DISCLAIMER: All of the characters and character names from Tenchi
Muyo, TMil, and Shin Tenchi are property of Pioneer and AIC. This
work of fiction is written for fan appreciation only. Please do
not sue me.
__________
NOTES: This work of fan fiction is based in the OAV continuity of
Tenchi Muyo and borrows some elements from Tenchi Universe such as Nagi,
the Yagami, and also borrows from Shin Tenchi Muyo to introducing Yugi,
Sakuya, and Ryu-Ohki's mech form into the story. I have also introduced
some new characters and creations into the mix. I hope you enjoy the
series as much as I enjoyed working on it.
__________
THE DARK LORD OF JURAI SAGA
Episode Two: No Need for A Space Journey
Written by Michael "The-Zorch" Haney
__________
Previously...
Tenchi and the gang braved the forces of another interdimensional
accident and survived an encounter with creatures created by Washu and Tsunami's
evil sister Lady Tokimi. The journey through the region of space called the
Dead Zone has taken them six months. What has happened in that time, and what
will Tenchi and the gang face next.
__________
Chapter Six: Return to Darkness
A dark shadow loomed over the Masaki family as they sat together in their
living room on the Yagami. Today they were leaving the Yagami but that in
itself did not seem like sufficient cause for celebration, because they knew
what lay ahead of them. The mood began to spread among the family when Washu
brought up a question of what to do if they encountered Kagato again. Tenchi
was
immediately troubled, he hated Kagato more so than any other man who ever lived.
He hated him for what he did to Ryoko and what his continued existence is doing
to her now. The very notion that he was still alive tore a wound in Ryoko's
heart that he felt also through their unique link. For Aeka it was a different
experience, she only met with Kagato once in her life when they fought him on
the Soja. Together she and Ryoko fought a desperate battle to kill Kagato to
take revenge for Tenchi's death. Tenchi did not know if he did indeed die and
that Tsunami resurrected him or not, but he did know that he was not conscious
after the fragment of Ryouhl that Ryu-Ohki was carrying exploded. The next
thing he remembered was appearing before Tsunami and thinking for an instant
that she was an angel because she was so beautiful, but she explained things
to him and teleported him to the Soja. When he arrive he made short work of
Kagato by employing the power of the Light Hawk Wings. Since that time, after
great practice and intense training, he has learned to call upon the awesome
power that had been hidden away in him since his birth. Now that power was to
be put to the ultimate test for Kagato was still alive and he was more powerful
than ever before because he was now a Darkling Regent. A Regent was a powerful
creature with immense powers and abilities that dwarfed most, if not all, other
Darklings expect for the Regis. Together the Regent and Regis can spawn
Darklings that are more powerful and destructive than the ones they can create
by infecting their victims with their seed.
The living room on the Yagami sat in a pocket of subspace just like
Washu's lab back at the house on planet Earth billions of light years away.
Here the family could set and talk and draw strength from one another. Since
his union with Aeka and Ryoko a mood of optimism and hope had creped into the
minds of the family, but what they were to face as they left the Dead Zone was
quickly drowning any optimism they might have.
"Lets face facts." Washu said explaining from behind her holo computer.
"Yagami's etherealologic modifications will not be enough to withstand an all
out attack by a Darkling ship."
"You told us this already, Little Washu." Tenchi said.
She looked at him and wondered if she heard a hint of exasperation in his
voice that suspiciously sounded too much like what Ryoko would say. "True, but
I need to emphasize this, we cannot take them on head on...not right now we
can't." she said.
"So we'll have to keep dodging them until we reach Jurai and hope they
didn't do anything too serious there." Tenchi said with a sigh.
"Why are they doing all of this anyway, what are they after?" Kiyone
asked.
"The Elo'Quin, the race of creatures of Orrin's universe that created
Etherealology." Washu explained. "They made the initial discovery that magic
was a normal formation of nature and could be harnessed using scientific means."
"Because of this the Darklings saw the Elo'Quin as a major threat to their
continued existence and they vowed to wipe out the Elo'Quin to keep
Etherealology from ever being used against them." Yosho said from across the
room where he sat in a lotus position.
"That would sum it up quite well." Washu said, just a little impressed
with Yosho's ability to dig down to the facts of things.
"What exactly does Jurai have to do with all of this?" Aeka asked, she had
heard some of Washu's earlier explanation but she needed to hear more.
"The Elo'Quin scattered through space, time, and alternate realities."
Washu explained. "Some came to this universe and dwelled on Jurai for a time."
"Some of them must have had children with the Juraians, thus in the
thinking of the Darklings that makes them a threat." Tenchi said, but he was
only surmising.
"Very good, Tenchi, there is hope for you yet." Washu said to him.
Tenchi's face reddened. Washu sighed and said, "Despite all he told me, Orrin
only knew very little about the Darklings, and the fact is that what we know is
just the tip of the iceberg."
Ryoko slammed her fist into the palm of her hand making a loud smacking
sound. "Tenchi and I can call up our Light Hawk Wings and carve those assholes
a new one." she said.
Washu shook her head. "Foolish daughter, didn't you hear anything I just
told you." Washu scolded her. "We don't know just how powerful they really
are."
"Ya, you and Tenchi had your Light Hawk Wings and they were still kicking
our asses in Washu's lab." Kiyone said.
Noboyuki cringed at the memory, he was an ordinary human caught in the
middle of that hellish battle trying to protect a cowardly version of his son
and a pregnant Sakuya from alternate dimensions.
"Lets not talk about that, its bad enough I have to remember being in the
middle of it." he said.
"Sorry, Mr. Masaki." Kiyone said with real concern in her voice.
"The Darkling ability to dampen magical energy is also a major stumbling
block we need to get around." Washu said. "I've been working on a way to deal
with that."
"When they had me and Mihoshi, it was horrible." Kiyone said with tears in
her eyes. "It was like a terrible combination of experiencing a constant orgasm
and feeling someone ripping into your with chainsaw at the same time." Noboyuki
slid over next to her and put his arm around her, she did not seem to notice
this and did not try to move away from him. "I don't want to feel that ever
again." she sobbed as Noboyuki held her.
"I don't intend to let that happen to anyone again, especially the people
I care about." Tenchi said. Aeka and Ryoko both gave him a physical hug and a
wave of loving emotions through their link.
"Tonight we leave the Dead Zone and enter normal space. We will be fair
game from then on." Washu said.
"Then I suggest that we keep a watch out of anything suspicious that could
be a Darkling ship trying to ambush us." Yosho suggested.
"I rigged the scanners of the ship to alert us the second a Darkling
energy signatures comes within sensor range." Washu told him.
"We should also keep an optimistic attitude." Yosho said. "If you keep
your worst fears in your heart then you are doomed to experience them."
"Good philosophies, I only hope it will work." Tenchi said.
"Anything will be better than being destroyed by those monsters." Aeka
said.
Sasami yawned deeply and leaned up against Mihoshi who kept very silent
through the entire conversation. "We won't be of any use in an attack if
collapse from lack of sleep." she said as the now young teenaged princess lay
her head in the blonde policewoman's lap and feel asleep.
"Mihoshi, sometimes I think your air headedness is just a rouse." Washu
said. "But, she is right, we need to get some sleep."
"Look at her, she's still as cute as when she was a child." Tenchi said.
"In body she may be fourteen or so, but in mind Sasami is still a child."
Aeka said.
"A child who has to do alot of growing up really fast, I feel sorry for
her sometimes knowing what she must be going through." Washu said.
"Mihoshi would you take her to bed, I'll take first watch on the bridge."
Kiyone said.
"I'll take second." Ryoko spoke up.
"We need one more." Kiyone said.
"I'll do it." Noboyuki said. It was at that moment that Kiyone realized
just who's arms she was in. She did not know whether to blush or punch his
lights out. Noboyuki had made no attempt to fondle her or grope her at all. In
fact, his hands were placed in such a way that he was far from anything that
could be misunderstood as a sexual advance. Noboyuki was actually acting
normal, and Kiyone for some reason like it. Wait a minute, I can't actually be
starting to like this guy, she thought to herself, the first thing he did when I
moved into the Masaki home was to try and sneak a picture of me naked in the
Onsen, but Ryoko showed up and stopped him. I can't trust him, he'll just
trying to grab my ass or something when I stand up. But she saw genuine concern
in the man's eyes when she looked at him. Oh my God, I can't believe
myself...I'm starting to LIKE Tenchi's dad, she thought to herself again as she
blushed a deep red. Thankfully for her nobody but Noboyuki noticed.
Mihoshi helped a very groggy Sasami to her bedroom and Yosho retreated to
his own room. Soon the only ones left were Tenchi, his wives, and Washu.
Kiyone walked with Noboyuki out of the living room and they parted when they
reach their rooms. Kiyone went into the room that she shared with Mihoshi to
get ready for her first shift on the bridge, and Noboyuki went to his private
room at the end of the hall.
"I can see that the link has done wonders for you three." Washu said with
a humorous smirk on her face.
"Our love for Tenchi has helped us maintain the peace." Aeka said.
"Its not just that, I suspect that your link is also allowing certain
personality traits to slowly work their into your own." Washu said.
Tenchi frowned for a moment. "What do you mean, Little Washu?" he asked.
"Ryoko has been exhibiting a little bit of your common sense Tenchi, and a
little bit of Ryoko's wild side has become a part of you." She said. "Aeka has
changed a little also, she isn't that poor shy little princess we knew months
ago."
"I am not a poor shy little princess!" Aeka said, her eyes flashing with
anger, and she stood up
in a pose that looked like one Ryoko used to use against her during their fights
over Tenchi.
"That's a typical Ryoko-esque reaction if I ever saw one." Washu said.
"Huh?" Aeka said suddenly as she looked down at herself and noticed what
she was doing.
"It's nothing to worry about, its a change that is for the better, I hope
but the link between you three if slowly changing your personalities." Washu
explained.
"If it gives me a little piece of Ryoko and Aeka within myself I can live
with that." Tenchi said, and the two women have him loving kisses.
Washu sighed. "There was time when I wish I could have been the one in
your arms." she said.
Tenchi looked at her and remember the day she tried to collect her sample.
She offered to extract it in a number of different ways until Mihoshi showed up
and interrupted her.
"I didn't know your feelings for me were...real." he said to her. Aeka
and Ryoko both gave Washu a very strange look.
"For a while it was, but most of it was raw lust." she said, and Tenchi
blushed. "You were very cute and you were the first man I'd been close to in
several thousand years, so you can't really blame me for being a little horny."
Tenchi gulped. [So that is where Ryoko gets it.] he thought to himself
and he heard Ryoko chuckle as she received the thought.
"Tenchi sweetie, my mother can almost be as hentai as your Dad." Ryoko
laughed out loud.
Washu make the kind of face she usually made when someone called her name
without added "Little" to the beginning. "True but I don't transmit it to the
world like he does." she said. Aeka and Ryoko sent Tenchi vivid images into his
mind different things Washu had shown them over the years, alien porn,
exotic sex toys, and a robotic copy of him with a manhood-feature that would
have rivaled the size of the legendary John Holmes. Tenchi turned blood red,
and he looked at his wives while they looked back at him and licked their lips.
He made love to them each a few times since their bonding, so he was not very
embarrassed about thinking such thoughts about them, but to be the object of
lust
he was not accustomed to it.
"Well, we have to getting to bed." Ryoko said as she stood up and grabbed
Tenchi's arm.
"Yes, I agree." Aeka said. "The early worm gets the bird, as they say."
"That's the early bird gets the worm." Tenchi corrected.
[Worm, oh yes, the worm.] Aeka said through the link with a very sweet
smile and mischief in her voice.
"Don't tire him out too much, girls." Washu called after them as they
headed for their room. "He might have to be in prime condition if we meet our
dark friends."
Kiyone watched the scopes on Yagami's bridge but saw nothing for millions
of miles. They had already left the Dead Zone behind and were traveling
through stable space. Planet Jurai was only a few days away at maximum speed.
She took the time to think things though about this sudden change of
attitude towards Tenchi's father. She noticed over the weeks that he was
changing, whether the events of their journey were maturing him, or he was just
growing out of his hentai stage she did not know. She did know that when ever
he looked at her or she at him she felt very strange, and she blushed. It
started that day they talked on the bridge after they first launched on his
trip, and it became worse since then.
Despite his age she had to admit that Noboyuki was not altogether
unpleasant to look at. He was old enough to be her father, but she personally
know women in the GP who married men alot older than they were. The very
thought of marriage suddenly made her cringe. She knew that she would not be at
peace until she had a talk with him about this. She had to set things straight
before they out of hand, but every time she thought about ending what was
starting to happen she suddenly felt very uneasy. It was as if something inside
her was warning her that she was about to make a serious mistake. She
recognized it as that little voice in the back of her head that always popped up
when she yelled too much at Mihoshi sometimes...it was her conscience. She
sighed, "Dammit, of all the men in the universe I have to start falling for why
him?"
Before long her wristwatch started to chime and she looked at the time and
saw it was time to get Ryoko for her shift. Before she got up though Ryoko
phased though the hatch and sat in the copilot seat. She has a very satisfied
look on her face, and her hair seemed a little matted down from sweat.
"I was just about to come get you." Kiyone said.
"Hmm?" Ryoko said like she wasn't paying attention.
"I see you've been preoccupied." Kiyone said with a sly smile know exactly
why Ryoko was drenched in sweat.
"I don't want to be known as one to kiss and tell, but Tenchi is very very
very good in bed." Ryoko said.
"I can just imagine." Kiyone said remembering all the times she had seen
Tenchi in action with his bokken at his grandfather's shrine and marveling at
how fast and strong he was despite his misleadingly skinny appearance.
"So, I take it was all quiet tonight?" Ryoko asked as she looked at the
scope on her console.
"Not so much as an asteroid." Kiyone said.
"Well, get some sleep, I've it now." Ryoko said.
"Thanks." Kiyone said as she stood up and started to head towards the
hatch. She stopped and looked at Ryoko.
"Ryoko, what do you think of Tenchi's father?" she asked.
Ryoko looked back at her and was about to make a derogatory remark about
the man but she was the serious look at Kiyone's face.
"He's a hentai most of the time, but he tried to do the right think when
it comes to Tenchi." she said. "Despite all the things he does he is not that
bad a person and he loves his son very much."
"Despite the hentai aspect, what do you think about him?" Kiyone asked.
"I think that part of him appeared when Tenchi's mom died, it tore them
both apart pretty bad." Ryoko told her. "I used to see Noboyuki and Achika as
teenagers walking through the forest near my cave. They were really in love and
they made love a few times on the bank of the lake. Despite the fact that
she is gone he is very devoted to her still. I think he pretty nice guy, if you
overlook the hentai in him."
"Thanks." Kiyone said. "Could you keep this conversation just between
us?"
"Sure." Ryoko said as she did a Spock Maneuver.
"Thanks again." Kiyone said as she left though the hatch.
Ryoko turned back around to the scopes and said to herself, "What was that
all about?"
In their quarters Tenchi held Aeka in his arms, they lay on the bed
drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. He looked into her crimson eyes and he
was a desire there, not a simple desire for his body but for something more,
something like what Ryoko was giving him. He pulled her close and he kissed her
longingly. He felt through their link the need for her to do this in her.
"It will happen when I happens." he told her.
"It happened to Ryoko so soon, and we knew humans and Juraians are
compatible because of my brother." she said.
"What I'm surprise about is that Ryoko and I are compatible." he said.
"I just wish I could give you a token of my love same as her." Aeka said
with a sad sigh.
"Don't turn it into a competition, you two haven't fought over me for a
while now." he told her.
Aeka shook her head. "We've both come to far and changed too much to go
back to our old ways." She said. "Its just I wish I could give you a child,
also."
Tenchi hugged her tight and felt it was a need in her that very great.
She wanted to give him a child the same as Ryoko. It had been a desire of Ryoko
to be the mother of his child too before she discovered that she was pregnant.
"We can keep trying." he told her and she gave him a powerful kiss.
[Love you so much.] she said through their link.
[I love you, Aeka.] he said though their link.
Before long they feel asleep in each other's arms. As they drifted off
the protective barrier they erected in their minds dropped and Ryoko could feel
them on the other end of the link again. Before he went totally unconscious
Tenchi sent a wave of loving emotions to both his wives. Ryoko smiled as she
watched the scopes on the bridge and patted her stomach gently. She was not
showing yet, but she knew that inside their was a tiny life that she made with
Tenchi. She was concerned that all the action they had seen in the past few
weeks might have endangered the baby, but Washu assured her that the baby was
just fine.
Hours passed and Ryoko looked at the chronometer and saw it was time for
Noboyuki to take his turn. She decided to wait for him to show up before going
to get him. Elsewhere on the ship Kiyone found it very hard to sleep, she
tossed and turned in her bed. It was not from Mihoshi's snoring, she
had gotten used to that, but it was from the images of Noboyuki that kept
popping up in her mind. She sat up and looked at the digital clock next to her
bed. She saw it was nearing Noboyuki's turn on the bridge. She got up, slipped
into a pair of slippers and smoothed out the wrinkles in her nightgown.
She padded her way towards the bridge and stopped at the hatch, she heard a
sound and hid in an alcove as Noboyuki passed her and opened the hatch to the
bridge. She heard Ryoko's voice say something and then heard Noboyuki say
goodnight to Ryoko as she left. Kiyone stepped up to the closed hatch and
wondered if she was about to do the right thing. Her hands were trembling as
she opened the hatch and slowly walked inside.
Tenchi's father was sitting at the pilot's seat looking over the scopes
and consoles and scratching his head. "Who am I kidding, I don't even know what
half of these things do." she heard him say. "Knowing my luck I'll accidently
hit the self-destruct."
"I rigged that one out for safety a long time ago." she said, and Noboyuki
almost jumped out of his skin.
He recovered quickly and started rubbing the back of his head the way
Tenchi usually did. "I guess with a partner like Mihoshi you have to." he
laughed. So, that's were Tenchi gets it from, Kiyone said to herself.
Kiyone could not help but notice that Noboyuki did not seem to react to
the fact that she was in her nightgown. She half expected him to bee ogling
her. She was not at all unpleasant to look at and she had a very well formed
and athletic body. One of the things that did get to her though was the fact
that men seemed to pay more attention to Mihoshi than to her whenever they
went out on the town. Men seemed to be intimidated by her for some reason.
She figured because she gave the impression she was all career and had no
room for anything else. In fact, Kiyone had felt something was missing from
her life for a long time, and that thing was a serious relationship with a man.
"Ya, before I did she accidentally tripped it at least twice a day." she
said with a chuckle. Kiyone walked up to the co-pilot seat and sat down.
Noboyuki was looking at the scopes and he absently looked over at her for a
second. He did not seem to notice anything out of the ordinary, but
suddenly took a double take when he noticed what she was wearing for the first
time. Noboyuki's usual reaction to a beautiful woman in lacy lingerie was
replaced by a deep red blush.
"Couldn't sleep?" he asked as he started to sweat. Kiyone noticed this.
"No." she said. "Which is why I came here."
He looked at her and could not help but notice the look on her face. He
had to admit that he did like her very much. She was indeed a very beautiful
woman, she was not as drop dead gorgeous as Ryoko and Aeka, but she wasn't ugly
either. He could not help but see the smooth curves of her body visible
underneath her night gown, and the distinct shape of her breasts, the way her
dark teal hair feel down her shoulder. He blinked and tore his eyes away,
turning a little redder. What am I kidding, he thought to himself, she thinks
I'm an old hentai and I'm at least 20 years older than her. Since he could
not help wonder why she was here, with him, in her nightgown knowing what he
was like. But your only like that because you and Achika were such passionate
lovers, and when she passed on it left a deep void in your life, said a voice
deep within his soul.
"Tell me about Achika." Kiyone said.
"Huh?" he asked, not hearing her correctly.
"Tell me about Achika, what kind of woman was she?" she asked.
"She was my life, my treasure, my first true love." he said, the words
coming to him from his heart. "I met her when I visited the Masaki Shrine one
year, I feel in love with her the first time I saw her, but she hated by guts.
It took two years to get her to come around and after that we started dating.
We didn't starting getting really serious until after we graduated high school.
Katsuhito helped me get into college and I took up architecture. After I
graduated we got married, and a year later we had Tenchi. I loved her
so much, she was the world to me, and when she died it took a piece of me with
her." He almost seemed on verge of tears, and Kiyone felt like kicking herself
for causing him this pain.
"She was a loving woman, she liked the poems I used to write her when we
started dating." he said.
"You write poetry?" Kiyone asked, quite surprised.
"I was young and deeply in love, Achika was such a beautiful woman, and
don't tell Aeka or Ryoko this but I feel she was more beautiful than either of
them put together." he said.
Kiyone remembered seeing pictures of Achika around the house. She had to
admit that Achika was indeed a very lovely woman.
"I know what your thinking, she had to have been some woman to put up with
someone likme me, huh?" he said, it was more a statement than a question.
"Truth is, you think I'm a hentai you should have met Achika." This revelation
was a real shocker for Kiyone, she looked at him and saw the sincerity in his
face.
"She was as bad as you." she said with surprise in her voice.
"Oh yes, I remember our first time, we were near what was Ryoko's cave
when she attacked me and started tearing my clothes off. Well, pulling off, not
quite tearing, but you get what I mean." he said. "She was something else, I
guess that is why I am the way I am. After being married to a woman like her
you
begin to miss it when she is not around." Noboyuki put his face in his hands
and he started to visibly weep. "The day she died will be a day I will never
ever forget." he sobbed.
Kiyone felt horrible, her simple question about his late wife elicited
this powerful emotional reason and it was all her fault. She got up and walked
up to him and put her hands on his shoulders. He looked up at her with tear
fill eyes and she could see her reflection in them. For an instant she saw
herself and Noboyuki standing side by side in weeding dress, she almost gasped
at the vision, or was it what was in her heart.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to hurt you so." she said.
"Its alright, if I don't get that out once in a while I might burst." he
chuckled.
"Nr. Masaki, Noboyuki, I have to talk you about something." she said.
"What about, Kiyone?" he asked.
Here it goes girl, the point of no return, she said to herself. "Do you
think you will ever marry again?" she asked.
"Only if I found the right the woman, a woman who would love me for who I
am, and who would love my son." he said with sincerity in his voice.
"What do you think of me?" she asked.
That got a reaction. Noboyuki's eyes went wide with surprise and he
searched her face for any sign of why she asked that question.
"I thought you mated me?" he said. "I heard you say so the last time
I....huh." She remembered saying such a think when he last tried to snap her
picture in the onsen.
"The past few days I have been thinking about you, I can't get you out of
my mind, and today when you held me...." she said but her words trailed off when
she found herself getting lost in Noboyuki's eyes.
Oh my God, I am in love with him, she said to herself, I'm doomed!
The passion of the moment grabbed them and they leaned towards one
another, their lips getting closer about to touch when suddenly klaxxons sounded
on the bridge. They turned and looked at the scopes and several red indicators
appeared.
"Darklings, they found us." Kiyone hissed.
"Damn." Noboyuki said under his breath and he got up from the pilot's seat
so Kiyone could take the controls.
"Go back and wake everybody, if I can't loose them we're going to have a
fight on our hands." Kiyone said.
"I'n going." he said and then turned back. "Kiyone, about what happened."
"If we get through this we can pick up where we left off." she said with a
smile.
"I'd really like that." he said and passed through the hatch.
Well, Kiyone, you passed the threshold, I hope I know what I'm doing, she
said to herself.
The Regis saw through the eyes of her minions on the ships that pursued
the Yagami. She felt the power of the beings inside the ship and she could feel
the disgusting throb of Elo'Quin energy. It enraged her, but she reined in her
rage and concentrated on maintaining the link. Five Darkling craft, the same
configuration that confronted the Lunari, followed the Yagami at a distance
after detecting it in space. She quickly called upon several more in the area
and before long she had nearly twenty ships surrounding the ship.
Kiyone watched the ship appear on her scope and she started to sweat.
Tenchi and the others came onto the bridge just as the twentieth ship showed up.
"We've got a problem." she told them.
Back on the lead Darkling craft, the Regis still commanded the body and
mind of the captain of that ship. She turned to the crew of the ship who were
mentally linked to the subsystems in the vessel for navigation, weapons and
engineering. She herself looked at her Regent, Kagato as he too looked
through the eyes of a captain on another one of the pursuing ships.
"We have no need of them anymore. All is going as planned on Jurai,
unless you want them?" the Regis asked him.
"I no longer need the Tsunami Unit, and Ryoko has soiled herself with that
boy....kill them." He said. "But lets toy with them a bit, take two of his
friends
and let the others live to feel the pain of loss."
The Regis smiled broadly. "As you desire, my Regent." she said.
Tenchi looked at the scopes, understanding only half of what he was
looking at, and looked back at Kiyone. "Your saying there is no way we can
loose them?" he asked.
"We have no cover, and if we can see them on our scopes they can most
certainly see us." she said.
Washu had her holocomputer engaged and was working so fast that her hands
seemed to almost be blurring as they moved.
"These are new, they seem more powerful than the ones we encountered
before." she said. "We can't take these guys on, they out gun us and out
number us."
"All we can do is run and hope they can't overtake us." Kiyone said.
"That does not leave us with many options." Yosho said, rubbing his chin.
"I seem to recall that there was an asteroid field in his area." Ryoko
said.
They all looked at her. "Where?" Kiyone asked.
"Near the star Caprima Prime." she said. Kiyone checked the charts and a
diagram of the system showed up on her screen.
"Its three hours from here at top speed." she said. "If we can make it
there we might be able to loose them."
"How much time will this add to our journey to Jurai?" Aeka asked.
"No more than a few hours if we are careful." Kiyone said.
"I hate asteroids, remember the last time we went into asteroids, Kiyone?"
Mihoshi asked.
"Don't remind me, but this time I'm at the helm." she said.
"That rock ran out in front of me, it wasn't my fault." Mihoshi cried.
"It never is." Kiyone hissed under her breath. She felt a pat on her
shoulder as she looked to see Noboyuki smile at her. She returned the smile.
Thankfully, nobody notice the exchange because they were too busy looking at the
scopes and indicators..
"Do whatever you need to do, I feel that something terrible is happening
or is about to happen on Jurai." Tenchi told Kiyone.
"Oh no." Sasami gasped.
"I'll try." Kiyone told him.
"We all believe in you, Kiyone." he said.
Kiyone made for the asteroid field at top speed. On the scopes the
Darkling
ships were altering course to follow them. One important lession taught in the
GP
was now to avoid a greater apponent until backup arrive, but in this situation
there
would be no backup. She employed all that she had learned on evasion and guided
the
ship in among the giant asteroids. Noboyuki sat gripping his seat, he was
reliving
the asteroid chase scene from that Star Wars movie first hand. The ship jolted
a few
times as Kiyone fired retros to make quick course correctsto avoid a large rock.
Far
ahead in the viewport Noboyuki could make out the really massive asteroids
tumbling
in the distance. A few he guessed has to be at least the size of Japan
themselves,
and maybe larger.
The ships on the scope were getting closer and moving much faster. Kiyone
swore under her breath as she avoid smacking the Yagami on a huge rock the size
of
a Volkswagon Beetle. It wouod not be long until those ships were on top of
them,
and she still did not know if she could really loose them out here. There were
throusands of smaller asteroids, but the larger ones congragrated near the enter
of
the belt. The throttle was set to full, she could not get anymore speed out of
the
ship without overloading the engines which would create a titanic explosion when
the
quantum sigularity core explodes.
Tenchi and the others left the bridge to batten things down in their
private
quaters for when things got dicy. Noboyuki elected to stay with Kiyone to give
her
moral support. He watched the scopes from his seat to Mihoshi's console, his
fear
rising as the Darkling ships quickly closed the distance between them.
Lightyears away the Darkling Regis walked through the corridores of her
ship
when a wave of agony washed over her. She recognized the feeling, it was the
feeling
of thousands of her kind somewhere, another galaxy, another universe, suddenly
loosing
their life. The sensation subsided after several agonizing moments and she
found
herself on the ground. As soon as she stood, she heard the voice of her master
in her
mind.
[Regis!] the voice called.
[Lord.} she answered.
[A problem has arrisen, a Champion of Light has appeared.] the master told
her.
[Out plans in dimension 001 have failed, our ranks thinned, and our forces
defeated.]
[How could this be?] she asked in sudden disbelief.
[We underestimated our dreaded foe, the Elo'Quin once again.] the master
said.
[The one know as Orrin Quintarin has arrisen as a Champion of Light and he
possess
immense power.]
[How long until we can strike again?] she asked.
[Our main forces are still very far away, but I must warn you that the
Champion
of Light is travelling to your dimensional coordinates.]
{What, but I felt the defeat just a moment ago.] the Regis replied.
[Time differences between the two universes vary.] the voice said. [That
defeat
occured four centuries ago. The Champion of Light is coming and you must be
ready to
meet him, he must not be allowed to join the one know as Tenchi Masaki.]
[The human boy, but what threat could he pose to us?] the Regis asked.
[He possess the greatest power in that universe, but has little
understanding of
the full extent of his abilities.] the master told her. {He must never learn
how to
use this power or our plans here will meet a similar end.]
[I understand, our forces are pursuing his ship as we speak, the boy will
be
dead soon.] the Regis replied with a smile.
[Excellent.] said the voice. [In the meantime, I am sending you a gift.]
The Regis nearly feel to the ground again as a vision suddenly entered her
head.
She was standing in deep space with nothing around her, suddenly a large portal
opened
up before her. The portal was massive, several thousand miles across. The
power it took
to generate such a portal was massive, and the Regis knew the master was using
up a great
deal of his own essense to create it. From the swirling maw of the portal
hundreds of
thousands of shapes began to form. The Regis watched in fascination as the
shapes
became ships, thousands of ships, and all of them were Darkling craft. These
were
different from the ones she commanded, they were the elite forces. They
nightmares
given physical shape, and they were the msot powerful ships the Darklings had at
their
disposal. She laughed and knew that the crew commanding thses ships were no
ordinary
Darklings also. These were the true Darklings, the creatures from which their
seed
spawned.
[They are yours to command, use them well.] the voice told her before the
vision
faded leaving her back on her own ship.
The situation for the Yagami became very grave as the first of several
Darkling
ships came within firing range of the ship. Kiyone dove the ship towards one of
the
larger asteroids as energy blasts burst around them. Several more ships
suddenly
appeared and added their own fire power to the mix. Kiyone set the rear guns to
automatic so they would return fire, but even with the monifications the weapons
did
no damage to these new Darkling ships.
In the crew quarters Washu summoned a viewscreen of the ships and she
watched
their power readouts. She got a clear picture of what these new ships could
really
done and she whistled.
"Ryoko, you won't be able to pull your stunt on these ships like you did
that
one before we entered the Dead Zone." she told her daughter.
"Why is that?" Ryoko asked.
"I think these might be the type of ship that took out that Juraian ship,
the
Lunari." she said looking at Sasami. The new teenaged princess just looked down
at
the floor. "Your Light Hawk Wings alone may not be enough." she continued.
"How can we beat them then?" Tenchi asked.
Washu just sat there and looked at her hands. "I don't know, for the
first time
in my life, Tenchi, I don't really know."
According to the laws of astrophysics, the more massive an object the
larger its
gravity becomes. With asteroids this is the same as well, and occasionally some
are
large enough to pull in smaller asteroids as satelites. In some very rare
occurances
an asteroids is large enough to hold its own atmosphere. Although the
atmosphere is
very thin and ususally made up of gases that are not breathable by most humanoid
beings. In a very few reasonably rare situations an asteroids is large enough
to
hold a thicker atmosphere, and rarely still that atmophere is breathable. This
was
the kind of asteroid that Kiyone saw through the viewscreen of the Yagami as she
tried to avoid their Darkling pursuers.
"We might be able to use that to evade them." she said. "its not an M-
class
atmosphere, which is pretty rare, but its thin so it might be like being as a
very
high altitude on Earth."
"That is assuming we leave the ship, right?" Noboyuki asked her.
"Right now I want to be ready for anything." she replied, and then a blast
hit
the ship from behind. Her eyes went wide as she watched the stress guages on
the shields
go above the tolerance level and quickly return to normal.
"Shit, one more like that and our shields will be gone." she shouted aftrr
the
jolting subsided.
Sociological and political turmoil on Earth prevented most of the ground
based
observatories and monitoring stations from detecting a strange anomali occuring
near
the moon. A small rip in the fabric of space and time formed, manifesting as a
round,
stable portal. From the black depths of this portal a single starship emerged.
It
was unlike any ship that had ever been seen or ever will be seen in this
universe. The
ship was sleek, almost organic in appearance, and its outer hull was shiny
black. The
starship had no visible engines or external hatches, and it needed none since
the ship
could form a hatch out of its own molecular structure, and it had a will of its
own.
Three humanoid beings sat in the spacious bridge of this unique starship.
One
was a young man appearing to be in his early teens who sat at an astrogation
console,
a young teenaged girl sat at a communications and sensor console, and an older
man
in his late twenties sat at the helm. An accented voice, resembling a British
accent,
can out of nowhere and everywhere at the same time, "Dimensional drive
disengaged, we
have arrived."
"Open a channel on frequency 234.341.1." the older helmsman ordered.
"Channel open, Dad." the teen communications officer replied.
"Hello, are you there?" the helmsman asked, knowing his words were being
broadcast.
"I know you detected our arrival, please answer."
Only static answered his hail on the other end of the link.
"I don't think they got the signal." the girl at the com station said.
"Sensors
read that the signal is bouncing back."
"Is there any activitiy in the subspace pocket attached to the house in
Japan?"
the helmsman asked.
"None at all, and there are only two humanoid lifeforms down there." the
girl said.
"One Homosapian, and the other an unknown alien species, but it appears female."
The helmsman scratched his chin a moment. "We are at the corrrect
dimensional
coordinates?" the accented voice said out loud.
"Then, where is everyone?" the navigator asked for the first time from his
post.
"If I might make a suggestion, your highness, I am detecting something
that might
be of interest to you further from the planet." the voice said. A holographic
image
appeared in front of the helmsman displaying an orbital scematic of the planet
Earth.
"I am detecting tbe residual radiation from the Starburst Unit." the voice
said
as a small red blotch appeared along the orbital track of the planet.
"That can't be, its been over 400 years." the helmsman said.
"The rate of decay of the radiation indicates that only 6 to 7 months have
passed since the incident." the voice replied.
The helmsman's eyes went wide in disbelief, but then recognition appeared
on his
face and he smacked his hand onto his forehead. "Damn, I forgot about temporal
physics
differenciation factor." he said.
"Huh?" the two teenagers said together, not sure exactly what their
helmsman/father
had just said.
"The physics of time are different in each univese." the voice explained.
"Four
hundred years have passed for us, but only 6 to 7 months for them have passed."
"Sp, where are the people that Dad knows at?" the navigator asked the
voice.
"In the vicinity of the radiation zone I am detecting a very faint ion
trail."
the voice replied. "It is so faint that standard instrumentation would not have
detected it."
The teen girl called up a three-dimensional representation of the icon
trail and
said, "This looks a lot like the thrust trail of a hyperdrive."
The helmsman called up his own image of the ion trail and plotted out the
course
the trail was heading towards. "If the Earth were at this position it looks
like a ship
launched from the surface and jumped ito hyperspace from here." he said. "They
were
talking about go to planet Jurai before I left."
"Dad, you said there were Darklings here, right?" the teen girl asked.
"Yes, there were." the helmsman replied.
"Kryton, scan Washu's old star charts from this universe and set a course
for
Jurai." the helmsman said. "I didn't know what I know now about the Darkness
back
then, and I'm afraid she is getting herself into serious trouble."
"I have set the course, you may engage it at any time, Darius." the voice
said.
"Thanks, Kryton." the teen boy said from his astrogation post.
"Prince Orrin, will we see Mistress Washu again?" Kryton asked.
"I hope we do old friend, I hope we do." Prince Orrin Quintarin, who sat
at the helm,
said. The Kryton streeked through space away from the planet Earth, a black
portal in space
appeared in front of the ship and it passed through. The portal closed with a
bright
flash of light and the ship was gone.
Washu was monitoring the same readings and she gasped in disbelief at what
she
just witnessed. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed. "That shot almost penetrated the
shields!"
Yagami reached the massive asteroid that held an atmosphere. The sensors
on
the bridge indicated that it was indeed breathable, but a bit thin. If they had
to
leave the ship for some reason they would be a little light headed from it but
it
was not so thin that they could not breath it.
"Lets get up to the bridge, Kiyone might need our help." Tenchi said, but
as he
headed for the door he was thrown to the deck as the ship suffered another jolt.
A shot from another Darkling ship struck the Yagami, the blast overloaded
the
shields and in Engineering the shield generator exploded. The sound echoed
through
the ship and could be heard in the subspace living quarters and the bridge.
Kiyone
watched the status readouts for the ship systems suddenly go wild. The
explosion of
the shield generator started a chain reaction in Engineering that destroyed
several
other systems. One by one vital ship systems began to fail, helm control was
one of
those systems, and then the main engines went offline. All Kiyone could control
were auxilary thrusters designed to aid in docking. These made little impact on
the
ship as it punged, out of control, into the cloudy atmosphere of the asteroid.
Kiyone could not say a word, she knew that nothing she could say would
change
was about to happen. She knew that they would probably die. All she could do
was
look over at a very frightened Noboyuki and say, "I'm so sorry."
Noboyuki, still strapped into Mihoshi's seat, reached out with his hand
towards
her. Kiyone reached out and took his hand and he squeezed it. They were unable
to
take their eyes off each other for several minutes.
"I love you." Kiyone said, saying it from her heart.
"I love you." Noboyuki replied. Seconds later they were both knocked
unconscious
by the impact of the ship hitting the surface.
"Sire, I am detecting Washu's life signs in realspace!" Kryton almost
shouted
as they speed through subspace.
"Where, what coordinates?" Orrin asked immediately.
"221.056.987 mark 2." Kryton replied.
"We'll be near those coordinates in two minutes." Darius said.
The teenaged girl at the communications station, Yuki, pulled up a sensor
analysis of the same coordinates. "Oh god!" she said. "Dad, there are Darkling
ship crawling all over that area, class three!"
"Take us out of subspace, give me weapons control." Orrin said.
The Kryton suddenly appeared in realspace through the same type of portal
it
vanished into a few moments ago in Earthspace. The swirling tunnel of light of
subspace was replaced by the view of the asteroid field where the Yagami had
been
moments before came into view.
"I have turn over all weapon function over to you, sire." Kryton said.
"Washu's live readings are faint, but Z can pinpoint her location on
a large planetoid class asteroid in the area." Yuki said. She tapped a few keys
on her console and a red indicator appeared on the main viewscreen on the bridge
indicating the location.
"Shields up, engage cloak, we're going in." Orrin ordered. A force field
sprang to life around the Kryton and as it moved towards the asteroid field the
ship softly shimmered and slowly vanished.
Washu opened one eye and tried to lift her head, and immediately regretted
the
idea. A wave of pain washed over her entire body, so she slowly rolled over
onto her
back and opened both eyes to see where she was. The first thing she noticed was
that
she was not on the Tagami, the air of thin but breathable, and she was lying
amonst
several large boulders. After a few minutes she was able to sit up without
feeling
a great deal of pain. She discovered that somehow she had been thrown from the
ship in the impact, she did not know how she actually got out of the ship. The
wreckage of the Yagami was not far away from where she lay. The vessel was a
totally
lost cause now, it was broken in half at the middle, and the engine section was
missing.
Washu reached out with her mind to focus on her link with Ryoko and she
sighed
with relief when she got a faint trace of a thought. A roaring sound of a ship
overhead caught her attention and she was a Darkling ship descend out of the
clouds.
[Ryoko!] she called through her link. [The Darklings are coming!]
Still somewhere in the wreckage, Ryoko was just now climbing to her feet.
In
an act that was more instinct than anything else, Aeka had summoned a force
field
around herself, Ryoko and Tenchi. Sasami had called upon a force field also,
and
across from where they were Ryoko could see Sasami kneeling in concentration as
energy radiated from her to surround herself, Mihoshi, and Katsuhito.
[Where are you?] Ryoko asked her mother.
[I'm outside the ship.] Washu replied. [We need to get to the bridge to
see
if Kiyone and Noboyuki are alright.]
Aeka dispelled her shield and helped Tenchi and Ryoko to their feet.
Sasami
did the same thing. Tenchi noticed that the subspace living area they had been
in
was gone, and that they were now inside the empty storage closet that it had
been
created in. His immediate thought was for his father.
"I'll check out the bridge to see if they are alright." Ryoko said and she
teleported away.
Outside Washu watched in horror as dozens of third stage Darklings began
to
drop from the skies as the ship passed overhead. The creatures hissed in rage
as they
advanced on the wreckage, intent on killing anyone or anything that survived.
One of
the creatures landed and spotted her. Washu turned and ran as fast as she could
and
the Darkling bolted after her. Her 20,000 years of her mortal life passed
before her
very eyes as she ran. Memories of her past billions of years before that came
like
a flood to her.
Ryoko materialized on the bridge to find the placed a total wreck. The
whole
chamber had taken the brunt of the impact and most of the consoles were totally
destroyed. What sbx immediately noticed was that Noboyuki and Kiyone were
missing.
At first Ryoko thought that maybe they ran from the bridge before the impact, so
she
cut open the hatch and went into the corridor behind the bridge. She could nto
find
them there either. She phased up through the ship and landed on the upper hull
and
witnessed a horrific scene. Darklings the likes of which she had never seen
before
were swarming towards the wrecked ship. In the distance she could see who
Darklings
carrying what looked like a man and woman slumped over their shoulders. She
teleported
closer and gasped when she realized it was Noboyuki and Kiyone. Ryoko ignited
her
sword and lunged at them, but the Darklings ignored her and both creatures
phased into
subspace before she could strike.
[Tenchi, they have Kiyone and your father, I couldn't stop them!] she
cried over
her link. She felt a wave of sorrow float from Tenchi's end of the link and
saddness
from Aeka's, but Tenchi voice replied, [You did what you could, get back here
quick.]
Washu ran as fast as her short legs would carry her in her child-like
form. The
creature behind her snarled and hissed in rage, but was enjoying the chase
immensely. She
knew she would not be able to escape the creature forever, and tapped a small
button on
her bracelet. A black portal opened behind her and several round objects
ejected out in
the path of the the Darkling. The monster did not have enough time to avoid the
objects
and they collided with it with explosive results. The diminutive genius smiled
wickedly
as she looked back and saw a fireball rise into the air behind her. The
explosives were
not etherealogic, and only served to slow the creature down. Once it picked
itself up
off the ground and pushed large boulders off itself it started to scan the
horizon for
its prey. Washu had already found a cubby hole in a large house-sized boulder
to hide
herself in.
[Daughter, use Ryu-Ohki and get out of here!] she called to Ryoko through
her
mind link.
Ryoko had reached Tenchi and the others just as she received the message.
{No,
I won't leave you!] Ryoko cried over the link.
Washu looked into the sky from her hiding place and watched several more
Darkling
ships descend out of the clouded atmosphere. [More of them are coming, think of
the
baby and the others.] she pleaded.
[You can't ask me to do this, you can't!] Ryoko cried.
[You must, I'll be alright, if I can I will meet up with you on Jurai.]
Washu lied.
[Please go, hurry before they swarm over you.]
Tears filled Ryoko's eyes as she heard Washu's words in her mind. Tenchi
and Aeka
could hear the exchange as well and shared her pain.
"She wants us to leave her behind." Ryoko told the others.
"She is sacraficing herself in order for us to escape to safety." Yosho
said as he
cloaed his eyes in sadness.
"I can't let her do it." Ryoko said, new tears threatening to fall.
"She wouldn't want us to try and stop her." Tenchi said, his love washing
over her
through their link. "She's tough, if she survived Kagato she can survive this."
Ryoko
had never heard Tenchi lie before, and she could feel through their link that he
was only
trying to ease her pain.
"But she's my mother." she cried. Aeka was almost crying from the feeling
of sadness
and pain she felt from Ryoko's end of the link.
"She was correct, you do have to think about the baby." Aeka told her.
Ryoko turned towards the direction she felt her mother was in and saw
dozens of horrible
creatures dropping from the sky. "I love you, mommy." she whispered and
transmitted in her
link with her mother at the same time.
The two stood beside her to give her support as she took the little Cabbit
from
Sasami's arms. Ryoko lifted the little creature to her face and looked into her
frightened
eyes.
"Ryu-Ohki, take us to Jurai." she said and threw the furry creature into
the air. With
a loud echoing "meow" the Ryu-Ohki transformed into her ship form. A yellow
beam descended
upon them and they were instantly teleported to the bridge of the Cabbit ship.
"Fly my Ruy-Ohki, fly!" Ryoko cried as new tears fell from her eyes. In
the distance
Washu heard the loud cry of Ryu-Ohki's voice as she streaked through the sky. A
bit closer
but still in the distance she could also hear the sound of Darklings. She
estimated there
were hundreds of them.
In space Ryu-Ohki raced passed several Darkling ships that hung in space
around the
massive asteroid. The ships prepared to turn and give chase but the Cabbit ship
engaged her
hyperdrive and was gone before they fire on it. A few of the waiting ships
broke off from
the group to give chase in hyperspace, but a newcomer suddenly arrive that
caught their
immediate attention. This new ship gave off a massive ethereal signature that
was larger
than anything they had seen before. It drew them in like a moth to a flame, and
the ship
began to open fire. The newcomer had a force field in place and the weapons
fire from the
Darkling ships was unable to penetrate it. The newcomer returned fire on its
Darkling
attackers and it had a completely different effect. One by one the newcomer
destroyed
every Darkling ship it exchange fire with, and before long there were no hositle
ships
left around the asteroid. On the bridge of the newcomer ship, Prince Orrin
Quintarin
checked his sensor readings and found Washu's life signature on the asteroid.
He also
detected a large number of Darkling signatures surrounding her.
The scene brought back painful memories of the last time he lost someone
who ment
everything to him, and he was determined that this time the Darkness would take
another
loved one away from him.
"I'm going down there!" Orrin shouted as he leaped from the
helm station and ran from the bridge. He made his way to the outer edge of the
inner hull
of the ship and phased through into space. Instantly an arura of power
surrounded Orrin's
body and he floated away from the ship. In the distance the teltale sparking
lights of more
Darkling ships emerging from hyperspace could been seen. Orrin begins flying
through space
without any visible means of propulsion and plunged into the atmosphere of the
planetoid.
On the surface, Washu did not hear anymore sounds from the Darklings
lurking about in
the distance, and she this could be a good or bad thing. One; they were too far
away
for her to hear, or two; they knew where she was hiding and they were finding a
way to sneak
up on her. She was determined to find out which one, and knew she could not
hide out in the
boulders from the creatures forever because they could feel her life essence.
She came out
of her hiding place and started to run, but a pair of clawed hands grabbed her
legs from
beneath the loose soil on he planetoid surface. A massive Darkling rose out of
the ground
and loomed angrily over its intended prey. Several more creatures simply
materialized around
her out of nowhere, but she knew they were appearing out of sub-space.
"This one is very young, her essence will be very sweet." the creature
that held her
legs said in a gravely voice.
"Young yet also well developed for her age, lets have some fun first, then
we feed."
another suggested as he transformed into his normal humanoid form but without
his clothing.
"She looks like she is at least twelve or thirteen." yet another Darkling
said.
"Ya, but she is a well built twelve year old." the naked humanoid replied.
This was not the way Wasbu had expected her life would end. The prospect
of being
violated by a horde on monsters and then having her life force sucked away a
piece at a time
was not the way she had wanted her last moments to proceed. She did not see any
possible way
out of the situation. One of the creatures slowly slid a shart talon from its
finger under her
dress to rip off her clothes. The monster did not have a chance to strip her as
a blast of
energy came out of nowhere and vaporized it where it loomed over her. The naked
humanoid and
the other Darlings looked in the direction the blast had come in total shock.
A humanoid figure flew through the air towards them at high speed. Washu
could see the
outline of a force field surrounding the figure and for a few fleeting seconds
she thought it
was Tenchi or Ryoko who had come to her rescue. The Darklings could feel the
immense ethereal
power radiating from their attacker and they snarled in rage. The creatures
responded to the
attaack by launching their own energy blasts at the newcomer but the blasts were
deflected
effortlessly by his force field.
The figure was humanoid, tall and had a male build. Washu tried to see
the man's face,
but he was shrouded by an arura of energy that made seeing his face difficult.
The flying
man threw energy blasts from his hands at the Darklings and each direct hit
instantly
vaporized them. Before long a Darkling that had been the naked humanoid was all
that was
left. The creature summoned an energy sword in its clawed hands and stood its
ground. The
flying man landed on the ground and dispelled his shield, but was still shrouded
in an arura
of power. He ignited an energy sword in his hands and made a gesture towards
the Darkling as
if to acknowledge the creature's challenge for a sword fight.
The Darkling came at the man with its sword and made a clumby swipe for
his head, but
the man ducked under the attack and deftly sliced the creature on the chest
multiple times. The
Darkling howled in pain and rage and sung again, but this time a bit more
competently now that it
knew its opponent would not be an easy kill. The man perried each sword swipe
with incredible
speed, his movements were inhumanly fast, and his arms and legs seemed to blur
as he moved.
The man swept to the side leaving a faint trail in his wake and jabbed the
Darkling in the
side. Each wound in the creature released a stream of green energy instead of
blood. The
Darkling tried a few cunning attacks at the man's head and legs, but the sword
fighter was
too fast and much better skilled at sword fighting than the monster was. Soon,
the man began
to tire of this game, teleported behind the creature and releaved it of its
existance by
taking its head.
Soon after the creature was dead Washu stood up and looked at her savior.
The man was
still surrounded by an arura of power, but the light began to fade and his face
was revealed
to her for the first time. Washu stood in absolute shock for a moment, she was
wondering if
she was seeing things because of the thin atmosphere, or if this was a
hallucination brought
on by having her life force slowly sucked away from her body. The man slowly
walked up to her,
she so wanted this to be real and she hoped beyond hope that he was real. He
stopped in front
of her and she hesitantly reached out her hand to his face. She could feel the
warmth of his
skin, he was older than he had been the last time she had seen him, and he had a
scar on his
right cheek that appeared to somehow be several years old.
"I missed you so much." the man said in that same voice she remembered.
Her defenses were weakening and her knees were starting to give out on
her. The man
reached out and touched her cheek with his hand. His touch sent delicious
electricity through
her skin, and the softness of his touch brought tears to her eyes.
"Is it really you?" she asked.
"Yes, my love, it is." Orrin replied. Washu could not contain herself any
longer, she
flung her arms around his neck and held him as tight as she could. She did not
want to let him
go again.
"I thought I'd never see you again." she sobbed with her head resting on
his shoulder.
"I thought the same thing, but I am back and this time it is for good."
Orrin told her.
"I love you."
Washu sobbed and her body began to shake. She was overcome with joy and
all she could
do was cry and hold the man whom she had grown to love close to her. Though
they had only
known each other for a few short weeks a powerful and loving relationship
between them had
strung to life between them. That seemed like a million years ago after all she
had been
through since he left to go back to his home universe.
"You look, older." she commented as she looked at his face.
"It has been a very long time since I have last seen you." he told her.
"Its only been six months." Washu said.
"For you, but because of the differences in temporal physics betwwen our
two universes
for me it has been over four hundred years." Orrin explained.
Washu's eyes went wide with surprise and horror. Four hundred years had
passed for Orrin
since he last saw her face. He only appeared to be just a few years older than
he had been
the last time she had seen him, but she also noticed something else about him.
For one thing,
when he was on Earth he did not have the awesome power she had just witnessed
him use against
the Darkness, and second he was no longer carrying the StarGem Sword. She
looked into his
eyes and saw a slightly haunted look. She had seen that look in the eyes of
other beings
before, and it was usually after they had been the witness of unimaginable
carnage and war.
"What has happened to you?" she asked, her body trembling with fear not
for herself but
for the man she loved.
"Far more than I am willing to reveal right now, and maybe its better that
I never
reveal the horrors I have witnessed." he told her. Washu hugged him tighter and
Orrin
retrned her embrace with the same vigor.
In the distance a faint sound reached Orrin's sensitive ears. He lookied
up and
scanned the horizon. "More Darklings are coming." he said.
Washu gasped as she realized she was being lifted into the air. A force
field bubble
sprange to life around them both and they raced away from the surface of the
planetoid. They
flew towards the wreckage of the Yagami.
"Where are your friends and your daughter?" Orrin asked.
"I made them so ahead without me." Washu told him.
"A gallant gesture, but not a wise one." he told her.
"It was either that or we'd all be dead." she replied.
Orrin changed their direction and they soared into the cloudy sky above
the surface of
planetoid. Washu watched with fascination as they rose above the clouds and
beyond the thin
atmosphere. They raced through the vacumm of space and in the distance she
could see an
amazing looking starship. The vessel looked organic and sleek like a sea
creature from some
exotic alien ocean which was designed for fast swimming. They were halfway to
the ship when
a Darkling ship materialized next to them and opened fire on them. Washu
marvelled as the
massive energy blast splashed harmlessly off Orrin's shield. The ship they were
racing towards
turned and opened fire with withering firepower. Twin pulse cannons from two
winglets on either
side of the ship cut loose as a beam weapon fired from the nose of the ship.
The weapons fire
penetrated the shields of the Darkling ship in seconds and tore into the armor
hull of the
ship. The beam weapon holed the ship through and through, internal explosions
could be seen
flasbing through the hules in the armor plating, and seconds later the entire
vessel became a
rapidly expanding sphere of gas and debris.
Once inside the ship, Orrin dispelled his shield and lead Washu by the
hand through
several twisting corridors. Before long they reached the bridge of the ship and
Washu
looked around in wounderous fascination at all the advanced technology was she
seeing. Much of
the technology she was seeing was equal to and sometimes beyond anything she had
ever
developed. She also knew without having to scan the ship with her instruments
that the ship
was build using the decipines of Ethereealology.
Washu's attention was immediately caught by two other people sitting on
the bridge. A
young man was seated at what looked like a pilot's station which had controls
for steering
the ship, and a young girl sat at what appeared to be a communications console.
"Dad, we have multiple incoming Darkling cruisers, and long range sensors
are detecting
a large fleet of class four ships." the young girl said.
"Kryton, plot an evasive course to the planet Jurai using our archived
star charts of his
univeerse." Orrin said outloud. "Use space fold to jump from way point to way
point to keep
them from detecting our destination."
"I already anticipated this, setting the course now." a familar voice with
a Britsh-like
accent said. "It is good to see you again, Mistress Washu."
"I see you've made a few modifications to Kryton, and a few others things
have happened."
Wash said and gestured towards the young girl who called Orrin "Dad".
"This is my daughter, Yuko, and the young man at the helm is my son
Darius." Orrin said.
"Hello." Darius said.
"Hi." Yuko said.
Washu was intrigued by this revelation but was not surprised that Orrin
had met someone
else during the time he had been gone. Over four hundred years had passed since
he last saw
her afterall.
"Where is their mother?" she asked.
"She went to a better place a long time ago." he replied with sadness in
his eyes.
"I'm sorry." she said softly and squeezed his hand.
"Uh, Dad, isn't she a little young." Darius commented. "Aren't you
robbing the cradle."
The young man had a sly smile on his face, he knew full well from his
father's stories
that Washu was much older than she appeared.
"Ya, it would feel pretty wierd calling somebody Mom who is younger than I
am."
Yuko said as she tried to suppress a laugh.
"You got two real comedians here." Washu said with a smile. Orrin just
looked at his
two children with disbelief and surprise. The look turned to a sly grin. "I
seen despite all
my attempts you two still inherited your mother's sense of humor."
Washu transformed from her child-like form to her adult form and Darius's
eyes went
wide with surprise. "Your beautiful, I mean really really beautiful." he said
in awe.
"Thank you, and if you think I'm beautiful you should see my daughter."
Washu said.
"But don't get any ideas, she's already married."
Darius made a face and snapped his fingers in a gesture of defeat and Yuko
just chuckled
out loud.
"At this speed and course we'll reach Jurai in two and a half hours."
Orrin said.
"Ryoko and the others are in Ryu-Ohki, we'll be thirty to fifteen minutes
behind them."
Washu said.
Orrin wrapped his arms around Washu's supple waiste and pulled her in for
a kiss. The
contact was soft and filled both of them with an immense feeling of love. When
they parted
the mood was suddenly shattered by Darius spouting out, "Hey you two, get a
room!"
"Lets go somewhere private so we don't bother my oversexed son." Orrin
said.
"More like undersexed, I've been in space so long I've almost forgotten
what a beautiful
woman looks like." Darius said.
"Hey, what am I chopped liver." Yuko said with a hurt expression.
"You don't count, your my sister." Darius said.
"I'll get you for that in our next cyberlink game, watch your back." she
said dangerously.
"Oh please, I frag you ten times more than you frag me at deathmatch."
Darius said.
"True, but I'm better at Capture the Flag than you are." Yuko replied with
a smile.
The two lovers left the youngsters on the bridge to continue their
conversation, and
they walked hand in hand to Orrin's private quarters. The door opened as Orrin
reached it and
the lights inside activated, but Kryton though to turn them down to a romanticly
low level. The
living starship also turned on some soft music in the background. Soft ambient
techno beats,
smooth and romantic, started to play quietly in the room.
"Looks like Kryton already anticipated what was on our minds." Orrin said
as the door
closed behind them. They kissed each other passionate, holding each other
clsoe. Before long
they were under the covers in Orrin's bed holding each other tight as their
bodies moved rythmicly
to the mood inspiring music. Waves of pleasure washed through them, every
touch, every kiss,
ever sudtle movement brought on an inbelievably wonderful sensation. Washu
collapsed onto Orrin's
bare chest in exhaustion, sweat beading on her body, and her breath came in
quick gasps. Orrin
held her tight and he felt the soft tug of tireness grab at the edges of his
consciousness
that always appeared after loving making.
"I missed you so much." Washu said with her head resting on his chest.
"My work back home is done, I'm here to stay with you forever." he told
her.
Tears of joy fell down Washu's face and she hugged him tightly. "We have
a family now." he
told her.
"I've always had a family, but now its a complete family because your
here." Washu replied,
and they kissed each other again letting all their longing and love for each
other pass between
them with each touch.
Ryu-Ohki raced through hyperspace at full speed. The Cabbit ship was the
fastest vessel
around, even faster than the Yagami had been, and only ships of Jurai could
match her speed. At
the helm Ryoko sat with her hands on the twin trackball controls that allowed
her to steer the
ship. She watched the holographic instrument panels to make sure that they were
still on
course for Jurai and that they were not being followed. The problem was that
they were being
followed, and the vessels that followed them had Darkling signatures. Without
Washu she was
not certain, but the new programming added to Ryu-Ohki's neurol matrix did
indicate that they
were Darkling.
Ryoko still felt the presence of her mother in the back of her mind. On
the other end
the link was being blocked off, but before that happened she first felt terror
coming from
her mother and then incredible joy. Tears of happiness fell down her face
because she knew
from the link that her mother was alive, but she was sure why she had the
feeling of joy.
"When we reach Jurai space I will contact Father and let him know what is
happening."
Aeka was saying to the others, and Ryoko realized that she had been
concentrating so hard that
she did not hear them.
"Maybe he'll send some ships to escort us home." Sasami said.
"Kiyone." Mihoshi sobbed from across the room. The blonde office was
sitting on the
shiny floor with her knees up to her chest, her arms were wrapped around her
knees, and she
was rocking back and forth. She had been like this since her initial shock over
the crash
of the Yagami subsided.
"Poor thing." Tenchi commented.
"I wish there was something we could do for her." Sasami said.
"Mihoshi must be allowed to work this through in her own way and in her
own time."
Katsuhito said.
"Without Washu to give us her scientific guidance this is going to be
hard." Tenchi
said.
"She's still alive, I don't know where, but I do know that she is happy
where she is."
Ryoko said from her helm station.
"She is?" Tenchi asked in surprise.
"Yes, I feel her on the other end of my link with her." Ryoko told him.
Sasami clasped her hands in front of her face in a gesture that looked so
sweet and innocent.
"That is so wonderful, then we will meet up with her again." she cheered.
Tenchi looked down at the shiny floor and sighed. "I wish I could say the
same for Dad
and Kiyone." he said. Aeka placed a hand on his shoulder and tried to give him
some encouragement
through their link.
"We'll reach Jurai in two hours, we'll be in standard communications range
with the Royal
Palace in an hour, Princess." Ryoko told them.
This was it, they were about to complete their journey to Jurai, but they
were seperated,
and nobody knew what has been happening on Jurai during all this time.
__________
Chapter Seven: Chaos Jurai
Kagato's way of life had been abruptly changed forever by becoming a
Darkling, but
not just any Darkling...he was a Regent. Not ever having to ear solid foods
anymore was
one of the things he had to get used to, but he was still able to enjoy those
things of
life he had before his transformation. The sweet necter of a young girl's life
force
was like honey to him, but instead of savoring every morsal of her essense he
took what
he needed right then and there and left the victim to die or recover to be feed
upon
later. It did not take a great deal of effort for him to get used to this new
life,
but what did take him some time to get used to was the unusual tastes of the
Regis.
As his latest meal was being carried away unconscious a pair of Darklings
dragged
another young woman into their chambers. She was kicking and scream, shouted
every
obscene word imaginable. The Darklings forced her to lay down flat and they
manicled her
to a special device on the floor. Her lower torso was sloped upwards and her
legs were
locked forced open to spread her wide. One of the two creatures grapped her
clothing, which
consisted of almost nothing more than a black suit of boby armor that resembled
a single
piece swimsuit, and ripped it off of her body to exposer her nakedness. Kagato
looked at
her enraged and frightened face and immediately recognized her.
"Sakura." he said.
"You know this morsal?" the Regis asked.
"Yes, I have had dealing with her in the past." Kagato told her.
"This one's essence of strong and young, her mind corrupt and her thoughts
pervurse."
the Regis said. "What do you say of her?"
"She is loyal if given the proper motivation and assuming the pay is to
her liking." he
told her.
"The time to make another Regis is quickly approaching." the Regis said.
"This one
may prove useful to us in that reguard, but for now I will savor her."
"Please, must you play with your food." Kagato said with a smirk on his
face. The Regis
almost laughed at the joke, and then walked over to where Sakura was strapped
down.
"What the fuck do you people want from me?" Sakura shouted at them. "Your
Kagato,
aren't you, I thought you were dead."
"The repoorts of my death were great exaggerated." he replied before
sitting down in a
chair to watch
The Regis kneeled down between Sakura's legs and started to softly carress
the insides of
her thighs.
"Get the fuck away from me you dike!" Sakura screamed. "Get your fuck'n
hands off me!"
"But Sakura, you enjoy the love of women and men both." the Regis said,
probing her
mind.
"What the fuck did you do, blow up my ship so this skank can get her
thrills." Sakura
shouted at Kagato.
Kagato said nothing but what Sakura said next made him stand up bolt
upright. "Your
brother tried to fuck'n rape me before he died."
Anger seeth in his eyes as he looked down on her. "My brother is dead."
he said.
"Yes, Ryoko killed him in the Dead Zone." Sakura said.
"So they were in the Dead Zone as you predicted." the Regis said.
"Your looking for Ryoko?" Sakura asked. "I might be able to help you find
her."
"We already have, but she eluded us temporarity." the Regis said. "It
will only be
a matter of time, and yes you can help us, but not in a way you might think."
Kagato watched in pervurse fasination as the Regis lowered her head and
Sakura's
eyes went wide, she screamed out every swear word immaginable. A faint blue
light began to
glimmer in the room and Sakura screamed. It was a scream that was half form
unbarable
agony and half from unbelieaable extacy. Her body writhed and convulse in the
manicles that
held her, her head whipped from side to side, and she screamed as if a massive
orgasm was
washing through her body. It went like this for ten minutes, and when the light
faded
Sakura's body collapsed. She was covered in sweat and was breathing heavily,
she tried to
raise her head, but she was so tired she fell immediately unconscious.
The Regis sat back up, her face wet, and smiled at Kagato. "This one was
indeed very
suculant and sweet." A Darkling handed her a towel and she dried her face.
"Leave this one here, when she recovers I have something special planned
for her."
the Regis said as she stood up, and the Darklings nodded before they left.
"What is wrong Kagato, you look haggard?" the Regis asked.
"Must you always do that?" he asked her.
"Its a part of what we are, our desires are amplified, and for this little
one it will
be the same when she becomes a Regis." the Regis said.
"Still worried, I feel you are trouble by your brother's death." the Regis
continued.
"Revenge is a feast we Darklings savor most of all."
Kagato looked at her and a fire raged in his eyes. "I will find her and
make her pay
for his death." he said, and the Darkling part of his mind conjured up all sorts
of pervurse
ways to end her life. The Regis felt this in his mind and she smiled at him.
"Good, good, let the hate consume you." she said. "It will make her death
that more
delicious when you take her."
"Assuming we can find her." he said. "We lost several ships to this
Champion of Light,
and now they could be anywhere in the galaxy."
"In time we will find them, but for now we must accelerate our efforts on
Jurai."
the Regis said. "All is going according to plan, very soon he planet Jurai will
be ready for
us to rape and pillage and the Juraian people will only have themselves to
blame."
At no time in the entire ancient history of the planet Jurai prior to the
arrive of the
Goddess Tsunami had the planet been engaged in war with itself. Previous to the
arrival of
Tsunami the people of Jurai had been war like and savage. Their wars against
one another were
brutal and it was clear that they were heading towards an existance were peace
would be
impossible. However, Tsunami arrived and became the Tree of Light, she
enlightened those who
happened upon her tree, and her arura that touched them gave them an extended
lifespan and also
healed diseases and sickness. In time, Tsunami had choosen from among the
rulers of the people
one who was worthy and made him Emperor of Jurai. This was beginning of the
Jurai royal family,
and they had been in power for tens of thousands of years. At not time in their
history had
there ever been a civil war or conflict between the people and the government.
That, however,
was changing rapidly.
Several weeks after the initial report from the GP was received, Emperor
Asuza began to
notice something dark and sinister brewing at the edges of his empire.
Scientist on Jurai had
found a way to break through the interference that had blacked out the planet
from the rest
of the galaxy temporarily, but even so all attempts to reach his daughters via
communicator
had failed. Ships of the GP that patroled the area where their ship should have
been did not
see any sign of them. As the weeks went by and turned into months the Emperor,
his Empress,
and his Queen feared that they would not see their son or daughter ever again.
Asuza did not
want to give up hope for his son and daghters safe return to Jurai, and he so
wanted to speak
with Tenchi.
His concerns over his missing family members had to pushed aside when
reports bagan to
arrive in the court of increased violence in the streets. Crime and violence on
Jurai commited
by citizens of Jurai was almost non-existant. Crime on Jurai was lower than on
any planet in
the Galactic Union, and fighting in the streets was unheard of. Everyday new
reports arrived
at his desk in his private office where he reviewed important documents from the
Senate and
the Holy Council. Everyday they became more disterbing, more violent, and worse
still a
growing number of people began to place blame on the Royal Family for it all.
Two months of this went by and still now word from his family, but reports
from the
Secret Police began to arrive of a covert neo-political movement on Jurai. This
movement wanted
to removed the Emperor of Jurai from power and place their own leader into power
in the
government. Laws for freedom of speech allowed anyone to say what they wanted
about the royal
family, but this open display of unwarrented hatred of the royal family filled
Asuza with
dread.
"How large is this organization?" he asked the head of the Secret Police
who uncovered
the covert group. It was his first audience with the new head of the Jurai
Secret Poilice, he
was a man name Zerlova, a tall young Juraian who had formerly been in the
military.
"They have eight-hundred members thus far, and the ear of several members
of the Senate."
Zerlova said.
"Only eight-hundred?" Asuza said. "Who in the Senate are they in regular
contact with?"
Zerlova touched a button on his PDA and a holographic screen appeared in
front of the
Emperor's throne. "Senators Tetsuo Troda, Vorego Yogora, and Gatro Zello, each
are prominent
members of the Senate and represent some of the largest provinces of Jurai." he
said.
"I am aware of this, but what amount of influence do they have with them?"
the Emperor
asked.
"My investigation has found that a sizable amount of credits were
transfered from the
Senators' personal accounts to a private account held by a man named Hakuda
Asrovass." Zerlova
said as a picture of the man appeared on the screen. "He appears to be either
the leader or
in a position of leadership with the group. I have my best undercover agent
attempting to
infiltrate them now so we can have someone on the inside. The group holds
regular meetings
at this dweeling in the capital city every other day. It is not clear if they
possess any
arms and pose any real danger to the Empire, but they are growing in influence
and are working
to recruit new members daily. The Senators have not openly admitted to being in
dialogue with
the group, but as their movement grows I fear it will only be a matter of time
before they do."
Special Agent Duncan Kirasawa of the Jurai Secret Police was accustomed to
infiltrating
subversive groups, but not when they were made of up citizens of Jurai. He
walked the streets
of the capital city dressed in a standard workman's outfit.e looked like any
other ordinary
citizen making his way home from a day of work. His keen senses and training
told him that he
was being watched from the crowd. He stopped at a roadside cafe and ordered a
drink of Sapri,
a drink similar to coffee from Earth, and took a newsreader from his pocket to
make like he
was reading the days news. He spotted his observer without much effort, a young
man in a
long coat, and decided to stay where he was to see if the young man intended to
approach him.
As if on cue he watched the man approach his table from out of the corner
of his eye. The
young man took a seat across from him, looked around somewhat nervously, and
took out his own
newsreader. Several minutes passed without the young man saying a word, so
Duncan decided to
set out some bait.
"Damn, this crime spree is totally out of hand and the Emperor doesn't
seem to give a
damn at all." Duncan said.
The young man looked up from his newsreader and said, "All the Emperor
cares about is
the credits in his pocket, and the pockets of his so called Royal Family."
"Sometimes I wish we had somebody in power who really cared about the
people." Duncan
said. "I wish there was something I could do."
The man leaned forward. "Maybe there is something you can do." he said.
"What do you mean?" Duncan asked with mock interest on his face.
"I am a part of a special interest group that is dedicatd to correcting a
grievous
error in our current government." he said.
"What error is that?" Ducan asked.
"Our reliance on a royal family that cares nothing for the people of
Jurai, our continued
faith in a so called goddess who has not shown herself for hundreds of years,
and the supression
of our people by a council of so called holy men who only seek to fill their
pockets with out hard
earned credits." the man said.
Duncan was stunned by this last part. Not only was this movement aginst
the royal family
but there also against the goddess Tsunami. He did not let his emotions show on
his face however
as he sat forward and whispered, "Where do I sign up?"
The young man introduced himself as Gerro, he head Duncan to a groundcar,
and they drove
around the city for several hours talking about the government. It was getting
close to sunset
when Gerro stopped the groundcar in an industrialized section of the city.
Duncan opened the
side door on the groundcar, stood up, and looked around. Tall manufacturing
towers and domed
processing centers could be seen in the distance. Nearby there was only one
building that
looked like an ordianry dwelling.
"Where are we?" Duncan asked.
"Come this way, I want you to meet some friends of mine." Gerro said.
Gerro walked towards the house with Duncan following behind him. As they
reached the house
the front door opened and several people armed with type four plasma rifles
spilled out.
"Who's this?" one of the men asked.
"New blood, taking him to see Hakuda." Gerro said.
"Check him first." the man said to the others. Immediately the other
gunmen searched
Duncan's pockets and patted him down.
"He's clear." another man said. He pulled out a small device that looked
like a pen. The
device popped open to reveal a small folding display screen. "His name is
Duncan Kirasawa, he's
an employee of the Gensao Mining Company. This says he's an engineer."
Duncan took his ID wand back from the man and followed Gerro into the
house. So much for
our intellegence telling us they weren't armed, Duncan thought to himself. He
noticed that the
class four plasma rifles were military-grade with a disintegration setting.
Those types of
arms were illegal for personal citizens to possess. Inside the house Duncan
found that most
everyone carried a sidearm that was military-grade. They stopped in a large
room filled with
young teens and children. A young woman was speaking to the group on a makeship
stage, her
words were riling up the assembled group of youngsters.
"They spread lies about Tsunami, they tell us she is there, but we know
the truth that she
has left Jurai a long time ago." the woman said. "She is not with us because
the Royal Family of
Jurai, and because of them she does have Jurai in her favor anymore, but we now
have a new
guardian to watch over us. We have a new protector to watch over our world, but
we must first
purge our world of the corrupt disease of the Royal Family. It is they who have
ruined our
world, it is they who suppress us, it is they who maintain the lies that keep us
enslaved to a
false religion. But, fear not, for the time is quickly coming when the eveil of
the Royal
Family will be purged from Jurai, they will be punished for their crimes, and we
will finally
be free!"
The croud cheered and raised their fists and weapons into the air above
their heads. The
woman climbed down from the stage and the crowd started to chant a name,
"Hakuda! Hakuda!"
"This way, Hakuda will see you now." Gerro told him. Duncan was lead into
an ajacent room
which was dimly lighted. A shadowy figure sat in one corner of the room.
"Welcome, I am Hakuda, I understand you are disenchanted with the way the
government is
currently run." the man said. His voice seemed odd to Duncan, somehow hollow
and distant.
"I am, things have been falling apart lately." Duncan lied.
"It is because the Royal Family care only for themselves." the shadowy man
said. "They
no longer have the anointing of Tsunami to justify their power, so they are now
using subversive
tactics to maintain their power over Jurai."
Duncan knew all of this was a total farce. He knew the Tree of Light,
Tsunami's tree, was
still in the Royal Gardens at the palace and that the tree still had power.
"I heard that speech outside about a new guardian of Jurai." Duncan said.
The shadowy man was seated in a lotus position on the floor of the dark
room. Duncan
watched as the man floated into the air and hovered towards him. He came into
the light and
Duncan did his best to suppress his surprise. The man who came into the light
possessed the
likeness of the long lost First Prince of Jurai, Prince Yosho. His eyes were
glowing with
an inner light and Duncan could sense an arura of power radiating from his body.
"I am that protector, and in time my followers and I will purge this world
of the evils
of the Royal Family." he said. "Will you help me, I have many followers now but
we do not
have anyone with engineering skills in our group. Your skills could be
invaluable to us."
"Yes." Duncan said. A smile came across the false Yosho's face.
Three days would pass before Duncan was allowed out of the house. He had
atteneded
meetings to indoctrinations him into the group. He was escorted on a tour of
the house, and he began
to realize that the inside of the building was larger than the outside. He
realized it must be
a subspace pocket they were using to do this. In different rooms of the house
he watched as
hundreds of people sorted through different weapons and attended classes on how
to set bombs and
subversive military tactics. When it was time for him to leave and return to
his home he had
seen more than what was expected. This was not just a small political group, it
was an all-out
rebelion of religious fanatics following a man who looked like Yosho and set
himself up as a god.
He carried an arm band in his pocket that he had to wear to meeting to
identify himself as a member. He made his way through the city using the
underground transport tubes in attempt to
evade anyone who might be following him to observe his actions. Eventaully he
made his way to a
meeting spot that was preassigned as his place of contact with the agency. He
spotted the agent
that was his contact and immediately exchanged codewords with him.
"I need to get in touch with Chairman Zerlova and the Emperor at once." he
told the agent.
"We've got a very serious problem."
Zerlova and Duncan arrived at the lonely house in the industrial sector
of the city
with a large contingency of soldiers. The men were all armed with wooden
weapons made from
the branches of Trees of Jurai. They appeared to be stalves for hand to hand
combat, but
they possessed the ability to launch plasma blasts at a great distance. Their
body armor
was also wooden, but the wood was also from Tree of Jurai and was harder than
any metal and
was lighter also.
They stormed the front door of the house and blasted open the door before
spilling into
the building. After hearing about the enormous cache of weapons inside they
expected to face
a furious fire fight. Instead, the soldiers came face to face with just an
empty room inside
the small building. Zerlova and Duncan walked inside, and Duncan looked around
in total
surprise.
"Where are they Agent Kirasawa?" Zerlova asked.
"They wee here, sir." he said.
A soldier holding a small device in his hand came over to them and handed
the device over
to Zerlova. "You might want to see these readings, sir." the soldier told him.
Chairman Zerlova looked the device over and hrmphed. "It appears you were
correct, they
were here, but now they are gone." he said. "These readings indicate that a sub
space pocket
had been here for some time. It looks like they got wise to your true
identity."
"If that is so, why did they let me go?" Duncan asked.
"I'm not certain, but if they are as dangerous as you say its possible
they might not
want to attract too much negitive attention yet." Zerlova said.
"They'll probably be even harder to find this time, I was lucky to find
them as quickly as
I did the first time." Duncan admitted.
"Don't look at this as a failure, Agent Kirasawa." Zerlova said smiling at
him. "Without
your efforts we would know next to nothing about their true motives."
They all exited the hosue and the soldiers sealed it with a portable force
field device.
One soldier wrote down the access code that unlocked the force field and handed
it to Zerlova.
"This should prevent them from using the same house over again." he said.
Before long the two men were in a ground car headed back to the
headquarters of the
Secret Police. "Where do go from here, I'm certain you will want me
reassigned." Duncan said.
"Not so fast, you haved first hand contact with these people, so I am
putting you in
charge of the investigation." Zerlova told him. "You will want to start
assembling a team of
agents to work with you as soon as possible."
Duncan Kirasawa had a broad smile on his face when he replied, "Yes sir."
Somewhere out in space the Regis lounged in her private room she shared
with Kagato
and looked longingly at the young woman who sat in the middle of the room naked.
Sakura was
shackled to the floor by a chain attached to her left leg and was stripped down
to nothing. She
looked at the Regis in wide eyed horror, she lost her rough and tough exterior
and was now
submissive and quiet. The Regis had enjoyed herself so much the first time she
played with
her she decided to play with her some more, and after a few days Sakura was not
the same
person she had been. Even Kagato had sucummed to the overwhelming desires
brought on by his
new Darkling personality. Sakura had been kept in her own room at the time when
he walked
in, grabbed her, threw her to the floor, and took her on the spot. Try as she
might Sakura
was unable to resist Kagato's immense Darkling enhanced strenght, but soon she
was screaming
as the man both ravished her and feed on her life force at once.
"Why did you let that secret agent live after you sensed who he was?" the
Regis asked.
"I felt it was better that he lives to let them know what they are up
against." Kagato
said. "Besides they will not be concentrating on dealing with Hakuda's group
and less on
looking for threats from elsewhere. By the time they realize their mistake it
will be too
late for them."
"Crude but effective." the Regis said.
"What do we do now?" Kagato asked. He looked at Sakura, his eyes rovered
over the
elegent curves of her nude body and that same powerful desire began to rise in
him again.
"I believe our little pet has been properly prepared." she told him as she
stood up
walked up to the chained woman. "But if you'd like to endulge yourself first I
can wait."
"Oh, by all means." Kagato said gesturing from the Regis to Sakura.
The Regis smiled wickedly and kneeled down in front of Sakura. The
woman's eyes went
wide in horror. "Please, no more, no more!" she cried.
The Regis reached out and careesed Sakura's facen and sbe immediately
calmed down. The
Regis touched not only her skin but her mind as well calming the young woman
down. All of the
unspeakable things she had done to Sakura had been in an effort to break down
the woman's
mental defenses, and she succeeded. "Shhhh!" she said. "Be at ease my pretty
plaything, I
have choosen you for the greatest gift that our kind bestow upon any mortal."
"A-a-a-a gift." Sakura stammered nervously.
"I have choosen you Sakura to accept the purest seed of our race, I have
choosen you
to be a Regis." the Regis told her.
Forcing Sakura to obey her will, the Regis gently pused Sakura to the
floor and then
straightened out her body. She crawled over the woman's body, her tounge
probing about
playfully. When she was positioned over Sakura's head she straddled the woman's
face. Sakura
reacted by trying to free herself, but the Regis forced herself over Sakura's
mouth. The
woman hit and clawed in vain at the Regis to make her move.
"Relax child, you are about to be reborn." the Regis told her. The Regis'
face took
on an expression as she was starting to experience an orgasm. In reality a tiny
crearture
was passing through her body seeking an exit. The Regis groaned with pleasure
as the tiny
creature passed from her body and entered Sakura's mouth. One inside its new
homw the
creature sought out the place it needed to go in order to survive in its now
environment.
Sakura writhed about on the floor and her screen were muffled from between
the Regis'
legs as the Darkling Regis larva wriggled through her body and made its way
towards her
brain stem. When the tiny creature was settle, Sakura collapsed and the Regis
stood up
to release her.
Sakura stood up and looked around with new eyes for first time. It was
too soon for
all the changes to immediately take effects yet, but already her eyes were
starting to glow.
"Welcome my child, how do you feel?" the Regis asked.
"Incredible." Sakura said in a voice that was filled with rapture.
"You have been reborn, and now you msut feed." the Regis told her. On cue
a Darkling
carried to people into the room, a man and a woman. The man was older with a
mustache,
and the woman had long teal hair. Kagato recognized them immediately.
"Tenchi's father and one of his companions." he said.
"Yes, I felt the Champion of Light nearing them so I decided on a new
strategy to deal with
him." the Regis said. "The pretty young one will be our new Regis' first meal,
but the older
one will be the instrument of my plan."
"What could he possibly do, he is human and old." Kagato said.
"I will make him one of us, what better way to destroy Tenchi Masaki than
to use his
own father to kill him." the Regis said with a sly smile.
"I'll never harm a hair on my son's head you monster." Noboyuki shouted.
The Regis walked up to him where he hung off the ground held by his
Darkling captor.
"You will have no choice, you will be one of us, and you will obey me without
question." she
told him.
"Get away from him you bitch!" Kiyone screamed.
"Yes, I sense you have feelings for this pretty one." the Regis said as
she probed
Noboyuki's mind. It was an easy task since he was never trained in how to
resist such attacks.
"If you please me I will give this one to you as your personal plaything."
she said. "But
first, she will nourish our newly born Regis." The Regis turned to Sakura and
she motioned
for the woman to step forward. As she did the chain that held her to the floor
snapped like
tin foil as she moved. The Regis walked her over to Kiyone who was starting to
kick at the
creature that held her and Noboyuki.
"Aren't they cute when they resist." the Regis whispered into Sakura's
ear.
Sakura was unable to resist the urge in her body for energy, she grabbed
Kiyone from the
Darkling creature that held her and flung her to the floor. She leaped on top
of her and
her lips locked onto Kiyone's mouth that was about to scream. Noboyuki turned
her head
away and tears fell down his eyes, a blue glow filled the room, and the sound of
Kiyone's
muffled cried tore into him worse than any knife blade ever could.
The Regis crabbed Noboyuki's face with her hand in grip that was as tight
as a vise. "Watch
them, isn't it beautiful?" the Regis asked as she forced his face towards where
Kiyone was
being attacked.
"Your a cruel, hideous monster and when my son finds me you will all go to
hell where you
belong!" Noboyuki screamed into her face.
"What do you know of hell, Noboyuki?" the Regis asked. "You know nothing
of hell."
Immediately she projected millions of years of memories and images into
his mind. Thousands
upon thousands of atrocities committed by the Darkness upon billions of
unsuspecting life forms
from tens of thousands of different realities. The streams of horrific images
became too much
for his mind and Noboyuki screamed, "Please stop, stop!"
"In time you will revel in those images and take pleasure from them." she
said.
"I'll never take pleasure in the suffering of others!" he spat.
The Regis moved her face close to his. "I can guarantee it that you
will." she said, and
before he could anything she pressed her lips to his. The Regis forced her
tongue into his
mouth. A tiny creature that moved like a tiny droplet of saliva dropped from
the Regis' tongue
and slipped down Noboyuki's throat. The Regis broke her kiss with Noboyuki, he
was about to
shouted an obscenity at her, but his body was soon wracked with agony as the
Darkling larva
works its way towards his brain.
"Birth is always a violent and painful experience." the Regis said as she
watched Noboyuki
flailed about and screamed in pain. When it was over the Darkling that held him
let go and
Noboyuki fell to the floor in a fetus position. The door opened and a second
Darkling entered
with a young girl of perhaps twelve or thirteen years of age. She was stripped
naked, bound
hand and foot in cloth cords, and her mouth was gagged.
Sakura stood up from Kiyone who was now unconscious but still alive. She
sensed that the
Regis did not want her to die just yet, so she released her hold on the woman so
she could
recover for later. Noboyuki stood up, there was no hint of pain on his face,
and he looked
about the room. "I understand, I understand." he said.
"I told you that you would." the Regis said.
The second Darkling unbound the young girl and pulled off her mouth gag.
She cried out
in horror and scrambled across the room and hid herself in a corner like a
frightened animal.
"A gift for our new brother, I know how much you like them young." the
Regis whispered
into Noboyuki's ear. She had probed into his mind and found his Hentai
tendencies to her
liking. "Take all of her if you wish, she is yours."
Moving with a speed that was physically impossible for the human Noboyuki,
the newly
born Darkling Noboyuki sprinted across the room to where the young girl kneeled
on the floor
in fear. Her eyes went wide as Noboyuki grabbed her, ripped off his own
clothes, and started
to rape her in the middle of the room. The girl screamed as a blue aurora
surrounded the
both of them, Noboyuki slowly piece by piece devoured the young girl's life
force. The
please he got from consuming her essence was almost on par with the please he
received from
her body. When the light diminished Noboyuki stood up from the corpse of the
young girl, but
now the body was wrinkled and brown. She looked as if she had been dead for
several days,
and her skin had shrunk so mush her ribs and pelvis bone could been seen.
Noboyuki himself was also very different in appearance. Gone was his
slightly graying
hair and small wrinkles around his eyes denoting age. His face radiated youth,
and he looked
like he did in the photos he had of himself and Achika when they were teenage
lovers. He
appeared to by physically eighteen or nineteen years of age.
"I see you consumed all of her, young Darklings are ravenous when they are
first born."
the Regis said. She turned to the Darkling that had brought the young girl in.
"Dispose of
this trash." she ordered and the creature bowed low in obedience.
"What do want me to do, Mistress?" Noboyuki asked in a young voice.
"I want you to find your son, and put an end to his existence." the Regis
replied.
"As you command." he said and his eyes began to glow with an Inner Light.
The activities of Hakuda's group were being closely monitored, by Duncan
and his newly
assembled team of special agents, by the Secret Police and military. It had
taken three weeks
to find them again, it appeared they changed their recruitment style also, thus
confirming
the belief that they discovered his true identity somehow. At this time the
only real
crime that the group was know to have committed was possession of illegal arms,
but as Duncan's
team watched them they could easily add terrorism to that list. Hakuda's
followers carried out
a series of surgical terrorist attacks against government office all around the
city. It took
all the resources that Duncan would appropriate to deal with each problem, but
as each
event occurred it was becoming clear that Hakuda's group was always one step
ahead of them.
"They set off bombs in five key government offices in the past six days
and we have been
completely powerless to stop them." Duncan explained to Chairman Zarlova and
Emperor Asuza.
"Without someone on the inside there is no way to know what their next move will
be, and if
they found out I was an agent what will keep them from identifying anyone else
as an agent."
The images of five terrorist targets that were hit appeared on a
holographic display
in the Emperor's throne room.
"There must be a way to stop them, I will not stand by while some
blasphemous fool
terrorizes my people." Asuza said.
"We have work on different strategies, but without knowing their next move
we have to
be ready to act the moment we see them on the move." Duncan told him.
"That doesn't give us much time to act, they can pop in and out of that
sub space
pocket they are using as a base of operations anywhere in the city." Zarlova
added.
"Are you certain we have been unable to detect this sub space pocket?"
Asuza asked.
"We flew in experts from the Galactic Science Academy and they all failed
to find a
way to detect it." Zarlova replied.
"I am not accustomed to feeling helpless, but at this moment that is how I
am feeling."
Asuza said. "Do whatever is necessary, use whatever resources you need, take
the entire
fleet if you need it but I want this mad man stopped!"
"You can count on us, milord." Zarlova said with a bow.
Weeks passed without any more activity from Hakuda's followers. The
trailed had turned
cold and Duncan was wondering what the point of the earlier attacks had been
about. The
group had only made a few demands concerning the removal of the Royal Family
from power, but
they stopped their attacks. Unseen by Duncan and his team of agent, Hakuda
followers were
busy with a new plan of attack.
It was going on the fifth month of Tenchi and gang's journey through
space, and at the
royal palace the Emperor and his wives were starting to feel as if they might
not ever seen
their family again. No word had come up concerning them from any ships
patrolling Jurai space,
and the GP received no word about them either. The Emperor was both concerned
for his people
and his daughters both, and it was starting to have an effect on him.
Queen Fonaho was recently appointed Minster of Defense for the Empire.
She walked onto
the floor of the command center for planetary defense and watched as hundreds of
holographic
monitors displayed data on each ship in the fleet. She noticed that several of
screens were
blanked out. Admiral Shakar stood in the center of the command center in a ring
of consoles
named the Hot Zone, from here all the defensive resources of the entire empire
could be
controlled at the touch of a button.
"Why are these screen blanked out?" she asked.
"Those are ships we recently lost." the Admiral said. "We are
investigating, and one
of those was the Lunari."
"I wonder if this terrorist group has anything to do with the Lunari's
destruction."
Fonaho mused.
"Its possible, but the data recorder we recovered shows they were
destroyed by an
unknown class of ship." the Admiral replied.
"Engaged by enemies on two fronts, this is not good at all." she said.
"It gets worse, I learned this morning that several ships have refused to
check in, but
our monitors show they are still operational." Admiral Shakar said.
"Mutiny?" Fonaho asked in shock.
"Our intelligence agents have no other explanation, milady." Admiral
Shakar told her.
"Some of our contacts with the terrorist investigation tells us that several
members of this
Hokuda's group are officers in the fleet."
"This is very bad, if they gain control of our some of our ships--" Fonaho
said.
"I could prove disastrous for us all." Admiral Shakar finished for her.
Duncan's team received a major lead in the case, an anonymous informant
told them that the
terrorist group was active in the Kogong sector of the capital city. This
sector was residential
with thousands of homes were the citizens lived. The houses were domed like
buildings that
appeared to be natural fixtures on the landscape. Much of the architecture of
Jurai reflected
this merging of form and design with nature. Only the industrial sector, the
most remote part
of the city, looked artificial on the landscape.
The information that had been given told Duncan that a large structure
used as a
place of recreation was the group's focal point. For a week he had his people
stake out
the location, they observed an obvious pattern of activity at the building, and
a plan of
action of drawn up quickly. Agent Kirasawa took the plan to the Emperor and
Chairman
Zarlova first before enacting it.
"So you've found them?" Zarlova asked.
"Yes, they are staying around a recreation center in the Kogong sector."
Duncan told
him. "We've observed them for a week and they do not seem to notice we are
there so I feel
we have a chance this time to take them."
"What is it you will need to deal with this situation?" Emperor Asuza
asked.
"I wish to have the use of the Elite Guard." Duncan said.
The Elite Guard were considered the best soldiers on Jurai. None could
beat them
and they were the protectors of the Royal Palace. Their fighting skills were
legendary,
thus making them the most feared warriors in the galaxy.
Zarlova's eyes went wide, he did not expect his agent to make such a
request, and he
looked at the Emperor half expecting a negative reaction on his face. The
Chairman of the
Secret Police was surprise to see a grin on the Emperor's face.
"Take as many as you will anticipate needing, I want this monster either
brought to
justice or stopped anyway necessary." Asuza replied.
"Thank you, milord." Duncan bowed before leaving the throne room.
"Do you think it wise to give him some of the Elite Guard during this
crisis?" Zarlova
asked.
"I have confidence in Agent Kirasawa." Emperor Asuza said. "Everything in
my empire is
starting to fall apart, this terrorist group, several fleet ships refusing to
answer hails
or return to station, and the mysterious destruction of some of our ships by
some new
enemy we have been unable to identify or locate."
"It does seem like someone is trying to demoralize the Empire in some
way." Zarlova
commented.
"Demoralize is not the word, undermine, infiltrate, eradicate are some of
the words
that I would have chosen." Asuza replied. "Someone is out to destroy my empire
and I want
it stopped no matter the cost, my people are in danger, or faith is threatened,
and my two
precious little girls are missing."
In a secluded part of the city a lone man soon next to a public
communications device
and just stood waiting. The receiver buzzed with an incoming call and the man
tapped the
receive button. No picture appeared on the flat panel display, and the man had
already
through to put a hat over the optic sensor of his communicator so whoever was on
the other
end would not see him.
"They found your latest position." the voice on the other end said. "They
are well
arms, and Duncan Kirasawa is leading them."
"We'll be ready for them, and thanks for tipping us off that he was an
agent."
the man said.
"I deposited the usual amount into Lord Hakuda's account using a fake
account I created."
the voice said. "If it were ever found out that I was diverting some funds from
the agency
to you it would be very bad for me."
"The money will be of great help, you are wise to assist us." the man
said. "We are
both working to make Jurai a better place."
"I have to go, all communications are being scanned, but I am blocking
them for now
but I can't do this forever." the voice replied.
"This will do, you've done us a great service." the man said and he
pressed the
disengage button. He took his hat, placed it on his head, and turned to leave.
As he did
he started to laugh, his eyes glowed a dim red, and his face morphed into the
likeness of
Hakuda.
"Yes, thank you very much Chairman Zarlova." Hakuda laughed as he faded
into
subspace.
Three squads of Elite Guard soldiers joined Agent Kirasawa in the assault
against the
terrorists. The soldiers still wore the ornate armor they wore at the palace,
with white,
green, and red markings and flowing red capes down their backs. As decorative
at they
appeared, the armor was also powerful, and gave the Elite Guard enhanced
physical strength,
enhanced speed, and limited flying capabilities. Their stalves were their
ultimate weapon,
they were long and curved near the end and affixed with a large setting of
crystals. The
weapon was deadly with the ability to launch energy attacks, absorb energy
weapons fire
and redirect it, and also had the ability to form a force field.
The Captain of the Elite Guard stood beside Agent Kirasawa on the street
while they
planned out the attack. Captain Ginaro looked at the holographic floor plans
for the building
they were about to attack. This strategic mind told him the building was going
to be hard
to attack, there were multiple entrances, and its interior had a great deal of
alcoves and
twisting passageways that could be easily defended.
"They pass into a sub-space pocket universe they created so they can move
their base
of operations around much faster." Duncan told the Captain.
"Which also means they can pull out at the slightest hint of trouble."
Captain Ginaro
said.
"Exactly, which is why we need to be cautious." Duncan replied.
"We are ready to move at your order." Captain Ginaro told him.
"Spread out to cover all the exits, put eight men on each of the four here
and here,
and we will lead the attack from the main entrance here." Duncan explained as he
pointed to
the building plans.
"A sound strategy, that will leave us with ten men to attack the main
entrance, and
if they are as heavily armed as you say will need those ten despirately."
Captain Ginaro
said.
Duncan looked up into the night sky and then at his wrist watch. "We
strike at dawn,
our intellegence says they open the doorway to their pocket universe then to let
their agents
out." he said.
As the sun rose over the horizon the Elite Guard made their move. Duncan
and Captain
Ginaro with their forces broke through the main entrance and into the large
building. They
made their way towards the largest room where a game similar to Earth basketball
was played,
but there was no sign of any subspace pocket anywhere.
"Not again, how do they keep doing this?" Duncan muttered under his
breath. The Captain
heard the comment and narrowed his eyes, he enjoyed a challenge and apparently
these terrorist
were proving to be just that.
A crackle came over their communicators as they were searching some of the
adjoining
rooms. "Agent Kirasawa, we found something in the community bath you might want
to see."
said a voice of an Elite Guardsmen.
"On my way." Duncan replied.
When he got there the other Guardsmen were still searching the area fo any
sign of the
sub-space door. A single Guardsman was standing near a table in the middle of
the room. The
steam from the hot baths which were natural springs in the area filled the room.
Duncan
approached and the Guardsman gestured towards the table. A message in Juraian
text, from
which the pictographic language of the Japanese had originated, spelled out a
message. It
read; A Gift for Dear Agent Kirasawa. Next to the message was a small device he
recognized
as a holographic recorder. He touched the device and stepped back as the
message began
to play back.
The face of Hakuda appeared in midair above the device. Captain Ginaro's
eye brow did
a Spock Maneuver when he noticed who this man resembled.
"You have proven to be a exceptional opponent Agent Kirasawa." Hakuda said
in the message.
"I am impressed with your abilities, it did take us some time to find out who
you really were,
but it was not too difficult for us. Too bad you are on the wrong side we have
need of people
with your talents, but then not everyone will live to see Jurai's Golden Age.
So far you have
seen a small demonstration of our power, and still the Senate and the Holy
Counsil ignores my
demands. The people have spoken and they no longer wish to be under the
dictatorship of a
Royal Family that cares nothing for them, they want to be free, and I am that
freedom. The
rulers of Jurai will this day see a demonstration of our real power and then
they must listen
to our demands then. It is regrettable you did not join us Duncan, but I can no
longer afford
to play this game of cat and mouse with you, therefore I bid you farewell."
"What did he mean by that?" Captain Ginaro asked.
Duncan was puzzled, but suddenly the hairs on the back of his neck stood
up on end. He
kneeled down and looked under the table, and a large device was attached
underneath. He
recognized it almost immediately as an explosive device. It was attached to two
plasma
cannon cartridges which indicated on their displays that they were fully
charged. But it
was the insignia that was on those cartridges that caught his eye. The
countdown on the
bomb was rapidly reaching zero, so he knew he didn't have long to get everyone
out of the
building.
"There is a bomb, evacuate the building now!" he shouted.
Duncan and the others fled from the building as fast as their legs would
carry them,
the Elite Guardsmen ran much faster due the enhancements from their armor. "All
Guardsman
leave the building its going to explode!" Captain Ginaro ordered over the
communicator.
Duncan ran until he reached his ground car, he leaped over the engine hood
on the rear
and dropped down behind it. Before he reached the ground the building became a
massive fire
ball, flames and debris shot into the air, and the sound woke up nearly everyone
in the
neighborhood. As the debris of the building came down around them Duncan walked
back over
to where Captain Ginaro was standing near the ground cars the Elite Guard had
used.
"This Hakuda individual is a rather cunning adversary." Captain Ginaro
said.
"That is an understatement." Duncan told him.
"What is our move now?" Captain Ginaro asked.
"Its pretty clear now, Chairman Zarlova and I suspected we have a leak in
the Secret
Police, and now this proves it." Duncan said.
"This is very bad indeed." said Captain Ginaro.
"It is very bad, Captain, because the only poeple who know we are out here
are the
Chairman and the Emperor." Duncan told him.
Captain Ginaro looked at him for a moment. "I assume you are not
suspecting the
Emperor, which thus places suspicion on the Chairman." he said.
"Exactly, and now I have to try and prove it without him realizing that I
am investigating
him." Duncan said.
"I wonder what Hakuda said that this day we will see his true power?"
Captain Ginaro
asked. At that moment a deafening roar, a bright light, and a powerful blast of
heat struck
both men so hard they were knocked to the ground. Duncan's head hit the side of
the ground
car as he fell and he passed out into blissful unconsciousness.
At last, after weeks of travel Tenchi could see the blue-green orb of
planet Jurai, and so could
the rest of the passengers of the Ryu-Ohki. The sight of their homeworld
filled the
Princesses with joy, and Aeka shared that joy with Tenchi and Ryoko through
their mental link
with each other. Ryoko had other emotions to share with Tenchi and Aeka, and
these were
fear and apprehension since the last time she set eyes on Jurai was when Kagato
ordered her
to attack the planet.
"Don't be afraid to go to Jurai, it was not your fault what happened, and
nobody can place
blame on your for what you did." Aeka told her.
"I'm just still worried, after all, what if they don't except our marriage
to Tenchi?"
she asked.
"You are joined in the Great Bond, to contest it is blasphemy against
Tsunami." Katsuhito
said. "It is also a major violation of our laws as well."
"It is beautiful, and it has two rings." Tenchi said watching the planet
grow in size in
Ryu-Ohki's viewscreen.
"Miya." the Cabbit agreed, and her face appeared in a floating crystal and
nodded.
"Ya, you can see the rings at night, they are so beautiful." Sasami said.
"It has been a long time since I set foot on our homeworld." Katsuhito
said.
"I only wish Kiyone were here to see this----WAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!" Mihoshi
cried leaving
a puddle on the floor.
"I wish Dad and Washu were here to see this too." Tenchi added to
Mihoshi's comment.
"I can feel that Mom is alright, and she is getting closer, but I don't
know where the
others are." Ryoko said.
"We'll find them, even if it takes use centuries we will find them." Aeka
said.
In the Defense Command Center for planet Jurai the Ryu-Ohki came up on the
sensors.
Admiral Shakar read the readings from the sensors and his eyes went wide when
the ship was
identified. Fonaho had returned to the command center a moment before and she
was jsut
walking into the Red Zone.
"Milady, a vessel is approaching that is identified as the Ryu-Ohki."
Admiral Shakar
told her. "It appears to be the same vessel that was responsible for the
catastrophic
attack on planet Jurai nearly seven hundred years ago."
"The Ryu-Ohki, that is Ryoko's vessel, hail it at once and hurry." she
ordered.
"Yes, milady." Admiral Shakar bowed.
The communicator on the Ryu-Ohki crackled for a second letting them know
that someone was
trying to contact them. Immediately after a gruff voice came over the internal
speakers.
"Captain of the Ryu-Ohki, you are ordered to respond to this
communication, if you fail
to comply you will be fired upon." the voice said.
"Welcome home, Princess." Ryoko said with a smirk on her face.
"I did not tell you to say that, Admiral." Fonaho said with disapproval.
The Admiral had
a stunned look on his face when Fonaho pushed him aside and ran her hands over
the communicator
controls.
"Ryu-Ohki, this is Fonaho, who is onboard?" she asked.
A holographic image appeared in the command center showing the bridge of
the notorious
pirate ship. Fonaho's face will with joy that was mirrored by Sasami, Aeka, and
Tenchi at
the sight of their family.
"Fonaho, it is so joyous to look upon your face again." Aeka said.
"You have no idea how happy I am to see you, but where is Sasami?" she
asked.
"I'm right here, Mommy Fonaho." Sasami said, and Fonaho's eyes went a
little wide.
"Oh, Sasami, you've grown up so beautiful, I hardly recognized you."
Fonaho gushed.
"Mother." Katsuhito said.
"I am also glad to see you also, my son." Fonaho said with a polite nod
towards the
image of her son.
"If the pleasantries are over, may I remind you all that we have Darkling
ships
following us." Ryoko said.
Fonaho and Admiral Shakar looked at each other with a puzzled look on
their faces. "What
are Darklings?" Admiral Shakar asked.
Admiral Shakar looked at his console for a moment and noticed that several
ships were
on an intercept course for the Ryu-Ohki. he scanned for their registration and
found they
were some of the ships that refused to obey orders and check in. It also
appeared that
they changed their prefix codes as well, which made it impossible to take
control of the
ships from the command center.
"Ryu-Ohki, there are several Jurai Fleet ships on an intercept course with
you." Admiral
Shakar spoke up quickly. "I believe they intend to attack you."
"What do you mean, attack us, can't you order them to stand down?" Aeka
asked.
"These vessels are renegade, they refuse to obey orders." Fonaho told her.
"What?" Aeka shouted.
Sasami concentrated for a moment and her mind's eye looked out onto the
Goddess Tsunami.
She appeared perplexed as she tried to contact the trees of the ship that were
approaching
the Ryu-Ohki, but the trees would not respond.
"Aeka, Tsunami can't feel the trees that control those ships, something is
very wrong."
Sasami whispered to her sister.
"That-that-that's impossible." Aeka said.
"Fonaho, what has been happening on Jurai?" Tenchi asked.
The Queen of Jurai lowered her head in sadness. "There is a terrorist
group trying to
get the government to remove the Royal Family from power, several of our ships
have gone
renegade, and a number of our ships have been destroyed by an unknown enemy."
she told
him. "Could that have anything to do with these Darklings you mention?"
"As a matter of fact it does." Tenchi replied.
"Miya, miya miya miya miya!" Ryu-Ohki meowed a warning.
"I hate to interrupt but we're under fire!" Ryoko shouted as her hands
raced over the
controls to evade a barrage of weapons fire.
"Juraian vessels, cease your attack on the Ryu-Ohki at once, this is Queen
Fonaho the
Minister of Defense." Fonaho ordered over the comm.
"No response." Admiral Shakar told her.
"Ryoko, tried to evade them, we'll send you help." Fonaho said.
"I can outfly these Juraian flyboys any day of the week.." she said with a
smirk
on her face.
Ryu-Ohki meowed in annoyance as more weapons fire narrowly missed her hull
thanks to
Ryoko's lightning fast reflexes. The Juraian battleships were not letting up,
they pressed
their attack, and they still refused to acknowledge any commands to cease their
attack. Finally,
Fonaho had quite enough of this situation. She looked over at Admiral Shakar,
and then pressed
a button on the console that opened a channel to all ships within listening
range.
"This Queen Fonaho Masaki Jurai of the Royal Family of Jurai and appointed
Minister of
Defense for Planet Jurai," she said on the comm. "If any vessel in the vicinity
of planet
Jurai receives this transmission, please listen very carefully, five vessels of
the fleet that
are assumed to be renegades and traitors to the empire are attacking a vessel
known as the
Ryu-Ohki which is approaching the planet, the Ryu-Ohki is carrying members of
the Royal Family
and must be protected at all costs. If any vessel receives this message that is
still loyal
to the Royal Family you are ordered to intercept these traitors and stop them
from destroying
the Ryu-Ohki at all costs. If necessary I give you full authority to use lethal
force and
destroy the renegade vessels. The Ryu-Ohki must reach planet Jurai at all
costs. End of
transmission."
Almost immediately the console in front of Fonaho lighted up with hundreds
of acknowledgments from all over the system. In space Ryoko had to change
course from Jurai to one of the
ring systems that circled the planet to evade their attackers. The renegade
force was made up
of five ships, and each had their Light Hawk Wings engaged and were firing using
full power
to their weapons. Ten large sub-space portals opened in the same vicinity of
space and
several Juraian cruisers emerged. These were vessels loyal to the Empire, and
they ranged in
on the renegades quickly and opened fire. Their weapons splashed off the LHW
shields the
renegades were using, and so they deployed their own shields to defend
themselves. The captains
of each ship knew the battle that was ahead of them, they each had shields that
were virtually
indestructible, and each had immense firepower. It was only a matter of who
will eventually
loose power to their shields and when. The two fleets of combatants exchanged
fire, but it
instantly became clear that the renegades somehow had superior weaponry. The
renegade beams
were damaging the Light Hawk Wings of the loyalists' ships. For the captains it
seemed impossible,
but during the fighting the renegade vessels began to eject fragments of their
hulls into space.
Tenchi and the passengers on Ryu-Ohki watched in horror as the renegade
vessels began to
slowly reveal the Darkling modifications that had been made them.
"So that is how they are doing it." Tenchi said in surprise and horror.
"What is on those ships?" Fonaho asked them over the comm.
"Some type of modifications made to the design of the ships." Katsuhito
said. "We have
seen this before, its was done by the Darkness, and I fear our ships will be
hard pressed to
win this battle."
A great explosion next to the Ryu-Ohki caught everyone's attention. They
looked out of
the clear crystalline viewscreen bubble and watched in horror as a Juraian tree
ship became
a raging fireball in space.
"We just lost the Joxar!" Admiral Shakar shouted from his console next to
Fonaho.
For thirty minutes the battle continued to rage on and Ryoko continued to
dodge
attacks from renegade ships that broke from the fight with the loyal Juraian
ships. Ryoko
made one quick movement to dodge a shot but did not anticipate that it was
intended to miss
them, and Ryu-Ohki meowed out in pain as a another beam struck her in the side.
The Cabbit
ship began to loose power quickly and her engines began to give out.
"Come one Ryu-Ohki, we've gotten out of tougher situations than this one
before."
Ryoko said to the Cabbit trying to encourage her.
"Miya miya miya!" cried the Cabbit.
"Ryu-Ohki's hurt pretty bad, those things have nearly triple the firepower
of a
regular Juraian battleship." Ryoko told the others.
A sudden jolt told Ryoko that Ryu-Ohki had just been snared in a tractor
beam. She
switched the external viewscreen in that direction and sure enough she was able
to see the
shimmering energy of a tractor beam.
"They've got us, looks like we're going to be fending off boarders."
Tenchi said as
he took the Master Key out of his shirt.
In the local region of space a strange phenomenon never before detected by
sensors on
planet Jurai took place. A region of folded space appeared on Fonaho's sensor
console and her
jaw dropped in total disbelief. A starship the likes of which had never been
seen before in
Jurai-space emerged from the spatial rift. It was long, sleek, and appeared to
have an almost
organic look to its hull. The vessel immediately started to scan the area as it
assessing
the situation, then it moved towards the battle raging between the renegades and
the Juraian
fleet ships.
"What the hell is that thing?" Admiral Shakar asked.
"At this point I won't even bother to ask." Fonaho told him.
The newcomer began opening fire on the renegade ships, its weapons tore
through their
LHW shields like a red hot knife passing through lard. One by one the renegade
ships were
disabled in space, the newcomer was targeting their weapons systems and engines.
With the
renegades quickly disabled the newcomer directed its attention on the Ryu-Ohki.
The ship
raced towards them and opened fire on the renegade's tractor beam. A direct hit
destroyed
the beam and diminished its LHW shields. The renegade however returned fire,
but its
weapons fire splashed harmlessly off a deflector field that sprang into
existance around
the newcomer. The newcomer returned fire with a beam cannon and twin pulse
weapons, it
hit its mark and holed the renegade ship through and through. The renegade ship
drifted
in space for a few short minutes before it exploded into a brilliant fireball.
Tenchi and the others were too stunned to say a word. They watched as the
renegades
were put down in minutes and then their attacker was destroyed practically in
seconds. The
newcomer ship was an impressive sight, and something about the appearance of the
ship
seemed somehow familiar to them.
"That couldn't be what I think it is, could it?" Tenchi asked nobody in
particular.
A holographic viewscreen popped into existence showing the smiling face of
an adult
Washu standing next to a tall man in a black jumpsuit uniforms. Her had her arm
around his
waist and the man's arm was around her shoulder. A look of supreme joy and
happiness was
on her face when she looked at her family and friends on the other end of the
comm link.
"Mother!" Ryoko shouted in surprise and joy.
"I told you I'd catch up with you, Little Ryoko." the red-haired genius
said with
a sheepish smile.
"But-but who is that with you?" Tenchi asked.
"Who do you think?" Washu asked as she winked her eye.
Suddenly Tenchi recognized the face of the man who stood with Washu. The
thought
travelled their the link he had with Aeka and Ryoko and the two women gasped
with as they
too suddenly recognized him.
"Prince Orrin, but you let our universe." Tenchi said.
"I am back, my work at home is done and now I have work to do here." Orrin
said as
he squeezed Washu tightly to his side.
"Who is this, what is going on up there, would someone please explain this
to me?"
Fonaho asked in a voice that was uncharacteristic of her normal placid nature.
"Well, when the Darklings attacked the planet Earth Orrin was the one who
helped
us defeat them." Tenchi said.
"What exactly are these Darklings, and what do they want with Jurai?"
Admiral
Shakar asked.
"That is a very long---" Orrin started to say but the signal was
interrupted.
The floor of the command center started to shake and dust sifted down from
the
ceiling and onto the floor. Fonaho grabbed her console to keep her footing, and
the
lights in the command center flickered for a few moments. The lights suddenly
went
dead and all the consoles shutdown, but instantly emergency power engaged and
all
systems came back online.
"What the hell was that?" Admiral Shakar shouted to several men working
consoles
across the room.
"Not sure Admiral, our main transmitter and receiver tower is offline."
one of the
men replied. "Sensor readings indicated a large explosion just took place
inside the
capital city."
"What?" Admiral Shakar and Fonaho both shouted at once.
"It appears that a large thermonuclear device was detonated inside the
city, its
total chaos up there, the Comm channels are full of cries for assistance on all
civilian channels." another man shouted as tears started to fall down his face.
"The
blast was near the Royal Palace, but it appears that the palace shields held
back most
of the blast. Unfortunately it had the effect of reflecting the shockwave
outward into
the city and there is vast destruction."
"Great Tsunami!" Fonaho said quietly as she put her face into her hands
and cried
because she know the death toll would be unimaginable.
Orrin had everyone on the Ryu-Ohki transferred onto Kryton. Ryu-Ohki was
in her
Cabbit form munching away at a carrot Washu had Kryton replicate for her.
Everyone
was introduced to Orrin's children, Darius and Yuko. They were all gathered on
the
bridge to try and figure out why Fonaho's transmission ended so quickly.
"We're getting no transmissions from their command center at all." Yuko
said
her the communications console.
"I am reading a great deal of radiation and electromagnetic interference
down
there on the planet." Darius said from his astrogation console.
"I detected an electromagnetic pulse the moment the transmission ended."
Kryton
told them.
"An electromagnetic pulse, doesn't that like knock out electronics?"
Tenchi asked.
"Yes, but normally Juraian technology is unaffected by such attacks due to
its organic
nature." Washu told him. "Something else has happened." She immediately called
up her
holo computer and started to type franticly.
"I will lend you some of my key sensor arrays for your scan, Mistress
Washu." Kryton'
said.
"Thank you, but I think I know what happened down there." she said with a
look of
sorrow on her face.
The ship had passed beyond the ionosphere of the Jurai atmosphere and was
quickly
approaching the capital city at a high altitude. They could see the city from a
distance
and they could seen dense black clouds hanging over the metropolis.
"Looks like they are having bad weather." Tenchi said.
"Those clouds are too low to be storm clouds." Katsuhito commented.
Mihoshi stepped forward and for the first time in hours spoke up and said,
"It-It-It
looks like smoke."
"Smoke!" Aeka shouted.
"The city is burning." Washu said in a monotone voice.
"My god, look at these radiation readings." Darius said.
"It appears that a nuclear device of considerable yield was recently
deployed here."
Kryton said.
Tenchi gasped and his shock spread to the two women he was linked with.
"Are you
saying a nuclear weapon was used on that city?" he asked but did somehow he
already knew the
answer.
"Yes it was, and we are seeing the aftermath." Washu told them.
"Mommy, Daddy, Fonaho, oh no!" Sasami cried as her hands flew to her face.
"There is a massive structure built inside a giant living tree in the
center of the
city." Kryton said. "It appears to have survived the blast due to a force
field."
"Its the defensive systems of the palace, our parents may still be alive."
Aeka said
with hope in her thoughts.
"I am sure they are, but we have to get down there and see what we can do
to help."
Tenchi said.
Orrin sat down at the helm controls and looked over at Aeka. "Guide me to
where we
can land close to the palace." he said.
"We have a hanger entrance on the opposite side of the palace we use, I
can open it
with our secret code, but we need to transmit it on the correct frequency." Aeka
told him.
"That will be my job." Yuko said.
Aeka went to Yuko's console and keyed in what was necessary for them to
get into the
hanger boy. "That should do it." she said.
"Ok, everybody hang on, there are a great deal of atmospheric disturbances
around
the city due to the blast this will be a bumpy ride going in." Orrin told them
as he took
the controls and guided the ship towards the hanger entrance that Aeka pointed
out.
Queen Fonaho knew her beloved Sister and husband were alive due to their
link. She
knew they were terrified, and that Asuza was enraged beyond reason. A small
glimmer of
happiness came through all the rage and anger though since the Emperor and
Empress know
that their children were safe and coming back to Jurai. The report of a ship
entering
the royal hanger bay using Princess Aeka's secret code came to her on her wrist
comlink
and she knew it had to be them. She ran from the command center and headed for
the
hanger as fast as she could run. She found them all walking down a ramp that
extended
down the bottom of Prince Orrin's starship.
The Juraian Queen lost all her royal composure and ran to meet them with
crushing
hugs and soft kisses. She hugged Tenchi tightly and covered his face with
kisses.
"Thank you for bringing out beloved family back go us safely." she said to
him.
"I love them very much, I would gladly give my life to make sure they were
safe."
he told her.
Aeka and Ryoko did not gasp in shock over his remark for they know it was
the
truth, but they still blushed none the less.
"I understand our search for a suitor for you Aeka is at and end." Fonaho
said with
a smile on her face.
"Yes, Tenchi, Ryoko, and I are joined." Aeka told her.
"I remember when I bonded with your mother and father, it was a very
enlightening
experience." Fonaho said.
"The same can be said for us, it was so enlightening that these two have
made up
for good and haven't fought each other in weeks." Tenchi commented.
"We sometimes have our differences, but our unique situation helps us find
less
violent solutions." Aeka added.
"Ya, we scream at each other with our thoughts and keep Tenchi from
overhearing
us." Ryoko said with a laugh.
"Wah?" Tenchi said with his eyes wide.
"Got you." both women said at once with sly smiles on their beautiful
faces.
"I also see that parts of your personalities have also melded into each
other."
Fonaho said with a smile. "The same thing happened to us."
"Mother." Katsuhito said and walked up to embrace her.
After the gentle hug, she looked at her son and sighed. "It has been a
long time
since you set foot on Jurai, my son." she said.
"The last time I was home was when I left to chase Ryoko across the
galaxy." he
said and the mention of it made Ryoko wince. Fonaho's quick eyes noticed her
reaction instantly.
"Don't worry, Ryoko, we shall accept you with open arms." Fonaho told her.
"We know
the real reason for your attack on Jurai, so do not be afraid of this place
because it is
now your home too---Princess Ryoko."
"Princess?" Ryoko said in surprise.
"I thought we discussed this once before, because you are married to Lord
Tenchi you
are now a Princess of Jurai." Aeka told her.
"Oh, ya, I almost forgot about that." Ryoko said smiling and rubbing the
back of her
head. "Ironic isn't it for me to become a princess of a planet I almost
destroyed."
"I'm really sorry to end this touching family reunion so quickly, but we
need to meet
with the Emperor right now." Washu interrupted.
"Yea, about this Darkness you keep speaking about." Fonaho said.
"Yes, and if you think this situation is bad I am afraid you have only
just seen the
beginning." Orrin said and an ominous feeling fell upon all of them, even
Fonaho.
Far ways in another part of the universe two sets of eyes watch the events
on
planet Jurai very closely. They know of the presence of the Darkness in their
universe, but
they have decided to observe for now before it becomes necessary to intervene.
One of the
set of eyes belonged to a beautiful woman whose very countenance radiated
immense power, and
the other to a man with grayish skin and long gray locks of hair.
"The arrival of the Darkness must most certainly alter the plans you have
had for this
universe." the gray man said in a monotone voice, but his lips did not move.
"It changes nothing, I am proceeding with my plans requardless of their
arrival." the
woman said but her lips did not move. "If they get in my way I will destroy
them."
"Greater immortals than you have proclaimed to do the same thing, and now
they no longer
exists." the gray man said. "It is unwise to underestimate the power of the
Darkness."
"I fear them not." the woman said.
"You are new to them, you have never seen them before, but I have and you
have much to
fear, Lady Tokimi." the gray man said. The gray man, D3, turned his ancient
eyes to the
beautiful and ancient goddess.
"This Orrin Quintarin is capable of destroying them easily, they cannot be
more powerful
than myself." Lady Tokimi said.
"They are only advanced scouts, Lady Tokimi." D3 told her. "They will
show their true power
soon now that the Elo'Quin's champion has arrived."
"The Elo'Quin, that is a name I have not heard in a very long time." Lady
Tokimi mused.
"It is they whom the Darkness is looking for." D3 explained.
"The Elo'Quin did not stay here long." Lady Tokimi told him.
"This I know, but now they are here and even I am powerless to prevent
them from destroying
this universe in their search for them." D3 said, his pupiless eyes which
normally showed no emotion
now showed sadness. "I feel their master is coming also, and if he arrives
beings like ourselves
will be in grave danger, for you see he can destroy beings like ourselves with
little effort."
"Then for my plans to succeed and for this universe to survive our only
hope is that boy and
that Prince from another reality." Lady Tokimi replied.
"Their powers are considerable, they are our only hope." D3 said.
"It is my hope that my sister has chosen well, and as for my other sister
I find it interesting
that she loves this Orrin." Lady Tokimi said.
"Did you feel that, there was a disturbance in the fabric of reality, yes
I can sense it." D3
said suddenly. "They have arrived, the true power of the Darkness has arrived."
"I can feel their power from here, it is immense." Lady Tokimi said with
awe in her voice.
"We can do nothing now, we are powerless against these Darklings, but
Tenchi Masaki and Orrin
Quintarin are not." D3 replied.
"Then we wait." Lady Tokimi said and vanished.
__________
End of Chapter Seven...to be continued
Next time...
Chapter Eight: Prelude to Apocolypse...
A terrible disaster strikes Jurai just as Tenchi and the gang make it to
their destination.
Secrets about the Darkness are finally revealed by Prince Orrin who has intimate
knowledge
of the creatures, and the Masaki Family finally comes to grips with the reality
they are
facing. Meanwhile, Kiyone awakens to find herself living in a nightmare where
Noboyuki
has turned young and has become eviil. It is the chilling and action packed
conclusion
to Episode Two of Dark Lord of Jurai. Stay tuned for Episode Three: No Need
for Total
War...
If you enjoyed this fan fic series let me know at zorch@the-zorch.com.
Remember to check out GenSao's Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction Archives for this
and more great fan fics at http://www.tmffa.com and remember to visit my
fan site "The-Zorch's World of Tenchi Muyo" at http:\\worldotenchi.the-
zorch.com.
Muyo, TMil, and Shin Tenchi are property of Pioneer and AIC. This
work of fiction is written for fan appreciation only. Please do
not sue me.
__________
NOTES: This work of fan fiction is based in the OAV continuity of
Tenchi Muyo and borrows some elements from Tenchi Universe such as Nagi,
the Yagami, and also borrows from Shin Tenchi Muyo to introducing Yugi,
Sakuya, and Ryu-Ohki's mech form into the story. I have also introduced
some new characters and creations into the mix. I hope you enjoy the
series as much as I enjoyed working on it.
__________
THE DARK LORD OF JURAI SAGA
Episode Two: No Need for A Space Journey
Written by Michael "The-Zorch" Haney
__________
Previously...
Tenchi and the gang braved the forces of another interdimensional
accident and survived an encounter with creatures created by Washu and Tsunami's
evil sister Lady Tokimi. The journey through the region of space called the
Dead Zone has taken them six months. What has happened in that time, and what
will Tenchi and the gang face next.
__________
Chapter Six: Return to Darkness
A dark shadow loomed over the Masaki family as they sat together in their
living room on the Yagami. Today they were leaving the Yagami but that in
itself did not seem like sufficient cause for celebration, because they knew
what lay ahead of them. The mood began to spread among the family when Washu
brought up a question of what to do if they encountered Kagato again. Tenchi
was
immediately troubled, he hated Kagato more so than any other man who ever lived.
He hated him for what he did to Ryoko and what his continued existence is doing
to her now. The very notion that he was still alive tore a wound in Ryoko's
heart that he felt also through their unique link. For Aeka it was a different
experience, she only met with Kagato once in her life when they fought him on
the Soja. Together she and Ryoko fought a desperate battle to kill Kagato to
take revenge for Tenchi's death. Tenchi did not know if he did indeed die and
that Tsunami resurrected him or not, but he did know that he was not conscious
after the fragment of Ryouhl that Ryu-Ohki was carrying exploded. The next
thing he remembered was appearing before Tsunami and thinking for an instant
that she was an angel because she was so beautiful, but she explained things
to him and teleported him to the Soja. When he arrive he made short work of
Kagato by employing the power of the Light Hawk Wings. Since that time, after
great practice and intense training, he has learned to call upon the awesome
power that had been hidden away in him since his birth. Now that power was to
be put to the ultimate test for Kagato was still alive and he was more powerful
than ever before because he was now a Darkling Regent. A Regent was a powerful
creature with immense powers and abilities that dwarfed most, if not all, other
Darklings expect for the Regis. Together the Regent and Regis can spawn
Darklings that are more powerful and destructive than the ones they can create
by infecting their victims with their seed.
The living room on the Yagami sat in a pocket of subspace just like
Washu's lab back at the house on planet Earth billions of light years away.
Here the family could set and talk and draw strength from one another. Since
his union with Aeka and Ryoko a mood of optimism and hope had creped into the
minds of the family, but what they were to face as they left the Dead Zone was
quickly drowning any optimism they might have.
"Lets face facts." Washu said explaining from behind her holo computer.
"Yagami's etherealologic modifications will not be enough to withstand an all
out attack by a Darkling ship."
"You told us this already, Little Washu." Tenchi said.
She looked at him and wondered if she heard a hint of exasperation in his
voice that suspiciously sounded too much like what Ryoko would say. "True, but
I need to emphasize this, we cannot take them on head on...not right now we
can't." she said.
"So we'll have to keep dodging them until we reach Jurai and hope they
didn't do anything too serious there." Tenchi said with a sigh.
"Why are they doing all of this anyway, what are they after?" Kiyone
asked.
"The Elo'Quin, the race of creatures of Orrin's universe that created
Etherealology." Washu explained. "They made the initial discovery that magic
was a normal formation of nature and could be harnessed using scientific means."
"Because of this the Darklings saw the Elo'Quin as a major threat to their
continued existence and they vowed to wipe out the Elo'Quin to keep
Etherealology from ever being used against them." Yosho said from across the
room where he sat in a lotus position.
"That would sum it up quite well." Washu said, just a little impressed
with Yosho's ability to dig down to the facts of things.
"What exactly does Jurai have to do with all of this?" Aeka asked, she had
heard some of Washu's earlier explanation but she needed to hear more.
"The Elo'Quin scattered through space, time, and alternate realities."
Washu explained. "Some came to this universe and dwelled on Jurai for a time."
"Some of them must have had children with the Juraians, thus in the
thinking of the Darklings that makes them a threat." Tenchi said, but he was
only surmising.
"Very good, Tenchi, there is hope for you yet." Washu said to him.
Tenchi's face reddened. Washu sighed and said, "Despite all he told me, Orrin
only knew very little about the Darklings, and the fact is that what we know is
just the tip of the iceberg."
Ryoko slammed her fist into the palm of her hand making a loud smacking
sound. "Tenchi and I can call up our Light Hawk Wings and carve those assholes
a new one." she said.
Washu shook her head. "Foolish daughter, didn't you hear anything I just
told you." Washu scolded her. "We don't know just how powerful they really
are."
"Ya, you and Tenchi had your Light Hawk Wings and they were still kicking
our asses in Washu's lab." Kiyone said.
Noboyuki cringed at the memory, he was an ordinary human caught in the
middle of that hellish battle trying to protect a cowardly version of his son
and a pregnant Sakuya from alternate dimensions.
"Lets not talk about that, its bad enough I have to remember being in the
middle of it." he said.
"Sorry, Mr. Masaki." Kiyone said with real concern in her voice.
"The Darkling ability to dampen magical energy is also a major stumbling
block we need to get around." Washu said. "I've been working on a way to deal
with that."
"When they had me and Mihoshi, it was horrible." Kiyone said with tears in
her eyes. "It was like a terrible combination of experiencing a constant orgasm
and feeling someone ripping into your with chainsaw at the same time." Noboyuki
slid over next to her and put his arm around her, she did not seem to notice
this and did not try to move away from him. "I don't want to feel that ever
again." she sobbed as Noboyuki held her.
"I don't intend to let that happen to anyone again, especially the people
I care about." Tenchi said. Aeka and Ryoko both gave him a physical hug and a
wave of loving emotions through their link.
"Tonight we leave the Dead Zone and enter normal space. We will be fair
game from then on." Washu said.
"Then I suggest that we keep a watch out of anything suspicious that could
be a Darkling ship trying to ambush us." Yosho suggested.
"I rigged the scanners of the ship to alert us the second a Darkling
energy signatures comes within sensor range." Washu told him.
"We should also keep an optimistic attitude." Yosho said. "If you keep
your worst fears in your heart then you are doomed to experience them."
"Good philosophies, I only hope it will work." Tenchi said.
"Anything will be better than being destroyed by those monsters." Aeka
said.
Sasami yawned deeply and leaned up against Mihoshi who kept very silent
through the entire conversation. "We won't be of any use in an attack if
collapse from lack of sleep." she said as the now young teenaged princess lay
her head in the blonde policewoman's lap and feel asleep.
"Mihoshi, sometimes I think your air headedness is just a rouse." Washu
said. "But, she is right, we need to get some sleep."
"Look at her, she's still as cute as when she was a child." Tenchi said.
"In body she may be fourteen or so, but in mind Sasami is still a child."
Aeka said.
"A child who has to do alot of growing up really fast, I feel sorry for
her sometimes knowing what she must be going through." Washu said.
"Mihoshi would you take her to bed, I'll take first watch on the bridge."
Kiyone said.
"I'll take second." Ryoko spoke up.
"We need one more." Kiyone said.
"I'll do it." Noboyuki said. It was at that moment that Kiyone realized
just who's arms she was in. She did not know whether to blush or punch his
lights out. Noboyuki had made no attempt to fondle her or grope her at all. In
fact, his hands were placed in such a way that he was far from anything that
could be misunderstood as a sexual advance. Noboyuki was actually acting
normal, and Kiyone for some reason like it. Wait a minute, I can't actually be
starting to like this guy, she thought to herself, the first thing he did when I
moved into the Masaki home was to try and sneak a picture of me naked in the
Onsen, but Ryoko showed up and stopped him. I can't trust him, he'll just
trying to grab my ass or something when I stand up. But she saw genuine concern
in the man's eyes when she looked at him. Oh my God, I can't believe
myself...I'm starting to LIKE Tenchi's dad, she thought to herself again as she
blushed a deep red. Thankfully for her nobody but Noboyuki noticed.
Mihoshi helped a very groggy Sasami to her bedroom and Yosho retreated to
his own room. Soon the only ones left were Tenchi, his wives, and Washu.
Kiyone walked with Noboyuki out of the living room and they parted when they
reach their rooms. Kiyone went into the room that she shared with Mihoshi to
get ready for her first shift on the bridge, and Noboyuki went to his private
room at the end of the hall.
"I can see that the link has done wonders for you three." Washu said with
a humorous smirk on her face.
"Our love for Tenchi has helped us maintain the peace." Aeka said.
"Its not just that, I suspect that your link is also allowing certain
personality traits to slowly work their into your own." Washu said.
Tenchi frowned for a moment. "What do you mean, Little Washu?" he asked.
"Ryoko has been exhibiting a little bit of your common sense Tenchi, and a
little bit of Ryoko's wild side has become a part of you." She said. "Aeka has
changed a little also, she isn't that poor shy little princess we knew months
ago."
"I am not a poor shy little princess!" Aeka said, her eyes flashing with
anger, and she stood up
in a pose that looked like one Ryoko used to use against her during their fights
over Tenchi.
"That's a typical Ryoko-esque reaction if I ever saw one." Washu said.
"Huh?" Aeka said suddenly as she looked down at herself and noticed what
she was doing.
"It's nothing to worry about, its a change that is for the better, I hope
but the link between you three if slowly changing your personalities." Washu
explained.
"If it gives me a little piece of Ryoko and Aeka within myself I can live
with that." Tenchi said, and the two women have him loving kisses.
Washu sighed. "There was time when I wish I could have been the one in
your arms." she said.
Tenchi looked at her and remember the day she tried to collect her sample.
She offered to extract it in a number of different ways until Mihoshi showed up
and interrupted her.
"I didn't know your feelings for me were...real." he said to her. Aeka
and Ryoko both gave Washu a very strange look.
"For a while it was, but most of it was raw lust." she said, and Tenchi
blushed. "You were very cute and you were the first man I'd been close to in
several thousand years, so you can't really blame me for being a little horny."
Tenchi gulped. [So that is where Ryoko gets it.] he thought to himself
and he heard Ryoko chuckle as she received the thought.
"Tenchi sweetie, my mother can almost be as hentai as your Dad." Ryoko
laughed out loud.
Washu make the kind of face she usually made when someone called her name
without added "Little" to the beginning. "True but I don't transmit it to the
world like he does." she said. Aeka and Ryoko sent Tenchi vivid images into his
mind different things Washu had shown them over the years, alien porn,
exotic sex toys, and a robotic copy of him with a manhood-feature that would
have rivaled the size of the legendary John Holmes. Tenchi turned blood red,
and he looked at his wives while they looked back at him and licked their lips.
He made love to them each a few times since their bonding, so he was not very
embarrassed about thinking such thoughts about them, but to be the object of
lust
he was not accustomed to it.
"Well, we have to getting to bed." Ryoko said as she stood up and grabbed
Tenchi's arm.
"Yes, I agree." Aeka said. "The early worm gets the bird, as they say."
"That's the early bird gets the worm." Tenchi corrected.
[Worm, oh yes, the worm.] Aeka said through the link with a very sweet
smile and mischief in her voice.
"Don't tire him out too much, girls." Washu called after them as they
headed for their room. "He might have to be in prime condition if we meet our
dark friends."
Kiyone watched the scopes on Yagami's bridge but saw nothing for millions
of miles. They had already left the Dead Zone behind and were traveling
through stable space. Planet Jurai was only a few days away at maximum speed.
She took the time to think things though about this sudden change of
attitude towards Tenchi's father. She noticed over the weeks that he was
changing, whether the events of their journey were maturing him, or he was just
growing out of his hentai stage she did not know. She did know that when ever
he looked at her or she at him she felt very strange, and she blushed. It
started that day they talked on the bridge after they first launched on his
trip, and it became worse since then.
Despite his age she had to admit that Noboyuki was not altogether
unpleasant to look at. He was old enough to be her father, but she personally
know women in the GP who married men alot older than they were. The very
thought of marriage suddenly made her cringe. She knew that she would not be at
peace until she had a talk with him about this. She had to set things straight
before they out of hand, but every time she thought about ending what was
starting to happen she suddenly felt very uneasy. It was as if something inside
her was warning her that she was about to make a serious mistake. She
recognized it as that little voice in the back of her head that always popped up
when she yelled too much at Mihoshi sometimes...it was her conscience. She
sighed, "Dammit, of all the men in the universe I have to start falling for why
him?"
Before long her wristwatch started to chime and she looked at the time and
saw it was time to get Ryoko for her shift. Before she got up though Ryoko
phased though the hatch and sat in the copilot seat. She has a very satisfied
look on her face, and her hair seemed a little matted down from sweat.
"I was just about to come get you." Kiyone said.
"Hmm?" Ryoko said like she wasn't paying attention.
"I see you've been preoccupied." Kiyone said with a sly smile know exactly
why Ryoko was drenched in sweat.
"I don't want to be known as one to kiss and tell, but Tenchi is very very
very good in bed." Ryoko said.
"I can just imagine." Kiyone said remembering all the times she had seen
Tenchi in action with his bokken at his grandfather's shrine and marveling at
how fast and strong he was despite his misleadingly skinny appearance.
"So, I take it was all quiet tonight?" Ryoko asked as she looked at the
scope on her console.
"Not so much as an asteroid." Kiyone said.
"Well, get some sleep, I've it now." Ryoko said.
"Thanks." Kiyone said as she stood up and started to head towards the
hatch. She stopped and looked at Ryoko.
"Ryoko, what do you think of Tenchi's father?" she asked.
Ryoko looked back at her and was about to make a derogatory remark about
the man but she was the serious look at Kiyone's face.
"He's a hentai most of the time, but he tried to do the right think when
it comes to Tenchi." she said. "Despite all the things he does he is not that
bad a person and he loves his son very much."
"Despite the hentai aspect, what do you think about him?" Kiyone asked.
"I think that part of him appeared when Tenchi's mom died, it tore them
both apart pretty bad." Ryoko told her. "I used to see Noboyuki and Achika as
teenagers walking through the forest near my cave. They were really in love and
they made love a few times on the bank of the lake. Despite the fact that
she is gone he is very devoted to her still. I think he pretty nice guy, if you
overlook the hentai in him."
"Thanks." Kiyone said. "Could you keep this conversation just between
us?"
"Sure." Ryoko said as she did a Spock Maneuver.
"Thanks again." Kiyone said as she left though the hatch.
Ryoko turned back around to the scopes and said to herself, "What was that
all about?"
In their quarters Tenchi held Aeka in his arms, they lay on the bed
drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. He looked into her crimson eyes and he
was a desire there, not a simple desire for his body but for something more,
something like what Ryoko was giving him. He pulled her close and he kissed her
longingly. He felt through their link the need for her to do this in her.
"It will happen when I happens." he told her.
"It happened to Ryoko so soon, and we knew humans and Juraians are
compatible because of my brother." she said.
"What I'm surprise about is that Ryoko and I are compatible." he said.
"I just wish I could give you a token of my love same as her." Aeka said
with a sad sigh.
"Don't turn it into a competition, you two haven't fought over me for a
while now." he told her.
Aeka shook her head. "We've both come to far and changed too much to go
back to our old ways." She said. "Its just I wish I could give you a child,
also."
Tenchi hugged her tight and felt it was a need in her that very great.
She wanted to give him a child the same as Ryoko. It had been a desire of Ryoko
to be the mother of his child too before she discovered that she was pregnant.
"We can keep trying." he told her and she gave him a powerful kiss.
[Love you so much.] she said through their link.
[I love you, Aeka.] he said though their link.
Before long they feel asleep in each other's arms. As they drifted off
the protective barrier they erected in their minds dropped and Ryoko could feel
them on the other end of the link again. Before he went totally unconscious
Tenchi sent a wave of loving emotions to both his wives. Ryoko smiled as she
watched the scopes on the bridge and patted her stomach gently. She was not
showing yet, but she knew that inside their was a tiny life that she made with
Tenchi. She was concerned that all the action they had seen in the past few
weeks might have endangered the baby, but Washu assured her that the baby was
just fine.
Hours passed and Ryoko looked at the chronometer and saw it was time for
Noboyuki to take his turn. She decided to wait for him to show up before going
to get him. Elsewhere on the ship Kiyone found it very hard to sleep, she
tossed and turned in her bed. It was not from Mihoshi's snoring, she
had gotten used to that, but it was from the images of Noboyuki that kept
popping up in her mind. She sat up and looked at the digital clock next to her
bed. She saw it was nearing Noboyuki's turn on the bridge. She got up, slipped
into a pair of slippers and smoothed out the wrinkles in her nightgown.
She padded her way towards the bridge and stopped at the hatch, she heard a
sound and hid in an alcove as Noboyuki passed her and opened the hatch to the
bridge. She heard Ryoko's voice say something and then heard Noboyuki say
goodnight to Ryoko as she left. Kiyone stepped up to the closed hatch and
wondered if she was about to do the right thing. Her hands were trembling as
she opened the hatch and slowly walked inside.
Tenchi's father was sitting at the pilot's seat looking over the scopes
and consoles and scratching his head. "Who am I kidding, I don't even know what
half of these things do." she heard him say. "Knowing my luck I'll accidently
hit the self-destruct."
"I rigged that one out for safety a long time ago." she said, and Noboyuki
almost jumped out of his skin.
He recovered quickly and started rubbing the back of his head the way
Tenchi usually did. "I guess with a partner like Mihoshi you have to." he
laughed. So, that's were Tenchi gets it from, Kiyone said to herself.
Kiyone could not help but notice that Noboyuki did not seem to react to
the fact that she was in her nightgown. She half expected him to bee ogling
her. She was not at all unpleasant to look at and she had a very well formed
and athletic body. One of the things that did get to her though was the fact
that men seemed to pay more attention to Mihoshi than to her whenever they
went out on the town. Men seemed to be intimidated by her for some reason.
She figured because she gave the impression she was all career and had no
room for anything else. In fact, Kiyone had felt something was missing from
her life for a long time, and that thing was a serious relationship with a man.
"Ya, before I did she accidentally tripped it at least twice a day." she
said with a chuckle. Kiyone walked up to the co-pilot seat and sat down.
Noboyuki was looking at the scopes and he absently looked over at her for a
second. He did not seem to notice anything out of the ordinary, but
suddenly took a double take when he noticed what she was wearing for the first
time. Noboyuki's usual reaction to a beautiful woman in lacy lingerie was
replaced by a deep red blush.
"Couldn't sleep?" he asked as he started to sweat. Kiyone noticed this.
"No." she said. "Which is why I came here."
He looked at her and could not help but notice the look on her face. He
had to admit that he did like her very much. She was indeed a very beautiful
woman, she was not as drop dead gorgeous as Ryoko and Aeka, but she wasn't ugly
either. He could not help but see the smooth curves of her body visible
underneath her night gown, and the distinct shape of her breasts, the way her
dark teal hair feel down her shoulder. He blinked and tore his eyes away,
turning a little redder. What am I kidding, he thought to himself, she thinks
I'm an old hentai and I'm at least 20 years older than her. Since he could
not help wonder why she was here, with him, in her nightgown knowing what he
was like. But your only like that because you and Achika were such passionate
lovers, and when she passed on it left a deep void in your life, said a voice
deep within his soul.
"Tell me about Achika." Kiyone said.
"Huh?" he asked, not hearing her correctly.
"Tell me about Achika, what kind of woman was she?" she asked.
"She was my life, my treasure, my first true love." he said, the words
coming to him from his heart. "I met her when I visited the Masaki Shrine one
year, I feel in love with her the first time I saw her, but she hated by guts.
It took two years to get her to come around and after that we started dating.
We didn't starting getting really serious until after we graduated high school.
Katsuhito helped me get into college and I took up architecture. After I
graduated we got married, and a year later we had Tenchi. I loved her
so much, she was the world to me, and when she died it took a piece of me with
her." He almost seemed on verge of tears, and Kiyone felt like kicking herself
for causing him this pain.
"She was a loving woman, she liked the poems I used to write her when we
started dating." he said.
"You write poetry?" Kiyone asked, quite surprised.
"I was young and deeply in love, Achika was such a beautiful woman, and
don't tell Aeka or Ryoko this but I feel she was more beautiful than either of
them put together." he said.
Kiyone remembered seeing pictures of Achika around the house. She had to
admit that Achika was indeed a very lovely woman.
"I know what your thinking, she had to have been some woman to put up with
someone likme me, huh?" he said, it was more a statement than a question.
"Truth is, you think I'm a hentai you should have met Achika." This revelation
was a real shocker for Kiyone, she looked at him and saw the sincerity in his
face.
"She was as bad as you." she said with surprise in her voice.
"Oh yes, I remember our first time, we were near what was Ryoko's cave
when she attacked me and started tearing my clothes off. Well, pulling off, not
quite tearing, but you get what I mean." he said. "She was something else, I
guess that is why I am the way I am. After being married to a woman like her
you
begin to miss it when she is not around." Noboyuki put his face in his hands
and he started to visibly weep. "The day she died will be a day I will never
ever forget." he sobbed.
Kiyone felt horrible, her simple question about his late wife elicited
this powerful emotional reason and it was all her fault. She got up and walked
up to him and put her hands on his shoulders. He looked up at her with tear
fill eyes and she could see her reflection in them. For an instant she saw
herself and Noboyuki standing side by side in weeding dress, she almost gasped
at the vision, or was it what was in her heart.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to hurt you so." she said.
"Its alright, if I don't get that out once in a while I might burst." he
chuckled.
"Nr. Masaki, Noboyuki, I have to talk you about something." she said.
"What about, Kiyone?" he asked.
Here it goes girl, the point of no return, she said to herself. "Do you
think you will ever marry again?" she asked.
"Only if I found the right the woman, a woman who would love me for who I
am, and who would love my son." he said with sincerity in his voice.
"What do you think of me?" she asked.
That got a reaction. Noboyuki's eyes went wide with surprise and he
searched her face for any sign of why she asked that question.
"I thought you mated me?" he said. "I heard you say so the last time
I....huh." She remembered saying such a think when he last tried to snap her
picture in the onsen.
"The past few days I have been thinking about you, I can't get you out of
my mind, and today when you held me...." she said but her words trailed off when
she found herself getting lost in Noboyuki's eyes.
Oh my God, I am in love with him, she said to herself, I'm doomed!
The passion of the moment grabbed them and they leaned towards one
another, their lips getting closer about to touch when suddenly klaxxons sounded
on the bridge. They turned and looked at the scopes and several red indicators
appeared.
"Darklings, they found us." Kiyone hissed.
"Damn." Noboyuki said under his breath and he got up from the pilot's seat
so Kiyone could take the controls.
"Go back and wake everybody, if I can't loose them we're going to have a
fight on our hands." Kiyone said.
"I'n going." he said and then turned back. "Kiyone, about what happened."
"If we get through this we can pick up where we left off." she said with a
smile.
"I'd really like that." he said and passed through the hatch.
Well, Kiyone, you passed the threshold, I hope I know what I'm doing, she
said to herself.
The Regis saw through the eyes of her minions on the ships that pursued
the Yagami. She felt the power of the beings inside the ship and she could feel
the disgusting throb of Elo'Quin energy. It enraged her, but she reined in her
rage and concentrated on maintaining the link. Five Darkling craft, the same
configuration that confronted the Lunari, followed the Yagami at a distance
after detecting it in space. She quickly called upon several more in the area
and before long she had nearly twenty ships surrounding the ship.
Kiyone watched the ship appear on her scope and she started to sweat.
Tenchi and the others came onto the bridge just as the twentieth ship showed up.
"We've got a problem." she told them.
Back on the lead Darkling craft, the Regis still commanded the body and
mind of the captain of that ship. She turned to the crew of the ship who were
mentally linked to the subsystems in the vessel for navigation, weapons and
engineering. She herself looked at her Regent, Kagato as he too looked
through the eyes of a captain on another one of the pursuing ships.
"We have no need of them anymore. All is going as planned on Jurai,
unless you want them?" the Regis asked him.
"I no longer need the Tsunami Unit, and Ryoko has soiled herself with that
boy....kill them." He said. "But lets toy with them a bit, take two of his
friends
and let the others live to feel the pain of loss."
The Regis smiled broadly. "As you desire, my Regent." she said.
Tenchi looked at the scopes, understanding only half of what he was
looking at, and looked back at Kiyone. "Your saying there is no way we can
loose them?" he asked.
"We have no cover, and if we can see them on our scopes they can most
certainly see us." she said.
Washu had her holocomputer engaged and was working so fast that her hands
seemed to almost be blurring as they moved.
"These are new, they seem more powerful than the ones we encountered
before." she said. "We can't take these guys on, they out gun us and out
number us."
"All we can do is run and hope they can't overtake us." Kiyone said.
"That does not leave us with many options." Yosho said, rubbing his chin.
"I seem to recall that there was an asteroid field in his area." Ryoko
said.
They all looked at her. "Where?" Kiyone asked.
"Near the star Caprima Prime." she said. Kiyone checked the charts and a
diagram of the system showed up on her screen.
"Its three hours from here at top speed." she said. "If we can make it
there we might be able to loose them."
"How much time will this add to our journey to Jurai?" Aeka asked.
"No more than a few hours if we are careful." Kiyone said.
"I hate asteroids, remember the last time we went into asteroids, Kiyone?"
Mihoshi asked.
"Don't remind me, but this time I'm at the helm." she said.
"That rock ran out in front of me, it wasn't my fault." Mihoshi cried.
"It never is." Kiyone hissed under her breath. She felt a pat on her
shoulder as she looked to see Noboyuki smile at her. She returned the smile.
Thankfully, nobody notice the exchange because they were too busy looking at the
scopes and indicators..
"Do whatever you need to do, I feel that something terrible is happening
or is about to happen on Jurai." Tenchi told Kiyone.
"Oh no." Sasami gasped.
"I'll try." Kiyone told him.
"We all believe in you, Kiyone." he said.
Kiyone made for the asteroid field at top speed. On the scopes the
Darkling
ships were altering course to follow them. One important lession taught in the
GP
was now to avoid a greater apponent until backup arrive, but in this situation
there
would be no backup. She employed all that she had learned on evasion and guided
the
ship in among the giant asteroids. Noboyuki sat gripping his seat, he was
reliving
the asteroid chase scene from that Star Wars movie first hand. The ship jolted
a few
times as Kiyone fired retros to make quick course correctsto avoid a large rock.
Far
ahead in the viewport Noboyuki could make out the really massive asteroids
tumbling
in the distance. A few he guessed has to be at least the size of Japan
themselves,
and maybe larger.
The ships on the scope were getting closer and moving much faster. Kiyone
swore under her breath as she avoid smacking the Yagami on a huge rock the size
of
a Volkswagon Beetle. It wouod not be long until those ships were on top of
them,
and she still did not know if she could really loose them out here. There were
throusands of smaller asteroids, but the larger ones congragrated near the enter
of
the belt. The throttle was set to full, she could not get anymore speed out of
the
ship without overloading the engines which would create a titanic explosion when
the
quantum sigularity core explodes.
Tenchi and the others left the bridge to batten things down in their
private
quaters for when things got dicy. Noboyuki elected to stay with Kiyone to give
her
moral support. He watched the scopes from his seat to Mihoshi's console, his
fear
rising as the Darkling ships quickly closed the distance between them.
Lightyears away the Darkling Regis walked through the corridores of her
ship
when a wave of agony washed over her. She recognized the feeling, it was the
feeling
of thousands of her kind somewhere, another galaxy, another universe, suddenly
loosing
their life. The sensation subsided after several agonizing moments and she
found
herself on the ground. As soon as she stood, she heard the voice of her master
in her
mind.
[Regis!] the voice called.
[Lord.} she answered.
[A problem has arrisen, a Champion of Light has appeared.] the master told
her.
[Out plans in dimension 001 have failed, our ranks thinned, and our forces
defeated.]
[How could this be?] she asked in sudden disbelief.
[We underestimated our dreaded foe, the Elo'Quin once again.] the master
said.
[The one know as Orrin Quintarin has arrisen as a Champion of Light and he
possess
immense power.]
[How long until we can strike again?] she asked.
[Our main forces are still very far away, but I must warn you that the
Champion
of Light is travelling to your dimensional coordinates.]
{What, but I felt the defeat just a moment ago.] the Regis replied.
[Time differences between the two universes vary.] the voice said. [That
defeat
occured four centuries ago. The Champion of Light is coming and you must be
ready to
meet him, he must not be allowed to join the one know as Tenchi Masaki.]
[The human boy, but what threat could he pose to us?] the Regis asked.
[He possess the greatest power in that universe, but has little
understanding of
the full extent of his abilities.] the master told her. {He must never learn
how to
use this power or our plans here will meet a similar end.]
[I understand, our forces are pursuing his ship as we speak, the boy will
be
dead soon.] the Regis replied with a smile.
[Excellent.] said the voice. [In the meantime, I am sending you a gift.]
The Regis nearly feel to the ground again as a vision suddenly entered her
head.
She was standing in deep space with nothing around her, suddenly a large portal
opened
up before her. The portal was massive, several thousand miles across. The
power it took
to generate such a portal was massive, and the Regis knew the master was using
up a great
deal of his own essense to create it. From the swirling maw of the portal
hundreds of
thousands of shapes began to form. The Regis watched in fascination as the
shapes
became ships, thousands of ships, and all of them were Darkling craft. These
were
different from the ones she commanded, they were the elite forces. They
nightmares
given physical shape, and they were the msot powerful ships the Darklings had at
their
disposal. She laughed and knew that the crew commanding thses ships were no
ordinary
Darklings also. These were the true Darklings, the creatures from which their
seed
spawned.
[They are yours to command, use them well.] the voice told her before the
vision
faded leaving her back on her own ship.
The situation for the Yagami became very grave as the first of several
Darkling
ships came within firing range of the ship. Kiyone dove the ship towards one of
the
larger asteroids as energy blasts burst around them. Several more ships
suddenly
appeared and added their own fire power to the mix. Kiyone set the rear guns to
automatic so they would return fire, but even with the monifications the weapons
did
no damage to these new Darkling ships.
In the crew quarters Washu summoned a viewscreen of the ships and she
watched
their power readouts. She got a clear picture of what these new ships could
really
done and she whistled.
"Ryoko, you won't be able to pull your stunt on these ships like you did
that
one before we entered the Dead Zone." she told her daughter.
"Why is that?" Ryoko asked.
"I think these might be the type of ship that took out that Juraian ship,
the
Lunari." she said looking at Sasami. The new teenaged princess just looked down
at
the floor. "Your Light Hawk Wings alone may not be enough." she continued.
"How can we beat them then?" Tenchi asked.
Washu just sat there and looked at her hands. "I don't know, for the
first time
in my life, Tenchi, I don't really know."
According to the laws of astrophysics, the more massive an object the
larger its
gravity becomes. With asteroids this is the same as well, and occasionally some
are
large enough to pull in smaller asteroids as satelites. In some very rare
occurances
an asteroids is large enough to hold its own atmosphere. Although the
atmosphere is
very thin and ususally made up of gases that are not breathable by most humanoid
beings. In a very few reasonably rare situations an asteroids is large enough
to
hold a thicker atmosphere, and rarely still that atmophere is breathable. This
was
the kind of asteroid that Kiyone saw through the viewscreen of the Yagami as she
tried to avoid their Darkling pursuers.
"We might be able to use that to evade them." she said. "its not an M-
class
atmosphere, which is pretty rare, but its thin so it might be like being as a
very
high altitude on Earth."
"That is assuming we leave the ship, right?" Noboyuki asked her.
"Right now I want to be ready for anything." she replied, and then a blast
hit
the ship from behind. Her eyes went wide as she watched the stress guages on
the shields
go above the tolerance level and quickly return to normal.
"Shit, one more like that and our shields will be gone." she shouted aftrr
the
jolting subsided.
Sociological and political turmoil on Earth prevented most of the ground
based
observatories and monitoring stations from detecting a strange anomali occuring
near
the moon. A small rip in the fabric of space and time formed, manifesting as a
round,
stable portal. From the black depths of this portal a single starship emerged.
It
was unlike any ship that had ever been seen or ever will be seen in this
universe. The
ship was sleek, almost organic in appearance, and its outer hull was shiny
black. The
starship had no visible engines or external hatches, and it needed none since
the ship
could form a hatch out of its own molecular structure, and it had a will of its
own.
Three humanoid beings sat in the spacious bridge of this unique starship.
One
was a young man appearing to be in his early teens who sat at an astrogation
console,
a young teenaged girl sat at a communications and sensor console, and an older
man
in his late twenties sat at the helm. An accented voice, resembling a British
accent,
can out of nowhere and everywhere at the same time, "Dimensional drive
disengaged, we
have arrived."
"Open a channel on frequency 234.341.1." the older helmsman ordered.
"Channel open, Dad." the teen communications officer replied.
"Hello, are you there?" the helmsman asked, knowing his words were being
broadcast.
"I know you detected our arrival, please answer."
Only static answered his hail on the other end of the link.
"I don't think they got the signal." the girl at the com station said.
"Sensors
read that the signal is bouncing back."
"Is there any activitiy in the subspace pocket attached to the house in
Japan?"
the helmsman asked.
"None at all, and there are only two humanoid lifeforms down there." the
girl said.
"One Homosapian, and the other an unknown alien species, but it appears female."
The helmsman scratched his chin a moment. "We are at the corrrect
dimensional
coordinates?" the accented voice said out loud.
"Then, where is everyone?" the navigator asked for the first time from his
post.
"If I might make a suggestion, your highness, I am detecting something
that might
be of interest to you further from the planet." the voice said. A holographic
image
appeared in front of the helmsman displaying an orbital scematic of the planet
Earth.
"I am detecting tbe residual radiation from the Starburst Unit." the voice
said
as a small red blotch appeared along the orbital track of the planet.
"That can't be, its been over 400 years." the helmsman said.
"The rate of decay of the radiation indicates that only 6 to 7 months have
passed since the incident." the voice replied.
The helmsman's eyes went wide in disbelief, but then recognition appeared
on his
face and he smacked his hand onto his forehead. "Damn, I forgot about temporal
physics
differenciation factor." he said.
"Huh?" the two teenagers said together, not sure exactly what their
helmsman/father
had just said.
"The physics of time are different in each univese." the voice explained.
"Four
hundred years have passed for us, but only 6 to 7 months for them have passed."
"Sp, where are the people that Dad knows at?" the navigator asked the
voice.
"In the vicinity of the radiation zone I am detecting a very faint ion
trail."
the voice replied. "It is so faint that standard instrumentation would not have
detected it."
The teen girl called up a three-dimensional representation of the icon
trail and
said, "This looks a lot like the thrust trail of a hyperdrive."
The helmsman called up his own image of the ion trail and plotted out the
course
the trail was heading towards. "If the Earth were at this position it looks
like a ship
launched from the surface and jumped ito hyperspace from here." he said. "They
were
talking about go to planet Jurai before I left."
"Dad, you said there were Darklings here, right?" the teen girl asked.
"Yes, there were." the helmsman replied.
"Kryton, scan Washu's old star charts from this universe and set a course
for
Jurai." the helmsman said. "I didn't know what I know now about the Darkness
back
then, and I'm afraid she is getting herself into serious trouble."
"I have set the course, you may engage it at any time, Darius." the voice
said.
"Thanks, Kryton." the teen boy said from his astrogation post.
"Prince Orrin, will we see Mistress Washu again?" Kryton asked.
"I hope we do old friend, I hope we do." Prince Orrin Quintarin, who sat
at the helm,
said. The Kryton streeked through space away from the planet Earth, a black
portal in space
appeared in front of the ship and it passed through. The portal closed with a
bright
flash of light and the ship was gone.
Washu was monitoring the same readings and she gasped in disbelief at what
she
just witnessed. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed. "That shot almost penetrated the
shields!"
Yagami reached the massive asteroid that held an atmosphere. The sensors
on
the bridge indicated that it was indeed breathable, but a bit thin. If they had
to
leave the ship for some reason they would be a little light headed from it but
it
was not so thin that they could not breath it.
"Lets get up to the bridge, Kiyone might need our help." Tenchi said, but
as he
headed for the door he was thrown to the deck as the ship suffered another jolt.
A shot from another Darkling ship struck the Yagami, the blast overloaded
the
shields and in Engineering the shield generator exploded. The sound echoed
through
the ship and could be heard in the subspace living quarters and the bridge.
Kiyone
watched the status readouts for the ship systems suddenly go wild. The
explosion of
the shield generator started a chain reaction in Engineering that destroyed
several
other systems. One by one vital ship systems began to fail, helm control was
one of
those systems, and then the main engines went offline. All Kiyone could control
were auxilary thrusters designed to aid in docking. These made little impact on
the
ship as it punged, out of control, into the cloudy atmosphere of the asteroid.
Kiyone could not say a word, she knew that nothing she could say would
change
was about to happen. She knew that they would probably die. All she could do
was
look over at a very frightened Noboyuki and say, "I'm so sorry."
Noboyuki, still strapped into Mihoshi's seat, reached out with his hand
towards
her. Kiyone reached out and took his hand and he squeezed it. They were unable
to
take their eyes off each other for several minutes.
"I love you." Kiyone said, saying it from her heart.
"I love you." Noboyuki replied. Seconds later they were both knocked
unconscious
by the impact of the ship hitting the surface.
"Sire, I am detecting Washu's life signs in realspace!" Kryton almost
shouted
as they speed through subspace.
"Where, what coordinates?" Orrin asked immediately.
"221.056.987 mark 2." Kryton replied.
"We'll be near those coordinates in two minutes." Darius said.
The teenaged girl at the communications station, Yuki, pulled up a sensor
analysis of the same coordinates. "Oh god!" she said. "Dad, there are Darkling
ship crawling all over that area, class three!"
"Take us out of subspace, give me weapons control." Orrin said.
The Kryton suddenly appeared in realspace through the same type of portal
it
vanished into a few moments ago in Earthspace. The swirling tunnel of light of
subspace was replaced by the view of the asteroid field where the Yagami had
been
moments before came into view.
"I have turn over all weapon function over to you, sire." Kryton said.
"Washu's live readings are faint, but Z can pinpoint her location on
a large planetoid class asteroid in the area." Yuki said. She tapped a few keys
on her console and a red indicator appeared on the main viewscreen on the bridge
indicating the location.
"Shields up, engage cloak, we're going in." Orrin ordered. A force field
sprang to life around the Kryton and as it moved towards the asteroid field the
ship softly shimmered and slowly vanished.
Washu opened one eye and tried to lift her head, and immediately regretted
the
idea. A wave of pain washed over her entire body, so she slowly rolled over
onto her
back and opened both eyes to see where she was. The first thing she noticed was
that
she was not on the Tagami, the air of thin but breathable, and she was lying
amonst
several large boulders. After a few minutes she was able to sit up without
feeling
a great deal of pain. She discovered that somehow she had been thrown from the
ship in the impact, she did not know how she actually got out of the ship. The
wreckage of the Yagami was not far away from where she lay. The vessel was a
totally
lost cause now, it was broken in half at the middle, and the engine section was
missing.
Washu reached out with her mind to focus on her link with Ryoko and she
sighed
with relief when she got a faint trace of a thought. A roaring sound of a ship
overhead caught her attention and she was a Darkling ship descend out of the
clouds.
[Ryoko!] she called through her link. [The Darklings are coming!]
Still somewhere in the wreckage, Ryoko was just now climbing to her feet.
In
an act that was more instinct than anything else, Aeka had summoned a force
field
around herself, Ryoko and Tenchi. Sasami had called upon a force field also,
and
across from where they were Ryoko could see Sasami kneeling in concentration as
energy radiated from her to surround herself, Mihoshi, and Katsuhito.
[Where are you?] Ryoko asked her mother.
[I'm outside the ship.] Washu replied. [We need to get to the bridge to
see
if Kiyone and Noboyuki are alright.]
Aeka dispelled her shield and helped Tenchi and Ryoko to their feet.
Sasami
did the same thing. Tenchi noticed that the subspace living area they had been
in
was gone, and that they were now inside the empty storage closet that it had
been
created in. His immediate thought was for his father.
"I'll check out the bridge to see if they are alright." Ryoko said and she
teleported away.
Outside Washu watched in horror as dozens of third stage Darklings began
to
drop from the skies as the ship passed overhead. The creatures hissed in rage
as they
advanced on the wreckage, intent on killing anyone or anything that survived.
One of
the creatures landed and spotted her. Washu turned and ran as fast as she could
and
the Darkling bolted after her. Her 20,000 years of her mortal life passed
before her
very eyes as she ran. Memories of her past billions of years before that came
like
a flood to her.
Ryoko materialized on the bridge to find the placed a total wreck. The
whole
chamber had taken the brunt of the impact and most of the consoles were totally
destroyed. What sbx immediately noticed was that Noboyuki and Kiyone were
missing.
At first Ryoko thought that maybe they ran from the bridge before the impact, so
she
cut open the hatch and went into the corridor behind the bridge. She could nto
find
them there either. She phased up through the ship and landed on the upper hull
and
witnessed a horrific scene. Darklings the likes of which she had never seen
before
were swarming towards the wrecked ship. In the distance she could see who
Darklings
carrying what looked like a man and woman slumped over their shoulders. She
teleported
closer and gasped when she realized it was Noboyuki and Kiyone. Ryoko ignited
her
sword and lunged at them, but the Darklings ignored her and both creatures
phased into
subspace before she could strike.
[Tenchi, they have Kiyone and your father, I couldn't stop them!] she
cried over
her link. She felt a wave of sorrow float from Tenchi's end of the link and
saddness
from Aeka's, but Tenchi voice replied, [You did what you could, get back here
quick.]
Washu ran as fast as her short legs would carry her in her child-like
form. The
creature behind her snarled and hissed in rage, but was enjoying the chase
immensely. She
knew she would not be able to escape the creature forever, and tapped a small
button on
her bracelet. A black portal opened behind her and several round objects
ejected out in
the path of the the Darkling. The monster did not have enough time to avoid the
objects
and they collided with it with explosive results. The diminutive genius smiled
wickedly
as she looked back and saw a fireball rise into the air behind her. The
explosives were
not etherealogic, and only served to slow the creature down. Once it picked
itself up
off the ground and pushed large boulders off itself it started to scan the
horizon for
its prey. Washu had already found a cubby hole in a large house-sized boulder
to hide
herself in.
[Daughter, use Ryu-Ohki and get out of here!] she called to Ryoko through
her
mind link.
Ryoko had reached Tenchi and the others just as she received the message.
{No,
I won't leave you!] Ryoko cried over the link.
Washu looked into the sky from her hiding place and watched several more
Darkling
ships descend out of the clouded atmosphere. [More of them are coming, think of
the
baby and the others.] she pleaded.
[You can't ask me to do this, you can't!] Ryoko cried.
[You must, I'll be alright, if I can I will meet up with you on Jurai.]
Washu lied.
[Please go, hurry before they swarm over you.]
Tears filled Ryoko's eyes as she heard Washu's words in her mind. Tenchi
and Aeka
could hear the exchange as well and shared her pain.
"She wants us to leave her behind." Ryoko told the others.
"She is sacraficing herself in order for us to escape to safety." Yosho
said as he
cloaed his eyes in sadness.
"I can't let her do it." Ryoko said, new tears threatening to fall.
"She wouldn't want us to try and stop her." Tenchi said, his love washing
over her
through their link. "She's tough, if she survived Kagato she can survive this."
Ryoko
had never heard Tenchi lie before, and she could feel through their link that he
was only
trying to ease her pain.
"But she's my mother." she cried. Aeka was almost crying from the feeling
of sadness
and pain she felt from Ryoko's end of the link.
"She was correct, you do have to think about the baby." Aeka told her.
Ryoko turned towards the direction she felt her mother was in and saw
dozens of horrible
creatures dropping from the sky. "I love you, mommy." she whispered and
transmitted in her
link with her mother at the same time.
The two stood beside her to give her support as she took the little Cabbit
from
Sasami's arms. Ryoko lifted the little creature to her face and looked into her
frightened
eyes.
"Ryu-Ohki, take us to Jurai." she said and threw the furry creature into
the air. With
a loud echoing "meow" the Ryu-Ohki transformed into her ship form. A yellow
beam descended
upon them and they were instantly teleported to the bridge of the Cabbit ship.
"Fly my Ruy-Ohki, fly!" Ryoko cried as new tears fell from her eyes. In
the distance
Washu heard the loud cry of Ryu-Ohki's voice as she streaked through the sky. A
bit closer
but still in the distance she could also hear the sound of Darklings. She
estimated there
were hundreds of them.
In space Ryu-Ohki raced passed several Darkling ships that hung in space
around the
massive asteroid. The ships prepared to turn and give chase but the Cabbit ship
engaged her
hyperdrive and was gone before they fire on it. A few of the waiting ships
broke off from
the group to give chase in hyperspace, but a newcomer suddenly arrive that
caught their
immediate attention. This new ship gave off a massive ethereal signature that
was larger
than anything they had seen before. It drew them in like a moth to a flame, and
the ship
began to open fire. The newcomer had a force field in place and the weapons
fire from the
Darkling ships was unable to penetrate it. The newcomer returned fire on its
Darkling
attackers and it had a completely different effect. One by one the newcomer
destroyed
every Darkling ship it exchange fire with, and before long there were no hositle
ships
left around the asteroid. On the bridge of the newcomer ship, Prince Orrin
Quintarin
checked his sensor readings and found Washu's life signature on the asteroid.
He also
detected a large number of Darkling signatures surrounding her.
The scene brought back painful memories of the last time he lost someone
who ment
everything to him, and he was determined that this time the Darkness would take
another
loved one away from him.
"I'm going down there!" Orrin shouted as he leaped from the
helm station and ran from the bridge. He made his way to the outer edge of the
inner hull
of the ship and phased through into space. Instantly an arura of power
surrounded Orrin's
body and he floated away from the ship. In the distance the teltale sparking
lights of more
Darkling ships emerging from hyperspace could been seen. Orrin begins flying
through space
without any visible means of propulsion and plunged into the atmosphere of the
planetoid.
On the surface, Washu did not hear anymore sounds from the Darklings
lurking about in
the distance, and she this could be a good or bad thing. One; they were too far
away
for her to hear, or two; they knew where she was hiding and they were finding a
way to sneak
up on her. She was determined to find out which one, and knew she could not
hide out in the
boulders from the creatures forever because they could feel her life essence.
She came out
of her hiding place and started to run, but a pair of clawed hands grabbed her
legs from
beneath the loose soil on he planetoid surface. A massive Darkling rose out of
the ground
and loomed angrily over its intended prey. Several more creatures simply
materialized around
her out of nowhere, but she knew they were appearing out of sub-space.
"This one is very young, her essence will be very sweet." the creature
that held her
legs said in a gravely voice.
"Young yet also well developed for her age, lets have some fun first, then
we feed."
another suggested as he transformed into his normal humanoid form but without
his clothing.
"She looks like she is at least twelve or thirteen." yet another Darkling
said.
"Ya, but she is a well built twelve year old." the naked humanoid replied.
This was not the way Wasbu had expected her life would end. The prospect
of being
violated by a horde on monsters and then having her life force sucked away a
piece at a time
was not the way she had wanted her last moments to proceed. She did not see any
possible way
out of the situation. One of the creatures slowly slid a shart talon from its
finger under her
dress to rip off her clothes. The monster did not have a chance to strip her as
a blast of
energy came out of nowhere and vaporized it where it loomed over her. The naked
humanoid and
the other Darlings looked in the direction the blast had come in total shock.
A humanoid figure flew through the air towards them at high speed. Washu
could see the
outline of a force field surrounding the figure and for a few fleeting seconds
she thought it
was Tenchi or Ryoko who had come to her rescue. The Darklings could feel the
immense ethereal
power radiating from their attacker and they snarled in rage. The creatures
responded to the
attaack by launching their own energy blasts at the newcomer but the blasts were
deflected
effortlessly by his force field.
The figure was humanoid, tall and had a male build. Washu tried to see
the man's face,
but he was shrouded by an arura of energy that made seeing his face difficult.
The flying
man threw energy blasts from his hands at the Darklings and each direct hit
instantly
vaporized them. Before long a Darkling that had been the naked humanoid was all
that was
left. The creature summoned an energy sword in its clawed hands and stood its
ground. The
flying man landed on the ground and dispelled his shield, but was still shrouded
in an arura
of power. He ignited an energy sword in his hands and made a gesture towards
the Darkling as
if to acknowledge the creature's challenge for a sword fight.
The Darkling came at the man with its sword and made a clumby swipe for
his head, but
the man ducked under the attack and deftly sliced the creature on the chest
multiple times. The
Darkling howled in pain and rage and sung again, but this time a bit more
competently now that it
knew its opponent would not be an easy kill. The man perried each sword swipe
with incredible
speed, his movements were inhumanly fast, and his arms and legs seemed to blur
as he moved.
The man swept to the side leaving a faint trail in his wake and jabbed the
Darkling in the
side. Each wound in the creature released a stream of green energy instead of
blood. The
Darkling tried a few cunning attacks at the man's head and legs, but the sword
fighter was
too fast and much better skilled at sword fighting than the monster was. Soon,
the man began
to tire of this game, teleported behind the creature and releaved it of its
existance by
taking its head.
Soon after the creature was dead Washu stood up and looked at her savior.
The man was
still surrounded by an arura of power, but the light began to fade and his face
was revealed
to her for the first time. Washu stood in absolute shock for a moment, she was
wondering if
she was seeing things because of the thin atmosphere, or if this was a
hallucination brought
on by having her life force slowly sucked away from her body. The man slowly
walked up to her,
she so wanted this to be real and she hoped beyond hope that he was real. He
stopped in front
of her and she hesitantly reached out her hand to his face. She could feel the
warmth of his
skin, he was older than he had been the last time she had seen him, and he had a
scar on his
right cheek that appeared to somehow be several years old.
"I missed you so much." the man said in that same voice she remembered.
Her defenses were weakening and her knees were starting to give out on
her. The man
reached out and touched her cheek with his hand. His touch sent delicious
electricity through
her skin, and the softness of his touch brought tears to her eyes.
"Is it really you?" she asked.
"Yes, my love, it is." Orrin replied. Washu could not contain herself any
longer, she
flung her arms around his neck and held him as tight as she could. She did not
want to let him
go again.
"I thought I'd never see you again." she sobbed with her head resting on
his shoulder.
"I thought the same thing, but I am back and this time it is for good."
Orrin told her.
"I love you."
Washu sobbed and her body began to shake. She was overcome with joy and
all she could
do was cry and hold the man whom she had grown to love close to her. Though
they had only
known each other for a few short weeks a powerful and loving relationship
between them had
strung to life between them. That seemed like a million years ago after all she
had been
through since he left to go back to his home universe.
"You look, older." she commented as she looked at his face.
"It has been a very long time since I have last seen you." he told her.
"Its only been six months." Washu said.
"For you, but because of the differences in temporal physics betwwen our
two universes
for me it has been over four hundred years." Orrin explained.
Washu's eyes went wide with surprise and horror. Four hundred years had
passed for Orrin
since he last saw her face. He only appeared to be just a few years older than
he had been
the last time she had seen him, but she also noticed something else about him.
For one thing,
when he was on Earth he did not have the awesome power she had just witnessed
him use against
the Darkness, and second he was no longer carrying the StarGem Sword. She
looked into his
eyes and saw a slightly haunted look. She had seen that look in the eyes of
other beings
before, and it was usually after they had been the witness of unimaginable
carnage and war.
"What has happened to you?" she asked, her body trembling with fear not
for herself but
for the man she loved.
"Far more than I am willing to reveal right now, and maybe its better that
I never
reveal the horrors I have witnessed." he told her. Washu hugged him tighter and
Orrin
retrned her embrace with the same vigor.
In the distance a faint sound reached Orrin's sensitive ears. He lookied
up and
scanned the horizon. "More Darklings are coming." he said.
Washu gasped as she realized she was being lifted into the air. A force
field bubble
sprange to life around them both and they raced away from the surface of the
planetoid. They
flew towards the wreckage of the Yagami.
"Where are your friends and your daughter?" Orrin asked.
"I made them so ahead without me." Washu told him.
"A gallant gesture, but not a wise one." he told her.
"It was either that or we'd all be dead." she replied.
Orrin changed their direction and they soared into the cloudy sky above
the surface of
planetoid. Washu watched with fascination as they rose above the clouds and
beyond the thin
atmosphere. They raced through the vacumm of space and in the distance she
could see an
amazing looking starship. The vessel looked organic and sleek like a sea
creature from some
exotic alien ocean which was designed for fast swimming. They were halfway to
the ship when
a Darkling ship materialized next to them and opened fire on them. Washu
marvelled as the
massive energy blast splashed harmlessly off Orrin's shield. The ship they were
racing towards
turned and opened fire with withering firepower. Twin pulse cannons from two
winglets on either
side of the ship cut loose as a beam weapon fired from the nose of the ship.
The weapons fire
penetrated the shields of the Darkling ship in seconds and tore into the armor
hull of the
ship. The beam weapon holed the ship through and through, internal explosions
could be seen
flasbing through the hules in the armor plating, and seconds later the entire
vessel became a
rapidly expanding sphere of gas and debris.
Once inside the ship, Orrin dispelled his shield and lead Washu by the
hand through
several twisting corridors. Before long they reached the bridge of the ship and
Washu
looked around in wounderous fascination at all the advanced technology was she
seeing. Much of
the technology she was seeing was equal to and sometimes beyond anything she had
ever
developed. She also knew without having to scan the ship with her instruments
that the ship
was build using the decipines of Ethereealology.
Washu's attention was immediately caught by two other people sitting on
the bridge. A
young man was seated at what looked like a pilot's station which had controls
for steering
the ship, and a young girl sat at what appeared to be a communications console.
"Dad, we have multiple incoming Darkling cruisers, and long range sensors
are detecting
a large fleet of class four ships." the young girl said.
"Kryton, plot an evasive course to the planet Jurai using our archived
star charts of his
univeerse." Orrin said outloud. "Use space fold to jump from way point to way
point to keep
them from detecting our destination."
"I already anticipated this, setting the course now." a familar voice with
a Britsh-like
accent said. "It is good to see you again, Mistress Washu."
"I see you've made a few modifications to Kryton, and a few others things
have happened."
Wash said and gestured towards the young girl who called Orrin "Dad".
"This is my daughter, Yuko, and the young man at the helm is my son
Darius." Orrin said.
"Hello." Darius said.
"Hi." Yuko said.
Washu was intrigued by this revelation but was not surprised that Orrin
had met someone
else during the time he had been gone. Over four hundred years had passed since
he last saw
her afterall.
"Where is their mother?" she asked.
"She went to a better place a long time ago." he replied with sadness in
his eyes.
"I'm sorry." she said softly and squeezed his hand.
"Uh, Dad, isn't she a little young." Darius commented. "Aren't you
robbing the cradle."
The young man had a sly smile on his face, he knew full well from his
father's stories
that Washu was much older than she appeared.
"Ya, it would feel pretty wierd calling somebody Mom who is younger than I
am."
Yuko said as she tried to suppress a laugh.
"You got two real comedians here." Washu said with a smile. Orrin just
looked at his
two children with disbelief and surprise. The look turned to a sly grin. "I
seen despite all
my attempts you two still inherited your mother's sense of humor."
Washu transformed from her child-like form to her adult form and Darius's
eyes went
wide with surprise. "Your beautiful, I mean really really beautiful." he said
in awe.
"Thank you, and if you think I'm beautiful you should see my daughter."
Washu said.
"But don't get any ideas, she's already married."
Darius made a face and snapped his fingers in a gesture of defeat and Yuko
just chuckled
out loud.
"At this speed and course we'll reach Jurai in two and a half hours."
Orrin said.
"Ryoko and the others are in Ryu-Ohki, we'll be thirty to fifteen minutes
behind them."
Washu said.
Orrin wrapped his arms around Washu's supple waiste and pulled her in for
a kiss. The
contact was soft and filled both of them with an immense feeling of love. When
they parted
the mood was suddenly shattered by Darius spouting out, "Hey you two, get a
room!"
"Lets go somewhere private so we don't bother my oversexed son." Orrin
said.
"More like undersexed, I've been in space so long I've almost forgotten
what a beautiful
woman looks like." Darius said.
"Hey, what am I chopped liver." Yuko said with a hurt expression.
"You don't count, your my sister." Darius said.
"I'll get you for that in our next cyberlink game, watch your back." she
said dangerously.
"Oh please, I frag you ten times more than you frag me at deathmatch."
Darius said.
"True, but I'm better at Capture the Flag than you are." Yuko replied with
a smile.
The two lovers left the youngsters on the bridge to continue their
conversation, and
they walked hand in hand to Orrin's private quarters. The door opened as Orrin
reached it and
the lights inside activated, but Kryton though to turn them down to a romanticly
low level. The
living starship also turned on some soft music in the background. Soft ambient
techno beats,
smooth and romantic, started to play quietly in the room.
"Looks like Kryton already anticipated what was on our minds." Orrin said
as the door
closed behind them. They kissed each other passionate, holding each other
clsoe. Before long
they were under the covers in Orrin's bed holding each other tight as their
bodies moved rythmicly
to the mood inspiring music. Waves of pleasure washed through them, every
touch, every kiss,
ever sudtle movement brought on an inbelievably wonderful sensation. Washu
collapsed onto Orrin's
bare chest in exhaustion, sweat beading on her body, and her breath came in
quick gasps. Orrin
held her tight and he felt the soft tug of tireness grab at the edges of his
consciousness
that always appeared after loving making.
"I missed you so much." Washu said with her head resting on his chest.
"My work back home is done, I'm here to stay with you forever." he told
her.
Tears of joy fell down Washu's face and she hugged him tightly. "We have
a family now." he
told her.
"I've always had a family, but now its a complete family because your
here." Washu replied,
and they kissed each other again letting all their longing and love for each
other pass between
them with each touch.
Ryu-Ohki raced through hyperspace at full speed. The Cabbit ship was the
fastest vessel
around, even faster than the Yagami had been, and only ships of Jurai could
match her speed. At
the helm Ryoko sat with her hands on the twin trackball controls that allowed
her to steer the
ship. She watched the holographic instrument panels to make sure that they were
still on
course for Jurai and that they were not being followed. The problem was that
they were being
followed, and the vessels that followed them had Darkling signatures. Without
Washu she was
not certain, but the new programming added to Ryu-Ohki's neurol matrix did
indicate that they
were Darkling.
Ryoko still felt the presence of her mother in the back of her mind. On
the other end
the link was being blocked off, but before that happened she first felt terror
coming from
her mother and then incredible joy. Tears of happiness fell down her face
because she knew
from the link that her mother was alive, but she was sure why she had the
feeling of joy.
"When we reach Jurai space I will contact Father and let him know what is
happening."
Aeka was saying to the others, and Ryoko realized that she had been
concentrating so hard that
she did not hear them.
"Maybe he'll send some ships to escort us home." Sasami said.
"Kiyone." Mihoshi sobbed from across the room. The blonde office was
sitting on the
shiny floor with her knees up to her chest, her arms were wrapped around her
knees, and she
was rocking back and forth. She had been like this since her initial shock over
the crash
of the Yagami subsided.
"Poor thing." Tenchi commented.
"I wish there was something we could do for her." Sasami said.
"Mihoshi must be allowed to work this through in her own way and in her
own time."
Katsuhito said.
"Without Washu to give us her scientific guidance this is going to be
hard." Tenchi
said.
"She's still alive, I don't know where, but I do know that she is happy
where she is."
Ryoko said from her helm station.
"She is?" Tenchi asked in surprise.
"Yes, I feel her on the other end of my link with her." Ryoko told him.
Sasami clasped her hands in front of her face in a gesture that looked so
sweet and innocent.
"That is so wonderful, then we will meet up with her again." she cheered.
Tenchi looked down at the shiny floor and sighed. "I wish I could say the
same for Dad
and Kiyone." he said. Aeka placed a hand on his shoulder and tried to give him
some encouragement
through their link.
"We'll reach Jurai in two hours, we'll be in standard communications range
with the Royal
Palace in an hour, Princess." Ryoko told them.
This was it, they were about to complete their journey to Jurai, but they
were seperated,
and nobody knew what has been happening on Jurai during all this time.
__________
Chapter Seven: Chaos Jurai
Kagato's way of life had been abruptly changed forever by becoming a
Darkling, but
not just any Darkling...he was a Regent. Not ever having to ear solid foods
anymore was
one of the things he had to get used to, but he was still able to enjoy those
things of
life he had before his transformation. The sweet necter of a young girl's life
force
was like honey to him, but instead of savoring every morsal of her essense he
took what
he needed right then and there and left the victim to die or recover to be feed
upon
later. It did not take a great deal of effort for him to get used to this new
life,
but what did take him some time to get used to was the unusual tastes of the
Regis.
As his latest meal was being carried away unconscious a pair of Darklings
dragged
another young woman into their chambers. She was kicking and scream, shouted
every
obscene word imaginable. The Darklings forced her to lay down flat and they
manicled her
to a special device on the floor. Her lower torso was sloped upwards and her
legs were
locked forced open to spread her wide. One of the two creatures grapped her
clothing, which
consisted of almost nothing more than a black suit of boby armor that resembled
a single
piece swimsuit, and ripped it off of her body to exposer her nakedness. Kagato
looked at
her enraged and frightened face and immediately recognized her.
"Sakura." he said.
"You know this morsal?" the Regis asked.
"Yes, I have had dealing with her in the past." Kagato told her.
"This one's essence of strong and young, her mind corrupt and her thoughts
pervurse."
the Regis said. "What do you say of her?"
"She is loyal if given the proper motivation and assuming the pay is to
her liking." he
told her.
"The time to make another Regis is quickly approaching." the Regis said.
"This one
may prove useful to us in that reguard, but for now I will savor her."
"Please, must you play with your food." Kagato said with a smirk on his
face. The Regis
almost laughed at the joke, and then walked over to where Sakura was strapped
down.
"What the fuck do you people want from me?" Sakura shouted at them. "Your
Kagato,
aren't you, I thought you were dead."
"The repoorts of my death were great exaggerated." he replied before
sitting down in a
chair to watch
The Regis kneeled down between Sakura's legs and started to softly carress
the insides of
her thighs.
"Get the fuck away from me you dike!" Sakura screamed. "Get your fuck'n
hands off me!"
"But Sakura, you enjoy the love of women and men both." the Regis said,
probing her
mind.
"What the fuck did you do, blow up my ship so this skank can get her
thrills." Sakura
shouted at Kagato.
Kagato said nothing but what Sakura said next made him stand up bolt
upright. "Your
brother tried to fuck'n rape me before he died."
Anger seeth in his eyes as he looked down on her. "My brother is dead."
he said.
"Yes, Ryoko killed him in the Dead Zone." Sakura said.
"So they were in the Dead Zone as you predicted." the Regis said.
"Your looking for Ryoko?" Sakura asked. "I might be able to help you find
her."
"We already have, but she eluded us temporarity." the Regis said. "It
will only be
a matter of time, and yes you can help us, but not in a way you might think."
Kagato watched in pervurse fasination as the Regis lowered her head and
Sakura's
eyes went wide, she screamed out every swear word immaginable. A faint blue
light began to
glimmer in the room and Sakura screamed. It was a scream that was half form
unbarable
agony and half from unbelieaable extacy. Her body writhed and convulse in the
manicles that
held her, her head whipped from side to side, and she screamed as if a massive
orgasm was
washing through her body. It went like this for ten minutes, and when the light
faded
Sakura's body collapsed. She was covered in sweat and was breathing heavily,
she tried to
raise her head, but she was so tired she fell immediately unconscious.
The Regis sat back up, her face wet, and smiled at Kagato. "This one was
indeed very
suculant and sweet." A Darkling handed her a towel and she dried her face.
"Leave this one here, when she recovers I have something special planned
for her."
the Regis said as she stood up, and the Darklings nodded before they left.
"What is wrong Kagato, you look haggard?" the Regis asked.
"Must you always do that?" he asked her.
"Its a part of what we are, our desires are amplified, and for this little
one it will
be the same when she becomes a Regis." the Regis said.
"Still worried, I feel you are trouble by your brother's death." the Regis
continued.
"Revenge is a feast we Darklings savor most of all."
Kagato looked at her and a fire raged in his eyes. "I will find her and
make her pay
for his death." he said, and the Darkling part of his mind conjured up all sorts
of pervurse
ways to end her life. The Regis felt this in his mind and she smiled at him.
"Good, good, let the hate consume you." she said. "It will make her death
that more
delicious when you take her."
"Assuming we can find her." he said. "We lost several ships to this
Champion of Light,
and now they could be anywhere in the galaxy."
"In time we will find them, but for now we must accelerate our efforts on
Jurai."
the Regis said. "All is going according to plan, very soon he planet Jurai will
be ready for
us to rape and pillage and the Juraian people will only have themselves to
blame."
At no time in the entire ancient history of the planet Jurai prior to the
arrive of the
Goddess Tsunami had the planet been engaged in war with itself. Previous to the
arrival of
Tsunami the people of Jurai had been war like and savage. Their wars against
one another were
brutal and it was clear that they were heading towards an existance were peace
would be
impossible. However, Tsunami arrived and became the Tree of Light, she
enlightened those who
happened upon her tree, and her arura that touched them gave them an extended
lifespan and also
healed diseases and sickness. In time, Tsunami had choosen from among the
rulers of the people
one who was worthy and made him Emperor of Jurai. This was beginning of the
Jurai royal family,
and they had been in power for tens of thousands of years. At not time in their
history had
there ever been a civil war or conflict between the people and the government.
That, however,
was changing rapidly.
Several weeks after the initial report from the GP was received, Emperor
Asuza began to
notice something dark and sinister brewing at the edges of his empire.
Scientist on Jurai had
found a way to break through the interference that had blacked out the planet
from the rest
of the galaxy temporarily, but even so all attempts to reach his daughters via
communicator
had failed. Ships of the GP that patroled the area where their ship should have
been did not
see any sign of them. As the weeks went by and turned into months the Emperor,
his Empress,
and his Queen feared that they would not see their son or daughter ever again.
Asuza did not
want to give up hope for his son and daghters safe return to Jurai, and he so
wanted to speak
with Tenchi.
His concerns over his missing family members had to pushed aside when
reports bagan to
arrive in the court of increased violence in the streets. Crime and violence on
Jurai commited
by citizens of Jurai was almost non-existant. Crime on Jurai was lower than on
any planet in
the Galactic Union, and fighting in the streets was unheard of. Everyday new
reports arrived
at his desk in his private office where he reviewed important documents from the
Senate and
the Holy Council. Everyday they became more disterbing, more violent, and worse
still a
growing number of people began to place blame on the Royal Family for it all.
Two months of this went by and still now word from his family, but reports
from the
Secret Police began to arrive of a covert neo-political movement on Jurai. This
movement wanted
to removed the Emperor of Jurai from power and place their own leader into power
in the
government. Laws for freedom of speech allowed anyone to say what they wanted
about the royal
family, but this open display of unwarrented hatred of the royal family filled
Asuza with
dread.
"How large is this organization?" he asked the head of the Secret Police
who uncovered
the covert group. It was his first audience with the new head of the Jurai
Secret Poilice, he
was a man name Zerlova, a tall young Juraian who had formerly been in the
military.
"They have eight-hundred members thus far, and the ear of several members
of the Senate."
Zerlova said.
"Only eight-hundred?" Asuza said. "Who in the Senate are they in regular
contact with?"
Zerlova touched a button on his PDA and a holographic screen appeared in
front of the
Emperor's throne. "Senators Tetsuo Troda, Vorego Yogora, and Gatro Zello, each
are prominent
members of the Senate and represent some of the largest provinces of Jurai." he
said.
"I am aware of this, but what amount of influence do they have with them?"
the Emperor
asked.
"My investigation has found that a sizable amount of credits were
transfered from the
Senators' personal accounts to a private account held by a man named Hakuda
Asrovass." Zerlova
said as a picture of the man appeared on the screen. "He appears to be either
the leader or
in a position of leadership with the group. I have my best undercover agent
attempting to
infiltrate them now so we can have someone on the inside. The group holds
regular meetings
at this dweeling in the capital city every other day. It is not clear if they
possess any
arms and pose any real danger to the Empire, but they are growing in influence
and are working
to recruit new members daily. The Senators have not openly admitted to being in
dialogue with
the group, but as their movement grows I fear it will only be a matter of time
before they do."
Special Agent Duncan Kirasawa of the Jurai Secret Police was accustomed to
infiltrating
subversive groups, but not when they were made of up citizens of Jurai. He
walked the streets
of the capital city dressed in a standard workman's outfit.e looked like any
other ordinary
citizen making his way home from a day of work. His keen senses and training
told him that he
was being watched from the crowd. He stopped at a roadside cafe and ordered a
drink of Sapri,
a drink similar to coffee from Earth, and took a newsreader from his pocket to
make like he
was reading the days news. He spotted his observer without much effort, a young
man in a
long coat, and decided to stay where he was to see if the young man intended to
approach him.
As if on cue he watched the man approach his table from out of the corner
of his eye. The
young man took a seat across from him, looked around somewhat nervously, and
took out his own
newsreader. Several minutes passed without the young man saying a word, so
Duncan decided to
set out some bait.
"Damn, this crime spree is totally out of hand and the Emperor doesn't
seem to give a
damn at all." Duncan said.
The young man looked up from his newsreader and said, "All the Emperor
cares about is
the credits in his pocket, and the pockets of his so called Royal Family."
"Sometimes I wish we had somebody in power who really cared about the
people." Duncan
said. "I wish there was something I could do."
The man leaned forward. "Maybe there is something you can do." he said.
"What do you mean?" Duncan asked with mock interest on his face.
"I am a part of a special interest group that is dedicatd to correcting a
grievous
error in our current government." he said.
"What error is that?" Ducan asked.
"Our reliance on a royal family that cares nothing for the people of
Jurai, our continued
faith in a so called goddess who has not shown herself for hundreds of years,
and the supression
of our people by a council of so called holy men who only seek to fill their
pockets with out hard
earned credits." the man said.
Duncan was stunned by this last part. Not only was this movement aginst
the royal family
but there also against the goddess Tsunami. He did not let his emotions show on
his face however
as he sat forward and whispered, "Where do I sign up?"
The young man introduced himself as Gerro, he head Duncan to a groundcar,
and they drove
around the city for several hours talking about the government. It was getting
close to sunset
when Gerro stopped the groundcar in an industrialized section of the city.
Duncan opened the
side door on the groundcar, stood up, and looked around. Tall manufacturing
towers and domed
processing centers could be seen in the distance. Nearby there was only one
building that
looked like an ordianry dwelling.
"Where are we?" Duncan asked.
"Come this way, I want you to meet some friends of mine." Gerro said.
Gerro walked towards the house with Duncan following behind him. As they
reached the house
the front door opened and several people armed with type four plasma rifles
spilled out.
"Who's this?" one of the men asked.
"New blood, taking him to see Hakuda." Gerro said.
"Check him first." the man said to the others. Immediately the other
gunmen searched
Duncan's pockets and patted him down.
"He's clear." another man said. He pulled out a small device that looked
like a pen. The
device popped open to reveal a small folding display screen. "His name is
Duncan Kirasawa, he's
an employee of the Gensao Mining Company. This says he's an engineer."
Duncan took his ID wand back from the man and followed Gerro into the
house. So much for
our intellegence telling us they weren't armed, Duncan thought to himself. He
noticed that the
class four plasma rifles were military-grade with a disintegration setting.
Those types of
arms were illegal for personal citizens to possess. Inside the house Duncan
found that most
everyone carried a sidearm that was military-grade. They stopped in a large
room filled with
young teens and children. A young woman was speaking to the group on a makeship
stage, her
words were riling up the assembled group of youngsters.
"They spread lies about Tsunami, they tell us she is there, but we know
the truth that she
has left Jurai a long time ago." the woman said. "She is not with us because
the Royal Family of
Jurai, and because of them she does have Jurai in her favor anymore, but we now
have a new
guardian to watch over us. We have a new protector to watch over our world, but
we must first
purge our world of the corrupt disease of the Royal Family. It is they who have
ruined our
world, it is they who suppress us, it is they who maintain the lies that keep us
enslaved to a
false religion. But, fear not, for the time is quickly coming when the eveil of
the Royal
Family will be purged from Jurai, they will be punished for their crimes, and we
will finally
be free!"
The croud cheered and raised their fists and weapons into the air above
their heads. The
woman climbed down from the stage and the crowd started to chant a name,
"Hakuda! Hakuda!"
"This way, Hakuda will see you now." Gerro told him. Duncan was lead into
an ajacent room
which was dimly lighted. A shadowy figure sat in one corner of the room.
"Welcome, I am Hakuda, I understand you are disenchanted with the way the
government is
currently run." the man said. His voice seemed odd to Duncan, somehow hollow
and distant.
"I am, things have been falling apart lately." Duncan lied.
"It is because the Royal Family care only for themselves." the shadowy man
said. "They
no longer have the anointing of Tsunami to justify their power, so they are now
using subversive
tactics to maintain their power over Jurai."
Duncan knew all of this was a total farce. He knew the Tree of Light,
Tsunami's tree, was
still in the Royal Gardens at the palace and that the tree still had power.
"I heard that speech outside about a new guardian of Jurai." Duncan said.
The shadowy man was seated in a lotus position on the floor of the dark
room. Duncan
watched as the man floated into the air and hovered towards him. He came into
the light and
Duncan did his best to suppress his surprise. The man who came into the light
possessed the
likeness of the long lost First Prince of Jurai, Prince Yosho. His eyes were
glowing with
an inner light and Duncan could sense an arura of power radiating from his body.
"I am that protector, and in time my followers and I will purge this world
of the evils
of the Royal Family." he said. "Will you help me, I have many followers now but
we do not
have anyone with engineering skills in our group. Your skills could be
invaluable to us."
"Yes." Duncan said. A smile came across the false Yosho's face.
Three days would pass before Duncan was allowed out of the house. He had
atteneded
meetings to indoctrinations him into the group. He was escorted on a tour of
the house, and he began
to realize that the inside of the building was larger than the outside. He
realized it must be
a subspace pocket they were using to do this. In different rooms of the house
he watched as
hundreds of people sorted through different weapons and attended classes on how
to set bombs and
subversive military tactics. When it was time for him to leave and return to
his home he had
seen more than what was expected. This was not just a small political group, it
was an all-out
rebelion of religious fanatics following a man who looked like Yosho and set
himself up as a god.
He carried an arm band in his pocket that he had to wear to meeting to
identify himself as a member. He made his way through the city using the
underground transport tubes in attempt to
evade anyone who might be following him to observe his actions. Eventaully he
made his way to a
meeting spot that was preassigned as his place of contact with the agency. He
spotted the agent
that was his contact and immediately exchanged codewords with him.
"I need to get in touch with Chairman Zerlova and the Emperor at once." he
told the agent.
"We've got a very serious problem."
Zerlova and Duncan arrived at the lonely house in the industrial sector
of the city
with a large contingency of soldiers. The men were all armed with wooden
weapons made from
the branches of Trees of Jurai. They appeared to be stalves for hand to hand
combat, but
they possessed the ability to launch plasma blasts at a great distance. Their
body armor
was also wooden, but the wood was also from Tree of Jurai and was harder than
any metal and
was lighter also.
They stormed the front door of the house and blasted open the door before
spilling into
the building. After hearing about the enormous cache of weapons inside they
expected to face
a furious fire fight. Instead, the soldiers came face to face with just an
empty room inside
the small building. Zerlova and Duncan walked inside, and Duncan looked around
in total
surprise.
"Where are they Agent Kirasawa?" Zerlova asked.
"They wee here, sir." he said.
A soldier holding a small device in his hand came over to them and handed
the device over
to Zerlova. "You might want to see these readings, sir." the soldier told him.
Chairman Zerlova looked the device over and hrmphed. "It appears you were
correct, they
were here, but now they are gone." he said. "These readings indicate that a sub
space pocket
had been here for some time. It looks like they got wise to your true
identity."
"If that is so, why did they let me go?" Duncan asked.
"I'm not certain, but if they are as dangerous as you say its possible
they might not
want to attract too much negitive attention yet." Zerlova said.
"They'll probably be even harder to find this time, I was lucky to find
them as quickly as
I did the first time." Duncan admitted.
"Don't look at this as a failure, Agent Kirasawa." Zerlova said smiling at
him. "Without
your efforts we would know next to nothing about their true motives."
They all exited the hosue and the soldiers sealed it with a portable force
field device.
One soldier wrote down the access code that unlocked the force field and handed
it to Zerlova.
"This should prevent them from using the same house over again." he said.
Before long the two men were in a ground car headed back to the
headquarters of the
Secret Police. "Where do go from here, I'm certain you will want me
reassigned." Duncan said.
"Not so fast, you haved first hand contact with these people, so I am
putting you in
charge of the investigation." Zerlova told him. "You will want to start
assembling a team of
agents to work with you as soon as possible."
Duncan Kirasawa had a broad smile on his face when he replied, "Yes sir."
Somewhere out in space the Regis lounged in her private room she shared
with Kagato
and looked longingly at the young woman who sat in the middle of the room naked.
Sakura was
shackled to the floor by a chain attached to her left leg and was stripped down
to nothing. She
looked at the Regis in wide eyed horror, she lost her rough and tough exterior
and was now
submissive and quiet. The Regis had enjoyed herself so much the first time she
played with
her she decided to play with her some more, and after a few days Sakura was not
the same
person she had been. Even Kagato had sucummed to the overwhelming desires
brought on by his
new Darkling personality. Sakura had been kept in her own room at the time when
he walked
in, grabbed her, threw her to the floor, and took her on the spot. Try as she
might Sakura
was unable to resist Kagato's immense Darkling enhanced strenght, but soon she
was screaming
as the man both ravished her and feed on her life force at once.
"Why did you let that secret agent live after you sensed who he was?" the
Regis asked.
"I felt it was better that he lives to let them know what they are up
against." Kagato
said. "Besides they will not be concentrating on dealing with Hakuda's group
and less on
looking for threats from elsewhere. By the time they realize their mistake it
will be too
late for them."
"Crude but effective." the Regis said.
"What do we do now?" Kagato asked. He looked at Sakura, his eyes rovered
over the
elegent curves of her nude body and that same powerful desire began to rise in
him again.
"I believe our little pet has been properly prepared." she told him as she
stood up
walked up to the chained woman. "But if you'd like to endulge yourself first I
can wait."
"Oh, by all means." Kagato said gesturing from the Regis to Sakura.
The Regis smiled wickedly and kneeled down in front of Sakura. The
woman's eyes went
wide in horror. "Please, no more, no more!" she cried.
The Regis reached out and careesed Sakura's facen and sbe immediately
calmed down. The
Regis touched not only her skin but her mind as well calming the young woman
down. All of the
unspeakable things she had done to Sakura had been in an effort to break down
the woman's
mental defenses, and she succeeded. "Shhhh!" she said. "Be at ease my pretty
plaything, I
have choosen you for the greatest gift that our kind bestow upon any mortal."
"A-a-a-a gift." Sakura stammered nervously.
"I have choosen you Sakura to accept the purest seed of our race, I have
choosen you
to be a Regis." the Regis told her.
Forcing Sakura to obey her will, the Regis gently pused Sakura to the
floor and then
straightened out her body. She crawled over the woman's body, her tounge
probing about
playfully. When she was positioned over Sakura's head she straddled the woman's
face. Sakura
reacted by trying to free herself, but the Regis forced herself over Sakura's
mouth. The
woman hit and clawed in vain at the Regis to make her move.
"Relax child, you are about to be reborn." the Regis told her. The Regis'
face took
on an expression as she was starting to experience an orgasm. In reality a tiny
crearture
was passing through her body seeking an exit. The Regis groaned with pleasure
as the tiny
creature passed from her body and entered Sakura's mouth. One inside its new
homw the
creature sought out the place it needed to go in order to survive in its now
environment.
Sakura writhed about on the floor and her screen were muffled from between
the Regis'
legs as the Darkling Regis larva wriggled through her body and made its way
towards her
brain stem. When the tiny creature was settle, Sakura collapsed and the Regis
stood up
to release her.
Sakura stood up and looked around with new eyes for first time. It was
too soon for
all the changes to immediately take effects yet, but already her eyes were
starting to glow.
"Welcome my child, how do you feel?" the Regis asked.
"Incredible." Sakura said in a voice that was filled with rapture.
"You have been reborn, and now you msut feed." the Regis told her. On cue
a Darkling
carried to people into the room, a man and a woman. The man was older with a
mustache,
and the woman had long teal hair. Kagato recognized them immediately.
"Tenchi's father and one of his companions." he said.
"Yes, I felt the Champion of Light nearing them so I decided on a new
strategy to deal with
him." the Regis said. "The pretty young one will be our new Regis' first meal,
but the older
one will be the instrument of my plan."
"What could he possibly do, he is human and old." Kagato said.
"I will make him one of us, what better way to destroy Tenchi Masaki than
to use his
own father to kill him." the Regis said with a sly smile.
"I'll never harm a hair on my son's head you monster." Noboyuki shouted.
The Regis walked up to him where he hung off the ground held by his
Darkling captor.
"You will have no choice, you will be one of us, and you will obey me without
question." she
told him.
"Get away from him you bitch!" Kiyone screamed.
"Yes, I sense you have feelings for this pretty one." the Regis said as
she probed
Noboyuki's mind. It was an easy task since he was never trained in how to
resist such attacks.
"If you please me I will give this one to you as your personal plaything."
she said. "But
first, she will nourish our newly born Regis." The Regis turned to Sakura and
she motioned
for the woman to step forward. As she did the chain that held her to the floor
snapped like
tin foil as she moved. The Regis walked her over to Kiyone who was starting to
kick at the
creature that held her and Noboyuki.
"Aren't they cute when they resist." the Regis whispered into Sakura's
ear.
Sakura was unable to resist the urge in her body for energy, she grabbed
Kiyone from the
Darkling creature that held her and flung her to the floor. She leaped on top
of her and
her lips locked onto Kiyone's mouth that was about to scream. Noboyuki turned
her head
away and tears fell down his eyes, a blue glow filled the room, and the sound of
Kiyone's
muffled cried tore into him worse than any knife blade ever could.
The Regis crabbed Noboyuki's face with her hand in grip that was as tight
as a vise. "Watch
them, isn't it beautiful?" the Regis asked as she forced his face towards where
Kiyone was
being attacked.
"Your a cruel, hideous monster and when my son finds me you will all go to
hell where you
belong!" Noboyuki screamed into her face.
"What do you know of hell, Noboyuki?" the Regis asked. "You know nothing
of hell."
Immediately she projected millions of years of memories and images into
his mind. Thousands
upon thousands of atrocities committed by the Darkness upon billions of
unsuspecting life forms
from tens of thousands of different realities. The streams of horrific images
became too much
for his mind and Noboyuki screamed, "Please stop, stop!"
"In time you will revel in those images and take pleasure from them." she
said.
"I'll never take pleasure in the suffering of others!" he spat.
The Regis moved her face close to his. "I can guarantee it that you
will." she said, and
before he could anything she pressed her lips to his. The Regis forced her
tongue into his
mouth. A tiny creature that moved like a tiny droplet of saliva dropped from
the Regis' tongue
and slipped down Noboyuki's throat. The Regis broke her kiss with Noboyuki, he
was about to
shouted an obscenity at her, but his body was soon wracked with agony as the
Darkling larva
works its way towards his brain.
"Birth is always a violent and painful experience." the Regis said as she
watched Noboyuki
flailed about and screamed in pain. When it was over the Darkling that held him
let go and
Noboyuki fell to the floor in a fetus position. The door opened and a second
Darkling entered
with a young girl of perhaps twelve or thirteen years of age. She was stripped
naked, bound
hand and foot in cloth cords, and her mouth was gagged.
Sakura stood up from Kiyone who was now unconscious but still alive. She
sensed that the
Regis did not want her to die just yet, so she released her hold on the woman so
she could
recover for later. Noboyuki stood up, there was no hint of pain on his face,
and he looked
about the room. "I understand, I understand." he said.
"I told you that you would." the Regis said.
The second Darkling unbound the young girl and pulled off her mouth gag.
She cried out
in horror and scrambled across the room and hid herself in a corner like a
frightened animal.
"A gift for our new brother, I know how much you like them young." the
Regis whispered
into Noboyuki's ear. She had probed into his mind and found his Hentai
tendencies to her
liking. "Take all of her if you wish, she is yours."
Moving with a speed that was physically impossible for the human Noboyuki,
the newly
born Darkling Noboyuki sprinted across the room to where the young girl kneeled
on the floor
in fear. Her eyes went wide as Noboyuki grabbed her, ripped off his own
clothes, and started
to rape her in the middle of the room. The girl screamed as a blue aurora
surrounded the
both of them, Noboyuki slowly piece by piece devoured the young girl's life
force. The
please he got from consuming her essence was almost on par with the please he
received from
her body. When the light diminished Noboyuki stood up from the corpse of the
young girl, but
now the body was wrinkled and brown. She looked as if she had been dead for
several days,
and her skin had shrunk so mush her ribs and pelvis bone could been seen.
Noboyuki himself was also very different in appearance. Gone was his
slightly graying
hair and small wrinkles around his eyes denoting age. His face radiated youth,
and he looked
like he did in the photos he had of himself and Achika when they were teenage
lovers. He
appeared to by physically eighteen or nineteen years of age.
"I see you consumed all of her, young Darklings are ravenous when they are
first born."
the Regis said. She turned to the Darkling that had brought the young girl in.
"Dispose of
this trash." she ordered and the creature bowed low in obedience.
"What do want me to do, Mistress?" Noboyuki asked in a young voice.
"I want you to find your son, and put an end to his existence." the Regis
replied.
"As you command." he said and his eyes began to glow with an Inner Light.
The activities of Hakuda's group were being closely monitored, by Duncan
and his newly
assembled team of special agents, by the Secret Police and military. It had
taken three weeks
to find them again, it appeared they changed their recruitment style also, thus
confirming
the belief that they discovered his true identity somehow. At this time the
only real
crime that the group was know to have committed was possession of illegal arms,
but as Duncan's
team watched them they could easily add terrorism to that list. Hakuda's
followers carried out
a series of surgical terrorist attacks against government office all around the
city. It took
all the resources that Duncan would appropriate to deal with each problem, but
as each
event occurred it was becoming clear that Hakuda's group was always one step
ahead of them.
"They set off bombs in five key government offices in the past six days
and we have been
completely powerless to stop them." Duncan explained to Chairman Zarlova and
Emperor Asuza.
"Without someone on the inside there is no way to know what their next move will
be, and if
they found out I was an agent what will keep them from identifying anyone else
as an agent."
The images of five terrorist targets that were hit appeared on a
holographic display
in the Emperor's throne room.
"There must be a way to stop them, I will not stand by while some
blasphemous fool
terrorizes my people." Asuza said.
"We have work on different strategies, but without knowing their next move
we have to
be ready to act the moment we see them on the move." Duncan told him.
"That doesn't give us much time to act, they can pop in and out of that
sub space
pocket they are using as a base of operations anywhere in the city." Zarlova
added.
"Are you certain we have been unable to detect this sub space pocket?"
Asuza asked.
"We flew in experts from the Galactic Science Academy and they all failed
to find a
way to detect it." Zarlova replied.
"I am not accustomed to feeling helpless, but at this moment that is how I
am feeling."
Asuza said. "Do whatever is necessary, use whatever resources you need, take
the entire
fleet if you need it but I want this mad man stopped!"
"You can count on us, milord." Zarlova said with a bow.
Weeks passed without any more activity from Hakuda's followers. The
trailed had turned
cold and Duncan was wondering what the point of the earlier attacks had been
about. The
group had only made a few demands concerning the removal of the Royal Family
from power, but
they stopped their attacks. Unseen by Duncan and his team of agent, Hakuda
followers were
busy with a new plan of attack.
It was going on the fifth month of Tenchi and gang's journey through
space, and at the
royal palace the Emperor and his wives were starting to feel as if they might
not ever seen
their family again. No word had come up concerning them from any ships
patrolling Jurai space,
and the GP received no word about them either. The Emperor was both concerned
for his people
and his daughters both, and it was starting to have an effect on him.
Queen Fonaho was recently appointed Minster of Defense for the Empire.
She walked onto
the floor of the command center for planetary defense and watched as hundreds of
holographic
monitors displayed data on each ship in the fleet. She noticed that several of
screens were
blanked out. Admiral Shakar stood in the center of the command center in a ring
of consoles
named the Hot Zone, from here all the defensive resources of the entire empire
could be
controlled at the touch of a button.
"Why are these screen blanked out?" she asked.
"Those are ships we recently lost." the Admiral said. "We are
investigating, and one
of those was the Lunari."
"I wonder if this terrorist group has anything to do with the Lunari's
destruction."
Fonaho mused.
"Its possible, but the data recorder we recovered shows they were
destroyed by an
unknown class of ship." the Admiral replied.
"Engaged by enemies on two fronts, this is not good at all." she said.
"It gets worse, I learned this morning that several ships have refused to
check in, but
our monitors show they are still operational." Admiral Shakar said.
"Mutiny?" Fonaho asked in shock.
"Our intelligence agents have no other explanation, milady." Admiral
Shakar told her.
"Some of our contacts with the terrorist investigation tells us that several
members of this
Hokuda's group are officers in the fleet."
"This is very bad, if they gain control of our some of our ships--" Fonaho
said.
"I could prove disastrous for us all." Admiral Shakar finished for her.
Duncan's team received a major lead in the case, an anonymous informant
told them that the
terrorist group was active in the Kogong sector of the capital city. This
sector was residential
with thousands of homes were the citizens lived. The houses were domed like
buildings that
appeared to be natural fixtures on the landscape. Much of the architecture of
Jurai reflected
this merging of form and design with nature. Only the industrial sector, the
most remote part
of the city, looked artificial on the landscape.
The information that had been given told Duncan that a large structure
used as a
place of recreation was the group's focal point. For a week he had his people
stake out
the location, they observed an obvious pattern of activity at the building, and
a plan of
action of drawn up quickly. Agent Kirasawa took the plan to the Emperor and
Chairman
Zarlova first before enacting it.
"So you've found them?" Zarlova asked.
"Yes, they are staying around a recreation center in the Kogong sector."
Duncan told
him. "We've observed them for a week and they do not seem to notice we are
there so I feel
we have a chance this time to take them."
"What is it you will need to deal with this situation?" Emperor Asuza
asked.
"I wish to have the use of the Elite Guard." Duncan said.
The Elite Guard were considered the best soldiers on Jurai. None could
beat them
and they were the protectors of the Royal Palace. Their fighting skills were
legendary,
thus making them the most feared warriors in the galaxy.
Zarlova's eyes went wide, he did not expect his agent to make such a
request, and he
looked at the Emperor half expecting a negative reaction on his face. The
Chairman of the
Secret Police was surprise to see a grin on the Emperor's face.
"Take as many as you will anticipate needing, I want this monster either
brought to
justice or stopped anyway necessary." Asuza replied.
"Thank you, milord." Duncan bowed before leaving the throne room.
"Do you think it wise to give him some of the Elite Guard during this
crisis?" Zarlova
asked.
"I have confidence in Agent Kirasawa." Emperor Asuza said. "Everything in
my empire is
starting to fall apart, this terrorist group, several fleet ships refusing to
answer hails
or return to station, and the mysterious destruction of some of our ships by
some new
enemy we have been unable to identify or locate."
"It does seem like someone is trying to demoralize the Empire in some
way." Zarlova
commented.
"Demoralize is not the word, undermine, infiltrate, eradicate are some of
the words
that I would have chosen." Asuza replied. "Someone is out to destroy my empire
and I want
it stopped no matter the cost, my people are in danger, or faith is threatened,
and my two
precious little girls are missing."
In a secluded part of the city a lone man soon next to a public
communications device
and just stood waiting. The receiver buzzed with an incoming call and the man
tapped the
receive button. No picture appeared on the flat panel display, and the man had
already
through to put a hat over the optic sensor of his communicator so whoever was on
the other
end would not see him.
"They found your latest position." the voice on the other end said. "They
are well
arms, and Duncan Kirasawa is leading them."
"We'll be ready for them, and thanks for tipping us off that he was an
agent."
the man said.
"I deposited the usual amount into Lord Hakuda's account using a fake
account I created."
the voice said. "If it were ever found out that I was diverting some funds from
the agency
to you it would be very bad for me."
"The money will be of great help, you are wise to assist us." the man
said. "We are
both working to make Jurai a better place."
"I have to go, all communications are being scanned, but I am blocking
them for now
but I can't do this forever." the voice replied.
"This will do, you've done us a great service." the man said and he
pressed the
disengage button. He took his hat, placed it on his head, and turned to leave.
As he did
he started to laugh, his eyes glowed a dim red, and his face morphed into the
likeness of
Hakuda.
"Yes, thank you very much Chairman Zarlova." Hakuda laughed as he faded
into
subspace.
Three squads of Elite Guard soldiers joined Agent Kirasawa in the assault
against the
terrorists. The soldiers still wore the ornate armor they wore at the palace,
with white,
green, and red markings and flowing red capes down their backs. As decorative
at they
appeared, the armor was also powerful, and gave the Elite Guard enhanced
physical strength,
enhanced speed, and limited flying capabilities. Their stalves were their
ultimate weapon,
they were long and curved near the end and affixed with a large setting of
crystals. The
weapon was deadly with the ability to launch energy attacks, absorb energy
weapons fire
and redirect it, and also had the ability to form a force field.
The Captain of the Elite Guard stood beside Agent Kirasawa on the street
while they
planned out the attack. Captain Ginaro looked at the holographic floor plans
for the building
they were about to attack. This strategic mind told him the building was going
to be hard
to attack, there were multiple entrances, and its interior had a great deal of
alcoves and
twisting passageways that could be easily defended.
"They pass into a sub-space pocket universe they created so they can move
their base
of operations around much faster." Duncan told the Captain.
"Which also means they can pull out at the slightest hint of trouble."
Captain Ginaro
said.
"Exactly, which is why we need to be cautious." Duncan replied.
"We are ready to move at your order." Captain Ginaro told him.
"Spread out to cover all the exits, put eight men on each of the four here
and here,
and we will lead the attack from the main entrance here." Duncan explained as he
pointed to
the building plans.
"A sound strategy, that will leave us with ten men to attack the main
entrance, and
if they are as heavily armed as you say will need those ten despirately."
Captain Ginaro
said.
Duncan looked up into the night sky and then at his wrist watch. "We
strike at dawn,
our intellegence says they open the doorway to their pocket universe then to let
their agents
out." he said.
As the sun rose over the horizon the Elite Guard made their move. Duncan
and Captain
Ginaro with their forces broke through the main entrance and into the large
building. They
made their way towards the largest room where a game similar to Earth basketball
was played,
but there was no sign of any subspace pocket anywhere.
"Not again, how do they keep doing this?" Duncan muttered under his
breath. The Captain
heard the comment and narrowed his eyes, he enjoyed a challenge and apparently
these terrorist
were proving to be just that.
A crackle came over their communicators as they were searching some of the
adjoining
rooms. "Agent Kirasawa, we found something in the community bath you might want
to see."
said a voice of an Elite Guardsmen.
"On my way." Duncan replied.
When he got there the other Guardsmen were still searching the area fo any
sign of the
sub-space door. A single Guardsman was standing near a table in the middle of
the room. The
steam from the hot baths which were natural springs in the area filled the room.
Duncan
approached and the Guardsman gestured towards the table. A message in Juraian
text, from
which the pictographic language of the Japanese had originated, spelled out a
message. It
read; A Gift for Dear Agent Kirasawa. Next to the message was a small device he
recognized
as a holographic recorder. He touched the device and stepped back as the
message began
to play back.
The face of Hakuda appeared in midair above the device. Captain Ginaro's
eye brow did
a Spock Maneuver when he noticed who this man resembled.
"You have proven to be a exceptional opponent Agent Kirasawa." Hakuda said
in the message.
"I am impressed with your abilities, it did take us some time to find out who
you really were,
but it was not too difficult for us. Too bad you are on the wrong side we have
need of people
with your talents, but then not everyone will live to see Jurai's Golden Age.
So far you have
seen a small demonstration of our power, and still the Senate and the Holy
Counsil ignores my
demands. The people have spoken and they no longer wish to be under the
dictatorship of a
Royal Family that cares nothing for them, they want to be free, and I am that
freedom. The
rulers of Jurai will this day see a demonstration of our real power and then
they must listen
to our demands then. It is regrettable you did not join us Duncan, but I can no
longer afford
to play this game of cat and mouse with you, therefore I bid you farewell."
"What did he mean by that?" Captain Ginaro asked.
Duncan was puzzled, but suddenly the hairs on the back of his neck stood
up on end. He
kneeled down and looked under the table, and a large device was attached
underneath. He
recognized it almost immediately as an explosive device. It was attached to two
plasma
cannon cartridges which indicated on their displays that they were fully
charged. But it
was the insignia that was on those cartridges that caught his eye. The
countdown on the
bomb was rapidly reaching zero, so he knew he didn't have long to get everyone
out of the
building.
"There is a bomb, evacuate the building now!" he shouted.
Duncan and the others fled from the building as fast as their legs would
carry them,
the Elite Guardsmen ran much faster due the enhancements from their armor. "All
Guardsman
leave the building its going to explode!" Captain Ginaro ordered over the
communicator.
Duncan ran until he reached his ground car, he leaped over the engine hood
on the rear
and dropped down behind it. Before he reached the ground the building became a
massive fire
ball, flames and debris shot into the air, and the sound woke up nearly everyone
in the
neighborhood. As the debris of the building came down around them Duncan walked
back over
to where Captain Ginaro was standing near the ground cars the Elite Guard had
used.
"This Hakuda individual is a rather cunning adversary." Captain Ginaro
said.
"That is an understatement." Duncan told him.
"What is our move now?" Captain Ginaro asked.
"Its pretty clear now, Chairman Zarlova and I suspected we have a leak in
the Secret
Police, and now this proves it." Duncan said.
"This is very bad indeed." said Captain Ginaro.
"It is very bad, Captain, because the only poeple who know we are out here
are the
Chairman and the Emperor." Duncan told him.
Captain Ginaro looked at him for a moment. "I assume you are not
suspecting the
Emperor, which thus places suspicion on the Chairman." he said.
"Exactly, and now I have to try and prove it without him realizing that I
am investigating
him." Duncan said.
"I wonder what Hakuda said that this day we will see his true power?"
Captain Ginaro
asked. At that moment a deafening roar, a bright light, and a powerful blast of
heat struck
both men so hard they were knocked to the ground. Duncan's head hit the side of
the ground
car as he fell and he passed out into blissful unconsciousness.
At last, after weeks of travel Tenchi could see the blue-green orb of
planet Jurai, and so could
the rest of the passengers of the Ryu-Ohki. The sight of their homeworld
filled the
Princesses with joy, and Aeka shared that joy with Tenchi and Ryoko through
their mental link
with each other. Ryoko had other emotions to share with Tenchi and Aeka, and
these were
fear and apprehension since the last time she set eyes on Jurai was when Kagato
ordered her
to attack the planet.
"Don't be afraid to go to Jurai, it was not your fault what happened, and
nobody can place
blame on your for what you did." Aeka told her.
"I'm just still worried, after all, what if they don't except our marriage
to Tenchi?"
she asked.
"You are joined in the Great Bond, to contest it is blasphemy against
Tsunami." Katsuhito
said. "It is also a major violation of our laws as well."
"It is beautiful, and it has two rings." Tenchi said watching the planet
grow in size in
Ryu-Ohki's viewscreen.
"Miya." the Cabbit agreed, and her face appeared in a floating crystal and
nodded.
"Ya, you can see the rings at night, they are so beautiful." Sasami said.
"It has been a long time since I set foot on our homeworld." Katsuhito
said.
"I only wish Kiyone were here to see this----WAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!" Mihoshi
cried leaving
a puddle on the floor.
"I wish Dad and Washu were here to see this too." Tenchi added to
Mihoshi's comment.
"I can feel that Mom is alright, and she is getting closer, but I don't
know where the
others are." Ryoko said.
"We'll find them, even if it takes use centuries we will find them." Aeka
said.
In the Defense Command Center for planet Jurai the Ryu-Ohki came up on the
sensors.
Admiral Shakar read the readings from the sensors and his eyes went wide when
the ship was
identified. Fonaho had returned to the command center a moment before and she
was jsut
walking into the Red Zone.
"Milady, a vessel is approaching that is identified as the Ryu-Ohki."
Admiral Shakar
told her. "It appears to be the same vessel that was responsible for the
catastrophic
attack on planet Jurai nearly seven hundred years ago."
"The Ryu-Ohki, that is Ryoko's vessel, hail it at once and hurry." she
ordered.
"Yes, milady." Admiral Shakar bowed.
The communicator on the Ryu-Ohki crackled for a second letting them know
that someone was
trying to contact them. Immediately after a gruff voice came over the internal
speakers.
"Captain of the Ryu-Ohki, you are ordered to respond to this
communication, if you fail
to comply you will be fired upon." the voice said.
"Welcome home, Princess." Ryoko said with a smirk on her face.
"I did not tell you to say that, Admiral." Fonaho said with disapproval.
The Admiral had
a stunned look on his face when Fonaho pushed him aside and ran her hands over
the communicator
controls.
"Ryu-Ohki, this is Fonaho, who is onboard?" she asked.
A holographic image appeared in the command center showing the bridge of
the notorious
pirate ship. Fonaho's face will with joy that was mirrored by Sasami, Aeka, and
Tenchi at
the sight of their family.
"Fonaho, it is so joyous to look upon your face again." Aeka said.
"You have no idea how happy I am to see you, but where is Sasami?" she
asked.
"I'm right here, Mommy Fonaho." Sasami said, and Fonaho's eyes went a
little wide.
"Oh, Sasami, you've grown up so beautiful, I hardly recognized you."
Fonaho gushed.
"Mother." Katsuhito said.
"I am also glad to see you also, my son." Fonaho said with a polite nod
towards the
image of her son.
"If the pleasantries are over, may I remind you all that we have Darkling
ships
following us." Ryoko said.
Fonaho and Admiral Shakar looked at each other with a puzzled look on
their faces. "What
are Darklings?" Admiral Shakar asked.
Admiral Shakar looked at his console for a moment and noticed that several
ships were
on an intercept course for the Ryu-Ohki. he scanned for their registration and
found they
were some of the ships that refused to obey orders and check in. It also
appeared that
they changed their prefix codes as well, which made it impossible to take
control of the
ships from the command center.
"Ryu-Ohki, there are several Jurai Fleet ships on an intercept course with
you." Admiral
Shakar spoke up quickly. "I believe they intend to attack you."
"What do you mean, attack us, can't you order them to stand down?" Aeka
asked.
"These vessels are renegade, they refuse to obey orders." Fonaho told her.
"What?" Aeka shouted.
Sasami concentrated for a moment and her mind's eye looked out onto the
Goddess Tsunami.
She appeared perplexed as she tried to contact the trees of the ship that were
approaching
the Ryu-Ohki, but the trees would not respond.
"Aeka, Tsunami can't feel the trees that control those ships, something is
very wrong."
Sasami whispered to her sister.
"That-that-that's impossible." Aeka said.
"Fonaho, what has been happening on Jurai?" Tenchi asked.
The Queen of Jurai lowered her head in sadness. "There is a terrorist
group trying to
get the government to remove the Royal Family from power, several of our ships
have gone
renegade, and a number of our ships have been destroyed by an unknown enemy."
she told
him. "Could that have anything to do with these Darklings you mention?"
"As a matter of fact it does." Tenchi replied.
"Miya, miya miya miya miya!" Ryu-Ohki meowed a warning.
"I hate to interrupt but we're under fire!" Ryoko shouted as her hands
raced over the
controls to evade a barrage of weapons fire.
"Juraian vessels, cease your attack on the Ryu-Ohki at once, this is Queen
Fonaho the
Minister of Defense." Fonaho ordered over the comm.
"No response." Admiral Shakar told her.
"Ryoko, tried to evade them, we'll send you help." Fonaho said.
"I can outfly these Juraian flyboys any day of the week.." she said with a
smirk
on her face.
Ryu-Ohki meowed in annoyance as more weapons fire narrowly missed her hull
thanks to
Ryoko's lightning fast reflexes. The Juraian battleships were not letting up,
they pressed
their attack, and they still refused to acknowledge any commands to cease their
attack. Finally,
Fonaho had quite enough of this situation. She looked over at Admiral Shakar,
and then pressed
a button on the console that opened a channel to all ships within listening
range.
"This Queen Fonaho Masaki Jurai of the Royal Family of Jurai and appointed
Minister of
Defense for Planet Jurai," she said on the comm. "If any vessel in the vicinity
of planet
Jurai receives this transmission, please listen very carefully, five vessels of
the fleet that
are assumed to be renegades and traitors to the empire are attacking a vessel
known as the
Ryu-Ohki which is approaching the planet, the Ryu-Ohki is carrying members of
the Royal Family
and must be protected at all costs. If any vessel receives this message that is
still loyal
to the Royal Family you are ordered to intercept these traitors and stop them
from destroying
the Ryu-Ohki at all costs. If necessary I give you full authority to use lethal
force and
destroy the renegade vessels. The Ryu-Ohki must reach planet Jurai at all
costs. End of
transmission."
Almost immediately the console in front of Fonaho lighted up with hundreds
of acknowledgments from all over the system. In space Ryoko had to change
course from Jurai to one of the
ring systems that circled the planet to evade their attackers. The renegade
force was made up
of five ships, and each had their Light Hawk Wings engaged and were firing using
full power
to their weapons. Ten large sub-space portals opened in the same vicinity of
space and
several Juraian cruisers emerged. These were vessels loyal to the Empire, and
they ranged in
on the renegades quickly and opened fire. Their weapons splashed off the LHW
shields the
renegades were using, and so they deployed their own shields to defend
themselves. The captains
of each ship knew the battle that was ahead of them, they each had shields that
were virtually
indestructible, and each had immense firepower. It was only a matter of who
will eventually
loose power to their shields and when. The two fleets of combatants exchanged
fire, but it
instantly became clear that the renegades somehow had superior weaponry. The
renegade beams
were damaging the Light Hawk Wings of the loyalists' ships. For the captains it
seemed impossible,
but during the fighting the renegade vessels began to eject fragments of their
hulls into space.
Tenchi and the passengers on Ryu-Ohki watched in horror as the renegade
vessels began to
slowly reveal the Darkling modifications that had been made them.
"So that is how they are doing it." Tenchi said in surprise and horror.
"What is on those ships?" Fonaho asked them over the comm.
"Some type of modifications made to the design of the ships." Katsuhito
said. "We have
seen this before, its was done by the Darkness, and I fear our ships will be
hard pressed to
win this battle."
A great explosion next to the Ryu-Ohki caught everyone's attention. They
looked out of
the clear crystalline viewscreen bubble and watched in horror as a Juraian tree
ship became
a raging fireball in space.
"We just lost the Joxar!" Admiral Shakar shouted from his console next to
Fonaho.
For thirty minutes the battle continued to rage on and Ryoko continued to
dodge
attacks from renegade ships that broke from the fight with the loyal Juraian
ships. Ryoko
made one quick movement to dodge a shot but did not anticipate that it was
intended to miss
them, and Ryu-Ohki meowed out in pain as a another beam struck her in the side.
The Cabbit
ship began to loose power quickly and her engines began to give out.
"Come one Ryu-Ohki, we've gotten out of tougher situations than this one
before."
Ryoko said to the Cabbit trying to encourage her.
"Miya miya miya!" cried the Cabbit.
"Ryu-Ohki's hurt pretty bad, those things have nearly triple the firepower
of a
regular Juraian battleship." Ryoko told the others.
A sudden jolt told Ryoko that Ryu-Ohki had just been snared in a tractor
beam. She
switched the external viewscreen in that direction and sure enough she was able
to see the
shimmering energy of a tractor beam.
"They've got us, looks like we're going to be fending off boarders."
Tenchi said as
he took the Master Key out of his shirt.
In the local region of space a strange phenomenon never before detected by
sensors on
planet Jurai took place. A region of folded space appeared on Fonaho's sensor
console and her
jaw dropped in total disbelief. A starship the likes of which had never been
seen before in
Jurai-space emerged from the spatial rift. It was long, sleek, and appeared to
have an almost
organic look to its hull. The vessel immediately started to scan the area as it
assessing
the situation, then it moved towards the battle raging between the renegades and
the Juraian
fleet ships.
"What the hell is that thing?" Admiral Shakar asked.
"At this point I won't even bother to ask." Fonaho told him.
The newcomer began opening fire on the renegade ships, its weapons tore
through their
LHW shields like a red hot knife passing through lard. One by one the renegade
ships were
disabled in space, the newcomer was targeting their weapons systems and engines.
With the
renegades quickly disabled the newcomer directed its attention on the Ryu-Ohki.
The ship
raced towards them and opened fire on the renegade's tractor beam. A direct hit
destroyed
the beam and diminished its LHW shields. The renegade however returned fire,
but its
weapons fire splashed harmlessly off a deflector field that sprang into
existance around
the newcomer. The newcomer returned fire with a beam cannon and twin pulse
weapons, it
hit its mark and holed the renegade ship through and through. The renegade ship
drifted
in space for a few short minutes before it exploded into a brilliant fireball.
Tenchi and the others were too stunned to say a word. They watched as the
renegades
were put down in minutes and then their attacker was destroyed practically in
seconds. The
newcomer ship was an impressive sight, and something about the appearance of the
ship
seemed somehow familiar to them.
"That couldn't be what I think it is, could it?" Tenchi asked nobody in
particular.
A holographic viewscreen popped into existence showing the smiling face of
an adult
Washu standing next to a tall man in a black jumpsuit uniforms. Her had her arm
around his
waist and the man's arm was around her shoulder. A look of supreme joy and
happiness was
on her face when she looked at her family and friends on the other end of the
comm link.
"Mother!" Ryoko shouted in surprise and joy.
"I told you I'd catch up with you, Little Ryoko." the red-haired genius
said with
a sheepish smile.
"But-but who is that with you?" Tenchi asked.
"Who do you think?" Washu asked as she winked her eye.
Suddenly Tenchi recognized the face of the man who stood with Washu. The
thought
travelled their the link he had with Aeka and Ryoko and the two women gasped
with as they
too suddenly recognized him.
"Prince Orrin, but you let our universe." Tenchi said.
"I am back, my work at home is done and now I have work to do here." Orrin
said as
he squeezed Washu tightly to his side.
"Who is this, what is going on up there, would someone please explain this
to me?"
Fonaho asked in a voice that was uncharacteristic of her normal placid nature.
"Well, when the Darklings attacked the planet Earth Orrin was the one who
helped
us defeat them." Tenchi said.
"What exactly are these Darklings, and what do they want with Jurai?"
Admiral
Shakar asked.
"That is a very long---" Orrin started to say but the signal was
interrupted.
The floor of the command center started to shake and dust sifted down from
the
ceiling and onto the floor. Fonaho grabbed her console to keep her footing, and
the
lights in the command center flickered for a few moments. The lights suddenly
went
dead and all the consoles shutdown, but instantly emergency power engaged and
all
systems came back online.
"What the hell was that?" Admiral Shakar shouted to several men working
consoles
across the room.
"Not sure Admiral, our main transmitter and receiver tower is offline."
one of the
men replied. "Sensor readings indicated a large explosion just took place
inside the
capital city."
"What?" Admiral Shakar and Fonaho both shouted at once.
"It appears that a large thermonuclear device was detonated inside the
city, its
total chaos up there, the Comm channels are full of cries for assistance on all
civilian channels." another man shouted as tears started to fall down his face.
"The
blast was near the Royal Palace, but it appears that the palace shields held
back most
of the blast. Unfortunately it had the effect of reflecting the shockwave
outward into
the city and there is vast destruction."
"Great Tsunami!" Fonaho said quietly as she put her face into her hands
and cried
because she know the death toll would be unimaginable.
Orrin had everyone on the Ryu-Ohki transferred onto Kryton. Ryu-Ohki was
in her
Cabbit form munching away at a carrot Washu had Kryton replicate for her.
Everyone
was introduced to Orrin's children, Darius and Yuko. They were all gathered on
the
bridge to try and figure out why Fonaho's transmission ended so quickly.
"We're getting no transmissions from their command center at all." Yuko
said
her the communications console.
"I am reading a great deal of radiation and electromagnetic interference
down
there on the planet." Darius said from his astrogation console.
"I detected an electromagnetic pulse the moment the transmission ended."
Kryton
told them.
"An electromagnetic pulse, doesn't that like knock out electronics?"
Tenchi asked.
"Yes, but normally Juraian technology is unaffected by such attacks due to
its organic
nature." Washu told him. "Something else has happened." She immediately called
up her
holo computer and started to type franticly.
"I will lend you some of my key sensor arrays for your scan, Mistress
Washu." Kryton'
said.
"Thank you, but I think I know what happened down there." she said with a
look of
sorrow on her face.
The ship had passed beyond the ionosphere of the Jurai atmosphere and was
quickly
approaching the capital city at a high altitude. They could see the city from a
distance
and they could seen dense black clouds hanging over the metropolis.
"Looks like they are having bad weather." Tenchi said.
"Those clouds are too low to be storm clouds." Katsuhito commented.
Mihoshi stepped forward and for the first time in hours spoke up and said,
"It-It-It
looks like smoke."
"Smoke!" Aeka shouted.
"The city is burning." Washu said in a monotone voice.
"My god, look at these radiation readings." Darius said.
"It appears that a nuclear device of considerable yield was recently
deployed here."
Kryton said.
Tenchi gasped and his shock spread to the two women he was linked with.
"Are you
saying a nuclear weapon was used on that city?" he asked but did somehow he
already knew the
answer.
"Yes it was, and we are seeing the aftermath." Washu told them.
"Mommy, Daddy, Fonaho, oh no!" Sasami cried as her hands flew to her face.
"There is a massive structure built inside a giant living tree in the
center of the
city." Kryton said. "It appears to have survived the blast due to a force
field."
"Its the defensive systems of the palace, our parents may still be alive."
Aeka said
with hope in her thoughts.
"I am sure they are, but we have to get down there and see what we can do
to help."
Tenchi said.
Orrin sat down at the helm controls and looked over at Aeka. "Guide me to
where we
can land close to the palace." he said.
"We have a hanger entrance on the opposite side of the palace we use, I
can open it
with our secret code, but we need to transmit it on the correct frequency." Aeka
told him.
"That will be my job." Yuko said.
Aeka went to Yuko's console and keyed in what was necessary for them to
get into the
hanger boy. "That should do it." she said.
"Ok, everybody hang on, there are a great deal of atmospheric disturbances
around
the city due to the blast this will be a bumpy ride going in." Orrin told them
as he took
the controls and guided the ship towards the hanger entrance that Aeka pointed
out.
Queen Fonaho knew her beloved Sister and husband were alive due to their
link. She
knew they were terrified, and that Asuza was enraged beyond reason. A small
glimmer of
happiness came through all the rage and anger though since the Emperor and
Empress know
that their children were safe and coming back to Jurai. The report of a ship
entering
the royal hanger bay using Princess Aeka's secret code came to her on her wrist
comlink
and she knew it had to be them. She ran from the command center and headed for
the
hanger as fast as she could run. She found them all walking down a ramp that
extended
down the bottom of Prince Orrin's starship.
The Juraian Queen lost all her royal composure and ran to meet them with
crushing
hugs and soft kisses. She hugged Tenchi tightly and covered his face with
kisses.
"Thank you for bringing out beloved family back go us safely." she said to
him.
"I love them very much, I would gladly give my life to make sure they were
safe."
he told her.
Aeka and Ryoko did not gasp in shock over his remark for they know it was
the
truth, but they still blushed none the less.
"I understand our search for a suitor for you Aeka is at and end." Fonaho
said with
a smile on her face.
"Yes, Tenchi, Ryoko, and I are joined." Aeka told her.
"I remember when I bonded with your mother and father, it was a very
enlightening
experience." Fonaho said.
"The same can be said for us, it was so enlightening that these two have
made up
for good and haven't fought each other in weeks." Tenchi commented.
"We sometimes have our differences, but our unique situation helps us find
less
violent solutions." Aeka added.
"Ya, we scream at each other with our thoughts and keep Tenchi from
overhearing
us." Ryoko said with a laugh.
"Wah?" Tenchi said with his eyes wide.
"Got you." both women said at once with sly smiles on their beautiful
faces.
"I also see that parts of your personalities have also melded into each
other."
Fonaho said with a smile. "The same thing happened to us."
"Mother." Katsuhito said and walked up to embrace her.
After the gentle hug, she looked at her son and sighed. "It has been a
long time
since you set foot on Jurai, my son." she said.
"The last time I was home was when I left to chase Ryoko across the
galaxy." he
said and the mention of it made Ryoko wince. Fonaho's quick eyes noticed her
reaction instantly.
"Don't worry, Ryoko, we shall accept you with open arms." Fonaho told her.
"We know
the real reason for your attack on Jurai, so do not be afraid of this place
because it is
now your home too---Princess Ryoko."
"Princess?" Ryoko said in surprise.
"I thought we discussed this once before, because you are married to Lord
Tenchi you
are now a Princess of Jurai." Aeka told her.
"Oh, ya, I almost forgot about that." Ryoko said smiling and rubbing the
back of her
head. "Ironic isn't it for me to become a princess of a planet I almost
destroyed."
"I'm really sorry to end this touching family reunion so quickly, but we
need to meet
with the Emperor right now." Washu interrupted.
"Yea, about this Darkness you keep speaking about." Fonaho said.
"Yes, and if you think this situation is bad I am afraid you have only
just seen the
beginning." Orrin said and an ominous feeling fell upon all of them, even
Fonaho.
Far ways in another part of the universe two sets of eyes watch the events
on
planet Jurai very closely. They know of the presence of the Darkness in their
universe, but
they have decided to observe for now before it becomes necessary to intervene.
One of the
set of eyes belonged to a beautiful woman whose very countenance radiated
immense power, and
the other to a man with grayish skin and long gray locks of hair.
"The arrival of the Darkness must most certainly alter the plans you have
had for this
universe." the gray man said in a monotone voice, but his lips did not move.
"It changes nothing, I am proceeding with my plans requardless of their
arrival." the
woman said but her lips did not move. "If they get in my way I will destroy
them."
"Greater immortals than you have proclaimed to do the same thing, and now
they no longer
exists." the gray man said. "It is unwise to underestimate the power of the
Darkness."
"I fear them not." the woman said.
"You are new to them, you have never seen them before, but I have and you
have much to
fear, Lady Tokimi." the gray man said. The gray man, D3, turned his ancient
eyes to the
beautiful and ancient goddess.
"This Orrin Quintarin is capable of destroying them easily, they cannot be
more powerful
than myself." Lady Tokimi said.
"They are only advanced scouts, Lady Tokimi." D3 told her. "They will
show their true power
soon now that the Elo'Quin's champion has arrived."
"The Elo'Quin, that is a name I have not heard in a very long time." Lady
Tokimi mused.
"It is they whom the Darkness is looking for." D3 explained.
"The Elo'Quin did not stay here long." Lady Tokimi told him.
"This I know, but now they are here and even I am powerless to prevent
them from destroying
this universe in their search for them." D3 said, his pupiless eyes which
normally showed no emotion
now showed sadness. "I feel their master is coming also, and if he arrives
beings like ourselves
will be in grave danger, for you see he can destroy beings like ourselves with
little effort."
"Then for my plans to succeed and for this universe to survive our only
hope is that boy and
that Prince from another reality." Lady Tokimi replied.
"Their powers are considerable, they are our only hope." D3 said.
"It is my hope that my sister has chosen well, and as for my other sister
I find it interesting
that she loves this Orrin." Lady Tokimi said.
"Did you feel that, there was a disturbance in the fabric of reality, yes
I can sense it." D3
said suddenly. "They have arrived, the true power of the Darkness has arrived."
"I can feel their power from here, it is immense." Lady Tokimi said with
awe in her voice.
"We can do nothing now, we are powerless against these Darklings, but
Tenchi Masaki and Orrin
Quintarin are not." D3 replied.
"Then we wait." Lady Tokimi said and vanished.
__________
End of Chapter Seven...to be continued
Next time...
Chapter Eight: Prelude to Apocolypse...
A terrible disaster strikes Jurai just as Tenchi and the gang make it to
their destination.
Secrets about the Darkness are finally revealed by Prince Orrin who has intimate
knowledge
of the creatures, and the Masaki Family finally comes to grips with the reality
they are
facing. Meanwhile, Kiyone awakens to find herself living in a nightmare where
Noboyuki
has turned young and has become eviil. It is the chilling and action packed
conclusion
to Episode Two of Dark Lord of Jurai. Stay tuned for Episode Three: No Need
for Total
War...
If you enjoyed this fan fic series let me know at zorch@the-zorch.com.
Remember to check out GenSao's Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction Archives for this
and more great fan fics at http://www.tmffa.com and remember to visit my
fan site "The-Zorch's World of Tenchi Muyo" at http:\\worldotenchi.the-
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