Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Half a War ❯ Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and Homeworld are not mine. I'm ripping them off shamelessly and you all know it.

As always comments and criticisms are welcome. Flames will be used to toast marshmallows.

Half a War: Chapter 7

By: Dusk

In a small, unnamed system a sun glowed red. It had two small planets, a single gas giant and an asteroid belt surrounding. The asteroids were unremarkable and would be harvested eventually by some kiith. Normally no ships would ever grace this system but on this day ships did arrive, but not for the asteroids or any other resources. They were here to simply use the system as a jumping point. The star and planets provided easy navigation between systems.

"Returning to normal space, checking astro-navigation..." The navigator aboard the C-Chan waited briefly as the computer compared star charts to the visible stars of the system. "Jump successful we are on target."

Akane breathed a sigh of relief. It was rare to jump off target, but it did happen. In this case it would have caused nothing but a delay in travel, but near the battlefront it could drop you in the middle of something you didn't want to be in.

"What about the Senken, are they here yet?" Akane asked.

"Scanning the system now. We are receiving a signal from them. It will take a second to triangulate."

"OK as soon as you have them positioned open a secure channel."

Nabiki walked into the command deck just as Akane gave her last order. "I see you have things well in control. It'll be a few hours before our Mother ship arrives."

"Nabiki why are you always on the bridge? Not even Dad is here nearly as often as you." Akane was getting tired of Nabiki looking over her shoulder.

"Call me paranoid and a control freak. I can't stand not being in the know. You should be used to that by now." Nabiki offhandedly remarked, causing her sister to grind her teeth. "Once you have the Senken on the comm please tell me, I would really like to get the interrogation records of the prisoners."

"Don't worry Nabiki you'll have your records. Or maybe you just want to talk to a certain perverted boy?" Akane smirked to herself. Ha! Let Nabiki chew on that one.

Nabiki sighed. Akane really should know better than to try and tease her like that. "Why Akane, you almost sound jealous. You sure you're not upset over being passed over? I mean he does have an absolutely gorgeous butt, in both forms."

Akane just stood there her mouth gaping, her mind trying to formulate some sort of denial or come back that wouldn't play right into her sisters hands. Akane's crew, who had until this moment being trying to pretend they were ignoring, also reacted to Nabiki's remark. Some chuckled softly to themselves, while others let their jaws hang in shock like Akane. A few even managed to continue their work, ignoring the conversation entirely, or at least pretending to better than the others.

"Commander, we have a secure channel now." The communication tech answered. Akane was thankful for the change in subject.

"Do they have anything important to mention?" Akane asked. Her parents told to at least act civil when dealing with the Saotomes and their crew.

"No sir. Just a request for the ETA of the Mothership and to tell us they'll be able to arrive at our position with in 2 hours."

"Granted." Akane answered. She turned to Nabiki "Anything you want to say to them?"

"Sure I would like to request a copy of their interrogation records and to question the prisoners when the Senken arrives."

Communication officer relayed the message and waited a brief moment before as the Senken gave the answer. "Granted. The records will be handed to you when you board the Senken."

"Why can't they just send them over the comm?" Akane asked.

"Too much information, especially after it's been encrypted. Plus no matter how secure a channel is there could always be someone there to intercept it and eventually decode it."

"How can it have that much information? It's just audio and video right?"

"Actually it's several angles of video as well several streams of medical information. Plus there is the video of the interrogator as well as any information on the history of the prisoner. This is for each prisoner. The Senken probably won't have even finished with all the interrogations by the time I get there. You also don't have the facilities here to properly evaluate them. I'd need the Riskbreaker for that."

"Would you stop badmouthing my ship Nabiki." Akane said tiredly. "So it's not as fast or as sophisticated as yours, It's not meant to be. It's a front line battler. Firepower and survivability were what it was built for."

"I know Akane, I just miss my Riskbreaker. Maybe I'll bring Ranma along when I go to pick it up." Nabiki said the last part mostly to herself but just loud enough for Akane to hear. With that she turned around and left the bridge.

Akane could only role her eyes. Her sister actually did seem to like the pervert, the maker knew why.

Aboard the Senken Ranma was checking the fighters and making sure that the flight was ready in case of an emergency. He was also doing his best not to let his buddies constant whining get to him.

"Come on Ranma, you have to tell us which one you like better. I mean you can't have them both. You have to let us have a shot at one of them." Hiroshi implored his best buddy and commanding officer.

"Yeah man. Don't hog all the good girls. Leave us something." Daisuke was quick to add.

"First of all, both girls are way out your league. They'd be out of mine too except for this arranged marriage deal. Also I do not hog all the girls. For crying out loud I haven't even dated a girl, ever. I've never had the time." Ranma replied to his friends. He liked the two guys and all, he really did but man could they get on his nerves sometimes. Especially when it involved girls.

"But that's just the problem. You aren't dating any of the girls here so they all hold out hoping that they'll be the one you ask out." Daisuke couldn't believe that Ranma didn't see that.

"That's stupid and you know it. There is no way every girl on this ship is waiting for me to ask them out. You're just using me to cover up your inadequacies." Ranma had a hard time believing two of his best pilots could be such idiots. "And that excuse doesn't hold true anymore since I am officially spoken for."

"But, couldn't you at least put in a good word for us with the one you don't pick." Hiroshi pleaded.

"Will you stop pestering me if I do?"

"Yeah, of course."

"No problem man."

"Okay, I'll see what I can dredge up about you two that might be even remotely redeeming." Ranma told his friends

"Thanks man you're the best." Hiroshi looked like the girl was as good as his already. Daisuke didn't look any less grounded than his counterpart.

"I don't know Ranma, trying to a find a redeeming quality concerning those two might be more than you can handle." Ukyo said as she came beside him.

"Tell me about it. Say Ucchan what did you think of Kasumi and Nabiki. I've asked these two but all I get out of them is cat noises and comments about babes."

"Well they seem nice enough, especially Kasumi but, well they seem kinda snobbish at the same time. Nabiki gives me the impression of being smart and very dangerous as well, like she could have you beaten before you actually knew it." Ukyo did her best not to be too negative of them. Ranma did seem to like them and that was what really worried Ukyo.

Daisuke could only roll his eyes at that. Ranma just seemed totally clueless as to how much Ukyo was head over heels for him.

"Hmm I didn't really notice. Are you sure? They didn't seem snobbish to me." Ranma commented. Mostly to himself as he thought over what Ukyo said.

"Actually Ranma I came over here to talk about the Taidan." Ukyo said trying to change the subject. "Have the interrogators figured out why they were there?"

"Apparently information was leaked at the Tendo end of things. The Taidan had no idea we were coming otherwise they would have sent a much larger fleet or nothing at all."

"That makes sense." Hiroshi said. "After all we had no meetings or appointments to change. We also don't need to let anyone know where or when we're going plus we're nearly impossible to track."

"The question is, why did the Taidan think the Tendos were so important that they sent an entire strike fleet deep into Hiigaran territory?" Daisuke added. Once his mind was off of girls he was capable of remarkably intelligent observations. He could have been an interrogator if he hadn't loved flying so much.

"Maybe the Taidan know something we don't about the Tendos." Ukyo suggested.

"That's a possibility. I think they just got wind of the Tendos leaving for a secret meeting and would be moving with the most speed possible, therefore with a smaller and less powerful fleet. They probably wanted to eliminate them or hold them for ransom." Daisuke commented. The gears in his head were working, slow and rusty from disuse but still working.

"And they probably would have succeeded too if we had arrived twenty minutes later." Hiroshi added.

"Well, we'll have our answers when they're done interrogating the prisoners" Ranma said.

The Tendo Mothership Dojo had arrived at the designated coordinates and the Senken had taken up a flanking position beside it. Currently a prisoner transfer was underway from the Senken to the Dojo which had better facilities for handling them. As well equipped as the Senken was, it was still only a carrier and not a full fledged Mothership. Nabiki was overseeing the prisoner transfer while Kasumi helped Akane with re-supplying the C-Chan. Ranma was out with his friends taking a flyby of the Tendo Mothership.

"Man that's solid construction. They don't make them like they used to." Hiroshi commented.

"Actually they don't make them at all anymore." Ukyo said back.

"It's too bad that the Hiigaran military won't let anyone but military kiithid build Motherships anymore." Ranma sounded wistful.

"I sympathize. At least they didn't make it retroactive." Hiroshi said.

Nearly three generations ago the Military powers determined that Mothership class vessels were too indefensible a target. As a result no kiith was allowed to have a Mothership constructed for them. This caused an outrage among the smaller and more independent minded Kiithid. The matter had taken nearly five years to sort out. In the end the council ruled that the military was right but that any Kiith that possessed a Mothership already could keep and maintain it for as long as possible. The Dojo was one of the few non-military Motherships still in service and had been in service for six generations. It had been continually renovated and updated as new technologies were discovered. It was also fiercely defended by the Tendo Kiith from any and all attacks against it. Including when one of the military kiithid had tried to requisition it. The reason given that the kiith could not afford to wait for a new Mothership to be built after it had just lost it's own in a battle against the beast. The Tendo kiith had successfully argued that the Dojo was not fit for frontline battle and would actually hinder a military kiith. After the Tendos won that battle no military kiith had bothered to try and requisition The Dojo again.

As Ranma looked at the Dojo he briefly wished that The Senken had been a Mothership and not a carrier. The scale of battle they would be able to wage against the Taidanni Empire would have been staggering. But there was no use wishing about what could have been. Instead he admired the Dojo for what it was. A self contained city capable of housing and feeding nearly fifty thousand people. Also able to construct ships of up to cruiser size and research it's own technologies. It also followed the old Somtaaw principle of being modular in design so it could be easily and efficiently upgraded. The Senken carrier followed the same principle. After being in service for fifteen years the Senken hardly resembled it's original configuration.

"Well Ranma when you're done making puppy dog eyes at it we can always land and see what the inside looks like. I don't care how good these helmets are, you can't truly appreciate the size of it until you've been inside." Hiroshi said.

"Oh, and are you talking from experience Hiroshi or just guessing?" Ukyo asked somewhat sarcastically.

"It's an educated guess. After all can you really imagine right now what the construction bay for cruiser size ships will look like? I know I can't." Hiroshi shot back.

"Okay we'll ask for permission to board. I doubt we'll get to see to much of it for now though." Ranma said before am argument could break out between Ukyo and Hiroshi.

"Hey you gave those two Tendo sisters a tour. You should see if they'll give us a tour of the Dojo." Daisuke added his suggestion.

"I'll bet they're real busy at the moment." Ukyo was quick to say.

"Nah they won't be. They have people under them, they can delegate." Daisuke said. Ukyo could only grind her teeth in annoyance.

"Once we land we should get the communication systems checked. Mine seems to be making some weird noises." Hiroshi sounded a little perplexed.

After the pilots of the Senken had landed aboard the Dojo they only had a short wait before Kasumi arrived to greet them.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. I didn't realize you would be coming aboard." Kasumi said to the assembled pilots.

"Actually this was sort of a spur of the moment idea." Ranma said a little nervously.

"Oh that's quite alright. Is there anything in particular you wanted to see while you're visiting." Kasumi asked still smiling sweetly.

Hiroshi was quick to speak up. "Could you show us the construction bay, the one for cruisers and carriers? If that isn't too much of a problem?"

"Not at all. It's just this way. We'll take a tram, it's a longer walk than it seems." Kasumi said.

A moment later and the five of them were on their way. When they arrived they greeted with the sight of not only the construction bay itself but also a cruiser nearly three quarters finished already. The cruiser itself was impressive even only partially complete. Already it had a mass of nearly 120 000 tons. The weapon systems were already in place as could be seen by the six heavy turrets featured along the outside of the hull. The nose section was still incomplete and open decking could be seen.

"You know I never really realized it before, but you walk down the barrels of those guns standing up, and still stretch your arms out." Hiroshi said sounding awed.

"Hmm, I never really looked at that way," Kasumi said "but I believe you're right."

"I don't believe how big this room is. You could have a dogfight in here and not worry about running out room." Ukyo said. For once forgetting her agitation and letting herself experience the enormity of Dojo without reservation.

"It almost feels like a planet. You can even feel a breeze in here, and it's not the ventilation system." Ranma said. He had his eyes closed and a slight smile on his face as he turned toward the breeze.

"He's right. Hey do you guys ever get rain in here?" Daisuke asked as he mimicked Ranma.

"Oh no. Although we do have to be careful. Once we had a problem with environment control and the entire bay fogged up. You couldn't even see your hand in front of your face." Kasumi related.

"Not to mention that after five minutes everyone would have been soaked to the bone. The repair crews couldn't have been happy." Ukyo said. A humorous smile on her face.

"No they weren't too happy. Although they did learn not to complain about lack of work for them to do after that." Kasumi said smiling at Ukyo. She was a nice girl. Too bad Nabiki was right about her liking Ranma. Kasumi really didn't want to break them apart but it was necessary. Kasumi understood that sometimes sacrifices had to be made for the greater good and if a broken heart was the worst to come from the alliance and marriage between the two Kiithid than Kasumi would count everyone lucky. Still she couldn't help but feel a little guilty about it.

"What's this, you couldn't wait for me?" Nabiki said joining her sister and the Senken pilots. "You know I'm not so busy that I can't find time to show my possible fiancé around my own families ship."

"Sorry Nabiki I didn't realize you wanted to join us." Kasumi said still smiling. Ukyo began to wonder if she ever stopped smiling.

"That's okay I'll just have Ranma make it up to me. What do you say Ranma, want to go with me to retrieve my carrier? I just got word the repairs are done." Nabiki flashed one of her best smiles at Ranma.

"Does everyone in your family have there own carrier?" Ukyo asked incredulously.

"It's a little bit of a tradition among the ruling families of the Tendo Kiith. Usually who every does the best job managing their carrier gets selected to command the Dojo when the current commander steps down. That will probably be Kasumi here. Here carrier is closest to a Mothership in form and function. Plus she is the best at keeping everything running smoothly and efficiently." Nabiki explained as Kasumi looked slightly embarrassed from the praise. "So what do you say Ranma want to take a little trip, just you me and a couple of escorts?" The last she said with her eyes on the three pilots behind Ranma.

"Sure why not. It could be fun. If anything goes wrong we can protect you." Ranma said. He hadn't had a chance for some real fun in a while. He smiled at the prospect of a little action without his parents peering over his shoulder.

"Great. Though I don't know how much fun we'll be able to have. We're going to meet the Bentusi, what could go wrong?"