AN: Aw, no reviews? Not one? Not even to tell me how I'm doing or if I should continue? Aww... Well, at any rate, I'll continue for now. Keep reading if you enjoy! Ah, I can't wait until Albedo comes in... muahaha...

The URTV-O

Chapter 1: 669

God damn, more maintenance? That's gotta be the third time this week.

Nikko didn't enjoy getting out of bed. She had become lazy over the years and because of it she looked at the screen of her handheld and groaned. It wasn't even eight in the morning yet, but someone needed her assistance for something trivial.

"Those idiots should get out of their own damn beds and do the maintenance themselves," she groaned before pulling the covers over her head. But, the handheld beeped again and the screen lit up. Her "boss" had sent her a second message. "Christ..."

The blue-haired woman finally sent a reply back before getting up. She truly hated her job, but it was the least she could do for Helmer after everything he had done for her after her life as the URTVO.

Nikko touched her forehead. All she could remember was a faceless figure holding a weapon that she sometimes had nightmares about. When that gun had gone off she hadn't even felt a damn thing, or at the very least, she couldn't remember it. She couldn't remember much of anything. As the years passed by, Yuriev became nothing more than a faceless figure in her dreams, and the variants she had cared so much for were hard to remember as well. She could remember their voices just a little -- the outgoing laugh of Rubedo, and kind but somewhat shy voice of Nigredo, and the clingy whine of Albedo -- but nothing more. She wasn't even sure if they were alive, and her period of mourning and grief after realizing she would never see them again had long since passed. She wasn't the URTV-O anymore -- she was just a mechanic.

Nikko got dressed into her usual cargo pants, loose fitting shirt, and worn work gloves. Everything was stained and carried the smell of motor oil, a smell that she despised but had become a part of her. Whenever she was called, she had no choice but to consent to repairing, modifying, or scrapping any manner of things, ranging from AGWS Units to Realians to classified Federation equipment. She wasn't paid and didn't have a choice but to go, all thanks to being classified as a Realian (despite not being one). She supposed they could just call her human, but no, that would mean she'd be an equal, and they didn't want to spend funding on a paycheck for her. Besides, with blue hair and abilities that even highly-specialized Realians didn't have, she didn't quite fit in. So, she was an object, deemed one of a kind.

Damn them.

Only Helmer treated her well, but she hadn't spoken with him in a very long time. He was the one who, when the Federation soldiers found her abandoned and near-dead in an ejected trash cargo hold in space, said that she was to be treated instead of left to die. And, when everyone learned that she had a great deal of mechanical parts within her cranium, he said that they would be kept instead of scrapped, which meant she was able to keep her very useful scanner and eye-screen. But, try as he might, he could not classify her as human, but he at least made sure she got a job as a mechanic rather than sending her off to be studied and analyzed. In fact, only a few knew that she wasn't a unique Realian, and those that did know had been sufficiently silenced. Helmer didn't tell a soul that she was something "different", even though he himself didn't know exactly what she was. When he had first asked her, she had told him she didn't know what she was and kept telling him that ever since. It wasn't entirely a lie -- after having failed as the URTV-O and having been betrayed by Yuriev, she didn't know what else to call herself.

So, now Nikko was a mechanic, and though she didn't have a life of her own, it was better than no life at all. And as for her URTVs... she hadn't thought about them in years.

---

::The Kukai Foundation::

Gaignun Kukai rested his head on his hands and sighed. Helmer was such a busy man -- hell, they both were -- and sometimes it made communication difficult. So, the call he was waiting for was exactly seventeen minutes late.

And to think, I don't even have Jr. here to entertain me, he thought with another sigh. For once, his childishness would have been greeted with open arms.

So, with nothing to occupy him, he merely stared at the ceiling and hummed as he waited. Finally, he got the beep that signaled that someone was trying to connect with him, and he patched them through. It was Helmer.

"Took long enough," he said rather unprofessionally, but it didn't matter. He smiled and Helmer smiled back and chuckled.

"Sorry about that Gaignun, you know I'm a busy man, but I suppose you are, too. Time is money." He chuckled again.

"Indeed. So, how have you been?"

"Well enough I suppose. But, how are things on your side? What is Jr. up to?"

"I was just speaking with him earlier," Gaignun said as he tapped his right temple. Telepathy was incredibly useful. "They just engaged a U-TIC ship hardly a moment ago."

"Oh really?" Helmer asked, very interested.

"In fact, he rammed he Durandal right into them," Gaignun said with a roll of his eyes. "When will he learn to be more careful, I wonder...?"

"You know boys and their toys," Helmer laughed. "It's hard to believe he's well over twenty years old."

"I expect him to look like a child, but not to act like one." Though, to be honest, Gaignun didn't mind.

"Oh, give him a little slack, Gaignun. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were jealous."

"Perhaps," he mused. Then, he dropped the smaller talk. "How are things over there?"

"Hectic as always. You know the Realian girl I was telling you about earlier? The prototype, MOMO?"

"Yes?"

"We haven't received even a word yet from Ziggurat 8. Juli is starting to get worried, though she's trying not to let it show. God damn those U-TIC bas-- "

There was a sudden beep over on Helmer's end of the line. The man blinked, looked a bit annoyed, and then glanced reproachfully at Gaignun.

"I'm sorry, could you hold on just a second?"

"Of course."

Helmer pressed a button or two and then Gaignun's screen went blank. He began to hum and tap his fingers on his desk, but true to his word, Helmer took only a second. Gaignun blinked.

"That was quick. Trivial matters?"

"Yes, just a complaint," he said with a sigh. "I'm surprised it got all the way up to me, really." Then he spoke more to himself. "So silly, complaining about her..."

Gaignun was a bit interested. He couldn't help himself. "Hmm?"

"Eh, it's nothing big. It's just that some of my guys on Fifth Jerusalem are having trouble with a subordinate, Nikko. I can't understand why. She's such a sweetheart... well, as long as you don't trouble her or get on her nerves... then she can be a fireball..."

Helmer went on for a bit but many of the words were lost to Gaignun. His back had stiffened and his face went white. Nikko? Had he truly said Nikko? No, perhaps he had said Nick, or Nikki, or Nicole... and besides, what did it matter? There were surely tons of Nikko's all around the galaxy.

"... though, like I said before, she is really sweet... at least to me, anyway. Of course, then again, I'm the only one who really treats her like a human, so... so... Gaignun, are you okay?"

"Did you just say her name was Nikko?" he asked, his heart racing.

"Yes. Why?"

"W-What is her last name?"

"Why does any of this matter?"

"Just tell me!" Gaignun yelled, slamming a fist down on the table in his desperation. But, then he caught himself. "I... I'm sorry. That was rude of me... never mind. Just forget it."

But, Helmer was already typing things and looking at a separate screen that Gaignun couldn't see. He began to read a few things off.

"She doesn't have a last name listed."

Gaignun bit his lip. A Nikko without a last name? Was it possible?

"What does she look like?"

"Blue hair, blue eyes... about five-feet, six-inches..."

Blue? Gaignun was shaking now. "This is impossible! Helmer, what's her history?"

Helmer gave him an odd look. "Well, that's classified... but, for a friend..."

Gaignun held his breath.

"The Federation found her in the middle of the Miltian Conflict fourteen years ago. She had survived a bullet to the head and had been disposed of in a waste bin floating out in space. The only reason she wasn't dead was because she wasn't entirely human and was a bit sturdier, but we weren't sure what she was. She wasn't a Realian, but she had some very interesting parts built directly into her brain, including a scanner. I'm guessing she was some sort of Life Recycling victim. When she came to, I asked her what she was and how she had ended up in such a state, but she said she didn't know. I didn't want her to die and I didn't want her to be used as a guinea pig by the Federation, so I sent her to Fifth Jerusalem for work and to live a close to normal life." He looked at Gaignun strangely. "Are you okay?" he asked again.

Gaignun couldn't believe any of it. "My God... Helmer, why didn't you tell me any of this before?!"

"Don't get angry with me, Gaignun. How was I supposed to know that this would have been of importance? There are dozens, possibly hundreds, of poor souls like her that are trying to fit in. You know that as well as I do."

"Damn right I do!" he yelled. "Helmer, do you know what she is?! My God!"

His eyes widened. "You don't mean she's like you?! She's a URTV?!"

"She's close enough! I haven't seen her in years! I thought she was dead! But, this whole time, she's been safe and on Fifth Jerusalem! Fourteen years... fourteen years and I thought she was dead!"

Helmer was absolutely stunned. "Gaignun... if I had known, I would have told you. I'm so terribly sorry. I hadn't known..."

Gaignun tried to calm himself, and then realized he had misplaced his anger. "N-no, don't. It's okay. I should apologize. But, Helmer... I have to see her."

Helmer nodded immediately. "I'll do the paperwork right now, and send her to the Foundation. I'm so sorry..."

"Just make it as quick as possible. She's alive... and all this time, I didn't know..."

Now he felt sick. Pain, fear, and longing filled his heart. Pain at having believed she was dead for so long... fear at not knowing how he would ever be able to ask for her forgiveness... and the most powerful longing he had ever felt in his life. She had been a companion and a friend so many years ago, and he wanted that again in his life.

"Call me once everything's done," he said, shaking. "I have to go. I can't sit here like this..."

"Sure thing."

The screen disappeared and Gaignun sat alone in his room, finding the silence to be almost deafening as it enveloped him. He closed his eyes and tried to remember what she looked like. For so long he had pushed her out of his thoughts just like he had ignored Albedo. Now he brought back the images and found them greatly blurred. He immediately grew angry at himself. How could he have forgotten about her? And, how could he have lost hope?

But... no. This isn't my fault.

The last thing he remembered about her was fear. It was a great fear that he would never forget, but even worse was the silence that came after. It had been quick and terrifying, but then there had been nothing. Her presence immediately died away and that was the last he ever heard of her. It was only natural that he assumed the worst. In the silence of his mind he found that she had been ripped away from him, never to return... and never before had he ever felt so lonely.

"Nikko..." he breathed, and the longing increased.

He looked down at the serial number on his palm. 669. He hated the thing, for it had always reminded him of a painful past he would love to forget. But, now he remembered Nikko, and for the first time in his life he was happy to have the number. Still he couldn't remember her face, but her voice, her wondrous voice and beautiful laugh, came back and he smiled.