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“How much longer do you think this will go on?"

Sanny and Ka waited inside the TARDIS. They were waiting on Konrad, who was on a diplomatic mission. As this was one of his few areas of diplomatic expertise, he was the best person for the job. All the other diplomats were tied up with the Apaclo Scandal, and were unable to attend. This put Konrad in the spotlight, and he did a pretty good job (minus the small food fight at the start).

“Sorry?" Ka did not quite understand. “You mean this mission?"

“No you Thumluk," Sanny hit his shoulder. It was fairly obvious to most people that Sanny was flirting with Ka in her own slightly twisted way. Ka occasionally flirted back, though he hardly ever realized it.

“I meant all this." She gestured around her.

“What? That sushi explosion from the Arve Bassalen?" Ka either truey didn't understand or he was just toying with her. But by the look on his face, it was definitely the former. Despite being exceptionally old, Ka often found it hard to pick up on subjects when they are presented in this matter. This usually ended up with him getting extremely embarrassed. “I still haven't gotten all the stains out of the walls yet…"

“OH FOR THE SAKE OF THE ALMIGHTY GODS!" She was clearly getting frustrated. “Let me put it in terms that your simple mind can understand…"

“HEY! I'm not stupid………..Am I?" Ka's retort was cut short when he realized he was being an utter Hk'Nell; he began to blush slightly.

Sanny chuckled slightly. “You are so cute when your face turns this shade." Ka's face turned extremely red, to which Sanny responded by kissing him on the cheek. His face began to restore to a more normal color, but a bit or red still lingered.

Sanny sighed gently. “Anyway, as I was saying, how much longer is all this going to go on?" Even after stating her question a second time, Ka still drew a blank. “Oh for heaven's sake. How much longer are we going to be stuck in the TARDIS?"

“Oh." It finally clicked for him; the color restored on his face. “To be honest, I don't know. But Konrad is getting old…"

“Sorry, what?" Sanny was flabbergasted at this statement."Konrad? Getting old? Is this a joke?"

“There is a significant difference between age and how old you are. Age is an absolute, while 'Oldness' is relative. When you first met Konrad, he had lived a long time, but he was still quite young." Whenever someone was asking Ka about a subject they knew little about but he had a lot of knowledge on, he would go into lecture mode. “Another thing is that…"

“OKAY. OKAY. i get the damn picture." Sanny said with a hint of aggravation in her voice. She knew that if she didn't stop Ka, he would continue in this state for several hours. “Anyways, to answer my question…"

“Right. I know Konrad is getting old because he has started thinking about retirement."

“Doesn't he always joke about his retirement?"

“Normally yes. But he has started to give it serious thought…"

“I see…" Sanny sat down, contemplating on what she had been told. "So we should expect…"

“It could be another millenia, or it could be when he steps through that door." Ka predicted her question, so he answered it before she could finish. It was a bad habit of his. “Sorry. I did it again, didn't I?"

“Yeah…" Sanny sighed. “But don't feel pressured to change if it is too hard on you. It's annoying at times, but it is manageable. And it can be useful at times…"

“When can this ever be useful?" Ka was extremely confused at this statement. “It's an annoying habit that has no practical uses."

“It's useful in battle."

“Where would you get that idea?" Ka chuckled to himself."You're just trying to make me feel better, aren't you?"

“Konrad told me," Sanny said firmly. “And no, that's not my only intention."

“What do you mean?"

“Look, Konrad cares about you." Sanny gently grabbed hold of the shoulder she punched. This made Ka wince slightly, but he looked her in the eye. “I know Konrad is… a bit of an ass to you at times. But he really cares about you. If things were different, he might have gotten closer to you. The only reason he treats you the way he does at times is because he doesn't want you to fall down the same path that he fell down."

Sanny paused. She saw that Ka looked a bit sad. She knew this was a sensitive topic, but it was one that he had to hear. She continued: “I know your relationship is kind of like Snotlout and Hookfang, but he really cares about you. Did you notice that he eased up on you ever since I got stuck here with you?"

Ka put on a more inquisitive face. “Now that you mention it, he didn't seem so...controlling ever since you were integrated into the TARDIS…"

“You should know that he didn't do it because he wants you to be what he wants. He did it because he feared you might fall down the rabbit hole he fell down all those years ago. But ever since I was integrated, he trusted me with covering your occasional...rashness…"

“Rashness?" Ka was confused and slightly pissed at this statement.

“Do you really not know how many times we have had to cover your ass?" Helastar snapped; a bit to harshly in her opinion, but it got the point across. “You are rash, impulsive, and a bit naive at times. You might not have know because every time you slip up, we cover for you. Serandipity Prime, Je'le'nesh, and Varanago are just a couple of the more recent ones…"

Ka looked stunned. He was still trying to absorb all this information. Sanny gave him a couple of minutes to digest this information, then she continued.

“The only reason no one told you sooner is because Konrad doesn't have the heart to tell you. He only recently asked me to tell you. He wanted you to be able to explore yourself, which is why he didn't get mad at you unless you took a bus over the line."

Ketronel sighed. Ka finally managed to find his voice and softly asked a question:

“Why does he care about me so much if I…"

Sanny wasn't in the best of moods at this moment, so she snapped a response back at him before he could respond. “Don't you know? You are like the son Konrad never had. Ever since Ketronel… well… you know. I mean, you are an AI based off of his consciousness, and you basically threw away your life after 'the incident.' He only realized that he could give you a second life after her death.. And ever since then, he raised you to the best of his ability."

Ka sat down, shocked. “I...I don't know what to say. I mean, what am I supposed to do now?"

Sanny got a devious look in her eye. It was the perfect opportunity; no one else around. Now that he was all vulnerable, she could do whatever she wanted…

“Well, you could always...kiss me." Her devious grin grew massive.

“WHAT?!?" Ka was taken by surprise. He would normally be immune to this kind of “attack," but in this fragile state, he was quite vulnerable…

“I know you've always liked me. Even if you never said it, you have show some subconscious affection towards me. And you are such a cute…"

There was a loud band. Sanny's head whipped around in panic. A loud voiced yelled out:

“SANDRA! STOP ABUSING KA! You know that's my job…"

Her eyes finally locked onto the voice. It was Konrad. He was leaning against the door; stern look and fierce demeanor included.

“I...Konrad...um…" Sanny's brain could not put together a response. All of a sudden, she burst out crying.

“I'M SORRY! I GOT CARRIED AWAY, OKAY? IT'S JUST BEEN SO LONG SINCE…"

Konrad stopped her mid sentence by putting a finger to her lips. In as stern a voice he could muster, he said:

“Sanny, you know it's my job to abuse Ka. Just like it's my job to tease you."

“Huh?" Sanny went from tearful to confused. And then it all clicked. “Oh...I…"

There was a loud *THUNK*. Sanny sunk her fist into Konrad's nose, which started to bleed almost immediately.

“HATE YOU!" You could feel the anger in her voice. She did not like being toyed with; her pride was too big for that. All she saw was rage. “I SWEAR! I'M GOING TO…'

Especially when Sanny gets in this mood, Ka gets very timid. But he has extensive training in every known form of medicine. And he saw blood. Blood…

“God DAMNIT SANNY!" Ka went from timid to full on werewolf in the blink of an eye. “I just finished the nano-stitching on his nose from last time! And now I have to start over. Why can't you just punch him in the shoulder?"

“Because I have a specific place i like to punch different people," she responded as Ka tended to Konrad. “Your face says shoulder, while Konrad's face says nose…"

“WE HAVE THE SAME DAMN FACE!" Ka and Konrad replied in unison.

There was silence as Ka finished up on his nose. “There...that's done. Sanny, please wait until after the nano-stitching has healed before punching him again. I don't want to have to infuse blood again…"

“In the meantime," Konrad said with a scowl. “Get a mop and clean up this mess. We need the TARDIS to look presentable when we bring it back to Vetraheil. You know they're going to take a holo-scan of the interior and put it in a museum at the Academy…"

“Woah, slow down hot shot." Sanny had questions, and she wanted answers. “First off, how long were you standing by the door?"

“I don't know. About 10 minutes?"

Sanny stared at him blankly. She then continued: “Second, why are we going back to Vetraheil?"

“Because I'm retiring."

They stood there with their mouths agape. Sanny was the first to respond:

“Jinx."

“Huh?" Konrad gave Sanny a puzzled look.

“I'll explain later," Ka responded. “Now, let's head over to Vetraheil. In the meantime, MOP UP ALL THIS BLOOD."

“How come I have to clean up this blood, but you won't clean up your desk or those sushi stains?"

“My desk shows character. Those sushi stains show wear and tear." Konrad replied smugly. “Blood, on the other hand…"

“Is a sanitation issue," Ka finished.

---

"So, you finally decided to retire..."

Konrad was in the chambers of the Time Council. He was taking care of the TARDIS decommissioning as well as other business regarding his retirement. Jordan, the presiding member of the council, was taking care of all council business himself (all the other council members were wrapped up in the Apaclo Scandal).

Konrad nodded. after a few minutes of looking through paperwork, Jordan responded:

"Well, it looks like everything is in order. Have you decided what you want to do or where you want to go?"

There was a moment of silence as Konrad looked Jordan in the eye. While Jordan typically kept a straight face, he always found it really creepy when he did this.

"Take a guess."

Konrad did not have much to say. While he did know Jordan fairly well, being in the council chambers gave him anxiety, so he was fairly quiet whenever he was in here.

Jordan smiled. As he scribbled something down, he responded: "Well, we can't restore full command privileges to you since you left the Organisation. However, I think i can arrange a civilian co-command position. Besides, Viggo has expressed that the command has become too much for him to handle alone."

"That's perfect," Konrad responded. "I want to enjoy my retirement, not switch from one job to another until I die..."

Jordan chuckled to himself. He finished signing a stack of paperwork and placed it in a manila envelope. He then handed that file to Konrad and made his final statement.

"That contains your transfer orders and all other necessary documents. Other than a few minor things to work out, your request for a transfer to Ketronel Base has been approved.

---

---End---