Big Eyes, Small Mouth (BESM): Nexus Earth - Chapter 8:Wings of an Angel

[Justin OOC]

Kelly looks at her. "All my family has fought. My brother and sister died in space, Our parents died fighting the Kage. Satoshi si home for me Sakura. I'm not as intelligent as others, but I excel physically I was asked if I wanted tofight like my siblings, and my affirmation has lead to where I am now."

[Sakura]

"Fighting because it's tradition is one path people follow, and I can understand if the rest of your family died in battle, how you might want to honor their path." She smiled slightly and moved a bit back.

"That is, after all, something I chose, the path of the warrior was both my fathers and my mothers. But it's not the heart of why I fight."

"The heart of why I fight, is Love and Justice.. for love for other living beings, a love of justice, and a desire to stand guard and defend sentient beings from evil. There is a saying, an old one, though not quite perfect, but one I take to heart.. 'Evil prospers when good men do nothing' Evil shall never prosper in my presence, or anywhere I can do something about it."

She shook her head. "But enough of that, I've decided I'm going to have to find some things that you folks might enjoy..."

[Justin OOC]

"We're fine Sakura, trust me. Most of are used to this, I mean it's been this way since we were six."

Grace groggily starts to move and wakes up. "Christ what was that Dolemite?"

'Would have to be to knock you out Grace." Grace looks to Sakura and smiles. "You did good, someone trained you pretty well."

She looked over at her squadmates then to Kelly who nodded. "They'll be fine. Their vitals are stabilizing thanks to their enhancements. Their armor's gonna need some work though. "Captain Johnson's gonna be pissed."

Grace sighed and chuckled. "Only because we got to have fun while he's stuck playing World Police."

[Sakura]

"I will still look into, Kelly." She responded, but when Grace began to come too, she knelt down next to the woman. "Welcome back to the land of the living, you should thank Kelly, she managed to grab you, my hands were full with your teammates when you were knocked unconscious."

[Justin OOC]

Grace nodded. "A bit closer to balancing the books then." Kelly smiled.

By the end of the Flight, The guys wer awake, though finding themselves blindfolded was an interesting switch. A spare Kimono was brought for Sakura as the CRT went to the med bay. She was allowed to change before departing.

Masane was there waiting for her. "Well I'd say that was a good first mission."

[Sakura]

She smiled at the other woman, though the sense of demonic energies had her slightly on edge. "Perhaps, but I think I need something more durable to wear, it was fine until the demon starting spitting green fire, after that, most of what I was wearing wasn't in good shape."

[Justin OOC]

"We can fit you for armor if you like, though I imagine Ruri can make you something more suitable for you."

She guides her back through the ship and to the city. "I imagine you'd like to check out Neo Tokyo after that. Or perhaps you'd like to rest. I took the liberty of setting you up a place to stay in the building wher the Princess and a couple others are staying."

It was clear the older woman wanted to leave the ship, but certain responsibilities held her there. Sakura represented an escape for her.

[Sakura]

"Who is Ruri, and what might she come up with? I mean, armor is all well and good, but it's not like my skin isn't tougher then most armor you can come up with." She walked with Masane to the city, and smiled as she spoke about a place to stay. "Thank you, a room would be fine, as well as somewhere to practice, and keep my skills sharp."

[Justin OOC]

"Ruri is Captain Ruri Hoshino, Commander of CRT-4 and the main person in charge of keeping our fleet, machines, and personnel active happy and running smoothely. I don't quite understand all the terms they use to describe various machines, they seem to forget when I come from. Let me say this though, the battle armor the Soldiers wear is beyond anything ever made before. It has abilities that are fantastic compared with anything the rest of the world can make."

As they walked to the VIP housing area Sakura got a view of the rebuilding city of Neo Tokyo. Rubble was being cleared away and new buildings being built. The people all went about with a sense of purpose.

She led her to her apartment and opened the door with a keycard, then handed it to her. "Check it out, let me know if you need anything."

"As for a place to train, just come find me later. I'll show you where I train with my Master."

[Sakura]

"Thank you, and I will." She took the key card, opened the door to enter the room and look around, she didn't need much, but she wanted to see what they might have chosen as a good room for her. And how she might chose to alter it somewhat, if she was here for a while.

"If you would give me a moment? I'd like a shower, then I'd like to talk to Captain Hoshino" Once the other woman nodded, she entered her room, going to take a shower.

Once there, as she had the shower going, and has the soap in her hands, she paused, closed her eyes for a long moment, and shivered, not from cold, more from a moment of sorrow. "It doesn't feel real, mother.. I never even got to say goodbye. So many died, I don't even know if you have a grave anywhere." A tear trailed down her cheek, mixed with the water of the shower, it wouldn't have been noticed.

At some point she shook herself out of it, pushing the hint of sorrow back, her mother would want her to carry on, she knew that, and she honored her by choosing to stand as a protector of the earth.

Once she was clean, she got dressed in the kimono, pausing to take a look and see if there were any other cloths in here, though she doubted it, and left to seek out Ruri, though she'd ask any of the others she knew for directions if she saw them.

[Justin OOC]

It took some doing but eventually Sakura was lead to Ruri's office for lack of a better term aboard the Macross. The room was a nearly complete sphere of computer banks and displays with a single console in the middle, occupied by a fifteen year old girl wearing the black kimono and White Haori of a Satoshi Captain. "Welcome to my home Sakura. I've been expecting you."

[Sakura]

"Been expecting me?" She raised an eyebrow, then smiled slightly, though the smile faded quickly, as it might when was too close to sorrow. "Someone's been telling tales then? Or was it a matter of simple calculation?"

[Justin OOC]

"I see and hear virtually everything here on base, When Masane mentioned my name I caculated better than average odds that you would seek me out." The young Captain turned around from her console, her hands ceasing to glow and her Irridescent white eyes fading to a more normal looking yellow.

"People tend to seek me out when they require something. How can i help you?"

[Sakura]

She looked over the other woman a moment, wondering what her story was, but then set it aside for a moment. "I wonder if you don't already know. But, just so we're clear, I need some better clothing, something that doesn't burn or dissolve in battle when exposed to flame or acid, or similar things. It also needs to be able to accommodate my wings when they manifest as well."

[Justin OOC]

"I can do that." The young Captain walked over to her circled her and sat down, typing in a handful of keystrokes. "Hold your arms out and remain still."

In an instant Sakura was bathed in white light. She could feel her clothing vanish and then felt the soft touch of what felt like silk. She found herself in a close facsimilie of her original outfit. "Your new garment is still able to be cut but it is impervious to stain and being dissolved. It has incredible resistance to heat, but it isn't fireproof. It should feel soft like silk though and move as regular clothing. It's the best I can do on short notice, the nature of fires on this world really preclude immunizing most things from them."

[Sakura]

She looked over it a moment, then she looked back at the Captain, and smiled slightly, once again, an almost bittersweet smile, one that faded quickly. "I don't suppose it would be possible to get a few changes of clothing, for if and when this one needs to be repaired?"

[Justin OOC]

"I'll have them sent to you later tonight, as well as a school uniform."

[Sakura]

"A school uniform? What do I need with that?" She was a touch confused, why would she need a school uniform anyway. They weren't planning on enrolling her in something? Not that she wouldn't go if she was asked too, but it seemed a bit strange.

[Justin OOC]

"You never graduated correct?" She looked at her console. "Raisho asked me to make the needed arrangements so that you could be closer to the other VIP's. The best way to do this is to have you attend school with them."

She smiles. "Skeleton Key, cyborg, alien princess, supersoldier, magical ninja, superspeedster, we have all kinds. The school has ever served as a focal point for them all."

[Sakura]

"Ok, point made, besides, I suppose it would be a good way to get a feel for the people around here. By the way, thanks for the outfit."

[Justin OOC]

"You are Welcome."

She smiles. "Is there anything else you'd like to know Sakura?"

[Sakura]

"I really can't think of anything at the moment, the world as it was is gone, and I'm still unsure where or how I fit into it all."

[Justin OOC]

"you'll find your place Saura. I'm not even born of this world, and yet thanks o Captain Hayami, I am free from my former bonds and able to be more than a living computer."

[Sakura]

She paused a moment, at that bit of information, and then looked the other woman over for a long moment. "You were once a living computer? Or you are still one, inside a human body?" Her tone was curious, and she was interested, but she was also looking to distract herself a bit from some of the underlying sorrow she still felt.

[Justin OOC]

Ruri looked at Sakura and smiled. "I was Created by the Circinus Federation to serve as the living brain of a massive nanocore hive. T Satoshi CRT's got wind of the hive being sent in and intercepted it. Captain Hayami peirced all the way to the core's har and my cocoon, but instead of destroying me, he slew the drone guards and severed my connection to the core. He frought be back to Satoshi, where under his protection I was treated as a person for the first time in my life. I vowed my life to serving him, and when he died, few were more distraught than I. He reemerged months ago as a High school student, watching over the oddest collection of people, Including Kai. He died again, and has now come back as a young woman, but inside I can tell he's the same Atsushi who saved me."

"As for me, I am a perfectly engineered Circinus genotype humanoid, with a living nanocore within my body. It allows me to interface and control any machine, and oversee all the systems of Satoshi Heavy industries. I currently us close to seventy percent of my brain, though I can go up to total usage if the need arises. Such a thing is wuite traumatic though."

[Sakura]

"In other words, you are a human who was modified to be a computer core." She shook her head slightly. "It's terrible what things people are willing to do to one another, or even to those who have yet to be born." She paused, she wasn't sure how this person had managed to return from death twice, if he had. Although, it seemed doubtful that a human computer would be would about something. "So where is Circinus now?"

[Justin OOC]

"Not a human. My DNA is of alien Origin. It is close to humanity, but my DNA is perfectly matched and created."

She looks at Sakura. She waves a hand and the monitors all show the ten thousand ships and 4 arcships of the Federation in Martian orbit. "Ten thousand ships and their entire population waiting to colonize earth, after annihilating humanity."

"Before you ask We have fifteen hundred personnel of the CRT's, and 72 ships to fight them with."

[Sakura]

She considered that for a long moment, then turned to look at the other woman. "These are the ones who attacked the earth, and murdered billions then? Why, if they have this kind of technology, are they so set on taking earth?"

[Justin OOC]

"I do not know. i was never given that information, and the survivors of the 5th Fleet do not know either."

"all we know is they don't plan on leaving without this world. It's all or nothing for them. Those Four Arkships signify that."

[Sakura]

"It seems rather cruel, and a bit crude actually, I mean seriously with this kind of technology, if they really insist on moving to a new world, that they could chose one that doesn't already have living beings on it."

[Justin OOC]

"I don't have that information. Units like myself were never provided reasoning for our missions, just the information we needed."

She frowns. "All I do know is how many worlds the Federation has killed, and that number is staggering."

[Sakura]

"That's awful." She paused for a long moment, then sat down on the nearest chair, looking over at Ruri a moment. "They sound like they are as bad as the demons in their own way." She paused for a long moment. "I guess we have to wait and see how team who went out to face them deals with them?"

[Justin OOC]

Ruri looked Contemplative. "Without diverting key power and systems I cannot ascetain the outcome. Head Captain Morisato had some of the most powerful people on the planet with him. Yet he left a number of people who could have asily been effective, Including his servant Masane Amaha and myself."

[Sakura]

"If I had come though the gate sooner, I might have been able to help there also." She sighed, then rested her head in her hands for a moment. "But that wasn't the way the cards were to fall, as one might say."

[Justin OOC]

"No, it is not." Ruri nods. I will say one thing about this world. It's people have a remarkable capacity for selfdestruction and barbarism, yet despite that, the goodness they can show, the indominatable spirt of its people is truly something to behold."

She looks to Sakura. "I have no Data on the Dimension called Aradia. Captain Ishiyama and Captain Nanamurra have never had time to tell me anything about it, I don't suppose you could fill in some gaps for me?"

[Sakura]

She considered that request a moment, then smiled, allowing her thoughts to drift to the beautiful world of Aradia. Telling about her father's realm would distract her some from her sorrow, and remind her that she still had living family.. just not on earth.

"Aradia? It is called the 'Living Heaven' and it is a place of edenic beauty and majesty, like earth, it's two thirds water, though it only has 6 continents. However, the world itself is alive, and by that I mean, awake and aware, sentient. My father's people, the Asrai, call it the Womb of Life, and believe it to be a manifestation of the Weaver. Two other sentient races live there, the Elarad, who are small percetage of the living creatures on the planet who are actually sentient animals, and the Faerie's, small winged magical folk, who are not native to the world, but were rescued long ago, when the Bane destroyed their own." She paused, that reminded her over the price paid for that rescue, one of the few dark scars on Aradia's beauty.

Softer and not quite as eagerly she continued to speak."The price of that is one of the small scars on that beauty, that we call the Wormwood Blight, a forest valley that is dark and tainted, with evil within, it is prevented from spreading beyond that region however."

[Justin OOC]

"Interesting. I will have to see if Captain morisato will take me there. I'd like to see it."

The young Captain seemed ignorant of the dimesion ban.

[Sakura]

"I would love to show you around for a visit, it is truly beautiful, though I think there is some sort of dimensional block between the Earth and Aradia at the moment." She frowned for a moment. "Which is interesting, sense there doesn't seem to be a block between Earth and Bazeroth, I wonder if it is part of some plot of theirs. The Asrai and the Demons appose each other whenever possible, usually."