In case you missed it, Chapter 1 Part III was posted a few hours ago. Cheers.

The blog page http://www.pridesfamiliarsmaidens.com/ has also been updated.

Chapter 2.

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From the vantage of her soft sofa seat in the observation lounge, she could look down through the transparent floor at the inside of the tunnel that ran through the orbital citadel of Pan-Olympus, the home of High Command.

The citadel was a collection of three consecutive octagonal rings joined by an interconnecting lattice. Together they formed a tunnel six kilometers long, and effect-field emitters generated artificial gravity so the rings were not required to rotate. Four panel-like structures emerged fore and aft of the tunnel for a total of eight panels that served to make the citadel some twelve kilometers long.

The middle octagonal ring was the longest and incorporated sponsons along two opposite sides, effectively giving the structure a sense of direction. They also provided housings for the engine nacelles that propelled the enormous structure through space, for the citadel was more than just a city in space. It was the mothership of the immense Tempest Class Superfortress Pandora.

Squeezed into the two-kilometer wide tunnel, the four thousand two hundred meter long ship was anchored to the inside of the middle ring by enormous loadbearing mooring arms. A continuous stream of transport shuttles flew in and out of the vessel, and additional material was ferried into the superfortress through large retractable tunnels mated to its hull.

Marisol Suenaga peered absently down at the massive warship, understanding the Pandora was preparing for war. She ran her sleepy gaze over the ship’s forward superstructure, and observed hundreds of hunter-killer drones being loaded into recessed launch tubes. The drones would wait in their launchers until required to hunt down the Genjitsu Seeds that were certain to emerge from the Galactic Ley Line. Fast, maneuverable, they were all engine and all guns. They would launch in waves of squadrons, while aboard the superfortress a human operator would guide their assigned squadron via quantum-link, the only means of communication that was not susceptible to interference from Ether.

Anyone looking at the ship would be hard pressed to believe it was well over two centuries old. Constructed in a distant shipyard that possibly no longer existed, Pandora had escorted the Settlement Fleet on its long journey away from a decaying civilization. The Settlement Fleet was one of many intended to save humanity from extinction by having it colonize other worlds well away from the conflict sweeping through the colonized systems. Though dwarfed by the giant Arks that carried the colonists in cold sleep during their decades long journey through space, the superfortress was the stanchion of the orbital defense fleet, and after the events ten years ago, it had been thoroughly refurbished and upgraded to face the Genjitsu threat.

Marisol’s gaze drifted upwards to open space visible through the transparent walls of the lounge.

Will it be enough? she wondered.

The seven Settlement Arks normally orbited Pantheon’s moon, keeping away from the Galactic Ley Line. But last month they had sailed away to an undisclosed location, as though putting even more distance between them and the Ley Line. She also noted that around the same time, Pandora had departed Pan-Olympus on a so-called shakedown cruise.

Marisol didn’t believe it was wise to hide the Arks away. If humanity needed to abandon Pantheon in a hurry, they would need the Arks on station above each of the city-states.

Worry ate at her, but sleep eventually caught up with her.

She closed her eyes, and slipped into a troubled slumber.

When she woke, was stiff and sore. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she blinked a few times to settle her vision and saw someone achingly familiar sitting across the low coffee table.

He was a young man in his mid-twenties, not too tall but quite solidly built, and he was busy eating a plate of hot scones.

Marisol watched him apply a liberal amount of jam to each scone he leisurely devoured.

It wasn’t long before her stomach rumbled in response to olfactory and visual stimulation.

The young man stopped eating, and regarded with an affable look on his face.

“Is that rumble I hear?”

Marisol pressed her lips tightly together and glared at him through narrowed eyes. However, she was unable to stop her stomach’s complaints from being aired.

He prepared a scone with rich strawberry jam, and offered it to her. “Say ‘ah’.”

Marisol’s glare deepened. Then she quickly extended an effect-field from her body, and snatched the scone from his fingers. Operating the effect-field like an invisible hand and arm, she opened her mouth and dropped the scone into it. All the while, her real hands and arms lay resting across her midriff.

“Lazy,” he muttered, and prepared another scone this time for himself.

Marisol aimed her effect-field at the bread he held, but this time her field was slapped away by an invisible hand – an effect-field emanating from the young man’s body.

“No stealing,” he admonished her.

“I’m still hungry,” she said.

Calmly eating the scone, the young man sat back in the cushioned lounge seat, and wiped his fingers on a moist towelette. “Then go get your own breakfast.”

Marisol eyed the remaining three scones on his plate resting on the low table.

The young man shook his head subtly at her. “Don’t even think about it.”

Marisol grinned faintly at him. “If I can snatch one, then I get all three.”

“If you snatch one, I’ll crush the other two so that you don’t get to eat them.”

“That’s no fun,” she complained.

He shrugged casually. “All work and no play, that’s our lot in life.”

“Fine, then I’ll settle for one.”

Concentrating her Awareness-field on the table, the plate, and her opponent, Marisol willed another effect-field to manifest. She summoned it from the Seal-Regalia implanted into her body, the means by which she controlled her Diva, Nike, and aimed the field at the scone on the left hand side of the plate. Almost immediately her Awareness registered a second field lance out from the young man’s body, manifested by the Seal-Regalia within him.

She changed the direction of her invisible field, switching to the scone on the right of the plate. His field darted right, then flicked back to the left as it anticipated her feint. However, Marisol wasn’t feinting, and snatched the scone from the plate onto have the bread broken in half when his field grabbed onto it.

Marisol’s half of the scone flew through the air, and landed on her waiting hand, while the other half floated in the air above the table. As she ate her winnings, her opponent calmly retrieved the floating morsel of bread from the air, then set about lathering it evenly with crimson colored jam before eating it.

Giving her a disappointed look, Ren Kamina sat back in the comfortable lounge seat. “I doubt this was what the Arcology had in mind when it gifted us with the Regalias and our Celestials.”

“You’re sulking,” she pointed out. “Just like when we were kids in the orphanage. Just like when we were students at the Academy. Whenever I beat you fair and square you would sulk for days afterwards. You really hate losing to a girl.”

“It’s a natural reaction for us males,” he replied smoothly. “Part of our evolution.”

Slouched in her seat, Marisol folded her arms. “Is that how you justify it?”

“Of course. How do you justify your stealing, which I might add landed you in detention more often than not during your stay at the orphanage.”

“I was a victim of circumstance. I was simply trying to get by.”

“You mean bad habits die hard.”

“After my mother died, I lived on the streets,” she countered, “before social welfare picked me up and dropped me in that prison. For some of us, life in the new world wasn’t paradise.”

He shook his head slowly. “That prison was an orphanage, and it served you well.” He slouched comfortably in his seat, mimicking her posture. “To this day, it surprises me you were ever adopted. Why did the Suenaga Family choose you over the other girls?”

Marisol turned away, her gaze falling not on the warship a thousand feet below her, but on the surface of the blue-white planet beyond it.

“It was Mirai who chose me,” she whispered.

Mirai Suenaga had been three years old when she visited the orphanage with her parents. The rumor amongst the orphans was that the young family were looking to adopt a child after the birth of their second daughter, but Marisol couldn’t understand why the bothered since they already had children. On that day, Mirai had wandered into the play area where the other orphans were, and somehow she had gravitated toward Marisol.

At first, the little girl’s cheerful attitude had grated badly on Marisol, but gradually Mirai wore her down until Marisol caved in and began teaching the girl how to play with the building blocks. Eventually, Marisol stopped playing and supervised Mirai’s progress. It was during then that Mirai’s parents arrived. Unbeknownst to Marisol, the little girl’s parents had been observing the interaction between the two girls for a long while.

Afterwards, Mirai’s mother had entered the room and sat down to talk with Marisol.

Though guarded, Marisol had engaged in the polite conversation. She realized Mirai got her personality from her mother. Remembering her own mother and the talks they had before the accident took her life, something in Marisol had broken and she’d begun to quietly cry. Before she could flee, Mirai’s mother had embraced her tightly, and a year of heartache, anguish, and hatred toward an unfair world had transformed into tears that poured out of her. It was the first time she had cried since her mother’s death, and since running away from the foster home she’d been briefly assigned too before landing in the orphanage.

Marisol had cried until her tears ran dry.

A week later, at the age of twelve she was adopted into the Suenaga Family, and Marisol Karvan became Marisol Suenaga.

Three years later she was gifted by the Arcology with the Regalia that wormed its way into her body much like the Thread she had been born without.

A year later the Genjitsu Seeds feel upon the world, and Marisol had fought them with her Diva, Nike.

She had saved Mirai and Haruka, but she had failed to save her adopted parents.

Ten years later, would she be able to protect her sisters from the Genjitsu threat that loomed over Pantheon once more?

The threat they were facing now was several hundred fold greater than what they had endured these past ten years. She had fought the Seeds, and destroyed – not killed – dozens of Genjitsu. But the sum of the Seeds that had fallen onto Pantheon over the past decade wasn’t even half the number that fell upon her homeworld on that day, ten years ago.

And now the Threat is even bigger.

Peering down through the transparent floor, her eyes sought out the outline of Pan-Pacifica, however it was obscured by clouds.

But I’m stronger than I was ten years ago.

She brought her gaze back to the immense four point two kilometer long warship undergoing final supply loading.

I will not lose anyone close to me again.

Though she was only sixteen, Marisol’s classification as a Dea had helped her gain guardianship of her adopted sisters. As a result, Mirai and Haruka lived with Marisol in Pan-Pacifica in a spacious city-state provided dwelling, and so for ten years Marisol had dedicated herself to raising the girls, balancing her responsibility to Mirai and Haruka with her duties as a Dea, while in turn attending the special academy run by the city-state authorities for young adults with special circumstances.

It was there she had reunion with Ren.

Adopted by the Kamina Family a year after Marisol became a Suenaga, he had taken to their lifestyle like a duck to water. Like Marisol, the Arcology had bestowed a Celestial upon him – an Asura of the Ravana type.

And thus their rivalry had been renewed.

And somewhere along the way they became a couple.

And they broke up, made up, broke up, made up, and broke up once more before mutually agreeing they were best on their own.

Marisol gazed at Ren, remembering the teenage boy who’d nervously confessed his feelings to her.

Does he remember how I looked that day when I replied ‘yes’?

Ren pushed the plate with the remaining scones across the table to her. “A gift for old time’s sakes.”

“My, why the sudden generosity?”

“I have soft spot for women.”

Marisol felt her heart skip a little faster. “Are you seeing anyone?”

He blinked sharply and stared at her in surprise. “Why do you ask?”

She smiled weakly and shrugged a shoulder. “Just wondering….”

“Why are you wondering?” he questioned softly.

She shrugged again. “Can’t a girl wonder?”

“You’re not any girl,” he replied.

No, I guess I’m not.

Marisol glanced away, biting her lower lip reflexively as she sought to avoid his eyes.

I will always be your first love.

“No,” he stated gently, “I’m not seeing anyone. Before you ask why, let me ask if you’re seeing anyone.”

“No, I’m still free as a bird.”

He snorted and looked away. “That figures.” Though voiced weakly, his tone was somewhat biting.

Marisol fixed a hard look on him. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“That you can’t break free any more than I can.”

“Break free of what? Of us?” She laughed insolently. “Are you kidding me? I left you behind a long time.”

“Is that so? Then why are you sitting right in front of me?”

“That’s because I was assigned to the same unit you were. Nothing more, nothing less. I didn’t ask to be here.”

“You could have requested a transfer.”

Marisol hardened her stare. “Why? I have no problem working with you.”

Ren studied her for a short while. “Then why ask if I was dating anyone?”

“I was just curious.” She waved a hand. “In fact, I couldn’t care less who you date. It’s not my problem or my business.”

“Precisely,” he agreed.

The voice of a girl interjected, “Will the two of you stop arguing.”

Marisol looked to her right and saw a young girl in her late teens standing a few feet away. She was short, had dark shoulder length hair, a modest bust, and stood with hands on hips while staring hard at Marisol and Ren.

“Ayaka,” Marisol muttered.

“Yes, that’s my name,” the brunette nodded, her short bangs swaying gently. “Now, rather than pick up where you left off after your last dust up, I suggest you attend the briefing. I guarantee you won’t want to miss it.”

As it had with Marisol and Ren, the Arcology had gifted Ayaka Kitsuna with a Celestial – a Diva by the name of Morrigan. Despite being several years younger than either Marisol or Ren, Ayaka was just as skilled as them with her Diva, courtesy of an unwavering dedication to her role as protector of the world. Marisol often quipped that all Ayaka needed was an emblem and superhero name to complete her persona.

Ren picked up the plate and offered the two remaining scones to the newcomer, but Ayaka waved them away politely.

Marisol refused to sit up on the sofa seat. “So, what’s so different about this briefing compared to the last one yesterday?”

Ayaka smiled mysteriously. “The Archon Regiss will be attending.”

Ren’s eyes widened. “The Regiss is coming here?”

“No, stupid. The Immortal Witch will be speaking from the comfort of her ice palace.”

Marisol shaped her lips into a pout. “If the Regiss hears you speaking that way, she’ll spank you.”

“She’s welcome to try,” Ayaka intoned, and confidently folded her arms under her bust. “So, are you coming?”

Marisol waved her a salute. “Sure thing, boss.”

“He he he, One day I will be your boss.”

Ren snorted as he stood up and stretched his back. “As a famous person once said, ‘that’ll be the day’.”

Marisol struggled to her feet, then imitated Ren by performing some stretches.

Naturally, Ren’s attention was dragged to her chest, but he managed to pull his gaze away in time before Ayaka reprimanded him.

Marisol snickered inwardly, then felt a twinge of pain in her chest whenever her heart betrayed her.

She stopped stretching, and walked past Ayaka. “I’ll see you guys there,” she muttered.

Ayaka was caught off guard. “Ah, the briefing’s in Chamber One.”

Marisol waved a hand in thanks, and strode away, feeling as though she was fleeing from Ren.

The Galactic Ley Line was surging, indicating a massive amount of Ether was rushing through it, or at the least a peloton that swelled the Ley Line as it moved closer and closer to Pantheon. It was as precursor to a Genjitsu attack, and the reason why High Command was mobilizing the orbital defenses that included the massive two hundred year old superfortress Pandora.

Yet here she was nursing the onset of a broken heart all over again.

She felt ashamed and angry at herself, and after exiting the observation lounge, Marisol slapped herself twice, much to the surprise of the people around her.

“Get a grip,” she told herself. “And once this is over put in another transfer request.”