Chapter One: Ancestry
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Stardate 54782.4
Somewhere near the Neutral Zone…
"Yusuke!"
"Huh?"
"Are you listening to me or not?!"
"Oh…sorry."
Lieutenant Commander Yusuke Himura, chief of security for the U.S.S. Thunderchild, turned his attention back to his best friend, an Andorian by the name of M'aran.
"Anyway, I've got a date for tonight, what about you?"
Yusuke sweatdropped. "Eh…no."
M'aran chuckled. "Too bad. I think she's going to be the one."
"Well, I wish you luck, my friend."
"Heh, thanks. Oh, hey, that's not all I wanted to talk to you about."
Yusuke raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? What else is on your mind?"
M'aran slowly stood up. "Yusuke, how long have we been friends?"
"Three years, give or take a month. Where are you going with this?"
"I've heard from a lot of people that your family used to be famous. You've never said anything to that effect. I'm dying to know, Yusuke-is it true?"
Yusuke gave him a weird look, then sighed. "Famous. 'Infamous' would be a better word, to be honest. You really want to know the story?"
"I'm an Andorian; we see things through to the end."
Yusuke sighed again. "Very well. How familiar are you with old Earth history?"
"Eh, so-so."
"Do you know what was going on in the Japan region during the late 1860's?"
M'aran thought for a few seconds before answering. "That's when the Tokugawa dynasty fell and the Meiji government took over, right?"
"Correct. Well, one of my relatives was part of that revolution. His name was Kenshin Himura. He was an incredible swordsman; in fact, he was so good that he got the nickname Hitokiri Battousai. It means 'Battousai the Man-Slayer.'"
M'aran's eyes widened. "Damn…"
Yusuke chuckled. "Yeah. It's said that he disappeared shortly after the revolution, and then resurfaced. There's not much information on him during that time, even in my family's archives…except, of course, that the family line was continued."
"Hmm…don't take this the wrong way, but I can't tell if you're speaking of him as an honored ancestor or a black sheep."
Yusuke sighed. "In a way, he was both. But…the past is the past. I hope I answered your questions satisfactorily."
M'aran smiled. "It was close enough." He opened his mouth to say more, but was interrupted by the ship's intercom.
"Commander Himura, please report to the bridge."
M'aran sighed. "Well, looks like you're up."
"Guess so," replied Yusuke with a small chuckle. "I'll see you later."
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On the bridge, things were more hectic than usual. Crewmembers were rushing to and fro, giving reports and operating consoles. Yusuke quickly took his station at Tactical.
"Reporting as ordered, Captain Jackson. What's happened?"
The captain turned. "Your classic temporal anomaly, mister."
"Captain, the chronometric flux from the anomaly is at more than 1.75%," said the operations officer.
The first officer raised an eyebrow. "Ooh, a crowd-pleaser."
Yusuke noticed something unusual on his screen. "Captain, there's some fairly heavy particle emissions coming from that thing. I recommend going to yellow alert."
The captain took only a few seconds to respond. "Agreed. Yellow alert, shields up."
"Aye, aye." Yusuke triggered the yellow alert alarm, automatically bringing the shields to full power at the same time.
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Kamiya Dojo, A.D. 1870's
"It looks like a storm's coming in, that it does," said Kenshin as he stared up at the ominously black sky.
Kaoru gulped. "And a nasty one at that. Everybody, get inside, quick!" She literally dragged Kenshin into the dojo, while Sanosuke simply swaggered in.
"It's just a little squall. Nothing to be so worried about," said the ex-fighter-for-hire coolly. "You aren't…scared, are you?"
Kaoru glared daggers at him. "Of course not! The very idea that I would be afraid of a little thunder and-YIKES!!!!!!" A gigantic thunderclap sounded outside, causing Kaoru to clasp her arms around an unprepared Kenshin.
"Oro…?"
"Okay…maybe I am a little afraid-AAH!" Another thunderclap sounded, almost as loud as before. Kaoru squeezed Kenshin even tighter. After a second, Kenshin recomposed himself.
"Miss Kaoru, you need not be frightened of the thunder, that you do not," he said softly.
Kaoru looked up at him. "You…mean it?"
Kenshin smiled. "Of course. For the dangerous aspect of storms is not the thunder, but the lightning! OW!" That was from Kaoru bopping him on the head. "Oro…"
"Oh, thanks a lot! That really makes me feel better!" grumbled Kaoru.
"Hey, I hate to break up this tender moment, but has anybody seen Yahiko?" said Sanosuke.
"Oh, I sent him out to buy a few things and…oh, HELL!" Kaoru gasped. "That was an hour ago!"
"This isn't good. He could be having problems, that he could," said Kenshin. He was about to say something else, but the sudden sound of wind accelerating assaulted all three pairs of ears in the room.
"Damn…it's starting to sound like a typhoon out there," said Sanosuke.
Kaoru bit her lip. "Yahiko…you'd better show up soon…!"
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Aboard U.S.S.
Thunderchild…"Helm, keep us at a fair distance," said the captain. "I don't want us to get pulled into that thing."
"Aye, sir."
Suddenly, a small beeping sound came from Yusuke's console. "Captain, something's happening. The shields are starting to fluctuate."
The captain whipped around. "What?!"
"Confirmed, sir," said the operations officer. "The anomaly is starting to send out chronometric pulses at our ship."
The captain turned back to the front. "On screen…"
The viewscreen switched to a view of a bright blue nebula-like object. Every couple of seconds, a whitish pulse would flare out from it and appear to impact the viewscreen.
"Himura, can you rotate the shield harmonics to compensate?"
Yusuke shook his head. "I'm trying, but it's not having any effect. Shields are down to 80 percent, sir."
The captain sighed. "All right, let's get clear. Helmsman?"
"On it, sir." The helmsman plied his console, but nothing happened.
"Ensign…what is going on?" said the first officer.
"I can't get the warp engines to engage, sir. It makes no sense…!"
Suddenly, the anomaly began to grow intensely brighter, almost to the point of blinding the bridge crew.
"Captain, the emissions from the anomaly have jumped by 300 percent!!" cried the operations officer.
The captain scowled. "What the hell is going on?!"
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Kamiya Dojo
"Hey!"
Everybody turned towards the door of the dojo upon hearing the voice.
"Guys, it's me! I just barely made it!!" It was Yahiko. Everybody quickly rushed out to the door.
"Yahiko, hurry! You have to get inside, that you do!" shouted Kenshin over the din of the wind.
"I'm trying!" Yahiko was advancing very slowly. The wind was blowing against him, severely hampering his progress. All of a sudden, the wind kicked up its speed a notch. "Ah…I can't move! Help me!"
Kaoru gasped, then scowled. "Well!? Get out there and help him!!"
Kenshin sweatdropped for a second, then turned serious. "Hai. Sessha will help you, Yahiko!" He ran out the door…only to be nearly swept off his feet by the intense wind himself. "Whoa…!"
Meanwhile, Kaoru turned her angry gaze on Sano. "Aren't you going to help out?!"
Sanosuke shrugged. "Eh, Kenshin should be able to deal. I'll go if he can't do it alone." Kaoru only sweatdropped in response.
Kenshin, having managed to regain his footing, made his way over to Yahiko. "You will have to take my hand, that you will!" He extended his hand to Yahiko, who quickly grabbed it. "All right, here goes!" Slowly, the two began to move against the fierce wind.
"Kenshin…" said Kaoru softly. "Come on…!"
The rurouni and the boy managed to make it to within a few feet of the dojo entrance.
"Kenshin, here!" Much to Kaoru's surprise, Sano extended his hand out for Kenshin to grab. "I'll pull both of you inside!"
"Arigato!" Kenshin reached out to grab Sanosuke's hand. As he did, something strange happened. A bright blue glow suddenly filled the dojo grounds. Kenshin and Yahiko managed somehow to look up…and saw it. A gigantic blue orb was hovering in the sky above them. The wind also accelerated again, but…it was now pulling Kenshin and Yahiko slowly upward!
"Oh, no!" cried Yahiko. "What do we do, Kenshin?"
Kenshin sighed, and then turned his head towards Yahiko. "I am sorry, Yahiko. I will not make it, that I won't. But…you shall!" With a great effort, he managed to bring Yahiko forward. Before the boy could protest, he was quickly seized by Sano and pulled into the dojo. Just afterwards, Kenshin began rising at an incredible rate towards the orb.
"Kenshin!" cried Kaoru. But it was too late. She watched with horror as the brave rurouni was sucked up into the orb floating in the sky.
"KENSHIN!!!!"
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Author's Note: I always thought it would be cool to have RK meet Star Trek. Phaser on stun, reverse-bladed sword on blunt edge…see the similarity? ^_^;