Disclaimer: The characters used within this are mostly the property of others. I have a few originals, but the vast majority are not original. Everything here is fiction. This is for entertainment only and not for profit.

-=oOo=-

Araiansu - Chapter 33

-=oOo=-

Rommie awoke transparently on the bridge of the Nozomi. She instinctively checked the data feed she still had from the Satori. All was well there and her partners were sleeping well. Wait. She was surprised when she realized that Lya and Ayiana were sleeping on the floor behind her.

She let herself drift over to them, gently touching both to confirm they were well. Both instantly woke. She reflexively jump back almost a foot.

Lya said, "There is no need for concern."

Rommie yawned. "I'm just surprised you are here. Figured you would be with the others till I actually checked and found you missing."

Ayiana said, "We just wanted to have a few words with you about what you did."

"I did nothing wrong," Rommie defended.

"Mostly True," another voice said as another ghostly figure materialized.

Rommie turned to the now seemingly solid form. She, herself, was mostly transparent.

The form walked over to her and touched her on the face as if she were solid. "I give you a small gift."

Rommie suddenly flared as the stranger's hand touched her. She went from transparent to solid. "You restored all that I had spent and a bit more. Why? Aren't you supposed to not interfere? Wait, are you the one Samantha described that was with Orlin?"

"Yes, my name is Oma Desala and I violate no rules here today. It was you that crossed the threshold that allowed us to meet once more."

"Huh?" asked a confused Rommie.

Lya smiled amused. "You are so wise, but you still do not understand what is before you, nor what you have helped to do."

Rommie said, "With the help of all the others and the modified plan I tried to help save Nabiki maybe a thousand years of not quite being right. I know it sucked when I did it, at least when I had no partners. I wouldn't want that for anyone."

"True, but incomplete," added Oma.

Ayiana said, "I have been around those who have Ascended. It is not something I seek, at least not now, but I do know what was done touched on true Ascension. Remove the ship, change the purpose, and Nabiki would have Ascended."

"Then if her ship is destroyed," started Rommie.

Oma said, "It doesn't work like that. She is now bound to a ship that we think will, in time, be just as remarkable as you are and will continue to be. I and others will try to be there on that day to offer her the choice, if she is found worthy of it on the day."

"Then, have I harmed her?"

"Yes, and no. You have helped her, but also made it where she may need help to pass on, one way or another, just as you will one day require it."

"Can you teach me how to help on such a day?"

Oma smiled. "That I can. You are the first group to manage to come this far without help in a very long time. I cannot share all. There are rules, but this much I can share as well as caution. I will rely on your discretion."

Lya asked, "Can you tell us what threat we face. Is it the Aschen?"

"No, but you must not fail. Perhaps the new ship name is more fitting than you know."

Ayiana mused, "A cryptic hint from an elder. Who saw that coming?"

Lya raised her hand.

"We must all play our parts. Be proud of what you have accomplished. And careful. Be very very careful."

Rommie said soberly, "We will."

-=oOo=-

Jack sat across the desk from Hammond, Rodney, and Siler on Mars. "Nice place you have here Siler. You have been busy."

"I tried my best. The crews that came with the submarines have been invaluable, and all the ones since have been almost too much to keep track of. We have worked hard for this place. The world shaper ship has basically cut our schedule in half. We think within five years you might be able to breathe on the surface. Not well mind you, but we are getting there fast."

Rodney said, "The Asgard power supplies really helped. They may be able to source much less instantaneous power, but they just make up with them in number and they don't burn through nearly as fast as the zero point modules do when they are tasked heavily, though to be fair ZPMs work great when you use sane amounts. They are by far the absolute highest potential energy to storage capacity to volume bar none. The Asgard generators are no where close and the fact that they will happily let you consume insane amounts of power in short periods of time is also amazing, even if it degrades them a lot faster."

Hammond said, "About the elephant in the room?"

Siler said, "They have been in touch. We have turned down all inquiries. I'm with everyone else. I do not trust them at all. Frankly, I want to get some ships built and fielded. I know we are starting and have the fighter craft, but frankly Mars feels vulnerable, particularly if Liberator were to leave."

Jack said, "We think with their talk of doubling life span and such that they may be biological weapons masters. We are going to start funneling everyone here we can that we think we can trust along with the necessary equipment."

Hammond said, "We want you to give this an absolute priority. Don't neglect the ships, but make sure no one who comes here has anything contagious or dangerous. If Earth is infected it may be up to you."

"I understand sir."

Rodney said, "I've started using the automated production equipment on Atlantis to ship you the updated Tollan Ion canons. I've adapted the design so each one will have its own Naquadah reactor. We have also self contained the design. Two firing keys are required. One can be transmitted remotely or it can go true standalone and two operators can fire without central permission."

"I understand. I'll make sure we get good people operating them. How many of them are we looking at?"

Rodney said, "About thirty. I'm still working on the numbers, but there has to be overlap, or it is too easily penetrated. The main thing to remember was the old Tollan design was still good, even when Anubis's ship defeated the first several shots. If there is an existing threat just keep firing. Do not assume that just because a few shots didn't do the job that more won't."

Siler nodded thoughtfully.

General Hammond said, "This is part of the reason they are standalone. If command is destroyed they can continue to act and finish the mission."

"Understood. I've already got a secondary and tertiary command team, one of which is totally unknown, though has the necessary recognition codes to take over if the primary and secondary are destroyed. They will not catch us napping."

Jack said, "We should have promoted you long ago."

"Perhaps so, but I'd rather be using a cutting torch."

Jack shrugged. "I'd rather be fishing."

Rodney said, "I'm looking into how to modify the Asgard atmospheric shield to provide protection against biological seeding of a virus from space. The good news is it may work. The bad news is it will burn itself out in less than a day."

"Do your models think they could penetrate our domes? I assume the answer is yes."

"Yes," Rodney said. "They can. We can. Everybody can. That bio shield I mentioned only works if they just disperse something in space with enough protection to survive till it gets to ground. For missiles, you will have to rely on the Ion cannons, ships, and your jets."

"What about a shield generator?"

George said, "There we have better news. We can likely get additional ZPMs from the ones Sam and the others collected. If you can get the shield generators built, we can power them, at least over major cities."

Siler said, "That tech is really hard for us to build. I've looked at it, but I doubt I could build them before Rodney could retool and build then on Atlantis."

"He is almost certainly right, and the automated manufacturing still must be pipe-lined if you want any speed. I need to finish the entire set of Ion canons before doing anything else, or you will almost double the total time. It is a month off at best, probably more."

George said, "I think this group is playing a long con, at least with the ones on Earth. They don't want to be seen to be being the bad guys, at least not too soon. That probably buys us time. I will ask the TSAB if they can loan us a ship until our defenses are more solid. We can do that much here."

Siler said, "They are using politics to try to drive you from Earth."

George nodded. "That they are indeed, and if you count making a lot of easily led fools seriously pissed, well mission accomplished."

"So," Siler said, "I don't have time for keeping up with Earth news. What are they pushing?"

Jack said, "Oh they have brought back the favorites. They say we are spying on children in bathrooms and brainwashing them, and well turning everyone gay, and that we aren't saving the planet for Earth, but for aliens, oh and we are controlling one party and the other party is the only hope through which the world can be saved. Change the names and you get the same thing in most countries."

"Any plans to just kick them the hell off?"

General Hammond said, "Possibly, but we want our other team to find out if they are related to the bomb, and where these creeps home planet is located. Also it is preferred, but not required, that they screw up first."

Jack said, "We got around whatever they did to block our monitoring, and now the liar is back on twenty four seven, as well as all of the leaders of the troublesome party, and these Aschen, and just to be fair everyone on the other side, or at least that is the plan."

Rodney said, "It should be up by the end of the day. Of course our workaround may be blocked too. They are hardly incompetent."

George said, "Keep at it. At the very least we are tying up resources they could use for something we don't know about."

"I will."

-=oOo=-

Mirris sat behind her grand desk at the top of the largest tower on Aschen Prime. Standing before her were two of her fellow Aschen. "Borren report."

"The propaganda campaign we are waging to separate the various Earth governments from the Earth Defense Force is working to accomplish its goals, but I am as yet uncertain if those goals are sufficient to be useful. As you know the Central Directorate, once they learned of Earth and its allies predicted them to be a priority one threat to the Aschen. Our hope to weaken them by denying them a home world may work, but at the same time it is less than certain it does anything other than solidify them as our enemy. Our hope to make all the factions kill each other is far less than optimal, though again may work, particularly if we offer hidden aid to one side or another. Our usual plan of introducing a vaccine that results in irreversible sterilization must wait until the Earth Defense Force is driven off, unless perhaps we can blame them for the sterilization."

Mirris said, "Follow up on that. It could possibly work."

Borren nodded. "Either way, we need the various sides committed to our path, so we can slip them the usual miracle cures. If need be we can use an active form of the virus such that all are infected. Numbers wise, if we are careful, we should still be able to depopulate the planet, as usual, though whether it will be generally worth the effort to do so is uncertain. The real problem is the likelihood of war with this EDF group. We are less prepared for space battles. We do believe we will be victorious in any event, but their allies are at least comparable and in some cases have perhaps greater technology."

"We have been over this," Mirris said with frustration. "The likelihood of this particular group not attacking us at some point is essentially zero. The only logical conclusion is to attack them first. What are your thoughts Mollem?"

"I am still less than certain of that group of people. They did not truly understand the technology they had, nor do we."

Mirrim said, "We have no choice, not when the confederation is at threat."

Borren asked, "And the warnings from our scientists?"

"Scientists always exaggerate the risk. We still have no choice and it is a moot point anyway. There is no abort. You know this."

Mollem said, "We expected positive results by now. There was to be a death of the key group by now. Other than some curious movements by their group we have heard nothing, not even from the fools who believe they will be king when the others are driven away."

Mirris agreed. "Yes, it is a concern. I am preparing our strongest bio weapon."

Borren asked, "Is this wise? We are all fundamentally of the same genetics. Even with your careful targeting, one mutation and it will readily kill us just as well as them, and we may not be able to stop it."

"Wise no. I am not sure we have a choice. Our ships lack the hyperspace travel ability to reach Earth in a reasonable time. We are correcting that with our field teams. Our scientists are reverse engineering the Goa'uld technology quickly, but they are far ahead of us in this area."

Mollen said, "This is a mistake. I care not a wit weather the people on Earth live or die. One more garden world for our food will make no great difference. We should have taken the gate addresses and left and not let that ship and crew launch, let alone all the rest. Our success is because we act slowly and methodically. You let the prediction of a computer decide our fate!"

Mirris asked, "And what would you have me do about it? Turn it all over to them? I'm sure they will love the whole bit where we have been over generations sacrificing whole civilizations to build our own. The prediction is still listed as over ninety percent. They will not allow the Aschen Federation to continue. The best case scenario is they kill all of the leaders, but every citizen of Aschen knows how Aschen Prime gets its wealth. We are all guilty and I for one am not going to die in the off chance it saves some children or something! This conversation is over. Get back to work. We are executing the plan!"

-=oOo=-

The Asgard, choose to remain on Othalla, save for alternate Heimdall who along with Narim, and the Naraida intended to be dropped of at Earth before the others took their side trip. They intended to do what they could to prepare there while they had the time.

-=oOo=-

Nabiki woke in darkness, yet she was so warm. Rommie was here and holding her tightly, much like she imagined her mother would have done had she lived long enough. "Why is it so dark?"

"I'm sorry Nabiki but you don't have eyes anymore."

"Oh, dumb question I guess. Do you have to go soon?"

"Soon, but not yet."

"Oh, so do I get the pep talk and five minute quick start now?" joked Nabiki, a touch bitterly.

Rommie held her more tightly. She said, "It is okay to mourn what you have lost, but do not forget also what you have gained."

"It is so dark."

"Take my hand. See with my eyes."

"You don't have any either," joked Nabiki half seriously.

Nevertheless she clasped the other heart's hands in her own.

"See as I see. You have the potential now."

"That is what you see. Amazing. It is if I could see every hair on everyone's body."

"Only part, but it is enough for now. I am going to reduce my help. If you lose the connection, I will help again."

Nabiki smiled as she quickly learned how to synchronize, see, and feel through her new body. She forgot her doubts and for now at least she lost herself in the simple joy of learning.

-=oOo=-

Before they knew it, they were back over Ranma's true home world. He was at his Mother's house. Kasumi and Doctor Tofu beamed down near the Tendo house to speak with Mr. Tendo and this world's Kasumi, who was there at the time.

"Hello mother."

"It is good to see you son. Are you here long?"

"No."

"Who is that dear?" asked his father.

"Door to door salesman."

"Get rid of them."

"Will you come with me?" he asked quietly.

"Genma, I'm leaving to buy food for dinner."

"Good, I was wondering when you would get started on that."

"Where are we going?" she asked. They vanished in a flash of light, only to appear once more in the Satori's cargo bay.

Ranma said, "Welcome to Satori. Much has occurred, but there are more guests to come."

Doctor Tofu, two Kasumis, Akane, and a visibly older Soun Tendo appeared in a flash of light.

Samantha walked up to him and pulled him into a gentle hug.

"Ranma?" asked Akane in wonder.

"Hey Akane."

"I thought you were dead!"

"I thought it was better if you could move on with your life."

"And you didn't think I deserved the chance to say goodbye?"

"I feared it would make things worse."

"Baka."

"Who is the stunning blond behind you?"

"Akane Tendo, let me introduce you to my wife and mother of our children Samantha Carter."

His mother asked, "When do I get to spoil grandkids?"

Sam said, "They are a bit old for that I'm afraid."

"Huh?" Akane asked.

Ranma said, "It is a long story. We came to tell you about what happened to Nabiki, and the choice she made."

"Nabiki?" Soun seemed to become slightly more lucid. "Where is she?" Then he got more angry and asked, "Where is my daughter?"

Rommie appeared in mid air. "I have found Shampoo and Ukyo as well, if you wanted to do this all at once."

"How about the old ghoul?"

"I have not found the elder."

"She's dead," Akane said. "Shampoo sent us a note just a day or too ago."

Ranma said, "I'm sorry to hear that. Does anyone object if we bring up Shampoo and Ukyo?"

"Makes no difference to me," said Akane. Then she added, "But if something has happened to my sister…"

"I could try to restore your ki. I sense you are more balanced now. I do not know if it will work, but I still feel guilty that it came to that."

"Yes, I want that back. I think I can do better now."

Ranma turned to Doctor Tofu. He nodded.

Shampoo and Ukyo appeared in another flash of light. Ranma said, "Please wait a bit and we will answer questions."

"Shampoo wait."

"But not long," Ukyo added darkly. "You have answers to give."

Ranma nodded.

He set down on the ground. Sam curled up beside him. Both left their legs stretched out. Both were wearing formal EDF uniforms, including pants.

Ranma said, "Come here Akane."

Akane looked at him warily.

"I can splash myself with water if you want."

"Yes, I miss see that."

Ranma pulled out a small bottle of water out of his personal storage space, and after one gender and height change curled into Sam's side.

"You don't hate it any more," Akane said in surprise.

"No."

Akane said, "I'm married."

"I know, and while there is a certain degree of intimacy in what we must do, it is not intended. If you want, you can wait for some friends of ours. They have more skill than we do."

"We really were a pair of idiots surrounded by fools throwing gasoline."

Ranma said, "We know, but we all grew up."

"Nabiki is okay?" asked Akane.

"I believe so."

"That is not very clear," accused Akane.

"You can wait on this if you want."

"No, fix it," demanded Akane.

"Very well."

He clasped hands with his wife even as Akane hesitantly laid down on their laps. They then took Akane's face in their hands, before a storm of pure white life energy swirled through them all.

"Aiyah!" exclaimed Shampoo. "They far more powerful than even the most powerful elder!"

"Really?" asked Ukyo.

"Don't be a ditz. You can feel that!"

"You're right."

It only took them about ten minutes, though Akane's eyes were wide with wonder during it, and then it ended.

Akane asked in a bit of a whiny voice, "Why'd you stop?"

Both Kasumi's laughed and even Doctor Tofu hid a smile.

"Ranma do Shampoo next?" asked Shampoo.

Ukyo said, "You did that deliberately."

"Shampoo no know what you mean."

Akane stretched. "Dang that felt great. I feel so much better. The world is in color again. So, do I need multiple treatments?" she asked hopefully.

Sam said, "Your fine, and yes we know it probably felt nice. One trip per customer. Go on you."

"It sucks to have Ranma's ex girlfriends in his lap huh?" asked Akane with a smirk.

Sam said, "That was half my energy you know, and did I mention we have kids?"

"So do I. Well one. Oh, I don't know what you did or how, but Kasumi mentioned your visit and that you might be able to help our son."

Ranma said, "We will. Doctor Tofu, can you coordinate with Rommie and..?"

"He will have to come about the Nozomi. He has a genetic condition. Bad luck of the draw. Your bio bed should be able to fix it. I'll get it done."

"Thank you."

Ranma asked Ukyo, "If Shampoo and you want to try your luck at our healing skills then you are welcome to do so, but nothing romantic will come of it."

They did, much to Ranma and Sam's amusement. Their experience lasted less than half the time. They were healthy.

"Now, what happened to Mercenary Girl?" asked Shampoo.

Soun seemed to come alive then as he too took interest.

Ranma said, "You tell me Shampoo. You have the senses. Use them."

Shampoo sat down Indian style. A dim glow formed around her. It was a perfectly neutral white color. "Aiyah! Mercenary girl is here!" Then about ten seconds later, "But not here? Shampoo not understand."

Ukyo said, "Stop with the bimbo act Shampoo. It got old long ago."

"Very well."

Lya and Ayiana walked in.

Lya asked, "What don't you understand?"

Shampoo immediately bowed with her head touching the floor and then held Ukyo's head down too.

"There really is no need."

"You are mentioned in Amazon legends. It is said we failed you. Please, how may I serve?"

"How do you recognize me?"

"Your energy sings like the Earth. I am humbled to be in your presence."

"And how did you fail?"

"The old lore said we abandoned the way of peace for the way of violence. Few know about this. As an elder in training, I am one of the few."

"You did not fail me, though you may have failed yourself. Either way, rise. We have no time for silliness."

Shampoo rose back to her feet, letting Ukyo up as well.

"Now what don't you understand?"

"I not know why Nabiki can be here, but obviously not be here?"

"Is it so very complex?" she asked. Soun too paid close attention, trying to understand.

"She is tied to this place?" asked Shampoo uncertain.

"No," Lya said. "She is this place. Every part of this ship is her. She is now functionally immortal."

"How?" gasped Nabiki's father.

"It was her choice," Ranma said. "We just helped her along the way."

"Why would you do this to my little girl?"

Rommie reappeared. "It truly was her choice and she is doing well." She then held out her hands and in them you could see both Aurora class warships floating in the sky above Earth. We are above my right hand, but my own ship is above my left. I am actually using Satori's systems to appear here."

Soun passed out, but not before both Kasumi's caught him. They helped him lay comfortably before the one nearest Rommie walked into her, absorbing her into herself.

They said, "Rommie can share the body of her partners. It is a comforting thing and helps her and the ship do more."

The other Kasumi asked, "You don't expect me to do that do you?"

The merged pair responded, "No, of course not. The ultimate choice is Nabiki's, but it is better to have people that are quite different for balance."

Akane said, "I never thought I'd see the day my elder sister was, what intimate with girls, or is there a guy in there somewhere?"

Aya appeared in a flash of light, then with a sultry walk stepped over to Akane.

The merged pair laughed. "We are quite content."

"As am I," the other Kasumi said.

Ukyo asked, "What does this all mean?"

Rommie once more slipped out from Kasumi. "I separate, not because Kasumi disagrees, but because you should not think my words are influenced. The choice is yours. You could stay aboard, or come aboard sometimes. Our stealth systems are on. They can't find us. Even the image I made before was slightly artificial, since we are not visible."

"Why cannot Mercenary, no Nabiki talk now?"

Lya asked, "Could you speak coherent sentences less than a day after you were born?"

"No."

Ukyo asked, "Then we are here as babysitters?"

Ayiana spoke. "Nothing so simple. You are here because you were part of their life, and have some degree of potential as a life adept. Perhaps Nabiki will find one or two of you worthy. Perhaps not."

Shampoo asked, "What is this ship's purpose?"

Lya bent down and touched Soun gently on the forehead. "Wake," she commanded. Soun was suddenly awake and alert. "Are you with us?" she asked.

He nodded.

"We are going to go to the other ship. You will see what happened to Nabiki, and why she is like this. You will remain alert and focused. You will not retreat into your mind and misery. Your daughters deserve more than this. You will stop it!"

Soun nodded soberly.

Rommie said, "I could show you here, but it may be that Nabiki doesn't want to see it again so soon, and in any event, it would be rude for me to commandeer more of her systems when my own can certainly do the job."

They vanished and reappeared seemingly where they were.

Rommie said, "This is my cargo bay. We are sister ships so it is no surprise it is identical, though I have a bit more history than Nabiki does." She turned to Shampoo, "You asked for Satori's purpose. Watch and learn."

They watched as Rommie recreated Nabiki's becoming. Many words were muted, yet they saw it all, and even Nabiki's purpose, awkward quotes and all.

Rommie asked, "Does that answer your question?"

"It does. I will stay. This is Shampoo's place."

Rommie smiled.

Akane asked, "Just like that?"

"You not understand. I swear on my honor to marry Ranma, foolish girl that I was. I can now marry no one. I swear on my honor to protect and defend the Joketsuzoku Amazons with my life, but know our techniques and tradition mean nothing to the Chinese army. They will push us aside like yesterday's garbage, and probably soon. This is a chance that if I am here helping that I can also help my people. I would do it even if my honor did not dictate that I had no choice but to try. I have also spoken with Nabiki many times since we were so foolish. She now has much honor. I am sure I will not regret this choice."

"That's nice and all sugar, but while I'll admit Nabiki did become better, I'm not sure what I would do here," admitted Ukyo.

Ranma asked, "Surely you now have more dreams than a simple Okinomiyaki chef?"

"And what is wrong with Okinomiyaki?" asked Ukyo.

"Nothing, but that truly is your ambition?"

"I wanted to marry you. I hoped you would help with the store."

Ranma sighed.

Akane said dryly, "And there went Ranma relaxing from the bullet he unknowingly dodged."

"No kidding," Sam added quietly.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

Lya said, "If this truly doesn't interest you, then we can of course return you to your home."

"I. Look. I. Dang it. I don't want to go back to the madness. My shop is enough for me. That and Konatsu, as weird as he is some days."

"Fair enough Ukyo. Shall we send you back? You can't talk about this of course."

"Please."

Ukyo vanished.

Lindy, Hayate, and Rein came in, with Rein sitting on Lindy's right shoulder.

Lya said, "These three will be in charge on the ship, until Nabiki can speak and make her own decisions. We urge you to listen to them regardless. Lindy here," Lindy raised her hand. "is going to lead her people when she returns from this little vacation."

Doctor Tofu walked in the door. He said, "Akane it will be another few hours until your child is fully healed. Re-sequencing a genome is very time consuming unfortunately. That he is young helps, but it still takes time."

"But he will be well?"

"He will, and I'll do what I can to divert attention from the miracle cure. I will expect you to help."

"Of course. Anything for my child."

Heather and the others walked in and introduced themselves, letting them know they would stay on Satori to help and also to continue to learn.

Ranma asked, "Is there anything else that we can help with while we are waiting for Akane's child to be healed?"

Shampoo said, "I wasn't kidding when I said my village was in danger. Is there nothing you can do?"

Ranma said, "We could try scaring them, but they are just as apt to react stupidly and destroy your village. We could transport you somewhere else on the planet. After today, no one will be allowed up that Nabiki doesn't approve, and she won't be able to approve, so Satori is not a great idea. Some could, of course, go back with us."

Rommie said, "It is just a dimensional shift. If we don't doddle, and I pack them in like sardines, I think my air system could keep oh five thousand, but it would be a close thing."

"You could take everyone then?" asked Shampoo hopefully. There are less than five thousand of us left.

Rommie said, "Just them, no things of any kind. We could beam the critical things to Satori. Books I can probably scan as we beam them, at least with one of my partners. You could go with them then."

"Do you think me with so little honor?" asked Shampoo in surprise.

"But they are your people," noted Sam.

Lindy asked, "What about cascade failure? Are we sure the Amazon's don't have nearby duplicates? Being on Mars would help. These two Kasumi's should not be left together much longer."

"What is that?" asked Shampoo.

Sam said, "If near dimensional copies of the same person remain together too long, they could both die."

Lya said, "This is not, in any way shape or form a near dimension. They are fine."

Lindy said, "I thought that might be true, but I had to ask."

Hayate said, "Do any of your people Shampoo have the potential for magic?"

"Some," she admitted. "But most of those secrets are lost. In truth probably only Ling-ling has the potential you seek. If we had an actual teacher we would have trained her, but while my great grandmother knew a few things, she also knew her limitations enough not to dare teach the two when she herself knew so little."

Ranma asked, "What about her sister?"

"She died about a year ago saving Ling-ling and helping to divert one of the PRCs dogs interest from our tribe for a little longer."

Lindy said, "If possible we would like to meet her. Perhaps she can remain here and we can train her when we have the time. I regret that we did not reach here in time to save her sister."

"It would be a great honor if you could try to teach her. I feel the tribe failed them both. So much has been lost."

Lindy said, "I'd be glad to."

Shampoo said, "I must tell my people. They will place the stuff to save in a circle by order of importance. Save what you can, but the books or at least what is inside is all that really matters."

Rommie said, "Please have people wear only non bulky clothing. They should also go to the restroom just before they are transported. Expect they will be without water or food for up to eight hours. We will prioritize, but this is way beyond our normal capacity."

"I will tell them. Some may choose to not go. Ranma will you and your wife come with me? You could convince more. You have my permission to terrify them into complying. It is better than dead, now that they have decided it is time to end us, since we are too proud to ever bend knee."

Shampoo sighed even as Ranma and Sam nodded.

-=oOo=-

The three flashed into the middle of a village he had never intended to return to. Shampoo immediately shouted in Chinese.

Ranma and Sam stood patiently as seemingly every member of the tribe crowded in.

Shampoo ran just outside the village and all of the tribe ran to follow, save those who stayed to help those who could not run. They waited for everyone to arrive. Ranma and Sam followed with the rest.

Ranma admitted, "I never did learn Chinese."

"Me either," admitted Sam.

"Barbarians," Shampoo joked in Japanese.

They listened carefully as Shampoo spoke to her people. It took her close to twenty minutes to explain it all and answer questions.

Finally Shampoo turned to them and spoke in Japanese. "As I feared. They believe we can kill the invaders. They don't see it, that a battle or two won are possible, but the war would be lost. I have told them that the defeater of Saffron urges them to do this, and if they doubt her power that you will show them. I have admittedly lied here. I have called you both the incarnations of Athena and Minerva."

Sam replied dryly, "You know those were the same god."

"Details," Shampoo waved it off. "My people can hate me for lying all they want. I want them to live."

"And you left off I was a guy."

Shampoo looked at Ranma's female form as if she was an idiot.

"Right, guess getting Amazon's to follow a guy is a bit too forward thinking anytime soon," he quipped.

"Or ever," Shampoo added.

Sam asked, "Which of us is Minerva and which is Athena?"

"Ranma is Athena of course." Shampoo smirked.

"Of course," Sam said dryly. Then she turned to Ranma, "You got enough to do this? I know we recover fast these days, but it wasn't that long ago we pretty well spent ourselves."

"Yah, think so. Follow my lead?" Ranma asked.

"In combat, always."

Ranma grinned and then they both flew off into the air. The air suddenly began to churn as they flew into a very familiar spiral.

"Ah hell," Shampoo cursed in Japanese before switching to Chinese, "Hit the ground now!"

Together Sam, or rather Minerva glowed like the sun while Ranma was like the death of coldest winter. The spiral formed and they stood at the middle of it, several hundred feet in the air with their right hands shot into the sky.

The perfectly controlled tornado created absolute chaos outside of their field of influence, ripping over a fourth of the village to shreds and all of the surrounding trees. It was absolute carnage as in moments thousands of years of Chinese history was obliterated.

The two touched down still glowing softly. Ranma told Shampoo softly, "We are sorry we destroyed so much of your village."

"It was doomed anyway. You did what was necessary, now I will finish this."

"We need to go."

"I know. Go now, before they sense it."

Ranma and Sam vanished in a flash of light and collapsed onto the bridge of the Nozomi.

Lya and Ayiana hurried to them. They touched them softly in several points.

Ayiana said softly, "You were foolish to push yourselves so far so soon. We don't really have the energy to spare either, and there are still fragments of our bond remaining. We dare not risk it, not for this."

Sam said, "We knew. Had to make a point to try to convince the Amazons to leave."

Lya asked, "Was that really necessary?"

"You tell us," Sam said, slightly defensive.

"You have my apologies," Lya said. "We do not like violence. I spoke without thinking it through fully."

Sam grinned.

"Why are you smiling?" asked Lya.

"I remember when we first met you. You called us young."

"It is all your fault," Lya huffed. "I haven't felt or acted this young in centuries."

Ayiana blushed furiously.

Rommie said, "The child only has minutes left of healing, and Shampoo has people gathering books. Unless someone has an objection, we will begin."

Aya merged with Rommie as they effectively speed read the books as they transported them, quickly saving the contents to the ships database. They alternated the knowledge retention with transporting people aboard. Fifteen minutes later Aya separated from Rommie.

Aya said to Kasumi, "Prepare for one big headache. You won't remember much, but that is a lot of information to help process." Kasumi took her place and it all resumed. Two more swaps were made.

Finally the EDF Kasumi stood before her counterpart and asked, "Watch over them for me will you?"

"Always."

The EDF Kasumi asked, "And will you help watch over these for me?"

"Of course. Not as one Nabiki eventually links to I don't think, but there is no way I'm here all my life."

"Good for you."

"And your father?"

"He seems a bit better now."

Lya said, "My work there was to impose order and force him to choose. Thankfully he took the obvious choice. It won't last if he doesn't want it to. I cannot heal the spirit of one who doesn't wish to be healed."

Doctor Tofu said, "We will do what we can."

Rommie separated from Kasumi.

Rommie said, "The transports are done. We are fully loaded. Satori has also been loaded up with a great deal. I'm sorry, but it is time for guests to go."

Shampoo quickly pulled the EDF Kasumi in a hug, before doing the same with Aya and then with Rommie. "I thank you. Tell my people that I will guard their world so that maybe one day they can return."

"I will."

Shampoo vanished.

"My turn I guess," the local Kasumi said. She vanished, as did Doctor Tofu.

Lindy held a small box in her hands very carefully. She said, "We will arrange for Nabiki's body to be found and all the rest. I will go with Hayate and Rein now. Good luck all of you."

They vanished.

Aya looked at her Kasumi. "I could grow to hate books. You in any shape?"

"Not really no."

Ranma said, "Sam and I are tapped out."

Lya and Ayiana stood before the two partners and said, "We can only restore part. This is a deep fatigue. You will have to be careful, and we will only be able to do this once given that we too are recovering."

They nodded. The four formed a temporary circle, that thanks to Lya and Ayiana's mastery as true adepts only healed and restored.

Aya said cheerily after they were done, "You two are addictive."

Kasumi added, "That's just her inner pervert. We thought we were fixing an imbalance, but some of that is normal. It does, however, have its good points."

"I can imagine," Ayiana said suggestively.

Lya said, "Enough you."

Aya said, "I'll go first."

Rommie merged with Aya and soon they were off, diving between dimensions with a slight spatial offset.

Four hours and one pilot change later they slipped out without a ripple above Mars.

Sam contacted Siler on the screen.

"It is good to see you Sam. Is everything well?"

"As good as can be. I am feeding you an encrypted status report along with our recommendations. We have near five thousand refugees that for the most part only speak Chinese. Can you take them?"

Siler's eyes widened. "We can take them. It will blow our safety margins in several areas, but we can take them."

"Good."

Ranma said, "These are a good people, but they are not necessarily EDF material. It may be best to pick one of our backup planets and send them there with supplies as soon as you can. We will leave the decision to you."

"Thanks," he said somewhat dryly.

Sam added, "Sorry, we have a lot of other things to do. We'd drop them off on Earth, but based on our latest status update…"

Siler replied, "Yah, I understand that."

Ranma said, "They can be very strong warriors. Consider that."

"We will. I am sending down the coordinates of our one sports stadium. Best I can do short term I'm afraid."

Rommie said, "Beginning to beam them down."

"I'm putting in a request for Earth for what they need."

"Good."

Ten minutes later it was done.

"I've got them. I'll get to work."

"Thanks Siler. If we haven't said it enough, you have done a heck of a job."

He waved them off even as he cut the connection.

A second video connection was established. Heimdall appeared, "Can I be beamed up?"

Rommie said, "Beaming."

He appeared in a flash.

"Caught a ride through the planetary gate?" asked Samantha.

"Indeed." He stepped to a station and started entering data. "I am entering instructions to beam a spare ZPM to the most secure storage on Mars. They will need it for a defensive shield. I didn't have time to make it. The automated manufacturing is tied up with Tolan planetary defense Ion canons, but I did update the design to use the ZPM. In a few weeks they will have at least one city wide shield."

Ranma asked, "What of Narim, Xel's and Ta'kaya?"

Heimdall said, "Narim is helping Siler on Mars. Xel's and Ta'kaya are working with Stargate command and Atlantis to insure the Trinium gets where it is supposed to go. They both offered to come on this trip anyway, but it just seemed a pointless risk to their lives to me."

Sam asked, "Your no doubt right. Do we think the Aschen are that imminent of a threat?"

"That much is uncertain. I also found the world they traveled from. It is clearly not their home world. We can either dive through time after the bomb's creator or take the safer route of trying to track them through that gate. It is thankfully not a frequently used gate."

Sam said, "I don't know how to judge these odds. Should we send another team?"

Ranma said, "I say we go. We need to either find out they are related or eliminate them. This at least avoids the time travel for a bit longer. None of us are in any shape to fight either."

Rommie said, "I've got the coordinates from Heimdall. I can get us there in about four hours with no special effort if people want to get some rest. You guys really do need it."

Heimdall said, "I agree with this plan, except you should rest too. Let the automatics handle the hyperspace. I will monitor it closely and wake you if there is need."

"That will still increase our time about an hour."

Sam said, "Do it. Tired gets people dead. Are you okay with the sleep you got Heimdall?"

"I made sure to get sufficient rest."

Rommie said, "Okay. If need be I can get by without sleep, particularly if people have spare energy I can use, but rest does appeal."

-=oOo=-

Rommie smiled. She was happy to once again be between her two partners on their oversized bed. The bulk of her slept peaceful dreams, as did her partners.

-=oOo=-

Author's Note: Comments?

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