Chapter 5: Preparations?
"Captain we have caught a stowaway" the interrupting marine informed Nabiki. She was sat in conference with Weir in her ready room. They were sat on opposite sides of the large shiny black desk. They had been politely arguing for nearly an hour over Nabiki's expulsion of three of Wier's party. Nabiki had pulled her own strings and discovered them all to be in the employ of various Earthside intelligence agencies; one from the CIA, one from Mossad and one from the new Russian Alliance. Weir denied knowing but Nabiki wasn't buying a moment of it. Once Nabiki had presented her evidence Weir had agreed to the expulsions but was now insisting on replacements.
Nabiki held up a hand to delay Weir, and turned to the marine. "Where were they?"
"Apparently she was chasing her fiancé who ran off with her sister or something. Captain Kaji is dealing with it ma'am"
"Good" Nabiki replied turning back to Weir, "Now where were we."
"What will happen to her?" Weir asked.
" Interrogation then imprisonment for the duration" Nabiki replied.
"That seems a little harsh,"
"We ARE at war" Nabiki insisted.
"Maybe we can compromise" Weir asked.
"No doctor," Nabiki replied, "There is no time to do a thorough check, and we have too many freeloaders already.
"So if I can find her a position?"
"And get her cleared" Nabiki insisted, "To Kaji's satisfaction."
"Then I can keep her?" Weir asked, already planning ways to get her little victory.
"If!" Nabiki responded. "Now if there is no more, I really need to make that meeting with Misato before she spends too long off duty."
o
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"This id the latest development of X-Com hybrid Interceptor technology, the Valkyrie. She is equipped with two primary weapon hardpoints and two light missile racks. Her induction engine is gravitol fuelled and thrusters assisted. Her shields are the latest product out of Marsec's Mars labs and capable of stopping even the Elerium fuelled missiles our enemy are using. Simply put she is one of the finest machines ever built and you will be flying her." Cmdr Focker was lecturing again and the pilots were trying very hard to pay attention. This despite the fact that every single one of them who cared had already taken a run down to the flight deck to check out the ships they would be flying and so already knew the interceptors in far more detail than Roy was explaining.
"Red Squadron are flying Firestorm twos and Blue are flying Lightning class bombers" Roy answered a question most could not hear. "You will be clearing the way and flying high protection."
"When do we get to play?" Called a man to Ranma's left.
"Simulators first people" Roy told them. There was a chorus of groans in reply. "Meantime each of you can LOOK at your birds and familiarise yourselves with their capabilities."
Ranma and the other pilots were unleashed and soon were scrambling over their fighter bays. To the bay crews it was like a sudden surge of grey suited terrors. Every craft soon had a pilot attached, wanting to talk about things like customisation and individual paint schemes. Ranma, somewhat more restrained than the others about things like paint was running his hangarman ragged with questions about increasing manoeuvre torque. Fortunately, Tomo, the engineer in question was a gravitolhead greasemonkey, and enjoyed her job and, to her messing with planes was just about better than chocolate.
"So if you drill out the bore on number five and add a vortex thing I'll get about ten percent more lateral lift,"
"Vortex transducer," Tomo corrected, "But you'll lose perhaps three from your inertial compensators" Tomo explained, idly cracking open a panel.
"So I'll see a few more G's in thrust"
"Yep"
"Do it please " he requested. "And anything else you can think of. I ain't weak and won't break."
"Won't be able to brake" Tomo noted, "If I screw the thrusters through with a set of rippers and drop the safety line, I can give you maybe another twenty percent."
"But?" he asked
"Forget flying level. She'll be jumpier than a two year old on a sugar rush."
"That bad?"
"Worse. You'll have to be flying by the seat of your pants from the moment you blast out of the catapult to the moment you kill the engine in the bay."
"Feh" Ranma said dismissively making it clear that severe discomfort wasn't a problem. "You give me the tools and I'll handle the bad guys." She offered him a big smile.
"Girl you got guts" Tomo said, "I'll do what I can."
"Thanks babe" he replied, jumping down.
"….And we'll need the logo stencilled here, here and here, Oh hi Kia how are you. She may want a different logo but don't let her change anything else-" Yuri was keeping up a constant stream of 'necessary' cosmetic changes and her own bayman was desperately trying to keep up.
"What. Are. You. Doing?" Ranma demanded.
"Oh Hiya Kei." Yuri rpelied, "I've decided we need to have our own logo. Dark angels is a bit….dark isn't it." She continued without waiting for Ranma's reply. "So we are now the Lovely Angels!"
"Lovely Angels?" Ranma gasped.
"Yeah good isn't it?" Yuri replied. "You and me together as a team. Well not like that but you get the idea. Besides I don't go that way, I mean why would you when there are so many gorgeous men out there!"
"Er-"
"Ranma" the girl said, giving Ranma a sudden surprise, had the maniac found out about his secret, and if so how. Was she going to spill the beans?
"Er" he replied, still trying to catch up.
"Your brother, dummy!" Yuri explained. "Is he still single?"
"No I, er he-" Ranma stammered.
"Pity, he was soooo cute, man I woulda jumped his bones!" Yuri went on. "So you got any other male relatives, cousins, nephews, is your dad still married?"
"Er-"
"I'll leave you two to it" Tomo muttered backing off.
"Wait!" Yuri commanded, "You have to help Bentley with the logos!"
"Yuri" Ranma interrupted.
"Yes Kei" the girl said whirling to look at the redhead, her hair trailing behind her. "Oh your hair, I had forgotten." The girl grabbed Ranma's hand and took off for the crew quarters at mach one.
"She's mad" commented Tomo.
"Completely" agreed the other
o
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"What the hell happened to you?" Nabiki asked. She was meeting her husband for a quiet family evening meal in her quarters, but hadn't been expecting this. 'Ranko' stood there with bright blond highlights in her red hair, in a figure hugging crop top that was definitely too small for her and a pair of shorts that looked like they had been painted on. "Is that makeup?" Nabiki asked. Ranma nodded dejectedly. For a moment Nabik just stared, then she burst out laughing and threw her arms around her transformed husband. "Never stop Ranma" she said, kissing her/him thoroughly.
"Stop what?" he asked, very confused.
"Surprising me" she replied, "It is one of your most endearing features."
"Uh?" he responded, confused. But instead of explaining she kissed him again, and that was good too.
Soon he went off to play with Kimiko for a while and Nabiki laid the table. A mess corporal brought their dinners, and left a bottle of wine chilling as he went back to the officer's dining room. Nabiki knew that she was being unfair to her other officers by not eating with them the first night but she also knew that where it came to her family nobody was going to tell her not to be selfish.
So the somewhat strange looking family Saotome had a pleasant, private meal, and took the time to enjoy the stolen moments. Afterwards Ranma had to go back to his own mess deck and Nabiki had to return to her officers but for those few hours they were together and that counted for something.
"Next time I'm taking a hot shower," Ranma asserted as he was saying his goodbyes.
"Deal," Nabiki answered, "But only if I can scrub your back!" Then the door shut behind him/her and they were parted again.
"Why I have been looking for you everywhere," came that dreaded voice as Ranma stepped out of his wife's rooms. Indeed as he turned there was Dr. Kuno Kodachi, complete in a leather bondage suit and black lab coat. "I really should have guessed that you would be here hmmm?"
"Er Dr. Kuno" Ranma said uncertainly.
"Grrr" growled Kodachi, slinking towards him.
"I mean Kodachi-sama" Ranma corrected quickly.
"Much better" Kodachi purred, pinning Ranma up against the wall. "You smell….exquisite" she purred taking a deep breath. "And your hair…" she continued, running a gloved hand through Ranma's coloured bangs. "Its very…sexy" she purred pressing her body up against the smaller woman.
"I have really got to go," Ranma choked out, blushing hard enough to rival a lighthouse. Kodachi pouted and reluctantly stepped back.
"I too have duties," she admitted. "But we shall have plenty of time to pick this up again later." She leered, but she had stepped away enough to let Ranma run and that was all that counted. Ranma , who had stood alone against the most fearsome of alien commandos without even a quiver, ran, and ran fast.
"OhohoOHOHOHoHOHoHOOHho!" the madwoman's laugh echoed down the hall behind her.
And then Kodachi went to do her second favourite thing.
o
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"Prisoner for you" the marine announced. He and two comrades were escorting a heavily restrained young Japanese woman. The way her hair was spiked and she twitched every so often seemed to indicate that she had needed to be restrained more than once.
"Very good my man" Kodachi drawled, sitting on the corner of her desk and crossing her legs with a leathery creak. "What have we here?" she leered, leaning forwards to inspect the captive. The marine suddenly found a small weasely man standing at his shoulder, and carrying a collar and leash. Wisely he just backed off, and shut the door firmly behind him.
Sasuke, long used to the form clipped the collar to the girl and the leash to the wall, and then retreated.
Akane was just bringing the world back into focus as all this happened and was really not liking what she saw. There was a very perverted man in a fake ninja suit, and a very disturbed woman in a leather outfit. She looked up at the seated woman, hoping that she would step in if the pervert tried anything hentai.
"Ah you're back with us" Kodachi leered, sending a shiver up Akane's spine. "I do hope they weren't too rough on you. They might have inured you to the sweet caress of voltage."
"Wha?" Akane managed. The woman was sounding like a perverted boy! She was sure she could even smell cheese whiz somewhere around here!
"The sweet burn, the enforced contraction of the muscles, the beautiful arcs" the hentai girl was running her hands over her own body now, almost ecstatic in her silken praise.
Suddenly the 'doctor' lurched upright and was staring at Akane with eyes burning in the fires of her of derangement. She reached behind her and picked up a riding crop. Now Akane knew that this had to be a trick.
"You are wondering why you are here," the doctor told her, "wondering if I really am as bad as I look. Believe me I am.
"You can't do this to me I am-
"Tendo Akane," Kodachi interrupted, "the love of my deluded brother's life." She added, using the crop to raise Akane's chin. "And quite beautiful in your own way," she purred.
"You're a pervert!" exclaimed Akane.
"Oh yes!" Kodachi agreed. "Very much so. And by the time I am finished with you so too will you be!"
"Never!" screamed Akane defiantly. Kodachi let out a small moan of pleasure, and grabbed Akane's chin for a kiss.
"I love it when they fight" she breathed into the captive's face. Akane was stunned, she had never been this powerless before and it scared her.
"Exciting isn't it" Kodachi purred, stroking her fingers down Aknae's face.
"Help" she whispered, but nobody came.
o
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Nabiki finished her last log and signed off. She stacked the papers and closed the last file. In the silent room she stood, stretched and looked around trying to place the odd feeling. She aught sight of the bed and knew. Tonight would be the first night in a very long time that she would sleep without Ranma. Even aboard the Hermes they had managed to share a tiny bunk, but tonight she would be alone. It hurt deep down.
"Mamma?" asked Kimiko, sitting up from her bed.
"What is it darling?" Nabiki asked, grateful for the interruption.
"Can't sleep mamma" the girl replied.
"Well how about you share mummy's bed tonight?" Nabiki offered with a smile. Kimiko's answering one genuinely chased away the dark thoughts and soon mother and child were asleep, cuddled together in the mother's bed.
Day passed into night and aboard the Nemesis everyone not needed stood down and went to bed, lulled off to sleep by the thrum of the massive engines, a giant deep heartbeat that resounded through every deck and wall, that of the ship itself.