The Tales of the Silver Wind

"Oh," Amanda said feeling foolish, her right hand lightly brushed along his arm while the fingers of her left hand danced along the palm of his hand. "How are you feeling Sebastian?"

"Like I'm being sucked dry by a vampire," Sebastian chuckled. His right eye ran down the bio-screen seeing the percentage of those old bots that still floated in his blood stream.

"Löwe, does it matter? You're safe now, that's all that matters to me," Akasha said sweetly brushing her cheek against his, "plus I know a certain someone would be glad to know that you're awake," she whispered, her lips brushing against his ear. "Shall we tell her that you have awoken?" Akasha asked her eyes studying his as her breasts brushed against his chest. It has always been a Candarian trait that whomever they are mated to should feel some part of their bodies to reinforce the bonds they have with one another.

"Ah, she must be going out of her mind not knowing," Sebastian said his thumb brushed softly along her cheek.

"Mmmhmm," Akasha purred before her lips captured his. "Lulu," she whispered into the communicator, "are you alone?"

"Yes, I'm in my cabin, why?" Lulu asked trying to keep her voice from breaking. Not letting on that she had lain in her bunk, tears in her eyes worrying about the man that made her feel things that no one else bothered to do.

"Someone wants to speak to you," Akasha said holding her communicator to Sebastian's lips.

"Hello Lulu," Sebastian said trying to keep the pain from his voice.

"Sebastian! Are you alright?!" Lulu asked in surprise sitting up hurriedly in her bunk.

"As I can be given the situation," Sebastian said with a weak smile.

"Oh Sebastian! You don't know how good it is to hear the sound of your voice," Lulu whispered wiping her eyes dry. Wishing that she was there with him to show him just how much she had missed him.

"I can imagine."

"Are you okay? Your voice seems off somehow," Lulu said chewing on her lower lip.

"I'm fine Lulu...," Sebastian began to say only to have Amanda snatch the device away.

"Lulu don't let him lie to you. Sebastian is just being the good little soldier," Amanda said smiling down at him. Her hand resting on his chest, feeling his hard muscles underneath her touch.

"Amanda what do you mean?"

"She means the pain I'm in," Sebastian said taking the communicator back from her.

"Then why are you awake, surely they wouldn't keep you conscious if you're in that kind of pain," Lulu said slightly annoyed that they would force him to stay awake during it.

"Because I told them not to Lulu," Sebastian sighed trying not to smirk as she berated him.

"Why Sebastian? Why would you put yourself through all this?" Lulu asked once she had finished telling him how stupid he was.

"Because I need to be awake during the refusion process. It's the only way to ensure the nanites take to my old systems and not produce unknown errors or problems."

"I see, well you had better be ready for another round once your safe," Lulu said taking on the tone that told Sebastian he was going to face another tongue lashing in person.

"Aye, aye Captain," Sebastian said feeling a little tingle in his heart. Something that he never felt while he was among his own people. He found it strange that he would find love amongst a group of renegades and never once from the people he once swore to protect.

"Good, just so you know that very yummy ass is going to receive its punishment once you are back on your feet."

Chapter Four

The blue light of the dwarf star rose over the edge of the pop marked asteroid that orbited that lone planet. How that small planet came to capture that asteroid or if it was once a small moon no one could say. Was it due to some calamity that caused it to appear as a ragged piece of floating rock or had it once been a wanderer and the gravity of that small world captured it in its odd orbit? This again, no one knows. However, the asteroid made an excellent base for those last vestiges of a long forgotten people. The interior of it was so riddled with empty pockets it made converting it into an outpost easy for that now long dead empire or so that was what those once proud leaders thought.

"Escaflowne, you are cleared to dock," the operator said as the large shielded docking bay doors slowly opened. Giving the Silver Wind its own instructions on how to dock in the bay below the Escaflowne.

"Please if you would," Daniel said as nurses pushed in the hover bed as the last stage of the purge had been completed. Akasha and Amanda quickly moved off to the side as Daniel and his head nurse detached the IVs from Sebastian's arms. "Can you stand?" Daniel asked as the medical team stood ready, should Sebastian not be able to move on his own. Even without his nanites, Daniel knew Sebastian would still have some limited movement in his limbs.

"If I can't walk five feet, then I think it's time to put me out to pasture," Sebastian chuckled trying not to wince in pain as he lifted himself up. He could feel the doctor's hands on him to offer support should he need it. Sebastian tried to keep his labored breathing from showing as he used the bed to propel himself towards the hover bed.

"Nonsense! I'm sure you have another two hundred years left in you," Daniel said lightly patting Sebastian's back. It was common knowledge among his people of the longevity of the altered soldiers. While now, they too, benefited from that same longevity due to their low numbers. That was not the case two hundred years ago, Daniel had read numerous articles of how his people grew jealous of how the soldiers were given an antiaging drug while they grew old in their comfort. Little did they know of the pain, the hardships, the solitude the soldiers faced.

"One can only hope," Sebastian sighed as he rested on the edge of the hover bed.

"Well, I can see why the men of your regiment were so highly talked about," Daniel said lifting Sebastian's legs up and over the edge of the hover bed. He had seen enough footage and firsthand experience to know those like him would never be able to move a muscle once their own nanites had been purged from their systems. Wondering if that was another thing that made Imperialists so special. Powering on the onboard life support systems on the bed. They weren't for long term use just enough to make it to their base's medical bay. Watching how Sebastian wasn't looking at them as they went about their tasks, moving his body slightly so he could view the woman that had stayed by his side. "Now for the bad news," Daniel said as he turned towards Akasha and Amanda. Seeing his wife walking through the medical bay doors.

"As we are now docked you all will be restricted to your ship," Amsher said finishing her husband's sentence.

"What?! I...," Akasha began to say only to have Sebastian interrupt her.

"Akasha it will be fine," Sebastian said resting on his elbows over the protests of the nurses. "I'm sure they can supply a video feed for you, so you can keep an ever watchful eye on me," he said with a coy smirk.

"Fine," Akasha huffed her tail whipping behind her as she crossed her arms. "If you harm my mate, the raiders will be the least of your worries."

"You have my word your mate will come to no harm," Daniel said with a nod. Giving the order for his subordinates to take Sebastian to the infusion chamber.

"If you would follow me," Amsher said gesturing to the door. Akasha looked one last time over her shoulder praying that Sebastian would be alright. "My husband is an honorable man, you should trust his word," she said leading them towards the teleporters, so they wouldn't transverse their ship and see things they wanted to keep hidden.

"As compared to teleporting onto our ship, forcing us at gun point when we were already on our way here?" Amanda asked still a little uneasy by how they could have appeared out of thin air. Amsher didn't say a word as her green eye peered back at her. Amanda tried not to be chilled by that look of hers. It appeared to her that their hospitality had run out.

"Akasha! Amanda!" Adriana jumping from her seat in surprise as they materialized on the bridge.

"Where's Sebastian?!" Lulu asked quickly getting up from her seat.

"They took him," Akasha huffed looking away.

"Took him where?" Lulu asked confused.

"Captain incoming transmission," Gil said cutting in.

"Who is it?" Lulu asked perplexed.

"It's coming from one of the labs," Gil said tracing the source of the broadcast.

"On screen," Lulu ordered. Her heart hammered in her chest as the live feed played across the view screen. Biting her lip to keep it from trembling as Sebastian waved to the camera to show them, he was alright as he laid on the hover bed.

"You are receiving this, yes?" Daniel asked his voice echoed as it was transmitted over the wave.

"Yes doctor, thank you for doing this," Lulu said her ruby eyes never leaving Sebastian's body as she watched the nurses working over him.

"Don't thank me," Daniel said looking at his patient, "the Captain...I mean Sebastian wouldn't move forward until we contacted you. Something about a Martelen if that means anything to either one of you," he said scratching his head. Lulu looked back at Akasha who was smiling which caused gooseflesh to race across her skin.

"It appears it does doctor," Lulu said returning her attention back to the view screen.

"Now you should brace yourselves," Daniel said sternly, "those of you of weak standing shouldn't watch the refusion."

"Yes, Sebastian has told us it is akin to being set on fire," Amanda said stepping up to Nathan's console.

"I haven't heard that before, but it's adequately put," Daniel said looking over as one of the nurses called for him. "Still I don't recommend it if any one of you is unprepared for what's about to happen."

"We understand," Lulu said with a nod.

"The procedure should take an hour, another hour to ensure the nanites have taken root in his systems, and one more to ensure there were no adverse effects," Daniel said before turning around as the nurses helped Sebastian to stand.

Akasha moved up to Lulu's right side. Her left hand slipped into Lulu's as they watched as they placed a harness onto Sebastian. Watching as they placed a solid, blue oxygen mask over his mouth and nose. Tightening the straps, Daniel placed his hand over the opening where the oxygen hose would be connected to. Telling Sebastian to breathe to ensure the mask had a good seal so the solution wouldn't seep into the mask. Akasha couldn't hear what was said only that Sebastian nodded to whatever the doctor asked him.

"Akasha look Sebastian is standing on his own, he'll be okay," Lulu whispered. It was mainly to reassure herself than her friend.

"I know," Akasha nodded, "my mate is strong. This won't be enough to bring down the great Löwe," she said gently squeezing her friend's hand.

"No, it won't," Lulu said nodding in agreement as they watched as Sebastian entered the infusion tube. No matter what they said no one could deny the tension that was in the air as they connected the oxygen tube to the mask. Her ruby eyes followed the nurse's hand as she reached up towards the tubes roof pulling down something that she couldn't make out. Biting her lip as that same nurse attached it to Sebastian's data port. Once they were satisfied that everything was in place Sebastian nodded once again before looking towards the camera as the tube's door slid closed. Giving them an okay symbol as he looked down as the liquid medium began to fill the tube from the porous floor.

"How's his vitals?" Daniel asked once the tube was filled.

"Stable doctor," said the nurse whose job it was to monitor the screens during such an operation.

"Good, let's proceed with ten percent," Daniel said taking charge giving the signal to start the nanite solution.

"Man, this is nerve racking," Nathan muttered as he watched his friend floating in that glass tube.

"Look at all that tech," Adriana said in awe.

"His vitals have increased but are in normal perimeters," the nurse said cutting through the silence of the last five minutes.

"Good," Daniel said studying the man that floated before him, "bring the solution up to fifty percent," he said knowing that when Sebastian was inducted into the Imperialist, they weren't babying their men.

"Doctor?!" the nurse asked unsure if it was wise.

"Do it. This man can take it," Daniel said staring into Sebastian's green eyes. Who nodded in agreement, however, that was before the brand new nanites touched his blood stream. Akasha's hand flew to her mouth to keep her gasp from escaping her lips as Sebastian's body arched in pain. Watching in horror as Sebastian clawed at his throat. It took everything she had not to go racing across that base as she saw the pain in his eyes.

"Doctor!" the nurse called to him as alarms blared.

"Don't stop!" Sebastian's voice was carried over the built in mic. "Take it to a hundred percent," he said as his systems began to reboot.

"Are you sure?" Daniel asked.

"Yes, this is nothing compared to the first time," Sebastian lied. It was as painful then as it was now. However, he was eager to get this part over with as fast as he could. Lulu's hands squeezed Akasha's hand hard as Sebastian's hands struck the side of the tube.

For the past forty-five minutes the crew of the Silver Wind watched on as Sebastian howled in pain. Lulu and Akasha didn't know how Sebastian hadn't passed out from it. Yet once the nurse announced they had reached a hundred percent saturation; only then did they cease the infusion.

"Captain...sorry, Sebastian," Daniel said catching himself, "we're going to inject a sleeping gas into your oxygen to put you to sleep while we run test on the nanites."

"Roger," Sebastian said huffing in exertion.

"Please bear with us, we want to ensure your systems have integrated the new nanites," Daniel said giving the nurse the signal.

"I understand," Sebastian said hearing a valve opening, "Akasha? Lulu? You best be ready for when I get out of this thing," he said looking towards the camera. "Because I'm going to feel a hundred years younger," Sebastian said hinting at what they could expect once he was at a hundred percent again.

"I wonder if that includes me too?" Amanda asked slyly noticing Lulu's and Akasha's bright red cheeks. She had grown used to his visits to her medical bay to treat her loneliness. Not that she was romantically interested in Sebastian as Lulu and Akasha was, yet that didn't stop her from experiencing that man.

"Akasha should we tidy up your cabin for when he gets back? I want him to rest as much as he can for a day or two," Lulu whispered to Akasha. That being said, they both knew what her words truly meant.

"Mmmhmm," Akasha nodded as she watched Sebastian's arms falling away from the sides of the tube as the gas took effect.

"Run a level three diagnostic on the neural interface," Daniel ordered the engineers as he went over the logs for Sebastian's combat subroutines. He hopefully hid his shock from his face at the amount of data that was in that one subroutine. Daniel knew they were bred for war, but never knew the amount that his forefathers implanted into the man. However, he was puzzled that some of the subroutines were locked out. He knew they were created after the fall of Rykus, though what they pertained to, he had no clue. None of the codes he used could break the encryptions. Wondering why the man would do such a thing, then again, if it was him, he too would probably keep some secrets from people he didn't know. However, his combat subroutines weren't the only thing that was locked down. His memory engrams were sealed tighter than his subroutines were.

"Neural interface all green," said the engineer behind him.

"Good, now test his motor cortex," Daniel said deep in thought pondering on what was in those memory engrams. Shaking his head, that wasn't for him to know, he doubted he wanted anyone shifting through his own memories. Analyzing every detail of his life up to that point. Looking up to the camera as the hour reached its peak wondering if they were still watching.

"Doctor Miller please come to my office," Elizabeth's voice came over the intercom.

"I want the diagnostics for the data port, main processor, and the subprocessors complete by the time I get back," Daniel ordered before walking out of the lab. His white lab coat brushed against his legs, walking casually, yet with a purpose, nodding to those he passed, catching the slight movement of Amsher's hand giving him their own sign for hello they used while on duty. Clutching the data pad tightly to his side as he waited on the tube lift to take him to the top floor where all the higher officers offices were - namely Elizabeth's. He knew she would want to see all the data they had collected from his body scans, to the scans of Sebastian's nanites, and the old code they used with them. However, he wondered how she was going to take the news that they couldn't replicate the process of turning their own people into elite soldiers at least not without incurring losses to their population. He knew that wouldn't please her.

"Come in doctor," Elizabeth said through the door over the buzz of the door chime.

"Good afternoon Commander," Daniel said with a curt nod as she waved for him to approach.

"Tell me...how goes the refusion?" Elizabeth asked leaning back in her seat. Not that she needed to know she had been watching over the man the moment her men retrieved him from that ship.

"We are currently running diagnostics on his systems as we speak," Daniel said laying the data pad on her desk. "As you see his implants, even as old as they are, are far superior than anything we can produce at this point in time."

"Yes, the wonders one can do with brand new technology and not mismatched parts salvaged from old battle damaged ships," Elizabeth sighed. "Now that we have these scans, is it a possibility that we can make copies of these?" she asked pointing at what appeared to her as the man's main processor.

"I'm not certain," Daniel said stroking his chin, "we would have to build most of the fabricators from scratch to meet the level of circuitry detail you can see in picture three."

"I see, so it's possible?" Elizabeth asked looking up at him.

"If you're thinking about your pet project, that would be a no, at least not incurring untold failures in trying to remake men into beings like Sebastian," Daniel said trying to dissuade her from this course of action. "We just don't have enough data to properly predict the error rate if we tried this blind. To me it seems the secret of the creation of the Imperialist died when our home world fell."

"Look at all this data," Elizabeth said stabbing the pad, "are you telling me one of the greatest achievements of our people simply can't be repeated?"

"At this point in time, yes," Daniel nodded sternly, "and if you try to recreate the Imperialist, I will resign. I will not be held accountable of the deaths that will occur if you try this," he said standing his ground.

"I see," Elizabeth chewed on her lip before sighing, "thank you doctor, for speaking your mind. I know my obsession gets out of hand sometimes; but I remember the days when the Imperialist were the talk of the town, in a manner of speaking."

"I understand Commander, but do we really need to recreate the Imperialist? We barely have enough men as it is," Daniel said speaking his mind, "plus we aren't in a position to wage war on anyone." Watching how Elizabeth sat back down without a word, dropping her chin into her hand deep in thought.