Spring Break

by David & Kati Schock

On the homeworld of the female-dominated Cygnan Empire, in the main reception hall of the Queen's castle, a meeting was about to take place -- perhaps the most important meeting ever to be held here in the heart of the Empire. From such meetings, fortunes are made, lives are lost, and sadly, kingdoms all too often fall.

This particular meeting was being held at this time to prevent a war, but not just any war; the worst kind of war imaginable to any society, a civil war. Entering the Great Hall through the massive gold-plated double doors walked Queen Zazen'lda's older sister, heading up her own personal retainers.

She was a powerful woman, tall and well built. She might have been on the wrong side of forty, but except for the few strands of gray hair and worry lines around her eyes, she bore no sign of the years she carried. What drew one's attention next to her height, which was at least three inches over six feet, was the scar that ran down the side of her face. She bore it proudly, since she received it in the service of her sister the Queen and the Empire she ruled so well.

At her side, and one step behind, walked her first-born daughter Zelda, followed by her own personal bodyguards and advisors. When this group of formidable warriors reached the foot of their Queen's throne, they all dropped down to one knee and bowed to show their respect. The Queen's niece also joined in performing this show of respect to her aunt by following suit with her mother's troops. Her mother and the Queen's sister showed her respect by standing at attention and simply and respectfully nodding her head.

The Queen gave the visitors permission to stand, and waited for her older sister to speak.

When no explanation was forthcoming from her, she took it as a sign to start the conversation herself. "I can't believe you plan on risking the peace and safety of our Empire just to put your own daughter on the throne after I am gone, my sister!"

She looked up at her sister and Queen. "No, Zazen'lda -- it is you who risks the safety of the Empire by insisting that your long-lost daughter inherit the throne of an Empire in which she has never even stepped foot."

"She is my daughter and that should be reason enough, even for you," her sister the Queen pointed out, almost as if she was making a plea.

"In name only, Baby Sister. If truth be told, she never truly was your daughter -- not since the day you lost her, almost twenty years ago!"

Queen Zazen'lda made her way down the steps to stand before her big sister. Putting her hand affectionately on her shoulder, she pleaded, "Don't do this, Shaska. As your sister I'm begging you. Please don't start something that neither you nor I have any way of predicting the outcome." She then added, "Or is it because of the fact that our mother chose me -- the younger daughter -- over you, the oldest -- to be the next Queen after her? Has your resentment so clouded your judgment?"

"No, Baby Sister, our mother thought you would make the better leader for our people. I didn't agree with her at the time. But I obeyed her wishes and supported you. In time, you proved to me and the rest of our people that our mother was right. You were, and still are, a good and noble Queen, Little Sister."

"Then why will you deny me the support that I need so badly?" asked the Queen.

"Because in this case, you are wrong, my sister. Your daughter is totally unfit to rule the Empire."

In an angry voice her sister asked, "And I suppose you think your daughter is fit to be the next Queen?"

"Ever since you lost your daughter nearly twenty years ago, she has been trained for just this duty," answered her sister.

Her own daughter tried to interrupt. "But Mother! I -- "

"Silence," her mother said. "This is between your aunt and myself."

"What do you think the people will say?" asked the Queen.

Her sister answered," I have over half the Council on my side, and almost half the Fleet as well. Most, if not all of the frontier planet governors, think the same as I do, and have sworn their loyalty to my daughter and me. And whether you like it or not, she will be the next Queen!"

C-ko's mother looked into her older sister's eyes and pleaded in a sad voice, "Please don't do this, Shaky!" She now addressed her sister by her childhood nickname.

"I'm sorry, Zaza," said Shaska, using in turn her sister's nickname. "What I do now, I do not for myself or even for my own daughter. I do it for the Empire and her people whom we both serve. I do what I have to do as a servant of that Empire -- and not as your sister."

"Just as I must do what I think is right," Zazen'lda solemnly answered. "Because of this, I can stand before you as your sister and not as your Queen. But once I climb those steps and once again sit on that damn throne, it will no longer be as your baby sister. Instead -- once I reach the top - it will be your Queen who stands before you." With that in mind she then added, "Please, Shaky -- I'm begging you as family. Don't make me climb those steps."

With that, she turned around and slowly climbed the stairs that led back up to her throne, hoping with every step she took to hear the sister she still loved call her back, or at least call out her name. When that name was not forthcoming, and after she reached the top of the steps, she turned and sat back down on her throne.

Facing her now ex-sister, she told her in her own harsh and powerful voice, "You have three days to leave Cygnan space. Take your ships, your supporters, and your familes. At the end of those three days, we will be at war -- and then I will be coming for you."

"No, my one-time sister. After three days, I will be the one who will be coming after you." Her older sister stood with tears in her eyes, which soon ran down her scared face. She turned around, with her cape unfolding behind her, and started to storm out of the Hall.

Her daughter took her mother by the forearm, begging, "Mother, please! There has to be another way."

"My daughter, the only way to decide this is the Way of the Warrior," said Shaska as she and her daughter left the Great Hall together.

As the massive doors closed behind them, the Queen of the Cygnan Empire never felt more alone in her life. In a hall crowded with retainers, noblewomen, servants, and warriors, Zazen'lda's only company were her childhood memories of her big sister's love and the tears which now blinded her.

------

"It's just a simple engineering problem," said Biko Daitokuji (B-ko for short) as she lay on her bed with her back leaning up against the dorm wall. Her roommate, sometimes friend, and constant rival Eiko Magami had a mouthful of pins but still managed to complain, "Everything is a simple engineering problem to you."

"I wish the two of you could knock off the sniping and finish helping me with this suit," pointed out Shiiko Kotobuki (C-ko for short).

The three girls, all college roommates, were trying on the swimsuits they were planning to wear on Spring Break, as soon as their finals were done for the semester. Kneeling at the feet of her friend C-ko was Eiko (A-ko for short) in her own one-piece white and red suit, cut high at the hip. Its color contrasted nicely with her red hair. As was her fashion, B-ko wore a purple tiny micro-thong bikini that left little or nothing to the imagination. Their mutual friend C-ko was wearing a modest two-piece suit with ruffles on the top and bottom.

"All I'm saying," B-ko pointed out, "is that if you were to remove the ruffles from the bottom, it would have a slimming effect. It'd also draw attention to her bustline, where she wants it in the first place, and away from her ass, where she doesn't."

"What would you know about clothing design?" asked A-ko. "There aren't any printed circuits, computer chips, or titanium armor plate in a swimsuit -- which means that you know next to nothing about such things!" She then added, "Besides, how can we -- or for that matter, anyone -- trust your judgment in clothing? If there was any less of that suit you're wearing or any more of you, you'd be arrested for soliciting. Not to mention the fact that when the first wave comes along, you'll be finding yourself as naked as the day you were hatched, Dragon Lady!"

"Unlike you, Bubble Butt, some women have a figure that can wear a swimsuit such as this," answered B-ko. "Besides," she added, "what makes you think a suit like this is made for swimming? This, Farm Girl, is an original design, made for me by the finest fashion house in Paris. It's made for men to look at, not to get wet!"

"How many times do I have to tell you? My father was raised on a farm, and you know very well I wasn't. Furthermore, most men want their women to look like women -- not twelve-year-old boys." In truth, ever since she turned fifteen, there was no way B-ko could ever be mistaken for a boy, and since A-ko turned eighteen, a blind man would have no trouble determining her gender.

"Better to be slim and attractive than built like a weightlifting Dolly Parton on steroids," B-ko pointed out.

A-ko had inherited her father's size, but she'd also inherited both her mother's athletic physique and also her feminine shape and form. Still, she was very sensitive about her six-foot height, the width of her shoulders, and the size of her arms and legs. These attributes were all due to a sudden growth spurt which occurred when she turned eighteen.

It had taken her nearly two years to grow and adapt into her new Amazon body. Because she was hurt by B-ko's remarks, A-ko took the pins out of her mouth, stood up, and faced B-ko. "Listen here, you skinny-ass Bi..."

"Enough!" screamed C-ko. "Can't the two of you even go one day without fighting?"

"Who's fighting?" A-ko and B-ko asked in unison.

C-ko looked up to the heavens, rolling her eyes as she said silently, why me? "I think B-ko is right. I think the suit would look better without the ruffles on the bottom piece."

A-ko looked down on her small friend and told her, "All right; I promise to work on your suit before we leave on Spring Beak. But tonight, you and I both have to pull all-nighters if we are going to be ready for our tests tomorrow."

Even as A-ko and C-ko took off their suits and prepared for a night of frantic studying, B-ko was getting dressed to go out. Seeing her getting dressed in her finest, A-ko asked,"Aren't you going to study for finals?"

"Some poor souls -- like the two of you -- have to study, and others -- like myself -- have to meet the captain of the basketball team for a date," B-ko explained with a big grin.

Concerned for her friend (even if she would never admit it), A-ko said, "I happen to know you have an engineering final tomorrow. Are you trying to tell me you don't have to study for it?"

"My so-called engineering professors have been going over problems all semester that I solved on my own when I was still in elementary school, building my first mecha [robot]."

Shaking her head, she then added, "I can't believe I turned down going to M.I.T. for Metropolis University!"

In truth, Metro U had one of the finest engineering programs in the country, if not in the world. It also without a doubt one of the finest journalism schools found anywhere. This is what had attracted A-ko. As for C-ko - well, wherever A-ko went, she went with her.

In fact, the only thing on which the three young women could agree was their desire to attend college abroad, avoiding going to college in Graviton City. If truth be told -- they were all less then welcome there.

There were other reasons which had convinced A-ko to attend her father's alma mater. Beside the fact that it had the very best creative writing program available on the east coast, she had also received a partial scholarship. But most important was that she could remain close to her parents without anyone knowing about it, except C-ko. Her family had moved back to the family homestead in Kansas under new names and identities. Her parents had kept their secret by keeping their home in Graviton City as a front to protect both their daughter's and their own yet-again brand-new identities here in America.

As B-ko worked on her engineering degree and A-ko studied journalism, C-ko was equally hard at work preparing herself to be a social worker. She did this because she wanted to be as much help to the unwanted of the world as possible. She wanted to help other orphans such as herself to find the love and security her adopted parents had provided for her.

It was three o'clock in the morning when C-ko turned to pour herself another cup of hot coffee, only to discover that the pot had somehow became unplugged. "Damn, the coffee is cold!" she complained.

"Let me take care of it," A-ko said as she concentrated and stared at the glass coffee pot. Two beams of radiant heat erupted from her eyes, and after a few moments the coffee was boiling merrily in the pot. This caused the redhead to rub her temples in obvious pain. Her childhood friend asked her, "Your head still hurts whenever you do that?"

"Yes, but less and less each time I try it. Papa says that I have to be patient, and the more I practice, the less it will hurt."

"Does he know why?" asked C-ko.

"My father's friends at Star Labs and Wayne Tech say that my Amazon blood doesn't always get along with my Kryptonian physiology. But my body is starting to adjust to all the new powers I developed when I turned eighteen."

Just then, B-ko was at their door, getting a last goodnight kiss from the captain of the basketball team. After saying her goodbyes and telling a few lies, she waltzed into the room with a big silly grin on her face.

"Well, well -- look what the cat dragged in," said A-ko.

"Jealous, are we?" laughed B-ko. She started to take off her clothes and throw them around the room so she could sleep in the nude, which was her habit.

As she made her way to her bed, the rich girl said, "Try to keep the noise down, roomies. I have a final first thing after lunch tomorrow, and I want to get at least four hours of sleep."

She was just about to crawl into bed when a pillow hit her in the back of the head. Turning quickly around in a rage to face A-ko, B-ko was flabbergasted to discover that it had been C-ko who had hit her in the back of the head with the pillow!

----------

The three girls had gotten the results of their test scores three days later. As usual, B-ko had pulled off her customary straight "A" average, not to mention the standard (for her) 4.0. A-ko and C-ko also did very well -- not as well as B-ko, of course -- but still well enough to make their parents very proud of them.

With the mundane problem of school grades out of the way, a far more important issue -- their road trip to Fort Lauderdale and how best to enjoy Spring Break -- came up for discussion.

"Why can't we take the corporate jet down to Florida, instead of driving all the way down in that smelly old van of yours?" B-ko complained.

"Because you promised -- for once in your life -- to stop solving your problems with your daddy's wallet," answered A-ko.

"But how will the fact that we'll be stuck in a cheap motel room -- as opposed to enjoying Spring Break in my family's winter cottage -- make me enjoy Spring Break more?"

"Only you, of all people, could call a thirty-four-room mansion on Florida's Gold Coast a cottage," the redhead complained.

C-ko made a face of disgust at A-ko, and then told B-ko, "What A-ko is trying to say -- in her own strange way -- is that we feel you would enjoy yourself more if you climbed off the mountain and tried living down in the valley."

"In other words, it's time to get off your high horse and try living with the rest of us peasants," explained A-ko.

"Well -- if you're going to put it that way --" said B-ko, "then I have only one question."

"And what would that be?" asked C-ko.

"When we do get down to the land of swamps and alligators and start having all this WONDERFUL fun you keep telling me about," asked a sarcastic B-ko, "what happens if one of us meets some interesting fellow, and invites him to spend the night? Where are the two of you going to be doing your sleeping?"

C-ko looked disgusted. "OH, ECCCCCCCHHHHHHH!"

Rolling her eyes, A-ko said, "Let me put it in terms disgusting enough so even you can understand. Whoever 'gets lucky', as you so colorfully put it, will pull down the shade and put a light into the window behind it. The other two will have to find their own accommodations that night, or sleep in the van. Does everybody agree with that?"

B-ko replied, "Then I suggest you two little girls pack your mattresses as well as your luggage, because the floor of that van is both very hard and very cold." C-ko just giggled as A-ko just walked away, shaking her head.

---------

The girls were busy packing for their trip for the rest of the day. A-ko was doubly busy because she was the one who kept arguing with B-ko on the amount of luggage she could take. It was during one of these never-ending discussions that one of A-ko's dorm mates yelled up the stairs, "HEY, RED! There is a Fed-Ex man here with a message for you."

There was a sudden lump in A-ko's throat as she dashed out the door and jumped the stair railing, landing in the lobby three floors below. She spied the Fed-Ex man from his uniform and walked up to him.

"Eiko Magami?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," She answered.

"Sign here, please."

As she was busily signing the messenger said, "Funny -- you don't look Japanese."

"That's because we all look alike - you baka," A-ko told the bigot as she snatched the two envelopes from his hand and disappeared up the stairs in a flash. As she re-entered her dorm room C-ko and B-ko both asked, "Is everything all right at home?"

"I'll know in a second," A-ko said as she sat down cross-legged on her bed and opened the envelopes with shaking hands. She opened the first letter and began to read. After a moment or two she announced, "It's from Mom."

"Since you have decided to spend Spring Break with your friends raising hell in Florida rather than spending your time off with the family who loves you, I wanted to drop you a quick line to remind you that you are your own woman now. You're fully grown and more than capable of making your way in the world. If you ever have any doubts, just follow your conscience and always remember to never do anything that would bring shame to your father. Even if I had no such experience in such matters, I can understand that a young woman wants to kick up her heels after all the hard work in school. Just be careful who you do that kicking with, and how. To make sure you have the means for all this fun I am enclosing a check for three hundred dollars. Love Mom.
PS: Don't tell your father about the money."

A-ko smiled sweetly as she placed her mother's letter under her sweater, close to her heart. She placed the check on top of the bed before she opened the letter from her father:

"Punkin', I want you to know we'll be missing you this Spring Break, but I don't want you to feel guilty about that. You worked very hard this year and your mother and I are both very proud of you. So, I want you to have fun in Florida. Just be careful with whom you have that fun. Both your mom and I want you to enjoy yourself, but not too much. I trust your judgment, but just in case - remember that if you do get in trouble we will always be there for you -- no matter what your mom says. To make sure you get off to a good start I am enclosing a check for five hundred dollars. Make sure you and C-ko have fun with it.

A-ko had a sweet smile on her face as C-ko asked once again, "Is everything OK back home?"

"Everything is fine," A-ko answered. "Just Mom and Pop looking out for their baby girl as usual."

C-ko smiled and nodded her head knowingly. B-ko had a sad and faraway look in her eyes as she thought of her own father and the mother she never knew.

"Hey, Bubble Butt, don't you think it's time to cut the umbilical cord and tell Mommy and Daddy you're your own woman now?" asked B-ko.

"My father -- and most of all, my mother -- have already seen to that," answered A-ko.

B-ko replied, "I have known who your parents are ever since they saved my life the day I turned eighteen. But I never knew they were saints!"

"If you ever heard one of their arguments you wouldn't think so," A-ko said with a grin.

"Your parents fight?" asked B-ko with a triumphant smile.

"Doesn't everyone's?"

"Good thing they do -- at least that way A-ko got to see a lot of movies," said C-ko as she joined in the conversation. At that statement by the diminutive blonde, both A-ko and C-ko broke out in an attack of the schoolgirl giggles.

B-ko asked, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Took me fourteen years to figure that out for myself," said A-ko.

"I was eighteen when A-ko finally explained it to me," said C-ko.

"Explain what?" B-ko demanded to know.

"It was the best way for two people in love to get their daughter out of the way whenever they ended an argument," A-ko answered. [N.B. For an explanation, check out The Gift of the Magami by Lady Tesser]

B-ko simply shook her head in bewilderment. "The both of you are still as annoying as ever!"
A bit jealous of A-ko's relationship with her parents, the rich girl told her, "And your parents are weird!"

A-ko, for once, didn't lose her temper. Instead, she smiled indulgently and told her, "If I ever get married, I should be so lucky."

----------

Sub-Admiral Aysheia Lisia Napolipolita and her ever-faithful aide D were standing at attention in their Queen's private chambers. "Stand at ease, Napolipolita; you too, D," ordered their Queen. "I called you here to talk to both of you in private, because I have a most important mission for the both of you."

Pausing to make sure she would be understood the queen went on, "As you already know, a civil war is about to erupt between my sister and myself over the secession of the Cygnan throne. I want you to take our fastest ship to Earth, find my daughter, and bring her home to her mother."

"Last time we tried seizing our queen's daughter from that miserable mudball, it cost us Your Majesty's flagship, and D and myself over five years of exile." It is truly a backward dung heap," Napolipolita pointed out.

Queen Zazen'lda poured chilled wine into cups of gold for her guests, and herself. As she handed them the cups, Sub-Admiral Napolipolita told her Queen, "No thank you, my Queen. I no longer imbibe."

"I'm sorry, Sub-Admiral! I forgot about your problem and how hard you worked to overcome it. This is but one of the reasons I have chosen you to retrieve my daughter. Only this time, you will be in our fastest scout ship. You can explain to her why she is needed back home. There will be no fighting and no kidnapping. Instead, you will deliver a personal message from me to my daughter," explained their Queen. "

"Leave immediately. I can't believe in my heart that my sister would do anything to hurt my child, but her allies might move against C-ko without asking permission or telling Shaska about it."

"If that is true, my Queen, many of the frontier outposts are much closer to Earth than we are. In fact, they could be on their way there already," Napolipolita pointed out.

"That's what I'm afraid of," replied Zazen'lda.

----------

The three college girls had loaded up the van and were all set to leave. The luggage was packed, and the three wild and crazy girls were now ready to go. "For the last time, does anyone have to visit the little girls' room?" A-ko asked, as she sat behind the steering wheel.

"No!" both B-ko and C-ko said in stereo.

"Tell me again -- why we have to start out at two in the morning?" asked C-ko.

"Because I want to beat rush-hour traffic." answered A-ko. With that said and done, A-ko started the engine and pulled on to the highway. Then -- as the terrible trio went down the road -- they sung the ancient Willy Nelson song, "On the Road Again."

It was all of two minutes before B-ko complained to the super-powered driver, "I know you don't need them -- but don't you think you should put the headlights on before some cop throws us in jail and we spend our vacation in the 'gray bar hotel'?"

"SORRY!" said A-ko as the girls sped down the road.

---------

Captain sighed as she and D left the Queen's chambers. "It's good to have another mission at last," she said. "I feel like I've been in Stir these past five years living on earth. I don't know what I would have done without my -- Terran friend."

D grinned. "Yes, my Captain. And my own - uh - friendship with Hideo Agama, the sumo wrestling champion of Osaka, hasn't exactly been a bed of nails, either." Her superior looked over the top of her shades at her, unfamiliar with the Earther analogy.

"Well, D," she said, shrugging. "All those years cruising the Sea of Stars certainly gives one an appreciation of good solid male companionship. Those refueling stops at the spaceports were so -- well, rushed. Ah, here we are -- "

They walked into the cargo bay of the Queen's Navy shipyard (or the Cygnan equivalent thereof) and located the scout ship. It was a snappy smaller model, completely state of the art, but with a capacity of only Warp 8. The Captain chuckled. "I guess Her Majesty doesn't want us to do any time-traveling." She recalled the time when her own girls had 'borrowed' one of her hop-ships and had ended up in Woodstock, Pearl Harbor, and the Cretaceous Period, respectively.

Two tall and ramrod-straight soldiers approached them and bowed low. "Your conveyance, Captain," said Master Sargent Buyabah. Although Napolipolita's title had indeed changed, she was still known to most by her former appellation of "Captain". Buyabah sported a short spiky Cygnan 'do; her hair was black at the roots and white at the tips (not an unusual state of affairs for a denizen of the Lepton Kingdom). Standing next to her was S/Sgt. Benedycina, a longhaired beauty with half-orange, half-red hair. Both were longstanding retainers of the Queen, and had known both the Captain and D for years.

The Captain saw that the little vessel was a lovely shade of deep metallic maroon -- sort of like the color of that sparkling wine the Her Majesty waved under my nose; Napolipolita thought --

------

After many hours of arduous driving down Interstate 95, the girls finally entered Florida and located their hotel.

"You have GOT to be KIDDING me," B-ko snorted. "What an expletive-deleted bovine rectal eluent HELL HOLE!"

C-ko's eyes widened -- but otherwise, she prudently said nothing.

A-ko (with her parents' seven hundred dollars in her pocket) was beginning to think she had made a mistake, but it was too late to admit it now. The coeds checked in and made their way to Room 236. "Welcome to the No-Tel Motel, ladies," she sighed. "Well, come on in, time's a wasting!" She began hoisting baggage from the heavily-laden van and flinging them onto the beds, in a super high-speed conveyor-belt style, while the other girls looked on. C-ko would rather play in the baby pool, and B-ko was above such manual labor.

"Oh come on, Beeks," A-ko panted. "Get your hands dirty. It won't kill you, you know."

"Forget it," the blue-headed heiress sniffed. "I'll let low-class lugs like you do the heavy lifting. You are SO much more SUITED to it, you know."

A-ko growled -- showing her teeth -- but thought better of it. It wouldn't do to start out Spring Break with another one of their famous A-girl, B-girl fights. C-ko wouldn't like it; that's for sure.

And that young lady was sitting in the little pool (the olympic-sized pool was too big and scary for her alone), splashing and squealing. A few passersby raised their eyebrows at this sight and hurried on. After all, C-ko was grown and watching her play patty-cake with the water's surface was a great deal too much for most folks to handle. The merry blonde hummed "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" (which, in her case, came out "Tinkle Tinkle Lirrel Stah") and continued her playing.

The little Princess had no idea -- sitting there in the sunshine in her swimsuit (with only the top ruffle remaining) -- that two of her countrywomen were making their way toward her on the silent and vast river of hyperspace.

The vacation was halfway over. For the past three days and nights [especially the nights] the three Graviton refugees were three wild and crazy girls, even C-ko started to enjoy herself. The three friends spent their days on the beach soaking up the sunshine and playing in the surf. B-ko, for the most part, shunned the surf and instead concentrated on parading up and down the sand dunes, drawing boys as honey draws flies.

But it was their nights that the girls reserved for cutting loose. They had attended five different rave parties over the first three nights. It was on the second night that C-ko met Edward. A-ko and C-ko had been sitting alone at a corner booth while B-ko had been busy tearing up the dance floor with an exchange student from American Samoa.

A-ko had just managed to get C-ko to switch from Shirley Temples to pitchers of ice cold beer. Even then, A-ko was on her second pitcher while C-ko was just finishing her second glass. Just as C-ko finished, B-ko came running back to the table and -- taking A-ko by her hand -- yelled over all the noise and music, "Come on, Red; we're going to make some money!"

As B-ko dragged A-ko off to one of her latest money making scams, C-ko found herself sitting all alone in the corner booth. She wasn't alone long, for soon a dark-haired young man, with soft brown eyes hidden behind a pair of tortoiseshell glasses and an unruly cowlick, came over and introduced himself.

"Hi, my name is Edward Templer, Harvard Pre-Med. May I sit down?"

C-ko couldn't stop herself from smiling up at her sudden visitor. With a warm and inviting smile she told him, "The name is Shiiko Kotobuki. I'm studying Social Sciences at Metro U."

Taking the introduction as an invitation, Ed returned the smile and sat down across from C-ko. Soon the two shy college students were lost in each other's company.

Meanwhile, B-ko was dragging A-ko across the dance floor to where a large crowd was gathered. It was B-ko who spoke first. "We gotta stop off at the ladies' room first."

"Why do we have to stop at the ladies' room first and where are you taking me?" A-ko returned.

"So you can take off your bra."

"WHAAAT??"

"They're having a wet T-shirt contest. It'll be an easy win for you and an easy two hundred bucks for me."

"You must be out of your mind," screamed A-ko. "If I ever did something like that, I couldn't look my father in the face! As for my mother, do you have any idea what she would do to me if she ever found out?" The redhead turned around and started back toward their booth and toward C-ko as B-ko yelled in her ear, "It's just for laughs and of couse money."

"Then YOU do it," answered A-ko.

"They're looking for quantity over quality," she answered right back as she followed behind A-ko.

A-ko saw her small friend talking with a boy and pulled up short. She stopped so suddenly that B-ko almost walked up her back. Looking over her friend's shoulder, B-ko exclaimed, "C-ko -- with a man??"

"Quiet!" whispered A-ko. "She might hear you."

"This I got to hear," said B-ko as she started forward. "I wonder if she's telling him about her little sea snail Tea Party."

Just as she started forward, A-ko grabbed her by the collar and told her, "Oh, no you don't! C-ko has every right to live her own life and none of this is any of our business." She was just about to hustle her sometimes-friend B-ko out of the nightclub when she saw that C-ko was waving them both over. After they sat down, C-ko made the introductions all around the table. The three girls and Edward were soon joined by two of his fraternity brothers from different universities an offensive tackle from the University of Miami and a third-year bio major from Stanford.

For the rest of the week the six students were almost always to be found together. To A-ko and B-ko and their male friends, it was simply a enjoyable way to pass the time. But to C-ko and Edward, something far more important and meaningful passed between them. They took every opportunity to slip away from the group so they could be alone together.

It was on Saturday night that B-ko and her date from Stanford had slipped away to listen to the live band and to also try the jello shooters down at Sloppy Joes. A-ko and her all-American tackle from Miami walked the beach hand-in-hand. C-ko and Edward, however, had slipped away hours earlier and were nowhere to be found.

It was one o'clock in the morning when A-ko was making her way back to the motel room. She had just dumped her date two hours earlier. She was in a very bad mood; some men just needed to be taught that when a girl says no she means NO! The Miami college boy had to be taught just that, and A-ko had proved to be an excellent teacher.

Tired and hungry, she was standing in front of the motel door and was just about to insert her key, when she noticed the pulled-down shade and the dim glow from the lamp behind it.

"Damn B-ko!" A-ko said to herself as she turned around and made her way back to the van to sleep.

She was tossing and turning and trying to fall asleep on her lumpy college mattress when she heard a whisper from outside the van -- "Psst, Psst! C-ko, are you in there?"

A-ko slid the door open and saw a slightly buzzed B-ko standing before her.

Both young women said almost at the same time, "I thought you were the one in the room!"

It was B-ko who exclaimed, "C-ko?????? I just GOTTA make sure!" Suddenly, a hand grabbed her by the back of her jeans and lifted her, pulling her inside the van. As she was doing this A-ko told her friend, "Ohhhh, no you don't."

"Don't you want to make sure?" asked B-ko.

"NO!" was A-ko's answer.

"Aw come on," B-ko pleaded. "You can do that trick your father does with his eyes and take a peek through the walls!"

"Don't even GO there," said A-ko. "It's no one's business but C-ko's."

As they settled into the van B-ko asked, "What happened to your all-American?"

"He wouldn't take no for an answer," said A-ko.

"What happened?"

"When he got too grabby without first asking permission, I decided he needed cooling off. So I tossed him into the Atlantic to cool off."

"How far?" asked B-ko.

"About two hundred yards offshore. I skipped him like you would a stone across a lake. He bounced sixteen times before he stopped."

"Did he drown?"

"Of course not; don't be silly. I waited around until he made it back to shore," answered the giggling redhead.

As B-ko settled down on her own mattress she asked, "Did you have a talk with C-ko about 'certain things'?"

A-ko replied, "She went to the same sex education class you and I did in high school." A moment or two passed before she added, "And the answer is yes." With that, A-ko turned her back to B-ko and tried to go to sleep. Soon the rich girl disturbed her once again.

"A-ko?"

"What?"

"Have you ever done -- well you know, what C-ko is doing?"

"The mattress mambo?"

"Yeah."

"The horizontal hoochie?"

"Yeah."

"No," admitted A-ko. "You?"

"Well, of course -- at LEAST a dozen times," B-ko fibbed.

All was silent for a while.

"A-ko?"

"Yep?"

'Did your mother ever sit you down and talk to you about this sort of thing?"

"When I was thirteen," answered A-ko. "And it wasn't just my mother; both my parents talked to me together."

"Weren't you embarrassed?" asked B-ko.

"Not as embarrassed as my father was," she answered with a knowing smile. "But they felt that such an important part of a young girl's life should be explained by both parents."

"I didn't have a mother," said B-ko. "In fact, I have no memory of her."

"Did your father talk to you about such things?" asked A-ko.

"No, he ordered one of his secretaries to talk to me."

"I'm sorry to hear that," said A-ko.

"Why? The way my father did it was better; more efficient, and less emotional. Besides, she was well paid for her trouble."

"If you say so," said A-ko as she shook her head sadly.

"Did your mother and you ever just talk woman to woman?" asked B-ko.

"Yes, but it was different in my case," answered A-ko.

Intrigued, the heiress asked, "In what way?"

"My mother had never even seen her first man until she was past twenty-one. In fact, she didn't do what were talking about until she was sixty-five years old."

Surprised, B-ko said, "I never knew that."

"When my mother came out into the world and met my father for the first time, she fell in love with him and he was attracted to her. But his great love was a woman named Lois Lane. My mother told me their love was some thing truly special -- almost divine."

B-ko asked, "Why did she put up with that? She had --"

"The power," A-ko said as she finished B-ko's sentence. "She knew that she had no right to try and take by force what has to be given freely. My mother told me that Lois was a wonderful wife to my father, and a friend to her. In fact, she was responsible for my parents getting married."

"How so?" asked B-ko.

"She knew that she would die someday, and she also knew how my mother felt about my father. She made my mother promise that she would take care of him after she was gone. So you can see, if it wasn't for Lois, I might never even be here."

"Well that's one reason I have to hate her," said B-ko with a comical grin.


A-ko laughed once, then turned over and tried to go to sleep.

After a few moments of silence B-ko told her, "I'm sorry, A-ko."

"For what?" she asked.

"For all of those times I tried to kill you."

With her back to B-ko, A-ko smiled and told her, "Lucky for me your heart wasn't really in it."

"Lucky for you is right," said a defiant B-ko.

"Good night bitch," said A-ko with a giggle. "May you learn to drink from the Cygnans."

"Same to you, Bubble Butt," replied B-ko with even a bigger giggle and an only slightly smaller beer burp.

With a final good night, they were both fast asleep.

------

Hours later, A-ko was awakened by B-ko frantically shaking her shoulder. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, A-ko willed herself awake and saw B-ko peeking out of the side window of the van. Joining her, A-ko saw their friend C-ko in a warm and loving embrace with Edward. As they kissed, A-ko remarked, "Without the glasses and that goofy hairdo, this guy is a regular hunk." She then added, "Way to go, C-ko!"

Ed kissed the little blonde's hand as a last good-bye and -- with a final wave -- ran into the street and hailed a cab. As he pulled away, their friend waved goodbye to him with a sweet smile on her face. Then she went back inside.

"Let's go," said B-ko.

"No, not until she pulls up the shade. And remember -- no questions," A-ko reminded her.

"What are we going to tell her when she asks us where we've been all night?" asked B-ko.

"Well, I'm going to tell her I got drunk, passed out, and slept on the beach," said A-ko.

"Well, can I tell her I met a cute boy from Yale and shacked up in the best hotel room in Fort Lauderdale?" asked B-ko.

"You would," said A-ko.

After an hour, the shade came up and the two girls made their way back to their motel room. As they entered the room, C-ko began to scold them both.

"Just where have the two of YOU been all night?"

"I got drunk, passed out, and fell asleep on the beach," said B-ko.

A-ko turned her head and glared at her for stealing her excuse. She then said, "I shacked up at the Ft. Lauderdale Hilton with a rich kid from Yale."

"Well the both of you should be ashamed of yourselves. Now remember - we're entered in the beach volleyball tournament, and tap-off is in two hours -- just enough time for a shower and breakfast."

"I'll do the cooking," said A-ko.

"And it's the shower for me," said B-ko.

"What should I do?" asked C-ko.

"The Power Puff Girls are on in one minute," said A-ko.

"Whoopeeee!" screamed C-ko as she made a dash to the TV set against the wall.

---------

Her Majesty's scout vessel Britomartis was on the edge of the Solar System when the ever-faithful D said,"We have trouble, Captain."

"How so D?" asked Napolipolita, still sorry she had to leave her daughters and return to the Sea of Stars and to her responsibilities.

"Long-range sensors have detected a Ka-gor-class battle cruiser in stationary orbit in the Earth moon's shadow."

"Damn! They've beaten us here!" exclaimed her Captain. She thought for a moment, and then asked D, "Can they have detected us yet?"

"No," said D. "We're too small and too far away. Plus, the sun's chromosphere is more likely than not interfering with their own sensors."

Napolipolita thought for a moment. "Enter the system in a ellipse. I want you to keep the Earth between us and its moon. At least that way, we'll have the one advantage over Shaska's forces -- they won't know we're here."

D raised her thin eyebrows. "I don't think that is one of our Queen's sister's ships. The closest frontier planet that uses Ka-gor battle cruisers is the Planet Ivo-4. Governor Retan-ar rules that sector."

"That vicious bitch should have been drummed out of the service years ago," said Napolipolita.

"She was heading for a court martial when she joined Shaska's forces and the rebellion, more likely than not to avoid it," D pointed out. Just then, a loud buzz was heard. D noted the relay and told her Captain, "The navicomputer says we'll add an extra two hours entering the Sol System if we make an elliptical entrance. "

Captain took off her Cygnan shades and wiped them thoughtfully. "So -- instead of arriving in fifteen hours, we will arrive in seventeen. It will be worth the time if we can keep the element of surprise."

The Captain's musings were interrupted by a loud beep from what the Cygnans only semi-seriously called the TerraCom. D answered it.

Napolipolita watched her face. Not much finesse there, she thought; but a heart as big as an Egota and a loyal supporter. Suddenly, D gasped and slapped her hand over her large lipsticked mouth.

"Great Mother, what now?" the Captain thought. "Has Akana been arrested again for violating the United Nations Test Ban Treaty?"

By this time, D's eyes were crossed and her face was a vivid shade of deep purple. Silently, she held the instrument toward her superior. Both amused and a bit frightened, Captain answered.

"Heyyyyy YA-ho, Captain!" said C-ko.

"Princess! What an honor!" the soldier returned. If she had been alone, she would have saluted, just to make herself feel more official.

"We're havin' a reeeeeal good time here in Florida when that electronic thingamagig you left with me started beeping," the little blonde chirped.

Captain only raised an eyebrow. "And what has Our Majesty been doing to amuse herself down there?" she said cheerfully.

"Welllll ya know, Captain ---"

Within half a minute Napolipolita turned bright red and bit her fist in an effort to stuff at least fifteen minutes' worth of gut-busting laughter.

"Ummm - eeep - ahaha -- well, My Princess.." she said, desperately trying to avoid eye contact with D, who was now rolling on the floor of the bridge. "You take care of yourself now, and --- " The two aliens made eye contact.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

She knew it was disrespectful to literally hang up on Her Majesty, but figured the conversation had reached its logical conclusion anyway. And just in time. Within three seconds of her terminating the com call, the Captain was doubled over, shrieking with laughter. D joined her. Their hysterics bounced off the hull walls and doubled the deep-voiced cacophony.

"WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! DON'T DO ANYTHING YOU WOULDN'T DO? OH THAT IS A GOOD ONE MY CAPTAIN!" D screamed, pounding the floor with both fists.

"Oh, our poor little Princess!" Captain hooted.

The two laughed raucously for another thirty seconds or so. Then -- as suddenly as their laughter began -- it was replaced by wide eyes and serious faces.

"Oh Great Mother, D. I hope the Queen doesn't find out."

D remarked, "Should we meet with the Princess in person before or after we see our loved ones, Captain?" When Napolipolita didn't answer right away, D asked once again. "Captain, is everything all right?"

"No, D -- we will have no time for any type of family reunion. We shouldn't have let the princess contacted us over the comlink! The rebels might be able to track the Princess's transmission back to the source."

Disappointed, D sat at attention, but silent. She hadn't seen her mother in quite a long time, and worried about her. The old woman -- a retired starfreighter engineer -- now lived by herself the equivalent of three hundred miles from CygniCity, the Queen's capital city. D sighed, and thought hard. Back home, I'm just Deesha Dakina and my mother is so proud of everything I do. Here -- I just seem to disappoint you, Captain. What do you care, anyway? You have Daitokuji, you have your girls. There's no need for you to return to the Homeworld. I only have my mother left, and she needs me --

Snapping out of her morose head-monologue, D asked, "What are your orders, my Captain?"

"Track that transmission back to its source and set our course accordingly. I fear we now find ourselves in a race, old friend -- a race we must win."

-------

B-ko couldn't understand what was wrong with A-ko. They should have won their volleyball match much more easily than they had. B-ko knew that with A-ko's physical abilities, they should have wiped the sand with any team they faced. In fact, they would have lost the last match if C-ko hadn't made a spectacular save on their opponent's last spike.

They were resting on the beach between matches when B-ko asked A-ko, "You're playing like crap; what's wrong with you?"

It was a worried-looking redhead who answered, "I shouldn't be playing at all."

"Why the hell not?"

"It's not fair, either to the people we compete against or to you and C-ko."

"What are you talking about?" asked B-ko.

"Experience. At the age of sixteen, my father gave up competing in the sports he loved so much because he knew of the unfair advantage he had over others. Yet here I am, a twenty-year-old woman, still playing kids' games."

"We're all but guaranteed an easy win with you on our team," said B-ko.

"Win? Win what?" asked A-ko. "What's a victory worth, if a super-powered meta-human hands it to you?" She then added, "I'm ashamed of myself. I now know what my father felt like all those decades ago -- only it took me until I was twenty to discover what he'd learned when he was a boy of sixteen."

Before B-ko could reply, one of the game officials came over and addressed the trio of young women. He told the three friends. "You're up next!" As she glared at A-ko, B-ko told the volleyball tournament official, "Forget it -- we forfeit." With that, the lavender-haired heiress leaped to her feet and stormed down the beach in a huff.

C-ko looked up at her best friend and told her, "I think you should go after her. You know how she gets when ever she thinks someone is trying to take something away from her -- even if deep down she knows you're right."

A-ko smiled at her diminutive friend and told her, "In some ways. you're the one of us who has changed most of all, C-ko."

"Some of us mature later in life," C-ko pointed out with a grin.

A-ko returned the smile as she said, "Thank you for being my friend, C-ko -- for being our friend."

"That works both ways," said C-ko. A-ko smiled, nodded her head, then quickly dashed off to catch up with B-ko. As she left, C-ko lay back down in the sand and looked up at the blue sky. She mused about her date with Edward for that evening, and how she was going to tell her two best friends in the world about it.

A-ko had just caught up with B-ko. She slowed to match the longer-legged woman stride for stride; they walked in silence for about a hundred yards until A-ko asked, "Are you going to talk to me, or not?"

"Why should I?"

"Because you're my friend," A-ko answered.

"You have a funny way of showing it," said B-ko.

"I have a responsibility to my family," explained A-ko. "I can't do anything that might bring shame to them."

B-ko pulled up short and quickly turned to face her. "Your friendship with C-ko wasn't the only thing I was jealous of you know. It wasn't the only reason for all the trouble between us."

"What else was there?" asked A-ko.

"I was also always jealous of the relationship you have with your parents. Most of all -- I envied the relationship you had with your father. It only got worse when I found out who they really were."

"Why?" asked A-ko.

"Because, even with who they are and what they had to do for the world, they always made time for you." B-ko turned to stare out to sea. "I never knew my mother. And as for my father, he only showed an interest in me when he could steal one of my mecha designs or keep my name out of the news media after one of our fights."

"By doing that, he also kept me out of the limelight," A-ko pointed out.

"That was never his intention!"

"It still was the result," A-ko replied.

"He never really cared about me," the girl said, her shoulders sagging. "Now it's that damn Captain and her pack of whelps. I got left in the backwash, as usual."

They began to walk down the beach arm-in-arm. After a strained silence (the redhead sympathized, but had gotten tired of B-ko's rants about the Cygnan interlopers a long time ago), A-ko asked a question to which she'd always wanted to know the answer. "When you first discovered who my parents really were, why didn't you use that knowledge against me?"

"That would have been the height of bad manners on my part. After all, I only found out when they both had to reveal who they really were to me during the graduation party. It was the only way they could save both C-ko and me from those eco-terrorists - you remember. The ones who had a grudge against my father for chopping down one more rainforest."

"With our background together and with our past troubles, my parents were already making plans to move after you found out.

It was only after you had your little talk with my father that they changed their minds. In fact -- it was only after that the two of us started getting along better." A-ko then asked, "You ever going to get around to sharing with me just what the two of you talked about?"

"Maybe someday," said B-ko. A moment later she added, "Then again -- perhaps not, Bubble Butt."

A slow grin crawled across A-ko's face as she stopped short. A moment later, the one-time rivals were hugging each other close in mutual friendship.

Suddenly, a number of sonic booms vibrated over the Florida beach. As if by magic, a number of strange crafts appeared overhead.

"What are they?" asked A-Ko.

"Cygnans!" answered B-ko.

"Oh my God -- C-KO!" cried A-ko as she dashed back towards where she had left the little blonde. She had almost gone halfway to her side when one of the strange alien shuttlecrafts swooped down and blasted the beach right in front of her, knocking her into the ocean. A-ko managed to reach the surface, but she was stunned and all to soon discovered that she was having a very difficult time staying afloat.

Already she had gone down twice, only to fight her way back to the surface. She was on her way down for a third time when she felt an arm around her throat, holding her up. "Hang on, Bubble Butt, I've got you."


"B-KO?" asked A-ko.

"No da. Who else?" Just as B-ko was getting A-ko back to shore, one of the Cygnan shuttlecraft landed. A moment later, two companies of female warriors came rushing down the ramps. They spread out in standard covering formation.

As the panicked people on the beach scattered in all directions, a score of the rebel warriors broke off from the group and set up a defensive line between the struggling C-ko and her would-be rescuers. These soldiers -- whose uniforms did not resemble those worn by the troops on Napolipolita's late-great Egota Pallas Athena -- spotted A-ko as she came rushing ahead to save her friend.

At one hundred yards, the Cygnan rifle squads opened up on the advancing redhead in an attempt to hold her off. Luckily for her, A-ko's vision and reflexes were a lot quicker than the trajectory of the alien projectiles; she managed to deflect the laser bolts on her ancient bracelets in a futuristic version of the ancient Amazon game of bullets and bracelets. The captain in charge -- seeing the failure of her best troops' rifle fire -- ordered a charge in an attempt to buy enough time to get the now-crying Princess aboard the scout ship, and then up to the Mother Ship.

As C-ko was being dragged up the ramp, the captain in charge looked at A-ko and told her second-in-command, "She is the one we were warned about. You and your troops hold her off as long as you can, while I escape with the hostage!"

"To hear is to obey, my Captain," said the lieutenant as she rushed forward at the head of her warriors to confront A-ko in hand-to-hand combat.

The Cygnans used their rifle butts and swords in an attempt to stop, or at least slow down, the redheaded terror who was at that very moment tearing her way through their ranks. One glance and Captain Ro-gen Pashina knew her troops wouldn't be able to stop the super-powered Earther. Two of her best troopers had pinned the screaming C-ko's arms behind her back and were dragging her up the ramp.

The captain stopped them and addressed their captive. "I'm sorry, Princess, but what we do, we do for the good of the Empire." Turning to the officer in charge she told her, "Take off immediately and deliver the Princess. Don't wait for us; the rest of us are to be considered expendable." With that, she drew her sidearm and went forward to join in the battle with A-ko. As she moved forward, she was also half-wishing to meet the fate she believed she deserved for having a hand in the kidnapping of the Royal Princess.

As the hatch closed behind the Lepton leader, A-ko was laying out the last of her troops. Captain Ro-gen Pashina strode forward, blasting away as she hoped to at least delay A-ko long enough for her crew to safely escape with the Princess.

Torn between her perceived loyalty to the Cygnan Empire and the shame she felt for going against her Queen (not to mention the moral ambiguity that arises whenever kidnapping is involved), she found herself longing for a quick and honorable death in battle. Only the belief that the capture of the Princess might somehow prevent the civil war she so feared allowed her to go on with this whole terrible farce. It was this belief that compelled her to move forward to do battle with the redheaded alien. She managed to get off two quick shots, which A-ko deflected with her bracers.

She never did get off the third shot as A-ko seized her by her throat and by her gun hand. Staring into her heavily-shadowed cerulean eyes, A-ko growled, "Release my friend."

Feeling the ground shake and realizing what that meant, Captain Ro-gen Pashina stared bravely into the face of the strange Earther and told her, "You're too late." A moment later, the ship was streaking upward. For the briefest of moments A-Ko was very tempted to close her hand tight around the offending throat she now had in her grasp. But in the end, she proved to be her parents' daughter after all, and proved it when she threw the captain down onto the beach.

Just then, B-ko arrived with one of the Cygnans' weapons in her hands. A-ko turned to her and said, "Keep and eye on them." With that, A-ko took one step back and took to the sky.

A-ko had first managed to fly when she turned eighteen. For the two years since, she had practiced as much as she could. But in all that time she never tried pushing herself so high or as fast as she did now. At fifty thousand feet, she caught up to the shuttlecraft and even managed to get a hand on the hatch. Suddenly, a blast from one of the craft's self-defense guns knocked her away and left her tumbling out of the sky.

A-Ko fell over thirty thousand feet before she regained control of her own flight ability. Even then, she barely was able to make it back to where B-ko was guarding the prisoners. As soon as she landed next to B-ko, A-ko collapsed to her knees from exhaustion.

Without taking her eyes off the prisoners B-ko asked her friend, "You all right?"

"I'm ok; just winded." she answered back.

From low out of the west came a different style of spacecraft. One glance and both young Earthers recognized it as another -- and much more familiar -- Cygnan design. It hovered over the beach above the group of prisoners, then slowly moved a little way further down the beach. It then slowly settled down onto the sand.

As both D and Napolipolita stood before the ramp as it slowly opened, D turned to her green-haired captain. "I fear we are too late, my Captain."

"I'm afraid you're right, D. The best we can hope for now is to get as much information as possible."

D had just turned to face front when a strong hand reached into the partially-opened hatch, seized her by the front of her uniform, and tossed her at least a hundred yards out to sea. A moment later Captain Napolipolita felt those same strong hands around her own throat as she was dragged out of her scout ship. She found herself staring eyeball-to-eyeball with A-ko's amber eyes.

"Up to your old tricks again, Captain? You have some sort of nerve to show up here after your girls snatched C-ko!"

"You have me all wrong," pleaded Napolipolita. "We came here to protect C-ko from a kidnapping plot and to deliver a message from her mother! The Queen wants her to return home where she is needed, nothing more! Those women weren't my troops. They are traitors to the Queen and the Empire. My soldiers and I would die for Our Princess; you know that very well!"

"Do you think we should trust her?" asked B-ko, happy for the opportunity to make the Cygnan suffer. For once, Daddy wasn't around to stop her.

"As Pop once said about Artemis when I was all of ten -- 'I wouldn't believe her if she was to tell me water was wet!' " B-ko grinned.

After having swum to shore, D got back to her feet and rushed to her Captain's aid, only to be met by A-ko's fist as it smashed into her face.

"I swear by the Mother," swore Napolipolita as she hung helplessly in the air, "we would never -- "

A-ko -- still unbelieving -- shook with rage as she fought to control herself. With a supreme effort at restraint, she tossed the alien captain down into the damp sand.

There, Napolipolita lay on her back, coughing and spitting. Clutching her throat with her gloved hands, the Cygnan did her best to try to catch her breath and to regain her strength. Instead, she curled into a fetal knot and shuddered. A moment later, D was at her side where she lay. As the ever-faithful D held her in her arms, Captain quickly explained to both Terrans why they were there, and -- most important of all -- what had been going on back in the Cygnan Empire.

Turning her attention back to Captain Ro-gen Pashina -- still held captive by B-ko's weapon -- A-ko asked her, "Where did your crew take my friend?"

"Go to hell," was the officer's only response.

Suddenly, an alarm went off on D's wristband. She quickly looked down on her computer screen and announced that the rebel battle cruiser had just warped out of Luna Orbit. Continuing to point her weapon at the shuttle captain, B-ko asked her, "Where are the rest of your crew going to take our friend?"

Captain Ro-gen kept silent and refused to speak.

After helping her own captain to her feet, D said, "Let me have her. I'll get her to talk!"

"You know better than that D," said Ro-gen. "We served in the Fleet together long enough for you to know better than anyone that I will never be forced to talk against my will."

Captain Napolipolita gave a harsh laugh, which turned into a series of coughs. "You always were what these Terrans call a 'wuss', Pashina. I beat your butt every time we competed at the CygniCity Space Academy, and you know it."

"The only reason you were ever admitted to the Academy in the first place was because your mother had been the Commander before she was killed." Ro-gen smirked, tossing her shaggy navy-blue and citrine-colored hair. "What a disappointment you turned out to be. What a miserable, crazy, drunken failure you are! Everyone knows it. Your mother would be ashamed!"

Captain gave a cry of outrage, and struggled to right herself. Taking over, D pulled her dagger and was advancing on the stubborn Captain Ro-gen to test her claim when A-ko told her, "I don't know how much of this I should believe. But I know one person who can get to the bottom of all this."

In a few moments, the prisoners were stripped of their weapons and communicators and were secured in the cargo-hold of the scout ship. Taking the two captains with them and leaving the rest of the Cygnans stranded on the beach, they made a quick stop at their motel room for a change of clothes and to pick up one of B-ko's traveling cases. Soon, the small scout ship was streaking westward and northward into the heart of the American nation.

-------

A few minutes later Captain Ro-gen found herself sitting in a half-painted kitchen in a newly-built farmhouse located in the midwestern heartland. When her blindfold was removed, she came face-to-face with a tall and very handsome woman with jet black hair and a very imposing build. Ro-gen initially thought she was facing another Cygnan by the way the woman carried herself.

The strange woman held a golden rope in her hand as she stood in front of the rebel captain. Looking at the rope in her hand, Captain Ro-gen Pashina asked this new woman in a contemptuous voice, "What do you think you're going to get from me with that piece of string?"

"Everything!" was the only reply she received in return.

A moment later the loop was tight around her, and the other end was handed over to A-ko -- apparently this woman's daughter.

The redhead asked, "Now, let's try this again. Where did your companions take my friend?"

Captain Ro-gen tried her best to resist, but as hard as she tried, in the end she failed. "The planet Shar-renar in the Tregis System."

Turning to Napolipolita, A-ko asked her, "You know the place?" In response, she nodded her head yes.

A deep male voice then came from the corner of the room. "Ask her if any more of her forces are coming into our star system."

A moment later the good Captain Ro-gen informed all of those gathered in that country kitchen that not only would a large portion of the rebel fleet be in Sol's system in four days' time, but also that their own intelligence reported that a sizable portion of the fleet still loyal to C-ko's mother would be here to confront it.

"See how easy that was?" A-ko grinned.

After a few more minutes of questioning, A-ko removed her mother's golden lasso from around Ro-gen and handed it back to its owner. She then turned to her father, "What are we going to do, Papa?"

The gathered Cygnans -- all military women believing that males belonged safe at home and not out mixing in women's affairs -- raised their eyebrows. They weren't used to seeing a male given this type of respectful treatment. They were even more surprised and shocked when the male said, "Whatever your mother and I have to do. An to make sure that comes about, the first thing I'm going to do is call the JLA together and do whatever we can to prevent C-ko's people from turning Earth in to a battleground for their own private civil war."

A-ko thought for a moment and said, "Then, that leaves me free to travel with Napolipolita and D to wher ever C-ko has been taken, to perform a rescue."

Her father's face suddenly turned red with anger as he snapped his head around to confront his daughter. "Oh no you're not," he told her. "It's too dangerous, and you're much too young to go skipping across the Galaxy on some half-baked rescue mission."

"I'm only two years younger than you were when you started your life's work," protested A-ko. "And only one year younger than Mama when she became Wonder Woman."

Napolipolita opened her eyes wide. Her own daughters read Wonder Woman comic books like there was no tomorrow. She remembered Akana once running to her, pointing to a picture of Wonder Tot and laughing. "She looks like I did when I was little," the green-haired child had said. "You're still that way, my little baby," her mother had returned.

Wonder Woman. Wonder -- Woman -- could it be? A-ko's mother is that Terran Amazon in the comic books? No wonder the best friend of my Princess is so strong, the Captain thought. It had been the ancient Cygnans who had given the Terran Minoans of Ancient Crete their own warrior skills, their goddess religion, and their holy double-axe. A thousand years later, the Greek warrior women called the Amazons had adopted these extraterrestrial gifts as their own.

"Enough, " A-ko's father yelled. "I will hear no more foolish talk about how old your mother and I were when we started in this crazy life we live. We never wanted you to go into this life and If I have any thing to say about it, you never will!"

"Then tell me who is going to help C-ko!" A-ko yelled back at her father.

"I will be the one who will be going with C-ko's loyal subjects," said Mr. Magami.

"You can't! You have to stay behind with Mama and the rest of the JLA to make sure that the two Cygnan battle fleets don't turn the Earth into so much space mulch!"

"I don't want to hear any more on the subject; it's settled. I'm still your father and you will obey me in this."

A-ko stood tall and defiant as she screamed back at her father, "I'm over twenty years old, Father, and a grown woman. I'm just not your little girl any more."

The legendary Man of Steel stared into his daughter's face and told her in a deep and emotion-filled voice, "As long as I live, don't you ever dare say that ever again to me."

Mrs. Magami was suddenly worried. Unlike mother and daughter, A-ko and her father almost never had words. Not that arguing and fighting were unknown in the Magami and now newly-named "Clark" home. Two strong, independent, and spirited people who loved each other as much as Diana and Clark did couldn't share their love and their life together without the occasional disagreement and shouting match.

At an early age A-ko had learned that her parents' arguments didn't mean they loved each other -- or, more important still -- her any less. This also included all the times mother and daughter had gone nose-to-nose with each other since A-Ko turned eighteen and fought for her independence like any other teenage girl. This was a fact of life -- no matter how much mother and daughter loved each other.

But this was different; this was her father with whom A-ko fought now. Diana knew this was not normal -- not for these two. It was because of this that the one-time Amazon princess took her husband by his elbow.

As she led him out to the front porch, she told her daughter, "A-ko; take care of your guests. I have to talk to your father in private."

She knew full well that even with all her legendary strength she could never be able to budge him against his will. But she was equally sure that a simple, sad look from her -- accompanied by a gentle tug on his elbow -- would cause the Man of Steel to meekly follow her out to the front porch.

So the wife, mother, and hero known as Wonder Woman was not all that surprised when she found herself and the man she had always loved alone on the front porch of their new farmhouse. Alone at last, the both of them were at first content to stand there in each other's arms. It was only after a short a time for her that A-ko's mother spoke.

"If there is one thing you taught me, my love, is that a good parent does his or her best to become obsolete to their child -- to raise them in a way so they will no longer be needed. We both knew this day would come. We knew the day would finally arrive that our baby would decide to begin to follow in our footsteps."

She paused for a moment to nod her head in the direction of her daughter by going on, "No matter how hard we fought against it and tried to discourage her, we both knew deep down inside that this day would come. I can only thank my own Gods that at least the concern for the friend she loves was the catalyst, and not vain glory or a young girl's search for adventure -- or, worst of all, a cheap thrill."

He placed his head on her own broad shoulder both for comfort and a means to borrow some of her own emotional strength. He told her, "Even with all the trouble our daughter managed to get herself into back in Graviton City, I had always hoped that A-ko would live a normal life and not get mixed up in our lifestyle."

Diana smiled sweetly and told her husband, "She has too much of her papa in her. She simply cares too much, and -- if that wasn't bad enough - there's some of me in her too."

"Just the best parts," he told his wife as he hugged her even tighter.

"Like the temper?" she asked.

"I always loved your temper, among other things," he said as he placed his hands on her bottom and picked her up into his arms.

A few minutes later A-ko's mother went back inside the half-finished farmhouse and called her daughter to come into the living room. When A-ko stood before her, she said, "I want you to go outside and apologize to your father."

"Why should I be the one forced to apologize?" asked A-ko.

"Because he is your father, and everything he said to you was because he loves you. You will also feel a whole lot better after you do it. Besides," she added. "Never leave to go on a mission feeling guilty -- most of all when it concerns family."

Realizing what her mother's last statement meant, A-ko shared a quick hug with her before going outside to be with her father. She found him sitting on top of the porch steps, looking out at the newly-plowed fields. She sat down on his lap as she had done a thousand times before and -- as she held him tight -- said, "I'm sorry, Papa, for arguing with you."

He stroked her red hair as he told her, "Sometimes I do forget that you are in fact a young woman. Leave it to your mother to remind me! Just promise me that you won't take any unnecessary chances. Once you have C-ko, promise me that both of you will come straight back home to us."

"Can you promise me that we'll have a home to come back to, Papa?"

"Have you ever known me to break a promise?" he asked in return.

The smile on his oldest child's face was the only answer he needed.

As A-ko and her father was outside being a family, her mother was playing host to the Cygnans in the kitchen. Diana was in the corner talking to Napolipolita about the history of the labrys, an ancient butterfly symbol which transmuted into a double-axe shape.

Captain Ro-gen interrupted their conversation. "Why are you and the rest of your family interfering in Cygnan affairs?"

Napolipolita snarled and began cursing the traitor with her choicest Leptonian imprecations, when the former Wonder Woman said, "You are the reason we're involved in this whole mess." Diana then turned to face Napolipolita and told her, "And you are the other reason."

Napolipolita -- more or less convinced that Diana understood she was on the Great Mother's side, so to speak -- gasped in embarrassment as A-ko's mother continued her answer. "Both of your factions are posing a threat to this world, and that has always been reason enough for either my husband or myself to become involved."

Turning back to Ro-gen, Diana told her, "If that isn't reason enough for you, you had a hand in stealing a young girl that all but grew up in my home. If I had a dollar bill for every time she slept under our roof, I could pay off this house. I washed her face, dried her tears, and watched her grow up. In return, she made us laugh and kept our secrets. The one you call your Princess is family in all but name, and you stole her."

Suddenly A-ko's mother was in a rage and across the room as she lifted Captain Ro-gen -- chair and all -- off the floor with one hand. Holding her nose-to-nose, the Amazon snarled, "And you dare accuse me of interfering!"

Neither D nor her Captain had ever seen anyone move as fast as A-ko's mother had in crossing that kitchen floor. Truth be told neither of them actually saw her move. The only reason they knew she had was that their sister Cygnan was now hanging in the air.

Even if she was an enemy, the Amazon's rage directed at her frightened them both. What they had just witnessed was the

power of a warrior in its purest form.

"Awesome," whispered Napolipolita to herself, wishing desperately that her daughters were here to see this remarkable display of female strength.

"Kick-ass," D whispered back. "Are we sure we're not related to her? Could we have been descended from her people, right here on this planet?"

"Don't be ridiculous, D," her Captain shot back, grinning. "Where do you think the Terran Amazons came from in the first place?"

It was a trio of relieved Cygnan warriors who watched A-ko's mother lower the rebel captain back down to the floor. Reaching behind her, Diana snapped the Cygnan security restraint like a paper chain. "That's still no excuse for you to be tied up like some animal waiting for slaughter."

"You treat me like a woman of dignity and honor," Ro-gen returned, blinking hard.

"Forget the 'honor' part, you kakamatandula," growled Napolipolita. D wanted to make a fist and shake it, but didn't dare.

As she sat on the counter B-ko now remarked, "If something happens to C-ko, this bitch won't have long to wait to be slaughtered -- because I will see to it myself." Napolipolita shot her an admiring glance. You've got a bit of the old man's tough stuff in you as well, you spoiled Terran brat, she thought.

A-ko's mother turned to look at her daughter's old rival. "Don't let your anger tempt you to fall back into your old ways, B-ko. You have gone from a spoiled, obsessive little rich bitch into a woman that my daughter both likes and -- most important of all -- trusts. See to it that you don't betray that trust."

The Captain rolled her eyes. You got that obsessive little rich bitch part right, she thought but did not say.

"Yes, Mrs. Magami," answered B-ko.

"The name is Clark now, and you are old enough to start calling me Diana."

"I'm not so sure about that, Mrs. Clark," B-ko answered with a smile.

"Then that only leaves what to do about the Princess," said Napolipolita.

"The first thing I suggest is that we all settle down to a hot meal. People don't think straight on an empty stomach. That's one thing my mother taught me at a young age," said A-ko's father as he stood in the kitchen doorway with his daughter.

"That would be your job," his wife pointed out.

The Cygnans snickered.

"Especially the way you cook," her husband teased her right back.

The Cygnans gasped; however, A-ko and her parents began to laugh together, and were soon joined by B-ko. The three Cygnans, not privy to the family joke, just sat there in polite if confused silence.

"Perhaps bad cooking is hereditary; a trait passed down from us to them and then back up to Our Princess," D chortled.

"Watch your tongue, Spy," Ro-gen snapped.

"Watch yours before I rip it out of your gullet," Napolipolita returned. "At least we aren't traitors to Queen and Crown. You always were a jerk, Pashina. But really, now, What possessed you?"

Diana shushed the warring aliens into silence, and began to prepare the meal with the help of her husband and daughter.

Napolipolita, D, and even Ro-gen were impressed with the meal. Ro-gen told A-ko's mother, "A most excellent meal. Your lifemate is an excellent cook; plus, you have him well-trained." At this, the other Cygnans tittered.

"His skill in the kitchen is one of the reasons I keep him around," explained Diana with a smile. "As for the training, I pray every day to the soul of his first wife, thanking her for all the fine work she did in that regard."

Clark smiled, The loss of his great love no longer pained him as it once did. Diana had seen to that, not by trying to replace her but by encouraging her husband to always hold her memory and most of all her love always near. She was able to do this because she believed there was room in his heart for the both of them, and she was right.

"Beef Bourguignon is a secret family tradition," A-ko interrupted. "Passed down from mother, to son and then to daughter."

Captain Ro-gen -- totally unfamiliar with Terran relationships -- told A-ko's mother, "You should tell your lifemate he is a wonderful cook."

"First of all, we call such lifemates 'husbands' here," said A-ko's mother. "And if you like his cooking so much, tell him yourself."

The three Cygnans looked at one another in silence.

A-ko's father was standing before the stove when a sudden thought crossed his mind. Turning around to face his guests, Mr. Magami said, "I just realized that our houseguests -- for as long as they have been here -- have yet to address me directly."

Ro-gen took the opportunity to tell their hosts, "Males are scarce in our society. When a warrior is mated with one, it is considered bad manners for other Leptonians to talk to a warrior's male without her permission. In fact, it is considered a mortaspuk -- an insult that is answered with bloodshed in the form of a duel."

"Yes," Napolipolita continued. "It is traditional back in the homeworld for 'taken' males to be tattooed on their right earlobe so that they are marked off-limits to others of our race." She thought of how Daitokuji had complained that his own tattoo had hurt, and smirked to herself.

Seeing that smug little smirk and connecting it with the rubbing alcohol her father had started dumping down his right sideburn, B-ko thought up a zinger and thought it up quick. "I think they're trying to tell you that not only do they consider you equal to a Cygnan, Mrs. Maga -- I mean, Mrs. Clark, but they're afraid of you besides."

"B-KO!" A-ko admonished her friend.

"Sorry," B-ko responded, though she was nothing of the kind.

"I am not going to challenge you to a duel if you talk to my husband," said Diana. "There are no bosses in our marriage; we live together as equals."

"Ooooh," said D.

"Ahhhh," said Captain Napolipolita.

"Oh, and when did this start?" asked her husband as he moved and stood by her side. The one-time Amazon princess reached up and dragged her husband's face down to her own so she could kiss him. The three Cygnans nodded their heads knowingly and with a bit of envy.

--------

But that was far from their minds some twelve hours later, as D was reporting their ship's readiness for flight to her Captain. "All systems are in prime order, but I'm worried about our fuel reserve. The rate at which we are using our antimatter for sub-light travel on the surface -- or until we leave this solar system -- could well be excessive. We might find ourselves short if we have to do a lot of traveling or fighting when we get to the hostage planet."

"We'll just have to risk it," said Napolipolita.

A-ko's father then spoke up. "What if you were to blast off from our world and clear our solar system, without using your engines, until just before you make the jump to hyperspace? Would you then have enough fuel then?"

"More than enough," said D.

"But how?" interrupted Napolipolita (whose daughters hadn't brought any Superman comics into the house).

A-ko's father smiled and told both the guests," That's my worry. Yours is to get your ship ready."

"A-ffirmative," Napolipolita replied, grabbing the rebellion leader by the upper arm and dragging her out of the farmhouse. "Come on, you kakamatandula. I'll use you for ballast. You can give us the exact location of where our Princess is being held captive. If you don't cooperate, I'll drop you off at the iridium mines at Gonidesh where you can scrape ore for the Republic for the rest of your sorry life."

----------

B-ko and A-ko were in A-ko's room in the new house. The traveling case lay on the bed, where B-ko was just starting to open it. "I thought this might come in handy," said B-ko as she started putting the various parts of her newest Biosuit first on the bed and then on her self.

"Where do you think you're going with that?" asked A-ko as she watched her friend dressing.

"With you, and don't try pulling any of that 'it's tooooo daaaaaaaaangerous for me to come' bullshit."

A-ko didn't try. Instead, she asked, "That's a new design, isn't it?"

"It is. The Akagiyama-25," answered B-ko.

"What was wrong with the Akagiyama-23?" asked A-ko.

"Nothing, but when we both turned eighteen and I saw you truly fly for the first time, I thought I might need an upgrade. Then sadly-- when I finally talked things over with your father -- I no longer had the need of any powersuit, at least were you were concerned."

"Lucky me," said A-ko.

"You can say that again," said B-ko.

-------

An hour later, everyone gathered outside to say their goodbyes. The double barn doors were opened, allowing easy exit for the Cygnan scout craft. Captain Ro-gen was locked in a holding cell on board. Napolipolita and D were on the flight deck, prepping the vessel. B-ko had just said the last of her goodbyes to A-ko's parents and was climbing aboard to let the family wish each other farewell in private.

A-ko hugged and kissed her father and mixed her tears with his. He held her close and whispered into her ear, "Remember -- no heroics. Get in, get C-ko, and get out. Then come straight back here."

"Yes, Papa," A-ko answered tearfully.

"A-KO!" She turned at the sound of her mother's voice and raised her hands above her head.

Mother and daughter first touched bracelets, then interlocked their fingers in the Amazon greeting and farewell ritual. They hugged, and as they did so Diana told A-ko, "Remember that you are an Amazon -- the granddaughter of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, and the daughter of this planet's greatest hero. Keep true to his moral code and you will make all of us proud."

From under her mother's sweater A-ko saw her pull her most treasured possession -- her golden lasso of Gaea.

She slowly handed it to her daughter and told her, "A warrior should always go into battle well-armed." A-ko looked at the golden rope in her hands and recognized it as the rite of passage that it was. She placed it on her hip, and it hung there without hook or fastener -- but there it would remain because of its magic, until she herself removed it.

With a last embrace of both her parents, A-ko rushed aboard the alien craft, doing her best to hold back her tears. When everyone was settled, Napolipolita asked A-ko how her father planned on helping them to conserve their dwindling fuel reserves.

In answer A-ko told her to put an underside view of the ship on the monitor. There stood A-ko's father, but gone were the flannel shirt and the denim pants. They had been replaced by the all-too-famous red and blue costume.

Almost at once, his shoulder was supporting the multi-ton Cygnan spacecraft on his back. Then slowly at first -- then faster and faster -- the ship rose and accelerated until it had reached Earth's escape velocity and had gone well past the moon's orbit.

Faster and faster the ship went, until it was well past the orbit of Pluto and past .75 the speed of light. Then and only then did A-ko's father release the craft with a final shove. Delighted, D fired up the engines to push the craft into high warp, heading for the Tregis system and C-ko.

"WOOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOO!" D and her Captain screamed, punching the air in delight at the Man of Steel's assistance.

"Dear Friend-of-Our-Princess, we did not know that your father was from Krypton!" Napolipolita said.

A-ko facefaulted. "You know about that?"

"Sure we do," D replied. "What a terrible tragedy. If they had appealed to us instead of squabbling amongst themselves, we could have arranged a rescue. After all, one Egota-class ship holds up to 12,000 people comfortably and safely, and we got thousands of 'em."

"Anyway, thank him for us when you see him next," Napolipolita smiled. "Your mother is a role model for us all. I must arrange for my girls to meet her sometime."

"Why?" B-ko snapped. "A-ko's mom is about courage and skill and sheer physical strength. All your daughters know how to do is run around with blasters. Take those away, and they're as useless as teats on a boar hog."

Captain hesitated, then enabled her Terran language translator. Once she understood what B-ko meant, she snarled at her with her big teeth. "You leave my girls alone, young lady," she replied. "They would be your friends if you let them. Instead, you torment and mock them, and they mean you no harm."

"Okay, okay, break it up, you two," A-ko responded. The thought of a catfight between the Captain and B-ko made her nervous. "How much longer, D?"

"Another couple of hours. It's a short hop, really. In fact, I'm quite sure that Our Princess has landed already."

---------

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA," the Princess wailed. "I don' wanna be put in jaaaaaail!!! BAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

"It is not a jail, Your Majesty," replied the sergeant assigned to guard her.

"Well, if this isn't a jail, what is it? A Coney Island hot dog stand?" the girl replied in her C-ko Kotobuki All-Purpose Annoying Whine, patent pending.

The Cygnan just stared, having no idea what a hot dog or a Coney Island was, and having no ready access to a Terran language translator. "Please relax and be comfortable, Princess. We are only holding you here temporarily."

C-ko shrieked, "I miss my snuggy-buggy Edward!"

The sergeant raised an eyebrow, squinted through her shades, and ran her hair through her mauve-and-purple shag haircut. "You have a lifemate, Your Majesty?" she asked hesitantly.

"Wellllll, not exactly. But who knows? He's SO CUUUUUUUTE...." The next twenty minutes (as measured in Terran time) were spent in C-ko's rapturous description of her new beau. Soon, the sergeant was sound asleep. The little blonde didn't even notice as she continued ti drone on.

---------

A-ko was in the rear of the the scout ship nervously pacing back and forth, only occasionally stopping long enough to stare out the porthole at the Sea of Stars that were part of her heritage.

Napolipolita whispered to B-ko, "What is wrong with your friend?"

"She's afraid," answered B-ko.

"Is your friend a coward?" asked D.

B-ko told her, "No more than the rest of us." She then added, "And I would watch my mouth if I were you."

"Then what is your friend afraid of?"

"Herself, mostly," B-ko replied. "She's afraid that in rescuing C-ko she might be forced to take a life to accomplish it and -- in doing so -- dishonor what her father stands for."

"But with a mother like hers--"

"In some ways, that's the problem. A-ko may be daddy's little girl, but she knows better then anyone that she has her mother in her, too. And you saw for yourself back in Kansas just how much of a pure warrior her mother really is, deep down."

Pausing for a moment to glance at her friend, B-ko went on with her explanation. "That same warrior's blood flows in her veins. What she fears is that the call of the warrior will be too strong for her to ignore, let alone control."

"Part of a warrior's craft is self-restraint," Napolipolita commented. "Impulsiveness practically guarantees that your career as a soldier will be a short one."

"So why should that upset her so?" asked D.

"My friend's mother is a gentle, warm and compassionate woman. But push the right button and watch out. My friend's mother may have come out into the world originally as her people's ambassador of peace, but she is a master of warfare."

"But a warrior must slay the enemies of her people," the Captain said. "After all, it's part of the job, as you Terrans are fond of saying." She looked at D, mystified at the concept of being ashamed of what you were. The lavender-haired woman saw the look of confusion of her companions' faces, so decided to clarify the situation with a story.

"Once A-ko told me a story about her mother and father that shows her other side. It took place about thirty-five years ago, when her father was still married to his first wife. A-ko's father had to go into space to confront a menace who was threatening Earth. He met with the then-Wonder Woman so she could prepare herself as the world's next line of defense in case he should fail. But most of all, he wanted to talk things over with her that he couldn't even bring himself to discuss with his wife."

The Cygnans settled in for a long story.

"While they talked, a mystic spell suddenly transported both of them to Valhalla, the banquet-hall in the Norse gods' city of Asgard. No sooner had they arrived than my friend's mother killed a demon with her bare hands. You understand that she had to because she was honor-bound to do so as a daughter of Themyscira, an Amazon of royal blood. It was that same honor that demanded that she stay to defend Asgard. As for A-ko's future father, he wouldn't think of abandoning her. It was soon after that they found out that the god who transported them there no longer had the power to send them home anyway."

"How long were they there?" asked Napolipolita.

"A thousand years," answered B-ko.

"What?" said D in disbelief.

"For a thousand years, they fought side by side and back to back, and in all that time A-ko's father kept his oath never to kill -- not even a Vgrtsmyth demon -- and to always remain faithful to the wife whom he loved. Even after the passing centuries made him forget the way she smiled or even the way she looked, he would remain faithful to her memory and his oath never to kill.

The Cygnans looked at one another again. "What an amazing story."

"There's more," B-ko responded, and continued. "On the other hand, A-ko's future mother was bound by no such oath. Instead, she listened to her warrior's heart as she used all of her strength and skill at hand to cut a bloody path through the evil creatures which had infested a once-glorious paradise."

"How could she stand living and fighting with the very man she loved, and not do anything about it?" asked D.

"Don't ask me how she did it," said B-ko. "I only know I would have no such restraint."

The Cygnans looked at one another, both raising arched eyebrows.

"What I do remember is the story of their last night together. They both knew that the next day they would be either victorious and transported back in time to home and family, or dead. As my friend's father was in bed having his wounds tended by the other woman that he loved, she in turn hovered above him tending to his needs as he was the man she loved and wanted. "

"How could she stand it?" the Captain asked, scratching her shaggy green head.

"He also wanted her. No -- a more accurate statement would be he needed her in that moment. A-ko told me that their eyes met, and as he reached out and touched her cheek, her eyes and her body said yes. However, she still couldn't bring himself to betray the great love of his life -- even if she was a thousand years and another world away."

"What did Wonder Woman think about that?" asked Napolipolita.

"Even as she longed for his touch, she thought it was perfect and right. Even when he cried on her shoulder and clung to her for support, she loved him even more so for it."

She is some sort of a woman to have that much restraint. Great Mother!" said Napolipolita.

"Some kinda MAN!" D added.

"Uh huh," the Captain whispered to her. The two aliens broke into low-pitched suppressed giggles.

Rolling her eyes, B-ko went on with her story. "The next day, with a broadsword in each hand, A-ko's future mother cut a bloody path of destruction thru the demon horde as she led the warriors of Valhalla to victory. At the same time, Superman himself defeated their leader and drove the contemptible moon-calf out of Valhalla and back into the foul pit from which he came."

"I wonder what a moon-calf is," Captain whispered to D as she tried to punch it up on her Terran language translator.

"I dunno, Cap'n. But don't stop her now; she's on a roll."

"As a reward, the re-awakened Norse Gods granted them a wish to return home to their loved ones. So, the passing of a millennium seemed like only three days to the world at large, even if it was a thousand years for them. But can you imagine what effect a thousand years of risking their lives together had on them, and how close such an ordeal brought them together?"

"Did your friend's mother finally grow tired being denied what was her due and challenge this Lois-person to personal combat?" asked D. Their own Cygnan Way mandated that their race continue, no matter what the circumstances, and D saw no rational reason for such shilly-shallying.

B-ko snapped her head around to make sure A-ko had not heard what D had just said. Napolipolita jabbed D in the ribs while she did so and hissed, "Can't you hold your tongue? We're just getting to the good part!"

B-ko turned back to D and Napolipolita and told them, "Don't ever let A-ko hear you say that. Lois is a beloved memory in the Magami home."

"Woaahhhhh," Napolipolita said. "Accept our apologies. I just know that I would personally kick the butt of any woman who got within a hundred klicks of my sweet Hikaru."

"Yeah, we Cygnans are real territorial," D added.

B-ko remembered the remark about the Leptonian custom of tattooing 'taken' males and shuddered. "Can I continue with my story now?"

"Be my guest," the Captain invited, putting her booted feet up on the console and lacing her hands behind her head, soothed by thoughts of the billionaire Terran.

"Let's see. Where was I?" B-ko said. "Oh, yes. Diana soon had the opportunity to save Lois from a crazy meta-human called Maxima who was after her. Then -- if that wasn't enough -- the both of them fought a demon from the Seventh Circle of Hell itself. Even then, Lois knew how much Diana loved her husband. But so sure was she in his love for her, she felt more pity then jealously. In fact, Lois loved her husband so much and, knowing how slowly both he and Wonder Woman aged, she made Diana promise to love her husband when she was gone."

"Incredible," D commented.

"Her desire was that Diana ease his loneliness after her own death. But most of all, Lois wanted to let him love Diana in return. She did this just so she could make sure they would be happy together even when she was gone."

Captain Napolipolita shook her head in wonder as she said, "This Lois must have been one hell of an incredible woman."

"You can say that again," agreed D.

"What other way could you describe a woman that was the wife of Superman," added B-ko.

"And so -- to bring us up to date -- A-ko waits and worries that her heart will only hear the song of the warrior, that she will lose control, and that she will perhaps dishonor her father and Lois's memory by taking a life."

"I can see where that could be a heavy burden to live with," Said Captain Napolipolita. "She can relax, however. D and I will do the fighting. It's my ship and my mission." Just then, a warning klaxon rang out, shattering the alien's reflective mood.

"What's that?" asked A-ko from the rear of the scout craft.

"Navigation computer," answered Napolipolita. "We're entering the Tregis System."

"How should we handle this, Captain?" asked D.

"We could try landing away from the Spaceport, then sneaking in from outside of the city," answered Napolipolita.

"Don't bother," said B-ko. "Just call for permission to land and ask for instructions."

"And when they ask us for our reasons?" asked D.

B-ko told her, "Simply tell them you have two high- priority prisoners for interrogation and incarceration."

"They're going to want the security code or a password, and -- more likely than not -- both," explained Napolipolita.

"Already on it," said A-ko as she came from the Security Section with Captain Ro-gen wrapped tightly in a golden package. D and her Captain looked at each other; the latter said," Damn clever, these Terrans. At least the females -- but that's no surprise."

"Sneaky too," added an amused D.

Captain Ro-gen did not find these remarks so funny and let fly with a string of her best Cygnan curses, aimed at the young redheaded woman holding her helpless.

"Oh, just suck it up. If you weren't a traitor you wouldn't be in this position," Napolipolita snapped.

"I'd rather be a traitor than a useless drunk," she fired back.

"I've been sober for a while now," the Captain responded. "And useless I'm not. In fact, I'm useful enough to save Our Princess and see that you spend the rest of your natural life in Stir."

--------

With the good Captain Ro-gen's password and security code having been obtained with the help of the golden lasso, the imperial scout ship was soon cleared to land. Using Ro-gen's authority, a land transport vehicle was waiting for the ship as soon as it landed. Now under duress by A-ko's threats of mayhem and her mother's lasso Ro-gen marched down the scout ship's ramp with her "prisoners" ahead of her.

With their hands securely fastened behind their backs, A-ko and B-ko paused for a moment on top of the ship's ramp. Then as soon as the welcoming committee arrived, D kicked a trussed-up A-ko down the entire length of the ramp. With the words, "Get a move on, Earth scum" ringing in her ears, A-ko didn't stop rolling until she hit the bottom of the ramp. Even the rebel troopers waiting at the bottom winced at her rough treatment at the hands of the big Cygnan.

B-ko was allowed to walk down the ramp under her own power, but not without the occasional kick in her backside from Ro-gen, who frankly was more than happy to deliver it. With an exchange of imperial tiger-claw salutes, Napolipolita told the officer in charge of the detail that her prisoners must be taken immediately to the most secure prison facility on the planet. The officer in charge had wondered exactly how Ro-gen had convinced Napolipolita to abandon her devotion to the Queen, but shrugged and led the way.

There was solid reasoning behind the rescuers' plan. Just before they had landed, B-ko had explained the Trojan horse strategy to D and the Captain. Instead of trying to fight their way into prison or even sneaking into a secure area to perform a rescue, they should be taken to the prison themselves as prisoners.

Reasoning that C-ko would be kept in the most secure facility, B-ko and Napolipolita got the idea that if she and A-ko were also portrayed as dangerous enough, they too would be imprisoned in the same place in which C-ko now found herself.

After a drive in a Wompmay-class short-hop shuttle, the small group found themselves in front of the imperial prison. As the group marched down the twisting corridors, none of the rebel troopers seem to notice that the redheaded prisoner kept swinging her head from side to side, staring intently at every closed door she passed. Soon the little group found themselves at the highest and most secure floor of the prison, in a corridor guarded by four heavily-armed women.

The redheaded Earther said, "This is one hell of a long walk," and suddenly stopped short before a solid steel door. As arranged beforehand, D stepp forward and delivered a blow to the back of A-ko's head as she said, "Move it, you Terran pig." All this time, A-ko had been examining every door she passed with the X-ray vision she had inherited from her sire.

As soon as she had found the door behind which C-Ko was imprisoned, she had stopped and made the announcement about the long walk. This cue told the other members of the rescue team not only where C-ko was, but which door they had to defend.

As soon as A-ko stumbled forward with the force of D's not inconsiderable blow, she snapped the Cygnan restraints and rushed forward, taking two of the guards and slamming them right into the far wall of the corridor. B-ko took out one guard with a ten-thousand volt taser attached to her gauntlet.

Napolipolita took out the remaining guard with a wonderfully-timed left hook that landed on the right side of a second-year rebel lieutenant's face.

"By Cybele, I love to fight!" the Captain laughed. "Take that, you kakamatandula traitor." Even as this was going on, D stood protectively before the door to C-ko's cell with her weapon at the ready.

With the corridor secured, Napolipolita searched their victims for keys but found none. She shouldn't have bothered, since A-ko had already driven her fingers into the armored door of the cell and was pulling the door off the sliding rail.

As the door hit the floor with a noisy bang, a happy little twenty-year-old blonde girl greeted her best friend with a huge smile and the greeting, "What kept you?"

"Thank God you're OK, C-ko!" A-ko said, grabbing the girl's forearm and pulling her out of the cell.

"Thank the Goddess," said Captain and D archly.

"They said this isn't really a jail, but then they just left me here and I was sooooo lonely and scared and -- "

"No time for chatting," said B-ko, scooping up C-ko's other arm and propelling her down the corridor, with the two Cygnans doing recon duty. "Let's make like a tree and leave."

C-ko giggled at this awful pun, but ran along with her friends.

Although the rebel captain was still under restraint at D's capable hands, no one thought of gagging her. As the group raced past a now-deserted security station, she let out a scream to end all screams.

"Shut her up, D!" shrieked the Captain.

When poor D tried to do so, however, Captain Ro-gen bit her hand with her large white teeth (the Cygnans were universally known for their lovely choppers). Now D's shrieks rivaled those of the prisoner's.

"CODE ORANGE! CODE ORANGE!" Ro-gen screamed, like a runaway freight train.

"SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!!!" A-ko hissed.

"Give that mouthy broad a clop on the side of the head," B-ko growled.

"Glad to," responded Captain Napolipolita, who fell on the woman and held her wrists.

"TRAITOROUS COW!" she hollered.

"DRUNKEN SKANK!" Ro-gen responded.

"OH YOU THINK?" shouted Napolipolita, putting pressure on the prisoner's carotid arteries.

"ECCCCHHHHH," said Ro-gen.

"Hey, quit fooling around. I hear someone coming!" A-ko panted.

Napolipolita sighed, hoisted the half-unconscious captain onto her shoulder, and ran along with the rest of the rescue team. Suddenly, at the end of the corridor a large group of armed warriors appeared, making their way towards them.

"It's the Shock Troops," D whispered.

"What's that?" C-ko squeaked, shaking in her Mary-Jane shoes.

"Your worst nightmare," Ro-gen croaked, rubbing her sore throat and giving them her most sinister smile.

----------

"Well, there goes the neighborhood," complained B-ko as she and

the rest of their party watched as the Shakanar Storm troopers came storming down the corridor. The smallest of each of these female shocktroops had to be at least six-foot, six-inches tall and each was covered in an armor-powered exosuit.

As the small rescue party slowly started its retreat, A-ko took the time to ask Napolipolita, "What can you tell us about our new friends?"

"Mostly that we're dead," she answered.

"Are they that good?" asked A-ko.

"No -- they're that bad," said Napolipolita.

She then went on to offer an explanation. "Every year the Empire tests every eight-year-old girl in the Lepton Kingdom of Alpha Cygni. If she is vicious enough, cruel enough, totally antisocial, and -- above all else a bit of what you Terrans call a psychopath, she is taken from her mother, given specialized steroids, growth hormones, and training. Ten years later, the result is what you see before you."

"And you call yourself an enlightened society," said A-ko, shaking her head in disbelief. "Breeding sociopaths for fun and profit."

"There is a method to our madness, Friend-of-Our-Princess. On your world, such creatures become career criminals -- the psychopaths who prey on the innocent -- and the very ones that you and your parents dedicate your very lives to keep from destroying your society. The result is that they end up dead -- if they're lucky -- or if they're not, they live the rest of their lives in a jail cell or in a madhouse. On our world, such sad creatures are discovered at an early age and given a place in society where their dark natures can be used to protect society, instead of destroying it."

"It's still hideous, just look at them," said A-ko.

The Captain sighed. "You need to remember that the Empire has many enemies. The Kirlians and the Xram have been trying to destroy us for thousands of years. Although we have our close allies -- primarily the Thessalonikans, the Bwanseach, the Terra Betans, and the Anatolians -- there are many other patriarchal societies in this galaxy which would love to dominate us."

"I'll bet they would," A-ko concluded.

"Therefore, we must use every weapon in our command -- and if our citizens without conscience can aid us in our protection, why not take advantage of it? In this way, they can be a positive influence and find an honorable career for themselves."

Ro-gen screamed gleefully. "Well I'm positive you're all going to be dead in the next five minutes."

"Well, don't kill us; we'll kill you," said B-ko as she turned to face the stormtroopers who were now advancing on them, blasting away as they came. As the elite force opened up with their weapons on the little band of rescuers, B-ko raised her arm and -- touching a control knob on her gauntlet --shouted out the familiar cry, "AKAGIYAMA MISSILES!" She then unleashed a full fusillade of mini-missiles at their attackers.

The missile impacts and the explosions that followed were successful in knocking down a score of the elite warriors, as well as collapsing the corridor in front of them, cutting off the rescue party from their pursuers.

A-ko looked at the destruction her friend had caused and remarked, "It's nice not being on the wrong end of those things for a change."

B-ko asked, "Are you sure you don't miss our little innocent sparring sessions, Bubble Butt?"

"Hell no," cried A-ko as she took up her position at the head of the little rescue group.

"What the Avernus do you HAVE in those things?" the Captain said, clutching Ro-gen in a headlock and twisting her nose.

"Daitokuji family secret," B-ko replied.

"We'll just see about that. Maybe an exchange of technological secrets is in order here. I'll just have to -- chat -- with your father about that."

"Only if you get out of here alive, you grassheaded dypsomaniac drag-queen head case!"

"Ohhhhhhh BEEEEEE-ko, you're so MEEEEEAN!" the Princess chided.

"Sorry, C-ko."

While moving down the corridor and heading for the roof, A-ko suddenly stopped and held up her hand. With D acting as a rear guard, B-ko moved up to stand next to her friend.

As the redhead stared through the wall with her inherited x-ray vision, A-ko whispered, "There's a reception committee on the other side waiting for us, right as we turn the corner." To make her point, A-ko ran her extended thumb under her own throat from ear to ear.

B-ko nodded her head at the direction of the wall and told A-ko, "Why don't you drop in and introduce yourself?"

From the far end of the corridor D shouted, "We've got company!"

"Why not?" answered A-ko. She then nodded in the direction of Captain Ro-gen -- who was by this time turning a nice shade of cerulean blue (to match her eyeshadow)-- and smiled slyly.

B-ko turned to Napolipolita and told her, "Get rid of the excess baggage; we don't need any dead weight!"

At the mention of the term 'dead weight', Captain Ro-gen's eyes grew wide with fear. But she was still as defiant as ever as she told Napolipolita, "I demand the right to die as a warrior with weapon in hand, you drunken skank."

Napolipolita pointed the barrel of her blaster under the rebel's chin. "For the last time, you disgrace to the CygniCity Space Academy, I am an alcoholic. I admitted that to myself over two years ago back on Earth. It's one of the things I learned from the Terrans, it is also just one of the many things we can learn from them. It's also the first step to becoming sober -- admitting that you are powerless over alcohol. I always will be a drunk. I can't help that. But I can help my behavior. Therefore, I just don't drink, a day at a time. So you can take your insults and shove them, you traitorous cow."

Ro-gen looked into the face of her captor. "We were classmates, Nappy, and once friends. Here at the end, at least grant me the death of a warrior, for old times' sake, old friend."

The Captain scrutinized her face, and saw the hard glitter in her eyes. "No!" shouted Napolipolita as she brought her knee up into Ro-gen's stomach. As she bent over in pain, the good Captain brought the butt of her blaster down on the back of her head, laying Ro-gen out semi-conscious.

Bending over to make sure she was all right, Napolipolita murmured, "You're too good an officer to kill like some helpless animal, Ro-gen. Besides, we did have a hell of a good time serving in the fleet those first few years out of the Academy. Why you chose to do what you have done is beyond my comprehension. You and your compatriots are as dangerous to the well-being of the Empire as the Kirlians or the Xram."

"Finished saying goodbye?" asked A-ko.

"Don't wait for me," said Napolipolita. "Whatever you're going to do, do it fast."

A-ko turned back to the wall and, as she used her x-ray vision to get a bead, shouted, "It's Showtime!" She drove her fists through the reinforced walls, then followed the fleeing rescuers through the wall that collapsed in front of her. Before them stood the rebel troops on the other side.

A-ko was, of course, the first through the breach and was closely followed by B-ko, who took out two officers with a taser. As for the rest of the soldiers, A-ko proved to be a walking nightmare who laid them all out in a frenzy of punches and cuffs. Next came Napolipolita, who hovered protectively close to her Princess as the ever-faithful D began blasting away at their pursuers to slow them down.

--------

The first of the Shakanar Brigade to recover from B-ko's assault was a shaggy-headed misfit by the name of Tarim Chitai. She stood nearly seven feet tall and weighed well over three hundred Terran pounds.

She had been selected for training in the Shakanar after being reprimanded for tormenting a fellow cadet at the Space Academy years earler. And so now, looking around her, she grinned with pleasure at the memory as she reached for her AK-88 pulse rifle.

The new cadet had been a skinny little thing who had been the only survivor of the worst massacre in the history of the Lepton Kingdom. Her mother, the Commander of Her Majesty's Space Navy, had been brutally slain along with all three hundred members of her guard.

When the attack commenced, the child had been urged by her mother to hide; she had done so and had waited it out, listening to the screams and to the whine of small arms fire which had seemed to go on for hours.

When she had emerged from her hiding place in the second-class Egota's air vents, she had found herself the only one left alive. She had picked her way through the mass of bodies to find her mother lying on the floor of the bridge, run through by a Kirlian broadsword.

Since the girl had been born and raised on the ship, she had been able to program the navicomputer with the proper coordinates in order to send the heavily-damaged vessel in the direction of the homeworld. She had then enabled the emergency beacon to transmit a distress signal to anyone who might listen. Then she had lain down next to her mother, wrapped her long black cape of command around herself, and waited for rescue.

After about six months of medical care and observation, the child had been placed into the current class of cadets. She had eaten little and had said even less, and had suffered from frequent nightmares that broke the sleep of the other girls in her company. Tarim Chitai -- whose antisocial tendencies had been suppressed up to this point -- had grown annoyed at having her sleep interrupted on such a regular basis, and had decided to do something about it.

After the cadets had received their nightly head-count and had gone to sleep, Tarim had crept next to the girl's cot. When her fitful moans had begun, Tarim had poured a sashit poultice over her face. This gluey substance was part of every Cygnan medical kit, which is exactly where Tarim had pilfered it. Its utility lay in its ability to go on as a thick sterile liquid and to harden within seconds, creating an airtight barrier, preventing the contamination of an open wound until medical help could be obtained.

Awakened by her inability to breathe, the girl's eyes had bulged wildly as her hands scrabbled at her throat. Tarim only reaction was to giggle. Five girls tried and failed to pull her away from the cot, where she had made sure no one came close enough to remove the clinging obstruction.

In fact it took a big farm girl cadet from one of the out lying plantes to drive her off.

Tarim had been sent to the Shakanar facility the next day. She came to like it well enough, that is true; but she had bitterly resented being removed from her family and friends. Since she had no conscience and no personal sense of responsibility in her psychological makeup, she had blamed it all on that green-headed brat who had disturbed her sleep.

"And there she is, right in front of me at last," Tarim chuckled.

She leveled her weapon and fired right into Captain Napolipolita.

--------

Tarim Chitai hadn't enjoyed herself so much since she had cut up that Kirlian captain into six equal pieces. She remembered how that harmless little joke she played on the green-haired little freak had cost her her family and all the good times she used to have tormenting the younger girls at the Academy. Then again, since joining the Shakanar, Tarim had been enjoying herself even more. She had really found herself a home and a new family among this group of anti-social misfits -- a family who appreciated her talent for mayhem. In fact, she was laughing so hard and enjoying herself so