Millennial Thieves' Battleship Miranda

'And just when,' Hannibal asked Marin quietly, 'did you pair plan on telling me you could talk to each other telepathically?'

Marin flinched slightly, but held his ground. 'It's not something we wanted to make public,' he replied steadily. 'And it's not as though you don't keep your own secrets close, is it?' He waited just long enough to see Hannibal's hazel eyes narrow slightly before adding 'boss.'

Hannibal ran a hand through his silvering hair and sighed. 'One of these days… Never mind. You say you lost contact as soon as he entered the station?'

Marin nodded. 'It's weird… There's no known device that can block telepathy; the only thing that can is another telepath and either a very strong one, or several acting in concert. Or…' he hesitated, and frowned.

'Marin?'

'Or someone using the Queen's crown…'

'Promethium's on Lar Metal,' Farah pointed out helpfully. 'There's no way she could…'

'Be in two places at once?' Hannibal drawled sarcastically.

'The clones were all destroyed after the rebellion!' Farah protested. At the sight of Marin's pitying glance he rolled his eyes. 'Sorry… what was I thinking?'

Hannibal shook his head. 'Oh… if I only had a Deutschmark…' he muttered. 'In hindsight, we should have dropped a nice big charge on the clone bank just to be on the safe side…'

'What makes you think there was only one?' Marin asked sourly. 'Our mother oversaw the destruction of the one on Lar Metal, but the old queen was a sneaky old bitch, and frankly most of those apples didn't fall too far from the tree… Our aunt might not have started out evil, but she was always tricksy and sparing with the truth when it suited her, be honest here…'

Hannibal's gaze narrowed sharply, though Marin maintained his best innocent expression. 'Some of us have good reasons to be a little sparing,' he said quietly, breaking the awkward silence. 'And even Yayoi thought she had those to begin with. Mostly… Selen's integrity makes her a rarity among most people, let alone her clone-sisters. But she's not here, we are - and it looks as though I've sent Oki and your brother into a hornet's nest…'

'So I'll take a fighter…' Marin began.

'You will not!' It wasn't often Hannibal raised his voice, and he quickly tempered his reply as he continued. 'Not with that leg. I do not want to be the one explaining to your mother that I managed to lose both of her boys. Sit.'

Marin sat. There wasn't really anything else he could have done under the circumstances. Hannibal laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder and turned to Farah. 'I'd have gone in a lot harder had I known the Queen had a presence out here. Now my hands are tied. Not my finest decision…'

'You don't know they're in trouble…' his second pointed out.

'I don't know they're not…' Hannibal stared at the enhanced image of the station on the main screen and frowned. He crossed his arms and glared at the screen. '遅かった…' he murmured. They're late… He unfolded his arms and laid one hand on the ship's wheel. 'Farah - get my Space Wolf onto the hangar deck.'

'You can't just go in after them…!'

Hannibal ignored his fluttering protestations. 'Someone has to. Marin - stay on comms. Farah, take the helm. When or if I call for backup, come running. And trust the ship's battle computer. What it doesn't know about my tactics isn't worth recording…'

For an old man, Marin noticed, their semi-retired boss had a pretty long stride as he left the bridge at a fair clip. Not as frail as he liked people to think

and no-one better to go after his brother. He stared at the console glumly. It should be me… not having to push The Old Man into harness

'Don't beat yourself up about it,' Farah said softly next to his ear. He turned to look at his - well, technically "uncle". 'You took a hit, that's war.'

'That's my brother, a good friend and now the man who practically raised us,' Marin pointed out. 'And to paraphrase his own concerns - I don't want to be the one to tell my mother I lost my little brother and the closest person she's ever had to a father…' Movement on the screen caught his eye and he laughed out loud. 'Oh for… did you just see that?'

After all their captain's grumbling, the Space Wolf leaving the hangar deck had just pulled a perfect barrel roll.


Promethium's station

Distracting their captors when the throne shorted out was easy, Blaze mused as they ran through the corridors of the station. Escaping however when you were inside your captor? Not so much. He paused at an intersection to catch his breath, and to let Oki catch up to him. And to cut his friend's bonds with the boot knife Promethium Junior's goons had overlooked.

'We're being herded,' he said once he had some breath back. 'They aren't even bothering to chase us…'

'Then why are we running?' Oki asked him. When all Blaze could manage was a filthy look, he turned his attention to their surroundings. 'I'm guessing sensors all over the place… so we need to find a route that isn't covered…' He knelt next to an access panel in the side of the corridor and cocked his head on one side. 'Give me a hand, will you?'

Blaze knelt beside him and helped pull on the recessed handle. 'Chased, no… but I'm pretty sure those dial-faced guards will take a leisurely stroll in our direction if we linger…' He let out a grunt as the hatch hissed and came free. Alongside Oki he peered into the conduit filled with a clear liquid. 'Coolant?'

'Water. Distilled.' Oki dipped a finger into it. 'Chilled. Saves a fortune on these kinds of structures and you don't have the handling risks of the toxic chemicals. A station this size is big enough that you can run pipes close to the surface to keep the water cold but not freezing…'

'We've no idea where it runs to though,' Blaze pointed out. 'And whilst you can hold your breath, I can't - and the temperature…'

'The flow in this one is heading inwards,' Oki told him. 'So shouldn't be too bad for a short time - besides, we live in the deeps, remember?'

'In nice cosy domes these days,' Blaze pointed out.

'I can still handle the cold - we're adapted to it, thank-you-very-much. You just have to keep a step or two ahead of the Evil Queen, keep her and her minions occupied, and if I follow this through, it should take me to a major system - probably the servers holding the downloaded minds, since those would be the largest heat generating items…' He checked the underside of the hatch they'd lifted. 'And there's a handle on the inside, so I can get out without help…' He didn't wait for agreement, but sat on the edge of the opening, pulled his boots off - underneath he wore a kind of protective flipper on each foot - and unzipped the top of his flightsuit so he could fold the collar back to reveal his gills. 'Put the hatch back and try to get to the hangar - or at least don't let them catch you. If I can take out the main processors, it should blind the mecha-queen and her sub-systems…'

Metallic bootsteps were already heading towards Blaze by the time he'd slid the hatch back in place and was trotting down the corridor, hoping he was heading in the right direction, but increasingly aware that the open hatches were leading him to where his aunt wanted him, rather than towards freedom. 'What a mess…' he muttered under his breath. 'Rokuro - I really hope you know what you're doing, my friend. Or we're both screwed…'


Deep within the heart of the massive station, the holographic form of a young woman with long blonde hair under a red crown glared at the dial-faced soldier who knelt at her feet, his hand inches away from the hem of her black dress. 'Your majesty - we've lost sight of the aquatic… but the other…'

'Yes, yes. I know.' Within the heart of the machine that was her new form, she analysed the readings from numerous sensors. 'The aquatic is in the cooling ducts. Clever little fish… We'll just increase the water pressure - that should force him to surface - that, or take care of him. But my darling nephew…' Her illusory hand ran fingers across the map of the interior of the station. 'Trying to get back to your plane, Karyu? Well… there's nothing like a little hope to add spice to the endgame…' she mentally ordered the hatches along the path to the hangar to open, and ordered one of her clones to head that way. 'I'll give you one last chance, though I suspect you're as blind as my sister when it comes to the lives of the pitiful little mayflies… Pity. Sadly I don't think your mother will last long enough to see your head on a spike, but I'm sure your mongrel father will be suitably distressed by seeing his wife and one of his sons side by side…'

On one of her monitors, Blaze paused as hatchways opened in front of him and closed off to the side, shooting a knowing glare at the camera embedded in the ceiling, before raising his pistol and shooting it.

Promethium laughed, and even the mechanised soldier at her feet would have blanched if he'd still been in his natural body, because the two dozen cloned queens also in the room, standing in two ruler-straight lines, laughed in unison.


In common with most of his family - on both sides, not just the rather suspect line of cloned queens - Blaze had a wide streak of stubborn in his DNA. And he'd spent most of his formative years under the tutelage of a man whose ability to dig his heels in and resist being pushed in a direction he didn't want to go was almost as legendary as a certain space pirate's… His twin cousins - barely thirteen - already showed signs of having inherited the same trait. So when it became obvious that the station was carefully guiding his path towards the very place he wanted to go, he was strongly tempted to sit down in the corridor he was currently standing in and wait for someone to forcibly take him there.

Except he'd also learned from Hannibal that getting the shit kicked out of you purely on a point of principle was counter-productive… You were going to end up doing what your captors wanted sooner or later - you might as well keep your fight for a better opportunity… And if Rokuro succeeded in knocking out some of the centralised systems, he'd stand a much better chance against the mechanised soldiers.

As if on cue the lights flickered, and he smiled coldly as he checked the energy bar on his borrowed weapon. Three quarters full… The pistol packed one hell of a punch and had already blasted the control circuits right out of the torsos of two guards he'd stumbled on. Hannibal's plan to roll these out to the Millennial Thieves as a whole couldn't come soon enough, he thought, hefting the weapon in his hand. Nice piece as well… not too heavy, well balanced and if you respected it, accurate as well as powerful. He'd love to shake the maker by the hand - and then offer up a very lucrative contract…He grinned as he walked. Sorry Old Man… you might just have a fight on your hands to pry this out of my fingers when I get back

More heavy bootsteps clanged in lockstep ahead of him, and he waited at the crossroads of the corridor. A Tee junction, he'd got few options - no convenient doorways to hide in, he just had to hope they didn't look down the corridor he was in as they marched past - unless of course they were part of the teams herding him, in which case…

Oh… to hell with it. He glanced quickly around the corner, then started shooting before they could get their metal heads around the fact they were being shot at. Mechanisation, after all, was not known for making people any smarter than they'd started out… if anything, the opposite. He'd downed four out of the six before any of them started shooting back, dropped and rolled to avoid the blaster fire and the other two were left tottering on headless bodies before he got back to his feet. He didn't wait around to see if they'd gotten off a call for reinforcements. He took off down the corridor at a ground covering lope in the direction of the hangar…

…only to be slammed against the wall, his right arm hit with a searing pain from shoulder to elbow. With a curse he switched the pistol from his now useless right hand into his left. And snapped off a shot at the prone machine-head (sans said head…) on the floor who'd shot at him. Stupid… stupid… you forgot they don't keep their brains in their heads… Hissing through his teeth he leaned against the wall and tried to think through the pain. So much for trying not to get hurt… He pushed himself back upright and glared at the door to the hangar bay, about fifty feet down the corridor. A trap, for certain… but if his aunt was concentrating on him, Rokuro had a better chance.

Gritting his teeth, he rechecked his pistol charge, then walked as steadily as he could towards the nearest door, which had barely hissed open, sliding into the wall, before he was staring into the business end of a pistol. 'Going somewhere?' The single gauge in the face of the mechanised soldier seemed to brighten, rather like a smug smile.

It wasn't looking quite so smug after that dial exploded. Blaze shot from the hip, the blast from the powerful weapon taking out the soldier's head completely, and showering him with white-hot shrapnel. Its two companions ducked out of the way, leaving Blaze time - and the room - to dive for cover behind a work console. From those cramped quarters he was able to take out the remaining guards. Looking down on the smoking remains, he smirked. Whoever had designed this little beauty of a pistol had been a genius…

The door was shut behind him, and he figured he had a few minutes of breathing room before someone came blasting through it. He risked a look around the room he'd found, and leaned back against the wall when he saw what he'd so blithely walked into. This hangar had to link to the docking bay for a large transport ship, because he could see the conveyor belt that left the room at a higher level started at the business end of a loading bay for a ship of a similar class to the one Hannibal had blasted into oblivion a few short days ago - he recognised the configuration of the rear end sealed against the force-shielded doors.

A conveyor belt upon which body after body - the rows were three deep - was carried out of sight into the upper floor of the hangar, where a large retort-like structure glowed with a strange blue light. The ship must have almost fully discharged its cargo, because the conveyor was passing his position now empty of bodies, and the apparatus was being winched out of the ship by some unseen automated process. Flashes of blue light flickered between the still forms and the retort as each row of bodies passed through an archway at the top before they were carried away towards another transport on the other side of the massive chamber. Walking around to the other side of that huge automated machine he watched in horror as the bodies tumbled into a high-sided conveyor that moved towards the other ship's hold.

Lifeless, and like so much refuse… And no sign of any mechanical bodies to receive the minds… 'Monstrous…' he whispered. But what for…?

Monstrous, you say? Is existence in a mortal form programmed from birth to decay into senescence; prey to illness, injury, starvation - all and any kind of harm that can befall humanity, in an uncaring universe - so wonderful that you'd cling to it no matter the cost?

The voice - his aunt's - augmented and mechanical, seemed to come from all sides.

'You're taking away people's choice!' He shouted.

Freedom to die is no real choice, Promethium's disembodied voice told him. You are family, Karyu… for you, a nano-tech synthetic body, and access to the Flame of Life would await, if you'd only just embrace what it is I offer.

Blaze looked up at the blue flames dancing in the glass retort. 'Flame of Life… You're extracting the life force from these people?' He swallowed hard, fighting the urge to be physically sick. He backed away towards the hangar door he'd come in by.

Those who cannot or will not embrace Immortality will provide the fuel for those who do. You prefer them to eke out their miserable existences on planets which can barely sustain life? Under my rule all pain and suffering will end, Karyu. Why must your side of our family be so stubborn? You will be amongst the privileged… if you feel so strongly about such things, then join me - be part of the solution…

'Never!' he shouted. 'Only the dead feel no pain, remember?'

You spend far too much time listening to that ancient bleeding heart… she snarled. Perhaps you ought to ask him one day just how he comes by that philosophy. Hannibal should have choked on his own guilt decades ago. Before you judge me, ask him how red his hands are…

A tall figure in a long black dress stepped out of the shadows near to the exit, several machine soldiers flanking her, weapons at the ready. Another clone - an adult this time, her long blond hair falling down to her knees, held back from her face by a copy of the red-enamelled crown. 'Somehow, I didn't think you'd be swayed. Like my saintly sister, you're far too fond of the masses of humanity…'

'You were too, once,' he told her sadly, staring into her eyes - cold, blank, and dead, he thought with a shudder. As though whatever moved behind them was no longer human. 'You were raised as one of them… you loved your adoptive parents… Ban… your daughters…' He sighed, at a childhood memory: 'Nephews? Our mother would not have approved, ane-ue,' she'd laughed, delighted and knelt down, opening her arms and smiling at them. 'Don't be shy, boys, I'm your aunt!' .'Even Marin and I… when you met us, and mom told you who we were, you embraced us, remember?'

'I'm no longer ruled by such trivial sentiments,' she sneered. 'And as for the rest? Ban? My daughters?' The clone laughed harshly. 'My beloved husband turned on me when he realised what our plan would entail. My girls… Well, Emeraldas is far too much like my sister, but I have hopes for Maetel…' she smiled coldly. 'My beautiful Maetel… so lovely, and she, like me, can be so forever…' she crooned. Blaze shivered.'That treacherous little red-haired bitch can rot in her precious human body for all I care…' she snarled this last so venomously that Blaze took a step back. There was a madness on her beautiful face and in those cold eyes. 'But I can use you, Karyu. Willing or not, you will make a fine addition to this station. You will find your attitude adjusts very quickly once the process begins…'

'I have a better use for him.' A cloaked, hooded figure moved from the shadows - almost forming from the shadows - to stand beside the clone. Blaze could only see the glint of a golden armour underneath the concealing cloak. The rest was a swirling darkness. 'Give him to us… We have questions about this Hannibal and his organisation - he'll serve us far better with one of us inside his head, than as one of your nuts and bolts.'

'...you wish to plant a traitor in their midst, Lord Hardgear?' Promethium asked. She smiled coldly and nodded slowly. 'Well, I can always find the other one to make an example of, I suppose.'

The figure in the mantle gestured to the soldiers imperiously, and Promethium's clone stepped back. Blaze frowned. She'd capitulated so easily… just who or what was this man - creature - whatever? But: he had bigger problems. About eight of them, all looking at though their metallic fingers were more than a little twitchy on the triggers…

'Now, now…' the cloaked figure wagged a golden finger at him. 'Don't get any ideas, human…'

The lights flickered and went out, returning with a dull red glow as the emergency generator kicked in. Not much of a distraction, but enough… 'Too late,' Blaze muttered as he fired from the hip, raking the borrowed pistol's fire along the ranks of the soldiers moving towards him. His blast caught the clone queen in the back and she went down with a strangled cry, echoed by the mechanical scream of rage from the room's communication array. He dived across and over the conveyor, placing it between him and his would-be captors. From cover a couple of targeted shots hit the cloaked creature, which staggered, but didn't go down. It did however slide back into the concealing shadows at the edge of the hangar. That just left five to deal with, unless anything crept up on him from the other end of the hangar… How the hell he was going to get out of this however… That, he was still working on when the unmistakable sound of a plasma shot from a fighter sizzled through the air, closely followed by the thrumming noise of the engines of a Space Wolf. The undercarriage had barely clanked onto the deck before he heard blaster fire being exchanged, and someone calling his name.

Hannibal. Well hello to the cavalry… 'Here!' he peered carefully over his cover, to see a tall, helmeted figure leaping down from the cockpit and blasting away at anything that moved that wasn't him…

'Blaze!'

'Boss!' He stood up, and staggered as an unexpected shot caught him in the shoulder of the same arm he'd been hit in earlier. Gritting his teeth he struggled to keep his feet, as a blast whistled past his left ear, to take out his assailant with a gurgling mechanical scream. It must have fallen forwards however, as something hard and heavy slammed into his knees from behind and sent him flying.

'Blaze!' Blasterfire and the clang of booted steps were all mixed up in his head. Then Hannibal was kneeling beside him, shielding him from another shot and blasting away with the hand cannon he carried, before lifting him up. 'Can you stand?'

'Better that than being carried like a girl…' Blaze muttered. Hannibal laughed briefly behind his helmet. 'Relax, you're really not my type. What did you do with Oki?'

A frantic clanging was registering on the edge of his awareness, and he managed to focus on a plate in the floor. 'There!' he pointed.

He had to let Hannibal haul the sopping wet aquatic out of the conduit. Oki shook himself off not unlike a wet dog, drops flying off his blue hair. 'I heard the sounds of gunfire and swam towards it. I hope they didn't damage our planes because we really need to get out of here!'

'What did you do?' Blaze asked as they ran - or in Blaze's case, limped quickly - to the Space Wolves parked near to Hannibal's. Well lookit that… valet parking, at least they wouldn't have to venture out to where they'd left them on the external structures… The force-field embedded in the rigid helmet-docking collar being the only thing between him and vacuum had never been his idea of fun.

Oki grinned evilly. 'Might have just overheated the main servers… and flooded the corridors leading to them. In about ten minutes this place will blow - with the main computer systems out, there's nothing to control the power generator…'

'I'll be happy to pat you on the back later,' Hannibal called out. 'For now - run!'

They ran. Blaze struggled to get into the cockpit, one handed, but managed to slide into his seat eventually. He was still the last out of the hangar, following Oki's plane as they threaded their way back out through the superstructure, emerging from the force field and punching the afterburners seconds ahead of the shockwave and the debris as the station began to break up behind them. He wasn't too sure if the scream he heard of rage and frustration was real, or just in his head, as he wrestled one-handed with the controls.

They were probably halfway back to the Miranda when he passed out.


Light. Bright lights. Even with his eyes closed there was no escaping them. He opened them again, blinked rapidly, and tried to roll over in the bed he was in to make them go away.

It didn't work, and the nicely numb floating sensation he'd woken up to was sharply dispelled by searing pain as he rolled onto his left side. Trying and failing not a whimper (or worse), he rolled back onto his back, helped by strong, but decidedly feminine hands.

'Easy there, tiger. Don't undo my handy work.'

He looked across at the face leaning over him. Brown eyes. Silvering blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. The Miranda's resident medic. 'Alicia?'

'Well at least you know who I am…'

'Hard to forget - you've been stitching us up for as long as I can remember.' He allowed the older woman to help him to sit up. 'Where…'

'Back on board the Miranda,' she told him. 'You had both your brother and gramps worried for a while… I'd advise against using that shoulder much for a couple of weeks, but then we're not likely to be doing much until we get back to Carmilla…'

'Gramps…' he grinned at her. 'I don't think I can ever wrap my head around you calling the old man that…'

'Well… more like a great-grandfather, but who's counting?' She plumped his pillows up and helped him settle into a sitting position. 'Your partner in crime is fine by the way - I sent him back to his own ship. Apart from a few bruises from being banged around in a confined space, he's fine. You however…' she sighed. 'Honestly… I helped you into this world, I'd appreciate it if you'd try to avoid me having to help you out of it… for one thing, your mother is a very dear friend.'

'I'm pretty sure he'd rather any concern was on his own behalf...' Hannibal drawled from the doorway. He leaned against the side and folded his arms. 'We had to bring you back on auto-pilot. And don't think you're going anywhere anytime soon, you'd lost a lot of blood - you had some nasty cuts from that exploding machine-head, as well as a bad hit to your arm.'

'Did we take out that station?'

Hannibal smirked. 'Well that one won't be bothering anyone again… but the news from Lar Metal whilst you were out isn't great - seems the Queen has been rather busy - her new machine body is nanotech, and controlled by remote. Self-repairing, and probably controlled from somewhere that isn't here…'

'So it was all for nothing?' Blaze tried - and failed - not to let his disappointment creep into his voice.

Hannibal walked into the room and sat down on the edge of his bed. 'Not for nothing. We took out this node in her network, and we know a hell of a lot more than we did beforehand. Your father's report - backed up by that brat on board the Arcadia- makes it clear we've got a major fight on our hands. Not just for humanity's existence but for our very souls… and despite that sounding horribly pretentious, it happens to be true.'

'Never let it be said anyone in my family ever did anything by halves…' Blaze sighed, 'for good or ill… we always overachieve…'

Hannibal smiled grimly. 'Oh… I know the feeling,' he said with a heartfelt sigh. 'Believe me. And often with the best of intentions…'

'Long experience?' Blaze twitted him weakly.

'My father, my brother… both my nephews. Thankfully only one of my grand-nephews… all five of my daughters at one time or another…Ow!' this last was directed to Alica who'd given him a thump on the shoulder. 'What was that for?'

'Heading off the list before you got to grand-daughters,' she said, with a wink to Blaze. 'And whilst I have your attention, kindly get your arse off this bed and out of my sick bay. This one needs his rest. It took me long enough to shoo his brother out of here…'

'Who's the captain on this ship?'

'Couldn't care less, in this room.' She leaned down and dropped a peck on his cheek. 'I love you gramps - but you should get some rest as well, and you know the rules.'

'Ship's doctors… nothing ever changes,' he rumbled at her. But he shooed, leaving Blaze alone with his thoughts. His arm and shoulder had stopped hurting and were now just tingling, and he'd also stopped feeling thick headed. He tried to take a look under the bandage, only to get his fingers slapped by his exasperated doctor.

''Leave it!' she snapped at him. 'I'll take another look in a couple of hours.'

'It feels fine now…'

'Thank Gramps - you were in a pretty bad way when he carried you in here. Your suiseijun friend couldn't believe you'd still been on your feet. I'm not a big fan of Gramps donating, but we were struggling with your blood type, since there's only your brother on board who's Lar Metallian and not to put too fine a point on it, your lot have seriously screwed with your biology…'

'But Hannibal…'

'Firstly - universal donor. Secondly, long term exposure to dark matter. This ship's not, as I understand it, quite such a mess as that damned pirate ship, but it's still got a dark matter engine, and Gramps - somehow in his long life - also managed to be on the receiving end of a serious infusion at some point. You'll heal faster than normal…'

'I'm Lar Metallian,' he pointed out. 'That's kind of standard…'

'Faster even for you,' she replied, with a jab at his barely be-sheeted midsection. 'Now be a good boy, lie down and cover up those abs before half my staff start getting ideas…' She sighed. 'Them and most of the female crew members - what is it with you boys? I swear you're like catnip to those girls…'

He grinned. 'Don't worry - I've no desire to find myself marched up the aisle with the business end of Hannibal's hand cannon in the small of my back… Even mother called him spectacularly old-fashioned on that score!' He smirked at a recent memory. 'Marin's already had The Talk about his intentions towards Aria… Poor sod.' He looked across to where his effects were laid out on the top of the nearby cabinet. 'I suppose it was too much to hope he let me keep that pistol…' he sighed wistfully as he spotted his empty holster.

'That one, yes.' Hannibal was back in the doorway, ignoring Alicia's glare. He placed a gunbelt and holster next to Blaze's left hand. 'There's someone else I have that earmarked for, one day. But I did get the engineers to fire up the printers. You, Marin and Oki have the first prototypes for the production run I'll initiate once we get back to Carmilla. And there's also this…' He placed a longer weapon on the sheet next to the holstered pistol. Blaze reached out with his uninjured arm to touch the guard of the gravity sabre. 'I gave your mother one of these years ago. It was past time you lads had one - yours and your brother's are a pair…' Blaze stroked the engraving on the curved guard: a crescent moon, enclosing two stars, with a red enamel dragon sinuously coiled around the symbol of the Millennial Thieves. 'Marin's is blue… just so you don't get them mixed up.'

'Five claws?' Blaze noted, with a grin. 'You want me arrested?'

Hannibal smiled. 'Oh… I rather think your aunt would have you hung, drawn and quartered just for breathing… Imperial dragons are the least of your problems.' He began to walk away but paused in the doorway. 'Besides - your mother was the elder… technically, you two are the heirs to the rightful queen…' There was a bleakness in his hazel eyes that wasn't something Blaze was used to seeing.

'She never wanted it,' he said softly, looking the older man in the eyes. 'But I think…'

'Selen walked away from ruling your people for what seemed like good reasons at the time, and they were. Yayoi… your aunt… was a good ruler.'

'So what in the name of Holy Lar went so wrong?' Blaze asked, bleakly. 'Why did a kind, caring woman suddenly decide that fucking genocide and forced conversion to machines was the right thing to do?'

'Gute Vorsätze gut und schön sind…' Hannibal murmured. 'But oh… they come back to bite us… And if I knew the answer to the question of what can drive a man - or anyone - to do so much harm to so many in wanting to do good, I'd sleep better myself at night.' He sighed and shook his head. 'Never mind. When Alicia lets you out of bed, we've got work to do. The pair of you will transfer to another Blackstar, I'll shuffle the commanders around. Oki's already spoken to Layla Shura on destiny - we'll have reinforcements.'

'Reinforcements?' Blaze looked at him, a puzzled frown wrinkling his brow. 'I thought we'd taken out that station?'

'We did,' Hannibal replied bleakly. 'But the long range Time Radar picked up a fleet coming this way from the Andromeda Galaxy - and I had a call from your father that made for unsettling listening. Not to put too fine a point on it, as of now, we've got a fight on our hands - Promethium's plans go a hell of a lot deeper than merely mechanising humanity…'

'That part I'd kind of guessed…' Blaze drawled. 'Those she doesn't convert will be used as fuel for the rest it seems…'

'Not quite.' Hannibal's face held a look of tranquil fury. 'That's only part of it. And I need to take the Miranda and look into things for myself - I might be a while, so after you've dealt with those ships, head home. You're going to be needed…'

'Where are you going?'

'Earth first,' Hannibal replied. 'Then a place out in the depths of space called The Gate of Yedar. And don't give me that look - I'm not taking either of you this time. I promised your mother I'd send you back as soon as was operationally feasible. You'll both be needed.'

It was always pointless trying to change the old man's mind. Blaze didn't even try. Once he listened to his father's report, later, he agreed with the assessment: They were going to be needed back home.

Just how much, he wasn't to understand until a lot later.

Ende

Author's note: As per usual, characters and events are plundered from all over the Leijiverse - Rokuro Oki is actually from the sequel manga to Submarine Super 99, the copy of which I can never find when I want to remind myself of the title! Several events owe more to Mugen Kido SSX, Space Symphony Maetel and Maetel Legend, and Blaze is of course a thinly veiled expy of Warrius Zero… ;-)