Legacy of Darkness Ch. 2: Return of Darkness
I don't own these characters, except for Kazunori, Itsurou, and the rest of the
Blood Gems. All of the other characters are the property of AIC and Pioneer.
I want to thank my prereaders, FallenDruid (who helped with Yosho's dialogue A
LOT,) Zervon, J'than, meachi, and Big__D for all the help they've given me.
"His avenger!?" Tenchi exclaimed from the table.
"Yes," Itsurou calmly replied, allowing his blade to dissipate. "I was his
third, and most trusted, knight. However, I was away at the time that he was
defeated. Since then I've been working out how to come after you. There were
some problems. First, Kain came back, then, just when I thought I would have
my chance, you left for Jurai, and came back with that accursed knight."
Itsurou smirked as he looked down on Tenchi. "Now, though, now is the perfect
time. An uprising on the planet Cephis causes your guardian to be recalled,
and incidentally leaving you virtually unprotected. The chance to carry out
Lord Kagato's vengeance was too much to pass up."
"So why am I still alive?"
Itsurou chuckled a bit. "You're not the only one who caused my lord's
downfall."
The door to the room opened and Kazunori shot in. "Itsurou, Ryo-Ohki is moving
towards this position."
"Have they detected us yet, Kazunori?" Itsurou inquired, turning towards him.
"I don't believe so."
"Good. Let's continue as planned," Itsurou said. He started towards the door,
but stopped for a second, as if about to say something. With a quick shake of
his head, he left the room.
Kazunori stayed for a moment longer. He turned to Tenchi, then flashed Tenchi
a fanged smile, "I look forward to meeting Ryoko. The only person who's
escaped Nagi with her life *and* without being captured, she'll be quite a
challenge." Then, before Tenchi could reply, Kazunori turned and left.
(Kagato's avenger? What does he have planned? I know who else he's after;
it's got to be all of the others.) Tenchi mulled this over in silence for a
few moments. (And there's nothing I can do about it. Damn it.)
***
Washu was in her lab, still scanning as quickly as she could. However, nothing
was showing up. (Hopefully, that won't be the case for to long. I think
Tenchi may be in real trouble.) She tried opening a channel to the Yagami, but
the signal still wouldn't go through. (What's going on up there?) Washu
wondered.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Sasami asked from behind her.
"Not right now, Sas-" then an idea struck. Washu quickly typed in a series of
commands and a small screen appeared in front of Sasami, "Actually, there is.
You can try to get a hold of the Yagami with that. Keep trying, and tell me
when you get through."
Sasami, now that she had something to do, quickly started working on her task.
"Thanks, Washu"
"No problem," With that, Washu started working on the scans again.
* * *
Kiyone was seated at the controls of the Yagami. She and Mihoshi, who was in
the living quarters taking a call from her Grandfather, were on their way back
from the call on the fringe of the system. Kiyone sighed as she mentally
corrected herself, (the false alarm in the fringes of the system.) They'd gone
all the way out, only to find nothing but rocks and a beacon. The beacon is
what had caused the call, set to transmit on standard GP channels with a
repeated distress signal. While it was possible that it was a legitimate call,
and that they'd just been picked up by somebody else, the chances were slim.
(There'd been no sign of any ships in that sector for the past several days, so
that beacon must have been planted.) Kiyone sat back in her chair and looked
over the information again, trying to find something, anything that would tell
them who'd planted the beacon.
That's when Mihoshi came up from the back. "All right, Kiyone, I'm done," she
said, "Grandpa says hi." She sat down in the co-pilots seat.
"How is he doing?"
"He's doing just fine. We must not have had a good connection though. It kept
fading out and picking up another one."
"From where? There shouldn't be any transmissions out here on the same
frequency we use."
"I don't know, but whoever they were trying to talk to had a strange name."
"Did they?"
"Yeah, it sounded like it was Mihone."
Kiyone was about to say something, but was interrupted by a sudden transmission
from Earth. She quickly brought it up, and Sasami appeared onscreen. "Oh, hi
Sasami."
"Hi Kiyone, hold on a sec." Sasami walked away from the screen for a moment,
then came back with Washu.
"Oh good, I see we finally got through," Washu commented.
"Finally got through?" Kiyone repeated, glaring over at Mihoshi.
"Yeah, we've been trying for at least the past 5 minutes. No one replied at
all. But we don't have time to chat. Something's happened."
"What is it?" Mihoshi asked quickly.
"Tenchi's missing. We're not sure if he's in trouble, or not, but we're trying
to find him. Ryo-Ohki's already out looking with Ryoko and Aeka, but we could
use the Yagami's help," Washu said earnestly.
"All right, we'll hurry back," Kiyone said, flipping the switch to engage the
booster. "With the booster, I estimate we should be back within a half an
hour."
"Good, we'll have an area ready for you to search when you get back," Washu
said, then cut the connection.
Kiyone quickly brought the Yagami's engines to full power and started speeding
towards the Earth.
***
Itsurou stood on the bridge of the Fasantis. It was stark and spare, with only
a few duty stations. For the first time since the voyage had started, they
were all manned. That was due to the ship being on full alert. On the main
screen at the front of the ship showed a grand, sweeping view of the Earth. He
walked to the back of the bridge, where Kazunori was standing. "How much
longer can you avoid detection?" Itsurou inquired.
"At least until the Yagami shows up," Kazunori replied, disinterestedly.
"However, that shouldn't be a problem, since your plan has us de-cloaking long
before that happens."
"Yes, just as soon as Ryo-Ohki is at the furthest point from our position. Or
if it looks like they're going to find us."
"I remember. Fei!"
A young man in an outfit like Kazunori's stood up. He quickly turned to
Kazunori, "Sir!" he said, a bit to loudly.
"Where is Ryo-Ohki now?"
"Approximately one hour and 25 minutes out," Fei typed in a quick command,
bringing the sensor readout onto the main screen. "She's just moved onto a
course that will intercept ours in two hours," He ran his hand through his
black hair, "I project that it will be one hour and 30 minutes before she can
detect us, if we stay at this level of power usage"
"And how long would it take her to get to us from there?" Itsurou asked.
"Approximately 25 minutes."
"Good." Itsurou said, the sound of anticipation readily apparent in his voice.
He turned and walked from the bridge quietly, motioning for Kazunori to follow
him.
With a look echoing Itsurou's anticipation on his face, Kazunori quickly
followed. Itsurou was awaiting him outside. "So, what next?" Kazunori asked.
"In twenty minutes, we send both shuttles down. Citan should be able to handle
the first target. The regulars can take care of the other two. Everyone else
knows what part they play in this. Are you ready, Kazunori?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," he replied, igniting an energy blade that matched
the color of his eyes. "I've looked forward to the day I could cross swords
with Ryoko." Kazunori let the blade go, and started back toward the bridge.
Itsurou watched him go, then started in the other direction, to begin his
preparations.
***
"Ryo-Ohki's picking something up!" Ryoko said from her command seat.
"What is it?" Aeka asked.
"An unidentified ship just appeared 20 light seconds away from us. It looks
like two shuttles have launched from it, both headed toward Earth," She looked
at the screen before her, "We won't be able to stop them. We're too far out.
We can still get at the larger ship though!"
"Maybe we should try to hail them first?"
"Too late, Princess, their weapons are hot, and we have to assume they're
hostile," Ryoko replied. Ryo-Ohki quickly accelerated, and started on an
intercept course for the other ship.
***
Yosho walked into the house quietly, taking a quick look around to see if
anyone was nearby. Seeing no one, he walked through the kitchen and into the
Living Room. Seeing no one in there either, he took a look upstairs, then
walked over to the door of Washu's lab. He rapped on the door twice, and,
after a moment, an image of Washu appeared on the screen in the door. "Good,
you're here, come in."
Yosho opened the door and stepped through into Washu's lab. He quickly moved
to the area where Washu and Sasami were sitting. "What's going on, Washu?
Ryoko popped in at the shrine for a moment, and then she disappeared, without
saying a thing. Now Ryo-Ohki has left, and there's no one here except for us."
"Simple," Washu replied, "Tenchi disappeared while he was working in the
fields, and Ryoko and Aeka have left to find him." She typed a pair of
commands in, and a large viewscreen with a map of the Earth on it appeared in
front of him. It had four icons on it, one for Ryo-Ohki, and three for a group
of unidentified ships, one large one, Cruiser size at least, and two smaller
ones, likely shuttles. "It looks like they've found something, though I can't
tell for certain if Tenchi's up there. I'd be willing to bet on it, though."
"Hmmm. And the shuttles?" Yosho asked.
"I'm more worried about those than I am about the big ship, right now." The
diminutive genius zoomed in on the sector with the shuttles on it. A pair of
heading projections appeared. "It looks like one of them is headed for this
house, and the other is headed for your shrine. It's not likely that their a
group of lost vacationers looking for directions on how to get to Jurai from
here," Washu commented.
"How long until they land?"
"Five minutes."
"Don't leave the lab until I come back, and only open the door for me," Yosho
said over his shoulder, as he rushed out of the lab. He quickly went up the
stairs and into Tenchi's room. He grabbed one of Tenchi's bokkens, then
thought to himself, (If Tenchi got taken while he was working in the fields, he
wouldn't have had the Tenchi-ken with him, would he?) Wracking his brain, he
tried to remember where Tenchi kept the sword. He was just able to hear the
sound of a pair of engines from outside. (Where is it?) Yosho started to
frantically look for it, then remembered where it was kept. Opening the door
to the closet, he was rewarded with the sight of the hilt. Grabbing it
hastily, Yosho went back downstairs and stood in the living room, waiting.
He listened as the shuttle's engines got louder and louder, then finally, there
was a slight shaking as it landed. The engine noise cut off, leaving
everything in a strange silence. Gripping the Tenchi-ken, Yosho waited for the
intruders to come to him.
***
Ryo-Ohki let loose an exultant yowl as she slipped past a pair of shots from
the unidentified ship. They were approaching quickly, and within minutes would
be in range of the other ship.
"Get ready, Aeka. Ryo-Ohki will scan the ship, then teleport us into a clear
area. We'll split up when we get there. We can cover more ground that way,"
Ryoko said, standing up from the control chair.
"Agreed." Aeka stood staring at the ship in front of her. It was a graceful
ship, marred only by several weapons projecting from it, and clusters of bumpy
nodes, which must have made up the cloaking system. It loomed large in front
of them, and grew larger by the second. (We're coming, Tenchi.)
***
Yosho could hear voices outside. They were speaking in a language he didn't
recognize, and were getting steadily closer.
"Varesh, tolan nesh'kanith," He heard a ragged voice from outside say.
Everything went silent, except for the occasional footstep.
A long drawn out creak announced that they'd come through the back door. A
moment later, the first one stepped into the living room, right past Yosho. He
quickly snapped the Tenchi-Ken into position and willed the blade out. The
intruder, warned by the snap-hiss of the activating weapon, whirled to face
him. Yosho quickly slashed at the intruder, aiming for his weapon. He missed
high and sliced the man's hand off at the wrist.
The intruder screamed and fell sideways, into the room. The stench of burnt
flesh and ozone hit Yosho's nose, as two other enemies came in, weapons up.
One of them was carrying a pair of blaster pistols, while the other was
carrying a set of Escatch made energy daggers. The one with the pistols fired
a couple of shots off as soon as he could. Yosho brought his shield up,
blocking the shots, and attacked. His sword was parried by Dagger, as Blaster
tried to angle around the shield. Dagger made two quick slices at Yosho,
cutting into his robe without touching his skin. Yosho feinted to the left,
then stepped to the right, bringing the Tenchi-Ken around in arc, decapitating
Dagger.
Using his momentum from the previous attack, Yosho quickly disemboweled the
other attacker. The first intruder, who'd managed to stand back up, wrapped
his arm around Yosho's neck, trying to drag him down. Yosho elbowed him twice,
loosening his foe's hold around his neck. He quickly ducked out of it, and
brought his weapon around in a diagonal slice, leaving his foe in two pieces on
the ground. He saw no one else in the room, so he cautiously stepped into the
kitchen, where he could see another intruder. This one was quickly stepping
backwards, towards the door, holding a blaster pistol on Yosho. The intruder
took another step back, then yelled something as loudly as he could.
Yosho took advantage of his foes distraction, quickly stepping in and slashing
at the gun in his hand, then kneeing him in the gut, folding the man over his
knee. The gun, and half of the man's hand, fell to the floor. Yosho let the
Tenchi-ken de-activate and grabbed a hold of the intruder. "Do you speak
Jurain?" Yosho asked him calmly.
"Nesh! Nesh!" the scared man yelled.
There was a noise from outside, and, looking out, Yosho could see a young man
wearing glasses and a green jumpsuit. An emblem featuring three bleeding gems
in a triangle was prominently displayed on his shoulder. The newcomer looked
at Yosho and spoke, "Weren't you supposed to be at the shrine, old man?"
With a quick cuff to the head, Yosho knocked out the man he was holding, then
turned to look at this new person. "The shrine?"
The young man ran his hand through his cyan hair, then replied, "Yes, you know,
the Shrine? The temple at the top of all those stairs?"
"Oh, that shrine. Why? I don't recall scheduling a meeting with anyone
today."
"It doesn't matter. All that matters is that I've found you," The man snapped,
obviously annoyed.
"I hope I haven't inconvenienced you."
"I think you put them out more," he gestured at the house. "They weren't
exactly expecting to find you here." The young man held out his hand, and a
green energy blade sprang to life in it. "Ah, but the dice will land as they
are meant to. Now, to business. I'll give you the courtesy of telling you my
name, since I'm going to kill you. I'm Citan."
"You already know me, I take it?" Yosho asked, as he brought the Tenchi-ken
back to life.
"Oh yes. Yes, I do," Citan said as he brought his blade up. "And I know how
dangerous you are. I always look forward to the tough fights."
"Dangerous? Me? Why, I haven't been called that in, well," Yosho blinked
owlishly, "days." He finishes in a grim tone. He brought his sword down to a
low guard.
Smirking, Citan attacked.
***
The Yagami was roaring through space at an extremely high velocity. It was
nearing the asteroid belt, but Kiyone was committed to going as fast as she
safely could for as long as she could. This, of course, required her full
attention to do.
"Kiyone, there's an incoming transmission from Earth," Mihoshi said from the
co-pilots seat next to her.
"Take care of it."
"Okay." Mihoshi tapped a button, and Washu's face popped onto a viewscreen.
"Oh, hi Miss Washu."
"Hello, Mihoshi. No time to chat. I'm sending you some information on a ship
that's de-cloaked near the Earth," Washu said quickly.
"All right." Several more viewscreens appeared near the screen with Washu on
it.
Out of the corner of her eye, Kiyone thought she saw something familiar on one
of the screens. She quickly slowed the Yagami down. "Mihoshi, take over
piloting for right now, okay?"
Mihoshi nodded, then took hold of her controls. Kiyone called up the screens
near her, and immediately recognized a design on the ship. It was a small one
near the front of the ship. A triangle of bleeding gems. (The Blood Gems.
What are they doing here? What is there for them here?) "Washu, see this
design near the front of the ship?"
"Yeah."
"That's the emblem of the Blood Gem mercenaries. I can send you the
information we have on them, and I'll tell you what I can now," Kiyone said, as
she started typing in commands. "These mercenaries are run by a man named
Kazunori. He's from the same race Ryoko is. They're known for their
unswerving obedience to whoever hired them, and their near fanatical dedication
to getting the job done, unless the person who hired them calls them off."
"Not very likely they're here to help."
"No. They have a vendetta against the Jurain government, I doubt they'd work
for them for any price." Kiyone finished typing, "You should be getting the
information now."
"Thanks, Kiyone. This should help. How long until you get back to the Earth?"
Washu asked.
"We're at the asteroid belt now, so within 15 minutes," Kiyone replied.
"All right. Washu out." With that, the transmission cut off.
Kiyone studied the ship on her screen a bit more. (This can only be trouble.)
***
Emergency lights were flashing all over the Fasantis. Most of the weapons had
been destroyed by Ryo-Ohki, and there were problems with the electrical systems
in many areas. Through a window in one of the corridors, the other ship could
be clearly seen, getting closer by the second. It came to a stop near the
hull. With a pop of displaced air, Aeka and Ryoko appeared in the corridor.
"Let's do this," Ryoko said. "You go that way," she pointed to her left, "I'll
go the other way. If you find Tenchi, contact me through the communicator."
"All right," Aeka replied. Ryoko glided down the corridor, her feet just above
the floor. Aeka ran the other way.
***
Itsurou turned away from a security screen, and addressed Kazunori, "You take
care of Ryoko, I'll handle Aeka."
"Gladly," Kazunori said. He hovered scant inches above the floor, then floated
backwards and phased through the door.
Itsurou took another look at the security monitor, then turned and stepped out
of the room. (And now, I take the next step toward Lord Kagato's vengeance.)
***
Aeka was cautiously walking through the corridors of the ship. They were
nondescript; the walls and the floor were all an identical shade of white.
She'd managed to avoid any confrontations with the crew so far, but she wasn't
sure how much longer she could keep that up. She came to a T-intersection,
with one corridor leading further into the ship, the other towards the hull.
Cautiously, she stepped up to it, and looked both ways. After thinking on it
for a while, she decided she should head further into the ship.
She hadn't gone three steps before she heard a deep laughter behind her. She
quickly spun around, and saw a tall man with long brown hair, wearing a robe of
deep black. "Hello, Aeka," he said, in a deep voice. "I, Itsurou of House
Yuma, have been expecting you." The light panel he was standing under
flickered, casting a strange shadow over his face.
"Expecting me?" Aeka asked. (House Yuma, that's a house of the Jurain Royal
Family. Why would they be involved?)
"Yes."
"Why would you be expecting me? Unless, you are the one who kidnapped Tenchi!"
"Astonishing feat of logic, princess," Itsurou commented, smirking.
"Where is he?" Aeka asked. She was starting to get annoyed.
"Well, princess, as much as I'd like to answer your question, I'm afraid you
won't be alive long enough to appreciate my answer." He pulled out the hilt of
a Jurain energy sword. His smirk broadened into a smile as the blade ignited
with a deep hum.
Aeka quickly called on her barrier logs, bringing up a force field around
Itsurou. "Tell me where Tenchi is."
Itsurou looked at her disinterestedly. "Why should I?"
"If you don't, I'll be forced to destroy you."
"Go ahead and try."
Aeka channeled the energy from the force field, turning it into a deadly
attack. It struck out at Itsurou, but was turned away at the last moment by a
field that sprang to life around him. "Was that your best shot? Allow me to
show you the correct way to attack with the Jurai power."
***
Meanwhile, Ryoko was making faster progress. She didn't bother to avoid the
crewmembers, cutting down any of them that got in her way. She was moving
towards where she thought the bridge of the ship was. (If there's anyplace I
can find out about where Tenchi is, it's there.)
She phased through a bulkhead, coming out into a vast cargo bay. The bay was a
good bit larger than she had expected to find on a ship this size. (Explains
why we didn't have to deal with any fighters, this ship's configured for long
missions, not fighter hauling.) She started to fly through the bay, keeping an
eye out for ambushes.
Most of her flight was uneventful, but just before she reached the next wall,
she heard a rapping noise from behind her. She spun around to face it, and saw
someone descending from above.
Kazunori had just come through the ceiling. He rapped on it once more for
effect, then floated down to her level. "Hello, Ryoko. Welcome to the
Fasantis," He said, looking her directly in the eye. "You're here to get your
poor Tenchi, aren't you?" He continued, mockingly.
"Where is he?!" Ryoko asked in a cold voice.
"I can't go telling you that, now can I?" He commented, in the same mocking
tone.
"You'll tell me, or else..." Ryoko threatened, calling up her energy sword.
"Or else, what?" Kazunori inquired, causing his own blade to appear in his
right hand.
Ryoko hovered in mid-air, staring at Kaz. "Or else I will make you wish for an
eternity in hell."
"Ryoko, don't make me lau-" Kaz was cut off as Ryoko attacked, her blade seared
through the fabric of his shirt. "If that's the way you want it, then so be
it!" he growled.
Kaz flickered out of existence, popping back in behind Ryoko. She whirled, as
he struck out with his blade. She stopped the attack bare inches from her
neck. Ryoko looked at him, her eyes blazing.
"You will die!" she hissed. Slowly, she pushed back on his blade, and then
fades out of existence. Kaz floated back warily, sword at the ready. Hearing
a slight sound behind him, he whirled around just in time to see Ryoko lunge at
him. At the last second, she pulled up, and he followed. *pop* Kaz teleported
three feet to his left, just in time to avoid Ryoko's sword, as she charged
from behind. "Where is Tenchi!" He heard two voices say. Another Ryoko came
from behind him, and the two merged back into one. The now reunited Ryoko
bared her fangs and snarled at him.
"You're as good as they say, Ryoko. I don't think I've ever seen that trick
before."
"I'm glad I'm living up to my reputation. Now tell me where Tenchi is, and
I'll let you live."
"Sorry, still can't do it." An infuriating smirk appeared on Kazunori's face.
The two glared at each other for a moment longer. Then, with a loud battle
cry, Ryoko attacked.
***
Citan began his attack with a pair of sweeping slices that Yosho adroitly
dodged. Citan shot upwards, then swooped down on Yosho like a hawk, blade
poised to strike. Yosho parried the blow with the Tenchi-ken, but was pushed
back by the force of the assault. Yosho disengaged and ducked to his left,
bringing his blade around in a low cut. Citan deftly blocked it, then jumped
back.
They stared silently at each other for a moment, the only noise to be heard was
the faint humming of their blades. Then Yosho attacked. He stepped forward,
and struck out with the Tenchi-ken. Citan blinked out of existence, then
reappeared behind Yosho, thinking to catch him by surprise. Yosho had already
moved though. He quickly turned and brought his blade around in a spinning cut
at Citan, who was caught off guard.
Out of pure reflex, Citan teleported a few feet back, a few instants to late
though. He fell to his knees, clutching his wound. He could feel warm blood
well up from the cut, and a dark stain started to spread on his side. "Nice
move, old man," Citan said, in a pained voice. He shakily got back to his
feet. "But I'm not beaten that easily." Citan took to the air again, a bit
more slowly this time, firing several energy bolts as he went. With a
practiced move, Yosho brought his shield up. The bolts struck it and exploded,
throwing dust and smoke into the air.
Yosho took a step back, trying to get out of the dust cloud. He heard a *pop*
behind him, and turned just in time to parry a slash from Citan. The two
pushed against each other's blades for a moment. Then Yosho kicked Citan in
his wounded side. There was a sickening crunch as ribs snapped from the force
of the blow.
Citan stepped unsteadily backwards, and all of the blood drained from his face.
His blade began to flicker erratically, and he seemed to be having trouble
breathing. He stood for a moment, his legs shaking, then his knees buckled,
and he fell to the ground. He tried to push himself up again, but could hardly
bring his back off of the ground. He looked at Yosho, then his left arm gave
out underneath him, and he fell back heavily. "It was a good fight, old man,"
He said in a barely audible voice. "I look forward to facing you again in the
afterlife, for you are a true warrior..." Citan's voice trailed off, and a fit
of coughing wracked through him. His blade died, and a thread of blood
trickled out of his mouth. He shakily took something from his belt. Barely
able to lift it, Citan held a small bag out to Yosho, who took it from him.
Citan spoke again, this time with visible difficulty, "With that... I shall
live... in the heart of the victor..." His hand dropped slowly to the ground,
and his eyes closed with the cold finality of death.
Yosho stood over Citan's body. He bowed his head, and clapped twice. "And you
were a true warrior as well," He said in a solemn voice. He tied the bag on to
his belt, then began back toward the house.
***
Aeka was more powerful than Itsurou had expected. After he stopped her first
attack, she tried one more time, then changed tactics. Now she was trying to
push him back with her force field, and he had to use his own to stop her from
doing it. The two shields sparked and crackled where they met, and the
corridor was starting to get warmer from the energies being released. Despite
this, Itsurou had managed to advance on her, but not as much as he'd hoped.
"This is getting you nowhere, Princess. Submit, and I will kill you quickly."
"Never!" As she yelled, a surge of energy pulsed through her force field,
knocking Itsurou back a step.
"It is your choice, Aeka. Since you have not chosen wisely, I'll be forced to
kill you slowly," he said. He quickly stepped forward again, using his field
to push hers back again. They were both starting to sweat, as the heat
continued to build. (It is only a matter of time.)
***
Kaz dropped to the ground to avoid Ryoko's attack. He rolled forward, then
launched himself into the air. Ryoko quickly spun around, braced to block his
attack.
He wasn't there.
Ryoko heard a slight sound from behind her, and started to spin around. She
saw Kazunori coming right at her, then he disappeared again. Another noise
announced Kaz's appearance behind her, and before she could get out of the way,
she felt a line of searing pain run up her side. She teleported to the other
side of the cargo bay, and braced herself for another attack.
It never came. She could see Kaz floating on the other side of the bay, blade
in a low guard position. "Surrender, Ryoko, killing someone as powerful as you
is a waste!"
"Why should I? You'd still be holding Tenchi," she said, coldly.
"Yes, but you'd be alive. Doesn't that matter to you?
"I'd never abandon him! No matter what!"
"Ahh, love, ever the overrated emotion. It drives people to acts they'd never
consider otherwise. Is this Tenchi really worth your life?"
"Yes. He's worth more than my life. He's wor-"
Kaz cut her off in mid-sentence, "I get your drift, you'll die for him. It's
your life. Or rather, it's your death." He held his hand out, and his energy
blade grew noticeably. "I, Kazunori of the third circle of Lenas, will give
you the honor of dying at my hands," a brutal grin grew on his face. (If my
skill can beat her strength. I've never been beaten, but her power may be too
much for even me. Lenas come twice, she can even twin! The reports
underestimated her even more than I'd imagined,) he thought, doubting himself
deep in his heart. He pushed down the doubts, and set himself in a traditional
guard. Then he shot upwards, through the ceiling.
Ryoko followed him, ready for anything. She had a very bad feeling about this.
***
The Fasantis was under attack again. Fei, who was the highest-ranking officer
left on the ruined bridge, was sweating. Half of the bridge crew had been
wiped out when the shields had been destroyed, and most of the weapons had been
destroyed. The weapons stations had taken a beating, and only half of the
lights were working. On the main screen of the bridge, he could see the
Yagami, which was screaming in at a speed they hadn't imagined it could attain.
"How many weapons do we have left?" Fei asked, trying to sound calm, but
failing miserably.
"We have three lasers left," an injured crewmember answered from one of the few
remaining consoles. They were his last words, as the console shorted out and
blew open in his face. That left two weapons consoles, and four crewmen.
"Lock on to them, fire as soon as they are in range. Try to destroy the
engines. We're pulling out," Fei said.
"Sir, we can't do that without orders from Kazunori. That'd be-" A shot rang
out through the closed confines of the bridge, hitting the crewman in the back.
Fei holstered his weapon. "Always obey the commands of a superior," he
recited, gritting his teeth, "no matter the circumstances."
A series of impacts rocked the ship, and a console near Fei blew out. He felt
something slam into the side of his head, and then he fell into blackness.
***
Kiyone had brought the Yagami alongside the Fasantis, and had deploying the
docking clamps, and the boarding tube was extending to the nearest airlock.
"Good job taking care of the weapons, Mihoshi," she said as she picked up a
blaster rifle.
"Thanks," Mihoshi replied, cheerily. She picked up a heavy blaster, and hefted
it up on to her shoulder.
There was a slight shudder as the boarding tube connected. The airlock on this
side opened up, and they started through.
The Fasantis was in bad condition, the hall they came out into was barely
illuminated by the flickering emergency lights. They could hear yelling down
the hallway to the left, and a faint crackling sound down one to the right.
They carefully started walking down the corridor on the right. The noise grew
louder, and over it, they thought they could hear a pair of voices yelling.
"I think I hear Aeka," Mihoshi said, quietly.
"Where?" Kiyone asked.
"Down that hallway," She replied, indicating a corridor to their left.
Now Kiyone heard it too, Aeka's voice, barely audible over all of the noise.
She still couldn't make out what Aeka was saying though.
"Let's go see if she needs our help, Mihoshi."
She nodded, and they started jogging down the hallway, the noise getting louder
by the second.
***
Itsurou had gotten very close to Aeka. Any time now, he would be close enough
to bring his blade into play. (But I still haven't broken her defenses.)
Aeka took a step back, out of the intersection. "Why are you doing this? Yuma
is a house of the Royal Family!" She said.
"You don't recognize my name? How disappointing," his voice, though tired,
took on a mocking tone. "I was once the head of House Yuma, after most of it
was wiped out."
"You, you're the one-"
"Yes, I'm that Itsurou Yuma."
"The Dark Viscount," She said, shocked. "After all this time, you still
haven't changed."
"So you do know me," his voice took on an almost gleeful tone. "So you also
know the story of how I was unjustly accused of having my family assassinated?
Of course you do." He took another step forward. "And since Lord Kagato was
the only one to treat me fairly after that, I swore fealty to him. That
allegiance requires me to avenge his death, so you understand, it's only
slightly personal." He took yet another step forward, and the pitch of the
fields changed to a deeper crackle. He brought his blade up, and prepared to
strike.
The noise of the conflicting shields quieted for a second, and Itsurou heard
footsteps from his left, he looked up just in time to see Kiyone and Mihoshi
coming down the corridor. They both brought their weapons to bear and fired at
him. Reflexively, he whipped the shield around. He just barely stopped both
shots.
Without the pressure from Itsurou's, Aeka's field expanded. It slammed into
his left side. He cried out in agony, and staggered back a few steps. "We'll
continue this later," He growled. With that, he spun around and ran down the
hall.
Aeka, exhausted from the battle, let her force shield drop, and fell heavily to
her knees.
***
Fei awakened to see the bridge lit only by a pair of barely working emergency
lights. He rolled himself onto his stomach, and got slowly to his knees. He
grabbed the edge of a console, and used it to support himself as he stood.
He looked over the bridge. He could see the sprawled out forms of the rest of
the bridge crew, most of them obviously dead, but a couple of them looked
savable.
He stood there for a moment more, trying to decide what to do. That's when he
heard it. A humming noise, getting closer by the second. He spun around, just
in time to see Kazunori burst into the room, followed by Ryoko. They stopped
in the middle of the room, blades locked together in front of them.
They were both very injured, Kaz's uniform was torn in a dozen places, bleeding
from half of them. Ryoko had a cut on her side, a gash on her leg, and a pair
of cuts running across her face. The two broke apart, Ryoko gliding back to
one side of the room, Kaz to the other.
Fei reached for his pistol, but before his hand was even halfway there, Ryoko's
arm snapped up, and an energy bolt lanced through the air toward him. Fei
dropped to the deck. The energy from the bolt tore across his back, searing
him, but not really hurting him. It exploded against the consoles behind him,
sending a rain of flaming shards onto his back. He heard another bolt, and
braced himself for an impact that never came.
Kazunori had stopped it.
"This is not your fight, Fei. Get out," Kaz ordered, never taking his eyes off
of Ryoko.
"Yes, sir," Fei said. He hurried to the door, and hesitated for a second.
Then he opened it and walked out.
As the door closed behind him, he heard Kazunori speak again, "Now, where were
we?" Then the door closed, and he could hear nothing else.
***
Mihoshi ran over to Aeka, while Kiyone looked farther down the corridor.
"How is she, Mihoshi?" Kiyone asked.
"Ummm, she seems to be out."
(Great, we really should stick together, but we can't just leave her here, and
we sure as hell couldn't carry her with us,) Kiyone thought.
"Do you think you can get her back to the Yagami, Mihoshi?"
"Sure!" Mihoshi grabbed hold of Aeka, and picked her up. She started back
down the corridor they'd come from.
Kiyone watched them go for a second, then started jogging down the corridor
she'd seen Itsurou go down. (Now to find out more about what's going on.)
***
The power in the room Tenchi was in flickered for a moment, just long enough
for him to pull himself off of the table. (Now what? Get out, help the
others, stupid.) The door was unlocked, (Smart of them.) He took a step out
into the corridor.
The first thing he noticed was the blood. Lots of it, sprayed liberally about
the hallway. Bodies, most with gaping wounds, were sprawled haphazardly about
the area. Tenchi took one look at this, and ran back into the room, fighting
the urge to vomit. (God, what happened out there? I didn't even hear
anything.) An image of Ryoko, energy blade at the ready came to mind. (No,
she couldn't have... or could she?)
He stood back up unsteadily. Steeling himself, he stepped out into the hallway
again, trying to not look at the slaughter around him.
He was doing fine, until he came to the first intersection. There was a small
pile of corpses, all in various conditions, lying in the hallway. Several of
them were sliced in half, with a cut in the wall testifying to where they'd
stood before they met their fate.
Tenchi blanched, and ran toward the nearest door. It opened, and he fell in,
the impact with the ground causing him to vomit. He lay there for a moment,
making sure he wouldn't throw up again, then stood back up, and tried to make
his way down the hall again.
***
Itsurou turned a corner and came to the escape shuttle he'd had installed.
(I'd hoped I wouldn't have to use this.)
The shuttle was built into the superstructure of the ship, made to look like
just another piece of the ship. When activated, it would push off and start on
a course out of the system.
He quickly tapped in a code, and the door swung open, revealing the interior.
It was just large enough for three people to fit somewhat comfortably. He
climbed in, careful to avoid hitting his wounded arm, and tapped another
button, sending the signal to evacuate the ship. It also set the self-destruct
sequence in motion. When the shuttle took off, the pulse regulator would be
torn from the ship, and two minutes later, the ship would go.
(At least one of them will die,) he thought, as he faded into blissful
unconsciousness.
***
Ryoko heard a calm, computerized voice came over the general address system in
a lull between strikes. "Five minutes to destruct." It then said something in
another language.
"Hmm... seems it's time for me to go Ryoko," Kazunori remarked. He was on the
ground, silhouetted by the main screen, which had switched to a view of the Sun
during the fight.
"You're not going until you tell me where Tenchi is."
"That again? Very well, I'll tell you. But only because it's been such fun,"
he gently lifted off the ground. "In fact, you passed right by him. In your
mad dash to save him, you failed to. But, if you hurry, you may still have
time to get to him and still escape," he commented as Ryoko turned to leave.
She hurried out of the room, retracing her steps, hoping to find Tenchi.
***
Kiyone heard the self-destruct warning as she came around a corner, and ran
right into someone else, knocking her back a step. Her gun came up out of
reflex, and she found herself staring into the face of a young mercenary.
"Stay where you are." She said.
He looked at her, his green eyes filled with disdain. "Why?"
"You are under arrest for unlawful operation in a protected zone."
"Do you really think you can arrest me and still get off of this ship in time?"
He took a step to his left. Her gun followed him.
"Yes, I think I can get to my ship in time. Now then, you're coming with me,"
she motioned for him to start down the corridor she'd just come from.
"Fine, have it your way." His hand flew out, as he tried to smack the gun down
and out of her hand. Not waiting to see if he'd succeeded, he started running
away.
"Dammit," Kiyone muttered as she started fired a group of shots after him. One
struck him in his leg, and he started limping, blood flowing from the wound.
He stepped around a corner, and Kiyone ran after him, just in time to hear a
bulkhead close.
"Four minutes and Fifteen seconds to self-destruct," The voice chimed in again.
(Not enough time to find him. I'd better get back to the Yagami.) Kiyone
turned and ran as fast as she could towards her ship.
***
(Damned GP officer,) Fei thought as he stumbled down the corridor, blood
leaking from the hole in his leg. The pain burning in his leg with every step.
He tried to remember where the closest escape pod was, but couldn't think of
any he could get to in time. (Damn it.) He took another halting step, and
came to an intersection.
(Wasn't there an escape shuttle that wasn't in the plans?) He tried to
remember. "Yes, it was this way," he said quietly, starting his stumbling way
toward where he thought the shuttle was.
He stumbled through an opening, his vision started clouding as he saw the door
he was looking for. With all of his strength, he dragged himself through the
opening, and fell to the ground.
He stared at the ceiling for a moment, the blackness nibbling into his vision a
bit more. (Now, I'm sure to survive.) His last thought was an image of that
GP woman.
***
Mihoshi had set Aeka down in one of the pilot's chairs on the bridge of the
Yagami. She took a seat at the other one, and waited.
In a few minutes, Aeka had started to stir a bit, groaning and moving, but not
getting up.
Kiyone called in a few minutes later. "Mihoshi, this is Kiyone."
"Mihoshi here," she replied.
"We've got a problem Mihoshi. This ship is set to self-destruct in a few
minutes, so we've got to get off of it as quickly as possible. I want you to
start prepping the Yagami, OK?"
"Gotcha, Kiyone."
"Wait, Kiyone," a weak voice came from the chair next to her. "Have you found
Lord Tenchi yet?"
"No Aeka, I haven't. I'm sorry."
"But, we can't leave him on this ship to die! We must find him!" Aeka stood
up, and started haltingly toward the door.
"I'm sorry, Aeka, but there's no time. Mihoshi, don't let her off the Yagami.
I'll be back in a minute, Kiyone out," with that, she cut the link.
Mihoshi stood up and walked over to the hatch of the Yagami, blocking Aeka's
way. "Aeka, I can't let you go out there."
"Let me go find him, Mihoshi," Aeka said, sorrow desperation creeping into her
voice.
"I'm sorry Aeka, I can't." Aeka started to say something, but Mihoshi cut her
off. "As a Galaxy Police officer, part of my duty is to keep people out of
danger. I can't let you pass."
Aeka tried to push past Mihoshi, but quickly exhausted her strength, and fell
back against the bulkhead. "Tenchi, I hope Ryoko found you."
***
Tenchi kept wandering through the halls, faster now that he'd heard the
self-destruct warning, but he had no clue where he was going. The trail of
bodies had led to just another corridor. After a moments thought, he'd decided
to turn and go back the way he came, but he still had yet to see anyone.
(There's got to be someone who's still alive on this ship!) he thought as he
turned another corner. He was almost back where he'd started. In fact, he
thought he recognized the door he'd come out of.
"Three minutes and thirty seconds remaining to self-destruct."
(Damn it!) He started running now, a full out sprint he hoped would carry him
to the end of the trail, and hopefully, to someone who could help him.
He almost ran headlong into someone who appeared in front of him. The pop made
by teleportation was unmistakable, and, for a moment, he thought Ryoko had
found him.
Instead, he found himself staring at Kazunori. "Ah, so you did escape. Good
boy."
"What do you want?" Tenchi snapped.
Kaz grinned, "Just to tell you to follow this corridor to the next
intersection, take a right, and follow that one to its end. If you want to
survive, that is."
"Why should I trust you?"
"One simple reason, and that is, I have no reason to lie. Or, if you prefer, I
simply have no reason to want you dead right now. Now then, if you'll excuse
me," he started to glide back through one of the walls.
"Wait! Tell me-" Tenchi started.
Kaz ignored him. "Oh, And tell Ryoko that her new beauty is better than the
old!" He yelled as he disappeared from sight.
(New beauty?)
"Three minutes remaining."
Tenchi turned and ran down the corridor as quickly as he could, following Kaz's
directions.
***
Kaz floated back into the hallway for a moment. (Now that that's finished,
time for me to leave.)
He disappeared with a pop of displaced air, and reappeared in front of an open
hatch. Stepping in, he saw Itsurou's unconscious form in the command chair,
and Fei's prone form on the floor. "Well. At least I know they made it."
Kaz turned and closed the hatch, and set about bandaging Fei's wound, and then
to tending to his own. There was a jolt as the shuttle disconnected from the
ship, starting the overload that would destroy it.
"Two minutes remaining until destruction," the onboard computer noted in its
ever so calm voice.
***
Kiyone detached the Yagami from the Fasantis, putting as much space as she
could between the two ships. Mihoshi had taken her spot in the co-pilot's
seat, and Aeka was standing behind them, watching the main screen.
Ryo-ohki hadn't moved away, however. (Not a good sign. Ryoko's still alive,
at least, but if she doesn't find Tenchi, will she get off of the ship?)
Kiyone wondered.
They pulled away, getting safely out of the blast radius, and watched in
silence.
***
"Forty-five seconds to destruction."
(Damn it!) Ryoko thought. (I still haven't found him! Where is he!) She was
flying through the corridors at top speed, hunting for him as best as she
could. She finally got the cargo bay the fight with Kaz had started in, and
she started retracing her steps from there.
"Thirty seconds."
(Not enough time!) She flew out through the bulkhead, and followed the trail,
calling Tenchi's name the whole time.
"Fifteen seconds."
She turned a corner, seeking any sign that he may have been there. She called
his name again.
"Ryoko!" she heard him call from down a hallway to her left. She moved as
quickly as she could, and found Tenchi running down the corridor.
"Tenchi!" She quickly grabbed hold of him.
"5 seconds," she concentrated
"4," and focussed on getting to Ryo-ohki
"3." She pulled him close,
"2," and they disappeared,
"1, 0."
***
The ship blossomed into a huge fireball, the atmosphere being eaten by the
flames. Ryo-ohki was still inside the blast radius, and disappeared from the
Yagami's screens during the explosion.
"Tenchi..." Aeka said, fear and pain ringing in her voice.
***
To be continued...
Final note: Tell me what you think! Send any criticism or praise to
Drakstern@Yahoo.com.
I don't own these characters, except for Kazunori, Itsurou, and the rest of the
Blood Gems. All of the other characters are the property of AIC and Pioneer.
I want to thank my prereaders, FallenDruid (who helped with Yosho's dialogue A
LOT,) Zervon, J'than, meachi, and Big__D for all the help they've given me.
"His avenger!?" Tenchi exclaimed from the table.
"Yes," Itsurou calmly replied, allowing his blade to dissipate. "I was his
third, and most trusted, knight. However, I was away at the time that he was
defeated. Since then I've been working out how to come after you. There were
some problems. First, Kain came back, then, just when I thought I would have
my chance, you left for Jurai, and came back with that accursed knight."
Itsurou smirked as he looked down on Tenchi. "Now, though, now is the perfect
time. An uprising on the planet Cephis causes your guardian to be recalled,
and incidentally leaving you virtually unprotected. The chance to carry out
Lord Kagato's vengeance was too much to pass up."
"So why am I still alive?"
Itsurou chuckled a bit. "You're not the only one who caused my lord's
downfall."
The door to the room opened and Kazunori shot in. "Itsurou, Ryo-Ohki is moving
towards this position."
"Have they detected us yet, Kazunori?" Itsurou inquired, turning towards him.
"I don't believe so."
"Good. Let's continue as planned," Itsurou said. He started towards the door,
but stopped for a second, as if about to say something. With a quick shake of
his head, he left the room.
Kazunori stayed for a moment longer. He turned to Tenchi, then flashed Tenchi
a fanged smile, "I look forward to meeting Ryoko. The only person who's
escaped Nagi with her life *and* without being captured, she'll be quite a
challenge." Then, before Tenchi could reply, Kazunori turned and left.
(Kagato's avenger? What does he have planned? I know who else he's after;
it's got to be all of the others.) Tenchi mulled this over in silence for a
few moments. (And there's nothing I can do about it. Damn it.)
***
Washu was in her lab, still scanning as quickly as she could. However, nothing
was showing up. (Hopefully, that won't be the case for to long. I think
Tenchi may be in real trouble.) She tried opening a channel to the Yagami, but
the signal still wouldn't go through. (What's going on up there?) Washu
wondered.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Sasami asked from behind her.
"Not right now, Sas-" then an idea struck. Washu quickly typed in a series of
commands and a small screen appeared in front of Sasami, "Actually, there is.
You can try to get a hold of the Yagami with that. Keep trying, and tell me
when you get through."
Sasami, now that she had something to do, quickly started working on her task.
"Thanks, Washu"
"No problem," With that, Washu started working on the scans again.
* * *
Kiyone was seated at the controls of the Yagami. She and Mihoshi, who was in
the living quarters taking a call from her Grandfather, were on their way back
from the call on the fringe of the system. Kiyone sighed as she mentally
corrected herself, (the false alarm in the fringes of the system.) They'd gone
all the way out, only to find nothing but rocks and a beacon. The beacon is
what had caused the call, set to transmit on standard GP channels with a
repeated distress signal. While it was possible that it was a legitimate call,
and that they'd just been picked up by somebody else, the chances were slim.
(There'd been no sign of any ships in that sector for the past several days, so
that beacon must have been planted.) Kiyone sat back in her chair and looked
over the information again, trying to find something, anything that would tell
them who'd planted the beacon.
That's when Mihoshi came up from the back. "All right, Kiyone, I'm done," she
said, "Grandpa says hi." She sat down in the co-pilots seat.
"How is he doing?"
"He's doing just fine. We must not have had a good connection though. It kept
fading out and picking up another one."
"From where? There shouldn't be any transmissions out here on the same
frequency we use."
"I don't know, but whoever they were trying to talk to had a strange name."
"Did they?"
"Yeah, it sounded like it was Mihone."
Kiyone was about to say something, but was interrupted by a sudden transmission
from Earth. She quickly brought it up, and Sasami appeared onscreen. "Oh, hi
Sasami."
"Hi Kiyone, hold on a sec." Sasami walked away from the screen for a moment,
then came back with Washu.
"Oh good, I see we finally got through," Washu commented.
"Finally got through?" Kiyone repeated, glaring over at Mihoshi.
"Yeah, we've been trying for at least the past 5 minutes. No one replied at
all. But we don't have time to chat. Something's happened."
"What is it?" Mihoshi asked quickly.
"Tenchi's missing. We're not sure if he's in trouble, or not, but we're trying
to find him. Ryo-Ohki's already out looking with Ryoko and Aeka, but we could
use the Yagami's help," Washu said earnestly.
"All right, we'll hurry back," Kiyone said, flipping the switch to engage the
booster. "With the booster, I estimate we should be back within a half an
hour."
"Good, we'll have an area ready for you to search when you get back," Washu
said, then cut the connection.
Kiyone quickly brought the Yagami's engines to full power and started speeding
towards the Earth.
***
Itsurou stood on the bridge of the Fasantis. It was stark and spare, with only
a few duty stations. For the first time since the voyage had started, they
were all manned. That was due to the ship being on full alert. On the main
screen at the front of the ship showed a grand, sweeping view of the Earth. He
walked to the back of the bridge, where Kazunori was standing. "How much
longer can you avoid detection?" Itsurou inquired.
"At least until the Yagami shows up," Kazunori replied, disinterestedly.
"However, that shouldn't be a problem, since your plan has us de-cloaking long
before that happens."
"Yes, just as soon as Ryo-Ohki is at the furthest point from our position. Or
if it looks like they're going to find us."
"I remember. Fei!"
A young man in an outfit like Kazunori's stood up. He quickly turned to
Kazunori, "Sir!" he said, a bit to loudly.
"Where is Ryo-Ohki now?"
"Approximately one hour and 25 minutes out," Fei typed in a quick command,
bringing the sensor readout onto the main screen. "She's just moved onto a
course that will intercept ours in two hours," He ran his hand through his
black hair, "I project that it will be one hour and 30 minutes before she can
detect us, if we stay at this level of power usage"
"And how long would it take her to get to us from there?" Itsurou asked.
"Approximately 25 minutes."
"Good." Itsurou said, the sound of anticipation readily apparent in his voice.
He turned and walked from the bridge quietly, motioning for Kazunori to follow
him.
With a look echoing Itsurou's anticipation on his face, Kazunori quickly
followed. Itsurou was awaiting him outside. "So, what next?" Kazunori asked.
"In twenty minutes, we send both shuttles down. Citan should be able to handle
the first target. The regulars can take care of the other two. Everyone else
knows what part they play in this. Are you ready, Kazunori?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," he replied, igniting an energy blade that matched
the color of his eyes. "I've looked forward to the day I could cross swords
with Ryoko." Kazunori let the blade go, and started back toward the bridge.
Itsurou watched him go, then started in the other direction, to begin his
preparations.
***
"Ryo-Ohki's picking something up!" Ryoko said from her command seat.
"What is it?" Aeka asked.
"An unidentified ship just appeared 20 light seconds away from us. It looks
like two shuttles have launched from it, both headed toward Earth," She looked
at the screen before her, "We won't be able to stop them. We're too far out.
We can still get at the larger ship though!"
"Maybe we should try to hail them first?"
"Too late, Princess, their weapons are hot, and we have to assume they're
hostile," Ryoko replied. Ryo-Ohki quickly accelerated, and started on an
intercept course for the other ship.
***
Yosho walked into the house quietly, taking a quick look around to see if
anyone was nearby. Seeing no one, he walked through the kitchen and into the
Living Room. Seeing no one in there either, he took a look upstairs, then
walked over to the door of Washu's lab. He rapped on the door twice, and,
after a moment, an image of Washu appeared on the screen in the door. "Good,
you're here, come in."
Yosho opened the door and stepped through into Washu's lab. He quickly moved
to the area where Washu and Sasami were sitting. "What's going on, Washu?
Ryoko popped in at the shrine for a moment, and then she disappeared, without
saying a thing. Now Ryo-Ohki has left, and there's no one here except for us."
"Simple," Washu replied, "Tenchi disappeared while he was working in the
fields, and Ryoko and Aeka have left to find him." She typed a pair of
commands in, and a large viewscreen with a map of the Earth on it appeared in
front of him. It had four icons on it, one for Ryo-Ohki, and three for a group
of unidentified ships, one large one, Cruiser size at least, and two smaller
ones, likely shuttles. "It looks like they've found something, though I can't
tell for certain if Tenchi's up there. I'd be willing to bet on it, though."
"Hmmm. And the shuttles?" Yosho asked.
"I'm more worried about those than I am about the big ship, right now." The
diminutive genius zoomed in on the sector with the shuttles on it. A pair of
heading projections appeared. "It looks like one of them is headed for this
house, and the other is headed for your shrine. It's not likely that their a
group of lost vacationers looking for directions on how to get to Jurai from
here," Washu commented.
"How long until they land?"
"Five minutes."
"Don't leave the lab until I come back, and only open the door for me," Yosho
said over his shoulder, as he rushed out of the lab. He quickly went up the
stairs and into Tenchi's room. He grabbed one of Tenchi's bokkens, then
thought to himself, (If Tenchi got taken while he was working in the fields, he
wouldn't have had the Tenchi-ken with him, would he?) Wracking his brain, he
tried to remember where Tenchi kept the sword. He was just able to hear the
sound of a pair of engines from outside. (Where is it?) Yosho started to
frantically look for it, then remembered where it was kept. Opening the door
to the closet, he was rewarded with the sight of the hilt. Grabbing it
hastily, Yosho went back downstairs and stood in the living room, waiting.
He listened as the shuttle's engines got louder and louder, then finally, there
was a slight shaking as it landed. The engine noise cut off, leaving
everything in a strange silence. Gripping the Tenchi-ken, Yosho waited for the
intruders to come to him.
***
Ryo-Ohki let loose an exultant yowl as she slipped past a pair of shots from
the unidentified ship. They were approaching quickly, and within minutes would
be in range of the other ship.
"Get ready, Aeka. Ryo-Ohki will scan the ship, then teleport us into a clear
area. We'll split up when we get there. We can cover more ground that way,"
Ryoko said, standing up from the control chair.
"Agreed." Aeka stood staring at the ship in front of her. It was a graceful
ship, marred only by several weapons projecting from it, and clusters of bumpy
nodes, which must have made up the cloaking system. It loomed large in front
of them, and grew larger by the second. (We're coming, Tenchi.)
***
Yosho could hear voices outside. They were speaking in a language he didn't
recognize, and were getting steadily closer.
"Varesh, tolan nesh'kanith," He heard a ragged voice from outside say.
Everything went silent, except for the occasional footstep.
A long drawn out creak announced that they'd come through the back door. A
moment later, the first one stepped into the living room, right past Yosho. He
quickly snapped the Tenchi-Ken into position and willed the blade out. The
intruder, warned by the snap-hiss of the activating weapon, whirled to face
him. Yosho quickly slashed at the intruder, aiming for his weapon. He missed
high and sliced the man's hand off at the wrist.
The intruder screamed and fell sideways, into the room. The stench of burnt
flesh and ozone hit Yosho's nose, as two other enemies came in, weapons up.
One of them was carrying a pair of blaster pistols, while the other was
carrying a set of Escatch made energy daggers. The one with the pistols fired
a couple of shots off as soon as he could. Yosho brought his shield up,
blocking the shots, and attacked. His sword was parried by Dagger, as Blaster
tried to angle around the shield. Dagger made two quick slices at Yosho,
cutting into his robe without touching his skin. Yosho feinted to the left,
then stepped to the right, bringing the Tenchi-Ken around in arc, decapitating
Dagger.
Using his momentum from the previous attack, Yosho quickly disemboweled the
other attacker. The first intruder, who'd managed to stand back up, wrapped
his arm around Yosho's neck, trying to drag him down. Yosho elbowed him twice,
loosening his foe's hold around his neck. He quickly ducked out of it, and
brought his weapon around in a diagonal slice, leaving his foe in two pieces on
the ground. He saw no one else in the room, so he cautiously stepped into the
kitchen, where he could see another intruder. This one was quickly stepping
backwards, towards the door, holding a blaster pistol on Yosho. The intruder
took another step back, then yelled something as loudly as he could.
Yosho took advantage of his foes distraction, quickly stepping in and slashing
at the gun in his hand, then kneeing him in the gut, folding the man over his
knee. The gun, and half of the man's hand, fell to the floor. Yosho let the
Tenchi-ken de-activate and grabbed a hold of the intruder. "Do you speak
Jurain?" Yosho asked him calmly.
"Nesh! Nesh!" the scared man yelled.
There was a noise from outside, and, looking out, Yosho could see a young man
wearing glasses and a green jumpsuit. An emblem featuring three bleeding gems
in a triangle was prominently displayed on his shoulder. The newcomer looked
at Yosho and spoke, "Weren't you supposed to be at the shrine, old man?"
With a quick cuff to the head, Yosho knocked out the man he was holding, then
turned to look at this new person. "The shrine?"
The young man ran his hand through his cyan hair, then replied, "Yes, you know,
the Shrine? The temple at the top of all those stairs?"
"Oh, that shrine. Why? I don't recall scheduling a meeting with anyone
today."
"It doesn't matter. All that matters is that I've found you," The man snapped,
obviously annoyed.
"I hope I haven't inconvenienced you."
"I think you put them out more," he gestured at the house. "They weren't
exactly expecting to find you here." The young man held out his hand, and a
green energy blade sprang to life in it. "Ah, but the dice will land as they
are meant to. Now, to business. I'll give you the courtesy of telling you my
name, since I'm going to kill you. I'm Citan."
"You already know me, I take it?" Yosho asked, as he brought the Tenchi-ken
back to life.
"Oh yes. Yes, I do," Citan said as he brought his blade up. "And I know how
dangerous you are. I always look forward to the tough fights."
"Dangerous? Me? Why, I haven't been called that in, well," Yosho blinked
owlishly, "days." He finishes in a grim tone. He brought his sword down to a
low guard.
Smirking, Citan attacked.
***
The Yagami was roaring through space at an extremely high velocity. It was
nearing the asteroid belt, but Kiyone was committed to going as fast as she
safely could for as long as she could. This, of course, required her full
attention to do.
"Kiyone, there's an incoming transmission from Earth," Mihoshi said from the
co-pilots seat next to her.
"Take care of it."
"Okay." Mihoshi tapped a button, and Washu's face popped onto a viewscreen.
"Oh, hi Miss Washu."
"Hello, Mihoshi. No time to chat. I'm sending you some information on a ship
that's de-cloaked near the Earth," Washu said quickly.
"All right." Several more viewscreens appeared near the screen with Washu on
it.
Out of the corner of her eye, Kiyone thought she saw something familiar on one
of the screens. She quickly slowed the Yagami down. "Mihoshi, take over
piloting for right now, okay?"
Mihoshi nodded, then took hold of her controls. Kiyone called up the screens
near her, and immediately recognized a design on the ship. It was a small one
near the front of the ship. A triangle of bleeding gems. (The Blood Gems.
What are they doing here? What is there for them here?) "Washu, see this
design near the front of the ship?"
"Yeah."
"That's the emblem of the Blood Gem mercenaries. I can send you the
information we have on them, and I'll tell you what I can now," Kiyone said, as
she started typing in commands. "These mercenaries are run by a man named
Kazunori. He's from the same race Ryoko is. They're known for their
unswerving obedience to whoever hired them, and their near fanatical dedication
to getting the job done, unless the person who hired them calls them off."
"Not very likely they're here to help."
"No. They have a vendetta against the Jurain government, I doubt they'd work
for them for any price." Kiyone finished typing, "You should be getting the
information now."
"Thanks, Kiyone. This should help. How long until you get back to the Earth?"
Washu asked.
"We're at the asteroid belt now, so within 15 minutes," Kiyone replied.
"All right. Washu out." With that, the transmission cut off.
Kiyone studied the ship on her screen a bit more. (This can only be trouble.)
***
Emergency lights were flashing all over the Fasantis. Most of the weapons had
been destroyed by Ryo-Ohki, and there were problems with the electrical systems
in many areas. Through a window in one of the corridors, the other ship could
be clearly seen, getting closer by the second. It came to a stop near the
hull. With a pop of displaced air, Aeka and Ryoko appeared in the corridor.
"Let's do this," Ryoko said. "You go that way," she pointed to her left, "I'll
go the other way. If you find Tenchi, contact me through the communicator."
"All right," Aeka replied. Ryoko glided down the corridor, her feet just above
the floor. Aeka ran the other way.
***
Itsurou turned away from a security screen, and addressed Kazunori, "You take
care of Ryoko, I'll handle Aeka."
"Gladly," Kazunori said. He hovered scant inches above the floor, then floated
backwards and phased through the door.
Itsurou took another look at the security monitor, then turned and stepped out
of the room. (And now, I take the next step toward Lord Kagato's vengeance.)
***
Aeka was cautiously walking through the corridors of the ship. They were
nondescript; the walls and the floor were all an identical shade of white.
She'd managed to avoid any confrontations with the crew so far, but she wasn't
sure how much longer she could keep that up. She came to a T-intersection,
with one corridor leading further into the ship, the other towards the hull.
Cautiously, she stepped up to it, and looked both ways. After thinking on it
for a while, she decided she should head further into the ship.
She hadn't gone three steps before she heard a deep laughter behind her. She
quickly spun around, and saw a tall man with long brown hair, wearing a robe of
deep black. "Hello, Aeka," he said, in a deep voice. "I, Itsurou of House
Yuma, have been expecting you." The light panel he was standing under
flickered, casting a strange shadow over his face.
"Expecting me?" Aeka asked. (House Yuma, that's a house of the Jurain Royal
Family. Why would they be involved?)
"Yes."
"Why would you be expecting me? Unless, you are the one who kidnapped Tenchi!"
"Astonishing feat of logic, princess," Itsurou commented, smirking.
"Where is he?" Aeka asked. She was starting to get annoyed.
"Well, princess, as much as I'd like to answer your question, I'm afraid you
won't be alive long enough to appreciate my answer." He pulled out the hilt of
a Jurain energy sword. His smirk broadened into a smile as the blade ignited
with a deep hum.
Aeka quickly called on her barrier logs, bringing up a force field around
Itsurou. "Tell me where Tenchi is."
Itsurou looked at her disinterestedly. "Why should I?"
"If you don't, I'll be forced to destroy you."
"Go ahead and try."
Aeka channeled the energy from the force field, turning it into a deadly
attack. It struck out at Itsurou, but was turned away at the last moment by a
field that sprang to life around him. "Was that your best shot? Allow me to
show you the correct way to attack with the Jurai power."
***
Meanwhile, Ryoko was making faster progress. She didn't bother to avoid the
crewmembers, cutting down any of them that got in her way. She was moving
towards where she thought the bridge of the ship was. (If there's anyplace I
can find out about where Tenchi is, it's there.)
She phased through a bulkhead, coming out into a vast cargo bay. The bay was a
good bit larger than she had expected to find on a ship this size. (Explains
why we didn't have to deal with any fighters, this ship's configured for long
missions, not fighter hauling.) She started to fly through the bay, keeping an
eye out for ambushes.
Most of her flight was uneventful, but just before she reached the next wall,
she heard a rapping noise from behind her. She spun around to face it, and saw
someone descending from above.
Kazunori had just come through the ceiling. He rapped on it once more for
effect, then floated down to her level. "Hello, Ryoko. Welcome to the
Fasantis," He said, looking her directly in the eye. "You're here to get your
poor Tenchi, aren't you?" He continued, mockingly.
"Where is he?!" Ryoko asked in a cold voice.
"I can't go telling you that, now can I?" He commented, in the same mocking
tone.
"You'll tell me, or else..." Ryoko threatened, calling up her energy sword.
"Or else, what?" Kazunori inquired, causing his own blade to appear in his
right hand.
Ryoko hovered in mid-air, staring at Kaz. "Or else I will make you wish for an
eternity in hell."
"Ryoko, don't make me lau-" Kaz was cut off as Ryoko attacked, her blade seared
through the fabric of his shirt. "If that's the way you want it, then so be
it!" he growled.
Kaz flickered out of existence, popping back in behind Ryoko. She whirled, as
he struck out with his blade. She stopped the attack bare inches from her
neck. Ryoko looked at him, her eyes blazing.
"You will die!" she hissed. Slowly, she pushed back on his blade, and then
fades out of existence. Kaz floated back warily, sword at the ready. Hearing
a slight sound behind him, he whirled around just in time to see Ryoko lunge at
him. At the last second, she pulled up, and he followed. *pop* Kaz teleported
three feet to his left, just in time to avoid Ryoko's sword, as she charged
from behind. "Where is Tenchi!" He heard two voices say. Another Ryoko came
from behind him, and the two merged back into one. The now reunited Ryoko
bared her fangs and snarled at him.
"You're as good as they say, Ryoko. I don't think I've ever seen that trick
before."
"I'm glad I'm living up to my reputation. Now tell me where Tenchi is, and
I'll let you live."
"Sorry, still can't do it." An infuriating smirk appeared on Kazunori's face.
The two glared at each other for a moment longer. Then, with a loud battle
cry, Ryoko attacked.
***
Citan began his attack with a pair of sweeping slices that Yosho adroitly
dodged. Citan shot upwards, then swooped down on Yosho like a hawk, blade
poised to strike. Yosho parried the blow with the Tenchi-ken, but was pushed
back by the force of the assault. Yosho disengaged and ducked to his left,
bringing his blade around in a low cut. Citan deftly blocked it, then jumped
back.
They stared silently at each other for a moment, the only noise to be heard was
the faint humming of their blades. Then Yosho attacked. He stepped forward,
and struck out with the Tenchi-ken. Citan blinked out of existence, then
reappeared behind Yosho, thinking to catch him by surprise. Yosho had already
moved though. He quickly turned and brought his blade around in a spinning cut
at Citan, who was caught off guard.
Out of pure reflex, Citan teleported a few feet back, a few instants to late
though. He fell to his knees, clutching his wound. He could feel warm blood
well up from the cut, and a dark stain started to spread on his side. "Nice
move, old man," Citan said, in a pained voice. He shakily got back to his
feet. "But I'm not beaten that easily." Citan took to the air again, a bit
more slowly this time, firing several energy bolts as he went. With a
practiced move, Yosho brought his shield up. The bolts struck it and exploded,
throwing dust and smoke into the air.
Yosho took a step back, trying to get out of the dust cloud. He heard a *pop*
behind him, and turned just in time to parry a slash from Citan. The two
pushed against each other's blades for a moment. Then Yosho kicked Citan in
his wounded side. There was a sickening crunch as ribs snapped from the force
of the blow.
Citan stepped unsteadily backwards, and all of the blood drained from his face.
His blade began to flicker erratically, and he seemed to be having trouble
breathing. He stood for a moment, his legs shaking, then his knees buckled,
and he fell to the ground. He tried to push himself up again, but could hardly
bring his back off of the ground. He looked at Yosho, then his left arm gave
out underneath him, and he fell back heavily. "It was a good fight, old man,"
He said in a barely audible voice. "I look forward to facing you again in the
afterlife, for you are a true warrior..." Citan's voice trailed off, and a fit
of coughing wracked through him. His blade died, and a thread of blood
trickled out of his mouth. He shakily took something from his belt. Barely
able to lift it, Citan held a small bag out to Yosho, who took it from him.
Citan spoke again, this time with visible difficulty, "With that... I shall
live... in the heart of the victor..." His hand dropped slowly to the ground,
and his eyes closed with the cold finality of death.
Yosho stood over Citan's body. He bowed his head, and clapped twice. "And you
were a true warrior as well," He said in a solemn voice. He tied the bag on to
his belt, then began back toward the house.
***
Aeka was more powerful than Itsurou had expected. After he stopped her first
attack, she tried one more time, then changed tactics. Now she was trying to
push him back with her force field, and he had to use his own to stop her from
doing it. The two shields sparked and crackled where they met, and the
corridor was starting to get warmer from the energies being released. Despite
this, Itsurou had managed to advance on her, but not as much as he'd hoped.
"This is getting you nowhere, Princess. Submit, and I will kill you quickly."
"Never!" As she yelled, a surge of energy pulsed through her force field,
knocking Itsurou back a step.
"It is your choice, Aeka. Since you have not chosen wisely, I'll be forced to
kill you slowly," he said. He quickly stepped forward again, using his field
to push hers back again. They were both starting to sweat, as the heat
continued to build. (It is only a matter of time.)
***
Kaz dropped to the ground to avoid Ryoko's attack. He rolled forward, then
launched himself into the air. Ryoko quickly spun around, braced to block his
attack.
He wasn't there.
Ryoko heard a slight sound from behind her, and started to spin around. She
saw Kazunori coming right at her, then he disappeared again. Another noise
announced Kaz's appearance behind her, and before she could get out of the way,
she felt a line of searing pain run up her side. She teleported to the other
side of the cargo bay, and braced herself for another attack.
It never came. She could see Kaz floating on the other side of the bay, blade
in a low guard position. "Surrender, Ryoko, killing someone as powerful as you
is a waste!"
"Why should I? You'd still be holding Tenchi," she said, coldly.
"Yes, but you'd be alive. Doesn't that matter to you?
"I'd never abandon him! No matter what!"
"Ahh, love, ever the overrated emotion. It drives people to acts they'd never
consider otherwise. Is this Tenchi really worth your life?"
"Yes. He's worth more than my life. He's wor-"
Kaz cut her off in mid-sentence, "I get your drift, you'll die for him. It's
your life. Or rather, it's your death." He held his hand out, and his energy
blade grew noticeably. "I, Kazunori of the third circle of Lenas, will give
you the honor of dying at my hands," a brutal grin grew on his face. (If my
skill can beat her strength. I've never been beaten, but her power may be too
much for even me. Lenas come twice, she can even twin! The reports
underestimated her even more than I'd imagined,) he thought, doubting himself
deep in his heart. He pushed down the doubts, and set himself in a traditional
guard. Then he shot upwards, through the ceiling.
Ryoko followed him, ready for anything. She had a very bad feeling about this.
***
The Fasantis was under attack again. Fei, who was the highest-ranking officer
left on the ruined bridge, was sweating. Half of the bridge crew had been
wiped out when the shields had been destroyed, and most of the weapons had been
destroyed. The weapons stations had taken a beating, and only half of the
lights were working. On the main screen of the bridge, he could see the
Yagami, which was screaming in at a speed they hadn't imagined it could attain.
"How many weapons do we have left?" Fei asked, trying to sound calm, but
failing miserably.
"We have three lasers left," an injured crewmember answered from one of the few
remaining consoles. They were his last words, as the console shorted out and
blew open in his face. That left two weapons consoles, and four crewmen.
"Lock on to them, fire as soon as they are in range. Try to destroy the
engines. We're pulling out," Fei said.
"Sir, we can't do that without orders from Kazunori. That'd be-" A shot rang
out through the closed confines of the bridge, hitting the crewman in the back.
Fei holstered his weapon. "Always obey the commands of a superior," he
recited, gritting his teeth, "no matter the circumstances."
A series of impacts rocked the ship, and a console near Fei blew out. He felt
something slam into the side of his head, and then he fell into blackness.
***
Kiyone had brought the Yagami alongside the Fasantis, and had deploying the
docking clamps, and the boarding tube was extending to the nearest airlock.
"Good job taking care of the weapons, Mihoshi," she said as she picked up a
blaster rifle.
"Thanks," Mihoshi replied, cheerily. She picked up a heavy blaster, and hefted
it up on to her shoulder.
There was a slight shudder as the boarding tube connected. The airlock on this
side opened up, and they started through.
The Fasantis was in bad condition, the hall they came out into was barely
illuminated by the flickering emergency lights. They could hear yelling down
the hallway to the left, and a faint crackling sound down one to the right.
They carefully started walking down the corridor on the right. The noise grew
louder, and over it, they thought they could hear a pair of voices yelling.
"I think I hear Aeka," Mihoshi said, quietly.
"Where?" Kiyone asked.
"Down that hallway," She replied, indicating a corridor to their left.
Now Kiyone heard it too, Aeka's voice, barely audible over all of the noise.
She still couldn't make out what Aeka was saying though.
"Let's go see if she needs our help, Mihoshi."
She nodded, and they started jogging down the hallway, the noise getting louder
by the second.
***
Itsurou had gotten very close to Aeka. Any time now, he would be close enough
to bring his blade into play. (But I still haven't broken her defenses.)
Aeka took a step back, out of the intersection. "Why are you doing this? Yuma
is a house of the Royal Family!" She said.
"You don't recognize my name? How disappointing," his voice, though tired,
took on a mocking tone. "I was once the head of House Yuma, after most of it
was wiped out."
"You, you're the one-"
"Yes, I'm that Itsurou Yuma."
"The Dark Viscount," She said, shocked. "After all this time, you still
haven't changed."
"So you do know me," his voice took on an almost gleeful tone. "So you also
know the story of how I was unjustly accused of having my family assassinated?
Of course you do." He took another step forward. "And since Lord Kagato was
the only one to treat me fairly after that, I swore fealty to him. That
allegiance requires me to avenge his death, so you understand, it's only
slightly personal." He took yet another step forward, and the pitch of the
fields changed to a deeper crackle. He brought his blade up, and prepared to
strike.
The noise of the conflicting shields quieted for a second, and Itsurou heard
footsteps from his left, he looked up just in time to see Kiyone and Mihoshi
coming down the corridor. They both brought their weapons to bear and fired at
him. Reflexively, he whipped the shield around. He just barely stopped both
shots.
Without the pressure from Itsurou's, Aeka's field expanded. It slammed into
his left side. He cried out in agony, and staggered back a few steps. "We'll
continue this later," He growled. With that, he spun around and ran down the
hall.
Aeka, exhausted from the battle, let her force shield drop, and fell heavily to
her knees.
***
Fei awakened to see the bridge lit only by a pair of barely working emergency
lights. He rolled himself onto his stomach, and got slowly to his knees. He
grabbed the edge of a console, and used it to support himself as he stood.
He looked over the bridge. He could see the sprawled out forms of the rest of
the bridge crew, most of them obviously dead, but a couple of them looked
savable.
He stood there for a moment more, trying to decide what to do. That's when he
heard it. A humming noise, getting closer by the second. He spun around, just
in time to see Kazunori burst into the room, followed by Ryoko. They stopped
in the middle of the room, blades locked together in front of them.
They were both very injured, Kaz's uniform was torn in a dozen places, bleeding
from half of them. Ryoko had a cut on her side, a gash on her leg, and a pair
of cuts running across her face. The two broke apart, Ryoko gliding back to
one side of the room, Kaz to the other.
Fei reached for his pistol, but before his hand was even halfway there, Ryoko's
arm snapped up, and an energy bolt lanced through the air toward him. Fei
dropped to the deck. The energy from the bolt tore across his back, searing
him, but not really hurting him. It exploded against the consoles behind him,
sending a rain of flaming shards onto his back. He heard another bolt, and
braced himself for an impact that never came.
Kazunori had stopped it.
"This is not your fight, Fei. Get out," Kaz ordered, never taking his eyes off
of Ryoko.
"Yes, sir," Fei said. He hurried to the door, and hesitated for a second.
Then he opened it and walked out.
As the door closed behind him, he heard Kazunori speak again, "Now, where were
we?" Then the door closed, and he could hear nothing else.
***
Mihoshi ran over to Aeka, while Kiyone looked farther down the corridor.
"How is she, Mihoshi?" Kiyone asked.
"Ummm, she seems to be out."
(Great, we really should stick together, but we can't just leave her here, and
we sure as hell couldn't carry her with us,) Kiyone thought.
"Do you think you can get her back to the Yagami, Mihoshi?"
"Sure!" Mihoshi grabbed hold of Aeka, and picked her up. She started back
down the corridor they'd come from.
Kiyone watched them go for a second, then started jogging down the corridor
she'd seen Itsurou go down. (Now to find out more about what's going on.)
***
The power in the room Tenchi was in flickered for a moment, just long enough
for him to pull himself off of the table. (Now what? Get out, help the
others, stupid.) The door was unlocked, (Smart of them.) He took a step out
into the corridor.
The first thing he noticed was the blood. Lots of it, sprayed liberally about
the hallway. Bodies, most with gaping wounds, were sprawled haphazardly about
the area. Tenchi took one look at this, and ran back into the room, fighting
the urge to vomit. (God, what happened out there? I didn't even hear
anything.) An image of Ryoko, energy blade at the ready came to mind. (No,
she couldn't have... or could she?)
He stood back up unsteadily. Steeling himself, he stepped out into the hallway
again, trying to not look at the slaughter around him.
He was doing fine, until he came to the first intersection. There was a small
pile of corpses, all in various conditions, lying in the hallway. Several of
them were sliced in half, with a cut in the wall testifying to where they'd
stood before they met their fate.
Tenchi blanched, and ran toward the nearest door. It opened, and he fell in,
the impact with the ground causing him to vomit. He lay there for a moment,
making sure he wouldn't throw up again, then stood back up, and tried to make
his way down the hall again.
***
Itsurou turned a corner and came to the escape shuttle he'd had installed.
(I'd hoped I wouldn't have to use this.)
The shuttle was built into the superstructure of the ship, made to look like
just another piece of the ship. When activated, it would push off and start on
a course out of the system.
He quickly tapped in a code, and the door swung open, revealing the interior.
It was just large enough for three people to fit somewhat comfortably. He
climbed in, careful to avoid hitting his wounded arm, and tapped another
button, sending the signal to evacuate the ship. It also set the self-destruct
sequence in motion. When the shuttle took off, the pulse regulator would be
torn from the ship, and two minutes later, the ship would go.
(At least one of them will die,) he thought, as he faded into blissful
unconsciousness.
***
Ryoko heard a calm, computerized voice came over the general address system in
a lull between strikes. "Five minutes to destruct." It then said something in
another language.
"Hmm... seems it's time for me to go Ryoko," Kazunori remarked. He was on the
ground, silhouetted by the main screen, which had switched to a view of the Sun
during the fight.
"You're not going until you tell me where Tenchi is."
"That again? Very well, I'll tell you. But only because it's been such fun,"
he gently lifted off the ground. "In fact, you passed right by him. In your
mad dash to save him, you failed to. But, if you hurry, you may still have
time to get to him and still escape," he commented as Ryoko turned to leave.
She hurried out of the room, retracing her steps, hoping to find Tenchi.
***
Kiyone heard the self-destruct warning as she came around a corner, and ran
right into someone else, knocking her back a step. Her gun came up out of
reflex, and she found herself staring into the face of a young mercenary.
"Stay where you are." She said.
He looked at her, his green eyes filled with disdain. "Why?"
"You are under arrest for unlawful operation in a protected zone."
"Do you really think you can arrest me and still get off of this ship in time?"
He took a step to his left. Her gun followed him.
"Yes, I think I can get to my ship in time. Now then, you're coming with me,"
she motioned for him to start down the corridor she'd just come from.
"Fine, have it your way." His hand flew out, as he tried to smack the gun down
and out of her hand. Not waiting to see if he'd succeeded, he started running
away.
"Dammit," Kiyone muttered as she started fired a group of shots after him. One
struck him in his leg, and he started limping, blood flowing from the wound.
He stepped around a corner, and Kiyone ran after him, just in time to hear a
bulkhead close.
"Four minutes and Fifteen seconds to self-destruct," The voice chimed in again.
(Not enough time to find him. I'd better get back to the Yagami.) Kiyone
turned and ran as fast as she could towards her ship.
***
(Damned GP officer,) Fei thought as he stumbled down the corridor, blood
leaking from the hole in his leg. The pain burning in his leg with every step.
He tried to remember where the closest escape pod was, but couldn't think of
any he could get to in time. (Damn it.) He took another halting step, and
came to an intersection.
(Wasn't there an escape shuttle that wasn't in the plans?) He tried to
remember. "Yes, it was this way," he said quietly, starting his stumbling way
toward where he thought the shuttle was.
He stumbled through an opening, his vision started clouding as he saw the door
he was looking for. With all of his strength, he dragged himself through the
opening, and fell to the ground.
He stared at the ceiling for a moment, the blackness nibbling into his vision a
bit more. (Now, I'm sure to survive.) His last thought was an image of that
GP woman.
***
Mihoshi had set Aeka down in one of the pilot's chairs on the bridge of the
Yagami. She took a seat at the other one, and waited.
In a few minutes, Aeka had started to stir a bit, groaning and moving, but not
getting up.
Kiyone called in a few minutes later. "Mihoshi, this is Kiyone."
"Mihoshi here," she replied.
"We've got a problem Mihoshi. This ship is set to self-destruct in a few
minutes, so we've got to get off of it as quickly as possible. I want you to
start prepping the Yagami, OK?"
"Gotcha, Kiyone."
"Wait, Kiyone," a weak voice came from the chair next to her. "Have you found
Lord Tenchi yet?"
"No Aeka, I haven't. I'm sorry."
"But, we can't leave him on this ship to die! We must find him!" Aeka stood
up, and started haltingly toward the door.
"I'm sorry, Aeka, but there's no time. Mihoshi, don't let her off the Yagami.
I'll be back in a minute, Kiyone out," with that, she cut the link.
Mihoshi stood up and walked over to the hatch of the Yagami, blocking Aeka's
way. "Aeka, I can't let you go out there."
"Let me go find him, Mihoshi," Aeka said, sorrow desperation creeping into her
voice.
"I'm sorry Aeka, I can't." Aeka started to say something, but Mihoshi cut her
off. "As a Galaxy Police officer, part of my duty is to keep people out of
danger. I can't let you pass."
Aeka tried to push past Mihoshi, but quickly exhausted her strength, and fell
back against the bulkhead. "Tenchi, I hope Ryoko found you."
***
Tenchi kept wandering through the halls, faster now that he'd heard the
self-destruct warning, but he had no clue where he was going. The trail of
bodies had led to just another corridor. After a moments thought, he'd decided
to turn and go back the way he came, but he still had yet to see anyone.
(There's got to be someone who's still alive on this ship!) he thought as he
turned another corner. He was almost back where he'd started. In fact, he
thought he recognized the door he'd come out of.
"Three minutes and thirty seconds remaining to self-destruct."
(Damn it!) He started running now, a full out sprint he hoped would carry him
to the end of the trail, and hopefully, to someone who could help him.
He almost ran headlong into someone who appeared in front of him. The pop made
by teleportation was unmistakable, and, for a moment, he thought Ryoko had
found him.
Instead, he found himself staring at Kazunori. "Ah, so you did escape. Good
boy."
"What do you want?" Tenchi snapped.
Kaz grinned, "Just to tell you to follow this corridor to the next
intersection, take a right, and follow that one to its end. If you want to
survive, that is."
"Why should I trust you?"
"One simple reason, and that is, I have no reason to lie. Or, if you prefer, I
simply have no reason to want you dead right now. Now then, if you'll excuse
me," he started to glide back through one of the walls.
"Wait! Tell me-" Tenchi started.
Kaz ignored him. "Oh, And tell Ryoko that her new beauty is better than the
old!" He yelled as he disappeared from sight.
(New beauty?)
"Three minutes remaining."
Tenchi turned and ran down the corridor as quickly as he could, following Kaz's
directions.
***
Kaz floated back into the hallway for a moment. (Now that that's finished,
time for me to leave.)
He disappeared with a pop of displaced air, and reappeared in front of an open
hatch. Stepping in, he saw Itsurou's unconscious form in the command chair,
and Fei's prone form on the floor. "Well. At least I know they made it."
Kaz turned and closed the hatch, and set about bandaging Fei's wound, and then
to tending to his own. There was a jolt as the shuttle disconnected from the
ship, starting the overload that would destroy it.
"Two minutes remaining until destruction," the onboard computer noted in its
ever so calm voice.
***
Kiyone detached the Yagami from the Fasantis, putting as much space as she
could between the two ships. Mihoshi had taken her spot in the co-pilot's
seat, and Aeka was standing behind them, watching the main screen.
Ryo-ohki hadn't moved away, however. (Not a good sign. Ryoko's still alive,
at least, but if she doesn't find Tenchi, will she get off of the ship?)
Kiyone wondered.
They pulled away, getting safely out of the blast radius, and watched in
silence.
***
"Forty-five seconds to destruction."
(Damn it!) Ryoko thought. (I still haven't found him! Where is he!) She was
flying through the corridors at top speed, hunting for him as best as she
could. She finally got the cargo bay the fight with Kaz had started in, and
she started retracing her steps from there.
"Thirty seconds."
(Not enough time!) She flew out through the bulkhead, and followed the trail,
calling Tenchi's name the whole time.
"Fifteen seconds."
She turned a corner, seeking any sign that he may have been there. She called
his name again.
"Ryoko!" she heard him call from down a hallway to her left. She moved as
quickly as she could, and found Tenchi running down the corridor.
"Tenchi!" She quickly grabbed hold of him.
"5 seconds," she concentrated
"4," and focussed on getting to Ryo-ohki
"3." She pulled him close,
"2," and they disappeared,
"1, 0."
***
The ship blossomed into a huge fireball, the atmosphere being eaten by the
flames. Ryo-ohki was still inside the blast radius, and disappeared from the
Yagami's screens during the explosion.
"Tenchi..." Aeka said, fear and pain ringing in her voice.
***
To be continued...
Final note: Tell me what you think! Send any criticism or praise to
Drakstern@Yahoo.com.