The Sixth Line of Defense

by Shiva Winters

  * * *

  It was not until many hours into the trip that Shiva started to get the feeling that there was more going on than a simple vacation. Informed of this fact by off-handed remark that Devin was due to arrive around the same time as them, she grew slowly into a deep suspicion something wasn't right. And for as excited as Vala seemed to be about seeing her family after so many months, there had been a rarely seen touch of darkness in her eyes as if Shiva hadn't been told everything. As time flowed by and the more she thought about it the stranger and potentially more frightening those thoughts had become. Since Shiva had avoided telling Vala about the other people she had left behind when she had been removed from the base that had been the only home she knew, it hadn't really seemed all that odd that Vala acted as if she had avoided saying certain things about her family during the many stories she had shared. At the time Shiva had just assumed that it had been little things, the kinds of secrets that she assumed most families had, of events that might be embarrassing to her or someone she was close to or them. But with very little to do, and only so much to talk about her mind seemed to hone in all those little hesitations and the times when Vala's stories had seemed to jump around or skip over certain sections.

  While the strange things seemed to add up rather quickly it was not until much later than she truly felt ready to call it a conspiracy and decide to seek out answers. Since their course had to avoid military bases and tracking stations that might pick up the subtle signal that was meant to keep tabs on Shiva in case she was in trouble or causing it, they were pretty much sticking to roads that traveled through the middle of nowhere. Ceasa had driven much of that first leg and was now sleeping in the front seat with a mildly annoying soft snore. Vala had sort of just drifted away next to her, propped up by pillows and tucked under blankets. The road was smooth and even, and the darkness out past the headlights wasn't being chased away by many other vehicles or the distant splotches of towns or cities. Deciding she couldn't stay silent, Shiva gave up on sleep for the moment and slipped out of Vala's arm to half lean through the lowered partition of the privacy window.

  "Can't sleep?" Gregor pitched his voice to avoid a tell-tale rumble and whispered to avoid waking anyone up.

  "Gregor.. tell me what's really going on here." Shiva whispered back to him. "If Devin really wanted to meet Vala's parents, why didn't he come instead of sending you and Ceasa? Why would he come separate, we both know that the budget is tight, why waste the money?" By no means empathic like Vala it was nevertheless easy for her to sense a sudden loaded heaviness in the air as Gregor remained silent for a very long time. That if anything only worried Shiva more as if proving her sense of 'wrongness' was entirely correct, but had severely underestimated the true diabolical cause of those feelings. "We.. aren't going to meet Vala's parents are we.. I am going to get put back into a freezer aren't I? Vala just came along so I wouldn't hurt anyone.." Shiva whispered as her mind instantly leapt to the worst of the worse case scenarios.

  "No!" He barked sharply at her as he head snapped around to look deep into her eyes. "Don't even think such a thing! If.. it was that.." His eyes turned back to the road and his rumble returned even as Ceasa stirred just a little in his sleep. ".. believe me, if it was that I would be taking you to the spaceport to put you two on the first unregistered flight off to parts unknown."

  "Than.. what is it.." Shiva whispered back to him touched by his promise but unable to rid herself of her uneasy feelings.

  "Ms. Lunara.. she is a good, and strong woman, Shiva." He murmured seeming to avoid the heart of the matter. "You did well in earning her trust and capturing her heart, and I am proud to having played some small role in helping you along your path now that I have seen you as you were this afternoon. That woman back there loves you with all her heart and is willing to stand next to you no matter what comes. And she is also willing to do whatever is needed to insure that you both can be happy and together." He looked back into her eyes again. "Don't ever give that up."

  "I don't ever want to be without her.." Shiva whispered back to him.

  "I shouldn't even be talking to you like this." He informed her softly as he looked back towards the dark stretch of road. "My orders were to keep you both happy and deliver you to Ms. Lunara's home exactly on time. I can not tell you why things are being done this way, but... I will tell you for your sake.." His eyes met hers again, looking deep into them so that she knew he was only telling her the truth. ".. the Lieutenant wants you to react honestly when we get there."

  "Yes, Gregor.. thank you." Shiva agreed knowing that was all she was going to get from him.

  "Now, be a good girl and get some sleep." He murmured back to her. Almost as if she reinforcing that order Vala stirred from her dreams to whisper her name softly and Shiva had little choice but curl up again in Vala's warm embrace, but it was still a long time before her mind settled and she was able to ease her way into sleep.

  The appointed hour for their arrival had begun and they were winding their way through the streets of a steeply sloped town. Without having achieved more than a few scant hours of sleep the night before as she worried about Vala's imminent departure Shiva had slept well into the morning and nearly into the hours of the afternoon. They had stopped at a fast food restaurant for lunch and to give Vala and Shiva a chance to make themselves look presentable before they had moved on. Even if Shiva had been aware of the near exact timing of their appointed arrival, and Gregor's orders to insure that deadline was met, she would have known they were getting close by the slowly rising tension in Vala's body. Even though it was hours more before the sun would set, it was nearly dark enough to be night time as they moved through the streets as it was heavily overcast and a thick powdery snow was falling across everything. Shiva could tell by the rise and fall in Vala's tensed state that they were avoiding a direct route and stalling just a little to waste a few minutes as they slowly rose up the hillside towards the peak of the town. The partition had been raised so Shiva couldn't hear the directions Gregor gave Ceasa and she was unable to gather any more clues about what was happening. But as the time grew much closer Vala's tension reached its' peak as they made a turn into a walled and gated home in among many huge and beautiful homes that lined the wealthy street.

  The conversation on the security system went unheard but they passed through the front gates after only a moment or two to wind their way up the long snow covered drive way. With the rapidly falling snow to obscure the gardens in a white cold blanket and obscuring the distant reaches of what was out there, Shiva was further denied any inking of an answer or clue. However when at long last they reached the large arched portico of the grand front entrance to the truly massive building, Shiva knew all at once that the heavily bundled up men that stood at either side of the large metal and glass front doors were heavily armed and high dangerous. If she hadn't been in a state of high alert before she had seen that, this tense state would have been automatically corrected as Vala drew her out of the backseat with a firm grip on her hand. The front doors were opened at their approach and they entered the short hallway that lead to another pair of wood and glass doors. As those first doors were closed behind them, Shiva caught just a murmur of sound from behind them the crunching noise of snow being driven under by another set of tires.

  "Mom, Dad, we're home!" Months of being together gave Shiva the insight she needed to hear the tension in that seeming calm call. The sound of quick heavy footsteps seemed to herald what would follow as a figure emerged from a nearby doorway, looking mildly dressed down in a sweater, slacks, and slippers. He had graying hair and distinguished face and held himself straight and dignified as any good soldier would, clutching a pipe in the side of his mouth and a pair of reading glass perched on the tip of his nose, many would have called him handsome. All at once Shiva knew what she had not been told, she knew what had been planned, and as his eyes meet hers she knew without qu
estion that he knew her just as well as she knew him. It was a subtle gesture, marked by his falling expression and the knowledge of what would soon follow as his hand slipped inside his pants pocket.

  The alarms made Vala's whole body jerk as Shiva's anger surged up ready and willing to protect both of them as her girlfriend yanked her closer and snapped her arms tightly around Shiva's body protectively. With pounding steps and the snapping sounds of weapons being armed they merged on the entrance chamber from four directions, pouring into the small space and bringing a mixture of rifles and hand guns to bare on the two of them. Two from behind, four from the left and right, four more from deeper within the house all converged in silence and homing in Shiva even with Vala protectively hunched around her. It would have been a small matter to have killed them all and be out of there were she alone and were this something other than what it was, a test.

  "Raymond?!" The frightened feminine voice came from the opposite direction than he had entered. The hurried lighter footsteps soon brought a beautiful older woman in behind the forward positions of armed men and she took in the scene with stunned horror. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?! Put those guns down, how dare you point them at my daughter!!" She demanded a second later as confusion was replaced with anger.

  "Vala step Away from Her Now." He ordered in a booming voice in the next heartbeat. Vala's arms only tightened around Shiva's body clutching her closer.

  "No." Vala murmured back to him pitching her voice just loud enough to be heard across the distance.

  "I SAID GET AWAY FROM HER!!!" He screamed slamming a fist into the wall with enough force to punch through the plaster.

  "AND I SAID, NO!!!" Vala screamed back, even as the alarms went silent around them.

  "Now, isn't this an interesting predicament, General." Devin's voice murmured from behind the two girls and just outside the ring of guards. To all ears he seemed cool, suave and completely calm and confident, as if he was picking up women in a bar and not addressing a room full of armed and angry people. "You see these men aren't even really a threat to little Shiva here, were they she would probably have killed all of them and you for so blithely summoning them into family business. Your little friends all said she was a deadly weapon the kind of which should never see the light of day, and you blithely went along with them. So let's ask ourselves.." He wandered into view calmly strolling along. ".. what's stopping her? It's not you, why the hell should she care about you, it's not them since to weapon they are a threat that must be eliminated, its' certainly not me.. as if I would even try to get in the middle of this. Its' certainly not your lovely wife, since what would a weapon care about civilian casualties.. perhaps its' Vala.. hmm there's a thought. Here's your loving daughter.. protecting a weapon.."

  "YOU SET THIS UP!!!" The General screamed at him crossing angrily into the line of fire.

  "YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT I DID!!" Devin screamed back at him giving the older larger man a shove.

  "STOP IT RIGHT NOW!!!!" Vala's mother proved louder and angrier than both of them combined. "RAYMOND, this is my House! And you don't tell them to put those blasted things away this instant, SO HELP ME... !!!" Shiva decided to make a point of her own and all conversation stopped at the single intense loud metallic 'pop' that seemed to come from all sides in the same instant. All eyes shifted around uncertainly for an eternally long second before the first crackle of sound echoed through the silence as something large and heavy struck the wooden floor. It was followed by another and then another, and then all at once a vast wave of sound that spread from all sides as every single weapon carried by the men around them fell into their basic component to scatter across the floor at their feet. Someone of them looked at the remnants in their hands before tossing the useless pieces away, only to reach for their service pistols simply to have those too fall apart into useless components. Shiva's hand slowly extended outward and slowly opened to send a fall of pins, screws, nuts and bolts scattered across the floor in front of her with a sound like falling rain in that stunned silence.

  "Now I am the only weapon here." Shiva whispered. Only Devin was able to recover enough to smile at her joke.

  "That's just it, General.. Vala's the only one here who could stop her from reeking havoc on a scale you could never have imagined. And were someone to do something stupid and Vala to get hurt.. there isn't a person within 10,000 miles who could stop her." Devin stated clearly and calmly gesturing at the two young woman with the file that had been tucked under his arm when he had entered the scene. "That little demonstration isn't even a kiddie exercise to her.."

  "HOW dare you endanger my daughter putting her in here with that Monster!!" The General yelled back him still more than ready to be angry.

  "SHE ISN'T A MONSTER!!!" Vala yelled back at him, proving herself to have a voice just as powerful as her mother's. "AND it WASN'T his idea, FATHER.. it was MINE." Vala told him display the kind of temper that would easily be on par with Shiva's own. "I wanted to bring my girlfriend home to meet my family.."

  "Vala.." Her mother whispered to her uncertainly.

  "So, yes, I brought Shiva here knowing exactly what she is." Vala informed them in no uncertain terms.

  "What?" Her mother asked having easily caught that strange turn of phrase.

  "You're all dismissed." The General muttered and within a few heartbeats there were only the five of them in that room.

  "She's part of Series 6, mother." Vala stated once they were gone. "BUT She isn't a Weapon!" She added again turning her anger on her father. "She's human.. no matter what else they did to her, She Will Always be Human." He actually seemed taken back by the anger in his daughter's voice.

  "Series 6?" Her mother demanded turning all at once on her husband to glare up at him angrily.

  "Just over two years ago, I sat on a tribunal in charge of determining the viability of reclamation program for Series 6 candidates." He murmured to her sounding as if those words were forced out of him by some unknown compulsion. "Shiva.. was one of the witness that were called in to testify.. after an incident."

  "Are you disappointed that Shiva simply hasn't disappeared back into a tube somewhere, General?" Devin growled back at him crossing the line over insubordination by some measure. The General's expression quickly grew hard with the anger that came boiling up.

  "How DARE you.." The General growled back at him like the pair of them were two stray dogs fighting over a piece of steak in some dark alley. "OUR decision was based on all the information available at that time.."

  "ONE that you Haven't Even Tried to Reconsider SINCE!" Devin yelled back jabbing the folder in his direction.

  "Gentlemen!" Vala's mother barked glaring both of them down.

  "That decision, forced us to bounce Shiva from bad situation to another, constantly putting her in the worst of circumstances. And every time she was forced to defend herself, they tried to use it as an excuse to simply shove her back into the freezer without even asking if there was a deeper problem. On top of that! Every time I tried to appeal to your office, or any other, you wouldn't even return my phone calls! So you see General, I will dare quite a lot right now, because this time you aren't staring at some piece of paper. Shiva is a living, breathing person we brought into this world, and that means we are Responsible for her well being. And I will No Longer stand idly by while she is marginalized, written off, and simply FORGOTTEN by you and your closed mind breed." Devin told him formally and officially, only just able to keep his voice below the level of actual yelling.

  "I don't have to listen to this.." The General growled turning away from him.

  "YES, you do, Father. If you don't hear us out, so help me, I'll turn around go right back through that door, and you'll be seeing us the evening news." Vala stated with force and certainty that left no one there doubting her threat was the real thing.

  "Vala.." Her mother whispered to her uncertain exasperation.

  "I love
her Mom, I love her so much that I wouldn't want to live another day without her." Vala told her and the General seemed to freeze as he stared into Shiva's eyes from across the distance.

  "Raymond.." Vala's mother whispered, this time her voice was pleading for him to listen.

  "You can't do that Vala." He ordered.

  "Not a person with 10,000 miles who could stop me." Shiva repeated with a darkness that echoed up through her, he wasn't the only who seemed to get a chill from that shadow. "I could have killed your guards, I can still kill you, I could take on an armored division, I could destroy a city, what makes you think I can't protect one young woman from anything you might send after us." The General's eyes grew distant and cold as the color in his face just seemed to drain away.

  "Do you love my daughter?" He asked after a very long time. Those were perhaps the very last words she had ever expected to come out of his mouth, the only question she would never have expected him to ask her. Almost at once she was breaking away her gaze as her throat closed up and her vision started to blur.

  "Shiva?" Devin called gently as he moved to duck down in front of them.

  "Why does he want to know?!" Shiva demanded of him in a choked voice. "Why should I tell him that?!" Half angry and half torn up inside, Shiva's stomach tied itself up in knots as her confused emotions started to pull at her from every direction. All Shiva wanted in that moment was for all of it to stop as she tried desperately to win back her control. "I.." That was about all that she could get out before her throat closed up completely and she turned away from the scene, absolutely refusing to let the General see her break down in tears twice. She tried run away but Vala caught her and pulled her in close as her shoulders started to shake silently.

  "I don't even think Shiva has the words to describe what I mean to her, and I feel the same way about her. I would do anything for her, and I know she would do anything for me." Vala whispered across the distance.

  "Why didn't you just tell me?" The General demanded of her his own voice sounding more than a little choked.

  "Would you even have listened?" Vala countered quickly and easily. "All Shiva did was walk in the door and you were calling for the guards and ready to have her executed on the spot." The General didn't quite have the ability to counter that accusation and his mouth moved to form words but there were no sounds to accompany the expressions.

  "I think our daughter makes a pretty good point." Vala's mother murmured darkly up to him before she moved to close the distance just a little. "Lieutenant, would you like to come inside and have something to drink?"

  "Please." He agreed from where he was rubbing Shiva's shoulders. "Come on sweety let's get you something to settle your stomach." Even though Shiva shook her head and tried to cling to Vala's presence the two of them managed to extract her from Vala's arms and transfer her over into his keeping. The only good part in Shiva's thinking was that she was soon being carried out of sight. As they moved away all the broken components scattered across the floor were swept across the floor to load up into a passing trashcan.

  "She is a sweety, isn't she." Vala's mother teased gently.

  "She has been since she found Vala." Devin informed her rubbing Shiva's back as she slowly started to calm down.

  "So what's that you have been brandishing about like a holy weapon?" She asked him as they entered a small shadowy room filled with books and warm comfortable furniture where they settled in the sitting area near the glow of a fire place. Now calm, but not exactly ready to face anyone Shiva was tucked against Devin's side where she more or less hide as the tea was prepared and poured.

  "Well.. its' an unofficial research project compiled and produced by a small group of people who were part of the Series 3 projects." Devin informed her as he hooked an arm around Shiva and tried his best to coax her back from the edge.

  "Oh, Who?!" Enticed by the fact that her first question would not have been what she would have asked, Shiva turned her head to focus on the older woman rather than the folder that was being passed between them. She quickly noticed the attention and gave Shiva a bright gentle smile.

  "Are you.." Shiva caught herself asking a rude question, shook her head, and quickly withdrew the inquiry.

  "It's all right.. go ahead." She encouraged gently.

  "It was a rude question.." Shiva whispered back to her. "Devin, did you know Vala's mother before today?" Devin laughed down at her while she laughed across the distance. Devin kissed Shiva's temple and hugged her in close.

  "Well that's one way of not invading someone's privacy." She agreed with a warm hearted chuckle.

  "Yes, sweety, Rei and are old friends." Devin informed her before turning back to the previous conversation. "Seila actually started the ball rolling on that.. apparently Vala had questions about how intensely she took to Shiva during the couple days after their first meeting. And this lead Seila and some of the others to learn as much about Series 6 as they could. It seems that some people.." He half growled those words.

  "Devin." She growled at him warningly.

  ".. have been operating under the assumption that Series 6 had been given much the same military conditioning as Series 4 and 5." Devin murmured keeping his tone light and his words polite. "We're this true.. well.."

  "We'd all be dead. No offense, sweety." Rei added with a sad gentle smile for Shiva.

  "None taken." Shiva agreed as some portion of a good mood seemed to drift back in.

  "Is that all the misinformation or just the tip of the iceberg?" She asked Devin with scowl as if she already knew the answer.

  "Iceberg." Devin agreed in the same shadowy tones.

  "Only parts of the records concerning Series 6 can be recovered, much of it is still locked up and encrypted in the lab computers." The General murmured as he entered the room seemingly calm as he lead Vala inside. "Before I listen to any more of this, tell me when you first knew Vala was my daughter, Lieutenant."

  "A little more than two weeks ago when she asked me if there was anyway she could bring Shiva here during their break from school, because she refused to simply leave her alone during all that time, sir. She was the one who informed me of the relationship, and the fact that she had kept it from Shiva. Just in case Shiva had enough reason to hate the military which had created her and then abandoned her, sir." Devin murmured back to her as Vala slipped away from her father's side and claimed Shiva for her lap.

  "You were the one who told me to use mother's maiden name to protect me, father." Vala informed him calmly as she took another seat and pulled Shiva in close silently asking to be forgiven for the deception. "And I didn't know you knew anything about Shiva until Devin flinched hearing your name and I forced him to tell me why."

  "And how long have you been aware of this relationship?" The General growled seeming to be disappointed that he could not be mad about that.

  "Since the day after their first meeting, sir." Devin fired back at him, still ready for a fight.

  "And you didn't file a report." The General accused quickly.

  "Shiva isn't standard military issue, sir.. I feel no need to conduct an inventory of personal life unless my intervention is required." Devin snapped back at him.

  "Boys.." Rei hissed warningly glaring at both of them and they both backed down quickly only too aware that the females in the room were dangerous ones. She sighed in the next moment and flipped to the next page in file and smiled at whatever she was seeing "Oh! These names, they sure do bring back so many memories." She added a moment later with a seemingly happy dance of laughter. "Seila must have called up everyone she knew to pry all of this through the red tape."

  "What's that Rei?" The General asked as his curiosity got the better of him.

  "Research that Devin brought here that some of our old friends have been working on." She told him as he moved to sit close to her. "Hmm.. a comparison between the cognitive abilities of Series 3 compared to Shiva's.
." She gave Shiva a bright smile.

  "That can't be right, can it?" He asked giving me a skeptical look.

  "Seila seems pretty certain of her findings. And the head of her math department seems convinced that with a few years of work, Shiva could advance theoretical science by 30 years or more." Devin murmured, and Shiva smiled at that pleased by the compliment for a man she adored for his dry witty sense of humor.

  "All right Lieutenant.." The General murmured with a deep sigh. "However much I might resent this.. my daughter has made it clear to me that I have let others convince me to simply ignore the situation. After the first incident she was involved in.. it was easier to believe the whole series was flawed.." He looked down into Shiva's eyes apologetically. "I intend to correct my mistakes, and I hope to have your support."

  "Of course, sir." Devin agreed quickly.

  "Here." Rei plopped the file down into her husband's lap. "I'll read the rest later, you boys should go talk."

  "Yes, dear." The General agreed mockingly. When he glanced around he caught Shiva's watching eyes and hesitated for just a moment. "For what it is worth, I am sorry." With that he heaved himself up and the two men left the room. With a sigh Rei watched them disappear before focusing on the two girls.

  "More than I expected from him.." Rei murmured softly as she regarded the pair curled up in front of her. "As for you Vala, that was dangerous, stupid, and possibly the cruelest things I have ever seen you do. But.. it was also the most adult thing I have ever seen you do."

  "I'm sorry, Mom.." Vala whispered softly back to her.

  "I wish you had told me.. I would have understood, your father and I were probably a lot like you two when we first met. Which would probably be a touch disturbing, if I thought about it too much." Shiva giggled back at Rei's wicked smirk. "But it took a lot of courage to stand up to him like you did."

  "I did it for both of us, Mom." Vala told her with a smile and a sigh as she brushed some of Shiva's hair away from her face. "Seila wants us to go to college next semester, or next fall.. and Devin's been so tangled up in red tape that Shiva might never get to go."

  "College.. already?" Rei asked with honest surprise.

  "Since the other students found out about me.. I haven't had much to do but study." Rei gave her a sad smile at that. "Well that is until Shiva showed up.." That was certainly a good reason for Shiva to sneak in a quick kiss.

  "You two certainly act the way we did back then." Rei chuckled over at them.

  "Does it ever go away?" Vala asked her with a gentle smile.

  "Not really.. it mellows a little and changes moods, but it's always been there for us." Rei caught Shiva watching her again and chuckled. "Well come here Shiva, let me get a look at you." Vala silently encouraged her across the distance and Rei caught her hands as she nervously approach and smiled as she looked Shiva over. "How old are you?"

  "82." Shiva replied smoothly, Rei smiled just a little brighter.

  "And the truth?" She asked gently.

  "We.. don't really know. After our embryo's proved viable we were either put into stasis for a time, or were incubated in accelerated growth chambers until we reached the toddler stage. My file only really said that I was created in 2056." Shiva told her softly, she made a curious noise and drew her down to settle in her lap. Too curious to really pass up the chance, Shiva brushed up her sleeve to see Rei's serial number, she giggled happily in the next moment. "Devin's your little brother.

  "Is he?" Shiva nodded eagerly back to her. "Hmm, I shall have to tease him about that.. Can I see yours?"

  "No.." She replied even as she pulled up her sleeve. Starting at her wrist and traveling up her forearm around her elbow was a beautifully rendered flowering vine with large purple flowers.

  "Did you have one?" Rei asked confused as she ran her fingers over the place where the tattoo should have been.

  "Still do.." A bit confused Rei smiled and shifted the focus of the conversation.

  "Well this is beautiful work, how far does it go?" Shiva didn't hesitate very long before she slipped out of her blouse to reveal the entire length of the vine as it wound all the way up her arm and up around her shoulder to drape over shoulder blade. "Seems a bit far to go just to cover up a bar code, sweetheart."

  "It would have been too obvious I was trying to hide one if there was just a huge flower on my arm." Shiva told her with amused smile.

  "This is true.." Rei agreed with an amused happy smile.

  "Oh.. I'm sorry!" The General murmured as the two men returned and were both instantly embarrassed by the scene.

  "It's all right Raymond!" Rei called to him with bright highly amused laughter. "Shiva was just showing me her tattoos."

  "Well some of them." Vala gave her a teasing smile to which Shiva giggled back at her, the rest were in places most people never got to see and only Vala had studied in detail.

  "For as much trouble as she almost got into over that vine, I don't blame her for showing it off." Devin chuckled as he entered the room. "She didn't exactly ask for approval when she had all that work done. So when a uppity captain decided to order some snap inspection it didn't go over too well. He grabs her arm to find her tattoo isn't there and he decides that was planing on running, and goes to call his boss so he can arrest her. That's when one of my men pulls out his scanner and she registers exactly as she suppose to. She had the artist use a special ink that reflects in a different wavelength of light than her genetic marker. If we had a UV light you could see it just fine."

  "Mmm.." The General agreed moving over to his desk to pull out an adjustable band-width light, sometimes used in conjunction with special inks and coded messages within the military. He moved towards them as he adjusted the frequency to the right bandwidths. With a flip the switch Devin turned out the room's soft lighting and the UV spectrum brought Shiva's bar code up to the surface making it black against the soft glow of purple.

  "It's so much longer.." Rei murmured as they could see that the black lines traveled nearly half around Shiva's small arm, nearly three times the length of the bar codes of any other series.

  "Group number, batch number, model number, skill set." Shiva murmured to them softly.

  "How do you know that?" The General asked instantly suspicious.

  "When you are locked up in a lab for 12 years, you'll do just about anything for entertainment." Shiva murmured calmly, the General looked away guiltily. He apologized a moment later, Shiva got redressed and everyone resettled around the room as more pleasant subjects were brought out to fill in the time it took to share a quiet tea time.

  "Vala, why don't you show Shiva around, make sure your room is ready for the two of you." Rei suggested after a quiet hour.

  "Properly translated, Vala take your girlfriend and go away for a while so we can talk about the two of you behind your backs." Shiva murmured over to her as Vala smiled at her wickedly as she slid to her feet, Vala giggled and nodded in agreement as the two of them slipped away.

  "I'm sor.." Vala whispered once they were out of ear shot.

  "It's all right.." Shiva interjected before she could get the words out. "You were trying to do what is best for the both of us, just don't ever do something like that again." Vala smiled warmly back at her.

  "Deal." She agreed as they wandered off into the house to put some distance between them and the adults.

  Things quieted down for just about a week after that, with the General spending his days finishing up some work related matters and gone for most hours of the day it seemed almost easy to avoid him except for during meals. When such times came it seemed a simple matter of keeping her mouth shut and her head down while everyone else talked around her. Shiva got to meet Vala's two elder brothers on separate occasions, both of them had quite a few years on their 'baby sister' and were all grown up and both had already graduated for college. It had been easy for her to decide that she liked both of them since t
hey had teased Vala, told her embarrassing stories about her girlfriend, and otherwise seemed to have inherited their mother's bright happy personality. Unfortunately neither of them had stayed for longer than a day, both having off-world business trips to attend for the different companies they worked for. It had been more than a little surprising to Shiva that she had been sorry to see them go since they had seemed to welcome her into the family eagerly. Developing strong feelings for Rei was even easier, as she wasn't there and gone within a day and seemed to adore Shiva almost on sight. She made it easy to like her a great deal as she did everything she could to erase the emotional scrapes and bruises that had resulted from their arrival. Even though she tried to encourage Shiva into getting to know the General a little better, it was hard for her to take that next step.

  Late at night, the house was quiet and everything seemed to be at peace, Vala had made it far too easy for Shiva to let her guard down as she wandered downstairs towards the kitchen for a well deserved late night snack for the both of them. With her senses still tingling with the slow to fade aftermath of that evening's activities and her thoughts still drifting in another world, she entered the kitchen not really thinking about much of anything beyond returning to that warm bed and soft sensual presence that was waiting for her there. She never imagined that a snack that late at night would be on anyone else's agenda much less for the General. Both of them dressed for bed and both of them looking like they recently had engaged in some vigorous activities, Shiva froze in the doorway when she found his eyes there to catch her's. Even after he looked away to focus on his hands as he created some artistic creation of food by the soft night light and in the illumination of the open refrigerator door, she couldn't get unstuck from her shocked frozen state. While Shiva tried to decide on a polite way to bring herself into a full on tactical retreat that would not be complete obvious his eyes glanced away, giving her just a little less of a reason to panic.

  "I don't bite." The General murmured, obviously trying to keep his tone light and teasing, but for Shiva who was feeling completely awkward and trapped by the situation the jest didn't score a direct hit. He made a slightly disappointed noise as he returned some few things to the refrigerator before looking over at her for a second time. "For as much time as you have apparently been spending with my wife and daughter, and for as much as my son's raved about you in their most recent communications, I have found myself surprised at how little I have seen of you this past week." He murmured across the distance as the refrigerator door was closed and the room became quite a bit darker. "Then again.. I don't think I could blame you for avoiding me.."

  "I haven't been avoiding you." Shiva stated back to him quickly trying and failing to refute that gentle accusation without flinching at those untruthful words. He snorted with a touch of amusement from across the room and gave her a long measuring look as he shook his head.

  "Lt. Hornton was right, you are a very bad liar." When Shiva met his eyes in surprise he gave her a ghost of a smile.

  "I.. I.. didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable.." She whispered back to him feeling even more awkward than even the moments just before that one.

  "Out of sight, out of mind?" He asked with a gentle chuckle to which Shiva nodded. "I decided that first night that if a Lieutenant was willing to risk a court-martial and possible jail time, and that my daughter was willing to not only willing to stand up to me but almost eager to become a fugitive over you, that the least I could do was really stop and listen. And I did.. and do you know what I learned?" Not quite able to meet his gaze Shiva shook her head silently. "However dangerous you could be.. you are still a little girl looking for your own small piece of happiness. And that I was being a closed mind fool content to simply cover my ears, close my eyes and forget that you and those like you ever existed. This is something that far too many have been far too content to do, for far too long." He murmured down to her as he gathered more items on the waiting tray. "Vala has been very unhappy for the last few years.." Surprised by that sudden shifting in the topic of discussion he smiled a touch sadly at Shiva's sharp upward look. ".. even before her classmates learned about her talents and her school life took such a sudden downward turn. Growing up gifted is probably quite a bit harder than simply waking up in a hospital room with strange voices in your head. I know this because I have watched my daughter and sons struggle to come to terms with the genetic legacy Rei and I forced on them without really thinking about what it might mean for them. For as much as she tried prove how strong she was by going back to that school after her secret got out, we both knew that she was very much unhappy." He sighed as he moved to take out two glasses from a nearby cabinet before he continued with slightly more competent words. "Any good parent wishes they could do more to make their children happy.. to do more to insure that they will grow up to have a good life.. to give them a better start on the path of life that they will one day have to walk alone without any help from the people who brought them into this world. Now I appreciate your consideration of my feelings, I really do, that if anything has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt how very much I misjudged you." He continued unabated as Shiva could only stare at him with blank uncertainty as to why he was saying this and unable to find any words to add to the conversation. "But this last week has given me the time to realize that when your little girl brings home someone who can make her completely happy in face of a world that might never understand her, than perhaps your little girl isn't quite so little anymore." He gave Shiva gentle smile that was filled with his silent gratitude. "If for no other reason than that, I feel more than a little appreciation towards you. Now the real question you and I are going to have to answer together is if there is anyway we keep our past from ruining the bright future that you and Vala have ahead of you."

  "Vala and I.." Half question, half echo Shiva was too stunned to even summon up the ability to consider anything like a real answer and found herself desperately wishing Vala was there to help her sort through her jumbled, tangled emotions.

  "She doesn't hate you, Daddy." Vala murmured almost as if summoned as she slipped into the room, Shiva was almost brought to tears with unspoken gratitude she felt in that moment as her savior seemed to appear at just the right second. "She just doesn't know how to approach you.. or really anyone for that matter. I suppose it's true enough that some people will never be deserving enough to get close to her, but I think I saw in the days of our first meeting that she was sent out here ill-equipped to deal with normal people." Vala added as she slid her arms around Shiva's shoulder and drew her back into a hug. "It isn't hard to guess that a laboratory was a pretty horrible place for learning social skills.." Shiva couldn't help but smile at that, and could just see the General relax at that sight. "Anyways.. we both thought you might need just a little bit of time to adjust to this.. sudden change."

  "Maybe I did.." He agreed as he poured two glass of juice. "It's going to be a fight to make things change, Shiva. But it is a fight worth the cost and it's fight I plan on finishing. It maybe a little late.."

  "There were a lot of people on that tribunal.." Shiva whispered back to at long last finding her voice.

  "I was just another face in the crowd?" He asked chuckling as he set the snack on a tray and moved across the dark space. Shiva nodded in return watching him with a slowly decreasing level of nervousness.

  "You two really do look good together." He murmured down to them as he slowly reached out to touch Shiva's cheek, surprised and pleased by that sudden approval Shiva's smile returned as she looked up into that gentle gaze. "Just promise me that you will always take care of my daughter."

  "You have my word, sir." He kissed both of their cheeks before slipping out of the room.