Crossworlds Guardian, Sailor Orbital!

by Masterweaver


Organization and Arguments! Compromises are Made.

"...Well." Kikai coughed into her paw. "Perhaps... we could ask Miss Doo's daughter?"

The assembled humans stared at her.

"She did say she can't tell us anything we couldn't find out in three hours," Blue mused.

"Hold on." Golden Harvest put her hands on the table. "Ditzy, when did you have a kid?!"

"Hopefully five or more years in the future."

"...she's a time traveler, isn't she."

"Eeeeyup."

Golden sat back down. "Well, alright, that's better."

Ditzy frowned. "You really think I'd just stick myself out there and get--"

"No, no. But it's always the ones you least expect, right?"

"That's because nobody ever expects it," Raindrops pointed out. "Social normative engineering and programming. An open mind can anticipate much more than a closed one."

Blue Oyster blinked at her. "...Huh. Yes, that's... right..."

"Bringing us back to the subject at hand," Kikai interjected, "assuming that she does have some form of future knowledge, young miss Doo could in theory alert us to events as... they happen, I believe. With that information, we could properly organize our search for the Gates."

"Two issues I have with that," Ditzy said. "One, the whole 'using my daughter as an oracle' thing--it's logical, but it also makes her a target if the Vaucoi or anybody else wants to stop us."

"She's not your daughter yet," Raspberry pointed out.

Ditzy frowned. "I'm still responsible for her."

"Touché."

"We can probably just set up something where she anonymously alerts us via smartphone," Blue pointed out.

"I can code an app for that," Raindrops added.

"...You can code?"

"Yep!" The yellow-skinned girl beamed. "Took a course. It was cool."

Blue Oyster looked at her speculatively. "I may ask for your help on some things in the future."

"No promises."

Golden Harvest cleared her throat. "What was the other problem you had, Ditzy?"

"The idea that Kikai would be coming with us."

For a moment, silence pervaded the room.

"...Excuse me?" the feline alien asked, only a hint of aggression in her polite tone.

"Look, we're going to be going into what I assume are going to be combat scenarios. I trust Golden can handle herself with her martial arts training, Raindrops I know can keep a cool head in dangerous situations, and I've seen how Blue and Razz did during that whole angst monster thing a few months ago."

"Honestly, I was panicking," Blue admitted.

"Yes, but you directed that panic. You used that energy to focus your attention and your efforts on fighting the angst monsters and organizing a way out for everyone caught up in it. Believe me, that's... pretty much what you need." She turned to Raspberry. "And you, you were... well, a bit wild and spastic, but at least you did what that girl with the scythe told you to do."

"She's our pope for a reason," Raspeberry Fluff acknowledged. "I trusted her."

Blue snorted. "Ruby Rose is sixteen."

"Close to the age of the Glorious Proclaimer, so she can understand the totality of Her words!"

"She literally got the position because she was the first to ask!"

"A display of faith and confidence that the Divine Bacon Horse found pure!"

"The girl was flying around with a scythe twice as big as her that was somehow also a gun! WHY THE HECK DO YOU TRUST HER?!"

"Carnifex Maxima Pope Ruby the first has yet to lead us astray in our service of the Wellspring of Magic and Sanity." She held up a finger. "That said, I'm not sure about her position on corsets versus bras. A matter of personal preference, but--"

"MY POINT," Ditzy said firmly, "is that when danger comes around, we can all handle ourselves. You, Kikai..." She sighed. "Back when I met you, the Vaucoi picked you up and you reacted with terror. I don't think you're ready for a real fight, and to be honest..."

The gray girl sat down. "...you're a millennia out of your depth. You've lost everyone you ever knew, and everything about the world you've learned might have changed. You've been acting like this is all normal for you, but... I wouldn't be able to recover so easily, and I don't think you have either. Piling this on top of what you're going through--the dangers of fighting Vaucoi and, perhaps, finding something you recognize destroyed... We can't afford you having a panic attack or getting lost in memories while everything is going on. And... quite frankly, I don't want you to go through that."

Kikai No Kawa stared at her.

"You... have thought this through, haven't you?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, if you want to help there's going to be a lot of paperwork and I don't have any idea how to handle that sort of stuff at all, and we'll let you examine the Gates when we're sure they're secure, but... until you get some sort of actual combat training, you're on the sidelines."

The feline alien looked down at her paws. "But... you're civilians too, aren't you?"

"We're not military," Blue Oyster allowed. "But if we apply as a Power Patriot subdivision we'll be... a special ops rescuer branch I think...? The legalese is complicated, but essentially it boils down to 'We don't think you'll die, but you will face danger and you will get hurt.' Which... Like Ditzy said. We've all been there."

Raspberry patted her head. "Don't worry, gatito, we're not saying you're not important. Heck, it's because you're important that we want you out of it. You're the one that knows what we're looking for."

"Yeah!" Raindrops shouted. "Command from the rear! You let us know what's going on and we can handle it!"

"You did come up with the oracle kid idea," Golden Harvest pointed out. "And like Ditzy said, handling the paperwork will be important too. Heck, you're... a trader, right? You probably have a better idea on how to work the overhead costs then any of us."

"It's official then." Ditzy nodded firmly. "Kikai No Kawa, I ask that you serve as the logistics officer of the..." She tapped her chin for a moment. "Of the Crossworlds Guardian Sailor Senshi Task Force!"

Raspberry frowned. "The CGSSTF?"

Golden shrugged. "They can't all be backronyms."

"What do you say, Kikai?" Ditzy held out a hand. "Are you up to the task?"

The feline alien glanced around at the assembled teenagers. "I am intelligent enough to know a diversionary tactic when I see one. I can see you are trying to sugarcoat your rejection, and provide me a secondary reward as compensation. I know that you are doing this, not due to my competence, but due to your own concerns about my mental health."

"...Is it working?"

Kikai managed a small smile. "More than you know, miss Doo." She took the hand in her paw. "Get me a desk, I will work the numbers."

"Oh, thank science," Blue said, sagging. "That's one horrifying mess I don't have to deal with."

"...What about 'Crossworlds Access Gate Enforcers'?" Raindrops suggested suddenly.

"That spells CAGE," Raspberry pointed out. "That's kind of the opposite of what we're doing. Also it sounds evil."

Golden Harvest sighed. "Really, are we really--really debating over this? Ditzy, can you--"

"I have to make a call." Ditzy pulled out her phone. "You and Blue can keep them from going off the rails--it's a team-building exercise!"

"What?!" Blue cried.

"No, hmm." Raspberry Fluff tapped her chin. "What about... what if we started with G for Gate?"

"There was the Gate Operations and Logistics Department," Kikai noted with some amusement. "It was not a paronomasia in the Munarin language, but if my wranglish is correct--"

Ditzy held the phone to her ear. "Hey mom! How are things at home?"

"But that implies that we're going to be running the Gates," Raindrops pointed out. "I think we're going to be turning them over to, uh, NEISA or something, right?"

"True, but we're securing the gates..." Raspberry gasped. "I got it! Gate Location and Orientation Squad... uh... Darn, I can't think of the rest of GLOSTICK."

"Oh, that's interesting. Say, speaking of Dinky, can you put her on the line, please?"

"Okay, if we're going to be taking this seriously, how about the Interstellar Engagement Technology Enforcement and Naturalization Team?" Blue offered.

"INTENT? Intent on what?" Golden Harvest threw up her hands. "I'm still fine with CGSSTF."

"Well, she's my daughter. Will be--the point is, I just want to... you know? Talk to her."

"Crossworlds... Gate... Interstellar... Secure..." Raindrops gasped. "The Senshi Temporal and Alien Railway Security Squad! STARS Squad... no, that's a bunch of nonsense words."

"You're onto something there, though..." Raspberry pulled out a paper. "Gate Acquisition, Location, Analysis, and eXtraterrestrial Y-something or other! What's a good Y, what's a good Y..."

"Alright." Ditzy was quiet for a couple of seconds. And then: "Hey! Dinky! What's going on with you?"

"You could say Enforcers," Golden offered with resignation. "GALAX-E."

"Yeah!" Raindrops nodded fiercely. "The GALAX-E girls! WOO!"

Blue nodded reluctantly. "That's... not a bad name, I suppose."

"Well, yes, I did call to offer you a job! You know the group me and some of the girls are forming?"

"So, GALAX-E girls." Golden stood. "We're all good on that?"

"Yeah," Raspberry said. "It fits."

"...Yes, that is exactly what I--what? Well, I mean--Well, yes, but... hold on." Ditzy covered the phone's mike. "Hey Kikai? Dinky's asking for a salary."

"Two hundred dollars per prediction, with possible negotiations for increase at a later date."

"Huh. Okay." Ditzy pulled her hand off her phone. "So, Dinky, two hundred a pop? Sound good? Okay, yeah. Uh, love you... well, sure, but I will at some point right? Right. Anyway, see you later."

She shut off the phone. "Well, I just..."

She blinked.

She giggled. And the giggle didn't stop. It morphed into a chuckle, then a guffaw, and finally a stream of constant laughter poured out of her mouth as she sagged into a chair.

"Um." Raindrops pointed at Ditzy. "Is she broken?"

That only got more laughter, the grey teenager slapping a knee as she stared skyward.

"Well, she reacted..." Blue Oyster mused. "Hey, Ditzy? What's so funny?"

"I, hahaha, I just! I just promised my, heee, my daughter, who I haven't had yet, two hundred dollars to, to predict, hahahaha, to predict alien invasions so that we, we can, heh, dress up in miniskirts, and, and, hahahaha, fight them, to get, heeeeheehahaha, magical cat portals! Hahahahahahaahaaaaaa! Oh my tree, oh... oh harmony, that! That is just..." She held up a hand. "I'm good, I'm good, it's just, the whole ridiculousness of the situation, it all hit me, right at once."

"I... thought you said you could roll with the weirdness."

"Don't worry, Razz, I'm good! This is fine! I just needed to let out a laugh." Ditzy pulled herself together and stood. "Right. Now, we should get some training in with our new gear, and get Kikai settled behind... whatever desk we need. So! That's what we're going to do over the next week or two. Settle in, girls, this is going to be a bumpy ride!"