Chapter Ten
Kaiba Corporation Interplanetary Headquarters
Nagoya, Japan
The press conference had gone well enough, Yami decided later, with his father speaking about a new product line the company was introducing, then announcing Yami's addition to the company as vice-president in charge of the enhanced mecha division. The pride in Kazuki Kaiba's voice as he introduced his son to the waiting reporters was unmistakable, even to Yami.
Afterward, he had returned to his new office to go over documents and write up a brief proposal that he sent to his father's email. The reports he had seen while still on Mars Station had made him concerned with the operations of the Kaiba Corp facilities on Mars, and what he was seeing now only made that concern worse. But he would need to go to Mars, tour the factory in person, before he could be certain if his fears had any real basis.
An inspection tour would also be good cover for his other reason for wanting to go to Mars -- to ferret out the traitor in Kaiba Corp's ranks.
Determinedly, Yami ignored the fact that it would also give him an excuse to see Yugi again, as well.
He was still at his computer, scowling over a spreadsheet, when someone knocked at his door. It opened before he could react, and Rafael bowed the senior Kaiba into the office. Yami's father smiled at him.
"Still hard at work, I see," Kazuki said, with quiet approval. "I am very pleased with your performance today, Yami."
"I haven't really done anything…" Yami snapped his mouth closed, biting off the rest of his instinctive protest. Was he really going to object to rare praise from his father? More the fool, he. He shook his head at his own folly, standing to give his father a proper bow in greeting. "Is there something you need me to do, Father?"
"Only to accompany me to dinner," Kazuki said, the corners of his mouth turning up faintly. Yami didn't think he had ever seen his father smile so much, or so often. Certainly not at him. He wondered briefly if he should mark the date on his calendar. "I thought we might celebrate."
"If you wish," Yami said, with a faint smile of his own. "I would be honored, sir."
"Then, let us go. I have selected an excellent restaurant…"
Yami and his father left the office walking side-by-side in a companionable silence. Like matching shadows in their black suits, somber expressions half-hidden behind dark glasses, Rafael and another of his father's bodyguards followed a few discreet steps behind them.
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SSDF Orbital Station 002
Mars orbit
Her worried gaze pinned to the monitor screen in front of her, Mai watched unhappily as an R-mech retrieval unit towed the unresponsive Red-Eyes Black Dragon in to the station's recovery platform. Once the Red-Eyes was safely down on the platform, and the atmospheric containment force-field had been sealed, a medical trauma team rushed from the lifts, swarming the supine mech. A technician keyed open the chest plastron and, a few minutes later, the trauma team had the pilot out of his sling and strapped onto a stretcher for transport. Mai's heart clenched painfully as she saw them begin CPR.
Hugging herself for comfort, she turned away from the screen, unable to watch any longer. It wasn't like she could see, anyway -- unshed tears clouded her vision, and she squeezed her eyes tightly shut, determined not to make a fool of herself in public. Besides, she had never quite mastered the art of aesthetic weeping; instead, she always ended up with a red, puffy face, runny nose, and blood-shot eyes. No one needed to see that.
Her silly thoughts had distracted her for that single, necessary moment. Feeling a bit more in control, she turned back to the monitor in time to see the trauma team disappearing into the lift with Joey's stretcher. Mai hugged herself even tighter and headed for the bank of elevators across from the monitoring station. She hit the call button with rather more force than was necessary, and swore when she broke a perfectly manicured nail.
It would be some time before they would allow any visitors, and she didn't think she could stand hanging around in the tiny space that passed for a waiting room -- not right now, not without losing her mind. So she punched the button for the recreational level rather than Medical. She would go see Joey just as soon as humanly possible. But in the meantime…
Damn, but she needed a stiff drink.
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As usual in the aftermath of battle, the O-Club was crowded. Mai stood on the threshold, letting the noise and smell of life wash over her. Raucous laughter at the back of the room heralded another round in the endless, unofficial Duel Monsters tournament in which all of the pilots competed, with varying degrees of skill. The juke box was flashing its garish neon lights and belting out some tune from way before her time. For a moment, she listened to the lyrics -- something about not fearing reapers, she thought -- and frowned. Fortunately, the song wound down quickly, another -- just as loud, just as old -- instantly taking its place.
As the male singer challenged her to "take me on," Mai made her way to the battered bar, where Tristan had her usual waiting for her. She thanked him with a forced smile, and, sipping delicately from her glass, found a seat near the observation window that took up most of the curving back wall.
It didn't take long before another figure slipped into the vinyl upholstered booth, his hand reaching out to find hers and twine their fingers together. Mai didn't look away from the view, not that there was much to see at the moment but the lights of the juke box reflecting in the glass. "Baron."
He squeezed her hand gently. When he spoke, his voice was gentle, and carried the lilting accent of the lunar colony where he had grown up. It was familiar, comforting. She wished she could wrap it around her like a warm blanket to shield her from cold reality. "Are you okay, Mai?"
With a faint sigh, she turned her head to look at her Anchor. "What do you think?"
"Wheeler'll be fine," Baron said, grimacing a bit as the words left his lips. It was no secret that he and Joey didn't get along. Neither considered the other good enough for Mai; both hoped to usher the other man out of the picture, once and for all. "He's too stubborn to go down without a fight."
"That he is…" In her mind's eyes, Mai could still see him using his rail gun as a club to beat the Orichalcos Soldier away from the helpless, unarmed escape pods that were its intended targets. The idiot. The brave, stubborn idiot who didn't know when to quit. She shook her head, tears threatening again.
Baron offered her a paper napkin. She took it, but sat shredding it between her fingers rather than risk messing up her carefully applied make-up. He smiled softly at her. "It'll be all right, Mai. You'll see."
"I hope you're right," she murmured, staring down at the mess she'd made of the napkin. She scooped the paper shreds into a loose pile on the table between them. "That beam… Whatever it was that hit Joey, it also got a couple of the escape pods. I wonder…"
"We'll find out soon enough."
Mai snorted. "Yeah, right. When do they ever tell us lowly pilots anything?"
She had her own ways of finding out, of course. It paid to be connected, and Mai carefully cultivated a network of acquaintances, associates, and contacts throughout the solar system. Maybe it came from being a Belter. Growing up in the distant reaches of the Asteroid Belt, far from everything, even other miners and their families, she had an almost instinctive need to surround herself with people. If there was one thing she feared above all others, it was the threat of being left truly alone. She had lots of useful, casual connections. But Joey had been her first real friend; it had been through him that she had become friends with Yami and the others.
Her Anchor leaned close, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. She tensed instinctively, for just a second torn between the desire to shove the uninvited touch away -- or to lean into it. She settled for doing neither, and went back to fussing with the torn shreds of the napkin while she tried to remember where she had seen something like that damned green energy beam. It had seemed strangely familiar…
"Well, well," Baron drawled, his attention suddenly drawn elsewhere. "Look what the dingo dragged in…"
Turning her head to look toward the entrance, Mai saw that a group of pilots had entered the club. The newcomers were dressed in the unmistakable pink flightsuits that marked them as Siegfried von Schroeder's Valkyrie squadron. Siegfried himself was at the head of the group, speaking loudly to be heard over the ambient noise -- and to make sure everyone noticed him, Mai thought with a twist of her lips. The man was a born drama queen.
Behind Siegfried, stood Seto Kaiba, trying -- and failing miserably -- not to look uncomfortable in his Valkyrie pilot's uniform. He looked as if he would rather be anywhere other than where he actually was, including in the midst of a firefight. Mai knew how he felt. Her fingers curled, as if around the grip of her rose-whip. She wanted to make those bastards pay for what they had done to Joey…
Siegfried's Austrian accent (which Mai was almost certain he exaggerated) was especially thick as he said, "A good battle, today. I will buy a round of drinks for my valiant companions."
He leaned against the bar as he spoke, and his smugly satisfied expression made Mai's hand itch to slap it off his face. She nudged Baron. "C'mon. Let's get out of here before I do something I won't regret."
The two of them, pilot and Anchor, threaded their way through the crowd. They had almost made it to the door when Siegfried's voice boomed again, "You will be putting Wheeler's photograph on the Wall, yes? A fitting tribute, I'm sure. He was only a mediocre pilot, but he died bravely."
Mai froze. For a moment, she thought her heart had actually stopped beating. Then it was racing, her pulse pounding in her ears, as she turned back into the officer's club and stalked over to the bar, scattering pilots like so many dry leaves from her path, until she was nose-to-nose with Siegfried. She jabbed her broken fingernail into his chest.
"How dare you?" He was taller than she was by a handful of inches, but at the moment, he looked about six inches high to her. "You… smarmy, pink little worm! How dare you talk about Joey Wheeler like that? Mediocre pilot? What's the matter, Siggy, sour grapes? You've tried more than once to qualify for the enhanced mecha program -- and you've failed every time, haven't you?"
Siegfried gaped at her, as if he couldn't quite believe she -- or anyone else -- would dare speak to him in that fashion. Then his poise returned, and he straightened to his full height, forcing her back a step. "You are out of line, Lt. Valentine. I believe I will have you on report for this insubordination."
"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you? You lousy --"
"Mai!" Baron had his hands on her arms, holding her back, trying to pull her away before she could do something that would get her more than a slap on the wrist from General Anderson. "Now's neither the time nor the place for this."
"Listen to your lover," Siegfried said, smirking at her in a way that made Mai wonder if he practiced being offensive or if it was a natural talent. "Is it worth a night in the brig to continue to insult me?"
Mai thought it just might be, but she forced her hands to unclench, let Baron draw her further away from Siegfried. She had almost talked herself into letting it go when Siegfried added, "After all, Wheeler is beyond caring what I think of his skills, or lack thereof."
"Joey's not dead!" It came out as a defiant shriek that would've done her Harpy proud. She slapped him, hard, leaving the red imprint of her hand on his cheek. "Fuck you! He's not dead, and I'm not giving up on him."
Siegfried's hand covered the mark on his face. That same infuriating half-smile was still on his lips, but his eyes were hard and cold, glittering with some unreadable emotion in the flickering neon of the club. "How fortunate for you that I will not strike a woman."
"Yeah?" Baron shoved his way in between them before Mai could form a suitable retort. "How 'bout me, then? Man enough for ya?"
Siegfried held his fists before him in a classic pugilist's pose. He looked ridiculous, with his pink-dyed hair and his pink flightsuit, but he was taller than Baron and he had the advantage of a longer reach. "You think you are the better man?" he taunted. "Come and prove it, yes?"
Baron drew back his fist. Mai caught his arm, a clear warning in her eyes. Seto, who had been pretending to ignore the altercation, reached out, grabbed the back of Siegfried's collar, and swung him around in a short arc. The Valkyrie leader ended up half-sitting on, half-lying across the bar. Seto held him there, seemingly without effort, with one hand pressed against the back of Siegfried's neck while the prone man struggled to free himself. Mai grinned. If she ended up on report, she wasn't going to be alone.
"Thanks," she said simply, gathering her Anchor with a look and heading again for the door. On the threshold, she paused to look back. Suddenly, she wanted Seto to know that she was grateful for his part in the battle, that she knew he was the pilot who had killed the bastard that got Joey. "By the way, that was nice shooting out there, today. Hurry up and get back where you belong, Captain. We need our Blue-Eyes."
And then she swept out into the corridor, Baron at her heels, leaving a bemused Seto -- and an infuriated Siegfried -- in her wake.
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The Kaiba estateJust outside Nagoya, Japan
Dinner had gone well, Yami thought, largely because they had stuck to discussing safe topics such as the weather and Yami's plans for the enhanced mecha division. By the end of the night, his father had approved Yami's request to inspect the KC Mars facilities in person, and Yami was feeling uncharacteristically relaxed in his father's company on the limousine ride home.
Naturally, that was when Kazuki chose to drop the bombshell. "I have made an appointment with the nakodo for you."
Yami stared at his father, hoping he had heard incorrectly. His father had arranged another meeting with the go-between? He managed to control his anger enough to ask, "What did you say?"
"I have made an appointment with the nakodo for you," his father repeated complacently. "For tomorrow afternoon."
"Father…" Yami's fists clenched in his lap. He inhaled sharply, forced it out through his nose, and attempted to keep a tight rein on his temper. "I plan to be on Mars tomorrow. Had you forgotten?"
For the first time in his life, Yami saw his father look sheepish. Kazuki shrugged. "No matter. I will reschedule the appointment. When will be convenient for you?"
How about 'never'? Yami thought, but did not say. His teeth ground together. His father's insistence upon finding a "traditional Japanese girl" for him to wed was a constant bone of contention between them. It had been a relief all around when Yami had agreed to marry Anzu, but her untimely death had brought with it a resumption of the hostilities. Yami considered it highly unlikely that a go-between, however talented, would find another like Anzu -- someone he had quickly grown to regard as a friend, and had later learned to love. Unlike his father, Yami was in no rush to find a 'replacement' for her.
"I'm not sure, Father," he said, finally. He took another deep breath, released it slowly. "I would like to take the time to do a thorough inspection of not only the factory, but also Research and Development. I intend to tour the plant and the labs, as well as review their files for the last year."
His father looked suitably impressed by this apparent show of corporate devotion. It was enough to temporarily sidetrack Kazuki from the more personal discussion, for which Yami was grateful. "Are you looking for anything in particular?"
Yami hesitated. He knew there had to be at least one enemy agent working within the company, perhaps more, but he was equally certain his father was not one of them. Finally, he said, "There was a flaw… in the armor of my Dark Magician. A fatal flaw. Someone at Kaiba Corp not only knew about it, they diligently covered it up until it was too late."
Kazuki's eyes narrowed. "You speak of the Jupiter Station battle."
Yami nodded shortly.
They were both silent, each lost in his own dark thoughts. When Kazuki at last broke the silence, his voice was tightly controlled. "Someone… who works for me… tried to kill you?"
Yami's head came up. "I don't think it was personal…"
"It is damn well personal to me!" Barely restrained fury resonated roughly in Kazuki's deep voice. "Yami… I will do anything in my power to help you find the person responsible for this, but… You must promise me that you will take every precaution."
His thunderous expression softened the tiniest bit as he added, "Your mother would never forgive me if I let anything happen to you."
"I can take care of myself."
"Perhaps." Kazuki's features had settled back into their usual stern lines. "You will, however, take Rafael with you when you travel to Mars, and he will remain with you at all times. Is that clear?"
Yami sighed. "Yes, Father."
He had the sinking feeling that his mission had just become a lot more complicated.