As always the characters and settings in the Ranma universe are the intellectual property of Rumiko Takahashi (you wonderful person you!), Viz, Yeah you get the picture. Know that I have used these without permission (implied or specific), as an act of love(of the manga) not profit. Also of note I am a poor person so please don't sue me. Please please please!
Now onto really important stuff. If by some chance you like, hate or are indifferent to my story please review. I'd really like to hear from you why you have any of the above feelings about my story. No, I mean really, I spent weeks working on this, all I ask is a few moments of your time in response not such a bad trade really it it? lol.
First encounters of the Tverri kind
Prelude to War!
by Porthos112
Chapter 1
Who would have believed in the last years of the 21st century that beings from a far distant world, with minds immeasurably superior(I have a question. Why it is aliens are always far superior mentally to human beings?) to our own would cast their eyes upon us. Their fearful eyes watched signals from our planet, pictures of war, persecution and ever increasing destruction. And slowly and surely they drew their plans against us.
-Somewhere in a distant star system-
Qveinel crouched in front of his Grandmaster, four tentacles touching the ground at cardinal points, North, South, East and West, while the other two were raised in supplication.
"Qveinel what do you bring me?"
"The news is not good sire. They have built a Grand Fleet, and with it they destroyed the Andreoni and their home world."
"You jest! You had better not be lying or I will have the inquisitors remove your tentacles painfully." Though in reality there was no other way to remove a tentacle.
"No sire, please sire, here is the signal. It has been distorted by radiation and parts of it are missing, we believe it shows exactly as I've said to you. Some similar and matching footage was extrapolated from archives, we are not sure of the order they are in but it clearly shows an Andreoni feet attacking this... We are not sure what it is, analysis shows that this is a match in size for the outer most of the Andreoni systems moons." Qveinel waved a tentacle frantically in the air as his eye stalk blinked in near panic.
A massive screen lit up over them. The first scene it showed was an Andreoni fleet warping into orbit around their home planet, a quick count of the moons present showed that there was indeed one extra moon. The Andreoni fleet attacked, their main weapons unable to even marr the surface of the false moon, then a strange new design of star-fighter with wings in a flattened x-wing configuration began to sweep towards their massive foe... "You see here the Andreoni clearly mean to defend their system, though I must say their new design of starfighter is truly strange." The scene disintegrated into a static field of snowy partial images, then cleared again to show the moon alone in space above a planet, no sign of the Andreoni fleet or any other battle group could be seen. The scene shifted to what was obviously an internal view of the command deck, where ugly bi-pedal creatures moved around readying the equipment to fire some kind of weapon, watching the charge build and then the scene cut back to an external view. In the center of the scene a parabolic dish could be seen, from different points around the edge of the dish green beams of energy fired toward a central point some distance from the dish and then formed a single beam which rushed towards the planet below. The beam of energy proved to be devastating as the planet disintegrated and rocks and newly formed asteroids dispersed in all directions. The scene then disintegrated again into snowy field of static.
"You see! You see we were right." Qveinel's body sack flushed magenta as he(?) excitedly explained what his commander had seen.
"How sure are we that this intelligence is correct? Can we trust it?" The Grandmaster seemed dubious as to its authenticity.
"We believe so my lord, we are waiting upon your approval to send scouts. We believe that if that weapon exists we shall need to send at least a full battle group."
"Fool! If they are that advanced they will see a battle group coming from light years away. Our first probe must be small with a full suite of stealth equipment. We must approach with full caution."
"Of course, of course why didn't I think that my lord?"
"Because you, are a simpleton!" Was the rejoinder, with total contempt in his(?) voice.
-Several months later-
"My Lord, the scouts have finally returned from the Andreoni system. The findings are confusing, their system seems to be untouched. I don't understand the signal was extremely clear my lord, it shows that systems destruction."
"And what of the originating system? What do we know of it?"
"Sire, our scouts report that the closer they came to the signals source the more diversified it became. We have much more data to work with now. Following the ever strengthening signal back to its source our scout found the system totally undefended, the only signs of life were on the third planet from their sun. They found a bi-pedal life form that matched those that were on the video signal. Our findings at this stage are inconclusive."
"Who else knows about this situation?"
"Just those within this chain of command Sire."
The commander who was seated in his usual place on a small raised dais began to stroke his central body mass with a few of his tentacles, a sure sign that he was in deep thought.
"it may be time to call in the Seers and shaman, this is obviously beyond our ability to comprehend at this time. If conventional means fail then we must use what ever comes to hand(?) to decipher the meaning of this information."
"Do you think that's wise sire?"
Flushing deep purple with barely suppressed rage the grandmaster raised his central body mass off of the semi spherical stool like throne that he favored.
"YOU DARE QUESTION ME?" his raised voice crashed into the high ceiling and echoed back at his unfortunate underling, who upon hearing that screamed question skittered backwards nervously away from his obviously enraged leader. With his now pale body-sac undulating wildly and several of his tentacles covering his eye stalk he cowered flat against the marbleized floor. He nearly made his second mistake as he began to camouflage himself into the floor but managed to stop the process before it became too apparent. The first offence warranted shouting and abuse, the second would get him skinned while still alive then dropped into a pit of btigi beetles. As far as dying went he'd prefer anything to being slowly dissolved by acid secreted by the hungry beetles, excruciating didn't even begin to describe how painful that would be.
"Noooo!" the long despairing cry of fear joined the echoes of his masters shouted question.
"Silence! You will take this information to the seers and shaman, and you will take it now! Don't you ever question my orders again!"
"At once my Lord." Qveinel scuttled backwards towards the automatic doors never taking his eye off of his still color distorted leader.
-Several days later-
The doors into Second Fleet's command room snapped open revealing a half-squad of Tverri marines (see authors note's) the first three ranks step through the doorway. The first rank marched four paces into the room then snapped three paces to either side then turned to face each other, second rank moved a further four paces and then repeated the actions of the first rank, third rank repeated the actions of the first two and stopped half way to the raised throne. This left one rank of troops outside of the command center they stepped to each side of the door revealing the Head Seer and the Head Shaman of the Tverri Senate, who swept forwards into the room.
"To what do I owe this honor?" Rising from its throne the Commander of Second Fleet prostrated himself with four of his tentacles stretched flat upon the ground, one pointing to the walls at either side while the central two pointed towards the doors through which his leader's representatives had entered.
"Upon due deliberation The Council of Seers has decided that this is a vision of things to come. The vision is so strong that we must act quickly. We must press our present advantage, as it will disappear in the near future."
"The Imperial Council has decided to combine fleets two, three and four to form an offensive fleet. Fleet one currently being the best equipped shall remain in this system in defensive position."
"The Fleets shall stand off and initiate long-range bombardment of our enemy. As they seem to be confined at this point in time to their own planet it would seem expedient to initiate an extinction level event."
"How shall we do this? Any insight you could give me would facilitate a quicker operation."
"The only suggestion we make at this time is that you keep it simple, the simpler the better."
-Earth-
A long way away, and closer than you think, in a system barely inhabited, by an unknown race called humans, who clung tenaciously to their tiny mud ball of a planet. Moving in closer one could see several large continents and thousands of small islands. It is upon one of those islands that we focus, an island the locals like to call Japan. To be even more precise we focus on the capital city, on a small ward in the north of the city called Nerima.
"What's our status?"
"At present we have been granted access to 90 of government and university controlled telescopes and radio dishes on the planet."
"Are we ready to initiate tests of our Inner System Asteroid Mapping Sys. (ISAMS)."
"As of yesterday all computer analysis systems were fully functioning. I'd say we are as ready as we're ever going to be."
"Okay contact our liaisons with each facility and initiate data feed."
"Certainly." The technician hurried from the project leaders office.
"First test range, take it out to one light minute (see Authors note). Anything moving within that range, I want to know what it is, and where it's going."
"Certainly Tendo-san, initial scan may take several weeks, any subsequent scans after that will take significantly shorter amounts of time."
"Initiate then." At those words the white coat clad scientist scurried from the presence of Nabiki Tendo, the president and sole owner of the worlds largest research and developement company - Tendo Corp.
-A further several weeks pass-
"Ma'am we have completed the requested scans. It was felt that with extra computing power we could accelerate the processing speed." The scientist gulped audibly, as Nabiki hadn't authorised them to take the further development of the system, and where extra money was involved she could be very - hmm whats the word? Ah yes. - abrasive.
"What steps did you take?" The eyes, he'd been told to watch the eyes. If they narrowed in any way he'd been warned that he should make use of the door as quickly as possible. He should have been listening to the silky tone of her voice.
"Er, we accessed 'G.A.R.I.O.N.' for the extra computing power of our new super-mainframe. We think it was justified with the increase in speed of the scan."
"Results, what were they?"
"We discovered several near misses, 'G.A.R.I.O.N.' is extrapolating its findings out into the next century or two."
"What about the near misses already discovered? What time frame are we talking here?" Nabiki spoke softly, if the man facing her was any judge of character he'd think they were having a nice conversation.
Looking down at the printouts in his hands he reassured himself that he would be accurate. "The closest will pass within a few thousand kilometers, that one will intercept the Earths orbit in about three years. It's good that it won't hit us, it measures nearly a hundred kilometers across."
"That would be large enough to be classified as an Extinction Level Event wouldn't it?"
"It certainly would Tendo-sama. We attached a continuous watch on all discovered near-misses. We felt that if another asteroid impacted with them they may change trajectories and become more dangerous."
"How likely is that?" She frowned at the young man across the large desk from her, causing him to sweat lightly.
"Umm, not likely at all, in fact the likelyhood is an astronomically small one." He waited to see her smile at his small joke. He was doomed to wait in vain as some office wag had stated Nabiki was constitutionally humorless when it came to business.
"So what's the point of this continuous watch of all near misses."
"Again the project leaders feel that it would be much safer to maintain such a watch. After all the chances of winning the Tokyo lottery is also numerically improbable, but it's done on a regular basis."
"Point taken, what kind of warning do we recieve?"
"Well all section heads will recieve an internal communication, also there is a direct patch into your personal comm system, I felt you would prefer to know as soon as possible if the situation changed." He was further relieved to see her nod, but that proved to be extremely short lived.
"That explains why my wrist tingler (tm) has been sending my arm numb for the last ten minutes. Who authorised the use of my tingler alarm." She was of course talking about the wrist-watch sized alarm that had been developed to alert personell that worked in noisy environments to situations that they could not have heard otherwise. Since its inception it had been used to also denote serious situations that should not be ignored. Nabiki noticed the scientist was back to gulping nervously. "Don't bother answering that, I think I already know." Then she sat up straight as her door crashed open.
"Tendo-san, Tendo-san! The asteroid that we were watching has changed direction and is now on a direct course for Earth!" The young woman screeched as soon as she was sure she had everyones attention.
"Do you know what caused the change in course?" Roderick wanted to know how Nabiki Tendo kept that icy calm with the news that she'd just received, he had already been nervous before this had happened and now he was on the verge of becoming a total wreck.
"No Tendo-san, there does not seem to be any reason for it. We are increasing the intensity of the scan in that area even as I speak."
"Hmmmm," tapping her chin in thought, "once we have more information we will need to contact all relevant governments. In the mean-time hand the problem solving components over to 'Tendos Think Tank', we'll need some plan to resolve the situation as quickly as possible."
"I took the liberty of doing that already Tendo-san." The young woman made firm eye-eye contact with the most powerful woman in the company, something that the elder woman appreciated.
"Very good. I like people who take the initiative." For the first time since the interview had started she smiled, the smile didn't reach her eyes, but it was definitely better than being reamed for being presumptuous.
"Thank-you Tendo-san." Breathing a sigh of relief Lissa Elridge let the tension leave her, they'd been right it was easier to gain forgiveness sometimes than to get permission. Not in this case obviously as she'd been given instruction to do exactly as she'd already done. It was always nice to receive recognition though, since she'd moved here from Europe this was the first time she'd felt her job was secure, of course if Tendo Corp couldn't resolve the situation it would hardly matter in the long run.
"This has become the most important project we currently have. Shuffle all staff necessary, I don't care if other things fall behind or fail totally. We can restart in any case, other than if that asteroid strikes the Earth. I suggest you move quickly on this, you're dismissed." Back to the cold and calculated demeanour that had let her create her company from scratch in just fifty years.
Her staff ran for the door, when Nabiki said make haste she wasn't talking for effect and they knew it.
Turning back to her communications unit as her door slammed shut she punched in the private number of one of her personal friends.
"Yes, President McCauley it is indeed important. No, I don't believe this can wait on the Russian Prime-ministers dinner party. I suggest you call him, this information should be shared. That project we notified you of over a month ago has borne fruit. I assure you, I have no sense of humour where this is concerned Mr President. Yes I'll hold." Nabiki sat drumming her fingers in impatience they now had a timetable for doomsday and it was a lot closer than she felt comfortable with.
"Now Tendo-san, what did you mean when you said Project Icarus has borne fruit?" The gruff voice of Russias leader joined the conversation finally.
"Well sir, it was brought to my attention that an asteroid on a near collision course with Earth has had its course altered. While at this time we have no knowledge of what changed its course, we believe that action must be taken, as its course is now directly in line with this planet."
"How sure are you? I mean this is just so fantastic, so unlikely, is there any chance of the information being wrong?"
"None President, the simulation is being run for the third time even as I speak."
"This sounds serious enough. Where will the object strike?"
"Mr President, I can say with absolute conviction that it will not matter where it strikes."
"Your meaning Miss Tendo?"
"Sir, 'G.A.R.I.O.N.', our Super-mainframe has calculated that this asteroid is 2000 larger than what is needed to initiate an Extinction Level Event. On its shortest axis it measures 117.3 kilometres, we can not estimate mass as we don't know what it's composed of, but unless it's made of helium it won't make one iota of difference."
"My God! We need to come up with some way to destroy that thing!" President McCauley sounded extremely shaken, he'd gone from consulting a menu to select his entree and main course to contemplating the end of mankind, it was lucky he seemed to have lost his appetite for he was pretty sure he wasn't going to be able to eat a thing after this. Nabiki just sat there thinking to herself, 'Yeah way to state the obvious Jonathon Henry McCauley Esq.'(I have yet to figure out why women use a persons full name when they're thinking bad thoughts about them.) Of course there was no way she'd ever say something like that to the leader of the third most powerful nation on the planet.(All Americans please read the authors notes before you flame me. roflmho)
"I will be releasing an information package to all government heads as soon as possible, the sooner they're apprised of the situation the better."
"That would be a great help Miss Tendo. I did not look forward to telling anyone else about this. Speaking of that, who knows about this?"
"As of this moment, we three, the scientists involved with Project Icarus and Triple T(Tendos Think Tank)."
"This is good da? I think the fewer people who know of this the better, yes?" Vladmir Bornakova as always reverted to broken english when he became excited.
"I couldn't agree more, the second this becomes public knowledge from a reliable source, that's the second the world goes up in flames."
"What do you mean, reliable?"
"Well Mr President a couple of months before we started this project a vagabond moved into a doorway opposite the Tendo compound, every time I walked past him he was muttering about the end of the world coming from the sky. Now for some reason I didn't believe him. I guess I should have been paying better attention. But the second some CNN reporter makes that claim it's all over bar the shouting, screaming and looting. The world may end before it's destroyed in that case. Now do you get my meaning?" Nabiki's tone turned icy as she continued her diatribe against the likely actions of mankind.
"Yes, quite graphically I assure you. So you believe that society will descend into anarchy at the knowledge that the world is going to end?"
"It's basic human nature, when faced with total destruction, the greater mass of humanity will decide that it's time to gratify all the things they want to do before the end of their lives and screw anyone who gets in their way."
"You paint a bleak picture Nabiki. But I also fear this may come to pass." The president murmurred.
"I agree, secrecy is a key factor at this stage, we must allow ourselves time to plan. If we can present a coherent plan to the people we may even avert the panic, even better would be to present them with a fait accompli."
"Speaking of security Miss Tendo, I can have a contingent of CIA operatives there to vet your security measures within the day. For in these troubled times surely we must take every precaution..."
"Mr President. Mr President!" She cut him off before he could wind up into full diplomatic hyperbole, she'd never understood why politicians talked so much but said so little. Nabiki herself tended to be fairly close about her emotions, if she was annoyed you knew she was annoyed, if she was downright furious you'd know she was annoyed, at least until she retaliated, if she was happy you'd know she wasn't annoyed, and in the case of confusion you'd think the world had come to an end. One thing She hated and that was not knowing, and confusion was as far as she was concerned the ultimate state of not knowing. The president finally wound down so that Nabiki could respond.
"With all due respect, the CIA has been trying to infiltrate my company for the last forty years, what makes you think I'll just hand over the key to those self same security measures at this or any other time? Both you and I know that any leaks will not come from my people, I have their total loyalty."
"Hmm yes I seem to recall that the only man to ever break your security was named Hibiki, we've wanted to talk to him about that but no one can seem to find him." The President sounded perplexed, how could it be so hard to find one man.
Nabiki allowed herself a small smirk, ' If they only knew.'
"Yes well, I don't believe this is the issue at this time Mr. President. We have a planet to save."
"Da, da! It is time for as you Americans say 'to put up or shut up'. Now, when Triple T comes up with solution, forward the lists for materials to me personally and I will see that they are acted upon immediately. Now I would like to see the information package as soon as possible my science advisers must know as soon as possible."
"The information package will be released in the morning Mr. Prime Minister. It will be good to have one of the planets most comprehensive space programs on board, it might be best to advise them to prepare for multiple launches as any solution will need to be activated in space."
"I thank you Nabiki Tendo, and now I must return to my guests. I look forward to speaking to you in the future."
"Mr. President are you still with me?"
"Yes Miss Tendo I am. May I make a suggestion at this time?"
"Please go ahead, anything said at this point in time could prove to be useful."
"I believe that Strategic Command could initiate a nuclear missile strike to intercept the asteroid. I'm pretty sure if we hit it with enough firepower we can break it up well before It becomes a true danger to Earth."
"What kind of accuracy would a missile, used over that distance have?"
"Hmmm, then we may have to make it a multiple strike. I'd feel better with that anyway as it increases the possibility of wiping this menace from our skies."
"We'll have 'G.A.R.I.O.N.' run a simulation on the possibility as soon as I've talked to Triple T. I'd rather not waste that kind of ordinance on an option that may be doomed to failure."
"To be perfectly honest Miss Tendo I wouldn't see that as a waste, it will greatly decrease our stockpiles of nuclear weapons in one fell swoop."
"Maybe, but what of the future, when we begin to explore our solar system and encounter the added danger of unexploded nuclear warheads?"
"Point. How about a termination range set for somewhere just beyond the asteroid."
"That might work, but still I'd prefer to hold on that until Triple T has had a chance to vet the idea."
"Okay, it's against my better judgement but I'll refrain from launch until your think tank comes up with something of its own. I'd give this to my advisors to discuss, but they tend to think in straight lines. Good help is, as they say, so hard to find." The President of the USA had a chuckle before he finished his statement, "especially when every time I get someone competent, you steal them away." He continued to chuckle to take any implied sting out of his statement, Nabiki Tendo, while she was not into politics in the same way as other big business people, was classified as political for the simple reason she had at her command more money and resources than most first world nations. With those she liked or admired she could be generous, private aid packages would make the difference to a tiny nations education program, food parcels had been given, water pumps and de-salinisation plants had been known to be built in poor countries that had no hope of ever being able to afford such luxuries as clean water. While her name was never attached to any of these projects it was understood that messing with any of them would be a fatal experience for the offender, either politically or in reality. In the same way that gain-saying her on her proposed course of action would be the same as signing his own political death warrant. Nothing overt would be done, but the little things that could be overlooked in moderate ammounts would suddenly escalate until the public lost all faith in their leader, the irony was they were usually things they'd successfully buried up until they annoyed Nabiki.
"I note for the record that you object to my course of action Mr President."
"Oh, no-no, I just feel that this is a time to act."
"Again duly noted. When I said that this was my companies first priority now and in the future, I was not jesting, I meant that any and all resources at my disposal would be used for this until the crisis is averted."
The President sighed audibly. "That's a great relief to hear Tendo-san."
"That's okay Jonathon, I'll send the bill for it after we finish with the asteroid. Now what did you mean by steal all your competent staff? I can assure you I do no such thing, I merely offer them better incentives than the American government can afford."
"Yes so I heard, you even got my own daughter working for you. You'd think that she'd let me know some of the inside information on your company, but no, you command her loyalty more than her own poppa does." His voice had turned warm at the mention of his daughter, she had truly done him proud to be accepted into Tendo Corp at the ripe old age of seventeen.
"She just knows a good thing when she sees it." -chuckle- "Can you blame her? Anyway we always keep an eye on the Mensa organisation as some of our think tanks greatest contributors come from their ranks, your daughters file had been red flagged by me by the time she reached twelve. I just couldn't nab her until she was old enough to work for a living."
"Ah, so the finely honed ethics of Nabiki Tendo come forward and save my daughter from a life of slavery." Now Jonathon McCauley let his receding grey hair down and joined in the laughter. "By the way Mary wants to know when you'll be coming to visit her again, and if by any chance you could bring her youngest child back to the states for a visit?"
"I'll ask her, but you know how driven she is. It may take an executive order and a crow-bar to get her away from G.A.R.I.O.N."
"Yes, it crushes this old mans heart everytime I think that I've been thrown over for an overgrown pile of silicon chips."
"Oh I'm sure you'll get over it, eventually. Tell Mary it may take a few weeks but I'm sure I can pull some strings with the boss."
"Yes I'm sure you can. I'd say it's been nice talking to you Nabiki, but under the circumstances, damn, I wish they were different cicumstances."
"Yes, I couldn't agree more." She noticed a project update on her computer screen, after quickly reading it she turned to let her companion know what was happening. "The information packages have already been sent by the looks of things, you should recieve a copy in a few hours. Then all we can do is wait on Triple Ts' planning session."
"Until later then Nabiki."
-click-
Nabiki looked down at her computer terminal and smiled, Lissa Elridge was turning out to be a real go-getter, a woman after her own heart. She followed the trail of orders the younger woman had issued in her name across the breadth of the complex, most she'd been about to issue herself but then there were a few more she hadn't got around to thinking of herself. That's what made finding such treasures so enjoyable.
-click-
"Yes, how can I help you Tendo-sempai?"
"Lissa, would you join me for a moment please?"
"If I could take a second to finish here I'll be with you in a few minutes."
"Please take your time, I'm in no hurry."
"Certainly Tendo-sempai, I'll be there shortly."
-click-
Nabiki released the communication switch on her console and paged her personal assistant, "Saga-san could you provide some refreshments for myself and a guest?"
"Certainly ma'am, it won't take long, do you have any preferences?"
"No, surprise me."
"Okay, I'll have them to you within ten minutes." The intercom clicked off while her personal secretary attended to Nabiki's request, a few minutes later the speaker on her desk buzzed again, "Ah, Tendo-san Lissa Elridge is here to see you, should I have her wait?"
"No send her straight in."
Across the large room that contained her office one leaf of the double doors swung open and in strode the energetic woman she'd asked to see such a short time ago.
"You sent for me Tendo-san." Statement of fact, not a question as she would not have dared enter Nabiki's inner sanctum without express permission.
"Yes. Please, take a seat. I have sent for refreshments."
"You are too kind."
"I have just got off of the phone to some friends in Europe, they were greatly surprised by the news I had to impart."
"Oh? So?" Nabiki hid a smile, the young girl played the game quite well, but to be truthful at her time of life it became too much effort to play the standard game of Japanese business etiquette. Where the superior led the conversation in circles until he or she decided to get to the point, this let them know many things about the person being talked to, but usually only about their ability to handle frustration.
"I'll get straight to the point," She hid her smile totally as she watched Lissas shoulders slump slightly in relief, "after talking to the President of the US and the Russian Prime-minister, I checked my progress files in preperation of issuing some orders that I felt should be acted upon, only to find that I'd apparently already issued them. Would you happen to know anything about that?" The tenseness came back to the youth, and in spades.
"Er, I can explain Tendo-sama."
"You can?"
"Yes Tendo-sama I can." She staightened her shoulders as if defiantly facing a firing squad, then she winced slightly at the thought of the word firing. "You see I issued those orders."
"Surely you are mistaken young woman, I see no indication that they were issued by you."
'Oh crud, she's not just going to hang me up, she's going to skin me as well.'
"Ummm, I thought they were necessary so I issued them in your name." She shrunk down in her chair waiting for the explosion.
"You did?" Nabikis tone turned silken.
-bzzzzz- Lissa barely stopped herself from jumping up from her chair and bolting as the intercom went off. (for those of you who thought Nabiki had electrocuted her, shame on you! lol)
"Yes?"
"The refreshments you ordered have arrived Tendo-san."
"Send them in Saga-san, also I'll need you to bring in contract 7b."
"Contract 7b? Ah here it is, I'll print a copy and have it with you momentarily."
The doors on the far-side of the room were opened to make way for a trolley with several platters of food and a wide selection of beverages.
"On the coffee table please. Lissa and I were about to move our discussion to a more comfortable venue." She rose smoothly for a woman in her mid seventies and gestured for Lissa to proceed her. As Lissa walked ahead she was thinking, 'and the condemned had of a hearty meal.' Nabiki was openly smiling, which would have been a great relief for Lissa but for the fact she was facing the wrong way.
The orderly who had wheeled the trolley into the room finished transferring the food and drinks to the low table as the women sat down facing each-other again.
"You're probably wondering why I called you here." The younger woman uncrossed her legs and sat forward in anticipation, dreading the next words she might hear. She sat and waited, neither moving or breathing in case it change the outcome in any way.
"I, as you know run one of the largest companies on the planet." The younger woman began to frown, but Nabiki waved a hand dismissing the question before she could ask it. "As such I often find that I miss things, important things, things that I really shouldn't miss. This being the case I find I have need of competent assistants. You've been with the company for the better part of a year now haven't you?"
"Yes Tendo-sama." Lissa was now thoroughly puzzled.
"And would you say you've dealt with the transition to a Japanese company well?"
"I'd like to think so Tendo-sama."
"I too have noted that you've handled yourself with extreme competence since you've arrived here. In fact I'd go so far as to say you've flourished here. As most of my staff know I admire competence in all its forms, I believe it should be rewarded that's why I've called you here. One of my personal assistants has asked to retire and I find myself in need of a replacement. The position is open if you're interested. Well, are you interested?"
"O-o-of c-course Tendo-sama, I'd be honoured!"
"There was no of course about it, and there's certainly no honour. This will mean a lot of hard work and even greater resposibility, as such the repurcussions for failing are correspondingly higher. Of course as I reward my employees rather handsomely for the added onus I would hope that wouldn't be a problem. If you accept you'll continue as liason between Project Icarus and Triple T and of course myself, you will in fact become the project leader, the only limits on your position will be myself and a finacial over-sight commitee. Not that I deem the financial side of things to be important at this time. I suggest that before you answer you read this document, contract 7b deals with all personal assistants and project leaders, stating the terms and conditions of the position. I also advise you talk to my personal assistants and some of the project leaders and find out what they think about the positions they hold. Nothing said will be reported to me as I have complete trust in them all, as I hope they have in me. I would remind you though that I must appoint a project leader soon so I would appreciate an answer within the next couple of days." Handing the younger woman said documents she smiled, and this time the smile reached her eyes, she had never had a family of her own but if she had a daughter she'd hope her child would be something like Lissa Elridge.
"Certainly Tendo-sama." Lissa was slowly recovering her equilibrium after the stunning request from her boss.
"Now enough of that, I don't require that level of formality between myself and my personal assistants, you may call me Nabiki. Now if you would, I have some things I must attend to. If you have any queries please don't hesitate to contact me."
Lissa promptly lost all the equilibrium she'd regained, "Thankyou Nabiki-san." She rose on unsteady feet and bowed formally to Nabiki, before taking the paperwork and leaving the room.
Nabiki steepled her fingers and sat in thought for a moment, 'She has a great deal of potential that one, I'll have to keep an eye out for her.' Then she pushed all other considerations from her mind and turned to the work on her computer terminal.
-Two days later-
"Good-morning Gentlemen, as I believe time is of the essense I will herewith dispense with any formality. I have given you all time to read and digest the information in the packages I sent to you. The situation, as stated is dire, the only way to survive at this time is to co-operate, there-fore I propose that we move as quickly as possible. A brief update would be in order now, Triple T has made several recommendations, the first of which is in answer to the proposed nuclear strike by the president of the United States. They suggest that we go ahead with this proposal, I am forwarding an adjunct to the current information package which will outline the projects requirement. Also they have made tentative proposals for the removal of said asteroid. Any questions?"
"Yes Miss Tendo, any project that deals in space will require exorbitant amounts of money, my question is who foots the bill?"
"Well Monsuer Clemont at this time I do not believe that that's an important question, it's either supply the materials or kiss the planet goodbye. Now if you believe money is more important than that then I have to ask what your agenda is?"
"The French are not a rich country, we have neither the money or the resources required to help in this situation."
"Then you refuse to help? I would advise you at this time that failing to help would be remembered for a very long time. The French space program could be of great use to us as well as the fact that your nation has some of the specialist engineering companies we'll need." Nabiki frowned at the French premier.
"I feel that this is not in the best interests of my nation." With that the Frenchman's monitor went dead in the video conference room.
Several of the other national leaders looked outraged.
"Is he stupid...?"
"Did he understand anything in the information package?"
"Damn fool!"
"Gentlemen I believe we are off subject, we need to focus and we need to move quickly. I'll deal with the French premier afterwards. Now on to business...several hours later... And that gentleman concludes our first planning session. I move that all future communications on this matter be done through diplomatic channels, I'd also like to announce that Tendo Corp. in a bold new initiative will be moving forward on an asteroid mining project, this will be our cover story in the event anyone asks about our multiple launches. I feel that if we give people a logical explanation they will be less likely to jump to conclusions of their own, and also in one key factor it's totally correct, we are in fact going after an asteroid. So ladies and gentlemen I believe this concludes our business for today, unless there are any other questions," she waited for several moments for those around the room to demur, " in that case gentlemen I'll bid you good day." Nabiki sighed shortly after the little red lights on top of her camera stopped blinking.
"Tendo-san?" Nabiki looked up at her new protégé.
" What is it Lissa?"
"The project heads wish to know if they have a green light?"
"They do indeed. Oh and Lissa before you go I'd like you to contact special investigations branch and have them prepare a dossier on the French premier."
"Certainly Tendo-san." Lissa Elridge hurried from the room at her usual precipitous velocity.
-six months later-
Nabiki stood in front of her newly French designed holo-screen, 2 m tall by three wide and three deep, a marvel of modern technology it was currently being used to track the progress of some 200 nuclear missiles towards a certain distant asteroid. Said asteroid occupied the dead center of the screen as it was the focus of all their efforts, with four hours to go before impact the asteroid seemed to slide to one side.
The whole room exploded in chaos as the scientists in the room watched the impossible, a point that many of them were now screaming at the top of their lungs. For the next three hours Tendo Nabiki watched as the others in the room continued to react in panic. She like everyone else had been stunned as she watched the percentage marker above the asteroid change from 87 percent to a mere 2 percent, unlike everyone else she'd begun to think about causes, from the most likely to the most unlikely. She'd noticed several things that the others were too panicked to notice, the first was that even though the asteroid had moved it hadn't changed its trajectory and would still impact Earth in some two and a half years, secondly she noticed that the asteroid did not tumble through space but spun on what seemed to be a stable axis, an axis that followed its trajectory line straight through Earth. Nabiki had an unusual mind in the fact that even though usually her thought processes followed a logical path, she sometimes would just have a flash of insight where everything would drop into place in an instant. The conclusion she was now forming was that no random set of factors could possibly lead to events as they stood. One change of trajectory was unlikely but possible, two changes while maintaining the same trajectory was stretching the bounds of the possible beyond reality, the only possible conclusion was that the trajectory changes were being artificially induced, meaning that somewhere out there another species of intelligent beings were acting against the planet Earth. At T-minus five minutes the clustered nuclear warheads broke apart and then aimed for where they believed the asteroid to be. As predicted only 2 of the warheads impacted the asteroid meaning that nearly 30 -- 10 mega-tonne warheads were on target. The rest sailed serenely past undetonated until they reached the termination range set by G.A.R.I.O.N. where a sphere of light a thousand times larger than the asteroid lit the dark void of space.
-The end for now.-
Now onto really important stuff. If by some chance you like, hate or are indifferent to my story please review. I'd really like to hear from you why you have any of the above feelings about my story. No, I mean really, I spent weeks working on this, all I ask is a few moments of your time in response not such a bad trade really it it? lol.
Authors note's:
This story as you'll see was placed in the future. All those signals that have headed off into space since the creation of television have finally borne fruit, and an advanced civilization has decided to respond with the only form of communication that they believe we are capable of. Any guesses as to what that will be?
The race of aliens are called the 'Tverri'. A multi-tentacled species, resembling an octopus crossed with a cuttle-fish, that discovered interstellar travel before mankind discovered the wheel. They have met several other species of alien in their limited exploration of their section of the galaxy. Situated almost 350 light years from Earth they have grown progressively more paranoid as time passes. The alien in itself has a central body sack nearly a meter across, four tentacles append from the underside of the body as 'legs', while the other six append from the sides and above. Each tentacle has two fingers and an opposing thumb, providing a grip that though not as sure as a humans with our four fingers and a thumb, they have more 'hands' than we do. The eye stalk sits on top of the body sack directly between two of the tentacles. It's maybe 2 feet long and has three eyes or sensor units in it, the first is visual, the second is infrared while the third picks up ultraviolet. The last two are vestigial sensory units, from when they were a primitive but adaptive food source for a much larger predator, they still work, though just not as efficiently, a little like the human nose. Something else held in common with a cuttle fish is the ability to change the pigments in the skin layer giving them the ability to almost perfectly camouflage themselves into the terrain. The outer layer of skin while flexible is incredibly tough and rubbery, this acts as a layer of armor. The other difference is that the Tverri have a skeleton that supports the tentacles and provides extra armor in the body sack. After first combat the troops and then the hierachy take to calling the Tverri by the name Calamari for obvious reasons.
Tverri marines, an elite imperial guard that's a cross between a Commando and a Navy-seal. In other words not someone you want to have confused about your loyalties or which side of any given conflict you're on.
To give you an idea of distance in this case, the sun is approximately 8 light minutes from earth.
'G.A.R.I.O.N.' stands for Gigantic. Array. Reality. Inversion. Omni. Network. Please don't ask what that means. As I have no idea. As with most acronyms I reckon they start with a cool sounding name and then work backwards from there. I know I did!
For those Americans who are offended that I place their nation as the third most powerful on the planet at the time of this fanfic I have this to say. At this point in time both India and China have a much greater economic growth rate than the US, I take this to mean that fifty years from now it's quite possible that these two will be classed as super-powers if not in military might then certainly in economic terms.
