Part Seven

Haida fired her guns managing to hit a half-dozen missiles as her shipself pushed away from the docks and back out to sea, towards her opponents. She continued to shoot at the missiles as they came and even had to use her anti-personal lasers when the last few got within practical spitting distance. Her shipself rocked as she used her personal shields to block the last missile, her human companions screamed as the deck shook knocking them to said deck. Haida grimaced as she looked to the three attacking ships. Four corvette types, the Baddeck, Norsyd, Fennel, and Mimico. All based on the appearance of the Flower-class design. Haida was about to call out to them to try reasoning to not wipe out the human when she got pinged by all four over the Fleet of Fog's Joint Tactical Network. Haida accepted the handshake request and her higher consciousness was instantly transported to the shared communication's link, represented as a gazebo with a table set up with a faux version of a fancy chocolate cake, ready for serving. The four corvettes were seated around the table on the opposite side from where Haida stood. Haida sat down on her side as she took in the four's appearance. They all appeared slightly "younger" than herself, if not a little shorter. Baddeck was wearing a light green sundress with a deep green velvet collar around her neck. Green seemed to be her colour as even her eyes were a sparkling green, which brought out her fiery red hair that fell stylishly down to just above her shoulders in subtle waves and presented an aristocratic air about herself as she sipped from a cup of tea, pinkie finger out. Norsyd was dressed in a grey non-descript shirt and trousers, she had mussy short grey hair. She would almost seem forgettable if it wasn't for the manic grin and insane looking eyes she had on her face as she was shaping the cake in front of her into something that was giving her a small giggle fit. Fennel was wearing a yellow t-shirt with a pair of jean overall shorts and stylish boots. Her hair, purple in colour, went down to her mid-back, she was busy playing with Mimico's black hair tying her hair into handlebar-style twin ponytails. Mimico, despite how cute her name sounded, was wearing a pin-stripe men's style suit and seemed annoyed with Fennel playing with her hair.

"My question is this," Baddeck said to Haida and she carefully placed her teacup on the saucer, "Why are you protecting these humans? If you must know, two of our sisters, Ontario and Annan, were killed early this morning and this was the nearest human habitation. Prior to their termination, they have told us that the boats they have intercepted came from here. Now, imagine my shock, when we arrived, that not only were you present at their quaint little harbor, but were celebrating with ill-gotten gains from the ocean. The Fleet of Fog have made our position quite clear, Haida. Humans are to remove themselves from the worlds oceans. Failure to accept these conditions will result in painful discipline," she said hotly.

Norsyd giggled at that, "Splish splash, I was spanking a bag," she sang refering to the attack on the human town they just attacked as she suddenly squashed the cake with her hand, sending icing and other bits of cake flying across the table. "Get out of the way! It's been so long since I got to play with the funny humans," she cackled.

Fennel seemed to not notice anything as she continued to play with Mimico's hair, now putting it into a single ponytail that was tied at the top of her head. Mimico just rolled her eyes at Norsyd's antics and turned to Haida, "Why aren't the humans afraid of you?" she queried, "In fact, it looks like they were quite comfortable around you," she prodded.

"Yeah!" Norsyd cut in, "Not that I'm complaining 'cause now I'll get to, but, why didn't you burn them? You shoot them and they go up like roman candles," she prodded as she trailed off in a fit of giggles again.

Haida frowned at that, "Why?" she countered simply.

This gave the four pause, and even Fennel turned to stare at Haida in surprise.

Baddeck placed her teacup that she was about to sip from back down and dabbed the corners of her mouth before composing herself, "What ever do you mean by such a question?" she asked incredulously. "In fact, I should aske why are you rewarding the humans with food for somehow finding a way to kill not one, but two of us?" she accused.

"Did you even destroy the base in Hudson's Bay like you were supposed to?" Fennel queried staring at her from the side of her eye as she went back to playing with Mimico's hair.

"Yes!" Haida responded a little too forcibly. She leaned back in her chair to ease the tension she was feeling, "There's nothing left of the base," she said but it came out bland, like she was just saying it to say it. She swallowed hard as she looked them over. "Do you even know what the humans have gone through since we kicked them out of the world's oceans? There's been mass starvation, people are fighting each other for what's left, so many have died. That the people in that small town you tried to blanket fire just now are leaving because bandits intercept their supply too many times," she protested.

Baddeck was nonplused, "That, among other things, is why we have exorcised the ruffians from the oceans. That said, if any of the humans in that town were responsible for killing one of us, then we need to be sure they don't spread that information."

"The humans in that town weren't responsible for killing Ontario and Annan," Haida whispered.

"Then, who killed them?" Baddeck prodded as she leaned forward, one hand holding a spoon that was slowly stirring some sugar she added to the tea.

Haida stared Baddeck in the eyes with grim determination.

"It was me," she said. And then she fired her guns.

End part Seven