Red

"Anna-san?"

"Damn you! I'll give you war!"

"A-anna-san?"

Anna Di'Amato opened her eyes to the dim world of the Imperial dungeons. It was the kid, Tamahome. His eyes were very wide, the whites gleaming in the meagre light offered by the torches. She wondered briefly exactly how much he heard before she awakened when the guard came by to investigate.

"Hey you! What's going on in there?"

Anna flashed a grin at the guard. "Why, I don't know, sir," she replied perkily, "but I think Mr. Hand might know!"

She held up her cybernetic hand, palm outward. Synthetic flesh parted, revealing eyes and a mouth, which leered grotesquely at the guard. "I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies!" Mr. Hand replied in the grating voice Anna had selected for this particular option. Mr. Hand laughed hysterically at his own joke.

"Eeaagh!" the guard screamed in horror and disgust. "A mon -"

He managed to knock himself out, trying to run through the stone wall, before finishing his sentence.

Tamahome rushed to the bars, his face lit up. "Wow!" he cried. "What did you do? How did you throw your voice like that?" Without waiting for an answer, Tamahome slipped his arm between the bars, straining to reach the keys before the guard regained consciousness. "Can't . . . reach . . ."

"Allow me," Anna said, unfastening her shirt. Tamahome's eyes went very wide, and he blushed, looking away. "Uh, Anna-san, I don't think this is a good time for that sort of thing. I mean, uh, it's not that you're unattractive, but I don't think the uh, um, Emperor's gonna kill us, um. Uh." He peeked at Anna again, marveling at the smooth expanse of fair skin revealed by the plain white undergarment covering her chest (Standard Imperial Army Issue #427, Sports Halter in Service White).

Anna lifted her arm up and proceeded to unfasten the cybernetic arm from its fittings. As it came free, she heard an, "Urk," and looked up to see Tamahome fall over in a dead faint.

"Squeamish," she tsked. "Stick with me, kid. You'll get over it."

She watched as the fingers spider-crawled swiftly out of the cell and to the guard, relieving him of the keys, and bringing them back to Anna. "That's a good Mr. Hand," she crooned happily as she set the arm back in its conventional spot.

"Damn skippy," Mr. Hand replied.

"Go back to sleep, Mr. Hand," Anna ordered, and the pre-programmed phrase kicked the Hand program into stand-by. The eyes and mouth closed, revealing only thin lines that might be taken for scars. Satisfied, Anna unlocked the cell, and proceeded to drag Tamahome out of the lockup.

"Damn, you're a heavy recruit," she grunted. He had several centimeters on her and at least twenty kilos on her pre-cyborg weight. She made short work of the guard, tying him up securely instead of dragging his heavy ass back into the cell, and clapped the unconscious Tamahome on the shoulder.

"Been nice knowin' ya, kid," she told him. "But your 'no killing' shit is really cramping my style." For a moment, she looked down at him. He was so adorable, sleeping, his long lashes resting on his cheeks. He was at that inbetween stage of late adolescence, where the soft curves of youth were beginning to give way to the sharp angles of adulthood.

"Sorry, kid," Anna murmured, brushing a lock of his dark hair off of his forehead. "I hate leaving you like this, but I can't stay. I have to go. I have to find a way home. This is your world. You'll be fine."

She left as Tamahome blinked himself awake, wondering if he'd been dreaming, or if the strange blonde woman had, indeed, spoken to him.

Blue

"Something I can help you with?" she asked without looking at him as she pushed herself up once more. She lowered her body slowly, then removed her feet from the low table she'd commandeered for the workout. Sitting up, she stretched, interlacing her fingers behind her back and lifting her arms.

Nakago stared at her. "What?" she asked, almost sharply. She glanced down at herself, at the sweat-sheened golden skin, the soft fabric of the sports bra, the charcoal fatigue pants. "You've never seen a half-naked woman before?"

"You have scars," he said, eyes fixed on the shrapnel scars on her ribcage.

Jackson ran her hand across the hard, white lines that defaced her body. She'd had them a long time. They were rather like old friends. In fact, they were so old that she'd refused to have them removed when she'd gone for rejuv several weeks ago. She'd gotten used to having them. She half-smiled at the memory - she'd gotten her first Purple Heart because of them. "Yeah," Jax replied. "So? Don't you?"

Blue eyes flashed towards her. She shrugged. "I'm a soldier," she grunted, reaching for her shirt. As she slipped her arms into the sleeves and shrugged the garment onto her shoulders, she grinned at the tall shogun, said, "Soldiers see combat. Or weren't you aware of that?"

"I've seen more combat than you can imagine, Jackson-sama," Nakago murmured matter-of-factly.

Jax raised her eyebrows in mock-surprise. I seriously doubt that, puppy. "I see," she said aloud. "So you're not one of those officers who likes to hide in the fortifications while his troops do the fighting, hm?" She showed her disdain openly. She'd made sergeant before going on to O.C.S., and she knew well the traditional enmity between enlisted and officers.

"No," Nakago replied. "And I don't get scars either."

Jackson bristled. She envisioned Nakago caught in the blast of a fusion-grenade and disappearing in a brilliant flash. She liked that. She also imagined him walking across a minefield. Those would leave better scars than the fusion-grenade. She liked that even better.

Nakago motioned someone standing outside the door, and two serving girls laden with food entered. Jackson watched silently as they set their platters down and began transferring the food from tray to table. "I thought that we would have breakfast together," Nakago announced. "And after breakfast, we have an audience with the Emperor."

Jackson sighed. Another meal where they would converse and nothing would be said. She'd rather gossip with the servants - at least she'd be able to get useful information out of them. Conversation with Nakago was a series of dancing around, circling, fishing for information from both sides. It was as if he had graduated from the same Imperial School of Inscrutability that she had.

"Actually," she smiled, "I was hoping for a bath."

"You had one last night."

"That was last night. I'm all sweaty and gross. I would like a bath this morning." To illustrate, she swiped at her forehead, pushing her hair back away from her face. Blinking slowly and deliberately, she continued, "I can't very well have an audience with the Emperor when I'm all sweaty and gross. My mother taught me better than that."

Something flickered in his hooded eyes, and with a gesture, he caught the attention of one of the servants. "Prepare a bath for Jackson-sama," he instructed the girl.

"And clothing suitable for my station," Jackson added.

The serving girl looked from Jackson to Nakago for confirmation. Stonily, he gave a curt nod, acceding the point. Jackson silently poured the tea, as it allowed her to hide her face, and by extension, her thoughts.

An interesting response to today's opening move. She glanced at Nakago through her lashes, face nearly expressionless, head tilted coyly. Setting the teapot down, she handed Nakago his cup, which he accepted with a precise little bow. I wonder if old stony face actually ever smiles or laughs. He's gotta have something remotely resembling a sense of humor.

Again, she ate nothing until Nakago ate of it. He said nothing, but she knew he noticed. "So," she began as she stirred the food in her bowl with fine silver chopsticks. "An audience with the Emperor. What is the purpose of the audience?"

"I will be introducing you to the Emperor as Seiryuu no Miko."

"And the other Seiryuu seishi?"

"Don't worry about them," Nakago assured her. "I will see to everything."

Jax tapped the side of the delicate porcelain bowl with the tips of the chopsticks, only vaguely aware she was doing so. "Are you saying that they've already been found?"

"They will be." Nakago's tone put an edge of finality on his words. End of subject. Nakago studied her with shadowed eyes. Your next move, Jackson predicted, will be to try to keep me from studying the implications of your words.

"Your food is getting cold, Miko-sama. You should not neglect yourself. You are important to our entire country."

"Oh. Sorry. I was just thinking." She took an obedient bite, chewing thoughtfully. As much as she did not trust the man, she had to admire his maneuvering. Damn, she thought to herself. He's so young, and he's damn good at this. Much better than I was at that age.

Miko and seishi ate in silence for a few moments. Jackson paid close attention to her food as she pretended not to notice Nakago watching her. As she reached for the serving bowl filled with steamed vegetables, she glanced up, as if by accident, intercepting Nakago's gaze. She tilted her head, raising both eyebrows, opening up her facial expression invitingly, encouraging the shogun to speak.

He did. "You have commanded troops before."

Jackson smiled, as if flattered. "Made sergeant before I left the army," she boasted proudly. And lieutenant, and captain, and major . . . "Saw lots of action, too."

"Why did you leave the army?" Nakago did not even make a pretense at eating; he set down his utensils, folding his hands before him.

Damn! He looks like some of those stiffs at my court martial.

Pressing her lips together thoughtfully, Jackson considered several statements. She settled on one, and released the words slowly, as if she'd been considering the best way to state her reason. "The Imperial Army and I . . . saw things . . . differently."

The shogun raised a golden eyebrow. "Oh?"

Jackson grinned. "They didn't pay enough for the risks I took. My current employer, however, does."

She watched him process the information carefully while she finished her food. He betrayed nothing that went on in that brain of his - not an eyelash flickered, nor was there a subtle movement of a facial muscle. Nothing. Even some of the old campaigners Jackson knew - generals, colonels, nobles - could not manage such smoothness of expression, except after years of practice. It was only her second day here on this strange little world, and her second day of acquaintance with the mysterious Nakago, and she was already armpit deep in mysteries and intrigues.

I'm gonna find out what makes you tick, she promised.

She'd learned long ago that silence could communicate just as much as words.

The office of Dr. Knobell was tastefully appointed. The desk was real wood, polished to a high gloss; the chair behind it was soft and comfortable, covered in velvety synth-suede. The chairs on the other side of his desk were no less comfortable, and no less beautiful, although they weren't as grand as Dr. Kno's swiveling throne of an office chair. His officers filled nearly all the seats, and Dr. Kno did his best to ignore the one that was blatantly empty.

Second one from the right. Jackson's chair.

"We have," he began after they were settled in, "a situation."

Leeandra O'Leary turned her head towards the vacant seat next to her. "Uh, Dr. Kno, shouldn't we wait for Jax?" the fiery-haired pilot asked ingenuously.

The blond man sighed. "That's part of the situation. Jackson is missing. So is Anna Di'Amato."

Murmurs of surprise swelled momentarily before fading into silence. "Missing?" asked Sor, the leonine communications officer. "I just saw Jax this morning. We had coffee together." The lovely Aslan pushed back a strand of her white-blonde hair, looking for all the world like an overgrown feline grooming herself. "People don't just disappear off a ship in the middle of Jump Space."

"'Specially not Jackson," Leeandra snickered. The pilot enjoyed teasing Jax about her space-sickness. The diminutive commander of the mercenary troops had a pronounced sensitivity to entering and leaving Jump Space.

In the silence following the chuckling, Roger Severn's deep voice pointed out, "Is it possible that Anna's gone off the deep end? I mean, they might have killed each other. I assume," he waved a hand towards Megan, "that you've already scanned for their life-signs."

Megan and the doctor exchanged glances. I've already compiled something of a preliminary report, she told him telepathically.

By all means, he responded, the floor is yours.

Stepping out from behind Dr. Kno, Megan stood beside the desk and addressed the gathering. "This morning, around 1000 ship time, Dr. Kno had a meeting with Jackson regarding the new recruits we picked up in the Darian Confederation. At 1030, Dr. Kno tried contacting Jackson in her quarters, in the training room, and in the Commons. A computer query turned up nothing on her whereabouts. At that point, he called me into his office, where I initiated a telempathic life-scan for Jackson on the ship. I turned up nothing. We sent out Jeeves and Yvette to see if she happened to be lying dead somewhere on the ship." Megan glanced back at the two lifelike robots standing at attention at the door. The stoic Jeeves, looking for all the world like the ancient stereotype of a butler, and the normally flirtatious Yvette, dressed sexily in the traditional costume of a maidservant, flanked the entrance to the office as if they were Imperial Guards. "They turned up nothing. That was at 1230, ship time.

"At 1248, one of the young men in Third Squad, Scatter, approached me, asking me if I'd seen Anna. They'd had a lunch date set for noon, and she was a no-show."

"Naturally," Dr. Kno pointed out in his sonorous voice, "we began to be alarmed at this point. Go on, Megan."

"Immediately afterwards," the dark-haired psionic continued, "I reported this to Dr. Kno. We initiated the same search for Anna as we did for Jax, and turned up nothing. However, at 1425, we checked the computer logs to see if we could possibly glean any information from the computers. We saw that Jackson had logged into the computer from the Commons area at around 0912. She accessed the Imperial Library database with the query, 'birds in the commons area?' That was the last concrete information we have on her. At that point, Dr. Kno and I went to investigate the Commons area for further information. We found the terminal that Jackson was using. During our investigation, we managed to get in touch with Anna."

"Anna?" Sor lifted a pale eyebrow. "You were unable to find her with a life scan before, and then, all of a sudden, you manage to get in touch with her?"

Megan made a wry face towards the tall Aslan officer. "Strangely enough, yes. Both Dr. Kno and I were able to make brief telepathic contact with Anna. I sensed her presence in the Crew Commons Area, but we did not see her. We both made telepathic contact, during which Anna made some very curious statements."

Megan sent telepathically to all present:

Doctor Kno! Megan! You didn't leave me! You didn't leave me on this festering hole of a rock!

Murmurs swelled again as the assembled six officers tried to unravel the meaning of Anna's last communication. All but one. Dr. Kno intercepted the gaze of the middle-aged looking man who sat near the back of the group. Paddy was an honest-to-gods ancient Solimani, whose family had been put onto one of the early colonial sleeper ships, back in time immemorial. The old fellow had made himself deucedly useful time and again to the mercenaries of the Mjollnir Corporation, back before there was a Mjollnir Corporation. "What are your thoughts on this, Paddy?" Dr. Kno asked the Irishman.

Paddy inhaled slowly, a thoughtful look on his saturnine features. "I think they've been taken away by the sidhe. Except sidhe generally leave behind changelings."

Silence as everyone looked at Paddy. "That could be a possibility," Dr. Kno murmured. Everyone else looked vaguely confused, except for Leeandra. Paddy had found that Leeandra had been woefully undereducated with regards to her ancient Irish heritage and had taken it upon himself to correct the situation. Dr. Kno had several doctorates, one of them being in Pre-Imperial Solomani History.

"Um, no," Megan refuted. "I'm afraid that sidhe or whatever have nothing to do with this." She tapped out a few commands on the computer console resting on the desk. The lights dimmed down in response, and a holographic image appeared in the center of the room, where the entire command crew could get a good look. "While we were assembling for this meeting, I happened to take a look at what the computer called up in response to Jackson's search query."

Text appeared. This is the story of a girl who gathered the seven constellations of Suzaku, and many powers were bestowed upon her, and she made all of her wishes come true. The story itself is a spell. Whoever finishes reading it will receive this power. The story will become truth and begin as soon as the first page is turned.

"What is it?" Roger asked.

"At first," Megan replied, "it appears to be a pre-Imperial Solomani novel. However, please note the accompanying illustration."

The illustration that appeared in the holo was an elegantly simple line drawing of a fantastic bird. The caption read, "Suzaku".

"What's so special about this pic?" Leeandra asked. "It's just a damned bird."

"Birds in the common area," Dr. Kno murmured thoughtfully.

"Birds in the common area," Megan repeated in confirmation. "But read this."

A new page appeared before the command crew. The girl tripped and nearly tackled the Emperor's palanquin. Before the guards could slay her out of hand, the young man with the mark of the ogre, Tamahome, scattered smoke bombs to screen his rescue of the girl. As he pulled her from the smoke, the girl began to emit a strange red light. She began to disappear, nearly returning to her own world. She spoke briefly with her friends in the other world, however she was not able to maintain the contact for very long, and as the red light dimmed down, she reappeared. The young man asked her what the strange red light was, and in that moment, the Emperor ordered the capture and arrest of the young girl and her companion.

"Are you implying that the girl in this book is Anna?" Roger asked skeptically.

"I'll leave you to decide that," Megan replied, "after you read this next excerpt."

The girl awakened from her dream to find herself in the Imperial gaol with the young man. The young man expressed his concern so loudly that a guard came over to the cell to investigate. The girl smiled ingenuously at the guard and held up her hand.

The hand spoke to the guard and laughed maniacally, throwing the guard into a panic, which caused the guard to knock himself out against the prison wall. Tamahome tried to retrieve the guard's keys so that they might make their escape, but he was unable to reach them. The girl then removed the arm with the talking hand from her body. The sight shocked the young man so much he passed out in a dead faint. The girl then sent the hand out to fetch the guard's keys, which it did with alacrity.

"Th-that's . . ." Sor stammered.

"Mr. Hand," Dr. Kno finished.

"Anna," Leeandra whispered.

Dr. Kno steepled his fingers in thought. "Megan. Did you find any reference to Jackson at all?"

"None," replied his assistant.

"Shit," Dr. Kno swore. "This puts a different complexion on things. Paddy."

"Aye, sir?" The Irishman was at attention now.

"I want you to continue the search aboard the ship. Find out if any of the other crew are missing."

"Aye!"

"Megan," Dr. Kno called. "You and Sor are to comb the Imperial database. Find out when we downloaded this - this book. Find any other information you can that's related to the book - who wrote it, when, and so forth. Cross-reference this 'Suzaku'. Get cultural information."

"Yes, sir!" the two women replied crisply.

"Leeandra and Roger - you two are going to drop whatever you're doing and read this book. I will be joining you shortly. I'll want an update when I do."

"Yes, sir."

"What are you going to do?" Megan asked.

Thad Knobell sighed. "I'm going to address the crew and the troops, and let them know that we are currently investigating the mysterious disappearances of two of our crew members. I won't keep this from them, and it will also give us additional eyes in case someone else disappears."

He glanced at his staff with tired eyes. "You have your assignments. Get to work."