I don't own Tenchi Muyo, any of the characters or any of Washu's crazy inventions for that matter. I'm not exactly sure who owns them but I know that it's distributed in the U.S. by Pioneer. This fanfic is written without the consent of aforementioned owners and yadda yadda yadda. Note: This fic is based on the Mihoshi Special episode in the OAV set. vsdefender naughtiusmaximus@juno.com Galaxy Police Fraulein Mihoshi Kiyone's Interview Kiyone chose a table at the less populated end of the cafeteria. She wasn't in the talking mood which wasn't uncommon for her. In fact, it was more accurate to say that if any of the Galaxy Police personnel were of the mind to approach with a bit of small talk that the officer in question would have been risking life and limb. She poked unenthusiastically at the food on her plate. It appeared to be some sort of casserole but who could actually say with any degree of certainty? The cafeterias of the Galaxy Police Headquarters were not reknowned for fine cuisine. "I can't believe it," she muttered to herself. "Yet another debriefing! How many debriefings do I have to go through!?" To be fair this certainly was the crowning acheivement of her career thus far. Busting the hijackers of the galaxy's supply of Ultra Energy Matter and the subsequent destruction of the so called Galaxy Destroyer was quite the feather in the cap for a Detective First Class. Surely she would be in line for a substantial promotion. "Maybe I'll even be assigned to the Special Investigations Unit." she thought to herself. Anything would do. Just as long as she no longer had to have a partner. Specifically, as long as she didn't have to have a good natured but ditzy blonde and blue-eyed sidekick. What really burned Kiyone's posterior region though was the fact that Mihoshi filled out her Galaxy Police uniform so much better than Kiyone. "Guess you don't have to have brains when all your assets are up front, so to speak," Kiyone grumbled to herself. She looked at her wrist, checking the time. Although she had some time yet before the next debriefing she decided to report to the Sector Chief's office. Looking at her plate she decided that not finishing the meal was definitely no big loss. The door to the Chief's office slid opened when she pressed the doorchime. "Hello, Chief, I know I'm a bit early but..." Kiyone's voice trailed off as she saw who was currently occupying the the chair behind the Sector Chief's desk. Of course she recognized the Galaxy Police Marshal instantly. "Marshal, what..what are you...I mean it's an honor, sir, but...." "Please, Detective First Class Kiyone, have a seat," the Marshal said, pointing at the chair on the other side of the desk. Kiyone took the indicated seat wondering what she was in for. Having the Galaxy Police Marshal present for what should have been a standard and uneventful debriefing was beyond her realm of experience. "The Chief isn't here," Kiyone noted as she glanced around the office. "I asked him to sit this one out," the Marshal said, leaning back in the chair. "Um... may I ask what this is all about?" Kiyone asked. "This is clearly not a standard debriefing." "Actually, there isn't going to be a debriefing. I'm here to give you your new assignment." Kiyone almost jumped up from her chair to dance with joy. There could only be one reason for the Marshal to personally give her the new assignment in duties. A major promotion. "Probably a promotion to the Special Investigations Unit," she thought. "You'll be patroling the Non-Interference Territory of the Solar System," the Marshal told her, smiling. Apparently she was supposed to smile too. "But...but," was all Kiyone could say. "Your partner Mihoshi is already there," the Marshal said. "Now that tears it," Kiyone snarled. "Not only do I get demoted to a galactic back water like the Solar System but I'm still stuck with Mihoshi even though I requested a transfer over a dozen times." "But you haven't heard..." the Marshal protested. "And I don't need to," Kiyone snapped. "Obviously you're serious about this. Well, you can get someone else to kick around because I quit!" She slammed her Galaxy Police I.D. and her service sidearm down on the desk. "Ha! Go suck on that for a while!" she yelled as she strode to the office door. "That's a shame," the Marshal said. "I really thought you would make a good fit in the Special Investigations Unit." Kiyone stopped at the door. "What was that?" she asked, turning back toward the Marshal. "You're an ambitious officer, Detective First Class Kiyone," the Marshal said mildly. "I had assumed you were striving to advance through the Galaxy Police ranks. The last time I checked going from Detective First Class to Special Investigator was considered a promotion. Perhaps I was in error." "You're serious? About the promotion?" "I never joke. Well, almost never," the Marshal said with a small smile. "Now shall we continue this interview?" Kiyone simply nodded and sat back down. "I believe that's your I.D. and weapon," the Marshal said, pointing at the articles in question. "But, sir, how can I be in the Special Investigations Unit if I'm to be Mihoshi's partner as a Resident Officer in the Non-Interference Territory of the Solar System?" Kiyone asked as she retrieved the I.D. and sidearm. "Much has happened since you last saw Mihoshi," the Marshal told her. "There has been more than enough incidents in the Solar System for it's status to be upgraded to that of Galactic Hotspot Region." "But in that case the Solar System would have an entire patrol squadron and a team of Special Investigators assigned to it," Kiyone said. "What would Mihoshi and I be doing there?" "The official status of the Solar System will stay unchanged. While recent events warrant a change in it's status that will not happen. Upgrading the Solar System's status would draw attention. Attention I would like to avoid." "But that doesn't explain how I can be a Special Investigator assigned to the Solar System," Kiyone said. "I'm afraid that your promotion won't be public knowledge," the Marshal informed her. "To the universe at large you'd still be Detective First Class Kiyone." Kiyone closed her eyes and heaved a sigh. "It figures, my big promotion and I can't tell a soul. Mihoshi screws up everything, even my big break." "I'm sorry my granddaughter is such a burden on you," the Marshal said. "Granddaughter? Mihoshi?" Kiyone said. Suddenly the family resemblence became quite clear. "She never mentioned it, eh? I can't say I'm all that surprised. She always wanted to make it on her own merits." "Her own merits?" Kiyone said incredulously. "Sir, no offense but Mihoshi is beyond a shadow of a doubt the most incompetent officer in the Galaxy Police." "Yes, well..." the Marshal closed his eyes for a moment and pressed the tips of his forefingers against the bridge of his nose. He suddenly opened his eyes and gave Kiyone a look that she could only describe as "appraising". "Miss Kiyone, I'm going to tell you something but you must never tell anyone what you are about to hear. Under no condition are you to ever mention it." "Yes, sir. Of course I won't divulge classified information." The Marshal sat back in his chair and asked a simple question. "Have you ever heard of the Silent Service?" "The Silent Service?" Kiyone said. "No I can't say that I have. Is it part of the Jurai Intelligence Service?" "Jurai? No, it's Galaxy Police," the Marshal said. "But perhaps you're more familiar with the term Black Ops." "Black Ops? But that's just a wild rumor. A ghost story of secretive bogeymen and rogue Galaxy Police assassins," Kiyone protested. "Yes, the Black Ops is all wild rumor and fanciful ghost stories as you put it," the Marshal agreed. "But the kernal of truth buried deep in those myths is the very real existence of the Silent Service." "But what does that have to do with me? Or Mihoshi?" "Mihoshi wasn't always as you know her now. Before she became your partner she was an operative in the Silent Service," the Marshal informed her. "Mihoshi? A Black Ops assassin?" Kiyone would have laughed but she she was too busy choking. "That's a blunt way to put it, but yes you are essentially correct," the Marshal said. "But how? I mean, we are talking about Mihoshi here, right?" Kiyone asked. "It's so... I don't know. It's crazy." "I can't tell you how it all started but I can tell you how it ended....," The New Mihoshi The Marshal stepped through the shuttle hatch onto the the slick surface of the shuttle pad. He shielded his eyes with his hand as the downpour quickly soaked his hair and began to seep into his long overcoat. A figure, protected from the elements by an umbrella, dashed across the shuttle pad through the rain towards the shuttle. "Marshal, it's good to see you again!" "Commander, thank you for coming to meet me," the Marshal said warmly. "I'm sorry that we have to meet again under these awful circumstances," the Commander replied, falling in beside the Marshal and shifting the umbrella so that the Marshal was protected from the rain. "Beastly weather isn't it?" "This planet is technically advanced enough for weather control. Why don't they use it?" the Marshal grumbled. "Well, this planet is mainly an agrarian society and so the farmers don't approve of suppressing the natural precipitation cycle," the Commander answered. "In that case, whatever possessed those Science Academy eggheads to choose this planet as the place for their Medical University?" "The Empire wanted to stimulate economic reform on the planets in this..." "Never mind," the Marshal said, cutting the Commander off. "I don't want to discuss the myopic social-economic policies of Jurai. I want to know about Mihoshi." "Yes, well, I can tell you that your granddaughter is up and around." "So she's all right then?" the Marshal asked. "All right? I'm not sure that she's exactly "all right"," the Commander said. As they entered the doors of the medical complex's shuttle pad entrance the Marshal removed his overcoat and shook the rain from it. "If she's not exactly all right then just what condition is she in?" "Perhaps you should see for yourself, sir," the Commander told him. Watching his granddaughter through the observation window the Galaxy Police Marshal could only conclude one thing and that was that the Commander was absolutely right. Mihoshi was up and around alright but she wasn't "all right". "What's the name of the show she's watching?" he asked the Commander. The Commander coughed with a bit of embarrassment. "I think it's called "The Adventures of the Galaxy Ranger Girls" or something like that." "It's a children's show," the Marshal stated. "Yes," the Commander concured. "My question is, why is she watching a children's show?" "I guess she enjoys it, sir," the Commander said. "I can see that!" the Marshal snapped. "My point is that Mihoshi is a Silent Service operative. She doesn't watch this kind of thing." "I guess she does now." "This is impossible," the Marshal said as he rubbed his eyes. "For the past half hour I've watched my granddaughter eat like a glutton, trip on every piece of furniture in that room, spill what she was drinking no less than three times, watch programs geared to a ten year old audience and generally behave like a ... like a bubblehead!" "She's lucky that she can do anything at all," a voice behind the Marshal said. Both the Marshal and the Commander turned to face the owner of that voice. "Ah, Director, this is the Galaxy Police Marshal and the grandfather of the young woman we are worried about," the Commander said. He turned to the Marshal. "And this is the Director of this unit, Dr. Hide Koto." "As I was saying, Marshal, your granddaughter is lucky to be alive," the Director said. "That she's awake and relatively healthy is nothing less than a major miracle." "But I don't understand, why is Mihoshi acting so different?" the Marshal asked. "It's like I'm watching a completely different person who just happens to look exactly like my granddaughter." "Didn't anyone tell you? Mihoshi was hit by a neural stunner at close range and at it's maximum setting," the doctor said. "Like I said, it's a miracle she's alive." "I didn't know...." the Marshal said softly. "Is there any chance for recovery?" "Brain trauma is a funny thing, it's impossible for me to say with complete accuracy," the Director replied. "But the chances are against it. Still, everytime I look at Mihoshi I see a miracle so I have to say there is a chance she may improve. A slim chance but a chance nontheless." "But why is she like this? I don't understand. She doesn't seem obviously brain damaged, just more juvenile," the Marshal observed. "Oh, there's no doubt. Mihoshi is not brain damaged. At least not in the sense that you mean," the Director said. "But then why.." "Please try to understand. Mihoshi's language and math centers are undamaged. She retains a degree of motor control. She ambulatory and is able to do things for herself, although as you noticed, she's clumsy. What you are seeing is a defense mechanism. It's not the result of brain damage," the Director explained. "Defense mechanism?" the Marshal said. "Yes, even though any actual physical damage is minimal her mind couldn't handle the shock of the neural stunner," the doctor said. "The neural stunner doesn't kill because it causes permanent brain damage, it kills because of the sudden shock to the brain and nervous system. Mihoshi somehow survived. But this new personality is how her mind copes with the trauma caused by the neural stunner. On top of that she has no memory of what happened to her." "It doesn't help that we had to give her a selective memory wipe," the Commander muttered. "Memory wipe?" the Marshal said, turning to the Commander. "Yes, she knows too much sensitive information," the Commander replied. "In her present condition...." The Marshal turned back to the observation window. There was no use denying it, Mihoshi was useless as a Silent Service operative. Clearly the Commander had done the right thing. As much as he grieved for his granddaughter the Marshal was Galaxy Police officer first and foremost. "Yes, you're right. Her career in the Galaxy Police is over," the Marshal agreed. "Unless she has a miraculous complete recovery." The Commander coughed again. "Actually, that statement might not be completely accurate." "How do you mean?" the Marshal asked. "Despite her new emergent personality Mihoshi still considers herself a part of the Galaxy Police," the Commander said. "In fact she's quite adamant about it. So I took the liberty to run her through the training simulator." "And?" the Marshal prompted. "Well at first I just ran her through the basic training sims used for the raw Academy recruits," the Commander said. "When she managed to get through those I ran her through increasingly difficult sims." "And the results?" the Marshal asked. "Sir, it's remarkable but she aced every sim," the Commander answered. "She always got her man so to speak, without fail. She uses rather unorthodox methods but she's actually quite effective. It's simply uncanny. However, there's a drawback." "Let's hear it," the Marshal told him. "The thing is that while she always completes her mission she also causes a considerable amount of collateral damage. A very considerable amount." "It's not for me to say of course but keeping Mihoshi as an active member of the Galaxy Police may help her recover more of her original personality," the Director said. "Certainly it's better than letting her become useless and stagnant." The Marshal silently watched his granddaughter as she watched her new favorite show. If there was even the slightest chance of helping her he had to take it. "Certainly she can't retain her current rank and duties," he said. "Of course not, Marshal," the Commander agreed. "But I think she may qualify for the rank of Detective First Class." "Still, there is the whole collateral damage issue to consider," the Marshal said. "We can't have her being a loose cannon running wild through the galaxy." "Hmmm.... I think I just might have a good idea," the Commander said. "I have a promising officer in my section. She's a recent graduate from the Academy. Not only did she graduate second in her class but she's already done good work in the short time she's been in my section." "It might be better if I don't become too directly involved in this," the Marshal said. "It would leave me open to charges of nepotism." "You just leave it all to me, Marshal. I'll take care of everything," the Commander assured him. Kiyone's Big Promotion "A neural stunner?" Kiyone said and shuddered. In some ways death was preferable. For the first time since she had met Mihoshi she felt sympathy for the blonde woman. "Puts things in a different light, doesn't it?" the Marshal said. "It certainly does. If I had only known I would have been more understanding," Kiyone said. "What's done is done," the Marshal said as he handed her a stack of reports. "Here, you need to know what you face in the Solar System. Just skim over it for now. You can get more indepth on the way there." He sat back and waited while Kiyone flipped through the pages. As Kiyone read through the report her eyes bulged. "The Princess Ayeka!? In the Solar System!? AND the space pirate Ryoko!?" "Keep reading, it gets better," the Marshal smiled. "Mihoshi was involved in Kagato's death!?" Kiyone nearly yelled. "And she managed to free a former Science Academy professor, the legendary and self proclaimed Greatest Genius of the Universe, Washu," the Marshal informed her, chuckling. Kiyone emitted a stangled noise. She went back to reading. After several minutes she looked up from the report. "I guess an Earthling boy who turns out to be a Prince of Jurai and seemingly has the ability to summon the Light Hawk Wings should be no big surprise with everything else that's in this report." "Now you're getting idea of just what you face on this assignment," the Marshal said. "Think you can handle it?" Kiyone sagged a bit. "I honestly don't know," she admitted. "It's all so... overwhelming." "Welcome to Special Investigations," the Marshal said with a laugh.