Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ The Goddess Dilemma ❯ Seven ( Chapter 7 )

You know the disclaimer, I'm not writing one here.

 

Wharpt: Thanks, now I can add even more insanity. . .

 

Shinji The Good Sharer: If that was a joke, then ha ha. If not, dun bother reviewing anymore. I feel insulted either way . . . I'm real bad at taking jokes.

 

Rant: Come on people, catch on! Most of you have caught on that I do NOT write serious fics. I simply write what's on my mind, and try to meld it into something. And I do mean I TRY. So what if it comes out bizarre? It gives y'all something, and someONE, to laugh at . . . even though I laugh along with you. DEAL WITH IT.

 

The Goddess Dilemma, part seven

 

By: Jim Ohki.

 

-(Universe B -- Star Trek year 2379)-

 

The small fleet rocked from the fire coming from the Fusion Cube. The Akira-class ships tweaked the Chain Reaction Pulsar in the field, and got the targeting system to behave itself. The Defiant, NX-74205 (designation unchanged even after production began) appeared from DS9, commanded by Colonel Kira Nerys, lending her firepower to the fray.

 

The Juraian ships, for some odd reason, were being ignored for the moment. Seto's expression had turned to one of pure rage before leaving Enterprise, and the only other sentient that knew what was going on was her ship. Apparently, having ships made out of a highly compressed wood with an undetectable subspace matrix returned dividends.

 

All present on the bridge of the Mikagami watched as the four Federation ships traded fire with the combined might of eight, surprisingly in a stalemate. Phaser fire and torpedo variants flashed back and forth between the ships, flashing against shields or continuing on into the nothing.

 

“Lady, telemetry from Enterprise shows that the Transwarp Conduit is still open,” reported one of the many faceless in the multiverses with space faring ships.

 

“Anything come through?” asked Seto, turning to see the Conduit on one of the many monitors that had opened.

 

“Negative, although even our sensors cannot penetrate the event horizon.”

 

While this was going on, Ranma, Seina and Tenchi gathered their respective groups for a powwow. The three males stood, severely outnumbered, before the throng of females waiting with some anxiety as to what they could want.

 

“Damn, how I wished Fuku along with Gyokuren, Haruken, Surien and Karen were here,” remarked Seina, earning nods from his group. Of all the times that Fuku and the others had to made a side trip to the Renza Union, it would have to be when they were needed most. Not that Mizuki couldn't handle what was thrown at her, it's just that the tree-core was so young.

 

“No kidding,” quipped Amane, “The Kamidake would be perfect in this situation.”

 

“Maybe not perfect,” countered Tenchi, breaking into the conversation, “Tsunami is warning us about something, but even Sasami is confused by what she is saying.”

 

“Tsunami the ship or the Patron Goddess?” inquired Urd, confused since no distinction was made. That, and she didn't know that they were one in the same.

 

“Both,” replied Sasami/Tsunami, reminding those few that had forgotten that she was there. While the assimilation had been completed two years previous, Tsunami still kept some of the greater secrets of the Universes to herself.

 

“Weapons analyses,” demanded Seto's voice as it wafted across the now silent and contemplating group in the back of the bridge.

 

“Why aren't we helping them?” wondered Mihoshi, her training as a GP officer playing havoc with her conscience. That and she was beginning to miss her ship, Yukinojo.

 

“We could alter the timeline more than it already has been,” assured Tenchi, “This is, from what I've overheard, a great event in this universe. If we assisted either side, we may pick the wrong side and cause massive amounts of chaos.” This earned a nod from Washu, proud that her student had in fact learned something.

 

“Chaos eh?” voiced Ranma, “One of my specialties. Somebody gimmie a ship with enough firepower and watch what I do.”

 

THUD!

 

In the silence from the face vault, the answer to Seto's inquiry finally came through.

 

“All but the Defiant are using highly charged phasic energy beams. The Defiant is using a rapid fire variant of that weapon, and all but the Enterprise are using matter/antimatter torpedoes that leave a photonic disruption on the enemy shields. Enterprise is using a quantum variant, leaving minute quantum singularities on the shields.” came from the faceless, followed by, “The phasic energy beam frequencies keep changing, Lady Seto. Sensors read an adaptability subroutine in place on the Borg vessel.”

 

“Multiple vessels approaching at faster than light speeds, Lady!” shouted another faceless (gotta love these guys). “Beacons are transmitting on the same frequency as the Federation ships fighting that Fusion Cube.”

 

The large group in the back of the bridge decided to halt all conversation while the battle took place. Watching on the vidscreens, they saw six more ships revert to sublight speed. All were clearly Federation in design.

 

“USS Lexington, NCC-14427, vessel type unknown. USS Colorado, NCC-25541, vessel type unknown. USS Centaur, NCC-54567 and Minotaur, NCC-58761, both are Akira-class cruisers. USS Valhalla, NCC-35587, vessel type unknown. USS Prometheus, NX-59650, vessel type unknown.”

 

“NX?” wondered Ayeka, “That sounds like a possible prototype designation to me.”

 

“You gotta be kidding me,” deadpanned Ryoko, veteran of many a battle, “Why would they bring out an experimental toy?”

 

“Looks like she's seen battle to me,” stated Seina, getting nods of agreement from most of the others present.

 

“Ma'am,” said . . . ah, who cares? These guys slave away in the pit and are happy for any airtime. “Enterprise was nice enough to tell us what the new arrivals are. The Lexington is of the Excelsior-class, the Colorado is a Nebula, the Valhalla is a Galaxy, and the Prometheus is . . . the first of her class.”

 

“They DID bring a new toy!” cheered Mihoshi, “I wonder if they'll let me play with it?”

 

THUD!

 

From their positions on the floor, they watched the new arrivals open fire with their weapons. The Lexington was using the basic phaser/photon torpedo, the Colorado had her Point Defense Laser going, destroying Borg torpedoes left and right. The Valhalla used an older tactic, launching a barrage of antimatter bombs at the Cube with her standard weapons combination.

 

The Prometheus broke apart into three ships, bringing the Multi-Vector Assault mode into the fray. The two Akira's added more Chain Reaction Pulsars to the mix. Nine Federation ships versus the enormous bulk of one Borg Fusion Cube.

 

“Amazing,” spoke Washu, breaking the silence while watching the goings on with her HoloTop©®!. “Their ship designs are on par with the Galaxy Police. The capital ships hang farther back, bombarding the enemy with their firepower. The cruisers flitter about, running interference for the heavy artillery. The destroyers get up close and personal, dishing out as much, if not more, than they take.”

 

“NEW SHIP DETECTED!” came from the pit.

 

“Where did that new vessel come from?” demanded Seto, watching everything going on including the still open Transwarp Conduit.

 

“Not from the Conduit, must have a cloaking device . . . the Federation ships are retreating at high sublight speeds . . .”

 

“MOVE!” roared Seto, urging her ship to do the same.

 

“SUBSPACE SHOCKWAVE DETECTED!” All hell broke loose as the Mikagami turned into the `wave', quite literally being shoved across the system. Everybody lost their footing as the ship tilted fore-port, then fore-starboard and finally aft-port. Systems overloaded, power fluctuated, and lights flickered. Juraian ships weren't built to encounter subspace shockwaves like this. Nobody, except Washu, would even dream of using a subspace weapon of such power. And even she had her limits.

 

“C'mon baby, fly,” muttered Sasami, thankful that Tsunami had the opportunity to move away before the shockwave reached their position. It gave her ship the chance to assist the badly injured Mikagami.

 

“Get us behind the Federation line!” ordered Seto, begging her wounded ship to keep moving. The situation went from bad to worse when life support was shut down in favor of engines and structural integrity. Seto gave her next, and she hoped temporary, order.

 

“All hands abandon ship; all hands abandon ship. Command to Tsunami, crew to lifeboats for pick up by Mizuki. This is not a drill.”

 

Yes, dear reader, the Mikagami was dying. Quickly to boot. It had taken the reassurance of her bondmate before Seto even gave the order. The minimal gain mode available would greatly help her heal, but all systems would have to be shut down in order for it to work.

 

“Let's go,” barked Ranma after getting everybody in the back of the bridge to their feet. They, minus Kiriko who went to the Mizuki, disappeared to the Tsunami, then the crew fled in the `boats. Seto was alone on her bridge for a few moments, tears streaming down her face.

 

“I know,” she said before being transported out by Tsunami. Once on board, the screens showed the Mikagami go into a self-preservation mode. Having the mother of the tree-ships with them turned out to be a good thing since Tsunami could feed her power.

 

“Sorry Seto, my ship, my command,” apologized Sasami/Tsunami, before tractoring the Mikagami. As the only one needed for shipboard operations, there was silence as she set to work. The two functional Juraian ships slowly made their way towards the Federation ships, a communication hail already going out.

 

-(Onboard Enterprise)-

 

“Of all the stupid . . .” ranted Picard, thoroughly annoyed at the Klingons for deploying a Jach'Eng-class ship on a suicide mission. The ship itself was lost when she created the subspace shockwave. The Borg Fusion Cube was heavily damaged but not destroyed, and the Minotaur was lost after the Borg got in a lucky shot on the port nacelle.

 

“We are being hailed,” reported Worf, “The Juraians are upset at the heavy damage done to their capital ship.”

 

“On screen,” ordered Riker, seeing Picard was not in the mood for this. The viewscreen came to life, showing a vastly different interior than the last one they had seen. While the first was bright and full of life, this one seemed dim and appeared to go on forever. Before the captain of this one, identifying herself as Tsunami could speak, the leader of the entire assembly spoke up.

 

“Who may have killed my ship?”

 

-(Universe A, Ranma year 2005)-

 

Backing off from the serious feel of that timeline, we look into the home dimension to see what chaos has occurred since the attack on the Mikagami . . .

 

Jurai was out for blood, Emperor Azusa Masaki Jurai having bum rushed Galaxy Police Marshal Anderson Kuramitsu's (see note at end on this one) office. And what wonderful timing he had, since Mikami and Mitoto Kuramitsu, aunt and mother to Mihoshi respectively, got wind of the events on Earth. They joined the side of the Juraians, livid at the thought of a crime such as this going unpunished simply because an Earthling didn't know better.

 

Then the Renza Union found out that their hero, Seina, was attacked by a hot tempered wannabe-lesbian on his homeworld, and that both the Mikagami and Mizuki had not been heard from since. The Kamidake II was already making tracks at better than best speed to Earth, the quintet of Gyokuren, Haruken, Surien, Karen along with Fuku all hot under the collar at the audacity of the attack.

 

Akane was quickly hogtied by those remaining, simply because Airi was a force a nature when motivated. And right now, she was motivated. The Galaxy at large was falling into chaos, just about everybody demanding blood. Even the now-pirate Seiryo Tennan was outraged, threatening to run the GP blockade of Earth to get at the one that hurt his dear Amane. Of course, he got belted by Komachi for forgetting she was there.

 

Several ships appeared just beyond the moon at the same time. One was the Kamidake II, another was Yukinojo freshly returned from his mothership. A small flotilla of Juraian ships, including the three of Azusa, Misaki and Funaho.

 

Oh, and the Unko. Can't forget that wonderful piece of technology.

 

The infighting, both in space and on the ground, started almost immediately. Everybody was tripping over everybody else for the chance to, not literally, hang the one responsible for this debacle.

 

“LET ME GO!” demanded Akane, as those that had stayed behind watched the goings on with the best invention ever. Television, that wonder of science, had every channel clogged in favor of what was happening in orbit. She had a feeling that certain doom awaited her if she remained bound hand and foot.

 

“Not a chance,” retorted Nodoka, still fuming over the latest in the long line of stupidity that followed the youngest Tendo around. Soun, in another rare display of spine, refused to bow and scrape before Akane. He even went so far as to threaten her with her own cooking.

 

The house started to vibrate from the exhaust noise of an approaching ship. All present shuffled outside, making sure to drag Akane with, to see who had descended upon the humble abode.

 

Airi looked lost at the ship design, it definitely wasn't GP, Pirate, Juraian or Renzan. So just who could have snuck in? It did partially remind her of Soja, but that ship was destroyed by Tenchi.

 

All present were shocked when a disembodied head appeared before them, making a few with weaker wills fall to one knee. The rest took on semi-aggressive stances, mainly the remainder of the Nerima Wrecking Crew.

 

“Lady Tokimi wants a word with . . . her,” spat the head in Akane's general direction with no preamble.

 

“She's free?” wondered a pale Airi, legends being remembered from her childhood of the third Goddess of Jurai. None of those legends were pretty, but then again it had been twenty thousand years plus since the events happened. Truth turned to legend turned to myth and were forgotten over time.

 

“Her seal was released by Kami-sama,” replied the head, still having yet to introduce himself. “Even the great God himself is . . . agitated with this one.”

 

“Yes,” came a female voice from behind and to the left of the head. “D3 here is correct. The highest orders of the Yggdrasil system are outraged at the actions of this one. I have been released for one purpose: Akane Tendo is hereby summoned before Him.”

 

-(Universe B, Star Trek year 2379)-

 

The Federation fleet, after regrouping, quickly finished off the Fusion Cube. The Subspace Shockwave weapon had done its job and dissipated. Unfortunately, that meant that some allied ships were damaged or lost completely. The USS Minotaur had no survivors, the Colorado had holes galore in the saucer section, the Valhalla had a cracked starboard warp nacelle pylon, rendering her unsafe for anything faster than full impulse. The Lexington, Prometheus, Defiant, Centaur, Denver, Hendrix, and Enterprise-E had the standard scorch marks of a fierce battle.

 

Oh, and the Mikagami was lost.

 

Those native to the universe were actually confused for the briefest of moments. Tsunami was tractoring the heavily damaged ship behind friendly lines when one section of the Cube came to life and lashed out with weapons at anything that moved. Tsunami and Mizuki were able to defend themselves, but not Mikagami. If it hadn't been for both the quick thinking of Tsunami herself as well as Seto's bondmate, the backlash of power would have in fact killed the Devil Princess of Jurai. The confusion came from this; they couldn't tell what actually caused the ships to vibrate, if it was the Fusion Cube exploding or Seto screaming.

 

This leads to the next situation. The interrupted meeting had resumed while the fleet limped to Deep Space Nine for any repairs possible.

 

“How is she?” asked Riker of anybody from the Juraian ships that knew.

 

“She is alive, barely, thanks to the quick thinking of Tsunami,” said the now in charge Tenchi. Ranma wasn't technically part of that group (read: couldn`t keep up with half of the mumbojumbo), and Seina had his hands full with the despondent crew of the Mikagami. Losing the ship was bad enough, nearly losing Seto caused great depression and anger amongst the crew.

 

“What exactly did she do?” inquired Doctor Crusher, curious since Seto herself was still aboard Tsunami.

 

“This is complicated,” replied Tenchi before launching into the background of the space-trees and their bonds with the `Captain' chosen by them. He explained in detail how the trees were all offspring of Tsunami, hence tapping into her power. It was a simple, a term used loosely, case of removing the medium of Mikagami and allowing Seto to tap directly into Tsunami.

 

“Amazing,” commented Troi, “that these trees are sentient. So what you're saying is that Tsunami, the `mother' of the trees, is the only thing keeping Seto alive. Just how old is Seto, anyway?”

 

“That is the number two guarded secret of Jurai,” spoke Kiriko, drawing all attention onto herself. She was better acquainted with the politics than Tenchi, mostly because she was at the front lines of more than a few of Seto's campaigns. “The only other person that might know is not here. That would be Second Queen Misaki Jurai. Scuttlebutt around Galaxy Police headquarters has Seto somewhere around twenty-five thousand Earth years old.”

 

Jaws dropped all around, even with those that came from that universe. It really wouldn't surprise Tenchi or any of his followers since Washu could only remember the past twenty thousand, and getting that information out of the Queen was impossible. Never mind that she wasn't in that universe.

 

“Such is the power of Tsunami,” voiced an awed Tenchi, drawing everybody back to the present. After an internal debate, he continued on. “This is not to leave this room. Seven hundred plus years ago, Ryoko Hakubi attacked Jurai itself. Sasami, little sister to Ayeka and second Princess, was in the Royal Tree Arboretum when a ship impacted against the side of the building. She fell to the bottom, and would have died if it weren't for Tsunami. Sasami had the fortune in such an accident to have fallen next to Tsunami's tree. In, what I found out later, was her first act of compassion in twenty thousand plus years, Tsunami saved Sasami by assimilating with her. The Sasami you have met is her, both the Second Princess and Tsunami, youngest of the Three Juraian Goddesses.”

 

“Three? Who are the other two?” wondered Riker after sharing a glance with a so far silent Picard.

 

“One you have already met, but she chooses the simple life,” answered Tenchi, “Washu. The oldest of the three, she `gave' up her post around the same time that Tsunami went into a self-imposed exile. Tokimi, the middle, was imprisoned for something that neither will tell me. All I know is that Tsunami and Washu sent her to the hypothetical eleventh dimension.”

 

“Eleventh dimension?” asked Data, speaking up for the first time.

 

“Talk to Washu if you get the chance,” responded Tenchi, effectively cutting that line of questioning off. He had a hard enough time grasping anything beyond the fourth dimension, time.

 

“Ladies and gentlemen,” spoke Picard, truly starting the meeting, “There will be plenty of time for that later. Status of your ships?”

 

“Both the Tsunami and Mizuki are fully functional,” reported Kiriko, the one designated to handle the limited resources they had. “The only ship that had a crew was the Mikagami, and that was due to her size. My ship, Mizuki, only requires me for operations. Tsunami is captained by herself, or Sasami as she prefers and also does not require a crew.”

 

“How is the crew of the Mikagami reacting to the loss of their ship and near death of Seto?” asked Troi, swinging into full professional counselor mode.

 

“Not well,” came from Seina via the monitor on the starboard wall. The background was vaguely of a mess hall onboard Tsunami. He had chosen to remain silent until spoken to due to something similar to Ranma's `FIMD' - Foot In Mouth Disease. Only his was his luck, and jinxing himself whenever he spoke. “They are in a state of shock. The news that Seto is still alive has boosted morale over here, but not by much. For the reason behind that, well . . . the only other Juraian ship that needs a crew is the Emperor's.”

 

“I bet,” intoned Ranma, knowing full well what it felt like to go from bad to worse. At least the Devil Princess of Jurai kept her crew happy. Azusa was an unknown, but from what he'd heard of the man, it was better to work for Washu when she was in one of her `moods'.

 

One of her BAD moods.

 

“Even I can sympathize with them there,” stated Picard, knowing what it was like to go from the status quo with one Captain to another that had a completely different style. Then of course, once he reached Captain himself, were the Admirals and their bizarre structure.

 

“What about that `transwarp conduit' ?” asked Ranma out of the blue, surprising those that knew him. It showed that he paid attention to his surroundings when he wanted to.

 

“We do not know why it is still open,” replied Data, “However, it is in the same location as the subspace anomaly that admitted you to this universe.”

 

“That might be our way home then,” supplied Kiriko, noting that those that had come along for the ride had hope in their eyes. Washu was of course trying to sort through the Multi-verse, looking for their own, but even someone like her was going to have a hard time. The Multi-verse, in all of its glory, is quite literally INFINITE.

 

“It could be that whatever brought you here is keeping the conduit open,” hypothesized Data, head cocked to the left in thought. With LaForge, and for that matter just about every engineer in their small fleet, needed for repairs on the more heavily damaged ships, Data had to fill both roles. “However, the only way to know for certain is to launch a probe into the conduit and see what telemetry we get from the other end.”

 

“Quantum signatures,” blurted Riker, earning confused looks all around. “We have encountered problems like this before, and discovered that each individual universe has its own quantum signature.”

 

“So it would be more of a simple matter to scan our signature, program it into the probe, and see if they match?” wondered Seina, keeping his voice low to prevent unwanted attention. No sense in changing the status quo of the moods if this didn't work.

 

“It could very well work,” agreed Data after some number crunching on his part. Picard didn't waste time, since it would be nice to know where that conduit went.

 

“Picard to Slocavich.”

 

“Slocavich here, sir,” she replied from her position at helm. She, and the rest of the bridge crew, wondered just why the Captain was calling her personally.

 

“Inform the fleet that we will be returning to the Transwarp Conduit. Set course and engage at full impulse.”

 

“Aye, sir,” she replied, then did as instructed. The Enterprise swung around, quickly followed by the two Juraian ships. There was no protest from the other ship Captains, since Picard was the Senior Captain amongst them.

 

-(Universe A, Ranma year 2005)-

 

“OH MY!” exclaimed Akane in her best Kasumi impersonation. The greatest shock of her life was just handed to her in the form of a summons from the Almighty. Of course this created several dozen differing reactions. Some were as dumbstruck as Akane, some were cheering a possible divine punishment, some were scowling at the youngest Tendo, angry with her antics. Others were outraged, feeling that their chance for revenge was about to slip through their grasp. Tumult broke out as the groups, as well as the individuals, tried to come to an agreement about what to do.

 

With their weapons of choice.

 

Lucia and the remaining Soul Calibur crew backed away, with Akane, as the fighting started. Tokimi, D3, and their ship disappeared also, leaving the rest to battle it out. With the summons of Kami-sama on their minds, they all agreed to beat the shit out of each other, rather than kill themselves. As advanced weapons, set on stun, flittered about, nobody noticed the minute opening to subspace that marked the last entry point of the Mikagami and the Mizuki.

 

Unnoticed, that is, until a stray bolt struck the opening. While nowhere near the power class to open a rift on its own, the weapon had somehow reenergized the previous one. This brought the fighting to a stop instantly, as the gateway was a symbol of hope. Sensors read it as a stable Juraian subspace exit, so there was no fear of it collapsing into say, a black hole.

 

Even though the Renzan wives of Seina were `manning' the systems, the ship was still controlled by Fuku. And the cabbit wanted to see Seina again. Thus it came as a bit of a surprise to everybody else when the Kamidake II dove headfirst into the gate, disappearing to wherever the others had gone. The gate remained open, again surprising those that knew better. Yukinojo didn't want to be left behind, so he to followed the cabbit into the rabbit hole (pun intended).

 

Weapons were cooled, and the delegation of the galaxy out for blood sat back to see what would happen, what news would be brought when the Kamidake II and Yukinojo returned. Akane dared to breathe, which got the attention of those on the ground. The were upon her instantly, demanding to know what she knew.

 

Especially about the one Seto was sent to retrieve, Ranma Saotome. So, in a panic, she told them everything she knew. Including her treatment of him.

 

The only thing that saved her was the constant reminder that Kami-sama, Tsunami's FATHER, wanted a word with this impudent worm. That, and with Hild gone, Death had taken his long overdue vacation. He would be back in three weeks, to find a massive backlog on one person.

 

Whoa, must have pissed of a deity or seventy to get that kind of response. Good thing for Akane Tendo that Kami-sama had sent an order of suspension on her demise . . .

 

-(Universe B, Star Trek year 2379)-

 

The Enterprise, Mizuki, and Tsunami came to a full stop twenty thousand kilometers away from the transwarp conduit. Washu had been informed of the quantum signatures and after a bout of `Why didn't I think of that?', had set up all of the equipment necessary to locate their home dimension. Enterprise launched a class five probe into the conduit, and the waiting game began. They didn't have to wait long.

 

Not five minutes after the probe was launched, the sensors on the three ships went berserk.

 

“Report!” barked Picard, having stood up from his chair.

 

“Movement within the conduit, sir,” answered Worf, “It is not the probe nor does it contain any Borg signatures . . . something is emerging!”

 

On the viewscreens of the three ships appeared two new arrivals, both easily recognized by those that knew the designs. One, created by Washu, was the funky-looking but all powerful Kamidake II. The other, one that Washu had repaired numerous times due to pilot error, was Yukinojo. Communications sprang forth, especially in the direction of Tsunami. With the Mikagami gone, Sasami was now the fleet captain. At least, one with the rank to back it up. Not that Kiriko would have made a power play, she was content with simply following orders.

 

“Where is our probe?” demanded Riker, taking note of all the chatter between the reinforcements that the Juraians had just received

 

“Telemetry has the probe on the other end of this `wormhole',” replied Worf, taking note of what information the probe was sending back. “There is an instability on the other end, it will collapse within the hour.”

 

“What caused the instability?” broke in Yukinojo, AI for the ship of the same name. “It was stable when we entered it.”

 

The bridge crew of Enterprise looked baffled at how that ship's computer could suddenly break into their conversation. After all, they weren't talking to anybody else yet. Not that it mattered now since the other three ships began bombarding the Federation flagship with hails. Washu, as usual, was the first to find out what had happened in their universe.

 

“You have got to be kidding me,” she remarked while breaking into the broken into communication frequency, earning more baffled looks from around the bridge. “If I didn't know better, I would say this was the work of Tokimi.”

 

“That's not possible!” exclaimed Tsunami, breaking into the broke into broken into conversation. Whoa, me getting confused . . .

 

“But it is,” said Gyokuren, breaking in on the busted into broke into broken into conversation. SWILRY EYES!

 

“Stop doing that!” demanded Picard, getting dizzy and freaked out by the open book that was the communication array of the Enterprise. He wondered if there were going to be anymore people `popping' in on this one. Fortunately for him -us-, no.

 

“What do you mean, it's true?” asked a wide-eyed Washu, ignoring the outburst as stress. The viewscreen shifted to allow the Kamidake II the biggest portion. It just made it easier to see who was speaking.

 

“According to her,” answered Haruken, “and I quote `Kami-sama released the seal'. Just who is this Kami-sama anyway?”

 

POOF

 

The bridge of the Enterprise became instantly crowded as Urd, Peorth and Hild appeared. Their expressions were one of panic, but control was also evident. They hadn't broken out anything that could repel Tokimi yet, wanting to make certain that this was official. That, and with no word from Yggdrasil, they really couldn't make any moves. Never know about orders, after all.

 

“What is so special about this Tokimi?” wondered Picard, forcing the stress of this situation out since the antics of these people reminded him of something. It was on the tip of his memory, but refused to come out.

 

Silence was the answer, as the Goddesses present started looking around and fidgeting. Even the ones on the viewscreen appeared apprehensive at answering that question. The lack of noise stretched on for nearly ten minutes before Washu spoke again.

 

“That instability is getting worse,” she said, “Time to collapse is now at ten minutes.”

 

“This is gonna be close,” came Seina's voice, “We have recovered eighty percent of the remains of Mikagami, all of it core material. But there are still large pieces of the outer hull floating around.”

 

Onboard Tsunami, nearly all eyes had fallen to Tenchi, Seina, and a quiet Ranma. Well, he was being quiet since this type of situation was completely out of his league. The trio was bombarded by questions filled with panic. The salvage operation was not complete, the apparent only was home was getting closer to closing, and now they had two extra ships that could become liabilities.

 

“Whatever we are going to do,” said Washu with all seriousness in her tone, “we had better do it soon.”

 

The pressure was on the `in charge' trio, and time was running short. They huddled together for a few moments, then made their decision.

 

“Between going home now, leaving technology behind, or trying to minimize our impact on the timeline here,” spoke Tenchi to all that were listening, either right by him or on communications, “we have no choice but to finish our clean-up. We cannot contaminate this timeline more so than it already has been.”

 

“I am summoning help,” announced Seina, calling for his bondmate, Idol.

 

“Might as well sent Yukinojo back with news from our side,” suggested Mihoshi, knowing full well that her ship was more of a liability since the Light Hawk Wings were proven to be more effective against the weapons of this universe. She quickly vanished to her ship to give `him' instructions to execute upon his return to their universe.

 

“This is a good idea,” intoned Tsunami, having just appeared from the medical bay, “Seto is too unstable for a universal jump such as this. Until such time that I can create a new bondmate for her, we shouldn't leave this plane.”

 

-(Universe A, Ranma year 2005)-

 

In the most secret research facility available to both the Juraian government and the Galaxy Police rested the greatest find by anybody. That find being a billion plus year old mecha, with a first generation Royal Tree seed as the core. This mecha, codenamed Idol, had chosen its bondmate in the Earthling Seina Yamada. It wouldn't come to light until two days before the massive wedding behind the moon that Seina was Katsuhito's grandnephew, thus making him third in line for the Throne of Jurai.

 

As the researchers flittered about, doing what they do best, the mecha growled. That would be the only indication that the systems had come online due to a summons. Those on or near the mecha fled as quickly as possible before Idol stood up and teleported out to Earth . . .

 

----

 

The Tendo compound was swarmed instantly by the JSSDF, UN troops, media personnel, onlookers, peddlers, and just about every type of Curious George in the neighborhood. The subspace gateway had been fluctuating for the past fifteen minutes, and it kept getting worse. Those on the ground wisely retreated to what was deemed a `safer' location.

 

“I'll be good just let me go,” cried Akane, still bound hand and foot for her FUBAR of the century. While ignored in favor of the current situation, Akane just had to remind those around her about her role in this entire mess.

 

“Why are you still talking?” demanded Airi, who was NOT having such a great day. Mikami had made her appearance, with orders from the Juraians to hold the one responsible. That was easier said than done, however, since a few of the locals would make attempts at random to `rescue' Akane from the `vicious plot of Saotome', whatever the hell that meant.

 

“The probe that came through,” started Mikami as she read the sensor readouts, “It matches nothing in our databank, yet it is on par with our technology. There is an active transponder signal heading into the subspace gateway, sending telemetry back to whoever sent it.”

 

“Ma'am, we have movement within the gateway,” spoke another one of those faceless people, “It's Yukinojo, and he's broadcasting on an emergency frequency.”

 

On the ground and in space vidscreens activated to find out what the great emergency was. Many scenarios ran through the minds of the higher ups, but nothing could prepare them for what was said.

 

“I bring grave news. Mikagami was destroyed by an unknown race in the universe that they arrived in. Seto is alive, but barely, onboard Tsunami and cannot make the return trip home at the moment. The crew survived with minimal injuries and have returned onboard myself. The others have elected to remain in the other universe until Seto is well enough for travel. I repeat . . .”

 

BOOM! Instant bedlam, the Juraians flew through the roof. A majority of the GP officers sagged to the ground. That wonderful pirate ship was in an uproar. As news spread across the galaxy of the loss of the Mikagami, tensions disappeared. After all, Seto had kept the peace for the longest time among those races that had many a disagreement. Thus they were in no mood to re-ignite old feuds when something much bigger was happening.

 

Then the shock began to wear off, and the galaxy heard the scream of Misaki . . .

 

“MOMMY!”

 

As if on command, Yukinojo turned off the repeater message and started a new one. This one was Seto, laying in a biobed in the medical bay of Tsunami. Her normal pale complexion had lost its color, and she appeared to had aged from somewhere around thirty to closer to fifty Earth years old. She was wearing an oxygen mask, thus she could speak without having to remove it. It was plainly obvious as the recording began that Seto herself was in a lot of pain for one, and was fighting losing consciousness.

 

“To those that have gathered on the other side of the gateway, I send this message as proof that I am alive. Data on the loss of my ship is stored in the memory bank of Yukinojo, as well as the enemy that destroyed her.” Here she paused, coughing a bit and nearly fainting. “I am very fortunate that Tsunami was with us on our journey, even though we had no idea she was there.” Another pause, another near faint. “The one that I was sent to collect with his group, Tenchi Masaki's group, and Seina Yamada's group are here in this other universe collecting the remains of Mikagami. They won't be able to finish before the gateway closes on your end . . .” and that was it, Seto lost consciousness. There was a bit of movement, before those that were watching were greeted by two of the three Juraian Goddesses.

 

“I am doing what I can to help her heal,” stated Tsunami to the camera after reestablishing the stasis field around Seto. “Washu is attempting to lock onto our universe so that the return trip can be made as soon as possible.”

 

“But that is going to be nearly impossible,” picked up Washu, “simply because even with the assistance we have received over here, the quantum flux that holds the universes apart, a constant mind you, is fluctuating to such a degree that it will take us a while to get home.”

 

“Seto still wishes for the one that caused our situation, one Akane Tendo, be detained and tried in the Jurai Supreme Council meeting, pending anything from a `higher' source.” That came from Peorth, the one who drew the short straw on how to break it to anybody watching in the home universe without breaking any rules. After all, this transmission was being rebroadcast across the galaxy. And it could very well be rebroadcast on Earth if somebody figured out the frequency. In the background was some movement, and the camera reset on Seto. She was straining to get the words out, but somehow managed.

 

“To my immediate family, I swear this. I . . . I . . . w-w-w-will retur-n-n-n-n a . . . a . . . alive. Mommy swears to you . . . . . . . . . M-m-m-m-m-Misaki . . . . . .”

 

The broadcast terminated at that point, and the galaxy at large could hear the weeping of the only daughter of Seto. Tears of joy, having the proof that she was alive. Tears of anger at the one who caused this. Tears of sadness, knowing that it may very well be one promise that couldn't be kept.

 

“This is horrible,” gasped Airi to Mikami after the broadcast had ended.

 

It was not lost on anybody that the broadcast terminated at the same time that the gateway closed as silently as it opened, after admitting one more traveler . . .

 

TBC

 

Whoa, never knew I had this is me. Okay, first off, the Marshals name. The OAV dictionary lists it as Anderson, GXP says Minami. I stayed with Anderson since he dresses better and is cooler in Muyo than GXP. Oh, and somewhere along the line Minaho is going to meet up with the `crew' of this fic since I just went through a GXP marathon and noted that she is SINGLE! Ooh boy ooh boy! Enough of this, time for break. Oh joy oh joy.