by SK Benton
"Jennie! Jennie! Can we go over there?" the little girl squealed after spying a colorful cotton candy stand on a sidewalk.
Quickly getting a panicked look on her face, Jennie whispered, "Lili, shhhhh… we don't want anyone to hear us."
"Oh my dear girl," exclaimed Draagh in quite a loud voice, "we are quite inaudible. I have made certain of that."
Jennie was instantly relieved, while Liliana gave her a silly little grin that seemed to say she already knew that they would not be heard.
They then crossed the main square and entered onto a moving sidewalk, where Liliana acted as if she were running in slow motion, taking delight in her effortless velocity. Jennie took the girls hand, attempting to keep her with them and started pointing out various buildings and statues that made up the impressive city center. Even though she was on the planet of her birth, she felt that something was missing, and it wasn't Max; they had never been together on Azul. It was that she couldn't smell anything - at all. She was devoid of all of her lycan gifts, and was a mere mortal woman - fragile and without even the ability to quickly self-heal. She looked at Liliana, and noticed that the girl was trying to sniff the air also.
"Jennie, it… smells different here. It is like there is no scent at all," said the little lycan child.
"Yeah sweetie - well, the thing is that here we can't smell things the same. Here we are… we're pretending to be normals!"
Liliana smiled brightly and clapped her hands in delight. Even though she had grown a few centimeters in the past few months, she was still very much a little girl and retained all of the mannerisms of a child her age.
Draagh grinned, finding Jennie's explanation of their lack of lycan skills to be quite creative, as well as appropriate. Moving on along the sidewalk, Liliana asked various questions, such as why people were not wearing battle leathers, why no one had a sword and why there were no castles. Jennie gave vague answers to the girl's questions, figuring that one day she would understand it all, especially as she had intended for them to live on Azul once the Vrol had been defeated.
"Well, my dear girls. Would you both like to see the ocean? I understand it is quite lovely this time of year, quite lovely," offered the old mage who, if he had been seen, would have caused all sorts of commotion, being dressed like an aged Viking warrior with a massive sword strapped to his back.
"Ocean? Oh yes, please! I have never seen an ocean, Grandfather," squealed the young girl, while wearing a face of delighted expectation.
Jennie simply nodded and smiled, regretting never having taken Liliana to a nearby ocean before Max had gone missing. He was quite adept at 3D slips and could have transported them to the Caribbean Sea for a holiday. But they were always so busy with battle training, schooling for Liliana and then, preparations for their wedding (which sadly did not take place), that an exotic vacation never materialized.
Draagh brought the girls in close, and with a tap of his staff on the moving platform, shot them off to a not-so-distant ocean that sparkled like nothing Liliana had ever seen before.
"May I go to the water, please?" begged the little girl.
"Yes sweetie, but don't get wet. Just stay near the water's edge."
Liliana bolted towards the shoreline, where gentle, but small waves pelted the sand. Looking out, Jennie had never really noticed how beautiful the water was. The color was a light, nearly glowing translucent blue with touches of green. Never having seen the Caribbean Sea before, she had no idea that the oceans of Azul made those of Earth look like endless, dark and dirty masses of water; such was the contrast between the two worlds. Such oceans were the inspiration for the naming of her world - Azul, which was Castilian for blue.
As Liliana ran back and forth along the shoreline while waving her useless wand in the air (and pretending to be a normal), Jennie and Draagh took seats on the crystalized white sands of the beach. Looking out over the expanse of the ocean, they sat and watched the young girl enjoy herself, and then suddenly jump in the water.
"Bleh! Jennie! The water has a terrible flavor!" the young lycan bellowed as she lurched out of the moderate surf.
"Oh honey, it's salt water. It's supposed to taste that way, and it's not for drinking! Besides, I asked you not to get wet, you silly," called out Jennie, wearing a slight grin, knowing all along that Draagh could perform a cantus to dry the little girl off within a microsecond.
Liliana got a look on her face, reminiscent of whenever she was thinking hard.
"But why would someone put salt in the water, Jennie? Salt is for curing meats!"
Both Jennie and Draagh laughed out loud, as Liliana turned and dove into the water, but taking care not to swallow any more of the brackish liquid. Jennie and Max had taught Liliana to swim some months before, using a large, fresh-water lake near the castle. Needless to say, the girl took to the water like a fish, even though her secondary genetic qualities more resembled those of a wolf.
"We should be going soon," said Draagh, "our dear friend Luigi shall be quite glad to be in our company."
"So, how are we going to do this? Where will we take him? To Earth, and leave him with the ship?
"Why no, my dear - not at all. We shall take him to Krynos' castle. Do you not remember that he is also lycan? He has much to learn, and will need to practice his skills in order to assist in the fight against the Vrol. Plus, I would never want to leave someone alone on that desolate world with no companions."
Jennie thought for a moment, and found Draagh's logic to be of sound reasoning, but then asked another question.
"So, you said that you would change us somehow, in the future, so that we would retain our skills on this world. If you do that will we lose our abilities back home?"
Draagh raised his eyebrows at Jennie's mention of the word home. By the way she was speaking it appeared she had actually come to consider the Rhönen Dominion as her permanent place of residence. Although much more detailed and complex, he resolved to make whomever was to reside on both worlds multi-frequency compatible - that is, to make it so they would be able to slip between worlds, while retaining their skills and abilities. As it was, he had approximately four years to prepare - much more time than was needed.
"Jennie, when all is said and done, you will be able to live wherever you choose, and live out your very long eternity with your husband and daughter. This much I promise you. Now, with that being said, shall we aid in the release of a certain Luigi Bagatelle?"
Jennie smirked and said, "Sure. Boy, I can't wait till he sees us. This should be fun."
The two stood up and called Liliana back, which took about five more minutes to happen, as she was a child with a sense of urgency that was very singular. Finally returning to her mother and great-grandfather, albeit with some reservation, she was instantly dried of and cleaned up by Draagh, who then gathered the two close and set his great staff on the white sands of New Bondi Beach, causing them to disappear with a slight popping sound.
###
Former Rear Admiral Luigi Bagatelle was in his kitchen, preparing some jraxon eggs and coffee, while wearing nothing but regulation undergarments, when he heard a small popping sound come from his living room. He had been strictly relegated to his home during the prior few months, having been betrayed by Councilman Johnson and an apparently weak-minded Azul Security Council.
Leaving the kitchen to investigate the odd sound while carrying his plate of eggs and cup of coffee in his hands, he entered the small room, only to drop his plate and cup on the floor in a state of near shock (with the mess quickly cleaned up by a little drone that scooted out from behind a nearby cabinet). He saw three people sitting on his couch, two he already knew - one quite well, the other not so much, and a small girl who had a beaming smile on her face.
"W-w-what… hello?" stammered the senior officer, forgetting he was in boxer shorts and a tank top. The other difference in appearance between that moment and the last time they had seen each other was that he had not shaved for the past few month
s and was sporting a thick, well-groomed beard.
"Luigi! Luigi!" yelped the little girl on the couch, still maintaining a huge smile.
Bagatelle looked at the girl with astonishment, not able to piece everything together instantaneously, but he regrouped and took a deep breath.
"Hello Jennie… Draagh…little girl…" he said calmly, "I can't say I'm not happy to see you both, but who is… she?"
"Hello Admiral. This is Liliana - my daughter."
Bagatelle's eyes grew wide in surprise as he appraised the young girl sitting to his former lieutenant's side.
"Daughter? How? Huh?"
All three sitting on the couch started to laugh, causing Bagatelle to grow a look of frustration. He was a man who was not accustomed to being laughed at.
"Luigi, my dear friend. Greetings! You appear well, and I must say your facial hair does give you a certain look befitting a man of your stature," exclaimed Draagh.
"Um, thanks. And Jennie, how do you have a daughter?"
Bagatelle walked over and took a seat on a chair, having sufficiently recovered from the shock of having three individuals from another planet (well, two at least) suddenly appear in what was, for lack of a better term, his prison cell.
"Admiral, this is my adopted daughter, Liliana. She was an orphan where we live, and Max and I decided to - "
"Max? Gunnarsson? What? You two?" interrupted Bagatelle, his face returning to its shocked expression.
Jennie got a warm smile on her face and continued.
"Yes, Max and I. We are… married. He really turned out to be an awesome man. Anyway, we fell in love over time and things just kinda worked out the way they did. And Liliana was a blessing. She is also lycan, like us, and…"
"And a very powerful mage, I might add," Draagh added, interrupting the beautiful woman sitting at his side. "Little Liliana is my student, and has become most adept in the use of magical skills.
Liliana gave the admiral a big smile and waved her index finger around, much like Draagh would do whenever he was making something mischievous or silly happen.
"So, this is all real then. Everything you told me is real, and to think, I thought it was a bunch of crap until you somehow got me to my transport the day you left…I had no choice but to stick to the data you had given me … but it all blew up in my face."
Draagh and Jennie nodded their heads as Liliana stood and politely curtseyed to the admiral.
"Sir, I am Liliana Gunnarsson. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance," she said, causing Bagatelle to grin awkwardly.
"Liliana, it is a pleasure to meet you too. You are a very pretty girl, and have a remarkable resemblance to your mother," responded Bagatelle as she smiled sweetly and took a seat next to her mother. Then, looking over to Jennie, he said, "Well, I assume you are here to help, am I correct? That bastard Johnson has locked me away here, but I have some outside agents. They ran a hardline under the ground so I can at least get some communications and…"
"Oh my dear friend," said Draagh, stopping the admiral from continuing, "we are not here to assist with any such efforts. No, no, no. Those shall play out by themselves all to good fortune, but we are here to help release you from this dungeon most vile."
Bagatelle looked around the room, and didn't notice anything vile about it. However, he did want to get out of the house. But then his face suddenly grew an alarmed expression.
"Oh sharga - the feds have surveillance on this house. You're going to be discovered. Quick, you have to leave."
Draagh chuckled and shook his head knowingly.
"Oh no, my dear Luigi. I have taken care of that. All that your minders will see is you making breakfast. It is quite easy to manage a vid and audio feed, I must say."
Bagatelle looked relieved, and hoped that the old man was right. He saw that Jennie was chomping at the bit to say something, when she chimed in and said, "Admiral, why don't you start - please tell us what the hell happened and why you're a prisoner in your own home."
Bagatelle then began from when they last saw each other. They had spent a week searching for Lt. Johnson, and after failing to locate him, listed him as missing in action. Bagatelle had done everything he could to redirect search parties away from Machu Picchu with great success, thus preventing anyone from discovering Max's ship, even though it was immune to detection, thanks to Draagh's cantus. He then ordered the Revolution to return to Azul, but not before making a couple of detours in star systems on the way. They found nothing but lifeless, rocky planetoids in the first system, but in the second one they encountered a sapient, pre-industrialized society on a moon orbiting a gas giant. The population consisted of odd, four-legged, two-armed creatures with two vertical mouths on their foreheads (actually, where a forehead would be on a human) and eyes that sat atop protruding tentacles. As they had no way of detecting the Revolution, Bagatelle sent down a recon team which took numerous vids of the creatures in a small village - vids that Johnson would later claim had been fabricated, along with the evidence that Draagh had provided.
He then detailed the rest of the tragic story, with him being framed for supposedly falsifying all evidence of the Vrol invasion, and was then placed under house arrest. He also told Jennie that he had reported her missing in action, and Max most probably dead, and that there was no evidence of him ever having reached Earth. Unfortunately, Johnson didn't believe him, and kept the two on surveillance alerts system-wide.
"Hmmm, sad, quite sad, I must say," stated the kindly looking, but very Viking-like Primulus seated in the admiral's living room. "It appears that you discovered the K'Long'nesh. Peaceful creatures they are, though destined never to discover the wonders of traveling through the stars. I enjoy watching them, however. Their little octagonal huts with thatched roofs, and their penchant for standing upon one another's head. Is it not comical how they go about moving much like crabs?"
Bagatelle nodded his head, coming to realize more and more that Draagh wasn't a hallucination. No one could have given a description of that species so precise without having previously witnessed them. As he had basically finished with his tale, he then asked Jennie to report on her travels.
"Well, sir," she began, only to have Bagatelle put up his hand and stop her.
"Jennie, do you remember when I told you - that if you returned safely I would give you something else to call me?"
"Yes sir."
"Well, as I am no longer your commanding officer - you can call me G."
"G? As in gee whiz?" asked the pretty lieutenant.
"Yes, just like that. It was my nickname when I went through the academy. The same academy where I found you."
"You… found me? What do you mean?"
"Jennie, just finish your report… no, your story, and then I'll fill you in."
Jennie shrugged her shoulders and prepared to start her story. Bagatelle looked at the impressive woman, noting that she appeared stronger than before, even though she was very formidable while serving under his command. He also thought that her leather clothing suited her well. He had a good feeling about how things had worked out for her, and was ready to reveal a secret that he had kept for quite a while - one that would change her life.
"Well sir, I mean… G - when we left you we went to Earth of the future, to the 43rd century. But it was completely repaired and everything - I mean, it was beautiful. It is beautiful. Anyway, in that world things changed. I could smell things I could never smell before, I could hear better, see better and I was faster, stronger and would heal almost instantly if cut. Bruises took a bit longer because I guess the salubots don't view them as a critical repair."
"Salu… bots?" asked Bagatelle.
"Um, yeah. Look, there's a lot to learn over there, and things are really different. But staying on track please let me finish. Now when we slipped over to Earth of the future, Lt. Johnson's Draeder entered into our sphere of influence at the same exact moment that we left. He was taken with us, so -"
"Johnson is with you? Do
you have him in custody? We could bring him back and -"
"He's dead, sir… G. I killed him," she responded completely without emotion.
"But… why? You know that we aren't supposed to simply kill the accused. They are entitled to a fair trial and proper representation."
Jennie interrupted immediately and said, with no small amount of sarcasm, "Oh gee, G, and I am assuming you've been treated fairly? Love the accommodations here. Do they also provide room service? How about in-house massages?"
Draagh held up his hand as if to stop Bagatelle and Jennie both, but not actually performing a cantus to make it happen. Still, he got his message across.
"My dear Luigi - it is with the utmost regret that I must inform you that Ryder Johnson was not only a vampire, but also that he converted to his natural self upon arrival, much like young Max and Jennie did, but in quite a different, and putrid, fashion. Vampires are evil to their very cores, and through some luck on his part, he joined forces with a particularly ruthless vampire king by the name of Vladros, who amassed his forces and attacked our friends and allies in the Rhönen Dominion. But I must say that Jennie defeated the young lieutenant in hand-to-hand combat and emerged most victorious! Yes! It was quite spectacular, from what I have been told."
Bagatelle gave Jennie a look of disbelief and said, "You beat Johnson in hand-to-hand combat? What were you using - a baseball bat?"
"No, a metal gauntlet," replied the young lieutenant.
"Interesting… ok, please continue."
Jennie took a deep breath and went on with her story after putting her arm around her daughter seated at her side.