Star Trek: Pioneer

Starring Tenchi Masaki as Captain James Jean-Luc Tenchi

Washu Hakubi as Science Officer Washu

Ryoko Hakubi as the Space Pirate Ryoko

Ayeka Masaki Jurai as Lt. Commander Lydia Ayeka

Sasami Masaki Jurai as Midshipman Sherry Lynn Sasami

Mihoshi Kuramitsu as Lt. Barbie Mihoshi

Kiyone Makibi as Tactical Officer Cassandra Kiyone

Katsuhito Masaki as Doctor Katsuhito Yosho

Ryo-oh-ki as Ensign Whiskers

Tenchi Muyo and all related characters are © AIC/Pioneer. Star Trek and all related material are © Paramount Studios. This story has been written solely for entertainment. The views expressed herein do not necessarily express the opinions of AIC/Pioneer, the author, or this website.

Based on "Star Trek" created by Gene Roddenberry

And "Tenchi Muyo" created by Masaki Kajishima

Dagger of the Brain

By Galaxy1001D

Chapter Three: Meet Doctor Clay

"Come on, Ryoko," Captain James Tenchi chided. "You can't put this off forever. It's for your own good you know."

The beautiful Burchardian hugged herself and refused to leave the elevator. "I'm just not ready, Tenchi."

"You've had plenty of time to get ready," Tenchi scolded. "You've been treating the Pioneer as your own private cruise ship. You've got to do your time or you'll be on the run forever!"

"You're just trying to get rid of me," Ryoko whined. "You don't want me around so you're going to throw me in prison and forget all about me." The fearsome pirate seemed more like a frightened child on her first day of school than the scourge of the space ways.

"No I'm not!" the young starship captain insisted. "I'm trying to clear your record so you can rejoin society! So you can have a future!"

"You didn't say 'so we could have a future,'" Ryoko sighed sadly.

"We aren't going to have a future if you keep escaping all the time!" Tenchi warned her. "For crying out loud, if you keep breaking out and chasing me down they're going to think I'm an accomplice!"

"That's okay, isn't it?" Ryoko asked hopefully. "We could go on the run together, just you and me! Wouldn't that be wonderful? The galaxy would be our playground, just the two of us!"

"Get serious," Tenchi put his hands on his hips. "If you'd just grow up and take responsibility for your actions just once in your life, you wouldn't be a wanted criminal."

"You don't want me!" Ryoko strode out of the elevator to glare at Tenchi. "You just want to throw me in jail! Where they will lock me up forever!"

"How many times to I have to explain this?" Tenchi sighed irritably. "Gehenna Two is a modern penal colony. They're not prisons like they used to be! I've visited these rehab colonies. They are clean, decent hospitals for sick minds! Honestly, they're more like…resorts, than prisons these days."

"Are you saying my mind is sick?" Ryoko growled and made a fist.

"You tell me," Tenchi crossed his arms and refused to be intimidated. "You promised me last time that you wouldn't escape from the ship that was transporting you to Tantalus Colony, and what did you do?"

Now it was Ryoko's turn to cross her arms. "I got to Tantalus Five, didn't I?"

"You were only down there for ten minutes!" Tenchi exclaimed. "You assaulted a guard, hijacked the Masaki, and forced the crew to take you to Rigel!"

"No one got hurt did they?" Ryoko spread her arms out wide to emphasize her point. "The ship and crew were released unharmed right? No harm, no foul!"

"That's not the point!" Tenchi insisted. "You've got to cure these criminal impulses of yours! With your powers, you could get yourself into so much trouble! You have got to learn to control yourself, set boundaries. Now let's go, Doctor Clay is waiting for us."

"Us?"

"That's right," Tenchi nodded, "I'm beaming down with you. There's no point leaving you there if you're not going to stay. I want to take a good look at the facility and what it has to offer. I want to make sure that this rehab colony can help you. It's like…picking a doctor."

Ryoko clasped her hands together and smiled as tears formed in her golden eyes. "That's so sweet!" she gushed as she threw her arms around him. "Oh, Tenchi, you really do care about me!"

"Yes," Tenchi sighed, "I do. Heaven help me. Let's go."

It was a short walk from the elevator to the transporter room. Tenchi had ordered the hallway clear of traffic ahead of time to make sure Ryoko wouldn't accidentally hurt anyone if she panicked and bolted.

The doors to the transporter room hissed open and Tenchi and Ryoko entered to find Ayeka, Sasami, and Kiyone waiting for them.

"It's about time," First Officer Lydia Ayeka huffed. "We were afraid that something happened to you!"

"It's all right, Ayeka," Tenchi assured her, "as you can see, Ryoko has agreed to go along peacefully."

"Sorry we took so long, Princess," Ryoko mocked, using her pet name for the wealthy Jurian, "We had to freshen up after we made love."

Ayeka's pale face became as red as Kiyone's uniform as her eyes betrayed her shock. "M-made…l-love? Ooh!" The executive officer clenched her fists and took a deep breath. "You! You just don't know how to stop, do you?"

Ryoko burst out laughing. "That's funny! That's what Tenchi said on his third orgasm!"

Tenchi wanted to crawl away and die. He glanced over to see Kiyone putting her hands over Midshipman Sasami's virgin ears. "Okay, cut it out, let's go."

"Wait a second," Ayeka looked around. "Where's Noike? Isn't the ship's psychiatrist beaming down with you?"

Tenchi continued to blush. "Um, no. She, uh, isn't feeling well."

"Isn't feeling well?" Ayeka repeated. "What's wrong with her?"

"Er um," Tenchi looked away. "Emotional distress."

"What?" Kiyone let go of Sasami's ears in shock, "but she's a Vulcan!"

"What can I say?" Ryoko grinned. "Ryoko, one. Shrink, zero!"

"I guess being stuck in a room with you would give anyone a nervous breakdown," Ayeka sniffed haughtily.

"What did you say?" Ryoko growled. The two women clenched their fists and growled at each other. Tenchi imagined he could see lightning bolts crackling between the two women's eyes.

"Okay, that's enough you two!" He scolded, using his 'command voice'. "Ryoko, either you get on the transporter right now, or you're beaming down alone. I mean it!"

"Humph!" Ayeka and Ryoko closed their eyes and turned away from each other simultaneously.

Ryoko stepped past the first officer to address Tenchi. "Okay, capo, I'll get on the transporter, but only one condition: Ya gotta hold my hand!" The sexy space pirate extended her dainty hand.

"What?" Tenchi backed away in surprise.

"You know I'm afraid of the transporter," Ryoko whined with false sweetness. "The thought of my molecules being taken apart and put back together is terrifying!"

"What are you talking about?" Ayeka put her hands on her hips. "You can teleport by yourself, without the use of a transporter, for crying out loud! You just want to get under my skin don't you? Well, I'm not going for it, humph!" The purple-haired first officer crossed her arms closed her eyes and looked away from the cyan-haired space pirate.

"Okay," Tenchi sighed, "I'll hold your hand. Anything to prevent World War Four, now can get onto the transporter, please?"

"What?" Ayeka gasped in horror.

"Oh Tenchi," Ryoko gasped huskily. "Anything for you," she winked cheekily. "Anything."

Although Ryoko appeared to be baiting his first officer, Tenchi suspected that she was afraid that the young captain would jump off the transporter pad at the last moment and abandon her. Steeling himself against his newly acquired transporter phobia, he clasped her open hand. He had to teach Ryoko to trust again, or she was doomed.

Kiyone sighed in relief. It looked like she wouldn't have to use the phaser she had brought, just in case.

"Okay," called a happy and oblivious Sasami. "Get on the little circles, you two!" She stepped behind the control pedestal to operate the controls. The juvenile midshipman spoke into a hidden microphone on her panel. "Pioneer to Gehenna Two, we are ready to beam down prisoner and escort. We are requesting deactivation of the security shield."

"Acknowledged, Pioneer," a female yet emotionless voice responded, "We are lowering the security shield. You are clear to transport the prisoner."

Ryoko squeezed Tenchi's hand tightly, causing him to wince in pain. He caught himself and smiled reassuringly at her. Trembling, she bravely smiled back.

Despite his brave front, Tenchi still felt uneasy as he looked at the tiny transporter officer. She was so little that she had to stand on a stepstool to activate the controls. All he could see was her little head with her wide pink eyes and her hair in long blue ponytails. The rest of the little cadet was hidden behind the podium.

Tenchi took a deep breath and steeled himself for another beam down. It wasn't Sasami's fault that he was stuck in a teenage body. She wasn't even a member of his crew when it happened. Despite the cadet's youth and inexperience, there had never been a single transporter malfunction on her watch.

Energize," he ordered with false bravado. Now Tenchi could see her tiny little hands darting across the controls.

The transporter room vanished, and a harsh wind blew against Tenchi's face. Looking around, he could see that they were atop a pinnacle of stone protruding out of a rocky chasm that was reminiscent of Earth's Grand Canyon. A whitish sun illuminated a blue sky. In the center of the flat and level top of the natural tower he was standing on was a metallic hut that featured an elevator door. The surroundings seemed barren. Empty. Lonely. He was all alone!

"Ryoko!" he shouted, completely losing his 'captain voice' and falling into his 'little kid voice'.

Ryoko shimmered into view next to him. "What is it? I was just having a look around. What? Did you think that I was trying to run away or somethin'?"

"Er…no," Tenchi chuckled self-consciously, "of course not." He smiled and extended his hand.

"Oh," Ryoko blushed as the young captain held her hand. She was so flustered that she didn't notice him lead her into the elevator inside the metallic hut. At least not until the elevator doors shut and the elevator car plummeted deep into bowels of the earth. "Oh!" She stumbled and fell into Tenchi's arms.

As the car dropped the captain and the pirate hugged each other and glanced around fearfully. "We sure are dropping quite a distance," Tenchi murmured, his voice betraying his uneasiness.

Suddenly, the doors hissed open to reveal a relatively pleasant reception room. The walls were painted in soothing pastel colors and the rug was a drab but pleasant hue. Tenchi and Ryoko stumbled out, gladly to be free of the elevator.

"Welcome to Gehenna Colony," a slim pale woman greeted with all of the warmth of a Vulcan depressant. Her eyes stared vaguely in their direction but did not seem to register them, as if they were not there or beneath notice. "Doctor Clay is waiting for you. I understand that you wished to speak with him Captain Tenchi."

"Why yes," Tenchi eyed the woman warily. Her colorless face and raven black hair matched her lifeless demeanor and made her seem like an animated corpse. "I just wanted to inspect the facility before leaving Ryoko here. I want to make sure that she'll get the best possible care while she's here."

"Yeah," Ryoko nodded. "If you can't give me a clean bill of health, I'll take my business elsewhere."

"Of course," replied the woman without reaction to the unheard of practice of the prisoner choosing the prison. "Walk this way, then." The icy and distracted woman walked stiffly to a door that slid open at her approach. Ryoko followed, mimicking the frigid woman's rigid movements almost perfectly. Tenchi sighed and followed them.

"I told you, Tenchi," Ryoko murmured out of the corner of her mouth. "Places like these turn you into zombies."

"Maybe she was adopted by Vulcans," Tenchi whispered back, but deep in his heart he didn't believe it. He wondered if he should call Starfleet Command and request permission to take Ryoko to another penal colony, or keep his mouth shut and wait for her to escape again.

"Doctor Clay will see you now," said the vacant woman as she gestured to a door. "This way."

Tenchi entered the room to see an extravagant chamber decorated with exquisite sculptures of naked women in erotic poses. His heart fell into his shoes when he realized that Gehenna Two had as much chance of treating Ryoko's criminal tendencies as the Romulans had of joining the Federation.

"Welcome," rumbled a deep and menacing voice, "do come in and make yourselves at home." Seated behind a large mahogany desk was an elderly man dressed in red robe with a dark blue high collar. The figure wore a hat of the same azure hue that was marked with red disk with a yellow glyph in it. Gargoyle seemed to be the best word to describe the man, despite the fact that he appeared to be a basic human type. It was hard to tell. His large lumpy hat seemed to be concealing ridges on his forehead that was common amongst Klingons and many other humanoids of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. Despite being only as tall as Tenchi himself, he seemed much larger since he was so fat that his body looked like a children's toy. His snow-white hair and beard was curled at the bottom like royalty on a playing card. Beneath his snowy white eyebrows was a single predatory eye and a black crystal in his left eye socket that looked like a lump of coal. His large cruel lips parted to reveal jagged and pointed teeth as he grinned. "Welcome to Gehenna Two. I am Doctor Clay. Please, have a seat," he added, gesturing to two plain but comfortable seats that were placed before his massive desk.

"A-heh-heh-heh," Tenchi chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck as he and Ryoko sat down. Doctor Clay was so grotesque that it was hard to take him seriously. His appearance would be more appropriate for an inmate than a physician or administrator. "Hello there," the boy stammered awkwardly. "We called in advance. This is the space pirate, Ryoko. She'll be staying here for while."

"I decided to turn myself in," Ryoko added, determined to have a say in her destiny. "I want to pay my debt to society so I can start over."

"Really," Clay's bushy brows rose in surprise. "It's not everyday that one of our inmates arrives of her own free will. How very unusual," he leered at Ryoko. "Tell me, what has happened recently that made you embark on such a radical change?"

"I met Tenchi," Ryoko's eyes became misty as she smiled affectionately at the underage starship captain, "and he changed my life!" She leaned in his direction and put her arms around him. "I want to be a part of his life and travel the universe with him, but there's no room in his life for a dangerous criminal. The judge said he'd reduce my sentence if he received proof that I'm cured of my criminal impulses." She let go of the squirming boy and leaned forward to Clay with her sweetest coquettish look. "C'mon Doc, can't you find some way to help me?"

"Hmm," the doctor put steepled his fingers together in an attempt at a thoughtful look, but the predatory smirk on his craggy face spoiled the effect somewhat. "That is a knotty problem," he agreed. "You realize that in order to receive treatment, you'll have to stay with us a while, correct?"

"Yes," Ryoko looked down at the floor, "I suppose that's right. And Tenchi will travel far away from me…"

"Yes," Doctor Clay nodded, "and Tenchi will go far away. What a pity. It is too bad that Captain Tenchi couldn't stay here while you were undergoing your treatment. Why with his influence we could shave years off your sentence and give a clean bill of mental health in no time!"

"Yeah!" Ryoko exclaimed. She looked at Tenchi with pleading eyes. "Tenchi, could you stay here with me? I'd really appreciate it, and I promise not to escape."

Tenchi couldn't believe this conversation was happening. "What? Of course not! What about my ship? My career? Do you really expect me to stay here until you're completely legit? You've got to be out of your mind!"

"Duh," Ryoko put her hands on her hips. "That's why we're here."

"Now wait a minute!" Tenchi rose from his chair. "Doctor Clay, you're not serious! Why did you put that ridiculous idea into her head?"

"Oh, but Captain, I am serious," Clay deep voice rumbled. "I'm ashamed of you, abandoning Ryoko in her time of need. You aren't just trying to get rid of her are you?"

"No of course not!" Tenchi's feet seemed to be backing up to the door on their own accord. "What kind of talk is that?"

"It's true!" Ryoko cried. "Look at you! You are trying to get away from me!"

"Ryoko!" Tenchi scolded. "Look, this is for your own good! I didn't commit all those crimes, you did! I don't belong in a penal colony, you do!"

Ryoko leapt to her feet to confront the captain. "Oh, so it's my fault, huh?" she growled. "Think you're better than me, do 'ya?"

Tenchi did his best to backpedal. "Ryoko, you've spent your entire life thinking only of yourself. You've got to think of others if you want to be a 'we' instead of a 'me', you know?"

"I know," Ryoko nodded. "I want us to be a 'we'. Is that so bad?"

"Apparently so," Clay rose to his feet, although Tenchi doubted that the obese doctor had seen them him years. "Your young captain seems to be desperate to abandon you. Strange since nearly all of your tendencies towards responsibility and social belonging seem to be nurtured by his presence."

"Yeah," Ryoko nodded. "Why do you want to get away from me, anyhow? I thought you wanted me to go straight."

"I do, Ryoko!" Tenchi assured her. "It's just that I can't stay here with you, that's all!"

"Oh, but you can," Clay uttered quietly. Soon the room became as silent as a tomb. "You can stay with us for a very long time. I've made arrangements…"

"Arrangements?" Tenchi gasped.

"Why yes," the rotund doctor raised his voice. "Zero! Won't you come in here for a minute?"

"Of course, Doctor," the pale icy woman entered through the door that Tenchi was backing to.

"Show our visitors your true appearance will you?" Clay smiled with feigned boredom.

"Of course, Doctor," repeated Zero as her face began to melt. Her entire body seemed to become liquid and change color. When it solidified again she didn't even appear human.

A brown plastic figure floated less than an inch off the floor where the woman had been. It didn't even have legs, just a slender cylinder where they should have been. Its arms didn't even have hands, they just ended in brown plastic stubs. Its head was a circular screen or sensor. That was all. Where the woman's chest had been was a yellow disk with the same glyph that was on the doctor's hat.

"Remarkable isn't it?" smirked the diabolical doctor. "I found it in some underground ruins on Exo Three. It proved quite compatible with the cellular metamorphosis technology of the inhabitants of Antos Four. It can mimic the form of any humanoid in the galaxy right down to the smallest detail. Don't worry, Captain. I don't think that your crew will miss you. You can stay here as long as you like. Ha-ha-ha!"

"Oh Tenchi!" Ryoko hugged the captain's arm. "I'm so happy!"

Tenchi could only gaze in horror as the robot melted and reformed itself to become his mirror image.

Next: What Are Little Boys Made Of?