Chapter Two: Rebirth
Tenchi pulled Ryoko closer to him as Baltus' words rang through his ears. "W-w-w-w-what do you mean, 'reborn'?" Tenchi finally stammered out as Baltus gave him an icy stare.
"Mortals…" Baltus said under his breath, shaking his head. "You have such a limited view of the world around you."
"Then what do you want?" Tenchi asked, somewhat annoyed at Baltus' condescending tone.
Baltus ran a hand through his platinum hair. "And they wondered why I always let Raphael deal with mortals," the emissary said with a great sigh.
"Please?" he said shaking his head again, "enlighten them old friend." Marnot chewed his bottom lip for a second before he began to pace the hall.
"I've lost my touch at this," Marnot said as Tenchi, Ryoko, Katsuhito and Sasami took a seat on the sofa and divan. "Basically you're being recalled," he elaborated.
Tenchi thought about each word before he replied. "I thought my duties to the Elder ended when Aescheron was destroyed?"
"In one sense they did," Marnot continued, "but truly your service to the Elder only ends in death." Ryoko paled at those words. "Not to say that this would be a suicide mission," Marnot added, trying to smooth things over.
"You're not helping matters," Baltus chuckled with a wry grin.
"Then by all means," Marnot quipped, "you do better."
"Enough of this!" Tenchi said curtly. "Baltus, why are you here?"
"I already stated that," said Baltus, the annoyance at this mortal clearly evident in his voice. "It is time for the champion…" he said slowly, over pronouncing each syllable, "which means you…" he continued, pointing to Tenchi, "to be reborn." Baltus groaned at the blank looks that were sent his way. "Did the Elder also lock away your intellect when they locked away your powers?" he added snidely.
"I may not be a space pirate any more," Ryoko said, "but I probably could still kick your ass if I had to. Besides, I still owe you for the last time you came into my home."
"It wasn't 'your' home at that point," Baltus replied.
"Yeah," Ryoko growled, "but you showed up anyway and threw me through a window then locked my soul in limbo!"
"Calm down," Tenchi tried to sooth as Ryoko balled her fists.
"And if you thought I was pissed before," Ryoko growled, "don't you even think about laying a hand on my daughters to black mail us into this!"
"I would never stoop to such levels," Baltus said, holding a hand up to his chest. "But since you brought the tykes up?"
Tenchi physically held Ryoko on the sofa as Baltus chuckled. "You'll have more than her to deal with…" he warned, stopping mid-sentence as he felt a slight, warm prickle on his forehead.
"I take it the wee ones are a bit of a handle full?" Baltus said nonchalantly. He had noticed the look of surprise on Tenchi's face. "They must be, being able to fly and such…what a burden on the two of you…" he said slyly.
"Kiyone and Hitome have never been burdens!" Ryoko started, tears welling in her eyes.
"How did you know that they have powers?" Tenchi deadpanned.
"Usually such things are passed from parent to child," Baltus said, eyeing a speck of dirt underneath his fingernails.
"But the Elder took our powers," Tenchi said in a low voice, "…didn't they?"
"Yes and no," Baltus said, grinning evilly. "They did not take them in the sense of thievery."
Before Baltus could say anymore, a loud thumping sound emanated from the foyer broom closet. The emissary was about to continue, when an even louder thump shook the house. "Damnation…" he cursed under his breath as a third thump reverberated, shaking a few ribbons of dust loose from the ceiling joists. Sasami shot Baltus a wry grin as the sounds of creaking and ripping lumber tore across the living room.
"Don't you help her either," he warned stiffly, to which Sasami continued to grin at him. Baltus narrowed his eyes at the young goddess and opened his mouth, only to quickly shut it.
Sasami started to reply, but the loudest thud yet gave its report across the house. All eyes focused on the cloud of fog and dust that was billowing where the hall broom closet used to be. As the rolls of vapor dissipated, the silhouette of a hulking, seething form began to take shape.
Finally enough of the pall had cleared away to reveal a spiked shock of red hair, and the rather smudged remnants of a pair of khaki-green cargo-shorts and a navy top.
"Bal-l-l-l-l-l-tus!" Washu roared, jets of steam seemingly shooting out of her nostrils.
"You're in it now," Marnot laughed as Washu strode across the room in several long, purposeful strides.
"Why I aughtta…" Washu hissed, snatching Baltus up by the collar of his tunic.
"Mom?" Ryoko asked, timidly, not sure how to react to a Washu that resembled more the demon-space pirate of her past than the loving grandmother of her daughters.
Washu took a deep breath and let Baltus go, where he settled back onto the rattan chair he dominated like a throne. "I have every right to kill you, ya know?" she seethed in a tone low enough that only it's intended target could hear it.
"Maybe so," Baltus replied. "But that would defeat the purpose of my being here."
Washu collected herself and primly took a seat next to Sasami. "And what purpose is that other than being a general pain in our collected asses?"
"Now, now lady Washu," Baltus said smoothly, "you know why I am here."
"And my answer is no," she replied. "As to the others, that's up to them."
"What's up to us?" Tenchi asked. Now he really was confused. Seven years had passed without so much as a peep from the Elder, and now this?
"An offer of employment," Baltus said casually. "The Elder need certain, how shall we say, desirables to be protected during the impending unpleasantness."
Ryoko chewed her bottom lip as Baltus finished. She did not like the slowness of how he said 'impending unpleasantness.' It reminded her too much of how Kagato would try to be sly and play down the real danger of her missions. Tenchi saw the disquieted look on his wife's face and gently squeezed her hand.
"My only concern is my family," he said solidly, showing no hint of fear in his voice.
"And they will be endangered," Baltus said. "That much is certain."
Ryoko felt like someone had just jabbed ice picks into her temples at those words. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end and blood ran cold. These days it took a lot to bring her to anger, and the mere thought of her children being harmed, was one of the things that could. "Not in my life time," she swore.
"I am just warning you," Baltus said. "However, I never mentioned the young ones specifically now, did I?"
Ryoko was growing ever more incensed by Baltus' play on words, but to everyone's surprise it was Sasami who spoke first.
"It's my family, isn't it?" she said meekly. Tenchi, Ryoko, and Marnot turned to face Sasami, who was worrying the hem of her blouse. "I know my family is in danger now."
"I see Tsunami has kept you informed," Baltus said.
Sasami nodded. "She has shown me what will happen," she began. "And she has shown me that is not a certainty."
"Indeed it is not," Baltus injected.
"But I can't ask Tenchi and Ryoko to------" Sasami began for Tenchi spoke out.
"What do the Elder need us to do?" he said firmly.
"Simply to stay alive," Baltus began with a chuckle, "and to keep the wee ones alive as well."
"No one will harm my daughters," Ryoko growled. No one except Baltus seemed to notice that her grasp on the couch's arm rest had crushed the rattan.
"I see that you still have some fire left in you after all," the emissary laughed before shimmered from sight in a wash of static electricity. "You will need it," his disembodied voice added hauntingly.
___
K'snis walked a pace ahead of his chosen bodyguard as they descended into the bowls of the palace complex. The further underground they went the more drastic the changes in the halls and stairs became. The floors directly below the grounds were nearly as opulent as their above ground contemporaries. The serf's quarters, the scullery, and armory lay directly beneath the palace proper, with the dungeons and less savory areas further down.
As the party descended, the stone work of the palace became more and more dank, until the entourage reached a set of gunmetal gray doors. K'snis keyed in a series of five pictograms and the doors slid back with a loud grinding sound.
Not a word was spoken as the lift descended a full kilometer under the planet's surface. K'snis flexed the servos in his cyber-hand a few times as the pressure changed in the lift car. A few seconds later, they reached the sprawling research complex under the palace.
Everyone snapped to attention when K'snis strode forward from the lift car, before he ordered them back to work with a flick of the hand. The suspended glow orbs cast a pale yellow light down the corridor, and the air recyclers hummed dully, adding the only sounds besides the small group's footfalls. Finally, they reached a set of guarded doors. The armored soldiers lowered their pulse rifles and stepped aside, physically opening the doors for their emperor.
"Commander K'snis," a deep voice spoke from inside the sanctum. The emperor turned as a tall, broad-shouldered man in a black lab coat stepped out from behind a bank of iridescent chambers.
"Doctor Vas'nigoc," K'snis spoke coolly. "Is the next batch ready?"
"They shall be shortly," Vas'nigoc replied. "Each successive batch takes the attributes of the previous, plus what ever new genetic material the prior batch has assimilated."
"The perfect warriors," K'snis sneered.
"If only you had not," Vas'nigoc began before a malice filled glared from K'snis stopped him short.
"You are to never question my decision on that matter again!" K'snis barked. At least three of his bodyguard reached for their weapons, ready to carry out an execution if need be.
"I was only stating that with such a prime sample," Vas'nigoc retorted, "we could have made such incredible progress!"
"Enough of this," K'snis growled. "If you were any other man, I would kill you where you stand."
The two Tyrans locked glares, before a trilling beep drew their attention. "They're ready," Vas'nigoc hissed.
A vile grin crept across K'snis' face. "I am to be the first sight they see," he said calmly, moving towards the balcony that overlooked the breeding chambers. Grayish-blue mist rolled from within the tubes as they slid open, revealing the glistening forms of the creatures. They were tall and sinewy, each toe and finger capped by a curved black talon. Their skin resembled interlocking scales and was mottled in hues of brown and black. A series of quills erupted from the back of the creature's scalps before jutting backwards. Their powerful jaws culminated in a short beak-like protuberance.
"My Kreetoq," he said, almost fondly, as the new brood began to writhe around and lap the amniotic fluid from one another. A series of low clicks and chirps rose from the chamber as Vas'nigoc stepped up next to K'snis.
"They need to be fed," he said nonchalantly.
K'snis nodded, and momentarily a pair of guards brought a young man from within the bowls of the complex. He was no older than twenty in appearance, and his nude skin bore the marks of repetitive beatings at the hands of his captors.
"Look closely Jurai," K'snis said, kneeling down, to whisper in the prisoners' ear. "Just as I was the first thing they saw, they first thing they shall eat will be you," he spoke calmly. The prisoner could only give a muffled response from behind his gag, but the way he was quivering more than adequately showed his fear. "Do you know why?" K'snis asked. "Seeing my face when born insures utter loyalty, and tasting your flesh insures they crave the meat of you Jurai more than anything else."
The young Juraian began to whimper as the Kreetoq turned their attention to him and began to howl in delight. "Send Tsunami my regards," K'snis hissed, before pushing the young man into the chamber.
"That is always grisly," Vas'nigoc said with a look of disgust on his face as the Kreetoq shredded through flesh and bone.
"Yes," K'snis smiled. "It is."
"That was our last noble," Vas'nigoc sighed. "He was from House Masaki, I do believe."
"That's not a problem," K'snis laughed. "Soon, my Kreetoq can gorge themselves with nobles, from all of the Juraian houses." Vas'nigoc sneered as K'snis turned to face him and his bodyguard. "Operations begin in five days."
Chimercia blinked a time or two as her face came into focus in her armoire mirror. She had momentarily zoned out as she was checking her crisply pressed uniform. She had just had the most vivid daydream, but all she could remember now was a pastel wash of white and pink. 'Just my nerves,' she concluded as she fastened a braided epaulette onto her shoulder.
"Is there a problem?' Lorii asked, setting a data slate down on Chimercia's desk.
"No," she said, running a hand through her fire red hair. "I just have a slight headache."
"Just checking," Lorii said aloofly as she turned to leave.
Chimercia shot Lorii's backside a stern look as the sergeant-colonel left her chambers. Warily, she walked over to the desk and picked up the data slate. Thumbing the activation glyph, she scrolled down the message.
Its contents worried her, although the planned conquest of Jurai had been her foremost concern for the past five years. Something just felt wrong about the timetable that Lorii had just brought her.
"Or maybe it's just her?" Chimercia thought snidely. "I do not like the way she looks at K'snis or me for that matter?"
Chimercia continued to mull over Lorii and the data slate. The more she did, the more morose she became. Slowly, the small shadow cast by the overhear lights began to draw back around her feet into a dark pool. From the pool a slender ghost began to rise up behind her, running its spectral hands over Chimercia's uniform, stopping to cup her breasts. She inhaled sharply as a torrent of cold air passed over her. A small mouth formed on the specters head and leaned in to kiss the side of Chimercia's neck, just as Lorii passed by the open chambers again.
"What was that?" she exclaimed as the apparition vanished before her eyes.
"What on earth are you talking about?" quipped Chimercia, obviously annoyed by the uninvited intrusion to her chambers.
"There was something in here," Lorii said, her pulse pistol drawn.
"Nonsense," Chimercia said haughtily. "No one has come in since you left this for me!" she yelled, wagging the data slate at Lorii. "And for T'K'Mai's sake put that thing away!" she ordered.
"My apologies," Lorii atoned, holstering her weapon. "It will not happen again."
"See to it that it does not," Chimercia said, leaving Lorii in her chambers. The sergeant-colonel shivered as Chimercia stomped past her. An ache in her stomach felt like all the warmth had been drawn from the core of her being.
"I've got to report this," she thought, pulling the chamber doors closed behind her.
__
Tenchi cursed under his breath as he tried to make sense of everything that Baltus had told them a short while ago. As soon as he left, Ryoko had gone into a panic, not resting until Nobuyugi answered his cell phone and let her speak to both Hitome and Kiyone. Assured of their safety, Ryoko had fallen into a state of stupor while Sasami had accompanied Washu into her lab. After that, Tenchi needed a few minutes to clear his head.
The afternoon was pleasant enough to be in, but his mind was rife with questions. Finally, after the ordeal with Aescheron, he had found the peace he had wanted out of life. The only missing piece to the picture was Ayeka, a fact he still blamed on himself from time to time. Tenchi was content to live his days on this blue and green orb and watch his family grow around him and Ryoko.
"Why now?" he asked, picking up a small pebble and tossing into the forest with all his might.
"It is part of the grand design," Baltus answered, shimmering into view beside Tenchi.
"Can't a guy take a walk in peace?" Tenchi quipped as Baltus matched his stride.
"If there was only such a thing as peace," Ignatius lamented. "I may be better able to answer your queries now that we are in a more serene setting. You're family can be quiet boisterous and disconcerting. " he added.
"Start talking," said flatly.
"When the Elder devolved their power to you to defeat Aescheron," Baltus began, "they set an unforeseen chain of events into motion. Aescheron in his evil brilliance had many plans and machinations in place in the unlikely event that his main putsch failed. That is the reasoning behind my absence and the Elder's silence over the past seven years."
"So one of these backup plans is in motion?" Tenchi asked.
"No. We were successful in fighting those fires, to borrow an earth expression. However, it seems that Aescheron was a pawn to a greater power."
Tenchi did not like the sound of that. The old cliché of from bad to worse always had an unearthly knack of coming all too true when concerning him. "I thought there Elder were the highest power in the universe?"
"In the physical universe, yes," Baltus said, gesturing with his index finger, "but there are other plains of existence beyond the physical."
"You're starting to sound like grandpa," Tenchi chuckled, thinking of the many hours of meditation he had spent on the meaning of existence.
"This is even beyond his understanding," Baltus chuckled, "but he would come close. The gist of the matter at hand is someone or something is manipulating this universe to their own ends right now. And in doing so, they are attempting to pit the three megami against one anther again."
"If I remember," Tenchi said, "that is what led to Aescheron's fall, correct?"
Baltus nodded. "In a sense. Tell me young champion, what do you remember from temple of wind on K'am'ui?"
Tenchi thought back to the events of the odyssey for a moment before his cheeks turned rosy red. There were a few events that happened on K'am'ui that were rather embarrassing in retrospect, mainly his 'interlude' with Ayeka and Daphne's rather revealing attire.
"Think hard," Baltus prompted, drawing Tenchi's mind away from its current line of thought.
Flashes of veiled memory shot across Tenchi's mind. The clang of blades rang in his ears and a pulse of pain shot through his left shoulder. "I fought someone in the temple," Tenchi began remembering glimpses of the battle in better detail. He could clearly see a muscled man in a gunship gray uniform towering over him, hatred pouring from his steel-blue eyes. "Kishnish, was his name, I think?"
"Kiss-niss, actually," Baltus corrected, taking the time to phonetically break down the brawny Tyran's name.
"That's right," Tenchi said. "He nearly did me in," he added unpleasantly.
"That he did," Baltus agreed, recalling the state of Tenchi's injuries following that test. "He seems to be the focal point of the current manipulations, and he is using his people's deep-ceded xenophobia and distrust of the Juraian's as a catalyst to bring the galaxy to the cusp of war."
"So that is why Sasami was upset," Tenchi deduced.
"Yes, as heir apparent to the throne of light," Baltus said, "and avatar of Tsunami, she is keenly aware of what is transpiring."
"But she also said nothing was certain," Tenchi interjected.
"We are at a crossroads," Baltus summed. "One path leads to light, the other to darkness. It is yet to be decided which one we shall all tread, or if we have already begun to tread one over the other."
"What is my role in this?" Tenchi asked again.
Baltus shook his head and slowly let out a sigh. "I honestly do not know the answer to that. All the Elder can foresee is that you and your family need to live. Before the light comes again to the universe, you and your obligation as champion will be needed. I know you can feel it returning. The witch noticed, as did the young goddess. I would even venture that your wife felt it as well."
Before Tenchi could say anything, Baltus left as quickly as he had come. "That was insightful," Tenchi muttered. Tenchi waited around for a moment at the spot where Baltus had left him; half hoping that he would return. Giving up on the notion, Tenchi returned to his walk, thinking on what Baltus had just revealed.
Washu leaned back in her chair as the screen to her monitor blinked off. Sasami sat next to her, and the look on her face was far different from Washu's. Where Washu was perplexed, Sasami bore a look crossing abject terror and heart rending sadness. Neither spoke for a while as they digested what they had just learned.
"What do you think this means?" Sasami finally ventured, desperately needing to hear a voice in the eerie silence of the lab.
"I honestly do not know," Washu said for one of the few times in her life. "I was hoping that was going to be better news, but Kiyone has created more questions than I planned on. I just don't know."
"What can we do?" Sasami asked in a small voice that reminded Washu more the Sasami she had met so long ago rather than the young adult that sat next to her.
"We continue on our present course," Washu answered confidently, "and we will have to hope for the best."
Sasami nodded as a green light began to blink on the computer console in front of them. "What's that?"
Instinctively Washu ran her fingers across the keypad, bringing a viewing portal online. "Looks like we have a visitor," she said hopping up from her chair. Sasami nodded quickly followed Washu out of the lab.
Tenchi shaded his eyes with his hand as the prow of a Juraian tree ship emerged from behind the mountains and nestled into the lack aside the house. Waves lapped the shore as the ship displaced the pond. He knew the design well, and he knew who was traveling in it. 'Funaho,' he thought, picking his pace up a little. He could see Sasami, Washu, and Ryoko coming from the house along with Marnot and his grandfather.
"What's going on," he huffed, meeting up with the others by the lake shore.
"Seems like an unannounced visit," Washu said, eyeing Katsuhito, who shook his head in response.
"I did not know of this," he added in defense.
Ryoko snaked her arm around Tenchi's as the hum of the interstellar engines quieted and the water stilled. For some strange reason she felt very uneasy about this visit. It was a feeling she had not had in ages. It knotted the pit of her stomach and made her palms sweat. She did not like this; something was not right, but she could not tell what it was exactly.
Tenchi squeezed her hand in a comforting gesture, which went a long ways to comforting Ryoko. The truth is told however, Tenchi was just as uncomfortable about this visit. He was sweating profusely and he felt like his core temperature had been raised by several degrees.
The air was filled with static electricity as the hum of a Juraian transporter pierced the collected silence. A ring of light dotted the ground and quickly expanded as a solid shape formed from the warm yellow radiance.
"It's been a while," a dulcet voice said, as the transporter process ended. Masaki Funaho appeared in front of the assembled crowd of her family and friends, dressed in a simple cream and black robe that did not denote the stature of its wearer.
"Auntie Funaho!" Sasami said warmly, just as the air was split by the crack of a hypervelocity projectile leaving the muzzle of a rifle reverberated through the hills. Everyone watched in horror as the round struck Funaho squarely in the chest, creating a mist of blood and vital fluids as the empress crumpled to the ground.
***
