Masaki Family Secrets...
Author: Daferge
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Characters are property of their original owners... All original characters and ideas are the property of the author...
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Masaki Family Secrets...
Chapter 11... Greetings...
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( Airai, the Airaian Home world... )
The commander of the defense fleet, Lord Volcana, commander of 1st Airaian Special Assault Wing, was aboard his ship the red Washi (Eagle)...
Sitting in his command chair, he reviewed all the known facts and had come to some disturbing conclusions...
It appeared that the royal family of Airai, headed by King Akio Magma, with queen Aimi, had been over thrown in a coup d'etat...
It seem that a group, lead by a high priest of Tsunami, feared that king Akio would betray the Airaian people by allowing his, recently discovered great-grandson, to ascend to the throne...
The problem was that that 'grandchild' also happen to be the great-grandson of the Juraian Emperor, THE major rival of the Airais for several thousands of years...
Thus the priest and high ranking military leaders had used a series of Planetary Emergency plans to replace the King and the Royal High council...
By performing them as 'exercises', very few people even noticed what was going on and no violence or resistance had even been offered...
Before any one knew what was happening, it was over and the priest sat in the King's chair...
To top it off, Volcana found him self in command of a large number of Airaian's warships, assembled in orbit above the home-world, to prevent outside interference...
Volcana wasn't happy about finding out that he had been used, nor with the results, but he knew there was little he could do...
The command structure had been his guiding light for most of his whole career, so, he'd always had faith in it and the King, until now...
It still represented Order and to disobey was an invitation to chaos...
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However, as he was studying all his options, again, fate decided to step in and the ship's alarms went off...
On the main screen he watched as a large number of star-ships exited sub-space a short distance above the planet...
Although in the standard 'attack' formation, the 'fleet' had exited too far away to be a surprise attack...
A crew member across the bridge quickly reported that ALL sensors indicated that the weapons on-board the new starships were not powered up...
Calming his nerves, Volcana ordered the defense fleet to stand down and power down the weapons that had almost instantly been activated...
With every thing going on, he didn't need any nervous fingers near fully powered up FIRE buttons...
Another member of the bridge crew reported that the new fleet's transponder signal identified them as a Galaxy Police and as such considered a neutral party in planetary events taking place on a planetary surface and prevent direct out-side influence...
As it was he found it interesting to note that his 'eye for detail' allowed him to correctly identify the largest ship in the task force as the new and very powerful heavy cruisers Lightning, one of the most powerful ships in the GP fleet next to the Capital ships...
In fact, if recent intelligence reports were correct, it was the flagship of a powerful GP task force that had been recently formed to counter growing Raider problem...
Great, nothing like having heavily armed outsiders drop by for a visit when you're right in the middle of 'family' problems...
In other words some one you didn't want or need to get upset...
As the communications officer reported an incoming message from the GP fleet, Volcana put on a bright face and tried to keep things calm...
However, when the communications screen appeared before him, it became quite apparent that it was far too late for that...
For the face on the screen was none other than famed GP officer and 1st. princess of Airai, Airi Magma, king Akio's only daughter, her eyes glowing as she demanded to speak to her parents...
The bridge shaking with each word...
AT ONCE...
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( Some where in sub space... )
A pair of eyes widened and a small smile appeared on the lips below...
Even with countless numbers of Universes to choose from, things had been rather slow of late...
Except for this one small Universe, way over in the far corner...
It took just a moment to see which tiny dot of light the disturbance was coming from...
Noting where it was and who was involved, the smile got slightly bigger...
Reaching over they picked up a couple of pieces of white poof from a large bowl and popped them into their mouth...
It seem that some thing of interest might be starting...
For it was always fun to watch what these people did next...
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( Aboard the Airaian Flagship the Washi... )
Lord Volcana greeted princess Airi as the rest of the bridge crew watched quietly, many holding their breaths...
They watched in awe as their commander managed to carefully calm the upset Princess down by assuring her that every one was OK and that every thing was alright...
She hadn't notice that one of his hands was behind his back and that a number of his fingers were crossed...
In an attempt to break the tension and hopefully keep every one calm, he asked a question...
" Princess... If I may ask?... Why is it that you happen to return with such a large task force?... "
His sharp eye noted the slight smile cross her lips before disappearing and she replied with a calm, but very firm voice...
" It seems that when I requested transportation home, there weren't any shuttles available, so the Grand Marshal suggested I use this little thing to bring me home quickly... "
She gesture to the heavy cruiser Lightning that she was on...
" He said it was the fastest ship available at that moment... "
The unspoken was quite clear, the GP ( the Marshal ) knew what was happening and wasn't too happy...
Any thing that could disrupt the peace of the Galaxy would be watched closely...
VERY CLOSELY!...
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Volcana hid a smile and decided to made another inquiry...
" And the task force?... "
He watched as she put on her innocent face...
" Why, Lord Volcana... Isn't it natural that where the task force flagship goes, the task force go also?... "
Volcana knew a loaded question and simply replied...
" Of Course... "
With decades of involvement with the Royal Families, as well as the GP, he could see wheels within wheels within wheels...
He knew that little was what it seem and even less was as simple as it appeared...
There was what happen in the bright light, for all to see and then there was what happen deep within the shadows, that very few even knew about...
And as if to the Universe wanted to make a statement, a second rather large fleet of ships drop out of sub-space on the other side of planet...
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Even as almost all the defence weapons turned towards this new threat, a new screen appeared before Volcana, next to princess Airi's...
The face on this one was well known to all present, Lady Seto Kamiki Jurai, better known as the Devil Princess of Jurai...
Which quickly identified this as a task force of Juraian ships, 'escorting' the Juraian Tree-ship Mikagami...
Due to their sudden appearance and who they were, almost every Airian weapon within range was now pointed at them...
Looking over her famed fan, Volcana could only see her eyes...
" Oh my... Is this the way you treat guest?... The Juraian Royal family ask me to deliver some gifts to the Airian Royal family and THIS is what we get?... "
Airi, who'd spent a good deal of time with Lady Seto, heard the sad tone of her words, but she saw Seto's eyes dancing above her fan...
There had to be more to this than 'gifts'...
" Perhaps I should just take the gifts back to Jurai and tell the Emperor just how rude you people have gotten... "
Airi smiled, Lady Seto retreating from a challenge was unheard of, she was right, there was much more going on...
As for Lord Volcana, he could feel a large, pounding headache coming on...
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Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he was able to ask a question...
" If just delivering gifts, why the task force?... "
He had a pretty good idea what the answer would be, but it would calm things down, as his ships were once again returned to stand-by mode...
Lady Seto batted her eyes at him, over her fan, as she replied...
" It just so happen that we were headed out on a Raider Hunt when the request caught us... After we make our delivery we'll be continuing out... A lot easier than having to go back and get them afterwards... "
He could have sworn she batted her eyes at him...
" Wouldn't you agree?... "
Volcana nodded his head, it was as he expected...
Her eyes aglow, she continued...
" Would you please be so good as to inform the Royal family that I am here!... "
With a slight bow of his head he motioned to his communications officer...
" At once... "
As he turn to pass on the request, he thought about every thing...
She was acting as if nothing was going on in the Airian Palace, the Juraian Royal family had to have gotten some kind of hint about the over-throw...
That was when the alarms went off AGAIN, informing him that a third fleet has just dropped out of sub-space, a short distance beyond the defense forces and away from the other two groups...
And to his surprise these ships were not broadcast ANY transponder signals which would identify them...
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Volcana wasn't the only one surprised...
Lady Seto and officer Airi were at a loss also...
Transponder signals were designed to be very difficult to modify, but were almost impossible to turn off without destroying a good portion of the ship...
You might happen upon a single ship without a signal for some reason, but an entire fleet?...
Another odd thing was that the 'fleet' seem to be made up entirely of a very large numbers of minor ships, no major or even minor 'war-ships'...
In fact, looking closer, they appeared to be quite similar to those types favored by Space Pirates...
And as there was no response to his request that they identify themselves, Volcana now turned a number of the defense weapons on this new unknown threat...
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Seeking guidance, he contacted the new 'government', who were meeting in the Royal councilor chambers...
The priest took his report and told him to use his own best judgment in dealing with the matter and not to bother them with such minor things...
Staring at the blank screen, before it disappeared, Volcana counted to 10 several times before he was calm enough to do any thing...
It was then that one of his tech called his attention to the new fleet...
On a new screen he watched as the small ships slowly began to maneuver themselves into a more familiar formation, one used by the major fleets to increase the shielding protection of their ships, by overlapping them...
As the three major fleets watched, the new fleet changed formation from a general collect of ships into a classic defense/attack formation...
Volcana didn't know why, but he decided to shift even more weapons upon them...
Only after they had been stationary for a while did the transponder detection board suddenly light up, as if the unknown fleet had turned on their signals...
Volcana blinked his eyes several time to be sure he was seeing correctly...
It was the Black code, the infamous signal used by Space Pirates...
Infact, every single ship in the mystery fleet had just declared themselves - FOES...
This caused him to transfer even more weapons and wonder just what was going on...
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Even as he shook his head his communications officer indicated there was a wide band signal being broadcast...
A broadcast that not only were they were picking up, but was being picked on every communication unit on the planet...
With a wave of his hand, a new comm signal makes contact and a male appeared on his main screen in a very flashy outfit that just seems to be shouted, SPACE PIRATE...
The white haired male smiled at the screen and spoke slowly and quite clearly...
" In the name of the Goddess, we are here to demand that you lay down your weapons and restore King Akio to the throne... "...
Volcana's eyes widened, THAT was NOT what he expected...
Balling his right hand, the male pressed his fist against his left breast, an old form of salute among the high guard...
" Long live the Royal Family... "
The male bowed his head slightly...
As the screen image died, one of his officers reports that a new ship had suddenly appeared beside the ship that the signal had come from...
A Crystal ship familiar to most space travelers, Ken-Ohki, which meant that the bounty hunter Nagi Katsumoro had entered the party...
On the side of the pirates?...
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( Aboard the Mikagami... )
lord Volcana wasn't the only one observing all of this...
Lady Seto stood on her bridge as she watched the unknown fleet deploy and when the transponder signal came on, many on the bridge wondered what she would do...
Few noticed her eyebrow rise when ex-space pirate Captain Fragga came on screen to made his announcement...
She had to admit he cut the dashing figure in his colorful outfit...
Her other eyebrow went up when she heard him use the word Goddess, instead of Tsunami's name...
She was one of the few who knew there was more than one, because she'd met all three of them...
A small smile lifted the edge of her lip...
She also noted that he hadn't specified WHICH 'Royal Family' ether...
She was beginning to understand why she had been asked to come, with 'gifts' and why it had been suggested she take her task force with her...
However one name did come to mind...
Washu...
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( Aboard the Lightning... )
Aboard the GP flag-ship, Airi had watched the Juraian fleet's arrival and observed Lady Seto's conference, over an open channel...
She looked at the screen with the Juraian task force on it...
She smiled and wondered what 'gifts' Emperor Azusa would have sent at such a time...
It seem too much that the Juraians had just happen to arrive just after she had...
Then she looked at the other screen, with the "Space Pirate" fleet on it...
She'd managed to keep her jaw from dropping when Captain Fragga appeared and made his announcement...
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She'd met the good captain when she was reintroduced to her grandson Tenchi during that other little planetary problem, a while back...
Most of her life she had look down on those who were labeled as Space Pirates...
To her and others, they were just another form of criminal that needed to be caught and locked away...
Watching Lady Seto chatting with him and the once infamous Ryoko, who was now her grand-daughter-in-law, had her rethinking many things...
Now, her mind was spinning at the idea that Space Pirates were coming to her parent's rescue and in the name of the Goddess Tsunami?...
And, if that wasn't enough, it was announced that the crystal ship, Ken-Ohki had sudden appeared next to the pirate flag-ship...
She had wondered why the Grand Marshal had insisted that she travel on the Assault task force flag-ship and that the task force accompany her...
A single name came to mind...
Washu...
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( Aboard the Washi (Eagle)... )
Once again Lord Volcana was beginning to find himself at a loss and decided to request orders...
Upon contacting the council chamber, he was confronted by a pair of red headed puppets...
" We are sorry, but your party is unavailable at the moment... If you'd like to leave a message at the sound of the bell, I'm sure they can get back to you in a decade or two... "...
As the puppets disappeared he found himself standing there, his mouth open, he didn't even hear the bell...
After a moment a young smiling red-headed female, with glasses, appeared...
" Yes?... How can I help you?... "...
Volcana shook his head before replying...
" Ah, yes... I was trying to get the Royal council chamber... "...
The female smiled as she replied...
" You got it... What can I do for you?... "...
This was not what he had been expecting, Volcana managed to ask...
" I was trying to get the emergency ruling body... "...
The female smiled...
" They're unavailable at the moment... Would the King do?... "...
Volcana stares at the screen...
" The King?... "...
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The female continued to smile, she was enjoying this...
" Why yes... As the 'Emergency exercise' is over, the King has resumed control of the throne... "...
Her eyes narrowed as she continued...
" Is that a problem?... "...
Volcana sighed and smiled...
" Not at all... In fact, I'm quite happy about it... I was just wondering what I should tell our visitors in orbit... "...
The female smiled...
" Tell officer Magma that her parent await her arrival and please tell Lady Seto that it is alright for her to deliver her gifts... And... As the 'Emergency' exercise is over, you may act accordingly..."...
He nodded, but he had to ask, he was sure he'd seen the female before some where...
" Might I inquire as to your name?... "...
The female smiled...
" Why, My name's Hakuhi, Washu Hakubi... "...
With that she closed the connection...
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( In Orbit... )
As he started to relay the information, his eyes widened...
How had she known about the gifts?...
He hadn't mentioned it when he announced the Juraian's arrival...
He managed to relay the messages before beginning to give out orders to the different units that had been gathered in orbit above the home-world...
All units were to return to the duties they had before being called for this 'security' duty...
He smiled as he watched the GP task force leave, returning to the GP headquarters for reassignment...
Also the 'pirate' fleet began to leave also, a few at a time, with new various transponder signals ( no longer the Black one ) now broadcasting...
Lady Seto and princess Airi joined Captain Fragga aboard the Ken-Ohki before it proceeded to the royal landing pad at the palace...
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( The Palace... )
The protective force field dome was open to allow the Ken-Ohki to land...
As it hovered above the Royal landing pad, three figures could be seen below, the King and Queen and a small red-headed female...
After a few minutes, four new figures appeared and then Ken-Ohki transformed to his small pet form...
When he landed on the ground, Nagi smiled as he had landed next to Washu, who picked him up, scratched him behind the ear and fed him some carrots...
For the longest time, Ken-Ohki had been the only friend that she'd had and she had been the only friend Ken-Ohki had...
Then, a short time back, they'd caught up with the one bounty that had eluded her for so very long...
The infamous space pirate Ryoko and her ship/pet, Ryo-Ohki...
And both their lives had never been the same...
Not only was the infamous 'mad' scientist, Washu Hakubi, Ryoko's mom, it turned out that she had created Ken-Ohki as well as Ryo-Ohki...
And before ether of them knew it, they not only had new friends, but family too...
And what a 'family'...
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Nagi stood next to captain Fragga as things happen...
As Airi got a hug from her mother, the Queen, Lady Seto handed the King a small package...
She had to smile as she heard Washu tell Ken-Ohki he was "Momma's good little boy"...
And she could feel the joy he got from that praise, over the link the two had...
Even if it did kind of make him Ryoko's little brother...
Nagi still wasn't sure exactly what was happening, but she and the others had done as Washu had asked, playing their part in her little drama...
And it seem that it had all worked out...
Princess Sasami had wanted to help, but she was needed to keep every thing going back home...
Nagi was sure that Washu didn't want her to be there if some thing went wrong...
Nagi had seen a lot of careful plans suddenly go bad and very ugly, very messy...
She knew that Sasami was strong, but every one wanted to protect her, if they could...
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It as Lady Seto who broke the calm and spoke up...
" I must say I'm not surprised to see you here, Washu... I assume this means that every thing went as you planned it?... "
Scratching Ken-Ohki behind the ear, Washu smiled as she replied...
" You, of all people, should know that no plan survives first contact with the enemy... "
But she smiled as she looked Lady Seto in the eyes...
" But it did survive the important parts... "
She saw the king sigh and the Queen smile...
Knowing how Royals protected their privacy she might never find out what happen...
But then she saw Washu's smile and remember that this was any thing but a normal Royal family...
" Shall we retire to the council room?... "
Washu, with Ken-Ohki on her shoulder, and Lady Seto leading the way, followed by Airi and her parents...
Nagi smiled and sighed, some how she could feel one of Professor Washu's lectures coming...
Sighing, she and Captain Fragga followed the others...
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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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