Chapter 4 - Deep Reflections and Insecurities
Ryss woke up the next morning about mid afternoon. She had been out for a while, so it wasn't a surprise that the clock was now saying 11:30. She thought that she would explore the house that was given to her. It was pretty spacious, but she didn't have much, so it didn't really matter to her. It was a four-room house, a kitchen, a dinning room, a bedroom, and just another room for whatever. Her personal tour turned out to be quite short, she decided to boil some water as to make some tea.
"I wonder," she thought, "does everybody live separately with their families? I guess there are probably a few apartment buildings." It was only a small matter to her, not because she was cruel, but she assumed that it would be put under different management or brought to her if she was to be a queen. She began to think about what was happening, what had happened, and what everybody could be doing right then. Van was probably being a good solider for the Guardian Force; Raven might be a mercenary somewhere.
She thought about Raven for a while. Was he a changed person? He had helped Van destroy the Death Saurer, but that was pretty obvious why. He had saved her once, and she had actually been rather mean to him. She forced him to look into his past, something he had never wanted to go back to, something he had worked so hard to not think about, and she forced him to look upon it again. And yet, he saved her from the Death Stinger at the ruined Republic? She wondered why he had tried to kill her before with the Geno Breaker's Charged particle cannon, and later on saved her?
"Oh well," she thought, "He's no longer apart of my life, and it won't help to think about him." Her thoughts turned to another person she knew well. Fiona. What was she doing now? She seemed to be closely into the Guardian Force, her job being an engineer and a monitor for battles, mostly with the Geno Breaker, or she was a monitor for Van, giving him the location of his enemies and also giving him the status of his Liger. "That may be good to have, I should make a mental note if we get caught up in a war that she would be an invaluable ally to have."
Locke came in. "Tea?" Ryss offered.
"No thank you," He Replied, "I've already had lunch, I just came in to see if you were awake."
"I see," she said as she poured herself a glass, "What are you up to?"
"Well, when I said I was your attendant, I was telling you what I was told, but they probably wanted me to make sure you got accustomed to this place a tad bit, but now I have been put into a training camp for Zoid piloting."
"Going to be a Zoid pilot?"
"I already am.just not a very good one. Still, they predict I am going to excel at it more than most. I can't wait to see if there prediction comes true or not." He replied.
"Can you tell me what my role is going to be for this new Zoidian race?" She asked.
"Hmm, I can say for sure, but I don't think we used the proper term when we used 'queen', the way I understand it, as we get more leader types into our government, your power will decrees, and most likely you'll be in a high place in the military, because of your clever and crafty ways of battle, according to Hiltz anyway, you are an excellent strategist. But like I said, your power will decrees as more come into the government, because right now, we are in what seems to be, in udder chaos."
"You seem to know a lot for you're age, don't you think?"
"Well, I do know a lot because of Victor, the guy you were talking to last night, he tells me a lot of these things, and all I do is just remember them. He was a good friend of my parents, so he is kind of like an uncle to me."
"I see, well that sure helps me grasp the situation a little bit better. Thank you." She said.
"No problem, I suppose I should be going, Victor might want to talk to you, and he will probably be able to explain it to you better in 30 minutes then I could if I talked for three days, so I guess I'll be going."
"Alright then, I guess I'll see you around."
"Till another time." He said, and left the house.
She sipped her tea once more, and began to reflect. She reflected on her own life, if it had been a good one so far. She began to try and remember the reason why she had fought along side Hiltz. She often came back to this question. It bothered her, and even if she came up with a reason that seemed to best fit, she kept coming back to the question, trying to think of a better reason.
"Did fighting ever make me that happy?" She pondered this and sipped her tea. When she had finished with her tea, nothing had come to her that time of reflection. She put the cup on a nearby counter and was going to go look for Victor when he knocked and came through the door himself. "That's rather convenient." She thought.
"Well, I take it that sleeping beauty has had enough sleep for the next hour." He said sarcastically.
"I take it you are going to explain to me everything else that we hadn't talked about last night?" She said, ignoring his last comment."
"What do you want to know?" he asked, part of the reason he had stopped was because he didn't think that anything else he had to offer would interest her anyway.
"How about the humans we have on Zi presently, what are we going to do about them?"
"Well, I am not sure, you might have thought of them like us, being used by someone else. It does seem unfair for them to die when they probably didn't have another choice but." He paused a bit, and then went on, "As has been said, even if they survive, the superiority of the Zoidians because of the chemical will create tremendous jealousy, it would be a disaster, we would probably hunted down like animals, and probably see no end of it."
"Maybe, when do you think a decision should be made?"
"Who knows? I also came to tell you that there has been some activity in the atmosphere, the biggest problem being we have spotted a juggernaut up there too, it could hold many troops if that is what they are carrying. I am guessing that if their intensions were to attack this planet, they would come in about 7 years."
"Uh-huh," she said thoughtfully, "so we had better start preparing." She asked.
"Already started, we will need you to come and monitor everything that is going on: Training simulations, weapons testing, ECT."
"Very well." She agreed, "Let us go, we have much work to do, and not much time to do it."
* * * * *
Two months had gone by since the destruction of the killing machine, the Death Saurer. Van Fliheight now at the rank of a commander, was about to start yet another day in the Guardian Force. He was pretty excited about his mission. Just to guard a Gustave from harm, and where it was delivering its valuable cargo was near his hometown, the Wind Colony. After his mission, he would head back home for a while and help out his sister if she needed any help. It would almost be time to go, he would need to be there by about 8:00 a.m. He called to Zeek and started heading for the Blade Liger.
Fiona had sent Zeek back to Van, he wasn't sure why, all she said was that it would help a lot if he had Zeek instead of her, not because he got in the way, but he was more of a fighting tool, something she didn't need now. Zeek wasn't offended, he could understand why she needed to send him to Van, and he understood the other reason why she gave him to Van. Of course, Van didn't know, but that wouldn't be very important.
He began to think about how he had come this far, from when Zeek first resurrected the Shield Liger (Episode 1), to him being a commander now. Time really flew; it was only about 5 years since the Shield Liger had been resurrected for the first time. (Chaotic Century and Guardian Force have a 4-year split in my opinion, even though they put it a year, Van changes too much for it to be one year.)
He got into the Blade Liger and started moving out. When he came to the transporter, it was already loaded up and ready to go. "I haven't done a convoy mission before, it might be fun, but when you think about it, chances are, it will be very boring." He smiled to himself at how had sounded like Irvine right then.
And he was correct, nothing happened during the 4 hours, except having chats with the transporter pilot. All they really talked about was how peace was finally returning to the land after much fighting. Other than that, there was nothing to be said about the trip.
* * * * *
Even after two months since the Death Saurer's demise, Alisee Lanet could still smell the war that had been waged on the planet for about a year. The Death Saurer still was a ruling thought inside her mind, she could not stop thinking about it. It was almost like the plague of bad memories had poisoned her mind ever since she had first remembered the beast. It was tormenting her, having to think about the pain it had caused many. She was almost able to feel the sadness, the hurt, and the injury, inside of every soul that had ever been touched by its aura of death. However, there was one thing that would take it off of her mind, another thing seemed to take away the painful thought. Children.
Ever since the Death Saurer had been defeated, she went to orphanages all over Zi, Helping out in anyway she could. It suited her better than almost any other job she had had in the Guardian Force.
Fiona continued to chop the vegetables for the soup she was making. A little boy came into the kitchen.
"Mama, I'm hungry," Complained the 5 year old.
"Yeah" Second a little girl, about the same age, "I'm hungry too."
It seemed like no matter where she went, all the kids called her mama, and it didn't take long to get used to, but the people she had worked with never got the same title of 'mama' or 'papa'. She assumed that it was just a way she had with kids."
"Alright, I'm almost done, just give me a little longer and I'll be finished." Replied Fiona, Her response lit the faces of the two, and they ran out of the kitchen with glee. Fiona smiled, the sight of a smiling child, it really did cure a hurting soul.
Fiona had quit being a combat analyst after about 2 weeks of the Death Saurer's reign ended. It only intensified the hate inside of her, the hate for fighting. She almost had lost it; she just couldn't take it anymore. After she started going to orphanages that were in dire need of assistance, she told Zeek to go back to Van, Zeek had become a war tool in her eyes, rather a friend, and a war tool was something she didn't want or need. Zeek understood and obeyed.
Fiona took the hot soup out into the dining room of the building, and took it to a table with 12 hungry kids seated ready and waiting. One of the attendants came up to her with a baby over his shoulder.
"Fiona, would you mind giving Alison a bath here? She seems to like you best." He asked.
"I'd be happy to." She replied with a smile, and took the infant with her. When she put her in the tube she decided to wait till she was done having fun to bathe her then.
"Yes," she said to no one in particular, "This is what I should be doing, the way it was meant to be. Doing what makes me the happiest, and the thing that makes me at piece." And she smiled to her self for a long time at that moment.
* * * * *
"Shadow, what do you think I should do? Should I really trust my self with a Zoid?" Raven asked the dark organoid standing beside them. Every night for the past two months, Raven looked up at the stars. They and Shadow were his only true friends. He looked at the lights in the sky. Every night they comforted him, and yet, every night, they danced before him, because of the reflection from the tears in his eyes.
"It's completely up to you, where you go, I follow." Shadow replied.
"Let me ask you something else, why are you loyal to me? I make a sudden change, not to destroy any more bases or take any more lives. You loved it when I did that, and all of a sudden, I stop, and you don't seem to mind and stay completely faithful. Why?" He asked, very interested in the organoids answer.
However, Shadow didn't reply, Raven would ask him this question every now and then, never in a rude tone, but in a very tone that made him sound interested. He would repeat the question word for word, but every time Shadow never said anything. Raven didn't mind though, he trusted Shadow, and trusted the organoid's loyalty.
"I guess it all depends on what your intensions for the Zoid are." Said Shadow, "And whether or not you believe they are right."
"Maybe, I suppose that makes sense." He said as he continued to look up, awing the beauty of the stars.
Ryss woke up the next morning about mid afternoon. She had been out for a while, so it wasn't a surprise that the clock was now saying 11:30. She thought that she would explore the house that was given to her. It was pretty spacious, but she didn't have much, so it didn't really matter to her. It was a four-room house, a kitchen, a dinning room, a bedroom, and just another room for whatever. Her personal tour turned out to be quite short, she decided to boil some water as to make some tea.
"I wonder," she thought, "does everybody live separately with their families? I guess there are probably a few apartment buildings." It was only a small matter to her, not because she was cruel, but she assumed that it would be put under different management or brought to her if she was to be a queen. She began to think about what was happening, what had happened, and what everybody could be doing right then. Van was probably being a good solider for the Guardian Force; Raven might be a mercenary somewhere.
She thought about Raven for a while. Was he a changed person? He had helped Van destroy the Death Saurer, but that was pretty obvious why. He had saved her once, and she had actually been rather mean to him. She forced him to look into his past, something he had never wanted to go back to, something he had worked so hard to not think about, and she forced him to look upon it again. And yet, he saved her from the Death Stinger at the ruined Republic? She wondered why he had tried to kill her before with the Geno Breaker's Charged particle cannon, and later on saved her?
"Oh well," she thought, "He's no longer apart of my life, and it won't help to think about him." Her thoughts turned to another person she knew well. Fiona. What was she doing now? She seemed to be closely into the Guardian Force, her job being an engineer and a monitor for battles, mostly with the Geno Breaker, or she was a monitor for Van, giving him the location of his enemies and also giving him the status of his Liger. "That may be good to have, I should make a mental note if we get caught up in a war that she would be an invaluable ally to have."
Locke came in. "Tea?" Ryss offered.
"No thank you," He Replied, "I've already had lunch, I just came in to see if you were awake."
"I see," she said as she poured herself a glass, "What are you up to?"
"Well, when I said I was your attendant, I was telling you what I was told, but they probably wanted me to make sure you got accustomed to this place a tad bit, but now I have been put into a training camp for Zoid piloting."
"Going to be a Zoid pilot?"
"I already am.just not a very good one. Still, they predict I am going to excel at it more than most. I can't wait to see if there prediction comes true or not." He replied.
"Can you tell me what my role is going to be for this new Zoidian race?" She asked.
"Hmm, I can say for sure, but I don't think we used the proper term when we used 'queen', the way I understand it, as we get more leader types into our government, your power will decrees, and most likely you'll be in a high place in the military, because of your clever and crafty ways of battle, according to Hiltz anyway, you are an excellent strategist. But like I said, your power will decrees as more come into the government, because right now, we are in what seems to be, in udder chaos."
"You seem to know a lot for you're age, don't you think?"
"Well, I do know a lot because of Victor, the guy you were talking to last night, he tells me a lot of these things, and all I do is just remember them. He was a good friend of my parents, so he is kind of like an uncle to me."
"I see, well that sure helps me grasp the situation a little bit better. Thank you." She said.
"No problem, I suppose I should be going, Victor might want to talk to you, and he will probably be able to explain it to you better in 30 minutes then I could if I talked for three days, so I guess I'll be going."
"Alright then, I guess I'll see you around."
"Till another time." He said, and left the house.
She sipped her tea once more, and began to reflect. She reflected on her own life, if it had been a good one so far. She began to try and remember the reason why she had fought along side Hiltz. She often came back to this question. It bothered her, and even if she came up with a reason that seemed to best fit, she kept coming back to the question, trying to think of a better reason.
"Did fighting ever make me that happy?" She pondered this and sipped her tea. When she had finished with her tea, nothing had come to her that time of reflection. She put the cup on a nearby counter and was going to go look for Victor when he knocked and came through the door himself. "That's rather convenient." She thought.
"Well, I take it that sleeping beauty has had enough sleep for the next hour." He said sarcastically.
"I take it you are going to explain to me everything else that we hadn't talked about last night?" She said, ignoring his last comment."
"What do you want to know?" he asked, part of the reason he had stopped was because he didn't think that anything else he had to offer would interest her anyway.
"How about the humans we have on Zi presently, what are we going to do about them?"
"Well, I am not sure, you might have thought of them like us, being used by someone else. It does seem unfair for them to die when they probably didn't have another choice but." He paused a bit, and then went on, "As has been said, even if they survive, the superiority of the Zoidians because of the chemical will create tremendous jealousy, it would be a disaster, we would probably hunted down like animals, and probably see no end of it."
"Maybe, when do you think a decision should be made?"
"Who knows? I also came to tell you that there has been some activity in the atmosphere, the biggest problem being we have spotted a juggernaut up there too, it could hold many troops if that is what they are carrying. I am guessing that if their intensions were to attack this planet, they would come in about 7 years."
"Uh-huh," she said thoughtfully, "so we had better start preparing." She asked.
"Already started, we will need you to come and monitor everything that is going on: Training simulations, weapons testing, ECT."
"Very well." She agreed, "Let us go, we have much work to do, and not much time to do it."
* * * * *
Two months had gone by since the destruction of the killing machine, the Death Saurer. Van Fliheight now at the rank of a commander, was about to start yet another day in the Guardian Force. He was pretty excited about his mission. Just to guard a Gustave from harm, and where it was delivering its valuable cargo was near his hometown, the Wind Colony. After his mission, he would head back home for a while and help out his sister if she needed any help. It would almost be time to go, he would need to be there by about 8:00 a.m. He called to Zeek and started heading for the Blade Liger.
Fiona had sent Zeek back to Van, he wasn't sure why, all she said was that it would help a lot if he had Zeek instead of her, not because he got in the way, but he was more of a fighting tool, something she didn't need now. Zeek wasn't offended, he could understand why she needed to send him to Van, and he understood the other reason why she gave him to Van. Of course, Van didn't know, but that wouldn't be very important.
He began to think about how he had come this far, from when Zeek first resurrected the Shield Liger (Episode 1), to him being a commander now. Time really flew; it was only about 5 years since the Shield Liger had been resurrected for the first time. (Chaotic Century and Guardian Force have a 4-year split in my opinion, even though they put it a year, Van changes too much for it to be one year.)
He got into the Blade Liger and started moving out. When he came to the transporter, it was already loaded up and ready to go. "I haven't done a convoy mission before, it might be fun, but when you think about it, chances are, it will be very boring." He smiled to himself at how had sounded like Irvine right then.
And he was correct, nothing happened during the 4 hours, except having chats with the transporter pilot. All they really talked about was how peace was finally returning to the land after much fighting. Other than that, there was nothing to be said about the trip.
* * * * *
Even after two months since the Death Saurer's demise, Alisee Lanet could still smell the war that had been waged on the planet for about a year. The Death Saurer still was a ruling thought inside her mind, she could not stop thinking about it. It was almost like the plague of bad memories had poisoned her mind ever since she had first remembered the beast. It was tormenting her, having to think about the pain it had caused many. She was almost able to feel the sadness, the hurt, and the injury, inside of every soul that had ever been touched by its aura of death. However, there was one thing that would take it off of her mind, another thing seemed to take away the painful thought. Children.
Ever since the Death Saurer had been defeated, she went to orphanages all over Zi, Helping out in anyway she could. It suited her better than almost any other job she had had in the Guardian Force.
Fiona continued to chop the vegetables for the soup she was making. A little boy came into the kitchen.
"Mama, I'm hungry," Complained the 5 year old.
"Yeah" Second a little girl, about the same age, "I'm hungry too."
It seemed like no matter where she went, all the kids called her mama, and it didn't take long to get used to, but the people she had worked with never got the same title of 'mama' or 'papa'. She assumed that it was just a way she had with kids."
"Alright, I'm almost done, just give me a little longer and I'll be finished." Replied Fiona, Her response lit the faces of the two, and they ran out of the kitchen with glee. Fiona smiled, the sight of a smiling child, it really did cure a hurting soul.
Fiona had quit being a combat analyst after about 2 weeks of the Death Saurer's reign ended. It only intensified the hate inside of her, the hate for fighting. She almost had lost it; she just couldn't take it anymore. After she started going to orphanages that were in dire need of assistance, she told Zeek to go back to Van, Zeek had become a war tool in her eyes, rather a friend, and a war tool was something she didn't want or need. Zeek understood and obeyed.
Fiona took the hot soup out into the dining room of the building, and took it to a table with 12 hungry kids seated ready and waiting. One of the attendants came up to her with a baby over his shoulder.
"Fiona, would you mind giving Alison a bath here? She seems to like you best." He asked.
"I'd be happy to." She replied with a smile, and took the infant with her. When she put her in the tube she decided to wait till she was done having fun to bathe her then.
"Yes," she said to no one in particular, "This is what I should be doing, the way it was meant to be. Doing what makes me the happiest, and the thing that makes me at piece." And she smiled to her self for a long time at that moment.
* * * * *
"Shadow, what do you think I should do? Should I really trust my self with a Zoid?" Raven asked the dark organoid standing beside them. Every night for the past two months, Raven looked up at the stars. They and Shadow were his only true friends. He looked at the lights in the sky. Every night they comforted him, and yet, every night, they danced before him, because of the reflection from the tears in his eyes.
"It's completely up to you, where you go, I follow." Shadow replied.
"Let me ask you something else, why are you loyal to me? I make a sudden change, not to destroy any more bases or take any more lives. You loved it when I did that, and all of a sudden, I stop, and you don't seem to mind and stay completely faithful. Why?" He asked, very interested in the organoids answer.
However, Shadow didn't reply, Raven would ask him this question every now and then, never in a rude tone, but in a very tone that made him sound interested. He would repeat the question word for word, but every time Shadow never said anything. Raven didn't mind though, he trusted Shadow, and trusted the organoid's loyalty.
"I guess it all depends on what your intensions for the Zoid are." Said Shadow, "And whether or not you believe they are right."
"Maybe, I suppose that makes sense." He said as he continued to look up, awing the beauty of the stars.