Starhawk

by Davner

Mihoshi and Kiyone are asked to fly and experimental GP ship.

Tenchi Muyo is the property of AIC and Pioneer.

Formerly a lost fic. It's been found.

Starhawk

Chapter 1

Mind of the Machine

Kiyone Makibi took another step and stopped.

"This is far enough," her male companion told her. She turned and found Dr. Hikaru Yamada walking up behind her.

Kiyone looked out at the ocean before her. She and Dr. Yamada were standing on a cliff overlooking the Pacific ocean. The sun was just about to go down over the water.

"Kiiiii-yooooo-neeeeee!" Mihoshi called out from behind them. "Wait up!" Detective Mihoshi Kuramitsu came stumbling through the brush and tripped, nearly falling over the cliff. "WHOOOOPPP!"

Kiyone deftly caught her partner and steadied her. "You okay?"

"Yeah...Thanks, Kiyone."

Kiyone looked around. "Well, it's very pretty, Doctor, but what's so important that you wanted to show us?"

Yamada smiled. "I didn't want to show you anything, but she likes to make an entrance."

"She?" Mihoshi asked.

Suddenly, without a hint of warning, a sleek, grey space ship shot out from below the cliff and hovered before them.

"SHIT!" Kiyone cried as she fell back in surprise.

Mihoshi looked up in awe. "Wow!"

The ship was like nothing they had ever seen before. It was smaller than their own Yagami and sleeker. Her red and green running lights blinked. Weaponry bristled from hard points under her swept wings.
"Cool!" Mihoshi cried.

Kiyone stood up and patted the dust off her pants. "What the hell is that thing!"

"This is Lina," Yamada told them. "GPX-29, if you want to be technical about it."

"There's hardly any sound at all," Mihoshi commented.

Kiyone blinked. Mihoshi was right. The ship was floating only a few meters away, and it was hardly making a sound.

"Yeah, that's the whisper mode," Yamada told them. "Perfect for sneaking up on criminals in an atmosphere."

"Huh?" Kiyone asked.

"That's why I asked you out here," Yamada said. "Lina is my brainchild. The first Tanto class tactical patrol and pursuit ship. The GP wants you two to test it before they approve mass production."

"Us?" Kiyone cried. "Why!"

"Really!" Mihoshi asked. "Cool!"

"Well," Yamada said, "To answer Detective Kiyone's question, the GP feels that any ship that can survive duty on Earth is worth its weight in gold."

Kiyone blinked. "What?"

Yamada cleared his throat and cocked his head in Mihoshi's direction.

"Oh..." Kiyone whispered in understanding.

Mihoshi, meanwhile, was standing on her tip toes on the edge of the cliff, reaching out to touch the Lina's hull. "Hi there! My name's Mihoshi!"

The three walked down the mountain path towards a small clearing where Lina was going to land. Kiyone was busy reading over the specs of the ship. Mihoshi was busy asking Yamada questions.

"So what's she like? Is she nice?" Mihoshi asked.

"This says she can do better than point nine past light speed!" Kiyone remarked in awe, reading from the specs.

"I hope she's nice," Mihoshi remarked.

"FAN lasers?" Kiyone asked shaking her head. "Proton torpedoes? Plasma cannons?"

"And I hope there's a way to make coffee," Mihoshi added. "You'd be surprised how hard it is to get good coffee in space!"

"Triple redundant shield coils...Tungsten armor plating...How can such a small ship carry so much?"

"Well," Yamada began, "There's recently been a breakthrough in trade negotiations with the Edellians. Lina makes use of a lot of advances the Edellians have made that we haven't had access to before."

Kiyone whistled in amazement. Edellians were a very advanced warrior race.

"But can she make coffee?" Mihoshi asked.

"Oh, good point, Detective Mihoshi," Yamada remarked. He reached into a small satchel and pulled out a control cube. "You'll need this to operate some of the ship's systems."

Mihoshi took the cube. It looked just like the one she had now. "Great!"

"Well, when do you want us to start?" Kiyone asked.

The Lina was now in sight. "You'll take her home with you. One of you...preferably Detective Mihoshi for her...er...flying abilities...should fly her on patrol, while the other observes in your own ship."

Kiyone nodded.

As they approached, the boarding ramp obediently lowered, and a dome- headed AI interface stuck its head out the door. "What'ja think, Hikaru! I scared the piss out of 'em, didn't I!"

Yamada chuckled. "Yeah, Lina, you got 'em." Kiyone growled a little.

Lina laughed and winked at the doctor. She turned to the two women with him and arched an electronic eyebrow. "So...These are the test pilots, huh?"

"Yup. Lina, meet Detectives Kiyone and Mihoshi."

Lina paused and blinked. "Mihoshi and Kiyone...Mihoshi and Kiyone...Those names are familiar..."

Mihoshi waved. "Hi there!"
A light in the center of Lina's forehead lit up, and two holographic images came up in front of her. Pictures of Mihoshi and Kiyone appeared next to some text. Lina read over them quickly and gasped.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed and turned, rushing back into the ship. The hatch shut quickly behind her.

Kiyone and Mihoshi blinked in shock. Yamada pounded on the hatch.

"Lina! Come out here!"

"NO! They'll kill me! Read their files for god's sake! Any ship they fly turns to scrap bait!"

"Lina! I mean it! Open this door!"

"NO!"

Kiyone grimaced. "Some advanced ship..."

Mihoshi tried another tact. "Please, Lina? Pretty please?"

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU ASSIGNED THEM!" Lina shrieked at Yamada through the door.

Yamada smiled. "I see. I guess you're not as advanced as I thought..."

The hatch opened, and Lina hung there, glaring at him. "I am so," she stated deadpan.

"Then why are you afraid? Surely you can deal with them."

Lina continued to glare. "Fine," she bit out. "Come on inside."

The three humans followed Lina into the ship and looked around. "Alright," Yamada began. "Same basic layout as the Yagami class, only the interfaces are a little different. Touch-pads instead of buttons except for the stick. More options for weaponry. The only real difference is the variable flight mode options." He sat down in the pilot's chair and pointed out a touch-pad that sat between the two forward chairs. "In space, she's faster and more maneuverable than anything in space. I'd put her up against anything in the GP or the Jurain Navy. In an atmosphere, you select, 'Atmospheric,' and the wings and airfoils will deploy. Instead of having to count on the repulsor lifts for maneuverability, you'll have a mix of repulsors and wings. It'll give you an edge."

Kiyone sat in the co-pilot's chair and checked over what Yamada was showing her. "Impressive," she breathed in awe.

"Yes, I am that," Lina replied lazily, obviously full of herself.
Mihoshi appeared behind them, holding a cup of coffee. "Found it!" she declared victoriously.

Yamada smiled. "Well, I think I'll let the three of you get acquainted..."

"Don't you leave me with them, Hikaru!" Lina began dangerously.

"You're going to have a wonderful time," he said, moving some of his brown hair out of his eyes as he walked to the hatch. "Ta ta!" With that, the door shut behind him.

"Hi-ka-RUUUU!" Lina whined. After a few moments, when it was quite obvious the engineer wasn't coming back, she growled. "That asshole."

"This is incredible!" Mihoshi exclaimed. She sat down in the pilot's chair, and the lights on the controls suddenly came to life. The blonde blinked and stood half out of the chair.

The lights went dark.

She sat down.

The lights came on.

She sat up...

"Sit down!" Lina barked. The GP sat down, and the lights came on again. "Now look! I want to continue my existence as the next great starship of the galaxy," Lina growled, her face lowering into the blonde's. "And I'm quite sure neither of YOU want to have an unfortunate accident during testing, so what's say we try to do this right the FIRST time!"

Mihoshi grinned. "Sure!"

Kiyone sighed.

"Good!" Lina continued. "Now then, your flight suits..."

Mihoshi stepped out of the small cabin in the rear compartment and checked herself in the mirror. The maroon flight suit was a bit snug in the chest, but otherwise fit perfectly. "Kiyone, does this suit make me look fat?"

"No," Kiyone and Lina said in perfect unison. "Your ass makes you look fat."

Kiyone, adorned in her own maroon suit, shook her head and smiled a bit. "You look fine, Mihoshi."

"Great!" Mihoshi bubbled. She hopped forward into the pilot's seat, and the lights on the board came on again. "So, what do I do first!"

"Alright," Lina began, rolling forward on the tracks in the ceiling. Kiyone said a silent prayer and strapped herself into the co-pilot's seat on Mihoshi's left. "The first thing you do..."

"What does this do?" Mihoshi asked, grabbing the control stick and hitting the red button by her thumb.

"NO! WAIT! THAT'S..."

Kiyone felt the breath knocked out of her as the ship was suddenly propelled through the air. She heard a thunderous boom and realized a moment later that they had broken the sound barrier... in all of two seconds.

"WHEEEEEEE!" Mihoshi screeched. She giggled madly.

The teal-haired police officer saw the ocean rushing by below them at unheard of speeds.

"... the boosters," Lina finished morosely. She turned to Kiyone. "It's always going to be like this, isn't it?"

Kiyone could just nod.

"You both need to relax," Mihoshi said nonchalantly as she moved the stick from side to side and found the throttle with her left hand. "I know how to pilot a spaceship, you know."

"Could've fooled me," Lina commented.

"Now you see?" Mihoshi asked. "That's just mean."

"How fast can you go in an atmosphere, Lina?" Kiyone asked, trying to change the subject and satisfy her curiosity at the same time.

"It's trickier," she confessed. "Depends a lot on the atmospheric make-up, density, pressure," she said. "But in this atmosphere, about fourteen and a half mach. Any faster and I'll have to cut out the limiter. After that, parts of me start to melt."

"This is AWESOME!" Mihoshi laughed in glee. "Let's go up!"

"No, let's..." Kiyone began, but before she could finish, Mihoshi had pulled the ship into a ninety degree climb. Kiyone found herself pressed into her seat again, her face and lips being pulled back toward the back of her head.

"You see now why you have to have the g-suit," Lina said, her face appearing near Kiyone's. "My flying ability renders most inertial dampeners obsolete. They simply can't keep up!"

In the time it took to say those three sentences, the ship was in space. Stars stared back at Kiyone from the other side of the transparent aluminum window.

"Kiyone, you have got to try this," Mihoshi said, suddenly letting go of the stick.

"MIHOSHI!" Kiyone cried, grabbing the controls on her side. "Are you trying to kill us?"

"Oh, come on!" Mihoshi whined. "Lina wouldn't let anything bad happen to us!"

Kiyone looked to Lina.

"I ain't validating that!" the ship cried indignantly.

The teal-topped woman sighed. "Look, I know it's all fun and games until someone crashes into a mountain and disintegrates, but I think the first thing we should BOTH do," she said, staring at Mihoshi, "Is land and go over the tech manuals FIRST."

Mihoshi looked down into her lap, just a bit ashamed.

Surprisingly, it was Lina who came to her defense.

"Oh, I see how this is going to shake out," she said to Kiyone. "She's going to be the fun one, I'm going to be the hot one, and you're going to be the boring one..."

"I thought you said you wanted to live through this," Kiyone snapped.

"It IS possible to be bored to death!"

"Ugh," Kiyone groaned. "Let's just land. We'll pick this up in the morning." With that, she nosed the new ship downward.

Hikaru heard the beep from his ship's communications terminal informing him that his call had gone through and turned. An older, bearded man with blonde hair appeared on the screen before him. He nodded in greeting. "Marshal."

"Hikaru," the Galaxy Police director greeted with a smile. "Done already?"

"I decided to let Lina do most of the explaining," he said. "But there was something I was curious about, and it seemed to rude to ask her personally." He paused for a moment. "The GP Council seems to think this is a good test of Lina's abilities because Detective Mihoshi is somehow reckless, but when I checked her flight records... It just doesn't add up."

"How so?" the Marshal asked him.

"She's wrecked six patrol ships," he said. "Yet all her instructors in flight school remarked that she's one of the finest pilots they've ever turned out. It doesn't make any sense."

The Marshal smiled. "The problem with Mihoshi's flying is the technology, not the pilot," he told him. "The pure truth of the matter is that she's simply stellar in the cockpit, but sometimes the ship just can't keep up with her. It... slips her mind... occasionally."

"I see."

The GP continued. "If Mihoshi ever found a ship that was her equal, well, she'd be quite simply unstoppable."

"I'm not sure that comforts me," Hikaru said with a smile and adjustment of his glasses.

The Marshal didn't smile. "I have more news." At Hikaru's questioning glance, he continued. "A couple of council members have introduced a proposal to cancel your funding. It seems that the Edellians are willing to sell us some of their own patrol ships at a fraction of the cost of developing and manufacturing the Tanto class."

"They'll regret that down the line," Hikaru said quickly. "The Edellians have always been fickle about their alliances. There are no guarantees with them. We may end up flying against them one day, and if we do, we'll want our own ships, ships they don't know the weaknesses for."

"I have explained that." The GP frowned. "Right now, however, the bottom line is winning out."

Kiyone rubbed her eyes as she sat up in her futon. Blinking, she looked to her right and saw Mihoshi sitting at the small desk in their apartment, the tiny lamp that sat upon it the only source of illumination. The digital clock on the wall read 2:30.

"Mihoshi?" she asked. "What are you doing? It's late." After hiding Lina in a safe place, they had driven back to the apartment and started going over the tech manuals. That had ended at eleven, or so Kiyone had thought.

"I'm just reading up on these last couple of things," Mihoshi told her.

"It's LATE," Kiyone reiterated. "There's time in the morning before work."

Mihoshi yawned and put the manual down. "I guess. I'll be along in a minute."

Kiyone decided not to push further and settled back down to sleep. Mihoshi closed the manual and picked up the control cube she left on the desk.

"Lina?" she whispered into it.

"Huh!" SNORT "Wha! What!" came the sleepy reply.

"It's Mihoshi," the blonde continued.

"What is it?"

"I just wanted to say good night."

On the other end, Lina paused for several moments. For a few seconds, Mihoshi thought Lina had hung up on her. Then,

"Good night, Detective."

The sun was barely starting to rise when Mihoshi sat down in the pilot's seat again, placing her pink helmet bag full of chocolate bars in the special compartment near her feet. The lights in the cabin and on the control board came to life to welcome her, and she started the pre-flight checks.

Kiyone's voice came over the intercom just as Lina was waking up. "Mihoshi? How's it going?"

Lina responded in a deep voice. "There is no Mihoshi! Only Zuul!"

"Har har," Kiyone replied.

Mihoshi heard the engines cycle to life. "I'm just about ready." She placed her hands on the control stick and throttle and put the ship in a hover. "So, Lina, how did you sleep?"

The computer yawned. "Not bad, I guess. So!" she said excitedly. "What first? Smash'n bad guys or are we gonna start by bust'n some victimless crimes!"

"Flight tests," Mihoshi said.

"But that's BORING!" Lina whined. "I already know I can fly! I want to blow some stuff up!"

"Later!" Mihoshi chastised her.

Kiyone's voice snorted through the speaker. "Maybe if you're really good, we'll swing by California on the way home and shoot up some medicinal marijuana farms..."

"THEY'REBREAKINGTHEGODDAMNLAW!" Lina cried.

Mihoshi throttled up, and Lina rose toward the clouds. "This'll be easy," Mihoshi assured her with a snap. "I just need to get used to the controls."

Lina snorted. "Please. A retarded, paraplegic monkey could fly me. You'll just have to work at it a wee bit harder."

"Now you see? That's just mean again..."

"Mihoshi?" Kiyone asked as the Yagami pulled up alongside. "Let's go through the basics."

"LAAAAME!" Lina moaned.

Mihoshi spent the next two hours going through basic flight maneuvers in the super ship, testing her stress levels and getting a feel for her. Lina performed flawlessly, and Mihoshi was surprised at how easy it was.

"Well, yeah," Lina explained. "I mean, what Hikaru basically did was make it easy by streamlining the whole thing. Maneuvering is simple because I know through the flight controls what you're trying to do and can do it before you get through the controls."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that instead of turning the stick and pushing the rudder pedals while throttling up, I can just do the whole thing for you. But you're still flying the ship."

"I see."

"Can we PLEASE do something interesting now!" Lina cried.

"Hmmmm..." Mihoshi mused. "Let's test your navigational and onboard computers!"

"Awwwww!"

"By racing through that asteroid field!"

"..."

"It'll be fun!"

"I said 'interesting!' Not 'suicidal!'"

"So you're saying you can't do it?" Mihoshi asked, puzzled.

"Goddammit," Lina muttered. "FINE! Bring on your floating death rocks! I have no fear of death! I'm only a trillion-yen piece of military hardware!"

"Glorious!" Mihoshi cried, clapping her hands and grasping the controls again.

"Sarcasm!" Lina noted. "Sarcasm!"

Mihoshi was toggling the communications equipment. "Kiyone, we're turning toward that asteroid field. First one through gets to choose dinner tonight!"

There was silence at the other end. "I don't know, Mihoshi..."

"It'll be fine," the blonde said with a dismissive wave.

"Fine," Lina huffed. "But we do it my way, okay?" The heads up display in front of Mihoshi lit up, presenting a line in virtual space. "It's this simple, okay? Just follow the line."

"Why?"

"I've mapped the field in front of us. This is the best route. Even with the asteroids floating around."

"We're gonna WIN!" Mihoshi cried. "Hang on!" Her thumb moved toward the red button.

"ACK! ST..."

The ship shot forward, and Mihoshi put all her attention forward. The first of the deadly pieces of space debris was coming at her rather quickly, but sure to her word, Lina's course had taken it into account and they sailed by it with no trouble.

Three more were coming toward her, and for a second Mihoshi doubted Lina's computer prowess. The course line went straight into them. The GP bit her lip and waited. Sure enough, the rocks began to float apart, and the ship shot through the tiny hole between them.

"Hey, where's the Yagami?" Mihoshi asked.

"Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar behind!" Lina replied with an almost visible smile. "She'll never catch us!"

True to her word, in another fifteen minutes, the experimental ship shot out of the other side of the asteroid field without a scratch. Without the same level of technology, Kiyone was forced to fly more slowly. Capably, but slowly nonetheless.

Mihoshi threw her hands in the air. "We won!"

"You sound surprised," Lina remarked slyly. "You have to realize, Mihoshi, I AM the next step in space-flight evolution! GP! HAH! Pirates! BAH! Ohkis are MY bitch!"

Before the tirade could continue, something beeped.

Both human and machine turned to the control panel from whence the sound came. A red light was flashing on one of the touch pads.

"You know," Lina said. "That's the first time it's ever done that."

"It's the alert frequency!" Mihoshi gasped, remembering the schematics she had read last night. Reaching over, she hit the touch pad. "This is the Galaxy Police... er... cruiser?" she asked Lina. The machine shrugged. "... Cruiser, Lina," the GP finished. "Do you read?"

A blast of static answered them. Through the annoying crack, they could just barely make out a voice.

"Can you boost that, Lina?" Mihoshi asked.

"One sec," the computer replied. "I think I can, I think I can, I think...BOOYAH!"

Suddenly, the transmission cleared up and a frightened voice could be heard. "This is the medical ship, Sylphiel, three days out of Altair Six! We are under attack by an unidentified ship! We've struck an ionic mine and have lost all power! To any ships in the area, we are under attack!"

Mihoshi hit a few toggles. "Kiyone, did you hear that?"

From within the asteroid field, Kiyone replied. "All I got was static and something about an attack."

"Mihoshi," Lina interrupted. "We can intercept in five minutes at full turbos."

"Kiyone, did you hear that?"

The other GP hesitated. "Mihoshi, call the GP and have them send a ship. Then wait for me."

Mihoshi looked to Lina, who responded anxiously. "The nearest GP ship is forty minutes away," she said. "And it'll take the Yagami at least that long to get out of the asteroid field."

The blonde bit her lip in thought. Finally, with her mind made up, she took a breath and toggled the radio again. "Kiyone, we're making the intercept."

"Mihoshi!"

"It'll be fine!" She turned to Lina. "Get me a course!"

"Kick ass!" Lina replied.

"I don't like this, Mihoshi," Kiyone warned.

"You wanted to test her out, right?" Mihoshi asked, donning a maroon helmet from one of the weapons bays. "This is it."

"We're ready!" Lina announced with glee.

Mihoshi settled herself in her seat and turned in the direction the HUD was telling her. She toggled the radio again. "Medical ship Sylphiel," she announced. "The Lina is on her way!"

She hit the turbos.

Kiyone watched her screen as the blip of light that represented the Lina raced across the radar screen and disappeared.

"Dammit," she muttered. She throttled up. The sooner she got out of this asteroid field, the sooner she could bail her partner out of whatever debacle she created for herself.

"Coming up on the Sylphiel," Lina announced. "There's another blip on the screen."

Mihoshi hit a toggle on the left side of her helmet, and a black visor descended over her eyes. "Give me First Look," Mihoshi ordered.

Mihoshi's vision changed abruptly. She could still see the panel and computers in front of her, but only their outlines, drawn in a glowing green. She was seeing through the side of the ship, giving her a 360 by 360 view of the space around her. The Sylphiel was ahead of them, outlined in blue.

"Hey, where'd the ship go?" she asked, puzzled.

Ahead of her, outlined in red, was another ship.

"Any idea what it is?" she asked. A block of space next to her lit up, flashing through several different spacecraft and finally settled on one.

"Looks like a Carissian picket ship," she heard Lina say through the helmet. "You wanna get him?"

"Give me a channel first," she ordered. Clearing her throat, she began. "Attention pirate ship! This is Detective Sergeant Mihoshi of the Lina. You are under arrest. Power down your weapons and su..."

She broke off as two missiles streaked from the picket ship towards them. The GP grabbed the stick and jerked it right, hitting the turbos at the same time. Lina shot away. The missiles followed.

"I thought you were stealth!" Mihoshi blubbered.

"They're heat seekers!" Lina shot back. "And we're the only thing over here generating heat!"

The missiles continued to follow them, locking onto the turbos.

"Sunburst!" Mihoshi cried.

"Ready!" Lina yelled back.

Mihoshi thumbed a toggle on the stick and looked back. Through the transparent hull plates, she saw two bright white flares streak off behind them. The missiles turned and went for the flares.

"Oh, I am all manners of pissed off now," Lina growled.

"You said it," Mihoshi agreed. She turned the ship back toward the pirate and thumbed through the weapons options. Finding a medium-range missile she liked, she locked onto the other ship and fired.

The picket ship broke right and accelerated, narrowly evading the missile.

"FAN lasers," Mihoshi ordered, following the pirate with her eyes.

"You got 'em!" Lina told her.

Mihoshi angled around until the targeting reticule rested on the pirate ship. Taking a breath, she squeezed the trigger. Bolts of red lightning shot from the hardpoints on either wing, tearing through the pirate. The ship's engines sputtered, then burst into flames.

The blonde GP tore the helmet off and the world returned to normal around her. "I got him!" she exclaimed.

Lina cheered and turned to a comm window. She found the frequency the pirates were using and opened a channel. A helmeted pirate appeared, fire in the background.

"HAH!" she laughed at him. "PUSSY!" She shut the window. "Now THAT'S a flight test!"

Kiyone growled and tapped her finger against the throttle, silently urging the Yagami to go faster. It took the red ship twenty minutes to get to the same spot Lina got to in five. That was twenty minutes for the GP to wonder what kind of trouble Mihoshi got herself into.

As she approached the area, she scanned the GP radio frequencies and stopped when she heard a familiar bubbly voice.

"Oh, it was no problem whatsoever!" she heard Mihoshi say happily. "I'm... We're just glad you folks are A-Okay!"

Kiyone sighed in relief.

Then growled.

Then started to claw the upholstery on her pilot's chair.

"It was a stupid, irresponsible, bone-headed thing to do!" Kiyone yelled, leaning over the blonde sitting on the couch in their small apartment. "You took matters into your own hands and took an experimental, untested ship up against a warship! What were you thinking, Mihoshi!"

Mihoshi took a breath and wiped a tear from her eyes. "I was just thinking... you know... we could help those people... And isn't that what Lina is for? Helping people?"

Kiyone put her hands on her hips. "Mihoshi," she said sternly, but more softly than before. "Lina can't help ANYONE if she's blown to a million pieces."

"I know," Mihoshi whispered.

The older woman sighed. "Tomorrow, I'll fly Lina. You can monitor from the Yagami."

"But..."

"She's a bad influence on you, Mihoshi," Kiyone continued as if speaking to a ten year old. "And you already have enough of those around here."

Mihoshi hung her head.

"Okay."

Kiyone marched down Lina's ramp and threw the maroon helmet down the hill upon which they had landed. Running up from where the Yagami had set down, Mihoshi watched her partner in confusion.

They had flown for about an hour, and suddenly, Kiyone had called and said they were landing.

"Kiyone, what's wrong?" Mihoshi asked. "Is Lina okay?"

"Bucket of bolts!" Kiyone growled.

From the hatch, Lina's head appeared. "Bitch!" she yelled at Kiyone's back.

"Kiyone!"

The teal-topped GP turned and pointed at the ship. She sputtered, pure rage making her unable to form words. Mihoshi waited, nodding along with the sputters.

"Starts with a 'th,'" Mihoshi said.

Kiyone continued to sputter.

"Rhymes with 'hill,'" Mihoshi went on.

"That...SHIP..." Kiyone finally got out. "Is...is...PSYCHOTIC!"

The blonde arched an eyebrow.

"It...It...I...It... It tried to KILL me!" Kiyone gasped.

"Kiyone, you're scaring me!" Mihoshi cried, biting her knuckle.

"You're just a puss!" Lina yelled at her.

"SHUT UP, YOU PSYCHOPATH!" Kiyone screamed back.

Mihoshi quickly put her hands on Kiyone's shoulders. "It's okay, Kiyone!" she said. "I'm sure whatever happened, this is just a mix-up!"

"It... It just...I mean... It... WHOOM!" Kiyone cried, throwing her hands in the air.

Mihoshi paused. "'Whoom,'" she repeated.

"WHOOM!" Kiyone repeated. "It said it was going to take me for a real ride, and she hit the turbos and took us to 11 Gs..."

"Okay, Kiyone," Mihoshi said calmly. "But that still doesn't mean she was trying to kill you."

Kiyone glared at her. "Her exact words were, 'Detective Kiyone, I'm going to kill you.'"

Mihoshi blinked. "Oh."

"I was just KIDDING!" Lina yelled from the hilltop. "Ask Hikaru! I threaten to kill him all the time!"

"It's a menace!" Kiyone hissed.

The blonde sighed. "Maybe I should take Lina back to the hiding spot," she suggested. "You take the Yagami and have some tea..."

"And some fucking percoset!" Lina yelled.

Mihoshi turned and made the 'cut it out' gesture. Turning back to Kiyone, she continued in a soothing voice. "I'll meet up with you later."

"What you did to Kiyone was very mean-spirited," Mihoshi admonished the computer once they were in the air.

"She deserved it," Lina shot back, unapologetic. "She kept treating me like I was just some machine."

"Well you are," Mihoshi explained. "Don't get me wrong, you're very advanced. But that's how a lot of people are going to look at you."

"Hey, I'm not some plow or tractor!" Lina replied indignantly. "But I AM quite advanced, and would prefer that someone realize it." She threw her robotic nose in the air with a sniff.

"I realize it," Mihoshi told her.

Lina sighed. "Yeah, I know you do," she said.

"You should try to be nicer to Kiyone," Mihoshi ordered. "After all, she has to sign off on your tests too, you know."

Before Lina could reply, Hikaru's face appeared on the monitor.

"HIKARU!" Lina cried, little hearts dancing on her heads up display.

"Hi, Lina," he said. "Detective Mihoshi, we need to talk. I'm in orbit, I'll be at your apartment in an hour."

Mihoshi blinked. "Okay. Is everything okay?"

The scientist paused. "I'll tell you when I land."

Mihoshi landed Lina and parked her in the prearranged hiding spot she and Kiyone had found. Hopping into the little jeep she had bought with some of the savings she had managed to squirrel away from all of their part-time jobs, Mihoshi zipped down the road toward her place.

When she arrived, Hikaru was already there, and Kiyone had a broad smile on her face.

Mihoshi wasn't the fastest pitch in the stadium, but even she knew that was probably trouble.

Hikaru, on the other hand, looked absolutely miserable. His tie was undone and he had a good bit of five o'clock shadow on his chin.

"Dr. Yamada?" Mihoshi asked, concerned. "Are you okay?"

"I just haven't slept well in the past few days," he replied, reaching up to shake the blonde's hand.

"Mihoshi, Dr. Yamada has some AWFUL news," Kiyone shared, her smile going wider.

"Yes," Hikaru began. "It seems that the GP Council, in all of their great wisdom," he stressed each word with venomous sarcasm. "Has decided that rather than build our own advanced ships so that we would be beholden to no one, we're going to buy them from one of the only real military threats in the quadrant."

Mihoshi waited a moment after he finished. "And?" she asked, beckoning him to continue.

"AND," he began again. "If they're going to buy new ships anyway, why waste anymore money on the ship they... I!" he screamed, "was building?"

"I don't understand," Mihoshi said quietly, in almost a whimper.

"DING DONG! THE WITCH IS DEAD!" Kiyone sang.

"WHAT!"

Hikaru nodded. "They've cancelled the project effective immediately," he said darkly. "Lina is going to be scrapped."

Mihoshi whimpered, but quickly composed herself and giggled nervously. "This is a joke, right?"

He shook his head, his expression one of pained anger.

"Well... Okay," Mihoshi said with a nod. "So the program's cancelled, but that thing about Lina being scrapped... That's like a metaphor, right?"

"No, a metaphor would be if I said Lina was going out to the country to the happy spaceship farm where she would spend the rest of her life chasing bunnies," Hikaru told her, annoyed now. "What I'm telling you is that she's going to be disassembled and melted down."

Mihoshi choked back a sob. "But... but..."

"Hey," Kiyone interrupted, stepping forward and placing a hand on the blonde's shoulder as her smile finally slipped. "It's okay, Mihoshi. It's just a ship. And Dr. Yamada says they're going to give us one of the replacements."

"BAH!" Hikaru growled.

"But... I mean... She's not like other ships!" Mihoshi blurted. "She thinks and talks and has fun and sings karaoke..."

"Karaoke?" Kiyone repeated.

"Well, we needed something to do on the way home from that pirate thing," Mihoshi explained. "The point is that you can't just melt her down! It's... It's...IT'S JUST MEAN!"

"Mihoshi," Hikaru said, standing up. "Perhaps if there were a few more people like you on the Council, things would be different. But there aren't. They're idiots. So this is what we've got." He started for the door. "I'd better go get her and give her the bad news."

"I guess... You'll be wanting this back," Mihoshi said quietly, placing her hand on the box that contained her maroon flight suit.

"Keep it," Hikaru told her. "Souvenir. No one else is gonna need it."

Mihoshi nodded and curled her hand around the lid of the box as tears welled up.

The scientist sighed and walked out, muttering, "If only there were more like you..."

The blonde choked back another sob. "It's not fair," she sniffed.

As the sun went down the next evening, Kiyone adjusted her tie in the bathroom mirror and walked out again, grabbing her blaster and holster off the table.

"Mihoshi!" she called. "We're gonna be late for our patrol! Let's go!"

"I'm not going!" she heard in reply.

Kiyone growled and marched to the blonde's room. "What is it?" she growled through the door.

"I don't feel good!" Mihoshi called back petulantly. "Go without me!"

The older woman growled and banged on the door with her fist. "This isn't funny, Mihoshi! Come out!"

"NO!"

Kiyone growled again. She stopped a moment later and composed herself. "You know," she called through the door. "I don't have time for this! If you want to act like a baby, fine! I'm going out on patrol! You sit in your room and sulk!"

With that, she stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her.

Mihoshi stopped her jeep in front of the Masaki home and stepped out. She felt like dirt. She knew she shouldn't. Lina was a computer program, just like her video games or her VCR.

No, she was a person! her mind shouted back. Yeah, she liked to take pleasure in the suffering of criminals, but that only made her a bad person, not less of a person.

She needed to clear her head, and whenever she needed to do that she liked to talk to Tenchi. The Earth boy usually had a folksy, down to earth way of getting straight to the point on things. She needed clarity, and the only person who could provide that was a boy who usually didn't have any himself.

Unfortunately, a few moments later, clarity was put on hold.

"Osaka!" Mihoshi whined. "He went to Osaka!"

Noboyuki nodded. "He's down there for the weekend, checking out the university. Is something wrong?"

Mihoshi sighed. "No, I guess not. Good night, Mr. Masaki."

"Good night, Mihoshi," he replied. "You know,' he said again with a leer, "I was just getting ready to watch a movie with the girls. You ever heard of 'Debbie Does Dallas?'"

"Wasn't that on TBS?" she asked.

"Nope!" he replied with a grin.

"Um... I'm going to pass, Mr. Masaki, but thanks." With that, she turned and started walking down the path toward the Masaki Shrine, hoping that a moonlit walk would soothe her.

As she walked beneath the sleeping trees, she reflected on her thoughts. What they were going to do to Lina was wrong, but what was she supposed to do about it? She had orders? Didn't she?

Without realizing it, she found herself next to Funaho's pond. Gazing up at the tree, she sighed. Jurain tree ships were sentient, and therefore considered protected beings. What was the difference, really?

"Trouble sleeping?"

She turned and found Katsuhito strolling up to her. "Yeah," she admitted with a sigh.

"Hmmm," he said, stroking his chin. "You're troubled," he told her. "And it doesn't look good on you."

"Can I ask you something, Grandpa Katsuhito?" she asked. He nodded, and she began. "I have... this friend... Who has another friend... And something really really awful is going to happen to her friend, but my friend isn't sure what she can do about it. She really likes her friend, but there's nothing she can legally do, and her friend doesn't have enough friends to keep her friend out of this trouble."

"I see," Katsuhito said without missing a beat.

"Do you?" she asked. "I kinda got lost in the middle there."

He nodded. "Your friend has been caught on the wrong side of the rules."

Mihoshi's eyes went wide. "Yes! That's it exactly!"

"And your other friend is on the right side of the rules."

She nodded happily.

"Well, it seems simple to me," he said. "One of you is going to have to step over that line to the other."

"You mean one of my friends," Mihoshi corrected him.

"Whatever."

Mihoshi digested this. "I see." She snapped her fingers and leapt up, hugging the old man. "Thank you, Grandpa Katsuhito!" She released him and dashed back down the path.

"You're welcome," he sighed.

She didn't bother to knock, just ran into the Masaki home. Passing Noboyuki, who was hanging upside down from the ceiling, tied up and gagged, with a sign that said "HENTAI," pinned to his shirt, she ran into the kitchen.

Ryoko was nursing a warm sake. She looked up and smiled. "Hi, Mihoshi. Aren't you supposed to be out on patrol?"

"Something came up!" Mihoshi announced with a grin. "Ryoko... I need a ride."

Scrapping ships took time. In the old days, old ships were simply tossed into the heat of a raging sun... Until they found out that caused supernovas, so the practice was halted after only a few tries. Nowadays, under the auspices of the Protectorate of Environments and Nebulous Interspatial Space Stations, ships were taken apart carefully, the parts sorted by potential damage to the environment and shot down black holes.

It was through one of the mile-long arms of one of these PENIS stations that the lone figure walked, checking the number on each docking slip.

Getting onto the station had been surprisingly easy. Ryoko had just parked Ryo-Ohki near the edge of the nearest slip and transported her aboard. Mihoshi's conscience clutched her stomach a bit in a vain effort to get her attention, but her plan was already in motion.

She had worked through the logic, and this was the only way out.

Mihoshi kept the visor on her helmet down in case she passed any security guards. The snug flight suit displayed her curves, betraying her gender, but that was all. So far, no security. She clucked her tongue in reproach.

"Hmmph," she observed. "The owner of this PENIS should be ashamed," she muttered. "Sure it's big, but anyone in the galaxy can get to it. If I had a PENIS, I wouldn't let anyone near it!"

She suspended her musing as she came upon the number she was looking for.

This is it! she thought. Looking up and down the corridor, she hit a few buttons on the keypad and grimaced as it beeped at her in the negative.

"Hmmmm," she hmmm'd. "I could reprogram the security overrides or... Ah, screw it." She pulled her blaster and shot the lock out. With a flash of sparks, the door opened.

Mihoshi paused and listened, waiting for sirens, but nothing came. She hmmph'd again. "If someone shot at something on my PENIS, I'd at least be upset about it."

Stepping through the door, she walked toward the outer airlock. Lina's hatch was already open. Hurrying now, she hopped inside and walked toward the flight deck. The lights were off. They must have powered her completely down. She crept forward and sat down in the pilot's chair. The lights came on around her. She started hitting buttons, powering the ship up and starting the preflight.

"So it's time, huh?" she heard Lina ask behind her in the most despondent voice she'd ever heard. "Fine, just get it over with, okay?"

"Lina," Mihoshi whispered, raising the visor of her helmet. "I'm getting you out of here."

"Mihoshi!"

"Shhh!" Mihoshi replied. "Can you fly?"

"What the hell are you doing!" Lina asked angrily. "Do you have any idea of what they'll do to you if they catch you?"

"They're not going to catch us if you can fly," she whispered back.

"Mihoshi..."

"Look, Kiyone said it herself," the human argued. "You're no good to anyone in a million pieces! All they're going to do is destroy you! So why should they care if I take you?"

Lina paused. "I GUESS that's one way of looking at it..."

"Now will you stop complaining and help me with the preflight!"

"Fine," Lina snapped. "I wouldn't want to contradict Kiyone, I guess."

Mihoshi heard the engines turn over and spin up.

"So how do you intend to abscond with me?" Lina asked.

"Simple!" Mihoshi replied with an upraised finger. "We just float away."

Lina arched a digital eyebrow. "'Float away?'" Mihoshi nodded happily. "Look," Lina began again as if speaking to a child. "I don't really care if they blow me up, I'm slated for the black hole anyway, but are you really sure you want to be vaporized in space?"

"In order to vaporize us, they have to find us first!" Mihoshi reminded her, "And all your stealth stuff should still work, right? So all we have to do is detach from the PENIS and float away."

Lina sighed. "Okay."

"I'm detaching us from the PENIS," Mihoshi told her, hitting some buttons. With a lurch, the ship began to drift away from the docking bay.

Lina drifted a few more yards away, and still there was no response from the PENIS.

"We're gonna make it!" Mihoshi cried. "YAY!"

Suddenly, they were surrounded by small, one-man sentry ships, their lights and sirens going off, bathing the ship in blue.

"Oh," Mihoshi noted with a bit of defeat.

"You in the scrap heap!" the radio called out. "Surrender immediately and prepare to be boarded!"

"Scrap heap?" Lina asked. "SCRAP HEAP!"

Mihoshi put her head on the computer's dome. "Lina, it's all right. Perhaps we should reason with them!"

"Good idea, Mihoshi," Lina announced angrily, keying the comm unit on. "Attention meat bags!" she called out to them. "You can kiss my shiny metal ass!" She shut the comm off. "There, I feel that was very productive."

"Attention foul-mouthed thieves," the radio spit back. "Redock with our PENIS immediately!"

"I'm not going anywhere near that guy's PENIS!" Lina cried indignantly.

"And you shouldn't have to!" Mihoshi agreed.

"This is your last warning!" the radio warned. Outside the cockpit, the small sentry ships opened their gunports.

Lina smirked behind her circuits. "Lasers? Honestly, who uses lasers anymore?" Her outer doors opened, revealing her somewhat sizeable arsenal. The pilot of the sentry ship directly in front of them suddenly had tiny red dots on this face, each one representing a meson blaster, FAN laser or space to space missile aimed at him.

Mihoshi could see the man gulp.

"No!" she ordered, putting her foot down. She reached down and grabbed the stick, hitting her favorite red button.

Lina took off like a shot, leaving the sentry ships alone, confused and relieved.

The GP fighter slowed to crawl a few seconds later, five minutes for the sentry ships.

"Mihoshi!" Lina whined.

"I'm not going to let you kill a bunch of jerks just for doing their jobs," Mihoshi sniffed. "Now do you want to sit here and argue or do you want to get out of here?"

The computer grumbled.

"Well?" Mihoshi pressed.

"FINE!" Lina shouted.

The blonde clapped her hands and grinned. "Glorious! Spin up the FTL drive!"

Lina continued to grumble as the Faster Than Light drive spooled up. "So where are we going, anyway?"

Mihoshi entered the coordinates. "Don't worry. I think I know someone who can help."

"When I said one of you had to cross that line," Katsuhito lectured as he led Mihoshi up the mountain path. "I meant that she should cross to you."

"Yeah, I had a feeling," Mihoshi winced. "But I couldn't just sit by and do nothing!"

The priest nodded. "And perhaps you'll be proven right in the end." He pushed past some dense foliage. As if turning back to the original subject, he started again. "No one comes here anymore," he said. "It's secluded and sheltered."

Mihoshi stepped forward and looked up. Her hand went to her mouth in quiet shock.

Standing before them was a large temple, even larger than the Masaki shrine. The entire bottom two floors were exposed to the elements thanks to a gaping hole. The two floors above were weather-beaten, but looked almost liveable.

"What is this place?" she asked quietly.

"It's the original Masaki shrine," the priest answered. "A bomb accidentally fell on it during the second world war."

Mihoshi stepped forward and examined the bombed out temple. The hole looked wide enough to stick Lina through. If it was as high as it looked, it would conceal Lina from all directions except from directly in front, and she was more worried about ships or satellites seeing her from orbit.

"Glorious," she whispered. She stepped through the hole and down into the softened crater. Hearing something above her, she looked up. A hawk screamed as it fled its nest high in the rafters.

She turned to Katsuhito.

"It's perfect."

It was pizza night at the Masaki residence, so most of the family was in the living room, watching the interstellar TV Washu had provided them. Mihoshi was in the kitchen, hurriedly shoving a couple of slices of pizza into her purse. As she headed for the living room, Kiyone suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Oh! Kiyone!" Mihoshi said startled. "You scared me."

"Mihoshi," the GP began reluctantly. "I just wanted to say... that I'm sorry."

The blonde blinked.

"Look, I happen to think Lina is just a bunch of psychotic microchips with too much firepower, but to you..." She shrugged. "I guess what I'm trying to say is I should have been more sensitive."

"It's really okay, Kiyone," Mihoshi said with a smile.

Kiyone smiled back hesitantly. "Hey, it's our night off. You wanna go hit the bars or something?"

"Oh, I can't," Mihoshi replied, walking around her friend. "I... um... have a date!"

"A date?" Kiyone repeated incredulously.

"Yeah!" Mihoshi went on. "He's... He's..." She turned to the TV and saw a commercial for Stargate SG-1. "He's an EGYPTOLOLOGIST!" She announced.

Kiyone raised an eyebrow. "An Egyptologist," she repeated skeptically. "In Japan?"

"He's... researching," she said, "At the university."

"O...kay," Kiyone conceded. "Um... Have fun?"

"Okay! Buh-bye!" With that, she jaunted out the door.

Kiyone shook her head and went back to the couch and turned her attention back to the TV.

"Coming up, on Galaxy News Network!" the announcer proclaimed. "Pirates steal a ship from a local PENIS!"

Aeka spit her coke up and grabbed Sasami, covering her ears. "Sasami! Don't listen! Just hum!"

Kiyone's eyes traveled to the door Mihoshi had just walked through as the announcer continued. "Local authorities are investigating the theft of a ship from the War-Tee PENIS in the Fahjyna Cluster. Galaxy Police spokesmen refuse to comment on the nature of the ship, which apparently was a decommissioned cruiser. More at eleven."

Ryoko started giggling nervously. "Well... How about that!" she asked, looking up at the ceiling. "Good thing NONE of us were in the Fahjyna Cluster, huh? Might have been dangerous." She started shoving pizza into her mouth.

"Uh huh," Kiyone said noncommittedly. "Very dangerous."

Mihoshi moved her rook on the holographic chess board and munched on some pizza while she waited for Lina to make her move. The computer hmm'd for a moment, then a piece moved toward Mihoshi's bishop. Mihoshi moved her rook again and grinned. "CHECK!"

"WHAT! That's some BULLSHIT!" Lina replied, looking down at the board. She examined toe board for a few minutes. "Hmmmm." Suddenly, the power flickered off and came back on. The board automatically reset. Lina looked up at Mihoshi and grinned. "Oops! Computer glitch! Guess that's a do-over!"

"WHAT!" Mihoshi cried. "But that's the seventh one!"

"I'm an experimental ship," Lina explained. "Glitches are just part of the territory."

"Poo!"

"Language," Lina chastised. She looked out the front window at the moonlit night outside. Sighing, she turned back to Mihoshi. "Mihoshi, I'm grateful and all, but can we PLEASE go outside for awhile?"

The blonde looked up in shock. "Outside? You mean fly?"

Lina nodded. "It'll be cool!"

"We'll get caught!" Mihoshi argued.

"Pleeeeease?" Lina begged.

"Lina, you know what would happen if you got caught," Mihoshi explained. "I go to jail and you get scrapped."

"They won't catch us!" Lina promised.

"This is my own patrol area!" Mihoshi argued. "If we got a call and Kiyone went out to look and saw you, she'd know all about it!"

"We could disguise me!"

"How? New paint job?"

Lina snorted in disgust. "Are you nuts? My paint job is forty percent of my stealth!"

"Then how?"

The computer looked at her for a moment. "We could just use the BLUR."

"The wha?"

"Oh, it's really cool!" Lina gushed. "Hikaru thought it up! It disguises me!"

"You mean like a cloaking device?"

"No! A cloaking device makes you invisible! Hikaru made the BLUR so that you can see me, but not recognize me!"

Mihoshi blinked. "I'm not getting it..."

"Okay, look," Lina explained. "Eyes see light at certain frequencies. What the BLUR does is interfere with the frequencies of the light being reflected off my hull. So when you look at me, it just looks like a big gray blob, or fluff, anything but a spaceship!"

Mihoshi considered it. "It's still too dangerous. We could still get caught!"

"But Mi-HOSHI!" Lina whined.

"Unless..."

"Yes?"

"The next quadrant over is the Heracles Sector," Mihoshi thought out loud. "There's some kind of treaty problem with it, so neither Jurai or the GP send ships there."

"PERFECT!"

"But there's a LOT of pirate activity out there," Mihoshi warned.

"Ugh," Lina replied, rolling her eyes. "What pirate is going to fuck with US?" she asked. "Have you seen some of the shit I'm carrying? I got enough ammo to waste him, AND his friends AND wipe out his home planet just out of spite!"

Mihoshi put her finger to her lip. "That's true..."

"Of COURSE it's true!" Lina announced. "This is perfect, Mihoshi! I can go out and PLAY! Do you know what's like to be cooped up and not be allowed to do what you were DESIGNED to do?"

"Um... You were designed to kill people and break their stuff," Mihoshi pointed out.

"And?" Lina asked.

Mihoshi thought for a moment. "Nothing!" she declared. "I'll get my flight suit!"

The hum of Lina's engines got louder as Mihoshi continued the start-up procedure. Outside, the air inside the shrine swirled around in angry but impotent micro-tornadoes, the only result of which was to chase the nesting hawk above them out of the shrine.

Seeing the last red light turn green on her board, Mihoshi engaged the repulsor lifts and nudged the ship out of the shrine. Rising to just above the tree-tops and turning left, Mihoshi made for the nearby valley they had used to conceal their original approach to the shrine. There was no moon that night, and only the stars offered any light at all. Thanks to the night-vision gear in her maroon helmet, Mihoshi had no problem flying the ship through the narrow valley.

"I figure once we get out to the ocean we should be okay to climb out of the atmosphere," Lina remarked.

"Sounds good to me!" Mihoshi agreed. "I just don't want Kiyone to see us."

Lina heard the regret in her voice. "You're doing her a favor, you know."

"How?" Mihoshi asked softly. "I'm lying to her, going behind her back and..."

"And not forcing her to choose between her duty and you," Lina finished. "It would hurt her either way."

"I guess." Mihoshi broke the conversation off as they hit the water. She pulled back on the stick and brought the ship into a vertical climb.

"So... this Heracles Sector," Lina began. "How big is it?"

"It's about 200 cubic parsecs," Mihoshi told her.

Lina stopped in shock. "That's about eight thousand star systems!"

The GP nodded solemnly. "The situation is just awful. The Jurains won't let the GP police it because it comes too close to some of their military bases, but at the same time they won't police it themselves because the systems aren't Jurain protectorates. And every time the GP goes in to deal with something, the fight starts all over again."

"Well, that sounds positively stupid!" Lina opined.

Mihoshi could only nod again.

"But I guess this means no one should give us any trouble if we dart around a few asteroid fields."

The sensors showed them clear of the atmosphere. "Okay," she said. "Spin up the FTL drive."

"You got it!"

In a flash, the ship disappeared.

The Heracles Sector was an hour away by jump drive, and that left a lot of time to waste. After fifteen minutes of watching Mihoshi fiddle with her control cube in a vain effort to get some coffee, Lina had had enough.

"So!" she proclaimed loudly. "Let's talk... or SOMETHING! I'm bored out of my mind."

Mihoshi's eyes never left the cube. She continued playing with it as she answered. "'Bout what?"

"I don't know. Anything," Lina said. "Tell me about yourself. I mean, you went through all this trouble to save my life and all I know about you is what's in your file."

The GP bit her lip as she tried another turn of the control cube.

"You're never going to get it," Lina told her. "Now start talking."

"Well," Mihoshi began, still not giving up on the cube. "I'm from Llewecia. My parents are both GP, and I like coffee."

"Both your parents?" Lina asked.

She nodded and continued to fiddle with the cube. "My father's a marshal."

"Cool. What does your mom do?"

Mihoshi's hands paused over the cube. "Mom was a pilot," she said quietly. "Flew drug interdiction in the Farsi System."

"Was?" Lina asked. "You mean... she's dead?"

Mihoshi went back to fiddling with the cube. "Missing," she said. "Her ship was hit during a mission near Edel. Her wingman went for help, but when the search and rescue ship got there, she was gone."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Mihoshi told her. "She's out there somewhere." Her fingers flew over the cube now. "And I'll see her again. It just takes..." Suddenly, a cup of coffee appeared on the armrest. She smiled at the computer. "Patience," she finished.

They continued to chat for another half hour until the nav-computer signaled that they were near their destination.

"Okay, here we go," Mihoshi said, taking hold of the throttle and stick. "Coming out... NOW!"

The ship materialized in real-space.

"We're out," Lina announced. "Everything looks good. I'm engaging the BLUR, just in case."

Mihoshi nodded. "Okay, it's your field trip. Where do you..."

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Lina suddenly announced. "I'm reading sensor contacts!"

"Uh oh!" Mihoshi whimpered, biting her nails. "Spin up the FTL drive! We can jump before they see us!"

Lina's digital representation of eyes were narrowed. "Just a sec," she said. "This isn't cool."

"What do you mean?"

"Listen to this."

Lina patched in the radio.

"Mayday! Mayday! Somebody help us! We..." An explosion cut the speaker off.

"I think we found some of those pirates you were talking about," Lina told her.

Mihoshi's eyes hardened. "Plot an intercept course," she ordered, the fear and doubt in her voice a moment ago long gone. "And arm your weapons." She pulled her helmet back on and switched the visor down.

"All set!" Lina announced gleefully.

Mihoshi hit the little red button, and off they went.

"Give me First Look," she ordered. Her world turned black and green as the helmet showed her 360 degrees up and down. "I see them," she said.

"Looks like two fighters picking on a light freighter," Lina said. The freighter was running for it, smoke pouring out of its right engine. "What do you want to do?"

Mihoshi thought for a moment. "Well... We're not exactly here doing the GP thing... And if they ID us..."

"Right, we'll shoot them down," Lina finished. "Bringing the missiles online!"

"Wait!" Mihoshi interjected. "Is there a way to maybe... I don't know... Scare them off?"

"Well, you can always fly their ships for them," Lina suggested smugly.

"That's just MEAN!" Mihoshi cried.

"Well, what's YOUR great idea, then?"

Mihoshi pulled back on the stick and flew the ship directly above the fray. "Lower the landing gear and extend the landing claw," she ordered.

"What's going on out there!" Aurin Gilad asked as he pushed his way onto the bridge of the freighter he had chartered. It had all seemed simple enough. Move antiques from Point A to Point B. Of course, moving ANYTHING through the Heracles Sector was dangerous, and he was now kicking himself for not paying for an escort.

His wife, Anna, climbed in behind him. "Aurin?" she asked.

"It's okay, hon," he said. He turned to the captain. "Right?"

"Folks, I think you better go back and sit down," the captain told them nervously. Looking up, they saw the two ships move toward them. Aurin gulped.

Then, from above, there came... something else.

The something swooped down and connected with the lead ship, latching onto it like an osprey grabbing a fish from a mountain stream. Then, rolling to the left, it released! The pirate ship went spinning out of control until it hit a nearby asteroid, crashing on the pockmarked surface.

The other pirate ship, spooked by the sudden, ferocious attack, turned on its axis and hit the afterburners. A few moments later, the ship flashed as its FTL drive kicked in.

An image of a visored maroon helmet suddenly appeared on their screen.

"Are you guys okay?" the helmeted person asked.

"Yes," Aurin said, breathing more slowly without realizing it. "Thank you."

"WE ROCKED THEIR F'IN WORLD! WOOT!" they heard in the background.

The helmet nodded at them. "Can you make it to a safe port on your own?"

The captain nodded. "Yes, thank you very much," Aurin replied. "Miss..."

"Er... 'Miss' will do okay," the helmet replied. "You guys be careful now, okay?"

"Thank you!" Anna yelled through to them.

The image disappeared.

"What was that?" Anna asked her husband. "Was it a GP ship? Jurains?"

Aurin just shook his head. "I don't know."

Mihoshi hit the button that raised her visor and pulled the helmet off. "Whew!"

"Where did you learn to do THAT!" Lina asked.

The blonde giggled. "Watching the hawks near Tenchi's lake."

Lina could only shake her head. "How did you get a reputation for trashing spaceships flying like that?"

Mihoshi put her finger to her lip in thought. "I guess from flying like that!" She grinned. "You're pretty lucky, huh!"

The computer shook her head some more.

"Let's go home!"

The alarm clock kicked off the morning with some CCR, and Mihoshi showed her appreciation by slapping the snooze button.

The noise didn't stop, however. She opened her eyes and found Kiyone adjusting her uniform. She looked a question at her partner.

"Get up," Kiyone ordered her. "We're going to work."

"But it's our off day," Mihoshi whined.

Kiyone threw a crumpled uniform top at the blonde. "I just got a call from HQ. Apparently, some antique dealers had a close call last night and someone rescued them."

"So?" Mihoshi asked.

"So it wasn't us, and it wasn't the Jurains."

"So?"

"So they want us to take a statement and check it out."

Mihoshi sighed. "Okay," she grumbled.

Mihoshi sipped her tea and listened as the two, Aurin and Anna, told their story to Kiyone, who was vigorously taking notes. They were a nice old couple. She thought they LOOKED like antique dealers.

"And then what happened?" Kiyone asked.

"Well," Aurin continued, "the two ships circled around on us again, and Anna came up to the bridge. I think the captain knew we were done for. He was about to order us downstairs again, when it appeared."

"When what appeared?" Kiyone asked.

Aurin held his hands in the air, trying to find words to describe it. "I don't know," he finally said.

"Was it a ship?"

"It was..."

"Please understand, Detective," Anna interjected. "We're not crazy. It's just that... whatever it was... It was like I could only see it in my peripheral vision. I know it sounds crazy, but my eyes just couldn't focus on it. It was just a gray... something!"

Kiyone tapped her pen against the pad while Mihoshi sipped some more tea. "'A gray... something...'" she repeated.

Aurin huffed and continued. "So, this gray thing drops out of the sky... like a hawk! And grabs the first ship!" He made motions with his hands to demonstrate. "Then it turned like this and sent it flying into an asteroid!"

Anna nodded. "The other ship got scared and ran."

Kiyone blinked. "It took on two fighters... and didn't fire a shot?"

They nodded.

"I see."

"Do you have any idea what it was, Detective?" Anna asked.

The GP woman paused for a second longer than really necessary before standing up. "No," she said. "But we'll keep a look-out for it." She offered them her card. "If you remember anything else, please give us a call."

Anna took the card. "If you do find it, you should give it a medal. That ship saved our lives."

Kiyone only smiled and headed toward the door.

Mihoshi stood up and put her tea cup down. She reached out and shook Aurin's hand. "Thank you for the tea," she said simply.

Suddenly, Aurin's grip on her hand intensified. Mihoshi looked up at him, startled to find recognition in the man's eyes. For a moment, her heart fluttered in her chest as she was sure he was about to say something that would land the blonde in jail.

Instead, he looked her right in the eye and said, "No, Detective. Thank YOU."

He released her hand. Anna was smiling at her now.

She smiled back. "You're very welcome."

With that, she turned and walked out the door.

"So what do you think?" Kiyone asked her pointedly.

Mihoshi shrugged. "Maybe they dreamed it."

"Uh huh," Kiyone uttered noncommittedly. "I guess they must have," she agreed. "Flying like that would have required some pretty advanced technology."

Mihoshi sweatdropped. "Yeah, I guess so."

Kiyone walked past her toward the Yagami. "Guess I'll just have to keep my eyes open."

"You mean 'we,' right?" Mihoshi asked.

Kiyone didn't answer.

Mihoshi walked into the shrine and up Lina's stairs. The computer's dome was waiting for her there.

"So what's it gonna be tonight?" Lina asked her. "Checkers or Texas Hold'Em?"

The blonde walked past her and sat down in the pilot's chair, looking down at the control board.

"Um... Mihoshi?"

"We can do this," Mihoshi muttered.

"Sure we can," Lina agreed. "I downloaded the rules for Hold'Em off the net. It's pretty easy, actually."

"No, not that," the blonde told her, swinging around to face her. "I got to meet those people we saved today."

"Oh yeah?" Lina asked.

Mihoshi nodded. "You should have seen the look they had, Lina."

"Must have been cool," the computer agreed. "So, checkers or cards?"

"And we can keep going."

"Huh?"

Mihoshi smiled brightly. "We can go rescue more people!"

The computer paused. "Isn't that the GP's job?"

"Not in the Heracles Sector," Mihoshi pointed out. "In there, it's no one's job."

Lina sighed. "Look, Mihoshi, I think it's great that you want to help, but weren't you the one saying we'd get caught?"

"And weren't you the one saying we wouldn't?" the blonde replied. "Lina, we can really help people here." She frowned. "Remember what Kiyone said? You're no good to anyone in a million pieces, well you're also no good to anyone hiding in here."

Lina thought on this for a moment, then looked up. "Do I get to hurt people?"

"Tons!" Mihoshi cried.

The computer arched an eyebrow. "Let's roll."

"Glorious!" She clapped her hands in delight.

Then ran into the back to put on her flight suit.

Next episode:

While patrolling the Heracles Sector, Mihoshi and Lina pick up a transmission from a downed ship. Setting down, Mihoshi meets Bill Zee, a space pirate long thought dead. Marooned for eight years on the planet with only the weakest of transmitters, Zee fought every day for survival. Now with the arrival of Mihoshi and the sure promise of prison waiting for him, Zee tries to steal Lina and maroon Mihoshi. All in the next episode of "Starhawk," "The Hunted."