Very nice, I look forward to the end result.

I stumbled over this entirely by accident today...  That live-action Yamato movie that came out a couple years ago?  Miyuu Sawaii, the live-action Sailor Moon, had a role in it -- someone named Higashida.
That's it, you can move on now.  It's just that I love finding little connections like that among things I like.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

(Or: Why my players hate me some times)
Long story, but, it may be an interesting read for some of you.
Okay, so this idea came to me from our GURPS Teen Supers game.  As I was putting ideas together for my next story for the game, I was reading one of my standard sources of inspiration:  GURPS Classic: Creatures of the Night.  And, within this wondrous tome I found excellent inspiration:  The Fabricant (pg 41-42).  It wasn’t long (seriously, about 30 minutes) before I had the plot figured out, and began looking to stat the creature out.
Well, the first thing I looked at were TL10 Combat Androids in UltraTech.  After statting one up, I laughed and declared: “that would red-mist the teens; it would be a challenge for the ISTers.  Or a normal ambush foe in MegaDenver.”  (Cue lightbulb warming up).  I copied the stat block to another page, and went about statting the Fabricant as a TL10 general purpose Android.
After completing the Fabricant (Doctor Johann Fox) and his trusty fabricant pet, I went back to the TL10 Combat Android version and started tweaking it.  While doing this, my brain continued to percolate: Fabricants are “created” when someone becomes unstuck in time.  Well, if the Teens aren’t successful at destroying (or curing) Dr. Fox, then, he probably has a way to “travel” in time.  And, if it’s broken, he might be able to travel through dimensions and wind up in the I.S.T. game.  And, even if they do stop him, I like this guy enough to be a different Dr. Fox.
So, Dr. Fox got his TL10 Combat Android upgrade, and some more upgrades to make him boss-level tough.  His, original, Combat Android stats got cloned into his Fabricant-slave army.  And, being a full TL higher than the IST world (1.5, technically), he’ll be trying to build his own ship to leave.  The only way he can do this, successfully, is to convert more creatures to Fabricants and scavenge their bodies for technology.  The way Fabricants make more fabricants is to make them ingest their flesh.  For details, you’ll have to read Creatures of the Night.
Thus, he will come into conflict with the UN.  I’m figuring he’ll start out by capturing primitive tribes in Africa and South America, turn them into Fabricants, keeping the best for soldiers and sacrificing the rest for spare parts.  After several battles (unless the party is incredibly successful) he’ll get his ship built, and leave the Earth.  Leaving the horrible, living creatures behind.
At this point, I had started reading GURPS Aliens for more ideas for the I.S.T. L2 game, and came across the Kaa: an evil, slaving, cannibalistic, serpentine race that’s pretty much a stock GURPS race.  And, at this point, the lightbulb flared on, full force.
After a time, Dr. Fox will encounter the Kaa.  Upon learning of the Kaa’s predilection for eating sapiens (of any sort; it’s kind of a religious/power-rush thing), he will hatch the following plan:
He will offer his allegiance to the Kaa Duke whose realm he has come across.  And, as a show of his devotion, he will “execute” ten of his best soldiers and twenty of his strongest workers, and have them prepared as a meal for his new Kaa masters.  (This is not, in any way, dangerous for his followers: a shot through the “heart” with a TL10 laser pistol won’t even penetrate their armored hide, but will make for a good show).
While they are helpless, becoming Kaa-Fabricants, he will have them reprogrammed to obey him.  He will repeat this until he has the entire Duchy under his control. 
The Kaa-Fabricants will have an across-the-board TL upgrade, and he will use this (sacrificing all the workers he needs to) to build a fleet of TL10 ships to come back and attack the Earth.  Anyone can rule aliens . . . he wants to replace the Human Race with Fabricants.  And metahuman Fabricants at that!
TL;DR version:  Evil, life-hating robot, infects alien race and plans to do the same to humanity!  Send in the Heroes!

Both to flesh them out, and because I might have a model for it.

Still needs a few things, like a manufacturer(s), and some better quirks. I suck at quirks.

----------

AV-1 Jigabachi

First appearing in service with the AMP, the AV-1 Jigabachi was the result of an open design competition, chosen over the piloted A-56/W 'Airwolf', and GR03 Hokum series.

The Jigabachi is designed to fly as an unmanned craft, guided by its own artificial intelligence, or by remote control from the ground. Each Jigabachi is fitted with full suite of sensors, including a high-energy radar system capable of penetrating the skin of the city itself. A high-powered dual-turboshaft engine and a NOTAR tail allows the Jigabachi to maneuver safely within the relatively tight confines of the Crystal Cities.

Their signature features are a large bulging radome forming the chopper's 'head', and a modular, retractable tail cabable of packing a heavy sting. Underwing hardpoints can carry additional fuel, countermeasures, swarms, or heavier ordnances as needed. For obvious reasons, these are rarely used, except on interception duties away from cities

The standard A and B variants differ only in sensor suites. Neither are capable of independant spaceflight be default.

The C version employed by the STU forgoes the standard turbo-rotor in favour of an all-electric powertrain. Further details of its power source are classified. The Jigabachi C is near silent in operation, and tough to detect by conventional means with a minimal radar signature, almost no thermal signature and a highly advanced LPI sensor suite. The first warning of a Jigabachi C being present is usually the first bullet being fired.

The D variant is a spaceflight-rated version, originally specific to Nehallenia and Shin-Azubajuban.

A dedicated Firefighting F-variant replaces the main gun with a high-flow nozzle and tanks of fire-retardants. Painted in bright red, it forgoes all attemps at stealth. F-models also incorporate an auto-winch and rescue harness.

A piloted G-Variant is being developed for the AD-Police of Genaros.

------
Attributes:

Hornet Swarm: Operate in meshed swarms of 3-5, overwhelming a target's defences. One observes, while the others attack, with roles switching and changing between units. If you can only see 1 Jigabachi, chances are the other two are sneaking up on you.

A bug on the screen: All variants except F have somelevel of Stealth capability

Hornet Queen: A single Jigabachi can also act as a focal node for a swarm of smaller surveillance drones, launched from missile tubes.

Quirks:

Natural enemies: Tachikoma and Jigabachi do not 'get along'.

Buzzin' Hornets: Makes a distinctive and noticeable buzzing noise as it flies, rising in pitch and intensity as it swoops in for the attack , dropping it's tail to make its sting.

--------
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

The caper packed up nicely : girls, stage effects; egg-chairs all vanished neatly within the stage as it reconfigured back into its cargo pod form. Wandblume unhurriedly toggled the power-skid’s G-canceler ; aligned her payload  towards the entrance. She waved a jaunty farewell at the two wincing, standing women watched the proceedings with warring expressions : one vexed, the other somewhere in between taken aback and taken with.
Vexed, it was probably Mikuru but Wandblume hadn’t done enough homework to be sure, ejaculated incredulously : “You’re just going to waltz off the station?”
Wandblume grinned the grin of avian-suffused cats : “With the two of you conducting the orchestra!” Wandblume’s sinister hand hovered over the gimmick that had ‘sealed’ the chamber. “Unless you don’t want the time to come up with a better scenario than the one that just occurred! Wakatta?” (‘Understand’ but in the wrong--past--tense :  Shego’s using her flawed Japanese lessons from watching the Über-cool Kill Bill Vol. 1)
Mildly miffed Yayoi mumbled, “???.” (Wakaru.)
Wandblume wasn’t actually certain what that meant, but given maybe-Mikuru’s look of grudging submission it was probably some form of unhappy Japanese acquiescence.
“Sayonara!” Shego actuated--turning things on is so Twentieth Century!--her toy ; made her egress between the  cinematically sedate cargo doors.  
“Yayoi, we’re really letting her go?”
“We’re not letting her go, Mikuru : our reputes are.”
“??”(Nanda) Tanned, out of her shell ; dealing with the self-discovery of a not all together wholesome fetish, the lass named Mikuru was a mess.
Yayoi quirked an enigmatic look at her partner as the Brobdingnagian portal hissed melodramatically closed. The glacially crystalline aspect of her grey matter, her inner Moriarty,  succinctly  & dispassionately considered the viability of her partnership with one that could be so easily plumbed.  
“Don’t worry, Mikuru we’ll see [your Mistress] her again. I promise you! I don’t like loose ends!” She instantly regretted that particular turn of phrase as it reminded her of own, decidedly not loose, end.  
*****
The only real risk to Wandblume’s egress  through the L5 superstructure arose from her own near inability to keep her sense of triumph from seething and spurting through a barely maintained frosty facade. She received some strange looks from passersby whom, after the fact, remembered an attractive, oddly gay greenish girl with enough luggage for a platoon of colonial marines.  A blue border collie  gave her a happy bark and tail wag as it proceeded past her on its quadruped route towards some bit of doggy L5 business. Wandblume came very close to blurting out , ‘What’s that, girl : Timmy’s down the gravity well?’She barely got by the blandly boring L5 egress security check. The pressurized hiss marking Envy’s atmospheric independence from the larger station cued Wandblume’s victorious touchdown dance.
She released the girls from the pod ; favored Stygia with an arch  grin.
“Love at first smite, girl!”
Stygia, for all of her gothic lassitude,  blushed a fetching, if somewhat languorous, full bodied carmine. 

To: all-call@nation.fen
From: The White Phantom (WhitePhantom@Kaitou.fen)
Subj: The Riddle
Date: 06-05-2021 - 00:01 UTC
When Fear sees Terror's silhouette,
I shall come for the blood dripping off the Crimson Spear in the home of the second Noble.
I shall see you at the scene of the crime.
The White Phantom
_________________________________________________________
A few days before...
To: smof-news@smofcon.fen
From:"Phillip O. Zephyr" KaitouAdmin@Kaitou.fen
Subj: Heist Data
Date: 06-03-2021 - 12:15 UTC
Alright, there's less than thirty-six hours until we go live with the Riddle.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank various Helium officials again, for not throwing out our performance art request at the last minute by mistake. We really don't want a repeat of that incident on Kandor, and I'm pretty nobody else does either.
Anyway, just in case somebody missed it before, I'll explain the heist again. We're going to be going after the Bloody Tears, a set of rubies on display, on the top floor of Jeddak's Tower.
The heist is scheduled to begin when Phobos is eclipsed by both Mars and Deimos. So, right around nine PM on the tenth of July.
Our face Kaitou's going to be putting in appearance about ten minutes beforehand on the roof of the nearby Yutani building. After letting his cloak flutter dramatically in the wind for a bit, we'll be launching our sky Kaitou via concealed catapult. Sky Kaitou will fly up, snap his glider wings out, and then crash though the north facing windows. They've already been replaced with a material less likely to leave our guy a smear on the windshield. For any clever spectaters that figure out the riddle and go up to the top, there's been a scheduled pressurization issue. That way, it's mandatory for everyone to at least have a good helmet on. We'll have a guy on scene distributing cheap rental suits too, just in case sombody's a little forgetful.
Sky Kaitou will have a mock battle with some of the guards in place. I'm going to say this again. It's going to be a mock battle. This has all been choreographed in advance. Will the appropriate parties please make sure that any Trouble Shooters in the audience don't draw their weapons and intervene?
Afterward, there'll be some dramatic cape flaring, before the Bloody Tears get picked up. The Ruby case has already been tricked out to unfold at the appropriate moment. Sky Kaitou will pull a little sleight of hand, do a pose with the Tears, and then jump out the south window. He'll land in our catcher's net a floor down, and be reeled in before anyone sees where he went. Then Bike Kaitou will launch on a swoop bike, and lead a merry chase of patrol-craft around the towers of the Helium. We've already laid out our route and cleared it with local law enforcement, so there's no chance of this turning into a mobile accident waiting to happen.
Special thanks to the volunteers in the Helium Police Department for working with us on this, and to Inspector Aki for deciding not to allow units in pursuit to take potshots at our Kaitous.
And just to clarify; the Bloody Tears will be swapped with props for the duration of the Heist. Our Kaitou will not be taking the actual rubies. This should have been cleared up by now, but we keep getting polite warnings to return what we take. After the Heist, the Bloody Tears will not be on display for a week, not because we stole them, but because the curator of the exhibit agreed to not display them until we returned our prop Tears in a highly visible way.
Alright, that takes care of the Heist bits. We'll be posting our line up of Detectives the usual way a few days from now. One of our usual guys got caught up in a little accident, and doesn't quite fill out the trench-coat the same anymore. Whether or not she'll go forward as is, or if we'll find somebody else is still in the air.
So, last chance to slam the brakes on the operation, folks. Once the Riddle goes out, we're locked into the performance. If you have any questions or concerns, now's the time to bring them up.
-Phillip O. Zephyr
'A little magic makes life interesting.'
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
[A/N] So begins the first real hesit. In universe, this is probably the third or fourth 'performance' this crew has done. They've worked out some of the kinks in their operations, gotten shot at a few times, and gotten quite a bit better at coordinating with other people so there's less freak outs about thefts of high profile objects. This just happens to be the first one written.
There's some nudges to past incidents in the above, but none of it's really fleshed out. If you want to write back about something, go for it.
Now, I get that the tone is perhaps a little irreverent in sections. This is because Phil (the first one I've named in the Kaitou crew) is a little upset about past instances where his guys have been shot at by people who didn't get the memo that this is supposed a show, not an actual crime in progress. So he goes out of his way to clarify things.
Anyway, I'm just going to flesh out Phil quick. He's basically the band manager. He plans the gigs, secures the venue, gets the noice permits, schedules the tours, and all that other fun stuff. In other words, his job is to make sure no one either sues them for property damage or drags them off to jail for commiting grand larceny. It also means stopping people from shooting at his guys.
His name is also a pun, but that's neither here nor there.
Also, about the riddle. I have no idea how to go about predicting celestial movement, so I'm just making up times and dates. And I don't know if I used the proper terminology for that situation. Or if my riddle was comprehensible at all, really. Or if Bloody Tears is really an acceptable name for jewelry. I made it up to sound cool, but who'd actually wear or commision something like that? Geeze.

To: all-call@nation.fen
From: Seele Council (monolithsociety@pavonis.fen)
Subj: -Third Annual Fleamarket Soon To Open-
Date: 01-11-2022 - 15:03 UTC

While the Pavonis fleamarket has previously been a local thing amongst we NERVers and the Elies, last year we on the council received more than just a few e-mails in regards to possibly opeing things up to the public. We, your humble corporate overlords in the Monolith Appreciation Society, have listened to these requests and come to a conclusion.
Come on down!!!
The 3rd Annual Pavonis Fleamarket will be open from the 25th to the 31st and will be held in the Sheffield Community Centre (and several nearby warehouses, if necessary). To claim a space at which to hawk you wares (no charge), contact Mr. Jarvis at dontaskjeeves@pavonis.fen.
Of particular note this year is what the NERV Foundation will be bringing to the table. Thanks to tip off from a friend on the net, I recently managed to acquire most of the lifetime collection of a late psuedo-doomsday prepper (his relatives wish him to remain anonymous) from Wherethedulockami, Michigan. Since this incognito fellow sold off his salt mining company in the late 80s, he's been hoarding enough junk for trade and survival in that vague, post-apocalyptic wasteland of the future in one of his company's old mines that those guys from American Pickers would sell their left arms to rumage through.
Some of the things he managed to pile up are real head-scratchers, folks. Amidst a plethora of various junk and tech (in various states of disrepair, which is apparently how he afforded so much of it), we have three VW Schwimmwagens, a Victor Coca-Cola Hot Dog Kooler Grill, several Thunderbolt warning sirens, a trailer full's worth of obsolete Apples and IBMs, and, get this, _four freakin' UNIVACs_. Other than these oddballs, if its from the late 40s to early 90s and generally considered attic or celar-worthy, he grabbed it.
We on the Seele Council and in the NERV Foundation look forward to seeing you later this month. And remember, if your product says NERV - it had better be one of my T-Series units talking, or you should run for the hills.

Alex Xanatos
Commander of NERV
"God's in His Heaven, all's right with the world."
***
Just an idea I had that may help get my and others creative juices running. *shrugs*

Disclaimer - The W.I.T.C.H. comic book was created by Elisabetta Gnone, Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepa and published by Disney Italia. No infringement of the copyright is intended.

Author's Notes: This story is based on the comic continuity - although I hope it is still clear for anyone only familiar with the cartoon, there are some rather significant differences in the plot (for one thing, don't expect to see Caleb for a while). Astral Drops were first seen in episode 8 of the cartoon's first season and the end of issue #3 of the comic. It was only after starting this that I watched episode 8 of the second season and issue #23 of the comic, where Will's astral drop becomes a character in her own right. This story diverges from issue #4 of the comic.

W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H.

An Astral Drop in Heatherfield

W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H.

My first memory is of a cave by the sea.

I didn't know who I was, or where I came from but I was facing a redheaded girl and surrounded by several others. All of them except the girl I was facing were in pairs, exactly alike in appearance and clothes. It took me a few moments to realise that I was paired with the redhead.

Her copy. An astral drop, she called me.

There were memories, but they were a thin shadow of those that the others had: the other three like me each appeared to have the full memory and mannerisms of their originals.

"Complete idiot!" one of the 'real girls' shouted. "Why did you make something like that? She's useless!"

My original hung her head. "I... when I was making her I was afraid that..."

"...that your astral drop would take your place in Heatherfield?" asked a blonde girl. I should have known her name then (it's Cornelia, I learned later).

"Well it's only a little mistake. Will can make another one," the first girl suggested. I couldn't help but feel a bit wounded at that. I was just going to be discarded? Then again, what else would one do with something that was useless? I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to crush the hollow feeling I felt at the idea.

Cornelia shook her head. "I don't think she can, Irma."

"Cornelia's right," the redhead agreed. "This is my problem and I want to solve it myself." She opened a knapsack and pulled out paper and a pen. "Look I'll write everything you need to do on this piece of paper. Can you read?"

I was relieved to realize that I did at least know that. "Of course. Er... just one question?"

She nodded. "Sure."

"Who's Will?"

There were groans from the other girls.

"I am," she told me. "But you have to pretend to be me."

W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H.

"One more time, from the beginning," asked Will as we left the cave.

"Okay." I consulted the schedule she'd made out for me, feeling more comfortable with the idea with something concrete to guide me. And more comfortable with myself that Will was trusting me. "Seven AM, wake up. Seven-fifteen, shower. Seven-fifty-five, kiss for mom, breakfast and..."

Will nodded and picked out her bike for me. Riding it... yes! I knew how to ride a bike! Good! "Alright," she reminded me. "Follow the instructions so you won't make mistakes. And remember..."

"To learn the things I'm not allowed to do?"

She nodded again.

"Got it!" I assured her and mounted the bike.

It didn't take long to get out of sight of the cave but I couldn't help but look around in wonder. The whole world was new to me and the fact that it was dark anywhere not lit by streetlights really didn't matter. I pedaled until my legs grew tired, having completely forgotten about following the directions I'd been given to get back to Will's apartment.

Looking around I didn't recognise any landmarks except the river. My directions hadn't said anything about it, but I knew I'd crossed it so I headed for a bridge and stopped on the sidewalk there, checking the student ID in my pocket to get the name of the street. Maybe I could ask directions... otherwise I'd have to ride around checking street names until I got lucky.

No sooner had I put my - Will's? no, she'd not given me hers, so it must be mine - purse away than I saw a car with blue and red lights on the roof cruising past me. I wasn't sure what it was at first, but the word POLICE on the side gave it away.

I'd mounted the bike and was pedaling slowly (what do you want, I'd been riding for at least an hour, I was tired!) off the bridge when I saw the police car stop and then reverse slightly. There didn't seem to be anyone else around so I guessed that they must be doing it because of me - which was kind of scary because the police car was waaaay bigger than me and the bike combined.

(If I forgot to mention it, Will was thirteen and kind of short. So I was the same size, even if I was only a few hours old).

Fortunately the car came to a halt and the driver poked his head out of his window. "Hey, I thought it was you. Isn't it a bit late for you to be out?"

"...uh..." Will hadn't mentioned any men I should be aware of, much less any policemen!

He took off his hat so I could see him more clearly. "I'm Irma's dad, remember?"

Irma... oh, hey, that was the loud girl from earlier. "Uh... I'm kinda lost," I admitted sheepishly.

He rolled his eyes. "You kids... okay, where do you live?"

I told him. I mean, he was a policeman and he was Irma's dad. That was probably okay? Will could have mentioned that to me. Then again, she did give me directions to go straight home so maybe she didn't expect it to come up. I'd have to check my instructions as soon as I could.

Irma's dad whistled. "You really are lost." He reached into the car for a moment and the trunk popped open. "We'd better get you a ride home. Do you think that your bike will fit in the trunk?"

It did - mostly - although I needed his help to lift it in. Being short is definitely not my favourite thing.

Much to my chagrin, the first thing he did when we strapped into the seats (I was riding in the back) was turn around and go back across the bridge. I guess I must have crossed the river without realising it at some point.

"So do you have a boyfriend?" he asked, looking back over his shoulder. "'Cause Irma's got this boy Martin from her class who keeps dropping by and asking her out."

I felt my cheeks get hot for some reason.

"Heh. You kids grow up so fast."

Hey! I didn't say anything. What sort of conversation was he having anyway?

After a few minutes he pulled up outside a tall apartment building. "Okay, here you are. Want me to walk you up?"

I shrugged. "If you don't think I can make it that far. I'm gonna need your help getting my bike out of the back though."

"You're welcome."

I flushed again. "And thanks for giving me a ride."

"My pleasure," he assured me and got out of the car.

W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H.

I was able to figure out locking up my - er, Will's - bike onto the rack without too much trouble and I even found her apartment on the first try. (Let's not talk about how many of the keys in her pocket it took before I figured out the right combination to open the apartment door.)

Now I meant to scout out the apartment and find which room was which before I went to bed...

Except that I was kind of tired, and the couch looked really comfortable...

The next thing I knew there was sunlight on my face and I discovered that somehow a blanket had found its way to cover me while I was sleeping.

Oh man! My instructions said I should sleep in Will's bed! I was messing this up all over the place.

"Well good morning, sleepy-head," a woman greeted me with amusement in her voice. Then she sneezed.

I thought quickly (okay, what passes for quickly when you're just barely awake). Will had mentioned a Mom, and she hadn't said anything about anyone else in the apartment. Then again, she'd not mentioned Irma's dad either. "Mom?" I rubbed my eyes and pretended to still be half-asleep. Instead of, you know, a quarter-asleep.

"Of course, silly." She reached down and tousled my hair. "You looked so adorable asleep on the couch I couldn't bear to move you. Were you..." Achtoo! "...sorry, were you waiting up for me?"

I nodded. I was obviously going to have to get used to this lying thing in a hurry.

"I'm sorry I was late," she said apologetically. "But I'm going to call in sick because of this cold so I'll be home all day today."

"Okay." I thought about my instructions. "I'll... come straight home from school?"

I got a big hug. There was something... oh yeah, I was supposed to kiss Mom! I think that was later but I couldn't see a clock or my instructions so I winged it and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Are you sure?" Mom asked. "I know you want to spend time with your friends."

My friends? Ah, Will's friends: Cornelia, Irma and... who was the other girl in the cave? Oh, but they were off on a Magical Girl adventure to rescue their other friend. So it would be their astral drops at school and after school, who'd all know each other because they had their proper memories and weren't defective like me. I sniffled a bit into Mom's shoulder.

"Oh Will... did you fall out with them?"

I mumbled something and let her draw her own conclusions.

"Oh honey. I'm sure they feel just as bad about it as you do. I'll put some extra cookies in your lunch. I'm sure that will help patch things up."

"Cookies?"

"Uh-huh!" She let go of me. "Now hadn't you better go shower and get dressed?"

With wonderful precision timing I was in the shower when the doorbell rang.

"Willll! It's for you!" Mom called from the door.

I spent a minute trying to figure out how to wrap myself in a towel and settled for scrubbing myself as I ran back into Will's room and pulled on the pajamas still laid out to wear for last night.

"Will!"

"Coming!" I called back and scurried for the door. Mom was waiting with a tall, long-haired boy wearing a hat and cradling a small rodent. I wasn't sure if I was expected to scream in terror or coo in delight so I settled for an awkward wave of the hand. "Hi."

"Um, hi Will." I think he would have waved back but his arms were fully engaged with a suddenly hyper little critter. "I brought the dormouse back. I know it's only..." He checked his watch. "Um... ten to eight..."

I accepted the little creature without protest - largely because I was mentally castigating Will as best I could. She didn't mention a pet, she didn't mention this boy... What else had she forgotten!?

(Okay, in retrospect, I was being unfair. Will had had perhaps fifteen minutes to write my instructions down. They could never have been good enough. Bear in mind, I had maybe twelve hours of life experience to judge by at this point, more than half of which I'd been asleep for).

"Thank you," I said politely, letting the dormouse (whatever that was) scramble up onto my shoulder and trying not to flinch as its claws dug in a bit through the pajama top. "I hope you didn't have too much trouble."

Matt gave me an awkward look. "I don't think my parents were terribly happy about him making noise all night. Particularly on such short notice." That was a little bit pointed.

Will! "I'm really really sorry. Yesterday was really crazy and everything came apart all at once." And I really really hope I can tell a convincing lie. "Please can you tell them I'm sorry?"

"Uh, sure. Is... everything okay now?"

I gave him a smile. "It's better. Thank you."

"Uh, any time."

Something over my shoulder seemed to give him qualms. "Er, I'll see you at school then?"

"Sure!"

Once the door was closed I turned around. Mom gave me a peculiar look. "Will, I know I rushed you, but you really could have finished buttoning your pajama top."

I looked down and saw that while I had covered the essentials, the boy must have seen my midriff where the top was gaping due to mis-aligned buttons. "oooo." My face was going red again.

W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H.

I get the distinct impression I was running late when I reached Sheffield Institute. Something about the grounds being deserted as I locked up Will's bike and dashed inside.

Fortunately I the corridors weren't empty yet, so I was able to slip into the class room my directions from Will led to just ahead of the bell. I spotted Cornelia - or at least her astral drop - sitting a row back from where I wound up so I couldn't even look to her for guidance.

I had to focus: I'd slipped up earlier and had to do some pretty fancy footwork to get out of it. But I couldn't count on being that lucky again. I'd read and re-read the schedule until I practically had it memorised.

First class was Mathematics. How hard could it be?

Of course, it would help if I had any memories of any past classes. The teacher didn't ask me anything so I wasn't obviously ignorant, but that was just because he was new and gave everyone a test to see how good we are at maths. I took my best guess but the only part I was sure I got right was when I scribbled Will's name at the top. And even that was a lie.

"You're looking depressed," 'Cornelia' told me as she subtly guided me to the next class. Hopefully English would be easier.

"I think I flunked that test pretty badly."

She laughed. "Maths has never been your subject, 'Will'," she assured me. "We'll still have to think of a forfeit for you though. Maybe you should ask Professor Collins for tutoring."

"Professor Collins?" I dug into my bag and pulled out the class schedule. "But he teaches history, not maths... doesn't he?"

"Hmm... you really don't remember anything do you?"

I gave her a confused look. "What? You know I don't. Oh. Quick question. That guy in our class, long hair - two seats to my right..."

"Matt?"

"Okay. Are he and... you know, friends?"

"What, no!" She shook her head. "At least I don't think you are. Elyon had a crush on him though."

"Who?"

'Cornelia' gave me a pained look. "I'll tell you later," she promised as we went into the classroom.

English actually was better: we were supposed to read out from a play. Well I can read okay, or at least I thought I could. This was in some sort of old English (how that differs from normal English I'm not sure) with lots of words that I didn't know or that didn't mean what I expected them to mean.

Still it was better than Maths.

"You're really getting into this," 'Cornelia' muttered - I'd managed to snag a seat next to her this time.

"Well it's fun," I replied quietly. "Er... Shouldn't I enjoy it?"

'Cornelia' shrugged slightly. "Will's kind of shy at times."

"Oh." Another blunder.

"Well it's too late now," she advised. "Just keep going."

And that's what I did all the way to lunch.

The five of us gathered at what they told me was our regular table in the cafeteria.

"So you don't remember anything?" 'Irma' asked. "That's really weird. Dad said he had to drive you home last night after he found you roaming the streets late at night."

"I got lost," I mumbled around one of the cookies that Mom had packed for my lunch.

'Hay Lin' nodded. "It must be hard not to have Will's memories to guide you. But I'm sure they'll be back soon and everything will be alright."

The other four astral drops all nodded their heads, 'Taranee' being the most vigorous. Her original had been missing for days now, captured by Cedric when they had strayed through a portal into Metamoor: the world beyond. If the other four couldn't rescue her... Who knew what might be happening to her?

"But... what if they aren't?" I asked nervously. There was an ugly feeling in my chest. I wanted Will to come back so I didn't have to keep up this deception any more... but at the same time, the idea of her return frightened me.

'Cornelia' flicked her long hair. "Don't worry about it. I'm far too beautiful to be stopped by some monster from Metamoor."

"So what are we doing after school?" 'Irma' asked. "Want to go to the mall, Cornelia?"

"Sounds great," the blonde agreed. "Do you want to come along, Will?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm going to go straight home. It's on my schedule."

They giggled at that. I guess it must have seemed very silly to them that I had to follow a plan instead of having the information to decide what to do on my own.

W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H.

Someone had trashed the bike shed (again, from Cornelia's comments). I will not name names (because I don't know the names) but I suspect the four boys who departed sniggering just as we got there. Just a guess. 'Cornelia' waved her hand as if that would straighten things out and looked notably put out when it didn't. I guess it would have worked for the real Cornelia.

"So, Elyon?" I asked quietly as we untangled our bikes from the pile.

"She's my best friend. We've been in the same class since we were little." Her face was expressionless. "The night after the Halloween party, Elyon lured 'you', Irma and Hay Lin into the gym and almost got you captured by two monsters from Metamoor. Then when we lost Taranee she was there with them."

"Oh."

"Yeah." With a grimace, the blonde examined her bicycle. "So why were you asking about Matt?"

"He visited me - Will - before school to return her pet dormouse. I didn't even know she had one!"

"That must of been awkward," she agreed.

I blushed at the memory.

"What's this?" 'Cornelia' gave me an amused look. "Oh, is Elyon not the only one with a crush on him?"

"It's not like that," I protested. "I just had a little... clothing malfunction."

She gasped. "Oooh! You're so bold! I never would have guessed! Irma and Hay Lin have to hear this. Tell me all the juicy details!"

"There are no juicy details." My voice may have risen just a little as I scrambled onto my own bike.

"Of course not," my fellow astral drop agreed with a sly grin. "He's really cute though, isn't he?"

I declined to comment and she waved after me. "See you tomorrow."

"Only if they don't come back," I whispered.

I paid very close attention to my route on the way back. Getting lost a second time would be really dumb. And it gave me something else to think about... whether our originals would return.

Don't get me wrong. I didn't want them to fail or for any of them to come to harm. Well, maybe Irma, but even then I only mean a little harm. Something to give her a scare or something. But...

Yes, but. Because when they come back, we all go away.

That's the whole point of us. To take their places until they return. After that they won't need us and we'll... disappear?

I honestly wasn't sure of the... magical mechanics and I hadn't thought to ask the other astral drops if they did. But surely our originals wouldn't want us to be around once they were here again. So that would be it. All the life I would have was what I had until Will came back.

(Okay, maybe concentrating on not getting lost wasn't doing a very good job of distracting me from thinking about this.)

It wasn't until I cycled into the yard outside the apartment building that I remembered what Will and Cornelia (the real ones had said) in the cave when I was created. She'd been afraid that I would replace her.

Could I do that?

I didn't so much dismount my - her - bicycle as fall off it. Everything I'd eaten at lunch came boiling up out of me and spattered across the ground and my shoes.

The idea terrified me with the power that it had over my imagination. The chance to wake up every morning for breakfast with Mom... to go to school and have my own grades and my own favorite classes and teachers... to be friends with Cornelia and Matt and Hay Lin and Taranee...

I wiped my mouth with the back of my sleeve and locked up the bike in a daze.

They wouldn't be my friends, I reminded myself. Not if I'd stolen away the life of their friend Will.

Could I pretend to be her?

What was I even thinking? I shuddered. She would hardly let me do that, it was her own nightmare. And I didn't know anything much about her life really. Anyone suspicious would only have to ask a few questions to know that I was an imposter.

It could never work.

And even to try would be to betray her.

Betray the girl who'd given me life, given me everything I had.

But only as a loan. Only until she takes it away from you, a treacherous voice whispered inside of me. Including your life.

My forehead collided with the apartment door. "Ugh." I leant against it, fumbling in my jacket pockets until I found the keys. Getting them into the correct keyholes was as bad as the night before. It might have helped if I could keep my eyes open without tears forming.

After a moment I gave up. I couldn't go in like this, Mom would know that something was up. I had to get myself together first.

I turned around and sat down in the hallway, back against the door. Okay, let's try to look at this logically.

If I was to take Will's place I'd have to make her disappear somehow, I realised. She'd never stand for it... and I'd be doing to her exactly what I was afraid of her doing to me.

Do it to her before she did it to me? That wouldn't make it right. And besides, like I'd thought earlier, I couldn't keep up the pretense forever. Maybe one of the other astral drops might have been able to, but I couldn't.

So I couldn't, shouldn't and wouldn't try to get rid of Will to take over her life. If she came back, when she came back... her life would be hers again.

I wasn't her and I wasn't going to try to be her. However much I wanted to have Will's life, I wouldn't give up who I was for it. I wanted my own life not a cheap copy of hers.

Making that decision didn't make my situation any better, but the hollow feeling that I'd been having ever since the cave began to fade away. Perhaps it was because I made the right decision... or perhaps it was because I had made that decision, not Will. I was going to take charge of my life and not surrender it to her.

Okay. I might not know yet what I was going to do, but I knew what I wasn't going to. It was a start. Fishing into my pocket I pulled out a hankie and blew my nose before mopping at my face. Okay, now to face Will's Mom before she wondered if I'd changed my mind about coming straight home from school.

This time I managed to get the door open on only my third attempt.

"Welcome home," Mom greeted me from the couch. She lifted the TV remote and muted whatever it was she was watching. Then she frowned. "Have you been crying?"

Well so much for my hasty face cleaning. "I'm feeling kind of sick. I sorta... tossed my cookies outside."

"Oh Will!" She jumped up and I got dragged into a hug. "Did you have a bad day at school?"

"It was... okay. There was a Maths test. I didn't feel ill until I was riding home."

She let me loose and then pulled a thermometer out of the various things she'd stacked on the table by the couch. (I think she'd just holed up there all day). "Do you think you'll be sick again?"

"I don't think so," I admitted uncertainly.

She stuck the thermometer into my mouth.

"Mmmm mmm mm?"

"Don't take it out for couple of seconds," she told me. "You might be coming down with something."

I sat obediently with it in my mouth until Mom was satisfied and checked the result. "Well you don't have a temperature." She gave me a little push. "Why don't you have a shower, put on your pajamas and we can curl up here until we feel better?"

"That sounds... really good."

"I'll order pizza," she offered. "Do you want the usual?"

What was pizza? Still, 'the usual' was probably safe. I nodded and headed for my bedroom to get the pajamas.

"And then we can talk about that boy, Matt."

Erk. That's pretty much the sound I made.

Mom gave me a little wave to get moving. "And remember to button your top properly."

It took me about ten minutes to get back into the lounge, having spent a good five of them in the shower. The hot water just seemed to wash everything away.

Mom was putting down the phone when I got back. "I didn't get to tell you this morning, but I was going to have a guest for dinner," she told me. "It's probably a good thing he couldn't make it with us both unwell."

"He?" Who had she invited? Not Matt, surely? Will's father perhaps? He hadn't been in evidence this morning and she hadn't mentioned him in the instructions.

"Mr. Collins." She waited a moment for a reaction that I evidently failed to get. "Your history teacher?"

"Oh! Professor Collins!" Why, oh why, hadn't I asked 'Cornelia' what she meant about him. "Why was he coming for dinner?"

That got a sigh. "I know it's difficult for you with him being your teacher, but Dean's a nice man. He's a friend, a good friend..."

"Just friends?"

"Maybe more than that," Mom conceded. "Would it really be so bad if I started dating again?"

Oh, this is just great. If I get this wrong... "I'm not... keen on that, Mom. But I can't actually think of a reason you shouldn't..."

"Thank you dear."

"I do think you could do better."

"Oh?" She arched her back girlishly and for a moment I was actually jealous. "Should I steal Matt away from you?"

"It's not like that, Mom," I whined.

W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H.

Later I lay on Will's bed and looked up at the ceiling.

Her Mom had decided to have a nap after the pizza (which was apparently food and very tasty food at that). If I was lucky that 'nap' would last all night - having a cold must be tiring because she looked much sleepier than I felt and she hadn't had to go to school.

Of course that still left me with what to do about Will.

It seemed to me that there were two possibilities: either she would come back or she wouldn't. There was nothing I could do to influence that. And there was no way of knowing how long it would take before she could get back. If she took too long then I'd probably be found out before she got back.

That meant...

I rolled over on the bed and closed my eyes.

Okay, two plans. One for her coming back and one for when I decided she wasn't likely to come back. No, that was wrong. I'd need three plans: the third one for if someone figured out I wasn't really Will.

A nasty thought crossed my mind. Will had created me through magic. What if... 'something' happening to her in Metamoor would make me vanish? Could I exist without her?

There was no way for me to know. I'd have to ask the others at school tomorrow, see if they had any idea. I shivered at the thought. I could just... vanish. Without warning. Without even knowing I was in danger.

I wish I knew how dangerous Metamoor was for her!

So I need three plans. Ummmm... Run away? Sounded good, but where too?

And when should I give up on Will coming back?

I opened my eyes and saw the folded piece of paper with Will's instructions on it. They just covered one day. Did that mean I should expect her sometime tonight? Or just that I should try to follow them every day until she got back?

I didn't think there was school every day. I'd have to ask Cornelia tomorrow. I could probably keep up the pretense for another few days at school. I really ought to make a list of questions to ask her.

Climbing out of bed I rifled through Will's desk until I found a notebook I could write in. Oh! I could use this to write down what's happened so far, I realised. That way Will doesn't get caught out at anything she missed without her having to absorb me!

I was scribbling down about being ill when I got back from school - I didn't think I needed to tell Will exactly why I'd felt ill. She'd probably not be very happy with me. Well, more unhappy than she was probably going to be anyway - when there was a noise against the window.

I gave it a puzzled look - this was on the third floor! - and saw something small bounce off it. What? Was someone throwing something at my - at Will's - bedroom window? I scrambled over and unlatched it just in time for the next projectile to bounce off my forehead. "Ow!" I caught it and realised it was just a fleck of gravel. Still - it could have hit me in the eye or something.

Looking down I was about to give whoever was down there a piece of my mind when I recognised who it was.

Will!

The fears I had had for her dropped away - she was there, not missing any obvious bits and not acting like one of her friends had died. They'd made it!

Then reality sank it. It meant that I was going to have to run now. And she was between me and the way out.

I leant out of the window, pointed at the bike shelter, then at myself and down at the bike shelter. Hopefully she'd understand that I meant I would go down to meet her there.

With that done I closed the window, scrawled another few lines onto the 'list of things Will should know' and chucked the 'questions for Cornelia' list into the bin. I wasn't going to have any chance to ask them.

Two minutes later I had pulled the clothes I'd worn the day out of before out of the laundry heap (there was a basket, it was overflowing) and hastily dragged them on. Then I took a deep breath...

And wandered out into the apartment's hall. I didn't check Mom's room - although I was very tempted -  instead I walked into the kitchen and replaced the bin bag. If Mom suddenly emerged, either on my departure or Will's return, my reason for being out was taking the trash down. The pizza box along was large enough to justify not keeping it in the kitchen longer than necessary.

Will was waiting for me by the bicycle rack. I stopped halfway there and dropped the bag.

"What's the matter?" she asked and started walking towards me.

I raised my hand for her to halt and then gestured to the bag. "If Mom asks why you stepped out, you were taking out the trash."

"Good idea. You don't have to explain though. I'll remember everything when I absorb you." She took another step forwards.

I took a step back. "I'm not going to let you do that."

"What?"

I pulled out the list and dropped it on the ground. "This should explain." Then I turned and ran out of the yard and onto the street.

"Wait!" I couldn't see Will chase me, but from the sound of feet hitting the tarmac that's what she was doing. "Come back!"

I rounded a corner and got out of her line of sight. I only had to get half a block before there was an alleyway I could get into and hopefully she was tired from her adventure and wouldn't be able to keep running as long as I could. Once I was a couple of corners ahead, she wouldn't know where I was going.

Of course...

...nor did I.

W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H. - W.I.T.C.H.

The cave hadn't changed since last night: an opening in the cliffs behind one of what I guessed was probably one of several small beaches along Heatherfield's coast. The water was a little higher than I recalled but still a good distance from the entrance.

It was cold and it had taken a good bit longer than I'd expected for me to walk here. I hadn't appreciated just how much faster it was to ride a bicycle. And it would probably have been faster to come straight here from home - from Will's home - than to get lost a couple of times.

I hadn't thought of this cave when I ran away. Not until I was halfway across Heatherfield and pretty much lost.

Will and her friends might well come looking for me, but they'd look in Heatherfield first. It was the only place I knew and while I'm sure there are other towns and cities I'm not sure how to get to them. And I knew that except for Taranee and Will they'd lived in Heatherfield their whole lives. They knew it far better than I.

But if I could get through a portal to Metamoor... well I had no idea what I might find there, but how was I worse off than here? And they wouldn't have much if any better idea about it than I did.

Don't get me wrong, I had some idea that it was dangerous in Metamoor. But what were the risks compared to Will getting hold of me? Would they kill me twice?

There were, I found, just a couple of problems. What does a portal look like and how do you use it?

I'd combed the cave, which wasn't actually all that deep, from end to end without finding anything like another way out. The closest I'd found had been various carvings into the stone walls but most were simply pairs of names - invariably a boy's name and a girl's name together. A couple were more esoteric - there was one set of symbolised flames that had me excited for a few minutes - but nothing I could do to them produced any reaction.

"We closed the portal," a soft voice told me.

I swear, I must have jumped a clear foot off the ground. I'd thought I was alone!

For a second I thought that it was Will, but no. Too tall, too... mature. Will and I were barely out of the stage where we could be called little girls, but this girl hovered on the brink of womanhood with a cool confidence in her eyes. I think I envied her that the most.

Her clothes looked like they belonged in a disco or a party: a tight, belly-baring purple top with flowing sleeves that widened dramatically from her elbows to her wrists, a short skirt, knee high boots - and between boots and skirt striped tights covered her legs.

"Please," I asked her, almost begging. "Can't you open it? I have to get away!"

She folded her arms under her bust and looked me over. "I'm a Guardian of the Veil. It's my job to stop people from going through portals, not to help them." Then she lowered her face slightly. "Still... I can't say I've never used them when I really had to. Tell me, why should I make an exception for you?"

"Because I want to live." The words tore out of me. "I... I'm not a real girl," I confessed. "The others say I'm an astral drop. I was supposed to take someone's place - one of the girls who used this yesterday to go to Metamoor - so that no one noticed she was missing. And I did that! But now... now she wants to destroy me. She doesn't need me anymore."

"I know about astral drops," the Guardian told me. She paused. "They... they're not supposed to be more than reflections of the original."

I hung my head. "I'm... different. Defective, they said. I shouldn't be this way, but I am. I'm not her! I'm not Will and if she forces me back into herself... I'll be gone forever."

Her eyes went wide. "You're afraid?"

Jerkily I nodded my agreement and a moment later I felt her arms around me. It was like the morning before, with Will's Mom.

"You shouldn't have to be afraid. I'm sorry."

There was something in her voice that I didn't understand. "It's not your fault, but please! Let me go through!"

"It's too dangerous," she said regretfully. "For you as much as anyone. But I promise you, you won't be harmed."

"You can't be sure of that!"

"I can." There was total confidence in her voice. "You're right. You are different. It would be wrong of me to take away your life."

I wanted to believe that, to believe in her. But Will had powers I didn't understand, as did her friends. Could this Guardian really protect me from them? I blame these fears for not realising what was odd about her words until a moment later.

"After all," she added, "We're practically sisters."

Light swelled around her, leaving me blinking... and in the embrace of someone closer to my size. Identical in fact.

"Will!?" I choked, terror rising. She had me!

But the dissolution I feared didn't take place. Instead she just rested her forehead against mine. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "This is my fault. I never meant to do this to you."

"I never thought you did. Like Irma said, I'm a mistake."

Will's head moved against mine and I realised she was shaking it. "You're more than that. You're a living person."

"Y-you mean it? You're not going to..."

"No!" Her arms tightened around me. "If you had my memories you'd know I'd never do that. But I guess if you did, you wouldn't be you, would you?"

She started to say more but broke off as I started to sob with relief. Through my tears all I could manage to tell her in explanation was a mumbled: "Thank you."

Thank you for not killing me.

Thank you for believing in me.

Thank you for accepting me.

Thank you for being a far better person than I had imagined.
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

"The Heavens are Telling", from Franz Joseph Haydn's oratorio "The Creation":


Extremely unlikely that it'll see use, both because Doug is even more allergic to exalting gods than he is to attracting their attention, and because the best power I can think of is to make the stars visible, regardless of cloud cover, light pollution, or time of day. Anyone in his AoE who looks up during this song will see no clouds, sun, moon, or daytime blue: just the full splendour of the stars, as if in the dead of night in deepest wilderness (except the positions of the stars are correct for their real time and location).

“Captains Log, Stardate 90611.63. After almost three months, our exploration mission into the Khazan Cluster is coming to an end. Having not yet received any orders to expedite our return via transwarp, I’ve placed us on course for Starbase 39 at Warp 9.5. The flight path  our helmsman has plotted should pass over several trade routes, giving us the chance to perform some anti-piracy sweeps as we go.”

***

“I’m almost sorry it’s over,” Lieutenant Smith commented, gloved hands moving over the helm controls as he adjusted the warp field slightly. “I mean, I’ve never had an exploration mission before. It’s my first look at what it used to be like, back in the days of Sulu and Kirk.”

“The old five-year exploration missions?” Aunlez Moral asked, not looking away from her own station.

The Tocraxian chuckled in confirmation. “Oh yeah. I grew up on those stories. One ship, all alone, out beyond the edge of explored space. No idea what they’d find in the next system. Mysterious aliens, stellar anomalies, ancient artifacts, and all they could rely on was their ship and crew...”

Leaning back in the captains chair as she studied the duty roster, Commander Thryiss Aniri smirked. “Why Mister Smith, I never realized you’re something of a romantic,” the ships XO joked.

Shrugging, the man turned his chair towards Aniri, face hidden, as always, behind his environmental suits visor. “Yeah, I’ll admit to that Commander. It’s why I joined Starfleet. I wanted to be one of those captains, setting off into the unknown. Or at the very least, the helmsman on one of those exploration ships. I’d be like the next Hikaru Sulu. Or Tom Paris at least,” he added in a thoughtful tone. “Ancestors, now that’d be something. The adventure of a lifetime.”

Aunlez didn’t bother to hide her smile, but before she could say anything, her console beeped for attention and she turned back to it. The smile faded, and she pressed several buttons, even as her left hand reached up to cover her earpiece. After a few moments, she turned towards the XO. “Commander, we’re picking up a signal on the Federation Merchant Marine frequencies. It’s pretty badly distorted, but I think it’s a distress signal.”

Friendly conversation on the bridge stopped instantly, as Commander Aniri spun her chair towards the comm officer. “Do you have a location?” she asked, eyes narrowing.

“Not yet,” the Trill woman replied, studying her consoles readouts, “but I’ve got a general direction. Approximately forty-eight by thirty-five off our current heading.” While Aniri turned to have Smith make a course chance, she listened to the signal again, starting to run an analysis on it. “It’s not distortion. The signal’s degraded from what looks like some sort of jamming. Merchant vessel... something Summer... attackers in pursuit...” She scowled and shook her head, trying to clean up the signal.

Considering that for a moment, the XO frowned, then tapped her commbadge. “Aniri to Hanagawa.”

***

Stepping out of the turbolift, Captain Priscilla Hanagawa made her way across the bridge to the ops officers station, where Commander Aniri had been in the middle of a discussion with Lieutenant Siysye. “Anything new?” she asked.

“I think so ma’am,” the Rigellian replied, entering a command into his console. The display shifted to show a map of the surrounding star systems. “I’ve sent test signals to a number of relay satellites and stations in the region. Most are coming back cleanly, but this area here-” he pointed to an area ahead and to the side of their current course, highlighted in red “-is showing a lot of poor signal strength or complete loss.” He frowned slightly. “I still can’t determine just what kind of jamming technology we’re looking at, but it appears to cover a radius of perhaps several light years.”

Commander Aniri took up the explanation, reaching up to trace a finger across the screen, her path passing through the highlighted area. “This path is the main route between Starbase 39 and the P’Rel system. There’s a lot of freighters that travel that route from the dilithium mines there. It’s a good spot for pirates that are brave enough to try picking a fight so close to a starbase.”

Priss rubbed the tip of her nose, considering that. “But it can’t be the ships chasing our freighter,” she said after a moment. “Unless this jamming technology is weaker than I’d expect a field that size to be. Which means they have another ship, or maybe something more fixed, and the Summer is on the edge of the field.” She frowned. “Those ships could be less than five light years away, and we can’t see them?”

Siysye nodded. “Which suggests that it’s not just communications being jammed. Matter-antimatter reactions, warp fields, everything you’d expect to see at this range, nowhere to be seen. Based off what seems to have happened to the distress signal and our own test signals, I think we’re looking at some kind of dampening field. We’ve redirected our main sensor arrays to focus on the area, and Chief Rossum is calibrating them for increased sensitivity. We should have more detail on how the field works soon, and whatever’s in there, they can’t hide completely. We’ll find them.”

“Keep at it,” Priss said, then stepped back towards the command chairs, her exec following. “What do you think?” the Captain asked. “Romulans?”

“Maybe. The Star Empire has always had an interest in stealth technology,” Aniri replied. “But using it for what, piracy? Seems like a bit of a waste. It might be the Klingons, or more likely one of their client nations. The Nausicaans or the Syndicate would love something like this. Depending on what the field generator is built into, they could park on a trade route, ambush ships as they come into the dead zone, then move on once enough disappearances are noticed. And once we start to clue in, we’d need to find even more ships for anti-piracy patrols. Again.” Scowling, the Andorian woman sat down and considered the main viewscreen, watching the stars.

“It does seem to be the way of things,” Priss agreed, taking a seat herself. “Once Siysyes team is done with their analysis, I want you to contact Starbase 39. Even if they can’t give us additional information, best they know about it before we get too close and our own communications start to suffer.”

Even as her first officer nodded, the green-skinned woman leaned back in her chair, letting her bridge crew continue to work. It was a familiar routine by now, and she felt no need to meddle. For now, she focused her attention on the mystery they were looking at. There was something lurking at the edge of her memory, something about communications technology, but the more she tried to focus on it, the more the thought slipped away. After almost a minute, she shook her head slightly and put the issue aside for now, even as she watched Aunlez straighten up in her chair. “Siy, I’m sending you some possible coordinates,” she told the Rigellian, transferring it to the other officers station.

Leaning in closer to his own screen, the sensor officer made a thoughtful noise, adjusting the sensor arrays slightly and considering what it reported back to him. “Okay then...” he murmured, then raised his voice. “Captain, I have multiple contacts moving at Warp speed. First target is five point seven light years away, moving towards us at warp eight point one. Warp field and power emissions are consistent with a Caravan class freighter. Second target is six point two light years away, in a pursuit course of target one, speed warp eight point one five.” He frowned slightly. “Second target appears to be multiple ships, with overlapping warp fields. Between that and the dampening field inhibiting sensors, I can’t determine type or exact numbers yet.”

“That distress signal is definately coming from the freighter ma’am,” Aunlez added. “It’s still being affected by the dampening field, but I should be able to establish audio communications, at the very least.”

Crossing her legs, Priss nodded. “Hail them.” Twenty seconds later, the viewscreens image shifted, showing the cramped bridge of the freighter, with three Andorians visible. The man at the central station, middle-aged and with a thick white beard, looked back at them as the other two kept working. “This is Captain Priscilla Hanagawa of the USS Jeff Wayne,” she announced. “We’ve detected your distress signal and have altered our course to intercept.”

On the viewscreen, the freighter captain looked skeptical for a brief moment, likely in response to the fact he was looking at an Orion woman claiming she was a Starfleet captain. Priss ignored that with only the usual brief flare of irritation, because the man seemed to get over it quickly, relief evident in his voice as he spoke. “Captain Gerral Shral of the Andorian Merchant Vessel Frozen Summer. It’s good to see you Captain Hanagawa,” he continued, voice distorted slightly by the signal strength flickering. “We were starting to wonder if anyone was hearing us.”

“They’ve got some impressive jamming technology,” Priss admitted. “It’s still affecting our sensors somewhat. We can see something following you, but we can’t identify ship type or even their exact numbers.”

Gerral nodded in understanding. “There’s three ships, although no one here recognizes the designs. They came out of nowhere, about five hours ago now. Right as we passed them they fired up their warp drives and gave us a broadside out of nowhere, then started chasing us.” He scowled, shaking his head. “There’s something odd about it. We’re pushing our warp drive to a hundred and twenty percent of recommended output, and I thought they were doing the same to try and keep up with us. They’re only getting close enough for a few shots with their energy weapons every twenty minutes or so, then cutting their speed and dropping back slightly.” He glanced at his console for a moment, checking something, then looked back up at the viewscreen. “The thing is, one of them got close enough about half an hour ago for us to get a better look at their warp fields, and they’re hardly pushing it. They should be able to manage warp nine at least,” he explained, almost growling. “It’s like they’re... playing with us for some insane reason.”

Eyes narrowing, Priss considered that. “Not at all like pirates in Federation space,” she mused, then glanced at the console in her arm rest. “At current velocities, we’ll reach each other in... just over three hours. We’ll try to cut some time off that at this end,” she assured the man.

“I doubt we can get much more speed here,” the freighter captain admitted. “But if these bastards keep fooling around like they have been, we should be able to reach you. So far they haven’t even knocked down our shields. I’m sending a copy of our sensor logs to you now. Maybe they’ll help you work out who they are.”

“I appreciate that Captain,” Priss replied. “With any luck, we’ll see you in person soon enough. Jeff Wayne out.” The viewscreen reverted to open space, and Priss glanced at Aunlez, who nodded, confirming she’d received the data from Frozen Summer. Giving it a moments thought, she tapped her commbadge. “Hanagawa to Rossum.”

“Go ahead.”

“Chief, how much more speed can we get out of the engines?” she asked.

“By the book, or with a little creativity?” the chief engineer enquired.

Priss chuckled slightly. “I’m willing to put up with BuShips growling at me over a bit of ‘unjustified’ wear and tear on the nacelles,” she said with a faint smile, and the other woman chuckled.

“Well then, have the helm dial it up. I’ll yell at him when he pushes too hard.”

“You heard the woman Mister Smith,” Priss said. “Punch it.”

“Aye aye Captain,” the encounter-suited man replied, entering commands into his console, the ship beginning to vibrate slightly as it accelerated. It started with a faint buzzing sensation in the deckplates, increasing into a shaking so intense it seemed to rattle the bones, before Smith made several careful adjustments to the warp field, and the engineering team several hundred meters below and behind them worked to control the warp core even as they pulled more power from it. Eventually Smith made a slight twitch that Priss guessed was caused by Megan Rossum yelling at him via his suits internal comm system, the vibrations reduced to a faint buzz, and the Tocraxian made a noise of satisfaction, making one last adjustment before turning back to his captain. “Nine point nine eight,” he reported cheerfully. “Estimated time to the Frozen Summer is now about two hours, eleven minutes.”

Megan Rossum’s voice came through the Captains comm-badge, backed by the intense roar of the ships warp core. “We can hold this speed for that long no problem Skipper,” she said with a cheerfulness at odds with the chaos Priss suspected was filling the engine room right now. “I’m guessing we’ll be looking at some excitement when we’re done with our morning run?”

“You guess correctly, I suspect,” Priss replied, as amused as ever at the engineers attitude.

“I’ll make sure our girl’s ready for it,” the other woman said, before ending the communication.

***