The First Goodbye
| Title: | The First Goodbye | |
|---|---|---|
| Author: | Haak | |
| Date Written: | 6/10/2005 | |
| Continuity | SSEU Earth 1337-B | |
| Time Placement | Early Steam Age | |
| Synopsis | In a far-off solar system, a common enemy causes a chance meeting, and lives are changed forever. | |
| Rating | ||
| Additional Notes | ||
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In synchronised orbit around the third moon of Alenia III, the University of Caille was a relatively busy space station. Its students numbered in the hundreds of thousands, though most only left the platform after graduation. The entire Alenia system was known for being a relatively quiet place, as far as interstellar traffic went. The neighbouring system of Yulai, by contrast, was infamous for being a hive of constant activity, legitimate or otherwise. Caille, though, was quiet. Until today. About 15km from the empty docking bays of the station, there was a sudden spike of energy. Were any ships passing by, they would have seen what looked like the fabric of space itself being torn asunder. A seemingly random mess of radiation poured forth, obscuring the anomaly further to anyone wishing to see it for themselves. Within seconds of the rift opening up, it disappeared again in a flash of light, seemingly unstable enough to even continue to exist in this universe. All that remained was a single battleship. The University was indeed in a quiet system, but it also had its fair share of security. A ring of sentry gun platforms were in slow orbit around the station, and had tracked the ship from the very millisecond it appeared. However, it was not unheard of for battleships to pass through such secure space, to refuel or re-supply. It was still trade, and at least in Alenia, trade was power. The ship’s engines flared into life, and it headed for the docking bay.
“You’re sure she’s here?” A woman asked, youthful in appearance, but a well-known veteran to everyone aboard the ship. She turned to the commanding officer, a much taller figure, with long dark brown hair, and trademark red and black armour.
She smiled despite herself. She wasn’t really his sister, but at times like this, she felt like one. The two Flame Knights had been through so much at this point, it was strange for one not to consider the other family. After all, they had cut their ties to their homes long ago. There was a shudder across the whole ship as the station took control of navigation, and they began to dock with the University. Rali couldn’t help but wonder who this woman was they were searching for. Sure, she knew her name, and the reasons given for them giving chase, but only what she’d read in mission briefings. There had to be more to it than “Yuuko Arimura, influential figure in the Orion Syndicate”.
“You guys watch the ship, I know this is a University but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t still consider this a dangerous situation. If the target is here, I doubt she’s alone. Keep an eye out. If anything comes up, let me know. Rali and I will go do some digging, see what we can find. Over” Haak walked through the high archway into the main lobby of Bay 18. He did some research of the station, knew its layout roughly, but admittedly, he had omitted to read up on the culture. Realising he was parading down the main hall in full body armour he suddenly felt this oversight may yet prove to be a critical one. Rali just smiled, knowing exactly what was going through the head of her “sibling”. She’d covered what Haak had missed. The station’s demographic was extremely diverse from what she had researched, and looking around, the theory seemed to hold true. As they continued out of the lobby, they passed people and aliens of all shapes and size, some obviously academics, others of a more… militant persuasion. They’d fit right in, if that even applied here. “So if I’m a criminal infamous across the galaxies, and across time itself, where would I be on this station, I wonder?” Rali asked more to start up a conversation than harbouring any hope of an answer being revealed soon.
All three just stood there, blinking in turn. Sakura’s mind raced. What was Haak doing here of all places? She remembered him vaguely mentioning time travel, but only knew of his arrival on Earth, early 21st century, from the war-torn galaxy of the 41st millennium. She finally arrived at the conclusion that this Haak hadn’t met Sakura yet, despite her having met him. Sometimes being a time active was such a bother, she chuckled to herself. “Cool closet. Got any spare?” The light-hearted remark smashed the silence apart, dragging all 3 of them back to reality. A small child was staring at the silver TARDIS in wonder. He never got an answer though, as what they guessed to be his mother dragged him off, scolding him with something to the effect of “It’s none of your business”. Sakura couldn’t help but chuckle. Despite the chameleon circuit’s abilities, she had never really felt the need to make use of disguising the TARDIS. In her travels, she had discovered that most races were either not curious enough to care what it is, or too lazy to bother asking. The only exception from time to time was nearly always the inquisitive mind of a child. “The kid’s got a point, I know I want one. Hehe.” Rali smiled, deciding that a careful but friendly approach would be the best way forward here. What she saw was more than just a “cool closet”, it was a piece of some very advanced technology. Her own inquisitive nature had turned her into somewhat of a technophile over the years, and she was practically dying to find out what it did, why it did that, and how it did it. Sakura smiled and made to head off, she wanted to avoid spending too long with the two travellers, for all sorts of reasons. Not least that she had come here looking for someone, and they could leave again at any second. She didn’t find the prospect of Haak suddenly knowing Sakura in the future very appealing either. But that would have to wait—she had a job to do. As the Time Lady ran off into the throngs of people, it was clear she had a destination in mind. Rali spoke up first, but echoed what Haak was thinking.
“Well, is it ready? Time is not something I have in abundance you know.” Yuuko Arimura sat, crossed legged, watching two others work. Her low cut red dress matched the colour of her long hair. She had considered using a disguise but disregarded the idea since she knew full well how much access a low-cut dress can give a girl, especially since no one on the station seemingly had a clue who she was. Just another passerby. “Ok, that should do it. What should I set the timer for?” The first man asked. He dwarfed Eudial in size, so much so that the term “built like a tank” would be particularly applicable here. His co-worker was a much smaller creature, clearly not human, but still humanoid. It leaped about the device they had been working on for the past few hours, making checks and double-checks. “Hmm. Let’s say... 5 minutes. Nice round number for your little robot-monkey to program in.” The little creature, while obviously being partly bionic in nature, gave a beep of disapproval but linked a wire into the control panel and entered in the number anyway. The man smirked, and looked back to his client. “The job is done. We’ll pick up payment at Yulai X as arranged. Nice working with you. If I had morals anymore, I’d ask why bother blowing this old place to bits, but I did say no questions asked. A deal is a deal.” Eudial gave him a warm smile. “You’ll get your reward… gentlemen. I assure you.” A digitised squeal from the little cyborg indicated the timer had been set, and was ready to go. In about a second flat it covered the distance separating the bomb from its owner, and perched relatively content upon his shoulder, as the man turned and left.
Haak was becoming less than enchanted with the students of Caille. Any he had met were seemingly off in their own little world, clearly having had more than their RDA of whatever narcotics was popular in this part of the universe. He’d asked around about Ms Arimura but all he’d got so far was requests for “a light” and compliments on his hair. Apparently long brown hair was popular. Every other student seemed to have it. All things considered, it had not been a productive hour or so. He’d checked back with the ship, but there was nothing to report there either. He was beginning to think Rali might have been right… again. That had become an irritating trend, he noted. He’d been given orders to come here though, so he knew there had to be some reason. It was just a matter of finding it. Rali pushed past yet more crowds, trying to do the impossible by avoiding being spotted by Sakura, but keeping close enough not to lose her in the sea of bodies. She hated missions in busy places. It resulted in having to keep your abilities in check. Her only consolation was that the girl she was pursuing was having the same problem. After what seemed like she had covered the length of the whole station, Rali saw her target slip inside a side door, into an area marked for maintenance. Clearly, the blonde was no mechanic. Perhaps this wouldn’t be the wild goose chase it could have so easily been. She slipped past the sleeping guard, remarking to herself that if there was one constant across the galaxies, it was security guards’ terrible habit of taking naps. She barely had a foot in the door before she found herself staring down the glowing blue blade of Arataka, held up to her face by Sakura Xadium Aino. “Hiyas.” Sakura’s tone was unnerving. Rali knew she was cornered, in an isolated part of the station. Even if she contacted Haak or the others now, it’d be a good while before anyone reached. Better play it safe.
Sakura took a gamble and lowered her sword momentarily. Rali visibly relaxed, but remained wary. Here comes the questions, she thought. She’d been the one doing the asking plenty of times before. “Yuuko Arimura.” Sakura said, in a cold, serious tone.
The silence that followed sat and lingered for a few painfully long moments. Rali suddenly realised the nerve she had hit, hard.
Eudial chuckled. “You know Sakura, you’re right. I have to admit, constantly running from you gets most tiresome. From here on in, I won’t be running anymore.” Sakura gave her no reply, except to extend Arataka, the sacred blade, in her opponent’s direction. Her concentration was soon broken as a massive burst of wind rushed past her, as an explosion knocked Eudial back off her feet, her nanomachines just forming a protective barrier in time to stop the blast. Both women turned to see Rali’s hands extended, the crests on her gloves glowing, and a determined look set in her features. For her, it was time to get down to work. The double doors both Sakura and Rali had snuck in by suddenly collapsed, falling between them and their enemy. The result of more nanomachines, thought Sakura. She must have missed their presence, distracted by her own anger. Rali leaped over the doors, with Sakura close behind. Eudial was already up again, and dusting herself down. “Not bad for a kid. Just who the hell are you anyway?” She asked, more irritated than concerned about her real identity. Sakura rushed past Rali before she could answer, and slashed at Eudial, who parried the blow with yet another nanomachine construct—this time, a sword. The force of Sakura’s blow was enough to knock Eudial towards the entrance, however, and the former leader of the Witches 5 gladly took the opportunity presented to her, and quickly became just another face in the crowd. Dashing after her, both the Time Lady and Flame Knight found no trace of her escape route. Sakura cursed herself for being so reckless, while Rali checked back with the ship’s crew. “Yeah? Yeah I’m fine. She’s here. No, she thinks I missed her, but I got a tracking beacon on her leg.”
Haak pushed past more people, heading back to the hall he’d seen the “closet” in previous to splitting up. He could sense something was wrong, as he sprinted down a corridor filled with people, he noticed they seemed more frantic, there was more movement, but couldn’t quite place it. Something was announced over the PA, but even given the level of technology the University of Caille had at its disposal, it was still a PA, and it was anybody’s guess what had just been announced. He turned the corner and saw the silver monolith up ahead. Orders were to return to the ship. Why? What was happening? Had Eudial left? Then it him. The language those around him had been speaking was alien to him, but for some reason, being within range of that silver “closet”, he was able to make out one sentence that stood out. One word. BOMB. <p>“FUCK!” He raced towards the ship and punched in a direct channel to Rali over his comms link. “RALI! Get the HELL back to the ship! There’s a bomb aboard!” <p>The volume of the communication was easily loud enough for Sakura to hear it. This was not what she’d wanted to hear. Not now that they were so close to getting Eudial. The two girls, both far older than their looks might suggest, charged into the empty docking bay. The theory being if Eudial is here, then there’s a means of escape. <p>“She’s here. Somewhere in this room.” Rali was being bombarded with orders to retreat, but she knew she was close. She was NOT going to keep chasing this red-head for months again. Sakura scanned the room quickly, not seeing any life. There was no ship, notably, either. There WAS, however, a small electromagnetic reading near where they came in. Rali found it first, picked it up, and felt her heart fall. <p>She showed the tracking beacon to Sakura. Haak ran, no, Haak FLEW down past the silver TARDIS he did not yet recognise—he had given up hope that Rali was going to make it back on her own steam, despite her speed, and he didn’t plan on losing her to some terrorist in a backwater station in the middle of a practically unheard-of solar system. A pure streak of flame, he shot down the hallway, continuing to the hangar she was in. Rali and Sakura were already in a rapid retreat.
<p>“That TARDIS thing of yours, it’s a ship right?”
Diving to the ground, Sakura saw only briefly a streak of flame shoot past her. Rali didn’t bother to duck, but turned and helped Sakura to her feet again.
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