Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ The Goddess Dilemma ❯ Twelve ( Chapter 12 )

Disclaimer: I am so broke, it isn't even funny. I'm not making any money off of this, not that it would help with my debts.

 

Rant: Side-stories? You know it. I will probably write them once this series is concluded, which is coming. It's bugging me. Sequel? Dunno, haven't thought that far ahead.

 

The Goddess Dilemma, part twelve

 

By: Jim Ohki

 

“This isn't good,” deadpanned Tenchi, “This is far from good.” The Family was having yet another meeting, trying to determine their next course of action pertaining to the second Death Star. While it was readily agreed upon that they won't outright destroy the thing, the question was would they tell the Rebellion of its existence and location. At the moment, the question was so bogged down in the mud that not even a tow truck would help.

 

“We sit on it,” said Ranma, “As soon as the Rebels even look like they are gearing up to attack, we move in behind them for a surprise attack on the Empire's flank.”

 

Things had been quiet on the NET-Empire lines, even though neither side was trying to negotiate anything as they weren't talking. Since the expansion three years ago, the New Earth Territories had been content to sit in their corner of the galaxy, making certain to keep the Imperial and Rebel spies out of their ranks on the ships. The planets were a different matter, as the NET let the local systems enforce their own laws and regulations. At least to the edge of known space, as the New Earth System was two sectors into Wild Space.

 

“How's Tsunami?” asked Kasumi, ever the diplomat. She could detect the faintest hint that aggression was about to spring forth from the cousins, and force-shifted the transmission into a different gear.

 

“She's still unconscious,” said a saddened Ayeka. The First Princess, if that title held anything when they got home, had missed the opportunity to speak to her sister when she had awoken for the brief time two years prior. “Although when that Luke Skywalker was here, Washu says that she now knows what is keeping her from waking.”

 

“I know,” said Ranma, “I was there. We really shouldn't make anymore of a presence than we already have because the one person responsible for this is Palpatine.”

 

Just saying the name caused shuddering and looks of anger. They had watched as Palpatine manipulated events to his advantage for the entire time they had been in this universe. The way he operated even sickened Nabiki, as she wouldn't pit enemy against enemy and see who got killed.

 

“It that sense of yours again, isn't it?” wondered Seina, knowing that his cousin's sense would tingle when he was supposed, or not supposed, to do something that came up in meetings like this.

 

“Yeah,” answered the pigtailed warrior with a shrug, “Every time somebody says go eliminate Palpatine now, the sense tingles and warns me to not do that just yet. From what I can gather, it should be in about a year that we can make the attempt to get home.”

 

The Rebels had scattered after their defeat at Hoth. There was an ambush on Bespin for not only Leia, Han and Chewie, but it was meant as bait to lure Luke out of hiding. When it worked, he came. While the Astrometric sensors weren't good enough to see inside of something without the aid of a window, they did see that when Vader left he wasn't in the greatest of moods.

 

Then the Rebel Fleet started to mass on their doorstep, Sullust not being far from Naboo. The Alliance would send messages at regular intervals into NET space, hoping that they could add the firepower of the New Earth Fleet to their own. It went for not, as the messages were ignored. Time passed quickly as an apparent climax was coming.

 

The climax did indeed come a year later, when the Rebels launched an attack on the second Death Star at Endor. The tingle in Ranma's senses disappeared at that moment, and he reacted.

 

“Time to go finish this,” he told his cousins, having to wake them in the middle of the night, “I want you two to stay here with your families, and pack it up. I'll send my family to help you. I want everything loaded into the ships, and stations that we'd tug with us.”

 

“Why are you going alone?” asked Seina, not understanding the thinking of Ranma.

 

“Not to spite you guys, that's for certain,” was the answer. “You guys can think a little bit freer than our troops. You'll know how to improvise on obstacles. I'm taking the First through Seventh Fleets with me, leaving the rest on guard duty here.”

 

“We'll be ready,” assured Tenchi, “But are you certain that the Empire will die this day?”

 

“Oh yeah,” Ranma stated with confidence, “Palpatine is at Endor now, trying to `motivate' the construction crews to work faster.”

 

The conversation died at that point, as there were things to do. The Fleet that was going cloaked, and jumped to maximum warp so they wouldn't miss any of the action. The two remaining cousins woke the others, and set them to tasks. New Earth came alive at once, all five hundred million residents gearing up to depart in a quick order. Nonessential personnel were moved into one of the Star Destroyers, as the kilometer long ships had the most interior space.

 

-(Endor system)-

 

The fleet dropped out of warp, just behind the Rebel fleet reverting from hyperspace. They came to a full stop, watching to see what would happen.

 

“The shield is still online,” reported a Lieutenant at the lone science station on Prometheus.

 

“Rebel fleet breaking off . . . Imperial fleet bearing one-one-two mark one, range three hundred thousand kilometers,” said the Lieutenant Commander at tactical.

 

“Wait for it,” stated Ranma, leaning forward in his chair. “Weapon status of the Death Star?”

 

“Superlaser is functional,” answered tactical, “Power drain in progress, they are preparing to fire.”

 

As the Rebel fleet turned to run, the first shot from the Death Star came forth, destroying a Mon Calamari capital ship with ease. There was a short pause, then it fired again, taking yet another ship.

 

“The Rebels are engaging the Imperial fleet at point blank range,” said tactical, “Do we deploy?”

 

“Decloak Prometheus, tell the fleet to stay cloaked,” Ranma ordered, “Then open a channel to the Empire.”

 

“Channel open, audio only,” was the response two seconds later.

 

“Palpatine, PREPARE TO DIE!” roared the pigtailed warrior, in a Ryoga-like maneuver. Then he made a slashing motion across his throat, before speaking again. “Let's party, target all Imperial ships. Try not to damage the Rebels.”

 

While the Imperial/Rebel fight had been joined, creating a jumble of ships and debris that went in every direction, once the seven hundred ships of the New Earth Fleet got involved everything went straight to hell. The element of surprise, despite the fact that Prometheus had been visible, was still in their favor as capital ships, destroyers and fighters materialized from nothing to attack anything Imperial. Star Destroyers were crushed like paper, a few Galaxy's getting free to take pot-shots at the shielded Death Star. When one torpedo actually made it to the unfinished hull, the battle seemed to pause. Another torpedo was fired, and it too impacted the immobile hulk.

 

Since they were keeping the TIE fighters busy, the Rebel fighters broke off to resume their original mission. The capital ships turned their attention to the Super-class Destroyer. Six quantum torpedoes were fired from a Sovereign at the ten kilometer long city-ship, decimating the shield towers and engine ports.

 

Then the bridge was destroyed by an out-of-control A-Wing, sending the Super to her death as the gravity well created by the Death Star's power plant pulled the ship into the unfinished monstrosity.

 

“Time to go,” suddenly said Ranma, who had noted that the Rebel fleet was moving away quickly, regardless of the remnants of the Imperial fleet that were trying to slow them down.

 

“Message from New Earth,” came from tactical, “Tsunami is awake. Everything is ready to go.”

 

“Salvage anything of ours that was damaged, destroy what you can't,” he ordered, “Then take us . . . home.” There was a word that Ranma hadn't used in a long time. He, and the others, had agreed that it wouldn't do their esteem any good to start calling places they landed in home, lest they forget where they came from.

 

The Fleet jumped to warp seconds before the Death Star exploded, heralding the death of the Empire. While the galaxy started quite possibly the biggest recorded party anywhere, they ignored the NET. The worlds that were inside of the borders barely even remembered that there was a group of humans from beyond the edge of the galaxy that had staked a small corner for their own. All of a sudden, those ships that had protected their systems vanished, having turned to return to whatever planet was the homeworld.

 

The New Earth system was crowded. Between the ships salvaged, stolen, and built there were one thousand five hundred vessels of varying size present. That didn't even included the modified stations that were mobile when they weren't supposed to be.

 

Tsunami was seeing action for the first time in thirty-six years. Once the Goddess of the same name had awoken, just seconds after the death of Palpatine, the ship moved from it's berth in the docks two planets away to achieve a high orbit. That had been right in the middle of the deconstruction of the stations that they couldn't take with, like the mining platforms and the Starbases, so it scared the shit out of the space-walkers. Ranma reappeared after the fleet was parked in an area that they'd be out of the way, standing on a ship that he hadn't been on in just under four decades.

 

“Tell me this is going to work,” he complained, “Washu has had nearly forty years to figure out how to get us home on the next attempt, while giving a smoother ride. So tell me this will work.”

 

“It'll work,” deadpanned Washu, “Trust me, I've done everything I can with all of our side-projects that kept popping up.”

 

The others present grumbled in agitation. They had been hopeful that the attempt to get home would be smooth and not a repeat performance of the last one that landed them where they are.

 

“Let's get this show on the road,” dryly stated Ranma, motioning his family to move out. “God I hope this doesn't hurt . . .”

 

-(Universe A, Ranma year 2005)-

 

It had now been ten days since the disappearance of many people. The Juraian Royal Family was being tough as nails on the outside, but even the pompous ass Azusa was worried on the inside. The parents, or in other cases, surviving family members were all gathered at Earth, waiting for something to happen. Waiting for some good news, or worst case, the news that their loved ones were lost permanently.

 

The small flotilla of ships were staying close to Earth's orbit, leaving room for a reentry point while being ready to move if said point formed in their midst.

 

“Tea?” asked Nodoka of the crowded living room. Those family members of the missing had come to the Tendo residence to chat, to at least have something and someone to talk to. Tokimi was brushed off by many, while those that knew her name but had yet to interact with her gave her the complete cold shoulder. Nodoka received many nods in acceptance before she turned to enter the kitchen.

 

“Wha-?” said those present connected to a ship, “Dimensional rift? The hell is going on up there?” It was a creepy in stereo bit from those present, as their ships relayed the same information to different parties at the same time.

 

“They're back,” shouted Genma from the other room, “I can feel the boy from here!” Even though he was still crucified (by use of leather straps instead of nails) in another room, they had kept him alive for Ranma.

 

“He's right,” said Soun, “I can feel Ranma's aura from here . . .”

 

“We have a visual,” said one of the GP faceless, “Rift at bearing two-six-two mark five, distance is forty thousand K.”

 

A holographic window opened, revealing the rift hanging there in space waiting to be used. The fleet massed had moved closer to the gateway just in case this was something off the wall, like an invasion.

 

The first ship through was Tsunami herself. Cheers erupted instantly from that group, then the configuration transponding as Tsunami's Sister came through, earning cheers from that camp. The two ships paused, assessed were they were, and instantly began to tell the others to get out of the way.

 

Next through was an unidentified ship, her transponder sending out Prometheus plain as day. That ship moved quickly away, before one that had Colorado on the hull plating appeared, she too moving away from the still open gate.

 

Then the influx began as ships of varying sizes poured through the gateway, moving away swiftly to make room for those that would follow. The flotilla, and those on the ground, were stupefied at the number of ships that were quickly clogging the Sol System with traffic. Then came the stations, from small defense platforms to entire shipyards, followed by monster-sized ships.

 

Liberated from varying shipyards across the galaxy were a full two hundred Star Destroyers, Victory-Two frigates, Interdictors, and a few something's that had landed in their lap a couple of years back. The three missing Super-class ships had finally reverted from a bad hyperspace jump in the New Earth System, devoid of any crew. The ships had been inspected inside and out, no trace of what had happened to the two hundred thousand member crew was ever found.

 

By the time the gateway had closed, there were fifteen hundred four ships, twelve shipyards, innumerable defense turrets, and five hundred million extra people in the Sol System.

 

Hails went out to the mystery fleet, and one of the ground was quick to state her surprise when the `phone' was answered.

 

“RANMA!” cried Nodoka, happy to see her only child in good health, flanked by his family.

 

“Hello Earth!” was the cheer by the Saotomes.

 

“We'll be down in a minute,” said Ranma, an ear to ear grin threatening to rip his face apart.

 

The entire Saotome family materialized right in front of them, followed by the Masaki family and the Yamada family. The three cousins fell to their knees, kissing the ground in thanks that they were finally home.

 

“Lucy, I'm home!” Ranma hollered in his best Ricky Ricardo impersonation, before being tackled by an auburn haired bundle of energy that was his mother. She was busy planting kisses all over his face, while giving him the `Mother Death Grip' special hug.

 

“Momma!” he nearly cried, using several techniques to rein in his emotions. The Saotome wives all spread out, mingling either with their blood relatives or in-laws.

 

“Ranma, who're they?” asked Soun, taking note of the younger versions of the original party that were standing stock-still, petrified at the stories they'd been told of these people.

 

“Kids, meet your Grandmother Nodoka Saotome,” Ranma introduced, making a slight push to his mother to send her in their direction.

 

“Grandbabies?” she blurted, victory fans springing forth from nowhere as Nodoka started the grandchildren dance. Then she noticed that the youngest, one that was clinging to Karin, was about three while the oldest appeared to be eighteen. Her dance died, a look of confusion on her face.

 

“There is much to talk about,” said Nabiki, having gotten away from the Tendo Patriarch Waterworks Plant with minimal soakage. “Kids, we have a good sized population to get settled in. Begin terraforming Mars for colonization.” As the elder children left to their tasks, the adults walked inside a house that they hadn't seen in many years . . . to them anyway. Ranma was the first to spy the calendar, and with a strangled noise he face planted into the floor. Those that had been missing quickly followed his example, in the same order.

 

“Only ten days?” Kasumi looked panicked as she rung her hands together, desperate to keep thoughts out of her mind.

 

“We'd better make sure this isn't some alternate parallel universe,” Ranma comforted the shaken elder Tendo sister. “Hey, yo, mom. What was the last thing to have happened before we left?” Nodoka launched into the story, still fresh on her mind.

 

--Flashback--

 

“So, you must be Ranma Saotome,” began Seto, having settled in front of said person. “Tsunami herself didn't do you justice. Come, we must have a talk.”

 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” backpedaled the pigtailed man, “What are you going on about? Who are you?” Those were the first two questions fired off, basically starting the Saotome Brain. Meaning Ranma went into ten thousand rapid fire questions mode, leaving no time in-between them for an answer. The noise of his jet-propelled questions drowned out Airi's reunion with her Grandson and family.

 

Seto herself looked like Akane right before she produced her Hentai-Mallet. She even lost count on which question Ranma had asked due to the sheer volume of them. She was getting a headache, not good for anybody else around the Devil Princess of Jurai.

 

“That is enough,” was the sound emitted from her mouth, but apparently shields had gone up around Ranma's ears. Those that knew better started backing away, while those that wanted to be on Ranma's good side came closer.

 

“I said that's enough!” roared Seto, still with no effect. A vein appeared on her forehead, a scowl marring her face. Ranma, with his martial arts training, had yet to pause for air in the last five minutes. He had yet to even break a sweat from using oxygen so fast. Seto turned after getting tapped on the shoulder, to see one of Ranma's friends presenting her with a megaphone. Arching one eyebrow in confusion, she took it and thumbed the switch.

 

“HEY! PAY ATTENTION!” she quite literally hollered directly next to Ranma`s ear, although it was greatly amplified by the `phone. Ranma stopped, looking at Seto like she had lost her mind. High frequency forced feedback emanated from the megaphone, making all present cringe. Seto quickly turned it off, and threw it into a subspace pocket for future use with a certain Emperor.

 

“That's better,” she said.

 

“HUH? WHATDAYA SAY?” shouted Ranma, trying to get the ringing out of his ears. “I CAN'T HEAR YOU! GIMMIE A FEW TO GET THIS NOISE TO STOP!”

 

THUD!

 

Yep, face vaults abound for everybody present. Ranma, being himself, decided to go raid the fridge since everybody else had decided it was nap time. Meaning by the time the others (and there are a LOT of them) stood back up, he was no where to be found.

 

“So . . .” began Ukyo, not wanting to incur any wrath from anybody. This started the rounds of introductions again. The Soul Calibur team went first, glossing over their past. Then the duo from Shadow Hearts came next, followed by the Ranma crew, then the O!MG people and finally the new arrivals of GXP.

 

Ranma had paid attention, noting the evil look from Seto the entire time. He just shrugged it off, the highest insult to be given to Seto Masaki Jurai . . . the SNUB. It took the efforts of Tenchi, Airi, Katsuhito, Seina and the goliath known as Nightmare to hold her back. Well, all that Nightmare had to do was lift his sword with its crusted blood, not actually touch her.

 

“I invite you all to the Mikagami,” declared Seto in an obvious tactical maneuver to get what she wanted.

 

“I'm there,” answered Ranma from somewhere inside the house. “But who all wants to come with?”

 

THUD!

 

“Well, that was unexpected,” deadpanned Tenchi, with a mouth full of dirt. “Though he does bring up a good point.”

 

There was an immediate showing of hands from those on the Certificate, unsurprisingly. That meant the elder sisters Tendo, Ukyo, Xian, Urd, Peorth and Hild were in. Xianghua, Cassandra and Taki raised their hands after some quick glances. Karin wasn't too far behind them, something compelling her to remain at Ranma's side at all costs. Lucia shook her head in the negative, along with the remainder of the Soul Calibur crew.

 

Unnoticed by them, Ranma had appeared in the door to the house, giving very slight nods to Seto. She had a very good idea that the pig-tailed martial artist didn't want unwelcome elements screwing around with any aspect of his life. Seto would look at a person with an arm raised, and very subtly look in Ranma's direction.

 

“We'll follow in the Mizuki,” stated Tenchi for his and Seina's group, knowing that there was really no choice when it came down to Seto. Ranma shrugged at that, not really caring since he hadn't had the time to bond with Tenchi. As the Juraian equivalent to transporters began moving people from the ground to the two ships, Ranma approached Seto, giving his thanks for a reprieve from the life of Nerima. As the last two on the ground that were going, they both looked around to give any late-comers the opportunity to `climb aboard'.

 

Akane, in another fit of impishness, tried to join them before they left the surface of Earth. Ranma shook his head in the negative only once, but it was all Seto had to see.

 

“Sorry, full up,” exclaimed Seto with false cheer, taking Ranma with her. Akane's rage boiled, being denied the chance at redemption . . . or to totally FUBAR the rest of her life, depending on the point of view. She quickly charged her Baka-Mallet, and flung it at the Mikagami as she lifted into the controlled subspace rift. Just before the ship disappeared, the ki-mallet made contact . . .

 

--End Flashback-- (And I hope to NOT do many of these)

 

“Yep, that was it,” said Ranma, “Speaking of, where is she? I though she'd be here to either look at me with some love before hitting me, or come out swinging as soon as I set foot on the planet.”

 

“Not now, Ranma,” chided his mother, “She's still very upset at a lot of things. But there is a surprise for you. Just head into the game room.”

 

He smelt it as soon as he entered the hallway. There was only one being in any of the universes that produced this smell. Wookies and Klingons had nothing on Genma Saotome when he was sweating bullets . . . actually, in general they smelled better than he did on any given day.

 

Slightly turning to anybody that followed, he was surprised to see that he was alone. Most of the Saotome wives club had broken off and headed for the furo, while the rest had been corralled by Nodoka.

 

Peering around the corner, Ranma could see his father suspended in midair by way of being crucified. He appeared to be mumbling and weakly struggling to get free.

 

“Hello Pops,” dryly stated Ranma, “I see they've taken good care of you.”

 

“BOY! GET ME DOWN FROM-” was as far as the Saotome Patriarch got before finding the world spinning and producing psychedelic effects.

 

“I'm older than you are, OLD man,” barked the pigtailed warrior. “So I really don't want to hear you bossing me around anymore, got it?” The look of confusion that flashed across Genma's face was priceless, while his jabbering like an idiot rounded out the picture. Ranma couldn't help it, he broke down laughing at the sight before him.

 

“Thanks Pops,” he guffawed on the floor after a moment, “After the life I've had, I needed that.” Ranma left the room shortly afterwards, to walk straight into an ambush in the living room.

 

“What the hell did you do to her?” seethed Ivy, taking a swipe at Ranma's head with her sword. “What did you do to our ninja? Answer me!”

 

“What, did I break her or something?” countered Ranma after jumping away. He looked around the room, to find Taki leaning against the wall shaking her head in disappointment.

 

“We just never expected so see her settle down and have kids,” remarked Nightmare, after putting Ivy in a full Nelson. “At least, not so soon.”

 

“More to the point, it's only been ten days,” Lucia stated with a frown. “How the hell did you do all of this in ten days?”

 

“Ten days to you,” Nabiki let out with a sigh, “Thirty-six years to us. A lot of things changed, came, and went in that time.” When she'd finished that sentence, her left arm was draped over Kasumi's shoulders in a loose hug. Not that it helped, the elder Tendo sister breaking into a crying fit.

 

“Aw damn it,” swore Ranma, “I'll explain what's happened, you two go get some fresh air or something.” The wives of Saotome all left at that point, making sure to take the younger generation that wasn't preoccupied with them. Ranma opened his mouth, then closed it before nodding to an internal debate.

 

“Where's Akane?” he asked, glancing again at the calendar, “Is she at school?”

 

“Yes,” answered Nodoka, not quite grasping what he was trying to get at. Before she could speak her questions, he bounded out of the house to fetch the youngest Tendo sister.

 

Airi and Mikami had been paying attention to what was happening, and as one turned to a faceless.

 

“Prepare for rioting at the high school.”

 

-(Furinkan High)-

 

The student body was out for lunch, enjoying the sunlight heat in the early winter. Akane sat with Sayuri and Yuka, enjoying the company of her two friends when the noise just stopped. Students that had been playing, running about, or just being loud were suddenly quiet, like when a God descends from on high.

 

“He's BACK!” screamed on of the freshmen, before running away in terror. The student body parted like the Red Sea, admitting one Ranma Saotome back into their midst.

 

“Hello, did you miss me?” asked the pigtailed warrior with mirth, inducing the jet engine known as nosy children asking a million questions at once.

 

“DELINQUENT!” shouted what sounded like a ten year old girl, making the students part again to admit Hinako.

 

“And here you thought I'd be gone for good,” came from Ranma's mouth, ego cranked to full. “Everything that's happened involved me. The visitors here just wanted to talk to me, and Akane blew that. Then I got to jump universes and time, hoping to make it home.”

 

“Yeah, and?” deadpanned Hinako, “You've still be AWOL for ten days. You naughty boy you! HAPPO FIFTY YEN SATSU!”

 

“No, I think not,” countered Ranma, minimizing the damage by tweaking his ki. Having had all of those techniques stuffed into his brain helped immensely as the counter to the Satsu was among them. The drain started, then stopped almost instantaneously to each other.

 

“What?” asked a surprised pupil of Happosai. “Ranma, what did you just do to me?” While the ki taken was minimal, it had forced the transformation from a ten year old into the twenty-eight year old bombshell.

 

“Nothing, just redirected your attack to siphon ki off of the planet itself,” he answered nonchalantly. Then he vanished from sight, before reappearing two seconds later. “And now I've pressed the pressure points to lock your vampirism nature away, forcing your body to remain as it is.”

 

“NO!” screamed the former ki-vampire, “Now it will be impossible for me to discipline the delinquents!” She collapsed to the ground, bawling her eyes out at the loss of control that she so enjoyed.

 

“Not my problem,” dryly stated Ranma, before turning to find the subject of his search. Before he could speak, Yuka and Sayuri pounced.

 

“You just stay away from her,” threatened Yuka, “Or so help me I'll kick your ass.”

 

“Are you stupid or something?” countered Ranma, “Or is it that you just don't follow current events?”

 

“Go to hell pervert,” deadpanned Sayuri. She noticed that Ranma was beginning to tense up, before dropping a bombshell.

 

“Fine then. If Akane doesn't want to meet her nieces and nephews, then who am I to argue?” With that said, he turned to leave, completely fed up with the situation. Ranma made it all of three steps before the two girls blocked his path.

 

“What the hell are you talking about?” demanded Yuka, looking at Akane for her reaction. Granted she had turned red, but from which emotion neither her, nor anybody else for that matter, could tell.

 

“Since she'll probably blab it here, pay attention to what I have to say,” said Ranma, no malice in his voice. “Ten days here was thirty-six years for us. We have been to more places, caused havoc in more timelines, than Sailor Pluto would care to admit. We have been happy, saddened, and angered in that time. The adult population of *our* Mars colony, all three hundred fifty million of them, are combat ready and awaiting a command from one of the Family. But that isn't important, I just thought that Akane would like to know that she is an Aunt, even if she'll never get to meet two of my boys nor one of my daughters.”

 

“Ranma, what happened?” spoke Akane for the first time. She could see the pain in his eyes at the mentioning of the three lost ones.

 

“They gave their lives to save their mother,” he answered, anger appearing on his face. Those that had begun to crowd around Ranma backed away when his battle aura appeared. It was a multitude of colors, so strong that loose rocks began to float while the ground protested the abuse. Just as quickly as it appeared, it vanished. “Their mother is your oldest sister. All of us are broken up by the event, but she's far worse off than the rest of us. Please, try not to bring the subject up. Let her bring it up on her own. Now then, are you coming home?”

 

Ranma didn't wait for an answer, instead maneuvering his way around Akane's friends and making tracks for the gate.

 

“SAOTOME!” roared Hinako, “While I'm sorry for your loss, you have to return to school as of tomorrow. I don't believe your story of *thirty-six years*, so I expect you and those members of your family that are of school age to be here. Got it?”

 

“Certainly,” deadpanned Ranma, trying to calculate just how many actual eighteen year olds in their senior year would have to flock to Furinkan. Deciding to go the easy route, Ranma thought up a solution that would have to be run by the wives. Letting the matter drop, he returned to the Nerima Expressway to make his trek back to the Tendo Dojo.

 

He couldn't see, but Akane had also started to head home with the excuse of a family emergency left in her wake . . .

 

-(Tendo/Saotome Residence)-

 

Ranma landed from his leap nine blocks away, without disturbing the flowers that were growing around the pond. He could hear the tortured screams of his father, which he considered to be music to his ears. Knowing that he was back in a safe-zone, Ranma pulled a communicator device from his storage space and called his children back to the house. It didn't take long for them to appear, the after-effects of the transporter beam wearing off before Akane made it in the front gate.

 

“I'm here,” she called out, before her elder sisters came out the front door, followed by the rest of the wives and the entire contingent of children of varying ages.

 

“Okay Akane,” started Ranma, “This may seem weird, but trust me it's easier to just go with it and try not to think about the paradoxes that are created. First, the oldest two. Junior here is the son of Nabiki,” said boy waved at his newly discovered Aunt, even though he'd heard stories about her. “Hairbrush is Shampoo's boy, Kenji is Ukyo's boy. This firecracker is Ranko, Urd's daughter.”

 

Akane had turned red again, before the emotion seemed to drain completely from her. Her eyes shifted over to Tokimi, who had a pen and pad out making notes on who was who for the holiday cards and gifts. She nodded to Ranma, indicating for him to continue.

 

“This one is Penelope, Peorth's bundle of energy. The future bombshell is Mara, Hild's daughter. The tike held by Taki is Kato, and the one held by Karin is Yuri.”

 

The children stood in chronological order, the oldest two on Akane's left and the youngest on her right. The oldest boys were a near perfect clone of Ranma, with subtle features that could have only come from the mother. Junior had Nabiki's dark brown hair, while Hairbrush had panther black hair. Neither wore it in a pigtail, both instead choosing to have their hair be in a military trimmed look. Then came Kenji, Ranko, and Penelope. They were a few months apart in age, all having crested the sixteen year mark. Kenji looked more like Ukyo with the subtle undertones coming from Ranma. (This is a first, a Saotome doing something *subtle*). Ranko looked like a miniature female Ranma, hence the name. Although her hair was shoulder-blade length, strawberry-blonde color. Penelope looked like both of her parents, with dark red hair that went to the small of her back. Mara, Kato and Yuri ranged in age from thirteen to three. Mara looked like a miniature Urd with red hair. Kato looked more like his mother Taki, having black hair that was wild. Yuri had carrot colored hair, but being so young the family knew that it would probably darken to an apple red while his face was starting to show both parents equally.

 

“Oh boy,” swooned several people, glad that Tokimi had taken notes.

 

“Don't worry,” said Kasumi, appearing to be holding in her emotions. “We plan on a family photo every year.” Even as the words left her mouth, the emotional mask in place broke, allowing the pain inside to show outside. A few tears squeaked out before she fled back into the house.

 

“Besides, you think this is confusing?” Ranma tasted his foot, finding that it lacked flavor. “Try to be in our shoes with the population over there.” When he applied the butter sauce, Ranma found his foot to be tasty. That was one of the things that wasn't supposed said to anybody.

 

“What do you mean, the population over there?” demanded Airi, while pointing in the direction of space. Ranma cringed before slumping.

 

“Not a damned thing!” chimed in Nabiki, “He doesn't mean anything by it! Right Ranma?” The last two words came out like a threat, and going on the fourth decade of marriage Ranma had a great idea what was at stake.

 

“Yeah, forget I said anything about it,” he shrugged, however the first case of Foot In Mouth Disease in years would not be denied. “Forget I even mentioned anything about the clones.” His eyes boggled, slapping a hand over his mouth to find that it was still going. Ranma started to panic, wondering why his mouth was operating on its own.

 

The elder children looked intrigued by the situation, never having seen their father's mouth take something at will and run with it. Literally. He was trying to shut it down, but Ranma was obviously having no success as he'd pulled his hand away. “Help me, PLEASE! I can't get my mouth to stop!”

 

The fighters, meaning Ukyo, Xian, Taki and Karin, all pulled back their right hands, then delivered a straight punch to Ranma's face. He went down in a heap, some unseen force bouncing him back to his feet, mouth still moving.

 

Sweatdrops appeared on everybody's head at the point, as Nabiki whipped her shirt off to stuff it in the Saotome maw. Of course she'd taken to the habit of wearing an undershirt over a bra, after all clothing seemed to shred really easy around Ranma.

 

Kasumi look amused, something that hadn't been seen with sincerity in a few years. Then Belldandy appeared from the house, followed by a couple more Gods and Goddesses. Oh, and an entire legion of Valkyries.

 

“Bell, what-?” started Urd, not quite understanding what was going on. That was, before a demonic portal opened up admitting Mara with her own legion of lower demons and oni.

 

“What is the meaning of this, Mara?” demanded Hild, her starburst power mark flaring.

 

“What did I do now, mom?” whined the younger Mara, making the older one blink-blink in surprise. Not just at the return of the Boss, but the younger clone of Urd.

 

“Not you dearie,” soothed Hild, before turning her glare to full power, “I was talking to your older sister.”

 

“What did I do now, mom?” mirrored Urd, complete with a ten year olds' pout.

 

THUD!

 

“Not you dearie,” tried Hild again, this time talking to her older daughter. “I was talking to your sister . . . and stop it! I see the look in your eyes at bouncing this back and forth like nobody's business.”

 

“Aw man,” came in stereo from Urd and Chibi-Mara at the complete shut down of their game. Hild turned her gaze back to Mara, demanding answers with her eyes.

 

“Boss . . . what a surprise.” nervously chuckled Mara, taking in the mortals surrounding her. The power level of the pigtailed one was just under Kami-sama himself. Her course of action decided upon, a quick wave of the arm later sent the demon forces back to the underworld.

 

“They stay,” boldly stated one of the three males Gods present while indicating the Valkyries. “Yggdrasil is having a fit with the addition of five hundred million plus files at once, and there are . . . glitches.”

 

The mere mention of the word caused those that didn't already know, like Urd, Peorth and Hild, to flinch. They turned to Ranma, only to see him shrug with indifference. Then they realized that he wasn't about to voice his opinion as he still had a shirt stuffed in his mouth. Chibi-Mara decided that it was a good idea to pull the shirt out of her father's mouth, which freed the FIMD to attack.

 

“Of course it's gonna glitch,” he spoke, twisting and diving away from any that jumped at him to shut him up. “When the figures you mentioned are clones of my family, Tenchi's family, and Seina's family mixed, hashed, blended, shaken and stirred into one GIANT martini.”

 

“This has to be the work of a demon,” remarked Hild in a sidebar with Urd, Peorth, Bell and an un-introduced Skuld. “I see it in his eyes, he doesn't have the faintest idea what half of what he just said means.” Each casting a quick divination spell, they noticed that there was a line connecting Ranma to Mara.

 

“Mara, front and center!” ordered an irritated Hild. Her booming proclamation was rewarded with Mara and Chibi-Mara leaping to stand at attention before her. “Not you Mara-chan, the other Mara.”

 

The two that were named the same looked at each other, Hild, and back a few times before the younger one took a risk and backed away. She was rewarded with a smile, before the glare came back to be directed at the older one.

 

“What is the meaning of this?” demanded the Demon Queen, hair frazzled in agitation. Mara took note of the visible line, trying her hardest to jog her memory. When it came to her, she fell over before righting herself.

 

“I'm sorry Boss, look at contract zero-four-one-one-one-nine-nine-zero-Gamma-Sierra,” responded Mara after a couple of moments, having remembered why she had processed the contract to begin with. Hild took no time in pulling the contract file from the archives, briefly glossing over it, before doing something unheard of in the history of the competition between Heaven and Hell.

 

She handed the file to Ranma, without saying a single word. Her eyes were screaming apology, while her facial expression was neutral.

 

Ranma read the file, reread it, then shredded it in a fit of anger. While destroying the paper copy had no effect as the hardcopy was still in the system, it did have the effect of releasing some stress before Ranma was all over Mara.

 

He didn't go for the fancy switching of forms or uber-powerful attacks, instead settling on the classics of punching, kicking and being unpredictable. Once he'd beaten her to submission, he disappeared in the house for a moment before reappearing with Genma, still attached to the cross.

 

“She look familiar Pops?” he ground out between clenched teeth. The sweating Genma took a look around at the gathered assembly, before his eyes settled on the abused mass of flesh that resembled Mara the Demoness.

 

“Oh shit,” grumbled the abused voice box of the Saotome Patriarch, head hanging limply as the memory of the day he forged the contract came back full force. It came so unbidden to the front of his mind that it broadcasted to those that could read thoughts.

 

Meaning the Gods and Goddesses, as well as the silent Commander Mist of the Valkyries, suddenly had to locate a bush or convenient trash can to be ill.

 

“You made a deal with a Demon,” Ranma rightfully accused, bringing the others into the loop. “A deal that damn near ruined my life, just so YOU COULD LIVE ON EASY STREET! YOUR GREED KNOWS NO BOUNDS!” Then the beat down commenced, it a similar manner to the one handed to Mara. Only when Genma started pleading mercy, Ranma didn't stop. “You *sold* me as fucking property to literally everybody, didn't you? Then you made this deal, make it so that I had no hopes of going anywhere so that you could `swing in and save the day'! Kept me on the road so that I couldn't learn anything, kept me ignorant in life so that you could dictate my actions! Guess what you piece of shit, it backfired!” There were none brave enough to interrupt the ranting Ranma, to tell him that Genma was no longer conscious to hear him. None dared get in the way, especially when bones would snap and Ranma would just get egged on by the sound.

 

Then something new happened. Ranma just stopped, fists balled at his sides as he cried over the broken body of his father.

 

“You *tortured* me for eleven years,” were the words spoken so softly that the others within hearing range had to strain. “The Neko-ken, the taunting, the starvation, the straight abandonment whenever I `failed' you.”

 

“Back away!” roared Nabiki, finally catching on to the signs of the Shi-Shi Hokodan. She started to push the others back, herding them to the street and beyond. Those sensitive enough to detect the power build up suddenly shifted gears, making the mass of people move faster.

 

“SHI-SHI HOKODAN!” was heard from seven blocks away, before the mushroom of chi erupted skyward to collapse back upon itself. Then a new mushroom cloud appeared, as the shockwave kicked up dust and debris. It traveled out from the source, leveling houses and the landscape with ease. The others had made it ten blocks before the wave came, knocking them to the ground and making them tumble.

 

“DADDY!” cried the younger children, while the older ones were in complete awe at the destruction created by one person.

 

“RANMA!” shouted the Family. During the confusion, Tenchi and Seina appeared with their contingents only to get shoved in a massive evacuation of the area.

 

As the dust settled, a few of those present could see the silhouette of Genma sailing over the horizon. Rushing back to the house, they found Ranma in the midst of a kata as he attempted to work out the rest of his aggressions.

 

The wives recognized the tempo that he was using instantly, one the was hard and fast set to The Great American Nightmare by Rob Zombie. It would have to be one of the tunes that a certain somebody had hooked him on for use with his katas, as the speed of the song was one that set a quick and furious pace.

 

At the end of the final verse, Ranma sent a punch directly into the ground. Tremors sprang forth, traveling outwards to points unknown.

 

“Would you look at that,” commented Soun.

 

“I don't believe it,” added Nodoka, looking around the scenery.

 

“Ranma, how in the world did you miss the house?” asked Nabiki, before instantly regretting ridiculing what could be a miracle.

 

“I did?” returned the warrior, turning to see the lack of handy-work. “Okay, well . . . this is a bad thing, why?”

 

“Never you mind,” stated Karin, “We have a roof over our heads. We also need to get settled in.”

 

“Oh yeah, I nearly forgot,” sheepishly said Ranma, scratching the back of his head. Then he took stock of the leveled neighborhood, shrugging his shoulders at the return of the Nerima Bizarre Syndrome.

 

Those that had already taken part in the story had filtered out, either helping to clean the yard or begin repairs for the neighbors. Ranma noted that Miseto had been beamed into the back yard in her own planter, Tsunami standing next to her with Washu and a subdued Tokimi . . . sulking? Okay, wonder what happened there. His mother, father-in-law, Akane, Mousse, Konastu, Maxi, Nightmare, Kilik, Yunsung, Ivy, Lucia, the Juraian Emperor and Queens, Belldandy, Skuld, Thor, Saturn, Anubis, Mist and Mara were idling chatting, getting to know each other.

 

They were at least able to make introductions to each other before Ranma cleared his throat. He took a seat on a handy rock next to the pond, beginning the tale.

 

At first, it seemed funny. That lasted all of five seconds before the tree projected herself out, showing the end result of the happenings in the first universe that they visited. Then he continued into the story of the second universe, having Shinji and Rei come out of hiding to be introduced.

 

Lucia let loose a snarl at the part where her friend had been shot, but that was quickly handled as Ranma continued into the third universe.

 

He had left no detail out up to this point, however the emotions behind the details were missing. Not that it mattered, the assembly was hooked on every single word.

 

Ranma even managed to make it through thirty-three years of history in the third universe before any emotion showed. He turned to Junior, who had been standing partially in the shadows, asking for the security footage from the Defiant that had ultimately saved Kasumi.

 

“This part, I cannot speak,” sadly stated Ranma, “However, the event happened near a constant security point, and was captured by the ships' computer. We salvaged the entire ship, but have not, until now, dared to watch the footage. From the reports I`ve heard, brace yourselves. This will not be pretty.”

 

A holographic display opened, fast forwarding through the mundane footage to stop with a timer reading plus two minutes. There was a slight view out of a window, which showed a planet in the background with ships making a break for it.

 

“Computer,” spoke Ranma to the air, earning a chirp and surprised looks in return, “Begin playback, standard speed.”

 

The footage immediately began to pitch to and fro, as the planet in the background exploded. Kasumi and her children stumbled into range of the camera at that point, the three young ones having their mother in a pocket of protection. The camera shuddered from an impact to the ship, forcing the four to the floor. The timer was now at thirty-five seconds, which earned a few looks as time flew by, just like the crewmembers that were trying to keep the ship intact. When the timer reached zero, part of the wall on the right exploded, sending out a plasma flame. The children reacted instantly, as their father had trained them to, by shielding Kasumi the best they could. Unfortunately for those watching, the burst of plasma didn't block the view, and the entire assembly gasped when the girl, the obvious youngest, suddenly began to vaporize. Then the two boys swung into motion, shoving Kasumi behind them as the created a small path out of the plasma fire with their bodies.

 

When the fire suppression system finally kicked in, it was too late. Kasumi lay immobile were she had fallen, safely out of range of the fire. Those gathered could see the burns on her right side, but the most unnerving thing was the far wall. There were inverted shadows from the heat of the flame, from where it had scorched the wall while the boys were on their feet.

 

The timer, long since forgotten, read minus twenty seconds.

 

“It happened that quick,” Ranma choked out, “And I . . . I was nowhere to be found. That happened seventeen sectors away from where I was at the time.”

 

Taking a breather by simply hanging his head, much to the relief of the others as this was a lot to absorb, Ranma silently let the tears fall.

 

“Yes,” spoke Kasumi from the back, “That's the way it happened.”

 

“Including the audio?” asked Airi, her eyes watery from the playback. All she got in return was a nod, before everybody was floored by the power output of Ranma.

 

“Oh yes, I got those motherfuckers but good!” he ground out, spooking those that hadn't seen his true angry side before. “I left that planet killer Death Star to the native Rebels. Instead, I hit the Empire where it hurt the most.”

 

The freeze-frame disappeared to show a real time shot of the now assembled shipyard twenty million kilometers from Earth, zooming in on the modified docks for the Star Destroyers and their support.

 

“It took four years to *acquire* those ships,” he pointed out, “But it made a difference. Those two hundred vessels were at various yards across the galaxy. The Empire certainly couldn't build them fast enough, especially after we destroyed not only the orbital facilities, but anything on the ground that manufactured parts.” The shot changed directions, to show the three Super-class ships. “Those three, we drove out of the docks before the Empire could take them out on a shakedown cruise. We still haven't figured out what happened to the crew, all we know is they jumped to hyperspace and didn't reappear for three years, just to drop in our collective laps.”

 

Ranma continued the story from that point, straight up to the final battle at Endor. With the assistance of the holographic display window, Ranma had something to make a running commentary with.

 

“Wow,” was the only thing that Airi could think to say. However the pompous ass Azusa decided that now was a good time to act up.

 

“This is all your fault,” came from his mouth, a line Ranma hadn't heard in a while. “You attracted Seto, Tsunami and my girls somehow, and because the Old Hag wanted to chew on your ear she would hear nothing of our protests. Then one of *your* fiancées has the nerve to attack a Juraian Warship, one that was attempting to enter subspace causing havoc with the matrix.”

 

“Hey now,” deadpanned Ranma, trying to derail the Emperor of Jurai. Nothing seemed to work as the man's mouth continued. By the time Azusa had either discredited or straight disregarded half of the tale Ranma had just relayed, the pigtailed warrior had enough.

 

“We have it all of film, you heard the emotion in my wife's voice,” drawled Ranma, “Yet you doubt me . . . you doubt us. Why?”

 

“You Earthlings are all alike,” spat Azusa, his mouth running away for certain now. “This whole planet has been nothing but trouble recently.”

 

*WHAP*

 

A direct assault by Funaho didn't seem to help, and the death glare coming from Misaki had no effect. Before they, or any of the Royal Guard on the surface could react, Ranma was in Azusa's face.

 

“Get off of our planet,” he ordered, “Get out of our system. Azusa Masaki Jurai, just *get out*!”

 

“And if I refuse?” taunted the Emperor, not moving one muscle. By now Kasumi had fished out a communicator to relay what was going on literally in her backyard. The Family was scrambling to respond, minus the already present Sasami/Tsunami and Miseto.

 

“Do you really want a war with us?” asked Ranma, while lifting Azusa off of the ground with one arm. “After all we have been through, do you really think it would be wise to start a war with *us*?”

 

“I am ruler of the Juraian Empire,” spat said person, “I have more of everything over you. I could crush you like a bug.”

 

“Okay then,” intoned Ranma, surprising everybody by letting Azusa go. Although it seemed like the recently returned warrior was trying to compose himself. Shrugging at some internal debate, he spoke again. “I meant it, get off of Earth. You have five seconds to remove your pompous ass before I do it for you. You are no longer welcomed here, and if I see so much as *one* weapon port open on any of your ships I will order mine to defend the homeworld.”

 

“Lady's Funaho, Misaki,” continued Ranma after a pause, “You two are always welcome here. Even if we disagree, at least you two are civilized about it.” Tenchi, Seina, and their families suddenly appeared. “Just like you guys. We may have our disagreements, pouts and temper tantrums, but at least you're all civilized about it.”

 

“What's happened?” asked Ayeka of Tsunami, bringing her sister into the fold. When she was told what had happened, Ayeka fired off a combination Funaho/Misaki glare at her father.

 

“You can't tell me what to do,” dryly stated Azusa, “In fact, I'm the one to tell you what to do. Because I don't buy that movie you had us sit through-”

 

*WHAM, WHAP, SLAP*

 

“You . . . monster!” cried Kasumi, partially lifting her blouse to reveal the light pick scars that adorned her right side. “Do these look faked to you?”

 

“Get the hell out of my house!” roared Soun, his spine firmly entrenched as somebody had made one of his girls cry. Out came Demon-Head, which did spook a more than a few present.

 

“-the first thing you will do is surrender those ships to us,” spoke Azusa like he hadn't been interrupted. “Then Ayeka and Sasami will return home, minus Tenchi or any other extra people that have been attached to them.”

 

“GET OFF MY PLANET BEFORE I KILL YOU!” roared Ranma, finally fed up with the Emperor. His power began to charge, and for the first time Azusa began to wonder if maybe he should stop underestimating the Earthlings. “Junior, alert the fleet. I want everything in system and ready to fight.”

 

The orders were carried out quickly, and the live hologram showed the visible radiation surges as ships reverted from warp on the return trip from patrol. The capital ships in the yards went from a dim standby lighting coloration to full tilt, especially the engine exhaust ports. The Fleet stacked and organized, then placed themselves between the flotilla and Earth.

 

“The Galaxy Police will not aid the Juraians if war breaks,” sternly stated Mikami, “as witnesses, this was started by Emperor Azusa Masaki Jurai.”

 

The GP ships in orbit suddenly pulled back and to the side, away from any structure and Earth in a show of neutrality. The few pirate ships wisely followed, especially as the scanners started to pick up the weapons pointed at them.

 

The Juraian Armada, consisting primarily of drones, suddenly appeared from subspace. Azusa had been quick to integrate the drones into his fleet, since Seto wasn't around to stop him. The ships belonging to Funaho and Misaki pulled from the formation to descend in Earth's atmosphere to pick up the Queens.

 

“We do not acknowledge the military action taken by Azusa,” they said simultaneously. “We recognize Earth's defense as just. This is considered an invasion by Jurai of Earth.” Then the two were gone, their ships returning to subspace to make the journey to Jurai to begin the proceedings there.

 

“Just surrender boy, you have no hope against me,” goaded Azusa, not quite comprehending that he was on his own on this one.

 

“You're still here, why?” deadpanned Ranma, before moving back into the personal space of Azusa to begin his version of negotiations . . . with his fists. Only eight blows landed before Azusa was beamed back aboard his ship. The two fleets, comparable in size hung there, staring the other down.

 

“Don't fire unless they do,” spoke Ranma into a communicator, “If they wish to withdraw, allow them to do so. Do not allow them any forward motion.”

 

Many people on the ground, not just in the Tendo Dojo, could look into the now night sky and see the larger ships sitting there. The glow from the engine ports on the Star Destroyers was very distinguishable.

 

“You know sisters,” said Tokimi to Tsunami and Washu, “I can see that my brand of chaos isn't needed. These Earthlings, in any universe, do a wonderful job of mucking up the works all on their own.”

 

“Yes, but at least they do everything that they can to fix their messes,” spoke Washu, surprising Tsunami by beating her to the punch with the answer.

 

“Unfortunately, this is the result of one of my charges,” spoke Tsunami as she watched the fleets stare each other down. Then the Juraian fleet began to move, first away then towards Earth. One of the lead drones glitched and fired. That was all the invitation that the Earth fleet needed before the fighters sprang forth to engage the drones, the Defiant's right behind them to engage the few Juraian First and Second Generation capital ships present.

 

“The battle was joined, high in the sky,” spouted Soun, apparently trying his hand at writing poetry in motion.

 

With the Light Hawk Wings deployed, the capital ships turned out to be a little harder to hit. Only a little, as the battle quickly shifted from a nose to nose encounter to three hundred sixty degrees of combat. Then the weakness in the Wings was discovered as they couldn't effectively cover the full three-sixty bubble. The Defiant-class destroyers were too fast for the weapons of the Juraian fleet evading the shots by both the drones and capital ships.

 

Both sides only had a small fraction of their ships engaged. The Juraian fleet hadn't even made it far enough in to test the weapons of the Galaxy's, Sovereign's, nor the varying sizes of Star Destroyer.

 

Unknown to all except Ranma, Prometheus and Colorado were hovering about thirty meters over the house, providing cover for those on the ground while cloaked.

 

As the battle waged, more ships entered the fray. Juraian capital ships started to appear from hyperspace, subspace, partridge in a pear tree. In response, the Iwo Jima's, Streamrunner's, and Intrepid's moved in to engage. Beam weapons flashed back and forth, more often than not splashing off of shields or continuing on into the nothing.

 

The first ship to die was a Defiant on a suicide mission. It had managed to dive through the Wings to impact the core-saucer of a Second Generation Tree-ship. While the damage had in fact forced the Juraian ship out of action, and quite possibly commission for a few hundred years, it was still intact.

 

“Use torpedoes,” spoke Ranma in his communicator again, “Go as high as quantum, activate ablative armor and shields.”

 

The battle suddenly tipped in their favor, as the torpedoes packed quite the punch. Even the ones the detonated against the Wings caused the ship to vibrate. One detonated against a First Generation core, splintering it before the pull of vacuum ripped in apart from the inside out.

 

A quick scan of the battlefield showed that Azusa had ran when the torpedoes appeared, however it was unknown if it was to cover his own ass or get more reinforcements.

 

Then the Galaxy Army ships started to appear, sending out messages to the Earth fleet to cease and desist. That didn't go over well, as when the first shot came from them the fleet moved to attack them as well.

 

The Galaxy Army relied more on armor than shields, not that it mattered as the phasers ate through the hulls with ease. Regular photon torpedoes would wipe the ships from existence in a standard spread of three.

 

Then even more Juraian ships appeared, mostly Second and Third Generation. However, the thing that got the most attention was the planet killer in their midst.

 

“What the hell is this?” demanded Ranma, getting fairly fed up with Azusa breaking out his toys and calling in favors or phony distress signals.

 

“This is over the top, even for him,” commented Tsunami, deciding then and there that Azusa had to go. It would be political in every aspect, right next to legal. Subtle pressure would do the trick to force an election. She noticed that Ranma had switched to speaking to the Captain of the lead Sovereign of the First Fleet.

 

“Arm one transphasic torpedo, target that planet killer,” he ordered, receiving acknowledgements instantly. “Now open a channel to Azusa and pipe it down here.”

 

The holographic panel switched from the battle in progress to the face of Azusa onboard his ship. He had a smirk in place, apparently sure of victory.

 

“Calling to surrender?” taunted Azusa, earning more than a few scowls on the ground.

 

“Not on your life, Gramps,” retorted Ranma, noticing that the remark hit a sore spot on Azusa. “Just calling to tell you to withdraw that planet killer. You want to fight, fine. I've kept my uber-powerful weapons in check for many years, but I'll make an exception here.”

 

“You have nothing that could harm that weapon,” again taunted Azusa, quickly earning centuries on the couch with his wives that were watching this via a feed from Tsunami. Then the channel died, cut from the other end.

 

“Oh well, I tried,” shrugged Ranma, “If that thing even flinches in our direction, fire that transphasic torpedo at it.”

 

“You know I've never been able to figure out how the warhead works, right?” asked Washu, slightly nervous as she had never thought to ask to detonate one to see the results.

 

“Yes, I know,” he answered, slightly relaxing his stance. “Which is why I've never used one. Granted the instructions for the weapon were in the computer system. But that still doesn't give us what effects the weapon will create.”

 

“Target locked,” came the voice of the Captain over the communicator. “Juraian planet killer preparing to fire.”

 

There was a pause. The battle paused, the people on the ground paused, before one word was spoken.

 

“Fire,” ordered Ranma, clenching his right fist as he said so.

 

The torpedo left the port launch tube of the Sovereign, traveling around obstacles as it went. All eyes were on the green-tinted engine exhaust as it continued on its way, before impacting on the side of the Juraian Super-weapon.

 

Nobody dared to breathe as the transphasic warhead went to work, visible as shockwaves of varying colors traveled around the planet killer. Then it exploded, taking out the three Third Generations that were guarding it.

 

“Holy shit,” gasped Washu while glancing at her readout, “That was . . . was . . . holy shit.”

 

“One torpedo did *that*?” demanded Seina, having seen the planet killer in action against the Pirates about a year back, in this timeline. It had been the most feared weapon in the galaxy . . .

 

Now Earth had the most feared weapon, controlled by a small group of humans that were simply defending their home. More to the point, the primitive Earthlings had just announced to the galaxy that they could take on just about any foe and win.

 

“I want Ascension to break formation and engage Azusa's ship,” Ranma spoke, his voice booming due to the silence around him. “Weapons free, let's test our toy against his.”

 

There came a strangled noise from those in the Family, as the people on the ground noticed that one of the red exhaust glows had gotten much brighter as the behemoth Super started to move away from the gravity well.

 

“Ranma, that's over the top,” chided Tenchi, earning nods of agreement from those that had been part of the journey.

 

“Why?” asked Tokimi, before Seina came forward.

 

“Because that ship is just about all weapon,” answered the youngest cousin. “We performed a retrofit on her about a year ago, upgrading the turbo-lasers to a rapid fire, energy friendly variant. Then we added more of them. Plus the ion cannons, torpedo tubes and missile launchers. That makes-”

 

“That makes,” interrupted Washu, “Ten thousand weapon ports per side. Ten ventral, port, starboard and dorsal. Forty *thousand* weapon ports all over the place, bow to stern.”

 

“Wow,” commented Lucia, as she was of a generation where guns were at least in use. That, and she had survived the attack of that airship in Russia. “That is a bit of overkill.”

 

“I've had enough of the pompous ass, okay?” stressed Ranma, arms going wild in agitation. “If he fights, that's not my problem. If he runs, I won't chase. I just want some peace and quiet!”

 

The Juraian Armada had pulled back to defend Azusa's ship, while the Earth fleet parted to make a hole for the monster navy blue ship that was coming from the rear lines.

 

The Juraians flinched, sending a few of the remaining drones in to test the weapons of the monstrosity in front of them. The Galaxy Army had gone into full retreat when the planet killer was lost.

 

The Super came to life, laying down a solid sheet of fire obliterating anything that got in the way. Azusa decided to withdraw at that point, saying that he would be back with a larger force.

 

“What is his problem?” demanded Ranma of Ayeka.

 

“He's been on the throne for too long,” replied the First Princess, before seeing that the natives were cracking up. Ranma was rolling around laughing himself silly. Tenchi and Seina were laughing so hard that they were crying, while everybody else guffawed to their hearts content.

 

“What's so funny?” asked Hakubi, having missed the joke. Ranma calmed himself just long enough to whisper in her ear, before the former space pirate joined in on the laughter.

 

“How long has he been there?” asked Nodoka, furthering the set-up.

 

“He's been on the throne for just over seven thousand years now,” helpfully supplied Ayeka, before the entire contingent fell to the ground laughing.

 

“Poor, poor Azusa,” giggled Tsunami, “If I'd known, I would have made it a point to feed him chocolate.”

 

“No wonder he acts like there's a stick up his ass,” guffawed Washu. Her comment restarted the laughter, but the hint was enough for Ayeka to finally put it all together causing her to fall to the ground in laughter.

 

As the night stretched on, they went to bed with a bad constipation joke stuck in their heads . . .

 

TBC

 

That's it, the end of the Star Wars Saga. I never did promise anything big, and for that I apologize. It was kinda bland, however the side-story that I have started as a compliment to this fic should fill in the holes.