Creation began on 04-25-20

Creation ended on 07-07-20

Angel Links

Live Free, Fly Free

A/N: I finally finished watching Angel Links, and despite it being only thirteen episodes, I felt it needed to go on because just like Outlaw Star, it was a fantastic series. I was especially impressed with Meifon Li. Here goes.

Space was rather mysterious to all sentient beings that dwelled within its boundaries. How expansive was it? How many planets floated within it? How many sentient races lived among the multitude of stars, suns and moons?

Some believed that it expanded for eternity, unable to be documented by any one race in its entirety. Others believed that there was a finite time to the existence of this vast realm. And there was one man that…lived within the smallest of places here and there…along with the largest of places elsewhere, inaccessible to mere mortals…and he often paid visits to few people that had large impacts on other people…just like now.

He looked at Meifon Li, who looked like she was asleep on her final night of this finite life she had, and then looked down at Taffei, who looked up at him, curious as to whether or not he was a threat. He gave a small smile to the small creature.

The thing about biological androids is that they're more biological than mechanical, the mysterious man thought, walking over to Meifon's right side, holding a small orb of sapphire that appeared to be faceted. But as science and technology evolves over time, so does the nature of a biological android. They can start out as being completely mechanical…and over time, they become more organic…and eventually become completely organic with no trace of having ever been mechanical to begin with. Meifon Li, I can't see you as a replicant of a deceased person…because you're not a replacement. If I didn't see a soul within you, I would see no way to offer you the gift I'm here to give you. Free will, emotions, the ability to choose not to do something you were intended to do, what someone desired you to do, these are signs of having a soul, and having a soul makes you alive. So, please…don't let the reasons behind how you came to be the deciding factors of how your fate should be. Embrace life…and live each day without regrets. Live free…fly free.

The man levitated the sphere over to Meifon's chest and watched as it sank into her.

-x-

"…Hmm?" Kosei Hida went as he noticed everyone else from Links Group at the headquarters. "I take it you each got a letter, as well?"

Gawado raised his left hand up and revealed his letter.

"Whoever this guy thinks he is must be senile," he expressed. "I mean, he must be, right? He's asking for Links Group to escort his cargo ship to Heifong X's Kano moon of the Heifong System. Surely, he can request the services of another private security group. What makes Links Groups the one most suited for this job?"

"Other than the fact that he's willing to pay us to help him get there?" Valeria questioned. "He's heard of our reputation and was referred to us by a previous client."

"But…why now?" Duuz wanted to know.

Beep-beep-beep! Kosei's phone rang, and he picked up.

"Hida," he greeted, but then gasped. "Meifon?"

Everyone looked at him, curious as to whether or not Meifon was alive.

"Hold on, I'll put you on speaker. Everyone's here," Kosei uttered, looking at the others.

"Hello, everyone," they heard Meifon's voice.

"Meifon?" Valeria questioned. "You're alive?"

"But…didn't you have a time limit?" Duuz wanted to know. "How can you still be alive if you have a time limit?"

"That's the strangest thing," they heard Meifon respond. "I went to sleep on my last day, not intending to wake up again, and then I heard a voice, telling me not to give up living just yet. It was a man's voice, telling me that he could see who had souls…and who didn't."

"I think I've heard of him before," Valeria spoke up, "but he's been viewed as an urban myth, almost a legend. I think they called him…Brother Correction."

"Brother Correction?" Duuz responded. "I thought he was limited to Terran-affiliated myths."

"No, I heard about him, and it seems that while he's mostly affiliated with Terran-related stories, he has been known to pop in and out of other myths and legends associated with other races. Corbonites, Silgrians, Nayans, they all have stories about a man…or a creature, some kind of being…that shows up and gives them another chance to turn their lives around."

"I heard a story once about a stranger that approached a member of the Ctarl-Ctarl that got into a feud with an infiltration unit from the Sith race, and he made the Sith leave," Kosei expressed.

"What can Brother Correction do to turn people's lives around?" Gawado questioned. "He sounds like he's associated with incarnate deities."

"Some stories say that he can control time," Aihara explained, "others say that he can manipulate reality itself. And sometimes, just sometimes, based only on rumors, this guy can grant new life to those deserving of it."

"My grandfather once told me that he was all-seeing and all-knowing," Valeria stated. "Omnipresent and omniscient."

"Like God," went Anne.

-x-

It wasn't something Brother Correction did all the time, but he wanted to make sure that Links Group was reinvigorated with new purpose that would last for as long as they were willing and able. So, he created another mortal identity to examine and evaluate his efforts in saving people's lives and creating new paths for them to take. In this case, he was another wealthy space industrialist that had found a planet in the Heifong System that was rich with new minerals and metals that didn't exist on the Terran planet of Earth, requesting the aid and protection of the Links Group to help transport a cargo of precious metals and minerals to the Kano moon of Heifong X in order to continue the establishment of a terraforming installation that had been going on for thirty years. All Links Group had to do was ensure the cargo got to Kano safely…and he'd make sure they were richly rewarded.

Anchored in space between the Oracion System and the Heifong System, the heavy metal cargo ship, the Luna Mercy awaited the arrival of its fate.

Beep! Brother Correction received an alert from another ship nearby.

"Come in, Luna Mercy," he heard a female voice speak out. "Angel Links to Luna Mercy, do you copy? Angel Links to Luna Mercy, do you read?"

"This is Luna Mercy, Angel Links," he responded. "I read you loud and clear. Can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear. We are forty-seven-hundred kilometers from your location. ETA: Twenty minutes from now."

"Much appreciated. Thank you."

-x-

"…I can't believe you accepted this job," Kosei said to Meifon, noticing that she was much more at ease with herself.

"This is what we do," Meifon responded.

"And the fact that this industrialist is willing to pay us for ensuring the cargo gets to this moon?"

"Give it to charity."

"I figured you'd say that."

As the Angel Links continued to move through space, Meifon returned her gaze at a letter she found upon waking to the next day after discovering that her seventeenth birthday would mark the end of her life. At least, that's what everyone thought it did…until she awoke to the next day.

"To Meifon Li," it read, "by the time you read this, you'll likely be wondering why and how you're alive. The answer is that I enabled you to have a natural lifespan like any other person you know or have met. While you might've been a bio android, you're as human as anyone else that works for the Links Group. Well, with the exception of Duuz and Taffei, that is, but you probably understand what I mean. Even if you don't, it's fine, all the same. I am associated with all beings that possess souls, including yourself, regardless of your origins. While you might've been a way for your grandfather to exact revenge for the death of his family, there was one thing he didn't anticipate on you: What you want to do after you fulfilled his desire. Now…your life is your own. You can do as you desire, for better or for worse. There are many rewards to those that live…if you open yourselves to the possibilities. I hope we meet one day. For now, enjoy the renewal of your life. May you smile with each new day. Now and always, Brother Correction."

"There it is," Meifon heard Duuz say, and looked up at the Lunar Mercy several meters away from them.

"Let's do what we do for a living," she told her crew.

Live Free

A/N: I thought I was going to end this as one chapter, but after thinking about it, I'll have it continue in another chapter later on. I want for there to be some form of additional closure for Meifon and Kosei, mainly because both characters lost someone that mattered to them, but I want to get a sense of what people feel when they read this chapter. Until next time.