Chapter Seven

The Guardian Series

Chapter Seven

Tenchi and The Gang belong to Pioneer LCD, AIC, and other assorted people on the far side of the big lake to my west, and not to me.

Hope you like this one, there will be more to come, whether you like it or not.

This story is set 7 years after "Daughter of Darkness," which I have placed in the OVA chronology after OVA-2, GPX, and the Manga released here in the States. Have not see any of OVA-3 yet so not sure where Noike Kamiki Jurai to add her, how she acts, how she reacts to Tenchi and the others. I have read some of the synopsis about her, but not enough to be able to add her to the story.

Time/Dates being added to story to give since of when things are happening, by coincident, this year makes 7 years since Daughter of darkness has been released, if my research is correct, (if not, some one will correct me I am sure  ). All times and dates will be in earth time/date. So will be measurements for convenience.

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Universe Prime 0142AQ

Star System 472398A

Former Science Academy Research Outpost

1305 Local Ships Time

August 26, 2004

The Tenjin leveled out at twenty-five thousand meters, rushing to the opposite side of the planet, cruising at Mach 15. The energy shields of the ship pushed the superheated air out of the way, leaving an ion trail behind the ship, looking like a meteor rushing across the sky.

During the flight, Tenchi spent his time in the med-bay watching over the survivors. Watching over them while they battled with their inner demons, he moved between them, wiping their foreheads, projecting an aurora of calmness to them, to help them through this time. Tenchi moved from bed to bed, comforting them as they cried out their losses, holding, and giving them the reassurance of a comforting shoulder to loose them in. After a time, one by one, they fell back into an uneasy sleep, but feeling better, knowing that there was someone there for them, that they were not alone.

A soft voice sounded behind him, "Tenchi, we are almost there."

Moving away from the healing bed of a young girl, he wiped away tears from his eyes. Looking down at the girl, seeing the healing machine covering most of her body, or what remained of her body. Most of her body was whole, but the raiders' weapons had blown several large portions away. The healing machine would regenerate the missing parts, but it would be years before she forgot the pain and possible the sight of what had happened to her.

In a low voice filled with emotion, "I will avenge and protect you, if it is the last thing I do." Turning away, he moved toward the door. "Tenjin, what do your scanners show of the area? Any signs of raiders in the area?"

The sound of Tenjin's voice always seemed to stay at his shoulder. Tenjin modulated the speakers in the area to do this. "There is no sign of raiders in the area, by all information available; it appears that they have left the system. There are only signs of locals at the site. ETA to area; fifteen minutes."

"Any sign of a struggle in the area?"

"No, everything appears normal. There is a large volume of communication energy directed toward the settlement. It appears that they are trying to contact the settlement."

"Tenjin, bring us as close to their site as possible. I will then proceed by foot to bring them back to the ship."

"Their camp appears to be on the edge of a clearing large enough for us to land in."

"Then land us there then, I will meet them at ramp. Once we have them all aboard, we will head out after the raiders' ships. Track them for as long as you can Tenjin. We will get them before they get to the rift."

Moving off toward the boarding hatch, he willed his combat uniform to transform into his Jurian finery. Unconsciously he placed his hand to his left hip finding the Master Key resting in its scabbard. Rounding the corner of the passageway, he came to the air lock again.

"Tenjin, open the doors," Tenchi spoke.

Both of the doors opened, seeing the ramp already, lowered Tenchi stepped forward. Trying to hide his inner turmoil by bring up his best poker face. He stepped off the ramp and waited as the members of the Settlement members came up to him.

The peoples in front of Tenchi hesitated for a moment seeing him wear the royal colors of Jurai. Amongst them were representatives of several races, all of them showing signs of anxiety as they now continued to walk toward him. The group stopped short of him and the elder of the group, a Jurian by his look, continued up to him.

"Who might you be, young Lord," asked the elder.

"Who I am is not important at this time; just know that I am a friend. Unfortunately I have to give you some bad news," Tenchi was feeling very depressed with the news he was to give them. Looking down at the ground, refusing to meet his eyes, "your settlement has been attacked."

The people before him became very agitated, talking amongst themselves. Signs of stress and worry abounded on their faces. "How, how bad was the attack?" asked the elder.

Still not able to meet his eyes, "I was… too late. I tried… I tried to get there as fast as I could…." Tenchi stammered, tears dropping to the ground as he saw in his minds eye the atrocities he had seen. "Except for a few, it is all gone….." raising his head, his eyes staring into the sky, "DAMN YOU!" Having yelled out his frustration, he fell to his knees.

The elder stepped forward, going down to one knee, he gently grasped Tenchi by the shoulder. "Young Lord, what has happened, what has befallen our friends." The deep emotion of pain could be heard in his voice.

Looking up finally to meet the elders eyes, tears rolling down his cheeks in frustration, Tenchi related to the elder and the others what had happened. The pain in his voice as he told them of the horrors he had seen, caused them to break down in tears. Looks of horror came to their faces when he related to them that he was only able to account for twenty percent of the settlers and his belief that they had been taken. "I found several survivors," he said in a voice that was barely a whisper.

Gasp came from the peoples before Tenchi. Then the flood of questions, as they wondered whom it might be, they hoping that it might be one of their friends or family. The Elder worked hard to get order reestablished, and then he turned to Tenchi, "Young Lord, may we see them?"

"Follow me," Tenchi said in a low voice filled with pain.

He lead them to the ships med bay, where he witnessed the happiness, sadness, pain, and some relief, as they meet the survivors and recognized who was there and who was not.

Tenchi leaned against the wall of the passageway outside the med bay, not wanting to intrude on their moment. He thought of what he had done, what he could have done and what needed to be done. "Tenjin, get me a comm. line to headquarters," Tenchi requested.

"Yes sir," she said, not using his name as he had done when talking to the others, "Line is established."

"HQ, this is Recon," Tenchi said. "Status is as follows, ten ion trails found, two came to the Colony outpost, very few survivors, approximately twenty percent casualties. The rest assumed to be taken. Other ships assumed to have gone to the non-space capable. Need a recover team to come to the colony for helping the survivors and a combat/boarding team needed for the rescue. I plan to disable the ships before they can enter the rifts and then board and recover. End of statement."

A voice he did not recognize stated, "Acknowledged, several Galactic Police ships with our people on them are proceeding to the colony site, they will be there in twenty standard hours. Team Delta is on a GP ship that was already bringing them to your assistance, it was assumed you might need them as backup, they will be there is thirty standard hours or can be meet in route sooner. They were on your original course, so can be meet sooner by heading toward the Energy location."

"Thank you, ending transmission," Tenchi stated.

Tenchi turned and stopped, standing before him was the Elder.

"So you are going after them, by yourself? The Elder asked.

Tenchi looked him in the eye, showing the pain at his perceived failure in not being there in time for them and his resolve in going after them. "Yes, I have to try. As you heard, several rescue ships are on the way. Therefore, I will take you back to the colony site as soon as you recover your equipment and then head out after the attackers. I can disable there ships so they cannot escape and then when my backup arrives we can board them and rescue the other survivors."

The elder nodded at this, "I have spoken about this to the others. This is all of our team here on your ship. We can return later to get our gear, so we are ready to leave immediately."

Having said that, a vibration was felt through their feet, the Elder looked around with a look of interest on his face.

Tenchi smiled for the first time in a while at the look of surprise on his face. "We are getting under way for the return to the colony site."

Sorry about the late update, had some problem happen lately, lose of job, back in school, and also another story jumped into my head and I had to pour it out. But I am still writing his one and I will continue to do so.