"Whew! Your military doctrine sounds very hard core, Hida-san," Akagi said, looking impressed. "Have you been in situations that called for such...drastic measures?"

"No, I only heard the stories... Though maybe the way I lost my arm does count... Was definitely not a standard non-standard maneuver however..."

"Mostly space-based." Yul said. "But the fighters are rated for atmosphere, too. Usually covering drop ships, that sort of thing." He grinned. "And yeah, it is exciting. The Ornithopters here look pretty steady. If you two get the chance to go up, preferably with an experienced pilot at the controls, definitely go for it."

He glanced at Akemi, smiling gently. "Well, if it wasn't maneuver forty-one, do you want to tell us how it did happen?" Yul's tone matched his smile; he knew things like that were sometimes difficult to talk about.

"I'm not rated for piloting, myself," Akagi said. "But I'll have to give that a try, if opportunity permits. I'm sure you could get quite a good view from up there."



"Yes, there must be an interesting story to that...?" Akagi looked toward Akemi, in case she felt like sharing it.

"Well, if you want to know everything...

It all happened as me and my unit were boarding a flagless hostile vessel, heavily suspected to be a Spider privateer. Everything was going well, we had crushed effortlessly the last pockets of resistance and were progressing swiftly through the rooms.

And then, I noticed the bomb.

It was a ugly makeshift thing, more like a mess of explosives glued together and to the wall. And it was about to go off. And when it would, the hull would be breached, and our platoon sucked into outer space.

My reflexes kicked in, and before I knew it, I had reached for it, torn it off the wall, and thrown it toward the center of the room.

The improvised maneuver was a total success. When the device blew up, it was too far from the wall for the blast to breach through it, as well as too far from any of my mates to damage them through their armor.

But, you guessed it, I wasn't quick enough to save myself. The explosion happened almost as the device was leaving my fingers, and the resulting fireball burnt my throwing arm to ashes in a fraction of a second."

At the mention of 'Spider privateer', Yul's lips peeled back into a definite grimace. It lasted only a few moments, and then his face was back it its usual handsome cheerfulness.

He whistled softly through his teeth as Akemi finished her story. "Fine work, Hida-san. Sounds like some quick thinking."

After a moment, Yul shook his head. "But I've seen that sort, in Unicorn space. We called 'em Spooks, but we all knew who they really were." He tilted his head, looking at her. "Did you get anything on the ship? Enough for an identification?"

"Pirates. Those damn pirates are a scourge everywhere, it seems," Akagi said, almost snarling. "That was good work, Hida-san. You must've saved your whole platoon with that action."


"Spooks, eh?" Akagi asked, looking interested. "Is there a trick to knowing a secret Spider ship from a ronin vessel? They're both pirates all the same, I'm sure...but I imagine their motivations must be different."

"Sorry, but that's a question I cannot answer yet.

I lost consciousness alongside my arm. When I woke up, it was in a hospital bed, far away from the front and my unit, and this kind of information doesn't travel around like that. Rumors would have it that it was indeed confirmed to be Spider, but I'll only know that for sure when I will return to active service and my unit after the miai.

But I guess you're familiar with that kind of enemy then?"

"Knowing? Sure. Their tactics, their methods. Pirates are after goods. They aren't trying to weaken defenses, or impact industry. And they don't care nearly as much if you can identify them once they're all dead." The muscles in Yul's jaw were tense as he spoke.

"So, knowing, yeah. Proving?" Shaking his head, Yul chuckled without humor. "That's something else."



"Yeah." Yul sighed, relaxing somewhat.

After a few moments, he spoke again. "How long ago was all that?"

"Six months ago. Most of them spent at the hospital. Healing the original wound, getting the fleshcraft graft, and a long, very long physical therapy to make it truly mine. Right now I can use it as nicely as my flesh arm, but it took many, many hours of exercise to achieve that result."

"That must have taken quite a bit of patience," Akagi said, nodding sympathetically. "I don't envy you that experience. I'm very glad you've made such a good recovery though; it's clear that it'll take more than a few Spider booby traps to slow you down."

"Well," Yul gave her a nod, smiling, "Hey, it's not the same as being back with your unit, but I'm glad to have a fellow pirate-hunter ready to return to duty. Benten willing, of course." Yul chewed his lip a moment.

He shook off whatever troubled him. "Guess that's something we all have in common, huh?" Yul gave Akagi a nod, acknowledging his earlier words.

Somewhere, somehow, Nihsida could've been seen, struggling to get Lucky under his control. The Otori still wasn't that tame and Nishida wasn't a good rider to begin with, but he manged it a bit.

He didn't really saw the other Samurai apporaching as he was under the impression to have found a rather isolated spot on the farmlands to practice with his bird.

He was swearing when Lucky nearly bucked him off: "By the holy balls of Hida, keep still you damned bird!" he exclaimed.

Seeing Nishida having some difficulty, the Bayushi spurred his mount forward to approach the Yasuki and his animal.

“Excuse me, samurai,” the Scorpion rider said, managing to perform a seated bow from bird-back. “My name is Bayushi Akagi. Are you having trouble? Perhaps we could be of assistance?”

Yul rode a bit closer as well, although it seemed that Akagi had it well in hand. He chuckled at the cursing, giving Akemi a quick amused look at her clanmate's antics.

"Whoa, there." Yul said, his tone soothing. "You've gotta try to keep him calm." Yul frowned. "Or her calm. You know, I really can't tell on these things." Yul patted Maverick's neck. "They told me this one's a boy, but it's not like I'd ever be able to tell."

"Damn!,......" Nsihida looked to the oncoming Samurai. "Ohh, uhhm, Greettings Minna-san, what a uhhh lovely ay for otori riding, isn't it?" he said.

As it seems Luky got alot more calm when more Otori were around. "These Otori are strange" Nishida murmured.

"Pardon me, i didn't introduced myself, Yasuki Nishida, Procurment specialist for YamdaCorp" he tried a small bow without falling from the bird, wich made a rather strange sight.

"Shinjo Yul. It's a pleasure to meet you, Yasuki-sama." Yul was nimble, and more comfortable atop a mount... but not very comfortable bowing, so his return-bow came out about the same as Nishida's.

"We were just exercising our Otori. If you wanna join us, we've found that it's easier in groups." Yul said, smiling easily.

"Pleased to meet you, Yasuki-san," the Bayushi agreed. "I do think the birds like to flock together; your otori might feel happier to follow along with ours."

"I don't think I know YamdaCorp, what sort of business sector are they in?" he asked, in an effort to make polite conversation.

"Hai, i do think they like to flock togehter, Lucky is remarkably calmer since you arrived."

He raised an eyebrow at the wrong adressing from the scorpion.
"All the utilites our Bushi need to do their duty. Bayushi-san."

"May i return the question?" He said to both of them.

"Of course, Yasuki-sama," Akagi said, bowing again and correcting his mode of address. "I'm from the crew of Hanei Maru, a merchant vessel based out of the World of Dreams."