Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon, Lost Universe, Stargate, or Ah My Goddess. This is a non-profit work of fanfiction meant only for entertainment.

Ice Squared
by Lerris Smith

-«Thunder and Lightning part 2»-

After the funeral, Artemis and Luna got in the habit of hanging around the shrine. The place was empty anyway, and it was likely that Rei would appreciate having the place looked after. More importantly, there was no one there to treat them like common house cats.

Artemis said, "Why can't Rei have a video game system or something?"

In a haughty tone, Luna said, "We are supposed to be on the lookout for trouble."

Artemis said, "Oh, as if you can come up with something better than watching the television for news reports."

Luna said, "We could at least be watching the news, and not a twenty four hour anime marathon."

Artemis said, "Hey, if something important happens, they will break in, besides, we are flipping on the news channel during the commercials."

Luna sighed. Somehow, they were failing at their purpose. She was sure of it. Still, it wasn't as if you could search door to door for trouble. The world was a big place. It was almost a miracle that most of their enemies seemed drawn to the Jüban area, but then the place had always been a weak point in the dimensional fabric, so maybe it was not so very surprising. Still, Luna almost wished something would happen, just so she could avoid watching any more Dragonball Z. In a burst of frustration she pounced on the remote, aiming for the channel up button.

"Luna!"

-«oOo»-

The moon was nearly full as it shown down on a clearing in the heart of one of the last truly untamed regions in China. Of course, it was not untamed because of the animals or the inhospitable terrain, although the latter did play some part. No, the true reason for the wildness of this area were the three peoples that ruled over it combined with the general feeling the place inspired. People would sometimes come close to the valley and then turn around for no apparent reason. When asked later they would oftentimes come up with some excuse or another, but occasionally one would come up with a better answer that went something like, "Some things are best left well enough alone."

There are often exceptions to any rule, and one such was in the form of a short balding old man as he walked into a clearing that held a half dozen equally short aged women. They noticed his presence right away and turned to face him. Their looks ranged from disgust to annoyance, yet they kept watching the surprise visitor, much like a normal person might watch a snake that slithered into camp.

For Happosai, this was a journey he had never expected to make, certainly not in his lifetime, but he knew the legends, and sometimes burned bridges just had to be rebuilt. The signs were there, and well, more importantly, he owed certain favors that could not be ignored. Hopefully, this would put him on the path to paying for one of them. He said, "Hello Cologne. Your looking well."

Cologne was a little taken back by Happosai apparently being serious and coming here of all places. The last time she had seen him in this area must have been almost a hundred years ago. She said neutrally, "Happosai."

Happosai smirked. The glares directed his way from some of the others, almost made the trip worth it. He said simply, "So, it has begun."

Cologne nodded before saying, "Yes, but we do not understand." It galled her to say that, but the situation was such that pride could not be given a foothold. She continued with, "The signs seem to indicate that it is many years away, and that we have time to prepare as we have done in the past, although for some unknown reason, many of us feel that the situation is somehow already dire."

Happosai said, "And you are not ready?"

Cologne said, "Ready? How can anyone be ready for that?" Cologne's glared at Happosai before saying, "Just what the heck are you doing here anyway? I would have expected you to redouble your efforts at saving the silky darlings." The last was said with obvious sarcasm.

Happosai said, "What? I'm not allowed to fight for a noble cause?" All six women glared at him before Happosai relented and said, "Fine. Amaterasu called in my debt."

Cologne nodded. That made more sense after all, although just how Happosai had got into Amaterasu's debt must, in itself, be an interesting story. She said, "You can join in our planning then. We were just starting." Cologne dimly noted the annoyed glares of some of the others, but she was eldest, and as such had the right. She was also not going to risk offending a goddess by refusing her indirect help and she very much doubted even Happosai would lie there, given the likely consequences.

Somehow they would find a way, as the records say they had done in ages past. She could almost wish that son-in-law, or rather, Ranma was around to help, but it seemed, from what she could divine, that he and Nabiki had become involved with the remnants of the Moon kingdom, so perhaps they were already doing their part.

For a moment Cologne wondered how Happosai had come so far so quickly. Perhaps he too had taken a commercial jet, or perhaps Amaterasu helped. It didn't matter. Ranma was nowhere to be found and Shampoo and Mousse could run the restaurant, whether they liked it or not.

-«oOo»-

Mamoru sat against the wall of sick bay and tried to stay awake. While Hotaru was excellent at healing physical injuries, his own abilities were best at disorders of the spirit, and, to a lesser extent, disorders of the mind. His ability was hardly miraculous, as what happened to Ami demonstrated, yet he could do more than any of the others. He was sure that he had kept the worst of the damage to Nabiki at bay, but by no means all of it. It felt rather like something was trying to consume her mind and spirit, yet, while he was touching Nabiki he could dimly feel Canal's worry and uncertainty as well. Truly, battle in a lost ship was a terrible thing, especially for the ship's captain, but then, with the help of everyone they had won a battle most had expected to die in. He hoped Hotaru and the others were okay.

One of the most surprising things was what Rei's grandfather did. It seemed that he had used his ki to heal Nabiki. Given how much trouble Ranma had before trying to do that, made this seem all the more remarkable. He himself, doubted he could have repaired that damage, although he had planned to try. Of course, that small miracle had its price, as demonstrated by a glance up at the unconscious man's shallow breathing.

Mamoru yawned and knew that sleep could not be denied much longer. He would try to help Rei's grandfather after a bit of rest, since right now his ability was exhausted anyway along with the rest of him. He gave a final longing glance to the bed where his love slept, before smiling and crawling the few steps to the impromptu blankets and pillow Makoto had setup. The blankets were thin and did little to insulate one from the cold hard floor, but he was far too tired to care or even notice.

His dreams were strange. Visions of an impossibly tall leafy tree dominated them. Some almost seemed like the memory of a memory, yet he could remember sleeping at the foot of that tree for hours on end. It was such a comforting place in those dreams. In other dreams the tree seemed to be larger, yet some of its leaves seemed to be gone, and others seemed to be just a little darker and less vibrant. Somehow, the aura of the place in those dreams seemed so much less inviting than it had before.

-«oOo»-

Since everyone was inside now, Pandora quickly tossed the annoying helmet to the side as she saw it approaching out the cockpit window, well some of it anyway. The wave of energy now extended far beyond what could be seen from the cockpit windows. Pandora was beginning to wonder if, just perhaps, they should have been a bit further away when they destroyed that gate thing.

Canal shouted, "Redirecting all power to the psi barrier!" As Canal shouted her words, Pandora felt a pull on something and then suddenly it felt like she was dropped into a raging river of ice water, yet it was not quite that either. For one thing, Ranma had a great deal of experience with cold water. Cold water made you, or rather him, cold, wet, and female, while a raging river tended to pull you into that fury. She wasn't really wet, and it was her ki that was being dragged into this river and not her actual body. Ms. Hinako had given her a great deal of practice in avoiding having all of her ki stolen and instincts caused her to call upon that training now to protect herself.

The ship shook and was swept along the waves edge like a piece of driftwood. Five seconds passed, then ten, then fifteen, as the ship continued to be bounced along. Canal shouted, "The psi barrier is about to fail!" Pandora quickly released the hold on her ki and summoned her battle aura. This seemed to cause the river to pick up speed, yet it was already too late, as the barrier failed seconds later.

The wave impacted on Venus' impromptu magical chain barrier. Venus struggled to maintain it, but she knew it could not last. It was, after all, nothing compared to the silence wall, but given the fact that Saturn was still unconscious, it was all they had left.

Canal said, "A spatial disruption is forming around us."

Venus yelped as the chains of her impromptu shield shattered and the blackness of space around them was replaced by a dark pulsing orange and red.

Canal said, "We are no longer in normal space. I think this is their version of hyperspace. That is just a guess. This is outside of my experience."

Neptune said, "We've got company. It seems a mess of those ships are here too."

Pandora cursed her stupidity. She knew Canal's touch on her ki, and she trusted Canal, well as much as she trusted anyone anyway. The pull before was not Canal though, or rather not Canal directly. It felt too much like what Hinako did, and hence her instinctive resistance to it. Somehow, she knew that if she had not resisted the shield thing might have protected them, but then she might also be dead.

Her musings were cut short as she again felt the strange pull on her ki again as Canal once more drew from that odd river of energy. She managed to control it now, if barely. She let her ki flow into the river at a moderate pace. It would drain her in maybe twenty minutes, but she was betting this would be over, one way or another before then.

Canal said, "The psi barrier is back online, although it is doubtful we can take more than a single hit."

Pandora said, "Dang it, can't we get a break?"

Venus said, "Have they spotted us? Can we cloak again?"

Neptune said, "Too late. They are headed this way."

Pandora said, "Just freaken great."

Canal said, "I count one capital ship, two type A ships, a couple others, and a mess of ship debris. The gate explosion must have blown them here too."

Neptune sighed. It was not much consolidation that some of the ships were pieces rather than whole. They were in a tiny unarmed shuttle craft. Of all the things they had considered, having the shuttle craft lost in this strange place and separated from Swordbreaker was not on the list.

As Canal spoke her words, the enemy ships appeared on the view screen. The capital ship was huge, easily amassing over twenty times Swordbreaker's mass. It was shaped roughly like a narrow triangle, which brought to Pandora's mind the obvious comparison to the star destroyer ships in an old gaijin scifi movie Hiroshi and Daisuke had forced him to sit through.

The two type A ships were about fifty percent larger than Swordbreaker. They were composed of three large shallowly tapered triangular sections connected together at one hundred twenty degree intervals. Three engines sat at the outside rear points of the triangular sections. Of course, the weapons mounted mid way on the sides did spoil the geometrical simplicity of the design somewhat, but then, it was doubtful that beauty was their designers main goal. Perhaps the oddest thing, to Ranma's mind anyway, was that the capital ship and the type A ships were both painted a dark charcoal gray, but then again, perhaps they wanted to be difficult to see. The only visible markings on the dark gray ships was a red color. It looked like a three leafed clover in outline, but was more precise than that. It was almost like someone had bent an infinity symbol and added a third leaf to where the bend was.

Both of the two remaining ships were somewhat smaller than Swordbreaker, although, of course, still many times bigger than Swordbreaker's shuttle craft. One was reddish brown and shaped like a crescent moon, while the other was white and shaped like a saucer. As Canal examined the limited sensor information, she noticed that the drive emissions on the two smaller ships appeared to indicate that they were based on slightly different principles than the capital ship or the type A ships. It was hardly conclusive, but it did seem likely that they were built on different worlds.

-«oOo»-

On board the shuttle, Kasumi was cradling the Senshi of Silence to her suit clad form when suddenly Hotaru's transformation melted away. She was so very pale. Her breath appeared shallow yet it was at least steady. She remained quiet. She could do little for Hotaru now, other than to try to make her comfortable and hope they survived. She reached up to remove the bulky helmet. It was annoying, and Pandora had already removed her own anyway.

Pandora's attention was drawn back to the situation at hand by the feel of new information. She still could not stop but to marvel at the detail she was seeing, and this was only the middle level of the interface. It seemed that Neptune and Canal had tagged the approaching ships. Now, every time her focus glanced across that region of space it seemed to be drawn to those ships.

All in all, it felt a bit like the time she saw a pack of Hyena's about to tear apart a rabbit. She could remember their odd laugh now and could easily imagine it coming from that cluster of ships. Unfortunately, while she could move the ship at will now, it responded as if they were moving through water. She needed more. After all, what good was the Saotome ability to analyze and respond to any situation if your body moved like it was in water?

Lacking any sort of weapons, Pandora began to execute the Saotome final attack and move away. It wasn't enough, of course. The shuttle was too slow to have a hope of outrunning the bigger ships, so it was no surprise that they were getting closer. In desperation, she edged the interface up to the final level. Seconds later, a ghostlike Canal seemed to appear in space before her.

Canal said, "You are not yet ready for that. The final level takes months to prepare for."

Pandora said sarcastically, "What choice do we have?"

Canal's ghostlike form stared at the shuttle craft, and more importantly, the person linked to the shuttle craft's systems. The shuttle craft was much smaller and simpler than Swordbreaker, but total immersion was still incredibly dangerous, especially so soon, yet what choice did they have. She was half of herself right now, and she doubted her skills would be enough even if she were fully here. Venus could maybe take out one or two, if they were exceptionally lucky, but they would still be dead. Surrender would probably get them killed or worse. For that matter, even if Pandora could handle it, she didn't see any way for them to survive without her ship body. Lacking a better idea, she said, "As you wish master. Please be careful. I do not wish to loose you."

Pandora noticed Canal's worry. Through the bond, it almost seemed as if she was about to cry out in frustration. Pandora's face suddenly tried to take on a serious cast, but unfortunately, the look was spoiled by her attempt at a cocky grin that just didn't work well on her female form, especially when she was wearing a seifuku. It ending up more cute than anything else. She said, "Don't worry, Ranma Saotome never loses."

Canal smiled a small smile, and Pandora felt her faint hope grow, just before pain lanced through her brain. The entire chair took on a pale glow before Pandora started thrashing in it. Her spacesuit tore where her right arm went into the interface. A trickle of blood began to leak out through the tear, yet the restraint held. Canal disappeared into motes of light that rushed to form around Pandora's body.

Neptune, sitting in the next seat yelled, "What the heck is happening?"

Somehow Canal managed to slow Pandora's thrashing to where it seemed she was no longer in danger of hurting herself, yet her posture and the expression on her face made it obvious that it was all she had managed to accomplish. Her voice was filled with worry. It seemed to emanate from where Pandora was seated as she said, "The situation was desperate enough that I allowed Ranma to use full immersion on the link months before he was ready, but this response doesn't make any sense."

Concerned, Kasumi asked, "What could cause this?"

Canal said, "The only thing I can think of, is if Ranma were suppressing some kind of trauma, something that would force him to partition his mind to protect the core of his sanity." She supposed the gender curse alone might cause that, but he seemed to be dealing with that well. This had to be something else, or maybe something in addition.

Kasumi said quietly, "When he was a small boy, in the name of training, his father threw him in a pit filled with starving cats covered in fish sausage many times. It was supposed to teach him an unbeatable technique."

Venus yelled, "He did what?" In a more normal tone, she said, "Nabiki said that he was deathly frightened of cats and to keep them away from him, but this..." Venus silently wished Sailor Moon was here. She was sure she could do something.

Kasumi said, "Ranma does not like people to know. He hates people feeling sorry for him. I suspect Nabiki only told you because she thought it necessary."

Canal's voice was sad when she said, "I can't do anything here besides keeping her from hurting herself. I'd need the rest of myself and the equipment in the medical bay." Privately she wished she had followed up earlier, when, at the funeral, she thought he was hiding something important, but then his private life was his own. Somehow, they had to get back to Swordbreaker.

In a resigned voice, Neptune said, "They are still closing. They should be in firing range soon."

Kasumi continued to watch over Hotaru's pale form. There seemed little else she could do. Venus and Neptune glanced her way from time to time, obviously unhappy at Hotaru's current state, yet each giving appreciative smiles to her for her caring.

Seconds passed, and now the dots they knew to be oncoming ships could be seen clearly on the side view screens. They were right behind them and getting closer when suddenly Pandora's body went still. A plaintive meow came from her mouth, that sounded rather like a cat getting its tail stepped on.

Kasumi gasped in a hushed voice, "The Nekoken!" Suddenly the reason she was supposed to come on this ship made sense now, or more than it had anyway.

The halo that surrounded Pandora moved off and gathered back into the form of Canal, except that Canal looked rather like the ghost she first appeared to be shortly after the Senshi first boarded. In a concerned voice, she said, "Something is wrong. The psi system is being disrupted!" Her voice went from concerned to panicked, as she said, "The psi barrier is down!"

Neptune said, "The controls aren't responding. We are turning around."

Canal voice seemed to fade out at times as she said, "Estimated psi energy output is twice normal and increasing! Pandora has full control of the shuttle. I can do nothing beyond keeping the link to her planetary mana tap open to try to ease the strain!"

Venus said, "Can't we snap her out of it, or turn off the interface?"

Kasumi said quietly, "Ranma is formidable in the Nekoken." Left unsaid, was that she had no idea how that applied to this.

Worry etched Canal's face as she said, "No, the interface can only be turned off by her. The final failsafe should engage if she falls asleep, but then, it should have already engaged."

Neptune hazarded, "So, we just wait and hope?"

Canal said, "I will believe in my captain and do all that I can."

Kasumi smiled at Canal then. So very few people would stand behind Ranma like Canal did. She, for one, did not although she tried to be there when she could, when it would not be interpreted in a way that would either get her hunted by the other fiancées or engaged by her father that is. Of course, she could wish that Canal looked just a bit more solid now. Being able to see Pandora through her, was a tad scary, especially when it seemed they were all about to die.

Venus stood up before the cockpit window and said, "Venus love me chain encircle - Sphere of Hearts."

Neptune gave her an odd look, to which she responded, "Hey, it worked before."

Neptune nodded. It had worked somewhat before and a quick look at Hotaru made it obvious that there would be no Silence Wall to hide behind, and certainly no Death Reborn Revolution to save them. She gave a quick silent prayer to Serenity to watch over her adopted daughter before pulling out her talisman. The mirror had so far not revealed much of anything about this group, leading her to think that its powers of divination might be limited to either the Earth or perhaps Earth's solar system. Still, it had a second use. She did not know if it would work against this kind of power, but then she did know what would happen if a blast directly impacted the ship. She had long ago made a promise to protect Hotaru. The promise had at first been nothing more than a penance for wanting to see her die to protect the world, but soon became a true promise born out of a desire to care for the adopted daughter they had grown to love.

In a resigned voice, Canal said, "They are still coming, although a few are hesitating. They should be in optimal firing range soon."

Neptune said wryly, "I suppose they must find a tiny ship charging them a bit odd." In a more thoughtful tone she added, "Or perhaps they fear we will do what we did before."

Canal's ghostlike form gave a slight nod to the last. It seemed that they had scared them enough to be hesitant. Of course, hesitation only lasted so long.

Neptune said, "The shuttle's acceleration is now at four times the normal maximum."

Canal thought about the energy requirements of that acceleration. About two thirds of the energy had to be coming either from Pandora or her link to planetary mana. The shuttle's little reactor, even with psi energy enhancing the reaction process, could only account for so much, after all.

Neptune saw the energy spike on the sensors that indicated the capital ship was about to fire. She stood up and held the deep aqua mirror out in front of her and concentrated. Suddenly the mirror shot forward and phased through the cockpit window before expanding to over a hundred times its size. She shouted out, "Submarine Reflection!" as the energy blasts impacted onto the glass like surface. The back of the mirror was about all they could see from inside the shuttle now. It's surface went from a faint glow to a roaring red as the seconds ticked by and its magical construct tried to cope with the energy inrush. Neptune held out her hands to steady herself against the cockpit window as Venus quickly came forward to help her. Pandora yowled as the energy struck the magical artifact. Her hair seemed to come alive almost like the flames of a fire, as her piercing blue eyes seemed to take on a glow of their own.

Suddenly the mirror released the stored energy back at the oncoming vessels before quickly shrinking and phasing back through the cockpit window. An exhausted Neptune tried to take hold of it, but it was still glowing a harsh red and she dropped it down to her seat, thankful of the soft cushion, and more importantly thankful of her Senshi form's resistance to extreme heat. The mirror landed face up, over the now smoldering seat cushion. The mirror face was split into five different irregularly shaped segments.

In a shocked voice, Canal said, "The capital ship is destroyed. The others are still coming." It was unbelievable. A ship twenty times bigger than Swordbreaker was taken out by a shuttle craft, but then, she supposed the capital ship had really killed itself. Whoever was captaining that ship must have wanted to finish them off in one gigantic example of overkill, and had directed most, if not all, of its energy weapons right at them. They really should be dead, but somehow they weren't and the capital ship was. Still, it looked like that was a one time trick, if the broken mirror meant anything.

Pandora yowled with fury and charged the nearest ship, which happened to be the crescent moon shaped one, as Neptune tiredly placed her hand palm down about a foot above the mirror. She summoned about a cup of water and watched as the steam boiled off the magical surface. Neptune repeated the process, although the second time there was no steam given off. She picked up the broken mirror and slipping it back into her subspace pocket, before wiping the excess water off the chair. She had an idea on how to repair it, but it was not something she dared try now. Canal gave a momentary frown at the water on the floor before turning back to the enemy ships and revising her estimate of how long they had to live.

-«oOo»-

Aboard the crescent shaped ship, an officer said, "Sir, the battle computer cannot analyze the target's motion! It reads as completely random!"

"I don't care. Just hit the dang thing! For the honor of the empire, we must avenge our comrades!"

"Sir, yes sir! Firing!"

-«oOo»-

Pandora caused the shuttle to execute wild catlike maneuvers forcing its small crew to grab onto whatever they could. Kasumi had managed to strap herself and Hotaru in some cargo webbing and was doing all she could to keep Hotaru from jostling around too much and injuring herself. The others had simple seat belts, but still resorted to grabbing onto whatever they could.

Canal said, "Psi systems still operating well above the theoretical maximums. The inertial dampeners cannot fully compensate!"

Minako squashed the impulse to give a sarcastic remark, something along the lines of, "You think?" as she again focused on maintaining her odd, impromptu shield.

Canal gasped as they neared the ship. The shield generators screamed as Pandora somehow instinctively drew on their energies. She could feel planetary mana, psi energy, ki, and fusion drive power flood into them as they took on the shape of four knife like blades. Canal said, "Impact in 3, 2.." Canal's eyes bulged as she stared out the cockpit window. Rather than colliding, they slipped below the target vessel with the blades generated by the shielding system slicing the crescent shaped ship into five nearly equal sections.

Kasumi gasped. She had never seen Ranma hurt anyone with those blades, yet she had now, well sort of. Pandora quickly targeted the next closest ship which was one of the type A ones before she repeated the grim scene. A small pod type device ejected from the last type A ship before the ship charged them and fired.

Pandora failed to dodge all of the blasts, although she did manage to disrupt a couple of them with her odd ship created energy blades, leaving a single one to get through to the shuttle craft and impact onto Venus's makeshift shield. Venus winced as link after link shattered, but the shield held and an effort of will saw the broken links replaced.

Pandora's flame like aura around her body and hair seemed to be fading now, as she bore down on the last type A ship. A final swipe cut it into five pieces, three of which later exploded. The saucer shaped ship fled at high speeds as the aura around Pandora faded and she passed out.

Canal said, "The last ship is leaving. We are safe, and control is returning to me. Someone please help Ranma. I don't have enough energy to spare to create a solid form."

Venus could sense the frustration in Canal's voice as she tiredly dropped her impromptu shield and sagged in the chair. Kasumi quickly untangled herself and Hotaru from the webbing and gently handed Hotaru over to Neptune. Venus remained semi alert in the chair, just in case the other ship decided to turn around.

Kasumi approached Ranma, or rather Pandora, since, you could still see that she was transformed through the bit of her seifuku that showed where her helmet was off. Seeing she was out cold, she quickly gathered the smaller girl into her arms and moved her over to the floor next to where Neptune was looking at Hotaru. After a little bit of work and a quickly offered hand from Venus she managed to remove the bulky space suit from her. Her right arm near the elbow was caked with blood, but a little gentle probing revealed whole and healthy skin. Kasumi said, "I know Ranma heals incredibly fast, but this?"

Neptune said dismissively, "Sailor senshi heal physical injuries rapidly, at least when transformed. We'd be hamburger without that ability. It get's complicated if there is a dark taint, but regular injuries aren't normally a problem."

Kasumi felt her pulse, but could find nothing out of the ordinary there. Still, the quiet meow that left her lips every now and then was worrisome, as was Hotaru's pale form.

Canal said, "There should be a couple blankets and some supplies in the locker on the wall behind Kasumi."

Venus said, "I'll get them." She then walked over and opened the locker to find only a single blanket.

Canal, said sadly, "It seems someone has been in here since last I looked."

Venus said, "I thought you were supposed to be able to sense everything in the ship."

"Hardly. If a sensor is available, I can use it, otherwise I have to go physically look like anyone else and I was asleep for so long."

Venus nodded and handed down the single blanket to Kasumi who was closest. Canal said, "Use the blanket to keep them off the floor. I'll raise the cabin temperature." Within a minute or so, Kasumi and Neptune were sitting with their backs against the wall with their legs partly on the blanket and Hotaru and Pandora lying on top of them. As Canal promised the temperature was warmer now, although it really wasn't a substitute for a good blanket, but at least they were not on the cold floor.

Pandora's transformation faded, but seeing as it didn't alarm Sailor Neptune, Kasumi simply ignored it. For Ranma, a sudden change of clothing was a minor thing. The unasked question of what they were going to do hung in the air, until a small chirp came from the station Venus had resumed sitting at.

She pressed a few keys and was a bit surprised at what she was reading. Canal said, "It is a distress call. It seems the escape pod they ejected before has someone on it who is demanding help."

Neptune said incredulously, "They want to talk, now? Demanding?"

Canal said, "So it would seem. I can speak the language. The escape pod is no threat to us, unless it is a cleverly disguised bomb, but I doubt that."

Venus and Kasumi looked to Neptune for input. Neptune said, "Talk to whoever it is Canal. Use your own judgment."

Canal said, "Okay. I'll translate, but he will only see and hear me for now."

-«oOo»-

The main view screen split. An image of Canal's former red haired captain appeared on the right against what seemed to be a view of the inside of the shuttle craft, minus all actual occupants. On the left was a striking pale skinned, white haired young man that was perhaps fifteen or sixteen years of age. He had clear pale blue eyes and hair that just touched his shoulders. He wore a violet button up long sleeved shirt with white piping on the sides complete with matching pants, a dark red belt, and dark red shoes. On his forehead was a simple silver diadem with the same sigil in the middle of it as they had seen on the ships before.

The boy spoke, "Hello, can you help me? My pod was damaged in the chaos and the air is leaking."

Canal asked incredulously, "You want me to help you, after your people invade and try to kill us?"

"Well, it is either that or I wait for the air to run out. If it helps, I have some medical supplies and some food."

Canal could hardly believe that this kid was trying to save his own skin by trading rations and a medkit. For all she knew, he could have been the one who gave the order to try to kill them.

Kasumi wanted to help the kid, but something put her off. She wondered if it was the white hair.

Neptune said, "We could use the supplies. Maybe he has something to help Hotaru and Ranma. Venus and I can keep him in line, at least if he is unarmed."

-«oOo»-

The boy wondered if they would truly let him board. It would be wonderful if he could take back the secret of how that shuttle had done what it did. The others would come for him of course, but for the mean time he had his duty, and that was to stay alive. He glanced down at the life support display. Six and a half hours remaining when it should have lasted almost a week, but then it had survived mostly intact after colliding with ships debris from one of the ships they had cut up, so he supposed he should count himself fortunate. It was unlikely anyone else did, well except for the one ship of traitors, and they would likely not live very long. Now, if only they would make up their minds...