Star Trek: Ranma's Story – By DS Wynne
Disclaimer: None of the principal characters belong to me.
Note: This is a semi-alternate, crossover story. I think.
Special note: This story is a companion piece to "Sailor Moon ST", though it is
designed to be a stand-alone story.
Part 5
In the first six months as Chief of Security aboard the "Enterprise", I had the
"pleasure" of meeting all sorts of challenges. Some were rather mundane, while
others were outright "stupid". Though I used my talents as a martial artist to
get out of the usually jams, I was a part of a team of professionals who were
dedicated to peaceful exploration. Though I would hate to admit it, like
everything else I'm afraid, I consider the crew to be a family of sorts…a family
that can be counted on in life and death situations.
Speaking of family, I recently came from a mission where I kind of lost
myself…and ended up having a family of my own.
While investigating a large asteroid, which was the size of Earth's moon, the
"Enterprise" discovered that the asteroid in question was on a direct course to
a newly discovered "Class M" (or "Earth-type") planet. So Captain James Kirk,
Cmdr. Spock, Dr. McCoy and Security Chief Ranma Saotome went to investigate the
planet's surface, by observing the local population. Lt. Cmdr. Usagi Tsukino,
the Ship's Operations Manager, was left in charge of the ship.
"You're in charge, Usagi," Kirk said, as he and the Landing Party assembled onto
the Transporter Pad. "So please, mind the store."
"Will do, Captain," Usagi said, as she manned the transporter, along with the
transporter technician. "I'll keep you informed about that asteroid thing."
"Good. Energize!"
A few minutes later, the Landing Party appeared near lake.
Ranma Saotome was checking himself out.
"Problem, Mr. Saotome?" Spock asked, as he took out his Tricorder.
"Just making sure everything's there, sir."
"Really, you have logged many hours in matter-energy transportation, and you are
STILL phobic about its use?"
"Spock, lay off the kid," Dr. McCoy smirked. "If I could, I'd avoid transporting
altogether!"
Kirk merely rolled his eyes.
After a while, the Landing Party discovered a local village. Based upon Spock's
initial findings, the people appeared to be remnants of the Native Americans of
old Earth. This was unusual since these people did not have advance technology
to make the trip to this new world. Throughout the survey, Kirk commented how
simple the natives' lives were, and how he wished he could live that simple
life. However, near the settlements, the group found a rather complex object
that was decidedly not native to the Native American culture. Standing before
the object was Kirk and Spock, while Ranma was inspecting the object itself; Dr.
McCoy was examining some plants for their medicinal properties, not too far from
Kirk's position.
"It appears to be some sort of obelisk," Spock said, as he took his readings.
"Is it possible that it is of an alien nature?" Kirk asked.
Meanwhile, Ranma was looking at the object itself. He could discern that there
was an opening to it somehow…
BEEP-BEEP!
"Kirk here," Kirk said, as he answered his communicator.
At the same time, a hatch in the obelisk opens up, causing Ranma to fall in.
"The asteroid is on the 'red zone', Captain," Usagi replied over the intercom.
"I suggest that we move to intercept it."
"Very well. Stand by. Mr. Saotome?"
No answer.
"Spock, have you've seen Ranma?"
"He was surveying the object from behind."
"Great. Spock, try to find Ranma. I'll go and get Bones."
About thirty minutes later, Kirk and company returned to the obelisk.
"No such luck?" McCoy asked.
"No," Kirk replied. "Spock, suggestions?"
"We need to deal with the asteroid. Otherwise..."
Kirk nodded grimly. Even if Ranma was okay, the asteroid was a necessary
priority.
"Alright. 'Enterprise', three to beam up."
"Captain," Usagi began, as she stepped away from the transporter control panel.
"Where's Ranma?"
"He's…missing."
"Then we should send a search part to-"
"No," Kirk said with finality. "Saotome understood the parameters of the
mission."
Usagi thought for a moment.
"Then we should leave a supply beacon then."
"I wouldn't recommend it," Spock said. "We do not want to risk cultural
contamination."
"You have your orders, Commander," Kirk said.
"Aye, sir."
And with that, the Enterprise went on to intercept the incoming asteroid.
Unfortunately, the asteroid was made from a material that proved impervious to
the Enterprise's weaponry. As a result, the power-cells were spent, rendering
the ship unable to move faster than ¼ Impulse. In other words, it would take the
Enterprise six months to make it back to the planet that Ranma was stranded on.
Meanwhile, Ranma had recovered from his fall into the alien object. Bewildered,
Ranma accidentally touched a nondescript panel…
ZAP!
Sometime later, the local natives surrounded the alien object. Their "medicine
man", a man named "Salish", prepares the offerings.
"Oh, great Preservers," Salish began. "We offer our bounty for the boon you have
given us. Please give us a sign that we have proven our faithfulness to you."
As if on cue, a dazed Ranma pops out.
"Ohhhh!" said a spectator. "The gods have spoken!"
"Yes, they have sent an 'emissary' to us!"
Salish, on the other hand, was not too keen on this creature. There was
something about him that he did not like about the stranger."
"Who are you?" Salish demanded.
"Uh…I'm not sure," Ranma replied. "Where am I?"
"You are on 'Yrth', strange one."
"Oh," Ranma replied. He was desperately trying to remember something.
One of the elders stepped forth.
"Are you indeed an emissary of the gods?" the elder asked.
Ranma looked around. He may not remember much, but even he could tell what would
happen if he choose the wrong answer.
"Well, it's like this- LOOK!!!"
Everyone turned to the direction that Ranma was pointing at.
"Well, we do not see-"
Everyone saw that "the strange one" was leaving a trail of dust.
"…"
"Elders, perhaps the stranger is a 'Fallen One'," Salish inquired. Everyone
could see how much the man wanted to go after Ranma.
The elder sighed before given his consent.
"Warriors all, follow me. Let's get the stranger!!!"
A short time later, the war party was combing the local landscape. As they
passed near a grove of trees, they failed to see a certain pig-tail martial
artist rustling amongst the bushes.
"Whew, that was close," Ranma said, as he got out. He found himself near a lake
of some kind. Somehow, he knew what he needed to do to survive out in the
wilderness. However, before he could formulate a plan…
"HELP!"
Ranma looked about to see a woman flaying about. He then looked closer, and
could see a boy flaying about in the lake. Instincts took in, and Ranma dove
into the water; he did not remember that he had his "curse", which was activated
upon contact with the water. Quickly, Ranma swam to where the boy was drowning.
She then grabbed the boy, and swam to shore.
"Who are you?" the woman said, as she saw the red-headed girl lay the boy down.
Without responding, relying on instinct, Ranma-chan applied CPR to the boy.
Luckily for the boy, he was quickly revived.
"You okay, kid?" Ranma-chan asked, as the boy continued to cough.
The boy nodded.
The woman, who was watching all this, was in awe.
"Are you a goddess?" the woman asked.
"No, I'm Ranma. Sorry about this."
A little bit later, news of Ranma-chan's actions sent shockwaves throughout the
community. Some even ventured to say that this goddess was sent by the gods to
deal with the "demon" who was plaguing them. As for Ranma-chan herself, she
wasn't sure what was going on. First, she was male, and now she was female. And
she still wasn't sure who she was. Still, she was glad to have a friend, who was
the woman she had met when she saved the local boy's life.
"Goddess Ranma," the chief elder began. "We would like to thank you for saving
one of our young one's life."
"Ah, it was nothing," Ranma-chan replied. At the moment, she was standing in
front of a large audience. "It's a martial arts duty to protect the helpless."
"Be as it may, we would like for you to become our new 'medicine man'."
"It would be a honored, sir."
Just then, Salish comes forth. He was angry that there were TWO strangers in
their midst. And he was especially angry that he has yet to get the demon.
"Elder, I've always been our people's shaman, as my forefathers before me."
"Nevertheless, we have spoken on this matter."
"Fine! Be that way!"
And with that, Salish leaves the assembled circle in a huff.
"Ranma, you will stay with Meramanee until you are ready to assume your duties."
Ranma-chan nodded. She then turned to see that 'Meramanee' was the woman she had
met earlier. Apparently, the woman was watching over the boy as they went to
pick herbs for Salish. In fact, Meramanee was Salish's "fianc".
Later that night…
"It is good to have a friend to share a home with," Mera said, as she prepared
the shared bath.
For some reason, Ranma-chan was a bit nervous.
"The bath is ready."
"Um, maybe you should start without me."
"Nonsense! In you go!"
Ranm-chan sighed. She took her clothes off, and stepped into the ground-level
bath. Already, she began to feel the change. Ranma sank deeper into the pool of
hot water. He was so distracted that he failed to notice that Mernamee had
slipped into the pool as well.
"Uh, hello," Ranma said nervously.
"Ah, this is relaxing," Mera said. "I am glad that you are amongst us, Ranma."
After a while, Ranma noticed that Mera had placed a wet cloth over her eyes.
Quietly, Ranma got up…
"Oh, Ranma, we should meet with the Elders first thing in the morning-"
That's when Mera noticed that a MALE was standing up in front of her.
"EEEEEEEEEEK!"
A few moments later, Ranma was trying to dodge whatever Meramanee was throwing
at him.
"What are you doing here, demon?" Meramanee. "And where is Ranma?"
"I'm Ranma! I don't know what's going on-"
One of the jars of clay smashed onto Ranma's head, releasing its contents. The
cool water activated his curse.
"Ugh," Ranma-chan said, as she rubbed her head. "Uncute tomboy…"
"R-Ranma?"
"Uh, yes. Sorry about this."
After calming down, and after getting dressed, Ranma-chan and Meramanee had a
long discussion.
"And I don't know why I have this 'condition'," Ranma-chan said. "And I still
don't know who I am."
Meramanee looked at her new found-friend with sympathy.
"Are you man or woman?"
"I don't know."
Meramanee smiled, as she held her friend's hand.
"It doesn't matter. You ARE an emissary of the gods. Their ways are a mystery."
"I'm…glad."
Suddenly, Salish and his henchmen come in.
"I heard a disturbance-"
"It's…okay," Meranamee replied. "There was an animal here that was bothering
us."
Salish frowned, but nodded.
"Let me know if you need any thing."
"Very well."
And that was that.
Meanwhile, the Enterprise was limping along, while the crew was desperately
trying to repair the ship.
"I want that power-coupler repaired within the hour," Lt. Commander Usagi
Tsukino said, as she handed out the assignments to her assigned crew from her
bridge station. As the Ship's Operations Chief, it was her job to allocate
resources to whatever department needed them. In this case, Usagi was assisting
Engineering in getting all ship's systems up and functional.
"Ma'am, we're already running double shifts," the crew chief replied. "I know
that Saotome is your friend and all-"
"Chief Petty Officer Saotome IS my friend, but he's life is not the only one we
have to worry about. If that asteroid is not dealt with soon, his and all the
inhabitants' lives on that planet we left behind will be in jeopardy. Is that
clear?"
The crew chief nodded.
"Yes, ma'am!"
Then, he turned to his crew.
"You heard her, let's get a move on!"
Once the assembled repair crew had left, Usagi returned to her own repairs. She
was realigning the panels to accept the modified repairs.
Spock, who was consulting with Captain Kirk about the alien object on the planet
where Ranma was left behind, went over to Usagi's station. He had deduced from
the Landing Party logs that the alien object responded to both voice and
electronic stimulus. In this case, it was Kirk's voice and communicator that did
something to the obelisk; Spock then deduced that the obelisk held the key to
Ranma's disappearance.
"Hand me that solder," Usagi said, without looking up.
Spock did just that.
"Usako, we will find Saotome," Spock said with assurance.
"I know, Spock-kun. It's just that ever since we met, there's been a connection
between us."
"Perhaps it is because you two come from the same time and place."
"Maybe. There."
Usagi gets up and activates her hand-held communicator.
"Scotty, this is Usagi. I'm relaying the modified schematics."
"Affirmative, lass," Chief Engineer Scott replied. With the secondary systems in
full use, Usagi suggested that the communicators should be use for "traffic".
"Well, based upon your analysis of the asteroid, we could use the phaser banks
to 'move' it from harms way."
"However, our power levels are not high enough to perform the maneuver without
the use of a warp field."
"I know. If Scotty can get the warp drive back on-line in time, we'll have a
back-up plan."
Spock nodded.
"The odds are great that Scott will not have completed the necessary repairs in
a timely fashion."
"I know. But we have to try."
And with that, the two resumed their duties.
Back on the planet, where Ranma was left behind, Ranma and Meramanee were
enjoying the afternoon together. Because of what Ranma was, Meramanee felt
obligated to be with the "shapeshifter". So one day, while the two were picking
berries, Meramanee decided to make her move…
Enter: one jug of hot water.
"Hey!" Ranma said. "Why did you that for?!"
"Ranma, I've chosen you as my…mate."
"Uh, I'm flattered and all, but I-"
With a rush, Meramanee gave Ranma a deep kiss.
"Well…" Ranma stammered. "Well, what about Salish?"
"He doesn't own me."
Before Ranma could respond…
"YOU! FOUL DEMON!"
Salish had been following Meramanee and Ranma secretly, when he witnessed what
had just happened. So he rushed out of the bushes and began to attack Ranma.
"I will free Meramanee from your clutches!"
This sounded familiar, Ranma thought to himself. Relying on instinct, Ranma
ducked and dodged the attack. Finally, he grabbed one of Salish's fists.
"Look, I like Meranamee, but I don't know how I feel about her. We're just
friends."
"It doesn't matter! As long as you are here, she can never be mine!"
"Sigh. So be it."
With a simple judo flip, Ranma slammed Salish into a nearby tree, rendering
Salish unconscious.
"Ranma are you okay?" Meramanee asked.
"I'm fine. About what I said-"
"I understand if you don't want to be with me…"
"No, it's just that I'm not sure where I stand. You know how confused I am about
these things."
"Then let me help you be less confused."
And with that, the two shared a kiss.
"Wow," Ranma said simply. "Let's try that again."
The two kissed again, which was much deeper. And then the two fell into an
embrace in that grove.
Salish barely opened his eyes when he saw what was going down.
"Oh, my!"
A week later, Ranma and Meramanee were officially "mated" with the approval of
the elders, who accepted the strange one's dual nature, much to Salish's
consternation. About a month later, Mermanee planned to announce that she is
going to be a mother. Unfortunately, before Ranma could get the news, the sky
began to darken. The Elders urged Ranma to activate the alien object.
Unfortunately, he did not remember what he needed to do to activate the alien
object. So Salish took the opportunity to urge his people to stone Ranma and
Mermanee for Ranma's "failure".
"Stone them!" Salish yelled.
Ranma got in front of Meramanee, using his body to shield her. His anger grew,
which caused his aura to become visible.
"Stop," Ranma said with finality.
Everyone, except Salish, stopped what they were doing.
"What are you waiting for?!" Salish yelled.
Ranma pointed his outstretched palm at Salish.
"Moko Takibasha."
A chi-powered energy ball erupted from his palm, and slammed into Salish.
"You will pay," Ranma said, as he leaped upon Salish. Salish had finally awoken
the Wild Horse.
"Please, I-"
"Save it."
Before Ranma could deliver his blow, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He quickly
turned to see a blond-haired girl with twin "dumplings" for hair.
"Who are you?" Ranma demanded.
"A friend," the girl said, as she touched Ranma's forehead. "Remember."
A shock went through Ranma's head.
"U-Usagi?"
Usagi smiled.
"I see that you've been busy," Usagi smirked. "I'm glad we got back here in a
timely fashion afterall."
"Chief, are you well?" Captain Kirk said, as he and Spock steps forth; Dr. McCoy
was checking on Meranamee.
"Yeah. As for YOU…"
"No!" Salish yelled in fright.
"…Get outta here!"
Salish nodded and scampered.
Ranma immediately returned to see if Meramanee was alright.
"Beloved, are you okay?" Meramanee asked.
"I am now."
"Chief, what do recall?" Spock asked.
Ranma began to tell the Science Officer what he could remember. Sure enough,
once the exact coded sequence was initiated, the obelisk opened up. From there,
Spock and Usagi performed the necessary repairs to the alien object to do what
it was designed to do: repel the asteroid. The Enterprise was prepared to do the
same thing, but the potential success was remote.
On a side note, it also turned out that Salish's father had not passed on how
the alien object worked, due to his untimely death. As "payback", Meramanee was
given the secret on how the alien object worked. Thus, Salish's irrelevance was
complete.
The next day…
Back in his regular uniform, Ranma says his good-bye to Meramanee. Ranma wanted
to stay with her, but his beloved told him that his destiny lied elsewhere.
"Meramanee, I-"
"Beloved, please understand this is the best way. Besides, my people need me…and your people need you."
Ranma grimly nodded. He gave one last kiss, before leaving the village.
Meramanee sighed, as she held her belly.
"One day, you will know your father," she whispered. "That, I promise."
END FLASHBACK
"So, how did you know that you were a father?" Dana asked her grand-father. She
had asked to record Captain Saotome's words.
"When I had visited that world towards the end of Kirk's second five-year
mission," Ranma replied. "Apparently, Mera-chan had kept my old communicator with her,
the one that's in your hand now, and used it to contact me when our son, Ranmak,
had developed the family curse.
"Oh, my!"
"Oh, yeah. I stayed on the planet to get to know my son better, as well as
teach him the Saotome legacy."
"Wow, I bet that was something, especially since Uncle Ranmak ended up becoming a powerful chieftain in his own right."
"Yeah. Say, I'm hungry. You want something?"
"Sure, but you're treating."
"Humph."
Tbc.
Author's note: C&C are accepted.
Next time: Coming up, psycho children, hideous diplomats and Western gunslingers
(oh, my!). See you then!