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Aberrant: Infinite Earth - Cosmos Nova - [Complete] The Melancholy of Rebecca Rathbone


Rebecca Baines

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July 25th 2013

12pm Eastern Standard Time

Langely DSA Headquarters

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Rebecca decided to sleep in. By the time she woke up, it was very much lunch time on the DSA campus where she lived. The NextGen initiative has been gutted, but the young nova and her compatriots were still DSA agents... sort of. Rebecca, being the hyper competent, easily bored type went over to her computer first and started managing her Facebook and Twitter accounts.

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Rebecca had a deep-seated melancholy lately. She was planning to pop over to the moon, but suddenly lost the interest when Naomi Minami-Hideyoshi passed... someone she had idolized. It just seemed now life seemed a bit less colorful, and to her the later vetoing of her request to start gearing up for her moon trip later only seemed to further increase her boredom towards her daily drudgery.

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That, and on top of that was the Mexico City disaster. The Adults were still stirred up about it, but there wasn't any tell why.

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She walked around the kid's section of the campus, eventually staring at a vending machine, seeing herself standing there wearing a pair of grey overalls she wore as pajamas, her slightly purple hair a complete disaster.

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She cracked up laughing seeing herself, and a few people walked past wondering just what was up with their young Nova under their roof lately.

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Scratching her head, she started considering choices from the rotating food vendor that had microwavable junky-type food.

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"Four breakfast burritos, instant noodles, a hamburger, and these nachos... breakfast of champions." She mumbled, reading the news paper as she ate her "breakfast" in the cafeteria. It bored her. Looking at the same damned headlines... scores for sports she is not interested... although Baseball from time to time due to it's statistics is interesting.

"Senators lost again... unreal... I thought they would be shoe-ins to be over 500 before the all-star break..." She mumbles through her food-stuffed mouth.

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She slurped down some noodles as one of the human workers walked by.

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"Hello Miss Rathbone... Eclectic mix for lunch?"

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"Breakfast, actually... I've been up late the past few days..."

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"Well... I hope your insomnia ends soon, a young girl like you shouldn't stay up so late."

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As the worker starts to walk away, Rebecca slams her fist on the table. "I hate it..." she plainly stated, a bit of a mumble, her hair hanging over her eyes.

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"Umm... what?"

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Rebecca quietly stands up with her tray and starts to walk out. "You... I can stay up for days... yet all that happens is "don't do this... don't do that... we know better"... Really? Then stop war... Stop poverty... Stop disease while you're at it... no... you're all doing what humankind has always done before Novas appeared, and even after. Look at that newspaper and look at what is going on in the world and tell me if my welfare is key to the world... to me that is just a over important first world problem..." Her tone was still plain, no temper tantrum, more like a lecture.

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Rebecca walks out. Many of those around her looking at her suprised. Rebecca could hear a couple of people in the back of the room asking why the little witch of the DSA was so perturbed.

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To be honest, even Rebecca didn't know, but her brain burned it felt... it frustrated her that here she was, a 13 year old girl who could be doing so much more for the world, and she saw it... yet here she was, kept at home. She had taken to opening warps around the world at various locations to go shopping or to take in some sight she had never seen. Authorities never really cared as she was just a girl to most people's eyes. As long as she stayed out of trouble and didn't look like she should be in school... of course that also meant studying the school schedules of the cities she visited.

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She had been building quite a collection of nick-nacks and unusual clothes.

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Walking into her room was walking into a nerd's paradise. Comic Books lying on the floor next to a couple novels, a Manga she picked up from Tokyo on a lark carefully held by a Naomi plush doll.

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Rebecca sat her breakfast on a table near her bed before looking at her Naomi plush. Scratching behind it's ear.

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"At least you have an excuse not doing anything now, Miss Hideyoshi..."

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She grabs a burrito and munches on it. Using her free hand to pull up a schedule of Director Horst's meetings as well as the adult agents...

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"All the adult agents are away... I could warp over to Kei's carrier... Maybe go swimming. They're near the equator so some tropical waters would be nice..."

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She walked over to her closet, grabbing her swimsuit, and a red vest... a modified cormorant that she nicked for when she was on the carrier deck, if only to calm her folks. Changing her clothes was easy, then she sat down to finish her meal as she opened a channel to Kei's civilian carrier and Kei herself.

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"Cap'n... you there?"

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There was a pause before the sound of a woman rustling out of her bed could be heard.

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"Ah... Dom... dom... oh hell, Nugget... it's you... What is it, now?" Kei never liked Rebecca's choice of using Latin for her "callsign" Domina Tempus.

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Rebecca leaned back in her office seat. "Well... I wanted to go swimming, and maybe some fishing later."

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There was a sigh. "You really are bored... Alright, I'm your superior after all... report in one hour. Mght as well give you some duties while you're here."

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Rebecca giggled. "Technicalities. Always Technicalities."

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"Hey, Nugget... you're not getting a free ride. You'll have to swab the deck like everyone else. Or.... whatever needs doin'"

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"Yes, Ma'am. Actually could... could I stay over there for a while?"

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"What's wrong with the dorm?"

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Rebecca sighed. "No view of the ocean."

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"Good enough for me, just radio ahead before warping over."

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Kei closed her transmission as Rebecca grinned. "Better than nothing..."

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Rebecca warped to the new carrier of Kei's, two dufflebags loaded with her personal effects feeling the swaying deck needed a moment of adaptation...

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The USS Nokomis. Kei mentioned it was her own private reward as she literally pirated a pirate group for it. The deck was quiet as the DSA's compliment of F-35Ns were on deck, being prepped later for a training flight. Also on deck was an aircraft that only Rebecca could really see as Kei's new pride and joy, her experimental craft. Designed for anti-ballistic operations, and capable of arriving faster than anything currently in any arsenal can produce in the world. And Kei had built her from scrap.

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Rebecca admired the new piece of technology, feeling the outer skin... Kei obviously needed help in building this...

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"So... admiring my new bird, 'becca?"

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Rebecca turned fast. "Oh... you're here!"

"Do you realize what time it is?"

Rebecca looked around it was still night... "3 In the morning? We are near the Date line, aren't we?"

"Yes, I've been sitting out here since Naomi's funeral... haven't had any reason really to return stateside."

Rebecca sighed. "I know..."

"But you realize no one keeps the same schedule you do, right?"

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Kei's tone was nearing a lecture level... That and since Rebecca was only a inch higher than the diminutive Kei, her words carried a lot of weight. Rebecca looked down at the deck out of some form of guilt. "Sorry..."

Grinning, Kei tossed to Rebecca's feet some grey overalls. They looked like a old flightsuit. "You and I have the same size currently... those should fit. You remember my rules here right?"

"Don't interfere with the pilots, mind the jet blasts, and don't leave the ship without some way of letting you know."

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Kei nodded. "You'll be a good first mate then, Rebecca. Now... I'm going to giv you your first orders. I'll have a crewman bring your stuff to your new quarters. You'll be right next to me so don't worry about it. You are going to clean my bird as this afternoon I got a test flight with the DSA squardon here. We're going to have a little 6 on one."

"6? I thought there were only 5 F-35N Dragons?"

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Kei Grinned. "A new one was built to add to the fleet, and then the squadron was assigned here. Only armament we got on board outside my baby. Gotta keep these guys trained. So, I want you to clean up my bird as good as you can. I'm sure you know the protocol?"

"Just don't get anything into the engines, right?"

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"Yep, and don't stand on the plane. You can hover though.. so that should make things easy. Once things are set... I won't mind if you take some time swimming or fishing or whatever. Just take a EPIRB with you so we know where you are in the water."

Kei poked Rebecca's vest. "Still have that vest on that "Idefinate loan?" when you last visited."

"Umm... actually that was under orders of my folks. They said if I'm ever on deck..."

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Kei sighed. "Right... I remember. Well that's okay. Just wear that red thing over you overalls so the deck crew can see where you're at, okay?"

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Rebecca nodded as a couple crewmen showed to take Rebecca's bags. A third brought up Rebecca's cleaning supplies.

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"Breakfast is at 0630... I'm sure that brunch you had will have burned off by then?"

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"I should have room, Captain."

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Kei stopped... "You... heh... I can't stop loving hearing that... now get cracking Seaman Rathbone! That plane won't clean herself!"

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Rebecca saluted. "Yes, Ma'am!"

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This might be a little fun, Rebecca thought.

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As the day progressed she met some of the pilots, got her job done, and got to sit to watch the sun rise on deck before breakfast was called. She had all day and a change of scenery to enjoy. Kei walked up to greet Rebecca as the sun was clearing the horizon. "Well, beakfast is soon... You seem to be enjoying the view..."

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Rebecca nodded. "Better than Langely."

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"So I got a question... what makes you stay with the DSA?" Kei said, sitting next to Rebecca.

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"Well... I want to be a DSA Agent."

"Why though? What's the driving force behind that ambition?"

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Kei expected the company line, but what Rebecca said was... enlightening. "I want to be the best Nova I can... and I can be that under the DSA's tutelage."

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"Well... that was interesting... I was half expecting "I wanna serve my country"... never thought someone would join the DSA for self improvement."

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Rebecca nodded. "Isn't that how we should approach life? To try to be a little better than we were yesterday?"

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Those words made Kei pause.. Naomi said that to her once... after the Germany mission...

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"How did you?"

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"Some anime I watched... Yes I do have more interests than my books."

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Kei smiled.

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"Kei?"

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"What is it, Nugget?"

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"Can I..."

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"...I'll think about it. Even though you're nova, doing that... might be pushing it. That and I get nervous when anyone younger than 24 gets into the cockpit behind me."

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Rebecca nodded. "Just that the thought of flying in one of those things..."

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"Tempting isn't it... You just don't know how to operate one, I bet..."

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"Nada. My Dad is a real pacifist. He hates the fact I hang around you."

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Kei breaks out laughing. "I'm a Test Pilot! You'd think they'd ever call me up to dogfight? If I'm dragged into the battlefield, our side wins! I don't need these Jets... I just like to fly them to bring a even playing field."

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Rebecca smiled. "Think I'll get a suit like yours someday?"

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Kei blinked. "Uh... we... don't have uniforms in the DSA... this is just my thing..."

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Rebecca smiled. "Just no sailor collar. I'm not your side-kick."

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Kei remembered the time she had the sailor motif to her suit before her new Mark III suit upgrade. "... shoot and I was going to hand down the Mark II to ya..."

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Rebecca perked up. "Well... I could make an exception... just as long as you call me Domina Tempus."

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"I'd call you Boss as long as you keep to your chores and not be a bother." Kei said, standing back up. "Now, time for mess. Hurry up, the scrambled eggs cool fast."

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Rebecca nodded. Her day was just getting started... again.

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"Got any bacon?"

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-FIN

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