Shaina lay still on her back, eyes wide open and staring at the ceiling. She plucked at the sheet restlessly, pulling it up to her neck, and frowned. What was it that had awakened her?

A short, shrill ring broke the silence, and she jerked upright.

**Oh. That.** She threw the sheet off and scrambled from her bed, padding across her room to the communication screen and its controls. The light over 'audio' blinked insistently, and she punched it in with no little annoyance, glad she had been spared the viewscreen at least. Victoria wasn't kidding when she said Shaina could scare small children with her morning appearance.

But whoever was calling so early would soon find themselves flying to hell with her express ticket pounded into their face.

"Shaina here. What do you want?" She yawned, not bothering to hide it from the audio sensors.

"Is that any way to speak to your commanding officer?" came the dry reply.

"Commander!" Shaina felt heat creep into her face, and she mentally cursed her sleep-sluggish mind. What on earth had possessed her to be so rude? There was no way she could have known he was calling, but communication etiquitte should still have been foremost in her mind......

"Don't worry about it Shaina." He sounded -amused-, of all things. "I've called to notify you of a slight change in plans."

She sighed, slumping against the console. Another change? And just when she had started getting used to Irina's childish ways. The girl was cute, she had to admit. "A change in plans?" Try as she might, she couldn't put any eagerness into the response.

Ariath's voice lost its dry edge. "Surely you've heard of the Diabalos attack?" She nodded, forgetting he could not see her. But he went on. "We've lost half of our ground forces, and little less of the gears. I need you to join your companions as soon as possible. Victoria and the others are fine......"

She sighed again, this time in relief. At least she wouldn't have to wait for the stupid Gebler service to get around to answering her messages. Fools. "This girl, Irina, is still in my care -- I have to finish her training before I go down."

There was a long pause. "Myaru will be making a trip to Etrenank," he said finally. As if it would explain everything.

"...... I see." So they were pulling her out then? Myaru was going to get a talking-to when she arrived, higher rank or no.

"I...... also need your help with Elanore......"

"With --" she blinked, biting her lip. Elanore? Elanore Liuna, the missing Gebler operative......? "You found her?" She had gone to school with Elanore all her life. They weren't the best of friends, but they had always gotten along. When she had gone missing...... "What happened?"

There was something strange about his voice, but she couldn't pinpoint it. "That is something you will be told when you arrive. I'll need you to help her through the refresher courses, and I think it would be nice to have someone she used to know well...... around. I don't seem to help much."

From one babysitting assignment to another. At least Elly already knew what she was doing, though. "Alright......" Again, she couldn't bring herself to sound eager. The thought of leaving Irina in Myaru's hands...... for some reason, it just bothered her.

"If all goes well, Irina will come down with you," Ariath finally said, seeming to sense her disquiet. "If not -- if we cannot secure the city within the next few days -- then she will remain in Etrenank with Mordon."

Shaina snorted. That was supposed to make her feel -better- about it? "No offense, but you're not helping any."

Ariath laughed softly. "It really isn't as abd as you think. I'm sure Mordon is too busy to do much more than set her under the command of another trainer. Relax." Another pause. "Will you cooperate, Shaina? I know how you are......"

He was starting to sound like Victoria! **She's definitely talking too much!** Someone was going to be in more trouble than Myaru...... "I'll do it. It's an order, isn't it? You'll both kill me if I don't go down there." Shaina ran a hand through her tousled hair, sighing. "At least I'll get to see Elly again. How is she? You never answered that question."

"She's...... as well as can be expected. Not harmed, if that's what you mean. She and a few of her friends will be under your care...... her friends because I don't think we can detach them from her without more trouble than it's worth."

It was starting to sound like their pre-school days. Not to mention Jugend. Good thing she wasn't the jealous type; Victoria must be having a hell of a time, if she was down there with Elly. And the other two...... She breathed an explative, imagining the kind of moods she would have to put up with when she joined the rest of her team.

"Are you looking for a court-marshal, Shaina?" he asked, that sardonic edge back in his voice. She coughed, choking on her next words, and she could hear, if not see, him smile again. "I'll meet you at the docks tomorrow night, Shaina. Good day."

She opened her mouth to say something, but he had already disconnected. She stood there for a moment in what Victoria would have called a pout, then flipped the comm system off and flopped back onto her bed. Sound came from the other room, and she assumed Irina had been awakened by the call.

Funny, how attached she had grown to this little girl. And for some reason she DID view Irina as a child, even though they were very close in age, at least physically. The thought of a child in Myaru's hands -- or even Mordon's -- made her skin crawl. Just what was it they wanted from her? All those experiments, the training...... where was she from, anyway?

Not that it mattered. Lambs -were- pretty much the same all around. Only the select few who made it to Jugend were worth anything, and half of them were culled after the first year. Maybe...... maybe Irina wasn't a Lamb at all.

But then...... what was she?

"..... Shaina......"

She lifted her head, and saw Irina standing in the doorway, still wrapped in Victoria's silken blanket. Her hair had come loose, and it drifted in the breeze from the coller vent, flowing somewhat wildly about her petite frame. Her eyes seemed to catch the light and shine like burnished gold......

What human had golden eyes like that?

Shaina let her head fall, and Irina padded closer, stopping by the edge of the bed so Shaina could look up into her shining eyes. "Looks like you'll be stuck here after all, Irina......"

The girl just looked at her a minute, then sighed.

"I'm sorry," Shaina said, sensing her disappointment. It was an almost palpable sensation. Funny...... her senses were usually weaker, without her weekly injection of Drive. "I wanted to take you down, but I received new orders." She paused. "You understand, don't you?" For some reason, she hated disappointing this little girl.

Irina nodded, and folded her legs into a sitting position - on the floor. Her eyes were level with Shaina's. "You...... going?"

Shaina nodded, pushing herself up to her elbows. "Myaru will be making a short trip up here, at least......" The girl's eyes lit up a bit, much to Shaina's wonder. -She- was never that happy to see the woman. "Until then, I suppose you'll have to stay with Mordon. Or at the barracks," she added as an afterthought. That other girl she had made friends with would probably be more pleasant company than the dour scientist.

**Stupid orders...... WHY did I join the military? Dumbest decision of my life......** But the thought didn't really hold any heat.

She took another deep breath and forced herself to sit up, and get off the bed again. **Might as well get up now.** If she didn't, she just knew there would be a million more calls once her orders were relayed to Command. For the sake of her sanity, she decided to get to it ahead of them.

"I find something..... eat." Irina rose, gathering the blanket and folding it into a neat rectangle upon Shaina's bed. Jusat where it had been when she found it. "You want......?"

"No thanks," Shaina replied, running her hand through her hair again to get it out of her face. "I'll get something at Headquarters. They owe me."

**You know...... she looks a lot like Elly...... How...... strange. I wonder why?** The eyes were different, but the hair and the nose were the same. It was like a younger reflection of her old friend, and then there was that strange -something- that made her seem so...... unique.

Shaina rested her hand on the girl's shoulder for a moment -- the closest she had ever come to hugging anyone but Victoria and her parents. "You'll be fine. And maybe your gear'll be done before I get back. Then we can have a -real- training session."

Irina grinned and gave her a quick, impulsive hug, then dashed out of the room in search of food -- or so Shaina presumed. Just because she had mentioned getting something to eat didn't mean another idea hadn't taken precedence in that unorthodox mind of hers.

With another sigh, Shaina turned to her closet.

Time to follow orders......

(OOG: Sorry the post is a little short, but it turned out to be late AND more of a carry-over type thing, to explain her presence in Bledavik during Kislev's attack. So...... here it is. She didn't appear out of nowhere! ^_^)