I do not own or pretend to own either Nadesico or Jimmy Buffett.

Oysters and Pearls

Chapter 5: Simply Complicated

Jun landed in the chair at the end of the briefing table and started undoing the tie on his dress uniform. "So," he said to the others seating themselves around the room. "What do you think?"

The rest of the senior officers looked as tired and as excited as he was. Considering their last first contact with an alien race, the alien captain's visit went remarkably well.

Ha-Luu, as Jun had dubbed him, borrowing Ruri's idea to name the alien captain by the first two audible syllables of his musical name, seemed just as excited as they were to make contact with a race from another solar system. The alien captain was so eager to foster good relations that he spoke constantly until Jun's translator actually had enough to go on to actually translate the captain's words.

Of course, a few bugs had to be worked out of the system. The first sentence that came out in Japanese was, "By very rights a peaceful entity and one of virulent grace will ascend to a perch in the well feelings of living and nonliving sentients."

To which Jun could only reply, "Huh?"

"They seem nice," Megumi volunteered.

"Saving Wei-Hu obviously put our stock up there," Ryoko added. "I guess it was the right thing to do after all." Though she didn't look at Izumi, her meaning was clear.

"So what do we do now?" Chase asked.

"It's hard to say for sure, but I think I got him to understand the language barrier problem and our solution," Jun told them. "And I THINK he said Wei-Hu will stay onboard to work with Ruri, whom apparently she thinks very highly of, with getting the translators to work better with their language."

"In the meantime," Genechiro put in, "They're going to take us to their leaders."

Half the room started laughing. The rest needed an explanation.

"What?" Genechiro asked. "What did I say?"

Jun grinned. "Izumi, what about our guest in the brig?"

She nodded. "I've been working with him. Some of the words are coming through the translator, but it's the same problem we're having with...with..."

"Yeah, what are we calling them, anyway?" Ryoko asked. "Does their species have a name?"

"They do," Jun said. "It's about a hundred and twenty syllables long and translates into 'caregivers.'"

Izumi paused. "Anyway, same problem with the canine race. Their name isn't as long, but translates into 'waiters.'"

"As in they're waiting for something to happen?" Rikari asked.

"No," Izumi said, a little exasperated by the situation. "Like the kind that serve drinks."

Jun blinked. "Keep working with him." Izumi nodded. "One more thing," he continued. "Until we know more about the political situation here, don't tell the... Caregivers... that we have a Waiter on board."

"I agree," Izumi jumped in. The rest of the room gave her a puzzled look. "I can't put my finger on it, but there's something not right here."

Jun nodded. "All right, each of you write up your reports and forward them to myself and Aurora. Chase, keep us alongside the Caregiver ship and match speed and heading. Aurora, Ruri, Izumi, keep working on those translations. Any seconds?"

No hands went up.

"All right. Dismissed."

&&&&&&&

Jun left the bridge to work on his report, but Megumi wanted to check her mail. She didn't notice at first that Chase had followed her.

"Something wrong?" she asked as she logged into her terminal.

"No, just curious about something," he said. "The skipper's uniform had a black ribbon in his fruit salad.(1). I'd never seen that before. Do you know what it is?"

Megumi paused for a moment before shrugging. "Couldn't tell you."

Chase didn't buy it. "Are you sure? It was pretty high up there, right above his Silver Star."

She turned in her chair and glared at him. The warrant officer was taken aback for a moment. "I don't know," she said icily. "If you don't believe me, look it up in the computer." She turned back to her e-mail.

"Right," he said. "Sorry." He turned and walked off.

Megumi took a breath and cursed to herself.

&&&&&&&

Jun had just removed his dress jacket when someone knocked on his door.

Not chimed.

Knocked.

Loudly.

Then they did it again, louder.

"Just a second," Jun called, opening a box in his closet and pulling out his service pistol. After that little incident with the Waiter on the bridge, there was no point in taking chances. "Come in!"

The door slid open and Genechiro came barreling inside. "Did you know about this!"

Jun sighed and put the gun back in the box. "Know about what, Commander?"

The Jovian officer held up a blue flyer. "This!"

Jun took the piece of paper and read over it. "An anime showing," Jun said. He looked up and shrugged. "So? With the holo-emitters down, things like this will be good for morale."

"Look who's running it!" Genechiro fumed.

Jun looked down at the paper again. "Lieutenant Commander Amano," he read. "Once again, so what?"

The XO(2) looked ready to pull his hair out in frustration. "HE'S SHOWING MACROSS!"

Jun looked down for a third time and saw that the anime showing would feature remastered vids of Macross.

He looked up at Genechiro. "So..."

"It's HERESY!" he screamed. "At the very least it's a hate crime!"

"I'm not sure showing badly drawn anime constitutes a hate crime," Jun said. "On the other hand..." He pressed a few buttons and Hideki's face appeared.

"Yes, Sir?"

"Hideki, could you come to my quarters for a minute?"

"Be right there, Sir."

Genechiro silently fumed while they waited, refusing Jun's offer of a drink or a seat. Finally, the bald man entered.

"Something I can do for you, Sir?"

Genechiro grabbed the flyer and held it under the engineer's nose. "What is the meaning of THIS!"

Jun put his hand on his XO's shoulder. "Commander Amano, Commander Tsukuomi just brought this to my attention. He's a little concerned."

"I can see," Hideki replied with a grin.

Genechiro bit back the insults he wanted to hurl at the man.

"I have no problem with an anime showing," Jun continued. "I think it'd be good for morale." Hideki beamed. "But I'm going to ask you this because I know anime in the Jovian Union has far different meanings that it does on Earth, religious meanings."

He looked Hideki in the eye. "Is this innocent fun or are you preaching to the masses?"

For the first time, Hideki's grin slipped.

"I knew it!" Genechiro snarled.

"It's a little of both, Sir," Hideki admitted. "You have to understand, this is the first place I've ever been where I can show my collection to people without fear of ignorant, hateful reprisals." He glared at Genechiro as he said this last part.

Jun nodded. "As I said before, the UE recognizes the universal freedom of religious expression." Hideki's smile started to return. "That said," Jun continued a little harder, "Failing to inform people of what they're really in for is at best rude, at worst trickery. And I won't have that."

Hideki sighed, his smile gone. "You want me to cancel?"

Genechiro grinned like the Cheshire Cat.

"No," Jun said to both their surprise. "Print up new flyers honestly explaining what you're doing and pull these down."

"What!" Genechiro cried. "That's unacceptable! He's trying to seduce young Jovians toward heresy! That's a CRIME!"

"Not onboard this ship," Jun explained, turning away and walking into the kitchen. "As a courtesy, however Commander Amano, I would like you to inform Colonel Rikari of what you intend so he can take what action he feels necessary with his pilots."

Hideki saluted smartly. "Yes, Sir!" He smirked at Genechiro and walked out.

Genechiro shook his head and glared at Jun. "Have you no respect whatsoever for our religious beliefs?" he asked in shocked anger. "How are we supposed to trust you when you let this kind of thing happen!"

Jun took a breath and started to get angry. "Respecting the beliefs of others is something the UE has always tried to uphold," he hissed. "Now until I say he can have a Macross showing and you CAN'T have a Gekigangar showing, you have nothing to bitch about. That's called fairness."

"But..."

"You can go, Commander."

Genechiro stormed out, smacking the door frame with the palm of his hand as he went.

&&&&&&&&&&

Izumi sat down with a cup of coffee and offered one to Barkrarak. The canine alien took the mug and inspected it thoroughly, trying to find the best of getting the liquid inside his snout without spilling any. Finally, he just started lapping it up with his tongue.

The Aesti pilot put the translator into her ear and began. "Okay, right to the point," she said as Barkrarak put in his own earpiece. "Why did you attack that ship?"

"Waiters wait on inconsiderate consumers," the canine replied. "Waiters not wishing to remain Waiters seek to no longer be Waiters."

"But why attack that ship?" she pressed.

"Consumer who makes Waiters endure being Waiters propels through vaccuumous areas shirking accompanyment from less bulbous propellers inclined to preserve Consumer's existence."

"Wait," Izumi said, holding her hand up and rising to her feet. "You're the Waiters, they're the Consumers." She worked it out in her head. "'Propels through vaccuumous areas,' you mean 'space.' The Consumer traveled through space."

The canine wagged his head from side to side like an old bobblehead toy, a gesture Izumi learned was an affirmative.

"'Shirked accompanyment,' he was traveling alone," she continued. 'Inclined to preserve the Consumer's existence...'" She sat down again. "You're talking about escort fighters. He didn't have any escort fighters."

Barkrarak looked at her in puzzlment.

Izumi stood up again and pulled up a view window. Logging onto Nadesico's official wireless site, she found the photo gallery and pulled up an old picture of the Nadesico with three Aestivalis flying alongside. She showed the prisoner the picture. Then used her hands to cover the Aestivalis.

"No escort fighters," she repeated.

Barkrarak barked once and bobbled his head again in agreement.

Finally it was starting to make sense. "You somehow knew this Consumer was going to be traveling near here with no escort fighters." She nodded. "Okay, so who is this Consumer? Why did you want to kill him?"

"The Consumer was a Consumer authorized to serve in a position of administrative control over a large numerical value of other Consumers."

"He was a leader," Izumi said. "A captain? An admiral?" Ice clutched her. "A president?"

He said nothing.

"A king?"

The canine barked again. "The weakest but most important chess piece," he said in a way that made Izumi think he was agreeing with her.

Izumi put her face in her hands. What looked like a simple act of piracy was starting to look like something much more complicated. Jun wasn't hiding a pirate aboard his ship.

He was hiding a royal assassin.

&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Full house," Ruri intoned calmly, placing her cards on the table in front of her.

"Jesus Herbert-Walker Christ," Chase muttered, throwing his cards down. "That's the fifth hand in a row."

Ruri said nothing, just pulling her winnings closer to her pile. She and Chase were the only ones in the rec room still playing the game, the others leaving the moment Ruri sat down.

"You have a system," he accused her.

"Of course she does, you jackass," an Aestivalis maintainer said from the bar. "She's a child genius, she's been counting the cards in her head since the first deal."

Chase looked at her in shock. "Ruri chan?" he asked.

"I will not deny that I am quite good at mathematics," she said simply, shuffling the cards. "Ante please."

Chase threw in a buck, but gave up all hope of seeing it again. He decided to try his luck on another matter instead. "Hey, Ruri," he said. "What's the deal with the Skipper?"

Ruri tossed five cards his way. "Explain," she asked.

"Well, I asked Megumi today about the black ribbon he has in his fruit salad, and she bit my head off." Ruri said nothing. "Do you know anything about it?"

"No," she told him simply. "You should try the computer."

Chase shook his head. "No, you see this is where it gets really weird. Omoikane won't let anyone into the Skipper's file."

"Then you shouldn't be asking around," someone said from another table.

The helmsman ignored him. "I can see blacking out parts of a record to cover up special missions or something, but to lock down an entire record?"

"Bet?"

"Huh? Oh, two," he said. "I mean, it sounds to me like either he was special forces or he really fucked up somewhere and now the Navy's hiding it..."

"Hey, buddy," someone called. "She said she doesn't know. No one here knows anything about it. So shut up."

Chase turned to face the guy and found to his surprise a lot of angry faces looking at him. Except for the people who came onboard the ship the same time he did, just about everyone seemed irritated with him talking about it.

"Hey, asshole," Chase told him, ignoring the stares. "No one asked you."

The man, a maintainer sporting petty officer stripes, stood up along with two of his friends and walked over to him.

"Fuck," Chase muttered.

"Cards?" Ruri asked.

"Yeah, give me three. I'll be right back." He stood up and faced the three men.

"I think you oughta have another beer and stop asking questions," the petty officer told him dangerously. "No one wants to hear what you think."

"Hey, I'm a fan of beer and all, but go fuck yourself, okay?" Chase said.

"You looking for some kind of trouble?" one of the maintainer's friends asked him.

"Well," Chase sighed dejectedly. "There are three of you, so..." He suddenly dived for the maintainer and started wailing on him.

Ruri placed her final bet and looked at Chase's cards.

"I win again," she said, pulling the pot back to her.

&&&&&&&&&&

"We've been here less than a week, and I already have to worry about cabin fever?" Jun asked of the four men standing at attention on the other side of his desk. Chase, the petty officer and his two friends stood there in various states of disarray. The fight had lasted all of thirty seconds before three guys from the laundry room intervened, pulling the men apart and incapacitating them all within a few moments.

Chase made a note not to screw with the laundry guys.

"I want to know how this started," Jun demanded. "Now."

Chase opened his mouth to speak, but the petty officer beat him to it.

"It was our fault, Sir," he jumped. "We... um... we were drinking and things just got out of hand."

"Out of hand?" Jun said. "Three maintainers and a warrant officer fighting just because?"

"He said something about the Washington Nationals, Sir," one of the other men threw in. "About how they cheated at the World Series." Chase blinked in shock. "We took it personally and things got out of hand. It was our fault, Sir."

Jun locked eyes with each of them. "Ten weeks extra duty for all of you. If I didn't need you working on Aestis and him on the bridge, I'd put you in the brig. Dismissed."

The four of them filed out of the captain's office. Once out of earshot, Chase tapped the petty officer on the shoulder. "Hey, what was that about?"

The enlisted man bit his lip and took Chase aside. "Listen, Sir," he began. "Just leave the Kanchou alone. You weren't here during the war. We look out for him. Let him be."

With that, the three men walked off.

"Okay, now it's just gonna bother me!" Chase muttered.

&&&&&&&&&&&

"I'll come back for you."

The redhead looked at her sadly from the other side of the comm window. "I know you will."

Izumi's eyes shot open, and she took a breath. Looking over at her alarm clock, she saw it was four a.m. Typical.

She sat up and swung her legs out of bed, putting her face in her hands for a moment, the last words of the dream haunting her like they usually did. She only really had the dream anymore when she subconsciously knew she was screwing up somewhere, but couldn't think of where.

One thing she knew for certain, she wasn't going to get back to sleep anytime soon. She got up and threw on her flight suit. She was scheduled for simulator time in two hours anyway. If she showed up now, the sim crew would probably slip her in early.

Flying usually cleared her head.

&&&&&&&&&

As the doors to the simulator chamber opened, she saw Colonel Rikari climbing out of the sim pod. Though they hadn't talked face to face, word was the Jovian commander was solid and much more accepting of the way the UE did things.

"Good morning, Sir," Izumi greeted.

"Good morning, Colonel Maki," Rikari returned with a smile, adjusting something on her flightsuit before standing up from the pod. "Awfully early, isn't it?"

Izumi froze in place for a moment, the colonel's voice triggering a memory. A chilling suspicion floated into her mind.

"Colonel?" Rikari asked.

Izumi recovered a moment later. "Um... I could ask you the same thing."

Rikari smiled. "I try to hit the sim every morning."

"I see," Izumi said cautiously.

"Are you okay?"

And then it passed. She smiled. "I'm fine, Sir. Thank you."

"I can't say this in public," Rikari told her. "But I was hoping I'd run into you. I wanted to tell you that you did well out there the other day."

"Hindsight is twenty-twenty," Izumi told her.

"Hard decisions had to be made," Rikari said. "The problem is making the right hard decision."

"Yes," Izumi said quietly. "I know." She decided to test her suspicion. "I was at the Battle of the Belt. I saw some very hard decisions made."

Rikari let out a breath and leaned against the pod. "Amazing, isn't it?" she asked. "A few years ago we were shooting at each other, now we're flying together." She walked past her for the door.

Ice clutched Izumi's heart, her suspicions confirmed.

"Yes," she whispered. "It's amazing."

&&&&&&&&&

"This blows," Chase said, spooning some slop onto Aurora's plate. His chef's hat was skewed to one side, barely covering his hair net.

"I heard," Aurora said sympathetically. "I didn't think they made people peel potatoes in the Army anymore."

"One," Chase said, "This isn't the Army, it's the Navy." He spooned some carrots onto the other side of the scientist's plate. "Two, the Potatomatron 8000 peels potatoes, I just slop them onto people's plates."

"Oh," Aurora said, corrected. "Did you at least win the fight?" she asked conspiratorially.

Chase's eyebrow twitched. "Next!" he called.

Aurora moved on, and Hideki took her place. "How long do you have to do this?"

"Ten weeks," Chase told him. "I guess it could be worse."

Hideki tsk'd. "You're a musician, Mister Warren. And musicians are destined for great things."

"Yeah? My old shop teacher didn't seem to think so."

"Yes," Hideki said to himself. "Great things."

&&&&&&&&

"Speaking with Captain Ha-Luu, it looks like you're right," Jun told Izumi as he ran his fingers through his hair. "This whole situation got ten times more complicated."

"Did he say who it was who was assassinated?" Izumi asked.

"He was very vague about it," Jun confessed. "It's hard enough to work through the translators when they're trying to communicate. I think they realize all they have to do is talk nonsense and we'll just chalk it up to our equipment." He sighed and sat down in his chair. "Whoever it was, it was important. I don't think it was their world leader, though."

Izumi nodded.

"However," Jun said, regaining some momentum. "They have asked me to pass these onto you and Razor." He produced two boxes from his desk and opened one of them. A small, green crystal glowed inside.

"The best translation is, 'The Glowing Gem of Doing One's Greatest Work at Facing Horrendous Chances of Success and Survival,'" Jun said. "Ryoko will present them at the next stand up."

"Keep it, Sir. I don't accept medals anymore." Her voice took on an icy tone. "You and I both know medals and ribbons don't tell the whole or even truthful story of what we do here."

He sighed again. "I noticed the other night during our visit with the Caregivers you weren't wearing your Navy Cross," he told her.

"I didn't earn it," she told him.

"Nonsense," he dismissed, getting angry now. "You need to stop whipping yourself. I know that's why you went off mission the other day."

Izumi said nothing.

"Tormenting yourself day in and day out will not bring Hikaru back," Jun bit out.

"You didn't kill her," she shot back quietly.

"Neither did you." He softened his tone again. "I know it's been hard for you," he said. "A lot of the pilots don't understand why you did what you did. Why you HAD to."

"If that will be all, Sir," Izumi broke in.

He sighed. "Keep up the good work with the prisoner," he told her. "Dismissed."

&&&&&&&&&

The door to the Nadesico Club slid open, revealing Ruri to those already inside. Rather than step inside the room, she waited, hands behind her back. Finally, after a moment, she looked down and to her right, gesturing to someone to go on ahead.

Wei-Hu peered cautiously around the door frame, not sure if the darkened room was someplace she really wanted to go.

"You said you wanted to see humans," Ruri reminded her. "These are where they're the most... human."

Wei-Hu thought for a moment before asking her guide, "Are the dangers inherent to places of mass quantities of inebriated bipeds minimal?" Her musical voice belied the nature of the question, understandable only to Ruri, who had one of the translator devices fixed to her ear.

"Yes," Ruri replied. She had found through talking with Wei-Hu that the longer your statement, the more likely it'll be misinterpreted.

With another unsure breath, the alien girl stepped inside. Ruri walked in and led her to a nearby table near the stage. Wei-Hu looked around in wonderment while Ruri opened a menu.

Before Ruri even knew what beverage she wanted, their table was assaulted by a horde of the ignorant.

"Oh! Is that the alien girl!" Looking up, Ruri saw a group of Houmei's kitchen girls surrounding the table, dressed to the nines as if they were clubbing back on Earth.

"KAWAII!" one of them squealed.

"WHAT IS YOUR NAME?" one of them shouted at Wei-Hu as if speaking louder will make her easier to understand.

Wei-Hu blinked and told them her name, which took about two minutes to actually say.

"Huh?" the girls asked in unison.

"Wei-Hu," Ruri told them.

"She's so adorable! How old are you, honey?"

Wei-Hu turned to Ruri. "The identity of these life forms is puzzling to I," Ruri heard through the translator. "What is their primary designation?"

Ruri, still wanting to keep her answers brief, thought for a moment.

"Baka," she told the alien.

Wei-Hu nodded. The kitchen girls left as feedback from the stage sounded through the room. Chase was tuning his guitar.

One thing Ruri noticed was that the club was actually crowded. While there was normally people getting dinner or just having a drink, the place seemed to be filling up pretty quick. She knew it couldn't have anything to do with Chase playing, he wasn't THAT good, but it made her wonder.

"Oi!" she called out to the kitchen girls. "Bakas! Why are there so many people here?"

The girls shrugged. "I guess with the holo-emitters down, everyone needs something to do off-duty," one of them suggested.

Ruri nodded to herself. This actually made sense.

Chase strummed a few notes, readjusted, then started playing in earnest. Even before the Nadesico had gone underway, Chase could usually be found here on Thursdays for amateur night.

Wei-Hu stared at him enthralled. She tugged on Ruri's shirt sleeve. "Please define for me these sonic harmonic vibrations."

"Normally it's called 'music,'" Ruri told her. "But this is Jimmy Buffet."

The alien girl looked back at the stage and whispered a sixteen-syllable word. "Beautiful," Ruri heard from her earpiece.

"Baka," Ruri whispered.

&&&&&&&&&

Izumi made herself comfortable on the fake grass of the zen room and looked out at the fake hillscape before her. She needed to clear her head, and no matter what she seemed to try today, she just couldn't do it.

She'd lost her focus this morning and never got it back.

Jun was right, she knew. She was whipping herself about Hikaru. And she deserved it.

And she knew she had lost more than her friend that day.

She looked up at the blue sky.

&&&&&&&&

Four years ago...

Izumi tapped the dorsal thrusters to glide around the asteroid in front of her. Situational awareness was paramount when flying in these conditions, especially when she wasn't allowed to turn her lidar on to track the movement of the giant rocks.

"Six-Two, this is Six-Five," she heard through her radio. "Izumi chan! Enough with the acrobatics!"

Izumi didn't smile. "Rock and roll," she muttered to herself, giggling slightly.

Hikaru's face appeared in front of her. "How much farther to our nav-point?" she asked. "If Erina wanted a really good look, she should have sent an RJ!"

She didn't answer. Hikaru knew just as well as she did that an RJ was too big to fly through an asteroid belt like this. It was exactly that kind of thinking that led Nergal to this plan. It was thought that the Jovians wouldn't expect a fleet to come through the asteroid belt. Now, however, every ship in that fleet, the Nadesico included, depended on Aestivalis acting as scouts.

Before Hikaru could complain further, a blip showed up on Izumi's short range sensors. "Contact," she said. "Zero-two-zero, Angels Ten," she said.

"I see 'em!" Hikaru noted with a tinge of anticipatory glee. "Hard to tell with the rocks, but..." Suddenly, the blips on Izumi's radar turned blue. "Oh, wait," Hikaru continued. "IFF reads them as friendlies. They must be from the Seraphim."

Izumi chewed on this for a moment. The Seraphim was the vanguard ship sent out ahead of the fleet. Izumi and Hikaru were patrolling solar east of the fleet.

"Patrol, this is Warpaint One," she heard in her headset. "You two lost?"

Hikaru looked puzzled. "Lost? My nav systems seem okay."

"The iron ore in these rocks have been giving us a hard time," the voice told them. "You're way off course. Hold tight and we'll escort you back."

"Izumi?" Hikaru asked.

Izumi squinted. The other ships were just coming into visual range. Suddenly, her threat board went red.

"Shit!" she gasped, jinking right.

A Jovian missile zipped by her, missing her by barely a yard. She heard an explosion and Hikaru swear.

"Dammit! I'm hit!"

"How bad?" Izumi asked, bringing her weapons up.

"Port engine's out," Hikaru told her. "But everything else checks out."

Looking down at her scope, Izumi saw several more blue blips on her screen. "Hikaru, I think we should go."

"EEP!" Hikaru squealed. Izumi surmised she had just seen her own screen. Izumi nosed her Aesti around and hit the afterburners.

The Jovian commander must have left the his radio on a UE frequency. "Run them down! We can't let them warn the others!"

Izumi banked around an asteroid for cover. Hikaru's face appeared next to hers again. "Did you hear that, Izumi chan! They know about the fleet!"

"And they don't want us getting to them either," Izumi noted.

"It's a trap!" they both surmised at once.

"Izumi chan! Wait up! I can't go as fast as you."

Izumi responded by turning toward one of the lumbering rocks. "Head for that cave," she said. "We'll hide there until they pass." She rolled ninety degrees and pulled up, ending the maneuver in a backflip that put the Aesti's feet on the asteroid's surface near the mouth of a relatively small cavern. Hikaru's damaged robot landed next to hers, and she pushed the redhead inside.

As soon as they were inside, Izumi started shutting down her electronics. She left the ultra-low frequency comm system and short range radar active, but every other light in her cockpit was out. Looking outside, she could see Hikaru's robot also going black.

Izumi took a breath and could see frost form in front of her lips. Her robot was getting colder with the life support reduced. That was a good thing. It would keep them off infrared.

She heard her radio squawk. "Izumi chan?"

"Yeah?" she whispered.

"What now?"

&&&&&&&&

Izumi's eyes popped open. She must have dozed off. Checking her watch, she found that twenty minutes had passed. She had come here to clear her head, and instead she took a nap. Cursing herself, she rose to her feet.

She still didn't know what to do about Barkrarak. If she was going to have a dream, at least it could have had the common courtesy to be prophetic. Instead it just reminded her of what a dumbass she'd been in the past...

She paused.

What if they had been misinterpreting this from the beginning?

What if they were taking things for granted and assuming that they were too alien to have anything in common?

What if, like when she and Hikaru had trusted their machines, they were being unintentionally tricked by technology?

With a renewed sense of purpose, the Aesti pilot headed for the lift.

&&&&&&&&&&

Chase's guitar went silent, and what was left of the crowd in the Nadesico Club applauded. Wei-Hu jumped out of her seat and clumsily slapped her hands together, the act of clapping new to her.

The helmsman opened his guitar case as the alien girl continued clapping and placed his guitar in it.

"Increased notes! Increased notes!" Wei-Hu begged.

Chase yawned as he closed the case. He wasn't wearing a translator, but the girl's tone was easy enough to decipher. "Sorry, hon," he said. "But it's late and I have duty tomorrow morning."

Wei-Hu's clapping trailed off as his words were translated. She turned to Ruri, absolutely crushed. "Certainly staying is more agreeable!" she cried. "Stay he must!"

Ruri yawned in response. "He has to work in a few hours," she told her. "And so do I."

Wei-Hu let out a note that reminded Ruri of an angry trumpet.

The human girl sighed. "He will play again tomorrow night," she promised. "Don't worry. Usually our problem is getting him to STOP."

Wei-Hu brightened at this. "This is truth!"

"What's the problem?" Chase asked Ruri.

"Apparently, for reasons I can't fathom, she likes your music," Ruri told him deadpan. "It must be some weird alien thing we'll never understand."

"Awww! That's cute!" Chase said with a grin. "I have a fan. That's a nice switch," he breathed darkly. He handed Wei-Hu his guitar pick. "Here, a souvenir."

Wei-Hu took the item and blinked at it. Clutching it to her breast, she closed her eyes. "My gratitude in wake of such an act of generosity knows only boundaries of galactic proportions rather than those of planet-bound ones. This unknown item from this point in time to the one beyond infinite will remain as one that is cherished more than that of a large, green circle."

"Whatever," Chase replied with a smile and a pat of the girl's head. "Ruri, I'll see you in the morning."

"Whatever," Ruri told him.

&&&&&&&&&

"Kanchou."

Jun looked up from the report he was reading. "Yes, Ruri?"

"Snoop One has detected radio telemetry bearing two-two-five, Angels three."

He turned to Megumi. "Get Scarf on the line, please."

Megumi adjusted her earpiece. "Snoop One, this is Management. Stand by for Nadesico Actual."

She gave Jun the nod. "This is Nadesico Actual, what've you got, Scarf?"

Captain Bethany "Scarf" Kelly's Texas drawl came through over his earpiece. "Ship to ship comm on a UHF band. Our best guess right now is at LEAST six capital ships talking to one another, but it's nothing like the squawk from the friendlies."

He shared a look with Megumi. Back home, six capital ships was a good size task force. He turned to Ruri. "Any indication that the Caregiver ships have detected them, Ruri?"

The girl shook her head. "Negative, Kanchou. There's been no change in their activities."

"Do we tell them?" Megumi asked.

"Snoop One, continue monitoring."

"Roger that."

Jun took a breath. "Megumi, get Ha-Luu on the line, please."

&&&&&&&&&

Izumi held the manila envelope under her arm like it contained state secrets. At first, the graphics shop tried to spin her a line about how it would take two days to get what she wanted, but like most things in the military, it came down to who you knew and what you were willing to bargain. And with a promise of half an hour in the flight simulator, the two-striper was more than willing to make an additional effort to get what she needed pronto.

She walked into the brig and tossed the furry alien an earset as she sat down. Barkrarak looked puzzled at her intensity and said nothing as she got down to business.

"I'm going to show you pictures of humans," she said. "When I do, I want you to point to the human in the picture that is a Waiter."

Barkrarak barked an affirmative.

Izumi held out a photo of a restaurant waiter pouring a glass of wine for a man in a tuxedo. Barkrarak pointed to the waiter. "The Waiter is he," she heard.

She put that picture aside and showed him another one, this one of a human doing laundry while a woman stood off to the side, reading a book.

He pointed at the person doing laundry.

The next picture was in black and white, it showed two women working on a farm while another walked nearby... a whip in his hand.

Barkrarak pointed at the two women.

She held out another one, this one of African Americans being sprayed with fire hoses while riot police stood nearby.

The alien pointed at the African Americans.

Izumi showed him one more photo. A black man in chains stood on a platform, while two white men exchanged money below.

Barkrarak pointed at the black man. "That man is a Waiter," he said with conviction.

Izumi pointed at the other two men, the men selling and buying the black man.

"Who are they?" she asked.

He looked her in the eye. "Consumers."

&&&&&&&&&

As Izumi walked out of the brig, she heard Megumi's voice over the intercom. "All stations, set Condition Two. Repeat, all stations set Condition Two."

She started walking faster, a bad feeling that she might be too late fell over her. She saw Razor turn the corner.

"Where are you going, Ma'am?" he asked. "The Colonel wants us suited up."

"Start without me," she said and started to run.

&&&&&&

"Enough favors the captain of humans has bestowed on us," Ha-Luu told Jun. "Twice our current numbers have arrived to engage the issue firsthand."

Jun nodded. "We shall observe from a safe distance then. Good luck, Captain Ha-Luu."

Ha-Luu bowed as the connection was cut.

"Chase, keep us well out of range," he ordered. "Keep the Aestis on standby."

"Kanchou," Ruri called out. "I'm now reading two more contacts approaching at one-eight-zero."

He nodded. "They're Caregiver ships. Captain Ha-Luu has called in reinforcements." He turned to Aurora. "Ms. Dayne, please record as much data from the exchange as you can."

"Of course!" the young woman replied, adjusting her glasses. "After all, the benefits of seeing two different alien species interact will be invalua..."

Before she could continue, Izumi stepped off the lift. "Jun, I need to talk to you."

"Aren't you supposed to be on the hangar deck, Colonel?" Genechiro asked her.

She ignored the XO and walked up to Jun. "It's important."

"Izumi, the Caregivers are about to engage a Waiter task force," he told her. "As soon as we stand down, I can..."

"I have reason to believe we're making a horrible mistake, Kanchou," she interrupted loudly. "I don't think that's a military force out there. And I don't think the 'Caregivers,'" she made the term a curse, "are telling you the truth!"

Every eye on the bridge was on her now.

Jun bit his lip, just a bit irritated. "You have two minutes," he told her.

Izumi nodded, taking a few precious seconds to gather her thoughts. "We've been taking things for granted," she said. "We assumed from the beginning because the Waiters were the ones attacking the ship that they were the aggressors. I now believe that it's the opposite."

"Based on what, Colonel?" Genechiro asked impatiently.

"Interviews with the prisoner," she said. "Our translators are either too general or too specific. So I did a little linguistic work of my own." She looked Jun dead in the eye. "The word for 'Waiter' doesn't mean someone who pours drinks, Jun," she told him. "It means 'SLAVE.'"

Jun took a sharp breath.

"How can you possibly know that?" Genechiro asked.

"Don't take my word for it!" she shot back, tired of the Jovian's suspicion. "Scan the ships! Talk to Barkrarak! Do SOMETHING! But stop taking what we're seeing at face value!"

"Kanchou, Caregiver ships moving into attack positions," Ruri told them. "They're launching fighters."

Jun pointed to a SF(3) troop at the door. "Bring the prisoner up here. Now!"

"This is a load of garbage," Genechiro snarled. "THEY attacked an unarmed ship! THEY assaulted Mr. Warren and Colonel Rikari! THEY attacked ME!"

"All of which means nothing if we don't know in what context!" Izumi shot back. "From the beginning, we've made assumptions and the Caregivers let us make them!" She turned back to the captain. "They have to see our arrival here as just as important a breakthrough as we do! Something that can shift the history of this solar system forever! They know it! Jun, you are being conned on a level unprecedented in human history!"

Jun stepped over to Aurora. "How detailed a scan can you give me?" he asked her.

"Well," Aurora stammered. "It's...It depends on..."

"I need everything you can tell me about those Waiter ships in the next thirty seconds."

He turned back to Izumi. "If you're right..." he began.

"Kanchou, the Waiter ships have increased speed," Ruri declared. "It looks like they're trying to run."

"They outnumber the Caregiver ships two to one," Megumi noted. "Why would they run?"

At that moment, Barkrarak, escorted by two SF's, stepped onto the bridge. Jun turned to Ruri. "Bring up a tactical display, please." He turned to Izumi. "Translate for him." Behind him, Ruri was placing her translator into her ear.

The display came up, showing the six Waiter ships and the three Caregiver ships approaching them. The result was immediate.

Barkrarak looked to Izumi and started speaking rapidly. He reached out and grabbed her shoulders, causing the SF troops to raise their weapons, but the alien didn't seem to care. He continued speaking, his voice panicked.

"Izumi?" Jun asked.

It took the pilot a minute get through the translation. "He says they're smugglers, Sir," she said. "People smugglers." Barkrarak spoke some more. "He's begging us to help them."

"People smugglers?" Genechiro asked.

"Kanchou!" Aurora called out. "I have a scan."

Jun's eyes didn't leave Barkrarak. "Break it down for me."

"Those ships are packed to the gills with life forms," Aurora said. "And we're reading weaponry, but very little of it."

"Troop carriers," Genechiro concluded.

Aurora shook her head. "I don't think so. The bio-organic scanner is documenting life forms in various stages of development!"

"Meaning?" Chase cued.

"Children," Jun whispered. "She means children." He turned to Megumi. "Get me Ha-Luu."

The alien's voice came over the speaker. "Leader of humans, this period in our personal history is not optimal for casual communications."

"Captain," Jun began. "You must call off your attack. Those ships are not military vessels. They're carrying people."

"They carry Waiters," he heard.

For a moment Jun thought the alien was agreeing with him. Then it dawned on him that Ha-Luu was CORRECTING him.

"Captain, those ships are carrying children," Jun tried again. "They are no match for your ships."

"The engagement shall be concluded with relative quickness and ease, this is correct."

Jun couldn't believe what he was hearing. Ha-Luu went on.

"The rebellious attack on our official must be answered and errant children must be corrected."

"Where we're from, we call that 'murder,'" Jun hissed.

"These ships and peoples do not hail from where you hail," Ha-Luu replied harshly. "No more of this will be heard. Know your place!" The comm link cut out.

"Kanchou, Caregiver fighters are still on attack vector," Ruri told him. "The Waiter ships have launched..." She shook her head. "Three fighters similar to the prisoner's in response."

"Kanchou?"

"Kanchou?"

"Jun?"

At this last prompt, Jun turned to his wife. "Get me Ryoko," he ordered darkly. A moment later, Ryoko's face appeared. She was just putting on her earbuds.

"Jun?"

"Ryoko," He said intently. "Launch everything you've got."

"Roger that!" At that point, Izumi took off for the lift, anxious to get to the flight deck.

He turned away and faced the screen again. "Sound general quarters," he ordered. "Charge all weapons. Chase, move to intercept the main ship. Keep us between the Waiter ships and the Caregiver capital ships."

No one moved for a moment, rooted to the spot in shock.

"Now!" he shouted.

"Moving to intercept, aye aye!" Chase called out, his hands dancing across the helm.

Genechiro walked up to him and spoke into his ear. "What about the rules of engagement?" he asked.

"We're already engaged," Jun hissed back. "Now it's about making things right."

The lights on the bridge turned red.

"All sections report Condition One!" Megumi called out.

Jun grit his teeth.

"Prepare to engage hostiles."

TO BE CONTINUED...

End Notes:

1. A "fruit salad" is the collection of ribbons worn on the left side of military Class A uniforms and are a way to recognize accomplishments in military service. Ribbons range from the most basic and mundane such as the Air Force Basic Training Ribbon worn by every Airmen who passes basic training to the ribbon representing the Congressional Medal of Honor.

2. Executive Officer, second in command of the ship.

3. Security Forces