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<i>Nova Force Season 2: Episode 4 part 4</i>

“Would you relax?” Johnny said, shifting in his pilots chair uncomfortably after yet another waft of air flowed from Sangela's nostril and buffeted him below.

Sanglea glanced down to the human who was seated in front of her own pilots chair on his designated platform in the cockpit. “Sorry.” She muttered. They were waiting for Kikata and Richard to connect with their computer so they could discuss the events that had unfolded earlier. It was a standard debriefing protocol, the first Sangela and Johnny had taken part in. “It's just I know that bitch is going to peg something on me.”

“You did nothing wrong.” Johnny said, rolling his eyes.

“What if he died?” Sangela asked.

“What if he did? You had every reason to shoot the guy on the spot.”

“Yes but-” Sangela was cut off as a blinking light appeared on the screen followed by a musical tone, signaling that they were being called into the debriefing channel.

“Ready?” Johnny asked, craning his neck so he could see Sangela. She nodded, taking a deep breath as she closed her eyes. Johnny shook his head and accepted the call. After a moments pause their display screen showed Kikata's and Richard's faces in two separate windows.

“Hello, Sangela, Johnathan.” Said the voice of Kikata.

“Hello sir.” Johnny replied, Sangela remained silent.

“This is an interesting report.” Richard said, his eyes darting side to side as he read over the details. “We have been informed on the basics, but we just want to go over it all again with you two to make sure we have everything right.”

Both Sangela and Johnny nodded.

“So it says here you met with your informant during a short leave period earlier this week?” Richard asked.

“He approached me at the bar we met with our class mates.” Sangela said, trying hard to keep her voice calm.

“And you acted without mentioning anything to anyone?” Kikata asked.

Sangela fought the urge to cringe, “That's correct. Lorth told us secrecy was important so we thought it best to get in there without telling anyone until we knew more.”

“And once you knew the situation?” Kikata continued.

Sangela opened her mouth, but hesitated to speak. Johnny spoke instead, “Time was a factor. We had no idea Lorth wanted to act the very hour we arrived.”

“I see.” Kikata said, “And you two were not together during these events?”

“We had to split up.” Sangela explained, “It was my job to keep the president occupied while my partner secured a possible threat in the human facilities before they evacuated the building.”

“And how did that go, John?” Richard asked.

“Not as smoothly as I wanted, but no one was killed.” Johnny said with a shrug.

“It says here an eighteen year old girl was given some minor medical treatment during her holding?”

“I had to use my pulse cannon on her.” Johnny explained, “She made a break for her computer, which as far as we knew was a potential trigger for the explosives set in the human facilities. That's why my partner-”

“We'll get to that.” Kikata said.

Sangela felt a heavy sinking in her chest. Johnny had made the decision to carry a non-fatal firearm, she had only carried with her a weapon that was designed to kill if used properly. “A-Any word on his condition?” Sangela asked.

“The president?” Kikata asked.

“Yes.”

“Died of his wounds.” Kikata stated plainly. The feed went silent for a few seconds as everyone seemed to process that bit of information. “Would you please describe the events leading up to the shooting?”

Sangela swallowed nervously but nodded, “I had been pretending to be on routine inspection, that was Lorth's plan, not ours, but it was too late to make any sudden changes. Roko was expecting a guard to come through on inspection.” Sangela could feel her palms growing moist as she retold the story, “Everything was going fine. But then on a shuttle flight from one of the mining facilities we happened to pass over the human facilities. He saw the evacuation ships and put two and two together. I saw him reaching for his pocket so I drew the firearm on him and told him to put his hands up. He complied until I started to search him. He struck me twice, I think, and tried to get his computer which had been thrown across the shuttle. I told him to stop. When he did not comply I fired. He continued to reach for the device on the ground so I shot him again in the arm.”

“I see.” Kikata said, her eyes too seeming to scan over whatever information had been relayed to them.

Sangela fidgeted, “Look I knew I could have-”

Richard held up his hand, “You're not in trouble. As the evidence stands you were perfectly in line.”

“Okay.” Sangela said with a sigh.

“It appears your informant, however, has turned himself in to the authorities. So you two will likely need to attend a hearing.” Kikata said, she glanced between the two guards on her screen and gave a reassuring smile, “We are very proud of you two. I would not be surprised if there were to be an awards ceremony after the trial.”

“We did what we had too.” Johnny said, a grin forming over his lips. He glanced down to his screen where he could see Sangela's reflection behind him, clearly relieved.

~ ~ ~ ~

“Well that went well.” Kikata said as she finally stood from her pilots seat. “We better check in on Issac.”

“Probably right. He's probably pretty confused why we've taken so long. Any word from him?” Richard asked, climbing up onto Kikata's palm as she offered it to him.

Kikata checked her computer with her free hand, “Nothing yet.”

“Still probably a good idea to swing by that room anyway, on our way back to Kina anyways.”

“Agreed.”

~ ~ ~ ~

“So.” Kina said, her arms folded under her chest, “Care explaining what is going on in here?”

“Maybe better to wait until my brother and Kikata get here.” Issac said, he found it impossible to keep his knees from shaking, even now when he had been put back onto the table. The dread of being so helpless to defend himself from the titanic woman had been nearly overwhelming. How easy it would have been for her to apply just a fraction of extra weight that would have snuffed him out. He flinched as she leaned forward, her once deadly appearance made it difficult for him to appreciate how beautiful she was.

“Alright.” She said, her tone still carried a little bitterness but overall she had softened substantially. “Look, um. Let's not bring up the little...incident. With you on the floor and all.”

“Whatever you want.” Issac said, “I won't say a thing. I mean not that-”

“It's not like you were in any real danger. I was just trying to scare you, is all. A little frowned upon I know, using my size to interrogate, but things have been a little...conspicuous, lately.”

“I-” Issac was cut off as there was a clicking at the door.

Kina's expression grew stern again as she stood back to full height. She faced the door, her eyes falling onto Kikata who stared back at her with a wide gaze. Clearly she was not expecting to see Kina standing there next to Issac. “Well this is interesting, Kikata. Richard.” Kina said, her hands clasping behind her back. “I received a message of a possible intruder in the server room and I was shocked to discover your engineer tinkering with one of the server towers.”

“It's...It's not as bad as it seems.” Kikata said, taking a cautious step forward.

“I'm honestly not even sure how to see this. Just give me a straight answer. What are you guys up too?”

~ ~ ~ ~

“See. I fuckin' told you.” Johnny said as he walked out onto the elevated platform on top of Sangela's own table in the common area of their ship.

Sangela rolled her eyes, “I'm sorry for being nervous.” Her elbow fell onto the table beside the platform as she huffed another long sigh.

“Would ya' quit breathing on me, dude?” Johnny called up to his large partner after the blast of wind that was her breath rolled past him, “Feel like I'm in a wind tunnel today.”

Sangela shrugged, “Sorry. Does my breath stink?” She asked, holding her palm up to her mouth.

Johnny considered teasing her more but figured she had a rough enough day already, “Nah, you're fine.”

Sangela smiled towards Johnny briefly before her eyes trailed elsewhere around the room as she lost herself in thought. Her smile slowly faded.

“What a day, huh?” Johnny finally asked to break the silence.

“Seriously.” Sangela responded. “You know. I thought I'd be, like, really excited after this all calmed down. But I just feel...” She held up her hands as she tried to think of a word, “I don't know. How are you supposed to feel when you learn you killed someone?”

“You did what you had to do.” Johnny insisted.

“Yeah but, it could have gone differently.”

“A couple thousand humans, including myself, could have died.” Johnny said, “You saved my ass today and I didn't even know until afterwards. Roko is the one who fucked up. And from what I heard you gave him a quicker death than he deserved.”

“Maybe...” Sangela said softly, “I guess we do have something to be proud of. It's just not what I was expecting.”

Johnny scratched the back of his head as he shrugged, “I know what you mean. Things are feeling pretty real right now.” He shook his head, “Kind of scary to know a place like that can exist still.”

Sangela nodded, “I suppose it's unavoidable though...I mean unless the Alliance assumed complete control of everything.”

“And then that would be no fun at all.” Johnny said with a laugh.

“Man, that poor girl though...”

“The one you blasted?”

“Yeah. The blasting was hilarious. But the things she said, it was like talking to a lunatic.” Johnny shuddered, “The stuff that guy did to people, disgusting.”

“He was pretty off. You should have seen the way he dressed, and talked. Half the time I felt like a piece of meat he was drooling over.”

“Well who could blame him. I wish crazy dictators oogled over me every once in a while.”

Sangela laughed, “Um, sure. I would gladly trade places with you.”

“Deal. I could be the big one for once.”

Sangela shook her head, “No way. I like having a little partner.”

“Makes me feel like I'm a pet sometimes.”

“Yeah right, who do you think I am? Kikata? Let me carry you around on my shoulder all day. No, you are like a little secret weapon I have. Sneak you into a fight and have you pop out, cannons at the ready.”

“Oh yeah? How do you plan on sneaking me in?” Johnny asked with a laugh.

Sangela scoffed “Anything <i>except</i> for what you're thinking.”

~ ~ ~ ~

“Why didn't you just tell me?” Kina asked.

“We decided that the fewer people that know, the better.” Kikata explained.

“Well you have to tell <i>someone</i>. I would have helped no questions asked. Though connecting to Prila's old signal would be very tricky.” Kina said shaking her head.

“I almost had it.” Issac said, “If you are okay with it...I can pull it up in no time. I'm still hooked in.”

Kina stared down at Issac for a few moments, “Well...I suppose if you are already in.”

Issac backed away towards where his computer hung from the wires, “It wont take long.” He promised before turning towards his computer. He leaned out over the circular opening and took hold of his computer.

Richard folded his arms and looked over his brothers shoulder, “So, this is the device huh?”

“Yeah.” Issac said.

“You know, I was kind of curious as to exactly <i>what</i> you were doing back there.”

“It doesn't connect through the network like a regular computer.” Issac said, his finger tips tapping along his screen, “It goes around.”

“I see...” Kina said, now leaning curiously over the table.

“I tried to wrap my mind around it myself.” Kikata said, “Doesn't make much sense to me.”

“I get the feeling that we shouldn't tell anyone about it, regardless.” Kina said.

“That's the idea.” Richard called over his shoulder.

Issac blinked as he finally found what he was looking for, “I'm in.”

Kikata held her breath, “Can you display it so we can all see?” Kikata asked.

“One second.” Issac said, he repositioned himself so he could direct the computers camera, which also doubled as a projection screen, towards the flat black surface of the table. He engaged the projector and soon his screen was displayed widely at he and Richards feet. “Okay, here is Prila's signal...it's weak. Only the heart rate monitor is loading.”

The room went silent. The thin line labeled as the heart rate remained flat. Ten seconds went by. Then twenty. Then thirty.

“I-Is it-” Kikata started, her heart aching yet racing at the same time as the line did not move. But as she spoke the line suddenly jumped. “So slow?” she asked, feeling slightly relieved to see movement.

They waited another forty seconds, and once again the heart monitor recorded a beat. “Could it be that the signal is so far off that it just appears slow?” Kina asked.

“No.” Issac said, “That wouldn't effect it.”

Kikata bit her lip as she continued to stare at the projected screen. Prila was alive. That much was certain. She had always claimed to know for sure that this was true, but in truth she always had doubts. But now she knew. But why the slow heart rate? What had Prila gotten herself into? Who had taken her? “Can we trace the signal?” Kikata asked.

“We can try.” Issac said. “By their nature these signals get scrambled, and can be hard to trace...especially after it has been discontinued.”

“Privacy policies for retired guards.” Kina added. She bit her lip, as she thought, “I wonder...”

“Yes?” Kikata asked.

“Three of our stations have been hacked into recently. All fairly close to Teralist, and one even Prila was employed with. This has all happened fairly recently, I'm guessing not too far from when Prila went missing. It's a long shot...but maybe they are connected?”

“The more we learn the less it makes sense...nothing would surprise me at this point.” Kikata said.