Alright! Here's the start of mission 2! There's some... uh... surprising character additions here, but just to put your mind at ease, I highly doubt any of them will be permanent. Well... one or two might be, but none beyond that. Think of them more as added material for this specific mission. That way, there'll be less objects thrown my way for over-complicating the storyline!! Heh, anyways, I also have to say that you'll be seeing a LOT more of the Akane/Ranma stuff in this mission compared to the last one. It hasn't shown up yet... but it WILL!! I have it all planned out!!

MattSaotome

Mission 2 Prologue

Captain's Log, Stardate 60011.3

With most of our battle damage from our encounter with Cell repaired, the Wildstar has put in at Starbase 146 for the more major repairs, a cosmetic touch up, and most importantly, new additions to our crew. I've taken full advantage of the holodecks that the starbase has available. Sure, the ones on the Wildstar are just as good, but where else if not on a starbase can you use rare holodeck programs and not have to worry about anyone knowing who 'Ranma Saotome' is? I'm told to expect departure orders within the next two hours, and I find myself waiting with very poor levels of enthusiasm to see what my father has thrown at me now…

Ranma held his knees, breathing hard from the workout. The holodeck around him had a mildly red tinge to it, the gravity setting at fifty times normal. Beside him, Goku was also breathing hard, though not in Super Saiyan form.

"That was… very well… done, captain!" Goku complimented him. "It's been… a while since I… got this kinda workout… in my normal form!!"

Ranma chuckled. "Yeah? …Well, it's… too bad I can't… go Super, eh?"

Goku laughed, allowing his breathing to sort itself out. He breathed quickly for a few seconds, then let it flood from his system with ease.

"Heh, yeah!" Goku grinned. "I think I'd almost like it if ya could!"

Ranma laughed at this as well, slumping down on his butt. "Well, fifty times gravity… ain't that fuckin' bad after all!"

It was at that moment that the com beeped.

"Wildstar to Captain Saotome?"

Ranma looked up at nothing. "Go ahead?"

"Captain, the new officers are arriving on board. Your presence is requested in the briefing room."

Ranma gave a single nod as he stood up. "I'm on my way, Mousse."

Goku called after Ranma, who was walking for the exit now. "Same time tomorrow, captain? Or are we shooting for the evening?"

Ranma slowed for the brief second it took him to think about it. "…Evening. I have a feeling I'll have my hands full during the day!"

Goku chuckled. "Alrighty then! I'll be with ya in about twenty minutes!"

Ranma nodded, throwing a quick wave at Goku as he continued to leave the holodeck and grabbing a white towel from the archway as the doors 'glen-glen-ed' shut behind him, flipping it over his shoulder.

The turbolift was, for some reason, oddly quiet. Ranma couldn't put a finger on it, but he knew that something was different. He'd have to ask Vegeta about it later. For now, new faces awaited him in the briefing room. He thought about who he might expect to see, realizing that it was a futile attempt considering the size of the Alpha Quadrant, but not really caring. For some reason, his brain showed him images of Kodatchi, Ukyo and Gosenkugi! He shuddered to the bone at the thought of having ALL his rivals and fiancé's on the same ship as him! No, it was better to wait and see!

The turbolift slowed to a halt, and the doors parted to reveal a quiet bridge, manned only by Mousse for the moment. Ranma left the turbolift and headed straight for the observation lounge doors.

"Mousse?" He said quickly as he walked.

Mousse didn't even look up from his panel. "They're all in there waiting for you, sir."

Ranma gave a single nod as he passed through the doors and off the bridge. No sooner had he entered the briefing room when he came to a complete halt at the sight before him! One or two people looked up to see who had entered the room, but lost interest when they saw no uniform shirt on Ranma. Ranma quickly remembered that he had no shirt on, nor anything to identify him as an officer, save for the com badge slapped to the side of his jeans!

He looked around carefully, not sure what to think of what he saw. There was a woman with blonde hair in an engineer's uniform talking quickly with another woman with blonde hair in a command uniform. The engineering woman's hair was the strangest Ranma had ever seen, balling into two 'meatballs' on either side of her head before coming down in two VERY long, unbraided tails ending just above her knees.

The command woman's blonde hair was thick and beautiful, reaching down to her… Wow, her butt! Ranma thought for a moment that he might have been in danger of forming a crush… if she wasn't blonde!

Continuing to look around, Ranma's gaze settled next on two men that were arguing with each other, each wearing a black Wildcards uniform. One had some strange gadget around his eyes, and Ranma considered the possibility that the man was blind and the device helped him to see, like that engineer on the Enterprise he'd heard about. The man he was arguing with sported some strange facial hair, and his haircut alone looked like it was a pair of subdued wolf ears, adding to his lupine appearance.

From there, Ranma landed his gaze on the last group, talking quickly to each other with many a 'Wicked' and 'Radical' and other slang terms Ranma hadn't thought of using in… ever!

Their most obvious immediate trait was that all four of them were turtles! Man sized, standing, walking and talking TURTLES! They had headbands with eye holes cut in them wrapped around their heads, each one a different color. They didn't seem to have a single problem getting along, not like the two men in the Wildcard uniforms, and most of their talk seemed to center around pizza!

Ranma flicked his eyebrows, taking a deep breath before he dove in! The first group he headed for was the Turtles. He walked as casually as possible, looking like just another new recruit. As he came up to them, they stopped talking just long enough to see he was there and approaching them.

"Hey, Dude!" The one said. "Do you know if the joint on this ship makes good pizza or not?"

"With totally mouthwatering toppings!" The second said.

"And radical amounts of cheese!" The third added

"But No Anchovies!" The fourth finished.

Ranma couldn't help but grin at them. They were so high spirited that it might actually have been contagious! "Heh, sorry, guys! I'm not really too sure. I've never had a chance to check, myself!"

The four turtles quickly nodded to each other before looking back at him. "Ah, well. It's all cool, man!" The red bandana spoke up. "Hey, have you seen the captain anywhere, amigo?"

Ranma smiled again. "Can't say that I have!" He used the excuse in his brain that he had yet to look in the mirror today. "Keep your ears open, though. I'm sure he'll be here soon!"

The four of them nodded again, and Ranma gave blue bandana a quick slap on the shoulder as he walked away. The grin was still plastered to Ranma's face, and he silently wondered what department of the ship those crazy turtles would be working for. He found himself hoping that they took up a regular officer rotation, so he could see them at work on the bridge, but didn't dwell on it as he approached the two arguing men.

"Yeah?" The lupine dude was saying. "Well I don't see your name on it anywhere!"

"Hey, I paid good credits for that bike!" The headgear man replied. "I don't need you to fuck it up!"

"Did I Fuck It Up?" The wolfman leaned in closer, his voice raising.

"No, But You Could Have!" Headgear shot back. Then, they both felt eyes on them, and turned their heads to look at Ranma in synchronicity. Ranma gave a quick flash-smile at the two of them. They just stared back in silence for a moment. Finally, the eyepiece guy spoke.

"…Do you mind?" he said, being a good bit quieter than he just was.

Ranma gave a quick shrug. "I was just-"

Before Ranma got any further in his sentence, wolfie lifted his fist, and Ranma blinked as an eight inch long steel blade shot out from between his knuckles, playing the obvious role of the middle finger!

"This is a private conversation!" Lupine dude finished.

Ranma waiting a second or two before giving a slow nod. "Alright." He didn't feel like pressing the issue and having this man suspended for bad behavior when Ranma's persistence caused him to flip his lid! Besides, he was well past confident that he could have kicked wolf-boy's ass with both arms tied behind his back! Instead, he headed for the last two people in the lounge. He knew that, if anyone could make him feel better about that wolf dude, complete with ears and claws, it would be someone with a woman's touch!

As he walked towards them, the command officer looked up. Seeing Ranma on the approach, she immediately broke into a huge smile! Ranma gave a small one back as a calming feeling flooded his veins! No matter who the woman was (as long as they weren't a crazed bitch); their full smile and high cheekbones could always melt his worries and problems away! There was only one woman who seemed to be able to do it thousands of times better than any, but before he could think about that, he had reached the officers.

"Ladies," he said, standing in front of them. The one with the meatballs on her head stopped talking to the other to look at him.

"Excuse me were t-al-l-l-llo!! You're forgiven!" She quickly turned to the command woman, whispering with a little squeal. "He's a major Hunk!!!"

The command officer giggled, looking at Ranma with a smaller version of her killer smile! God, if only she wasn't blonde! "My friend thinks you're hot." She explained, her eyes looking at Ranma in a way that seemed to betray what she thought of his bare chest as well!

"Actually, so do I!" The officer admitted as she looked Ranma up and down. Ranma's eyes got a bit bigger. This one was certainly confident!

"You… really have no problems saying what's on your mind, do you?" Ranma observed.

The woman mock thought about it, then just looked back at Ranma. "Nope!" she grinned again.

"Oh, you should hear her!" Meatball head started going off. "When she gets talking to people and stuff, she just immediately tells them exactly what she thinks of their problem and how they should deal with it, and it's so weird because she's always like, bang on! This one time, I was really depressed from a bad breakup I had. I'm talking BAD! Like, nothing could stop the water works, but she helped me through it like a pro and-"

"Heh, that's because I AM a pro!" The command woman interrupted the other. Ranma sang silent praises in his mind, not sure how much more of the meatball head's babbling he could have taken. Then, he clicked on to what the command woman had said.

"You're a counselor?" Ranma asked, his brow furrowing with a bit of a smile.

The command woman beamed. "Damned straight!" She replied. Then, she motioned for Ranma to lean in to her as close as possible, and she did the same, until her mouth was right beside his ear. She obviously didn't want even her friend to hear what she had to say. A quick second later, he knew why!

"…And you're Captain Saotome." She whispered. Ranma pulled back with huge eyes. He pointed a single finger at her. "Betaziod?" He asked quickly, not sure if he could take having a counselor that could read his every thought!

The command woman shook her head, again smiling. "Nope! Just good at my job!" She giggled again. Ranma slowly lowered his finger. "…Right." As he began to walk away from them, he said back to her, "I think I'm gonna enjoy working with you, counselor!"

The sound of her youthful voice replied. "You know it!"

Ranma took another deep breath in and out, looking over the group one more time. Then a voice came over the com system.

"Goku to Captain Saotome."

Ranma winced as six heads shot to look at his com badge on his jeans, then back up at his eyes.

"…shit." Ranma muttered before tapping his badge to answer, the room now silent around him. "Go ahead, Number One."

"Sir, there's a transmission for you from Starfleet. Admiral Saotome on subspace."

"On my way." He tapped his badge off before looking around the group quickly. He gave a sudden shrug before quickly striding out the door. It closed behind him with a hiss. Silence remained in the room for a good two or three seconds longer before a unified "Aw, Fuck!" Rose from everyone but the counselor.

She just grinned like a school girl as she looked around everyone in the room. "I knew it was him the whole time!"

She nearly had to duck for cover at the number of 'Drop Dead' looks she received in reply!

"Ouch!" Serena said quietly. "Maybe not the best thing to admit…"

Ranma walked quickly into his ready room, followed by Goku. He was still shirtless, but didn't really care if his father saw him like that. If anything, Genma would be happy that Ranma was still working out. Yeah, right! He probably wouldn't say anything about it at all!

"Stupid Oyaji!" Ranma muttered to himself. Goku chuckled as Ranma opened the transmission on his desk monitor.

"What's up, old man?" Ranma said quickly, hoping to look as distracted and busy as possible. For the most part, it seemed to work. Genma thought quickly about how to put his words before his eyes lit up and he looked at Ranma again.

"We've recieved a request for the Wildstar's presence at Risa. You and your CMO are to beam down to the planet and take charge of a medical emergency that appears to have risen up there. You'll take a shuttlecraft down to the planet to act as your medical base of operations, since we're not too sure what this medical emergency they're having is yet. As we find out more, we'll let you know.

Ranma nodded a bit. "Sounds like a walk in the park."

Genma nodded back. "Let's hope that's all it is. You'll get under way within the hour. And I don't want to hear any complaining about doing the mission with your CMO!!"

"Fine!" Ranma spat, slapping the control and closing the transmission. Goku laughed again.

"Have you two ever considered getting along?" He asked.

Ranma rolled his eyes. "Sure. Maybe that day will come… the same day I figure women out, stop becoming one myself, and turn into a Super Saiyan!"

Now it was Goku's turn to roll his eyes. "I see."

"Yeah…"

The crew was called back aboard, and not a half hour later, Ranma found himself sending out a familiar communication.

"Open hailing frequencies." Ranma called out.

"Channel open." Shampoo answered. Ranma quickly glanced at Shampoo. Communications was her job now? He shrugged it off. Oh, well. There were obviously a few things he really did need to ask his engineer about!

"Wildstar to Dock master. Requesting permission to depart."

The com came to life. "Control Tower reading, Wildstar. Permission granted."

"Clear all moorings," Goku called out. Several clicks were heard, and a hiss of releasing pressure sounded through the hull.

"Aft thrusters." Ryouga said, his fingers pressing a few buttons.

Ranma blinked for a quick second, and for reasons he didn't even want to ask himself about, he replied to his helmsman.

"Thank you, Ryouga. One quarter impulse power."

Ryouga stopped and turned in his seat. Just as he opened his mouth to object and remind Ranma that Starfleet regulations specified thrusters ONLY while in space dock, he caught a glimpse of Goku sitting beside Ranma, shaking his head from side to side. Ryouga clamped his mouth shut, turned back to his console, and carried out the instructions.

"Aye, sir."

The Wildstar pointing right at the doors already, Ryouga had only to increase to the desired speed and let the ship sail its way out of dock. As the doors flew by again, Ranma stood and straightened his tunic.

"Lay in a course for Risa, Warp 9."

A few more beeps from the helm console had the starfield hurrying past them on all sides. Then, the ship settled into warp speed, the ride somehow even smoother than Ranma remembered it being. As he walked in the direction of his ready room, Ranma pondered about the fact that they had just performed a flawless launch with Ryouga at the helm! Just as he was about to count his blessings, Shampoo's voice piped up from her console.

"Captain say Risa, Stupid Boy! Not Cardassian Neutral Zone!"

Ranma gave a little groan as he turned to face the helm. "Aw, Ryouga…"

"Sorry," Ryouga didn't even look up from his controls. "Fixing…"

The ship yawed hard left, throwing everyone to the deck. As Ranma struggled and stood back up, he scowled heavily at Ryouga.

"When doing WARP 9," he emphasized, "It's always best to make GRADUAL course corrections!!"

Ryouga just snarled under his breath, barely remembering to grunt out a "Yes, sir," before Ranma turned and entered his ready room.

And so begins a new mission!!! Let me know, folks!

MattSaotome