Ryoko's Loss

New, revised, and massively expanded. There's also actual why the hell is Tenchi on

Jurai, sort of, any ways. And in narrative format, too! Which some people requested.

Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Pioneer and AIC, except for any of mine, and

Carvin Kenzaki, who is owned by Thomas '009' Doscher, who leased him out to me with great

reluctance. I am not making any money off of this. I really love your guys work...

Copyright FallenDruid, 11/5/00. Reproduction of this fic without authorization is

not nice. Ask first. And don't steal it (unless your name is AIC). I have friends in

low places.

WARNING: THIS IS A VERY DARK FIC. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Ryoko's Loss, Chapter 1.

* * * * * * * * * *

Sasami crept out onto the bridge of Ryo-Ohki. She didn't want to disturb Ryoko.

Ryoko thought that she hid it well, but she could tell...Ryoko missed Tenchi. Her

breath caught in her throat as she caught sight of Ryoko. She was just...sitting there.

Normally, she was so active, so full of life, that she pumped Sasami's spirits up just

by being Ryoko...but now...she was sitting there..on the floor, as still as stone. It

just wasn't right. Sasami crept closer. She could now see Ryoko's shoulders shuddering

slightly. The tough, ever-ready-for-a-rumble space pirate...was crying. Sasami stood

up. She *had* to do something to break Ryoko out of her apathy before she did something

really stupid, like...suicide, or something. "Hi, Ryoko!" Sasami said, cheerfully.

"Oh...Hey, kiddo." Ryoko said, standing up, and dashing away tears angrily

before turning to face Sasami. "What's up?"

Sasami pretended not to notice Ryoko's red, puffy eyes, and the large bags under

them. "Not much, unfortunately. Hey, do you wanna play some videogames or something?"

"Fat chance, kid. You always beat me at those. It's not any fun if I can't win

once in a while, now is it?" Ryoko said, managing a tenuous smile.

"Hey! You won...wait, let me think...oh, never mind." Sasami said, scuffing

her feet petulantly.

"I'm sorry, kid. Not much to do on this old boat, now is there? Ryo-Ohki's not

really outfitted for pleasure cruises."

"It's not your fault, Ryoko. I just wish I knew why I had to be out here, away

from my friends and family."

"So do I, Sasami, so do I. But King Azusa, in his infinite wisdom, felt it was

best if all the royal eggs weren't gathered in one basket, so another lucky attack..."

"That *wasn't* your fault, Ryoko." Sasami said, persuasively. "I don't blame

you for it, and neither does Tenchi. Sometimes, I think Aeka just uses it as another

excuse to fight with you."

"No, Sasami. It was my fault. I know it. I should have been able to stop him

from invading my mind whenever he wanted to. I could have...if I'd only tried harder..,

you wouldn't have been...hurt. Aeka would be happy...all of those soldiers..would still

be alive...it *was* my fault." Ryoko's eyes fill with pain as she gazes at Sasami.

"Ryoko..."

"Drop it, Sasami. Drop it." Ryoko's eyes cloud over, as she remembers punching

a hole through a soldiers ribcage, pulling his heart out, and hearing Kagato's perfect,

inhuman laughter echo through her lips before she is forced to eat the mans heart in

front of his horrified comrades.

"Ryoko? Ryoko? Are you all right?"

No, Sasami, I'm not. And I never will be. Where's the sake? That's right...

we're out. Damn. "I'm fine, Sasami. Don't worry so much." Ryoko faked a cheerful

grin. "So, Sasami, anything else you want to do today?"

"Can we go and pirate something?"

Ryoko breaks out with laughter. "If Azusa could only see you now...bloodthirsty

little pest, aren't you? I'm sorry, Sasami. But I don't think pirating is on the list

of acceptable princessly activities."

"Yeah...I know. But it was worth a try."

"Yeah, I bet. Must get stifling sometimes, always being the perfect princess."

"How about we go and visit my sister? Then, you can see Tenchi, too."

"I don't know, Sasami. That doesn't seem to be a very good idea. The only

people who know that you're with me is Tenchi, Aeka, and that Jurai Royal Gaurd over

there. Heck, even your pops doesn't know you're with me. If I show up over Jurai, they

might think I've come to attack again." Ryoko says, doubtfully.

"Excuse me, miss, but..." The Jurai Royal Gaurdsman began.

"Speak when you're spoken to." Ryoko said. The Gaurdsman flushed.

"Why would they think that, Ryoko? You're not even wanted anymore, and Kagato

is dead. You don't have a reason to attack Jurai." Sasami said.

"I seem to recall being trapped in a very small cave by a certain Jurain noble-

man for seven hundred years." Ryoko replied, drily.

"Oh. That." Sasami blushes a pretty pink. "I...sorta forgot. But they won't

attack you if I'm on board, now will they?"

"Hmmm...Probably not, Sasami. But I don't know..."

"Miss? If we go back to Jurai, I can pick up my paycheck." The gaurdsman said,

faintly.

"Did someone ask you something? No? Then shut up." Ryoko snarled.

The gaurdsman begins to sweat. Double hazardous duty pay isn't worth living

with Ryoko. But Sasami seems to like her, and Ryoko is so nice to Sasami. Huh. She's

nothing like what I thought. Wait, yeah she is. Except with something of a soft spot

for Sasami

"Azusa would be so pissed..." Suddenly, an unholy gleam of joy fills Ryoko's

eyes. "You've convinced me, Sasami. It's off to Jurai we go."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

On Jurai, in the Royal Palace:

"What's wrong, Tenchi? You seem so down, lately." Aeka asked, coming up behind

Tenchi, who was sitting, head in hands, on the couch listening to some Councilor of

somewhere or other make an impassioned plea to the Jurai Royal Council...to get chewing

gum declared illegal. "Is it the political lessons? You seemed to be handling those so

well, though. What's this?" As Aeka looks at the screen, she slowly starts to smile,

and then grin. A small giggle escapes her lips. She composes herself, and then

suddenly, a full throated laugh erupts from her. Gasping helplessly, she rolls on the

floor, laughing.

Tenchi is off the couch in a flash. "Aeka! What's wrong? Should I call a

medic?"

"No...no, I'm (giggle) perfectly... (giggle) fine, Tenchi." She says, giggling.

"Don't mind me one bit." Aeka stands up, and rearranges her clothing with quick,

dignified movements.

"Are you sure?" Tenchi asked, still concerned."

"Yes, my Lord Tenchi. I'm fine."

"Oh...all right then." Tenchi said, sitting back down. "Well, since you asked,

I'm having problems with this." Tenchi indicates the screeen with disgust. "I don't see

why your father needs help with that kind of thing."

"Oh, is that all? Well, Father doesn't need help with that kind of thing. He

probably just thought it would be a good way to show you what kind of idiots some

politicians are, and why someone with a fairly normal amount of commen sense would be

valuable."

"Uh-huh. So, what is this," indicates screen again, "then?

"Well, that's a tape of crackpot day."

"Crack...pot..day?" Tenchi repeated slowly.

"Yes. In an empire as large and influential as ours, we have quite a lot of

real work to do, but we also have an obligation to allow hearings to even the most

ludicrus of proposals. Thus, crackpot day. The people that schedule this set aside

one day, or sometimes two, a month, and put all the people with really stupid ideas in

that time slot. It's still informal, as we can't really say to someone, 'Yes, we will

hear your proposal on crackpot day', because that would be rude. But, it is

unofficially recognized. As you'll notice, none of the most influential, powerful

senators and councilors are here. However, each party puts one or two people in here

with a comlink so they can summon the senators and councilors if something important

does come up."

"That...actually makes sense."

"Well, we didn't become a galaxy spanning empire by being inefficient. Besides,

the tapes of crackpot days are good for a laugh. Ooh, this one'll be a good one,

Tenchi."

On the screen, a humanoid representative, well, except for the three arms and

two heads, came up to the podium. "Friends and gentlebeings, I bring greetings from

sector ZZ9 plural Z Alpha. I've come here today, to make a proposal that henceforth

all meetings of the Royal Council be conducted in the nude." There is a moment of

shocked silence. In the back, a woman shakes her head. Slowly, laughter begins to

build in the auditorium. The man on stage makes a very complicated bow, and saunters

off the stage casually.

"That's a representative from the sector of space Colony 315, your homeworld, is

in. About once or twice a year, he makes the same proposal. Everybody knows he just

wants to get an eyefull of Mother and Aunt Funaho, but lately, he's been getting more

support, especially among the younger senators."

"Jeez...I never knew politicians could be so dumb."

"Have you forgotten Seiryou already?"

* * * * * * * * * * * *

On board the Ryo-Ohki, approaching Jurai space.

"Dammit! No!! Watch out. Dodge this! DAMMIT!!!! Sasami, how do you do that?"

Ryoko asked.

"It's easy. Just press down, down-towards, towards, and then punch quickly."

Sasami demonstrates the move. "See? Simple."

Ryoko tries it again, and fails miserably. "I guess I just don't understand this

hunk of prehistoric rubbish." Ryoko stands, kicking at the PS2 on the floor.

"Miyah! Miyah. Mi." Ryo-Ohki said.

"Alright, alright. I'm coming." Ryoko said, feigning weariness.

"Wh-" The gaurdsman started.

"Shut up." Ryoko said. "No one is talking to you." The gaurdsman shuts up,

and follows Ryoko to the bridge. On the main view screen is a view of Jurai, with ships

and estimated threat levels overlaying it.

"What? We should have been stopped long before we got this far. Where are the

checkpoints, the customs ships, the..." His voive trails off as he sees Ryoko looking at

him. Just looking. "Umm.......Sorry?"

"Shut up." Ryoko said. "But you're right. Most ships would have been stopped

by now. But they didn't call me the most feared space pirate in the galaxy for nothing."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Orbital Command/Communications Station 2

The lidar officer was napping at his station. For a second, Commander Carvin

Kenzaki considered throwing something at him, but then the ensign woke up. "Having a

pleasant dream, Ensign?"

"Sir? Oh, ah..No, sir. Of course not." the ensign replied.

"Anything on the screens, Ensign?" Carvin asked. He almost wished something was,

that wasn't supposed to be there, just to liven the deadly dull of Orbital duty.

"No, sir. Wait, just now picking something up. It's very faint, sir. Should I

go active?" The ensign asked, hopefully.

"Do it. Use the Ku-band. The fire-control techs could use little practice."

Carvin replied.

"Yes, sir." The ensign replied, concealing his surprise. The Ku-band was only

used for weapons lock. "Going active. Still not getting much of a return off of it,

but it's close enough now that we can pick up it's energy signature." They wait,

patiently, for the computers to run the trace through and decide what it was. Most

likely, Carvin thought, it's one of those new, supposedly undetectable light destroyers.

The computer came up with the list of all known ships that matched the energy profile of

the approaching object. There was only one ship on the list. Slowly, his stomach turned

to ice. "Sir, there's only one ship on the list, do you want me to hail the..uh..

Ryo-Ohki?"

"No. Release all weapons. Prepare to recieve fire." Carvin said, quietly.

{Dammit, why did this have to happen? I didn't mean it! Really!}

"Sir?" the ensign asked, a little startled. He'd never seen his commander act

like this.

"You heard me, now do it!" Carvin yelled. He activates the station-wide comm.

"All hands to battle stations, repeat, all hands to battle stations. Prepare to be

attacked." He shuts off the comm, and turns back to the ensign. "Contact the fleet,

tell them that Ryoko is here. Priority Alpha Omega one, Zulu."

The ensign gasped. Alpha Omega Pri codes were on the top of the list. Drop

everything and come defend the homeworld. Only once before had those codes been used,

and that had been over seven hundred years ago, when a pirate called...what was her name

again? Damn...knew I should have paid attention in history class. Alpha Omega 1, case

Zulu was the same thing, except it was 'drop everything and come prepared to run a

fighting evacuation of the planet.' Oh, that's right! The demons name had been..RYOKO!

"Damn it! Get moving, kid!" Carvin yelled, infuriated.

A soft bong sounded, and a com window opened, revealing a Jurai gaurdsman. "Hi.

Sorry about the entrance, but the Ryo-Ohki was the only ship available at the time."

Carvin boggles slightly at this. "Auth code is as follows: Alpha, one, zero, one, delta,

victor, two, charlie, nine, aleph null." The ensign quickly types the authentication

code in, and his jaw drops as the classification came up.

"Sir, that's a-" The ensign started.

"I know. A Royal Guardsman." Carvin said, quietly. "Gaurdsman. What is your

assignment?"

"To protect Princess Sasami, sir." The gaurdsman replied.

"Princess Sasami? But, isn't she on Jurai?" The ensign asked.

Carvin ignored him. "How did you get that ship, and where is Sasami?"

"Well, in answer to tha-" The gaurdsman was rudely interrupted, as he was thrown

across the room by a slightly peeved Ryoko.

"My ship. My bridge. You touch nothing. Got it?" Ryoko asked the gaurdsman.

Without waiting for a response, she turns to Carvin. "Good day, Commander. I wonder,

can you get me in touch with Tenchi? I'd really appreciate it if you did." Her voice,

once almost mirthful, turns as cold as space itself. "That way, I won't have to get...

nasty."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

On board Lord Yugo's yacht, high Jurai orbit.

One of the communication techs was playing with a peice of equipment that,

strictly speaking, she wasn't supposed to have. As a matter of fact, by no means should

she have that particular peice of equipment, much less know of its existance. But Lord

Yugo was a persuasive man, who had extensive files on everyone, and he'd pulled a string

or three to get it. Right now, she was listening to the internal communications of one

of the Orbital Command/Communications stations in high orbit. Number 2, to be exact.

Suddenly, she sits up, her face registering her surprise. "Lord Yugo! OCCS2 has gone

weapons free. They've just gone to Red Alert, and ordered all hands to battlestations."

"What? Why would they...hmm. Can you get into their com logs?" Lord Yugo asked.

The tech looked insulted. "I can hack into their live feed, sir. They'd never

even know I was there."

Lord Yugo leaned back in his chair, stroking his goatee. "Do it."

"Yes, sir." A minute or so passes in silence, broken only by the techs murmers,

as she hacks into OCCS2's comm loop. Soon enough, she breaks in. "That does it, sir.

Displaying on main screen now."

Ryoko's voice and image comes through. Lord Yugo's face barely registers his

shock. "...don't want to get nasty..." Yugo kept his face smooth, despite a wrenching

sensation in his gut. He loved his planet. He just didn't want to die defending it.

"I'm afraid that's not possible right now." Carvins voice came through, but not

his image, for some reason.

"What do you mean, 'not possible?' You better make it possible, or I'll have to

do something...hasty." Ryoko's voice was even colder now, hard-edged and venemous.

Yugo blanched. In the background, he could make out what appeared to be the

uniform of a Royal Gaurdsman. The man in it was on the floor. And Princess Sasami had

been sent somewhere with only a single Gaurdsman. "Fuck. Could either of them trace the

hack back and find us?"

"It's theoretically possible, Milord, but doubtful," she replied. "The

tech that'd be required to do that is well out of reach of our military."

"Can you say the same thing of Washu?" Lord Yugo politely inquired.

"Of course not. Washu's tech is...unprecedented. And unpredictable." the tech

said, surprised that someone would expect her to predict Washu's technological ability.

"Alright. I want us a to be a hole in space. No active emissions, minimal

passives. Give me a minimum burn course to an intercept with the Ryo-Ohki." Yugo said,

calmly. "Volunteers only. Everybody else, get off the ship."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

OCCS2

Carvin blanched. Ryoko did /i sound happy. "It's just that he's in a

meeting with someone right now, I can't just get him for you."

"That someone wouldn't be Aeka, would it?" Her voice was almost dripping with

venom. "It better not be."

Suddenly, a new voice intrudes. "Ryoko! You know better than to talk to people

like that! You're scaring the poor man."

Carvin stared in amazement. Was the feared space pirate Ryoko...blushing? "I'm

sorry, Sasami. Old habits die hard, I guess." Ryoko said.

"That's better, Ryoko. Now apologize to the nice Mr..." Sasami peers at the

screen momentarily.

"Carvin. Commander Kenzaki Carvin." Carvin supplied.

"Kenzaki. Apologize to him, Ryoko." Sasami said, sternly.

Carvin stifled a laugh as Ryoko glared, first at Sasami, then at him, and finally

back at Sasami. He could almost hear her saying, 'Do I have to?' Finally, she sighed,

turned back to him, and said, "I'm sorry, Commander Kenzaki, for being so cold and

threatening."

"Call me Carvin. I hate formality. Apology accepted, by the way." Carvin

paused. "Umm...does this mean that you aren't going to attack Jurai again?"

"You could make that assumption. After all, here I am, taking orders from the

second crown princess of Jurai..." Ryoko said, amused.

"Hrmmm. Well, I suppose that means we should stand down, as well."

"I would appreciate that. That way, no unfortunate misunderstandings could take

place." Ryoko grins wickedly.

"Ah...yes. I'm sure King Azusa would greatly apreciate that. It took us almost

four hundred years to completely recover from the last such...misunderstanding...we had

with you." Carvin said, wondering if he was insane to say such a thing.

Ryoko lost her grin. "Yeah, well...that wasn't exactly my idea, you know. Hey,

you wanna give me an approach pattern, or maybe I should just, you know, land

unannounced?"

"Err...sure. One sec. Ensign, stand us down from red alert, send a cancellation

signal to the fleet, and get an appropriate approach pattern for Ryoko. Full

courtesies." He turns back to Ryoko. "Say, just what is the whole story on that? I've

heard bits and pieces, but the majority of it's been declared 'so secret we'd like to

mindwipe everyone even remotely involved.'"

"Not surprising, considering what was involved." Ryoko said.

"What was involved?" Carvin asked, genuinely curious now.

"Well, the whole thing was one of ol' Kagy's idiotic plots to gain ultimate

power. The plan was to use me to 'distract' Jurai's military while Kagy stole the Prime

Tree, Tsunami. Fortunately for y'all, that kinda fell through."

Carvin blinked. That had been a distraction? She hadn't been /trying/ to

wipe out Jurai's military? "Umm...that was a distraction?"

"Yeah. Humiliating, isn't it? I got mine, though, when Yo-chan beat the ever

living daylights out of me and locked me up for seven hundred years or so."

"Yo-chan?"

"Good 'ol Yosho...you know, the former first crown princw of Jurai?. Excellent

fighter. If I'd been in my right mind I coulda taken him, but..." She smiles

disarmingly.

"Right...What is it?" Carvin turns to the ensign, who was signalling him.

"Sir, the trees, they're picking up something odd...something dark." He said.

"What of it?" Carvin replied.

"Normally I wouldn't bother reporting this, even the trees are unsure of the

contact, but...it seems to be on a collision course for the Ryo-Ohki..." he said,

cautiously.

"Hmm...okay. Ryoko, I'd recommend some evasive action. Our trees are picking up

something on a collision course with your ship. We're unsure of what it is, and we can't

get a clear track on it, so..."

"Alright. Not a prob. Beginning evasive acti- WHAT THE HELL!?" The dark shadow

is revealed, as it opens up in a full out assault on the Ryo-Ohki, scoring a few lucky

hits that knock out Ryo-Ohki's shielding, propulsion, and most of her weaponry. Escape

pods jettison from Lord Yugo's yacht, outlining it in a corona of fire. Its light hawk

wing activates. "What the fuck is going on here!?!"

"How the hell should I know!?! Open fire on that ship! All batteries, fire!"

Carvin yelled. "Get me a comlink to that asshole!"

"Sir! That ship is hailing us! On the main screen...now!"

Lord Yugo's face appears. "Why the hell are you firing on me!?"

"I don't know. Why the hell are you on a suicide charge for Princess Sasami's

taxi?" Carvin says, soundingly remarkably calm.

"WHAT?!" Yugo's face goes through some remarkable changes. "Ryoko's NOT here to

attack Jurai? Sasami...Shit! CEASE FIRE!"

But it was too late. A wave of dark energy flowed out of the ship and into the

Wing of the Light Hawk that Yugo's ship was able to manifest, turning it blacker than

deepest night for a brief moment before it slammed into the side of Ryo-Ohki, rapidly

eating away at the brave, but doomed, cabbit's superstructure. In the moments of life

remaining to her, she teleported her three passengers to OCCS2...almost. They only made

it halfway.