Vacation Days
Chapter 8
A Tenchi Muyo! Fic
This uses the OVA continuity.
Any and all C+C craved for. You can contact me at:
sommer@3rdm.net
Standard Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Tenchi Muyo! materials
All of my stuff is now stored at:
http://angcobra.jumpfun.com/dbsommer.html
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"We're almost on top of it."
Malgaunt's whisper carried on the wind just into Funuyaki's hearing. The
marshal-turned- potential-revolutionary wasn't quite correct about that. It
was she and Ariana that were almost on top of it. They were the ones that
had taken the point and would encounter the Shihana first. And the only
reason it was not Ariana alone was because Malgaunt had insisted Funuyaki
go along to accompany her. The look the taller woman had shot Funuyaki told
all she needed to know about the enforcer's feelings concerning their
shared responsibilities.
The duo, ahead of the others by nearly fifty feet, crouched low and ran as
fast as they could and ducked behind a pile of rocks that littered the pass
through the mountains. There was virtually no cover in the rocky terrain,
and if the Shihana was as close as Malgaunt believed, then it should be
just on the other side of the pile of rubble.
A deep breath helped Funuyaki to calm down. She had a bad feeling in the
pit of her stomach. Ever since the day before, when Stargrave saw that the
Shihana had stopped moving, she had felt an increasing amount of tension
weigh her down as surely as if she had been carrying Onita on her back.
Given her own skills in perception, she could tell she was not the only
one. Initially, everyone -save Funuyaki and Autolycus- had been delighted
when the Shihana had stopped around the time Pupei should have made contact
with whoever was transporting the it. When it remained stationary for more
than five minutes, Stargrave actually went so far as to hug a delighted
Ariana. However, the cheers became more guarded when the Shihana continued
remaining where it was, not drawing any closer to them on its own, although
they were moving closer to it. Stargrave assured everyone that Pupei was
strong enough to carry the adamantine orb, or even roll it in order to
bring it towards them, but he did not. Instead, it remained exactly where
it was. After a couple of hours of non-movement, a sort of uneasiness
settled over everyone, and the pace of their march increased. A heavy rain
began that night when they camped among a small cluster of trees and had
continued on through the night and into the next day when they started
their journey again.
And now they found themselves nearly on top of where the Shihana should
have been. Ariana had been assigned the task of scouting forward. Funuyaki
had been ordered by Malgaunt to go as well so that Stargrave did not have
one up on him. Being treated like a pawn so openly made her pride swell,
she thought bitterly.
The duo were just starting to climb up the pile when Funuyaki's hand fell
upon something soft among the rocks. She paused a moment to examine it,
Ariana continuing her climb, either not noticing or not caring that her
companion was no longer at her side. It took Funuyaki only a moment to
shift aside some of the loose rubble and discover what the furry object
was, and what it belonged to.
"And then there were six."
A sharp intake of breath from above snapped Funuyaki out of her reverie.
Ariana stood at the top of the pile, looking down on the other side, her
attention focused on something. Worry and disappointment had replaced the
usual mask of anger Stargrave's first mate wore. Since the taller woman was
not behaving in a threatened or cautious manner, Funuyaki opted to rush
quickly up the side of the pile and look down to see what the cause of the
disturbance was.
Upon seeing what was on the other side, Funuyaki gave a wide smile that
nearly split her face in half. She turned back towards the other members of
the party farther back in the pass. "Hey Stargrave! Malgaunt! Come on over!
You've just got to see this!"
By the time the others made their way around the pile, Funuyaki had already
made her way to the other side and positioned herself so she could witness
both men's reactions at the same time. The pair looked in horror as they
saw Funuyaki standing next to an empty adamantine container, as though it
was a prize trophy fish she had caught. She decided all of the problems
from the overland trip had been worth seeing those two look that shocked.
Ariana saw the pain on her captain's face. It was as she had suspected; he
was nearly a broken man with this turn of events. Her mind raced as she
turned her head skyward and appeared to contemplate the rain. A look of
determination crossed her face and she began running further down the pass,
opposite the direction the group had arrived. Only Funuyaki took notice of
her departure.
Stargrave remained silent in his rage. Malgaunt stared in open-mouthed
wonder, trying to gather his thoughts. Eventually, he managed to get out,
"That's not possible. There's no way Mihoshi had the time, or skill, to
hack into the computer. It's too encrypted, even if she had the material
necessary to get into it."
"It wasn't hacked into." Funuyaki pointed at the keypad and its computer
ports. "The seals on the ports are still intact and there's no sign of
tampering on the keypad."
"There's no way she could have known the code!"
"Of course not, sir." Funuyaki found it easy to address him now that her
superior appeared more frazzled than a Wushanari thrown into a blender.
"Maybe it was a computer malfunction," Onita offered. He had caught up to
the others and had watched with more detachment than either Stargrave or
Malgaunt had.
Malgaunt stared blankly at Onita. "Perhaps," he said, all the while knowing
it was impossible for a malfunction to have caused the orb to open. But
grasping onto some cause, any sort of reason, was something his mind had
to do in order to deal with the situation.
"It's over now, isn't it?" Stargrave managed to get out as he continued
staring at the sphere.
"The tracker was on that orb. I had no way of inserting another on the
contents of the polynison sphere inside," Malgaunt confirmed.
Autolycus gave a soft sigh of relief. "Praise be. Now we can get on with
our lives and finally get off this rock."
"Don't... start!" Stargrave snarled, turning in anger upon the diminutive
creature.
Autolycus held up his small, gnarled hands. "No offense was intended, but
you've known my feelings on the matter."
Stargrave raised his face to the skies and allowed the gentle rain to wash
over him. He needed desperately to believe in something. Perhaps Autolycus
was right. Maybe the whole plot with the Shihana had been nothing more than
a fanciful dream he would never have seen to fruition. Maybe it was time to
get on with his life and get out of the pirate business altogether and do
something else. Something peaceful. Perhaps-
"I can track them!"
All eyes looked down the pass. Ariana was still more than hundred meters
away, but her voice had carried over the low din of the rain. She was
running towards them as fast as she could, shouting out over and over again
that she could track them.
Once she arrived at the group, she got out between gasps of breath, "I went
down and checked the other end of the pass. The terrain there is much
softer, and with the way it's been raining, they left footprints all over
the place. I can track them overland now. The whole area's forested, and
it'll make following them a little slow, but I can do it."
In joy, Stargrave kissed Ariana on her forehead and laughed to the heavens
above. "I knew I wouldn't be denied! The Shihana will be mine!"
Softly, daring to interrupt the captain's rapture, a voice said, "Don't do
this."
Stargrave turned on Autolycus. "The hell I won't! We're almost upon our
goal. There's no way I'll back off now." He turned away from Autolycus and
began to head towards the opposite end of the pass.
Another soft sigh escaped the gray flesh that passed for lips on Autolycus.
"I know where there's a space tree you can bond to." All eyes looked in
confusion upon the diminutive being's form. Seeing he had Stargrave's
undivided attention, Autolycus continued. "I had been meaning to save this
for when you had learned a great deal of more self-control, but I can
clearly see that if I don't act now, you're going to make mistake from
which you'll never recover."
Slowly, Stargrave seemed to consider the offer. Temptation was written on
his features. "It doesn't matter. Getting the Shihana back is more
important." Despite his rejection, the allure was still there for all to
see.
"It's a first generation space tree."
Temptation changed to amusement as Stargrave roared in laughter at
Autolycus. "Now I know you're lying. There are less than a dozen first
generation space trees, all of them bonded and protected."
"It's the Sirocco."
Malgaunt's eyebrows furrowed. "Impossible. The Sirocco was destroyed along
with the entire fleet that attacked the Whipwreck homeworld. There were no
survivors. And even if it had survived, that was over a thousand years ago.
We would have heard of it surviving before now."
"It survived," Autolycus informed him, then turned to Stargrave. "Do you
remember when I took a leave of absence a few months back? It was then I
stumbled upon its location in the protected zone around Earth. Sirocco's
outward form has changed so much that she's physically unrecognizable, and
she's taking great efforts to mask her presence, but it is her. She is
powerful. Perhaps even more powerful than before." He paused a moment to
allow the information to sink in. "Think about it, Sa'bre. A first
generation space tree at your command. It'll be true power for you, not
this bone the Yagdagron intend to throw at you for helping them overthrow
an empire."
Sensing he was getting through to Stargrave, Autolycus decided it was time
to reveal more. "The main reason I've remained at your side for the last
couple of decades is because I've sensed potential in you, boy. Real
potential. The kind that can change the face of the galaxy for millennia,
but only if you utilize it correctly."
"I am trying to change things," Stargrave protested. "With the Yagdagron-"
Autolycus's tone turned to that of a teacher explaining a simple concept to
an exceptionally stupid student. "Let me tell you what's going to happen.
The Yagdagron, if they are successful, will have their little would-be
dictatorship overthrown in less than two hundred years, and that's if they
succeed at all. Don't try to argue this with me. I've seen over a thousand
empires more powerful than theirs dissolve when they reaped the whirlwind
from their actions. I know what I'm talking about.
"But you're different, and I don't mean by that power within you, although
that is part of it. I can feel inside you the ability to affect all of
those around you, and I don't mean in simply taking over a gang of thieves.
I've only felt the potential in just under two dozen people in my
considerable lifetime. Less than half of them ever managed to achieve the
greatness they had within them. Don't be a failure like those others;
listen to what I'm saying. On your own, without becoming a lackey to
others, you can become a force in this universe that could conceivably make
the Jurai Empire tremble. It doesn't matter what they did to you before.
You have to go beyond petty schemes of vengeance. You have to be willing to
let go of the past and move forward with the future, otherwise you're
doomed to failure. That I can guarantee."
Doubt consumed Stargrave's features, and for the briefest of moments it
appeared he was going to agree. But it was just that: a moment. As with all
the moments that had come before, it passed, and once again Stargrave
seemed to firm in his resolve. "You're assuming I want the greatness you
speak of. Well I don't. I refuse to 'let go of the past', as you put it.
They can never be forgiven for what they've done to me and mine. Never."
Autolycus looked deeply into Sa'bre's eyes. It was as he suspected;
Stargrave would never give up on his quest. "Then it's time for me to go. I
have no desire to watch you destroy yourself, or waste my time any further.
You're on your own from now on." Autolycus turned and headed back the way
they had come.
"You're going back to the ship?" Whatever emotions Stargrave felt at
Autolycus's abandonment were hidden too well for even Malgaunt to
determine.
"I'm getting off this rock."
Stargrave looked at him curiously. "Impossible. At least until a ship
arrives."
"I have my own resources," Autolycus said enigmatically. He was about to
turn away again when his eyes fell upon Funuyaki. "You can come along if
you like. You don't belong here with the rest of them."
It took Funuyaki several seconds to process exactly what was said. How
could Autolycus have known her doubts? Were they that obvious? Malgaunt had
never said anything. If he had realized what she had been thinking the
entire time, he would never have trusted her, would he?
Her mind began racing. What about Autolycus's offer? A chance to get out of
the situation? She had been looking for one since the entire fiasco had
been revealed to her. Now it seemed, at least on the surface, that she had
an opportunity to cut her losses and run. Could she salvage something of
her career? Could she even salvage something of her life? What was there
for her if she ran away now?
And what if, in spite of all the difficulties that Malgaunt and the others
had encountered, they still somehow succeeded in their plans and overthrew
the Jurai Empire? Where would she be then? Could she afford to pass up the
rewards if they were successful, even with the recriminations she had over
her own actions? She had to make a choice, and she had to make it now. What
was she going to do?
A soft smile was the first response she gave to Autolycus. For the second,
she said, "My fate is here with these others. Nothing can change that now.
Nothing."
A final sigh escaped Autolycus's lips. "Such a waste," he murmured, then
turned and began walking away again.
"Do you want me to bring him back, or take care of him?" Ariana asked
Stargrave.
"And what purpose would that serve?" Stargrave gave Ariana a disappointed
look. "He's free to come or go as he pleases. It just means he'll be cut
out of the deal when the time for rewards comes." He shouldered the back he
had been carrying. "It's time to move out. Every second we waste here the
Shihana gets further away from us. Ariana, show us the way."
The others obeyed and picked up their packs once more. To Funuyaki, the
pack seemed a lot lighter, now that she had finally decided on what to do.
The group set off in the direction that their prize had been taken.
Slogging through the mud was tiring. Even the frequent toiling he had done
in the fields back home had not prepared him for this kind of exercise. It
would have been so much easier if the terrain had been rocky, or at least
not muddy. Even if it would stop raining, things would be better. But the
earth was soft and the rain had fallen continuously for nearly two days
now, and it seemed doubtful that they were anywhere near the ship.
It would have felt like a complete exercise in futility if not for the fact
that Tenchi had a bad feeling that their troubles weren't over and that
they were being followed. It was not as though he had actually seen any
indication that there was anyone following them, not even the quick
movement of a shadow out of the corner of his eye, and yet the feeling
would still not go away. It was making him slightly paranoid. Slightly,
only because when you hung around people that could move through walls,
summon floating logs, and turn your storage closet into an access portal to
another dimension, and all of said people had an active interest in you,
you already had a tendency to be paranoid, and you got used to the feeling
after a while. When you were almost certain you were being hunted by one or
more bad guys intending harm upon your person, the paranoia was higher and
more constant, but remained at acceptable levels.
It was getting close to Mihoshi's turn to pull the anti-gravity sled. It
was not so much the weight of the sled that bothered Tenchi -it was in an
antigravity field and was weightless- it was the slow, steady pace and
concentration that had to be maintained in order to keep the field around
the orb stable. The orb had fallen off once and it had taken a half an hour
in the pouring rain to reset the field to get it to transport the whitish
ball of smooth material once again. Remaining in one spot was worse than
moving in many ways. The air was slightly chilly even during the daytime
and being soaked to the bone didn't help at all.
"I think it's my turn to pull the sled now, Tenchi."
"I can carry it a while longer." It was true that Mihoshi had insisted on
pulling the sled at least half of the time, and it was the fair thing to
do, but chivalry, along with a bit of a desire to be macho, made him want
to pull it at least fifty minutes out of every hour.
Mihoshi was adamant. "No. It's been two hours and that means it's my turn
to pull it. Now give it up, Tenchi."
Tenchi was about to politely refuse again when he spotted the mouth to a
nearby cave. It was only a little less than a couple of hours until the sun
would set, and they needed to find shelter soon to keep out of the rain
during the night. The cave would be perfect. It would mean possibly
sacrificing some travel time, but whoever was following them would almost
surely seek out shelter from the rain as well. Once inside, they could even
try lighting a fire and getting warm. Tenchi had already forgotten the last
time he had felt warm.
"Why don't we wait in there, you know, with how the weather is and all?"
Tenchi pointed to the mouth of the cave.
"What do you mean? What's wrong with the weather?"
Apparently not only did it tend to be colder on Mensa than on Earth, but
the area of the planet that Mihoshi had grown up in had an annual amount of
rainfall that would have turned any desert into a rainforest, or so Tenchi
had discovered when Mihoshi said she was unaffected by the rain and
temperature. If it got any colder, Tenchi would have accepted Mihoshi's
offer of allowing him to wear her uniform. There was a point where pride
gave way to discomfort.
"I'm just a little soggy and cold," Tenchi said through chattering teeth."
"Oh, right. I forgot you find this weather uncomfortable." Mihoshi helped
Tenchi pull the sled into the mouth of the small cave. Upon entering it,
they saw that it only stretched back several meters and was littered with a
variety of uncomfortable-looking stones and some wood that had somehow
ended up in the cave. They cleared out some of the stones and freed up a
small area towards the center of their shelter. Once they were satisfied
with their space, they elected to leave the sled outside at the mouth of
the cave, the size of it being far too large to make staying in the cave
comfortable.
It took nearly an hour to make the cave suitable for an overnight stay. By
the time they had finished, one sun had nearly completed its journey to the
horizon and the second was well on its way to join its companion. Now that
he was out of the rain, Tenchi found things far more comfortable and began
to relax. There was just one thing that was missing to make the cave truly
enjoyable. Or at least as enjoyable as the circumstance allowed.
Mihoshi finished tying her hair back up as she watched Tenchi gather the
dried sticks from the cave into a little pile in the center of their
clearing. "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to try to make a fire." Tenchi gathered all of the wood that he
could. There wasn't that much, but if used sparingly, he could make a small
fire that would last for several hours. "Do you have something that could
start a fire?"
"Hmm. I think I might have something, if I remember correctly." Mihoshi
rifled through the pockets of her uniform until she came up with a book of
matches. She handed it to Tenchi.
Tenchi's eyebrows raised slightly as he looked the matchbook over. "You've
been to The G-Spot Club?"
"Yes," Mihoshi said, giggling. "I went with Ryouko and Aeka last month. It
was all Ryouko's idea. She said she'd been there lots of times and that it
had great food."
"It's the most infamous male strip club in all of Tokyo."
"Oh. I guess that would explain why the waiters were so big and handsome
and wore those tight leather pants muscle shirts. And here I thought it was
just because the place was really warm. Anyway, we had a really fun time
and all got along really well. The waiters were very accommodating too."
Mihoshi got a far off look in her eyes. "One of them gave me a nine inch
sausage."
Tenchi made a strangling noise.
"It was bigger than anything I ever had before. I was so proud of myself. I
managed to swallow the whole nine inches on the first try."
Tenchi began choking on air.
"Even Ryouko was impressed by that. She said she wanted to try too, but she
could only get seven inches down before she gagged."
Tenchi's heart began to fail.
"Aeka said that was nothing and got a nice, fat, juicy foot long one down
in a single gulp. She said she was so good at it because of her Juraian
bridal training. Who'd have thought they taught that sort of thing in
bridal training, right, Tenchi? Tenchi?"
Mihoshi suddenly realized that Tenchi had stopped breathing and promptly
began giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. He started breathing again
after the first ten seconds.
Once consciousness returned, Tenchi shot to his feet. "Mihoshi! How could
you betray me like that?!" He gave her a cold glare as he leveled an
accusing finger at her.
The accusation caused Mihoshi to sniffle. "I didn't know you'd be offended.
I'm sorry. Next time I'll order an extra nine inch sausage for you. I'll be
sure they put extra sauce and green peppers on it, and I'll even get a side
order of french fries. Would that make it up to you?"
Tenchi's eyebrow twitched so violently it was nearly a blur. "I knew you
meant sausage as in food instead of sausage as in... sausage."
Tenchi sat back down and let his mind go into neutral for the next fifteen
minutes. Once enough of his faculties recovered so that he wouldn't have an
embarrassment-induced heart attack, he said. "I'm sorry. I overreacted at
your choice of... dish."
"That's okay," Mihoshi assured him.
"No, no. I should have acted more calmly." The intensity of his reaction at
the perceived betrayal had surprised even him. He was going to have to
think on why it had been so violent later. "Anyway, I don't want you to go
back there again."
"How come?"
"I, ah," Tenchi couldn't quite find the right words. Fortunately, some were
provided for him.
[Just tell her you're jealous of the idea that if she hangs around
good-looking, scantily clad studboys, she might lose interest in you and
chase after them.]
That wasn't it at all.
[It's not?]
That mostly wasn't it at all.
[No?]
Okay, it was exactly that.
[Good boy. Have a sausage.]
"I just don't want you to go there because it makes me uncomfortable that
you would hang around guys like... that."
"Like what?" Mihoshi asked in bewilderment.
"Err, guys that like to go around showing off their bodies at the drop of a
hat."
"You mean like Ryouko does with you?" Mihoshi asked.
"Yes, exactly like-"
[NOOO! You idiot! You fell into the trap!]
It was too late. Mihoshi, as scatterbrained as she could be at times, was
still a woman. "If I don't mind you hanging around Ryouko, why should you
mind me hanging around guys like that?"
[Told you so]
Tenchi began to panic at having the tables suddenly turned on him.
"It's..."
[It's called a double standard. I can hang around whoever I want, but you
are allowed only to hang around people that I think are okay. Which means
you can't breathe the same air as anything male that doesn't looks like he
was beaten with an ugly stick, broke the stick, and then got hit with
another one. Deal with it.]
That wasn't going to work. Even with Mihoshi.
[I'm fresh out of ideas then. You're on your own from now on.]
Tenchi gave a sigh. Best to tell the truth. "I shouldn't. It's wrong of me,
I know, but I can't help the way I am. I'm sorry. You can hang out with
whoever you want."
"Of course I can," Mihoshi said confidently. "But I won't go there again.
If it makes you uncomfortable, it would make me uncomfortable and then I
wouldn't have fun, and if I wouldn't have fun, there wouldn't be any reason
for me to go."
Tenchi breathed a sigh of relief. Yes, morally he was in the wrong, but her
concession still made him feel good. There was just one lingering detail.
"Mihoshi?"
"Yes?"
"Can you really eat a nine inch sausage in one gulp?"
"Tenchi, I could do eleven if I had to."
A silly grin spread across Tenchi's features. Mihoshi truly was a girl of
many talents. One of which was...
"Mihoshi, this matchbook is wet."
"Oh, don't worry about it. Just make a fire to dry it out."
...the ability to frustrate the hell out of him sometimes. The silly grin
disappeared, replaced by the shivering from the cold. "Do you have
something else I could use to make a fire so I can dry these matches out
and use them to make a fire?"
The ability to comprehend sarcasm easily was not one of Mihoshi's many
talents. Being able to swallow eleven inches of sausage went a long way to
balancing that out, though. "Umm. Nope. I don't think so."
"Can't you turn your laser to a lower setting and cause it to make a fire?"
Tenchi asked.
"Nope," Mihoshi assured him. "The only settings it has are 'stun', 'kill',
and 'make sure someone cleans up the ashes afterwards'. No 'fire' setting.
Sorry." Mihoshi sighed. "Are you sure you can't make a fire?"
"How? It's not like-" Tenchi paused, looking down at the floor of the cave
until he spotted what he wanted. He picked up two greenish-blue colored
rocks. "It's not like you can just randomly pick up a couple of rocks and
hit them together, hoping you can make a spark and start a fire."
To prove his point, Tenchi drew the rocks back, then brought them forward
to strike one another. Just as they were about to make contact, he heard
Mihoshi cry out, "Wait, Tenchi! Don't do it!"
Tenchi was about to ask her what the problem was as the rocks struck one
another. A bright red-colored light formed where the rocks contacted, then
a wave of heat knocked Tenchi unconscious.
The group following the Shihana settled under a thick bow of trees that
provided a little shelter. The largest of the water-proof sheets hung above
the makeshift encampment. It was spread out, nailed to several of the
closer trees and branches in order to hang over the fire that had been made
in the center of the encampment. Even as close as they tried to get, only
Stargrave and Malgaunt were able to fit completely under the overhead
cover. The others had to sit along the edge, hunched in personal-sized
waterproof sheets that had been designed for such a purpose. That did
little to ease their discomfort.
The atmosphere around the camp was tense, though not as depressing as might
have been expected under the circumstances. The remaining five members of
the party had said little since Autolycus had left them, choosing instead
to remain silent as Ariana led the way, tracking their opponents. Onita
mentioned that with the trail Mihoshi and whoever was traveling with her
were leaving behind, even he could have tracked them. He was content to
allow Ariana to lead, and subsequently trigger whatever ambushes or traps
the opposition might have left behind.
However, there were neither ambushes nor traps to deal with. Nothing
impeded their progress, save a lack of light when the suns went down. That
did not stop Stargrave at first, he had insisted they try moving through
the night, but after falling in the mud for the fourth time in half an hour
even the persistent Stargrave had to give up. Besides, the progress they
had made was slow during the night and they would move more quickly with
rest and light.
Everyone pitched in and helped to make the encampment. Even with their
outfits keeping out the chill, the group was grateful for the fire. It made
things seems brighter and gave them hope for the next day. The nature of
each person's hope differed slightly from the others.
They finished a meal of trail rations, Onita the only one eating them with
any enthusiasm. Everyone began to relax and get some rest in preparation
for tomorrow's journey, save for Funuyaki, who had drawn the first watch.
As the group settled down, Stargrave shifted slightly, then turned to
Malgaunt. "I think we're going to run into Mihoshi and whoever is traveling
with her soon. Possibly by tomorrow. I want to know about her. Does she
have any vulnerabilities we can exploit? How good is she really? Can we
bribe her?"
Malgaunt laughed at that and shook his head. "First Class Detective
Mihoshi, before and after the erosion of her abilities, was incorruptible,
I assure you."
"Everyone has a price," Stargrave insisted.
"Well, the currency to buy her is not something as material as money or as
alluring as power. We won't be able to bribe her. Now as to what she's
like..." Malgaunt took a few moments to recall what information he knew. It
had been some time since he had gone through personnel files. "She
graduated with high marks at nearly the top of the academy. Her first
assignment was in one of the rougher sections of Lambada Sector, a very
unusual place for a rookie to be assigned, but it had been on an order from
the Grand Marshal, who is her grandfather, by the way."
"So she got her job through her family connections?" Ariana asked.
Malgaunt gave a brief shake of his head. "At first, that was what I
thought. But the list of criminals she's brought in, many of them
single-handed, proves that she belongs in our ranks. Her list of
achievements is twice that of most career officers, despite only being a
member of the force for a little more than five years. There's nothing she
hasn't accomplished. She's brought in serial killers, talked down suicide
cases, negotiated hostage situations, foiled terrorists plots, and gotten
entire gangs of the most violent thugs to give up without a fight. There
was even a case where she managed to break up a cult of over a thousand
people that was following a nihilistic megalomaniacal leader that tried to
make them commit mass suicide. Of course, in preventing the cultists from
killing themselves, Mihoshi somehow got them to begin worshipping her as
their new leader and they began following her. That was a real mess. It
took over a month of one of the special divisions of the department to
deprogram them. And afterwards the entire unit ended up having to take a
vacation from the stress involved in forcing them away from her. From what
the reports said, they cultists were hopelessly devoted to her. The whole
'Cult Of Mihoshi' case was one that's still talked about to this day.
"I suppose that was around the time her performance rating started to drop.
In the beginning, she was a fine officer, though I had only encountered her
at a handful of award ceremonies. I heard odd stories about her in the
early days, but you know how rumors circulate. I paid them little mind, and
her performance rating remained high. But after the first three and a half
years of her career, things began to change. Complaints began to come in.
Bills for damage she caused rose. She began to crash her spaceship into
things. It was a drop in everything except her arrest rate. That remained
high, and she was still able to accomplish the tasks she was assigned, but
the manner in which she solved her cases began to cause chaos all around.
And the more time that passed, the worse it got. Pretty soon, everyone
began to fear working with her. A young up and coming officer was assigned
to Mihoshi in the hopes that she could somehow mitigate the damage she was
causing, while still maintaining the record of arrests. Shortly after
joining Mihoshi, Kiyone disappeared and was presumed dead.
"Since she was still completing her assignments, and no one had the guts to
fire the Grand Marshal's granddaughter, Mihoshi was relegated to out of the
way areas of space where it was presumed she would cause no damage, or at
least minimize it. I believe they were successful to some degree. At least
I haven't heard any major complaints about her."
"But that doesn't really tell us what she's doing here, or how she's been
able to constantly foil our scheme," Stargrave pointed out.
"I haven't got the faintest idea." Malgaunt would have begun pacing to help
him think, save for the rain falling outside his cover. He had had enough
rain to last him for the next year. "If the Galaxy Police were onto me, and
had sent Mihoshi to bring me in, they would never have allowed us to throw
Tartarus into Hell's Gate."
"It's been said she's very lucky," Funuyaki mentioned.
Malgaunt openly scoffed at that. "The idea that she somehow stumbled onto
us and foiled our scheme through luck is absolutely preposterous." He felt
sorrow at his prot�g�'s naivet�. One couldn't put stock in such intangibles
as luck. The prepared made their own luck.
"I worked with her once."
All eyes turned to the speaker: Onita.
He had the far off glint in his eye of someone remembering the distant
past. "It was a little less than two years ago, right after she began her
slide, near as I can tell. I was assigned to work undercover with her. It
was us and some detective named Chancer, who was the guy in charge. We were
going to run a trifecta operation on some arms dealers. Chancer was going
to pretend to be a negotiator for some outer rim crime lord. I was his
muscle, I'm good at acting like hired muscle, and Mihoshi played his bimbo
girlfriend. She did that really good too. I always thought the girlfriend
roles were the easiest; the bad guys never suspect them of being dangerous
and always make mistakes around the girls. Guys like me always get all the
attention because we're supposed to be the dangerous ones, and whenever
things go down, all guns get turned to you first. That's why I always like
feeling out whoever I'm working with, especially the female officer since
they could make the difference between life and death for me."
"So anyway, in the days leading up to the operation I get to talking with
Mihoshi. Now I'd been in the service for seven years already, five of them
working undercover and nothing else. Now by that time I learned how the
system really works, and it wasn't with that idealist crap they feed you
about in the academy. It's nothing like they say it is. I played rough and
tough with a lot of people. I took graft every now and then. Hell, I helped
cover up an operation that went bad and a couple of innocents got caught in
the crossfire. It was a just a mistake, you know. Why did me and the other
guys have to suffer because a couple of people got stupid? I did a lot of
stuff that probably would have gotten me thrown off the force if it became
public knowledge; I can admit to it. It's what you had to do to survive and
keep from going crazy when you work deep covers like I did.
"So anyway, I get to talking with her -aside from planning the op, there
wasn't much else to do- and it was funny. She was this bright, happy,
cheerful girl that, you know, was kind of bubbly. She wasn't like any other
officer I had ever worked with before. At first, I thought she was just
preparing herself for the act, but it became obvious real quick that was
the way she really was.
"Early on, I didn't know what to make of it, but I listened to what she
said. The more she talked about being on the force and what it meant to
her, the more I felt like, I don't know. I kind of felt bad. I mean, it was
just the way she said things, so bright and optimistic and happy. It kind
of made me feel inspired. For the first time since I joined the force, I
thought maybe I could serve the public the way they told us in the academy.
Maybe I could have made a difference, or at least been like she was instead
of the way I was. I think maybe part of me wanted to be more like her. She
seemed a lot happier than me.
"Anyway, the operation went down without a problem, except for the weapons
being destroyed, and that was no big deal. After it was all over we went
our separate ways, and I came back to my senses. It really was stupid, me
believing in what she was saying and all. It was just a load of crap." With
his story over, Onita seemed less happy than he had before and began
staring off into space.
Stargrave thought about what had been said. "If she's still that
optimistic, I can see where she would be incorruptible." Stargrave returned
his attention to Onita. "And what caused you to thrown in with Malgaunt on
this little journey?"
Onita shrugged. "Internal Affairs found some evidence about me taking a
bribe. I'd have probably lost my job, except the Marshal stepped in and
used some favors to get them off my back. He pulled me from undercover and
had me reassigned as his personal aide."
Stargrave seemed satisfied with the answer. He turned to Funuyaki. "So,
what's your story for joining up?"
"Mind your own business!" Funuyaki snapped.
The fierceness in her voice caused Ariana to move nearer to Funuyaki. The
lieutenant noticed the motion and turned to fully face the enforcer. "Get
any closer, and I'll feed you that vibro-sabre that's under your cloak,"
Funuyaki snarled.
"It would take a better woman than you to do it, GP." Ariana's voice was
ice. It matched the look in her eyes.
"Lieutenant Funuyaki was a naughty girl too."
This time all eyes turned to Malgaunt. Funuyaki shot him in incredulous
look. He responded by smiling and shrugging his shoulders as if to say,
"It's inevitable, so don't try to fight it." She wouldn't give him the
satisfaction of telling the story, so she resisted him the only way she
could.
"My story isn't so different from Onita's. I graduated the academy with
high marks. At first, I did everything the way they taught me: by the book.
My career started off very promising and I received a couple of
commendations. After a year on the force, I was promoted to undercover. I
had a good partner that helped break me into the job, teaching me the
ropes. I learned fast, but not as fast as I thought. He saved my life early
on when I made a dumb mistake. He really went out on a limb for me and
nearly died, so I kind of felt like I owed him my life. In hindsight, I
shouldn't have felt so devoted to him.
"It all started innocently enough. Before, he had always shielded me from
some of the things he did. I assumed it was just personal work, but once he
felt he could trust me, he let me see what he was really up to. He took
bribes. Not a lot, and certainly not over serious crimes, but over petty
things that he would look the other way for. I didn't like it -it went
against everything I'd been taught- but I owed him my life, and he was
trusting me with this. I just couldn't bring myself to turn him in. So I
turned a blind eye and let him continue without a complaint."
"It always starts out small," Stargrave said, a satisfied smirk on his
lips.
Funuyaki refrained from saying anything. The man was right, after all, and
the truth was supposed to hurt sometimes. And she would deny him the
satisfaction of seeing her react to his interruption, which was the whole
reason behind his speaking. "Yes. It did. After a while, I began running
short of money. The Galaxy Police has good benefits but minimal pay, and
I've always had problems with managing my finances. I mentioned that to my
partner, and he said I could get some of the money as well. At first I
resisted, but I admit it didn't take much for him to talk me into it. I
think he wanted me involved as additional insurance for him. After all, I
couldn't very well turn him in if I was guilty of doing the exact same
thing."
"After about a year of that, I was reassigned. A became mobile, working a
bunch of different assignments with different partners, all of them good,
upstanding officers. My career took off, and I made dozens of arrest and
won a chest full of medals and commendations for a job well done. But as
time passed, I fell further into debt and further into misery. I mean, I
was scraping the absolute bottom of the barrel in money. I have to admit, I
was sort of desperate. That's probably why I went along with what happened
next.
"A couple of undercover officers I had met in the line of duty approached
me with a plan. They thought I would go along with it since they had heard
from my first partner that I had taken some bribes and didn't snitch on
anyone. I ended up agreeing, because it sounded like a good way to make a
lot of money fast. The plan was that we'd use our undercover status to run
a scam on some drug dealers. Except it wouldn't be an official case; it
would be something we'd be doing freelance. We'd let the criminals go, of
course, but we'd be keeping the money that we found at the bust.
"The plan went down just like we hoped, and I ended up with a ton of money.
Enough that I swore that I wouldn't pull another heist like that again. I
should have known better than to lie to myself like that. The idea that I
could actually profit from doing what were essentially good deeds in
stopping criminals was too good an opportunity to pass up. We did several
other smaller deals and pulled in some extra cash. A couple of times things
broke down and we ended up in gun fights, but I never shot anyone that
wasn't actively trying to kill me first. And the ones that died were all
killers anyway. Someone would have punched their tickets sooner or later,
and I kept them from harming anyone else by taking them out, so it really
didn't bother me. Things were actually looking pretty good in my life,
which, of course, meant something terrible was bound to bring it all
crashing down.
"On one of our cases, we used a snitch to help us set up the scam. He was a
lowlife dreg and a crook, but we convinced him that it was a legit bust and
that we'd arrest him if he didn't help. So he did, and that operation went
down without a problem. Complications came up when the snitch contacted me
a few months later. Apparently, he somehow found out that it was not an
official police bust and that we were doing it on our own. He thought I was
the most reasonable of the group and contacted me privately to try to work
out a deal to buy his continued silence. God, I felt like my world had come
to an end.
"We met in a large city on his homeworld. I nice, dank, back alleyway in
the dead of night; the proper place for such underhanded dealing to take
place, yes? He was there, smirking at me like the cat that had swallowed
the proverbial barchard. And all the time fear gnawed away at me in a way
I'd never felt before. Getting gunned down in the line of duty, that I
could handle. But to be arrested, dishonored and thrown into prison for the
sake of busting a few criminals, that was too much to take. I thought I was
going to break down, I stress was eating away at me that bad.
"All the time I was looking at him, I knew the truth. The little rat would
never really be bought off. He'd blackmail me to the end of his days, and
that I couldn't live with. So I decided to scare him, convince him that I'd
kill him if he even breathed a word of this to anyone. I threatened him,
but the little shitbag didn't buy it. He was convinced I'd never actually
kill him, that I was too nice, in spite of what I had done, and that if I
wasn't willing to pay up, he'd contact one of the others and see if they'd
cough up the cash. I'd never felt so threatened in my life. And if they
didn't, he contact the Galaxy Police.
"I've never responded well to threats.
"The snide little bastard turned his back on me and started walking away. I
pulled my gun out and tried to give him one last chance to back off, but he
didn't even bother to turn around when he told me to go screw myself. I had
a choice, and I took it. I shot him. It was easy. I just aimed and pulled
the trigger. Shot took him clean in the back of his head. Dead in an
instant. Even if he was a scumbag, he didn't deserve to die in pain.
"I was surprised by my composure. There was no fear anymore, just a calm
feeling of control. I reacted just like a professional I was. I made it
look like a mugging that went bad and immediately headed off planet. I was
terrified for weeks that someone would find out what I had done and arrest
me for murder, but no one ever did. The crime was listed as unsolvable, and
everyone forgot that little waste of oxygen ever existed." Funuyaki rubbed
her temple and smiled. It was the first time she had ever told the whole
story to anyone. In an odd way, it felt good to get it off her chest.
Malgaunt was surprised by the confession. He had known about everything but
the murder. However, he quickly adapted to it. It was unexpected, but meant
nothing in the larger scheme of things. "We got wind of the possibility
that someone in the Galaxy Police was using their position to pretend they
were on duty and robbing from criminals. My personal investigation led me
to the lieutenant and her involvement in the crimes. I knew Funuyaki's
record; it impressed me to no end. She was brilliant, with a sharp mind and
good intuitive skills. I had actually met her a couple of times, and she
had always impressed me on a personal level. With the knowledge that she
had proven herself willing to bend the rules as she had, I felt I had at
last discovered someone that could be my right hand, and perhaps someday be
my successor. Not that I am planning on stepping down any time soon. I have
an organization to run shortly, but I want to start on my legacy a little
early.
"I approached Funuyaki and made her a deal, if she were to become my
subordinate, the evidence against her would disappear, and she'd never have
to worry about it again. Needless to say, she accepted. I couldn't be more
satisfied with her performance since."
Ariana gave her a tight smile. "You're so underhanded, I could almost
admire you."
"As though the compliments of a lapdog impress me."
That brought a scowl to Ariana's features, and she considered taking a
swing at Funuyaki and seeing what would come of it. Her plans came to a
halt when Stargrave spoke up. "Now, now. Ariana is subordinate to my
wishes, but she's anything but a lapdog." He held his hand to his chin in
thought. "Since we now know your little secrets, I'll let you known
Ariana's as well."
Ariana sat back down, relaxing. Unlike Funuyaki, she was not ashamed of her
past. It was just some of the things in the present that vexed her. It gave
her a certain amount of pride that Stargrave felt like bragging about her,
and was interested in hearing how he would tell the story.
Stargrave gave his first mate a tight smile and began. "My dear, sweet,
faithful Ariana was won by me in a card game."
"Oh?" Funuyaki said. Onita wore a puzzled expression while Malgaunt
appeared uninterested in the revelation.
"Ariana is from Andarea, as you might have been able to tell by her slight
accent. It's a small out of the way planet that has several treaties with
the Jurai, though is not actually a part of it. Andarea's world government
is a male-dominated monarchic system. Women are treated as little more than
property. Valuable property, but property all the same. And the most
valuable of all are the high born ladies, such as Ariana here."
"How come?" Onita asked.
Stargrave bit off the sharp reply on his tongue. He hated being
interrupted, but he wanted to finish his tale more than wasting time with
the reprimand. "Because they are taught almost from the moment they can
walk combat arts. They receive extensive training in most personal arms and
hand-to-hand fighting. You see, among the males of the nobility, certain
forms of assassination are viewed as an acceptable means of advancement.
Not bombs or poisons, mind you, but rather up close and personal methods,
such as blades, pistols, and even bare hands. Since paying for standard
bodyguards around the clock costs a small fortune, it's simply more
economical for a nobleman to pay a one time bride price for a well-trained
noblewoman and marry her. That way they stay at the side of their man at
all times. Quite practical, when you stop and think about it. And since
noblemen are allowed to have multiple wives, they can have twenty-four hour
protection, as well as the fringe benefits that apply when one is married
to a beautiful bodyguard." Stargrave gave a smile at the joke. He failed to
notice Ariana's own downcast look in his direction.
"As to Ariana herself, she was bought and married to a rather wealthy lord
named Bethlamu that had this gambling problem. Namely he didn't know when
to quit when his luck went bad. I was involved in such a game, winning
quite soundly, and legitimately I might add, when Bethlamu ran out of
funds. Instead of walking away, he offered to put up Ariana as collateral.
I could see the pompous snob was unworthy of her protection at a glance. It
was my duty to rescue her. I accepted and won her, of course. The poor fool
didn't know what to do without her. He had other wives, of course, but none
as talented as Ariana. He even offered to buy her back later when he got
more funds, as though there was enough money in all of his coffers to buy
someone like her back."
"So she's your slave?" Funuyaki asked.
"Hardly," Stargrave scoffed. "I freed her the moment I won her, then
offered her a job working for me. The poor dear didn't know what to do at
first, she did have a lifetime of conditioning which made her think of
herself as nothing more than property to be bartered with by other men, but
she's broken out of that frame of mind since. She's her own woman now, free
to come and go as she pleases."
"I'd never leave you," Ariana insisted.
"Ah, but women are fickle," Stargrave said whimsically. "You say that now,
but will you feel the same a year from now?"
"I'd stay with you forever," she said with total conviction.
Funuyaki rolled her eyes. It really was quite clever maneuvering on
Stargrave's part. In freeing her, he bound her to his will more tightly
than he could have hoped if she had remained his property. After all, once
permanently outside Andarea, Ariana would have seen what it meant for women
to be free and might have developed ideas of her own concerning her
independence. But in freeing her first, Stargrave had made her feel
indebted to him, at least she did once she understood the concept of
freedom outside her own world. No doubt he had done other things as well to
bind her to him. And Ariana was blind to it all. Truly the man knew how to
manipulate people like a master.
Had Funuyaki been able to read Ariana's thoughts, she would have learned
that she was only half right. It was true that had been Stargrave's plan,
and Ariana had originally served him out of a feeling of debt, but as time
went on, Ariana genuinely fell in love the man. It went far deeper than
merely freeing her from her bondage. It went far deeper than him treating
her like a person instead of like property. It was the man himself who she
loved. He was truly an inspiration. Confident in his abilities. Ruthless in
his ambitions. Dominating in his personality. Yet there was also a definite
code of honor within him; it was just something few could make out among
the various actions he did. He was a hundred times the man Bethlamu was,
and she would sooner cut her former husband's throat than allow herself to
be enslaved to him for even a second ever again.
Stargrave was a man that was actually worthy of her love, and she was
worthy of his. He showed it in the manner he behaved around her. When they
were alone, he was open in ways that he never was with others. She knew
more about him than anyone else. While it was true that she did not know
the exact details of his past, it was something from there that drove him
to become the man he was today. She was the only one that came close to
understanding him. Even if he did not love her now, there would come a day
when he would look upon her in a new light and at long last love her in
return. She knew it in her heart. And until that day, she would willingly
and faithfully serve at his side as long as she drew breath in her body.
Even now, there was something she could do for him. Something that would
endear her further to him, and perhaps that day she longed for more than
anything else in the universe would come at last. But she would have to
wait until nightfall to make the attempt, after everyone was asleep. Until
then she would have to bide her time and remain impassive until a moment
presented itself.
Having as much as she could take of the saccharine sweet scene before her,
Funuyaki said to Stargrave, "And what about you?"
Sa'bre Stargrave gave her an amused smile and gently placed a finger to his
lips. "Some things should remain secret."
Sensing he would say nothing further about the subject, and that all that
was going to be said of the past had been said, the others turned in for a
night's sleep, save Funuyaki, who took the first watch. Sleep came to all
those on the ground, save one.
"Wow! Who would have thought there was Flambanium on this planet?"
"Yeah."
"And who would have thought that of all the stones you were going to pick
up to prove your point, it would be the only two pieces Flambanium in the
cave?"
"Whatever."
"At least I managed to get a fire going using some of the excess flames you
produced."
"I noticed you did that before you put me out."
"Well, you were the one that wanted a fire going. I was just trying to
help, and it's not like you got burned much."
"I see."
"I have a marker if you want to try and draw your eyebrows back on."
"No thank you!" Tenchi snapped. Having his eyebrows burned off was the only
injury he had sustained, but it was a critical blow to his pride. It had
been his own fault. He should have known better than to tempt fate like
that, but he had been cold and not thinking straight. If he had been
thinking more clearly...he probably would have done the exact same thing.
But at least it would have been with a clear head.
Seeing Mihoshi had been hurt by his misplaced anger, he quickly moved to
mollify her. "I'm sorry. It's not your fault; it's mine. I shouldn't have
struck those rocks together. I should have realized there was some form of
mineral that would go up like a Roman candle somewhere around here. Hell,
if little animals can turn into spaceships, nothing should surprise me
anymore."
In spite of his apology, Mihoshi remained downcast. After several moments
of silence, she said softly, "I'm sorry I asked you on vacation, Tenchi."
Tenchi thought he knew where this was going. "Hey, this isn't your fault."
Mihoshi continued on, her voice growing louder. "Yes it is. If I hadn't
asked you along, if I hadn't given away our extra antenna, if I hadn't
taken us off out predesignated course, we wouldn't be in this situation and
you wouldn't be having such a bad time."
Tenchi's features softened. He moved closer to Mihoshi, sitting next to her
and placing a comforting arm around her shoulders. "Look, I'm glad you
asked me on vacation with you. I've really enjoyed the time we've had
together. You only gave our extra transmitter to those people because they
really needed it and you only took us off course so that we could make up
for the time we lost helping those people. You had no way of possibly
knowing things would turn out this way. So please quit blaming yourself."
The heartfelt honesty Tenchi gave off won Mihoshi over. Overcome with
emotion, she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a powerful hug. For a
moment, Tenchi felt the urge to withdraw, then, surprising even himself, he
relaxed and embraced her lightly in return.
She withdrew her embrace, considerably happier that she had been. The two
began to relax as they prepared themselves for sleep. Mihoshi, still
feeling very excited, began talking. "I wonder what Aeka and Ryouko are
doing?"
Tenchi was astonished to find that Mihoshi's mention of their names was the
first time he had thought about them in the last three days. Usually, he
was lucky if he didn't give them at least a passing thought about once
every two hours. "It's hard to say with them. Sometimes they get along
fine, other times they just seem to be hell-bent on arguing with one
another."
"Yeah," Mihoshi sighed. "It's too bad they do that."
An errant thought came to Tenchi. "You usually try to keep them from
fighting, don't you?" Mihoshi might not have had much success at it, but
she did try.
"Of course," Mihoshi said as though it was the most obvious thing in the
world. "I don't like to see anyone fight, especially when deep down inside
they're really friends, like those two are. I see more than enough people
fighting in my line of work. If I never saw two people arguing again, it
would be all right with me."
"I see." That was a new insight on Mihoshi. Tenchi found the answer simple,
but in this case the simplicity of it made it all the more poignant. It
impressed him.
The talk of work turned Mihoshi's thoughts to other things. "I wonder how
the Grand Marshal is going to react when he finds out Marshal Malgaunt is a
traitor."
As he considered that, something in what she said jogged Tenchi's memory.
"Isn't the Grand Marshal your grandfather?"
"Yes," Mihoshi said. "He's been the top man of the Galaxy Police for nearly
twenty years now."
"It must have made getting on the force pretty easy."
"That's not true!" she shot back with the sound of anger in her voice.
Tenchi found himself taken aback by the intensity of Mihoshi's denial, and
that she actually directing anger in his direction. "I'm sorry. I just
assumed that since he was your grandfather and all..."
Mihoshi shook her head furiously. "A lot of people think that because he's
family that's how I got my position on the force, but they're all wrong. If
anything, it made my graduating the academy even worse."
"How so?" Tenchi hoped she would calm down. There was something about
Mihoshi being angry at him that he found very disturbing.
"Because he didn't want me to join the Galaxy Police," Mihoshi explained.
"He was dead set against it. He thought I should get into a line of work
that was less hazardous. But I wanted to be a police officer more than
anything in the galaxy. So I went ahead and enrolled, even over
grandfather's objections. Once I got accepted into the academy, he saw to
it I had the hardest instructors and was given the most difficult tests so
that I'd fail. But I didn't. I refused to lose. I put everything I could
into trying really hard and passing everything they could throw at me. And
I did it. It wasn't easy. I think maybe it was the hardest time I ever had
in my life. But I surprised everyone, even my instructors, by graduating
with honors, in spite of everything they tried to do." With her explanation
over, Mihoshi relaxed.
Once again, Tenchi found himself impressed by Mihoshi's intensity. "It
looks like I underestimated you again. Sorry about that."
"I shouldn't have snapped at you. I just don't like it when people accuse
me of having received any special treatment." Once she realized Tenchi did
indeed understand, Mihoshi calmed down some more. A yawn escape from her
lips. "I think it's time for bed."
"I hear you." Tenchi settled down as well. With a fire going, he wasn't
going to have to use Mihoshi's body heat to help keep him warm.
Surprisingly, he found a small part of him disappointed in that. But only a
very small part.
The two drifted off into a deep slumber within minutes.
It was nearly five hours later, and still several hours before the morning
dawn, that the call of nature forced Mihoshi awake. There had been a single
instance of her deliberately refusing it and remaining asleep anyway. It
was then she learned how difficult it was to remove certain kinds of stains
from Galaxy Police uniforms.
Sleep tugged at her eyes, but she refused to give in once more to its siren
call. Rising to her feet, she headed towards the mouth of the cave. She had
not gotten more than halfway there when she stepped on something soft in
the middle of the cave floor. It even gave off an "Umph."
"Sorri Techi," Mihoshi slurred as she walked across him and into the night
beyond.
The cold air washed across her face, waking her up a little more. Slightly
more aware of her surroundings, she began searching for a good spot to
relieve herself. It could not be too close to the cave. Aside from stinking
up the place, she didn't want to take a chance of Tenchi peeking. Not that
she truly thought he would, but why take the chance?
She found a quiet spot nearly thirty meters away from the cave and shielded
off by a large amount of foliage. She had unzipped her uniform and peeled
the upper half down to her waist, when a sharp blow struck her in the back
of the neck. She fell to the ground, unconscious.
"I knew I could track you in the darkness."
Ariana Taguyu had taken a chance in leaving the others right after her
guard shift had started, but it had been a necessary risk to end this whole
matter before Sa'bre placed himself in danger for the sake of the Shihana.
Ariana had been convinced she could resolve everything before Sa'bre and
the others awakened. Her skills at tracking were good enough to use even in
the middle of the night, and without having the others to drag along, she
could make better time. She hurried as quickly as she could, trying to
reach the prize while her opponents were hopefully still asleep. She had
lost the track once, and was trying to find it again, when she saw the
flash of color under the moonlit night. Approaching silently, she had
stalked her prey and was delighted to recognize the telltale uniform of a
Galaxy Police officer. All it had taken was when Mihoshi was at her most
vulnerable and striking her in the back of the head to bring matters under
her control.
Ariana examined her catch. Mihoshi had spun around slightly when she went
down and was now lying face up, despite falling forward when she had been
hit. Her face could be clearly seen, and Ariana noted that Mihoshi was
indeed quite attractive. From what she could see of Mihoshi's revealed
torso, she was also in very good shape. Besides those two features, the
police officer appeared ordinary in every other way.
A vibro-sabre cleared its scabbard. Ariana leveled the point of it with the
center of Mihoshi's chest. It would be best to leave the face intact.
Malgaunt would be able to confirm the corpse's identity then. It was not
like Ariana would risk awakening Mihoshi just to be certain she had the
right person. That sort of detail could be left for later, when they had
the time.
"Get away from her now."
The threat was little more than a harsh whisper, but it promised pain if it
was ignored. Ariana turned, whirling her small cloak behind her and
bringing her vibro-sabre up in a guard position. Her opponent stood no more
than five meters away. He was a boy, barely old enough to shave, and was in
a guard stance with a weapon in his hands. Ariana could see it was a white
hilt with a blade of blue energy projecting from the top of it. There
appeared to be no one else present, and the boy bore no other weapons that
could be seen.
After subtly looking around one more time to see if she could spot anyone
else, and finding no one, she looked more closely at the hilt. Upon making
out some of the details on it, Ariana gave a contemptuous laugh. "You think
using a laser sword in the shape of the Master Key will make me quake in my
boots, boy? It's an old trick. Believe me when I say I've killed
inexperienced little punks like you before breakfast just to wake me up."
The barb failed to affect Tenchi. "I said step away from her now, or you
won't live long enough to regret it."
Ariana had been confronted with more than enough opponents to properly
gauge threat potential; the eyes always separated those that talked of
death from those that dealt it. The boy was serious and would try to kill
her to protect himself and Mihoshi from harm. A quick switch from one guard
position to another elicited the reaction Ariana wanted as Tenchi switched
defensive postures as well. She could tell from that one move that the boy
was skilled with the sword, but not at her level. It would be a quick
fight, taking no more than a couple of parries and a thrust to finish the
duel.
Smirking, Ariana closed the distance between the two of them to about ten
feet. Her plan was already formulated in her mind. She would come in with a
side thrust, forcing the boy to parry the blow. When he did that, there
should be a brief second where there would be an opening to an overhead
strike that would split his skull in half. A more skilled opponent would be
able to protect themselves, or someone slower than Ariana would be unable
to pull the move off. But he was not that skilled and she was that fast. It
would be over in less than three seconds.
No more words were exchanged as Ariana moved forward and executed the move
just as she had visualized it in her mind. She brought her blade in for the
side thrust, watching as the boy brought his sword in for a combination
parry and strike of his own. She would twist her blade just enough at the
moment of the parry to throw him off balance and come in for the kill. She
saw the black metal of her vibro weapon meet the blue of the laser sword
and...
..watched in shock as the blue energy blade sliced through her weapon as
though it didn't exist, severing the vibro-weapon in two. There was no time
for Ariana to even consider a defense as the beam of energy came in a
sweeping arc into her side and up through her chest, slicing clean through
tissue and bone just as effortlessly as it had the metal and low level
energy field of the blade. White hot shards of agony cut a trail through
her, following the path of the strike. It was over in a second, as the
blade finished its cut and nearly severed Tenchi's opponent nearly in half.
The world turned black for Ariana, and her last thoughts were of Sa'bre,
and that she had failed the man she loved, for now there was no one to warn
him of the unsuspecting dangers he faced at the hands of the boy.
And then there was nothing.
The blade of energy sizzled through the air as Tenchi finished the follow
through on the strike on his opponent. The blow was nearly identical to the
one that had killed Kagato save that it had not cut quite as deeply on the
woman, though from the results of his blow, it was deep enough. Still, as
Tenchi saw the blade slice more cleanly through the woman than it had upon
his pale-skinned opponent from so many months ago, a surge of revulsion
threatened to overwhelm him. He had seen the blood and bone that the blue
blade of energy had cut through, and it nauseated him. When he had driven
his sword through Kagato, there had been nothing -not even an obvious wound
on his body- before he dissolved into a death so clean and sanitary that it
had not even seemed real.
However, the woman's death was nothing so sterile. A spray of blood from
the body nearly being severed in half had splashed across the bottom of his
outfit him, leaving an all too real reminder of what he had just done. The
body of Mihoshi's attacker remained where it was, an unmoving sight full of
gore. This time the body remained where it was. When Kagato's body had
disappeared, it had almost been as though he had never existed, and if he
had not existed, then Tenchi wouldn't have had to feel guilty about killing
him, even if deep within he had known the truth and had lived with it to
this day.
It would not be so easy this time. The evidence was there, and even though
the woman had intended to kill him -and from the look in her eyes he knew
that was precisely what she had been going to do- a wave of guilt shot
though him. Again he told himself it had to be done. It was a simple choice
that the woman had forced him to make: his and Mihoshi's life or hers.
Kagato had forced a similar one and the results had been the same. Tenchi
was just going to have to live with what he had done, just like any soldier
would on a battlefield. It wasn't easy, but it was a necessary thing.
Putting his thoughts at as much ease as he could for now, Tenchi turned his
attention from himself and the dead, to the living. It had been nothing
more than luck that had enabled him to come onto the scene just in time to
save Mihoshi from the stranger's blade. When she had stepped on him, it has
served as a sort of wake up call. And once awake, his body had let him know
it was time to relieve himself. So he had gotten up, and started to go in a
direction that he hoped Mihoshi had not, when he heard the sound of
something heavy hitting the ground. He rushed in the direction of the
sound. Expecting the worst, he drew and ignited the Master Key without
difficulty this time. Coming upon the scene of the woman standing above
Mihoshi, black blade lined up with the fallen girl's chest, a surge of
deadly rage had washed over him as he rushed into the clearing and prepared
to fight the woman to the death if necessary. And it had been necessary.
But that was over now. Rushing quickly, Tenchi kneeled down beside Mihoshi
and checked her pulse. It was steady, and her breathing was regular. There
were no outward signs of injuries. All she needed to do was wake up. He
prayed she would wake up.
"Mihoshi," Tenchi said softly in conjunction with shaking her slightly. He
was rewarded with a gentle, "Ohhh." And Mihoshi's eyes fluttered open. It
took several seconds for cognizance to return.
Seeing her eyes holding awareness, Mihoshi-type awareness, which tended to
be different from most other people's, Tenchi breathed sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness I thought yo-"
"AHHH!" Mihoshi screamed as she hit him with a palm thrust that connected
hard with his chin. She rolled out of his grasp and into a standing
position next to his stunned form. She gathered the top of her uniform and
pulled it up to cover her revealed flesh. "I can't believe you did that!
And I trusted you so much, Tenchi."
Senses just started to return to Tenchi, or so he thought, until hearing
the accusation from Mihoshi. "What?"
"I can't believe you'd hit me in the back of my head and try to take
advantage of me while I was unconscious!"
"I did not-
"You didn't have to knock me out. If you wanted to have sex, all you had to
do was ask."
Tenchi facefaulted. That proved both a mistake and wake up call at the same
time.
[Oi there. Did I just hear what I think I heard?]
Tenchi raised himself into a cross-legged position on the ground and tried
shutting out the advice from the voice in his head as Mihoshi continued on
about how she might not have come on as strong as Ryouko, but she was not
as straight-laced as Aeka, and that she was a mature, if still young, woman
who was perfectly capable of making important decisions in her life about
that sort of thing and who she would like to do it with and what may or may
not happen as a result of that sort of behavior.
The speech continued for about five minutes or so with Mihoshi meticulously
detailing the reasons as to why she might be willing to engage in that sort
of behavior with him. The girl had an eye for detail, and for being
thorough, he had to admit.
Once she paused to take a breath, Tenchi finally said, "Actually, it was
that woman over there who hit you. She was trying to kill you and me. I had
no choice but to kill her instead."
Mihoshi looked in surprise at the body. "Oh. Okay. I'm sorry I accused you
of that, then."
"No problem." Besides, it was not a wasted effort on her part. He now had
another insight into Mihoshi's mind. He wasn't sure if he could actually
understand it, but he was pretty sure he could sort out the important bits
and make sense out of them.
Mihoshi straightened up. "We'd better get back to the cave. There might
have been more than one, and the others might be trying to steal that big
orb."
"I hadn't thought of that." Tenchi rose to his feet and activated the
Master Key. Again it worked. The little problem he had with powering up the
blade back at the pass seemed to be behind him now as he had the flow of
energy and concentration problems finally beaten.
"Let's go." Mihoshi began to head towards the cave.
"Umm, Mihoshi?"
"Yes?"
"I think you'd better put on your top first."
"Oops!" Mihoshi had completely forgotten that the top of her uniform had
still been bunched up around her waist. She quickly zipped it back up and
once again headed towards the cave.
Moving through the gloom, they carefully searched the area before
ascertaining no one was there. After determining that there would be no
more ambushes, the two headed for the cave.
Once they were within ten feet of the entrance, Tenchi began to speak. "I
think we'd better..." He trailed off as he heard a gentle unlocking noise
come from the direction of the orb. For some odd reason, the smooth surface
of the polynison had begun to retract, the top pulling back and gathering
around the bottom. He stood transfixed as it continued opening until the
top half had retracted and the contents within the orb could be clearly
seen at last.
A small metal platform, no bigger than a meter wide, sat in the bottom of
the sphere. A mechanical device was on the bottom of a the small platform,
evidently creating the small rippling flow of blue-hued yet transparent
energy that formed a dome over the true contents of the orb. Tenchi
recognized it as a stasis field, something Washuu had pointed out to him
one of the times he dared to venture into her lab without others
accompanying him.
"You mean all of this is for some funny looking flower?" Tenchi said,
staring at the brightly-colored foot tall plant.
Mihoshi's reaction was to visibly pale as she fell to her knees in shock at
the impossible image before her. There was only the faintest of whispers
upon her lips, but it was loud enough for Tenchi to hear.
"Shihana."
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sorry that one took so long to do. Serves me right for proudly proclaiming
it would probably only take me two weeks to get it out. No guarantees for
the next one