Chapter 1

A Ship, Her Captain and Crew

The turbo lift doors whooshed open, and Ranma stepped inside. He took a breath as he reveled in the silence that followed when the doors shut behind him, closing off the noisy techno babble from the bridge.

"Engineering." He said. The lift beeped and began to move down. He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to picture Vegeta in his head. The snarling evil man that appeared in his mind made Ranma snap his eyes back open.

God, I hope not! He thought. The lift slowed and came to a stop. The readout showed that he was on deck twelve. Another quick study of the display showed that transporter room two was on that deck. The doors opened.

The man on the other side of the doors looked into the lift. He snapped to attention immediately.

"Captain." The man said. He was about a foot and a half shorter than Ranma, but his build would impress the most sinister of men.

"At ease," Ranma said. The man relaxed and walked into the turbo lift. Ranma looked him over quickly out of the corner of his eye as the lift resumed towards engineering. He had short dark blonde hair, and no beard or moustache. He was wearing a tight black t-shirt and camouflage army pants. At his side was a type II phaser.

Security? Nah! He'd be in uniform. He was wearing a com badge, and Ranma noted the three pips he'd placed in a row just below his right shoulder. He decided to talk.

"What's your name, Commander?"

"Steven, sir. Steven Stoltz. Computer, battle ops."

Beep-beep

"Well, Commander Stoltz. You look a bit out of uniform."

"Yes sir," Steven acknowledged. "The nature of my duties makes the uniform optional."

Ranma frowned a bit, confused. "And what are your duties?"

"My Starfleet commission is active, but I am also the leader of the Wildcards, the Special Forces unit assigned to the Wildstar."

Ranma almost groaned. Military?! His Pops had to be joking.

"I see. How long is your team's tour on board?"

"The duration of the Wildstar's mission, Captain."

Ranma nodded. "Very well then. I'll be calling a meeting of the senior staff in about five hours for mission briefing. Bring your department heads with you."

"Aye, sir."

The lift slowed to a stop on the engineering deck, and Ranma stepped out. He turned back to Steven before the doors closed. "Good to meet you, Commander."

Steven nodded as the doors shut, and Ranma turned to walk towards main engineering.

Vegeta nodded slowly as he looked over the padd that one of the engineers handed him. He passed it back with approval and stepped over to the intermix controls where Dana was busily plugging away at ratios and mathematical equations. He crossed his arms as he turned and leaned against the console.

"They're doing much better now." He said, nodding approval as he looked around his fine tuned engineering crew.

Dana grinned. "Probably because you put the fear of God into them that the captain might actually castrate those that slacked off."

Vegeta laughed openly. "Yes, I guess I did that, didn't I?"

Vegeta's line of vision was focused on the entrance to main engineering. He could feel someone approaching the doors, and he was semi-surprised when he felt himself gulp in anticipation.

Dana looked up at him with a bit of shock. "Are you nervous?!"

Vegeta looked down at her. "Don't be foolish! Of course I'm not nervous."

The doors swooshed open, and Vegeta darted back to his feet, a yelp almost passing his lips.

Dana chuckled. "No, you're not fucking nervous at all!"

"Shut up!" Vegeta muttered under his breath. The man walking in had four pips on his collar. Vegeta took in a deep breath and walked towards him.

"Captain Saotome," he called. Ranma's eyes shifted to look at Vegeta. He changed direction and walked towards him. The two met up close, and Ranma held out his hand. In true warrior fashion, Vegeta wrapped his hand around Ranma's wrist. It only took a split second for Ranma to do the same, and the two shook arms.

"Commander Vegeta, I presume."

Vegeta nodded. He noted that Ranma immediately looked around the engine room, his gaze flashing from one worker to the next.

Good! Vegeta thought. At least I know he's not an idiot!

Ranma's eyes rested on the final worker, and then he turned to look back at Vegeta with a single nod.

"Your team is very well organized, Commander! I'm impressed!"

Vegeta grinned immediately. He knew it! Of course they were the best! He would settle for nothing less. Sure, they had made a slip up or two, but after pulling nearly a week's worth of double shifts, such was expected.

"Thank you, Captain." Vegeta chuckled. Ranma motioned for Vegeta to step into the chief engineer's office. Vegeta lead the Captain there, and the doors shut behind them.

The two stood in front of the desk. Ranma leaned back against it casually, and Vegeta snickered in his head. I think I'm gonna like this guy!

"Listen, Commander," Ranma said plainly. "I'm going to tell you what I told my first officer. I'm green under the collar. I had nine months with the rank of commander, and then went through intensive training and was given a commission. I've never served a tour of duty on a starship as a command officer. I know that you and he are the only two qualified to really run the show, so rather than try to come up to your level, I hope that you will aid me as much as possible while I learn the ropes."

Vegeta was gawking. Did his captain just… admit Vegeta was better than him?!

"You want me to tell you how to do your job?" Vegeta's monotone reply came.

Ranma chuckled. "Not on your life, mister! I'll figure that part out eventually. I just need you and Commander Goku to… well, to be my professors for a bit."

Vegeta nodded once. "You can count on me, sir."

"Good." Ranma approved. "Don't call me sir."

"…Huh?" Now Vegeta was lost.

"I may have the rank, but I definitely don't have the experience, Commander. I'd prefer it if you and Commander Goku would just… Call me Ranma. I'll shake down any one of the lackeys on this ship if they do that, but when it comes to you two… well, I'm not there yet."

Respect immediately poured over Vegeta, and his face melted into admiration. He had wanted his Captain to prove himself, for sure, and maybe the biggest way to do that was to admit that he wasn't capable of doing it at all. Vegeta's hand came out this time, and he held it in front of him with reverence. Ranma clasped his arm again, and they shook.

"Captain," he said. "…Ranma. Welcome aboard the U.S.S. Wildstar!"

They shook one more time, and Vegeta released his arm. He turned and exited the room, hollering at one of his team the second the doors opened.

Ranma chuckled and walked out behind him, heading for the engineering exit. Yes, this might just turn out good after all!

Suck on it, Oyaji!

Three hours had now passed. The maintenance crew had left the bridge forty minutes before, and Ranma was now basking in the glory of its completeness. Goku was down at the helm console, checking over readouts and displays. He nodded approval several times over the last half hour.

Ranma chuckled from his chair as he closed the readout he was analyzing. "You don't tire of this at all, do you Commander?!"

Goku grinned, not looking away from the console. "Absolutely not!"

Ranma nodded. "Good."

"Transporter room two to bridge. The last four officers have beamed aboard, sir."

"Thank you." Ranma replied to the com. "Have them report to the briefing room as soon as they're ready."

"Aye, sir."

Now Goku lifted his head and turned to face Ranma.

"Time to see what kind of a bridge staff we have!" Ranma jumped out of his chair, speaking enthusiastically. Goku smiled, and the two of them headed into the briefing room to prepare.

"Bridge to engineering."

Vegeta snapped his head up from the readout. "Go ahead."

"Commander, the rest of the command officers have beamed aboard. The Captain is holding a briefing of all department heads in the observation lounge in two hours."

Vegeta nodded. "Fine. I'll be there."

The replicator finished producing the pot of tea, and Ranma scooped it up and put it in the middle of the long conference table to complete the preparations. Now there was tea and a few assorted meats and crackers so that they could all get to know each other a little before launch. It was his first command, so he was out to make everyone feel as at home as possible.

"Ready?" he asked Goku, who nodded in reply. The two moved to the far corner of the room where the dim lights concealed their faces in shadow. Ranma wanted to get a look at their faces before they could see his. The doors opened, and a security guard walked in. Ranma watched in silence as the four figures walked into the room. His face melted slowly but surely into utter dismay. The four lined up at the table and noticed the refreshments, while Ranma just reached slowly behind himself for the wall and leaned back against it in shock.

In front of the conference table stood Shampoo, Ryouga, Mousse and Akane.

"…Oh God…" he whispered, the four of them beginning to help themselves to the tea and food and talking to each other a bit.

Goku noted the expression on Ranma's face. "You know them, Captain?"

Ranma gulped. "Yeah… Uhh… listen, go ahead and introduce me. It's… See, I don't expect to be alive in the next five minutes…"

Goku looked a little puzzled, but he shrugged and did as he was told. He stepped out of the shadows, and Ryouga was the first one to notice he was there. He dropped the slice of ham and snapped to attention. The sound of Ryouga's hands hitting his sides brought the other three's heads around to see what was happening. They all snapped at attention as well.

Goku stepped up to them, looking each one over quickly as he went down the line of them. Then, he turned.

"At ease," he said. "I'm Commander Goku." The four relaxed, but stayed facing Goku.

"Commander," Mousse asked. "Where is the Captain? None of us even know who it's going to be."

Akane shot a quick look over to Mousse. Am I the only one that knows?

Goku smiled. "Well that's easy, Commander. He's standing over there."

The four looked over to the corner of a room, where they could see the bottom half of a person leaning against the wall. Akane could barely make out a set of crossed arms. Then something caught her eye, and she smiled slightly. She saw the tip of a pigtail dangling above one of the hands.

As Goku gestured in the shadow figure's direction, it pushed away from the wall and took three steps into the light, arms still crossed.

Ryouga growled. Mousse sighed as Shampoo went nuts and began hopping and clapping eccentrically. Akane just stood there.

"Ranma!" They all said in unison.

Ranma swallowed hard, but managed to keep his arms crossed as he moved his eyes from one to the other. His gaze met Akane's, and his eyes stopped moving, the two of them staring at each other as the group slowly fell silent. There was only one way he knew of to do this, and it would make things very uncomfortable. Finally, he dropped his arms and sighed.

"You all received your postings from my father, I take it?" he asked. All of them except for Akane nodded, but Ranma didn't notice. Ryouga couldn't stop scowling at him. Shampoo's eyes may as well have had stars in them for how much they were glittering with joy. Ranma couldn't see anything behind Mousse's glasses.

"Fu. Figures." Ranma chortled. "Alright, let's get this over with. Rank and position, starting with you, Mousse."

Mousse, who didn't seem to really be as bothered by this as the others, simply nodded. "Lt. Commander. Chief of Security. Bridge station Tactical."

Ranma's eyes switched over to Shampoo. She sighed deep. "Wo Ai Ne…"

Goku cleared his throat. Akane glared at the Amazon. Mousse sighed heavily. Shampoo blinked, then quickly straightened and answered. "Shampoo Commander. Chief of Operations."

Ranma looked over at Ryouga, who was still snarling. "Lt. Commander. Helm." Was all he said. Ranma tripped over nothing, hitting the ground with a thud. Everyone in the room raised their eyebrows. Ranma stood up again and straightened his tunic. He pointed a single finger at Ryouga. "Don't get us lost leaving space dock." He joked. Ryouga just snarled louder.

Ranma sighed. "Alright, the three of you can man your stations and continue departure preparations. We'll have a briefing here in an hour and a half."

Mousse nodded and began to wave the other two out the door, since they didn't seem very inclined to leave on their own. A moment passed by, and all that remained in the briefing room were Goku, Ranma and Akane.

"Commander," Ranma looked over at Goku. "Could you give us a moment alone, please?"

Goku nodded once and escorted the security guard out the door.

Ranma stood staring at Akane for a few long seconds before he cleared his throat and spoke.

"Hi… Akane. So what posting did my father give you?"

Akane's eyes shook a little. "CMO." She answered shortly.

Ranma put his arms back behind his head. He thought for a moment, then continued.

"Listen, Akane… I know you don't… like me very much so… if you don't want to be here… well, you don't have to be."

Akane glared at Ranma. If her eyes had been a phaser, he'd be vaporized a hundred times over.

"And what gives you the right to assume any of that?!"

Ranma blinked, then went on the defense. "Hey! I'm just trying to be considerate of your feelings here, OK?"

"Well do me a favor and DON'T!"

"FINE!"

"FINE!"

"GOD, you are SO uncute!"

"Ranma, you JERK!" With a swing of her fist, Ranma flew into the back wall with a bang. He watched in silence as Akane stormed out of the room. The doors swept open to let her out. On the other side was Vegeta, who was about to step into the lounge.

"Get the fuck out of my way!" Akane snarled.

Vegeta, eyes wide with a deeply hidden fear of a woman's wrath, stumbled back a few steps and made room for her to walk down the corridor. He shook his head in disbelief as he walked into the lounge. He looked at Ranma, who was flat against the wall. Behind his back, Vegeta could see the titanium bulkhead was cracked.

"…Holy shit…" he mused. He pointed a finger in the direction of the door. "Friend of yours?"

Ranma peeled himself off the wall with a grunt and brushed his tunic down.

"Fiancé." He replied. Vegeta's eyes got bigger.

"You're engaged to THAT?!"

Ranma nodded.

"You sly fox!" Vegeta grinned. "A warrior's bride, to be sure! Not many women left in the galaxy can frighten me, but her eyes…"

"Vaporize you on the spot. I know. What's on your mind, Vegeta?" Ranma was twisting his shoulder a little.

Vegeta blinked as he remembered why he had come to the lounge in the first place. "Ah. That's right. I need to schedule a meeting with the department heads some time after we launch. There're a lot of new toys on this girl since the Sovereign class, and many of them haven't been drafted into the Starfleet training manuals yet."

Ranma nodded. "Officer thinking, Vegeta. Schedule the meeting for whenever you'd like it. I'll let everyone know."

Vegeta nodded back. "Seventeen hundred, then." He cast his eyes once more to the cracked bulkhead. Shaking his head a few times, he chuckled and headed for the door.

"You have a strong woman, Ranma! I like her already!" Then he was out the door and gone.

Ranma sighed into a chair. He decided to stay in the lounge until someone from the bridge called him out. At least he knew he'd be safer there. Then he remembered something, and he turned and hit the com switch on the table.

"Commander Hibiki, please come to the Observation Lounge."

"On my way." Ryouga's voice growled back over the intercom.

"I can't believe that jerk!" Akane was unpacking her desk collection in sickbay. "The least he could have said was 'It's nice to have you on board' or something! But no! Instead, he offers me a transfer within the first thirty seconds!"

She sighed into her chair. "Ranma, you dummy. Your dad didn't give me this assignment. I asked for it."

There was a knocking sound on the glass. Akane looked up into the face of a man in a medical uniform. He smiled, and Akane waved him in as she stood and held out her hand.

"I'm Lt. Commander Michael McCoy," the man stated, taking Akane's hand and shaking it.

"Commander Akane Tendo, CMO." She replied.

"You're my boss, then!" The man exclaimed. "Great! I just want you to know that I'm here for you if you need me. We also have two nurses on staff. Lt. Kathy Venice, and Lt. Jean Ogawa."

Akane seemed to realize something about the young doctor, and after a moment, she pointed a finger at him.

"Who is your great grandfather, if you don't mind my asking?"

He grinned from ear to ear. "Doctor Lenard H. McCoy!" The man proclaimed.

Akane snapped her fingers with a smile. "I knew it!"

Mousse was looking over the tactical station with pride and approval. Everything seemed to be right where he needed it! The design team certainly wasn't a slacking lot, that was for sure! He ran his hand across the smooth surface of the top of the station, admiring everything about it. For him, there was no greater posting than this! He was the Chief of Security and Weapons officer aboard the new and most powerful starship in the fleet! What an honor!

So Ranma happened to be the Captain. Why should he really let it bug him? One thing he had in his training with Starfleet was time to think about things. That included realizing that, while Shampoo pursued Ranma at every turn, Ranma had no interest whatsoever in being in a relationship with her. Hell, Ranma didn't even love Shampoo! It was for these reasons that Mousse accepted Ranma as his Captain. Besides, he'd been on the receiving end of some of Ranma's more brilliant tactics. He was certain of the fact that Ranma would make a master among captains. In his mind, there was no other warrior in the galaxy that he'd rather sail off into combat with.

Shampoo was humming softly to herself, hitting the occasional button as it was required. The system performed most of the scans itself, so she had little to really do for the moment. She knew, though, that once the ship got flying, things would change. Her console would be the brightest display on the bridge as she managed field and deflector alignments, component temperature controls and, in combat, damage control teams and repair priorities. She made sure everything other than the shields, weapons and engines worked. It was her job to keep all the rest of the starship together and organized. Her console also contained the sciences.

At first, the thought of such a duty had been overwhelming. Once she was deep into the training at Starfleet, however, she found the job to be both mentally challenging and rewarding. It kept her on her toes, and she knew at the end of each shift that the ship hadn't gone to hell because of what she had been working on all day long. Then there was the fact that Ranma was Captain! Oh, how happy she had been when she saw him. In the back of her mind she just knew that Ranma would soon give in to her, and they could be happily married AND working on the same ship! It was perfect! Letting Admiral Saotome give her this posting was rapidly becoming the best thing that had ever happened to her.

Ryouga stood at attention beside the table in the observation lounge. He was staring out one of the windows at the inside of the starbase. In the head chair, Ranma sat with his hands folded on the table in front of him.

"Have a seat, Ryouga." Ranma offered.

"No thank you," Ryouga replied.

Ranma made a small sound in disgust. "Sit down, Commander."

"Aye, sir." Ryouga answered, taking his seat. He turned to look at Ranma with disdain. He hated everything about his Captain. This job was going to suck. Ranma fidgeted for a moment in thought, then looked up to Ryouga.

"Listen, Ryouga. I know that you don't like me, but I want you to know that the feeling is not mutual."

Ryouga blinked.

"I know that we've been rivals, and I know that you're interested in Akane. My time away from all four of you has given me ample time to think about things. If Akane chooses you over me, then that is up to her. You need to understand, though, that I never held any interest in Shampoo and still don't. You also need to know that Ukyo and I have been friends since we were little kids, and that's all that I still consider her to be, whether or not she wanted more. And to further ease your mind, I consider Kodatchi to be a crazed bitch who belongs in a mental facility! I'm royally sick of being bashed to a pulp for every time that one of them glomps onto me without asking, just because you or Kuno couldn't be bothered to let me tell you what happened before you started swingin' and punchin'. So here is my final decision. Akane and I are engaged, yes. But if she should choose you, then she may break the engagement if she wants. I'm just sick and fucking tired of being bounced around like a beach ball about the whole thing."

Ryouga was speechless. He continued to stare blankly at Ranma, who was standing up and holding a hand out at him.

"Friends?" Ranma asked, simply. Ryouga shook himself back to reality and looked from Ranma's hand up to his face. There was sincerity there, and Ryouga found himself actually believing him. He reached out his own hand slowly and took Ranma's.

"Truce." He replied. "I'll get back to you about the friend thing."

Ranma gave a single nod. "Fair enough. Thanks, Ryouga."

Ryouga nodded once as well as they released their hands and Ranma sat back down.

"Moving on to my next concern," Ranma continued. "You said that you were my helmsman. I'm gonna be completely and totally honest and say that this worries me."

Ryouga chortled. "You're worried, huh?"

Ranma picked up a padd in front of him. "Your service record. Ahem Service on the U.S.S. Greyhound: Crashed into the Rhode Island while departing spacedock. Pilot reversed instead of going forward. Warped the Greyhound into Romulan space when the course was supposed to be for the Cardassian border. Took away team in shuttle to the wrong planet in the Antares system. Flew shuttle in kilometer wide circles trying to find the Greyhound… I'm not going to continue. There's still another starship on this list yet."

Ryouga grumbled as he fidgeted with his thumbs. "I've improved since then…" he muttered.

Ranma looked long and hard at Ryouga in silence. The weird thing was that he actually believed him. After a few more seconds of silence, he turned a bit in his chair.

"Alright, Commander. In that case, familiarize yourself with every button on your consol before this ship departs. You have an hour to do this before the Wildstar departs spacedock. Can you be ready by then?"

Ryouga was dumbfounded yet again. Ranma had taken his word that he had improved and let it be. He nodded slowly in surprise and reply.

"Thank you, Commander. Dismissed."

Ryouga stood up from the chair at 'dismissed' and headed for the exit.

"Ryouga." Ranma stopped him. Ryouga turned to face a grinning Ranma, who was now standing. "It's good to see you again."

Ryouga thought for a second, then smiled back and headed out the door.

57 minutes later

Captain's Log, Stardate: Launch Date

Final preparations have been completed for launch, and the crew of the Wildstar is now scrambling to bring the main reactor on-line. Once this is done, the Wildstar will make its maiden voyage, and embark on its first mission.

Ranma turned slightly in his chair to look over at Shampoo.

"Time to launch?"

"Launch time 2 minutes, forty seconds."

"Helm," Ranma called to Ryouga. "Bring the impulse reactor on line."

Ryouga gave a single nod as his fingers flew across his console, hitting a few random buttons. Below his feet, Ranma could feel the dull surge of the reactor coming to life. The floor gave a slight little hum, and Mousse looked down at the deck plating with a funny expression.

"FARRAGE!" Vegeta hollered at the top of his lungs as he turned at his station. "The injectors are out of alignment by point 2 microns. FIX IT!"

Engineering was full of scrambling feet. Officers ran back and forth, fixing every little problem that surfaced as the impulse reactor hummed to life.

"Shane-o-mac!" Dana called. "Check the Heisenberg compensators! The core temperature of the secondary impulse reactor is climbing a bit over norm!"

Lieutenant Hoffman nodded quickly as he took off up the ladder to the scaffolding above the warp core and ran to the nearby console.

"Steady…" Vegeta's eyesight wasn't leaving the display before him as he watched the power levels rise.

"Clayton! Prepare to engage the Warp Reactor!" He pointed a finger behind himself, instinctively knowing exactly where the lieutenant was. Clayton acknowledged Vegeta and jetted over to the Warp Core control table.

The screen before Vegeta showed three power lines approaching the optimal line. He felt a grin tickle the corners of his mouth as the hum of the impulse reactor faded away.

"Well done, Lt. Farrage," he called out.

"Commander Jorgensen!" Shane called down from the scaffold. "Heisenberg compensators have been reprogrammed. Temperature in the impulse reactors returning to normal."

"Right on, dude!" Dana replied, not turning from the readout in front of her.

"Engage Warp Reactor!" Vegeta called out. A loud click sounded through engineering, and a thunderous hum emanated from the gigantic tube in the middle of engineering which quickly faded into background noise. Gentle pulsing began, and Vegeta and Dana both turned to look at the Warp Core with a grin. Red pulsed down into the core from the top cylinder, while blue pumped up from the floor to meet it. The Reaction chamber glowed white, and the output tubes surged with power.

"Hah!" Dana exclaimed with joy. "Eat that, technical manual!"

Vegeta chuckled for a moment. "That'll teach them for telling me I can't do a cold start on a Type F12 Reactor!"

The enthusiasm that I've seen all over the ship has simply blown me away, and I'm beyond pleased to say that our crew has performed the first recorded Cold Start in history since Captain Kirk almost two hundred years ago. Now our only objective remaining is a silent one that I and most of the bridge crew have been praying over.

"Open hailing frequencies." Ranma called out.

"Channel open." Mousse answered.

"Wildstar to Dock master. Requesting permission to depart."

The com came to life. "Control Tower reading, Wildstar. Permission granted."

"Clear all moorings," Goku called out. Several clicks were heard, and a hiss of releasing pressure sounded through the hull.

"Aft thrusters." Ryouga said, his fingers pressing a few buttons.

Ranma tensed in his seat. Mousse instinctively reached out and grabbed his console. Shampoo ducked down a little, also gripping her console. On the viewscreen before them, the Main Doors of the starbase drifted slowly open, space beckoning to them from the other side. Slowly, the ship began to glide forward, its movement only made known from the image of the starbase moving around them on the screen.

"Nice and easy, Ryouga…" Ranma spoke quietly under his breath.

"I got this." Ryouga replied just as quietly, a small grin growing on his face. "I had two hours to practice this, remember?"

Ranma nodded imperceptibly in response, his eyes glued to the viewscreen before him. The opening of the doors loomed closer and closer. Shampoo took in a breath of air, and a small grunt of anticipation passed Mousse's lips. Goku gave a little chuckle at everyone's unease as the space doors slipped past the sides of the ship.

Ranma could've sworn he heard the 'whoosh' of the doors as the Wildstar blew through them gracefully. Outside, the ship sailed away from the starbase and into open space.

Shampoo let her breath out loudly, and Mouse gasped as he released his death grip on the console before him. Ranma hadn't thought about it, but now he could feel sweat clinging to his forehead. With a bit of a smile, he nodded once in Ryouga's direction as Goku handed him a glass of water.

"Better, indeed, Commander!" Ranma took a big gulp of the cool liquid. "Good job."

"Engineering to bridge!" Vegeta's voice blazed over the com.

"Go ahead," Goku replied.

"The Warp Core is on line, Kakarot. Warp speed at your discretion."

"Hah!" Ranma grinned from ear to ear. "Fine work, Commander!"

For the first time in my life, I get the feeling that my Pops may have done something good for me. Sure, I have my doubts about some of my crewmates, but I think that in the end, this ship is going to do me more good than it's going to teach me anything.

"Set course 243 mark 25, Ryouga." Ranma said, looking back and forth from the viewer and his command console. "Warp six. Engage."

Ryouga nodded again. "Aye."

The stars turned a little on the viewscreen, and Ranma found himself leaning forward in his chair. The stars leveled again, and began to rush past the ship at growing speeds as Ryouga's hands flew over his console. The seconds ticked by in slow motion, and at the instant where the thousand megaton starship would have broken the light barrier…

It suddenly slammed to a full stop!

Goku was thrown to the deck. Shampoo and Mousse quickly grabbed at their consoles, avoiding the same fate.

"SON OF A BITCH!" A female voice that was not Shampoo's hollered out. Ryouga turned slowly in his chair with a sheepish grin on his face to see Ranma, now a girl, seated in her command chair with a glass of water tipped over in her lap. She was glaring at Ryouga with half open eyes, her expression blank.

"Commander Hibiki…" she intoned slowly.

"Ah… uh… he heh heh…" Ryouga grinned nervously. "I uh… haven't quite got that part down yet."

He quickly turned back to his console to correct his mistake.

Still, maybe I'm giving Oyaji too much credit on that one. If this keeps up, Ryouga's flying will be the death of us all. And I don't have to tell ya that I won't learn nothin that way!