Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ The Goddess Dilemma ❯ Ten ( Chapter 10 )

Disclaimer: Standard drill, I'm just borrowing the lemons to make lemonade for FREE.

 

Lightsfaith is the lucky one hundredth reviewer! Thanks for your support and the support of the other reviewers. Though I am disappointed at the lack of reviews. Some constructive criticism would be nice. I mean, c'mon, thirty-three hundred page hits (and counting, I'm not in the mood to change that number) and only a hundred reviews? Work with me here, I'm dyin'!

 

Rant: In the summary I said to queue the Empire theme. And I meant it, this is the beginning of the great adventure. Where I start there, well you'll have to wait and see . . .

 

The Goddess Dilemma, part ten

 

By Jim Ohki

 

“Wha-?” started to ask Misato, before having to seek shelter in a quick order to avoid the now rampaging Unit Five. That, and the white Eva had two brethren that were attacking Units Zero and Two. Six more transport planes had simply exploded in the sky, their intended delivery having a bug in the power system.

 

“We could really use those weirdoes that had attacked us!” yelled Asuka to anybody that would listen. Even with the surprise attack of the Production Models being of one-on-one combat, she was still having a very hard time. Her enemy was very persistent, not wanting to give her room for a counterattack. Taking a brief look in the direction of her fellow Eva pilots did she see them also engaged in hand to hand combat.

 

“Are you serious?” gritting Shinji with the amount of work he was having to put into trying to keep his opponent on the ground. He was the first to notice that these things would regenerate given an rest period, thus he was being relentless in his attack.

 

“I agree,” came the soft voice of Rei, as usual trying her best to mask her emotions. She had known for some time that the Dummy Plug was about to be coming into play. She just hadn't realized that SEELE had three completed and fully operational MP Evas.

 

“Okay, this is bad,” came the voice of Ibuki, “While the MAGI is still operational, which is good, they detect an incoming blue pattern. Very bad.”

 

“Oh you gotta be kidding me!” roared Misato, again pulling at her hair, “More to the point, why are you so bloody calm?”

 

“Because I know Shinji-sama will save me . . . I mean us!” cutely answered the outspoken Lieutenant. She realized her error two seconds later, then at least had the decency to blush.

 

“Shinji, you ladies man!” cheered Kaji from his hidden location, further irritating Misato. She pulled out her gun and started shooting in random directions. One of her shots hit a surprised Unit Six directly on the core. Since it was surprised and couldn't raise its AT Field in time, the core cracked then died. Everybody, even the remaining MP Evas, blinked in stupefaction at that little tidbit before resuming the battle. Even though Unit One was now free to engage another enemy of choice. That was until the Fourteenth Angel appeared out of turn.

 

“We could still use their help!” pleaded Shinji, wondering just what was going to happen next. Then he wished he could kick himself for wondering that when his power cable got severed by an attack from his rear quarter by an MP with its double-handed spear/sword.

 

“Well, at least allow us to try!” demanded Hyuga, noting that with Commander Ikari turned into so much paste and the Sub-Commander missing that Misato was in charge.

 

“Do it,” ordered Misato, taking in that Unit One was beginning to run low on power.

 

He had no problem complying with the order, and managed to get a signal to feed into every available SETI dish in the hemisphere. With a few key strokes Hyuga got the message sent and set it to repeat for twenty minutes.

 

“Please hurry,” whispered Misato, as she gazed upon the Angel that had decided that now was a good time to attack.

 

-(Mars Orbit)-

 

“Oh am I so glad they left us with the owner's manual,” commented Nabiki over the open communications channel. Once the two parties divided and boarded the two starships, the holographic pilots called each other and asked the same question to Ranma about ownership. The last security measure was a dose of cold water, which angered the young man. Since it was the curse they wanted to see he shifted into his female guise, which satisfied the requirements needed.

 

The computer erased the holograms at that point, leaving an open means of communication while Nabiki experimented. Actually it was an idea from Mihoshi that got the ball rolling, saying something about the AI of her ship being like an owner's manual. All Nabiki had to do was ask the computer for the specifications of the controls and interfaces, which she gladly shared with the other party on the bridge of the Prometheus.

 

“You and me both,” answered Ranma, who had been challenged by Hild to learn the ship inside and out. Since he never refused a challenge, he had risen to the bait. After the first hour did the intellectual mind of his awaken, surprising those that could see it. Ranma had become proficient to expert in every function of his new toy. He had treated this like a new Art form, one that had to be literally studied inside and out.

 

Ranma had found the Multi-Vector Assault mode controls and learned how they functioned. He studied the helm, navigation, tactical, engineering, life support and the only science station available. There was one set of controls that he had no clue what they did. He thought it was a standard control setup since there was one on the Colorado. It wasn't until twenty minutes after Hild came back to the bridge from Main Engineering that it was noted that Prometheus wasn't where she was supposed to be.

 

“Ranma,” asked Kasumi, “Where did you wander off to?”

 

“What do you mean? You see me on the screen, don't you?” he questioned in return, noting that the one panel he hadn't touch had changed display color. He could see that Hild, in her wisdom, had sat on the thing like a barstool.

 

“Yes, I see you on the viewer,” she answered, “But when I look out the window you aren't there.”

 

That caused the members of the RSC onboard Colorado to locate the nearest windows, moving from port to starboard, fore to aft, up to down angles. When nobody saw the ship that had their husband onboard, or the remainder of the RSC for that matter, they rushed back to the bridge. On the viewer Ranma was in the process of reading the untouched control screen, before the channel closed revealing the stars beyond. Just as Nabiki was about to jump across the bridge to reopen the channel, there was a sensor bleep and Prometheus reappeared and began hailing.

 

Nabiki answered with haste, seeing Ranma barking at Hild.

 

“Damn it, you stay away from the cloaking controls! I was just glad that they left the user manual in the interface . . . Oh hi Nabiki! Miss me?”

 

THUD!

 

“What the hell is going on over there?” demanded the former Ice Queen, backed by the RSC members onboard her ship.

 

“Found another gift,” evenly answered Ranma, “Seems they installed cloaking devices onboard these ships before giving them to us.”

 

“Ah, so that's what that's for,” noted Amane before remembering the dimensions provided by the schematics, “Ships this size have cloaking devices? Wow, that's gonna cause a stir when we get home.”

 

The tones for tactical on both ships broke the conversation thread. Ranma pushed the commands to shut the annoying thing off. He looked at the readouts, and shook his head.

 

“Nope, not happening,” he declared, “Send Seina in his mecha if you want to, I'm having no more to do with that world.” That shocked those on both ships that were privy to the conversation. He had heard a few gasps, and elaborated. “Hey, one of those motherfuckers stepped on me. I'm not going through that again.” Even more gasps at the colorful metaphor. Ranma just sighed, threw his arms in the air, then sat down in his chair. “I still say no.”

 

“It would be better if Seina went by himself,” added Surien, “We could easily break Sister done to the original ship forms, then let Seina go have some fun. He needs a more violent stress relief than what we give him.”

 

THUD!

 

“That was too much information,” deadpanned Nabiki on the viewer, “But Ranma does have a point. If there's one thing we have all learned from Washu is that we have tweaked this timeline too much as it is. They are already aware of Idol, as well as the rest of our fleet. But it would be better just to use the mecha and not give away our abilities.”

 

The young man in question had just wrapped up his tour of Colorado and was currently checking things out on Prometheus. Seina was in awe of the things on board the Nebula-class vessel, and was simply adding to the amount of wonder. His wandering took him onto the bridge, and right into the mists of those looking for him.

 

“Wanna go lay the smack down with that mecha of yours?” immediately asked Ranma before bringing the GP version of fodder up to speed. Seina was hesitant at first, but after hearing the whines coming from his group about being too aggressive he relented.

 

“All right fine, I'll go hog the glory,” he joked before vanishing to Idol. As the others watched, Mizuki and Kamidake reformed into their combination. The giant mecha suddenly vanished, having teleported back to the scene of the battle.

 

“Ranma?” started Nabiki, only to get cut off. Not in the rude manner that is commonplace with interruptions, but with a simple gesture. Ranma had heaved a great sigh, before leaving the bridge of Prometheus. She looked at Kasumi, having a general idea what was to happen next.

 

“Family meeting,” simply stated the oldest Tendo sister, “Bring the others, we are going to have to talk to him. I`ll gather those that are over here.”

 

-(Tokyo 3, Streets)-

 

Shinji had just hit the four hundred percent sync ratio. Things were looking bad for the heroes of the Eva world. Unit Two had lost both of her arms, while Unit Zero had lost her left. The two remaining MP Evas were circling their prey, eyeing not only the wounded Units but the big Kahuna in the form of the Fourteenth Angel and Unit One, which was snacking on said Angel. Yes, even the gruesome actions of their primary target gave the Dummy Plugs a good enough reason to pause.

 

That pause was rudely interrupted by a mecha taller than the Evas. Granted it wasn't much taller than them, but this mecha packed a punch.

 

Unit Five found out how much of a punch (hey, a rhyme) when Seina fired up the mini-black hole generator. The first of the MP Evas was swiftly crushed into so much of nothing, that the lone remaining enemy took several steps backwards. Not that it mattered, since the backward momentum carried it right into the grasp of the wild Unit One.

 

The two Units began to fight, rolling around on the ground trying to beat the other into submission. Unit One, being self-aware now, was having none of it. She started to thrash around, flinging away an arm or part of the chest cavity of Unit Seven, just to see it regenerate.

 

The NERV personnel were in a panic, most of them fearing for Shinji and the prolonged activity of the berserk Unit One. Others were still trying to cope with the entire situation, like the amounts of destruction that were everywhere. There was trepidation and some fear when the giant white beast had suddenly appeared from nowhere, but that was quickly put to rest when it attacked and destroyed Unit Five. Now it was just standing there, apparently waiting for an opening to attack. They hoped that it wasn't Unit One that was the target.

 

“Damn it, stop playing around,” came Seina's voice over the hidden external speakers system at the Evas duking it out. Unit One suddenly stopped wrestling with the MP Eva, just to smash through its midsection to extract the core and plug the easy way.

 

Several people on the ground finally lost the contents of their stomachs, while Unit One simply threw the bloody gore away. Then the Eva turned to face the Mecha, although it was hard to tell if they were sizing each other up for the final attack or if the respective pilots (nobody was talking about the four hundred percent sync rate) were having a duel of wills.

 

So it came as a bit of a shock to see the still independent Unit One glomp onto Idol. Now Seina was in a panic, unknowingly sending a distress signal back to Mizuki and Kamidake. He began to attempt to extract his Mecha from the clutches of the Eva, but with no success. Unit Zero, sans the arm, walked over and hit Unit One over the head.

 

“Behave,” was the only world spoken by Rei Ayanami, taking it in with no small amount of joy that One sat down on the ground in an apparent pout.

 

“Who are you?” questioned the albino at Seina, surprised to see that the Mecha had holographic communications available. She received no reply to her inquiry, especially since Idol up and teleported out.

 

Once he returned to the staging grounds eighty klicks beyond Mars, Seina noticed that a certain pair of ships were missing. He willed Idol to track them, and found his wives forty klicks away from the Moon. He quickly called them, earning more than a few shouts of rage . . .

 

-(Captain's Quarters, Prometheus)-

 

“Now then, that wasn't so hard was it?” questioned Karin to anybody that would answer. The group, now leveled off at ten with Ranma, was eerily silent. Perhaps it was because Karin was brazen -brave- enough to . . . service . . . Ranma if full view of the others.

 

Ranma was just coming back to reality himself, now sputtering gibberish while trying to ask questions. He sounded like a train wreck, and looked like a man that knew the time to die was nigh.

 

“Impressive technique,” commented Hild, “But I think you done overloaded the poor lad.” Then she began to critique the performance, which got Urd and Peorth going. The others, except for a happy Karin and a still sputtering Ranma, were turning red in a mixture of feelings.

 

“This is not what I had in mind,” remarked Kasumi, “But it is a way to get this meeting started.”

 

“Pointers?” deadpanned Nabiki, herself having taken notes on the technique.

 

“You know it,” dryly said Ukyo. “To think, all she did was give him hea-”

 

“So, what's eating him?” asked Xian while pointing at Ranma, who was still looking like somebody that was about to die, making a point to cut Ukyo off. They shared a look, then looked at the rating of the fic, then sweated and decided to drop the issue.

 

“We need to get home,” suddenly spoke the young man in question, after recovering from the major faux pass. “We have screwed up the two universes that we have visited, and our own must be in utter chaos. On the next attempt, if we don't get home, we will have to remain in the shadows. I speak selfishly, yes. That is because I can't take another life for no good reason. My control has been slipping, and I now have the blood of innocents on my hands.”

 

There was silence after Ranma spoke. It was a surprise to hear him actually admit an issue that contradicts his normal behavior. On the flip side, if the didn't make it home on the next attempt, they were going to have to get supplies. Replicators were good, but they couldn't create everything.

 

While the debate erupted, led by Nabiki, Ukyo and Xian for their previous business experience, Seina and his crew had rejoined the small fleet. Washu had called those of the TMC over to Tsunami for some genuine quality family time, as well as to announce that it was time to try again. The others persuaded her to wait for morning, since the events of the day had caught up with them.

 

When morning came, the families (and two oddballs) awoke refreshed and prepared for the attempt to get home. Sister was reformed, even with the Lance on its back, Tsunami closed ranks while Colorado and Prometheus were on point and flank. They had been ignoring the few messages from Earth, demanding answers, attendance and tests. Although one message did bother Ranma, saying “We know you have them, give back the Children.” He ignored it in favor of not blowing something else up and making an even bigger mess than was already present.

 

“All right kiddies,” cackled Washu, “Buckle your seat belts. Opening Dimensional Gate.”

 

That was one thing that the small crews aboard the former Federation ships were thankful for, the chairs. Tenchi and Seina had to suffer with standing the whole time, either that or making a few of the others jealous with chairs.

 

The small fleet began to move, one by one entering the gate. The Prometheus was the last one through, making sure that there were no followers. Just like the last time however, as soon as the ship touch the event horizon, there was a pitch and darkness . . .

 

-(Universe D, Star Wars Episode Four minus 32 years)-

 

“This is bad,” cursed Tenchi, “very bad. Sasami, are you all right?”

 

“She is unconscious,” answered Ayeka, “She just collapsed after passing through the gate.”

 

“Hey, you all right over there?” came Ranma's voice. “We can't get a visual, talk to me guys.”

 

“What happened?” asked Washu, who was wobbling, “Oh damn.”

 

That got the quiet groaning of those onboard Tsunami to stop. Washu was rarely one for the straight approach, so her simplistic statement set off many alarms in the minds of her extended family.

 

Once Prometheus cleared the Gate, the crew got the ringing in their heads to stop and got the sensors back online did the problem become obvious. Tsunami was drifting, the starboard engine spewing flame into the vacuum. Ranma had gotten a response from the crippled ship, which set a few fears at ease. Then came word that Tsunami herself was out of commission for an unknown quantity of time. The Masaki family was beamed over to Prometheus, Tsunami and Miseto set in sickbay for examination. More to the point, the tree of Seto refused to leave her granddaughters' side.

 

“How does she look?” inquired Ranma of the Goddesses as he strolled in the door. He took note of Seto's tree set in such a way that she was close by without being in the way.

 

“This is not good,” stated a serious Urd, “The dimensional jump caused damage to her ship form, which manifested itself in her being. What we see here is her version of a healing trance, but her power is low because she is also trying to heal the ship.”

 

“Tsunami, both the person and the ship, are out of commission for an indefinite amount of time,” added Peorth, stepping slightly to the side to let Ranma stand between them. He took an arm of the Goddesses with his own before giving a slight nod to Peorth for her to continue. “It could take a week, five weeks, five years, or fifty years. We can't force her awake nor assist her because of the dual nature. We have set up a power transfer between ourselves and her, but that is all we can do.”

 

“Definitely not good,” mumbled Ranma to himself before speaking louder, “Seina's family is onboard; Tenchi and myself have delegated sensor duties to those familiar with using the technology and knowing what they're looking for. Seina's wives are in Astrometrics on both of my ships while Tenchi's are manning the long range sensors here, and on the Colorado. Seina himself went back to his shared ship to man the sensors there.”

 

“Did you want us to help them?” asked Urd, squeezing Ranma's right arms with her left in a show of support of his decision.

 

“No, you two stay here with Tsunami and Seto. Keep them company, talk to them, and keep us informed of her condition,” he replied, making a point to smile at each in turn before disengaging his hold and leaving sickbay to break the news to the others.

 

On the bridge, it was quiet. Those assigned to tasks were doing the best they could with the unfamiliar technology. The others were assisting with what they could, minus Washu who was doing an Extra Vehicular to look at the engines of Tsunami up close. Ranma strolled through the lift doors, then informed everybody after hailing both Colorado and Idol. He knew Washu was on an active communications link with Seina, since his ships were closer to the crippled Juraian Naval vessel.

 

“So that's where we stand,” Ranma finished, “Now then, what have we found out about where we are?”

 

“From what the sensors tell us,” replied the nominated spokeswoman Nabiki, “We are about seven parsecs from an inhabited planet. There is an extensive network up, which we easily tapped into.” Here she paused to make sure Ranma was still with her. “This entire galaxy is crawling with life. Lots of interstellar travel, trade, piracy, and the like. The network, labeled as the `Holo-Net', is a lot of things. A news service, library, map archive, communications, and the list goes on into things we have yet to crack.” Another pause, to which Ranma nodded in thanks. “The nearest planet is called Geonosis, and we are apparently in an area called `Wild Space`.”

 

“Astrometrics to bridge,” came the voice of Amane.

 

“Yeah?” queried Ranma.

 

“Ranma, you had better come down here to see this,” answered Gyokuren, not knowing how to relate what she was seeing.

 

“All right,” he stated with no little confusion, before closing the channel and gesturing to his wives that were on the bridge. “Let's go. The rest of you, keep up the research. We are stuck here for who knows how long.”

 

Using the augmented Astrometrics sensors returned dividends since it would allow them to see what was happening up to thirty light years away. Pioneered in the Delta Quadrant by a rescued Borg Drone, the sensor package had been improved to the current level. On the sensor composite screen was an Earth-like planet, but what held the eye was the doughnut-with-a-bite-missing ships that were appearing from a form of Faster Than Light travel. Ranma, Nabiki, Karin, and Xian walked in the door not five minutes after the summons.

 

“This Holo-Net is great,” commented Mihoshi, who was watching the events unfold while watching the galaxy's version of a soap opera. “Combined with these sensors, we can see virtually the entire galaxy from here.”

 

“Uh, okay,” said Ranma, not understanding the significance of the statement. “So, what is it that I'm looking at . . . oh, never mind.” On the screen was a blockade of about a dozen ships, all with the basic design of a doughnut, missing a bite, with the doughnut core floating in the middle of the ring. He took note that the blockade quickly fanned out, then began deploying fighters that looked like a giant H.

 

“This is a live feed from Naboo,” Amane informed the others, “Those ships in orbit belong to a group called the Trade Federation. If this galaxy is this violent, using entire fleets to blockade one planet that doesn't have a fleet of its own, then we need to be prepared with a base of operations.”

 

“And a shipyard,” added Gyokuren, drawing the attention of the others in the room onto herself. “The plans for everything we need was recovered in the computer memory. By everything I mean docks, mining facilities, stations, defense platforms, even long range sensor buoys.”

 

“Right,” dryly said Ranma, “All right, gather up a report. Gyokuren, you give yours to Seina. Mihoshi, yours goes to Tenchi. Nabiki, work with them. Xian, go back to the bridge and have the sensors look for uninhabited planets, rich with the resources we need and somewhere in this sector, since it seems the natives haven`t explored here.”

 

“You sound like you're gearing up for war,” noted Amane. It took Ranma a moment to remember that the people in the lab hadn't heard the news of Tsunami yet, and informed them.

 

“Not war,” he finished, “Just making it so we survive.”

 

Those not assigned to stay in the lab and monitor the situation in the Naboo system left Astrometrics. They all had various others things to do and thus went different directions.

 

A couple of hours later found the three males in the conference room of the Colorado. They had to persuade their families to stay out, as their opinions were already well noted in the reports, since nothing would get done if any infighting started.

 

“The hell kind of mess are we in?” Tenchi asked his cousins, running bother hands over his face in the universal tired and stressed posture.

 

“How's Tsunami?” asked Seina in a conversation change.

 

“Minimal change,” answered Ranma, seeing that Tenchi was stressing out excessively over many events that were beyond his control.

 

“Washu says she knows why the starboard engine blew,” spoke Tenchi, “But she won't tell anybody, except that she found something that wasn't supposed to be there.”

 

“Figures,” deadpanned Ranma before turning semi-serious, “Okay, well. We are stuck here, and there's much of nothing we can do about it. Tenchi, relax man. Shit happens, and always at the worst time possible. The girls are right though, we should gather resources and begin construction on a base, shipyards and the like.”

 

“That's true,” concurred Seina, “If we find a habitable world here, we can always set it up as a way to get out of space and back to ground-pounding.”

 

“No argument there,” said Tenchi.

 

“We are going to have to reassign the girls,” stated Ranma, “There is so much more to cover now, and a few areas that I know only a few can do. Kasumi would be Medical/Diplomatic, Nabiki moves to Finance/First Officer, Ukyo to Supply Acquisition/Second Officer, Xian to Basic to mid-advanced Hand-to-Hand/Tactical. Urd and Peorth are out of action for a while. Hild would handle Archiving. Taki would be Security/Astrometrics, and Karin would be Chief Engineer/Navigation. We would all be stationed on Prometheus, leaving Colorado open for you Tenchi.”

 

“I guess I could handle that,” the young Masaki said, “Okay, Washu could be Medical/Chief Engineer, Ayeka Diplomatic/Finance/First Officer, Ryoko Security/Astrometrics/Second Officer, Mihoshi Tactical/Supplies, and Xianghua Hand-to-Hand.”

 

“Just keep her focused,” joked Ranma, before turning to Seina. “You know your command structure. I don't expect you to change that, what we will do if we have to is send three from each group out. Like if we need allies, Kasumi, Ayeka and Minaho would deal with it.”

 

“Sounds good to me,” agreed Seina, “Of course I'll have to talk to them about this.”

 

“I understand,” stated the other two cousins in the room at the same moment. All three knew getting in the bad graces of their wives was not desired. They continued to talk about mundane things, when Washu appeared.

 

“GAH!” all three exclaimed at her sudden appearance, dressed in her EV suit.

 

“Whoops,” she said playfully, “Did I scare the boys?”

 

Washu was brought up to speed on the several changes that were proposed to happen. She was in complete agreement, before diving into her report.

 

“The starboard engine of Tsunami blew for a few reasons,” she explained, using the screen in wall for visual aides. “The first and foremost reason, one that she will kick herself over later, is that the ship hadn't seen a dock in seven hundred plus years. The onboard self-repair systems can only do so much, for an example the long range communications array of Ryo-Oh was inoperative when Ayeka appeared at Earth.”

 

Ranma had been lost by Washu already, but decided not to give an outward sign of it. He paid attention, gathering what he could, before giving up and zoning out to his special place. The land of combat, only it had changed from his normal `beat the crap out of the enemy' to running firefights in space, on the ground of different planets, then the beat downs. He was still out of it when his senses detected two more people in the room that weren't there five seconds ago.

 

“This is another reason,” continued Washu while gesturing at their guests. “Completely unintentional, I can assure you, but their . . . rides . . . didn't exactly fit between the hull and the engine.”

 

“And they are?” demanded Tenchi with an even tone.

 

“Shinji, Rei, why did you do that?” Ranma asked of the teenaged Eva Pilots. He noted that Shinji had his head lowered and wasn't looking at anybody.

 

“We ran away,” came the soft whisper of Rei, full emotionless mode engaged. Shinji seemed to cringed at the bluntness of the answer before nodding in agreement.

 

Before the question and answer session could continue, the doors to the conference room opened to admit Mihoshi and Xian.

 

“There isn't a door lock anywhere that can keep a Kuramitsu out,” drawled Washu before the new arrivals could begin to speak.

 

“Ranma,” said Xian to keep Mihoshi from going into a twenty minute rant about being picked on, “Tenchi, Seina. We have found an uninhabited planet two light years distant, on the edge of this sector. Very-Earth like, with several resource asteroids and moons.”

 

“Excellent work,” commented the three cousins, then Ranma took over, “Take us there. We need to set up our defenses, mining platforms and a shipyard. We're stuck in this universe, so let's make the most of it.”

 

“I'll tow Tsunami,” said Seina as he stood up to leave. Quickly he, the girls, and the guests were gone leaving Tenchi alone with Ranma . . . who had taken the Gendo Ikari pose, seated variation with death glare without even knowing it.

 

“Talk to me,” Tenchi prodded, “What is going on?” Ranma sat back in his chair, losing the pose to run his hands over his face.

 

“A very bad feeling,” answered the pigtailed warrior, “My gut is telling me that this galaxy is about to be turned on its head. And not by anything we do, more like a natural course. That blockade is the beginning of . . . something enormous.” The last part was said with a small flailing of arms, the universal `I don't know' gesture.

 

“So for now we should remain hidden,” continued Tenchi, now understanding part of the situation. “But what happens if we get drawn into this supposed war?”

 

“Haven't thought that far ahead,” admitted Ranma, “Right now, I'd rather make it so that everybody can get comfortable and relax. This way when, and if, the action starts we'll all have sharp senses.”

 

“True,” agreed his cousin.

 

It had taken almost a solid day to travel to the planet. Not because of inoperative warp drives, but because Sister was having a hard time getting Tsunami to move, so the others flew in a cover formation. On the journey, Seina was filled in on Ranma's thinking. He agreed with his cousins, especially since only one ship had made it from the world known as Naboo. The Astrometric sensors, coupled with the Holo-Net emitters throughout the galaxy made it easy to see what the craft looked like, and where it went.

 

Once in orbit of `New Earth', the three crews took some rest and relaxation before getting to the nitty gritty. First thing that was built was four construction ships, the designs recovered from the computer cores of the former Federation ships. Washu had done some probing to see what was lost and what was recoverable, and found the designs for everything they would need. She was . . . persuaded . . . to not make any modifications to weapons systems. But anything else she could try something new.

 

One construction ship started on the Starbase, one on an orbital mining station, one on the shipyards, and the last on a dilithium mining platform. The mining facilities were up and running in no time, so one ship would go help with the Starbase while the other helped with the shipyards, getting those operational within another day. Then all four fanned out, in all directions, to build the defense turrets and sensor grids.

 

While that was happening, the planet was mapped from orbit. The safe areas were marked for exploration by a few from each crew. There were seven good looking spots near a water source, that translated into a food source with the wildlife. Ranma, Xian and Karin were looking at one in the northwestern hemisphere, in the temperate climate zone. Tenchi, Ryoko, and Xianghua were looking at one in the southwestern hemisphere, in the tropical climate area. Seina, Amane and Ryoko were looking at one in the northeastern hemisphere, in a moderate climate. The three survey teams consisted of nothing but fighters, chosen by straws. Well, the cousins were going to ensure safety (male ego, full power).

 

Their activities had gone unnoticed since they were in an uncharted and unpopulated system. It had eleven planets, an asteroid belt, and numerous moons chock full of the materials that they would need. The stations, minus the Starbase, were rigged to be fully automatic.

 

That leads into the newest problem: the lack of personnel to man the base and future ships. A group meeting was held to discuss the issue, and the closest to an agreement that they came to was the cloners of Kamino. With the planet being a quick warp away, it was decided that after the surveying mission was completed they would pay the cloners a visit.

 

Ranma, Ryoko H., Washu, the Goddesses and Demon Queen were excluded for the obvious reasons. Those remaining elected to go with it, to see what would happen.

 

The last of the teams beamed back aboard the Colorado, sharing the same basic find with the others. No humanoid life, nothing overtly dangerous. Plenty of wildlife, clean water, and space to build housing. It had been decided upon to colonize the planet as a way of having a place to go to get out of space. Ranma and his crew returned to Prometheus, satisfied with leaving Colorado behind to assist Sister with the defense of Tsunami and their temporary-new home.

 

“Well, let's go see these cloners,” chorused Nabiki, eager to see what kind of business she could do in an entire galaxy teeming with life.

 

“You are aware that they may not look like us Sugar,” pointed out the ever helpful Ukyo.

 

“Yeah, and I'm aware that we might get nowhere but dead,” she answered, demonstrating her knowledge of having surfed the net of this galaxy, just to see the amount of cut-throating and backstabbing that made up the day-to-day business entity. That didn't even cover the Underground, a place that she had NO desire to go.

 

“Course inputted,” spoke Karin, after having the navigational computer make the warp route with the newly acquired galactic map of pitfalls, asteroids, black holes, gravity wells, and every other cosmic phenomena.

 

“Take us there,” spoke Ranma from the chair that legends are made from. He had adopted, after a three-way fight with his cousins, that saying as his catch phrase for space missions.

 

The Prometheus got out of the gravity well of the system's star, then engaged at warp eight for Kamino after cloaking . . .

 

-(Universe A, Ranma year 2005)-

 

Midnight came to the Tendo residence, only to find the entire house and its guests wide awake. Ryoga was in pig form, mostly to shut him up. He had been ranting for hours about revenge on Saotome this and that, life is hell this and that, blah, blah, blah. The surprise came from when Akane dosed him, then went back to her impassive stare at the koi pond. He tried to be the pet pig, all that earned him was a whap on the head by Cologne. Mousse was being silent because this really had nothing to do with Xian, and the Elder threatened him with nothing short of a painful death if he misbehaved. She wasn't taking anything this night, that was for certain.

 

“It's time,” said Tokimi at twelve oh one, instantly did Ryoga freeze in his movements. He cocked his head side to side, as if examining what he was looking at. Then his entire body froze, like a computer crash. It restarted five minutes later, just to repeat the motions. This happened eight times before the phone rang, making all present jump. Nodoka answered, before passing it to Tokimi.

 

“Ah,” said the Goddess, “Yes Kami-sama? Understood.” After hanging the phone up, she punted Ryoga out the door and over the horizon. The others, minus the still impassive Akane, turned surprised looks in her direction. “His program code was causing a software crash in Yggdrasil. That was the only way to fix it.”

 

“And when he comes back?” asked Soun with an even tone.

 

“Who said he'd ever be back? He was one of the irritants that Kami-sama was looking to have removed,” answered Tokimi. “In compensation of this, we have fixed his directional problem. However, steps have been taken to insure he can never find his way to any place that Ranma Saotome has been, or ever will be, at.”

 

“No cure for pig-boy then,” sang Mousse, before completely deflating at the look the Goddess gave him.

 

“You're next,” she said, with death glare at full. “However, since your actions against Ranma have not been as severe as Porky, we are going to be lenient in regards to him. Abuse this, and you share the same fate. As for your precious Xian Pu . . . you get the same treatment Akane has received.”

 

His eyes became as big as plates before shrinking back down to size. He looked at those gathered in the living room and spoke.

 

“Who?”

 

-(Universe D, Star Wars Episode Four minus 32 years)-

 

Prometheus reappeared in the system not a day later, hails instantly going out to the two remaining functional ships.

 

“Talk to me,” Tenchi stated to the viewer, which had switched over to show Ranma in the big chair.

 

“Success,” said Ranma, “on a marginal scale. We had to cut them a deal, since somebody just placed a gigantic order. Ours will be ready in a month, then we are on our own.”

 

“How big of an order?” asked Ayeka, something making her senses tingle.

 

“Somewhere around a million units,” answered Nabiki, “Paying insanely large amounts too. The whole thing doesn't sit right with me.”

 

“Sounds like a war machine,” commented Ryoko, earning nods on both bridges.

 

“What deal did you cut?” wondered Washu, her left eye slightly twitching.

 

“Most of it is that we help defend the planet,” supplied Kasumi, who still looked in awe of what she saw (wow, another rhyme). “Some of our minor technology, like the defense platforms is the rest of the deal.”

 

“There goes the neighborhood,” deadpanned the scientist, “It was bad enough that we were going to have to go to the natives for quick crews, but to have given them technology that isn't even of this galaxy?”

 

“Don't worry,” assured Hild, “We did some digging, and found a design that is so old it looks like a small upgrade here. The damage should be minimal.”

 

“Sorry to interrupt,” came Surien's voice, “But there is a major offensive happening on Naboo.”

 

The viewers of both ships switched to a feed from the Astrometrics labs, zoomed in to maximum. On the ground were no less than five thousand Battle Droids, advancing on the native Gungan army. It had been noted that the ship that had slipped out a week prior had returned, but since nothing had happened until now nobody said anything.

 

Then the forces met, a firefight unlike anything even Ryoko Hakubi had ever seen erupted. The Gungans were using something that was a cross between nitro glycerin, and an EMP bomb. The Droids were using auto-repeating blaster rifles, thermal detonators, and had artillery support.

 

Then the view switched to the capital city, Theed. There was a running firefight there with a small detachment of guards and the Droid garrison. The detachment disappeared briefly, then the small force of fighters took to space.

 

The view switched again to what had been painted as the Droid Control Ship, which was launching fighters. The main blockade fleet was too far away to render immediate assistance, thus there was a small window of opportunity to attack.

 

“Jesus,” breathed Haruken, “This is heavier than when Seina took on the pirate fleet.”

 

“Yeah,” whispered Karen, “there's so much more to keep an eye on. The two battles on the ground, which are heavily tipped in favor of the attackers, and the fight in orbit.”

 

“Hey,” suddenly said Ranma, “Why'd that fighter fly INTO that Doughnut?” Never let it be said that Ranma would learn the proper designations for anything that didn't personally involve him.

 

The ground battle came to a screeching halt with the apparent defeat of the natives. The Plains and Theed became quiet, prisoners being moved about. Much the same was happening in space, fighters being shot out of the vacuum.

 

Then, much to the amazement of the crews on the three ships, the DCS started to explode. That fighter from earlier came screaming out of the docking bay, beating a hasty retreat with the survivors as the ship blew itself apart. The Droids on the ground suddenly went offline, insuring victory in the Battle of Naboo to the natives.

 

“That took all of ten minutes,” said an awed Amane, “Okay Ranma, if we weren't sold on this universe being hostile, we certainly are now.”

 

“My battle instincts are nearly perfect,” boasted the pigtailed warrior. “Not absolutely perfect, as there is no such thing as perfection. Even I know we all make mistakes.”

 

Time passed relatively quick from the Battle of Naboo. The planet had a small city set up, awaiting its population to arrive. The shipyard was producing ships at an insane rate. In the twenty-nine days it had been in operation, it had churned out an entire armada, from Venture-class scouts to Sovereign-class capital ships. It had been decided not to have any Nebula's or Prometheus's built, to distinguish the two command vessels from the rest of the two hundred forty ship fleet. The shipyard had expanded to ten docks, each capable of holding twenty-four ships of varying sizes. Having been completely automated had allowed the facility to spit out ships left and right, then Washu would go over each one with her sophisticated scanning system to get any errors fixed.

 

There were no fatal errors in the new fleet, most of it was adjustments to the electronics packages to reduce power consumption. One had the warp core upside-down, even though it worked just fine.

 

When she wasn't doing those scans, or repairing the engines on Tsunami, Washu would do a set of tests on each person to insure that the universal travel wasn't creating a quantum sickness that would be fatal as soon as it appeared. They had been very fortunate thus far not to stumble onto a universe that would straight out kill them for the quantum signature being way out of whack.

 

The thing Washu did find was that the aging process for everybody had stopped. Her family and Seina's was easily explainable: natural Juraian Longevity. Those that were non Juraian in the groups had voluntarily under gone a DNA splice, to grow old together.

 

Ranma's family, however, how no such age defying thing done to them. None of them were aging though, and it was driving her bonkers. Putting it on the shelf until they got home was a better idea, so she set to making a stable connection to their home universe. She had nothing but time to do it.

 

On the thirtieth day, Ranma lost the services of Nabiki and Xian. They silently were overjoyed at getting much needed R and R, thus were moving quickly into the prefabricated city on New Earth.

 

“Computer,” began Amane, “Link up with fleet data network. Establish temporary control of engines, navigation, shields and weapons.”

 

“Link up complete,” responded the computer several seconds later.

 

“Cloak the fleet. Set course for Kamino, warp eight,” ordered Ranma, “Take us there.”

 

Karin swiftly complied, in awe of the massive fleet behind her that jumped to warp with them. The trip to the cloners planet was uneventful, even if this was a shakedown cruise for almost the entire fleet. They entered orbit and decloaked Prometheus, just like they had in the first encounter. After talking to the Kaminoans, they began to beam the crews into the ships they would be stationed on. Their order was for ten thousand clones using various DNA samples in multiple combinations, each `programmed' to the specifications provided. Half were trained Marines, one thousand were in various levels of Command, another thousand in Tactical/Security, another group of a thousand in Engineering, yet another thousand in Medical and the last group of a thousand in the Construction Corps to handle city building, miscellaneous station repairs and the like.

 

It didn't take long for the new crews to get acquainted with the ships systems of the fleet. Those specifically for Command already knew their ranks and positions, eliminating any fighting there. Prometheus didn't disengage the computer link until all ships reported green. Then the fleet, complete with extras and passengers, traveled back into the New Earth system.

 

The people of Kamino were glad that they were gone. They had to `rush' produce an insane number of clones for them, piggy-backed on the order from the Jedi. Hopefully they wouldn't mind the slight delay in production. Too bad it wouldn't be for another ten years until somebody came to collect . . .

 

The fleet came in hard, then gracefully slowed to return to their berths in the docks. The Engineers had every vibration and power spike noted, and were going to fix them. The extras that weren't used went planet-side with the ground-pounding foot soldiers. Not that they would be there for long, as the shipyards kept spitting various classes of ships out.

 

Nine months later, the groups were celebrating the birth of the next generation. Nabiki and Xian both had boys (much to the annoyance of the Amazon), named Ranma Junior and, after her own father, Hairbrush. Ayeka and Mihoshi had a pair of girls that, in honor of both the still unconscious Tsunami and the Queens that kept that pompous-ass Emperor in line, were named Misaki and Funaho. Although it created a weird picture to have a blond Funaho. Kiriko and Balta had the mix, a boy for the GP officer and a girl for the ex-pirate. The boy was named Seina Junior, as a way to poke fun at Ranma, while the girl was named Ranko, to further the poking. The celebration lasted into the night, all of them safe and secure knowing that they hadn't been found out yet.

 

-(Nine years three months later, AotC. Episode Four minus 22 years)-

 

The activity in the galaxy was shifting closer and closer to all out war. The Confederacy of Independent Systems, CIS, or Separatists as they were known was gaining strength. Our heroes were stuck in their sector due to them setting up camp on Geonosis. While that meant they couldn't get at Kamino to place another order as the fleet had grown to nine hundred ships, that didn't mean they couldn't explore the arm of the galaxy that they were in. No active humanoid civilizations were found, but plenty of ruins had been uncovered by the sensors on various planets in several systems.

 

The families had grown, each of the reaming females minus the unconscious Tsunami now having one child each. New Earth had blossomed from a few thousand to almost ninety thousand strong as the three groups had encouraged the clones to mingle, make friends, have families and the like since they weren't in any combat situations. Not that the Alpha male, Ranma, would let them get soft. He first tackled the Marines, training them in hand-to-hand. Then he went after the ship crews, keeping them in top form with drills and exercises. He ran them through a massive space battle, one half of the fleet versus the other in a giant game of space laser tag.

 

For almost ten years had this been going on, with the hands on instruction and encouragement of `The Family', as the clones had dubbed them.

 

Then the war began, right next door. It gave them front row seats to the beginning of the end . . .

 

“Admiral,” came the voice of a clone named Kirby, “eight Republic ships have just reverted to realspace from hyperspace. They are preparing their attack on Geonosis.”

 

Ranma frowned, as he hated all of this formal crap, from the bridge of Prometheus. Only the best were selected to be onboard the flagship, since its survival was paramount. Just like Colorado, Sister, and a now functional Tsunami. At least the theory was that she was functional, but without the Goddess herself nobody knew for certain.

 

“Lieutenant,” said Ranma, “On screen. Call the Family, have them come aboard.”

 

“Aye,” was the response as the man at tactical went to work on his tasks. Not five seconds later did the adult members of the family appear on the bridge, cramping it to no end.

 

“Hey, what's the big . . .” started to demand Hakubi, before noticing the action on the screen. “Oh shit.”

 

“That's an understatement,” quipped Ayeka with a smile, watching as dropships and troop transports left the bays of the destroyers.

 

“Damn things look like a deformed pizza slice,” deadpanned Tenchi, who was getting a craving for food from home. He was the first to notice the non-aging of anybody in the three families, his inquiries generating very little hubbub since the others would like to return home somewhat in the condition they had left in.

 

“Maximum magnification on the surface,” spoke Seina, watching as the viewer shifted to reveal the running ground battle. “Those Super Battle Droids are new, aren't they?”

 

“Yeah, but the Republic has them outnumbered and outgunned. Look at the number of AT-TE walkers, with the aerial support of the Assault Gunships.”

 

“The Republic's been busy,” remarked Nabiki, who still had her sharp eyes. “Everything down there is new, even the destroyers in orbit don't have a scratch.”

 

They watched as the Republic troops pushed the CIS army back, then took the Command Spire. The Separatists were in full retreat, attempting to get their ships in orbit. Many were shot back down, while a few did escape since the destroyers were coming in low for pick-ups. The ground battle was rapping up, before the Holo-Net began broadcasting the feed from Coruscant. Thousands of troops were being loading into the Venator-class Assault Cruisers. Each ship was just over a kilometer long, capable of atmospheric entry.

 

“Ho boy,” quipped Ranma, “Now my bad feeling sees the light of day.” He had shared his feelings with the members of the Family, so it was no surprise to hear the statement.

 

“Should we deploy?” asked a Commander, whose name couldn't be remembered.

 

“Not yet,” answered Seina, “This looks like a self-defense counterstrike to me. Then again, with those first generation Star Destroyers getting geared up, I'd say the party has just started.”

 

It would take another two years before Seina would eat those words . . .

 

-(Two years later, RotS. Episode four minus twenty years)-

 

“Why the blazes aren't we helping the Republic?” demanded a Captain, that obviously was a cross between Nabiki, for her cunning, and Seina, for his need for action. The Captain was a female, as the original order had specified. Splice the genes, accelerate the growth, don't interfere with the sex.

 

“Because, my gut says now is not the time,” smoothly answered Ranma, sitting in his chair on the bridge of Prometheus. On the viewscreen was the Battle of Coruscant, a surprise attack by the CIS to abduct the Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. The Family had seen the entire event from the beginning, and knew it was a ruse. There was no way that the CIS fleet got that deep into Republic territory without some internal assistance. The thing of it was, they didn't know who yet. Not that it stopped Nabiki from her old tricks with the betting pool. With the one hundred thousand residents of New Earth getting antsy for action, and they've been trained/programmed to live for, it get them a medium of temporary relief.

 

“Look at that, General Grievous' ship is breaking up,” cheered Kiriko. “This is why we don't assist them, they don't need it yet.”

 

“Not to mention that Palpatine rubs us wrong, even from the other side of the galaxy,” offhandedly remarked Neju, who was scowling at the viewer.

 

“No argument there,” agreed the Captain, “It just that the cork is about to come out of our bottle if we don't do something.”

 

“CIS ships moving on Kashyyyk,” came the voice of a Second Lieutenant in Astrometrics, “We have their base as Utapau, but the leaders have moved on. Looks like their ship is headed in the direction of Mustafar.”

 

“Something is very wrong here,” grumbled Tenchi, “The charts say that Mustafar is hostile to most life-forms, simply because of the volcanic activity. Why would anybody want to hole up there?”

 

“This is the work of Palpatine,” came Ayeka's voice as she entered the bridge, “It took me long enough to see it, but it has to be true. He is gaining more and more power by the day, while this `war' is not really going anywhere.”

 

The debate raged for nearly two weeks before everything changed. With the stubbornness of a Jedi did the Republic fall, mutated and transformed into the Empire. Palpatine appointed himself Emperor of the galaxy, and got praise for it. He had led the blind right into the furnace, and was now laughing at them as they burned.

 

“Time to mobilize,” said Ranma suddenly, startling those on the Prometheus. It was night shift, so he wasn't expected until morning. The others in the Family suddenly appeared on Prometheus, Colorado, and Sister.

 

“The Fourth through Tenth Fleets will remain here to guard the home,” came from Ranma's mouth, “Our first objective it to secure Kamino. We might need their services in the future, and as this is part of our contract, we will do what we can.”

 

The cousins had shut the shipyards down at a solid thousand ships, ten Fleets comprised of ten ship classes, ten of each in a Fleet. The Fleets all had the same type of ships, ten Ventures, ten Iwo Jima, ten Defiant, ten Intrepid, ten Aegian, ten Galaxy, ten Sovereign, ten Akira, ten Streamrunner and ten Repair.

 

The Venture-class was switched from scouting/surveying to an attack fighter. The Iwo Jima's were for the Marines, for either planetary insertion or ship boarding. The Defiant-class speaks for itself. The Streamrunner's were for artillery support, since this class used a long range torpedo and sensor package. The Intrepid-class ships were for hit-and-run maneuvers, and for diplomatic missions since these looked less like a warship. The Aegian-class was something new, a frigate that was useless on the front lines, but pretty handy because of the shield augmenting that the frigate offered. The Akira, Galaxy and Sovereign classes were for the teeth of the Fleet. The Repair-class ships, just like the Defiant, speak for themselves.

 

All of the ships were equipped with holographic emitters, cloaking devices, transphasic weaponry and shielding. While it would make them very formidable, it was a circulated wish that they never did see actual combat.

 

“How are we going to do this without getting the attention of the Empire?” asked Nabiki, speaking for quite a few both in and around the Family.

 

“Those holographic emitters on the hulls,” answered Tenchi, “We're going to sit on the edge of the system, using Geonosis on our flank as a blinder, and look like one of their fleets.”

 

“I say we stay here,” came Seina's voice, “Guys, this feels wrong. We've been watching events unfold, as apparently they were meant to. Things we take for granted are gone here. It went from a democracy, albeit a poor one, to a dictatorship. Now there's this Vader roaming the stars, doing his slice and dice as he's told to by the Emperor. I still say it's too soon to make our presence known here to anymore species than we've already contacted.”

 

The bridge fell silent, those in the Family taking into consideration what the GP officer had just said. Many agreed with his thinking, feeling that they were about to rush into something without being truly prepared for it.

 

“Look guys,” said Ranma as he wiped his face with his hands, “You win, okay? We won't defend any systems but our own, however as a counter I say we go make diplomatic ties with those that are against this Empire.”

 

“And that would be?” quipped Nabiki, silently cheering that this was something that was right up the alley of her sister.

 

“Look at the Senators, Ambassadors, and other diplomatic corps that are leaving Coruscant,” pointed out Ukyo. “Find out where they call home is, then we come. The question is, what are we going to offer them in exchange?”

 

“No technology,” immediately came from Amane's mouth. “Fleet movements of the Empire, that special project of theirs in the Corporate Sector, stuff like that is fine.”

 

“Upgraded charts and maps,” added Mihoshi in a moment of insight.

 

The Family settled in for a nice, long, friendly debate about what would be the best course of action. Once that was agreed upon, the Second Fleet set out for the worlds either teetering on the edge of rebellion, or already openly defying the Empire . . .

 

It took another twenty years of tiptoeing before an event happened, that turned the galaxy on its head, spun it around, then kicked it in the balls.

 

-(Episode Four)-

 

“God damn it,” cursed Ranma, “Get a hold of the Third Fleet, tell them to get their asses in gear! Kasumi is on Alderaan, get her outta there pronto!”

 

The clone crews suddenly knew fear. For the last twenty plus years of their slow aging life had they lived it in relative peace. Now that peace has left the starship, as Ranma paced the small area in front of his chair on Prometheus. Like a caged animal, waiting the right moment to strike out at the unsuspecting victim.

 

They had done right, for a change, by seeking out those that opposed the Empire. The ships were always cloaked, with a bulk of whichever fleet that was making contact staying further back yet close enough to give aid quickly. The Rebel Alliance had formed, with the Family having negotiated many agreements between the races.

 

Then the Empire began its campaign to have the systems `rethink' their position with the completion and unveiling of the Death Star. Then word came that the Empire ambushed and captured Princess Leia Organa at Tatooine. Now the Death Star sits, almost within striking distance of Alderaan.

 

“Power spike from the Death Star,” reported the Lieutenant on tactical, hoping that his career wouldn't end on this day.

 

“Tell me they got her out,” begged Ranma, receiving a slight shake of the head. He whipped his own head around in time to see the artificial moon fire, obliterating the planet.

 

“Oh God, please no,” cried Ranma, for the first time that many had ever seen. Kasumi had cajoled her way into going to Alderaan with their twin sixteen year old sons and their eight year old daughter. The boys were named, in a fit of impishness, Genma and Soun as they had begun to fight on their way out of the womb. The daughter, more of a request from Kasumi, was named Kimiko.

 

“Extreme EM interference in the Alderaan system,” came the voice of Washu, who had commandeered the sensor arrays of the entire fleet. “Third Fleet is sending out a mayday, they've taken heavy damage. Nine ships are confirmed lost, including the lead Sovereign.”

 

Ranma, who had moved from his rare crying fit to barely contained rage, was ready to go Extra Vehicular to beat the living shit out of the Empire and their crones.

 

“Now we interfere,” he spat between gritted teeth . . .

 

TBC

 

I know, I know it doesn't make much sense in parts. Sorry for the glossing of Episodes One through Three, but it was a necessary evil to set up the end of this chapter. Besides it had been agreed upon to not interfere and cause mass amounts of chaos, and Ranma held to that until Alderaan.

 

Now? Now the shit hits the fan . . .