Story Time

'We have much to talk about, Markoi. But later.' said Adrian before turning around to see the two women. 'Hi, Adrian Carling. Can I help you?'

Neither of the women responded, but Suzaku replied to their statement with a smile.

'It's good to see you as well, Shiro-Ka,' he replied.

'Leader Alan has been informed of your presence and wishes to see you and the new Ambassador,' the black-haired one informed Suzaku in a slightly more feminine robotic tone.

'Understood, Kurohada,' Suzaku replied, 'What about the others?'

'They will be scanned. Humans will be given the chance to join StarCore,' Kurohada began.

'The ones the Final Scan deems alien will be placed into the cells until a further verdict has been reached,' Shiro-Ka replied.

Suzaku sighed sadly, before going up and whispering something in Shiro-Ka's ear.

'Understood, sir,' Shiro-Ka replied, 'I will take care of the scans. You should take the new Ambassador to see Leader Alan now.'

Suzaku nodded and grabbed Alex's hand, before walking away smartly.

'I'll explain later,' he commented, an underlying tone of sadness in his voice.

Thardon leaned over to Markoi. 'I guess I was wrong. He can't handle authority better than you.'

"What are you doing?" Alex asked in a slightly panicky way, "Where are we going? Tell me, Suzaku!"

He knew it was useless to ask, but it was all so confusing.

Suzaku didn't answer as the duo made their way through the maze-like building with its white walls and black floor, until they stopped at a black door labelled "Leader - Alan Samberg". Suzaku knocked twice on the door, which was promptly opened by a man just taller than Alex, with spiked black hair and brown eyes who wore a uniform similar to the one Suzume had been wearing - white shirt with black epaulettes, a black sash across the torso and a golden collar, as well as a pair of black trousers and black combat boots that were shiny from being polished. However, instead of black, Alan's shirt cuffs were red with a white stripe.

'Come in,' he said in a rather stiff, flat tone. Suzaku nodded and entered the room, taking Alex along with him.

---

'Please form a line,' Shiro-Ka commented, 'You will be scanned now.'

Adrian and Markoi instantly followed this order, due to their military background. Thardon was hesitant, as he was wondering if his Aesirian background may count as 'alien'. He did, however, comply, and joined the line of people.

Umino also joined the line, no matter how scared he was.

Shiro-Ka took out a small device and scanned each person in turn. The device had let out a loud, annoyed "BEEP" over Thardon, and nearly went insane in a very loud manner over Umino, who scampered back in fright until he was pressed against the hull of the ship from fear. It outright refused to scan Shigo, and after ten seconds of attempting to scan Chaos, the words 'Fuck this' appeared in large bold, capital letters, as the scanner turned itself off.
Shiro-Ka then replaced the device in a small unit in her leg and took a ring from the same place, passing it to Thardon.

'A biodamper,' she informed him in her robotic tone, 'Put it on and I'll rescan you.'

'Huh, alright. I don't see what it's for, though.' said Thardon.

Alex sighed. The whole situation had become a whole lot more confusing. He had absolutely no idea what was going on.

Shiro-Ka rescanned Thardon after he'd put the ring on. The machine had no objections this time.

'We'd do the same to you,' Kurohada explained to Umino, 'Except no form of biodamper can hide a Lucridite from this machine. Our sincerest apologies.'

Umino didn't really seem too troubled by this - he was too busy trying to remember how to pronounce the two girls' names.

Thardon chucked the ring back to Shiro-Ka, wondering why on Earth they were being so helpful.

Shiro-Ka caught the ring and placed it back in the unit with a nod of thanks.

---

'It's been a long time, WitchDoctor,' Alan commented, 'Ten years, in fact.'

Suzaku nodded, avoiding looking at Alex as his codename was used.

'I trust you were successful?' Alan asked, receiving another nod from Suzaku. Alan then turned his attention to Alex, 'So, you're the new Ambassador then? Or did WitchDoctor not mention the Assignment to you?'

Meanwhile, Adrian and Markoi moved away from the others to get some privacy. 'OK, why are you here? Why now?' asked Markoi.

'You know me too well. I made the recovery about 3 months ago. Until now I've been going through some training, getting used to my recreated body. A week ago, I was given a mission briefing. In order to complete this mission, I first needed to find our squad. You are the first part of the puzzle.'

'So, Zhirkov and Sara need to be found?' asked Markoi.

'Yes, but first we need to determine their status.' said Adrian.

'Well, I know that Sara was safe, but Zhirkov was in a bad way afterwards. After his recovery he just disappeared. Sara is back in training, though.' answered Markoi.

Shigo thought about something for a moment before morphing his face to be wearing a fake full beard and glasses. What'd you do that for?
I just remembered that somebody here wants me dead because I took a guitar out of a furnace, said 'all your guitars are belong to us' and teleported away.
You really think that'll fool him?
You misjudge how much of an idiot he is. Shigo and I wait for the next thing to happen.

Unbeknownst to anyone, Umino had gone for a walk, following where Suzaku and Alex had gone near exactly.

Now Alex was confused beyond beliefe.

"Ambassador?" he asked, "For what? And why are you referring to Suzaku as WitchDoctor? Someone explain, because I'm behind."

Thardon eventually found Adrian and Markoi. 'What are you two doing here?' he asked.

'Um...discussing our squad.' replied Markoi. 'We don't know exactly where they are.'

'You're the Ambassador for StarCore,' Alan replied, 'WitchDoctor's Sight never fails - he knows who's best for this Hierarchy, which is why I entrusted him and him alone with this Assignment. He was to find and befriend the person he deemed to be a worthy Ambassador, then bring them here.'

---

Umino had found his way to the Leader Room and sat next to the door, waiting silently.

Alex suddenly felt betrayed. And furious.

As calmly as he could manage, he smiled at Suzaku, "Could I have a word with you outside please?"

He then walked out of the door and into the hall, where he waited for Suzaku.

Suzaku followed Alex out of the door, and closed it behind him without a word. He didn't even meet Alex's gaze.

"Explain," Alex said firmly, "And don't hold back the details."

'It was the Ambassador Assignment,' Suzaku replied somberly, 'I was sent on it ten years ago to find a new Ambassador - someone who'd have a say over how StarCore was run... someone who'd be able to change things. It was only the third day of my Assignment when I found you being beaten up by those kids. I could easily see your love for fantasy - especially your belief in aliens and a love of space. You were easy to make friends with, and you were great to be around. I figured that if you couldn't change this place, nobody could.'

"So you sold me out?" Alex asked, his voice rising to a shout, "You betrayed me, Suzaku! You should've told me about the Assignment!"

'You were six!' Suzaku replied, his voice also rising to a shout, 'How can I tell a six-year-old that I'm essentially going to hand them over to an alien-hating thug like Alan?'

It was frustrating because Alex knew Suzaku was right.

"But there had to have been some other way!" he retorted, his voice still rising beyond a shout, "You can't just not say these things!"