Disclaimer: The characters used within this are mostly the property of others. I have a few originals, but the vast majority are not original. Everything here is fiction. This is for entertainment only and not for profit.
-=oOo=-
Araiansu - Chapter 19
-=oOo=-
Jenna beamed down at the end of a debate where their healing skills were questioned to answer questions, and ended up healing an old man's bad back. Many in the audience immediately wanted healed, though thanks to Jack, Daniel and the others beaming down they were able to defer that.
The healing of those who wanted healed from the audience went well over the next several weeks. Many were given free medical scans by specialist doctors both before and after. Most recorded the process, usually with their own doctor recording it on a personal camera. Many of those made the news.
They were in a medical office office now, waiting for their next patient. Their last patient of the day got up from her chair and carefully walked in, Jenna and Villa supporting her on either side as she was led into the examination room. With help she sat down on the examination bed.
After a quick examination from Jenna. Jenna looked at Villa pointedly. Villa slipped out of the room.
"It will not be long," she tried to reassure.
The late middle aged pregnant woman nodded wearily. The woman's doctor was there as well. She was an older woman. She looked at Jenna with concern as she said this, but said nothing.
Ranma and Sam beamed in, both soaking wet. Sam, noticing the camera and reporter said, "Dry us off Ranma."
Ranma said, "You have the skill you know."
"I guess. I never was great at this." Sam focused as light formed around her body starting at her right leg. Water and light crawled up her right leg into the palm of her right hand. Then she repeated for her left leg, torso, left arm, and finally hair, ending up with nearly a cup of water in her right hand that she held before dropping in a sink.
Ranma teased, "You totally missed your toes."
"I'm fine."
Ranma did the same thing but had the ball of water in her hand in a fraction fo the time. He also walked over to the sink before letting the water go.
Sam said, "You have had way too much practice with that."
"True," she agreed.
The doctor caught their attention and said, "I assume that one of you will be the one trying to heal my patient, or more precisely her baby. The first two quickly assessed this as beyond them."
Ranma asked, "Could you tell us what is wrong?"
"The babies skull did not form correctly. It will be terminal if it is not treated."
Ranma and Sam paled.
Sam asked, "Zen are the bio beds programmed to heal both a mother and a child together, or at least to focus on the baby?"
"Negative. That is not currently in the programming."
Sam asked, "Zen ask Heimdall if he will come here. We need his help."
The alien appeared in another flash of light. "What is the problem?"
The doctor went on to explain. Sam mentioned the bio beds again.
Heimdall said, "The healing units are designed for one lifeform at a time. They are very very complex systems."
"Don't you have problems giving birth?" the doctor asked.
Heimdall said, "Unfortunately, no Asgard has been able to give birth in over a thousand years. We believe we are close to solving the issue, but it is very complex and the mistakes we have made in the past extending our lives have brought us to this point."
"Then how do you know these bio beds are safe?"
Heimdall blinked. "Because we have learned from our mistakes and checked very very thoroughly. That is why I cannot easily change them. It would likely take years of development and testing to be sure such a change was safe, not just for a persons lifetime, but for all of their descendants into the future. There is no room for error. I am, of course willing to begin the process, for you are correct it is a serious problem that must be addressed, but I regret it would not be complete in time for this child."
"Thanks," the pregnant woman said dully.
Ranma said softly, "We are still willing to try. We can't promise this will end well, but once the child is born and healthy we can take her to the ship or Atlantis and use one of the bio beds then."
"You can save her?" she gasped.
Sam said, "We don't know. This is possibly a genetic problem, which is beyond the ability of ki based healing to truly correct. The bio bed can cure genetic problems by replacing just the incorrect gene sequences, but we cannot. The human brain, or even both of us working together cannot work on that scale."
The doctor said, "It is genetic. We know the gene sequence that caused it. Would that help?"
"I would appreciate that information," Heimdall said.
"You will have it," the elder doctor stated.
Ranma and Sam stood on either side of the hospital bed. "Your working together?" asked the doctor.
"From what you have said it is a very serious case."
The doctor replied, "Your right. I just never saw one of the others work in a team."
Sam and Ranma's hands glowed white as light not only formed around the pregnant woman but around them as well and then spread forming an aura that formed around them. They stayed like that for several minutes before stopping.
"Is it done?" the woman asked.
"Not yet," Ranma said. "You are in an area where our experience is limited. We are willing to try, but we thought we would try something else first."
"Oh. What?" asked the woman.
Ranma turned to the doctor. "Are you willing to try being part of the link we formed. It has downsides. Depression afterwards is likely. You may learn stuff about us that you would rather not. We may learn stuff about you that you would rather not have us learn. We will limit it as much as we can, but you would likely be changed by it. It is not without risks."
"Your saying you can use my medical knowledge to help heal this?"
Sam asked, "Do you think you have experience in how things should be?"
"I should. I'm pretty much the leading expert in the country on this, for all the good it does. If your saying this has any hope…"
Sam brightened. "No, it is so much more than that. You will understand and see this problem in so much more detail than you ever did before."
"Let's do it then."
Ranma helped the woman from the bed. He then pushed the bed to the corner and set the mattress on the floor before helping the woman lay down again.
The doctor sat in the middle on the woman's left side, with Ranma and Sam on either side.
Ranma said, "The fact that you are without the skill in life energy presents a problem, but not an unsolvable one. We will link to you, putting our skill, knowledge, and ability at your control. You will be the one to do the actual healing using our strength."
"Are you sure?" she asked.
Heimdall also looked on in interest. The camera kept recording.
"As sure as we can be," Sam added.
They placed their hands over her bared arms and then all three of them glowed before the doctor suddenly glowed too.
-=oOo=-
The Doctor's first thought was that both were older than they looked, particularly Sam. The part that was Sam was amused.
Your immortal? Passed through the collective. The word secret, and it was a side effect they didn't seek.
The collective suggested, "Check one of our bodies first. The doctor quickly sought out her own, mentally diagnosing all the things she knew was not quite right about her body and some she didn't."
"You know how your body should be. Use our knowledge and skill. Start here. Learn. Use our skill to and knowledge to fix this."
The process to heal an unborn child first began, by first healing herself, with truly learning what healing on this level meant and how it worked. She worked steadily through each part of her body healing, improving, and learning. She even repaired some damage to her bones and knees, learning that from Ranma and Sam's memories.
It didn't take but twenty minutes. There was much that could be improved, but that was not their purpose here.
With their knowledge and skill at her fingertips they looked outward. The doctor laid her hands on the pregnant woman. So many scans came to life in her minds eye as she compared them to the whole she sensed now, and to the scans she knew of how they should be.
Energy was bled from Ranma and Sam, filtered through the doctor and bit by bit was used to ever so carefully repair the damage. The nutrients were coming from the mother. She would need treatment as well, but the need was greater here so they regretfully took from where they had to take to repair here. Less than an hour later it was done and the link dissolved.
The doctor blinked and tried to focus her eyes to see with them once again, and eventually succeeded. "That was intense. We did it, didn't we?"
Heimdall had a small hand scanner beamed to him. He passed it over the mother's stomach and it projected a three dimensional view of the child that rotated slowly in place. The view would vanish then form from the inside out as they observed it slowly.
He said, "The problems that remain appear to be minimal. I would not recommend further treatment at this time. Once the child is born we can correct the remaining anomalies and fix any lingering damage that may still remain from your efforts in the mother."
"You did it?" the mother asked skeptically.
Her doctor said, "We did it. We are going to keep a close watch but you should have seen it." She yawned. "It felt like magic, but it was also the hardest work I had done in years. There was so much detail and so much that had to be just right." She frowned. "You were right about the side effects. How do you deal with them all the time?"
"We don't," Sam said. "We accept that the bond is permanent and help it to be so. We honestly don't expect to outlive the other. The bond will probably kill the other if we don't die together. That is why we kept your exposure as short as possible."
The doctor's eyes widened.
"It won't affect you so. You dipped your toe in and were warned. Shortcuts have consequences. You will have a miserable couple of weeks, but be fine."
"And you?"
"We have each other and have build up some ability to resist this. That being said we just came back from a break after doing something similar but on a far greater scale to heal another. That was bad. This was just hard skill wise, as it touched on an area we did not know. We will be fine."
The doctor asked, "Do you have any recommendations for treating this?"
"Time. Friends. Patience. The will to overcome. If you need to, see another doctor for a neutral perspective."
She nodded.
"Well there you have it," the reporter said. "It seems they just healed a baby that would ordinary not have made it. We will of course do our best to monitor this and tell you how it turns out, but for now it is back to the studio."
Ranma, Sam, and Heimdall disappeared in a flash of light.
The reporter asked to no one in particular, "Can you believe all this? I feel like I'm in the twilight zone."
The doctor said, "Your not the only one. We are off the record now right? No cameras are on this time?"
"We should be clean. This is your office after all, not an auditorium. What was it like?"
"Wonder, Joy, Terror, Insight, Love that would shatter mountains."
"Do you think they are really so bound that if one dies, they both will?"
"Think. No. I know it, with every fiber of my being, just as I know they truly didn't want to fail, and not because of the politics. They just really didn't want to fail. They were giving serious thought to taking us all to where the other two that they had also bonded with were, but they calculated mentally that it would end up costing other lives they could have saved. The time they took off. I saw some of that. They were really hurting. They still are hurting. It is insane to even consider touching that bond again, but they didn't think of their pain but of the unborn child. The part that was Sam was even considering all kinds of complex plans to save her. It was all a blur. Too much too fast. I learned a lot, but I'm not sure I'm willing to risk that again. My sense was it gets worse and fast. I'll take the pain as trade for helping Stacy and her child here. Heck, I ended up healing myself a bit first just as a practice target, and wasn't that weird. I also learned a lot that I'm going to try to write down."
Stacy asked softly, "Have you thought about learning from them?"
"I'm not young, but yes I've thought about it. I know that running their energy through me like they did may have awakened the potential. There is also a small chance it damaged my potential. I knew it at the time and accepted it. I don't know. I just don't know. Either way, if your done I'm going to give my patient an ultrasound."
"Could I stay?"
She looked at Stacy.
"I don't mind. No more camera for now though." He nodded.
The baby looked normal on the ultrasound. "Could I?" he asked.
"Have the before and after ultrasounds? Again, that would be Stacy's decision. She has every right to say no."
"He can."
"I'll need that in writing I'm afraid."
"Okay."
The video and the ultrasounds were on the evening news. Some still called it unnatural. Most liked that there was an option for such rare cases where the outcome was good.
-=oOo=-
The next day Andy Davis was invited up to the Liberator for an interview. General Hammond was in command. His camera operator turned his camera on almost as soon as he was there.
"Why am I here?"
The general said, "We have identified what would have ordinarily been an extinction level event."
Seeing no one was laughing he asked, "Are you serious?"
"I am." The general smiled. "Fortunately, whoever sent it really doesn't know our current capabilities. Avon tactical analysis."
"It appears the Goa'uld, or maybe the late Anubis sent a very large asteroid made of almost pure Naquadah ore right for Earth. Normally the impact would of course be very bad with all the potential explosive power of Naquadah. It would in fact, if we allowed it to, destroy all life on the planet."
"I take it you have another plan," Andy said dryly.
"Of course," Avon said dryly. "When the bad guys send you a gift basket, it would be rude not to treat it appropriately."
"Energy?" The reporter guessed.
"Oh it gets better," Avon said. "While the energy systems of Liberator and anything that advanced are off limits. You have been fighting the Goa'uld for some time. It was our mother who developed the first stable Naquadah reactor designs for Earth."
"You mean you can build some for Earth?"
"Heimdall has approved a limited number, though more are likely later, provided there is sufficient security around them. Large scale plants are much safer than nuclear power. That is not to say they are safe. You can't generate power at that scale and ever be perfectly safe, but a good reliable design is not particularly difficult. The hard part would be finding enough Naquadah to power them. It doesn't naturally occur on Earth."
"And they just delivered you a massive amount."
"Crazy isn't it?" the general asked.
"You did say they were likely trying to kill you with it," Andy added dryly.
George said, "Still, I'll send them a gift basket next time we meet before blowing them out of the sky."
The reporter laughed.
"So what are we waiting for?" he asked.
Avon said, "Unfortunately, it is not that easy. The asteroid is moving at incredible speeds. It was probably accelerated for a very long time to reach these speeds. Slowing it down without imparting enough energy at once to cause it to destroy the Liberator is going to be difficult."
"Then why not just destroy it?" asked tjhe reporter.
George said, "Because that rock is a game changer for Earth, if we can retrieve it. It is worth some risk. The Nozomi is due back from their trip to the Nox home world. Liberator could theoretically do it ourself, but I'm told having a second ship makes it somewhat safer. Zen, put the target on the main viewer."
"Target is now on the main viewer. It has an approximate size of one thousand four hundred and seventy kilometers."
Andy whistled. "How long do we have?"
"Zen?" prompted the general.
"Target will impact the Earth in thirty seven hours and four minutes."
"That seems awfully close."
Avon said, "We have about twenty hours before it is past the point we could destroy it safely. It is moving at a good clip, but we are certainly not out of options. Destroying it is not the problem. Stopping it is a problem, especially if we try by ourselves. We have not detected further traps, but aren't betting on it. That is a very valuable rock and we have to use a lot of energy to bring it to a relative halt."
"You think they wouldn't send it if they weren't confident it would do the job."
The general said, "That was our thought. You don't get to be an old soldier by taking risks you don't have to take."
"Have you thought about going to have a look around the Asteroid?"
Avon said, "Zen target the external cameras on my parents and show on the main screen."
"Confirmed."
Suddenly the screen zoomed in on two people in space suits carefully running very quickly along the surface of the planet.
General Hammond said, "They volunteered. They are the best we have. If there is anything there they will find it."
"But they are just, well, running?"
Avon said, "If there are traps down there, then anything emitting an energy signature is liable to set it off. All they have is a very well shielded oxygen generator system. They are as safe as we can make them."
"I see. How long have they been running for?"
Avon said, "About two hours. At that pace they will complete their search pattern in another hour. So far it looks like it is clean."
"They can run for three hours straight?" asked the reporter in surprise.
Avon blinked surprised.
The general said dryly, "I don't think they are quite used to the limits of mere mortals like us."
"Apparently not," the reporter agreed.
Dana said, "I'm detecting the Nozomi. It should break out of hyperspace within the next five minutes. Rommie must be feeling adventurous today, she is well below the normal hyperspace levels. It is a bit wasteful of energy, but curious nonetheless."
Avon said, "It is also right at the edge of our normal scanning range, because no one uses that subspace level for travel."
"Why is that?" asked the curious reporter.
Avon replied, "I had thought the energy requirements for safe travel in that range were prohibitively expensive, but then I suppose the Asgard don't know everything."
"Amazing. Wasn't Nozomi the ship that was like thousands of years old?"
"Humbling isn't it?" asked Avon. "To think your king of the hill, yet for a relic from the past to show you that you don't know everything yet."
-=oOo=-
Kasumi hummed onboard the ship as they cruised through hyperspace. She was still amazed at all Rommie could do, particularly with her help. They were not even synced more than five percent yet she was cruising through a layer of subspace they she knew not even the Asgard used. The Liberator could still beat the pants off them in pure speed, but they were doing it in style, using a fraction of the energy the Asgard systems would take. She also liked the orange and red's better than the blue colors of normal travel.
Rommie said, "We are going to phase out shortly and it seemed our surprise is ruined. I detected Liberator's scanning beam."
"Ah well. We could have probably caught them by surprise, but then it might have scuffed the paint and likely frightened the children and their parents."
"True, maybe next time."
Kasumi smiled and nodded. Then she grinned. "Sync with me."
"Sure."
Rommie walked right into her from the front and fading into her. Their now shared body glowed white.
In their odd dual toned voice they said, "We will be exiting hyperspace shortly."
They now had perfect control of the ship. Instead of opening a window to move back to normal space they instead leaned into the power module and glided smoothly from the level of subspace they were in through all the intermediate layers before slipping into normal space without so much as a ripple.
Their merge faded. Rommie stood behind her again.
Kasumi said to the ship, "We have returned to normal space and should be in range of Earth in about twenty minutes.
-=oOo=-
Jenna said, "Did you see what she did? Did you?"
"What did she do?" asked Andy Davis.
"She totally broke the rules," said an amused Villa.
"I don't understand."
Avon said, "We can outrun her with ease, but she can dance. It is the difference between technical perfection and art. Had we tried to phase transition through layers of subspace like that, well, bad things would happen. In short she was showing off."
"So Maverick flying past the tower kind of?" asked the reporter.
"I don't get the reference," said Avon.
Dana said, "I do. It would be more like that guy buzzing the tower while inverted one inch from the ground."
"Isn't that insanely dangerous?"
"Apparently not," Avon said.
Kasumi's face appeared on the screen with Rommie behind. "Did you like our entrance?"
General Hammond said, "Andy Davis here is a reporter and he was wondering if what you did was really dangerous?"
Kasumi sobered. "We were safe enough. I would never risk Rommie or the passengers. I can see how you would be concerned, but we promise we were safe."
Andy Davis said, "They compared it to the difference between technical perfection and art. I believe they also said, 'We can outrun her but she can dance.'"
Both Rommie and Kasumi blushed furiously.
After a moment Kasumi said, "We appreciate the compliments. Rommie tells me there is a problem we need to deal with."
Avon said, "Are you up to helping us tow it to a relative stop? We really need the second focal point for stability."
"Sure. By the way, why are Ranma and Sam running around down there? Searching for surprises?"
George said, "You got it in one."
"And they just found one," noted Avon.
"What is it?" asked George.
"A bomb," said Avon. "Dana our parents just jumped up. Beam them out once they hit the apogee."
"Got them."
Ranma and Sam appeared on the bridge. They took their helmets off.
"What are we dealing with?" asked George.
Sam said, "We found a bomb of Goa'uld design. I'd bet a lot of money that it is enough to detonate the whole asteroid. I didn't think approaching it was worth the risk. It was very well hidden."
"Then what is our plan?" asked George.
"Just beam it into deep space. If the beam detonates it, so be it."
Kasumi said, "I want to get well away from here and get our passengers off before we engage."
George said, "Understood Nozomi. We will wait till your well out of range of the possible detonation."
Kasumi said, "Cally just sent me a request to beam over instead of down to Atlantis."
Ranma said, "I'll be the bad guy. We don't need her for this op. Unless you need her, we expect her to transport down with the others."
"Understood and agreed. Nozomi out."
He turned to the reporter. "Do you want to beam over to her ship?"
"I'll stay. Should you send any of the others away?"
Avon said, "The transporters won't transport us if we are unwilling to go, so there is no point in asking."
Sam said, "Ranma and I could override that lock."
Dana said, "True, but you won't. Ranma justified his order for Cally because otherwise we could all die. We probably won't, but in this case Cally's duty was to make sure at least one of us stayed alive."
Ranma asked, "Are you so sure that more of you shouldn't be following that logic?"
Villa asked, "Do you really want to risk not having enough people here to stabilize that tether field?"
"Fine, but I don't have to like it," their Father agreed.
Jenna said, "We love you too dad."
"I feel that you all have been neglecting your training."
They all paled. Sam smiled.
"I said all," Ranma joked.
Sam paled before she caught Ranma's grin. Then she smiled.
Fifteen minutes later Nozomi was over Earth. Sam said, "Not much point in waiting. Zen take the transporters offline and disable them for human transport. Set for extreme range cargo only transport with a destination of deep space. We will set it all manually. Once all this is done transfer control to Avon's station and reenable."
"Does the first officer concur?"
"Do it Zen," commanded Ranma.
"Transporters are reconfigured. Warning this configuration will not sustain human life."
Avon rolled his eyes. "Jenna I've entered where I want the ship. Could you?"
Jenna said, "On it."
Sam said, "Zen run the force wall generators up to max and hold. As soon as transport of the bomb is complete activate the force wall."
"Confirmed. Force wall generators at maximum. Will activate as soon as transport is complete."
Jenna said a few minutes later. "Well we are here."
George said, "Unless there is some safety thing left to do I say we get this over with."
Avon punched a button. An explosion was heard in the ship. The force wall activated, partially obscuring the view, though they could see another explosion in space.
Sam said, "We just blew to hell one of our transporters."
"How?" George asked.
Avon said, "The bomb sensed the energy field. We, in essence just transported an in progress explosion. I'm honestly quite amazed it worked as well as it did."
"But there was no detonation of an asteroid? We are safe right?" asked the reporter.
Sam said, "We are. I also don't want to use any of our transporters till we have repaired the damage and retested them. Just because we only blew one, doesn't mean there wasn't other damage. Nozomi can transport you back to Earth easy enough."
"I have nowhere I need to be."
"Up to you."
Kasumi's face again appeared on the screen. "That didn't go quite to plan I take it?"
"You could say that," George said. "Still, could be worse."
"What's the damage?" asked Rommie.
Sam said, "One transporter bank is toast. I'm not going to trust any of it till we repair and test it all, but again it could be worse."
Rommie said, "If it was that twitchy, I'm glad you didn't approach it. Let me know if you want me to replicate any of it."
"You and us both, and thanks. I have to think on this. It may be better to replace the whole system. I really don't like transporting anyone through a system that has had that kind of overload. It's expensive energy wise…"
"Not if Kasumi and I do the work. We would need to temporarily link our ships systems. It is a great deal of trust I know."
Ranma glanced at Sam who nodded. "You have more than proven yourself."
"Thank you."
Andy Davis asked, "Is this another case where she can dance?"
Avon said simply, "Yes. More precisely she has the precision to repair and replicate only what is required, but still return things to as new condition."
George said, "Shall we get this over with, or do we need to repair first?"
Sam said, "We are good to go. We don't need the transporters and the effect was clearly limited. Ranma, you are still our best pilot. You might as well do it. I'll assist Avon on the tether field control.
They changed stations and were soon ready to go.
Kasumi said, "Nozomi is in position and ready. Rommie is requesting a live feed of our tether plan so we can coordinate."
Avon said, "Would you like me to plan both?"
Rommie said, "No. Just keep your changes to a minimum and send us them as far ahead as you can. Work with the assumption that we are going to average half of your potential loading and then we will handle almost all the changes. I will send back requests if we need further modifications."
"Are you sure?" Avon asked. "My program should be quite good."
"We are sure."
Villa added, "Just so no one misses it. We all do know that the energy we need to use to slow this thing down is really close to what might set it off."
Avon said, "We know."
George asked the reported, "Are you okay with that? We aren't trying to blow ourselves up, but, to be fair, the risk si there."
"But the promise of a lot of energy for Earth is also there right?"
"It is."
"Then I'm staying."
George looked between Sam and Ranma. They nodded as well. He said, "We have a go."
Jenna said, "I'm spinning up all our generators."
Villa said, "I'll stand by on the force wall. I doubt we would survive the detonation in any case, but in the unlikely event we get some warning..."
George said, "Do what you can."
Ranma said, "I'm ready."
Kasumi said, "Ready."
Avon said, "Ready. Engaging tether field and starting telemetry feed."
Rommie said, "Receiving your feed."
-=oOo=-
Andy Davis was surprised when the one known as Rommie simply walked into Kasumi and vanished. They then spoke in an odd dual toned voice, "Nozomi is ready. We will sync our pull to yours. Our estimate for decelerating this safely without crumbling it is four hours."
The dual toned voice was odd. He kept watching, even as it was all being filmed.
Ranma said, "I'm going to start slowly then increase. If anybody sees anything out of place let me know."
Avon said, "Stress on the tether field is now 2%. I want to keep it below eight. We do not want to give that rock enough energy to blow."
"Got it," added Ranma even as he added that readout to his view.
Kasumi and Rommie said, "The asteroid is fairly unstable. I'm having to have to apply asymmetric fields to compensate. They must have used a lot of small thrusters, perhaps from gliders to accelerate this over a long period of time. It is too fragile for any rapid changes."
Avon asked, "I still see no requests for changes from you, and I don't want to second guess you if your handling the details."
"We are fine, but I think this is our max thrust, at least if we want enough margin to control this."
Ranma said, "We are only at six percent. That will put our time to stop its acceleration at close to nine hours. Are you sure?"
"No, it is worse than that. We can't maintain this at this level for so long. We would need at least a four hour break in the middle. Our systems can't take the sustained levels."
Sam's eyes widened. "It is what it is. It is still our best plan, unless you think breaking it apart is better? That is pretty risky as well."
"It isn't. We can more effectively slow it while it is together."
Ranma asked, "How are you and Kasumi holding up?"
"We are well. Thank you for asking."
Ranma nodded.
The reporter watched as hour after hour they slowly reduced the speed on the massive, yet useful rock. When the four hour mark hit they gently disconnected from the asteroid and pulled clear of it.
Andy Davis noted that the one they called Rommie separated from Kasumi. He still didn't know what that was about. Sam and Ranma then appeared on Nozomi's bridge before the screen went dark. It seems they had some secrets. That was fair enough. He thought Kasumi looked surprisingly exhausted for four hours work. Was that the price for being able to dance? He would keep his thoughts to himself.
He was first led to the restrooms and then to the dining room where they eat a light meal.
-=oOo=-
Kasumi laid on the floor, Rommie partly catching her just after Ranma and Sam ported over. Sam checked Kasumi over, then gently left a hand on her neck as she replenished what energy she could.
Ranma sat in the pilot's seat. He said, "I take it your miracle in control is burning ki like water."
Rommie replied. "Unfortunately. We have to understand almost the entire asteroid the entire time. That requires extending a lot of life energy through our sensors plus even more so the influx of information doesn't overwhelm. I can filter a lot of it, but there is still too much for too long."
"Now I'm wishing we would have let Cally stay."
"It wouldn't have helped that much. The amount of energy she can donate pales compared to what you can, and adding yet another type to the mix would not help. I'd prefer to go with only yours, though Kasumi and Sam seem to be fairly compatible."
Ranma asked, "How can I help? I can try to match your signature."
Rommie said, "You would just waste more energy doing it. Just change to a woman, and keep your life energy as neutral as possible and I'll deal with the rest."
Ranma nodded, even as he pulled a bottle of water out of nowhere and spilled just enough of it on himself before, letting the rest hit his, now her clothes rather than get all over the chair. She then sit fully back before letting pure ki stream out of both her hands into the chair.
A short distance away Sam stopped her ki flow. Kasumi looked better, but still tired. She said, "I envy your husbands energy reserves. I thought I had come so far..."
"You have."
"I suppose. I hate to ask, but can you help me sleep while there is time?"
"Just as soon as you eat something. Here lean on me and tell me where we can get some food."
After they got to Kasumi's room she pulled a bowl of stew out of a small refrigerator that she had there and eat it without warming it.
When she was done Sam asked, "Would you like me just to help you sleep, or to do my best to help you rest. The second will exhaust me and be somewhat dangerous, but you should recover fully. We could also beam back to liberator and put you in a bio bed, though given the ki you just used I doubt it will help as much."
"How would that work?" asked a tired young woman.
"There is a trick we learned. I've used it on Ranma a few times. I would supply your brain energy sort of like I think you are doing when your merged, but rather than thinking faster or healing, it would allow your brain to recover faster. It wouldn't establish a bond or anything. It just isn't too efficient, but it does work."
Rommie appeared, though she was transparent. "Most of me is integrating Ranma's energy. Kasumi, you need this. I know what she speaks of, even if they haven't named it in this era. I can spare the focus to monitor lightly and help."
"Then let's do it," said Kasumi. "What do I have to do?"
"Nothing," Sam said. "It would hardly be restful if you had to work." Here let me get in your bed first and you can lay on my lap.
They did so. Kasumi was out like a light, no help required. Sam lightly placed her hands on her head before her hands glowed with a warm light.
Rommie said softly, "You will pay for that you know."
"I know, but warm feelings will cause her no harm and be safer for her. Ranma can help me re-balance later if I need the help."
Rommie lightly touched the middle of Kasumi's forehead before pulling back. She then stepped back more before bowing to Sam. "My thanks for your efforts on behalf of my partner."
"There can be no debts between friends."
"Nevertheless I thank you. Come back and bring your husband when things aren't so busy and I will teach what I know of this thing you are doing."
"We will." Rommie faded away.
-=oOo=-
At the end of four hours Ranma and Sam crawled there way to the bridge of the Nozomi. Kasumi looked to be in perfect condition, and Rommie seemed particularly cheerful.
Sam said, "We have to look like utter crap. Are you sure you can fake it?"
"I have a lot of computational capacity that has nothing better to do, considering we are getting the sensor data more or less directly. Making you look like you are not death warmed over is not a problem."
Kasumi asked, "You will be okay won't you?"
Ranma said, "I overcharged Nozomi's buffers. Hopefully half of it isn't lost."
"Only about ten percent so far, and we are starting soon, so I'm set."
Ranma nodded. "Either way, I just need a day or two rest and food. It will take longer to recover all that energy, but I will be fine."
Sam said, "I'll take a little longer. The trick I used unbalances my energy, but I think I can avoid singing the Barney song until I have time to re-balance a bit."
Ranma smiled.
Kasumi asked, "Is that why I feel so good?"
"Probably," Ranma agreed. "Rommie promised to teach us a better way, but since it wasn't your ki that caused it, you should be good once the excess is burned off." Ranma yawned even as he sat down tiredly at a station.
-=oOo=-
At the end of four hours Andy Davis was back on the bridge of the Liberator. Kasumi appeared on the main display with Ranma and Sam in the background. "We are ready to go there."
The reporter titled his head in curiosity.
Ranma said, "We decided to help out over here for this part. Jenna could you do the flying? Not much to do really unless something bad happens."
"I've got it."
Dana said, "I'm backing up Avon, not that there is much to do here either, since Nozomi is doing the important work."
Villa said, "I'm monitoring the asteroid. Frankly, I still don't get how you are reacting as fast as you are, but I'm glad of it. If the thing wasn't heading for Earth I'd almost suggest we let it fall to pieces. It seems to really want to."
Avon said, "We could pull at 90 degrees to its current trajectory and if our only goal was to miss Earth, well if that was our goal we would just blow it up, but pulling sideways would work too."
The reporter said, "Your trying to get this where you can mine it later, which means reducing its velocity to zero relative to the solar system and then towing it to the asteroid belt."
"Correct."
George said, "If we are ready, let's get started. I hate letting that thing get closer to Earth. I keep thinking about blowing it up, but Earth really needs the energy."
"Agreed," Kasumi said.
Jenna said, "I'll have us in position in five."
"We will be there as well."
Avon said, "I have an updated design with a tachyon relay. Since your doing the heavy lifting with keeping things balanced, I figured I'd offer the option of giving you full and complete control of our drive thrust and tether field."
Kasumi's eyes widened.
"Wouldn't that be more work for them?" Andy Davis asked.
"No, it wouldn't," Rommie replied. "It would be us remotely using Liberator's strength, but our sensors suite. With Avon's remarkable bit of overkill we could control their systems almost as if they were our own. The difference would be microseconds. We will take it. We can probably increase our speed a fair amount."
"That is what I was hoping," Avon said. "I reviewed our sensor logs, and I agree with Villa. Your control was flawless. I tried to improve my model and I couldn't really, not with the levers you had available to you. I could get closer with Liberator's numbers but still couldn't really get all that close. This was the best I can come up with."
Sam said, "Thanks Avon. I think you just saved us a bunch of work."
"I hope so."
Ranma added, "Thanks son."
"So we just let them do all the work?" asked the reporter.
George said, "Sometimes in command you have one person who can do a job. That is sometimes life. Usually you try to fix things so it doesn't happen again. Try is the word. I've many times wanted ten more teams just like SG-1. I got into a lot of hot water for keeping Sam in the field when she could be building technology for us, but she saved lives out there. We do the best we can."
Avon said, "Liberator was not built for this task. Our primary design target was blowing up Goa'uld mother ships, and possibly some support work against the replicators if it was needed."
"I get it. Right tool for the job and all that."
"Basically. Nozomi is a Lantean Aurora class Battleship, but for the Lantean's it was a general purpose ship that also specialized in battle when it had to. Liberator is a battleship first than can do other things when it has to. Different design principles equals different outcomes. There is no such thing in engineering as no trade offs."
George asked, "Are we ready to get this going?"
Rommie said, "Nozomi is ready. I've got control of your ship's propulsion and tether field. Let me know if there are issues."
"Will do," George said.
Andy Davis watched as Rommie again merged with Kasumi. Her now glowing form reminded him of a Valkyrie descending from heaven.
Avon said, "You now have the power output of eight Asgard class Neutrino Ion reactors. Try not to let it all go to your head."
"We will try," they said with amusement. "Do you mind music?"
"Sure, why not, as long as it doesn't affect your focus," agreed George.
Still in that strange dual toned voice they said, "This is from the Macross Frontier soundtrack except Rommie is singing a duet with me. I'll send you the English translation. The song title is, 'What 'bout my star'."
The ship started to hum loudly as the generators mentioned apparently were loaded to near their full potential. The catchy anime song began. The reporter thought that both of them really did have lovely voices. The lyrics on the screen said:
Baby, what do you want to do? I'm driving.
My hands are on the handle bars and I'm standing by.
(Do you) want my heart and want my love?
NO!? Forget that, let's swing and KISS!
I say "NO" to a half-baked style.
A LOVE that makes me soar is for me.
Beautiful! Excuse me!
If you wish for them, lalala, possibilities.
Point, I don't care. Dollars, how much fake?
Point, one in two,
but if there's love, then do it!
What 'bout my star?
Let me know what you want, I would give you!
How fantastic to be with you. My love!
Avon said quietly, "The tether field is at forty eight percent and climbing. Drives are at fifty five percent maximum."
George asked quietly, "Is that safe?"
"They are balancing the forces. I don't understand how they could, not with this many changes, but they are doing it without destabilizing the target or bringing us into the danger zone."
Sam said with a smile, "She has this. Trust her. She can dance."
Avon added, "Tether field is at sixty seven percent, but that is an average. It is railing frequently, but we are within design limits, if barely. Drives are at maximum. Everything is really. ETA to halt this vaguely Texas sized mass is four minutes."
The reporter noted that the music had changed to Our Solemn Hour by Within Temptation. It seemed fitting. Redeem us from our solemn hour indeed.
He half wondered what the next song would be, but he realized they might be done by then. Whatever powered this great ship continued to roar as they negated velocity that was probably gained over a period of months or longer. It was like trying to stop the longest train in the world with his Toyota Camry, except scale everything up about a billion times.
A few minutes later the song ended and Avon announced, "Deceleration phase complete. We are now proceeding on course for the asteroid belt. We are now at about 25% of max power and accelerating."
Andy Davis let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Then he heard a new song start and new lyrics. According to the screen it was a song from the Gundam Seed soundtrack called Meteor. Well that was appropriate. He read the translated lyrics:
They touch, although with icy fingertips
Illuminated by the frozen moon
My flawed heart still embraces the night, even as it burns out
That feeling that glittered off in the distance for a split-second - If it's love, I'll try for that vision
The light is freed and falls through the sky, sacrificing its warmth only for hope
The flame that's born of dying starts burns on in this, my final dream
If the sin that falls and covers everything turns to kindness, and if a thorn could become a smile
Like the unheard scream of a flower before it falls
The pain that searches for the fragility of a prayer stirs the period when the two of us met
The grief and the light are swallowed up by the waves, and in the midst of all this pain, you awaken
This bond that could be created because we were hurt is beginning to paint over the loneliness
Pouring my life into this; with whatever wings you have left - I'm begging you, please wrap me up in them
The light again falls though the sky, sacrificing its warmth only for hope
This mistake caves in and comes to an end, and my final dream continues on
"Two minutes to the asteroid belt. All systems are green."
Less than two minutes later he added, "In deceleration and final trajectory adjustment phase. I'd estimate another minute, maybe two, depending on her plan."
And then the song ended and the engines quieted. The viewer focused on the asteroid which was now in hundreds of pieces.
It switch backed to Kasumi.
Rommie was separate again. They both looked well.
Kasumi asked, "So did you like our picks in music?"
George said, "Damn right we did. I'll have to remember to buy the songs. Now, I assume this is all stable and we can ignore it for now till we need it? For that matter, I assume the Goa'uld cargo ships can deal with it now right?"
Sam said, "Yep, we are all good. We will have to track it of course, because it is Naquadah, but it ending up in pieces just makes our life easier when it comes to loading it up."
"Okay, let's get back to Earth using normal speeds. Everyone that is not needed to operate the ship take a break."
They all got up.
Avon pointed out, "Zen is more than capable of this task."
"State course and speed."
George said, "Take us back to Earth Zen. How about in time for dinner?"
Confirmed. "Liberator will reach stationary orbit at 5:30pm Atlantis Standard Time."
Rommie chimed in, "That works. I don't know about everyone else but I'm going to need a couple days break to go over my own systems."
Sam said, "Ranma and I will beam back to the Liberator tomorrow and I'll start reviewing the diagnostics that Avon will no doubt have already completed."
"Is there a complaint in that?" Avon asked curiously.
"Nope. It makes my work easier."
George laughed. "I think you may have some competition Sam."
"Yes, well, they are all brilliant. Even their father, when he wants to be, even if he is just a tad bit obsessed with the art."
"Yep, you need more training," quipped Ranma.
"I know. We will find the time, somehow."
Kasumi said, "There is one tiny little detail that we might have totally avoided mentioning for a very good reason to you two."
"What is it?" Ranma asked warily.
Sam too was wary.
"Cally may have possibly bonded in a possibly permanent way with Nafrayu."
"Lya's son," remarked Sam. "He is still got to be pretty old."
Kasumi said, "He is eighty, and he is the youngest of the Nox. He looks younger than Cally. They don't bear many children and well you know their lifespan and.."
Ranma asked softly, "Are they happy?"
"Yes."
Sam said, "So not thrilled about the age difference, but given that we could have easily ended up permanently bonding to his mother had we pushed that any further after healing Ayiana, well I can't say we have room to talk."
"Bond?" The reporter asked.
Jenna answered, "Those who reach adept status with life energy can form bonds, either temporary or permanent with others of similar status. There are a lot of advantages such as sharing knowledge, accelerating how fast you can think, working things in parallel, etc, but they also can't easily separate for long periods of time and if one dies, so too does the other. Frequent temporary bonds can become permanent if your not careful, and sometimes if you are."
Rommie added, "They both are now extremely gifted healers, easily outstripping you Ranma. They don't have your sheer life energy reserves of course, or at least Cally doesn't, but they will come with time. They both love to heal."
"And Sam's daughter I presume got better so fast by exploiting this bond."
"Probably, Sam agreed. How else do you think I learned Ranma's martial arts, medical knowledge, Asgard science, raised a family and became a life energy adept while relatively young? We didn't really know what we were doing then, but I wouldn't change it if we did. Power and skill always have a price. The main thing is to make sure no one else has to pay for it. My martial arts skills and medical knowledge came in part from our bond, as did his engineering and science knowledge. He earned his medical knowledge the hard way and then I of learned it mostly from him."
"You worked hard too," Ranma argued.
"As did you, but the fact remains that we learned at a rate that should have been impossible. If anything, it is our kids that are truly impressive. We taught them the old fashioned way, and look how far they have come."
"Well, I'm impressed, but then any day where you watch a planet killing asteroid the size of Texas get safely moved around like a rock on a string, well needless to say it was very impressive."
Sam said, "The size was similar, but the mass was at least double. Naquadah is a very dense material."
"That's it. I'm now less impressed," Andy deadpanned.
"I had those days too in Colorado. It is no wonder I was bald." the general added.
"Sir, you were bald in our first meeting."
"I've known Jack longer than you."
"Ah," Sam nodded in understanding.
They were surprised to get a call from Atlantis. They opened the connection only to see six of the G7 world leaders standing behind Heimdall.
The president of the United States said, "We just wanted to thank you all for your efforts. From what your friend Heimdall has told us you have likely bought us the time needed to prevent the worst aspects of climate change. We know it is not remotely enough, but we wanted to present you and your crew with medals. We are still working on the design, but it will be from all of us. Thank you."
George said, "On behalf of the Earth Defense Force, we will of course accept."
The video feed from the G6 moved to the left of the screen as they got a video connection from Jack and Daniel. "Hello campers."
"Hello Jack Daniel," the general said.
"We just wanted to congratulate you all, and complain that we missed the exciting mission."
"Your work was important too."
"We know, but either way good job guys. Also, Rommie, Kasumi nice dancing."
Daniel said, "Call us if you need us."
George said, "We are going to eat dinner at 5:30 on the Nozomi. You are welcome to join us."
Jack glanced at Daniel before saying, "Sure, we will be there."
The screen faded to black.
-=oOo=-
Author's Note: How about some feedback, preferably on Archive of Our Own?