Chapter 6

Jinpei struggled with the large pieces of PVC tubing that normally served as various conduits for the Crescent Coral Base water and drain waste systems. The blue and white colors of the tubing provided perfect camouflage for the pants that accompanied his civilian uniform, and at times the Swallow appeared to be a legless torso floating above a sea of plastic pipes.

“Whose crappy idea was this, anyway?” Jinpei moaned, as he put the tubes together. “Whoever heard of a Christmas tree made of sewage pipes?”

No one answered, but that didn’t prevent the young boy from continuing with his complaints.

“Or ornaments made of test tubes!” he shouted, gesturing dramatically across the room to where Jun was carefully tying strings of the glass containers together in as festive a pattern as she could manage. “And then there’s…”

“Just shut up, Jinpei!” Jun finally snapped, turning to face her little brother, her hands on her hips. “Hakase asked us to be here. It means a lot to him that we all spend Christmas together.”

“But why couldn’t we bring a real tree?” Jinpei asked. “Or our presents? This is going to be pretty lame, if you ask me.”

“Nobody asked you.” Jun smirked. “It didn’t stop you from giving us all your useless opinion, though.”

“You see what I have to put up with, Aniki?” Jinpei complained, turning to address Ken.

Ken rolled his eyes, refusing to look up from the small hot plate on the floor where he was attempting to make popcorn. Of course, he couldn’t explain the real reason that they had had to drop everything and get to the Crescent Base, but all the same, Jinpei was beginning to get on his nerves. Theyall understood that being on the Science Ninja Team required sacrifice, and as sacrifices went, this one was pretty minor.

“At least the lights look nice.” Jun said, glancing over at the makeshift ‘tree’. As the structure had been erected, she had pulled through small bundles of fiber optic cable, then stuck it out the open ends, splitting each cord into a spray of twinkling, colored, LED lights.

She looked at Ken, and he smiled at her, something inside of him suddenly fluttering out of hiding and bursting forth to fill him with a sense of warmth. For just a moment, he felt…

“Hey, I got it!” cried Ryu happily as he burst through the door and into the large lounge they had taken over for their holiday celebrations. “They had some in the cafeteria!”

Ken looked down again, as Jun turned her head to regard the Owl.

“What did you get?” Jinpei asked, turning around excitedly. “Cookies? Cider? Hot chocolate?”

“Aluminum foil!” Ryu grinned triumphantly, brandishing a roll of Reynolds Wrap. “They let me borrow it, ‘cause I’m such a good customer!”

“Aluminum foil?” Jinpei’s face fell. “What’s that for? You could at least have gotten some cookies.”

“We can make tinsel from it!” Ryu explained, not in the least perturbed by the Swallow’s mercurial emotions. “See? Just cut some strips…”

“Some lousy tree,” Jinpei grumbled, “plastic pipes, test tubes, and aluminum foil.”

“I’ve got something.” Joe drawled as he entered the room, a satisfied smirk on his face. He held up a small box with a glass cover. “It’s our tree-topper.”

“What is that?” Jinpei asked, pushing past a flabbergasted Jun and Ryu for a better view.

Ken’s eyes nearly popped out of his head as he realized what Joe held in his hand. That familiar white arrow… the bright red circle…

“It’s a missile-launder for the God Phoenix.” the Condor smirked. “You can’t get much more festive than shooting off a bunch of Birds and setting off some fireworks.”

“How did you get that?” Ryu squeaked.

“In the Maintenance Bay storage area.” Joe shrugged casually. “They had a whole bunch of extras in there. Go figure.”

“I think it’s perfect.” Jun said, recovering from her initial shock. “I can even make it light up.”

“That would be fucking awesome.” Joe grinned, moving off to help her with this new project. Ken watched in stunned silence as Jun pulled out some of the fiber optic cable through the top of the PVC tubing tree, wiring it through the missile-launching mechanism.

Even doing something as mundane as wiring lights, Jun was a vision of grace and beauty. Ken was momentarily mesmerized by the sway of her hips as she leaned forward. Her hair fell over her shoulder, and she absently pushed it back from her face, her cheeks glowing with color as she worked.

He was spellbound by the sight.

Joe turned, catching Ken’s eye, and the Eagle quickly put his attention back on his work. But there was a knowing smile on the Condor’s face, and something…

Oh no. He wasn’t going to…

“Oh my!” Ryu exclaimed in mock surprise, interrupting Ken’s train of thought. “What’s that over there?” The Owl pointed toward the other side of the room.

“What?” Jun hummed absently, standing up and looking over at the area Ryu had indicated. “I don’t see anything.”

“Over there.” Ryu said, moving toward the corner and looking up. Jun took a few steps, and looked up as well.

“It’s…”

“It’s mistletoe!” Ryu interrupted Jun, his face breaking into a huge grin. “And you know what that means, Junie.”

“That’s not mistletoe!” Jinpei argued, coming over to take a look for himself. “That’s a piece of spinach salad from the cafeteria!”

“It’s mistletoe!” Ryu laughed good-naturedly, while at the same time delivering a swift kick to Jinpei’s shin.

“I suppose you’re right, Ryu.” Jun smiled, as the Owl leaned over and bussed her heartily on the cheek.

“What was that?” snorted Joe derisively. “You call that a kiss?”

“What?” Ryu’s face turned bright red.

“That’s not how you kiss a girl.” Joe announced smugly.

“Is that so?” Ryu huffed angrily. “I’d like to see you do better!”

The room suddenly went silent. Too late the Owl realized what he had said.

“Well, um… I mean…” Ryu glanced apologetically at Jun.

“I accept.” Joe smirked cockily. “Watch and learn, Ryu.”

The Condor took two long, fast strides over toward the Swan, pulling her toward him and bending her back over his arm as he leaned over her body, pressing his mouth against hers. A red haze appeared in front of the Eagle’s eyes. He could practically see the smoke coming from Joe’s kiss, not to mention the steam emanating from Ken’s own ears.

For her part, Jun remained silent, but she certainly didn’t seem to be protesting the situation in which she suddenly found herself.

After a long, breathless moment, Joe stood straight up, pulling Jun along with him before he unwrapped his arms from around her body and stepped away. The Swan gasped softly, raising a hand to her mouth; her knees wobbling slightly.

“Wow…” Jinpei breathed, before self-consciously attempting to regain his usual composure. “I can do that…”

“She’s your sister, Squirt!” Joe laughed. The small joke broke the tension in the room, and suddenly everyone was smiling again.

“I didn’t mean on Onechan…” Jinpei mumbled shamefacedly, but his face bore a wide grin.

“Of course,” the Condor, went on, turning his gaze squarely toward the Eagle, “I believe there is one other challenger.”

Four pairs of eyes immediately swiveled to look at Ken.

K’so.

Ken’s eyes darted frantically around the room. How was he going to get out of this one? Part of him desperately wanted to sweep Jun into his arms and kiss her… but an even larger part of him ran screaming into the night at the thought. How could he lay himself bare like that, in front of everyone? And damn Joe for even suggesting it!

But he had to say something. Everyone was staring at him. This wasn’t the way they usually did this: looking to him for guidance. Instead, everyone was now anxiously waiting to see what he would do. Joe appeared smug, Ryu looked thoughtful, Jinpei was bouncing excitedly, and Jun…

Jun was staring at him with a cold fear in her eyes.

Ken had seen that look on her face before. It was the expression she wore when they entered a situation from which they might not emerge alive. It was her ‘life or death’ demeanor, when she would resolutely go about her tasks, doing her best just to keep her head above water. On these occasions, Ken always tried to look out for her, and appreciated her cool head during such stressful situations.

But he had never expected to be the source of Jun’s worst fears.

Why was she staring at him like that? Was she afraid that he actually would kiss her? Maybe she didn’t want to be kissed by him. She had certainly seemed to enjoy Joe’s demonstration…

He had to stop this! Jun could just as well be afraid that Ken was going to embarrass her in front of the others. Of course, that thought didn’t make him feel much better.

“Uh… Aniki?” Jinpei asked meekly.

“I…” Ken’s mouth opened, but no more words came out. He didn’t know what to say. “I…”

A soft, but insistent beeping sound filled the air, echoed around the room from five different locations.

“Everyone, I’m afraid I’ll have to cut short your holiday celebrations.” came Dr. Nambu’s voice. “Gather in my office immediately!”

“We’re on our way.” Ken replied, ending the communication for all of them. He rose to his feet, staring at the others.

“You heard, Hakase!” he said. “Let’s go!”

Never had Gatchaman been so grateful for an emergency call.

*****

“You all know I would never have called you here if it weren’t an emergency.” Dr. Nambu told the Science Ninja Team. Despite having been pulled from their holiday celebrations less than a minute before, they were all clad in Birdstyle, standing at attention, ready, and waiting for deployment.

“A Galactor mecha was spotted moving west across the continent a few minutes ago.” the Doctor informed them. “During the time it took to confirm this information, the mecha arrived at its destination, and began deploying ground troops.”

“Ground troops?” Ken asked in surprise. “That’s not like Galactor at all. They usually just come in and threaten everyone.”

“Or start blasting the hell out of everything.” Joe added grimly.

“We’re not sure what it means.” Nambu admitted. “You’re right, it’s a big change from their usual policy. The reports are that these troops are intimidating civilians, and that they aren’t afraid to shoot anyone who doesn’t cooperate. I think you’re going to have to change your tactics on this one.”

“Not necessarily.” Joe smirked. “If we take out their mecha, those Galactor goons aren’t going to be too excited about taking over buildings anymore.”

“We can’t destroy a mecha over a populated area, Joe.” Ken lectured. “We don’t want to lose more civilian lives.”

“I wonder what they’re looking for.” Jun mused. “If Galactor is taking over buildings, they must have some special goal in mind.”

“We’re trying to figure that out.” the Doctor replied. “But in the meantime, we can’t sit around and wait. You all must deploy immediately and do your best to drive these troops out of the city.”

“Which city is it, Hakase?” Jinpei asked. Dr. Nambu frowned, and his expression was grim.

“Utoland.”