-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: TSG-22-2.txt
* * *
"Captain, the _Palomino_ reports a warning indication from their
Reaction Control System," Communications announced.
Hinako looked up from her petting of Shampoo, who seemed tense and
agitated to the diminutive starship captain.
"Is it serious?"
The Communications tech conferred with the DropShip before responding.
"They don't seem to think so, ma'am. Captain Grant says this happens
from time to time. They'll check it out locally, but that it's probably just
a bad position indicator on one of the thruster nozzles. They have a spare
on board to replace it."
"How long will that take?"
The tech relayed her query. "No more than thirty minutes, ma'am.
They'll let us know what they find before they detach from the docking
ring."
"Very well," Hinako huffed. She had to allow for the occasional
technical problem, she supposed.
Lieutenant Davidge approached her while she stewed in her chair. He
held up the database patch disc.
"Captain, with your permission, I'd like to upload the patch to our
astrogational database. It will take the higher functions of the Main
Computer off-line for approximately twenty minutes, leaving us with only
the automatic subsystems."
Hinako checked their orbital status at the Helm with a glance. They
were stable, and preparing to receive power from Wexford-Nadir-ONE. "Very
well, Mister Davidge. Begin the upload process."
"Aye aye, ma'am."
Shampoo watched as the Astrogator fed the database disc into a reader
at the Main Computer workstation. She needed that disc, and with the
JumpShip about to send its DropShip over to the space station, this might
present her best opportunity to steal it and make her escape. Now that the
Confederation knew the location of Ryuugenzawa, she didn't suppose they
would have any need to stop at a planet along the way. They would Jump from
system to system as fast as they could charge their batteries.
As expected, the Main Computer went dormant as it processed the data.
The ship's functions during station keeping were largely autonomous, though
in spite of this, there was plenty to keep the crew occupied. Shampoo waited
with growing anxiety as she planned her next few moves.
Success was most likely if Mousse could reach the _Palomino_ before
it repaired its technical glitch, but if push came to shove, he could always
hijack one of the Ship's Boats and reach the Wexford recharge station that
way. Once he was there, he could claim asylum, or, depending on the situation,
disappear for awhile. She was confident that they would not be too eager to
create much of a ruckus on the recharge station.
"The patch is uploaded into the Astrogational System," Davidge reported
twenty minutes later. He punched in the coordinates, and proudly demonstrated
the brand new yellow sun that floated within the chart table holotank where
there had previously been a patch of emptiness.
"Excellent work, Lieutenant," Hinako commended him.
Davidge removed the data disc from the computer, causing Shampoo to
tense in the Captain's lap. "I'll need to open the Ship's Safe, Captain, if
I may."
Hinako rose, knowing that Davidge could not open it without her portion
of the combination. As she did so, one of the oncoming watch section stepped
through the airtight door. Shampoo chose that moment to strike. She leaped at
Davidge with a hiss, and snatched the disc from his hand.
"What the--?" the Astrogator blurted, his hand bleeding from the
scratches she had raised in leaping across him.
"Kitty!" Hinako screeched angrily.
Shampoo rebounded in free-fall off the Main Computer console, the
database patch firmly set between her jaws, and twisted herself in midair
to get a push from the Captain's chair. A daring leap out the airtight door
as it slid shut cut off any immediate pursuit.
Hinako shook herself with the numbing realization that she had been
tricked. Her precious kitty cat was some kind of spy, and possibly not even
a real cat - only her recent exposure to the wonders of Jusenkyo could have
prepared her for such a line of thought.
"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes..." the Helmsman remarked.
"Never mind that," Hinako snapped. "Chief of the Watch, on the 1MC:
All hands keep on the look-out for the Ship's Cat. Report her whereabouts
at once to the Bridge. Catch and detain her if possible."
The Chief of the Watch acknowledged the order. "Shall I sound the
General Alarm as well, Captain?"
Hinako folded her arms across her chest. It seemed absolutely
ridiculous to call away a full-blown security violation over a runaway
cat, and she was not entirely convinced that her kitty was anything other
than what she seemed to be.
"Not at the moment," she replied. "Have the X.O., Lady Akane, and
Commander Saotome come to the Bridge instead."
Shampoo darted for the elevator, waiting with dread for some kind of
alarm to sound. In spite of her feline body, she still thought of herself
as human, and considered the response of the ship's crew as one would
consider any intrusion by an enemy agent.
The sound of the Chief of the Watch's voice over the 1MC made her
blood freeze up.
"All hands be on the look-out for the Ship's Cat. Detain her if
possible, and make reports to the Bridge on any sightings of her."
If she were human, she would have laughed. Given the Captain's
childish nature, this was exactly the kind of order that was likely to
be ignored by the crew. She'd stay out of sight all the same, but it
certainly took some of the pressure off.
* * *
"Now what kind of lame-o announcement is that?" Ranma grouched to
the overhead.
"Really," Ukyou agreed. She had run into him shortly after his visit
to Doctor Tofu's office, and had been pleasant if somewhat cloying company
ever since. "You have the weirdest Captain I've ever known."
They stepped into the Crew's Mess for drinks. From what they could
tell, no one else on the ship was paying the 1MC announcement any mind.
A few of the off-watch Engine Room gang were even cracking jokes about
Hinako and her missing kitty.
Yuka and Sayuri were also there, and made no effort to speak to him,
though it was clear that they did not approve of him hanging out with
Ukyou. Not that he cared what they thought...
"Hey, Captain Saotome," one of the engine room crew, Petty Officer
Fitch, called to him. "You gonna go look for the skipper's cat?" Those
present around him began to chortle. It had become common knowledge among
the crew that Ranma did not like cats.
"Bite me, Fitch," he returned curtly. "If Hinako wants her kitty, she
can go get it her own damn self."
"I hear that," Fitch returned. He went back to his coffee.
Ukyou handed him a cup of red bug juice. The instant drink mix used
by the ship didn't really have any distinguishable flavors, he supposed,
only colors. "Why don't you like cats, Ranchan?" she asked him quietly
enough that no one could overhear. She knew he was sensitive about the
matter, but not the reasons why.
Ranma paled. "I'd rather not talk about it," he replied. "Let's just
say that it was one of Pop's dumber training ideas..."
"Why doesn't THAT surprise me," she snorted.
Genma Saotome appeared on the Mess Decks a moment later, making Ranma
wince at the man's timing.
"Come on, boy," he growled at Ranma.
"What's up?"
"We have to find that cat," he intoned.
Ranma gagged on his bug juice. "Excuse me?" he choked.
"It's no joke, Ranma. That cat stole the astrogational database patch
for the Ryuugenzawa System."
"Huh?" he grunted. "That's totally bizarre."
"Hey," Ukyou interjected, coming to a sudden conclusion. "You don't
suppose that cat was no ordinary cat... do you?"
"That's the idea," Genma confirmed. "Given the number of people on
this ship alone who have been exposed to the pools at Jusenkyo, anything
is possible."
"No way..." Ranma groaned.
"Look, boy," Genma returned. "I know how you feel about cats, but this
is too important to let your irrational fear of them get in the way..."
"It ain't that!" he shot back. "I was thinking about who it could be."
Genma raised an eyebrow at him.
"Well?"
Ranma swallowed hard. If the cat was a human with exposure to Jusenkyo,
then her personal animosity towards him pointed in only one direction.
"Shampoo."
Genma blanched. "Boy, you better pray we're both wrong." He left the
Crew's Mess.
Ranma followed. "C'mon, Ucchan."
Ukyou nodded, wondering where the hell Konatsu was when she needed him.
* * *
Shampoo reached 'E' Deck with little difficulty. Her jaw ached from
carrying the data disc, and she was eager to change back into her human form.
She set the disc down in a safe place, and then fought with the spigot to
one of the heated water tanks.
The cat noises and the sudden splashing caught someone's attention.
"<Shampoo?>"
Mousse was there in the darkness, looking haggard and miserable. She
could see the wispy growth of stubble on his lip and chin. He looked drawn
and weary from remaining in hiding for so long. She almost felt sorry for
him.
The water was hot enough from the spigot now to affect her change.
She sprang up in a cloud of steam, naked, and surprisingly sore - as if she
really had been cooped up in a tiny cat body the whole time.
"<Mousse,>" she returned, to set him at ease.
"<I've been waiting for days,>" he said to her. It had been longer than
simply 'days,' but she was in no mood to correct him on the matter. "<What
happened?>"
She slipped lithely past him to their packs, where she withdrew her
clothes and put them on.
"<There isn't much time,>" she answered him. "<I have the coordinates
to the Ryuugenzawa System.>" She fetched the disc and put it in his hand.
"<This is an astrogational database patch. Load it into a Ship's Computer,
and the ship will have access to the Ryuugenzawa System.>"
"<Is that what the announcement over the intercom was about?>"
"<Exactly,>" she replied. "<That's why we don't have much time. Now
there's a DropShip on the Number Three docking collar getting ready to leave
for a nearby recharging station. You need to get on board before they detach.
Take the disc.>"
Mousse blinked in astonishment. "<But what about you?>"
Shampoo flexed her hands into fists. "<I have a score to settle with
the Saotomes, and I'm also sworn to kill them to atone for my mistake on
Lightoller. Getting the Ryuugenzawa data was only half of my mission, Mousse.
I won't run from a fight with them.>"
"<You'll never be able to escape even if you do kill them!>" Mousse
protested.
Shampoo gave him a hard look. That possibility had indeed occurred to
her, and she had dealt with the gnawing fear within her as best as she was
able. "<My life is MY business, Mousse,>" she hissed at him. "<Do not
presume to think for me!>"
He turned away, his fears about her confirmed. She cared no more for
him than she would any other tool.
"<Farewell, Shampoo,>" he said to her, his voice as cold as his heart
had become.
She almost kissed him good-bye, knowing in a moment of sudden clarity
that this was indeed good-bye.
"<Farewell, Mousse,>" she returned. Then she added, "<until we meet
again.>"
Mousse nodded solemnly, and then turned a spigot of water upon himself.
Shampoo watched with a mixture of horror and fascination as he transformed
into a white duck before her eyes.
"<When did you...?>" she asked him.
He was gone in a flash of white, leaving behind only a single feather
as he soared in free-fall towards the elevator.
Pain lanced through Mousse as he stabbed at the 'call' button with his
beak. Though he bore no injuries, the pain was no less real to him. He was
leaving Shampoo forever, and even if she had never loved him, he had loved
her all too much.
His decision to become a duck had come on the spur of the moment. The
surprise value of a crewmen suddenly encountering a duck in the middle of
deep space would probably be enough to enable at least one escape from
danger. There was also the fact that he wanted to show Shampoo that she
wasn't alone with her Jusenkyo curse, that he shared the experience with her,
that they had something in common. It was a perverse pleasure at best,
because he knew that she would not escape from the ship, and so they'd never
have a chance to talk about their cursed bodies.
He didn't know why he hadn't shown her before. Shame perhaps. Or else
the fear that she might consider his Jusenkyo body to be the perfect excuse
for getting rid of him for good. After all, she could always plead ignorance
when the Council confronted her on the fact that she had eaten her companion
for supper...
It was a long ride down to the docking collars. The airtight door to the
_Palomino_ was still open pending the repairs to the ship, and he watched as
one of the _Dragonfly's_ engineering crew floated through the connecter tube
with a tool belt, having assisted where he could. Mousse remained out of sight
as the engineering type took the ladder well instead of the elevator, then
made a soaring leap for the door.
He was through the connector tube and into the Cargo Bay without notice.
Choosing a spot where he could remain hidden and still have easy access to
the door, he buckled down to wait. The _Palomino_ Roving Watch appeared as
he settled in, floating towards the connecter tube. One of the _Dragonfly_
crew drifted into view on the opposite end, carrying a frangible-flechette
'nailgun,' made especially for use aboard spaceships, at port arms.
"Seen anything unusual?" the sailor with the nailgun asked the rover.
"Like what?" the rover replied, eyeing the weapon uneasily.
"Like a pink and purple cat?"
The rover shook his head. "What'd she do," he asked, pointing to the
weapon. "Piss in your rack or something?"
"Beats me," the sailor replied. "I got racked out to stand guard down
here and look out for a pink and purple cat, or else a purple-haired Amazon
girl. I'm to shoot either of them without hesitation if they try to get on
board your ship."
"An Amazon girl?" the rover cackled. "Hell, I got something better
than a nailgun round to poke her with!"
"Ain't that the truth," the sailor agreed. "I haven't been out boozing
and whoring in months. While you and your fellow DropShip goombahs were out
fuckin' around on Tiber, I was stuck on this piece of shit getting her back
into shape."
"Them's the breaks," the rover returned with a grin. "I wouldn't sweat
this duty. We're about to leave. I was just coming down to check the hatch
shut after Cap'n Grant gives the word to shove off."
"It's a nice thought," the sailor remarked. "But as soon as you leave,
they'll just send me to guard some other damn thing." He thumped the
bulkhead with his fist. "What kinda bullshit alert is this, anyway?"
"Lotsa luck," the rover said cheerfully. "While you're stuck up here
playing wanna-be Marine, me and my 'goombah' DropShip buddies are going to
enjoy a brief shore leave on the station."
"Damn," the sailor grunted ruefully. "I'm puttin' in for a transfer to
the DropShip Command. This months-in-the-middle-of-nowhere bullshit is really
starting to suck ass."
"ALL HANDS STAND CLEAR OF THE DOCKING TUBE AIRTIGHT DOOR," the 1MC of
the _Palomino_ announced.
"Later," the rover said with a wave. He eased away from the airtight
as it slid slowly shut.
Mousse watched as the man checked the seals and made a brief phone
call to the DropShip's Flight Deck to report. Several minutes passed as
the ship was released by the _Dragonfly's_ docking apparatus. Several more
passed before the ship jolted with spurts of thruster fire from the
Reaction Control System. The brief roar of the Main Engines followed after,
and then there was only silence and free-fall.
He was away.
Chapter Four
"Let me get this straight," Ukyou began as she and Ranma floated down
one of the 'B' Deck passages. Konatsu followed behind them at a discreet
distance. "We're either looking for the Captain's pet Siamese cat, or else
an Amazon girl from the Jusenkyo Commonwealth named after a hair-cleaning
product."
"Pretty much," Ranma agreed. He was upset, and trying not to show it.
Ukyou had latched onto him from the beginning of the search, and thinking
nothing of it, he had not objected. This was apparently a mistake, for this
in turn made Akane spin-up like a turbine with a broken overspeed-trip. She
nearly dislocated Ryouga's shoulder latching onto him as a partner for the
search, and Ranma actually pitied his mechwarrior rival for once.
"So who is this Shampoo girl?" she asked him as he thought about ways
to mitigate the wrath of his overreacting fiancee. "You seem to know an awful
lot about her." She gave him a disapproving look. "Don't tell me your father
engaged you to her as well."
"It ain't like that," he replied. "If this really is Shampoo, then I
guess you could say that Pop and I are the ones who are sorta responsible
for her turning into a cat."
"Why am I not surprised," Ukyou remarked dryly. "Tell me, Ranchan,
is there any place in the galaxy where you and your father have travelled
where you *haven't* ruined someone's life?"
Ranma thought about it.
"Take your time, sugar," Ukyou added in a saccharine voice.
"I'm thinking," he protested.
"Don't bother, honey. I think the fact that you can't come up with
an answer without thinking about it is an answer in itself."
"Oh, ha ha," Ranma grumbled. It hurt because it was more or less true.
He was still thinking about this when he rounded the corner, and nearly
blundered into Shampoo.
Her eyes grew large as she recognized him, and her body trembled with
a mixture of anxiety and anticipation. She raised her mace-like bonbori to
the attack.
"RANMA SAOTOME!" she shouted at him.
"Sha-Shampoo?!" Ranma squeaked in return. The Amazon was hell-pissed,
worse than anything he had ever seen from a woman.
She charged at him as he gaped.
"For what you do to Shampoo and Commonwealth, I kill!"
The first bonbori buried itself in the bulkhead as he ducked the blow.
Ukyou blocked the second mace with her spatula before it could crush his
head.
He recovered his wits as Ukyou shouldered the brunt of the Amazon's
fury, warding off a flurry of blows with her spatula. He pushed off the
bulkhead to spring at Shampoo, catching her in a flying tackle that slammed
her against the opposite bulkhead.
An elbow from Shampoo drove down onto the crown of his head as they
tumbled in free-fall. He hadn't hit her as hard as he had hoped, and she
twisted free of his grapple with a grunt. Ukyou pressed the attack as the
Amazon struggled free, and the sound of the bonbori striking the flat steel
surface of the spatula rang in the tight quarters of the passageway.
"A little help, Konatsu!" Ukyou cried, just barely fending off Shampoo's
furious combination of bonbori strikes and knife-edged kicks.
"Coming, sir!" he called.
The former kunoichi was already leaping to the attack, darting lithely
over Ranma's shoulder as he regained his orientation in zero-gravity and
looked for a way of overcoming Shampoo's defensive advantage. The narrow
passageway negated their superior numbers against her.
Konatsu struck Shampoo across the chin as he zipped past, dazing her,
but not before she swatted Ukyou down to the deck with one of her bonbori.
The ex-brigadier yelped in pain as she rebounded off the deck, her left arm
possibly broken, and the spatula floating from her hands.
Ranma got back into the fight as Ukyou went down, springing off the
deck to barrel into Shampoo once more. Fighting in free-fall was effective
only when you had something to push against, and combat was often an
explosive series of leaps off of the scenery. He connected once more with
Shampoo's midsection, drawing himself tight as he struck to maximize the
effects of his hit. He didn't grapple this time, preferring to transfer all
of his energy to her in one solid impact.
Shampoo reeled from the check, flying across the passageway to slam
into an airtight door. Ranma could see that she was stunned by the double
hit, and swam through the empty air for purchase against his next attack.
Konatsu, hanging from the ceiling between them, was readying some kind of
bola.
"Give it up, Shampoo," he called to her. "There's three of us, and one
of you. You ain't goin' nowhere."
She caught her breath and flashed her violet eyes in anger at him.
"Shampoo never give up!" she vowed. Her body tensed once again to move,
the maces raised to catch Konatsu's bola before it could entangle her.
Ranma moved cautiously towards her, staying close to the bulkhead
to minimize the effects of any charge from her. He realized that while
her maces were nasty, her technique wasn't suited to free-fall combat.
That was something going for them, at least.
She must have sensed this as well, he saw, for she tossed the heavy
spherical bonbori aside and drew a long curved fighting knife instead. The
heavily damask'd steel of the blade was brightly veined against the dark,
cold blue base metal.
Konatsu took this as an invitation to loose his bola at her, but she
anticipated this maneuver and sprang at him before he could wind it up to
speed. The knife hissed through the air, cutting through his clothes and
drawing forth a spurt of blood from his chest that glittered like tiny red
jewels in free-fall. Konatsu did not make a sound as he threw himself away
from the blade, minimizing the depth of its cut and saving his life.
He was flat-footed against her follow up attack, having lost his hold
on the overhead. Shampoo sprang back from the paneled ceiling, intending to
gut him with her next pass. Ranma knew he had to get back into the fight
before the cross-dressing former adjutant got himself killed.
Ukyou screamed a warning as Konatsu grappled with the Amazon, the
two of them falling towards the deck with the stored momentum of Shampoo's
attack. Ranma saw that he had a good grip on her knife-hand wrist, keeping
the questing blade from his throat by scant centimeters. He pushed off the
bulkhead to kick her in the side of the head, not caring that the blow might
kill her. The maces were bad enough, but she had upped the ante when she
drew the knife, and the stakes were now too high for him to hold back.
She managed to wrest her other arm free to ward off his kick,
deflecting him just enough in zero-gravity to send him flying into the
opposite bulkhead. Konatsu responded to her distraction by landing a
glancing strike with the heel of his palm under her chin. Shampoo's head
rocked back, more surprised than hurt, and he was able to disengage.
Shampoo had enemies in front and behind her now, and she judged that
the former kunoichi was the lesser of the two foes. She sprang past him as
he tried to regain his equilibirum, sparing time for a parting kick that
sent him against the bulkhead with a grunt, and pushing her in the direction
she wanted to go.
"Damn it!" Ranma yelled, missing his opportunity to grapple her from
behind. He watched helplessly as she pulled herself around the corner he
and Ucchan had come from.
He looked to Ukyou, who was nursing her arm, her eyes a dull glaze of
pain and anger. Konatsu was hurt as well, but his opinion of the weirdo
cross-dresser went up a few notches. The guy had enough nerve and talent
to keep from getting hacked to bits by a pissed-off Amazon from the Jusenkyo
Commonwealth, and that counted for something in Ranma's book.
Reason finally took hold over the heat of the moment, and he clawed for
a sound-powered telephone unit set into the bulkhead.
"Bridge, this is Ranma Saotome on 'B' Deck!" he said breathlesly into
the receiver. "Shampoo's on 'B' Deck between the Electronics Shop and the
Radar Equipment Room, and she's got a knife."
She was cornered, he knew, for the moment. The elevator and the through-
deck hatch to the other levels were behind him, and the only way to reach
them was via the passageway she had used to escape. She had to come back to
the junction of the two passageways if she wanted to leave 'B' Deck.
Shampoo made certain that she had some distance between herself and
Ranma before stopping. She had no intention of fleeing from him, this was
only a strategic retreat to assess the situation and come up with a better
plan of attack. It was only a matter of time before a full alert was sounded,
and the crew responded with automatic weapons. She was fast, but charging a
full-auto flechette gun in a tight passageway was begging to be reduced
to a quivering pile of Amazon-hamburger, and she had no intention of going
out like that.
The General Alarm klaxon galvanized her into action. She didn't have
time for anything fancy. Ranma must die. Genma might live, and that was
regrettable, but at least she'd destroy the person who had pitched her into
the Jusenkyo Pool.
"Where the heck is the elevator? Akane? Akane, where'd you go?" a voice
asked behind her. She whirled in surprise and alarm, the man hadn't made a
sound in his approach until he spoke.
Her kick struck Ryouga Hibiki across the jaw, rocking his head to the
side. He spun in a slow circle in midair, and she was convinced at first
that she had cold-cocked him. Then, as he spun back around to face her, she
saw to her horror and amazement that he was unfazed by her blow.
"You..." he said in a low, angry voice, catching himself with a hand
to either side of the passageway.
She lunged with her knife, thrusting it into the empty gap between his
armpit and his arm as he dodged. He grappled with her extended arm before she
could withdraw, and she brought her foot up in a desperate high kick at him,
catching him across the ear and drawing blood.
Ryouga shrugged off the blow, savagely headbutting her in response. Her
eyes swam for a moment in shock before she wrenched free of his iron grip,
cutting him across the forearm as she disengaged.
The noise brought Ranma bearing down on her as she put the bulkhead at
her back. Her eyes flicked to the airtight door marked with red and white
diagonal stripes just within arm's reach - one of the ship's lifepods. Angry
with heself for even considering escape, she faced off against both men,
ready to sell her life dearly.
"Leave her to me," Ryouga growled at Ranma.
"I owe her for what she did to Ucchan," Ranma growled back. He looked
to Shampoo, who kept her knife pointed at his face. "How about it, Shampoo?"
he asked her. "What say we settle this right now, just you and me?"
Shampoo eyed Ryouga warily. "He no interfere?" she asked archly.
"Shampoo no believe that."
Ranma shot Ryouga a look. "You okay with this, Ryouga?"
"When she cuts your heart out, Ranma, I'll be the one to console Akane."
"As if," Ranma snorted in reply. He made a beckoning gesture to Shampoo.
"Let's go, sweetheart."
Ryouga edged away from them as they positioned themselves on the
bulkheads to spring into action. Konatsu and Ukyou appeared behind the fanged
mechwarrior. Both were injured, but it was clear that they would jump in if
the opportunity presented itself.
"Stay back," he warned them. "This is between Ranma and her."
Ukyou rolled her eyes.
"What do you think this is, Ranchan?" she groused. "Some kind of duel?"
Ranma didn't take his eyes off Shampoo.
"Yeah," he replied in a slow, easy drawl.
"Just hold her there until the guys with guns show up," she protested.
"There's no need to get yourself killed over this."
"Jeez, Ucchan," he returned. "Have a little faith, willya?" He flexed
his fingers as he maintained his stare-down of the Amazon. "I mean, she was
a chump back at the Jusenkyo Labs, and she ain't looking much tougher now."
That wasn't true, of course. He had a lot of respect for her as a
fighter, but her temper and her pride seemed to be her weak spots. She had
come a long way for revenge, and he was pretty sure she wasn't planning on
getting out of this alive. Suicidal people didn't always think straight.
"Shampoo make you eat false words!" she cried, taking the bait, and
springing at him with the knife.
He held his position, gripping the handholds along the bulkhead and
bringing his feet up to kick her in the knife-hand wrist as she lunged at
him. She slammed into him an instant later as the blade flew out of her
grip and embedded itself in the overhead. They rebounded off the bulkhead
in a tangle of limbs, Shampoo cursing him in Chinese as she tried to escape.
He caught her by the ankle as she forced her way clear of him to
scramble for the knife. Hooking one foot into the bulkhead handhold, he
had her trapped in midair, with nothing to push off against, and her motion
arrested by his grip. She screamed in protest, stomping futilely at his
hand, but he had her by the outside of her ankle, which made it difficult
for the Amazon to land a telling blow with her other foot.
"It's over, Shampoo," he said to her through clenched teeth. The
exertion of holding her away from the surfaces of the passageway was nearly
too much for him.
"It not over!" she protested. She squirmed and struggled against him,
but with no leverage in free-fall, her efforts were in vain. Every impulse
against him was checked.
"Face it," he returned. "It's over. You're dead in the water right
now."
Akane, Genma, Happousai, and Doctor Tofu appeared as he spoke. Behind
them was a detachment of _Dragonfly_ crew armed with nailguns.
"I say the word, Shampoo," Ranma continued. "And you get riddled with
about a bazillion flechettes." He caught her eye as he said this. "Do you
really want to die like that?"
"Put your hands behind your neck," Akane ordered the Amazon as she
considered the prospect of a thousand ceramic darts bursting apart inside
her body. "Lock your fingers together and turn so we can see it."
Shampoo could not believe that she had failed a third time. Mousse
might have been able to escape with the Ryuugenzawa data, but the Saotomes
lived. She had failed her great-grandmother again.
And yet, while she lived, there was still hope that she could kill
Ranma Saotome and his father. Her only remaining options were to make one
last futile attack and die in a fusilade of frangible ceramic darts, or
surrender and bide her time for the opportunity to strike without warning.
"You're running out of time," Akane added in a menacing tone.
Shampoo ceased her struggles. Ranma pulled her down to the deck
opposite him, gripping her by the wrists and holding her fast. She looked
into his eyes, expecting to see her hatred mirrored there, and finding only
a stern resolve that she cause no more harm. His look moved her more than
she cared to admit.
"Shampoo surrender to Ranma," she said huskily. "No surrender to
Tendo girl."
"It's all the same to me," Ranma replied before Akane could protest.
The Amazon looked him over once more.
"Man who defeat Amazon have certain privileges over her," she said
quietly, her voice as taut as her body.
"News to me," he replied, somewhat nervously. The look she was giving
him had made an abrupt shift from furious to, well, *hungry.* It was the same
look Akane had given him after their recent encounter in the elevator, which
began to worry him to no end when it came from Shampoo.
"You not know this?" she asked him.
"Like I said, it's news to me. Now are you gonna come quietly or
what?"
"As Shampoo say, Shampoo surrender to Ranma alone."
Ranma remained wary of her nonetheless. "Right, I accept your surrender.
Now if you'll just--"
She leaned over and kissed him hard on the mouth, apparently with no
intention of coming up for air anytime soon.
"HEY!" both Akane and Ukyou chorused in protest.
* * *
"She won't talk," Ranma grunted to Captain Ninomiya and the others.
His head was still smarting from the simultaneous blows he had received
from Akane and Ukyou. He had expected as much from Akane, but getting
smacked by Ucchan had really rattled him.
He had no idea why Shampoo had kissed him. Maybe it was some weird
ritual for a defeated Amazon, but he had felt real heat in her embrace.
He also felt a little guilty with himself for deciding to return it, and
now he had Akane upset with him again.
It wasn't like he had started it or anything, he grumbled to himself.
She kissed *me!*
Shampoo, her clothing torn and her body bruised from her fight with
Ranma and company, stared defiantly at them through the reinforced window
of her cell. The Ship's Brig had three cells, each large enough for one
occupant. In the centermost cell, Shampoo resembled a caged tiger; hungry,
sullen, and eager for a chance to strike back at her captors.
"She doesn't need to talk for what I'd like to do to her," Happousai
cackled, and was roundly smashed into the deck by all present before Shampoo
could even grimace.
"My question is," Ryouga remarked, nursing his sore jaw as he spoke.
"How did she find us? I mean, we misjumped to the Palatine System, and
that's almost two hundred light-years from Capra."
"We've all heard the rumors that the Commonwealth has agents within
Comstar," Genma replied. "We spent almost a month there waiting on parts
and affecting repairs. They must have intercepted our transmissions to
Nerima through the Tiber Consulate, and obviously there had been enough
time for Shampoo to catch up with us. She infiltrated aboard as a cat
while the ship was in the yards."
Hinako seethed with anger at this. Shampoo's theft of the database
patch was the worst kind of betrayal for her.
"See that's she's kept isolated," she said at length. "A few weeks
of solitary confinement might loosen her tongue. In the meantime, we'll
need to organize search parties out of the _Palomino_ detachment and the
off-going watch sections to look for that disc."
"She couldn't have hidden it that well," Genma observed. "She didn't
have time for that."
"We should start on 'B' Deck," Akane added. "That's where we found
her after her escape."
"We should be looking for the other Amazon," Ranma put in. "Don't
forget that extra pair of clothes the crew found lying around on 'E' deck,
and there was food for at least two people in their gear."
"Agreed," Hinako said. "Until further notice, all hands will carry
sidearms, and no one travels alone. We'll go Port and Starboard watches
if necessary to make that happen."
"I hate to mention this," Genma muttered. "But it's conceivable that
if Shampoo did have an accomplice, that she might have stowed away on board
the _Palomino_ with the database patch when the DropShip transited over to
the station. There wasn't much time - maybe fifteen minutes - between the
theft of the disc and the departure of the DropShip, but it's a possibility."
"I didn't want to consider that," Hinako replied. "But it seems that
I must. If her accomplice made it to the station, then there is nothing we
can do."
"We can go over there and look for her," Ranma disagreed.
Hinako shook her head. "And start a riot on the station?" she countered.
"End up getting the _Dragonfly_ seized, and all of us made prisoner? That's
Federated Shiratori territory over there, and we're a long way from our home
systems... It's a bad idea, Saotome. We're better off reaching Ryuugenzawa as
quickly as possible, before anyone else does."
"In spite of the threat of interception, we need to communicate this to
Nerima," Genma added. "We'll need to have a transport ship waiting near the
border with the Magistracy that can rendezvous with us. If nothing else, they
can deliver cargo DropShips with crews to the _Dragonfly_ so we can haul away
as much material as possible before the Commonwealth or anyone else can get
there."
"I concur," Hinako replied. "But first things first. We need to verify
that the accomplice is no longer on board the _Dragonfly._"
* * *
Mousse paused before the main offices of the station's Comstar branch.
Though he had left the _Dragonfly_ as a duck, being an adept in the School
of Hidden Weapons meant that he was not without his resources, and the
certified draft that drew upon a numbered account with the Bank of Sol would
pay for his HPG communique to General Herb, and still leave plenty for food
and lodging on the station until arrangements could be made for rendezvous.
He had a hunch that the _Domingo_ was still within the Federated Shiratori,
awaiting just such a mission.
Shampoo was lost to him, he knew with some regret in spite of their
chilly farewell. Even if she had succeeded in killing the two Saotomes, her
chances of escaping from the JumpShip were slim. She was dead by now, or a
prisoner.
It made what he had to do somewhat easier knowing that Shampoo had no
more hold over him. The Joketsuzoku as well, for he no longer considered
himself one of them. He was part of the Musk Dynasty now, at least in his
heart, and his information would see them to victory over the rest of the
clan.
He was tired of being a loser, an object of ridicule by the women of
the clan. Now it was time for a new order of things, and General Herb and
the Musk Dynasty would make that happen. With the secrets of Ryuugenzawa
behind them, how could they fail?
* * *
Chief Medical Officer's Dayroom
Nerima Confederation JumpShip _Dragonfly_
11 May 3025
Doctor Tofu looked up at the sound of his office door chime. He keyed
the door's intercom from his desk.
"Akane, please come in and have a seat."
She entered, a little surprised that he had known who it was behind the
closed door. Granted, he had been the one to summon her, but it was still
unnerving.
"What is it that you wanted to talk to me about, Doctor?" she asked him.
He waited until she was seated before responding.
"This was something I wanted to bring up yesterday," he began. "But with
the intruders and the theft of the database disc, the matter got sidetracked.
Now that things have settled down a little bit, I want you to know that I've
been going over your medical record."
"Is there a problem?" she asked, concerned.
"A small detail," he admitted. "I realize that I'm not your gynecologist,
Akane, but I am your family doctor, and at the moment the expedition's Chief
Medical Officer." He displayed a portion of her medical record for her. "Could
you read that for me, please?"
She leaned over the desk and frowned at what she saw. It was a statement
of acknowledgement in her medical record that she had signed when she had her
physical exam to become a mechwarrior. She had been fourteen at the time.
"'I understand that due to my occupational exposure to ionizing
radiation as a Mechwarrior of the Nerima Confederation, and because this
occupation requires transport aboard nuclear powered spacecraft, that I
must submit to a method of contraception approved by the Confederation
Surgeon General, and to be administered by local medical authority as
directed by OPMED 2.33.12-26 and by other regulations as appropriate.'"
Tofu nodded as she finished. "Is that your signature beneath all that
verbage?"
"Yes, Doctor," she said sheepishly.
"I take it from your tone that you now understand what this is about,"
he said to her.
"Yes, Doctor," she confirmed.
"Now, Akane, up until now, I haven't been concerned by the fact that you
haven't been taking your birth control pills. It's against the regulations
for women of child-bearing age in your position, but as far as I know, you
haven't been sexually active, either."
Akane began to splutter something in protest.
"I'm not interested in details about what you and Ranma may or may not
being doing together in your spare time," Tofu continued. "It's none of my
business, but since the two of you are starting to get along better, I
thought it would be prudent for you to begin your required contraceptive
regimen now, so you'll be in the habit of doing it should the time come
when a certain Pig-Tailed Mechwarrior corrects his current Cranial-Rectal
Inversion."
In spite of what he was proposing, she had to smile at his assessment
of Ranma's condition.
"I think we might be waiting a long time for that to happen," she
observed, somewhat ruefully.
"He's nineteen years old," Tofu pointed out, recalling his recent
conversation with Ranma. "Between his hormones and your show of interest
in him, he's going to figure it out - and probably sooner than you think."
She blushed at the thought.
"I've already taken the liberty of procuring your first month's set of
pills from the Pharmacy," Tofu added, displaying a small pink box for her.
"Do you remember having this talk with your gynecologist?"
She nodded, still blushing at having a conversation of this nature
with a man she had suffered a crush over for so long. "It's been awhile,"
she admitted.
"Take one a day, at the same time every day, without fail," he began.
"If you do miss one, take it as soon as you remember, and continue as normal.
Miss more than one, and you have to start over after your next period. You've
lost any reliable contraceptive function by that point, so if you DO end up
getting a little too physical with a certain someone, use an alternate method
of birth control."
Akane nodded shyly and accepted the pills.
"One last thing to remember about them," Tofu continued. "It takes a
full week of use for this type of oral contraceptive to become effective, so
don't go jumping into the sack with Ranma until then!"
"Doctor Tofu!" she cried in protest.
He laughed in reply. "Only a joke, Akane," he offered. "But really, I
want you to take your reproductive health seriously from now on. Like I said,
sooner or later Ranma's going to get a clue, and when he does, you had best
be ready for him." He gave her a reassuring pat on the hand. "You're both
very young, in spite of all the responsibility heaped upon you by this
engagement. You're both *definitely* too young to be having children of
your own."
* * *
Akane nearly crashed into Akari as she floated down the passageway to
the 'D' Deck elevator.
"I'm terribly sorry, milady," the young technician apologized.
"No, no," Akane returned. "It was my fault for not watching where I
was going." She looked away for a beat. "I've got some things on my mind
right now."
Akari inclined her head in acknowledgment. "Have you seen Lieutenant
Hibiki?" she asked in return.
"No, I haven't."
"A shame," Akari sniffed. "He gets lost from time to time, especially
on spaceships." She uttered a resigned sigh. "I hope he's all right."
Akane gave the technician a tiny smile. "You like him, don't you?"
Akari nodded happily. "I'm going to marry him if I can help it," she
admitted proudly.
"Really?" the Tendo Heir gushed. This was a surprise! She knew that the
two were often found together, but she never would have gone so far as to
say that there were wedding bells in their future. The two of them did make
an awfully cute couple, she supposed.
Akari began to blush as her head bobbed in the affirmative. "Someday,"
she said, sounding as if 'someday' was practically around the corner. "I
know that in my heart, Ryouga and I were meant to be together."
"Ryouga's a great guy," Akane offered, remembering her own assessment
of the man taken on the Mess Deck of the _Palomino_ shortly after their
escape from Capra. "If you can catch him, you'll have quite a prize." She
started past. "Well, good luck to you!"
"Thank you, milady," Akari returned. "Good luck to you as well," she
added as they parted. "If it means anything to you, milady, I think Captain
Saotome will make a good husband for you."
Akane nearly smashed into the far bulkhead before catching herself,
and arresting her forward motion. That was assuming some bimbo Amazon or
some long-lost fiancee didn't get him first, she thought angrily. She
righted herself and turned for the elevator.
Amazingly, P-chan was there, squealing with relief at having narrowly
avoided her impact with the bulkhead.
"P-chan?!" Akane cried. She scooped up the little black pig and nuzzled
it. "It's been over a week, P-chan! Where have you been?"
Her pet pig was known to disappear for days on end, but he always turned
up sooner or later. Though the crew rarely saw him, he seemed to never lack
for the basic necessities, for he was as plump and healthy looking as always.
"I get so worried when I don't see you," she continued in a motherly
tone. The pig grunted weakly in reply as she floated into the elevator.
Once they were safely within her stateroom, she set P-chan down on the
bed and walked over to her fold-down desk. She set a small pink plastic box
on the writing surface and browsed through the instructions, indications,
and warnings.
"I can't believe I'm doing this," she said to P-chan. "I haven't been
on the Pill since I was sixteen."
The pig nearly bowled over with embarrassment.
She popped the first pill free of its foil and plastic prison and held
it for a moment in her hand. The little blue oval looked wholly unremarkable
to her.
She filled a glass of water from the bathroom sink and used it to
swallow the pill.
"It's probably just a waste of time anyway," she said to herself. "Ranma
would never..." Her voice trailed off, thinking of their fleeting moment of
passion in the elevator. It had come without warning, and if Ryouga hadn't
been around to break them up, who knew how far they might have gone...
"Then again," she observed at length, sitting down on the bed next to
her pet pig.
P-chan grunted questioningly at her. It was funny, but there seemed to
be such intelligence and animation behind his various squeals and grunts at
times. It was almost like he was talking to her.
"What's that, P-chan?" she asked him. "Have I ever thought about
sleeping with Ranma before?"
This was definitely NOT the question he had asked her, and the very
mention of sex between his rival and the girl who now sat on the bed with
him was enough to make his head spin with dismay. He didn't want to hear her
answer, but being a pig, could find no effective way to stop up his ears.
"Oh yeah," she said in a husky voice, her eyes becoming soft with
longing. "Since we left Tiber? Oh hell yes...!"
P-chan made a whimpering noise. It was worse than he had thought. He
begrudged them a kiss, however painful the idea was for him, but for Akane
to be considering the Holy of Holys with Ranma...! Even preparing for it by
taking birth-control pills...!
He made a choking noise, and swooned to the deck, with Akane catching
him just before he hit.
"P-chan!" she cried worriedly. "What's the matter with you?" She
cradled him close, and her warmth and affection restored him somewhat. "I
don't know what I'd do if something happened to you, P-chan."
The pig grunted miserably, realizing that his dreams would remain
forever just as they were - dreams.
* * *
Ranma Saotome hovered at the entrance to the Starboard Greenhouse, his
eyes set with determination to complete his mission.
That mission: collect flowers to give to Akane.
He wasn't entirely certain why he was pressing ahead with Doctor Tofu's
advice. His feelings for Akane were still very mixed up. On the one hand, he
had to admit that he liked her, and that he wanted her to like him, too. On
the other hand, he was still very opposed to the idea of marrying her just to
please their folks - and then have the Grand Duke abdicate and dump the whole
Confederation on him. That was a definite turn-off to the whole affair.
After some consideration, he decided that his gift of flowers was more
to get back in Akane's good graces - and to ensure a measure of peace and
goodwill between them - than any concession on his part to marry the bossy,
overbearing, overheated, but definitely cute when she wanted to be, tomboy.
Having come to that conclusion, he had made a few oblique enquiries
among the ship's cooks about the process of procuring said flowers. The
replies he had received were not encouraging. While there were no specific
prohibitions against collecting flowers, there was a general ship's
regulation that forbade unqualified personnel from harvesting plant life
of any kind from the Greenhouse. If you weren't on the Chief Cook's list as
a gardener, you weren't allowed to pick flowers.
Ranma decided that it was a stupid regulation, and set out to collect
what he needed as expeditiously and as covertly as possible.
The Greenhouse was currently deserted. The light of the Wexford primary
glinted through the transparent dome and filtered down upon the wealth of
free-fall hydroponics. The air was humid and warm, and filled with the earthy
scent of growing things.
Lacking any sort of guide to tell what was what, Ranma decided to go by
looks...
Chapter Five
Eight Shining Pearls Fortress
Planet Jusenkyo, Jusenkyo System
The Jusenkyo Commonwealth
13 May 3025
Mechwarrior General Herb stamped her foot impatiently on the heated
flagstones of her personal bathhouse, waiting for her henchmen to arrive
with bathing sundries. She cursed the sudden cloudburst that had revealed
her Jusenkyo Body to the inhabitants of the fortress, and she cursed Doctor
Gaido for his monolithic incompetence by allowing her spill in the pool to
happen in the first place.
"I'm WAITING," she growled breathlessly to Lime, who appeared from
behind a painted screen with a robe, towels, and a selection of soaps and
lotions.
Lime dropped to one knee and presented the goods to his general. Herb
noticed with more than a little dissatisfaction that his imposing henchman
was ogling her heaving bosom. It had been like this ever since Lightoller;
at any time where she had succumbed to the Jusenkyo Effect, her henchmen
couldn't take their eyes off her body. She had to admit that she was pretty
stacked, but her pride ran no further than that.
"Stop staring," she growled at him. Lime averted his eyes.
She disrobed while keeping an imperious glower leveled at Lime - should
the temptation to peek overcome his better judgement. The hefty Musk Dynasty
officer refrained from any overt glances, but as she padded in the nude
across the stones to the steamy grotto of the bath, she could feel his greasy
eyes upon her. It was an unnerving experience, and she struggled to keep her
dignity as she waded into the water.
The change came swiftly, and he heaved out a sigh of relief. He was a
man once more. Lime retired behind the screen to await the call of his
general. Herb was content to sit in thoughtful silence.
He had many things to consider, many plans in motion, and plans to be
set in motion. He was constantly evaluating his situation for any signs of
weakness or error. As he was plotting the ultimate downfall of the Elder
Council, he could not afford to leave any openings or loose ends.
The hissing of whispered voices behind the screen roused him from inner
contemplations. Mint had appeared, and he caught enough of the exchange
between the small but fierce warrior and his giant companion to know that
they were discussing his female body again. He rubbed his hand against his
temple in response to the migraine headache the overheard conversation
brought upon him.
Why couldn't those two idiots visit the comfort women like everyone
else? he lamented. He had a mind to order them to do so, but knew that it
would probably be a waste of time. They were trusted henchmen - if a bit
dull - and powerful warriors, but in matters regarding women, they were
clueless.
Mint appeared from behind the screen with a dispatch. Herb looked
up through wifts of scented steam from the bath at the salmon-pink hardcopy
of a Comstar Dispatch. The public never saw the pink copies, which were
routing sheets for the HPG tech-priests who maintained the Inner Sphere's
faster-than-light communications network. This was taken from one such
station through a Commonwealth infiltrator.
"What is it?" he demanded.
"Your pardon, General," Mint demurred. "A communique from Mechwarrior
Mousse has arrived through channels."
Herb sat up straight in the bath. Mousse had very specific instructions
regarding communication. He was not to send anything unless he had succeeded
in his mission - or that his mission had very obviously failed.
"Show it to me," he barked.
"Of course, General."
The message on the dispatch was encrypted with a basic two-step keyword
substituton cypher - enough to keep honest men honest and within the limited
resources Mousse had available to him. Herb noted the freehand ink decryption
above the random characters of the message.
VITAL SYSTEM COORDINATES OBTAINED. FATE OF SAOTOMES
UNKNOWN. FATE OF SHAMPOO UNKNOWN - PRESUMED DEAD OR
CAPTURED. PRESENT LOCATION: WEXFORD SYSTEM, FEDERATED
SHIRATORI. IMMEDIATE RENDEZVOUS REQUESTED TO TRANSFER
NECESSARY DATA. ALSO: I CONCEDE THAT YOU WERE RIGHT
ABOUT SHAMPOO, GENERAL, AND I WISH TO SERVE AT YOUR
SIDE.
MOUSSE
Herb smiled as he read the final sentence of the message. Mousse had
turned, an unexpected if welcome bit of news. No doubt Shampoo had given
him the final push away from Cologne and her Joketsuzoku harpies.
He would welcome Mousse personally, he decided. The man was an excellent
mechwarrior, and his hate would make him a powerful ally in the days to come.
They would be heady days indeed.
Peony continued to undermine Cologne's influence in the council, though
it was clear now that she lacked the nerve and the resolve to depose her
enemy until there was no hope of opposition, and she completely ignored the
threat that the Musk Dynasty represented. Cologne was too busy fending off
Peony and her cronies to keep more than half an eye on him. The Commonwealth
was nearly ripe for the taking.
It would be a five years or more before he would be ready to act openly
against the Council - time he needed to add to his powerbase, and to exploit
whatever technological advantages Ryuugenzawa would bring him. He had been
prepared to act sooner than this, but the subject of the Star League's fabled
testing grounds had been too compelling to ignore, and he had adjusted his
timetable accordingly. Now he had the location of the system within his grasp.
Now the countdown to the end of matriarchal rule could begin.
"Notify all my commanders to prepare for immediate departure from this
system," he ordered Mint. "Have the _Domingo_ retrieve Mousse, and arrange
for a rendezvous along the Commonwealth border."
"At once, General." Mint saluted, and dashed out of the bath to carry
out his orders.
Herb made a fist and cupped it with his other hand.
"Very soon, Cologne, the Commonwealth will fall to me."
END OF PART TWENTY-TWO