SSV Rōnin

Mission

John was sitting on a mat in a little backyard where Ashari's dancers were rehearsing. He was part of Ashari's life now and going to train with her was part of it. She was the leader of her team. Everyone was surprised by him. He was stretching with her. Her hands were pushing his back with force.
"He's bendy!" A woman said from the side.
"Boyfriend is better than us!" A man added with a shout.
"He worked with ignicians for a year, boys and girls." Ashari said with a smile.
"They start the day with an hour of yoga..." John added with a smile. "Let's switch places."
John now was stretching her legs.
"He's so gentle..." John forgot her name.
"Love, you're fantastic..."
"Thanks..." John whispered for her. "When do you actually train?"
"I'll show you later..." She said with malice, everyone heard her.
"I need a boyfriend now..."
"You just drop them like flies..."
"Shut up! They're just boring..."
John helped her up.
"Now we need you to dance."
"I don't dance." John seriously said.
"Show them that kick of yours..."
John did a high jump kick. His foot was aiming to the roof. Everyone started to clap. John expended a few hours trying to teach them the kick. Ashari throwed him inside her dressing room.
"Finally alone..." She said while taking her clothes off.
John was just looking at her, trying to learn about her body.
"What? You saw me naked a few times by now..."
"Not really... I was busy with, you know."
"Pleasuring me?"
"That too."
Her legs were the only major difference between them. Unarians had powerful thighs that gave their females her attractive build. She jumped on him. She was a voluptuous woman.
"I love when you just... look at me. Do you like me?"
"A bit..." John replied with a smile. "Are you tired?"
"Not a bit... what do you have in mind? You know I'm a bad girl..."
"I'm learning that." He was caressing his legs.
"Fariah!" The translator failed.
"It that a deity?"
"It's the equivalent of your God with capital g." She said with a smile. "How do you do that? I feel your love when you just... caress my ass. I want to rip your pants off now."
"I... just love you."
"We got easy on that part... people tend to make a scandal about those words."
"I hope we are saying the same... Sometimes I feel that the translator is just..."
"Playing with you? There is a nice paper about that is called Galactic Incoherence. It's just your brain playing tricks on you. Ignicians and testorians don't have that problem..."
"I'll read it sometime..."
"But you wanted to hear how much I love you..." She kissed without warning. "Why are you smiling?"
"You don't understand how beautiful you are... I just feel some kind bliss when you just..."
"Maybe I'm your goddess..."
"You certainly are, milady..."
"I like my tribute in love..."
"The only tribute I have..."
John picked her up to walk into the shower.

John was waiting for his superiors on the side of the stadium. In the meanwhile, Ashari was taking pictures with him. They were just a couple in the distance. He was wondering about a little detail about her.
"So... why are you dodging my question?"
She was holding him.
"Is it bad that I want to forget it? All of it?"
"No."
"But? I know when you have a one on those on your mouth..."
"Do you want to lose all that time and pain you invested? Maybe this says more about me than you, though. You never told me much about that part of your life, so I don't actually know how you got to today..."
She blinked a few times.
"You don't have to..."
"I have many secrets, love." She said while tightening her hug. "And I promise you'll know all of them... but the price... well. I'm... I can't have children. It's part of our division... graduation ceremony. Families are powerful ties that a spy should not have. So, that price is... forgettable."
"That's harsh..."
"Yeah, I didn't put too much value on it when I got out of the academy, but... Now, maybe I want to be a mom now that I know this kind life."
John realized that he could not give her that even if he wanted to.
"Why me then? Is not like I can give you a child."
"Love, that's why. You're the one I love... Sorry, it's a hard topic. You didn't tell me everything, either..."
"I didn't, but... you ask, I tell you. I'm not keeping secrets from you."
"I don't deserve you, John..."
She was hanging of his neck.
"Don't say that..."
"I did a few bad things on my career... and you are just a saint."
"I'm no saint..."
"Robbing to eat is not a bad thing, John. You just wanted to survive..."
"Maybe... I killed like fifty people in one day, Ashari... Do you know your parents?"
"I do... They... are well, they were happy to put me in hands of the Ascendancy. Did you talk again with your mother?"
"I don't think is necessary..."
"You have me now, just remember that. I love that..."
He was caressing her face.
"Sorry..."
"I like that, you know. We're both affectionate people."
They were interrupted by an AV. The craft landed in front of them.
"Milady!" Charles shouted while greeting them with his hat. "We're taking your man."
"He can go, sir." She kissed him before letting go. "See you later, love."
"Bye, Asha..."
She blushed and wave her hand for him when he sat on the AV. Inside was Masaru and the colonel.
"Good morning, sirs." John seriously said.
"Oh, he transformed." Arthur said at loud. "Congratulations, commander."
"Thank you, sir."
"Heh, you're dense, John." Charles smugly said. "We're here to talk about your new assignment. We're going to the embassy. Commander Besk is waiting for us, she's the one in charge of the investigation."
"There is nothing new to add." Arthur said while looking at him. "She has been silent the whole year."
"We're thinking about it, we're trying to find an expert on Ewithians."
"Well, that ship was special..." John said at loud. "Maybe what happened to the soldiers is related... Their tech is often confused with... magic, if I remember the history class correctly."
"We don't know much about them, we just take parts of their tech to make ours." Masaru calmly said. "We'll see, the paladin maybe knows something else. She has almost a year to investigate."
Ashari was happy with her nickname and sent him a picture with Kurg.
"We don't gain anything with this kind of speculation..." Charles said at loud. "John, I heard that you asked a few people already... Don't rush it."
"I'm waiting for the responses, sir. I wanted to take advantage of the visit to Elysium. What I'm supposed to do? Take care of the investigation?"
"Exactly. She will give you the details." Arthur replied while looking at him. "I need to ask about Soraya, John."
"She's playing in the stadium tonight, sir."
"They got together recently." Charles quickly added.
"He's the expert here."
"My husband is a great fan of her work; He recognized you when you saved her."
"Well, she's my girlfriend... I don't know what you want to hear..." John was scratching his head. "She's been following me across human space for some time."
"Ah, that's why she vanished from the face of the galaxy." Arthur said at loud.
"Yeah..."
"You must be hating the attention."
"Don't tell me about it..." John was looking through the window.
The AV landed in the landing pad on the embassy. He followed the men to find himself on a big hall. He remembered it from the party. An office was full of people, everyone wanted to meet him.
"Commander, you're a celebrity now." The valkirian was taller than him. "Commander Besk, at your service."
"Lieutenant John A. Valentine, I'm pleased to meet you."
"You're a commander now, John." Charles patted his back. "He's dense, Besk..."
She was just like him.
"This way, the personnel heard about your arrival and believe that you will bring your partner."
"She was with him when we pick him up." Charles was pure malice. "They kissed and everything."
"Your superiors are quite informal, Valentine."
"They are, ma'am."
John was looking at her. Her waist was slim, and her head was not spiky. Her visor was scanning him when Masaru sat in the table. She was a dark shade of blue.
"Thank you for receiving us, Besk. Move something for her, John."
John levitated the table and the chairs with his telekinesis.
"Chandra put you on shape." Besk said at loud. "Don't break anything."
Everything ended up in their place.
"So, I finally meet the most famous human in the galaxy..."
"My girlfriend is the famous one..."
"That's true, but you're famous in our circle, Valentine. Chandra put a good word for you and when I get your file... Well, I'm impressed, you have little time in the EAN to have two admirals watching out for you."
"He's bad with compliments."
John was scratching his head.
"I guess I'm famous, but..."
John sat in front of her.
"We did a full investigation of the asteroid and we found only the armours of the soldiers and pirates. That's all. The system was thoroughly cleaned."
"We barely interacted with it. Xania almost got... I don't know what would have happened."
"We know. The remains weren't useful either, basically ash. They were disintegrated by something."
"It was a light, ma'am, or maybe was something hidden in the light."
"That's what I thought, so after that we checked the landing site to follow the ships. That's the surprising part. Those pirates came from the Dark Quadrant."
"That much we can guess, Besk."
"I know, I was giving you context. We search every shady port. Aclas, Tan'zoh, Myrtak... Even checked on Avernus. Nothing, these pirates came from somewhere there, but... I think we need fresh eyes on this. The GHC wanted me to close the case as an anomaly, but... I'm with you, I think we need to investigate. It's not much, but the case is still open."
"Thank you, Besk. Do you often visit the home of the scumbags of the galaxy?" Charles said at loud.
"Is part of the job, admiral. I... recommend you sent him with someone who knows the zone, is not called the Dark Quadrant for nothing."
"We have someone in mind, Besk. I will send you the file, we'll need your opinion."
"As you wish. John, you need to keep your eyes open in there. Especially on open space, pirates will shred you if the think they could do it."
"Understood."
"We're in good terms with the Empire, though."
"They control some routes, but that's it." Besk responded while looking at him. "He looks soft for this job."
"I keep saying that, ma'am."
"We're going to give him every advantage we can, Besk." Masaru was looking at the table. "We ended up with nothing."
"Just a bit of strange data, nothing to go on. I'm just hoping that is just weird tech."
"What else could it be?" Arthur asked at loud. "Is always something like that. A hack out of time, maybe."
Everyone was thinking at loud. He was just wondering about what he saw. The strange red glow, the shining white light. He didn't have a clue.
"Maybe we should tackle one problem at the time. First, we need to find those pirates. Did the ruins gave us something?"
"Not a clue, we need an expert. Ewithians are an old mystery, but... most scientists just ignore them these days. The science community believes that we'll be getting to their tech level in a few decades by ourselves."
"That's our focus for now, John. We'll track a specialist, there must be at least a few on the galaxy."
"They are, I'll send you the profiles, admiral."
"Well, we earned a bit of data." Charles said at loud.
John was always frustrated on his lack of commitment.
"He really don't like the fact that you're not serious like him..." Masaru was looking at him with a smile.
"Sorry, I'll always picture you differently, sir. You're on the history textbooks."
"I know... you can't be like you all the time, bah... maybe you can. I'm not like that, my wife would leave me if I were like that... Yours... Well, she maybe wants to help you with that."
"You humans are weird." Besk said at loud. "Too open anywhere... He focusses on times of necessity, John. I like your style more, just like a good valkirian."
"They are the pretentious bastards, John. They play this game all the time, that's why there are so many of them through the galaxy escaping The Hierarchy."
"That's true too." Besk was looking at him. "We like you just for that. I'm going to be relaxed now, John. Can I ask you for a favour?"
"She's a fan too." Charles said with malice.
John was missing Ashari now; She was way better than him with this kind of things.