Chapter Eleven
"Well, Sasami, here we are."
Tsunami set down on the barren ground, a shimmering forcefield flaring up around her as she took in the desolated, dead world. All around her, the charred and gnarled stumps of dead Jurai trees touched her heart and she frowned, shaking her head slowly.
"Such destruction. Death everywhere." She observed sadly. "But Tenchi is still alive. I can feel his heart beating beneath the surface of this world. We must help him, and quickly. We don't have long before Washu destroys Kihaku once and for all."
A wisp of assent passed through her thoughts, and she smiled, nodding her head.
"What we do, we do together, Sasami-chan." She agreed. "To save Lord Tenchi and protect Jurai."
She clasped her hands together as if in prayer, and as she sank down towards the heart of the planet, she was aware of Sasami's flickering anxiety as they drew closer and closer to Kihaku's core. As they descended through layers of rock and stone, Tsunami was aware of the many ancient trackways and tunnels, created by Juraian miners so long ago, and as she brushed her fingers against the stone she felt the strong, beating pain of the planet's heart. She frowned, tears touching her eyes as she absorbed Kihaku's sense of indignant melancholy.
"We did this." She whispered. "Sasami, Tokimi was right. Jurai did kill Kihaku. We damaged the world's heart beyond all hope. The magic she wields was tainted by our actions. She has cause to want revenge...we destroyed her world and her people after all."
Sasami's reflection glimmered for a moment on a shiny stretch of rock, then vanished, but Tsunami had seen tears on the young girl's cheeks also. Determination flooded through her, and she clenched her fists.
"So we must finish this." She said quietly, as finally they reached the most central point, eying the roughly finished metal walls that had bordered Washu's makeshift laboratory so many generations before. "Finish what we began, rescue Lord Tenchi and Detective Mihoshi, and give Tokimi the peace she's never had."
Alarm danced across her senses and she faltered, hesitating.
"Sasami-chan?"
In the gloom, the glimmering figure of the youngest Princess of Jurai began to take form in front of her, translucent and ghostly, but clearly recogniseable. Tsunami held out her hand, and the spectre took it, an emploring look in her reddish eyes. Surprise flooded Tsunami's expression.
"Protect Tokimi too?" She asked. "Are you sure, Sasami? She's done so much damage...and so much has already been inflicted on her. Do you really think that sparing her life would be the best thing to do?"
Sasami nodded her head solemnly, then the illusion dispersed into several tiny fragments of light, and Tsunami bit her lip, considering.
"Very well." She said finally. "I said that you would always make the decisions, Sasami-sama, and I keep my word. If you think that we should preserve Tokimi's life, then I will try and do as you wish. But it may not be possible. I can't risk engaging her in conflict...we both know that. And there's not much time. My focus is on Lord Tenchi."
At the back of her mind, she was aware of Sasami's reluctant agreement, and she glanced at her hands, putting them to the laboratory wall as she forged herself through into a spacious, geometrically walled in chamber. The walls were barren and cold, but there was a sense of the ancient meeting the modern all the same, and for the briefest of moments, Tsunami had a flash of insight into Washu's long, lonely past in this laboratory, fighting to pursue her own destiny.
"Tsunami?"
An exclamation from the furthest end of the laboratory brought her back to the present and she met the incredulous gaze of the restrained Prince, offering him a smile.
"Tenchi-sama." She agreed, bowing her head in acknowledgement. "As you have come to Jurai's aid in the past, I've now come to yours."
"Tsunami, no! Tokimi..." Tenchi began, but before he could finish his sentence, the lights in the laboratory flickered and dimmed, giving the whole room a sinister, eerie glow.
"That's what you think, heretic goddess." From out of the empty blackness, there was a sudden gust of wind as Tokimi took shape between Tsunami and the captives, anger flickering in her dark blue eyes as she surveyed the intruder coldly. "I knew that sooner or later I'd face you...although I should have known how deep your deceptions ran."
"Tokimi, I have not come to fight you." Tsunami said softly, raising her hands in a Juraian gesture of peace. Tokimi bristled at the sight of it, blue energy glowing all around her as she lifted herself into the air.
"Your people never came to fight. They came to steal and destroy, just as you've come now." She said angrily. "I've waited so many centuries to take my revenge on you, Tsunami, and you won't take that from me now! I don't understand what this prince is to you, or why you are here without his summons. But that you have a connection, that much I know. And I will kill him - I will destroy a piece of you, just as your people destroyed Kihaku!"
"You have many reasons to be angry with me." Tsunami said gravely. "But will you destroy innocent lives and demolish innocent worlds by raising your magic to mine here and now? It won't only be Kihaku that dies if you do. There are planets near here...living planets, whose only crime is that they drift within the same solar system as your world. Would you kill them too, in order to try and vanquish me from existance? And what of the Kii people who settled with my own and made new lives on Jurai? Don't their descendents deserve a chance to live and grow, Tokimi-sama? Will you destroy more lives to avenge a world already dead?"
"I will do whatever it takes to put an end to you, Tsunami-kami-sama." Tokimi's eyes flared with ghostly blue light. "The deaths are on your conscience...not on mine!"
"Tsunami, she's crazy! She won't listen to anything you say!" Tenchi exclaimed, struggling against the ghostly bonds that had him held him tight. Tokimi wheeled on him, raising a hand and flicking it across the room. With a yell, the prince found himself tossed once more back into his cage, where Mihoshi was crouched in the corner, watching it all with wide-eyed fear.
"Shut up, Prince of Jurai." Tokimi ordered him. "I'll deal with you when I've dealt with your false deity!"
Tsunami clenched her fists, drawing on the depths of her magic as her form shimmered and glowed. One by one, the translucent white blades of the Light Hawk spread out across the room, surrounding her in their light as she moved slowly towards her foe.
"I have not come to fight you." She repeated. "I have come only to take what is mine, and prevent more suffering and death."
"Kihaku suffers even now from the wounds your people inflicted on it." Tokimi spat out, and as Tsunami watched, a ghostly sheen surrounded her own body, growing and developing into the feathered shadow of the eagle. "It demands revenge and I will be the one to grant it it's wish!"
"Tsunami, you have to stop her!" Tenchi exclaimed desperately. "She'll kill everyone! You have to do something!"
"Something is already being done." Tsunami spoke softly, raising her hands as the spectral white blades extended across the chamber to it's furthest reaches. "Tokimi, drop your shield. There will be no battle today. Kihaku wants peace, as do you. The world has tormented you long enough. Let go."
"Never!" Tokimi retorted, flinging up her arms as the ghostly eagle wings arched and spread, illuminating the chamber as they sought to block Tsunami's magic. "I have waited too long!"
For the briefest of seconds, the two shields brushed against one another, and Tsunami flinched as she caught a glimpse into Tokimi's heart, seeing the turmoil and despair that had taken root inside of her. As she drew back, reluctant to be pulled into any kind of battle, Tokimi fell back against the wall of the chamber, her eagle flickering slightly before fading into a soft blue-white haze.
"Princess Sasami of Jurai." She whispered, staring at Tsunami as if seeing her for the first time. "Why did Clay not bring me this information sooner? I could have...I would have..."
"Tokimi, stand down." Tsunami said softly, engulfing as much of the chamber as she could in the gentle whiteness of her shield. "I can help you. We all can."
For a moment Tokimi faltered, as if confused. Then she narrowed her eyes, anger flaring in their depths once more.
"I will not be fooled by the blood of Newcomers." She snapped. "I killed your ancestors, Princess Sasami, and I will kill you too, now I know what earthly form you really take. You're a fool, Tsunami - do you think there's magic enough in a little girl to take down a Priestess who's waited milennia to fight?"
"There's more in Sasami's heart than you or anyone else will ever overcome." Tsunami said softly. "It's over."
Before Tokimi could react, there was a loud, ominous rumbling and the Priestess let out a shriek, her flickers of magic fading and blurring around her as the whole planet began to shake. Inside of her mind, Tsunami was aware of Sasami's pulsing fear and urgency and she gritted her teeth, fighting the impulse to flee or panic as she focused all her thoughts on controlling her magic. Somewhere in the background she was aware of Mihoshi screaming, and Tenchi telling her in his own anxious tones that everything would somehow be all right. Tsunami closed her eyes, forcing every last inch of her strength out into the glimmering Light Hawk Wings as she sought to contain the damage. All around her, the lab was starting to come apart, splitting into chunks of hard, dark space rock as the bleakness of the galaxy loomed out behind them. With one last, desperate impulse, Tsunami pushed her magic ever further, engulfing herself in a dazzling white light as she struggled to keep everything together. For a moment, she was sure she wouldn't manage it, and that somehow Tokimi had been right - she had asked too much of Sasami too soon. And then, in the blackness, she caught a glimpse of Tsunami-fune, shining like a beacon before them.
Opening her eyes fully, she cast a glance to her left and right, comforted by the billowing white magic that surrounded her. Suspended in the haze, she could make out Mihoshi's slender form, and although the Detective was unconscious, Tsunami was aware of her pulsing lifebeat. Tokimi hovered on the other side, alive but still and pale, and try as she might, Tsunami could not break through into the Priestess's mind a second time. She drew her brows together, glancing around her for any sign of the Prince.
At first she couldn't see him, but then she became aware of another entity in space, and, as she peered through her own protective barrier, she realised that Tenchi had drawn on his own strength, protecting himself with his own three ghostly blades when the planet had exploded into dust.
"Tenchi." She murmured, holding out a ghostly hand to him and, hesitantly he took it, allowing her to pull him into her protective glow. "Whenever I see you, you never fail to surprise me."
"I didn't know you'd seen me at all." Tenchi admitted slowly, glancing around at the dispersing lumps of rock and debris. "But what happened? Are you really Tsunami? Or are you Sasami? And what happened to Tokimi?"
"I am Sasami and Tsunami...as I ever was." Tsunami murmured softly. "And you are every bit the Prince of Jurai that I knew you'd be. I'm sorry that my blessing brought you into so much danger, Tenchi-sama. I didn't expect you to be mistaken for me."
She gestured to Tokimi's unconscious form, and Tenchi frowned, biting his lip.
"Is she dead?" He asked softly.
"No, she lives." Tsunami shook her head. "Sasami wouldn't have it any other way. If I was to save one of you, I was to save all of you...Tokimi has been a victim, just as much as you or Mihoshi."
"Washu said Tokimi went mad and killed her planet." Tenchi remembered. "Is that what happened?"
"The planet was already driven mad by Jurai's mistreatment of it's sensitive inner core." Tsunami said sadly. "When Tokimi took on the Priestess's crown, she took on more than she or anyone could handle. Washu believes she is to blame...that she could have mastered and controlled Kihaku's magic. But I felt it's wounded spirit, Tenchi. I don't believe anyone would ever have been able to master it...a wound left to fester for many generations thanks to Juraian greed."
"What will happen to her now?"
"I don't know." Tsunami admitted. "I acted on Sasami's impulse, bringing her back with us."
At that moment they touched against the hull of the ghostly spaceship and, with a sigh of relief, Tsunami drew them aboard, the wings of the Light Hawk flickering and fading to nothing as she dropped back against the wall of the ship.
"Are you all right?" Tenchi eyed her anxiously. "I didn't think Tsunami's power had limitations."
"We all have limitations." Tsunami said simply, gathering herself and offering him a smile. "But I'm not properly Tsunami yet. Sasami made a sacrifice to help rescue you, but we're not completely one form and I've been drawing on her strength and that of Azaka and Kamidake rather than that of Jurai itself. To be properly joined, Tenchi, I need to be there...and Sasami needs to be ready. It was a gamble, knowing whether or not it would be enough. But we had to try...you needed us, and you have never forsaken Jurai when we've needed you."
"Sasami." Tenchi's brown eyes softened, and he reached across to grasp the goddess by the hand, squeezing it tightly. "Thank you for coming to help me. It was very brave."
Tsunami felt Sasami's heart surge within her, and she grinned.
"Sasami's glad you think so." She said gently.
"Tenchi? Tsunami? What's going on?" Before Tenchi could respond, a faint voice from the floor of the ship startled them as Mihoshi began to return to herself, raising a feeble hand to her head as she glanced plaintively around her. "Where am I? What's happening?"
"You're safe now." Tenchi crouched at Mihoshi's side. "Thanks to Sasami, we both are."
"Sasami's here too?" Mihoshi looked startled. "Where?"
"Tsunami." Tenchi corrected himself, and Tsunami met his gaze with amusement, nodding her head.
"Are you all right, Detective?" She asked quietly. "I'm afraid the force of the blow knocked you out."
"I think so. Just a bit dazed." Mihoshi nodded, allowing Tenchi to help her to her feet. She let out an exclamation at the sight of Tokimi, taking a step back.
"What did you bring her here for? She's mad - she tried to kill us!"
"Tokimi is no threat to anyone, not any more." Tsunami shook her head. "I promise, Mihoshi, it's all over now. You're safely aboard my ship - the Tsunami-fune - and nobody is going to hurt anyone."
"Ryoko!" Tenchi's eyes opened wide with alarm at this, and he glanced up at the goddess. "Tsunami, we need to get back to the Earth. Tokimi sent Seiryo Tennan there to kill Ryoko and Grandfather and the others...and we have to go help them!"
"Without Tokimi or Kihaku to sustain him, Lord Tennan might find himself at a disadvantage." Tsunami murmured.
"What do you mean?" Tenchi looked startled. Tsunami shrugged.
"We will head back to the Earth." she agreed, bending to gently scoop up the comatose Tokimi in her arms. "Although I have little doubt that Ayeka and Ryoko are capable of defending themselves."
"Sasami-hime!"
As they reached the ship's bridge, Kamidake pushed open the door of the drive room, anxiety flickering in his expression. "Are you unhurt, Princess?"
"I am quite well, Kamidake, and we're all here in one piece." Tsunami agreed. "Would you take Mihoshi-san and make sure she has something hot to drink? She had a bit of a fright...and Tokimi, I'm afraid, has come off worst in the blast. She lives, but I cannot reach her thoughts."
Gravity flickered in Kamidake's eyes, and Tsunami frowned.
"What is it?" She asked, feeling Sasami's alarm welling up inside her as strongly as her own. "What's happened? Kamidake-san, what are you not telling me?"
"Lady Washu..."
Kamidake faltered, and Tsunami's eyes opened wide with fear and horror.
"No." She whispered. "I thought I...I took...I tried...Kamidake, where is she? Tell me what happened!"
"Washu?" Tenchi glanced from the goddess to the knight, trying to interpret their cryptic conversation. "Is Washu here too?"
"I don't know." Tsunami bit her lip. "Kamidake, take care of Mihoshi and Tokimi...please. And Lord Tenchi. I must go to Washu-sama. I must..."
"Azaka is with her." Kamidake said quietly, as carefully the Goddess conveyed her charge into his waiting arms. "Lord Tenchi, Mihoshi-san...will you come with me?"
"No." Tenchi shook his head. "No, something's wrong and I want to know what it is. What about Washu?"
Tsunami frowned.
"Then come with me, Ten-sama." She murmured. "Sasami could use the company. But if I have failed...misjudged...how can I call myself the Tree of Life if I can be so cavalier with those I call my friends?"
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"Takeru! No!"
As Seiryo raised his sword once more, eyes glittering as he prepared to drive it down through his rival's throat, Ayeka threw off the officer whose attacks she had been struggling to contain, anger sparking in her ruby eyes as she registered the position her husband was in. "Seiryo, stand back from him! I won't let you kill my husband!"
"You don't care about him any more than I do." Seiryo eyed her mockingly, madness in his gaze. "I'm ridding you of your political shackles, Ayeka-hime. You should be grateful, since you don't have the courage to do it yourself!"
"How dare you presume to interfere with the Royal House of Jurai?" Ayeka's eyes widened in indignation and she lifted herself bodily off the ground, hair flitting around her in the gentle autumn breeze as she glared down at the elite officer. "You're out of line, Lord Tennan!"
"And you're out of luck." Seiryo said softly, clutching his sword hilt more tightly as he brought it down swift and hard towards Takeru's jugular. Rage surged through the Princess's veins anew as she drew her hands together, sending a flare of powerful disruptive energy across the ground and knocking Seiryo fully off his feet. He cursed, scrambling in the dirt for his weapon as he rose to meet her, and Ayeka narrowed her eyes, sending another powerful flare in his direction.
"You have the cheek to attack the power of Jurai, or question my father's decisions?" She asked softly. "Takeru is my husband, Lord Seiryo. An attack against him is an attack against me and, as you will see, I'm not a weak woman. You might be able to wield your devil magic against him, but you won't have so much luck fighting me."
"I wonder that you waste your time, when Tokimi is probably slitting the throat of the Earth-born prince as we speak." Seiryo gathered himself, lifting himself off the ground as he sent out a surge of his own energy. Ayeka glowered at him.
"You think that you can distract me with lies and nonsense." She said derisively. "But a Princess of Jurai is trained to fight for her people first and care about her own sentiments second. You are in my way, Lord Tennan, and you will not threaten the house of Jurai any longer. Dare to raise your blade against me or my family, and I will be forced to show you the full force of Imperial magic."
"Tokimi is a match for anything you can spit at me." Seiryo said confidently.
"We'll see about that." Ayeka muttered. She cast a glance across the ground to where Takeru was struggling into a sitting position, his hand gingerly touching his throat, and then back at her foe, anxiety flickering in the depths of her eyes as she realised Seiryo had raised a hand in the Prince Consort's direction, as if prepared to send another deathly blast his way. She shook her head.
"No, you don't." She snapped, clasping her hands together and sending out a final flare of disruptive magic. "I think we've had quite enough of you and your bad manners for this day, Lord Tennan."
Seiryo raised his sword, but it was to no avail as the full force of the Princess's wrath hit him head on, and he fell to the ground with a yell, his head hitting the stone of the path with a resounding crack.
"Way to go, Ayeka!" Ryoko soared out of the clutches of two determined officers, casting her ally a grin. "Now if we can just do the same with this lot..."
"He's out cold, but they keep on coming." Ayeka bit her lip, eying the grouping forces below with a frown. "Three of us against many of them...Ryoko, even with Seiryo out of the way, we still have more than we can handle. Takeru is down - I don't know if he's hurt - and Yume has been rendered useless by Seiryo's magic. Can we really overpower them all? Tokimi must be controlling them."
"We haven't got much of a choice." Ryoko said grimly, flicking a hand in the direction of the shrine, and Ayeka glanced across, drawing her breath in sharply as she registered that their battle had not gone unnoticed. Despite the danger and the noise, several of the local people had been drawn to the flashes and explosions of the scene and now a growing group of earthlings had begun to mass around the shrine, some praying for deliverance, while others watched the unfolding drama with wide, disbelieving eyes. She muttered a very un-princesslike curse, and Ryoko opened her eyes wide in surprised amusement.
"And I thought such language was beneath a Princess of Jurai." She teased, sending out a volley of orange light towards the ground as one of the officers fired a beam not far from her left foot. It scorched into the earth, cutting through the man's weapon and stunning him backwards against the turf. "I'm getting used to fighting my battles with an audience in situe."
"How are we ever going to explain to them that this was just a nice, normal morning in the mountains?" Ayeka demanded. "And what if we can't contain them all? What if someone gets hurt?"
"Lord Yosho has taken out six or seven on his own since he came to Takeru's aid." Ryoko glanced critically down at the landscape. "I think I can count twelve more, including the man I just laid out on the deck. Between the three of us, so long as Seiryo doesn't decide to spring back to life...can we take them?"
"We have to." Ayeka sighed. "And even so, there's still that to worry about."
She gestured upwards and Ryoko glanced up at the imposing silver hull of the Unko. She grimaced.
"I could send Ryo Ohki up there to blast some well chosen graffiti along it's too-shiny sides." She said frankly. "But to be honest, the Unko is the least of our problems so long as there's noone aboard it to prime the lasers."
"Agreed." Ayeka said grimly. "Very well. We must do what we can to immobilise the rest of Seiryo's force, prevent them from boarding the ship, and, of course, we must protect the native population. Even if it proves difficult to explain after the fact...their safety must come first."
Before Ryoko could respond, a sharp crack of lightning split the blue sky, striking the earth and making both women start. As they watched, an eerie glow of light began to surround Seiryo's still form, lifting him bodily off the ground as it grew brighter and brighter. Afraid the nobleman had found his second wind, Ayeka tensed, poised ready to attack once more. But instead of raising his sword and charging into battle, Seiryo was drawn up and up by the light as bits and pieces of it danced away from him, dispersing into the morning air. His head lolled to the side, faint flecks of blood at the corners of his mouth, and Ayeka lowered her hands, staring at the scene before her with a mixture of horror and fascination. On the ground beneath, the man's shadow bent and twisted and for the briefest of moments, Ayeka thought she saw the silhouette of a bird of prey carved in darkness on the soft green grass. And then, as suddenly as it had come, the light faded, and like a stone, Seiryo dropped towards the ground.
"Ryoko!" Katsuhito's exclamation startled the Princess back to herself, as she watched the space pirate cast the Prince a confused glance, then dart beneath the falling nobleman, catching him deftly in her arms and laying him out on the grass below.
For a moment, nothing moved. Then,
"Where am I?"
"What's going on?"
"What's happened? Why am I here...what is this place?"
All around the shrine complex, Galaxy Police officers lowered their weapons, raising confused gazes to the sky and surroundings as they tried to work out what was going on.
"Tokimi's spell has been broken." Katsuhito lowered his sword, the blade flickering and dying as he moved to Ryoko's side. "Washu and Sasami have succeeded. The magic is gone."
"Takeru." Ayeka dropped to the ground, her forcefield fading as she hurried to her dazed partner's side. "Are you all right? Did he hurt you?"
"No, thanks to you, he didn't." Takeru touched his throat once more, then grasped her loosely by the hand. "He said you'd never love me like you love Lord Tenchi, but you came to my rescue all the same. Was he wrong, Ayeka-hime? Is there some hope for me yet?"
"Oh, you stupid fool, as if it matters right now." Ayeka hugged him tightly, tears in her eyes. "I don't want to lose you - you should know that by now."
"So is it really over?" Takeru glanced around him. "What of Seiryo? He was quite mad, Ayeka...out of his mind."
"Something happened." Ayeka's gaze flitted across the landscape to where Ryoko and Katsuhito were examining the nobleman's still form. "I don't know what it was, but I don't think he's a threat any more. All the officers he was controlling have come back to themselves...Earth is safe."
"But very confused." Takeru raised a hand, gesturing feebly across the horizon to where the swelling numbers of spectators had begun to edge apprehensively forwards. "I think it's time they knew the truth about us, Ayeka, and why we're here. They've been used as an unwilling battleground for long enough - they can't go on like this, without any awareness of the dangers around them."
"You're right." Ayeka got to her feet, smoothing her skirts as she nodded her head. "And as Crown Princess of Jurai, it's my duty to do the explaining."
"I'll come with you."
"No...you rest." Ayeka shook her head. "Explain to the Galaxy Police why they're in the middle of this remote sector of space, and tell them to take Seiryo Tennan into custody. If he still lives after this, Takeru-san, I mean to have him brought before the Council of Jurai to face the consequences of his actions. Will you tell them so?"
"The Earth is not Jurai's jurisdiction." Takeru looked hesitant. Ayeka's gaze narrowed.
"My Uncle would never let that stand in his way." She said softly. "Seiryo's crimes are against Jurai as much as they are against the Earth, and the Galaxy Police rarely refuse the orders of our planet. Will you tell them, Takeru? Instruct them to bring him aboard the Unko and await my commands."
"I'll tell them." Takeru nodded, and Ayeka could see the affection in his eyes. "You're every bit the heiress of Jurai today, my dear...it's quite comforting to see it."
Ayeka flashed him a smile, pink touching her cheeks.
"I try." She admitted softly.
She cast another glance across at Seiryo's motionless form.
"Ryoko? Does he live?" She demanded. Ryoko nodded.
"I think so. But he's off with the fairies. I can't rouse him." She replied.
"Pity." Ayeka sighed, and Ryoko shot the princess a startled look. Ayeka smiled sheepishly.
"I know. It's not a very nice sentiment. But it would provide much less trouble." She said apologetically. Ryoko grinned, shrugging her shoulders.
"Once your Uncle is done with him, he'll probably agree." She said ironically. "I almost feel sorry for the jerk...I wouldn't like to face Azusa's wrath."
Ayeka nodded her acknowledgement. Then she turned, taking a deep breath and making her way slowly towards the massing earthlings. In the centre of the melee she could already make out television and news crews, some already set up while others still arrived and the wail of distant sirens alerted her to the fact law enforcement were also on the way. She swallowed hard, composing herself as she drew closer to the hesitant mob.
"I am a Crown Princess, and I must act like one, to convince these people that Jurai mean them no harm." She told herself firmly. "And to extend the hand of friendship between our two worlds. Uncle might want to keep out of Earth's affairs, but from the moment Lord Yosho set foot here, it held Juraian interest. Now, with Tenchi and Ryoko and events such as this...we can ignore the connection no longer. If we are to bring Earthlings into our battles, we must also offer them our protection. Otherwise innocent people will be hurt, and we will be no better than Tokimi and her mad army of drones."