MASAKI TALES Vol. V - QUEST...
Author: Daferge
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Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! is a copyright AIC/Pioneer Ltd...
All respective characters are property of their original owners...
All original characters and ideas are property of the author...
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Chapter 05... AWAKING...
( A secluded Star System within the Juraian Empire... )
A Juraian task force was facing off with a Galaxy Police cruiser that had entered a Juraian restricted area...
At almost a dozen to one, encluding a light cruiser, the Juraian task force commander had little doubt as to the out come...
However the GP officer on the smaller GP cruiser had no doubts ether...
The Yukinojo had been rebuilt and upgraded so much in the past year or so, that those in the know were of the opinion that it should be considered a light Capital ship, the highest class of war ship within the GP...
In other words, the task force would be like flies that the Yukinojo would swat...
At any rate, a passenger aboard the GP cruiser seem to have things under control...
The Juraian Captain was staring at the young female standing of the GP cruiser's bridge...
Every one in the Empire could recognize the 2nd princess of Jurai, Sasami Masaki Jurai...
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Every one at the academy had heard of the adventures that she and her sister experenced...
The centuries searching for their older brother...
Then stumbling upon his heir, who was would not only defeat the powerful evil Kagato, but had take the hand of the 1st princess of Jurai, Ayeka Masaki Jurai, as his wive upon accepting the title of Crown Prince...
He had a recording of the famous duel between the Prince and his other two wives, the infamous ex-space pirate Ryoko Hakubi and the Galaxy Police's most famous officer, Mihoshi Kuramitsu...
His cousin had been there and told him that no matter what some people might say, ever second of what was broadcast was true...
Whatever rumors he'd heard about the Crown Prince and his wives were nothing compared to the real thing...
His older brother commanded one of the ships on duty above Jurai during Lord Wolfo attempted to over throw the Emperor...
He and all the others owed their lives to princess Ryoko, who chased the space pirate fleet away after over coming Lord Wolfo...
Then there was the Zanata Six incident and more rumors of the Royal family being involved...
His train of thought was interrupted by his number one handing him a note...
RAIDERS?...
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( Deep within Avalon... )
Washu sat upon one of her floating seats as she studied the huge room filled with book...
Merlin had forgotten to mention how BIG each 'book' was...
They seem to average about 2 by 3 - FEET that is...
And were 4 to 6 inches thick...
And the room seem to have dozens of ahiles of shelves not only disappeared into the distance, but up to the ceiling as well...
And the ceiling scanned to at about three hundred feet up...
She had to get Azusa here to see this...
He'd been so proud of the Royal Library on Jurai and how it was the largest in the universe...
Here was a room larger than the royal palace it's self...
And if Merlin was correct, it was only one of several hundred used for "Data storage"...
That he was sure of...
There could be others, unused, their power diverted to other things, forgotten within this vast world...
A smile came to her lips...
" Any one know where we can find what we're looking for?... "
With a simple question Tenchi returned Washu to the present and their urgent problem...
SIGH...
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( Aboard the Yukinojo... )
Princess Sasami and the others watched as the Juraian commander started giving orders and his crew began running around...
It didn't take a military eye to recognize panic...
The standing order was not to engage a single Raider craft with less than 2 heavy cruisers...
According to the GP cruiser's AI, there were atleast a dozen Raider, half being the newest type encountered recently...
If Yukinojo could swat the Task force, this new danger wouldn't even notice them as they destroyed them...
" Officer Makibi?... "
Kiyone took her eyes of the open channel...
" Yes?... "
" I noticed an odd coincidence!... "
This got the attention of ALL those on the bridge...
" Yes!... "
Yukinojo was an unusual AI, due to it's time with officer Mihoshi, before and after her meeting the Masaki family, it had developed self awareness, in otherwords it could think for it's self and reason on it's own...
An ability that had saved Mihoshi's life a number of times and prevented it's distruction countless more...
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" I find it odd that the Raiders just happen to drop out of subspace near where the Juraian Task Force was stationed, before coming to investigate our appearence... "
It was Nagi who spoke up...
" Ambush... "
Sasami's eyes widened as the two GP officers nodded their heads, agreeing...
Naji smiled at Sasami as she saw the others looking at her...
Turning, she faced the open channel and spoke...
" Captain Zanata!... "
The Juraian officer was concentrating on giving orders and waved her off...
Kiyone, having lots of experience getting Mihoshi's attention in the past, moved next to Sasami...
" ZANATA!... "
The officer turned to stare at the screen and the two females...
As he started to say something, Kiyone held up her hand to stop him...
" Princess Sasami has something to say... "
" Officer Makibi!... I'm busy at the moment... "
Sasami managed not to smile as Kiyone's eyes narrowed and she took a deep breath...
" You're going to be dead if you don't pull that cotton out of your ears... "
It seem that she had learned something watch the Masaki TV...
Zanata just stared at her, his mouth open...
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" Captain Zanata... "
Collecting himself, Zanata replied...
" Princess... I'm -... "
Like her sister, Sasami was a Princess of Jurai and had been trained in the ways of being Royalty and giving commands, she held up her hand...
" At the moment it is not Princess Sasami speaking... It is Commander Sasami, you superior officer speaking... "
It was a well know fact that even Admirals had to stop when members of the Royal Family spoke...
The Supreme Commander of the Jurai armed forces was the Emperor, followed by the Queens...
Thus, their children, Prince Yosho, Princess Ayeka and Princess Sasami were also in that chain of command, as was Lady Seto...
Zanata came to attention, as did his bridge crew as Sasami continued, those behind her smiling...
" It has been brought to my attention that Raiders have entered the system and not only out number you, but are more powerful... "
Zanata looked at his number one, who nodded their head...
" It was also pointed out that had you not moved to investigate us, the Raiders would have appeared near you and you would all be dead by now... "
Zanata's eyes widened and his number one checked with one of the other crewmen before turning back to Zanata, their eyes wide and nodded, again...
Sasami heard Nagi whisper something and saw Kiyone smile and nod her head...
" Though they are aware of you, they are not aware of us... I suggest you head for the outer asteroid field and set up defence... "
" And you?... "
Sasami smiles as the others chuckled...
" We're able to cloak ourselves and get behind them... "
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Zanata nodded his head, but there was worry in his eyes...
" Even so... Do you think it will be enough?... "
Sasami smiled and gestured for Nagi to step next to her, Ryo-Ohki and Ken-Ohki on her shoulders...
Zanata's eyes widened as he recognized the famed bounty hunter...
" We do have some backup... I believe you recognize Nagi Katsumoro... "
Zanata just nodded his head, his mouth open...
" On her left shoulder is Ken-Ohki... I believe you've heard of her powerful Star ship?... "
Zanata's eyes got wider as he nodded his head again...
" And on her right shoulder, Princess Ryoko's star ship, Ryo-Ohki... "
It was amazing how large his eyes got...
" As you can see, I believe we have a good chance of surviving... Any questions?... "
She noticed that not only was Zanata standing at attention, but his entire crew were too...
" Attention!... "
The entire crew saluted her...
" As you command... "
With that the channel closed and the task force began to move away from them...
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As Sasami watched the ships move away she noticed Kiyone working on the command panel...
After a while she looked up smiling...
" Cloak engaged... I doubt that the Raiders have noticed us... Where do we go now?... "
It was Nagi who spoke up...
" I suggest we move next to the planet... It's gravity field will mask us and we can de-cloak... Allowing Yukinojo to recharge to his max for the coming fight... "
She looked around, she scratch the two cabbits behind their ears...
" I won't kid you... Even with these two it's going to be tight... Ryo-Ohki might not even be able to transform, much less fight... "
Ryo-Ohki made a sound and Nagi scratched her behind the ear...
" OK... But save it to get Sasami back to the portal and home... Alright?... "
Ryo-Ohki looked at Sasami before nodding her head...
Nagi started to say something, but her eyes widened and she looked at the overhead panel...
" Yukinojo... Are you able to contact Washu's lab through the portal, as we were able to contact you?... "
After a moment she got a reply...
" I'm able to contact the lab... They are contacting Washu... "
Nagi smiled...
" Good... Inform her of our situation and see if any Juraian units can be diverted our way... "
It seem to take forever for the reply...
" Done... "
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( Deep within Avalon... )
Washu was studying one of the large books when her keyboard and screen appeared before her...
Tenchi and the others watched as she worked on it for a while before dismissing it...
What was it Washu?...
Washu tried to smile, but it didn't come out too happy...
That was Sasami and the others... Seems the test worked and they are now aboard the Yukinojo...
Tenchi kept looking at her, he knew there was more...
Seems there was a small Juraian task force patrolling the system...
Tenchi knew that wasn't all...
Now, it seems, a dozen Raider craft have appeared also...
Tenchi started for the door, but Washu stopped him...
There's nothing you can do... No way WE could get there before it was all over...
She saw the sadness in his eyes...
A number of nearby Juraian task forces have been ordered to the system, emergency speed...
She knew he felt helpless...
Don't worry Nagi's there with Ken-Ohki, Sasami has Ryo-Ohki and the Kiyone's have Yukinojo...
That got a smile, a small one...
She thought it best not to mention Nagi's theory about the task force's ambush...
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( Aboard the Yukinojo... )
" Princess Sasami?... "
Sasami looked up at the overhead panel...
" I have a reply from Washu... She's acknowledged the data and replied that a number of Juraian units in the area are on their way at emergency speed... No word on how long for them to get here... Any reply... "
Sasami smiled and shook her head...
Her eyes were on the planet below, outside the bridge window...
It reminded her of colony 0315, the world where everyone was living at the moment...
A lot of blue water, with green land...
This must have been how 0315 had looked 100,000 years ago, before it was first colonized...
Nagi was sitting at a screen near the back of the bridge, a display of the system showing...
The star at the center, a dot for the planet below and a ring of dots around the edge for the inner ring of asteroids...
A small triangle with a small J next to it was approach the ring, while another larger triangle with an R next to it was just passing the sun, headed towards the other triangle...
It seem that the group of Raiders had indeed detected the small Juraian task force and was headed towards it, intent on taking it out...
It would appear that not only did the Raiders know where and how large the task force was, they knew that this isolated system had no communication connection with the rest of the outside universe, thus no way of calling for help...
It was highly unlikely that they would be expecting Washu's little experiment and thus some unexpected guest to their little party..
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Kiyone Tanaka waved at Sasami, Captain Zanata was on the screen...
" Don't worry, it a special secured system Washu created... "
Sasami smiled and turned to the captain...
" I see you've reached the belt... The Raiders are just passing the sun, it will be a while before they reach you... You should have time to prepare a very warm welcome for them... "
Zanata's eyes widened...
" You can see that far?... "
Sasami smiled and nodded...
Yukinojo's abilities weren't all that secret, but there were enough to make it more than a match for even the largest star ships...
" We will keep you informed of their process and any up dates... "
Looking at Kiyone and getting a nod, she continued...
" We were able to get word out about the attack and a number of ships are on their way... How many and when we can expect them is still up in the air... "
She noted that this last part seem to cheer up the crew members...
Even Zanata was smiling as the connection was cut...
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( On the surface of the planet... )
Deep beneath the surface of the planet's water, eyes watched...
They had been watching the small Juraian task force ever since it entered the system some days before...
The task force had not approached the planet or even try to contact the people on the surface...
It had moved to a position near where they entered the system and set up a standard Juraian guard stance...
It had also watched the strange unidentified crystal star ship appear on the other side of the system...
This craft also didn't move towards the planet, it had just floated there...
But it had been the strange appearance of the Galaxy Police craft that caused the most concern...
It had not entered the system the way other space crafts, like the task force or even the crystal ship had...
For to travel through the vast 'space' between planets, star-ships used special space warping engines that allow them to enter what was referred to a 'sub-space'...
As 'sub-space' rejected any form of matter, the engines created a field around the craft to prevent it's rejection and propel it at far greater speeds than could be obtained in 'normal-space'...
However, the entering and leaving of 'sub-space' causes a slight disturbance in the surrounding space that could be detected for some distance...
And usually the larger the craft, the larger the disturbance...
It was as if the Galaxy Police craft had just appeared out of no where...
There had been no indication that the Juraian Empire or the Airaian Kingdom had access to such technology, much less the Galaxy Police...
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To add to the mystery, the crystal ship disappeared, leaving behind only the GP craft...
At any rate, it seem that the Juraian task force had detected the 1st craft enter the system, they had moved, in force, to investigate...
The mystery deepened as, after contact between the two groups, it was indicated the the strange GP craft was the Yukinojo which was listed as being piloted by one detective Mihoshi Kuramitsu, but was piloted by officer Kiyone Makibi, who was listed as her missing partner?...
Then there was the statement that the Yukinojo was a Mark XX special GP Patrol Cruiser, as last reported data indicated that the GP's Patrol Cruisers were only up to about XV or so...
And then there was the claim that the small craft was equal to a 4th generation Tree-ship?...
The appearance of Princess Sasami on the GP cruiser helped explain some, but only some...
It was then that crafts matching the description of RAIDER attack ships appeared near where the Juraian task force had been earlier...
As the GP cruiser approached the planet a decision was made...
It was obvious that contact would need to be made...
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( Aboard the Yukinojo... )
Yukinojo's AI spoke up...
" Princess Sasami... It seems we are being scanned... "
Sasami looked at Nagi and then the two Kiyones...
They all shook their heads...
" I can't tell where it's coming from... "
Just then, a soft humming was heard and officer Tanaka began to disappear...
Shortly after she vanished, the humming began again and Sasami began to disappear...
However, Nagi quickly reached over and grabbed her hand trying to stop her...
Instead both of the vanished...
It was the AI who broke the silence...
" Not again... "
Officer Makibi found herself alone on the bridge, just her and the two cabbits...
How was she going to explain THIS to Washu...
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( Some where very dark... )
Detective Tanaka found herself standing in a beam of light...
A short distance away stood princess Sasami and Nagi, in another beam...
" You are not lady Haruoni Masaki Tanaka... "
Kiyone sighed, she wasn't sure what was happening, but for some reason it seem best to be truthful...
" No... I am Kiyone Tanaka, her daughter... Both she and my father were killed a number of years ago... "
She didn't go into detail as Sasami and Nagi watched her...
" Then you must be the new Lady Tanaka... "
It was bad enough being called that at work, now it seem she was going to have to answer to it every where...
" Yes... I guess you can call me that... "
With that, the beams disappeared and the surrounding area began to appear...
They seem to be in a clearing and overhead were stars, as well as a moon in the distance...
Hearing a gasp, she turned to see Sasami pointing at the moon...
" That's the moon over Tenchi's house... "
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Kiyone felt an odd sensation, as if she'd been here before...
Why did she feel like that?...
" It been a while, little Kiyone... "
The voice seem to come from every where...
" Oh, my... "
Kiyone turned to see a surprised Sasami put a hand to her mouth...
Smiling, she turned and looked at Kiyone...
" We're aboard a Juraian Tree-ship... "
The voice answered her...
" You are correct princess Sasami... You are aboard the Third generation Tree-ship of Lady Haruoni Masaki Tanaka... The Amelia... "
There was a moment of silence...
" Princess Sasami... You can confirm the passing of Lady Haruoni Tanaka?... "
A sad expression formed on Sasami's face as she nodded her head and softly managed to reply...
" I can... "
But Sasami managed to hide a smile, as she knew what was going to happen next...
" Then I am now the Third generation Tree-ship of Lady Kiyone Masaki Tanaka... "
Both Sasami and Nagi smiled as Kiyone's mouth fell open...
No one noticed that the goddess Tsunami was standing behind Sasami, also smiling...
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To be continued...
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Please feel free to comment and review for any errors...
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