THREE PRINCESSES...

Author: Daferge

Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! is copyright AIC/Pioneer Ltd.

All respective characters are property of their original owners. All original characters and ideas are property of the author.

. . . . . . . . . .

Chapter 09... Just Another Day...

( Juraian Military Academy History... )

The Juraian Military Academy had been built on the larger of the two moons that orbited the Juraian Home world...

For hundreds of thousands of years, this moon, like others in the system, had been mined for it's resources until there was nothing but rock left behind...

As time went by, the old mining tunnels had been expanded, reinforced and converted for various usages...

The Academy, had been constructed deep under the moon's surface, leaving the airless surface covered with military defensive installations created to protected both the moon and the Home world...

In caverns deep beneath the surface, every thing needed for the Academy's day to day activities was secure from external damage...

The huge computers that stored Academy data, were enclosed in special buildings constructed of thick armour even a first generation tree would have trouble cutting through...

As an extra pre-caution the original designers had huge metal springs placed around the buildings to absorb any vibrations that an attack from space might create, damaging the delicate devices...

All of the more modern building, less than 3,000 years old, were protected with modern energy shields that offered the same protection...

. . . . . . . . . .

The huge, underground caverns that made up the Academy were large enough to house even the largest tree ship...

The walls and ceilings had been smoothed and several meters of reinforced construction material applied, special lighting installed to simulate an average 26 hour day...

With the slow increase in lighting to simulate dawn, to the slow decrease into night, leaving behind a 'star-lite' night...

Hundreds of thousands of crystals had been embedded in the ceiling, to absorb light during the 'day' and shine in the dark...

This gave the students, and others who worked at the Academy, a calming feeling of home, as not every one was use to being in enclosed areas...

It also allowed the students time to adjust, since the space on-board ships, even the largest ones, of Juraian Fleet was limited...

Those that could adjust went on to serve in the various fleets, while the few who were unable to adjust to the closeness, were assigned Shore Duty, working in or on planets, etc...

This didn't mean there wasn't a possibility of serving on a ship...

In fact, the dream of most cadets was to be able to serve upon one of Jurai's fabled Tree-Ships...

Unlike regular Juraian metal ships, Tree-Ships had a subspace area within their protective shells and depending on it's generation, could create entire worlds within...

Although bonded to a human, usually of the upper classes, most of the early generation Tree-ships could be self sufficient enough to run without a crew...

However, since ALL Tree-ships were a part of the Juraian Fleet, all but a few, like princess Ayeka's Ryu-oh, were assigned crews to help maintain their upkeep...

If a member of the fleet proved their worth, a spot aboard one of the Juraian Tree-Ships was possible...

. . . . . . . . . .

As for the Academy, different Caverns housed different facilities, dorms for the students, sports grounds with pools and gyms, various library/museums and of course, different types of class rooms...

There were also a number of large caverns, connected by tunnels to the surface, that were used for docks and even shipyards..

These allow Academy cadets access to star-ships, so they could become acquainted with them without having to leave the campus...

Besides the Academy caverns, there were a good number of caverns which containing large water reservoirs, even special ones where fresh plants were farmed...

This allowed the Academy and other moon installations to be highly self sufficient in case of a siege, no matter how small the possibility...

In fact, there were a large number of various size caverns that had been prepared, over the millenniums, as shelters and for storage...

There were even a number of large, inter-connected caverns, near the surface, had been set aside for non-military organizations...

These had various types of stores that provided entertainment and other things, for the Academy cadets and other off duty military personnel stationed on the moon...

. . . . . . . . . .

( Planet Jurai... )

Being so highly self sufficient, there was really no reason for most first year Academy cadets to want or need to leave the moon...

But, with special permission and arrangements, cadets could be allowed to travel down to the home world...

Thus it was that cadets, Haruko Natan, Mayu Rygen and Keiichi Tanaka were exiting the military terminal at the Capital's Space Port ...

After their last classes of the week, they had all met at the moon's military space dock and managed to get seats together on the next shuttle down...

In fact, Kei's friend, Lord Byran, who was a member of the Imperial Guard, had managed to reserved the seats in Kei's name to ensure they got away smoothly...

The dispatcher was curious as to how three first year cadets could get priority over active duty military officers, until he noted that the request was from Juraian Security...

. . . . . . . . . .

As it was, when Lord Byran learned that Kei and the two girls were coming down on their first free weekend since Kei started at the Academy, he checked to see if he could be of any help...

But it soon became apparent that Academy cadets were on the bottom of the list for seats on the shuttle, even with help from members of the Imperial Guard...

However, when the Head of the Guard heard about Kei's planned trip, an official request was made that three seats be made available...

In which case, the three cadets would have had priority over even High Fleet Admirals...

As it was, the shuttle, which left every half hour, was delayed 10 minutes while a security officer met and escorted them aboard...

It didn't come as a surprise that, as they exited the Space Port terminal, Lord Byran was waiting with an air car from the Palace...

And so it was that less than an hour after leaving his last class of the day, first year academy cadet, Lord Keiichi Tanaka, found himself laying on his back, on freshly cut grass, with over a half a dozen small, laughing and giggling kids climbing all over him...

Off to the side of the patch of lawn, his two friends stood with a third female and several more small kids...

Haruko and Mayu were watching the free-for-all, sipping tea and trying hard not to laugh, at-least not out loud...

The third female, Lady Misaki Masaki Jurai, 2nd Queen of the Juraian Empire and Head of the Imperial Guard was giggling and wondering if she should offer any suggestions to Kei's young attackers...

In an office overlooking the patch of green, Azusa Masaki Jurai, Emperor of the Juraian Empire took time to watch the young ones below...

The corner of his lip moved and a small smile appeared, it was good to have these small reminders of why he hadn't abdicated and joined his son, Yosho, in the quiet life of a Shinto priest...

Maybe in another thousand years or so...

He could wait...

. . . . . . . . . .

( A Darken Cave...)

Nagi followed Sasami carefully into the dark damp cave...

Sasami was walking slowly, but surely, so that Nagi didn't get lost...

Not that you could get lost, there were only two directions, forward and back...

It only SEEM to be complex because of the darkness and the way it twisted and turned...

It didn't take long for Nagi to begin sympathizing with Ryoko's reluctance to revisit the cave...

She'd only been there for a few minutes, Ryoko had been confined there for over 700 years...

After what seem like an hour, Nagi could see a light ahead...

Soon Nagi saw Sasami standing in the middle of a dimly lite room, next to a large oddly shaped crystal box that seem to gently pulsate...

Sasami had a sad smile as she gently stroked the crystal...

Nagi shook her head, she could have sworn the pulsation changed...

. . . . . . . . . .

Sasami looked at Nagi, smiled and waving her over...

Out of habit, Nagi's eyes had managed to adjust to the darkness and she carefully took in her surroundings...

In the dim light she could make out the stone walls interwoven with thick vines...

But what really caught her attention was what was above them...

The ceiling of the cave was studded with tiny points of light, that tended to look like a cloud-free night sky...

Nagi couldn't recall any holding cells, Juraian or other wise, that fit this design...

As Nagi got closer, she could see that the box seem to have an open top, a large carved Crystal lid hovered above it, giving off a low, steady light...

When she got close to Sasami, she could look into the box and realized that it was a stasis chamber...

And it was occupied...

. . . . . . . . . .

Within the crystal stasis chamber was a small young girl, who seem to be sleeping, surrounded with silken sheets...

She had long blonde hair and a sad smile...

But some thing told Nagi there was far more to it than that...

She was wearing expensive upper class Juraian robes, in fact, if Nagi recalled correctly, they appeared to be ROYAL Family robes...

Sasami turned to Nagi and smiled...

" Nagi!... I would like you to meet my best friend... Yugi... "

Turning slightly, Sasami rested her hand on the crystal...

" Yugi!... This is Nagi, a friend of Ryoko's who is visiting us for a while... "

Some thing caught Nagi's eye...

As Sasami stroked the crystal, the young girl's smile softened, then brightened, but her eyes remained closed as she continued to sleep...

. . . . . . . . . .

( A Darken Room...)

Clocked figures sat around a cold stone table...

The table was lite so that the figures could be seen, but not identified...

Behind the figures was pitch darkness...

The figure at the head of the table wasn't in a good mood...

Thus, no one had said any thing for a while...

There wasn't any thing to say...

And none wanted to draw his attention to themselves...

. . . . . . . . . .

A cloaked figure suddenly appeared from the darkness at the open end of the table, placed a sheet of paper on the table and quickly disappeared back into the darkness..

No one moved...

" WELL?... "

Finally, the figure closest to the end of the table picked up the paper and examined it...

This was why the lower ranks were seated at this end, they were expendable...

Taking a deep breath, the figure rose...

" Word has just been received... A deal has been made... "

Other than a few whispers, no one spoke...

" AND?... "

" There IS a question about a deadline?... "

Silence...

" As long as it's done within a reasonable time... NO deadline... "

. . . . . . . . . .

( Masaki storage shed... )

To some one standing outside the closed door of the storage shed, the light appearing around the door might get their attention...

However, around the Masaki household, it was common place...

The door opened and a pitch black curtain appeared...

Shortly, a female, dressed in the uniform of the Galaxy Police, stepped out of the darkness...

Another, similarly dressed young female followed her...

The first female stepped to a small keypad, on the wall next to the door and pressed a key...

The curtain of darkness disappeared...

. . . . . . . . . .

As the two started towards the main house, a noise within the shed caught their attention...

Drawing their weapons, they slowly approached the open doorway...

A small furry head appeared down at the corner of the door and the first female sighed, putting away her weapon...

Putting her hands on her hips, she put a stern look on her face...

" Come on out!... "

The two officers stood there as a small furry creature slowly came out with some thing orange looking in it's mouth...

Galaxy Police Detective first class, Kiyone Tanaka watched as the small creature slowly made it's way to stand before her fellow officer, Kiyone Makibi...

Dropping the orange object at her feet, the small creature looked up at the tall figure with sad eyes...

The green haired officer of the law stood firm...

. . . . . . . . . .

But after several minutes, she sighed and shook her head...

" Just because Mihoshi and Tenchi aren't here doesn't mean you can help yourself... "

The creature bowed it's head...

" OK... Take it and go... But no more!... Until Tenchi and the others get back... "

The creature nodded it's head before snatching up the orange object...

With that, it hurried down the path to the lake...

As the two watched the little thief scamper away, a noise behind them caused them to turn around...

To their surprise several dozen similar creatures, of various sizes and colors came rushing out of the shed, an orange object in their mouths...

Before ether could react, the creatures were past the officers and headed towards the lake...

Officer Tanaka was startled when a number of the creatures jumped into the air and turned into large crystals, that floated away...

. . . . . . . . . .

Surprised, she stood there, her eyes wide and her mouth open, as the creatures, both furry and crystal, disappeared from sight...

Her fellow officer smiled and shook her head...

" I should have warned you... You're likely to see a lot of strange things during your stay with Prince Tenchi's family... "

Officer Tanaka shook her head...

" The Marshal warned me to not be surprised at any thing I might see or hear... Talk about an under statement... "

Her fellow officer smiled...

" We going to have to get cleaned up and change into some civilian clothes before Dinner... "

She quickly made sure the shed was really empty before closing the door...

" And I'll tell you how it was that I came to be living here... "

The two started back towards the house...

" It all started years ago when Mihoshi and I were involved in a... "

The two turned the corner of the house...

. . . . . . . . . .

( Huge Hall... )

Washu couldn't help smiling as every one stared at her...

Her little comment about Tenchi's father had startled every one...

Except Tsunami, who just smiled...

Washu had reason to believe Tsunami knew a great deal more than she let on, but because it directly effected the future of the Juraian Empire, she wasn't talking...

She also had reason to believe these Masakians, as she was beginning to call them, had once played a major role in the Empire's clouded ancient history...

Which would also explain why data on them was as rare was drops of water in a desert...

Some thing else Tsunami wasn't talking about...

. . . . . . . . . .

However, since she'd mentioned Nobuyuki, Tenchi's father, she was going to have to let them in on her little discovery...

With a wave of her hand, she made her keyboard appear, startling Merlin, their host...

Washu ran her fingers over the keys, causing an image of the living room of the Masaki house to appear, in mid air...

Washu studied every one as she played back the recording of events on the day of the attempted abduction of Princess Sasami...

She watched Tenchi and the girl's reactions as the action played out...

Thou they all knew what had happen, this would be the first time they had watched the security footage Washu had taken...

Ayeka and Ryoko gasped as Nobuyuki threw himself between the attackers and Mayuka...

A flash of fear and pride crossed Tenchi's face as he watched his father protecting his grandchild with his body...

They continuted to watch as events played out...

All their eyes widened, mouths opened as blasts of energy passed through Sasami as she held little Mayuka...

All three female smiled as the attackers blasts took out other attackers...

. . . . . . . . . .

Ryoko and Mihoshi had both cheered as the young Rogon took out one of the attackers...

It proved that Tenchi's decision to bring the young assassin home with them had been the correct one...

As it was, until now, they had all heard the basic security report, from Washu, about the attack, which hadn't been as detailed as this footage...

Washu had checked with Tenchi's grandfather before releasing details...

He agreed with her about the cover story for the public and the basic report for Tenchi and the others...

However, general footage of the attack had been sent by special high security link to the Emperor and the Queens, who had praised Nobuyuki's bravely...

The footage, once seen, was destroyed...

Until now, only the five of them had known how violent the assault had really been...

Especially the part where the attackers showed every indication that Sasami was the only one who would have been leaving the house alive...

. . . . . . . . . .

When all the dust had settled, Washu found all eyes on her...

She couldn't help smiling...

" I didn't notice or catch it ether, until I fine tuned the image to check on some things... "

She didn't go into details, she knew they weren't interested...

Taking the image back to before Nobuyuki's brave act, she played it again at a much slower speed...

As they watched, Nobuyuki's face first showed surprise and then determination...

Tenchi had never seen such a look on his father's face before...

They watched as Nobuyuki dove between the assassin and Sasami who was holding Mayuka...

. . . . . . . . . .

They held their breaths as the assassin discharged his assault rifle, sending a beam of high energy towards the girls...

Even slowed down, it was clear that Nobuyuki had barely gotten in the way...

As it was, even knowing how things had turned out, Washu saw the shocked expressions on all their faces as the beam made contact with Nobuyuki...

Mihoshi buried her face in Tenchi's shoulder, crying...

The look of shock, turned to surprise, as the beam seem to be reflected, taking out one of the attackers...

Washu reversed the image and froze the image as the beam of energy formed a V off of Nobuyuki...

Ayeka and Ryoko just stared as Tenchi managed to calm Mihoshi and show her that his father was alright...

. . . . . . . . . .

When every one was calm, Washu brought up an image of her discovery...

Ayeka, Ryoko and Tenchi gasped as they recognized the small object for what it was, a Light Hawk Wing...

About the size of a human hand, but it was still a Wing...

Washu smiled at their expressions and Mihoshi's jumping for joy, seeing that Nobuyuki was alright...

It was their host who made the first comment...

" Is something wrong?... "

Every one had forgotten that he was even there...

Washu was the first to reply...

" Lord Tenchi has just discovered that his father was able to produce a Light Hawk Wing... "

The Masakian elder looked confused...

" So?... "

He looked at all the startled faces...

" ALL members of the Royal family can produce a Light Hawk Wing!... "

To be continued...

. . . . . . . . . .

Please feel free to comment and review for any errors...