[ussbansheec] Lost and Found

_Lost & Found
_by JT, Winona, Kimi, & Hakan Swiftwind; Dane McKenna, Jeff Cameron, Mei Quon, & Gabriel Wagner

The only thing worse then waking up to an alarm clock is being pulled out of a warm, happy doze by the non stop beep of a comm unit. Dragging himself from the bed Dane blinked away his lazy daze and then smiled at the sound of the shower. He turned on his heel, wanting nothing more then to join his woman in the shower but her comm unit beeped again. Groaning he called out, "Darlin' your phone's ringin'"

Sighing, Winona pulled her fluffy gown around her and dashed to the unit. Her father's face filled the screen and she smiled. "Hey papa, you caught me mid wash-cycle."

"Hey there, darlin'," he said brightly, unable to keep a grin off his face. He was excited but it was tempered by the fact that he knew damned well that his family would take him to task for knowing their Kimi had been alive all along. "How are ya?"

"Wet," Winona laughed.  "You look cheery.  What's up?"


Remaining in the bedroom out of sight, Dane couldn't help but think that wet was a good look for his beautiful bird, but then again any look would be.

"What sort of thing would be so monumental that it would make me drag your baby brother with me to DSVP, after I got a call from the field marshall?" he asked.

"Tempest found Banshee?" she asked with hope shining in her eyes.


Dane's heart stopped beating, his hope climbing slowly in his chest.

"Darlin', I wish that were so, too, but we did find someone else: your hevasemo," he said , reaching his hand out to try and draw Kimi closer. "She's alive, Noni. She's here."

"Kimi..." Winona found herself blinking back tears when her little sister's face came on the comm viewer. "Lil one?"

"Hey Noni," Kimi said softly, suddenly very wary of her implants.

"Oh baby, what happened? Who did that to you?" The tears were flowing down her face in relief and worry.

"Someone who's going to pay," she whispered. "It's fine. I'm choosing to stay like this."

His heart broke but then he smiled as he listened. He could see the pain in Winona's eyes when she spoke of her sister, Dane was thrilled that she her back, even if he didn't understand what had happened.

"She's still ours, Noni," Hakan said quietly from the side. "She feels just like she always has."

"Of course she does," Winona said in a mild huff. Her dark eyes never left her sister though. "Oh Kimi, I wish I was there. I want to hold you, make sure you're real, make sure you're safe."

"I'm safe," Kimi said with a soft smile. "Papa's here and Jeff's just checkin' on one of the liberated Marines."

"Jeff? Liberated Marines? Girl, you have got one hell of a story t'tell us," Winona laughed, wiping at her tears with her robe sleeve. She glanced to where she felt Dane watching her then back at her sister and father. "I got someone who wants t'meet you. Dane," she called out. "Baby, come here."

Hakan almost smiled in anticipation. If their mother was always after her children to get married, their father was always checking out anyone the children brought home. With the exception of Mahkah's Netha, he'd put on a huge show of being an overzealous, overprotective father. Except, they all knew it was no act. He'd seen what his father did to the one man who'd wronged Winona.

Dane took a deep breath and then smiled warmly as he padded out into the lounge after pulling his t-shirt back on. "Yes, darlin'?" He asked, his accent warm and natural simply because she had said she liked it.

"Come and meet my papa," Winona grinned, dark eyes warm with love. "Papa, this is Marine Captain Dane McKenna. He's wantin' to ask you somethin'."

Kimi beamed at the man but as she was about to say something, she heard the door open to the main room. When she glanced over, she saw Jeff and she smiled. "I'll be right back," she said absently as she stepped away from the comm-unit. What she saw when she approached him made her cold. "Jeff? What happened?"

Dark eyes deep and haunted, he shook his head, his whole right arm soaked in blood that spattered over the rest of his body. "Not here, Lieutenant. I need to speak with the General."

Dane nodded respectfully at the man on the screen. He couldn't hear what was being said but the tones were all to familiar. "Sir," He put his hands on Winona's shoulders. "I wish to ask you and Winona's mother for you blessings in asking your daughter to be my wife."

Hakan got to his feet a few seconds after his sister and approached Jeff, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly. The pattern of the blood was enough to tell him that it wasn't coming from the man himself. "What's this?"

There was something wrong with the look on his son's face but JT let it sit for a moment. "Her mama's not here, Captain, but the answer to the question really is up to my daughter herself."

"Yes Sir it is, and when Banshee comes home I will ask her again, but she respects you and Mrs. Swiftwind a great deal and where I come from you ask a man and reassure him before takin' off with one of his jewels." Dane replied softly. There was most certainly something going on off screen.

"Hmmm, well, go ahead and reassure me then," JT said simply. "You tell me how you aren't pulling the wool over my eyes or hers."

Hakan stared and waited for an answer from Jeff, his dark eyes narrowing slightly.

"Did you see someone come through here?" Jeff asked in quiet urgency. "He'd be dressed as something innocuous, like an engineer or something. I caught sight of his heels after I followed him into the ducts."

"Whose?" Kimi asked, her dark eye mirroring Hakan's.

"Stanton's murderer's," Jeff replied.

"Nobody came through here," Hakan said, not budging or blinking. He kept his eyes on the man but said, "Dad, come here please."

JT's froze for a moment. His children never called him 'Dad'. Occasionally, they would tease and call him 'old man' and, now, versions of grandfather but never 'Dad'. Dark eyes flicked toward Winona before he got up and said, "'Scuse me a moment, darlin'."

Jeff let those slightly haunted eyes settled on the General. "I'm searching every cabin along here. I know this is the level he's on. If he's not here, he's got to be in one of them."

Dark eyes took in the blood spattered man before him and JT shook his head. "Report, Sergeant Major. Now."

Snapping to attention, Jeff said, "I went to check in on the progress with Private Stanton. When I arrived, she was bleeding heavily from a massive neck wound. I tried to stem the bleeding until I realised her head had been cleaved from her shoulders. The medic with her was dead on the floor too. I noticed one of the Jefferies Tube hatches was open so I contacted the MPs nearby and gave chase myself. After several hundred feet, I finally caught sight of someone's feet, looking like a man. But he was too fast and I lost him. The last of the blood was on a hatchway nearby. It was a reasonable assumption for him to change and try to hide in one of the cabins, sir."

The tone of the voices grew stronger but Dane still couldn't tell what was being said. "I think this is a bad time, my love."

JT's questions came rapid fire. "Did you alert the station commander or station security? I know there hasn't been an alert. Did you inform Field Marshal Quon? Hakan, what the hell is wrong with you?"

His youngest son was staring very hard at the other man, as if those dark eyes of his could see right through him. "He tells a lie," he said in Cheyenne, not blinking.

Kimi turned slowly from one face to another, her colour draining away. "Jeff?"

"I called the MPs as I left. I..." he ran a hand through his hair. "I don't remember if I called station security or not. I called the Field Marshall though. She said she'd go right there, said I should give chase." Jeff began to sweat. The younger man's eyes were too intense and it was too hard to return that stare.

Hakan kept his gaze pinned to the man. His mother hated when he looked like that and JT shook his head. There was always a cause for the 'I've seen way too much' look. He tapped his comm badge. "Captain Wagner, this is General Swiftwind. You need to come down here immediately." Without giving the man a chance to answer, he tapped the unit again. "Swiftwind to Quon. Begging the Field Marshal's pardon, ma'am, but we have a problem."

An almost robotic, cold voice replied, "I am aware, General. Keep him there. Do not allow him to leave."

Kimi just blinked at everything, not knowing who to look at. "Papa... what is this?"

"Back up, Kimi," JT said gently, while keeping his eyes on Jeff. "You, Sergeant Major, will come to attention--now--and will not do anything other than blink or breath until you are given permission to do otherwise. Any other course of action will require me to shoot first and ask questions later."

"Sir, yes, sir!" Jeff barked, straightening up and staring out.

Gabriel fairly ran down the corridor to where the computer said the general was. The man seemed pleasant enough when they met but one never knew with brass that high, especially Marines. "This place is going to hell in a hand basket," he muttered as he turned the corner. He didn't need to knock. He just walked right in and then came to abrupt halt as he caught sight of the blood. "verdammen Sie es! Was ist dieses?"

Quon almost floated around the corner, a look of serene disinterest on her face. It was a mask but it served her well. "Ah, Captain Wagner, more unpleasantness to meet under." Black eyes swivelled to Jeff and she nodded to the three MPs she had with her. "Arrest him."

Hakan blinked just once at the sight of the blue skinned captain before settling his arm around his sister's shoulder. "Come back over here with me, sis. Papa'll get to the bottom of things," he said softly. The blood spatter bothered him in a way that he couldn't define without introspection. For the moment, all he could do was protect his sister.

"He didn't do anything," Kimi insisted. "He wouldn't... Jeff?" She tried to shrug off Hakan but couldn't, her eye fixed on Jeff's face.

Winona craned to see what was going on, the voices becoming softer and harder to hear. "This doesn't sound good. I swear that was German I heard a minute ago. Isn't the DSVP station commander a German guy?"

Dane nodded as he wrapped his arms around Winona. "A little blue guy with a German accent. Maybe we should disconnect and call back later? Or at least get your sister's attention?"

Gabriel was trying very hard to control his temper but, Field Marshal or no, this was still his damned station. "Ma'am, I would appreciate an explanation of what's going on."

Mei turned imperceptably toward Gabriel and inclined her head. "My apologies, Captain. There has been a murder and, at the present time, this man is the only witness and the only suspect."

Kimi flinched, her face losing what little colour it had. "No... He didn't... Papa, tell her..."

"How very nice that somebody thought to tell me," Gabriel said dryly. He shook his head, turning bright yellow eyes to Jeff. "Are you taking him to the Marine brig? I have it on good authority that it isn't the most escape proof unit."

JT let out a slow breath. "Kimi, it's the law. If he's done nothing wrong then that'll come out."

"Oh no, he will be taken to my vessel and kept in her brig under the close watch of my personal guards," the Field Marshal said darkly. "Then I request a meeting with yourself and General Swiftwind in a secure location. I cannot stress this enough: we must not be overheard!"

"I would say my quarters but I don't want to disturb Major Ecitsuj and her brother too much. My office will do. The major's father had a good look at things and he tells me it's safe," Gabriel replied.

JT rested his hands on Kimi's shoulders. "Stay here with your brother, Kimi. I'm asking you, not ordering the Marine, alright? Talk to your sister."

"He didn't do it," Kimi said firmly, pleading desperately with her father.

Jeff was escorted from the room, his face ashen but unreadable. He knew what had happened. He knew the truth.

"I'll get to the bottom of this, baby girl," JT said as he kissed her forehead. "I promise."

Hakan attempted to steer her away from their father. "Come on, hemeho, let's talk. The man did tell a lie but it may not have been about that."

Kimi was led back to the comm-unit and tried to smile at her sister. "Sorry..." Her head drifted back to where the door closed, shutting her off from Jeff. "Our family's not always like this, sir," she said softly to Dane. "Sometime's it's worse."

"No worries, Lieutenant. I understand better then you might think." Dane smiled softly at her as he pulled Winona to her feet, sat in the chair, and then pulled his beautiful bird down onto his lap. "I'm the youngest of six sons and if that's not enough my brother Joe is married to a McEntire." He nodded and smiled as if that settled everything.

"A McEntire?" both Kimi and Winona asked in unison.

The name meant nothing to Hakan either but he studied the man holding his oldest sister. It was impossible to tell much over these contraptions, he told himself. I'll kill him if he hurts her, though. Still, he offered the man a shrug. "She's right. We can be much worse. It's an old saying that no Swiftwind ever quietly sits in the background."

Dane nodded once more. "Mo's middle of five, a set of quints. She's close to one of your own in fact. Got an extended family that could populate the moon all on it's on."

Hakan was mystified just slightly. He never left the res unless he had to (and was still irked at his father for this trip). He looked at Kimi to answer, if only to keep her distracted.

"Err..." Kimi said, still looking away from the unit.  "One of our own?"

"Swiftwind, she's real close to a Hawk and to a really really really old man." Dane replied. "She and your kin are why Winona and I are going to wait."

"Y'mean Joseph?" Kimi asked as she finally turned to look at both of them. "And Nightwalker?"
"Oh! The ma'hahkeso!" Hakan said with a chuckle. "They were from the travelers."

"That's them." Dane nodded as he cuddled Winona. God how he loved her warmth, her weight, her smell. It was like being wrapped in everything good.

"You look happy, Noni," the younger woman whispered, a twinge of envy in her voice.

Hakan could only hug his third sister gently. "Doesn't she, though? You guys are makin' it bad for me now, y'know. Mama's going to be giving me the eye and that's just not happening," he teased lightly.

"Just ignore her," Winona laughed. "She's an old romantic but papa always manages to pretend he can't hear her."

"Yeah," Kimi smiled, nudging her brother in his ribs, "it's called selective hearing."

He raised one jet black brow and made a face at both his sisters. "And when have you not known me to not hear or see just about everything?" He shook his head at Dane. "Go on and ask my biggest sister, man. I see through things."

Dane looked at the man and then at his love, a smile on his face. "Gifted is he?"

"Uncannily so," Winona nodded, smirking at Hakan.

He wouldn't admit that stuff like that made him edgy. Mo's old man friend gave him the creeps, but he respected the man none the less.

"Y'know, sisters dear, we are going to have to name these two guys if they're serious 'bout being with you," Hakan mused.

"You mean assuming Jeff didn't murder anyone," Kimi said in a soft, bitter and very tired whisper that only Hakan could hear.

"I don't think he did, Kimi. He wasn't telling the truth about something but I don't think it was that," he murmured. "Papa's got his hand in things. He'll see to it that he's cleared if that's the case."

"You don't know that," Kimi hissed.  "You can't see everything, Hakan."

"No," he admitted, "I can't but I have faith in Papa's methods. He's never steered us wrong and you know it."

"I know," she whispered as she leaned her head on his arm and smiled to her sister. "What name can we give your man then?"

"Name?" Dane blinked.

Winona smirked as she kissed his cheek.  "Hakan, why don't you explain?"

"There is," he began, "the name your parents give you as a baby, your legal name. Among the Cheyenne,years ago, a person's name could change as they grew older. It might be given to them or it might be taken when they reached the right age. Heck, some people have more than one. Mine is Ma'heono'soo. It means 'holy dancer'. Now, when I first laid eyes on my oldest brother's lady, she ended up with Ese'he Ohvo'komaestse, meaning 'white moon'. It fits her hair."

A light of understanding lit up Dane's eyes. "Oh I get it. Mo has a name like that I think. I never did get why her Swiftwinds called her a Hummingbird. Sure she's tiny and little, but if you'd see her in the mornings you'd know she wasn't very fast, and the girl eats like a Tasmanian devil."

"THe name always fits, even it's only in the mind of the person who has it," Hakan told him. "Or the one who gave it. Even our family name is one that was the name of our long ago ancestor."

"That I can understand." Dane replied as he cuddled Winona on her lap. He loved the way she pressed into him. "The McKenna's have been raising sheep on our land even before Cochran's time."

"No, this is even older than that. The man whose name was Swiftwind was born sometime in the latter half of the nineteenth century," Hakan said with a touch of pride. "My father and I both have the same tattoo of him."

"Names are everything to us," Winona said softly. "We who are Swiftwind are proud of where we come from and our names reflect that."

"And so you should be my beautiful bird." Dane said softly before kissing her just the same way.

Kimi let out a bright laugh, her eyes shining. "At least he got that right, eh Noni. Her Cheyenne name is Medicine Bird: Ve'kesohma'heonevestse."

His mind went dizzy thinking of how that was spelled, but he smiled brightly.

"Should tell him to do the Sun Dance," Hakan said mildly. He knew what his sisters were going to say but it amused him to see their reactions to that.

Kimi jabbed him as hard as she could in his ribs with her elbow and Winona glared at him. "No," the both said angrily.

"Don't even joke about it," Winona glared harder.

"Joke about what?" Dane asked, more then a little lost. There was a lot about Winona and her people that he had to learn, and he couldn't wait to learn about it the rest of his life.

"Uh, I'd tell you but they both know where I live and when I sleep. It's...cultural," Hakan said, tap dancing around the truth in the face of female wrath.

Dane smiled brightly. "Looks like I have a lot of learning to do."

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