Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ The Goddess Dilemma ❯ Thirteen ( Chapter 13 )

Disclaimer: Man, I really need to copy and paste my disclaimers. I'm running out of ideas on how to say I own NOTHING. Wait, that works.

 

Rant: People still jump the gun why? Like I said in the first few chapters, everything will be explained. Besides, this is like a rough draft, Gold is the second draft, and Platinum will be the final product. I am working on a side-story that will fill in the blanks on the emotional aspects, at least in the home universe . . . I hope.

 

The Goddess Dilemma, part thirteen

 

By: Jim Ohki

 

--(Day Eleven (Home Universe time))--

 

Morning came to the Tendo/Saotome residence, finding an active house at seven o'clock sharp. Seina along with his group had retired to the villa on the backside of the moon, Tenchi and his entourage having spent the night back at the Shrine. Washu was gracious enough to make modifications to the house by use of subspace pockets before departing for the night. The master bedroom, living/dining room, furo, and kitchen were altered to house the Saotome branch of the Family. Breakfast went as usual for the Family, just not nearly as crowded with the others having spent the night somewhere else.

 

“How in the world did you convince us to do this?” snorted Nabiki as the troop made their way towards the school. Instead of following the dress code of Furinkan, they had decided to irritate the staff by dressing alike.

 

Missing were Kasumi, Taki and Karin as they were either already finished with school or were so far out of the loop that they'd have to start from the beginning.

 

“Simple,” answered Ranma, “All I had to do was ask.”

 

It was not a boast, or any other type of ego inflation but simply stating the truth. Ranma had indeed asked a select few to accompany him back to school, under the pretext of needing bodyguards and spin doctors.

 

The conversation died at that point, those not familiar with Nerima taking in the sights. The ladle-lady, surprised at her favorite target not reacting to the application of water. The street vendors, trying to make a buck off of the influx of students. The cluster of students at the front gate, watching and waiting to see if the rumors were true.

 

Wait a minute.

 

“Unbelievable,” deadpanned Ukyo, “We're gone for just over a week, and this starts up again?” With the excitement of settling back into Nerima, those that had gone on the journey had not been filled in on the meeting that Akane had with Kami-sama.

 

As the group approached, the low hum of the students gossiping back and forth came to a halt. Casually strolling in, Ranma took point in the quickly opening gap in the mass of bodies.

 

“What?” he asked of the crowd, wondering why they were all looking at him like he'd grown a few extra heads. Daisuke and Hiroshi came forward as the nominated spokespeople but stopped when the small division behind Ranma growled.

 

The two tried to ask Ranma questions, but were drowned out by the restarted jet engine. The student body wanted answers immediately, thus Nabiki found herself inundated by the horde.

 

“A little help here!” she shouted at her family, while beginning to employ some of the teachings that Ranma had given her. Nothing like the amount of training he had undergone in his life, but more than enough to be labeled as self defense courses.

 

Ukyo and Xian imposed themselves to either side of Nabiki, which caused the crowd to become silent yet again. Just as Ranma went to sort out the situation, a few of his other wives showed up.

 

“Sorry we're late,” said a now seventeen year old Urd. “It's been a while since we've had to appear so young.”

 

“Last time I tried this,” reminisced Hild, “I wound up having Mara . . . then you, Urd.”

 

“This is a first for me,” added in Peorth, “If it weren't for my own wishes to do this, I'd probably be at home or at work.”

 

“We're wasting our time here,” said Ranma, rather loudly. “We have so much work to do settling Mars, getting the defense perimeter established, kicking that pompous Azusa's ass . . .”

 

“You're telling me that was real?” demanded Daisuke, “You telling us that what happened last night wasn't some publicity stunt?”

 

“I know Airi and Mikami pulled the world leaders together to bring them into the loop,” said a shocked Nabiki, her politician side coming to life. “Either they haven't gotten around to telling the public yet, or the public isn't buying into reality.”

 

“So it was real?” wondered Hiroshi, “I saw what happened last night.”

 

“Yeah,” confirmed Ranma without ego inflation, “That was very real `Roshi.”

 

“You were only gone ten days,” came from Sayuri, having finally muscled her way through the crowd to get at the group in the middle. “It makes sense that the government hasn't had time to tell us within ten days, beyond that what was happening was harmless to us.”

 

“Harmless to you,” despaired Akane, “Very dumb of me. I'm just glad that the last few days are over.”

 

“Let's go,” evenly said Ranma before turning to Daisuke, Hiroshi, Sayuri and Yuka, “We'll talk at lunch in private.”

 

As one, Ranma along with his yet to be announced wives made for the front door. The students parted before them again, some trembling and more than a few straight out bowing like an honor guard.

 

They marched straight into the assistant principal's office to restructure their day. The placement tests were easy enough, stuffing the entire contingent in Nabiki's class. Once everything was settled with the paper wonks, they headed into the classroom . . .

 

Right into the middle of the student gossip machine going full tilt. But now that the number one spin doctor had returned, things were about to become expensive for the `normal' student body.

 

The room became quiet as soon as the door opened, many figuring that the teacher had decided to wander in a few minutes early. Instead they saw the banes of their existence.

First up, the Ice Queen. Even though that title meant nothing to her in private anymore, for the moment appearances had to be kept.

 

Next in, Ukyo. While a mean Okonomiyaki chef in her own right, her temper at one point matched Akane. She was quickly followed by Shampoo, as the natives called her. A damn good chef like Ukyo, her specialty being Ramen with a temper to match.

 

Then came in three girls that nobody had ever seen before. All three were knock-outs in their own rights and ways.

 

Coming in behind them all was Ranma, taking in the scenery as he came through the door. They all marched up to the front, waiting for their teacher to appear to get the show on the road. The students began to notice patterns and small things immediately, like that the six females were staying within a certain range of Ranma. Glints of light finally bothered those not in the know enough to take a hard look at the source. Gasps came from them when they put two and eight together.

The glints were rings, on their left hand ring fingers. Ranma had the biggest ring, which looked like ten compressed into one.

 

“Finally found you,” came the voice of Miss Hinako from the door. “What are you doing in here?”

 

“With the exception of Nabiki, we took placements tests to be bumped up,” answered Ranma, without boasting or ego stroking. “We decided that if we're to sit through this hellhole, we'd do it together.”

 

“Well then, we'll see,” she answered, retreating down the hallway.

 

“This is odd,” commented Urd, getting the attention of the room. “What kind of place is this?”

 

“It almost feels like work,” stated Hild. “There's a certain . . . madness to the entire district that reminds me so much of my garden.”

 

“This from the Demon Queen?” remarked Nabiki, “Then there's definitely something wrong here.”

 

The other students were confused by the conversation in front of them. Many were of the mind that not only did Furinkan now have the Ice Queen returned to them, but an additional Demon Queen. Some of the diehard Final Fantasy players in the back started to think this was something straight out of Final Fantasy Seven. One of them worked the courage up to approach the newest additions to their class.

“Excuse me,” she said to Urd, “But if she's the `Demon Queen', and Nabiki is the `Ice Queen' does that make you one of the other elemental rulers?”

 

“Does one third of time count?” sweetly responded Urd, batting her eyelashes trying to impress the young one in front of her.

 

Before the now sputtering student could respond, in strolled Miss Hinako again.

 

“Thought you could get away from me, Saotome?” she gloated, “Think again. Once the original teacher got wind of your presence in his class, he was more than willing to take over mine so I could be here.”

 

The Saotome family rolled their eyes, those not from Nerima having learned of Hinako through the stories told by Ranma, Nabiki, and Ukyo as they had the most experience with the deranged teacher.

 

“Not really,” responded Ranma after a moment. “If the current bonehead in charge would have believed our tale, we would have our diplomas and be out the door.”

 

“Yeah, right.” challenged Hinako, “You think you're so smart, then solve this.” She then proceeded to write out an early trigonometry question. Being locked in adult form did have its advantages, such as the capacity to use such questions to knock an unruly student down a peg or three.

 

“Oh please,” countered Ranma after studying the question for a moment. “On our trip I had to learn advanced quantum mechanics and warp theory. You want me to answer this? Fine.” Not even pausing to think, Ranma breezed through the question the long way, taking the entire chalkboard up with equations and notes. In the end, the answer was the same.

 

Miss Hinako looked at the board, the book and back a dozen times before giving her verdict to the students that were on the edge of their seats.

 

“Correct,” she said, “Although, what is this note about Einstein being an idiot?”

 

“Great mathematician,” fielded Urd, “But he couldn't read, write or spell. He stumbled upon his formula by sheer accident.”

 

The entire room gawked at her, surprised that somebody would challenge the thinking of Einstein nearly a century later. Her family just nodded in agreement, saying nothing.

 

“Okay, let's get this show on the road,” declared Hinako, weirded out by the happenings. “Since you're all new to this class, minus Nabiki, please introduce yourselves to the students.” Nabiki headed for her desk, surprisingly having been surrounded by caution tape. Shaking her head, she ripped it down then sat down.

 

Only to have the eight desks around her empty out. Sending a scathing look in the direction of the incredibly gutless, Nabiki made a mental note to up prices by thirty percent for the disrespectful display.

 

“Pffft, you know who I am,” came from Ranma, knowing that it would be unnecessary to give his identity to the other students.

 

“Same here,” chimed in Ukyo and Xian, surprising those that had knowledge of the Chinese Amazon by her language skills.

 

“Peorth,” said the Goddess, before closing her mouth at the expressions of the male populace in the room.

 

“Urd,” chimed in the Norn, looking disgusted at the young boys mentally undressing her.

 

“Hild,” came from the Demon Queen, before frying the boys ogling her. All other activity stopped at that point. “What? Only one male person has earned the right to look at me that way.”

 

Instantly the male populace of the classroom turned an evil eye on Ranma, while the girls turned an evil eye on the boys for ignoring them.

 

“Any last names?” baited Hinako, hoping to embarrass Ranma like he had done to her.

 

“Yeah,” came in stereo from the front, while one voice in the middle of the room caused the students to whip their heads around.

 

“Saotome,” finished Nabiki, shark smirk at full power as a hint that the information wouldn't be cheap.

 

THUD!

 

As one the students leapt to their feet, looking at Ranma who was shaking his head side to side while chuckling.

 

“So much for appearances,” he commented with a shrug, “But this changes nothing. We are here to learn, okay? So no stupid questions during class. Got it?”

 

THUD!

 

That would be Hinako eating some floor, finding that the flavoring was to her liking. Several students began to pray, while several others began screaming about the apocalypse.

 

“No, this is not Ragnarok,” commented Urd, “Or as is known in this corner of reality Twilight of the Gods.” Dead silence came as her answer, many students backing far away from her as she was apparently very knowledgeable in the field of the end of all.

 

Ranma shook his head again, before finding a place to sit. The now announced wives sat around him, leaving the desk behind and the one to his right rear flank empty. The other students settled down, taking their seats as Miss Hinako leafed through the lesson plan given to her by the normal instructor.

 

Things actually moved at that point, the Saotome family ignoring the whispered questions in favor of getting the last bit of school out of the way. With the Junior year being almost half way over, it meant only the Senior year was left. Then freedom from the boredom of listening to the same thing year after year.

 

Lunch was approaching the now monotonous day, things having settled into a routine. As the classes rotated, the word of the changes spread. But since Ranma himself had declared that no questions would be answered until lunch, or after school depending on their mood, nobody dared to ask them anything.

 

When the lunch bell rang, the entire class was surprised by the Saotome family leaping out of the fourth floor window to make a two point landing on the turf below with no effort.

 

Hiroshi, Daisuke, Sayuri, Yuka and Akane came out of the doors first, followed by the students that had seen the plummet from above. The five were quickly corralled, surrounded by Ranma and his entourage holding the others back.

 

“This meeting doesn't concern you,” barked Nabiki at a couple of amorous students that had tried to break the line. She noticed that Ranma had palmed a communicator when nobody was looking, speaking quick instructions into it.

 

The schoolyard went silent when a ship decloaked directly overhead, hovering at two hundred meters. Those on the ground could read the lettering Prometheus on the underside of the saucer, as well as on the sides of the nacelles.

 

When the ship disappeared, the students looked back to where Ranma and the others had been, only to find nobody there . . .

 

-(Mars Orbit)-

 

“I said we'd speak in private,” commented Ranma in the small conference room, “This is pretty private to me.”

 

The wives had disbursed, heading for several different destinations on the red planet. Ranma had led the five guests to the conference room while giving a nickel and dime tour.

 

The view out of the aft windows was spectacular to Hiroshi, Daisuke, Sayuri, Yuka and Akane. They could faintly see Earth, the moon, as well as the massive shipyard that now took up a small chunk of real estate.

 

Then there were the ships moving about, doing their assigned tasks. Spacewalkers could be seen finishing an orbital mining platform for Mars, while several others were busy building or moving defense turrets.

 

“Wow,” said all five in complete awe of the massive undertaking that they could see.

 

While they were busy gawking at the sights beyond the windows, Ranma had set up several holographic displays. One was his branch of the family tree, another showed a timeline of events from their perspective, one had ship registries and the last had population demographics, broken down by age group, generation, and the like.

 

As they turned from the windows to speak with Ranma, the alert klaxons sounded.

 

“Of all the stupid . . .” deadpanned Ranma, making tracks for the bridge with the others in hot pursuit. “Report,” he barked as soon as he strolled through the door.

 

“Distress call from the Second Fleet, Admiral,” spoke up the Commander at tactical. “Juraian Capital ships and frigates reverted from hyperspace right on top of them.”

 

“Visual?” asked Ranma, ignoring the surprised looks of those from Earth at the rank and file.

 

The screen switched from a view of Mars and the space beyond to a battle in progress on the galactic plane thirty degrees right of Earth in the orbital track of Pluto. The Second Fleet ships were easy enough to recognize, but it was the Juraian ships that threw them for a loop.

 

“Not willing to sacrifice the treeships, are you Azusa?” Ranma asked the screen, not expecting an answer. “Get the Victory-Two-class frigates moving, have the Fourth Fleet move in to assist. Set a course and engage at warp six.”

 

The five that had been brought up from the surface were surprised when the viewer switched back to what was in front of the ship. The planet pulled away, then the stars stretched and elongated signifying faster than light travel.

 

“Ranma, what's going on?” asked a nervous Akane. This was unfamiliar turf to her and the other four that were too stupefied to say anything.

 

“Standard surprise attack,” he casually answered. “You've been around me enough to know that people attack something related to me out of the blue.”

 

The five from Earth nodded in agreement, finding no fault in the logic. Having been moving at a light factor of six, the journey was quick. Before they could speak up, the stars returned to their normal look as weapons fire became visible.

 

“Multi Vector Assault mode, arm quantum torpedoes, bring ablative armor and shields online,” Ranma ordered as Prometheus charged into the firefight. “Weapons free, target anything that fires at us.”

 

They didn't have to wait long in the target rich environment. The drones, the closest thing to a fighter in the Juraian Navy, opened fire as more ships appeared from quick warp and hyperspace jumps. The Venture-class fighters moved to engage the drones while the Victory-Two frigates took on their counterparts. Their appearance did cause the Juraian ships to hesitate for a moment, as the frigate looked like a smaller Star Destroyer with wings.

 

“Have Ascension and Demolition warm their power plants,” Ranma continued, “Then get one of the Interdictors out here.”

 

In the three ship formation, Prometheus zigzagged through the Juraian ships, raining weapons fire on the shields. The enemy returned fire, more often than not sending their energy into the void as they were moving extremely fast.

 

One of the Sovereign's from the Second Fleet met a fiery death as her warp core overloaded, sending pieces of superheated hull in all directions. The port nacelle became a missile, catching one of the Juraian Dreadnoughts in the middle of a shield cycle. The bridge was wiped out in an instant, the rest of the ship following soon after sending even more debris scattering throughout space.

 

The five from Earth were cowering in terror as another station exploded, sending sparks flying across the bridge. On the viewscreen, they could see a dying V2 frigate take a dive into one of the mobile Juraian Artillery Platforms, wiping them both from existence.

 

More ships appeared for both sides, the Fourth Fleet having entered the fray from its' scouting and securement mission on the far side of the system. The Seventh Battle Group came in aid of their brethren, nine Dreadnoughts with ten corvettes and seven frigates.

 

“Message from Earth,” barked tactical, shouting over the din of weapons fire, “They are under attack and require assistance.”

 

“This is a diversion!” exclaimed Ranma, irritated that he hadn't caught on sooner. “Issue the order: Total Recall of all ships to Earth!”

 

The battle on the viewscreen vanished as the ship swung around after reforming and entering warp at the maximum safe speed in a solar system, moving towards Earth at warp seven point five. Earth appeared very quickly, as the stars reverted to the standard spheres of light instead of florescent tubes.

 

There were a hundred Juraian capital ships, half in blockade formation over Earth the other half over Mars. Nearly a thousand drones held station, awaiting the order to attack. The drones were backed by seventy frigates. As a whole, the frigate and higher ships looked like a variant of the Mon Calamari capital ships from the last universe visited.

 

What caught the attention of Ranma were several dozen flights of what could only be a bomber. There were five bombers to a flight with ten drone escorts. The bomber resembled a tank built for space, the primary gun being the launch tube for the high yield explosives.

 

“Break the line!” ordered Ranma, dividing his attention. “Drive them away from Mars then get the Family onboard. After that, move on the Earth line.”

 

“We're too late!” shouted the Lieutenant at the helm. “Bombers on strafing runs of both planets!”

 

“Goddamnit!” roared Ranma, “Kill them all!” All activity paused for just a moment, before the orders were transmitted to the rest of the fleet. While the Juraians were outnumbered and outgunned, they pressed their attack. The capital ships ran interference with their counterparts, while the frigates would trade fire with any target in the area.

 

Akane dared to glance at the screen, which earned the entire bridge the reward of her scream. Ranma whipped his head around to look at her, then followed her line of sight to see what had spooked her so.

 

His blood ran cold at what he saw. Many of the major Metroplex areas across all of Earth were in ruins, the bombers zipping past unleashing their payloads at anything that wasn't already destroyed or on fire.

 

“Did we get them? Tell me we got them!” Ranma panicked now, fearing the loss of more of his family.

 

“All Family members present and accounted for,” reported the Second Lieutenant on tactical after consulting the board for a moment.

 

“You just got a promotion,” answered a relieved Ranma. “Get them on the line, we need a strategy for our counterattack.”

It didn't take long to get the Family on an audio only line, saving the viewscreen for the battle. As they had their conference, more ships reverted from hyperspace.

 

“Jesus Christ,” deadpanned Seina, “Azusa is off of his rocker to get the Pirate Guilds involved in this.”

 

“The Super's are ready to go,” came from Kasumi, as she was stationed on one as her personal flagship. Even though the ship was named Ascension, she renamed in on the spot to Kimiko.

 

“Bring the transphasic torpedoes online,” stated Nabiki onboard Colorado, “These bastards are being too persistent for my tastes.”

 

“Concur,” said Tenchi from Tsunami, however the ship was cloaked for the moment. “My great-grandpa he may be, but this is over the top.”

 

“Admirals,” interrupted tactical for Prometheus, “Look.” The viewers, holographic displays, or whatever the ship used to see what was going on at a distance displayed a shot of Nerima from five miles up . . .

 

As it burned.

 

“Momma?” questioned Ranma to nobody in particular. The bridges of Prometheus, Colorado, the recently dubbed Kimiko, Tsunami, as well as nineteen other ships involved in the conference learned the true meaning of fear that day.

 

“Ranma?” Karin dared to speak from her Star Destroyer Wild Child, ending the silence after the last word spoken by her husband. It wasn't declarations of revenge, shows of force, or other such things that instilled fear into so many.

 

It was the dead silence. Many thought the communications line had a glitch in it when a static noise started to emit from the speakers. As the equipment checked out, the sound grew in pitch until it became a growl.

 

“Target the enemy flagship,” ground out Ranma, “Blow her out of space!”

 

The entire exchange from when the Family was confirmed safe until the latest order took two minutes to accomplish. The `Rage', as it came to be known, spread quickly throughout the fleet.

 

The starboard torpedo tube spat out one transphasic torpedo, which instantly began to home in on its' target. The Juraian ships began evasive maneuvers, hoping to avoid the deadly weapon that was now in motion. The ship that was targeted was one of the larger ones present, dwarfing even some of the other capital ships. Its' size turned out to be its' undoing in the gravity well, as the ship was slow to respond to the commands to move.

 

The torpedo impacted on the starboard quarter, just above an engine exhaust port. The effect was immediate, a sight they had seen the previous time the weapon was used. However, it opened the floodgates when the enemy flagship was annihilated, the box that the Family ships had formed letting loose one transphasic torpedo per target. The space force of the Juraian Navy vanished in fiery death, before the Pirate ships suffered the same fate. The bombers and drones in the atmospheres of the two planets were handled by the fighter squadrons.

 

The damage had already been done, however. As soon as the last attacking ship blew apart from weapons fire, a distress call went out to the galaxy at large. It didn't take long for the Galaxy Police and Army to arrive on scene, taking in official casualty counts, property damage, and securing a perimeter so that the Earthlings could sort through the mess without more distractions.

 

A surprise came in the form of the Renza Navy, immediately offering assistance from their `Genie Lamp' ships. They also carried word from Renza itself, the much vaunted homeworld of their Union. They were an olive branch to the Earth Forces, along with the declaration of war against the Juraian Empire.

 

“Guys, check this out,” spoke an awed Washu to the Family, all of them having beamed to the Nerima ruins in hopes of finding survivors. The Mars colony had several decoy buildings on the surface while the majority of the populace was underground, so casualties were light on the red planet. She had been alerted by her computer of breaking news on the Galactic Network, their version of the HoloNet.

 

“Azusa bit off more than he could chew,” commented Tenchi, already having found his father and grandfather in the remains of the shrine. It had been a quick burial for the pair, next to his mother Achika. While the shrine had been lost, the tree Funaho had survived by use of her shields. The First Generation tree was screaming at Tsunami for vengeance. “Look at that, even in this live broadcast more systems are withdrawing support of the Empire.”

 

“It's more than that,” said Ayeka, making it clear to the others were she stood on the matter. “They are completely withdrawing from the Empire. It has been several millennia since the last mass exodus, which if I remember my history was caused by nearly the same thing. I just hope Mother and Aunt Funaho made it off of Jurai, a show of defiance to the Emperor.” She had even stopped referring to Azusa as her father, Ayeka was so mad at him.

 

“Can you tap in?” asked Kiriko, keeping a running count of the happenings. So far, seventy-eight systems in the Empire territory had withdrawn, many banding together to cobble what defenses they could.

 

“Hey, dad!” Hairbrush yelled from off to the side, his mannerisms speaking plain as day to the rest of the Family. While they made like they were looking through the rubble, all eyes were on Ranma as he made his way over to his second oldest son.

 

“I am already in,” whispered Washu to those around her, earning their attention as Ranma froze. “Mindful of words, you be. Live across the galaxy, this is.”

 

“Can the Yoda-speak,” barked her daughter Ryoko. “Only he could pull it off.”

 

“Seek shelter!” roared Junior as he came running passed the group, his brothers and sisters in hot pursuit. All eyes turned back to Ranma, only to see him kneeling on the ground holding Nodoka. They could see his mouth moving, but couldn't hear what he was saying. Looking real close, they could see Nodoka respond, cough, wince in pain, then continue.

 

As his wives and children watched from a distance, they knew the moment when Nodoka passed on to the other side. Her body went limp in his arms, her death very similar to the one that started the creation of a certain Dark Lord.

 

“We still broadcasting?” whispered Ayeka, mindful to at least attempt to keep her emotions in check.

 

“Yeah,” answered Washu, only to have Ranma appear in her face.

 

“Camera?” he demanded, to which she pointed at the device camouflaged to look like a broken television. Walking right up to it, stopping about three feet away so as not to go into the extreme close up, Ranma spoke. “The Juraian Empire is DEAD! You want a slaughter Azusa, well you'll get one the likes of which will make Ryoko's visit seven hundred plus years ago look like a walk in the park! And mark my words, I will kill you with my own hands!”

 

While Ranma was ranting to the galaxy at large, Junior had returned from his hiding spot to speak to Kasumi and Nabiki in private. He had been in the search sector next to the one they had found Nodoka in, and had found Soun.

 

The cries of the elder sisters Tendo caught Ranma's attention, which after a moment seemed to amplify his rage. Storming off in a random direction, the others let him go as the aura he was emitting was melting the remains of the buildings and streets as he moved.

 

“Fire up the shipyards,” Karin spoke into a communicator, taking an action that she hoped would be approved of later. “Just start cranking ships out, we're going to need them.” With that out of the way, she joined in the family hug.

 

--(Day Twelve)--

 

Nobody in the Family had slept one wink the night before, many finding solace in the company of others while a few found it in being alone. Ranma had disappeared early last night, his position marked by the path of slag.

 

Survivors were indeed found, which helped those that had lost loved ones focus. Karin was saddened at the death of Lucia, but at the same time she was proud as the Italian fortuneteller had prevented the loss of a five year old that had been running scared through the streets.

 

Taki, Xianghua, and Cassandra were the only three remaining from their original party. The others looked like they had went trying to shore up a wall from collapse, that would have wiped out a class of elementary students that had sought shelter in the Dojo. Having lost Soul Edge had ended Nightmare's immortality.

 

“We have a problem,” spoke Belldandy as she reappeared from Yggdrasil Control. “This attack was apparently one of the glitches we warned you about. We can't find . . .”

 

“WHAT!” shouted the Family. “You mean they're forever gone?”

 

“We're still looking, they have to be somewhere,” assured Bell, before glancing around. “Where's Ranma?” Her question was answered immediately as her senses picked up on the massive source of anger that was approaching. The others felt it too, steeling themselves to tell him about the problem.

 

“Damn it all to hell and back,” he ranted, not even giving the others an opening to tell him more bad news. His eyes lit up the moment they came to Bell, which triggered a memory in his mind. Pulling his communicator out, Ranma spoke into it before putting it back in his hidey-hole.

 

Akane, Sayuri, Yuka, Hiroshi and Daisuke appeared in a transporter beam not a minute later, the five looking around in pure shock at the level of devastation.

 

“Ranma,” called Belldandy as the five additions to the ground party spread out. “There is a problem . . .”

 

“Don't tell me, let me guess,” he quipped, “Due to our return home, the glitches caused in Yggdrasil made it so that the dead vanished from the system.”

 

“How did . . .?” started to question Urd, surprised at his guess.

 

“I spent most of the night crying into her shoulder,” Ranma explained, “Her soul is stuck in limbo here, along with twenty million others. To not spook the populace, they've all gathered in uninhabited areas.”

 

“No wonder you took the news so well,” concluded Bell, “You already knew.”

 

The communicators came to life at that point, all twenty-four original members of the Family being called at once.

 

“Two Juraian treeships have reverted from hyperspace,” came from a Fleet Admiral. “Orders?”

 

“Hail them,” said Seina, having a fairly good idea who the two were.

 

“They are requesting asylum,” said the Admiral a few seconds later. “Funaho and Misaki, formerly of the Juraian Empire are requesting permission to disembark at your location.”

 

“Let them in,” stated Tenchi, “They're allowed to come and go as they please, do not harass them at any time.”

 

“Understood,” was the reply before the channel was closed.

 

As soon as the two ships appeared in the atmosphere, many of the survivors that were wandering in a daze found a target to vent on. Debris from the old way of life were launched into the air, most missing the target while the rest skipped off of the hulls. They were quickly handled by Ranma, making a point to disable the throwing arm while explaining that the two were defecting.

 

Once on the ground, Misaki and Funaho were ushered into a command post that had been set up.

 

“Great-grandma,” bowed Tenchi formally, “The Emperor has succeeded in his quest to keep the throne. Yosho, known here as Katsuhito, is dead.”

 

Funaho was known for many things, one of them keeping her emotions in check. However, the news of her only son being killed by an attack ordered by her child's father was too much for her. She collapsed in a Misaki-esqe display, simultaneously bawling her eyes out while cursing Azusa to a most painful death.

 

“The final numbers are in thanks in part to the ships in orbit,” softly said Seina, being the ranking GP Officer on the ground at the moment. “Twenty million, four hundred thousand, eight hundred four dead. One hundred million hurt. Two billion homeless. The governments of ninety countries have totally collapsed, creating anarchy across the globe. Many are coming under our banner, while others are blaming us for bringing this disaster to Earth.”

 

“The GP will find that Azusa has sealed the border,” said Misaki, barely keeping her emotions in check. “He is only allowing the warships to cross the checkpoints to reinforce the three fronts that have appeared.” A window opened, showing the Juraian Empire borders as they had recently been redrawn. The Renza Union border, on the left, was an angry red color, same with the border rimward or bottom of the map, to the Sol System. The coreward border, a race that not many were familiar with, was simply yellow, indicating a higher alert status. Fleet movements could be seen, insofar as the treeships that were acting as spies within the Juraian war machine. “Many loyalists are sticking by his side, however just as many new age thinkers are secretly working for us.”

 

“This is one giant cluster fuck of a mess,” dryly stated Nabiki, being one of the few to reign in her emotions. Ranma had noticed that she had started down the path of the Ice Queen again, but for the moment was letting it go as there were bigger fish to fry.

 

“Mayday! Squelch -day! KKKRRR -der attack! Squelch -bushed by Juraian ground forces!” came from a nearby two way radio, causing many to groan at the persistence of their attackers.

 

“Where the hell did they come from?” demanded Ayeka, fed up with the entire situation. She could tell that the others wanted a break as much as she did.

 

WOOSH!

 

“RANMA!” shouted his family at the warrior's quickly retreating back. Deciding to follow him, the others made haste to catch up to him. They headed straight for the sounds of a firefight between marines. The battleground was already a mess, bodies recently added to it creating a scene of pure havoc. The ground defenses were mostly JSSDF and UN troops that had been on a search and rescue/recovery mission. The Juraian forces had the advanced weaponry, busting the SARR and sending the civilians that had been helping scrambling for cover.

 

Many of the dead were the workers, caught unawares when the shooting started. There were troops from both sides laying about, stripped of ammunition and supplies as the battle moved forward and backward. The perpetual tug-o-war was not over a key piece of land or structure, it had simply been where the attackers landed and where the defenders drew the line.

As the Saotome family moved through the once-city-now-field of death, the injuries leading to the final rest changed from shrapnel and bullet wounds to sword slashes. The further they went, the less civilian/allied bodies were encountered while the number of enemy soldiers' dead increased.

 

“Jesus . . .” gasped Akane, having followed her sisters when they took off.

 

“He's not even attempting to injure them,” said an equally awed Sayuri, “The wounds are one hit kills.”

 

“He's lost his mind!” despaired Hiroshi, “Look at this one. The sword he used simply severed the head from the rest of the body.”

 

“Yes,” whispered Yuka, barely holding her lunch down. “But the thing of it is, where is the blood?”

 

That even got the Family to pause and take a real good look at the death around them.

 

“Sure is clean for a massacre,” commented Taki, the events tickling a memory in her mind. “Oh no . . .”

 

“This is the work of Soul Edge,” stated Cassandra, “Looks like the Calibur half of the blade is sanitizing as he goes. The last time I saw something like this is was . . . messier.”

 

“No kidding,” chimed in Xianghua. “Edge I can understand as the soul drinker, but Calibur as a blood drinker is a bit over my head.”

 

Off to the right more gunfire erupted as the Family found themselves surrounded by friendly ground forces that thought they were just ordinary civilians.

 

“What the hell are you doing just standing around in the open like this?” demanded a Rambo look-a-like. The ground pounder was dirty, carrying many weapons, in very good shape, wearing camo paint while his clothes were black utility pants with a black muscle shirt.

 

“Oh, do bugger off,” Hild managed to sound sweet in the statement, also managing to make it so that there was no room for argument. As if to prove her point several Juraian ground troops came around the corner, opening fire with something akin to a blaster rifle. The JSSDF troops in the area were surprised to see the weapons of the enemy have no effect as a shield sprang up.

 

Before the Family could move to deal with their attackers a shadow seemed to fall upon them right before Ranma came down from a leap some distance away. The enemy marines panicked, turning all of their available firepower onto the one that had wiped out three legions in the span of five minutes.

 

“GRENADE!” roared the Rambo wannabe, making to smother somebody as a hero is wont to do and finding that there was nobody there to smother.

 

Then there was silence. Those that had followed Ranma barely even dared to breathe at the carnage before them. The enemy troops had been eliminated, each with a permanent look of abject terror locked on their faces. The combined blade Excalibur partially split, revealing the true forms underneath. Stabbing the air above his head with the weapon, Ranma watched at the Edge portion began to extract souls from the enemy bodies while Calibur acted to balance out the remains of the chaos all around him. While the holy blade wasn't a total vampire, it did need sustenance to maintain existence so it did feed with Edge. Not a gorging like the demonic weapon, just enough to recharge while sending the rest to a storage pocket.

 

“Ranma,” spoke an awed, and in great fear, Akane, “did you really have to end it like that?”

 

“Yes,” he tersely answered while attaching his sword to the magnetic scabbard on his back. “We have much work to do, let's go.” Ranma turned back in the direction of the command post, catching movement out of the corner of his eye. Opening his mouth to issue the warning, he never got the chance as Karin kicked a machine gun off of the ground into her waiting hands, firing it in the blink of an eye ala the Matrix. This set the others into motion, whipping firearms from the fallen back into action.

 

“Move, move, move!” barked Ranma, having acquired a blaster rifle and ammunition off of the closest three Juraian marine bodies. With a flick of the wrist he had inserted the new power cell, locked, loaded and was sending a spray of energy at the enemy. The Saotome family began to fight their way back towards friendly lines, occasionally getting the opportunity to make mad dashes for safety before being bogged down in a crossfire.

 

It was a weird situation for Akane, watching her docile and known to be mercenary sisters firing weapons like trained professionals. Nabiki had acquired a bandoleer of grenades from somewhere, and as the youngest Tendo watched she raised one up to her mouth, pulled and spat out the pin then lobbed it behind a barricade while handling her assault rifle. Looking back towards her right, Akane saw Ukyo pick up a rocket launcher that had been dropped by the previous user when they had died, taking aim at the far barricade.

 

“FIRE IN THE HOLE!” shouted the one time chef, seconds before pulling the trigger. The rocket zipped across the battle, impacting and detonating on the barricade clearing out the Juraian marines behind it.

 

Akane looked back to her left to see Xian lob what looked like a demolitions pack at the near obstacle, before ducking back down and pressing the remote detonation switch. The enemy troops behind that barricade were finished off in the blast, opening a hole in the line.

 

“BREAK!” roared Ranma, leaping over the edge of their foxhole to draw any remaining fire to him. The few remaining enemy troops were in full retreat, not even bothering to lay down cover fire.

 

“We're outta here!” exclaimed Karin, helping Kasumi out of the hidey-hole. Moving at a more leisurely pace, the Saotome family kept their guards up just in case the Juraian ground pounders decided to mount a counterattack.

 

They reached the command post with no further incident, the other members of the Family running out to greet them.

 

“What the hell happened to you?” demanded Tenchi of anybody willing to answer. “You left with no weapons, and come back with a small arsenal.”

 

“And I detect the subtle undertones of cooked gunpowder,” chimed in the older Ryoko while crinkling her nose.

 

“Uh, Ranma . . .” carefully started Urd, taking note that somebody was being exceptionally quiet. Once he looked in her direction did he comprehend the situation as Hild was leaning on her for support while clutching her left side.

 

“MEDIC!” roared Mara, surprising the others with her appearance. She had quickly procured a field medic kit from nowhere, getting to work immediately. “Shrapnel wound. The system must really be out of whack to allow her to be damaged in such a way. She`ll survive this, it`s mostly surface damage however I am not a certified doctor.”

 

Ranma, not wanting to eat his foot today, stayed silent while his other wives gathered around to offer support if he should need it.

 

“How did they get planet-side?” demanded Ayeka, turning her attention to Mihoshi and Seina, the only two available GP officers.

 

“Wow,” babbled Mihoshi, “Who would have thought that the Juraian Empire would resort to theft of a Galaxy Army troop transport? Those ships are not cheap to build and Azusa is going to have to pay for the one he took.”

 

While she was talking, the medics arrived to cart Hild away to the hospital that had been set up in an old nuclear fallout shelter. Ranma and the others decided to stay at the command post, looking over the latest fleet movements of the enemy as they would more than likely end up in the way.

 

“We've driven the unwelcome elements out of the system,” reported Funaho, having lent her services to the Family as an Informational Specialist. The map was zoomed in on the Sol system, showing nothing but green icons for allied/friendly ships and white for the neutral GP and GA. “These scans include the subspace spectrum courtesy of Washu, just in case any treeships decide to enter the system that way.”

 

“Good,” said a distracted Ranma, his mind elsewhere before turning to Tenchi and Seina. “Establish the security perimeter. We will begin the hunt later, right now I have somewhere else to be.” With that, he left the command post to head for the hospital area. He wasn't too worried about Hild, as the medics had confirmed the mostly surface shrapnel wound before carting her off. But now that business was handled, it was personal time. He didn't even have to glance around to know that he wasn't alone during his trek.

 

“When did things get so out of control?” wondered Ranma to nobody in particular.

 

“Probably when we started dimension hopping,” answered Nabiki. “If not there, then when we spent thirty-six years stuck in a place that wasn't truly home.”

 

“Why did Azusa have to be so insensitive?” asked Kasumi, not really expecting an answer. “Why in the world is he so power hungry?”

 

“We'll save that talk for later,” chimed in Peorth. “We seriously need us time; to put the galaxy at large on hold.”

 

Ukyo laughed at that, which made the others pause for just a moment. When she caught the inquisitive looks directed her way, she elaborated. “Please continue to hold, a representative will be with you shortly.” She said it in a drab, nasal monotone then hummed some corny elevator music.

 

“That settles it,” declared Ranma while trying to keep the smile off of his face, “Ukyo, no more calling for the supplies whenever something goes wrong . . . you've got the voice down too well.”

 

As the group strolled in the door to the hospital complex, their moods changed. The children had beaten them there, word having reached the bunkers on Mars about Hild. The youngest ones immediately fought free of their older brothers and sisters to run into the waiting arms of either parent.

 

“Oh yes, us time is in order,” commented Nabiki, watching the goings on around her.

 

--(Day thirteen)--

 

The Saotome branch of the Family had crashed in the hospital room that Hild had been placed in. Being that they had been going for nearly two days straight, it was understandable. During the treatment of the Demon Queen, her allergy was found on accident by the nurses as they administered the drugs.

 

Hild on Vicadin equals one hyperactive in more than one sense Lord of Demons. First came the bouncing off of the walls, then came wanting to breed like rabbits to both at the same time.

 

Good thing for Ranma that the kids were present, or he'd be even more worn out at the moment. Glancing at the ever present clock, he noted that it was already ten in the morning. Taking stock of the room, he became aware of the others still sleeping and attempted to join them in the land of slumber. However, the call of nature wouldn't be denied, so Ranma had to carefully step and pick his way to the bathroom.

 

Such was the force of draining the bladder, the noise of a loud waterfall woke the others and created the same urge to purge. Instead of fighting for the only toilet in the room, the family wisely scattered in search of others. When they returned, all eyes fell on Ranma as he stretched in the beginnings of an indoor slow kata causing his spine to pop loudly.

 

“Sleep good,” he offhandedly remarked, now working on his legs. “I do feel better now.”

 

“Time for food,” grumbled Urd, picking up the phone and dialing the cafeteria to place the family's order. While she did so, the others minus Ranma and Hild began to filter up to Prometheus to freshen up before returning to the underground hospital.

 

“How you feeling, mom?” asked Chibi-Mara of the now awake Hild.

 

“Gimmie drugs!” she moaned out, “Need drugs, pain . . .”

 

“Yeah, right,” commented Urd as she leaned over her to poke at the wound area. When there was no reaction from Hild, Urd knew that she was calling for Vicadin simply because she was feeling frisky. “You know better than that, Mom. Ranma is afraid to break us as it is, you think he's gonna do that with you being hurt?”

 

“D'oh,” drawled out Hild, dropping the in pain act to sit up as breakfast arrived. Not the greatest food in the universes, but as they didn't want preferential treatment due to who they were it would do for now.

 

The family ate in silence. Well, as in silence as they could get with Ranma doing his Hoover vacuum impersonation again.

 

“What's the rush?” asked Junior, having learned over the years that whenever his father ate like food was just declared illegal that something was about to happen.

 

“Yeah, you trying to ditch me?” joked Hild, noting that it had no effect on the eating machine. That set off alarms in the minds of the others, minus the younger children, as whenever Ranma would be joking around while eating a remark like that would get him to pause and sputter through a lame comeback. The seriousness of the situation became apparent when Ranma set his bowl and chopsticks down, then got up without asking for more.

 

“All right, you have our attention,” deadpanned Nabiki, “So would you please tell us what is going through that mind of yours?”

 

No answer was forthcoming, making the others abandon their food to give chase. Ranma was out on a mid-level underground veranda, fishing around in his stuff space pocket for something.

 

“Ranma?” tried a worried Peorth, taking note that he did indeed pause in his search to turn and look at them.

 

“OWA-OWA-OWA-OWA,” came from his mouth in rapid fire mode, followed by, “JADDA-DA-AH-DA-AH!”

 

“It's official, he's lost it,” quipped Taki, shaking her head at the absurd noises coming from Ranma's mouth. There was no reply to her remark as the others watched Ranma do a good impersonation of a stressed out transit driver. Getting fed up with digging around and not being able to see what was in his grasp before pulling it out, he drew a door in mid air. As soon as it appeared, Ranma stepped inside then started throwing objects out.

 

“Maybe he actually has lost it,” stated Kasumi in full oblivious mode, “He sure is trying hard to find it.”

 

Several large objects lay about with numerous smaller ones. As the family watched, stuff that they didn't even know about came out the door. Nabiki started to do an inventory, to see if there was anything of high value.

 

“Let's see,” she said, carefully picking her way through the flying object field. Ranma Junior was on her heels, having partially followed in his mother's footsteps.

 

They came across a wide variety of . . . well, shit. On her left was a ship anchor, laying next to an industrial sized blender. On her right was a partially assembled Six-Vee Ninety-Two Detroit Diesel engine, complete with twin turbo chargers. Junior made an offhand remark about the engine, as it tipped the scales at six thousand pounds. Next to the engine was a rubber ducky, kitty, Godzilla, and of all things a horse. Looking behind the engine, Nabiki could see even more weird stuff, like Ranma's toolbox.

 

Hey, everybody has to have a hobby . . .

 

“OWA-OWA-OWA-OWA-OWA!” barked Ranma, leaping about the now great pile of stuff. He appeared to be highly agitated, having emptied his personal stuff space out onto the veranda. Pausing in the rant to say “Oh, there it is,” he started to head back inside.

 

“Aren't you going to pick this stuff up?” wondered Urd, trying for the life of her to figure some of the gadgets out and thinking that Skuld would love to have a chat with her husband.

 

“Yeah, in just a moment,” answered a suddenly sane Ranma, who had turned around to fiddle with the engine. “Yeah, more power,” he mumbled, opening his toolbox up to reveal another stuff space pocket. Hairbrush and Penelope were by his side in an instant, now sporting coveralls that had grease and oil stains everywhere.

 

“Ugh,” gagged Ukyo and Kenji, mother and son both despising being dirty. “Must you track grease everywhere?”

 

“Yes,” answered Karin, up to her elbows in the intake manifold. She had taken to tinkering with the monstrous engine like a fish to water. “Besides, this hobby is great. It gives us all bonding time . . . Ranma, the number three intake valve is bent.”

 

“How much for a new one, Nabiki?” he immediately asked, leaning over the five hundred fifty-two cubic inch engine to have a look. Now knowing that the intake valve was damaged, Ranma started to check the crank/camshaft timing. “No wonder the damned thing had a misfire.”

 

The mother and son duo of Nabiki and Junior had broken out the parts catalogue, leafing through the pages to find the requested price check.

 

Kasumi with her eye for detail, placed a hand on Ranma's shoulder. While she refused to touch the engine, much like Ukyo and Kenji, she did observe what was going on.

 

“Look at this,” she said, pointing at the counter-timing gear. Ranma had to do a double take, before launching a few swear words out of his mouth.

 

“While you're at it,” he had turned to Nabiki, “We need a complete timing gear set. The counter-gear is damaged.”

 

“Now that's gonna cost us,” commented Junior, “But dad, why don't we just replicate the parts?”

 

“Better warranty,” Ranma joked, before giving the true answer. “Because we are doing this the old fashioned way, with blood, sweat, tears, ingested oil and the like. That, and you know that we may have to modify parts to get this thing up and running in a quick order.”

 

“Yeah, but that Cummins you passed up would have been easier to deal with,” quipped Hild from the doorway, surprising the others with her appearance. “Don't worry, the system glitch pertaining to me being hurt has been fixed. Still sore, but I'm good to go.”

 

“What is going on here?” questioned Tenchi, making his appearance right at lunch time. “Ah geez, no that piece of junk Detroit again. I warned you about it when you picked it up off of the dealer.”

 

“Hey, it's a good form of bonding while keeping our talents sharp,” countered Nabiki, hefting the catalogue to aide her point. “Kasumi can spot a small chip in a sprocket from a dozen yards. Xian uses her hearing to detect even the smallest misfire or other such noise.”

 

“We're ready to move out,” came the voice of Seina just before walking through the door to the underground veranda. “Oh, cool. Where'd you find this at?”

 

“Not you too,” groaned Tenchi, before shaking his head. “Never mind, we have to get ready.”

 

“Ah, time to go to war eh?” questioned Ranma, already sporting grease smudges on his arms and a small one on his face. He took a look at the stuff from his personal storage pocket, and used it as an excuse to imitate a bulldozer to stuff it back to where he got them. “We'll get cleaned up and be with you shortly.”

 

--(Earth Orbit, one hour later)--

 

“All right, check in time,” declared Ranma from Prometheus. The children had been `coerced' into staying behind, while the wives had scattered to their ships.

 

“Hi,” sweetly said Kasumi from Kimiko. Noticing the look directed her way, she quickly added, “We're green.”

 

“Locked and loaded,” stated Nabiki from Colorado, not daring to launch into bantering yet.

 

“Golden,” deadpanned Ukyo, still trying to get used to command onboard her Defiant-class ship dubbed Ranchan.

 

“Vengeance is ours,” growled Xian from her comfy chair on her Sovereign-class Amazon.

 

“Here we go again,” dryly stated Urd from her Imperial-class Star Destroyer Will of the Kami.

 

“Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war!” bellowed Hild, itching to dish out some serious hurt from her Victory-Two-class frigate Gates of Hell.

 

“Green on the board,” was the first totally professional militaristic answer from Karin on her Victory-class Star Destroyer Wild Child.

 

“Let's just get this over with,” drawled Taki from her Galaxy-class Dark Ninja.

 

“Fan out, you have the coordinates,” said Ranma, having received confirmations of green status from Tsunami and Tsunamis' Sister, the only two ships the cousins could dig up.

 

The slow moving capital ships took up the rear flank as the faster destroyers, frigates, cruisers and fighters took up flight formation on point. The First through Tenth Fleets were going on the trek, while the Eleventh through Twentieth were to remain in the Sol system on patrols. There was a secondary order to stand ready to move out to assist the primary forces.

 

Ranma had been tapping at the communications console mounted on his right arm rest, opening a channel to the fleet very quietly. It came as a surprise to many when Guns'n'Roses `Welcome to the Jungle' blared on the speakers as the ships leapt to their differing forms of FTL.

 

Shinji and Rei, both having elected to remain behind, couldn't help but wonder on what they were missing out on. Not that it mattered, as they were commissioned into service as mobile artillery with their Evas.

 

--(Todain System, Galactic Academy three hours later)--

 

The Juraian fleet occupying the Todain system was expecting the attack. They knew without a shadow of a doubt that the shortest path from Earth to Jurai went through the Galactic Academy first. However, as the response from the newfound Earth Forces hadn't come in the last two days, the crews started to get arrogant. They were cheering at the perceived cowardice of the Humans, getting lax in their duties.

 

They paid dearly for it when the battle began, as the faster ships dropped out of their faster than light medium, using the momentum to charge into the ranks and wreak havoc.

 

“I'm taking you down, plastic boy!” taunted Ranma as Prometheus zigged and zagged through the enemy ships.

 

“That's right, use your anger,” encouraged Hild from her frigate as her tactical officer killed another ship.

 

“Whoa! Did anybody else see that?” asked a surprised Nabiki, having blown a half dozen ships out of space with one shot of the phasers, a one of a kind hit to be certain.

 

The battle raged for twenty minutes, the Juraians quickly retreating as the sector flagship was blown apart. The heavily damaged ships were boarded and commandeered, the crews dropped in the escape pods on Todain.

 

“Engineering crews, get those ships repaired to the best of your abilities then take them to sector zero-zero-one,” ordered Tenchi, having stayed out of the battle for the time being. The Family knew that as soon as the ship of the Goddess entered the fray, the Juraians may turn suicidal and kamikaze their ships en masse.

 

“Fan out from here,” said Seina, “This spearhead tactic will only work one more time against Azusa, so let's save it for when it counts.” Left unsaid would be that the next time it was used would be in the Juraian system itself.

 

“You know your duties,” Ranma attempted to soothe his family. “We will do this to our best abilities, even with the glitching Yggdrasil and we will be able to relax once the threat is eliminated.”

 

“Meaning, you all will be alive to return home,” barked Nabiki, her emotional side coming forth. “I know my plan to survive, as do the rest of you. Just do it, and get home.”

 

A prison camp was quickly built on Todain, the Galactic Academy happy to be out from under the Juraian Empire's thumb. While they weren't too pleased with the stationed personnel from Tenchi and Seina's families, they were quickly soothed by the fact that they were neutral observers administering to the prisoners rights.

 

Hey, total galactic conquest notwithstanding, even prisoners of war have rights.

 

From there, the combined might of the fleets spread out. Ranma took his pieces of the game to Seniwa, the homeworld of the Kuramitsu family. Kasumi had stationed her pieces on the Juraian edge of the Todain system, drawing a line in the nebulae. Karin took hers to the Beta system, while Urd headed for the Alpha system. Ukyo headed for the Renza Union line, intending to cut up through there to begin the box. Nabiki headed for open space, to circle around on the right flank of the Empire. The others traveled parallel to the line drawn by Kasumi, making certain to keep the phenomena of the galaxy at their backs.

 

Once the pieces of the game were in place, they moved as one on the push to Jurai Prime . . .

 

TBC

 

Finally got over the writers block. Sorry for the weird parts in here, but hey a little comedy never hurts.

 

Okay, big bold print time. FOR THE LAST TIME, I DO NOT HAVE THE MANGA! PAY ATTENTION! I ONLY HAVE THE ANIME, TO WHICH I BASE MY FICS. THIS IS THE LAST TIME I'M SAYING THIS, SO IF YOU STILL CAN'T CATCH ON DIAL 1-800-BOO-HOO AND TALK TO SOMEBODY THAT GIVES A SHIT!

 

Goddamnit, catch on . . . anyway, Ja!