Out of the Ashes: Book 2 of the Death Dealer Saga - Deaths Own Daughter

by Jessie Wolf

  When they all give me their promise to be safe and fallow all the range rules we head out for the range. Before we get there I have Charley open a link to my family. “Ok Storm Dancers this is where we split up and team up. Mama, you and Fuyuko will begin your run after I complete mine, to be followed by the twins. Good hunting Storm Dancers.” At T minus fifteen seconds I contacted the tower. “Tower this is Wave Dancer on final approach. Over”

  “Wave Dancer, you're cleared for your run in T minus ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. GO! GO! GO!”

  I hit the range at full speed just topping out at one hundred and thirty-five miles per hour. More than forty percent faster than any known APS out there. Once again I let Charley take over the targeting and aiming of my weapons. I literally blow through the infantry portion of the course. When the IFV and AI tanks popped up it was a repeat of the first time through as well. I just kept going, I never stopped. It wasn’t until I got to the APS portion of the range that things got a little interesting. Instead of the single lance of scout APS’ there were two this time. I wound up using my speed and agility to out maneuver them and take them down. The medium/ support lance area was the same way.

  By this time I had been going full out for over fifteen minutes. At this rate I’ll burn out before the end of the course run. Just as the heavies set out to play I get some every unexpected help. From behind four PPC blasts slam into the first lance of AP Suits. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth I cut losses with my own PPC taking down the first of the heavies. “Get a move on big sister we got seven more to take out before the assault class makes our little game a real pain in the ass.”

  “Watch your language Monsoon Maiden. As it is you’re already up to twenty swats when we get done here.” Came mama over the link.

  “Yes ma’am. I’m sorry. Tempest nail that War hawk before it can get back up. Now!” Fuyuko warned her little sister.

  “I got it Monsoon; you just take care of your own sector.”

  “Typhoon shift left now!” I watch as Nanase dives to the left, and then summersaults back to her feet to target the Blackhawk that had taken that shot at her. Her PPL returned fire, hitting the cockpit dead on taking it out of the fight.

  After that I was too busy with my own APS’ to worry about them. Even though we had never trained as a unit like this, it felt as if we had been together for years. When the assault class APS’ set out too it was a totally different situation. Before I got my ass handed to me. This time they were the ones needing the recovery teams, because when the four Highlander APS’ showed themselves mama gave us all of their weak points to target. And target them we did. There were no wasted shots; everyone was placed with deadly accuracy. When we were done if they had been real Highlanders over half of them would have been spare parts.

  “OK! Who said you could horn in on my run?!” I was hot. I started to yell at them all but was stopped by mama.

  “Wave Dancer! You will control your tone, young Lady!”

  Oh, shit! I need to calm down before I piss mama off. “Sorry Storm Dancers. But I thought I told you to wait for your own runs, Mountain Mistress.”

  “Not going to happen Dancer. This family has a motto that we live by. ‘Family first, Family always, Family to the last’. So when we saw you were running close to burn out levels we hit the range at full speed to give you a hand.” Mama was actually smiling when she finished.

  Before I can reprimanded them all on breaking the rules Col. Fujiyama comes over the link. “Will done Storm Dancers! Well done indeed! That was a new course record. Please report to the tower for your team score. Over”

  Not knowing what to do I acknowledge the request from the tower. “Alright let’s head back to the tower Storm Dancers. Last one back has to buy the first round.” I take off at full speed before they can figure out what is going on. If they want to run the course as a team then they can pony up in the training room as a team. Luckily I get back to the tower first just a head of the twins fallowed by Fuyuko with mama bringing up the rear. I have a feeling that mama did that on purpose. The smile on her face tells me that I’m right. “Looks like you’re buying mama.”

  “Looks like it, child. Next time though if you fail to explain to your sisters the rules then you are, understand?” she told in a strained voice.

  “Yes, mama. I promise to explain the rules of team runs on the range.” Turning to my sisters who a look of confusion on their faces I explain what we and mama are talking about. “Ok little sisters, here’s the deal. Whenever you do a team run on the range whoever has the best individual score wins ‘top shot’. Now normally they would exempt that person from having to buy a round of drinks at the range ready room. However seeing as how you are all too young to buy, mama dropped back to let me or one of you to win the race back to the tower. Making her the loser, but I don’t think that she’ll do that again. Am I right mama?”

  Her smile says it all. With that tactful reply she just gave the go ahead for them to pay for the traditional after action drinks. Before I can say any more Col. Fujiyama, Maj. Howard, 1st Sgt. Bailey and Command Sergeant Major Miller exit the range control tower. “Well Storm Dancers, which do you, want to hear first? Your team score or your individual scores?” Maj. Howard asked us.

  Not knowing how they scored our run I step up and asked them how they did the scoring. CSM Miller answered for them. “Well Lady Maiha we originally started the scoring with just you as a single run, but when the rest of your family took off after you we changed the run and started to score you all as a team run. Before they got a quarter of the way down range we had to add the rest of the infantry portion to the team setting along with the rest of the range.”

  “You mean to tell me that when those two lances of scouts showed up they were sent out to take on a full lance team?!” I asked in shock. “You mean to tell me that if my family hadn’t hit the range when they did I would still have had a solo run set up?! Damn it that ain’t fair! I want a recount here. Or a second chance at my solo run.” Hey I’ll admit it I was pitching a fit, but damn it I was supposed to be out there on my own. This was a matter of pride.

  “Sorry, Lady Nakatoma but the scores stand. It doesn’t matter how a team run starts, just how it ends.” CSM Miller tells me. Talk about getting ripped off. “Now as for your scores, this is how they break down. First off the team score is just over ninety-seven point nine percent. That sets a new course record for team exercises. By the way ladies, that’s a full six points over the old score set by the Mountain Wolves three years ago. Now your individual scores are another matter, but before I give them out I need to know if the ‘range rules’ are in effect, Lady Maiha?” I look over at mama who nodded her head yes. This is going to be good. I know that I have the top stop. There is no way the others beat me out; I just have too much experience to have lost to my family. “Very well then here we go. First of all we have a tie for last place between the twins with a ninety-two percent kill rate, then comes the Lady Dai Etsu with a ninety-four point three kill rate, Lady Maiha at ninety-seven point seven, and finally Lady Fuyuko at ninety-seven point nine kill rate. Congratulations young Lady you just earned the ‘top shot’ for your family. Not bad, considering who you beat out for that.”

  To say I was shocked to say the least. I mean my little sister beat my score. Not by much but she did. Looking over the CSM’s shoulder I see where she had a better targeting solution on her individual targets than I did. Turning to look at her “Ok little sister, you want to tell me how you were getting a better targeting solution than me?”

  “I…I…I uh just… well um…” Fuyuko looked as if she was scared of me. I decide to reassure her that I was not mad at her or upset that she did better than me.

  “Fuyuko, honey. I’m not mad or upset with you. I just want to know how you did so much better than me with placing your shots is all.”

  “Well I just did what you told me to do. When we started our run in behind you I was scared I w
ould screw up so I just let Amy do the targeting for my weapons. So when she said shoot, I shot.” The blush that covered her face was so cute. So I just pulled her into a hug.

  “That was exactly what you should have done, little sister. What you did was the correct thing to do.” Smiling down at her face she could tell that I was proud of her. “Now that we know who is ‘top shot’ let’s go get some drinks in the ready room and celebrate. Come on Top you and the Sergeant Major can join us. Sorry Col.s and Major but this is a family affair and for the enlisted only.” I tell them with a smile on my face as I led my family inside the ready room.

  Upon entering the ready room a cheer went up for us for the House Troops and Bodyguard units that were there to watch our run. Before mama or my sisters can say a word I yell out at the top of my lungs. “Drinks for everyone I’m buying.” When mama gives a dirty look I just blush and say. “Mama, I know who should be buying, but not this time. Besides I’m not going to let these clowns think they can butter up my little sisters and get into their panties.”

  “Very well, Maiha I’ll let it go. Besides you know how to behave around the military better than I do.” She merely smiles at me.

  Turning back around I step over to a chair and climb up on it. With a load whistle I get their attention. “All right you mugs listen up! The drinks are on the Storm Dancers tonight, but listen up good. My sisters are all under age, so no hanky-panky. Got it? They are off limits if I find out otherwise you can guarantee you won’t need a cup afterwards.” When the laughs broke out at this I knew my sisters would be safe here. Going over to the bar I told the young woman tending bar to send a round of soft drinks over my family’s table along with a glass of wine for mama and whatever the two Senior NCOs were drinking.

  I watched as 1st Sergeant Bailey struck up a conversation with the CSM. I smiled to myself as I watch mama act like a young woman of twenty-four being courted by a pair of randy old bucks out to claim a young doe. She had them wrapped around her little finger in a matter of minutes.

  “Can I get you a drink Lady Maiha?” turning around I’m surprised to see Alice standing there with a smile on her face and in her normal uniform. Now I must say if there is one thing I have always found attractive is a woman in uniform.

  “Um… mama would it be alright if we had dinner here at the club tonight instead of back at the house?” I ask mama before I make any type of commitment to Alice.

  When she looked over at me, then my sisters, I could tell she was going to say yes. “Go on have some fun Maiha. I think that we can all use this time to relax and let our hair down for tonight.” Turning to my younger sisters she said. “Now hear me out you three. You are still too young for sleeping around, but if you find a young man or woman who finds your fancy have them come see me or the 1st Sergeant here before you go anywhere understand?”

  Their smiles said it all as they all said ‘yes ma’am’ and scampered off to have some fun. I got up and headed off to be with Alice and have a few beers out of mama’s watchful eye.

  Chapter 14

  Engagement’s

  It’s been a long time since I tried on a good old fashioned drunk with the troops. The pounding head ache that I have upon waking up lets me know in no uncertain terms I over did it last night. That and the fact that I don’t recognize where I am. Rolling over I almost puke my guts up. I haven’t felt like this in a long time, not since I was young private just out of training. The room I’m in is rather dark so I reach over and turn on the light on the bedside table. After letting my eyes adjust to the light I realize that I’m not alone in bed. Pulling back the covers I see naked breast belonging to a much disheveled Alice. From the looks of things we had one hell of a night. Deciding on the better part of valor I quietly got up and used her shower to try and get rid of the hangover.

  About half way through my shower I’m joined by Alice. “Good morning lover. How did you sleep last night?” she asked me.

  Smiling, I tell her. “Very well, thank you. What time did we come back to your place?”

  “Oh, I think it was around four in the morning. Why? Don’t you remember?” blushing I shake my head no. when she sees this, she just starts to giggle. “Honey, you were definitely wasted last night. It took you three tries to get your armor to disengage. For a while there I thought you were going to sleep in it, but you finally got it to disengage. After that I just put you to bed and curled up with you and went to sleep.”

  “Damn, I’m sorry love. How many drinks did I have last night; do you know?”

  “I believe you had something like five beers maybe. You must not have done a lot of drinking in the past. Because I’ll tell you this much girlfriend you are a real light weight. I’ve never seen someone get drunk on only three beers. I was a little surprised that you made it to five really. Even then it took you all night to drink those.”

  “Did I make a fool of myself?”

  “Why are you worried about what your family might say?”

  “NO!” Shit I shouldn’t have yelled. It only started my head hurting again. I see Alice cringe away from me. I quickly apologize. “I’m sorry, Alice. I didn’t mean to yell at you. It’s just that, well I don’t ever want to be an embarrassment to my family. I don’t want to be one of those High Families social butterflies that do nothing, but make asses of themselves in the media. You know the ones I’m talking about.”

  Brushing my hair out of my face and giving me a kiss on the mouth she pulls back enough to look me in the eyes. “Yes love, I know the ones you’re talking about, and no you didn’t make a fool of yourself. If there is one thing I can say without a doubt it is that the women of the Nakatoma Family are nothing but ladies at all times. You all may get a little rowdy but you never let yourselves get out of hand. I think it is the influence of your mama that keeps you all acting like real Ladies. Not like those fake ones you see in the media all the time.”

  “Thank you, love. You don’t know how much that means to me. I may raise hell on the battle field and the training range behaving in an unladylike manner, but I don’t ever want to be accused of unladylike behavior elsewhere. I owe that to people who mean a great deal to me.”

  “Don’t worry, love. If I ever see you start to behave in an unladylike manner I’ll let you know.”

  “Well, don’t go thinking that you can get away with unladylike behavior. If I know mama she’s already thinking about moving you into my rooms and turning you into a lady.”

  “Just what does that mean? We’ve only had two dates and you can’t even really call them dates.”

  “Have you seen the way that she looks at you? I know that LOOK all too well. It’s the one a mother has when seeing a potential mate for her daughter.”

  “Are you kidding me?!”

  “Nope. I’m dead serious about this. Mama is looking at you and me tying the knot in a big way.”

  “Whoa, wait a minute here. How can we get married? We’re two women. We can’t get married.”

  “Wrong dear. Same sex marriage is legal on Hades. Didn’t you know that?”

  “Um… To tell you the truth. No I didn’t. I mean I’ve seen a lot of lesbian couples but I never thought about them being married.”

  “Trust me, love. I have thought about that a lot over the past few days. I also found out why there is such an imbalance in the population. Did you know that by Empirical law anyone who is born a hermaphrodite is classified a female? This also applies to those who are born intersexed. One of the crazy things about the Death Gates system is the radiation from the jump gate. For over four hundred years the population has been bombarded by it on constant basis. What that means is that they have mutated just a little bit. Each year more and more hermaphrodites and intersexed children have been born. When you add in the number of boarding schools for girls here you wind up with what we now have.”

  “Holy shit! You mean to say that almost all of the ‘girls’ on this planet that are born here are really boys?”

  “No, jus
t that there are more hermaphrodites and intersexed children than regular children here in the Death Gates system.”

  “Man, talk about getting a kick in the head for a wakeup call. So that’s why same sex marriage is legal here. If most of the population is classified as female by law then they have to let people be people.”

  “You got it, love. Now where does this leave us you ask? Well if I know mama, and I’m pretty sure I do, after we get out the shower and dressed I bet we find an invitation for you to join us for breakfast. So I suggest that you put on your best dress uniform, the barest amount of makeup that you can, and your best dress heels.”

  “But I have duty today. I just can’t walk away from that.”

  “You let me worry about that, ok. Besides if I know mama she has already talked to Top Bailey about that, especially if she saw us leave together last night.”

  “Ah oh! I know she did. In fact she had this very small smile on her face.”

  “Were we the only ones to leave together?” now I was really worried because if anyone left with my sisters they were in for a rude awakening.

  “No. In fact your mama sent for their maids at around ten-thirty to take them back to the main house and to bed. I must say that they were more than a little drunk when they left.” She tells me with a sly look in her eyes.

  “Thank the Goddess for small favors.” I sigh. “Wait a minute did you say they were drunk?”

  “Yes, I did. In fact I would say that they were wasted. On only three beers too.” She said this was if it was almost planned. Looking at her I realize that it was.

  “Alright, who did you pay to get my sisters drunk?” I accused.

  Giggling she looks at me. “No one. It was your mama who got them the beers and the Sergeant Major and 1st Sergeant that made sure they weren’t bothered. It was like the three of them were trying to get them and you out of the way for the night.”

  “If that is the case then you can bet that your duty has been handed off to someone else and we are expected to have breakfast with mama and my sisters.”