Part 46

Impact

By BobCat

Disclaimer: Fanfiction is plagiarism. This is fanfiction. Reach your own conclusions.

A lone figure approached the Masaki household. She was clad in a hooded brown cloak that obscured her features, although a few strands of long, curly, blue hair were sticking out from the opening of the hood. The cloak itself was worn and ragged, and some spots were stained a dark brown color that was recognizable as dried blood. She was currently supporting herself on a large stick. The fact that neither bark nor branches had been stripped from the stick showed the haste with which it had been chosen.

Soap drew back the cloak's hood to get a better look at the place. Normally, her alluring green eyes and soft features would have made men take notice and women smack their paramours upside the head. However, she currently looked as though she had gone through a threshing machine. Her left eye was black and swollen shut, while the rest of her face was covered with a myriad of small cuts and bruises.

The Chinese Amazon muttered a curse as it began to rain.. Actually, it wasn't so much raining as it was monsooning; the sky had suddenly turned dark, and it literally felt as if it was bucketing. The water seeped into her injuries. Immediately after cursing, she inhaled sharply at the pain this caused. Soap took a step forward, only to slip on the suddenly slick pavement.

She went down, cursing as a minor wound on her leg reopened. Blood began to flow onto the ground in a substantial trickle, only to disappear as the downpour diluted the red liquid.

Her head pounded as Soap rose up on all fours, struggling to keep her lunch down. After all, it wouldn't be becoming of an Amazon warrior to vomit all over oneself. She accomplished this task mostly because she hadn't eaten for the better part of a week.

The pain and discomfort nearly overwhelmed her, and she had the fleeting desire to curl into a fetal position and just let the cold, hunger and loss of blood do its work. However, she managed to push this aside. For she was here to uphold her honor as an Amazon. Having been defeated by Phil, she was required to give him the Kiss of Marriage and work to make him a part of the tribe. Also, she was here to gather reinforcements.

After all, brining a strong male into the tribe didn't help at all if the horde of demons that had wounded her ensured that there was no tribe to bring him to.

Using her walking stick, she managed to regain her footing. She began making her way towards the house again. She knew that Lotion was there because the green haired girl had sent a postcard. Soap knew that Lotion wouldn't leave the house as long as the rain was this intense.

Then, Soap's combat senses flared. She picked up a faint trace of Chi somewhere in the gloom. Not enough to indicate a strong martial artist, but Soap admitted that at the moment she would fall in battle against anything stronger than a Chihuahua.* Soap briefly wondered who was stupid enough to be out in a rain like this. Besides myself, that is.

Then, a tall and imposing figure stepped from the gloom. Although Soap had difficulty seeing, she could determine that it wasn't human. What the! The demons have followed me!

The figure stood at least two feet taller than the tall Amazon. It stood atop birdlike legs, but its body resembled a person whose head had been punched down into their torso. Four odd appendages stuck out from its torso. Two were located parallel to where the head should be, and the other two were arms. In place of hands were two pipe-like stubs placed below two three fingered talons. All four protuberances glowed with an eerie, unnatural light.

Soap assumed a battle stance, albeit a shaky one. So this is it. Very well. I shall go out like a true warrior.

The demon said something in its own demonic tongue. Soap ignored the gibberish. Letting out a battle cry, she slammed her walking stick into the creature's chest.

Where it promptly snapped in two with a loud CLANG!

Soap cursed again. An iron golem! That's just my luck. She stepped forward. She slid again upon the slick pavement, and hit the ground face first.

As oblivion enveloped her, Soap hoped that hell would at least be warm.

* * *

Meanwhile, aboard the flagship Inquisitor

T'Keela stood before her master. "Lord Schlager. I have a report for you."

Currently, Schlager sat in a chair specially modified to fit his bulk in a fairly large office near the heart of the spherical ship. With space being at a premium on a spacecraft, Schlager saw it as a manner of prestige that one could easily play polo in the space he had set aside for his workspace. It was filled with treasures stolen from a thousand score worlds, and visitors were forced to take a path that led them past the most exquisite pieces of his collection. The message sent those who entered was clear: The person here has enough power to squash you like a bug.

The giant currently sat in a plush wheeled chair at a desk made of krun wood stolen from Mon Tessa. Schlager couldn't understand why the Moff had had so much difficulty unloading the stuff. It was quite possibly the nicest desk he had ever owned. Although it had taken a bit of time to remove the Moff's blood.

The horned warlord never looked up from a report of the defenses of Coruscant. The orange skinned Twi'lek stood at attention, knowing far better than to interrupt her Lord than when he was thinking.

Schlager read over the report on the garrison of the Galactic Empire's throneworld. A skilled tactician well versed in the technology of at least a hundred alien races from a multitude of timelines, he ran the numbers of defenders to what he could throw at it. A quick calculation showed that while he would probably win, any profits he made would be immediately spent on rebuilding. Check THAT world off the list of acceptable targets. Now Bakura looks quite promising. Minimal Imperial garrison, a fairly large population, and it's so unimportant that the Emperor won't care too much if I sack it. "T'Keela, send a few scouts to determine the Empire's garrison strength on Bakura."

She nodded. "Yes, my Lord." She knew better than to remind Schlager that she had a message to give when he had other things on his mind. The remains of the last man to try that were scattered across hyperspace.

Schlager pondered for a few moments. He often tested his lieutenants in this way. T'Keela always passed. She was graced with a balance and control that many martial artists spent lifetimes failing to achieve. This was primarily because she had been trained from birth to be a dancer for some Hutt on the outer rim. Those from her clan who had failed to learn grace and poise had been sent to the Bright Lands to die in the blinding heat of Ryloth.

Until, on one fateful day in a dimension several times removed from FC-1, the Inquisitor had jumped from hyperspace directly above the pirate frigate that was carrying her. She and several hundred other slaves had been taken aboard the massive flagship, and from there it should have been a routine trip to Nal Hutta to sell the Hutts what was theirs to start with. Not that any of them would know, however. Schlager always made sure of that.

That was until one of the slaves, barely fourteen years old, had instigated a revolt. Although her fellows were all taken down in moments, she had used the opportunity to slip away, abandoning all of her people to save her own skin. Showing a resourcefulness that still surprised Schlager to this day, she had made it as far as the shuttle bay before an observant trooper had noticed her sneaking towards one of the escape pods.

Schlager had been sorely tempted to flay her alive right then and there. Then, he had seen the fire in her eyes. To be cliché, she had reminded him of himself at her age. Wild, rebellious, willing to let hundreds of others rot and die to assure her own freedom…

So, Schlager had decided that such a kindred spirit was best put to work under his command, rather than wasting such fire and drive by slaying her. The self-serving young Twi'lek had risen through the ranks through her own ability and willingness to arrange "accidents" for her competitors.

Schlager trusted her as much as he did any under his command. Which is to say, very little. He knew that such hunger for power could very well be turned against him one day.

Hence the small explosive wired into her skull. Should his vital patterns shut down, her head would look like a watermelon after a performance by Gallagher.

After he had informed her of the implant, her behavior hadn't shifted much. Although she was always sure that he was on time for medical examinations…

He finally decided that reminiscing was just a waste of time. He turned his chair to face his underling. "At ease, T'Keela. What is it?"

She ceased her salute, then stood in a rest position. "My Lord, one of our reconnaissance craft has just sent in a report. It was the Swiftwing class Blood Kite."

Schlager's brow furrowed for a moment. "Wasn't the Blood Kite sent to perform a reconnaissance of the Sol system?" She nodded. She handed him the three hundred page report, which included everything from the captain's logs to the position of major planetoids in that system's asteroid belt. He placed it on his desk. His nose scrunched slightly. "As though I have time to read this."

T'Keela pointed to the document. "Sir, I appended a twenty page summary of relevant data to the front of the report."

"Very good." Unlike some lazy evil warlords, he actually would read the summary at a later date. It was always a good idea to know at least as much as your underlings; it made it difficult to take you by surprise and slit your throat at unexpected moments. But for now, decisions needed to be made. "Give me the short version."

T'Keela nodded, sending her lekku (or brain tails) sliding from her shoulder to hang limply behind her back. "Aye, Lord Schlager. The Blood Kite and her crew found a number of surprises. Not out of the ordinary, sir, was the fact that Earth is currently the only significantly inhabited planet in the system. However, there was a structure found on Pluto which corresponds with our data of the Sailor Moon "Time Gate." Other ruins were found on a few other planets and moons of the system as we closed in."

Schlager rubbed his chin with one finger. "Odd. I had been led to believe that we were in a baseline Star Wars universe. Continue."

The orange woman said, "Once a stationary orbit of the planet was achieved, we found that a variety of energy signatures that ran the full gamut, from Chi to Manna to Psionic distortions. That was when the real surprises began. Radar detected the Justice League satellite, as well as the Juraian starship Tsunami, although it was dormant. There were manna and Chi signatures side by side that are far stronger than traditional dimensional theory says should be interacting. Transmissions were intercepted with news programs regarding a recent conflict between the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Also, judging from news broadcasts and satellite photos, the Earth has few independent nations, with a larger number of superpowers in their place. In short, this is a world that has just about everything."

Schlager's eyes widened almost imperceptibly. T'Keela could only tell that he was surprised due to their long association. He murmured, "Could this be it?"

"My Lord?"

Schlager once again pretended not to notice her. "An actual perfect fusion universe. Or at least, close enough for my purposes…" He finally took heed of his lieutenant. "T'Keela, this Earth is the greatest gem in all creation. It already stands along the borders of every major galactic empire in whichever universe it inhabits, the primary reason alien emperors are always working so hard to conquer it. Beyond the massive wealth of unique items to be found in such a place, this planet borders everyone from the Shi'ar to the Klingons to the Juraians. If we take and hold this planet, we can become a new Troy. Nobody shipping or passing through the area could get past it without a toll. And that isn't even counting the massive material wealth of the planet. We'd be the wealthiest beings in the multiverse!" As his monologue had gone on, it had risen constantly in volume and tone, reaching the end with Schlager jumping to his feet, pumping a three fingered fist in the air.

T'Keela's tongue discretely whipped out to catch some drool before it slid down her face.

Schlager coughed slightly in an attempt to cover his outburst as he lowered himself back into his chair. "We cannot allow our desires make us rush, though. Recall the Blood Kite. Put out the call to the entire fleet. Begin hiring mercenaries to fill our ranks. This is the big one. Set the rendezvous point in the Hoth system. Once we are assembled, we move out immediately."

T'Keela bowed. "Yes, My Lord. Do you have further instructions?"

Schlager nodded. "Indeed. Deploy a commando team to the Sol system. There are certain forces that it would be better to eliminate before we are forced into open battle. Specifically, since Tsunami is there, it is to be assumed that Tenchi Masaki is also in place. He's lucky enough that he might be able to inflict some significant damage upon my forces. That is all. Dismissed." The orange skinned alien left through the door, which immediately slammed down as she departed.

Most evil villains would have taken this opportunity to laugh maniacally. Instead, Schlager opened the thick report that T'Keela had given him.

After all, most evil overlords never got as far as he did, and Schlager hadn't gotten to where he was by being another face in the crowd. Besides, most of the crowd ended up dead at the hands of some snot-nosed hero.

And dieing at the height of his power wasn't on the agenda at all.

End Part 46

Author's Note: Yes, I know this chapter is a little short. Would you believe that, between school and marching band season, that these two scenes took over three weeks to make? The decision was between putting out a fairly short chapter (I've put out shorter) and not putting out anything for another week or so. I went with option number one, just because you've all been so patient.

By the by, for those who don't know, FFNET is deleting the Crossovers section for no reason. I'm moving the fic, but in order to help me decide, I'm putting the vote up to you. The options are:

1) Sailor Moon

2) Dragon Ball Z

3) Tenchi Muyo

4) Ranma ½

5) Misc. Anime

The vote is currently deadlocked, so you could sway things! Go vote now, in the form of an e-mail or review!

*And even a Chihuahua would have given her troubles.