Jokers Wild, Set 3, Side Story 1: The Club
AUTHOR'S FOREWORD:
There is a whole side to the advancing Newtype Talents of the Mermaid team that I could not easily put into the mainline of the story because the chapter lengths are already very long and I could not do this material justice in such a short window. So, with the encouragement of Takeshi Yamato pretty much egging me on, I have set up the definitive background story for how the Mermaid Team has developed their NT skills into what they are, and the process will definitely take everyone for a ride. And, as these things happen, he came up with a few good ideas for talents and sub-talents that I could make use of, so here we are and here shall it go.
This is planned out for at least a good eight chapters that I will be doing in a shorter and more intimate format than my normal mainline chapters. You won't see much in the way of fighting here, simulated or real, this is more about the use and expansion of NT talents and not all of that business is combat-centric. In fact, in the first chapter, the closest thing you get to a fight is Sionet threatening to gut a guy and drag his entrails down the hall. So yeah, there are many ways to the pinnacle of skill and this crew is on one of the strategy trajectories to make it work. Gundam touched on this concept slightly, in that not all Newtypes were repeatedly exposed to combat to get to their position, and I intend to extrapolate that concept in multiple directions.
Also note that this story will definitely focus on personal relationships to a much higher degree than I normally do in my works, so be prepared for that. And, given the window of the story, there will be a lot of blossoming romance and action related to it in the coming sections, as this story pretty much fits into the window of CE 477 and partway into CE478, which span of time is where the two biggest relationships of the story really begin to blossom. So, be prepared for that to go in multiple directions, some expected, some wildly unexpected for everyone involved. As always, my dice have a say in the matters.
Other than that, not much else to say in the forward.
-x-x-x-x- DISCLAIMERS -x-x-x-x-
As stated in prior works, this story contains a lot of characters, units, governments, history that I have created and that I have incorporated from other works. A lot of this is a multi-crossover fanfiction, basically, with elements as far-flung as anime, books, television, video games and board games. I will introduce most of the material as is needed, the rest (and interesting or entertaining facts) will be footnoted in my usual fashion. Thus, when you see (0) it means to check footnote 0 at the bottom of the document for some interesting intel. Seriously, go ahead, scroll down to the bottom of the chapter and check it, there is a footnote 0 at the bottom. I guarantee it. You might even find it useful. Much of the footnotes will be a clarification to something that people might find confusing, like an unfamiliar concept or term. Some of it may be humorous as well.
Note that the primary warship in the story was built using Battletech's rules from Aerotech 2, but is not legal for Battletech / Aerotech play, as it is well over twice too heavy for the maximum weight limit. Specs for the involved units will be included in dribbles in the story and I will do a full TRO section of the various units at the end of the chapters, as there are some that like the conversions from Gundam to Battletech. By the way, if anyone has thus far actually used one of the conversions in an Aerotech 2 game, please message or review with your opinions of the conversion.
Purists take note: I am trying to scale all included elements into a relatively cohesive set of comparisons here, though there are marked disparities in all included elements. They will be obvious, as they should be. When universes collide, the sound they make is loud and very very scary. There is simply no way to get around it, but one can make it (somewhat) logical. This will mean that I WILL have to call Gundam on its engineering problems, and I WILL call Battletech on its engineering problems. There's plenty of FUBAR to go around.
GENERAL DISCLAIMER: I own no rights to any included material from any other stories. I intend no offense in such use.
VIOLENCE WARNING: It is the root of all Gundam, for without violence there is no war. Otherwise, it is called 'negotiations', follow? And even I cannot imagine a 'Gundam' with only negotiating, such would be less entertaining than watching paint dry.
OC WARNING: This story is OC-centric, and not in the typical fashion. Of course the main characters and a lot of the secondary and side characters of SEED, SEED Destiny, and SEED Astray will show up. You have been warned.
BAAAAAD LANGUAGE WARNING: This story revolves around a fleet of misfits and jokers. Expect foul language; they are Navy and Marines, after all. Also expect possible suggestiveness, crazy situations, interpretiveness, analysis, and lots and lots of violence. You have been warned.
DICE WARNING: Events in this story will be controlled by the dice, and are concrete, true-random results provided by number generation services. These results will change events dynamically and/or modify established plans. After all, there is no mistress more cruel than fate.
POLITICAL WARNING: Political concepts and methods may be presented in this story that may conflict with established 'norms'. This is deliberate on the part of the author, to show different and rather sharp viewpoints on these subjects. The views expressed most likely do not match the views of the author, and are also subject to the dice at any time.
ANTI-POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WARNING: AT NO TIME will this story be politically correct. Real life is not politically correct, much less 'nice' in some definitions of the word. If you take issue with this, I recommend finding another read.
SEXUAL WARNING: This side story in particular will touch on multiple sexual themes and matters throughout the chapters. This will include both direct depiction and indirect. IF YOU ARE NOT LEGAL TO READ SUCH MATERIAL, PLEASE CLOSE OUT OF THIS STORY NOW.
And now, onto the main story!
Jokers Wild, Set 3, Side Story 1: The Club
Chapter 01: The Beginning of Something Strange
(STORY SECTION: Joker's Wild 3, Chapter 7, from after the first section to before the Blue Terra section)
(30 October, CE 476, 1100 Hours Local (Dendez West) Time)
(Mackie's Club, City of Westport, Dendez Continent, Planet Carver V, Protectorate of Mendel)
"Listen up!" Mackie said after the group conclave was convened. "We have three things that we need to hammer out and quickly. The reason why will be very understandable shortly — " Mack was interrupted by the opening of the front door; "or right now, I guess."
"Are we too early, sir?" The lead student of the incoming group asked. "The Employment Counselor said you started around 11-A."
"Miss Lesko is not wrong, we're just starting the prep work with a morning briefing. So, welcome to the students of Gregor Mendel High to your inaugural pre-shift briefing. So, huddle in. We'll do introductions after we break up to begin the morning setup."
The crew was fairly quick to huddle up around Mackie. "Welcome," Kyle said to one of the larger guys that had joined up. The two shook hands a moment thereafter.
"Okay, that was supposed to be point number one, Gregor Mendel High has joined the agreement with the Club, so now we have both of the major High Schools in Westport and the one High School in Westhaven contributing personnel. Gregor Mendel has the early watch, Edgar Korne High has the mid-watch, and the late shift is Westhaven."
"So, we're golden on the next phase of the plan?" Nike asked.
"Are you trying to kill the lead, Nike?" Mackie asked with a smile.
Nike returned the smile. "With a beam saber to the guts, yes," she said with a shit-eater grin.
"Good, because the fun's really gonna start here shortly. Point two, I completed the purchase of the warehouse next door. I have some contractor buddies who are going to swing by tomorrow to begin drawing up plans for the new facility. Any recommendations?"
"Better water heaters, plural," Talia noted.
"Seconded," Miguel said.
"Thirded," Sionet raised her hand.
"In the gym area, can we put in a ring for boxing or wrestling?" Darien asked.
"If you're talking wrestling such as Carver Unlimited, you know that is scripted, right?" Kristi asked deadpan. Carver Unlimited Wrestling was a revival of the old TNA / WWE style of 'sports entertainment' that blended showmanship with a modicum of legitimate combat and wrestling technique.
"It sorta counts?" Darien asked. "That, and I occasionally have a desire to powerbomb Julio. No reason."
"You know it's on," Julio pointed an accusatory finger at Darien.
"Boys, boys, let's not lose our heads over fights to come," Mirriam waved them down, which was good for a chuckle from everyone in the circle.
"And point three, Mack?" Sionet asked to bring the crew back to focus.
"Point three, the Mermaid Team crew will be training the incoming crews and assisting as needed in the bar and grill area, but once everyone is up to speed, we will need to work on moving the pods over to the basement of the warehouse next door. The sooner, the better, as I have plans for the downstairs area."
"I'll cover moving the pods," Sionet said. "My project, my goal, my responsibility," she said to take some of the heat off Mack.
Mackie opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it, and silenced himself before saying a word. "How soon can you get that in motion?"
"I'll call in a work ticket with Allster Enterprises, see what they have available in terms of move capacity," Sionet said. "Worst case, we rent a grav lift and move them ourselves."
"And run a long patch cable over to the network connection here in the basement?" Darien asked.
Sionet groaned. She had not thought about that snag. "Good point. Have to get with the data provider to run new service." Sionet fished the now-infamous notepad out of her bra band, flipped it open to a new page, and started taking notes. Ten seconds later, she flipped it closed and secured it in her preferred storage spot.
"Okay, that's different," one of the lady staff recruits from Gregor Mendel said. "Never thought about that."
"Word of caution, don't store anything in your bra band that can be destroyed by boob sweat," Talia noted. "Electronics can be the worst offenders."
"Edible items are also a very bad idea. Don't ask me how I know," Beatrice pointed out.
"Keep it light and non-chafing," Sionet recommended. "Anyway, move the pods, move the connections, and we'll need an electrician to make sure the wiring is up to snuff. Might also talk to the Allster troops about expanding the pod array and controller, and maybe even add in a Command Console."
"You do tend to soak up a lot of pod space as a unit, so expanding the array makes sense," Kristi pointed out. "Can't think of a better use for those old dust-magnets, though."
"In case word has not been passed around, Mermaid Team here, meaning the original staff of the bar and grill area, have been subcontracted out from under me for the purposes of becoming Network Trainers on the Pod Network," Mackie explained for the crew. "And the Commandos have already taken interest in them, which means I will eventually lose them to the maw of the Mendel Machine, hence trying to get extra crew in here."
"Ten hours a day, we're helping on the Pod Network with training standards for anyone who is working toward real pilot qualifications. And training ourselves up," Miguel explained. "I give no guarantees on this job, and it certainly is not a career, but while you go through school and advanced academy or college, it is certainly an option to help with funds."
"You will eventually dead-end here, this is not a permanent job," Kristi said. "Still, if you can make it here, you can make it just about anywhere. And we see to those who work here, always."
"Any questions before we break down and begin morning prep?" No hands or voices were raised. "All right, then, Beatrice is Head Waitress, who here is in for that job?"
-x-x-x-
(4 November, CE 476, 2130 Hours Local (Dendez West) Time)
(Club Floor Area, Mackie's Club, City of Westport, Dendez Continent, Planet Carver V, Protectorate of Mendel)
Since the takeover of the new galley and floor crew, Sionet's main cleaning responsibility came down to cleaning up after the kitchen shut down. Which was all well and good, now that there were two full-time dishwashers and Sionet, cleanup was done quickly and efficiently, so all of them could be out of the kitchen to mingle for a little while. And since Sionet's official job function starting tomorrow was to train and teach, her little pang of guilt was officially gone. Ten hours (or more) a day going forward would be her future in the pods, and silently she relished it.
"Heyo!" Julio said as Sionet approached the bar and took a seat. "All done in the kitchen?"
"We're cleaned and ready to go," Sionet nodded twice.
"What's your pleasure?" he asked.
"Something non-alcoholic, I don't want to get into a nightcap habit," she admitted.
"Here," Julio gave her a tonic and lime spritzer — completely non-alcoholic — and set her a can of Sprite next to it. "Not sure how well you tolerate sugar before bed, but remember we have a 0900 briefing with Elaine on the Network Training Program. Don't want to be late for our first day."
"I'll live," Sionet said deadpan before she took a slug of the tonic and chased it with a slug of Sprite.
"So, how's your pervo sense working out tonight?" Darien asked as Julio went down the bar to serve another round for a barfly.
"Haven't really tapped it yet. Think I should?" Sionet asked.
"Yeah, I think so," Darien said. "I want to see if you're sensing what I've been seeing tonight."
"Testing me?" Sionet asked a bit archly, then smiled to take the sting out of it.
"Drilling you, if you want to think of it that way," Darien said with an equal smile. Sionet considered it for a minute, and figured it was a good drill — orders from the Commandos were to push her senses to the limit and see if she could awaken new avenues and talents, so…
Sionet took another slug of the tonic and closed her eyes, focusing inward on her senses more than anything else. The song shift from Progressive Trance to Synthwave helped her mind relax a bit — she did not immediately recognize the change, but welcomed it after the fact — and that relaxation opened up her senses even wider.
The first hint of the perversion she caught was just inside the door, the booths against the front wall of the room, specifically the second and third booths — two couples. "Front wall, second and third booths. Two couples, one is wildly pervy, the other is quiet pervy or only one of them has the perv on."
"Good call, the second listing I think the guy wants some ass, the girl isn't interested from what I can tell. First listing, the two of them have been kissing and playing not-very-covert grab-ass off-and-on."
"Okay," Sionet took a slug of sprite and set the can down a bit more forcefully than she thought she had. Still, she was relaxed again after a moment and reached out into the crowd with her mind before her hearing or sight. The first two she put out of mind, she had their measure and went looking for others. Finding the first pervy pair down the right-hand wall (when facing the front of the building) was easy enough. "Right wall, second down from the front corner. Feels like a guy and two girls with the perv flag at full mast."
"At least one of the girls, I'd say," Darien acknowledged.
"And I'm starting to lose focus," Sionet grumbled.
"Take a couple minutes to relax, finish your tonic and I'll mix you another before we go again."
Sionet let go of her senses for a minute and simply sipped at the drink she was working on. The problem she had quickly developed with her Newtype senses was that as she read a crowd, she would be good for three to five 'checks' before her NT focus dropped off rapidly, making the last check highly unlikely to succeed. If she paused trying for five minutes or so, she could go again for another four or six checks or so. That issue she had checked with the Commandos, and they had reported that most Newtypes started off roughly the same — their first foray into using their skill would burn out quickly, but with practice it would increase until it was a usable long-term skillset.
The delay she used to work on her mundane senses — sight and hearing specifically, and observation skills. Farther down the right hand wall and in the tables over there, she thought she had caught sight of at least two tables that looked like the perv was on, and figured they would be an easy check for confirmation when she was ready to do another round. That observation caused her a minor case of tunnel-vision, in that Kyle hit the stool next to her and startled her briefly when he poked her shoulder.
"Waha! What — done already?" Sionet asked when she realized who had poked her.
"New kids have taken over," Kyle said. "Lost in thought, or working on your senses?"
"Senses," Sionet admitted.
"Any luck?" Kyle asked after a moment.
Before Sionet could answer, she started sensing her mind come into focus on the perv sense — and this time she did not need to actively use it, she could tell that someone was thinking perverted about herself. Determining who it was took only a second, Kyle was looking at the reflection of her cleavage in the bar mirror in front of both of them.
"Quite a bit of luck tonight, and it appears you are the latest victim thereof," she said with a smile before she took a slug of her tonic.
"Uh, oh, yeah, busted," Kyle raised his hands in the classic surrender pose.
"Anticipation is a helluva thing, isn't it?" Sionet asked after a moment.
Kyle simply chuckled at the near-rhetorical question. There really was only one answer about it, given that Sionet had just sensed him daydreaming about her bust. "If you'll forgive my fantasizing in the interim, I'm waiting for you to be ready in that regard."
"Forgiven, readily," Sionet said. Truth to tell, she was anticipating those encounters to come, but she still cautioned herself that she really didn't want to end up pregnant at an inopportune time and disrupt her chances of making her way into the Commandos. Time enough for that after she had her post, she figured. (Not to mention that being pregnant would make training for the physical standards hard as well, a double-whammy on her road to her chosen career).
The combination of factors — her career choice, her Newtype Senses, and her decision on her family-to-come, would create a path to the future that nobody sitting at the bar could predict.
-x-x-x-
(7 November, CE 476, 1030 Hours Local (Dendez West) Time)
(Zabby's General Store, Northern Westport, Dendez Continent, Carver V)
Sionet was the last person out of the crew van of the four occupants today. "What kind of weirdos are we going to encounter today?" Sionet asked as something of a wan joke. In following with the traditions of large-box general stores, these places sometimes attracted people of questionable mental stability. And sometimes, those persons of questionable mental stability got in to harass the people within.
"You know how it is, same shit, different department," Beatrice answered with a crooked smile. "My bet is on a flasher in the baby goods aisle."
"I won't bet against that," Benjamin said. "There's a lot of weird in this city."
"Stalker in the grocery section," Nike dropped her guess. "Two bags of gummy worms on it."
"What direction are you going today?" Talia asked.
"Quick run through clothes, then over to housewares and cleaning chems," Sionet said. "I'm willing to drop a few bucks for some better air fresheners for the bathroom and bunk room," she noted.
"Oh, you invest in some good lemon scented fresheners, Miriam love you long time," Beatrice noted in a faked accent.
"There'll be a waiting line," Talia said. "There have been some times someone dropped a toxic dump in the can and it gassed me out of there," the hands-down largest lady of the crew said.
"Oi vey," Nike said. "I remember a couple of those myself."
"The prosecution rests," Sionet said.
"I'm with you, counsel," Nike hastened to catch up to Sionet as they entered Zabby's and broke left for the clothes racks.
Sionet and Nike delved into their quick favorite section of the store, the clothing section, and both made a beeline for the underwear section. "You too?" Sionet asked as Nike passed her for her size area.
"Yeah, the elastic on a few of my pairs are toast," she said as she threw a couple packs of panties in the front of their shared cart — Nike used the front of the cart, Sionet used the rear.
"Same," Sionet dropped a pack of her choice in the rear of the cart.
"Spot me, I'm goin' in," Nike said after she grabbed a couple likely candidates for bras and started for the ladies' dressing rooms.
"Eyes on, be there in a second," Sionet took a few moments to hook some personal choices for clothes tryouts on the handlebar of the cart, then started pulling it toward the rooms as well.
Nike made it to the door and put her hand on the handle to open it, and just as the door handle rattled did Sionet sense instant perversion— "Wait — " she started to shout, but Nike hauled the door open faster than Sionet could shout. On the inside was a middle-aged transient in sweats, who on seeing that the opener was a younger lady, proceeded to flash Nike. Said lady simply stared in disbelief for a couple moments, then: "Aww, damnit, I really did not need to see that!" Nike shouted at the guy in clear disgust.
"What?" The attendant looked at Nike, and could just barely see what was going on in the room. "Damnit! Franco!" She grabbed a taser out from under her work table, took the two steps to where Nike was being shined on, took one step past Nike, and zapped the pervert with the 120,000 volts of the stun gun. The pervert dropped to the ground in a heap and didn't move for several seconds after the hit. "Miss, can you press the red security button under my work counter, right side of the open bay?" she pointed to Sionet and then to her table.
"Will do," Sionet reached into the work counter and quickly pressed the concealed security button. "You know this guy?"
The attendant zapped Franco again to prevent him trying to crawl out of the room. "Franco. He's a local homeless bum with a few screws loose," she gave him a short jolt for good measure. "He's been tresspassed more than once from this store, the local Marines barracks has dealt with him more than once, and — " another zap " — he has a mark on his record that if he conducts any kind of sexual harassment again, he goes before the Star Colonel of the area garrison. So guess what?" The attendant gave him another zap when he tried to lever himself to standing. "This perv gets to go to jail!" Zap. "Do not pass go!" Zap. "Do not collect 200 C-bills!" Zap.
"I get the feeling you've dealt with him a few times," Sionet noted between shocks from the taser, which were quite a bit louder in real life than she expected.
"Once or twice, yeah," the attendant noted with a wry smile, then gave him a zap for good measure.
"What's going — " an approaching security officer asked, then stopped mid-sentence and sighed. "This fuckup again?"
"He's all yours, guys," the attendant backed off and three security / loss prevention troops closed up on him to take control of the transient pervert. Unlike other societies, these security troops were legally allowed to use 'reasonable force' to detain someone committing a crime, and they did so, up to and including using zip-tie cuffs to restrain him and the three were not exactly gentle in dragging him toward the security office.
"Well, that sucked ass," Nike complained.
"Sorry you had to see that, miss," the attendant gave a quick bow to Nike. "Security and management will want to get statements from you two, and the Marines will have to get your statement here shortly. I'll talk to the manager about cutting you two a discount for inconvenience and suffering caused by that lout."
"Way ahead of you, Aimee," an older woman (Sionet guessed 55 or 60) said from behind the work counter for the fitting rooms. "For having to deal with that shithead, I'll cut you a discount when you get to the registers. Just tell the clerk to call me when you get up there."
"Thanks, ma'am!" Sionet said. Personal account size notwithstanding, she was always grateful for a discount.
"Your names?"
"Nike Moravia," Nike identified herself.
"Sionet Neider," her cohort announced herself.
"Well, I would not recommend using that room until it is thoroughly cleaned, let me check the other fitting room to make sure we don't have a tag-team today," the Manager opened up the other room and it was empty. "All good. Once again, my apologies for this incident, and when the Marines are here to take statements, I will call for you over the intercom."
"We'll be there, glad to put a pervert behind bars," Nike said with a savage smile.
-x-x-x-
(10 November, CE 476, 2215 Hours Local (Dendez West) Time)
(Bar and Dancefloor Area, Mackie's Club, City of Westport, Dendez Continent, Planet Carver V, Protectorate of Mendel)
Sionet didn't waste any time after she was done in the kitchen area, she hopped up on the barstool and hunched over the bar. "All right, boss lady?"
"Not completely, no," Sionet said. "All damn day, been coming back to the thought of what Harvey tried doing to us."
"That shit two weeks ago?" Darien asked. "Honestly, Sionet, screw—forget him," he started to say 'screw him' but the entire point of the exercise was that none of the ladies wanted to screw him, and he kept trying.
"He came real close to using a Mafiosi family as a bludgeon against us," Sionet pointed out, still on the morose mental tack.
"And he failed. Seriously, forget him, it's not worth the effort," Darien put a margarita in front of her. "Get your mind out of that gutter-trash, boss. You're way above his station in life."
"Fair point," Kyle noted. "Black Russian, please," he requested.
"Nothing major going on tomorrow morning?" Darien started mixing the drink nonetheless.
"Nah, just a couple minor credit-building matches, the real action tomorrow is afternoon," Sionet said, with the thought of tomorrow's activities on the mind her prior moroseness over Harvey quickly faded.
"Okay, you're two sips in on that margarita, ready to do the perv call?" Darien asked.
"Eh," Sionet stalled and took another sip. "Let's do it."
"Start on your left, back corner past the DJ booth, and work your way around," Darien set the parameter for tonight's drilling.
Sionet set her drink down and focused her mind on the area behind her and over her left shoulder. "Okay, first two booths, no perv. Third booth, just under the screen, two couples, near couple is testing the waters but the far couple is about a step shy of crawling under the booth table and shagging it."
"Man, the mechanics of trying to bang under a table like that makes my back hurt trying to think about it," Kyle said.
"No joke," Darien agreed quickly.
"So, continuing toward the front, next booth is empty, booth under the forward screen has a creeper in it, he's perving over someone else in the bar but I'm not sure who," Sionet pointed out.
"Gauging by where he's been looking, I'd say he's perving over the group of girls over by the front door," Miguel noted as he passed by.
"Possible, but gauging those three, they're perving on each other to a pretty salacious degree," Sionet said after she had been queued in on who was involved. "So, going forward from the creeper, empty booth, non-perv booth, and last booth on that wall is two gay guys ready to do some dolphin diving."
"You really didn't have to put it that way, Sionet," Kyle said in some disgust.
"Yeah, well, a lot of guys think that two girls making bacon is the hottest thing to watch, am I not allowed some eye candy of preference?" Sionet asked in counter.
Kyle took a slug of his Black Russian and sighed. "I concede the bidding."
"Good answer," Darien said.
"Equitable answer," Miguel acknowledged the point.
"Proper answer, all else being equal," Sionet said. "Hell of it is, my sister was much bigger into yaoi porn than I was, but occasionally I would…" she trailed her sentence off when Kyle grinned at her.
"I conceded the bidding, I don't need those kinds of details," he said before he turned back to his drink.
"Okay, so going from the corner booth toward the door, empty booth, non-pevert booth, non-pervert booth, dating couple booth would be my guess, very low perv going on, and I'm getting a weird vibe from the booth adjacent to the door, like there's something there but not easy to read," Sionet admitted.
"Elderly couple," Darien said. "Old-school romantics I would guess."
"That explains that," Sionet said. "So, one more and I'm done for the night, please," and Sionet held up her margarita glass.
"You are getting to be very fast and efficient at this," Darien said. "So, how do we start pushing your test limits?"
"Not sure yet," Sionet accepted her second drink. "I'm thinking maybe do a mall crawl next week, see if we can pick out couples throughout the stores."
"I'm in," Kyle said. "We'll make it a team exercise, see if we can use Sionet as a Newtype sensor ping and we go find the involved persons."
-x-x-x-
(12 November, CE 476, 1015 Hours Local (Dendez West) Time)
(Kitchen Area, Mackie's Club, City of Westport, Dendez Continent, Planet Carver V, Protectorate of Mendel)
"So, oddly enough, here's where I work," Sionet said. "I wash dishes and maintain the kitchen equipment for the team, nothing special."
"You work with bleach a lot, don't you?" Dragon Four asked. "Is that a shop preference or requirement?"
"Health code requirement. Everything has to be sanitized, which is why these things," and Sionet rapped a knuckle on the side of one of the autoclaves; "are running almost continuously after we open."
"How much bleach do you go through in a week?" Dragon Five asked.
"Oh, I'd say at least a good seven, eight liters of it in an average week," Sionet said. "More if we have to host parties or large gatherings, those usually generate even more of a mess."
"Doesn't that screw with your hands?" Dragon Six asked.
"It does, yes, but not bad enough that I can't jump into the simulator if needed," the unstated extension of that note was that Sionet could just as easily jump into a real cockpit and do the business if she had to. "Have to follow the rules, though. The health code inspectors are very humorless." Sionet had found that out in person with their first major inspection. The cute spider plushie in the autoclave had not gone over well with the inspectors.
"Sad but true," Dragon Lead said.
"So, any questions?" Sionet asked. "None?" She asked after a few seconds of nothing being mentioned.
"Well, questions, but not work related," Dragon Five noted.
"Sim crap, this is where we peel off," a couple of just students waved over their shoulders at the group of sim-jocks and walked over to join the group at the stove.
"Okay, before we begin, tell me about yourselves," Sionet requested.
"We're not much, just a group of seven sim junkies from the middle school in Joton," Dragon Lead said. "Yuna Takahashi, I drive a G05 Gundam." Yuna was, for all intents and purposes, average. Sionet figured she could walk past her in downtown Joton and not notice her at all, which was not always a good thing. "I wasn't in for that battle, had a case of the flu, thanks for rescuing my troops in that battle."
"Alyssa Karegen, Dom Tropen driver," Dragon One identified herself. As much as Nike received some ribbing from the team for being the physically smallest of the crew, Alyssa was smaller still. Sionet reminded herself that even with the augment of the genetic engineering programs throughout the Empire, there was still a lot of variability in the genetic lottery still.
"Dragon Two, Mikhail Berrat. Also a Dom Tropen driver," one of the two guys in the crew said. Much like Dragon Lead, he could easily fit the description 'average' and make it stick.
"Nora South, Dragon Three. Quebley Mark 2 driver, NT rating Bravo-six," which meant that Nora was slightly above average (B rating) and about halfway into the slightly above average ranks (the 6 part of her B6 rating). For a large part of Mermaid Team being NT, Sionet could respect the work she had to put in to get to that position, as nobody with the skill started with it, it had to be conditioned to bring out full potential.
"Tallgeese II Driver," the other guy in the team declared. Sionet already knew Dragon Four's name, Henry Rutger, as he was good enough to have landed a shot on her during their morning practice.
"Kylie Maffat, Dragon Five, we've met before," Kylie declared herself. "Long way since that national park meeting in sim, Mermaid Lead," she said with a bow. Among the five ladies, Kylie was the largest of them by half a head.
"Agreed, long way since then, and still thank you for the assistance back then," Dragon Six also gave a short bow. "Jessie Wellerman, I'm the other Gundam Mark Two pilot with Kylie."
"Nine months can change a lot," Sionet noted. "Didn't take you guys long to single me out, so you've probably guessed my callsign by now. My question is, how many of you are in for the long haul?"
"Probably not," Kylie said. "I'm leaning towards sales and marketing, with a strong second in graphics."
"Same," Mikhail noted. "I'm working on my fusion engine quals, I can skip common schooling if I can get my certification before the end of next school year."
"I will probably be applying to a culinary school this year," Dragon Lead said. "Rest of the team is still all in, though, so when they transfer to Joton High, they'll continue."
"It's not a life for everyone," Sionet said. "Still, it's a good, honest life at the sharp end of the spear if you can make it. And four more in the teams would definitely help with expansion."
"Military expansion?" Dragon Three asked.
"Both military and national, we'll need both," Sionet said. "So, think ahead in what direction you want to go. I jumped into this almost blind, but I found a good crew and found my place here. Out and about, it won't be so simple."
"Carver V as an easygoing planet?" Alyssa asked.
"Probably easier than most, yes," Sionet admitted. "We can make it work anywhere, we did it as the Magi in centuries past, we can do it again as Mendel."
Sionet would not know that her words would be prophetic, but not for the exact reason she said so.
-x-x-x-
(16 November, CE 476, 1100 Hours Local (Dendez West) Time)
(Westhaven Mall, City of Westhaven, Dendez Continent, Planet Carver V, Protectorate of Mendel)
Sionet, Talia, Nike, and Darien entered the mall from the western entrance. The facility was built in a five-branch pattern, east, west, north, southeast, and southwest, not quite a star pattern but close enough that one could squint at the store map and see it. The southern branches were the least-traversed of the Club persons, as there was little need for them to go through automotive stores, mechanical and HVAC facilities, tool shops and similar retailers. Most of their time was spent on the western arm (Foodservice, restaurant, and similar shops) and the north arm (clothing and fashion retailers), with the occasional foray into the east for electronics or oddities.
"So, how do we do this?" Nike asked, though she was not referring to their shopping.
"We're going to do this in relays: shopping, testing, shopping, testing, shopping, lunch, shopping, afternoon tea," Sionet said with a straight face. Talia put a hand over Sionet's forehead. "What?" she asked after a few seconds.
"Checking to make sure you don't have a fever or something. You normally don't talk about shopping too much."
"Normally, no," Sionet pulled Talia's hand off her forehead. "I like to cut loose with the budget every now and again."
"How well is the budget going to stack up against this?" Nike asked in counter.
"I'll live, but I'll be running thin for a little while. C'mon," Sionet waved them into the maw of the western atrium and thereafter toward one of their favorite restaurant supply stores.
-x-
(15 minutes later)
"Yo, over there," Star Commander Wiley nodded toward a restaurant supply shop. "I think we have a VIP in the area."
"Oh, yeah, that is Sionet Neider, the Network Instructor," Technician Apprentice Keiney noted. "Talk about a nasty customer, that young lady is very quickly busting ace missions and making it look good."
"Hai, have seen some of her handiwork," the Star Commander said. "I can probably beat her, right now, but six months from now is going to be a toss-up."
"So, they do shopping for the restaurant as well?" the one lady of the three Commandos at the table asked. Technician (technically, Journeywoman Technician) Hilde Schwartzkopf considered herself the one sane person at the table, which was a low bar for today's outing: their goal was to acquire a very large television for the pilot breakroom, much larger than the paltry 2m monitor already in there, for the purpose of watching network matches, boresight footage and simulations in much larger detail and better refresh rates.
"Apparently so, but I can not blame them for wanting a better equipment standard," the Star Commander said. "And some times you must pay for that equipment standard the hard way."
The three girls and one guy in their group took a seat at the central seating hub of the mall to take a break. Quickly, Star Commander Wiley could sense a Newtype presence probing around the area, but it wasn't looking for the usual (threatening parties, criminal activity, similar), it was looking for something entirely different.
"What am I sensing?" Hilde asked.
"I think — no, I am sure that Sionet is probing the area with her Newtype senses, but I can not tell what she is keying to," Wiley said. "I have seen where she is landing with her senses, but I cannot discern a pattern."
"Where is she focusing?" Hilde asked.
"First, the three girls over by the ice cream parlor, red and red, black and purple, and green and green," the Star Commander said, giving out their hair and eye colors as identifiers.
Hilde had to do a little twisting to look at them, so she made to stretch her midriff by way of over-twisting in the chair and used the move to get eyes on. "I see them. Next?"
"Man and woman over at the lingerie shop," Wiley nodded to them. "Both blondes, can't tell their eye colors from here."
"Aff, the Ken-and-Barbie attempt," Hilde said.
"Third hit was a couple guys over by the sushi stand. I think they had a quick hard-on for the cashier, if I don't miss my guess," the Star Commander noted.
"I get the pattern, sensing people in love or with perverted thoughts," Hilde said. "The three girls are a lesbian trio. The Ken-and-Barbie hit is just exactly that. The couple of guys did have a hard-on for the cashier, but she is not interested. Where else?"
"Sionet has settled on a girl shopping for shoes, blond and blue with the very tight jeans, but I do not see anyone nearby…" Wiley noted.
"Not nearby, boss. Teen fashion store on the other side of the central seating hub. Stalker hanging around a shirt pod but in clear LOS to the girl in the jeans," Keiney said.
-x-
"Talia, I'm going to take a walk. Here in about ten seconds, use your telepathy to call the girl in Shoe Shelf over to take a seat, and I'll spook the stalker."
"Got it," Talia said and started focusing her mind to use her very-limited telepathy.
"Heading out." Sionet stood up and made parallel to the teen fashion shop so as to not spook the stalker.
Talia waited the requested ten seconds, then grabbed the name of the shopper from her surface thoughts. Miya, you don't know me, but I have a warning: you have a stalker watching you right now.
The lady was smart enough to cover her gasp and feigned sneezing in so doing. What do you recommend? She asked with very weak telepathy, since she easily could identify who was speaking.
Come over here and take a seat. My friend is going to spook your stalker.
Talia saw Miya pick a pair of shoes, look them over for a moment, and then glanced toward where Talia was sitting. The double-take was overdone a bit, but made perfect sense in context, and Talia obliged her by giving her a wave. Miya set the shoes on the clerk's counter and rushed over to Talia.
"Talia! Good to see you!" she said in simulacrum of having known her for years.
"Been a while, girl!" The taller waitress-turned-pilot-candidate gave her a big, almost smothering hug and ushered her to one of the seats that put her covered behind a fern and facing away from the tango.
"Thank you for warning me and for covering," Miya noted. "How did you know?"
"My friend that is about to spook the stalker can sense perversion, and this stalker is hella creepy perving on you," Talia noted. "Enough so that, if something happens, I have a pistol in my purse you can use in a pinch, if Nike, Darien and myself don't hose him."
"Thank you so much," Miya said.
-x-
Sionet had initially walked past the entrance of the teen fashion shop, but once out of LOS to the stalker she came back to the entrance by way of the adjacent wall. Since he was fixated on the fern and his prey just beyond it, she had no trouble getting in unnoticed and even could get within a couple meters of him completely unnoticed.
Sionet figured a casual approach was worth it, and it also helped that she saw a couple good shirts she wanted to try in a shirt pod immediately behind the fixated stalker. So, she walked up to the pod and started rifling through the shirts, and somewhat found herself surprised that the stalker had not yet noticed her.
"I gotta do it," he said quietly to himself. Sionet continued flipping through shirts for a few seconds. "I gotta do it," he said again after about fifteen seconds. Sionet pulled a couple shirts and set them aside for her to try out. "I gotta do it," he said a third time in earshot to Sionet.
"You don't want to do it," Sionet said in response to his repeat of the madness mantra. In close, she could sense a lot more about this guy and only some of it was particularly sane or stable.
"What?" He asked in shock as he spun around on Sionet and pinned her with a glare. "How long — "
" — Long enough," Sionet shut that down quickly. "You don't want to go over there."
"The hell?" he asked in growing anger.
"On the far side of that fern are three persons who are training for Commando small arms quals. If you try, they will ventilate you so fast it is likely you'll be clinically dead before you hit the ground. And that's not the worst problem you have in town today. Look over your right shoulder at your five o'clock." The guy, though still rather angry, did look in the direction. "Third table inward from the Hot Dog and Suds. See them? Three at the table."
"Are those Commandos?" the guy asked, and all three waved at him. "Oh shit," he grumped.
"Exactly. They are on to you. Now, technically you have done nothing illegal, yet, but you and I both know that won't trip up a Commando if they think they can make a case for defending lives and honor." Sionet kept rifling through shirts and picked out a couple more. "So, my recommendation to you is to set yourself straight, get out of here and find someone to help you clear your mind of these stalker vibes. The alternative is over in the food court, and it does no person good in this equation."
"And why shouldn't I just deal with you for — " the stalker choked up when Sionet ejected the blade of her old switchblade.
"In a prior life, I was mafiosi. If you want to try that play, feel free. I will happily gut your ass and drag your intestines down the concourse as proof that fucking around requires a commensurate amount of finding out, how copy?"
"Jesus," the guy grumped. "All right, I'm out." Without further word, the stalker took his leave of the shop and made for the main entrance.
Damn good speech, girl! We both heard it and loved it! Talia told her telepathically after a few moments of the guy walking away.
"It worked. Now, I'm going to check out these shirts, why don't the four of you join me?" Sionet asked the shirt pod in front of her, and by their telepathy Talia and the victim of the stalker easily heard her.
-x-
"That worked out very well," Hilde said. "She can certainly intimidate the shit right out of someone when she tries."
"Aff, I am now less and more inclined to challenge that one," the Star Commander said. "How soon can we get the new television mounted? I want to see some of her handiwork in the sim pods."
"I know a few guys, Star Commander," AsTech Keiney noted with a smile.
In less than six hours, the pilot lounge would be watching their first replay of a match ran by Sionet Neider. And it would not be just Wiley that was concerned for his record should he run a match against Sionet.
-x-x-x-
(22 November, CE 476, 1415 Hours Local (Dendez West) Time)
(3F Apartment (Women's Apartment), Mackie's Club, City of Westport, Dendez Continent, Planet Carver V, Protectorate of Mendel)
Talia and Beatrice entered the women's apartment and immediately headed for the latter's bed. "Where do you think you saw it last?" Talia asked.
"On my nightstand. You know the pendant, right?" Beatrice asked.
"I do remember it, yeah," Talia had seen it once or twice but didn't comment on it. Nike was more of the mindset for jewelry; Talia preferred basic earrings and necklaces and that was about it, in her opinion.
"You think you can find it with your Newtype skills?" Beatrice asked.
"I think so, I've been seeing echoes, shadows lately, things that have come and gone, and I think I can focus it a bit."
Talia took a seat on the edge of Beatrice's bed and rested her hand on the corner of her nightstand. After a moment, she closed her eyes and calmed her breathing, then focused inward and on her senses. Slowly she could see the clock on the nightstand in her mind's eye ticking backwards for several hours until the morning wakeup call, and with it she saw the pendant and its disappearance in reverse.
"Got it," Talia said as she stood up and moved the nightstand aside.
"I checked back there already," Beatrice said. "I've knocked it back behind the nightstand in the past."
"You have, yes, but the problem with these apartments is the floor sucks and has gaps," Talia shone a flashlight down through the gaps until — "Found it."
"In the gaps? Serious?" Beatrice asked.
"Get me a coat hangar, I can fish it out easily." For all of the modern world's material and technological progress since before the Reconstruction War, the simple metal wire coat hanger was still a mainstay of retail establishments throughout the Star Empires. Each wardrobe had dozens of the junky hangars, and Beatrice was no different. She grabbed a couple and handed them to Talia. "This one works." Talia pulled a multi-tool out of a belt pouch she wore all the time, opened it up, and used it to unwind the neck of one of the hangars. A little armwork and she had the body loop of the hangar somewhat straightened out.
"Why does it feel like you've done this before?" Beatrice asked as Talia slipped the twist-loop end of the hangar into the gap between the boards.
"No comment," Talia answered simply as she hooked the loop into place. It took her a couple swipes of the corkscrew end, but with a deft reflex she was able to snag the thin chain on the pendant and lifted it up above the top of the deck boards. "Grab it before it slips, girl," Talia said quickly.
Beatrice lunged for the chain and had three fingers on it quickly. "Got it!"
"Easy when you pull it up," Talia cautioned. Beatrice took the warning to heart and very carefully pulled the pendant up between the boards. "Good, doesn't look damaged."
Beatrice took a moment to clean the dust and cobwebs off the pendant necklace, slipped it on, and hugged Talia. "Thank you! I thought I lost this!"
"Is it that special?" Talia asked after a moment.
"Not really, not super special. It's just the first piece I bought with my own money after I was orphaned. I bought this as a promise to myself that I'd move on and make something of myself, and here I am, still slinging orders for now," she said before she took a moment to put her nightstand back in place. Talia put the unfolded coathangar in a corner; if it happened once, something else could get lost in the gaps again. "But, at least we've got something of a purpose now," Beatrice sat down on the edge of Miriam's bed.
"True." Talia made to sit down on Miriam's bed and immediately received a flash of memory from it. "Whoa!"
"What?" Beatrice bolted to standing after Talia bolted back away from Miriam's bed. "Something happen?"
"A — yeah, I felt something when I put my hand on Miriam's bed." Talia approached slowly and this time used both hands. The residual memory that had initially startled her was still there and this time didn't cause an instant panic when Talia came into contact with it again. And, unlike the event that spawned it, Talia only needed a couple seconds to absorb it all.
"What was it?" Beatrice asked.
Talia didn't answer the question immediately, she just shook her head. "It's something with a prior resident, I can't even remember her name now," Talia lied. The memory was of Miriam and a guy that no longer worked in their group. "Nothing bad, mind you. It was entirely consensual." That much was obvious by the way Miriam had helped the guy into her and talked him through how she wanted him to bang her. "But damn did she get plowed and liked it."
"Wow, wish I could have some time in bed with a good guy like that," Beatrice said. "And you already have!"
"Yeah, been there, done that, might do it again some day," Talia said. "C'mon, we need to get back to work. Lunches don't serve themselves."
"True. Thanks again, girl!" Beatrice gave the much taller Talia another quick hug and was on her way out the door. Talia hesitated for a moment, still staring at Miriam's bed for a moment and her mind went through both her own and Miriam's encounters, though she was quick to push those thoughts aside and headed downstairs.
That combination of memories and desires would come back to haunt Talia that night and result in a very wet dream for her, though in the morning she would want it more than ever before.
-x-x-x-
(24 November, CE 476, 2215 Hours Local (Dendez West) Time)
(Bar area, Mackie's Club, City of Westport, Dendez Continent, Planet Carver V, Protectorate of Mendel)
"Okay, before we begin, where's Talia at?" Sionet asked. "Don't need artificial results on today's testing."
"She still running pervy?" Miguel asked.
"Oh yeah," Sionet nodded twice. "Don't know what set her off, but damn she wants to bounce."
"Problems and solutions, all in the hand," Miguel held his hand up with palm raised, and flexed it.
"Well, answers come in many forms," Sionet shrugged. Unlike most ladies, she wasn't immediately disgusted by the thought of self-gratification. "Anyway, I think I sense her down in the pod bay working on a match."
"So she's far enough away that it won't violate the results," Kyle said. "So, how are you going to do this?"
"I tried yesterday and was able to make a read of the room in one pass," Sionet said. "I'm going to try that again."
"You go girl!" Miriam said after she took a seat next to Sionet (and opposite Kyle, who was to Sionet's left). "If you can routinely read a room in one pass, you've hit the next level."
"Here goes." Sionet took a sip of her tonic and root beer, then closed her eyes and focused on her senses. Sionet read the room in a matter of seconds, which startled her for how fast she did so. "Done."
"Talk to me," Miguel said.
"On the DJ's wall, I sense only one, a couple of teens doing the kissy-face routine right now."
"That counts," Kyle said.
"On the side wall, I count three: two booths forward is a new couple and the guy has a woody like a statue. Five toward the front, a couple and the guy is about to propose to the girl. Then the next booth forward from them is a fuck-buddy pair."
"Okay, that's pretty damn good, and here's the question on the number two couple," Miguel said as he saw the ring box come out of the pocket. Sionet could see it as well in the mirror behind the bar, and as far as they could tell, the lady agreed.
"Nice, two points for Sionet. Any others?" Kyle asked.
"Two kinda pervy couples on the outside wall, the corner booth feels like the guy is fingering his girl, and two in from the door, beers and kisses," Sionet said.
"You really are expanding your senses," Miriam noted. "This keeps up, you may have a career as a relationship counselor."
"Oh, the Commandos think that with enough pushing I might start developing combat-usable talents," Sionet said. "That's why I test myself daily doing this, it's only going to get better."
"Any others?" Miguel asked.
"Well, two others that I've largely filtered out for this review," Sionet said. "Talia, downstairs, so much so that I can hear her debating if she wants to rub one out after her match," Sionet noted.
"In the pod?" Miguel asked with a raised eyebrow.
"The nano hive will automatically clean all that up," Kyle said. "That said, it is very uncivil to tie up the pods like that."
"Business opportunity, though. Think about it," Miriam said. "Rent a pod out for some personal time."
"There is a huge amount of things wrong with what you just said," Miguel shook his head, but was still grinning about the possibility.
"When the Anaheim team comes in to move our pods, I'll inquire about that as a possible use for the pods. They are a structured nanomachine hive, after all," Sionet said.
"Boss lady got the brass clangers, willing to ask the hard questions. I would raise a drink in salute to you, but I'm still on duty," Miguel nodded to her.
"I'll do so in your honor," Kyle hoisted his drink to Sionet.
"Oh no, you're not out of the scrutiny yet, Kyle," Sionet said. "The other pervert I largely filtered out from the testing is you."
Kyle snorted. "Busted. Won't deny it."
"Good. You and I are going on a date Monday after we've done the scrub-down and a couple matches. I have everything arranged," Sionet said.
"Whoa, okay," Kyle said, somewhat shocked that Sionet had already assembled the plan and let it loose to nobody else in the crew.
"Nice," Miguel said. "Three days of anticipation," he set another drink in front of both Kyle and Sionet.
"We'll see what we'll see," Kyle said. "One last match for the night?"
"I think we can run one," Sionet said. "How about best machines and tactics against EA regulars, most kills in fifteen minutes?" Sionet asked.
"What's the wager?" Kyle asked.
"Don't know. Miguel, Miriam, recommendations?" Sionet asked.
"Loser gets hands-on with the winner for a round or two?" Miguel threw out. "We were discussing the solution of the hand before, might as well put it to use." Again, he had his hand up with palm out, and flexed it in a few lewd fashions.
"Bet," Kyle said simply and held his hand out to shake with Sionet.
Neither pilot trainee would tell who won the match in days to come.
AUTHOR'S CHAPTER AFTERWORD
First chapter! WHOOO!
In all seriousness, this story tells the evolving action of how Sionet gains her weird and very perverse set of Newtype talents, which lead into her more combat-centric talents of later chapters. And though you see some of Talia's skills here, I can tell you now that you will be seeing MUCH more of the rest of the crew in coming chapters as well, given that everyone on the team has NT skills and not all of those skills are combat-centric just the same. So, be prepared for some REALLY weird stuff to come in the next few chapters, as we have a nice, bizarre lineup already on paper.
Another thing that is not really touched on in my other stories or in Gundam itself is the advancement of those talents, what it takes to push yourself to use the talents better, faster, and more powerful. This is not a case of infinite potential, I will start by saying that as a ground rule. Not everyone has the propensity of becoming a Newtype, and not every newtype has the propensity to become an ace with those skills. Every person with the skill has a personal cap, though not every person will reach that cap; some people will continue to get incrementally better until they die, never knowing how far they could go. And, as this story goes, you will see that not all Newtypes have the same array of skills: some persons can handle remote weapons, some cannot. Some remote weapons users can handle a few weapons at very long ranges, some can handle a huge swarm of remotes in short ranges. Some Newtypes can't even influence a remote weapon but are very good at tracking and shooting them down. Some NTs can predict a person's actions five, six, eight, ten seconds in advance, whereas others can only barely sense persons in their vicinity and only in the moment. The possibilities are not truly endless, per se, but there are huge divisions between skill sets and applications of those skills, and that variance will make a huge difference in both this story and the mainline.
That said, I should point out that long-time readers of the mainline story have already seen some of the skill set progression for Sionet, but not much of the skills in the case of the rest of the team.
Well, to avoid straying into spoiler territory, I'll cut my chapter notes short at that. I don't like giving or receiving spoilers, it takes the fun out of things.
On the writing front, I've been working on myself a bit lately, improving diet, working out at the gym, working on tasks at home, stuff like that. I haven't been writing as much as I should be, but by no means have I given up writing. So, hopefully as the year winds down I will be expanding the writing going forward, and I will be putting out more of these shorter chapters going forward — this is an interesting and salacious side story, and both myself and Takeshi are looking forward to what comes out of it.
NEXT UP: Sionet masters her ability to sense perverts and in so doing begins to separate the pervy from the romantic and the romantic from the love of family. And along the way, the NT skills of the rest of the crew begin taking shape…
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THE GRIPE SHEET
No complaints thus far. Thanks to Takeshi Yamato for pushing me to begin on this story and for feeding me ideas and concepts that I am adding as appropriate to the narrative!
FOOTNOTES
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