Tenchi Muyo Fan Fiction ❯ Natural Selection: The Undoing of Heaven and Earth ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
Natural Selection: The Undoing of Heaven and Earth
Chapter 2
-----
The blizzard seemed endless; the icy wind had only gotten stronger with
the passing night, assaulting the two shadowed men that stood quietly in the
knee-deep snow.
"How are you still alive?" Jessen spat at the Jurian warrior in front of
him, raising his voice to be heard above the howling wind.
Pale blue light emanated from the glowing sword that the figure held in
his hand, acting as a beacon in the darkness and casting eerie shadows across
everything around it.
"You are the one named Jessen. The unholy demon who committed
unforgivable acts upon the royal family of Jurai."
Jessen narrowed his eyes as the words reached his ears. The voice
was obviously not of the boy, Tenchi; it was sharp, reserved, and held a
self-commanding tone.
"Hmph. You aren't Masaki," Jessen snorted dismissively.
"I am not. Know that I am Kanrei von Rau, the one who will be ending
your blighted existence." He slowly brought his sword up in front of him and
grasped it with both hands, pointing it at Jessen. The blue luminescence from the
sword finally brought light upon the newcomer's face, revealing a visage filled
with stern concentration. Four black stripes adorned his cheeks, two slashing
across each. A black headband was wrapped around his forehead, and his
long white hair was pulled off to the side of his head as the strong wind
whipped it around.
"Another vengeful, over-confident Jurian out for my blood. I have no
time for you," Jessen sneered.
"You will make time. I have waited far too long for this encounter."
Kanrei brought his sword back into ready position, and darted forward at his
foe.
*****
"Miss Washu!" Ayeka scrambled off of the short metal platform she was
sitting on and grabbed Washu's shirt frantically. "You have to do something!
Tenchi-- oh, Tenchi!" Ayeka halted her pleading and fell against Washu,
breaking into tears as the realization hit her once again.
"There there, child," Washu said soothingly, smiling to herself as she
lowered both herself and Ayeka down to sit upon the floor. She hugged Ayeka
tightly, smoothing her damp purple hair with one hand and holding the sobbing
princess as only a mother knew how.
"I could've done something," Ayeka moaned into Washu's shoulder, in
between sobs. "I had the power to help, but I just let him-- Tenchi's dead, and
now he can't-- I won't-- we aren't-- he'll never really know--"
"Well now, who ever said that Tenchi was dead?"
"He-- WHAT?" Ayeka's watery eyes snapped open, and she pushed
herself away from Washu just enough to stare at her in disbelief. "But Jessen,
he--"
"He doesn't know as much as he thinks he does." Washu had a sly grin
on her face as she stood up and pulled Ayeka to her feet. "Sorry for not telling
you right away, but you looked like you needed to unbottle some more of those
tears. 'sides, it serves you right for thinking I'd let my Tenchi get killed! You
need to give a scientist of my caliber more credit! Now, wipe those eyes and
turn around."
Ayeka didn't move. Her muscles didn't want to function, as if they didn't
believe what the ears had just heard. After a few more moments of hesitation on
Ayeka's part, Washu finally just spun her around manually and gave her a light
shove on the back, pushing her toward the back wall of the lab.
Blinking her eyes rapidly, Ayeka took a few unsteady steps forward
and looked out in front of her. A row of large glass tubes lined the metal wall,
all filled with a bubbling green liquid. The tubes were all identical, save for the
one in the middle of the row, which seemed to have a dark shadow floating
within its confines. Ayeka took another step, then another, then finally ran the
rest of the distance to the tube and pressed her hands against the glass, looking
up into the murky fluid. Inside, the floating shadow slowly drifted forward,
gaining definition and becoming more humanoid until the figure inside finally
came up against the glass. The breath caught in Ayeka's throat as she saw
what her heart had desperately hoped.
"Tenchi..." Ayeka looked into Tenchi's face, almost not believing what
she saw. It was truly him, and he was alive. Most of his body was tilted back
into the tube and obscured in shadow, but the face was all that mattered. A
mechanical breathing apparatus covered his head from the nose down, but his
eyes were closed in peaceful slumber. Only for a moment was he visible, before
slowly floating backward and again becoming obscured in shadow.
"Thank you..." Ayeka whispered, leaning up against the tube and closing
her eyes.
*****
Jessen leapt backwards as the bright blade of light in Kanrei's hands
carved through the darkness in front of him. Landing in the snow a few yards
back, Jessen skidded to a stop as he glared at his opponent and felt down the
front of his clothing with one hand. The three-inch deep horizontal cut in the left
edge of his leather duster was nothing, but the thin separation that was now in
the abdomen of his black shirt was indication enough of how close the sword
had come to spilling Jessen's intestines out into the night snow.
"Stupid Jurian," Jessen said, turning his attention back upon Kanrei.
"You wish to die that badly?"
"Your words mean nothing to me, coward." Kanrei's voice was cold,
seeming to disregard Jessen completely. "Know that while I still live, you will
never go unhunted." He brought his sword back into a ready position, crouched
slightly, then dashed at Jessen again.
"So be it." Jessen spun to the side as the blue sword slashed downward,
cleaving the air where he had just stood. Such an attack was fierce, but left the
attacker open to retaliation, shown in painful detail as Jessen extended his arm
and used the added force from his evasory spin to land a crushing backhand
across Kanrei's temple. The power of the blow was such that it snapped
Kanrei's head to the side and sent him sprawling into a nearby snow drift,
almost completely masking him in the white powder. The sword Kanrei held
flew out of his hand upon impact with the ground, spinning out into the snow
and disappearing as the blue light blade winked out.
"I should've expected as much." Jessen folded his arms calmly as the
prone body of his fallen opponent shifted slightly under the snow. "You
disappoint me, Jurian. I almost believed that you would put up a suitable fight."
Snow cascaded down from Kanrei's shoulders as he slowly pushed
himself up onto his hands and knees, turning his head toward Jessen. His teeth
were clenched, and his eyes were ablaze with anger.
"Oh, so you aren't quite done," Jessen said bemusedly. "Ready to
actually try, now?"
Without saying a single word, Kanrei leapt to his feet and rushed Jessen
yet again, striking out at his face with a closed fist. Even though the attack was
easily read, it came with such unexpected speed that Jessen was only barely
able to throw his arm up to push it aside. The deflected fist shot past Jessen's
head but still managed to clip his left ear, the force of the blow shattering the
cartilage comprising the scapha and antihelix. Jessen grunted surprisedly at the
small stab of pain, but was not so thrown off as to not retaliate. Grabbing
Kanrei's extended arm with his left hand, Jessen lashed out with his right,
aiming for a hand-stab to Kanrei's exposed throat.
It was strange, how quiet the scene became at that moment. The wind
had stopped completely, and the light snowflakes, now without anything altering
their path, fell to the ground complacently. Far above in the sky, the cloud cover
began to part and pull away from itself, signaling that the worst of the storm was
over and allowing the bright moon to shine through and illuminate the land below.
As the light intensified, the two fighters held their positions in the snow,
their eyes adjusting to the sudden increase in visibility. Puffs of breath could
finally be seen coming from both mouths, freezing instantly in the cold air before
disappearing. Jessen stared into the eyes of his opponent with a mixture of
disbelief and strenuous exertion marring his expression. An inch in front of
Kanrei's throat, shaking slightly as it struggled to move, was Jessen's right hand,
held in place by the unyielding grip of Kanrei's left.
"You seem to be at a loss for words." Kanrei's sea-green eyes seemed
ablaze with contempt as they returned the stare Jessen sent. He shifted his
weight and pushed forward, shoving Jessen away from him and breaking the
wrist-locks that they both held. "Perhaps you are not as strong as you believe."
Jessen snorted as he halted his backward momentum and regained his
balance. "And maybe the same goes for you. I'll just have to show you which
belief is correct."
"And so shall I."
*****
Washu's lab looked... different, now that Ayeka was in a mindset to
notice such a thing. The usual ever-looming presence of machines and lights
were very subdued; everything seemed to be in its normal place, but the lack
of activity was definitely unusual. Out of the entire complex, it looked as if only
a few vital pieces of machinery were operating normally. Ayeka slowly walked
around, her mind still spinning uncontrollably from everything that had happened
that night, until a soft voice grabbed her attention.
"Tenchi..."
"S.. Sasami!" Ayeka recognized the voice of her younger sister
immediately, and whirled around until she caught sight of her. Not too far away
from where Ayeka stood, Sasami lay upon a long metal bench, wrapped in a
white blanket and curled up in a fetal position. Ayeka gasped and ran over to
the bench, kneeling down next to Sasami and quickly looking over her. The
young Jurian princess had her eyes closed in fitful sleep, her hands clutching
the blanket and her face harboring a look of frightened urgency. She tossed
and turned as she slept, her dreams obviously unpleasant ones. Her soft voice
had reduced to an incomprehensible mumbling, with few decipherable words
heard.
"Washu? Washu! What happened to Sasami?" Ayeka called over to
Washu frantically, who was now typing away on her smoky subspace laptop.
"She had quite a mental shock, but she'll be fine. She was unfortunate
enough to be in here when Tenchi was attacked, and saw the entire thing on the
viewscreen." Washu gave her reply without looking up from her work, her
fingers flying across the keyboard as if possessing a mind of their own. "The
poor dear went into hysterics almost immediately. Understandable, really. I was
forced to administer some mild sedatives so she would sleep. She'll be waking
up soon, so it's a good thing you're here."
Ayeka sighed in relief and hugged Sasami, brushing her long blue pigtails
out of her face and kissing her on the forehead. She stood up slowly and
returned to where Washu was working.
"Now," Washu said, still typing rapidly. "First and foremost, is to find
out exactly what Jessen did to disrupt my power supply. He obviously knew
that I was here, and that I had the means to stop him before he could act."
"But.. if you could've stopped him.." Ayeka really didn't want to blame
Washu after everything she had done to help the situation, but a small trace of
accusation still managed to worm it's way into her trailing voice.
"Unfortunately, even the greatest scientific genius in the universe can't be
everywhere at once. I was running tests on my recently-improved Sub-Ethereal
Dimensional Vortex Generator, and was busy taking a lengthy data-collecting
excursion on a planet that didn't have a raging blizzard on it. It wasn't until he
threw the metaphoric wrench in my gears that I was even aware of his presence.
Luckily, my safeguard systems brought me back as soon as the power started
failing. I easily could've become trapped were I not so careful."
"But what could he have done to disrupt your power?" Ayeka asked,
somewhat relieved at Washu's answer.
"Well, considering the weather conditions outside and the prolonged
state of effect, the only thing he could've done was set up a very sophisticated
and powerful device inside the house. It's strong enough to keep both my main
and my backup power supplies down to almost nothing, yet it's precise enough
to segregate the effect to my lab only. Since the power to the rest of the house
was unaffected, everyone else was oblivious to his move."
"Do you know what's capable of that?"
"If I had to guess, I'd say it was something... like... that!" Washu
triumphantly jabbed her index finger at the one of the viewscreens that floated
in front of her.
*****
Zzrt. Zzzzzzzzzzzzt.
A little silver creature skittered across the carpet of Masaki house's
guest room, making it's way toward the large tripod set into the floor. The
creature, standing at about four inches long and one inch high, could best be
described as a small mechanical spider, it's spindly legs carrying it to the tripod
and up the closest leg. Reaching the top of the bent-legged contraption, the
spider examined the top of the spike. The small green holographic cube
spinning on top was still there, turning slowly upon its pedestal. Seemingly
satisfied, the spider scuttled about an inch down the spike, stopped, and
wrapped its long legs around the thing cone of metal. Its position sufficiently
anchored, the little metallic arachnid opened its pedipalps and chelicerae with
a sharp click, before clamping them down upon the surface of the metal. A
slight hissing sound came from the metal under the vice-like maw almost
immediately, the silver turning a bright shade of orange and starting to smoke
as the powerful laser cutters began to slowly melt through the spike. The cube
resting atop the flat of the spike turned a dark shade of grey as it sensed the
attack on it's systems, but was otherwise unreactive.
*****
"Finally," Washu exclaimed as she watched the viewscreen. "Several of
my scouts have been scouring the house since the power failure. It's an EMP
Spike, and reinforced, from the looks of it. The designs of the Spike's inner
mechanics are both unique and practical, with numerous sections working in
tangent with each other until damaged. When one section fails the other parts
recognize the failure, cut off the tangent link, and continue running normally,
albeit at a lesser strength. In other words, we'll be getting a percentage of our
normal power back with each section put offline. At any rate, my little Spidey'll
get through it soon enough, as soon as the rest of my helpers get there." Another
screen popped into existence above Washu's laptop, showing a myriad of
overlapping graphs and readouts. Washu quickly looked them over and typed
another set of commands into her keyboard. Against the back wall, the tube to
the left of Tenchi glowed brightly, then faded back to normal, containing a
shadow similar to the one next to it. Ayeka turned around at the light, and
squinted her eyes at the shadow.
"Is that...?" She trailed off, already knowing that there was only one
person left that it could be.
"Ryoko, yes." Washu's tone was more serious then it had been all night.
"Foolish child. She attacked Jessen after your encounter, knowing full well that
without any of her energy jewels, she didn't even have a chance. He almost
killed her because of it."
"But why would she do such a thing?"
"For the same reason that you called for Azaka and Kamidake, even
though you knew how small a chance they had of subduing Jessen."
Ayeka's gaze fell to the floor, her eyes welling up with tears as the
memories of her guardians' deaths rushed back to her. They died for nothing,
killed while trying to protect her from something that had no intention of harming
her. Ayeka hated herself for freezing, for breaking down and quivering like a
frightened child at the first sight of Jessen. Just like the first time he had been
on Jurai.
"Emotions are strong things, Ayeka," Washu continued, as if knowing
exactly what was going through Ayeka's mind. "When something like that
happens, minds don't work like they usually do. None of us can blame you
for responding like tha--."
"Miss Washu," Ayeka interrupted, quickly wiping her eyes and looking
up from the floor. "Where's Jessen, right now?"
Washu paused her workings for only a half-second, before continuing
as if nothing had been said. She knew Ayeka wanted to change the subject,
and there was no point in resisting. From deep within the bowels of the
laboratory, the faraway sound of heavy machinery churning to life echoed off
the nearby walls. "My scanners indicate that he's still somewhere close to the
house. And since he obviously still thinks that Tenchi is dead, there must be
some other extenuating circumstance that's prevented him from leaving."
Upon the laptop viewscreen, what looked to be a feed from a security
camera appeared, showing a top-down angle of the land between the house
and the lake. As Washu and Ayeka watched, a slightly blurry close-up view of
Jessen and Kanrei shifted across the screen quickly, only visible for a moment
before passing off the side of the screen.
"And that would seem to be it."
*****
The battle by the lake was at a one-sided standstill. Jessen's endless
barrage of attacks had been ineffective, no matter how hard or how fast they
were sent. Every punch was parried, every snow-churning kick was brushed
aside, every feint was read, every attempt to push through Kanrei's defenses
was thwarted. The white-haired Jurian hadn't allowed the successful landing of
a single blow, but had also refrained from trying to capitalize on any opportunity
to retaliate. He seemed content to just block and dodge every attack with the
same contemptuous look on his face.
"You fucking Jurian!" Jessen yelled angrily, his cool demeanor having
already crumbled at his inability to do away with his foe. "Fight me!"
Kanrei remained silent as he blocked the lunging punch coming toward
him and ducked away from the follow-up spinning elbow thrown immediately
after. With a few more evasory dodges backward, he had moved past the
edge of the forest and into the trees. An errant left backhand by Jessen flew
past Kanrei's face and smashed into one of the first trees, shattering a large
hole into the trunk and sending a spray of wood splinters and bark flying.
Taking another jump backward, Kanrei avoided the snow falling from the
branches above him and waited for Jessen to continue his pursuit.
"I..."
But he didn't. Jessen was standing still, his balled fist pressed firmly
against the hole it had created in the tree. His breath came out in ragged bursts
from between his gritted teeth, and his right hand clenched and unclenched
repeatedly.
"I know what you're doing.. you're trying to draw me out.." Jessen
stood up straight, and let his arms fall to his sides. His mouth slowly began to
form into a very disheartening smile as he spoke. "Unable to kill me yourself,
you think you can make me betray my position to the Galaxy Police."
Kanrei narrowed his eyes as Jessen began to chuckle, tilting his head
back to face the black and grey sky above him. The strangely soft laughter was
devoid of joy, but still seemed to carry a distinct tone of satisfaction. Jessen
brought his head back down and regarded Kanrei again, the same unnerving
smile still upon his face.
"Ohhh, you are interesting... one of the most interesting, by far. But
sadly, you are still going to die, just like every other member of your disgusting
rac-"
Jessen halted his words abruptly, and a very faint beeping noise could
suddenly be heard in the otherwise silent air. He quickly reached inside a
pocket within the lining of his duster and pulled out a small metal rectangular
controller of some kind, his eyes searching over the panel face before snapping
up to look at Kanrei.
"...you." Jessen stared into the Jurian's face for only a moment, before
turning around and sprinting back in the direction of the house. Pointing the
instrument at the house, he clicked a small button on the side before jamming
the whole thing back into his duster's inside pocket. He cursed himself silently as
he ran; he had been so caught up in the fight that he didn't even realize that his
safeguard was being dismantled. Allowing himself to become so focused that
he couldn't even hear his warning indicator had been a stupid move. Stupid
enough to seriously jeopardize his situation, in fact.
Half-glancing back, Jessen caught a slicing glint of white out of the
corner of his eye and immediately lunged into a diving roll to the snowy ground,
barely dodging the jumping spin kick that had been aimed at his head. As he
came out of his tumble and rose into a squatting position, he twisted his body
around and pushed off with his feet, propelling himself backward just as a
vicious axe kick from his pursuer slashed mere inches from his face. Jessen hit
the ground on his back and immediately tucked into a backward roll that not
only pushed him to his feet, but gave him perfect position to defend against his
assailant, who was still rushing toward him in an attempt to stop his retreat.
"You Jurians don't know when to stop trying, do you?" Jessen spat,
blocking the running punch that Kanrei threw as he came within range.
"While I still live..."
*****
"I have three whole squadrons of troops ready to hunt this guy down,
and we're just floating out here doing nothing! This is fucking bullshit, sir!"
A small, sleek craft flew through the night air, only a few feet from the
canopy of the forest below it. The intense moonlight shining from above
reflected sharply upon the shiny black frame of the ship, casting a disorienting
contrast against the endless white underneath. Snow was violently torn from
the tops of the trees in the backwash of the flight, and a large line of bare
branches trailed far behind the ship in marking of the route the ship had taken.
"That's affirmative Lieutenant, but bullshit as it may be, you and your
men are to hold position until ordered otherwise. 0315 has not been integrated
yet, and unless in direct active pursuit of a criminal, entering such a planet's
space without definite permission of the Jurian Council is a clear violation of
GP regulation. Unfortunately for us, that damned group of bureaucrats seem to
be dragging their asses about coming to a decision."
Inside the small ship, the dash monitor was displaying several
topographical maps and readouts, clicking through information while the internal
computer automatically adjusted the ship's flight path. Beyond the display
screens and a few status lights adorning some of the onboard mechanics, the
cockpit was dark; the windshield and side windows were tinted to almost
complete darkness, keeping the glaring moonlight from entering. The shadowed
pilot of the craft sat silently in the single seat, remaining almost completely
motionless as the radio continued to relay it's transmission.
"Dammit! We KNOW he's down there, sir! Why haven't we gotten
permission to track that fucker down?"
"Sorry Lieutenant, but we have a no-show from the King, and we both
know that we won't be getting any word from HQ till he appears. And we
WILL NOT move until ordered to do so. So until that--"
The radio cut out abruptly as the rest of the ship systems hummed to
life, accompanied by a distinctly synthetic voice that emanated from the
computer console.
** APPROACHING TARGET ** BATTLE SYSTEMS INITIALIZING **
*****
Kanrei's vision exploded into glittering sparkles as a double-handed
scoop of snow slammed into his face, driving him back a step as he tried to see
his opponent through the distraction. The maneuver was obviously a
diversionary tactic, but one he knew how to work around. Relying on a single
sense meant death on the battlefield, and Kanrei knew it. Even as the snow hit
his face, he could hear the sharp rustle of leather as it began to quickly move
off to his left side, marking the motions as clearly as if he could see it. Vision still
obscured, Kanrei lunged toward the sound, throwing his full strength into a
vicious blind punch in the hopes of catching Jessen off guard.
And he connected. The sound of his fist hitting it's target echoed in
Kanrei's ears; the slap of flesh against leather, to be more precise. As the snow
swept from his vision, he could see finally see the recipient of his attack: the
empty frame of a black leather duster, flying in mid-air and wrapping around
his arm from the force of impact.
Relying on a single sense meant death on the battlefield, indeed.
Kanrei's head exploded in pain as the thick heel of Jessen's right boot
smashed into the back of his skull; the devastating jump kick sent him staggering
forward, his vision blurring in and out of darkness as he stumbled, feebly trying
to keep himself upright. Through his eyes, the world around him seemed to
pulse and twist slowly, the sharp contrast of light between the white ground
under him and the night sky above causing him even more disorientation. Inside
Kanrei's spinning head, a harried voice managed to penetrate the layer of fog
that had surrounded his mind, calling out in a desperate plea and urging him to
snap out of his stupor. Easier thought than done, unfortunately.
Jessen stood behind Kanrei, now without his leather duster, arms
folded as he watched his opponent take a few unsteady steps before losing his
balance and falling to his hands and knees in the snow. He slowly walked to
Kanrei's side and looked down at him, a look of contempt coming onto his face.
"Tricked so easily?" Jessen asked, his mocking voice berating his fallen
opponent. "Perhaps you are not as clever as you first appeared. You must be
kicking yourself for making such a foolhardy mistake. Please, allow me to help."
Kanrei gasped in pain as Jessen's boot rammed into his stomach, raising
him a few feet into the air before a mid-air stomp to his spine sent him smashing
back into the ground. He choked weakly as he tried to regain the breath that
had been forced from his lungs and feebly trying to get his muscles to work
through the pain racking his body.
"Such a waste of sentience." Jessen bent down and grabbed a thick
handful of Kanrei's long white hair, pulling up harshly and yanking the alien
warrior to his knees. "I think you finally need to die, Jurian. If you can muster
the breath, I will give you the chance to state an objection."
"EC-WARRANT #6392955."
Jessen blinked as the booming, strangely-mechanical voice reached
his ears, and he quickly looked up to locate the source of the sound.
"BY THE ORDER OF THE JURIAN ROYAL COUNCIL AND
THE GALAXY POLICE, YOU ARE PLACED UNDER ARREST."
The waters in the middle of the lake chopped furiously, broken from
their stillness by the force created from the hover-thrusters of the ship setting
only a few feet above the surface. Under the moonlight's bright glow, the Galaxy
Police insignias etched into the ship's side panels gleamed brightly, an obvious
indication of the nature of the vessel. The sleek craft hung in the air,
near-motionless as the announcement boomed from the external speakers,
continuing its decree in the same emotionless tone. At the tip of the ship's nose,
a small ball of white energy appeared, slowly but steadily growing larger and
brighter.
"No... " Jessen gritted his teeth and took a step back. He was backed
into a corner now. Even with his battered, barely-conscious opponent held in
front of him, he had let himself get forced into a cage, and had the Galaxy
Police in front of him as concrete proof of such.
"YOU ARE HEREBY ORDERED TO RELINQUISH YOURSELF
INTO GALAXY POLICE CUSTODY. RESISTANCE WILL RESULT IN
THE USE OF DEADLY FORCE."
He wouldn't be taken. Not again. He had to-- wait.
"YOU HAVE FIVE SECONDS TO SURRENDER. FIVE."
Jessen was silent.
"FOUR."
Silent, perhaps, but not still. His eyes were darting left and right, quickly
searching around his field of vision.
"THREE."
Ears perked, Jessen listened intently to anything and everything around
him.
"TWO."
A single engine hum. A single GP vessel. A single threat.
"ONE."
The ship was alone. The GP fleet was still holding back. Which meant
he could still suppress his location and avoid specific detection. Jessen inserted
the index and middle fingers of his free hand into his mouth and blew a piercing,
high-pitched whistle toward the other side of the lake. It was time to leave.
"YOUR TIME HAS EXPIRED."
*****
Crunch. Tear. Crack. Hew.
Sitting within a sizeable clearing in the trees, what looked to be a large
white-furred wolf feasted. The massive animal violently tore into the carcass of
a recently-killed Japanese serow, eliciting the sickening sounds of snapping bone
and ripping flesh that wafted through the air. Chomping down one last mouthful
of meat, the deadly predator sat back onto its haunches, licking its blood-soaked
maw contentedly.
A small gust of wind chose that time to reach the clearing, carrying with
it a sound barely audible to even a wolf's keen hearing. Regardless, the wolf
pricked up it's ears and jumped to it's feet, tilting it's head slightly as it listened.
Letting out a low growl, the pale wolf pushed off with its hind legs, leaping into
a bounding run that took it quickly out of the clearing and off into the woods.
*****
The cold night air incinerated as a large beam of energy burst from the
nose of the ship, casting a blinding light in all directions. Almost instantly, the
cylinder of electric luminescence smashed into Jessen, enveloping him
completely and causing him to be lost from view amidst the glow.
** VISUAL CONFIRMATION LOST ** SENSOR
CONFIRMATION LOST ** ENERGY DISPLACEMENT INTERFERING
WITH INSTRUMENTS ** UNABLE TO CONFIRM ENEMY PRESENCE **
Still sitting inside the ship's pilot seat, the pilot gripped the armrests
as the entire vessel shook violently from the continued firing of the beam. The
front windshield was entirely black now, tinted down to prevent the intense light
from filtering through.
** MAIN ENERGY RESERVES AT 24% ** INITIALIZING
SHUTDOWN OF D-H DESTABILIZATION GENERATOR ** FULL
INSTRUMENTAL STATUS TO NORMAL IN TWENTY SECONDS **
The quassation of the ship began to subside as the massive beam started
to flicker and grow smaller, both quickly reducing down to nothing. In the
would-be silence that was left from the attack, the only sound audible was that
of the thrusters humming, which grew even louder as the ones in the rear came
to life and started to propel the ship towards the shoreline.
** VISUALS RESTORED ** FULL INSTRUMENTAL STATUS
TO NORMAL IN TEN SECONDS **
As the windshield clicked back to transparency, the various viewscreens
were already displaying the incomplete data streaming in from the ship's cameras
about the effects of the attack. The ship trajectory was straight, reaching the
shore and following the five-foot wide patch of bare ground that lay amidst the
snow, which started at the lake and ended at a large tree that sat at the forest's
edge. Resting between two thin swaths of dead grass, a tall drift of snow had
built up against the tree, an indicator of where the energy beam had been
blocked by something else; the something else was not hard to deduce, looking
at the bare arm jutting from the bottom of the drift and lying motionless on the
ground.
** ALPHA ANALYSIS PERFORMED ** TARGET NEUTRALIZED
** FULL INSTRUMENTAL STATUS TO NORMAL IN FIVE SECONDS **
It was then, as if on cue, that the drift chose to burst outward in a shower
of snow, marking the unveiling of two fast-moving bodies. Crystalline snow
powder streamed off them as they raced toward the GP ship, quickly revealing
an unharmed Jessen, holding the lifeless form of Kanrei in front of him as he ran.
** TARGET ACTIVE ** TAKING EVASORY ACTION **
Tossing his now-useless human shield to the side, Jessen continued his
dash, not even glancing back as Kanrei fell to the ground and rolled to a stop in
the snow, unmoving. His proximity to the ship allowed him only a few more
strides before he jumped to intercept the moving ship; he deftly landed upon
the black metal nose as the ship swerved to the side in its attempt to dodge.
** FULL INSTRUMENTAL STATUS TO NORMAL ** SHIP
UNDER ATTACK **
A large, multi-branched crack lanced through the thick windshield of
the ship, shooting outward from where Jessen's fist had connected. From inside
the ship, the pilot's hands worked over the controls in a frenzy, activating the
hefty metal blast guard that snapped down over the front glass just as Jessen
struck again. The dull hollow echo of a blow hitting metal emanated throughout
the ship, an echo which repeated itself again, AND again, each sound growing
closer to each other as the heavy-handed punches increased in speed.
** NON-SYSTEM ENERGY BANKS NEAR-MINIMUM **
PRIMARY DEFENSIVE MATRIX UNAVAILABLE ** MAIN FLIGHT
CONTROL SWITCHING TO MANUAL **
Jessen halted his attack on the dent-peppered blast shield as the ship
suddenly put on a burst of speed and turned hard, taking both of them back
over the lake. Quickly gripping the curved ridge that reached out past the top
of the windshield with both hands, he planted his feet firmly on either side of the
ridge, crouched down, and held tight, sturdily anchoring himself to the ship just
as the entire vessel started into a continuous tight barrel roll. The constantly
rotating viewpoint and the shifting direction of the g-forces assaulting him were
disorienting, but it wasn't hard for Jessen to gauge the large circle that the ship
was traveling in, and after another second, the intent of the pilot along with it.
** WARNING ** CHANGE OF FLIGHT PATH RECOMMENDED **
In its short flight time, the ship had traversed the entirety of the lake
edge, returned to where it had begun, and had reoriented itself, now aimed
directly for the already damaged Masaki house and still increasing in velocity.
** COLLISION IMMINENT ** BRACE FOR IMPACT **
Jessen released his grip from his handhold and pushed off with his feet,
launching himself from the ship just as it halted it's spin and slammed into the
house. The mangled roar of snapping glass, metal, and wood followed Jessen
as he cleared the edge of the roof, his forward momentum taking him over half
its length before he finally landed on the snow-covered shingles and roll-skidded
to the other side, stopping just before plummeting off into space. Vision still
spinning slightly, Jessen steadied himself and looked down over the edge,
searching for any indication of exit by the ship.
The heavily-scratched front end of said vessel was exposed to the
outside air, the force of impact having sent it crashing through the entire house
before partially breaking through the final wall and stopping. Everything behind
the covered windshield was hidden inside the house, but it was obvious that the
entire ship was attempting to move out from the likely mounds of debris that
was covering it. The blasting hum of the thrusters could be heard emanating
from beyond the wall, and the undamaged wood around the ship creaked in
protest as the ship struggled to wrench itself free from the faux-prison it had
created.
Perfect.
** STRUCTURAL COMPOSITION AT 63% ** MOVEMENT
OBSTRUCTED ** MINIMAL THRUSTER DAMAGE ** COCKPIT
PRESSURIZATION UNABLE TO BE ATTAINED ** REPAIRS
RECOMMENDED BEFORE INITIATING FLIGHT **
Jessen hit the ground running, glancing behind him to look at the gaping
wound in the side of the house where the GP ship had punched through the wall.
A milky haze of smoke and dust had filled the air beyond the opening, making it
all but impossible to make anything out inside. He quickly made his way back to
where he had thrown Kanrei's body, crouching next to the motionless figure and
yanking the black leather duster still wrapped around its arm.
It really was fortunate how he had managed to keep the major trouble
factors from coming into play so far. With so many unexpected problems
complicating what had originally been a simple plan, the absence of the expected
variables was a strange blessing. Careful execution of the necessary precautions
beforehand had kept the Galaxy Police and Washu almost completely out of the
picture with only brief interference by both; but even with that, too many things
had jeopardized his status.
Jessen let his half-sleeved duster rest on his shoulders, turning back
toward the house as he reached into his inside pocket. From the pocket, he
withdrew the same dull-grey remote that had warned him about the attack on
his equipment earlier; the panel face was dim and blank, an indication of the
defensive program he had activated previously. Jessen pointed the snub-antennaed
controller towards the house, pushing in on the two indentations set into the
sides. He knew that his employer would be most upset if any "unnecessary
casualties", as they were so described, were created by detonating his equipment
inside the house, but he wasn't worried. With the exception of the GP officer,
Jessen knew that everyone else inside was almost certainly being protected by
Washu at this point, depleted energy reserves or not. None of that mattered to
him though, for with his objective complete, the only thing left to do was buy
himself some more time and then leave.
As if things were ever that easy.
Jessen's abrupt scream of pain mirrored the low humming that came from
behind him. His body arched forward as he fell to one knee, dropping his remote
and reaching behind him with both hands to press against the damp, white hot
line of fire that trailed up the right side of his back. The black duster slowly
slipped from its resting spot upon Jessen's shoulders and fell to the snow, the
long slice up the cloth opening up into a wide hole as it bent and hit the ground.
Dark-red blood was flowing freely from the two-foot long wound that had been
carved up the length of Jessen's back, only a few inches from his spine. His shirt
and pants were quickly becoming soaked as the gooey liquid gushed down his
back and trailed down his leg. Gritting his teeth through the pain, Jessen forced
himself to his feet and spun around, bringing his blood-covered left hand back
out in front of him.
The pale blue light from the sword grasped in Kanrei's hand sputtered
and died as the Jurian warrior dropped to his elbows and knees, the impact
from the fall jolting the weapon from his weak grip. Kanrei's frozen breath came
in shallow gasps as he slowly brought his head up to look at Jessen, his mouth
twisted into a satisfied sneer.
Jessen said nothing in response, his pain-contorted face and growling
breaths conveying any words of anger and outrage that could've possibly been
forced through his clenched teeth. He looked down at his bloody fist, watching
the red droplets slowly congeal at the tips of his knuckles before falling to stain
the snow below. Ignoring the burning pain that was tearing up his back, Jessen
reached down and clamped his hand around Kanrei's neck, yanking him up in
front of his face.
"How.. does it feel?" Kanrei gurgled weakly, hands wrapped around
Jessen's wrists as he struggled to breathe through the crushing grip on his throat.
"To.. to finally see your own.. own.."
"My own blood, for a change?" Jessen brought his right hand out from
behind his back and dragged it across Kanrei's disgusted face, leaving a smear
of the dark red liquid in its wake. "How little you truly know. It actually should
be me asking you, exactly how, after all this time, the blood you thirsted for
tastes?"
"Drop him."
Jessen paused, perking his ears to listen to the sounds coming from
behind him. The swishing of feet walking through the powdery snow, coupled
with two distinct high-pitched electronic whines, to be more precise.
"I'm pointing two specially-calibrated D-H Destabalizers at the middle
of your blood-soaked back, so unless you want a few more injuries, I suggest
you do as you're told." The voice, though sharp, commanding, and slightly
muffled, was unmistakably feminine.
"Miss Galaxy Police officer, is it?"
"DO IT!"
At the sound of the weapon-safeties being clicked off, Jessen finally
released his grasp on Kanrei, letting him fall back to the ground in a heap.
"Now, put your hands up and turn around slowly."
Clenching his teeth through the pain caused by moving the damaged
back-muscles used by his right arm, Jessen brought both arms to the side and
raised his bloody hands up to head-level, slowly rotating himself until he stood
facing his captor.
"Good."
The woman confronting him was almost as tall as he, wearing a tight
black and grey bodysuit that hugged her sufficiently well-proportioned body.
Her black helmet encompassed her head completely, and the tinted visor set
into the front kept her face obscured from view. Also, true to her word, she
held a vaguely pistol-shaped gun in each hand, which were both aimed at the
center of Jessen's chest. From fifteen feet away, a shot from those would get
almost anyone.
"Hmm." Jessen smiled slightly as he examined the woman, his eyes
moving down to the thick pocketed belt wrapped around her waist and lower
stomach, then lower to her snow-covered black calf-high boots, before returning
his gaze back up to level. "Someone piloting a stripped and remodified version
of the standard GP one-man fighter craft, wearing a slightly unorthodox 'uniform'
completely lacking any sort of official ident, and packing heat that isn't exactly
standard-issue. A bit strange for a Galaxy Police officer, wouldn't you agree?"
"Quiet!" The moonlight glinted off of the silver guns as she took a step
forward to assert her presence.
"In fact, if I didn't know better, I'd guess that you were nothing more
than some stupid no-name bounty hunter with stolen equipment and absolutely
no knowledge of what you've really gotten yourself into."
"I told you to shut your mouth, you BASTARD!" She took a few more
steps forward, her guns starting to shake slightly in her gloved grip as she raised
her aim up to point between Jessen's eyes. Her voice was tight and angry, and
her breath came in ragged bursts as she spoke. "My name is Zeliali Bethels, and
I WAS a Galaxy Police officer before I was thrown off the force!"
"Zeliali... what a pretty name." Jessen's smile broadened. "So tell me,
exactly why did they throw you off the force?"
"YOU." The guns were shaking visibly now, as if an indication of the
anger Zeliali was trying to hold back.
"Me? Oh, that IS new. Of all the things I've done in my life, I think I
would remember such an atrocious act as that."
"Shut up.. SHUT UP!"
Swishaswishaswishaswisha.
"And I really would like to stand here and bleed while you tell that
whole story, but I'm afraid that I must be leaving."
"Bastard, you aren't going anywheRRRAAAAAAHHH!!"
Zeliali's pain-filled scream rang out in conjunction with the animalistic
growl of the large white wolf that had just slammed into her from behind,
clamped its fangs down upon the back of the high-collar covering her neck,
and dug its razor-sharp claws into her back. The two gunshots that came a
split-second later manifested in two bolts of white light, bursting out from the
barrels of the guns Zeliali held and missing their mark by half an inch, flying over
Jessen's head as he ducked down and rushed forward toward his foe.
The sound of Zeliali's helmet breaking echoed loudly in the night air;
Zeliali's unwanted forward momentum from the wolf on her back had sent her
right into Jessen's lunging uppercut, which connected with the chin of the helmet
and sent a splintering crack up the middle, shattering the tinted visor in the
process. Zeliali's head snapped back from the force of the blow as the two
faux-halves of her helmet front broke apart, flashing only a split-second glimpse
of a pale face before a swift kick to Zeliali's knees sent her crashing face-down
to the snowy ground, pinned under the wolf's weight.
"You lose, little rogue." Jessen looked down at Zeliali, who cringed and
gasped as the growling wolf on her back sunk its claws even deeper into her
flesh. "And thusly, I have a dilemma."
Zeliali cried out in pain as Jessen's boot stomped down upon her left
hand, snapping the small bones easily and breaking the gun she still held within
her grasp. Her right hand suffered the same fate only a moment after, garnering
the same response.
"You see," Jessen said, crouching down next to Zeliali's head. "Killing
you would obviously be the practical thing to do, but I find something very..
strange.. about you." He grabbed the back of the broken helmet and yanked it
from Zeliali's head, revealing a set of straight raven-black tresses that had been
pulled back and tucked into the recesses of her bodysuit. "To think that a Galaxy
Police officer, one thought to be trained in the workings of tactical procedure
and efficient criminal apprehension methods, could be so driven as to try and
take me down alone. You're the first GP in so many years to attempt such a
thing, you know? I can't even remember how long it's been since one of you
last tried that. The very thought of you doing so intrigues me."
A solitary snowflake drifted past Jessen's face, slowly weaving its way
through the windless air before softly landing in the snow. That flake was
followed by another, then another, and then another, each of them as silent as
the one before as they fell to the ground. Jessen raised his head to look upward;
the clouds above them had already started to reform, pulling themselves together
as they started to drop more and more of the crystalline powder down upon the
land.
"You'll have to tell me why, sometime."
Jessen slowly pushed himself back to his feet, taking a deep breath to
try and clear his head. His vision started to blur around the edges, but only for a
moment before it snapped back into focus. He knew that he was beginning to
suffer the effects of the massive blood loss and constant stress created from his
wound; enough to kill both human and Jurian alike. Unfortunately, with the
Galaxy Police encircling the planet, any attempt to fix his wound would bring
them all down on his head and force him to take unwanted measures. He could
finish his business easily enough without.
"And now," Jessen said, slowly turning around. "I will deal with you."
The pale-blue blade of the sword in Kanrei's hands snapped into
existence with a low hum, illuminating the Jurian warrior as he once again forced
himself to stand. His pallid face was haggard, wrought with a weariness that
reflected upon his entire presence as he weakly forced his body into a ready
stance. Even so, despite the worn muscles, taxed psyche, and destroyed pride,
his eyes still burned with the determination of one who had been able to fight
past the grasp of death and still manage to keep going. Hands tightly gripped
upon his weapon, Kanrei sturdied himself, breathing heavily as he waited; he
knew that, even injured, Jessen was more than a match for him in his current
condition. He would not back down, but he knew that he needed a miracle to
happen before he could even stand a chance.
Of course, stranger things have happened.
The burst of noise from the gunshot overshadowed Jessen's strangled
yell, as the small metal gun barrel now protruding from Zeliali's left sleeve shot a
beam of pure white energy point blank into Jessen's right boot, punching a
half-inch wide hole through his ankle before exiting the other side and shooting
off into the night.
Even as Jessen began to fall, Kanrei began his charge. Even as Jessen
spun in midair, lashing out with his left foot and clubbing Zeliali in the temple to
knock her unconscious before she could bring her right arm around, Kanrei
raised his weapon to strike. And even as Jessen hit the ground, Kanrei let out
a yell of vengeance and stabbed downward at his foe with every last ounce of
strength he had, the luminescent sword filling the air with bright blue light as
each snowflake reflected the glowing intensity of the energy blade.
And through it all, of course, the snow continued to fall.
Chapter 2
-----
The blizzard seemed endless; the icy wind had only gotten stronger with
the passing night, assaulting the two shadowed men that stood quietly in the
knee-deep snow.
"How are you still alive?" Jessen spat at the Jurian warrior in front of
him, raising his voice to be heard above the howling wind.
Pale blue light emanated from the glowing sword that the figure held in
his hand, acting as a beacon in the darkness and casting eerie shadows across
everything around it.
"You are the one named Jessen. The unholy demon who committed
unforgivable acts upon the royal family of Jurai."
Jessen narrowed his eyes as the words reached his ears. The voice
was obviously not of the boy, Tenchi; it was sharp, reserved, and held a
self-commanding tone.
"Hmph. You aren't Masaki," Jessen snorted dismissively.
"I am not. Know that I am Kanrei von Rau, the one who will be ending
your blighted existence." He slowly brought his sword up in front of him and
grasped it with both hands, pointing it at Jessen. The blue luminescence from the
sword finally brought light upon the newcomer's face, revealing a visage filled
with stern concentration. Four black stripes adorned his cheeks, two slashing
across each. A black headband was wrapped around his forehead, and his
long white hair was pulled off to the side of his head as the strong wind
whipped it around.
"Another vengeful, over-confident Jurian out for my blood. I have no
time for you," Jessen sneered.
"You will make time. I have waited far too long for this encounter."
Kanrei brought his sword back into ready position, and darted forward at his
foe.
*****
"Miss Washu!" Ayeka scrambled off of the short metal platform she was
sitting on and grabbed Washu's shirt frantically. "You have to do something!
Tenchi-- oh, Tenchi!" Ayeka halted her pleading and fell against Washu,
breaking into tears as the realization hit her once again.
"There there, child," Washu said soothingly, smiling to herself as she
lowered both herself and Ayeka down to sit upon the floor. She hugged Ayeka
tightly, smoothing her damp purple hair with one hand and holding the sobbing
princess as only a mother knew how.
"I could've done something," Ayeka moaned into Washu's shoulder, in
between sobs. "I had the power to help, but I just let him-- Tenchi's dead, and
now he can't-- I won't-- we aren't-- he'll never really know--"
"Well now, who ever said that Tenchi was dead?"
"He-- WHAT?" Ayeka's watery eyes snapped open, and she pushed
herself away from Washu just enough to stare at her in disbelief. "But Jessen,
he--"
"He doesn't know as much as he thinks he does." Washu had a sly grin
on her face as she stood up and pulled Ayeka to her feet. "Sorry for not telling
you right away, but you looked like you needed to unbottle some more of those
tears. 'sides, it serves you right for thinking I'd let my Tenchi get killed! You
need to give a scientist of my caliber more credit! Now, wipe those eyes and
turn around."
Ayeka didn't move. Her muscles didn't want to function, as if they didn't
believe what the ears had just heard. After a few more moments of hesitation on
Ayeka's part, Washu finally just spun her around manually and gave her a light
shove on the back, pushing her toward the back wall of the lab.
Blinking her eyes rapidly, Ayeka took a few unsteady steps forward
and looked out in front of her. A row of large glass tubes lined the metal wall,
all filled with a bubbling green liquid. The tubes were all identical, save for the
one in the middle of the row, which seemed to have a dark shadow floating
within its confines. Ayeka took another step, then another, then finally ran the
rest of the distance to the tube and pressed her hands against the glass, looking
up into the murky fluid. Inside, the floating shadow slowly drifted forward,
gaining definition and becoming more humanoid until the figure inside finally
came up against the glass. The breath caught in Ayeka's throat as she saw
what her heart had desperately hoped.
"Tenchi..." Ayeka looked into Tenchi's face, almost not believing what
she saw. It was truly him, and he was alive. Most of his body was tilted back
into the tube and obscured in shadow, but the face was all that mattered. A
mechanical breathing apparatus covered his head from the nose down, but his
eyes were closed in peaceful slumber. Only for a moment was he visible, before
slowly floating backward and again becoming obscured in shadow.
"Thank you..." Ayeka whispered, leaning up against the tube and closing
her eyes.
*****
Jessen leapt backwards as the bright blade of light in Kanrei's hands
carved through the darkness in front of him. Landing in the snow a few yards
back, Jessen skidded to a stop as he glared at his opponent and felt down the
front of his clothing with one hand. The three-inch deep horizontal cut in the left
edge of his leather duster was nothing, but the thin separation that was now in
the abdomen of his black shirt was indication enough of how close the sword
had come to spilling Jessen's intestines out into the night snow.
"Stupid Jurian," Jessen said, turning his attention back upon Kanrei.
"You wish to die that badly?"
"Your words mean nothing to me, coward." Kanrei's voice was cold,
seeming to disregard Jessen completely. "Know that while I still live, you will
never go unhunted." He brought his sword back into a ready position, crouched
slightly, then dashed at Jessen again.
"So be it." Jessen spun to the side as the blue sword slashed downward,
cleaving the air where he had just stood. Such an attack was fierce, but left the
attacker open to retaliation, shown in painful detail as Jessen extended his arm
and used the added force from his evasory spin to land a crushing backhand
across Kanrei's temple. The power of the blow was such that it snapped
Kanrei's head to the side and sent him sprawling into a nearby snow drift,
almost completely masking him in the white powder. The sword Kanrei held
flew out of his hand upon impact with the ground, spinning out into the snow
and disappearing as the blue light blade winked out.
"I should've expected as much." Jessen folded his arms calmly as the
prone body of his fallen opponent shifted slightly under the snow. "You
disappoint me, Jurian. I almost believed that you would put up a suitable fight."
Snow cascaded down from Kanrei's shoulders as he slowly pushed
himself up onto his hands and knees, turning his head toward Jessen. His teeth
were clenched, and his eyes were ablaze with anger.
"Oh, so you aren't quite done," Jessen said bemusedly. "Ready to
actually try, now?"
Without saying a single word, Kanrei leapt to his feet and rushed Jessen
yet again, striking out at his face with a closed fist. Even though the attack was
easily read, it came with such unexpected speed that Jessen was only barely
able to throw his arm up to push it aside. The deflected fist shot past Jessen's
head but still managed to clip his left ear, the force of the blow shattering the
cartilage comprising the scapha and antihelix. Jessen grunted surprisedly at the
small stab of pain, but was not so thrown off as to not retaliate. Grabbing
Kanrei's extended arm with his left hand, Jessen lashed out with his right,
aiming for a hand-stab to Kanrei's exposed throat.
It was strange, how quiet the scene became at that moment. The wind
had stopped completely, and the light snowflakes, now without anything altering
their path, fell to the ground complacently. Far above in the sky, the cloud cover
began to part and pull away from itself, signaling that the worst of the storm was
over and allowing the bright moon to shine through and illuminate the land below.
As the light intensified, the two fighters held their positions in the snow,
their eyes adjusting to the sudden increase in visibility. Puffs of breath could
finally be seen coming from both mouths, freezing instantly in the cold air before
disappearing. Jessen stared into the eyes of his opponent with a mixture of
disbelief and strenuous exertion marring his expression. An inch in front of
Kanrei's throat, shaking slightly as it struggled to move, was Jessen's right hand,
held in place by the unyielding grip of Kanrei's left.
"You seem to be at a loss for words." Kanrei's sea-green eyes seemed
ablaze with contempt as they returned the stare Jessen sent. He shifted his
weight and pushed forward, shoving Jessen away from him and breaking the
wrist-locks that they both held. "Perhaps you are not as strong as you believe."
Jessen snorted as he halted his backward momentum and regained his
balance. "And maybe the same goes for you. I'll just have to show you which
belief is correct."
"And so shall I."
*****
Washu's lab looked... different, now that Ayeka was in a mindset to
notice such a thing. The usual ever-looming presence of machines and lights
were very subdued; everything seemed to be in its normal place, but the lack
of activity was definitely unusual. Out of the entire complex, it looked as if only
a few vital pieces of machinery were operating normally. Ayeka slowly walked
around, her mind still spinning uncontrollably from everything that had happened
that night, until a soft voice grabbed her attention.
"Tenchi..."
"S.. Sasami!" Ayeka recognized the voice of her younger sister
immediately, and whirled around until she caught sight of her. Not too far away
from where Ayeka stood, Sasami lay upon a long metal bench, wrapped in a
white blanket and curled up in a fetal position. Ayeka gasped and ran over to
the bench, kneeling down next to Sasami and quickly looking over her. The
young Jurian princess had her eyes closed in fitful sleep, her hands clutching
the blanket and her face harboring a look of frightened urgency. She tossed
and turned as she slept, her dreams obviously unpleasant ones. Her soft voice
had reduced to an incomprehensible mumbling, with few decipherable words
heard.
"Washu? Washu! What happened to Sasami?" Ayeka called over to
Washu frantically, who was now typing away on her smoky subspace laptop.
"She had quite a mental shock, but she'll be fine. She was unfortunate
enough to be in here when Tenchi was attacked, and saw the entire thing on the
viewscreen." Washu gave her reply without looking up from her work, her
fingers flying across the keyboard as if possessing a mind of their own. "The
poor dear went into hysterics almost immediately. Understandable, really. I was
forced to administer some mild sedatives so she would sleep. She'll be waking
up soon, so it's a good thing you're here."
Ayeka sighed in relief and hugged Sasami, brushing her long blue pigtails
out of her face and kissing her on the forehead. She stood up slowly and
returned to where Washu was working.
"Now," Washu said, still typing rapidly. "First and foremost, is to find
out exactly what Jessen did to disrupt my power supply. He obviously knew
that I was here, and that I had the means to stop him before he could act."
"But.. if you could've stopped him.." Ayeka really didn't want to blame
Washu after everything she had done to help the situation, but a small trace of
accusation still managed to worm it's way into her trailing voice.
"Unfortunately, even the greatest scientific genius in the universe can't be
everywhere at once. I was running tests on my recently-improved Sub-Ethereal
Dimensional Vortex Generator, and was busy taking a lengthy data-collecting
excursion on a planet that didn't have a raging blizzard on it. It wasn't until he
threw the metaphoric wrench in my gears that I was even aware of his presence.
Luckily, my safeguard systems brought me back as soon as the power started
failing. I easily could've become trapped were I not so careful."
"But what could he have done to disrupt your power?" Ayeka asked,
somewhat relieved at Washu's answer.
"Well, considering the weather conditions outside and the prolonged
state of effect, the only thing he could've done was set up a very sophisticated
and powerful device inside the house. It's strong enough to keep both my main
and my backup power supplies down to almost nothing, yet it's precise enough
to segregate the effect to my lab only. Since the power to the rest of the house
was unaffected, everyone else was oblivious to his move."
"Do you know what's capable of that?"
"If I had to guess, I'd say it was something... like... that!" Washu
triumphantly jabbed her index finger at the one of the viewscreens that floated
in front of her.
*****
Zzrt. Zzzzzzzzzzzzt.
A little silver creature skittered across the carpet of Masaki house's
guest room, making it's way toward the large tripod set into the floor. The
creature, standing at about four inches long and one inch high, could best be
described as a small mechanical spider, it's spindly legs carrying it to the tripod
and up the closest leg. Reaching the top of the bent-legged contraption, the
spider examined the top of the spike. The small green holographic cube
spinning on top was still there, turning slowly upon its pedestal. Seemingly
satisfied, the spider scuttled about an inch down the spike, stopped, and
wrapped its long legs around the thing cone of metal. Its position sufficiently
anchored, the little metallic arachnid opened its pedipalps and chelicerae with
a sharp click, before clamping them down upon the surface of the metal. A
slight hissing sound came from the metal under the vice-like maw almost
immediately, the silver turning a bright shade of orange and starting to smoke
as the powerful laser cutters began to slowly melt through the spike. The cube
resting atop the flat of the spike turned a dark shade of grey as it sensed the
attack on it's systems, but was otherwise unreactive.
*****
"Finally," Washu exclaimed as she watched the viewscreen. "Several of
my scouts have been scouring the house since the power failure. It's an EMP
Spike, and reinforced, from the looks of it. The designs of the Spike's inner
mechanics are both unique and practical, with numerous sections working in
tangent with each other until damaged. When one section fails the other parts
recognize the failure, cut off the tangent link, and continue running normally,
albeit at a lesser strength. In other words, we'll be getting a percentage of our
normal power back with each section put offline. At any rate, my little Spidey'll
get through it soon enough, as soon as the rest of my helpers get there." Another
screen popped into existence above Washu's laptop, showing a myriad of
overlapping graphs and readouts. Washu quickly looked them over and typed
another set of commands into her keyboard. Against the back wall, the tube to
the left of Tenchi glowed brightly, then faded back to normal, containing a
shadow similar to the one next to it. Ayeka turned around at the light, and
squinted her eyes at the shadow.
"Is that...?" She trailed off, already knowing that there was only one
person left that it could be.
"Ryoko, yes." Washu's tone was more serious then it had been all night.
"Foolish child. She attacked Jessen after your encounter, knowing full well that
without any of her energy jewels, she didn't even have a chance. He almost
killed her because of it."
"But why would she do such a thing?"
"For the same reason that you called for Azaka and Kamidake, even
though you knew how small a chance they had of subduing Jessen."
Ayeka's gaze fell to the floor, her eyes welling up with tears as the
memories of her guardians' deaths rushed back to her. They died for nothing,
killed while trying to protect her from something that had no intention of harming
her. Ayeka hated herself for freezing, for breaking down and quivering like a
frightened child at the first sight of Jessen. Just like the first time he had been
on Jurai.
"Emotions are strong things, Ayeka," Washu continued, as if knowing
exactly what was going through Ayeka's mind. "When something like that
happens, minds don't work like they usually do. None of us can blame you
for responding like tha--."
"Miss Washu," Ayeka interrupted, quickly wiping her eyes and looking
up from the floor. "Where's Jessen, right now?"
Washu paused her workings for only a half-second, before continuing
as if nothing had been said. She knew Ayeka wanted to change the subject,
and there was no point in resisting. From deep within the bowels of the
laboratory, the faraway sound of heavy machinery churning to life echoed off
the nearby walls. "My scanners indicate that he's still somewhere close to the
house. And since he obviously still thinks that Tenchi is dead, there must be
some other extenuating circumstance that's prevented him from leaving."
Upon the laptop viewscreen, what looked to be a feed from a security
camera appeared, showing a top-down angle of the land between the house
and the lake. As Washu and Ayeka watched, a slightly blurry close-up view of
Jessen and Kanrei shifted across the screen quickly, only visible for a moment
before passing off the side of the screen.
"And that would seem to be it."
*****
The battle by the lake was at a one-sided standstill. Jessen's endless
barrage of attacks had been ineffective, no matter how hard or how fast they
were sent. Every punch was parried, every snow-churning kick was brushed
aside, every feint was read, every attempt to push through Kanrei's defenses
was thwarted. The white-haired Jurian hadn't allowed the successful landing of
a single blow, but had also refrained from trying to capitalize on any opportunity
to retaliate. He seemed content to just block and dodge every attack with the
same contemptuous look on his face.
"You fucking Jurian!" Jessen yelled angrily, his cool demeanor having
already crumbled at his inability to do away with his foe. "Fight me!"
Kanrei remained silent as he blocked the lunging punch coming toward
him and ducked away from the follow-up spinning elbow thrown immediately
after. With a few more evasory dodges backward, he had moved past the
edge of the forest and into the trees. An errant left backhand by Jessen flew
past Kanrei's face and smashed into one of the first trees, shattering a large
hole into the trunk and sending a spray of wood splinters and bark flying.
Taking another jump backward, Kanrei avoided the snow falling from the
branches above him and waited for Jessen to continue his pursuit.
"I..."
But he didn't. Jessen was standing still, his balled fist pressed firmly
against the hole it had created in the tree. His breath came out in ragged bursts
from between his gritted teeth, and his right hand clenched and unclenched
repeatedly.
"I know what you're doing.. you're trying to draw me out.." Jessen
stood up straight, and let his arms fall to his sides. His mouth slowly began to
form into a very disheartening smile as he spoke. "Unable to kill me yourself,
you think you can make me betray my position to the Galaxy Police."
Kanrei narrowed his eyes as Jessen began to chuckle, tilting his head
back to face the black and grey sky above him. The strangely soft laughter was
devoid of joy, but still seemed to carry a distinct tone of satisfaction. Jessen
brought his head back down and regarded Kanrei again, the same unnerving
smile still upon his face.
"Ohhh, you are interesting... one of the most interesting, by far. But
sadly, you are still going to die, just like every other member of your disgusting
rac-"
Jessen halted his words abruptly, and a very faint beeping noise could
suddenly be heard in the otherwise silent air. He quickly reached inside a
pocket within the lining of his duster and pulled out a small metal rectangular
controller of some kind, his eyes searching over the panel face before snapping
up to look at Kanrei.
"...you." Jessen stared into the Jurian's face for only a moment, before
turning around and sprinting back in the direction of the house. Pointing the
instrument at the house, he clicked a small button on the side before jamming
the whole thing back into his duster's inside pocket. He cursed himself silently as
he ran; he had been so caught up in the fight that he didn't even realize that his
safeguard was being dismantled. Allowing himself to become so focused that
he couldn't even hear his warning indicator had been a stupid move. Stupid
enough to seriously jeopardize his situation, in fact.
Half-glancing back, Jessen caught a slicing glint of white out of the
corner of his eye and immediately lunged into a diving roll to the snowy ground,
barely dodging the jumping spin kick that had been aimed at his head. As he
came out of his tumble and rose into a squatting position, he twisted his body
around and pushed off with his feet, propelling himself backward just as a
vicious axe kick from his pursuer slashed mere inches from his face. Jessen hit
the ground on his back and immediately tucked into a backward roll that not
only pushed him to his feet, but gave him perfect position to defend against his
assailant, who was still rushing toward him in an attempt to stop his retreat.
"You Jurians don't know when to stop trying, do you?" Jessen spat,
blocking the running punch that Kanrei threw as he came within range.
"While I still live..."
*****
"I have three whole squadrons of troops ready to hunt this guy down,
and we're just floating out here doing nothing! This is fucking bullshit, sir!"
A small, sleek craft flew through the night air, only a few feet from the
canopy of the forest below it. The intense moonlight shining from above
reflected sharply upon the shiny black frame of the ship, casting a disorienting
contrast against the endless white underneath. Snow was violently torn from
the tops of the trees in the backwash of the flight, and a large line of bare
branches trailed far behind the ship in marking of the route the ship had taken.
"That's affirmative Lieutenant, but bullshit as it may be, you and your
men are to hold position until ordered otherwise. 0315 has not been integrated
yet, and unless in direct active pursuit of a criminal, entering such a planet's
space without definite permission of the Jurian Council is a clear violation of
GP regulation. Unfortunately for us, that damned group of bureaucrats seem to
be dragging their asses about coming to a decision."
Inside the small ship, the dash monitor was displaying several
topographical maps and readouts, clicking through information while the internal
computer automatically adjusted the ship's flight path. Beyond the display
screens and a few status lights adorning some of the onboard mechanics, the
cockpit was dark; the windshield and side windows were tinted to almost
complete darkness, keeping the glaring moonlight from entering. The shadowed
pilot of the craft sat silently in the single seat, remaining almost completely
motionless as the radio continued to relay it's transmission.
"Dammit! We KNOW he's down there, sir! Why haven't we gotten
permission to track that fucker down?"
"Sorry Lieutenant, but we have a no-show from the King, and we both
know that we won't be getting any word from HQ till he appears. And we
WILL NOT move until ordered to do so. So until that--"
The radio cut out abruptly as the rest of the ship systems hummed to
life, accompanied by a distinctly synthetic voice that emanated from the
computer console.
** APPROACHING TARGET ** BATTLE SYSTEMS INITIALIZING **
*****
Kanrei's vision exploded into glittering sparkles as a double-handed
scoop of snow slammed into his face, driving him back a step as he tried to see
his opponent through the distraction. The maneuver was obviously a
diversionary tactic, but one he knew how to work around. Relying on a single
sense meant death on the battlefield, and Kanrei knew it. Even as the snow hit
his face, he could hear the sharp rustle of leather as it began to quickly move
off to his left side, marking the motions as clearly as if he could see it. Vision still
obscured, Kanrei lunged toward the sound, throwing his full strength into a
vicious blind punch in the hopes of catching Jessen off guard.
And he connected. The sound of his fist hitting it's target echoed in
Kanrei's ears; the slap of flesh against leather, to be more precise. As the snow
swept from his vision, he could see finally see the recipient of his attack: the
empty frame of a black leather duster, flying in mid-air and wrapping around
his arm from the force of impact.
Relying on a single sense meant death on the battlefield, indeed.
Kanrei's head exploded in pain as the thick heel of Jessen's right boot
smashed into the back of his skull; the devastating jump kick sent him staggering
forward, his vision blurring in and out of darkness as he stumbled, feebly trying
to keep himself upright. Through his eyes, the world around him seemed to
pulse and twist slowly, the sharp contrast of light between the white ground
under him and the night sky above causing him even more disorientation. Inside
Kanrei's spinning head, a harried voice managed to penetrate the layer of fog
that had surrounded his mind, calling out in a desperate plea and urging him to
snap out of his stupor. Easier thought than done, unfortunately.
Jessen stood behind Kanrei, now without his leather duster, arms
folded as he watched his opponent take a few unsteady steps before losing his
balance and falling to his hands and knees in the snow. He slowly walked to
Kanrei's side and looked down at him, a look of contempt coming onto his face.
"Tricked so easily?" Jessen asked, his mocking voice berating his fallen
opponent. "Perhaps you are not as clever as you first appeared. You must be
kicking yourself for making such a foolhardy mistake. Please, allow me to help."
Kanrei gasped in pain as Jessen's boot rammed into his stomach, raising
him a few feet into the air before a mid-air stomp to his spine sent him smashing
back into the ground. He choked weakly as he tried to regain the breath that
had been forced from his lungs and feebly trying to get his muscles to work
through the pain racking his body.
"Such a waste of sentience." Jessen bent down and grabbed a thick
handful of Kanrei's long white hair, pulling up harshly and yanking the alien
warrior to his knees. "I think you finally need to die, Jurian. If you can muster
the breath, I will give you the chance to state an objection."
"EC-WARRANT #6392955."
Jessen blinked as the booming, strangely-mechanical voice reached
his ears, and he quickly looked up to locate the source of the sound.
"BY THE ORDER OF THE JURIAN ROYAL COUNCIL AND
THE GALAXY POLICE, YOU ARE PLACED UNDER ARREST."
The waters in the middle of the lake chopped furiously, broken from
their stillness by the force created from the hover-thrusters of the ship setting
only a few feet above the surface. Under the moonlight's bright glow, the Galaxy
Police insignias etched into the ship's side panels gleamed brightly, an obvious
indication of the nature of the vessel. The sleek craft hung in the air,
near-motionless as the announcement boomed from the external speakers,
continuing its decree in the same emotionless tone. At the tip of the ship's nose,
a small ball of white energy appeared, slowly but steadily growing larger and
brighter.
"No... " Jessen gritted his teeth and took a step back. He was backed
into a corner now. Even with his battered, barely-conscious opponent held in
front of him, he had let himself get forced into a cage, and had the Galaxy
Police in front of him as concrete proof of such.
"YOU ARE HEREBY ORDERED TO RELINQUISH YOURSELF
INTO GALAXY POLICE CUSTODY. RESISTANCE WILL RESULT IN
THE USE OF DEADLY FORCE."
He wouldn't be taken. Not again. He had to-- wait.
"YOU HAVE FIVE SECONDS TO SURRENDER. FIVE."
Jessen was silent.
"FOUR."
Silent, perhaps, but not still. His eyes were darting left and right, quickly
searching around his field of vision.
"THREE."
Ears perked, Jessen listened intently to anything and everything around
him.
"TWO."
A single engine hum. A single GP vessel. A single threat.
"ONE."
The ship was alone. The GP fleet was still holding back. Which meant
he could still suppress his location and avoid specific detection. Jessen inserted
the index and middle fingers of his free hand into his mouth and blew a piercing,
high-pitched whistle toward the other side of the lake. It was time to leave.
"YOUR TIME HAS EXPIRED."
*****
Crunch. Tear. Crack. Hew.
Sitting within a sizeable clearing in the trees, what looked to be a large
white-furred wolf feasted. The massive animal violently tore into the carcass of
a recently-killed Japanese serow, eliciting the sickening sounds of snapping bone
and ripping flesh that wafted through the air. Chomping down one last mouthful
of meat, the deadly predator sat back onto its haunches, licking its blood-soaked
maw contentedly.
A small gust of wind chose that time to reach the clearing, carrying with
it a sound barely audible to even a wolf's keen hearing. Regardless, the wolf
pricked up it's ears and jumped to it's feet, tilting it's head slightly as it listened.
Letting out a low growl, the pale wolf pushed off with its hind legs, leaping into
a bounding run that took it quickly out of the clearing and off into the woods.
*****
The cold night air incinerated as a large beam of energy burst from the
nose of the ship, casting a blinding light in all directions. Almost instantly, the
cylinder of electric luminescence smashed into Jessen, enveloping him
completely and causing him to be lost from view amidst the glow.
** VISUAL CONFIRMATION LOST ** SENSOR
CONFIRMATION LOST ** ENERGY DISPLACEMENT INTERFERING
WITH INSTRUMENTS ** UNABLE TO CONFIRM ENEMY PRESENCE **
Still sitting inside the ship's pilot seat, the pilot gripped the armrests
as the entire vessel shook violently from the continued firing of the beam. The
front windshield was entirely black now, tinted down to prevent the intense light
from filtering through.
** MAIN ENERGY RESERVES AT 24% ** INITIALIZING
SHUTDOWN OF D-H DESTABILIZATION GENERATOR ** FULL
INSTRUMENTAL STATUS TO NORMAL IN TWENTY SECONDS **
The quassation of the ship began to subside as the massive beam started
to flicker and grow smaller, both quickly reducing down to nothing. In the
would-be silence that was left from the attack, the only sound audible was that
of the thrusters humming, which grew even louder as the ones in the rear came
to life and started to propel the ship towards the shoreline.
** VISUALS RESTORED ** FULL INSTRUMENTAL STATUS
TO NORMAL IN TEN SECONDS **
As the windshield clicked back to transparency, the various viewscreens
were already displaying the incomplete data streaming in from the ship's cameras
about the effects of the attack. The ship trajectory was straight, reaching the
shore and following the five-foot wide patch of bare ground that lay amidst the
snow, which started at the lake and ended at a large tree that sat at the forest's
edge. Resting between two thin swaths of dead grass, a tall drift of snow had
built up against the tree, an indicator of where the energy beam had been
blocked by something else; the something else was not hard to deduce, looking
at the bare arm jutting from the bottom of the drift and lying motionless on the
ground.
** ALPHA ANALYSIS PERFORMED ** TARGET NEUTRALIZED
** FULL INSTRUMENTAL STATUS TO NORMAL IN FIVE SECONDS **
It was then, as if on cue, that the drift chose to burst outward in a shower
of snow, marking the unveiling of two fast-moving bodies. Crystalline snow
powder streamed off them as they raced toward the GP ship, quickly revealing
an unharmed Jessen, holding the lifeless form of Kanrei in front of him as he ran.
** TARGET ACTIVE ** TAKING EVASORY ACTION **
Tossing his now-useless human shield to the side, Jessen continued his
dash, not even glancing back as Kanrei fell to the ground and rolled to a stop in
the snow, unmoving. His proximity to the ship allowed him only a few more
strides before he jumped to intercept the moving ship; he deftly landed upon
the black metal nose as the ship swerved to the side in its attempt to dodge.
** FULL INSTRUMENTAL STATUS TO NORMAL ** SHIP
UNDER ATTACK **
A large, multi-branched crack lanced through the thick windshield of
the ship, shooting outward from where Jessen's fist had connected. From inside
the ship, the pilot's hands worked over the controls in a frenzy, activating the
hefty metal blast guard that snapped down over the front glass just as Jessen
struck again. The dull hollow echo of a blow hitting metal emanated throughout
the ship, an echo which repeated itself again, AND again, each sound growing
closer to each other as the heavy-handed punches increased in speed.
** NON-SYSTEM ENERGY BANKS NEAR-MINIMUM **
PRIMARY DEFENSIVE MATRIX UNAVAILABLE ** MAIN FLIGHT
CONTROL SWITCHING TO MANUAL **
Jessen halted his attack on the dent-peppered blast shield as the ship
suddenly put on a burst of speed and turned hard, taking both of them back
over the lake. Quickly gripping the curved ridge that reached out past the top
of the windshield with both hands, he planted his feet firmly on either side of the
ridge, crouched down, and held tight, sturdily anchoring himself to the ship just
as the entire vessel started into a continuous tight barrel roll. The constantly
rotating viewpoint and the shifting direction of the g-forces assaulting him were
disorienting, but it wasn't hard for Jessen to gauge the large circle that the ship
was traveling in, and after another second, the intent of the pilot along with it.
** WARNING ** CHANGE OF FLIGHT PATH RECOMMENDED **
In its short flight time, the ship had traversed the entirety of the lake
edge, returned to where it had begun, and had reoriented itself, now aimed
directly for the already damaged Masaki house and still increasing in velocity.
** COLLISION IMMINENT ** BRACE FOR IMPACT **
Jessen released his grip from his handhold and pushed off with his feet,
launching himself from the ship just as it halted it's spin and slammed into the
house. The mangled roar of snapping glass, metal, and wood followed Jessen
as he cleared the edge of the roof, his forward momentum taking him over half
its length before he finally landed on the snow-covered shingles and roll-skidded
to the other side, stopping just before plummeting off into space. Vision still
spinning slightly, Jessen steadied himself and looked down over the edge,
searching for any indication of exit by the ship.
The heavily-scratched front end of said vessel was exposed to the
outside air, the force of impact having sent it crashing through the entire house
before partially breaking through the final wall and stopping. Everything behind
the covered windshield was hidden inside the house, but it was obvious that the
entire ship was attempting to move out from the likely mounds of debris that
was covering it. The blasting hum of the thrusters could be heard emanating
from beyond the wall, and the undamaged wood around the ship creaked in
protest as the ship struggled to wrench itself free from the faux-prison it had
created.
Perfect.
** STRUCTURAL COMPOSITION AT 63% ** MOVEMENT
OBSTRUCTED ** MINIMAL THRUSTER DAMAGE ** COCKPIT
PRESSURIZATION UNABLE TO BE ATTAINED ** REPAIRS
RECOMMENDED BEFORE INITIATING FLIGHT **
Jessen hit the ground running, glancing behind him to look at the gaping
wound in the side of the house where the GP ship had punched through the wall.
A milky haze of smoke and dust had filled the air beyond the opening, making it
all but impossible to make anything out inside. He quickly made his way back to
where he had thrown Kanrei's body, crouching next to the motionless figure and
yanking the black leather duster still wrapped around its arm.
It really was fortunate how he had managed to keep the major trouble
factors from coming into play so far. With so many unexpected problems
complicating what had originally been a simple plan, the absence of the expected
variables was a strange blessing. Careful execution of the necessary precautions
beforehand had kept the Galaxy Police and Washu almost completely out of the
picture with only brief interference by both; but even with that, too many things
had jeopardized his status.
Jessen let his half-sleeved duster rest on his shoulders, turning back
toward the house as he reached into his inside pocket. From the pocket, he
withdrew the same dull-grey remote that had warned him about the attack on
his equipment earlier; the panel face was dim and blank, an indication of the
defensive program he had activated previously. Jessen pointed the snub-antennaed
controller towards the house, pushing in on the two indentations set into the
sides. He knew that his employer would be most upset if any "unnecessary
casualties", as they were so described, were created by detonating his equipment
inside the house, but he wasn't worried. With the exception of the GP officer,
Jessen knew that everyone else inside was almost certainly being protected by
Washu at this point, depleted energy reserves or not. None of that mattered to
him though, for with his objective complete, the only thing left to do was buy
himself some more time and then leave.
As if things were ever that easy.
Jessen's abrupt scream of pain mirrored the low humming that came from
behind him. His body arched forward as he fell to one knee, dropping his remote
and reaching behind him with both hands to press against the damp, white hot
line of fire that trailed up the right side of his back. The black duster slowly
slipped from its resting spot upon Jessen's shoulders and fell to the snow, the
long slice up the cloth opening up into a wide hole as it bent and hit the ground.
Dark-red blood was flowing freely from the two-foot long wound that had been
carved up the length of Jessen's back, only a few inches from his spine. His shirt
and pants were quickly becoming soaked as the gooey liquid gushed down his
back and trailed down his leg. Gritting his teeth through the pain, Jessen forced
himself to his feet and spun around, bringing his blood-covered left hand back
out in front of him.
The pale blue light from the sword grasped in Kanrei's hand sputtered
and died as the Jurian warrior dropped to his elbows and knees, the impact
from the fall jolting the weapon from his weak grip. Kanrei's frozen breath came
in shallow gasps as he slowly brought his head up to look at Jessen, his mouth
twisted into a satisfied sneer.
Jessen said nothing in response, his pain-contorted face and growling
breaths conveying any words of anger and outrage that could've possibly been
forced through his clenched teeth. He looked down at his bloody fist, watching
the red droplets slowly congeal at the tips of his knuckles before falling to stain
the snow below. Ignoring the burning pain that was tearing up his back, Jessen
reached down and clamped his hand around Kanrei's neck, yanking him up in
front of his face.
"How.. does it feel?" Kanrei gurgled weakly, hands wrapped around
Jessen's wrists as he struggled to breathe through the crushing grip on his throat.
"To.. to finally see your own.. own.."
"My own blood, for a change?" Jessen brought his right hand out from
behind his back and dragged it across Kanrei's disgusted face, leaving a smear
of the dark red liquid in its wake. "How little you truly know. It actually should
be me asking you, exactly how, after all this time, the blood you thirsted for
tastes?"
"Drop him."
Jessen paused, perking his ears to listen to the sounds coming from
behind him. The swishing of feet walking through the powdery snow, coupled
with two distinct high-pitched electronic whines, to be more precise.
"I'm pointing two specially-calibrated D-H Destabalizers at the middle
of your blood-soaked back, so unless you want a few more injuries, I suggest
you do as you're told." The voice, though sharp, commanding, and slightly
muffled, was unmistakably feminine.
"Miss Galaxy Police officer, is it?"
"DO IT!"
At the sound of the weapon-safeties being clicked off, Jessen finally
released his grasp on Kanrei, letting him fall back to the ground in a heap.
"Now, put your hands up and turn around slowly."
Clenching his teeth through the pain caused by moving the damaged
back-muscles used by his right arm, Jessen brought both arms to the side and
raised his bloody hands up to head-level, slowly rotating himself until he stood
facing his captor.
"Good."
The woman confronting him was almost as tall as he, wearing a tight
black and grey bodysuit that hugged her sufficiently well-proportioned body.
Her black helmet encompassed her head completely, and the tinted visor set
into the front kept her face obscured from view. Also, true to her word, she
held a vaguely pistol-shaped gun in each hand, which were both aimed at the
center of Jessen's chest. From fifteen feet away, a shot from those would get
almost anyone.
"Hmm." Jessen smiled slightly as he examined the woman, his eyes
moving down to the thick pocketed belt wrapped around her waist and lower
stomach, then lower to her snow-covered black calf-high boots, before returning
his gaze back up to level. "Someone piloting a stripped and remodified version
of the standard GP one-man fighter craft, wearing a slightly unorthodox 'uniform'
completely lacking any sort of official ident, and packing heat that isn't exactly
standard-issue. A bit strange for a Galaxy Police officer, wouldn't you agree?"
"Quiet!" The moonlight glinted off of the silver guns as she took a step
forward to assert her presence.
"In fact, if I didn't know better, I'd guess that you were nothing more
than some stupid no-name bounty hunter with stolen equipment and absolutely
no knowledge of what you've really gotten yourself into."
"I told you to shut your mouth, you BASTARD!" She took a few more
steps forward, her guns starting to shake slightly in her gloved grip as she raised
her aim up to point between Jessen's eyes. Her voice was tight and angry, and
her breath came in ragged bursts as she spoke. "My name is Zeliali Bethels, and
I WAS a Galaxy Police officer before I was thrown off the force!"
"Zeliali... what a pretty name." Jessen's smile broadened. "So tell me,
exactly why did they throw you off the force?"
"YOU." The guns were shaking visibly now, as if an indication of the
anger Zeliali was trying to hold back.
"Me? Oh, that IS new. Of all the things I've done in my life, I think I
would remember such an atrocious act as that."
"Shut up.. SHUT UP!"
Swishaswishaswishaswisha.
"And I really would like to stand here and bleed while you tell that
whole story, but I'm afraid that I must be leaving."
"Bastard, you aren't going anywheRRRAAAAAAHHH!!"
Zeliali's pain-filled scream rang out in conjunction with the animalistic
growl of the large white wolf that had just slammed into her from behind,
clamped its fangs down upon the back of the high-collar covering her neck,
and dug its razor-sharp claws into her back. The two gunshots that came a
split-second later manifested in two bolts of white light, bursting out from the
barrels of the guns Zeliali held and missing their mark by half an inch, flying over
Jessen's head as he ducked down and rushed forward toward his foe.
The sound of Zeliali's helmet breaking echoed loudly in the night air;
Zeliali's unwanted forward momentum from the wolf on her back had sent her
right into Jessen's lunging uppercut, which connected with the chin of the helmet
and sent a splintering crack up the middle, shattering the tinted visor in the
process. Zeliali's head snapped back from the force of the blow as the two
faux-halves of her helmet front broke apart, flashing only a split-second glimpse
of a pale face before a swift kick to Zeliali's knees sent her crashing face-down
to the snowy ground, pinned under the wolf's weight.
"You lose, little rogue." Jessen looked down at Zeliali, who cringed and
gasped as the growling wolf on her back sunk its claws even deeper into her
flesh. "And thusly, I have a dilemma."
Zeliali cried out in pain as Jessen's boot stomped down upon her left
hand, snapping the small bones easily and breaking the gun she still held within
her grasp. Her right hand suffered the same fate only a moment after, garnering
the same response.
"You see," Jessen said, crouching down next to Zeliali's head. "Killing
you would obviously be the practical thing to do, but I find something very..
strange.. about you." He grabbed the back of the broken helmet and yanked it
from Zeliali's head, revealing a set of straight raven-black tresses that had been
pulled back and tucked into the recesses of her bodysuit. "To think that a Galaxy
Police officer, one thought to be trained in the workings of tactical procedure
and efficient criminal apprehension methods, could be so driven as to try and
take me down alone. You're the first GP in so many years to attempt such a
thing, you know? I can't even remember how long it's been since one of you
last tried that. The very thought of you doing so intrigues me."
A solitary snowflake drifted past Jessen's face, slowly weaving its way
through the windless air before softly landing in the snow. That flake was
followed by another, then another, and then another, each of them as silent as
the one before as they fell to the ground. Jessen raised his head to look upward;
the clouds above them had already started to reform, pulling themselves together
as they started to drop more and more of the crystalline powder down upon the
land.
"You'll have to tell me why, sometime."
Jessen slowly pushed himself back to his feet, taking a deep breath to
try and clear his head. His vision started to blur around the edges, but only for a
moment before it snapped back into focus. He knew that he was beginning to
suffer the effects of the massive blood loss and constant stress created from his
wound; enough to kill both human and Jurian alike. Unfortunately, with the
Galaxy Police encircling the planet, any attempt to fix his wound would bring
them all down on his head and force him to take unwanted measures. He could
finish his business easily enough without.
"And now," Jessen said, slowly turning around. "I will deal with you."
The pale-blue blade of the sword in Kanrei's hands snapped into
existence with a low hum, illuminating the Jurian warrior as he once again forced
himself to stand. His pallid face was haggard, wrought with a weariness that
reflected upon his entire presence as he weakly forced his body into a ready
stance. Even so, despite the worn muscles, taxed psyche, and destroyed pride,
his eyes still burned with the determination of one who had been able to fight
past the grasp of death and still manage to keep going. Hands tightly gripped
upon his weapon, Kanrei sturdied himself, breathing heavily as he waited; he
knew that, even injured, Jessen was more than a match for him in his current
condition. He would not back down, but he knew that he needed a miracle to
happen before he could even stand a chance.
Of course, stranger things have happened.
The burst of noise from the gunshot overshadowed Jessen's strangled
yell, as the small metal gun barrel now protruding from Zeliali's left sleeve shot a
beam of pure white energy point blank into Jessen's right boot, punching a
half-inch wide hole through his ankle before exiting the other side and shooting
off into the night.
Even as Jessen began to fall, Kanrei began his charge. Even as Jessen
spun in midair, lashing out with his left foot and clubbing Zeliali in the temple to
knock her unconscious before she could bring her right arm around, Kanrei
raised his weapon to strike. And even as Jessen hit the ground, Kanrei let out
a yell of vengeance and stabbed downward at his foe with every last ounce of
strength he had, the luminescent sword filling the air with bright blue light as
each snowflake reflected the glowing intensity of the energy blade.
And through it all, of course, the snow continued to fall.