"Oshiro-sama? Doctor Fuyutsuki from Sendai wishes to deliver something. He says it's urgent." A young Ashigaru rushed into Teraku's chambers, interrupting one of the very few chances he had to meditate when the Daimyo was in Kyoto. Even if he eventually learnt not feel offended at the continuous unintentional annoying attitude of his apprentices, Teraku casted a malicious glance at the Ashigaru as they both left the chambers towards the corridor where the visitor was awaiting.
"Konbanwa, eh... Fuyutsuki-san" The Daimyo bowed his head slightly "I was told that you required my presence - thus you have all my attention."
"Konbawa, Oshiro-san..." he said, sighing after. "I'm not here for good news, we should have a seat." he said, as he indicated the bench behind him where he sat. "Lena Emmagan was put into total isolation a few months ago, we had to prepare a special room to block psychic transmissions before they could reach any nomad or... nomad infested."
Shinji paused for a moment, and inspired. "She died yesterday. The mutations caused by the presence of nomad organisms ended up fatal to her. We still don't know why the organisms became "crazy" all of a suddent and attacked her tissues, I'm suspecting there's something the Order missed when they made this experiment or something the nomads need to survive and our isolation couldn't provide."
Shinji looked at the box on his knees."I made a promise to her." he said, handing the sealed small box to Teraku. "You are the only one that can open it. The lock is configured to your fingerprints."
Shinji was worried about the reaction of Teraku, he didn't know what Lena wrote on the datapad or what she left for Teraku on it.
"Konbanwa, honourable Blood Dragons." Taro said while bowing long and deep before the Shogunate. Jomyo and Hiromichi were behind him, also bowing in respect, Hiromichi doing so somewhat awkwardly, as he was still holding the wooden chest in his hands. The Guild Master and his retinue had been escorted to the Imperial Court by the Daimyo Takahashi and two other Dragons. Taro had known neither one of them, but had been pleased to be greeted by someone worthy of rank and respect. He now rose from his bow. "Shogun Dato, Shogun Noboru." He bowed to each in turn "You honour us greatly by allowing us to set foot in your Court. Kyoto is by itself a true man-made wonder, and the Imperial Palace beyond comparison." Taro imagined the Palace floating in space, larger than any GMG station. He had dressed in his formal GMG attire, while Jomyo and Hiromichi wore GMG uniforms with the Paramilitary and Katsuo no Seibyou badges attached to them. Taro wore no jewellery; except for the Pineal amulet around his neck. "For good luck", he used to say. "I would not only dishonour myself, but the Guild as well if I didn't show proper respect to the Shogunate. It only amounts to a symbol of my appreciation, but..." Taro gestured Hiromichi to approach. Hiromichi held out the chest before him, allowing Taro to unlock and open it, revealing the content inside.
It had been the finest daishō Taro had ever laid his eyes upon. Exquisite blades with incredible hilts, detailing long and thin dragons criss-crossing each other, climbing their way towards the blade. The katana had been forged with seven layers of steel, ranging from both hard and soft metal, and perfectly balanced. Capable of cutting through flesh and metal alike; given the required pressure were applied by the wielder's brute strength. The smith would reveal little how he had forged the blades, but boldly claimed that they would never go dull, all thanks to his family's secret forging techniques. The tantō had been no less impressing. A shorter blade but amazingly sharp and double-edged. By just looking at it and you could feel it's sting in your eyes. "There's no man alive today, who are worthy enough to wield these blades. No one but one..." Taro said while offering his gift, bowing yet again. "With these blades in hand, the Taishogun will become unbeatable." He waited for the Shoguns to accept his gifts.
Itagaki Dato scanned the GMG comittee carefully. His memory couldn't let him remember any kind of situation where a Guild Master placed a foot on the Court Room, and the Shogun somehow felt a shiver down his back. Perhaps because he would never expect dealing with such personality, or actually the trait which always made him feel respect towards those who once taught the Blood Dragons in the art of fighting in nebulaes. Once Katsuo was done with his greeting, Dato left his stool and once again, walked toward the center of the Court, standing still a few meters from the Guildmaster.
Konbanwa, Katsuo-san. He bowed his head to the Guild Master slightly. "Allow us to express our most sincere thankfulness. Both the gifts and your visit are very appreciated." Dato made a gesture with the hand and immediately after, a Hatamoto kindly took the chest out of the hands of Hiromichi, and then walking toward the Taishogun's chambers. "Forgive me if we seem like in a rush, but now we managed to arrange a proper meeting between a Guildmaster of the Gas Miners and the Blood Dragon Shogunate, we would rather listen to your words, while these sumptuous blades will find for sure their place in the hands of the Taishogun."
__
Teraku hesitated for 20 long seconds before taking the box on his hands. With a sad look in his eyes -yet no other signal which would expose his emotional shock-, he placed his index finger on the little scanner and the box made a 'click', opening itself.
As Teraku opened the box, he could instantly notice the datapad. As he took it into his hands and it turned on, he could notice a small black box of the size of a hard drive with a post-it stickied on it reading "Lena's data". Upon examination, he could notice there was something else under the hard drive. It wasn't hard for Teraku to recognize her favorite customised grey tee-shirt with the inscription "I eat nomads for breakfast" on the front.
The datapad read...
"They have authorised me to have this datapad before I enter a "critical state" they said. I'm pretty sure critical state means I'll be dead. I don't even know if you'll ever be able to read this, I just wish you were here with me. Over the pain of the mutations, I have to live with the pain of being unable to see you, to hear you, to even know what you do... Maybe you already forgot me after all these... days or months, I don't even know what day it is, maybe even years. It seems to be so long to me. Way too long...
I have never been an artist with words, but I'll forever love you Teraku, and I'll forever wait for you up there, while I'll be in your heart."
Even if the abrupt announcement of Lena's death brought by the doctor already shocked Teraku, his face expression didn't change after ready the message Lena left for him. He read it two, three, four times... Spending thirty minutes under the doubtful look of doctor Fuyutsuki, who got up from the bench and took few steps away to let the Daimyo have his privacy moment. Trained in order to become a cold-hearted pilot, he actually had to make an effort to avoid shedding any tear and of course keeping his eyes as dry as possible. "Is that... all?" He asked the doctor with a shaky voice.
"What happens next is up to you, Teraku-san..." he said, with a calm voice. "Inside that box, you will find an experimental hard drive containing 160 petabytes of data and a program to launch that will interprete this data. What this data is... I'll leave it to your own appreciation if you decide to find out what it contains, or when you'll be ready to. But be sure that I took risks by doing this, the Taishogun would exile me if he heard about it... but I had to do it, for you, for her, and for science."
On these words, Shinji cleaned the dust off his labcoat and left the corridor. Everything else, would be Teraku's own choice.
The transmission, as you see, is referring to the old Hideyoshi's Guard... The source claiming to be a remnant of that organisation. It is also claiming to have been imprisoned for two years and had escaped Imperial prisons just a shortwhile ago and is in a state of disrepair.
I have already taken the liberty of dispatching a small expedition of fighters to Honshu in an attempt to try to contact the source or, alternatively, try to locate the area of transmission through trigonometry and other means. If the source had indeed successfully fled the Imperial forces, we should be able to locate it. The signal should be just strong enough.
Obviously enough though, we cannot confirm the source's story. There is always the chance of it being affected by those foul alien creaures. Which is where my predicament crawls in. Now, we do have our own facilities for such cases, but with the allocation of some of those facilities to military means not long ago, we cannot be sure they can produce the optimum results.
I was informed a shortwhile ago that a small Order expedition landed on Ryuku after their flight from Toledo. We could do worse than asking them for some insight in this situation, they're somewhat more experienced dealing with what is ultimately their most hated adversary. However. I have always been a staunch defender of the autonomy of our own research into these organisms, and I was under the impression The Order believe themselves to be the only group with a right to know this particular enemy. And I do think that the Toledo crisis only underlined the need of our autonomy in that particular field.
Forgive me, my introduction was longer than I expected it to be. But surely, you can see the point I'm strugging to make. Do you think we should invite the Order agents to participate in monitoring the suspected survivor?"
"Noboru-san, I also believe that relying on any external parties for such delicate matters is something that would harm our integrity in a near future. You already saw this transmission, which in my opinion shows that we actually have to run the Nomad show in Kusari alone. They asked us for support in the Omicrons, yet we have a war to fight here, especially now that the Naval Forces could launch a full-blown offensive if this new government decides to show it's true colours. We'll have to take the next step soon, and having all our military assets ready for it will let people know that Chugoku will never fall, and I'm certainly sure it won't.
So, if you are willing to carry on with Dragons' autonomy, send a three-men wing back to Honshu, find the source of the transmission and bring whatever they find to Sendai. There's a bit more of space now that the Antimatter cannon project has been completed. Optimal results concerning this issue should not be hard to achieve, my friend."
Deep within the inner recesses of Kyoto base. An unusual sight. A strange woman, wandering the hallways... appearing a ghost. Over the past few days, the sightings of this woman continued... reported to have walked through walls. On ceilings. Covered with an eerie greenish glow.
Some more superstitious types looked to the old shinto traditions for answers, assuming the apparition to be some sort of strange [i]Yokai loose on the base. A few others were concerned that it could be related to the recent rash of Nomad activity.
But the answers left on many's minds would soon be answered to one. One very special, very specific individual...[/i]
***
"Mister Sum-gok-Li. We have been looking for you." -She said, appearing in the meditation chamber of the blood dragon potentate.
She was a ghostly figure... luminescent... clearly not a physical being. her shape that of a young woman, in a somewhat unusual dress. But, the figure was, whatever it was, respectful, bowing low to the Dragon, before standing and addressing him.
![[Image: 9rXD1gi.png]](https://i.imgur.com/9rXD1gi.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/9rXD1gi.png)
![[Image: 2ndnanobots.png]](http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/2075/2ndnanobots.png)
