Four figures materialized in the middle of the Capellan village. As Maab approached them, he took the time to examine the humans.

All of them were pathetically short of course. The fair haired one must be the leader. The older looking one was of course the healer who had come before. A healer! What a dishonorable profession, trying to make the diseased live! The weak deserved to perish, that was just the Capellan way.

The other two in their red costumes must be the guards. Not even worthy of his attention, these puny aliens.

Let's see what they're made of, Maab thought to himself and moved forward to challenge them.

"Halt! You are of the earth vessel?"

The aliens were duly startled, before the leader began to reply "I'm Captain Kirk-"

He was immediately interrupted by the healer, who said "We come with open hearts and hands". Well, that was the proper greeting... but still to interrupt a leader and have him do nothing at all? That sort of thing could get a Capellan killed. These humans were weak, just like his Klingon ally had told him.

Speaking of whom, the earthmen would be noticing Kras any moment now... there, one of the red shirted ones saw him and his eyes went comically wide.

"A Klingon!" he shouted, pointing at Kras with his finger – which Maab thought was a completely pointless action – before he went for his weapon.

There was always that one guy who just refused to learn, Maab thought, as one of his aides reacted immediately and threw his kligat at the alien. Too bad now this fool will never learn, Maab thought, because a kligat thrown at full force was capable of going right through this puny alien.

Which is why Maab was quite surprised when the other alien simply reached out and caught the kligat mid-flight just fingers-width away from the other man's chest.

Now Maab took a good look at the fourth member of the aliens' team. He was even smaller than the rest of them and looked young enough to be a mere boy; but now Maab looked in his eyes and saw for the first time the look of a real warrior. He might be small, but he had the look of one who is bigger than everyone else.

Everyone else took out their kligats and were ready to throw, and this man was not even intimidated. He looked ready to catch every other kligat thrown at him – and he looked capable of it too.

Maab raised his hand for his men to hold. The alien who had drawn his weapon put it back in his holster at a hint from the alien who had caught the kligat.

"Who are you, stranger?" Maab asked, addressing the slight alien.

The boy fixed his predatorial gaze at him, freezing Maab in place for a moment, before the alien abruptly broke into a smile, making him look even younger. He casually tossed the kligat away, scratched the back of his head with his hands and said

"I'm Ranma Saotome. Sorry about this."

Nerima, 1990s

Ranma was sorry he had ever asked Nabiki to tell him about Akane. She was gonna tell him anyway, but now she made him pay everything he would conceivably have for the next couple of months. And he had to promise her a photoshoot in both boy and girl forms.

Having paid the price, the news that she delivered itself was bad enough – that Akane had gotten herself kidnapped. Again.

Taking this as a cue, Kuno, Ryouga and Happosai appeared out of nowhere to punish Ranma for this perceived transgression ("RANMA, HOW DARE YOU LET AKANE-CHAN BE KIDNAPPED").

After beating the lot of them, he went back to Nabiki, promised her his firstborn and then she told him what the kidnappers had told her, where to find Akane.

At which point Ranma's 'friends' attacked him right again ("ONLY I MAY HAVE THE PRIVILEGE OF RESCUING AKANE-CHAN!"), forcing Ranma to beat the lot of them right again.

It was hours later that Ranma found himself on a trail that was already growing cold. As he roof-hopped to the warehouse Nabiki had told him about, he knew for certain this was a trap. But Akane's life was in danger and there was only one way to spring the trap. By putting his head right into it.

Saotome Anything Goes Martial Arts Special Technique Probing-Touch-Of-The-Stupid-Coyote.

He should be ready for anything. There's no saying what he would find in this warehouse. All his sense felt on high alert and he felt like he could face anything. He was ready for anything.

He was not ready for the sight of Akane calmly eating dinner with an Indian man.

Ranma Saotome was broken out of his reverie when dinner arrived. After the Capellans had led them into a tent to see the teer, their leader, and Captain Kirk and Dr McCoy had started negotiations while Ranma and Grant had glared at the Capellan soldiers like the bodyguards they were, Ranma's mind had wandered back to those last days in Nerima, just before he was brought to the 23rd century.

Suddenly the negotiations seemed to have concluded – or at the very least, stalled on account of the presence of the Klingon – and a meal had begun.

The strafleet men were escorted to a tent and told that the teer would see them tomorrow. But Ranma just knew that trouble would start much before then.

And he was right. A fight broke out in the middle of the night. Ranma tackled a couple of Capellans and dispatched them with efficiency before he realized the fight was primarily between Capellans and other Capellans. He hesitated, wondering which side he ought to support. Over to the side he saw the Captain tackling the Klingon and rushed to support him, when the Capellan who welcomed them first – Maab – entered and made a proclamation.

"Akaar is dead. I am the teer."

The Klingon rushed to capitalize on the changed circumstances. "Kill them now!", he urged Maab.

"Wait." said the Captain, showing his skill for quickly assessing a changed situation. "If you lead these people, be certain you make the right decisions."

"Is the leader of the Ten Tribes afraid?" taunted the Klingon "Let me kill him for you," he sneered.

"Or let the Klingon and me fight." countered Kirk "It might amuse you."

Ranma had almost protested, insisting that as the unarmed combat expert of the group, he should be the one doing any such fighting. But he realized that countering the Captain at this delicate stage would be taken as a sign of weakness on the part of the Captain, and so he held his silence.

Nevertheless, the Captain's bravado seemed to have impressed Maab. "Perhaps to be a teer is to see in new ways" he said "I begin to like you, earthman, and I saw fear in the Klingon's eye"

The Capellans began to herd the earthmen back to their tent. Ranma met the Captain's eye and silently indicated he could take them if they wanted to make a run for it. But the Captain shook his head slightly, and Ranma would follow the Captain's lead. He's the boss after all.

But as they were being led into the tent, Ranma's sharp hearing picked up the tail end of the conversation of Maab and the Klingon...

"We had an agreement!" the Klingon protested.

"That too may change, Klingon" replied Maab, rather blithely. Power goes to people's head pretty fast, Ranma thought.

Nerima 1990s

Power corrupts, thought Ranma looking at the tableau in front of him.

The man at the head of the table looked like he was a formidable martial artist at one time before he had let himself be corrupted by the decadence of wealth. And yet there was something about him, that gave one an impression of immense power.

Ranma was in the Umi-sen-ken of course, but as soon as he got within sight the man – who was sipping wine and laughing at something Akane had said – suddenly stopped and turned in Ranma's general direction. Then he looked straight at Ranma and said "Hello, Ranma Saotome. My name is Khan. Welcome to my house."