Redefined Honor

Book 1 Ch 11: The end of Jurai?

"I was always telling you Ranma was a monster, this just proves me right!!" Ryoga's self-justified growl carried through the thin walls of the Tendo's dojo. No doubt his bloody take down of the armed mob was being discussed inside. He would have to thank Ryoko later for taking care of the wondered later. Though he didn't even want to know what she did with them, returning to a group of maimed and bloody men would not have improved his current mood much. Especially when he had been responsible.

"Yet he was the one who was here to defend us and the dojo, where were you Ryoga? Learning a new technique to defeat Ranma with," Ranma silently laughed at the mental image of Nabiki arching an eyebrow at the lost boy, after her mocking rejoinder.

"Yes, and it was even less effective than they usually are Ryoga." The scratchy reply could only have come from Cologne. "Are you losing your touch? Surely you knew that Ranma would not have stopped training just to let you beat him with a new technique."

"It just shows that he has started cheating in Ryoga's fights as well as mine," Akane muttered darkly, defending the lost boy. Ranma shook his head in amazement, did Akane still think he cheated in all the fights he won – Amazing.

"With how strong Ranma has grown," some grudging respect was evident in the lost boys tone "it might take all of us united to kill him."

'So,' Ranma thought, even with all that's happened Ryoga will not let the rivalry between us die. Ranma unconsciously bounced Nanashi in the crux of his arm as the argument got a little more heated. He was sure only Ryoko and Cologne were aware of his presence, he could feel a connection with Ryoko's strange pet rabbit even now and though he had subtly masked his presence Cologne could no doubt still detect the baby's.

"It is clear now that Ranma has been biding his time, waiting for the opportunity or time when he could let his true nature out. None can deny the viciousness of that attack or his seeming lack of remorse, a psychotic martial artist of Ranma's skill must be put down for everyone's safety. That much power in a madman and a killer is unthinkable."

Ranma felt nauseous, the sincerity of Ryoga's tone almost convinced him that he was a threat both to the world and to his friends and family. Here was someone that before civilization as he knew it was turned on its head was closest to his skill level, someone that should relate most to him. It was unclear to him if Ryoga was just acting or if he genuinely believed what he was saying but he hoped that no one bought his act.

Still it was dangerous, from what he had seen the mob he had taken down was only one of many roaming the streets. The occupants of the dojo were so busy arguing about him and whether it was safe letting him live that they were leaving a lot up to chance.

They weren't to know that Ryoko could deal with even surprise attacks, martial arts and thin dojo walls were usually poor protection against modern weaponry. It made him angry that Ryoga was manipulating the Tendo's at the expense of their safety for the sake of his revenge. Nanashi's warm body in his arms acted to cool his ire just as his rocking calmed her.

"Ranma no blood thirsty monster, he sacrifice much to protect dojo. He sacrifice innocence," Ranma smiled sadly at Shampoo's broken english. Her rebuke was meant to refute Ryoga but the Amazons didn't exactly hold the highest regard in Nerima. He had to appreciate such a heart felt defense though, it meant a lot to him knowing that she would defend him even if he weren't there. Many of his so called friends would agree or at best not participate – there were few who would defend his honor.

"I agree with Shampoo, while Ranma's actions do seem a little bit brutal and out of character, considering the circumstances it isn't totally unexpected. How would you have dealt with a mob armed with guns? I doubt even I could have dealt with them with less bloodshed." To everybody else it was an endorsement of his sanity but to him it was an acknowledgement of his skill. Cologne knew that he was eavesdropping and was letting him know discretely that there was little else he could do under the circumstances.

"Why would you want to old ghoul," Ryoko cut in lazily. "Its not like they didn't intend to kill us." Ranma grinned, Ryoko's attitude towards battle and bloodshed was well known. Her years as a pirate had effected her more than she guessed; still it was nice to have her support as well as the Amazons.

"We don't need them anyway Ryoga, with my help we can deal with Ranma no problem." Akane's aura dominated all of those in the room despite being one of the weakest. Her feeling of smug satisfaction oozed from the dojo as he asked himself how it had come to this. Sure they never got along real well but they were fiancés – shouldn't she have been the first to defend him?

"Enough Akane, Cologne and Shampoo are right. Ranma has always tried to do his best for our family. It shames me that not even a day has past since our father was murdered and already we are arguing and bickering. Father would be turning in his grave at such talk, how can we blame Ranma for what he did when it was done to save our lives." Ranma jerked in surprise momentarily upsetting the child in his arms. Old man Tendo was dead? He had arrived too late to protect the Tendo's. Ranma shook his head sadly as he tried to placate the increasingly fretful child in his arms. All that was in the past though, he had Nanashi his friends and family to protect. Dwelling on the past would not help further any off his plans.

"From what Elder Cologne has told us and the failure of the worlds military to halt the alien invasion we can't afford to alienate Ranma, besides are you forgetting Fathers death wish so soon Akane?" Suon dead, Kasumi taking charge, civilization really had been turned on its head. Sure Kasumi always tied to keep things peaceful but she had never become actively involved in any of the chaos that surrounded them before. Then again apart from that ogre incident the chaos that surrounded him never really impacted her life as much as these latest events were.

"Moving the engagement might be a good idea at this point, I can't see how fathers death wish could possibly achieved otherwise." Nabiki remarked from within the dojo as Akane's aura changed from smug satisfaction to one of anger at the mention of the engagement.

"Fine, I never wanted a fiancé in the first place!!" Akane roared completely unsettling the baby.

"Waaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!"

-Shlink- Ranma stared at Kasumi a little bit guiltily as she opened the dojo door before he once again trying to settle the child in his arms. Kasumi was the last one he would have liked to have caught him eavesdropping to their conversation. Eavesdropping was not a very polite thing to do. Glancing through the open door he noticed his mother looking a little bit guilty about not having defending him more during the previous argument. Nabiki and the amazons looked as calm as ever and Ryoko just grinned at him being caught.

"Let me Ranma," Kusumi smiled gently taking Nanashi from his arms. "What is her name?"

"Nanashi," Ranma replied seriously as he followed her into the dojo once again closing the door behind him.

Ayeka stood proudly on the deck of the flagship that led exactly half of the Jurian defense armada. Though she couldn't see them with her eyes, the ships sensors told her that similar ships all crewed by her people surrounded her. The bravery of her people matched their ingenuity and drive in creating this vast fleet for her to lead and she was proud that she had been chosen for this task.

Unlike previous missions this was no simulation. If they lost here they would die and there was little to no chance of rescue or reinforcements. "We are approaching the edge of our territory princess," although Ayeka tried to encourage an informal bond between herself and her offices so as to better gain their loyalty it was only proper that they address her by her rank during missions. Discipline was even more important now than ever.

"Thank you coms, please relay to the fleet to be prepared to scatter at the first signs of neutrino activity and engage according to combat parameters." Today she would win back some of what had been taken, she would prove the council wrong in applying what she had learnt and she would be the first to gain a victory over the invaders which some claimed where unstoppable. Ayeka would do all this beside the people she had trained with preparing for this moment.

"Crossing the spatial coordinates now, communications have been blocked from Jurai." Ayeka could here tension in her offices voice and sympathized but this was something they needed to be able to do without the support of Jurai. Besides the council and her people needed a victory and she would give them one.

"Raise battle alertness to level 2," Ayeka deliberately spoke with a calm and confident tone to settle the crew, a hysterical commander would lose the battle faster than a tactical disadvantage.

"Battle alertness has been raised, we are approaching the system now." Being the closest outer colony to their territory Cyon had the potential to be a valuable staging point for their offensive campaign. "Scanners report a partially constructed weapons platform orbiting the system – moving the fleet to engage."

So that was how they were blocking all communication top their colonies. If they managed to equip all of the taken systems with weapons platforms Jurai might never regain the territory they had already lost. "Destroying that platform is a priority, keep scanning for the enemy. It is beyond belief that we haven't been noticed yet."

Ayeka gripped the arms of her chair as she waited for the fleet to enter weapons range of the uncompleted platform. "The fleet reports nor…a jump in neutrino flux princess!"

"Fleet, level one battle alert. Scatter, squad one destroy that platform." She imagined the fleet scattering in seemingly random directions in an attempt to escape the encirclement she knew would be coming. Squad one seemed to be attempting its own encirclement of the platform.

"Reports of contact princess, we lost some of one and three." Ayeka nodded grimly the loss of a few of the smaller less agile ships wasn't really a surprise and as long as squad one managed to destroy that platform then the battle was as good as won. She imagined the great crescent shaped ships of the enemy spewing beams of energy at her nimbly dodging ships.

"Squads two and three try to split the fleet, four engage at will." Out of the four squads, which had been newly built for this role, one and two were the newer ships with the most firepower. Squads three and four contained a larger number of ships but of an older make, less fire power and less responsive.

"Its working princess we're hurting them with few losses," Ayeka smiled for the sake of her coms officer but knew that the fight still had a long way to go and any losses at this stage were too many. Still it was strange, they held an overwhelming numerical advantage. Something she had not expected when only attacking with half the fleet. Was this world so unimportant then?

Ayeka stared at the display on her consol, her wedge seemed to be working and they were indeed doing some damage not as much as she would have hoped but… The sound of whooping distracted her as she witnessed the destruction of the first real invader ship in the war by the Jurian defense.

"Squad one reports heavy casualties princess," announced here communications officer momentarily distracting her from the progress of squads two through four.

"What off the weapons platform? Has it been destroyed?" Ayeka knew it was harsh not enquiring about the losses but without the destruction of that platform then their victory was by no means guaranteed.

"…Jurai….Princess Ayeka…Must re…Attacked…"

Ayeka blinked in panic at the scratchy signal barely making its way through to their position. "Comms, where is that coming from?" she demanded.

"It appears to be coming from Jurai princess, Squad one has just reported destroying the platform and is awaiting further in……..in dire…..asis…"

Ayeka stared at the radar in dismay. It was clear that they were winning, her armada was performing greater than she had ever dreamed but did she dare take the time to route the enemy. It was clear from the message barely comprehensible through the static that she did not. "Order squad one to fall in with squad two, were retreating to the nearest system."

The fleet started to fall back in an orderly manner belying their extensive training. "And shut that thing off," even broken reports from Jurai would only serve to dampen morale. She was sure that her father could defend her home world with the remainder of the fleet but it was not a gamble she was willing to take.

"Without the weapons platform we can always return to take the system later, now lets move it!!" Ayeka roared quickly motivating her troops despite their temporary setback.

Asuza you must consider this battle lost, Asuza," Eishi stood at the emperor's side considering the battle before them. The first anyone realized that Jurai was under attack were frantic reports of the garrison being annihilated. Alarms had quickly been raised and requests for reinforcements were sent out.

Eishi considered Asuza in silence. Attacking Jurai had at first seemed a tactical mistake, the first made by the aliens since the beginning of hostilities. Ships had quickly poured into the system from all over what remained of the empire, and were just as quickly obliterated by the largest alien fleet yet seen.

By the time Asuza had rallied a force behind Kirito his first generation ship it was already too late. They were fighting a losing battle; the aliens had seized the initiative and kept it. By quickly destroying the majority of ships in system any unorganized approach was quickly and efficiently destroyed. The only thing that could possibly win them this battle was a fleet already staged elsewhere. By the time any fleet was staged with in the empire however Jurai would already be lost and Ayeka's portion of the fleet was out of contact and behind enemy lines. They had already tried reaching her.

"How is it possible that all the might of Jurai, all its scientific and engineering skill and industrial strength could be defeated so easily?" Asuza crushed another of the alien flagships only to see three of his brethren - second generation all- light up in flames from concentrated fire. "We have stood for centuries, millennia, it cannot, it will not end today." Despite the tide of battle increasingly going against them Asuza fought with a passion and drive which could not be matched.

"Sire, the battle is lost, Ayeka is not coming and all the remaining strength of the empire has been focused here. Do not waste what little you may be able to save, flee while you can. There will be other battle." Eishi urged his emperor to do something that was always enamtha to him, worse – if her were to flee now then the people of Jurai may see him as lacking in strength further undermining his authority.

"Eishi, what is that?" Asuza pointed to a battalion that was breaking ranks and angling out of the firefight. "Ushio Kamiki, what are you doing!?!" Asuza snapped before waiting for an answer, "what are you doing over there!?! Chasing space dust!!"

"We are leaving you to the mess you have created," came the impatient reply of the councilman. "All three of us have decided that you have lead our empire astray, Tsunami has abandoned us and 2/3 of our empire lie in enemy hands. If you do not perish here today we will return along with the remnants of the empire we have salvaged and you will wish you had."

"You dare betray me like this!! I am your emperor and the representative of Tsunami herself." Asuza raged wishing he could lay his ands on the cowardly and power hungry council. They had effectively signed their death warrants for their treason. "I will not forget this betrayal and when this situation is resolved I will bring the might of the empire in seeking redress." Asuza's tone had gone from a hot burning rage to a cool deadly simmer. "You have made your last mistake," he added as the communications channel switched off and the battalion, a large portion of the remaining fleet disappeared.

"So, my fiancé wants to kill me," Ranma calmly stated as he took a seat next to the Amazons and opposite the Tendo's. Ryoko lounged in the corner while his mother watched from the far side of the dojo, clearly distancing herself from the discussion.

"Even with Ryoga's help, do you really think you will be successful?" Ranma smiled taking careful note where Kasumi and Nanashi were seated. If Akane lost her temper he would not countenance any casualties. Anyone else in the dojo would either be able to protect himself or herself or get out of the way quickly enough not to get hurt. "If you are successful in killing me what then? Its not likely that you will have to worry about the police in the current climate."

His grin widened as he felt Akane's aura change from its initial nervousness to one of stubborn retribution. "I don't think Akane or Ryoga are going to do anything too drastic Ranma," Nabiki said turning the same sarcastic mocking tone she had previously used on Ryoga on him. Ranma noticed a slight tick in Nabiki's left eyebrow; she was obviously wondering how much he had overheard.

None of the other people in the dojo seemed inclined to interrupt him. His mother studied him and the others from her corner while Ryoko just continued to look board. Glancing at Kasumi's contented smile and Nanashi's sleeping form Ranma firmed his own plans, "Cologne, how many extra people can your village support?"

"We could accommodate the people in this room without too many problems," Colognes tone was puzzled. That didn't surprise Ranma all that much, how long had he been resisting Amazon hospitality. "What are you planning Ranma, even if we were all to leave now it would take months and then we would have to arrange transport to cross the sea of Japan. There are people in this room who couldn't possibly swim all the way," Ranma smirked at the way everybody's eyes avoided Akane.

"What? I'm a martial artist too. You watch me," Akane's outburst just heightened the tension in the room.

"Elder, I plan to move as many survivors as I can find. We all have friends in the area and they will have family they will not leave behind." Ranma caught Ryoko's eyes, "transport will not be a problem, in fact we can be there almost as soon as we've packed."

Cologne just nodded, he had no doubt that the sudden influx of so many refugees would be a great strain on her village but he could already see the calculating glimmer in her eyes. The power of the Amazons would be greatly enhanced if she played her cards right. That wasn't any of his concern, as long as the refugees got somewhere safe to stay and Cologne honored her promise not to force any of there laws down his throat things couldn't be better.

"Wait, who said we would go with you jerk?" The hostility being emitted from both Ryoga and Akane could be felt be everyone in the room. Still Akane lacked the killing intent of Ryoga he doubted she even knew the depth of his feeling. If she did would she still be inclined to follow Ryoga's lead he wondered.

"Akane, Ranma is right. From what Elder Cologne has said, the Amazon village is probably the safest place for us right now. But Ranma what would we do once we get there. This is our home, I…" Kusumi's uncertainty was obvious, her previous commanding presence seemed to have vanished as the reality of having to leave set in. Even with everything that happened she thought that her family would be able to stay in the dojo. Live their live much as they had.

Ranma smiled gently at the eldest Tendo, he knew only the child in her arms and the crowd of powerful martial artists stopped her from breaking down completely. It couldn't have been easy for her, with her father dead she was ultimately responsible for what was left of her family. "I plan to fight these aliens. It is clear that they have some vendetta against me and I would fight better knowing that you are safe."

"I knew that this was all your fault somehow Ranma - prepare to die," Ryoga snarled, his face twisting in hatred. Far from calming down, Ryoga had only been getting angrier and angrier as Ranma took control of the situation and stole the focus of the conversation. Here was someone that had viscously and callously destroyed the lives of the mob which had hours ago been gathering outside the dojo. The vision of Ranma drenched in their blood would not disappear from his mind as easily as it had apparently vanished from the Tendo's.

With a loud cry Ryoga unwrapped his belt, infused its edge with Ki both to straighten the belt and increase its deadliness and launched himself at Ranma, confident that not even the great Soatome could dodge the razor sharp edge at such close quarters. Ryoga cackled with delight seeing that Ranma hadn't even started to dodge, since he had been trained in the Bakusai Tenketsu little could alter his course once he had built up sufficient momentum.

It was unfortunate that the space pirate lounging in the corner had carefully been monitoring potential threats. Part mass, she was someone that could stop the lunging martial artist. Ryoga stated in horror as his ki infused belt slid seamlessly through the shoulder of the teal haired girl that appeared before Ranma. Stumbling back he didn't even noticed her sadistic grin as she carefully slid the now limp belt from the wound.

"That Ryoga was a mistake," Ranma said dangerously slowly standing up from behind Ryoko. Ryoga glanced between the girl and Ranma's cold expressionless glare. 'Now would be a good time to get lost' he thought frantically, before turning around and running through the dojo wall.

"Nabiki, could you please gather everyone who wants to leave Tokyo. Ryoko will go with you to prevent any trouble. I want to get started as soon as possible. I hear that the aliens are demolishing entire cities on the mainland, wouldn't it be better to stop them before they reach Japan." Ranma was pleased to note that everyone was a little shocked by Ryoga's actions. Their genuine distress meant that it was unplanned. While he had heard most of their conversation he wouldn't discount the possibility that something had been planned before he returned to the dojo. Something that would no doubt complicate things even further and while he was furious at Ryoga's action he knew that to Ryoko such a small wound would heal itself in a matter of minutes.

Akane's reaction to Ryoga's attack was interesting; maybe she didn't want him dead. She appeared shocked at the events, which had transpired. Maybe now she would see the world as more than black and white. Certainly the combination of her father being killed and Ryoga's killer intent had shaken her.

"I'll be outside training by the Koi pond," to his mind everything was as good as sorted. Nabiki would gather however many refugee's she found and Cologne could provide a safe haven for them while he hunted aliens. While he craved the challenge fighting them would no doubt provide what he craved more was the knowledge the last alien he had fought hinted at. What connection did he have with Ryoko's Tenchi.

"How can you…" Nabiki's voice trailed off as she witnessed Ryoko's shoulder re-growing. "Okay how did she do that, Ranma, Ranma!" Ranma just shrugged leaving Nabiki to flounder one again unsettled by the changes in Ranma's personality. Kasumi was preoccupied with the child that Ranma had brought in and the Amazons were obviously happy with the arrangements so there wasn't much she could do short of refusing. The problem was she couldn't see an alternative solution, "fine but you owe me Soatome."

The power mingling with his Ki and flowing along his Ki paths had started to effect the strengths of his attacks. Before he went after anyone as skilled as the aliens had been he needed to investigate the phenomenon further. With the wealth of knowledge at the Amazons disposal, it made an ideal base of operations in case something else started effecting his Ki flow, something that he couldn't explain.

A/N – Okay next chapters up, review it, criticize it. I'll then be able to improve it. Without that there's not much I can do. I was going to make it longer but this seems to be a good place to stop.

What the deal with the snake thing is a common question, well I am not giving anything away and I have dropped some hints soo…

I will reply to emails, so send me an email, ask the progress of my fics, whatever. You can also catch me on msn - kunglou

Thanks go to all those that reviewed this, it was invaluable in the revision process. For those that didn't provide email addresses.

Khara – what makes ch10, 11 confusing. I can hardly do anything about it without you telling me that

Karibanu - If you told me specifics I might be able to understand why you though the story was going down hill since he returned to Nerima.

A guy – I can see where your coming from and I have made changes. Ryoga is right where I wanted him however.

Madrikor – that would be telling J

To everyone else Thanks for the support.