Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Half a War ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to the Ranma 1/2 characters or the Homeworld universe. Someone else does I'm just writing this for fun.

Half a War

By: Dusk

"Explain to me again why we're doing this" questioned Akane.

"Daddy, mind if I explain it to her" Nabiki asked in a dry voice.

"Sure honey, go ahead"

"Now Akane as was already explained to you, this meeting with kiith Saotome is to secure an alliance that is mutually beneficial. That way both our kiithid can survive and remain independent of the larger Kith."

"I get that much Nabiki, but why does one of us have to marry this Ranma person whom we've never met and why does it have to be the Saotome kiith." Akane was bored and she hoped Nabiki had found something interesting about the Saotomes. Right now the most interesting thing was the view out the window of the command deck they were currently in.

"Well Akane" started Soun "Genma and I have quite a history together and part of that history is a pact to unite our kiithid in a way that could never be broken." He really wished Akane would show some interest in what was going on, instead of just staring at nebula through the windows.

"It is also convenient that we of kiith Tendo have massive resources but lack the technology and skills to fully use them. On the other hand the Saotomes were once a engineering kith and while they lack the resources they definitely have the skills."

Just like Nabiki to always look at the bottom line thought Akane. Never mind that Nabiki probably wouldn't marry the boy unless she wanted to, which meant she or Kasumi would have to marry the pervert. All boys were perverts it never seemed to change no matter where they went, be it Hiigara or the rim territories or anywhere in between.

"That's not what I was asking" Stated Akane as she stared out the window at the sun hidden behind the nebula. "What I was asking is where do they come from, what's this expertise and skill they're supposed to have? How come I never heard of them and can't find them in the kiith records?"

"That, Akane, is what I was getting to." Nabiki replied with a smile, happy to show off her skills as an information seeker. "To start with, officially kiith Saotome was massacred Nearly 50 years ago by the Taidan Empire. There were no survivors found and worst of all none of the research that they were working on was found either. The Saotome kiith was reportedly working on something big and it was feared that it had fallen into Empire hands. The truth is that one member did survive and he went into hiding with the lost research faking his death."

"Wait." demanded Akane "Why would he go into hiding and not go to another Kiith for help, I mean if this research was that important why not make sure the Hiigarans keep it."

"Because they didn't want the Taidan to target another family. And they had philosophically opposing views with many of the military kiith."

"So what happened after this Saotome went into hiding?" Akane said sounding a little annoyed. She glanced around the Command Bridge that her family was on, hoping that the discussion was not distracting her crew from their work.

"Right well this Saotome, I don't know his name or if it's actually a he, I'm only filling in blanks here with theories, escaped and hid for a number of years trying to finish the research. He or she married and had a child most likely only one, a son. That was Genma. Genma studied with his mother or father as well as attended the Military academy under an assumed name of course. That where he met daddy. Genma apparently managed to nearly finish the research as well as finishing at near the top of his class in the academy."

"Wow you mean the Saotomes aren't just a bunch of geeks." Akane was impressed. The military academy was no cakewalk, she was attending classes there right now and already three fourths of the students from her original class had flunked out.

"Yes the Saotomes are no pushovers. Genma and his parents managed to use their money to buy a small military frigate and started hunting bounties and providing mercenary services to the larger families. They needed the money to finish the research since the state was no longer sponsoring Genma. Genma also took along his wife whom he met at the academy with him. The two of them were quite successful and managed to acquire a carrier 3 years later as a reward for their efforts fighting the Empire. They never took jobs against the Hiigaran people and always responded to distress calls from ships in need. Although from what dad tells me that latter part must be Nodoka's influence."

"Nodoka? Who's that?" asked Kasumi.

"Nodoka is Genma's wife." answered Soun "She was quite the woman in the academy, somewhat traditionally minded but very strong willed. She actually beat Saotome in the academies rankings."

"I didn't realize that, I must be slipping" commented Nabiki jokingly "Anyway, once The Saotomes got their carrier they named their mercenary group and started recruiting soldiers."

"Don't you mean hiring Nabiki?" asked Akane.

"Nope anyone who joins the Senken group is there for life, no backing out." replied Nabiki

That caused Akane to sit bolt upright and take her eyes off the view for the first time in the conversation. "The Senken, you mean thee Senken mercenaries."

"Yup. Our potential fiancé is the young commander of the famous and undefeated Senken. Over four hundred battles fought, twenty-six confirmed cruiser kills, twenty-one carriers kills and innumerable frigate kills. Simply the best you could find, that is what that I am talking about when I mention skills. That and their military technology."

"Technology? What sort of technology Nabiki?" asked Kasumi.

"Of that I'm not really sure Kasumi, most of the stuff that they've displayed has been military stuff you know like very fast and efficient ship engines and some weapon and defense technology. The Senken doesn't work with other groups all their missions are solo and there's never any survivors to question after so it's really hard to say. The only reports we get are from non-military ships that the Senken has rescued from the Taidan Empire. You can understand why the details are a little sketchy. The kill counts are only tallied from wreckage found after the Senken have swept through an area. What Thhe Senken does with prisoners is unknown. Although it's rumored that they have a secret jail somewhere."

"Wait, if Genma went to the Academy under an assumed name how do we know it was really him, I mean he could be lying hoping to get into a family with influence." Akane was still skeptical of this whole marriage deal, especially since she had never met her possible future husband yet.

"Yes Akane, most of what I've been basing my theories on is what I've managed to wheedle out of dad and mom and some cross referencing information. This is still mostly guess work on my part.

"So how do you know these are really the Saotomes and not someone with a clever story?" Akane asked her father.

"Err well you see Genma sort of gave me some of the research his family had been working and it is way beyond anything currently even conceived. That and he was roaring drunk when he first confessed to me, too drunk to actually be able to lie about some of the stuff he told me." Soun was looking a little sheepish but did seem reasonably confidant that he had been told the truth.

"Now about this part about the Saotomes being the commanders of the Senken. Why do you believe that Nabiki" Kimiko was curious not even she and Soun had figured that one out.

"Well..." Leave mom to find the one real weak spot in my theories thought Nabiki "it's mostly just a hunch really. Dad mentioned that Genma was always talking about how poor ship design was in the fleet and that there was no room for adaptability and expansion, that ships seemed to be designed with obsolescence in mind. The Senken Carrier is still functioning even after 17 years and it's even been massively upgraded from the few reports of it that we have. Also the general hatred that they have for the Taidan Empire is impressive. Like I said it's really just a hunch."

"Oh so they could really be anybody actually?" Akane sounded a little depressed. Damn shouldn't have let myself get my hopes up she thought. She went back to staring at the surrounding stars, hoping something would break the monotony of waiting for the Saotomes. Just like a boy to be late for his own engagement Akane thought to herself.

Just than an alarm klaxon went off as a report came in from the recon flight she had sent out.

"What's the emergency?" Akane demanded

"Taidanni Empire ships have been found Commander." reported the communications officer.

Damn, Akane thought to herself, that wasn't what I had in mind. "Okay I want the fleet size and general breakdown now."

Normally Soun would be in charge if a military emergency broke out, but they were using Akane's carrier meaning that she was the commander and captain of it, therefore she was in charge.

"Yes commander, Recon squad reports fifteen frigate class ships, three destroyer class and one heavy cruiser." The last was reported with a little fear. Heavy cruisers were massive, virtual juggernauts of armor and firepower. Most Motherships were not designed to deal with them directly and definitely not Akane's moderately sized carrier C-Chan. "They'll be here in twenty minutes. They have a standard fighter escort."

Nabiki swore quietly to herself as she wished they had taken her carrier Riskbreaker. Although smaller than Akane's C-Chan (Nabiki really wondered why Akane picked that name) it was fast and could have out run the destroyers and heavy cruiser easy. Nabiki also had the methods to deal with the frigates once they had caught up.

"Can we hyperspace away from here?" Asked Kimiko.

"Engineering, what's the word on the hyper space drives?" Akane relayed to the bridge crew.

"We'll need 4 more hours to recharge the drives Commander." was the answer from the tech hovering over the engineering display.

Akane thought quickly, she had twenty minutes, could she increase that? "Begin a retreat. Order the recon squad in and have them give a more detailed report. Give me the new ETA until intercept."

"We'll have 45 minutes Commander."

Akane breathed a little easier she had 45 minutes to prepare now if she could only hold out the extra three hours and fifteen minutes after that so they could hyperspace away. She reviewed the fleet she had with her at the moment. Two assault frigates and forty fighters as well as the seven recon fighters were all she had. Not much but she could increase that. "Have the flight crews launch all ships and guard the C-Chan. next have the bays begin construction of two more assault frigates and two Ion frigates. Also have them construct as many heavy corvettes as they can."

Soun nodded approvingly. The fighters and corvettes would take care of the fighter escort and than begin hammering the destroyers and cruiser. The assault frigates would cover the ion frigates and the C-Chan as it pounded the enemy frigates. C-Chan despite the name was a strike carrier and had two doublewide fighter bays as well as two frigate class construction bays. It also had 3 heavy turrets (half that of a cruiser) as well as two turreted ion beams (also half that of a cruiser). It also had four small anti fighter turrets. All in all it was a frontline carrier and Akane was using it as such.

"We're receiving an incoming call from the Taidan cruiser" reported the communications officer.

"Put it through" Akane told her.

"THIS IS THE EMPIRE TO TENDO CARRIER. YOU WILL SURRENDER AND DISCLOSE ALL INFORMATION CONSERNING YOUR MEETING AND THE PARTY YOU ARE CONSPIRING WITH."

Nabiki couldn't believe her ears. The empire had found out about this meeting than sent a complete moron in to break it up. She would never have revealed how little she knew to the enemy. When she got back she was seriously going to have it out with her agents over this one.

While Nabiki planned the shake up she was going to do to her network of agents Akane was replying to the Taidan commander. Her reply was indecent, totally anatomically impossible and thoroughly shocked her oldest sister and mother.

"AKANE!" chorused Kimiko and Kasumi.

"Sorry mom, sorry sis." Akane sheepishly replied.

Now all that was left to do was play a waiting game while the players positioned themselves. If her Riskbreaker hadn't been in dry dock Nabiki thought to herself they would have been able to out run most of the fleet following them. The Riskbreaker was small compared to most carriers. It had a single frigate construction bay and one bay for strike craft. It had only a single heavy turret as well, but it had several features in its favor as well. For starters it was the only carrier that was equipped with missile bays. The missiles allowed to easily handle strike craft like fighters and corvettes. The small size of it also allowed being extremely fast and maneuverable and it could easily stay in the blind spot of a destroyer or heavy cruiser. Unfortunately the Riskbreaker was vulnerable to frigate class vessels which it could not out run and did not have the firepower to handle on it's own.

Kasumi's carrier Homestead wouldn't have been up to the challenge either actually, even with its four frigate bays and three fighter bays. The Homestead had only point defense turrets, which could handle small waves of fighters but would have been ineffectual against corvettes or anything larger. And it's massive size made it so slow it was a veritable sitting duck.

"Well Akane now it looks like we sit and wait." Soun commented to his daughter. "Did we get a distress call off before they started jamming?"

Akane looked to her communications officer again. "We only managed to get a brief distress call off and only at low power as well. The comm systems were powered down to attract less attention. I'm afraid we're pretty much on our own here Sir."