Tenchi Trek
By Galaxy1001D
Starring Tenchi Masaki as Captain James Jean-Luc Tenchi
Washu Hakubi as Science Officer Washu
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
Special Guest Star Ryoko Hakubi as the Space Pirate Ryoko
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, the author, or this website.
Based on "Star Trek" created by Gene Roddenberry
And "Tenchi Muyo" created by Masaki Kajishima
Chapter 12: Ryoko Bares It All
"Captain's log, supplemental. The enigmatic being calling herself 'Tsunami' has stranded the space pirate Ryoko and myself on a barren world, without food, water or shelter."
Tenchi's log update was interrupted by Ryoko's mocking attempt to imitate his voice. "Captain's log, I'm so bored that I'd rather play with my miniature recorder than entertain a beautiful woman…"
"Ryoko!" he scolded as he erased his last entry. "Now I have to record it over again!"
"What's the point?" the entrancing outlaw shrugged. "There's nothing to report. There's just you, me, some weeds, some cliffs, and some smeggin' rocks!" She stopped her tirade when Tenchi hugged his body and shivered. "Now what's wrong?"
"Not to complain, but some space pirate destroyed my shirt," Tenchi complained. "Every breeze that cuts through this canyon really bites into my skin."
"Okay, ya big baby," the space pirate retorted. "I'll fix your shirt." She handed him an intricate silver ring. "This ring can create new clothing out of the molecules of the clothes that you are wearing. Put the tattered remains of your shirt on and concentrate on the way your uniform is supposed to look."
Tenchi draped the golden tatters around his neck like a scarf and put on the ring. He closed his eyes and concentrated. "Nothing's happening," he muttered.
"C'mon, don't you earthlings have enough psychic power to fill up a silly putty egg?" Ryoko slapped his bare back causing him to make a high-pitched sound. "Concentrate Tenchi! Think about your uniform! You are on the bridge sitting in your chair like it's a throne…the buttons and controls are making annoying beeping sounds…"
Tenchi closed his eyes and his brow wrinkled in concentration. Suddenly his body was clothed in a white light. He was in a strange flowing white outfit with a green collar and a purple tunic. He wore a headband and black stripes marked his cheeks. Hanging from his shoulders were poofy white cotton balls. "What is this? Am I supposed to be some sort of Chinese acrobat?"
"Try again," Ryoko offered.
He closed his eyes again and the costume changed into his familiar uniform with the gold shirt and black pants. "Here," he said as he took off the ring and offered it to Ryoko. "You better take it back before I'm dressed in a Santa Claus suit."
"Would I get to sit on your lap if I was a good girl?" Ryoko teased as she took the ring and slipped in on her finger.
"Ryoko!" the captain scolded. "Stop that!"
"Okay, okay," the pirate said as she turned and strode out to a flat sunny part of the ravine. "Don't get your military underwear in a knot."
"Sorry," Tenchi shrugged. "I guess I'm a little on edge."
"That's okay," Ryoko smiled. "I can be a real bear sometimes." Suddenly she was covered in a white light and then she was covered in nothing at all. She was completely nude, with only an incredibly thick blue towel to hide all that she owned. Soon she wasn't even hidden by that as she spread the towel on the ground and lay down on it.
"Ryoko!" exclaimed a flustered Tenchi. "What are you doing?"
Ryoko relaxed with her arms behind her back, crossing her ankles idly and closing her eyes to avoid the sun's glare. "Well, since there's no food, and no sake, I'm going to have to recharge my energy from the sun."
"What?" Tenchi put his hands over his eyes so he could continue to face the naked woman.
"Don't be so embarrassed," Ryoko scolded. "Look, it takes a lot of energy to shoot plasma bolts, teleport, fly, and phase through solid objects. Find me a source of carbohydrates and I'll put my clothes back on!"
"You can phase through solid objects?" Tenchi uncovered his eyes. "Doh!" He blushed and turned his head quickly. Undisguised by clothing, Ryoko's lithe body was revealed to be as attractive as a supermodel's. If her torso was painted green it would have been appropriate for an Orion slave girl, thought by many to be the most irresistible in the universe. Tenchi kicked himself for obsessing over the pirate's breasts when there was so much more important things to think about. Like how uncomfortable his pants were getting at the moment.
"Hello!" called Ryoko's cheerful voice. "You must like what you don't see!"
Tenchi blushed a bright crimson and sat down with his back to the pirate so she wouldn't see his front. He prayed that his trousers wouldn't rip as easily as his shirt had.
"Now you're just being rude," Ryoko scolded. "If you're going to turn your back, why don't you sit closer to me so we can carry on a normal conversation?"
"Maybe I should continue to look for food, water, and shelter," he called back.
"We haven't had any luck in that direction so far," she pointed out. "Come back here and take a load off. There will be plenty of time to forage later."
"Okay." He took a deep breath and walked over to Ryoko, trying the entire time to gaze into the distance and keep his eyes from straying down to the beautiful buccaneer. The buccaneer who was buck-naked. "Damn these teen-age hormones," he muttered under his breath. He sat down directly behind the seductive cyan-haired siren and hugged his knees.
"Say, I've been meaning to ask you," Ryoko began.
"Only this once," Tenchi interrupted. "'I've been meaning to ask you.'"
"What?"
"Don't want you to think that I have no sense of humor," he smiled. He heard a quiet chuckle, and then felt the pirate leaning up against him. "What?" he gasped.
"I'm just giving you a back rest," Ryoko assured him. "Don't get bent out of shape. I won't bite…at least, not until you're in the mood for it."
Tenchi felt so hot under the collar that he was tempted to take off his gold shirt, but that would expose him to her naked back, and he couldn't trust himself if he did that. "So…um…what was your question?" he asked while trying to get his mind to work and his heart rate to slow down.
"How did a boy your age get command of a starship anyway?" Her wild greenish white hair tickled the back of his neck. "I mean, you are supposed to be the senior officer, right?"
"I'm older than I look," he sighed.
"Well you'd have to be. You don't look much older than fifteen." There was an awkward silence and Tenchi shifted uncomfortably. "Nineteen!" Ryoko corrected. "You don't look older than nineteen!"
"Thanks," Tenchi shrugged sadly.
"So how old are you anyway?"
"I'm forty-seven," he sighed again.
"Wow!" she exclaimed. "That's one hell of a face lift!"
"I had a transporter accident last year," he explained. "It erased the bits of data in my genes that keep track of my age or something. So now I'm growing up all over again."
"So, you're aging normally, it's just that the clock has been set back?" she asked.
"Yeah, that's it," Tenchi let out a breath and leaned back against the skyclad siren. "My guess is that I've got over three decades of extra time added to my life."
"You lucky dog, you!" Ryoko giggled. "You get what most people would kill for! Extra time to live your life all over again! To try the path not taken!" Tenchi felt her back wiggling with excitement against his. "So tell me, what are you going to do with your extra years?"
"I don't know," Tenchi admitted. "All my life I've wanted to be a starship captain…"
"That's it?" The pirate sounded disappointed. "You never had any other hopes and dreams?"
"It takes a lot of dedication to get to this point you know," Tenchi insisted. "It takes a special kind of person to take the responsibility that comes with command over people's destinies…"
"I guess that's why starship captains are so sexy, even if they are sticks-in-the-mud." Ryoko mused. "Power is sexy. There's no two ways about it." Her tone changed to a scold as she glanced over her shoulder at the adolescent captain. "Still, there is such a thing as getting stuck in a rut. You've got to be the most sexually repressed person I've ever met. You've got a ship full of girls hot after your body and you hold them all at arms length. You're marooned on a planet with a beautiful woman and all you can think about is getting back into your uniform. For a guy who can play god aboard his starship, you really enjoy putting on the shackles, you know?"
Tenchi was about to retort with a comment about power and responsibility, but instead he held his breath for about ten seconds. He let it out slowly and said, "You're probably right."
"C'mon, you find me at least a little cute, don't you?" Ryoko hugged her legs.
"Ryoko, I find you irresistible," The words were out of Tenchi's mouth before he could stop them; right now he just felt too tired. It was amazing how much energy he could expend just sitting still leaning against a naked woman.
"You sure know how to hide it!" Ryoko's accusation gave the boy a jolt of adrenaline. "You act like I've got the plague or something!"
"No, its not that," Tenchi shook his head. "The problem is that I can't trust myself in a teenage body. Ever since my accident I've become such a pervert! Do you know what it's like to want somebody so bad it hurts? That's what it's like being a teenage boy commanding a bridge filled with beautiful women."
"There's nobody around now," Ryoko insisted. "What's your problem?"
"I-I guess I've held myself in check so long that I don't know how to release myself," he mused. "You're right. I cling to this uniform like a suit of armor. I don't know how to relax."
"Yeah," Ryoko sighed, then changed the subject. "So what were you like when you were in your forties? Were you bald and flabby or what?"
"Nope," Tenchi smiled as he shook his head. "I was really built! And I had a great head of hair too. I kept myself in great shape. It took years in the gym to build a physique like that, but now I have to start all over." He glanced over his shoulder at Ryoko and chuckled. "I guess I wouldn't be as embarrassed about being naked. Last year I was quite a man."
"You still are," Ryoko glanced back to meet his gaze. Her face had lost the predatory nature that defined the space pirate's features, replaced by an expression of gentleness and understanding. They smiled at each other for almost a minute before they turned their heads to gaze into the distance.
"I really envy you," Tenchi said, breaking the silence. "You are so free. The space pirate Ryoko, maybe the most liberated woman in the galaxy. You do what you want and defy what society expects without care." He chuckled self-consciously. "I, on the other hand, have devoted myself to rules and regulations. Since my accident I'm so afraid of endangering my career that I'm passing up chances to enrich my life beyond my wildest dreams. I mean, look at us. Here I am in my uniform while you are so free, not even clothing restricts you! We make quite a pair, the outlaw and the starship captain."
"Are all Starfleet captains that profound?" Ryoko asked with a mocking sweetness.
"It's a required course at Command School," Tenchi replied. "Every starship captain is expected to be able to philosophize and consider the deeper meanings of our actions. It's supposed to help us understand new civilizations and contemplate the repercussions of our actions."
"You've got that part down pat," Ryoko smirked, then her voice softened. "Still Tenchi, too much of a good thing can be as bad as too little."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean total freedom means no ties. No obligations. No friends, just contacts. It's a pretty lonely life."
"How did you get such lonely life, anyway, if you don't mind my asking?" Tenchi's voice had become quiet and gentle. "I mean, now that I've gotten to know you, you don't seem to be the criminal type. How did you get to be a space pirate?"
"I've never thought of myself as a space pirate; I've just been a girl in trouble with the law." Ryoko gazed out into the distance and took a deep breath. "I grew up in an orphanarium on Jurai; I never knew who my parents were. The Jurai plutocrats had allowed it to be constructed in the back of the Ayeka family's extravagant gardens to show how caring and thoughtful they were." At that last comment, the pirate's voice had a touch of bitterness.
"I never really fit in with the other kids," she admitted. "I used to hop the fence and play in the Ayeka family's gardens. I could lose myself in all that beauty and let my imagination roam…" her voice sounded sad, then the bitterness returned. "Until some purple-haired brat ratted on me! She was so mean! She acted as if I was an invader and that she was a princess or something!"
"Yeah, kids can be cruel," Tenchi nodded.
"It wasn't long before I escaped from the orphanarium and struck out on my own. I opened a pottery booth to raise money, but the Jurai plutocrats closed that down too. It was the same brat from the Ayeka family…grrr!"
"The Ayeka family?" Tenchi suddenly paid close attention to her story. This explained why the pirate was so rude to his first officer!
"Yeah…thanks to them I got sent back to the orphanarium until I was a teenager. Then I got a job at a hotel on Risa cleaning rooms. I tell you, the customers there thought they were royalty or something; they treated me like a slave! But when I was out on the ocean I felt so…happy. It was so quiet…how I envied those born into privilege! That's when I decided to walk my own path, to make my own rules! I was sick of people in power telling me what to do and lording it over me! I was sick of being the little guy, from now on I'd follow my own rules, and to hell with anyone else's! The only one who would look out for me, was me, and I'd look out for number one!" Ryoko was quiet for a moment. The silence was deafening after her outburst. When she finally spoke her voice was much softer. "The only problem with being number one is…there usually isn't a number two. Being number two wouldn't be that bad…then I wouldn't be alone."
"I guess I can relate," he nodded. "Cliché as it sounds, it's lonely at the top. The problem with being number one is that one is singular, as in only one. We work hard at gaining power and freedom, only to discover that loneliness is the price…" A thought occurred to him. "If people with power and privilege irritate you, what do you see in me? I can't think of a more overbearing example than a starship captain."
"You aren't like most people," Ryoko smiled gently. "You give everyone a chance, whether it's a girl in suspicious circumstances, a ditzy incompetent helmswoman, a transporter operator who's too young for her job or an overbearing, anal-retentive brat who's too young to be first officer. You are humble and generous, and gallant in your own quiet way. When you take the arrogance way from the power it's quite sexy."
"I never thought of it that way." Was that why so many of his female officers seemed to be interested him? Or did they find it kinky for their captain to resemble a teenager? They were quiet for a moment, then Tenchi spoke again. "I'm curious. How did you get your super powers anyway? I mean, teleportation? Flying? Energy bolts? Can every Burchardian do that?"
"No," Ryoko admitted. "I guess I'm just special."
"So what happened?"
"I was part of a top-secret government experiment to create the ultimate super-soldier," she sighed. "They took people without families in case something went wrong…"
"What?" Tenchi gasped. "You're kidding right? Top-secret government experiments? Are you making this up?"
Ryoko laughed self-consciously. "Yeah."
"Thought so," Tenchi crossed his arms.
"I guess I was born with them," Ryoko admitted. "You know how most people have a double helix DNA?"
"Yes…" Tenchi wasn't sure were this was going.
"I've got a quadruple helix," Ryoko confessed. "The genetic specialist says that my genes are too organized to be random. It looks like I've been genetically augmented. I've got no idea who did it or when it happened. It could have happened before I was born. It was after I saw the specialist that I became a pirate. I feel so violated!"
Tenchi took a chance and glanced behind him. Ryoko was wearing a green gown with a high collar. Over the gown was pink tunic bound with a black belt. She was hugging her bare legs that peeked out of the slash in the front of her outfit. There was a good chance that this story was true; Ryoko didn't feel comfortable anymore. To lighten the mood he asked her, "Out of all those stories you told me, which ones were lies, and which ones were the truth?"
Ryoko turned to smile at Tenchi. "Why Tenchi, they were all true."
"Even the lies?"
"Especially the lies."
Next: Ship-shape