Chapter One

"In time of war the law falls silent." - Cicero

This is an attempt to write an original fiction about space colonization and war. Be warned that this will or does contain some shounen-ai/yaoi relationships. If this bothers you, what the hell are you doing on this ML or web site?. I do not claim to be a good writer but I DO claim these characters, places and technology so please do not plagiarize my work.

    It was dark. Funny that that’s the first thing that I noticed but it was. Then I noticed that I was out of air. I hit my suit cams and recognized the sick bay of a Moranvidan vessel. Since the Moranvidans breathe the same general atmosphere as humans (Class-13) I removed my bio-suit. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I have a tendency to do that. I also have a tendency to chatter about pointless things. In fact one time on Hogmise 3 it got me into a lot of trouble. You see I started talking to this guy, now I thought he had just fallen asleep but he really had been hit by a poison dart . . . oops. Well anyway I suppose I should start at the beginning. I was born to a military family on the Paradise colony in northern Deeps territory on Mars. I was born on April 15, 2039 at Ronald Reagan Memorial Hospital. My parents named me James Starhalk, but now I’m just called Shinigami. I had a "normal" childhood according to the studies and managed to get above average grades in school. Although the term normal is a relative one if you think about it. I got into no more trouble than a "normal" kid did and . . . . .

There I go again. Maybe the beginning of the mission would be better. Then again perhaps a few facts about myself would be of use in understanding this story. I work for D-47. D-47 is a special military unit assigned to penetrate and destroy the Rowangeian forward command centers. I work alone, or at least I did. That is until I got saddled with a partner a couple months ago. Gouka is all right. He’s a nice kid and a good killer, but I have always been a loner and I don’t intend to change that now. My biggest complaint is that he is such a good tracker that I just can’t seem to ditch him. Plus he snores, and I hate snoring. I also don’t like his choice of weapons. I mean, think about it, a flame projector?!? How original is that?!? Still you have to admire the commander’s sense of humor in choosing codenames. For you simpletons out there Gouka is Japanese for hell fire and my codename, Shinigami, means (god of) death. Considering that I have never missed a target I suppose I am rather appropriately named. Notwithstanding however, one must consider that I am not a god, as attested to by my numerous scars.

Oh right the mission, well . . . um . . .it is not my favorite way to gain entry to an enemy facility(then again its not that bad) but we had little choice in the matter. We had to go in disguised as lovers. Not that I would have minded being Gouka’s lover, if it weren’t for the fact he is terrified of being close to anyone physically, emotionally or otherwise. He is such a sweet kid. I call him a kid even though I can’t be more that two or three years older than he is. He looks like an angle when he is asleep. His lips part slightly and his shoulder length blond hair spreads out on the pillow giving the appearance that he has a hallow, but it’s his eyes. It’s his eyes that are the killer, they are such a deep, dark, crystal clear blue. I feel I could just dive in and swim all the way down into their depths and see his soul. Damn!! See what I mean? I just can’t stop talking about irrelevant stuff.

The thing that I hate about this war, and war in general, is that it forces people to people be older than they really are. Me for instance, I would be at Geishra College now instead of fighting a war. I was conscripted right out of high school at the age of eighteen. It seems like a thousand years ago, but, it has only been four. I still don’t like to think about home. About how Paradise Colony was wiped of the face of Mars with one salvo of the captured Starcruiser Decimator’s Centurion Automated Gun Batteries (CAGBs). Or how Geishra College was ripped from orbit by the same weapons. Well there I go again, off on a tangent.

Back to the mission. We had been doing relatively well and had gotten into the base’s front, a motel that catered to a bisexual and homosexual clientele. We had been doing relatively well, that is, until I was forced to kiss Gouka. Like I said earlier he doesn’t like to be close to anyone, and, he didn’t like it very much(try at all). Well, actually to say he didn’t like it much is like saying I was somewhat upset when Paradise Colony was destroyed. Like saying that the Motabdae pandemic of 2037 was a minor loss of life. Like saying that . . . . oh yeah, the mission, right.

Well at least he had the common sense not to fight me, or maybe it was his training. Either way I was glad he didn’t. His lips were firm yet supple, and they had a faint taste of cinnamon. I would have liked for that kiss to go on forever. Oops there I go again. I really need to learn to shut the hell up!

At this point I was seriously beginning to question my sexuality. Now admittedly I had always been bi-curious. Maybe I had been bisexual and just not recognized it or even admitted it to myself. In any event I experienced a major change. I guess I should have seen the sighs. I had never been afraid of sexual things in general, and I had been attracted to women. Yet I had invariably admired men’s physiques. In fact, one time in tenth grade I kind of starred when the football team came in to change. Needless to say I was rather embarrassed when my sister(the head cheerleader) caught me looking[1]. Shit! I just can’t shut up.

Once we got to our suite Gouka decided that he had had enough of this mission. "Shinigami I’m leaving. There is no way that I am going to participate any further in this mission," Gouka calmly stated. "Well then, I will have to kill you as per my orders. Either that or I can take you as a unwilling captive, but I don’t think that we would get very far that way. Do you?" I responded with a slight smile. At this point the bellhop checked to see that we were alright, of course I assured him we were. When I turned around from a conversation that lasted no more than thirty seconds I found that Gouka was gone. Not hiding or something just, gone, and this in a room with only one door and no windows that can be opened. I searched the room for a while, but eventually the jet-lag caught up with me and I went to sleep. I was awakened in the middle of the night by a sound in the hallway. I arose with a start, reaching for the holster that I wasn't wearing for this op and moved into a defense stance as the door to my room opened slowly. I saw an arm and part of a mans upper torso come through the open door before I lashed out, connecting solidly with my would-be assailant. As he crumpled to the ground I realized that it was, in fact Gouka[2]. An instant later I heard it, a persistent hissing coming from the electrical socket. As I rushed to my bag to get a universal counter-agent[3] the world started to spin, and then everything faded to black.

When I once again entered the world of the living I arrived with an extremely painful headache, a mouth that felt like cotton and tasted worse, and to the realization that Gouka and I were laying next to each other  naked. I was sitting up trying to find some clothes almost instantly, unfortunately I was laying down again less than a second later. On the floor that is. Well, that's what I should have been expecting after all, if they gassed or drugged me I should have known that I would be a little unsteady when I first woke up. "Urrrmmm...where am I?" groaned Gouka as he too came back to wakefulness. "I don't know where we are Gouka," I replied. "And you wouldn't happen to know where my clothes are?" Gouka asked a sheepish tone of voice . "If I did I would also know where my clothes are, and be dressed now Gouka. In fact I probably would have your clothes set out on the bed," I said in an irritated tone. "Well you don't have to bite my head off or anything like that, Jeez!" snapped Gouka. Then I said to him, "Well I suppose that I was a bit harsh a second ago. It's just that I've never had trouble with a mission before this and I'm just a little pissed. It's nothing, don't worry about it." Alright, I thought, now we need to find clothing and a way out of this situation. As we sat there (laid there is more accurate) in the silence left after my last comments Gouka got up and began to look around the room, trying to find an exit. I did the same but found that my eyes were drawn back to my companion. I tried not to let our state of dress get to me but it really didn't do any good and my concentration was shot. So I just went back to the lone bed in the room and sat down on the edge of it. Eventually Gouka gave up as well and came over too. "Alright, you're the expert," he said, "what should we do?" My response visibly startled him, "Nothing, there's nothing we can do. So we should conserve energy for now. After all, who knows how long it'll be before they feed us again." We talked for a little while longer and agreed that one of us would have to stay awake at all times. Gouka volunteered to take the first watch and I went to sleep.

Authors notes:

[1] This school is obviously screwed up, or at the very least laxer than mine was. I mean come on, cheerleaders in the boys' locker room, where I went to HS that would've caused a riot (and it probably would've included parents "outraged" over the incident).

[2] A little late to realize that it's your partner. Then again the kid ran off, maybe he deserved to be wacked.

[3] It's been a long time since the '90s in this fic so there has to have been some advances in chemical warfare, right?