Act X: Moon Settlement 5
     "Attention incoming ship," an official voice sounds over the ship's speakers. "State
name, registration number, and your business here."
     Keiji speaks, "Bikutori-Kyou. 356-4927-361. We are here on our own confidential
business."
     "Please identify your business."
     "Confidential."
     "Security allows your ship only a first level clearance."
     "That is all we need."
     "Enjoy your stay at the moon."
     "Thank you."
     "You may land on pad 653."
     The group is surprised that Keiji seems to know what he is talking about.
     "Can you explain to me what just happened?" asks Aritsune.
     "I gave them our name and number, and told them that are business is confidential. I do
know how these things work. A level 1 clearance is obviously the basic clearance. Level 2 would
allow trading, level 3 would allow a selling business, and the list goes on. For our purpose of
talking to the people, level 1 is all we need."
     "If you say so."
     The computer automatically finds pad 653 and lands there. The group departs from the
ship and enters the domed city of Moon Settlement 5.
     "So, where are we starting?" Aritsune asks.
     "I am not really sure," answers Naitsuu.
     "Hey! How about over there?" asks Akari as she points out a rough looking bar, but it is
the only meeting place they see nearby.
     The group heads to the bar. They enter and stand in the doorway to survey the bar. It is
dark compared to the outside. Two men head towards the group.
     "Well, what do we have here?" asks one.
     "Five little women I think," mocks another.
     "I like this one," mentions the first as he moves to touch Akari's hair. Naitsuu grabs the
man's wrist and throws him back first into a table, crushing it.
     The other man takes a swing at Naitsuu, but Munenori has his back. The young boy grabs
one pair of his weapons. He slams it into the second man's chest, everyone can hear it slice the
flesh and bones. He then does his quickly becoming trademark of twisting his wrist after entry.
The sound of the rib-cage snapping like twigs echoes throughout the bar.
     Munenori rips out his weapon and lets the man fall backwards in his agony. Everyone is
out of their seat. One good-sized man quickly walks over towards them and ushers them out.
     Once outside he speaks, "What do you kids think you are doing?"
     "We need not be hassled from men like that," snaps Aritsune.
     "I know what you mean, but you will get the entire settlement against you."
     "Well, that's not good considering we are trying to get them on our side," comments
Keiji.
     "What do you mean?" the man asks.
     Naitsuu steps forward to answer, "It is my mission to rally the people against the empire.
This is our first stop."
     "You chose Moon Settlement 5 as your first stop?"
     "Yes. Why? Is there something wrong?" Keiji asks.
     "Well, try your luck. You do seem to be able to take care of yourself," mentions the man.
"May I suggest that you visit a man by the name of Souro."
     With that the man disappears back into the bar.
     "So, now what brave leader?" asks Aritsune directed at Keiji.
     "Ah, Naitsuu?"
     The group turns their attention to Naitsuu, who is staring very concentrated on something
in the distance. The group turns to see what he is looking at. They see nothing but abandoned
buildings. Suddenly Naitsuu speaks.
     "Munenori. I think you will find it easier to communicate with outcasts of your kind. We
will accompany you of course."
     "What do you mean?" Munenori asks.
     "You are going to see if anyone hiding out in those buildings like you would know of this
Souro."
     "Naitsuu, you are going to entrust our mission to this man we don't know," questions
Aritsune.
     "We have no idea where to begin. Maybe he does."
     Deciding that Naitsuu's senses and ideas have not failed them yet, they go along. They
walk down the street checking the buildings with Munenori asking around about Souro. They
reach the end of the first street and find nothing.
     "This is futile," announces Aritsune. "The moon settlements were boom colonies at the
beginning of the true space age. Now it is literally a ‘ghost town.'"
     "I don't care. We will continue until we find him."
     The group groans as they start down the next street.
     "Hey! Do not give me that," complains Naitsuu. "Remember how our ship's name came
about. Remember ‘self-victory means persistent effort.'?"
     The group nods acknowledgment and continues as before. By 18:00, they have still found
nothing, and are feeling tired.
     "Come on, Naitsuu," complains Aritsune. "It's hopeless."
     "Nothing is ever hopeless."
     The group sits down on the sidewalk of what would be the next street to go down.
     "This is enough," starts Akari. "At least for today."
     Naitsuu gives her a stern look and says, "Now you? Come on! We can not give up yet."
     The group listens to nothing Naitsuu says. Angrily, Naitsuu storms into the next building
alone. The group continues to wait outside cynically.
     A couple minutes pass and then they hear the sound of glass breaking and of running. A
shabby looking drunk man runs out of the building. He starts running down the street, but keeps
tripping due to his intoxication. Naitsuu charges out of the building. Extremely out of character,
Naitsuu catches up to the man and knocks him to the ground.
     This sudden change in behavior gets the group to stand up. Naitsuu holds the man down
to the ground with his foot to the man's neck. The group walks over to where the scuffle is.
     "Where!?" shouts Naitsuu.
     "Please, please don't hurt me," the man says quivering.
     "WHERE!?" Naitsuu shouts louder.
     "Go three streets down, the second house on the left," the man says nearly crying.
     Naitsuu lets his foot up. The man scurries to his feet and rushes away, continuing to
stumble. The group just stares at Naitsuu.
     Naitsuu stare back and says, "See? All they needed was some gentle persuasion to get the
information we needed out of them."
     Naitsuu walks past the group following the man's directions. Eventually his friends
follow him.
     They reach the house, the time is 18:30. There seems to be no activity in the building.
The windows and doors are boarded. The group stays partly back as Naitsuu walks up to the
door and knocks.
     "Souro?"
     With no reaction, Naitsuu decides to knock the door down. He takes a step back. He
charges and slams his shoulder against the door, and it does not budge. Naitsuu does it again,
and then a third time to no avail.
     Munenori walks up and says, "May I try?"
     Naitsuu steps back ready for laugh suspecting the younger and weaker boy to fail.
Munenori pulls out his weapons and thrusts them into the door, the wood shatters. Munenori
thought he had Naitsuu shown up, but he could do little more than puncture the door, not
completely tear it apart. With defeat he pulls his weapon out.
     Naitsuu and Munenori take a step further from the door and stare at it. Suddenly Chuuwa
and Yamaneko in their powerful forms come running and at the same time they both hit the door
knocking it to the floor. 
     Naitsuu and Munenori both stand a little upset at being shown up by the animals. Keiji
walks over and pats the panting Chuuwa on the back before entering. The girls and the haburi
kedemonos follow, then Naitsuu and Munenori enter.
     The group lightly calls out, "Souro?"
     Aritsune boldly starts up the stairs while the others remain searching around the first
floor. Upon reaching the top floor she starts to call out, "Sour-"
     She is pulled aside with a knife held to her throat. A deep and somewhat raspy voice
whispers in her ear, "Who sent you?"
     "No one," she says back nearly silent.
     The man glances around the corner of the stairs and listens to the actions of the group.
Naitsuu starts walking up the stairs. As he gets closer to the top, the man takes some steps back
down the hallway. Naitsuu gets to the top and sees the man holding Aritsune.
     "Aritsune!" he calls out.
     "Stay back!" the man with the knife says.
     At the sound of Naitsuu calling out Aritsune's name, Keiji charges up the stairs to see
what is happening. With Keiji there, the man moves the knife from the girl's neck and towards
the two guys. Keiji immediately darts in, wrenching the knife from the man's hand and wrestling
him to the ground. Naitsuu quickly moves to keep the man down. Aritsune escapes to find Akari
waiting by the top stairs for her.
     Once pinned, the man calms down for a moment. Naitsuu speaks, "Do you know Souro?"
     "What?" the man questions.
     "Do you know Souro?"
     "Yeah, that's me," the man answers.
     With that, Keiji and Naitsuu immediately let the man up. Keiji picks up the knife and
hands it back to Souro.
     "We're sorry," starts Naitsuu. "You did not answer the door."
     "Of course not," he says. "Who knows who may be after me."
     The groups knows not of what Souro speaks. They all head to the first floor. Aritsune and
Akari sit on an old couch. Munenori sits on the floor with the haburi kedemonos. Naitsuu, Keiji,
and Souro sit at a table.
     "So, what do you want?" asks Souro.
     "We were told you might be able to help us," Naitsuu says. "We are going to try to
arrange a revolt against the empire."
     Souro looks only mildly surprised. "Yeah, I have been against the empire for a long time.
Just one of my enemies. I would gladly help you, but I have little to offer you. It is very tough
building resistance. The empire is good at stopping rebellion. It takes someone of good skill and
great name to reach the people of space. And if you send that message out, the emperor will
have your head."
     Keiji and Naitsuu exchange their usual glances. 
     "So, what has been accomplished so far?" Naitsuu asks.
     "Well, each space settlement, that is the entire planetary body, not just one particular
settlement, has a head officer for the resistance. But, they have little help. Most the people out
here have a tough time caring. They expect little sanity out here."
     "I don't quite understand," comments Keiji. "How does the system work?"
     "Look, I am the head officer of this settlement. Not this individual settlement 5, but of
the entire moon and all of it's settlements. I know, both the body and the outposts on them are
called the same thing."
     "Okay, so, what if we spread a message to the various bars where these people hang
around and let them know there are problems everywhere?" asks Naitsuu.
     "It will not work unless you get the head representatives of the laborers on your side. If
you do, then, congratulations. Perhaps a pretty boy like you can give them the looks."
     Naitsuu takes the comment/insult readily. He then says, "Could you tell us how to contact
each officer for the resistance?"
     "Sure, but not all of them will be as, ah, easy to pin as I was. None of them take kindly to
visitors. Most are more paranoid than I am."
     "Well, thank you. We will make use of this information," comments Keiji accepting a
piece of paper with the names and locations of all the resistance officers.
     The group leaves and heads back to their ship.
     "I think we have no choice but to use our ship to stay the night. We do not have enough
money even for a room, even in this ghastly place," mentions Naitsuu to his friends.
     They eventually reach their ship and enter it. Munenori, Aritsune, and Akari each quickly
find a position on the floor or in a chair to fall asleep. Keiji just relaxes in the captain's chair,
eyes half closed. Naitsuu meanwhile enters the officer names and locations into the computer
database for safekeeping.
     "Do you think we can do it?" Keiji asks half asleep now.
     "Yes," is Naitsuu's immediate answer.
     "How can you be so confident?"
     Naitsuu finishes his task and stands behind the captain's chair looking down on Keiji.
     "Because."
     With that, he finds a spot on the floor next to Akari to rest. Keiji glances over his
shoulder at him.
     "Thanks. Thanks a lot."
     Keiji leans back into his chair comfortably and falls asleep.
     Naitsuu and Akari's bodies are facing each other as they rest. Neither of them have fallen
asleep yet. A strand of Akari's hair falls across her face. As he has become accustomed to,
Naitsuu brushes it from her eyes. Their eyes lock on each other's. Akari gives a sweet little
smile, a small yawn and then closes her eyes. Naitsuu does the same and falls asleep.