~~~~~~~~
Chapter 3g: Life just isn't fair sometimes
~~~~~~~~
-From the Journal of Erin Tarn
It has been many weeks since last I heard of
my dear friend and I fear that the worst has befallen
him. My contacts among the dimensional travelers
have informed me that he has apparently vanished
without a trace and is now the subject of one of the
largest manhunts the Megaverse has ever seen. It
seems that my friend has finally bitten off more
then he can chew this time. The man I speak of
is of course Ranma Saotome, quite possibly the
most interesting and yet at the same time the
most impossible young man I have ever met.
It seems strange to feel so strongly about him when
he spent such a short time with me and my
companions. There is some intangible quality to
that young man that seems to draw others to him
like moths to a flame. Ranma possesses a refreshing
zest for life that remains undampened despite the
worst that the Fates seems to keep throwing at him.
I first encountered the poor boy during that little
mishap with a dimensional rift that landed me in the
strange world known as Wormwood. Such an idealistic
lad he was, brash and yet possessing an innate sense of
honesty and a code of honor that I found quite charming,
as did the other females in my party. Yet Ranma also quickly
proved his mettle as a formidable fighter when he helped us
to fend off one of the Horde's raiding parties. By all rights
any normal human should have been dead many times over
after sustaining the amount of blaster fire he did. Amazingly
enough he came out of the fight with nary a scratch, though
his raiment wasn't nearly as fortunate.
Saotome soon became a welcome addition to our traveling
party and escorted us through some rather nasty territory.
Suffice to say within a week we finally managed to reach one
of the world's free cities and regretfully parted ways. He was
our very own knight errant right out of the tales of old, minus
the shining armor. Ah, if I were only thirty years younger...
There was little hope of ever seeing him again, though I did invite
him to visit me in the city of Lazlo if ever he should happen to
journey there. As luck would have it, he did go to Lazlo during
the Mechanoid crisis, although I wasn't present at the time and only
learned of his appearance through second hand accounts.
I suppose that I should have known better then to believe
that our paths wouldn't cross again. The next time I saw that
pigtail of his was at the Gathering of Heroes. It was hard
to tell who was more surprised when we ran into each other,
him or me. Once again he had just shown up where he was
needed most, the only reason he would give for his presence was
that "It's a martial artist's duty to help a just cause".
His aid in defeating the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
proved invaluable. I personally witnessed his battle with
Pestilence, which only confirmed my earlier belief that Ranma
was more then just the superb fighter he claimed to be. In the
fight against the Demon and its minions my friend revealed
several amazing abilities that he used to send the monstrosities
back to whatever Hellish plane had spawned them. Flight,
incredible supernatural strength and stamina, reflexes that a
Juicer would be envious of, a capacity for somehow surviving
even the most grievous injury, and the ability to rapidly discharge
very powerful beams of energy from his hands at will. When I
I later confronted him with the evidence he finally capitulated to
my inquiries as to who and what he really was.
I must admit, the truth came as quite a shock. Whatever I
had been subconsciously expecting paled in comparison to
the reality. I have promised Ranma that I will not reveal his
secret, even though it pains me that his heroism will never
be recognized by the rest of the world.
Something changed between us after that, though I do not think
he meant to distance himself he did so nonetheless. There was a
new sadness in his eyes after the fighting was over, but he hid it
so well that of the surviving heroes of the campaign only myself
and the mysterious Katrina Sun noticed it. Then one night, during
one of the many parties being held to celebrate our victory, he
simply vanished. Though everyone searched the town he was
nowhere to be found, I knew then that he had gone back to where
he was most needed.
It would be nearly two years before I saw Ranma again.
~~~~~~~~
-Ristmoth, 9 hours into the attack
After hard fighting that had claimed many lives
on both sides, the way was finally clear. Alliance
Battleships had established a solid perimeter for
the vessels carrying their valuable ground troops
to pass through. The occasional flash and cloud of
superheated dust on the planet's surface arose from
the continuing suppression of strategic planetary defenses
and military bases. Careful precision was necessary for
the orbital bombardment, the civilian population was
already in uprising against their former masters and
the fleet had no wish to hit friendly forces.
"The transports are preparing to make
their drops. Escorts, take your positions."
The Untamed Stallion and her escorting squadron
of fighters was joined by several other older corvettes
and half a dozen Assault Frigates along with their capital
space patrols to form a protective screen for
the convoy of slow and quite battered barges.
The transports were an old design and had been
mothballed ages ago by the Empire. But now they
pressed back into service by a Rebellion that
desperately needed every functioning ship it
could get.
With only light shields, a few nearly antique
laser batteries, and practically no armor
whatsoever, these ships were the equivalent
of big, fat, sitting ducks for even the smallest
and weakest Kreeghor vessel, hence the need
for the strong escort. By now, the remaining
Imperial capital ships that could had already
fled from the system, while the rest were now
either expanding spheres of light and heat or dark
gutted hulks depending on whether or not the
ship's engines had been breached. But despite the
through sweep that Alliance forces had made,
an occasional squadron of enemy fighters still
managed to slip out from one of the hidden hangers
on the planet's surface. Just one squadron would be
more then enough to decimate the transports.
The anti-fighter defenses on the Untamed Stallion were
the best in the fleet, her fellow corvettes also mounted
impressive deterrents as well. If by some chance they
ran into something larger then just fighters that's where
the frigates would come in. But their abilities were about
to be put to the test as the planetary defense forces played
their final and most lethal trump card.
"I'm detecting multiple launches coming from the planet's surface!"
A hundred hidden armored silos belched smoke and flame as their
contents climbed for the upper atmosphere and escape velocity.
"Missiles incoming!"
"Keep them away from the transports at all costs!!"
"Activate the Defense Grid and prep point defense!"
The Rebel Starcruisers Vigilant and Liberty quickly moved
into position to pound the previously concealed launchers
into fine grade powder. That just left the cruise missiles
heading toward the fleet's transports as the only visible
remaining threat for the escorts to deal with.
Sophisticated ECM disabled some before they
ever reached space, in an ironic twist sending the
missiles back toward the base that had launched
them. The faster escort fighters came within range
of the deadly swarm first, taking their toll on the
evasive smart bombs with energy cannons and rail
guns. But there were simply too many of the missiles
and not enough fighters, despite their best efforts at
least half of them got through. There was no time for a
second pass, even as the pilots turned the massive rockets
altered their heading to keep them out of range as
they continued to close on the helpless transports.
Then the corvettes began launching countering volleys
of their own, going for multiple fratricide. More explosions
briefly lit the darkness of space, yet the remaining warheads
still headed relentlessly toward their targets.
Now was the most dangerous time as the escorts were forced into
close range in order for their guns to come into play. Cruise missiles
could cross the short distances quickly enough that there wouldn't
be enough time for an unlucky vessel in its way to even think of
evading. With few exceptions the ships of the convoy could not hope
to survive a direct hit from even one of those gigantic warheads.
It was a grueling trial of the crews' nerves and the gunners' accuracy,
there was almost no margin for error and casualties started mounting
almost immediately. In the blink of an eye one of the leading corvettes
vanished in the white hot flare of an antimatter explosion as a missile
struck it head on.
Onboard the Untamed Stallion Commander Ayla was
a shouting orders to the rest of the ship, her draconic
nature evident despite being shapeshifted into a human
in the sheer force behind her commands.
"You know the drill ladies, aim straight and shoot fast!"
From the comlink there was a chorus of affirmatives
from the various gunners manning the weapons turrets.
A score of enemy missiles died in the ensuing storm
of point defense lasers, particle beams, plasma bursts,
and hyper-velocity duranium rail-gun rounds. But more
were still coming, the Assault Frigate Spirit nearly joined
the first unfortunate escort in oblivion as its weak point defense
was overwhelmed by over half a dozen of the guided
warheads. The first missile was destroyed as was the
second, but the third and fourth ones got through and
inflicted a savage punishment on her faltering shields.
By some quirk of fate the fifth warhead missed completely
and was vaporized by the Untamed Stallion's guns as
it came around for another attack. The sixth
warhead punched through Spirit's weakened variable
forcefield to explode violently against her hull, crippling
the valiant escort vessel. The ship's lights went dark and
the battered hulk was forced to use its remaining engine
power to limp away.
Three of the corvettes took up new positions to cover the
vector left open by the withdrawing frigate. They succeeded
in stopping the missiles coming from that direction, but the
escorts paid the ultimate price for their bravery. All three ships
were nothing more then expanding clouds of superheated gas
by the time the fleet's fighters came screaming back into the fight
with with full afterburners blazing fiery streaks behind the small
craft.
Ten cruise missiles managed to evade the gunners' tracking systems,
and the defenders were running out of time. In a few moments the
warheads would reach the transports and over a hundred thousand of
their irreplacable troops would be lost.
Commander Ayla realized that they had only one option left
if the convoy was to have any chance at all. They
were the only ship still between the warheads and
the convoy. The missiles couldn't be allowed to
get pass them, no matter what it took to stop them.
Even though it might cost them their lives, death was
something each and every member of the crew had
accepted as a possibility that came with the job.
"Set our ECM to deception mode. Use Alliance
transponder setting seven."
Tania winced but responded without hesitation.
"Copy, Commander. Reconfiguring ECM now."
The communications officer took a moment to whisper
a short prayer in her native tongue. Setting seven meant
that they would register to the missile guidence systems
as a group of three Alliance Starcruisers. In theory
the command protocols of the warheads should override
control and change the target priority to the more enticing
false readings. Of course if this worked then that would
leave the Untamed Stallion with ten really big and very
nasty smart bombs with anti-matter payloads aimed at it.
She decided to pray a little harder.
~~~~~~~~~
-Juuban
For some reason the Sailor Senshi weren't as
glad to see their traditional rescuer as they
normally would be. Perhaps it was due to the fact
he was making a total fool of himself on national
television. It might have something to do with
his challenging someone who'd just wasted two
of the Negaverse's finest military commanders
just few minutes ago. Or it could be that he'd been
late for the scheduled last minute rescue, which
wasn't a good thing. Especially for the ones who
were supposed to be rescued. Either way, to say
they were quite miffed with him would be quite an
understatement.
Ranma rolled his eyes heavenward for a moment and
then interrupted the cliche inspiration speech.
"Lemmee skip the preliminary stuff and cut to the chase scene.
Are you by any chance an Alien Intelligence? A God? A Demon?
Some powerful supernatural fiend I've probably never heard of?
A mage with a bad taste in overpriced wedding garments? One
of those master psychics that have lost more then a few marbles?
Or are you packing any 30th century firearms? Carrying a weapon
of considerable magical power by any chance?"
"Um...no."
"Then stop bothering me and go get a real job."
Tuxedo Kamen facefaulted, unfortunately for him
he was leaning toward the wrong side of the roof at
the time. The watching Senshi winced as he hit the
pavement with an audible splat.
Ranma ignored his twitching form as he went to check
on the unconscious Skuld. His fingers gently probed her
for injuries with a deftness and throughness that rivaled
a experienced battlefield medic.
{Hmmm, a light concussion, some bruises on her
back and along her side and a twisted ankle.}
[Fascinating.]
Uh oh. Whenever she said something like that trouble always
followed sooner or later. He was almost afraid to find out
what she found so interesting *this* time.
{What is it?}
[Her psychic energy level is nowhere
even near a normal human's. In fact I'm
pretty sure she's not even a mortal.]
This wasn't as bad as the malfunctioning
thermal detonator or the fairy ring incident,
but it came close.
{What?! Are you telling me she's some kind of godling?!!}
[Bingo. This is looking less and less like that quiet
vacation you kept promising. On the bright side I
haven't been this entertained in centuries!]
Ranma winced as the sword burst into telepathic
laughter. With Ishtar as his partner he never had to worry
about his ego getting too inflated, she was always there to
cut him down to size.
{I'm glad one of us is finding this situation funny. Now
are you going to heal her or is there anything else you'd
like me to know about?!}
[Well, aside from the fact that those other girls
are some of the sources of those magical
emanations from last night and that weirdo in
the black tuxedo and hat seems to have recovered,
nothing much.]
{..Ishtar!}
[Fine, fine. Spoilsport.]
Resting the flat of the blade across the
young goddess's chest Ranma watched
as a soft yellow light flowed from the sword
into the girl's body. The most visible of the
bruises shrunk and vanished, revealing unmarred
skin. Although he couldn't see the rest of the effects
of his partner's healing power, he did note with
some relief that the girl's breathing was even and
untroubled. Ishtar couldn't do anything about her faint,
that was one of those little medical mysteries like the
common cold that had never been solved by magic
or anything else even in the advanced society he'd
come from. Skuld would have to come out of that
one on her own.
He did his best to arrange her more comfortably on
the ground before turning toward the nearest of the
strangely dressed girls, which turned out to be Sailor Jupiter.
She eeped in surprise at how fast he moved and took an
involuntary step back. Ranma's action was also misinterpreted
rather badly by a certain thickheaded masked crusader of justice.
*Thwack*
Something hit Ranma in the back. It turned out to
be a fancy walking cane and was about as effective on
his Cosmic Armor as a piece of down. The sound of wood
hitting something considerably harder then mere metal was
rather annoying though. He decided to just ignore it and hope
that this weirdo came to his senses, only a complete idiot
would keep on attacking him like that.
"Get away from them!!"
*Thwhack**Thwack*
[Well he's got guts. No brains, but guts.]
~~~~~~
-A few moments later
*thwhack**thwack**thwack*
The cane was looking much the worse for wear.
It was meant as more of a gimmick really, great for
parrying attacks or polevaulting but leaving
something to be desired as a melee weapon. The
cantrips that enchanted the wood were no match
for Ranma's skin, let alone his armor.
"*huff*-I will-*puff*-defeat-*gasp*-you-*wheeze*!"
Tuxedo Kamen resolved to get more exercise after this
was all over. Normally all he had to do was toss a rose in,
make a pretty speech, maybe make a few fancy moves with
his cane and "presto" the crisis was over. Consequently he
had no stamina to speak of, only his pride was keeping him
going this long. It didn't help his confidence any that his
target didn't even seem to notice his best efforts.
"Those ribs seem to be only bruised Miss...ah... I
don't believe I've caught your name yet."
"Mako...err I mean Sailor Jupiter! Yes,
that's right, it's Sailor Jupiter."
Ranma raised an eyebrow beneath his helm as his patient
turned bright cherry red with embarrassment and laughed
nervously.
"Okay... hold still, this should only take a second."
Once again the Rune weapon's healing ability went to work.
Almost immediately Jupiter breathed easier as the pinching
soreness eased around her midsection. Even the rest of her
cuts and bruises didn't hurt as much as they had earlier. She
wasn't afraid of this stranger anymore, his kindness just had
to be genuine. He probably looked just like her old sempai
underneath that tight armor.
"Thank you."
Ranma nodded in acknowledgement before
going to see to the others, he totally missed
the little hearts floating in the girl's eyes.
But his path was suddenly blocked by a
slightly exhausted caped crusader.
"Hey you! Quit ignoring me!!"
"Huh? You're still here? And still dressed like that?!"
That was the last straw, an outraged Tuxedo Kamen
threw a wild punch toward the armored form that
seemed to just keep on mocking him.
A moment later he was nursing severely bruised
knuckles and doing his best not to scream from
the pain. That action would be filed under the
heading of *things you now know not to do*.
"Knock it off, you're only hurting yourself Tux-boy."
"Don't call me Tux-boy!"
Sailor Jupiter picked that moment to drag Tuxedo Kamen
off in order to explain to him a concept known as "punctuality".
~~~~~~~~
Shadow and Rowan exchanged
looks then turned to Zora.
"How much for a DVD of that scene?"
"50,000 yen per disc."
"We'll take ten."
~~~~~~~
-Furinkan High
Akane Tendo was angry. While this was
not a unusual state for her to be in, the cause of
her irritable state today was. Ranma Saotome this,
Ranma Saotome that, she was getting sick of hearing
his name on the lips of what seemed to be every student
on campus. Even the boys were talking about him, though
they were only concerned about a.) finding a way to
beat him by tomorrow morning or b.) find a way to
become his buddies and benefit from it with the girls.
The only exception to this was the Furinkan Martial
Arts Club, they wanted to recruit Ranma so that they
could finally trash their rival schools.
What was worse, they'd all turned to her for more
information about him since Nabiki tended to charge
too much. Akane had enjoyed being the most popular
person in school and though she'd never admit it,
being upstaged like that had hit both her vanity and
pride rather hard. Consequently any residual attraction
she might have felt toward Ranma was now buried under
a flood of outrage and annoyance at being practically
forgotten by the entire school.
"Akane, my love!"
*Wham*
Well, *almost* the entire school.
Just wait till they got back to the dojo,
then she'd show that showoff what a
"true" martial artist couild do! Turn down
her offer to spar and fight *her* battles for her
would he, well she'd have the last laugh!!
*Crack*
*Boom*
That was strange, why was there a storm
suddenly brewing over the Juuban district?
Today's forecast had said there'd be clear
skies all day.
~~~~~~~
-Juuban
Ranma glanced up at the rapidly darkening sky with
some concern, he could sense that the building storm
wasn't entirely natural in origin. There was an almost
electrical feeling in the air, as if every molecule had been
supercharged with mystic potential. This didn't bode
well, already he could feel his own power starting to
flare up instinctively in response to the presence of so
much excess psychic energy despite his efforts to keep his
power signature to a minimum. An occasional spark of static
electricity would briefly snap into existance around Ranma
where his aura met the increasingly agitated atmosphere.
Either he was in the middle of a leyline storm again or
something or someone possessing as much potential
psychic energy as all these girls combined was close by.
And as far as he knew this part of Japan didn't even have
leylines.
Ranma was pretty sure that whatever it was wasn't like
those diabolic monsters from before, figuring that he'd
have gotten an early warning from his partner if that was so.
That he wasn't starting to glow was also good sign, it meant
that at least for the moment both parties were on the same polarity.
If the other party was truly evil, his armor would have started
to light up like a christmas tree from the negative charge.
The electricity wasn't as promising, he could almost taste
the hostility that was fueling it.
{Someone doesn't seem to like me very much.}
Something this big showing up so soon with a chip
on its shoulder was more then just a coincidence,
and it didn't take a genius to figure out what had
probably attracted their attention. That ring he'd
gotten from the Harpells must be on the fritz again.
A magical artifact that didn't always work properly,
most people would swear that was impossible. Of
course most people had never met the Harpells before
either.
{Now if I only knew how to take the damn thing off...}
Ranma tended to trust his feelings, another bit of wisdom
from an old friend and teacher. Right now, those feelings
were telling him that staying around to find out who was
trying to find him would be a *very* bad idea. His hunters
might not harber any ill intentions toward the other people
here, but Ranma got the impression that whatever was out
there would not be so lenient with him. Fighting here wouldn't
solve anything, and it would put innocent lives in jeopardy.
Better to confront them at a time and place of his choosing,
hopefully one where a peaceful settlement could be reached.
While his injuries always healed fast, they still hurt. And despite
sordid rumors to the contrary, he was not a masochist!
{Time to go.}
Slipping away shouldn't be too much of a problem,
it looked like everyone else's attention was on the little
squabble taking place in front of him. He'd put away
Ishtar once she was done healing the girls, no sense
in tempting fate by leaving her out where she might
change her mind about them. A jealous Rune Weapon
was not a pretty sight, especially when she could read
his thoughts as clearly as a book with glass pages. For
a moment he almost reconsidered retrieving her again,
the sense of unrelenting loathing had been nearly overpowering
and her abilities could come in handy if worst came to worst.
But he resisted the temptation, such an act might be viewed as
provocation and Ranma was determined that if there was a
fight that he wouldn't be the one that started it.
Much to his amusement, after he'd finished healing them
the girls wearing the colorful fukus had surrounded the poor
chump in the formal eveningwear and were currently
berating him within an inch of his life. Ranma had never
seen a guy that wasn't already married look so whipped
before, after this he'd probably never be able to take that
Tuxedo character seriously ever again.
Ranma was congratulating himself for his cleverness on having
avoided a potentially sticky situation as he quietly walked
away. Then a sultry voice stopped him in his tracks and
brought the others' attention back to him.
"Hold it right there buster."
A stunning platinum blonde blocked his escape, some idle
corner of Ranma's mind noted that it was the same woman
who'd fallen out of the television. He also noticed that she
seemed to be at least partly responsible for the magical
saturation of the surrounding area. The small jolts of lightning
that kept popping up around her as she approached him was a
pretty definite confirmation of that.
No doubt about it, he was in trouble again.
~~~~~~~
-Tombiki High
Somehow a television had been smuggled into
class. A certain Shuutaro Mendo might have
had something to do with that, but there was no
proof that could be traced back to him.
"What a babe!!"
The most lecherous boy in the universe soon
regretted his comment, however true it might
have been.
"Darling no baka!!!"
Hell hath no fury like an Oni scorned.
*ZAP*
(To be continued)
Chapter 3g: Life just isn't fair sometimes
~~~~~~~~
-From the Journal of Erin Tarn
It has been many weeks since last I heard of
my dear friend and I fear that the worst has befallen
him. My contacts among the dimensional travelers
have informed me that he has apparently vanished
without a trace and is now the subject of one of the
largest manhunts the Megaverse has ever seen. It
seems that my friend has finally bitten off more
then he can chew this time. The man I speak of
is of course Ranma Saotome, quite possibly the
most interesting and yet at the same time the
most impossible young man I have ever met.
It seems strange to feel so strongly about him when
he spent such a short time with me and my
companions. There is some intangible quality to
that young man that seems to draw others to him
like moths to a flame. Ranma possesses a refreshing
zest for life that remains undampened despite the
worst that the Fates seems to keep throwing at him.
I first encountered the poor boy during that little
mishap with a dimensional rift that landed me in the
strange world known as Wormwood. Such an idealistic
lad he was, brash and yet possessing an innate sense of
honesty and a code of honor that I found quite charming,
as did the other females in my party. Yet Ranma also quickly
proved his mettle as a formidable fighter when he helped us
to fend off one of the Horde's raiding parties. By all rights
any normal human should have been dead many times over
after sustaining the amount of blaster fire he did. Amazingly
enough he came out of the fight with nary a scratch, though
his raiment wasn't nearly as fortunate.
Saotome soon became a welcome addition to our traveling
party and escorted us through some rather nasty territory.
Suffice to say within a week we finally managed to reach one
of the world's free cities and regretfully parted ways. He was
our very own knight errant right out of the tales of old, minus
the shining armor. Ah, if I were only thirty years younger...
There was little hope of ever seeing him again, though I did invite
him to visit me in the city of Lazlo if ever he should happen to
journey there. As luck would have it, he did go to Lazlo during
the Mechanoid crisis, although I wasn't present at the time and only
learned of his appearance through second hand accounts.
I suppose that I should have known better then to believe
that our paths wouldn't cross again. The next time I saw that
pigtail of his was at the Gathering of Heroes. It was hard
to tell who was more surprised when we ran into each other,
him or me. Once again he had just shown up where he was
needed most, the only reason he would give for his presence was
that "It's a martial artist's duty to help a just cause".
His aid in defeating the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
proved invaluable. I personally witnessed his battle with
Pestilence, which only confirmed my earlier belief that Ranma
was more then just the superb fighter he claimed to be. In the
fight against the Demon and its minions my friend revealed
several amazing abilities that he used to send the monstrosities
back to whatever Hellish plane had spawned them. Flight,
incredible supernatural strength and stamina, reflexes that a
Juicer would be envious of, a capacity for somehow surviving
even the most grievous injury, and the ability to rapidly discharge
very powerful beams of energy from his hands at will. When I
I later confronted him with the evidence he finally capitulated to
my inquiries as to who and what he really was.
I must admit, the truth came as quite a shock. Whatever I
had been subconsciously expecting paled in comparison to
the reality. I have promised Ranma that I will not reveal his
secret, even though it pains me that his heroism will never
be recognized by the rest of the world.
Something changed between us after that, though I do not think
he meant to distance himself he did so nonetheless. There was a
new sadness in his eyes after the fighting was over, but he hid it
so well that of the surviving heroes of the campaign only myself
and the mysterious Katrina Sun noticed it. Then one night, during
one of the many parties being held to celebrate our victory, he
simply vanished. Though everyone searched the town he was
nowhere to be found, I knew then that he had gone back to where
he was most needed.
It would be nearly two years before I saw Ranma again.
~~~~~~~~
-Ristmoth, 9 hours into the attack
After hard fighting that had claimed many lives
on both sides, the way was finally clear. Alliance
Battleships had established a solid perimeter for
the vessels carrying their valuable ground troops
to pass through. The occasional flash and cloud of
superheated dust on the planet's surface arose from
the continuing suppression of strategic planetary defenses
and military bases. Careful precision was necessary for
the orbital bombardment, the civilian population was
already in uprising against their former masters and
the fleet had no wish to hit friendly forces.
"The transports are preparing to make
their drops. Escorts, take your positions."
The Untamed Stallion and her escorting squadron
of fighters was joined by several other older corvettes
and half a dozen Assault Frigates along with their capital
space patrols to form a protective screen for
the convoy of slow and quite battered barges.
The transports were an old design and had been
mothballed ages ago by the Empire. But now they
pressed back into service by a Rebellion that
desperately needed every functioning ship it
could get.
With only light shields, a few nearly antique
laser batteries, and practically no armor
whatsoever, these ships were the equivalent
of big, fat, sitting ducks for even the smallest
and weakest Kreeghor vessel, hence the need
for the strong escort. By now, the remaining
Imperial capital ships that could had already
fled from the system, while the rest were now
either expanding spheres of light and heat or dark
gutted hulks depending on whether or not the
ship's engines had been breached. But despite the
through sweep that Alliance forces had made,
an occasional squadron of enemy fighters still
managed to slip out from one of the hidden hangers
on the planet's surface. Just one squadron would be
more then enough to decimate the transports.
The anti-fighter defenses on the Untamed Stallion were
the best in the fleet, her fellow corvettes also mounted
impressive deterrents as well. If by some chance they
ran into something larger then just fighters that's where
the frigates would come in. But their abilities were about
to be put to the test as the planetary defense forces played
their final and most lethal trump card.
"I'm detecting multiple launches coming from the planet's surface!"
A hundred hidden armored silos belched smoke and flame as their
contents climbed for the upper atmosphere and escape velocity.
"Missiles incoming!"
"Keep them away from the transports at all costs!!"
"Activate the Defense Grid and prep point defense!"
The Rebel Starcruisers Vigilant and Liberty quickly moved
into position to pound the previously concealed launchers
into fine grade powder. That just left the cruise missiles
heading toward the fleet's transports as the only visible
remaining threat for the escorts to deal with.
Sophisticated ECM disabled some before they
ever reached space, in an ironic twist sending the
missiles back toward the base that had launched
them. The faster escort fighters came within range
of the deadly swarm first, taking their toll on the
evasive smart bombs with energy cannons and rail
guns. But there were simply too many of the missiles
and not enough fighters, despite their best efforts at
least half of them got through. There was no time for a
second pass, even as the pilots turned the massive rockets
altered their heading to keep them out of range as
they continued to close on the helpless transports.
Then the corvettes began launching countering volleys
of their own, going for multiple fratricide. More explosions
briefly lit the darkness of space, yet the remaining warheads
still headed relentlessly toward their targets.
Now was the most dangerous time as the escorts were forced into
close range in order for their guns to come into play. Cruise missiles
could cross the short distances quickly enough that there wouldn't
be enough time for an unlucky vessel in its way to even think of
evading. With few exceptions the ships of the convoy could not hope
to survive a direct hit from even one of those gigantic warheads.
It was a grueling trial of the crews' nerves and the gunners' accuracy,
there was almost no margin for error and casualties started mounting
almost immediately. In the blink of an eye one of the leading corvettes
vanished in the white hot flare of an antimatter explosion as a missile
struck it head on.
Onboard the Untamed Stallion Commander Ayla was
a shouting orders to the rest of the ship, her draconic
nature evident despite being shapeshifted into a human
in the sheer force behind her commands.
"You know the drill ladies, aim straight and shoot fast!"
From the comlink there was a chorus of affirmatives
from the various gunners manning the weapons turrets.
A score of enemy missiles died in the ensuing storm
of point defense lasers, particle beams, plasma bursts,
and hyper-velocity duranium rail-gun rounds. But more
were still coming, the Assault Frigate Spirit nearly joined
the first unfortunate escort in oblivion as its weak point defense
was overwhelmed by over half a dozen of the guided
warheads. The first missile was destroyed as was the
second, but the third and fourth ones got through and
inflicted a savage punishment on her faltering shields.
By some quirk of fate the fifth warhead missed completely
and was vaporized by the Untamed Stallion's guns as
it came around for another attack. The sixth
warhead punched through Spirit's weakened variable
forcefield to explode violently against her hull, crippling
the valiant escort vessel. The ship's lights went dark and
the battered hulk was forced to use its remaining engine
power to limp away.
Three of the corvettes took up new positions to cover the
vector left open by the withdrawing frigate. They succeeded
in stopping the missiles coming from that direction, but the
escorts paid the ultimate price for their bravery. All three ships
were nothing more then expanding clouds of superheated gas
by the time the fleet's fighters came screaming back into the fight
with with full afterburners blazing fiery streaks behind the small
craft.
Ten cruise missiles managed to evade the gunners' tracking systems,
and the defenders were running out of time. In a few moments the
warheads would reach the transports and over a hundred thousand of
their irreplacable troops would be lost.
Commander Ayla realized that they had only one option left
if the convoy was to have any chance at all. They
were the only ship still between the warheads and
the convoy. The missiles couldn't be allowed to
get pass them, no matter what it took to stop them.
Even though it might cost them their lives, death was
something each and every member of the crew had
accepted as a possibility that came with the job.
"Set our ECM to deception mode. Use Alliance
transponder setting seven."
Tania winced but responded without hesitation.
"Copy, Commander. Reconfiguring ECM now."
The communications officer took a moment to whisper
a short prayer in her native tongue. Setting seven meant
that they would register to the missile guidence systems
as a group of three Alliance Starcruisers. In theory
the command protocols of the warheads should override
control and change the target priority to the more enticing
false readings. Of course if this worked then that would
leave the Untamed Stallion with ten really big and very
nasty smart bombs with anti-matter payloads aimed at it.
She decided to pray a little harder.
~~~~~~~~~
-Juuban
For some reason the Sailor Senshi weren't as
glad to see their traditional rescuer as they
normally would be. Perhaps it was due to the fact
he was making a total fool of himself on national
television. It might have something to do with
his challenging someone who'd just wasted two
of the Negaverse's finest military commanders
just few minutes ago. Or it could be that he'd been
late for the scheduled last minute rescue, which
wasn't a good thing. Especially for the ones who
were supposed to be rescued. Either way, to say
they were quite miffed with him would be quite an
understatement.
Ranma rolled his eyes heavenward for a moment and
then interrupted the cliche inspiration speech.
"Lemmee skip the preliminary stuff and cut to the chase scene.
Are you by any chance an Alien Intelligence? A God? A Demon?
Some powerful supernatural fiend I've probably never heard of?
A mage with a bad taste in overpriced wedding garments? One
of those master psychics that have lost more then a few marbles?
Or are you packing any 30th century firearms? Carrying a weapon
of considerable magical power by any chance?"
"Um...no."
"Then stop bothering me and go get a real job."
Tuxedo Kamen facefaulted, unfortunately for him
he was leaning toward the wrong side of the roof at
the time. The watching Senshi winced as he hit the
pavement with an audible splat.
Ranma ignored his twitching form as he went to check
on the unconscious Skuld. His fingers gently probed her
for injuries with a deftness and throughness that rivaled
a experienced battlefield medic.
{Hmmm, a light concussion, some bruises on her
back and along her side and a twisted ankle.}
[Fascinating.]
Uh oh. Whenever she said something like that trouble always
followed sooner or later. He was almost afraid to find out
what she found so interesting *this* time.
{What is it?}
[Her psychic energy level is nowhere
even near a normal human's. In fact I'm
pretty sure she's not even a mortal.]
This wasn't as bad as the malfunctioning
thermal detonator or the fairy ring incident,
but it came close.
{What?! Are you telling me she's some kind of godling?!!}
[Bingo. This is looking less and less like that quiet
vacation you kept promising. On the bright side I
haven't been this entertained in centuries!]
Ranma winced as the sword burst into telepathic
laughter. With Ishtar as his partner he never had to worry
about his ego getting too inflated, she was always there to
cut him down to size.
{I'm glad one of us is finding this situation funny. Now
are you going to heal her or is there anything else you'd
like me to know about?!}
[Well, aside from the fact that those other girls
are some of the sources of those magical
emanations from last night and that weirdo in
the black tuxedo and hat seems to have recovered,
nothing much.]
{..Ishtar!}
[Fine, fine. Spoilsport.]
Resting the flat of the blade across the
young goddess's chest Ranma watched
as a soft yellow light flowed from the sword
into the girl's body. The most visible of the
bruises shrunk and vanished, revealing unmarred
skin. Although he couldn't see the rest of the effects
of his partner's healing power, he did note with
some relief that the girl's breathing was even and
untroubled. Ishtar couldn't do anything about her faint,
that was one of those little medical mysteries like the
common cold that had never been solved by magic
or anything else even in the advanced society he'd
come from. Skuld would have to come out of that
one on her own.
He did his best to arrange her more comfortably on
the ground before turning toward the nearest of the
strangely dressed girls, which turned out to be Sailor Jupiter.
She eeped in surprise at how fast he moved and took an
involuntary step back. Ranma's action was also misinterpreted
rather badly by a certain thickheaded masked crusader of justice.
*Thwack*
Something hit Ranma in the back. It turned out to
be a fancy walking cane and was about as effective on
his Cosmic Armor as a piece of down. The sound of wood
hitting something considerably harder then mere metal was
rather annoying though. He decided to just ignore it and hope
that this weirdo came to his senses, only a complete idiot
would keep on attacking him like that.
"Get away from them!!"
*Thwhack**Thwack*
[Well he's got guts. No brains, but guts.]
~~~~~~
-A few moments later
*thwhack**thwack**thwack*
The cane was looking much the worse for wear.
It was meant as more of a gimmick really, great for
parrying attacks or polevaulting but leaving
something to be desired as a melee weapon. The
cantrips that enchanted the wood were no match
for Ranma's skin, let alone his armor.
"*huff*-I will-*puff*-defeat-*gasp*-you-*wheeze*!"
Tuxedo Kamen resolved to get more exercise after this
was all over. Normally all he had to do was toss a rose in,
make a pretty speech, maybe make a few fancy moves with
his cane and "presto" the crisis was over. Consequently he
had no stamina to speak of, only his pride was keeping him
going this long. It didn't help his confidence any that his
target didn't even seem to notice his best efforts.
"Those ribs seem to be only bruised Miss...ah... I
don't believe I've caught your name yet."
"Mako...err I mean Sailor Jupiter! Yes,
that's right, it's Sailor Jupiter."
Ranma raised an eyebrow beneath his helm as his patient
turned bright cherry red with embarrassment and laughed
nervously.
"Okay... hold still, this should only take a second."
Once again the Rune weapon's healing ability went to work.
Almost immediately Jupiter breathed easier as the pinching
soreness eased around her midsection. Even the rest of her
cuts and bruises didn't hurt as much as they had earlier. She
wasn't afraid of this stranger anymore, his kindness just had
to be genuine. He probably looked just like her old sempai
underneath that tight armor.
"Thank you."
Ranma nodded in acknowledgement before
going to see to the others, he totally missed
the little hearts floating in the girl's eyes.
But his path was suddenly blocked by a
slightly exhausted caped crusader.
"Hey you! Quit ignoring me!!"
"Huh? You're still here? And still dressed like that?!"
That was the last straw, an outraged Tuxedo Kamen
threw a wild punch toward the armored form that
seemed to just keep on mocking him.
A moment later he was nursing severely bruised
knuckles and doing his best not to scream from
the pain. That action would be filed under the
heading of *things you now know not to do*.
"Knock it off, you're only hurting yourself Tux-boy."
"Don't call me Tux-boy!"
Sailor Jupiter picked that moment to drag Tuxedo Kamen
off in order to explain to him a concept known as "punctuality".
~~~~~~~~
Shadow and Rowan exchanged
looks then turned to Zora.
"How much for a DVD of that scene?"
"50,000 yen per disc."
"We'll take ten."
~~~~~~~
-Furinkan High
Akane Tendo was angry. While this was
not a unusual state for her to be in, the cause of
her irritable state today was. Ranma Saotome this,
Ranma Saotome that, she was getting sick of hearing
his name on the lips of what seemed to be every student
on campus. Even the boys were talking about him, though
they were only concerned about a.) finding a way to
beat him by tomorrow morning or b.) find a way to
become his buddies and benefit from it with the girls.
The only exception to this was the Furinkan Martial
Arts Club, they wanted to recruit Ranma so that they
could finally trash their rival schools.
What was worse, they'd all turned to her for more
information about him since Nabiki tended to charge
too much. Akane had enjoyed being the most popular
person in school and though she'd never admit it,
being upstaged like that had hit both her vanity and
pride rather hard. Consequently any residual attraction
she might have felt toward Ranma was now buried under
a flood of outrage and annoyance at being practically
forgotten by the entire school.
"Akane, my love!"
*Wham*
Well, *almost* the entire school.
Just wait till they got back to the dojo,
then she'd show that showoff what a
"true" martial artist couild do! Turn down
her offer to spar and fight *her* battles for her
would he, well she'd have the last laugh!!
*Crack*
*Boom*
That was strange, why was there a storm
suddenly brewing over the Juuban district?
Today's forecast had said there'd be clear
skies all day.
~~~~~~~
-Juuban
Ranma glanced up at the rapidly darkening sky with
some concern, he could sense that the building storm
wasn't entirely natural in origin. There was an almost
electrical feeling in the air, as if every molecule had been
supercharged with mystic potential. This didn't bode
well, already he could feel his own power starting to
flare up instinctively in response to the presence of so
much excess psychic energy despite his efforts to keep his
power signature to a minimum. An occasional spark of static
electricity would briefly snap into existance around Ranma
where his aura met the increasingly agitated atmosphere.
Either he was in the middle of a leyline storm again or
something or someone possessing as much potential
psychic energy as all these girls combined was close by.
And as far as he knew this part of Japan didn't even have
leylines.
Ranma was pretty sure that whatever it was wasn't like
those diabolic monsters from before, figuring that he'd
have gotten an early warning from his partner if that was so.
That he wasn't starting to glow was also good sign, it meant
that at least for the moment both parties were on the same polarity.
If the other party was truly evil, his armor would have started
to light up like a christmas tree from the negative charge.
The electricity wasn't as promising, he could almost taste
the hostility that was fueling it.
{Someone doesn't seem to like me very much.}
Something this big showing up so soon with a chip
on its shoulder was more then just a coincidence,
and it didn't take a genius to figure out what had
probably attracted their attention. That ring he'd
gotten from the Harpells must be on the fritz again.
A magical artifact that didn't always work properly,
most people would swear that was impossible. Of
course most people had never met the Harpells before
either.
{Now if I only knew how to take the damn thing off...}
Ranma tended to trust his feelings, another bit of wisdom
from an old friend and teacher. Right now, those feelings
were telling him that staying around to find out who was
trying to find him would be a *very* bad idea. His hunters
might not harber any ill intentions toward the other people
here, but Ranma got the impression that whatever was out
there would not be so lenient with him. Fighting here wouldn't
solve anything, and it would put innocent lives in jeopardy.
Better to confront them at a time and place of his choosing,
hopefully one where a peaceful settlement could be reached.
While his injuries always healed fast, they still hurt. And despite
sordid rumors to the contrary, he was not a masochist!
{Time to go.}
Slipping away shouldn't be too much of a problem,
it looked like everyone else's attention was on the little
squabble taking place in front of him. He'd put away
Ishtar once she was done healing the girls, no sense
in tempting fate by leaving her out where she might
change her mind about them. A jealous Rune Weapon
was not a pretty sight, especially when she could read
his thoughts as clearly as a book with glass pages. For
a moment he almost reconsidered retrieving her again,
the sense of unrelenting loathing had been nearly overpowering
and her abilities could come in handy if worst came to worst.
But he resisted the temptation, such an act might be viewed as
provocation and Ranma was determined that if there was a
fight that he wouldn't be the one that started it.
Much to his amusement, after he'd finished healing them
the girls wearing the colorful fukus had surrounded the poor
chump in the formal eveningwear and were currently
berating him within an inch of his life. Ranma had never
seen a guy that wasn't already married look so whipped
before, after this he'd probably never be able to take that
Tuxedo character seriously ever again.
Ranma was congratulating himself for his cleverness on having
avoided a potentially sticky situation as he quietly walked
away. Then a sultry voice stopped him in his tracks and
brought the others' attention back to him.
"Hold it right there buster."
A stunning platinum blonde blocked his escape, some idle
corner of Ranma's mind noted that it was the same woman
who'd fallen out of the television. He also noticed that she
seemed to be at least partly responsible for the magical
saturation of the surrounding area. The small jolts of lightning
that kept popping up around her as she approached him was a
pretty definite confirmation of that.
No doubt about it, he was in trouble again.
~~~~~~~
-Tombiki High
Somehow a television had been smuggled into
class. A certain Shuutaro Mendo might have
had something to do with that, but there was no
proof that could be traced back to him.
"What a babe!!"
The most lecherous boy in the universe soon
regretted his comment, however true it might
have been.
"Darling no baka!!!"
Hell hath no fury like an Oni scorned.
*ZAP*
(To be continued)
