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Tomobiki High School, two hours before supper...
"Bye!"
"See you tomorrow!"
"Oyasumi!"
As students headed off the grounds for home after a uniquely quiet day, four men shuffled through the main gate and headed north towards the Aisuru home. While some of the people passing them by gazed briefly on the four members of Class 2-4 who had effectively helped dominate the school social scene for a year, most others didn't give the members of Lum's Stormtroopers a second glance. Even so, those who did gaze upon Aisuru Satoshi, Urayamu Akira, Daremo Hiroyuki and Shitto Kōsuke did so with looks of barely masked disgust or open glee at the fact that the four chief fans of one Redet Lum had been brutally knocked off their high pedestals by their cunning "rival" Moroboshi Ataru.
"This is a disaster...!" Megane hissed as he tried not to allow the pained tears swelling in his eyes to flow down his cheeks to further show how much the man had been emotionally wounded by the events of the past few days. "Ataru and those damned sisters of his — especially this Tariko! — have been moving to drive poor Lum-san away from Earth all this time! And...and...and we...!"
"We didn't even see it coming until it was too damn late," Perm lamented, shaking his head. "Even if the evidence was right there in front of us because of the shipgirls, did we actually think people from That Planet were involved?! That Ataru's own sister actually had become THAT of all things?!"
"It's just like Mendō said yesterday before that prince showed up to try to grab Lum-chan!" Kakugari grumbled. "Ataru's freaking BEATEN us! He's had the ace cards all along! How the hell could we fight all the people he's got on his side when we didn't even know how much power he actually had?!"
"He played us all like harps!" Chibi snapped. "Lum-chan most of all! And there's no way that we can hope to see her win over him THIS time! Instant she hears the 'Y' word, she'll be running back home as quick as she can go!" The smallest of the Stormtroopers then pointed up. "And those SHIPS...!"
"Feh!" Perm spat. "Now there's no worry whatsoever about Lum-chan's dad moving to threaten Earth! Did you see the size of those things?! They're all built to TEN-TO-ONE scale from their old warship selves! Brooke-san's replica is two-thirds the size of the Kashin...and that's just a FRIGATE! Sumie-san's sister's replica is LONGER than the Kashin...and that's rated as a damned DESTROYER!"
"Gods!" Kakugari moaned. "Could you imagine what a starship version of YONAGA is like?!"
Clouds of literal doom loomed over their heads as they imagined what Redet Invader's reaction to confronting a space aircraft carrier that could probably swallow TEN Kashin-class battlewagons withing her hull would be like. Given Itō Yoiko's caustic attitudes towards aliens from Uru and allied planets as she had shown many times over since late September, any sort of bluster on the part of Lum's father would probably result in an instant beheading by the seventh carrier of Operation Z, followed by the complete WIPE OUT of the Urusian Defence Force as a whole to ensure no attempts at striking back on Earth would get anywhere save seeing many natives of the fourth world of Oniboshi very DEAD!
And if Ataru decided to have Lum directly targeted to deliver the lesson home...!
"Yeah!" Megane snarled. "Did you see the markings of those fighter jets that went after that Goa'uld ship? They were Sixth Naval Air Flotilla, Yonaga's air group! It's a sucker's bet there's a space version of Yoiko-san up there!" He gazed up, wondering if such a craft would make an appearance over Earth. "And those Canadian aircraft?! Those were SOPWITH CAMEL IIIs from their air cavalry corps! They were brought into service SEVEN years ago, guys! How the hell did anyone NOT know they were capable of flying in SPACE of all things?!" he demanded. "Gods, if Lum-chan's people find out...!"
"Nothing they can do now, 'Toshi," Kakugari lamented as he squeezed his friend's shoulder.
All of them moaned as they made their way towards the Moroboshi home. Even if in the end they would gladly stab each other in the back if such ensured none would stand in the way of winning the love of the warlord's daughter from Onishuto, they always stood together in protecting Lum from the problems she experienced living on Earth, especially when it came to her "husband". While they could have backed off and left Lum to be confronted by the massively changed Ataru in the wake of the encounter with his other fiancée, they stuck to her side. That brought them right into the literal gun sights of THIRTY-FIVE cruiser shipgirls plus ALL of Ataru's half-sisters and the OTHER shipgirls that eventually flocked to wherever said sisters currently lived; no matter how much Mendō Shūtarō tried to discern where that was, his people had failed again and again and again. And with Yiziba's power now openly in play — and with Lum facing the threat of ANOTHER man seeking her hand in marriage, which gave Ataru the excuse to leave Tomobiki once and for all! — any hopes of trying to get things back to some semblance of "normal" were ebbing away like the receding tides in the Bay of Fundy!
And with the threat of OTHER aliens like these Goa'uld looming in the air...!
"Wonder how the Americans are going to explain those snakes," Chibi noted. "I mean, Ayako-san's video is getting out on YouTube. It's now known that Hinako-chan was the one who brought Fujiko-chan and all those other destroyer shipgirls back, which started that whole mess! And with Ataru on Bikini, APOLOGIZING to Arizona-sama and Oklahoma-sama for his granduncle's part in the Pearl Harbour attack, then winning over those other shipgirls like Saratoga-san that got pulled out of the lagoon before Nagato-sama went racing up to board that Goa'uld ship and get those snakes...!"
"Did Rumiko-chan say anything about who was in charge of that bunch?" Perm asked.
"Some idiot named Hekau. He pretended to be a medicine kami in Egypt years ago," Megane answered. "He's a scientist — rather, WAS a scientist! — and wanted to get on the Goa'uld high council, which is about as far as any one of them could rise; that's what Ryūnosuke told me about them."
Kakugari made a face. "Shipgirls actually EAT those things?!"
"Wouldn't that be like some sort of cannibalism?" Perm asked.
Their leader moaned. "Hard to say, Kōsuke. Especially when you consider what Yiziba actually IS as a planet!" As the others gazed on him, Megane wryly warned, "Place where Raeburn-shihan's Power Jewel was made, remember? Place where all the mesonium in the Universe was effectively forged?"
Grunts escaped the others. "Yeah, that would be a tempting target, 'Toshi," Chibi noted. "No wonder this Doctor Destructo came out like she did back then to create the shipgirls' new bodies to fight them off. Heck, I wonder if the Oni Imperials people like Rumiko-chan and the others hate so much knew."
"Raeburn-shihan always said there were people like her on other planets," Megane noted...
...before he perked on hearing a woman's voice threateningly say, "...realize, Hideyuki-san, that if you actually do become Aiko-chan's admiral — then break her heart — we'll definitely BREAK you!"
All four looked down a side street...
...then they jolted on seeing Mifune Hideyuki being cowed by warning glares from five of the Kuwana sisters, the reborn Nagara-class light cruisers. Noting the once-supporter of the Stormtroopers was still standing tall despite his obvious fear of what Kuwana Nahoko and her sisters Izumi, Namie, Yura and Kunie were implying with looks that could literally melt lead, Megane felt a familiar, welcome rage overcome him. "MIFUNE!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, making Hideyuki and the shipgirls gaze their way. As the other Stormtroopers braced themselves to support their leader, Megane pointed accusingly at him. "HOW DARE YOU BETRAY YOUR OATH TO LUM-SAN BY EVEN THINKING OF TRYING TO FORM A RELATIONSHIP WITH ONE OF THESE SHIPGIRL FLOOZIES...?!"
He then awked as a hand backed with unholy power slammed down on his head.
"Are you threatening my fleet mate, Aisuru-san?"
That voice with its mix of Hokuriku, Kansai and western Kantō dialects — spoken with the consistency of liquid nitrogen — made the leader of the Stormtroopers gargle before he was effortlessly lifted by his head into the air, then turned to make him stare into a pair of VERY displeased brown eyes.
And given the kanji over her heart on her white sleeved battlesuit top...!
"K-k-Kaga-sama...?" Megane sputtered.
Oikawa Kei glanced at the other Stormtroopers out of the corner of her eyes, making all three instantly back away to avoid directly facing the battleship-turned-aircraft carrier's wrath. While effortlessly holding the gasping Megane in mid-air, the adopted native of Komatsu tilted her head slightly to gaze on the lead of her class. "Nagara-dono, what is going on here?" Kei coolly asked.
The cruisers and their sister's would-be boyfriend immediately bowed. "We were just reminding Mifune-san of his proper duties when it comes to our youngest sister, Kaga-dono," Nahoko answered. "That's when these four traitors to Tennō and humanity..." — she ignored the shocked gargles from Megane's friends on being called THAT yet again; Megane himself simply whimpered as Kei's grip on his skull tightened significantly — "...showed up and began lambasting Mifune-san for his supposed 'betrayal' of some 'oath' to the alien monster that was the cause of so much misery in this town for the last year and more. And right now, those three fools are going to scream out that it was actually the admiral's fault thanks to their own foolish belief that the alien monster can simply do no wrong."
Perm, Chibi and Kakugari yelped on hearing that assertion from the raven-haired adopted native of Gujō in the heart of Honshū north of Nagoya (where her namesake river had its source) and Sasebo (her place of construction)...before they awked as a phenomenal battle aura formed around Japan's third carrier. Megane himself felt his clothes smoke as the sheer heat of Kei's anger washed over him — stemming from the fact that her conversion from battleship to aircraft carrier resulted in very poor ventilation, resulting in quite stifling interior spaces regardless of outside weather — making him nearly piss himself in terror on confronting someone who seemed like Itō Yoiko herself in miniature.
Complete with a very classical, Imperial worldview.
"Um...what's going on, Kei-san?"
Everyone jolted, then heads snapped over...
"ATARU!" Megane screamed on seeing his former classmate nearby, flanked by two reborn Yūgumo-class "cruiser" destroyers who recently returned to duty, Kumasaka Nanami and Kumasaka Asami. "YOU GOT TO HELP ME! CALL THIS INSANE MONSTER OFF! SHE'S TRYING TO KILL ME!"
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
"I take it that Satoshi and his morons here were screaming away at your so-called 'betrayal' to Lum before Kei-san intervened, Hideyuki?" Moroboshi Ataru calmly asked as he looked around Kei to his former classmate that had been in a middle of a "discussion" with Kuwana Aiko's sisters moments ago.
As Megane gargled on realizing that Ataru wasn't going to bother with saving him, Hideyuki chuckled. "Y-yeah, man! The girls were giving me the big sister speech when it came to Aiko-san, then these loudmouths showed up and started screaming away before Kei-san showed up to shut it all down!"
"Do you wish me to kill this fool, Teitoku?" Kei coolly asked.
The other Stormtroopers whimpered at those words as Megane literally passed out. "You need to learn our type of propriety, Kei-san," Ataru advised as he held up a finger while reaching into the small picnic basket Asami carried in her free hand; naturally, both she and Nanami had wrapped their arms around his. Pulling out a breaded and grilled slice of prim'ta just made by one Kisaragi Utako, he bit hard into it, crunching the fragile cartilage that served as its spine before munching down on the meat. "Damn!" he then declared after swallowing that hunk of flesh and sinew taken from an unsuspecting person's body in Steveston, a frown crossing his face at the very stale consistency of the normally sweet chicken-like flesh. "No wonder U-chan had to put so many spices into these things!"
"At least those lar'beke gotten by everyone that went to help Reiko-san against that Hekau creep will be much fresher, Shirei-kan," Nanami stated as she held up a finger, her eyes twinkling.
"Still," a new voice cut in, making people turn to gaze behind Ataru and his escorts. "You have to admit Utako-chan poured her heart out in what she did make with such stale materials, Teitoku."
"Hai, Anna-san, you're right," he affirmed as Aoki Anna came up to join them, a small bentō box full of baked prim'ta sections with fluffy rice and a nice salad in her hand, chopsticks in the other.
"Teitoku...you actually eat...lar'beke...?"
That was a starry-eyed Kei, who had casually tossed Megane into a handy telephone pole on seeing the man who had become the spiritual admiral for Japan's shipgirls EAT the flesh of one of the "children of the gods" who were the second known group of suicidal idiots to attempt to challenge the immortal power of the Healer of Destruction five millennia ago. "Well, this stuff is stale since it was actually cloned, but the girls I ran into on Pikinni are arranging to get at least a third of the haul from that idiot Hekau's crew, so we'll have the good stuff down here soon enough. It's like sweet chicken," he advised Hideyuki. As the other man nodded — consumption of snakes was unique but not unknown in many parts of Asia — Ataru pointed up. "Especially since Dionne-san is getting in contact with Emily-san to get her here so she could personally prepare the jerk's body for Reiko-san."
"'Emily-san', Teitoku?" Kei asked.
"Emily Austin, Kei-san," Ataru declared. "Battleship Texas."
The adopted native of Komatsu blinked. "Why Texas-sempai?"
A grin crossed his face. "You obviously have not yet experienced that wonderful thing called a Texas barbecue, Kei-san," Ataru noted before gazing on a now VERY curious Anna. "Meat cooked until it falls off the bone over hickory wood fire, served on a bun with pickles and onions done in a relish, marinated in a sweet tomato-based sauce, served with potato salad and all the fixings." As the adopted native of Kiryū behind him swayed at the thought of enjoying that, he added, "And if you want it spicy, I'm sure Emily-san could bring some jalapeño peppers that Shirayuki-chan could instantly turn into salsa that could even impress some of the Tribal girls that came to visit us earlier today." He perked. "Um...when you guys were travelling around the Pacific, did you swing up towards Vancouver?"
"Um...hai, we did, Teitoku," Kei affirmed as the other Stormtroopers exchanged stunned looks, surprised this whole confrontation had shifted around to focus on FOOD of all things! "Why do you ask?"
"Then you had poutine, I take it?"
As the Kuwana sisters squealed in anticipation, confused looks answered him from the others. "What is poutine, Teitoku?" a visibly shuddering Anna asked, trying to keep her voice even after hearing what the potential feast by the adopted native of Houston and Newport News would taste like.
The light cruisers gaped. "You went to Canada and never had POUTINE?!" Nahoko demanded. "Anna-san, what the heck?! It's the FOOD OF THE KAMI in that country! YOU NEVER HAD IT?!"
"We didn't have much money, Nahoko-san," Kei confessed. "Naomi-san did support us, but..."
"Imagine well-cut potatoes slices, baked and not fried," Ataru declared. As the recently-returned shipgirls focused on him, he winked. "Shirayuki-chan's recipe uses sweet potatoes, spiced with a mixture of soy sauce and sesame oil, then seasoned with chives, garlic, scallions and green onions." Noting Anna was openly drooling at the possibility of eating THAT, the male half of the Trickster of the Show added, "Then it is baked until golden brown before it's mixed with cheese curds Shirayuki-chan makes from the milk of black cattle, the type used to make Kōbe beef!" As the newcomers squealed at the idea of having something made from the most expensive cattle meat known in Japan, he moved to top it off. "Then she mixes the cheese curds AND beef — prepared with the same spices and seasoning she uses with the potatoes, by the way — before topping it all off with her special beef gravy, made with corn starch and cooked from that same beef she got the meat and cheese from..."
KK-KLONK!
In a flash, Kei caught Anna's dropped bentō just as the converted battlecruiser fell flat on her back, her brown eyes spiralling as the sheer sensory overload provided by Ataru overcame her. "I think we best get back to headquarters to make sure she's alright, Shirei-kan," Nanami warned.
"Hai, hai! You coming, Hideyuki?"
A rapid nod of the head. "Damn straight! I want to try that..." He then paused. "Er...how the heck do you say that?" He tried to stutter the strange syllables used by Yizibajohei. "Rarubbeke...?"
Ataru laughed. "Nanami-chan?"
"Hai, Shirei-kan!"
Seconds later, a massive explosion of water sent the Stormtroopers flying towards the Shakujii River, making nearby passers-by look up before they shrugged as they proceeded to their destinations...
Approaching the third Earth-Moon libration point, that moment...
«Subic Bay, this is Samuel B. Roberts. Ready to dock with war prize.»
«Roberts, this is Subic. Proceed at ten knots.»
«Understood.»
If anyone ever told the living kami of the first Nagato-class super-dreadnought that she would one day be able to fly in SPACE of all places, she would have most likely declared said person to be mad.
What Yamamoto Reiko was currently experiencing put paid to that notion quite quickly.
Fortunately, the merging of her soul with the memories and body of a first generation battle doll forged five millennia ago on a planet over two hundred light years from Earth was as seamless as it normally was in the Gifting process experienced by people such as the saccharine-inducing cute cosmic empath now with her on the wrecked bridge of Hekau's ha'tak; Reiko's younger sister Chiyoko had departed moments before with other shipgirls who had boarded this ship with the considerable haul of prim'ta to prepare them for quite the feast on Ōmure-jima. The ha'tak was being pulled by Samuel B. Roberts' tractor beams into the expanse of the ten-to-one scale version of the first USS Dewey — renamed USS Subic Bay in tribute to the old American base in the Philippines to prevent confusion with the Farragut-class destroyer, the adopted native of Hagi knew — now floating at one of five gravitation nexuses that allowed orbiting spaceships to hold station without using thrusters to keep in place. Given there were three such open-topped space docks here — all American, she noted from the painted flags on hulls and the black-shaded white hull numbers at both ends of the docking spaces' side walls — the growing United Nations effort to keep Earth free of alien encroachment had got off to quite the good start.
Also at this location, now secured to Subic Bay's starboard side, was the outer space version of a well-known collier-turned-repair auxiliary ship, the proud number 4 on her hull. Remembering what she happened to know of that starship's template, the once-flagship of the Combined Fleet could only grin in delight. Even if first generation battle dolls had incredible self-healing capabilities — which would be enhanced thanks to their Giftings and being rendered organic, such giving shipgirls like her much more diverse metahuman powers — having someone who understood what happened when naval warcraft had to be repaired from battle damage was being prudent. Having learned from her peers that certain shipgirls gained touch healing powers after their Giftings, things were definitely looking up.
If the Goa'uld had recovered from their war with the Healer of Destruction...!
A knock made Reiko perk. "Hey!" a voice called out.
Saeru Hinako turned before she smiled. "Ah! Jack-san! Samantha-san! Teal'c-san!"
Reiko rose, then returned the salute of the two Americans and the lone Jaffa — who rebelled against Apophis when second contact had been made between Earth and the "children of the gods" three years before — before she relaxed. "Colonel O'Neill. Major Carter. Master Teal'c. Both Hinako-chan and my peers have told me about your exploits against the lar'beke over the last couple of years."
"Ah, it wasn't much, Captain," Jack O'Neill affirmed as he took a look around, nodding in appreciation at the sheer level of damage the reborn THG Nagato did when had rammed headlong into the ha'tak. As the distant echos of securing clamps were heard while the Roberts elevated herself up out of Subic Bay's open dock space before banking to port to return to her patrol station — one of the bridge's main view screens were still operational — the native of Minnesota turned back to his "host". "You guys won't be left out of things to come once we get the Oni and the rest of that bunch out of Tomobiki on Friday. You saw Yonaga and the Crane Twins with DESDIV Seven hanging off nearby, did you?"
Reiko sighed. "I'd rather have a couple torpedo squadrons — four destroyer divisions with two to four cruisers as escort leads — protecting those three," she noted, clasping her hands in her lap. She perked as her nose twitched before she gazed on the native of Chulak. "Where's your prim'ta?"
Apophis' former first prime bowed. "The Specialized Warfare Regiment of Canada..."
"Successor unit to the War Hawks, Captain," Samantha Carter helpfully cut in.
"...developed treatments that allowed me to live with full health without a prim'ta, Lady Nagato," Teal'c finished, undisturbed by his friend's move to expand the reborn super-dreadnought's knowledge. "I gifted the prim'ta to Lady Haida after her summoning and Gifting in thanks. Much that there was a bond between it and myself, the coming of safi'ra such as yourself frightened it too much."
Reiko nodded. "Hai, the crew of this ship didn't even try to surrender. Even those who weren't armed with ma'tok staffs or zat'nik'tel pistols flung themselves on people with any weapon they could get their hands on to defend themselves. Even if I called the black flag raised, I was prepared to ensure those who did move to surrender would be saved." As the others nodded, she squeezed the bridge of her nose. "What are the plans for this ship, Colonel? Given that you have access to technology from more advanced worlds, converting it to our use would be a rather foolish waste of resources."
"We still need a lot of hard intel on recent movements, Captain," O'Neill responded. "Commodore Young — that's Vestal, by the way — will lead the equipment analysis before this thing is dumped into the Sun after it's stripped of anything valuable. If this yahoo was willing to charge into this solar system with so many potential hostile races all around the damned clock, something must be up."
"Ne, ne, Teal'c-san, what do you know about this silly creep?" Hinako asked.
A hum answered the Spirit of Innocence. "He is a rival of Nirrti, Lady Suiki," Teal'c answered. "He has few worlds under his command and always warned sponsors on the High Council to not fully trust Nirrti due to her drive to create hok'tar to confront your adopted race. Hekau is not known for boldness."
"So we've got no idea why he would charge here like that, eh, T?" O'Neill asked.
"Indeed."
Carter hummed, then walked over to one intact station, moving to tap controls. "Let me see if I can get into the flight logs," the native of Uxbridge in London mused, gazing on her team leader. "I don't know if there might be a bridge recording or not, but if one is there, I'll find it, sir."
"You do that, Carter," O'Neill noted. "Meantime, once she's locked in, you can head down with Hinako here and enjoy some good Texas barbecue, Captain. Captain Doolittle's getting Captain Austin to head over from where she was docked all these years to help Shirayuki with dinner tonight."
"A moment before you go, Reiko-san."
Reiko gasped before her head snapped over...
"Teitoku!"
A chuckle escaped the would-be leader of Operation Z as he walked in, currently accompanied by his transformed flagship. As Reiko's eyes misted at the fact that at least ONE Imperial warship survived that dark time with her crew alive and ready to stand once more to defend the Home Islands, Fujita Hiroshi and Itō Yoiko both accepted the American officers' salutes. "And what suddenly gained your interest, Major?" the native of Nagoya asked as he moved to stand beside the theoretical astrophysicist who was one of the people that determined how to make the Stargate retrieved in Giza finally work.
"I'm trying to get into the ship's logs to determine what made Hekau come into the system like he did, Admiral," Carter responded. "Teal'c just told us that he's not known to pull something like this. He's also a rival to one of the system lords we've had some prior dealings with: Nirrti." As Fujita scowled on hearing that name, she tapped a control. "Wait...got something here. Teal'c?"
The bald Jaffa came over to gaze at what his friend found, then he stared directly at Hinako. "This was an attack meant to strike directly at your brother, Lady Suiki," he announced, that making Hinako awk. "Hekau wished to find a way to capture Redet Lum as a way of upstaging Nirrti."
"But why...?" Carter asked.
"Unless this Nirrti has also taken interest in the Oni."
Eyes locked on the seventh carrier of Operation Z. "Why Nirrti?" Carter asked. "Why haven't big players like Apophis or Cronus moved in on Uru? Given that the Urusians were willing to invade last fall, that would have told the Goa'uld any hope of regaining control over Earth would result in a big intergalactic war. Technology wise, the Goa'uld have considerable advantages over the Urusians."
Reiko snorted. "The Goa'uld were insane even five millennia ago, Major Carter. Given their constant exposure to that false mesonium they use to power their technology — especially when they move to rejuvenate wounds — there's simply no telling WHAT could be going through their minds right now."
"Could Nirrti have agents now active on Uru, Samantha-san?" Yoiko asked.
Carter blinked. "A possibility."
"Indeed, Lady Yonaga," Teal'c affirmed. "She is well skilled in managing such agents."
Fujita gazed on his transformed flagship. "Yoiko-chan?"
The adopted native of Maizuru grimaced. "Hatsue-san, Utako-san and Nozomi-san will have to be advised to be on the lookout for such people when they move to transport young Ten home on Friday morning, Teitoku. If such has happened, those elements of the Union government who would be more sympathetic to our desires to chart our own path concerning self-defence may be threatened."
The true father of Japanese naval aviation nodded. "Samantha-san, your father allowed himself to become the host body of one of these Tok'ra I've been told about," he then stated. "Could he come here and help us better analyze what might be happening before we deploy any forces to Oniboshi?"
"I could have him contacted right away, sir," Carter affirmed.
"Please do so. In the meantime..." He faced Reiko. "Captain Yamamoto?"
The reborn super-dreadnought snapped to attention. "Hai, Teitoku?"
"In Tennō's name, you will take overall command of the Combined Shipgirl Force and base yourself on Ōmure-jima when not called to command your starship-self — which is being fitted out right now — in defence of the planet," Fujita ordered before he waved to Yoiko. "Captain Itō here will retain command of the elements of said force assigned to serve as the new Kidō Butai. Understood?"
"Hai, Teitoku!"
"Note one order that Tennō has given that WILL be obeyed, Captain," he added. "There will be NO thoughts of seppuku by any shipgirl who serves Japan. If you believe someone is about to become shiniguri, you will deal with it, either directly or with help from Saeru-san here." He waved to the native of Niigata who's injury on Pikinni Atoll had been enough to see Reiko reborn.
"It will be done, Teitoku!"
"Finally, given that Saeru-san's eldest sister Tariko Katabarbe-san is engaged in an act of subterfuge concerning her so-called 'wife', you will ensure everyone remains on or close to Ōmure-jima for the next forty-eight hours. There is a force of cruiser shipgirls in Tomobiki itself that will be ready to respond to any sudden moves by our current opponents, but Katabarbe-san has forged cordial relations with her 'wife's' three best friends, one of which is the crown princess of Neptune, whose people are forced to live now on the moon of Triton. This might ensure that when everything comes to a head on Friday, things will be peaceful and we will not have to deal with a sudden strike such as today."
"Hai, Teitoku!"
"What about Yoiko's sister, Admiral?" O'Neill asked.
Fujita sighed. "Yoiko-chan?"
Yoiko took a deep breath. "As Naomi-chan discovered, a teenage girl recently elevated into becoming a living arahitokami named Hitotsubashi Yurie-san was able to retrieve Yasuko-san's kami from her wreckage near Okinawa and shift it to where she resides now in Onomichi, Teitoku. Most likely, this is because a member of one of the construction units involved in both my construction and Yasuko-san's construction lives there. He most likely wished to have a chance to communicate with his ship once more since he served on her for some years." She shrugged as Fujita nodded in understanding. "As to why neither he nor anyone in Onomichi has reacted to the revelation of the existence of shipgirls, it is most likely because of the stalebloods in Geneva AGAIN forcing their laws on our land."
"I thought Shōwa Tennō declared in 1937 that Japan would no longer be part of that organization," Reiko immediately objected. "Did they actually force Japan to once more fall in lock-step with them?"
"They did not, Reiko-san. They only BELIEVE they do thanks to the power welded by Yomigawa-gensui as Mahō-Shōgun being diffused to the directors of the magical commanderies when the magical peace treaty was signed in 1952. The fools also mistakenly believe that the Magical House of Peers — which was established shortly after the Wars of Liberation ended to serve as an advisory committee to the commanderies — is the TRUE magical government of the Home Islands. While adherence to the Statute of Secrecy is still the law of the land, neither Shōwa Tennō nor his son released a Magical Imperial Rescript to renounce the original one to make Japan rejoin the Confederation."
"Which means that whoever is in charge currently in Chūgoku is defying Tennō's wishes in the end." Reiko growled. "Teitoku, I'll lead a force to Onomichi to ensure that Yasuko-san is brought back as we have been, then ensure the gaijin stalebloods are removed from the land." She gave the two Americans in the room a light smile. "At least you Americans can understand that, I believe."
"Given the way that the Magical Congress acts at times, I'm not too sure, Captain," Carter warned.
"Oh, joy...!" Reiko moaned, rolling her eyes as Hinako snickered...
Back in Tomobiki at the Mendō mansion, an hour before supper...
"Onii-sama?"
"Hai, Ryōko, what is it?"
"Who on Earth is THAT?!"
The scion of Japan's richest family tensed on hearing that sharp question from his younger sister, then he turned to gaze agonizingly upon the woman who bore his face standing nearby, she giving orders to several Kuromegane as the two heirs of the largest family fortune in the nation awaited supper in the mansion's main lounge. "That was the result of a foolish mistake of mine back in March."
Mendō Ryōko's eyes widened. To hear Shūtarō admit something like THAT in public — and to HER! — was damn hell near a prodigy. "I don't understand," the current sophomore attending Seiran Girl's High School in nearby Kodaira trilled as she gave him an impatient look, clearly wanting to hear more.
"Just before spring break, there was a film project on school violence being made," he explained. "I accidentally destroyed that camera, then Lum-san loaned one she possessed to see the project completed. Something in the camera malfunctioned, then replicas of all the actors — myself included — were literally created from nowhere. We thought them eliminated when the camera shut down..."
He shrugged as he gazed warily upon Mendō Tachiko while she sent off several of his bodyguards to do whatever she wanted. On her moving into the mansion, their father Hajime had given the Passionate Pugilist control over a quarter of the Kuromegane that served the overall family. "After that business with Moroboshi's other fiancée in April, the person who brought Moroboshi back from Uru found the living kami of our replicas, then gave them new life, all as women. Moroboshi himself gave my new sister the name 'Tachiko'. And his own sister Tariko — his TWIN sister, one I never knew existed at all! — just brought her here today to meet with Chichi-ue, Haha-ue and Sofu-ue and present her to the family." He snarled, tightly gripping his katana. "Curse you, Moroboshi...!"
KK-KLONK!
"Onii-sama, that is far more than enough," Tachiko coolly stated after tossing a fair-sized rock she pulled out of her stuff-space pocket at his brother's head, knocking him over. Gazing over her shoulder at him while he tried to pick himself off the rug, the reborn championship prize fighter added, "It was Tariko-san who who rescued me from that nothingness. Ataru-san is not Gifted, remember?"
Ryōko perked. "'Gifted'? You mean from Yiziba?"
Shūtarō awked. "RYŌKO! DON'T SAY THAT WORD...!"
KK-KLONK!
"Onii-sama! You were never subjected to that stupid brainwashing the alien umale were forced to endure! Stop behaving like a spoiled brat!" Tachiko snapped after flinging another rock at her brother's head. She then hummed. "Then again, why am I so surprised? You've always BEEN a spoiled brat!"
Ryōko awked before she fell back in her seat laughing, slapping her knees as her eyes misted over in sheer amusement at that caustic observation while her brother turned a sickly grey at Tachiko's sharp words. Footfalls then made all three turn as another Kuromegane came in, bowing. "Waka-sama," he called out. "Aisuru-sama and his friends are at the main gate. They have Moroboshi-sama with them. Moroboshi-sama is knocked out and the others look someone dumped a lot of water on them."
Shūtarō awked as his mind quickly digested that, then he bolted to his feet. "Have Moroboshi secured. Search his body to ensure there's nothing, NOTHING, he can use to contact his sisters or the shipgirls! Have Megane and his friends cleaned up and brought to my private lounge at once!"
"Hai, Waka-sama!"
As the bodyguard raced off, the scion of Japan's richest family stormed off at a determined pace. Tachiko and Ryōko watched him go, then the former snickered, making the latter and the other Kuromegane present gaze her way. "Waka-sama! If Moroboshi-sama's sisters or his fleet suspect foul play, they'll tear the country apart to rescue him!" Tachiko's chief servant warned. "Is this wise...?"
"Daijōbu, Kenji-san! Daijōbu!" the Passionate Pugilist noted, making the older man blush madly; hearing himself addressed by name by one of his employers was something that only happened when someone was being disciplined for a very large infraction against their employment contract. "Ataru-san is quite safe. I'm more than sure he's with his sisters where they live right now enjoying a wonderful party in celebration of Nagato-dono's return to duty this day. As for who Onii-sama's 'friends' might have found, they believe they caught a helpless fool...but actually blindsided a rabid coyote instead!" As the bodyguards tensed, Tachiko waved them down. "Don't worry about it, minna-san. Don't tell your friends about this, either. Tariko-san doesn't care for her pranks being spoiled."
The older men bowed formally. "Hai, Waka-sama!"
As the reborn championship prize fighter waved them off, Ryōko gazed at her wide-eyed before a look of recognition dawned on her face. "Are you saying this Tariko is actually...?" she hissed.
"Hai, Ryōko," Tachiko affirmed, holding up a finger. "Your pranks against Onii-sama, Tobimaro-san and all the fools at Tomobiki High were always amusing." She winked. "Now watch an EXPERT take centre stage and put Onii-sama and the rest of those umale lo'obir'ba literally through HELL!"
Silence fell before cold, cackling laughter escaped the lounge...
A half-hour later...
"Dōmo, Mendō! I thought we wouldn't be able to warn you in time!"
"About what?" Mendō Shūtarō asked.
Megane snarled as he tossed aside the towel he used to dry his hair. "Benten-san, Oyuki-sama and Ran are moving to prepare a rescue expedition to Rupa's home planet to rescue Lum-san," he declared, making his classmate gasp. "She was kidnapped this morning and taken to Yaminokuni!"
"WHAT?! WHY DIDN'T THOSE STARSHIPS STOP HIM?!"
"Why would they?!" Perm snapped as the other Stormtroopers relaxed with their host in his private study. Off to one corner, an unconscious Moroboshi Ataru was lying on the floor, expertly hogtied, blindfolded and with his mouth taped shut. "You know about that damned law expelling Lum-chan and the others, Mendō! As far as the government's concerned, if Lum-chan vanishes, all the damn better!"
The scion of Japan's richest family growled, his hands once more squeezing his katana hard. "Those stupid, blind fools...!" he snapped. "Those ships in orbit wouldn't be manned! Even if these Avalonians Tariko-san's people rescued some months ago are helping build them, there's no way they could have fully trained crews. Given their size, their manning requirements would be astronomical! That would have DEFINITELY be noticed and commented about anywhere on the planet, especially in countries like ours!" Standing, he moved to pace to and fro in front of his coffee table. "The Oni have had a MILLENNIA of experience operating in deep space. If they decide we're to be punished for allowing Lum-san to be kidnapped like that, there's no power on this planet that could stop them!"
"What about that Goa'uld creep?" Kakugari asked. "That was pretty easy!"
"Hiroyuki, the shipgirls boarded that thing almost right after that fight started," Megane warned. "That crew didn't have much time before they were having those snakes ripped out of their bodies." As the others sympathetically winced on hearing that, the leader of the Stormtroopers sat back in his chair. "The only hope to put a stop to this madness is rescue Lum-san and get her back here, then FORCE Tariko and the others to back off finally and let things go back to normal!" An evil smile then crossed his face as he thumbed his unconscious classmate. "With him now with us...!"
Shūtarō hummed. "How soon will Benten-san and the others depart?"
"Within the hour," Chibi advised. "They're plotting the course right now. They need the dark side of the Moon to leap into a hyperwarp network — it's the same network that's connected by those Stargate things that Rumiko-chan told us about — then we could be on Yaminokuni in a couple of hours."
A contemplative hum escaped the other man. "I'll have Moroboshi's body put into a long weapons case, then we'll all go to Ran-san's ship to board it and join in the rescue mission. I'll have field rations brought up as well so we can have a meal as we're heading there, plus bring food for the others. If we act normal, we can escape the dragnet the cruisers in town will put out, then rescue Lum-san."
The Stormtroopers whooped as they bolted to their feet, punching their fists up in support...
Thirty minutes later, at a certain semi-empty plot near the Moroboshi home...
"Oi! What the hell's that, guys?!"
Mendō Shūtarō chuckled in embarrassment as the Stormtroopers carried a rather long and thick green bag to the gangway leading into Aruka Ran's personal scoutship. "A necessary precaution, Benten-san," he stated as he and Shigaten Benten followed the four others into the pink-hued mobile home. "I take it you now realize who and what is now involved in all our lives? And has been for some time now."
"Yeah, Yiziba," the biker babe from Fukunokami affirmed as they reached the quarterdeck landing on the scout ship's lower level, then tapped a control to close and seal the hatch. "We had a meeting with Moroboshi's sister Tariko at the house a couple hours ago. She told us the whole story."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
"You said THAT NAME...!" a wide-eyed Megane exclaimed, he and his friends just barely stopping themselves from dropping the bag they were carrying. "How the HELL...?!"
"Tariko took it out of our heads," Benten said as she waved to the doorway leading to where Ran stored all her perishable foods. "Put it there, guys," she bade. As her best friend's most passionate fans did that, then walked out to join their host's old classmate updeck, the native of Bensaikyō added, "She's tired of people doing that to kids even younger than Jariten is. Makes no sense to her."
"Then you know what the plan ultimately is?" Shūtarō demanded.
"Yeah, she gave us the whole reveal scene," the raven-haired biker-babe stated as she led them into the large cockpit, where Oyuki and Ran were busy preparing the ship's systems for lift off. Nearby, Seq Rei — in ushitora form — was eating a meal his would-be wife made for him, not moving to help. "Nice lady. I can get what she did and why she did it. The Goa'uld alone are a big pain..."
"Benten-san!" the scion of Japan's richest family exclaimed. "How can you be so CALM about this?! Don't you understand?! If Lum-san and all of you are expelled from Earth, you can never come back! Lum-san has friends here! Lum-san would even have Moroboshi as her boyfriend if he'd stop listening to those damned sisters of his! You can't just let those monsters rip that all to pieces!"
An amused snort answered him. "I ain't taking those guys on!"
"Indeed, it would be foolish to challenge the Yizibajohei in this matter, Shūtarō-san," Oyuki added as she finished tapping information into the ship's navigation systems. "Lady Tariko's been at this casting drive of hers for one of your decades. Over a THOUSAND were directly contacted by her in that period, with over THREE THOUSAND more of their friends accepting the chance to be Gifted." As the boys awked in horror on hearing that factoid again, the crown princess of Neptune sighed. "Even more so, Lum-chan owes Lady Tariko a life debt for being able to live as a normal person in lieu of a cripple. Despite Lum-chan's curious refusal to see that Lady Tariko's brother wishes to no longer have anything to do with her, she does owe Lady Tariko that debt. If that is not acknowledged by Lum-chan, that becomes a 'fight scene seed'. That, no one outside Yiziba would desire to see happen."
"'Fight scene seed'?" Chibi asked as the other Stormtroopers strapped themselves in, they seated in a long couch located behind the main control stations. "What does that mean, Oyuki-sama?"
"What provokes fights on that planet, Chibi," Benten answered for her friend before she scanned the readout on the screen in front of her. "Okay, we got full power in all systems, Oyuki. Shields are ready to deploy as soon as we're clear of atmosphere. You got the course for this place set in?"
"Fully calculated, Benten. Ran-chan?"
"Thrusters ready, Oyuki-chan," Ran declared before she gazed on Shūtarō, who was still standing. "OI! SIT DOWN, YOU IDIOT!" she barked, making the scion of Japan's richest family awk. "YOU'RE GONNA PAY IF YOU END UP WRECKING MY HOME BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T STRAP IN!"
"SIDDOWN, YOU FOOL!" Megane yelled before reaching over to shove his classmate into the couch, then he sat himself. "STRAP IN!" he barked. "THE SOONER WE'RE THERE, THE SOONER WE CAN GET LUM-SAN BACK HERE AND STOP ATARU FROM DRIVING EVERYONE OFF PLANET!"
The other man jolted before he moved to buckle in, then he gazed on Rei, who wasn't moving from where he was seated. "Um...Ran-san?" he then called out, pointing to her would-be husband.
"He's okay!" Benten called out as the thrumming noise of thrusters echoed through the ship's hull. "He's a frontier pilot, remember? He can't fly like Lum, but he's trained to keep his butt on deck even if it's bouncing about when gravity's are on the fritz! Let's get this show on the road!"
"Hai! Main drive engaging," Oyuki declared.
The whole vessel quaked before it literally shot into the air, streaking well beyond the altitude of any Terran aircraft within seconds. As the five Terran boys yelped as the sheer G-force of such a launch nearly squished them into their shared couch, the view beyond the windows turned from a bright autumn afternoon day in Japan into pitch black space soon enough. By the time the small scout ship was surging clear of the gravity well, Benten was moving to do a scan of the area while Oyuki guided the machine to port to approach the dark side of Earth's lone satellite for the entry into hyperwarp. "Damn!" the biker-babe exclaimed, an admiring whistle escaping her. "Hasn't anyone seen any of this stuff?! This planet's even more crowded than Sakusei Station gets during Setsubun season!"
"Anyone close by?" Ran asked. "I don't want to have a collision."
"Got a few things at geosynchronous outside the normal satellites," Benten warned.
"Can you put them on the view screen, Benten?" Oyuki asked.
"Yeah, coming up...!"
The large video screen over Oyuki's station flickered before the image of a dark grey-and-red craft appeared, that making the Terrans gargle in horror. "That's a Mutsuki-class...!" Perm exclaimed before he blinked. "Wait! They changed the design! Oi, Benten-san! Can you get a blow up of the stern?!"
"It's got hull number '147' on it," Kakugari advised. "That's...!"
"Uzuki...!" Chibi eeped.
Sure enough, the white hiragana うづき appeared on the rounded stern of the space version of the fourth Mutsuki-class fleet destroyer. But no real expert of the Imperial Japanese Navy — which everyone in Tomobiki High School had to become in the wake of the revelations concerning shipgirls in August — would be confident to declare Tennō Heika Uchūkan Uzuki as an accurate replica of her seaborne self. Not with her flush deck hull, superfiring pair of main cannon turrets fore and aft, a forest of smaller weapons in singles and pairs along the weather deck close to the funnels/particle intakes, landing deck with midships elevator at the fantail and long horizontal hangars under both the forward superstructure and just forward of the aft main cannon mounts. "Damn!" Benten whistled as the scanners brought up loads of data concerning the starship version of the Rainy Scrapper of Spring. "Those Avalonians build pretty cool stuff! Eight big main shock cannons in four pairs, thirty-two small anti-ship weapons in pairs, over two hundred small chaff launchers lining the keel and two five-tube missile launchers that can lob space torpedoes as big as your damned school, guys!"
That made Shūtarō and the Stormtroopers pale. "How powerful...?" Megane eeped.
"One good hit and a Kashin-class would be ready for the junkyard if Rabbit Girl's using standard cobalt warheads," the biker-babe from Bensaikyō noted, that making all the Terran boys awk in stunned horror. "If one of those things had anti-matter, there would be nothing left but fucking atoms."
"Some of the technology is clearly Yizibajohei," Oyuki noted as she brought up main navigation sensors to focus on the Uzuki. "No doubt, Lady Rumiko and her friends in the Circle of Thought, not to mention Lady Rinrin, contributed to the designs. And..." Her eyes then narrowed. "Oh, my...!"
"What is it, Oyuki-sama?!" Shūtarō demanded as the boys freed themselves from the couch and came over to stand close to their alien hosts, they trying to interpret the scan details.
"They mixed in the technology of the Karollan fortress on the northernmost island of the Dominion of Canada, Shūtarō-san," the crown princess of Neptune declared before perking. "Another ship, Benten."
"I see it!"
The boys looked up as the fourth Mutsuki-class star destroyer passed off to starboard just as another ship loomed, this one in a pearl blue-grey shade with medium blue undersides. The pennant number 215 was written under the main bridge and a red maple leaf was on the second funnel. Seeing how larger it was than Uzuki, the aliens nodded in admiration. "Damn nice ship...!" Benten noted.
"That's a Tribal-class," Megane noted. "Canadian ship, but I don't know which one. Can you get a picture of the stern? The name plate should be somewhere there, just as the stern curves in."
Oyuki tapped a control, allowing the stern of the near-light cruiser-type star destroyer to appear on the main view screen. A dark blue name plate was just under the weather deck, five letters in bright gold displayed. "'Haida'," Perm read. "That's the Canadians' most successful warship."
"Thank the gods the Canadians didn't have anything bigger...!" Chibi whined.
"The Americans do, guys...!" Kakugari warned, pointing.
As the star version of the fourth of the Canadian Tribal destroyers passed by to starboard, a vessel in haze grey and medium blue then loomed. Its design was all too familiar to the Terran boys given their frequent nasty interactions with one certain adopted native of Paris and Vienna. "Prinz Eugen...?!" Megane croaked, shaking his head. "Damn! It's marked as an American cruiser...?!"
Sure enough, the number 161 in United States Navy peacetime style was displayed on the bow of this huge version of the third Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruiser. Even more so, the modern crest of USS Prinz Eugen was displayed on the flanks of her funnel amidships. Replicas of the six twin 10.5 centimetre SK C/33 heavy anti-aircraft cannons at the sides of the superstructure had been replaced by enhanced versions of the twin 5 inch 38 calibre Mark 12 dual purpose weapons. Finally, in the style of American warships in the latter years of the Second World War, practically EVERY open space on the weather decks save for the area behind the funnel over the hangar/flight deck was covered in enclosed quad gun houses for replicas of Bofors 40 millimetre L/70 heavy air defence weapons or lines of single turrets bearing the outer space version of the Oerlikon SS 20 millimetre light air defence cannon.
"Shit!" Benten exhaled, nodding in approval at such a well-armed design. "That thing could chew apart a freaking WING of Ipraedies Warhawks if they come raiding here!"
"If they're brave enough," Ran wryly noted.
"True," Oyuki mused. "And I believe that's a battleship beyond Lady Catarina's replica."
The boys awked before they looked...
...then whimpers escaped them on seeing the outer space version of a Littorio-class battleship in pale grey and green looming to port, the pennant number 21 in the modern style of the Marina Militaire under the superstructure. As the crown princess of Neptune guided her friend's ship between USS Prinz Eugen and ANI Roma to reach the point in space where they would enter a hyperwarp tunnel for Yaminokuni, Megane shuddered before screaming, "WHERE THE HELL ARE OUR BATTLESHIPS?!"
The alien girls gazed on the leader of the Stormtroopers, then Benten moaned, shaking her head. "Make up your fucking damned mind, you blind idiot!" she muttered...
Meanwhile, on Ōmure-jima at Welcome House...
"Aiko-chan...!"
Mifune Hideyuki was now utterly in Heaven.
Hearing that heavily breathed statement from their son, Mifune Hideo and his wife Ninako try not to giggle in amusement at their son acting so totally love-struck in the presence of the reborn sixth of the Nagara-class cruisers. They were now in the old dining room of the rotunda where Moroboshi Ataru and his sisters lived, seated across a low coffee table from the male half of the Trickster of the Show, he seated to the right of his eldest half-sister, with Kuwana Aiko to Sukeyama Sakuya's left.
Hearing his exclamation, the adopted native of Nishigō south-southwest of Fukushima (source of her namesake river) and Yokosuka (her place of construction) flustered. She had been ganged up on by Sakuya and her sisters (save Saeru Hinako) to be made to wear a white gown similar to the homemade wedding dresses the sisters created for a fun "wedding dress party" they enjoyed at the end of June, right after the four Akamatsu sisters had been found by the Spirit of Innocence and brought to Ōmure-jima. Standing proudly behind the reborn cruiser was the youngest of the Ayanami-class destroyers reborn, Ashikaga Shiori, she in her battlesuit as the Twister of the Oceans, Or'beu ("Ushio"). Her presence was understandable. As had been explained to the shipgirl otaku and his parents when this meeting started, Aiko and Shiori shared a sempai/kōhai bond thanks to the latter's crew rescuing half the former's when she was sunk after Leyte Gulf. Most of the other half of the crew were rescued in secret by one of the Ryūseizen, the Australian magical super-battleship HMAS Uluṟu. While Aiko knew the human name Ataru made for the warship named in tribute to the Commonwealth's most famous natural landmark, Renée Kulitja, they didn't know if said battleship had been Gifted.
"Steady, Hideyuki-kun!" Sakuya teased as she gazed on her dear brother's old classmate, that jolting Hideyuki out of his rather twitterpated stupor. "Steady! You need to show a steady heart if you want to make sure Aiko-chan here remains happy, especially since she'll be busy later this week."
"Why is that, Sakuya-chan?" Ninako asked.
The matriarch of the Moroboshi Clan shrugged. "Well, I'm sure you know by now that the Diet's moving to have the Galactic Federation aliens — Lum and her friends — all leave Earth by Friday morning." As the older people perked on hearing that — the news was now just getting out to the media — the native of Ōsaka added, "You can lay a strong bet certain elements of the Urusian government aren't going to like Earth slipping away from their influence, especially when WE — the people whose ancestors put them down so easily twenty-seven decades ago — are the ones who are going to guarantee Earth's neutrality so that we can get our own house in order before going en masse into space."
"Hideyuki always told me that the Tag Race was actually a huge bluff Lum-chan's people pulled to keep their enemies away from here because of trade security issues," Hideo said. A mid-level planning official in the Nishitōkyō city government, he often was one of the people who had to coordinate with various groups whenever things went weird in Tomobiki, such as the clean up after the Pseudo War.
"It was that, but there are elements of the government in Onishuto who really wanted to conquer and enslave us," Ataru calmly stated. "As much as they ALSO want to effectively make normal people on Uru and her colonies serfs again, stripped of every social and cultural advance those people have made in the last two centuries. In effect, restore the empire that tried to conquer Yiziba."
"Lum-chan is the effective heiress to the 'throne of the Maidens'. If that empire still existed, her dad would be Emperor and she Crown Princess," Sakuya added, making the others save the shipgirls gape. "That's one of the reasons she latched onto Onii-sama, Hideyuki-kun. She's been treated like an idol star mixed with royalty by a tonne of people back home, so she effectively ran away here to Earth to get away from all that nonsense when Onii-sama 'gave' her the chance at the end of the Tag Race."
"That's why people like Satoshi and Shūtarō would NEVER have made a score with her, dude," Ataru added. "People who wanted to get into Lum's bikini briefs back on Uru always acted too much like smarter versions of Rei...and most of them were connected to the 'Imperial Round'; that's the 'old boy's club' of would-be princes who dream of having their empire, slaves and serfs back. PLEASE don't get me started with the Avalonians' old 'masters' and that damned 'church' they formed in Lum's name."
Hideyuki winced. The last two hours had been a real eye-opener when it came to being briefed on what was REALLY going down in Tomobiki and beyond Earth that seemed to focus on Redet Lum and those affiliated with her to one extent or another. "They actually stole copies of the guys' diaries, warped the words to make it always seem you were some big devil figure, then sold it to those people as 'holy scripture'? With 'Toshi and the guys plus Mendō as Lum-chan's 'holy apostles' and her pals from space as 'holy friends'?!" He shook his head before nodding to what looked like a hotel bible on a nearby couch, that with other things such as PAAs and books that had been brought in for Aiko's prospective new "Teitoku" to scan through before his parents arrived from Tomobiki to attend this omiai.
"And they actually killed FIVE MILLION PEOPLE on this Vos planet just because their leader threatened Lum-chan?" a stunned Hideo then wondered. "And with a BIOLOGICAL WARFARE bomb to boot?!"
"Six years ago," Sakuya affirmed.
"And these Imperials from Uru can be just as nasty, right?" Ninako asked.
"I'm afraid so," Ataru declared.
"Aiko-chan's starship-self is ready, isn't it?" Hideyuki asked.
"Hai," Sakuya declared, nodding. "Shiori-chan?"
"Hai!" the adopted native of Yokosuka said, drawing her PAA, then put it on the table between Hideyuki and Aiko before tapping the crystal to allow a hologram to be projected. "Your flagship, Teitoku!"
Hideyuki's jaw hit the floor on seeing THU Abukuma. Possessing the low, sleek design of the Nagara-class light cruisers/destroyer flotilla leaders, it had been turned into a flush deck, with the seven single main gun mounts switched to four two-rifle gun houses in superfiring pairs fore and aft; given the ten-to-one scale between what Aiko had been and her starship-self, the main cannons had a bore of 140 centimetres. The three old secondary guns were replaced by eight turrets bearing twin 80 centimetre 60 calibre Type 98S dual purpose cannons on the flanks with a forest of thirty-two 25 centimetre Type 96S air defence weapons in twin turrets finishing off the projectile armament. Aiko's replica also had two rotating casemate-like turrets bearing quintuple 610 centimetre anti-ship/anti-planetary missile launchers secured below the main weather deck in two hangar-like structures that could open on both sides. It wouldn't be the mass torpedo armament the starship versions of Ataru's lovers Kumamoto Kiko and her sister Otsune could use, but the outer space version of the Type 93 "Long Lance" could potentially devastate a city Tōkyō's size with standard cobalt warheads. And there was a flight deck forward of the aft main cannon mounts, with below-deck storage room for four shuttlecraft.
"You want me to take charge of that?!" he wondered, staring wide-eyed at Ataru.
"Relax, man! Technically, you're there to help keep up morale," Hideyuki's old classmate answered. "Aiko-chan's doing the actual commanding of the ship and the Avalonians in her crew will man the weapons and other gear to make it move and fight. I don't know if Reiko-san will deploy her as senior plane guard for Yoiko-san and the Matsubara twins or she'll be on perimeter defence, but...!"
"Either which way, you'll be needed to cheer her on," Sakuya warned.
Hideyuki looked almost ready to faint. Much that being close to someone as beautiful as Aiko would be of primary interest to any healthy heterosexual teenage boy, all the OTHER stuff was something even a young native of Tomobiki would find quite hard to take it in. "Uh...yeah...!"
Aiko gave him a sympathetic look as his parents and Shiori giggled...
Meanwhile, approaching the Moon...
Despite what all those who knew of him steadfastly believed, Seq Rei wasn't an idiot.
True, he suffered from very acute forms of dysphasia and dyslexia, making it next to impossible to either read or speak like normal people could. While the exact cause of his mental disorders were unknown even to Urusian scientists, it was suspected that his father Major Seq Tan had dealt with illicit drugs in his youth that ended up badly influencing his son's DNA; such also denied Rei the ability to fly with his own body, making him a literal "cripple" in his native society. While he had been supported by his uncle Seq Yethis as he strove to become a frontier space pilot — to no longer hear people sneer at him, many had later concluded — Rei really didn't see himself as an Imperial or Unionist as Tan had been or a Democratic Reformist like his mother Yethis. Those things didn't concern him.
What did concern him — and ALWAYS concerned him — was a steady source of food.
Which made travelling to Earth with its very interesting cuisine loads of fun.
Of course, he had gone to the third world of Sol originally to get his old fiancée back. He never agreed to end his relationship with Redet Lum, so when he heard of her marriage to a Terran boy, Rei had gone to Earth to demonstrate his own superiority to the pathetic usurper. While having been defeated by Moroboshi Ataru in an eating competition, Rei hadn't accepted that and he used every chance he could to keep putting his "rival" down before Lum's eyes, succeeding in many cases and failing in others. Along the way, the young scion of House Seq fell in love with Terran cooking, which came in so many varieties and was readily available thanks to that large restaurant district near the local secondary education institution Lum started to attend. And when he also sampled Terran HOME cooking...
He had been sold.
Even more so, with Aruka Ran moving to Earth and striving to adopt to the local cuisine...!
For Rei, he had discovered HEAVEN.
And then...
It all changed.
He wasn't sure what happened or why. But sometime after that attempt at forcing Lum to officially wed Ataru, many women began to arrive in Tomobiki who were literally BURNING with the heady scent of mesonium at levels that made them stick out like neon signs. Of course, Rei went to sample their cooking...only to confront real METAHUMANS — which Earth did have — who didn't care to share their bounty. Even more so, said metahuman girls were moving to cut his ex-fiancée off from her husband, usually quite BRUTALLY. And while Rei did try to help Lum reassert her claim on Ataru, people like Shimosuwa Tamiyo and her nasty sister Tadako proved too much for the poor woman to overcome.
Some months later, after that ugly Pseudo War that had been fought to free Lum from being trapped by some local spirit, what girls like Tamiyo and Tadako really were was revealed. They were a Terran type of ch'uongtechhu, the living spirits of Earth warships made to become human by some unknown agency! Even more so, as Rei himself saw one day with Ran in a replay of local news media, these beings actually were forged with the TOTAL MASS of the lost warship being squeezed to human size, which went far to explain their incredible strength. And since their bodies were filled to the brim with the Atom of True Life, other metahuman powers developed. Flight, invulnerability, unbelievable speed plus special capabilities based often on the literal meaning of their old warship names.
Along the way, Lum's husband had radically changed. No longer showing ANY sort of deference to his wife, Ataru began hanging out with other people, usually engaged in some sort of intimacy with them. Every time Lum tried to punish him, people like Tadako and Tamiyo butted in the way to put her down, all on the claim there WAS no marriage since Ataru's tagging of Lum's horns was done in a Tag Race. Even more, no matter what Lum's friends from space and on Earth could do to make Ataru return to his wife's side, nothing could budge the man. And when Ataru's own sisters made their appearance — with the eldest of them, the pretty Sakuya, declaring that as Matriarch of her clan, she wouldn't recognize Lum's claim on the man — things concerning Rei's former fiancée took a huge nosedive.
Over time, Rei's attempts to try to relax on Earth were derailed with even greater frequency. Visits to the local restaurant district normally ended in a tonne of pain thanks to cruiser "shipgirls" like Tamiyo and Tadako. Attempts at trying to take Ataru's lunches when they were prepared by his sister Shirayuki normally wound up with Rei being POISONED of all things! People in Tomobiki were turning their backs on their cultural "betters" from Uru in massive droves, confident that the shipgirls would remove the "alien plague" from their planet soon enough. And no one, not even Lum, could try to find her wayward husband when he disappeared whenever he wasn't required to attend school, always staying with his sisters and those shipgirls who had declared themselves part of his personal "fleet".
And they were all quite nasty people to him...
Rei shuddered as he moved to shuffle out of the cockpit while his host's friend moved to enter a hyperwarp tunnel to proceed to the planet where poor Lum had been taken to hours before. As he moved to head to where Ran kept food, his nose then picked up a VERY familiar scent. A snarl escaped him as he then looked into the dry storage room on the lower deck, then he blinked on seeing a long green bag lying on the floor. Moving to approach it with some form of caution — Rei had learned from the constant beat downs, it seemed — he shuddered in delight on confirming what he was smelling.
Oh, goody...!
It was time to teach the stupid "lesser" his proper place!
With a pounce, the orange-furred ushitora leapt...
...then something VERY invisible snared his neck in a vise of solid neutronium!
"Nice try."
Rei gasped as he felt himself instantly returned to human form while the bag unzipped itself, revealing a VERY pissed off Moroboshi Ataru, his eyes glowing a very ugly silver-reddish shade. As Lum's "husband" moved to stand from the place he had been put, the frontier pilot was shifted in mid-air, slamming back-first into the only clear bulkhead in the space. As Rei tried to reach for something he couldn't grasp to free himself, the younger man's head turned towards him as SOMETHING reached into the pilot's very BRAIN, raking through his memories with vicious ease, that causing a considerable level of nausea to start to overcome him. Finally, that horrible feeling faded from his brain...
...as "Ataru" suddenly morphed into what was clearly a WOMAN that looked like his own TWIN SISTER, a smile without any mirth crossing her face. "Always the same with you umale," the woman declared as her clothes shifted into a VERY familiar battlesuit design, that making Rei turn as grey as stone.
"Sc-sc-Scary P-p-People...!" the pilot eeped.
"Yeah!" the Trickster of the Show snarled, her voice going to normal as her eyes ceased to glow. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have five umale lo'obir'ba to go discipline for being rude. As for you..."
Rei was instantly fired into the deckhead, smashing his head HARD on a mainframe!
"You'll keep," the monster who helped unleash the Mother of All Fight Scenes noted as the now very dazed frontier pilot was allowed to drop unconscious on the deck before she moved to walk out...
"Oi! Did you hear something?!"
"Hear what, man?!"
Megane looked around. "Some sort of clanging noise...!"
"Are you saying my ship is broken?!"
He awked as Aruka Ran glared intently at him...
KK-KKRACK! KK-KKLONK! KK-KKRUNCH! KK-KAPOW! KK-KKRANG!
All three of Redet Lum's friends awked before they spun around...
"Tariko-chan?!"/"Tariko?!"/"Lady Tariko?!"
"Sorry about that, girls," Tariko Katabarbe said, wiping her hands after sending cinder blocks into the heads of her former classmates who had conspired in trying to kidnap her brother...who was still safely on Ōmure-jima. "These idiots were pretty insistent on me being part of the fight scene!"
Hearing that, Shigaten Benten let out some choice dockyard curses in her language while Oyuki shook her head and Ran moaned. "You idiots ARE suicidal, aren't you?!" she wondered aloud.
Naturally, Mendō Shūtarō and the Stormtroopers couldn't answer her...
To Be Continued...!
WRITER'S NOTES
All the joys about Texas barbecue were introduced to me by three remarkable comedians from the American south: Trae Crowder (AKA the Liberal Redneck), Drew Morgan and Corey Ryan Forrester. All three were the authors of the quite entertaining 2016 book The Liberal Redneck Manifesto: Draggin' Dixie Outta the Dark. For people who REALLY want to understand what goes on in the old states of the Confederacy and why it turned out that way for good and ill, this book is a must-have!
As for poutine, I'm a Canadian from south-central Ontario, folks. I definitely know of poutine!
Shipgirls introduced or noted on in this part. First, from America:
Rear Admiral (Lower Half) Velma Young USN (United States Ship Vestal [AR-4])
Commander Gweneth "Gwen" Dewey USN (United States Ship Dewey [DD-349])
Lieutenant Commander Maria Dewey USN (United States Ship Dewey [YFD-1], later United States Ship Subic Bay [YFD-1])
Velma Young (USS Vestal) would resemble fan art done by PJMoyer for Belated Battleships; such can be seen at SpaceBattles in post #28331549. Gwen Dewey (USS Dewey [second of name]) takes after her Azur Lane self. Maria Dewey (USS Dewey [first of name]) lost that name when the destroyer was launched in 1934, though her being in the Philippines would have removed much confusion as to which ship was which. As an aside, Maria's name is Japanese given her capture by Imperial forces after the invasion of the Philippines; she was never given a designation in the Imperial Navy, though.
And from Australia:
Captain Alkawari Renée Kulitja RAN(M) (Her Majesty's Australian Ship Uluṟu [pennant 18, later BBGH-18])
Magical warcraft like HMAS Uluṟu and her sister Victoria-class battleships will be mentioned in future parts of Magic and Canada; they are locally built versions of the Argo-class battleships introduced in previous parts. Like in the Dominion, the Commonwealth's magical community has its own defence forces, including a maritime component, the Royal Australian Naval Magical Service (RAN[M]); they operate under the same restrictions as the vessels of the RCN(M) do. Note that these days, the Royal Australian Navy makes use of a mixture of pennant numbers and hull classification codes for their warships; combat craft are given the latter while support craft are nominally given the former.
Stargate SG-1 character note: MAJGEN Jacob Carter first appeared in "Secrets" (ninth episode of the second season). His Tok'ra symbiote, Selmak, first appeared in the two-part "The Tok'ra" (eleventh and twelfth episodes of the second season); the two would merge in the second episode.
The withdrawal of Japan from the International Confederation of Wizards in the years leading up to the Second World War/Wars of Liberation was noted on in Magic and Canada. The background story behind the last Mahō-Shōgun ("Supreme General of Magic") of Japan, Field Marshal Yomigawa Tsukiko AKA Lady Tsukuyomi of Tsukushi, is also spoken of in that documentary; she was first noted on in The Icemaidens and the Philosopher's Stone and introduced in Wizards and Avalonians II.
Translation list and source language: Haha-ue — Formal way of addressing one's mother (Japanese); Sofu-ue — Formal way of addressing one's grandfather (Japanese); ANI — Short for Astronave Italiana ("Italian Starship"), ship prefix for the Republic's starships in the Earth Defence Force (Italian).