Tiny Sacrifices

A Battle of the Planets story

This story is based on characters and situations based on the 1970s anime series 'Battle of the Planets' (produced by Sandy Frank Entertainment) which was in turn derived from the series 'Science Ninja Team Gatchaman' (created by Tatsunoko Productions). Characters are used without permission, and not for profit.

There's very little violence in this one, although there are a couple of dangerous situations.

Comments or suggestions would be very welcome.

Chapter One

Her eyes were the clearest blue Tiny had ever seen. At times they reflected the vibrant blue of the sky, at others the cool depths of the ocean around Center Neptune. And sometimes, like just now, they were closed as she raised her face to kiss him.

This time it was the real thing. This time he was in love.

As he had been with Alice, and Elsa, and Jenny, and Tanya, and Jane, and ... he heard the list go on, his inner voice adopting Jason's occasionally sarcastic tones. He shook his head slightly as he broke the kiss. He and Katie were an item, real cool with each other.

"What's wrong, Tiny?" she asked, tilting her head so her blonde hair hung past the right side of her face. His abstraction hadn't gone unnoticed.

"Just can't believe I get to be the luckiest man in the world."

She laughed, swatting him playfully on the shoulder and looking about her with interest. Highlights in her hair caught and reflected the streetlights. Tiny sighed, glancing up at the large ornamental 'J' which indicated that they had reached their destination. Princess's bar was always his final stop for the night, and the place where he had to say farewell to his dates. Even if he had dared let any of the graceful women see the casual untidiness of his home, Anderson had made it clear to them all that even their civilian accommodations should always remain secret.

"I've got to go," he said awkwardly. "Are you sure you don't want me to walk you home?"

She gave him an arch look. "And show you where I live on our first date?" She leaned forward and stood on her toes to plant another light kiss on his cheek. "I think not."

The door opened behind Tiny, filling the alley way with a brief burst of light and music. Katie pulled away from him, aware of the presence of others. Tiny ignored them.

"But I worry!" he protested. "If anything happened to you my world would end."

"You do say the sweetest things," she smiled. "Don't worry, I don't live far from here. Call me!" she added as she started to walk away.

Mark couldn't quite suppress a smile as Tiny's latest conquest reached the end of the alley and turned back onto the main road.

"'My world would end'?" he quoted, shaking his head. "I don't know how you do it, Tiny."

"Sweet?" Jason added lightly from his side. "Sickening is more like it."

Tiny turned at the sound of their voices, momentarily guilty to have been caught out, but then he leaned back against the 'J', smugly folding his hands behind his head. "It's just my natural charm, I guess."

Truthfully, he perpetually wondered why neither Mark nor Jason seemed aware of the hordes of young women admiring their good looks and naturally graceful bodies. His two friends could have any woman they chose. But they chose to remain dedicated to their job. He'd talked it over with Jason once, when the taciturn young man was in an unusually expansive mood. Jason felt that they had their whole lives in front of them - that there would be time for distractions when Spectra was defeated and they were no longer risking their lives on a daily basis. Perhaps Mark felt the same way, or perhaps the Commander was truly as oblivious to his own charms as he appeared to be.

Tiny shuddered, finding it all too easy to imagine a world in which every spark of pleasure in life was delayed until some distant and mythical day when there would be 'time for it'. What was the point of fighting this war if they allowed Spectra to take away everything that they were fighting for?

At the same time though, Tiny knew that Jason had a point. He had lost count of the number of girlfriends who had grown tired of his evasiveness, or sudden departures from prearranged dates. How long would it be before Katie did the same? He felt a pang of despair as he thought of trying to live without her, and then a pang of regret. He was distancing himself from her already in anticipation of that rejection, he realised. Was that the act of someone in love?

"Hey, big guy." Jason's voice was softer now, its sardonic edge gone. "I didn't mean to get you down."

Tiny shook himself and tried for a smile. His friends knew him too well. "What brings you out here?" he asked, changing the subject.

Mark gave him a considering look and then laughed, accepting Tiny's decision not to share what was troubling him. "Princess is looking for ways to attract more customers. She's got Keyop in there singing karaoke!"

Tiny gave that due thought. "Bad?" he asked.

Jason nodded, straight-faced. "Worse than you can possibly imagine."

"Tiny, you're living in a dream world!" Princess laughed as she wiped the bar around him. Tiny started, his elbows sliding off the smooth bar top, his chin dropping from where it was supported on his hands. For a long, unsteady, moment he seriously considered falling forwards over the bar or backwards off his stool, before he regained his balance.

Keyop laughed at his clowning. The younger boy warbled a sentence in the peculiar language only his mind seemed wired to understand. "Pretty girl!" he finished.

"Ah, I see," Princess nodded. "Is this still Katie, or have you found a new love of your life?"

Tiny was shocked. "Katie is the only girl I'll ever adore," he declared impulsively.

Mark looked up from where he was sprawled across a table seat. As they often did, the impulses of a friend and a commander warred behind his blue eyes. It was a joy for all Tiny's friends to see him so happy, but at the same time it was undeniable that his tendency to daydream - already pronounced - had become more noticeable than ever. It wasn't affecting his work ... yet, but Mark had a responsibility to see that it never got to that stage. He kept his tone light as he probed the situation.

"The pretty blonde? This must have been what - your fifth date?"

"That just has to be a record," Jason noted from his seat beside Tiny at the bar. His quick glance at Mark confirmed that G-Force's second-in-command hadn't missed the concern in Mark's expression.

Tiny nodded, oblivious. "And I've only had to run out on two of them," he said happily. "That's a record too. She thinks I'm a reserve airline pilot and have to cover if anyone gets ill."

Even Jason smiled at Tiny's obvious pleasure. "We ought to watch out, team. They'll be buying matching sweaters and picking out furniture soon."

Tiny hesitated, glancing at Jason as if puzzled. Even he couldn't miss the implications of a comment like that. And if Jason thought he was getting too serious, what about...?

Princess frowned. "Doesn't it worry you that you can't tell her? I think I would be angry if I found out my boyfriend was lying to me." She caught a quick look from Mark, and blushed without really knowing why. "If I had one," she qualified.

Tiny's open face crumpled into a look of frustrated dismay.

"Yeah," he said softly. "I mean, she's funny, and she's smart - she's taking classes at the university. She could deal - I'm sure. I mean, I know she can't find out, but I feel like a real heel about it."

"Tiny, the security of the team has to come first," Mark told him gravely, dropping his casual facade in favour of the direct statement. Tiny sat upright in his stool, glaring at his commander.

"You think I don't know that, Mark?" He stood abruptly, turning his shoulder to dodge the hand Princess stretched out to comfort him. He avoided his friends' eyes, simmering with anger. "Look, if it comes to that, I'll let her down easy - okay? But why is it so wrong for one of us to have a little fun?" His head came up on the final words, his earnest expression making them more of a genuine question than a protest.

It was one that Mark couldn't answer. He looked around his team, seeing them as only he knew them - young, vibrant, full of the joy of living. True, Spectra had tried to seduce G-Force members before, but was that enough reason to cut off all human relationships? Of course not.

"We're not saying you shouldn't have fun," Princess tried to intervene. "Just ... just be careful, that's all."

Tiny stood and strode away from the bar. "I need some fresh air," he said harshly.

The door slammed shut behind him, leaving his friends to exchange looks of startled dismay.

Tiny wondered aimlessly. His dockside shack seemed as good a final destination as any, but he was in small hurry to get there. Why bother when the disorder and isolation of his bachelor pad would simply remind him that she wasn't there?

Around him, to every side, tall buildings climbed towards the sky, all but obscuring it from the view of those on the ground. Glancing upwards, he tried to imagine what it would be like to not be in G-Force. How would it feel to lose the freedom of the skies, to never again see open space in every direction? How would he cope if confined to the earth, restricted to a two dimensional world like 99 of the world's population ... like Katie?

Even as he struggled to comprehend the concept, he knew the effort was futile. G-Force was as integral to Tiny's life as he was integral to the team. Even if Anderson would let him go, he would never leave. Not even for the woman who was becoming central to his entire existence.

But was the only alternative to sacrifice her entirely? Princess had been right - this couldn't go on much longer. It would not just be unfair, it would be immoral to let Katie care for him without warning her of the peril.

A world without Katie.

A world without G-Force.

Tears pricked at his eyes as the two halves of his life pressed at him like the jaws of a vice.

He wasn't aware that he had wondered into a bad part of the docks until he caught movement in the corner of his tear-blurred vision. By then, of course, it was too late. Whether the gang of rough-looking men were some latter-day shanghai brigade, or simply drunk sailors looking for action after too long at sea, they said little as they closed in around him.

Tiny dashed at his eyes with the back of his hand, his anger with life in general simply growing as one of his harassers laughed. Tiny turned towards the man, his round eyes narrowing as he assessed the muscular physique, and the hefty plank of wood that the man lofted casually.

Oh, he must look such a tempting target - overweight, casually dressed and wondering alone in these dark alley ways. These men wouldn't recognise fighting poise if it was coming towards them - and it was.

Tiny didn't wait for the taunts, didn't bother to ask what they wanted or whether they would step aside. The plank-wielding sailor was unconscious on the ground before his companions were even aware that their victim had moved. Tiny felt the stinging in his knuckles, but that uppercut had been satisfyingly worth it.

He grinned. This wasn't a battle for their planet. This wasn't even the emotional battle he faced with Katie. No, just for once, this was simple. These guys might be strong, but he was no weakling. He wouldn't even have to employ the boost of his cerebronic powers to deal with this little lot. Nothing for Mark to get antsy about.

After all, plain fisticuffs would be much more fun.

"A workout. Guess that might just be what I need," he said - mostly to himself. "Well, come on then!"

The dozen or so other men hesitated, startled by his feral grin, and wary now. But just as Tiny was empowered by the anxieties of the day, these men had seen their friend felled ignominiously, and their anger overrode any caution. They pressed forward as one body.

Tiny roared as he vanished from sight in the middle of a tumbling, confusing melee. These weren't fighters. They weren't even the semi-trained peons of Spectra. Even as he felt a nose crunch under his fist, he shook his head. They were scarcely even a challenge.

Even so, he felt better by the time the alley way fell silent. Perspiration cooled across his shoulder blades, and he flexed his shoulders to ease stress out of the muscles. Relaxed, he looked down with satisfaction at the circle of groaning, hardly-moving men around his feet.

He folded his arms smugly across his chest. "Huh, looks like you got what was coming to you."

"Duck!"

He obeyed the command instinctively, and was startled to feel a small form move rapidly past him - Keyop launching a flying kick at a figure just behind his head.

Tiny turned quickly to find his young friend leaning casually against a wall, plank-man once more immobile at his feet. Tiny shook his head with grudgingly amused respect.

"That guy must have a jaw of iron," he noted. "What're you doing here, Keyop?"

Keyop didn't lose his artificial nonchalance. He warbled a few notes. "I was just passing." He burbled a little more as he surveyed the human devastation around them. "Thought I'd join in the fun!"

Tiny gave him a sidelong glance. "'Just passing'? Yeah, sure. And Princess let you out for a wander around the docks at this time of night?"

Keyop gave a few worried chirps. His grasp of language always deteriorated when he was anxious or guilty. Tiny stepped towards the boy, and threw a casual arm across his shoulders.

"You wanted to talk about Katie," he guessed calmly as they started to walk away from the groaning ruins of the ambush. Keyop blushed, but there was nothing childlike in his eyes when he looked up.

"Know how you feel," he said quietly.

Tiny sighed, knowing that Keyop was right. He wasn't the first one being called on to make this sacrifice. But the fight had drained him of his anger, and opened his eyes just that little bit wider. He glanced back over his shoulder, and Keyop turned to follow his look.

"That was easy," Tiny told him. "But I guess that the next one won't be, or the one after that. Or the one after that. And this time it was just me - what if Katie were here, or what if they'd been Spectra goons in disguise and not just bored Joes?"

Keyop nodded, his expression earnest. None of this argument was new, of course, but sometimes a man just needed to face up to the reality of it for himself. "I'm sorry, Tiny."

Tiny sighed again. Tears were gathering unbidden in his eyes once more, but they were tears of resignation.

"I'll let her down easy."