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Petit Mama Armand (Chapter 3) - Mr.Fabulous - 12-12-2012
Petit Mama Armand
a tale of Jaden's family history
Chapter 1
a tale of Jaden's family history
Chapter 1
... 12 December, 819 A.S.
"Thanks for delivering us safely to Planet Marseille, Ms. Armand," a tourist shakes the hand of the Corsair-exile pilot, Jaden Armand, when he exited his passenger-pod which was off-loaded from the Garanchou freighter, Principe.de.Jade, "We'll be able to handle ourselves from here on. We've got contacts here that have already taken care of all the necessary bookings for our stay."
Jaden sports a crooked smile, "No problema, Señor Pollum. I hope you and the other tourists' stay here will be well-worth the... hassle." The Corsair shivers a bit from completing that statement:
The way to the Gallic systems was, to put it lightly, tough at best: not only did Jaden have to contend with a few Outcast raider-wings during the Tau-borderworlds as a lone freighter (which was already a monumental task in itself), but the moment she stepped into Languedoc she was intercepted by a whole Gallic Navy armada of a couple of battleships, several cruisers and dozens of fighter wings, and was made to explain why a lone "GMG-make" craft had the gall to stare at an invasion-force of prepped-up Gallics straight in the face.
Fortunately for her, one of the tourists was awake alongside her, and he was able to verify that the passengers Jaden was bringing were expected by the local tourism bureau. Long story short, the Principe.de.Jade, and thus Jaden, was allowed access to Gallia.
Then another problem came up: she didn't have any star-charts on the Gallic systems! Conveniently, the tourist who was alongside her also knew the directions to Planet Marseille, so it was a matter of just following orders and enjoying the sights.
Jaden couldn't help but be amazed by how different everything here looked: one fact that kept knawing on her mind was that THE TRADE LANES WERE HORIZONTALLY-ALIGNED, whereis back in Sirius they were vertical! And how massive and intricately-decorative the stations looked! Compared to the utilitarian-emphasis of Sirian orbitals, with their blocky docking bay-designs and drab silos, it's as if the Corsair had stepped into an entirely-different heavenly-paradise of exquisite, masterful artisan beauty. Jaden made a heavy mental note to come back here as a tourist herself.
Even landing on Planet Marseille was unparalleled. The rich, oceanic horizons, peaceful settlements and crisp, Gallic air was unlike any tourist destination she could ever think of! It's no wonder why the tourists she was ferrying were willing to pay a hefty fee to get here! If she ever had the chance to come back, she could picture herself lying down on one of the wonderful resorts in her skimpy, red bikini, just soaking up the smooth sunlight and clean sea breeze while sipping chilled Gallic wine on a tall wine-glass on one hand...
... And David would be there, standing on the shore in front of her with a wine glass of his own, his rippled abs and toned chest covering the bright sunset, creating a psuedo-aura backdrop of heavenly-awesomeness all around that man's entire body like some sort of angel-from-eternity's-heaven.
Then he would slowly approach her, moving with the grace of the ocean breeze, until he would tower above her like a malevolent spirit of might and security, and then he'd reach his gracious hand towards the side of her face, his eyes staring straight into her own soul, with a look that heavily implied, '... I want you, Jaden. I want you, and your scrumptious, succulent body to feed my own dirty, kinky pleasure.' Then he would slowly descend upon her, like a vulture that caught wind of a delicious meal, and then he'd... he'd... uh...
Oh dear! Jaden noticed she was starting to drool from the erotic vision she had accidentally formed in the dark recesses of her mind, and quickly tries to snap herself back to the task at hand. Still, it was a most-unlikely scenario, since David was an ex-LSF who'd probably start questioning Jaden's loyalties to him should he ever find out she went to Gallia by her own free will, let alone come along with her. Oh well, a woman could always dream, right?
"Well, the grand total of 9M credits ought to be worth the hassle you speak of, Ms. Armand.
"Once again, thank you for the trip. Safe travels to you," and with that, the tourist shakes Jaden's hand one last time, then walks off to join his fellow tourists.
Now left alone, Jaden thumbs her chin for a bit, thinking whether or not she should stay here herself for a bit, or head on out immediately and explore the rest of Gallia's amazing sites and wonders. Eventually, she decides to stay. Armed with Credit-chit in hand and giddy demeanor in the other, the Corsair-exile heads for the nearest gift shop for take-home souvenirs...
----------
"PHEW! I should really come back here sooner!" Jaden was now carrying a tall stack of multicolored boxes on both her arms while walking down the large hallways of one of Marseille's many megamalls, a large, satisfied grin on her face, "Good thing most of the people here also speak a bit Libertonian, else it'd be like interacting to a bunch of unintelligible aliens, hahaha---
"... Huh?" All of a sudden, a certain sound in the far-off distance catches Jaden's attention. Still carrying the boxes, she makes her way towards the sound, trying to see what's up.
As she went further on, she could make out that the sound was coming from this certain electronics-shop that was advertising on its front-window some speaker-models, and as she came closer she could further make out that the sound the speakers were playing was this very strange song number. To any other person, this wouldn't seem so strange, were it not that Jaden was somehow very familiar with it.
"No... imposible." She lowers the boxes on her arms down to the floor as she walks towards the window, listening in a sort of a dazed trance, "I... I know this... this song."
It was a very surreal feeling. She remembered it very well: it was a strange, mysterious lullaby her papito softly sung to her whenever she couldn't sleep from the hunger-pangs she experienced whenever the food shipment on her home settlement back in Planet Crete hadn't arrived as scheduled. She kept asking her papito where he got that song, but he didn't really know himself: all he was told by abuela, who also sung it to him when he was an hijo, was that it was a lullaby passed down the Armand-familia through the centuries. No one really knew what the lyrics meant, but they still kept singing it, thinking it might lead to some old family-secret or something.
... And then from out-of-the-blue, the last line of the Armand-lineage, a Corsair of all people, hears the song from another source... in another Colony entirely-different from Sirius... and it was Gallia, of ALL places!
What did this all mean??? What WERE the origins of the Armand-familia??? The song itself was a deep mystery, but hearing the same song an entire galactic-sector away only further deepened the mystery...
"... Mademoiselle?"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" Jaden almost jumped a meter high when a Gallic male suddenly greeted her, "AH?! Ah..."
"Oh... Sirian." He frowns a bit, but quickly smiles again, "Hello Miss, I'm the owner of this fine establishment. Forgive me, but you were looking at my wares as if you saw a ghost! Find anything you dislike about my goods?"
Jaden looks at the man with a blank stare for a few seconds, before she changes to a worried look, "Lo siento, señor, but that song you're playing---"
"Ah? This lovely song? It's titled Petit Papa Noël, a true Gallic-classic. Why do you ask? It's usually played during this time of year. A nice song, don't you think?"
"Ehr..." It's a Gallic-song?! What the hell?! "You mean to say this song is... Gallic?!"
The man raises an eyebrow from her frantic reply, "Uh... yes? Why does this surprise you?"
Jaden's eye twitches. She was about to say something else, but all that came out of her mouth was, "... Nothing." She politely bows before the owner, picks up her boxes, and hurriedly heads back to her ship, tears quickly flowing down the sides of her face.
... The owner just stares on with a bewildered look, wondering if it was something he said to make a potential customer go away.
Petit Mama Armand (Chapter 2) - Mr.Fabulous - 12-13-2012
Chapter 2
Quote:... 05 December, 804 A.S.
"Papito..."
"¿Qué es esto, mi hija? (What is it, my daughter?)" Jaden's father, still reading his datapad on the living room chair, looked at his poor, thinly girl who was covered in her bed blanket. He took a closer look at her, and saw that she was evidently shaking, with small tears flowing down her cheeks, "Can't sleep again, Hija?"
"S-si, p-p-papito." The girl motioned to the side of the chair and knelt before her father, leaning her head onto his knee, "The pain on mi tummy huuurts. Me puedo quedar con usted, papito? (Can I stay with you, daddy?)"
Suddenly, her father's own stomach groaned long and low. The two looked at each other for a short moment, and then laughed upon realizing that they were both on the same boat, "Hahahah! That'd be bueno, hija."
After putting down the datapad on the top of the side-table, he picked up Jaden with his strong, yet caring, fatherly arms, and placed her on top of his lap. He gently wrapped his arms around her, giving her a warm, loving embrace as he slowly rocked her back and forth.
The girl looked at her father as she weakly asked, "Por favor me cantar esa canción cantas siempre a mí cuando tengo hambre, papito. (Please sing me that song you always sing to me when I'm hungry, daddy.)"
"Heheh, sure, hija... Anything for mi princesa." He warmly smiled as he closed his eyes while continuing his rocking motion as he began to sing that strange lullaby she never could understand:
"... C'est la belle nuit de Noël
La neige étend son manteau blanc
Et les yeux levés vers le ciel
À genoux, les petits enfants..."
As the introduction went on, she could feel her pain slowly going away, and her eyes were getting heavier and heavier by the second, until she could no longer hold them open, and fell asleep on her father's chest:
"Avant de fermer les paupières
... Font une dernière prière."
----------
Jaden found herself in the middle of a large field of green grass and blue, open skies, the warm sun shining onto her cold, lonely face. For miles around her and over the horizon, all she could see was a world of green separated by a world of endless blue:
Petit papa Noël
Quand tu descendras du ciel
Avec des jouets par milliers
N'oublie pas mon petit soulier.
She lied down on the plains and looked upwards to see the clouds roll lazily by:
... Mais avant de partir
Il faudra bien te couvrir
Dehors tu vas avoir si froid
C'est un peu à cause de moi...
Il me tarde que le jour se lève
Pour voir si tu m'as apporté.
The girl then stood up, and raced across the fields with great haste, the crisp, gentle air flowing through her hair and caressing her childish skin:
Tous les beaux joujoux que je vois en rêve
Et que je t'ai commandés.
... Petit papa Noël
Quand tu descendras du ciel
Avec des jouets par milliers
N'oublie pas mon petit soulier.
At first racing across the fields, next thing she was soaring high above the clouds. It was an exhilarating feeling, flying with her hands outstretched like a bird flapping its wings, with a bird's-eye view of the world beneath her:
Et quand tu seras sur ton beau nuage
Viens d'abord sur notre maison
Je n'ai pas été tous les jours très sage
Mais j'en demande pardon.
Finally, she found herself back on the ground, once again looking at the drifting clouds as they made all sorts of strange shapes. It was here, and by the song her papito continued to sing, that she found relaxation. It was here that she knew, that she finally knew she had found...
... peace:
...Petit papa Noël
Quand tu descendras du ciel
Avec des jouets par milliers
N'oublie pas mon petit soulier
Petit papa Noël
RE: Petit Mama Armand (Chapter 2) - Mr.Fabulous - 03-14-2013
Chapter 3
... 13 December, 819 A.S.
::: "Hola, Dave. How are your, ehr... legs doing?" ::: Jaden asks in a worried tone as her Tigre Shark, the Terminal Velocity, cruises through the Hiryu Cloud of Sigma-19 towards the nearest trade lane.
::: "Yes yes, I'm fine. I'm waiting in orbit of the New Tokyo Docking Ring. Why must you keep asking me how I'm doing?" ::: The nonchalant-voice of David replies on her intercom.
::: "Because I wo... Well! If you don't like me caring about you, that's fine enough with me. Hmph! :::
::: "... Seriously, I'm just worried, alright?" ::: She rubs her forearm and stares down awkwardly as the Tiger Shark enters the Trade Lane towards the Honshu Jump Gate, punching in the waypoints leading to Planet New Tokyo. There were a lot of thoughts racing through her head, especially those concerning of her recent findings in Gallia... particularly the thought on how she was going to---
::: "Now that's a battleship..." :::
Jaden's face scrunches up into an annoyed, yet playful look, ::: "Oh, so you're implying you like me better as a tomboy, eh?!" :::
::: "MMMM yep." :::
"Feh!" The Corsair-exile scoffs to herself at that last remark as the Tiger Shark begins warp towards the Honshu System.
::: "Mmm. That could work..." :::
She was starting to get suspicious of what David was saying, but she decides to give him the benefit of the doubt, ::: "Say, Dave... I kinda need a training session to hone my senses again. ::: The ship decelerates from the warp, and, following the waypoint-route, quickly heads in the direction of Planet Honshu.
::: "Just a sec..." :::
::: "It's been awhile since I got to fight a worthy opponent. All I've ever fought were small-fry." :::
A short pause enters the conversation before David responds, ::: "I suppose we can do that. :::
::: "How about we... Base out of Yukawa Shipyard? We can use low energy shots, but if damage is done, they can fix it easily." :::
Jaden laughs, albeit nervously, on the mention of Yukawa, ::: "... You mean that wretched place that brings back memories?" ::: She shrugs her shoulders: she was only a trade lane sequence away anyway, ::: "Sure. Already nearby, too." :::
When she finally reaches orbit above Yukawa Shipyard, another string of replies come from David, ::: "... And that'd put us nice and close to that... That'd definitely work." :::
::: "Oh? Oh yeah... Eh, all space isn't it?" :::
The Corsair-exile couldn't contain her suspicions any longer, and finally blurts out, ::: "Dave...? Who're you talking to?" :::
::: "Oh nothing, just muttering to myself again. Thinking aloud." ::: Jaden shrugs her shoulders, maybe even chuckling a bit, realizing it slipped her mind that David was kind of known to do that.
::: "About time the gate accepted my codes... Kusarian piece of... :::
::: "Sure, it was built by Liberty, but they have to maintain it." :::
Then Jaden suddenly remembers something else, something very important, ::: "Oh! By the way, it's your birthday today, isn't it? I was going to give you something, but I wasn't sure you'd like it." ::: She made a sly grin to herself.
David gives off a sigh as he continued, ::: "... Yes... I was hoping you wouldn't notice. How'd you find out anyway?" ::: Suddenly, the Gforce, David's favorite Virage, comes out of the trade lane and enters the shipyard's vicinity.
Jaden gave him a playful look, ::: "Oh, I did a few digging around." :::
::: "Darwin..." :::
She doesn't reply, but all she does is manage a crooked smile to herself.
Quote:::: "... Oh, and Jaden. Two days from now, it'll be David's birthday." :::
::: "Wait, what?" :::
... 11 December, 819 A.S.
The Terminal Velocity was in formation with the Liner, Enthusiast's Timepiece, doing a routine escort mission as it made its way through the Bretonian Systems. George's voice on the comms instead of the comms officer came as a surprise to Jaden, ::: "Uh... Gracias? Actually, you know what? Muchas gracias! I've been searching for signs of that man's birth date for a month now. Although, given that he's ex-LSF, it's not very surprising that he's hard to track down. :::
::: "... But I gotta ask: how'd you---" :::
::: "I checked your search history in the Neural Net. Your records plainly-indicated you were looking for information about David Gee. A futile effort at best, so in my finite mercy I've decided to give you a breather." :::
She gave him an annoyed look, ::: "Checked? Don't you mean hacked? I thought I deleted all my history. Am I that much of an open book to you?" :::
The Bretonian responds with an evil grin, ::: "It's always good business practice to keep a close eye on your... investments." :::
Jaden raised a worried eyebrow at George, ::: "... You're creepy." :::
She could hear the Bretonian laugh darkly in response, ::: "I'll take that as a compliment. As a matter of fact, David also said the same thing to me. You ought to watch what you're planning from now on and listen to him more concerning what you should... and should not do around me. It'll be for your own good." :::
The Corsair stayed silent for the rest of the trip...
David rolls his eyes as he guides his ship through the trade lane towards Kansai, ::: "Alrighty, lets head down the lane a bit and out of the way." :::
As the Gforce warps first through the trade lane, the Terminal Velocity following close behind, Jaden tries to get into the proper mindset, ::: "Right... Should I start? Or you wanna go first?" :::
When the two ships arrive at their intended rendezvous point in the middle of the Hiyu Cloud and disengage warp, David does the routine pre-battle scan on the Tiger Shark, quickly noticing that the light fighter was sporting Corsair-make turrets, ::: "Huh. Those look new..." :::
::: "Hm? Oh, you mean the guns?" :::
::: "Yeah. Did you pinch those when we went to... Gamma? Maybe that or... Darwin." :::
David frowns at his own statement, ::: "You two are getting to be good friends... God knows what else he's already told you..." :::
Jaden giggles a bit as she readies her own fighter, ::: "Oh, the acquaintanceship doesn't go that far, Dave. I delivered a lot of rice by myself while you were resting. Finally got enough rep to get the guns." :::
::: "Alrighty... At your command." ::: he responds.
Jaden flexes her fingers and wrist a bit over the controls, to release any built-up tension off her system. But try as she might, she still couldn't completely be in-the-zone for the eventual fight, the thoughts of her findings in Gallia still quite fresh in her mind, significantly messing with her concentration.
Eh... Maybe the sounds and vibrations of energy-fire hitting the sides of her ship would be just the thing she'll need to kick in the adrenaline-high. After shaking her head briskly from side-to-side in an attempt to silence the thoughts, she looks back at the Gforce with a determined gaze, then activates her intercom, ::: "Right then! ¡Vamos!" :::
And with that, the Tiger Shark thrusts forward, doing a few start-off maneuvers to briefly gauge her opponent. The Virage then quickly bull-rushes in head-on and unleashes its entire CODENAME-arsenal, its pilot knowing very well that an LF would stand no chance to a VHF in a typical jousting match.
... Well, "almost" no chance, that is.
Now realizing the seriousness of her adversary, Jaden quickly flies the Tiger Shark into a complex barrel-roll which throws off David's aim. A split-second later, just as the Tiger Shark passes by, a Nuclear Mine pops up on his scanners, barely managing to avoid ramming his ship into the ordnance. However, another split-second later Jaden kills her engine to do a hard bank towards the Gforce. She aims at the mine, then lets loose a Cruise Disruptor, the missile quickly impacting the ordnance and detonating it, sending a simulated shockwave engulfing and overwhelming the Virage's shield emitters.
When the vibrations from the blast had passed, David couldn't help but smirk at what just happened, "Heh."
As Jaden reactivates her engines and heads in for another pass, David switches to a more evasive-doctrine to buy time for his shield emitters to restart. But to keep her on her toes, he activates the two Cannonball missile launchers and fires a steady stream of missiles while performing dizzying maneuvers (the warheads in each missile being disabled). While easy enough to dodge, the missiles prevented Jaden from landing any shots to the Gforce's hull.
Once the shields came back online, David begun his sparring tactic once more and changed back to his CODENAME weaponry.
As Jaden swings her ship round and head towards David once more, she notices him strafing very little, (I'll get you with another mine!) she thought. But just as Jaden dropped the mine the Gforce suddenly lurchers to one side, missing the mine entirely. "Damnit" Jaden says to herself as she watches the mine pass David, but in her observation, she forgot to start her turn and by the time Jaden came around, the Gforce was already heading directly at her weapons blazing.
::: "MWAHAHAHAH!!! You got me once with a mine, don't expect that to happen again!" :::
Suddenly, David gets a reading from passive scanners. He does a strafe and sharply turns away from the battle, aiming his ship towards the anomaly to get a better scan, ::: "Did you see that?" :::
::: "See what? ::: She halts her ship.
::: "That ship... I got a quick scan." :::
A tone of worry escapes from Jaden as the Gforce engages cruise engines and heads toward the anomaly, ::: "A blinker?" :::
::: "Artifacts..." ::: He replies after a moment, ::: "and a Corsair wreck... Ah yep, it got hit by the defenses here," ::: He laughs loudly, ::: "Tried to fly into the research base, I expect." :::
::: "Hahahah!" :::
::: "Now... back to it!" ::: and the Virage begins the deadly dance of jousting with the Tiger Shark once again.
But as the battle raged on, despite the intensity of the fighting, thoughts still crept up the back of her Jaden's, side-tracking and taking away her valuable concentration to the point that David was able to nail a Mini-Razor to the light fighter's shields, ::: "Boo ya! Razor!" :::
::: "Feh! The cloud's making me register you too slowly!" ::: She wasn't lying: the clouds that covered Kansai Research Station mitigated scanner-power by almost sixty percent to the point that even tracking sensors couldn't keep up.
::: "All part of why I picked it." ::: Still, she knew that cunning could easily compensate the handicap through finding patterns between the sensor-lag, but of course the news of her potential ancestry kept her from doing so.
At one point, her concentration got so messed up that she even got hit by her own mine! ::: "Oi! You have to stop hitting yourself." ::: A pause enters the battle when the two ships gain enough jousting distance, and David takes the opportunity to bark at her, ::: "You're turning too slowly. I know that thing can out turn me, so why am I beating you?" :::
The Corsair grits her teeth while facepalming to herself, ::: "I have no idea." :::
::: "Focus Jaden! Go with what you know!" ::: And the Gforce burns thruster-power towards the Terminal Velocity, raining down vast barrages of CODENAME-bursts.
What was considered as milliseconds to observers felt like seconds to Jaden, who briefly closes her eyes and whisperes, "You're right..."
... And a sudden wave of serenity fills her entire body, sharpening her senses and giving her needed concentration, allowing her to pull off a mesmerizing barrel-roll which puts David's aim off, then milks every nanosecond to launch a mine, kill the engine, do a hard 180-turn towards David's keester, then turn the engines back on and finally launch not only another Cruise Disruptor, but also menacing Tizona-and-Flashpoint volleys at the Gforce's own engines, downing the Virage's shields in only seconds. Even David panicked a bit as he saw his hull get eaten away by the Tiger Shark's weaponry.
After he manages to shake her off for a moment to catch his bearings he exclaims with a proud look, ::: "There you go! She's back! Guess it's time to up it. I'm gonna use two systems at once. Go!" :::
It felt amazing... The rush of adrenaline... the tunnel-vision... the one-track mindset... It all felt soothing, somewhat cathartic in a way. The thoughts of Gallia had now been finally silenced, and all that was in her mind was to put as many holes in that frakker's ship. All her worries, her stresses, her anxieties were now little more than a distant memory. She was focused in the now, in the present, and it felt good to be here for a change rather than soliloquizing about the past or dreading about the future.
Too bad her thought-processes got clouded by the rush.
Sadly, Jaden may have gotten a little too focused into trying to destroy David, that she actually forgot to take note of her surroundings: the Gforce suddenly changed tactics by halting in one spot, launched several mines into the vicinity, and then simply strafing just fast enough for the mines to ignore him. Before Jaden realized it, she was plowing into a dense minefield at full speed, the mines systematically downing her shields, then overwhelming the hull-sensors moments later to register that her ship had exploded, ::: "Hahahah! Got ya!" :::
She lost the battle. To a cheap gimmick-tactic, no less!
::: "Pita!" ::: She slams the now-inactive flight-console with her left arm.
::: "Bwahahahah! You got so focused into hitting me in my slow turn you didn't realize I was pumping out mines." :::
For a moment, she felt sore from her loss. Really sore. She had been serious with him, and yet he trolled her like a fourteen-year-old high-schooler in Flight Academy. But when she thought about it, a smile starts forming on her face, until she lets out a hearty laugh herself, ::: "Ahh, that was good. Got the blood pumping into these veins again, heheh." :::
::: "Don't be disheartened, Jaden. Remember, a light fighter will almost never match a VHF!" ::: The Libertonian teasingly grins at her.
::: "Si, no I'm not disheartened," ::: and she grins back at him, ::: "... But I beg to differ that, Dave!" :::
Moments later the Terminal Velocity's systems restart, ::: "The systems have finished backup. I feel like going at it again!" :::
::: "Alright! Lets see how you go this time!" :::
----------
... An Hour Later.
::: "... I could use some sleep." ::: David yawns on the Comm after they had finished another duel, and inputs some waypoints back to Planet New Tokyo, ::: "Care to join me? Instead of running about in that little Freighter." ::: A devilish grin escapes his face.
Forming up beside David's ship as he heads for the trade lane, her eyes narrow softly as she replies in a sly voice, ::: "Oh? How about we sleep IN that freighter? It's actually pretty cozy inside. Set that autopilot to Planet Curacao while we play a few games to entertain ourselves on the way... You could use a vacation to Curacao, ya know..." :::
::: "Mmm... nah. I got a bit of work to do. Intel wont gather itself you know." ::: A slight hint of reluctance follows David's voice.
::: "True that... Oh, I was about to ask if---" ::: Suddenly she cuts herself off.
::: "And I've been getting out of shape. Need to get back into the old routine." ::: He looks down at his stomach, which was already starting to bulge slightly.
::: "... No. It's nothing." :::
::: "Huh?" :::
After they had made the jump to New Tokyo, Jaden rubs her forearm again worriedly, ::: "Just wondering... What's your real opinion on the Gallics? :::
::: "I mean, I know you're ex-LSF, but..." :::
A quick idea pops up in her head, and her voice becomes excited, almost giddy, ::: "What about if we go there as shady tourists? We'll go in there, you get your needed intel, while I get some intel too and... uh... help you, I guess, and then have a blast while we're at it. What do you think, Dave?" :::
When Jaden pauses her ranting, that's when she noticed he hasn't replied yet in a while, ::: "... Uhm... Dave?" :::
::: "Gallia? Bah! Bunch of wankers. Stealing bastards. They stole Ageira's tech, and a bit from every house to create their super weapons." ::: His response was both hurried, and evidently negative, ::: "And they've turned every scrap of metal into some sort of battleship, using them to hammer the Bretonians. Poor Darwin doesn't know what to do..." :::
She was taken aback at realizing how highly she regarded Darwin, but frowns at his words nonetheless, ::: "Oh... I... suppose." :::
::: "But tourists you say..." ::: Reaching the orbit of the Planet, David couldn't help but rub his chin from pondering, ::: "Could work for an undercover operation." :::
::: "Si! SI!" ::: She quickly becomes excited again, ::: "We could go there as covert operatives! It'll be lots of fun! There are--- I mean, I've heard there are a lot of great places to visit, especially this planet-resort called Marseille!" :::
The Gforce quickly stops dead in its tracks, and it swerves towards the Terminal Velocity before its pilot replies in a low tone, ::: "Fun? Isn't the word I'd use..." :::
She brushes her hair nervously, ::: "But... but but---" :::
::: "I'll look into it... But don't expect it to be fun, Jaden. We get caught, we die." ::: That last remark broke Jaden's tender heart, making her hang her head down without replying.
::: "... Anyway. I need to get a few things done before I sleep, best get to em!" :::
As Jaden looks on while the Gforce docks into the planet, she whispers to herself, "David... You really can't know, can you?"
Only seconds after saying that she finds herself trying to hold back her sobbing as she decides to turn away and dock on Roppongi instead, "... What'll I do...?"
----------
After landing on the estate, David does the usual deactivation routine and light stretching like he always does, but after finishing his rituals he quickly notices that the Terminal Velocity hadn't arrived yet. He at first wondered why, but when a long yawn forces itself out of his mouth he brushes the thought aside and heads to the holoroom for another routine report to Darwin.
Some time later, finishing his report to the Bretonian, and heading back to the hanger to give the Gforce a quick scrubbing after its flight, David finally decides to go to bed, 28 hours after he got up. On his way to the bedroom, shaking his head and rubbing his temples from the long day, he decides to send Jaden a message. His sleepiness got the better of him though, because he fumbles in even trying to get the datapad from its pocket. By the time he gets it activated, the bed was already in front of him, ready to accept him in its warm, welcoming sheets.
With his last ounces of conscious willpower left in him, he starts the message recording with his eyes closed, "Night, darling... The pool is waiting for you... Night." He was so tired that right after sending it, he just flopped onto the bed like a dead fish, unaware nor even caring about what he just said.
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... As for Jaden, after leaving the maintenance of the Terminal Velocity as a problem left for the dock workers to handle, she rents a room there and heads straight for the bathroom. A long night of scrubbing herself squeaky-clean (then corrupting herself by plundering her own body and forcing her to take another, shorter bath) later, she dries herself with her towel and heads for the bed, naked and proud of it.
She already had the bedsheets covering her primal form when her datapad suddenly receives a message. At first she was annoyed by the sudden interruption, but the moment David's voice rang in her ears she smileed gratefully at the datapad from knowing he was considerate enough to wish her goodnight just before he succumbed to sleep.
However, a tear drips down her face as the thoughts of Gallia, and of the strange, ancestral song, suddenly creeps back into her mind. She fingers the datapad and simply whispers at the device without recording what she said, a long frown forming on her face, "... B... Buenas noches... mi amante."
And with that, she lies back on the bed, singing that Gallic song to get herself to sleep, sobbing heavily as she did so.
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... Meanwhile,
aboard the Enthusiast's Timepiece.
aboard the Enthusiast's Timepiece.
There, in the middle of a large holoroom which was at least double the size that David had in his estate, sat George Darwin, rubbing his chin with a critical gaze as he listened to David's report. After going through the recording he switches the video feed off, then swivels himself towards a man who had remained a shadow in the room till then, "An interesting idea."
He sports a wild grin on his face as he continued, "Not the first time it's crossed my mind, but with the cloaking technology finally working aboard the Timepiece I think we finally have the opportunity to gather some information on those rotten bastards... and make some money in the process."
"Indeed, Sir. If we can smuggle goods out of Gallia we can harm their economy while bolstering ours."
"Nothing like smiling in the face of your enemy while you backstab them... Very well. Start planning for our infiltration into Gallia. It will be good to finally put the Timepiece to the test."
The man, who was in fact George's second-in-command of operations, simply nods in reply, then proceeds to leave the holoroom.
George grips the handlebars on his plasteel throne tightly as he voices to himself, "I hope you two enjoyed your time off. Soon the real work will begin."
He gets up from his chair and straightens himself before collecting his cane from its special gravitonic platform-stand which kept it hovering upright the whole time. A couple of low, sinister laughs escape his mouth as he made his way out of the now dimly-lit holoroom.