Disclaimer
Tenchi and all associated characters are the property of AIC and Pioneer LDC. I don't own any rights to them. Any other characters are property of their respective copyright holders, not me.
*****
Duty Calls
Chapter 6
Planetfall
*****
Merlaj and Ka'dithy watched, from opposite ends of the room of course, as the transport shuttle smoothly docked with the ship. Once all the connections had been made the green light above the docking tube lit and the passengers started to disembark. Tenchi was one of the last to appear and both girls moved towards him the moment he did. Ka'dithy was the first to reach him and she looped an arm through his as Merlaj came up to them. The dark skinned woman threw the t'Dnal an angry look and Ka'dithy just stuck out her tongue and smiled back.
After some quick hellos, Tenchi disentangled himself from Ka'dithy and bent over to grab his bag. Merlaj beat him to it. "I can get that," he told her. "It's kinda heavy."
"That's all right," Merlaj replied, effortlessly hefting the bag onto her shoulder. "I've already got it. Besides, I'm sure you two have a lot of catching up to do so I'll just follow along behind. Don't pay any attention to me, ok? Just pretend I'm not here," she said sarcastically.
"That shouldn't be hard to do," said Ka'dithy as she made another grab for Tenchi's arm. The comment and her action earned her another evil look from Merlaj.
Tenchi's attention moved back and forth between the two girls as he wondered just what had gone on with them while he was away. Coming to a decision, he took both of them by the arm and led them to the exit. "I don't know what's going on here," he told them. "And I really don't care. It will stop though, right now. I'm not some prize to fight over you know. And Ka'dithy," he turned to the t'Dnal. "You, if anyone, should know that by now. I'm willing to cut Merlaj a little slack because she's only known me for a little more than a week, but you… You should know better."
Ka'dithy hung her head. "Sorry Tenchi," she apologized. Merlaj hid a smile.
"And you," he turned to his communications specialist. "I'll tell you the same thing I told Ka'dithy weeks ago, I'm a married man so whatever ideas you might have you might as well forget them now. Unless you're one of my wives, I'm not interested. We'll be spending quite a bit of time working together so our relationship needs to be friendly and intimate, but not that intimate." Tenchi snickered silently.
"Yes Tenchi," the specialist replied, barely managing to suppress her grin.
"Good, I'm glad we all understand each other. Now, I need to get my things put away then grab something to eat. Merlaj, since you've got the bags, lead the way to the platoon's billet."
"Tenchi," Merlaj said as the trio progressed down the corridor. "I don't know what you've done, if anything, but the Lieutenant seems to have it in for you. George has logged several queries to Jurai about your background."
"Nimby's reported the same thing," piped in Ka'dithy. "I don't think he's gotten a response though, but your specialist would know more about that."
The dark skinned woman gave the t'Dnal a scathing look and then her face brightened. "Nope, all he's been getting back are polite acknowledgements that they've received his requests." Merlaj giggled. "I don't think they like him very much."
"That appears to be the general consensus of anyone who comes into contact with him," agreed Ka'dithy. "I know I don't like him and I've only talked to him once."
"You're lucky then," said Merlaj. "He's been on my case ever since I bumped into him in the corridor a few nights ago. Mostly he's been pumping me for information on Tenchi."
"Wait a minute, hold on," Tenchi came to a dead stop. "You two have been listening in on private communications?"
Merlaj looked down at her toes while Ka'dithy inspected the ceiling for peeling paint. "Um, it was George's idea actually. He's been scanning incoming and outgoing messages for anything that concerns you."
Tenchi was stunned. "Even the coded ones?"
"Er… yep. But hey, it's not like we actually read the things. We just look for stuff they might be saying about you."
Tenchi turned to Ka'dithy. "How about you? Do you read the coded stuff too?"
The t'Dnal shook her head. "No, only the regular mail. I would never read stuff that came in coded; besides, Nimby doesn't have the decoding equipment that George does."
"This stops right now too, understand?"
Merlaj opened her mouth to speak. "But Corporal…"
Tenchi held up his hand and her mouth snapped shut. "No buts, no ifs, no exceptions," he stated.
"Yes sir," the specialist said.
Tenchi glared at her but there was no malice or anger in the look, only suppressed humor. "And no sirs. If you want to 'sir' somebody go find an officer. Both of you know me well enough, so it's just Tenchi when we're together."
Reaching the bunkroom that had been assigned to Tenchi's squad, Merlaj threw Tenchi's bags on the empty bunk under her own, drawing a glare from Ka'dithy. Tenchi seemed not to notice anything going on between the two girls. After make sure his things were stowed away properly he grabbed each girl by an arm. "Now, where can a man get a bite to eat on this tub?"
*****
Merlaj stood at one of the rare observation ports aboard the military transport, lost in her thoughts. Tenchi had settled into the quarters they all shared, albeit in another bunk, separated from hers by thin mattress and set of springs, much to her disappointment, and was presently reporting to Lieutenant Soja. This is taking forever, she thought as she watched the stars creep slowly past. It's taken us almost two weeks to travel from Jurai to wherever we're going. I could've done it in two hours. Hell, the shuttle Tenchi was on caught up to us in less than a day. She felt a thought insinuate itself into her mind. Something about bulk transports and civilian ships being restricted to the lower levels of hyperspace while warships and couriers used the higher, faster ones. "I know that," she muttered inaudibly. "And get out of my mind, I'm supposed to be on a secret mission here; no contact, remember." She felt rather than saw a huge grin surrounded by a mass of red as the familiar touch withdrew. Merlaj turned away from the window, totally depressed with her current situation. She noticed there were more people in the observation area now and decided to head to the vehicle deck. As of right now, George was the only one she could pour her feelings out to, not that the cynical AI really cared one way or the other.
"Hello Specialist Merlaj," George said as he extended his boarding ladder. "Beautiful day, isn't it?"
"Can it," Merlaj said as she looked around the vehicle bay. Sensing no one else near, she ignored the ladder and floated up to the hatch. "We're in deep space. Day and night don't mean anything."
"I know that," the vehicle replied. "I was just making conversation."
Merlaj settled into her own seat instead of Tenchi's this time. "That's what I'm here for."
The AI sensed the depression in the other's tone and a screen suddenly lit up in front of Merlaj; on it in large letters, it said: The Doctor is IN. "Shall we get started?" George asked. "I have other patients you know."
*****
Tenchi stood at attention in front of the desk while Lieutenant Soja shuffled papers around. Tenchi knew he was being purposefully ignored but as the other was his putative superior he had little choice but to bear with it.
After a few minutes the officer looked up as if noticing Tenchi for the first time. "Corporal Masaki," Soja said in a snide voice. "How nice of you to finally show up. While you were off gallivanting around wherever you were, most of your squad mates were here preparing for battle." He held up his hand to forestall any reply from Tenchi. "Now," he continued. "I understand the need to get away once in a while, so I won't hold it against you. But understand something," the lieutenant leaned forward, placing both hands on the desk. "I will not tolerate insubordination from anyone in my platoon. You will follow my orders to the letter, is that understood? Corporal?"
"Yes sir," Tenchi said.
"I'm glad we had time for this little talk. Dismissed." Tenchi saluted and turned on his heel to leave. "Oh, and corporal," Soja called softly as the door opened.
Tenchi stopped. "Yes sir?"
"I'll be watching you. Watching you very, very closely."
The door closed behind Tenchi and he let out his breath in a sharp hiss. "Told you he was something, didn't I?" came a voice from behind him. Tenchi turned to find Ka'dithy lounging idly against the corridor wall.
"You and Merlaj did warn me," Tenchi replied with a lopsided grin. "I just wish I knew what I'd done to make him dislike me."
"Yours is bigger than his," the t'Dnal said.
"What? How would you know that?" Tenchi tried to cover himself even though he was fully clothed.
"Your vehicle silly," Ka'dithy giggled. "George is bigger than his command vehicle. Must be a guy thing. Besides, I've seen yours and you have nothing to be ashamed of. Bet he couldn't find his with tweezers and a magnifying glass."
"We have the same saying on Earth," Tenchi said with a laugh as the two moved off down the corridor. "But he is our platoon leader so we have to show him some respect."
"I have to respect the rank, not the person," Ka'dithy told him. "Don't even ask that of me. I respect you, I respected Sergeant Odurona; hell, I even respect Merlaj to an extent. But that idiot?" She shook her head violently. "No way."
*****
Merlaj phased partially through her bunk to watch Tenchi's sleeping form. Just like old times, she thought as she studied his relaxed face. Poor boy. Ol' Ayeka must've really worn him out. She giggled silently. Ha. My turn'll come and when it does, he's really gonna know what 'worn out' feels like. She watched him for a few more moments then pulled herself back up. Can't let anyone catch me doing that. Bad Ryoko, she admonished herself. He'll never forgive me if he finds out.
Tenchi heard the almost silent sound of Merlaj phasing back up to her own bed. He slowly opened one eye and when he didn't see anything out of the ordinary, he grinned slightly. All right Ryoko, he thought. I can play whatever game you and Washu are playing too. Heh. They should know that Ayeka can't keep a secret like this from me. He rolled over and, still smiling, finally went to sleep.
*****
"All right you losers, listen up!" Lieutenant Soja called from the podium at the front of the small briefing room the unit had been assigned. He thought he projected a command image well and stood with a smug look on his face as the room quieted. What had actually come out of his mouth was a high-pitched squeak and what he took for expressions of rapt attention on the other nine members of his platoon were really looks of stunned disbelief.
"We reach our destination in two hours and planetfall will be thirty minutes after that. You and your vehicles had better be ready." Soja looked around the room. "Any questions?" He started to gather up his papers from the podium.
A lone figure tentatively raised her hand. "Sir, uh, where exactly are we going and why?" she asked.
"What?" Soja responded, looking up and spotting the questioner.
"What's our mission sir?" the woman asked.
"That's top secret soldier," the Lieutenant told her. "Need to know and all that."
"Um, Lieutenant?" Tenchi stood up. "I think we need to know. If you expect us to succeed that is."
Soja glared at Tenchi who sat back down quickly. "Of course I'm going to tell you," the officer said. He spread his papers back out and picked up a small remote control. He pressed a button on it and he didn't notice Merlaj's cringe or her look of relief when the only thing that happened was that a holopicture of a planet appeared floating overhead. "This is the planet Tamar IV, a farming world colonized by the Mau, one of the Empire's member races. It's on the outer rim, well off the main trade routes but it's still a major producer of foodstuffs for the sector."
Two small lights lit up on the planet, almost opposite each other. The platoon leader used a laser pointer to indicate each one. "These are the two major population centers, if they have names I don't know what they are. The rest of the planet, the part that's not still wild that is, is automated farms. The entire planetary population is somewhere under 300,000 persons, concentrated in the population centers."
"Cities," Ka'dithy mumbled.
"What's that?" Soja glared out over his captive audience. "Someone said something."
"I was just wondering if they were big enough to be called cities, sir," the t'Dnal spoke out.
"I wouldn't know soldier. With a population that small large towns would probably be more appropriate."
"Yes sir. Large town it is then sir." Ka'dithy started to scribble furiously in her notepad and there were several almost inaudible snickers.
Soja pressed another button on the remote and the image of the planet vanished soundlessly. "Now, as to why we're going to Tamar IV. It seems that the planetary government is threatening to rebel against the Juraian Empire and it's up to us to see to it that that doesn't happen, to show the flag so to speak. I might mention that the Emperor takes this threat very seriously and expects us all to do our best."
"Funny," Tenchi muttered as he made some notes of his own. "He didn't mention anything about a rebellion to me when I talked to him a couple of days ago."
"Do you have something to add Corporal Masaki?" Lieutenant Soja made sure he emphasized the rank.
"No sir, just making some mental notes."
Soja nodded. "Fine, good. If you would be so kind as to remain behind corporal, the rest of you are dismissed. Get your vehicles loaded and ready for disembarking. That will be all."
"Yes sir?" Tenchi asked when the rest of the platoon had finished filing out. "You wanted to talk to me sir?"
Soja finished gathering up his briefing materials. "Yes, I did. For whatever reasons they might have, the army has seen fit to assign only our platoon to this mission." Tenchi nodded in understanding. Soja smiled wickedly and continued. "And since they have also seen fit to put off assigning me a proper platoon Sergeant then I'll have to use you, since you have a command vehicle. Don't let it go to your head."
"No sir," Tenchi said, hiding a smile.
The young officer cleared his throat. "Here's what we're going to do." He pushed the button on the remote that brought up the planetary map, the two "large towns" still indicated. "I'm taking half the vehicles and will establish the CP here," he indicated one of the lights. "You will take the other half and occupy the other population center. Here are the vehicles I've assigned to you." Soja handed Tenchi a small piece of paper. Tenchi glanced at it and was pleased to find Units NMB and WHT on the short list.
"Thank you sir," Tenchi said, snapping to attention and saluting.
"Don't thank me yet corporal," Soja replied, returning the salute. "You're still under my command and you will do exactly what I tell you, understood?"
"Understood sir."
"Good, I'm glad we agree. Now see to your vehicle soldier."
*****
"Release in 5, 4, 3, 2…"
Tenchi's stomach did several flips as George left the gravity field of the transport ship. Not being a ship himself, George didn't carry a gravity generator nor did the disposable landing sled that he was currently attached to. The lack of gravity didn't seem to bother Merlaj in the least though.
"Are you sure we'll be all right?" Tenchi asked the AI as the planetary disc of Tamar IV spun past George's optical receptors.
"Sure thing Tenchi," the AI replied. "I've done this hundreds of times."
"Hundreds?"
"Well, mostly in simulation. The last time I actually dropped from orbit was oh, 300 years ago."
Tenchi started. "300 years…"
"Hey," George said. "I'm a computer, it's like yesterday to me."
"Just don't break any of the stuff I've fixed over the past few weeks when we hit," Merlaj piped in.
"They're your repairs. If they come apart on impact it's your fault," George countered. "Don't you trust your own work?"
"Break? Come apart? Impact? Hit?" Tenchi's eyes began to glaze over as he watched the surface of Tamar IV grow ever closer; they'd never told him about this in Basic Training. "George, uh shouldn't you..."
"Oh, right," George stopped his bantering with Merlaj. "Braking thrusters coming on line. Firing." Gravity suddenly returned with a vengeance, pushing Tenchi and Merlaj deep into the cushioning of their contoured seats. The readouts in front of Tenchi showed that Units NMB, WHT and RYN had also begun their braking right on schedule.
"Wahoo!" Tenchi heard Ka'dithy cry out over the intervehicle com channel.
"Surface in 30 seconds," George announced as the thruster's roar deepened. "15 seconds. 5 seconds." There was a sharp thud and a jerk that rattled Tenchi's teeth. "All done. There, that wasn't so bad, now was it?" the AI asked smugly.
*****
The four armored vehicles moved smoothly toward the objective, what Lieutenant Soja so blithely called a 'large town'. Their great weight was so evenly distributed that they barely sank into the loose soil of Tamar IV. Tenchi watched his viewscreen as the buildings drew closer. "Ok George," he said to the AI. "Time to show the flag as the good Lieutenant put it." A small hatch popped open on the top of George's turret and a short staff shot up.
When it had reached its full extension a flag began to unfurl. Tenchi watched this happen on a secondary monitor. As it unfurled the breeze from the vehicle's movement caught it and snapped it open. On it was a large cartoon mouse with a huge smile. George's external speakers began to play an anthem. "Em Eye Cee, Kay Eee Why..."
"Geez, even in the furthest reaches of the galaxy," Merlaj muttered under her breath as she began to bang her head lightly against her console. "I smell mom all over this."
"George…" Tenchi warned.
"Oops. Now I wonder how that got there." The banner quickly refurled and the staff retracted. Another one shot up and this time the flag of the Juraian Empire snapped open.
The small column came to a smooth stop in front of a group of people that were waiting a short distance from the town. Tenchi eyed the doglike beings with apprehension as George's equipment scanned them for any signs of hostile intent.
"George," Tenchi called softly. "Those baskets the girls are carrying…"
"Are simply baskets Tenchi," the AI finished. "And they don't contain explosives." He zoomed in on one of them. "More like… flower petals. My sensors also tell me they should smell exceptionally sweet to you biologics too."
Merlaj stood up. "Great. Time to get out of this can then."
"Wait, wait!" Tenchi called. "I'm in charge so I'll go out and greet them." He keyed his short-range radio. "Everybody stay in your vehicles. I'm going out to see what's going on here." He unbuckled himself from the chair and stood up. "Open up George."
The crowd let out a cheer when they saw the hatch on Unit GRG's turret slide open; the girls with flower baskets ran forward and started throwing the petals up into the air in greeting. The roar grew louder when Tenchi emerged from the vehicle; he quickly scanned the crowd with his own eyes and seeing no immediate danger (something George's enhanced sensors had already told him), he climbed down the ladder. Upon reaching the ground each of his arms was taken by a small girl and he was led over to where an old man awaited him.
"Uh, hello," Tenchi said. "I'm here on behalf of the Juraian…"
"I know full well why you're here young man, and who you are, my prince," the old man interrupted. "We surrender."
To say Tenchi was startled was putting it mildly. "You what…?" he asked.
"We're the rebels. We surrender to you Prince Tenchi."
"Could you please not call me that?" Tenchi ask plaintively.
"Eh?" the old man asked.
"Prince. Just Tenchi's fine, or corporal if you have to use a title. But stop it with the 'Prince' stuff, ok?"
"As you wish, my Pri… er Corporal Tenchi. And my name is Dreuma, Mayor of this enclave."
A girl of about 16 or 17 pushed her way through the crowd to stand next to the old being. "Daddy," she said to the man. "I like him. Can I keep him?"
The old man motioned her away. "Not now Dreasu, can't you see I'm surrendering?"
"I'll surrender to him any day," the girl said in a low voice as she batted her eyes to Tenchi. If she had been of feline descent instead of canine she would have been purring.
"Whoa! Wait just a minute there missy!" Merlaj had suddenly appeared behind her commander. "Tenchi isn't available, he's a married man."
The girl called Dreasu looked around, shading her eyes. "Hmm. I don't see anyone around here claiming to be his wife." Merlaj opened her mouth to say something then suddenly snapped it shut, glaring daggers at the young Mau female.
Tenchi held up his hands, his face a bright red color. "Hold it, hold it," he shouted. "No one's surrendering to anybody until I find out just what is going on around here."
*****
Tenchi sat back in his chair, astounded by what the Mayor, Dreuma had just told him. "So you're telling me that this whole rebellion was just a ploy to get Jurai to send troops to Tamar IV?"
"Yes Tenchi," the old Mau explained. The group, including all of Tenchi's detachment, Dreuma and Dreasu were seated in a comfortable room in one of the structures near where the vehicles were parked. The vehicles themselves were listening in via their commander's com links.
"Our people have been disappearing and our livestock is turning up missing. Crops have been ruined and strange starships have been seen in orbit off and on for the last few months. When we asked Jurai for help they sent a survey crew, who of course found nothing. We were told that we'd have to deal with the problem ourselves; that the Juraian military had more important matters to attend to. We're an agricultural society, very few weapons except for those that like to hunt; and there is very little to hunt on this world."
Tenchi nodded in understanding. "And if you declared yourselves in rebellion you figured that Jurai would have to send someone to put it down."
Dreuma smiled, showing his canines. "And they sent you."
"But I'm not in command," Tenchi explained. "The Lieutenant…"
"Is half a world away, dealing with my counterpart in the other Enclave. Don't worry, Remaur will keep him out of your hair as much as possible. In the meantime, you are our guests. All we ask is that you help us if and when the time comes."
Tenchi looked around at his platoon mates and saw agreement on all their faces. "All right," he said. "It's our sworn duty to defend any and all citizens of the Juraian Empire and hold until relieved."
Dreuma stood up and bowed. "Then we will show you to your quarters." Dreasu latched onto Tenchi's arm, drawing an angry glare from both Merlaj and Ka'dithy.
"Tenchi can stay with me," the girl said, rubbing her short muzzle against his shoulder. The sound of a metal chair arm being ripped free broke the silence that followed the remark.
Dreuma gave Merlaj a sidelong look, the woman's dark face was almost purple with rage; Tenchi had taken him aside on the way into the Enclave and briefly explained things to him. "Um, I really don't think that would be a good idea daughter. We have a suite of rooms prepared for them elsewhere." Turning to Tenchi he continued, "You might not have realized it, but most of our structures are deep underground, the winters here can be deceptively cold and violent. Our crops and animals do best when there are defined seasons, that's why we didn't choose a more stable environment to farm in. Most of the time the weather here is pleasant, but occasionally…" He shrugged noncommittally. "But more on this at a later time, for now you must want to rest a bit." Everyone followed the old man out of the room.
*****
To be continued
*****
Author's Notes
Not much of a place to end it, is it? No cliffhanger, no impending action… And yet another girl makes an appearance, this one even less human than Ka'dithy. The Mau are not a new species, they appear both in the OAV (Mihoshi's Chief, not her direct superior but the one over him) and GXP (Erma and one of Siena's companions whose name I forget; also a whole village full in one of the later eps). The plot here is moving along (really, it is), two or three more chapters I think.
*****
Review Responses
Dennisud – Yeah, not too hard. Lieutenant Soja (gotta love the name) is going to get his all right, but not necessarily from Tenchi.
Ministry Agent – What can I say? Here dammit, after you threatening to kneecap me I sat down and wrote five pages to finish this one up. That sort of moved part of this chapter into the next one to meet my self-imposed size limit (I still broke it by two pages though.) Unfortunately that was also the part with all the blood and gore (just kidding, but there is a bit of that coming up, after all, they are soldiers.) No more soft-core stuff in this fic though, I promise! (There's always the next one…)
Thundergod – Between you and Ministry Agent, you stayed on my case until I finished this chapter, although he's much worse than you are about it. If you two keep it up I just might actually finish the whole fic someday. Oh yeah, Soja's not going to get it from Ryoko either. At least at this point I don't think so, we'll have to see what develops though.
Taxzombie – Rude surprises for the good Lieutenant, that's putting it mildly.
Negative-Z – Didn't see it coming? Really.
Wharpt – Yeah, yeah. You did it again; I still swear you can read minds. Let's see if you can guess where it's going now…
Blackbird – There's action and then there's action. I usually put some suggestive things in my fics but try not to get carried away with it (after all, the series itself is rife with suggestive bits). And it's easy to get carried away, I know, I have to watch myself constantly when the main characters (Tenchi/Ryoko/Ayeka) are in a peaceful domestic situation. I will not write a real lemon though. Never. Although I have no problem reading what others write as long as it's well done and the plot centers on something besides the bedroom action.
Lizzy Hakubi – Thanks Lizzy. Ryoko (Merlaj) will be getting more screentime.
Alighthawk – Ur, um, yeah. The contour chairs recline so there would probably be enough room. But with the AI always watching, well it might not bother Ryoko but Tenchi's another matter.
I3ittersweet – Thank you for the compliment.
Meekachu – Sorry I didn't get this one done in time for you to preread it for me before you went on break. Your chapter of 'Forgiveness' next on the agenda before I continue with this. Good thing it's about done methinks.
Crion – No actual catfight, Ryoko's mellowed a bit over the years and Ka'dithy's loyal to Tenchi and his family, so once she finds out who Merlaj really is…
TopQuark – Here's the next part, sorry it's taking me so long to pump them out. You've been pushing me along too.
*****
BobR
12/19/2002