Star Trek: Pioneer
Starring Tenchi Masaki as Captain James Jean-Luc Tenchi
Washu Hakubi as Science Officer Washu
Ryoko Hakubi as the Space Pirate Ryoko
Ayeka Masaki Jurai as Lt. Commander Lydia Ayeka
Sasami Masaki Jurai as Midshipman Sherry Lynn Sasami
Mihoshi Kuramitsu as Lt. Barbie Mihoshi
Kiyone Makibi as Tactical Officer Cassandra Kiyone
Katsuhito Masaki as Doctor Katsuhito Yosho
Ryo-oh-ki as Ensign Whiskers
Tenchi Muyo and all related characters are © AIC/Pioneer. Star Trek and all related material are © Paramount Studios. This story has been written solely for entertainment. The views expressed herein do not necessarily express the opinions of AIC/Pioneer, CBS/Paramount Studios, the author, the readers, or this website.
Based on "Star Trek" created by Gene Roddenberry
And "Tenchi Muyo" created by Masaki Kajishima
Dagger of the Brain
By Galaxy1001D
Chapter Eleven: No Need For Imposters
In his laboratory on Gehenna Two, the corpulent Doctor Clay was perfecting his research in mind control. "Yes!" he cried. "I have done it! This food supplement makes the test subjects forty-three percent more susceptible to mental suggestion than the previous formula! Ha-ha-ha! I wonder which government or intelligence agency will pay the most for my mind control formula?"
Suddenly, a woman's fist smashed through the door to the lab, causing the monocular mad scientist to jump and turn to see Ryoko tearing the door apart with her gloved hands.
"B-but the door wasn't locked…" Clay stammered. "I just had it painted!"
Ryoko was clad in a red and black spandex catsuit and she had on her 'war face'. Captain Tenchi pushed a button, and the shattered door hissed into the wall and he entered the lab.
"Ryoko, you could have just phased or teleported into the lab, you know," the gold shirted Tenchi chided.
"I wanted to smash something and it was either Clay's door or Clay's head!" Ryoko growled as her hand reached under the fat doctor's multiple chins in search of his cleverly hidden neck. Apparently she found it, for she lifted him into the air. "Okay, Clay!" she shook the squirming mastermind for emphasis. "We're getting out of here! Show us where your escape ship is or I'll kill ya!" She dropped him on the floor and he scrabbled to his feet.
"Ryoko!" he choked out. "What…what is the matter? I thought you were happy. Good food, comfortable rooms, spending time with the man you love. I hear you are leading your therapy group! Why do you want to leave?"
"You monster!" Ryoko snarled. "You tricked me into hurting Tenchi! My relationship with Tenchi is the one thing in my life I can be proud of! The one thing I haven't sullied. Now I've hurt him, and I don't know if he can ever forgive me!"
"But…but…" Clay's single eye bulged out in fear. "Please! Don't hurt me! Tell me how I can make it up to you!"
"Criminal masterminds like you always have an escape ship nearby," she retorted. "Where is it?"
Clay's face became sly. "Oh ho! So that's it! Trying to help your precious Captain Tenchi escape, huh? You really had me fooled there, Ryoko. You won't hurt me. Captain Tenchi is a law abiding man, and he won't let you."
Tenchi yawned and stretched pretending to be bored. "I'm going for a walk, Ryoko," he said. "Can I get you anything while I'm gone?"
"Yeah, how 'bout a coffee?" Ryoko replied as she massaged her fist. "Get me a Startrekbucks double latte, none of the cheap stuff."
"Whu?" gasped the sweating Clay.
"Can do," the captain responded as he left the room.
Clay watched the ruined door shut behind Captain Tenchi but turned when Ryoko opened and shut a drawer on his desk.
Ryoko smiled mischievously. "Well Doctor, looks like its just you… me… this drawer… and your balls." She slammed the drawer shut for emphasis.
Doctor Clay looked as if he was having trouble breathing.
After visiting the colony's cafeteria, Tenchi strolled leisurely back to Clay's lab. Since there was a Ryoko-sized hole in the door he had no trouble hearing the sound of a drawer slamming and the shriek of a man in pain. After a start of surprise, Tenchi smirked and continued down the hall.
By the time he got back, Clay was spilling his guts. "There's a secret passage that leads to a monorail," the sweating scientist explained. "It will take you to a hidden hanger where I have a spaceship, but it won't take off unless you give the computer the correct access code!"
"And would you kindly tell us what the code is, perchance?" Ryoko asked with false courtesy.
Clay erupted into indignant rage. "If I tell you that, I'll have nothing to bargain with!"
"You know what would go with this coffee?" Tenchi suggested. "Donuts. I think I saw some donuts in the cafeteria. You want me to get you some?"
"Sure, Tenchi," Ryoko winked as she sauntered over to Clay's desk. "Some donuts would really hit the spot."
Clay looked like he was going to cry.
Hundreds of lightyears away, the USS Pioneer warped through the cosmos at speeds that scientists of earlier centuries would claim was impossible.
In her cabin on deck five, first officer Lydia Ayeka confronted an android that looked exactly like Captain Tenchi. "You heard what I said!" Ayeka clenched her fists and blinked through the tears in her eyes. "The real Captain Tenchi would never say that! Not out of the blue! Not in the middle of a classified mission to the Klingon border! I don't know who you are or what you've done to my captain but you better confess our I'll make you tell me!"
"Ayeka…" Tenchi's tearful duplicate reached out a hand to placate her. "You don't know what you're saying. Of course I'm James Tenchi. Who else would I be?"
"I don't know!" Ayeka fumed. "All I know is that I've failed my captain by allowing an imposter to take control of his ship! Oh Tenchi, how could I fail you…"
"You haven't failed me," the android assured her. When he put his hand on her shoulder, the purple-haired first officer slapped it away.
"Don't you touch me!" Ayeka growled. "Where is Tenchi? You're nothing like him! You're doing something to him, aren't you, and I will not allow it!"
"Zero," the android bowed his head and put his hands on his face. "I'm nobody! I'm just a big zero!" Sobbing in despair, the android turned and fled Ayeka's room.
"Tenchi!" Ayeka extended her hand to the retreating imposter, but then clenched her fist against her chest. The imposter seemed so real. Who was he? A shapeshifting alien? A robot duplicate? Could the real Tenchi be possessed by an obsessive ex-girlfriend? Any of those possibilities could be true, but the only way to find out was to have the ersatz officer who claimed to be James Tenchi arrested and brought to sickbay for an examination.
She went to the wall and activated an intercom. "This is Commander Ayeka!" she announced to the ship. "We have an intruder alert! There is an imposter aboard and he looks exactly like Captain Tenchi! He is to be subdued and taken to sickbay immediately! This is a direct order!"
Outside in the corridor, the fake captain Tenchi was biting his knuckle and trying to contain the emotions that Ayeka's reaction had forced to the surface. The real captain Tenchi would never lose control like that! If he wanted the tiniest chance of succeeding in his assignment or winning Ayeka's love he would have to…
The android's musings were halted when he heard Ayeka's shipwide announcement. "This is Commander Ayeka! We have an intruder alert! There is an imposter aboard and he looks exactly like Captain Tenchi! He is to be subdued and taken to sickbay immediately! This is a direct order!"
Instinctively, the imposter flattened himself against the wall and glanced left and right. If he were functioning rationally, he would be able to turn the tables on Ayeka and convince the crew that she was the imposter.
But he wasn't functioning rationally. Indeed, the sting of Ayeka's rejection had released powerful emotions that threatened to cause a cascade failure in his positronic net. Tears stung his eyes and conflicting impulses went through his systems. Lashing out, running away, surrender, self-destruction, they all seemed like viable options, but a decision could not be made. He kept changing his mind in nanoseconds. The logical option would be to hide until his efficiency returned to acceptable parameters.
He had to shed Tenchi's form. Had to look like someone else. But who? Whose form should he take? There had to be somebody who no one would suspect no matter how irrationally (s)he acted.
As if in answer, the android spotted a nameplate on the door directly across from him. Lieutenant Barbie Mihoshi, 5C 46
The door to Mihoshi's quarters slid open, but the dizzy blonde didn't hear a thing. She was sleeping in her bed wearing pink pajamas and clutching a worn teddy bear. Drool escaped her lips as she muttered. "Why Captain Tenchi, this is so sudden!" Snores and giggles were emitted from the dozing damsel as a shadow fell over her. "Tee-hee! Why Tenchi! I can't believe you're taking me to Wrigley's Pleasure Planet!"
Shadow enveloped the android's face as it stared at her prostrate form. Tenchi's features melted like wax as the intruder grew and blonde hair erupted from its head. In moment's Barbie Mihoshi's exact duplicate was staring impassively down at that the sleeping siren. The difference was that the standing Mihoshi was in uniform and frowned with cold cruel eyes…
Next: Enemy Among Us
