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Another morning came. Cold, seeping into the bones, was unwelcome. The hellcat leather did little to stave off the cold. Her eyes darted to scan the surroundings and her nose flared up, taking up the scents that were around her. All was normal, or what passed for normal in this land. She got up, slowly, finally stretching her good arm, touching the ceiling of the small cave. After allowing her body a minute to relax, she silently moved to the entrance of the cave. It was a small crevice, barely large enough for a human to slide in sideways, something that provided her with much needed security during the nights. She slid herself out, and was greeted with a cold gust of wind, somewhat energizing her. She scanned the surroundings and no footprints were seen in the mud around. It had rained the previous day, which meant today was hunting day. The forest was silent, as everyday. Only the wind was singing to her. And danger looking at every step.

Cold hard floors, the smell of incense mixed with a faint aroma of tea and honey, Kyoto was always the same. In months past, he'd have enjoyed waking up to such aromas in such an exotic location. Alas, no more. He felt older than he should have done, the family he was sent to guard required constant watch, his obligation to the Dragons took away most of his time, and playing ambassador took away the rest. His habit of smoking had increased, his weight dropped and his mind hardened. He missed home, he missed his brothers and the smell of mown grass on Cambridge. He longed for the mountains and the little rivers, but his duty required him to stay, at least for a little longer. He had stupidly volunteered for a patrol in the sigmas two weeks ago, but it turned out to be a happy mistake, since the Service had asked him to check on the region, concerned about Rheinland's progress was the line they gave him. He pulled his flight suit on as he trudged to the hanger bay for the millionth time.

The sound and stench of death was close. She had heard voices carried by the wind two miles back, and now the result of a bladder discharge over a tree. Still fresh. Ten minutes of distance at most. But she knew she was not the only predator in this planet. Far from it. In their eyes, she was prey. As well the newfound quarry she was following. Scanning the ground, she got her confirmation. Man. Eight of them. The depth and shape of their footprints portrayed little to no panic. As she finally turned the bend on a ridge, she saw the group of men. Keeping to the ground, using the terrain to hide her presence, she took notice of every single one of them, seeing at least two security guards, the only ones displaying weapons and on the lookout. By the heavy load on the back of some alongside the electronic gear it seemed they were a survey team. Kishiro by the color and looks of them. What was clearly the leader of the whole group, moved to a small mound, signaling the other men to follow. Finally, one of them started to offload a small box filled with components. A disassembled long range communicator. Her bionic eye zoomed on it, glinting, and a grinned formed on her lips. Finally, a prey worth catching.

He still enjoyed flying, now probably more than ever, since it was time to himself. Kyoto had allowed him to conduct his mission for the service, on the condition he returned in one piece, although he suspected it was more the ship they were worried about, not him. His flight into the well traveled sigma route to Rheinland as long, and quiet. Fewer patrols from the KNF could be found in this region now, he suspected the Rheinlandic presence in the deeper sigmas had increased. Sigma 19 was as quiet as it had always been. Few people bothered to journey out here, and those who did were often under the protection of the Hogosha. Sigma 59 was about the same, although the corsair presence was higher than normal, in fact it was bad enough that he had to dog-fight with a number of them and then run to safety before he was overwhelmed.

While watching the group of men organize themselves, eating what appeared energy bars, and one was preparing the long communicator, she started to run scenarios in her head. A memory flash ran through her head. Eleven months earlier, she did the same, albeit in a whole different setting. Her eyes locked on the ruined bionic arm, and pushed the memory aside, focusing on the task at hand. It was a do or die event. Another in a multitude of many since she crash-landed in this planet. No one could walk away alive from this, lest a heavy alert would be sounded. Or worse, the Rheinlanders. They would not bring scientists. They would bring soldiers and weapons. But with it noise. And noise is something this planet dislikes. Hellcats thrive on noise, more so than their sense of smell. Breathing in, and preparing herself for the pain to come, she removed the hellcat makeshift claw hanging from her belt and strapped it on her left hand with the assistance of her mouth. Feeling each claw moving in sync with her fingers, she readied herself. Once again, Saigon would claim more lives. Hers or theirs. And in this morning, the wind was truly blowing something fierce.

Rheinland had been busy. While Kusari was more concerned about reunification, Rheinland had moved her fleets deep into territory that once saw the destruction of their fleets. Sigma-21 held particular interest for him since a Rheinland battleship was parked there. Not that he could get near it to know anything but the Order outpost had enough information on it that he knew the Rheinlanders meant business by being there. Especially as their home territories weren't all that far away. Saigon was the cause of all the trouble, like any lush green world, everyone wanted it. Kusari because...well, it was close. The GMG because why not? and Rheinland because they were running out of places to put people. He could respect their position more than anyone else, but going to war over it seemed almost contrary to the objective. Still, each to their own he reasoned. He decided to do a once over of the system, as oposed to Sigma-59, and to see if the Kusarians had bothered to set their own fleets in motion before going home.

Kano Motoki, twenty eight springs, with a degree on xeno-biology and a wife waiting for him in New Tokyo, saw a black clad form jumping on top of a ridge in front of them. The security guards raised their weapons and shouts ensued. The form, removed her hood, showing a female face, Kusarian.. But not totally. And she opened her mouth. Kaze looked at the men in front of her, knowing very well she was calling death upon these men, but it was her or them. And they would not conform to her needs. So she decided to use Saigon as her tool. The hellcats, as opposed to normal predators, had a very keen hearing, almost too keen. Silence was her life for the past months and she learned how to move like one of those predators. Hellcats shun each other socially but when a hunt is afoot, they disregard those feelings and become the killing machines that they truly are. And all that was needed to summon them was noise. So she opened her mouth and finally, what she always felt to say every morning, was said.

Good Morning, Saigon

The words left her lungs with all the power she could muster. And as she finished, Kaze dropped to the floor on the ridge. Minutes later, Kano Motoki finally met his last nightmare. A dark leathery huge feline figure that jumped towards him, extending a monstrous claw that ripped his throat. He fell on his knees as the blood soaked his clothes. Closing his eyes, the strength on his body left him and the cold, watery mud of Saigon welcomed him as his last address. A furious battle happened but as two hellcats laid dead on the ground and the last remaining survivor was grasping for life as he dragged himself towards one of the weapons. She walked upon him and for good measure slashed his back to make sure he was dead. Two women and four men. Her stomach grumbled as she finally picked up the parts of the disassembled communicator, but now was not the time to eat. Putting it all into one of the backpacks, she picked up one of the weapons from the mud, stashing it in her back belt. With the load, she started making her way back home. The sky rumbled, and as the wind once again picked up, she gave a last look at the tragedy that befell this survey team, knowing another predatory hellcats would be soon here, smelling the blood in the air. Her bionic leg froze, once again. Sighing, she punched it, trying to release the rotors within so that she could be on her way. Three minutes later, it finally complied and she thanked the winds for it as the smell of an hellcat reached her nostrils. Her feet started to run as she knew she would be soon in danger.

Kusari hadn't done a bloody thing, much to his surprise and dissapointment. Oh they staked a claim three or four days ago, but Rheinland was the one with the effing battleship in the system, and it looked like they were ready to make good on their own claim. He didn't know what the GMG were doing, and wasn't prepared to venture into the clouds to find out, remembering well his history lessons. Interestingly, the Corsairs, Order and GCs had a considerable interest in the system, something Rheinland would be able to exploit if they were truly wanting to take Sigma-21. Pretty soon he was done with his patrol, Rheinland wasn't ordering any full retreats anytime soon, and Kusari had failed to take the initiative in securing the system before the Military. It was clear that Rheinland would soon become entrenched enough that the Kusari forces would have a hard time moving them. Still, he wondered about the Planet itself, would it actually be suitable for people? or did it just look nice? He wagered he wouldn't know anytime soon, nor would anyone, with war looking more and more likely.

Breathing raggedly, she looked at the crevice of the small cave, with the hellcat growling and clawing trying to get in. She turned her back, lit a small fire, knowing very well the hellcat would not leave for hours and started to assemble the communicator. The cave would hamper the signal and that it would be too big to cross the crevice. With that in mind, she assembled the communicator into three major pieces. Small enough to pass the entrance, and fast enough to assemble outside. All that was needed to do was to deal with the two hundred kilograms monstrosity outside. She prepared her slim belongings in the backpack, ate one of the two rations that she managed to take from the survey team, and steeled herself for the remaining of the day ahead of her. Looking back at the crevice, the hellcat was still trying to claw its way in. She didn't killed it yet because hellcats don't go near hellcats. At least, not alive ones. She walked towards it and held her ground, less than a meter away from its swiping claws. Her eyes looked at the floor and swiped the dirt, finding a small leathery cord. She pulled it, and a claw trap of the size of the hellcat sprung from the floor and cleaved the hellcat in two. Walking over the bloody mess, she removed one of the hellcats teeth, and placed it her belt. If all went well.. A memory of this place. She looked one last time at what she called home for the past months and ran to a valley nearby, an excellent place to land and an excellent place to watch. Thirty minutes later, the communication device was ready and she prepared the message and settings. One short, powerful one-sided burst, that hopefully would be system-wide. And hopefully, someone would listen and understand. If not, said message would undoubtedly travel farther, through the necessity of dencrypting it. Greed is the greatest of motivators, but curiosity does come close. Closing her eyes and feeling the wind on her face, she flicked the switch and the communicator expended all of its energy and sent the message out. 'Now, we wait.' She thought, as she moved to a nearby crevice between two rocks. Dark, small, dangerous and out of sight. The only way to survive in Saigon.

Listening to too much silence wasn't good for the soul, he'd always said that, it was he was used too it and didn't mind it, but it wasn't good for people, one had to listen to something, anything even. And that's what he got, something that sent his ship's distress receiver into alert mode. The signal came, oddly, from the surface of Saigon itself. It squeaked at him for a minute, before died. The hell? was his first thought, after all, who would be mad enough to land on Saigon, then send a general distress signal into a system that was already on edge? Pondering for a moment before concluding that it may be worth while to the service, or the dragons at least, he decided to check on it. It took him an hour to get there, and by then, it seemed the Rheinland Military also had arrived, intent on checking out who sent the message. A small armored transport breaking off towards the surface. While they landed, he glided down..or fell rather, since the Katana wasn't built for gliding. In the last thousand meters, he manually re-fired the engines to stop his uncontrolled decent. After many a bump and jolt, he finally set it down, about five hundred meters away from the beacon location, or about that, since he couldn't see any remarkable locations. He got out, and fitted his re-breather helm on, just in case, and loaded up his side arm with a fresh ten shot charge. Empty planet or no, someone was here and he wasn't prepared to get jumped.

She eyed a transport dropping down. Ten men exited, efficiently, expediently and armed, covering all avenues of potential danger. Her bionic eye zoomed and the weapons were clearly of rheinland make. Either the Militär or the Buro. While the Buro might, with a big emphasis on might, be more diplomatic towards a Bretonian officer, the Militär wouldn't. And then, like a red dragon exiting its own plume of fire, a blood red Katana arrived to the scene, 200 meters out. A single pilot against ten. A foolish pilot at that. The best avenue of engagement in this situation would be to take the obvious advantage of a fighter craft versus ten men. Which meant, that the Dragon was here for her, not for them. And between one pilot and ten armed soldiers, she would rather take her chances with the Blood Dragons. Breathing in, she steeled herself for the obvious hurt to come. Her limp bionic arm would be of no use and there was a heavy chance that the bionic leg would seize up, mid run.

But she was done with Saigon. She got up, removed the gun from her belt, checked its charge, and looked at the group of ten men heading towards the landing site of the Blood Dragon. 'Good morning, Saigon' She whispered, while Saigon waited for more blood feeding its soil. She knelt, and used all the power that the bionic leg could deploy in one thrust. A long jump of over twenty meters. Landing right in the middle of the small valley, the Rheinland men shouted orders to fire. Maybe it was the dark leather cloak, maybe it was the glint of the gun in her hand, maybe it was the absurd jump. All that she knew is that now, running for her life was the best bet she had. Fire rained around her, as she ran up and over small mounds of dirt and mud. She screamed in the Katana's direction. 'Sorera o utsu!!!!'

One of the shots connected, hitting her bionic arm. No damage truly done, apart from making her lose her balance and making roll on the dirt. As she got up to continue her run, another shot connected with her torso. Not a graze, it went through her, under her liver. All her strength left her in that moment. The pain surged like a hot flash through her body and the cold, damp ground came to her face like a dive into cold water. Was this it? The thought crossed her mind. A lot of thoughts crossed her mind in what appeared minutes. Peaceful. Hateful. But the last one was terrifying. Her old family home burning. And as the flames danced in the wind in the fake memory, her rage burned brighter. She clenched her teeth and got up. Bloodied and full of mud. Like a black monster from the depths of a dark watery hell. Her hand rose and let the gun on her hand finally discharge. Three shots, one man down. Suddenly, a reinvigorated barrage of fire started to focus on her position. She would die there, but by the winds she would bring them down with her. Until a sound, unrelenting and unwanted, broke her rage and brought her back to reality.

Everything seemingly kicked off at once. He was planning on having a chance to take it all in, a new world, untouched by Humanity, but no, of course not that would be far too easy. Someone shouted something he barely heard, another, harsher voice, shouted something else, then came the gunfire. 10 other men, Rheinlanders, had arrived on the scene and started shooting, which didn't surprise him, it was the individual they were shooting at that did. It looked like they got whoever it was as well, the body now lying face down in the mud. He raised his own weapon against the late arrivals and promptly loosed a few rounds in their direction that saw them scurry for cover, which wasn't in short supply. He sprinted toward the figure, and shouted at it in Kusarian due to forced habit 'Come, we must leave this place!', not even waiting for a response he picked the ragged human up and hauled it over his shoulders before running as quick as he could back toward his ship.

Picked up like she was a military duffel bag, the Dragon pilot quickly started running towards his ship. While his shoulder was pressing her wound, igniting her pain with every step he took, she tried to shrug it off and managed to get some shots in, to force some of the Rheinlanders to duck. Thrown into the small backseat without ceremony, the pilot jumped into his own and while the engines rumbled over a cold-start, the Katana's weapons made sure none of the now hiding Rheinlanders would come close. As the Katana rose up in the atmo, trembling and rumbling, she felt her mind slipping away as her eyes trailed the surface of Saigon. Her hand, bloody from pressing the wound, pressed against the high density polymer cockpit window and slid down as she became unconscious.

Again he spoke in the Kusarian language that he'd so unhappily picked up. "Right...now that that's done, who the hell are you?" He asked with no ceremony, with a double objective. One, to keep whoever it was awaken, and two, to get some bloody answers.

The pilot spoke, asking who she was. But the accent was wrong. Maybe it was the blood loss or the noise of the Katana engines delivering all of their power. Either way, she pulled the cowl back and removed the leather mask showing off her muddied face. 'Kaze Nelson Reidman Hayashi Dagon. Daughter of Andrew Hayashi Dagon. Grandaughter of Hotaru Hayashi. Take me to Kyot-' Her mouth closed softy and she slumped in her seat, unconscious as the blood loss took its toll, her eyes closing with Saigon in view, going farther away.. She needed only say the first three words, before the cold hand of fear snaked up his spine and into the back of his mind. Dagon was back...and she wasn't in a good state. He disregarded her wish to travel to Kyoto and headed instead for the much closer Order base which was in system, medical facilities would see her condition stabilized before any further journey took place. With any luck, she wouldn't find out who he was, although he deemed that to be unlikely.

The first thing she felt was the cold feeling on her back. And the first thing she heard were voices. 'She's stabilized, Agent…?' A womanly voice asked. 'Agent is enough. I must thank the Order for giving me safe harbor and medical treatment to my friend here.' Kaze knew this voice. Somewhat colder than she was used to. 'Your.. friend has an impressive and extensive bionic apparatus… The arm is.. a dead weight though, completely destroyed. Almost like it was used to punch an armored tank. And the leg doesn't look better, to be honest. From the looks of it, a great deal of time has passed since they were maintained properly. Did she appeared disoriented?' The womanly voice asked. A few moments of silence came in between. 'Apart from being shot, no. She did not. Why?' The male voice tugged at her memories. 'It's just a primary indicator if the neural-bionic connections are functioning properly. You do know..' The female voice seemed slightly concerned. 'We can't fix her bionics here. We simply don't have the facilities and know-how. There is also the concern that this tech seems of Rheinland make.' She finished her sentence, obviously implying something. 'This woman is the very reason my service exists, Doctor. If anything, it is because the Rheinlanders simply had better bionics at the time.' He replied. Kaze breathed in, knowing very well who was speaking and opened her eyes slowly before rising up, surprising both Victor Steiner and a woman in an Order scientific outfit. Two guards at the side quickly pulled their guns out and aimed at Kaze. 'You.' She looked at Steiner for three seconds. For the casual onlooker it was like they were having a silent conversation with their eyes. She slowly turned to the female doctor. 'I must thank you, doctor, and the Order as well, but I and the Agent should be in Kyoto, post-haste.' She finished, tentatively touching the now sealed wound. 'It is of the utmost importance.'

Twenty minutes later, the Katana left the Order base, heading towards the Sigma-59 jump-hole. Kaze was finally relaxed. And awake. And silent, not wanting to ask or not wanting to explain. He knew better to ask, he knew she wouldn't be in the mood to talk and he wrestled with telling her what he'd been up to, what he had been assigned to do that concerned her, but he knew he shouldn't tell her. But then it struck him, this was her, this was the very thing he'd argued and raged against back on the Essex, this.. silence she had told him about and the very thing he had said he'd never endure. To hell with this, he thought to himself as he took a breath, ready to launch into his assault of questions, comments and information before he froze, the barrage of statements lodging in the back of his throat as he had no idea how to begin. All that came out was a simple 'So..'.

She raised an eyebrow, while she peered space. 'So.. What are you doing in a Blood Dragon space suit, in a hereditary Katana, waving your SIS credentials like they were magical?'

'Me?!' he said in disbelief. 'What are you doing on a deserted planet in the middle of a soon-to-be warzone?!'

She unconsciously removed the hellcat tooth from her belt. Bloodied as it was. Her fingers caressed it. A token, a memory. 'Weber needed a full level analysis of the Sigmas and Omegas. I started by the Sigmas. And Sigma-21 is more dangerous than you think. Or anyone does.'

'Well if you're in it, I'd say yeah..it is...' he said in a slightly jovial manner. 'As for the Blood Dragons I was sent up here to..keep an eye on Kusari.' He didn't want her to know, God knows he didn't. The amount of time and effort she took in preventing anyone from finding out about her family, and he, the one person who spent an equal amount of time and effort in finding out about them, being sent to watch them? No..no he really didn't want her to find out.

Her eyebrow rose again. 'There are better ways to keep an eye on Kusari and less time costly. The Blood Dragons do not take gaijin into their ranks lightly. They do not allow them to escape their duty so easily. They only trust if.. ' A thought crossed her mind. 'If your purpose is honorful and you follow it everyday.' Her left hand twirled the hellcat tooth. 'Victor Steiner, what was your purpose to join the Blood Dragons?'

His hand gave the slightest of tremors before he got it under control, but the beads of sweat forming on his forehead weren't something he could just dismiss lightly. 'You know I can't answer that.' he said, falling back on the standard defense. Her voiced lowered to a growl. Primitive. Unbecoming to a Bretonian blue blood aristocrat. The year in Saigon was a silent one. Only the planet talked to her. Only the wind. And they did not said any lies, any day. 'Victor Steiner. What are you doing in Kyoto?' Her hand gripped tightly the hellcat tooth.

He heard the squeeze of the tooth in her hand, he swallowed hard and chose his words carefully 'Weber believed..that due to the volatile nature of Kusari at the time, it would be best if we had some idea of what was going on. We had already established contact with the GCs but that wasn't enough, the Blood Dragons were the major underworld player in Kusari, so we made moves to establish a treaty of sorts with them. They needed support, and we could provide, in return, we obtained knowledge of Kusari and of Gallia, due to the closeness of the two.' He hoped to God that was enough.

Maybe it was the fact that all she saw was the back of his helmet. But that gulp. That twitch in his words. It fell onto her stomach like a punch that she did not saw coming. 'Victor... You told them were my parents were?' She clenched her teeth. A hard decision to make was coming. Like the first soft winds before a raging storm.

'Weber knows....Weber always knew...you think members of the Royal family can just..wander off without protection? I was chosen because I knew, I was the closest, I was the most trustworthy, no one else was assigned to the detail, not even Perry knows! Just me, you and Weber.' He quietly set the ship on autopilot, very much ready to defend himself if things went south, which he suspected they would.

She sighed and the hellcat tooth dropped to the floor. 'All this time… Aunt knew...' It was the first time in years that she allowed herself to let a tear escape. A silence fell into the cockpit. Awkward. Long by any comparison. Too long. 'They are safe...' He began. 'They didn't even know I was there.' He turned around, with great difficulty, and went to retrieve the tooth, politely avoiding her tear red eye. She let a small laugh escape her. 'You do not know my mother.' She wiped her left eye. 'She knew about you the moment you landed, Victor.'

'Yeah well..' He said picking up the tooth and putting it away in his pocket. 'That doesn't surprise me at all, but it does explains a few things.' She extended her good hand and made a crisp motion to return it. 'I have but one memory from Saigon. Give it back to me, Steiner.' 'Later.' He said. 'When there is less chance of me being stabbed in the back.' He ended whispering to himself.

She nodded, somewhat annoyed. 'Afraid, are we?' 'Of you? Yes, very. You were scary before, now? Hell yes. Do I trust you? Not really, would you have spared my life if I had said I told the service about your family?' He said, again, very much ready to defend himself. She approached him, and showed him her hand, almost playfully. 'There are many ways to kill a person. A weapon. A blade. An utensil. A hand. A finger.' She sat back in her seat. 'But I did not lie when I said we have to be in Kyoto. Because there are darker things around Saigon and Sigma-21 than a finger. Infected are sowing their seeds to reap the benefits as we speak.'

'And you said we needed to leave the order base.' He smiled back at her as he turned around and flew to Kyoto. She breathed in obvious annoyance. 'I met a woman once that was considered probably the most dangerous in the entire sector. And yet, she preferred that Bretonians should take care of her single child. As opposed to the Order. Does that make you wonder, Steiner?' She looked at her lifeless right arm. 'And my father is the only one I trust in the region to handle my bionics , today.'
'By the by. How is the little child?' She asked, non-lachantly but Steiner could feel the seriousness behind the question.

'A handful, from what Alfred has told me, but he's alright with it... I think he appreciates the company if nothing else. He doesn't appreciate his books being left all over the show however.'
She grinned somewhat and nodded. 'I think her mother would be pleased. Or probably is pleased. I truly never know with her.' Kaze sighed and leaned back in her place. 'Why did you took this miserable job, Victor? Watching over my family, while being away from yours?'

He smiled. 'Because I once told you, that you didn't need to be alone, and you said otherwise, so this is my way of proving to you, that contrary to your belief, some people don't have ulterior motives and, as I told you back on the Essex, do truly just want to help.' He was very happy he had taken the tooth off her now. 'Aren't you the knight in shinning armor?' She breathed in. 'Still… I cannot allow it, Victor.' Her body leaned forward. 'Not while our home burns.' What she meant struck home with Victor. 'We.. cannot deviate. Happiness is for time of peace.' 'Yes I bloody well am.' he snapped, even though he could see her point, he'd be dammed before he admitted it.

'Yes you are.' Kaze allowed herself to smile somewhat as they finally reached Chugoku.