Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ The Goddess Dilemma ❯ Eleven ( Chapter 11 )

Disclaimer: Still not owning anything here, no profits, completely broke. Everything used belongs to other people who have done good work with the story lines.

 

Rant: Fire in the hole, that's all I have to say. Although this is now the longest fic I've ever butchered . . . I mean wrote. Also, I have turned anonymous reviews ON in an attempt to get more, but if it becomes a pain in my ass to deal with stupid people then I'll have to turn it back off.

 

The Goddess Dilemma, part eleven

 

By: Jim Ohki

 

“The Third Fleet can't get any closer,” said the Lieutenant, “Not with that Death Star still in the system.”

 

“Ranma, please calm down,” pleaded Nabiki, “It hurts me too, hell it hurts all of us, but you need to think clearly. Don't be like Akane with the react first ask questions whenever you feel like it attitude.”

 

The still young, even though he was nearing fifty, man took a deep breath, exhaled and repeated. This went on for ten minutes, before Ranma shook his head.

 

“Nope, not helping,” he quipped, “I seriously need to beat the hell out of somebody, more to the point I want to kill these Imperial fucksticks.”

 

“The Death Star has captured a freighter that just appeared in the system,” reported the female at tactical, as her shift had started twenty minutes ago. The Lieutenant knew she was walking into something big by the vibes she felt three decks down. “They`re moving out of the system.”

 

“Get the Third Fleet moving, which way did they go?” spoke Ranma, before the tactical station lit up like a Christmas tree.

 

“Hostiles reverting to realspace, bearing two-five-eight mark five. Three Imperial-class Star Destroyers, looks like they just left dry-dock.” The three ships fanned out for maneuvering room, then started spewing fighters. They were moving in-system, straight towards the crippled Third Fleet, and any survivors that might be floating about in pods or nearly-dead ships.

 

“That's it, I've had it,” declared the warrior, “Fourth through Seventh Fleets, cloak, set course and engage at maximum warp. The other Fleets stay here, but be ready to move. Helm, set course to the Alderaan Graveyard and engage at maximum warp.”

 

The commands were carried out swiftly and silently. The soldiers did their job, thankful that one of the leaders of the Family was always on them to keep them sharp. The members of the RSC, minus the MIA Kasumi, crowded onto the bridge. They demanded nothing, argued nothing. They wanted answers, and if the case warranted it, revenge.

 

Even with the Fleets being on the fringe of the galaxy, the engine modification Washu had pulled out of her hat enabled them to reach the site of the Core world in less than ten minutes. Once there they reinforced the Third Fleet, most of which was cloaked. But there were ships that had a choice, cloak or life support. That meant elements out in the open for all and any to see. The forty Venture­-class fighters fanned out, joining the remaining twelve from the Third. Highly outnumbered in the fighter department, as each Star Destroyer had three of six squadrons in space, the capital ships on the five fleets combined made up the difference.

 

“Full stop to the Fleet,” said Ranma, eyeing his opponents warily, “Prepare to decloak and raise shields. Weapons to full.”

 

The moving wall of Imperial might had slowed to a crawl, the fighters buzzing about like flies. They moved toward a crippled Defiant that had life signs, preparing for the capture.

 

“Deploy,” was the only thing Ranma had to say to unleash anarchy and change the course of an entire galaxy. The fleet began to move as one unit, making their presence known with the first shots. The Ventures engaged the fighters, discovering that the Empire considered them fodder as the shielding was to laugh at. Forty-three Sovereign's fanned out, creating a wall of their own while the forty-seven Galaxy-class ships moved into a wedge formation. The Aegian-class vessels stayed out of the front, along with their defenders the Intrepid's. The Defiant's started flying random patterns, either attacking a fighter for a quick kill or launching a barrage of fire into the closest Star Destroyer. The Repair ships flittered about, doing their job with the elements of the Third that were not engaged in the fight.

 

The element of surprise quickly faded as the Star Destroyers returned fire from the sixty turbo-laser emplacements, making quick work of the smaller ships. Not enough for a kill, but enough to disable as apparently whoever was in charge of this battle group was smart enough to go for new technologies. Not that is mattered, as when the Galaxy and Sovereign-classes really got going, the combined weapons fire ate the Star Destroyers alive. The thick durasteel hulls where good for deflecting turbo-lasers, as it was nearly impossible to hit the same spot twice and there was a pause between shots. The computer controlled phasers, however, would strike the same area repeatedly, with a greater concentration of energy.

 

“Multi Vector Assault mode,” barked Ranma as a panel in the back of the bridge arced, “Target the bridge of the central Destroyer. Use the Streamrunner and Iwo Jima-classes to gather survivors from the Third Fleet and any life pods that are floating around. Have the Sovereign`s concentrate firepower on the right ship, Galaxy`s on the left. Arm photon torpedoes, let`s see how they like this.” His orders were carried out as Prometheus broke into three smaller ships, coming in on different angles to attack the same point.

 

“Why aren't we using the transphasic technology?” asked Karin as she held on for deal life. The ship shook from another hit, shields holding at eighty percent. On the viewer, a Defiant got too carried away and smacked right into the right side of the left Star Destroyer, opening a very large hole in the ship as it exploded.

 

“Because we don't want to give away an obvious advantage,” answered Nabiki, who was cradling her right arm and had a small gash on her forehead. “We haven't used any torpedoes yet, and those may make the difference without the overkill.”

 

“Target torpedoes to the remaining weapons emplacements,” ordered Hild, seeing what Ranma was up to. “Have the Fleet match and fire.”

 

One hundred thirty-one ships fired three torpedoes, each tracking a different target. When the warheads detonated, space seemed to light up. By the time the flashes of light and residual EM interference faded, it was obvious that the battle was over. The torpedoes had each destroyed all of the weapons of the three Imperial ships, as well as blowing massive holes in the hulls. One torpedo had veered off course and impacted against the bridge shield dome, bringing the shields down. Three Ventures opened fire in a quick volley, opening the entire command tower to the vacuum. The central Star Destroyer listed port before completely exploding, which chain reacted into its partner on the right. Then that ship blew, leaving the last one to drift dead in space. The Ventures cleaned up the remaining fighters, as several Iwo Jima ships beamed over boarding parties.

 

Even though it was a moot point, the system was secured. Numerous survivors were found on various ships, and it was requested to move the Fleet back to New Earth to treat many of the patients in the ground-based hospital. The Repair ships formed a honey-comb around the prize, tractoring the Star Destroyer with them as the Fleet returned to its home.

 

It was chaos in the medical bays of the various ships that had them. The survivors, both of Alderaan and the battle after, were numerous. It seemed that many of the natives had attempted to vacate their homeworld before it was blown into so many asteroids. Casualties were sorted, and prioritized. Meaning the wounded from the battle, so long that it wasn't life threatening, were told to find pain killers and go away for the moment.

 

Two nurses came barreling through the crowds of confused humanoids, a stretcher suspended between them.

 

“MAKE A HOLE!” roared the one in the front, balancing the stretcher with one hand while shoving people with the other. As the fleet had returned to New Earth, the severely injured that had been patched up to at least make the journey were beamed to the hospital on the surface.

 

The doctor on duty was up to her forearms in a chest cavity, but did manage to spare a glance in the direction of the nurses that had just so very rudely entered her domain.

 

“Oh no, get the Admirals down here pronto,” she barked, finishing her current patient as quickly as she could.

 

When the call came, the `Admirals' were in the middle of an argument. Ranma, he was of the mentality `Cry havoc' while his cousins were trying to get him to back off, that this was something bigger than he could chew. The three ignored the call, and the next eight before the doctor herself stormed the bridge.

 

“What the hell is going on up here that is so important that you'd ignore me when I have urgent news?” she demanded after planting herself in the midst of the nose to nose cousins. They blinked before separating, eyeing the doctor warily.

 

“Can we help you?” asked Tenchi, glad that somebody was up here to shift gears.

 

“Yeah, we found her -” was as far as she got before a tremendous wind gust knocked her down. Then the vacuum caught up, pulling the furniture and occupants to the hole in wall.

 

“Okay, that was one way to get him to think about something different,” quipped Seina from the mass as he began to force his way out. Tenchi did the same from his spot in the pile, while the doctor was groaning in pain.

 

“Next time, I send a messenger,” she mused, before being helped to her feet. The trio made tracks for the medical bay at a more sedate pace. On the way there they passed several flattened crew members that were blinking in surprise, most literally asking what hit them. Once there they found that Ranma was standing at the door, not yet willing to enter. He also seemed to be belittling himself for his jaunt through the ship to get here without all of the facts. He noticed their approach and started launching a million questions at once, stuttering through each creating a solid noise of gibberish.

 

“Ranma,” barked Tenchi, who had grasped the pigtailed warrior by the shoulders, “Shut up for a minute. The doc explained it to us, now you need to listen.” That had the desired result, as Ranma nodded after closing his mouth.

 

“She's alive,” said the doctor, taking a precaution by placing Seina and Tenchi between her and Ranma. “Her condition is critical, but stable. She is aware of everything that is going on around her, and remembers who we are.”

 

That was as far as she got as Ranma turned and entered the medical bay of Prometheus. He located his target easily, as the rest of his family was already there crowding around the biobed that Kasumi was on. They felt the temperature drop in the room, and instantly knew who the latest visitor was. Turning as one they saw Ranma pause, motioning them to step aside. Instead of just making a hole, they made tracks for the door. Urd and Peorth were the only two who didn't leave the bay entirely, instead moving over towards the stasis field that housed Tsunami. In the thirty-two years that they had been present in this universe, there had been no change in the status of the Juraian Goddess, nor the tree Miseto. It's presence was noticeable as the tree was also in a stasis field to prevent overgrowth. Seto herself was adamant that the tree wasn't pruned, as she had found out that it hurt.

 

“Ranma,” rasped Kasumi, without trying to sit up, “I'm sorry, I shouldn't have insisted that we -”

 

He stopped her, taking in the scene. Kasumi had burns and obvious shrapnel damage on the right side of her body. While her face was somehow untouched, from her right shoulder down to her ankle wasn't covered in clothing to aide in the changing of bandages and application of many medical tools that Ranma had no idea what they did. He started to caress her face, the relief in knowing she was alive clearly shown on his face. Then it twisted as he looked closer at the damage done, a question burning in his mind.

 

“The kids?” he asked as gently as he could, making sure to remember that he was caressing a gentle flower that was the woman on the bed in front of him. He hadn't been looking at her eyes when he asked, but when he felt liquid under his palms he had his answer. “Protecting you?” came from his mouth as his eyes swiveled to meet hers. She simply nodded, not trusting her voice.

 

“Then they did right by us,” he said softly, proud that the children he'd had with her had respected their parents enough to do something like that. “We can always have more, even though it wouldn't be the same.”

 

“Actually, sir,” came the voice of the doctor, daring to step into the lion's den, “They were near an EPS conduit, when debris from the planet impacted. The conduit exploded, the children doing their best to completely shield her from the blast. Young Kimiko was vaporized in the plasma fire, which opened up the damaged area that you see. The excess plasma had a radioactive property to it, making Kasumi sterile.”

 

Instantly did frost appear on everything and everyone in the room. He now knew how some of his children died, but that Kasumi was sterile was too much for him to handle . . .

 

-(Shared quarters of the Saotome family)-­

 

“Is dad going to be okay?” asked Ranma Junior, who had surprised the members from Nerima by being a polar opposite from his father: he wasn't loud, boisterous, nor did he have an ego the size of a solar system. He wasn't looking at anybody specific, glancing from person to person in the quarters to see who would answer his question. At thirty-one years old, even though he didn't look a day over eighteen, Junior was one of the oldest out of the children of the cousins, including his half-brother Hairbrush.

 

No answer immediately came forth, until the temperature dropped as the environmental controls apparently had a fit. Then he, along with his brother, noticed that the adults were looking nervously at each other. As the temperature dropped, frost formed and a light snow fell for a moment from the moisture in the air that froze.

 

“That would be a definite `no',” quipped Nabiki, “At least until he kills something and gets it out of his system.”

 

To their surprise, the doors opened and admitted the subject of the conversation. The doc had told him that the rest of the family was filled in during their visit while she had gone to retrieve him. Ranma strode into the room, before making a bee line for his oldest boys, rapping them up in a rare display of affection. Then he sought out his other children, making sure to give each equal time before leaving the quarters without saying a word.

 

“He intends to die,” suddenly said Xian, “Ranma is so broken up over this, so angry that he wasn't there, that he intends to take down this Empire and die during the process.”

 

“Oh no he doesn't,” warned Karin, “I, for one, will not allow that to happen. We are a family, and we should do this together or go our own ways.”

 

“There is no question, we do this,” stated Ukyo, “If not for the twins or Kimiko, then for Kasumi and all that she has lost.”

 

As a sign that the debate was over, she left the quarters in pursuit of Ranma. The others moved out quickly, after instructing their children to stay put. They caught up to Ranma on the bridge not five minutes later.

 

“-damn it, I don't care,” barked Ranma at a Lieutenant Commander, “Our Fleets have been replenished, and I want even more ships built. If you won't help me, I'll find somebody that will.”

 

“Just do it,” encouraged Nabiki, slightly shaking her head in Ranma's direction as an indicator that it was a bad idea to argue with him at the moment. When he heard her voice, Ranma had turned in their direction. Already knowing what foolishness it would be to try to do this alone (read: argue with women and lose), he simply nodded before sitting down in his chair.

 

“I've already sent Kasumi, Tsunami, Urd, Peorth and Seto down to the hospital on New Earth,” he said after a moment, “And I'd really prefer that the kids are sent down also.” His logic was sound, as Ranma couldn't possibly bear to deal with anymore loss like that. What seemed like a flaw in the logic, even though is was true, was that there was no way he would nor could convince his wives to stay behind.

 

“Have them work on the Destroyer project?” offered Hild, knowing that there were many secrets that had yet to be unlocked from their prize. A few already had been, such as the shipyard where she was built as well as figures on the hulls and shields.

 

“Most definitely,” replied Washu as she appeared, “While the reverse-engineering is going well, it would provide a . . . truthful excuse to get them off of the ships. I have taught them all that I know with the small window of frame that we've had, so perhaps they could make the project go faster.”

 

“Agreed,” added Seina, putting in his appearance, “The kids can integrate the technology into the next generation of ships to come out of our yards, and transmit tactical data to us.”

 

“Then they can put that Star Destroyer back together and place her in service for us after upgrades, of course,” added Tenchi. There was a running agreement between the members of the Family: unless it was unjustifiable total madness, then they would go along with the revenge plot that was forming in Ranma's mind. If he crossed the line . . . well, there was really no hope in hell of stopping him if he became dangerously out of control.

 

“All right, get them cracking on the project,” consented Ranma, doing his damnedest to stay grounded to reality and not go bonkers. “Once all the kiddies are off, set course for the Kuat Drive Yards, warp eight with the First through Fifth Fleets. Send the Sixth to Kamino. Full cloak, and have the slower construction ships piggy-back between the nacelles of the Galaxy's and Sovereign's.” The commands were carried out quickly, and once the children were given specific instructions to continue to build up the Fleet, retrofitting as they saw fit with technology taken from the Destroyer, did a full five hundred ships cloak before moving to warp.

 

“What about the Empire's project at Fondor?” asked Ayeka, one of the few who had taken a look around the galaxy with the Astrometric sensors. She had uncovered the massive undertaking at the Fondor shipyard, said something about it, even though it seemed like the others were ignoring this colossal threat.

 

“Bah, one thing at a time,” smirked Ranma, “It'll take them too long to build those ships in any quick order. The Kuat Drive Yards, however, have a nearly finished fleet sitting in the docks.”

 

“Death Star has appeared in the Yavin system,” said the Lieutenant on duty at tactical. “Rebel fighters moving to intercept. Apparently news of our presence hasn't spread yet.”

 

“Excellent,” stated Ranma while tapping the tips of his fingers together ala Mister Burns. “Then this attack will be all the more of a surprise. Upon arrival, have the Fleet fan out and eliminate the Golan mark Two and Three defense platforms. Then we move onto the yards, with Marines from the Iwo Jima`s taking any completed Star Destroyer back to our system. Anything else is to be turned into so much dust.”

 

The trip was uneventful the rest of the way to Kuat, although news of the Death Star being destroyed at Yavin Four did elicit some cheers. Another report had an Imperial fleet moving towards the Yavin system, leaving the worlds and production facilities behind their lines to fend for themselves.

 

“Entering the Kuat system,” reported a different Lieutenant at the tactical station. Shift change had come and gone, so the bridge personnel were fresh. Ranma and the Family hadn't left the bridge but for a few moments each the entire trip, mostly to seek out the bathroom.

 

“Have the Intrepid's guard our flank with the Aegian's in the middle,” said Ranma while shifting around in his chair. “Use the capital ships to punch through the defenses, then send the fighters and destroyers through.”

 

As was the norm, his orders were carried out with precision. The still cloaked fleet shifted to the new configuration, moving in on the target that was still none the wiser. The defense platforms were on their permanent `yellow' status, scanning for threats constantly. Workers in their EV suits could be faintly seen welding pieces of armor or structural braces into place. Supply ships flittered about, moving whatever their cargo was from here to there. The fleet on five hundred two ships sat out of any traffic lane, taking in all of the defense positions, painting targets and prioritizing. There were five finished Star Destroyers sitting in the `holding' area of the facility, apparently waiting for crews to do the shakedown cruise. All five hundred Iwo Jima-class ships moved towards them, a hundred of each taking a target with two thousand Marines. They were quick, they were silent, and most importantly they weren't found out. Any personnel that had been onboard was eliminated in short order, before the all green was confirmed by the Iwo Jima's.

 

Once phase one of the attack was complete did the rest of the fleet decloak, firing quickly at the defense platforms destroying many of them in the first volley. The few remaining platforms fell quickly under the combined firepower of the fleet, then it was on to the docks themselves. The fleet moved like a wall of locusts, destroying anything that moved that wasn't painted green for safe. The dry-dock facility crumbled like so much paper, taking the nine skeletons of Star Destroyers with it. Fighters appeared from the planet Kuat, along with four frigates. There was a fifth frigate, but that one had jumped to hyperspace to send a mayday out. The Venture-class fighters rushed forward, taking on the enemy fighters while the Defiant's came in behind them to tackle the frigates. The rapid fire phase-cannons of the Defiant's ate right through the weaker armor, destroying the ships within two passes. The fighters were eliminated with ease, as the growing debris field made maneuvering more difficult. The orbital Kuat Drive Yards were completely destroyed in under fifteen minutes, then the fleet moved over the planet. The targeting system painted the facilities on the ground that handled various components of the Star Destroyers. Once those facilities were gone did the fleet withdraw for New Earth, taking their prize along with them.

 

“Where to now?” asked Tenchi as the group settled down from the excitement, “We only lost a handful of ships in that encounter, other than that we took almost no damage. The fleet will be at full strength again in two days, three tops.”

 

“We're going to drop our prize off,” answered Ranma, “Then we're going after a big fish. You remember the project at Fondor?”

 

“You can't be serious!” exclaimed Seina, “There's a fleet protecting that project, and the project itself is almost operational. We'd take heavy damage if we took on the Fondor shipyards.”

 

“Time is wasting,” suddenly spoke Mihoshi, “I've read the reports. If that ship at the Fondor yards gets up and running, we will be in serious trouble.”

 

The debate broke down as the fleet had returned to New Earth. It was just a pit stop to drop off the prize while restocking the few lost things. Then the fleet was on the move again, going after the big Kahuna at Fondor.

 

It didn't take as long to reach Fondor than it did to reach Kuat, but by now word of their attack had spread. There were literally thousands of fighters buzzing about like flies, while the fleet of twenty Star Destroyers traveled in different directions in a search and cover pattern. Not that it mattered, as the cloaking devices were better than any this galaxy had, which completely masked their presence until the time for the attack.

 

The capital ships engaged the Destroyers at near point blank range, targeting weapons first while the smaller ships attacked the fighters. As the battle spread out for maneuvering room, the Galaxy's concentrated fire on engines, weapons, and the shield towers. Several photon torpedoes flashed out from several ships, obliterating one command tower. That ship began to drift, life-pods ejecting out in a hurried pace. Everybody moved away from the doomed Destroyer quickly, before it blew apart taking the bow off of another one and sending a piece of armor through the port nacelle of a Galaxy. The Engineers were quick to prevent a core breach, but that ship wouldn't be capable of warp for a while.

 

“Damn it, this is insane,” growled Tenchi from Colorado.

 

“Our target is not where it is supposed to be,” came Ayeka's voice, which caused silence on the bridge. Even though the silence was interrupted by an exploding station.

 

“You have got to be kidding me,” dryly retorted Ryoko, “Then what the hell is this defense fleet for?” The tactical station chimed as a hail was incoming. Without waiting for an answer, she opened the channel. On the viewscreen was the face of Ranma, who did not look pleased at the moment.

 

“Do you have any idea where it went?” he asked, just before the Prometheus pitched starboard from a proton torpedo impact. He turned, and barked a couple of orders to obliterate the ship that had fired upon his. “There's too many ion trails from these Destroyers. Fallback to the Aegian line and find her.” Then the channel went dead as a Galaxy got caught in the crossfire of three Star Destroyers. It managed to take one of them out, a photon torpedo to the bridge, but the firepower of the other two punched trough the shields. Escape pods blossomed from the ship before it exploded, sending shrapnel every which way to bombard shields of ships from both sides.

 

The Ventures had cleared out almost all of the fighters by this point, even though they sustained heavy losses. The Defiant's were doing what they did best, zipping around unleashing death at any enemy that was in range. While eight of the cousin's capital ships were lost, they had taken out fourteen of the Star Destroyers.

 

“Radiation surge,” said the Lieutenant at tactical on Prometheus, “Ships reverting from hyperspace . . . including our target.”

 

A second Imperial fleet appeared from their mission to Yavin. In the midst of the Star Destroyers was the ship that they were looking for, the Super Star Destroyer Executor.

 

“Bring ablative armor online, arm quantum torpedoes,” said Ranma, completely awed at the sheer size of the Super-class ship. “They want to up the ante, then so will we.”

 

Once the weapons were switched to something more advanced, the scales tipped back in favor of our heroes. The quantum torpedoes would ignore the shields of the Imperial ships, easily sending many to the grave. The Imperial and Victory-class Star Destroyers from the second fleet moved to engage, but the Super hung back for some reason. The new arrivals dumped their fighters into space, renewing their defensive capabilities.

 

As the New Earth Fleet waded through the sheer number of fighters, assault ships, and the crossfire of an additional twenty-eight Star Destroyers slowing them down, their target turned and jumped to hyperspace, leaving the rest of the fleet as a screen to cover its escape. Prometheus and Colorado both pulled back to the mobile repair facility that the specified ships created, then hung back with the Aegian-class frigates for a planning session.

 

-(New Earth shipyards)-

 

“This was a brilliant idea,” deadpanned Kiriko, who had commandeered the Astrometrics lab of a Galaxy in the Ninth Fleet. “Remind me why it is that we didn't go with them?”

 

“Because while the ships that we have built are advanced,” responded Amane, “Our ships lean more toward organic advanced, which would be just stupid to the way of things here if they captured us.”

 

“Looks like we will win this battle,” scoffed Ryoko, “Even though the Fleet has taken heavy damage, our numbers are greater. The Second Fleet is already moving on the shipyards of Fondor, while the Third is moving on the planet.”

 

“Are there signs of another of those monsters?” asked Seina, shuddering when he mentally pictured that Super next to anything he had ever heard of.

 

“There's one in the fourth dock that is seventy percent complete,” Neju read from the sensors. “There's another one in the eighth dock at sixty, the rest are under fifty . . . wait, there`s a second facility on the far side of Fondor, which has three at ninety-nine percent complete? What the -?”

 

“Can we send them a message?” wondered Gyokuren, “Perhaps add one or all of them to our fleet.”

 

“Not happening,” countered Surien, “Those three ships are fully crewed and ready for action.” The screen swiveled around to show Prometheus and Colorado sitting farther back than they had been, analyzing the situation. As the Star Destroyer fleet shrank, did capital ships break off to attack either the shipyards or the ground-base factories. The Battle of Fondor took almost an hour, when it was said and done the cousins emerged victorious, even though their fleet had lost one hundred nine of the five hundred ships. Most of the lost were Defiant's and Venture's, while several Galaxy's and Sovereign's finished out the casualty of ships list. Both sites were destroyed, although the three Supers that were finished did jump to hyperspace.

 

Just like the Battle of Kuat, the medical bays of the fleet were chock full of injured. Once the repairs to the ships were as complete as they would get, the Fleet set a course to return to New Earth . . .

 

“Great,” injected Amane, “So here they come with more wounded. Well, we'd better take the Ninth Fleet out on patrol, make sure they weren't followed.”

 

-(New Earth system, two weeks later)-

 

Since their return, Ranma had not left the hospital where Kasumi was being treated. While her wounds had been healed to the best of their abilities, she still had to undergo physical therapy for her right arm and leg. Her initial sterility issue was something that the Goddesses could treat, if their power wasn't being sapped by Tsunami. Hild had tried, but her Demonic waveform just didn't mesh with Kasumi's.

 

The Destroyer project was wrapped up quickly once the extra engineers returned from the jaunts to Kuat and Fondor. The greatest problem they had was that their initial target had slipped away, and now had a fleet of thirty ships guarding her. While they had chased the Rebels off of Yavin Four, the Imperials were trying to split their attentions. Meaning that while looking for the new Rebel base, they were also looking for the New Earth Fleet. Not that it mattered as weapons upgrades had been installed on every ship, giving them enough firepower to punch through the hulls of the massive Imperial capital ships. Shield upgrades were made for the turbo-laser and proton torpedo weapons of this universe. The entire known galactic map was verified through scouting missions, then uploaded into every ship.

 

Ranma was visiting the still-hospital restricted Kasumi, doing something that was both romantic and a surprise knowing his personality. He was reading to her, a book that fell under the general romance category as it wasn't full of mush, neither was it all action. He senses picked up a noise that nobody else could have possibly heard, which tripped his mental threat alarm.

 

“Yes, Rei?” he asked, turning to face the quiet albino girl. She seemed to be studying him, her head slightly angled to the right.

 

“Professor Washu sent me to inform you that the reactivation and integration of Units Zero and One will be starting shortly,” she finally said after a pregnant pause, apparently deciding to stay professional and not ask the questions on the tip of her tongue. Ranma looked disappointed, as his time with Kasumi was apparently over. However, she surprised the other two in the room by getting up.

 

“It's time for my walk,” she said with a wink and a smile.

 

“Right,” agreed Ranma, not quite grasping what he was agreeing to. “Then shall we?” He stood by her right while Rei took her left flank, by all appearances in the mood for a conversation. The Saotomes walked in silence, waiting for the EVA pilot to start talking. When that went nowhere, they shared a look.

 

“How're you adjusting, Rei?” asked Kasumi, setting a steady slow pace. At least now she could walk without a cane as her leg had healed to that point. There was still stiffness and pain in her hip, knee, and ankle.

 

“I have nothing to complain about,” replied the pilot of Unit Zero, “Although Pilot Ikari complains about `the general bizarreness of this universe'. He states happiness, however, at not having to pilot the Evangelion to fend for his life.”

 

“Ah, you mean he's happy about having a choice,” nodded Ranma, seeing the hidden meaning. He ignored the look Kasumi gave him, all these years and she'd still get surprised when he figured it out first. “He does understand that if we need the services of the Evas we would call upon him?”

 

“Yes sir,” answered Rei, sticking to protocol as it had been explained to her. “Shinji is content in knowing that our services in the Units are most likely not going to be needed, however he is willing to do as you ask.”

 

“Relax Rei,” gently chided Kasumi, “Ranma is not going to bite if you break protocol with him. In all truth, he hates the rank and file bit. You should know by now that here, all are equal, at least outside of any action.”

 

Ranma just shrugged his shoulders, finding it easier than getting a headache in arguing the finer points of life with the younger girl. It was after things had settled down after their arrival in this universe that the cousins had a chance to talk to the Eva pilots, to attempt to get to know them. Rei had deferred many of the questions asked of her to Shinji, as she was apparently following his lead. It took several hours for him to relax and give answers that made sense. Once their little get together was finished, Washu had commandeered them for information on the Evas. That had been just over thirty-two years ago, and whatever ailment that was preventing the Family from aging had affected them also.

 

Not that the EVA pilots would complain, as being stuck at looking eighteen had returns. Shinji, who had pestered Ranma until he took him on as a student, had filled out. The pilot of Unit One was no longer a twig, but he didn't go overboard either to the extreme of the body builders. Rei had gone through a growth spurt and blossomed into a beautiful woman. After being coached by the various females present, Rei had let her hair grow to her shoulder blades. She followed Shinji, her sensei of pestering choice being Karin. At first the pilot of Unit Zero was extremely cold to the redheaded German, but with the passage of time did she find that not all females in that category were full of themselves. Rei had a talent in the sword arts, which she used to stay in shape while taking plenty of hand to hand courses with the varying fighters.

 

Neither pilot was anywhere in the league of the Family, but they could hold their own and do massive damage to enemies and surrounding properties with ease. They had been together since a year into the jaunt in this universe, each growing out of the timid quiet types . . . at least around each other. There were no problems with sterility, they had just decided that since they apparently had the rest of forever to go they would wait.

 

“How're your wings, Rei?” asked Kasumi, noting that the hybrid human/Angel was trying her best to blend into the background again.

 

“They hurt,” she complained, “I need to let them out, but I do not like to do so in public areas.”

 

“Bah,” snorted Ranma, “Rei, look around you. The definition of `normal' doesn't exist on a planet that is populated by ageless clones, people from another universe and their children. Not to mention that the clones are in fact children not possibly conceived, each not knowing who their parents are but are content knowing that they are a clone. So let them out, yeah you'll get a look or two but the people will leave you be.” To demonstrate his point, Ranma shifted into his female form. Then he employed a trick he had picked up a few years back, partially morphing into Dark Seraphim. Now Ranma was a gorgeous redhead with jet black wings, flying several inches off of the ground. Rei glanced around, noting that Ranma was right. Once the people saw it, they cataloged it and went about their business. She let her wings, that had developed after her first orgasm (a completely different affair), out with a grateful sigh. Turning slightly, Rei saw that Ranma was staying in that form for a while. Her mountain-snow white wings were an offset to Ranma's black, and it was awkward that their wings would make contact as they walked, being fair to Kasumi

 

“Aw, how cute,” cooed the number one wife of Ranma, “Being protected by the Angel and the Fallen.” Ranma snorted, before reverting to his male form but leaving the wings there. Rei seemed to use the contact as a reassurance without need for visual aid, and he was more than willing to help his quiet friend.

 

The rest of the walk contained small talk, ribbing of people, and general nonsense that friends do when they get together. When they reached the improvised Eva cages, they found Shinji talking rather . . . loudly, to Washu. Their entrance was grant, since the presence of the wings made for a yin-yang effect over Kasumi. The people gathered, which would be everybody from the three crews sans the kids that were busy with other priorities and the two Goddesses, exploded into questions. Ranma, going for something dramatic, rapped his arms then his wings around Kasumi. A surprise element in the equation was that Rei duplicated the process, completely cocooning Kasumi in the softest feathers she had ever felt. The two winged people shifted the appendages a hair to let Kasumi see, and she whispered to the other two.

 

The people on the outside of the cocoon fell down, then got back up making noise in their direction. Apparently being ignored, some moved closer and tried again. Nobody had noticed that Shinji wasn't present anymore, until Ranma had shifted his grip and attempted to take flight.

 

“Hi there,” said the floating Shinji, his own set of wings out and flapping to maintain altitude. “Surprise.”

 

THUD!

 

Everybody else picked themselves up off of the floor, except for Ranma who had kept his composure due to his cargo.

 

“Cool, now I train you in aerial fighting,” appraised Ranma, “I taught you excellent ground combat, but left the aerial out as you couldn't jump properly.”

 

THUD!

 

Even Shinji went down with that one, as Ranma drifted over to the rest of his family to make a soft landing. He saw the looks but shook his head as this was not the time to see what flying was like. So instead they settled for bombarding Kasumi with questions, varying in range from what she was doing out of the medical complex, to her recent flight, to her general well being.

 

“Excuse me,” said Washu with no little sarcasm, “Can we get this show on the road please? There are Empires to crush, people to liberate and ships to either steal or blow up. Times a-wasting here.”

 

“Right,” deadpanned Ranma, “Shinji, Rei are you ready to pilot again?”

 

“Not really, but we'll do it,” timidly said Shinji, having been free of Eva for thirty plus years. That chapter was coming to a close as it was time to saddle up. The two pilots retracted and stowed their wings, before heading into the lifts that would take them to their respective plugs. On the ground, the Family was still gathered around Kasumi.

 

“So, how do you feel?” asked Nabiki, getting the privilege of being the second to ask that question. Second, as Ranma had asked it twenty minutes ago when they had left the medical complex. She noticed that Ranma, Tenchi and Seina were talking in a side bar. What about she had no clue, but whatever it was couldn't have been a brilliant idea on Ranma's part.

 

“I still have pain from my hip down,” answered Kasumi, taking a breather on a handy bench. “Although my arm does give me grief from time to time.” She saw which way her blood sister was looking, and snuck a quick glance to see the cousins arguing about something. Ranma appeared to be losing the argument, at least for the moment.

 

“How you doing otherwise?” wondered Ukyo, who had taken a seat next to one of the nicest people in any universe. She too noticed the argument, but put it off for more important things.

 

“It hurts,” whimpered Kasumi, “Oh God how it hurts. Ranma, he's doing everything he can to help me, but I need something more . . . I need personal revenge.” The argument had shifted gears, as Ranma had pulled some weapon out of nowhere to use against his cousins. Most likely that he would do whatever he was planning anyway, with or without them.

 

“They died with honor,” stated Xian, “We will get vengeance for their sacrifice.” Her voice had been rather loud in that statement, which got Ranma's attention. He said something to his cousins, and they backed down from their stance.

 

“It's not just that,” cried Kasumi, “You weren't there. You didn't hear the scream of your daughter get cut off as her body vaporized. You didn't hear your sons determination for you to survive as they followed the path of their sister.” She was now in a full fit of tears, which earned an instantaneous appearance by Ranma.

 

“Back off now,” he growled, “It's too soon for this conversation. I know this isn't easy for any of us, but now is not the time. I have an idea . . .” As Ranma laid out his plans to his `council' (read: better half), the tests of the Evas were almost finished. They'd done everything but attack each other for a mobility exercise. Shinji and Rei had ejected the plugs and were drying off when they heard a collective shout.

 

“ARE YOU INSANE?” came from the Saotome family, before one of their number looked thoughtful.

 

“It just might work,” suddenly said the last person thought to say such.

 

“Empires at war, eh?” quipped Nabiki, “And just how do we get the systems to cooperate?”

 

“Simple,” answered Ranma, “We just drive the Empire out, and let them deal with whatever they want however they want.”

 

“And if they don't want the Empire gone?” Karin asked the billion yen question.

 

“Too bad for them,” dryly said the warrior, “They side with the enemy, they become the enemy.” Silence followed the statement, as there was nothing to be said about it at the moment. What Ranma had said jumbled the mental circuits of his family, causing several crashes and lock-ups. “This is more than just revenge,” he elaborated, “There is an entire galaxy that is under strife because of one man. That one man, we have watched like a hawk for the last thirty-two years. He must be stopped, and given the Rebellion, we can add to the strain of his control by following the plan. We can end his tyranny, at least in our own way and free those that are oppressed.”

 

The discussion died there as Ranma helped Kasumi to her feet, then began the trek back to the hospital. She was scheduled for release in a couple of days, so it was better to stay on the good side of the staff to insure no more time was needed in there than was necessary. The rest of the family watched them leave, before casting glances at each other. Nabiki shrugged her shoulders while the others looked indecisive. Turning to a Fleet Captain, one that was always near to carry out orders, she spoke.

 

“Prepare the fleet.”

 

-(Medical Complex, New Earth)-

 

“You didn't have to be so hard on Xian,” chided Kasumi, “She was expressing her emotions the way she knows how.”

 

“I know, I know,” sighed Ranma, “That weakness of mine is still there, even after all this time.” As soon as they had returned to the temporary residence of Kasumi did she lay into him, not at all pleased with the way he talked to the others.

 

“Ranma, you're what, going on fifty?” she asked with an eyebrow arched. “And you still can't stand to see a woman cry?”

 

Sensing a return of the FIMD, Ranma kept his trap shut. He simply nodded and sagged, looking fairly admonished. He had already planned to make it up to the others that night, especially Xian.

 

“Look Ranma,” Kasumi said in a softer tone, “All we can do is go forward, and never forget where we've been. All of the `woulda', `coulda', `shoulda' isn't going to help. We are a family, and we'll get through this together.” Again he nodded, before kissing her as he tucked her in. Turning to go, as much as he didn't want to, he had one last thing to say.

 

“We will do this, together,” he promised. Then Ranma left, heading for the mansion that housed his family on the ground to set things right with them.

 

The next day found two of the three families back in space. Seina and his group decided to stay behind to man the Astrometrics array that was constructed a week prior, and man the command center. They were in charge of Intelligence of both Imperial movements as well as those of the Rebellion.

 

The Rebels by now had set up camp on Hoth, the last place anybody would think to look for them. The Imperial fleets were roaming the galaxy, triple checking systems in hopes of finding them. The three Super-class ships that had escaped the destruction of the Fondor shipyards hadn't been seen since, and even the Empire feared they were lost in a bad hyperspace jump. The Executor and her group were on the far side of the galaxy from New Earth, scouring the systems near Yavin.

 

Ranma's plan was simple, and looked to be effective in hypothesis. His theory, however, had flaws in it. Since their campaign was to start where the end of the Republic had started, that meant the launch point would be Geonosis. As the Empire had ignored the world, and the entire system, it was taken quickly. Next was Kamino, a place that had reason to mistrust the New Earth fleet. They hadn't been around when the Empire showed up at their door, demanding their cloning technologies since the Emperor had outlawed the practice. In exchange for their cooperation, the Empire had left two garrisons behind to insure the Kaminoans didn't get back into the business.

 

There was only a single Star Destroyer in the Kamino system, which was quickly silenced as the capital ships of the First through Fourth Fleets opened fire with quantum torpedoes. Then the Iwo Jima's beamed their Marines into the various cities that had the greater concentrations of Imperial Stormtroopers. Ranma was quick to follow, leaving the excuse of stress relief in his wake.

 

“Jam all communications,” barked Nabiki, temporarily in command. “If anything makes a break for it, disable and capture attempts first, destroy if resistance is fierce.”

 

The viewscreen came to life, as one of the Marines on the ground had a small helmet-mounted camera. They were on a landing pad in a heavy rainstorm. The soldier looked around, then paid some attention to his Commander. The three detachments began to deploy, taking strategic placements all along the landing pads. Once those were secure, they continued on into the city perimeter, where the Marines got the drop on the Stormtroopers. They opened fire first, taking out a few of the Imperial troops before they returned fire. A ground battle, the likes of which hadn't been seen since the Clone Wars, sprang forth.

 

Then Ranma appeared, a personal shield up as he sliced and diced the enemy with his two swords. The Imperials were shooting like mad at him, and all it would do was earn his attention. He'd come whirring in, blades flashing, leaving stumps of parts or bodies in his wake.

 

“Ma'am,” said the Lieutenant on duty, “Teams two through five report success. Six through ten are cleaning up any stragglers, and . . . well, you can see what squad one is doing.”

 

“Any movement in the system?” asked Nabiki, who'd had her fill of the bloody scenery from the planet.

 

“None,” answered Hild, as she was propped up against the tactical station, “No anomalous readings of any sort.” Even the Demon Queen couldn't watch the viewer anymore, as she kept her eyes focused on the readouts in front of her.

 

Ranma suddenly strode in through the lift doors, surprising those on the bridge. He'd made it a point to get clean as a whistle before returning to the bridge of Prometheus.

 

“Much better,” he stretched, “Now then, we have done our job here. Prep the fleet to move out.” There was a slight pause, before his instructions were carried out. The habited planets in between Geonosis and Kamino had the Imperial presence eliminated, then the bubble grew. The New Earth Fleet cleaned the Empire out of the systems from the planet of the cloners all the way to Dagobah, stopping south of Sullust and Bothan Space. The fleet spread out in a patrol formation, not interfering with the locals of the systems while keeping the Empire out.

 

It was only a matter of time, with the success rate they'd had, that the Rebel Alliance would come looking for them. Since the Family was expecting it, it came as no surprise when a certain freighter with a single certain X-Wing fighter suddenly reverted from hyperspace on the far edge of the Geonosis system. However, it was a surprise when they reverted right on top of them.

 

“Take evasive action!” roared Ranma, “Brace for impact!” The agility of both ships came through, as the freighter had suddenly turned away from the path of the fleet. Prometheus had dove, making the X-Wing turn hard port. Once all of the maneuvering was done was there a sigh of relief. Nobody collided, scratching the paint jobs on any ship.

 

“Okay,” deadpanned Ranma once his heart rate slowed, “Any clue as to what they're doing out here?”

 

The crew set to finding that answer after their own heart rates slowed down to something less than warp speed. The Saotome Family, minus the Goddesses and Kasumi whom were still on New Earth, gathered for a meeting in the conference room.

 

“What do you think they are doing out here?” asked Ranma, “Other than the obvious `they wish to enlist our services'.”

 

“Well, that just blew my theory away,” chortled Nabiki, “That would be the only reason that those three are away from Hoth at this critical juncture. You've read the sensor logs and know that the Empire has sent probe droids just about everywhere. Including Hoth.”

 

“Yes,” agreed Ukyo, a surprising tactician in her own right, “The Imperial Fleet movements have gone from erratic to patterned, meaning they might have already found the Hoth base. The question is Ranma, what are we going to do?”

 

“Not a damned thing,” he stated flatly, “It's one thing to wage our war with the Empire, as they committed a wrong against us. Helping the Rebellion, however, is not acceptable. They're on their own in that regard.”

 

“Ah, the original `don't interfere with the natives' thing,” snorted Xian, “It is a sound thought, no matter how much I don't like it.”

 

“Look,” said a sympathetic Ranma, “I don't like it either. We're doing our part by waging our little Empires at War game here. We've gotten the systems we have because we have driven out our enemy, while not occupying the planets, leaving them to their own devices. We have the resources to survive, and that's just what we're going to do.”

 

“The freighter and the fighter are docked with the lead Sovereign of the Second Fleet,” came the voice of the Commander left in charge, “Should we bring them over here?”

 

“Yeah,” answered Hild, “But bring them by shuttle. No need to get too carried away with the technology.”

 

“Yeah, right,” dryly stated Ranma, “We haven't even broken the transphasic tech out yet. You know that it's giving Washu fits with her trying to figure out how it works. Although I do agree with you, we should limit the amount of exposure to as little as possible.” Ranma left the conference room for a moment, before reappearing to take his seat at the head of the table.

 

The shuttle with their guests arrived in a quick order, before the First and Second Fleets jumped to warp after turning to head home. The `Ambassadors' of the Rebel Alliance were under heavy escort, even though they did look around in awe. Several times did the detail have to stop to fetch one of the droids that would either straight wander off or attempt to jack into the computer network. They marched into the conference room, only to have the new arrivals stop and look out the window. The stars were streaking past aft as the ship moved at a high speed.

 

The conference room held a modified table, to accommodate at least two thirds of the Family at any given time, with room for guests. As they entered, the four humanoids and two droids took in the sixteen people staring at them as they walked to their seats.

 

­-(Universe A, Ranma year 2005)-

 

Things had gotten very monotonous in the home dimension. Unbeknownst to them, Ranma and company were on the greatest adventure spanning numerous years while only a week had past here. The greatest scientists of the galaxy were busy trying to recreate the subspace gate accident with no success. The off-world visitors had settled thing down with the locals, by bringing them into the fold. The local governments had to still some rioting and open rebellion of the revelation that Earth wasn't alone in the galaxy.

 

“Oh, how I hope they're okay,” wept Nodoka, as the reality that her only child may not be returning home had finally started to sink into her honor-thick skull. Once the thought had planted itself in her mind, she had morphed into a version of Soun Tendo. Yes, the Saotome Waterworks Plant had officially opened for business and showed no signs of shutting down any time now.

 

There was one modification to the events of late, and that was the return of Genma. He had been caught attempting to sneak into the guest room for the pack that had been hidden there the entire time. He was currently under guard by a small platoon of both Juraian guards and Galaxy Police officers.

 

“Please let me go!” came his voice again, the seventh time that day and innumerable since his capture. “For the love of God, let me go before the boy comes back!” His words caused the SWP to pick up production, before Soun was heard in the room with Genma.

 

“Would you please be quiet?” he said with no politeness, “You're upsetting Nodoka, and I'm getting tired of mopping the floor.”

 

WHAM!

 

That had followed Soun's words, indicating that Genma had returned to the land of forced dreams, which were usually nightmares to the extreme. Meaning that for Genma, there was no food to be seen that he could get his hands on while the others in the dreamscape ate to their hearts content, and his cursed son was always walking around in his girl form, doing `girly' things. Soun headed back into the family room from his visit with his old friend and training partner.

 

“Thank you,” said Airi as she pinched the bridge of her nose, “He should simply be shot, not suspended between the Guardians.”

 

“You know that judgment is reserved for Ranma,” commented Mikami while lifting her left arm that had a drink attached to it. She took a deep draw from the coffee mug, savoring the flavor of Earth grown Columbian coffee that was surprising to her. “Besides, Azusa is curious as to how he treated the boy who got Seto's attention and by proxy, Tsunami's attention.”

 

“He had only touched on that training trip,” stated Soun, “Everything that he told my family I have told you. Akane more than likely knows more, but she won't talk about it.”

 

The conversation died at that point, as it was an old debate. Since Akane had returned from her visit with the Almighty, she had primarily stayed in her room. She would make appearances to eat, and keep up on hygiene, and to do chores as assigned by Soun but beyond that Akane spent the rest of her time in her room. Nodoka had discovered a diary, out of the respect of inner-most thoughts did the Saotome matriarch not read it.

 

That, and it had the number fifteen on it, as Akane had apparently been going through the little books like water in an effort to get those thoughts and feelings that belonged to Ranma out of her head.

 

Still, without the chaos generator, life in Nerima had slowed to a normal pace. The Kunos had been severely injured in a lab explosion at their home, and the subsequent investigation had found that the three were clinically, and certifiably, insane.

 

“So, how goes the research?” suddenly asked Nodoka, her tears finished for the moment. “That probe device that you recovered, did you get anything from it?” That stopped Airi and Mikami in their tracks, as they hadn't expected anybody in the house to ask anything along those lines.

 

“We have dissected and reconstructed it,” answered Airi, “While it has given us great information on who built it, which universe they call home and all of the background jargon that goes with it, there is no data on the make-up of the wormhole that linked our universes together.”

 

“Oh, I do hope they make it home safe,” restarted the SWP, making the others nervous.

 

-(Universe D, Star Wars Episode Four plus three years)-

 

“Are you certain about this?” asked a Rear Admiral of the Fleet, not quite understanding the thinking process of the Family.

 

“Most certain,” answered Ranma, “Like I told them three years ago, they're on their own. We are waging our own war against the Empire and do not have the resources to assist theirs.”

 

The New Earth Territory, as the local systems had agreed to call it, spanned dozens of light years. The `corners' were Naboo on the `east' (standing the galaxy on a monitor with their region on the bottom of the screen), to Kamino on the `west' then down into Wild Space. While Kamino was further south than Naboo, it was decided to stop the line there as the next system was Bothan Space. Dagobah was just outside the established border of the territory, meaning it was still Empire controlled.

 

“Imperial Fleet entering the Hoth system,” reported the Lieutenant Commander on duty at tactical. To save time and effort, Astrometrics had been tied directly into the tactical station to speed up reporting of events and finds.

 

“You could have been nicer to at least Leia,” commented Nabiki, “I mean, to say that `there's not a chance in hell of getting our help' is rather harsh. Even by my standards.”

 

The Rebellion had sent Han Solo, Chewbacca, Leia Organa, and Luke Skywalker to attempt to open talks between them and the people that had appeared from an uncharted edge of the galaxy to wage war against a mutual enemy.

 

“Yeah, but at least Han seemed to like him,” snickered Ukyo, “Their attitudes were very compatible. Even the Wookie liked Ranma with his no nonsense beating around the bush approach.”

 

“The important thing is,” said a healthy Kasumi, “That we are holding the Empire at bay along our lines while not actually assisting the natives to tip the scales in either direction.”

 

While the talks had gone nowhere, Kasumi had been cleared to return to `active' duty. Her return came at a great time, as she looked dead at Luke upon entering the conference room. She then walked over to Ranma and leaned over to whisper in his ear. When she was finished, he immediately asked Luke to come with him.

 

They had transported down to the hospital facility, the look of surprise and wonder on Luke's face at the technology used. Ranma led him to a long-term care section, which housed Tsunami. The Doctor on duty was confused when Ranma asked her to drop the stasis field, but did so with no argument.

 

No sooner than it had gone down, did Tsunami awaken. That really spooked not only the medical staff, as the stasis field was supposed to drop automatically when their patient awoke, but also Ranma.

 

“I . . . cannot . . . stay conscious,” said the Goddess, her first words in thirty-two years. “There is a dark presence that is preventing . . . me . . . from . . . exiting the healing trance. Only the presence of this . . . one . . . has . . . allowed me to relay . . . the . . . need . . . to eliminate . . . the presence.”

 

“Hush now,” gently chided Luke, “I know who you are talking about. We are working on it, you just rest.”

 

“That's what I was gonna say,” complained Ranma, before walking over to a communications substation to call his cousins. He was brief in his conversation, keeping an eye on Luke who was simply standing by the side of the Goddess.

 

Then the talks ended, no real agreement made as Ranma had wanted. The New Earth ships had returned to their original position, before sending their guests home. Now, three years later, had the Empire tracked the Rebels to Hoth. The people in the NET, as it was dubbed, were surprised it had taken so bloody long to locate one base. But then again, the galaxy is a big place, even if it is nearly to capacity with space faring races.

 

“Let the battle go as it will,” stated Tenchi from Colorado, “Keep an eye open for an Imperial movements in our direction.”

 

Both the Empire and the Rebel Alliance had attempted to enter the NET, but were denied by the Fleet. Cargo, supply and delivery ships were scanned and permitted in, but nothing of military grade was allowed in the upper portion of the Territory while nothing but the New Earth Fleet ships were allowed in the system.

 

So the cousins, with their wives, sat back and watched as the Rebels were driven from Hoth by the Imperial War Machine. They saw where every ship went, as the Falcon limped to Bespin while Luke's X-Wing headed to Dagobah for whatever reason.

 

“Guys,” came the voice of Ranma Junior, the foremost expert in the Astrometrics field. After all, he'd found ways to improve sensor resolution to a range of a whopping two hundred light years without the use of relay stations. “We just found something on the far side of the galaxy you should see.”

 

“Pipe it in, son,” said Ranma with an eyebrow arched, before turning to the person manning tactical. “Relay to Colorado and Sister, I want their input on whatever this is.”

 

No sooner had to words left his mouth, than the viewer image changed from the Battle of Hoth to a star system literally on the other side of the galaxy from their position. It showed a planetary system, before zooming in on a gas giant, then focusing on one of its moons.

 

“My God,” whispered Ranma, “You have got to be kidding me.”

 

“Is that-?” started to ask Nabiki, before the screen zoomed in one final time to reveal something under construction in orbit of the moon of the gas giant.

 

“The question is, do we tell the Rebellion or let them figure it out on their own?” wondered Hild, both eyebrows raised at the image on the screen. Ships could be seen, zipping from the moon to the construct to one of the many Star Destroyers present.

 

They had stumbled across the beginning of the second Death Star . . .

 

TBC

 

Wow, the quickest update I've ever had. Now, see what I mean about not assuming? Nobody thought I'd go this route, which is good as it's not an overused plot device. Now to take a break, as my hands are cramped from all of this writing.