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Haida, now passing Castor (Japan time: dawn)…
Moroboshi Arami's eyes opened.
Grunting as she moved to stretch herself, she then reached over for her glasses — she had inherited Izuku Mioko's myopia — to slip them over her eyes. Looking around, she smiled on noting the contours of the nice bedroom her genetic parents had been using on this great warship now going off to help them beat down all the bad people who wanted to force her Uncle Ataru to marry someone he didn't love…and hurt the people whose power was now infused into every cell of her young bioroid body. Remembering that, she then turned to see the sleeping form of Seu-P'ye Yesu-Re Hechnich'-K'ekhech of Ait'uch Nehech on the other side of the bed, her back turned away from the reborn prince — and briefly emperor — of the Hàn, her chest slowly rising and falling as snores fluttered from her lips. With that, Arami stood up on the bed, and then leaned over on Kyech's right arm to gently push into her to wake her up. "Kyech-et'e! Kyech-et'e! Oi!"
Kyech's chestnut eyes fluttered open as a tired sigh escaped her. "I'm very tired right now, Arami-yu…" she whispered. "Go find your parents, okay…"
Arami nodded, and then she turned to hop off the bed onto the floor. Slipping her bare feet into the small pair of slippers there, she then walked around the bed and headed to the door leading to — as she learned thanks to the Dragonspeaker's powers when she infused one of the non-templated bioroid bodies in Haida's medical station with a mixture of Hiromi's and Mioko's DNA to create a genetic "daughter" for Arami's soul to inhabit — an outer room. Walking through the doorway, she found herself in a boring meeting room, no one there. Shrugging, she then turned to head to the door that would lead to the hallway that connected the flag officer's quarters to the nearest turbolift station.
"Ah! My Prince! You're awake!"
She stopped, and then turned…before looking WAY up to see a tall and very muscular man with obvious foreign ancestry in him — as hinted by his dark skin and fleshy face with pronounced lips — now in the orange vest, button shirt, tie and slacks of a student at the Nan'yō Academy. He had spiky black hair partially held down by a hair band and bronze-brown eyes. "Hai?" she asked.
He instantly went to one knee as he saluted her. "My Prince, it does my heart well to see you once more returned to us," he declared as he bowed his head. "I am Gakushū, born as Tano Tsukuhito, an A-rank tōshi and third-year student at the Nan'yō Academy. I am here at the request of your most august parents to ensure that once you have awoken, you will be conveyed immediately to their presence in the cafeteria."
Arami blinked…and then her cheeks flamed as a squeaking sound echoed from somewhere in her tummy. "Um…I guess I need to have something to eat."
Tsukuhito chuckled. "I will take you there now, My Prince."
With that, he gently lifted the young girl into his arms and moved to exit from the meeting room. At the doorway, he then paused before looking back towards the bedroom. Arami noticed. "Kyech-et'e's really tired, Tsukuhito-ojichan. She should sleep."
He jolted…and then twin tracks of tears flowed down his cheeks. "She…she called me 'uncle'…!" he sobbed as he carried her off.
Watching that reaction, Arami could only shake her head.
Grown-ups were SO weird…!
Main Cafeteria #3…
Haida was a ship that was physically 1,072 metres long, had a beam of 374 metres, stood 155 metres tall without the sensor vanes (with them, Haida's height cleared 260 metres from the head of her mainmast to the lower tip of her keel mast) and would displace 6,220,407 tonnes of water in Earth gravity were she capable of landing on the ocean.
To man such a vessel even with the sheer level of automation that drove all of her systems, Ki Tsukihana and Hakaru Ayami projected her optimal crew strength — including an infantry battalion battle group — to be about 6,500 officers and non-commissioned members, which was roughly the full military population of all the units and formations headquartered at Canada's largest base in Halifax. To ensure such a large amount of people could be fed three meals a day on a twenty-four hour watch system, four cafeterias with fully-stocked kitchens had been fitted into the main hull, along with smaller pantries for the ship's officers and the flag officer complement, one in the forward upper superstructure and one in the aft upper superstructure.
Currently, thanks to the Canadian starship only having about 2,250 people aboard now — the majority of them tōshi from Nanban High School and the command group and Team 1 of the Kōshi Kasshi, with the "weekend warriors" of the 2nd/10th Dragoons forming the next big group — only the two inner cafeterias and the forward upper pantry were manned with military cooks from Haida's Victualling Division of her Supply Department, the Logistics Support Flight of 21 Air Maintenance Squadron and the Kitchen Troop of the 2nd/10th's F (Support) Squadron. Helping them out were volunteers from both the Kōshi Kasshi and Nanban High School, all of whom had done cooking duties for their friends in the field. Since breakfast would soon be served, people were milling around the aft-of-midships cafeteria waiting for the kitchen bell to be rung.
Of course, there were vending machines present that allowed drinks to be served free of charge. To the joy of all the Canadians aboard Haida, Avalonians working for the country's most popular fast food chain had devised ways of allowing the delightful brew available at over three thousand restaurants and kiosks across the Dominion to be served from these very machines on demand. Borrowing an idea from a Star Trek novel that came out in 1988, diminutive materialiser units were incorporated into each vending machine to keep the coffee grains in suspension until they were needed, then allowed them to be percolated when required to keep the coffee as fresh as possible. And for those who preferred their coffee made via traditional methods, several of the 2nd/10th's cooks were all civilian workers at various Tim Hortons restaurants across Niagara, Hamilton and Brant; they had several coffee-makers with them so they could make fresh pots of brew on request.
The Japanese people aboard — who were mostly used to drinking tea in the morning — weren't left out; Tim Hortons offered all sorts of wonderful choices for those who preferred the more "civilized" hot drink before breakfast. Though there were many who — out of respect for their Canadian hosts — did try the classic double-double once.
Mago Tsueko was one of them.
"Ah! That hits the spot!" she said as she sipped the large mug of coffee before taking a deep breath before she gazed at Hiromi. "Ne, Kōtchi, how soon will we get a chance to fight these dork Onis and their pals once we get to Yaminokuni?"
"Well, there will have to be negotiations with the First Patriarch to allow us to land our troops on the ground around Muzlim Madiina before we have to worry about this stealth ship the Imperials absconded with," Hiromi said as she stirred a teaspoon of red chili pepper powder into her ginseng tea; seeing that had made all the tōshi gape even if Mioko was now also enjoying the same type of tea. All the senior tōshi who had boarded the Canadian starship after the incident in Takanashi Naoko's cabin were now seated around a table close to the serving line. "I suspect a few hours. It'll give Karin-san enough time to compose the proper challenge letters so we can send them off before we contact Lum-san's foolish father and provoke the charge."
Hearing that, many of the fighters from the Seven Schools exchanged knowing grins; even after an absence of several decades, Chinrin Kōshō was a demon with a calligraphy brush. "They better appreciate it," Tsukasa Torusuke mused.
The others laughed. "You expect them to be listening in, Hiromi-sama?" Seki Haneko asked.
"That, you can take to the bank, Haneko-san," the reborn emperor stated. "The Imperial influence on Urusian military affairs even after their Union Revolution two centuries ago has always been strong. I doubt those who remained loyal to Onishuto after Negau-san's actions would have thought to change the communications encryption codes to blind the stealth cruiser as to what might be happening. And with them now on the run somewhere in Urusian space, they'll be desperately tapping into anything for news."
"My Lady Matriarch Syep'yek."
Everyone turned as a Noukiite Imperial Marine sergeant knelt beside Hiromi, his head bowed as he gave her the traditional hand salute. "You have something, good warrior?"
He nodded. "Yes, My Lady Matriarch. We just received a report from the Lady Captain-in-Space Negau concerning those senior leaders of the Imperial Round who are unaccounted for."
She held out her hand. A dataPADD was handed over. "You are released to your duties, good warrior," Hiromi then bade. "You have my thanks for your report."
He bowed. "Heaven's most sincere blessings upon you, My Lady Matriarch."
With a hand salute, he was off. Hiromi gazed on the PADD, her eyebrow arching in curiosity, and then she hummed. "Ichiyu-san?"
Meguru Ichiyu blinked before he looked over his shoulder from the table he had been sharing with Takadono Osami and several Avalonian-Canadian armoured crewmen from the 2nd/10th Dragoons. "Hai, Hiromi-san?" he asked.
She held up the dataPADD. "Be a dear and go up to Lum-san's and Kuhu-san's guest cabin with this. Deck A12 port side; it's the cabin beside the one Onē-san is sharing with Miiko-san's sister Kanami-san. I think Lum-san will need to see this right away."
He smiled. "Hai, Hiromi-san."
Taking the PADD, he then offered his arm to Osami, who took it with a grin as they both headed out of the cafeteria. Tsueko watched them go, an amused grin on her face. Hiromi was quick to notice it. "Already planning the wedding, Tsueko-san?"
"Nah! Just wondering when Kōkin's gonna finally do the 'C' with Shigen-chan!"
"Wanting to be an aunt already, Hakufu-dono?" Mioko teased.
"Nah, Mikyōtchi! But every time he gets into 'accidents' with me, he always nearly dies from blood loss out of his nose! That's gotta stop!"
Laughter from the other tōshi. "Oh, speaking of which, I need to know something," Mimōko then mused as she gazed knowingly at Hiromi. "'My Lady Matriarch?'"
The reborn emperor chuckled. "My siblings and I were granted honorary citizenship in the Imperial Dominion when we were on Okusei some months ago, Mimōko-san. Much to my personal surprise, we were rated as an element of the Yekhu, their class of high priests." As the other tōshi all gaped at her, Hiromi sipped her tea. "On Noukiios, my name would be said — with the proper conventions — as 'Ye-Nehek Yeho-Eikt'i Hechnich'-Syep'yek.'"
Everyone blinked. "You actually use your posthumous name as your courtesy name on that world, My Emperor?" Koeru Kumomi asked before she sipped her tea.
"You know my reasons why, Shiryū-dono."
"Enough, all of you," Mioko then urged. "What my beloved chooses for herself is her choice and we have no right to question it. If you choose to raise your flag alongside hers, you must respect her choices in that matter. Does she not do that to you?"
"Of course she does," Torusuke stated. "But self-mutilation — even emotionally — is not a healthy exercise to engage in, Mioko-san. You know that."
"It is still not right," Miiko hissed.
"Enough, Kunrō-dono. It is my choice and I accept it with due humility," Hiromi stated before she smiled at Torusuke. "Once again, the wonderful intelligence of the gallant guardian of Our North Gate at Luòyáng has just made itself known," she mused as she winked at a now-blushing Torusuke. "So tell me, Mōtoku-dono…do you still know how to do a sword-dance?" she then asked as she gave him a knowing look.
People blinked. "Sō-chin can do a sword-dance?!" Tsueko gasped.
"Since when?!" On Tsuguta demanded.
Laughter escaped many of them. "Oh, this was back…" Hiromi then hummed. "Sometime after Torusuke-san's past-self faced the Honourable Qiáo Xuán in his court after he tried to rescue a beautiful slave he was quite infatuated with. One my then-foster father took into his service…and was tragically slain when he sought her hand in marriage." As the tōshi gaped in shock at their reborn emperor's knowledge of their first lives, Hiromi gazed on Torusuke. "Tell me, did the Lady Shuǐjīng ever reincarnate?"
The leader of Kyoshō blinked, and then he nodded. "Hai, she did. Unlike most of us, though, her spirit did not properly awaken until the start of high school. She's my age, actually; she's a second year at the Lillian Girls' Academy in Musashino."
"Lillian?" Ranma spoke up from his place beside Mimōko. "My cousins go there."
"The Asagaya sisters, you mean?" Torusuke asked. At Ranma's nod, he smiled. "Akira — that's Suishō's name in this life, Kamizumi Akira — has told me about them. Quite a pair, those girls." He chuckled. "It's rather odd for Akira-san, though."
"How so?" Tadasu Suguta asked.
"She put out a formal challenge to her underclassmen when she finally began wearing her magatama: To become her petite sœur, you have to not only be given her rosary, you also have to defeat her in judō; she's a black belt. AND you must take her magatama while fighting her."
The others hummed. "Wonder to me why someone who likes to go magatama trolling doesn't go over to Lillian to make a quick kill," Futoshi Itsuku mused.
"Oh, that was Yuzumi-sempai's doing," Torusuke stated.
Hiromi blinked. "Chōjō-dono?"
"Hai. As you might be aware — and as you'll certainly remember, Mioko-san — when Sumiko-sempai and her friends quit from their schools en masse and formed the Kōshi Kasshi to defy their fates, the Attendants all rallied those who stayed behind to remain 'loyal' to the Seven Schools. In one big fight near Kyoshō, someone tried to smash a bus into Yuzumi-sempai. I leapt in to push her clear, saving her life."
"That wasn't one of my people, I should add," Hari Sumiko noted.
"Ah! A magical life-debt, you mean," Hiromi breathed out.
"Hai. Susuko-sempai then hosted a private tea ceremony between Yuzumi-sempai and I at the Izuku home near Rakuyō afterwards. When Yuzumi-sempai asked if there was anything she could do for me personally in payment for my saving her life, I told her about my suspicions concerning Akira-san. She confirmed that Akira-san was indeed Suishō reborn…and then agreed to put a special notice-me-not charm around both the Lillian Girls' Academy and its neighbouring brother school, the Hanadera Boys' Academy." As the other tōshi all blinked, he added, "This ensures no budding tōshi there…"
"Gets ambushed like that Hanno dork ambushed me back in March before I transferred to Nan'yō. Is that what you and Chōjō-sempai wanted to do, Sō-chin?" Tsueko wondered.
He nodded. "Exactly."
"Which has made my life much easier."
Everyone perked, and then they turned…
…to gaze in shock at a beautiful brown-haired girl with olive eyes, possessing the tanned skin hinting at Mediterranean origins. She was dressed in the green-and-soft beige seifuku of Lillian — though the sharper-eyed tōshi all were quick to note that her calf-length skirt was specially designed to break open when its wearer needed to do high kicks — with a rosary around her neck…and a bronze C-rank magatama hanging off her left ear. "Oh, my Heavens…" Hiromi breathed out.
The newcomer bowed as she gave the civilian hand-over-hand salute to the reborn emperor of the Hàn. "My Emperor, I bear greetings from all of both Lillian and Hanadera…and their prayers for the success of our mission against those who would subject all, Terran and Avalonian alike, to their dark will," Kamizumi Akira — Suishō — stated as she gazed respectfully at Hiromi. "I know that with God's strength and the wisdom of the Buddha aiding us, we will succeed in this quest."
"It does my heart well to see you among us, Suishō-dono," Hiromi stated as she nodded politely to the only Lillian tōshi present on this mission. As Akira moved to sit next to Torusuke, Hiromi asked, "Where have you been since we left Earth?"
"With Sumiko-sama's permission, I joined those of her friends now aboard the Trinidad, Hiromi-sama," Akira explained. "It's been good to be able to practice with fellow tōshi finally. Much that the judō-ka at Lillian are quite skilled, they…"
"Don't possess our edge," Torusuke noted.
She nodded. "Hai. And while my first-self perished long before all the fighting really began back in China, there is still the pull in my soul…"
"Which Sandi hopefully wiped out once and for all," Sumiko noted.
The others laughed. "So, Torusuke-kun…what in God's Name is Hiromi-san talking about you doing a sword-dance of all things?" Akira then teased.
More laughter. "Oh, you should have been there, Akira-san!" Hiromi noted.
"Kōtchi! Tell us everything!" Tsueko demanded.
"Oh, it was the peach blossom festival in May of the fifth year of Xīpíng," the reborn emperor explained. "My beloved uncle, the Grand Duke Dàn, was the man who arranged a wonderful sword-dance by this mysterious yet quite well-formed young warrior." As she gazed in amusement at a now red-faced Torusuke, Hiromi added, "And while I know now that Mōtoku-dono's past-self at the time was trying to bring up what he had discovered over the years he was posted as the Captain of the North Gate concerning the level of corruption the Attendants had unleashed on the land, all I could think of at the time was how much he was making all the ladies attending the festival celebrations swoon and pass out from how handsome he looked. Totally topless, of course."
All the girls at the table save Akira and a dazed Bakari Choko — now drooling as she tried to imagine what a topless Torusuke would look like — whooped and cat-called the leader of Kyoshō, who only now wanted to sink into the deck and disappear. "Sō-chin! Shame on you! Shame!" Tsueko said as she wagged her finger at him.
"Hey, Sōsō! You do a dance for Shiba'i every time you make out?!" Kashira Emi heckled.
"Why's everyone making those funny noises, Papa?"
Silence.
Heads snapped around to see a curious-looking Arami now in the crook of one of Tsukuhito's arms. "Forgive my tardiness, My Emperor," the gentle giant of Nan'yō then stated as Mioko nearly broke down in tears on seeing her child alive and well again. As the reborn empress moved to take Arami from Tsukuhito's arms, he added, "But before I could bring the Prince to be with you and the Empress, Reverend Klein found us and offered to perform a baptism ceremony given that the Prince was technically reborn on Canadian sovereign territory. He is now speaking with Captain Gamblin about this."
Sonami gasped. "A baptism on a warship?! Oh, that would be so nice!"
"What do you mean, Ryūbi-chan?!" Tsueko asked.
"Well, it's like this…"
And the ships sailed on…
Phase Three of the deployment to Yaminokuni would take the Task Force ships literally "up" to the inner fringes of the Galactic Barrier, the energy field that surrounded and encased the whole of the main mass of the Milky Way Galaxy from the wider universe beyond. As that would allow the ten starships to literally "leap over" some very hazardous areas of space to the "south" of the Galactic Federation worlds along the horizontal plane of the galactic disk, it would ensure the new crews wouldn't be exposed to hazardous space navigation so soon into their first star deployment.
Of course, the next course correction would take an hour at sub-light speed to allow the ships to align themselves to run parallel to the Barrier's inner border as they poured on the speed to make system-fall at Yaminokuni in the time frame set for the mission.
This would allow a certain ceremony to occur…
Arizona, now sixty light-years "above" Eta Eridani (Japan time: mid-morning)…
"How are those scanners working?"
"Perfect," the senior computer technician, Hank McPherson, said as he keyed controls on the touch-screen keypad on his PADD. "Pity we can't just do a sprint-and-look trip to take a closer look at some of these stars. With the data we've collected so far…"
The chief observer from the Space Telescope Science Institute, a NASA-funded research group that received its personnel from the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy based at the Homewood campus of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, could only nod in agreement. While he had simply no idea what the other nations who were contributing the personnel for this trip to the edge of the Orion Spiral Arm had done, NASA had not hesitated on assigning a small group of observers and technicians from the Institute to take stellar observations from Arizona. Tom Kazanski had been pleased to allow the eggheads a chance to use his ship's sensory suite for something else other than preparing to fight a war…as long as said people kindly stayed out of the way of the military crew who would have to fight the ship if it ever came to that. That was why everyone had moved to the main bridge; ship's operations were being controlled in the CIC several decks down, so the only people who made their way up here other than the AURA people were either sailors or Marines on shipboard rounds…
"Got coffee!"
…and any of the ship's Avalonian crew who were detailed to bring snacks around.
"Thanks!" the chief observer, Tom Cliff, called back…before he blinked. "Hey, Dorothea! You okay…?" he asked as he looked over…and then gaped as the silver-haired woman with the chestnut eyes gazed his way. "What the…?"
"What?" Dorothea Patton — the AURA people had heard the rumour that all the Avalonians who had been created for Arizona had been named after American porn stars; no one had yet had the guts to confirm this sort of thing one way or another — asked. "Is there something wrong, Tom?" She then caught herself. "Oh, my earring!"
The other scientists all got up to gaze at the green star-shaped device hanging off the would-be seaman recruit's left lobe. "Damn! Where did you get that?" Cliff asked.
"Well, thank Takanashi Naoko over on Haida," Dorothea stated as she waved over to the Canadian starship now some distance ahead of her American sistership. "Eh…?"
People stopped, and then they turned. Haida was now about five hundred metres' ahead of Arizona's bow — the ships of the Task Force were practising close manoeuvres for 'materialiser jackstays' — and it was quite noticeable that a pennant was now flying from the Canadian ship's foremast. Setting aside the coffee tray — like Tim Hortons did for Haida, Starbucks provided the coffee for Arizona — Dorothea walked over to the set of "Big Eyes" mounted at the front centre of the bridge, then focused the lenses on the vessel ahead of them. One look was good enough. "The church pennant…?"
The others gathered around her to gaze on the Canadian ship. "Why would they be flying a church pennant?" one of the younger AURA scientists, Patricia Carter, asked as they focused on the long pennant with the Saint George's Cross at the hoist and the mixed red-white-and-blue stripes in the fly. "Even if they're having religious services now…"
"We're in space and no one would understand the significance of the flag," Cliff finished. "So what the hell's going on over there?"
"Let's find out," Dorothea said as she keyed a control on the small communications unit mounted beside the large binoculars. "Patton to Allen. Ginger, you busy right now?"
"Busy working with the Dragon Jade getting everyone's mei'na augmented. Why, Thea?"
"What's going on with Haida now?"
"Oh, that!" Here, Ginger Allen laughed, which made the scientists all goggle in shock. "They decided that after Hiromi-onēsama's child was brought back from the Dragon Jade by Lady K'ekhech, they'd have a baptism ceremony aboard for her."
Everyone blinked. "Oh…"
Haida, the wardroom, that moment…
Ever since the concept of using a bell to mark the time on a ship was first introduced, the bronze devices also often ended up being used as the baptismal font for the water sanctified for a child's christening. While traditionally the water would be returned to the sea, being in deep space meant that this ceremony — like so many others — had to be modified, the actual nuts-and-bolts of which would be put on the shoulders of the ship's coxswain once this mission was done and Haida had returned to Earth. At least the water itself had been taken from Lake Ontario and stored aboard the starship by a forward-thinking chief boatswain's mate for situations like this. Noting that, Brian Gamblin — seated alongside his fellow captains at the front right row of guests — mentally patted himself for making sure the senior sailors he got to work on this ship were more than capable of thinking for themselves when it came to situations like this.
And given the international nature of this mission, that ALL the clerics posted to the ships of the Task Force — even Zhèng Hé; that ship had a Chán Buddhist abbot, the Venerable Wāng Shìchōng (who was, much to Gamblin's shock, ranked Hǎijūn Shàngwèi in the People's Liberation Army-Navy), who had been trained at the legendary Shàolín Monastery near Zhèngzhōu in Hénán Province — were participating in this ceremony was understandable. For the most part, Orientals were very pluralistic in matters of faith, which was personified by the belief that the "more deities one invoked, the more favour the Heavens would bestow." Given the sheer spiritual horsepower of the priests now involved in blessing young Moroboshi Arami — Gamblin himself had fought to get a friend of his who was a Calvinist minister from northern Alberta and a ten year veteran of the Forces with experience across the country, in Korea on exchange with the United States Air Force there and in Afghanistan on Operation: Athena, Major (Reverend) Vincent Klein, as Haida's permanent chaplain — the chances were good that the little tyke would have God and a whole tonne of other deities watching out for her for a long time to come.
Even more so, the little girl — who was dressed in a tastefully-designed kimono — was staying quite still as the sacramental water was gently stroked over her by Richelieu's ship's almoner, Monsignor Jean-Claude Pontier, while he intoned the Catholic baptism. Given that she was physically six — and her past-self had been fourteen when he had been poisoned in 190 C.E. — it amazed Gamblin that Arami was not fidgeting like most children would be in that situation. Then again, given how much children had evolved over the centuries from the Hàn Dynasty to the start of the Third Millennium — and given that in her first life, Arami was the child of an emperor of China, with all that demanded — the fact that Hiromi and Mioko wouldn't have to worry too much about keeping a rambunctious kid under control would make a lot of people's lives a lot easier.
"Sir?"
He tensed on hearing the voice of his chief yeoman of signals. "Yeah, Nate?"
"Signal's gone out."
Gamblin nodded…
Tomobiki, the Moroboshi home, minutes later…
"YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…!"
Hearing that screamed cheer through the open kitchen window of the Moroboshi home, Miyake Shinobu — all of Tomobiki High School had been given a day off classes because of the late-night celebrations of the official unveiling of the Earth Defence Force ships; all of Moroboshi Hiromi's peers had known about Haida and her sisterships right from the very beginning — paused on her way to the corner store, then leapt over the front fence-line and charged right for the main door of her ex-boyfriend's home. "Oba-san!" she called out after she burst inside and flipped off her outdoor shoes. "What's wrong?! Are you okay?!"
She then was deluged by a virtual Niagara Falls of tears. "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I'M A GRANDMA, SHINOBU-CHAN! I'M A GRANDMA! I'M A GRANDMA! WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH…!"
As Shinobu stared at the sobbing Moroboshi Kinshō for a moment, she then turned to gaze hopefully at Negako, now calmly enjoying tea at the living room table. She then stopped on seeing one of the most bizarre sights she had seen since that day the previous summer when Hensō first came into everyone's lives…and considering what had happened in the wake of THAT, it was saying much: TEN beautiful twenty-something women were all doing victory dances, they waving celebratory fans bedecked with dragons. Dancing with them were both Moroboshi Muchi and Kotatsuneko. "Ano…Negako-san…?"
Negako gazed in veiled amusement at Ataru's former girlfriend. "Hiromi and Mioko have succeeded in restoring their child to life, Shinobu. The message just came from Haida right now and Yuzumi and her friends wished to convey the news to Muchi and Kinshō personally." She then blinked before the distant rumble of artillery pieces being fired in unison from the direction of the Mendō estate echoed through the open windows of the room. Sighing, she drew out her cell phone from her pants pocket, and then she dialed a number. A moment later, she called out, "Shūtarō? Hai, it is I. Much that I understand why you would desire to celebrate Hiromi's and Mioko's good fortune…" — she ignored the next round of artillery fire — "…but the peace of the neighbourhood is being disturbed by those howitzers your troops are firing. Would you stop?"
The guns were silenced immediately. "You have my thanks, Shūtarō," Negako said before cutting the link with Mendō Shūtarō…and then she blinked on noting that Shinobu was now enjoying a happy dance with Ataru's mother in the kitchen.
She sighed. "Well, I did try…"
And in the Great Palace in Muzlim Madiina on Yaminokuni…
"Cigars, guys?!"
Ataru chuckled as he offered Natsukimi Makoto, Kuruwa Yoisuke and Hari Haruka a beautiful Dutch Masters Honey Sports cigar each; they were the same type that one Major Dean Raeburn from Canada smoked. "I just sensed it," he stated. "Thanks to Kyech, it turns out that Hiromi's child with Mioko-san back in their first life was just restored from life; his spirit wound up in the forest north of Nanban, believe it or not."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
And then…
"Shōteiben…?" Haruka eeped out.
Ataru smirked as he put the cigars into the tōshi's hands, and then used some ki to light up his own smoke. "Well, you can't call the kid that anymore since — to borrow the way you all look at things — there can be only one emperor and Hiromi's already got the post, right?" As the three Kyoshō students all blinked before they laughed, they then cued up to get their own cigars lit, he added, "Most likely, Arami-chan — that's her name, of course — will be called 'Ryūben Kōnō-Kaiōji' given what her posthumous name and title was at the end of her life back in 190. So smoke 'em up if you want."
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT…?!"
That was a wide-eyed Sebone Shikuko. "It's true," Ataru said as he offered cigars to the girls who had come on the trip to Yaminokuni; as they had been boys in their first lives, it didn't seem totally wrong to do that. "Turns out that this Shishimyō fella — don't know his real name — managed to see to it that Arami-chan's soul be put into the Nanban forest…which is where Onē-san found her later. Want some?"
Hearing that, Shikuko exchanged looks with Noberu Miyako, Tsukasame Yoiko, Sakan Somumi and Natsukimi Mien before grins crossed their faces as they came up to take the offered cigars. After they were lit up, everyone turned to gaze on the beautiful night — time was told on Yaminokuni with the dimming of the luminescence from the large mushrooms that dotted the city and covered almost all the planet — around them…
Watching them from nearby were two girls, both now draped in black robes. "Is that normal for Terrans, Izabel?" Ika wondered. "Smoking to celebrate a birth?"
"It's one of their odder customs," Redet Izabel — the name had been chosen as it had quite positive connotations in both Urusian and Yaminokuni culture; naturally, the exact translations in the native languages of the two worlds wildly differed — whispered back. Lum's newest Avalonian "twin" had been woken an hour after the meeting between the party from Earth and the First Patriarch of Yaminokuni, then presented in a formal omiai to Upa's younger "great-grandson" shortly afterwards. After the Oni-form Avalonian had been baptized by a priestess assigned to Noukiios' embassy to the dark world — Urusians didn't have codified religions like most other races did — Izabel was allowed the chance to spend time with her new fiancée before any plans for an official wedding were to occur. Which would be done AFTER the potential threat from the Urusian Imperials and whoever from Phentax Two was with them at this time was eliminated.
Ika shook her head. "Weird…"
Haida, the forward observation lounge, an hour later…
"Mistress Luna Lovegood, I presume?"
The beautiful woman with the wavy blonde hair and the silvery-grey eyes rose from her seat in the observation lounge, offering her hand to Hiromi. "Hai, Hiromi-sama," the native of the magical side of Ottery Saint Catchpole in England's County Devon said in eloquent Japanese before she waved to her current escort. "My friend — and official representative of Her Majesty's Ministry of Magic aboard Her Majesty's Starship Hood for this mission — Master Unspeakable Terry Boot. He was the one who made sure Hood had the proper magical runes and defences placed aboard her when she was commissioned by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales."
"Master Terrance," the reborn emperor said as she offered her hand to the fleshy yet quite muscular brown-haired man with the very intelligent caramel brown eyes. "While I am not truly aware of how the magically gifted of Her Majesty's subjects in the United Kingdom live their lives, if they're anything like the power I can sense from both you and Mistress Luna right now, they have clearly earned what was bequeathed on them by the Fates." As Terry courtly bowed his head over him and kissed her hand, she then waved to her lover — carrying her daughter — and Tsukuhito, who had volunteered himself to act as Arami's personal bodyguard at times when she was away from her parents.
Once introductions were done, Luna then introduced her own companion…which, to the total surprise of the tōshi, was a feathered magical serpent from South America! "May I present Alejandro Q. Emplumada, a reporter for the Quibbler's sister publication for non-human magicals, The News of the Magical World," the Hogwarts alumni (NEWT Class of 1999) explained. "Given the rather considerable constraints about bringing his reporting staff with him, Alejandro asked for my help to interview you."
Hiromi gazed on the beautiful serpent. "And your staff composes, good sir…?"
"A yeti, a hippogriff and an acromantula. All of which, sadly, are far too large for the human-scale dimensions of these ships, oh Great Lady of the Hàn," Alejandro answered, quite grateful that the translation fields on Haida and her sisterships allowed him to speak his native tongue — which was known as "parseltongue" among wizarding humans worldwide — without the need of translator spells. "Which is a pity. My staff and I took the chance to visit your hometown to interview the Lady K'ekhech of Noukiios when she visited Tomobiki in March after your defeat of these — Niphentaxians, they were called? — and the removal of that large bomb in the Tomobiki Ginza by the Lady K'ekhech's people. Yet it seems…"
"The victory is not complete," Hiromi finished for him.
His head bobbed. "Yes, Lady Hiromi. May I ask what your plans are?"
She smiled. "They are this…"
The explanation took about fifteen minutes, with Luna using a Quick-Quotes Quill to make sure all the words were recorded. While that was being done, Terry — who himself was the son of an unspeakable; his father Ian was now the director of the Department of Mysteries in London — took the chance to meet with Arami. Then — with Mioko's permission — he moved to cast the Neuwied Test detection charms on her to analyze her potential as a witch. After the result came up on a ghostly parchment, he stared at it…and then gaped in shock. "MERLIN'S BLOODY BEARD!"
Everyone gazed at him. "What's wrong?!" Arami asked.
Luna stood up and walked over to gaze on the parchment. A second later, her jaw was somewhere around her knees. "Oh, my dear…I've NEVER seen that before…!"
"Is there a danger, Mistress Luna?" Tsukuhito asked.
"Oh, no!" the daughter of the owner of the Quibbler — who actually owned a dozen publications for non-human magicals worldwide like The News of the Magical World; his work on the Quibbler was actually a hobby of his — shook her head. "No, Master Tsukuhito. But Arami-chan here will have to start magical training as soon as possible." To Hiromi. "Terry reacted to this incredibly high score on the Neuwied Test he just cast on Arami-chan right now. Oh, my! Three hundred-and-sixty-seven points?! That's the equivalent of a very powerful house elf back home!"
"Harry's score is only 244 points! That was measured after all the training he took with Nekane Springfield and Lady Tsukuyomi during his sixth year to deal with Riddle!" Terry said before he stared at Hiromi. "How the devil did your child get to be like THIS?!"
"Did Kyech-san do something?" Mioko asked her lover. "Is this from ME?!"
Her reborn husband shook her head. "No, she wouldn't do that, Dearest," Hiromi answered. "Given her bad experiences with the blood and power she took in from the Sky Lord Nengmek'i — to say anything of your own experiences thanks to the Sky Lady Hucheng-ch'ekyunghechha — she wouldn't want to subject our child to something like THAT!"
"It was from Arami's guardian. Hello, Luna. Alejandro."
Everyone turned as a smiling Kyech — who now looked quite refreshed — walked up to join them, her battle-spear in hand. "Hello, Kyech. My, for someone who just teleported herself from Okusei to the Haida to save Hiromi's daughter, you look very refreshed," Luna said as she bowed politely to the Dragonspeaker. "Sadly, Alejandro's friends couldn't come with him on this trip due to certain size constraint issues."
"Where are they?" Kyech asked.
"I sent them to Tomobiki to interview the Lady Negako when they got a chance," Alejandro answered, which made Hiromi gargle in horror. The serpent then gazed in amusement at the reborn emperor. "Please don't be alarmed, Lady Hiromi. The Earth Angel's willingness to speak the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth is actually quite refreshing to magical sentients like myself. Far too many humans engage in double-talk too often for our tastes. There is nothing to fear."
"I pray so, good sir!" Hiromi stated as Mioko laughed, and then she gazed in curiosity at Luna and Terry. "Nekane Springfield? That's Master Negi Springfield's cousin; she's currently a teacher at the Meridiana Academy in Wales. From what I understand concerning relations between those magicals affiliated in some way with Nerio and the other magicals of Earth, such 'cross-training' is not allowed. How…?"
Luna sighed. "That relates to a dark lord from the last decade…"
Tomobiki, the Moroboshi dōjō, that moment…
"You may enter, Xenophilius."
The gentle crack of a portkey spell echoed from outside the dōjō as Negako sat in the middle of the space, enjoying the tea she made earlier. A second later, a handsome silver-haired man with grey eyes, appearing to be in his mid-thirties — as he was magical, Xenophilius Lovegood was quite older — stepped into the space after slipping off his shoes and bowing to the dōjō spirit. "I apologize for disturbing you in your meditations, Lady Negako," the owner of The News of the Magical World and the Quibbler said as he moved to sit seiza before the grandmaster of Saikō Jinseijutsu-ryū. "It's quite a party out there," he then commented as he nodded to the doorway.
Negako looked amused at that comment; the news of Moroboshi Arami's return to life had spread like wildfire thanks to the wonders of text messaging and it seemed like the whole town was on the streets celebrating. "I assume your friends wish to also engage in this interview," she asked as she gazed knowingly at Luna's father.
"If it is no problem."
"There is no need to be concerned. Here in Tomobiki — which, if you do not know, was granted a blanket exemption from the various clauses of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy by His Majesty in the wake of Hensō's arrival in our lives — the presence of Alejandro's co-workers would not raise much curiosity," Negako stated. "I assume Alejandro himself is with Luna."
"On the Hood, along with one of Harry Potter's old classmates: Terry Boot. He's an unspeakable for the Department of Mysteries in London."
"I see"
With that, both walked out of the dōjō. "You may lower your invisibility screens," Negako stated. "Xenophilius, I believe a silencing charm around us is called for."
"Certainly."
A moment later, a cone of blissful silence was set up around the small pond set up in the empty space at the southwest corner of the expanded Moroboshi property; back in February, there had been an empty house standing here. Once the silencing charm had been set up, three magical beings — a regal-looking female yeti from the Himalayas, a quite handsome male hippogriff from Scandinavia and a fair-sized female acromantula from Britain — allowed themselves to become visible. A moment later, Kotatsuneko had joined them from the Moroboshi guest house, his favourite space heater-equipped low coffee table in one paw and a tea service in the other. Also with him — much to Negako's surprise — was Kitsune, the young shape-changing magical fox that had befriended Miyake Shinobu sometime ago after she had saved him from some larger dogs when he had wandered into town. Soon enough, everyone was served; the large mike-furred cat ghost even knew what sort of hot drinks the three magical beings who had come with the British newspaper owner desired. "So why are you here?" Negako asked.
"We apologize for disturbing you today, Lady Negako, but the Lady Mistress Yuzumi and her fellow Attendants passed the word to the magical communities here in Japan about your sister's wonderful fortune in having her child through the reborn Língsī Empress restored to life and good health," the yeti, Mìhng, answered; fortunately for all of the entourage for The News of the Magical World, they had magical translation spells available so all could be understood…not that the Earth Angel of all beings on the planet needed such things. "Given the involvement of the Lady K'ekhech of Ait'uch Nehech in the restoration of the Prince Huái of Hóngnóng as Moroboshi Arami…"
"Ah! Kitsune-kun! What are you doing here?!"
Kitsune turned, and then he nodded as Shinobu came up, followed by Happōsai. "Hello, Miss Shinobu," he said as the grandmaster of Musabetsu Kakutō-ryū sat down beside his friend. "The Forest School learned from Mistress Yuzumi about Miss Hiromi's daughter and I was sent down here to pass on our congratulations to Miss Hiromi."
"Hiromi is currently off-planet at this time, Kitsune," Negako stated as Shinobu sat down beside Kotatsuneko, then nodded her thanks to the cat ghost as he handed her some tea before taking Kitsune into her lap. "If you remain in Tomobiki until her return, you can convey your institution's best wishes to her and Mioko directly."
The young fox flustered…which made Negako smile as he suddenly transformed himself into a anthropomorphic version of Hiromi, complete with her preferred jeans, jean jacket and T-shirt ensemble. "I don't wish to impose…!" he sputtered in embarrassment as the other magicals all chuckled.
"You can stay at my house, alright," Shinobu offered.
Kitsune transformed again…into a miniature Shinobu. "Miss Shinobu…!"
"My, he is quite infatuated with her," the acromantula in Xenophilius' party, Missy, then clicked out, which made Shinobu gaze in curiosity at her.
"Shinobu intervened when a pack of local dogs tried to abuse him," Negako explained.
"Ah!"
"Um…I don't mean to be rude, but I don't think any of you are from Japan," Shinobu then stated. "I can tell you're some type of yeti…" — she gazed on Mìhng before turning to the others — "…but I don't know either of you."
"More than understandable, young lady," the hippogriff stated by clicking his beaks. "I am Pinfeathers of the Ice Flock in what you would know as the Lapland region of Sweden. I am called a hippogriff. My friend here is Missy, an acromantula from the Forbidden Forest near Hogwarts Castle in Scotland's Perth and Kinross region. We and Mìhng here…" — Pinfeathers waved to the yeti with his forepaw — "…are staff for The News of the Magical World, one of the news outlets for non-human magicals. Our delightful friend now seated beside the Lady Negako is our employer, Xenophilius Lovegood."
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miyake-san," Xenophilius said as he bowed his head to Shinobu.
She returned that bow, and then gazed on the British wizard's friends. "The news of Hiromi-chan getting her daughter back is important in the magical world?"
Chuckles from the visiting reporters. "We know that in the non-magical world, the Lady Hiromi's past-self has a very bad reputation in the history books," Mìhng explained. "But within the magical world, it is much different. When he lived, Liú Hóng was a great patron of magical studies all across the Middle Kingdom. He also pressed for research in finding better ways to speak to other magical species…"
To be continued…
WRITER'S NOTES
1) Translations: Et'e — Paternal aunt; Yeho — Third daughter; Xīpíng — Literally "bright peace," the Chinese era name (Niánhào) for the period between 172-178 C.E., the fifth year being 176; Chán — The Chinese title for what is known as "Zen" in Japanese; Hǎijūn Shàngwèi — Literally "Sea Army Senior Officer," the People's Liberation Army-Navy rank name for a naval lieutenant; Seiza — Literally "proper sitting," this is where a person kneels with the buttocks on the heels; Mike — Pronounced "mee-kay," this means "three-furred" and implies the three tones of fur colour of Kotatsuneko's coat (this is the standard colouring for a Japanese Bobtail cat).
2) 21 Air Maintenance Squadron (21 AMS) would be 21 Space Wing's first-line equipment maintenance group. Given the situation on Haida, where an entire wing of aircraft is assigned to a ship — in the Canadian Navy elsewhere, helicopter air detachments (HELAIRDETs) normally compose of up to two machines detached from a single squadron — 21 AMS would also serve as the wing's field logistics support group. This would also include providing cooks to support Haida's Victualling Division when the wing is deployed with the ship.
3) The Star Trek novel referenced in this part is Spock's World (1988) by Diane Duane (ISBN 0-671-66851-X), one of the more popular Trek novel writers. The actual use of transporters to keep things like coffee fresh was suggested in the novel's prologue.
4) H.M.C.S. Haida's dimensions in British Imperial and American measurements: She is 3,517 feet long, has a beam of 1,227 feet, is 508.5 feet high in the main hull, has an overall height of 853 feet from top of mainmast to bottom of keel mast, and would displace 6,856,754.63 short (American) tons or 6,122,102.35 long (Imperial) tons of water at Earth gravity.
As for how the Type One space battleships compare size-wise to some other famous starships:
An Imperial-class star destroyer (first introduced in Star Wars IV: A New Hope) is said to be 1,600 metres (5,249.3 feet long) and is 1,015 metres (3,330 feet) wide.
A Galaxy-class deep space explorer (such as the U.S.S. Enterprise [NCC-1701-D]) from Star Trek: The Next Generation is said to be 642.5 metres (2,107.9 feet) long, has a maximum beam of 467 metres (1,532 feet) and has an overall height of 137.5 metres (451 feet).
A Columbia-class battlestar (from the original Battlestar Galactica) such as the Galactica or Pegasus is 1,263 metres (4,143.7 feet) long and spans 510 metres (1,673 feet) at the outer edges of the flight pylon booms.
The Babylon 5 space station from the series of the same name is 8,064 metres (26,456.6 feet) long, 840 metres (2,755.9 metres) wide and masses 9.1 million tons (most likely American short tons) in Earth gravity.
The Type 304 deep space carrier such as U.S.S. Daedalus from Stargate SG-1 is 225 metres (738 feet) long, has a maximum beam of 95 metres (311.6 feet) and a maximum height of 75 metres (246 feet).
5) Tim Hortons is, as stated in this part, Canada's largest fast food restaurant chain, far outdoing McDonalds and other American-based groups in terms of number of restaurants and kiosks in the country. Founded in 1964 in Hamilton (where the company's corporate headquarters is located), the chain is named after one of the founders, Tim Horton (1930-74), a National Hockey League defence player who played with the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins and the Buffalo Sabres; it was in the wake of a Buffalo-Toronto game that he was killed on the Queen Elizabeth Way when crossing the Twelve Mile Creek bridge near the Ontario Street exit in Saint Catharines (he was intoxicated and speeding). The popularity of Tim Hortons in Canada has even impacted the language; the phrase "double-double" (which means a coffee with two creams and two sugars) made its way into the Oxford Dictionary of Canadian English in 2004.
6) The sword-dance story as told by Hiromi here is derived from the fourth episode of Sōten Korō, "Banquet of Flames." This story is most likely fictional, though Cáo Cāo did serve as the captain of the guards of the North Gate of Luòyáng from 175-178 C.E., when he was posted as governor in Dùnqiū County for a year. However, Cáo did try to bring light to the corruption being unleashed on the land by the Ten Attendants; he wrote two memoranda concerning that when he was a consultant to the imperial palace at Luòyáng in 180. Neither had much effect.
As an aside, in "Banquet of Flames," Liú Hóng's uncle Liú Dàn (unknown date of birth and death) also appeared; he was one of the victims of Cáo's stern command of the comings and goings at the North Gate of Luòyáng…though he also supported Cáo's continued campaign towards exposing the Ten Attendants' corruption. In his current incarnation in the universe of this story, he lives as Ryūzenkō (Koro Makoto) and currently serves as the Principal of Rakuyō Senior High School.
7) Qiáo Xuán (109-183), which appeared in the third episode of SK, "Demon of the North Gate," was a real person. One of the most prominent legal officials in his day, Qiáo had the reputation of being quite incorruptible. He was also a patron of Cáo Cāo in the latter's youth; the trial scene in SK no doubt reflected this fact. He — as reported in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms — was also the father of the Two Qiáo Sisters who later married Sūn Cè and his oath-brother Zhōu Yú. In his modern incarnation in the universe of this story, Master Qiáo lives today as Kyōgen Kōso (Hashi Kurosuke), the Headmaster of the Kyoshō Academy.
8) The character of Shuǐjīng is a fictitious one; she appears in the second episode of SK, "Amore."
9) "Magatama trolling" is my term for when tōshi go out to collect magatama from defeated opponents, as depicted in the first few volumes of Ikkitōsen.
10) Operation: Athena is the Canadian Forces code-name for all military support and operations done under the umbrella of ISAF (the International Security Assistance Force) in Afghanistan, organized under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1386 that was passed on 20 December 2001 and currently run by NATO. Save for the elements of the Forces that were deployed in support of the American-led Operation: Enduring Freedom (which was code-named Operation: Archer in Canada) in 2005, all Canadian personnel in-country or supporting those personnel in-country in the time of this story are said to be participating in Operation: Athena. That particular operation officially came to an end on 1 December 2011.
11) It should be noted in the French armed forces, Almoners are allowed to wear the uniform but are not given rank in any service. Hence, Jean-Claude Pontier is addressed by the title Monsignor.
12) Redet Izabel first appeared in The Senior Year side-story "Tales of Avalon: Ria and Shūtako." It should be noted in that story, Izabel was created from the "copying mushroom" that Upa used to fool Ataru and Carla during the events in the Yatsura manga story "Boy Meets Girl: Are You Really Getting Married?" (manga episode #359).
13) Luna Lovegood is one of the more popular of the Harry Potter characters; she first appeared in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Terry Boot was one of Harry's classmates; he first appeared in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and was a character that appeared in the video game made for Order of the Phoenix. His father being an Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries is my invention for The Icemaidens stories, by the way. And Luna's wonderful dad Xenophilius Lovegood was first mentioned in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire; his first proper appearance came in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
14) The Neuwied Test is my play-off on the magical version of an I.Q. test that often appears in Harry Potter fanfic stories and is used to measure a wizard's total magical potential. To give you an idea of what the score means, an average wizard or witch scores between 120-160 points, someone like Albus Dumbledore would score over 200 points and house elves like Dobby score over 300 points.
15) The characters of Alejandro Q. Emplumada, Mìhng, Pinfeathers and Missy — not to mention The News of the Magical World — first appeared in the fanfic story Triwizard Tales by Clell65619 (Clell Harmon), which can be found at this website. They are used here with permission. Note that with Mìhng's name, I use the Yale Cantonese Romanization of the character 明 (in Mandarin, the word is pronounced "Míng" [note the different accents and the additional "h" in the Cantonese version of the word]).
16) The story of how Harry Potter was trained by Nekane Springfield (from Mahō Sensei Negima) — and how that affected Harry's battle with Voldemort — will be explained in the Wizards and Avalonians side stories. Hiromi's first meeting with Negi Springfield and his friends will be explained in a future story. Do note that the other person mentioned by Terry here, Lady Tsukuyomi (real name Yomigawa Tsukiko) was first mentioned in my story The Icemaidens and the Philosopher's Stone. How she came to impact Harry's life will also be revealed in W&A.
17) Kitsune first appeared in the Yatsura manga story "Love Is Warm to The Touch" (manga episode #208).