Operation: Home Front - Emotions Running High
	Authors - Will Keith, A. P. Selene / Zaphyre

	The dragon sped through the night sky gripping the TRES officer
tightly between her talons.  Will, the officer in question, was remarkably
calm, considering the fact that he was at a much higher altitude than
normal, suspended from the talons of his enraged lover, and clueless as to
why she was so upset.  Zaphyre, on the other hand, found herself on an
emotional roller coaster as her human Companion[tm] went berserk.
	*I'm going to kill him, Zaph,*  Selene ranted into the dragon's
mind.  *I'm gonna tear him limb from limb and leave his bloated carcass for
the damned vultures.*
	*Relax, you're overreacting,* the dragon sighed, hoping to calm her
down.  *It was just some papers.  And knowing Will, he has a very...*
	*Just some papers! Zaph, you were there! He sat there smirking at
me... laughing.  Grrr... he knew what he was doing!*
	Zaph snorted.  *Will, laugh at you?  Yeah, whatever.  You're
imagining things.  He didn't give the job to Charc to get at you...*
	*And how do you know that?  He used me, just like-* she broke off,
abruptly. *He'll pay for what he's done.*
	*You're being ridiculous.  Now, shut up and listen to reason.*
Overriding the human's objections, Zaphyre continued.  *When we land, you
/will/ listen to what he has to say.  I, for one, enjoy having him around -
it's amusing.  And, I don't plan on getting on Samhain's bad side because
you decided to do something stupid!  So get a hold of yourself and listen
to what he has to say!*
	*Whatever.  I'll listen, then he's dead.  And if Sam doesn't like
it...* the Centurion shrugged instead of finishing.
	Zaph sighed.  She couldn't believe the human was willing to
sacrifice her career and life, because of a few lousy papers.
	Meanwhile, Will had been quietly, and possibly unethically(although
he felt with somewhat decent reason, hanging in midair) listening in
through Kit on the conversation.  He was somewhat befuddled at the human's
incredibly furious response to being handed paperwork.  As a researcher, he
had dealt with, done, and heck, created paperwork routinely.  He wondered,
"...just like" - what?  Or who?  Private Merengue?  Kit?  The police
incursion he'd told her about?
	Spiralling downward, the dragon gently dropped Will to the Earth
before landing softly beside him.  A soft blue glow surrounded her
silhouette as the human fought to take control of their shared body.
	*Zaphyre, you promised!*
	*Not until you calm down and listen to reason.  /Talk/ to him!*
	*Yes, mother...*  the human taunted before turning her ire outwards.
	Will, who had taken advantage of her obvious distraction to stretch
out a few sore muscles, was now looking at her expectantly.  To his eyes,
her rage had vanished; in fact, the dragon seemed to be almost amused or
bored with the situation.  Therefore, he was surprised when Selene's voice
erupted angrily from the wyrm's mouth.  The words themselves dealt him the
third shock of the night.
	"So, why'd you do it?  Why stick me with such a wonderful job?  Why
not just send it on up the ladder, let the big wigs deal with the blasted
bureaucracy?  Better yet, tell me why I shouldn't rip you to bloody pieces
for what you've done, not to mention what I almost did to Jambavan -
thinking he had been the one stupid enough to leave me to deal with the
damned Treasury[tm]!?"
	Her demands hung in the air as Will carefully pieced his way
through her irrational diatribe.  Finishing, he looked calmly into her eyes
and composed his answer.  "To begin, I didn't 'stick' you with anything.
The Empire was the logical choice to..."
	Selene didn't let him finish.  "Logical, smogical.  The DE is and
always has been more of a military organization.  We deal with war.  Not
bean counters.  Hell, even TRES would have been a more logical choice...
and you would have had officers here who could deal with the paperwork,
instead of having it all dumped on me. Yes, dumped on me.  As a Trooper,
Charc didn't have the authority to request those kind of funds.  He had to funnel it through me, which meant I had a week's worth of the shit to wade through.  Explain that, Mr. Logical."
	While she spoke, her command over their shared body had grown
causing the dragon's image to shimmer slightly.  Full of rage, Selene
didn't notice as she shrank down to her normal size even while her own form
began to overtake the dragon's.  Done with her tirade, she waited
impatiently for Will's reply.  When
it didn't come, she became rude and was about to explode again when Zaph
snatched her attention inward.
	*Look!*  The dragon gestured downward, indicating their body.
	Irritated by the interruption, Selene glanced down and realized she
was back in human form.  She flushed, suddenly knowing why Will had been
distracted.
	*Zaph, why didn't you say something!* she griped mentally.
	*I did, you idiot!* the dragon replied.
	*I meant sooner, you want to help me here?*  Concentrating
together, they caused the dragon's skin to reappear, guarding her modesty.
When she spoke again, her voice sounded calmer as if some of her anger had
abated.
	"So," she repeated, pulling Will's attention back to their
conversation, "care to explain?"
	The rather stunned look on his face vanished as he brought his mind
swiftly back to the present.  Quickly recollecting his reasons, he began to
explain. "Selene, we needed supplies.  While there may have been more
logical candidates within the other organizations, the limiting factor was
cargo space."
	Listening to him speak, Selene intuitively knew that he was telling
the truth.  As his words sank in, her rage began to dissipate and she
realized what a fool she was being.
	"DE had the most cargo space.  At-the-time Trooper Charcharadon was in
command of the DE group.  He got the job.  When you came and took over
nominal command of the DE group, the duty devolved to you.  You became a
co-com of the overall force and the duty returned to now-Jambavan, so you
didn't have to worry about it, or so I thought.  There were no personal
motives involved in any of the selection process."  Will paused a moment to
think about something he'd just said.
	Silence filled the air as his words trailed off.  Selene looked
away first, totally ashamed by her actions.  "I... don't know what to say.
I shouldn't have dragged you out here like this. I know it's not enough but
I-I'm sorry."  She turned away.
	*Great, Zaph.  You were right.  I was wrong, I'm an idiot, and now
I've royally messed everything up again.  I finally meet somebody that I
can really connect with, that I /like/.  And what happens?  I chase him
off.*
	Will murmured, "There were no... personal motives..."  He sighed
and put his face in a hand.  "This is the part that's my fault."
     Selene whirled around.  "What? How?"
     "The same mistake I often make.  I didn't consider the people
involved.  You're right, Selene.  There /are/ organizations better
personally equipped to handle these duties.  I considered purely inhuman
factors.  Arrangements could have been made to transfer the vehicle space
to people better suited to the task-"
	Selene cut him off.  "No.  You made the decision soundly, and I
won't second-guess it anymore.  But..."  She stared at him, feeling
panicked and unsure how to continue.  "You know, I-I can't promise you that
I won't jump the gun like that again... I get mad really easily and then
pick fights... and I really, really hate it when people tell me what to do.
I'm not always a nice person..."
     Will gently covered her lips with her finger, silencing her.  "No one
is.  That's not a spongie, anyway.  We should expect trouble from human
factors like each other and inhuman factors like distance.  But the binding
lies in getting over and beyond those obstacles.  Anger..."  The finger
covering her lips slid back to brush her cheek, as she followed it with a
turn of her head... "And distance."  That, she overcame by pulling herself
close against him, dragonskin rough on the TRES uniform.

	After some misty time, Selene pulled back and looked down at
herself.  "Great.  I can't fit in my tent as a dragon.  When I bring you
back, would you please go in there and get me a uniform?"
	Will brightened.  "I'd completely forgotten.  There's something
we'd made that I had adapted for you.  A present."  He dug in a pocket and
brought out an object that looked like a small silver rhombus on a long
gold chain.  "It's based on[1] an idea from a fiction - an Atmospheric
Element Condenser.  It takes carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen from the
air and makes organic materials using stored energy, then retrieves it when
the items aren't needed anymore."
	Selene picked it up and looked at it.  "Kind of like a little
reverse FoxGlove."
	"Err... I hadn't thought about that, but yeah.  The point is, I
made a few minor adjustments.  It'll create the cloth part of a DE uniform
around you when it senses a shape change to fully human.  Organic materials
only, cotton, silk, rubber, leather, etc.  Small metal things like insignia
it'll store.  It's only special objects of sentimental value, or sensitive
things like data on a disk you'll still have to carry.  And it'll remove
the uniform when you change significantly away.  It should be large enough
to fit Zaph's neck.  Here -" he put it on her.  "Shift in."
	She did so, removing the dragonskin.  The pendant flashed, covering
her in a modest, foggy white light, which condensed into a good
reproduction of a DE uniform.  She looked herself over.  "Not bad - can I
alter the measurements?"
	"The setting to the chain is an infrared I/O.  Interface is intuitive."
	"Great.  Let's fly."
	She shifted out again, the pendant flashing and removing the
clothing.  It moved up to form a closer chain around Zaphyre's neck.  She
turned to Will.  "Hop on.  Unless you'd like to hang again."
	"I'll ride, thank you.  It's at least as dignified as being carried
in the arms of a mecha."
	"Speaking of which - "
	"There are still a few bugs to work out.[2]  I'll be using more
traditional techniques in the fight."  He stepped up to Zaphyre's back and
settled himself on her shoulders.
	The dragon stretched her wings to their fullest, then raised their
points high.  Massive leg muscles compacted and recoiled, a thunder of air
rushing by as the great wings snapped down.
	Once again Zaphyre was gliding low over the plain.  This time, they
had the luxury of silence, not that of angry words unspoken, but of
unverbalized thoughts.  The sunset had almost faded away behind them, a
deep red lining the horizon.  Far ahead, a muted light picked out the
Jihaddi campsite.  The waning moon had set long ago, and they flew into a
deep blackness sprinkled with points of color.  Will looked up.
	Zaphyre sensed the motion.  Just above a whisper, she asked, "Your
stars?"
	Equally quietly, he replied.  "Our planets, actually.  It's my
eyesight... I never can tell which is which."  He looked ahead again.
"Behind us lie Venus and Mercury.  Love and beauty, youth and swiftness.
Maybe ahead but maybe behind, the darker planets: Mars, Uranus, Pluto.
Clashing War, flowing Time, frozen Death."
	Selene spoke.  "But also Jupiter, and Neptune.  Joviality and
lifezest, and the ceaseless swirl of the sea.  And... Saturn?"
	Will laughed.  "Agriculture."
	Selene chuckled too.  "Kind of ruins the allegory."
	"Maybe."  He sobered.  "There will be a harvest, though.  For the
one they denied this land."  They were quiet until she landed in front of
Selene's tent.  She switched back to her human form, the pendant doing its
job.  Just before they parted for the night, Will called out - "Selene?"
She turned.  "Saturn's reign was a happy one."
	She smiled a tiny smile.  "And you always know where to look for
love and beauty.  Be ready tomorrow, Will."

TBC in "Counting Thunders"


[1] It really is.  This is the object Honey Kisurugi wears.
[2] Like, I never went through the TRES R&D process.  D'oh!