A Busted Date

"A Busted Date"
by Osiris Brackhaus

"And you see", Jim closed his story with a dazzling smile that made her almost forget what actually he had been telling her, "this is how I ended up on Rigel Tiera with a public park to build and no idea about gardens at all."

Almost against her will, Cassie laughed at his silly remark. Everybody knew how he had built the Senatorial Park on Rigel Tiera, and advanced to become one of the Empire's most famous landscape architects. But the way he had told the story had been really sweet.

"Well, you've survived, as I see", she replied merrily, trying to look sweet as she finished her milk shake through the straw. It had been a wonderful idea of Jim to take her out to the Agora. Sitting here, among all these ordinary people gave her a feeling of being one of them for a change. War and her duties seemed wonderfully far away.

"What about we go for a little walk along the river, dear? Would you like that?"

"I would love it." How on earth did he manage to always suggest the right things? He was perfect.

Very contently slurping the last drops of her drink, Cassie watched as her date leaned back to wave at one of the waiters. Not only was Jim well mannered and of sufficient standing she would be at least theoretically able to present him to her parents, no, he was also dazzlingly handsome. Tall, dark-haired, his short curls showing tiny golden tips, tanned and eyes so blue they made her feel weak in her knees every time she looked at him. He definitely was one of the better men she had ended up with since... well, since there were men in her life that were more than playmates in a sandpit.

Of course, he didn't know he was dating the daughter of one of the most influential Imperial Senators. Cassie was most reluctant about telling this too early, for her few experiences had taught her that those men who didn't instantly leave her after the revelation were men of a kind she definitely didn't want to have around any longer herself.
And of her other 'little secret', he knew even less.

"So, which way down the river?", Jim suddenly asked, the suggestive sparkle in his deep blue eyes jerking her most pleasantly out of her thoughts. "Towards downtown or towards the lakes?"

"Downtown, I think." Standing up, Cassie was once noticed with a slight confusion that she seriously was wearing a light green summer skirt and blouse, sprinkled with tiny flowers, of all things. So utterly different to her usual armored fleet uniform. Sneaking her hand around Jim's arm she added:

"I want to hang to your arm, stroll through downtown and find another lovely cafe where I can show off my handsome boyfriend."

"So I am you official boyfriend, now?", he asked, gently mocking her. "How about you asking me first? I'm not a slave you can simply declare your property."

"I - oh." Still hanging to Jim's arm, Cassie felt a slight blush cover her face. Sure, he was right, she should have asked him first. But he felt so gorgeous, and his arm underneath the black silk of his shirt felt just like... more. "So, would you mind?"

"Mind what?"

""Being with me, silly. As my boyfriend."

This time, it was Jim who laughed out softly, dazzling her once more with his smile.

"Of course I don't mind, honey!", he replied with a wide smile, pulling her into a tight embrace. "Actually, I feel very honored."

And as he was almost a head taller than Cassie, he bent down to kiss her, gently, on the lips.

For the young woman, it felt like heaven. The early summer sun, this lovely man and the fact that she had still almost a week's leave ahead of her were just... perfect.

Except, maybe, for the sickening feeling of an incoming call on her operator's frequency.

<Cassie?> Colin's voice reverberated right in her head as her internal comlink didn't bother to use her ears but fed the information right into her brain. <Cassie, we've got a code-fucking-white-hot-red emergency here. We need you airborne NOW!>

Oh please!, she thought, not now. Wriggling out of Jim's embrace, she realized that her operator's last words had slammed her mind with enough impact that she had instinctively activated part of her armor.

"Cassie, what the hell is that?", her boyfriend asked, staring at her skin in bewilderment. Well, she added caustically, probably her ex-boyfriend. "Is everything alright?"

"I - yes." Sighing, she forced her body down into a less excited state and suppressed her armor again. Of course, this time it would be far more obvious to onlookers that she absorbed something that looked like a plate armor of foil-thin dark metal into her skin, but right now, she hardly cared.

<Colin, not now. My privacy cover will be impeached. I'll ->

"Jim, I...", Cassie tried to find words to explain him what he had just seen, but the young man seemed to have gathered at least some parts on his own.

"You're wearing n-packer armor? You told me you were working for the military, but this isn't exactly standard equipment..."

"I - I am so sorry."

"About what?" Finally, Jim looked utterly confused, despite all his good will. "Cassie, what are you talking about?"

"There's something I didn't tell you, and -"

<HURRY, Cassie, people are dying every second over here. We need you airborne!">

"Jim, please. I gotta leave. Now. Emergency, no time to explain." Seeing his stunned and slightly hurt face, she took his hands, adding: "You really mean a lot to me. If you still want to, please call me tomorrow, will you?"

Still too stunned, he nodded wordlessly, letting her hands go as she stepped away from him.

<Alright, operator, give me details.>, she thought, activating her full armor.

Within the time of a thought, the nanite clusters that had been meshed with her skin unfolded layer upon layer of the same metal alloy that was also used to shield the insides of fusion reactors. Cassie herself had never fully understood how it was possible to fold thing in a multi-dimensional way that in the end, they needed less space and had less mass than the original, but then again, she wasn't a scientist. She was a weapon.

<There's been a massive gas explosion four thousand miles from your current position, coordinates uploaded in your tactics section.>, Colin's voice droned in her head. <Massive fires in an industrial complex, several dozen workers assumed cut off from escape routes.>

With a slight feeling of sorrow, she felt her armor rip apart the dainty sandals at her feet as her body got fully covered by the metal. As it slid over her eyes, the additional information her cybernetic enhancements offered her sprung alive as well.

So ironic, she thought by herself. All these gadgets, and yet not a single free afternoon possible.

<Hurry up, honey>, her operator urged her once more. <There's presumably one man roasting every ten seconds you dawdle.>

<Fuck you, Colin!>, Cassie thought, angry at the last, utterly unnecessary remark. <Can you spot any free area here wide enough to activate my wings?>

Somewhere in her body, probably where a normal person would have had a part of their left lung, Cassie knew she had a small gravo-pack built in that would allow her to levitate for a short while, but nowhere high enough to have all these gawking pedestrians out of reach of the highly charged energy-field she used for propulsion. Her kind just hadn't been built for operation in close quarters. Or, at least not for operation in anything that was supposed to remain closed quarters.

<The river?>, she asked, but immediately knew it was the best solution.

<Yeah. Whatever. Don't dawdle.>

So with a last glance at the still staring Jim, she tried to blow him a kiss, together with a sympathetic smile, and hoped dearly it wouldn't come across as a threatening gesture. She knew quite well what impact it had on people seeing her in her true shape.

Turning around, Cassie ran towards the river, noticing she was still wearing her flimsy skirt. With another soft pang of regret, she ripped the thin fabric off her now so heavily armored body, watching the cloth fall to the ground like a dead leaf.
She just didn't want to have it scorched and molten to her armor should anything come past her shield. And given the usually messy nature of her operations that would probably be the case. Also, covering four thousand miles in a time that would allow any chance for the enclosed workers meant a transorbital flight for her, and she strongly doubted that her clothes would have survived re-entry into the atmosphere.

As soon as she was close to the river, she activated her gravo-pack, and together with the momentum of her run, it propelled her across the surface fast enough to raise a white wall of water behind her.

Halting in the middle of the river, she turned around, hovering several feet above the surface. Cassie had been trained since she had volunteered for this assignment that being one of the Imperial Archangels was as much a matter of publicity as of actual fighting. Few as they were, the Archangels were to be the inspiring, glamorous examples for the hundreds of thousands ordinary soldiers, fighting in the war every day. They were to remind the public that there was glory in fighting, not only suffering and gore.

And there was never, ever a chance for an impressive appearance to be wasted. An appropriate story and reason could always be constructed afterwards.

<Colin?>, Cassie asked firmly. <Do I have the flight vectors?>

Looking back at the shore, she could see troves of people standing at the fence, staring at her. Cassie couldn't even remember if she had jumped across the thing or if she had simply plowed through it. Probably a little of both.

If Jim was standing there as well?

<So sorry about your Romeo, darling>, her operator told her, his voice as sympathetic as cybernetics would let it sound. <This one was a real studmuffin.>

Closing her eyes, Cassie spread her arms for better effect, triggering the loading sequence that would initialize her 'wings', as the propulsion fields had been dubbed, giving her and her team their name.

Feeling the immense amount of energy running from her internal fusion reactor through her body into her wings, making them almost as tangible to her as any other part of the her body, Cassie opened her eyes again. Now, the gawking people at the shore truly were speechless.

Seeing an Archangel unfold it's wings was something that usually happened only in the news, and only rarely so. Now, they were seeing one of them alive and right in front of their noses, wreathed in six silvery-blue wings that almost explosively evaporated the river's water wherever they came low enough to touch them.

And the spot had been a brilliant choice, Cassie noted somewhat sourly. Not only could she be seen perfectly from the Agora with its countless cafe's and restaurant, no, also the adjoining office complexes would have a prime-time view of her. In addition, the steam rising from the river interacted with her wings, making them gleam even more dramatically.

<Wow. Guess who's gonna be on the evening news tonight, honey!> Colin's voice sounded genuinely impressed of their little show. <You truly look like a celestial deity.>

<Yeah.>, Cassie replied somewhat less enthusiastically. Sad thing was that normal people tended to worship said celestial deities, not date them.

Waiting a few seconds until her wings had reached their peak load, she changed their alignment, having them propel her upright into the sky like shot by a cannon, leaving nothing but a column of steaming water. Below her, she almost felt the crowd cheer.

With a mental sigh, she asked: <Do you think he will call me?>

<Who? Romeo?>

<Who else, idiot.> Smiling inwardly, she was lucky to have Colin at her side. He always made her smile.

<Don't know. Maybe, if you give me his phone number, I could check on him for you.>

Cassie knew all too well what this would include. Colin was just awful in this regard.

<Maybe I could console him a little...>, her operator added suggestively.

<Keep your filthy paws off my boyfriend!>, she snarled back amiably. <Don't you dare call him.>

Colin only sent her a soft laughter. Then, after a few seconds, when Cassie was already hovering several miles above the ground, he added:

<He'll call you, dear. I promise.>

If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to: Osiris Brackhaus

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