Hey there guys and girls!
Yep, I'm back from me hols, and while i was awayI finished writing Tales of the Valuan-Nasr War, so now all the stories are lined, up, ready for disribution on a weekly basis!
I also did some work on LoAS. I'm quite far, but not as far as I'd like, but I'm still pretty far!
Anyway, I bring you a new story, but it comes with a warning.
This is where my T rating comes into high effect. This gets slightly suggestive towards the end, but nothing that would give it a M rating.
Just thought I'd warn you,
Any way enjoy!
THE REVELATION
(Or Daniel gets throughly hacked off)
The Bridge of the Andromeda was greeted with a thoroughly hacked off Admiral Daniel M. Mackenzie when he got back from his meeting with Commander Meridian. The moment he stepped foot on the command deck Jenny asked the most stupid question of her career.
"How did it go?"
"TERRIBLE! JUST TERRIBLE! THAT MAN IS A TRAITOR TO THE EMPIRE AND HE KNOWS IT! HE JUST HIDES BEHIND HIS FRIENDSHIP WITH ADMIRAL GREGORIO! WHAT THE OLD MAN SAW IN HIM I'LL NEVER KNOW! HE PRACTICALLY ADMITTED HE'D BEEN CONSPIRING WITH THE BLUE ROUGE SCUM AND THE NASREAN GOVERNMENT! HE SAID IT HIMSELF HE'S HAD NASREAN AND BLUE ROGUE VESSELS IN HIS DRY DOCK, AND THEN HE ADMITTED THAT HE HATES VALUA AND THIS WAR! HONESTLY IF I WAS GALCIAN I'D HAVE TOSSED HIM OFF CAPE VICTORY FOR TALKING TO A SUPERIOR OFFICER LIKE THAT…"
And so it went on, for roughly fifteen minutes. Jenny began to feel tired as she listened to the Admiral rant and rave until he said something that made her metaphorically sit up.
"AND THEN HE HAD THE NERVE TO SAY THAT YOU WERE PIASTOL MENDOSA! I MEAN COME ON…"
Jenny froze, her eyes wide.
"He said what?" she squeaked.
Mackenzie suddenly stopped ranting about how Carlos had given away tactical secrets to the captain of the Nasrean Frigate. He eyed his Vice-Captain with suspicion, "He said that you were the daughter of Admiral Mendosa."
Jenny suddenly looked down at the floor, a heavy blush on her cheeks.
"Captain? Is there a reason you're blushing?" he asked as he stepped down from his captain's chair.
Jenny looked up in shock, "Well, I mean I'm flattered that that Commander Meridian thinks I look like Miss Mendosa," she said a little too quickly, "I mean from her record photo she looks very beautiful and so young and…"
She drifted off as the Admiral approached her, his eyes unemotional as he gazed into hers.
"Captain," he said slowly, "Would you, by any chance, have a locket around your neck?"
"A…a locket?" the sweat was starting to form on her pretty face, "I um…no,"
"I'll ask again. Captain, do you have a locket around your neck?"
"N…no sir,"
Daniel stared her down, ignoring the stares he was getting from the rest of the crew, before giving an order that he never imagined he would ever give.
"Take off your clothes."
Jenny's eyes bulged.
"WHAT!"
Daniel rolled his eyes to the heavens, "I'm growing tired of playing twenty questions with you Captain. If you want I'll rephrase that, take off you're armour."
"Sir I…"
"CAPTAIN DESOTO TAKE OFF YOUR CHEST PLATE OR I'LL DO IT FOR YOU!"
Daniel roared this with such ferocity that Jenny's hands immediately went for the latches on the side of her armour quicker then lightning, the heavy object falling to the floor with a clunk.
Jenny felt exposed with out her armour. She kept her head down, blushing immensely as she tried to ignore the drooling stares from the other officers on the Bridge.
"GET BACK TO WORK!" Daniel bellowed at the crew, causing them to twist back to their consoles in a hurry, before he turned back to the currant issues at hand.
"Desoto, stand up straight," he said calmly.
Jenny looked up into the Admiral's eyes, tears streaming down her face, "Please Daniel," she whispered, "Don't humiliate me anymore. Please?"
Mackenzie looked unemotionally down at her, before leaning down to her level and whispered in her ear.
"Show me the locket, and we'll take this to my Quarters," he said quietly, before adding, "If you don't, then I will force you to stand to attention, and I will search you for it. And one other thing, when we are on the Bridge you call me Admiral or Sir. Clear?"
He felt her nod as he stood back. Without a word, she delved into her turtle neck and slowly retrieved a gold heart shaped locket. She gazed at it for a moment, before undoing it at the back and dropping it into the Admiral's outstretched hand.
Daniel held the golden locket in his hand. He was hesitant to open it, because if what he thought was in there was in there, then that had meant Carlos was right, and if Carlos was right about this, then whose to say he was right about other things? He could be right that the Empire was evil and heartless, he could be right in his decision to help anybody who came his way. The Blue Rogues might actually have a point about attacking Valuan ships and giving the earning to the helpless.
In the amount of time it took for Jenny to drop the golden object into his hand, Daniel's entire perspective on life had been shattered beyond repair.
With a shaking hand, he gently reached for the locket, and carefully opened it.
Carlos had been wrong about one thing, there were two pictures inside.
On the left was a smaller version of the one he had seen on Carlos's desk. On the right, was the picture he kept on his desk, of him and Piastol, in her quarters, kissing.
He looked down at Jenny, no Piastol, and saw the face he had fell in love with so long ago staring back at him, so sad and helpless, yet at the same time looking as though a huge burden had been lifted from her shoulders.
"C…Captain Desoto," he said shakily, "Will…will you gather up your things…and report to…My Quarters…in five minutes?"
Piastol closed her eyes and wiped them of the tears, a half smile gracing her face, "Aye sir," she said calmly, before taking the locket out his now shaking hand, picking up her armour, and walking off the Bridge.
Daniel slumped into his chair, his eyes wide and disbelieving. After eleven years of sorrow and hatred for the Nasreans, after wallowing for so long in the misery of loosing her at the First Battle of the Grand Line, Daniel Mackenzie finally felt, for the first time in eleven years…happy.
Daniel walked into his quarter five minutes later, half knowing that he was going to give Piastol an earful about lying to him and half knowing that she probably had a very good reason. When he entered he found her sitting patiently at his desk, her armour laid neatly at the end of his bed.
His first question was the most simple and at the same time the most difficult.
"Why?"
Piastol slowly rose from her chair, gazing sadly at the floor.
"Why? Why can be a lot of questions Daniel. Why did I deceive you? Why did I enter the navy under a false name? Why didn't I contact you…?"
"Why did you break my heart?" Daniel said in barely a whisper.
"I didn't mean too," she suddenly snapped, "When the Aquila went down, I shipwrecked on a nearby landmass. I was weak and helpless, and it wasn't until a Mid-Ocean trader was passing by and saw me was I rescued three weeks later.
I knew I couldn't go back to Upper City, or Valua. You see I had found out my Father's plan from one of the officers as he was escaping the sinking ship. For a time I simply bartered passage from ship to ship, mostly working as a sailor or cabin girl, under the maiden name of my grandmother, Jennifer Desoto. I also dyed my hair brown in case I ran into the Imperial Navy. When I turned sixteen I managed to get passage on a Blue Rogue ship named the Primrose, under Captain Clara Mackenzie, I relation of yours I believe?"
Daniel nodded absently, "My fourth cousin twice removed from my fathers side."
Piastol nodded before continuing, "While I worked on board that ship, I began to develop a great respect for the Blue Rogues. They're a slightly miss-fit bunch, but they have warm hearts. The Empire doesn't do it justice."
She smiled at the still stunned Admiral, "Never a day went by did I scan through the reports of the War, looking for your name. I know standard Valuan war policy. All men and women between the age of ten and twenty in Upper City must be enlisted into the Valuan Navel Academy. I watched as you rose through the ranks, until I decided that I had to see you again. I joined the Academy, using the knowledge my father taught me to rise quickly through the ranks, until I got where I am today."
"But why didn't you tell me?" Daniel walked up to her and grabbed her firmly by the shoulders, staring deeply into her eyes, "You could have told me. I thought we had something special. Why didn't you just come to me?"
Piastol looked sadly into the eyes of the Admiral, "Because…of what I turned you into."
"What?"
"I read your record. You had become ruthless in battle. You were considered one of the most brutal officers in the navy until "Captain Jenny Desoto" came along. On my first day here, Commander Davidson said I was the first person to make you smile since the day you joined the Academy, and I realised that I was the cause of it. I was the cause of your years of suffering. There was also the small case of the fact that I support the Blue Rogues and what they do. From what the papers say about you, you love the Empire, you would die for the Empire…"
"But I love you," Daniel's eyes were becoming desperate, "I would have given my life to save yours."
Piastol slowly detached herself from his grip, before looking sadly out of the porthole into the orangey sky.
"Please Piastol, come back to me," Daniel was pleading, "Please?"
Piastol turned around slowly, a caring smile on her face.
"How could I stay away from you?" she murmured as she came closer, "You stole something very dear to me Admiral, my heart."
Daniel smiled back, not a force done or a small one, but a large one, one full of love and joy.
"Piastol I…" Daniel began only to be silenced by a finger.
"No more apologies," she whispered in his ear, "No more "I'm sorry," no more "I forgive you", let's just go to bed."
Daniel frowned, "But I'm not tired,"
Piastol smirked seductively, "Whoever said we were going to sleep in it?"
Daniel's eyes widened in realisation at what she was getting at as she pushed him onto the bed.
No one saw either of them for the rest of the day.
SO what you think? too much info?
Read and review please!
Dearing