Part One – A secret dragged into the light

I stretch out in my hotel room bed, my hand touching the back of the woman that's in bed with me; I open my grey eyes and see her tan back and blond hair. I feel a smile on my face, I'd been so lucky to get Brooklyn in my command, even luckier when our working relationship became a personal one. Somehow we had managed to keep things professional in the office, but outside of it, well things were different. I scoot over in the bed a little to cuddle her from behind as the curtains blow with the subtle breeze coming off the water here in Ponta Delgada during the summer months. It wasn't lost on me that this wasn't a vacation, this was business. We were here to meet with a delegation from the Sardegna Empire to work out the rough groundwork for a peace treaty with them. My superiors were tired of the stalemate between the Eagle Union and the Sardegna Empire; we had bigger fish to fry and couldn't keep devoting assets to keep them boxed in.

Still, just because this was business didn't mean I couldn't enjoy some time to myself with my girlfriend of the last year. I slide one hand over her waist to her belly, then up to cup her bust as I kiss her neck. As I do that, I see her lips curl upward as she rocks her hips and stern against me and she says, "Someone's feeling frisky this morning."

"Are you complaining?" I ask her.

She rolls to face me, her red eyes sparkling as she looks at me and strokes my cheek with one hand as she says, "I love you."

We share a quick kiss before I tap the tip of her nose and say, "That's not an answer."

She laughs and pushes me onto my back before straddling me, rocking and rolling her hips against me as she says, "I'm not complaining, but remember we have a lot to do today, so let's get our fun in now."

XXXX

After a quick breakfast, we head to the conference room and start getting it set up, putting out the document packages that cover what we want to talk to them about. As the last document pouch hits the table Brooklyn moves to stand at the window, looking out at the beach as she twists slightly to smile at me as she asks, "Christian, do you think we could go to the beach after? I'd like to lay out in the sun for a bit."

I smile and move to stand behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist and belly as I say to her, "We might be able to do that, but just remember t-"

"Call you Captain Harrison in front of the delegation." She says for me, leaning her head back against my chest before she adds, "I bought a new bikini and it'd be a waste not to use it on this trip."

I let go of her and go to my spot at the massive table and open one of the document pouches there, I see that it seems to be a profile on who the Sardegna Empire was sending. One of them had platinum blond hair and grey eyes just like mine, the other green hair and rust-red eyes. I feel a weight on the top of my head as well as arms on my shoulders before I hear Brooklyn say to me, "Interesting, I knew that the Sardegna Empire had a very open relationship between the humans and kansen there, but I didn't think they would just send a pair of their kansen for this."

I blink a couple of times and ask, "What do you mean by an 'open relationship?'"

I feel her get off of me and she moves to sit on my right as she crosses her knees and rests an elbow on the table before her chin rests in that hand as she says, "Unlike the Eagle Union, the kansen in the Sardegna Empire are members of society, they are considered people and citizens of the empire. I know that the Union does what they do because our people can be a little funny about things like civil and equal rights."

"You know that I'm in your corner on those matters, right?" I ask her.

She pats my right knee as she says, "After a year, I'd hope so."

I laugh and squeeze her hand causing her to smile at me and I ask, "So what can you tell me about these two?"

Brooklyn leans back in her chair and takes the document from me as she rolls her red eyes and says, "They're sisters, Vittorio Veneto the self-proclaimed Eternal Flagship of the Sardegna Empire, and her sister Littorio Veneto, both of them are Vittorio Veneto class battleships."

She gets up and moves to the window to keep reading, "When it comes to diplomatic events the two of them often work together as Littorio seems to be better at reading people whereas Vittorio is better at getting people to do things that benefit the Empire."

I nod, it made sense to a degree, if you've got a pair that work really well together, send them together, kind of like me and Brooklyn. I turn my attention to the window and bring my right hand to just under my chin as I think about this, and I start to wonder what they are going to want in exchange for the groundwork for a peace agreement. After a moment I hear Brooklyn ask me, "Everything alright, Christian?"

I nod as I say, "I want to say so, Brooklyn, but I just have a funny feeling about this one and I don't know why."

After a moment I felt Brooklyn place a hand on my shoulder before saying to me, "It'll be alright Sir, you've got me here to help smooth things over diplomatically."

I smile and reach across my chest to pat her hand as I say, "Brooklyn, what would I do without you?"

She laughed and squeezed my shoulder before saying to me, "Be in a much worse position and a lot lonelier."

I take a deep breath and try to push this feeling out of my mind as I help her finish getting set up.

XXXX

I take my phone out to check the time; we'd been sitting here for hours, waiting. This meeting should've started an hour ago, Brooklyn looks to me and places a hand on the screen as she says, "Just a little longer, Christian. We'll give them another half an hour then report that they didn't show up."

I sigh and get up, crossing over to the refreshment table, pouring myself a cup of coffee, just as I hear the door fly open behind me and a very boisterous voice declare, "Rejoice, for I Littorio have arrived!"

I turn slightly to see both doors having been pushed in, in the center of the doorway, stood a woman with green hair, with a stripe of red and white in her bangs. I watched as she strutted in like she owned the place, and right over to me and she said to me in Italian and I had never been so glad that I spent the time to learn it in school, "My god, you have a cute face, what should I call you?"

I felt my cheeks get hot, and I clear my throat before I say to her, "While I thank you for the compliment, you may call me Captain Harrison."

I noticed that she looked slightly disappointed that I wasn't instantly captivated by her, but that was neither here nor there, as another voice was heard clearing her throat before chastising Littorio, "Littorio, leave the man alone, we're here for the good of our homeland, you can find something to plug your holes with later."

I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from laughing as Littorio rolled her rust-red eyes and reached behind me to pour herself a cup of coffee. As I stepped around her to get a better view of this Vittorio Veneto, her grey eyes went wide. It was like she was going to say something, but her train of thought had been derailed, completely before she tripped over her own tongue asking, "No! How why? Christian?"

I was a little curious, why would she know my given name, I'd never met her before as far as I knew. I tilt my head off to the side a little as I ask hesitantly, "Yes? Do I know you?"

I saw hurt pass through her eyes as she took another step forward, placing her hands on my cheeks as tears started to stream down her cheeks and she continued to tell me, "My baby, mom has finally found you!"

From behind me, I heard the spitting out of a drink followed by coughing and chest-pounding before the voice of Littorio called out, "Wait what?!"

Vittorio slid her hands off of my face and pulled me into a tight hug as she continued, "Mom has finally found you!"

I put my hands onto her shoulders and softly pushed her back as I said, "That's not possible, I grew up in Norfolk Virginia."

She looked at me, so wounded, and shook her head as she switched to English and wiped her eyes as she said, "A mother knows her baby. You were stolen from me when we started having troubles with the Eagle Union."

My brow knit together, I mean I remember spending a ton of time in and out of hospitals as a kid, tests being run on me constantly. I also remember being faster, stronger, tougher, and just generally bigger than kids my age. And the family that raised me, telling me that I couldn't show off just how much physically better I was. I take a moment to look at Brooklyn, she has a stunned look on her face, and switching my gaze to Littorio she looks just as shocked. I take a step back from Vittorio and ask, "Would you mind submitting to a blood test to see if we share any genetic markers? I'm not saying I'm not taking you at your word, but this… if this is true, then it calls into question my entire life to this point."

She looks down and nods as she says in Italian again, "Yes, I see."

XXXX

The four of us walked to the nearest lab to get our blood drawn, Brooklyn had pulled me back to have me walk behind the other two so that she could whisper to me, "Doesn't this seem kind of strange, Captain?"

It wasn't lost on me that she was avoiding calling me by my name right now, but I nod and whisper back to her, "I don't think it's a game to try and get an upper hand in these negotiations. Everything you told me about Vittorio indicates that's not her style."

Brooklyn nods her head before asking, "If this is true, do you think it could explain why you seem to have a way with us kansen?"

Again I nod and confirm, "It would, but then it begs the question as to why I was taken from her."

That was when Brooklyn reached down to squeeze my hand as she whispered, "No matter the reason, I'll still love you."

I squeeze her hand back as I whisper back, "Thanks Brooklyn, but I thought we were going to try and be professional as much as possible in public."

She flushes a little in the cheeks before say to me, "I know, but if this is a sudden chance to meet you mother, then I should be ready to be affectionate at a moment's notice."

I was about to say something else, when I noticed Littorio looking at me over her shoulder with one eye before she leaned over to whisper something to Vittorio, causing Vittorio to look over her shoulder at me and Brooklyn then turn her attention forward again.

I sigh inwardly; I couldn't help but wonder what they were talking about. I mean I could guess based on the gestures that Littorio was making. I had always thought it was funny that half of communicating in Italian was done with hand gestures. Seeing how the hands are moving I'm guessing that Littorio is asking why she of all people didn't know about me. Still, there isn't anything I can about this right now, so I just squeeze Brooklyn's hand and as I look at her, I can see that she's lost in thought as well.

XXXX

One vial of blood and several hours later, we were back in the hotel room, sealed folders in front of both myself and Vittorio. I looked at her across the table from me and nodded, in time with each other we opened them and looked at the results, just a bunch of things I didn't understand too well. With a shrug, I put my paper on the table, as did Vittorio. Looking at both papers side by side it was clear, I was her genetic offspring, going by what the mtDNA said. We both looked at one another as both Brooklyn and Littorio left the room saying, "You two need to talk."

Once the door closed behind them, I leaned back in my chair and asked, "So, what do we do about this?"

She ran a hand through her hair, looking off to the side before saying, "I'd like to get to know you, to know what I missed."

I nod, it was a fair request, she wasn't asking to be part of my life right now, and if I'm honest about it, I'd like to get to know her and maybe find out why I was taken. With a nod, I say to her, "Then we take this one step at a time."

"Agreed, one step at a time, Cristiano." She said with a weak-looking smile.

I watch as she brushes her hair with one hand, and avoids looking at me before she ventures out a question, "Have you had a good life?"

I lean back in my chair as I think about my life up until this very moment before I say to her, "I never wanted for anything, but I was never able to be the best I could be. I always had to hold back, since I was always bigger, faster, stronger, and tougher than anyone else my age."

She nods slowly, I can see that she looks so very sad before she says, "If you had grown up in the Empire, you wouldn't have felt like that. Though not common, children of kansen and humans are not unheard of."

I sigh and look to the window as I say to her, "As I said, I never wanted for anything, but I always felt like I didn't fully belong, at least until I got my assignment to work with the kansen fleet out on the Atlantic seaboard."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see her fidget a little before asking me, "Speaking of kansen, you and Miss Brooklyn seem rather well acquainted with each other."

I give a half-smile at her choice of words, it was a polite way of saying that me and Brooklyn were very clearly close with one another, I sigh and nod before I say to her, "After dating her for a year, the only thing stopping me from asking her to marry me, is her status in the Union, the kansen there exist in a legal grey area. They are not hardware, but not recognized as people either."

I notice Vittorio press her lips tight together as she says in Italian, "Well, that's stupid."

I reach for my water that was on the table as I nod and agree with her, "I said the same thing to the review board that was looking at how to treat them."

I hear her start to laugh a little before she says to me, "It makes me glad to hear that."

As I turn my attention back to her, I see her take the document pouch from this morning and open it to see the requests from the Eagle Union, I see her nod before she says, "We can agree to most of this. But we have our own list of wants as well."

Vittorio opens her red jacket to take out a document pouch and she hands it to me as she adds, "Please look these over as well."

I open it up and see that what the Empire wants isn't that different, aside from one little thing, half the diplomatic team from the Union needs to be kansen. I close it up before I say to her, "I'll need to check with my superiors on this, but most of it looks good."

She smirks and tilts her head before she asks, "But it is the part about kansen involvement, yes?"

I nod and rub the back of my head as I confirm, "Yeah, like I said they're in a grey area right now."

She nods before saying, "Well, see what you can do, I know the Empire will include us in our delegation."

Putting the document pouch down, I lean a little forward as I say to her, "This has got to be the easiest negotiation I've ever heard of."

Vittorio laughs and smiles at me as she counters, "I'll have to agree with you there, but I don't have it in me to fight over every little detail to try and get one over on you, not with what happened today, Cristiano."

I nod slowly, truth is, I really don't feel like trying to get one over on her either, too much had happened today for me to be like that. Looking up at the clock I sigh as I say out loud, "Brooklyn is going to be so disappointed, she wanted to go to the beach today after the meeting."

"I am sure she will get over it." Vittorio says to me, as she got up from her chair and walked over to the refreshment table, and started to look over what was under the metal covers.

As the covers come off I see trays of meat, cheeses, and vegetables over ice. Another one had condiments and a still a third had buns, Vittorio nods as she starts to make a sandwich as she says to me, "At least they left food, are you hungry Cristiano?"

Before I could answer, my body answered for me with a growl and I got up from my chair and went over to the station and started to build something to eat.

As we were both shoulder to shoulder Vittorio looked up at me slightly before looking away and saying, "If you ever wanted to visit the Empire, I would be happy to show you around, you should also know that as my son, you automatically have citizenship there too."

I stop building my sandwich and look at her before I say, "If we can get the peace deal, that's something I think I might do, aside from here, I've never really left the Union."

Vittorio smiled at me, and it looked like it was a genuine one too before she said, "I will do everything in my power to make it work from our side, as I would very much like to get to know you better."

"I think I'd like that too." I say to her and finish building my dinner.

XXXX

When I got back to my hotel room, I saw that Brooklyn had already gone to sleep; I sighed and my shoulders slumped before I looked to the couch in the suite we had and saw a bikini that was patterned after the Union flag, with a note on top of it. I picked it up and read the note out loud, "Maybe tomorrow?"

I put the note down and go over to the laptop and start a video call with High Command and I fill them in on how things went on day one.

XXXX

With that report done, and surprisingly they agreed to include some kansen on the delegation, I grab a quick shower before climbing into bed with Brooklyn and turn out the light, it'd been a long and strange day and I needed time to process this.

As I lay there awake, I reach out for Brooklyn but I feel her move away as I touch her skin and I know she's mad at me right now and is likely pretending to be asleep. I get out of the bed and got back to the common room I sat on the couch and thought about how today turned out. I mean today has just been extremely strange since me and Brooklyn had really started to be together, we've never gone to bed mad at one another. And now I felt kind of bad that I was so wrapped up in what went on today that I forgot about taking her to the beach today.

After a little bit, I get off the couch and go to make some decaf coffee before I sit back down and just look out the window at the dark water of the ocean. I sigh as I think about how I'd always been drawn to the ocean and learning today that I'm a hybrid it makes way more sense as to why I've been drawn to it. I sip some coffee for a while before I feel some arms slide along my shoulders and a weight lands on the top of my head before I hear Brooklyn say to me, "I'm not mad, just disappointed that we didn't make it to the beach."

I reach up and stroke one of her arms as I say, "I know and I'm sorry that stuff happened today that sent everything into a tailspin."

"So, your half kansen." she says to me changing the subject, pausing to add, "Should I be trying to get in good with your mother?"

I laugh and lean my head against her right arm as I say, "For now, don't worry about it. Right now we're going to take this slow and work on getting the peace accords to happen." I sip more coffee before adding, "By the way, I managed to get High Command to add kansen to the delegation from the Union. It was a stipulation from the Empire, really their only one that was different than the ones we wanted. But I thought you should know, I suggested you for that team."

She lets go of me and crosses around in front of me, letting me see that she wasn't in her sleepwear before she straddled my lap. As she let herself down and slid her arms along my shoulders again, I could see her red eyes shining before she kissed me and said, "I love you."

I slide my hands to her hips as I say to her once the kiss breaks, "I love you too."

She looks around the room then to the balcony and asks, "Do you want to try it out there?"

I grin and lift her up as I start walking us to the sliding door as I say, "I thought you'd never ask."

XXXX

XXXX

A/N: Going to end chapter 1 here, I feel kind of bad for Brooklyn already since I know where this one is going. It's the same Brooklyn from Knight of Stripes after all.