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.

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Chapter 12... Calm before the storm...

( Aboard the Mikagami... )

Lady Seto kamiki Jurai stood on the bridge of her Tree-ship, over seeing the cleanup of the recent battle...

Having Seina and the Kamidake II appear first and act as bait had worked as planned, and the Raider's ships had swarmed in around it...

Thus when Lady Seto and her Juraian task force appeared, the Raiders had panicked and tried to scatter, but it was too late...

Several were in a position where they had a chance to get away, but the appearance of the Ryo-Ohki, out of no where, made short work of them...

When the first estimates started coming in, small scout and patrol crafts had come up with a total of just over two dozen Raider ships...

And if first reports were correct, about a fifth of the ships were the newer, more powerful assault ships, just like those that had tried to destroy the Juraian light cruiser Dark Sun some time before...

But there was also a down side to the numbers, they weren't matching the estimates made of the number of Raiders believed to be in the area

SO, it was possible that one or two had managed to escape...

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As expected, there had been NO survivors among the ships left behind, for unlike Pirates, Raiders didn't surrender...

As they had never given any quarter or shown any mercy, they were given none...

And if about to be taken alive, they would always commit suicide...

At any rate, if the ship's crews was dead, unconscious or the ship was about to be captured, the Artificial Intelligence or AI aboard each Raider ship had been programed to destroy it's selves ...

As it was, a couple of fleet ships had been damaged when raider ships got too close before they self-destructed...

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Sipping her tea and Seto watched the screen as her units checked out the wrecks for any useful data...

It was highly unlikely, but you never knew...

She was relaxed and enjoying a job well done...

She had certainly lived up to her nickname today...

The Devil Princess of Jurai...

She smiled...

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Some thing in the corner of the screen caught her eye...

It was the undamaged Kamidake II...

Because Seina had put 100 percent of the Kamidake's power into reinforcing the shields as soon as they dropped into real space, they had been protected long enough for all the Raiders to swarm and for Lady Seto to show up...

However it had greatly drained the Kamidake's power supply, to the point where it couldn't have defended it's self from a troop of Juraian Girl Scouts, saleing cookies...

So, Lady Seto had one of the fleet's largest metal Cruisers dock with the Kamidake to not only transfer energy and but to provide shields until the Kamidake was fully recharged...

It would also allow the crew of the kamidake to relax a while...

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Seto was quite sure that professor Washu would be on board, examining little Fuku, to make sure she was alright...

Like Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki, Washu had created Fuku and even considered Fuku as one of her children, sort of her newest, youngest daughter...

Captain Seina had reported that Tenchi had wanted to take Ryo-Ohki down to the local settlement to make contact with the settlement's leader and see how things were...

But they wanted to check with her first and she had agreed...

With Seina and Tenchi away, that meant there were only females aboard the Kamidake II at the moment...

Professor Washu, Tenchi's three wives and Seina's eight...

A glimmer danced in Lady Seto eyes, she bet there were going to be some really juicy stories being exchanged, while the males were away...

She smiled as she had a thought...

Perhaps she'd drop in and see what the two families had been up to...

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( Aboard the Kamidake II...)

The Kamidake's Conferance-recreation room wasn't very big, so there hadn't been all that much room to begin with...

As the Kamidake was under going recharge, only a half crew needed to be on-duty and only as a safety measure...

The other half and their guest found themselves a bit pressed for space, as they occupied the room's three couches ...

On one couch was a pair of young females, one with dark hair, the other, younger looking with long red hair, both drinking tea...

Across a small table were three more females, one with short blonde hair, another with brown hair...

Between them, sat a young girl with greenish hair and an impish smile, all three were also drinking tea...

A sixth female, with long black hair, was sitting on the arm of the third couch, ...

Her attention was on the blonde haired female, who was taking up the whole couch, asleep...

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It was the youngest girl who spoke up first...

Although she looked to be only about ten years old, she was really the second oldest female in the room, a fact only a few outside this room knew...

" Should we wake her?... "

The object of her inquiry, was the sleeping blonde on the third couch, Mihoshi Kuramitsu Masaki, a Galaxy Police officer and now, a Princess of the Juaian Empire...

The dark haired female, Princess Ayeka Jurai Masaki turned to her Mother-in-law, Washu Hakubi, the oldest female in the room and saw that impish gleam in her eye...

As one, they both turned back, smiles on their faces and replied...

" It's safer if we didn't... "

A soft, sweet voice floated up from the direction of the sleeping figure...

" Ah... Washu... "

Followed by the soft sound of snoring...

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Washu smiled as she watched the other girls get their first experience of Mihoshism...

Things just seem to happen when Mihoshi was awake, some times even when she was sound asleep...

Ayeka managed to hide a smile at the other girl's reactions, it had become entertaining for members of the Masaki Family to see people's reactions to Mihoshi...

She knew that Washu had some thing called a 'pool', where people placed bets on things, like how many disasters Mihoshi created each month...

She had reason to believe that not only was Nobuyuki, Tenchi's father, involved, but also her brother Yosho, as well as her father, Azusa, the Emperor of Jurai...

And from inquires that she and Sasami had received, she was beginning to suspect that Lady Seto, Lady Airi and even both the Queens might be involved...

It would explain why her mother treated the four of them to a special dinner LAST month...

But, no matter what others thought, any one of them would jump in to defend her, if her life was threatened, even the First Princess of the Jurian Empire...

Thou, it was usually to protect the rest of the universe, from her...

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Of the three sitting across from her, the young green haired female had been the quietest, but Ayeka knew that was just her way...

Though she looked only 10 years of age, Neju Na Melmas was an ex-priestess of the planet Melmas and over 2000 years old...

To her right with short blonde hair, was Amane Kaunaq, a former galactic super-model and heiress to a rich upper class family, who'd become a Galaxy Police officer...

Against her family's wishes...

On the other side was the brown haired first officer of the Kamidake II, Kiriko Masaki, who was also a distant member of the Juraian Royal Family as well as a GP officer...

Out of the corner of her eye, Ayeka could see the fourth member of the Kamidake II's crew, quietly sipping tea and watching Mihoshi sleep...

This dark haired female had many reasons to be eyeing Mihoshi...

Mihoshi was famous or infamous, throughout the Galaxy, for being more feared by Pirates than Lady Seto or even the bounty-hunter Nagi Kaysumoro...

Without any family, Ryoko Balta had worked her way up through the Daluna Pirate Guild to being almost as famous as that feared Demon Pirate, Ryoko Hakubi...

But recently things had changed, she had not only learned some thing about her past, but she had gained a bright new future, with a truely loving family...

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But that still didn't stop her from staring at the sleeping figure...

Even after meeting and getting to know Princess Mihoshi, Ryoko still couldn't believe that this shy, sweet young female was the same Detective First Class Mihoshi Kuramitsu she heard so much about...

But, as one of Daluna's top Captains, she'd been one of the few that had seen the secret surveillance footage take of that disastrous Morning Star Raid...

A raid where a number of the Daluna Pirate Guild's most powerful pirate Captains had managed to stop a large Rich Juraian star-liner within Juraian space and had been in the process of robbing the rich passenger right under the nose of the mighty Juraian Empire...

It was expected to be THE biggest single raid in decades...

But that was when the Detective/Princess walked in looking for some thing to eat...

Ryoko and the other Captains of the Guild had watched as some of the most fearless Pirates in the guild suddenly fled in terror from the smiling female...

Meeting the infamous GP Detective had been almost as shocking as her first meeting with her namesake, the legendary Demon Pirate, Ryoko Hakubi, who every one had thought dead for almost 700 years...

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Woosh!

Speaking of the devil, or in this case Demon...

An attractive female suddenly appeared in the room, out of no where...

While her appearance caused raised eyebrows among the four members of the Kamidake's crew, Princess Ayeka and professor Washu continued to drink their tea...

To them, the comings and goings of Her Royal Highness, Princess Ryoko Hakubi Masaki was as common place as breathing...

Besides, using her mental link with her mother (Washu) and her implanted link with her sister/wife (Ayeka), she had let them know she was coming...

Tenchi had gotten her do this to avoid startling Ayeka, which usually led to fireworks...

This, in turn, had led to a decrease in repair bills as well as a much more cheerful home life...

Ryoko smiled at the four sets of wide eyes...

" You girls haven't started without me, have you?... "

She saw officers Amane and Kiriko glance at each other and blush... "

Ryoko sat down between Ayeka and Washu on the couch...

" So...What have you girls been up to since we last saw you?... "

Now, all four GP officers were blushing...

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( Royal Palace... )

The elegant lady sat on a bench beneath a small tree on the edge of the grass covered field watching a dozen very young, laughing, giggling children play in it's center...

At the moment, they were concentrating on holding down the older male at the bottom of the mass of wiggling body parts...

A voice arose from the bottom of the pile...

" HEY!... Unfair!... No tickling allowed... "

The giggling, laughter and wiggling continued...

However, shortly a high pitched Giggle informed all that the tickler had just become the tickled...

Lady Funaho smiled behind her fan, so as not to let the other half dozen people watching the children know who she was rooting for...

Even at three girls to every boy, she was still cheering her fellow females on...

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A hand on her shoulder brought her back to the present...

Without turning she knew who it was...

Second Queen Misaki Masaki Jurai, her fellow wife/sister and also head of the Royal Guard...

Hiding her lips behind a small fan, Misaki spoke in a low voice, for Funaho's ears only...

" Mother sent word... The Raiders in the Badlands were surprised and destroyed... "

No one could see Queen Funaho smile...

" Using the Kamidake as bait worked as planned... "

Funaho nodded her head, she had worried about Seina and the girls...

" It seems even Ryo-Ohki showed up, out of no where, with Tenchi and the girls... "

Funaho smiled, some how that didn't surprise her...

" Washu was with them... "

THAT did...

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( The Masaki House... )

Officer Kiyone Makibi stood at the large picture window looking out at the light mist that hung over the lake...

After the attack a while back, Washu had replaced the regular glass with a special high resistance material that was used for star ship windows...

Not only was it stronger than steel, but Washu had modified it so that although you could see every thing outside quite clearly, any one trying to look in would only see an empty room...

Even if the whole family was standing there looking out!...

" A Juraian for your thoughts?... "

Kiyone turned to find a smiling young lady approaching...

In her Terran every-day wear, fellow GP officer and member of the Juraian Royal Family, Lady Kiyone Tanaka looked just like any other human living on this planet...

" Just wondering what mischief Mihoshi's gotten herself into lately... "

Both Kiyone's looked at each other and started laughing...

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( Badland's settlement... )

A white haired male stood with a handful of others in an open area on the open planet surface...

They all wore special breathing masks when outside, it was second nature to all those who lived in the small settlement...

They were watching as a very unusual star ship, make of crystal, approached and hovered overhead...

A light appeared and soon two figures materialized on the small planet's surface...

Both were wearing cloaks, with the hoods up, a common practice in the badlands...

The slightly taller of the two pushed back his hood, revealing a young male with dark hair, wearing a breathing mask...

After a moment or two, the other pushed back his hood, revealing another dark haired young male...

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Stepping forward to greet his guest, Olde Sam, the leader of the settlement heard some uhhs and ahhs behind him...

He didn't have to look to know what had happen, as a small odd furry creature fell from the dark sky and landed softly on the taller guest's shoulder...

Coming to a stop before this one, he press his right hand to his chest and bowed his head slightly...

Some thing he did for VERY few people...

" Your royal highness!... "

The tall figure sighed and held up a hand...

" Please, Sam... Just call me Tenchi... "

Ole Sam smiled, in his long life time, he'd seen a number of special people appear who would change the Galaxy...

Kagato had been such a person, but for all the wrong reasons...

Crown Prince Tenchi Masaki was another rising star...

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Olde Sam glanced around, but saw no one else...

" Don't tell me your wives let you come alone?... "

Tenchi smiled and shook his head...

" Not likely... They and little Washu are above us, aboard my friend's ship... "

Sam noticed that the other person was a young male wearing a Galaxy Police uniform...

If he recalled his ranking, correctly a Captain's uniform...

He wondered if this was the help the GP Grand Marshal had mentioned was coming...

Tenchi interrupted his thoughts...

" Sam... I'd like to introduce my oldest and best friend... Seina Yamada of the Galaxy Police... "

Sam smiled as the shy young man stepped forward and bowed slightly...

Sam's eyebrow went up, this kid must be in his early to mid teens, how could HE be in charge of a GP ship?...

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( Near the Masaki Shrine... )

The young boy sat with his back against a large tree, his eyes closed...

Taking slow, deep breaths, he focused his mind on his surroundings...

He'd found that by concentrating and remaining very calm he could better sense things around him...

Slowly he began to reach out...

Almost at once he could sense something off to his left...

Opening his eyes, he turned his head and glanced in the direction the feeling had come from...

A short distance away, he could see the top of the stairs that led down to the Masaki house and the gate to the temple...

A figure stepped into his view as it prepared to decend the long stairs...

The boy's eyes widened as he recognized the figure, even at this distance...

The priest of the near-by Shinto temple, his Sensei...

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At the stair top, Katsuhito stopped and glanced down the trail to the practice field, and the figure under the tree...

He had felt the surprise his new student expressed...

Washu had been correct, the young boy had a great talent, which seem to be awakening...

Seeing young Rogon staring at him he smiled and nodded his head...

" You'd better hurry... Sasami should have our food ready... You don't want to keep her waiting!... "

Turning, he proceeded to descend the stairs, leaving a shocked student behind...

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Rogon shook his head, even at the compound, he could only sense people a short distance away, how was he able to his sensei at such a distance?...

What was happening?...

What was happening to HIM?...

What?... When?... Why?... How?..

His mind was confused, running in circles...

RUMMBLE!...

His eyes widened as his hands went to his stomach and his Sensei's words rang out...

SASAMI!... FOOD!...

Jumping to his feet with a grace from years of practice, he was off at a silent run, quickly reaching the top of the stairs and began his decent...

Looking below, he saw his Sensei standing at the house door, he increased his speed...

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( Royal Palace... )

Funaho glanced up at Misaki, who shrugged her shoulders...

She had no idea why the reclusive Professor Washu Hakubi would suddenly show up clear across the Juraian Empire...

For the Greatest Scientist in the Universe to travel so far, it must have been important...

Another reason for Funaho to talk to Washu, soon...

" I see Kiichi's feeling better... "

Looking up, she saw Misaki smiling...

Looking back at the pile, Funaho couldn't help smiling...

After the attack she'd been worried, especially with the haunted look in his eyes...

He'd only come out of his room a short time ago, a smile on his face...

She'd wanted to ask, but something inside said not too...

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Across the way two young girl stood, cheering him on...

His fellow Academy classmates had also been worried about him...

In fact, they had both been greatly depressed, until he reappeared...

Then they'd both been all over him, asking questions, telling him how worried they'd been about him, until the Royal wards had grabbed him and dragged him off to play...

Three boys and nine girls wanted their older brother to play with them, no matter what HE wanted...

That's how he'd found himself at the bottom of this wiggling, giggling pile...

And at the moment, he couldn't be happier...

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( A darkened room... )

Half on - half off the cold stone table, the unmoving body of a male lay, a pool of fresh blood growing larger by the second...

He'd had the misfortune of being the bearer of bad news...

Being new, he'd entered the quiet room and inquired who to report to...

He hadn't known to just leave the messages and get out as quickly as possible...

And thus had ended up on the wrong end of a blaster going off...

" OUR ASSAULT FLEET WAS DESTROYED?... "

The voice shook the room, no one moved, no one spoke...

The darkened figure leaned on the other end on the table, a blaster before him...

His head moved back and forth, observing the other dark figures in the room...

" WELL?... "

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Finally, a figure near the body very slowly and carefully reached over and removed the papers clinched in it's hand...

" Well?... "

The figure took a deep breath, there was no turning back...

" According to the first report sent in by the sole survivor of the fleet sent to search the Badlands, an odd star-ship appeared without warning... As ordered, the units attacked at once, but it's shields some how managed to protect it... In order to destroy it quickly, every weapon available was brought to bear on it from all directions... However, just as it seem the ship's shields were about to be breached, a large number of ships suddenly appeared and attacked... "

There was only silence...

" As all power had been transferred to weapons, shields were down and a large portion of the fleet was destroyed quickly, the rest fought back as best they could... At least one managed to get close to a large attacker before self destructing, damaging it... "

Silence...

" A number of survivors tried to make a break for it, but a single ship appeared and destroyed them... Even so, a single scout craft was able to get away and report back... "

They shuffled the papers...

" An early study of scans taken during the battle, indicate that the first ship may have been a GP star-ship, the Kamidake II... "

There were some mumbling in the dark...

" However, the fleet of ships appears to have been a Juraian Task Force escorting a Tree-ship... It is believed that this might have been The Devil Princess's Mikagami... "

The mumbling was louder...

" Finally... The last craft was clearly the Ryo-Ohki... Both from it's description and it's ability to take out all three assault craft so quickly... "

The room was silent...

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" Any thing else?... "

The figure studied the papers and carefully replied...

" At present, there is nothing else... The search still reported nothing... The scout's scans are being studied to discover how so many ships managed to evade our scanners... Reserve units have been alerted and all bases are accelerating repairs and upgrades to replace our loses... We were slightly ahead of schedule, this will put us behind for a while... "

There was no reply...

" At present, it is believed that we should be back on schedule within a few weeks... "

The speaker was breathing easier as he noticed that the figure at the other end of the table had leaned back, away from the table and the blaster...

" The Royal Family... AGAIN!... "

No one dared speak...

The figure leaned forward and banged his fist on the cold, stone table...

" Send word of our agent on colony 0315 and tell him CLIMB MOUNT NIITAKA... " (1)

" YES SIR!... "

The speaker was very glad to leave the room, especially when a very wicked laughter arose from the other end of the table...

That sound followed him as he hurried down the darkened hallway...

To be continued...

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Note:

(1) Niitakayama Nobore - "Climb Mount Niitaka" was the Japanese code word to signal the Imperial Japanese Navy to proceed with the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, December 7th. 1941...

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