Author's Note: Most of the characters in the following story are not mine
and in no way do I claim them to be. Nor do I claim that I created the
universe that the characters are placed in. The characters and the
universe remain the property of Hitoshi Okuda, Pioneer LDC, INC and
Kadokawa Shoten Publishing CO. Please do not sue. This is a fanfic and is
nothing more than a show of my appreciation to the creators of Tenchi Muyo.
No Need for Dark Warriors
Chapter 1
Space. The quietness of the endless expanse of airless blackness left one with only their thoughts making sounds. Silence. Stillness. An ever- growing and ever changing vastness of star dotted ink that was speckled with colorful nebulas and dying giants of fire. But it was perhaps the hush that was the greatest of space's qualities. Tranquility. It was beautiful, the silence. Space. Space was where restless souls found peace. Space was the thoughtful calm.
Admiral Masayuki was staring ruefully out the large space windows that lined the main promenade of Galaxy Police station 21. The old admiral was carefully studying the far off ringed circle of orange caused by the death of a star. He looked even older than he was standing there, his white hair emanating out from the backdrop of black space and his eyes slanted in thought as an aged scholar may have furrowed his brow. His lips slightly parted as he gazed into the nothing that was beyond with a calm and cool reflection not affected by his older age. He stood there for a moment longer, peering through his spectacles and let out a slightly ragged breath.
"Lovely, simply lovely. All of space and I'm stuck on a hunk of metal floating above an uninhabited rock whose name no one can pronounce. Nothing ever happens around here. Well I knew headquarters was going to sideline me at some point and set me off somewhere on the outskirts of explored space. Old my foot!"
It was at this point that the admiral tried to kick his foot against the wall but found that his arthritis prevented the motion.
It was not long after his futile attempt to inflict pain upon the metal walls that the tiny buzzing sound of his comlink filled his ears. Deftly his old finger pressed the insignia upon its shiny surface and soon a voice could be heard. Being slightly hard of hearing Masayuki unlatched the link from his shirt and placed it near his ear.
"Yes?"
An extremely high-pitched male voice reached his ears that actually caused the comlink to vibrate slightly.
"Um, yes, Admiral. Um- well. Yes… what I meant to say it that-"
The admiral was regretting that he had placed the comlink so close to his ear and lowered the device quickly. "Spit it out cadet."
"Yes admiral. Your presence is needed on the bridge sir. Something about Outpost Three Four One, we have captain Shishi on the comm, it sounds quite urgent. She won't talk to anyone but you and-"
"Look, just shut up so I can get up there will you?"
"…Yes, um, yes of course admiral." Then the voice on the other end began rambling. "Do you know this station is big sir? Well I mean very big, I got lost trying to find the bathroom."
Masayuki shook his head and a tiny twitch was developing at the corner of his lip. "You just got transferred here didn't you?"
There was a pause over the comm, then. "Why, yes sir… it was, ha, last shuttle flight actually. How did you know?"
"I have a gift." Said Masayuki as he clicked the comlink off and replaced it on his uniform.
Masayuki quickly paced out of the promenade and into one of the high speed lifts. After a short time of watching decks fly by the window he exited onto the bridge of station 21. The bridge was in a heightened state of activity, more than Masayuki had seen in quite some time. Officers and bridge crew were at countless panels that flashed and lit their faces. A large holographic viewscreen had been extended and it was on this screen that the face of captain Shishi was visible.
Taking his seat in the command chair admiral Masayuki studied captain Shishi for a moment. She always had an elegant and fair face, even when she was under stress, which she appeared to be at the moment. A small bead of sweat was trickling from her hair and her face was set in a very serious position.
"Sir!" Shishi said as she addressed the admiral with a salute. "Outpost Three Four One with report to Galaxy Police station twenty one in regards to-"
The admiral waved his hand. "Oh just cut the crap and fill me in Shishi."
"Yes sir. You are informed of our patrol that we sent into unexplored space near the Belt of Sojin?"
"Yes…"
"Well… um." Shishi was at a loss for words. "You better just hear the patrol's last report. May I patch it through?"
"Of course."
Admiral Masayuki leaned back comfortably in his chair as his communications officer patched through the crackled audio message.
"Roger outpost. Continuing patrol of unexplored space."
"This is outpost. What is your status patrol?"
"…Um, not much out here but rocks and space debris. Hey you remember that gas giant? Well the thing must be rouge; I don't see a star for light years. Must've been blow out of orbit or something. Wait a minute."
"Patrol?"
"Yes, this is patrol. Remember that power surge we were having a second ago? Well its cropped back up on us… Hold it… its affecting sensors this time. Roger outpost, we're getting a weird frequency out here, looks like its coming from the gas giant. Yes… its what? All right. Um, yeah outpost, my engineer just reported that the engine rooms are getting the same power fluctuations. Science reports its some kind of triple banded ion field. Wait a minute. Something's wrong. Power fluctuations are now off the scale! Where the hell did that come from! What!"
"Patrol? Patrol report!"
"Outpost! Some kind of power surge! Shields- gone- beaches on lower decks! Just- we- lost escorts. -Fighters just- came -nowhere!"
"Patrol this is outpost you are breaking up! Repeat you are breaking up!"
"Under attack! Repeat- -post -are under fire. From- my god- we-"
The audio signal faded away leaving the bridge strangely quiet.
Capitan Shishi was the next voice to fill the bridge. "That was the last we heard from the patrol."
Masayuki nodded. "I see. So you have no idea what attacked the patrol?" Shishi shook her head and Masayuki continued. "We'll be sending reinforcements to your position shortly then. Take care of yourself Shishi."
"Thank you sir." Masayuki was about to cut the transmission when Shishi spoke once again. "Sir. Um, something's not right here."
"What?"
"Now we're getting some kind of power fluctuation… it's making out instruments go nuts! I don't know where it came from! Everything was fine just a second ago. Hold on, we need a chance to lock our systems down, we might be able to keep the fluctuations from spreading."
Masayuki was on the edge of his seat. "Listen, get out of there! Abandon the outpost now! You aren't prepared to fight! Your defense was that patrol."
Shishi's picture had turned to static but the audio message was still coming through. "What- where- it's huge! Open hailing frequencies. Not responding? What- Breaking- Hull breaches- lost- under attack! Require assistance! Th- plan-…" The signal had now faded to only static.
Masayuki jumped from his chair. "Get her back! Get her back now!"
The voice of the communications officer was like lead in the air. "I can't sir. All contact has been lost."
The admiral slumped back to his seat. "My god. Any readings, anything at all? Were they destroyed?" There were no answers. "Patch us through to headquarters, they'll want to know about this. Science start plotting a trajectory using the last known location of the patrol and Outpost Three Four One and see if you can find out where that… thing that attacked them is going. Also patch me though to the Juraian council, this might be bad. Put our defenses on full alert and recall our patrols as well. I want this station at full battle efficiency in three hours!"
Outside the protective bulkheads, in the vastness of space, something slowly lumbered through the vacuum disrupting the thoughtful silence, changing it to screams.
To be continued…
No Need for Dark Warriors
Chapter 1
Space. The quietness of the endless expanse of airless blackness left one with only their thoughts making sounds. Silence. Stillness. An ever- growing and ever changing vastness of star dotted ink that was speckled with colorful nebulas and dying giants of fire. But it was perhaps the hush that was the greatest of space's qualities. Tranquility. It was beautiful, the silence. Space. Space was where restless souls found peace. Space was the thoughtful calm.
Admiral Masayuki was staring ruefully out the large space windows that lined the main promenade of Galaxy Police station 21. The old admiral was carefully studying the far off ringed circle of orange caused by the death of a star. He looked even older than he was standing there, his white hair emanating out from the backdrop of black space and his eyes slanted in thought as an aged scholar may have furrowed his brow. His lips slightly parted as he gazed into the nothing that was beyond with a calm and cool reflection not affected by his older age. He stood there for a moment longer, peering through his spectacles and let out a slightly ragged breath.
"Lovely, simply lovely. All of space and I'm stuck on a hunk of metal floating above an uninhabited rock whose name no one can pronounce. Nothing ever happens around here. Well I knew headquarters was going to sideline me at some point and set me off somewhere on the outskirts of explored space. Old my foot!"
It was at this point that the admiral tried to kick his foot against the wall but found that his arthritis prevented the motion.
It was not long after his futile attempt to inflict pain upon the metal walls that the tiny buzzing sound of his comlink filled his ears. Deftly his old finger pressed the insignia upon its shiny surface and soon a voice could be heard. Being slightly hard of hearing Masayuki unlatched the link from his shirt and placed it near his ear.
"Yes?"
An extremely high-pitched male voice reached his ears that actually caused the comlink to vibrate slightly.
"Um, yes, Admiral. Um- well. Yes… what I meant to say it that-"
The admiral was regretting that he had placed the comlink so close to his ear and lowered the device quickly. "Spit it out cadet."
"Yes admiral. Your presence is needed on the bridge sir. Something about Outpost Three Four One, we have captain Shishi on the comm, it sounds quite urgent. She won't talk to anyone but you and-"
"Look, just shut up so I can get up there will you?"
"…Yes, um, yes of course admiral." Then the voice on the other end began rambling. "Do you know this station is big sir? Well I mean very big, I got lost trying to find the bathroom."
Masayuki shook his head and a tiny twitch was developing at the corner of his lip. "You just got transferred here didn't you?"
There was a pause over the comm, then. "Why, yes sir… it was, ha, last shuttle flight actually. How did you know?"
"I have a gift." Said Masayuki as he clicked the comlink off and replaced it on his uniform.
Masayuki quickly paced out of the promenade and into one of the high speed lifts. After a short time of watching decks fly by the window he exited onto the bridge of station 21. The bridge was in a heightened state of activity, more than Masayuki had seen in quite some time. Officers and bridge crew were at countless panels that flashed and lit their faces. A large holographic viewscreen had been extended and it was on this screen that the face of captain Shishi was visible.
Taking his seat in the command chair admiral Masayuki studied captain Shishi for a moment. She always had an elegant and fair face, even when she was under stress, which she appeared to be at the moment. A small bead of sweat was trickling from her hair and her face was set in a very serious position.
"Sir!" Shishi said as she addressed the admiral with a salute. "Outpost Three Four One with report to Galaxy Police station twenty one in regards to-"
The admiral waved his hand. "Oh just cut the crap and fill me in Shishi."
"Yes sir. You are informed of our patrol that we sent into unexplored space near the Belt of Sojin?"
"Yes…"
"Well… um." Shishi was at a loss for words. "You better just hear the patrol's last report. May I patch it through?"
"Of course."
Admiral Masayuki leaned back comfortably in his chair as his communications officer patched through the crackled audio message.
"Roger outpost. Continuing patrol of unexplored space."
"This is outpost. What is your status patrol?"
"…Um, not much out here but rocks and space debris. Hey you remember that gas giant? Well the thing must be rouge; I don't see a star for light years. Must've been blow out of orbit or something. Wait a minute."
"Patrol?"
"Yes, this is patrol. Remember that power surge we were having a second ago? Well its cropped back up on us… Hold it… its affecting sensors this time. Roger outpost, we're getting a weird frequency out here, looks like its coming from the gas giant. Yes… its what? All right. Um, yeah outpost, my engineer just reported that the engine rooms are getting the same power fluctuations. Science reports its some kind of triple banded ion field. Wait a minute. Something's wrong. Power fluctuations are now off the scale! Where the hell did that come from! What!"
"Patrol? Patrol report!"
"Outpost! Some kind of power surge! Shields- gone- beaches on lower decks! Just- we- lost escorts. -Fighters just- came -nowhere!"
"Patrol this is outpost you are breaking up! Repeat you are breaking up!"
"Under attack! Repeat- -post -are under fire. From- my god- we-"
The audio signal faded away leaving the bridge strangely quiet.
Capitan Shishi was the next voice to fill the bridge. "That was the last we heard from the patrol."
Masayuki nodded. "I see. So you have no idea what attacked the patrol?" Shishi shook her head and Masayuki continued. "We'll be sending reinforcements to your position shortly then. Take care of yourself Shishi."
"Thank you sir." Masayuki was about to cut the transmission when Shishi spoke once again. "Sir. Um, something's not right here."
"What?"
"Now we're getting some kind of power fluctuation… it's making out instruments go nuts! I don't know where it came from! Everything was fine just a second ago. Hold on, we need a chance to lock our systems down, we might be able to keep the fluctuations from spreading."
Masayuki was on the edge of his seat. "Listen, get out of there! Abandon the outpost now! You aren't prepared to fight! Your defense was that patrol."
Shishi's picture had turned to static but the audio message was still coming through. "What- where- it's huge! Open hailing frequencies. Not responding? What- Breaking- Hull breaches- lost- under attack! Require assistance! Th- plan-…" The signal had now faded to only static.
Masayuki jumped from his chair. "Get her back! Get her back now!"
The voice of the communications officer was like lead in the air. "I can't sir. All contact has been lost."
The admiral slumped back to his seat. "My god. Any readings, anything at all? Were they destroyed?" There were no answers. "Patch us through to headquarters, they'll want to know about this. Science start plotting a trajectory using the last known location of the patrol and Outpost Three Four One and see if you can find out where that… thing that attacked them is going. Also patch me though to the Juraian council, this might be bad. Put our defenses on full alert and recall our patrols as well. I want this station at full battle efficiency in three hours!"
Outside the protective bulkheads, in the vastness of space, something slowly lumbered through the vacuum disrupting the thoughtful silence, changing it to screams.
To be continued…