Arisugawa's Locket
Warhammer 4000
It began with a explosion.
Ranma Saotome yelped as the women staggered out of the blast, the five battered figures reaching the doorway as a battlefield flickered in and out of existence. The time space device under the bar brought them to the war, for a moment, and Ranma was mildly stunned to see the mad chaos of biological mecha, weapons fire and valiantly fighting humans. Then the chaos was gone, leaving a group of battered women who nearly collapsed as soon as they hit the entrance way.
"What the...?" Ranma yelped as she got a good look at them, feeling a sinking sensation as she recognized all of them. "Excel, Hyatt!" she yelled down the hall, "Give me a hand!"
Setsuna Meiou felt a chill as she saw the women getting hauled inside, knowing they were from another time frame. She went over to her lover, smiling fondly as Juri helped a group of newcomers calm down after arriving there unexpectedly.
"Don't worry, Miss Sakamoto," Juri told the black haired woman with the eyepatch, "you'll be returned home shortly after you left. I doubt anyone will notice you're gone."
Mio Sakamoto bowed slightly, "Thank you, Miss Arisugawa. I still don't understand how a door to your bar opened up on the Strike Witches' base...."
"Well, at least your friends are having fun," Juri smiled, noting the teens dancing and eating at a nearby table. She did wonder why they were all just wearing gym shorts with various tops, but decided not to ask.
"Juri," Setsuna cut in politely, "I think we might have a situation developing."
"Excuse me," Juri nodded to Mio as they saw the group of women stagger inside, some supported by Ranma and Hyatt.
"They're injured?" Mio tagged along, "Yoshika has medical training...."
"You don't mind helping?" Juri asked, as they hurried over to the entrance through the crowded bar, surveying the women in unfamiliar military gear.
"It would be our honor to help," Mio said, peeling off to find where Yoshika Miyafuji had gone.
The woman who seemed to be the obvious leader of the group looked up, and Juri nearly stumbled. The woman was HER, or at least some variation of her. The same orange hair, but trimmed short, and part of it had been burned away some time in the past. Scars marred her cheek and side of her head from a serious burn, but her eyes still blazed clear as she looked around in relief.
"We made it," the other Juri murmured. She stood, swaying with pain and met her counterpart, "My name is Captain Juri Arisugawa, leader of the 401st Brigade of the Army of Humankind." She looked past Juri and winced slightly, "Setsuna...."
Ranma looked over the group of women in the military gear and with a sinking feeling realized she recognized them. Mohoro was looking around her as if she was worried of a attack, her black hair tied back in a ponytail and lugging a big gun. Minako Aino was bloody down one side, wearing a black overcoat and Germanic looking cap, her blond hair trimmed short. A black haired woman in tattered clothes looked around warily, her eyes glowing in a unearthly way, while a familiar woman with pink hair supported her, holding a wicked sword in hand.
"Excuse me," the brown haired girl broke through the crowd and hurried to the wounded Minako's side. She knelt down beside her and began to glow blue, while a fox like tail and extra 'ears' popped up on her head.
"Yoshika's healing spell is very powerful," Mio told both Juri's calmly, "your comrade will soon be fine."
"Thank you," Captain Juri smiled tiredly. She looked at Juri, "We need to talk, urgently."
"As soon as Minako is healed, "Juri agreed.
Yoshika gasped with effort as the spell faded, one of her comrades jumping forward to support her. "Are you all right?" Lynette Bishop asked worriedly, her light brown hair falling into her eyes.
"I'm fine," Yoshika smiled, "just tired."
"Thank you," Minako smiled, sitting up with only a wince at how tender her side felt.
Juri looked at Yoshika gratefully as she said, "Free drinks to you and your friends, on me. Thank you very much."
Yoshika blushed, "You're welcome."
"May, Hyatt," Juri took charge, "we're taking these women upstairs." She looked at Ranma, "Back out front, in case something was chasing them."
Ranma nodded as the redhead jogged down the hall, "Got it."
Juri, the alternate Juri and her team headed upstairs, taking over a clean empty bedroom as a impromptu meeting place. "It's been a long time since I've been in here," Minako noted wryly as she sat down on the bed with a sigh, the others standing around nervously.
Juri looked at her counterpart, "You said it was urgent?"
Captain Juri nodded grimly, "Hopefully my arrival has already prevented my time line, but I need to be sure." She looked around, "What year is it?"
"Two thousand and ten," Setsuna answered quietly. She studied the women, "You're from the future, of course."
"We're early," the other Mahoro growled, shaking her head as she added, "Wish we had landed near three thousand."
Captain Juri shrugged, "It'll do." She looked over at the other Juri and Setsuna, "I... can Setsuna leave, please? It's painful to see her."
Setsuna's eyes widened slightly, but she nodded. "I'm sorry," she said gently, stepping outside and shutting the door firmly behind her.
"What...?" Juri gave her counterpart a frown.
"It's complicated," Captain Juri sighed.
"Let me," Minako said, taking off her cap and running her hand through her hair. She looked at Juri, "Things started going bad in our time line after the 32nd century, more or less. That's when we first encountered the Tyranids."
"Tyranids?" Hyatt asked curiously.
"They're a incredibly dangerous life form," Captain Juri said grimly, "they grow their organic star ships and consume any organic matter to replicate themselves. They have a hive mind and no fear of death, attacking with combat units, genestealers and other forms."
"We think they came to the Milky Way from the Andromeda Galaxy," the black haired woman added flatly. She smiled, a twisted, odd looking smile as she added, "I don't think we've met yet, I'm Jun Fudoh."
"Devilman Lady," Juri nodded, "you were by, once. It was a while ago, though."
"The Tyranids hit us all along the rim of what we thought of as civilized space, rolling up galactic empires with ridiculous ease," Minako said grimly. "The Jurai, the Khanite and the Independent Worlds all fell in a matter of weeks."
"I thought Crystal Tokyo was pretty powerful," Nabiki Tenoh said, the martial artist frowning slightly, having followed them up from the common room below.
"On a ship to ship basis we could kick their asses," Signum said, the pink haired woman adding bitterly, "but they outnumbered us nearly a hundred ships to one. They just chewed up our fleets and spat them out."
"Through expending a lot of ships and men we slowed them to a crawl," Minako said bleakly, "then things got worse."
"Worse?" Hyatt blinked.
"The Orcs followed close behind the Tyranids," Captain Juri said bleakly, "they're civilized, sort of, but function as a race of brutal scavengers. They fell on worlds already battered by fighting off Tyranid attacks and took over, slaughtering any survivors."
"And there were the Tau, too," Mahoro said flatly. "They're... a super advanced alien race, and say they want to help us but they don't think in human terms. They're constantly talking about something they call the 'Greater Good' but they'll bombard a planet to lifelessness if needed."
"Crystal Tokyo fell?" Juri guessed.
"It did," Minako agreed. She looked disgusted, "A movement rose up on Earth claiming we had been too soft on aliens and hadn't given our all to the war, despite our losing Ami and Rei helping hold the line. They demanded a referendum and won, putting their representative as Prime Minister."
Signum continued, "They instituted a draft on superhumans, and put warrants out on anyone who defied it." She looked over at Juri as she added, "They ordered a orbital strike on the Locket when we resisted them."
"It's how I got these lovely scars," Captain Juri said flatly.
"Where's Queen Serenity in all this?" Hyatt asked, frowning.
"They're got her imprisoned in the Palace," Jun said grimly, "they've cybernetically tied her to the planetary defenses as a power source. Officially she's the 'Empress of Mankind' but in reality she's pretty much a slave."
"Is there anything we can do?" Juri asked grimly. Part of her wanted to ask the other Juri what happened to her Setsuna, but she wasn't sure she really wanted to know.
"Hopefully our coming here has already done it," Captain Juri admitted. As Nabiki, Hyatt and Juri looked at her curiously she added, "I never met 'me' in the time line I'm from. Hopefully forewarning you will divert the history we're from."
"Get Setsuna back in here," Juri told Hyatt.
Fetched back in she listened to Captain Juri's suggested and nodded, though she also looked worried. "Yes, your coming here will change details of the future," she agreed, "but there's no way to tell how much."
"Can I make a suggestion?" Nabiki asked respectfully.
Minako smiled slightly, "We're listening."
"Get together and make a account of your time line," Nabiki suggested, "including as much combat data on the attacking aliens as you can. Then we'll put it in a time capsule, with a release date at least a hundred years before the first attacks. With advanced warning and enough lead time...."
"We can keep it from happening," Jun nodded thoughtfully. She grinned as she added, "It's at least worth a shot!"
"Commissar?" Captain Juri looked at Minako.
"I like it," Minako agreed, "let's do it."
To be continued....
Our Cast: Ranma Saotome and Nabiki Tendo is from Ranma ½, Setsuna Meiou is from Sailor Moon, Arisugawa Juri is from Revolutionary Girl Utena, May is from Hand Maid May and Excel and Hyatt are from Excel Saga.
Characters: Captain Arisugawa Juri, Commissar Minako Aino, Jun Fudoh, Signum and Mohoro are from a time line based on Warhammer 40,000. Mio Sakamoto, Yoshika Miyafuji and Lynette Bishop are from Strike Witches.
Notes: Yes, this is an alternate future, NOT where the prime Crystal Tokyo history is going. I've been reading the Ciaphas Cain Warhammer 40,000 novels, and thought it might be interesting to do a tip of the hat to that series.