Back Home – The Dual War
by Warringer
Chapter 59
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It was interesting to see how some people were able to sober up fully in a matter of minutes.
Sam Fisher had now the chance to see someone sober up in barely a second.
Than again it was easy to explain, considering that Ryoko was a genetically engineered being. Now she was showing a determination he was sure that she had displayed it in Sao Paolo as she helped the local defenders against the Doranians that had landed there and earned her the nickname of 'The Avenging Angel of Sao Paolo'.
Even through she was now completely sober and not playing 'pirate', she was still dressed in that ridiculous outfit of an 'Earth Pirate'.
"Isn't it technically going after 'brothers'?" Pip Bernadotte, leader of a band of mercenaries, wondered as he walked up to the holographic display that showed some tactical data they had gotten from Earth.
Ryoko glared at him for a moment and Sam once again noted that she was rather unique.
"They attacked Earth," she said with a flat tone of her voice." No pirate does that when I can help it."
For some it might have been surprising to see Ryoko Habuki, an real honest to god extraterrestrial, to be so protective towards Earth, but Sam knew better. During the past few weeks he had had the chance to get to know her better. He knew that Ryoko used to be rather desperate for role models that were different to her previous ones, through he doubted that Washuu would like to hear that .
Sure, she was tough as nails, but even than she was surprisingly sensitive about life. He also knew that she was in fact traumatized by her past experiences, first to be forced to become the most dreaded pirate in the galaxy thanks to mind control, and than being imprisoned for a few hundred years with no way of doing anything.
She wanted to get away from that and Earth pretty much allowed her to do, what no other world in the galaxy would allow her. Out here, she was still seen as the dreaded pirate she was and there were still worlds and smaller nations out for her head.
Earth on the other side saw her as a good person and had helped her on her journey to find herself. First Admiral Masaki had more more or less looked after her and given her help, while Ajeka hadn't. After that, she had become a hero for the people of Earth in Sao Paolo and from there for the world. Okay sure, the Brasilian army could have taken care of the Doranians, but she had done more by directing Ryo-oh'ki to help putting out fires and personally helping the people.
What had followed was a meeting with Pope John Paul II and the Dalai Lama, the two most holy men on Earth and President Ryan asking her to become a US citizen.
It was way more than anyone else would have done for her.
Now she was in a mood that told Sam that she would gladly destroy a whole planet if she could get away with it. Not that she would be able to do that.
He pities the pirates that would be in their way.
"Better you prepare the men," Sam noted. "We will be cracking some heads shortly."
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Tenchi sat in his office and glanced down on the sheet of paper he held in his hand. His face was carefully schooled not to betray any of his feeling or any of the thoughts he had at this current moment.
So a group of pirates had thought that Earth was an easy target, didn't they? He tried to imagine their surprise when they found out that that wasn't the case.
That they had in fact managed to get two of their ships down to the surface was a bad thing through and Tenchi tried to imagine what mayhem they were causing. His eyes fell on the names of the two cities they were attacking and drew in a sharp breath.
Jerusalem?
That was bad. It could as well ignite the whole politically unstable area. On the other hand he was sure that the pirates were not making any difference between Israelis and Palestinians. It always needed a common enemy to unite people. The big powers of Earth had done the same after all.
"Pirates..."
He glanced up from the sheet of paper and into the face of Seto as he heard her voice. The door to his office closed behind her and for a brief moment he wondered why Dark Knight hadn't notified him.
Great, now he had to deal with his Great-great-whatever-mother, who hated any pirates guts.
At the moment her face was as carefully shooled as his own, not betraying anything.
"Yes," he said," I take it the grave pipe is already full of it?"
She nodded slowly and Tenchi shook his head.
"I really need to talk with my people," he noted dryly.
She raised an eyebrow, but said nothing about it.
"So Earth has a pirate problem," she said instead." I could help you with that."
Tenchi narrowed his eyes.
"I'm sure you could," he replied.
Seto's hatred for pirates was pretty much common knowledge and Tenchi remembered what Hak'ey had said about how she dealt with them. Having gotten to know her a little better during the time she was aboard, he was sure that that one time wasn't very different to other times. Destroying a whole civilization to deal with a few pirates? She clearly didn't believe that there was such a thing as overkill.
She smiled a little at his answer.
"Than, I will..."
Tenchi interrupted her.
"You will do nothing," he said, his face still not betraying any feelings or thoughts." This is an Earth problem. And only of Earth."
For a moment her eyes widened, before she shot Tenchi a glare. Lesser men would have had a brown pants moment, but Tenchi has stared down Vorlons and Shadows and frankly they had looked more scary than Seto, even through Tenchi knew that she was the real power behind the Jurian throne and thad the power to back it up.
"You know what you are doing, right?" she asked him.
Tenchi simply nodded.
"Yes, I do. I know exactly what I am doing."
He stopped for a moment and glared back at her.
"These pirates have attacked Earth. You know as well as I do that the Emperor granted independence to Earth. As such the Jurian Empire is not responsible for the defense of Earth."
Not that they had ever taken it seriously, he added to himself.
"And I know how you personally deal with pirates," he continued before she could say anything." I don't care how much you hate pirates of any kind. I don't care about your personal vendetta. All I care about is the security of Earth and the protection of Earth's interest."
He breathed in deep.
"Dark Knight?" he asked out loud, knowing very well that he didn't really need to say anything out loud.
"Yes, Tenchi?" the voice of his ship asked.
"I want you to monitor all communication of your guest Seto," he ordered." Cut all communication of her and her aide as soon as they mention our current piracy problem. I don't want anything of it to reach the Jurian Empire."
Seto, still standing on the other side of the table, stared at him for a moment before her face darkened.
"Do you know who you are dealing with?" she asked her voice dangerously low.
Tenchi's facial expression still didn't change.
"I know very well who I am dealing with," he said." Seto Jurai, the 'Devil Princess of Jurai', bane of all pirates in the galaxy and the real power behind the Emperor. But at this moment you are on my ship. And on my ship I can do what I want. Not to mention that I take care of Earth's interests."
Seto's eyes narrowed.
"And how are you dealing with the pirates than?" she wondered, her expression growing cold.
"The US Navy has dispatched a ship to deal with them" Tenchi said and glanced back on the communiqué," The USS Stingray. Additionally Ryo-oh'ki was notified about it. I'm pretty sure that Ryoko wants to have a word with these pirates."
"Ryoko..."
Seto's voice clearly told Tenchi what she thought about that. He was sure that it was nothing good, considering that she used to be a pirate and truth be told had gone back to that, through she was a privateer, a pirate backed by the US government.
"Who is better to deal with pirates that an ex-pirate?"
As the now fuming Seto turned around, Tenchi sighed. Back to getting 'Operation Midway' ready now...
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Ramsey glanced at the tactical display, scratching his chin.
That he had ordered to follow the Doranian convoy had been a good idea. Right now USS Nautilus was keeping station well outside the outer sensory perimeter of the large station in deep space just outside the Corian Expanse, well between Narn and Doranian space.
Actually he had been rather surprised by the existence of the station. He had actually doubted that the Doranians would have had an idea like that.
'Instead, he had found this.
Surrounded by about one or two squadrons worth of their cruisers, the large station seemed to be a forward fleetbase of some kind.
In the last few days they had noted damaged ships closing in on the station and entering repair slips. Several additional convoys had supplied the station before other convoys had left for Narn space.
Right now Nautilus was keeping watch over the large station, her passive sensors keeping note of every ships movement, the database with specific energy profiles growing with every single ship stopping by at the station.
Of course they were also preparing for their part of 'Operation Midway'.
"Captain," Jones piped up," We got a jump point forming a hundred miles off to port."
Ramsey raised an eyebrow and raised his arm to glance at his watch.
"They are early," he noted with a slowly developing smirk.
The display changed, showing a small Monsoon and a much larger Ferron Hyperion dropping out of the large funnel like fissure in space time.
"Ships identified as Berlin and Reyan."
Ramsey raised an eyebrow as he spied a large lump hanging from the belly of the Ferron Hyperion Reyan.
"Is that an asteroid?" he wondered.
"Sir, incoming transmission from Berlin, via laser com."
Ramsey nodded. Laser com was the best to use in such a situation. They were only a few light hours away from the large Doranian station and radio was going to be detected by the Doranians.
"Put it through."
The display didn't change as the speakers crackled to life.
"This is Berlin, commanding officer Leutnant Thorsten Meiler speaking," a heavily German accented voice came through.
"This is Nautilus, Captain Ramsey," he answered." I see you got a few presents for the Doranians."
"Yep," Meiler noted and Ramsey could hear him smirk." We got a few Ghostraider Pods with KKVs, some mines and Troja for you."
Ramsey raised his eyebrow.
"Troja?" he wondered.
"The asteroid," Meiler said and chuckled." As far as I know some people in Chicago came up with it. Troja got some missile pods and receivers installed into it."
Ramsey scratched his chin, thinking for a few moments. Why put Pods into an asteroid?
Than he smirked as it came to him. They were in some sort of interstellar asteroid field and they had seen a few asteroids passing close to the station without the Doranians really caring. Obviously someone had thought about that.
"Its a last minute addition," Meiler added." I'm told that its going to cruise over to the Doranians and pop its missiles once its closest to the station."
Ramsey grinned.
"Oh, I can imagine," he said with an evil grin." We're able to get it very close to the station..."
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Dodge grinned a little as Stingray left slipstream and he glanced at the distant yellow sun of the system.
"Mu Arae," he said after a while." Three confirmed planets. Anything about them? Emily?"
Dodge's once time diving office turned Executive Officer turned to a small console next to her seat as Dodge stood behind his own.
"Its four planets, sir," Emily noted dryly, causing Lovachelli to chuckle slightly.
Dodge rolled his eyes .
"Yeah, laugh it up... Anything about these... four planets?"
"Well, three Gas giants, two of them, b and d inside the so called green zone and a single terrestrial planet c."
Dodge scratched his chin.
"Let me guess," he said," The pirates hide on the terrestrial one?"
Emily turned slightly and grinned.
"That one has a year of just nine days," she noted, causing Dodge to blink a few times.
"Okay... Where than?"
Emily chuckled and turned back to her console.
"One of the moons of Planet b."
Now it was Dodge's turn to chuckle.
"Okay, let the Pirates of Planet b officially be called btards... Any chance that the moon is like Endor?"
"Lets hope not..."