Aloha, all! With the Silly Season over, I submit to you Part 27 of
The Saotome Gambit. Please forgive the chunkiness of this installment,
it succumbed to the usual holiday weight gain.
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-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: TSG-27-1.txt
Star League Defense Force Proving Grounds
Bunker Nine, Test Area North
Planet Ryuugenzawa, Ryuugenzawa System
16 June 3025
Akane Tendo awoke in darkness.
She felt disoriented at first, finding herself in an unfamiliar place
with unfamiliar sounds and a musty odor that permeated the air in spite of
the running ventilation system. A muted grunt from Ranma settled her nerves,
and she looked at him with eyes that slowly adjusted to the thin shaft of
red light that leaked through the doorway from the hall. She remembered
where they were now, and as she watched him sleep, she remembered what they
had done together.
It was an odd feeling, to know that she had finally put the last
vestige of her childhood behind her. That same sense of womanly wisdom
she had felt when she and Ranma had made love came to her once more,
and she kissed him tenderly upon the brow while he slept. He muttered
something in his sleep, the words themselves incomprehensible, but the
feelings behind them clear.
She loved him - even if he acted like a dope most of the time - and
her love for him grew with each affirmation of her feelings. She could not
put her finger on exactly when her lingering fears and anxieties about him
had been cast aside; perhaps it was when she had seen him wearing the
insignia he had thrown away, or perhaps it was in the fierce hug they had
shared before they entered the bunker together - when by an unspoken
accord they had made the decision that now had her lying naked by his
side in a bed that was too small for two people, even two people as
intimate as she and Ranma had become.
She stroked his shoulder and along his smooth chin - it would be
some time before he would need to start shaving on a regular basis, she
determined. As she considered these possibilities, she decided at last
that it really didn't matter when she had let go of her doubts. He was
hers now beyond all question, and if his first performance had been
short - if sweet - then his encore had firmly established him as man
she would look forward to loving for a very long time. It was certainly
easier for them the next time around; the passion was a little more
focused, and while some of the mystery had been lost, his improving
confidence made the experience even better - for both of them.
His eyes flicked open, drawing a smile from her as he scanned the
room without moving from where he lay. He must have felt that same sense
of disorientation that I did, she mused, and kissed him on the tip of
his nose.
"Good morning, sleepy head," she said to him.
He blinked. "How can you tell?" It was quite dark, after all.
"It just feels like morning," she replied.
Ranma rubbed at his neck. "How'd you sleep?"
"Okay," she returned. In truth, her sleep had not been that great.
She was naturally unaccustomed to sleeping next to someone, let alone
someone who liked to sprawl out while he slumbered, and in the single
bed this problem was amplified. She was sore all over from the
contortions she had endured to keep from spilling off the bed, but was
determined not to make Ranma feel bad about it.
"I didn't sleep that well," he replied, much to her disbelief.
Ranma slept the sleep of the dead from her point of view.
"I'll go check on the time," she said to him in return, sitting up
and stretching out the kinks in her back. "If it's too early to get up,
we can always go back to sleep."
Ranma watched her with not a little fascination as she rose to
fetch his mandarin shirt from the floor. She supposed that the red
shafts of light from the hall played in interesting ways across her
naked curves. She blew him a kiss before pulling on his shirt, admiring
the hungry look he gave her as she fastened the frog closures. On her
body, his shirt was just barely long enough to cover her where modesty
demanded, and that must have made a compelling sight to Ranma.
She struck a pose for him just to let him know that she was on to
what he was thinking.
"How do I look?" she asked coyly.
"You look good," he breathed, his eyes huge and dark in the dim
light of the room. "You look *damn* good," he amended huskily.
She smiled for him and padded over to the door. His hasty attempt
to lock it had failed, she realized with a grin as she opened the door
without pause and stepped out into the hall. There was a clock in the
living area, if memory served her.
Assuming the clock was accurate, the sun was probably just beginning
to poke above the horizon. This presented her with a dillemma. Should they
get out of bed now, before Hinako and Davidge woke up, or should they take
another hour or so to snuggle before they had to face the real world again?
She thought about the look Ranma had given her before she left the
room, and decided to snuggle.
___________________________________________________________________________
J. Austin Wilde and Fission Park Press proudly present:
BATTLETECH: THE SAOTOME GAMBIT
PART TWENTY-SEVEN
by J. Austin Wilde
Safety Control Rod Axe Man,
Fission Park Press
wildeman@gci-net.com
http://www.gci-net.com/users/w/wildeman/
The characters and situations of Ranma 1/2 are the
creation and property of Rumiko Takahashi and
Shogakukan/KITTY/Viz Video. Battletech and its
related materials are the property of FASA, inc.
No infringement of copyright is intended nor
should be inferred by this work of fanfiction.
___________________________________________________________________________
Chapter One
Much later - after they had snuggled, of course - they retired to the
communal shower to wash up. The water was stale and dingy at first, having
sat stagnant in the pipes for the last two centuries, but it soon cleared
as fresh water from the bunker's well pumps reached the tiny fusion
reactor's auxilliary heat exchanger, and from there, the shower head. They
washed without soap because there was none, taking pleasure in rubbing down
each other's bodies with their hands, and letting the hot water do most of
the work since this provoked a round of smooches that threatened to send
them back into bed.
They had to drip dry, as there were also no towels to be found. The
best solution under the circumstances was for Ranma to sacrifice his
trousers as a towel, and content himself with his boxers and tank top
while Akane teased him with the sight of her wearing nothing but his
mandarin blouse and her panties. Taken in this context, he didn't mind
a bit, and she had to fend him off delicately as the urge to get her
naked again took him.
"I've created a monster," she said, only half-joking, while she
prepared tea for them in the dining area. She only wished that there was
some food available. She was famished, and could only imagine how starved
Ranma must have been feeling about then.
"Can I help it if you look so good?" he retorted with a smirk, his
eyes straining as he tried to look up underneath the backside of the red
satin blouse she wore while she leaned over the counter to fetch something
to pour the tea into.
Akane set the mug of tea before him, amused by his randiness, which
was in stark contrast to the reserved, almost asexual personality he had
possessed yesterday. Yes, Doctor Tofu had known exactly what he was talking
about when it came to Ranma and the idea of sex.
Thoughts of Doctor Tofu reminded her of what she had neglected to do
for the last week...
"Drink your tea," she admonished him gently, realizing that she had not
taken her birth control pills since the day she had been blasted out of the
_Palomino_ by the Orochi. The doctor would not be pleased, and she felt
foolish for having forgotten to return to her regimen upon her rescue, and
a little scared by the idea that she could even now be pregnant. Ranma had
certainly done his part to contribute to the making of a baby. "We'll have
to go back and face the music soon enough."
Ranma thought about that. They were supposed to have returned to the
_Palomino_ last night. "I guess so."
She sat down across from him at the small circular table, content
to throw loving looks in his direction in spite of her nagging worries
about pregnancy, and smiling when he flushed red in spite of his recent
experiences with her. Their shared goo goo-eyed looks were starting to
cross over into the realm of the inane when the sound of footsteps on the
stairwell was heard.
Akane started as the door to the dining area opened, and Captain
Ninomiya flitted into the room. Her astrogator followed after, looking
nearly dead to the world. The two young mechwarriors froze at the sight
of the two starship officers, realizing that they were sitting together
in what amounted to their underwear.
"Good morning!" Hinako chirped, apparently oblivious to their relative
state of undress.
"...Coffee..." Davidge groaned from behind his captain, his eyes
bloodshot and weary as he shambled into the kitchen and began a search
for the vital elixir.
"I think there's some instant in that cabinet," Akane managed lamely,
pointing to one of the open cabinets above the countertop while wishing she
were somewhere else.
Hinako jumped up into a chair and smiled at them.
"You're here awfully early," she said sunnily.
Ranma turned away uncomfortably. "We, uh, spent the night here."
Hinako looked at them as if for the first time that morning. "I see,"
she said with a bemused grin.
"We should probably get going," Akane added hastily, catching at Ranma's
tank top and pulling him out of his chair.
Hinako gave them curious looks, but let Akane drag Ranma out of the
room without further comment.
"What the heck was that for?" Ranma demanded as Akane led him
downstairs to the berthing level of the bunker.
"Do you like standing around in your underwear for perfect strangers?"
she returned.
"We've only been *living* with Hinako and the Astrogator for the last
six months," Ranma countered. "I don't think that makes them strangers.
Besides, since when did you get so modest all of a sudden?"
"Modest?" she cried. "I'm just being reasonable, Ranma. *You're*
the one who doesn't seem to care what people think about us."
It took Ranma several moments to realize what she was getting at
with her remark, and only after she had flung his slightly damp trousers
at him to put on.
"So what do you care if people know about last night?" he asked her.
"It ain't like it was going to stay some kind of secret."
She gave him a look that said if he valued his life, he would keep
his mouth shut until further notice. Naturally, he didn't heed it.
"So what's the big deal?" he asked her. "What's really bothering you?"
Her face screwed up into a scowl.
"Do you really want to know?"
He threw his arms wide. "Yeah."
She had finished dressing by this point, and in passing him to reach
the door to their room, she told him.
"I might be pregnant right now."
His jaw settled against his chest with a thud. With great inertia, he
spun around to confront her on this, but she was already darting up the
stairs. He was suddenly too angry with her to wonder about the validity
of her statement, because what was the point of running away from him when
he was her ride back to the ship?
He caught up to her at the Boomerang, where she stood pensively,
trying to pretend that he wasn't looking at her. He decided not to dance
around the issue.
"What exactly did you mean by pregnant?" he asked.
"What do you think pregnant means?" she shot back.
He pawed at the grass with his foot. "It, ah, means you're gonna have
a baby."
"*Your* baby, to be specific," she said with a bitter quality to her
voice that stung him.
He opened the canopy for her to get into the plane. "I thought girls
who were mechwarriors and such took stuff to keep that from happening?" he
asked her, although now that he thought about it, wasn't Shampoo supposed
to have been doing something like that herself?
"I was," she sniffed, unwilling to break and yet approaching that point
with haste. "But I sort of missed a few days after we were stranded here. I
just realized it this morning, Ranma."
He was thoroughly unfamiliar with the mechanism by which girls avoided
this sort of thing, and knew that the one fairly reliable option guys could
exercise was something he had certainly not done last night, and so he took
her word for it.
"So how do we know for sure?" he finally asked her, offering her his
hand to settle her in the cockpit of the plane.
"We don't," she replied as she took her seat. "Not yet, anyway."
He plopped down in his own seat. "Okay, so don't worry about it," he
told her as he adjusted his throttle and choke settings for engine start.
His voice started to catch in his throat. "I mean, would it be that bad if
you were?"
"It's not something I would have hoped for," she retorted. She saw
the surprisingly hurt look he affected in spite of himself, and softened
her tone. "I mean, not right away."
Her hand drifted to rest upon his, which lay limp upon the throttle.
"I can't believe I'm saying this to you, Ranma, but someday, I *do*
want to have kids with you."
His eyes became huge with surprise.
"Y-You do?" he squeaked.
She kissed him softly on the cheek. "Of course I do. Just not right
now."
His breath caught in his throat.
"You mean that?" he said quietly, almost reverently.
"Start the damn plane, already," she said with a grin. "We'll talk
about this later."
Ranma let out a whoop as the engine roared to life behind them.
* * *
Genma Saotome may not have been in charge of the expedition, but he
was still Ranma's father, and the one Grand Duke Tendo had entrusted the
care of his youngest daughter to. He was not amused as the two young
mechwarriors stepped out of the Boomerang and walked across the grass to
the DropShip.
"Where the hell have you been, boy?" he demanded.
"I was busy," Ranma growled back.
"Doing what? You've only been out of radio contact for the last
twelve hours. What if something had happened?"
Ranma brushed him off as Akane started up the ramp. "We were at
the bunker the whole time, old man. If you needed us, all you had to
do was call Captain Ninomiya."
"At the bunker!" Genma cried indignantly. "You and Akane spent the
night at the bunker? Alone? Just what the hell were you two doing all
night..." A strange expression crawled across his face as he continued.
"All alone... in that bunker... just you and Akane..."
He regarded his son with a penetrating look.
"You dirty dog..." he growled, though there was tremendous pride
in his voice.
Ranma turned crimson and pulled uncomfortably at his collar, which
was all the confirmation that his father needed for his suspicions.
"That's my son!" Genma cried, clapping Ranma stoutly on the back.
Tears streamed down his cheeks as he swept his son up into a manly
bear hug. "At last you've become a man! You don't know how proud you've
just made me!"
"Quit it already," Ranma barked. "I don't want to talk about it
with you, all right?"
Genma lifted him up in the air despite his protestations. Though
there were times when the elder Saotome seemed a worthless, slovenly,
and sedentary man, his great strength had not been diminished with age,
and he spun Ranma around in midair while laughing boisterously in some
personal triumph nearly twenty years in the making.
"You can set me down now!" Ranma gasped.
Genma did so, though he would have danced a jig if his son would
have permitted it. Ranma's sour look did little to dampen his spirits.
The marriage was as good as done, now, just like he had planned from
the beginning. All they had to do was find a way off the planet and get
back to Nerima. Oh sure, they had their rough moments together, but he
had faith that they would fall in love - or at least lust, which was
good enough in Genma's book - eventually.
"Are you done celebrating yet?" Ranma asked him in an acid tone.
Genma retained his smug grin. "Not yet, boy."
"Then I'm outta here," he growled, and stumped up the ramp to find
Akane.
Genma watched him go, his smile of pride and satisfaction welded
onto his face.
Ranma bit back a curse. He was in over his head, and he knew it.
If Akane was... was pregnant, then he would be a father. He had even
less of a clue about being a father as he did about handling girls, and
once again, his old man was not providing a good example to work from.
Was it worth it? he asked himself. Was what he and Akane had shared
together worth all this aggravation? Was it worth getting saddled with a
kid that neither of them were ready to have?
There weren't any simple answers to that, for he knew that if Akane
wanted to sleep with him tonight, he would not - could not - say no to
her. In fact, the whole morning had been a big distraction for him as he
idly pondered ways to get her alone somewhere where they could...
He almost stepped on Happousai as he thought about taking Akane's
clothes off.
"Watch where you're going, ya little punk!" the wizened mechwarrior
barked at him.
Ranma looked down at Happousai, who barely came up to his knees.
"Who are you calling 'little'?" he asked archly.
"I'll let that slide," Happousai replied coolly. "Considering your
great achievement in recent history."
Ranma didn't like where this was going.
"Start making sense, old fart," he prompted.
"Hmmm..." Happousai replied, stroking at his wispy moustache. "You
and Akane stayed out all night away from the ship... You come back the
next morning, and both of you have these goofy grins on your faces...
And I found Akane paying a visit to Doctor Ono not a few moments ago.
It doesn't take a mental giant to put these facts together and come up
with what you two did together last night."
Ranma *really* didn't like where this was going.
"What Akane and I do together is none of your business, you old
geezer."
"Ah, Ranma..." Happousai sighed. "To think that all this time I
thought you were gay. You gave me a little hope with the flowers bit,
but even then I had my doubts. Now..." he sighed again. "Now, I can
relax, secure in the knowledge that the future of the Anything Goes
School is assured."
Ranma shook his head in disgust. "Does this mean you'll stop trying
to change me into a girl?"
"Absolutely not!" Happousai shrieked indignantly. "In fact, now
that you and Akane are so lovey-dovey, I think that this would be the
ideal time to try for a threesome!"
Ranma choked back bile. "Not only no, you old fart," he growled.
"BUT *HELL NO*!!!" He then punted Happousai through the airtight door to
the 'Mech Bay, his body shaking with nausea at the idea of him and Akane,
and... and... Happousai...
"But it's every man's dream to have two girls at once!" Happousai
wailed as he flew across the Bay. "Why can't you make an old man happy?"
* * *
"Is there some kind of test you can run?"
Doctor Tofu gave Akane the look of disapproval she knew to expect
from him. After all, this was her fault.
"Not for a few days at the least," he replied. "But let's not get
ahead of ourselves, shall we?"
He rose from his tiny fold-up desk in Sickbay and stepped gingerly
past the medical supplies he had been going through to prepare for
combat action. He rifled through a drawer that served as the DropShip's
unrestricted Pharmacy and produced a small foil pack. "When did you last
menstruate?"
She had to think about it for a moment.
"I finished my period right before we embarked aboard the _Palomino_
to come here," she replied.
Tofu consulted the scrap of paper that went with the foil pack and
did the math.
"You're probably not pregnant then," he said evenly. "But just in
case you might ovulate a little early this time around, take this. Then
come back tomorrow and take another one."
He handed Akane the packet.
"What does it do?" she asked sheepishly.
"It's sometimes referred to as a 'morning after' pill," he replied
dryly. "Appropriate, considering the circumstances, don't you think?" He
returned to his seat. "Think of it as a super-strength birth control pill,
because that's essentially what it is. It will prevent you from ovulating
just like your normal prescription, but if implantation has already occured
- which is extremely doubtful in your case - it won't help." His expression
darkened as he thought of Shampoo, who for whatever reason, had chosen not
to take that option, and now it was too late. "There are of course, other
treatments at that point..."
"So I'm not pregnant?" Her relief was most evident.
"Probably not," Tofu confirmed. "But if you don't take that pill, and
then come back for your followup tomorrow, I can't guarantee that you'll
stay that way. And furthermore, get back on your schedule! You can probably
pick up where you left off, since this megadose should about put you back
to where you were hormonally."
She ripped open the foil pack and swallowed the pill dry.
Tofu rubbed at his temples. "I'm really disappointed in you, Akane,"
he said at length.
"I know," she returned. "I feel pretty dumb about this."
"Well, I guess we can hope that this has been enough of a scare for
you that you'll take my advice more seriously, and follow your prescription
as ordered."
She bowed her head sheepishly. "Yes, Doctor."
* * *
Ian Cameron Starport
Planet Ryuugenzawa, Ryuugenzawa System
16 June 3025
"Ryouga dearest?"
Ryouga spun around in surprise to see Akari giving him a puzzled look.
He sighed with relief at finding her, having wandered across a good portion
of the ruined starport complex looking for her. She and those members of
her tech crew who were not engaged in repairs to the _Palomino_ were busy
with the fuel processing plant.
"Uh, hi, Akari," he returned. It was difficult to meet her eyes when
she was smiling at him, because it made his knees turn to jelly.
She stepped over to him, wiping her hands on a rag before presenting
herself with a demure grin. He took her cue haltingly, leaning forward
while wringing his hands in nervous anxiety as he gave her a kiss. It was
a miracle that he could even bring himself to do it, but then as far as he
was concerned, Akari was probably a miracle in and of herself.
He hated to tell her that she would have to discontinue her work on
the fueling station, that it was too dangerous to remain while the
battlemech forces of at least two different powers were on their way to
the planet.
She brushed at his chest with her hands while he pondered a gentle way
to break the news, making him start in his boots.
"Is something wrong?" she asked him.
He looked away, his finger absently poking holes in the wall next to
him. "I ah, have some bad news," he said to her.
"What's going on?"
He began wringing his hands again. "You have to stop what you're
doing. An invasion force from an unknown power and one from the Jusenkyo
Commonwealth are both on their way. It's been decided that we can't
spare enough 'mechs to protect both the _Palomino_ and the starport at
the same time."
She wrinkled her nose in distaste at the news.
"I'm staying, dearest," she returned evenly.
This was not the response he was expecting from her.
"B-But, Akari..."
She turned away from him. Several of her techs stopped what they were
doing, having overheard the news. "We need this facility, Ryouga dearest,
and we are almost ready to put it back on line. I can't walk away from a
job half-finished."
Akari picked up her wrench and returned to her work.
"How much time do we have?" she asked him.
Ryouga shook his head in disbelief. He was in charge of the defense
of the DropShip and its crew, why couldn't she understand that? "I don't
understand how that matters. We need to prepare our defenses."
"How much time?" she asked again.
"Two days," he relented. "At best."
She smiled prettily for him. "I can be ready to refuel the _Nymph_
by this afternoon."
Ryouga struggled for a moment with himself before deciding that she
was right.
"Okay," he relented. "But once the _Nymph_ is refuelled, you and your
crew need to return to the DropShip. We have to rush the repairs to it if
we don't want to be sitting ducks for the Commonwealth."
"Of course, dearest," she replied, looking him over as she finished
what she was doing. "Will you be staying here for awhile, or will you be
returning to the DropShip?"
"I need to return to the ship. We're having a meeting at thirteen
o'clock to discuss what we're going to do."
She consulted her watch. "You're going to be late if you don't hurry,"
she pointed out.
Ryouga looked uncomfortable. "Um, you wouldn't have happened to have
seen where I parked my BattleMaster, would you?"
Akari looked over his shoulder to the large open wall of the refueling
station where he had walked in. The looming mass of the battlemech stood less
than a forty meters away.
"Perhaps I should come back to the ship with you for the meeting," she
said delicately.
Chapter Two
Nerima Confederation DropShip _Palomino_
Planet Ryuugenzawa, Ryuugenzawa System
13:08 Local Time, 16 June 3025
"So," Ranma said to the assembled officers and crew on the Mess Deck.
"What're we gonna do?"
It was a question that seemed to be on everyone's lips. Unfortunately,
no one seemed to have any answers.
Hinako was the first to finally speak, standing up on a table to be
seen by all.
"I'd like to take the _Nymph_ up to orbit as soon as possible then,
to investigate the space station and the airdock," she declared. "No matter
who might be on their way to the planet, we still need a way to Jump out of
the system. It might be our only chance."
"That's assuming we can get the _Palomino_ repaired in time," Captain
Grant countered. "We need at least four more days to patch eveything up."
"Can't you cut some corners?" Ranam asked in an acid tone.
Grant glared at the pig-tailed mechwarrior. "I don't know about you,
Captain Saotome, but I like my two gigawatt nuclear fusion reactors to be
fixed the right way when I go to light them off."
Akane rose to put a hand on Ranma's arm before things got ugly. "I
understand completely, Captain Grant," she said coolly. "But at the same
time, we're faced with a real dilemma. The _Palomino_ is the only ship
that can transport everyone and their 'mechs into orbit - assuming that
there is in fact a ship that can take us out of the system waiting for us
in that drydock. The _Palomino_ is also currently in one of the worst
defensible positions I can imagine against a strong invading force."
Grant sipped at his coffee, the days without sleep evident in his
bloodshot eyes. "If we delay the cooldown and depressurization of the
port reactor cooling loop for a little longer, I can start up, lift the
ship, and put it a short distance away - and I do mean a short distance."
"Can you make the starport?" Genma asked him.
Grant shrugged. "Thirty klicks is probably about as far as we could
go. We're on seriously diminished capacity right now on the port loop,
and the starboard loop still has another week or two to go before we can
even attempt to repressurize it and put it back on service - at a minimum."
Genma and Doctor Tofu looked over the map of the starport that
Shinnosuke and his grandfather had provided for them, comparing it to
the modern-day observations Yuka and Sayuri had made from the air.
"It's probably the most defensible position we've got, considering
the condition of the ship," Genma conceded.
"The only problem is that the starport will probably be a likely
target for investigation by the Commonwealth forces," Tofu pointed out.
"That's unavoidable," Genma returned. "Personally, I'd like to see
the _Palomino_ safely on the other side of the planet, but that isn't
going to happen."
"Getting back to the matter of investigating the space station,"
Hinako interrupted.
Akane nodded in reply. "Can your Executive Officer handle the bunker
operations?"
"Commander Malloy is in charge there right now," Hinako answered
anxiously.
"Then make preparations to leave as soon as possible," Akane ordered.
The diminutive captain beamed happily.
"At once, milady," she cried, and flittered out of the room.
Ranma gave his fiancee a nudge. "Why'd you say yes to her?"
"Can't you guess?" she whispered.
"Not really."
She rolled her eyes at him. "We've got too many chiefs and not
enough indians around here as it is. Besides, if she does find a ship up
there, she'll need time to get it ready to leave. We don't have much time
before the Commonwealth gets here."
Ranma nodded grudgingly. "You gotta point."
"This is all fine and good," Grant observed, "But it still brings us
back to the _Palomino's_ condition. We can't lift off for a safer location
for at least two more days, and that's 'cutting corners.' We've got the
Jusenkyo Commonwealth and some other group on the way. So do we fight, or
surrender? I'm not much for giving up, but then I'm not in charge here."
"I'm not going to surrender without a fight," Genma declared,
surprising everyone. "Even if the boy and I weren't marked for death by the
Commonwealth, we all worked hard and made a lot of sacrifices to get here,
and I'm not just going to roll over and let the Amazons take everything."
"We fight a holding action then," Ranma agreed. "We buy time for the
_Palomino_ repairs to reach a point where we can lift the ship and make a
run for the other side of the planet."
"Guerrilla tactics," Tofu added, remembering a battle he had fought
early in his career as a mechwarrior where gaining time was more important
than victory. Of course, he had barely escaped with life and battlemech in
that fight, but his current circumstances were no different. "Hit and run.
We don't have the numbers to take on any 'mechs in a frontal assault, so we
keep them guessing and on the defensive long enough to finish up the
repairs."
There was a general agreement at this, silenced only when Shinnosuke
and his Grandfather were shown in by one of the _Dragonfly_ crew.
"My grandson told me what was happening," the old man said, taking a
seat near the bug juice dispenser. Shinnosuke remained standing, his
pushbroom crutch under his armpit.
"I'm sorry for bringing them to your world," Akane told him. "I feel
that it's my fault."
The old man shook his head wearily. "They aren't the first to come
here looking for spoils, and they probably won't be the last." He took a
sip from a cup of hot tea Shinnosuke poured for him. "I discussed the
matter with the people of the village before we were brought here. They
won't help you fight, if that is what you choose to do, but if things go
badly for you, they have agreed to take you in and hide you from your
enemies."
"A bolt hole is always nice to have," Genma observed.
"We're grateful for whatever help they can offer," Akane added.
The old man brushed at his bushy beard. "So, what news of the Orochi?"
"It's due to reactivate in about thirty-six hours," Akane replied
grimly.
"That's the *other* problem," Ranma groused. "When that thing wakes
up, it'll blow the crap outta the starport, most likely."
"Should we reconsider moving the _Palomino_ there, then?" Akari
asked.
"We're up against the clock no matter what," Ryouga replied, knowing
that his beloved technician was going to be at ground zero for any orbital
bombardment from the rogue defense satellite. "And since the Commonwealth
is due to get here before the Orochi satellite reactivates, we'll have to
deal with them first. The starport is probably the best place we can hope
to fight a delaying action."
"Let's not make this too complicated," Akane said to them. "We'll
move the _Palomino_ to the starport early tonight, after Captain Ninomiya
leaves for orbit. Then we'll make preparations to defend the starport."
"We need more 'mechs to even have a chance at this," Genma noted. He
looked to Shinnosuke and his grandfather. "Know where we can find some?"
The two caretakers gave each other measured looks before the old
man nodded gravely to his grandson. Shinnosuke faced them, his face a
mask of guarded emotion.
"The SLDF 'mech garage is intact," he said to them. "I have the keys
to the facilities. If it will help you, I can let you in to take a look."
"Any LAMs there?" Ranma chirped.
Shinnosuke shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think so."
"That's okay," Ranma replied. "I got a decent angle on one from the
area map you gave us." Akane gave him a puzzled look, surprised at his
cavalier attitude toward the matter.
"Let's get going then," Genma suggested. "If there are usable 'mechs
there, we won't have much time to prep them."
"If you get lucky and find enough for all of us, don't forget
Shampoo," Ranma told him.
"Shampoo?" both Akane and Genma asked incredulously.
Ranma nodded his head.
"Yeah. Shampoo. She's got even more to fear from this so-called
Musk Dynasty than we do, and if I'm right and the other force is from
the Combine, they probably won't be happy to see her either. We need
as many 'mechs as we can put into the field, and Shampoo's a good
fighter."
"I think you need professional help, Ranchan," Ukyou declared.
"I wouldn't trust that Amazon bimbo any farther than I could throw
her."
"I'd rather take the chance. As long as we make it clear what's
going to happen, I'm sure she'd rather fight than wait it out as a
prisoner. Let's make it worth her while. If she fights well, we drop
the spying charges against her."
"Are you insane?" Grant asked bitterly. "It's because of her that
the Musk Dynasty knows where this place is!"
Ranma folded his arms across his chest. "That's in the past. Right
now I'm trying to make sure we all live to see the future. Our best
chance is with another 'mech. You don't like it, we'll put her out at
the bunker. They need protecting too. Konatsu can keep an eye on her
until it's time to mount up."
The kunoichi stood and bowed for him. "I would be honored to
accept such an assignment, sir."
Ukyou gave him a nudge. "Careful, honey, she's a slippery one."
"Fair enough," Genma conceded impatiently. "Any other objections?"
Akane was tempted to speak, but decided to give Shampoo the
benefit of the doubt.
"Other than the fact that she's pregnant right now, I can't think
of any reasons," Doctor Tofu declared.
"We'll give her the choice then," Ranma declared.
"I'm outta here," Genma growled and started once more for the
door.
Akari cleared her throat gently for attention.
"Pardon me, Commander," she said to him. "But it seems as if my
section will be busy aiding in the _Palomino_ repairs. I don't know how
much support we'll be able to give towards battlemech preparation."
Genma waved her off. "I'm sure we'll be able to handle the basics,"
he told her, then rose. "Time's wasting. Come on, Shinnosuke."
Ranma watched his father go and shook his head. "He's taking off in
a big hurry."
Ryouga nodded in agreement. "Ukyou and I will go with him if you
don't need us here."
"Go for it."
The Mess Deck cleared of people, leaving just Ranma, Akane, and
Shinnosuke's grandfather.
"I wish you all the best of luck," the old man said to them.
"We'll need it," Ranma said sourly. "Thanks for all of the help."
"I've had to face some hard truths since you arrived," he replied.
"The fact that the Star League is no more is the hardest. There is no
more point in looking after the facilities here, so if you will do me
this one favor, I would be forever grateful."
"What is it?" Akane asked.
"If you do somehow manage to escape the system, take my grandson
with you."
"Shinnosuke?"
"There is nothing for him here," the old man said sadly. "Just his
tired old grandfather, and who knows how long I've got left to me. No,
he's better off far away from this lonely place. Take him with you back
to the Confederation. He'd make a fine mechwarrior I think - it's
something he's always dreamed of."
Akane took the old man's hands in hers. "I will," she said to him. "I
promise."
* * *
Fort Dealy Underground Battlemech Garage
Star League Defense Force Proving Grounds
Planet Ryuugenzawa, Ryuugenzawa System
16:27 Local Time, 16 June 3025
Ukyou brushed back her hair from her eyes as Genma Saotome and Ryouga
Hibiki strained against the armored vault door. The door bore the scorch
marks of cutting lasers and several attempts at blasting from looters in
forgotten decades. Shinnosuke's key had unlocked the stout portal, but the
abuse it had suffered had left it jammed shut.
"Need some help?" she asked the two, knowing that their male pride
would not suffer it.
"We got it," Genma huffed, his muscles bulging and sweat streaming
down his brow.
"You're sure now?"
"We're sure!" Ryouga barked. The door squealed in its running track,
and jerked open a centimeter.
"That's got it," Genma cried hopefully. "One more push."
The two put their all into the door one last time, driving it halfway
open, before collapsing against the reinforced wall with panting gasps.
"I think I threw out my back on that last one," Genma wheezed.
Ryouga wiped away the sweat from his eyes. "So get Doctor Tofu to fix
it, already."
Ukyou sauntered past them, pulling herself through the door. "As much
as I like ogling big sweaty men, I'll pass up the opportunity for now and
take a look inside." She smiled at Shinnosuke and Konatsu. "Coming?"
"Right behind you," Shinnosuke replied. He had always wanted to take
a look inside the SLDF 'mech garage. Konatsu followed wordlessly after.
"No fair," Ryouga gasped. "We did all the work."
Ukyou's eyes adjusted to the dim lighting as she crept her way down
a long sloping passageway that ended in a cavernous hangar. The smell of
stale air and ancient lubricants filled the place, and the looming shadows
of vaguely humanoid shapes standing in reinforced revetments made her
heart clench in her chest.
"Paydirt," she whispered.
There were at least twenty battlemechs in the 'mech garage, but at
least half of them were in some state of disassembly. Still, there were
more than enough for them to man in defense of the starport. She reminded
herself that a share of whatever they could recover here was hers.
"I'm surprised that there are so many 'mechs remaining, sir," Konatsu
said to her.
"Think about it, honey," she replied, gesturing to the many empty
spaces for battlemechs. "From the look of things, the SLDF cleaned out
as much as they could before they left. What's here is probably everything
they couldn't cram into a DropShip hold."
"How many battlemechs do you need?" Shinnosuke asked her, his eyes
wide with excitement.
"One for Ranchan, one for Akane, one for Doctor Tofu, and one for
Shampoo - though I think it's a mistake - at the minimum," Ukyou replied.
"But it might not hurt to grab a few extra as spares."
"Shouldn't we consider taking them all, sir?" Konatsu asked. "At the
very least to deny them to our enemies."
"Good thinking," Genma replied, catching up to them, with Ryuoga
close behind. "The way I see things, if we're successful in fighting off
the Commonwealth long enough for the _Palomino_ to slip away, and Captain
Ninomiya does find a starship up in orbit that can carry us home, we
can still make off with most of the loot."
Shinnosuke gave him a hard look. "Grandfather and I agreed to help
you fight the invaders," he said sternly. "But you shouldn't be taking
anything more than you need."
Genma shook his head. "Who else is gonna use this stuff, boy?" he
returned gruffly. "You? No offense, but I don't think so. Better that *we*
have these battlemechs than letting the Jusenkyo Commonwealth have them."
"We won't be able to take more than ten of them at the most, anyway,"
Ukyou soothed. "The rest of them don't look like they're in any condition
to travel." She placed a comforting hand on Shinnosuke's shoulder. "Face it,
honey. No matter what happens in a couple of days, your job as caretaker is
over. In any event, the Star League fell over two hundred years ago, so it's
not like you're protecting all this stuff for anyone. It's first come, first
served."
Shinnosuke looked away sullenly. "I'm sorry. You're probably right,
but it's just that I take my duties very seriously."
"We haven't got time for hurt feelings," Ryouga declared, a sense of
urgency strong in his voice. "It will take almost all of the time remaining
to us to get these 'mechs ready for action. We need to find out what we have
here."
"Two Warhammers, a Victor, three Centurions, two Catapults, a Panther,
a Wasp, and an Orion," Konatsu supplied briskly. "Eleven in all that appear
at first glance to be functional."
"As the Master would say, 'what a haul!'" Genma cried joyously. "I've
got dibs on the Orion!"
"Say, where is that old goat, anyway?" Ukyou asked as Genma danced up
and down the garage.
"I don't know," Ryouga replied. "Frankly, I don't care. He's been
nothing but a headache this entire time."
"He's been keeping a pretty low profile ever since we got here," she
observed. "I'll bet he's up to something no good."
Ryouga sighed and started up the gantry ladder to inspect their first
'mech. "You'll get no argument from me."
* * *
Allied Aerospace Corporation, Special Projects Division
SLDF Contractor Facility Annex
Planet Ryuugenzawa, Ryuugenzawa System
18:12 Local Time, 16 June 3025
The facility was in ruins as Ranma passed overhead in his Boomerang.
The three standing buildings had obviously been looted at some point by
the stranded colonists, or perhaps by bandits from the Periphery who were
marooned by the Orochi network. Bad weather and general neglect had done
the rest. There didn't seem to be much point in landing, but Ranma set his
flaps to full and swooped in for an approach.
"Are you sure about this?" Akane asked him.
Ranma didn't answer at first, his mind preoccupied with setting them
down in one piece. There seemed to be a large clearing near the buildings,
grass that had overgrown much of what looked to be a concrete runway. Seeing
the ruins of a runway gave him hope.
"I just want to take a closer look," he said as they taxied to a halt.
Akane could understand his desire. She had a Warhammer once again, and
while there might have been other battlemechs in the SLDF garage, none of
them were Phoenix Hawk LAMs. With both an unknown but presumably hostile
power, and the Musk Dynasty that Shampoo spoke of to worry about, Ranma
could do the most good in a machine he was comfortable using, and after
losing his 'mech to save her life, she would be happy to see him find
another LAM.
They searched the buildings, finding little of value. Anything that
hadn't been taken by looters had been damaged by the elements over the
past two centuries. The conclusion of their search was that the above-
ground facilities were little more than offices for the Allied Aerospace
Corporation, serving the bureaucrats, lawyers, and functionaries that
worked with the SLDF's engineering and evaluation staff to meet the Army's
battlemech and aerospace fighter needs.
What Ranma was looking for was the 'mech garage. Allied Corp must have
had their own staff of engineers and technicians working on their prototypes
during the evaluations, and even their own garage space to work in. Since
there did not seem to be any such facilities on the surface, they were either
at the ruined starport, or else underground nearby.
"What are we looking for?" Akane thought to ask him as he opened every
door remaining in the place. Looters had long ago done away with the need to
force the ones that might have been locked.
"The basement," he replied, abandoning his fruitless search indoors
for an access outside.
He inspected the grounds to no avail.
"Now what?" Akane asked. She felt bad for him not finding what he
wanted.
"Back to the Boomerang," was his curt reply.
She followed him in silence. Rather than admit defeat, Ranma seemed
to be paying a lot of attention to the hard flat surface of the concrete
runway where he could see it through the riot of grass and weeds. He stopped
short of their little scout plane, then began a slow spin, his eyes fixed
in the distance.
"There," he said, stopping abruptly, and pointing to the slope of a
low hill at the far end of the runway from the complex.
Akane examined the hill. Even with its lines broken up by the trees
and the unchecked vegetation, she could see that its shape and its position
relative to the runway were a little too ordered to be natural.
"I see what you mean," she replied, and followed after him as he
trotted with mounting anticipation towards the hill.
The hill was in fact man-made, as they suspected. Once they were
close enough to notice, they could see the outline of a large hangar door,
its surface too uniformly coated with grass to be anything other than an
intentional feature of the design, that apparently led into the depths of
the hill.
There must have been some kind of regulation from the SLDF in regards
to the environmental impact of the various facilities, Akane decided.
Everything was underground and out of sight. Planets habitable by humans
were fairly common in the galaxy, if the Inner Sphere was any example, but
terran planets were still rare enough to kill for. A planet as lush and
beautiful as Ryuugenzawa deserved to have its glory preserved wherever
possible.
"Now comes the hard part," Ranma observed. "Getting inside."
"I don't suppose this place has any power left to it?"
"Probably not."
They searched around some more before coming across a man-sized
door whose access was partially blocked by the gnarled and exposed roots
of a tree that had sprung up on the sloping side of the hill in the
intervening centuries. A good kick forced the door part of the way open,
and from there, Ranma was able to wedge himself into the opening and
force it the rest of the way by using his back against the tree trunk
for leverage.
He pulled himself through the opening, disappearing into the darkness
for a moment before reappearing at the threshold with an outstretched hand
for Akane.
"Coming?"
She considered the dark, dank, and narrow opening for a moment before
giving him her hand. Once she was through, Ranma produced a pocket-sized
flashlight and switched it on. They were at the top of what looked like a
sloping reinforced concrete ramp that led down into the interior. The ramp
served both the personnel door and the hangar access, apparently. The smell
of lubricants and old synthetic rubber was strong enough to overcome the
musty scent of age that filled the place. Indigenous rodents the size of
sewer rats with whiplike tails and large floppy ears scrabbled along the
wall - startled by the light - to run down into the interior.
Akane cringed when she saw Ryuugenzawa's evolutionary answer to the
rat, but did not voice her concerns to Ranma, who was emboldened by his
success and started eagerly down the ramp. She followed after him, keeping
certain to stay within arm's reach of her fiance, and away from the wall.
The interior was a large open space, with cranes, motorized chainfalls,
and an extensive system of gantry catwalks. Large crates with shipping
stencils dating right up to Kerensky's Exodus sat in one corner of the
chamber, unopened, their contents untouched by human hands in over two
hundred years. Ranma gaped at what he saw to be Allied's ill-fated attempt
to make the popular Shadow Hawk design into a LAM. The battlemech remained
suspended by cranes, with its retrofit cranked-delta wings curiously
extended, over a large flatbed HEMIT trailer. Long strands of myomer bundle
whose color had decayed from a bubblegum pink to a washed out beige dangled
from snapped hip and knee actuators.
There was an eery sense of time at play in the chamber, as if the
work had been stopped by the Exodus right in the middle of the repairs
to the Shadow Hawk LAM prototype. Ranma looked around and saw other signs
that this had indeed taken place. Techs were scrupulous about maintaining
their tools, but he saw them scattered about various maintenance, repair,
and construction projects as if they had been in use only minutes ago.
"Someone actually tried to make a Shadow Hawk into a LAM?" Akane
asked aloud, trying to start up a conversation because the place gave
her the creeps.
"Pretty dumb, huh?" Ranma replied, jerking a thumb towards the 'mech
carcass. "The thing looks about as aerodynamic as a brick. After the Wasp
and Stinger LAM conversions proved to be so popular, everyone wanted to
get in on the act. Allied got the rights to the Shadow Hawk and Phoenix
Hawk designs, and after the Shadow Hawk bombed, the Phoenix Hawk became
their only entry into the battlemech market. It's too bad that they never
got the chance to work out the landing gear and the heavy laser glitches
before everything went to hell."
"Where did you hear this?" Akane asked, impressed with his knowledge
of pre-Fall history.
"Mechwarrior of Fortune magazine," he replied with a straight face.
"Look, I know I'm getting my hopes up here, but I gotta go look some more,"
he said to her as he walked away from the chamber to a row of cells set off
from the main facility.
"I understand, Ranma," Akane said to him warmly. He did not say
anything to this, for he had turned a corner, and stopped short, stunned.
The first thing he saw was the silvery glint of the eight-pointed
Cameron Star that served as the device for the Star League Defense Force
emblazoned upon the torso. The silver, white, and black-trimmed Phoenix
Hawk LAM stood in Battlemech Mode; looking as new as the day it had rolled
off the assembly line. Clutched in its metal fist was its rifle-like heavy
laser, the protective cover for the focusing optics still fixed to the
muzzle. The left forearm retained the same launch tubes of a twin SRM rack
as his last Phoenix Hawk, the ill-fated T-507 he had borrowed from the Grand
Duke.
"It's an SRM variant," he said half to himself. He had never been very
fond of the regular models of the Phoenix Hawk LAM such as his old family
'mech, as he found the twin machine guns practically useless against an
enemy battlemech, and the idea of using a 20mm automatic weapon on a person
both revolting and cowardly.
He took a hesitant step towards the LAM, hoping that this wasn't some
hallucination on his part, that the Phoenix Hawk was real. Only when his
fingers brushed against the cold armor plate did he sigh with relief and let
loose his anxiety.
"Phoenix Hawk LAM ASX-002," Akane said aloud, holding up the ancient
maintenance log for the machine. "It's a prototype," she announced. "A
'Super Phoenix Hawk LAM,' whatever *that* means."
"Who cares," Ranma breathed, caressing the machine in a way that made
Akane feel incredibly jealous. "It's all mine..."
Akane shook her head and paged through the specs.
"Ranma?"
"Yeah?" he said, touching the battlemech reverently.
"Try not to drool on it, okay?" she asked coolly. "We wouldn't want the
thing to rust..."
* * *
Ship's Boat _Nymph_
Approaching the SLDF Space Complex
in orbit above Planet Ryuugenzawa, Ryuugenzawa System
20:21 Local Time, 16 June 3025
"Soft seal," the pilot of the _Nymph_ declared as the ship settled
against an external docking port with a *thunk.*
"There's power," Hinako observed, gesturing out of the viewport to
a series of lights on the far side of the drydock. "Either there's an
active fusion plant running somewhere, or the station draws power from
the recharge facility photosail full time."
Hinako was beside herself with excitement. The Orochi Network had
taken no action against them as they rose into orbit, confirming
Davidge's theory about what was considered a valid target. It took some
of the pressure off to know that they could return to the surface with
little to fear. Now if only her own theories were correct...
"Time to go take a look," she declared. Her handful of spare sailors
clutched at nailguns as they filed to the ship's airlock. They each wore
a pressure suit as a precaution, though there seemed to be breathable
air on the other side of the hatch.
Beyond the hatch was darkness. Suit lights pierced the gloom,
revealing a long corridor that led into the facility just below the
airdock. On a whim, Hinako tried the light switch, and was surprised
when the lights came on.
"There's definitely power here," she breathed.
They continued on, searching for a ladder well or an elevator that
would take them closer to the airdock. After some time of searching, it
became apparent that the station had been occupied by people other than
the SLDF staff.
"Lousy housekeeping," one of the sailors remarked, gesturing to the
piles of trash that littered a recreation lounge.
"It's worse than that," another said in a low voice. "Come take a
look."
Hinako and the others joined the sailor, who nudged a pile of trash
away from a couch to reveal a withered claw-like hand. The former captain
of the Dragonfly recoilled at the sight of it.
"He's been dead for some time," the sailor remarked. "Gunshot wound
to the head."
"Decades, I'd say," another sailor agreed. "The station's ambient
temperature is hovering around minus ten degrees. It looks like he's
practically freeze dried."
"Not much decomposure," Hinako managed, trying not to lose her
lunch inside her helmet facebowl.
"With the cold, and all the radiation this place probably gets, I'm
not surprised," the second sailor answered.
"No uniform, no ID," the first said. "The guy looks pretty scraggly,
even for being dead."
Hinako looked him over. "He's probably someone who was stranded in
the system the same as we were," she said quietly. "And decided to try
his luck here."
"Just like us," the second sailor noted ominously.
"Exactly. We can't be sure that there isn't some form of automated
security system in place here, so I want you all to be extra careful."
"Captain!" one of the others cried out over the radio.
"What is it?" she asked, floating towards him.
"Blood spatters on the bulkheads," the man declared. Brown stains
and tiny aggregate clusters of crystals marked where blood had spilled.
"It looks like your guy on the couch dragged himself through this hall
from somewhere else before he croaked."
They decided to take their chances and follow the blood trail back
the way the dead man had come.
"It's very strange how there'd be power and air, and yet it's so
cold here," Hinako said at length.
Before anyone could reply, they stumbled across a tableaux of
ancient carnage. Men in a polyglot of colors and fashions floated
lifelessly before huge bay windows that looked out across the airdock.
They had been murdered: shot to death, or hacked up with damage control
axes clutched within the dead fingers of their killers.
"What in the hell happened here?" one of the men asked gravely.
"They look like pirates," another remarked. "Probably got into a
drunken brawl or something."
"Or else they had something worth killing each other over," Hinako
said, pointing to the windows.
They looked through the double layered duraplas, and saw the most
beautiful starship in the Inner Sphere hanging at anchor within the
airdock bay. A single bank of overhead lights illuminated the ship,
letting them see its name and markings.
"SLDFS _Coronet,_" Hinako intoned, recognizing the name from
somewhere, and not quite placing it.
"Light cruiser class," one of the sailors piped up abruptly.
Hinako recognized him as the one the rest of the crew had banned from
any games involving trivial knowledge. "It was General Kerensky's
flagship during the Reunification War because of its speed and
maneuverability. He had it fitted out with the most luxurious
amenities of its time; a real scandal, if I remember correctly."
One of the sailors thumped him on the back of the helmet.
"So tell me, smart guy, if this is such a great ship, why didn't
the General take it with him wherever it was that he went?"
The sailor shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine, but there it
is."
"We need to investigate," Hinako said to them. "Whatever happened
with these people here is a mystery for another time."
* * *
Nerima Confederation DropShip _Palomino_
Planet Ryuugenzawa, Ryuugenzawa System
22:40 Local Time, 16 June 3025
"That's my report at this time," Captain Hinako said to Akane over
the radio from orbit. "We have a ship in airdock here, but it will take
a week at the minimum to prepare it for space. Any engineering crew you
can spare us will reduce that time."
"I'm not certain that we can spare more than a few techs right now,"
Akane replied. "We have taken possession of several Star League 'mechs
and are preparing them right now."
"That's good news," Hinako agreed. "We're still limited by the
_Palomino's_ readiness then, in any event. At least now we have a little
hope of leaving this system, and perhaps with some of its treasures as
well."
"I think your news is better, Captain Ninomiya," Akane returned.
"Good luck, milady. I'm off to continue the inspections of the
ship."
"The same to you. _Palomino_ out." Akane said warmly, and switched
off the commo.
"Well?" Ranma asked her. "What do you think?"
Akane threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.
"That good, huh?" he replied, his voice muffled.
"We've got hope again, Ranma. It's something I thought we had lost
for good."
"Aw come on, things ain't *that* bad. Whoever these clowns are,
they still gotta get through the Orochi Network. Who knows? They might
all get themselves wasted in the process."
"Now that's too much to hope for," Akane countered, kissing him
on the cheek. "We have to assume the worst. Anything else than total
disaster will then become a pleasant surprise."
"Rig for failure, eh?"
She gave him a crooked smile. "Something like that." Then she settled
into his lap. "Have you eaten yet?"
"I've been busy with the LAM," he admitted. "Why? You got dinner
plans or something?"
"Dinner for two," she declared, reaching down to the deck, where
two prepackaged survival meals awaited them. She handed him one of the
entree pouches and a plastic spork to go with it. "I realize that the
light of the Flight Deck control panels isn't quite the same as
candlelight, but I suppose it probably suits the two of us better."
"This'll be the best meal I've had all day," he said dryly.
"That's because it's the *only* meal you've had all day."
He dug his spork into the pouch. "Yeah, well, I haven't had much
appetite lately."
"That's a surprise," she remarked. "The way *you* inhale food..."
"I've been pretty busy today. Eating just never came up." He took a
bite and made a face. "Besides, no offense, Akane, but this ain't exactly
what I call quality chow."
She turned her head up to give him a thoughtful look. "Well here's
to hoping that you'll enjoy dessert a little more than dinner."
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked after a moment.
She another bite before responding.
"I'm not pregnant, Ranma."
He took another bite. He was relieved to hear the news, but why
she had chosen this particular moment to bring it up, he had no idea.
"So what's that got to do with dessert?"
She turned around in his lap, sitting up straight so that she could
leer down at him.
"Has anyone ever told you that you were denser than lead?"
He looked up at her, perplexed, but amused with by her soft tone
of voice.
"Usually you, though not in so many words."
She leaned in for a lingering kiss, surprising him with its
intensity.
"Figured it out yet?" she asked him at length.
He looked up at her, admiring the way the lights were reflected in
her eyes.
"Maybe you should explain it some more. I'm pretty dense, remember?"
Chapter Three
NCWS _Tautog_
Approaching Geosynchronous Orbit
Planet Ryuugnezawa, Ryuugenzawa System
17 June 3025, 23:33 Local Time
"No, wahine, your hands, dey must *flow* wit de music."
Nodoka Saotome tried to assimilate this instruction from Shogun Kuno.
"Like this?"
The Shogun of the Furinkan Combine shook his head slowly, his tanned
face wrinkling in abnegation.
"No, wahine. De hands, dey tell de story. You gotta move like you
tellin' de story, yes?"
He stepped in front of her, his hips swaying and his hands moving with
a hypnotic sureness as the steel slide guitars played. Several of Kuno's
hula girl retinue joined their lord in the cramped confines of the starship's
activity room, and Nodoka watched with utter fascination as they completed
the dance.
He looked at Kasumi as the music stopped. "How 'bout you, eh, wahine?"
"No thank you, your Eminence," she demurred.
Kuno cocked his head at her. "Why de long face? We gonna be makin'
planetfall soon. Dey say this place got strong tides. I say, we have us a
big luau and spend de week surfin'."
Kasumi regarded him for a moment before her father stepped through the
airtight door. The two _Tang_ crewmen detailed as security for the Shogun
snapped to as he entered.
"Bad news, I'm afraid," he said to open the conversation. "We've been
unable to locate the _Dragonfly._"
"Dat's no good, bruddah," Kuno agreed. He placed a coconut filled with
the last of his dwindling reserve of rum punch in the Grand Duke's hand.
"We don' find your daughter, we not gonna be able to settle dis ting between
us."
Soun took a drink from the coconut and nodded his head absently.
"I still don't understand why you insist on taking this course," he
said after a moment. "As the Shogun, you could order your son to desist in
his actions. After all, you've told me a thousand times that you have no
interest in continuing the war."
Kuno shook his head. "It not so simple. De reasons we fight go back
long before you and me, bruddah. If I had my way, we'd settle dis whole
ting wit' a limbo contest, but dere too many people who want dis ting to
go de way it been goin'."
"Including your son," Soun pointed out, a rebuke that had once colored
their dialogue and now had little of its original venom.
"He's young," Kuno observed. "De boy, he got brains, but no sense. I
tink he gonna figure tings out sooner or later, like his old man, but dere
be other brahs who stand behind him, tell him what dey expect for de support
o' de country. Dey never gonna figure tings out 'cause dey want dominion too
much. We Kunos, we be de Big Kahunas O' de Combine, but we not all powerful,
eh, bruddah? De Daimyo want war, dey want spoils; dey gonna get 'em, or else
dey find demselves a new Shogun, no shit."
Soun stroked at his chin. "It keeps coming back to that."
Kuno clapped him on the back. "What you gonna do, eh, bruddah? Dese
tings, dey work demselves out..."
Kasumi looked on with mild amusement. A rapport had developed between
her father and the Combine Shogun. After two centuries of conflict, to even
dream of the leaders of two Successor States sipping rum drinks, dancing
hulas, and actually talking about the problems between them was nothing short
of incredible.
The day that Shogun Kuno had set down his neurohelmet and picked up a
surfboard had been a pivotal one for the Confederation. It had given her
country a full ten years to recover from war - before the Shogun's son
Tatewaki again took up the crusade of the Succession Wars.
"One day, Tachi gonna be de Shogun," Kuno said at length, his voice
losing its usual merriment, and taking on a sober tone. "If he gonna be
First Lord, too, he gonna hafta earn it. He no get it from me. He gotta
pay price for rule, and dat price, it ain't cheap, bruddah. He pay in
blood, yah, an' not jus' de blood of his troops. He gotta bleed for it if
he want it. He gotta sweat for it, sweat 'til he drop to his knees. An'
he gotta cry for it to; de tears flowin' down his face at de pain he cause
and de pain he endure."
Kuno folded his arms over his chest.
"If de boy can do all dat, den he deserve to get de throne." His
sober expression widened into a grin. "Me, I know de price too much.
It ain't worth de blood, sweat, an' tears to be First Lord o' de Star
League." His hand slipped around the waist of one of his hula girls,
who squealed coyly. "Me, I jus' wanna drink beer, eat roast pig, dance
de hula, and catch de surf, no shit."
Soun opened his mouth to agree with the Shogun's sentiment, and was
interrupted by the 1MC.
"MAN BATTLESTATIONS!"
The General Alarm klaxon sounded; seventeen gonging tones that foretold
of disaster in the making.
Kasumi looked to her father, who started for the door. Shogun Kuno
reacted calmly, gathering up his retinue of hula girls, musicians, and
beefy Polynesian warriors to return to their segregated berthing compartment
deep within the corvette. This had nothing to do with him, as far as he was
concerned. He took Nodoka's hand calmly and led her away with the rest of
the party.
Out in the main passageway of the Grav Deck, organized pandemonium
reigned. With over half of the crew of the _Tang_ aboard as well as the
Shogun and his retinue, the ship was crowded. Many of the sailors had been
pressed into damage control parties; those with small arms experience
formed up a repel boarders/prize crew team. She watched as they began
pulling pressure suits out of storage crates that had been bolted into
place along the bulkheads, the soft sigh of nylon and synthetic rubber
whispering against flesh as they squeezed into their suits.
The overhead lights flicked to half power as hydraulic sounds deep
within the ship echoed through the bulkheads and spoke of weapon turrets
preparing to break the plane of the ship's hull stealthing to engage a
foe at close range. Kasumi found herself struggling salmon-like against
the tide of sailors, some of them already in armored battledress pressure
suits and carrying nailguns and short, machete-like swords, to reach her
father at the ladder well to the hub. The elevator was out of the question
at this point, since the crew had priority - even over the Grand Duke - in
carrying out their duties.
"What's going on, Father?" she asked him as they pulled themselves
up through the hatch and into free fall. The clatter of boots on the deck
below them, and the hiss of life support hoses plugging into the ship's
manifolds filled her ears.
"Your guess is as good as mine," he replied.
They were in the hub now, pulling themselves hand over hand up a
second ladder well, this one running fore and aft along the long axis
of the corvette. The shouts of men from the Torpedo Room in the large
compartment directly off the ladder well to her left captured her
attention, as the Reload Party reported to their battlestations and took
up the herculean task of man-handling the massive Barracuda antiship
missiles into the launch tubes with wooden poles and block and tackle,
all to the accompaniment of a chanty from the Torp Supervisor whose
origins were lost to the antiquity of a forgotten age.
The hydraulic handling gear for the torpedoes must have failed
again, she realized, though there was a zeal in the excited shouts
and curses of those in the Torpedo Room as they did their work that
made her wonder if some of them preferred it that way.
"ALL HANDS PREPARE FOR BATTLE ACCELERATION WITHOUT NOTICE!"
Knowing that the _Tautog_ was capable of up to five gravities of
acceleration during battle conditions, she stepped off the ladder well
and onto the landing before the Torpedo Room airtight door. Her father
followed suit on the next deck up. The crew in the Torpedo Room, many
of them _Tang_ crew who needed a place to go during battlestations,
continued their work, ramming a Barracuda home in the Number Two
Tube with a war-whoop.
The thin scream of the Main Engines whistled through the deck as
she watched them, the thrust of the ship ramping up with less than the
usual deference to comfort. Gravity made her sag against the bulkhead
as she went from free-fall to almost two-gees in under ten seconds.
Two-gees became three, and she heard a man scream below her as his
grip failed, and he fell to the bottom of the ladder well. He had not
stepped off the ladder like everyone else.
The Main Engines were howling through the superstructure now as
they climbed past four gravities of acceleration. Kasumi heard groans
of pain and dismay from the Torpedo Room as the ship continued adding
thrust. Her head rolled onto her shoulder under its own weight as she
sank down to the deck of the landing. The sound of a wrench hitting a
hydraulic header in the Torpedo Room rang with ear-splitting intensity.
She felt as if her chest were in a vice that slowly crushed the
breath out of her. How long were they going to keep this up? she asked
desperately. She was young and healthy, but there were civilians on
this ship, Mrs. Saotome among them, who had never experienced this
kind of punishment before.
"Secure that weapon!" came the tortured command of the Torp
Supervisor over the din. Kasumi managed to roll her eyes enough
to look through the door, where a vertically suspended Barracuda
swayed just outside of the Number Four Tube breech door. In free-fall,
the Reload Party did not have gravity to contend with, only the
weapon's mass. Now, that antiship missile weighed ten tons, and it
was not securely loaded in the launch tube.
No one could move to follow the order. Not under five-gees. If
the chainfalls and cables that suspended the weapon snapped, it would
fall and crush the entire Reload Party. Worse, the weapon's liquid
hydrogen fuel cells could rupture, spilling supercold fluid throughout
the room and down the ladder well - where a single spark could turn
the entire ship into an inferno.
One of the cables parted with a *crack* that rang off the
bulkheads. The torpedo swung lazily under the straining second cable,
ready to fall before the main engines faded out, and the cruel press
of acceleration lifted. It took several moments for anyone to manage
to rise to their feet and secure the errant Barracuda.
Kasumi pulled herself upright and took a hesitant look at the
ladder well before deciding to start climbing again. One of the Damage
Control parties at the bottom of the well was already tending to the
man who had fallen, but judging from the splatter of red on the deck
twenty meters below her, it seemed like there was little hope.
She looked up and saw her father looking down. He had seen what
had happened, and shook his head gravely. In that moment she knew that
Captain Olivera's reasons for taking the ship to five-gees had better
be sound.
Kasumi took an offered pressure suit before stepping onto the Bridge
with her father. Everyone on the Bridge was already suited up, though most
kept their visors open. A direct hit on the Bridge that would depressurize
it was probably going to kill them all outright, the way she had heard
them argue it, and any other hits would give them plenty of time to drop
their visors, so what was the point?
She noted a palpable odor of fear in the compartment, a cold sweat
gone stale as it evaporated and mingled in the recirculated atmosphere.
Most of the crew did not make eye contact with her, keeping their
attentions firmly on their instrumentation. It made her wonder what fate
they had just avoided.
Captain Hauptmann manned Fire Control as head of the Tracking
Party, while Olivera was on the Conn. She exchanged looks with the
former _Tang_ skipper, and knew at once that their situation was grim.
"Conn, Sensory; the weapon has lost acquisition, and is continuing
on its straight track away from the ship at two-hundred KPS, relative."
Olivera looked over his shoulder at the Grand Duke before
responding.
"Very well, Sensory. Keep your eyes peeled for more."
"What's going on, Captain?" Soun asked, not wanting to mince words
in an obvious crisis situation.
"Someone took a shot at us with a Shark missile from over the
planetary horizon," Olivera declared. He pointed to the Tactical
holotank, where a fading red line arced over a representation of the
planet's northern pole towards what was presumably their position.
"Once we were firmly within the magnetosphere, things finally cleared
for our sensors, and that was when we noticed that this place is
crawling with active orbital defense satellites."
He pointed over to the Fire Control station, where the Warbook
projected the Yamato-no-Orochi Class battlestation in several plan
views, with commentary, and none of it reassuring.
"The only reason we're still alive is because the torp's guidance
system must have failed just before the terminal phase of the intercept,"
he added. "We were able to just barely scoot out of its way." He wiped
at the sweat on his brow through his visor opening before adding, "But
that's not all."
He called up several more displays at his station, pointing out
several interesting bits of data as he continued.
"We went to battlestations because of this: two separate squadrons
of DropShips are approaching from almost dead aft of us. I say separate
because their course tracks have them originating at two points in space
separated by forty light seconds. Our SIGINT gear has also managed to
pick out a little of what they're radiating out into space, and get this,
your Grace: one group has Commonwealth protocols, and the other Combine."
Soun grappled with this even as Kasumi did. The Combine was an
understood risk, but what was the Commonwealth doing here?
"A joint mission?" he asked.
"Johann and I don't think so, your Grace," Olivera replied, gesturing
to Captain Hauptmann at Fire Control. "From the look of things, there is a
force of ships from the Commonwealth approaching the Combine JumpShips at
high relative velocity. I'd say it's an attack about to happen, say in three
hours at the most."
"What about this satellite network, Captain," Soun pressed. "Could it
have attacked the _Dragonfly,_ and that's the reason we haven't located it?"
Olivera nodded. "It's a distinct possibility, your Grace. An Invader
Class ship wouldn't stand a chance against one of those satellites. Right
now the whole area of space around the planet is being bathed in radar
energy by those things. We seem to be avoiding their attention for the
moment - how I'm not sure - but it might have something to do with the
defense sat that is almost directly in front of us, at a distance of fifty
thousand kilometers."
He looked over to Fire Control. "Put up the telescope track on Echo
Two-Zero on the main display."
A telescope image of the satellite did not put them at ease. The
Orochi unit was bristling with Naval Particle and Laser Cannons that could
atomize a ship as small as the _Tautog_ in just a few salvos.
"This one appears just about dead in space," he declared. "No radar,
an intermittant lidar unit. No telemetry signals, unlike the others in the
network. One of the others must have spotted us, and sent the Shark missile
at us before it receded too far over the horizon. Hopefully they weren't
able to localize us better by the plasma trail we put out trying to evade
the missile, but in any case, I'm betting that the Orochi unit below us
is the only thing in range at the moment."
He showed them several prospective tracks on the other units. "We've
detected three units altering their orbits to intercept us, but that gives
us a window of about six hours before they can maneuver into range." His
finger drifted across the display to a yellow dot of light. "This is some
kind of space station, with a recharge facility and what looks to be a
drydock. I'm willing to guess that if we can maneuver very close to it,
the programming of the Orochis won't allow them to shoot at us for fear
of hitting the station."
Soun nodded in understanding. "Can we reach the station in time?"
"We can," Olivera assured him. "The only problem I can see is
figuring out what to do from there. They can box us in by planting
themselves in orbits that can keep them within range if we try to make
a run for it."
Soun nodded once more. "You can be assured that I have no intention
of leaving this system until I know what became of my daughter, Captain."
"Of course, your Grace," Olivera demurred. He knew as well as any
that the entire reason they had come here was to find and return Akane
Tendo to Nerima in order to unseat Nabiki.
"If this is a stealth ship, Captain," Kasumi threw in. "How can these
satellites see us with radar?"
Olivera had been considering this question himself, based on the
tired look he gave her.
"There are two possibilities," he replied. "One is that parts of
our hull have been damaged by the solar particle emissions from the
Ryuugenzawa primary, and that the energy absorbant material has been
cooked off. The other is that no stealth technology is foolproof. We
absorb a lot of energy with the hull, but the shape of the hull itself
is designed to gather and direct reflected radar energy along very
narrow paths. Most of the time, any of this reflected radar energy
that gets picked up by a hostile sensor array lasts for just a moment,
as our ship is in motion, and the beam path never again reaches the
array. Simply put, on hostile scopes we at best show up as some
intermittant radar noise, or a ghost image. Nothing you can classify
or track.
"Now it's possible that a coordinated sensory network could detect
us, since they would have many arrays, and could collate all of the
intermittant data they received to form a coherent picture of what and
where we are. It's possible that this Orochi network is capable of
doing something like this."
"So we can't hide from it," Soun noted grimly.
"Not likely, your Grace. The best we can hope for is to keep
close to the station, or close to that dead satellite in the network.
At the station they won't be likely to shoot at us, and near the
dead Orochi, they can't use it to locate us while we can use it as a
shield."
Soun looked first to his daughter, then to Captain Hauptmann.
"Make it so, Captain Olivera."