somewear in the sigmas KNF 7th konoe shidan fleet flagship KNF-Akamatsu Midships
*jimmy was tired no dog tired never had he seen such green Marines sure a few were allright but some of his officers dident deserve there ranks he was walking to his quarters when he felt a slight jab in his back it was a rivel marine captian and that was his katana*"foreign devil" growqeled the weilded of said blade"ryu dont do this it wont end well trust me"he said calmly not wanting to anger the Captian even though jim allways being prepared his light combat vest on along with his own blade* "you dishonored me infront of my men i should kil lyou its the samuris way!"*jiom spun slowly seing the captian was indeed angry at him for saveing his ship* "look just put that thing down ok ,i dont want to fight you...*he was cut off suddenly as ryu took his blade back and slashed at jom a mistake on his part as he was ready he took the mans arm and disarmed him takeing a promt punch in the jaw from him" you will die to my steel!"the now engraged captian glared as jm droped into a defencive stance keeping his oponentfrom his weapons*" Stand down captian! im seinor to you its a direct order dont make me hurt you...*jims sentence caught him another punch which he blocked8"STAND DOWN !NOW!*he barked now not takeing anymore crap or punches* "captian Sasamoto!"stand down*he now getting swung at again fought back with a swift kick in to the young and foolish captians ribs security had been alerted patterson stayed pourely defencive knowing the camras would be seeing this entire scuffel "captian sasamoto sta...*he was cut off" DIE GAIJIN DOG! the captian charged him with a knife jim again caught his hands and ended up causeing the weilder to stab himself non lethal but a farely good gash the captian was pinned agenst a bulkhead now stil lwith the knife in him with jiom holding him to it he yelled to a sargent"get me medical asap! and with that he waited soon after the guards and medical staff after checking jim out ands verify ing his story escourted him to his room there would be a breifing in the morning isabelle would not be pleased so he thought*.......................
Isabelle turned her eyes toward captain Kaito, her expression severe,
"Captain Kaito, while I understand I am only taisho of this fleet by interim, and am not officially part of this navy, I am now in charge, until we reach imperial space at least, of every soldiers and war machines of this fleet. This does include the life of this miserable -for I hold absolutely no compassion for such persons, trust me on this. However I am barely aware of any kusari military law, and executing him without a trial, even though we do have very convincing proofs, won't be enough. To me at least."
"But tai..."
Isabelle interrupted the man again, leaning forward. Maybe it was captain' Kaito' imagination, but her eyes turned from the warm cyan to a cold, icy blue...
"Captain Kaito. The other - and much more significant reason, why I am sparing his life. If an outsider like me gives the authorisation to end the life of one of your own people, will your men still obey me? Will the fleet still follow my command?"
Kaito remained silent and nodded once, seizing the gravity of the question. He then looked back at the woman, somewhat impressed,
"I understand, taisho Kaitlynn. I will take care of the matters as you order. Might I say, I've hardly seen any of my superior giving such a deep thinking at problems like you do."
"Thank you captain. Dismissed."
--
Isabelle didn't waited for the door of her office to slide shut to hug Jimmy. Not that it mattered much for the moment, there were no one in the corridor leading to her room, and beside, people around had a general idea that they were indeed, lovers. And didn't seemed to mind much about this.
They seemed more concerned about having a female (and an outsider!) taisho.
Well, it could have been worse, yes?
"You are alright?" Isabelle asked him, her eyes now back to the soft cyan, sparkling with youthful love.
"I'm so sorry for what hapenned... I have the captain locked away, but that's all I can do without making our situation even more unstable among these men..."
She chuckled slightly,
"we definitively looks like aliens to these men... they probably don't realise the feeling is reciprocal... their way of living, so different from what we are used to..."
She smiled more confidently, as she led her lover to a seat,
"though, I'm certain with enough time we will accept each others as human beings. And, the descendants of the Alliance. For the moment, we still have to gain their trust... which brings me to this."
She sat down in front of her computer as she tipped in commands. It took her some time to get used to an entirely japanese interface, but having lived nearly the third of her youth by interval in the home of a kusari taisho helped her much. She spoke the language without much accent, and could write decently enough (although, according to uncle Daite, she certainly lacked the "esthetism"... however letters are suposed to be physically attractive to the eye!).
"The captain under arrested seems to have been the captain per interim of the destroyer Ryujin, whose captain was killed in the last combat. It seems we are now completely out of qualified officers to command a ship... excluding us. Jimmy, you held command for both a gunboat and for a short amount of time, a battlecruiser. I trust you can take command of the Ryujin. I want the fleet at its maximal fighting capacity, and you are the best bet for the job, my love."
"I didn't told all the fleet what hapenned to you and captain Sasomoto. However, I thought the Ryujin' crew needed to know the facts. I've shown them the video, and captain Kaito seems confident. They saw your righteousness in the situation, and were impressed by how you handled the situation. You should be fine with these men, they already will have a certain respect for you at least. Now, just prove them you are a good ship commander. I trust you for this."
"If you do accept this task, you should be aware that we will probably run, again, in a corsair ambush soon enough. Maybe in the next 24 hours. It is unavoidable, from what I extracted from the prisonners. They seems to possess a base in the area and can launch massive amount of crafts. Those we defeated send out the words of a big prize -that is, us. They seems to have encircled a large area, spreading out their force on an immense scale and heading our way by diminishing their distance progressively, effectively closing the circle. I have targetted what I believe to be the weakest point of this trap, but no one can be certain of the exactitude of their affirmation, despite the use of truth serum. And I wont dare using it so soon on them again, this might prove too deadly to their body. We have no time, so I want you to prepare your men. Teach them everything you know of warfare. Learn from them about the destroyer, it has its own weakness but many advantages our libertonian ships never had. You'll have to adapt within a day to all this... and hopefully, we'll be able to break out of this trap and return home alive..."
somewear in the sigmas KNF 7th konoe shidan fleet Destroyer KNF-Ryujin Command Deck
run it again*jim barked at the helsman who again failed a simple manover called an L-4 it resembled a turn he found in the arciives callednan "immelmen" the ship at varyiung speeds would loop upwards behind its attacker effective moreso with this ships firepower she handled much like the falls his first command one of which that was now on Denver being kept safe*" no no no like this ensign either in cruise or under impulse"* the ship lurched upwards behind the debrid of the wrecked lander if the guns were online the orders were to :fire the moment you see ship angled "down" hitting the upper rear of the target* "good good much better dont force her let here move herself,XO how battle ready are we? he tossed hoim an infocard he pulged it into his display and the entire ship scmatics and tech specs came up" were at 87 percent effecincy sir recomended combat time as per your standing orders is 20 minutes at full power" *jim nooded and dismissed him and hailed isabelle directly "taisho i dont know if your getting the report i just sent but ..the ryujin stands ready for combat and our efdfeciancy is slowly imprioveing..and hun it feels good to be in the "center chair" again,,KNFDD-1764 Ryujin awaiting combat orders(kusari naval forces Destroyer) awaiting combat orders and holding standard escourt formation with the Flag....."*he awaited his orders knowing that if isabelle was right combat would be within the next 4 hours it was time to show the kusari just how good of a commander he was...*
The corsairs who awaited a few kilometres away could see the bright golden lights of the kusari vessel engines flare approaching quickly. Like savage hunting dogs, the pirates charged in the formation with virtually no coherent coordination. But these men didn't relied as much on strategy as personnal skill, and an iron-fisted determination of one hungry thieve.
Isabelle stood up from her command chair, and nodded to her comm officer to open a comm channel to all her ships. She began speaking in a very fluid japanese, and the men were somewhat surprised for few heard her speak in their language (only the other captains, Kaito and her bridge crewmen).
Earlier, she had transmitted the same orders to Jimmy on a private channel, where they bid each other good luck. She smiled confidently, for she knew her lover would be able to manage out of this battle just fine.
They both had to survive this.
One couldn't live without the other.
"Waves of missiles at 12 o'clock!"
Isabelle didn't turned her head around - this was easily countered. But this move alone taught her much. The enemy was sending weapons against them uselessly in an attempt to deplete their ressources. A war by attrition? They did have the weaponnery and numbers to take out this entire fleet, according to her data. They just weren't yet all aseembled in one single point, but still dispersed widely around.
But once the vulture came festing on you, its like the whole race was coming down on you in a matter of minutes.
"Launch countermeasure. Center wing, right wing, fall back, left wing, advance."
The left wing of the formation began to charge forward at the enemy, the high tracking lasers of the destroyers tearing through the bulky corsair ships with ease. Seeing the majority of the kusari fleet backing off, the pirates thought theyve seen an opportunity, only to impale themselves on the left wing...
Captain Kaito turned around, obviously amased at such a strategy,
"Taisho, should we send out the fighter squads?"
"No, its useless now and too risked. Remember, our main goal is to escape, while theirs is to buy time. We'll have to sustain as much damage as we can, but dont launch the smaller crafts."
She openned up a comm,
"Jimmy, you are now leading right wing. I want you to ascend, 45 degree as fast as you can... I want you to drag away the small fly while we make a move against the gunboats ahead of us. Seems like they are the real blocading force."
And with this, she came up with new orders, changing the formation at lightning speed - and only wishing her men could follow her pace.
She was going to strike as efficiently and quickly as the wolf she was...
"left, center wing, place yourself in a conical formation and disperse fire on the pirate smaller crafts while advancing at all speed. Reduce weapon strenght to keep optimal engine speed, we are charging in. Right wing, up ahead, and once you are above the gunboats, rain hell on them."
When her ship was within range, the alarms on the Amaterasu began blaring again - the various corsair crafts were pounding the flagship in perticular, being the largest threat of the fleet, but now they were within range of a concentration of corsair gunboats... somewhat unfitting, for these large bulky ships were probably more massive than her destroyers!
Awful long minutes passed as she relayed more orders, more adjutement to replace the damaged ships backward in the formation and bring the fresh one forward. It was a tedious task, but necesary to keep the fleet in one piece. For the moment, the casualities were acceptable, with 1 destroyer lost and 2 gunboats sunk.
She couldn't lose much more or the fleet would be too severely damaged.
A predatory smile appeared on Isabelle' lips for a few seconds;
"Zan kan, eu-te!!!" [All ships, fire!!!] she ordered ferociously, as she could hear battle cry being shouted from the bridges of every of her ships coming through the comm system and relayed to her. But their targets weren't the gunboats;
instead, the fast firing turrets targeted the fighters and bombers that has been buzzing them but were constantly ignored, and tracked the unsuspecting swarm of ships following the right wing formation.
Meanwhile, she saw with satisfaction the right wing' destroyers and gunboats firing their main guns at the gunboats with deadly accuracy, effectively raining golden blades of hell on the unsuspecting ambushers who became ambushed...
somewear in the sigmas KNF 7th Konoe Shidan Fleet Destroyer KNF-Ryujin Command Deck
Helm.nowL-4 get that gunboat off our 6 ,comms tell the maru to focus her fire on it! i need the akashashi to move to the left of us and deal with our flank attacker! main guns ..LIGHT EM UP!* jim barked in perfect japanese as the Ryujin shook hard ..she was underfire and the corsairs seeing her as the apprent leader focused on her..that was there fatal mistake she was exacuteing her manover sperfectly ..slids rolls the L-4everything was going perfectly untill*RAAA RAAA*klaxons blared * enginerring report why did we just lose sheilds!*he looked to his monoter ..they had managed to get a Destroyer his tactical officer yelled" PATTERSON ..CAPTIAN PATTERSON COIRSAIR CRUISER OFF PORT BOW!!!! fools they had decided to send there defencive ship in the akamatsu would tear her up" engine rokm i need sheilds now helm come port 227 degrees take us back into the akamatsus guns formation shift right!*and with that his slowly dwindleing destroyer group mved a perfect formation sheilding the flag like any should a blip droped off radar.. the akashani had been sunk..the cruiser resumed fire on the Ryujin and she was loseing ..and fast* "helm eavasive pattern theta 4 get me forcefeilds around the bridge seal those hull breaches Ryujin calling akamatsu command bridge.. isabelle i dont know if you can hear me but we need cover fire now! preafat off our port side! we need cover"*the comms died an explosion rocked the ship she was intact but her hull integrity had been compremised.. her armor had been shot through... "isabelle i hope you got the message... main battarty...FIRE ON THAT CRUISER .. HELM FULL REVERSE FULL FRONTAL SHEILDS ! HIT EM WITH THE MAIN GUN!" *the Ryujin now with small fires in some of her more batterd sections reversed drawing closer to isabelles flag her fellow rightwing destroyers defended her valently as best they could they had been winning the battle.. left flank had lost a 3rd of his ships ..jim had only lost 2
her main battary opened up ferociously golden hellfire raining down on the attackers presumed flagship the gunboats limping or destroyed what was left of the bombers were being handled by right wing this was a bloody battle tho he estmated they were near the edge of the pirates oprational range and thats what forced them to dispatch the flag..they wre home free he felt if they could just repeal this final attack.....
"Taisho, enemy ships directly behind us! They just dropped out of cruise drive!"
Isabelle looked, stunned at the speed of the corsair vessels. So fast? Her calculations predicted they'd be at least still an hour from arrival...
But then she looked at the digital clock on her command chair, and saw that the one hour went away unoticed in the midst of the battle...
"damned..."
She stood up, and began issuing new orders,
"Forward formation, fall back, right wing, fall back in the main group. Use the larger ships to act as shield, while the smaller gunboats will concentrate rapidfire on this single fire zone..."
She pointed at the center of the enemy formation.
She hesitated a moment, looking intently at the battlemap, then,
"This ship will turn around as well and charge in alone against the enemy."
Kaito widened his eyes in surprise,
"Taisho, you don't mean to ram this vessel..."
But Isabelle nodded gravely,
"I do. It is the only way to save a larger portion of the fleet. We are now outnumbered nearly 3 times and while the trap has been breached right in front of us, it is closing too fast for us to charge away. We can only distract their attention toward their critical fleet components."
But at that moment, the a voice from a totally different comm channel came in, and despite the nebula' and distance disruption, Isabelle recognised this familiar voice...
"Leave this task in my hand, Isa. Charge, charge forward!"
She didn't asked question, but opening a channel fleet-wide, she ordered,
"Zan kan, Ikuzo!" [All ships, charge!]
--
"Angle 23. Vector, 857, lateral, 344."
"Activating automated inertial compensator units 1, 2, 3 and 4. Ready."
"Sequence algorithms, entered."
"All systems, confirmed operational. Dai-taisho, we are ready."
"Yosh! Activate tesla drives, all forward!"
The immense flagship of the 1st fleet, the KNF Yamato, came within visual range of both the 7th fleet and the large group of corsairs. And although size was actually more hindering in modern warfare than anything else, the Yamato was one kind of a vessel and inspired terror in the heart of the enemy, for human being feared instinctively the giants no matter what his logic might say.
But when the 8 engines of the vessel activated, turning from the golden yellow to fiery blue, when the corsair flotilla saw the "nose" of the war machine was sculpted like the edge of a giant sword, when their scanner reading noticed this edge made, among other things of titanium alliage and diamond powder, and when their scanner showed the monstruosity was definitively headed their way, it took no time for them to wake up and run away. But it was too late already, their limited visual and scanner range warned them too close to the threat and the next few seconds they lived weren't the sigh of relief, but the screams of terrors and the shrieking of metals, the explosions and death by the dozens as some fighter slammed uncontrollably against the invincible hull, while other larger crafts had their engines cut away, or the whole ship sliced in two.
Those who survived and were foolish enough to stand behind were picked off by the escort light vessels of the Yamato - obviously, it traveled the distance between core Kusari to border in record time, bringing only the fastest ships available.
When hell finally calmed down, debris was all that was left of the attacking corsair hunters.
"Uncle Daite... thank you..." Isabelle managed to say, her emotions a mix of relief and happiness. But she quickly turned her attention to a private channel,
"Jimmy, hun are you alright?" she asked, as the 7th fleet and the Yamato' group went back home.
somewear in the sigmas KNF 7th Konoe Shidan Fleet Destroyer KNF-Ryujin Command Deck
fires.. deadly fires and screams painful screams coughing ..the wounded of battle smoke and fire..darkness*
"computer.. actvate emergency bridge lighting*jim coughed he was psyicall unharmed but mentally hurt so many men mangled agenst plateing or burned and charred he was ok though what was left of his bridge crew were working stil lat there stations ..fighting fires whatever he heard the comms crackle and his hand snapped to the comms console" were alive but this ships gonna be drydocked for a whiile the yamato cut that cruiser in two the explosion of her core is what hurt us the most isabelle mind giveing us a tow..were on emergency backups over here..half my men are combat unworthy were on a skeliton crew ill moor the ship to you and be over shortly..i owe you baby wouldent of made it out if you hadent of envloped your sheilds around us*static he contuned* "ive got a burial ceromoney to preform il lsee you aboards the flag soon .. also hun.. give your uncle my regards,whats left of the Ryujin out" *and with that he proceded to bury the men under his command they would be fired out of modified nav bouys a sort of spatial casket as per tradition and as per there own requests the bouys would hold station where they died the ryujins main engin was darkened she hooked up with thrusters to the akmatsu a few gashes in her hull her sigil of the 7th fleet remained strangly unscaved the fires were out..he boarded and ran right to isabelle and when he got there reguardless of protocol kissed her like he hadent seen her in years vicegripping his strong arms around her..the Ryujin was minites from destruction there would of been no time to get to the pods..he would of died but isabelle his love his "samuri wolf" saved himhe had made a decision he was going to ask for engagemewnt when he saw hernext...
The journey back to core space was calm as the remnant of the 7th fleet was dragged back toward New Tokyo. Within days, large hauler crafts of the imperial navy came by to tow away the gunboats that were too damaged to fly by themselves, after what, construction ships came in and began repairs already on the whole fleet even as they moved. The imperial navy was that efficient; all ships had to appear decently in front of the Emperor' throne. And it was the reason why they halted for the moment above planet Honshu, where a whole fleet of construction vessels deployed from Yukawa and Yokohama shipyards to effect repairs - for the shipyards themselves were at full capacity, repairing the damaged vessels of the bretonian conflict.
As such, Isabelle, Jimmy and fleet admiral Mitsurugi were now planetside within a small residence of the local imperial governor' mansion, who was honoured to receive "returning war-heroes".
As Jimmy and Isabelle entered the well furnished room where Mitsurugi wanted to held their meeting (he would come an hour later only to fill in reports directly to the emperor from the Yamato), they closed the door rapidly and embraced each other, immediately lost in their passion as they hugged and kissed each other...
Isabelle shed tears of relief even though she fully knew all along her lover was alive, yet the fact to be able to see him, to touch him and close to him once again, she couldn't restrain her emotions.
She shook her head against his chest, feeling a bit remorseful as she thought it was herself that did put Jimmy in such a dangerous situation...
But feeling his strong hand patting her, she felt already better, and smiled back at him. They stayed locked in this little moment of love until fleet admiral Mitsurugi arrived...
--
The elderly man sat down, his move very fluid for a man of his age, confident and strong. He truly had the essence of a leader, of a warrior.
"Well, Isa, Patterson, first, let me tell you I am glad both of you are well and alive. I see the Gods smile on the two of you, and hopefully will continue to do so."
"First, battle report. Casuality, 234 on our side among them 14 pilot casuality, 4 destroyers sunk, 15 heavily damaged, and 7 gunboats sunk, 12 heavily damaged. 14 fighters lost. And one heavily damaged battleship."
Mitsurugi smiled somewhat feeling sorry to them before continuing,
"Estimated enemy casuality would be an average of 46 fighters, 22 bombers, 16 gunboats and 18 cruisers. Rough approximation, places their casuality somewhere along the 300 some. Considering your situation, I applaud the two of you, and the rest of the 7th fleet, for surviving at all."
He nodded gravely,
"I apologize for giving you commodore Kaito. He was more of a fool than I thought he was. This nearly cost the life of the whole fleet..."
As he finished speacking, he relaxed his posture somewhat. Now ere more private matters;
"I've recently talked with some of my fellow admirals. About all the events that recently hapenned around concerning the two of you... lets say, they are reluctant. Very much so. And I guess, we don't get a more liberal mind just because we have risen to admiral..."
He smirked, as he himself became more liberal because a libertonian commodore saved his skin once upon a time...
that wasnt going to happen to every kusari for sure.
But, the 7th fleet was forever in debt to Isa.
And if he wasn't somewhat restrained by honour and humanity, he would have burned to the bone this imbecil who deared to insult the lover of the girl he tutored for so long...
"I've spoken personally with the emperor, and he seems impressed. The man is slightly more openned than my fellow soldiers... probably because they dont see you as possible rivals. Our Lord likes all that might help him to maintain his power, and that you are Outsiders doesnt seems to trouble him much... consider the two of you in his favor... for the time being."
He smiled reasuringly,
"Continue to perform well, and I'm fairly certain we will accomplish miracle."
--
later on, Isabelle stood alone with Mitsurugi in a separate room. The old man requested a few minutes alone with her, and Isa wondered what was so important - and personnal, that Jimmy couldn't listen to what was about to be said...
Mitsurugi looked around, still seated. He seemed like a much older man suddenly.
Outside, night has fallen on the planet, but neither Isa or Mitsurugi went to open the lights.
The fleet admiral looked up at the young woman, and smiled softly, although there was a certain sadness in his eyes.
"Uncle Daite... is something wrong?" Isabelle finally said, as she sat slowly beside him.
"Isabelle... will you forgive me for this single lie?..."
She remained silent, not sure what to answer, not sure either if she wanted to hear the answer. But she nodded anyway, asking for the old man to continue.
"I've talked to the emperor of you. I lied to you. The man isn't as liberal-minded as I told to you and Jimmy. Isabelle, I had no choice. To talk to him about you, to even hope to make you kusari citizen, I've convinced him you were my adopted daughter."
Isabelle felt her heart stop for a few seconds. She wasnt even sure why she was so surprised... it wasn't even really a lie after all, it was one for the emperor of course... how did Mitsurugi deared to lie to his Lord, that was truly the surprise.
But she knew her heart told her otherwise.
"How?" she asked instead.
"I've prepared this secretly. My contacts in Kusari are very powerful. I have contacts Sirius wide, even more powerful. You understand, if for a freelancer, hacking his rep with the imperial navy isnt that hard, hacking some individual information isnt much harder either."
Isabelle widened her eyes. She wasn't upset, but even more surprised, this time, truly by the power of her uncle.
"I've changed a bit your history, Isa. In the libertonian data, I've put the death -I'm sorry, Isa, but I had no choice- of your mother and father when you were 11. Kusari data already confirmed I was a close aquaintance to comodore Kaitlynn - I was watched by our intelligence agents because they were suspicious on my "frequentations", so I know of this. And I know those files are still there.
I pretended since I was the only person available for you, since your closest family members couldn't be found, you were assigned under my parenting instead."
Isabelle smiled, somewhat stunned by the news,
"Adopted by a Kusari admiral...?"
Mitsurugi noded, understanding how far-stretched the story was. But, the worst was that, this story was highly credible. Aquaintances of the fleet admiral could confirm he was often seen with a young little blonde libertonian girl... it was a story incredibly easy to believe... only a few data changes...
Isabelle was impressed.
And then, she realised something,
"B... but then, my name... I would be... Isabelle... Mitsurugi?..."
The fleet admiral didn't answered at first,
"I can change it back to Kaitlynn... we could pretend you kept..."
But Isabelle interrupted him, smiling gently, although sadly.
"Father died... I know if he trusted a person to take care of me, it'd be you. The Kaitlynns will live through me until my time has come, but for the home I will be building here..."
"Mitsurugi shall be my new name, father."
Jim was upset his ship woulld be out of commission for an undetermined time and he couldent ask isablee to engage him for he was still technically a liberty citizenwhile he still had acess he sent a transmission through to a few friends on the Rio Grande it concerned his past gunboat and battlecruiser the latter of which was transfered to the 75th Marines while he wated t become an aproved citizen he contacted another friend of his still in the 106th Commodore Lavoie his mesage was simple" take the falls make her a 106th memorial like the Quebec and make sure people know my name and isabelles and that ship gets upmost care should it be declassified inform them of the events on california minor(from the story red terror you can finish it here if you want xing) and try to stay in touch..youve saved my ass more than once i still owe you those beers" and with that he sent his final memo to his past he would probly pick a new name but as such he waited for isabelle to see him he knew something was up and she would probly tell him...
//yeah im scrapping the falls shes gonna be fourm based until li deam otherwise shes gonna apere in my storys from time to time im gonna rename her to my kusari destroyer ive elected to keep the battlecruiser if anything as a contact ie mathers and jim will still talk//
Isabelle smiled unconsciously as she sat against Jimmy' body on their bed. They talked about trivial things, anything to keep them away from the truth of their new reality in a world of mystery that barely knew anything of them.
Though eventually, despite all the comfort the warmth of her lover' body provided to her, Isabelle couldn't keep the soon-to-be fact away from Jimmy.
Her smile turned somewhat hesitant, but she wasn't ashamed at all to reveal her new name.
She tried not to think of it as an obligation, but more as a symbolic act. It is true uncle Daite had raised her since her youth. She spent nearly half her youth here, in the domain of the Dai-Taisho - in practice, she wasn't that much a stranger to Kusari than she thought of herself to be.
She was just away from home for too long.
Looking around, the walls made of ancestral wood instead of artificial stone, the unusual clothings and the feodal-styled decorations didn't seemed that out of place to her eyes anymore...
The apparent shy attitude of the common citizen, the commendable respect offered to the elderly and sick and the dizzying obsession of honour and nationalism didn't seemed that mysterious, nor did the alien-like language.
Kusari had always been a second home to her.
It was now her only home.
She kissed Jimmy gently as she told him of her choice, one that didn't took that much of a few hours to confirm.
Any doubts she had dissipated... at least, for herself.
She knew, perhaps some of the old friends she had in Kusari would still remember her...
She knew, her life could easily start anew here, where she was raised with a kusari warrior.
how about her love?...
--
A few days went by without much hapenning. Fleet admiral Mitsurugi was often away to deal with the naval administrations and the war against Bretonia, leaving both libertonian much freedom.
Isabelle, knowing the ways around the metropole that was New Tokyo, went on a somewhat enthusiastic ride around the city, an enthusiasm she had lost somewhat as the matters in Liberty required more and more of her attention... an enthusiasm she used to have before she became a member of the White Wolves, and an enthusiasm she was regaining now that she was moving in a new life...
Merely walking in the Old Temple' pavement, enjoying the silence of the sacred garden, was enough to make her smile, and she hoped Jimmy shared her contentment, but knew her lover would have much more trouble adapting to this new world...
--
A few days went by, until the Fleet Admiral Mitsurugi sent a message back suddenly in the middle of what was supposed to be another skirmish in bretonian territory...
"Isabelle... Jimmy Patterson... seems like both of you will soon have duty coming directly from the Emperor."
"congratulation."
And the short recording stopped, leaving Isabelle in wonder.
She would soon begin her service for a new master...
How much better would this autocratic leader be in contrast to the so called "free" Liberty?
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