Richard dropped the heavy bag by his feet as Kikata set him down on the platform that would lead him to the human ship. Fisc and Prila stood by her sides, all coming to say their good byes. 

Kikata knelt down, "Well, this is it I guess." She said softly, "About last night...I don't regret what I did." She smiled warmly as he pressed his hand to her finger which gripped the edge of the platform.

"Me neither." He assured her. They all stood silently for a few moments, Prila and Fisc sharing a glance behind Kikata. "Hey look, it's a small universe, I'm sure one day down the line we will bump into each other again."

"That's the spirit." Fisc said with a grin.

Richard watched as Prila lowered her hand towards him, leaning into her palm as it swept behind him. He wasn't very surprised to see himself lowering towards her chest, "You take care alright?" He heard her voice say from outside of the confines of her hand and her chest.

"You know it." Richard said with a nod, "Though now I won't have a two hundred foot chick watching my back when ever I'm about to do something stupid." 

Kikata laughed, "How you made it this far in your life without me is a mystery." She sighed slightly as Richard was set back onto the platform.

"Alright, well, I guess I better get going. The ship leaves soon."

Kikata nodded, watching as he leant down to pick up his bag, "Oh what the hell." She laughed, quickly snagging his tiny frame and hugging him to her cheek.

"Oh...god you big baby." Richard mumbled as he was pressed against her. 

Though Kikata had to fight off the tears as she released him. She leaned forward, pecking his chest gently with a more friendly kiss, "Alright. You can go now, and don't forget to contact us from time to time like you so often forget to call your mother."

"Will do." Richard said with a nod. He gave one final wave before making his way down the platform, looking back once more before disappearing behind a door. He made his way down the wide hallway until finally pushing into the docking bay. A massive, dark gray ship stood in waiting. Large white letters on the side read, "Infinity". 

"Kikata? You alright?" Prila asked, looking down at her friend who still knelt by the platform. 

Kikata blinked, rising to her feet, "Yeah. I'm fine...still just a little surprised is all." She glanced between Fisc and Prila who were both giving her a sort of strange look, "What?"

"Oh...nothing." Prila said, placing a hand on her shoulder before turning and walking back towards their own ship.

"No! What? What was that look for?"

"I think that look was us saying that we know what happened behind closed doors in Nova Force." Fisc said with a grin.

"What do you mean?" Kikata asked, catching up to Prila as they walked.

Prila giggled, "She still kept the innocence of a virgin though." She winked towards Kikata.

"We did not do that! We only ever kissed once!" Kikata suddenly clamped her hand over her mouth as he revealed a bit of touchy information.

"And what did you do for the rest of the time?" Fisc asked with an even wider grin.

"Nothing! Nothing happened! We were drunk and it was just a friendly kiss, I mean you could hardly even call it a kiss!"

"No need to feel ashamed Kikata, Richard was a handsome man."

Kikata rolled her eyes, "Believe what ever you want. Though I'm telling you nothing ever happened between us."

"Fine, fine." Prila said throwing her hands up in the air.

~ ~ ~ ~ 

Richard was struck by an odd sense of culture shock as he walked through the corridors of the Infinity. The ship was one of the first of its kind, and was also one of the largest human based vessels ever built. It was responsible for not only military transports, but civilian as well. 

An older woman guided him to his suite, his apparent celebrity status earned him one of the finer rooms on the ship. "Thanks." He said, dropping his bags and watching as the woman left the room. He sighed, feeling as the ships engines ignited. "Back to life." He whispered quietly to himself. He was unsure how he felt, guilt for one. He felt guilty that he was leaving the conflict before seeing it all the way through. He felt guilty that he might have left his long lost comrades in harms way, if they were indeed taken prisoner. He felt guilty that he left Kikata as their relationship seemed ready to take an unexpected turn.

He sat down on his bed, still getting used to seeing so many things that were created for human use. And he was also not used to having a partner there to talk to. "I need a drink." He told himself, grabbing his room key and headed off towards the bar.

~ ~ ~ ~ 

Kikata walked back up the ramp into her ship, she could almost feel a cold spot on her shoulder where Richard normally sat. She wasn't sure what to do with herself, she heard the massive roar of engines as the human ship left the loading bay, "Good bye, Richard..." She whispered to herself before dropping onto her bed. Her eyes scanned around the room idly, her hands tapped away on her knees as she tried to think of something to entertain herself with. The general had given the guards a two day leave while the Knights started to crack down on the New Order threat. 

She rose to her feet and climbed up the ladder towards the cockpit, she brought up the computer display and started to scroll through her messages. She eyed Richards name in her contact list, wondering if he had internet access in his room. She selected his name and opened the message box. She sifted through the keyboard functions until she found the English alphabet.

She typed, "Hey, Richard, just checking in." She frowned, and deleted, "Hey, the ship is so quiet without you! Kind of nice! Just kidd-" She rolled her eyes and deleted again. She sat leaned her head back, "Why is this so hard..." She mumbled to herself. She closed out of all the windows and left the pilots seat. 

She felt tired so she returned to her bed. She slipped beneath the thin sheets and rested her head down on the pillow. Her tired body quickly shutting down her conscious mind and plunging her into sleep. 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

Richard sat with his arms folded over the bartop, for the first time in months he was drinking from a glass that didn't seem to resemble a bucket. His eyes stared off into one of the many television screens, his mind being overloaded with news that didn't seem relavent to him anymore. Earth politics, earth celebrities, he had never really cared for these things in the past but now they seemed so...alien. 

His brow condensed as two familiar faces popped onto the screen. It was his own and Kikata's. He leaned forward, laughing as he read the headline, "Wayward warrior on his way home!"  

"Hey, that's the guy!" A voice shouted from across the bar. 

Richard looked over, a group of four men looked towards him from a booth across the bar. Richard smirked, looking back towards the television where his image had already faded. A few seconds past and suddenly a hand clamped down on Richards shoulder. "I pull your ass out of there and I don't even get a thank you?" An oddly familiar voice asked.

Richard looked over his shoulder towards him, "That was you?"

"Damn right it was me, Mr. Prime time solider. How 'bout a little damn respect?"

"Uh...Thanks? Sorry if I recognized you I would have-"

The man threw his head back and laughed, "Nah, man. I'm just fuckin' with you!" He patted Richard on the back, "The names Nathan."

"So you're U.N.S.S?"

"That's right, so are my boys over there." He said nodding over his shoulder. "Come on, they're dying to hear stories."

Richard nodded, following the bald headed man from the bar and over to one of the booths where three other men awaited him. "Team, I would like you to meet the infamous Wayward Warrior. Otherwise known as Richard." There was a murmur of laughter, "Richard. These are my friends, four." He pointed to the man at the far right side of the table, and swept his hand towards the left, "Three, two, and they may sometimes refer to me as one." 

"What are you? Marcus "zero" Fan club?" Richard asked with a chuckle, taking a sip from the beer he had brought over.

"No sir. We are the real fucking deal my friend." Nathan said, "Each of us were hand picked by the Zero man himself."

"Oh." Richard said, "Hand picked for what?"

"To be the shining example of earths military force when we go in and help clean up that mess you just yourself out of. Barely I might add, why don't you tell these boys exactly what went down before I blew that oversized dog zombies head up?"

~ ~ ~ ~ 

Kikata gazed out over the sea of white eyes, all staring curiously towards her. An almost searing light burned down directly over her head, illuminating her in a vibrant pillar of light, highlighting her every feature. The small, alien woman watched with wonder as she gripped the zipper below her chin. Her eyes shifted down to her hand, where Richard looked up towards her anxiously.  

She smiled down towards him, no sense of worry or embarrassment keeping herself covered. She was perfectly happy to display her body for all to see. She cast her jump suit behind her, pulling it down over her knees after she momentarily placed Richard on the ground before her. She maintained a playful stare upon him, something about all of this felt so familiar. Once she was completely nude, her pale skin shining in the bright light and the large crowd colorful woman had fallen completely silent as they waited for what was to come, she took Richard into her hands and brought him to her face.

"Are you sure about this?" Richard asked, a sincere worry in his voice...he actually cared for her.

She nodded, "I feel okay about this..." She said, her own words seeming to spring a sense of deja vu. 

"Do you promise to never hurt me? If this memory fades from me forever?" She asked in a gentle whisper, her words seemed a bit out of place, but everything they said and felt made her feel so wonderful.

"Never." Richard assured her.

"I want you to take me now."

"Are you sure? I know how you feel about-"

"This is different." She said, gently kissing him upon his bare chest, "I am realizing how fast I can lose my chance to ever do it at all. I want to take this in the heat of the moment. I don't want to hold myself back anymore." With that she slowly lowered him down the long expanse of her body, the crowd gasping in excitement as she gently guided him inside of her. Kikata was overcome by a sense of euphoria, tackling her to her back as she writhed in the beautiful pleasure of their lovemaking. Her mind was filled with happiness and security...nothing could ever bring her down from his high.

"Oh...Richard!" She gasped, "I love you!"

Kikata gasped, suddenly rising from her sleep, her hand tightly clamped between her legs. The dream did not fade, it remained imprinted in her mind. She sat there for a few moments, a wide smile slowly fading from her lips as she realized that he was gone. Was this the dream? Is that what happened while she was unconscious? He had not told her because he promised to never hurt her? She rolled onto her side, gazing out into the ship that she once shared with him, the table where they played so many games and shared their first and only kiss. 

"Oh..god..." She whispered, the tears starting to flow from her eyes as she was overcome with a sense of terrible loss. She rolled to her stomach, burrowing her face into her pillow as she sobbed heavily. Before she knew what they really shared it had been taken away! How she wished at that moment that she never woke from that dream. To wake back into a world where her lovers are torn away by fate or by lost passion. A world where thousands of people are put to death over petty political disagreements! Suddenly she was a lost soul, with no one to come and comfort her in the emptiness of all this space. It seemed as though all of those memories of death and despair hit her with a new vigor, memories that she could handle when she had someone there with her that had gone through it...but now she was alone...like the small girl lost in the woods...