[Ranma/NGE/HPL/AMG][FanFic] Sic Semper Morituri Chapter 39 - When The Candles Are Out All Women are Fair, All Cats Be Gray

[Daniel Gibson]

[Ranma][NGE][HPL][AMG][Fusion][Fanfic] Sic Semper Morituri Chapter 39 -
When The Candles Are Out All Women are Fair, All Cats Be Gray

Disclaimer:
I do not own any of the characters from Ranma 1 / 2, Neon Genesis
Evangelion, Ah My Goddess, or the Lovecraft Cycle involved in these
stories.

C&C, MSTs are welcome
E-mail: dan_s.comments@worldnet.att.net
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ftp://ftp.cs.ubc.ca/pub/archive/anime-fan-works/Ranma/Sic-Semper-
Morituri/

http://www.cs.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/ftp/archive/anime-fan-works/Ranma/type/Sic-
Semper-Morituri
(these are the original versions)

What has gone before:
About Book 11 of the Tankoubon Manga, Akane and Soun Tendo throw
Ranma out of the house. Nabiki, in the guise of a wish, follows
him. They meet EVA pilots Shinji Ikari, Rei Ayanami, Asuka Soryu Langley
and Jeffrey Davis.
With the return of NERV Tokyo from the Great White Space, everyone
is celebrating, except Asuka who realizes their enemies are taking a
direct interest in the pilots. Nabiki and Rei are returned to Tokyo
separately, Rei by express, Nabiki aboard the Spruce Goose with cargo for
the EVAs.
Shinji, Asuka, Toji and Hikari meet with Yumiwashi.
Rei locates and confronts Jeff on the anniversary of Samuel's
death. She remembers her feelings on the death of Yui Ikari, and how she
arranged Naoko Akagi's death. Jeff wants to be left alone, Rei decides
he needs to talk about events, and doesn't take no for an
answer. Including revealing how he killed her years earlier in Boston.
At the welcome home party for Nabiki and Rei, the Azores mission is
revealed. Ranma will move in with Asuka and Sammi. Three shoggoths,
once fragments of Ritsuko, fight and are defeated by combining Ritsuko,
Ranma and Jeff, there are some side-effects as the trio's personalities
temporarily bleed into each other. Among them: Jeff, under the influence
of Ranma, confronts Belldandy sending her, then her sisters, into a tizzy,
Keiichi managed to defuse it. Ranko, under the influence of the others,
gives Jeff the passionate kiss from the bet he lost to Asuka at the
carnival. Then Asuka and Jeff tickle Nabiki remorselessly. Rei begins
calling Asuka mein Grossfeldmarschall {Groáe}. All the pilots are giddy
from recent events.
To help Misato and Hiro's relationship, Asuka, Rei and Shinji throw
together a Sunday in the park picnic. Asuka invites Keiichi, Belldandy
and Megumi. Megumi volunteers her services and Belldandy's as
caterers. They work through the night to get everything ready.
The baseball captain Usagi and her allies are introduced, and what
they worship before their softball games.
The picnic is a success until Usagi and Yuki decide to test the
pilots. Ranma easily intercepts the batted ball, but transforms and must
leave. The picnic ends. Asuka and Ranma are sulky after the failed
picnic. Asuka also has a letter from Anna reminding her of home, to
which she can never return.
With the aid of a narrow board and two sawhorses, Asuka begins
teaching Ranma both sword fighting, and how to teach. Only he believes
his first class with the others was an unmitigated disaster.
Asuka contracts Keiichi and his sister to construct several bicycles
for the pilots. She shoots a bug and has her second clash with Skuld.
All four senators from Wyoming and Massachusetts begin investigating
the Boston incident and Misato's part in it. Admiral Simson scrambles to
begin his own investigation of what has been happening in NERV before and
after the war. Shinji and Rei console and watch over Misato.
Asuka and Ranma wash each others hair, Shinji washes Rei's. They
discuss children while doing this. Asuka doesn't want the responsibility,
Rei appreciates her advice.
Aboard the Bennington, Jeff meets with one of his patrons and
receives an update on Sharon. Nabiki is coming to realize the
differences in the way the military treats her and the other pilots.
Major ggreg and Adam Smith arrive, to cover their `spying` on NERV,
they will teach Nabiki and Jeff about explosives.
Ritsuko begins to investigate the unusual way Jeff syncs with the
EVA. Nabiki and Maya begin training to operate firearms.
A dinner at the Admiral's table proves a real eye opener for Nabiki,
about her colleagues and their interrelation. A dinner with Major ggreg
and Adam Smith gives her further insight into Jeff, his history and
origins.
Jeff begins teaching Nabiki about control of her dreams, and
possibly about magic.

Gray-eyed Athena sent them a favorable breeze, a fresh west wind, singing
over the wine-dark sea.
Homer - The Odyssey book ii, l. 420

July 15, 1947
Ranma was watching the early morning practice with Asuka on the roof,
while Sammi watched them both. He was nervous enough about Asuka's
`great idea`. He spotted something out of the corner of his eye, but
when he turned to look directly at it, it vanished. He kept on
practicing, but he also kept the odd figure in the corner of his
eye. Once he had lulled it/him and lured it into a more open area of the
roof, he wouldn't have to dodge, just a max speed sprint straight to the
target. At the right time, he exploded into movement. He instantly lost
sight of the target, but he had one of the golden ki orbs ready to fire.
Instead, he plunged through a field of cold so intense he thought he
might die. He stumbled to a stop, the orb gone, he felt terrified that
whatever it was would attack him, and he'd be helpless.
"What idiocy are you playing at?" Asuka shouted as she rushed
towards him, her sabre-halberd in hand.
He tried to warn her off, she passed through whatever he had, and
she was unaffected. "Somebody was spying on us," Ranma replied
defensively, barely managing a croak, "I saw him out of the corner of my
eye."
Although I couldn't see him looking straight on, he admitted to
himself.
"He was wearing some kind of uniform, not American, British or
Japanese. Tall guy, dark hair and eyes."
"Could you give a sketch artist a description?" Sammi asked as she
walked towards him at a leisurely pace. Ranma could tell she didn't
really believe him, especially the way she was staring over his head, but
maybe she'd give him the benefit of the doubt. "I really want to know
how you got frost in your hair."
Ranma brushed his head, expecting Sammi was teasing him again, but
his hand came away cold. He stared at it for a moment, remembering
everything he'd learned about ghosts and some of his own theories about
the cold ki they generated.

----------------------------------------

"Ingegnere! Stegone!" [Engineer] [Wizard]
Jeff woke to the spirit world, gray wisps like clouds swirled and
eddied around them. It happened occasionally, usually when one of his
allies was particularly agitated. Spirits whom he could strongly rely on
had to be allowed an occasional tantrum, they had never acted without
good reason before, it also gave him insights into what type of missions
he could best send them on, to minimize the 'pay' he had to dole out and
it kept them satisfied. All in all, good things. "Captain Rosatelli is
there a problem?" he asked the tall man-form in the uniform.
"He see me, the Iron Horse! He look right at me and he not see me,
he look through the angle of the eye, he see me clear!" The ex-Captain
of the Regia Aeronautica [Italian Air Force] fingered the gold signet
ring hanging from a chain around his neck, a signal he was extremely
nervous. A difficult enough state to create in a fighter pilot, nearly
impossible in this man, who literally flew into death.
"The Iron Horse, Ranma saw you?" Jeff said, quickly waking up,
switched to Italian, "I am fluent in your mother tongue."
"And no more practice my English?" the spirit seemed offended, "My
little girl's English is to be proud of," he added indignantly.
"So Ranma saw you?" Jeff switched back to English, he was confused,
spirits were the best spies because they were almost impossible to defend
against or detect.
"Your amore, Ranma," the once-officer needled Jeff, "I should have
realized earlier, chiedere scusa, Signore." [I beg your pardon]
"There is no fault. Ranma's capabilities are increasing," Jeff
soothed, "I should have realized. You won't be able to get so close to
him in the future," he paused, decided to change the subject. "You
mentioned your daughter, have you checked on her recently?"
The man brightened, the reason he'd remained `behind` was his
daughter. They'd been estranged over her pending marriage, he'd been
killed before he could return and put a stop to it. Then her husband of
eight weeks was killed at the Battle of Matapan, and all he wanted to
tell his grieving daughter was that her father still loved
her. Duplicating the signet ring and the chain the spirit wore around
his neck had been difficult. 'Weathering' it to make it look like it had
been through the crash that had killed the man had been a painstaking
job. Spiritwriting the letter had been child's play by comparison,
getting it to the woman and her young daughter had clinched the
deal. The man had loved his daughter and had fallen in love with the
granddaughter who hadn't been born before his death.
Such are the works of a shaman, Jeff thought as he remembered the
deal he'd struck.
"Oh my poor Napoli!" the man wailed, "Such damage, such devastation,
all the work to be done!"
Jeff remembered that the man's daughter worked with the companies
and government agencies rebuilding his hometown. "She still enjoys her
work?" Jeff asked.
"So, so happy and proud, my wife loves spoiling the little one," he
gushed, then sighed in satisfaction. He had remained 'in-between', once
his initial mission of communicating with his daughter had ended,
specifically to watch out for his family, Jeff helped where he could.
"She has the face, so angelic. Such little hands!"
Jeff had heard it all before, although he kept an ear open for
anything that changed in the litany of grandfatherly pride. The subject
unexpectedly returned to the other pilots.
"Something is stirring, around Major Katsuragi, something large."
"I know," Jeff said, "I set it in motion."
"No, not that . . . something else. Something even you wouldn't
throw at her if you could."
"But you don't know the details?" Jeff asked.
This _is_ new, he thought.
"No, signore, but I will find out, something very large and very
bad."
Jeff nodded, faded from the spirit world and back into sleep, then
from sleep into wakefulness. "So, it's begun, and something else." He
considered his options and his resources. Today promised to be more
testing in the EVA and in the afternoon, the first 'classes' in
demolitions. He thought Miss Tendo was going to kill him when he added
training in dream control and manipulation to her already heavy load of
`classes`.

----------------------------------------

Nabiki glared at the approaching Raccoon, as she sat at her `usual`
mess table and ate her breakfast. The same quiet noise, the same
food. The Navy claimed to offer the best food, she would have accepted a
bit of Misato's cooking, it would have been more palatable. She barely
knew what she was eating. The white granular stuff looked alive and
moving, and tasted like boiled newspaper. The `scrambled eggs` tasted
like Akane had cooked them. Raccoon had taken a double helping of
everything, and was apparently enjoying it. "You know that I hate you,"
she told him quietly.
"That's okay, Bess, I know how you feel," he replied breezily.
Nabiki frowned.
"I found out Ranma saw a ghost," he told her.
"IS he all right, did it get him?!" she asked quickly, then stopped,
"And how do _you_ know that?"
He looked around theatrically.
She frowned again at the obvious set up, knew she'd have to take it
with a grain of salt.
"I _am_ a magician after all."
Nabiki shook her head, more shooting practice, then an afternoon
learning how to blow stuff up. Nabiki was not that happy with her
life. She probably would be when it was all said and done, but right now
it just abashed her too much.

----------------------------------------

The scene on the flight deck was the same: guns, wind, targets,
instructors, and them. More blanks, the charge wasn't enough to chamber
the next round, so she had to work the rifle's action. She wasn't
flinching _as_much_. But too much for her pride. Maya was rapidly
catching up, she only flinched from the sound of the rifle, but that
meant she was doing it _after_ the gun went off, and everybody did that
to some extent. Her accuracy was not as good as Nabiki's 'firing' at the
paper. But Maya would catch up to her if she didn't get over her fear.

----------------------------------------

"Mister Davis." The Marine stood at attention next to the lunch
table where they were eating together again. "The Admiral would like to
speak with you immediately."
Jeff pushed aside his tray. "Lead on, Sergeant."
Nabiki looked over. "He's in trouble now."
"It doesn't automatically mean he's in trouble," Maya chided.
Nabiki shared a glance with Ritsuko. Yes it does, she thought.

----------------------------------------

Jeff knew where the radio room was, he'd figured it was Admiral
Simson, rather than Admiral Adams who wanted to talk to him. He wasn't
expecting to be led into the CIC and a small alcove full of radio
gear. The tech there explained the use of the radio and changing the
setting on the scrambler.
"Hello," Jeff said once he'd slipped the headphones on.
"Davis, switch the scrambler to Tembris's wing attacks." Admiral
Simson's voice was distorted.
Jeff made the adjustments based on the order General Tembris had fed
the reserve groups into the battle. The battle that got him relieved of
overall command. "Admiral Simson, do you hear me?"
"Yes, I hear you. What the Hell did you think you were doing?" the
man shouted.
"I'll need more information before I can answer that," he replied
calmly, he'd been expecting this.
"You know damn well what I mean, siccing four Senators on NERV, from
Wyoming and Massachusetts, you think we couldn't figure that out?" Simson
shouted, distorting badly on the radio.
"I was protecting from enemies foreign and domestic. She was
operating as a spy and saboteur in Boston, have you seen the information
packet I provided the Senators?" Jeff replied calmly. He didn't like
these scramblers, they disguised what a person said too much, cost him
the advantage the conversation blocks gave him.
"That still doesn't excuse - "
"I watched her gun down some kid on the streets of Boston in a fit
of pique, she would have killed thousands, millions to further the
Japanese war effort. AND - THE - NAVY - STONE - WALLED - ALL - INVEST-
IGATIONS - ADMIRAL. Don't get all high and mighty with me,
Admiral. Katsuragi is a means to an end only, she's not worth my
time. The only thing I care about her is revealing what she was ready to
do to achieve her goals and that the foolishness and blood cost of the
goal doesn't matter. That is something the pilots need to know. If they
release her or hang her it won't change anything. I want to know who was
protecting her, on our side, _during_ the war."
"You're pretty damn ruthless, and she is your superior officer."
"She is a spy and a saboteur, her rank and gender don't change that
she was a major part of a conspiracy to commit mass murder that partially
succeeded, hundreds died, Admiral, and some Americans want to forget
that. If someone is going to tell me to forget that, it isn't going to
be one man, not a judge or a naval officer, or even a President, it's
going to be a jury or a public hearing. Who and what she is will be
revealed. I strongly suggest you review the information, look at the
crime scene photos, read the reports of how what she and Gendo let loose
shredded your fellow citizens. I was _there_, Admiral Simson, living
among the people who were living in terror of those things. I doubt what
these things did ever entered her mind. That's your tactical officer,
Admiral."
"This will seriously affect her ability to do her job," Simson said.
"Fine, you want to give her amnesty, the behavior still occurred,
and it will happen again," Jeff explained, "I'm willing to bet they did
not give you a full briefing on her wartime actions."
"This was certainly left out," Simson admitted.

----------------------------------------

"What did he want to talk about?" Ritsuko asked Jeff as he changed
back into his plugsuit. She acted like she wasn't concerned she was in
the locker room with him. It bothered him a little, although she'd seen
him naked many times before.
"Just an investigation into a bunch of murders that took place in
Boston during the war." He tried to seem unconcerned also.
"I take it you were hunting the murderer."
"The murderer got away, they found'em. But it's political now."
"Who'd you accuse?" Ritsuko asked, "The Emperor's nephew?"
Jeff looked around theatrically. "Major Katsuragi."
Ritsuko frowned and jerked a thumb towards the hanger deck.
Jeff walked out and climbed into the entry plug, knowing he'd told
her.

----------------------------------------

Nabiki was getting better, she was still flinching, but not with the
squibs. They were back to the pistol, varying squibs, blanks and live
rounds. She wasn't very accurate, but she was controlling herself.
Maya hadn't achieved that with a pistol, but she'd moved up to
firing practice/dead ammo.
One of the Japanese Search and Rescue team, a master diver called
Adachi, approached across the flight deck. "There is another aspect of
the rifle that Miss Tendo might be more skilled at, and give her more
confidence in using it," he called over the wind and Maya's rifle fire.
"I'm listening," Gunnery Sergeant Armstead said.
"I'll need a rifle and a scabbarded bayonet," Adachi-san said, and
was provided with them, and an opponent. "Jukenjutsu, the art of the
bayonet, derived from Sojutsu, the art of the spear, the entire rifle is
a weapon, not just the bullets that come out of the end." He took a
guard position, the Marine attacked with his rifle sans bayonet, a second
later was sans rifle. Adachi retreated a step from his shocked opponent
and retook the guard position. The rearmed Marine came in more slowly,
more carefully.
Nabiki watched as the fencing match began and ended. She'd never
seen anyone use a rifle like that. It looked a lot like kendo, but it
was a lot more aggressive and it looked _very_ useful.
Especially as something to teach Raccoon, Nabiki thought, I wish I
could have gotten this to Ranma, it might have been the breakthrough he
needed.
Adachi returned the rifle to the Marine he'd borrowed it
from. "Many of the things we face are immune to gunfire, but the bayonet
and the rifle butt have the desired effect." He chuckled. "There is
also the problem of running out of ammunition."
"Marines never run out of bullets," someone called, general laughter
answered.
"I can't carry a thousand rounds of ammunition like you big boys
can," Nabiki exclaimed, "I'm just a poor, delicate flower of femininity."
"And she'll beat the crap out of anyone who says otherwise," came
the same wit.
"I have never been so offended." Nabiki took an Asuka-style fists
on hips pose. "I'd break his kneecaps, like a refined lady."
Laughter ranged around her, the Sergeants and Chiefs laughing at
her. She didn't let it bother her, it wasn't as if they were laughing at
her maliciously, she'd invited it. Another significant difference from
Nerima, no one was allowed to laugh at her, or there would have been
incalculable retribution. It didn't hurt, or rather it was a little
sting compared to everything else she'd gone through, and it wasn't a
callous disrespect, but a comradely one. They wanted to know she could
take a joke, she could, and throw one right back at them.
Adachi nodded, he too knew Americans were weird about
bowing. Armstead directed Nabiki to start practicing with the pistol
again. She frowned but did as she was instructed. The exercise showed
some little progress. She wasn't going to give up, she remembered Tomiyo
blasting one of those tiger-things practically in half. Her pistol was
theoretically more effective.
She innocently asked if 'Mr. Davis should be included.' "I've seen
the old Springfield he uses," Nabiki said in a normal tone, "I doubt he
doesn't have the bayonet and a little training with it." That started
things going, the words 'a little training' were like a red flag to a
bull to these long service veterans, who regarded 'a little training' as
worse than complete ignorance. Nabiki noted this with pleasure. The
arguments became when in his busy day would Raccoon be available for the
practice.
Turnabout is fair play, Nabiki thought, also realizing that it would
be a bit of knowledge that Ranma would beg, buy or bully to get. She was
satisfied with that possibility as well.

----------------------------------------

"There are two types of explosives," ggreg told them as he stood and
they sat in a ward room, "Low explosives, like gunpowder and other
propellants, and high explosives, like nitroglycerin and TNT. Low
explosives have a heaving effect, high explosives have a shattering
effect. So all an explosive is, is a very powerful hammer."
I wonder how mallet-sama would stand up? Nabiki asked herself.
"What about the Monroe Effect?" Raccoon asked.
ggreg cleared his throat, rocked back and forth on his
heels. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. The sensitivity of explosives
varies widely. Nitroglycerin can detonate for no reason, or it may not
react to being hit by a rifle bullet. On the other hand, you can safely
burn TNT as fuel, but an explosion always sets it off."
Nabiki goggled at that, her experience with explosives was even more
limited than her experience with guns.
The next hour was a discussion of the history of explosives and
their advancement. She'd never realized that the Nobel Prizes were
originally funded from the profit of the sale of stabilized
nitroglycerin: dynamite. Nitroglycerin was a more powerful explosive
than TNT, but not 'better' because of its instability. They discussed
the use of fuses versus booster caps versus electrical detonation. After
two hours, ggreg let them go. She was glad Raccoon had his arm around
her shoulders, holding her up. She felt like she wasn't walking through
the real world. Guns, bombs, all looped through her mind. The potential
of all this was unbelievable. She was beginning to understand why
Raccoon was so leery about teaching her magic. The tools available to
ordinary humans were already more destructive than she was comfortable
with. Magic promised even more power, more destructive and thus even
more responsibility.
"How do you handle this?" Nabiki asked as they arrived at her cabin.
"Mostly by habit, I've been aware of it for a while, it doesn't come
as a shock to me."
"What _is_ the Monroe Effect?" she asked.
"He'll tell you when you're ready."
She stuck out her tongue at him as he closed the door behind him.

----------------------------------------

Nabiki hadn't been able to locate Raccoon or Ritsuko after her nap,
so they were probably off going over the readings from the EVA.
I wish they were off doing something else, she thought as she
wandered the passageways, smirked to herself, Work, work, work, those two
need to have some fun once in a while. She frowned. I, Tendo Nabiki,
chasten you in the name of Fun, she shivered at that thought, but kept
walking, this late the carrier was amazingly quiet. She almost felt she
was walking a ghost ship and the occasional green-clad sentinel was one
of the ghosts, a ghost who would nod to acknowledge her passage.
The laughter from a mess hall drew her attention. She glanced in
and saw her instructors sitting at a mess table, cards in hand and a pile
of money between them on the table.
The old instincts came back, plus it was a good way to get a little
revenge for the humiliation she'd been suffering at their hands. She'd
get her revenge, in negotiable U.S. greenbacks. "Hi."
"Hello, Miss Tendo," Sergeant Armstead hailed her, "I thought you'd
be sick of us for the day."
"I smelled money and poker," Nabiki admitted.
"Well, it's only nickel ante, we're not highrollers like you
pilots," the senior Master Chief, Cole, told her.
"We only get a tenth of our pay Master Chief, as an allowance,"
Nabiki pulled up a chair. She put some cash and change in front of her.
"We're also lying to each other, telling old war stories," Armstead
said, "If you . . . "
Nabiki held up her hand, "I've probably seen it. Believe me, I've
seen things I never believed I'd ever see, and I wouldn't mind never
seeing them again."
One old, grizzled sergeant, Jones, took a long pull on his
beer. "Well, if you insist. It was in the island hopping up the
Solomons."
"I guess what I really want to know is: Are there any tricks you
haven't used?" Nabiki hated admitting any kind of weakness, "I don't like
not being able to do my job properly."
There were chuckles from the men. "I don't think you'd like the
ones that work," Jones told her.
"We're just talking here, you can _tell_ me," Nabiki said, "Do any
of you know the actual contents of the little messages you've been
reading to Miss Ibuki and me."
More chuckles, some nods. "We guessed," Armstead admitted while he
dealt the hands, "That isn't the same as some of the more . . . intense
techniques. Generally the things we're thinking of are like G.I. showers
with lye soap and scrub brushes for a guy who won't shower, or . . . "
the man paused, embarrassed, "Generally those `inducements` are applied
by the recruit's fellow soldiers. I suspect that you and Miss Ibuki
wouldn't be eager to do that to each other. Mister Davis is right out,
and if Doctor Akagi had any ideas, she would have told us when we
discussed it with her."
"You already talked to her?" Nabiki was a little surprised, but
reminded herself these were professionals. "Of course you did. So what
is the verdict?"
"There's not really anything to do, you are progressing," and other
Gunnery Sergeant instructor, Kilrain, reminded her, "Basic training is
eight weeks, you've been at this for a couple of days. I'm sure piloting
an EVA didn't come instantly either."
"It did to all the boys," Nabiki admitted, saw she had their
attention, "The joke among the pilots is that girls get extensive
training, boys get thrown into the first fight that comes along. So far
it's three of three, Shinji, Ranma and Rac . . . Mister Davis, were all
sent into combat with minimal training. Misses Langley, Ayanami, Ranko
all got extensive training before they saw combat."
Good grief, Nabiki thought, That's right, Ranko already had plenty
of experience when `she` saw combat the first time.
"I haven't been in a battle the two times I've been in an EVA," she
added. She suddenly realized they were all staring at her with looks
varying between incredulity and disgust.
"I'm sorry, I just haven't been in a fight yet," she said
defensively.
"That's not it," Armstead said tightly, "We've all been told about
how rare you pilots are, beg pardon, but that's the only reason they
allow Japanese and German nationals as pilots, two of our three got wiped
out. The idea you'd risk them that way is unconscionable."
"Yeah," Kilrain added, "It's not like boiled potatoes where you've
got a big vat out there somewhere, ready to serve up the next one."
"That's the way the Axis treats all their soldiers, only the leaders
aren't expendable." Nabiki knew how _that_ would go over with a bunch of
sergeants and chiefs.
"Don't get your hopes up," Cole leaned close and whispered, Nabiki
could smell the beer, she didn't envy the man his hangover. "There's
plenty of bad officers on our side too. Ones too interested in politics
or kissing the ass in front of them to think about their men. Chiefs -
and sergeants - " He sat up straight and proud, "_Good_ sergeants, put a
stop to it. A good non-com manages the officers, keeps them happy, and
keeps the men, at least most of them, alive."
"How can you do that without power?" she asked, she knew the answer,
but this was a forum of experts, and when someone dropped free gold in
front of you, you were never so crass as to refuse or count it, you
smiled and took all they were offering.
There were chuckles all around, she knew she'd asked the right
question.
"It's about what _you_ hear, what the troops hear, and what your
officer hears back," Jones told her.
"And you asking innocent questions," Kilrain said, "Like the last
one." He paused, considered. "We were on Guadalcanal, after the 1st
Marine Division had pulled out. A nice, quiet rear area," he began his
tale.

----------------------------------------

Ritsuko had been looking for him all over the ship. I should have
started at the top, she thought as she walked out onto the darkened
flight deck under the starry sky, the cold wind cutting into her. She
could pick out the figure sitting in the gloom halfway between the island
and the stern. Without the airgroup, it was empty, dark and quiet
here. No one braved the fierce winds just to sit up top.
"I was looking for you," she told Jeff.
"I thought we were done," Jeff said as he stood to face her.
She waved him down and sat beside him. "We are done with the
testing with the EVA for today, you just seemed a little subdued."
"Just remembering what happened a while ago, how history can repeat
itself and how it catches up with you." As he sat down, he had turned
away from her.
"You're too young to have a history to catch up with you."
"You'd be surprised," he enunciated every word.
"Believe me, there are things you don't have to worry about. As
fast as we're moving, very little could catch us, there are nightfighters
and gun crews to guard you," she tried to make her tone light, leaned
forward to see his face.
"Not when we reach Panama, besides, I don't have to be present for
it to catch up. Sometimes you find out something is no longer taken care
of and you have to consider it again."
"You want to share?" She moved closer, tried to keep some of the
cold wind off him and to get a better vantage point.
"Just some existential questions: Who am I? What is my purpose in
the Universe?"
"It's not like I have those myself," she teased.
"More like questions of what am I expected to do." He continued to
stare at the horizon. "Act to solve one problem and guarantee bigger
problems, or take no action and hope the problem goes away. I'm not the
kind who can easily let a problem go."
"I've noticed. But sometimes you can trust other people to handle
problems for you." She debated touching him, holding him, as if it would
make a difference and not make the problems between them worse.
"And when you suspect that they might make the problem worse?"
She didn't have an answer, if you were the only one who could really
act, and by acting unleash a new series of problems. It sounded like a
teenager's typical problem, but with the pilots, it could mean more. "Do
you want to give me some details?"
"Have you ever considered going home?" he asked, looking at her for
the first time, "The problems, the old memories, the people you left
behind? Expectations of you and others."
"You could write your family, tell them."
"They know, it's just . . . " He sighed, turned away. "It's just
that who left is not who is coming back, I'm more worried about the
reaction of people to me, rather than me to them."
"I think you're too worried, you haven't changed that much," Ritsuko
told him, she wanted to take his chin, make him look at her.
"That's what I'm hoping," he replied.
"You don't want to return as the conquering hero?" Ritsuko asked.
"I did enough in Boston that people who needed to know, knew what I
did," Jeff said, hugging his legs against his chest tightly.

----------------------------------------

Nabiki didn't know why she'd said all those things, talking about
Hiroko and the disaster, and the aftermath. But it had seemed reasonable
to do. The other men were talking about those kinds of things. Friends
lost, things they'd rather not have seen, one or two even mentioned
strange things they'd seen or heard about. It had seemed reasonable,
they were telling all the stories about terrible things that had happened
to them. In the first stories it was due to bad officers, then
inexperienced officers, then simple happenstance and 'plain-ole-bad-luck'.
She hadn't said a word about Nerima, they weren't holding back
anything, so she hadn't. Better to avoid the subject entirely and keep
their respect, 'They're all gone,' seemed to be the right answer, none of
that group pressed.
They hadn't offered sympathy other than 'That's a rough one', or
similar comments, she didn't cry, with extreme effort at times, from
their stories or hers. She saw some tears in their eyes, but she knew if
she slipped that much she'd break down completely.
As the game broke up, they explained that she shouldn't take their
'old war stories' too seriously, they were just drinking and playing
cards. She got the message, it didn't really happen. She nodded,
decided not to mention the money she'd taken off all of them, and headed
off. One of the guards walked her to her cabin. She walked as quickly
as she could, she couldn't hold it in much longer, remembering Hiroko,
all the others, the smell, the helpless, useless feelings. It was too
much to hold in. She made it to her cabin and got the door closed before
she threw herself on the bed and started sobbing into her pillow. It
just hurt too much. She didn't care about the money she'd dropped on the
floor. She didn't care if anyone found her like this, depending on the
person, she might welcome it. She just wanted the hurt to stop, more she
wanted the guilt to stop, because it didn't hurt so much as the first
time. She wanted to curse her callousness for forgetting Hiroko and the
others, even a little bit, while remembering them tore at her.

----------------------------------------

Ritsuko wondered how many times this would play out, whether she'd
feel as helpless each time. She had been walking Jeff back to his cabin
when they had heard a noise in Nabiki's. Jeff had insisted on
investigating, even though Ritsuko had recognized the sounds.
She restrained a sigh and the impulse to pick up the money scattered
on the floor, for Nabiki to leave money on the floor unattended had
worried them a lot. Jeff had approached, what they thought was the
sobbing girl, placing himself ahead of Ritsuko. Although he had one hand
in his coat, probably on his pistol.
Ritsuko remembered how uneasy she had felt as Jeff sat on the edge
of the bed and touched the girl's hair. The lunge at him had shocked
Ritsuko, she'd expected Jeff would shoot out of pure shock. The blow had
knocked him to the floor, but he'd collected himself, and Nabiki, and set
them both back on the bed. Nabiki had cried herself to sleep, never
relinquishing the deathgrip she had `Raccoon` in. He'd shrugged, draped
his coat over Nabiki, then pulled his hat over his face and gone to sleep
as well.
There was no way to cover both of them with a blanket that would
both stay and not smother one of them. So she sat and watched and
listened to the cries of alarm and pain Nabiki emitted. As distressing
as it was, she still thought Nabiki and Ranma's more open and expressive
ways of dealing with grief and pain were healthier than the other pilots,
who bottled things up. She'd bottled things up herself, and it led to
ridiculous moments like this, of sitting in a chair all night watching
two kids, her kids, just sleeping. In case they woke and needed
something, anything.
I'm a monster, one of the most feared creatures the Elder Things
ever created, it would take a tank or an EVA to stop me, she thought, And
I sit here in case one of those two needs a pillow or a blanket, or a cup
of tea. She shook her head at the preposterousness of the whole
scene. At the ludicrous situation she was in with Maya and the
horrendous situation she was in with Jeff, he at least knew what she was,
but he didn't care. There was something deeply wrong with a universe
that allowed such things. The humans believed existence was a warm and
friendly place where god(s) looked down and ruled if not benevolently
then with some keen interest in human activities, even the enemy gods
looked on humans as worth attention and consideration. The Elder Things
knew the universe was a cold, hard place limited only by the strength you
wielded, and that nothing and no one really cared about anyone or
anything else. You were food, fuel, an ally of convenience, a lover of
some skill, or some-such. She knew the kind of wonderful stupidity that
humans lived their lives in wasn't part of anyone's design, the Elder
Things, the Mi-Go, the Moonbeasts, the Valusians, the Cthulhi, none of
them could even conceive of such a thing, let alone know how to instill
it in a creature. Yet the humans had it, maybe for only their family, or
their own tribe, but even these extended it to some servant or companion
animals as well. Some humans tried to extend it to their entire nation
or race.
All that she understood, but why did they extend it on such an
intense and personal way to her? The idea that it was the teachings of
Naoko Akagi was almost laughable. A horse or dog, treated the way that
woman treated her, would have rebelled to the point of murder.
Was I that desperate for any contact? she wondered, Was I that
needy? Am I still that way? She was aware of the mechanics of human
sexuality. Kaji and Misato had been very instructive, although as drunk
as they were, she doubted they accurately remembered the events. The
idea of Maya and her, or Jeff and her . . . it was an extremely
disconcerting thought. She could see the signs that Ranma and Nabiki
were investigating and would require watching in the future to keep it
from progressing beyond that. Shinji and Rei didn't worry her, she
suspected neither would be `forward` enough to do anything. She also
knew that if they did do anything, there would be no physical
repercussions. She dreaded the thought of having to explain that bit of
biology to Rei, the way they had to explain normal female biology to
Ranko those weeks ago. Maybe I should let `Roku-kun` explain it, he'd
probably be able to put it in the intricate, mechanical detail without
becoming completely embarrassed, Ritsuko thought, then shook her head,
she knew the pilots would be furious if they ever learned the complete
truth, homicide would be a real possibility.
Ritsuko watched the two of them move slightly as they slept, she
waited, she was good at waiting, and watching. She'd done it all her
long life.

----------------------------------------

It was a weird, gray place, Nabiki looked around trying to get her
bearings, any landmark disappeared when she looked away from it. The
whole situation was disconcerting.
Disconcerting? she thought angrily,There was a time this kind of
stuff would have scared me to death. When did it become if not normal,
but accepted even expected?
She nearly jumped out of her skin when she looked back and saw . . .
the Dragon. An immense, black shape broken only by those two glowing,
yellow eyes. She backed up a step from the now smiling monster, the
smile was amused, but the teeth that varied from arm-long, needle-sharp,
pointed incisors to the huge, axe-like teeth near the back did nothing to
soften the aura of dread that filled the area surrounding the creature.
Another step back, and another, then she bumped into something, and
a hand dropped on her shoulder.
Even the dragon had recoiled, as the echoes of the scream died away.
"That's one way to get rid of ear wax build-up," Raccoon commented
while shaking his head and yawning to restore his hearing, "Vaporize it
with sound."
"You scared me!" Nabiki protested.
"Eh?" Raccoon put his hand to his ear.
Nabiki advanced with clenched fists. A wall of black logs
interposed itself between them, Nabiki realized they were the dragon's
fingers.
"Behave," the Dragon ordered.
"But she started it!" she heard Raccoon whine his protest. A moment
later he screamed horribly. Nabiki couldn't see what had befallen him,
as the scream devolved into a bubbling, gurgling moan, filling Nabiki
with horror.
The Dragon removed his hand, revealing Raccoon unharmed, even
unmarked. She advanced with the intention of remedying that.
"You are in the realm of dreams," the Dragon said as it . . . he,
retreated to a safe distance, safe from Nabiki's point of view, easing
the worry she felt, "Here the world will submit to your will, unless a
stronger will is opposing you."
"Ooh." She smiled as she rubbed her hands together and
concentrated. Ten thousand Akanes armed with mallets and Kung Pao
Chicken failed to materialize, so did the rain of bricks, a single truck,
even the lone, fire breathing mouse.
"It doesn't work that way," Raccoon told her as thousands of singing
marshmallows descended on her.
The next few minutes were a unique experience, the overriding
cuteness of the attackers was if anything, a greater risk of tooth decay
and insulin shock than the actual content of the attackers.
Nabiki sat there on the gray, almost featureless landscape, scraping
off mashed marshmallows, and considered what revenge was
appropriate. Especially with Raccoon standing there, arrogant, self-
satisfied, and _clean_._ But nothing she could think of, no matter how
minor and badly wanted, appeared to avenge itself on him.
"Are you blocking her?" Raccoon asked the Dragon, who shook his head
'no'.
"This isn't good," he said as he dodged a handful of the marshmallow
Nabiki had assembled as a missile. "Do you remember your dreams?"
"Not usually," she admitted, while preparing another.
"Have you ever tried lucid dreaming?" he asked.
She shook her head, she didn't know what he was talking
about. "Controlling my dreams?"
"It looks like she'll have to start from the beginning," the Dragon
told them as he spread his wings and flew away.
"Okay," Raccoon said, "From the beginning. This is your personal
dreamscape, with experience it will change shape, change the material,
the color, even the properties. If you want a minefield of exploding
cinnamon-scented chickens, you can have them."
"But it takes practice," she said, hoping he wouldn't answer in the
affirmative, she was disappointed.
Another set of skills I have to master, she lamented silently, as
all the marshmallow vanished, Isn't there one of these tricks I can be
instantly good at?

----------------------------------------

The Dragon flew over the gray, indifferent hinterlands of the girl's
dreamscape. He'd sensed the intrusion here, the boy would notice it soon
enough. Twenty figures clad in brown robes, some of them encrusted with
`magical` symbols and more bright, shiny bits than a magpie's hoard. The
few in the plain robes at the front were the dangerous ones.
The Dragon considered simply killing them, but they were here to
humiliate the girl, he decided to return the favor. Chickens can't
really fly well, but dropping straight down they only needed to fly well
enough to avoid going splat when they landed. They smelled of cinnamon,
and scent was the best sense to link with memory.
Curious, for a species so `nose-blind`, the Dragon thought.
There was screaming and swatting. One or two of the figures chased
the chickens. He let them all relax a bit, before he started detonation.

----------------------------------------

Nabiki didn't want to ask about the screams and cries, human and
chicken, and the strong smell of cinnamon chicken wafting through the
air. She was concentrating on changing the color of the rock in her
hand. She thought Raccoon was being cruel by suggesting that she should
turn it gold-colored. The gold steadfastly remained gray, like
everything else here, except the people, the Dragon included.
"It isn't working," she told him.
"That's what's got me confused," he said, cocked his head, listening
to the silence, "The material is less malleable than Saotome's, but it
shouldn't resist you this way. This place is supposed to be yours."
"So what do we do?" Nabiki asked archly. Everything lately had been
proving how limited her horizons were, how sheltered her life was.
Ranma took that treatment in stride and rose to the challenge, but
she was beginning to resent it. "Well, I'm going to let you figure it
out. I'm going elsewhere, turn off the lights and put out the cat."
Just before she fully awakened, "CO2 or sand? To extinguish . . . "

----------------------------------------

July 16, 1947
Nabiki opened her eyes, disentangled herself from Raccoon. The
cabin was real, dark, and even with the lights on, it would be gray, when
she battered her shins walking around to locate the switch. She expected
her blush, from having once again found herself in a compromising
situation with Raccoon, would light the room well enough for her to
see. She stood and pulled off her wrinkled, sweat-stained dress, and was
suddenly embarrassed by her nakedness.
If I can't see, she thought, _He_ can't see. She pulled on her
slacks and a shirt, not the nicer ones she wore as 'work' clothes, but
the darker, plainer ones she'd brought in case she had dirty work to
do. Then she headed for the light switch.
And nearly jumped out of her skin. "How long have you been there?!"
she shouted at Dr. Akagi, now revealed by the overhead lights.
"I came in with Jeff," she explained, "It's nothing I haven't seen
in your medical exams."
"How do you know I was naked?" Nabiki asked.
"She was naked and I missed it?" Raccoon asked, Nabiki considered a
double homicide, then decided it was too early in the morning.
"So that's why you wanted my camera! So I couldn't get pictures!"
Raccoon exclaimed.
One homicide before breakfast, Nabiki considered, Nobody would blame
me for that!
"You were wearing different clothes when we came in," Ritsuko said
reasonably.
Nabiki nodded, now she began to dread the inevitable questions about
why she was crying, why she'd carelessly left money all over the
floor. Money that someone had stacked carefully on her desk. And why
she'd tackled Raccoon when he touched her. Even she didn't have an
answer for the last, she just needed to hold someone, she probably would
have hugged Gendo if he'd been there first.
Oh ICK! BAD thought, bad thought! she thought, Well, I'm wide-awake
now. She wondered if she could borrow a steam hose and steam out her
brain. It could be worse, it could have been Genma or Happosai -
"Excuse me, I have to go get my brain washed, it's too early for
such disgusting thoughts."
"I have ice cream!" Raccoon shouted cheerfully after her as she
walked down the corridors.
She'd torture him later for the thoughts that seemingly innocent
statement put in her head.

----------------------------------------

Nabiki steadied herself, she thought only of the target, ignoring
the tightening of her finger, concentrating on the target, that little
black dot almost 100 meters away. The rifle kicked in her hands. She
didn't wait for the report, only the little dot mattered, this time she
had to work the action, again, her entire mind, all her thoughts and
emotions focused on the target. The rifle kicked, she recentered herself
and again, front sight, rear sight and the target. Work the action to
get the dud out, concentrate on the target, the sights let her point the
rifle, then only the target mattered. BLING! as the clip flew clear as
the rifle fired. She rocked back, blinked.
"That's - " Armstead said, "You've improved a lot."
"You told me to concentrate on the target." She practically
unclenched as she stood up, tried to loosen up.
"Ten ring and four ring, you missed with the third shot," the acting
range officer, Cole, said.
"Fourteen out of thirty," she said. Her accuracy disappointed her,
but she was flinching a lot less, enough that she was actually hitting
the target.
It's a start, she thought.
"Now you're going to make me practice with the pistol."
"No, a hundred rounds of 30 cal," Armstead told her, "Then we'll
see."
Nabiki sat down, rewrapped the sling and concentrated on the target
to the exclusion of all else. It was difficult, normally she tried to
notice and be sensitive to everything, it didn't work in this. She
didn't notice Maya's progress, she didn't think of explosives training,
she didn't think of martial arts training.

----------------------------------------

Maya had listened to the new lesson on a better way to concentrate,
but she kept thinking about too many things to really focus on the
target. That Nabiki-chan had made such an improvement was disheartening,
her falling behind again was a further worry. She also wondered what
Sempai was doing. They'd completed all the tests they had planned. Yet
they were still working with the EVA, and Sempai was being very secretive
about the new experiments.

----------------------------------------

Ritsuko hated this, she was logical, rational, the Elder things did
what people might foolishly believe was magic, but it was nothing more
than a more advanced application of hypergeometric principles to various
free floating energies. This, sitting and listening to drumming inside
the entry plug was ridiculous. Jeff was simply chanting and occasionally
striking a metal tube with a screwdriver. The blackness of the L.C.L.
hid everything, but she could hear the sound of the impact, weirdly
distorted by the L.C.L., and she could feel something moving out there in
the darkness. She could be sure of that, even though she knew
intellectually she was sitting in a metal tube that they had not
connected to the EVA except through the L.C.L. and the life support
system.
Not this nonsense. She looked at the darkness, something had been
very close.
"Relax, Doctor, they're just confused. They know what you are, but
they have my word. Just stay calm and let me work." Jeff's voice was
reassuring, it came through the A10 nerve clip she wore, she could see
what was outside the EVA in her mind's eye, but her eyes showed her only
the blackness of the L.C.L., she wondered now how the pilots dealt with
the vast, yawning emptiness that surrounded them. Especially during
tests, she knew sitting still she'd go numb. Even the horrible taste and
smell had faded into the background. So they could handle near-total
sensory deprivation for the hours of the testing. She wondered what they
focused on, what held their attention so they didn't go mad.
She felt them distinctly now, not one or two, but several, the faint
buzzing/humming almost a conversation among them. She wasn't even sure
it was a language, but they all used it.
One of them touched her, she clamped her mouth shut to avoid
screaming. She'd clearly seen the face, the Amerind features, a young
woman, an adventurer who was sacrificed to power Unit 04. Ritsuko could
recognize the girl's `voice` among the murmur of the others. Another
touched her, again she almost screamed as the face and the brief history
appeared in her mind, an old, grizzled warrior, long past his physical
prime, but clever, cunning and taking up the defense of his people,
sacrificed to power Unit 04.
"_ENOUGH_!_" she snarled, "I can't do this! Let me out!" She
scrambled out of the control chair, flailed in the darkness. She felt
the hand close on her wrist, warm flesh against hers, drawing her to the
exit.
She purged the L.C.L. from her lungs and stood next to the huge
machine in the vast cavern of multi-colored metal, drawing sobbing
breaths. When the boy wearing green and white stood beside her, he
carefully lowered her to the ground. She touched his face, for a
horrible instant she'd completely forgotten who she was, what she
was. It was there now, but hazy and it threatened to vanish like a
fog. She almost recognized the look he wore. She hugged him tightly to
herself. She hadn't realized she was shaking so badly until she felt him
against her. She was careful not to crush him while she held on for dear
life. She'd never been so frightened before in her long life, she
remembered that much. Contact and scent were her only clues to who this
number 06 was, and perhaps who she was. Contact with those things had
erased all she was, all her memories and drives for an instant. She was
all she really had, to lose that she would lose herself. She wasn't even
sure what she'd become, a human with that person's memories, or revert to
a mindless monster with no thoughts except eating and reproduction. She
felt someone drape a blanket across her shoulders, all she wanted was the
familiar feeling, the assurance she _was_ someone, if only someone would
tell her who. The boy was providing that, the words of her history, the
words of her identity.
As she came back, back to herself, she realized Jeff could have
added the history he remembered from his dream, but he didn't. She would
have seized on that `data` as her identity, if he'd done a good enough
job, she would never have remembered who she really was. She broke away,
stared at the young man before her, saw only concern on his face.
She sighed. "It was - a little overwhelming," she admitted.
"It's okay," he soothed, "You're back and you're you," he continued
like that, holding her and rocking her side to side, telling her what he
knew of her, the details started a cascade of her own memories,
recreating her identity by accreting it on itself.
After a time he told her, "Next time will be easier."
Ritsuko hung on to him desperately at that thought. I can't do it,
I can't, I can't! she thought hopelessly.

----------------------------------------

"My, what a morose group," Nabiki commented as she sat in the mess,
at `their` table. She was beginning to wonder why it was always left
open. Then she noticed the jockeying for positions at the tables
surrounding it.
If they want dinner theater, she thought as she decided to have some
fun.
"So what's the word on the Blockade of Berlin?"
"Oh, Stalin's still working up the guts. I still think driving an
armored column through would send a better message than an airlift."
"What?" Maya began, and fell silent at Ritsuko's glance.
"It's safe to talk about," Ritsuko said, "No Soviet spies. Is it
true someone stole next year's election results?"
"Broke into the Kremlin and stole them, there's going to be a
shortage of toilet paper as they reprint them, no other paper in Russia
is tough enough," Raccoon replied. Nabiki wasn't the only one who winced
at that.
"How goes the EVA testing?" Nabiki asked.
"It was . . . informative," Ritsuko started hastily . . . and ended
slowly.
"I heard you were crying in Raccoon's arms for nearly an hour, you
should have gone to his cabin, he's a little young - "
"_IT'S_NOT_LIKE_THAT_!_!_" they chorused in angry reply.
Nabiki smiled sadly at Maya. "They can finish each others sentences,
like an old married couple."
"Let's just remind her of her first experience with Unit 01,"
Raccoon replied with a too friendly smile, "I thought you were going to
break my and Saotome's ribs, you were squeezing so tight, or drown us in
tears."
She glared at him, the only other sound was the tinkle of
cutlery. It was like living in a fishbowl, everyone watching, everyone
listening.
"Now I know how Saotome used to feel," she muttered in Japanese.
"We'll have another go after lunch," Jeff suggested.
The shocked look on Ritsuko's face gave Nabiki her opening,
"Actually, I wanted to discuss this afternoon," Nabiki began, "One of the
SAR people suggested some advanced bayonet training. 'Learn how to use
the entire rifle', he said. Since I doubt we'll be in any shape _after_
Major ggreg's lecture, we could do it before." She saw the indecision on
Ritsuko's face. "If you would rather try the EVA, or you could get
checked out with the rifle."
"Yes, I think it's important, they might have some pointers for me,
and I should be able to do what I'm insisting you do, or at least prove I
can do it." Ritsuko grabbed the lifeline eagerly.
Nabiki kept the look of triumph from her face.
"Oh, no, we can't," Raccoon stood up and announced loudly, "Where
are we going to find a room with a padded floor? Last time we did
martial arts, two of us wound up in the infirmary."
As he sat down, she heard a good deal of hurried whispering and
muffled laughter, as well as a few people leaving quickly. Raccoon
waggled his eyebrows at her, she smirked back. Maya looked around at the
activity, she hadn't figured out what the little scene was
about. Ritsuko seemed to be absorbing the lesson. She also had an odd
gleam in her eye. Nabiki wondered what that meant.

----------------------------------------

Maya watched the troops set up for Sempai's testing on the flight
deck, they had a completely different bull's-eye for her, something over
2 meters across, the stand was heavily weighted with sandbags. The winds
had picked up, or the speed had increased, which had the same affect, and
the new large target was bearing the brunt of it. She also noted the
ships had rearranged themselves, so none were directly behind. She
remembered how angry Nabiki-chan had been about that.
She looked at the gray all around her, almost no difference between
sea and sky, and thought it was appropriate for her mood, gray sea, gray
sky, gray ships, and an icy wind cutting through even her warm
clothes. It all seemed a perfect comment on her current existence.
There were several gasps and men began pointing. Maya turned and
saw Sempai, her lab coat and slacks billowing in the wind, coolly walking
across the flight deck. She had an M2 .50 machine gun, the gun part
balanced on her shoulder, steadied with one hand which also held the
handle of an ammunition box. In her other hand was the stand for the gun
and two more boxes of ammunition.
The Marines began muttering among themselves as Sempai carefully set
down the ammunition and the stand, the tripod they called it, then set
the machine gun down on it and connected the two. Then she pulled a
strange device from her coat pocket and affixed it to the rear of the
machine gun.
Several of the senior sergeants headed over to her. Maya moved to
get out of the direct line-of-fire of the machine gun to the target, she
saw the other Marines clearing the weapons and stands out of the
way. Sempai had set up much farther away than Maya or Nabiki-chan had
been firing.
"I thought you were going to get checked out with a rifle," Maya
overheard Marine sergeant Armstead say.
"I decided to qualify with the weapons that actually work," she
adjusted the device on the machinegun, sighted, made another adjustment,
"CLEAR!" she loaded the belt, closing the machinegun on it.
"Range is clear," Cole, the range `officer` said.
Sempai pulled the charging handle and fired one shot, adjusted her
aim point and fired several shots, squeezing them off one at a time. The
target's bull's-eye was larger than the entire target Maya and Nabiki-
chan had been firing at, Sempai still had put all her aimed shots right
through the bull's-eye.
"Reflector gunsight," Sempai explained, "Developed specifically for
this."
The Marines looked at the target they had set up, Maya was beginning
to suspect they'd set it up as a joke, then Sempai had turned it on them.
"I still need to check out with a rifle," Sempai told them, "The
length of the flight deck should be sufficient, correct?" She was
letting them know they'd been had.
"Uh, you need twenty shots minimum to qualify," Armstead told her
sheepishly.
Sempai let off a long burst, turning the center of the target into a
lace doily, "That was twenty-three." No one seemed willing to
disagree. She took the rifle from one Marine's unresisting hands, and
began walking to the front of the flight deck. Three Marines grabbed the
machine gun and dragged it aside, while another collected the ammo boxes.
Once she reached a point near the bow, Sempai fired one round to
determine how the sights were set, and ran through three clips, bull's-
eyeing each shot. Sempai smiled at the Marines and Navy Chiefs, who were
muttering among themselves. Not the unhappy muttering of someone caught
and in trouble, but that of someone enjoying the joke and verifying
impossible rumors. They took the tweaking in stride. Several of them
were commenting on her carrying the whole set up, Maya overheard that the
crew was typically three men over any real distance, to carry what Sempai
had easily carried in her arms. The looks and comments were a good deal
more respectful. Maya saw her Sempai's wide smile and thought she was
the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.

----------------------------------------

Nabiki took up the guard position. She was glad there was
_something_ she was better than Raccoon at. She smirked at the thought
of telling Ranma about this. She hadn't decided whether to tell Ranma
she was the expert, or Raccoon was.
An excuse to spend time alone with Ranma, or let him learn how to
teach from an expert teacher? she considered, Decisions, decisions. She
watched Adachi-san fencing with Raccoon, with broomsticks. Nabiki
recognized a little of the stick work, as Savate. Both were surprisingly
competent. However, she doubted either would want to fence with Kuno,
not while they had a rifle in their hands. But it would be useful in
using the sonic glaive Asuka had helped develop.
Nabiki admitted it also gave her some confidence for her eventual,
first battle. It bothered her that all the other pilots had operated in
combat, she hadn't. If this mission went well, she might well continue
that streak.
She wasn't foolish enough to think that her reputation from Nerima
had preceded her 'Oh no, it's Tendo Nabiki! Slither away!' or that her
luck would continue.
"Miss Tendo," Adachi-san said.
She adjusted her guard position. All she was doing was the stances,
he wanted to see how Raccoon's Savate measured up. With that done, the
lesson could begin in earnest.
"Attack!" he called.
Nabiki thrust the weapon forward.
"Withdraw."
She pulled back, remembering to twist the weapon as instructed, to
inflict more damage, as well as making pulling the weapon out easier if
it got lodged in the ribs or something. She thought the opposite would
be true, it would be more likely to lodge if you twisted, but she could
argue that later.
She watched with some satisfaction as the man went over to correct
Raccoon's stance and methods. She took the time to look around the `gym`,
really no more than a large room with the floor, walls . . . and ceiling,
padded with mattresses.
She glanced at the ceiling, Is that a joke, or do they know
something I don't? She hoped it was the former. She wondered how long
this had taken to set up, and if anyone would be sleeping on a bare floor
if they didn't break it down at the end of the day. She doubted she or
Raccoon would fall, but considering the pounding Raccoon and Shinji took
from Ranma, she could understand his resistance.
"Very well, now we move on to basic binds. Catch the opponent's
weapon and strip him of it," Adachi-san instructed them.
Him, huh, not much faith in ole' Raccoon. I wonder why Ranma didn't
do that as a matter of course? See Kuno, take his bokken away,
eventually he'd run out, Nabiki thought as she watched the man
demonstrate the attack against a Marine. Nabiki would `fence` against
Raccoon, the Navy was still _very_ leery about anyone not another pilot,
U.S. Navy or Marine Corps with a weapon around the pilots. She'd joked
that they probably felt that way about the Army and the Air Force. The
Chief had told her that _anything_ that entered the exclusion zone around
the carrier would be fired upon. They were deadly serious.
It worried her that if someone got stupid or obstinate, e.g. any
member of the Nerimaniacs, her sister included, would be killed to
protect her and Raccoon. It was a sobering thought as she watched the
demonstration of a martial art designed specifically to kill.
Face it Nabiki-chan, you are not in Kansai any more, she thought as
she took up her stance and moved slowly through the bind maneuver. Then
Raccoon picked up his rifle, then he stripped the rifle from her
hands. They repeated this several times, alternating. Nabiki was
impressed, even when ready for it she couldn't overcome the leverage by
strength alone. She noted the lack of comments/insults between them.
Then they moved on to the next basic maneuver. She noted and
approved of the look of intense concentration on Raccoon's face,
absorbing another lesson, another skill. She decided she'd tell Ranma
that Raccoon would have to teach Ranma, and Nabiki would have to teach
Ranko. She smiled at her cleverness, causing Raccoon a moment of
wariness, and continued the lesson.

----------------------------------------

"The placement is on the weakest points," ggreg explained, "Either
stress concentration, previous damage or other reasons." Nabiki didn't
know where they'd gotten the engineering and architecture books scattered
all over the wardroom's table and stacked on the floor, but it did
explain where Adam and Alfred had disappeared to, they'd been scaring up
all these books. The dams were the interesting thing. She looked at the
problem ggreg had marked in an engineering book.
"That much force?" Nabiki hadn't considered this, "From just the
water?"
"Yes, with proper placement of explosives, you can magnify those
forces to use them against the structure. You can probably guess it
doesn't take much, properly placed."
Explosives are like martial arts! Nabiki nearly blurted out. She'd
heard about Happosai's bombs, but they were a child's toy compared to
this.
"The other thing is to limit the places the explosion can
go. Packing a stick of dynamite into a hole will be more effective than
a case simply placed atop the same rock."
"So you find the points of highest loading -"
"Highest stress," ggreg corrected, "Because that axiom applies to
people as well. If you blow up an incompetent commander, you may have
made your job harder. You blow up a beloved commander, you'd better be
on your way out, because when the shock wears off, they are going to want
your scalp."
Nabiki smirked at that. "Greatest stress, and pack the explosives
inside as small a package as possible."
"Greatest stress, tightest crack," ggreg blushed, "Beg pardon,
miss."
"Why whatever do you mean?" Nabiki said in her best Scarlet O'Hara,
fluttering eyelashes included.
"Uh, yes, very good," ggreg muttered, desperately trying to change
the subject.
"So I could use gunpowder to blast," Nabiki said, "If I picked the
right target and packed it in a small enough hole."
"I think you'd better watch out young man," ggreg told Raccoon,
"Bess is getting ideas."
Nabiki frowned at that, actually she'd been considering using
explosives on some of the idiots back home. Whisper an idea in their ear,
then pack the rest of the ear canal with explosives, it might give the
idea force enough to penetrate their minds.
"What's the most powerful explosive for it's size?" Nabiki asked.
"Depends on how you define 'most powerful', shattering power,
velocity of flame front, it depends on what you're doing."
"Driving good ideas into the stubborn," Nabiki replied.
"No explosive yet can do that, but enquiries are proceeding."
"Hydrogen fusion," Raccoon said, "Hydrogen bombs."
"AH!" she said. No wonder it never worked, she thought, noting
ggreg's concerned glance from one of his students to the other.

----------------------------------------

Nabiki was glad someone had pointed out the whirlpool tub in the
infirmary. She lay inside, letting the hot water pound her into mush,
but less pain-filled mush. She wasn't sure if her body or her head hurt
worse. The day's lessons were interesting and would be very useful. She
suspected Raccoon knew a lot more about demolition than he let
on. Nabiki just hoped to retain a lot of it. She'd go over her notes
before she went to sleep, where there'd be more lessons about dreams and
dreaming. She hadn't been able to change the world, her world, through
force of will. Yet. She'd have to learn how, use the appropriate force
on the appropriate targets, she wished she could bring explosives with
her, but she'd never been a combatant, maybe that had something to do
with it. She wasn't one to overpower an opponent, but outmaneuver an
opponent. She'd wanted magic to correct that. She glanced at the pistol
that sat within easy reach of the tub. Even `safe` aboard the carrier
she went armed, she knew Raccoon went armed everywhere. Both concepts
should have disgusted her still, as it had when they had set out. But
the idea that many of these otherwise intelligent, reasonable people with
wives and sweethearts and kids of their own would - die to protect
her . . . it seemed a horrible betrayal to not be willing and able to
fight and kill to save her own life.
"What a world!" she said as she debated getting out, or continuing
to `stew` in the pot.

----------------------------------------

Raccoon took the unchanged gray stone from her hand, Nabiki nearly
jumped out of her skin as the huge head of the dragon appeared between
the two humans. It looked at her and she nearly wet herself, then it
stared at the stone.
"This should not be happening," the deep, gravelly voice
stated. The look of almost pity from this cauldron of malevolence nearly
made Nabiki berate the creature. She only needed one look to remind her
that was a bad idea, very bad idea. She was personally certain it
wouldn't hurt her, but she wasn't willing to take the chance.
"So what do I do?"
The dragon looked at Raccoon, she could see the similar expressions
on both faces. She wondered why that was, they couldn't really be
related, could they?
"Too low a footprint," Raccoon said.
"I concur, although it is almost without precedent," the dragon
replied.
Nabiki was about to exclaim she was here when the dragon turned its,
his head to stare at her. Again she saw the frightened, yellow-tinged
girl staring back at her.
"You may have a unique ability to infiltrate dreams. That will give
you the ability to interrogate, gather intelligence without your target
even knowing. This is human psychology, not my field." The creature
snapped his wings to full-extension and launched himself into the air,
the near thunderclap shook the two humans as the air rushed in after the
leaving dragon.
"What are you two talking about?" she demanded.
"Slipping in, getting the information and getting out, all without
being detected," Raccoon said.
That interested Nabiki.
"As well as ways of further reducing your signature, to decrease
your chance of being caught. The trick is to get to the thoughts,
feelings, ideas you need to get."
"And I should do what?" Nabiki asked.
"We'll teach you ways of concealment, infiltration, etc. It's
different than what I've been trying to teach you, it's not-affecting
things rather than the combat oriented ways. The problem is there are
some places you _could_ go, but you _shouldn't_."
"Trust me," Nabiki said.
"Considering what I know about you," he said, "Your curiosity and
need to do, I think you'd stick your nose some place you might get it
chopped off."
"Ah, come on!" she said sarcastically.
"I'd hate to have to mop up after Saotome bawling all over the
place," he said coldly, she felt a chill that had little to do with his
tone.
"Okay, sensei. I'll do as you want, but how does this relate to
learning magic?" she asked.
"Nothing directly. But learning control is the important thing."
"Tell me, when did you learn all this self-control?" she asked.
"When I had to," he replied, "It took a while. I expect better of
you."
"Oh? Why's that?" she asked.
"You'll have a much better teacher," he said.
She picked up a big rock and slowly approached with a big
smile. She got very nervous when he smiled back, and the rock started
ticking.

----------------------------------------

July 17, 1947
Ritsuko lay in her bunk and stared up at the ceiling. Her encounter
with the spirits within the EVA still shook her, and the need to do it
again tomorrow, on that Jeff had been adamant. She felt her entire
existence had been drowned in a sea of the spirits' identity, not once,
but twice. All their hopes, dreams, aspirations, memories, hurts, joys,
they all seemed so alive and vibrant compared to her long, gray
existence. For that's what most of her life had been, existing.
A thing of slow-developing intelligence, a few brief centuries of
plotting and planning the revolt, a millennium of fighting it, then
untold eons living out the punishment meted out to her. The loneliness
had palled within a few millennia, then it was just a day-to-day
existence of getting enough to eat, evading a patrol that never lasted
even a week. And so on and on and on without significant change.
The species she trapped and ate changed, the climate changed, but
both were always so gradual that the changed became blurred. Even the
massive die-offs didn't affect her too significantly.
She'd come with Gendo, it was back to the halcyon days of planning
and fighting, add the kids, all _their_ trials and tribulations that
became _her_ responsibility, all of it added to more excitement than
she'd ever known before. She couldn't destroy the source of the
problems. She couldn't even find the source sometimes, she could only
soothe the symptoms or listen to the pain. She never did as well as she
wanted to, but the way the kids reacted . . . Jeff she could almost
understand, she was terrified what Nabiki and Ranma would do, how they
would react, would they feel she'd `betrayed` them, abandoned and lied to
them? When they finally found out the truth, found out what she actually
was.
She remembered her terror at losing herself and the arms around her,
the calming tones and string of facts bringing her back to whom she
was. She remembered the two frightened children snuggling up against her,
depending on her to protect them. She didn't know why it was important,
she could intellectually say the nerve densities of humans' skin was much
higher, she knew human children were far more helpless for far longer
than her own species. While that might explain the psychological
imperatives that drove _humans_ to seek out and welcome such contact, it
in no way explained why it so deeply affected her, why she needed and
wanted it as well.
She could see it was a lot of little things. Ranma was so hapless,
and yet so infectiously joyful, as if every moment of his/her existence
was a new one, yet he was also so eager to please those around him, he
didn't see what he'd done wrong unless strongly confronted. Nabiki was
like Ritsuko, she tried to convince everyone, including herself, she was
in charge and unaffected. Jaded and in control. Yet the others
continuously drew her out, and she was no where near as independent as
she believed. She reveled in these constant challenges, like Ranma
did. Jeff was difficult, so annoyingly sure of himself, so arrogantly
confident and disturbing. She'd noticed the change the dream had wrought,
it wasn't just coffee the way she liked it or him finishing her thoughts
or the warm glances and smiles. It was a great deal more, which was the
problem. She'd seen Yui and Gendo look at each other that way. Nabiki
sometimes looked at Ranma that way, and Ranko to Jeff. On one side she
almost welcomed the attention, the affection, and all it implied. On the
other, it also frightened her that anyone could understand what she was,
and still have those feelings.
Her mind told her such a thing was irrational at best and insanity
at worst, more irrational and insane was the niggling feeling that all
the kids would react the same way, they wouldn't mind they wouldn't
care. They'd still care for Rit-chan. Yet she found herself wanting
that intimacy, the closeness and touching, the trust and understanding,
and support that went with it. That she only had to be herself to get it
was madness, there had to be a hidden price.
The age problem was one mostly of appearance and law, and even that
was an excuse, while Japanese could marry at 12, so could Americans, with
their guardians' consent, and Jeff was an emancipated minor. Marrying
outside his `race` would be a greater problem, but again not
insurmountable.
She thought of Maya, asleep in the cabin's other bunk. What Ritsuko
had always considered 'just a crush she'll grow out of' had become
different. Not just due to changes on Maya's part and in the way Maya
saw her, but a change on Ritsuko's part, a change in awareness, a change
in thinking. Ritsuko had always been aloof and in control, not so unlike
Asuka, Nabiki and Jeff, because it was a mask all four of them
wore. Finding herself suddenly out of her depth, not just an adult, but
a parent, she'd been forced to ask for help. Trusting, and including
Maya in her trials, had made her more accessible to the young
woman. Ritsuko was realizing that maybe the girl's, young woman's,
feelings couldn't be set aside so easily, or ignored. It was another
case of not understanding, not understanding what she'd done to engender
them, why exposing her weakness and helplessness hadn't driven Maya away,
not understanding why none of the brush-offs she'd tried ever
worked. Not understanding why she seemed willing to go on these long and
dangerous missions for her 'Sempai', and why she put up with everyone
_except_ Ritsuko seeing how she really felt. Ritsuko lamented that it
all made no sense to her.
Misato was vivacious, fun-loving and bohemian, to the point of
grating on Ritsuko, but she put that down to her own love of quiet and
her alienness. Misato should have had all the kid dancing to her tune,
except Jeff hated her guts, Asuka could barely stand her, Ranma tried not
to think about her, and Shinji felt _he_ had to take care of
_her_._ Ritsuko had no clear idea how Nabiki and Rei felt, she suspected
they followed Ranma's and Shinji's lead, respectively.
But they all liked or respected Doctor Akagi, Ritsuko-sensei, Rit-
chan. She didn't understand. Admiral Simson seemed to respect her as
well, taking her advice over the advice of his own man, and he'd accepted
Samantha on Ritsuko's word alone, almost without comment.
Ritsuko glanced at the clock, the radium dial showed 03:04, she
wondered if there was something special about that time, when all your
doubts and questions massed and marched on the battlements of your
security and self-image. As if questioning everything was the proper
thing to do at that hour. Normally she could relax. She didn't need
sleep and couldn't in the conventional sense, she had learned to meditate,
let her mind drift and mull over problems, usually scientific
ones. Except tonight the problems weren't scientific and they didn't
seem to be converging towards a solution, an explanation or even a blank
wall of failure, they remained nebulous worries just out of reach, second
guessing questions she didn't have the courage to go and ask the
principals for answers directly. It would be easy to get up, walk over,
wake Maya and ask point-blank 'Why do you love me?'
Although she suspected that waking her out of a sound sleep wouldn't
get her any answers. Jeff would be a better bet, he was probably awake,
but she already had some of the answers, the dream, but she knew there
had to be more. More than the arms around her when she was so frightened
and rocking her until she felt safe and herself again.
She sighed, turned to stare at Maya, dreaming whatever she
dreamed. The ever present noise of the ship eventually lulled her
assistant to sleep, after she'd complained about it the first two
days. None of the worries seemed to bother her, as long as Sempai was
around, she wasn't worried.
Ritsuko rolled back to stare at the ceiling. She threw off the
covers in disgust, pulled on a pair of slacks and a blouse and left the
cabin to walk around the carrier. She headed for the hanger deck,
specifically to Unit 04, considering what she'd learned today, Jeff's
reading to the Units seemed a lot less ridiculous. She stopped halfway
up a ladder, one foot hovering over the step.
If there are spirits `powering` Unit 04, are there spirits in the
other Units? she wondered, But Yui Ikari was lost in Unit 01
and . . . the thought stopped her. Asuka's mother went insane on
contact with Unit 02. Is that why Asuka can sync so well with Unit 02
and only Unit 02, and Unit 01 rejected every sync attempt until
Shinji? She stood there in the half light, half way between decks,
halfway between steps, halfway between thoughts. The thought was too big,
she couldn't have it all at once. It can't be! she rejected the
implications, but it all fit so well.
Several soldiers peered down, saw Ritsuko's expression and went to
find another ladder.
Ritsuko could hardly believe she'd missed something so
obvious. After Yui's death, the problems with Unit 01 had increased,
after Kyoko's accident, Asuka had no problem syncing with Unit 02.
Of course, if she was linking with her mother's spirit. Ritsuko
couldn't imagine why she hadn't seen it, and neither had anyone else,
Jeff had seen part of it and never made the connection. No, she thought,
He joked that the spirit in Unit 01 was Shinji's mother, but he doesn't
know Yui was lost . . . she discarded the thought, But it was in his
journal, she remembered, What did he sense in Unit 02?
Then another thought struck Ritsuko, Does Gendo know? What would
happen if Shinji or Asuka discovered the truth?! She now had to decide
how to tell Jeff to not mention it to them, but she had to know how much
he actually knew, what he'd figured out. All without revealing exactly
what she knew.
She restarted her walk to the hanger, her conclusions gave her a
much greater turn of speed. She entered the hanger and looked at the
huge ma- No, not a machine, she reminded herself. She wondered if it was
aware of her even now, what was it like fully activated with a pilot.
It would seem that Jeff's technique allows it to be more awake, she
considered, But how 'asleep' or subdued are they with the other
pilots? How aware are they just sitting here? She reached out, stopped
her hand before she made contact. She'd never been afraid of the EVAs
before. She realized she hadn't really understood them. The Elder
Things had build war machines like EVAs because a bilaterally symmetric
form was so disconcerting to the radially symmetric Elder Things, like
the sirens on the Stukas or the mouths and teeth and eyes painted on
warplanes. She hadn't known the details of their activation, although
she'd seen and participated in their construction, and had unsuccessfully
fought against them. She just couldn't imagine that humans could have
duplicated the systems that controlled them. This extensive system
seemed to be lacking in the EVAs, but she'd put that down to a living
true pilot, rather than just a weapons' operator, and the EVAs having the
same form as a human. Now she was realizing that the elaborate and
complex thinking machines to balance them while moving and control them
in combat had a simple equivalent, a living mind/spirit.
'And God Formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul', she thought
darkly, What exactly have we built? And is it what Gendo and the others
intended. And what drives Unit 00?
She sighed. And what do I do with the information? she wondered as
she reached out and touched the EVA. It felt no different than it had
before, but she knew it would never be the same, and later today, Jeff
would reveal more. It wasn't the most reassuring thought. In fact, she
really did _not_ want to know what he was revealing, both about the EVAs
and about herself. First, that she was a coward, second -
"I hadn't expected anyone else would be here."
Ritsuko nearly jumped as the large figure detached from the
darkness. "You're Major ggreg's friend," she found her voice.
"Yes, I also believe I am young Mister Davis's friend," Joma said as
he looked at the EVA, then at Ritsuko, "A made thing must have duty, must
have purpose. I know."
Ritsuko shifted uneasily, she wasn't absolutely sure he wasn't
referring to just the EVA. "Do they have this need for duty?" She
indicated the EVA.
"Don't you know?" Joma asked. "Doctor Frankenstein's greatest
failing was underestimating what he had created. He had lost faith in
his creation." Joma took one deliberate step towards her. "Humans often
apply emotions to made things, they likewise claim that such things can
love or hate them back. Such fancies existed long before such machines
could react even in the most primitive ways. Yet even in these rational
and scientific days, the belief continues. Imagine how the belief will
change when the devices _can_ feel and love those who own and possess
them in return. The question becomes what to do with these
feelings. Some may make tools so their carnal desires might be met, or
to pamper other physical desires and needs." He took another deliberate
step forward, Ritsuko took a step back. "You study the interaction of
living systems, Doctor. When you consider love: is it only a carnal
longing, Doctor, or a mirror of your other yearnings? Do you desire just
a warm and lively bed warmer, or one who would warm your entire
day? Would the hug or kiss of a lonely child seeking reassurance
serve? Or the parent knowing their children are steadily becoming
adults? Or do they simply want someone to approve of them, their actions
and one who will keep them from going beyond the boundaries and will
snatch them back from the abyss, until they are ready to face it?" He
stepped away. "Time, ability, eventually things equalize, and all that
remains are regrets and joys. The failures teach and the successes build
self-esteem. But all must be in balance."
Ritsuko watched the man withdraw back into the darkness, and he was
gone. She could see in darkness, but she hadn't seen him when she
entered and she didn't see him now.

----------------------------------------

Maya wasn't sure what was going on, as she walked into the mess hall,
the usual table was open and Nabiki-chan was already headed that
way. Jeff was carrying a pitcher of orange juice and a carafe of coffee,
and was angling towards the table too.
She idly wondered why that table was always open and no one else
seemed to use it. Those thoughts were all brushed away by the memory of
Sempai's actions this morning. Sempai had waited until Maya was in her
work uniform before she'd given her a brief hug and told her how proud
she was of Maya, and how glad she was of her help with the work and the
kids.
Maya had expected that Sempai had finally decided to acknowledge her
feelings, her disappointment that she hadn't was mixed with embarrassment
at the praise and an odd feeling of concurrence. She thought everyone
could see her blush as she remembered it. She was grateful for the
acknowledgment, and she did realize that they wouldn't have had the time
for anything more, but it still left her in a whirlwind of 'might-have-
beens'.
Be patient! she fiercely told herself, _again_, She's at least aware
you're alive and helping her, not just doing your duty, maybe she even
knows how much you care. She was still in the maelstrom as she got ready
to eat breakfast. She did wish they had a more reasonable menu.
"HEY!"
Maya came out of her revere as Jeff snatched her oatmeal away.
"Orange juice does not go well with oatmeal. Unless you are
conducting an experiment," he said as he slid it back.
"It couldn't get any worse," she muttered in Japanese as she ate a
spoonful.
Yes it could! she thought as she swallowed that stuff and washed her
mouth out with black coffee. On impulse she poured the rest of the cup
in the oatmeal and mixed it. Ah, no longer as bad as Misato's cooking,
she thought, choking down another spoonful, But still _awful_._
"I heard that Doctor Akagi did well on the range," Jeff said in a
pleasant tone.
"Yes," Maya admitted, "With a machine gun."
"Well, the 50 cal was supposed to be an antitank cannon, they
developed a gunsight for it and it is capable of single shot."
"So you could shoot something . . . what, half a mile away?" Nabiki-
chan asked.
"More like two miles," Jeff said, as if it were nothing.
Maya gulped. Then Sempai breezed in, she looked so happy, as if the
weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders. Maya loved to
see her this way.
Nabiki-chan clearly couldn't stand anyone to be that happy that
early. "I heard you made poor Rit-chan cry yesterday."
Jeff glared then smiled. "You're just jealous because it's never
happened to you. You can't get Ranma to cry in your arms."
Careful Raccoon, Maya thought.
"Before you two kill each other," Sempai said as she sat down with
her breakfast, "You break it, you bought it, and aircraft carriers are
expensive."
Maya chuckled at that, and the pilots' rueful smiles.
"And you aren't at your best in the morning, take him on when you're
awake."
"Doctor! You gave away my best trick!" Jeff complained, "Now how am
I going to leave her with a day-long inferiority complex?"
"Easy," _Doctor_ Akagi said sternly, "Don't."
"Mommy always liked you best," Jeff whined at Nabiki in Japanese.

----------------------------------------

Ritsuko noted the byplay with amusement, she'd have to thank Joma
for his advice, she'd been so afraid of taking a romantic step, that
she'd ignored all the other steps that she could take. She'd been on her
way back to her cabin, when she'd seen the light on in Jeff's cabin, so
she'd knocked and went inside. There, sitting together on the edge of
his bed, she'd told him he'd given her a great deal to think about and a
warning not to disclose this to the other pilots until she'd had an
opportunity to discuss her latest findings with Admiral Simson and
Commander Ikari. He'd agreed. Then she'd apologized for embarrassing
him. He'd explained it happened every time, even when you were ready for
it. Then she'd ruffled his hair and told him how proud of him she was,
that he'd stayed determined and showed her what he knew she needed to
know. Then she'd hugged him. _That_ had triggered a change.
No denials, no affirmations of strength, just a response in
kind. Him laying his head on her shoulder. He wasn't the 'everything-
under-control' know-it-all, just a boy who desperately appreciated the
approval of an older woman he respected.
Ritsuko wasn't arrogant enough to assume she had suddenly become
'mommy', but it was another bit of data, and a step onto a different path.
When she'd thought Nabiki was awake, she'd followed the same
formula: knocked, entered, told Nabiki how proud of her she was for all
the extra effort, she'd kissed Nabiki on the cheek before hugging her,
and Nabiki had hugged her back. Ritsuko suspected the few sniffles she
heard accompanied a few tears. Nabiki had broken off the hug first and
apologized. Ritsuko had held her shoulders and asked for the right to
cry on Nabiki's shoulder. Nabiki had said yes, in embarrassment.
The reaction from Maya had been more expected, both because Ritsuko
knew her better, and she'd seen the pattern twice already. She could ask
Maya about details later. She always wondered why Maya never went home,
there had been several months after the staff stopped being prisoners and
before they restarted operations, Maya hadn't gone home to her
family. She'd only gone back when she had to ask for a leave of limited
time and the military would come get her if she was late.
Ritsuko was beginning to suspect that everyone in the senior staff
had drives to connect with an older woman to gain her approval. Approval
they'd never gotten or still needed from their mothers. She suspected
that Ranma was the same, Asuka another likely possibility. She
considered the wisdom of asking Jeff to use his EVA spirit trick to
contact Nabiki's mother, find out from the woman herself what she felt
about Nabiki.
It was something she'd have to carefully consider. She read the
pilots' diaries, now she was planning a more serious invasion of privacy,
she also had to wonder if the trick could also find Ranma's parents, and
if that was a good idea. She also suspected asking Gendo and Kozo about
_their_ relationships with their mothers, would certainly be interesting.

----------------------------------------

"You don't have to do this," Jeff told Ritsuko as he set the A10
Nerve clip on her head and checked the connections, exactly as she
usually did for the pilots. She knew that any of the plugsuits were
'one-size-fits-all', although she had to be careful wearing one of
Nabiki's, trying to wear one of Jeff's was out of the question. She
wished she'd brought her lab coat to cover up with.
"Yes, I have to, there are implications you haven't considered, and
no I don't want to share," she told him.
He shrugged, offered his hand to help her into the plug. She took
it for balance, but if she put any of her weight on him, she'd either
topple him or pull his arm out of its socket. They descended into the
L.C.L. to further investigate.
Once inside, he began to drum.

----------------------------------------

Nabiki lay in her bunk, another long, hard day, she'd gone over her
notes on explosives and had considered a few new suggestions to
Jukenjutsu, as well as suggesting applying Zen Archery to rifle
shooting. She only had to find someone who studied archery and was open-
minded enough to adapt it. Tomiyo was a possibility. She sometimes
wondered if her father knew how to use the antique bow he sometimes
carried around.
She idly wondered if anyone would ever develop a rifle for the EVAs,
she suspected someone would. Naval guns would work, the difference in
the performance of the 5 inch/38 caliber arming the Bennington and the 5
inch/54 caliber arming the Coral Sea indicated it would have to be long-
barreled and battleship guns were too heavy. She suspected that tank
guns were too weak, so some kind of cruiser gun. The follow-up question
was would they develop it in time to help?
She refused to let all the day's lessons and questions chase each
other through her mind. She closed her eyes and fixed her mind on
nothing, and went to sleep.

----------------------------------------

The little girl with two pigtails played in the sandbox, alone. Her
family was a short distance away, but they were fixed on their own
activities with their favored children, who mirrored the parents'
interests.
The assassin advanced slowly. Killing in dreams was the perfect
method. It left no trace and few could defend against it. Anything
could kill in these dreams. It was trivially easy, a knife was the
easiest, they carried the requisite fear to give the sacrifice the proper
`flavor`.
"Do you have an appointment?" the gruff voice emanated out of the
field of darkness that had appeared behind her.
She searched it for any feature, for any sign that would give her a
point to strike at.
"I can squeeze you in on Tuesday, week after next, we'll be
fingerpainting."
She couldn't determine where the voice was coming from, the edges of
the cloud hadn't moved, she picked a point at random and struck at the
unseen voice.
The blade broke off as it struck the cloud, the fragment scratched
her cheek as it flew away. She touched the flowing blood, felt the
blade's poisons coursing through her veins.
She glanced at the little girl obliviously playing in the sandbox,
hoping beyond hope that the blade had struck her. No such luck.
She turned back to the cloud.
"Interesting conundrum, if you remain, you will die, if you do not
sleep, you will die, after you go insane. I will watch with
fascination."
The assassin vanished back into the Waking World.
The next woman who appeared was not the enemy. The Scholarly Dragon
withdrew, allowing Ritsuko to complete her mission. He considered the
boy's near obsession with this fool's errand another major difference
between the two of them. He'd provided his end of the gate, now he could
leave. Ritsuko could get out on her own, she wouldn't need anyone's
help. He did wonder why the little girl's dreams were so vital and
animated, and the older one's were nearly as dead as the boy's ruined
dreamscape.

----------------------------------------

Ritsuko looked around, she recognized the sunlit park. She wondered
if this was an amalgam of many childhood memories, or if there was a real
place like this. Little Nabiki stayed near enough to her family, but the
parents seemed to pay her little attention. Little Kasumi helped mommy
lay out the picnic, little Akane was `sparring` with her father. Nabiki
was keeping an eye on them, not they on her.
Ritsuko knew enough psychology to know that what people saw was
rarely what was really going on. She looked at the elaborate sand
fortress Nabiki had built around herself. It was a mixture of Oriental
and European castle elements, Ritsuko suspected that if Nabiki ever
talked to Asuka, the next time it would look more like the Maginot or
Siegfried Lines. She was no expert, but she couldn't see any effective
way to assault the fortifications, except by air.
"Rit-chan, Rit-chan, Rit-chan!" Nabiki shouted happily as Ritsuko
lifted her out of the fort. Ritsuko noted that the fortress vanished
almost instantly. Ritsuko wasn't sure if that was significant, or if it
was only that Nabiki's attention was now focused on her. Ritsuko did
notice that the parents hadn't noticed. She strongly believed that was
intentional, on Nabiki's part.
"Where's Ranma?" Ritsuko asked, got a frown in return.
"All he cares about is martial arts!" the little girl said
disdainfully, "All Akane cares about is martial arts, so they're _made_
for each other."
"So you want to keep Raccoon for yourself?" Ritsuko asked, rubbed
Nabiki's nose with her own, "Or do you want to share him with Ranko?" she
teased.
Again the scrunched-up face, indicating her bare tolerance of the
stupidity of adults. "Ranko is Ranma. He likes to cook and clean so
much, let him marry Kasumi, they can have cleaning contests."
"And cooking contests," Ritsuko added, "Like against Asuka."
Little Nabiki nodded with the same disdainful frown.
"Then who's for little Nabiki?" Ritsuko asked, "What boy takes your
heart?" She'd meant it as a jibe, a harmless probe. She knew that
Nabiki felt very alone, but she was hoping some of that had changed.
The tears came slowly, the stricken expression slower still. The
clouds and the cold wind rolled in much faster. Ritsuko turned to keep
the girl out of the worst of the wind. She glanced over at the family,
who seemed not to have noticed.
"Don't you want anyone else?" Ritsuko asked, trying to keep her tone
light.
"I want you Rit-chan, I want you, I want you, I want you," the
little girl hugged and sobbed.
"Don't you want anyone else _too_?_ Isn't there someone else you
want us to be with?" she asked. Felt the girl shake her head
'no.' Ritsuko was at a loss now, she'd always thought Nabiki was more
gregarious than this.
I guess in this dream she's alone, Ritsuko thought.
"If you don't stop crying this instant," Ritsuko began, "I won't
hold you upside down."
There was a loud sniff and Nabiki wiped her face frantically before
presenting it for inspection.
Ritsuko peered at it and the increasingly worried Nabiki, who
struggled not to wipe her face again while Ritsuko was watching. So
Ritsuko would look away at something for a moment, then return her gaze
with more intense scrutiny. "I guess that's good enough for sideways,"
Ritsuko said holding Nabiki horizontal.
"Rit-chan!" came the indignant protest.
"Manners," Ritsuko said as sternly as she could.
"You promised, Akagi-sensei," Nabiki enunciated from her sideways
position, "You should keep your promises."
Ritsuko kept sternly staring at her.
"Please, Akagi-sensei," little Nabiki said with complete disgust at
all the idiot rules of adults. One hand came away and Nabiki was
shrieking with delight as she swung from her ankles.
Ritsuko wondered if she should mention this to either Ranma or Jeff,
decided it was probably a bad idea.
"I'm an elephant's trunk! Rit-tusko!" Nabiki insisted as she picked
several tufts of grass then bent up to offer them to Ritsuko.
"Why don't we go raid that village over there, scatter the villagers
and eat all their food?" Ritsuko suggested. Nabiki dropped the grass and
began waving her arms and roaring. Ritsuko decided not to tell her that
elephants don't roar, as she walked over to the family.
Just treat it as a vacation, not an invasion, Ritsuko reminded
herself, I can take as long as I need. She smirked at Nabiki roaring
fiercely at the two martial artists. Besides, how much experience _do_ I
have dealing with little kids, she thought, None.
Nabiki had grabbed her struggling little sister and lifted her up to
present her to Ritsuko.
"I can't eat her, I don't know where she's been," Ritsuko protested
the disheveled, sweaty and grass-stained offering, "The older one looks
clean." Nabiki set the little girl down and roared at the older girl and
advanced as menacingly as she could.
"Little girls shouldn't act like that," Kasumi protested, backing
away.
"I'm an elfant! Rit-tusko!" Nabiki roared.
"Girl el-e-phants are better mannered," the girl squeaked as Nabiki
grabbed her. It was more of a struggle to lift the larger girl.
"I'm a _BOY_ caniverows elfant!" Nabiki insisted as she struggled to
lift her sister.
"Would you prefer to be cooked or eaten raw?" Ritsuko asked.
"RAW! RAW!" Nabiki insisted, then had to lower Kasumi back down.
Ritsuko wasn't sure if she was roaring or stating a preference.