Chapter Six: Reunion

Kiyone Makibi was moving up in the world.

The odd thing was that it didn't feel like it. On a rational level, Kiyone knew she was being assigned the job of escorting Lady Funaho, a Queen of Jurai. It was an unprecedented honor. If Kiyone and Mihoshi could pull this off, they could get even more missions.

They'd earned this. Mihoshi wasn't screwing up nearly as much as she was before.

So why did success feel so empty for Kiyone? This was the kind of assignment she'd dreamed of long ago. But now, the dream had come true, and it just seemed like a hassle.

"Mihoshi, any readings on the screen?" asked Kiyone, brushing aside a strand of blue hair from her beautiful features. She'd spent extra time combing her hair, as had Mihoshi. Both had to look their best to meet royalty.

"Nothing yet, Kiyone," said Mihoshi, checking the systems.

"What are we doing out here anyway?" murmured Kiyone, looking down on Earth far below. "Why would Queen Funaho pick us as an escort?" It wasn't like they were that much better than anyone else.

"Well, we were the ones who found Tenchi, after all," said Mihoshi with a giggle. "And we did reveal that wicked conspiracy by space pirates. So we've got to be pretty big names now!"

Kiyone looked at her beautiful partner and looked her curvaceous form up and down. Mihoshi had altered her orange jumpsuit to have more cleavage, as had Kiyone. You had to look your best, though Kiyone highly doubted she'd be regarded as much of a catch. "Don't remind me.

"That is not what I wanted to be remembered for."

"What do you mean, Kiyone?" asked Mihoshi.

"Mihoshi, all those people down there on Mars killed themselves," said Kiyone with a sigh. She was trying not to forget. "A lot of them knew full well they might die horribly, and they didn't care. Earth is funding another Mars colony even now.

"You'd think the Earthlings would be upset about all those deaths."

"Well, they did have a lot of controversies," said Mihoshi, looking up. "A bunch of officials lost their jobs. And they did put up a monument. That's like, four monuments to the Mars Colony."

"Yes, but..." Kiyone trailed off, her mind wandering. Come to think of it, if Kiyone was going to get any kind of great marriage, it would be through Mihoshi. Yes, Kiyone was beautiful, hardworking, and willing, but she lacked any proper bloodlines. Mihoshi had all the bloodlines as well as beauty.

Kiyone's best bet for a high-up marriage was definitely a two-for-one deal.

Wait, why was she thinking about this? The Earthlings were what she should have been thinking about. "What if it were Juraians down there, Mihoshi? What if a thousand Juraians had been systematically killed in illegal experiments. Do you really think Emperor Azusa would settle a resignation? From the people whose watch it happened on, I mean?

"We'd want their head."

"Well, no, that would be awful," said Mihoshi. "They'd go to jail, and there would be memorials and crying and stuff. Having a thousand people die over a few years would be awful."

Kiyone sighed. "But... nobody cares, Mihoshi. Even I don't.

"A couple thousand Earthlings die, and it's just a statistic. Even really empathetic people aren't really affected. I'm not affected.

"It's like we just forget about them as soon as they are no longer there."

"Well, all we have to do is not forget about them," said Mihoshi. "If we keep them and every good person in our thoughts, we can be happy and sad for them when we should."

Kiyone smiled and looked at her. "...You know what, you're right.

"We should put up some sort of memorial and throw some of these people in prison or something. I'll recommend it when we get back.

"Hang on, Mihoshi, they're here."

Queen Funaho's vessel was huge. It shot into the space around Earth and came forward toward Kiyone and Mihoshi's own ship. Looking at it gave Kiyone jitters, with all its twisting boughs and branches. Reluctantly, Kiyone opened a channel.

"Queen Funaho, this is Kiyone Makibi; I've been sent to meet you as an honor guard?" asked Kiyone. "May we form up?" Though she didn't see why she was necessary.

Then Funaho appeared before Kiyone on the screen. The black-haired woman was incredibly beautiful, and Kiyone struggled to keep her composure.

"Oh, no need for that," said Funaho. "Please come aboard, Kiyone."

Kiyone halted. She was talking to her; what did she say? "I... I wouldn't presume..."

"You aren't presuming at all," said Funaho. "There's no need for you to go to all the trouble of being on full alert when my crew can handle things. And I'm sure there is a great deal we can talk about?"

Kiyone gulped. "...Since you insist, I suppose we'll have to accept.

"Come on, Mihoshi, let's dock." And they got to work.

As they did, Mihoshi began to chatter. "Wow, this is going to be so nice. I can meet with Funaho, and I'll bet she'll have the best snacks."

"Will you think about this clearly for a second, Mihoshi. We are still on duty," said Kiyone. "We will maintain our composure until given leave to do otherwise."

"Aw, come on, Kiyone," said Mihoshi. "Maybe we'll find a man we can focus on together."

"Not yet," said Kiyone. "We have work to do. Let's just focus and see where things go."

Almost all women had found someone to focus on by the time they were Kiyone's age, now that she thought of it. You grew up being told that the guy was the center of the household, that they reflect your nature onto you. That you were incomplete without one.

Kiyone knew she shouldn't let not having had a boyfriend bother her. But it did.

Not that she was going to let it show.

"Yes, Kiyone," said Mihoshi.

Making their way into one of the hangers, Kiyone and Mihoshi warped into the ship. As they arrived, Kiyone saw Tenchi Masaki coming forward. He was dressed in a Juraian military uniform and looked pretty good in it. So that was why Funaho was here.

"Hello there," said Tenchi. "I'm Tenchi Masaki; I guess we meet again."

"Oh, Prince Tenchi, we're honored you would meet us personally, though I don't see why-" began Kiyone.

"Great to meet you, Tenchi!" said Mihoshi, taking his hand. "I'm Mihoshi, and this is my best friend and partner, Kiyone!" Then she wrapped an army around Kiyone and hugged her close. "We have a special chemistry together!"

"Yes, yes, we certainly do. We've already met, Mihoshi," said Kiyone.

"Oh right," Mihoshi drew off.

"Follow me, then," said Tenchi.

He led them away through the living halls of the ship. As they walked, Kiyone looked at it in surprise. This was the first time she'd ever been here.

"May I ask why we warrant this?" asked Kiyone

"No real reason," said Tenchi. "I just got handed the job offer of being Crown Prince of the Universe, and I'm feeling a bit inadequate. I also wanted to talk with you two again."

"Oh, us, really?" asked Kiyone, brushing a strand of hair behind her head.

"Yes," said Tenchi. "Funaho tells me you two were the ones who made First Contact with Earth. I was wondering if I could hear the story from your perspective."

"Well, I..." Kiyone halted. "It's kind of a long story."

At that moment, Funaho appeared before them and smiled. "Well, then why don't we go somewhere private and we can discuss it."

"Right, sure," said Kiyone.

Then Funaho looked to Mihoshi and smiled. "Oh, Mihoshi, you're here at last!"

"Aunt Funaho, it's been so long!" said Mihoshi, hugging her.

"Yes, it certainly has," said Funaho. "And you've grown up to be such a beautiful young woman.

"And you must be Kiyone Makibi; I've read your reports. I must thank you for bearing with Mihoshi this long. It's a very important job you've had."

"Oh, she was no trouble at all, I assure you, Funaho," said Kiyone.

"Yeah, I mean we've hardly had any trouble at all," said Mihoshi. "Well, I guess a week ago I accidentally poured sugared soda on the console and-"

"You always say too much!" said Kiyone quickly. Then she halted. "Uh... sorry about this."

"It's no problem," said Funaho. "Let's go somewhere we can sit down."

And together, they walked into a lounge. Of course, only the best was there, and Kiyone was provided with wine. Kiyone searched for something to say as small talk. "You seem to have taken turning out to be a Prince in stride. I mean, you didn't even know about it until yesterday."

"That may have been one word too many, Kiyone," warned Funaho.

But Tenchi merely frowned. "So you were the one who found Grandpa? How?"

"I uh..." Kiyone halted. "Well, I often have to go into orbit around Earth to do inspections of their spacecraft. They're still trying to create interstellar ships; Earthlings can actually use. Oftentimes I have to spend hours waiting for authorization.

"On one of my visits, I ended up locating some weird energy signatures from Camillia trees in a given area. Since that was pretty near your house, I thought something might be up. Then later, I ran into you, and I put things together."

"Right, that makes sense," said Tenchi, nodding.

"You're taking this well," noted Kiyone.

"I don't usually get worked up over things, to be honest," admitted Tenchi. "I mostly just try to do what I have to do and be pleasant company."

"So Kiyone, do you want to tell Tenchi the story of how his world was brought into the fold?" asked Funaho, quickly.

"Well, to be perfectly honest, it was a pure chance we had anything to do with it," said Kiyone. "See, Earth was until recently an almost empty sector. Jurai has been redirecting traffic to keep out of sight of your instruments. Earthlings were judged to be... unstable, and it was considered a priority to hide the existence of galactic society."

"What do you mean 'unstable?'" asked Tenchi.

"Well, you wouldn't keep a loaded gun within reach of a mentally unstable teenager. Especially if you cared about them," said Funaho. "Would you?"

"Point taken," said Tenchi.

"Anyway, Mihoshi and I had... well, we were assigned as officers here," said Kiyone, feeling emboldened. "Our main goal is redirecting traffic and turning away trespassers.

"Then, one day, we detected an underdeveloped transport heading for Mars. It didn't operate on any form of technology we'd seen before. So, we intercepted it and ordered it away from the Solar system."

"It was kind of an awkward conversation," said Mihoshi. "They had no idea who we were and were really confused."

"I don't get how you couldn't have known we were developing that tech, though," said Tenchi.

"That's a bit complicated, Tenchi," said Kiyone. "You see, Earth technology has no psychic component. It is designed to operate without any kind of effort or will. As a result, it is far more limited than anything in the outside world. However, it took us off guard in this case.

"We never expected Earth to be able to get as far as Mars without us. Our plan was to let Earth develop on its own until it was deemed ready."

"If we thought you were about to destroy yourselves, we would have intervened," said Funaho. "Jurai isn't about to let your species go extinct because of bad luck in terms of natural gifts."

"So you were planning on unveiling yourself before?" asked Tenchi.

"Well, yes, eventually," said Funaho. "The main governments of Earth were aware of our existence at the highest levels. We tended to nudge them this way and that when necessary. We've been doing since the Cold War. But the majority of the population, however, were unaware they were a colony.

"We had planned to reveal ourselves in a century or two once you'd worked out some of your issues. However, once you were able to reach other planets, we had to step in.

"Continue, Kiyone."

Kiyone nodded. "Well... once I realized who we were talking to, I contacted the Galaxy Police for instructions. I was ordered to tow the vessel back to Earth, but I uh..."

"You refused to do it," said Funaho.

Kiyone didn't like talking about this. She'd had an on-the-spot decision to make and had to do it fast. "I delayed my orders and contacted Emperor Azusa directly. It probably killed my career, to be honest. What was left of it."

"Why'd you do that?" asked Tenchi.

Kiyone considered just why she had done it. Finally, she shrugged. "...It didn't seem right.

"I mean, they'd gone to all the trouble of getting as far as Mars. Nobody expected them to get this far, but they had and... It was like a sick joke.

"'Oh, sorry, everyone has been way ahead of you for thousands of years. I'm going to have to tow you back to your homeworld after you spent months in space. Don't worry; this obsolete cruiser is way faster than your top-of-the-line vessel. It'll take about two hours.'

"I mean, this was the most important event in history for them.

"So I went over my superior's heads."

"Yes, well, if it's any consolation, we are very glad you did," said Funaho. "After all, Emperor Azusa authorized them to create a Mars Colony. And we even helped it along."

"Yeah, a lot of industries survived by focusing on creating the Mars Colony," said Tenchi. "If we hadn't had that, things could have gotten pretty bad."

"Well, that was all very nice," said Funaho, and she paused. "Now, why don't we have some snacks, and then, Tenchi, you can demonstrate for us your skill with a sword."

Kiyone remembered the martial arts ability he'd demonstrated.

This should be interesting.