Persona Non Grata
Ao no Kiseki Volume Five
...Or perhaps not *himself*. He wants to take advantage of the opportunity to exact "payment" from his brother for the two days the crew spent eradicating any traces of Isis from the ship while Sanshirou was comfortably in bed with Kai. That payment is to take the form of entertainment. He dresses Sanshirou to look like him and makes his twin try to memorize the required speech, intending to have the mercenary play the role of a polite bureaucrat.
Kai is not amused. He knows they don't have enough time for Sanshirou to practice the role, nor does he have confidence that his partner can act well enough to be convincing. He insists on the modification that Sanshirou will pretend to be confused from coldsleep, allowing Kai to take over after the first official greeting. Sanshirou stumbles through it without any major blunders, as even Kai is forced to admit, yet the unexpected happens: the commander of the base, Sheran, wants Gai to come and speak with him in person. It's a stipulation included in the treaty, so Gai cannot refuse.
He takes the shuttle Nautilus to the base, meeting with the boyish Sheran and his second-in-command Colonel Fatisari. The Jules Verne is allowed to watch everything on their screen. When Gai is escorted to the shuttle, they switch to an external view and track the shuttle until it arrives safely back aboard...empty. Kai contacts the base about what happened to Gai, but Fatisari claims he did his part and the problem must be on their end. He also implies that if they outstay their welcome it will be construed as hostility.
A short while later, Fatisari changes his tune and invites the crew members to come to the base and investigate themselves. Sanshirou notes that a fighter craft is prepared to chase them should they refuse. Kai accepts, realizing what must be going on inside the base. Tsualnolte is merely the strongest of the nations on the planet, and it holds many other nations in subjugation. Fatisari had arranged to kidnap Gai, knowing how valuable a hostage his high rank makes him, but agents of another nation stole the prisoner away. Fatisari can't let the Jules Verne leave until he's positive Gai didn't make it back to them with proof of the kidnapping.
Kai is put in charge of planning how to rescue Gai. He visits Sanshirou's quarters that night to finish briefing his partner on the details. He's sorry that Sanshirou's role in the scheme is the most dangerous, but there's no other choice. He's also amazed that Sanshirou trusts his life to the plan of someone who has never been in combat. Sanshirou argues that he knows Kai might have a deathwish, but he is also positive Kai's pride won't allow him to die because of making a mistake. On top of that, Kai has gone to extremes to save Sanshirou's life more than once, so there's no doubt he'll do the same in this situation.
Kai climbs onto the bed and offers himself as a reward in advance for the hard work that will be required of the mercenary the next day. They make love knowing the possibility exists that it may be the last time. Kai's empathic synchronization is so strong that neither of them can tell their bodies apart; what one feels, the other feels as if it were happening to him. It contributes to unimaginable pleasure, but at the same time the sensation of melting into one another body and soul is frightening, particularly for Kai.
In the morning, Kai and Sandra take the shuttle down to the base, posing as buddies. The doors on the base are keyed to their DNA, as Sanshirou predicted from past experience at similar facilities. The mercenary hides aboard the shuttle and comes out when no one is watching. He acquires the uniform of someone who works there and proceeds to go through as many doors as he can while rigging distractions for anticipated pursuit. To the computers, he is genetically indistinguishable from his twin, which makes it appear to the frantic conspirators that Gai is running around loose.
When Fatisari is called to deal with the commotion, Sanshirou rejoins his fellow crew members. He informs them that mercenaries from the deadly Heipan clan are on the base, recognizable from the distinctive flame tattoo on their cheeks. Sandra leaves to secure the path to their shuttle, while Sanshirou and Kai set up the next phase of the plan. Sanshirou introduces a "bug" into the base computer that will appear to delete random bits of information. The bug's true purpose is to remove the instructions controlling the base alarm system.
Kai senses there is more to the Heipan story than Sanshirou let on. Sanshirou had once been employed by the clan for his skills. One of the Heipan women took a fancy to him, and since she was his type, he started a relationship with her. She slipped a drug in his drink, tied him up, and forcibly tattooed him with the clan's symbol. Though the clan considered him a member, he didn't think the tattoo should be binding, so he left as soon as his contract ended. He had the tattoo removed so it wouldn't attract attention
It turns out that Gai is in the custody of that woman's older sister, Zana. She had never met Sanshirou in person, relying only on an old holograph of him for identification. When she received word that Sanshirou was aboard the Jules Verne, she determined to capture him and drag him back to face punishment for betraying the clan and leaving her sister. She's furious that Gai isn't the right person.
Though not the one for whom the Heipan are searching, Gai is still a valuable hostage for Commander Sheran. The young man was born and raised in Tsualnolte, but his heritage is of the country Mandarei. He wants Gai to strike back against the Tsualnolte conquerors. Unfortunately for him, Fatisari locates the prisoner before he can be hidden more securely. Enraged by the betrayal of someone who had even shared his bed to gain his trust, Fatisari takes revenge by forcing sex upon Sheran. Gai, bound hand and foot, has no choice but to stay during the whole interchange.
Sanshirou guides Kai through the ventilation system to locate his brother. Soon, however, the ducts become too narrow for the mercenary to fit. Entrusting Kai with a gun and the task of breaking Gai free, he leaves to cause a distraction. The base computer keeps sounding one alarm after another, thanks to the interference of the bug, which helps him avoid pursuit. The Heipan manage to guess his destination and circle around him, which makes him change his original plan.
He takes the protective cover off the ventilation turbine, causing the base to vibrate disturbingly. He is nearly caught by some Heipan men, but he escapes with only a few injuries that aren't immediately life-threatening. He then rushes to the electrical transformer room and arranges for the electromagnetism to erase signals from the orbital stabilizers. Though the station's orbit is constantly corrected as usual, the signals that tell the computer everything is normal are wiped completely. Coupled with the vibrations, the computer makes everyone believe that the base is falling out of orbit.
Kai takes out the guards surrounding Gai, yet he's forced to surrender when Fatisari realizes what's happening and draws a gun on them. Sandra tries to come to their rescue, but she throws down her gun when Fatisari grabs Kai as a hostage. Sanshirou shows up and holds his gun firmly on Fatisari--regardless of the hostage--allowing Kai the distraction he needs to zap the colonel with his empathic defense. As he pulls away, Sheran stabs the colonel with a traditional knife from Mandarei.
Kai discovers that his partner is bleeding profusely and had been threatening Fatisari with a fully drained, useless weapon. He tries to help Sanshirou walk toward the shuttle bay, but being in such close contact strengthens his synchronization and makes him feel the pain himself. Sandra, who is half heavyworlder and far stronger than she looks, takes charge of Sanshirou under strict instructions not to let the Heipan spot him.
Gai and Kai stay behind a few moments to tend to the fallen colonel. The man refuses medical treatment. Gai asks Kai to do an empathic scan of him to read his feelings. Kai senses a strange mixture of hatred, sadness, tenderness, and above all, heat. He can put no name to it until Gai announces it is love. Fatisari was in love with Sheran, yet he knew the young man would see him as nothing more than a representative of Tsualnolte, his sworn enemy. Even so, he would rather fan Sheran's hatred of him and receive *some* emotion than be ignored. After the colonel slips into unconsciousness, Gai and Kai leave to head for the shuttle.
Sandra makes an astounding discovery: the Nautilus, surrounded by Heipan mercenaries, is sharing the shuttle bay with the Captain Nemo, the identical shuttle that Sanshirou had used to rid their ship of Lee and his rebels. That was how Fatisari had rigged the kidnapping, by escorting Gai to one for the cameras while sending the empty one back to the Jules Verne. The Heipan guard is too strong to break through, but Kai covers the others, firing his stolen gun as Sanshirou taught him, while they dash toward the second shuttle.
Kai takes the pilot seat and prepares to launch, knowing Sanshirou needs swift medical attention before he bleeds to death. At the last moment, Zana forces her way onto the shuttle, disarms Sandra, and confronts Sanshirou about his betrayal. She can't believe Sanshirou dumped her sister to hook up with a man, though she's dazzled by Kai's beautiful appearance. After declaring "You can't have him, he's mine," Sanshirou throws his blood in her eyes to blind her and shoves her out the door.
That last burst of energy takes everything out of him, and he collapses unconscious in Kai's arms. Kai is upset by how cold Sanshirou feels, remembering how his partner likes to snuggle against him in bed and smile in childlike delight at the feel of his body heat. He wants nothing more than to see that smile again as soon as possible, to spend his remaining time aboard the ship facing every day with Sanshirou beside him. He cradles his partner to keep him warm the entire trip back.
Kai searches himself and Sanshirou for traces of that desperate mixture of emotions Gai had called "love," yet he can't find any. He isn't sure whether he's relieved or disappointed. He eventually decides that what he senses inside himself is gratitude that he's still "safe"...for now.
End Volume Five