[fic, rated G] At First Sight
Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2003 7:13 am
In life there are meetings which seem
Like a fate.
- Lord Lytton, Lucile (pt. II, canto III, st. 8 )
In the current day and age, after women had fought the war for equal consideration, seeing a woman in military uniform was not unusual. What was unusual was the fact that the woman in question could not even be properly called a woman. At only 16 years of age, the term 'girl' still applied to her more properly. Another unusual fact was that she bore on her khaki uniform the rank insignia of a captain.
She strode along the length of the massive hangar, seeming to take no notice of the frenzied activity occurring all around her. If, however, she took no notice of the people around her, they certainly took notice of her. A zone of silence followed the petite, pale-haired girl as everywhere she passed, people dropped whatever they were doing in order to render a salute.
Despite her young age, Teresa Testarossa had earned the heartfelt respect of her crew. They would put their lives in her hands, and trust in her to keep them safe. More than that, the crew actually liked their teenage prodigy of a captain. Tessa knew this, and she also knew she was lucky to have a crew willing to overlook her age and lack of physical ability to see her quite real qualifications.
But she still felt lonely.
She was still a teenager, no matter her credentials and rank. And despite their professional respect and their personal liking of her, her crew was still much older than her. And they knew it, and she knew it. They would take orders from her, in their job; but in the off-time, when they were people again and not soldiers, she was a teenager to them. Anyway, she couldn't feel comfortable confiding in them. The one closest to her age was Melissa Mao, and even the brash sergeant was ten years older than she was.
Tessa came to a stop before the sleek bow of the huge attack submarine serenely floating beside her. She reached out an elegant hand to stroke the smooth metal, tracing her fingers over the letters white-stenciled onto it.
Tuatha de Danann.
Named after a myth, a race of people with the powers of gods, and the submarine was formidable enough to give credence to its name. An attack submarine like no other in the world. Stealth capabilities enough to fool any sensor array. Engines quiet enough to patrol unknown on a coastline, yet powerful enough to propel the Danann faster than any torpedo. Enough room to house a full troop of Armor Slaves and fighter aircraft. Armed with enough firepower to decimate twenty thousand square miles.
Tessa knew every inch of the Danann as intimately as she knew the shape of her own hand. She had designed the submarine, designed its advanced AI, its engines, its structure. She'd put all her formidable capabilities to the task of engineering it. She could remember nights spent poring over blueprints, plotting how to place the engines so that the thrust would be more efficient, how to place the infirmary so that wounded could get to it as easily as possible, how to place anti-sinking countermeasures.
And now it was going to be put to sea, with her in command. The ultimate baptism of fire, for both her and the Danann .
Suddenly she felt like leaning her head against the Danann's side, letting herself slump against it, standing like the tiredness that filled her. But she couldn't; she was the captain, and she could not show weakness in front of her crew. She had to project confidence and capability, not a bone-deep weariness.
You could lead men as their equal, but along that path lay trouble in the future. It was all well and good, and probably better for the captain's state of mind, to be thought of as a friend, to be one of the guys. As long as everyone agreed with you. But the minute a person had a difference of opinion, problems started to crop up. If they thought of you as an equal, they were likely to think, 'Well, why should she be the one who's correct? Isn't there as much chance for me to be the one who's right?' And there were times when you had to have people obey your commands instantly, even if they disagreed - times when it wasn't possible to explain.
So you had to make people think that their leader knew just a little more than they did, was just a little more capable than they were - make them believe their leader was a little more than human. And thus not subject to human failings. No weakness, no closeness - because true closeness meant showing one's whole self, not just the parts you wanted people to see - and no rest.
So instead she let her hand trail along the submarine's side, like a farewell caress, before turning around to walk back to Karinin, who was waiting for her some distance away.
***
Tessa, Karinin at her side, waited at the edge of the helipad. Her hair fluttered in the winds generated by the descending helicopter's rotors, and she reached up to push back a tendril of ash-blond hair. Melissa was arriving back today from her trip to Mithril's training camp, where she'd been sent to pick up two replacements for the team. As captain, Tessa ought to be there to formally welcome to the Danann, before they went inside and had the impromptu and much less formal welcome from their new crewmates.
Tessa watched the helicopter come down and tried not to feel jealous.
Melissa was the first one out of the helicopter, still in the tanktop and combat pants that were the standard wear for trainees. She was followed closely by a young man who so fit the stereotype of a good-looking Caucasian male - blond, blue-eyed and roguishly handsome - that it seemed almost funny. Melissa and the unknown man halted in front of Karinin and Tessa, rendering a sharp salute which the two officers returned.
Then the blond grinned and said, "Hey, who's this gorgeous babe?" while winking at Tessa. Melissa and Karinin stiffened in shock, while Tessa tried to decide whether to blush, laugh or be offended. In the end, she settled for looking non-plused as Melissa dealt the blond man a blow upside his head.
"OW!"
"You perverted little freak, show some respect for the captain!" Melissa snapped, and then added a long string of curses worthy of censorship.
The blond's eyes widened as he stared at the girl. "SHE's the captain?"
Tessa tried very hard not to feel bad at his obvious disbelief.
At that moment, another person came down from the helo, interrupting the awkward moment. Grateful for the break, Tessa looked at the new arrival, registering an average build under regulation uniform, and a head of black hair that managed to be short yet messy, before her eyes were caught and held. Gray eyes, like hers ? only darker, storm to her mist. And he snapped off a sharp salute to her ? to her, Tessa noticed, not to Karinin, not making the common mistake that the Russian was the captain.
?Sagara Sousuke reporting for duty, captain.?
Tessa was not gaping. She told herself this as she returned his salute.
To Melissa and Tessa?s surprise, Karinin was chuckling lowly. ?Well, it?s you, Sagara. What jokes God is playing on us, nyet??
?You know him, sir?? Melissa asked.
?Why yes. Met him four, maybe five years back. We were in?Afghanistan, I believe it was??
?No sir,? the dark-haired boy replied, his voice even and low. ?It was in Azerbaijan.?
?So it was.?
?How did you meet?? Tessa asked, genuinely curious.
?We were trying to shoot each other in the head,? Karinin recalled, one hand coming up to rub a faded scar along the side of his head, hidden by silver hair. ?He managed to graze me. I was very ashamed for a while ? being caught by an eleven-year-old!? He smiled at Sousuke, to show the lack of bad feeling. Sousuke nodded gravely back.
Eleven years old?
But if they?d met only four or five years ago?then that meant?
?he did look rather young, come to think of it?
He was her age!
Tessa smiled.
***
AN: I have this urge to explain myself. (especially after discovering how Tessa is mostly regarded) I adore Kaname. She is one of my favoritest anime female characters ever. (along with Natsumi Tsujimoto?) But...I didn't really wanna write a Kaname fic...
Aaaargh! It?s not fair! Usually I can pick one pairing in a series and stick to it like glue! But no! Here I have to be torn! Waaah! (bursts into tears)
When Tessa and Sousuke are bonding I?m grinning like mad, but then again I do that too during the Sousuke and Kaname scenes!
?(cough) I?m done being schizo now?.
So I decided to write a Tessa-centric fic, though not a strictly Sousuke/Tessa one, because there?s already excellent Kaname/Sousuke fics out there. Actually, looking for one is what led me to discover Blissful Ignorance in the first place.
I didn?t mean for it to be so introspective into Tessa-as-a-leader though?I just wanted to write a short sketch?Ah well.
It may be the lack of sleep that?s making me ramble. Hm. (yawns and trundles off to bed)
Like a fate.
- Lord Lytton, Lucile (pt. II, canto III, st. 8 )
In the current day and age, after women had fought the war for equal consideration, seeing a woman in military uniform was not unusual. What was unusual was the fact that the woman in question could not even be properly called a woman. At only 16 years of age, the term 'girl' still applied to her more properly. Another unusual fact was that she bore on her khaki uniform the rank insignia of a captain.
She strode along the length of the massive hangar, seeming to take no notice of the frenzied activity occurring all around her. If, however, she took no notice of the people around her, they certainly took notice of her. A zone of silence followed the petite, pale-haired girl as everywhere she passed, people dropped whatever they were doing in order to render a salute.
Despite her young age, Teresa Testarossa had earned the heartfelt respect of her crew. They would put their lives in her hands, and trust in her to keep them safe. More than that, the crew actually liked their teenage prodigy of a captain. Tessa knew this, and she also knew she was lucky to have a crew willing to overlook her age and lack of physical ability to see her quite real qualifications.
But she still felt lonely.
She was still a teenager, no matter her credentials and rank. And despite their professional respect and their personal liking of her, her crew was still much older than her. And they knew it, and she knew it. They would take orders from her, in their job; but in the off-time, when they were people again and not soldiers, she was a teenager to them. Anyway, she couldn't feel comfortable confiding in them. The one closest to her age was Melissa Mao, and even the brash sergeant was ten years older than she was.
Tessa came to a stop before the sleek bow of the huge attack submarine serenely floating beside her. She reached out an elegant hand to stroke the smooth metal, tracing her fingers over the letters white-stenciled onto it.
Tuatha de Danann.
Named after a myth, a race of people with the powers of gods, and the submarine was formidable enough to give credence to its name. An attack submarine like no other in the world. Stealth capabilities enough to fool any sensor array. Engines quiet enough to patrol unknown on a coastline, yet powerful enough to propel the Danann faster than any torpedo. Enough room to house a full troop of Armor Slaves and fighter aircraft. Armed with enough firepower to decimate twenty thousand square miles.
Tessa knew every inch of the Danann as intimately as she knew the shape of her own hand. She had designed the submarine, designed its advanced AI, its engines, its structure. She'd put all her formidable capabilities to the task of engineering it. She could remember nights spent poring over blueprints, plotting how to place the engines so that the thrust would be more efficient, how to place the infirmary so that wounded could get to it as easily as possible, how to place anti-sinking countermeasures.
And now it was going to be put to sea, with her in command. The ultimate baptism of fire, for both her and the Danann .
Suddenly she felt like leaning her head against the Danann's side, letting herself slump against it, standing like the tiredness that filled her. But she couldn't; she was the captain, and she could not show weakness in front of her crew. She had to project confidence and capability, not a bone-deep weariness.
You could lead men as their equal, but along that path lay trouble in the future. It was all well and good, and probably better for the captain's state of mind, to be thought of as a friend, to be one of the guys. As long as everyone agreed with you. But the minute a person had a difference of opinion, problems started to crop up. If they thought of you as an equal, they were likely to think, 'Well, why should she be the one who's correct? Isn't there as much chance for me to be the one who's right?' And there were times when you had to have people obey your commands instantly, even if they disagreed - times when it wasn't possible to explain.
So you had to make people think that their leader knew just a little more than they did, was just a little more capable than they were - make them believe their leader was a little more than human. And thus not subject to human failings. No weakness, no closeness - because true closeness meant showing one's whole self, not just the parts you wanted people to see - and no rest.
So instead she let her hand trail along the submarine's side, like a farewell caress, before turning around to walk back to Karinin, who was waiting for her some distance away.
***
Tessa, Karinin at her side, waited at the edge of the helipad. Her hair fluttered in the winds generated by the descending helicopter's rotors, and she reached up to push back a tendril of ash-blond hair. Melissa was arriving back today from her trip to Mithril's training camp, where she'd been sent to pick up two replacements for the team. As captain, Tessa ought to be there to formally welcome to the Danann, before they went inside and had the impromptu and much less formal welcome from their new crewmates.
Tessa watched the helicopter come down and tried not to feel jealous.
Melissa was the first one out of the helicopter, still in the tanktop and combat pants that were the standard wear for trainees. She was followed closely by a young man who so fit the stereotype of a good-looking Caucasian male - blond, blue-eyed and roguishly handsome - that it seemed almost funny. Melissa and the unknown man halted in front of Karinin and Tessa, rendering a sharp salute which the two officers returned.
Then the blond grinned and said, "Hey, who's this gorgeous babe?" while winking at Tessa. Melissa and Karinin stiffened in shock, while Tessa tried to decide whether to blush, laugh or be offended. In the end, she settled for looking non-plused as Melissa dealt the blond man a blow upside his head.
"OW!"
"You perverted little freak, show some respect for the captain!" Melissa snapped, and then added a long string of curses worthy of censorship.
The blond's eyes widened as he stared at the girl. "SHE's the captain?"
Tessa tried very hard not to feel bad at his obvious disbelief.
At that moment, another person came down from the helo, interrupting the awkward moment. Grateful for the break, Tessa looked at the new arrival, registering an average build under regulation uniform, and a head of black hair that managed to be short yet messy, before her eyes were caught and held. Gray eyes, like hers ? only darker, storm to her mist. And he snapped off a sharp salute to her ? to her, Tessa noticed, not to Karinin, not making the common mistake that the Russian was the captain.
?Sagara Sousuke reporting for duty, captain.?
Tessa was not gaping. She told herself this as she returned his salute.
To Melissa and Tessa?s surprise, Karinin was chuckling lowly. ?Well, it?s you, Sagara. What jokes God is playing on us, nyet??
?You know him, sir?? Melissa asked.
?Why yes. Met him four, maybe five years back. We were in?Afghanistan, I believe it was??
?No sir,? the dark-haired boy replied, his voice even and low. ?It was in Azerbaijan.?
?So it was.?
?How did you meet?? Tessa asked, genuinely curious.
?We were trying to shoot each other in the head,? Karinin recalled, one hand coming up to rub a faded scar along the side of his head, hidden by silver hair. ?He managed to graze me. I was very ashamed for a while ? being caught by an eleven-year-old!? He smiled at Sousuke, to show the lack of bad feeling. Sousuke nodded gravely back.
Eleven years old?
But if they?d met only four or five years ago?then that meant?
?he did look rather young, come to think of it?
He was her age!
Tessa smiled.
***
AN: I have this urge to explain myself. (especially after discovering how Tessa is mostly regarded) I adore Kaname. She is one of my favoritest anime female characters ever. (along with Natsumi Tsujimoto?) But...I didn't really wanna write a Kaname fic...
Aaaargh! It?s not fair! Usually I can pick one pairing in a series and stick to it like glue! But no! Here I have to be torn! Waaah! (bursts into tears)
When Tessa and Sousuke are bonding I?m grinning like mad, but then again I do that too during the Sousuke and Kaname scenes!?(cough) I?m done being schizo now?.
So I decided to write a Tessa-centric fic, though not a strictly Sousuke/Tessa one, because there?s already excellent Kaname/Sousuke fics out there. Actually, looking for one is what led me to discover Blissful Ignorance in the first place.
I didn?t mean for it to be so introspective into Tessa-as-a-leader though?I just wanted to write a short sketch?Ah well. It may be the lack of sleep that?s making me ramble. Hm. (yawns and trundles off to bed)