Chapter Seventeen: Blamed

Shane tapped her finger on the table, sitting near MOMO and Shion as she glanced around the room. She was growing anxious--a thing she had a bad habit for--rubbing her now sweaty hands against her pants in an effort to calm down. ''Kuso...'' Shion looked at the girl and noticed she was shaking some.

''Shane?'' The group looked to the door of the room to see Captain Lapis Roman and a soldier walk inside. ''The preliminary inquiry shall now begin,'' she told them. The dark haired woman walked over to the table, sitting down beside Shane who moved over some to give her some room.

''I am an agent working for Representative Helmer of the Second Miltian Parliament.''

Shion gasped, covering her mouth. She glanced at one of the soldiers near the door. Captain Lapis held up her hand. ''Don't worry,'' she said. ''He's also with us. We can go into detail later, but for now I'll just debrief you on the current situation. You are presently under the custody of the Federation government and the military. I'll be honest with you. The way things are now, within a few hours, she'll be turned over to anti-Miltian forces, specifically the U-TIC Organization. Soon after, the Second Miltian government will be stripped of all its authority. At this moment, Representative Helmer is working with the leaders of the Miltian Parliament to buy us additional time. However, our opponents' skillful manipulation requires us to find concrete proof of your innocence."

"But…how?" Shion asked.

''That's the question. We need something that would give conclusive evidence of your innocence.'' Shane looked at the brown haired woman who in turn looked at the table. "Conclusive…evidence…''

The silver haired girl looked at the female captain. ''By evidence...you need another video other than that screwed up video that's on the news right now?'' ''Correct,'' she answered. Shane looked to Shion who had looked up at Lapis.

''What about the Woglinde's black box?''

''We've already recovered that,'' Captain Lapis told her. ''Unfortunately, sometime after the final gate-out, it was modified to be exactly the same as the video recording, down to the time axis.'' Jr. rubbed the back of his head, lifting his hand in an awkward fashion. ''Not to mention, I shot up the database on that U-TIC battleship...''

''What about the Durandal's database? A record of the battle against the U-TIC should still be there. Can't we use that to prove our innocence?'' chaos asked. ''Is that a standard database?''

''Yeah,'' the red-head answered. ''Is that a problem?'' The female captain nodded. ''Yes...standard databases are too easily modified. I'm not certain how relaible they would be as evidence. If we had something that even the owner couldn't change, say, a system with a AAA class encryption, then maybe...''

Jr. stood up fast, looking at her. ''Wha..? Triple A?! You don't find systems with that kind of protection just lying around! For something like that, you'd need the Federation government's motherframe, or the U.M.N. operating system!'' Shion stood up slowly. ''We...''

''What?''

''We have one!'' She cried out. Allen looked at her then gasped. ''Oh!''

''KOS-MOS?!'' Jr. exclaimed. The brown-haired woman nodded. ''Yes,'' she told everyone. ''KOS-MOS' database has a recording of the battle against the Gnosis onboard the Woglinde. If we enter that as evidence...'' ''Yeah, but in order to copy the record, we need the keys from both the Federation government and Headquarters,'' Allen said.

''By diving into the Encephalon and experiencing the record ourselves, we can make a copy through the Connection Gear.''

''B-but that's impossible without the dive equipment.''

''How about the Service Module's Simple Dive Unit?'' Shion asked him. ''You've got to be kidding! Besides, that's a violation of protocol!''

''We don't have any other choice, do we? Oh, I'm so sick and tired of protocol.''

''But...'' She folded her arms, looking down at the floor. ''The real question is, how do we get to KOS-MOS?'' Captain Lapis stood up from her seat as she activated the U.M.N., releasing the handcuffs from Ziggy's hands. She handed the U.M.N. to Shane who looked at her. ''Dude, wha?'' ''That'll open any locked doors you come across,'' she said. ''I'll just say we were careless. But to make it look legitimate, you'll need to knock me out.''

''You sure?'' Ziggy asked her. She nodded. ''Otherwise noone would believe it, right?'' The blonde cyborg looked to everyone then back at Captain Lapis. ''You have a point..''

''Go easy on me, okay...?'' MOMO grabbed Shane's arm, leaning her face in her jacket sleeve. The older girl placed her head on the pink-haired girl's head as she comforted her. Ziggy punched the female captain and knocked her out. He walked over to the other soldier, gripping his fist tightly. ''Forgive me,'' he said and knocked out the soldier. Jr. walked over to the unconcious Captain Lapis with a small smile on his face. ''Thanks! You're pretty cool.'' The group walked out of the room, making sure that they weren't seen or heard while occassionally knocking out some soldiers who saw them. They made their way to a second room where their equipment was placed after being arrested.

Shane watched the group equip their items and weapons as she looked down at the floor. Shion turned to everyone. ''There's no time to lose. We have to hurry to the maintenance lab.''

''...Oi, Shion?'' The woman looked to the silver haired girl. ''Is something the matter, Shane?'' The girl nodded slowly. ''I don't have any weapons...I don't see how much help I would be if I came with you...'' She walked over to her and handed her the U.M.N. Lapis gave her. ''You take it and go on ahead.'' MOMO looked at Shane with a saddened look in her eyes. Shane looked at her then smiled some. ''It's okay, MOMO.''

Shion placed her hands around the U.M.N. and the silver haired girl's hand. ''You're coming with us,'' she said. ''W-wha?'' Jr. walked over to her. ''You've been with us this long, Shane. So it's time to show us what you're made of!'' She looked at him then at everyone else. She bit her lip, looking down as her hand shook some.

''You guys...'' She looked up at everyone and wiped away a few tears that came to her eyes. ''Okay! I'll do it!''

Chapter Seventeen: End. (...Brings tears to your eyes, doesn't it? R & R, as always!)