Oh yeah, Im going to say somewhat screw it to reading through before commenting, because this may get long, so comment any time. (Getting anxious for what people think of this mess) and lastly Im going to probably finish this whole thing out whether or not people like it, simply because I might as well finish what I start.
Oh yeah, if I don't give my charecter description for the Tenchi Charecters, its because I somewhat expect the reader to have a vague sense of who each charecter is what they look like. Sorry if this is an inconveniance.
Last note, this Ch. Is a bit lengthy. So bear in mind and please read through. If you skip it, the rest of the story might not make much sense.
Anyways, Onward Ho!
Ch. 3 - No Need For Hard Truths
The gentle sound of small computer fans whiring and vents expelling air along with with the occasional beep from a nearby console sifted through the seemingly endless room. Washu was sitting on a floating pillow near a table working diligently on a small piece of hardware she was throwing together for one of her machines. This was her laboratory which she worked in. It was a dimension that she created to house her experiments, inventions, and what ever else needed to be housed. It was could be linked to any door way or place which she so chose, but for the time being, she had it linked to a small closet underneath the stairs in Tenchi's house. From there, anyone could "walk" into her spacious lab at any time they so do choose. That is as long as the link was there between the two places.
"...Uh...uhhhh" came a low moan from a small capsule. The young dracadian was resting inside it. Wires and other gears where strapped to him to monitor his breathing and recovery, as well as aide him in healing faster. He opened his eyes slowly and winced at the pain of the bright lights assaulting his sight. It passed after a moments time, however, and rub his face with the palm of his hand.
" ..Ah.. Damn Im sore..." He mumbled. He began to start looking at his surroundings and came fully alert. He Tried to sit completely up by was restrained at the neck by some metal collar. He tried to remove it by force but it didn't budge.
"What the!" he said in surprise. He struggled with the collar some more.
"Ah. I see your finally awake," Washu said as she put down her equipment and got down from her pillow and walked over to him. "Feeling better?"
"W-what the Hell is this you sadistic woman? Some kind of prison!" shot the young Dracadian as he continued to free himself.
"Now thats no way to talk to a lady." Washu said, and her holo-computer popped up in front of her. She pushed a tiny button which sent a shock through the Dracadian.
"GEHHHH" He let out wiht his teeth gritted at the 'uncomfortable' feeling running through him.
"Now lets try this again shall we?" Said Washu with a smile. "Feeling better?"
"...I was..." said he said after letting out a sigh of relief that the sensation was gone. "Where am I?"
"We'll get to that in a moment, but how bout you tell me who you are and why you attacked us?" Washu said denying him of an answer to his question. "A Fire breed Dracadian, and at a relatively young age, is a bit far away from home. Even stranger is that war bird of yours. How'd you sneak it past the Meteor Belt Division?"
"How can I trust you?" questioned the young Dracadian. "How do I know your not with them?"
"Well, for starters, were taking care of you, not killing you. Since it seems they are probably after your life with the way you were shooting at us." Washu deduced. "That, and I always have this little button to press, which I can just extract your memories."
The young Dracadian grimaced at that thought, and then thought about what Washu said in the first place. It didnt seem like he had much choice anyways, since he was considered to be her captive.
"If I tell you, will you get this color off me?" the young one asked the ancient scientist.
"Oh that? Its not really keeping you in the capsule. Its just plugged into the back to help monitor your vitals and what not, though it is an electronic dog collar you could say. Keep you inline if you ever got free." Washu said. And with that she typed in something on her holo-computer and the wires and other devices detached themselves from the young Dracadian. He sat up, and got out of hte capsule.
"Eh?" said the young dracadian as he got down from the capsule. He realized he was wearing nothing but a pair of shorts, and small ones at that. "Grk! W-wheres my space suit!"
He blushed a shade of red that showed up on his face as he shyed away and tried to "cover" himself with his hands.
"Huh? Oh? Err sorry. We had to remove that old rag so we could inspect your wounds. Here." Washu said as she snapped her fingers. A bath robe appeared next to him. He put it on with haste and crossed his arms across his chest. The dracadian still realized he was wearing the metal collar and demanded it be removed. "Now now. Like I already said, its to keep you in line once your out of that capsule. I don't want you to shoot me or something in the back when Im not looking. Now, lets get down to business. Same questions. Care to answer now?"
The Dracadian sat down on the flower cross legged and pondered for a moment. Washu summoned over her floating pillow.
"My name is Zackalazeriath." He began
Washu looked at him with an expression of contempt. "Care to run that by me again? Quite a long name..."
"Eh, err just call me Zack for short. I come from Dracadia, as you've probably guessed. Im 17 years of age in Dracadian years. Fire born by descent." Zack continuted on.
"Hm nice to meet you, Zack. Im Washu, the greatest scientist in the whole universe" Washu boasted. "Your 17 dracadian years of age, so your what? Near 50 years old earth time? Interesting. Anyways, I already figured out your breed on my own (was kinda easy you know, heh heh..) So what were you doing on this side of the division with a war bird?"
"That war bird is the Zenith." he said indignantly. "(For a great scientist, I cant believe you didnt know that. Its painted on the side of it...) Anyways, I was sent as an emissary to Jurai. I was told that I was to talk with the emperor about trade agreements between our empire and the Juraian empire. I never had the chance to..."
"Why not?" Washu inquired.
"Because the emperor was critically wounded by an assassination attempt." the dracadian replied gravely.
Washu looked at him with disbelief. "Ah come on. Get out of here. Azusa hurt? Ha ha ha. It would take a miracle to even scratch him!"
"If you don't believe me, why not turn on the galactic news network and find out yourself."
Washu, determined not to be proven wrong, summoned a large screen and turned it on, tuning into the Galactic News Network, or GNN for short. "See, theres nothing wrong with him. Id known about it."
"If your in the alpha sector, beware of this small meteor shower, things could get rough..." droned some alien reviewing star maps.
"How long have I been out?" asked Zack, still sounding serious.
"Two days now." Washu replied, over confident now that he was wrong.
"Then just give it a second. Its still on the weather." Zack said, calm as can be.
"Thank you Gorgen for the weather. Now an update on the emperors condition. Juraian staff say the emperors condition is still critical, but he has stablized since the assassination attempt. As you recall, 4 days ago, the Emperors transport was shot down by Dracadian terrorists in an attempt to kill the Emperor. The first shot missed its mark but a second salvo was released, hitting the cabin of the transport. It fell nearly 30 stories before crashing into the pavement below. The emperor and Misaki survived the fall and explosion due to the emperor throwing up a force feild around himself and Misaki. Misaki is still in critical condition..."
Washu sat their shocked. But she was not alone. At that time, Ayeka and Sasami had entered the lab to invite Washu to have a bit of afternoon Tea with them, and they heard the whole news cast.
Zack snarled. "DAMN THEM. I knew they would do it, I was just to late."
The news broadcaster continued on. "In a recent turn of Events, since the emperor is in such a condition, Juraian high military command are taking over in his place and have declared a full scale war with the Dracadian Empire. Trade ships that were still within Juraian space were promptly captured or destroyed, as the Juraian fleet mobilized towards the Division early this morning. According to the high command, Jurai will 'Crush them for their impudence and their Treachery. They did this before and we were kind then, but now we wont let it happen twice.'..."
Zack was shocked, and angered. "We attacked them? What a load of..."
He never completed his sentence as a bolt of energy soared past, barely missing him. He rolled out of the way. "What the hell do you think your doing!"
"You scum! I cant believe I let Washu talk me into letting you stay here! We should have executed you when we had the chance, you space filth!" Ayeka bellowed as she charged another bolt of energy. "You tried to kill us all once, and now your damned race is at it again! You are probably the one who tried to murder our father! That would explain why your ship was so horribly damaged!"
"You got it all wrong! Im an emissary! He contacted us about enacting a section of the trade agreement!" Zack yelled back, dodging to and fro. He wasnt fast enough because one of Ayeka's energy bolts clipped him. His arm began to bleed from the small infliction. "Grar.. Damn that hurt! Listen you! I don't know who you are. All I know is you're a Juraian whos a tad bit pissed at our race. And you think that WE tried to kill you? It was YOU guys who were the malicious bastards who almost wiped our race completely out!"
"Don't try to lie to me, you filthy..." Ayeka stated. Her voice was full of anger. "All you Dracadian's are nothing but demons! Ill purge this universe of you!"
She charged another bolt of energy.
"Damn, Im not going to stand here and die!" And with that, Zack entered a fighting stance and stuck out is good arm, as if summoning something. "Eh. What the? I cant summon it? Why?" He clenched his teeth. Ayeka was almost done charging the shot completely. Zack had no where to run, he was in a 'corner' with no place to run. He clenched up, and prepared himself for the onslaught.
"AYEKA. STOP." yelled Washu. She had a grim expression on her face. Ayeka broke free of her rage and looked over to Washu. She still had the expression of undying hate, but she lowered her hands and the energy bolt dissipated.
"Why should I stop? He's nothing but a lying vermin." Ayeka stated with rage in her voice.
"Theres no proof that him being an emissary is a lie. Further more, he is right Ayeka." Washu said. "He's right about who can be considered the murderers in space."
"What are you talking about, Washu?" Ayeka asked, still angry and tense. Sasami was drying her eyes. She had been crying from the news about her father. Zack relaxed a bit and slumped down against the pseudo wall. Ryoko and Tenchi, rushed into the lab as well, fearing the worse from all the commotion Ayeka was making. "Just what are you talking about? They attacked us and raped our planets in our system without just cause. Killing millions of Juraians 6000 years ago."
"The story is a lie, Ayeka...All a lie. Jurai is ashamed of its past, but still bitter with the turn of events. Besides Ayeka, if he wasnt wearing that collar, you would have lost the fight. Theres a reason why it's a bold action for a Juraian to tangle with a Dracadian." Washu explained.
Ryoko and Tenchi stood there, a bit lost on what was happening. There was an awkward silence.
"Uhhh, whats going on?" Ryoko finally said, breaking the silence.
Washu filled her in on everything that just happened. Tenchi was taken back by the news of Emperor Azusa's assassination attempt, but thought things were a bit out of place. Ayeka still had the look of all out rage, but she tried to comfort Sasami, who was deeply troubled by the turn of events. After a few minutes of getting things together, and Washu bandaging up Zack, she walked over to the others.
"Its time you opened your eyes, Ayeka. To the truth. If you don't believe me, I have it documented." Washu finally said.
"The truth to what?" Ayeka said bitterly.
"The truth about Jurai's bloody past. The current cover story is that Jurai was attacked 6000 years ago by the Dracadian Race, with no reasonable cause. The Juraian's pushed back their assault, and being the kind people that Jurai is today, made a peace pact with them. But in fact, that is not what happened at all." Washu said. She dimmed the room an brought up a large screen that Ayeka and everyone else could see. Zack watched from the pseudo wall. His eyes seemed to flicker with light when the room dimmed. "6000 years ago, Jurai was on a conquest of domination in the Galaxy. Upon entering the Zeldat System, they discovered a race of beings who were still in their young age of space exploration. At first the Juraians were going to over look them and just conquer them. But things turned bloody. The race of beings, now known as the Dracadians, did not take to the liking of being conquered by some alien race. They fought back. Juraian's were shocked how they managed to repel the supposedly most powerful force in all the Galaxy. It seemed that the power of Dracadians, which stemmed from the soul of each living Dracadian, repelled and cancelled out the power which Juraian's stemmed from their Sentient Trees. Terrified by the simple fact that this race could oppose and crush the dreams, or in the case of the Dracadians point of view, a nightmare, of galactic conquest, they sought to eradicate the Dracadians completely."
Pictures of the Juraian Star ships controlling and conquering planet after planet all the way up to the confrontation in the Zeldat system. Zack seemed to bow his head in reverence when Washu mentioned the Dracadians there at the Zeldat System. Ayeka was speechless, along with most everyone else, save Washu of coarse.
"And so they started," Washu continued. "The Dracadians space combat vessels were primitive compared to the mighty battle ships the Juraian's had." Pictures of Juraian war ships wiping out waves of small meek looking ships covered the screen.
Washu continued with the narrative. "The Juraian's were very successful at first. They were also malicious as well. They went from planet to planet that was colonized by the Dracadians, and bombed it to ash. They sent down sweeper parties to irradicate any survivors. It did not matter if they were young or old, male of female, they killed them all. They were that determined to wipe out this threat. They also took to finding out as much as they could about this threat, so they could more efficiently kill them."
More pictures appeared on the screen. Juraian guardsmen and other soldiers standing over the pits of the dead Dracadians. One picture showed an execution in progress. Ayeka covered Sasami's eyes.
"She should have the right to see those pictures. Its her culture's history, you know." Zack said softly. Ayeka look at him with hate and disgust.
"Back to the topic matter," Washu said. "Dracadians are an elemental Race. That is to say, they are mainly composed of 4 elements. Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water. They also have what is considered to be a Shadow and Holy elements, but these are speculation of why they don't fall under normal circumstances. They derive their powers from themselves. This has the advantage that they don't need the Sentient Trees like Juraians do. This also makes their weapons work almost anywhere and with a higher 'strength'. Ryoko is kind of like one in the essence that she can summon beam weapons like they can, but she isn't attributed with an element as her powers are just raw energy. On top of this, they are virtually invincible to any attack of their attribute, and most anything can be classified under one of the 6. They are physically strong and resiliant to everything most bio and chemicals. A very hard race to kill by natural means, but the draw back is their counter can inflict immense pain and hurt them very easy. They are also only limited to attacks of their element. Juraians exploited these two key flaws and further expediting the process of wiping out Dracadians. Their extinction seemed immanent. Dracadians in last ditch effort with what little time they had poured every last bit of their resources into space weapons and research. Their space capabilities jumped ten fold. With the protype inventions of sub space jumping, stronger elemental weapons as well as being able to 'hard wire' Dracadians to their ships to give additional power to their attacks, they were able to repel and ruin the Juraian fleet. The performed a pincer attack that decimated the Juraian fleet. A total slaughter. It was like retribution. News Reached Jurai, and the officials fearing that they may come to wipe out Jurai decided to make an armistace with the Dracadians. In normal cases, they would have refused and probably come to destroy Jurai, but due to the fact that close to 85 of all the Dracadian race was wiped out, they could not afford the battle. An armistace was signed, and peace reigned. To some extent. Jurai, would eventually create a story claiming the Dracadians to be the aggressors, but the fact that Dracadians technology didnt become all that advanced until after that genocide. Juraian officials were still bitter, so thats the story that became known. Dracadians were the victims in this bout of Juraian history..."
Ayeka had the look of disbelief written across her face. Sasami was horrified by this hard truth.
"Y-you Lie, Washu!" Ayeka stammered finally.
"To what point and purpose would her lying be of any good?" Zack said, now standing off to one side of the monitor. "This is your history. This is my history. We Dracadians are not violent people by nature. We just pick up arms to when it comes to defending ourselves. Im going outside to get a bit of fresh air..."
Zack found the door and walked out into Tenchi's House. Tenchi and Ryoko thought it best to also take their leave for Ayeka and Sasami to come realize the cold truth. Washu turned off the large screen. And went out too. Ayeka sat there. She was confused and angered. Had something so profound been a lie. The hatred of that race had been taught to her by her teachers and mentors, but now it seemed like it was a lie.
(No, it cant be. They did so many horrible things... didnt they. I must find the truth.) Ayeka said finally rising to her feet. Her question would soon be answered, as a Juraian ship gently touched down outside the Masaki residence.