By: STRIKESTWICE@hotmail.com
The fleet of ships slowed as they approached the
unseen barrier that marked the
beginning of the Far Reach's System's gravity well.
The ships were broken into three different distinct
groups. The Jurain Tree Ships,
the Tigeran Dreadnoughts, and the Galaxy Police Destroyers without
enough time to
practice combined fleet maneuvers it had been decided that each fleet
would fight under
their own command with entire fleet level maneuvers controlled by the
Jurains. This
gave a large number of possible strategies for the fleet admirals and
their commanders
using ships that they knew and formations they had already practiced.
Engines at full power, the fleets rapidly pulled
away from each other. Giving the
enemy the choice of splitting their forces or attacking one fleet and
having the remaining
two attack their flanks. The fleets stopped dividing after a
few million miles and turned
their engines to full power towards the system. They now appeared
in roughly a pyramid
formation the Jurains taking the top position as seen from the system
plane.
The ships inertia began to build, as they gained
speed using only their reaction
thrusters. Before them a line of enemy ships still invisible
to non-F.T.L. radar waited.
***
Night slowly changed to dawn, blissfully unnoticed
by the occupants of the large
house with a red roof. Those, inside the house, that had partaken
in the Saki snored
happily unaware of something so evil as sunrise.
By the time that the sun had cleared the surrounding
mountains a few of the
houses occupants had left their dreams behind awakening to the new
day and its different
kind of dream. The smell of food and the sound of laughter removed
the last cobwebs of
sleep as the occupants of the house reclaimed it with life.
From a distance two young women approached the house
casually chatting as
they circled the lake preparing to intrude on the solitude of the house
and its occupants.
***
The princess fought with the mounds of food left
over from yesterday. She
sorted that which would survive being dragged out on the picnic, that
which was best
thrown away, and that which was going to be left over for the next
week. At the same
time she prepared a simple breakfast, while Ryo-Ohki set the table.
Sasami also
efficiently made sandwiches that were carefully wrapped and placed
into the two large
picnic baskets Washu had produced late last night.
Everyone except for Yosho had attached themselves
to Tenchi's intimate little
picnic. Even the two new G.P. officers for some unknown, but probably
duty bound
reason.
Pulling out a gong, that had been a poorly thought
out gift from Ryoko one
Christmas. Sasami announced breakfast to everyone, including
Yosho up in the shrine.
After about twenty good whacks and dodging two empty plastic Saki bottles
that Ryoko
had tossed at her from the rafters, breakfast was served, much to the
enjoyment of all
who had not overly partaken of last nights activities.
High spirits about the upcoming picnic seemed to
bubble around the table as the
picnickers listened to the weather forecast by one of Washu's 'bots.
The day was sunny
and nice and promising to remain that way. Washu to the amusement
of all had
guaranteed them that the event would be problem free, especially from
the terrestrial ants
famous in their ability to destroy picnics. Yosho, to no ones
surprise, had elected to
remain at the shrine along with Azaka and Kamidake to guard the residence.
The door bell rang as Sasami scooped another bowl
full of rice for Ryoko.
Sasami stood in one fluid move and headed down the short hall way still
listening to the
conversation behind her, going to answer the door.
It was kind of sad in how much Ryoko and Aeka had
settled down after the war.
Since they had arrived the two hadn't been in one serious argument.
Sasami had always
hoped that the two would someday stop their fighting but not in the
complete stopping of
their rivalry, and Tenchi looked so much more relaxed now that the
decision had been
taken from him and solved by Tsunami. What did that leave her?
She realized that she
had been deluding herself. Tenchi had been released from the
Jurain hospital a few days
before he had rushed off to college and she hadn't had the time to
really observe the
three.
That left her with the question of what to do with
her own life. She wasn't going
back to Jurai that was for sure, nor any world with in Jurai's Power
sphere or the Galaxy
Polices either. That just left those uncharted or barbarian worlds
like Earth. This
wouldn't be that bad of a place to hide. But, sooner or later
Tsunami would ruin it for
her. After all she was just a body Tsunami had giver back life
to so that sometime in the
near future Tsunami could wear this skin and feel what it was to be
a Jurain. Their was
no distance she could run, no shelter or defenses she could find, to
stop the inevitable
from happening. With too much practice she swept those thoughts
aside to the happiness
that the upcoming picnic was going to bring. It was great to
be back together again with
everyone that was the only thing to fill her mind.
With a fixed smile on her face Sasami opened the
door, revealing a casually
dressed Sakura and Autumn fidgeting uncomfortably in the bright morning
sun.
"Hi, what are you two doing here?" Sasami
asked slightly afraid of the answer.
*They came to sneak a look at the rest of the aliens.*
She thought sighing internally.
"Autumn thinks she left her Kawaii here."
Sakura shrugged apologetically.
"Have you seen him?" Autumn asked curiously.
"Have you seen it." Sakura corrected automatically.
"No, I mean him." Sakura and Sasami both gave
each other a knowing look and
then giving into the inevitable Sasami let them into the hall only
to be met by a rabbit/cat
mix. The weird looking gray thing took one look at the two girls
and took off in a
run/hop back towards the family room. Its large ears dragging
on the floor.
"Uh... what was that?"
{"What the hell?"}
"Ugh..." *Come on Sasami!* "Ryoko's
pet." *Why did I lie? You didn't lie,
you just didn't tell the entire truth. And telling them that
one of there friends is a space
ship is just too much to ask.* She smiled weakly at the two girls
as they proceeded down
the short hall to its end and the living room.
Where everything looked normal. There were
still a number of girls with weird
colored hair and Motashiwa looking relatively happy eating some of
the left over
Bebrean from last night. Ryo-Ohki in human form had taken up
Sasami's place and was
slowly but determinedly eating the bowl of rice, Sasami had left.
To the amazed stares of
the majority of the people at the table.
"Sis, Tenchi, I'd like you to meet Sakura and Autumn
two friends of mine and
Ryo-Ohki's from school." Ryo-Ohki put down her chopsticks and
stood up using both of
her hands to steady herself.
"Sakura, Autumn, its nice to see you." She
paused then noticing everyone's stare
tilted her head and with a smile added "Miya!"
Sasami sighed. "Come on lets go check my room
for Kawaii."
"It's nice to meet you." Aeka said, standing
and then bowing formally with her
hands clasped together and held at her waist.
Sakura bowed in return followed by Autumn half a
second later.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, too. Sasami
rarely even mentions you." Sakura told
the older princess.
"Really?" Aeka asked as Sasami laughed nervously.
"Then why don't you join
us for tea. Sasami is there any of that cake left over from yesterday."
Aeka had some
how slipped the voice of command into the sentence. With an air
of failure, Sasami went
to the kitchen to make some more tea. Somehow she knew that by
the time she had
returned both Autumn and Sakura would have heard a very embarrassing
story about her.
She had been worried all day. It was a great
day, perfect for a picnic. Tenchi,
Aeka, and Ryoko were here, what could there be to worry about and yet
she was uneasy.
Her dream from last night had been confused random event, a montage
of battles all
centered around the Tsunami.
She had extended all ten wings at the battle of
Togara Ya'dar. Then the dream
had changed and she was maneuvering in the Jurian system frantically
trying to avoid fire
from Tokimi's ships. Than a long forgotten battle against an
alien race that had unwisely
slaughtered a colony
She pushed the button on top of the tea strainer
forcing water into another cup.
Was Tsunami trying to tell her something?
It was obvious they were her
memories. She had been the ship, her eyes had been the sensors,
her teeth lasers, and her
heart the Light Hawk Wings. Not literally their was no direct
conversion for what a
Jurian mind was never supposed to think like. She had thought
in so many ways at once
but she had been the ship. She had felt pain when lasers had
impacted onto the hull. She
had been blinded when a sensor tower was destroyed. Even more
disturbing she had felt
people inside her on the rare occasions the Tsunami had carried important
people with in
her.
The dreams didn't make any sense and they hadn't
felt like the prophetic dreams
she had on occasion. She knew what those were like and this was
different.
Sasami divided what remained of the cake into perfect
little pieces and added it to
the tray that already contained the warm tea and the three new cups
for Sakura, Autumn,
and Ryo-Ohki.
*I have to be cheerful this is after all not my
day to ruin.* Sasami thought as she
grabbed up the tray and walked out of the kitchen.
"Your telling me that Sasami used to follow Tenchi
around everywhere? That's
just so cute." Sakura squealed as Sasami sighed again plastering
the smile everyone
expected to see onto her face.
***
Captain Konaka woke up with a throbbing headache
and a bitter taste in his
mouth. The enemy, whoever they were, had left him unconscious
on the floor of an
empty room. With more strength then he felt he should have, he
stood and walked
around the room tapping his wife on the shoulder until she was awake.
Why was he alive? The Soyakaze's crew's escape
pods had been cruelly
destroyed one after another. His rifle was gone. No surprise
there but they had left him
the heart wood, still carefully wrapped in it's bag. Why did
he still have it? Where they
just too lazy or did they know it posed no threat. He pulled
the little piece of wood out of
the bag and reverently examined it.
"I guess we won't have any more adventures together
will we girl?"
The odd pieces of electronics on the abalone colored
wood began to beep at him.
"What happened?" Mia asked touching him on
the shoulder used to his
somewhat brisk manner in tense situations.
"They must have hit the pod with some kind of stun
ray. The last thing I
remember was the core blowing." He patted the heart wood sadly.
"I am not a pet." A voice told him softly.
"Sorry gir... Huh?" The ghostly outline of
Gilvilyko started to form before him.
The scar on her throat the most vivid part of the image. It seemed
to stand out and float
by itself.
"You in the cell get on the ground, put your hands
on your head, and close your
eyes. Failure to comply will result in severe punishment."
A loud accented voice yelled
over a speaker set in the ceiling. At the first sound of the
voice Gilvilyko disappeared
like the ghost she had appeared to be, leaving the two humans, behind.
Konaka hurriedly
stuffed the heart wood in its pouch.
"I'm not going to..."
"Just follow their instructions. It beats
learning how to breath vacuum." He
carefully got onto the ground watching her follow his example before
closing his eyes.
A few seconds later the roomed filled with the sound
of a pressure door opening.
***
"I found him Sasami!" Autumn yelled,
displaying the poor lost pet dangling
happily on its key chain.
"That's great Autumn." Sasami said with too
much false cheer.
{"Thank for helping me look."} Autumn told
her happy to be able to talk to
some one in Japan in English.
{"No problem. Come on, lets go back down stairs."}
{"Your sister really liked Sakura."}
{"It is a little odd Aeka can be very formal and
yet she does seem to have taken a
liking to Sakura."}
("Then again Sakura can be very formal when she
wishes to."}
{"Really, I haven't seen that side of her except
when she's apologizing."}
Sasami smiled slightly remembering their first meeting. {"We
should hurry on down
before we're left behind."}
"Okay," the two girls, both apparently cheerful,
walked down the stairs to find
everyone gathered in the living room waiting to go. The group
had changed into less
formal clothes it seemed. Mihoshi was in her favorite blue jeans
and pink top. Kiyone in
a matching pair of red shorts and shirt. Motashiwa and Mitsuki
had both scrounged up a
pair of galaxy police athletic attire and looked oddly matching even
out of uniform.
Someone had obviously taken Aeka aside and with enough style sense
had put her in a
lovely pink summer dress that seemed to match perfectly with her purple
tresses. Ryoko
was wearing her formless baggy blue outfit and Washu a white T-shirt
with the stylized
picture of a crab and red shorts going for the child image she wished
to project.
Somehow all the rest of the men had ended up in
a pair of blue shorts and T-shirt
looking bland standing next to the wildly dressed girls and the feline
alien.
Ryo-Ohki walked up behind Sasami with Sakura and
this time Sasami's jaw did
drop. From somewhere Ryo-Ohki had acquired a nice light cotton
sun dress that she had
obviously not created using the Masu. Beside her, Sasami felt just
a little jealous of the
cabbits good looks. She quickly tucked the thought away as unbecoming
of a Jurain
princess.
***
A light breeze moved through the leafs slowly shaking
them on the trees and
pushing one stray leaf from a branch. It danced upon the wind
enjoying the warmth and
its exposure to sunlight after leaving the shadows of the forest and
drifting across the sky
before landing in a ripple of water. The leaf slowly sank into
the glass clear liquid.
To Sasami this was as close as it came to pure peace.
The sunlight trickling
across her face changed the light on her eye lids so that for one second
she saw yellow
and the next a red lined black. Somewhere far away, but not to
far, she heard the sound
of happy laughter and the splash of water.
A pair of feet softly tread on the ground next to
her before quietly sitting down
beside Sasami.
"Sasami, are you awake?" Aeka asked softly,
slightly adjusting her position.
"Hmmmm..." Sasami gave a non-committal answer
to the question.
"The fleet left Jurai a few days ago. I got
the message from Ryu-Oh when I
checked on her." Aeka told her softly, trying to keep the worry
out of her voice for the
sake of her little sister.
"I know. Tsunami told me..." Sasami
mumbled still fascinated by the changing
light and dark on her eyelids and the patterns that were created out
of nothing.
"That's good that Tsunami's with them."
"This entire incident has just reminded me how long
its been since either one of
us went back home."
"The earth is my home now Aeka, and as long as Tenchi
is here, its yours as
well." Sasami finally opened her eyes and looked at her sister.
A hint of envy had crept
into her voice. "You came here to find your love, sister, and
you have finally succeeded.
But I came here to escape. And as long as I can run away I'm
going to."
"Sasami you can't run away forever from your future."
Aeka told her softly.
"You think I don't know that." Something was
in Sasami's eyes and she rubbed
it softly. Every conversation with Aeka after her return from
Jurai with Tenchi seemed to
end with Sasami in Tears. Wobbly Sasami stood and walked off
into the tree line leaving
Aeka behind. A concerned look on her face.
***
From across the glen Autumn played with her Kawaii-chan
rapidly inputting a set
of commands. The virtual pet on the screen disappeared replaced
with just two words.
{"Message Received."}
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