These are the voyages of the Starship Nerima

by Turbanator

Stranded in another universe and time, the residents of Nerima find themselves in a place of aliens, technology and wonders beyond their imagination. Ten years later, they finally have the chance, and the power, to find a way back to their home, thanks to their own starship.

These are the voyages of the Starship Nerima...

Chapter 1

Maiden Voyage

Unknown Location

The stars had suddenly changed in front of their eyes on the viewscreen, and the sensors chirped twice to reflect this difference.

Systems began to spark as console monitors flickered, though all returned to standard displays in a few seconds once the power levels returned to normal.

"Damage Report! And could someone tell me where the hell we are?" The Captain stood up, staring at the viewscreen.

"According to system reports, warp drive is offline, no report of injuries to crew. This is strange however, I've checked sir, and then twice more..." The lieutenant at Operations tapped other monitors in front of her, "There's no mistake, we're in the Delta quadrant..."

"No… 71,000 lights years from Earth." The First Officer joined the captain on the main floor of the bridge, "Why...? Just like Voyager?"

"That's nothing, I've travelled further to get to school..." The Helmsman grinned, whilst controlling the impulse drive.

Warning sounds blared from the other end of the bridge, "I'm reading several ships on an intercept course at high warp. They'll be here in ten seconds..." The Tactical Officer declared, reading out the scans from his monitor.

"Captain, recommend we arm ourselves. Boarding parties possible." The Chief of Security moved closer to her station on the upper level.

The Captain frowned, "Engineering, how are we doing on the warp drive?"

"This confounded machine is toying with me, Captain; I can only give you impulse for the time being." Several orders were barked out to other members of the crew, "Warp One will be ready in twenty minutes tops."

"Acknowledged..."

Turning to the screen, the distant stars were obscured by five large brown ships. Multiple protrusions on the front of the ships angled menacingly at the Federation vessel.

"Engineering, you have ten minutes now. We have company. Warp One isn't good enough as well!"

The Tactical officer frowned after peering at his deep scans, "According to our database, these are Kazon vessels. Suffice it to say, they have upgraded their armaments since Voyager's last contact with them."

"Hail them."

The Ops console bleeped, and then an error message was returned, "No response."

"I'm detecting an increase in their power matrices." The Tactical Officer half shouted, "They're charging weapons."

The ship jolted as the fire few beams impacted against the hull.

Returning to his seat, leaning his head back for a second, Captain Ranma Saotome spoke once more with authority.

"All hands, Battle Stations."

Two days ago
Sol System
Earth

"You should be proud, the first prototype." Admiral Janeway stated, "The most advanced ship in the fleet, with the youngest ever captain." Her stern face didn't change, "I don't suppose you'd agree to give it up for someone more experienced?"

Ranma Saotome declined politely, "I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you Admiral." He stared up at the Jupiter construction platform, "This is one ship with my name on it."

His smirk only made Janeway laugh, "I know how you feel." She remarked as they both gazed upon the ship, "I have to admit I'm a little jealous of it myself, wouldn't mind to get back in the seat for once."

"I'm sure it won't feel as comfortable as Voyager though." He smiled, "At least some of that technology was installed here."

The admiral sighed, "Seven long years without any Federation help, I wouldn't wish that on anybody." The shuttle sped around the fore section before bearing to the aft, "She's beautiful... The first Astraeus-class Starship."

Following the war with the Dominion, and Voyager's return from the Delta quadrant, Starfleet recognised the need to be prepared for any eventuality. While the Defiant was a strong ship for attacking, it was overall a little too weak to go up against too many opponents. Voyager and Enterprise meanwhile performed much better against Borg vessels.

So, they decided to not hold back any more.

The saucer section was shaped almost like an elongated pyramid, the bridge barely poking out from the top of the rise. Fanning out to a flat edge, it pulled down into the engineering section, where the nacelle pylons jutted out at a thirty degree angle to the level plain of the deck.

The sharp contours of the new ship were like a harpoon in comparison to previous vessels.

"I still think it looks like a trowel though." Ranma quipped, "But you're right, she's perfect..."

Janeway nodded, "You have it all, Captain. All the knowledge and powers we have obtained from the Delta quadrant and then some. You name it, apart from the cloak of course thanks to that treaty." The ambient light in the shuttle changed having gotten a reflection from above, "And the crowning glory." Her grin thinned slightly.

"Looking forward to testing that one out." Ranma said, looking up at the two other dull green nacelles tucked inside the base of the ship, not yet fully active.

"Have you decided on your senior staff yet?"

The pigtailed captain nodded, "I haven't made any changes to it from my previous announcement."

Janeway frowned slightly, "This'll be the first time that there will only be humans on the bridge, even Archer's Enterprise had one Vulcan there."

Ranma shrugged, "To be honest, Admiral, I agree, but you have to admit, we're not just your normal humans, are we?"

As they docked inside the ship, Janeway chuckled, "Yes, you're probably right..."

After stepping off the shuttle, they were escorted to the turbolift, which took them to the bridge in no more than twenty seconds.

"Admiral on the Bridge!" shouted the First Officer, everyone stood to attention.

"At ease."

Janeway walked in slowly, surveying the view of the new bridge. The turbolift brought them in the middle of the back wall, so she was equal distance to all areas.

All posts were facing the large viewscreen, which was currently showing the outside of the ship with the dry-dock scaffolding around it.

Turning her head right she saw the operations desk, most of the displays indicating normal behaviour, and she was pleased to even be able to tell that much from this distance. The tactical station was to her far left, all weapons currently undergoing diagnostics. The upper middle level she was on now had three posts for crew, one of them being the head of security, standing right behind the captain and first officer seats.

Due to the possibility of boarding parties, there was now a segment of armour protecting the place behind the chairs, so that a simple phaser could not be fired off and kill the captain with ease.

Circling around the large band of monitors from the security team, the Admiral stepped down to the lower floor area.

The helm was a semi-circle of monitors and interface panels, the seating only for one person. Behind that were two seats for the captain and first officer, each with their own displays built into their arm rests.

Two other bands of monitors and alcoves were off to either side of the bridge, each for general use such as routing engineering functions to be controlled from there, environmental controls and other such things.

Standing in the front of the helm, turning away from the viewscreen, Janeway started to speak.

"All of you have been chosen today to work the bridge of the newest ship in the fleet. Astraeus-class, perfect for space exploration, but built to last the many perils of the quadrants." She focused on each crew member individually, "Each of you has performed in exemplary manner of numerous missions, many of them dangerous. I'm not surprised that Captain Saotome has chosen you all to join him on this maiden journey, though having family members in close proximity to one another is generally frowned upon."

A few people began to shuffle nervously.

She let out a long breath, but let out a small smile, "Regardless, I'm proud to say that you all are worthy to fly on this ship, with a full complement of crew at 150, the newly founded USS Nerima."

Walking back to the upper level she shook Ranma's hand, "Good luck on your first mission, Captain."

"Luck isn't needed, Admiral, but thanks all the same."

Her cheeky smirk reflected Ranma's own, "Keep in contact with Starfleet." She took one last gaze over the people gathered there, "You have the bridge, Captain."

One of the security members escorted the Admiral back to the transporters to take her to Voyager, which was nearby, to see them off.

Ranma turned to the security group. "Lieutenant, are all crew members accounted for?"

The purple haired girl tapped on the console, "Shampoo say all crew reported for duty. All ready at their stations."

The other two members were checking out other consoles there, Genma spoke first, "Final provisions being taken on board, backup gel packs and spare materials, boy." Upon getting a frown from the others, he coughed, "I mean, Captain."

Soun shrugged and continued, "Preparations are being made for docking release."

"System status?" Ranma turned to the right, "Any issues?"

Ukyo was busy scanning everything, "All systems functional, including the kitchen areas. I hope to cook up something later for you, Captain..." She winked, much to the consternation of four people there.

"Ahem... Weapons are fully operational, all photon banks fully loaded. Targeting scanners are working to within a normal level of accuracy."

"Keep your glasses on okay? We can't have what happened on Vulcan to repeat itself." The Captain warned, "That took days of diplomacy to calm down."

"Acknowledged, Captain." Mousse flushed slightly, having made sure his prescription was up-to-date with the rotating frequencies in his spectacles.

"Ryoga, how're the controls doing?"

"Well, nothing to report so far, since we haven't left as yet, but I'm sure it'll be no different to all the others."

Nodding with satisfaction, Ranma walked to the front, "Saotome to Engineering, warp core status?"

"Impeccable. I couldn't have it working any better than this, foul sor-ouch, I mean Captain."

"Kuno, don't exaggerate again..." Another voice came on the comm, "Nabiki here, Dilithium matrix intermix is at peak efficiency, anti-matter reaction is stable. We're ready for maximum warp if need be."

"Acknowledged." He sat in his seat as someone else sat on the seat next to his, "Akane, are you ready for this?"

First Officer Akane nodded meekly, "I couldn't imagine we would ever reach this level."

"It's taken over ten long years, but we're here now, let's make the most of it."

An alert sounded on the bridge, "Dry-dock is requesting to release the clamps." Ukyo declared.

"Give them the go-ahead." Ranma replied, and the sound of metal echoed through the ship as the ship was now detached from the repair crews.

"Bring us out slowly, Ensign, one quarter impulse. Forwards, remember?"

Growling to himself, Ryoga tapped at the helm, "Roger, Captain..."

The blue engines flared up as the USS Nerima moved away from the metal cage, sending it outside of range of the struts.

"We're receiving a hail. It's Voyager." Ukyo stated.

"On-screen." The Captain replied.

The face of a familiar tattooed man filled the screen, "So, Captain, need any help on the way to your first mission?" He smiled good-naturedly.

"I'm not one for ceremony..." Mousse and Ryoga rolled their eyes, "But perhaps you can join us until we activate the extra nacelles."

A moment of silence came as he considered it, "Chakotay, please don't tell me you're going to indulge him in a race now?" The Admiral's voice came from somewhere to the side.

"Not exactly Admiral, more like scientific curiosity. Also, it doesn't help to be cautious." He turned back to face the screen, "Certainly Captain Saotome, we'll be monitoring you from Voyager until we lose you from our sensors."

"Acknowledged, Captain. We're going to finish some internal sensor sweeps and we'll be on our way. Take care of yourselves for the future. Saotome, out."

Ranma checked a few systems from his panel. After getting the responses he wanted, he looked out to the helm.

"Computer, disable all audio recordings from the bridge for two minutes. One audio warning when ten seconds are remaining. Authorisation Saotome-November-Romeo-Mother, mark!"

"Authorisation accepted." The computer answered, "Audio logs for bridge disabled for two minutes. One audio warning ten seconds prior to resumption. Mark."

Standing up, he walked to the front and turned to face everyone.

"Okay everyone, we have our own ship now, we've managed to survive until now. We're going to stick to Starfleet regulations, until the very end. Remember what our ultimate goal is all about. We're not going to forget that, and if we need to forge an alliance with the devil herself, so be it."

"What about Nabiki and the others?" Soun spoke up, "They're not here to know what we're talking about."

Ranma shook his head, "Too suspicious, besides, they know what's going on too."

Akane stood up, "Do you really think we can get home, Ranma?"

"Depends on where it is, the past, another dimension, a parallel reality, we don't know." He shrugged, "But we have the best technology now, and our chances have never been greater."

"I kind of enjoy life here." Ryoga said, "Not so stressful, peace on earth and all that."

Ranma stared at him, "If you, or anyone else, chooses to stay, I won't stop you. At the very least, we need to try."

"Ten seconds remaining." The computer declared.

Ranma went on. "This is the USS Nerima, our lost home, here with us. Let's make her proud!"

Everyone cheered once and returned to their posts.

"Ryoga, plot a course for Qo'noS." He nodded, "Maximum Warp." He angled his head at Ops, "Ukyo, alert Voyager to our departure."

Doing so, as positive response was received, "They've acknowledged and are standing by."

Ranma sat back down as Akane did the same, "Engage."

Tapped furiously at the console, Ryoga fired up the warp field and the stars began to blur.

"Commence ignition of the tandem nacelles." The Captain ordered.

"Roger, extending now..."

Beneath the ship, in the lower decks of Engineering, the two smaller green pylons folded out from the ship, perfectly safe from the stresses of faster than light travel within the warp field, before locking into place at the same thirty degree angle as the larger ones, only at the bottom of the ship itself.

"Beginning transwarp sequence." Ryoga watched as the two transwarp coils expanded their own warp fields to maximum, "Matching deflector to field..."

Seconds later, Voyager messaged them, "They state everything looks good from their side." Ukyo repeated what she read.

"Good. Proceed, Ryoga."

"Opening transwarp conduit in five, four, three, two, one, mark."

The stars this time were nothing but straight lines now as the speeds exceeded all normal vessels.

"Arrival at Qo'noS in twenty seconds, Captain."

"Excellent, that gives us some time for a breather, no?"

Reaching his left hand out, Ranma gently held Akane's, and they both shared a hopeful smile.

Present day

Several power conduits ruptured behind the consoles, "Hull integrity falling! 83 percent!"

"Fine, our shields are ineffective..." Ranma turned back to tactical, "Deploy armour, now!"

"Roger, Captain!" Mousse tapped in the commands, "Ablative generator fully charged, and activating!"

Outside the ship, several metallic ridges on all sides of the side glowed white and blue. In seconds, a second layer of armour proceeded to cover all segments of the ship, leaving no area exposed.

"Armour holding at 98 percent."

"Evasive manoeuvres, pattern Beta 4."

"What...? Which one's that?" Ryoga began to panic.

"Dammit, Ryoga, for you, hard to port!" After hearing no corresponding beeps from his console, he yelled again, "Turn left!"

"Well, why didn't you just say so?"

Tapping one button on the console then another four dozen, Ranma started to panic, "Ukyo, divert all remaining power to inertial dampeners, hurry! Take it from life support if you have to!"

"Acknowledged!"

Meanwhile

Lead Kazon Vessel

"First Maje, I cannot target them any further!" The weapons officer stressed.

"What? Explain!" The Captain stood up and walked forwards seeing some strange readings, "Show me." When the screen appeared with the Federation ship, even he had to step back, "What manner of demon is piloting it?"

The USS Nerima now took on the appearance of a mosquito, doing pirouettes, cartwheels, inverting itself, but slowly moving away from the attackers.

Each new unpredictable turn helped it to avoid another blast from their phasers or torpedoes at the last second. Thrusters normally used when docking were fully operational, giving the extra edge in turning and banking from side-to-side.

"That's impossible; no mere human could execute such intricate movements!" The navigation officer tried to keep up, "Our thrusters are no match for theirs; they are consistently out of reach of our weapons range."

"Extrapolate their future paths!" He slammed his hand down onto the console, cracking the screen slightly.

"The computer cannot do it... It's chaotic; all permutations are producing no results!"

"Keep firing! The Kazon-Nistrim will not fall to a pathetic Earth vessel!"

That moment
USS Nerima

"Captain, they are firing all weapons in an attempt to catch our erratic flight path..." Mousse glanced up briefly, "I recommend we fire back."

"Do it, disable their weapons array first."

"Firing."

Nerima's ablative shielding retracted slightly as the phaser banks charged up, before blasting into one of the Kazon ships, causing an explosion on the outer hull. A second volley produced a similar result, though a few beams missed their targets.

"One ship disabled, their hull plating is far more formidable than our records would seem to suggest."

"Keep firing; disable each one if you have to."

"Acknowledged, firing photon torpedoes."

One torpedo flew into another ship, puncturing the hull immediately, destroying the weapons bank.

Five people glowed white before appearing on the bridge.

"In the name of the Kazon-Nistrim, you will -ugh!"

Mousse wasted no time, using his hidden weapons to produce what the crew needed to defend themselves.

Shampoo retrieved her custom-made Vulcan lirpa, using the metal bludgeon to smash it into the stomach of one of them, causing him to collide with the wall before passing out.

Genma's bat'leth managed to sever the nearest Kazon's blaster in two, also searing a great slash across the enemy's chest.

Soun merely pulled out a Jem'Hadar kar'takin and lanced a Nistrim in his shoulder, pinning him to the ground in agony.

Akane simply kicked an attacking Kazon hard in his groin, sending him careening into the viewscreen, cracking it slightly.

Ryoga, itching to get away from his station, sent a pulverising punch into the face of the last opponent, embedding his head into the ground near his feet.

"Kuno to Bridge, I have dispatched two Kazon intruders using my trusty sword. They will not trouble you again."

"Good, we're taken care of a few here. Saotome to security, round up the Kazon and send them to the brig. Get the Chief Medical Officer to look them over and patch up their injuries too."

Mousse spoke as an alert appeared "Captain, one of the ships is heading for us on a collision course! It's got extremely dense hull plating yield, our phasers and torpedoes are having no effect on them!"

"Quantum torpedoes!"

Two blue stars shone out and impacted with the hull, but there was no change to the ship other than smoke billowing out. Contrary to being destroyed, it sped up.

"Impossible! The ship has no crew!" Mousse scanned it again, "Confirmed, no lifesigns. It's a ship purposely built for this tactic."

Ukyo was monitoring the Nerima's energy output, "Captain, with all power on inertial dampeners, I doubt even the armour will hold up against a whole ship crashing into us!"

Ryoga began to shout, "I can't outrun it. The ship is having some issues with my commands…"

Akane stood up, seeing the ship nearing their position, "Mousse, target their warp core with a transphasic torpedo!"

"Right!" Tapping on the screen, he glanced up, "Locked on target."

Ranma waiting for a few more seconds before he was certain, "Fire!"

The shield opened up and a bright missile flew out, heading straight for the suicidal ship.

Penetrating the shields, it ruptured the hull instantly, ploughing into the central engineering section and shattering the core.

It only took five seconds before the ship exploded outwards, the resulting shockwave buffeting all nearby ships, including the Nerima, sending them several hundred thousand kilometres away from the blast radius.

"Ranma, damage reports coming in, minor damage to decks 4 through 8, burns and scrapes only though. The doctor is able to handle it just fine." Akane read from her display, "How did they manage to transport through the ablative shielding?"

"No idea... But I'm going to find out now." He turned to Ukyo, "Hail the lead ship."

Ukyo did so, and received a reply, "They're responding."

"On-screen."

The current head of the Kazon-Nistrim appeared infuriated. Behind him, the consoles were sparking and minor eruptions of flames blared out.

"Having some teething problems?" Ranma cocked his head to one side, "First Maje Culluh I believe?"

"How do you know my name, Earth-scum?" He spat, a minute amount of blood leaking from his lips, "State your identity!"

"I am Captain Ranma Saotome of the Federation Starship Nerima." He walked up closer, "I suggest you surrender, you're hopelessly outgunned."

"The Nistrim never surrender to subservient species." He snarled.

"Then the Nistrim will not live past this encounter." Ranma smirked, "I am interested in two things, one, how did you come to know of our arrival to this sector of space before we even realised where we were heading, and two, how did your transporters penetrate our armour?"

"Both interesting questions, but ones you will not have the pleasure of getting answers to." He nodded to one side, "Say goodbye to your ship, Saotome of the Federation."

The screen cut off and warning bleeps went off.

"They're charging weapons again?" Mousse scanned their ships, "They have backup modules!"

"Captain, Shampoo recommend retreat for now. Transporters should not get through shields so easy."

"I agree, Ranma..." Akane looked at him, "We don't know how many they have available for boarding, and without knowing more we can't defend against their transporters."

"Damn..." He glanced at the battle screen, "Saotome to Engineering, warp status?"

"Nabiki here, we've managed to skip a few vital systems, we can give you warp seven for no more than thirty minutes before we need to recalibrate the injectors."

"Acknowledged. Saotome, out." Ranma looked forwards, "Ryoga, get us out of here, Warp Six; there's no need to stress the core."

"Aye Captain..." Picking a destination, he began the start-up sequence, before flinging the ship off into space.

"Sensors indicate they are not following..." Mousse noted, "Perhaps their engines were more damaged than we thought."

"Very odd..." Ranma paced to himself, "Stand us down from Red Alert, and stay on Yellow for now, just in case we run into any surprises." He looked to three others, "Akane, Ryoga, and Mousse, with me. You have the Bridge, Shampoo."

Walking into the captain's ready room, nodding at the secondary crew who just arrived to fill in for the missing positions, Ranma stood whilst encouraging the others to sit, "What the hell happened in that battle?"

"What do you mean? We managed to avoid most of their weapons!" Ryoga exclaimed, "I would have thought they'd be able to track us when turning left though..."

"I'm not blaming your piloting skills, Ryoga, I want your opinion." Ranma went to the replicator, "Chocolate, hot." As the cup appeared in the alcove, he pulled it out and began to drink from it, "I meant their mentality. Sure, they're angry at Voyager from all those years ago, but why still hold a grudge?"

Mousse snorted, "Who knows what they think? Perhaps Kazon have no patience for those who fight back?"

Akane tapped her fingers on the table, "Ranma's got a point though, how did they know we were coming, and how could their transporters get through the shielding?"

Ryoga frowned, "I thought they barely managed to copy it before Voyager destroyed it?"

Ranma sighed, "Looks like they learnt some lessons..." Closing his eyes, he grumbled out loud, "How are we going to do it?"

"Captain?" Mousse spoke first, "What's wrong?"

"Why the hell are we still here? It should have worked!" Ranma stood up sharply and half threw the cup into the replicator to recycle the drink, "Water, cold."

"Specify temperature." It replied.

"Five Celsius. Save setting for future requests."

Grabbing the cup, he poured it over himself, and then felt the change of gender.

"Look at me, we all have this problem, this isn't our home... I'm trying to remember everything from before, can you?"

Mousse scoffed, "My, my, the ever-confident Ranma is having doubts?" He stood up, "At this rate Shampoo will have to give up her desire to be with you." He walked to the door, "I have no opinion on your doubts; we just have to make do. In the meantime, I have to complete my scans to be certain the ship is secure."

Leaving the room, the doors hissed shut behind him, "Leave him be Ranma, he's still not happy you're the official captain." Akane said quietly.

"You're not the only one..." Ryoga grumbled, "I could have been captain, but nooo, I have to be the faithful sidekick, your loyal trusted security officer, all this damn time!"

"Leave it, Ryoga, this isn't the time to be arguing about this!"

"And now it's too late. An Ensign, of all ranks... And now a pilot too! Starfleet must be out of their mind!"

Ranma chuckled lightly, "Thanks you though, we almost managed to pass the Kobayashi Maru II scenario."

Ryoga stood up, "Enough of this self-pity, Ranma. I'm going to make sure our ship is in good hands. Even if you lose your head, mine will still be here whether you like it or not!"

Exiting in a rush, Ryoga returned to his post, relieving the crew member which took his spot there.

Remaining in the ready room, Ranma sat in her chair and picked up a PADD to read over the live updates of the damage reports and repairs underway.

"Ranma..." Akane stood nearby, "Don't take it so hard, it was only a first attempt."

"I know... But now I'm worried, how can the Kazon have more advanced technology than the Federation. This was meant to defend against the Borg, but it was useless against them!"

"Perhaps it was a side effect of the artefact?"

Ranma thought about it, and then sat up straighter, "Maybe... We need to do more analysis on it..." He cheered up considerably and got up, "Thanks Akane, we have something to look into now. I trust you can assign the right people for the job?"

"Nabiki is a must; Kuno may take it too far though. Cologne and Happosai are there already as you know… In the meantime, I'll assign anyone with a Level 3 in Engineering to assist with repairs near the warp core."

"Let's get on our way, I'll return to the bridge in a moment."

Watching his fiancée leave, Ranma strode to the large windows facing the stars and watched as they slowed, approaching two planets in close orbit of one another.

One day ago
Orbit around Qo'noS

"A glorious battle, Saotome!" The grizzled Klingon laughed raucously, letting the other warriors cheer raising their cups of blood wine.

"Yes, I suppose it was..." He smirked, "Always good to take out a minor rebellion for the Empire."

"The Chancellor is pleased with your actions." Captain Kulagh took a large gulp of the strong drink before speaking again, "It is rare that Starfleet officers use hand-to-hand combat, especially with such prowess, on the battlefield."

"You could say we have had practice..." Ranma smirked, as he watched Genma wolf down some deep roasted Targ and being goaded by other Klingon bekks.

"While only a minor disturbance, since the Dominion War, some of the warrior class feel it is time to take the battle to our allies, consolidate our space." Kulagh growled, "Foolish bekk... I did not wish to put them down in battle like that, against our brothers."

"We didn't kill those who were unable to fight back." Ranma said calmly, "But some were too forceful, and they were the ones who died."

"Regardless, they shall be dealt with according to our laws." He harrumphed, "I'm still surprised that none of your senior officers were injured during this altercation."

"As I said, Captain, we've been through battles you could not imagine." He looked behind him to see another casket of blood wine open up, but it sprayed out from the side onto Ranma.

"I suppose you have..." Kulagh snorted, "Having such an affliction can only mean great disturbance in your life. I have heard rumours about you, but this is the first time I have seen the change."

The redhead snarled, retaliating like a Klingon would, "Get that accursed liquid away from me, you moronic child!"

The young server apologised profusely and backed away with the barrel, even as Ranma stood up.

"Let us speak in private, Captain, Kulagh."

Sighing majestically, he agreed, "Very well, to my quarters then."

Getting into the transporter near the food chamber, the two appeared near his barracks and they proceeded inside.

Once the door was sealed, Ranma turned sharply, "Do you have the artefact?"

Kulagh bristled slightly, "I know not of what you mean."

Ranma stepped closer, "You know exactly what I'm talking about..." Her eyes widened, "The Eleventh."

The Klingon stepped back, "By Kahless... How do you -"

"I have my sources, and not just from Starfleet..." She grinned wider, showing more of her teeth, "Your ship found a crippled Cardassian Keldon-class, adrift near the boundary of Klingon space inside a Mutara-class nebula."

"That's correct..." Kulagh snorted, "No point in denying it now. What else do you know?"

"Reports suggest there was no warp trail leading to the ship, so it must have suddenly appeared in that region. When you boarded the vessel, you found lots of new equipment not seen on other Cardassian vessels. Not to mention the crew..."

Kulagh shut his eyes, "In my time serving the Empire, I have never seen anything as peculiar as that day." He went to his desk which was on an elevated platform and sat there, pressing a few buttons on it too, "I kept the logs hidden since I felt it best to keep the peace between our people..."

A monitor rose up from the desk itself and lit up. Beckoning her over, Ranma walked to see the images captured.

"These were what the boarding party detected on board the ship. Cardassians were all fused with the various objects, walls and even the hull of the ship." Kulagh looked up at Ranma, "Most were alive, but in dreadful suffering..."

"And you found the only possible source of the disruption, in their lab."

Kulagh nodded, "Yes, there was an object tied into the ship systems, glowing and yellow in colour." He paused before speaking again, "The only way to remove it would be via the transporters; however we determined after our scans that in doing so, the ship may implode in on itself. It had not fully merged with that area of space-time, and without this connection, the crew members would die instantly when they were fully merged with the ship."

Ranma waited patiently, "But you did take the orb."

"Yes!" Kulagh stood up, "I had nothing to gain, but at the very least, it would give those Cardassians a warrior's death!"

"You did the right thing, I don't doubt that." Ranma pulled out a PADD from somewhere, "The Cardassians never reported a missing ship, nor did Starfleet acquire this knowledge from any normal channels. However, there were rumours on Bajor about the existence of another orb, since Captain Sisko found one previously." She looked at him, "Did you manage to download the data they had collected from the test flight?"

"Test flight?" Kulagh perked up, "You mean, you know what they were attempting?"

"Yes..." She put away the PADD, shutting the screen off, "But first, I need to take it."

Kulagh folded his arms, "While I do trust the Federation, I do not trust your intentions. What do you plan on doing with this Bajoran orb?"

This time, she relaxed and smiled, "Home... I want to go home..."

Present day
Delta Quadrant

"Captain's log, Stardate 56724.31. We stopped off at an unremarkable L-class planet to drop off our Kazon guests. They have sufficient supplies to last a week at least. We launched a beacon to broadcast on Kazon frequencies for them to be picked up. We have then arrived at a gas giant and are in steady orbit, now coming to terms with the strange occurrence regarding this new artefact on our ship's systems."

Ranma sighed as the doors to the hastily constructed laboratory opened up.

"Tell me some good news, Science Officer."

"My, my, using the formal terminology there Ranma my boy?" The little man chuckled, "Perhaps some discipline should be administered."

"Shut up, Happi." An old woman scolded him, smacking him on the head using her cane, "He's shown more courage than any of us when faced with this bizarre situation."

"Thanks, Cologne..." Ranma sighed wearily, nodding at the other two members of his science crew who politely ignored the exchange.

"As your Chief Science Officer, I'll honest with you. I have no idea what this is..." She gestured at the casket opened up in the middle of a series of cables and conduits, "Ensign Halee has looked at it and she said that while it resembles an orb of the Prophets, she didn't experience any strange illusions like you would expect with the real thing."

"So you're saying that this isn't a real orb?" Ranma moved closer to it, "Is that why it acted strange when we were still in Klingon space?"

Cologne nodded, "That would be my assumption, son-in-law."

Ranma raised his eyebrow at the moniker, but let it slide.

Happosai joined in the conversation, "The question is, what the hell did you bring onto the ship, Ranma?" His tricorder had been modified and also displayed runes and traditional wards on it, "It's giving off many erratic readings, and I myself can't decipher the results it's giving me. Whatever it is, it's certainly different from the readings we have of the existing orbs."

Ranma scratched his head, "So that's what happened then to that Cardassian ship... Only they weren't prepared for it..."

He saw that the fake orb was still glowing white and had multiple cables plugged into it, not by choice, but by the orb itself refusing to allow them to be removed.

"And, the ablative shielding? Any news on that front?"

Cologne nodded, "After we arrived here in the Delta Quadrant following our 'leap', the orb was fairly dormant, presumably to recharge itself somehow. In doing so, whilst the armour itself was faultless, somehow it prevented the anti-transporter field that came with that shielding." She was checking more figures, "Since a lot of time has passed, it appears to have dissipated."

"So, it's only a temporary effect..." Ranma let out a long breath, "I need us to test it though, just to be certain. Coordinate with Mousse in twenty minutes by transporting some probes using a shuttlecraft through the ablative shielding." He turned his head to the glowing device, "In the meantime, keep monitoring that and let me know if there are any changes, we don't want what happened last time to carry on without us knowing."

"Acknowledged, son-in-law." Cologne bowed.

Leaving the room, Ranma nodded politely to the other members of his crew he passed by. Entering the turbolift, he spoke, "Bridge."

A few seconds later, the doors opened and a person was standing there waiting, "Shampoo happy to see you, Captain."

"Same here, how are things?" Ranma asked, "No further intruders?"

"None detected, Genma and Soun are manually scanning deck-by-deck using tricorders and ki just to be sure."

"Thanks..." Ranma look over to his left, "Mousse, any sign of the Kazon?"

He double-checked the panels, "Nothing on long-range sensors as yet."

"Excellent... You should be receiving some instruction from Cologne in relation to testing the ablative shielding. Let me know how they proceed."

"Acknowledged, Captain."

"Hey, Ranma..." Ryoga called out, "Come over here for a second."

Walking over, Ranma leaned over to look at the monitors, checking if everything was okay, "What's wrong, Ryoga?"

Tapping some instructions to keep the orbit stable, he spoke under his breath, "Sorry, okay... I kinda lost my cool in there."

"Huh?" Ranma angled his head to one side.

"I know, I'm pretty much the brawn here, and getting lost on the way to most of the exams isn't the best way to progress in Starfleet..." He coughed slightly, "It's not your fault, okay?"

"I guess..." Ranma patted Ryoga's shoulder, "You're my best friend, and you've been there for me for many years. The least I can do is look out for you, as your Captain as well." Ranma laughed, "Though, I have to say, Starfleet is surely missing out on one of their most unique pilots."

"You can say that again..." His toothy grin returned.

"Keep us here for now, "I'm going to check out how Akane's doing."

"Say hi to her for me." Ryoga glared, "Sitting up front like this means I only get to look at a boring grey screen most of my life.

"Perhaps we'll keep the viewscreen on for you to see something nice."

"Thanks..."

Ranma walked off and nodded once at Ukyo who waved back quietly. Entering the turbolift, he spoke, "Engineering."

Many seconds later, the doors opened again to a bustling room. In the background was the glowing blue warp core. As Ranma walked further in, reaching the circular walkway around the tall column, he looked down and saw the two smaller, tubular shapes of the secondary coils needed for the twin green nacelles.

"You imbecile! I insisted upon the type-3 inducers, not the type-2. More current is needed for that section!"

"Kuno, calm down you're going to have another fit."

"Do not talk down to me like that. If you do so again, I shall -"

"Lieutenant Commander." Ranma smiled, leaning over the thin railing, before leaping down the short distance, "Do you have everything in hand here?"

Kuno proudly stepped forward before being dragged backwards by Nabiki, "Know your place, Lieutenant." She pushed him away to another area which required repair, and winked at Ranma, "Yes, Captain, most of the crew is working extra shifts to try to get the core back to a constant flux like it was used to. Akane's brought in extra people who weren't on duty from other sections of the ship for the easy jobs of bringing in more materials needed."

"How long do you think before everything is back to normal?"

She shrugged, "At this rate, I would say no more than an hour, maybe two at most if we conduct some tests just to be sure everything's up to scratch." She grinned, "Federation tech has really advanced far thanks to Voyager and the Dominion War. This ship was built after the two, and thus is fully prepared for anything."

Ranma frowned and pulled her to one side, "I don't want to remember that time. It's not exactly nice to speak of it so lightly..."

Nabiki giggled, "Still, made for easy promotions..." She moved closer, "The crew isn't even worried about being here in the Delta Quadrant. The transwarp nacelles can get us back within a few months anyway, though perhaps it's not up to us in the end, if that thing in the labs has anything to say about it."

"We're working on it; the modified tricorder isn't working much sadly…" Ranma glanced at the monitors on the wall, casually adjusting some power flow to sections which needed it.

"I can take a look at it if you want?" Nabiki continued, opening up a panel and replacing another injector.

"Later, you're a little busy for now with all the repairs." He peeked at Kuno entering a Jefferies tube, "Do you need any help with him? I could give another reprimand..."

She laughed, "Don't worry about it, I can deal with him. Remember the 211th Rule of Acquisition? 'Employees are the rungs on the ladder of success. Don't hesitate to step on them.'"

Ranma folded his arms, "Kuno's not your employee."

She shrugged once, "Employee, lackey, subordinate, it's all the same here."

He rolled his eyes, but smiled all the same, "If you're sure." He patted her shoulder, "Keep up the good work, Nabiki."

"Thanks, Captain."

Climbing the steps to the normal ground level of Engineering, he saw Akane walk in and speaking with three other crew members behind her.

"Nabiki's going to need more help recalibrating the coils since they went a few microns out of alignment. Ensign T'Sek and Lieutenant Connolly, you're assigned to her." She tapped more onto her PADD as the Vulcan and human nodded and walked off briskly. "Lieutenant Mortock, you're to report to Kuno, your strength is needed to seal the vents again, we can't have another plasma leak during warp flight." She smirked, slightly, "Try not to get riled up by him, you'd probably kill him in an instant, but he's good at his job." The large dark-skinned Klingon grinned widely, showing somewhat fewer teeth than he should have as he went to his post.

Breathing out, she wiped her forehead and then saw Ranma watching her kindly, "Just finished the crew allocation for the repairs, Captain." She handed him the PADD, "Here's the list of names."

Taking it and scrolling through the list with a bored expression, he nodded, "Walk with me, Akane."

Leaving Engineering, they walked the corridors and the turbolift until they reached a specific room. Entering it and allowing the doors to close, he spoke again.

"Computer, run Saotome program Tango Delta One."

The metal walls with the hologrid vanished and were replaced with a warm sunny day outside a traditional Japanese home.

Ranma breathed in the fresh air and mild pollutants of Tokyo and leapt up onto the roof of the Tendo home.

"Come up, it's a brilliant day!"

Akane scoffed, seeing her in her old school uniform once more, but accepted it and jumped up to join him.

She saw the old red and black outfit from all those years ago projected on his body, and even his pigtail seemed energetic this time.

"So, what's on your mind, Ranma?" She felt the fabric beneath her fingers and enjoyed the projected cotton fabric.

"Ah, I don't know... I like seeing the old home every now and then..." He could hear the birds and bustle of distant traffic, "Just needed to rest before we figure out how to get away from the Delta Quadrant. Don't want to run into the wrong people here, not just yet at least."

Akane chuckled, "Well, we already met the Kazon."

"Nah, they're easy, you know who I'm talking about..."

Akane's lips thinned and she closed her eyes, feeling the sun warm her up.

"We're far from their territory, for now at least." She reached out and touched his hand, "How often do you visit here?"

"Every chance I get..." Ranma replied immediately, "Kasumi does enjoy it here in her off time from Sickbay."

Akane surveyed the area, "You've done a good job from memory…" She felt the breeze tickle her nose, "It's hard to believe we'll never see this place again, at least like this."

"That's what I want to change." Ranma thumped his fist on the tiles, clattering them beneath his fist.

The First Officer spoke up, "Come on… Let's explore a little!"

She stood up, and flexed her knees, before propelling off the roof suddenly, leaping to the outer wall of the property, before traversing the gap to the next home.

A second later, Ranma was next to her, "Not bad, I see you've been keeping up with the training."

"A decade or so can do that. It's good I had someone to help me along." She smiled, causing Ranma to trip on a telephone cable, having to reach out to grab it and fling himself back onto the path they made for themselves.

"It's good that the gyms allow us to increase the gravity when we want." Ranma agreed, "Thanks to that, we're where we are now in Starfleet."

Akane dropped to the ground and landed in the playground of Furinkan high school, "Still, we all have you to thank for that though."

Ranma covered his face, "I didn't do anything, really." He stared up at the school and noted a few discrepancies in his memory of the layout, "I just told everyone we needed to stick together and progress to get to this level."

Akane shook her head and laughed to herself, "You still say that even now, but you're underestimating what you did for us all."

He turned away, "I did what had to be done. How could we live in a world where there is no poverty, war or need to work for money?"

"Whatever it was, we made it, and it's all thanks to you." She moved closer and held his hand, planting a light kiss on his cheek.

"Ah y-you're welcome Ak-"

"Mousse to Saotome."

Lowering his head, before raising it again, Ranma replied, "Go ahead."

"Captain, we're picking up Kazon vessels on an intercept course. They've brought company."

"On my way." He nodded at Akane, "I'll need you with me on the bridge." They both walked to the entrance of the school as Ranma spoke, "Computer, end program."

The hologrid reappeared again as the image of Nerima dissipated, along with the projected clothes over the twosome.

Less than a minute later they arrived on the bridge.

"No chances this time." Ranma sat down in his seat as Akane did the same to her nearby chair, "Red Alert." The bridge darkened with the red pulsing lights blinking and the klaxon sounding, "Mousse, deploy armour, ready phasers and photon torpedoes. Target their weapons and backup modules"

Ukyo tapped more buttons on her console, "Captain, I'm reading ten Kazon ships around us." A notification bleeped, "We're being hailed."

"On screen."

Maje Culluh appeared on the screen, his smirk wider than before, "So, Captain, do you think you can defeat us now with such numbers?"

Ranma stood up and walked slowly, a puzzled look on his face as he barely glanced at the viewscreen, "You caught us off guard before, our systems were malfunctioning, to be honest, we were unprepared." He stopped and turned sharply to face him, "But now we're ready, and there's nothing you can do to stop us."

"Oh really?" Maje Culluh laughed, "We outnumber you ten to one, and you still think you can beat us?"

"Yes." Ranma folded his arms and smirked, "Power down your weapons and we'll be on our way."

"Unacceptable." He declined profusely, "You shall be defeated here!"

"You leave me no choice then." Ranma lowered his arms, "Fire on all ships!" Glancing at Ukyo she nodded and cut the video feed.

"Aye Captain!" Mousse proceeded, tapping out the commands.

The Nerima began to send out a series of bursts from the phasers, and photon torpedoes were propelled into the Kazon ships, smashing through some of their defences.

"Move, Ryoga! Attack pattern Omega 3!"

"Sure thing, Ranma!" Repeating his favourite combination, the USS Nerima began to track the scattering Kazon vessels.

"Continuous fire Mousse, don't let any of them hit us more than we want to!" The ship lurched a few times as those ships which didn't have their weapons disabled started to fire back.

"Ablative armour holding at 90 percent." He replied before firing again.

"Captain, I'm getting major power fluctuations from their power grids." Ukyo swiped furiously, "They're strengthening their shields and structural integrity fields."

"Ranma, their hulls are still too strong, perhaps we need to think again." Akane turned to him, "We're still Starfleet, we can't just destroy their ships simply because they're attacking us."

"Damn…" Ranma stood up as he nodded to himself, "Ryoga buy us some time, evade them and get us out of here at low warp." He turned to Akane as he heard the keys executing the command, "Ukyo, coordinate with him to lower the inertial dampeners as well just to get us ahead of them."

"No problem!" A few seconds passed as the ship was buffeted less until it was completely smooth, "We're clear of them."

"They're in pursuit." Mousse noted, "The majority of them are not following, but we still have five of them on our tail."

"Perfect..." Tapping a button, the viewscreen changed to show the approaching ships between the blue glow of the nacelles, their images slowly getting larger.

"Mousse, Ryoga, you know what to do."

"No problem..." As the commands were fed in, the fanged boy glanced back, "Dropping out of warp in three, two, one, mark."

Mousse's grin spread across his face, "Firing photon torpedoes on a wide field. Dropping quantum torpedoes from the hatches."

Outside the ship, after arriving in normal space, the red torpedoes fired outwards. They hit the first two ships with only little damage, just as they slowed down. Mousse mimicked a targeting failure, and continued to fire just outside of the enemy ships' hulls, though gradually adjusting to their potential destinations.

To avoid even the slightest hit to keep their advantage, the Kazon narrowed their paths closer to the back of USS Nerima. They were unprepared for the quantum torpedoes, silent due to their dropping from the hatch instead of from the launchers.

Smashing into the ships, the impact was immediate and three ships were aflame and disabled due to the level of damage.

"Let them have it, knock out their engines, except for the lead."

Taken by surprise, the battle was short, as Mousse with his pin point targeting and Ryoga's evasion skills prevented most damage to the ship, and inflicted enough to the Kazon.

Coincidentally, they were near a small planet, previously uncharted, which all ships were veering towards. Akane looked back at Ukyo, "Scan the planet, find a location with flat land in all directions if possible."

Frowning, Ukyo commenced her readings.

Ranma paced the bridge, "That's enough; I think they've got the message." The viewscreen was awash with debris of hull, engines and gases emanating from the crippled ships, "Power down weapons and hail the lead ship. Let's end this worthless battle."

The chime rang out, followed by the viewscreen changing to a bloodied Maje growling.

"As you can see, you're no match for us. If your scanners are still working, you can see that we've powered down our weapons now." Ranma moved closer to the screen, "If you attack us again, we will fight back with full power, and then I cannot guarantee your lives."

"So what, you wish to gloat of your power, Federation?" He spat to the ground, and Ranma noted it was mostly red, "You wish for us to retreat?"

"Actually, since I know how stubborn Kazon can be, much like the Klingons from our region of the galaxy, I propose a solution that would be beneficial to both sides."

"Speak fast, Saotome, my patience is running thin." Maje Culluh snarled.

"I wish to challenge you in combat as per the Trabe Constituency."

His eyes widened and the Kazon took a step back, "How are you even aware of that, and what would you require of us?"

Ranma sighed and held up his hands in a mild manner, "Whatever you may think of the Federation, we are a peaceful tribe of sorts, and what we love to do is explore and learn about new cultures. The Kazon are no exception. From Voyager's databanks, after their meeting with the Trabe for that fake alliance they proposed, this cropped up there, and I'm well-read too seeing as I knew about it. A way for tribe leaders to fight each other for resources, with the strict requirement of not killing the other." He smiled, "A very unique way especially for a race which thrives with violence. Due to your former lives as slaves, you swore never to kill each other when invoking this right, since any blood shed between Kazon after their freedom from the Trabe would be a waste and near sacrilege."

Maje Culluh sneered, "You're not Kazon, so it doesn't apply to you."

"Maybe not, but as you said, what do we need from you? Does it not grab your curiosity?" Ranma looked back at the bridge, "We're in visual range of an M-class planet, no life signs aside from indigenous wildlife, nice neutral ground don't you think?"

"As if I will trust someone like you!" He turned around to move towards the weapons array, only to have the console blow out and die.

"We don't wish to harm you, Maje Culluh. I'm bringing down my First Officer, Chief Medical Officer and Security Chief only. No weapons, just medicine. You can do the same, and we can end this without further bloodshed."

The Kazon mulled this over, "How can I trust that you will not simply blast us from orbit?"

"I can say the same to you." Ranma noted that his weapons were still aiming for the ship.

He thought it over again, "I will require fifteen of your Earth minutes for us to prepare for the journey. If you double-cross us, we will not hesitate in blowing up the planet if need be."

"Fair compromise. We will transport down there to these coordinates." Angling his head back, Ukyo transmitted the location to the Kazon ship, "It is sufficiently flat to prevent any kind of sneak attack. Feel free to point your scanners there as well to check for traps and so forth."

Maje Culluh glanced at the screen showing the land and scoffed, before ending the communication.

Ranma breathed a sigh of relief, "I hate it when I have to act all diplomatic, it's hard still even now."

"I thought you did well, Captain..." Ryoga smirked as he steered the ship into a stable orbit.

"I'm just surprised you thought this much out, Captain." Ukyo spoke whilst redirecting energy to the hull and other systems neglected during the battle, "I'm lucky that Mousse did a full scan of the planet already for me to have come up with a location good enough for this."

"In the end, diplomacy and space battles are good, but what you really need to get through to another person is through your fists. Only then can you truly understand one another."

"I hope you're right, Captain..." Akane said aloud.

15 minutes later
Unnamed Class-M Planet

Two sets of four transporter signals materialised the Federation and Kazon crew onto the surface.

Ranma took the lead with Akane, Shampoo and Kasumi behind him following closely. Opposite them, Maje Culluh and three male Kazon neared them, until they stopped about five metres apart.

"As part of the agreement, our second-in-command will now scan the opposing party for any bladed or any projectile based weaponry, allowing the checking of each other's scanning equipment as well."

Akane pulled out her tricorder and moved closer to scan the Kazon, as did their representative with a similar device. They met up in the middle and swapped the tricorders to scan their own people to ensure equality. When all passed with no detrimental results, they retrieved their own tricorder and returned to their superior's side.

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with me here." Ranma nodded, "I'm sure you have a lot of questions as to what I will require of you, but those will be answered shortly."

"What make you think you can beat me in hand-to-hand combat?"

Indeed, the First Maje towered over Ranma, at least a head above him and his built body was used to a lifetime of fighting.

"That's something we will have to see." The Nerima crew backed away as did the Kazon crew.

The First Maje bowed his head slightly, "Until the destruction of the Trabe, let no life be shed on this land, to further our eternal struggle. When one declares the other the victor, this shall end with peace."

Ranma responded by putting up his fists, "So it shall."

The wind was chilly on the mild day, the sun was at its peak, yet the day was just balmy and not scorching.

A few seconds passed by as the two circled each other, waiting for the other to make their first move. At the same time, they stopped and using the blue grass beneath their feet as a focal point, they lunged forwards and grunted as one.

Fists outstretched, they struck the other person's fist, the crack audible by the bystanders. Not taking a moment to lose, they began their attacks, punches, kicks and thrusts, all to pulverise their opponent. Ranma hit at least a dozen more than the First Maje, but his thick skin was already used to this and shrugged them off. The Kazon's strikes however began to make Ranma's body smart from the sheer impact.

Ten more seconds passed and they both leapt backwards, circling each other once more.

As instructed by Ranma, the trio didn't cheer for him as it would be considered against the rules; however there was nothing in them about talking to one another.

"Shampoo not understand. Why Ranma not use ki blast or advanced techniques?"

Kasumi answered her, "Remember that few races have ever developed their ki or chakra to such an extent. If Ranma were to use them now, they would consider it a part of magic or technology that is yet unknown to them, and they would then declare this void and hostilities would recommence."

Akane agreed, "Kasumi read up on everything just to be sure since this would mean Ranma can't even jump to his normal height and run like he does. This makes it a handicap for him." She watched the pigtailed man receive another fist to his face, "Ranma's strong though, he may not have the power of Ryoga, but he can take quite a beating."

"Still, I'd rather not have to rebuild his ribcage again like when Ryoga got a tad upset about your meeting on the holodeck."

Akane flushed red, "Yes, well, it was locked with the Captain's authorisation code and my own. He probably just got lost again and wondered into the chamber himself."

Meanwhile, Ranma was getting blue welts on his face an arms from the strikes, and the First Maje seemed normal, although breathing much harder now.

"Ready to give in yet, Saotome of the Federation?"

"Not just yet, you?"

"There's still fight in me left!"

Another flurry of punches and kicks, Ranma trying his best to hold back his total power, until a surprise attack meant he was grabbed by his kicking foot and slammed over the Maje and into the ground beside him hard.

"Ouch..."

Ranma felt his head spin, and realised that somehow he received a mild concussion. Using the other foot as leverage, he snapped outward to push the Kazon's arm away and spun himself upright.

Akane smiled to herself, "See, he's taken enough hits to be considered fair, now he's ready."

Instead of the traditional boxing pose, he adopted the Anything Goes style of lowered arms and flattened palms, with smooth sweeping strokes as his legs felt the flow of battle.

The First Maje thought nothing of this and went in again, only to note that his every punch and kick was parried and deflected, with effective counters targeting his vital parts. Stunned for a second, he shook his head of the stars that circled him and roared.

Ranma, careful to keep the ki to a bare minimum, pushed it inside his bones and muscles to boost their power, instead of letting it materialise on his skin.

The subsequent attacks were mostly one-sided as the Kazon was pushed backwards by the onslaught of punches and kicks which were certainly not that strong earlier in the fight.

Jal Culluh's own attacks, whilst powerful to begin with, were waning as his tiredness grew. He also noted that sadly his opponent wasn't affected by those hits any more and looked no less winded than before. In fact the Starfleet Captain was speeding up.

Another rush of attacks and Ranma was by far the overall winner. Maje Culluh was staggering under the hits and stumbled backwards when a sharp kick hit his outer thighs. Panting heavily, he swung his fists haphazardly trying to hit the pigtailed human, only to be countered again with a fist in his sternum, and a twisting kick to the back of his knees.

Toppling to a kneeling position, his anguished pain echoed across the quiet field. Ranma walked away as he heard Jal Culluh grab his kneecap. As per the rules of engagement, no one rushed to help or protested to end the match.

As a last desperate attempt, the First Mage leapt up just as Ranma was turning to face him, and using his full remaining strength, he clasped his hands together above his head and slammed them down onto the human's head in a double axe handle manoeuvre.

The shorter man's head crumpled downwards, and the Kazon grinned widely. Ranma however dug his feet in deep and ever so slightly pushed up against the immense weight for the Maje to see his burning eyes.

The uppercut was too fast for anyone not used to such movements to even consider blocking. The Kazon fell to the ground flat on his back from the stunning blow.

Once a combatant was floored, the other has to back away until they either get up on their own, request assistance or give up.

Jal Culluh groaned and then rolled over onto his front. Blood leaked from his mouth from a cut lip, bitten when his chin took the hit right underneath it. He shook as he stood up, his legs a little unsteady as he walked over to his opponent. Just one metre away he stopped and nodded at him.

"I submit. You win, human."

Ranma nodded back, "Good fight." He held up his fist, which Jal Culluh lightly tapped back with his own.

Going back to their own people, they were tended to by their medical crew.

Kasumi tutted as she pulled out a dermal regenerator. "Oh my, he really hit hard I can tell." Growing back new skin of the exposed areas on the face and fists she performed more scans, "Some severe internal bruising to your chest, and a mild fracture of one or two ribs, which I can fix now, but I'll need to see you later in Sickbay."

"Thanks, Kasumi." Ranma smiled, "It was a hard battle."

Shampoo huffed and folded her arms, "Captain too modest. Should have destroyed him easily."

Akane patted Shampoo on her shoulder, "Relax, I think it's fine for Ranma to hold back every now and then. It's rare to fight a different species for him, right?"

He nodded back, "Yeah, it was a challenge to learn a new style, though it was a little rough and unfocused, it was effective."

Turning around, he went back into the ring along with the First Maje.

He grumbled with a hiss, "As promised, you may request any resources of our own, provided they are not detrimental to the Kazon Nistrim."

"Excellent news, what I need from you most of all is... information."

Ranma's smile put off Culluh, "Information? Is that all?"

He shrugged back, "We don't want to steal your technology or tactical data. We just need answers to some questions which I hope you can provide."

"Very well." Recovering quickly, he called over his second-in-command, "What information do you require?"

"Firstly, how did you know we were here? We had no idea what happened ourselves and our sensors were temporarily disabled until you came on the scene."

The Maje smiled, "I see, well, since Voyager left our territories a while ago we upgraded our sensor grid. A large warp field was detected, which equated to a new energy source too." His face darkened as he held his hand out to his First Officer, taking a datapad from him, "The Borg were seen recently on the edge of Kazon space, and the clans were banding together to stop them. Such a signature right in the depths of our space could indicate a portal, wormhole or transwarp conduit."

"A new incursion in other words..." Ranma nodded at Akane who came up to join them to take the datapad to transfer it to her own tricorder.

"Suffice it to say, any new ship suddenly appearing like that isn't going to be treated with friendship." The First Maje chuckled.

"This is good to know, we were just looking after a new piece of technology before it flung us to this region of space." He glanced upwards, "Our shields were also malfunctioning allowing you to transport onto the ship."

"That would be why we couldn't do it again now." He thought about it out loud, "We found the captured crew by the way."

"Good to hear, we're not here to fight, just to figure out what's going on."

"Any more information? I'm afraid we are rather... limited in our abilities when compared with your ship and skills."

"Just two more things, a map of the region just so we can update Starfleet databases to show the new boundaries, if that's possible. As you know we're nowhere near this area of space so we cannot keep tabs on who owns which planet."

The Kazon pursed his lips before reluctantly handing it over, "Since you are not in this area, and have shown no outwardly threats, aside from self-defence, I will allow it."

"Thanks, First Maje." Ranma watched as Akane accepted the new data onto her tricorder via the Kazon second-in-command.

"Lastly, and this is more personal, how is Ceska's son doing?"

Jal Culluh blinked and opened his mouth in mild astonishment, "Why do you wish to know that? Surely it isn't of importance to Starfleet?"

"It isn't, but I'm sure Chakotay would like to know given that Ceska was his crewmate from long ago and he always wondered about that when Voyager left this area of space."

The Kazon huffed loudly, "The boy is doing good. He is growing up to be strong already; the Cardassian genes were a good mix with the Kazon blood making him out to be a strong warrior already." He pulled out a personal datapad and sent information to Akane's tricorder, "There, some images and personal information about my son."

Ranma widened his eyes, "That's much more than I expected; I just wanted to know if he was doing okay, that's all."

His former enemy shrugged, "Let bygones be bygones, isn't that an Earth saying?" He smirked, "I could tell you were a good fighter, but you're much better than I thought, where did you train?"

The groups of the USS Nerima looked down, their eyes suddenly lifeless, "A... long way from here." Ranma spoke for all of them, "We were pulled out of our own time and space, though I'm not sure of what exactly, and ended up in this universe." His eyes locked with the First Maje, "I'm trying to find a way home, for all of us ripped from our homes. The training I've been through was more of the same, but this time with new enemies, and knowledge from this era."

"Impressive, you seem to have adapted well to this time however."

Ranma grinned sardonically, "I'm used to crazy stuff happening around me." His gaze travelled upwards, "Do your ships need repairing? We can provide some assistance if you need."

He waved him off, "Not required, it was mostly minor damage."

"Very well, we are going to head on out." Ranma nodded and lightly bowed to the First Maje, "I recommend you not follow us too closely, since we don't know how to activate the technology yet, and if any other ships are too close, we cannot guarantee if they are going to be pulled in either."

"Is it that dangerous?"

"Yes and no, it's just an unknown device, and the risks are always inherent when using something like that." He moved backwards a bit to join the others, "It's just fair to warn you, we don't want any unexpected casualties."

"I'll order my ships away and give notice to the clans in case any others run into you."

"Thanks, First Maje. Until we meet again." Ranma tapped his comm badge, "Saotome to Nerima, four to beam up."

Seconds later, they materialised on the transporter pad and they walked away from the room into the corridor heading towards the turbolift.

"Akane, transfer this data onto our databanks, it would be useful, perhaps we can use it to figure out what is going on."

"No problem, Captain."

They entered the lift, the doors squeaking shut behind them, "Bridge." Ranma stated, before it started upwards.

"Shampoo, run a standard security sweep of the ship. While I trust the First Maje, you just never know if his fellow Kazon feel the same way."

"Understood, Captain."

They exited the lift and walked onto the darkened bridge. "Stand down from red alert, maintain yellow alert until further notice." The lights brightened and the warning klaxon stopped. Akane went to her seat and started transferring the data as Shampoo transmitted orders via her console.

"Mousse, any changes in the Kazon?"

"I'm sensing communications between the ships, but not outward movements towards our position." He ran another scan, "They weapons are powered down."

"Good, he's keeping to the bargain, for now, but I don't want to overstay our welcome." He looked to the front, "Ryoga, break orbit and get us out of here. Head for a region of space far from any solar system or asteroids."

"Sure thing, Captain, engaging Warp Five."

The starfield blurred on the viewscreen as they moved faster than light.

The eldest Tendo spoke up, "I should do my rounds, Captain. While we made it out okay, there may be some injuries to report." Her frown crinkled her eyebrows a little, "Don't forget, I want you in Sickbay in no more than one hour, you still need to get those internal injuries treated."

"Thanks, Kasumi. I'll head there soon. I need to check up on a few more things." Turning back to the lift with the Tendo, he got inside and called out, "Akane, you have the bridge."

When the doors closed, Ranma spoke, "Deck 4."

Clutching his chest he coughed, and a trickle of blood spattered on his hand, "Guess I'll need you to look me over now."

Kasumi pulled out her medical tricorder and mumbled, "This is what happens when you push yourself too hard." Her eyes mellowed and looked into his own pair, "Are you okay to walk?"

"Yeah, shouldn't be a problem." His wince twitched his face into a pained smile.

"You're the Captain; you can't allow yourself to get hurt so bad."

They exited the turbolift, Ranma keeping a stern face and trying to pretend that everything was normal. He entered into the Sickbay first and Kasumi prepped a biobed.

"Lie down, Captain." She scanned him with the tricorder again, the cylinder scanner making its customary rhythmic sound.

"He was quite strong, as much as a Klingon warrior."

"Exactly why you shouldn't put yourself into danger like that." She finished scanning and pulled out a hypospray, "This is to numb the pain a little. One of the rib fragments shifted a bit and pushed into your lung, I'm going to have to seal it." The fizzing sound was loud to Ranma's ears as the liquid spread inside his body.

"As the Captain..." Ranma spoke whilst Kasumi was using a more advanced surgical tool to mend the rib bones directly, "As the one who got us into this mess, I have to be the one to bring everyone out of it."

"It wasn't your fault, Ranma." She replied delicately, "We've told you a hundred times, but you still blame yourself." She smiled widely, "Maybe you need another appointment with Councillor Troi."

"God, no thanks..." He shook his head, "I just want us to..."

"We all know, but we're in this together. We'll all pull through, thanks to you." She stood up, "There, all fixed up and like new."

He sat up and felt his chest, breathing in deeply, "Much better, thanks Kasumi."

She put her hand on his arm, "Take care, Captain, and if you ever need to talk, I'm always here." Her tender expression calmed him down.

"I may take you up on that offer." He held her hand briefly before blushing, then coughing, "Ahem, anyway, I need to check with Nabiki about... something."

Giggling to herself, Kasumi nodded, "Don't let me keep you, Captain."

Leaving the Sickbay, his red face returned to its pale form as he went to the turbolift, "Deck 7."

Leaving moments later, entered the laboratory on that floor, "Any news?"

Cologne shook her head, "The orb is still lying inert."

"The Kazon detected us because there was an incredibly large warp field when we arrived and also a form of energy, presumably generated by the orb when it sent us here." He spoke a little louder, "Saotome to Nabiki."

"Nabiki here." Her voice came across the comm.

"I'd like to talk with you about something we discovered about our arrival here. Please could you come to the laboratory?"

"On my way, Captain."

"So, you think that has something to do with it?" Cologne asked Ranma.

"Yeah, we were doing out tests on the orbs and then we went to Warp Nine. Perhaps that has something to do with activating the orb." He replied, thinning his lips, "It is possible that the Cardassian vessel which was doing their own tests stumbled upon it by accident."

The doors slid open and Nabiki entered, her smirk evident, "So Captain, what news do you have for me?"

Ranma explained the situation to her, and her smile widened, "I see now..." She walked to the wall, "Computer, bring up the sensor logs of the Nerima showing the relative warp field prior to our arrival in the Delta Quadrant, and bring the data from the Kazon up as well alongside it."

The screen lit up showing the stable warp field, then corrupting as time went on until the logs ended. Nabiki was reading over them and nodded to herself.

"I finally get it..." She turned and pointed to the orb, "Somehow, when the orb is linked to our systems, we are able to increase our warp limit by a factor of one."

Cologne walked over, "Interesting as that may be, what good does that do?"

Nabiki pulled up another screen, this time it was logs from another ship, "Remember Voyager, when Tom Paris breached the Warp Ten boundary? It resulted in him being everywhere at once, but also gone from the normal plain of existence. Only when he slowed down did the Voyager crew locate him again."

"How can I forget...?" Ranma scoffed, "He turned into some evolved form and ended up on a planet with his mate and eggs." His face paled, "Wait, we're not going to turn into that, are we?"

Nabiki shook her head, "No, since this isn't truly Warp Ten. The orb is forcing it by itself, and thus the strain is taken inside its contents."

"So, what you're saying is we should go to Warp Nine and hope we end up in the right place?" Ranma asked.

Nabiki shook her head, "It's not that simple, we need to get the exact right levels in the warp field, and try to duplicate the same settings as before."

"What if we end up merged with the ship, like with the Cardassians?" Cologne queried.

Ranma spoke aloud, "I would imagine it is to do with the ship itself, it may have just been luck."

Nabiki chuckled, "Actually, it is because of this ship." She brought up more diagnostics, "Look at the levels of the warp factor and field dissolution. It didn't dissipate completely. This was because the orb detected the Borg transwarp coils as well and used that to bring us even further away." She closed the screen, "Just by having the coils on board shielded the ship from any ill-effects inside it."

Ranma thought it over, "When do you think we can have the calculations ready?"

"Within the hour, I'll need to get Engineering to make some final adjustments and work on it from there."

"Get to it..." Nabiki turned and left the room, "Cologne, keep the energy levels on the orb the same until I say so otherwise." He looked around, "Where's Happosai?"

Cologne's face crinkled further, "He said he saw a nice Ensign in Sickbay and wanted to introduce himself."

Ranma rolled his eyes, "Computer, locate Happosai."

It answered in its monotone female voice, "Happosai is on Holodeck 2."

"Great..." Ranma muttered, "Security Chief, get yourself and a team to Holodeck 2, it's Happosai."

"Understood, Captain." The short and huffy response growled over the comm.

He rubbed his forehead, "I'm heading for the Bridge, hopefully when we see each other again we'll be in the Alpha Quadrant."

Cologne nodded, "See you, Captain."

As he went to the turbolift, he felt a rise in ki of four people and groaned, "Bridge."

Akane met him there, "Seems like our fathers and Happosai are having a little disagreement." Her smile brightened the mood, "Shampoo is holding her own as well."

"Last thing I need is more repairs, Nabiki has her hands full at the moment..." He looked forwards, "Ryoga, what's our speed and status?"

"Currently holding at Warp Three, arrival at empty space in 32 minutes."

"Good, make sure we don't exceed Warp Nine for whatever reason."

"Aye..." He turned back, "Umm, why?"

"I'll explain later." Ranma turned to his colleagues on either side, "Mousse, status of the Kazon?"

"None are following us. I did note that a few ships were in this region; however they adjusted their courses and went away."

"Looks like they're keeping their oath for the time being." He glanced back, "Ukyo, how are repairs coming, any problems with the power?"

"Nothing of note. Power fluctuations are minimal and standard for the repair process, no anomalies detected."

"Nice to hear that." He sat back in his chair, only to get up again, "Let me know when we have arrived at our coordinates. I'll be in my ready room."

Entering his room, he went to the replicator, "Chocolate drink, cold."

"Specify temperature." The computer replied.

"Five degrees Celsius. Save for future requests."

The drink materialised and he withdrew it, and went to a chair facing the stars. Sighing loudly, he sat down and took a sip, feeling his anxiety fade away.

The door chirped politely.

Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly, "Come in."

Sliding open with a small squeak, Akane walked in and saw how he was sitting by the window, "Are you okay, Ranma?"

"I'm fine, just a little tired, Akane." He patted the chair next to him, "Join me for a few minutes."

She went to the replicator, "Green tea, hot."

Taking her fresh drink, she went to sit next to Ranma, settling into her seat.

"You've already had the computer save your preferences?" He asked curiously.

"Of course!" She held up her mug, "I had my settings transferred from our previous ship on an isolinear chip."

The captain placed his palm on his face, "Why didn't I think of that instead of preserving my holodeck programs?" He wiped the bead of sweat which built up on his forehead and chuckled with her.

"You've done well, Ranma," Akane drank a mouthful of her tea and swallowed it, enjoying the artificially perfect flavours generated by the computer.

"Have I?" His eyebrow quirked.

"You have. We're all here for you, so don't feel bad about the circumstances." The stars whizzed by in front of them, just looking like lines streaked across the window, "Though I may be biased, I think this is the best crew in Starfleet, not to mention the best Captain."

He almost spat out his chocolate, "Ah, come on... Even you have to admit that serving under Picard was an experience."

Akane waved him off, "An experience, yes, but not really all that exciting compared to missions with you."

"You're just saying that." His smile was tight, "For an uncute fiancée, you're really trying hard to cheer me up."

"Hey!" She tapped him on the head with her fist, "It's been a long engagement, in more way than one."

He reached over and held her hand, "Thanks, Akane, I'm okay. I know we can get through this to get home." He nodded, "Nabiki has a plan, and I think that it's going to work. Everyone is in together on this, which is the best help I could get."

"Fancy a trip to the holodeck to wind down?" Akane asked.

Ranma shook his head, "Nah, better not to strain the power supplies just yet." He turned to the window, "Better to just have your company and watch the stars with me."

"Any time, Ranma."

The twosome sat in quiet, drinking their beverages with only the occasional beeping from the console, and the warp engines humming in the background.

Before long, the lines that were stars slowed to a stop, leaving the distant suns stationary.

"Captain, we have arrived at our designated coordinates." Ryoga said over the comm.

"On my way."

Leaving the empty cups in the replicator which then recycled the energy from the glass and ceramic, they exited the ready room and walked onto the bridge.

"Status, Mousse?"

"No vessels nearby, we are equidistance from any nearby system, there isn't any other space like this for quite some time." He performed another scan, "No anomalies or other unusual occurrences nearby."

"Excellent." Ranma raised his voice, "Saotome to Nabiki."

"Go ahead, Captain."

"How is your analysis coming with the orb and the warp field duplication?"

"Almost complete, it was easier than I thought; I'll monitor the field from the bridge since I need to check a few things there."

"Acknowledged. We'll be ready."

Ranma sat in his seat checking the status updates from the stations. Akane did the same, "All repairs have been completed, Captain, crew are on standby."

"Power levels have returned to normal after the repairs, maximum capacity available."

"Excellent news, Ukyo." The turbolift doors opened, "Nabiki, good to see you."

"Thanks, Captain," She moved to one of the wall stations now vacated by a security member, "I've brought up the warp field statistics and requirements. I just need to confirm one thing." She tapped into the display, "What was our previous heading?"

Ryoga nodded, "I can find that, here..." He tapped and transmitted them to her.

"Just what I thought, this is directly in the path of that destination, although several thousand light years further than it should be."

"So, we need to point our ship in the opposite direction in other words?" Akane asked.

"Exactly, if we copy the exact same manoeuvre as before, we should arrive in the Alpha quadrant, whilst we probably won't arrive exactly in the same region as before, we should be close enough to be home."

"Sounds good to me." Ranma stood up to face her, "What do you need to get started?"

"I need to link up with Ryoga's console while travelling to change the warp field exactly as it was before, and also monitor the precise power fluctuations to the orb."

"No time like the present hen." Ranma stated, "How long until we can attempt it?"

"Five minutes tops." Nabiki answered, walking over to Ryoga's helm control, "Let's activate the modular syncing here..."

Ranma spoke up a bit, "All hands, this is the Captain."

All decks of the Nerima listened carefully as he spoke.

"As you are aware, we are in the Delta Quadrant, and I can understand your fears of making it home."

Meanwhile, Kuno pointed his finger at the warp core shouting at other engineers to strengthen the dampening field according to the specifications he had, aware of the time limit.

"Yes, we can get home relatively quickly with the transwarp coils, but as most of you know me by now, I'm not a patient man."

Kasumi smiled lightly as she healed a burn from one of the repair team members, telling him to get on his way now that it was fixed up.

"So, in order to get us home, I'm going to perform the same as what led us here in the first place. We cannot be a hundred percent sure on what the result will be."

Happosai and Cologne were fine tuning the cabling and using their tricorders non-stop to check for any reactions in the orb, both of them mumbling to one another about constants and variables in their readings.

"Due to this, we will be going to full red alert during the process, and I want everyone to be battle ready but first safe and secured since the last jolt wasn't exactly pleasant. The armour doesn't prevent transporter attempts when getting into the ship for a short period after the leap through space, so be on guard."

Shampoo was dictating orders to her personnel, to stand guard within sight of one another on all decks. Soun and Genma were group leaders looking after the lower decks.

"Once we are back in the Alpha Quadrant, and we are sure everything is fine, I will cancel the red alert, and we can go home for a tune up."

The unnamed crewmembers around the ship, armed with basic phasers by now, nodded at the order standing by their stations, or in their quarters and hoped to their respective deities that all would go well.

Nabiki turned around and went back to her monitor and tapped more commands, "Captain, it's ready when you are."

"Excellent work," Ranma stood up, "Red Alert, all hands secure your stations and prepare for leap. Initiate safety protocol as per landing procedures. I want all stations to report ready within thirty seconds."

As the ship's crew began to fasten their safety gear, ensuring they wouldn't be injured, they reported their status to their nearby console, which their group leader picked up, and went upwards through the chain of command to Akane's console.

"Sir, all stations report ready."

"Two seconds earlier than needed, great news." He smile vanished as he stared at the viewscreen. "Ryoga, increase to Warp Eight on the reverse heading." The beeps of his controls stopped, "Engage."

Within seconds, the USS Nerima disappeared into the distance, and the star blurred around it.

"We're at Warp Eight now, Ranma."

The Captain turned around and made a specific look at Nabiki.

"Increasing to Warp Eight point Five... Eight point Seven, Eight point Nine." She entered a new variable, "Warp Nine."

"Confirmed, our speed is steady." Ryoga agreed.

"Power within normal parameters." Ukyo stated.

"Emulating power flow to the orb." Nabiki stated, "Complete mimic in T minus five, four, three, two, one, Mark."

The ship was buffeted heavily as before, though this time they were all ready for the change.

The view screen was pure white, with only black lines emanating from the middle, as if the starfield was inverted in colour.

"Warp speed is... impossible!" Ryoga yelled over the shuddering sounds of the ship. "Heading is holding for now..."

"Orb power is as before, no unexpected changes to warp field!" Nabiki declared.

"How long till we reach there?" Akane shouted.

"Ten seconds!" Nabiki entered more commands and request until she pressed a button, "Now!"

Controlling the helm with Ryoga, the ship powered down rapidly, bring the viewscreen to normal space.

Akane stood up quickly, "Ukyo! Location!"

"Captain, we are back in the Alpha Quadrant!" She checked her scans again, "Slightly off, we're in the Vulcan system."

"Full tactical sensors coming back online..." Mousse reported, before an urgent bleeping made him widen his eyes, "Captain! Two Borg Cubes, right on top of us!"

"Deploy Armour, now!" Ranma turned to face forwards, "On screen!"

The cubes were rolling about, and weren't level as they usually would be during normal space flight.

"We must have dragged them somehow when moving through the Delta Quadrant..." Akane muttered.

"Ryoga, evasive manoeuvres." Ranma turned to Mousse, "What's their status?"

"Their power grid is malfunctioning, their shields are gone!"

"They probably have the same failing as we do when travelling by orb." Ukyo stated, "They must be weakened, though I don't know how long for."

"Let's not give them the chance." Ranma faced forwards, "Fire everything!"

The USS Nerima opened up the phaser banks and proceeded to tear into the cubes, cutting away pieces like a knife through butter. The photon and quantum torpedoes were doing damage to it as well, though not as much.

"Keep us away from their transporter range; we don't want any guests on our doorstep." Akane warned Ryoga.

"Aye..."

"Shall we use a transphasic torpedo?" Mousse asked.

"Do it... Set it for high yield."

Firing the powerful projectile, one cube was obliterated, scattering the remains around the area.

"Destroy the last one!"

Before they could do so, it exploded, from several torpedoes fired from the opposite side.

"Report."

Mousse read out the information to him, "Sir, it came from three ships. They're from Vulcan!" A chirp alerted him, "We're being hailed."

"On screen."

"Well now Captain, that's quite a welcome back!"

Ranma moved closer, "You... How...?"

The speaker continued as if she wasn't interrupted, "I mean, one week of vanishing and now you appear with two Borg cubes, you have been busy!"

"Wait, one week?" Ranma turned back motioning to his neck. They cut the feed to the Vulcan ship.

Ukyo bit her lip, "It looks like it's true, our systems just updated themselves to sync with the time frame."

"Great... I missed my birthday..." Ryoga grumbled.

Akane stood up, "The orb must have taken us a week into the future."

Nabiki raised her arms up, "I can't explain it, we duplicated it to the exact level. It isn't like the orb is a known phenomenon, we were using mostly guesswork."

"Cologne to Captain."

"Saotome here, what's wrong?"

"Captain, the orb..." There was a moment of silence, "It's gone! The materials making up the object just crumbled into ash and then evaporated. I can't explain it..."

"So, it was only good for two trips..." Ranma said dejectedly, slumping his shoulders, "Acknowledged, I'll need a report on it later." He nodded at Mousse who reinstated the viewscreen.

"Sorry for the delay, we were just confirming that."

"Understandable. Now, as to your earlier question, I appeared here, most likely the same way you did. I've been meditating in a remote monastery for a decade, and then progressed through the Vulcan High Command in order to gain command of a Starship."

"But... You're not even a Vulcan." Ranma held his head, "What have you been doing all this time, Herb?"

The half-dragon mix smiled, "Thinking of a way home, like you." She stared at the crew behind Ranma, "You must all be tired. Let's rendezvous at Vulcan and celebrate your return. Herb, out."

The line dropped and Ranma went to the front, before facing everyone, "Cancel red alert." His eyes were harsh, "Let's hear what he, or in this case she, has to say."

Resting a hand on the helm, he spoke to Ryoga, "Plot a course to Vulcan, match the other ships' velocity."

"No problem." Seconds later he spoke, "Course plotted."

"Engage."

Ranma returned to his seat, feeling out for Akane's hand, both of them holding tightly until they reached the planet of Vulcan.

Author's Notes

Been writing this for three years, but never seemed to get it right first time.

The problem I have with this is that, aside from the minor quirks, you can easily replace the characters with any generic person, and it would still read out as the same story.

Still, it was fun to write a crossover of this sort, I'm not sure I'm going to update it in the future, but if the inspiration hits... who knows...

J