Star Trek: Ranma's Story 98 – By DS Wynne
Disclaimer: Ranma ½, Star Trek, Sailor Moon and other genres belong to their respective owners.
Note: This is a multi-genre story.
Part 98
Location: Argolis Cluster.
The day started out "normal", has turned out anything but a normal.
First, there was Amanda Rogers, an intern aboard the USS Enterprise-D, who has recently been accepted into Starfleet Academy, looks strangely like a blond Akane Tendo (Starfleet Lt/Commander Ranma Saotome's late wife). In fact, when Ranma was teasing fellow "Starfleeter" Lt. Ryouga Hibiki, Amanda pulled a classic "Akane-move", by hitting Ranma on the head with a wooden mallet, without realizing it. This did not include the fact that she was exhibiting strange powers, including preventing a warp core breach in the Engineering section of the Enterprise-D.
Secondly, Q, the bane of the crew of the Enterprise-D, shows up.
Of course, no one knew about the mysterious guests that have come aboard with an agenda of their own…
Nevertheless, Ranma will deal with the situation as best as he can. At least, he hopes so.
In the main conference room…
"…Amanda is resting in her quarters," Dr. Crusher says. The entire command staff was on hand to discuss the situation around Amanda Rogers. "I still haven't determined how she has been able to manifest her abilities, though."
FLASH!
"Then I have arrived just in time," said Q, always dressed in a Starfleet cranberry red uniform.
"Q," Picard says. "Do you have anything to do with this?"
"Indirectly, yes, Jean-Luc," Q replies. "You see, I was testing the girl to see if she was indeed the one."
"One what?" Riker asks.
"I was seeing if she was indeed a Q."
"A 'Q'?" Counselor Troi replied. "But from her background, there was no way for that to be true."
"Ah, my dear, it IS true. You see, Amanda's parents had decided to take on human forms, and live out their lives as such. Pathetic, if you ask me. At any rate, Amanda was the result of their 'union'."
"So what happens now?" Picard asked.
"I test the girl further, teach her some of the ropes, as you say, and take her away from this dreary place."
"And if she chooses to stay?" Crusher asked.
"No, I don't think that will be the case, dear Doctor."
"Since I can't stop you, I would prefer if you could allow us to introduce you to Miss Rogers."
"I do not see why not," Q says. "Just call out my name, when you are ready."
FLASH!
Picard then turns to Ranma, who was sitting quietly during the meeting.
"What is your take, Saotome?"
Ranma focused his eyes on Picard's. He then performed a Bene Gesserit technique that allowed him to speak, while conveying telepathic thoughts to the target. It was called "Shadow's Speak".
"I don't see what could go wrong with Q being introduced to Amanda (I've been working on a device that can neutralize Q's powers)," Ranma says. "I would like to be there as well, when we introduce him to her (Just say the word, and I will deploy it)."
"Very, that will be fine," Picard says, as he nods his head. "Tasha, use the usual protocols concerning our 'special guest'."
"Aye, sir," Tasha says.
"If there's nothing more, then you are all dismissed."
Meanwhile, down in the arboretum…
"These are lovely flowers, Nabiki," said Kasumi, as she tended to the on-ship gardens. She received special permission to do so from the Ship's Quarter Master. "It is so lovely to have a corporeal form."
Nabiki, Kasumi's younger sister, was lounging on a lawn reading a book. Both women had elegant facial marking on their respective faces.
"Tell me about," Nabiki says. "I mean, in our higher forms, I don't need 'eyes' to discern information. So, it's kinda weird to use 'flesh' for sensory input."
"I know. Nabiki, when shall we…introduce ourselves to our little sister?"
"Soon," Nabiki says. "I am curious as to see how 'Ranma-baby' handles the Q entity."
A short time later, Q, Picard, and Ranma enters Amanda's quarters. She was speaking to Dr. Crusher, when the trio enters.
"So, you know what I am," Amanda says.
"Of course, I do!" Q said haughtily. "No, come."
Q grabs Amanda's arm.
"Q, wait-!" Picard began.
"Let go of me, you pervert!" Amanda yells, as she smacks Q with her mallet.
BLAM!
"Oh, my," Dr. Crusher says. Somehow, Amanda sent Q into the floor.
Picard looks at Ranma.
"Hey, he had that coming!" Ranma smirks.
"…"
After things were clarified, Q began showing Amanda how to use her powers.
Meanwhile, on "Ten Forward"…
"So, Q decided to take the role of the teacher," said the enigmatic Guinan, a dark-skinned member of the long-lived "El-Aurian" race, known for that "listening skills". She had first met Ranma, when he and the command crew of the Enterprise-D had traveled back in time to solve the mystery of Data's head in a cave just outside of the City of San Francisco. Incidentally, Ranma met his "future" self…who was disguised as Ukyo Kuonji at the time. He never had the chance to ask Ranma/Ukyo how this was to be, however. Food for thought, he supposed.
"If he survives the experience," Ranma replies over a hot-fudge sundae. "You know, I'm really concerned about Amanda in a different manner."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. And no, I'm not going to go after her, so get your mind out of the gutter."
"Now, why would I think that?"
"Anyway, I have a feeling that Amanda might be…the reincarnation of my late wife Akane Tendo."
"Really?"
"Yeah. She looks like her, save for the blond hair, and she's been acting like her under-duress. And the mallet thing she did is certainly her trademark 'move'."
"All that is hyperbole, Ranma."
"True, but I performed a specialized scan, using advanced hyper-tech."
Ranma gives Guinan his sensor results. She looks over them.
"You definitely got something, Ranma."
"Yeah. Now, the question is what to do with this information."
Guinan gets up.
"I'm sure that you will do the right thing. Excuse me."
Ranma waves Guinan off, as he finishes his desert…
FLASH!
Ranma found himself in the arboretum, where a fashionably dressed Amanda was sitting, in a gazebo.
"Amanda…?"
"Hi, Ranma," Amanda said. "I wanted for us to have a little…talk."
"Well, I'm kinda busy-"
"No, you're not," Amanda said, as she waved her finger. Ranma's mind was forcibly changed to defer to Amanda's needs. "Now, I want to know if you have feelings me."
Unlike normal humans, Ranma had a much greater will power, so much so that he managed to activate his Green Lantern Power Ring.
FWAK!
Ranma slammed himself against the wall of the room. That managed to knock some sense into him.
"Don't…ever…do…that!" Ranma managed to yell. He then takes out two small objects, which looked like Chinese medicine balls from "pocket space".
"But I need to know the truth-!" Amanda says.
Not really trusting Amanda at the moment, Ranma tossed the balls at Amanda. They separated and began to spin around…
ZAP!
One energy burst later, and Amanda was rendered powerless.
"Oh-!" Amanda said. She instinctively tried to access her powers, but to no avail. "What…what happened?"
Before Ranma could say anything, two people appear, who were hiding and observing the situation.
"Wow, Ranma-baby," Nabiki smirked. "You always like get in trouble, don't you?"
"Nabiki?"
Nabiki's companion goes over to the distraught Amanda, and hugs her.
"Are you okay?" Kasumi asks.
"Kasumi?"
Tasha Yar and her security team comes running into the garden.
"Ranma!" Tasha says. "I just received a report of a large energy discharge!"
"I…I was testing my 'anti-Q' weapon, and Miss Rogers was kind enough to demonstrate."
"And these other women?" Tasha says, before recognition dawned on her. "Say, didn't they visit us a few years ago?"
"Yeah, I think."
"But how…?"
"THAT is a mystery to me."
Later, in the main conference room…
"…So you see, Captain Picard," Nabiki said, "my sister and I wanted to know if Miss Rogers was indeed our sister Akane."
"I see," Picard mused. "And you say that you and your sisters were originally from Earth?"
"Indeed. After we returned home, we lived out our lives. Only, we found out later that we are half-Gallifreyan, and therefore could live a long time. Plus, we, as Sailor Scouts, we were able to evolve into 'Exemplars'."
"'Exemplars'?"
"Exemplars are those beings, usually mystics, psychics or hyper-scientists who are so attuned to a particular aspect of nature, that they become living embodiments of that aspect. For me, it's 'Correspondence', or 'Space'. I used that to 'hide' my and Kasumi's presence from Ranma and the Q."
"And I am 'Quintessence'," Kasumi interjects. "I embody the essence of the universe."
"If I may ask, where were you…when Akane died?" Ranma demanded, as he got up. "You left her behind…and she ended up DEAD."
Nabiki looks at Ranma with sad eyes.
"Ranma, you don't know this, but sometime during the 21st century, Kasumi and I sacrificed our humanity in order for the Earth to live. And when that had happened, we chose to go…'Beyond the Rim'. By the way, John Sheridan told to say 'hello'."
"John…?"
FLASH!
"Well, the whole gang is HERE," Q smirks. He then turns to Ranma. "I'm hurt that you would create a weapon against a fellow sentient, fem-boy."
"Well, you can't blame me for trying," Ranma replied.
Q turns to Picard.
"Point is, we of the Q Continuum do not want a rogue element running around unsupervised."
"Um," Ranma began. "Weren't you kicked out of the Q Continuum for a while?"
"Change in management. Now, what do you say…Amanda?"
For a while, Amanda was silent. She was having difficulty in adjust to all this.
"First, I find out that I'm a member of an alien species, then I find out that I'm the reincarnation of the legendary 'Sailor Diana', who happens to be the former wife of Lt/Commander Saotome, then I learn that my parents were killed by the Q for being human. I don't know what to do!"
Ranma looks at Amanda for a moment. Then he faces Q.
"Q! I challenge you to a contest that will guarantee Miss Rogers the right to stay."
Q looks at Ranma, and grins.
"Oh? Does your captain approve?"
Ranma turns Picard.
"Captain?"
"Proceed?"
"EX-cellent!" Q says, as he snaps his fingers.
FLASH!
Suddenly, Ranma found himself in the middle of a boxing ring; he was dressed in boxing gear (including boxing trunks with the Japanese flag colors on it). Q, dressed in a black tux, appears.
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Q begins. "We have a contest of wills tonight. In this corner, weight 160 lbs, the 'Wild Stallion'…RANMA SAOTOME!"
The Enterprise-D crew, who were sitting in the audience, cheered. Ranma simply shrugged, before raising her gloved fist into the air in response.
"And in the other corner, from Russia's heartland, weighing 210 lbs…DRAGO!"
As the crowd booed, a tall, blond-haired man (with a crew cut) raises his gloved hand.
Q motions the two boxers to come over to him.
"Now, I want a clean fight."
"Standard boxing rules?" Ranma asked.
"But of course. SO KICKING…or whatever it is you do. Now you two tap gloves."
Ranma tapped gloves with "Drago", and realized that the man was built like brick house.
"I will break you," Drago said with a Russian accent.
Ranma merely shrugged his shoulders, and went to his corner, where Lianna and Picard greeted him.
"Okay, my champion," Lianna says, as she takes Ranma's boxing robe. "Just remember to keep your head straight. I sense great power within this one."
"I concur," Picard said, as he handed Ranma his teeth guard. "Just do your best."
"Sure thing."
DING!
"Well, I better take care of this," Ranma said, as he got up to face his opponent.
Meanwhile, in the audience…
"Naru, that should be ME in there!" Ryouga fumed.
"Ryo-chan, Ranma was the one who volunteered for this," Naru says.
"Humph!"
"Oh, my!" Kasumi says. "I hope that Ranma will be okay!"
"I'm sure he will be," Nabiki said, as she took down some bets from within the crew contingent of the Enterprise-D.
"Nabiki!" Kasumi exclaimed.
"Hey, old habits are hard to break."
Thirty minutes later…
DING-DING!
As Ranma stumbles back to his corner, Deanna and Tasha take turns being "cue card" girls…much to their chagrin. Drago, from the evidence of the bruising he was receiving, was definitely NOT human.
"You okay?" Picard said, as he douses water on Ranma.
"If seeing you with two heads means 'okay', then yeah," Ranma said.
"You are doing remarkably okay, considering the type of construct Q has created," Lianna says.
"Yeah…"
DING!
Ranma got up, and faced Drago again. He danced about Drago-
BAM!
And got nailed.
Ranma felt dizzy, as he began to buckle…
"RANMA!" Amanda yelled, as she rose from her seat. "YOU CAN DO IT! I BELIEVE IN YOU!"
Ranma…
Huh? Ranma thought, as he focused his thoughts.
I believe in you, too…
Right then and there, Ranma realized that Usagi, although she was far, far away on DS9, was there with him…in spirit.
I will always be with you in spirit…always…
As if he received a burst of energy, Ranma got up. He was playing by Q's rules. Time to throw out the playbook.
"You will lose," Drago says, as he in for the KILL.
"Naw, buddy!" Ranma says. "I'm Ranma Saotome…and I don't LOSE! Kachü Tenshin Amaguriken Revised: TORNADO PUNCH!"
Back during his "traveling days", Ranma would pick up new techniques for fighting. Even if they were "in-born", Ranma had enough control over his aura and chi, that he could mimic those same abilities. On one world, he became fascinated with the Elemental Bending, which was similar to elementalism (the magic of the elemental arts). The end result was that "Air Bending".
Using his knowledge on atmospheric condition, Ranma, while throwing his speed punches, a concentrated vortex of wind corkscrewed into Drago's body.
BLAM!
And another.
BLAM!
And another.
BLAM!
Drago stumbled, while trying to defend himself against the relentless attacks. Finally-
"TORNADO UPPER-CUT!" Ranma yelled, as he delivered the finishing blow. Drago sailed up and over the turnbuckle, and landed nearly flat on his back on Worf and Ryouga.
"Damn you, Ranma!" Ryouga fumed. "Don't throw your 'trash' over my way!"
"Did it," Ranma said, as his bruised body ached. The ring soon became crowded with cheering crewmembers, as he was heft on a few shoulders.
"THE WINNER…unfortunately for ME…IS RANMA SAOTOME!"
"Ranma!" Amanda yelled, as she ran to where Ranma was. As soon as Ranma was put back down, she hugged Ranma. "Thank you!"
SMOOCH!
"Whoa!" Ranma says in reply. And then-
FLASH!
Everyone was back in the Enterprise-D's main conference room.
"Well, you did it, fem-boy. She can stay, as long as she refrain from using her powers."
Just then, a crewmember comes into the conference room.
"Sir! The administrator on Tagran IV says that their atmospheric generators are on the verge of a meltdown!"
The people of Tagran IV had so polluted their atmosphere, that they needed filters just to survive. They had requested emergency assistance from the Federation, hence the reason why the Enterprise-D had to stop by Starbase 212 in the first place.
Q looks at Amanda, expecting her "humanity" to force her to take care of the problem by her using her "Q" powers. Meanwhile, Nabiki took out her data pad, and punched in a few data streams.
"Done," Nabiki says, as she close her padd.
Q looks at Nabiki with anger.
"This was HER test, you know!"
"I know, which is something that you knew she would fail. So, I took care of the problem."
Picard looks at Data.
"Commander?"
Data checks his pad, and used the ship's long-range sensors to exam Tagra IV's atmosphere.
"Sir?"
"Yes, Data?"
"Tagra IV's atmosphere is normal. In fact, it's at pre-industrial levels."
Picard looks at Nabiki.
"I simply changed the characteristics of the atmosphere. After all, it is within my purview as the Exemplar of Space, after all."
"Nabiki, you aren't going to-" Kasumi began, thinking that she might charge the Federation or someone else for her act of "kindness".
"Of course not. THIS is for family. Besides, I've already earned quite a cache of credits today."
Q stands up, and face Nabiki.
"The Q Continuum will not stand by while you Exemplars interfere in our business!"
Nabiki looks Q with a menacing eye.
"Let me tell you something, Q. You may think that you are omnipotent, but there are levels of omnipotence that are beyond you and your kind. So, I can simply seal off your home dimension in a 'nested doll' effect, which could take an eternity to overcome, or I can call a favor from those who live 'Beyond the Rim'. Your choice."
Q looks at Nabiki…and blinked.
"You're no fun."
Q turns to the rest of the group.
"Until next time…adieu."
FLASH!
And Q was gone.
And that was that.
In the end, Nabiki and Kasumi Tendo have decided that it was time to return to the mortal planes, so they would return to Earth and lived in their old house, the Tendo Compound, which has been in Ranma's possession for years. Amanda would spend the rest of the internship on the Enterprise-D before returning to Earth as well for her studies at the Starfleet Academy. Which means…
A week later, after a transporter accident…
"Come back here, Ranma!" said Chibi-Amanda, as she chased Chibi-Ranma with a mallet.
"Nyah!" Chibi-Ranma says, as he ran down the hall.
"How dare you tease Mandy-chan!" yelled Chibi-Ryouga, as he chased after the two. "Come here and take your punishment!"
"Ryo-chan!" called out Chibi-Naru. "Stop picking on Ranma!"
Of course, this was during a Ferengi attempt at taking over the Enterprise-D, but that was just a small detail amongst the usual shenanigans. And THAT particular "crisis" would soon be wrapped up.
Location: The Delta Quadrant.
Meanwhile…
In one of the labs of the Kremin, a scientist works on a new weapon in his home office. The scientist was a balding, middle-aged man with a stern expression.
"Soon, I will have the perfect weapon to fight against our enemy, the Zahl."
Delicate arms drape around the man's neck.
"And a weapon you shall have, my dear Annorax," said a feminine voice.
Annorax turns around, and moves his female companion on to his lap.
"I didn't know that you were up," Annorax said.
"I do not need that much sleep."
Annorax met this mysterious young woman recently, when he was having problems turning his theories of using time as a weapon in a full-realized dream. Thanks to her help, he will finally have his weapon.
"You know…you never told me your name. Not that I'm ungrateful, and all."
The young woman, who strangely looks exactly like Akane Tendo, merely smiles.
"I am simply known as…The Master, and we will be good friends."
Tbc.
Author's note: More on Akane/The Master will be elaborated upon in "Star Trek: Ranma's Chronicles". Meanwhile Akane/Amanda will be around to close out this story, so expect more Nerima Wrecking Crew hijinks.
Next time: See Ranma trapped in the Wuxia simulation! See Ranma held prisoner by the Cardassians! See Ranma relive a wonderful life! See Ranma learn more about his Juraian birthright! And see Ranma discover the secret that unites all of humanity! All these, and more, will be included in the next installment of "Star Trek: Ranma's Story". See you then!