Chapter 25: Second Wave

Princess Ayeka gripped the railing as her ship, the second generation tree ship Ryo-oh, shuddered as another volley of weapons fire impacted its forward shields.

"Concentrate our weapons on the enemy capital ships to our left, and instruct the third cruiser wing to move up."

"Yes Princess," a crew member replied. "Princess, the Mikagami has just exited subspace. Lady Seto is hailing us."

"Put her on," Ayeka replied. "Lady Seto, I am glad you made it."

"Thank you Princess. I'm pleased to report the enemy attack on the GP Academy was stopped. 139 ships were lost, but enemy losses are estimated at 5,000. The GP fleet should be here in a few minutes. How are you holding up?"

"We're doing all right. The enemy ships are so inferior to Jurai vessels we haven't even had to deploy our Light Hawk Wings. Shall we finish them off together?"

Seto smiled. "Well, since you asked so nicely." The Mikagami and Ryo-oh, along with Lady Seto's fleet and Ayeka's armada, unleashed a massive storm of laser fire which tore through the Jovian forces. Capital ships were torn apart, and Grasshoppers were vaporized. This was the second week of attacks by Derek's forces on the Tenchi realm, but being one of the strongest of the middle realms, he had not made many gains.

"Princess, the enemy fleet has been destroyed."

"Excellent. Plot a course back to Jurai." As her ship entered Hyperspace, Ayeka's thoughts quickly turned to Tenchi. He and Ryoko were leading a force of newly grown Cabbit cruisers against Jovian ships infesting shipping lanes. As she thought of her beloved Tenchi, Ryoko's face popped into her fantasy.

"Hey Princess, Tenchi's gonna a great time with me. So you can just keep doing whatever it is you're doing. HAHAHA!"

"GRRRRRR! RYOKO!"

…

Hikaru and Kurumi were just returning to the Cross Realm. After the Figure 17 realm had been secured Derek's forces had attacked the Saikano realm, but Chise and her fellow weapon girls had taken care of them. The Saikano realm was one that had been given extensive help by the Cross Realm. Hikaru had learned that realms that went to war were often recent creations. The Cross Realm had given the Saikano Realm food, medicine and helped them rebuild their planet. Washu had examined Chise and easily cured her. She was still a weapon, but she had complete control of her condition. When Derek had begun his attacks Chise and Akemi, who had also been saved by Washu, had recruited several other girls into a mobile warrior division. Their immense power had annialated Derek's forces and he had never returned. Chise and several of her girls had come to the cross realm, where their abilities were being studied and put into the newest generation of Steel Angels and battle androids. Hikaru had been upgraded as well, and along with the rest of the Cross Realm forces, were waiting for Derek's next move.

"So, you wanna grab a bite to eat?" Hikaru asked.

"Sure, just let me check in first," Kurumi replied. She pressed her hand into a scanner that beeped and turned blue. "Ok, let's go."

The two girls headed down to a café in the center of Cross Realm City. The damage from Derek's attack had been repaired and life had returned to normal, but Hikaru still saw more than a few combat androids hiding out in the crowd.

…

"So, what do you think our next move will be?" Hikaru asked, biting into her sandwich.

"I'm not sure. Our scouts still haven't found any trace of Derek's base, and his forces get stronger with each battle."

"Has Sasaki revealed anything yet?"

"Not yet, but the hidden cameras caught her crying a few times," Kurumi replied. "She's been reading the news about Derek's attacks and I think she's beginning to come around."

"That's good. So, have you heard, they reopened the movie theater. You wanna go see something?"

"Sure," Kurumi replied. The two girls teleported over to the theater and saw an action movie based on the attack on the Figure 17 realm. Hikaru smiled when she watched her battle with Sasaki. She had been the best opponent Hikaru had faced in a while.

After the movie let out Hikaru and Kurumi ran into Seina and Neju.

"Hey, how's it going?" Hikaru asked.

"All right I guess," Seina replied. "Derek's space forces were just kicked out of the Tenchi realm again."

"I honestly don't know why he even bothers. I mean the Tenchi Realm is one of the most powerful Middle Realms."

"He knows that if he can get his hands on a tree ship his space fleet would become unstoppable," Kurumi replied.

"Not like that's even possible of course," Angel called out from Hikaru's PET. She used the new holo projector Washu had installed to appear as a hologram as tall as Hikaru. Fuku nearly fell from Seina's shoulder.

"Hey, I heard from Techna that she and Washu are close to completing work on a search program that will be able to track Derek's forces the next time they attack," Kurumi said.

"Great, that means the war will be over soon," Neju replied.

"I sure hope so," Hikaru added. "I'd like to visit the real world and see my old home."

"What do you mean old home?" Seina asked.

"The Cross Realm's my real home now. It has been ever since I became Hikaru. I mean think about it, I kinda was born here."

"I guess you're right. So now what do you wanna do?" Siena asked.

"How about some shopping?" Hikaru suggested. The girls smiled and Seina sighed. "Oh come on Seina, it'll be fun."

"I can hardly wait," Seina replied sarcastically as he was dragged off.

So how was that? In the next chapter Derek will launch an all out attack on the Cross Realm, and something will change, something big. What? Find out in the next exciting chapter of A New Perspective. See ya then, and don't forget to review! The Emperor protects.

ENTILZA