Adapting to kusari life wasent as hard as jim thought .. it was harder,so much had changed in such a short time his last visit when he was 18 and everything seemed diffrent mabye because he had grown acustomed to liberty mabye because he had lost his first girl who happened to be kusari or mabye because it was just plain unknowen he enjouyed the Tranquility yet socity was hard to get used too he missed the freedom in liberty it seemed to quiet for him but part of him ,the part that was takeing over him more was his responsablity to his love,he had grown more cautious more cool headed he thought things through more a part of him missed kusari and that part .. the jim he was before his tradagy was comming back...now all he needed was citizenship and he would ask isabele to engage to him..and he was ound to do whatever it took to get it back
Isabelle walked up toward the throne where the Emperor sat. She was the last of the 9 Guardian Fleet taisho.
On each side of the walkway to the Throne were columns of soldier standing at attentions; so numerous they were, they inspired the image of an infinite army...
Somewhere within the ranks of men, stood Jimmy - she personally asked for his presence at the ceremony. Uncle Daite had much trouble trying to find some kind of argument to let a total "alien" within the Kusari society... but with so much powers, militarly as much as politically, one could only bow to the will of the Dai Taisho. Even bureaucracy and conservative lords.
She was well aware many were those who wouldn't accept her.
She knew though some believed in her. Jimmy. Daitetsu. Kaito. And countless sailors and soldiers of the 7th fleet she was about to command - this time, as its definitive mistress.
The crowd, mostly select nobles of the imperial family, watched from nearby platform, definitively surprised by the identity of their newest guardian fleet' commander - an outsider, and a woman.
There wasn't a single female soldier in the imperial fleet that ever reached such high a ranking.
And there were simply no outsider in the imperial fleet at all.
Isabelle made a half smile at these thoughts. How would the citizens of the empire react? Shock? Or acceptance?
There was a time when everyone in down town New Tokyo used to know her, and enjoyed taking care of the little blonde girl, a curiosity in the isolationist empire... she wondered how these people would react if they knew the little curiosity now became their leader?
Would they still be able to recognise her now?... maybe.
She held the handle of her katana sword, symbol of her new status. It felt somewhat weird to wear the imperial uniform; it looked more like a japanese feodal armor than actual clothing, with the stars marking her as taisho on her dark shoulder plate - dark, because that was the colour of all Konoe Shidan units.
she wore over this, a cape and tabard on which was shown the agressive head of a wolf - the wolf because it was the emblem of the 7th fleet, her fleet.
--
The Divine Emperor.
One couldn't look at the Emperor directly. It was a mark of respect in Kusari culture, dating back to Old Earth. As such, Isabelle took great care not to look at the face of her new Master, and knelt down...
Few actually saw the face of the Emperor directly. Dai-Taisho Mitsurugi was one of the priviledged few in a very restrained list. But probably no one could claim to have known the Emperor. His will was most mysterious, and those who tried to analyse his governorship never met neither ends of their work.
It was one such mystery that allowed Isabelle to be propelled at the rank of Taisho, although she only participated in one battle for the kusari navy, without even being truly a member of the fleet.
But, no one went against the word of the Sky, for the Emperor was the Earthly representative of Heaven, and no one was crazy enough to search for the Underworld. Except the demon Blood Dragons and their sisters, the Chrysanthemums.
She could feel the soft touch of the autocratic ruler of the immense kusari empire on her head, and she somewhat felt much more relaxed than she was a few seconds ago. No one told her what would happen in the ceremony; as such, she truly was entirely at the mercy of this mysterious man, a man she couldn't look at.
Divine or not, the Emperor did manage to maintain a strong facade of mystery as he made a speech on her heroic move within the Sigma borders, and explained his decision to pick her as the Chosen One for the 7th Fleet. His voice was neither masculine, nor feminine. She couldn't determine if it was a young man talking to her, or an old one - and she wondered just how much of an actor the Emperor was, for she learned how to differentiate and identify all variation of voices when she was a White Wolve commando.
Who was this man?
Was he a man at all for that mattered?
The sudden idea that the Emperor would actually be a nomad travelled through her mind but quickly disappeared as the man removed her hand from her head...
"Arise, my loyal servant."
She did as told, and maintained her eyesight low, but the soft hand of the emperor took her by her chin and forced her gently to look at him...
She saw...
A young face, a great leader. Dark hairs, nearly blue so black they were, worn very long. And the eyes, so dark too, shining with intelligence and wise knowledges...
Was it her imagination, or did she saw, for a milisecond, bright purple light shining from these eyes...?
//Don't know how this post got here, but if it could be deleted, that would be -GREAT-, sorry xing.
"Freelancer Alpha dash niner, this is Freeport 7 control, You are cleared for departure. Good luck out there."
Soldato Zavier Benitez, Benitez flight instructor.
New Tokyo System Planet New Tokyo Imperial Shipyard 112 Berth 4 KNF Ryujin Command Bridge
the Ceromoney was over suprisingly fast jim wasted no time getting out of his Dress uniform back into his Marine Fatiges while he was the Ryujins commander he missed "leading from the front" so did Isabelle but in Kusari that wasent the way not normally he felt like a coward wanted to be frontlines with his troops tho it nearly killed him during the mission he refered to as"Red Terror" he was careless yes, but he lived for it to sheild those troops to destroy that fighter felt invegorateing that all had to change for a people who saw honor in combat you would think there genenrals and officers would be frontline,he sighed and hit a comm pannel "sorry isabelle the Ryujins going nowere i just came aboard to collect combat logs and unpack,yard boss tells me hes uncertin if she will fly again in any reasonable time,il lkeep you posted, Patterson out"
he punched up the scmatic and logs from his wing the Ryujin took tremendous punishment the fire damage is what broke her though,her superstructure was rated cruiser by liberty standards tho her armors standard for a hull of this type her 4 fusion engines 3 needed to be gutted and replaced they worked fine but jim wanted "Factory mint gear" as he worded on the requestion request that was part of the reason Ryujins Drydock time was Unknowen tho if he told isabelle she would probly be upset he smiled at the thought of her and wounderd if she was gonna say yes to his engageent request
Isabelle smiled for herself in the darkness of her room. She contemplated the ring Jimmy had offered her, enjoying its beauty, but more importantly, its significance...
Of course she was going to accept.
She wondered what her family would have thought... were her parents still alive...
Mother would probably have been indifferent. Maybe deceived she couldn't have found a husband which would have forced her to leave her military career.
She could understand this. She and her mother weren't very close for many reasons... this was perhaps the primary one...
Father... she didn't knew. She guessed his answer would have been probably yes. He had supported her in anything she wanted to do in life, as long as it fulfilled her happiness. He wasn't as controlling as her mother tried to be, and maybe this was his greatest weakness, for having allowed her everything or so she wanted for her life...
He was the one who allowed her in the White Wolf commandos... and perhaps her greatest mistake in her whole career. Emotionally, she had never been the same ever since the years she' passed among these shadowy elite forces no one ever heard of...
And then, there was Daitetsu Mitsurugi. Her "adoptive" "father"...
The title wasn't true, not officially at least. The truth was, "uncle Daite" did raise her for quite a long part of her childhood and adolescence. It was a part of herself she couldn't ignore. He was a guide and inspiration throughout her life even though sometime she didn't took full conscience of it.
What would uncle Daite think?...
Isabelle closed her eyes. Why, there was no need to torture herself with the question.
She openned her computer and checked for new mails. Daitetsu Mitsurugi wasn't at her ceremony unfortunately, his fleet required on the frontlines. However, when one knew the ways, there were always a multitude of possibility in order to reach someone in the middle of a war. She used one such possibility to send a message most would consider trivial in time of war... but she knew her uncle would reply her no matter what.
And his reply, a short one liner, made her smile with joy.
Jim was tired he had spent the day helping his officers refine there battle tactics some suprisingly understood his liberty accented words quite well others not so much his XO even spoke libertion
first Liutenant Chang was a smart man he was Slated to be Transfeed to a Training base but jim pulled strings to keep him aboard he reminded hm of his former XO Mathers, Sheng was a lifer a bit older than jim by 3 years they had a Drink togeather to congradulate his promotion to XO then jim headed home when he entered he was greeted by a darkened room isabelle was probly asleep or so he thought,he showered made a small dinner and joined her in bed they Embraced kissing and hugging then more intimatly,they were"long over due" in her words as they layed cuddleing under the blankets his citizenship was nearly done he felt he would know tomorrow he knew now that once he became a citizen he would be a real member of the Kusari military and there was no going back it was the first time he had felt peace in a while,drifting to sleep he loked isabelle in the eyes kissed her and uttered a final statement before sleep took him" My Isabelle i love you, dearly and youll be happy to know i dont hurt anymore,i see you feel the same way if only a little,youve changed hun.. the clouds arnt as dark as they were before im glad youve also healed and started liveing your life ,good night my love"