The Ranma Trek Odyssey! – By DS Wynne
Disclaimer: "Ranma ½", "Sailor Moon", "Star Trek" and other properties belong to their respective owners.
Note: This is a multi-genre story.
Author's note: I did indicate that Kira Nerys and Ranma Saotome had gotten together during Ranma's stay on Bajor (during the Cardassian Occupation). Now, should this be during the time of Kira's training period, or when they meet again (when Ranma first meets the Changeling Odo, while Gul Dukat was still commander of Terok Nor/DS9)? And should Kira have had a child by Ranma? If so, what should be the final fate of this child? I am open to suggestions. :)
Part 7
Starfleet Captain Major Kira Nerys continues to reflect her time with Admiral Ranma Saotome during the time of the occupation of Bajor by the Cardassian Union…
Kira's "awakening" was touch and go for a while. Thanks to her childhood experiences, everything to her seemed…monstrous. Shadows and phantoms seem to jump at the Bajoran resistance member. And it is during this time that Ranma has allowed Kira some time off in order to deal with her 'demons'…
Kira was sleeping her. Or, at least she was trying to sleep. Memories that she tried to forget seemed to return in full effect. Tossing and turning on her bed, Kira suddenly wakes up.
"GAH!" Kira yells, as she wakes up in a cold sweat.
"You okay?" says a voice from behind.
Kira rolls over to see Ranma sitting there. Kira's cell was situated so that it could receive the most lighting.
"What are you doing in here?" Kira asks, as she covers her self a bit with her blanket.
"I felt your pain," Ranma says. He then goes over to a silver pitcher on a sturdy wooden tray. With the pitcher were tiny cup and a bigger cup; the tiny cup had a pair of tablets. As Ranma pours water into the cup, Kira warily watches this. He then picks up both cups
"Here, take these," Ranma says, as he hands both cups to Kira.
Kira accepts them.
"What are these?" Kira says, as she takes a look at the pills.
"Tablets to help you sleep."
"I see…"
"Nerys, I have to apologize to you."
"For what?"
"When I agreed to train you, I did so because I had owed a favor to someone that I consider a close friend…someone that you know, in fact."
"Who?"
"Meru."
"…"
"Nerys?"
"You…you knew my mother?"
"Aye. Years ago, when Opaka was a vedek, the Anla'Shok asked me to establish a cadre of rangers on Bajor, since I was already familiar with this planet from my days as a Starfleet officer. And it would be from this group that the Bajoran Resistance Movement sprouted up from. Your mother Meru was a member of this group, at least until she met your father Toban."
Kira nods her head. And then, a thought came to her.
"Were you the cause of her death?" Kira asked.
"No. In fact, I advised her to not take the mission that would essentially sacrifice her life…since she was already a mother at that point. Meru told me that she would rather sacrifice her life, rather than allow her children to continue to remain slaves under Cardassian tyranny."
Ranma pauses for a minute.
"I wanted to pay homage to your mother's sacrifice by taking you on a my 'padawan', not because of Edon wanted access to my knowledge."
"You…you knew?"
"I haven't lived this long without knowing how human condition works."
"But…Bajorans are human."
"Okay, then I haven't lived this long without knowing how the humanoid condition works. Okay?"
"…"
"Suffice it to say, people are nearly the same no matter WHAT."
Ranma stands up.
"I just wanted to apologize for training you for selfish reasons. Awakening anyone at your age is dangerous to the person awakening, as well as to those around him or her."
"And why is that?"
"Because if you are unable to complete the awakening process, you risk becoming insane. There is no going back…to sleep, so to speak."
Ranma opens the door to Kira's cell to leave.
"I will do my best to make sure that you are fully 'awake'. However, if you wish to discontinue to your training, then I shall take you back to your people tomorrow morning."
And with that, Ranma leaves.
Kira takes the pills, and gulps the water down. She then sighs, as she leans back on her cot. She'll have much to think about through the night…
The next morning, Kira sees Ranma performing his martial arts exercises, or katas. In some ways, this appeared to her like a dance that seemingly complimented nature itself.
"Ranma?"
Ranma says nothing, as he continues his performance.
"I want to learn."
Ranma stills say nothing.
"I want to learn not for my mother's sake, and not for Bajor's sake. I want to learn from you so that I can learn what the 'humanoid condition' is…to ME."
Ranma stops, and then faces Kira.
"Now, I can teach you. You will not change overnight, and your journey will be a long one. You will make mistakes, but only you can learn from them. But first, let's complete the 'awakening' process."
Ranma directs Kira to sit in front of the statue of the Weeping Willow Bird. Ranma sits with Kira, both facing each other in a lotus position.
"Now, let's hold hands," Ranma says. "And then, relax."
Kira does as she is told, and begins to relax her body.
"Now, when I count down from ten to zero, we will be linked. I will guide you to where you need to go. Okay?"
"Okay, Ranma."
"Now, close your eyes."
Kira closes her eyes.
"I am beginning to countdown from ten…nine…eight…seven…six…"
Kira felt her body seemingly shift.
"Five…four…three…two…one…ZERO."
FLASH!
Kira found herself in what appeared to be the monastery. Did she fall asleep?
"Bajoran…come here or you will be punished!"
Kira whirls around to see the shadowy figures of Cardassian soldiers swarming in the distance. She feared that the "Sanctuary of the Prophets" had been compromised somehow…
"Nerys!" yelled a voice. "Help me, Nerys!"
"Opaka?" Kira says. "Is that you?"
"If you do not come outside, your fellow Bajoran will pay…"
"NO!" Kira yelled, as she ran to the shadows. "Don't hurt her-!"
FLASH!
Kira now found herself outside by the statue of the Weeping Willow bird. With her were an unconscious Ranma, and a bound Kai Opaka. And they were all surrounded by Cardassian soldiers.
"Kai Opaka, what happened-?"
"Silence," says the Cardassian squad commander. "It was by chance that we managed to find this place, and with a human no less!"
"What are you going to do to us?" Kira demanded.
"This place belongs to us, now, but I want to know more about its secrets. So, I am going to have you all interrogated, of course."
Kira looks around. She sees that Ranma was of no help, and that Opaka was not a fighter.
But she was.
'I got to think of something,' Kira thought to herself. Then, she looked at the Weeping Willow…
'Of course! The bird is not SAD, but it used its tears as a feint!'
Kira then raised her hands in the air.
"I'll tell you something about this place, if you let my friends go."
Curious, the commanding officer looks towards Kira.
"What?"
"I…I can help you find the secret vaults here," Kira says.
Cocky, the commander goes over to the girl. Two of her companions were out-of-commission, and the Bajoran girl was outnumbered. And, she had no weapons of any sort on her. So, he goes over to Kira.
"Okay, Bajoran. Tell me what you got."
"I'll do better than that. I'll SHOW you what I got!"
Faster than the blink of an eye, Kira performed the one-inch punch. So fast was the punch, that her foe's body would concave inward before the body had time to fly off in the distance. Kira would take down two more Cardassians before a reaction could occur.
ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!
To Kira, she could see the movements of her foes' muscles twitch, just before they fired their energy weapons at her. This gave the illusion of being faster than light, since energy weapons weren't as bound by gravity as "solid slugs" were. Finally, the last of her opponents became smart enough to figure out that him taking a hostage was a preferable course of hostage.
"Surrender, Bajoran, or this woman gets it!" the foe said, while pointing a gun at Opaka's head. "I recognize her as the Kai, so don't tempt fate!"
Kira looks at the Cardassian, picks up one of her fallen foe's guns and points at the last Cardassian.
"I mean it! I'll shoot her!"
Kira cocks her head.
"Kai Opaka is like a second mother to me. She'll understand that no matter what, Bajor, especially THIS place, is greater than the sum of its parts."
ZAP!
Kira's energy weapon lanced a beam of energy through Opaka and the Cardassian, felling them both.
Kira dropped to her knees and cried tears. She has reached a level of her development that many have only dreamed of, but the cost of that power, even to protect what was most cherished, came at a price…
FLASH!
Kira found herself floating in a blue sky full of clouds. She realized that she was holding someone's hands.
"R-Ranma?" Kira says.
Ranma smiled, as he lets go.
"You've did it," Ranma says. "You've confronted a 'worst case scenario', and have over come it."
Kira looks around.
"Where are we? What is this?"
"This is the astral plane, home of the mind, and playground of spirit," Ranma says. "From here, we go on to the next phase of your training."
"And that is…"
"We are going to a place to further your training. But we can go back-"
"No, I'm ready."
"Good, then it is time to visit the Jedi Order."
And with that, Kira and Ranma flew through the astral plane to a place that used to exist a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
A short time later (as time can only be measured in a realm that was timeless)…
Kira was amazed at what she saw…
"What is this place, Ranma?" Kira says. She knew that none of what she was seeing was not "real", but the detail of these halls were amazing…
"This is the Jedi Temple, a place that was located on Coruscant," Ranma says. He appeared in his ox-blood red Jedi Robes, while Kira was dressed formal Bajoran clothing.
"Where is this Coruscant?"
"It was in the Lucas Galaxy, a long time ago."
"What do you mean 'was'?"
Ranma sighs. Even now, his heart nearly breaks.
"Ranma?"
"From what I know, the Lucas Galaxy, as well as many other galaxies was destroyed in a sector of the Universe known as 'Sector 3600', also known as 'The Mad God Sector'."
"I don't understand."
"The Universe is divided into 3600 'sliced' sections…kind of like a piece of fruit. Everything outside of 'normal space' is considered to be Sector 3601, and no organic life can be sustained. And no, I don't know why this is the case, but it is. Consider my fruit analogy again. If the 3600 sectors represent the 'meat' of the fruit, then sector 3601 represents the skin."
"That make sense, I guess…"
"Anyway, the sector of space that Coruscant was in had been taken over by a dark entity that would be known as 'The Mad God'. A battle to prevent this menace from spreading its evil to the rest of the Universe ensued, which resulted in the deaths of every living creature in that part of the Universe…including the Mad God itself. It's one big graveyard now, and thinking about all my experiences there…"
Kira could see how choked up Ranma was becoming. And then something comes to mind.
"Are you the last of these Jedi?"
"Thankfully no, but…still…"
"It's okay, Ranma."
Ranma nods his head in thanks.
"But, if the Jedi Temple is gone, why are we here?"
"Just because the Jedi are…gone from the Universe, for the most part, we can still commune with the Jedi that have long since gone. But I want to get official approval from my colleagues before I resume your training. I needed to make sure that you complete your awakening before your training continues."
"And if they don't approve?"
"Then there are other options. And remember, be respectful and mindful of protocol."
"Okay…"
Kira and Ranma get to a pair of great wooden doors.
"Ready, Nerys?"
"Ready, Ranma," Kira says, as she straightens herself out.
"Good."
Ranma faces the door.
"Jedi Council, I seek an audience," Ranma says with authority.
CHUNK…
As the doors slowly opened, Kira felt the chill of age sweep over her. Somehow, the Bajoran felt that she was about to be in the presence of giants…
Tbc.
