Gadget woke to the soft sound of a tinkling chime, and when he opened his eyes he saw that the corners of the ceiling above him were tinged with a pale, pinkish-yellow light. Just like dawn, he thought. He loved waking up on the Hakuryuu; Kai had tweaked a number of the ship's system environment settings, and Gadget found he slept better on Kai's ship than anywhere else in the galaxy.

Beside him, Gen was still asleep.

It was hard to leave the bunk. Gen's naked body was warm against his, and Gadget was tempted to slip under the covers and suck Gen off, to listen to his moans of pleasure and feel Gen's body move beneath his hands. But Gadget could hear the muffled sounds of Kai and Shaw moving around in the ship's common room, so he decided he might as well get up. He brushed his mouth against the sweaty skin of Gen's shoulder, and then he eased off the bunk and padded barefoot to the washroom.

He showered quickly, careful to use as little water as possible, and then he fished through his pack for a change of clothes. For a second he stared at the bag, at the shirt in his hand, and he realized that the pack of clothing in front of him and the case of tools next to their bunk were the sole remains of his possessions.

The Shakujou was gone, and everything with it.

"Stop it," he told himself, before melancholy could set in. "You've been without before, and it's just stuff." He glanced back through the washroom door at Gen, who had curled up under the covers. "He's got it worse than I do." Gadget quietly finished dressing and went to join the others.

"Hey, man," Shaw greeted him. "About time you got your ass out of bed." He put a steaming mug of coffee at one of the empty places at the table. "Your roomie's still asleep?"

"Yup," Gadget said, and then he yawned and shuffled over to fill a plate with an assortment of fresh fruit and sweet rolls. Eating well was another benefit of staying on the Hakuryuu; Kai always kept his fridge units full of fresh food.

Maybe he should see if Kai wanted an assistant. He chuckled at the thought and dug into his breakfast.

He was halfway through his second plate when Gen joined them, looking damn fine in a pair of Kai's slacks and a borrowed button-down shirt. Kai waved a hand at the food-laden tray over on the side console, and Gadget watched while Gen poured himself a mug of coffee and carried a small plate of sliced fruit back to the table. Their eyes met, and Gadget was both pleased and relived to see a flicker of heat in Gen's gaze.

"Good morning, Gen," Kai said from behind his cup of tea. "I hope you slept well?"

Gen nodded as he sat down. "Thanks for the clothes," he said, and he drank some of his coffee.

"You're welcome. I thought they would fit you better than Shaw's things, and they look nicer, too."

"Hey, now," Shaw said.

Kai ignored him. "Earlier this morning, I managed to acquire the frequency and access codes to the Empress' private vidcomm channel," he said. "I think we should try and speak with her."

Gen almost choked on his coffee. "We're going to comm the Empress, just like that? And how the hell did you get those codes?"

Shaw grinned. "Told you he's good."

"You're better off not knowing, Gen," Kai said. "Plausible deniability and all that." He bit into a slice of fruit. "And yes, I think we should contact her. She needs to be made aware of the enemies in her midst, and if my theory about you is correct, you are in a unique position to help her ailing nephew and heir."

"For which she'll be grateful," Shaw said. "Monetarily grateful. Give-me-another-ship grateful."

"Imperial connections grateful," Kai added.

"All right, all right," Gen said, holding up a hand to stop them. "I know I owe you both."

Shaw leaned back in his chair and peered over at Gen. "Looks like you owe Gadget too, judging by that love-bite on your neck. Kid, you move fast."

"S-shut up, Shaw," Gadget sputtered. He'd have to be more careful next time, or Gen wasn't going to let him kiss him like that again.

Next time. He sure hoped there would be a next time.

Kai set his empty cup on the table. "If everyone could finish up, I think I should attempt to get through on that vidcomm channel," he said. "We'll be within range of Tenkigh's security systems within the hour, and it would be better to be expected guests when we reach the outer checkpoint. We'll use my office."

Gadget helped clear the table, and when he finished loading the dishes into the wash unit he joined the others. Kai's 'office' had started out as one of the ship's staterooms, but a few years ago Gadget had helped him modify it to be his main communications center, as well as a place to conduct business. When Gadget entered the room, he noticed that Kai had moved two of the chairs next to the large screen that dominated the wall immediately to his left. Gen and Shaw sat in those chairs, and Kai was seated behind his desk, opposite the screen.

"Could you stay over there, Gadget?" Kai asked. "I'd like the three of you—Gen especially—to remain out of direct view."

"Sure," Gadget said.

"Here we go, then," said Kai, and he started typing at his console.

From his spot by the door, Gadget could see rows of code flowing across the screen, and then seconds later a vidcomm interface appeared, with a white access box that blinked on top of the image. Kai checked his datapad and entered a lengthy code sequence. The box blinked green, then disappeared.

There was silence for a few moments, and then the vidcomm showed a gray haired man wearing an ornate houseman's uniform. He glared at Kai through the vid interface. "Who are you?" he demanded. "How did you get access to the Empress' private channel?"

Kai sat up straight in his seat, and bent his head in an informal bow. "My name is Kai Gonocho. I would like to request a communication with Empress K'non regarding an important Imperial family artifact." He reached over and tapped a few keys. "I am uploading my bona fides now."

The man glanced at a console to the side of his screen, and then he frowned at Kai. "This is highly irregular. What could you possibly have that would interest the Empress?"

"Would you please inform Her Radiance that I have come into possession of a hitherto undiscovered cask of her family's wine?"

The man stared back at Kai, open-mouthed. "Wine?"

"Yes, wine," Kai said. "Please tell her that it came from the renowned Three Baskets Vineyard on Kinzaan. A… golden wine."

"I have no idea what you are talking about," the man huffed, "and I most certainly will not trouble the Great Lady—"

"Please." Kai leaned forward. "It is of utmost importance that this cask of wine is returned to her, it could have very therapeutic qualities for members of her family. All I ask is that you give her my exact message. If she chooses to not speak with me, then I will desist."

"Very well." The vidcomm switched over to the Imperial sigil.

Kai leaned back in his chair.

"Kai, what was all that crap about wine?" Shaw asked.

"Well, I certainly can't tell him the truth over a potentially hacked channel. While we suspect that Uko and Litou know about the existence of the Douji's clones, there may be other people involved. We don't want to blatantly show our hand." Kai checked his wristpad. "Should be any second now…"

The screen flickered back to life, and a woman's image filled the vidcomm. She looked tired and disheveled, and her breasts threatened to escape the confines of a hastily tied, embroidered robe.

"Great Lady! It is scandalous for you to let yourself be seen this way! And all of this is highly—"

"Shut up, Jiro," she said, and she pushed a wild tangle of black ringlets away from her face. She pointed at Kai. "This better be good, kiddo—you woke me up from a marvelous dream. And it's very naughty of you to hack into my private comm channel like this. Jiro is now having a conniption, and he's a pain in my ass when he gets that way. Show me this wine."

Gadget noticed that when the Empress spoke, Gen's expression tightened. Did he recognize her voice?

Kai hesitated. "Great Lady, I'm afraid I cannot show you the actual cask, for fear of… competitors learning of my find and destroying it, as happened earlier this week to other discoveries of the same vintage. Yesterday, the freighter carrying this wine cask was attacked and destroyed by these competitors. While your private channel is very secure, I was able to gain access, and others may have as well. Who knows who might be sharing our conversation?"

She scowled at him. "You have to give me something, handsome, or this conversation is over."

Kai folded his hands in his lap. "This particular grape was cultivated by Winemaster Komou himself." His gaze flicked over Gen, who was seated against the opposite wall, scowling, out of the screen's view. "The wine is a golden flax in color, pale, with notes of violet in the bouquet."

The Empress leaned forward, her attention focused keenly on Kai. "Tell me more."

"It is a ten-year-old vintage, although its appearance would lead you to believe it is in its mid twenties. Its taste is somewhat tart and sharp—"

"Hey, asshole," Gen protested, rising from his seat, "who are you calling—"

Shaw clapped a hand over Gen's mouth while Gadget darted over and pushed him back down. "Shut up," Shaw hissed, "he knows what he's doing."

At the sound of Gen's voice, the Empress' expression completely changed.

"I… I believe you have indeed found one of my missing… wine casks," she said, raising a trembling hand to grip the neckline of her robe. "Bring hi—bring it to me, immediately. It is a priceless vintage. And then you will tell me everything you know about these… competitors."

Kai nodded a bow. "Yes, Great Lady."

"And we need to talk about my ship," Shaw added loudly from his seat next to the screen. "My destroyed ship."

"All of you will be compensated for your trouble. Jiro will send you encoded instructions in a few moments; you were clever enough to get through to me here, so you'll have no trouble deciphering it." The screen flashed back to the sigil, and then winked out.

Shaw stretched out in his chair. "Kai, that was fucking brilliant," he said.

"Thank you," Kai said, and he pressed a button to close up the vidscreen.

Gadget frowned. "I still don't get why Kai was talking about wine. Weren't we supposed to tell her that we found Gen?"

Shaw laughed. "He just did, you moron. Gen is the wine. We couldn't risk having his pretty face on-screen."

"Oh," Gadget said, still frowning.

"Fuck you, Shaw," Gen muttered.

"She recognized his voice, though," Kai commented. "I wonder if he sounds like the Douji, too."

"We'll find out soon enough," Shaw said. He pointed at a blinking commlink button on Kai's console. "That's probably the instructions from her minion."

"I doubt that it will take very long to decrypt," Kai said.

"Yeah, she hasn't met you. You'll probably have it done by the time we reach the checkpoint."

"Don't be insulting," Kai said. "I'll have it ready in less than fifteen minutes." He tapped a command to load the file into his console, and then scrambled letters, number and symbols filled the smaller monitor screen on his desk. "Gadget, why don't you make another pot of coffee? I think I'll have a cup this time," he said, and his fingers began to move in a flurry over the keyboard. "I'll meet you all in the common room when I'm done here."

"Okay," Gadget said. He nudged Shaw on his way to the door. "Betcha he has it done before the coffee is ready."

"No way. You're on, lover-boy."

"You're both morons," Gen muttered, and he pushed between them and went ahead into the common room.

Gadget laughed. He and Shaw followed Gen in to the common room, and Gadget busied himself with making the coffee.

The machine coughed its final drops of the fragrant brew just as Kai set his datapad on the table. "Crap," Shaw said, and Kai just smiled while Gadget set a mug on the table in front of him.

"We're all set," Kai said. "I have all the checkpoint codes, and she also provided me with a specific route to take to her reception chamber once we reach the Imperial complex. She will have guards at certain locations, and she gave me the correct security sequences to enter into their datapads."

Gadget carefully sipped at his hot coffee. "That's a lot of stuff to do," he said. "Can't she just tell her people to expect us?"

"This takes care of the possibility that others may have intercepted our communication. Someone else could show up and claim that the Empress gave them clearance, but we are the only ones with the encrypted instructions; it's a way for her to verify that I am the person she spoke to."

"Oh," Gadget said. "What do you think will happen when we get there?"

Kai leaned back in his chair, holding his mug in both hands. "Well, I imagine that she will ask Gen to let them take some of his blood." He glanced over at Gen. "You're still okay with all of this?"

Gen was silent for a few moments, and then he nodded. "I think you're right; it's probably the best place to be until this mess is over, and it's a chance to get Shaw and Gadget another ship." He looked down at his cup. "I can't spend my life running."

A chime rang on the bridge. "Time for us to jump back down to sub-light speed," Kai said. "Shall we adjourn to the bridge?"