Oedo, of the SDF Exploration Corps,' Meg replied through slightly clenched teeth. 'Showing off some shiny new hardware by the sounds of it. They lost almost every ship and their major support base a few years back. Terrorist attack at their big launch party…' she trailed off sadly.

Ali's response was short, pithy and brutal, and not, Daiba thought, related to the crater he'd just bounced through. 'It was bullshit, is what it was. Two of the ships left formation and opened fire on the facility and the rest of the Explorer fleet. The press and the investigation both blamed the captains - Hank Douglas and his old buddy Dantetsu Ichimonji. Or is it Ichimonji Dantetsu…? Whatever. Anyway, those two guys were straight up and old friends of ours. Hell, Daiba - you might even remember 'em from back when we hauled you and yer mom and dad off Mars? Couldn't have taken down Promethium's first dastardly plan without 'em.'

'So why would they…'

'Because that bald-headed, pointy-eared prick from Shaitan and his hunchbacked hench-douchebag -'

'Chancellor Doppler and Deputy Chancellor Hechi,' Meg whispered in Daiba's ear, translating for him. Ali shot a quick scowl back at her prompting another "road!" squeak from an alarmed Zack.

'As I was sayin'... We think they got to Hank and Dan - Hechi's got some nasty tricks with find-fuckery, and both men openly despised Doppler and his goons. They have a hard-on for space exploration, but only on their terms and for their chosen few. That, and the lucrative supply and refit contracts didn't go to their fancy-dressed little glove puppet Feydar Zone. You don't have to look too far for motive. The last couple of years they've tried to force the SDF into a contract, but thankfully Commander Todo ain't stupid enough to fall for it.'

'So not a Mazone plot then?' Daiba asked. He settled back down in his seat. Business and politics weren't his problem, thank goodness.

'Depends - won't hurt the Mazone now, will it? The SDF has had to put its new Galactic Railroad on hold whilst it builds the Survey fleet back up, and these vegetables probably won't lose sleep over that, if we ain't sticking our noses much out of our own space for a bit.' Ali brought the rover to a sliding stop. 'Even if it ain't part of the big vegetable conspiracy, I think you'll like the Prof. Enjoys wandering around out here almost as much as the Captain does - some days we think he missed his calling and shoulda been a pirate!'

Professor Oedo was a bear in a uniform, Daiba thought, as the hulking, bearded head of the SDF Explorer Corps shook his hand heartily. Not tall, mind you - he was slightly shorter than Daiba's five-ten - but broad. The man was a bearded, barrel-chested and rather loud man in his early fifties. Daiba just about managed to resist shaking his fingers to get some life back into them, and caught the shy smile of a small boy hiding behind the man-beast. He smiled back and the dark-haired boy popped back into hiding.

'It's all right, Takuma. This is one of your cousins. Tadashi Daiba - meet Takuma Ichimonji. Come on, come on lad, no need to be shy…' Oedo sighed heartily as the small boy kept sliding out of sight behind his legs. 'It's been tough on him, since his father…'

Harlock walked over and knelt down next to Daiba. 'I heard. What is it with people that they just turn on small children like that? You know me, Takuma. It's Harlock.' He held his arms out and the little boy shyly shuffled over, and then threw his arms around the pirate's neck and stuffed his face into the collar of his cloak, crying silently and clinging as though his life depended on it.

'Papa's not a traitor! He isn't!' The emphatic declaration right next to his ear caused a slight wince, Daiba noticed with a smirk. 'You believe that, don't you, Harlock?'

Harlock gave the boy - who looked about the same age as Wataru and Mamoru - a tight hug. 'I know he'd never have done anything like that of his own free will, Takuma. He was - he is - a good man at heart. But there are bad people out there who can make good people do bad things no matter how hard they fight back.'

People… and nightmarish plant-women from before the age of the dinosaurs… Daiba thought. He shot a sly glance over towards Ali, who looked more than a little discomfited.

'Doppler…' Oedo sad sadly. 'He's making quite a name for himself, since the Prometheus Incident. After he set himself up as Chancellor of Shaitan's system, he rapidly expanded into that part of the Galaxy, enslaving whatever populations were left behind once the Machinners had scoured a system.'

'He doesn't seem to like you much either,' Harlock added pithily. He put Takuma down and pointed him in Daiba's direction, encouraging the acquaintance. Taking the hint, Daiba knelt on the squeaky-clean floor of the ramen shop and offered a hand, which was shyly taken. 'Those broadcasts are getting more histrionic every time I make the mistake of tuning into them. Does he really want the Survey Programme shut down? What does he have to gain by it?'

'He's still spouting that crazy notion that space belongs to the elite - and by that he means the genetically enhanced citizens of Shaitan and its territories. The people he decides are superior. The rest - as far as he's concerned they're either slave labour or fodder for the Soul Mills of the Machine Empire…' Oedo sighed heavily and placed his hands behind his back. 'There are still unexplored regions out there - areas where we might make a fresh start on worlds we haven't wrecked by poor terraforming or war… but he'd have them set aside for his "elite race".'

'I often wonder if he includes my people in his rejects…' Rokuro Oki strode into the shop with a grim smile for the two captains. 'Wonder if he plans on adding gills to go along with the pointy ears if his people find any water worlds out there?'

'Don't give him ideas…' Oedo replied darkly. He sat down on one of the chairs, which creaked in protest at the weight. 'In any event, we're years away from getting the long-range exploration programme back on track after the Prometheus Incident. Resources are stretched and the SDF is spread too thinly protecting the Frontier against Promethium's incursions from Andromeda, and Doppler's internal forays as he plunders any undefended system he can find for metals, rare earths and anything else that takes his fancy.'

Kei, Ali and Yattaran arrived, swiftly joined by Selen and her two eldest sons, making the room look suddenly crowded. During the various introductions Daiba noticed Mamoru and Taro peering round the door, and coaxed the reluctant little boy over to meet them. The Other Tadashi was riding herd on them, and gave him a cheery grin.

'Trying to get out of babysitting?' asked his namesake.

Daiba snorted quietly. 'I was planning on sitting in. Can you look after this one as well?'

'He can come with us. Anita's got some pancakes on…' Mamoru offered. 'C'mon, Takuma - you remember us, don't you?'

The shy nod was slow in coming, and it was obvious the little boy's first instinct was to keep well clear of others. Given the bits he'd overheard, Daiba wasn't at all surprised. Whatever destiny surrounds this family seems to insist on traumatising us all at an early age, he thought sourly. Though watching Taro and Mamoru get to work to encourage their little cousin was reassuring. He gave his namesake a conspiratorial grin and left Takuma in their charge and sauntered as casually and quietly as he could into the room, taking a chair near the wall where he could watch and listen and hopefully not get thrown out of the meeting.

'It's a startling concept,' Oedo mused, once Harlock and Oki had finished briefing him. 'Ancient vegetation-like lifeforms? And presumably the forms are - what some kind of illusion? A lure for victims? Loathly ladies of legend, enticing the unwary hero to his untimely demise…?'

Ali snorted. 'If anyone counters with "what a way to go" I'll personally thump 'em.' He shared a look with his captain. 'It was more like having your soul fondled by something that's had its fingers deep in shit…'

'Colourful as ever…' Oedo murmured, carefully keeping his face straight - though behind the thicket of his beard this was perhaps a pointless exercise.

'Some appear wholly human, others exhibit a plasticity that suggests a protean lifeform - one capable of changing shape almost at will. The creature we found on Tokarga was not a shape-changer, so motile ability seems to have evolved at least once, maybe even several times over their existence.' Harlock replied, with a frown aimed at Ali, in a desperate attempt to get the subject back on track. Daiba grinned to himself. When he started trotting out the science-speak instead of playing pirate...

'If you start quoting that line about sabre-toothed tigers and parallel evolution I'll start slapping,' Ali muttered. 'You'd think textbooks would find a new tune after all this time…'

'But sabre-toothed tigers are cool…' Daiba pointed out, not unreasonably to his mind. Ali growled at him.

'They've certainly taken as much to the oceans as the land,' Oki pointed out from where he was propping the wall up. His blue hair was held back from his face by a leathery braided band, and he was out of uniform, wearing a formfitting all-in-one suit that covered him from ankle to neck that glistened iridescently in the sunlight that trickled in through the shutters. Daiba tried hard not to stare but the play of muscle under the scintillating fabric was distracting. 'They're extremely adaptable, and probably live amongst us on some worlds. Mostly quite peacefully, would be my guess.'

'Except for the tendency to keep a lid on research which might uncover them, or keeping our populations down to a manageable level?' Harlock drawled.

Oki shuffled his large bare feet slightly. Daiba blinked when he noticed a little detail he hadn't expected. Webbed… huh. Figures… 'When you put it like that…'

'My people haven't recorded any obvious activity.' Oedo stroked his bushy beard thoughtfully. 'But once we knew what to look for, we did spot anomalies. The Attenborough came across a planet about two years ago that was listed in the records as a desert - but they found it covered in jungle growth.'

'We found something similar on Niflheim,' Ali added. 'Back when I accompanied the Daibas. The place was supposedly scoured by dark matter - but we found the ruins covered from top to bottom in lush growth - gigantic plants and lichens, most of it bloody disturbing and freaky. In the night you'd swear they moved…' he shuddered. The man still looked pale after his close encounter, Daiba thought. Twitchy… and that wasn't like Ali - the man was usually a solid, immoveable rock in a crisis.

Professor Oedo gave the pirate a searching look. 'I really wish I could persuade you to join my team, Doctor Jones. A man with your experience would be more than welcome - hell, if you were prepared to lead on an expedition to Niflheim, you could write your own cheque…'

'I left that behind years ago, Prof,' Ali replied gruffly. 'Ain't plannin' on putting myself back in harness anytime soon. Besides, there's the little matter of piracy...'

Oedo shrugged with a faked nonchalance that suggested the matter wasn't closed. 'The offer remains open, Ali. And whatever your reasons for joining Harlock, that was under a now defunct regime - and the Arcadia operates mostly in Alliance space - no crimes have been recorded in the space controlled by Destiny…'

Harlock, Kei and Selen all snorted at the same time and Daiba had to bite back a laugh at the looks which passed between the three.

'Mostly.' Harlock deadpanned. Oki sniggered and Oedo rolled his eyes and sighed.

'I didn't hear that…'

'Moving on…' Harlock strode forwards and all eyes were fixed on the tall pirate, who made a surprisingly imposing figure in the gravity cloak. Something about the way the heavy, leather-like mantle swirled around him seemed to darken the light around him, making him seem taller, darker and a lot less accessible than Daiba usually saw his cousin. He shivered even though the room was warm.

'Whilst I'm happy not to lose one of my oldest friends to you, Professor, you do raise a valid point. We could use an expedition to Niflheim to check out the situation. There's a relationship between Niflheim and this species. Couldn't hurt to find out a bit more from that end - especially since they seem to be capable of neutralising our dark matter weapons and self-repair.'

'I can't spare a ship…' Oedo replied thoughtfully. 'Though I could let you have a few people?'

'I have ships,' Selen replied quietly, from her seat in a corner.

'I don't mind taking the 7th Star,' Blaze added. He smiled at Harlock. 'She's small but quick - it's not far from here to Niflheim, we could make a decent survey and still be back in a month.'

Harlock nodded gratefully. 'I wouldn't have put you on the spot…'

Blaze's smile widened. 'Hell - try to stop me - dad used to tell me so much about the things you two got up to. Be a nice change from trading…'

'Smuggling!' Three pirates, one SDF captain and the Professor and the speaker's elder brother and mother all chimed in. Blaze flipped them a finger.

'You'll need a technical team,' Oedo pointed out. 'I have…'

'I can act as archeologist,' Daiba piped up, surprising himself with the offer. All eyes turned to look at him. Flushing, he continued: 'I studied with my dad when we were there - and mom. Can't bring much to the Arcadia's battle, but maybe I can be more use there. I have all of my parents' records as well…' he offered as an added incentive.

Blaze and Harlock both gave him approving nods and inwardly he glowed.

'You'll need a geologist,' Ali growled. 'Fine. I'm in.'

'You don't have to…' Kei began, softly. Ali shook his head.

'Nah. Someone needs to keep an eye on the fry here. And you need someone who knows the place. Earth only knows what Oedo's clodhoppers will do trampling all over stuff.'

'No offence, I'm sure,' the bearded scientist murmured. 'Any other volunteers?'

Meg's hand shot up, closely followed by Niobe's and Zack's. 'We have specialities that can help,' Meg said. 'Besides, Captain - you offered us a bit of shore leave…' she added sweetly, looking at Harlock as she said it.

Harlock dipped his head to hide a smile. 'I meant rest, not more adventures…' His eye swept over the group of youngsters - though Zack, at twenty four, was the same age he'd been when he'd taken on the mantle of Harlock - then he nodded. 'I'll detail a couple of men to the team. At the very least you should take Maji - next to Yattaran he's the best equipped to make head or tails of any Nibelung tech.' He paused before Oedo could break in and raised a hand to forestall a question. 'And no, you can't have my Yattaran - he wouldn't go anyway. Not one for leaving the ship unless you force him off at gunpoint.'

'You'd know,' Ali snarked. Kei thumped him on the arm.

'What did we say about harping on about that incident?' she smiled sweetly at him. 'That was over twelve years ago!'

'Incident, she says… I've still got a lump on my head where some overly enthusiastic trooper slammed a rifle butt into it on the way to the brig,' Ali muttered. He bent down to show her, ruffling his hair to part it behind his left ear. 'Look…'

'I'll give you a matching one the other side if you don't shut up,' Harlock growled. Ali straightened up and flashed his captain a beatific smile.

'Remind me - which tall, blonde, blue-eyed pirate is he married to...?' Oki asked in a stage whisper, addressing Selen. The lovely auburn haired former princess of Lar Metal just rolled her eyes and shook her head to hide a smile. 'This is why we don't like dealing with civilians…' Oki added, with a sly smile.

Ali sniggered. 'Oh puh-lease - you love us really…'

'In the meantime, what plans do the rest of us follow?' Oki asked with what was beginning to sound like frazzled determination to stay on topic. He pointed to the still holographic display of the Mazone fleets, under which some wag had added the caption "not to scale" scrolling down the display. 'Five destinations, and we're going to be spread thinly…'

'Take the sectors closest to major planetary populations first,' Harlock replied, pointing. 'The further out we can stop them, the better. If they'll listen to reason, all the better - but I'd argue against engaging until you know the extent of their offensive capability.'

'Take the straw out of the egg, grandma…' Oki drawled. 'Some of us are professionals…'

'And yet here I am, well ahead of you,' Harlock drawled back. Kei kicked him on the ankle and he pointedly stepped out of reach. 'These are refugees - how much of a military power they have we don't know. I'm not happy on the idea of shooting down civilian ships, but if they will not - or cannot - listen to reason and fall back, all bets are off.'

'Oh, the irony…' Ali muttered under his breath. 'Wasn't that long ago we were the bad guys trying to wreck the universe and everyone wanted to blow us out of the sky…'

'Why do you think I'd rather head this confrontation off if we can? The Arcadia will take the main fleet - the one which we think carries their leadership.' Harlock folded his arms and leaned back against the wall.

'Cut the head off the hydra?' Oedo asked bluntly.

'Just so.'

'Why are we so against just wiping them out?' Meg asked. 'Look what they've done to humanity! More personally, to the Captain, and Daiba… and Ali…'

'I'm not against it,' Harlock replied gently. 'But realistically, we don't have the firepower. If we have to engage, we will - but there are at least two factions that we know of, and there are other ways than blowing the shit out of anything that gets in our way to resolve situations…'

'Yeah?' Ali asked, his smirk still plastered over his face. 'Since when?'

'Since we had our arses handed to us by one small fleet and a tiny one man boarding pod,' Kei replied grimly. 'Unless we can regain our advantage in a fight, we're screwed. And the SDF ships have even less of a chance than we do. They don't even have Dark Matter - we saw what the mazone ships did to those Alliance vessels near Earth. They didn't stand a chance.'

'Against wooden spaceships?' Oki smiled grimly. 'I'd have laughed a few months ago.'

'Not so funny when you see it in action.' Ali shook his head. 'Damn thing heals almost as fast as we do. And the way that stuff they infested Arcadia with got through the hull - even with the Dark Matter…'

'Could the Dark Matter have expedited the infestation?' Oedo asked. 'Would we fare better with our more conventional ships?'

Harlock's broad, cloak draped shoulders lifted and dropped. 'Possibly. My lab was badly damaged by that "vine" and by our somewhat scorched Earth response to clear the ship so I've not been able to do any tests. We were able to fight it off because of the Dark Matter, which kept the hull intact long enough to save us - but yes, it fed on the dark matter as it spread. A moot point though - I don't fancy sending a ship into battle to find out the hard way…'

'I might have a solution,' Oedo mused. He stroked his full beard reflectively. 'We have some experimental unmanned drones - might be worth a brief engagement.'

Harlock gave him a sharp look. 'Your craft are not battleships, Professor - I had hoped you'd just be able to provide some much-needed intel from a distance…'

'We're better protected than you might think, Harlock. After Doppler's repeated attacks on the dockyards, we've been able to persuade the bean-counters to upgrade the specs for the new class of ship. Jasdam won't be out of dry dock for a few more years, but in the meantime, we've a few aces in our hand.'

Daiba tuned out a little as the conversation drifted onto the distribution and deployment of their available resources. Battleships and space travel, whilst exciting enough in small doses, were of little interest. I'd rather get up close and personal… turning those manipulative bitches into something that would fit into an ashtray was satisfying - stand-offs at astronomical (literally…) distance shooting at targets only your sensors could see - not so much.

'World's first Pirate-Archeologist, huh?' He turned his head to look at Ali, who was now leaning on the wall next to him. Daiba nodded.

'Harlock's got more combat ready crew than he needs. Better than me, anyway. I can do more good looking into my dad's work.' But he still fingered the smooth butt of his pistol as he spoke. Ali's gaze dropped to follow the motion, and the older man's mouth pulled into a thin-lipped line.

'Doesn't stop you wanting a piece of them, does it?' He stared over Daiba's head, looking at the small gathering around the table, talking animatedly and jabbing fingers at the holo displays. 'If there's a solution to this weaponised vegetation thing they have going, it'll be on Niflheim. Until we have that, going up against them is gonna be painful. Captain has the right of that.'

'Is that why you volunteered?' Daiba asked. Ali shrugged.

'Captain's right. Without the edge we get from Dark Matter, we're just a big all-you-can-eat buffet to their biological weapons. Our tactics have always been based around the fact we can take more damage than the other guys, and dish it out. We found that out the hard way facing some of Loki's nastier presents to the Machinners during the war - we're so used to punching outside our weight class it's a bit of a shock when someone hits back and gives us a bloody nose… can't say I like the idea of going off without the Arcadia wrapped around me, but…'

'But - a geologist?' Daiba hadn't meant it to come out quite so incredulous, but it seemed Ali, for once, wasn't in the mood to take offence.

'Kinda. Sorta. I can study the rock formations and find us some likely sites for one - for another, I know what to look for in the fossil record. Earth's a bust, after what the Arcadia did to it during the Homecoming War, but Niflheim didn't take anywhere near as much damage. Plus, I've been on a few digs - always work out here for a guy who can date what you're digging through and operate a laser digger without damaging what you're trying to get to…'

'He's not being entirely truthful,' Kei said out of the blue. She wandered over to stand next to Ali and leaned her elbow on his shoulder. 'Our resident bad-ass here actually began his degree in archaeology and ancient languages; he only switched to paleontology and geology for the cash... ' she flicked the tip of his ear and got a growl for her troubles.

'Blasting the shit out of rocks pays better,' Ali muttered defensively, batting her hand away as he might an irritating fly. 'Try making a living on an assistant professor's wage in a dead discipline sometime… especially in a galaxy where the only civilisations we ever found - apart from the Nibelung - were only founded a few hundred years ago.'

'Do you even need me along?' Daiba asked, feeling suddenly like a fifth wheel. Kei gave him a reassuring smile.

'You know your father's research better than anyone. I don't think you'll be just tagging along, Tadashi. Oedo has some good people, but you, Ali and Maji will be looking for more specific data - finding us a weapon, or a way to negate that space-vine. By the way - can you read Nibelung?'

'I'm rusty, but I can brush up.'

'Meg and I can get you back to speed - thanks to Mimay we speak and read it pretty well,' Ali offered. At the youth's questioning eyebrow he grinned. 'Long dark nights in between planets and fuck all else to do - unless you fancy trying your hand at beating Yattaran at Shogi…'

'She likes speaking in her own language,' Meg said softly. 'I guess when you're the only one left around of your race it gets lonely.'

The older men and Selen had pretty much closed in around the table, voices animated and only occasionally raised. Kei noticed the direction of Daiba's gaze and smiled. 'Let them thrash out the details. It's what they do best. Ali - stay with them. Don't let him over-commit to anything - if the words "I promise" or any variant look as though they're coming out of his mouth, sit on him!'

They shared a knowing smile, and Ali nodded. Kei swept a glance over the youths in front of her. 'You four, however, need feeding. Anita's set up round back with the small ones and Tadashi, so I suggest you make a bee-line for the food before this lot realise they're missing out.'

Niobe and Zack took the opportunity to flee, but Daiba hung back, reluctant to miss out on what might be being discussed. Meg, he noticed, didn't look to be in any rush either, but the tiny girl did give his arm a tug when he hesitated.

'You'll find out later,' she whispered in his ear. 'C'mon.'

'Afraid you'll miss dinner?'

Meg smiled up at him. 'With the portions Anita serves up? Please. She always over-caters. Well. She would if some of the crew weren't born piggies…' He allowed himself to be led away, with a helpless glance back over one shoulder. His gaze caught Harlock's, that singular hazel eye watching him with what looked like approval. With an almost infinitesimal one sided smile, the pirate turned away, but Daiba held himself a little straighter. He'd been afraid his decision to latch onto the fact-finding mission might have somehow annoyed his captain… but then, he'd always talked about being true to yourself, so…

Distracted, he allowed a chattering Meg to lead him towards the back yard, and Anita's impromptu kitchen.